Right, Christmas has started - I've just opened a bottle of malt.
Season's Greetings to all of my fellow PBers, whether left or right, leave or remain.
You mean you don't keep them open at all times. Checks Highland Park supplies....
I've got a bottle of the Highland Park 18 year old. That's some scotch whisky, right there.
I also have 14 bottles of champagne (I just checked, because I was nervous) and about 400 bottles of red. Should be OK til Boxing Day, though I may replenish tomorrow.
On Christmas Day I shall enjoy the last of my 2 annual alcoholic drinks. Usually I have two small glasses of Tio Pepe, one on New Year's Day, one on Christmas Day. I'm a regular drinker.
Priest to infrequent member of his congregation: 'How can you call yourself a regular churchgoer? I haven't seen you for months!'
Reply 'I'm the most regular member of your congregation Father. I'm there every Easter!'
With that, a happy Christmas to everybody and hope to be back in the New Year sometime.
The BBC even has a booze questionnaire to suit the time of year http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-30500372. but is it written to distinguish between the two sides in the EU vote?
I'm told I consume alcohol most like a French citizen. It suits a Remainer. My consumption is said to be 'totally unlike the UK'.
You need to be careful with stocks like that. I have always taken to heart the old maxim from Jerome, "You always need enough to eat and a bit more than enough to drink, for thirst is a dangerous thing". Half a dozen or so healthy young people turn up at your place on Christmas eve and that's you screwed for champagne on Christmas Day. In your shoes I'd get another case in tomorrow morning just to be sure. Oh, and for goodness sake make sure you have enough of it, three bottles at least, chilled - nothing worse than being served warm champagne.
The BBC even has a booze questionnaire to suit the time of year http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-30500372. but is it written to distinguish between the two sides in the EU vote?
I'm told I consume alcohol most like a French citizen. It suits a Remainer. My consumption is said to be 'totally unlike the UK'.
It only asks how much of X have you drunk in the past week, then tells me "most people from Kuwait also abstain". I'm not an abstainer though.
The BBC even has a booze questionnaire to suit the time of year http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-30500372. but is it written to distinguish between the two sides in the EU vote?
I'm told I consume alcohol most like a French citizen. It suits a Remainer. My consumption is said to be 'totally unlike the UK'.
It only asks how much of X have you drunk in the past week, then tells me "most people from Kuwait also abstain". I'm not an abstainer though.
This time next week my result will be
You drink most like you're from Mali, and quite unlike people from your home country You drink less than the average for your home country You drink as heavily as people from Timor-Leste, the joint eighth lightest-drinking country in the world
"I am pleased to confirm that the Llama household has enough of The Grouse and of The Laphroaig to see it through the most demanding of Christmas seasons, along with ample stocks of ladies' drinks."
The BBC even has a booze questionnaire to suit the time of year http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-30500372. but is it written to distinguish between the two sides in the EU vote?
I'm told I consume alcohol most like a French citizen. It suits a Remainer. My consumption is said to be 'totally unlike the UK'.
It only asks how much of X have you drunk in the past week, then tells me "most people from Kuwait also abstain". I'm not an abstainer though.
I seem to drink less beer than the French, but more alcohol. At least this week, so far.
It's Christmas. There's a lot about this piece by Annie Lennox that takes me out of the modern materialist bind, back to when every-man strove, was not rich, and might die from rotten teeth or the plague at any time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlsJD8RlhbI
"You drink more heavily than people from Belarus, the heaviest-drinking country in the world"
That is true of at least a quarter of the population.
Really, it's very simple: Do you drink more than a bottle of wine (or equivalent) six days a week? And can you remember the last day you didn't drink?
You want a 'no' to the first answer, and a 'yes' to the second.
I drink at least a bottle of red every day, and can't remember my last day off (probably when I was ill).
I've been doing this since I can recall and I've earned more than the prime minister every year since 2008.
HOWEVER I am well aware I am REALLY pushing my luck. I need to rein it in, and intend to do so. Likewise Twitter.
Booze and Twitter are my two addictions. OK women too. Booze, Twitter and 20 something women are my only vices. OK and Uber. And oysters. And shoes. And Biz Class flights.
Biz class flights, oysters, posh shoes, Ubers, champagne, red wine, Twitter and 20-something women are my only vices.
Apart from that I'm a bloody monk.
My brother, who was an alcoholic for probably 30+ years, died of a sudden heart attack a couple of weeks ago. He was 54.
You need to be careful with stocks like that. I have always taken to heart the old maxim from Jerome, "You always need enough to eat and a bit more than enough to drink, for thirst is a dangerous thing". Half a dozen or so healthy young people turn up at your place on Christmas eve and that's you screwed for champagne on Christmas Day. In your shoes I'd get another case in tomorrow morning just to be sure. Oh, and for goodness sake make sure you have enough of it, three bottles at least, chilled - nothing worse than being served warm champagne.
Bastard. Now I'm worried.
I do also have a Jeroboam of Veuve Clicquot (a gift from my agent for getting a number 1 bestseller), but it's so big I have no means of chilling it, so I'm waiting for heavy snow on my balcony (literally).
The older I get the less keen I am on whisky. Oh, I still have my morning glass after my walk, and one before bedtime but those are more medicinal than for pleasure. No, nowadays, I find myself more and more in agreement with Lilly Bollinger who is quoted as saying:
"I drink Champagne when I'm happy and when I'm sad. Sometimes I drink it when I'm alone. When I have company I consider it obligatory. I trifle with it if I'm not hungry and drink it when I am. Otherwise, I never touch it -- unless I'm thirsty.”
Though I substitute an English Ridgeview for French Champagne. if I can.
» show previous quotes I drink at least a bottle of red every day, and can't remember my last day off (probably when I was ill).
I've been doing this since I can recall and I've earned more than the prime minister every year since 2008.
HOWEVER I am well aware I am REALLY pushing my luck. I need to rein it in, and intend to do so. Likewise Twitter.
Booze and Twitter are my two addictions. OK women too. Booze, Twitter and 20 something women are my only vices. OK and Uber. And oysters. And shoes. And Biz Class flights.
Biz class flights, oysters, posh shoes, Ubers, champagne, red wine, Twitter and 20-something women are my only vices.
Apart from that I'm a bloody monk.
My brother, who was an alcoholic for probably 30+ years, died of a sudden heart attack a couple of weeks ago. He was 54.
****** I once found myself drinking half a bottle/day of red and could detect it was too much for me so I cut down to one glass/day. I don't have a booze-free day as a modest amount every day with a meal seems most civilised/least harmful.
A friend who drank 5 pints/day of beer developed cataracts @ only 55.
BTW, to chill champagne, put it outside for 6-12 hours and the UK climate will work its wonders. It'll be delightfully cool.
I guess I must be the only non-Muslim teetotaller in the PB Village
I really only have my traditional 2 glasses of Tio Pepe in order to be able say that I'm not teetotal; because teetotal sounds to me like a matter of principle, and in my case it's simply lack of interest in alcoholic beverages. I'd rather have a soft drink or cup of coffee.
I abstain entirely, Sunil, and I am non Muslim. I used to enjoy being in Muslim communities in places like Kenya because not drinking is the norm. I was one asked on Lamu whether it was true that some westerners drank alcohol *every single day*. I had to admit that one did hear stories to that effect. Lamu is sadly off limits the days though. Too close to Somalia.
Honestly, I don't believe in prohibition. My attitude to drink is a bit like my attitude to bungee jumping: if you're into it, fine, go ahead! Just leave me out of it
“Star Wars” actress Carrie Fisher was in critical condition Friday after suffering a “cardiac episode” during a flight from London to Los Angeles, according to emergency officials"
"You drink more heavily than people from Belarus, the heaviest-drinking country in the world"
That is true of at least a quarter of the population.
Really, it's very simple: Do you drink more than a bottle of wine (or equivalent) six days a week? And can you remember the last day you didn't drink?
You want a 'no' to the first answer, and a 'yes' to the second.
I drink at least a bottle of red every day, and can't remember my last day off (probably when I was ill).
I've been doing this since I can recall and I've earned more than the prime minister every year since 2008.
HOWEVER I am well aware I am REALLY pushing my luck. I need to rein it in, and intend to do so. Likewise Twitter.
Booze and Twitter are my two addictions. OK women too. Booze, Twitter and 20 something women are my only vices. OK and Uber. And oysters. And shoes. And Biz Class flights.
Biz class flights, oysters, posh shoes, Ubers, champagne, red wine, Twitter and 20-something women are my only vices.
Apart from that I'm a bloody monk.
My brother, who was an alcoholic for probably 30+ years, died of a sudden heart attack a couple of weeks ago. He was 54.
I have now reached the age when I go to a lot more funerals than weddings or christenings. So many old friends and colleagues seem to be falling off the perch or, worse, sinking into dementia each year. I know what the statistics say but, you know, I don't see much difference in death and dementia rates amongst my family and social circle between those who lived according to the quacks' advice and those who didn't, mind you nearly all of us lived bloody hard and fast when we were younger.
So live the way it suits you to live seems to be the way. The grim reaper is going to claim us all and perhaps what matters is the manner of our life not the time of our death.
Talking of longevity, I adhere to the Kingsley Amis maxim, that if you are teetotal, you don't necessarily live longer, it just FEELS like it.
I'm having a hoot. I travel the world and make squillions of £s and drink endless champagne with hot naked young ladies with daddy issues blah blah
Would I rather keep this up til I'm 60 and die at 63, or go sober now, live like a Puritan, and last til I'm 80? I genuinely don't know.
I want to see my daughters to adulthood, which means I need to last til 61. Apart from that, hmm....
Clement Freud, not Kingsley Amis.
The trouble is they are too good at keeping people alive these days. Rather then die at 63 you are likely to have a survivable first heart attack or stroke at that age, and have another 20 years of rather grey life on multiple medications and restricted diet.
If I remember correctly, after youthful mayhem, Carrie Fisher was completely sober and teetotal.
See.
Makes you think. I seem to recollect the guy who invented jogging as an healthy lifestyle exercise available to all then dropped off his mortal coil quite early after suffering a heart attack
Honestly, I don't believe in prohibition. My attitude to drink is a bit like my attitude to bungee jumping: if you're into it, fine, go ahead! Just leave me out of it
I never fancied bungee jumping either. Of the two, I'd rather drink whisky/brandy (I hate spirits).
I have now reached the age when I go to a lot more funerals than weddings or christenings. So many old friends and colleagues seem to be falling off the perch or, worse, sinking into dementia each year. I know what the statistics say but, you know, I don't see much difference in death and dementia rates amongst my family and social circle between those who lived according to the quacks' advice and those who didn't, mind you nearly all of us lived bloody hard and fast when we were younger.
So live the way it suits you to live seems to be the way. The grim reaper is going to claim us all and perhaps what matters is the manner of our life not the time of our death.
Of my dozen mates from school, 3 are now dead (lung cancer, Hepatitis B, and the worst was alcoholism, found in his flat one summer 2 weeks after dying) and one now has gynae cancer. It feels like some cheapo teen horror flick with the grim reaper stalking us. To a large extent they are all lifestyle related. I have cleaned up my act.
Good for your dad! Not many of us are going to be lucky enough to have such good genes, but the principle I think holds for all. We are here once, enjoy it as best you can to the standards you want for yourself and your loved ones.
Off-topic: We often open our Christmas presents before the big day, as we have a full car to travel up to my parents' house. This year Mrs J had a big box for me. So I opened it, and inside ... oh no, she's only gone and done it: https://www.lego.com/en-gb/technic/products/bucket-wheel-excavator-42055 Nearly 4,000 pieces of Technics joy. The manual is about two centimetres thick ... Woohoo!
I used to drink a lot of Bacardi hence stopped because I had bronchitis and hospitalised for a few days. I kept it going when I came out as well as cutting out biscuits my other weakness.
In 5 weeks I had lost a stone and a half or around 10k. I am keeping it going but it's slowed now and having got rid of the topside excess I seem to lose around a 1/2 to 1 kg a week. I guess the rest is going to be a slog and exercise also needed.
I feel better and think I look better weight wise but if I'm honest I could absolutely murder a custard cream and a mojito
Thought I'd mention it for the upcoming New Years resolutions day.
I have now reached the age when I go to a lot more funerals than weddings or christenings. So many old friends and colleagues seem to be falling off the perch or, worse, sinking into dementia each year. I know what the statistics say but, you know, I don't see much difference in death and dementia rates amongst my family and social circle between those who lived according to the quacks' advice and those who didn't, mind you nearly all of us lived bloody hard and fast when we were younger.
So live the way it suits you to live seems to be the way. The grim reaper is going to claim us all and perhaps what matters is the manner of our life not the time of our death.
Of my dozen mates from school, 3 are now dead (lung cancer, Hepatitis B, and the worst was alcoholism, found in his flat one summer 2 weeks after dying) and one now has gynae cancer. It feels like some cheapo teen horror flick with the grim reaper stalking us. To a large extent they are all lifestyle related. I have cleaned up my act.
How old are you, if I may ask?
52.
5/146 of my year at Medschool are dead too. 1 suicide, 4 from cancer, including one this year. When people our age get cancer it tends to be aggressive forms. Medicine is a tough mistress.
Fair go to you, doc. That is your decision. Let us hope you don't end up as a drooling vegetable in a nursing home for years with all you have saved including the value of your house being swallowed up in fees, rather than being passed onto your children. One of my old comrades is in that position, his brain and personality have long gone but his body, aided by prescription drugs, carries on. Truly there are worse things than death.
Crikey, we have got on to a happy strain of thought just before Christmas.
I have now reached the age when I go to a lot more funerals than weddings or christenings. So many old friends and colleagues seem to be falling off the perch or, worse, sinking into dementia each year. I know what the statistics say but, you know, I don't see much difference in death and dementia rates amongst my family and social circle between those who lived according to the quacks' advice and those who didn't, mind you nearly all of us lived bloody hard and fast when we were younger.
So live the way it suits you to live seems to be the way. The grim reaper is going to claim us all and perhaps what matters is the manner of our life not the time of our death.
Of my dozen mates from school, 3 are now dead (lung cancer, Hepatitis B, and the worst was alcoholism, found in his flat one summer 2 weeks after dying) and one now has gynae cancer. It feels like some cheapo teen horror flick with the grim reaper stalking us. To a large extent they are all lifestyle related. I have cleaned up my act.
How old are you, if I may ask?
52.
5/146 of my year at Medschool are dead too. 1 suicide, 4 from cancer, including one this year. When people our age get cancer it tends to be aggressive forms. Medicine is a tough mistress.
Eeek. I'm 53 - and I'm researching suicide for a new thriller. Turns out doctors (male) are three times more likely to kill themselves than the average man. No one is quite sure why, though various theories are posited (access to lethal drugs etc)
Very curious. I wonder if proximity to death itself makes death seem more "acceptable"?
I'm pretty sure that general intelligence tends to correlate with likelihood to commit suicide, and doctors are obviously intelligent people. It'd be interesting to know if there's still an effect once factors such as intelligence and stress are taken into account.
Good for your dad! Not many of us are going to be lucky enough to have such good genes, but the principle I think holds for all. We are here once, enjoy it as best you can to the standards you want for yourself and your loved ones.
If I died tomorrow I'd go up to the Pearly Gates, look God in His omniscient eye, and say Yeah, fair play, I had a fucking good run
I've had nine lives in one. I've fucked many hundreds of women. Had a number one bestselling novel. I've been locked up in prisons and feasted in palaces, I've been to sixty or seventy countries, in utter poverty and total luxury. I've met the famous and the infamous. I've got two beautiful and beloved daughters. I've been kidnapped by Hezbollah, been in knife fights in Marseilles, nearly got killed in Egypt, thought I'd impregnated a hooker in Thailand, I recently climbed to 18,400 feet in Chile, I've done almost every drug known to man, and I've been personally ridiculed on the front page of a Sunday tabloid as a Kinky Sex Freak
So if the Big Man decides I've had more than enough fun and good fortune for one life, I couldn't argue. I'd come quietly.
A cousin of mine was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer last year aged early 40's with two young daughters. She is OK on chemo at present, but it is really borrowed time. She has carried on just the same, school runs, school sports days, cooking, organising the family party, working in her husbands business etc. To me that shows a life well lived, getting advance notice from St Peter then carrying on with life exactly the same.
...and doctors are obviously intelligent people...
I'm sure they think so, but your average GP does not need intelligence. Most of their cases fall into a small category and the unusual cases get passed on to somebody else
"Turns out doctors (male) are three times more likely to kill themselves than the average man. No one is quite sure why, though various theories are posited (access to lethal drugs etc)
Very curious. I wonder if proximity to death itself makes death seem more "acceptable"?"
OK, just to continue this happy train of Christmas thought for a while.
Has there ever been a study that breaks down suicides in the medical profession by specialisation? I would guess that some specialities (e.g. eye doctors, dermatologists) have a much lower rate than others (e.g. General Practitioners) but oncologists come out somewhere in the top end of the table.
I have now reached the age when I go to a lot more funerals than weddings or christenings. So many old friends and colleagues seem to be falling off the perch or, worse, sinking into dementia each year. I know what the statistics say but, you know, I don't see much difference in death and dementia rates amongst my family and social circle between those who lived according to the quacks' advice and those who didn't, mind you nearly all of us lived bloody hard and fast when we were younger.
So live the way it suits you to live seems to be the way. The grim reaper is going to claim us all and perhaps what matters is the manner of our life not the time of our death.
Of my dozen mates from school, 3 are now dead (lung cancer, Hepatitis B, and the worst was alcoholism, found in his flat one summer 2 weeks after dying) and one now has gynae cancer. It feels like some cheapo teen horror flick with the grim reaper stalking us. To a large extent they are all lifestyle related. I have cleaned up my act.
How old are you, if I may ask?
52.
5/146 of my year at Medschool are dead too. 1 suicide, 4 from cancer, including one this year. When people our age get cancer it tends to be aggressive forms. Medicine is a tough mistress.
Eeek. I'm 53 - and I'm researching suicide for a new thriller. Turns out doctors (male) are three times more likely to kill themselves than the average man. No one is quite sure why, though various theories are posited (access to lethal drugs etc)
Very curious. I wonder if proximity to death itself makes death seem more "acceptable"?
Ready availability of drugs to do one's self in, plus awareness of how unpleasant fighting cancer can be undoubtedly plays a role.
...and doctors are obviously intelligent people...
I'm sure they think so, but your average GP does not need intelligence. Most of their cases fall into a small category and the unusual cases get passed on to somebody else
I have always understood that one needs quite a high intelligence merely to get into medical school.
"Turns out doctors (male) are three times more likely to kill themselves than the average man. No one is quite sure why, though various theories are posited (access to lethal drugs etc)
Very curious. I wonder if proximity to death itself makes death seem more "acceptable"?"
OK, just to continue this happy train of Christmas thought for a while.
Has there ever been a study that breaks down suicides in the medical profession by specialisation? I would guess that some specialities (e.g. eye doctors, dermatologists) have a much lower rate than others (e.g. General Practitioners) but oncologists come out somewhere in the top end of the table.
I once dated an A&E doctor, and she (and her friends) were terrible abusers of the hospital drugs cabinet.
I have now reached the age when I go to a lot more funerals than weddings or christenings. So many old friends and colleagues seem to be falling off the perch or, worse, sinking into dementia each year. I know what the statistics say but, you know, I don't see much difference in death and dementia rates amongst my family and social circle between those who lived according to the quacks' advice and those who didn't, mind you nearly all of us lived bloody hard and fast when we were younger.
So live the way it suits you to live seems to be the way. The grim reaper is going to claim us all and perhaps what matters is the manner of our life not the time of our death.
Of my dozen mates from school, 3 are now dead (lung cancer, Hepatitis B, and the worst was alcoholism, found in his flat one summer 2 weeks after dying) and one now has gynae cancer. It feels like some cheapo teen horror flick with the grim reaper stalking us. To a large extent they are all lifestyle related. I have cleaned up my act.
How old are you, if I may ask?
52.
5/146 of my year at Medschool are dead too. 1 suicide, 4 from cancer, including one this year. When people our age get cancer it tends to be aggressive forms. Medicine is a tough mistress.
Eeek. I'm 53 - and I'm researching suicide for a new thriller. Turns out doctors (male) are three times more likely to kill themselves than the average man. No one is quite sure why, though various theories are posited (access to lethal drugs etc)
Very curious. I wonder if proximity to death itself makes death seem more "acceptable"?
Para-suicide and deliberate self harm are more common in women, but actual suicide is more common in older men.
Men choose more certain methods and doctors know the right dosage.
It must be awful having even a cold on a long flight, let alone a more serious illness.
I can confirm having a cold on a flight is bad. Agonising pain in both ears and shooting pain down my neck for about 20mins or so when coming into to land. Hearing hasn't fully recovered yet.
I used to drink a lot of Bacardi hence stopped because I had bronchitis and hospitalised for a few days. I kept it going when I came out as well as cutting out biscuits my other weakness.
In 5 weeks I had lost a stone and a half or around 10k. I am keeping it going but it's slowed now and having got rid of the topside excess I seem to lose around a 1/2 to 1 kg a week. I guess the rest is going to be a slog and exercise also needed.
I feel better and think I look better weight wise but if I'm honest I could absolutely murder a custard cream and a mojito
Thought I'd mention it for the upcoming New Years resolutions day.
Key is to keep the weight off for 12+ months. In my experience if you can get past the 12 month point then your body and lifestyle will have achieved a permanent change.
Chicken (not fried) and eggs are best for high protein food to fill you up for a reasonable amount of calories.
Good for your dad! Not many of us are going to be lucky enough to have such good genes, but the principle I think holds for all. We are here once, enjoy it as best you can to the standards you want for yourself and your loved ones.
If I died tomorrow I'd go up to the Pearly Gates, look God in His omniscient eye, and say Yeah, fair play, I had a fucking good run
I've had nine lives in one. I've fucked many hundreds of women. Had a number one bestselling novel. I've been locked up in prisons and feasted in palaces, I've been to sixty or seventy countries, in utter poverty and total luxury. I've met the famous and the infamous. I've got two beautiful and beloved daughters. I've been kidnapped by Hezbollah, been in knife fights in Marseilles, nearly got killed in Egypt, thought I'd impregnated a hooker in Thailand, I recently climbed to 18,400 feet in Chile, I've done almost every drug known to man, and I've been personally ridiculed on the front page of a Sunday tabloid as a Kinky Sex Freak
So if the Big Man decides I've had more than enough fun and good fortune for one life, I couldn't argue. I'd come quietly.
A cousin of mine was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer last year aged early 40's with two young daughters. She is OK on chemo at present, but it is really borrowed time. She has carried on just the same, school runs, school sports days, cooking, organising the family party, working in her husbands business etc. To me that shows a life well lived, getting advance notice from St Peter then carrying on with life exactly the same.
Yes. It was exactly the same with my wife (she died 10 years ago, aged 35). After her diagnosis with metastatic breast cancer, we discussed what she'd like to do - countries she'd like to experience, sights she'd like to see and suchlike. She decided that her life was as near to perfect as she'd wanted (apart from the cancer, of course). She carried on looking after our little son as best she could, and she even went back to work part-time although we had no need for the money. Mainly, she wanted to love and be loved, and she was.
Edit: My heart aches for your cousin and her family, but there's very little that anyone else can do apart from be there, listen and reassure. Her husband and daughters will appreciate contact after she has gone; many people stop talking to the bereaved simply because they don't know what to say. I very much appreciated the ones that didn't.
"Turns out doctors (male) are three times more likely to kill themselves than the average man. No one is quite sure why, though various theories are posited (access to lethal drugs etc)
Very curious. I wonder if proximity to death itself makes death seem more "acceptable"?"
OK, just to continue this happy train of Christmas thought for a while.
Has there ever been a study that breaks down suicides in the medical profession by specialisation? I would guess that some specialities (e.g. eye doctors, dermatologists) have a much lower rate than others (e.g. General Practitioners) but oncologists come out somewhere in the top end of the table.
I think anaesthetists are supposed to be at particular risk, but am not sure there is real difference by speciality. TheGMC is brutal though, and being up before them carries significant risk, not least because often doctors with mental health issues often fail professionally too.
"Turns out doctors (male) are three times more likely to kill themselves than the average man. No one is quite sure why, though various theories are posited (access to lethal drugs etc)
Very curious. I wonder if proximity to death itself makes death seem more "acceptable"?"
OK, just to continue this happy train of Christmas thought for a while.
Has there ever been a study that breaks down suicides in the medical profession by specialisation? I would guess that some specialities (e.g. eye doctors, dermatologists) have a much lower rate than others (e.g. General Practitioners) but oncologists come out somewhere in the top end of the table.
I think anaesthetists are supposed to be at particular risk, but am not sure there is real difference by speciality. TheGMC is brutal though, and being up before them carries significant risk, not least because often doctors with mental health issues often fail professionally too.
I guess anaesthetists are so used to killing their patients that killing themselves is only a small additional step.
Good for your dad! Not many of us are going to be lucky enough to have such good genes, but the principle I think holds for all. We are here once, enjoy it as best you can to the standards you want for yourself and your loved ones.
If I died tomorrow I'd go up to the Pearly Gates, look God in His omniscient eye, and say Yeah, fair play, I had a fucking good run
I've had nine lives in one. I've fucked many hundreds of women. Had a number one bestselling novel. I've been locked up in prisons and feasted in palaces, I've been to sixty or seventy countries, in utter poverty and total luxury. I've met the famous and the infamous. I've got two beautiful and beloved daughters. I've been kidnapped by Hezbollah, been in knife fights in Marseilles, nearly got killed in Egypt, thought I'd impregnated a hooker in Thailand, I recently climbed to 18,400 feet in Chile, I've done almost every drug known to man, and I've been personally ridiculed on the front page of a Sunday tabloid as a Kinky Sex Freak
So if the Big Man decides I've had more than enough fun and good fortune for one life, I couldn't argue. I'd come quietly.
A cousin of mine was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer last year aged early 40's with two young daughters. She is OK on chemo at present, but it is really borrowed time. She has carried on just the same, school runs, school sports days, cooking, organising the family party, working in her husbands business etc. To me that shows a life well lived, getting advance notice from St Peter then carrying on with life exactly the same.
Yes. It was exactly the same with my wife (she died 10 years ago, aged 35). After her diagnosis with metastatic breast cancer, we discussed what she'd like to do - countries she'd like to experience, sights she'd like to see and suchlike. She decided that her life was as near to perfect as she'd wanted (apart from the cancer, of course). She carried on looking after our little son as best she could, and she even went back to work part-time although we had no need for the money. Mainly, she wanted to love and be loved, and she was.
Edit: My heart aches for your cousin and her family, but there's very little that anyone else can do apart from be there, listen and reassure. Her husband and daughters will appreciate contact after she has gone; many people stop talking to the bereaved simply because they don't know what to say. I very much appreciated the ones that didn't.
Goodness. I don't know what to say, or whether I should say anything. Apart from Merry Christmas. A Very Fucking Merry Christmas.
And the same to you, Sean. Keep enjoying life - it's a gift to treasure.
Good for your dad! Not many of us are going to be lucky enough to have such good genes, but the principle I think holds for all. We are here once, enjoy it as best you can to the standards you want for yourself and your loved ones.
If I died tomorrow I'd go up to the Pearly Gates, look God in His omniscient eye, and say Yeah, fair play, I had a fucking good run
I've had nine lives in one. I've fucked many hundreds of women. Had a number one bestselling novel. I've been locked up in prisons and feasted in palaces, I've been to sixty or seventy countries, in utter poverty and total luxury. I've met the famous and the infamous. I've got two beautiful and beloved daughters. I've been kidnapped by Hezbollah, been in knife fights in Marseilles, nearly got killed in Egypt, thought I'd impregnated a hooker in Thailand, I recently climbed to 18,400 feet in Chile, I've done almost every drug known to man, and I've been personally ridiculed on the front page of a Sunday tabloid as a Kinky Sex Freak
So if the Big Man decides I've had more than enough fun and good fortune for one life, I couldn't argue. I'd come quietly.
A
Yes. It was exactly the same with my wife (she died 10 years ago, aged 35). After her diagnosis with metastatic breast cancer, we discussed what she'd like to do - countries she'd like to experience, sights she'd like to see and suchlike. She decided that her life was as near to perfect as she'd wanted (apart from the cancer, of course). She carried on looking after our little son as best she could, and she even went back to work part-time although we had no need for the money. Mainly, she wanted to love and be loved, and she was.
Edit: My heart aches for your cousin and her family, but there's very little that anyone else can do apart from be there, listen and reassure. Her husband and daughters will appreciate contact after she has gone; many people stop talking to the bereaved simply because they don't know what to say. I very much appreciated the ones that didn't.
I am sorry to hear it. You really must have had a good, if too brief, life together.
I hope that I would be that brave, but who knows until reality hits? I am with my cousin and her girls this New Year.
The holidays are tough for a lot of people. It is an amplified version of that Danish study of last month that shows Facebook depresses people:
[I have odd circumstances: I have relatives who've attempted and committed suicide and I have relatives who were nurses and bought work gossip home. So I perhaps know more about this than I should]
Helium inhalation. There was a case where two people went wandering inside an inflated helium balloon and just sat down and died painlessly. The feeling of suffocation isn't caused by not enough oxygen being breathed *in*, it's caused by not enough carbon dioxide being breathed *out*. So the trick is to breath normally but in an atmosphere that contains little/no oxygen. Helium is great for this purpose, as it is noncorrosive and painless to breathe and is commercially available without a licence.
Avoid paracetamol overdose. Paracetamol kills you by causing liver failure and the pain from liver failure can be managed. Unfortunately your kidneys will *also* collapse, and the pain from that is more difficult to handle. People who change their mind after excess paracetamol consumption have a limited time (less than 24hrs?) to get the antidote, after which the damage is too far gone and you have less than a week to put your affairs in order
There was a brief fad in the 90's for burning charcoal briquettes indoors in poorly-ventilated rooms: the carbon monoxide build up does the trick. But it's difficult to regulate the amount and you may just pass out in an awkward position, resulting in limb damage due to restricted blood flow. So now you're depressed and an amputee.
You can always hang yourself, but - again - prolonged and painful. You're supposed to break your neck in the fall, but everybody muffs it and you just choke to death.
Slashing your wrists. Difficult and painful.
Jumping in front of a train. Do not do this. The train is immediately taken out of service, the driver is removed pending interview by police, the body is not declared dead until the coroner arrives (which may take some time) even if the person is catastrophically disassembled. Until the body is pronounced, trains will not run.
Shotgun? More people survive than you think: putting it under your chin just blows your face off, and that does not kill you. There have been cases where people pointed a shotgun to their chest, pulled the trigger, survived it, reloaded and shot again. Eurgh.
...and doctors are obviously intelligent people...
I'm sure they think so, but your average GP does not need intelligence. Most of their cases fall into a small category and the unusual cases get passed on to somebody else
I have always understood that one needs quite a high intelligence merely to get into medical school.
One needs good A levels. There are resits if you fail the first time.
Tis the season to go way off topic, so let me just report that my middle (five-year old) daughter has just spent 40 minutes working on an idiosyncratic but astonishingly detailed picture in which the queen of the mermaids politely asks her servant-fish "Please can I have a chicken sandwich'. I have no idea where this scenario came from, but I'm pretty sure this is the best present I'm going to get this Christmas.
Yes. It was exactly the same with my wife (she died 10 years ago, aged 35). After her diagnosis with metastatic breast cancer, we discussed what she'd like to do - countries she'd like to experience, sights she'd like to see and suchlike. She decided that her life was as near to perfect as she'd wanted (apart from the cancer, of course). She carried on looking after our little son as best she could, and she even went back to work part-time although we had no need for the money. Mainly, she wanted to love and be loved, and she was.
Oh bloody hell that is brutal! I'm really sorry...
...and doctors are obviously intelligent people...
I'm sure they think so, but your average GP does not need intelligence. Most of their cases fall into a small category and the unusual cases get passed on to somebody else
I have always understood that one needs quite a high intelligence merely to get into medical school.
One needs good A levels. There are resits if you fail the first time.
Anne, in what may be ample evidence of my stupidity and your tact, it occurs to me given your handle ("AnneJGP") that you are a GP. If so, I apologise: I didn't mean to infer that you or your profession are any stupider than anybody else. Apologies unreserved!
[I have odd circumstances: I have relatives who've attempted and committed suicide and I have relatives who were nurses and bought work gossip home. So I perhaps know more about this than I should]
Helium inhalation. There was a case where two people went wandering inside an inflated helium balloon and just sat down and died painlessly. The feeling of suffocation isn't caused by not enough oxygen being breathed *in*, it's caused by not enough carbon dioxide being breathed *out*. So the trick is to breath normally but in an atmosphere that contains little/no oxygen. Helium is great for this purpose, as it is noncorrosive and painless to breathe and is commercially available without a licence.
Avoid paracetamol overdose. Paracetamol kills you by causing liver failure and the pain from liver failure can be managed. Unfortunately your kidneys will *also* collapse, and the pain from that is more difficult to handle. People who change their mind after excess paracetamol consumption have a limited time (less than 24hrs?) to get the antidote, after which the damage is too far gone and you have less than a week to put your affairs in order
There was a brief fad in the 90's for burning charcoal briquettes indoors in poorly-ventilated rooms: the carbon monoxide build up does the trick. But it's difficult to regulate the amount and you may just pass out in an awkward position, resulting in limb damage due to restricted blood flow. So now you're depressed and an amputee.
You can always hang yourself, but - again - prolonged and painful. You're supposed to break your neck in the fall, but everybody muffs it and you just choke to death.
Slashing your wrists. Difficult and painful.
Jumping in front of a train. Do not do this. The train is immediately taken out of service, the driver is removed pending interview by police, the body is not declared dead until the coroner arrives (which may take some time) even if the person is catastrophically disassembled. Until the body is pronounced, trains will not run.
Shotgun? More people survive than you think: putting it under your chin just blows your face off, and that does not kill you. There have been cases where people pointed a shotgun to their chest, pulled the trigger, survived it, reloaded and shot again. Eurgh.
Oh before I forget: Merry Xmas...
Razors pain you, Rivers are damp, Acids stain you, And drugs cause cramp. Guns aren't lawful, Nooses give, Gas smells awful. You might as well live.
(Dorothy Parker)
If I'd've been asked to put money on it, I'd've bet you would have mentioned Sylvia Plath instead...
[I have odd circumstances: I have relatives who've attempted and committed suicide and I have relatives who were nurses and bought work gossip home. So I perhaps know more about this than I should]
Helium inhalation. There was a case where two people went wandering inside an inflated helium balloon and just sat down and died painlessly. The feeling of suffocation isn't caused by not enough oxygen being breathed *in*, it's caused by not enough carbon dioxide being breathed *out*. So the trick is to breath normally but in an atmosphere that contains little/no oxygen. Helium is great for this purpose, as it is noncorrosive and painless to breathe and is commercially available without a licence.
Avoid paracetamol overdose. Paracetamol kills you by causing liver failure and the pain from liver failure can be managed. Unfortunately your kidneys will *also* collapse, and the pain from that is more difficult to handle. People who change their mind after excess paracetamol consumption have a limited time (less than 24hrs?) to get the antidote, after which the damage is too far gone and you have less than a week to put your affairs in order
There was a brief fad in the 90's for burning charcoal briquettes indoors in poorly-ventilated rooms: the carbon monoxide build up does the trick. But it's difficult to regulate the amount and you may just pass out in an awkward position, resulting in limb damage due to restricted blood flow. So now you're depressed and an amputee.
You can always hang yourself, but - again - prolonged and painful. You're supposed to break your neck in the fall, but everybody muffs it and you just choke to death.
Slashing your wrists. Difficult and painful.
Jumping in front of a train. Do not do this. The train is immediately taken out of service, the driver is removed pending interview by police, the body is not declared dead until the coroner arrives (which may take some time) even if the person is catastrophically disassembled. Until the body is pronounced, trains will not run.
Shotgun? More people survive than you think: putting it under your chin just blows your face off, and that does not kill you. There have been cases where people pointed a shotgun to their chest, pulled the trigger, survived it, reloaded and shot again. Eurgh.
Oh before I forget: Merry Xmas...
At least two of the July 20 plotters - Beck and Stülpnagel - botched suicide attempts when they shot themselves.
The exclusivity of May’s office “either indicates someone who is in trouble or someone who is obviously the only person for the job,’’ said Professor Tim Bale, from Queen Mary University of London. “I suspect it’s the latter.’’
Yes. It was exactly the same with my wife (she died 10 years ago, aged 35). After her diagnosis with metastatic breast cancer, we discussed what she'd like to do - countries she'd like to experience, sights she'd like to see and suchlike. She decided that her life was as near to perfect as she'd wanted (apart from the cancer, of course). She carried on looking after our little son as best she could, and she even went back to work part-time although we had no need for the money. Mainly, she wanted to love and be loved, and she was.
Oh bloody hell that is brutal! I'm really sorry...
Thanks, but it was 10 years ago. Life goes on for the living, especially when you've got a child to raise. Anyway, no more commiserations! I've got a pleasant Christmas to look forward to, and I wish all the PBers here an equally happy break. Merry Christmas!
I used to drink a lot of Bacardi hence stopped because I had bronchitis and hospitalised for a few days. I kept it going when I came out as well as cutting out biscuits my other weakness.
In 5 weeks I had lost a stone and a half or around 10k. I am keeping it going but it's slowed now and having got rid of the topside excess I seem to lose around a 1/2 to 1 kg a week. I guess the rest is going to be a slog and exercise also needed.
I feel better and think I look better weight wise but if I'm honest I could absolutely murder a custard cream and a mojito
Thought I'd mention it for the upcoming New Years resolutions day.
Key is to keep the weight off for 12+ months. In my experience if you can get past the 12 month point then your body and lifestyle will have achieved a permanent change.
Chicken (not fried) and eggs are best for high protein food to fill you up for a reasonable amount of calories.
12 months... A way to go then but Intend to persevere and thanks for the tips.
[I have odd circumstances: I have relatives who've attempted and committed suicide and I have relatives who were nurses and bought work gossip home. So I perhaps know more about this than I should]
Helium inhalation. There was a case where two people went wandering inside an inflated helium balloon and just sat down and died painlessly. The feeling of suffocation isn't caused by not enough oxygen being breathed *in*, it's caused by not enough carbon dioxide being breathed *out*. So the trick is to breath normally but in an atmosphere that contains little/no oxygen. Helium is great for this purpose, as it is noncorrosive and painless to breathe and is commercially available without a licence.
Avoid paracetamol overdose. Paracetamol kills you by causing liver failure and the pain from liver failure can be managed. Unfortunately your kidneys will *also* collapse, and the pain from that is more difficult to handle. People who change their mind after excess paracetamol consumption have a limited time (less than 24hrs?) to get the antidote, after which the damage is too far gone and you have less than a week to put your affairs in order
Oh before I forget: Merry Xmas...
Having had a run in with a necrosing kidney some years back, I can vouch for the pain; never experienced anything that comes anywhere near close, before or since.
And yes, as Sean puts it, a Very Fucking Merry Christmas to all (which seems apt for most circumstances).
[I have odd circumstances: I have relatives who've attempted and committed suicide and I have relatives who were nurses and bought work gossip home. So I perhaps know more about this than I should]
Helium inhalation. There was a case where two people went wandering inside an inflated helium balloon and just sat down and died painlessly. The feeling of suffocation isn't caused by not enough oxygen being breathed *in*, it's caused by not enough carbon dioxide being breathed *out*. So the trick is to breath normally but in an atmosphere that contains little/no oxygen. Helium is great for this purpose, as it is noncorrosive and painless to breathe and is commercially available without a licence.
Avoid paracetamol overdose. Paracetamol kills you by causing liver failure and the pain from liver failure can be managed. Unfortunately your kidneys will *also* collapse, and the pain from that is more difficult to handle. People who change their mind after excess paracetamol consumption have a limited time (less than 24hrs?) to get the antidote, after which the damage is too far gone and you have less than a week to put your affairs in order
There was a brief fad in the 90's for burning charcoal briquettes indoors in poorly-ventilated rooms: the carbon monoxide build up does the trick. But it's difficult to regulate the amount and you may just pass out in an awkward position, resulting in limb damage due to restricted blood flow. So now you're depressed and an amputee.
You can always hang yourself, but - again - prolonged and painful. You're supposed to break your neck in the fall, but everybody muffs it and you just choke to death.
Slashing your wrists. Difficult and painful.
Jumping in front of a train. Do not do this. The train is immediately taken out of service, the driver is removed pending interview by police, the body is not declared dead until the coroner arrives (which may take some time) even if the person is catastrophically disassembled. Until the body is pronounced, trains will not run.
Shotgun? More people survive than you think: putting it under your chin just blows your face off, and that does not kill you. There have been cases where people pointed a shotgun to their chest, pulled the trigger, survived it, reloaded and shot again. Eurgh.
Oh before I forget: Merry Xmas...
Suicide is an awful thing. Premature death is bad enough, but a suicide haunts a family forever. There is always a thought that it could have been prevented if the family had heeded the warnings.
I have seen people in such a place of darkness that there seems to be only one way out, but it is never right. There is no day so long or so bad that it does not draw to a close., and the sun will come up in the morning.
@Seant...you are such a narcissistic lowlife prick....I've read down thread and please.....
Anyway to liberals and open minded and compassionate types Happy Christmas.
To the other closed minded lot, I hope this populist, nihilistic, reactionary period ends soon enough...And I really do not wish the best for you since you have such a low opinion of humanity..people fleeing poverty, environmentalists, the planet etc..... I cannot even give you the courtesy of a happy Christmas I'm afraid since I hold you with such contempt, loathing, hatred and anger...
I used to drink a lot of Bacardi hence stopped because I had bronchitis and hospitalised for a few days. I kept it going when I came out as well as cutting out biscuits my other weakness.
In 5 weeks I had lost a stone and a half or around 10k. I am keeping it going but it's slowed now and having got rid of the topside excess I seem to lose around a 1/2 to 1 kg a week. I guess the rest is going to be a slog and exercise also needed.
I feel better and think I look better weight wise but if I'm honest I could absolutely murder a custard cream and a mojito
Thought I'd mention it for the upcoming New Years resolutions day.
Key is to keep the weight off for 12+ months. In my experience if you can get past the 12 month point then your body and lifestyle will have achieved a permanent change.
Chicken (not fried) and eggs are best for high protein food to fill you up for a reasonable amount of calories.
12 months... A way to go then but Intend to persevere and thanks for the tips.
Weight loss is easy, it is keeping it off that is hard, but the advice is correct. Once someone has kept weight off as long as that, the body seems to recalibrate to the new weight and set its thermostat accordingly.
I have now reached the age when I go to a lot more funerals than weddings or christenings. So many old friends and colleagues seem to be falling off the perch or, worse, sinking into dementia each year. I know what the statistics say but, you know, I don't see much difference in death and dementia rates amongst my family and social circle between those who lived according to the quacks' advice and those who didn't, mind you nearly all of us lived bloody hard and fast when we were younger.
So live the way it suits you to live seems to be the way. The grim reaper is going to claim us all and perhaps what matters is the manner of our life not the time of our death.
Of my dozen mates from school, 3 are now dead (lung cancer, Hepatitis B, and the worst was alcoholism, found in his flat one summer 2 weeks after dying) and one now has gynae cancer. It feels like some cheapo teen horror flick with the grim reaper stalking us. To a large extent they are all lifestyle related. I have cleaned up my act.
How old are you, if I may ask?
52.
5/146 of my year at Medschool are dead too. 1 suicide, 4 from cancer, including one this year. When people our age get cancer it tends to be aggressive forms. Medicine is a tough mistress.
Eeek. I'm 53 - and I'm researching suicide for a new thriller. Turns out doctors (male) are three times more likely to kill themselves than the average man. No one is quite sure why, though various theories are posited (access to lethal drugs etc)
Very curious. I wonder if proximity to death itself makes death seem more "acceptable"?
@Seant...you are such a narcissistic lowlife prick....I've read down thread and please.....
Anyway to liberals and open minded and compassionate types Happy Christmas.
To the other closed minded lot, I hope this populist, nihilistic, reactionary period ends soon enough...And I really do not wish the best for you since you have such a low opinion of humanity..people fleeing poverty, environmentalists, the planet etc..... I cannot even give you the courtesy of a happy Christmas I'm afraid since I hold you with such contempt, loathing, hatred and anger...
Merry Chrimbo, you old loser. xx
To think it was just the other day these same people were bitching about the abuse they themselves received on here.
I used to drink a lot of Bacardi hence stopped because I had bronchitis and hospitalised for a few days. I kept it going when I came out as well as cutting out biscuits my other weakness.
In 5 weeks I had lost a stone and a half or around 10k. I am keeping it going but it's slowed now and having got rid of the topside excess I seem to lose around a 1/2 to 1 kg a week. I guess the rest is going to be a slog and exercise also needed.
I feel better and think I look better weight wise but if I'm honest I could absolutely murder a custard cream and a mojito
Thought I'd mention it for the upcoming New Years resolutions day.
Key is to keep the weight off for 12+ months. In my experience if you can get past the 12 month point then your body and lifestyle will have achieved a permanent change.
Chicken (not fried) and eggs are best for high protein food to fill you up for a reasonable amount of calories.
12 months... A way to go then but Intend to persevere and thanks for the tips.
Weight loss is easy, it is keeping it off that is hard, but the advice is correct. Once someone has kept weight off as long as that, the body seems to recalibrate to the new weight and set its thermostat accordingly.
Thanks.. I just hope it becomes easier as it goes along. There are some real pangs at the moment ......the sort that make you want to rush to the nearest biscuit barrel.
Today, the Russian economy accounts for just over 3 percent of global output, according to the International Monetary Fund’s estimates based on purchasing power parity. The U.S. share is 16 percent. The Chinese share is 18 percent. Calculated on a current dollar basis, Russia’s GDP is less than 7 percent of America’s. The British economy is twice the size of Russia’s.
Sean T said: 'And tomorrow, the day grows longer. '
Whilst the Shortest Day is usually 21st December the earliest Sunset is actually several days before that on 12th December. Sunset today is already back to where it was on 1st December - ie 3.5 minutes later than on 12th December!
I used to drink a lot of Bacardi hence stopped because I had bronchitis and hospitalised for a few days. I kept it going when I came out as well as cutting out biscuits my other weakness.
In 5 weeks I had lost a stone and a half or around 10k. I am keeping it going but it's slowed now and having got rid of the topside excess I seem to lose around a 1/2 to 1 kg a week. I guess the rest is going to be a slog and exercise also needed.
I feel better and think I look better weight wise but if I'm honest I could absolutely murder a custard cream and a mojito
Thought I'd mention it for the upcoming New Years resolutions day.
Key is to keep the weight off for 12+ months. In my experience if you can get past the 12 month point then your body and lifestyle will have achieved a permanent change.
Chicken (not fried) and eggs are best for high protein food to fill you up for a reasonable amount of calories.
12 months... A way to go then but Intend to persevere and thanks for the tips.
Weight loss is easy, it is keeping it off that is hard, but the advice is correct. Once someone has kept weight off as long as that, the body seems to recalibrate to the new weight and set its thermostat accordingly.
Thanks.. I just hope it becomes easier as it goes along. There are some real pangs at the moment ......the sort that make you want to rush to the nearest biscuit barrel.
I lost about 2.5 stone this year by following the 5:2 diet. The first 3 weeks or so were hard, but after that it was very, very easy. Since stopping the diet, weight has remained stable for past 4 months with no effort - I genuinely no longer ever feel the need or desire to overeat.
I used to drink a lot of Bacardi hence stopped because I had bronchitis and hospitalised for a few days. I kept it going when I came out as well as cutting out biscuits my other weakness.
In 5 weeks I had lost a stone and a half or around 10k. I am keeping it going but it's slowed now and having got rid of the topside excess I seem to lose around a 1/2 to 1 kg a week. I guess the rest is going to be a slog and exercise also needed.
I feel better and think I look better weight wise but if I'm honest I could absolutely murder a custard cream and a mojito
Thought I'd mention it for the upcoming New Years resolutions day.
Key is to keep the weight off for 12+ months. In my experience if you can get past the 12 month point then your body and lifestyle will have achieved a permanent change.
Chicken (not fried) and eggs are best for high protein food to fill you up for a reasonable amount of calories.
12 months... A way to go then but Intend to persevere and thanks for the tips.
Weight loss is easy, it is keeping it off that is hard, but the advice is correct. Once someone has kept weight off as long as that, the body seems to recalibrate to the new weight and set its thermostat accordingly.
Thanks.. I just hope it becomes easier as it goes along. There are some real pangs at the moment ......the sort that make you want to rush to the nearest biscuit barrel.
I lost about 2.5 stone this year by following the 5:2 diet. The first 3 weeks or so were hard, but after that it was very, very easy. Since stopping the diet, weight has remained stable for past 4 months with no effort - I genuinely no longer ever feel the need or desire to overeat.
Well done... that's a bit of a relief. It's getting there and I will check out the 5:2 diet.
Today, the Russian economy accounts for just over 3 percent of global output, according to the International Monetary Fund’s estimates based on purchasing power parity. The U.S. share is 16 percent. The Chinese share is 18 percent. Calculated on a current dollar basis, Russia’s GDP is less than 7 percent of America’s. The British economy is twice the size of Russia’s.
I will go to my grave stating that when it comes to comparing the military might of armed forces, Expenditure. Does. Not. Count. Nobody ever won a war by waving receipts at the other side.
Comments
Reply 'I'm the most regular member of your congregation Father. I'm there every Easter!'
With that, a happy Christmas to everybody and hope to be back in the New Year sometime.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-30500372.
but is it written to distinguish between the two sides in the EU vote?
I'm told I consume alcohol most like a French citizen. It suits a Remainer. My consumption is said to be 'totally unlike the UK'.
You need to be careful with stocks like that. I have always taken to heart the old maxim from Jerome, "You always need enough to eat and a bit more than enough to drink, for thirst is a dangerous thing". Half a dozen or so healthy young people turn up at your place on Christmas eve and that's you screwed for champagne on Christmas Day. In your shoes I'd get another case in tomorrow morning just to be sure. Oh, and for goodness sake make sure you have enough of it, three bottles at least, chilled - nothing worse than being served warm champagne.
You drink most like you're from Mali, and quite unlike people from your home country
You drink less than the average for your home country
You drink as heavily as people from Timor-Leste, the joint eighth lightest-drinking country in the world
"I am pleased to confirm that the Llama household has enough of The Grouse and of The Laphroaig to see it through the most demanding of Christmas seasons, along with ample stocks of ladies' drinks."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yZYMW8GISg
Really, it's very simple: Do you drink more than a bottle of wine (or equivalent) six days a week? And can you remember the last day you didn't drink?
You want a 'no' to the first answer, and a 'yes' to the second.
There's a lot about this piece by Annie Lennox that takes me out of the modern materialist bind, back to when every-man strove, was not rich, and might die from rotten teeth or the plague at any time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlsJD8RlhbI
"I drink Champagne when I'm happy and when I'm sad. Sometimes I drink it when I'm alone. When I have company I consider it obligatory. I trifle with it if I'm not hungry and drink it when I am. Otherwise, I never touch it -- unless I'm thirsty.”
Though I substitute an English Ridgeview for French Champagne. if I can.
9:21PM
SeanT said:
» show previous quotes
I drink at least a bottle of red every day, and can't remember my last day off (probably when I was ill).
I've been doing this since I can recall and I've earned more than the prime minister every year since 2008.
HOWEVER I am well aware I am REALLY pushing my luck. I need to rein it in, and intend to do so. Likewise Twitter.
Booze and Twitter are my two addictions. OK women too. Booze, Twitter and 20 something women are my only vices. OK and Uber. And oysters. And shoes. And Biz Class flights.
Biz class flights, oysters, posh shoes, Ubers, champagne, red wine, Twitter and 20-something women are my only vices.
Apart from that I'm a bloody monk.
My brother, who was an alcoholic for probably 30+ years, died of a sudden heart attack a couple of weeks ago. He was 54.
******
I once found myself drinking half a bottle/day of red and could detect it was too much for me so I cut down to one glass/day. I don't have a booze-free day as a modest amount every day with a meal seems most civilised/least harmful.
A friend who drank 5 pints/day of beer developed cataracts @ only 55.
BTW, to chill champagne, put it outside for 6-12 hours and the UK climate will work its wonders. It'll be delightfully cool.
Do I get extra virgins or something to compensate?
(Knowing my luck, just extra virgin olive oil....)
He's 56. That is just vicious, God.
On a transatlantic flight apparently? Passengers assisted.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4062946/Carrie-Fisher-60-suffers-heart-attack-transatlantic-flight-fellow-passengers-resorted-giving-star-CPR.html#ixzz4ThVbhw1u
LA Times
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_of_the_Radishes
I have now reached the age when I go to a lot more funerals than weddings or christenings. So many old friends and colleagues seem to be falling off the perch or, worse, sinking into dementia each year. I know what the statistics say but, you know, I don't see much difference in death and dementia rates amongst my family and social circle between those who lived according to the quacks' advice and those who didn't, mind you nearly all of us lived bloody hard and fast when we were younger.
So live the way it suits you to live seems to be the way. The grim reaper is going to claim us all and perhaps what matters is the manner of our life not the time of our death.
The trouble is they are too good at keeping people alive these days. Rather then die at 63 you are likely to have a survivable first heart attack or stroke at that age, and have another 20 years of rather grey life on multiple medications and restricted diet.
Deepest sympathies. I had an uncle in the Indian Army, who suffered a heart attack and died... while playing badminton... while still only 46...
Good for your dad! Not many of us are going to be lucky enough to have such good genes, but the principle I think holds for all. We are here once, enjoy it as best you can to the standards you want for yourself and your loved ones.
In 5 weeks I had lost a stone and a half or around 10k. I am keeping it going but it's slowed now and having got rid of the topside excess I seem to lose around a 1/2 to 1 kg a week. I guess the rest is going to be a slog and exercise also needed.
I feel better and think I look better weight wise but if I'm honest I could absolutely murder a custard cream and a mojito
Thought I'd mention it for the upcoming New Years resolutions day.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmoG4JY_T58
5/146 of my year at Medschool are dead too. 1 suicide, 4 from cancer, including one this year. When people our age get cancer it tends to be aggressive forms. Medicine is a tough mistress.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-3165551/How-cocaine-damages-heart-Gruesome-video-shows-barely-functioning-organ-swollen-3-times-normal-size-drug-use.html#ixzz4Theu7Fbc
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"I have cleaned up my act."
Fair go to you, doc. That is your decision. Let us hope you don't end up as a drooling vegetable in a nursing home for years with all you have saved including the value of your house being swallowed up in fees, rather than being passed onto your children. One of my old comrades is in that position, his brain and personality have long gone but his body, aided by prescription drugs, carries on. Truly there are worse things than death.
Crikey, we have got on to a happy strain of thought just before Christmas.
"Turns out doctors (male) are three times more likely to kill themselves than the average man. No one is quite sure why, though various theories are posited (access to lethal drugs etc)
Very curious. I wonder if proximity to death itself makes death seem more "acceptable"?"
OK, just to continue this happy train of Christmas thought for a while.
Has there ever been a study that breaks down suicides in the medical profession by specialisation? I would guess that some specialities (e.g. eye doctors, dermatologists) have a much lower rate than others (e.g. General Practitioners) but oncologists come out somewhere in the top end of the table.
Merry Christmas, all !
Men choose more certain methods and doctors know the right dosage.
Chicken (not fried) and eggs are best for high protein food to fill you up for a reasonable amount of calories.
Edit: My heart aches for your cousin and her family, but there's very little that anyone else can do apart from be there, listen and reassure. Her husband and daughters will appreciate contact after she has gone; many people stop talking to the bereaved simply because they don't know what to say. I very much appreciated the ones that didn't.
"... TheGMC is brutal though ..."
Thanks, Doc, lots to think about.
Before I can sleep I need to go and consider my position in the Diplomacy game.
I hope that I would be that brave, but who knows until reality hits? I am with my cousin and her girls this New Year.
The holidays are tough for a lot of people. It is an amplified version of that Danish study of last month that shows Facebook depresses people:
http://www.happinessresearchinstitute.com/download/i/mark_dl/u/4012182887/4624845731/The Facebook Experiment.pdf
Helium inhalation. There was a case where two people went wandering inside an inflated helium balloon and just sat down and died painlessly. The feeling of suffocation isn't caused by not enough oxygen being breathed *in*, it's caused by not enough carbon dioxide being breathed *out*. So the trick is to breath normally but in an atmosphere that contains little/no oxygen. Helium is great for this purpose, as it is noncorrosive and painless to breathe and is commercially available without a licence.
Avoid paracetamol overdose. Paracetamol kills you by causing liver failure and the pain from liver failure can be managed. Unfortunately your kidneys will *also* collapse, and the pain from that is more difficult to handle. People who change their mind after excess paracetamol consumption have a limited time (less than 24hrs?) to get the antidote, after which the damage is too far gone and you have less than a week to put your affairs in order
There was a brief fad in the 90's for burning charcoal briquettes indoors in poorly-ventilated rooms: the carbon monoxide build up does the trick. But it's difficult to regulate the amount and you may just pass out in an awkward position, resulting in limb damage due to restricted blood flow. So now you're depressed and an amputee.
You can always hang yourself, but - again - prolonged and painful. You're supposed to break your neck in the fall, but everybody muffs it and you just choke to death.
Slashing your wrists. Difficult and painful.
Jumping in front of a train. Do not do this. The train is immediately taken out of service, the driver is removed pending interview by police, the body is not declared dead until the coroner arrives (which may take some time) even if the person is catastrophically disassembled. Until the body is pronounced, trains will not run.
Shotgun? More people survive than you think: putting it under your chin just blows your face off, and that does not kill you. There have been cases where people pointed a shotgun to their chest, pulled the trigger, survived it, reloaded and shot again. Eurgh.
Oh before I forget: Merry Xmas...
I can highly recommend this as a superb political thriller based around the assassination of the entire US government.
No more spoilers....
Happy Christmas, everyone!
I have no idea where this scenario came from, but I'm pretty sure this is the best present I'm going to get this Christmas.
Happy Christmas to all, even the people who I troll, and troll me back!
Seconded.
Also 'Berlin Station' and 'The Man in the High Castle'.
And yes, as Sean puts it, a Very Fucking Merry Christmas to all (which seems apt for most circumstances).
I have seen people in such a place of darkness that there seems to be only one way out, but it is never right. There is no day so long or so bad that it does not draw to a close., and the sun will come up in the morning.
Long drive tommorow, so good night.
Anyway to liberals and open minded and compassionate types Happy Christmas.
To the other closed minded lot, I hope this populist, nihilistic, reactionary period ends soon enough...And I really do not wish the best for you since you have such a low opinion of humanity..people fleeing poverty, environmentalists, the planet etc..... I cannot even give you the courtesy of a happy Christmas I'm afraid since I hold you with such contempt, loathing, hatred and anger...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38423942
http://foreignpolicy.com/2016/12/23/the-russian-question-putin-trump-bush-obama-kissinger/
(Free while they upgrade their system over Xmas)
Today, the Russian economy accounts for just over 3 percent of global output, according to the International Monetary Fund’s estimates based on purchasing power parity. The U.S. share is 16 percent. The Chinese share is 18 percent. Calculated on a current dollar basis, Russia’s GDP is less than 7 percent of America’s. The British economy is twice the size of Russia’s.
That's a given......
'And tomorrow, the day grows longer. '
Whilst the Shortest Day is usually 21st December the earliest Sunset is actually several days before that on 12th December. Sunset today is already back to where it was on 1st December - ie 3.5 minutes later than on 12th December!