In todays news...

[Mr. Dazzle]

I like how the trust tries to say it's out of context and they are offering other benefits. This would piss me of even more, I don't think I've ever heard of a company charging staff to park in its own car park so it's fucked up they think this is a perk.

That is the most extreme - yet also unsurprising - claim of a perk I've seen

My old lot used to advertise "Free Eye Tests" as an employment perk. You're legally entitled to them if you work with a VDU...they kept that bit quiet

[DefTrap]

I like how the trust tries to say it's out of context and they are offering other benefits. This would piss me of even more, I don't think I've ever heard of a company charging staff to park in its own car park so it's fucked up they think this is a perk.

It is out of context, but these HR people are out of touch.
When I joined (well, got taken over) by my current company, they welcomed me with a goody bag - basically a load of old tat branded with the company logo: insulated cup; mouse mat; pen; pen holder; coaster. That kind of thing.

Pointless and thoughtless, hence why I felt no shame about offing it but I'm moderately is it irked it's destined straight to landfill.

I'm not a hero though (well I am but not a frontline) so I guess I don't get to moan in the papers about how insulting it is.

[slowsider]

I'm all for equality but it's getting daft now. They're excluding folk based on colour.
What next? Gay, black, disabled, dandruff and ugly dwarfs rights march?

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-62542742

Where's the bit that says anyone not within the colour is excluded? It doesn't say that at all. The title of the meeting is Black Pride, but there are clearly whites in the photos and these sort of things are the most inclusive 'meets'/'get togethers'.

Its more about how you are reading something into nothing than the group discriminating!!

Bet not all the people that attended are gay or LGBTQ+ either

It IS racist to have "Black Pride" just like it's racist to have MOBO awards. Why you might ask? Well ask yourself this, would a White Pride march be racist, even if they didn't specifically exclude 'non whites', would a Music of White Origin awards be racist?
Black pride is just another example showing just how racist some 'non whites' are. Racism is NOT a 'white people' problem. It's a "fucking arsehole" problem !

You would have loved those sexist suffragettes then.

[cheb]

What's the connection? The suffragettes were agitating for a change in the law in the UK, the UK pride marches are celebrating something that's legal in the UK

[slowsider]

What's the connection? The suffragettes were agitating for a change in the law in the UK, the UK pride marches are celebrating something that's legal in the UK

Jody was arguing that Pride is racist. If it is that's not legal. Hth.

[Greenman]

I'm all for equality but it's getting daft now. They're excluding folk based on colour.
What next? Gay, black, disabled, dandruff and ugly dwarfs rights march?

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-62542742

Where's the bit that says anyone not within the colour is excluded? It doesn't say that at all. The title of the meeting is Black Pride, but there are clearly whites in the photos and these sort of things are the most inclusive 'meets'/'get togethers'.

Its more about how you are reading something into nothing than the group discriminating!!

Bet not all the people that attended are gay or LGBTQ+ either

It IS racist to have "Black Pride" just like it's racist to have MOBO awards. Why you might ask? Well ask yourself this, would a White Pride march be racist, even if they didn't specifically exclude 'non whites', would a Music of White Origin awards be racist?
Black pride is just another example showing just how racist some 'non whites' are. Racism is NOT a 'white people' problem. It's a "fucking arsehole" problem !

Correct - it's an arsehole problem promoted by democracy!

It's all just controlled by the elite and filtered out by the editors to make sure it's all above board for the viewers! Plastic fake shit! They just want a reaction, no reaction to a headline in the media is death!

Trending! trending = fake people, fake people just trend, there's nothing to gain there!

It's funny we try and take plastic out of earth and be vegan/environmentally correct ect but now the plastic is finding it's way into our minds and body's but hopefully not our souls!

[Jody]

What's the connection? The suffragettes were agitating for a change in the law in the UK, the UK pride marches are celebrating something that's legal in the UK

Jody was arguing that Pride is racist. If it is that's not legal. Hth.

Slow down a bit there sunshine. I did not in any way say that Pride is racist. Not what I said, not what I meant. What I clearly said was that "Black pride" and the Music Of Black Origin Awards are racist because they exclude people based on the colour of their skin. They might not say they exclude those people, but Freddie Mercury, the rolling stones, Ed Sheran, Oasis, blur etc etc are never going to get a MOBO !

[KungFooBob]

Oh noes!

Have they not seen Jurassic Park?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-62568427

[MrLongbeard]

They might not say they exclude those people, but Freddie Mercury, the rolling stones, Ed Sheran, Oasis, blur etc etc are never going to get a MOBO !

[Horse]

They might not say they exclude those people, but Freddie Mercury, the rolling stones, Ed Sheran, Oasis, blur etc etc are never going to get a MOBO !

Fats Domino was not convinced that there was any new genre. In 1957, Domino said: "What they call rock 'n' roll now is rhythm and blues. I’ve been playing it for 15 years in New Orleans".

According to Rolling Stone, "this is a valid statement ... all Fifties rockers, black and white, country born and city bred, were fundamentally influenced by R&B, the black popular music of the late Forties and early Fifties".

MOB'Origin'

[Cousin Jack]

IIRC Elvis Presley was condemed in the early days for playing 'black' music.

[slowsider]

What's the connection? The suffragettes were agitating for a change in the law in the UK, the UK pride marches are celebrating something that's legal in the UK

Jody was arguing that Pride is racist. If it is that's not legal. Hth.

Slow down a bit there sunshine. I did not in any way say that Pride is racist. Not what I said, not what I meant. What I clearly said was that "Black pride" and the Music Of Black Origin Awards are racist because they exclude people based on the colour of their skin. They might not say they exclude those people, but Freddie Mercury, the rolling stones, Ed Sheran, Oasis, blur etc etc are never going to get a MOBO !

Freddie? Born in Tanzania? He'd get one.

[Mussels]

It seems the usual complaint is MOBOs are too white or hosted in places that are too white.
So it isn't racist enough.

[Jody]

They might not say they exclude those people, but Freddie Mercury, the rolling stones, Ed Sheran, Oasis, blur etc etc are never going to get a MOBO !

I stand corrected.

[Treadeager]

One for Cheb....

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/environment ... cientists/

What is the smell of rain called? The answer is petrichor and it intrigues scientists
In 1964 it was named from the Greek for stone 'petra' and 'ichor', which refers to the golden fluid flowing through the veins of immortals

By
Joe Pinkstone,
SCIENCE CORRESPONDENT
17 August 2022 • 11:28am
Rain UK
The smell of rain has a name CREDIT: AP Photo/Frank Augstein
It's been a long, hot summer but this week’s thunderstorms and torrential downpours brought sweet relief - and with them the invigorating smell of fresh rain.

And after so long without a raindrop, many Britons are now noticing the scent with renewed vigour and find themselves wondering 'what is that smell'?

The phenomenon has been noted for centuries, and in 1964 it was given the name petrichor, derived from the Greek for stone “petra” and “ichor”, which refers to the golden fluid flowing through the veins of immortals.

It is produced both pre- and post-downpour, with the water forcing the release of aromatic chemicals trapped in rocks and soils.

Raindrops form air pockets on the rocks and soil and allow petrichor-scented compounds to be released upwards into the atmosphere as a gas, like a glass of Champagne.

But while the rocks are pivotal in releasing the smell, the odour itself is generated predominantly by a chemical called geosmin, which is made by bacteria in soil.

Highly pungent
In April, scientists found that geosmin does have a use as it is made by soil microbes to fend off hungry worms.

Dirt-dwelling bacteria, including toxic ones, produce the chemical to keep predators, such as worms, away and the compound builds up in the soil.

Geosmin is also a water contaminant, falling from the heavens when it rains and generating the petrichor scent we associate with a damp spring morning.

The chemical is highly pungent, with just five parts per trillion enough to be picked up by the human nose.

Historically, the scent would have been a harbinger of joy for our hunter-gatherer ancestors as it would have signalled to them that fresh water was imminent. This, some scientists believe, has led to an in-built delight when humans inhale it today.


Scientists from Concordia University in Canada investigated the role of geosmin and conducted various experiments to see how it affected nematode worms.

First, they observed the movement and behaviour of worms when surrounded by geosmin and found they desperately tried to escape its sphere.

However, mutant worms that were unable to smell or taste behaved normally around geosmin. It was also, in and of itself, harmless.

A separate experiment focused specifically on Streptomyces coelicolor bacteria, a toxic bacteria that makes geosmin.

The researchers saw the worms avoid their prey, the microbes, when they could taste the presence of geosmin. In contrast, the genetically modified mutants devoured the toxic bacteria and subsequently died.

“Through our study we found that geosmin in Streptomyces coelicolor, a bacteria that is toxic to nematodes, does not appear to have any role other than as a signal,” says Dr Brandon Findlay, the supervising author of the paper published in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology.

“It doesn’t help the cells grow, eat or divide. It doesn’t ward off predators directly. It just seems to be there as a warning.”

The conclusion that a bacteria produces a smelly chemical with the sole purpose of warning off would-be predators is unusual, and it is thought to be a unique case.

[Count Steer]

I love the smell of petrichor in the morning. It reminds me of....

We had rain here yesterday. Stood outside, got wet and had a good long sniff.

[JackyJoll]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-c ... e-62566955

British Transport Police have released an image of a man they believe may have information after the assault at Rugby train station in Warwickshire.
The force said the woman was stood on the platform with her white cane at about 17:00 BST on 26 July when a man approached her and touched her inappropriately

[Mussels]

I wonder how they will spin their way out of this.
BBC News - RAF diversity: Senior female recruitment officer resigns over targets
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-62582156
It's been going on for decades but nobody seems to care

As an integral part of UK labour law it is unlawful to discriminate against a person because they have one of the "protected characteristics", which are, age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, race, religion or belief, sex, pregnancy and maternity, and sexual orientation

[slowsider]

First case of human to dog transmission of monkey pox.

"The case, involving two men and their Italian greyhound living together in Paris, was reported last week in the medical journal the Lancet."

Sounds almost like a stereotype.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/ ... pet-owners

[Yorick]

I wonder how they will spin their way out of this.
BBC News - RAF diversity: Senior female recruitment officer resigns over targets
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-62582156
It's been going on for decades but nobody seems to care

As an integral part of UK labour law it is unlawful to discriminate against a person because they have one of the "protected characteristics", which are, age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, race, religion or belief, sex, pregnancy and maternity, and sexual orientation

It's all rumours and conjecture. No actual proof.