Rant thread

[Maximus Decimus]

11 minutes ago, Farmduck said:

Shapiro is one of the few right wing commentators who is not a mindless Trumpista. The other day I saw his dissection of the God Emperor's press conference and Florida election rally. He rightly called out The Donald over the "Press is the enemy of the people" and a few other incoherent ramblings and he's prepared to lay the blame right at Trump's feet. Too many others are overusing the tired line that everything Trump does wrong is really just MSM vendetta.

Thunderfoot did a critique of Lauren Southern's reporting of an Antifa riot where she, well, let's just say she made very little effort to distinguish between the orderly anti-Trump protest and the Antifa antics that followed. Lauren is a bit like Tomi Lahren in that, if they were 30kg heavier, they would lose 75% of their audiences. Tomi Lahren also doesn't have much substance behind the blonde hair and basic talking points.

I've watched a couple of full Rubins. I wish he'd get to the point a bit quicker but he is a nice change, in having a good variety of guests without making the show all about him. I think his channel will grow then maybe he will have to tighten up his format a bit.

Jordan Petersen is, IMO, a one-trick pony who found himself thrust into the spotlight because of the Canadian hate-speech legislation. I think he's even a Christian and some of his other ideas seem less than fully fleshed out. Jonathan Haidt is another academic who has a good vid about polarisation in the electorate but has no full-spectrum platform.

I like Vernaculis who is from Boston I think. He's only 23 but a good clear thinker. He's pro-First and Second Amendment but not really conservative and definitely not a Trump apologist.

I like Haidt, he seems to be a much clearer thinker. I'm not sure Peterson is even right over his one issue. 

Rubin's philosophy is largely about letting people on both sides say their piece and then letting the audience make up their minds as to what they believe. This is all very well in theory but I'd like to see more people from the left including actual SJWs. There tends to be a preponderance of right leaning guests.

Thunderf00t did a great job of showing up Southern's overreaction to the protesters. Even if they were anti-Trumpists, they were so few in number that it was ridiculous to say that this is what anti-Trump people look like. Tomi Lahren looked silly on Bill Maher recently too. 

To be fair to Shapiro he was due to debate Milo but Milo kept on pulling out for whatever reason (according to him). 

[Maximus Decimus]

4 minutes ago, Futtocks said:

I used to listen to music radio a lot, especially Radio Luxembourg, but I suffered a traumatic incident in the late Eighties. We lived on top of a hill, and a radio could pull in a lot of stations. One night, I was trawling the airwaves, looking for something to enjoy, and every pop music station was playing a Madonna single. My more or less complete conversion to speech radio dates from that horrific, stomach-churning moment.

I listen to Radio 4, Radio 4 Extra, Radio 5 and the World Service a lot, plus Radio 3 for specific broadcasts whose listings catch my attention. If there's anything worth keeping, Squarepenguin's very useful get_iplayer software downloads it to my hard drive.

get_iplayer from Squarepenguin

I have tried audiobooks, but they have never really done it for me. The attention drifts. My last job saw me spending 3 hours a day (minimum) commuting, but it was mostly in empty trains, so I could read loads.

This was my concern prior to reading audiobooks, I thought I wouldn't be able to pay attention but oddly it's very rarely been a problem.

[longboard]

'Trainings.'

What's wrong with 'training?'

 

[tonyXIII]

38 minutes ago, longboard said:

'Trainings.'

What's wrong with 'training?'

 

It's too much like hard work. Or should that be "hard works"?

 

Edited February 23, 2017 by tonyXIII
trying for perfection

[Farmduck]

6 hours ago, Griff9of13 said:

I question many of the things I hold true. Often. It's only by constant questioning can you have any possibility of being right (right being your own subjective right rather than a definite "right").

Yes there is no universal correctness. Even on issues where I've assembled all the facts and stats I still think it's appropriate (as a human) to adjust my final policy position to achieve a more "humane" outcome. The other important consideration is that context changes over time. When I left school the dole was only $10/week but unemployment in my city was under 2% so nobody was ever unemployed long enough to qualify for the dole anyway. Obviously now that "normal" is around 5-6% you would have to rethink that policy.

The truest test of anyone's commitment to developing good policy is whether they would adopt a position which would disadvantage them personally. There's an unusual (for a philosopher) quote from David Hume that "Reason is, and ought only to be the slave of the passions, and can never pretend to any other office than to serve and obey them." Most philosophers would probably say that we search for moral truth then try to live up to it. I interpret Hume's quote as, "We chase whatever we want then think up reasons to justify it."

[JohnM]

7 hours ago, longboard said:

'Trainings.'

What's wrong with 'training?'

 

Worse still:

Co-workers.  It's  COLLEAGUES! !!!!!!!!!

And its LESSONS....Not learnings

And it's ME...not Myself!

PS....I find varifocals great, though the utility depends on how strong or weak the prescription.

Audio books never did it for me, but I can change the font size on my various devices that run Kindle.

[ckn]

1 hour ago, JohnM said:

Co-workers.  It's  COLLEAGUES! !!!!!!!!!

I prefer cow-orkers.  Describes people I've worked with over the years much more accurately.

[Mumby Magic]

Don't know if I have put this previously but people commenting at work negatively about what people are eating. I had a very loud "errrrrrrggh" because I dared to put tomato ketchup on a fish. In addition I had some very rude women retching deliberately because I dared to eat black pudding.

[heartofGold]

29 minutes ago, Mumby Magic said:

Don't know if I have put this previously but people commenting at work negatively about what people are eating. I had a very loud "errrrrrrggh" because I dared to put tomato ketchup on a fish. In addition I had some very rude women retching deliberately because I dared to eat black pudding.

Try working with nurses on that subject.  We have a kitchen/sitting room to eat our lunch in but I'm b*gg8r*d if I'm gonna sit there just to have some staff nurse make loud scathing remarks like "don't you need some carbs with that?!".  

Like you I have also had people making retching noises as I open a can of pilchards.  I eat at my desk now................COMMENT FREE AND CARB FREE

[clwydianrange]

46 minutes ago, Mumby Magic said:

Don't know if I have put this previously but people commenting at work negatively about what people are eating. I had a very loud "errrrrrrggh" because I dared to put tomato ketchup on a fish. In addition I had some very rude women retching deliberately because I dared to eat black pudding.

Nowt wrong with a bit of black pudding especially the one with the lathe globules of fat. It makes a breakfast and a slice or two of savoury duck doesn't go amiss either.

[Robin Evans]

2 minutes ago, clwydianrange said:

Nowt wrong with a bit of black pudding especially the one with the lathe globules of fat. It makes a breakfast and a slice or two of savoury duck doesn't go amiss either.

100% agree. Fatty black pud is a breakfast essential. Not many do a nice savoury duck nowadays but you can still get em on donny market. Love a nice duck me...

[Bleep1673]

2 hours ago, heartofGold said:

Try working with nurses on that subject.  We have a kitchen/sitting room to eat our lunch in but I'm b*gg8r*d if I'm gonna sit there just to have some staff nurse make loud scathing remarks like "don't you need some carbs with that?!".  

Like you I have also had people making retching noises as I open a can of pilchards.  I eat at my desk now................COMMENT FREE AND CARB FREE

I used to work in Operating theatres, you got away with most things for lunch/supper. Even down south

[Bob8]

1 hour ago, clwydianrange said:

Nowt wrong with a bit of black pudding especially the one with the lathe globules of fat. It makes a breakfast and a slice or two of savoury duck doesn't go amiss either.

Quite so.

One of the most acclaimed English foods from foreign food aficionados is pork scratchings, despite the snobbery. 

[Bob8]

In these Brexit times, it is clear that it is time to clamp down hard of fussy eaters and throw them out of the UK.  I do not mean people with allergies, nor veggies.  I mean people who not only prefer boring food, but insist that everyone else has boring food too.

I recently joined a Danish project group in Portsmouth.  They were eating at a Jamie Oliver's and the Holiday Inn as apparently, there was not realistic chance of finding something better in an English city.  In the first week, we had found several far better places and sure enough the one who had insisted that there was nothing better and it was England's fault that the food was bland had chosed the most boring thing on every menu.

You want korma?  That's fine.  I will have a Madras.  But you want to share and you do not like spicey food?  No - we are not having tikka masala and korma as I do not have the palate of the five year old.  Indeed, from next month, in that scenario, we are having madras and vindaloo.

In the USA, the situation is worse.  The disagreement about whether one packet or two of coffee go into the filter coffee machine should be straight forward.  Put two in and it is easy to add hot water to your coffee if you like it weaker.  But no!  The boring people want to have one packet as they are not happy unless everyone is bored too.

And oysters!  My Mum was having her first oyster.  Boring eater has to continually shout about how disgusting oysters are while she tries to eat it.  They cannot handle people enjoying life outside of their pathetic boundaries.

And people who are veggie, but will eat chicken.  They can flip right off.

People who sneer at black pudding, offal, or pork scratchings, but will eat off that stuff if it is mushed up and sold in a Jamie Oliver ready made lasagne.  Generally, will eat any food as long as it is boring and ideally everyone else should have to do the same.

Edited February 24, 2017 by Bob8

[Bearman]

3 hours ago, clwydianrange said:

Nowt wrong with a bit of black pudding especially the one with the lathe globules of fat. It makes a breakfast and a slice or two of savoury duck doesn't go amiss either.

Faggots

[Bearman]

"Can I get a...." 

Which reminds me of two guys that were window shopping,  one said to the other "that's  the one I'd get"  just then Polyphemus came round the corner and thumped him. 

[Old Frightful]

On 2/24/2017 at 10:18 PM, Bearman said:

"Can I get a...." 

Which reminds me of two guys that were window shopping,  one said to the other "that's  the one I'd get"  just then Polyphemus came round the corner and thumped him. 

Did he have his Wigan scarf on?

[Bleep1673]

On ‎24‎/‎02‎/‎2017 at 6:32 PM, Bob8 said:

 

And oysters!  My Mum was having her first oyster.  Boring eater has to continually shout about how disgusting oysters are while she tries to eat it.  They cannot handle people enjoying life outside of their pathetic boundaries.

 

I had Oysters for the first time 2 years ago, not because I am a fussy eater, but because I wanted really fresh LOCAL ones, and when I was taken out for dinner in Hastings Old Town I thought that was the perfect place to try them, I fell in love with them straight away. Just about the only thing I won't eat is cucumber, because the taste overpowers whatever it's served with.

I used to dislike Black Pudding, but back in the 1980's I was play RL in St Helens (Boilermakers I think), and for the post match meal I was starving, when they served Black pud & mushy peas, I was so hungry I ate it and really enjoyed it

[ckn]

And that's it. One ethically bankrupt decision too far.  Time to polish the CV.   I will not take collective responsibility for a decision that's beyond unacceptable.  Get some other mug to implement it.

[Mark S]

The BBC obsessing over a mistake at some American film awards, whilst the country collapses around them.

[JohnM]

The country is NOT collapsing, though. Complete nonsense.  However, if you are ranting about the celebrity culture and the self important luvvie nonentities getting involved in things beyond their mental capacities,  I'm with you.

Edited February 27, 2017 by JohnM

[Bleep1673]

4 hours ago, Mark S said:

The BBC obsessing over a mistake at some American film awards, whilst the country collapses around them.

The BBC obsessing over a stupid American auditing, wrong placement of envelope, taking the pi$$ over the dumn at$£ Yanks not being able to organise a Poo Up in a brewery, then maybe yes,

It was a mistake, Only 2 people know who has won all 35 awards, and they have to memorise them in case of betting regulations, they can't write the winners down. It is C*ap but it is Monday morning slow news day, when even a Leigh win wouldn't make the G Manchester News

[Futtocks]

4 hours ago, Mark S said:

The BBC obsessing over a mistake at some American film awards, whilst the country collapses around them.

The BBC covering several other stories too, because they, like most people, can focus on more than one subject a day.

But the Oscars cock-up was an entertaining interlude in the news bulletins.

[longboard]

28 minutes ago, Futtocks said:

The BBC covering several other stories too, because they, like most people, can focus on more than one subject a day.

But the Oscars cock-up was an entertaining interlude in the news bulletins.

Far too much time devoted to it on R4 this am. 

Nowt about Jermaine McGillvray's injury.

Harrumph.

[ckn]

7 hours ago, ckn said:

And that's it. One ethically bankrupt decision too far.  Time to polish the CV.   I will not take collective responsibility for a decision that's beyond unacceptable.  Get some other mug to implement it.

You know how the saying is "act in haste, repent at leisure". Well, my resignation letter is written and I've set myself a deadline to hand it in of either Wednesday morning if I don't stop being angry or tomorrow if I'm pushed to make a decision.  Alternatively, I may go get myself signed off as I'm so burned out I'm getting severely dysfunctional.  I'll see what I'm like in the morning.

I've no idea how people put up with this for decades with any shred of ethical rigour left.  I'm fed up of the funny looks when I query the ethicality of a decision or comments about "that's not how things work" when I push to understand the "why" of a dubious decision.

It has taken the NHS to break in me what couldn't be done with two war zones, a tour of NI, damaging my body so far in the army that I'm officially disabled with a war pension, almost two decades of multinational work stress, seven years of my wife being severely ill with five separate incidents where I had the "chat" with the consultant about her future.  None of that broke me, the NHS has.

----

Edit: After the cathartic nature of typing that, my phone is set for 7:55 when I'll call the GP surgery for an appointment. 

I like this forum just for a place I can come and let rip while working things through.

So, thanks for reading and sorry for the self indulgent rant.