The Off Topic Topic

[Josquius]

How on earth are they making money? Can't see them attracting many high paying ads...

[Jacob]

How on earth are they making money? Can't see them attracting many high paying ads...

Probably some sort of "you like the free porn? How about paying a bit for this plus option". There's probably good money to be made from cam-girl advertising - or just funneling free porn viewers towards cam-girl sites that the company profits from.

[Barrister]

How on earth are they making money? Can't see them attracting many high paying ads...

I suspect they own a lot of the businesses they advertise on PornHub.

Plus there's a Minnows vs Whales thing going on - people who pay for porn will pay A LOT.

Plus some out-and-out scamming going on.

[Grey Fox]

How on earth are they making money? Can't see them attracting many high paying ads...

They sell ads and information on users to ad companies. Mindgeek owns a lot of websites, porn or otherwise.

[Grey Fox]

Furman wins! These 13 upset picks so rarely pan out but you can always count on Virginia basketball to let you down.

[The Larch]

I believe we talked here recently about the movement amongst Dutch farmers agains environmental policies of their government. I think we'll hear more from them from now on:

Rural populist party emerges as big winner in Dutch elections
Success of Farmer-Citizen Movement in provincial vote is heavy blow to Mark Rutte's four-party coalition

A new populist party surfing a wave of rural anger at government environmental policies has emerged as the big winner in Dutch provincial elections, dealing a heavy blow to the four-party coalition of the prime minister, Mark Rutte.

The success of the Farmer-Citizen Movement (BBB) in Wednesday's vote, which will determine the makeup of the senate, casts doubt over the government's ability to pass key legislation, including its plans to slash nitrogen emissions.

"The Netherlands has clearly shown we're fed up with these policies," BBB's founder, Caroline van der Plas, told the public broadcaster NOS. "It's not just about nitrogen, it's about citizens who are not seen, not heard, not taken seriously."

Van der Plas, a former agricultural journalist who founded the BBB four years ago, said the party was "ready to talk with everybody", adding that the movement "cannot be ignored any longer. The train in The Hague keeps rolling. We're going to stop it."

With almost 90% of votes counted, the BBB had secured a share of 19% – enough, according to projections, to give it 15 members in the 75-seat senate when the provincial assembly members choose the new upper house in late May. That would make the new party the biggest bloc in the upper chamber with the combined Labour (PvdA) and GreenLeft parties, also projected to have 15 senators. Rutte's coalition is on course to see its combined seat total fall to 24 from 32.

Rutte, prime minister since 2010, congratulated Van der Plas but said on Thursday the outcome did not threaten the government. "I think the cabinet can remain stable over the coming years, because we have parties that want to take responsibility," he said.

At the very least, however, the result looks likely to severely complicate the remainder of his premiership. In principle, the rightwing liberal leader could turn to the PvdA/GreenLeft alliance for the senate majority needed to pass new legislation. In practice, both parties have said they will block the coalition's entire climate programme unless it goes further and faster, for example by closing all coal-fired power stations within two years and halting subsidies for fossil fuel-based industry.

Rutte's task is likely to be even more difficult in the 12 provincial assemblies, which are charged with putting government environment plans into action: the BBB finished first in five of them, on some occasions with scores of more than 30%.

The government aims to buy farmers out and reduce livestock numbers by up to a third to help halve nitrogen emissions by 2030. Soil and water nitrogen levels exceed EU limits in the Netherlands, the world's second-biggest agricultural exporter.

The same problem has also halted construction projects despite a major housing crisis, with environmental groups winning court cases ordering the government to limit emissions and preserve nature before new building permits can be granted.

The BBB, which has won the support of far-right and populist parties internationally, claims the problem has been exaggerated and that farmers' livelihoods are being sacrificed to the green transition.

The election also showed how fickle the fortunes of populist parties can be. The vote share of the far-right Forum for Democracy (FvD), led by Thierry Baudet, which won nearly 15% of the vote in 2019 provincial elections, plunged to 3%.

[grumbler]

Virginia basketball fans to Purdue basketball fans:

[Grey Fox]

My son had a kids party at a Arcade today.

Don't tell me Arcades don't work anymore. The thing was jam packed just like it would have been 25 years ago.

[Sheilbh]

It is bonkers:

Kitchen renovation reveals 400-year-old friezes in York flat
Discovery of wall paintings of national significance in Micklegate flat is 'bonkers', says Luke Budworth

The friezes are based on scenes from Emblems, a 1635 book written by the poet Francis Quarles. Photograph: Luke Budworth/SWNS
Robyn Vinter North of England correspondent
@robynvinter
Sun 19 Mar 2023 17.11 GMT
Last modified on Sun 19 Mar 2023 22.07 GMT

A man renovating his kitchen has found a 400-year-old wall painting of "national significance" in his York flat.

Parts of the friezes, dating back to about 1660, were found by kitchen fitters in Luke Budworth's flat on Micklegate in York city centre last year and have since been fully uncovered.

The paintings are thought to be older than the buildings at either side of the wall and are based on scenes from the 1635 book Emblems written by the poet Francis Quarles.

Budworth, a medical researcher at the University of Leeds, said it was "bonkers" to think the painting was there before historical events such as the Great Fire of London [in 1666].

He told the SWNS news agency: "The first people to originally find it were the kitchen fitters who saw it under my kitchen cupboard.

"When they found it, I knew there was a parallel piece of wood on the other side of the chimney that could have the same thing. I never thought anything of it before, I thought they were pipes behind it.


The artwork in Luke Budworth's flat dates back to about 1660. Photograph: Luke Budworth/SWNS

''We always knew there was an odd piece of the wall but just thought the flat was really wonky as it's been a million different things over the years. I got really excited, grabbed my tools and started ripping it off.

"At first I thought it was old Victorian wallpaper, but soon I could see it was actually drawn on to the wall of the building next door – so it's older than this building itself.

He added: "It's bonkers to think that it was here before things like the Great Fire of London and things like that."

Budworth moved to York from Warrington, partly because of the city's history, he said. However, while he said it was "amazing" to have the paintings in his home, he also described them as a burden because there is no funding available to preserve them.

He has received help from Historic England to cover them up again to help prevent damage.

He added: "We've printed off a high-res version of them and put the replica on top to cover them up.

"Hopefully we can get the word out and see if any societies or PhD students want to do some experimental conservation projects. I also hope that this inspires other people on Micklegate to start looking at their own walls suspiciously."

[Syt]

Wait a sec, what's going on with that pillow on the chair (and why does it look photoshopped)?

[garbon]

Why is that bonkers?

[garbon]

Continuing on with my morning questions ()

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/mar/19/appeal-launched-to-find-rare-sharks-head-taken-from-hampshire-beach

Rare 6ft shark washed up then decapitated on Hampshire beach

Rare 6ft shark washed up then decapitated on Hampshire beach
Historian Dan Snow pleads for person to come forward who removed head from animal washed up on Lepe beach

Nadeem Badshah
Sun 19 Mar 2023 19.36 GMT
An appeal has been launched to recover the head of a rare smalltooth sand tiger shark after the fish was washed up on a Hampshire beach.

The 2 metre (6ft) long shark was initially found on Lepe beach on Friday.

Dan Snow, the historian, was enlisted to secure and examine the creature. However, before he arrived, the head, tail and fin had been cut off and taken.

Alisha Openshaw, 38, thought she had rescued the large shark when she spotted it in the shallows of her local beach and dragged it into deeper waters.

Although she watched it swim away, the shark – which is of a species classified as vulnerable and rarely spotted – was subsequently found dead on the shore.

Snow, 44, said: "I was in London for Mother's Day, I was going to see the show Six.

"I saw on Twitter that this shark had washed up on my local beach, and I posted something funny about it. Then I suddenly got all these messages coming in from my scientist friends saying this is incredibly unusual.

"They told me: 'You've got to try and secure it for science, it's really special.'"

Snow added that due to the train strike, he relied on lifts from people and taxis to reach the beach.

He said he put the remainder of the corpse in a local farmer's fridge, where it will be stored until someone from the Zoological Society of London arrives on Tuesday to collect it.

On Sunday morning, Snow put out an impassioned plea on Twitter for the head to be returned.

He tweeted: "Biologist friends like @Ben_garrod identified it as an exceptionally rare visitor to these shores and asked me to secure it.

"I failed. The head, tail and fin were grabbed before I assembled a big enough team to drag it off the beach to the nearest road. We went to secure the shark for science last night. But we were too late!

"Please, please – if you have the head get in touch. The scientists want to have a look at it, and then it's yours to keep."

The deepwater shark is known to be non-aggressive towards humans but normally frequents warmer waters than the UK coasts.

The strictly protected species can grow to 4 metres in length and weigh up to 289kg. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, there are estimated to be fewer than 250 remaining.

Openshaw, a hairdresser from Dibden Purlieu in Hampshire, was on the beach with her children when she spotted the creature.

She said: "He was splashing around the water around the start, and I got worried that nobody was going to help him.

"At first I wasn't sure what it could be, but once I got there I could definitely see it was a shark.

"It must have been there for a good two hours, and I just can't believe nobody tried to help him. I don't want any animal to suffer, I can't even kill a fly myself, and I know I just wanted to save him."

Why was a historian 'enlisted' to hitch hike and take taxis to his 'local' beach?

Why is the woman who helped the shark surprised other people didn't want to help a shark?

[Josquius]

Dan Snow definitely has that head mounted above his mantlepiece.

I guess if he really is local could be as simple as first on the scene with time to do this sort of thing?
Though I imagine he'd have some knowledge of preservation that might have a tiny bit of cross over between history and biology.
As mentioned too he's got friends who are the relevant specialists.

And yeah... Helping the shark... Would love to in theory but sounds kind of mad to just try and do it by hand so understandable.

[Threviel]

I follow him on twitter. Dan Snow put up a picture of it with some humorous (or not) comment and a biologist had him go back to try and secure it, that's when the head was discovered to be missing.

[The Larch]

2 metre (6ft)