Off Topic The "Discuss Anything Else" Thread

Just reading up on a young kid who was killed after an IKEA cupboard fell over on him, suffocating him and the subsequent payout of compensation to the family of the deceased kid, IKEA have paid out $46m...!! Now, I know they can not bring the child back from the dead, apparently this is the third kid to have died in such a way, and I know that if this is a design fault then the company should pay out if proven to be a design fault. But $46million...!!

Then I go on to read about other such huge pay outs which to me are absolutely staggering... ( Copied from the BBC web page...)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-51017438

Recent large US compensation awards:

• In December 2019, the family of a 15-year-old boy who died after a police officer stunned him with a Taser gun settle their wrongful death case for $12m
• That same month, Sacramento County agrees to pay at least $25m following a 2017 crash involving a sheriff's car that left a 10-year-old girl with permanent brain damage - I actually get this one as the costs for looking after a child with disabilities can be huge...
• In November 2019, a jury orders tobacco companies RJ Reynolds and Philip Morris to pay more than $157m to a Florida man over the cancer death of his husband
• In May 2019, a jury in California awards more than $2bn to a couple who said the weedkiller Roundup was responsible for their cancer. The company was planning an appeal
• In 2017, Johnson & Johnson is ordered to pay $417m to a woman who says she developed ovarian cancer after using products such as baby powder (also subject to appeal)

How do they come up with these vast totals...?? And no, I've no idea the emotional cost of the families involved in these horror stories must feel, but millions of dollars...?!?!

 

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Slow news day... is that Woking, Alberta?

It would seem that Harry bagged a trophy bride, got someone to renovate the house for £2.4m, realised he has no chance of getting the top job unless ‘dad’, older brother, nephews and niece all take the same 737-MAX flight (no Queen Meg); and has decided that being followed everywhere by the paps is not worth the hassle. So they are going to clear off to Canada and live off her wealth, since the media have spent the last two years slagging her off but they won’t have to read all that and force a smile if they stop playing at being Royal and just be ShowBiz.

Who cares if grandma does not like it? They skipped Christmas with The Firm in Norfolk last year and Uncle Andy went instead.

 

One can almost guess what the Chinese President is thinking? "Yeah, yeah, you devious, tweeting, odious, crafty s.o.b."



Hmm, maybe, "Pot-Kettle-Black", we'll probably never know.

 

Hi Swanny. Where have you been? Everything OK?

 

Hi Ron, am OK, just sent you PM update.

 

This man gives a lot of really interesting info on aviation news. Here, the fuel dumping at LAX a couple of days ago.

 

Sorry guys, but I've recently become addicted to Kennedy Steve. That doesn't say much does it?

Kennedy Steve is a tower man who worke the ground at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. He's famed for his quick wit and laid back attitude. He retired in 2017 after 28 years in the job.

Forum members might have to suffer through a few clips.

 

There are some amazing cleaning vids out there Oddy, but I'm not sure my old ticker could sustain the pace.

 

More on the fuel dumping.

 

Kennedy Steve. The top one percent mentioned in the clip are the filthy rich who use private jets to get to work each day.

The pilots get in on the banter.

 

Holy ****. Some days, pilots really earn their pay.

 

Interesting and worthwhile project by RR at its R&D facility near Bristol:

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-50850242

 

So the Uk citizens from Wuhan arrive back at Brize Norton to be escorted to their 14 day quarantine by bus. On the bus are a bunch of official looking dudes in full body suits and masks. The bus driver on the other hand just has little high viz vest on. He's either expendable or as hard as fook? You couldn't write this ****e

 

These potentially contaminated people arrive back at an RAF base in Oxfordshire and where does the government decide to send them for their quarantine? Merseyside. Obviously they think that nobody will dare try and escape from the facility because Scousers might be more dangerous than the Coronavirus...