[QUOTE=xilman;470963]I have yet to see any country other than the UK publicizing these public health issues. Either others are too squeamish or my knowledge is lamentably deficient. Each or both explanations are eminently plausible IMO.[/QUOTE] Many areas have FOG (Fats, Oil, and Grease) ordinances and programs. They require eating establishments to have grease traps and prohibit the dumping of oils into the sewer. I know that the area that I live in has, in the past, had issues with sewer overflows because of grease traps. Did they ever make the news! But, there is now a program to prevent the nasty material from getting in the sewer. Also, it has come to the point that thieves will steal the waste cooking oil that some places have stored for a company to come by and pick up. I could go into more detail....

BTK: "flushable" wipes, aren't. (Only a very few have been certified as truly flushable. And even those you should limit to 1 {maybe 2} per 'event'.)

[QUOTE=xilman;470963]Apologies if this is getting tedious and/or stomach turning but it caught my eye because of the sheer scale of the issue, .....
[URL="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-41860764"]'Victory declared' over 130 tonne Whitechapel fatberg[/URL]

I have yet to see any country other than the UK publicizing these public health issues. Either others are too squeamish or my knowledge is lamentably deficient. Each or both explanations are eminently plausible IMO.

Added in edit: the actual fatberg was approximately 250m long. That's approximately 275 yards.[/QUOTE]
I am delighted to hear of an "outcome" to this immense plug of nastiness in the bowels of London. I have to wonder if brick-lined tunnels are part of the problem. It seems that a steel pipe might be more easily cleaned.

However, as is appropriate, I am pulling these words out of my a$$, as I have no great knowledge of sewerage transport of any variety. :razz:

EDIT: I DO know that a "Unified" sewer system, such as we have in Chicago, which combines sanitary and storm drainage, has some decided drawbacks. Start with, " a heavy rain makes stuff that looks like shredded toilet paper come out of the floor drain in the basement." :ick:

I should note that a decades-long mega-project, here in Chicago, is the [URL="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunnel_and_Reservoir_Plan"]Deep Tunnel Project.[/URL]
The [URL="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunnel_and_Reservoir_Plan#History"]History[/URL] section is very interesting. It shows that when Chicago started to have concerns about the water supply being contaminated with fecal matter flowing down the Chicago River into the Lake, they cut a canal to reverse the flow into the Mississippi drainage, shipping their shit [B]upriver[/B] from Lake Michigan to people who found themselves [U]downstream.
[/U]Around this time, a tunnel was constructed to an off shore intake, a Crib.
Unfortunately, even today, the retention system is overwhelmed, and untreated sewage is allowed to flow into the Lake. Eventually, with enough capacity, the plan aims to prevent this. This supposes that it is not choked with "grease and fat and nappies and wipies and the-good-lord-only-knows-what-other-loathsome-items....."
Now, treaties control how much water the water district can draw from the Lake. Cleaning up the Chicago River is a work-in-progress. The wastes which flowed into the River came from establishments such as tanneries and metal-plating operations. They deposited fun items like cadmium in the sediments of parts of the River. This causes trepidation about stirring them up, even if you are trying to remove Bad Stuff. :yucky:

[url]http://orlandosentinel.com/news/breaking-news/os-airplane-lands-i4-story.html[/url]

8 year-old driver killed in drag racing accident
 

WTF material, for sure. If you thought allowing a 9 year-old to shoot with an Uzi was insane, how does drag racing by kids 8 [U]and younger[/U] grab you?
[QUOTE]"Tragically, the eight-year-old girl involved in a crash at the Kwinana Motorplex yesterday has died as a result of the injuries she sustained," a police spokeswoman said.

"Police will prepare a report for the coroner."

Anita was listed on a Motorplex program of events as an entrant in the Goldenstates championships, driving a 210cc dragster.
It is understood she was attempting a solo drive, which young drag racers must do to be licensed and compete in events.
[/QUOTE][URL]http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-11-12/anita-board-dies-after-perth-motorplex-drag-racing-crash/9142076[/URL]
[url]https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/11/13/8-year-old-dies-after-slamming-her-drag-racing-car-into-barrier-at-australian-track[/url]

[URL="http://time.com/5020625/3-year-old-shoots-and-kills-1-year-old-sister-police-say/"]3 year old shoots and kills 1 year old sister[/URL].

When Roy Moore became an Alabama judge, he took the [url=http://eforms.alacourt.gov/Oaths%20of%20Office/Oath%20of%20Office%20Judge,%20Justice.pdf]OATH OF OFFICE[/url][quote]that I will support the Constitution of the United States, and the Constitution of the State of Alabama, so long as I continue a citizen thereof; and that [b]I will faithfully and honestly discharge the duties of the office upon which I am about to enter, to the best of my ability[/b]. So help me God.[/quote]One of the duties of a judge is to honor the rulings and orders of a superior court. State judges are bound by federal court rulings. Yet Mr. Moore, in two instances, was removed from the bench for disregarding them. (The first time, he had been ordered to remove a monument of the Ten Commandments from the courthouse. The second time, he directed probate judges to enforce the state's ban on homosexual marriages, even though the ban had been ruled unconstitutional.)

So, it may fairly be said, that Roy Moore is an oathbreaker. Thus, his credibility may reasonably be called into question, as well as his fitness for any position of public trust.

He reminds me of [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5na_l9LOpgI]Sheriff Cooley, in [i]O Brother, where art thou?[/i][/url]

Hmm, it seems he said the Washington Post "will be sued" for their story about women claiming he groped them when they were too young to say "yes." His use of the passive voice is strange, though not, perhaps, as strange as his supporters rushing to his defense, as opined by the Times-Picayune: [url=http://www.nola.com/opinions/index.ssf/2017/11/judge_roy_moore_joseph_and_mar.html]Judge Roy Moore, Joseph and Mary! Weird, even for Alabama[/url].

In any case, I'm not holding my breath waiting for the suit to be filed. A libel suit would be tough sledding. Moore, as a public figure, would, in order to win his suit, have to prove not only that the story is false, but that the Post published it with "actual malice." That is, he would have to show that the Post acted in "reckless disregard for the truth," i.e. they either [i]knew[/i] the story was false, or didn't care -- that they published it without checking the facts.

There is also a downside for Moore. If he sues, he is open to "discovery." The defendants would be able to put his life under a microscope.

[QUOTE=rogue;471711][URL="http://time.com/5020625/3-year-old-shoots-and-kills-1-year-old-sister-police-say/"]3 year old shoots and kills 1 year old sister[/URL].[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE]Police say a 3-year-old shot and killed a 1-year-old sister in Tennessee after [U]a man placed the younger sibling in a bed with his gun[/U].[/QUOTE]
So the infant was in a bed with the gun? The 3-year-old found the gun?

It seems that many people in possession of guns are certifiably insane. How many stories do we see regularly about toddlers getting hold of guns and killing themselves or others?

[QUOTE=kladner;471708]WTF material, for sure. If you thought allowing a 9 year-old to shoot with an Uzi was insane, how does drag racing by kids 8 [U]and younger[/U] grab you?[/QUOTE] I know someone who ran junior drags. The motors are small and low horsepower. The courses and safety gear are usually the same as the pros. If a young relative wanted to do this, I would fully support them. Likely safer than bumper cars.

[QUOTE=rogue;471711][URL="http://time.com/5020625/3-year-old-shoots-and-kills-1-year-old-sister-police-say/"]3 year old shoots and kills 1 year old sister[/URL].[/QUOTE]

Sounds eerily similar to this one from July 7, 2017: [url=https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/indiana/articles/2017-07-07/indianapolis-woman-gets-probation-after-son-shoots-sister]Indianapolis Woman Gets Probation After Son Shoots Sister[/url] (shooting occurred last New Year's Eve) [quote]An affidavit says the woman put her purse on her bed in the master bedroom, and then put her children in their bedroom for a nap. While the woman slept on a couch, the 3-year-old grabbed the gun from her purse and shot his sister in the head.[/quote]

Also, turned up from a quick search on "shoots brother,"

June 6, 2017 [url=http://kdvr.com/2017/06/06/mom-says-she-was-upstairs-when-2-year-old-boy-was-shot-by-3-year-old-brother/]2-year-old boy shot by 3-year-old brother[/url]

June 14, 2017 [url=http://nypost.com/2017/06/14/teen-shoots-at-snake-accidentally-kills-twin-brother/]Teen shoots at snake, accidentally kills twin brother[/url]

October 19, 2017 [url=http://fox13now.com/2017/10/19/12-year-old-accidentally-shoots-older-brother-in-legs-while-hunting-elk-in-utah/]12-year-old accidentally shoots older brother in legs while hunting elk in Utah[/url]

October 22, 2017 [url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/boy-3-shot-by-6-year-old-brother-police-say/]Boy, 3, shot in the head by 6-year-old brother, police say[/url]

My grandfather kept guns in his house. Most of them were a collection he kept in a padlocked room in the basement (and eventually sold), but he also kept a loaded pistol in a drawer in the lamp table next to where he often sat in his living room, and one in his bedside table. And he told us kids about them when we were little (he figured we'd likely look in the drawers), and warned us not to touch them, because they were loaded, and so [i]very[/i] dangerous. Years later, he said that he wanted to make sure we knew those guns were loaded, and would treat them that way, because he'd heard way too many stories about people being killed by "unloaded" guns.

Many years ago, [b]The New Yorker[/b] ran occasional pieces under the heading "The Annals of Medicine" by a writer named Berton Roueché. They have been republished in many anthologies. One of his stories, [i]The Most Delicate Thing in the World[/i] from 1957, was about an evening he spent at a Poison Control Center. The man taking the calls told a number of anecdotes about accidental poisonings he found difficult to understand. The story gets its title from something the man said, that appears at the end of the story: [quote]Most people take life for granted. My feeling is that it's not that dependable. In fact, it's the most delicate thing in the world. It's a miracle. And one false step and it's over.[/quote]

If a kid is curious about something, whether it be a gun, porn, or whatever, sometimes it's best to give them a safe way to learn about it, rather than "protecting" them.