peds

Fair approach. Maybe take a refundable deposit?

Guilty.

Rescue rigging, we use 11.5mm. Knowing how quickly the kN build up, especially when the load bounces a bit, and even when shared across two identical systems, would make me worried about taking even moderately sized bits on a rope that size unless they had a guaranteed soft catch. That said, I fully intend to add an 11.5mm rope for light bits one day.

Four of these, and one more tomorrow. Bit of climbing, bit of pulling.

I long for SpaceX's early days, before we really knew what a disaster of a human being Elon Musk is. I'm still 100% on board for SpaceX success, but how I wish they had someone else at the helm. Someone competent.

Gert lush, fam.

It does suggest that the powers that be know that there's only one realistic outcome, and that they've decided to force them down the grizzliest road possible... At least if they had left the "unsafe" equipment there'd be something of a catch-22 about it, but to have removed one of the decision paths that ultimately lead to the same outcome... What's the opposite of a catch-22?

Commentary from the interweb, veracity unknowable: "The authorities removed the unsafe ad-hoc equipment that the miners used and closed off some of the entrances, but kept open others. There's been a rescue team there since November, but the miners refused rescue because they were going to be arrested as soon as they left." "They are saying that they physically can’t get out at this point. Mine is 2.5km deep and steep. Weak from starvation and lack of supplies." "No way for them to get out thanks to our incredibly capable police force who didn't just stop supplies getting to them, but destroyed the equipment they were using. Classic South African cluster****************." Several comments also alluding to the obvious course of action when presented by imminent starvation while surrounded by... meat...

But not trapped, as one would traditionally understand the word in the context of a mining disaster... Imprisoned!! This planet... my God.

Hang on, let me read it again. ...um, no. No mention of them. Odd, that.

I had to kill a pair of roosters on Sunday, they were nice birds so as a mark of respect I'm trying to use as much as possible. I didn't have time to pluck them unfortunately, they were skinned, so whole roasted bird is out of the question. But the breasts have been frozen individually, all 4 legs were sat simmering in a curry overnight, and I'm about to flake the meat off the bones. The carcasses were roasted then simmered for stock, with all the spare meat flaked off to be used. We had udon noodle miso soup with cock stock and shredded bird last night, I'm making a leek and potato soup with cock stock now (not quite cockaleekie, which is rice-based) for the kids' lunch, and for my first lunch (I tend to have two on days I'm not working) I've just had a rooster kebab, with spicy pickles and garlic sauce and whathaveyou. Thank you, roosters, for the precious gift of your lives, so that we might eat. You are cherished and appreciated.

Eee, lads, I tell you what... I'm glad I get to earn a living by jumping around in trees... and not whatever this hellscape is... Over a hundred dead... maybe 800 trapped... in a South African goldmine... not because of a collapse... ...but because they are being starved out... Bodies recovered from illegal goldmine in South Africa where many feared dead | South Africa | The Guardian WWW.THEGUARDIAN.COM Thirty-six bodies brought to surface amid claims 109 are dead and between 400 and 800 people still alive and... Thirty-six bodies have been brought out of an illegal goldmine in South Africa and 82 people have been taken out alive since Monday, after police blocked supplies of food, water and medicine to the workers underground in October in an attempt to force them out. On Thursday, a letter brought up to the surface claimed there were 109 dead bodies underground. A video circulated by the NGO Mining Affected Communities United in Action (Macua) appeared to show more than 50 wrapped bodies laid out in a tunnel. Another video showed emaciated men begging to be sent food and rescued. Macua had claimed there were between 400 and 800 people still alive and trapped underground before the operation began at the Buffelsfontein mine near Stilfontein, about 100 miles south-west of Johannesburg. Police launched Operation Vala Umgodi (plug the hole) in late 2023 in an effort to stamp out illegal mining. In early November, they said their prevention of essential supplies being sent down the mineshafts around Stilfontein had forced hundreds of miners to the surface since mid-October “as a result of starvation and dehydration”. Later in November and December, they allowed some supplies to be sent down. South African authorities have repeatedly argued the miners were free to resurface and that those who remained underground were trying to avoid arrest, pointing to more than 1,500 people who have emerged from another mineshaft in the area. Activists claimed the two mines were not connected underground. “I am happy, but at the very same time scared, because I don’t know what to expect,” Zinzi Tom, whose brother Ayanda was still reported to be underground on Tuesday morning, told the local TV station eNCA on Monday. “[The government] said they would ‘smoke them out’, indeed they smoked them out … So I’m not OK, but I’m hoping for the best,” said Tom, who launched an urgent court case last week in response to the letter claiming 109 had died. The authorities then launched the rescue operation, which they have said could take up to 16 days. Illegal mining has flourished across South Africa’s north-eastern mining belt in recent years, as industrial mines have been exhausted and abandoned. There are about 30,000 zama zama miners, according to expert estimates, producing 10% of South Africa’s gold output in 6,000 abandoned mineshafts, often controlled by violent criminal syndicates. A private company, Mines Rescue Services, is operating a crane-winched cage that can bring six people an hour to the surface. However, only local volunteers have been going down the 1.2-mile shaft at Buffelsfontein. “It’s too risky for private or state workers to go down with the cage because it’s known that some of the zama zamas are armed to the teeth, and some of those who emerged have given statements that they were held against their will,” said Makhosonke Buthelezi, a spokesperson for the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy. The miners are either being arrested or taken to hospital, where they will recover before being detained, he said. Edit: I mean... isn't that just f*cking loopy?!

Only a Dr, not a Prof Dr. How would one become a Professor of Punk Poetry?

Must be true, I saw it on Facebook.