Ridiculous Stories In The News

[Journeyman]

^That's not the first time that's happened, either.

I'm pretty sure that in the other stories I've read over the past few years, it's actually spectators that have been badly wounded or killed, as the birds try to escape and cut or stab people.

 

[Grand Potentate]

^That's not the first time that's happened, either.

I'm pretty sure that in the other stories I've read over the past few years, it's actually spectators that have been badly wounded or killed, as the birds try to escape and cut or stab people.

solidarity with our bird comrades

 

[Dropbear]

Ok, it’s not really news but this seems like the best place to drop this Dr Wolf gem.

 

[Pimpernel Smith]

Ok, it’s not really news but this seems like the best place to drop this Dr Wolf gem.

View attachment 36402

Spluttering in my tea! That can't be for real, can it?

 

[Journeyman]

Ok, it’s not really news but this seems like the best place to drop this Dr Wolf gem.

View attachment 36402

Spluttering in my tea! That can't be for real, can it?

Seems to have been real, but after people pointed out that Belfast was none of those things in the 1970s, she deleted the tweet and said that she meant the natural environment *elsewhere* in the 1970s, not in Belfast.

Of course, I have a very strong suspicion that at the same time as criticising 5G cellular phone network technology, she's sending her tweets out to the world using a mobile phone connected to a cellular phone network...

 

[Pimpernel Smith]

Seems to have been real, but after people pointed out that Belfast was none of those things in the 1970s, she deleted the tweet and said that she meant the natural environment *elsewhere* in the 1970s, not in Belfast.

Of course, I have a very strong suspicion that at the same time as criticising 5G cellular phone network technology, she's sending her tweets out to the world using a mobile phone connected to a cellular phone network...

It seems from her Wiki entry, this lady has a problem with conducting credible research and likes to make things up.

 

[Dropbear]

I read the Beauty Myth when it came out. I always assumed she had continued on a similar trajectory of making an academic career out of stating the bleeding obvious about the gender inequality we see in everyday life.

 

[Dropbear]

Oregon Could Soon Become the Second State to Legalize Composting Human Remains

A new bill currently in front of the Oregon House of Representatives would make it legal to dispose of dead bodies by means of “human composting,” otherwise known as alkaline hydrolysis or aqua-cremation. If passed, it would make Oregon only the second state to legalize such services.

www.wweek.com

 

[Grand Potentate]

Oregon Could Soon Become the Second State to Legalize Composting Human Remains

A new bill currently in front of the Oregon House of Representatives would make it legal to dispose of dead bodies by means of “human composting,” otherwise known as alkaline hydrolysis or aqua-cremation. If passed, it would make Oregon only the second state to legalize such services.

www.wweek.com

i've always liked the idea of the burial where you're in a shroud that "composts" and they plant you with the seed for a tree. kind of a nice way to live on as it were.

 

[Fwiffo]

Jordan Peterson's weird family empire

His multimillion-dollar corporation, run by his daughter, churns out podcasts, life-coaching sessions, T-shirts and bestsellers. His new book revives the machine that made him famous—and nearly destroyed him

torontolife.com

“In November, Vice reported that dozens of employees at Penguin Random House Canada, which holds Canadian rights to Beyond Order,had filed complaints to management, begging them not to publish it. The company held an internal town hall where several staffers broke into tears, ashamed to work for a company that would publish a book by, in the words of one young employee, an ’icon of hate speech,‘ and worried that doing so would negatively affect trans people.”

“Peterson’s motivations seem to be more existential than financial. He sees himself as a defender against the ’postmodern cultural relativists‘ and ’neo-Marxist indoctrination cults‘ infiltrating higher education, corrupting government and ushering in a reign of terror. As he watches the world get more woke, his mission only intensifies. He cannot rest when order hangs in the balance. He is spurred on by every book sale and podcast download, all of which are surely forms of validation, proof to him that his worldview is correct and reassurance that he is delivering the masses from evil.”

It’s that guy that Mr. Smith is enamoured with. Also known as that lecture I went to with my ex lady friend.

 

[Arnathor]

Cool story, Fwif. I hope JP eats more steak and makes a lot more money.

 

[Dropbear]

Let’s hope he checked into a legit rehab after the Russian quacks.

 

[Arnathor]

Putin challenges Biden to live debate

 

[fxh]

The kindest thing one can say about Peterson is that he's a fucking nut case.
Lobsters - LoL, ROFLMAO etc etc

Jordan Peterson's weird family empire

His multimillion-dollar corporation, run by his daughter, churns out podcasts, life-coaching sessions, T-shirts and bestsellers. His new book revives the machine that made him famous—and nearly destroyed him

torontolife.com

 

[Pimpernel Smith]

The kindest thing one can say about Peterson is that he's a fucking nut case.
Lobsters - LoL, ROFLMAO etc etc

Jordan Peterson's weird family empire

His multimillion-dollar corporation, run by his daughter, churns out podcasts, life-coaching sessions, T-shirts and bestsellers. His new book revives the machine that made him famous—and nearly destroyed him

torontolife.com

The weird thing about Jordan Peterson, he's not radical and doesn't stray from mainstream academia and established clinical psychology.

His maps of meaning and Youtube videos are well grounded, along with his marketing research, as are another Canadian, Gad Saad.

Peterson was jettisoned into being a major player in the cultural war, by the very people who wished to silence him. If not for their intervention, he would still be a very minor academic unknown outside of Canada and few followers on Youtube. I certainly wouldn't have come across him.

The pressure he was under was extreme and that video with Cathy Newman is a pivotal moment in the ongoing culture war. But few if anyone could withstand that pressure unaided with his wife with cancer too.

I bought 12 Rules of Life, well, I didn't finish it, it's a self-help book and as I am already sussed, I have no need for it. But again, nothing sinister in the content. Stuff that even 10 years ago, would pass for the mainstream.

We live in dark times where the establishment is attempting to curtail and restrict the masses through the policing of language. Peterson has stood up against that, so that's a good thing regardless of his diet and other failings.

 

[fxh]

The actual 12 rules - taken by themselves aren't a bad modernization of Dale Carnegie and a few other simplistic Christian disciplinarians of the past.

But read the intro on lobsters again and then tell me with a straight face how he is evidence based.

 

[Pimpernel Smith]

The actual 12 rules - taken by themselves aren't a bad modernization of Dale Carnegie and a few other simplistic Christian disciplinarians of the past.

But read the intro on lobsters again and then tell me with a straight face how he is evidence based.

Again, I didn't see anything controversial in that. Animal and human societies often have hierarchies and it may be hard wired into our DNA. Hardly something to get excited about. Nothing that would have got a qualified psychologist mocked and censored for in the past. Are the woke trying to tell us that human societies will exist without hierarchies once they have complete control of language and culture? Now that I find worthy of being laughed at.

 

[Fwiffo]

The actual 12 rules - taken by themselves aren't a bad modernization of Dale Carnegie and a few other simplistic Christian disciplinarians of the past.

But read the intro on lobsters again and then tell me with a straight face how he is evidence based.

This isn’t good. I went with my ex lady friend to the Jordan Peterson alumni lecture and at the time my then workplace put me through an 8 or 9 week Dale Carnegie course. I might have been unknowingly brainwashed.

 

[Pimpernel Smith]

This isn’t good. I went with my ex lady friend to the Jordan Peterson alumni lecture and at the time my then workplace put me through an 8 or 9 week Dale Carnegie course. I might have been unknowingly brainwashed.

You've brainwashed alright:

 

[formby002]

Again, I didn't see anything controversial in that. Animal and human societies often have hierarchies and it may be hard wired into our DNA. Hardly something to get excited about. Nothing that would have got a qualified psychologist mocked and censored for in the past. Are the woke trying to tell us that human societies will exist without hierarchies once they have complete control of language and culture? Now that I find worthy of being laughed at.

There's a political theory known as the Iron Law of Oligarchy.

 

[fxh]

This isn’t good. I went with my ex lady friend to the Jordan Peterson alumni lecture and at the time my then workplace put me through an 8 or 9 week Dale Carnegie course. I might have been unknowingly brainwashed.

I suppose that might explain a few things that have puzzled us about you

 

[Fwiffo]

I suppose that might explain a few things that have puzzled us about you

I was given this book with reading assignments. The book was ancient. Through Mad Men I can relate a bit to 1960s but if memory serves me correctly it was pre WW2 with stories of service men from God knows what war. They might want to update it to say Afghanistan or something. Soon it's going to be like reading Pride and Prejudice for Tinder tips.

The only things I really got out of it other than doing a short 2 or 3 minute talk every week followed by a longer almost 10 minute one was I met these two women - one I took to a baseball game and I figured out she was a few months from tying the knot. Her fiancee was not happy picking her up at 2am after another night of debauchery. And the other I still have on social media. She is not ageing well. Dodged a bullet there.

 

[Dropbear]

 

[Fwiffo]

View attachment 36680

I thought this shooting was misogyny and not necessarily anti Asian.

 

[Dropbear]

 

[Fwiffo]

In case you didn't understand the order to stop congregating in the relatively healthier coronavirus free air outside to see Japanese cherry blossom trees, the municipal government spent money to erect a fence. Or this frivolous exertion of human kind and material spending could have been avoided if people just complied like sheep.

 

[Arnathor]

In case you didn't understand the order to stop congregating in the relatively healthier coronavirus free air outside to see Japanese cherry blossom trees, the municipal government spent money to erect a fence. Or this frivolous exertion of human kind and material spending could have been avoided if people just complied like sheep.

Peoplekind

 

[Fwiffo]

Italian hospital employee accused of skipping work for 15 years

The hospital worker in southern Italy earned €538,000 while not going into work, media say.

www.bbc.com

This is like those people Pimpernel Smith wants to terminate.

 

[Grand Potentate]

Italian hospital employee accused of skipping work for 15 years

The hospital worker in southern Italy earned €538,000 while not going into work, media say.

www.bbc.com

This is like those people Pimpernel Smith wants to terminate.

fuck that this guy is a hero.

 

[Journeyman]

Italian hospital employee accused of skipping work for 15 years

The hospital worker in southern Italy earned €538,000 while not going into work, media say.

www.bbc.com

This is like those people Pimpernel Smith wants to terminate.

This reminds me of stories I have heard about Greece - but then both are in southern Europe (at the risk of stereotyping).

Apparently, it's almost impossible to be fired from a public service job in Greece, so many public servants simply don't turn up to work. This is particularly the case in summer, when many of them work another job in the tourist industry (this is pre-COVID) while still collecting their public service salary.

Cyprus is similar - a friend of mine moved there to marry a Cypriot lady whom he met at university in the UK. He tried on several occasions to go to the local government office to sort out his residency paperwork, but either no-one was there, or no-one could help him. His partner mentioned this to her father and so the next day, he took my friend to town. However, rather than going directly to the government office, they walked over to a cafe on the side of the square adjoining the government office. There, my friend's soon-to-be father-in-law greeted a man sitting at a table under an umbrella, sipping a coffee. This turned out to be the manager of the local government office. They sat and chatted for a while at the cafe and then the man took my friend's paperwork, ambled over to the office and came back shortly thereafter with everything stamped and approved. Then he sat down again and resumed drinking his coffee and reading the paper!

 

[robertito]

It has happened a few times in Spain before:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/feb/12/spanish-civil-servant-skipped-work-repay-wages-court

https://www.news.com.au/finance/wor...e/news-story/e7623219ac39c696812b368269b5ef59

A PUBLIC servant earning $80k a year managed to skip work for a decade, instead using his free time to run a male brothel.

 

[güero]

This reminds me of stories I have heard about Greece - but then both are in southern Europe (at the risk of stereotyping).

Apparently, it's almost impossible to be fired from a public service job in Greece, so many public servants simply don't turn up to work. This is particularly the case in summer, when many of them work another job in the tourist industry (this is pre-COVID) while still collecting their public service salary.

Cyprus is similar - a friend of mine moved there to marry a Cypriot lady whom he met at university in the UK. He tried on several occasions to go to the local government office to sort out his residency paperwork, but either no-one was there, or no-one could help him. His partner mentioned this to her father and so the next day, he took my friend to town. However, rather than going directly to the government office, they walked over to a cafe on the side of the square adjoining the government office. There, my friend's soon-to-be father-in-law greeted a man sitting at a table under an umbrella, sipping a coffee. This turned out to be the manager of the local government office. They sat and chatted for a while at the cafe and then the man took my friend's paperwork, ambled over to the office and came back shortly thereafter with everything stamped and approved. Then he sat down again and resumed drinking his coffee and reading the paper!

Greece is awesome! Too bad the EU is trying to destroy their way of life. I remember one guy telling us that used to manage the local post office (in a remote village where basically no mail ever arrived or was sent) and retired with full salary at something like 50, which at least used to be the standard, bought some cheap beachfront property a couple of kms away to have his wife run a B&B while he spent most of time with his olive and peach yards. He also said that they never ever went to the beach from his remote village but instead used to swim in a small river, he actually never went swimming in the sea until the first tourists arrived a few decades ago.

 

[Pimpernel Smith]

Italian hospital employee accused of skipping work for 15 years

The hospital worker in southern Italy earned €538,000 while not going into work, media say.

www.bbc.com

This is like those people Pimpernel Smith wants to terminate.

It's the system, smash the system now!

This reminds me of stories I have heard about Greece - but then both are in southern Europe (at the risk of stereotyping).

Apparently, it's almost impossible to be fired from a public service job in Greece, so many public servants simply don't turn up to work. This is particularly the case in summer, when many of them work another job in the tourist industry (this is pre-COVID) while still collecting their public service salary.

Cyprus is similar - a friend of mine moved there to marry a Cypriot lady whom he met at university in the UK. He tried on several occasions to go to the local government office to sort out his residency paperwork, but either no-one was there, or no-one could help him. His partner mentioned this to her father and so the next day, he took my friend to town. However, rather than going directly to the government office, they walked over to a cafe on the side of the square adjoining the government office. There, my friend's soon-to-be father-in-law greeted a man sitting at a table under an umbrella, sipping a coffee. This turned out to be the manager of the local government office. They sat and chatted for a while at the cafe and then the man took my friend's paperwork, ambled over to the office and came back shortly thereafter with everything stamped and approved. Then he sat down again and resumed drinking his coffee and reading the paper!

An ex-colleague of mine worked in Athens for a long time. He said the winters were foul with cold fogs and as the well travelled expat knows the Med out of season isn't what you're looking for. So enchanted retirees beware! He did tell me that it was corrupt as could be with the proverbial endless building work on houses, dodgy dealings and if you married a local, they expected you to resign your position and go to work for her father.

The guy I employed in Rio to by my right-hand man and guide to the real Brazil, had a father who worked for the civil service there. He said the main offices were filled with absolute gorgeous ladies in secretarial positions and therefore very available for affairs. On Friday the offices were basically closed, you turned up and by 11 you were off to have a good time. As a retirement slush fund, his father, got the fire service budget to manage of a remote town somewhere in Brazil.

It has happened a few times in Spain before:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/feb/12/spanish-civil-servant-skipped-work-repay-wages-court

https://www.news.com.au/finance/wor...e/news-story/e7623219ac39c696812b368269b5ef59

A PUBLIC servant earning $80k a year managed to skip work for a decade, instead using his free time to run a male brothel.

Which was the most lucrative? Not that I'm looking to make a side line career change. Thanks!

 

[Grand Potentate]

Greece is awesome! Too bad the EU is trying to destroy their way of life. I remember one guy telling us that used to manage the local post office (in a remote village where basically no mail ever arrived or was sent) and retired with full salary at something like 50, which at least used to be the standard, bought some cheap beachfront property a couple of kms away to have his wife run a B&B while he spent most of time with his olive and peach yards. He also said that they never ever went to the beach from his remote village but instead used to swim in a small river, he actually never went swimming in the sea until the first tourists arrived a few decades ago.

this is EXACTLY what life should be like for everyone

 

[Fwiffo]

Epicurious: US food website ditches beef in new recipes over environment

Editors of the US site describe the move as "not anti-beef, but rather pro-planet".

www.bbc.com

Looks like I'm going to have to go elsewhere to get my recipes for brasato al barolo or daube de boeuf.

 

[Kingstonian]

Epicurious: US food website ditches beef in new recipes over environment

Editors of the US site describe the move as "not anti-beef, but rather pro-planet".

www.bbc.com

Looks like I'm going to have to go elsewhere to get my recipes for brasato al barolo or daube de boeuf.

Barolo seems rather an expensive wine to cook with. It’s often nothing special either.

 

[Arnathor]

Report: Joe Biden Plans to Ban Menthol Cigarettes

What Is up with this guy?

 

[Thruth]

Report: Joe Biden Plans to Ban Menthol Cigarettes

What Is up with this guy?

Why? What do you understand the rationale for banning of menthol smokes to be? Where were you when Canada was banning menthol throat rockets only a few short years ago? In know you are renouncing your Canadian citizenship to go live in poverty in Jamaica but besides you not liking the Biden, what is your ish?

 

[Arnathor]

Why? What do you understand the rationale for banning of menthol smokes to be? Where were you when Canada was banning menthol throat rockets only a few short years ago? In know you are renouncing your Canadian citizenship to go live in poverty in Jamaica but besides you not liking the Biden, what is your ish?

If the yanks want it, so be it! For a country of supposed rugged individualism the government is eye-wateringly gigantic. Funny observation through Covid some smokers here won't cross the street in order to pass you whilst walking, makes me feel a little more normal and you know how us Millennials are it is all about muh feels.

Lastly, I am not renouncing my citizenship, I am entitled to apply for Jamaican citizenship based on marriage, which I will do at some point, for the paltry sum of $290 CAD and a few documents and a polite letter. Skipping winter and having a plot of land with ackee, coconut and banana trees does not sound like poverty to me, plus there are those destination weddings to photograph. Don't forget the rum, St. Elizabeth parish is home to Appleton Estate, yummmm.

 

[Thruth]

If the yanks want it, so be it! For a country of supposed rugged individualism the government is eye-wateringly gigantic. Funny observation through Covid some smokers here won't cross the street in order to pass you whilst walking, makes me feel a little more normal and you know how us Millennials are it is all about muh feels.

Lastly, I am not renouncing my citizenship, I am entitled to apply for Jamaican citizenship based on marriage, which I will do at some point, for the paltry sum of $290 CAD and a few documents and a polite letter. Skipping winter and having a plot of land with ackee, coconut and banana trees does not sound like poverty to me, plus there are those destination weddings to photograph. Don't forget the rum, St. Elizabeth parish is home to Appleton Estate, yummmm.

Ever look at 5-year lung cancer survival rate US African Americans versus the rest of the population? Anyway, you did to answer the question, at least about the menthol smoke ban.

Hmmm, your previous statement on leaving Canada was stronger than your current one. Good luck in Jamaica. Glad you will be the only wedding photog there. I've never moved anywhere for rum or bananas. Only increasing earnings. Proper business mercenary.