Ceuse is under threat of closure from ESA (European Space Agency) who want to build a massive telescope and complex on the plateau above to study solar activity and figure out more precisely how long the sun will last. The current estimate is 4.5 billion years.
Good little news item with a lot more detail on LaCrux: youtube.com/watch?v=XbLawiHhaf4&
Alex Megos and Cedric Lachat have started an online petition to protect the climbing. See the web site:
Everyone had better go and tick Bibliographie before 2030 just in case it's not possible after
At the top of the page it says "Due to the large dimension of the project, large parts of the plateau, including the rock faces, could become a restricted area."
Further down "this historic climbing area will be closed."
Have the ESA said anything concrete about allowing climbing to continue?
Why was this posted tday of all days?
So this is actually legit then? I didn’t bother clicking the link yesterday as I assumed it was another April Fool.
There's been nothing in the local press...
In my defence, it was after midday. Doesn't April Fools end at midday? 😳
They did say something concrete about using quite a lot of it, and going by the sizes of the bases them scopes are sat on, my bet is they'll mine the lime out of Cëuse + build a super duper concrete making plant on site too.
Really dumb bad joke.
In the age of Trumpism, anti-vaxxers, conspiracy theories and other stupidities, some bloody idiots just had to add another one.
> Why was this posted tday of all days?
Dunno. If it was an April Fool, I can't see anything funny about it. Perhaps UKC can confirm one way or the other.
> Everyone had better go and tick Bibliographie before 2030 just in case it's not possible after
I reckon no rush as we’ve got about 4.5bn years left.
Hope not.. never up to the climbing but the plateau is a wonderful place to walk.
Well, they provide zero sources, the language they use is suspect (although that could be just bad machine translation from French), Google search for it brings zero results and most importantly, the mentioned "article" from Le Dauphine is a photoshopped fake, the original article from January is about sustainable tourism and future of the ski resort there.
The website is registered to "Actiontalk GmbH", similar name as "Actiontalk TV" which the website mentions in "The people from Actiontalk TV got the research paper from Le Dauphiné". The youtube channel is owned by LaCrux.com (climbing magazine), which uses the same registrar.
As you can see, I was bored today...
I'd say it's only a stupid April Fool's joke from LaCrux.com.
Why stupid? Because in the world where significant numbers of voters believe Qanon bullshit and Covidiots over science data, posting any further truly fake news, even if intended as April Fool's joke, is IMO stupid, especially if it mixes science and climate into it as they did.
At least the Rockfax VRS was kinda funny and nobody would take it at face value, right? Right?
Disclaimer: this post paid by the Bill Gates foundation
Le Dauphiné is my local paper, I don't read it everyday but there's been nothing about this 'story'. Even if true, there's a large radio telescope on the relatively nearby Pic de Bure & that doesn't restrict access, eg to routes on its Pilier Est or for walkers & skiers
Thanks for the local voice From my bit of net sleuthing (there is zero articles about it in Le Dauphiné online), it indeed looks like an April hoax, quite a bad one IMO with the petition (as seen from abroad, perhaps it would make a nice local joke after all!)
> so you are against april fools in general? The world isn‘t allowed to joke anymore on april first because of people believing in qanon and covidiots?
Where did I say that? Infer too much? Obviously there is a fine line between a good joke and a bad hoax. It can be quite different for different people, times and circumstances, just look at the past examples. We might laugh about some in decades on, or not. In my opinion, this was one of the worse ones and I simply provided some information for people who were unsure about it (as clearly shown by the questions here) - along with my opinion of it, which I do hope I am free to do? You might have enjoyed it (good for you!), I did not so much, for the reasons I stated clearly.
BTW, I am indeed very definitely against some kinds of April Fool's jokes - the very boring committee-vetted brand advertising ones. If some PR department really thinks their brand gets positive exposure from another "humorous" fictional product that's boring as ****, they are wrong. Most of corporate April Fool's "jokes" today are just stupid ads in disguise.
And please excuse me now, I am off to check on my spaghetti tree...
maybe we agree on disagree here. You sign your post as paid by Bill Gates foundation - that‘s a good joke then? I still don‘t see your concern of such an aprils fool in times of conspiracies, you didn‘t explain.
Megos confirmed it as an April Fools on his instagram.
This is an awful April Fools, it's just not funny. I can't believe Megos put his name behind it and can't believe it's got 15 likes. UKC staff obviously have a much better sense of humor than those at LaCrux.
Signed.
Wow, did they really collect personal information under false pretences, for the sake of a poor April Fools joke? How stupid is that?
> This is an awful April Fools, it's just not funny.
I think it's rather good in that it seems to have caught some people out who are now all flustered about it - definitely amusing and well pitched. Much better than all the completely transparent and daft ones; a good April's fool will at least have some plausibility.
Should have put .
Signed + Shared .
On 1st April you shouldn't trust such posts!
Lachets intro not very convincing, tongue in cheek vibe.
Sense of humour varies accross nations.. Do they do April fools day in Japan?
In fact it seems that some people have been made, well, fools of and don't see the funny side of this. Isn't this a perfect result for an April's fool?
>The world isn‘t allowed to joke anymore on april first because of people believing in qanon and covidiots?
No - people aren't "allowed"* to joke anymore on april first, because they are invariably lame, tedious, and unfunny.
* - um, well obviously they are and do. So, aren't people allowed to say april first jokes are invariably lame, tedious, and unfunny just because you say so?**
** - um, well obviously they are and do, at least I did and I (just about) count as people. So, the world isn't allowed ..... (segmentation fault, core dumped).
> In fact it seems that some people have been made, well, fools of and don't see the funny side of this. Isn't this a perfect result for an April's fool?
Dunno, I saw through it immediately, so wasn't fooled, and still didn't find it funny. Just lame. I did roll my eyes, and think "f*ck me, yet another". Does that count?
I've been got!
> Dunno, I saw through it immediately, so wasn't fooled, and still didn't find it funny.
Same here, but it has become funny because it has made fools of some people and because their reactions to being made fools of have made them look even more foolish. Well done Megos and Lachat.