Thought Id start this one going because its rather dead on this board at the moment and I suppose all my usual muckers are either at the Stella tennis event watching Dim Tim (lose again) or at Henly Regatta eating cucumber sandwiches (they wish,...NOT).

Anyway please feel free to just talk to yourself blast away and let it go on any company or subject you wish. Just wish Id thought of this one before.

cheers GF.

Gordon Brown is preaching again. This time it's about food waste. He is telling us to help save the planet by thinking about what and how much food we buy, as according to the latest research we throw up to a third of all food produce away.
Now it's not that I don't think we should be more prudent with food use/waste, but until the Government practices what it preaches, any such issues are treated with complete disdain.
I wonder how much food waste will be generated by the G8 summit which is costing sqillions of pound, including the services of several world renown chefs that are being flown in especially to prepare no doubt very expensive dishes.
Years ago food waste was converted into pig swill, which was stopped due to swine fever and foot and mouth, although us county folk knew that ordinary food waste caused no problem whatsoever.
Thought the analogy fitted as both pigs and MP's till have their snouts in the trough.
The saying 'Let them eat cake' springs to mind. Come the revolution brothers!
Hypocritical BA****DS.

While I'm at it.
Last Friday I received a call from my accountant (I had a one man business, retiring last August) regarding the none mention of a bank account that I had mentioned in previous years and had not mentioned in the 2007/2008 returns. This account (which I had honestly forgotten about) being linked to a current account was kept open with a token ammount of 1 in order to benefit from a travel insurance deal. When I informed my accountant that the interest was 1p, she stated that I had better still declare it as they might query if the account was still in use, and I could still be liable for none declaration even for the lowly sum of 1p. It wasn't till later that I drew the parallel (if it is a parallel) with the huge amount of cash via expenses that the MP's do not have to declare. Surely these Honorable(sic) gentlemen/women have only one reason to fear an outside audit, and that's because they have something to hide.
Thieving Hypocritical BA****DS.

Found on another site,
The G8 Menu

Cocktail

Waffle, reheated

Eight prawns grilled under a warm climate

Promises la Gleneagles, tossed

Aid Stew on a bed of insufficient replenishment

Roast Lamy in a forced liberalisation jus

(Broc) Wurst G8

Fudge

Glad you mentioned hypocrisy, Greek, in relation to our Fuhrers speech on wasted food. I was going to approach it from a different angle.
Food is a major discussion point at our cricket club (not least because we are all so fat our team photograph is an aerial shot).
We have a problem with the rising cost of half time butties and stickies. League rules mean we have to feed 26 every week, and the only money the club gets to do so is 55 from the players. This is getting harder.
I recently approached the supermarkets from whom we get our food and asked if they could help us by not throwing away the bread, cold meat and salads on Friday night just because it was past its display until date. We would collect it Saturday morning and it would be eaten by tea time, well before its consume by date.
The answer was a resounding no. Not because of lost revenue reservations, but because of health & safety law, which meant it had to go to landfill or composting.
The result of this idiocy is that we have to buy food we cannot afford, to help support junior sportsmen and keep them off the streets and bashing old ladys over the head, while perfectly good and edible food gets thrown in a hole in the ground, at great expense to the retailer.
Someone point out the good reason for this, because I am buggered if I can find a more ludicrous use of resources or a more petty ruleset to overthrow common sense.

I used to work in the food industry (Bakery) and we used to save all the waste for a local pig farmer who used to pay a token fee, so the Bakery the Farmer and the Environment won. In the 10 years I worked there, there was never a problem, then the Health and Safety (lean a ladder against a wall before climbing up it brigade) put a stop to this practice as they said it could spread disease.
As to your Supermarket comment, I know a manager at our local superstore, who has told me the waste of food each week would fill at least 2 of those huge metal bins. Most of this food being edible.
Problem is a good percent of the public throw away food even if it's 1 day over best use by date. Now me, if it don't smell funny and it ain't covered in mold (well not much anyway) it gets eaten. It's never done me any harm (some who know me may strongly disagree).
But back to being serious, I strongly believe that all this must make everything super healthy, wipe down surface, disinfect everything culture is one of the main modern causes of many illnesses, especially in children, as they have no immunity.
I know from a facts and my own experiences, Gypsy families have far lower minor illnesses, coughs, colds and the like than other families, they also have less allergies.
Now I wonder why.

I know why and so do you, Greekman. They use their common sense.

My wife and I use our common sense a lot too.

Perhaps we fit into a category of people, who are quite self reliant, particularly when it comes to thinking our 'stuff' out. I'm not saying we are perfect at it, but we use some simple rules. Not necesasrily in the following order:

Rule 1. Strip out anything that is mystic or a false cause and then.....

Rule 2. Think your stuff out.

Rule 3. Try not to get too involved with 'professionals'.

Always remember that 'Professionals' charge fees for their services -and by the hour, too. They have a vested interest in overcomplicating your problems for you. They are primarily there to earn a crust for themselves, not to help you with your silly problems. These latter are secondary. Just like car mechanics, there are good ones and bad ones. They range from consultant surgeons and dentists and other medical professionals, to lawyers, politicians and accountants. If you ever have to use one, don't use one just because your neghbour 'liked' him/her. Get the very best one for the job that's required. A good property conveyancer isn't necessarily the best person to help you with drawing up a Lease. The guy who helped you with your Will isn't necessarily the best person to help you Sue some ba5tard for damages. There are tons of these 'professionals' about. To increase their fee income they keep on drawing up whole loads of overcomplications to foist onto the community. Their best trick is to try to prevent you thinking things out for yourself. They want to prevent you from using your own common sense, becasue when you use that, well, they aren't required. So they don't earn their fees.

Rule 4. Try to use your common sense and don't get trapped into doing something that is to do with 'peer pressure' or 'fashion'. Remember that they are false causes. Learn to read between the lines and spot if there are any flaws in, 'If he wants me to do this, what is in this for the other guy?'

Rule 5. Everything where possible in relationships with people, should be about 'Win -Win'. Do unto others as you would wish them to do unto you.

Perhaps there are a few more. Anyhow, those few will do for the moment. :-)

And by the way, with food 'Sell by Dates' we ignore them mostly but not completely. It depends what sort of food it is. On the topic of waste, I don't think we throw much away though. And I am a great one for looking for a good deal when I'm shopping.

Having just typed that stuff, I wanted to find an example of 'not stripping out mysticism and false causes and then going on to do a thorough job'.

Here's one:-

What Boris did wrong concerning the Deputy Mayor problem - He offered Lewis the job of Deputy Mayor, without having him checked out much, if at all.

ExecLine,

Fully agree re your Common Sense post.
As to others views...I do tend to listen to people I know re recommendations. I nearly always get others views re tradesmen, job quality, not likability. Word of mouth, good or bad can be of huge assistance, as usually if a tradesman does a good job once he usually does a good job every time and visa versa (bad job).
It is amazing how often you hear about a cowboy tradesman who continues getting plenty of work. If ever I have a bad experience, I make dam sure as many people know about it the better. In fact several years ago I had a threat of court action re a conservatory company. They did an excellent initial job but when 1 fault did appear (a skylight leak) about 12 months later they made several failed attempts to fix it, finally giving up. I said the whole skylight wanted replacing, they disagreed.
After several repeated attempt on my part to get them to return, one Saturday (their busiest day) I visited the main sales premises and approached anyone who looked like a potential customer and assailed them with my experiences. After only approaching 2 such persons, I was (after attempts at the aforementioned court action, at which I told them to go ahead and sue) promised attention the following week.
It was fixed that week.
I can never understand why people don't make more noise re bad service.
You often read about unbelievable service from so called professionals.
People seem frightened to take direct (legal) action.
Most of those who post on this thread appear of the stropy type, and I don't mean that in an insulting way. If less were wimps, bad service would be far less evident.

Re my post....Gypsys. Now I Wonder Why.
The Question was facetious.

Again, funny how you should mention H&S with regard to stepladders.

Did anyone read the very recent damages case where a school caretaker had fallen from his stepladders and sued the LEA?

The court awarded him damages as he had not been trained to use stepladders. I am no expert on stepladders (safe usage thereof) but am pretty certain the training cannot be more than someone shouting "Other way up, you berk", and anyone claiming they did not know how to use them and should have been trained should never have been let out of the institution they were in.
On my way to sue Tetleys as they have not printed "Hold this way up" on their tins of beer, and I have ruined my trousers. Where was the course they should have sent me on?????

Damn! I have just had my access to Halifax Online Banking suspended. (This morning it was Abbey Banking and Royal Bank of Scotland).

Anyhow, they say, "Important Notice:- You are strictly advised to match your Security Question and Answers rightly to avoid service suspension."

Ah well. So there we are then. Gotcha! Little do they know, but I don't have an account with Halifax OB. Hehehe. :-)

Alan,

It was the school caretaker case that I was thinking of, also if you remember he had been working with ladders for years (30+ I think).
As to the ruined trousers, you don't make it clear if it was the result of opening the tin incorrectly (it could be the word and is misleading me) or the result of drinking too much and not making it to the mens room on time.
If it was number 1 I would definitely sue Tetleys. If it was number 2 don't bother, although nowadays you never know.

As most of us here are investors, I have copied this from my post on another site.
It might just brighten up the day if your shares are down.

The experiment was actually conducted in 2000.
http://www.mgmt.purdue.edu/faculty/rau/funny/DartThrowing.html
It was on TV about 3 to 4 weeks ago.
Perhaps they should get such an IQ primate to run the country. Oh they have.

golly there are queer people on websites

'golly' and 'queer'?

That's racist and sexist too! And you only typed 7 words! 'Struth!

;-)

Max Mosley admits passion for sadomasochistic sex
By Graham Tibbetts
Last Updated: 6:28PM BST 07/07/2008

Max Mosley, the boss of Formula 1 motor racing, has admitted a lifelong passion for sadomasochistic sex but denied it involved Nazi role-playing, which he described as "unerotic".

He was accused of indulging in a "sick orgy" with five prostitutes that featured them dressing up as, allegedly as concentration camp figures.

At the High Court Mr Mosley, 68, admitted the article in a tabloid newspaper had "devastated" not only his own life but that of his wife of 48 years and their sons.

They had had no knowledge of his unusual preferences until the News of the World published the results of their sting operation in March.

However, James Price QC, appearing for Mr Mosley, said he had indulged in "S & M" - meaning sadomasochistic - role play for many years.

"Bottom spanking, whip fantasy and role play scenarios are an interest he accepts he has had since quite a young age," said Mr Price.

"Most people probably think that S & M behaviour - spanking of bottoms, whips and roleplays, doctors and nurses, Sheik and harem, guards and prisoners - are permissible and private and even funny.

"The News of the World, we say, is out of touch with the instincts of decent British people."

He said that such people believe that one's private life should remain private "so long as it does not involve exploiting children or vulnerable people".

The court heard that the session took place in a rented flat in Chelsea paid for by Mr Mosley for the purpose of meeting the women, whom he paid 500 each.

Covert recording equipment captured Mr Mosley, son of 1930s Fascist leader Sir Oswald Mosley, being spanked by one of the women with a whip, as well as using a strap to spank a woman. He also talked to one of the women in German.

In the article, headlined "F1 boss has sick Nazi orgy with 5 hookers", the newspaper claimed he pretended to be both a concentration camp inmate and commandant.

But Mr Mosley told Mr Justice Eady in London that there were no Nazi connotations whatsoever.

"I can think of few things more unerotic than Nazi role play," said Mr Mosley, president of the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA).

"It also has associations for me in other ways which would make it even less interesting.

"All my life, I have had hanging over me my antecedents, my parents, and the last thing I want to do in some sexual context is be reminded of it."

The court heard that Mr Mosley was given no chance to respond to the article before its publication, which shocked his wife Jean and his two sons, two sons Alexander , 38, and Patrick, 36.

"My wife and I have been married for 48 years and together for more than 50 - and she never knew of this aspect of my life, so that headline in the newspaper was completely, totally devastating for her and there is nothing that I can say that can ever repair that.

"Also, for my two sons, I don't think there is anything worse for a son than to see in a newspaper, particularly one like the News of the World, pictures of the kind they printed.

"I can think of nothing more undignified or humiliating than that."

Mr Mosley is claiming breach of privacy and the action includes an unprecedented claim in such a case for exemplary or punitive damages as well as compensatory damages.

The News of the World contests the claim and argues that publication was justified in the public interest.

Mark Warby QC, counsel for the News of the World, argued that it had published a "legitimate and lawful story".

He said: "The activities that went on here are not deserving of respect, however much they might have been kept behind closed doors."

Mr Warby told the judge that "whipping or beating someone until he bleeds is a criminal offence" and amounted to the offence of wounding.

The case continues.

.....................................

My own take on this, is that someone in a position of power, who clearly exhibits mental attitudes to do with sadism and masochism, is not healthily able to exercise normal rational judgment whenit is necessary for that person to make business decisions, which can affect the livelihood of others.

It is well know that Mosley and McClaren are not the best of friends. Well, what of that?

Q. Last year, what do we hear and witness?

A. A record breaking, stunning $100m fine levied on McClaren, the F1 racing team, for the mere possession of a competitor's technical information.

And from whom?

A. A committee headed up by Mosley and his cohorts.

A sadistic fine? No doubt about it!

"They had had no knowledge of his unusual preferences until the News of the World published the results of their sting operation in March"

So what's Max Moseley complaining about? I thought he enjoyed something with a sting in it?!

How many hot blooded men have not fantasized (unless your famous or rich that all you can do) of having numerous gorgeous sexy women in bed at the same time, uniforms included. Never fancied military uniforms myself though, more into the usual nurse/french maid/schoolgirl stile, (not that bothered what the girls wear).
Don't fancy any pain so sadistic sex is out, but bit of healthy spanking brings a bit of rose to the cheeks. Come on be honest, who when hearing about these orgies, or those cases where an older schoolboy has been dragged (kicking and screaming no doubt) into bed by his school mistress, say to themselves, 'if only'. The kicking and screaming by the way is before not during or after.
Kinky sex is OK as long as its not perverted or sadistic. I'm sure there is a difference.
Oh well back to my dream world.
Anyone for a cold shower. I will supply the flying helmet and wet lettuce
Thank goodness these posts are anonymous.

How dare Mr Magoo say "golly there are queer people on websites".
Kim, Careful, 'Sting' might take offense.

You couldn't make it up.
According to The Daily Telegraph, a council have delayed clearing an overgrown area of undergrowth due to an objection by a Gay Rights Group.
It appears that this local group use this area for late night Gay Sex (known as dogging), as the undergrowth shields them from prying eyes.
Lunatics/Asylum springs to mind.

At least with your bottom in the air it keeps it clear of stinging nettles ...

Well, if it's a choice between 'having numerous gorgeous sexy women in bed at the same time' and 'gay sex with my bottom in the air to keep it clear of stinging nettles in an overgrown area of undergrowth', I'd have to give some serious thought - about exactly just how many gorgeous sexy women I could get the bed to hold.

Once again, the answer to this simple question is obviously '42'. :-)