On 22/01/2012 00:17, Tim Streater wrote:
In article ,
polygonum wrote:

I am certainly not going to flat out disagree with your humane view.
But I do think that people who do things like this completely ignore
the danger they pose to the rest of us by their actions.

I doubt if they ignore them. I doubt if such issues ever enter their minds.


They probably weren't bright sparks.

--
David in Normandy.
To e-mail you must include the password FROG on the
subject line, or it will be automatically deleted
by a filter and not reach my inbox.

But how can you do otherwise? Have a lottery where one day a shoplifter might get a life sentence, and the next day a serial murderer gets a £50 fine? The whole idea of making the punishment commensurate to the crime does put a price (or at least a price range) on it.

But I think you were perhaps referring to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act whereby after a period your crime may be "spent" and you no longer have to declare it on job applications. It takes a time for your crime to be "spent" and many ever are.

If someone who does something stupid when they're young (and a third of young men born in 1953 acquired a conviction (not including motoring offences) by the age of 30) finds they are barred from legal means of earning a living, people may feel that it's their own fault, but it leaves them with only illegal ways of acquiring money, and that's bad news for all of us. The tricky thing is getting the balance between protecting society by letting everyone know who has committed a crime, and protecting society by giving people a chance to put it behind them and become a productive member of society.

On 21/01/2012 22:26, Andrew Gabriel wrote:
In ,
Steve writes:
On 20/01/2012 18:51, harry wrote:
Not for the faint hearted this one!
http://www.thegaragegazette.com/index.php?topic=8130.0


Judging by the dried foam on his head

Remains of their hats

and the fire spread,

Extent of the plasma arc path across the surface of the ground - a
self-sustaining fire is unlikely

it looks as
if these two were still alight or smouldering nicely when the emergency
services arrived.

They will have stood back and watched, until assured by the electric
company that the power was off, and attendance at site of electric
company personel to test it really is off.

I think it would be useful for police to consider using these images in
a warning campaign to deter metal thieves.

They never do, in case someone is offended.
You could say the same for car/motorbike crashes, etc.
It would probably help significantly if teenagers understood
how fragile their bodies are by actually seeing what happens
to bodies in a crash before they were allowed to control a
vehicle on the road, but that would be politically unacceptable,
so they are let loose at a time in their lives where they are
under a complete misapprehension of being indestructable.

Every Xmas time around here the local police/fire brigade place terribly
smashed up cars on the roundabouts along with suitable 'don't drink &
drive' posters.



--
Dave - The Medway Handyman www.medwayhandyman.co.uk

En el artículo , Frank
Erskine escribió:

But their "death sentence" is self-imposed, not dished out by a court.
Numerous warning signs tell them of the dangers surrounding
electricity poles/pylons, substations and railways.

Agreed. Darwin in action.

--
(\_/)
(='.'=)
(")_(")

"polygonum" wrote in message
news
On Sat, 21 Jan 2012 21:49:46 -0000, Ian Jackson
wrote:

In message , Steve O
writes
On 20/01/2012 18:51, harry wrote:
Not for the faint hearted this one!
http://www.thegaragegazette.com/index.php?topic=8130.0


Judging by the dried foam on his head and the fire spread, it looks as
if these two were still alight or smouldering nicely when the emergency
services arrived.
I think it would be useful for police to consider using these images in
a warning campaign to deter metal thieves.

Even the inhabitants of Ambridge have had problems with cable thieves.
This very week, most of the village lost its broadband and telephone
connections after "200 meters" of cable was purloined. As a result, for
several days, many were temporarily reduced to a Stone Age way of
living. However, I believe that normal service had been restored by
Friday.



Were they Amp meters or Volt meters ?

Frank Erskine wrote:

On Sat, 21 Jan 2012 22:58:17 +0000 (UTC),
(Andrew Gabriel) wrote:

In article
,
McKevvy writes:
On Jan 20, 6:51*pm, harry wrote:
Not for the faint hearted this
one!http://www.thegaragegazette.com/index.php?topic=8130.0 Yup.
This was posted in uk.railway a few days ago. They don't get my
sympathy.

I know it's difficult to sympathise with someone cut down by their
own criminal actions, but it's not a crime for which anyone is going
to suggest a death sentence is appropriate. So in the sense that
they didn't get a chance to serve their sentence and didn't get a
chance to go on to become reformed upright citizens, I do feel
sorry for them.

But their "death sentence" is self-imposed, not dished out by a court.
Numerous warning signs tell them of the dangers surrounding
electricity poles/pylons, substations and railways.


But were the signs in 20 different languages, judging by their colour,
they might not have been able to read the signs.

Andrew Gabriel wrote:
In article
,
McKevvy writes:
On Jan 20, 6:51 pm, harry wrote:
Not for the faint hearted this
one!http://www.thegaragegazette.com/index.php?topic=8130.0
Yup. This was posted in uk.railway a few days ago.
They don't get my sympathy.

I know it's difficult to sympathise with someone cut down by their
own criminal actions,


but it's not a crime for which anyone is going
to suggest a death sentence is appropriate.

So you have never met a Daily Mail reader then?


--
Adam

In article ,
Tim Streater wrote:

[Snip]

I was wondering that myself:

Meter: device for measuring something e.g. volts
Met foreign unit of length

in my school days (1950s), the Meter was a unit of length, too. We changed
to the French spelling later - perhaps to make it easier for us to join the
EEC? or was it when Concord became Concorde?

--
From KT24

Using a RISC OS computer running v5.16

On Sat, 21 Jan 2012 22:58:17 +0000 (UTC),
(Andrew Gabriel) wrote:

I know it's difficult to sympathise with someone cut down by their
own criminal actions, but it's not a crime for which anyone is going
to suggest a death sentence is appropriate. So in the sense that
they didn't get a chance to serve their sentence and didn't get a
chance to go on to become reformed upright citizens, I do feel
sorry for them.

Are you for real?

"charles" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Tim Streater wrote:

[Snip]

I was wondering that myself:

Meter: device for measuring something e.g. volts
Met foreign unit of length

in my school days (1950s), the Meter was a unit of length, too. We
changed
to the French spelling later - perhaps to make it easier for us to join
the
EEC? or was it when Concord became Concorde?

--
From KT24

Using a RISC OS computer running v5.16


WRONG

I went to school in the 40's and the 50's. The Meter was the thing which
measured the Gas or Electric used. (Some took the Penny or the Shilling) The
Metre was the unit of measure.

Mike

--

....................................

I'm an Angel, honest ! The horns are there just to keep the halo straight.

....................................

In message , charles
writes
In article ,
Tim Streater wrote:

[Snip]

I was wondering that myself:

Meter: device for measuring something e.g. volts
Met foreign unit of length

in my school days (1950s), the Meter was a unit of length, too. We changed
to the French spelling later - perhaps to make it easier for us to join the
EEC? or was it when Concord became Concorde?

Ecksully, I never EVER make the mistake I just made! What is needed is
an intelligent spool choker which, when presented with words which have
alternative spellings, asks "Do you really want to spell it this way?"
Is there such a thing?

BTW, even though I was brought up with bushels and pecks, and rods,
poles, perches, chains and furlongs, I have no recollection of us ever
spelling the 39.37" metre as 'meter'.
--
Ian

"The Grey Man" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 21 Jan 2012 22:58:17 +0000 (UTC),
(Andrew Gabriel) wrote:

I know it's difficult to sympathise with someone cut down by their
own criminal actions, but it's not a crime for which anyone is going
to suggest a death sentence is appropriate. So in the sense that
they didn't get a chance to serve their sentence and didn't get a
chance to go on to become reformed upright citizens, I do feel
sorry for them.

Are you for real?


It may well be a gut feeling for many to feel they got what they deserved,
and theft is a deplorable offence. We've left the days of "let the
punishment fit the crime" long ago. Nowadays, owners of dangerous equipment
such as high voltage overhead lines or underground cables, have to protect
the offenders agianst their own stupidity. The Electricity supply industry
near me had a primary substaton surrounded by an 8 ft high Lochrin fence.
This wasn't enough to prevent thieves getting in to the substation, so coils
of razor wire were installed inside the Lochrin fencing as were signs
warning thieves of the presence of the razor wire!!!

Not only did the thieves die, but the families, presumably innocent,
suffered a life long loss. This is the sad bit.

Bill

Bill Grey wrote:
"The Grey Man" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 21 Jan 2012 22:58:17 +0000 (UTC),
(Andrew Gabriel) wrote:

I know it's difficult to sympathise with someone cut down by their
own criminal actions, but it's not a crime for which anyone is going
to suggest a death sentence is appropriate. So in the sense that
they didn't get a chance to serve their sentence and didn't get a
chance to go on to become reformed upright citizens, I do feel
sorry for them.

Are you for real?


It may well be a gut feeling for many to feel they got what they
deserved, and theft is a deplorable offence. We've left the days of
"let the punishment fit the crime" long ago.


Thank **** for that.

--
Adam

On Sat, 21 Jan 2012 03:35:22 -0000, Christina Websell wrote:

Nor mine, if was greed, but a whole different ballgame if they needed
the money to eat.

So not having money to eat is an excuse for theft? Not in my book and
certainly not in the UK where to fall completely through the benefits
net takes some doing.

--
Cheers
Dave.

On Jan 22, 8:34*pm, "Bill Grey" wrote:
"The Grey Man" wrote in messagenews:9vmoh79vcnmksc1co1dbsifnotlijod56d@4ax .com...

On Sat, 21 Jan 2012 22:58:17 +0000 (UTC),
(Andrew Gabriel) wrote:

I know it's difficult to sympathise with someone cut down by their
own criminal actions, but it's not a crime for which anyone is going
to suggest a death sentence is appropriate. So in the sense that
they didn't get a chance to serve their sentence and didn't get a
chance to go on to become reformed upright citizens, I do feel
sorry for them.

Are you for real?

It may well be a gut feeling for many *to feel they got what they deserved,
and theft is a deplorable offence. *We've left the days of "let the
punishment fit the crime" long ago. Nowadays, owners of dangerous equipment
such as high voltage overhead lines or underground cables, have to protect
the offenders agianst their own stupidity. The Electricity supply industry
near me had a primary substaton surrounded by an 8 ft high Lochrin fence.
This wasn't enough to prevent thieves getting in to the substation, so coils
of razor wire were installed inside the Lochrin fencing as were signs
warning thieves of the presence of the razor wire!!!

Not only did the thieves die, but the families, presumably innocent,
suffered a life long loss. *This is the sad bit.

Bill

Gotta disagree with you there. These scum committed not just a crime
but a sheer act of utter stupidity on a level that beggars belief. How
would you have felt if you were a passenger on one of the many trains
that were held up due to this insane act? Not only that but there is
also the cost of replacing the damage, the cos of the rescue crews
time, the cost of lost service to the Train Operating Company.
I have absolutely no sympathy at all but no doubt their thick gang
friends won't take note and will be back to rob the network of more
cables pretty soon.
It's a pity that death was instant for those two loons.

McK.