I went to a Korean restaurant when I was in America. No dog on the menu, but I ate the most disgusting food ever.
It was called Tofu. It looked like congealed snot and was tasteless. I hear there's people in the UK who eat it on a regular basis. Chacun son gout, as the French say, and for good reason.
There are people who live to eat and people who eat to live. There is a third category - people who dislike the idea of enjoying food so much that they eat tofu.
There is a Chinese restaurant in Dubai, in part of the big Jumeriah complex, and it's named after some famous explorer.
They do this incredibly light, fluffy tofu that is flash fried, so it is crispy on the outside and soft and silky on the inside. It's then tossed with spring onions and a bunch of other spices.
It is a genuinely great dish, flavoursome and complex.
I admit that almost every other time I've been served tofu, I've been disappointed.
Lives are worth nothing. However I'd do a great deal to preserve another human's life, and I'd take some personal risk to preserve the lives of some animals.
Much of it about the lives you see around you though.
Just finished my LibDems selection interview for next year's council election. I want to be selected in a ward we would need a miracle to win but would be amazing to campaign in...
If you want to actively campaign and have been interviewed,.... you may find yourself with a winnable seat......
It might see a government backlash, but who would benefit? Cheeky of the Independent to accompany this with a photo of Sir Keir sitting on a fence
"Labour leader Keir Starmer backs decision to kill alpaca Geronimo
When asked if the Government’s stance was right, he added: “I think there’s no alternative, sadly."
“I do actually understand why emotions are so high as they would be with farmers as well who, on a not-irregular basis, have to lose animals that are very valuable to them.”"
I went to a Korean restaurant when I was in America. No dog on the menu, but I ate the most disgusting food ever.
It was called Tofu. It looked like congealed snot and was tasteless. I hear there's people in the UK who eat it on a regular basis. Chacun son gout, as the French say, and for good reason.
There are people who live to eat and people who eat to live. There is a third category - people who dislike the idea of enjoying food so much that they eat tofu.
There is a Chinese restaurant in Dubai, in part of the big Jumeriah complex, and it's named after some famous explorer.
They do this incredibly light, fluffy tofu that is flash fried, so it is crispy on the outside and soft and silky on the inside. It's then tossed with spring onions and a bunch of other spices.
It is a genuinely great dish, flavoursome and complex.
I admit that almost every other time I've been served tofu, I've been disappointed.
Agadashi tofu even from a mediocre Japanese resto is usually pretty palatable. Proof that deep frying anything improves it.
Sorry, I just accidentally slipped and hit right click -> Save As?
University student, 21, who downloaded 70,000 neo-Nazi and white supremacist documents avoids jail as judge orders him to read Dickens and Austen instead and says he will TEST him at their next hearing
An adviser to New Zealand’s government told the summit he and his colleagues were astounded at the approach being taken in England.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
To be fair, New Zealand - admittedly aided in very great measure by its extreme isolation, something not available as a tool to most countries - has done a lot right. Its economy has been open more than it's been closed, and the country has endured a negligible Covid death rate. Whether this survives the advent of Delta is still open to question, although there are encouraging signs that they might yet be able to squash the latest outbreak in a fashion that the authorities in New South Wales have proven incapable of emulating.
The necessary corollary to this is that they are liable to really struggle with coming to terms to opening back up to the world - an exit wave, with vastly higher Covid mortality than that which they have hitherto experienced, is inevitable as soon as they drop their prison camp border policies and extreme lockdowns - but one could argue that it's a nice problem to have.
Have you never seen little lambs gamboling about a field without a care in the world, every now and again stopping to nibble at the grass, rubbing up against each other for companionship, happy in the knowledge they have their whole lives ahead of them? -------- Yes, I had exactly that experience and resolved never to eat lamb again. Awkwardly, in my current job we advise that it's often more humane to eat lamb and beef than chicken, because they on many farms they live reasonable lives outdoors and chickens generally have pretty hellish lives. Just eating less of meat generally is undoubtedly a good idea, from both humane and climate change perspectives.
I have had a similar experience. We have a habit of projecting our emotions on to animals. I can understand why people choose not to eat meat.
But sheep only exist for the purposes of meat production, otherwise they would have been largely selected out of existence many thousands of years ago.
They exist - one way or another - for the pleasure of humans.
On a technicality, it was probably wool production which they were mainly selected for. You have no idea how central wool was to the ancient Greek economy (and that's in Greece, not a climate you'd wear wool in if you had the choice). Women in ancient Greek fiction are always by default spinning or weaving wool, and the basic rule for asset splitting on divorce was, the woman kept half of everything she had woven during the marriage.
As in lots of emotive spheres, there's a danger of letting ourselves be defined by extremes. Most people are at least somewhat uneasy about factory farming and would be pleased if conditions improved. Few people are absolutely solid vegan, even fewer prefer ants to people. But the National Food Strategy recommends a 30% reduction on meat consumption on climate change grounds, and if that was nudged along by some subsidies for healthy alternatives, I don't think many people would really grumble.
You're a fanatic and are simply trying to nudge people along in baby steps to a world with no meat.
I can read you like a book.
CR was that serious or just having a bit of fun with NP?
Hmm. Partly serious, I'm afraid. NP is a nice guy but there's a reason he's a master of playing Diplomacy.
He uses politeness and reasonability as weapons to cloak the advance of his agenda, and I find that slightly deceptive.
The trouble is, of course, it makes you look like the unreasonable one if you call it out - but it's definitely there.
I'm not a vegan, CR, I feel I should be but... So I'm doing pretty much what I recommended - having a few meat-free meals a week and gradually increasing the number as I get used to them. And I try to make sure I'm eating high-welfare meat where I do. My big hope is lab-grown meat, which really is meat but doesn't involve killing an animal to enjoy it. If that proves economically viable, I think it'd be perverse to insist that something has to die to make it "proper meat".
But I'll plead guilty to the general charge - I try to be the most reasonable-sounding person in the room, and there's an element of deliberate policy in that, because it does help persuade the undecided. I wouldn't exactly say deception, because it reflects my self-image as rational - I don't have opinions that I've not persuaded "myself" are reasonable (yeah, we're all good at persuading ourselves), so I'm just putting the arguments that persuaded me. Also, especially on a forum where we chat for pleasure like this, it's no fun to be screaming at each other.
Would be interesting to know if the (admittedly rare) side effects from the jabs are still happening for 3rd jabs. If they were, I could understand the scientists' reluctance...
Out of interest, how many jabs are you prepared to take before you say feck this for a game of soldiers?
Because, possibly, your freedom will depend on it. Some of us are preparing ourselves to become second class citizens already.
If you don't get the booster, that could be you too.
On the contrary (sic) freedom is dependent on being vaccinated. Returning to normal life requires it.
Freedom based on vaccination will not be a 'return' to anything. It certainly won't be a return to normal life.
Only if you see 'death' as freedom for a substantial number of people ...
Vaccinated people can easily both get and pass on covid. Protection, as it is becoming increasingly clear, wanes after a few months.
Not easily. They possibly can but it's not easily.
Some unvaccinated people have had delta covid. The ONS shows that reinfection in these cases, and thus therefore the ability to pass covid on, is very low.
It would make far more sense, surely, to make antibody testing the yardstick, rather than vaccination? does it really matter how you acquire your protection?
Delta covid has only been around for eight months. It's only been common enough to be named as a subvariant for three or four months. Not really enough time for the smaller subset of unvaccinated people to get it twice.
I therefore treat your claim with suspicion. Do you have linkies to it, please?
And antibodies aren't the only way the body defeats Covid. The immune system is much more complex than that...
1) Studies from Israel have been having some slightly odd results recently. 2) Pfizer only. 3) A media report on one study.
So you wish me to continue?
The data from Israel is that Pfizer is highly effective at preventing serious disease from Delta. It is much less effective at preventing symptomatic disease. It has - effectively - moved Pfizer from being a complete wiper-out of the disease, to something that mostly prevents people going to hospital and dying.
Or, to put it another way, it turns Pfizer into J&J.
The good news from Israel is that infection with original variant Covid appears to be 99% effective in stopping symptomatic Delta.
Which is interesting, because in the bloodstream, Pfizer generates a much stronger response to Delta than does an original Covid infection.
Why the difference? Well, Covid is a viral infection of the upper respiratory tract. We want the immune system primed at the spot where the virus is likely to appear.
And this is what makes the nasal administration of vaccines so interesting. It has the potential to prime the immune system in the right spot, and to eliminate the need for needles. Trials in monkeys have been extremely encouraging. One hopes it will work as well (and safely) with humans.
Would be interesting to know if the (admittedly rare) side effects from the jabs are still happening for 3rd jabs. If they were, I could understand the scientists' reluctance...
Out of interest, how many jabs are you prepared to take before you say feck this for a game of soldiers?
Because, possibly, your freedom will depend on it. Some of us are preparing ourselves to become second class citizens already.
If you don't get the booster, that could be you too.
On the contrary (sic) freedom is dependent on being vaccinated. Returning to normal life requires it.
Freedom based on vaccination will not be a 'return' to anything. It certainly won't be a return to normal life.
Though as a psychological matter at some point societies like UK are going to make a shift from 'crisis mode' to 'this how life is so how do we normalise it'. I think this will happen between about now and the middle of next year, as we have all had enough of permanent crisis mode.
What will life look like if permanence is that Covid is one more disease that people get, and many die from, just like many die from other causes? I think we shall have to get there soon.
I think it won't be just my ICU and respiratory ward colleagues that get fed up with so much health resource being consumed by anti-vaxxers.
It is a factor in why Mrs Foxy and her colleagues won't accept redeployment to ICU again. What they see there is so unnecessary and self inflicted.
Can i ask, are you also fed up with so much health resources being consumed by teenagers who are so obese they need joint operations? or get Type 2 diabetes when they otherwise wouldn't?
People are, well, fallible aren't they? And some people who are un vaccinated have had and recovered from covid. They are no threat to anybody.
You have a point about people who don't look after themselves. There's an immense amount of hypocrisy - including amongst many very fat healthcare professionals - abroad in the land amongst people who went out on their doorsteps and banged their pots and pans for the NHS, whilst simultaneously carting around a massive flab belt.
Millions and millions of people genuflect ritually before the altar of the NHS, yet won't take basic measures to prevent themselves from burdening it unnecessarily: if the whole population ate reasonably healthily and did a sufficient amount of exercise (and it's hardly as if one need be a vegan iron man triathlete to avoid becoming Monsieur or Madame Creosote: there is no need to tax sugar or outlaw chocolate,) then only a very modest number of disabled people and people with metabolic conditions would be overweight. The British healthcare system could then do a far more effective job for the same amount of money, to the general benefit of everyone.
The specific problem with some communicable diseases like Covid is, of course, that they spread, and if they spread enough to overwhelm the healthcare system then we either have to go without healthcare or do drastic things to control the disease, which was the entire rationale behind these God awful lockdowns that we had to suffer. If a morbidly obese person wobbles down the street than they don't transmit morbid obesity about the town until hundreds of morbidly obese people per day are having coronaries all at once and clogging up intensive care units. If people with Covid go about town infecting everyone else then it's a different kettle of fish.
Vaccines are the solution to dampening both the transmissibility and the severity of Covid, to the point at which the disease is incapable of crippling the healthcare system and we can then go back to normal life - but this process is entirely dependent on a sufficient fraction of the population accepting the vaccines. If there are enough refusers in the population that the vaccines cannot do their job then we are in real trouble. I fail to see what is difficult to comprehend about this concept.
Where do you stop , do you refuse athletes because they have wrecked their bodies, climbers that fell off mountains , people who crash cars , motorbikes , have accidents in water , all self harming in one way or another or are you just anti people that are overweight.
I thought athletes had private medicine? For speed, as much as anything.
I actually do think those who cause accidents through dangerous driving should cough up for their treatment and that of others, but in the real world that would just hike insurance premiums further.
They're probably waiting for the schools to go back and keeping everything crossed that it's a disaster.
If that doesn't work then their hopes of being vindicated probably rest on mass Covid illness amongst anti-vaxxers and a big flu spike rolling along at the same time and setting fire to the hospitals towards the end of the year.
Tofu: I quite like the taste. The smell of it, however, especially when fried, is disgusting. The flavour is therefore disgusting. I have to open an outside door whenever Mrs J fries tofu.
Just finished my LibDems selection interview for next year's council election. I want to be selected in a ward we would need a miracle to win but would be amazing to campaign in...
Using the sources *you* selected, here is a scatter chart of birth rates against religiosity for the fifteen largest European countries.
Using your own data sources, it literally shows exactly the opposite of what you claim. Higher religiosity correlates with lower birthrates.
Edit to add: that dot in the top right, that's Romania that is. You took the single biggest outlier, and claimed it was trend.
Which is irrelevant as every one of the 15 largest European countries have a religiosity rate below the global average and a birthrate below replacement rate.
The bottom nation by birthrate ie South Korea at 0.8, has only 43% of their population saying religion is important to them
So, you're saying that data doesn't matter, unless it happens to agree with you.
Got it.
Have you scatter plotted the world and run a linear regression? If not, you are literally just making up numbers and claiming they match your existing views.
I thought family size was driven by infant mortality / survival to adulthood with a 1 generation lag
Just finished my LibDems selection interview for next year's council election. I want to be selected in a ward we would need a miracle to win but would be amazing to campaign in...
I have a healthy respect for (virtually) anyone who puts themselves up for election, whichever party. It's throwing yourself to the wolves (worse for MPs compared to councillors, but even then...). Even if I felt I had the skills to be an elected politician, I wouldn't have the personal courage.
Good luck.
I absolutely hate canvassing, even though I put myself through it for most general elections.
There's nothing more terrifying than knocking on a total strangers door and asking for their vote, without quite knowing what sort of reception you're going to get.
Have you never seen little lambs gamboling about a field without a care in the world, every now and again stopping to nibble at the grass, rubbing up against each other for companionship, happy in the knowledge they have their whole lives ahead of them? -------- Yes, I had exactly that experience and resolved never to eat lamb again. Awkwardly, in my current job we advise that it's often more humane to eat lamb and beef than chicken, because they on many farms they live reasonable lives outdoors and chickens generally have pretty hellish lives. Just eating less of meat generally is undoubtedly a good idea, from both humane and climate change perspectives.
I have had a similar experience. We have a habit of projecting our emotions on to animals. I can understand why people choose not to eat meat.
But sheep only exist for the purposes of meat production, otherwise they would have been largely selected out of existence many thousands of years ago.
They exist - one way or another - for the pleasure of humans.
We have too many rats in our cities. Rats are seen as vermin. We 'dispatch' rats. We have too many foxes in our cities. Foxes are seen as cute and fluffy. We defend foxes. We have too many cats in our cities. Cats are loved. We'll fly cats out of a warzone and leave humans to die.
Anyone know anything about hernias? I've been diagnosed with one and have an initial NHS assessment/scan etc on 11 Oct. That's 6 weeks away! And if an op is needed I could be easily looking at a year from now.
Could the condition worsen with delays like this? Should I bite the bullet and go private?
It depends on what type of hernia to decide the risk. Direct or indirect? Inguinal or femoral etc.
As ever, it would be useful to know how much of the serious disease burden is down to the fully vaccinated, the partially vaccinated, and the unvaccinated.
Is it still mostly refusers clogging up the wards where you are?
I went to a Korean restaurant when I was in America. No dog on the menu, but I ate the most disgusting food ever.
It was called Tofu. It looked like congealed snot and was tasteless. I hear there's people in the UK who eat it on a regular basis. Chacun son gout, as the French say, and for good reason.
There are people who live to eat and people who eat to live. There is a third category - people who dislike the idea of enjoying food so much that they eat tofu.
There is a Chinese restaurant in Dubai, in part of the big Jumeriah complex, and it's named after some famous explorer.
They do this incredibly light, fluffy tofu that is flash fried, so it is crispy on the outside and soft and silky on the inside. It's then tossed with spring onions and a bunch of other spices.
It is a genuinely great dish, flavoursome and complex.
I admit that almost every other time I've been served tofu, I've been disappointed.
Cooking tofu so that it is not rubbish is a really tricky skill that I've only just got the hang of.
On the rape during war time thing, I believe it’s generally accepted that the rape of the woman of the conquered hasn’t much to do with sex. The rape of the conquered men probably isn’t that different. Ancient Evenings supports that view, even if Mailer was a bit over-interested in bum stuff.
Have you never seen little lambs gamboling about a field without a care in the world, every now and again stopping to nibble at the grass, rubbing up against each other for companionship, happy in the knowledge they have their whole lives ahead of them? -------- Yes, I had exactly that experience and resolved never to eat lamb again. Awkwardly, in my current job we advise that it's often more humane to eat lamb and beef than chicken, because they on many farms they live reasonable lives outdoors and chickens generally have pretty hellish lives. Just eating less of meat generally is undoubtedly a good idea, from both humane and climate change perspectives.
I have had a similar experience. We have a habit of projecting our emotions on to animals. I can understand why people choose not to eat meat.
But sheep only exist for the purposes of meat production, otherwise they would have been largely selected out of existence many thousands of years ago.
They exist - one way or another - for the pleasure of humans.
We have too many rats in our cities. Rats are seen as vermin. We 'dispatch' rats. We have too many foxes in our cities. Foxes are seen as cute and fluffy. We defend foxes. We have too many cats in our cities. Cats are loved. We'll fly cats out of a warzone and leave humans to die.
And what's the only consistency there?
That's right - our emotional projections.
Nothing to do with logic or nature.
This is a paradox there is no way round. In its most extreme forms, you have pet shops with fancy rats as cuddly pets in one department, and plain rats as food for cuddly pet snakes just round the corner. The rats may be different colours, which many people would think makes things worse rather than better.
As ever, it would be useful to know how much of the serious disease burden is down to the fully vaccinated, the partially vaccinated, and the unvaccinated.
Is it still mostly refusers clogging up the wards where you are?
I am still on holiday, but when I was last in the wards were 50/50; the ICU 95% unvaxxed, about half of our ICU capacity and stopping a lot of major surgery.
Anyone know anything about hernias? I've been diagnosed with one and have an initial NHS assessment/scan etc on 11 Oct. That's 6 weeks away! And if an op is needed I could be easily looking at a year from now.
Could the condition worsen with delays like this? Should I bite the bullet and go private?
It depends on what type of hernia to decide the risk. Direct or indirect? Inguinal or femoral etc.
Generally they are OK to wait.
I had an inguinal hernia repair in 1973 after waiting 2 years and in 2019 I underwent a bi lateral hernia repair again after waiting over two years
They were discomforting and painful at times and both operations were a great relief
I went to a Korean restaurant when I was in America. No dog on the menu, but I ate the most disgusting food ever.
It was called Tofu. It looked like congealed snot and was tasteless. I hear there's people in the UK who eat it on a regular basis. Chacun son gout, as the French say, and for good reason.
There are people who live to eat and people who eat to live. There is a third category - people who dislike the idea of enjoying food so much that they eat tofu.
There is a Chinese restaurant in Dubai, in part of the big Jumeriah complex, and it's named after some famous explorer.
They do this incredibly light, fluffy tofu that is flash fried, so it is crispy on the outside and soft and silky on the inside. It's then tossed with spring onions and a bunch of other spices.
It is a genuinely great dish, flavoursome and complex.
I admit that almost every other time I've been served tofu, I've been disappointed.
Cooking tofu so that it is not rubbish is a really tricky skill that I've only just got the hang of.
Do tell? Marinade, frying it hard enough to give texture?
Would be interesting to know if the (admittedly rare) side effects from the jabs are still happening for 3rd jabs. If they were, I could understand the scientists' reluctance...
Out of interest, how many jabs are you prepared to take before you say feck this for a game of soldiers?
Because, possibly, your freedom will depend on it. Some of us are preparing ourselves to become second class citizens already.
If you don't get the booster, that could be you too.
On the contrary (sic) freedom is dependent on being vaccinated. Returning to normal life requires it.
Freedom based on vaccination will not be a 'return' to anything. It certainly won't be a return to normal life.
Only if you see 'death' as freedom for a substantial number of people ...
Vaccinated people can easily both get and pass on covid. Protection, as it is becoming increasingly clear, wanes after a few months.
Not easily. They possibly can but it's not easily.
Some unvaccinated people have had delta covid. The ONS shows that reinfection in these cases, and thus therefore the ability to pass covid on, is very low.
It would make far more sense, surely, to make antibody testing the yardstick, rather than vaccination? does it really matter how you acquire your protection?
Delta covid has only been around for eight months. It's only been common enough to be named as a subvariant for three or four months. Not really enough time for the smaller subset of unvaccinated people to get it twice.
I therefore treat your claim with suspicion. Do you have linkies to it, please?
And antibodies aren't the only way the body defeats Covid. The immune system is much more complex than that...
1) Studies from Israel have been having some slightly odd results recently. 2) Pfizer only. 3) A media report on one study.
So you wish me to continue?
The data from Israel is that Pfizer is highly effective at preventing serious disease from Delta. It is much less effective at preventing symptomatic disease. It has - effectively - moved Pfizer from being a complete wiper-out of the disease, to something that mostly prevents people going to hospital and dying.
Or, to put it another way, it turns Pfizer into J&J.
The good news from Israel is that infection with original variant Covid appears to be 99% effective in stopping symptomatic Delta.
Which is interesting, because in the bloodstream, Pfizer generates a much stronger response to Delta than does an original Covid infection.
Why the difference? Well, Covid is a viral infection of the upper respiratory tract. We want the immune system primed at the spot where the virus is likely to appear.
And this is what makes the nasal administration of vaccines so interesting. It has the potential to prime the immune system in the right spot, and to eliminate the need for needles. Trials in monkeys have been extremely encouraging. One hopes it will work as well (and safely) with humans.
That's a good example of where experiments on animals may be necessary for the greater good.
Just finished my LibDems selection interview for next year's council election. I want to be selected in a ward we would need a miracle to win but would be amazing to campaign in...
I have a healthy respect for (virtually) anyone who puts themselves up for election, whichever party. It's throwing yourself to the wolves (worse for MPs compared to councillors, but even then...). Even if I felt I had the skills to be an elected politician, I wouldn't have the personal courage.
Good luck.
I absolutely hate canvassing, even though I put myself through it for most general elections.
There's nothing more terrifying than knocking on a total strangers door and asking for their vote, without quite knowing what sort of reception you're going to get.
When else can you walk up somebody's (private) drive and ask them a really impertinent question like "Who do you vote for, then?" Yeah, occasionally someone will tell you to sling your hook, but 49 times out of 50 you'll have a fascinating interaction. I have met some really wonderful, fascinating, bonkers, funny, irreverent, respectful and (rarely, admittedly) people delighted to be asked. You will hear heart-breaking tales, you will meet an old boy who used to play the piano at the front of the silent movies, you will meet couples who are politically poles apart. But mostly you will get an insight into how we get the politicians we get.
I have done it for nearly five decades - I have got bruised and blistered but never, ever regretted a moment of the vast time I have put in.
As in lots of emotive spheres, there's a danger of letting ourselves be defined by extremes. Most people are at least somewhat uneasy about factory farming and would be pleased if conditions improved. Few people are absolutely solid vegan, even fewer prefer ants to people. But the National Food Strategy recommends a 30% reduction on meat consumption on climate change grounds, and if that was nudged along by some subsidies for healthy alternatives, I don't think many people would really grumble.
You're a fanatic and are simply trying to nudge people along in baby steps to a world with no meat.
I can read you like a book.
CR was that serious or just having a bit of fun with NP?
Hmm. Partly serious, I'm afraid. NP is a nice guy but there's a reason he's a master of playing Diplomacy.
He uses politeness and reasonability as weapons to cloak the advance of his agenda, and I find that slightly deceptive.
The trouble is, of course, it makes you look like the unreasonable one if you call it out - but it's definitely there.
I'm not a vegan, CR, I feel I should be but... So I'm doing pretty much what I recommended - having a few meat-free meals a week and gradually increasing the number as I get used to them. And I try to make sure I'm eating high-welfare meat where I do. My big hope is lab-grown meat, which really is meat but doesn't involve killing an animal to enjoy it. If that proves economically viable, I think it'd be perverse to insist that something has to die to make it "proper meat".
But I'll plead guilty to the general charge - I try to be the most reasonable-sounding person in the room, and there's an element of deliberate policy in that, because it does help persuade the undecided. I wouldn't exactly say deception, because it reflects my self-image as rational - I don't have opinions that I've not persuaded "myself" are reasonable (yeah, we're all good at persuading ourselves), so I'm just putting the arguments that persuaded me. Also, especially on a forum where we chat for pleasure like this, it's no fun to be screaming at each other.
An honest post. I don't think veganism is anything but a quasi-religious ideology driven by purity so I do hope you don't go down that road.
I'm not arguing for anyone to be screaming at anyone else, just for people to be transparent about their intent and agenda.
As ever, it would be useful to know how much of the serious disease burden is down to the fully vaccinated, the partially vaccinated, and the unvaccinated.
Is it still mostly refusers clogging up the wards where you are?
I am still on holiday, but when I was last in the wards were 50/50; the ICU 95% unvaxxed, about half of our ICU capacity and stopping a lot of major surgery.
Has anyone modelled how quickly delta will burn through the unvaxxed twats this summer/autumn?
Presumably, there is a pretty low finite limit to the number of unvaxxed (10%?), so the bug is running out of tinder for ICU?
Lives are worth nothing. However I'd do a great deal to preserve another human's life, and I'd take some personal risk to preserve the lives of some animals.
Much of it about the lives you see around you though.
On the rape during war time thing, I believe it’s generally accepted that the rape of the woman of the conquered hasn’t much to do with sex. The rape of the conquered men probably isn’t that different. Ancient Evenings supports that view, even if Mailer was a bit over-interested in bum stuff.
Never really understood this claim. I'd hate to get into an argument about it, for fear of seeming over invested in it, but whenever I've had sex (probably about the median frequency for my age, sex and class) it's been about sex, mainly. It might have overtones of other things, but if it was mainly about other things it probably wouldn't happen at all, iyswim.
As ever, it would be useful to know how much of the serious disease burden is down to the fully vaccinated, the partially vaccinated, and the unvaccinated.
Is it still mostly refusers clogging up the wards where you are?
I am still on holiday, but when I was last in the wards were 50/50; the ICU 95% unvaxxed, about half of our ICU capacity and stopping a lot of major surgery.
Has anyone modelled how quickly delta will burn through the unvaxxed twats this summer/autumn?
Presumably, there is a pretty low finite limit to the number of unvaxxed (10%?), so the bug is running out of tinder for ICU?
Quite a few still to get through by the look of it, and will be a major service pressure for months yet.
Just finished my LibDems selection interview for next year's council election. I want to be selected in a ward we would need a miracle to win but would be amazing to campaign in...
I have a healthy respect for (virtually) anyone who puts themselves up for election, whichever party. It's throwing yourself to the wolves (worse for MPs compared to councillors, but even then...). Even if I felt I had the skills to be an elected politician, I wouldn't have the personal courage.
Good luck.
I absolutely hate canvassing, even though I put myself through it for most general elections.
There's nothing more terrifying than knocking on a total strangers door and asking for their vote, without quite knowing what sort of reception you're going to get.
When else can you walk up somebody's (private) drive and ask them a really impertinent question like "Who do you vote for, then?" Yeah, occasionally someone will tell you to sling your hook, but 49 times out of 50 you'll have a fascinating interaction. I have met some really wonderful, fascinating, bonkers, funny, irreverent, respectful and (rarely, admittedly) people delighted to be asked. You will hear heart-breaking tales, you will meet an old boy who used to play the piano at the front of the silent movies, you will meet couples who are politically poles apart. But mostly you will get an insight into how we get the politicians we get.
I have done it for nearly five decades - I have got bruised and blistered but never, ever regretted a moment of the vast time I have put in.
Your dedication to the cause is impression @MarqueeMark and we need people like you.
I recognise some of what you say and I've got some great stories too, but I never enjoy doing it!
I went to a Korean restaurant when I was in America. No dog on the menu, but I ate the most disgusting food ever.
It was called Tofu. It looked like congealed snot and was tasteless. I hear there's people in the UK who eat it on a regular basis. Chacun son gout, as the French say, and for good reason.
There are people who live to eat and people who eat to live. There is a third category - people who dislike the idea of enjoying food so much that they eat tofu.
There is a Chinese restaurant in Dubai, in part of the big Jumeriah complex, and it's named after some famous explorer.
They do this incredibly light, fluffy tofu that is flash fried, so it is crispy on the outside and soft and silky on the inside. It's then tossed with spring onions and a bunch of other spices.
It is a genuinely great dish, flavoursome and complex.
I admit that almost every other time I've been served tofu, I've been disappointed.
Cooking tofu so that it is not rubbish is a really tricky skill that I've only just got the hang of.
Just finished my LibDems selection interview for next year's council election. I want to be selected in a ward we would need a miracle to win but would be amazing to campaign in...
I have a healthy respect for (virtually) anyone who puts themselves up for election, whichever party. It's throwing yourself to the wolves (worse for MPs compared to councillors, but even then...). Even if I felt I had the skills to be an elected politician, I wouldn't have the personal courage.
Good luck.
I absolutely hate canvassing, even though I put myself through it for most general elections.
There's nothing more terrifying than knocking on a total strangers door and asking for their vote, without quite knowing what sort of reception you're going to get.
Just finished my LibDems selection interview for next year's council election. I want to be selected in a ward we would need a miracle to win but would be amazing to campaign in...
I have a healthy respect for (virtually) anyone who puts themselves up for election, whichever party. It's throwing yourself to the wolves (worse for MPs compared to councillors, but even then...). Even if I felt I had the skills to be an elected politician, I wouldn't have the personal courage.
Good luck.
I absolutely hate canvassing, even though I put myself through it for most general elections.
There's nothing more terrifying than knocking on a total strangers door and asking for their vote, without quite knowing what sort of reception you're going to get.
When else can you walk up somebody's (private) drive and ask them a really impertinent question like "Who do you vote for, then?" Yeah, occasionally someone will tell you to sling your hook, but 49 times out of 50 you'll have a fascinating interaction. I have met some really wonderful, fascinating, bonkers, funny, irreverent, respectful and (rarely, admittedly) people delighted to be asked. You will hear heart-breaking tales, you will meet an old boy who used to play the piano at the front of the silent movies, you will meet couples who are politically poles apart. But mostly you will get an insight into how we get the politicians we get.
I have done it for nearly five decades - I have got bruised and blistered but never, ever regretted a moment of the vast time I have put in.
Your dedication to the cause is impression @MarqueeMark and we need people like you.
I recognise some of what you say and I've got some great stories too, but I never enjoy doing it!
Then putting yourself through it is even more impressive!
I went to a Korean restaurant when I was in America. No dog on the menu, but I ate the most disgusting food ever.
It was called Tofu. It looked like congealed snot and was tasteless. I hear there's people in the UK who eat it on a regular basis. Chacun son gout, as the French say, and for good reason.
There are people who live to eat and people who eat to live. There is a third category - people who dislike the idea of enjoying food so much that they eat tofu.
There is a Chinese restaurant in Dubai, in part of the big Jumeriah complex, and it's named after some famous explorer.
They do this incredibly light, fluffy tofu that is flash fried, so it is crispy on the outside and soft and silky on the inside. It's then tossed with spring onions and a bunch of other spices.
It is a genuinely great dish, flavoursome and complex.
I admit that almost every other time I've been served tofu, I've been disappointed.
Cooking tofu so that it is not rubbish is a really tricky skill that I've only just got the hang of.
Do tell? Marinade, frying it hard enough to give texture?
I'm doing everything in a Le Creuset Signature Enamelled Cast Iron Pan so, you know, you need minimum standards to enter.
Cooking Firm tofu. Squeeze the block with kitchen roll and get as much moisture out as you can. After I cut into (big) cubes for frying I even squeeze them some more. Get. That. Moisture. Out. Of. There
No pre Marinade - every time I try it ends in disaster.
Big glug of oil in the pan and then get the oil temp hot, add in your cubes of tofu and then fight against every instinct and leave those fuckers. Do not touch them until you are absolutely sure they have got a crispy base (this is always longer then you think). Then you can carefully rotate them on their next side, after the first side has crisped it gets way easier and the Tofu loses it's tendency to stick.
Once cripsy on all side flash our your sauce/marinade and fry for 1-2 more minutes. I recommend something sweet and sticky and soy-ey.
On the rape during war time thing, I believe it’s generally accepted that the rape of the woman of the conquered hasn’t much to do with sex. The rape of the conquered men probably isn’t that different. Ancient Evenings supports that view, even if Mailer was a bit over-interested in bum stuff.
Never really understood this claim. I'd hate to get into an argument about it, for fear of seeming over invested in it, but whenever I've had sex (probably about the median frequency for my age, sex and class) it's been about sex, mainly. It might have overtones of other things, but if it was mainly about other things it probably wouldn't happen at all, iyswim.
I get the not wanting to seem over invested thing, but it is interesting. I’m probably over invested in Berlin and its history, but the whole rape of German womanhood ‘event’ seems about much more than sex.
As ever, it would be useful to know how much of the serious disease burden is down to the fully vaccinated, the partially vaccinated, and the unvaccinated.
Is it still mostly refusers clogging up the wards where you are?
I am still on holiday, but when I was last in the wards were 50/50; the ICU 95% unvaxxed, about half of our ICU capacity and stopping a lot of major surgery.
Has anyone modelled how quickly delta will burn through the unvaxxed twats this summer/autumn?
Presumably, there is a pretty low finite limit to the number of unvaxxed (10%?), so the bug is running out of tinder for ICU?
Not insofar as I'm aware.
10% of the adult population is, needless to say, a LOT of people (somewhere in excess of five million.) The obvious threat is that Delta keeps finding more and more of them, and we all end up locked down for months as a result.
I went to a Korean restaurant when I was in America. No dog on the menu, but I ate the most disgusting food ever.
It was called Tofu. It looked like congealed snot and was tasteless. I hear there's people in the UK who eat it on a regular basis. Chacun son gout, as the French say, and for good reason.
There are people who live to eat and people who eat to live. There is a third category - people who dislike the idea of enjoying food so much that they eat tofu.
There is a Chinese restaurant in Dubai, in part of the big Jumeriah complex, and it's named after some famous explorer.
They do this incredibly light, fluffy tofu that is flash fried, so it is crispy on the outside and soft and silky on the inside. It's then tossed with spring onions and a bunch of other spices.
It is a genuinely great dish, flavoursome and complex.
I admit that almost every other time I've been served tofu, I've been disappointed.
Cooking tofu so that it is not rubbish is a really tricky skill that I've only just got the hang of.
Do tell? Marinade, frying it hard enough to give texture?
I'm doing everything in a Le Creuset Signature Enamelled Cast Iron Pan so, you know, you need minimum standards to enter.
Cooking Firm tofu. Squeeze the block with kitchen roll and get as much moisture out as you can. After I cut into (big) cubes for frying I even squeeze them some more. Get. That. Moisture. Out. Of. There
No pre Marinade - every time I try it ends in disaster.
Big glug of oil in the pan and then get the oil temp hot, add in your cubes of tofu and then fight against every instinct and leave those fuckers. Do not touch them until you are absolutely sure they have got a crispy base (this is always longer then you think). Then you can carefully rotate them on their next side, after the first side has crisped it gets way easier and the Tofu loses it's tendency to stick.
Once cripsy on all side flash our your sauce/marinade and fry for 1-2 more minutes. I recommend something sweet and sticky and soy-ey.
That got a like. But cos of the Le Creuset ad, not the inedible snot ad.
So Roe vs Wade gets repealed tomorrow with the Texas Abortion Bounty system going into effect. You would think that would be bigger news.
Has the Supreme Court chosen not to hear the case?
Well, they've technically got 9 hours left to respond.
But that's only on the shadow docket to lay an injunction down. If they don't whilst the case could still get to the supreme court as soon as the law goes live in Texas tomorrow then that's pretty much it for safe legal abortion in the state even if the SC does eventually repeal the law.
This is truly the most cowardly way the conservatives on the SC could have faced the issue.
As ever, it would be useful to know how much of the serious disease burden is down to the fully vaccinated, the partially vaccinated, and the unvaccinated.
Is it still mostly refusers clogging up the wards where you are?
I am still on holiday, but when I was last in the wards were 50/50; the ICU 95% unvaxxed, about half of our ICU capacity and stopping a lot of major surgery.
Has anyone modelled how quickly delta will burn through the unvaxxed twats this summer/autumn?
Presumably, there is a pretty low finite limit to the number of unvaxxed (10%?), so the bug is running out of tinder for ICU?
Not insofar as I'm aware.
10% of the adult population is, needless to say, a LOT of people (somewhere in excess of five million.) The obvious threat is that Delta keeps finding more and more of them, and we all end up locked down for months as a result.
I'm not prepared to lockdown to protect the unvaxxed. And I certainly don't think we can close schools yet again to protect these idiots.
On the rape during war time thing, I believe it’s generally accepted that the rape of the woman of the conquered hasn’t much to do with sex. The rape of the conquered men probably isn’t that different. Ancient Evenings supports that view, even if Mailer was a bit over-interested in bum stuff.
Never really understood this claim. I'd hate to get into an argument about it, for fear of seeming over invested in it, but whenever I've had sex (probably about the median frequency for my age, sex and class) it's been about sex, mainly. It might have overtones of other things, but if it was mainly about other things it probably wouldn't happen at all, iyswim.
I really don't want to get into discussing my sex life on here (I'm sure you'll all be delighted to hear) but it's adult women I find attractive.
I really don't understand those who have a penchant for boys and animals.
Using the sources *you* selected, here is a scatter chart of birth rates against religiosity for the fifteen largest European countries.
Using your own data sources, it literally shows exactly the opposite of what you claim. Higher religiosity correlates with lower birthrates.
Edit to add: that dot in the top right, that's Romania that is. You took the single biggest outlier, and claimed it was trend.
Which is irrelevant as every one of the 15 largest European countries have a religiosity rate below the global average and a birthrate below replacement rate.
The bottom nation by birthrate ie South Korea at 0.8, has only 43% of their population saying religion is important to them
So, you're saying that data doesn't matter, unless it happens to agree with you.
Got it.
Have you scatter plotted the world and run a linear regression? If not, you are literally just making up numbers and claiming they match your existing views.
I thought family size was driven by infant mortality / survival to adulthood with a 1 generation lag
Niger and Somalia are also 2 of the poorest countries in the world. By HYUFD logic, making religion more important is a surefire way to make your country extremely poor.
As in lots of emotive spheres, there's a danger of letting ourselves be defined by extremes. Most people are at least somewhat uneasy about factory farming and would be pleased if conditions improved. Few people are absolutely solid vegan, even fewer prefer ants to people. But the National Food Strategy recommends a 30% reduction on meat consumption on climate change grounds, and if that was nudged along by some subsidies for healthy alternatives, I don't think many people would really grumble.
You're a fanatic and are simply trying to nudge people along in baby steps to a world with no meat.
I can read you like a book.
CR was that serious or just having a bit of fun with NP?
Hmm. Partly serious, I'm afraid. NP is a nice guy but there's a reason he's a master of playing Diplomacy.
He uses politeness and reasonability as weapons to cloak the advance of his agenda, and I find that slightly deceptive.
The trouble is, of course, it makes you look like the unreasonable one if you call it out - but it's definitely there.
How dastardly of him, making you look unreasonable - that's all the proof I need of his evil intentions.
Thanks for the tip. But do you have any opinion on the goal of reducing meat consumption by 30% for climate change reasons? Obviously, as it sounds reasonable to me, it must be bad, right?
Just finished my LibDems selection interview for next year's council election. I want to be selected in a ward we would need a miracle to win but would be amazing to campaign in...
I have a healthy respect for (virtually) anyone who puts themselves up for election, whichever party. It's throwing yourself to the wolves (worse for MPs compared to councillors, but even then...). Even if I felt I had the skills to be an elected politician, I wouldn't have the personal courage.
Good luck.
I absolutely hate canvassing, even though I put myself through it for most general elections.
There's nothing more terrifying than knocking on a total strangers door and asking for their vote, without quite knowing what sort of reception you're going to get.
As ever, it would be useful to know how much of the serious disease burden is down to the fully vaccinated, the partially vaccinated, and the unvaccinated.
Is it still mostly refusers clogging up the wards where you are?
I am still on holiday, but when I was last in the wards were 50/50; the ICU 95% unvaxxed, about half of our ICU capacity and stopping a lot of major surgery.
Has anyone modelled how quickly delta will burn through the unvaxxed twats this summer/autumn?
Presumably, there is a pretty low finite limit to the number of unvaxxed (10%?), so the bug is running out of tinder for ICU?
Not insofar as I'm aware.
10% of the adult population is, needless to say, a LOT of people (somewhere in excess of five million.) The obvious threat is that Delta keeps finding more and more of them, and we all end up locked down for months as a result.
I'm not prepared to lockdown to protect the unvaxxed. And I certainly don't think we can close schools yet again to protect these idiots.
Just finished my LibDems selection interview for next year's council election. I want to be selected in a ward we would need a miracle to win but would be amazing to campaign in...
I have a healthy respect for (virtually) anyone who puts themselves up for election, whichever party. It's throwing yourself to the wolves (worse for MPs compared to councillors, but even then...). Even if I felt I had the skills to be an elected politician, I wouldn't have the personal courage.
Good luck.
I absolutely hate canvassing, even though I put myself through it for most general elections.
There's nothing more terrifying than knocking on a total strangers door and asking for their vote, without quite knowing what sort of reception you're going to get.
Me too and even more ghastly when you’re the candidate! I raised no objection when we did virtually none in May, citing COVID. Might have been a factor in the increased majority. Keep O’Reilly away from the punters - it’s for his own good.
I went to a Korean restaurant when I was in America. No dog on the menu, but I ate the most disgusting food ever.
It was called Tofu. It looked like congealed snot and was tasteless. I hear there's people in the UK who eat it on a regular basis. Chacun son gout, as the French say, and for good reason.
There are people who live to eat and people who eat to live. There is a third category - people who dislike the idea of enjoying food so much that they eat tofu.
There is a Chinese restaurant in Dubai, in part of the big Jumeriah complex, and it's named after some famous explorer.
They do this incredibly light, fluffy tofu that is flash fried, so it is crispy on the outside and soft and silky on the inside. It's then tossed with spring onions and a bunch of other spices.
It is a genuinely great dish, flavoursome and complex.
I admit that almost every other time I've been served tofu, I've been disappointed.
Cooking tofu so that it is not rubbish is a really tricky skill that I've only just got the hang of.
Do tell? Marinade, frying it hard enough to give texture?
I'm doing everything in a Le Creuset Signature Enamelled Cast Iron Pan so, you know, you need minimum standards to enter.
Cooking Firm tofu. Squeeze the block with kitchen roll and get as much moisture out as you can. After I cut into (big) cubes for frying I even squeeze them some more. Get. That. Moisture. Out. Of. There
No pre Marinade - every time I try it ends in disaster.
Big glug of oil in the pan and then get the oil temp hot, add in your cubes of tofu and then fight against every instinct and leave those fuckers. Do not touch them until you are absolutely sure they have got a crispy base (this is always longer then you think). Then you can carefully rotate them on their next side, after the first side has crisped it gets way easier and the Tofu loses it's tendency to stick.
Once cripsy on all side flash our your sauce/marinade and fry for 1-2 more minutes. I recommend something sweet and sticky and soy-ey.
Pretty much anything can be fried to make it edible. Even flying ants in my experience.
The key though with vegetarian cooking is not to expect it to be like cooking with meat. I am not vegetarian, but only eat meat a couple of times a week. Vegetarian cuisine can be delicious, indeed much Indian and Mediterranean food is already.
It's like cutting out salt, or sugar. At first everything tastes odd, but after a while tastebuds adjust, and appreciation is there without the overpowering taste of meat.
Just finished my LibDems selection interview for next year's council election. I want to be selected in a ward we would need a miracle to win but would be amazing to campaign in...
Surely if you work the ward and get involved in all the local issues, you will have a chance of election, irrespective of party?
Just finished my LibDems selection interview for next year's council election. I want to be selected in a ward we would need a miracle to win but would be amazing to campaign in...
Surely if you work the ward and get involved in all the local issues, you will have a chance of election, irrespective of party?
So long as he doesn't ádvocate fracking in the constituency. Or something. Fracking is not much of a worry in Banff, actually, but I often wondered if his previous UK party leader quite realised what the local geology was in her constituency when she was all for fracking (did she not accept funding from a related company?).
Just finished my LibDems selection interview for next year's council election. I want to be selected in a ward we would need a miracle to win but would be amazing to campaign in...
I have a healthy respect for (virtually) anyone who puts themselves up for election, whichever party. It's throwing yourself to the wolves (worse for MPs compared to councillors, but even then...). Even if I felt I had the skills to be an elected politician, I wouldn't have the personal courage.
Good luck.
I absolutely hate canvassing, even though I put myself through it for most general elections.
There's nothing more terrifying than knocking on a total strangers door and asking for their vote, without quite knowing what sort of reception you're going to get.
That’s the fun bit!
@NickPalmer will be along shortly to tell us he loves canvassing!
It might see a government backlash, but who would benefit? Cheeky of the Independent to accompany this with a photo of Sir Keir sitting on a fence
"Labour leader Keir Starmer backs decision to kill alpaca Geronimo
When asked if the Government’s stance was right, he added: “I think there’s no alternative, sadly."
“I do actually understand why emotions are so high as they would be with farmers as well who, on a not-irregular basis, have to lose animals that are very valuable to them.”"
Tofu is super delicious. I defy anyone to go to a Taiwanese vegan restaurant and not go yum at the sheer variety and versatility. Trouble is, no one here knows how to cook it. Or only knows one or two ways.
As in lots of emotive spheres, there's a danger of letting ourselves be defined by extremes. Most people are at least somewhat uneasy about factory farming and would be pleased if conditions improved. Few people are absolutely solid vegan, even fewer prefer ants to people. But the National Food Strategy recommends a 30% reduction on meat consumption on climate change grounds, and if that was nudged along by some subsidies for healthy alternatives, I don't think many people would really grumble.
You're a fanatic and are simply trying to nudge people along in baby steps to a world with no meat.
I can read you like a book.
CR was that serious or just having a bit of fun with NP?
Hmm. Partly serious, I'm afraid. NP is a nice guy but there's a reason he's a master of playing Diplomacy.
He uses politeness and reasonability as weapons to cloak the advance of his agenda, and I find that slightly deceptive.
The trouble is, of course, it makes you look like the unreasonable one if you call it out - but it's definitely there.
How dastardly of him, making you look unreasonable - that's all the proof I need of his evil intentions.
Thanks for the tip. But do you have any opinion on the goal of reducing meat consumption by 30% for climate change reasons? Obviously, as it sounds reasonable to me, it must be bad, right?
Yes, I think we should eat grass-fed real meat produced to high welfare standards in moderate amounts but not pull down rainforests to facilitate industrialised mass-produced meat produced to terrible welfare standards eaten in massive amounts. I think synthetic biology should fill any delta if volume is insufficient for regular consumption. I also think there's a lot of ideology around meat from the animal rights and vegan lobby who both have other agendas.
On the rape during war time thing, I believe it’s generally accepted that the rape of the woman of the conquered hasn’t much to do with sex. The rape of the conquered men probably isn’t that different. Ancient Evenings supports that view, even if Mailer was a bit over-interested in bum stuff.
Never really understood this claim. I'd hate to get into an argument about it, for fear of seeming over invested in it, but whenever I've had sex (probably about the median frequency for my age, sex and class) it's been about sex, mainly. It might have overtones of other things, but if it was mainly about other things it probably wouldn't happen at all, iyswim.
I really don't want to get into discussing my sex life on here (I'm sure you'll all be delighted to hear) but it's adult women I find attractive.
I really don't understand those who have a penchant for boys and animals.
The most bizarre post in PB history?
Is that "have a penchant for {boys and animals}" or "{for boys} and {for animals}"? And why do you think it makes you better, worse or more interesting than any other poster? And are you giving us some kind of a clue about how s.28 was ever a thing?
Me, I can't resist buggering a hamster. Mad for it.
Using the sources *you* selected, here is a scatter chart of birth rates against religiosity for the fifteen largest European countries.
Using your own data sources, it literally shows exactly the opposite of what you claim. Higher religiosity correlates with lower birthrates.
Edit to add: that dot in the top right, that's Romania that is. You took the single biggest outlier, and claimed it was trend.
Which is irrelevant as every one of the 15 largest European countries have a religiosity rate below the global average and a birthrate below replacement rate.
The bottom nation by birthrate ie South Korea at 0.8, has only 43% of their population saying religion is important to them
So, you're saying that data doesn't matter, unless it happens to agree with you.
Got it.
Have you scatter plotted the world and run a linear regression? If not, you are literally just making up numbers and claiming they match your existing views.
I thought family size was driven by infant mortality / survival to adulthood with a 1 generation lag
Niger and Somalia are also 2 of the poorest countries in the world. By HYUFD logic, making religion more important is a surefire way to make your country extremely poor.
So having bishops in the HoL is a positive knee in the nadgers for the UK economy?
Is Scotland behind on double vaccinations compared to England? If not, why is this happening? Just because the school's went back??
Doesn't seem a sufficient answer to me.
Shite weather, more indoor socialising, more infections, more hospitalisations.
Our weather has been pretty good recently. Schools, football and entertainment seem more likely suspects to me.
If restrictions are needed, but furlough is ending, there could be some difficult political decisions to be made, by both the Scottish and UK governments.
On the rape during war time thing, I believe it’s generally accepted that the rape of the woman of the conquered hasn’t much to do with sex. The rape of the conquered men probably isn’t that different. Ancient Evenings supports that view, even if Mailer was a bit over-interested in bum stuff.
Never really understood this claim. I'd hate to get into an argument about it, for fear of seeming over invested in it, but whenever I've had sex (probably about the median frequency for my age, sex and class) it's been about sex, mainly. It might have overtones of other things, but if it was mainly about other things it probably wouldn't happen at all, iyswim.
I really don't want to get into discussing my sex life on here (I'm sure you'll all be delighted to hear) but it's adult women I find attractive.
I really don't understand those who have a penchant for boys and animals.
The most bizarre post in PB history?
Is that "have a penchant for {boys and animals}" or "{for boys} and {for animals}"? And why do you think it makes you better, worse or more interesting than any other poster? And are you giving us some kind of a clue about how s.28 was ever a thing?
Me, I can't resist buggering a hamster. Mad for it.
Just wait till you read abouit the sex life of a tapeworm.
One for the PB brains trust. My son has just had his second jab and has applied for the letter from NHS Scotland confirming his status but a friend of mine whose daughter is at UCL says this won't do because of the lack of a QR code. Is there some way of getting an English certificate with a QR code if you produce the letter from NHS Scotland? If so, who do we apply to?
Would be interesting to know if the (admittedly rare) side effects from the jabs are still happening for 3rd jabs. If they were, I could understand the scientists' reluctance...
Out of interest, how many jabs are you prepared to take before you say feck this for a game of soldiers?
Because, possibly, your freedom will depend on it. Some of us are preparing ourselves to become second class citizens already.
If you don't get the booster, that could be you too.
On the contrary (sic) freedom is dependent on being vaccinated. Returning to normal life requires it.
Freedom based on vaccination will not be a 'return' to anything. It certainly won't be a return to normal life.
Only if you see 'death' as freedom for a substantial number of people ...
Vaccinated people can easily both get and pass on covid. Protection, as it is becoming increasingly clear, wanes after a few months.
Not easily. They possibly can but it's not easily.
Some unvaccinated people have had delta covid. The ONS shows that reinfection in these cases, and thus therefore the ability to pass covid on, is very low.
It would make far more sense, surely, to make antibody testing the yardstick, rather than vaccination? does it really matter how you acquire your protection?
Delta covid has only been around for eight months. It's only been common enough to be named as a subvariant for three or four months. Not really enough time for the smaller subset of unvaccinated people to get it twice.
I therefore treat your claim with suspicion. Do you have linkies to it, please?
And antibodies aren't the only way the body defeats Covid. The immune system is much more complex than that...
1) Studies from Israel have been having some slightly odd results recently. 2) Pfizer only. 3) A media report on one study.
So you wish me to continue?
The data from Israel is that Pfizer is highly effective at preventing serious disease from Delta. It is much less effective at preventing symptomatic disease. It has - effectively - moved Pfizer from being a complete wiper-out of the disease, to something that mostly prevents people going to hospital and dying.
Or, to put it another way, it turns Pfizer into J&J.
The good news from Israel is that infection with original variant Covid appears to be 99% effective in stopping symptomatic Delta.
Which is interesting, because in the bloodstream, Pfizer generates a much stronger response to Delta than does an original Covid infection.
Why the difference? Well, Covid is a viral infection of the upper respiratory tract. We want the immune system primed at the spot where the virus is likely to appear.
And this is what makes the nasal administration of vaccines so interesting. It has the potential to prime the immune system in the right spot, and to eliminate the need for needles. Trials in monkeys have been extremely encouraging. One hopes it will work as well (and safely) with humans.
Out of interest @rcs1000 , what is your assessment of the overall effectiveness of the vaccines as a way of spread of COVID? I suggested earlier today that I understood the vaccines were most effective at preventing hospitalisations and did not stop the disease from being transmitted; I was told in response that the data was unaminous that the vaccines prevent the spread of COVID. However, this came across as a bit of an assertion / belief that many people on here hold, rather than anything that has been seriously proven.
Have you never seen little lambs gamboling about a field without a care in the world, every now and again stopping to nibble at the grass, rubbing up against each other for companionship, happy in the knowledge they have their whole lives ahead of them? -------- Yes, I had exactly that experience and resolved never to eat lamb again. Awkwardly, in my current job we advise that it's often more humane to eat lamb and beef than chicken, because they on many farms they live reasonable lives outdoors and chickens generally have pretty hellish lives. Just eating less of meat generally is undoubtedly a good idea, from both humane and climate change perspectives.
We converted half our dining room into a pen and hand reared 2 orphan lambs. A fulfilling experience and they were incredibly cute. They both grew strong enough to go out to pasture after a few weeks.
My favourite curry is still a lamb dopiaza.
I have no issues with it.
My view is that humans sit at the top of a food chain in which lots of animals eat a lot of other animals, and that consumption forms part of the natural ecosystem of the world. Indeed, without it many other species simply couldn't exist or would destroy others.
We have a duty to treat our privileged position responsibly, without unnecessary cruelty and due respect to welfare needs of the animals concerned, but to put them on the same pedestal as humans is lunacy.
I've been a vegetarian for nearly 30 years, and I've had no regrets!
Just to let you know: some animals eat members of their own species, either youngsters or their (male!) partners!
Do you think we should aim to be like them?
That probably depends on your definition of "Eat".
(Get's coat, and goes to find out why the house I have for sale has the bath full of water.)
Just finished my LibDems selection interview for next year's council election. I want to be selected in a ward we would need a miracle to win but would be amazing to campaign in...
I have a healthy respect for (virtually) anyone who puts themselves up for election, whichever party. It's throwing yourself to the wolves (worse for MPs compared to councillors, but even then...). Even if I felt I had the skills to be an elected politician, I wouldn't have the personal courage.
Good luck.
I absolutely hate canvassing, even though I put myself through it for most general elections.
There's nothing more terrifying than knocking on a total strangers door and asking for their vote, without quite knowing what sort of reception you're going to get.
It’s less terrifying if you’re not a Tory.
Given the number of votes they get, as the most popular UK/GB wide party at least, I'd think they don't have much reason to be fearful. Apprehensive, sure.
I went to a Korean restaurant when I was in America. No dog on the menu, but I ate the most disgusting food ever.
It was called Tofu. It looked like congealed snot and was tasteless. I hear there's people in the UK who eat it on a regular basis. Chacun son gout, as the French say, and for good reason.
There are people who live to eat and people who eat to live. There is a third category - people who dislike the idea of enjoying food so much that they eat tofu.
There is a Chinese restaurant in Dubai, in part of the big Jumeriah complex, and it's named after some famous explorer.
They do this incredibly light, fluffy tofu that is flash fried, so it is crispy on the outside and soft and silky on the inside. It's then tossed with spring onions and a bunch of other spices.
It is a genuinely great dish, flavoursome and complex.
I admit that almost every other time I've been served tofu, I've been disappointed.
Cooking tofu so that it is not rubbish is a really tricky skill that I've only just got the hang of.
Do tell? Marinade, frying it hard enough to give texture?
I'm doing everything in a Le Creuset Signature Enamelled Cast Iron Pan so, you know, you need minimum standards to enter.
Cooking Firm tofu. Squeeze the block with kitchen roll and get as much moisture out as you can. After I cut into (big) cubes for frying I even squeeze them some more. Get. That. Moisture. Out. Of. There
No pre Marinade - every time I try it ends in disaster.
Big glug of oil in the pan and then get the oil temp hot, add in your cubes of tofu and then fight against every instinct and leave those fuckers. Do not touch them until you are absolutely sure they have got a crispy base (this is always longer then you think). Then you can carefully rotate them on their next side, after the first side has crisped it gets way easier and the Tofu loses it's tendency to stick.
Once cripsy on all side flash our your sauce/marinade and fry for 1-2 more minutes. I recommend something sweet and sticky and soy-ey.
Pretty much anything can be fried to make it edible. Even flying ants in my experience.
The key though with vegetarian cooking is not to expect it to be like cooking with meat. I am not vegetarian, but only eat meat a couple of times a week. Vegetarian cuisine can be delicious, indeed much Indian and Mediterranean food is already.
It's like cutting out salt, or sugar. At first everything tastes odd, but after a while tastebuds adjust, and appreciation is there without the overpowering taste of meat.
I sometimes cook Tofu for a change. Rather like mushrooms, it has almost no flavour of its own - so a tasty sauce is important.
Also useful perhaps for substituting out carb (eg rice).
Just finished my LibDems selection interview for next year's council election. I want to be selected in a ward we would need a miracle to win but would be amazing to campaign in...
I have a healthy respect for (virtually) anyone who puts themselves up for election, whichever party. It's throwing yourself to the wolves (worse for MPs compared to councillors, but even then...). Even if I felt I had the skills to be an elected politician, I wouldn't have the personal courage.
Good luck.
I absolutely hate canvassing, even though I put myself through it for most general elections.
There's nothing more terrifying than knocking on a total strangers door and asking for their vote, without quite knowing what sort of reception you're going to get.
That’s the fun bit!
@NickPalmer will be along shortly to tell us he loves canvassing!
Some people must do given how much time they put into it compared to the average party member, or even candidates!
I went to a Korean restaurant when I was in America. No dog on the menu, but I ate the most disgusting food ever.
It was called Tofu. It looked like congealed snot and was tasteless. I hear there's people in the UK who eat it on a regular basis. Chacun son gout, as the French say, and for good reason.
There are people who live to eat and people who eat to live. There is a third category - people who dislike the idea of enjoying food so much that they eat tofu.
There is a Chinese restaurant in Dubai, in part of the big Jumeriah complex, and it's named after some famous explorer.
They do this incredibly light, fluffy tofu that is flash fried, so it is crispy on the outside and soft and silky on the inside. It's then tossed with spring onions and a bunch of other spices.
It is a genuinely great dish, flavoursome and complex.
I admit that almost every other time I've been served tofu, I've been disappointed.
Cooking tofu so that it is not rubbish is a really tricky skill that I've only just got the hang of.
Do tell? Marinade, frying it hard enough to give texture?
I'm doing everything in a Le Creuset Signature Enamelled Cast Iron Pan so, you know, you need minimum standards to enter.
Cooking Firm tofu. Squeeze the block with kitchen roll and get as much moisture out as you can. After I cut into (big) cubes for frying I even squeeze them some more. Get. That. Moisture. Out. Of. There
No pre Marinade - every time I try it ends in disaster.
Big glug of oil in the pan and then get the oil temp hot, add in your cubes of tofu and then fight against every instinct and leave those fuckers. Do not touch them until you are absolutely sure they have got a crispy base (this is always longer then you think). Then you can carefully rotate them on their next side, after the first side has crisped it gets way easier and the Tofu loses it's tendency to stick.
Once cripsy on all side flash our your sauce/marinade and fry for 1-2 more minutes. I recommend something sweet and sticky and soy-ey.
Pretty much anything can be fried to make it edible. Even flying ants in my experience.
The key though with vegetarian cooking is not to expect it to be like cooking with meat. I am not vegetarian, but only eat meat a couple of times a week. Vegetarian cuisine can be delicious, indeed much Indian and Mediterranean food is already.
It's like cutting out salt, or sugar. At first everything tastes odd, but after a while tastebuds adjust, and appreciation is there without the overpowering taste of meat.
I sometimes cook Tofu for a change. Rather like mushrooms, it has almost no flavour of its own - so a tasty sauce is important.
Also useful perhaps if you want to substitute out carb (eg rice).
Beaten is sadly not surprising - but raped? That seems a little unexpected.
"There's a boy across the river with a bottom like a peach, but alas I cannot swim" - trad Pathan love song, not intended to be sung by Pathan women.
As a society many of us have no problem admiring Ancient Greece, where such practises were rather institutionalised.
Apparently only some bits and only some bottoms (so to speak). But there are PBers far more expert on such matters, so they will tell us.
I think my underlying point would be the strange parochialism / changeability of moral outrage.
Also curious that the English "public schools" and their congeners all over the UK liked to teach the Greeks and the Romans (the ones who liked unspeakable displays of sadism in the arena) as moral exemplars.
As ever, it would be useful to know how much of the serious disease burden is down to the fully vaccinated, the partially vaccinated, and the unvaccinated.
Is it still mostly refusers clogging up the wards where you are?
I am still on holiday, but when I was last in the wards were 50/50; the ICU 95% unvaxxed, about half of our ICU capacity and stopping a lot of major surgery.
Has anyone modelled how quickly delta will burn through the unvaxxed twats this summer/autumn?
Presumably, there is a pretty low finite limit to the number of unvaxxed (10%?), so the bug is running out of tinder for ICU?
Not insofar as I'm aware.
10% of the adult population is, needless to say, a LOT of people (somewhere in excess of five million.) The obvious threat is that Delta keeps finding more and more of them, and we all end up locked down for months as a result.
I'm not prepared to lockdown to protect the unvaxxed. And I certainly don't think we can close schools yet again to protect these idiots.
Absolutely agreed mate. Everyone in this country has had ample opportunity to get vaccinated.
Comments
They do this incredibly light, fluffy tofu that is flash fried, so it is crispy on the outside and soft and silky on the inside. It's then tossed with spring onions and a bunch of other spices.
It is a genuinely great dish, flavoursome and complex.
I admit that almost every other time I've been served tofu, I've been disappointed.
Much of it about the lives you see around you though.
University student, 21, who downloaded 70,000 neo-Nazi and white supremacist documents avoids jail as judge orders him to read Dickens and Austen instead and says he will TEST him at their next hearing
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9944207/Student-caught-70-000-white-supremacist-documents-bomb-making-manual-avoids-jail.html
The necessary corollary to this is that they are liable to really struggle with coming to terms to opening back up to the world - an exit wave, with vastly higher Covid mortality than that which they have hitherto experienced, is inevitable as soon as they drop their prison camp border policies and extreme lockdowns - but one could argue that it's a nice problem to have.
Admissions are increasing rapidly. The 7-day average has increased by 60% in the last week. https://t.co/rHOSvqMhPY
https://twitter.com/COVID19actuary/status/1432745223013154819?s=19
But I'll plead guilty to the general charge - I try to be the most reasonable-sounding person in the room, and there's an element of deliberate policy in that, because it does help persuade the undecided. I wouldn't exactly say deception, because it reflects my self-image as rational - I don't have opinions that I've not persuaded "myself" are reasonable (yeah, we're all good at persuading ourselves), so I'm just putting the arguments that persuaded me. Also, especially on a forum where we chat for pleasure like this, it's no fun to be screaming at each other.
Or, to put it another way, it turns Pfizer into J&J.
The good news from Israel is that infection with original variant Covid appears to be 99% effective in stopping symptomatic Delta.
Which is interesting, because in the bloodstream, Pfizer generates a much stronger response to Delta than does an original Covid infection.
Why the difference? Well, Covid is a viral infection of the upper respiratory tract. We want the immune system primed at the spot where the virus is likely to appear.
And this is what makes the nasal administration of vaccines so interesting. It has the potential to prime the immune system in the right spot, and to eliminate the need for needles. Trials in monkeys have been extremely encouraging. One hopes it will work as well (and safely) with humans.
https://twitter.com/cjsnowdon/status/1432780446425915392
If that doesn't work then their hopes of being vindicated probably rest on mass Covid illness amongst anti-vaxxers and a big flu spike rolling along at the same time and setting fire to the hospitals towards the end of the year.
There's nothing more terrifying than knocking on a total strangers door and asking for their vote, without quite knowing what sort of reception you're going to get.
That's right - our emotional projections.
Nothing to do with logic or nature.
Generally they are OK to wait.
Is it still mostly refusers clogging up the wards where you are?
Is Scotland behind on double vaccinations compared to England? If not, why is this happening? Just because the school's went back??
Doesn't seem a sufficient answer to me.
Ancient Evenings supports that view, even if Mailer was a bit over-interested in bum stuff.
I find it revolting.
They were discomforting and painful at times and both operations were a great relief
https://twitter.com/ThePoke/status/953536002026627072
I have done it for nearly five decades - I have got bruised and blistered but never, ever regretted a moment of the vast time I have put in.
I'm not arguing for anyone to be screaming at anyone else, just for people to be transparent about their intent and agenda.
Presumably, there is a pretty low finite limit to the number of unvaxxed (10%?), so the bug is running out of tinder for ICU?
I recognise some of what you say and I've got some great stories too, but I never enjoy doing it!
Cooking Firm tofu. Squeeze the block with kitchen roll and get as much moisture out as you can. After I cut into (big) cubes for frying I even squeeze them some more. Get. That. Moisture. Out. Of. There
No pre Marinade - every time I try it ends in disaster.
Big glug of oil in the pan and then get the oil temp hot, add in your cubes of tofu and then fight against every instinct and leave those fuckers. Do not touch them until you are absolutely sure they have got a crispy base (this is always longer then you think). Then you can carefully rotate them on their next side, after the first side has crisped it gets way easier and the Tofu loses it's tendency to stick.
Once cripsy on all side flash our your sauce/marinade and fry for 1-2 more minutes. I recommend something sweet and sticky and soy-ey.
I’m probably over invested in Berlin and its history, but the whole rape of German womanhood ‘event’ seems about much more than sex.
10% of the adult population is, needless to say, a LOT of people (somewhere in excess of five million.) The obvious threat is that Delta keeps finding more and more of them, and we all end up locked down for months as a result.
This is truly the most cowardly way the conservatives on the SC could have faced the issue.
I really don't understand those who have a penchant for boys and animals.
https://www.standard.co.uk/insider/royals/royals-tartan-scotland-prince-charles-camilla-duchess-of-cornwall-b953099.html?amp
Thanks for the tip. But do you have any opinion on the goal of reducing meat consumption by 30% for climate change reasons? Obviously, as it sounds reasonable to me, it must be bad, right?
The key though with vegetarian cooking is not to expect it to be like cooking with meat. I am not vegetarian, but only eat meat a couple of times a week. Vegetarian cuisine can be delicious, indeed much Indian and Mediterranean food is already.
It's like cutting out salt, or sugar. At first everything tastes odd, but after a while tastebuds adjust, and appreciation is there without the overpowering taste of meat.
AIUI from other PBers it is probably partly down to testing in advance of the 14 Aug return to school, partly due to tourists cramming places out.
Trouble is, no one here knows how to cook it. Or only knows one or two ways.
You?
Is that "have a penchant for {boys and animals}" or "{for boys} and {for animals}"? And why do you think it makes you better, worse or more interesting than any other poster? And are you giving us some kind of a clue about how s.28 was ever a thing?
Me, I can't resist buggering a hamster. Mad for it.
If restrictions are needed, but furlough is ending, there could be some difficult political decisions to be made, by both the Scottish and UK governments.
(Get's coat, and goes to find out why the house I have for sale has the bath full of water.)
It’s knowing you’re foreign that’s driving you mad.
Also useful perhaps for substituting out carb (eg rice).