Things you have recently learnt

pblakeney

Pross said:

First.Aspect said:

kingstongraham said:

First.Aspect said:

kingstongraham said:

The Telegraph website has a "Culture Wars" section.

Is it boomers vs millennials?

I'm not sure there's a lot of millennials read the Telegraph. It's a safe space for opinions you cant say any more.

So it is boomers vs millennials, with the readership being boomers and no right of reply for millennials.

One trivial thing that intrigues me is how newspapers still exist.

Boomers. Since they stopped Page 3 in The Sun I doubt I’ve seen anyone under the age of 50 by a newspaper.

I bought a newspaper in November.
It was only to light the fire in a holiday let but still counts towards their readership.

Than again, I am over 50, oh.

orraloon

Pross said:

...they stopped Page 3 in The Sun...

They did! Has Murdoch gone all woke? 😳

morstar

But shoe drying!

JimD666

morstar said:

But shoe drying!

Use the Guardian for the right shoe and the Telegraph for the left.

Helps with balance.......

tailwindhome

The are penguins in Australia
(In the wild)

kingstongraham

tailwindhome said:

The are penguins in Australia
(In the wild)

The little penguins on Philip Island are quite something to see.

orraloon

Likewise the penguins on Boulders Beach on the Cape in Sith Ifrica.

pblakeney

orraloon said:

Likewise the penguins on Boulders Beach on the Cape in Sith Ifrica.

...and Penguin Beach (funnily enough), Harington Point, Dunedin, NZ.
A few on the beach, and one who'd wandered inland.

Pross

I should probably have been aware of it professionally but the wife was just watching a documentary about Claridges and I had no idea about the massive basement being built below the hotel. I’ll watch it properly at some point but I think they said it was bigger than the existing hotel and is 5 or 6 stories. All being built whilst the hotel remains fully operational and being hand excavated by Irish miners to minimise noise. It should be completed around now as it started in 2015 with a 7 year build programme. Not sure how long it will take to make the money back on the investment.

Watching things like that always reminds me how limited and basic my own Civil Engineering knowledge is despite over 30 years’ experience.

monkimark

Is there a big market for windowless subterranean luxury hotel rooms?

I know a couple of people who worked on it at various stages but actually know very little about what is involved apart from some pretty tricky sounding top down construction.

kingstongraham

monkimark said:

Is there a big market for windowless subterranean luxury hotel rooms?

I know a couple of people who worked on it at various stages but actually know very little about what is involved apart from some pretty tricky sounding top down construction.

Will be for gym, spa, storage etc, so they can have more sellable space above ground where it's valuable.

Pross

monkimark said:

Is there a big market for windowless subterranean luxury hotel rooms?

I know a couple of people who worked on it at various stages but actually know very little about what is involved apart from some pretty tricky sounding top down construction.

I know the one floor will have a pool (and presumably a spa / gym), I guess they’ll have parking but to increase capacity I assume they’ll move more of the back of house function down below ground to create more space above. They seem to be treating it like a deep mine, drop shafts down then dig outwards. I guess when you’ve got billions of Qatari oil dollars to spend things don’t have to make financial sense.

TheBigBean

Casino, nightclubs and theatres/cinemas are other options. No idea if they are part of the plan.

rjsterry

Pross said:

I should probably have been aware of it professionally but the wife was just watching a documentary about Claridges and I had no idea about the massive basement being built below the hotel. I’ll watch it properly at some point but I think they said it was bigger than the existing hotel and is 5 or 6 stories. All being built whilst the hotel remains fully operational and being hand excavated by Irish miners to minimise noise. It should be completed around now as it started in 2015 with a 7 year build programme. Not sure how long it will take to make the money back on the investment.

Watching things like that always reminds me how limited and basic my own Civil Engineering knowledge is despite over 30 years’ experience.

Was genuinely impressed. Umpteen 25m deep piles hand dug one at a time underneath the existing ground slab by pairs of Donegal miners. Then they started excavating the basement. And to build the roof extension at the same time they installed a tower crane in an existing lift shaft in the centre of the hotel. There was a bit where the crane guys decided at the last minute that the weather wasn't right and they needed an extra bit of kit at £40k to continue.

Pross

rjsterry said:

Pross said:

I should probably have been aware of it professionally but the wife was just watching a documentary about Claridges and I had no idea about the massive basement being built below the hotel. I’ll watch it properly at some point but I think they said it was bigger than the existing hotel and is 5 or 6 stories. All being built whilst the hotel remains fully operational and being hand excavated by Irish miners to minimise noise. It should be completed around now as it started in 2015 with a 7 year build programme. Not sure how long it will take to make the money back on the investment.

Watching things like that always reminds me how limited and basic my own Civil Engineering knowledge is despite over 30 years’ experience.

Was genuinely impressed. Umpteen 25m deep piles hand dug one at a time underneath the existing ground slab by pairs of Donegal miners. Then they started excavating the basement. And to build the roof extension at the same time they installed a tower crane in an existing lift shaft in the centre of the hotel. There was a bit where the crane guys decided at the last minute that the weather wasn't right and they needed an extra bit of kit at £40k to continue.

The Engineer who owned the company doing the job looked more like he should be down there with a shovel than the brains behind such a complex project. Really shows not to judge on appearances. I’ll have to watch properly at the weekend and do some follow up reading, should be worth a few hours of CPD.

First.Aspect

Just saying...

rick_chasey

Iceberg properties are very common and were for a long time a real problem in Mayfair and Chelsea.

Couple of examples of bad planning and the buidling next door collapsing.

Brian May was furious:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3782362/They-destroying-lives-Queen-star-Brian-demands-meeting-Mayor-London-basement-developments-ruining-wealthy-neighbourhods.html

Had one being dug out opposite the flat I used to live in. Basically the terraced property was like a small outhouse, sitting above the building. They were digging for maybe 9 months?

rjsterry

First.Aspect said:

Just saying...

Looks like a craft gin distillery.

First.Aspect

It's not a gin distillery.

kingstongraham

First.Aspect said:

Just saying...

They need to make sure to install a fly zapper.

surrey_commuter

rick_chasey said:

kingstongraham said:

The Telegraph website has a "Culture Wars" section.

https://www.ipsos.com/en-uk/ipsos-issues-index-june-2022

Alas they’re not gonna increase regular readership.

strange that is June 2022, would be interesting to see how that changed with Truss

surrey_commuter

rjsterry said:

Pross said:

I should probably have been aware of it professionally but the wife was just watching a documentary about Claridges and I had no idea about the massive basement being built below the hotel. I’ll watch it properly at some point but I think they said it was bigger than the existing hotel and is 5 or 6 stories. All being built whilst the hotel remains fully operational and being hand excavated by Irish miners to minimise noise. It should be completed around now as it started in 2015 with a 7 year build programme. Not sure how long it will take to make the money back on the investment.

Watching things like that always reminds me how limited and basic my own Civil Engineering knowledge is despite over 30 years’ experience.

Was genuinely impressed. Umpteen 25m deep piles hand dug one at a time underneath the existing ground slab by pairs of Donegal miners. Then they started excavating the basement. And to build the roof extension at the same time they installed a tower crane in an existing lift shaft in the centre of the hotel. There was a bit where the crane guys decided at the last minute that the weather wasn't right and they needed an extra bit of kit at £40k to continue.

Are they the legendary Donegal Tigers?

surrey_commuter

Pross said:

That Operation Market Garden was actually two sections (Operation Market being the airborne element and Garden being the ground based part).

Now that is a good learn

morstar

First.Aspect said:

Just saying...

This is exactly what I thought of.

rick_chasey

BlackRock's assets under management is $10trillion.

By comparison, the entire output of the UK per year is around $3trillion.

veronese68

First.Aspect said:

It's not a gin distillery.

Whisky?

Tashman

Looks more beer oriented on a small scaleto me

rjsterry

First.Aspect said:

It's not a gin distillery.

Has Rick hacked your account?

kingstongraham

veronese68 said:

First.Aspect said:

It's not a gin distillery.

Whisky?

Blue bols?

First.Aspect

rjsterry said:

First.Aspect said:

It's not a gin distillery.

Has Rick hacked your account?

It's the meth lab Gustavo Fring built covertly under the laundry. Better call Saul, Breaking Bad.