Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ancient law requires a bale of straw to hang from Charing Cross rail bridge

ianvisits.co.uk

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

91–100 of 158 posts

Re: Ancient law requires a bale of straw to hang from Charing Cross rail bridge

#91

Post by red_admiral »

CPLX wrote: post #39
guerrilla wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In case anyone else forgot what that means. > The "brown M&M clause" was a specific contract requirement by Van Halen that demanded all brown M&Ms be removed from a bowl of M&Ms provided backstage before their performances. This clause was not a frivolous demand but a way to test if the concert promoters had read the entire contract carefully. If brown M&Ms were found, it indicated that other important technical deta…

You know I’ve seen this explanation a million times for decades and it’s always just a tiny bit wrong. It’s a small distinction, but actually if the band showed up and found all the brown M&Ms still there the plan would have already been a failure. The reason it was in the contract was to make sure the promoter had read the contract before signing it and understood what they were getting into. Band riders are almost…

It's rarely a brand issue with M&Ms though? I'd expect a competent promoter would read it and charge a reasonable amount for that line item. Band asks for crazy shit, you quote an almost-crazy price for it.

Re: Ancient law requires a bale of straw to hang from Charing Cross rail bridge

#92

Post by twixfel »

johngladtj wrote: post #23
sandworm101 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sunset? So that after a few years people can do work on bridges without having to put up warnings? In a modern context, we wouldn't sunset a law saying that traffic lights be green and red, even though maybe in a few years we might want orange and pink. You dont mess around with safety warning standards.

We absolutely should sunset those laws. If they are needed they can be voted upon again by parliament, and will no doubt pass. In fact I would say not only should all laws have built in expiration dates, such expiration dates should be shorter the lower the percentage of votes in parliament it too to pass them! If you can only get a 51% majority in parliament to pass a law, that law should not exist beyond that elect…

Sounds like a huge waste of time to me.

Re: Ancient law requires a bale of straw to hang from Charing Cross rail bridge

#93

Post by sethammons »

DoingIsLearning wrote: post #80
davidw wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Supreme Court in the United States has been playing a looooot of "Calvinball" recently. They've never been completely immune from it, but it has gotten a lot more nakedly political.

Off topic but I am now old enough that more than once Calvinball references were lost with my co-workers. I was surprised (and then sad) at the realization that Bill Watterson is fading from the cultural ethos as I age.

I've noticed similar. I quote lots of movies, usually one liners as appropriate. Between age and less uniform media exposure, my references more often than not fall flat. And I feel less connected.

Re: Ancient law requires a bale of straw to hang from Charing Cross rail bridge

#94

Post by frederikvs »

CPLX wrote: post #39
guerrilla wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In case anyone else forgot what that means. > The "brown M&M clause" was a specific contract requirement by Van Halen that demanded all brown M&Ms be removed from a bowl of M&Ms provided backstage before their performances. This clause was not a frivolous demand but a way to test if the concert promoters had read the entire contract carefully. If brown M&Ms were found, it indicated that other important technical deta…

You know I’ve seen this explanation a million times for decades and it’s always just a tiny bit wrong. It’s a small distinction, but actually if the band showed up and found all the brown M&Ms still there the plan would have already been a failure. The reason it was in the contract was to make sure the promoter had read the contract before signing it and understood what they were getting into. Band riders are almost…

Removing the brown ones from a bowl of M&Ms is a 5 minute job that can be handled by anyone. I would expect a lot of people would go "well that's a bit eccentric, but if it makes the band happy, why not".

I doubt the band would say "you didn't redline this weird but inconsequential request, we can't work together.

If they wanted to be sure the redlining process worked, they should have put in something like "remove all fire extinguishers from backstage".

Re: Ancient law requires a bale of straw to hang from Charing Cross rail bridge

#95

Post by teamonkey »

mschuster91 wrote: post #68
dghf wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In what places do courts ignore or modify law to deliver the result they prefer? (To be precise: where is that accepted practice, rather than aberrant behaviour by some judges?)

That's common in both European courts (look at e.g. the history of homosexual marriages in the EU) and in the US ("Citizens United"). The core issue is that no Constitution, in fact no law or decree at all can account for all possibilities that real life offers, and so all the bodies of law are up for interpretation all the time.

This is also the case in the UK. Where things are not crystal clear they are interpreted by judges and can become precedent (see the recent “definition of a woman” interpretation).

The issue highlighted by, say, the Owens vs Owens example, is that the law as it stood was clear and not open to interpretation, though obviously unfair. The law needed to be changed, which required parliament.

Re: Ancient law requires a bale of straw to hang from Charing Cross rail bridge

#96

Post by moomin »

bb123 wrote: post #19

Reminds me of the fact that for 500 years everyone graduating with a BA from Oxford had to swear that they would never agree to the reconciliation of Henry Symeonis, despite no one having any idea who he was for most of that time.

Had to look this one up. Apparently the answer is he was a rich *hole who murdered a student, got fined £80 (which might have been a lot of money, but he was rich), stayed away from Oxford a few years and then The Powers That Be told everyone to get over it.

I can kind of understand the statute, tbqh.

Re: Ancient law requires a bale of straw to hang from Charing Cross rail bridge

#98

Post by walthamstow »

red_admiral wrote: post #89
breggles wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, the full clause reads: "When the headroom of an arch or span of a bridge is reduced from its usual limits but that arch or span is not closed to navigation, the person in control of the bridge must suspend from the centre of that arch or span by day a bundle of straw large enough to be conspicuous and by night a white light." Does that mean the law is not being complied with, in this case, since the bales are han…

Delays due to trucks striking bridges are a worldwide problem, at least in countries with railroads. Despite yellow black striped reflective panels and height warning signs and sometimes height detectors that trigger flashing red lights. Perhaps we should try a bale of straw next. The London Blackwall tunnel has a more modern take on checking height: https://maps.app.goo.gl/b5P5Td1hsuSjLU3w8 traffic signals, barriers…

Your link shows the Dartford Crossing, an M25 bridge miles downstream of the City. The Blackwall Tunnel runs under the Thames at Greenwich and afaik just has the old school hanging metal blocks at height https://maps.app.goo.gl/N5xSF148ggLVTDtS8

It doesn't surprise me too much that police are on standby, a closure of either tunnel or bridge has a major effect on traffic all over London

Re: Ancient law requires a bale of straw to hang from Charing Cross rail bridge

#99

Post by TheOtherHobbes »

sethammons wrote: post #93
DoingIsLearning wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Off topic but I am now old enough that more than once Calvinball references were lost with my co-workers. I was surprised (and then sad) at the realization that Bill Watterson is fading from the cultural ethos as I age.

I've noticed similar. I quote lots of movies, usually one liners as appropriate. Between age and less uniform media exposure, my references more often than not fall flat. And I feel less connected.

If you talk to anyone under 30, there's a vague sense of 'the past' with a few landmark events - mostly Star Wars, Pokemon, Miyazaki. Beyond that it's all recent comics, superhero movies, video games, and anime, with a big subculture stanning book trends like romantasy.

Most of what happened before 2000 doesn't seem to exist in cultural memory.

It's not quite true that nothing that happened before 1950 exists at all. But you're not going to find many people who are interested in the art, music, literature, design, or architecture of earlier decades - never mind centuries.

It's as a big a break as there was in the 60s. For that generation the 50s were still an influence, but anything earlier pretty much just disappeared.

Re: Ancient law requires a bale of straw to hang from Charing Cross rail bridge

#100

Post by M2Ys4U »

moomin wrote: post #96
bb123 wrote: post #19

Reminds me of the fact that for 500 years everyone graduating with a BA from Oxford had to swear that they would never agree to the reconciliation of Henry Symeonis, despite no one having any idea who he was for most of that time.

Had to look this one up. Apparently the answer is he was a rich *hole who murdered a student, got fined £80 (which might have been a lot of money, but he was rich), stayed away from Oxford a few years and then The Powers That Be told everyone to get over it. I can kind of understand the statute, tbqh.

According to the Bank of England's inflation calculator, £80 in 1242 is worth £119,600 today.
Post reply on HN