the "Headline That Caught My Attention or the WTF" thread

[URL unfurl="true"]https://www.yahoo.com/news/ecuador-says-chinese-fishing-vessels-082059376.html[/URL]

Not just Chinese boats doing this, it's rampant fish piracy worldwide. Smithsonian Magazine has an article about this...

[URL unfurl="true"]https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/27-club-members-130057697.html[/URL]

Never been a fan of Danbury because of traffic. It's on the "Keep Your Butt Off I-95 Alternate Route" heading down to NYC and another traffic tie up. However, I do applaud the local government on this very apropos "Eat This Sucker" initiative...

[SIZE=7]Connecticut town naming sewage plant after John Oliver[/SIZE]
[pressherald.com/2020/08/23/connecticut-town-naming-sewage-plant-after-john-oliver/]('https://www.pressherald.com/2020/08/23/connecticut-town-naming-sewage-plant-after-john-oliver/')

Associated PressAugust 23, 2020

DANBURY, Conn. – A Connecticut town’s officials are showing comedian John Oliver what they think about his expletive-filled rant about their city – they’re naming the local sewage treatment plant after him.

Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton announced the tongue-in-cheek move in a video posted on his Facebook page on Saturday that shows him at the plant.

“We are going to rename it the John Oliver Memorial Sewer Plant,” the Republican mayor says. “Why? Because it’s full of crap just like you, John.”

The new name comes after a recent episode of HBO’s “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” in which he explored the racial disparities in the jury selection process, citing problems in a few Connecticut towns.

In the segment, Oliver noted Danbury’s “charming railway museum” and its “historic Hearthstone Castle.”

“I know exactly three things about Danbury,” he said. “USA Today ranked it the second-best city to live in in 2015, it was once the center of the American hat industry and if you’re from there, you have a standing invite to come get a thrashing from John Oliver – children included – (expletive) you.”

It wasn’t exactly clear what prompted Oliver to go off on Danbury. A message seeking comment was left for his agent Sunday.

Oliver also made fun of Boughton and other American mayors in 2017 over videos they made seeking to attract Amazon’s second world headquarters. In his video, Boughton asks Alexa where the best place for the facility would be, and Alexa says Danbury.

In Boughton’s new video, he also mentions that Amazon has decided to open a distribution facility in Danbury, although it’s not the second world headquarters.

Viva la France................

[URL unfurl="true"]https://www.yahoo.com/news/french-government-defends-freedom-topless-072128469.html[/URL]

“It was unfounded when two women were reproached for their clothing on the beach,” Gerald Darmanin tweeted Monday. “Freedom is a precious asset.”

[SIZE=4]GOOD!![/SIZE]

Let him rot there............................

[URL unfurl="true"]https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/john-lennon-killer-mark-david-194053970.html[/URL]

*“I was too far in,” Chapman told a parole board in 2018. “I do remember having the thought of, ‘Hey, you have got the album now. Look at this, he signed it, just go home.’ But there was no way I was just going to go home.”

Lennon’s widow, [Yoko Ono]('https://www.rollingstone.com/t/yoko-ono'), has steadfastly argued against Chapman’s release, saying she fears for her safety and that of Lennon’s sons, Julian and Sean. She’s also raised concerns over angry Beatles fans seeking retribution for Chapman’s crime if he were to be released. This was the same reasoning behind Chapman’s parole denial in 2018, in which the board wrote that “someone may attempt or succeed in harming you out of anger and or revenge, or for the same reason that you did [John Lennon]('https://www.rollingstone.com/t/john-lennon/'), to assume notoriety.”*

[URL unfurl="true"]https://www.yahoo.com/news/lightning-strike-blows-off-man-143326473.html[/URL]

*“I reached in to turn on the ignition, and just as I had done that, bam!” Misener said, CTV News reported. “There was [no warning]('https://bc.ctvnews.ca/couple-convinced-camo-crocs-may-have-saved-man-from-lightning-strike-1.5081109?cache='), the thunder and the lightning hit at the very same time.”

“The undercarriage of the truck and the whole road basically became this [bright orange color]('https://www.nsnews.com/news/i-just-got-hit-by-lightning-bowen-island-man-who-survived-strike-has-incredible-story-to-tell-1.24193068'),” Misener said, according to the North Shore News. “It was like someone had put orange lights underneath my truck.”

That’s when Misener realized the lightning strike early Aug. 17 had blown off his Crocs and knocked him about 10 feet away, CTV News reported. :oops:

Paramedics called to his home told Misener that his blood pressure and heart rate were elevated, but he had no serious injuries, the North Shore News reported. He credits his rubber-soled camouflage Crocs.

“Do I know if they saved my life? I don’t know for sure, but … I sure feel fortunate I had them on,” he said, according to CBC News. “I know they aren’t high on people’s fashion lists, but I have a new respect for Crocs, I’ll tell you that.”*

Riiiiigggghhhhtt. Lightning just traveled through a mile of thin air, but the insulating qualities of Crocs saved him. Sure.

This is the same kind of nonsense as the idea that rubber tires protect you while in a car.

What a (pardon the expression) crock.

Riiiiigggghhhhtt. Lightning just traveled through a mile of thin air, but the insulating qualities of Crocs saved him. Sure.

This is the same kind of nonsense as the idea that rubber tires protect you while in a car.

What a (pardon the expression) crock.

did you read the article? That as the reasoning from the guy that got hit. Turns out the lightning hit his car not him.

did you read the article? That as the reasoning from the guy that got hit. Turns out the lightning hit his car not him.

Yes, I read it. He was reaching in through the window to start the car.

He's just a lucky so-and-so. When that kind of wattage hits, you're just a random outcome. If I was him, I'd skip buying that lottery ticket tonight. He's used up all his luck.

[URL unfurl="true"]https://www.yahoo.com/news/tesla-model-autopilot-slammed-police-143116701.html[/URL]

The man was charged with two crimes: not moving over for police, and watching TV while driving.
:unsure:

*
An American Airlines pilot was approaching Los Angeles International Airport at around 6:30 p.m. when he called in the sighting to air-traffic control, according to an audio log. The unidentified flying person was at the plane’s altitude, the pilot said, about 3,000 feet in the air.

“Tower, American 1997. We just passed a guy in a jetpack,” the pilot said.
:oops:
*

[URL unfurl="true"]https://www.yahoo.com/news/airline-pilots-report-seeing-guy-120400926.html[/URL]

[[SIZE=6]Several boats sink at 'Trump Boat Parade'[/SIZE]]('https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/trump-boat-parade-texas-disrupted-when-several-boats-sink-n1239427')

A picture is worth a thousand words, some video would be up there with ugly inlet passages. Maybe Texas needs a "Bubba's Law" regarding boat safety training...

gives new meaning “ putting ya feet to da fire ? “.... cellie...

[MEDIA=youtube]QK1awFBails[/MEDIA]

More John Oliver vs Danbury fun...

[SIZE=7]Connecticut city won’t waste John Oliver’s $55,000 donation, on 1 condition[/SIZE]
[pressherald.com/2020/09/06/city-wont-waste-john-olivers-donation-on-1-condition/]('https://www.pressherald.com/2020/09/06/city-wont-waste-john-olivers-donation-on-1-condition/')

Associated PressSeptember 6, 2020

DANBURY, Conn. — A Connecticut city won’t waste an opportunity to get a sizeable donation from comedian John Oliver about a weekslong joke pertaining to the name of a sewage plant in the area.
Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton said on WTNH-TV that he would accept Oliver’s challenge to name the city’s sewage plant after him following Oliver’s offer to donate $55,000 to local charities.

But Boughton said there was one stipulation to the facility’s renaming. “We do have one very specific condition. You must come here to Danbury and be physically present when we cut the ribbon,” he said in a Facebook video posted Sunday.

The announcement was the latest volley in a war of words between the host of HBO’s “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” and Boughton after Oliver first bashed Danbury on an Aug. 16 during a segment on racial disparities in jury selection that was actually focused on other areas of Connecticut.

“If you’re going to forget a town in Connecticut, why not forget Danbury?” Oliver said. He finished his rant with a taunt: “If you’re from there, you have a standing invite to come get a thrashing from John Oliver – children included.”

Boughton followed up with an Aug. 22 Facebook post that showed the mayor in front of the city’s sewage plant. “We are going to rename it the John Oliver Memorial Sewer Plant,” the Republican mayor said. “Why? Because it’s full of crap just like you, John.”

Oliver raised the stakes on his Aug. 30 show by offering to donate $55,000 to Danbury-area charities if officials followed through on naming the plant after him.

The comedian played a video of Boughton saying the offer was a joke and said, “Wait, so you’re not doing it?” Oliver said he hadn’t known that he wanted his name on the sewage plant “but now that you floated it as an option, it is all that I want.”

A message seeking comment on Boughton’s demand that Oliver attend the ribbon-cutting was sent to Oliver’s manager.

It was unclear why Oliver first singled out Danbury, a city of about 80,000 in Fairfield County that was once a hatmaking center.

[URL unfurl="true"]https://www.yahoo.com/news/french-man-chased-fly-around-151608210.html[/URL]

[LIST]
[*]A man in France tried to eliminate an irritating fly and ended up blowing up his house.
[*]The man, in his 80s, used an electric bug swatter which reacted with a gas leak in his home.
[*]The explosion left him with minor burns and his home is uninhabitable, according to local reports.
[*]The fate of the fly is not known.
[/LIST]
:oops:

Had one of them on my boat, D cell I believe, swatting the Greenies was like pissing in the wind. But it did bring some short lived satisfaction.

[URL unfurl="true"]https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/kirstie-alley-james-woods-slam-new-oscars-inclusion-rules-madness-171820363.html[/URL]

*“This is a disgrace to artists everywhere ... can you imagine telling Picasso what had to be in his f****** paintings. You people have lost your minds. Control artists, control individual thought ... OSCAR ORWELL,” she tweeted on Tuesday.

To be eligible for the top prize, a film must meet at least two standards across four categories: “Onscreen Representation, Themes and Narratives,” “Creative Leadership and Project Team,” “Industry Access and Opportunities” and “Audience Development.” Specific criteria is laid out within each category. The standards are part of the Academy’s effort to encourage representation on and off screen of underrepresented groups, including women, people of color, LGBTQ+ people and those with cognitive or physical disabilities. The new rule will not go into effect until 2024.

Alley, 69, blasted the move as “dictatorial” and “anti-artist.”

“I’ve been in the Motion Picture Academy for 40 years. The Academy celebrates freedom of UNBRIDLED artistry expressed through movies,” she [tweeted]('https://twitter.com/kirstiealley/status/1303509516084850688'). “The new RULES to qualify for ‘Best Picture’ are dictatorial ... anti-artist..Hollywood you’re swinging so far left you’re bumping into your own a**.”

Alley actively engaged with users who disagreed with her — using some NSFW language — and hit back on claims she’s “[racist]('https://twitter.com/kirstiealley/status/1303537682119884800').” The Emmy winner said she believes in “diversity and inclusion,” but that it shouldn’t be mandated when making films.*
========================

Bravo Christie
(y)

[URL unfurl="true"]https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/kirstie-alley-james-woods-slam-new-oscars-inclusion-rules-madness-171820363.html[/URL]

*“This is a disgrace to artists everywhere ... can you imagine telling Picasso what had to be in his f****** paintings. You people have lost your minds. Control artists, control individual thought ... OSCAR ORWELL,” she tweeted on Tuesday.

To be eligible for the top prize, a film must meet at least two standards across four categories: “Onscreen Representation, Themes and Narratives,” “Creative Leadership and Project Team,” “Industry Access and Opportunities” and “Audience Development.” Specific criteria is laid out within each category. The standards are part of the Academy’s effort to encourage representation on and off screen of underrepresented groups, including women, people of color, LGBTQ+ people and those with cognitive or physical disabilities. The new rule will not go into effect until 2024.

Alley, 69, blasted the move as “dictatorial” and “anti-artist.”

“I’ve been in the Motion Picture Academy for 40 years. The Academy celebrates freedom of UNBRIDLED artistry expressed through movies,” she [tweeted]('https://twitter.com/kirstiealley/status/1303509516084850688'). “The new RULES to qualify for ‘Best Picture’ are dictatorial ... anti-artist..Hollywood you’re swinging so far left you’re bumping into your own a**.”

Alley actively engaged with users who disagreed with her — using some NSFW language — and hit back on claims she’s “[racist]('https://twitter.com/kirstiealley/status/1303537682119884800').” The Emmy winner said she believes in “diversity and inclusion,” but that it shouldn’t be mandated when making films.*
========================

Bravo Christie
(y)

Was just commenting to the Admiral that now we have "Affirmative Action" for Oscars. Makes no sense, if a movie is determined to be "The Best" then it's the best. Now we'll have studios recruiting token employees so their films can be considered. This is NOT progress, it's a charade.

[URL unfurl="true"]https://news.yahoo.com/dated-1920-postcard-finally-gets-141559815.html[/URL]

*The postcard, faded and weathered, has a postmark dated Oct. 29, 1920, and a green stamp of George Washington, priced 1 cent.

Its message is written in cursive, its front shows a witch and a goose wearing a pumpkin on its head, and its address is to a Mrs. Roy McQueen in Belding, Michigan. It took almost a century to be delivered.
*

Screw da movies anyway, they’re all crap now, boring, stupid, violent shitt... rather go fishing... ?? cellfish...