Best Of

On the subject of lower quality things being better than their 'high quality' versions, I always buy fattier minced beef.

Isn't that actually quite obvious and well known? This is not meant to insult but don't most people realise the fattier the meat, the tastier it will be?

Hence the adoration of well-marbled ribye, or super fatty Kobe Wagyu

There are few meats more disappointing that an entirely fat-less fillet steak. Sure, the texture is butter-soft, but there is almost no flavour

One would think so, but the leaner version is more expensive.

There is an issue if you're eating poor quality meat, as the fat in mammals is the repository of our toxins, but yes, if the meat is healthy, fat is absolutely an advantage.

The best steak I've ever had (and I take this seriously, I actually have a top 10 lifetime steaks, if not top 20) was a very fatty sirloin cooked by a famous Argentinian chef, Francois Mallman, at his restaurant in Uruguay (a nation which, otherwise, has some of the very worst food in the world)

https://youshouldgohere.com/2024/09/francis-mallmann-garzon-uruguay/

It needed the fat, and they cooked it magnificently

...Thanks. I believe @viewcode is publishing something soon to which I submitted a detailed response which will also be published. That is... kinda all I want to say on the subject...

OK, draft 14 is up backstage (in the toilets as @Moonrabbit says). The details are:

• kyf_100s latest draft of the discussant contribution is included
  
• Main body: 13 sections, 1,898 words. This is the bit that PB publishes
  
• Appendices: 23 appendices, 8,817 words. This will go in a separate PDF
  
• Discussants: 2 discussants, 8,970 words. This will go in a separate PDF
  

I don't propose to make further changes to the main body. I might go thru the appendices and change some of the source numbering, but it is difficult to devote more time to this. @Cyclefree, you have the option to change/resubmit your discussant contribution if you wish: please let me know if you want to do that

@rcs1000, @DavidL, @fitalass, @Cyclefree, @TSE, @Nigelb, @kyf_100, @turbotubbs, if you have time please go thru the article and see if you can spot errors. I'm not going to change the text but if you spot citations that don't link or broken links, please tell me.

Unless you spot total disasters, I'll release this version to the prereaders on Tues/Weds

Oh lordy, so many words that will never get read (my response, not the article!). I will proofread my contribution anyway. It is tiring. World War 3 is... maybe days away? At least we will die doing what we loved - arguing over trivial things...

I have nothing to add to the debate. Except to say that anybody who refers to "men in dresses" should be roundly ignored.

It's a complex debate, but utilising that phrase in it is a pretty good indicator someone is not entering into that debate in a reasonable manner by oversimplifying it.

Fair if people object to the phrase men in dresses. I’d suggest looking upthread to where the insults began - Cyclefree called a terf.
My substantive point remains.What rights have trans men or women lost?

TERF is an abbreviation of trans exclusionary radical feminist. Are you suggesting that the terms "trans exclusionary" don't apply to Cyclcefree's (second wave, i.e. radical feminism). Huge if true.

TERF isn't an insult, it's a descriptor. That you ascribe shame to the word says a great deal about the beliefs commonly associated with it.

A descriptor can be an insult too.

And again no answer to the question. Huge.

To answer your question, according to the latest high court ruling (GLP v EHRC) my partner (deceased) would no longer be allowed to use the female toilets at work, despite being in possession of a cracking pair of double D's and a fabulous C-word (do dm me if you'd like to see a photo of it, though if you really want to see one, just look in the mirror).

She would be forced to out herself as trans to all her co-workers by using gender neutral toilets, dismissed as "office gossip" by the judge in said case, potentially placing her life at risk (I have witnessed violence against trans women). Those are the rights she has lost. Rights she was guaranteed as a woman with a GRC under the GRA (2004) but have been taken away on a technicality.

You do love your insults. I wish you and you partner nothing but joy, genuinely. Finding the right person to be with is brilliant.
You extrapolate an awful lot from them being unable to use toilets that they wish too. If I have it right, using a gender neutral toilet means someone is going to attempt to murder them.

Reminder: She committed suicide. While it's considered unetthical, medically, to ascribe a suicide to a particular reason (and the circumstances leading up to hers were horrible), one does not have a ten year relationship with someone without a certain understanding of the factors that led up to it.

She lived with the kind of transphobic BS I see posted here every day, every day. It costs nothing to treat trans women as women. The kind of language used here, on a daily basis, can cost people their lives.

This is horrible and you have my deepest sympathies, if it helps at all

But @Casino_Royale is right, perhaps this great trauma means you should avoid this subject, if only because debating it must re-open the wound?

But you must do what you must do. And remember everyone on PB will be appalled and saddened by your story, whatever their views on this or that issue

So you're saying a holocaust survivor shouldn't be allowed to talk about antisemitism?

Perhaps Norman Tebbitt shouldn't be allowed to criticise the IRA?

Or - full reductio ad absurdam - person who got a parking ticket shouldn't be allowed to grumble that the current system of restrictions is unfair?

Interesting.

Thanks for the concern trolling, mate.

Perhaps, I have more experience on the subject than most on PB and my contribution in rebutting Cyclefree's transphobic bollox makes me a useful and interesting contributor on the subject?

I have mentioned my partner's death in passing several times on pb over the years, but the fact that I've been politely rebutting Cyclefree's anti trans BS for years and haven't leaned into the "this shit killed the woman I loved" vibe and have been consistently but politely rebutting her shit using logical, reasonable argument should tell you something.

You are trying to get me to shut up by pretending you are concerned about my "great trauma". Classic concern trolling. "Shut up, you're too emotional to talk".

I think the case for trans rights stands by itself, and I've been making it for years now without constantly referencing said trauma.

I'll keep on talking about it for as long as I'm still alive. Because many are not.

You illustrate why I avoid this argument

Believe it or not I have a trans experience very close to me, closer than yours, perhaps, which leads me to feel very very differently to you

Unlike you I do not parade it, indeed I barely mention it. I am therefore tempted to abuse you in the way you have abused me, but I shall not

Have a good day

If you were in a relationship with a trans woman for over a decade, then I will be happy to concede my crown as King of the Trans F****s to you, sir.

The fact that I've several times pointed out my partner is both trans and dead and this is the first time you have noticed it, proves my point.

As it is, I'll simply say that you should look at my original post to which Tubbsy replied to, where I matter of factly pointed out stuff "my partner (deceased) would no longer be allowed to..." to which he tactlessly decided to reply "I wish you and her all the joy in the world" which is why I am upset and have nailed the "my partner is dead post it note" more firmly into people's thick skulls than usual when this debate rears its head on PB.

I don't make an issue out of my partner's death, and haven't, for many years, precisely because a moist "Barty Roberts" like you would accuse me of being "emotional" and "too close to the subject to be objective".

Apologies for not reading that fully. I have a three year old and it’s time, so not huge amounts of time to digest every post. I am genuinely sorry for your loss, and if I had read the relevant bit would never have ignored it. Although pedantically (this is pedantic betting after all) ‘my partner is trans’ is not guiding the reader.

Oil price is incredibly now $110- never seen a surge in 20 minutes like this.

https://x.com/faisalislam/status/2030771584072360243?s=20

It’s TACO time!

Fingers crossed.

I don't think they can without regime change now because the next Iranian leadership will absolutely pursue nukes now at whatever the cost given what's just happened. The US and Israel need to win and they need to win this week. I don't know how they do that.

This is why crystal clear aims are vital before you start anything.

Isn't that more likely to lead to problems with the sunk-cost fallacy? Maintaining flexible aims makes it easier to adjust.

…

How long before the spike in energy prices starts feeding into the wider economy ?

Any economists in here ?

Within the next few days. I expect petrol prices to become unpalatable by the end of the week and an emergency rise in the energy price cap by the end of next week if this is still ongoing. Oil and gas prices are returning to the rates we saw during the start of the Ukraine war.

We need for the US and Israel to win and win fast or I fear that inflation will soon hit 5-6% and living standards are going to fall fast.

Serious question for all, what, if anything, should I be buying now in case of panic or prices going mental? We all remember (and hopefully survived) the Great Covid Toilet Roll Craze, but is there anything other than oil that is likely to be seriously and rapidly affected by this situation?

I'm sitting on a gaming rig with many, many gb of memory bought last year thanks to PB commentators noticing the component price surge early. Anything worth getting in, now?

Buy guns, if you need anything if the world goes to shit you can just go and kill the people with the loo rolls and pasta. Guns take up less space so you can just raid and kill to suit your storage.

Ah, Rust/Survival Game rules. Fair enough.

I was hoping more for the PB hive mind to notice that some obscure chemical is only produced in Iran or has to go via Iran, and it's the key ingredient in something valuable, so I can corner the market.

I can sell my gaming rig today for double what I paid for it last year...

Sadly I was not paying close enough attention and my PC is getting quite aged and in need of upgrade or replacement. Needs to hold on at least a couple more years now.

…

How long before the spike in energy prices starts feeding into the wider economy ?

Any economists in here ?

Within the next few days. I expect petrol prices to become unpalatable by the end of the week and an emergency rise in the energy price cap by the end of next week if this is still ongoing. Oil and gas prices are returning to the rates we saw during the start of the Ukraine war.

We need for the US and Israel to win and win fast or I fear that inflation will soon hit 5-6% and living standards are going to fall fast.

Serious question for all, what, if anything, should I be buying now in case of panic or prices going mental? We all remember (and hopefully survived) the Great Covid Toilet Roll Craze, but is there anything other than oil that is likely to be seriously and rapidly affected by this situation?

I'm sitting on a gaming rig with many, many gb of memory bought last year thanks to PB commentators noticing the component price surge early. Anything worth getting in, now?

Buy guns, if you need anything if the world goes to shit you can just go and kill the people with the loo rolls and pasta. Guns take up less space so you can just raid and kill to suit your storage.

Ah, Rust/Survival Game rules. Fair enough.

I was hoping more for the PB hive mind to notice that some obscure chemical is only produced in Iran or has to go via Iran, and it's the key ingredient in something valuable, so I can corner the market.

I can sell my gaming rig today for double what I paid for it last year...

If you are asking on here you are already behind the people with contacts and control. Markets are cornered before you are thinking about them. Buy guns.