Howdy, Stranger!

It looks like you're new here. Sign in or register to get started.

Rasputitsa – politicalbetting.com

1356

Comments

  • The Gunpowder Plot: Countdown to Treason doc on Channel 5 is pretty good, which is new I think but am watching on catch-up.

    Thought I knew all about it but am still learning some nuggets I didn't know.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 50,248
    A

    Hmm.
    Under 40s?
    Malignant cancer deaths 2017-2023 in the US for ages 25-44 divided into states below vaccination average and states above vaccination average:



    Surely we'd expect the orange line (higher vaxxed states) to be above the blue line (lower vaxxed states) if vaccines caused cancer?

    (Source here: https://twitter.com/tylerblack32/status/1679191050861318144 )

    Stop ruining conspiracy theories with these “Fact” things.
  • Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    I’m house sitting for a friend in Falmouth. Massive house, sea views. All I gotta do is feed the cats

    Could be worse. But I just don’t get pets. Cats are amusing sometimes but that’s it. All they do is loll around sleeping meantime you have to let them in and out and feed them disgusting food and then they sleep some more

    What is it? Why pets? Why cats and dogs? Why can’t people cope without a stupid domesticated mammal that’s basically in a comfortable jail and had no purpose other than to mildly entertain?

    It’s like slavery. Pet owners are inadequate twats

    My dog keeps me fit. Stops me being lazy....
    Like I said. Selfish and inadequate

    Next
    That's bullshit. Giving a dog a home is a kindness. We rescued a terribly mistreated dog, badly bitten. She is very happy and she is part of the family.
    There are selfish nasty and inadequate people who own dogs but I am not one of them.
    Tell you what, how about we have NO dogs as domestic pets? How about that? Then you wouldn't have to rescue any?

    Let dogs be dogs, in packs, as nature intended, in the wild. Not denatured, castrated freaks kept in a purposeless brick box all day because they sometimes "lift the spirits" of a stupid provincial GP in Leicester
    Nature intended nothing, life has evolved and dogs have evolved with humans as domesticated animals. Dog breeds we have today are not wild wolves that are meant to live in packs, they're domesticated animals meant to live in homes, that's how they evolved and that's good for them and good for us.

    Even if you can't sit still long enough to enjoy life within a household with an animal.
  • BarnesianBarnesian Posts: 8,581
    Andy_JS said:

    Foxy said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Anyone think Biden might get displaced by Kennedy as the main challenger to Trump?

    I think it's unlikely, because I think RFK draws at least as much - and possibly more - from Trump's voter base. How many big vaccine sceptics currently vote Biden?

    I suspect that RFK will fizzle, and not make the debates.

    However, it is not impossible that he makes 20% in the polling (he is after all currently polling at around that level), in which case all bets are off.

    Despite being batshit crazy, let's not forget that RFK is younger, fitter and more articulate than either Trump or Biden.
    In American politics being Batshit crazy is often an electoral advantage. Truth and rationality are so restricting.
    Time and time again I lose money betting on US politics because I take a British attitude to it.

    Sounds stupid when you put it like that but it's very hard to get inside the minds of some American voters.
    A poll the other day had 58% supporting either Trump or Kennedy.
    God help us all
    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    I’m house sitting for a friend in Falmouth. Massive house, sea views. All I gotta do is feed the cats

    Could be worse. But I just don’t get pets. Cats are amusing sometimes but that’s it. All they do is loll around sleeping meantime you have to let them in and out and feed them disgusting food and then they sleep some more

    What is it? Why pets? Why cats and dogs? Why can’t people cope without a stupid domesticated mammal that’s basically in a comfortable jail and had no purpose other than to mildly entertain?

    It’s like slavery. Pet owners are inadequate twats

    You don't get pets, you don't do long-term relationships - maybe just accept that you're a little bit different to most people?
    No, this is different, I morally object to pets, and despise the weaklings that enslave them - at a serious cost to the environment

    "Oh look, my cat did this funny thing"

    "Hey, I go for walks with a dog"

    GET A FUCKING LIFE
    I wasn't trying to be rude, offensive, or judgemental. You don't understand why most people like pets, fair enough, not an issue.

    My personal theory is that humans have a deep evolutionary affinity to other species and having a pet fits with that. But that's an evidence-free theory on my part.
    No, you don'tget it. I understand why people want pets - these people are lonely, bored, inadequate and selfish. I just think they should overcome this

    I realise this is not a popular point of view. I predict it will become more widespread with time Intelligent animals kept for amusement are horrifying, when you actually analyse it
    Dogs love you.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,149

    moonshine said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Anyone think Biden might get displaced by Kennedy as the main challenger to Trump?

    0%

    How many on left hand side of politics are yearning for a vaccine denying conspiracy theorist? And that’s just his presentable views.
    There is time for events to align with his views. A doctor friend recently reported to me that her and most of her colleagues now privately shy away from recommending the vaccine to all but the elderly, because they are anecdotally seeing odd incidences of cancer that have left them scratching their heads. To the extent that they are also busily reminding under 40s of the early symptoms of cancer even in social settings.

    Now perhaps there is nothing to this. But there is a non zero chance that rfk and his ilk will be able to claim the “I told you so” hill.
    Total rot.

    "...they are anecdotally seeing odd incidences of cancer that have left them scratching their heads

    That describes most instances of cancer surely? Most of the friends and acquaintances I have known who have suffered cancer have been 'odd instances' - i.e. they've just been unlucky.

    My own view is that it is too early to tell what will be the long-term side effects of the vaccines. Normally, I would not give a moment to such thoughts but it gets forgotten that mRNA had not been through the standard testing procedures for a vaccine but had been sped-tracked through because of Covid. Potentially more important though is that the companies involved were given waivers by the US Government for any future liabilities for side effects caused by the vaccines. When you have (1) a big bucket of money waiting to be made (2) a focus on getting something out as quickly as possibly and (3) no liability for anything that goes wrong, that usually flashes warning bells.

    For disclosure, I have had three vaccine shots.

    That's not true: mRNA has been used for a number of cancer treatments, albeit in much smaller sample sizes.

    If (and it's an enormous if) mRNA vaccines caused cancer (and it would be good if those who suggested that it might could possibly propose a mechanism), then we would see it in differential cancer rates between countries which where AstraZeneca first and those which were Pfizer/Moderna first.

  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,277
    Prediction:

    In the future we will be horrified that humans killed living mammals and ate their meat: we will have lab grown meat that does the tasty job

    In the future we will be horrified that humans enslaved intelligent mammals and kept them as "pets" solely for amusement: we will have AI companions (embodied in fluffy toys, for the friendless, selfish inadequates)

  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 48,632
    30p Lee now contributing to the BMA strike fund. Whole post worth a read 😀😀

    https://twitter.com/LeeAndersonMP_/status/1721237434111832326?t=3uHGQQTRarJioYA3aTVgxA&s=19
  • Not much firework action round here tonight. I guess the big council and corporate displays are a thing of the past (or have moved to New Year's Eve) and half the locals save them for Diwali.

    There does seem to be quite a postcode lottery as to where is having big displays and where is not.

    We went to a local Rugby Union club tonight who put on a really good display. Came highly recommended to us and it was great.

    I think they must have made a profit from tickets and booze sales alone, there were thousands there, plus a fair and more. Really well stewarded too, I wasn't drinking as I was driving but when we got close we were told not to go down that street as all the parking was taken but told where we could park instead which wasn't a far walk.

    Good night. :)
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,149
    Leon said:

    In future we will look back at pet ownership the way we look at slavery now - almost

    "So, you took this natural wild mammal, and kept it in a house, basically against all its instincts, I guess it did some important job?"

    "No, it just was there to entertain me"

    "What??"

    "I mean, yeah, that was it. Sometimes it did funny jumps. Or it barked amusingly"

    "That's it???"

    "No no no, long before that I had its genitals cut off. After that it just destroyed wildlife"

    Ummm:

    Our first cat adopted us. It hung around by the back door. We gave it food from time to time. Eventually it moved in.

    Which, if you think about it, is nothing like the slave trade.
  • BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 34,663
    Leon said:

    Prediction:

    In the future we will be horrified that humans killed living mammals and ate their meat: we will have lab grown meat that does the tasty job

    In the future we will be horrified that humans enslaved intelligent mammals and kept them as "pets" solely for amusement: we will have AI companions (embodied in fluffy toys, for the friendless, selfish inadequates)

    Timescale?
  • BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 34,663
    Foxy said:

    30p Lee now contributing to the BMA strike fund. Whole post worth a read 😀😀

    https://twitter.com/LeeAndersonMP_/status/1721237434111832326?t=3uHGQQTRarJioYA3aTVgxA&s=19

    Haha, what an utter twat Anderson is.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,149
    Leon said:

    Prediction:

    In the future we will be horrified that humans killed living mammals and ate their meat: we will have lab grown meat that does the tasty job

    In the future we will be horrified that humans enslaved intelligent mammals and kept them as "pets" solely for amusement: we will have AI companions (embodied in fluffy toys, for the friendless, selfish inadequates)

    Of course: lab grown meat will - in time - be cheaper, more nutritious, and tastier than the stuff that comes from animals.

    At which point, why waste valuable land on animals for slaughter?
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,149
    edited November 2023

    Leon said:

    Prediction:

    In the future we will be horrified that humans killed living mammals and ate their meat: we will have lab grown meat that does the tasty job

    In the future we will be horrified that humans enslaved intelligent mammals and kept them as "pets" solely for amusement: we will have AI companions (embodied in fluffy toys, for the friendless, selfish inadequates)

    Timescale?
    You will first eat lab grown meat in the next 10 to 12 years. But it will probably only become the dominant form of protein in 40 or 50 years.

    And it may take a century before you are able to grow a steak that is indistinguishable from the "real thing".

    (And RFK will claim that it gives you cancer. For the record, it won't.)
  • ohnotnowohnotnow Posts: 3,781
    rcs1000 said:

    Leon said:

    Prediction:

    In the future we will be horrified that humans killed living mammals and ate their meat: we will have lab grown meat that does the tasty job

    In the future we will be horrified that humans enslaved intelligent mammals and kept them as "pets" solely for amusement: we will have AI companions (embodied in fluffy toys, for the friendless, selfish inadequates)

    Of course: lab grown meat will - in time - be cheaper, more nutritious, and tastier than the stuff that comes from animals.

    At which point, why waste valuable land on animals for slaughter?
    So you can hunt them. With an AI assisted assault rifle. Like a Real Man(TM).

    Lab grown meat is for Soy boys.

    etc, etc etc,....
  • CatManCatMan Posts: 3,058
    Leon said:

    Prediction:

    In the future we will be horrified that humans killed living mammals and ate their meat: we will have lab grown meat that does the tasty job

    In the future we will be horrified that humans enslaved intelligent mammals and kept them as "pets" solely for amusement: we will have AI companions (embodied in fluffy toys, for the friendless, selfish inadequates)

    So you've become a Vegan?!

    WOOOOOOOOOKKKKKKEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  • Leon said:

    Prediction:

    In the future we will be horrified that humans killed living mammals and ate their meat: we will have lab grown meat that does the tasty job

    In the future we will be horrified that humans enslaved intelligent mammals and kept them as "pets" solely for amusement: we will have AI companions (embodied in fluffy toys, for the friendless, selfish inadequates)

    That's as batshit crazy as your notion that people will in future not have private transportation and will all use Uber instead.

    Meat is better for you, tastier and all-round better than the alternatives. We have canine teeth for a reason, we evolved an omnivores to have a balanced diet which includes meat.

    As for pets, they have quite literally evolved to be pets.

    You do not find wild packs of Chihuahuas or Jack Russells in nature. They've evolved to be pets, and any that are 'wild' are called "feral" not wild and won't survive long as that's not how they evolved to be.
  • BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 34,663
    rcs1000 said:

    Leon said:

    Prediction:

    In the future we will be horrified that humans killed living mammals and ate their meat: we will have lab grown meat that does the tasty job

    In the future we will be horrified that humans enslaved intelligent mammals and kept them as "pets" solely for amusement: we will have AI companions (embodied in fluffy toys, for the friendless, selfish inadequates)

    Timescale?
    You will first eat lab grown meat in the next 10 to 12 years. But it will probably only become the dominant form of protein in 40 or 50 years.

    And it may take a century before you are able to grow a steak that is indistinguishable from the "real thing".

    (And RFK will claim that it gives you cancer. For the record, it won't.)
    Thanks, I actually meant for Leon's In the future we will be horrified that humans enslaved intelligent mammals and kept them as "pets" prediction.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,149
    On the subject of mRNA, people seem to think that the vaccines are doing something crazy and unknown. They're not. They are simply acting exactly like a virus, and harnessing our own bodies to make copies of a target for the immune system.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,149

    rcs1000 said:

    Leon said:

    Prediction:

    In the future we will be horrified that humans killed living mammals and ate their meat: we will have lab grown meat that does the tasty job

    In the future we will be horrified that humans enslaved intelligent mammals and kept them as "pets" solely for amusement: we will have AI companions (embodied in fluffy toys, for the friendless, selfish inadequates)

    Timescale?
    You will first eat lab grown meat in the next 10 to 12 years. But it will probably only become the dominant form of protein in 40 or 50 years.

    And it may take a century before you are able to grow a steak that is indistinguishable from the "real thing".

    (And RFK will claim that it gives you cancer. For the record, it won't.)
    Thanks, I actually meant for Leon's In the future we will be horrified that humans enslaved intelligent mammals and kept them as "pets" prediction.
    Oh, that's easy: never.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,277
    rcs1000 said:

    Leon said:

    In future we will look back at pet ownership the way we look at slavery now - almost

    "So, you took this natural wild mammal, and kept it in a house, basically against all its instincts, I guess it did some important job?"

    "No, it just was there to entertain me"

    "What??"

    "I mean, yeah, that was it. Sometimes it did funny jumps. Or it barked amusingly"

    "That's it???"

    "No no no, long before that I had its genitals cut off. After that it just destroyed wildlife"

    Ummm:

    Our first cat adopted us. It hung around by the back door. We gave it food from time to time. Eventually it moved in.

    Which, if you think about it, is nothing like the slave trade.
    Except that this is exactly what happened to Thomas Jefferson's enslaved black mistress, Sally Hemings. She was emancipated, because he took her to Paris (where slavery was not allowed)

    Then she willingly went back into bondage, and became a slave again, because she was hanging around by the back door, and Jefferson gave her food from time to time, so that worked for everyone

    if you breed slaves with a slave mentality, from the Romans to the Bourbons, many slaves will absolutely embrace this. This is what we have done to higher species of mammal, it is quite disgusting. Like having a chimps' tea party in your Barratt Home semi in Warrington, "because they're funny"

    i know PB thinks I'm simply spoiling for a fight - but I do believe this, quite sincerely. When you step outside and look at pet ownership, it is not pretty. It will go soon enough. Within a few decades, if not sooner
  • Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 51,821
    edited November 2023



    Meat is better for you, tastier and all-round better than the alternatives. We have canine teeth for a reason, we evolved an omnivores to have a balanced diet which includes meat.

    Truly laughable! Our canines are NOT the same size as those of lions and tigers!

    BTW I've been a vegetarian since 1991!
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,277

    Leon said:

    Prediction:

    In the future we will be horrified that humans killed living mammals and ate their meat: we will have lab grown meat that does the tasty job

    In the future we will be horrified that humans enslaved intelligent mammals and kept them as "pets" solely for amusement: we will have AI companions (embodied in fluffy toys, for the friendless, selfish inadequates)

    Timescale?
    30-50 years
  • BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 34,663
    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Prediction:

    In the future we will be horrified that humans killed living mammals and ate their meat: we will have lab grown meat that does the tasty job

    In the future we will be horrified that humans enslaved intelligent mammals and kept them as "pets" solely for amusement: we will have AI companions (embodied in fluffy toys, for the friendless, selfish inadequates)

    Timescale?
    30-50 years
    Please try to survive long enough for me to point out that's another mistaken prediction of yours (the pet one - lab meat, I agree with).
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,149
    Leon said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Leon said:

    In future we will look back at pet ownership the way we look at slavery now - almost

    "So, you took this natural wild mammal, and kept it in a house, basically against all its instincts, I guess it did some important job?"

    "No, it just was there to entertain me"

    "What??"

    "I mean, yeah, that was it. Sometimes it did funny jumps. Or it barked amusingly"

    "That's it???"

    "No no no, long before that I had its genitals cut off. After that it just destroyed wildlife"

    Ummm:

    Our first cat adopted us. It hung around by the back door. We gave it food from time to time. Eventually it moved in.

    Which, if you think about it, is nothing like the slave trade.
    Except that this is exactly what happened to Thomas Jefferson's enslaved black mistress, Sally Hemings. She was emancipated, because he took her to Paris (where slavery was not allowed)

    Then she willingly went back into bondage, and became a slave again, because she was hanging around by the back door, and Jefferson gave her food from time to time, so that worked for everyone

    if you breed slaves with a slave mentality, from the Romans to the Bourbons, many slaves will absolutely embrace this. This is what we have done to higher species of mammal, it is quite disgusting. Like having a chimps' tea party in your Barratt Home semi in Warrington, "because they're funny"

    i know PB thinks I'm simply spoiling for a fight - but I do believe this, quite sincerely. When you step outside and look at pet ownership, it is not pretty. It will go soon enough. Within a few decades, if not sooner
    Ms Hemings may have been a slave, but - as I'm sure you know - the agreement she had with Mr Jefferson was for her children to be freed upon his death.

    So, she had two choices:

    (1) Allow Mr Jefferson to head back to America with her two children while she stayed in Paris as a free (but poverty stricken) woman

    (2) Go back with him, where she lived a pretty priveleged life as his mistress, knowing that her children would be freed upon his death

    I needed to make no such deal with the cat.
  • Sean_FSean_F Posts: 37,348
    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    I’m house sitting for a friend in Falmouth. Massive house, sea views. All I gotta do is feed the cats

    Could be worse. But I just don’t get pets. Cats are amusing sometimes but that’s it. All they do is loll around sleeping meantime you have to let them in and out and feed them disgusting food and then they sleep some more

    What is it? Why pets? Why cats and dogs? Why can’t people cope without a stupid domesticated mammal that’s basically in a comfortable jail and had no purpose other than to mildly entertain?

    It’s like slavery. Pet owners are inadequate twats

    You don't get pets, you don't do long-term relationships - maybe just accept that you're a little bit different to most people?
    No, this is different, I morally object to pets, and despise the weaklings that enslave them - at a serious cost to the environment

    "Oh look, my cat did this funny thing"

    "Hey, I go for walks with a dog"

    GET A FUCKING LIFE
    I wasn't trying to be rude, offensive, or judgemental. You don't understand why most people like pets, fair enough, not an issue.

    My personal theory is that humans have a deep evolutionary affinity to other species and having a pet fits with that. But that's an evidence-free theory on my part.
    Pets are warm and soft and emotionally simpler than other humans, so you can get some of the companionship that a relationship with a human would give you, with a much more predictable level of hassle.
    How does the amimal feel?

    Really really really try and think about it. Go outside your comfort zone

    This becomes ever more telling as AI rises. Imagine if AI kept us as castrated fat twats, because we sometimes do funny things, or we are eager to do gymnastics with them
    Oh I know. I have had pets before, but I'm not sure I would do so again, for that and other reasons. But I don't think it's necessarily a terrible trade for cats or dogs, compared to the fate of other species.
    The same is said about all domesticated aninals

    Indeed the same argument has been made for slavery:

    "Defenders of slavery argued that by comparison with the poor of Europe and the workers in the Northern states, that slaves were better cared for. They said that their owners would protect and assist them when they were sick and aged, unlike those who, once fired from their work, were left to fend helplessly for themselves."

    https://www.ushistory.org/us/27f.asp



    Most animals are easy to domesticate, because their priorities are regular food, and shelter. They also enjoy human companionship.

    Even for apex predators, life in the wild is shitty by comparison.

    The comparison with slavery does not hold, as slaves are worked to the maximum; fed the minimum to survive, are subject to huge levels of violence to remain as slaves; and are routinely raped by their owners.

    Life expectancy among slaves is usually much lower than among free people. Life expectancy among pets is much higher than among their wild counterparts.
  • rcs1000 said:

    Leon said:

    Prediction:

    In the future we will be horrified that humans killed living mammals and ate their meat: we will have lab grown meat that does the tasty job

    In the future we will be horrified that humans enslaved intelligent mammals and kept them as "pets" solely for amusement: we will have AI companions (embodied in fluffy toys, for the friendless, selfish inadequates)

    Timescale?
    You will first eat lab grown meat in the next 10 to 12 years. But it will probably only become the dominant form of protein in 40 or 50 years.

    And it may take a century before you are able to grow a steak that is indistinguishable from the "real thing".

    (And RFK will claim that it gives you cancer. For the record, it won't.)
    Will he still be around then?
  • BartholomewRobertsBartholomewRoberts Posts: 21,968
    edited November 2023



    Meat is better for you, tastier and all-round better than the alternatives. We have canine teeth for a reason, we evolved an omnivores to have a balanced diet which includes meat.

    Truly laughable! Our canines are NOT the same size as those of lions and tigers!

    BTW I've been a vegetarian since 1991!
    No, they're carnivores, we're omnivores. I said we're omnivores not carnivores.

    Whereas I'm on a ketogenic, carnivore-based diet and have never felt better.

    Basically eat meat, eggs, cheese and dairy, and on some days I might have some vegetable to go with it.

    One or two days a week I'll eat other stuff, like today a sunday roast with potatoes, carrots and parsnips, but I eat meat every single day, in almost every single meal. My resolution is to eat more meat. :)

    Basically an anti-vegan diet, and have never felt better - or enjoyed food more. :)


  • Meat is better for you, tastier and all-round better than the alternatives. We have canine teeth for a reason, we evolved an omnivores to have a balanced diet which includes meat.

    Truly laughable! Our canines are NOT the same size as those of lions and tigers!

    BTW I've been a vegetarian since 1991!
    Yes, and look what's happened to you.
  • rcs1000 said:

    moonshine said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Anyone think Biden might get displaced by Kennedy as the main challenger to Trump?

    0%

    How many on left hand side of politics are yearning for a vaccine denying conspiracy theorist? And that’s just his presentable views.
    There is time for events to align with his views. A doctor friend recently reported to me that her and most of her colleagues now privately shy away from recommending the vaccine to all but the elderly, because they are anecdotally seeing odd incidences of cancer that have left them scratching their heads. To the extent that they are also busily reminding under 40s of the early symptoms of cancer even in social settings.

    Now perhaps there is nothing to this. But there is a non zero chance that rfk and his ilk will be able to claim the “I told you so” hill.
    Total rot.

    "...they are anecdotally seeing odd incidences of cancer that have left them scratching their heads

    That describes most instances of cancer surely? Most of the friends and acquaintances I have known who have suffered cancer have been 'odd instances' - i.e. they've just been unlucky.

    My own view is that it is too early to tell what will be the long-term side effects of the vaccines. Normally, I would not give a moment to such thoughts but it gets forgotten that mRNA had not been through the standard testing procedures for a vaccine but had been sped-tracked through because of Covid. Potentially more important though is that the companies involved were given waivers by the US Government for any future liabilities for side effects caused by the vaccines. When you have (1) a big bucket of money waiting to be made (2) a focus on getting something out as quickly as possibly and (3) no liability for anything that goes wrong, that usually flashes warning bells.

    For disclosure, I have had three vaccine shots.

    That's not true: mRNA has been used for a number of cancer treatments, albeit in much smaller sample sizes.

    If (and it's an enormous if) mRNA vaccines caused cancer (and it would be good if those who suggested that it might could possibly propose a mechanism), then we would see it in differential cancer rates between countries which where AstraZeneca first and those which were Pfizer/Moderna first.

    To be clear I do not think it does cause cancer or, at least, there is no evidence for it. But I think it is also too early to rule out the possibly definitely.

    However, I go back to the main point - if you can make a lot of money with a technology but where speed to market is the essence and the Government gives you a big old waiver against claims, then (for me) that raises questions.

  • CyclefreeCyclefree Posts: 25,310
    Leon said:

    I’m house sitting for a friend in Falmouth. Massive house, sea views. All I gotta do is feed the cats

    Could be worse. But I just don’t get pets. Cats are amusing sometimes but that’s it. All they do is loll around sleeping meantime you have to let them in and out and feed them disgusting food and then they sleep some more

    What is it? Why pets? Why cats and dogs? Why can’t people cope without a stupid domesticated mammal that’s basically in a comfortable jail and had no purpose other than to mildly entertain?

    It’s like slavery. Pet owners are inadequate twats

    If you think cats are slaves, you've lived a very sheltered life indeed.

    Have you told your daughter who had some trouble with her dog a while back I seem to recall that she is an "inadequate twat" or is it just internet strangers you abuse because they like different things to you?

    I don't get why so many adults can't cope without having one or more alcoholic drinks every single day, in the vain hope that it will make them "relax" or make them more "amusing" or "creative". But very many do.

    Chaucun a son gout.
  • ohnotnowohnotnow Posts: 3,781
    rcs1000 said:

    Leon said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Leon said:

    In future we will look back at pet ownership the way we look at slavery now - almost

    "So, you took this natural wild mammal, and kept it in a house, basically against all its instincts, I guess it did some important job?"

    "No, it just was there to entertain me"

    "What??"

    "I mean, yeah, that was it. Sometimes it did funny jumps. Or it barked amusingly"

    "That's it???"

    "No no no, long before that I had its genitals cut off. After that it just destroyed wildlife"

    Ummm:

    Our first cat adopted us. It hung around by the back door. We gave it food from time to time. Eventually it moved in.

    Which, if you think about it, is nothing like the slave trade.
    Except that this is exactly what happened to Thomas Jefferson's enslaved black mistress, Sally Hemings. She was emancipated, because he took her to Paris (where slavery was not allowed)

    Then she willingly went back into bondage, and became a slave again, because she was hanging around by the back door, and Jefferson gave her food from time to time, so that worked for everyone

    if you breed slaves with a slave mentality, from the Romans to the Bourbons, many slaves will absolutely embrace this. This is what we have done to higher species of mammal, it is quite disgusting. Like having a chimps' tea party in your Barratt Home semi in Warrington, "because they're funny"

    i know PB thinks I'm simply spoiling for a fight - but I do believe this, quite sincerely. When you step outside and look at pet ownership, it is not pretty. It will go soon enough. Within a few decades, if not sooner
    Ms Hemings may have been a slave, but - as I'm sure you know - the agreement she had with Mr Jefferson was for her children to be freed upon his death.

    So, she had two choices:

    (1) Allow Mr Jefferson to head back to America with her two children while she stayed in Paris as a free (but poverty stricken) woman

    (2) Go back with him, where she lived a pretty priveleged life as his mistress, knowing that her children would be freed upon his death

    I needed to make no such deal with the cat.
    Did you have to keep throwing brightly coloured bouncy balls for it's mild entertainment though?

    ... Asking for a friend.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,277

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Prediction:


    In the future we will be horrified that humans enslaved intelligent mammals and kept them as "pets" solely for amusement: we will have AI companions (embodied in fluffy toys, for the friendless, selfish inadequates)

    Timescale?
    30-50 years
    Please try to survive long enough for me to point out that's another mistaken prediction of yours (the pet one - lab meat, I agree with).
    I'm entirely right on both. The problem is it takes a truly audacious brain to make the leap to the second conclusion (pet ownership is wrong, horrifying and cruel)

    Humans had slaves for 6,000 years or longer. Throughout that time it was deemed the natural order, it is literally only in the last 50-200 years that this has changed, and now it is seen as a fundamental evil

    Our mistreatment of our fellow mammals, from zoos to factory farming to pet ownership, will go the same way. Eventually. It is all WRONG
  • Sean_FSean_F Posts: 37,348
    edited November 2023
    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    I’m house sitting for a friend in Falmouth. Massive house, sea views. All I gotta do is feed the cats

    Could be worse. But I just don’t get pets. Cats are amusing sometimes but that’s it. All they do is loll around sleeping meantime you have to let them in and out and feed them disgusting food and then they sleep some more

    What is it? Why pets? Why cats and dogs? Why can’t people cope without a stupid domesticated mammal that’s basically in a comfortable jail and had no purpose other than to mildly entertain?

    It’s like slavery. Pet owners are inadequate twats

    You don't get pets, you don't do long-term relationships - maybe just accept that you're a little bit different to most people?
    No, this is different, I morally object to pets, and despise the weaklings that enslave them - at a serious cost to the environment

    "Oh look, my cat did this funny thing"

    "Hey, I go for walks with a dog"

    GET A FUCKING LIFE
    I wasn't trying to be rude, offensive, or judgemental. You don't understand why most people like pets, fair enough, not an issue.

    My personal theory is that humans have a deep evolutionary affinity to other species and having a pet fits with that. But that's an evidence-free theory on my part.
    Pets are warm and soft and emotionally simpler than other humans, so you can get some of the companionship that a relationship with a human would give you, with a much more predictable level of hassle.
    How does the amimal feel?

    Really really really try and think about it. Go outside your comfort zone

    This becomes ever more telling as AI rises. Imagine if AI kept us as castrated fat twats, because we sometimes do funny things, or we are eager to do gymnastics with them
    Oh I know. I have had pets before, but I'm not sure I would do so again, for that and other reasons. But I don't think it's necessarily a terrible trade for cats or dogs, compared to the fate of other species.
    The same is said about all domesticated aninals

    Indeed the same argument has been made for slavery:

    "Defenders of slavery argued that by comparison with the poor of Europe and the workers in the Northern states, that slaves were better cared for. They said that their owners would protect and assist them when they were sick and aged, unlike those who, once fired from their work, were left to fend helplessly for themselves."

    https://www.ushistory.org/us/27f.asp



    Most animals are easy to domesticate, because their priorities are regular food, and shelter. They also enjoy human companionship.

    Even for apex predators, life in the wild is shit
    Leon said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Leon said:

    In future we will look back at pet ownership the way we look at slavery now - almost

    "So, you took this natural wild mammal, and kept it in a house, basically against all its instincts, I guess it did some important job?"

    "No, it just was there to entertain me"

    "What??"

    "I mean, yeah, that was it. Sometimes it did funny jumps. Or it barked amusingly"

    "That's it???"

    "No no no, long before that I had its genitals cut off. After that it just destroyed wildlife"

    Ummm:

    Our first cat adopted us. It hung around by the back door. We gave it food from time to time. Eventually it moved in.

    Which, if you think about it, is nothing like the slave trade.
    Except that this is exactly what happened to Thomas Jefferson's enslaved black mistress, Sally Hemings. She was emancipated, because he took her to Paris (where slavery was not allowed)

    Then she willingly went back into bondage, and became a slave again, because she was hanging around by the back door, and Jefferson gave her food from time to time, so that worked for everyone

    if you breed slaves with a slave mentality, from the Romans to the Bourbons, many slaves will absolutely embrace this. This is what we have done to higher species of mammal, it is quite disgusting. Like having a chimps' tea party in your Barratt Home semi in Warrington, "because they're funny"

    i know PB thinks I'm simply spoiling for a fight - but I do believe this, quite sincerely. When you step outside and look at pet ownership, it is not pretty. It will go soon enough. Within a few decades, if not sooner
    The slave trades run by Romans, Vikings, Arabs, Africans, Ottomans and Europeans, were not remotely about people voluntarily embracing
    slavery.

    People had to be captured and broken to slavery, and be made aware that the consequences of trying to escape would be terrible. Hence, the whole apparatus of guards, torturers, overseers, and slave catchers.
  • The reason I've switched my diet is in part as diabetes runs in my family and I want to avoid it, and this diet is good for those with or at risk of diabetes.

    My dad was vegetarian and his diet gave him diabetes around the time he was the age I'm at now, though he didn't realise it until he got sick and his doctors said he'd had it for about a decade. He changed his diet, found it impossible to stick to a healthy vegetarian diabetic-friendly diet, then suddenly after decades of vegetarianism started eating meat again.

    Now when we go out its funny as he'll order a mixed grill but hold the chips, just a plate of meat and eggs and that's what he has and he's so much healthier than he was. Probably added years back on to his life expectancy.

    So if anyone comes at me with any vegan bullshit they can stick it where the sun doesn't shine. I not only love my meat, I value my health too much to go vegan thank you very much.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,277
    Cyclefree said:

    Leon said:

    I’m house sitting for a friend in Falmouth. Massive house, sea views. All I gotta do is feed the cats

    Could be worse. But I just don’t get pets. Cats are amusing sometimes but that’s it. All they do is loll around sleeping meantime you have to let them in and out and feed them disgusting food and then they sleep some more

    What is it? Why pets? Why cats and dogs? Why can’t people cope without a stupid domesticated mammal that’s basically in a comfortable jail and had no purpose other than to mildly entertain?

    It’s like slavery. Pet owners are inadequate twats

    If you think cats are slaves, you've lived a very sheltered life indeed.

    Have you told your daughter who had some trouble with her dog a while back I seem to recall that she is an "inadequate twat" or is it just internet strangers you abuse because they like different things to you?

    I don't get why so many adults can't cope without having one or more alcoholic drinks every single day, in the vain hope that it will make them "relax" or make them more "amusing" or "creative". But very many do.

    Chaucun a son gout.
    My alcohol abuse mistreats my own liver (tho I feel fine, thanks)

    I don't keep cats that slaughter the local wildlife and grossly pollute the environment just because "I like having cats"

    Grow up. Seriously. Grow up. You don't need these denatured mammalian slaves, it is freakish
  • BarnesianBarnesian Posts: 8,581



    Meat is better for you, tastier and all-round better than the alternatives. We have canine teeth for a reason, we evolved an omnivores to have a balanced diet which includes meat.

    Truly laughable! Our canines are NOT the same size as those of lions and tigers!

    BTW I've been a vegetarian since 1991!
    So you are at least 32!!
  • BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 34,663
    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Prediction:


    In the future we will be horrified that humans enslaved intelligent mammals and kept them as "pets" solely for amusement: we will have AI companions (embodied in fluffy toys, for the friendless, selfish inadequates)

    Timescale?
    30-50 years
    Please try to survive long enough for me to point out that's another mistaken prediction of yours (the pet one - lab meat, I agree with).
    I'm entirely right on both. The problem is it takes a truly audacious brain to make the leap to the second conclusion (pet ownership is wrong, horrifying and cruel)

    Humans had slaves for 6,000 years or longer. Throughout that time it was deemed the natural order, it is literally only in the last 50-200 years that this has changed, and now it is seen as a fundamental evil

    Our mistreatment of our fellow mammals, from zoos to factory farming to pet ownership, will go the same way. Eventually. It is all WRONG
    The depth of your misunderstanding is truly staggering; you are indeed very stupid.
  • Big Client wants me to go represent them at a Black Tie Dinner. Thanks to Covid and happy pills I don’t fit into my previous dinner suit so need to buy a new one.

    Am bemused to find that I can’t even hire a suit and stick it through as a business expense. I do not go to penguin suit dinners for fun. It’s absolutely a business expense. And yet isn’t a tax deductible business expense? I blame the Tories for getting rid of Truss - I betcha that Kwarteng would have let me claim it.
  • ohnotnowohnotnow Posts: 3,781

    The reason I've switched my diet is in part as diabetes runs in my family and I want to avoid it, and this diet is good for those with or at risk of diabetes.

    My dad was vegetarian and his diet gave him diabetes around the time he was the age I'm at now, though he didn't realise it until he got sick and his doctors said he'd had it for about a decade. He changed his diet, found it impossible to stick to a healthy vegetarian diabetic-friendly diet, then suddenly after decades of vegetarianism started eating meat again.

    Now when we go out its funny as he'll order a mixed grill but hold the chips, just a plate of meat and eggs and that's what he has and he's so much healthier than he was. Probably added years back on to his life expectancy.

    So if anyone comes at me with any vegan bullshit they can stick it where the sun doesn't shine. I not only love my meat, I value my health too much to go vegan thank you very much.

    I remember my GP asking about my diet and I said it was "Kinda meat and two veg". And got a thorough ticking off for not eating lots of carbs as that what was on the NHS diet sheet.

    I explained it made me feel really bad, lethargic and gave me stomach ache to the point I would wake up in the middle of the night and have to neck Gaviscon. No matter! The diet sheet is the law!

    So I just had to start lying to him about my diet.
  • Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Prediction:


    In the future we will be horrified that humans enslaved intelligent mammals and kept them as "pets" solely for amusement: we will have AI companions (embodied in fluffy toys, for the friendless, selfish inadequates)

    Timescale?
    30-50 years
    Please try to survive long enough for me to point out that's another mistaken prediction of yours (the pet one - lab meat, I agree with).
    I'm entirely right on both. The problem is it takes a truly audacious brain to make the leap to the second conclusion (pet ownership is wrong, horrifying and cruel)

    Humans had slaves for 6,000 years or longer. Throughout that time it was deemed the natural order, it is literally only in the last 50-200 years that this has changed, and now it is seen as a fundamental evil

    Our mistreatment of our fellow mammals, from zoos to factory farming to pet ownership, will go the same way. Eventually. It is all WRONG
    The depth of your misunderstanding is truly staggering; you are indeed very stupid.
    He's an attention-seeker.

    He knows he's spouting bullshit, but by spouting bullshit he gets attention without having to post a "look at my view" picture to 'justify' it.
  • Sean_FSean_F Posts: 37,348
    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    I’m house sitting for a friend in Falmouth. Massive house, sea views. All I gotta do is feed the cats

    Could be worse. But I just don’t get pets. Cats are amusing sometimes but that’s it. All they do is loll around sleeping meantime you have to let them in and out and feed them disgusting food and then they sleep some more

    What is it? Why pets? Why cats and dogs? Why can’t people cope without a stupid domesticated mammal that’s basically in a comfortable jail and had no purpose other than to mildly entertain?

    It’s like slavery. Pet owners are inadequate twats

    You don't get pets, you don't do long-term relationships - maybe just accept that you're a little bit different to most people?
    No, this is different, I morally object to pets, and despise the weaklings that enslave them - at a serious cost to the environment

    "Oh look, my cat did this funny thing"

    "Hey, I go for walks with a dog"

    GET A FUCKING LIFE
    I wasn't trying to be rude, offensive, or judgemental. You don't understand why most people like pets, fair enough, not an issue.

    My personal theory is that humans have a deep evolutionary affinity to other species and having a pet fits with that. But that's an evidence-free theory on my part.
    Pets are warm and soft and emotionally simpler than other humans, so you can get some of the companionship that a relationship with a human would give you, with a much more predictable level of hassle.
    How does the amimal feel?

    Really really really try and think about it. Go outside your comfort zone

    This becomes ever more telling as AI rises. Imagine if AI kept us as castrated fat twats, because we sometimes do funny things, or we are eager to do gymnastics with them
    Oh I know. I have had pets before, but I'm not sure I would do so again, for that and other reasons. But I don't think it's necessarily a terrible trade for cats or dogs, compared to the fate of other species.
    The same is said about all domesticated aninals

    Indeed the same argument has been made for slavery:

    "Defenders of slavery argued that by comparison with the poor of Europe and the workers in the Northern states, that slaves were better cared for. They said that their owners would protect and assist them when they were sick and aged, unlike those who, once fired from their work, were left to fend helplessly for themselves."

    https://www.ushistory.org/us/27f.asp



    Most animals are easy to domesticate, because their priorities are regular food, and shelter. They also enjoy human companionship.

    Even for apex predators, life in the wild is shit
    Cyclefree said:

    Leon said:

    I’m house sitting for a friend in Falmouth. Massive house, sea views. All I gotta do is feed the cats

    Could be worse. But I just don’t get pets. Cats are amusing sometimes but that’s it. All they do is loll around sleeping meantime you have to let them in and out and feed them disgusting food and then they sleep some more

    What is it? Why pets? Why cats and dogs? Why can’t people cope without a stupid domesticated mammal that’s basically in a comfortable jail and had no purpose other than to mildly entertain?

    It’s like slavery. Pet owners are inadequate twats

    If you think cats are slaves, you've lived a very sheltered life indeed.

    Have you told your daughter who had some trouble with her dog a while back I seem to recall that she is an "inadequate twat" or is it just internet strangers you abuse because they like different things to you?

    I don't get why so many adults can't cope without having one or more alcoholic drinks every single day, in the vain hope that it will make them "relax" or make them more "amusing" or "creative". But very many do.

    Chaucun a son gout.
    A cat will simply leave, if it doesn’t like you.
  • BartholomewRobertsBartholomewRoberts Posts: 21,968
    edited November 2023
    ohnotnow said:

    The reason I've switched my diet is in part as diabetes runs in my family and I want to avoid it, and this diet is good for those with or at risk of diabetes.

    My dad was vegetarian and his diet gave him diabetes around the time he was the age I'm at now, though he didn't realise it until he got sick and his doctors said he'd had it for about a decade. He changed his diet, found it impossible to stick to a healthy vegetarian diabetic-friendly diet, then suddenly after decades of vegetarianism started eating meat again.

    Now when we go out its funny as he'll order a mixed grill but hold the chips, just a plate of meat and eggs and that's what he has and he's so much healthier than he was. Probably added years back on to his life expectancy.

    So if anyone comes at me with any vegan bullshit they can stick it where the sun doesn't shine. I not only love my meat, I value my health too much to go vegan thank you very much.

    I remember my GP asking about my diet and I said it was "Kinda meat and two veg". And got a thorough ticking off for not eating lots of carbs as that what was on the NHS diet sheet.

    I explained it made me feel really bad, lethargic and gave me stomach ache to the point I would wake up in the middle of the night and have to neck Gaviscon. No matter! The diet sheet is the law!

    So I just had to start lying to him about my diet.
    Yes, for too long carbs have been heavily-pushed as the "healthy" diet when the polar opposite is the case for many (not all, but many).

    By cutting out carbs, except for some days, I feel much healthier, much less lethargic and all-round better.

    Though I still have it occasionally, I don't find it sustainable or enjoyable to cut things out altogether, but then its a treat rather than something I "have to have" for my diet despite not enjoying it. Tomorrow is my anniversary so taking wife and girls out to our favourite restaurant, an American-based one, and I'll have their Brisket Mac and Cheese which I love but then I'll try to go until the weekend probably without any heavy carbs like that.
  • BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 34,663

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Prediction:


    In the future we will be horrified that humans enslaved intelligent mammals and kept them as "pets" solely for amusement: we will have AI companions (embodied in fluffy toys, for the friendless, selfish inadequates)

    Timescale?
    30-50 years
    Please try to survive long enough for me to point out that's another mistaken prediction of yours (the pet one - lab meat, I agree with).
    I'm entirely right on both. The problem is it takes a truly audacious brain to make the leap to the second conclusion (pet ownership is wrong, horrifying and cruel)

    Humans had slaves for 6,000 years or longer. Throughout that time it was deemed the natural order, it is literally only in the last 50-200 years that this has changed, and now it is seen as a fundamental evil

    Our mistreatment of our fellow mammals, from zoos to factory farming to pet ownership, will go the same way. Eventually. It is all WRONG
    The depth of your misunderstanding is truly staggering; you are indeed very stupid.
    He's an attention-seeker.

    He knows he's spouting bullshit, but by spouting bullshit he gets attention without having to post a "look at my view" picture to 'justify' it.
    Yeah, I considered that but decided if it's just attention-seeking he's even more stupid than if he actually believes this bollocks.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,149



    Meat is better for you, tastier and all-round better than the alternatives. We have canine teeth for a reason, we evolved an omnivores to have a balanced diet which includes meat.

    Truly laughable! Our canines are NOT the same size as those of lions and tigers!

    BTW I've been a vegetarian since 1991!
    No, they're carnivores, we're omnivores. I said we're omnivores not carnivores.

    Whereas I'm on a ketogenic, carnivore-based diet and have never felt better.

    Basically eat meat, eggs, cheese and dairy, and on some days I might have some vegetable to go with it.

    One or two days a week I'll eat other stuff, like today a sunday roast with potatoes, carrots and parsnips, but I eat meat every single day, in almost every single meal. My resolution is to eat more meat. :)

    Basically an anti-vegan diet, and have never felt better - or enjoyed food more. :)
    You eat only carnivores?

    Wow. I'd miss the beef, but I guess the dolphin meat would be nice
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,277

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Prediction:


    In the future we will be horrified that humans enslaved intelligent mammals and kept them as "pets" solely for amusement: we will have AI companions (embodied in fluffy toys, for the friendless, selfish inadequates)

    Timescale?
    30-50 years
    Please try to survive long enough for me to point out that's another mistaken prediction of yours (the pet one - lab meat, I agree with).
    I'm entirely right on both. The problem is it takes a truly audacious brain to make the leap to the second conclusion (pet ownership is wrong, horrifying and cruel)

    Humans had slaves for 6,000 years or longer. Throughout that time it was deemed the natural order, it is literally only in the last 50-200 years that this has changed, and now it is seen as a fundamental evil

    Our mistreatment of our fellow mammals, from zoos to factory farming to pet ownership, will go the same way. Eventually. It is all WRONG
    The depth of your misunderstanding is truly staggering; you are indeed very stupid.
    He's an attention-seeker.

    He knows he's spouting bullshit, but by spouting bullshit he gets attention without having to post a "look at my view" picture to 'justify' it.
    Alternatively, my argument makes you uncomfortable, so you react with petulant anger, or an attempt at haughty dismissal

    Deep deep deep DEEEEEEP down, I suspect most of you know I am probably right. But it is not something that 99% of humans are ready to take on board, because we are so used to pet ownership
  • Barnesian said:



    Meat is better for you, tastier and all-round better than the alternatives. We have canine teeth for a reason, we evolved an omnivores to have a balanced diet which includes meat.

    Truly laughable! Our canines are NOT the same size as those of lions and tigers!

    BTW I've been a vegetarian since 1991!
    So you are at least 32!!
    Well, I was 16 at the time!
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 48,632
    ohnotnow said:

    Leon said:

    Prediction:

    In the future we will be horrified that humans killed living mammals and ate their meat: we will have lab grown meat that does the tasty job

    In the future we will be horrified that humans enslaved intelligent mammals and kept them as "pets" solely for amusement: we will have AI companions (embodied in fluffy toys, for the friendless, selfish inadequates)

    I saw a video a while back with 'AI' enabled robotic pets who befriended dementia patients. It was quite sweet.

    And reminded me of the Swedish (I think) care home who noticed their patients would sometimes wander off and they'd find them miles away in bus stops waiting to get home. So they built lots of fake bus stops in the grounds of their home and once an hour or so would drive a mini-van painted to look like the local bus company around to pick them up.
    I think it is this Dutch community that you are thinking of:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hogeweyk


  • Meat is better for you, tastier and all-round better than the alternatives. We have canine teeth for a reason, we evolved an omnivores to have a balanced diet which includes meat.

    Truly laughable! Our canines are NOT the same size as those of lions and tigers!

    BTW I've been a vegetarian since 1991!
    Yes, and look what's happened to you.
    Alive and kicking? :sunglasses:
  • Sean_FSean_F Posts: 37,348
    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Prediction:


    In the future we will be horrified that humans enslaved intelligent mammals and kept them as "pets" solely for amusement: we will have AI companions (embodied in fluffy toys, for the friendless, selfish inadequates)

    Timescale?
    30-50 years
    Please try to survive long enough for me to point out that's another mistaken prediction of yours (the pet one - lab meat, I agree with).
    I'm entirely right on both. The problem is it takes a truly audacious brain to make the leap to the second conclusion (pet ownership is wrong, horrifying and cruel)

    Humans had slaves for 6,000 years or longer. Throughout that time it was deemed the natural order, it is literally only in the last 50-200 years that this has changed, and now it is seen as a fundamental evil

    Our mistreatment of our fellow mammals, from zoos to factory farming to pet ownership, will go the same way. Eventually. It is all WRONG
    The depth of your misunderstanding is truly staggering; you are indeed very stupid.
    He's an attention-seeker.

    He knows he's spouting bullshit, but by spouting bullshit he gets attention without having to post a "look at my view" picture to 'justify' it.
    Alternatively, my argument makes you uncomfortable, so you react with petulant anger, or an attempt at haughty dismissal

    Deep deep deep DEEEEEEP down, I suspect most of you know I am probably right. But it is not something that 99% of humans are ready to take on board, because we are so used to pet ownership
    The argument only hold water if you know nothing about chattel slavery.


  • Meat is better for you, tastier and all-round better than the alternatives. We have canine teeth for a reason, we evolved an omnivores to have a balanced diet which includes meat.

    Truly laughable! Our canines are NOT the same size as those of lions and tigers!

    BTW I've been a vegetarian since 1991!
    No, they're carnivores, we're omnivores. I said we're omnivores not carnivores.

    Whereas I'm on a ketogenic, carnivore-based diet and have never felt better.

    Basically eat meat, eggs, cheese and dairy, and on some days I might have some vegetable to go with it.

    One or two days a week I'll eat other stuff, like today a sunday roast with potatoes, carrots and parsnips, but I eat meat every single day, in almost every single meal. My resolution is to eat more meat. :)

    Basically an anti-vegan diet, and have never felt better - or enjoyed food more. :)
    Our canines are NOT the same size as those of lions and tigers!
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,277
    A good article


    "Pet-keeping “is like a sacred cow in a way,” Pierce told me. “Everybody assumes that pets are well off, and in fact, pampered … All they have to do is lay around in a bed and get fed treats every now and then and catch a Frisbee if they feel like it — like, who wouldn’t want that life?

    “Underneath that is the reality that doing nothing but laying on a bed and having treats fed to you is profoundly frustrating and boring and is not a meaningful life for an animal.”"

    https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2023/4/11/23673393/pets-dogs-cats-animal-welfare-boredom


    "Scientists have set up cameras to see what dogs do when home alone all day, and it turns out there’s a lot of yawning, barking, howling, whining, and sleeping — signs of anxiety and frustration. Charlotte Burn, a biologist and associate professor at the Royal Veterinary College in London, thinks our pets could also become bored when left alone for hours at a time.

    “For most of us, [boredom is] a transient thing, and we can do something about it,” Burn told me. “But when you cannot do anything about it, it’s incredibly distressing. … Sometimes it’s thought of as a kind of luxury problem for animals, but actually, it may not be so luxurious if [an animal] can’t do anything about it, and it might be actually a massive welfare issue.”
  • BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 34,663



    Meat is better for you, tastier and all-round better than the alternatives. We have canine teeth for a reason, we evolved an omnivores to have a balanced diet which includes meat.

    Truly laughable! Our canines are NOT the same size as those of lions and tigers!

    BTW I've been a vegetarian since 1991!
    No, they're carnivores, we're omnivores. I said we're omnivores not carnivores.

    Whereas I'm on a ketogenic, carnivore-based diet and have never felt better.

    Basically eat meat, eggs, cheese and dairy, and on some days I might have some vegetable to go with it.

    One or two days a week I'll eat other stuff, like today a sunday roast with potatoes, carrots and parsnips, but I eat meat every single day, in almost every single meal. My resolution is to eat more meat. :)

    Basically an anti-vegan diet, and have never felt better - or enjoyed food more. :)
    Our canines are NOT the same size as those of lions and tigers!
    Nor are a fox's but foxes are not vegetarians.
  • OmniumOmnium Posts: 10,759
    Leon said:

    A good article


    "Pet-keeping “is like a sacred cow in a way,” Pierce told me. “Everybody assumes that pets are well off, and in fact, pampered … All they have to do is lay around in a bed and get fed treats every now and then and catch a Frisbee if they feel like it — like, who wouldn’t want that life?

    “Underneath that is the reality that doing nothing but laying on a bed and having treats fed to you is profoundly frustrating and boring and is not a meaningful life for an animal.”"

    https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2023/4/11/23673393/pets-dogs-cats-animal-welfare-boredom


    "Scientists have set up cameras to see what dogs do when home alone all day, and it turns out there’s a lot of yawning, barking, howling, whining, and sleeping — signs of anxiety and frustration. Charlotte Burn, a biologist and associate professor at the Royal Veterinary College in London, thinks our pets could also become bored when left alone for hours at a time.

    “For most of us, [boredom is] a transient thing, and we can do something about it,” Burn told me. “But when you cannot do anything about it, it’s incredibly distressing. … Sometimes it’s thought of as a kind of luxury problem for animals, but actually, it may not be so luxurious if [an animal] can’t do anything about it, and it might be actually a massive welfare issue.”

    Well all serious political sites have a pet Leon.


  • Meat is better for you, tastier and all-round better than the alternatives. We have canine teeth for a reason, we evolved an omnivores to have a balanced diet which includes meat.

    Truly laughable! Our canines are NOT the same size as those of lions and tigers!

    BTW I've been a vegetarian since 1991!
    No, they're carnivores, we're omnivores. I said we're omnivores not carnivores.

    Whereas I'm on a ketogenic, carnivore-based diet and have never felt better.

    Basically eat meat, eggs, cheese and dairy, and on some days I might have some vegetable to go with it.

    One or two days a week I'll eat other stuff, like today a sunday roast with potatoes, carrots and parsnips, but I eat meat every single day, in almost every single meal. My resolution is to eat more meat. :)

    Basically an anti-vegan diet, and have never felt better - or enjoyed food more. :)
    Our canines are NOT the same size as those of lions and tigers!
    No shit Sherlock, because we've evolved to be omnivores, not carnivores.

    We don't pound on and eat gazelles in the wild. We evolved to kill our prey and eat it, in a way comparable to how we still do today, just now there's middle-men who do the middle work.

    Whereas cows don't have any true canines, unlike us.
  • BarnesianBarnesian Posts: 8,581

    Barnesian said:



    Meat is better for you, tastier and all-round better than the alternatives. We have canine teeth for a reason, we evolved an omnivores to have a balanced diet which includes meat.

    Truly laughable! Our canines are NOT the same size as those of lions and tigers!

    BTW I've been a vegetarian since 1991!
    So you are at least 32!!
    Well, I was 16 at the time!
    Wow!!
  • Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    I’m house sitting for a friend in Falmouth. Massive house, sea views. All I gotta do is feed the cats

    Could be worse. But I just don’t get pets. Cats are amusing sometimes but that’s it. All they do is loll around sleeping meantime you have to let them in and out and feed them disgusting food and then they sleep some more

    What is it? Why pets? Why cats and dogs? Why can’t people cope without a stupid domesticated mammal that’s basically in a comfortable jail and had no purpose other than to mildly entertain?

    It’s like slavery. Pet owners are inadequate twats

    My dog keeps me fit. Stops me being lazy....
    Like I said. Selfish and inadequate

    Next
    That's bullshit. Giving a dog a home is a kindness. We rescued a terribly mistreated dog, badly bitten. She is very happy and she is part of the family.
    There are selfish nasty and inadequate people who own dogs but I am not one of them.
    Tell you what, how about we have NO dogs as domestic pets? How about that? Then you wouldn't have to rescue any?

    Let dogs be dogs, in packs, as nature intended, in the wild. Not denatured, castrated freaks kept in a purposeless brick box all day because they sometimes "lift the spirits" of a stupid provincial GP in Leicester
    I don't like cats much and I think there are far too many dogs around, many of which are badly handled or supervised by their owners, but I wouldn't ban them.

    Instead I think I'd licence it with stricter penalties.
  • rcs1000 said:



    Meat is better for you, tastier and all-round better than the alternatives. We have canine teeth for a reason, we evolved an omnivores to have a balanced diet which includes meat.

    Truly laughable! Our canines are NOT the same size as those of lions and tigers!

    BTW I've been a vegetarian since 1991!
    No, they're carnivores, we're omnivores. I said we're omnivores not carnivores.

    Whereas I'm on a ketogenic, carnivore-based diet and have never felt better.

    Basically eat meat, eggs, cheese and dairy, and on some days I might have some vegetable to go with it.

    One or two days a week I'll eat other stuff, like today a sunday roast with potatoes, carrots and parsnips, but I eat meat every single day, in almost every single meal. My resolution is to eat more meat. :)

    Basically an anti-vegan diet, and have never felt better - or enjoyed food more. :)
    You eat only carnivores?

    Wow. I'd miss the beef, but I guess the dolphin meat would be nice
    Tuna-friendly Dolphin? :lol:
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 48,632

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Prediction:


    In the future we will be horrified that humans enslaved intelligent mammals and kept them as "pets" solely for amusement: we will have AI companions (embodied in fluffy toys, for the friendless, selfish inadequates)

    Timescale?
    30-50 years
    Please try to survive long enough for me to point out that's another mistaken prediction of yours (the pet one - lab meat, I agree with).
    I'm entirely right on both. The problem is it takes a truly audacious brain to make the leap to the second conclusion (pet ownership is wrong, horrifying and cruel)

    Humans had slaves for 6,000 years or longer. Throughout that time it was deemed the natural order, it is literally only in the last 50-200 years that this has changed, and now it is seen as a fundamental evil

    Our mistreatment of our fellow mammals, from zoos to factory farming to pet ownership, will go the same way. Eventually. It is all WRONG
    The depth of your misunderstanding is truly staggering; you are indeed very stupid.
    He's an attention-seeker.

    He knows he's spouting bullshit, but by spouting bullshit he gets attention without having to post a "look at my view" picture to 'justify' it.
    Yeah, I considered that but decided if it's just attention-seeking he's even more stupid than if he actually believes this bollocks.
    Henry Mances book is quite interesting on our relationship with animals, including pets. Well worth a read.

    https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Love-Animals-Human-Shaped-World/dp/178733208X?ref=d6k_applink_bb_dls&dplnkId=a62f544b-219a-41d5-b60c-bfebcfa34c77
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,149

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    I’m house sitting for a friend in Falmouth. Massive house, sea views. All I gotta do is feed the cats

    Could be worse. But I just don’t get pets. Cats are amusing sometimes but that’s it. All they do is loll around sleeping meantime you have to let them in and out and feed them disgusting food and then they sleep some more

    What is it? Why pets? Why cats and dogs? Why can’t people cope without a stupid domesticated mammal that’s basically in a comfortable jail and had no purpose other than to mildly entertain?

    It’s like slavery. Pet owners are inadequate twats

    My dog keeps me fit. Stops me being lazy....
    Like I said. Selfish and inadequate

    Next
    That's bullshit. Giving a dog a home is a kindness. We rescued a terribly mistreated dog, badly bitten. She is very happy and she is part of the family.
    There are selfish nasty and inadequate people who own dogs but I am not one of them.
    Tell you what, how about we have NO dogs as domestic pets? How about that? Then you wouldn't have to rescue any?

    Let dogs be dogs, in packs, as nature intended, in the wild. Not denatured, castrated freaks kept in a purposeless brick box all day because they sometimes "lift the spirits" of a stupid provincial GP in Leicester
    I don't like cats much and I think there are far too many dogs around, many of which are badly handled or supervised by their owners, but I wouldn't ban them.

    Instead I think I'd licence it with stricter penalties.
    I would simply make insurance compulsory. The market would then make ownership of Bully XL etc financially prohibitive.
  • rcs1000 said:



    Meat is better for you, tastier and all-round better than the alternatives. We have canine teeth for a reason, we evolved an omnivores to have a balanced diet which includes meat.

    Truly laughable! Our canines are NOT the same size as those of lions and tigers!

    BTW I've been a vegetarian since 1991!
    No, they're carnivores, we're omnivores. I said we're omnivores not carnivores.

    Whereas I'm on a ketogenic, carnivore-based diet and have never felt better.

    Basically eat meat, eggs, cheese and dairy, and on some days I might have some vegetable to go with it.

    One or two days a week I'll eat other stuff, like today a sunday roast with potatoes, carrots and parsnips, but I eat meat every single day, in almost every single meal. My resolution is to eat more meat. :)

    Basically an anti-vegan diet, and have never felt better - or enjoyed food more. :)
    You eat only carnivores?

    Wow. I'd miss the beef, but I guess the dolphin meat would be nice
    Tuna-friendly Dolphin? :lol:
    Tuna are carnivores too, so they'd be fair game if we're playing that game. Most seafood is actually.
  • BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 34,663
    rcs1000 said:



    Meat is better for you, tastier and all-round better than the alternatives. We have canine teeth for a reason, we evolved an omnivores to have a balanced diet which includes meat.

    Truly laughable! Our canines are NOT the same size as those of lions and tigers!

    BTW I've been a vegetarian since 1991!
    No, they're carnivores, we're omnivores. I said we're omnivores not carnivores.

    Whereas I'm on a ketogenic, carnivore-based diet and have never felt better.

    Basically eat meat, eggs, cheese and dairy, and on some days I might have some vegetable to go with it.

    One or two days a week I'll eat other stuff, like today a sunday roast with potatoes, carrots and parsnips, but I eat meat every single day, in almost every single meal. My resolution is to eat more meat. :)

    Basically an anti-vegan diet, and have never felt better - or enjoyed food more. :)
    You eat only carnivores?

    Wow. I'd miss the beef, but I guess the dolphin meat would be nice
    I avoid eating them on porpoise.
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 35,990
    Leon said:

    Prediction:

    In the future we will be horrified that humans killed living mammals and ate their meat: we will have lab grown meat that does the tasty job

    In the future we will be horrified that humans enslaved intelligent mammals and kept them as "pets" solely for amusement: we will have AI companions (embodied in fluffy toys, for the friendless, selfish inadequates)

    And in the future imagined in Demolition Man humans are horrified by the concept of "fluid transfer" as a means of procreation, which is done hygienically in a lab.

    Sex is a Virtual reality simulation.

    Seems to tick all of Leon's boxes...
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,277
    Point 2. The cats in this house behave strangely. They leap about, they jump on my laptop, they make weird spooky movements, they dance up and down waiting to be fed with eerie mewls, they do all the things we video and we think are truly cat-like and we put it on Insta and call it "cats being funny little guys" hahahah

    All very funny. And they purr loudly. They have learned that we like purring

    And yet this is all entirely and utterly outside feline behaviour in the wild. Cats in the wild don't do this shit. They do this shit because they are fucking BORED, and denied a normal life as a cat, hunting and surviving, a life with purpose and meaning. I imagine humans, if kept indoors as fat castrated playthings, would behave with the utmost eccentricity in the end, and our owners would chortle, we'd probably dance up and down on pianos

    PB, get rid of your pets. Enough
  • BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 34,663
    rcs1000 said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    I’m house sitting for a friend in Falmouth. Massive house, sea views. All I gotta do is feed the cats

    Could be worse. But I just don’t get pets. Cats are amusing sometimes but that’s it. All they do is loll around sleeping meantime you have to let them in and out and feed them disgusting food and then they sleep some more

    What is it? Why pets? Why cats and dogs? Why can’t people cope without a stupid domesticated mammal that’s basically in a comfortable jail and had no purpose other than to mildly entertain?

    It’s like slavery. Pet owners are inadequate twats

    My dog keeps me fit. Stops me being lazy....
    Like I said. Selfish and inadequate

    Next
    That's bullshit. Giving a dog a home is a kindness. We rescued a terribly mistreated dog, badly bitten. She is very happy and she is part of the family.
    There are selfish nasty and inadequate people who own dogs but I am not one of them.
    Tell you what, how about we have NO dogs as domestic pets? How about that? Then you wouldn't have to rescue any?

    Let dogs be dogs, in packs, as nature intended, in the wild. Not denatured, castrated freaks kept in a purposeless brick box all day because they sometimes "lift the spirits" of a stupid provincial GP in Leicester
    I don't like cats much and I think there are far too many dogs around, many of which are badly handled or supervised by their owners, but I wouldn't ban them.

    Instead I think I'd licence it with stricter penalties.
    I would simply make insurance compulsory. The market would then make ownership of Bully XL etc financially prohibitive.
    Yes but, consider car insurance: those who can't get it are often not deterred from driving.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,149

    rcs1000 said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    I’m house sitting for a friend in Falmouth. Massive house, sea views. All I gotta do is feed the cats

    Could be worse. But I just don’t get pets. Cats are amusing sometimes but that’s it. All they do is loll around sleeping meantime you have to let them in and out and feed them disgusting food and then they sleep some more

    What is it? Why pets? Why cats and dogs? Why can’t people cope without a stupid domesticated mammal that’s basically in a comfortable jail and had no purpose other than to mildly entertain?

    It’s like slavery. Pet owners are inadequate twats

    My dog keeps me fit. Stops me being lazy....
    Like I said. Selfish and inadequate

    Next
    That's bullshit. Giving a dog a home is a kindness. We rescued a terribly mistreated dog, badly bitten. She is very happy and she is part of the family.
    There are selfish nasty and inadequate people who own dogs but I am not one of them.
    Tell you what, how about we have NO dogs as domestic pets? How about that? Then you wouldn't have to rescue any?

    Let dogs be dogs, in packs, as nature intended, in the wild. Not denatured, castrated freaks kept in a purposeless brick box all day because they sometimes "lift the spirits" of a stupid provincial GP in Leicester
    I don't like cats much and I think there are far too many dogs around, many of which are badly handled or supervised by their owners, but I wouldn't ban them.

    Instead I think I'd licence it with stricter penalties.
    I would simply make insurance compulsory. The market would then make ownership of Bully XL etc financially prohibitive.
    Yes but, consider car insurance: those who can't get it are often not deterred from driving.
    That's not really true in the UK: over 99% of vehicles on the road are insured.
  • BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 34,663
    Leon said:

    Point 2. The cats in this house behave strangely. They leap about, they jump on my laptop, they make weird spooky movements, they dance up and down waiting to be fed with eerie mewls, they do all the things we video and we think are truly cat-like and we put it on Insta and call it "cats being funny little guys" hahahah

    All very funny. And they purr loudly. They have learned that we like purring

    And yet this is all entirely and utterly outside feline behaviour in the wild. Cats in the wild don't do this shit. They do this shit because they are fucking BORED, and denied a normal life as a cat, hunting and surviving, a life with purpose and meaning. I imagine humans, if kept indoors as fat castrated playthings, would behave with the utmost eccentricity in the end, and our owners would chortle, we'd probably dance up and down on pianos

    PB, get rid of your pets. Enough

    Have they pissed on your bed yet? Once they realise you hate them, they probably will do.
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 42,829
    Leon said:

    Point 2. The cats in this house behave strangely. They leap about, they jump on my laptop, they make weird spooky movements, they dance up and down waiting to be fed with eerie mewls, they do all the things we video and we think are truly cat-like and we put it on Insta and call it "cats being funny little guys" hahahah

    All very funny. And they purr loudly. They have learned that we like purring

    And yet this is all entirely and utterly outside feline behaviour in the wild. Cats in the wild don't do this shit. They do this shit because they are fucking BORED, and denied a normal life as a cat, hunting and surviving, a life with purpose and meaning. I imagine humans, if kept indoors as fat castrated playthings, would behave with the utmost eccentricity in the end, and our owners would chortle, we'd probably dance up and down on pianos

    PB, get rid of your pets. Enough

    Domestic cats are not wild animals, so the comparison is invalid on a point of high zoological principle. They've evolved to coexist with Homo sapiens, just as dogs have. Different species from their wild relatives.

    This does, or does not, invalidate your other views a priori, of course.

  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,149
    Leon said:

    Point 2. The cats in this house behave strangely. They leap about, they jump on my laptop, they make weird spooky movements, they dance up and down waiting to be fed with eerie mewls, they do all the things we video and we think are truly cat-like and we put it on Insta and call it "cats being funny little guys" hahahah

    All very funny. And they purr loudly. They have learned that we like purring

    And yet this is all entirely and utterly outside feline behaviour in the wild. Cats in the wild don't do this shit. They do this shit because they are fucking BORED, and denied a normal life as a cat, hunting and surviving, a life with purpose and meaning. I imagine humans, if kept indoors as fat castrated playthings, would behave with the utmost eccentricity in the end, and our owners would chortle, we'd probably dance up and down on pianos

    PB, get rid of your pets. Enough

    My God, you should see how different human behaviour is these days compared to what it would have been like in the wild.
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 42,829

    rcs1000 said:



    Meat is better for you, tastier and all-round better than the alternatives. We have canine teeth for a reason, we evolved an omnivores to have a balanced diet which includes meat.

    Truly laughable! Our canines are NOT the same size as those of lions and tigers!

    BTW I've been a vegetarian since 1991!
    No, they're carnivores, we're omnivores. I said we're omnivores not carnivores.

    Whereas I'm on a ketogenic, carnivore-based diet and have never felt better.

    Basically eat meat, eggs, cheese and dairy, and on some days I might have some vegetable to go with it.

    One or two days a week I'll eat other stuff, like today a sunday roast with potatoes, carrots and parsnips, but I eat meat every single day, in almost every single meal. My resolution is to eat more meat. :)

    Basically an anti-vegan diet, and have never felt better - or enjoyed food more. :)
    You eat only carnivores?

    Wow. I'd miss the beef, but I guess the dolphin meat would be nice
    I avoid eating them on porpoise.
    BR is an Inuit? Would sure explain a lot about his cultural collision with the UK lifestyle.
  • algarkirkalgarkirk Posts: 12,496

    Big Client wants me to go represent them at a Black Tie Dinner. Thanks to Covid and happy pills I don’t fit into my previous dinner suit so need to buy a new one.

    Am bemused to find that I can’t even hire a suit and stick it through as a business expense. I do not go to penguin suit dinners for fun. It’s absolutely a business expense. And yet isn’t a tax deductible business expense? I blame the Tories for getting rid of Truss - I betcha that Kwarteng would have let me claim it.

    One of the few good reasons for the existence of Covid, flu, bubonic plague, dengue fever, ringworm, fascioliasis etc is that each one, used carefully in turn to avoid detection, provides a decent excuse for avoiding black tie dinners at the last minute. This not only avoids being part of a herd of penguins, but also the desert waste of the company of people who like such things. In those of sensitive disposition it is a major cause of mental illness.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,083
    rcs1000 said:
    Terrifying.

    I genuinely think he might win again.
  • BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 34,663
    Leon said:

    Point 2. The cats in this house behave strangely. They leap about, they jump on my laptop, they make weird spooky movements, they dance up and down waiting to be fed with eerie mewls, they do all the things we video and we think are truly cat-like and we put it on Insta and call it "cats being funny little guys" hahahah

    All very funny. And they purr loudly. They have learned that we like purring

    And yet this is all entirely and utterly outside feline behaviour in the wild. Cats in the wild don't do this shit. They do this shit because they are fucking BORED, and denied a normal life as a cat, hunting and surviving, a life with purpose and meaning. I imagine humans, if kept indoors as fat castrated playthings, would behave with the utmost eccentricity in the end, and our owners would chortle, we'd probably dance up and down on pianos

    PB, get rid of your pets. Enough

    Leon, fuck off. Enough
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 42,829



    Meat is better for you, tastier and all-round better than the alternatives. We have canine teeth for a reason, we evolved an omnivores to have a balanced diet which includes meat.

    Truly laughable! Our canines are NOT the same size as those of lions and tigers!

    BTW I've been a vegetarian since 1991!
    No, they're carnivores, we're omnivores. I said we're omnivores not carnivores.

    Whereas I'm on a ketogenic, carnivore-based diet and have never felt better.

    Basically eat meat, eggs, cheese and dairy, and on some days I might have some vegetable to go with it.

    One or two days a week I'll eat other stuff, like today a sunday roast with potatoes, carrots and parsnips, but I eat meat every single day, in almost every single meal. My resolution is to eat more meat. :)

    Basically an anti-vegan diet, and have never felt better - or enjoyed food more. :)
    Our canines are NOT the same size as those of lions and tigers!
    Nor are a fox's but foxes are not vegetarians.
    The canines of primates tend to correlate with sexual dimorphism rather than diet, ie combat with other males.
  • .
    Leon said:

    Point 2. The cats in this house behave strangely. They leap about, they jump on my laptop, they make weird spooky movements, they dance up and down waiting to be fed with eerie mewls, they do all the things we video and we think are truly cat-like and we put it on Insta and call it "cats being funny little guys" hahahah

    All very funny. And they purr loudly. They have learned that we like purring

    And yet this is all entirely and utterly outside feline behaviour in the wild. Cats in the wild don't do this shit. They do this shit because they are fucking BORED, and denied a normal life as a cat, hunting and surviving, a life with purpose and meaning. I imagine humans, if kept indoors as fat castrated playthings, would behave with the utmost eccentricity in the end, and our owners would chortle, we'd probably dance up and down on pianos

    PB, get rid of your pets. Enough

    Domestic cats, like domestic dogs, are not wild animals. They've evolved as domesticated pets.

    Any domestic cats in the wild are feral, not wild, and not how they evolved to be.

    And if you think cats are bored, you know nothing about cats. Most cats unlike dogs are free to roam the streets at will, and will voluntarily return home because they want to be there, not because they are prisoners.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,083
    I do generally like niche interest groups and low stakes arguments, but really?

    A row has broken out over plans to rehome Britain's loneliest sheep.

    The ewe, now named Fiona, was rescued on Saturday after being stranded for more than two years at the foot of cliffs in the Scottish Highlands.

    But an animal rights group says plans to rehome her to a farm park near Dumfries would make her a "spectacle"...

    A spokesperson said: "It was a peaceful, non-violent demonstration. We want Fiona to be rehomed at a sanctuary rather than a petting zoo"


    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-67326713
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 42,829



    Meat is better for you, tastier and all-round better than the alternatives. We have canine teeth for a reason, we evolved an omnivores to have a balanced diet which includes meat.

    Truly laughable! Our canines are NOT the same size as those of lions and tigers!

    BTW I've been a vegetarian since 1991!
    No, they're carnivores, we're omnivores. I said we're omnivores not carnivores.

    Whereas I'm on a ketogenic, carnivore-based diet and have never felt better.

    Basically eat meat, eggs, cheese and dairy, and on some days I might have some vegetable to go with it.

    One or two days a week I'll eat other stuff, like today a sunday roast with potatoes, carrots and parsnips, but I eat meat every single day, in almost every single meal. My resolution is to eat more meat. :)

    Basically an anti-vegan diet, and have never felt better - or enjoyed food more. :)
    Our canines are NOT the same size as those of lions and tigers!
    Nor are a fox's but foxes are not vegetarians.
    But foxes are omnivores - vertebrates, invertebrates such as worms, fruit, berries ...
  • Leon said:

    Point 2. The cats in this house behave strangely. They leap about, they jump on my laptop, they make weird spooky movements, they dance up and down waiting to be fed with eerie mewls, they do all the things we video and we think are truly cat-like and we put it on Insta and call it "cats being funny little guys" hahahah

    All very funny. And they purr loudly. They have learned that we like purring

    And yet this is all entirely and utterly outside feline behaviour in the wild. Cats in the wild don't do this shit. They do this shit because they are fucking BORED, and denied a normal life as a cat, hunting and surviving, a life with purpose and meaning. I imagine humans, if kept indoors as fat castrated playthings, would behave with the utmost eccentricity in the end, and our owners would chortle, we'd probably dance up and down on pianos

    PB, get rid of your pets. Enough

    Leon, fuck off. Enough
    Evergreen comment.
  • BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 34,663
    edited November 2023
    kle4 said:

    I do generally like niche interest groups and low stakes arguments, but really?

    A row has broken out over plans to rehome Britain's loneliest sheep.

    The ewe, now named Fiona, was rescued on Saturday after being stranded for more than two years at the foot of cliffs in the Scottish Highlands.

    But an animal rights group says plans to rehome her to a farm park near Dumfries would make her a "spectacle"...

    A spokesperson said: "It was a peaceful, non-violent demonstration. We want Fiona to be rehomed at a sanctuary rather than a petting zoo"


    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-67326713

    I believe Leon's looking for a pet.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,277
    If you need an epiphany, here it is

    Look at the way your pet behaves, and imagine why it is doing that: then realise that it is doing this because it is BORED and has no real purpose. That is why it greets you with incredible affection in Leicester, it literally has nothing else to do

    Once you absorb that uncomfortable fact, you will never keep a pet again, because it is deeply cruel to deprive an intelligent, warm-blooded animal of purpose and life-meaning. Here endeth the lesson
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 42,829
    kle4 said:

    I do generally like niche interest groups and low stakes arguments, but really?

    A row has broken out over plans to rehome Britain's loneliest sheep.

    The ewe, now named Fiona, was rescued on Saturday after being stranded for more than two years at the foot of cliffs in the Scottish Highlands.

    But an animal rights group says plans to rehome her to a farm park near Dumfries would make her a "spectacle"...

    A spokesperson said: "It was a peaceful, non-violent demonstration. We want Fiona to be rehomed at a sanctuary rather than a petting zoo"


    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-67326713

    Apparently it's to do with the activists making friends with the sheep first before the farmers got a look-in. But it's all very odd.

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/nov/05/ordeal-of-britains-loneliest-sheep-continues-as-activists-accused-of-intimidating-farm-staff
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,083
    IDK, I find the Leon pet obsession to be among the funnier tics, as it has arrived out of seemingly nowhere. AI, UFOs, and ancient archaeology are more more explicable.
  • Leon said:

    Point 2. The cats in this house behave strangely. They leap about, they jump on my laptop, they make weird spooky movements, they dance up and down waiting to be fed with eerie mewls, they do all the things we video and we think are truly cat-like and we put it on Insta and call it "cats being funny little guys" hahahah

    All very funny. And they purr loudly. They have learned that we like purring

    And yet this is all entirely and utterly outside feline behaviour in the wild. Cats in the wild don't do this shit. They do this shit because they are fucking BORED, and denied a normal life as a cat, hunting and surviving, a life with purpose and meaning. I imagine humans, if kept indoors as fat castrated playthings, would behave with the utmost eccentricity in the end, and our owners would chortle, we'd probably dance up and down on pianos

    PB, get rid of your pets. Enough

    Leon, fuck off. Enough
    There's something really wrong with people who don't like cats or dogs. It's very un-British, too - we are a nation of animal-lovers.
  • viewcodeviewcode Posts: 22,073
    Scott_xP said:

    Leon said:

    Prediction:

    In the future we will be horrified that humans killed living mammals and ate their meat: we will have lab grown meat that does the tasty job

    In the future we will be horrified that humans enslaved intelligent mammals and kept them as "pets" solely for amusement: we will have AI companions (embodied in fluffy toys, for the friendless, selfish inadequates)

    And in the future imagined in Demolition Man humans are horrified by the concept of "fluid transfer" as a means of procreation, which is done hygienically in a lab.

    Sex is a Virtual reality simulation.

    Seems to tick all of Leon's boxes...
    I'll send him the three seashells
  • algarkirkalgarkirk Posts: 12,496
    kle4 said:

    I do generally like niche interest groups and low stakes arguments, but really?

    A row has broken out over plans to rehome Britain's loneliest sheep.

    The ewe, now named Fiona, was rescued on Saturday after being stranded for more than two years at the foot of cliffs in the Scottish Highlands.

    But an animal rights group says plans to rehome her to a farm park near Dumfries would make her a "spectacle"...

    A spokesperson said: "It was a peaceful, non-violent demonstration. We want Fiona to be rehomed at a sanctuary rather than a petting zoo"


    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-67326713

    The animal looks fairly old. Long slow cooker treatment for lamb tagine anyone?
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,277

    Leon said:

    Point 2. The cats in this house behave strangely. They leap about, they jump on my laptop, they make weird spooky movements, they dance up and down waiting to be fed with eerie mewls, they do all the things we video and we think are truly cat-like and we put it on Insta and call it "cats being funny little guys" hahahah

    All very funny. And they purr loudly. They have learned that we like purring

    And yet this is all entirely and utterly outside feline behaviour in the wild. Cats in the wild don't do this shit. They do this shit because they are fucking BORED, and denied a normal life as a cat, hunting and surviving, a life with purpose and meaning. I imagine humans, if kept indoors as fat castrated playthings, would behave with the utmost eccentricity in the end, and our owners would chortle, we'd probably dance up and down on pianos

    PB, get rid of your pets. Enough

    Leon, fuck off. Enough
    QED
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 42,829
    kle4 said:

    IDK, I find the Leon pet obsession to be among the funnier tics, as it has arrived out of seemingly nowhere. AI, UFOs, and ancient archaeology are more more explicable.

    algarkirk said:

    Big Client wants me to go represent them at a Black Tie Dinner. Thanks to Covid and happy pills I don’t fit into my previous dinner suit so need to buy a new one.

    Am bemused to find that I can’t even hire a suit and stick it through as a business expense. I do not go to penguin suit dinners for fun. It’s absolutely a business expense. And yet isn’t a tax deductible business expense? I blame the Tories for getting rid of Truss - I betcha that Kwarteng would have let me claim it.

    One of the few good reasons for the existence of Covid, flu, bubonic plague, dengue fever, ringworm, fascioliasis etc is that each one, used carefully in turn to avoid detection, provides a decent excuse for avoiding black tie dinners at the last minute. This not only avoids being part of a herd of penguins, but also the desert waste of the company of people who like such things. In those of sensitive disposition it is a major cause of mental illness.
    I sympathise entirely. Trouble with liver fluke is you get lots of people asking if you've got covid ...
  • kle4 said:

    rcs1000 said:
    Terrifying.

    I genuinely think he might win again.
    It's remarkable how totally underreported this is here.

    Only two stories seem acceptable in the UK: Trump is going down, and it's Biden again but he's a bit old.

    The depth of analysis is terrible.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,083

    ohnotnow said:

    The reason I've switched my diet is in part as diabetes runs in my family and I want to avoid it, and this diet is good for those with or at risk of diabetes.

    My dad was vegetarian and his diet gave him diabetes around the time he was the age I'm at now, though he didn't realise it until he got sick and his doctors said he'd had it for about a decade. He changed his diet, found it impossible to stick to a healthy vegetarian diabetic-friendly diet, then suddenly after decades of vegetarianism started eating meat again.

    Now when we go out its funny as he'll order a mixed grill but hold the chips, just a plate of meat and eggs and that's what he has and he's so much healthier than he was. Probably added years back on to his life expectancy.

    So if anyone comes at me with any vegan bullshit they can stick it where the sun doesn't shine. I not only love my meat, I value my health too much to go vegan thank you very much.

    I remember my GP asking about my diet and I said it was "Kinda meat and two veg". And got a thorough ticking off for not eating lots of carbs as that what was on the NHS diet sheet.

    I explained it made me feel really bad, lethargic and gave me stomach ache to the point I would wake up in the middle of the night and have to neck Gaviscon. No matter! The diet sheet is the law!

    So I just had to start lying to him about my diet.
    Best advice about diet is to eat real food and in moderate amounts.

    Real food being meat, fish, vegetables, fruit and dairy etc - but not processed crap, sugar and MSG which seems to be everywhere, and easily creeps in if you're not constantly on your toes.
    Yep. There's an entire very profitable industry around making it more complicated than it is, seemingly because human beings just cannot accept a simple solution sometimes.

    I've had people congratulate me on weight loss, then still tell me 'you cannot lose weight that way' when I tell them I didn't cut out all carbs or whatever weight loss scheme they believe is the only way.
  • carnforthcarnforth Posts: 4,586
    edited November 2023

    Big Client wants me to go represent them at a Black Tie Dinner. Thanks to Covid and happy pills I don’t fit into my previous dinner suit so need to buy a new one.

    Am bemused to find that I can’t even hire a suit and stick it through as a business expense. I do not go to penguin suit dinners for fun. It’s absolutely a business expense. And yet isn’t a tax deductible business expense? I blame the Tories for getting rid of Truss - I betcha that Kwarteng would have let me claim it.

    If it's predominantly a trouser problem, take it to your local alteration place and ask for a quick turnaround. Trousers often have enough extra material around their seams to allow for, say two inches of extra. More likely if they are good ones.

    Jacket alteration is harder, but the seam down the back can be let out.

    Having said that, a rental suit with good shoes of your own, and a proper bow tie - not pre-tied can be fine.
  • BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 34,663
    edited November 2023
    Carnyx said:



    Meat is better for you, tastier and all-round better than the alternatives. We have canine teeth for a reason, we evolved an omnivores to have a balanced diet which includes meat.

    Truly laughable! Our canines are NOT the same size as those of lions and tigers!

    BTW I've been a vegetarian since 1991!
    No, they're carnivores, we're omnivores. I said we're omnivores not carnivores.

    Whereas I'm on a ketogenic, carnivore-based diet and have never felt better.

    Basically eat meat, eggs, cheese and dairy, and on some days I might have some vegetable to go with it.

    One or two days a week I'll eat other stuff, like today a sunday roast with potatoes, carrots and parsnips, but I eat meat every single day, in almost every single meal. My resolution is to eat more meat. :)

    Basically an anti-vegan diet, and have never felt better - or enjoyed food more. :)
    Our canines are NOT the same size as those of lions and tigers!
    Nor are a fox's but foxes are not vegetarians.
    But foxes are omnivores - vertebrates, invertebrates such as worms*, fruit, berries ...
    So are humans.

    (*Well not the worms so much, but other invertebrates.)
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 42,829
    carnforth said:

    Big Client wants me to go represent them at a Black Tie Dinner. Thanks to Covid and happy pills I don’t fit into my previous dinner suit so need to buy a new one.

    Am bemused to find that I can’t even hire a suit and stick it through as a business expense. I do not go to penguin suit dinners for fun. It’s absolutely a business expense. And yet isn’t a tax deductible business expense? I blame the Tories for getting rid of Truss - I betcha that Kwarteng would have let me claim it.

    If it's predominantly a trouser problem, take it to your local alteration place and ask for a quick turnaround. Trousers often have enough extra material around their seams to allow for, say two inches of extra. More likely if they are good ones.
    Spoilsport - he's trying to find an excuse not to go ...
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,083

    kle4 said:

    rcs1000 said:
    Terrifying.

    I genuinely think he might win again.
    It's remarkable how totally underreported this is here.

    Only two stories seem acceptable in the UK: Trump is going down, and it's Biden again but he's a bit old.

    The depth of analysis is terrible.
    Which is strange, because we overreport a lot of american minutiae due to our epic cultural cringe with them, yet the detail can be just bizarre.

    They did once refer to 'gaffe-prone BIden' in an official news report, which although he does indeed make gaffes, was very un-BBC like.
  • CyclefreeCyclefree Posts: 25,310
    edited November 2023
    Leon said:

    Cyclefree said:

    Leon said:

    I’m house sitting for a friend in Falmouth. Massive house, sea views. All I gotta do is feed the cats

    Could be worse. But I just don’t get pets. Cats are amusing sometimes but that’s it. All they do is loll around sleeping meantime you have to let them in and out and feed them disgusting food and then they sleep some more

    What is it? Why pets? Why cats and dogs? Why can’t people cope without a stupid domesticated mammal that’s basically in a comfortable jail and had no purpose other than to mildly entertain?

    It’s like slavery. Pet owners are inadequate twats

    If you think cats are slaves, you've lived a very sheltered life indeed.

    Have you told your daughter who had some trouble with her dog a while back I seem to recall that she is an "inadequate twat" or is it just internet strangers you abuse because they like different things to you?

    I don't get why so many adults can't cope without having one or more alcoholic drinks every single day, in the vain hope that it will make them "relax" or make them more "amusing" or "creative". But very many do.

    Chaucun a son gout.
    My alcohol abuse mistreats my own liver (tho I feel fine, thanks)

    I don't keep cats that slaughter the local wildlife and grossly pollute the environment just because "I like having cats"

    Grow up. Seriously. Grow up. You don't need these denatured mammalian slaves, it is freakish
    The thing about arguing with a lawyer, Leon - especially one who has spent decades asking people questions they'd prefer not to answer - is that they notice when the other person very obviously avoids answering the question asked.

    As you have done.

    Being told by you to grow up is not quite at the @SeanT level of abuse. I was never privileged enough to receive that - a sort of PB rite of passage I believe - but it will have to do, especially on a Sunday evening.

  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 42,829
    kle4 said:

    kle4 said:

    rcs1000 said:
    Terrifying.

    I genuinely think he might win again.
    It's remarkable how totally underreported this is here.

    Only two stories seem acceptable in the UK: Trump is going down, and it's Biden again but he's a bit old.

    The depth of analysis is terrible.
    Which is strange, because we overreport a lot of american minutiae due to our epic cultural cringe with them, yet the detail can be just bizarre.

    They did once refer to 'gaffe-prone BIden' in an official news report, which although he does indeed make gaffes, was very un-BBC like.
    You should see the BBC coverage of Scottish politics since 2010.
  • BartholomewRobertsBartholomewRoberts Posts: 21,968
    edited November 2023
    kle4 said:

    ohnotnow said:

    The reason I've switched my diet is in part as diabetes runs in my family and I want to avoid it, and this diet is good for those with or at risk of diabetes.

    My dad was vegetarian and his diet gave him diabetes around the time he was the age I'm at now, though he didn't realise it until he got sick and his doctors said he'd had it for about a decade. He changed his diet, found it impossible to stick to a healthy vegetarian diabetic-friendly diet, then suddenly after decades of vegetarianism started eating meat again.

    Now when we go out its funny as he'll order a mixed grill but hold the chips, just a plate of meat and eggs and that's what he has and he's so much healthier than he was. Probably added years back on to his life expectancy.

    So if anyone comes at me with any vegan bullshit they can stick it where the sun doesn't shine. I not only love my meat, I value my health too much to go vegan thank you very much.

    I remember my GP asking about my diet and I said it was "Kinda meat and two veg". And got a thorough ticking off for not eating lots of carbs as that what was on the NHS diet sheet.

    I explained it made me feel really bad, lethargic and gave me stomach ache to the point I would wake up in the middle of the night and have to neck Gaviscon. No matter! The diet sheet is the law!

    So I just had to start lying to him about my diet.
    Best advice about diet is to eat real food and in moderate amounts.

    Real food being meat, fish, vegetables, fruit and dairy etc - but not processed crap, sugar and MSG which seems to be everywhere, and easily creeps in if you're not constantly on your toes.
    Yep. There's an entire very profitable industry around making it more complicated than it is, seemingly because human beings just cannot accept a simple solution sometimes.

    I've had people congratulate me on weight loss, then still tell me 'you cannot lose weight that way' when I tell them I didn't cut out all carbs or whatever weight loss scheme they believe is the only way.
    Every person is different, so why should all our diets be the same?

    You need to find a diet that you [a] enjoy, [b] can stick to, and [c] works for your body.

    Cutting carbs has worked for me, so if someone is struggling and hasn't found something that works yet I'd happily recommend trying it, but if something else works for you, then good for you.

    The problem is people, like the worst sort of vegans, who want to impose their diet upon others or insist others should follow their diet.

    Do what works for you.

    For too long the NHS stuck to the idea of one-size fits all, it seems to have gotten much, much better in recent years of realising there's many ways to success.
  • stodgestodge Posts: 13,874
    Evening all :)

    The photo of the poppy sellers at Charing Cross Station surrounded by pro-Palestine demonstrators yesterday afternoon has resonated with me all day.

    As someone said, it may well turn out to be one of those iconic images which says so much about who we are and where we are. The immediate thought for me was incomprehension - two groups of people, united by war and peace, but whose worlds and perspectives are completely alien to each other.

    Perhaps the biggest misnomer is the notion we live in a United Kingdom. We may be many things and we certainly are a Kingdom but United - in so many ways, no.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 50,248
    rcs1000 said:

    Leon said:

    Prediction:

    In the future we will be horrified that humans killed living mammals and ate their meat: we will have lab grown meat that does the tasty job

    In the future we will be horrified that humans enslaved intelligent mammals and kept them as "pets" solely for amusement: we will have AI companions (embodied in fluffy toys, for the friendless, selfish inadequates)

    Timescale?
    You will first eat lab grown meat in the next 10 to 12 years. But it will probably only become the dominant form of protein in 40 or 50 years.

    And it may take a century before you are able to grow a steak that is indistinguishable from the "real thing".

    (And RFK will claim that it gives you cancer. For the record, it won't.)
    RFK is the cause of cancer.

    Prove me wrong.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,083
    Carnyx said:

    kle4 said:

    kle4 said:

    rcs1000 said:
    Terrifying.

    I genuinely think he might win again.
    It's remarkable how totally underreported this is here.

    Only two stories seem acceptable in the UK: Trump is going down, and it's Biden again but he's a bit old.

    The depth of analysis is terrible.
    Which is strange, because we overreport a lot of american minutiae due to our epic cultural cringe with them, yet the detail can be just bizarre.

    They did once refer to 'gaffe-prone BIden' in an official news report, which although he does indeed make gaffes, was very un-BBC like.
    You should see the BBC coverage of Scottish politics since 2010.
    I suspect, without checking, that overreporting is not the issue with it?
This discussion has been closed.