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#91
RANT ROOM / Why persuading the rich to giv...
Last post by THE FUGITIVE - March 25, 2018, 03:19:30 PMWe face years of austerity and as incomes and tax revenues are declining, charitable giving is either falling or stalling. Inequality in Britain is increasing faster than most rich nations â€" it is no coincidence that the most unequal societies are also the most dysfunctional. More tax cannot be the solution without international agreement and while we continue to vote for parties who are against increasing tax and for maintaining non-dom status for UK citizens.
What has this got to do with charitable giving and why should we be bothered if it is falling? We have been giving since the beginning of time. We are programmed to be altruistic as well as competitive; just as the need to eat and procreate is rewarded by feeling good, the same applies to giving. Philanthropy helped us to establish the civil society we enjoy today and enabled law, education, hospitals, welfare and culture to flourish long before the industrial revolution required the state to address growing poverty. Today, perhaps because of the unprecedented material prosperity and massive debt created in the past 60 years, we are losing the plot. Just over half of us give to charities regularly but we seem to be giving less; the poor give proportionately more than the rich and only a small minority of the very rich are being philanthropic.
As austerity bites and some become even more selfish, we risk compromising our humanity as well as civil society. Tax cannot pay for everything; we need a strong voluntary sector. The challenge then is this: while the richest increase their wealth and the remainder grow poorer, how do we reverse the decline in charitable giving and persuade the rich to commit to civil society, both by paying tax and giving? What should the government do to encourage more philanthropy? How do we create a better society if not a big one, while the state is in retreat?
As research for my book Giving Is Good For You, I put these questions to 80 people who give or receive. Many believe that all UK passport holders should pay British taxes wherever they live; national honours should not be given to those who do not pay tax; business leaders should not be given honours unless they can prove they are charitable; there should be more honours for those who volunteer and give. Tax relief should be extended and simplified to motivate more donors, underpinning the principle that tax is not paid on money that is donated. However, to justify spending more public money to stimulate private giving, tax relief should be limited by a much stricter definition of public benefit.
The government and voluntary sector must learn what motivates donors, who are free to choose whether to spend their money on private pleasure or for public gain, although there should not be the expectation that philanthropy can
compensate for reduced public expenditure. A national philanthropy strategy for the voluntary sector should have all party backing to ensure long-term planning by charities and commitment by donors.
Both the private and public sectors have hit the buffers and this gives us the opportunity to create a new social contract if politicians are up to the challenge. Philanthropists believe we should teach our children empathy as well as the virtues of a civil society and the role we should all play in sustaining it. There should be a national diploma for those at school who show commitment to the needs of others, an award that is valued by higher education and employers.
The "big society" may be a fantasy, made toxic by being politicised, but we can create a "better society", in which all should pay tax and everyone, whether giving time or money, can be a philanthropist.
Since you’re here …
… we have a small favour to ask. More people are reading the Guardian than ever but advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. And unlike many news organisations, we haven’t put up a paywall â€" we want to keep our journalism as open as we can. So you can see why we need to ask for your help.
The Guardian’s independent, investigative journalism takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce. But we do it because we believe our perspective matters â€" because it might well be your perspective, too.
I appreciate there not being a paywall: it is more democratic for the media to be available for all and not a commodity to be purchased by a few. I’m happy to make a contribution so others with less means still have access to information.
Thomasine, Sweden
What has this got to do with charitable giving and why should we be bothered if it is falling? We have been giving since the beginning of time. We are programmed to be altruistic as well as competitive; just as the need to eat and procreate is rewarded by feeling good, the same applies to giving. Philanthropy helped us to establish the civil society we enjoy today and enabled law, education, hospitals, welfare and culture to flourish long before the industrial revolution required the state to address growing poverty. Today, perhaps because of the unprecedented material prosperity and massive debt created in the past 60 years, we are losing the plot. Just over half of us give to charities regularly but we seem to be giving less; the poor give proportionately more than the rich and only a small minority of the very rich are being philanthropic.
As austerity bites and some become even more selfish, we risk compromising our humanity as well as civil society. Tax cannot pay for everything; we need a strong voluntary sector. The challenge then is this: while the richest increase their wealth and the remainder grow poorer, how do we reverse the decline in charitable giving and persuade the rich to commit to civil society, both by paying tax and giving? What should the government do to encourage more philanthropy? How do we create a better society if not a big one, while the state is in retreat?
As research for my book Giving Is Good For You, I put these questions to 80 people who give or receive. Many believe that all UK passport holders should pay British taxes wherever they live; national honours should not be given to those who do not pay tax; business leaders should not be given honours unless they can prove they are charitable; there should be more honours for those who volunteer and give. Tax relief should be extended and simplified to motivate more donors, underpinning the principle that tax is not paid on money that is donated. However, to justify spending more public money to stimulate private giving, tax relief should be limited by a much stricter definition of public benefit.
The government and voluntary sector must learn what motivates donors, who are free to choose whether to spend their money on private pleasure or for public gain, although there should not be the expectation that philanthropy can
compensate for reduced public expenditure. A national philanthropy strategy for the voluntary sector should have all party backing to ensure long-term planning by charities and commitment by donors.
Both the private and public sectors have hit the buffers and this gives us the opportunity to create a new social contract if politicians are up to the challenge. Philanthropists believe we should teach our children empathy as well as the virtues of a civil society and the role we should all play in sustaining it. There should be a national diploma for those at school who show commitment to the needs of others, an award that is valued by higher education and employers.
The "big society" may be a fantasy, made toxic by being politicised, but we can create a "better society", in which all should pay tax and everyone, whether giving time or money, can be a philanthropist.
Since you’re here …
… we have a small favour to ask. More people are reading the Guardian than ever but advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. And unlike many news organisations, we haven’t put up a paywall â€" we want to keep our journalism as open as we can. So you can see why we need to ask for your help.
The Guardian’s independent, investigative journalism takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce. But we do it because we believe our perspective matters â€" because it might well be your perspective, too.
I appreciate there not being a paywall: it is more democratic for the media to be available for all and not a commodity to be purchased by a few. I’m happy to make a contribution so others with less means still have access to information.
Thomasine, Sweden
#92
RANT ROOM / British team discovered that d...
Last post by THE FUGITIVE - March 25, 2018, 03:13:43 PMYesterday's earthquake struck in a region where, a fortnight ago, a University of Ulster professor predicted a new tsunami might be born.
A magnitude 9.0 earthquake which created the waves that claimed around 300,000 lives last December was likely to trigger more devastation, said a paper published in the journal Nature by Prof John McCloskey and colleagues.
In the light of the preliminary data on yesterday's magnitude 8.7 quake, he said: "It looks like one of our concerns has been realised. We'll have to wait to see how bad the damage has been this time." With colleagues, he calculated that the jolt in the Earth's crust at the end of last year, which led to a vast movement of the sea bed, significantly boosted seismic stresses and increased the risk of another large earthquake on the devastated Indonesian island of Sumatra.
When his paper came out, Prof McCloskey said: "Our results indicate unambiguously that there is a real danger of another earthquake in the region. It is vital that disaster fatigue does not delay the implementation of the Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning System."
The Boxing Day earthquake which generated the massive tsunami that hit Indonesia, Thailand, India and Sri Lanka also increased the stress on two other fault zones, one running directly under the remains of the city of Banda Aceh, the other under the sea off the west coast of Sumatra.
Stresses in the latter, the Sunda Trench, could generate another tsunami, said Prof McCloskey and Dr Suleyman Nalbant and Dr Sandy Steacy, also of the University of Ulster. Last night Prof McCloskey said the preliminary indications were that the new quake was "at the northern end of the Sunda Trench".
The team analysed data from the Boxing Day earthquake to look at its impact on other faults and whether it has raised the risk of more earthquakes. First, the team used calculations made by a group of seismologists at the California Institute of technology which give the exact displacements of crust during the earthquake.
This is done by repeatedly modelling the waves that were detected by seismic stations around the world. When these synthetic waves have a very similar form to the observed waves, then scientists know that their model of the earthquake closely resembles what actually happened.
The team then estimated the effect of the earthquake in the Indonesian region by calculating the amount of stress at any point which is caused by the movements triggered by an earthquake, then studied geological maps to identify nearby active faults.
Two zones showed significantly increased levels of stress. One was in the Sunda Trench, a 30-mile-long underwater zone adjacent to the 2004 earthquake rupture. The other was in the Sumatra fault, which runs for 190 miles along the centre of Sumatra. These levels of seismic stress indicated significantly increased risk of an earthquake, said Prof McCloskey.
A magnitude 9.0 earthquake which created the waves that claimed around 300,000 lives last December was likely to trigger more devastation, said a paper published in the journal Nature by Prof John McCloskey and colleagues.
In the light of the preliminary data on yesterday's magnitude 8.7 quake, he said: "It looks like one of our concerns has been realised. We'll have to wait to see how bad the damage has been this time." With colleagues, he calculated that the jolt in the Earth's crust at the end of last year, which led to a vast movement of the sea bed, significantly boosted seismic stresses and increased the risk of another large earthquake on the devastated Indonesian island of Sumatra.
When his paper came out, Prof McCloskey said: "Our results indicate unambiguously that there is a real danger of another earthquake in the region. It is vital that disaster fatigue does not delay the implementation of the Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning System."
The Boxing Day earthquake which generated the massive tsunami that hit Indonesia, Thailand, India and Sri Lanka also increased the stress on two other fault zones, one running directly under the remains of the city of Banda Aceh, the other under the sea off the west coast of Sumatra.
Stresses in the latter, the Sunda Trench, could generate another tsunami, said Prof McCloskey and Dr Suleyman Nalbant and Dr Sandy Steacy, also of the University of Ulster. Last night Prof McCloskey said the preliminary indications were that the new quake was "at the northern end of the Sunda Trench".
The team analysed data from the Boxing Day earthquake to look at its impact on other faults and whether it has raised the risk of more earthquakes. First, the team used calculations made by a group of seismologists at the California Institute of technology which give the exact displacements of crust during the earthquake.
This is done by repeatedly modelling the waves that were detected by seismic stations around the world. When these synthetic waves have a very similar form to the observed waves, then scientists know that their model of the earthquake closely resembles what actually happened.
The team then estimated the effect of the earthquake in the Indonesian region by calculating the amount of stress at any point which is caused by the movements triggered by an earthquake, then studied geological maps to identify nearby active faults.
Two zones showed significantly increased levels of stress. One was in the Sunda Trench, a 30-mile-long underwater zone adjacent to the 2004 earthquake rupture. The other was in the Sumatra fault, which runs for 190 miles along the centre of Sumatra. These levels of seismic stress indicated significantly increased risk of an earthquake, said Prof McCloskey.
#93
RANT ROOM / Is the Earth over-populated?
Last post by THE FUGITIVE - March 25, 2018, 03:10:52 PMIn 1800 the world’s population was around 1 billion people. Since then it has increased more than sevenfold to reach over 7.5 billion in 2017 (see figure 1), and is forecast to top 10 billion by 2050. Will population growth inevitably continue? Will it level off over the long term? Should we try to reduce or stop this growth?
Simply put, the world’s population is increasing because the number of births outnumber deaths by three to one. A surplus of births first occurred two centuries ago in Europe and North America, when mortality started to decline. This marked the beginning of what scientists call the demographic transition. This transition subsequently spread to the rest of the planet as social and economic progress, combined with advances in hygiene and medicine, began to reduce mortality rates.
Rapid population growth in Africa
Figure 2: World population growth rates1700-2100. Gilles Pison, based on United Nations data, CC BY
Still, the annual population growth rate actually peaked half a century ago at more than 2%, and has fallen by half since then, to 1.1% in 2017 (see figure 2). This trend should continue in coming decades because fertility is decreasing at global level, from 5 children per woman in 1950 to 2.5 today. In 2017, the regions where fertility remains high (above 3 children per woman) include most countries of intertropical Africa and an area stretching from Afghanistan to northern India and Pakistan (see map below). These are the regions that will drive future world population growth.
A key trend in future decades will be population growth in Africa. Including North Africa, the continent’s population could quadruple over the next century, rising from 1 billion inhabitants in 2010 to an estimated 2.5 billion in 2050 and more than 4 billion in 2100, despite the negative impact of the AIDS epidemic and other factors. While, globally speaking, one person in six currently lives in Africa, the proportion will probably be more than one in three a century from now. Growth should be especially rapid in sub-Saharan Africa, where the population may rise from just over 800 million in 2010 to 4 billion in 2100.
World fertility (2017), average number of children per woman
Figure 3: World fertility (2017), average number of children per woman. Gilles Pison, based on United Nations data., CC BY
What will happen in the coming decades?
These figures are projections, and no one can predict what the future will bring. That said, demographic projections are quite reliable for forecasting population size over the next 10, 20 or 30 years. Most of the people who will be alive in 2050 have already been born, their number is known and we can estimate quite accurately the proportion among those currently alive who will die. Likewise, the women who will bear children over the next 20 years are already alive today, and can be counted. By estimating their potential fertility we can determine the number of future births with relative accuracy.
It would be unrealistic to imagine that population trends can be modified over the short term. Depopulation is not an option. Indeed, how could it possibly be achieved? Through increased mortality? No one hopes for that. Through mass emigration to Mars? Unrealistic. Through a drastic and durable decrease in fertility to below replacement level (2.1 children)? This is already taking place in many parts of the world, as couples decide to have fewer children so as to give them the best chances for a long and fulfilling life.
But for reasons of demographic inertia, this does not result in an immediate population decline. Even if world fertility were just 1.6 children per women, as is the case in Europe and China, the population would continue to increase for several more decades; there are still large numbers of adults of childbearing age who were born when fertility was still high, so the number of births also remains high. The proportion of old and very old people is very small, on the other hand, so deaths are far less numerous.
The question of fertility decline
Demographers were taken by surprise in the 1960s and 1970s when surveys revealed the onset of a sharp decline in fertility in many countries of Asia and Latin America, and demographic projections for these regions of the world were revised strongly downward.
Another more recent surprise concerns intertropical Africa. Fertility decline in the region was expected to begin later than in Asia and Latin America because of slower social and economic development. But it was assumed that, while delayed, the transition would follow the standard pattern, with a decline similar to that observed in other regions of the Global South. This is indeed the case in North and southern Africa, but not in intertropical Africa, where the decline is occurring more slowly. This explains the upward revision of projections for Africa, a continent which could be home to more than a third of the world’s population by 2100.
Figure 4: Fertility-rate trends by world region. Gilles Pison, based on United Nations data., CC BY
Fertility is in fact decreasing in intertropical Africa, but among the educated and urban populations and not in rural areas where most of the population still lives. While the fertility decline is still slower than that observed some decades ago in Asia and Latin America (see figure 4), the reason does not lie in an unwillingness to use contraception.
While most rural families have yet to adopt a two-child family model, they would prefer to have fewer children and to space them further apart. They are willing to use contraception for this purpose, but the necessary services are not available to them. National birth-control programmes exist but are ineffective because they lack resources and, above all, because their organisers and the personnel responsible for implementing them are unenthusiastic. Many are not convinced of the advantages of birth control, even at government level, even if this is not the official line adopted with respect to international organisations
This is one of the differences with respect to Asia and Latin America in the 1960s and 1970s, and one of the obstacles to faster fertility decline in sub-Saharan Africa.
Long-term outlook: explosion, implosion or equilibrium?
Beyond the next 50 years, however, the future is much more uncertain and there is no established forecasting model.
The demographic transition, which has served well to predict changes over the last two centuries, will be of little use for this distant future. There is much uncertainty about future fertility. If the small family becomes a dominant model over the long term, with mean fertility of less than two children per women, then the world population, after peaking at 10 billion, will gradually decrease to the point of extinction.
But another scenario is possible, in which fertility recovers in the countries where it is now very low, ultimately stabilising at more than two children per woman worldwide. This would result in continuous growth, and again in the extinction of the human race, this time due to overpopulation. If we cannot resign ourselves to these catastrophic scenarios of extinction through under- or over-population, then we must imagine a scenario of ultimate equilibrium.
It is lifestyle that matters
Of course, humans must start thinking today about the need for long-term equilibrium, but it is the next few decades that are of most urgent concern.
The world population will inevitably increase by 2 to 3 billion between now and 2050 because of demographic inertia that no one can prevent. Nonetheless, we have the power to change yet now our way of living â€" and there is an urgent need to do so â€" by ensuring greater respect for the environment and more efficient use of natural resources. All in all, the long-term survival of humankind depends more on its choice of lifestyle than on its population size.
Simply put, the world’s population is increasing because the number of births outnumber deaths by three to one. A surplus of births first occurred two centuries ago in Europe and North America, when mortality started to decline. This marked the beginning of what scientists call the demographic transition. This transition subsequently spread to the rest of the planet as social and economic progress, combined with advances in hygiene and medicine, began to reduce mortality rates.
Rapid population growth in Africa
Figure 2: World population growth rates1700-2100. Gilles Pison, based on United Nations data, CC BY
Still, the annual population growth rate actually peaked half a century ago at more than 2%, and has fallen by half since then, to 1.1% in 2017 (see figure 2). This trend should continue in coming decades because fertility is decreasing at global level, from 5 children per woman in 1950 to 2.5 today. In 2017, the regions where fertility remains high (above 3 children per woman) include most countries of intertropical Africa and an area stretching from Afghanistan to northern India and Pakistan (see map below). These are the regions that will drive future world population growth.
A key trend in future decades will be population growth in Africa. Including North Africa, the continent’s population could quadruple over the next century, rising from 1 billion inhabitants in 2010 to an estimated 2.5 billion in 2050 and more than 4 billion in 2100, despite the negative impact of the AIDS epidemic and other factors. While, globally speaking, one person in six currently lives in Africa, the proportion will probably be more than one in three a century from now. Growth should be especially rapid in sub-Saharan Africa, where the population may rise from just over 800 million in 2010 to 4 billion in 2100.
World fertility (2017), average number of children per woman
Figure 3: World fertility (2017), average number of children per woman. Gilles Pison, based on United Nations data., CC BY
What will happen in the coming decades?
These figures are projections, and no one can predict what the future will bring. That said, demographic projections are quite reliable for forecasting population size over the next 10, 20 or 30 years. Most of the people who will be alive in 2050 have already been born, their number is known and we can estimate quite accurately the proportion among those currently alive who will die. Likewise, the women who will bear children over the next 20 years are already alive today, and can be counted. By estimating their potential fertility we can determine the number of future births with relative accuracy.
It would be unrealistic to imagine that population trends can be modified over the short term. Depopulation is not an option. Indeed, how could it possibly be achieved? Through increased mortality? No one hopes for that. Through mass emigration to Mars? Unrealistic. Through a drastic and durable decrease in fertility to below replacement level (2.1 children)? This is already taking place in many parts of the world, as couples decide to have fewer children so as to give them the best chances for a long and fulfilling life.
But for reasons of demographic inertia, this does not result in an immediate population decline. Even if world fertility were just 1.6 children per women, as is the case in Europe and China, the population would continue to increase for several more decades; there are still large numbers of adults of childbearing age who were born when fertility was still high, so the number of births also remains high. The proportion of old and very old people is very small, on the other hand, so deaths are far less numerous.
The question of fertility decline
Demographers were taken by surprise in the 1960s and 1970s when surveys revealed the onset of a sharp decline in fertility in many countries of Asia and Latin America, and demographic projections for these regions of the world were revised strongly downward.
Another more recent surprise concerns intertropical Africa. Fertility decline in the region was expected to begin later than in Asia and Latin America because of slower social and economic development. But it was assumed that, while delayed, the transition would follow the standard pattern, with a decline similar to that observed in other regions of the Global South. This is indeed the case in North and southern Africa, but not in intertropical Africa, where the decline is occurring more slowly. This explains the upward revision of projections for Africa, a continent which could be home to more than a third of the world’s population by 2100.
Figure 4: Fertility-rate trends by world region. Gilles Pison, based on United Nations data., CC BY
Fertility is in fact decreasing in intertropical Africa, but among the educated and urban populations and not in rural areas where most of the population still lives. While the fertility decline is still slower than that observed some decades ago in Asia and Latin America (see figure 4), the reason does not lie in an unwillingness to use contraception.
While most rural families have yet to adopt a two-child family model, they would prefer to have fewer children and to space them further apart. They are willing to use contraception for this purpose, but the necessary services are not available to them. National birth-control programmes exist but are ineffective because they lack resources and, above all, because their organisers and the personnel responsible for implementing them are unenthusiastic. Many are not convinced of the advantages of birth control, even at government level, even if this is not the official line adopted with respect to international organisations
This is one of the differences with respect to Asia and Latin America in the 1960s and 1970s, and one of the obstacles to faster fertility decline in sub-Saharan Africa.
Long-term outlook: explosion, implosion or equilibrium?
Beyond the next 50 years, however, the future is much more uncertain and there is no established forecasting model.
The demographic transition, which has served well to predict changes over the last two centuries, will be of little use for this distant future. There is much uncertainty about future fertility. If the small family becomes a dominant model over the long term, with mean fertility of less than two children per women, then the world population, after peaking at 10 billion, will gradually decrease to the point of extinction.
But another scenario is possible, in which fertility recovers in the countries where it is now very low, ultimately stabilising at more than two children per woman worldwide. This would result in continuous growth, and again in the extinction of the human race, this time due to overpopulation. If we cannot resign ourselves to these catastrophic scenarios of extinction through under- or over-population, then we must imagine a scenario of ultimate equilibrium.
It is lifestyle that matters
Of course, humans must start thinking today about the need for long-term equilibrium, but it is the next few decades that are of most urgent concern.
The world population will inevitably increase by 2 to 3 billion between now and 2050 because of demographic inertia that no one can prevent. Nonetheless, we have the power to change yet now our way of living â€" and there is an urgent need to do so â€" by ensuring greater respect for the environment and more efficient use of natural resources. All in all, the long-term survival of humankind depends more on its choice of lifestyle than on its population size.
#94
SPORTS TALK / Top 20 Weirdest Athlete Names ...
Last post by THE FUGITIVE - March 25, 2018, 03:06:11 PMBY KOREY BECKETT â€" ON JUN 01ST IN ENTERTAINMENT
You can pick your friends and what college you get to play sports for when you’re an athlete, but there are a couple of things you can’t choose. You certainly can’t pick who your parents are, and those parents are able to give you a weird name that sticks with you for your entire life.
If it’s your first name that’s weird, you can blame your parents. If it’s your last name that’s goofy, then you can blame your parents’ luck. If it’s a combination of the two, you can blame your parents for acting like children.
There have been some very unique names that have come through the sporting world, and many of them have made us giggle and crack jokes almost non-stop. If you want to relive some of the strangest names in sports history, you’re in luck. Just make sure to get your mind back in the gutter before diving into this list, because it’s a little childish.
So who are the athletes that have had the most unfortunate names in sports history? We found 20 that stood above the rest, with some of them still active in their sport today. From NASCAR and the WNBA to the NFL and MLB, pretty much every sport is covered. Here are the 20 weirdest names in sports history.
20 Jordin Tootoo
Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports
19 Jim Bob Cooter
via imgur.com
18 DeWanna Bonner
Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
17 Fair Hooker
via collectors.com
16 Steve Sharts
via tradingcarddb.com
15 Boof Bonser
via nytimes.com
14 D’Brickashaw Ferguson
Rich Barnes-USA TODAY Sports
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13 Longar Longar
via rantsports.com
12 Yourhighness Morgan
via culturallist.com
11 World B. Free
via midweekwire.com
10 God Shammgod
via streetball.com
9 Misty Hyman
via David Longstreath/AP
8 Dick Butkus
via nfl.com
7 Metta World Peace
via grantland.com
6 Johnny Dickshot
via flickr.com
5 Rusty Kuntz
Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports
4 God’sgift Achiuwa
Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports
3 Milton Bradley
via oregonlive.com
2 Chubby Cox
via pophangover.com
1 Dick Trickle
via racingkansas.com
Dick Trickle had the hands down oddest name in all of sports when he was participating in NASCAR. As a short track racer, Trickle was one of the best, and dominated the state of Wisconsin. When it came to the big boys league of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, though, Trickle could never win the big one. Despite starting in over 300 races in the span of a quarter century, Trickle not only never won a race, but his best finish was third. Trickle with 15 trips to the top five. Trickle tragically took his own life in May of 2013 in North Carolina.
#95
SPORTS TALK / The funniest football team nam...
Last post by THE FUGITIVE - March 25, 2018, 03:01:22 PMTelegraph Sport reveals the explanation for some of the most curious club names in the sport â€" including Swiss club Young Boys
Young Boys of Bern
One of Switzerland's oldest clubs, and certainly the most amusingly named (even more than Grasshoppers Zurich). Young Boys were founded in 1897 after four university students put on a game of football against Basel Old Boys Association. Rather than Old Boys, they opted to christen themselves Young Boys - and just to compound the silliness, they duly started playing their games at the Wankdorf Stadium. Enough said.
Semen Padang
One of the top teams in Indonesia (playing in red). And what a delightful name. Named after the place they are from, Padang, and their erstwhile sponsor, who were the country’s largest cement producer. Also sounds like the worst possible sort of takeaway curry.
Deportivo Wanka
The team is based in Huancayo in the Peruvian Andes, leading to the popular fan chant “Andes where we can see them, you Wankas”. They are named in honour of the indigenous Wankas people that used to live in the area. They were in the first division until 2004. In that season, the struggling Wankas moved their home stadium to Cerro de Pasco, which is at an altitude of 4,380m (13,973ft) above sea level. In a sort of maxi version of the Luton plastic pitch, it was hoped that altitude sickness and a lack of oxygen would be a big handicap for visiting sides. Sadly, the Wankas were relegated anyway.
Botswana Meat Commission
The Southern African country is well-known for its beef exports but who cares about that, because it is also known as a world leader in comedy football team names. Botswana Meat Commission, who were also briefly a prog rock group, play their top-flight football in Lobatse and take their place in a splendid football pyramid that also features Golden Bush and Naughty Boys.
Fotballaget Fart
Based in Vang, in the North of Norway, the men’s team of Fotballaget Fart yo-yo between the country’s third and fourth division, although the women’s team is a perennial fixture in the top flight. The team’s name means “football team speed” in, well, Norwegian, obviously. In 2014, a bloke called Erling Andreassen died aged 91 and left his entire estate to Fart; it was worth around half a million quid. Not to be sniffed at.
Insurance Management Bears
Almost certainly the most exciting club in the Bahamas, the Insurance Management Bears were set up by Bahamas FA President Anton Sealey in 1996 after he got a grant from the company for whom he worked. No flies on Anton: the Bears then won the National Championship six times out of the seven it was contested. Subject of the legendary sports flick Bad News Bears and the follow-up The Value of Your Investment May Go Down As Well As Up Bears.
The Strongest
Top name, top club … and a wealth of top nicknames including Tigre, El Derribador de Campeones, Gualdinegro and El Decano. Just seems greedy: as if The Strongest wasn’t already brilliant. Anyhow, they play in La Paz, Bolivia. In Bolivia’s 1932-1935 war with Paraguay, players and staff of the club made up a division of the army and did so well that the Batalla de Cañada Strongest was named after them. This makes them the only football club in the world to have a battle named after them, apart from Atletico Battle of the Bulge.
Name game: The Strongest's Rodrigo Ramallo on the attack (ALAMY)
Hearts of Oak
They come from Ghana, they play in Accra, they are the country’s oldest still-existent club, and as if the club name was not cool enough, they’re also known as Phobia (and have an ace kit: the red one, below).
Hearts on sleeve: The Ghanaian club's defenders close down an attacker (AFP)
Dinamo Bender
Playing their football in the impossibly glamorous surrounds of the Belarus second tier, the club representing the town of Bender has had several incarnations in a bid to make their name as funny as possible. Until 1958, they were Burevestnik Bender. In 1959, they tried Lokomotiv Bender. 1960 was the start of a 13-year stretch as Nistrul Bender, and then a 13-year period as Pishevik Bender. Spells as Tighina Bender and Tighina-Apoel Bender followed before the club settled on the even more hilarious Клуб снят с чемпионата.
Kalamazoo Outrage
The founding fathers of US soccer declared in their constitution that all soccer clubs must consist of a silly place name followed by an outlandish noun, ideally abstract. Sadly, none of them seem to last very long. Among the teams that have ceased to be are Knoxville Impact, Milwaukee Rampage and Michigan Madness, but all bend the knee to Kalamazoo Outrage, whose light burned briefly but oh-so-brightly from 2007 to 2010.
Deportivo MorĂłn
Legendary Argentinians. They may play in the third division but there is nothing third rate about their name. They play in the Buenos Aries suburb of Moron and their club emblem is a cock. Like a chicken, that is.
Young Boys of Bern
One of Switzerland's oldest clubs, and certainly the most amusingly named (even more than Grasshoppers Zurich). Young Boys were founded in 1897 after four university students put on a game of football against Basel Old Boys Association. Rather than Old Boys, they opted to christen themselves Young Boys - and just to compound the silliness, they duly started playing their games at the Wankdorf Stadium. Enough said.
Semen Padang
One of the top teams in Indonesia (playing in red). And what a delightful name. Named after the place they are from, Padang, and their erstwhile sponsor, who were the country’s largest cement producer. Also sounds like the worst possible sort of takeaway curry.
Deportivo Wanka
The team is based in Huancayo in the Peruvian Andes, leading to the popular fan chant “Andes where we can see them, you Wankas”. They are named in honour of the indigenous Wankas people that used to live in the area. They were in the first division until 2004. In that season, the struggling Wankas moved their home stadium to Cerro de Pasco, which is at an altitude of 4,380m (13,973ft) above sea level. In a sort of maxi version of the Luton plastic pitch, it was hoped that altitude sickness and a lack of oxygen would be a big handicap for visiting sides. Sadly, the Wankas were relegated anyway.
Botswana Meat Commission
The Southern African country is well-known for its beef exports but who cares about that, because it is also known as a world leader in comedy football team names. Botswana Meat Commission, who were also briefly a prog rock group, play their top-flight football in Lobatse and take their place in a splendid football pyramid that also features Golden Bush and Naughty Boys.
Fotballaget Fart
Based in Vang, in the North of Norway, the men’s team of Fotballaget Fart yo-yo between the country’s third and fourth division, although the women’s team is a perennial fixture in the top flight. The team’s name means “football team speed” in, well, Norwegian, obviously. In 2014, a bloke called Erling Andreassen died aged 91 and left his entire estate to Fart; it was worth around half a million quid. Not to be sniffed at.
Insurance Management Bears
Almost certainly the most exciting club in the Bahamas, the Insurance Management Bears were set up by Bahamas FA President Anton Sealey in 1996 after he got a grant from the company for whom he worked. No flies on Anton: the Bears then won the National Championship six times out of the seven it was contested. Subject of the legendary sports flick Bad News Bears and the follow-up The Value of Your Investment May Go Down As Well As Up Bears.
The Strongest
Top name, top club … and a wealth of top nicknames including Tigre, El Derribador de Campeones, Gualdinegro and El Decano. Just seems greedy: as if The Strongest wasn’t already brilliant. Anyhow, they play in La Paz, Bolivia. In Bolivia’s 1932-1935 war with Paraguay, players and staff of the club made up a division of the army and did so well that the Batalla de Cañada Strongest was named after them. This makes them the only football club in the world to have a battle named after them, apart from Atletico Battle of the Bulge.
Name game: The Strongest's Rodrigo Ramallo on the attack (ALAMY)
Hearts of Oak
They come from Ghana, they play in Accra, they are the country’s oldest still-existent club, and as if the club name was not cool enough, they’re also known as Phobia (and have an ace kit: the red one, below).
Hearts on sleeve: The Ghanaian club's defenders close down an attacker (AFP)
Dinamo Bender
Playing their football in the impossibly glamorous surrounds of the Belarus second tier, the club representing the town of Bender has had several incarnations in a bid to make their name as funny as possible. Until 1958, they were Burevestnik Bender. In 1959, they tried Lokomotiv Bender. 1960 was the start of a 13-year stretch as Nistrul Bender, and then a 13-year period as Pishevik Bender. Spells as Tighina Bender and Tighina-Apoel Bender followed before the club settled on the even more hilarious Клуб снят с чемпионата.
Kalamazoo Outrage
The founding fathers of US soccer declared in their constitution that all soccer clubs must consist of a silly place name followed by an outlandish noun, ideally abstract. Sadly, none of them seem to last very long. Among the teams that have ceased to be are Knoxville Impact, Milwaukee Rampage and Michigan Madness, but all bend the knee to Kalamazoo Outrage, whose light burned briefly but oh-so-brightly from 2007 to 2010.
Deportivo MorĂłn
Legendary Argentinians. They may play in the third division but there is nothing third rate about their name. They play in the Buenos Aries suburb of Moron and their club emblem is a cock. Like a chicken, that is.
#96
HISTORY / MYSTERY / Re: ON THIS DAY IRISH HISTORY
Last post by THE FUGITIVE - March 24, 2018, 03:38:56 PMToday
in
Irish
History
March 24
1603 - James VI of Scotland comes to the throne of England, as James I, following the death of Elizabeth I on this date
1796 - The Insurrection Act imposes curfews, arms searches, and the death penalty for oath-taking
1866 - Birth in Co. Cork of light-heavyweight boxing champion, Jack McAuliffe
1909 - Death in Dublin of John Millington Synge. The plays of Irish peasant life on which his fame rests are written in the last six years of his life. In 1904, Synge, Yeats and Lady Gregory found the famous Abbey Theatre. Two Synge comedies, The Well of the Saints (1905) and The Playboy of the Western World (1907), are presented by the Abbey players. The latter play creates a furor of resentment among Irish patriots stung by Synge's bitter humor.
1945 - Birth of actor Patrick Malahide; born Patrick G. Duggan, to Irish parents living in England
1953 - Queen Mary dies at 86
1958 - Dawson Stelfox, architect and mountaineer, is born in Belfast
1968 - An Aer Lingus plane, the St. Phelim, crashes into the sea near Tuskar Rock, Co. Wexford, with the loss of all 61 passengers and crew
1972 - Stormont parliament and government are suspended and direct rule from London is introduced; William Whitelaw becomes Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
1995 - For the first time in 25 years, Britain halts all routine army patrols in Belfast
1998 - The Prison Service in Northern Ireland confirms that five Loyalist Volunteer Force prisoners are now on hunger strike at the Maze jail to protest a security crackdown following the savage murder of loyalist remand prisoner David Keys
1999 - Anti-blood sports groups call on Minister Silé de Valera to refuse to renew a licence to the country's last remaining stag hunt
2000 - Dubliners face traffic chaos as the bus drivers’ dispute threatens to escalate into an all out strike
2002 - Twenty-one whales are rescued after stranding themselves on a Kerry beach; with the other whales forming a circle around her, rescuers are thrilled to observe one of the whales giving birth minutes after being pulled back out to safety
2003 - Veteran actor Peter O’Toole is awarded an honorary Oscar for a career which has spanned more than 40 years.
2010 - President Mary McAleese pays tribute to fallen Irish at Gallipoli while on a state trip to Turkey in what is being seen as the first official recognition of the huge loss of Irish lives in the first World War.
Photo credit: The Great War
in
Irish
History
March 24
1603 - James VI of Scotland comes to the throne of England, as James I, following the death of Elizabeth I on this date
1796 - The Insurrection Act imposes curfews, arms searches, and the death penalty for oath-taking
1866 - Birth in Co. Cork of light-heavyweight boxing champion, Jack McAuliffe
1909 - Death in Dublin of John Millington Synge. The plays of Irish peasant life on which his fame rests are written in the last six years of his life. In 1904, Synge, Yeats and Lady Gregory found the famous Abbey Theatre. Two Synge comedies, The Well of the Saints (1905) and The Playboy of the Western World (1907), are presented by the Abbey players. The latter play creates a furor of resentment among Irish patriots stung by Synge's bitter humor.
1945 - Birth of actor Patrick Malahide; born Patrick G. Duggan, to Irish parents living in England
1953 - Queen Mary dies at 86
1958 - Dawson Stelfox, architect and mountaineer, is born in Belfast
1968 - An Aer Lingus plane, the St. Phelim, crashes into the sea near Tuskar Rock, Co. Wexford, with the loss of all 61 passengers and crew
1972 - Stormont parliament and government are suspended and direct rule from London is introduced; William Whitelaw becomes Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
1995 - For the first time in 25 years, Britain halts all routine army patrols in Belfast
1998 - The Prison Service in Northern Ireland confirms that five Loyalist Volunteer Force prisoners are now on hunger strike at the Maze jail to protest a security crackdown following the savage murder of loyalist remand prisoner David Keys
1999 - Anti-blood sports groups call on Minister Silé de Valera to refuse to renew a licence to the country's last remaining stag hunt
2000 - Dubliners face traffic chaos as the bus drivers’ dispute threatens to escalate into an all out strike
2002 - Twenty-one whales are rescued after stranding themselves on a Kerry beach; with the other whales forming a circle around her, rescuers are thrilled to observe one of the whales giving birth minutes after being pulled back out to safety
2003 - Veteran actor Peter O’Toole is awarded an honorary Oscar for a career which has spanned more than 40 years.
2010 - President Mary McAleese pays tribute to fallen Irish at Gallipoli while on a state trip to Turkey in what is being seen as the first official recognition of the huge loss of Irish lives in the first World War.
Photo credit: The Great War
#97
TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE / Re: TRY YOUR LUCK WITH GENERAL...
Last post by THE FUGITIVE - March 24, 2018, 03:37:14 PM1. What type of creature is a Portuguese man-of-war?
2. How many atoms of oxygen are there in one molecule of water?
3. What is the more common name for Hansen's disease?
4. Which zodiac sign is also called the twins?
5. In which limb would you find the humerus, ulna and radius?
6. What is the only wild monkey now living in Europe?
7. Which gas is represented by the symbol o?
8. What name is given to a bird's entire covering of feathers?
9. Which metal has the chemical symbol Ag?
10. Who developed the theory of Relativity?
11. In a bucket of pure water, which would be the heaviest in total - the hydrogen atoms or the oxygen atoms?
12. Which form of carbon is most likely to be found in a lead pencil?
13. How many of the planets in the solar system are bigger than earth?
14. Which unit is defined, as the heat required to raise the temperature of one gram of water by one degree centigrade?
15. To where did the Royal Observatory move in 1990?
16. Who invented the ZX80 computer?
17. The sun's heat is derived from the fusion of hydrogen into which other element?
18. Which organ of the human body is affected by Bright's disease?
19. Which engineer constructed the Stockton and Darlington railway and provided its first locomotives?
20. Which scientist was charged with heresy in 1633 for his view that the earth orbits the sun?
ANSWERS
1. Jellyfish
2. 1
3. Leprosy
4. Gemini
5. Arm
6. Barbary ape
7. Oxygen
8. Plumage
9. Silver
10. Einstein
11. Oxygen
12. Graphite
13. 4
14. The Calorie
15. Cambridge
16. Sir Clive Sinclair
17. Helium
18. Kidneys
19. George Stephenson
20. Galileo
2. How many atoms of oxygen are there in one molecule of water?
3. What is the more common name for Hansen's disease?
4. Which zodiac sign is also called the twins?
5. In which limb would you find the humerus, ulna and radius?
6. What is the only wild monkey now living in Europe?
7. Which gas is represented by the symbol o?
8. What name is given to a bird's entire covering of feathers?
9. Which metal has the chemical symbol Ag?
10. Who developed the theory of Relativity?
11. In a bucket of pure water, which would be the heaviest in total - the hydrogen atoms or the oxygen atoms?
12. Which form of carbon is most likely to be found in a lead pencil?
13. How many of the planets in the solar system are bigger than earth?
14. Which unit is defined, as the heat required to raise the temperature of one gram of water by one degree centigrade?
15. To where did the Royal Observatory move in 1990?
16. Who invented the ZX80 computer?
17. The sun's heat is derived from the fusion of hydrogen into which other element?
18. Which organ of the human body is affected by Bright's disease?
19. Which engineer constructed the Stockton and Darlington railway and provided its first locomotives?
20. Which scientist was charged with heresy in 1633 for his view that the earth orbits the sun?
ANSWERS
1. Jellyfish
2. 1
3. Leprosy
4. Gemini
5. Arm
6. Barbary ape
7. Oxygen
8. Plumage
9. Silver
10. Einstein
11. Oxygen
12. Graphite
13. 4
14. The Calorie
15. Cambridge
16. Sir Clive Sinclair
17. Helium
18. Kidneys
19. George Stephenson
20. Galileo
#98
HISTORY / MYSTERY / its official Scientists conclu...
Last post by THE FUGITIVE - March 24, 2018, 03:35:18 PMScientists believe they have proven, once and for all, that the Yeti doesn't exist.
So if you were planning a trip to Nepal to try to find the abominable snowman, you might want to rethink your holiday plans.
Many people thought a race of prehistoric apes lived in the snowy wilderness of the Himalayas in Asia.
But a new study has concluded that all physical evidence suggests Yetis come from various types of bears.
Danish professor Dr Charlotte Lindqvist is the expert responsible for putting an end to a centuries-old myth that has been passed down by generations of people in Nepal.
"Our findings strongly suggest that the biological underpinnings of the Yeti legend can be found in local bears," says Charlotte, who works at New York's University of Buffalo.
Charlotte and her team looked at nine samples of historic Yeti evidence gathered by a crew making a film about the creature.
Bear
Image caption Experts say all evidence of Yeti life comes from various types of bear
But sadly (for the filmmakers) DNA tests proved they were looking at bits of old dead bears, casting more than a century of yeti sightings into serious doubt.
The Brits saw something monkeying around in the snow
The first official record of something out of the ordinary came in 1832 when the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal published a report from British trekker B. H. Hodgson.
He said he saw a creature covered in long, dark hair which he thought was an orangutan.
If that was the case, the orangutan would have been more than 3,700 miles from his Sumatra home and probably cold and confused.
Himalaya expedition
Image caption Explorers in the Himalayas reported Yeti sightings for more than 100 years
Later, the Germans took an interest
In 1925, photographer N. A. Tombazi recorded his experience with a Yeti, spotting a tall, naked figure tugging at rhododendron bushes at 15,000 feet (4,500m).
Shortly before the start World War Two, the Nazis took an interest in the Yeti, sending an expedition to Nepal to investigate.
But even then, more than 100 years ago, explorer Ernst Schäfer concluded the Yeti was just a bear.
Yeti footprint
Image caption This photo was taken in 1951 by Eric Shipton and sparked international interest in the Yeti
The Daily Mail even got involved
The national newspaper sent an expedition to Nepal in 1953.
They printed an article a year later about finding a Yeti scalp, but when an expert looked into their report, Professor Frederic Wood Jones concluded it was neither a scalp nor from an ape.
Reinhold Messner
Image caption Reinhold Messner says he met a Yeti but it was just a rare bear (which he killed)
Bear theories have been popular since the 80s
In 1986, Italian mountaineer Reinhold Messner claimed that the mysterious creature was a species of endangered bear - either the Himalayan brown or the Tibetan blue - which can walk around on their back legs.
He says he killed a "Yeti" during an encounter in Nepal, which means one of these species became even more endangered after bumping into Reinhold.
Warning: Third part video may contain adverts
More recent expeditions also revealed little
Explorers and Yeti fans have continued until recently, but unsurprisingly, they've found absolutely nothing.
But even the new findings haven't deterred true believers, who think that the real Yeti is still out there.
"I think there is still a possibility that there are unknown species of higher primate which are still awaiting discovery in what used to be Soviet central Asia," Jonathan Downes, director of the Centre for Fortean Zoology, told the Guardian.
So if you were planning a trip to Nepal to try to find the abominable snowman, you might want to rethink your holiday plans.
Many people thought a race of prehistoric apes lived in the snowy wilderness of the Himalayas in Asia.
But a new study has concluded that all physical evidence suggests Yetis come from various types of bears.
Danish professor Dr Charlotte Lindqvist is the expert responsible for putting an end to a centuries-old myth that has been passed down by generations of people in Nepal.
"Our findings strongly suggest that the biological underpinnings of the Yeti legend can be found in local bears," says Charlotte, who works at New York's University of Buffalo.
Charlotte and her team looked at nine samples of historic Yeti evidence gathered by a crew making a film about the creature.
Bear
Image caption Experts say all evidence of Yeti life comes from various types of bear
But sadly (for the filmmakers) DNA tests proved they were looking at bits of old dead bears, casting more than a century of yeti sightings into serious doubt.
The Brits saw something monkeying around in the snow
The first official record of something out of the ordinary came in 1832 when the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal published a report from British trekker B. H. Hodgson.
He said he saw a creature covered in long, dark hair which he thought was an orangutan.
If that was the case, the orangutan would have been more than 3,700 miles from his Sumatra home and probably cold and confused.
Himalaya expedition
Image caption Explorers in the Himalayas reported Yeti sightings for more than 100 years
Later, the Germans took an interest
In 1925, photographer N. A. Tombazi recorded his experience with a Yeti, spotting a tall, naked figure tugging at rhododendron bushes at 15,000 feet (4,500m).
Shortly before the start World War Two, the Nazis took an interest in the Yeti, sending an expedition to Nepal to investigate.
But even then, more than 100 years ago, explorer Ernst Schäfer concluded the Yeti was just a bear.
Yeti footprint
Image caption This photo was taken in 1951 by Eric Shipton and sparked international interest in the Yeti
The Daily Mail even got involved
The national newspaper sent an expedition to Nepal in 1953.
They printed an article a year later about finding a Yeti scalp, but when an expert looked into their report, Professor Frederic Wood Jones concluded it was neither a scalp nor from an ape.
Reinhold Messner
Image caption Reinhold Messner says he met a Yeti but it was just a rare bear (which he killed)
Bear theories have been popular since the 80s
In 1986, Italian mountaineer Reinhold Messner claimed that the mysterious creature was a species of endangered bear - either the Himalayan brown or the Tibetan blue - which can walk around on their back legs.
He says he killed a "Yeti" during an encounter in Nepal, which means one of these species became even more endangered after bumping into Reinhold.
Warning: Third part video may contain adverts
More recent expeditions also revealed little
Explorers and Yeti fans have continued until recently, but unsurprisingly, they've found absolutely nothing.
But even the new findings haven't deterred true believers, who think that the real Yeti is still out there.
"I think there is still a possibility that there are unknown species of higher primate which are still awaiting discovery in what used to be Soviet central Asia," Jonathan Downes, director of the Centre for Fortean Zoology, told the Guardian.
#99
HISTORY / MYSTERY / 2017 has been a 'record year' ...
Last post by THE FUGITIVE - March 24, 2018, 03:31:04 PMBut she doesn't think they spotted a pre-historic animal.
"There aren't enough fish available for a large creature to be eating," she says.
"However, there is a possibility there might be some kind of eel or sturgeon which is causing the sightings, that's maybe grown bigger than they usually do.
"I think there's some kind of creature but possibly not a monster."
Hoax picture of the Loch Ness monster
Image caption This famous 1924 "photo" of the Loch Ness monster was revealed as a hoax by one of the people who staged it
A woman on her honeymoon in October spotted a creature moving in the water, while a group of friends holidaying in August spotted "something huge" in the water which apparently "arched out of the water".
There were three sightings in June, one in May and one in April which were all deemed "official" sightings.
Loch Ness
Image caption The myth of the Loch Ness Monster has captured the imagination for decades
These sightings, and many more, are recorded by Gary Campbell who assesses and logs sightings of the Loch Ness monster.
"This is the most we have had this century," he told The Express newspaper this week.
He says that his team was "50/50" on the photo taken by Dr Knight, but they decided to give her snap "the benefit of the doubt".
"In recent years the most sightings in a year we have had is 17 - and that was in 1996.
"Before that the 1960s and 1930s were the times that had most sightings - sometimes more than 20 in a year."
A 9m model of the Loch Ness Monster built in 1969 for a Sherlock Holmes movie was found almost 50 years after it sank in the loch last year.
Kongsberg Maritime's image of the lost Nessie model
Image caption A Kongsberg Maritime image of the lost Nessie model
Loch Ness expert Adrian Shine said the shape, measurements and location pointed to the object being the prop.
Find us on Instagram at BBCNewsbeat and follow us on Snapchat, search for
"There aren't enough fish available for a large creature to be eating," she says.
"However, there is a possibility there might be some kind of eel or sturgeon which is causing the sightings, that's maybe grown bigger than they usually do.
"I think there's some kind of creature but possibly not a monster."
Hoax picture of the Loch Ness monster
Image caption This famous 1924 "photo" of the Loch Ness monster was revealed as a hoax by one of the people who staged it
A woman on her honeymoon in October spotted a creature moving in the water, while a group of friends holidaying in August spotted "something huge" in the water which apparently "arched out of the water".
There were three sightings in June, one in May and one in April which were all deemed "official" sightings.
Loch Ness
Image caption The myth of the Loch Ness Monster has captured the imagination for decades
These sightings, and many more, are recorded by Gary Campbell who assesses and logs sightings of the Loch Ness monster.
"This is the most we have had this century," he told The Express newspaper this week.
He says that his team was "50/50" on the photo taken by Dr Knight, but they decided to give her snap "the benefit of the doubt".
"In recent years the most sightings in a year we have had is 17 - and that was in 1996.
"Before that the 1960s and 1930s were the times that had most sightings - sometimes more than 20 in a year."
A 9m model of the Loch Ness Monster built in 1969 for a Sherlock Holmes movie was found almost 50 years after it sank in the loch last year.
Kongsberg Maritime's image of the lost Nessie model
Image caption A Kongsberg Maritime image of the lost Nessie model
Loch Ness expert Adrian Shine said the shape, measurements and location pointed to the object being the prop.
Find us on Instagram at BBCNewsbeat and follow us on Snapchat, search for
#100
HISTORY / MYSTERY / The story of BBC Television - ...
Last post by THE FUGITIVE - March 24, 2018, 03:26:12 PMTelevision had long been a dream of inventors; serious attempts to build a television system started over 100 years before even the name was invented. Up to the 1920s, television was still called by a variety of names including: Radiovision, Seeing by Wireless, Distant Electric Vision, Phototelegraphy, The Electric Telescope, Visual Listening, Telectroscopy, Hear-Seeing, Telephonoscope, Audiovision, Radio Movies, The Radio Kinema, Radioscope, Lustreer, Farscope, Optiphone, Mirascope.
By the time modern television became a reality, in the mid 1930s, there had already been over 50 serious proposals for television. The competition was truly international, with inventors and companies working in 11 different countries. Many of these pioneers had no success; a few however were able to produce silhouette pictures and were hailed as the 'inventors' of television within their own countries.
Thus, the French say both Belin and Barthelemy were the inventors of television; the Japanese believe it was Takayanagi; the Russians say Boris Rosing; the Germans either Nipkow or Karolus; the Hungarians von Mihaly; in the USA most people believe it was either Jenkins or Farnsworth; and in the UK we have the choice of Campbell-Swinton for the concept, or John Logie Baird for television's practical demonstration.
Although several pioneers had been working on the invention of television as far back as the 1850s, there were four key technologies that had to be developed before any form of television could become a possibility. These were:
a device to change light into an electric current
a device to change the electric current back into light
a scanning device to break the image up into small elements
an electronic amplifier to increase weak signals to a usable level
Once all of these inventions were in place, they would still need further development before a successful television system could be invented.
Karl Braun, Paul Nipkow and Lee DeForest
The first of the four key inventions happened in 1873 when a telegraph operator discovered that light affected the electrical resistance of selenium. It was soon realised that it was possible to change light into electricity using a selenium photocell.
The next key invention came in 1884 when Paul Nipkow in Germany invented a disc with a single spiral of holes in it as a method of mechanical scanning for television. Although he was never able to build a working system, the Nipkow disc was later used by several TV pioneers as the basis for their own television systems.
What was needed now was some device to turn an electric current back into light. A conventional light bulb was unsuitable because it could not vary its brightness fast enough to produce a TV image. The Neon lamp was developed by Georges Claude in France in 1902 and was used by many early television pioneers.
However, the most important breakthrough had happened earlier (in 1897) when Karl Braun in Germany invented the cathode-ray tube. The 'Braun tube', although unusable for television at the time, would become the most important television display device for the next century.
The last invention in the chain came in 1906 when Lee de Forest in the USA invented the Amplion (amplifying triode valve), making it possible to amplify the weak video signals created by selenium photocells. A working amplifier took him another six years to develop, and nearly ten years would pass before this amplifier was improved enough for television.
So by 1922 all the key elements were in place for the invention of television, and inventors around the world sensed that success was within reach. Many of them had well equipped laboratories and sufficient funds for staff and equipment. It is therefore surprising that success was snatched by a most unlikely figure.
By the time modern television became a reality, in the mid 1930s, there had already been over 50 serious proposals for television. The competition was truly international, with inventors and companies working in 11 different countries. Many of these pioneers had no success; a few however were able to produce silhouette pictures and were hailed as the 'inventors' of television within their own countries.
Thus, the French say both Belin and Barthelemy were the inventors of television; the Japanese believe it was Takayanagi; the Russians say Boris Rosing; the Germans either Nipkow or Karolus; the Hungarians von Mihaly; in the USA most people believe it was either Jenkins or Farnsworth; and in the UK we have the choice of Campbell-Swinton for the concept, or John Logie Baird for television's practical demonstration.
Although several pioneers had been working on the invention of television as far back as the 1850s, there were four key technologies that had to be developed before any form of television could become a possibility. These were:
a device to change light into an electric current
a device to change the electric current back into light
a scanning device to break the image up into small elements
an electronic amplifier to increase weak signals to a usable level
Once all of these inventions were in place, they would still need further development before a successful television system could be invented.
Karl Braun, Paul Nipkow and Lee DeForest
The first of the four key inventions happened in 1873 when a telegraph operator discovered that light affected the electrical resistance of selenium. It was soon realised that it was possible to change light into electricity using a selenium photocell.
The next key invention came in 1884 when Paul Nipkow in Germany invented a disc with a single spiral of holes in it as a method of mechanical scanning for television. Although he was never able to build a working system, the Nipkow disc was later used by several TV pioneers as the basis for their own television systems.
What was needed now was some device to turn an electric current back into light. A conventional light bulb was unsuitable because it could not vary its brightness fast enough to produce a TV image. The Neon lamp was developed by Georges Claude in France in 1902 and was used by many early television pioneers.
However, the most important breakthrough had happened earlier (in 1897) when Karl Braun in Germany invented the cathode-ray tube. The 'Braun tube', although unusable for television at the time, would become the most important television display device for the next century.
The last invention in the chain came in 1906 when Lee de Forest in the USA invented the Amplion (amplifying triode valve), making it possible to amplify the weak video signals created by selenium photocells. A working amplifier took him another six years to develop, and nearly ten years would pass before this amplifier was improved enough for television.
So by 1922 all the key elements were in place for the invention of television, and inventors around the world sensed that success was within reach. Many of them had well equipped laboratories and sufficient funds for staff and equipment. It is therefore surprising that success was snatched by a most unlikely figure.