In the news

Should've spotted that one, evidently lacking sufficient coffee/sleep. Now I've got a classic general lucifer story going on in my head, thanks for that...

I got a £180 light from Planet X for £10 because of a pricing error. I even emailed to check before I ordered it.

traffic participants

'Traffic participants' is a literal translation of the German word "Verkehrsteilnehmer". I think 'participants in traffic' works better in English, but even that is clunky. Regardless, the notion of 'participating' in traffic is a good one, I think.

Reads like a non-native speaker, structure is quite Germanic.

Yes, definitely. And it should be 'relaxedly', not 'relaxingly', and both are clumsy.

Simon Jenkins' discussion of Johnson's dishonours list:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/aug/03/boris-johnsons-list-of-lords-is-a-disgrace-corruption-westminster

Cruise ship passengers and crew test positive for C19
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-53636854

I think the idea of a cruise is terrible at the best of times, but in the midst of a pandemic surely more people would think that?

Massive discounts available if you like crusing and are optimistic

Lots of tourism is dirt cheap in Europe at the moment. 75%+ discounts for some operators trying to survive. If you were planning on saving up and spunking ten grand on a cruise and suddenly the same trip was on offer for £2k, the thought of going would at least cross your mind I guess.

I saw 7 days half board in a 3* in Corfu with BA flights for £250 the other day. If you cant normally afford a holiday, its going to tempt you.

A cruise does seem like madness though. They're risky when there isn't a pandemic aren't they?

Edit: Wow. 7 nights in a four star hotel in Croatia with flights for £169 on Lastminute.com.

7 nights in a four star hotel in Croatia with flights for £169 on Lastminute.com.

Staahp. Just back from a week in Cornwall and not at all ready to be back, this isn't helping

August is looking rainy here on the Emerald Isle (well it helps with growing grass!!!) don't tempt me ;)

I guess thats the point isn't it? With prices like that your mind starts wandering!

Heathrow was (comparatively) rammed with people taking advantage when we passed through a few days ago.

Still not sure a cheap cruise would tempt me to go on a cruise, if cruises were my thing.

Insane explosion Beirut:

https://twitter.com/DavidKenner/status/1290672862840446976

Whoa, that is big.

https://twitter.com/Doctor_Hutch/status/1290676790160228357

"
Plane just crashed at the end of the road. Reportedly from the museum at Duxford.
"

[EDIT] Hawker Sea Fury allegedly. Engine failure and forced landing. No idea how good a forced landing it was.

Jesus - that is horrendous in Beirut

Bloody hell. That must mean many deaths. :(

Shitting crikey

Weird ending to the Guardian article:
'An Israeli military spokesman told the Guardian he would not comment on the blast'

Bbc article strongly hinting that timing and location may not be coincidental

Scheduled US Dept of Defence officials media interviews have been cancelled

Why was the cloud red/orange - it it the colour of the stored material?

AP journalist quoting gov Head of General Security saying fire at “depot of highly explosive material”

https://mobile.twitter.com/dalalmawad/status/1290695023030394880

Grain?

Nah, there's at least one video where you can see it's the (smaller) warehouse exploding, not the adjacent building.

75 Years since Hiroshima on Thurs.

Bit suspect.

Mmm. Would have thought that scale of explosion needs vast quantities of material at some pressure.

Chatter on twitter about the primary fire being caused by explosive material - munitions of some kind - that then set off the larger secondary explosion in the adjacent building.