The “ I’ve got something to say, but it doesn’t warrant its own thread “ thread.

[SpacedX]

When I was a kid, my bedroom walls were plastered in posters of guitar heroes, (RIP Jeff Beck), football players, rockets, motorcycles and astronauts - oh, and Farrah Fawcett Majors. But there's something very sinister about this notion of online influencer which can creep into and pervade the very fabric of a household. I shudder to think how young some of these impressionable children are, that are indoctrinated and in the grip of such vile people. 

[taupe]

39 minutes ago, Line-X said:

Farrah Fawcett Majors

My, she was seriously hot in her day, despite the hairdo! Plus, as a rule, I seem to prefer dusky brunettes.  

[Heskey2011]

57 minutes ago, Line-X said:

When I was a kid, my bedroom walls were plastered in posters of guitar heroes, (RIP Jeff Beck), football players, rockets, motorcycles and astronauts - oh, and Farrah Fawcett Majors. But there's something very sinister about this notion of online influencer which can creep into and pervade the very fabric of a household. I shudder to think how young some of these impressionable children are, that are indoctrinated and in the grip of such vile people. 

Hear that mate, I got 5year old twins and the future terrifies me.

 

[Heskey2011]

On 09/01/2023 at 20:51, Miquel The Work Geordie said:

I've got a Nespresso machine and it does a job but I was rattling through 4/5 in a morning and finding I was having insane stomach cramps more than any anxiety; I'm trying to go Jan without and so far I'm sleeping worse if anything ffs.

 

Might just get some decaf pods because I just like the smell and taste of it first thing more than any effects of caffeine itself.

Wow bet that costa bit.  Takes a good while for your body to get used to less caffeine i think.

I've been on 20+ cups of tea for decades swapped for camomile and honey from like 9pm onwards a few years ago and that's deffo helped my guts and sleep.

Used to have a brew before bed 😫.

 

[leicsmac]

37 minutes ago, Heskey2011 said:

Hear that mate, I got 5year old twins and the future terrifies me.

 

Understandably so.

 

Human technological development and the power that goes with it is moving so much faster than our ethical minds when it comes to applying it.

 

We need to keep the pace of that development going as it is a necessity, but somehow (and I've no idea how) get the other part of our brains to advance at the same speed. If we don't, the future really could be scary.

[FoyleFox]

The cost of pet insurance is ridiculous. The dog costs more to insure than my car, by about £300. And to add insult to injury, I've just updated our address, from Northern Ireland to Leicestershire, which has added another £3 a month.

[Bordersfox]

12 minutes ago, FoyleFox said:

The cost of pet insurance is ridiculous. The dog costs more to insure than my car, by about £300. And to add insult to injury, I've just updated our address, from Northern Ireland to Leicestershire, which has added another £3 a month.

True but I will say (and perhaps I've been unlucky with sickly pets) I've had to call upon my pet insurance far more than my car insurance.  My last pooch would have bankrupted me without insurance.  Many pound notes.  

 

Sh1t just realised I'm one of the causes of higher premiums.  Sorry about that.  

[FoyleFox]

Thanks, it's your fault then

Vet bills are also astonishing. Our former furry friend had a couple of operations which were many £££, post op care was about £100 a night and she wasn't insured (not my doing).

We've had this policy since we adopted our current pooch 9 years ago, and haven't used it once.

[LiberalFox]

It's hard to know how big a deal someone like Andrew Tate actually is. In my day parents were freaking out because their kids were listening to gangster rap with its violent, misogynistic and often anti-semitic and racist lyrics. 

[leicsmac]

1 hour ago, LiberalFox said:

It's hard to know how big a deal someone like Andrew Tate actually is. In my day parents were freaking out because their kids were listening to gangster rap with its violent, misogynistic and often anti-semitic and racist lyrics. 

I'm inclined to think that there's a difference between musical lyrics that glorify misogyny, and having someone with considerable reach actively push it as a course of action that those who listen to him should follow.

 

Edit: Additionally, I'm pretty sure if such lyrics were released today they'd get a pretty negative reception too. At least some of society has progressed in terms of such things in the last couple of decades.

Edited 12 January 2023 by leicsmac

[kenny]

1 hour ago, FoyleFox said:

Thanks, it's your fault then

Vet bills are also astonishing. Our former furry friend had a couple of operations which were many £££, post op care was about £100 a night and she wasn't insured (not my doing).

We've had this policy since we adopted our current pooch 9 years ago, and haven't used it once.

Unless its 100% a pedigree then always advise them its a mongrel. Saves you loads in insurance and is generally true unless its KC registered.

[Parafox]

8 hours ago, leicsmac said:

Understandably so.

 

Human technological development and the power that goes with it is moving so much faster than our ethical minds when it comes to applying it.

 

We need to keep the pace of that development going as it is a necessity, but somehow (and I've no idea how) get the other part of our brains to advance at the same speed. If we don't, the future really could be scary.

I do wonder what the regular folks made of things like the industrial revolution, when all the things they knew and understood began to advance and develop at a rapid pace and they might have felt left behind.

The introduction of mechanisation and mass production must have been daunting for those that worked in cottage industries with one knitting frame in their home, making socks.

It's a similar thing now from my own POV. I am beginning to understand how my parents struggled with the advances in tech. These days Things are moving forward at such a pace that it's difficult at times for me to keep up and it's beginning to leave me behind. 

[kenny]

5 hours ago, leicsmac said:

I'm inclined to think that there's a difference between musical lyrics that glorify misogyny, and having someone with considerable reach actively push it as a course of action that those who listen to him should follow.

 

Edit: Additionally, I'm pretty sure if such lyrics were released today they'd get a pretty negative reception too. At least some of society has progressed in terms of such things in the last couple of decades.

Might be worth you looking at the lyrics in the charts. More than half the songs reference drug taking, plenty of misogyny there too. 

 

I don't know the songs in question, but the lyrics as written are fairly grim generally! 

 

[Free Falling Foxes]

Rarely use the libraries in the city so I wasn't surprised my library card needed 'reactivating'.

Despite passing the fella my card, he wouldn't do it as he needed something with my name and address on as proof.

I asked if he could see my name and address on his screen. He could. I then told him my name and address. Still needed a letter or something with my address on as proof he said.

I happened to have my ID badge with me but that was no use either.

Seemed over the top to me.

[grobyfox1990]

28 minutes ago, Free Falling Foxes said:

Rarely use the libraries in the city so I wasn't surprised my library card needed 'reactivating'.

Despite passing the fella my card, he wouldn't do it as he needed something with my name and address on as proof.

I asked if he could see my name and address on his screen. He could. I then told him my name and address. Still needed a letter or something with my address on as proof he said.

I happened to have my ID badge with me but that was no use either.

Seemed over the top to me.

And this is why tech will take over swathes of jobs. The only advantage we as humans have is we aren’t machines following a script and can apply some logic, common sense and adapt to unscripted situations. People like the above don’t help the human cause 

[leicsmac]

5 hours ago, Parafox said:

I do wonder what the regular folks made of things like the industrial revolution, when all the things they knew and understood began to advance and develop at a rapid pace and they might have felt left behind.

The introduction of mechanisation and mass production must have been daunting for those that worked in cottage industries with one knitting frame in their home, making socks.

It's a similar thing now from my own POV. I am beginning to understand how my parents struggled with the advances in tech. These days Things are moving forward at such a pace that it's difficult at times for me to keep up and it's beginning to leave me behind. 

I guess it's been part of society one way or another for the last couple of centuries. We can say that it's "different" this time in some way, but is it really different from tech advances in the past? Difficult to say, and to prove.

 

Like I said, I embrace the speed at which tech is advancing as I think it critical to our future survival as a species, but there does have to be questions answered about how our human sense of ethics comes into play concerning it.

 

5 hours ago, kenny said:

Might be worth you looking at the lyrics in the charts. More than half the songs reference drug taking, plenty of misogyny there too. 

 

I don't know the songs in question, but the lyrics as written are fairly grim generally! 

 

I'll take your word for it on that one.

 

I think the point in the first paragraph of my reply still stands.

[Jon the Hat]

I see the Brit awards best artist category has an all male list of nominees. The second year after they removed gendered best artist categories and woman are out.  Who would have thought that could happen?  Literally removing 51% of the population from awards to pander to a tiny but vocal minority and their misogynistic supporters.  *****.

Edited 13 January 2023 by Jon the Hat

[kenny]

6 hours ago, leicsmac said:

I guess it's been part of society one way or another for the last couple of centuries. We can say that it's "different" this time in some way, but is it really different from tech advances in the past? Difficult to say, and to prove.

 

Like I said, I embrace the speed at which tech is advancing as I think it critical to our future survival as a species, but there does have to be questions answered about how our human sense of ethics comes into play concerning it.

 

I'll take your word for it on that one.

 

I think the point in the first paragraph of my reply still stands.

I don't agree. Andrew Tate is generally derided despite his popularity. He has 4.5m followers worldwide, which is a lot but not so much in the context of worldwide social media usage.

 

Popular music will always be a celebrated and accepted artform. As such, any messaging in music holds more sway in society for me.

[leicsmac]

1 hour ago, kenny said:

I don't agree. Andrew Tate is generally derided despite his popularity. He has 4.5m followers worldwide, which is a lot but not so much in the context of worldwide social media usage.

 

Popular music will always be a celebrated and accepted artform. As such, any messaging in music holds more sway in society for me.

Tate is far from the only person directly advocating such misogyny though, even though he's likely the most popular.

 

In any case, I'll continue to maintain (and while I don't have evidence for this I think it's logical) that someone directly telling folks they can do nasty things is much worse than situations where doing those things is simply implied even if there is a difference in audience number, because the former has a much larger chance of people actually taking the words seriously and doing those nasty things for real.

[marbles]

8 hours ago, Jon the Hat said:

I see the Brit awards best artist category has an all male list of nominees. The second year after they removed gendered best artist categories and woman are out.  Who would have thought that could happen?  Literally removing 51% of the population from awards to pander to a tiny but vocal minority and their misogynistic supporters.  *****.

This is a curiosity to me - let’s say no women (or it could be men - either way doesn’t matter for this scenario) put out any music worth a damn in a calendar year.  Would you still expect both men and women to be represented in the category?

 

Not saying this happened, but I am curious what your opinion on it would be

[LiberalFox]

I'm a man and I've never been considered for a Brit award. Literally removing the vast majority of society who have no musical talent to appease a vocally gifted and loudly tuneful minority and their supporters! 

[Parafox]

I wanted to treat my Mrs to a show in London. she loves Moulin Rouge, the film, and there is now a musical version in the West End.

 

I looked online. Tickets from £66. Great, yes lets book.

 

All available tickets are now £199 up to late April/May unless you want to sit outside.

 

 

 

[Milo]

1 hour ago, Parafox said:

I wanted to treat my Mrs to a show in London. she loves Moulin Rouge, the film, and there is now a musical version in the West End.

 

I looked online. Tickets from £66. Great, yes lets book.

 

All available tickets are now £199 up to late April/May unless you want to sit outside.

 

 

 

Have a look on something like todaytix.com

 

I’ve just had a quick look and there’s a fair bit of availability for Jan/Feb - Stalls ninety odd quid and total circle £75. 
 

Not exactly cheap, but kind of the going rate. 
 

Explore different days of the week and matinees as they can be a bit cheaper. 

[urban.spaceman]

Grief really makes me utterly and profoundly loathe the abrahamic faiths. Especially their "god". I don't actually believe he exists but if he did, he's a ******* ****.

 

I don't really care if this alienates me to other members. It's just the way I feel and I believe it's a valid viewpoint.

 

Hasa Diga Eebowai.

Edited 14 January 2023 by urban.spaceman

[LiberalFox]

On 13/01/2023 at 09:33, marbles said:

This is a curiosity to me - let’s say no women (or it could be men - either way doesn’t matter for this scenario) put out any music worth a damn in a calendar year.  Would you still expect both men and women to be represented in the category?

 

Not saying this happened, but I am curious what your opinion on it would be

I think Jon's position is linked to his opinions on trans issues (I'm assuming a bit but the language used and his history on the matter make me think this). The context is that there used to be a separate gender category for men and women best artist but this was changed and it was changed after a prominent artist (Sam Smith) who is non-binary made it known they were upset that there wasn't a category that they felt included them. 

 

From an 'inclusiveness' point of view the argument in favour of gender segregation tends to be that society is biased towards men and that an 'open' category would therefore be dominated my men perpetuating a cycle of men being seen as more competent and undervaluing women. 

 

Having looked at the issue myself it's not clear to me that women are being disadvantaged. It seems across the range of categories that there was a much more even balance in terms of gender. For a 5 nominee list you would have a chance of 1 in 32 to pick 5 people of the same gender in a given category which isn't mathematically that unlikely. Last year a woman (Adele) won the category. 

 

I think the issue was poorly handled because Sam Smith made his feelings known and the organisers first reacted by rejecting his criticism and then reversing their decision and that gives the impression that these things can be swayed by applying pressure.

 

I think you could easily compromise by simply saying each applicable category must include at least 1 man and 1 woman. At the end of the day the whole thing is a first world problem.