“Not too far from here”

Incoming from snowy Sheffield, this mildly suspicious ad from a local Tesco:

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Is this the classifieds equivalent of an old Ford Transit Van with a tatty piece of cardboard proclaiming “Free Sweeties” next to its potentially open sliding door?

In all likelihood, it’s probably just an old dear with entirely innocent intentions of making £4.50 and protecting some kids from the spring showers.
But that “not too far from here” line does make it look ever so slightly creepy, no?

Quota transmitter

Perusing Brian Micklethwait’s latest offering, I simply had to borrow his photo of the Crystal Palace mast in South East London.

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At 219m in height, it’s London’s fourth tallest structure and provides TV signal for much of the city.
I love the juxtaposition of it against the smaller neighbours – the church tower and the streetlight – in this photo.

Should have seen it coming

The Sun newspaper has done an investigation into the £40m Psychic, Medium and Clairvoyant industry in the UK:

There have been numerous reports of people being ripped off by charlatans who claim to have abilities they do not.
All over the country mediums are charging anything between £30 and £200 for a one-hour session.

Of course, having read their damning report on this fraudulent, rip-off industry which preys on the most vulnerable and stupid members of society, if you still wish to contact a psychic, you can do so via, er… The Sun newspaper’s own “Mystic Meg”:

mmeg

And at £1.53 per minute, that’s “just” £91.80 for an hour of complete bullshit psychic insight.

I predict that a lot of people are going to continue being ripped off.

Cruise Ship Accident Exercise – Tuesday 12th March

Disseminating this sort of information will do no good. It never does. Twitter will still be buzzing with “OMG!” and “What’s going on?” tweets on Tuesday morning. Facebook will catch up by next week.

Remember those fire drills at school? Well, they’re going to have a cruise ship disaster drill off Mouille Point tomorrow:

The City of Cape Town wishes to inform residents that a simulated major cruise ship ‘accident’ close to the Port of Cape Town will be conducted on Tuesday 12 March 2013.
The exercise will test the preparedness and ability of the authorities and related agencies to respond to an incident involving an international cruise ship running aground.
Code-named ‘Beachy’, the joint scenario exercise will be led by the City’s Disaster Risk Management Centre.

Of course, even in these days of modern technology when you wouldn’t expect maritime disasters to even be possible, you don’t have to go too far back to remember the last time a cruise ship ran aground.

Italy Ship Aground

So this sort of preparedness is to be applauded.

The accident will take place off-shore from the Mouille Point Lighthouse and a verification and mass-care centre will be established at the Cape Town Stadium to assist survivors of the cruise liner disaster.
Residents living in the vicinity are alerted that the exercise will involve a large contingent of armed forces, law enforcement agencies and emergency and disaster management personnel.
Helicopters from the SA Air Force and the Western Cape Government Health: Emergency Medical Services  will be utilised to evacuate ‘casualties’ from the ship.

If you’ve got a camera and the ability to walk (sadly, I have neither right now), it might be worth going down there and having a look.

But if you can’t get down there, share this post, educate your friends and prevent unnecessary widespread panic on the streets of the Atlantic Seaboard tomorrow.