Blather, Waffle and Poppycock!

[Ithoriel]

I the autumn of 2017 I went on a very gentle diet and by early 2018 had lost half a stone at which point my parents needed residential care, the stress of arranging that ended thoughts of dieting.

Comfort eating saw me put on twelve pounds of the eight I'd lost, so in the autumn of 2018 I restarted the diet and by late November 2018 I'd lost a stone ... and my Dad died. Diet bust, weight gain by autumn 2019 one and a quarter stone.

So, back to the diet and early 2020, on the very morning that I'd lost a stone and a half, Nicola Sturgeon announced that anyone who could should stay home. Erratic shopping opportunities see diet bust once again.

I've piled 12 pounds back on. I'd go on a diet but I fear that, if successful, by early 2021 I'd have caused the world to end! :-)

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

It is obviously not intended that you diet sucessfully. Me I never bother 

[mmcv]

Yes sounds like the karmic implications are too dire for you to diet. So really you're doing your part to make the world a little better, one cheeseburger at a time.

I've always been overweight and fluctuated up and down a lot, but lately it's been a lot more up than down so think something dramatic is in order to reset a bit.  A few too many lockdown takeaways and "oh just popping into the shop for bread and milk...and chocolate and crisps and ice cream while we're here" have taken their toll. Plus I would have previously walked to work and now my commute involves a considerably shorter walk to the spare room.

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Holy tamoly! Have you seen Beruit  today?
https://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2020/aug/04/beirut-explosion-footage-shows-massive-blast-shaking-lebanons-capital-video

[Raider4]

Aye, that was a big bang.

[mmcv]

Yeah terrifying! Last report I read thought the initial fire was a fireworks or ammunition warehouse, but second huge blast looked like something far bigger, possibly chemical factory. Scary for everyone over there right now.

[Techno]

Yes, Will !!!

Stroll on, that was a VERY big explosion.
First time I saw that, I thought it was a mini nuke !
Having seen it again, I was pretty sure that I could see fireworks going off before the massive bang. Some reports are indicating it was a fireworks storage facility. Maybe it was ?

Cheers - Phil.

[Raider4]

Having seen it again, I was pretty sure that I could see fireworks going off before the massive bang.

Aye, you can see that in one of the videos.

Some reports are indicating it was a fireworks storage facility. Maybe it was ?

I can't see lots of fireworks exploding like that, all in one instant. To me that was one "thing" going whump.

[Ithoriel]

News report I heard talked of a jet passing low overhead just before the explosion. Apparently there are munitions stores as well as the fireworks factory and Israel and Hezbollah are said to be squaring up once more. Sounds like damage to property is extensive in the area and may people interviewed talked of having glass fragments in their feet and legs from all the shattered glass. I imagine casualty figures will exclude many with minor and/or psychological damage.

Here's hoping it was merely an accident.

[Raider4]

Shows up the big difference between a real and a Hollywood explosion though.

In Hollywood there'd have been a huge fireball. In real life, nothing

[Techno]

Aye, you can see that in one of the videos.

I can't see lots of fireworks exploding like that, all in one instant. To me that was one "thing" going whump.

I agree...it would be astonishing if they all went off together.

Here's hoping it was merely an accident.

Hear, hear !

What I couldn't quite get was the 'real' scale of the devastation....I assume most of the clips would have been made on phones with a relatively wide angle lens, which always stretches distances.
However....From what you could make out from all the different clips, it was a huge area !....(and beyond that, an awful lot of shattering glass, like Mike says.)

Cheers - Phil

[Ithoriel]

One of my Guild mates in the MMO I play is in Beirut, quite a way from the port, not only are all their windows shattered but their internal and external doors are matchwood too. Fortunately, he and his family are fine apart from minor scrapes and scratches.

As to the minor explosions, there are several before the main one, visible in a couple of the video's I've seen.

[Steve J]

That was a big bloody explosion that was heard as far away as Cyprus, some 150m/km away, according to the BBC. 50 dead and 2,700 injured so far

[Techno]

From what I've just read, there were around 2,700 tonnes of ammonium nitrate being stored there.

You can make homemade explosives with that stuff.
It can also be particularly dangerous if heated in a confined space.

Hopefully it WAS a tragic accident.

Cheers - Phil

[hammurabi70]

I've piled 12 pounds back on. I'd go on a diet but I fear that, if successful, by early 2021 I'd have caused the world to end! :-)

I lost 10 pounds in the first month after retirement and an additional 10 pounds during the next eleven months.

Recommendations:

* Have a daily exercise routine; it doesn't need to be fantastic, mine is 10 minutes on a static bike plus some pilates routines involving light weights, I found the routines via the internet.  Doing it every day slowly improves your physique.
* Minimise red meat and have lots of chicken and fish; a work colleague once lost half a stone simply by avoiding red meat.
* Have a firm routine for meals, and alcohol, and find alternative stress release.  A good find has been the small wine bottles, 15% more expensive but it allows controlled drinking and avoids having to deal with a 70/75cl bottle.
* Get a daily dose of fresh air and exercise, my choice is gardening.