back to article Short weekend break: Skegness or exoplanet HD 189733b?

Our recent piece examining the extreme weather on exoplanet HD 189733b prompted some readers to suggest that conditions on the distant hot Jupiter are in fact more benign than those enjoyed by visitors to British seaside resort Skegness. Well, for those of you thinking of taking a short weekend break over Xmas, the better to …

  1. Blank-Reg
    Go

    Brilliant.

    Definitely true about the Glass Rain. Though the skeggy glass rain includes some kind of Ethanol mix.

  2. Steven Raith

    "annual orgy of capitalism"

    I'd like to blame this on the 'typesetting', but I'm pretty sure me reading that without one of the 'n's and a 'u' in it is all down to my own mucky mind.

    Merry christmas, don't forget your personal lubricant.

    Steven "Oh god, I need help" R

    1. allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

      Re: "annual orgy of capitalism"

      A friend of mine from way back always used to say "a dirty mind is like a never ending feast". BTW, his first name is Stephen.

      1. imanidiot Silver badge

        Re: "annual orgy of capitalism"

        I've always heard and told it as: "A dirty mind is a joy forever"

        Puhtayto puhtahto I guess.

        1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge

          Re: "annual orgy of capitalism"

          But KEEP CALM AND KEEP SHOPPING has been the daily motto for some time now. Unfortunately I hear there is something bad going down with .... Hey, ... PROMOTIONS!!

        2. Steven Raith
          Thumb Up

          Re: "annual orgy of capitalism"

          I've never heard either phrase, which is strange given my mind is not so much in the gutter as it is mining the Marinas Trench - but I think I'll steal allthecoolshortnamesweretaken's version, it has a bit more ham to it, which when you're defending a mid conversation comment that involves sexual arousal and three hungry Rottweilers that is only barely related to the subject at hand, well, you need some theatrics to get out of that one.

          Upvotes for all!

          Steven "I've not actually made a comment about sexual arousal and three hungry Rottweilers...for a few months" R

  3. Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge
    Joke

    A bit odd

    to see night side temperature well above day side.

    Useful guide, for the interstellar hitchhiker, nonetheless, and you can of course always claim that where it is inaccurate, it is definitively inaccurate

  4. Tony S

    Reasons for not going to Skegness

    My parents had their 4 day honeymoon there.

    Eew.

    1. allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

      Re: Reasons for not going to Skegness

      Why the eew - if your birthday was more or less 9 months after that 4 days trip to Skegness there's little reason to complain...

    2. GitMeMyShootinIrons

      Re: Reasons for not going to Skegness

      It's Skeg-Vegas - if you're a bumpkin from the East Midlands, then you're likely to suffer some form of PTSD related to the place.

  5. aeonturnip
    Thumb Up

    Viz had it right

    Skegness

    1. sandman

      Re: Viz had it right

      Ken Holland, Mayor of Skegness, also leapt to the town's defence, saying: "There are not many better places than Skegness, and I've travelled all over the world."

      Where the hell has he been? I'm guessing North Korea, Somalia, the Central African Republic and the shittier parts of Philadelphia (you need a smaller UN Peacekeeping force in the first three).

  6. Steve Davies 3 Silver badge
    Mushroom

    Skeggie? Why oh why?

    The ONLY place on the east coast colder than Skeggie is Hunstanton. Winter clothes needed for August in both places.

    {memories of trips as a child to both places still make me shudder}

    I'll take the exo planet please.

    1. Yugguy

      Re: Skeggie? Why oh why?

      Hunstanton? I've been there. It were a bit parky, aye.

    2. Alister

      Re: Skeggie? Why oh why?

      The ONLY place on the east coast colder than Skeggie is Hunstanton. Winter clothes needed for August in both places.

      Rubbish, you should try Scarborough, a more joyless place is hard to conceive.

      Oh, and what about Grimsby - the clue is in the name :)

      1. Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

        Re: Skeggie? Why oh why?

        Nah, both Scarborough and Grimsby have better Fish 'n Chips than Skeegie or Huntstanton.

        1. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

          Re: Skeggie? Why oh why?

          I refuse to go to Scarborough since they wrecked the North Bay corner to build that monstrosity.

    3. IHateWearingATie

      Re: Skeggie? Why oh why?

      You soft southern jessie!

      We barely saw an icicle there this summer, and I didn't see any frostbite (this time).

    4. graeme leggett Silver badge

      Re: Skeggie? Why oh why?

      Ten things in defence of Huns'ton

      1) has some coloured cliffs.

      2) the sun sets over the sea

      3) It's not (Great) Yarmouth

      4) err

      5) did I mention the cliffs....

    5. Putters

      Re: Skeggie? Why oh why?

      I reckon Sunny Hunny is the reason why I work with computers. Went to the school you see as you go up the hill into the town. When a northeasterly was whipping the sleet in off the winter North Sea, any sane individual would go and find the Commodore Pet's in the comuter room rather than play football.

      1. PNGuinn
        Headmaster

        Sunny Hunny

        So - what part of the school pet did you warm your hands on then?

        Why the computer room?

        Enquiring minds....

  7. Mutton Jeff

    Yay for the old Butlins postcard

    New one sh1te, nostalgia isn't what it used to be

    1. Rich 11

      Re: Yay for the old Butlins postcard

      I'm pretty sure that postcard photo was taken the year I was born (about 23 miles from Skeg).

  8. Unep Eurobats
    Pint

    Skegness every time

    I just wouldn't trust that alien beer.

    1. TheTick

      Re: Skegness every time

      The way to tell the locals from the punters in Skeg is to see who ask for a bottle and who gets a pint. At least back in the late 90's during my wonder years the pubs and bars rarely cleaned the pipes feeding the pumps, especially at Fat Louis' and Strikes - bloody horrible pints!

  9. Simon Harris

    Clock tower?

    Or is it a cunningly disguised rocket ship the Victorian townsfolk of Skegness were planning on using to emigrate to HD 189733b?

  10. John Miles 1

    But you forgot to mention...

    Skegness for 'Skegex' - The Midlands Meccano exhibition in July ( really, http://www.nmmg.org.uk/skegex.html ) - Fantastic ingenuity and dedication by all those constructors.

    1. Simon Harris

      Re: But you forgot to mention...

      That'll be the Meccano exhibition mentioned in the last line of the table then.

  11. Ugotta B. Kiddingme
    Coffee/keyboard

    checks calendar

    Yep, Friday. Thanks for another insightful piece of tech journalism. This is a shining example of why I read your site daily. Cheers!

  12. DJO Silver badge

    If you think Skegness is bad, don't visit the Isle of Sheppy.

    Just don't.

    1. Lester Haines (Written by Reg staff) Gold badge

      Sheppey

      Indeed: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2002/05/13/welcome_to_sheppey_the_uks/

      1. Simon Harris

        Re: Sheppey

        Damn you, Haines, you made me look!

    2. allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damp,_Germany

    3. PNGuinn
      Trollface

      "If you think Skegness is bad, don't visit the Isle of Sheppy."

      Er - why slag off Skeggy?

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      If you think Skegness is bad, don't visit the Isle of Shepp[e]y.

      Some of my family, I admit, come from there. The emphasis being on "come from".

      Like Ireland or some of the Welsh valleys, it's a place that contributes to culture by encouraging anybody with an above average number of brain cells to educate themselves out of it.

      It's also infested with those dodgy "buy a life interest" bungalow schemes.

      But there is a way in which it resembles Scottsdale, Az.

      In both places, the higher you go above sea level, the higher the income and the more houses cost.

  13. szielins

    Call that an image of our galaxy? Wrong!, nerdsnort nerdshort

    The Milky Way isn't a spiral galaxy; it's a barred spiral. There's a map at <a href="http://www.eso.org/public/images/eso1339e/">Artist's impression of the Milky Way</a>, although it isn't detailed enough to make out Skegness.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Call that an image of our galaxy? Wrong!, nerdsnort nerdshort

      You will have to check Dark Matter concentrations to find it then.

      1. Martin Budden Silver badge

        Re: Call that an image of our galaxy? Wrong!, nerdsnort nerdshort

        That's assuming "Dark Matter" even exists. Magically undetectable stuff invented by humans to explain discrepancies in observations by humans? It may as well be a herd of invisible pink unicorns.

    2. PNGuinn
      Joke

      Re: Call that an image of our galaxy? Wrong!, nerdsnort nerdshort

      "although it isn't detailed enough to make out Skegness."

      So that's a disadvantage?

  14. Chris G

    Skeggi

    A Norse word meaning 'Bearded One' so it should be a good place to send Hipsters.

    Fairly sure there are no Danish Vikings there anymore.

    Personally I'll take my chances off planet, the beer's probably better.

    As for the Green and Fabled Isle of Sheppey, I happen to know that in the past some of the best Bare Knuckle fights in the country have occured there, awright mush?

  15. Francis Boyle Silver badge

    I opted for HD 189733b

    Thing is the FTL shuttle is so slow and wormholes always make me queasy. So I got hold of this tardis. (Don't ask me how but the vendor was a very nice young lady.) Trouble is every time I throw the bloody lever I end up in some random part of London. Now the thing's stuck in King's Cross. Oh well, I suppose it's Skegness then.

    1. Martin Budden Silver badge

      Re: I opted for HD 189733b

      Could be worse, the previous owner(s) usually ended up in an abandoned Welsh quarry.

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