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News + current events
- Thread starter srimes
- Start date
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The UK is set to bar anyone born after 2008 from ever buying cigarettes as part of a push to make future generations completely smoke-free.
The United Kingdom’s Tobacco and Vapes Bill was passed by Parliament on Monday and is set to soon be signed into law by King Charles.
Because banning things like drugs, guns, human trafficking, etc. has really put an end to them...
I think they actually tried it
Two fighter jets collide in mid-air over South Korea when pilots start taking photos and video
" Two South Korean fighter jets crashed mid-air after their pilots started taking photos and videos with their phones, officials have revealed.
The collision took place while the planes were on a flight mission over the city of Daegu.
The pilots survived with no injuries, but damage to the planes cost the military the equivalent of 440,500 in repairs.
Seoul's Audit and Inspection Board has said the crash five years ago happened because one of the pilots had wanted to take photos to commemorate his last flight with his military unit.
The report, which was published today, said that taking photos on milestone flights was 'a widespread practice among pilots at the time', and noted that the pilot had declared his intention to do so in a briefing before the flight.
He had been flying the wingman aircraft and was following the lead aircraft during the mission, but while flying back to their base, he started taking pictures on his mobile phone.
The pilot of the lead aircraft then asked another airman on his plane to film a video of the wingman aircraft.
The wingman pilot then flew his jet up higher and flipped it so that it could be better captured on camera.
But this manoeuvre brought the two planes very close, and to avoid a crash, the lead aircraft was forced to descend rapidly.
However, the two F-15K jets eventually collided, damaging the lead aircraft's left wing and the wingman aircraft's tail stabiliser.
South Korea's air force suspended the wingman pilot following the incident, but he has since left the military to work for a commercial airline.
The air force also sought to fine him 880million won, around 400,000, to cover repair costs.
The pilot appealed against the fine, prompting an investigation by the audit board.
He acknowledged that his sudden movement led to the crash, but claimed that the lead aircraft's pilot had 'consented' to him making the manuver.
The audit board has since ruled that the wingman pilot should only pay a fraction of the fine, and said that the air force should bear some responsibility for not regulating pilots' use of cameras and phones.
The board also noted that the wingman had a good track record before the incident.
It is unclear if any action was taken against other pilots involved in the incident. "
https://www.dailymail.com/news/arti...h-Korea-pilots-start-taking-photos-video.html
Two fighter jets collide in mid-air over South Korea when pilots start taking photos and video
" Two South Korean fighter jets crashed mid-air after their pilots started taking photos and videos with their phones, officials have revealed.
The collision took place while the planes were on a flight mission over the city of Daegu.
The pilots survived with no injuries, but damage to the planes cost the military the equivalent of 440,500 in repairs.
Seoul's Audit and Inspection Board has said the crash five years ago happened because one of the pilots had wanted to take photos to commemorate his last flight with his military unit.
The report, which was published today, said that taking photos on milestone flights was 'a widespread practice among pilots at the time', and noted that the pilot had declared his intention to do so in a briefing before the flight.
He had been flying the wingman aircraft and was following the lead aircraft during the mission, but while flying back to their base, he started taking pictures on his mobile phone.
The pilot of the lead aircraft then asked another airman on his plane to film a video of the wingman aircraft.
The wingman pilot then flew his jet up higher and flipped it so that it could be better captured on camera.
But this manoeuvre brought the two planes very close, and to avoid a crash, the lead aircraft was forced to descend rapidly.
However, the two F-15K jets eventually collided, damaging the lead aircraft's left wing and the wingman aircraft's tail stabiliser.
South Korea's air force suspended the wingman pilot following the incident, but he has since left the military to work for a commercial airline.
The air force also sought to fine him 880million won, around 400,000, to cover repair costs.
The pilot appealed against the fine, prompting an investigation by the audit board.
He acknowledged that his sudden movement led to the crash, but claimed that the lead aircraft's pilot had 'consented' to him making the manuver.
The audit board has since ruled that the wingman pilot should only pay a fraction of the fine, and said that the air force should bear some responsibility for not regulating pilots' use of cameras and phones.
The board also noted that the wingman had a good track record before the incident.
It is unclear if any action was taken against other pilots involved in the incident. "
https://www.dailymail.com/news/arti...h-Korea-pilots-start-taking-photos-video.html
speeding_infraction
TJ Addict
As short as Lambos are, and with that truck lifted with a big blind spot, I understand how it happened. It looks like no one was hurt. The funniest part of that is she parked it there before getting out.
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@Wildman
https://www.elpasoinc.com/news/ap_w...cle_00dab3db-51dd-5313-ba88-7e9eb65724dc.html
Late every summer, hulking white bears gather outside a tiny Alaska Native village on the edge of the continent, far above the Arctic Circle, to feast on whale carcasses left behind by hunters and to wait for the deep cold to freeze the sea.
It’s a spectacle that once brought 1,000 or more tourists each year to Kaktovik, the only settlement in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, in a phenomenon sometimes called “last chance tourism” — a chance to see magnificent sights and creatures before climate change renders them extinct.
The COVID-19 pandemic and an order from the federal government halting boat tours to see the bears largely ended Kaktovik's polar bear tourism amid concerns that the tiny village was being overrun by outsiders. But Kaktovik leaders are now hoping to revive it, saying it could be worth millions to the local economy and give residents another source of income — provided the village can set guidelines that protect its way of life and the bears themselves.
“We definitely see the benefit for tourism,” said Charles Lampe, president of the Kaktovik Inupiat Corp, which owns 144 square miles (373 square kilometers) of land. “The thing is, it can’t be run like it was before.”
As far back as the early 1980s, anyone in Kaktovik with a boat and knowledge of the waters could take a few tourists out to watch the bears as they lumbered across the flat, treeless barrier islands just off the coast or tore into the ribs of a bowhead whale left by subsistence hunters.
Tourism in Kaktovik soared in the years after federal officials declared polar bears a threatened species in 2008. The rapid warming of the Arctic is melting the sea ice the bears use to hunt seals, and scientists have said most polar bears could be wiped out by the end of the century.
As visitation boomed, the federal government imposed regulations requiring tour operators to have permits and insurance, and that began to squeeze locals out of the industry, Lampe said. Larger out-of-town operators moved in, and before long crowds of tourists were coming to Kaktovik — a village of about 250 people — during the six-week viewing season.
The town’s two hotels and restaurants lost out on some business when large operators began flying tourists in from Fairbanks or Anchorage for day trips. Locals complained tourist gawked at them or traipsed through their yards.
Small plane capacity became an issue, with residents sometimes battling tourists to get on flights to or from larger cities for medical appointments, forcing those left stranded in the cities to get expensive hotel rooms for the night.
When the pandemic struck, Kaktovik paused visitation. Then in 2021, the federal government, which manages polar bears, halted boat tours, mostly over concerns about how tourists were affecting bear behavior and overrunning the town.
Now Alaska Native leaders are in talks with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to address those concerns and reignite the industry, perhaps as early as 2027. The agency told The Associated Press in a statement that it’s working with Kaktovik “to ensure that any future opportunities are managed in a way that prioritizes visitor safety, resource protection, and community input.”
Among the changes Kaktovik leaders want to see is a limit on how long a boat can sit in the water near the bears. Too long, Lampe said, and the bears get used to humans — making for a dangerous situation when bears wander into town looking for food.
During the height of the tourism boom, it became tougher to haze bears out of town, even with the town’s bear patrol shooting at them with non-lethal rounds. The patrol had to kill about three or four bears per year, compared to maybe one per year before the boom, Lampe said.
“Our safety was at risk,” Lampe said.
In 2023, a 24-year-old woman and her 1-year-old son were killed in a polar bear attack in Wales, in far western Alaska. It was the first fatal polar bear attack in nearly 30 years in Alaska, the only U.S. state home to the species.
Since the boat tours in Kaktovik were halted, the bears once again seem more fearful of humans, Lampe said.
Polar bear tourism coincides with Kaktovik’s subsistence whaling season. When a crew lands a whale, it's usually butchered on a nearby beach. While the community encourages visitors to watch or even help, some were recording or taking pictures without permission, which is considered disrespectful, Lampe said.
Sherry Rupert, CEO of the American Indigenous Tourism Association, suggested that Kaktovik market itself as a two- or three-day experience.
Native communities that are ready for tourists "want them to come and be educated and walk away with a greater understanding of our people and our way of life and our culture,” she said.
Roger and Sonia MacKertich of Australia were looking for the best spot on the planet to view polar bears in the wild when they came to Kaktovik in September 2019. They spent several days in the village, took a walking tour led by an elder and bought souvenirs made by local artists, including a hoodie featuring a polar bear.
For Roger MacKertich, a professional wildlife photographer based in Sydney, the highlight was the boat tours to see bears roaming on the barrier islands or taking a dip in the water. The bears paid them no attention.
“That’s nearly as good as it gets,” he said.
https://www.elpasoinc.com/news/ap_w...cle_00dab3db-51dd-5313-ba88-7e9eb65724dc.html
Late every summer, hulking white bears gather outside a tiny Alaska Native village on the edge of the continent, far above the Arctic Circle, to feast on whale carcasses left behind by hunters and to wait for the deep cold to freeze the sea.
It’s a spectacle that once brought 1,000 or more tourists each year to Kaktovik, the only settlement in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, in a phenomenon sometimes called “last chance tourism” — a chance to see magnificent sights and creatures before climate change renders them extinct.
The COVID-19 pandemic and an order from the federal government halting boat tours to see the bears largely ended Kaktovik's polar bear tourism amid concerns that the tiny village was being overrun by outsiders. But Kaktovik leaders are now hoping to revive it, saying it could be worth millions to the local economy and give residents another source of income — provided the village can set guidelines that protect its way of life and the bears themselves.
“We definitely see the benefit for tourism,” said Charles Lampe, president of the Kaktovik Inupiat Corp, which owns 144 square miles (373 square kilometers) of land. “The thing is, it can’t be run like it was before.”
As far back as the early 1980s, anyone in Kaktovik with a boat and knowledge of the waters could take a few tourists out to watch the bears as they lumbered across the flat, treeless barrier islands just off the coast or tore into the ribs of a bowhead whale left by subsistence hunters.
Tourism in Kaktovik soared in the years after federal officials declared polar bears a threatened species in 2008. The rapid warming of the Arctic is melting the sea ice the bears use to hunt seals, and scientists have said most polar bears could be wiped out by the end of the century.
As visitation boomed, the federal government imposed regulations requiring tour operators to have permits and insurance, and that began to squeeze locals out of the industry, Lampe said. Larger out-of-town operators moved in, and before long crowds of tourists were coming to Kaktovik — a village of about 250 people — during the six-week viewing season.
The town’s two hotels and restaurants lost out on some business when large operators began flying tourists in from Fairbanks or Anchorage for day trips. Locals complained tourist gawked at them or traipsed through their yards.
Small plane capacity became an issue, with residents sometimes battling tourists to get on flights to or from larger cities for medical appointments, forcing those left stranded in the cities to get expensive hotel rooms for the night.
When the pandemic struck, Kaktovik paused visitation. Then in 2021, the federal government, which manages polar bears, halted boat tours, mostly over concerns about how tourists were affecting bear behavior and overrunning the town.
Now Alaska Native leaders are in talks with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to address those concerns and reignite the industry, perhaps as early as 2027. The agency told The Associated Press in a statement that it’s working with Kaktovik “to ensure that any future opportunities are managed in a way that prioritizes visitor safety, resource protection, and community input.”
Among the changes Kaktovik leaders want to see is a limit on how long a boat can sit in the water near the bears. Too long, Lampe said, and the bears get used to humans — making for a dangerous situation when bears wander into town looking for food.
During the height of the tourism boom, it became tougher to haze bears out of town, even with the town’s bear patrol shooting at them with non-lethal rounds. The patrol had to kill about three or four bears per year, compared to maybe one per year before the boom, Lampe said.
“Our safety was at risk,” Lampe said.
In 2023, a 24-year-old woman and her 1-year-old son were killed in a polar bear attack in Wales, in far western Alaska. It was the first fatal polar bear attack in nearly 30 years in Alaska, the only U.S. state home to the species.
Since the boat tours in Kaktovik were halted, the bears once again seem more fearful of humans, Lampe said.
Polar bear tourism coincides with Kaktovik’s subsistence whaling season. When a crew lands a whale, it's usually butchered on a nearby beach. While the community encourages visitors to watch or even help, some were recording or taking pictures without permission, which is considered disrespectful, Lampe said.
Sherry Rupert, CEO of the American Indigenous Tourism Association, suggested that Kaktovik market itself as a two- or three-day experience.
Native communities that are ready for tourists "want them to come and be educated and walk away with a greater understanding of our people and our way of life and our culture,” she said.
Roger and Sonia MacKertich of Australia were looking for the best spot on the planet to view polar bears in the wild when they came to Kaktovik in September 2019. They spent several days in the village, took a walking tour led by an elder and bought souvenirs made by local artists, including a hoodie featuring a polar bear.
For Roger MacKertich, a professional wildlife photographer based in Sydney, the highlight was the boat tours to see bears roaming on the barrier islands or taking a dip in the water. The bears paid them no attention.
“That’s nearly as good as it gets,” he said.
KennethS
TJ Expert
Just as easily could be those scientists were going to prevent something catastrophic, like in The Terminator.
Most people look at wild horses and think how majestic. A wild horse about killed me one time, so I see wild horses and think run!
Most people look at wild horses and think how majestic. A wild horse about killed me one time, so I see wild horses and think run!
View attachment 684993
do tell
Well, to start off, it was my fault.
Now that's out of the way I'll give you a condensed story. We used to go to Cumberland Island, GA pretty often when I was a kid. They have wild horses roaming the island there, so you will encounter them. Also, you should know that I was a hard-headed, FAFO kind of kid, and this happened around 10 years old. Anyway, there are lots of warnings not to touch the horses, but I was comfortable with horses, so of course I touched the horses. Well, my cousin said I wouldn't pet the stallion, a big ol Clydesdale lookin SOB. Well, I touched him, he touched me and punted me from dry sand out into the surf (this was on the beach). I crawled out of the water and started going through a series of conscious-to-unconscious while people started moving me toward medical care.
From the surf to mainland involved a 15-20 wheelbarrow ride and a 45 minute boat ride to get to the ambulance. At the hospital I was put into ICU and stayed there for a day or two. I was in and out the whole time so things got blurred. It just so happened that a day before I got there some girl my age had been brought in from a similar incident with domestic horses, but she didn't make it due to internal bleeding, so the Drs were a little on edge.
In the end I had a shattered wrist, some major bruising and swelling that took about 2 months to recover from, and a permanently deformed hip, which is luckily where the horse hit me. The bone is hoof shaped now, and I'm skinny enough to see it, so I don't think I'll ever forget.
I spent about 2 weeks in a wheel chair, but the hardest part came about 3-4 months later when my oldest sister made me get on her horse and ride. That was extremely hard, but I'm lad she got me on there.
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At least you weren’t doing a Mr. Hands imitation
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