The Official Nonsense Thread

[Minty]

Somedays, I REALLY hate this petty minded little country.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-ta...l-22345919

Man guilty over toy gun outside bank in Stirling

A homeless man who was found sitting outside a bank with a bright orange toy gun has been convicted of having an "imitation weapon".

Scott Park, 33, was handcuffed and led away by police after being found with the toy gun outside the Royal Bank of Scotland in Stirling in June last year.

Initially he was charged with a breach of the peace but prosecutors changed it to one of breaching the Firearms Act.

Sheriff Derek O'Carroll deferred sentence for background reports.

During the sheriff-only trial at Stirling Sheriff Court, CCTV footage was shown of Park huddled on the steps of the bank, which was closed at the time, as passers-by occasionally dropped coins in his plastic cup.

Police were alerted after a teenage girl saw the bright orange gun fall out of his pocket.

She said she asked him what he was going to do with it and that he had replied he was going to use it if people refused to give him money.

She said she was not sure if he was joking.

Depute fiscal Lindsey Brooks, prosecuting, argued a toy gun could fall foul of the Firearms Act if it "looked like a gun".

Alistair Burleigh, defending, said the item his client had was "florescent bright orange, entirely constructed of plastic, and quite obviously simply a toy".

A firearms expert told the court the gun was perfectly legal and it was bright orange because legislation says that non-imitation toy guns have to be a bright colour to distinguish them from real guns.

But Sheriff O'Carroll said it had the appearance of a firearm. He said children had "lawful excuse" for possessing such things - for playing cowboys and Indians.

He said the case raised "a major public policy issue".

Outside court Park said the verdict was "unbelievable".

They used a ridiculous charge to lift him in the first place because "we can't have beggers outside of our nice clean bank" - but the sick irony is they've done him a favour. Now he has a nice warm cell with no more worries about food, shelter, hygiene, healthcare, etc. for perhaps an extended length of time considering it was a "firearms" offence; as opposed to the "freedom" to freeze or starve to death die on the streets. He has just been taught what an ass the law is, what an ass this country is.

This country would make a Communist out of Gordon Gecko with its idea of fairness & justice.

[Caspin]

Well now, Sherriff O'Carroll is enjoying throwing his weight around a bit too much there isn't he. That is a depressing story but you're right, the guy should at least now have a roof over his head and a few hot meals out of it.

The "news" story that annoyed me most last week was about a supermarket being forced to remove all the peanuts from its shelves because it had forgotten to include a 'contains peanuts' warning on the packet. I try not to let these things bother me but sometimes .....

[Minty]

Packet of peanuts - "Warning: This Contains Peanuts"

Pot Noodle - "Warning: May contain traces of food"

[Caspin]

(30-04-2013 11:36 PM)Minty Wrote:  Pot Noodle - "Warning: May contain traces of food"

"May" being the operative word.

[Ollie]

G'day Caspin!
I really should be getting homework done.

BTW, I have discovered why The sims 2 was generally more fun than the sims 3. It's because the sims 2 was harder. That being said, we need a difficulty option in the sims 4.

[Caspin]

G'day Ollie! (See, I can speak Australian)

Ah, homework. Yeah, get it done and don't forget that one day you won't have any more!

I don't mind Sims 3 being 'easy' as such, since you can always introduce your own targets and challenges. It is perhaps a bit too easy to climb career ladders and so on, though.

[Minty]

(01-05-2013 11:54 AM)Ollie Wrote:  G'day Caspin!
I really should be getting homework done.

BTW, I have discovered why The sims 2 was generally more fun than the sims 3. It's because the sims 2 was harder. That being said, we need a difficulty option in the sims 4.

Knowing EA, the difficulty option for Sims 4 will be in trying to get the game to work.

[Caspin]

The mere idea of Sims 4 makes me feel tired. I have no faith in EA learning from the errors of their ways. Not many can break my usual optimism, but EA have no trouble doing so!

Last night I went to see this: http://www.drglas.com

I kept telling people "Tonight I'm going to see a one-man show. It's in Swedish" and they all (every single one without exception!) laughed at me. Cheeky sods! I read an English translation of the book a long time ago, loved the story and the character of the doctor and I was so excited to see the play. Being a fan of Wallander didn't hurt either and that it was set in Stockholm. I liked Stockholm so much when I went there, such beautiful light.

Me:

[Minty]

I have to admit I thought it was going to be one of Ingmar Bergman's

Going to see a good play beats going to see a good movie or TV show, for the same reason going to a football match is better than seeing it on TV (unless it's raining!).

Can you understand Swedish? If so, was there much of a difference between the translated version & the original? I remember back when I still had some grasp of German how annoyed I got watching stuff like "The Tin Drum" and finding the subtitles didn't get the nuances of the story correct, but that was in part because it got lost in the direct translation.

Channel 4 used to be great for showing foreign movies you'd otherwise never have heard of.

[Caspin]

Sadly I cannot understand Swedish, although I very much enjoy listening to it. I am completely rubbish at learning languages, despite my best efforts. We were taught French at school but I can barely remember it now and I did my damnedest to learn Spanish, to no avail. I would really love to be able to speak lots of languages, or at least be able to read them, but no. Oh well, I have so many other talents, I shouldn't be greedy.

So I cannot say whether the translation was good or not. It was certainly a compelling read. The programme for the play says that the English version is now out of print, so if you ever wanted to read it I could send you my copy. A few years ago my best friend and I made each other read some of our favourite books and our most hated books, the idea being that we would learn each others' taste and be able to recommend books. I gave her Dr Glas and was so relieved that she liked it!
Football matches in the rain are OK as long as your sausage rolls don't get soggy.
I always sneak in a hip flask to matches, just in case it gets chilly and I need a wee dram to warm up (or for sorrow-drowning if the match does not go too well).