News story of the day

[mjmooney]

In Irish primary infants (4 year olds) you do colours, numbers, alphabet and peelin' spuds.

 

I used to think that the Irish obsession with potatoes was a bit of a myth (and bear in mind half my family is Irish), until I went to a restaurant in Belfast, ordered a pasta dish, and was asked what sort of potatoes I wanted with it.

Edited April 30, 2013 by mjmooney

[BOF]

I used to think that the Irish obsession with potatoes was a bit of a myth (and bear in mind half my family is Irish), until I went to a restaurant in Belfast, ordered a pasta dish, and was asked what sort of potatoes I wanted with it.

T'aint no myth It's quite common to go for a carvery of a Sunday and end up with 3 or 4 different kinds of spud on the same plate.

[leviramsey]

Science proves that Americans (presumably including Canadians) are the weirdest people on Earth

As the three continued their work, they noticed something else that was remarkable: again and again one group of people appeared to be particularly unusual when compared to other populations—with perceptions, behaviors, and motivations that were almost always sliding down one end of the human bell curve.

In the end they titled their paper “The Weirdest People in the World?” (pdf) By “weird” they meant both unusual and Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic. It is not just our Western habits and cultural preferences that are different from the rest of the world, it appears. The very way we think about ourselves and others—and even the way we perceive reality—makes us distinct from other humans on the planet, not to mention from the vast majority of our ancestors. Among Westerners, the data showed that Americans were often the most unusual, leading the researchers to conclude that “American participants are exceptional even within the unusual population of Westerners—outliers among outliers.”

[maqroll]

 

In Irish primary infants (4 year olds) you do colours, numbers, alphabet and peelin' spuds.

 

I used to think that the Irish obsession with potatoes was a bit of a myth (and bear in mind half my family is Irish), until I went to a restaurant in Belfast, ordered a pasta dish, and was asked what sort of potatoes I wanted with it.

 

You'd think that gnocchi would be on more contemporary Irish menus...kind of a nice way to liven up the boring old potato...

[mjmooney]

Science proves that Americans (presumably including Canadians) are the weirdest people on Earth

 

As the three continued their work, they noticed something else that was remarkable: again and again one group of people appeared to be particularly unusual when compared to other populations—with perceptions, behaviors, and motivations that were almost always sliding down one end of the human bell curve.

In the end they titled their paper “The Weirdest People in the World?” (pdf) By “weird” they meant both unusual and Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic. It is not just our Western habits and cultural preferences that are different from the rest of the world, it appears. The very way we think about ourselves and others—and even the way we perceive reality—makes us distinct from other humans on the planet, not to mention from the vast majority of our ancestors. Among Westerners, the data showed that Americans were often the most unusual, leading the researchers to conclude that “American participants are exceptional even within the unusual population of Westerners—outliers among outliers.”

 

 

God's Chosen People, innit?

[BOF]

This is no laughing matter.

Broomstick-flying witches to be brought down in Swaziland

Broomstick-flying witches to be brought down in Swaziland

Witches flying broomsticks in Swaziland above 150 metres will be subject to arrest and a hefty fine of R500 000, civil aviation authorities said, according to a report.

Witches’ broomsticks are considered similar to any heavier-than-air transportation device that is airborne, says The Star.

“A witch on a broomstick should not fly above the [150-metre] limit,” Civil Aviation Authority marketing and corporate affairs director Sabelo Dlamini said to the newspaper yesterday.

No penalties exist for witches flying below 150 metres.

The report said it was hard to say how serious he was, but witchcraft isn’t a joking matter in Swaziland, where the people believe in it.

The statute also forbids toy helicopters and children’s kites from ascending too high into the country’s airspace.

Dlamini was asked by the Swazi press to explain the country’s aviation laws following the arrest of a private detective, Hunter Shongwe, for operating a toy helicopter equipped with a video camera, of which he boasted using to gather surveillance information similar to the way a drone aircraft operates.

The detective was charged with operating an unregistered aircraft and for failing to appear before his chief to be questioned by traditional authorities about his toy drone, the first of its kind in Swaziland.

Swazi brooms are short bundles of sticks tied together and do not have handles. Swazi witches are known to use them to fling potions about homesteads – but not for transport.

[Ingram85]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-22520720

 

Those boobs..........

[mjmooney]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-22520720

 

Those boobs..........

 

Keep your eye on eBay, you never know...

[PaulC]

No laughing matter. I think its very brave of her to come out and give such a full account of the double mastectomy because of a defective gene. Her mother died of it when she was in her 50s.

[mjmooney]

If that was a criticism of my eBay quip, I should point out that I know it's a serious matter. My wife had breast cancer and a (single) mastectomy eight years ago.

[PaulC]

Sorry I was just listening to it on 5 live. I was just thinking how brave she is to come out and give such a full account of it. Being such a high profile celebrity it should create great awareness for other women to go get checked out.

 

I just thought we were more concerned about the removal of her boobs than the health issue. Soz

Edited May 14, 2013 by PaulC

[mjmooney]

I agree.

[Houlston]

My wife's aunt had breast cancer, she beat it through treatment and then decided to have some sort of aesthetic surgery as she hated how she looked but died on the operating table. 

[bickster]

My wife's aunt had breast cancer, she beat it through treatment and then decided to have some sort of aesthetic surgery as she hated how she looked but died on the operating table.

My partner decided not to bother with the reconstruction

[chrisp65]

it's the proof of real humanity

 

we can all be a bit phwoar boobies on the internet

 

But real life is that your missus is your missus and you love her, end of. There was a woman on the radio earlier saying she'd been told previously that she too had the same dodgy gene but was resisting the operation as she wanted to hold onto her looks and femininity. Well, I suppose its her body her choice. Personally, I'd go for the extra time with the people around me.

[bickster]

Yep I think Jolie had been told she had an 89% chance getting breast cancer at some stage of her life and a 50% chance of ovarian cancer too. Faced with those odds I think most women would make a similar choice

[Stevo985]

Absolutely.

 

If you were taking a flight and the pilot said there was an 89% chance you'd crash, you wouldn't get on the plane.

[tonyh29]

Absolutely.

 

If you were taking a flight and the pilot said there was an 89% chance you'd crash, you wouldn't get on the plane.

 

 

speak for yourself  .. 11% is still good odds

 

 

it's one of the sadly now defunct websites I miss www.amigoingdown.com where you could type in where you were flying from and to and with what airline and it give you a chances of crashing %  .... Uzbekistan, to Kyrgyzstan on a Tupalev had the lowest survival odds

 

 

Air Egypt and Royal Jordanian Air had the worse records, based on deaths per flights made

[Ghost]

Swedish Man Dies After Having Sex With Hornet’s Nest

 

A man in Sweden has died after trying to have sex with a hornet's nest on his farm outside Ystad.

 

The 35-year-old, known only as Hasse, had 146 sting marks on his body, including 54 to his genitals, News Sweden said.

 

His body was found by a neighbour, who said Hasse was so swollen he initially mistook him for a whale carcass.

 

Hasse was unconscious when he was found but died an hour later from the injuries he sustained.

 

Neighbour Bertil Ståhfrääs said he called over to his neighbour to ask what he was doing: "At first [i thought he was lying there by] of choice, so I called 'Hasse' to ask what the hell he was doing.

 

"I have never in my life seen such a swollen pelvic bone. It hid the whole package [and] the scrotum was enlarged. Right now it feels heavy and unreal. We did not talk very often, but he was still my neighbour."

 

An autopsy of Hasse's body showed semen on some of the dead wasps and a number of the victim's pubic hair was found at the entrance of the nest. His fingerprints were also found on the nest, leading the police to believe he had been trying to have sex with the hornet's nest when he was stung to death.

 

"To attempt to have intercourse with a hornet's nest is a very bad idea," Siv During Livh, a psychologist and expert on sex fantasies told the news website. "I don't even think about the pain he must have suffered both within himself [from his fetish] and incurred by the wasp attack."

 

Hornet stings are more painful than typical wasp stings because of their venom. They can also sting multiple times. The stings are not normally fatal to humans unless a person is allergic to their venom, in which case they can go into anaphylactic shock. 

 

What a way to go!

Edited May 16, 2013 by Ghost

[Stevo985]

To attempt to have intercourse with a hornet's nest is a very bad idea

 

Is the most obvious sentence anyone's ever said.