Re: The Bigger, Badder, Even More Serious Thread [5]

[Pettytyrant101]

[azriel]

That brought a lump to my throat & a large warm tear to my eyes We really don't appreciate or realise what all these people did, for us, for everyone !! We take all we hear for granted. It seems so far away & out of our touch so that we become ignorant to the hell, suffering & heartbreak that was World War 2.......& WW1......& all the wars that 15 & 16 yr old boys joined up into pretending they were older, willing to fight, not coming back. Mothers broken hearted when the men were killed. The stench, the blood, blown off limbs, screams, explosions day in, night out. And there's this humble but proud older man, 91yrs old !! that can tell us how it was. We are so fooking lucky we are not in the same boat HE was when he was a lad !!

[Pettytyrant101]

We are so fooking lucky we are not in the same boat HE was when he was a lad !! -Azriel

{{Looking round the world I am increasingly unsure it will stay that way and we be needing a paddle.

Brexit. Then the rise of Trump. Dutch elections next? Right wing are waiting in the wings there, folk emboldened by previous results for the right and for 'taking back' their country. Penn in France? Nice bloc of neo-nazi support for her there. I fear a domino effect across Europe in which mainly the right and the far right succeed (and many of the far right groups are funded, directly or indirectly by Russia, just as they were in Ukraine).
So if say Putin were to decide to reclaim some Baltic territory as he did Ukraine, who is going to go stop him? His friendly right wing neighbours? Are they going to support NATO any more than Trump seems likely to?
What happens if one of the Baltic states defends itself. Are treaties honoured? And if so would that not be war with Russia? A war in which a right-wing France ect and Putin embracing Trump might be more inclined to side with Putin than the traditional Western allies. And where would the UK stand in all this?- out of the EU but bound by NATO treaty?

Just a train of causality that probably, hopefully will never happen, but which seems plausible at least right now given Putins recent history and the results of Brexit and US elections.

The key factor will be in if this trend continues across Europe in the upcoming elections there. }}}

[malickfan]

Another Earthquake has hit New Zealand:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-37967178

No reports of any casualties so far, my thoughts are with all Kiwis.

[Pettytyrant101]

{{{I think they sum the year up rather well so far- and in song too}}}

[Mrs Figg]

2016 sucks.

[azriel]

bloody LOVED that song ! spot on !!! I'm sharing that !!!!

[Pettytyrant101]

{{{For those who think gun control cant work}}

'The number of recorded crimes in Scotland involving firearms has fallen by nearly 75% in 10 years, according to new figures.
An air weapon was the main firearm in nearly half (48%) of all offences involving a firearm in 2015-16.
Firearms featured in 1.8% of homicides (one offence), 1.4% of attempted murders (four offences) and 1.9% of robberies (25 offences).
Official figures showed only 0.1% of all serious assaults, all common assaults and all vandalism offences involved the use of a firearm.' - BBC

{{{And at the end of this month new laws come in with further controls on air weapons-}}

'Police Scotland said 17,069 weapons had been handed in and 8,320 people had applied for a licence.'

"It is encouraging to see air weapons being used in fewer crimes, but they still account for half of the firearms involved in offending.

"Our new air weapons licensing laws, which come into force at the end of this year, will better protect our communities by taking these weapons out of the hands of those who would misuse them."- Justice Sec Michael Matheson.

[David H]

{{{For those who think gun control cant work}}

Not sure anybody ever said they couldn't work. The trouble here is that past gun control efforts have been seen as unfairly applied, and there's some truth to that, though not always in the way the critics think.

[Pettytyrant101]

{{I had no one in mind Dave was just a general 'those' }}

[Mrs Figg]

you cant really compare it, Scotland doesn't have the amendment thingie and owning firearms has never entered the collective psyche of Scottish people.

[Pettytyrant101]

owning firearms has never entered the collective psyche of Scottish people.- Figg

{{Not entirely true- for a long period having a firearm was normal, and before that having at least a dirk about your person was normal, sword if you were rich enough.
We just stopped, and it didn't all happen at once- its still happening what with new legislation on air weapons at end of this month. Its been a long process, as it would be in America- a huge process there, but as the Gaffer would say to Sam, its the jobs you never start as take longest to finish.

Its true we have no ancient document we treat like scripture and adhere to with regard to guns but I think there is more of an attitude change these days.

Guns are seen as a cowards weapon- the weapon of a man who doesn't have the balls to face their opponent one on one like a real man. Its a distance weapon. Where it does tend to get used is as a weapon of execution- drug gang hits that sort of stuff- though even those are rare- you can send a much scarier message doing stuff to people other than shooting them sadly.

So guns dont really have a place culturally- to the everyday person they are a tool used by specialists- gamekeepers, farmers, professional hobbyists. JCB's exist but you wouldn't expect just anyone be allowed to hop in and start using one, its a specialist vehicle for specialist work- you need an HGV license for that. People see guns the same- you want one because you have a specialist reason, get trained, get a license like everything else if you need one.

And general gangs don't tend to favour them because they attract to much attention and instantly much bigger sentences from the Courts, and they don't send out as good a 'don't mess with us' message as say putting someone in a car crusher does.

So the culture for guns in the hand sof everyday folk doesn't really exist here any more. }}}

[Mrs Figg]

owning firearms has never entered the collective psyche of Scottish people.- Figg

{{Not entirely true- for a long period having a firearm was normal, and before that having at least a dirk about your person was normal, sword if you were rich enough.
We just stopped, and it didn't all happen at once- its still happening what with new legislation on air weapons at end of this month. Its been a long process, as it would be in America- a huge process there, but as the Gaffer would say to Sam, its the jobs you never start as take longest to finish.  

Its true we have no ancient document we treat like scripture and adhere to with regard to guns but I think there is more of an attitude change these days.

Guns are seen as a cowards weapon- the weapon of a man who doesn't have the balls to face their opponent one on one like a real man. Its a distance weapon. Where it does tend to get used is as a weapon of execution- drug gang hits that sort of stuff- though even those are rare- you can send a much scarier message doing stuff to people other than shooting them sadly.

when you say a long time you mean up to the 18th century, I am pretty sure everyday people didn't walk around with guns in their sporrans.

So guns dont really have a place culturally- to the everyday person they are a tool used by specialists- gamekeepers, farmers, professional hobbyists. JCB's exist but you wouldn't expect just anyone be allowed to hop in and start using one, its a specialist vehicle for specialist work- you need an HGV license for that. People see guns the same- you want one because you have a specialist reason, get trained, get a license like everything else if you need one.

And general gangs don't tend to favour them because they attract to much attention and instantly much bigger sentences from the Courts, and they don't send out as good a 'don't mess with us' message as say putting someone in a car crusher does.

So the culture for guns in the hand sof everyday folk doesn't really exist here any more. }}}

[Mrs Figg]

owning firearms has never entered the collective psyche of Scottish people.- Figg

{{Not entirely true- for a long period having a firearm was normal, and before that having at least a dirk about your person was normal, sword if you were rich enough.
We just stopped, and it didn't all happen at once- its still happening what with new legislation on air weapons at end of this month. Its been a long process, as it would be in America- a huge process there, but as the Gaffer would say to Sam, its the jobs you never start as take longest to finish.  

Its true we have no ancient document we treat like scripture and adhere to with regard to guns but I think there is more of an attitude change these days.

Guns are seen as a cowards weapon- the weapon of a man who doesn't have the balls to face their opponent one on one like a real man. Its a distance weapon. Where it does tend to get used is as a weapon of execution- drug gang hits that sort of stuff- though even those are rare- you can send a much scarier message doing stuff to people other than shooting them sadly.


So guns dont really have a place culturally- to the everyday person they are a tool used by specialists- gamekeepers, farmers, professional hobbyists. JCB's exist but you wouldn't expect just anyone be allowed to hop in and start using one, its a specialist vehicle for specialist work- you need an HGV license for that. People see guns the same- you want one because you have a specialist reason, get trained, get a license like everything else if you need one.

And general gangs don't tend to favour them because they attract to much attention and instantly much bigger sentences from the Courts, and they don't send out as good a 'don't mess with us' message as say putting someone in a car crusher does.

So the culture for guns in the hand sof everyday folk doesn't really exist here any more. }}}

for a long time people used swords but that was probably up to the 19th century, after that it was probably illegal.

[David H]

{{Not entirely true- for a long period having a firearm was normal, and before that having at least a dirk about your person was normal, sword if you were rich enough.
We just stopped, and it didn't all happen at once- its still happening what with new legislation on air weapons at end of this month. Its been a long process, as it would be in America- a huge process there, but as the Gaffer would say to Sam, its the jobs you never start as take longest to finish.  

}}}

In hindsight I think the US would be much farther along the road today if it had gone a little slower. Cities and States were moving steadily toward reasonable gun control with local regulations that made sense to the majority of their citizens. It wasn't really until the Brady Bill (a broad-reaching national law of 1993) that there was anything like a national backlash. Which of course the NRA and gun lobbies harnessed for their own purposes, as lobby groups do. If we could just go back to 1992 and start over .....

[Pettytyrant101]

{{{ Curious what folk make of this- there are lots of testimonies and evidence like this- what do folks reckon? Miracle cure or con? }}

[Ringdrotten]

Getting cancer would be a good excuse to start smoking weed, at least. Other than that I must say that the supposed effects of cannabis oil are news to me

[Pettytyrant101]

{{Its a particular way to mix it- the results seem to be startling if true. This is the fellow who discovered it- Rick Simpson}}

[halfwise]

There's a famous case that I'd need to look up of an incurable skin disease all over a little boy's body that was cured by hypnosis. It was well documented, and as a test they even picked a small area and told the boy that part would not be cured and it wasn't.

Oh, here you go: http://www.radiolab.org/story/299045-hypnotist-and-warts/

So the cannabis might be a miracle drug, or it may be a placebo that brings out the miracle drugs in our body.

[azriel]

I believe for every ying there is a yang. The cures we seek could be sitting under our very noses. Its there, we just haven't opened our eyes yet.

[Pettytyrant101]

{{Ive been doing some digging mainly on a Skeptic webpage that pulls these sort of things down- and they do this- or at least they try to, but even they have to admit there have not been the studies done necessary to be sure either way- but they do make some points-

'the studies taken as a whole suggest that some purified cannabinoid agonists might be worth investigating further, but they do not provide a strong case for cannabis curing any kind of cancer.'

'From what we know now, it is quite clear that cannabis does not cure cancer, at least not by itself...'

'If they do find their way into the routine clinical treatment of cancer, it will be through rigorous pharmacological studies and rigorous clinical trials, the latter of which, in particular, are painfully lacking.'

'There is little evidence that it prevents cancer and a little evidence that it can cure cancer.'

And UKCancer Research concluded - 'There isn’t enough evidence to show that cannabinoids can effectively treat cancer in people.'

Now maybe its just me but it sounds like there is something worth researching a lot more here given whats potentially at stake. }}}

[David H]

I'm skeptical for two reasons. First, cancer cells aren't foreign invaders, they're your own cells which means that almost anything that attacks one attacks the other, so if cannabis could destroy cancer cells, you'd expect it to be more toxic to other parts of the body.
Second, there are so many people with cancer who are scared, vulnerable and grasping at straws that there's a constant cloud of charlatans circling like buzzards looking for victims. Unfortunately that means that more than the usual amount of skepticism is called for with anything claiming to cure cancer.

On the other hand, I can speak to the effectiveness of cannabis in managing the side effects of chemo.

[Pettytyrant101]

there's a constant cloud of charlatans circling like buzzards- David

{{Yeah most of them are in the pharmaceutical industry! But yes there are, in fairness however this guy he doesnt seem to be one- he came up with this as a self treatment- attributed his cure to it and started using it on others he knew with cancer- seemingly with similar results- he then faced prosecution and jail for cultivating cannabis, making his oil and giving it out for free to anyone who had a medical need for it. So whilst thats no proof of it being a miracle cure, I think its reasonable proof he believes it genuinely is}}

[David H]

I didn't watch the video so I'll give the guy the benefit of the doubt. And as Halfy says, the placebo effect is a powerful healing force that's often underrated.
At any rate, you'd expect it would be pretty easy to recruit test subjects for a proper study.

[Mrs Figg]

wow! Rodrigo Duterte. what is he like. that guy does what it says on the tin. I have a small sneaking admiration for his no quarter approach to drug criminals, Islamic terrorists and kidnappers. Basically its, I am coming to get you and I am going to blast you to smithereens.