@AA "On the other hand, several years ago, architect Joshua Prince-Ramus noted the potential for an 'image problem' in two tower building designs"

Sorry but nobody can suggest that you shouldn't build dual tower blocks because of what happened to WTC. It's like those people who actually wanted images of WTC removed from the opening titles of a TV show.

People should remember what happened, not try to erase it from the collective memory.

We used to get boxes of eggs from our local farm which often contained several double yolked eggs. According to the farmer some chickens are predisposed to laying double yolked eggs. And he reckoned about half his hens regularly layed double yolkers. Maybe it's hereditary? In which case if all the eggs came from the same farm then it wouldn't be so unlikely.

I have a friend who has too geodesic domes as chicken coops. Now they are cool.

The larger one is about 2 metres in diameter with the floor almost a meter from the ground. The smaller is about a meter and a half with the floor about half a meter off the ground. When he has them positioned together it sort of a chicken version of the eden project. Except they're painted rather than clear.

@soubriquet where did you come up with the date 1860? I'd agree that the fireplace in the photograph is less than 400 years old, but I've seen plenty such fireplaces that predate 1860.

@KirkD you're right there was a widespread myth that bricking a live cat into the walls of your house would bring you luck. Specifically a black cat if I remember my reading correctly.

This is the usual attention grabbing. Bear in mind that the Pendle area is very much associated with witchcraft in English folklore, especially when it comes to witch trials. Any find from the right period in that area will always be associated with witchcraft. Throw in a cat and you've got a guaranteed witch story for the press.

Who builds a housing development that close to a test range? Or alternatively who builds a test range that close to a housing development?

There are a startling number of errors in there.

I remember my sister always used to play rough with our labrador pups, until they started getting rough right back. Then she'd go running shouting "they're sharp, they're sharp!"

"All over the world, cities are cutting budgets, and zoos are often high on the hit list."

With that lead in anybody would think you're talking about recently closed zoos, but as far as I can see most of the zoos in that list closed decades ago. Indeed only one closed within the last ten years. And very few of the closures had anything to do with cities cutting budgets.

So why that lead in?

Except of course it would take way more energy to cook the potatoes than you could actually gain from eating them.

@RyanS yup. So you'd better stay at home wrapped in bubble wrap. You don't want to be doing anything dangerous like crossing the street do you?

Get serious you have more chance of killing somebody driving your car than these guys do making their show.

Been watching Bang Goes the Theory has he?

Man that's an old joke.

So I'm riding down the street today at (according to my GPS) 31mph. The speed limit is 30mph so I'm in primary. That's the safest place to be and I'm inconveniencing no law abiding road users.*

And yet still I get some idiot (middleaged, respectable looking man in a respectable looking car - so nuts to a whole load of prejudices) who decides he just has to overtake me. In the face of oncoming traffic and leaning on the horn while doing so. He wasn't in a hurry because once past me he didn't pull away.

Why did he do it? Simple really he is one of that mindless bunch who believes that certain road users must be overtaken, no matter what the risk. Cyclists, horses, farm machines, etc. no matter what the speed and what the situation you must overtake. Of coure half a mile later we reached a traffic light. I filtered to the front and used the ASL. For my troubles I got a blast on the horn from the angry old man as I passed.

This sort of thing isn't uncommon. A couple of years ago an idiot decided to pass me even though I was travelling at the same speed as the traffic. Said idiot found there wasn't room for him to slow and get back in before he reached the car in front of me. He hit the rear threequarter of that car. His excuse to the injured party actually was "I had to pass that idiot on the bike". Had to? I don't recall anywhere in the RTA where it says you have to pass cyclists.
* Before you say I was speeding. Strictly speaking I was, but in practice I was not. I could not be prosecuted unless I was doing 4mph more.

The point remains: Every group of road users has its dickheads.

IME as a member of several groups it's car drivers who have the highest proportions of dickheads. But because almost all of us are car drivers we don't view car drivers as a group, what we do is subdivide it.

So you may feel that everybody who drives an Audi is arrogant and agressive. You may feel that all Rover drivers are dodering old fools. It may be that you expect every driver under the age of 21 to be a dangerous idiot with no road sense. And so on. Substitute car brands to suit your territory.

So when you're out in your car you view every other road user as not being part of your group. Lets say you're a white male, forty years old and drive a Volvo. Everybody who isn't a white male of a similar age and driving a Volvo is in a different group to you. You see a cyclist do something stupid and you think "all cyclists are dickheads". You see a car driver do something stupid and you don't think "all car drivers are dickheads" because that would include you. So you think maybe you think "all young drivers are dickheads" or whatever. Even if you saw a white male of about 40 driving a Volvo do something stupid you would probably think of a classification which includes him, but excludes you. "Look at that idiot. Men with beards just can't drive!"

If you happen to be a cyclist you don't think all cyclists are dickheads. You just categorize them into as many subgroups as you like to support your prejudices.

That's how most humans work. Divide the rest of the world into social groupings just so you can hate them. Sad really.