Dave
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Post by Dave on Sept 24, 2012 19:07:53 GMT
This thread is for any story you hear that you find unbelievable. I hope many will add any stories you come across.
I will start this thread of with a story I heard on the news this morning. I have copied the story below for you all to read.
Armed paramilitary police had to be called in to quell a 2,000-man brawl at the troubled Foxconn factory in Northern China that makes parts for Apple’s iPhone 5, among other products.
Around 40 workers were hospitalised in the riot, which began at around 11pm on Sunday night in one of the factory’s dormitory blocks. What started as a dispute between a worker and aggressive security guards in one of the factory dormitories spiralled out of control as thousands of workers streamed off their shifts and joined the fray against the plant’s 1,500 security guards.
It took four hours for the police to bring the situation under control, according to a statement from Foxconn, the owners of the plant in Taiyuan, Shanxi province.
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Post by lambethgull on Sept 25, 2012 16:09:33 GMT
Not unbelievable if you've been following labour struggles/unrest in China and South East Asia over the last decade. It's interesting how this is being reported in the media, as if it were some kind of giant version of the Bradford v Crawley debacle last season, when in fact it's much more complicated than that.
The incident at the Foxconn plant is part of a pattern of incidents which have been building for more than a decade. Last year saw the widely reported protests at Wukan, as residents took umbrage at their corrupt government officials' attempts to sell off land without consultation. But that was just one of many incidents, with hundreds of thousands of incidents of 'mass protest'' being reported every year in the country (and growing year-on-year). To understand China you have to understand the composition of its labour force. Many Chinese workers and labourers are migrant workers from other parts of China. These workers have fewer rights in their temporary places of residence than officially resident Chinese in the industrialised cities. The quid pro quo of this however is that migrant workers typically have land rights in their place of origin. By becoming newly registered residents or citizens, migrant workers would give up their land rights, and are unsurprisingly reluctant to do so. The problem for the Chinese however is that expansion and industrialisation is placing ever greater pressure on the state to industrialise areas with existing land rights, hence incidents such as Wukan.
That's just one aspect of the problem for Chinese capital however. The other problem is that workers are asserting their rights in other ways. Labour costs are rising as a result of pressure from workers. The state-sanctioned unions (much like ours!) are far more interested in maintaining their own position of privilege than challenging the status quo. Wildcat strikes, riots and direct action are the inevitable result of this situation, just as it was in 18th and 19th century Britain and early 20th century America.
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Dave
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Post by Dave on Oct 9, 2012 18:22:21 GMT
Is this man simply mad? when he finally gets to do it will he live to tell the tale?An Austrian daredevil is hoping to make an unprecedented leap from the edge of space Tuesday, setting records as he breaks the speed of sound in freefall in the skies above the US state of New Mexico. Felix Baumgartner will ascend to 120,000 feet - nearly 23 miles, or 36 km - in a capsule taken up to the edge of the stratosphere by a gigantic helium balloon, before stepping out in a pressurized suit to fall back to earth. The jump was initially due to take place Monday morning, but was delayed by 24 hours due to weather. The 43-year-old has been training for five years for the jump, during which he will be in freefall for some five minutes before opening a parachute at 5,000 feet up to float back to the ground. The biggest danger he faces is spinning out of control, which could exert G forces and make him lose consciousness - a controlled dive from the capsule is essential, putting him in a head-down position to increase speed. “On a mission like this, you need to be mentally fit and have total control over what you do, and I'm preparing very thoroughly,” said Baumgartner, who will wear a pressurized space-suit and carry oxygen tanks to help him breathe. He hopes to set a number of records: the first man to break the speed of sound, around 690 mph; the highest ever jump Ä over three times the average airliner cruising altitude Ä and the fastest speed in freefall. The Red Bull Stratos mission, backed by a 100-strong team of experts and centered on the launch site in Roswell, New Mexico, also hopes to contribute to medical and aeronautical research. “We'll be setting new standards for aviation. Never before has anyone reached the speed of sound without being in an aircraft,” said medical director Dr. Jonathan Clark, who was the crew surgeon for six Space Shuttle flights. The mission will test “new equipment and developing the procedures for inhabiting such high altitudes as well as enduring such extreme acceleration,” to improve safety for astronauts but also potential space tourists, he added. The pod-like space capsule that will take Baumgartner to the edge of space is to be hoisted aloft by a giant helium-filled balloon - taller than the Eiffel Tower when fully inflated - around 6:00 am Tuesday (1200 GMT). The ascent is expected to take between 2-3 hours. The descent, if all goes well, will take about 15 to 20 minutes - five minutes or so in freefall, and 10 to 15 floating down with his parachute, hopefully to a soft landing. The flight will be streamed live on the mission's website - www.redbullstratos.com - with more than 35 cameras on the ground and in the air, including on Baumgartner's suit. Among the mission team is retired US Air Force Colonel Joseph Kittinger, who holds three of the records Baumgartner will try to break Ä including the current record jump from 102 800 ft, set more than 50 years ago in 1960. At that time no one knew whether a human could survive such a leap. “Man is always inquisitive, and always wants to go faster, higher, lower, deeper - that's part of the challenge of human beings. “We always like to push the envelope,” said the 83-year-old ahead of Monday's jump. - Sapa-AFP
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Post by loyalgull on Oct 15, 2012 20:03:16 GMT
well he did it dave,a very brave man indeed,or bonkers? i got giddy watching him jump from the comfort of my armchair live on tv
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Post by loyalgull on Oct 17, 2012 17:27:00 GMT
whats the difference between a blind mans stick and a sabre?,well all of us know the answer to that ,but not lancashire constabulary apparently,they tasered a blind man thinking he was carrying a samurai sword,may i suggest iq tests and a visit to spec savers for our serving police force,unfriggingbelievable but true.Hope he sues the pants of them. This comes hot on the heels of the hillsborough cover up,ian tomlinsons sad death,and four searches in a house where a little girls body is discovered,eventually.Oh and the phone hacking scandal  |
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Dave
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Post by Dave on Oct 18, 2012 8:47:32 GMT
whats the difference between a blind mans stick and a sabre?,well all of us know the answer to that ,but not lancashire constabulary apparently,they tasered a blind man thinking he was carrying a samurai sword,may i suggest iq tests and a visit to spec savers for our serving police force,unfriggingbelievable but true.Hope he sues the pants of them. This comes hot on the heels of the hillsborough cover up,ian tomlinsons sad death,and four searches in a house where a little girls body is discovered,eventually.Oh and the phone hacking scandal When I heard about this story on the news last night, I could not believe what I was hearing. After doing some research this morning, it does seem as bad as it sounds. A blind man walking on his way to meet some friends got tasered in the back the officer claimed he asked the man to stop, but how far away from the man was he when he made that command? I do not know that answer, but if he was close to the man he would have clearly seen he was carrying a white stick. The reports that a man was seen carrying a saber sword were correct as later a 27 year old man was arrested, the man who got tasered was 61 years old. And has suffered two heart attacks in the past. Checking on google this morning about the use of tasers in this country I found this. Taser is only appropriate for use in situations where officers are dealing with violence or threats of violence where police need to use force to protect the public, the subject or themselves. There are many situations when the use of a taser might be justified, IE dealing with someone who is armed or being very violent, but was that really the case as a blind man was simply walking and ended up being shot in the BACK by a taser? I personally was against the police being armed with tasers, it is clear just watching clips on you tube that they have been used so many times when there really was no need to deploy them. But they are here and their use must be carefully monitored to prevent such cases as this one happening again. A few clips below, the first one is the blind man himself talking about his experience. The second one a real situation shot through a window from a house across the street. The third one shows the damage that can be caused by a taser to a 14 year old girl. The other one is an example of its misuse. |
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Post by loyalgull on Oct 18, 2012 16:37:08 GMT
i wonder if they asked him how much alcohol he had to drink while they were frying tonight,the cops reutation has taken a hell of a beating of late,mostly justified imho
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Dave
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Post by Dave on Oct 27, 2012 17:42:25 GMT
Two stories this last week I found rather hard to believe. The first one must come with the warning never go around claiming you are an expert at anything. Story one was about six scientists who have just been sent to jail for six years each.
There were a series of small earthquake temblors in early 2009 in L'Aquila in Italy. They were asked to carry out a risk assessment to try and determine if there was likely to be a major earthquake. While they said one could not be ruled out, they did say one was very unlikely.
Sadly there was one and over three hundred people were killed, but no one can stop or really predict what nature is going to do.
The second story was even more unbelievable
A man in central China's Hunan province has received a jail sentence after ringing a bell five minutes too early during a national college entrance exam, disrupting the exam for more than 1,000 students.
Fifty-four-year-old Xiao Yulong, a former employee of the No. 9 High School of Dongkou county, was sentenced to one year in jail with a one-year reprieve for negligence, according to a written statement issued by the county people's court on Friday.
Xiao was confirmed to have rang the bell 4 minutes and 48 seconds early "by mistake" on June 8, causing 1,050 students to hand in their tests before they were required to do so.
Thousands of students and parents have gathered multiple times at the school and local education bureau to demand a response from the government.
Xiao was careless in his work and mistakenly rang the bell too early, resulting in adverse social impact, the statement said.
The national college entrance exam is an extremely important event for Chinese high school students, as it can determine which university they will go to and therefore shape their future career.
About 9.15 million students registered to take the exam in June this year, according to the Ministry of Education.
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Post by loyalgull on Oct 27, 2012 20:32:25 GMT
so care workers in a home dished out torture both mentally and physically over a long period to people with learning disabilities and nobody knew,until bbc undercover moved in and filmed it,absolutely unbelievable.Someone somewhere must of known,where were the local registration people when this went on? i have reported two cases of neglect during my nursing career and both times registration helped cover it up and helped make my professional career a bloody misery,even trying to get me struck off which didnt happen,if i went to the tabloids it would open a can of worms,but this latest horror story confirms my biggest nursing fears,profit before duties to care,i am not surprised this has been happening and have no doubts at all it is an isolated case.I have no wish to go back into nursing now,its become a hell hole of unpleasantries and this maybe the tip of a very big iceberg
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Post by loyalgull on Oct 27, 2012 20:43:07 GMT
had a conversation with a gentleman today at the match,who had taken his father in law to the match,a man well in his 90s,he apparently until 3 weeks ago was a spritely individual,independant and very active.He decided to treat himself to a trip to scotland finishing with a flight back down south,unfortunately he had a stroke whilst up there and is now wheelchair ridden.For 3 weeks he laid in hospital in scotland,whilst all the health authorities squabbled over who should pay for his transportation back down here.This gentleman flew 36 lancashire bombing missions for king and country in world war two,one of a few to survive.Yet this country and its decrepid red tape left him in limbo for 3 long sad weeks away from his family due to arguments over paying for his care.I wonder if the powers to be would leave abu hamza or other little darlings like ian huntley like this? i doubt it,human rights would move in,and they would of been molly coddled like film stars its bloody disgusting
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davethegull
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Post by davethegull on Oct 28, 2012 4:19:56 GMT
had a conversation with a gentleman today at the match,who had taken his father in law to the match,a man well in his 90s,he apparently until 3 weeks ago was a spritely individual,independant and very active.He decided to treat himself to a trip to scotland finishing with a flight back down south,unfortunately he had a stroke whilst up there and is now wheelchair ridden.For 3 weeks he laid in hospital in scotland,whilst all the health authorities squabbled over who should pay for his transportation back down here.This gentleman flew 36 lancashire bombing missions for king and country in world war two,one of a few to survive.Yet this country and its decrepid red tape left him in limbo for 3 long sad weeks away from his family due to arguments over paying for his care.I wonder if the powers to be would leave abu hamza or other little darlings like ian huntley like this? i doubt it,human rights would move in,and they would of been molly coddled like film stars its bloody disgusting This is a disgrace. The most dangerous task these jobsworths have had to face is sharpening a pencil and only after a full risk assessment from the H&S stazi. Loys please pass on my deep gratitude to this gentleman for his sacrifice and bravery, a true hero. Another piece of insanity. www.telegraph.co.uk/news/9637929/Street-lights-turned-off-in-their-thousands-to-meet-carbon-emission-targets.htmlWhen will the environazis ever learn? |
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Post by loyalgull on Oct 28, 2012 14:59:39 GMT
yep frigging sad,meanwhile down at fawlty towers the mayor in his infinite wisdom spends 7000 quid on a palm tree,welcome to the world of madness,whilst torbay dies a slow painful tourist death
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