BRFR Cake Stop 'breaking news' miscellany

[briantrumpet]

Or trying to eat the foil stuck to the chocloate on a warm day and getting that horrendous metallic feeling.

On an amalgam filling is even better.

 

[LCpl Boiled Egg]

The wrappers were better for recycling though.

 

[icowden]

The fact that it needs to get to 99% occultation for it to get really dark just shows how much energy the sun dumps on us every second.

Back on the eclipse - did anyone go out and see the Perseids afterwards?
My daughter fancied seeing them so we drove up to Epsom Downs. To my huge surprise it was like a huge party had been organised. The lights from the racecourse and surrounds were still on, so we redirected to Box Hill.

Again - huge numbers of visitors - many parked badly and illegally making it very hard to get around the roads. We did find a place on the hillside and watched the spectacle for about 40 minutes.

I'm presuming the popularity was due to it being the same day as the eclipse - and also the fact that it wasn't just astronomy nerds.

 

[Rusty Nails]

It’s all FOMO.

 

[briantrumpet]

Back on the eclipse - did anyone go out and see the Perseids afterwards?
My daughter fancied seeing them so we drove up to Epsom Downs. To my huge surprise it was like a huge party had been organised. The lights from the racecourse and surrounds were still on, so we redirected to Box Hill.

Again - huge numbers of visitors - many parked badly and illegally making it very hard to get around the roads. We did find a place on the hillside and watched the spectacle for about 40 minutes.

I'm presuming the popularity was due to it being the same day as the eclipse - and also the fact that it wasn't just astronomy nerds.

No eclipse for me (sunset & mountains), but went out at about 11.30 and saw six in about 20 minutes, the last two being especially good, leaving a visible trail for a couple of seconds.

 

[Psamathe]

Back on the eclipse - did anyone go out and see the Perseids afterwards?

I ignored the eclipse (that orbiting objects periodlically align is nothing to get excited about (at least for me).

But for the last few nights I have been setting camera up and eleft running overnight on 15 sec exposures to capture as much as possible. Night of the 11th only ran until 23:00 as the controller radio receiver battery went flat!. Last night ran and several images of meteors (easily distinguishable from aircraft and satellites on 15 sec exposures). Try again tonight as Perseids have a broad double peak (often). Best times (peak rates) are around/after midnight when the Earth (local observer) turns towards the radiant. That said the PM meteors tend to be longer whereas the AM ones shorter (due to the rotation of the Earth.

 

[AndyRM]

Back on the eclipse - did anyone go out and see the Perseids afterwards?
My daughter fancied seeing them so we drove up to Epsom Downs. To my huge surprise it was like a huge party had been organised. The lights from the racecourse and surrounds were still on, so we redirected to Box Hill.

Again - huge numbers of visitors - many parked badly and illegally making it very hard to get around the roads. We did find a place on the hillside and watched the spectacle for about 40 minutes.

I'm presuming the popularity was due to it being the same day as the eclipse - and also the fact that it wasn't just astronomy nerds.

I tried, but it was overcast in the North East so I saw f*ck all. Bit disappointing all around really.

 

[briantrumpet]

Hang on a minute... shouldn't the data centre companies and homebuilders pay for their water needs and add it to their bills for their customers?

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/aug/13/water-bills-suppliers-spending-england-wales-ofwat

 

[Pross]

Back on the eclipse - did anyone go out and see the Perseids afterwards?
My daughter fancied seeing them so we drove up to Epsom Downs. To my huge surprise it was like a huge party had been organised. The lights from the racecourse and surrounds were still on, so we redirected to Box Hill.

Again - huge numbers of visitors - many parked badly and illegally making it very hard to get around the roads. We did find a place on the hillside and watched the spectacle for about 40 minutes.

I'm presuming the popularity was due to it being the same day as the eclipse - and also the fact that it wasn't just astronomy nerds.

Sounds like the obvious spots near me when there’s an aurora alert and apparently the same with bioluminescent plankton. The joys of social media trends.

 

[First Aspect]

It’s all FOMO.

I think a lot of younger people think it will look like when the Enterprise goes into warp drive. It's slightly less spectacular, particularly around the London area.

 

[Pross]

It feels like the whole of Wales is on fire at the moment. I’m away in North West Wales and drove up from Newport way yesterday. There were two massive fires near home and as I went over the crest near Talgarth there was a blanket of what looked like smoke as far as I could see but it was so extensive I thought it must be mist. It turned out to be a 400 hectare fire just outside Rhayader that closed the A470. We must have been driving over 20 miles with the cloud of smoke itself.

 

[icowden]

It feels like the whole of Wales is on fire at the moment. I’m away in North West Wales and drove up from Newport way yesterday. There were two massive fires near home and as I went over the crest near Talgarth there was a blanket of what looked like smoke as far as I could see but it was so extensive I thought it must be mist. It turned out to be a 400 hectare fire just outside Rhayader that closed the A470. We must have been driving over 20 miles with the cloud of smoke itself.

New Forest Fire is on day 6 now.

We have even had 3 3.7 acre wild fires near us in Surrey (literally just across the river) which is just unheard of.

 

[briantrumpet]

It feels like the whole of Wales is on fire at the moment. I’m away in North West Wales and drove up from Newport way yesterday. There were two massive fires near home and as I went over the crest near Talgarth there was a blanket of what looked like smoke as far as I could see but it was so extensive I thought it must be mist. It turned out to be a 400 hectare fire just outside Rhayader that closed the A470. We must have been driving over 20 miles with the cloud of smoke itself.

zoom.earth is a useful place to look. It does appear that a big chunk of Wales was under the pall of the various fires at 4pm yesterday

 

[briantrumpet]

I think this probably means that Meta know that they are losing the public on this. "Oh, look, they are glasses for blind people really!!"

 

[First Aspect]

New Forest Fire is on day 6 now.

We have even had 3 3.7 acre wild fires near us in Surrey (literally just across the river) which is just unheard of.

Are they each 3.7 acres?