This is why we wear goggles when grinding
Goggles prevent hot shards of metal from embedding themselves in your eyes. That would be bad.
Soviet Health&Safety
Found via David Thompson's blog
Health and safety posters, Soviet style
In Soviet Russia, train catches YOU
Stop, hammertime
Them Russians are/were very good at propaganda posters, I have to say.
Daily Fail
Sometimes you see something so unbelieveably stupid that it instantly gives you a headache for the rest of the day. This is an example of such a thing.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/food/article-1323610/Natures-Lucozade-How-A-lists-favourite-coconut-water-effective-sports-drink.html
My eye of course was drawn by the word 'Lucozade' in the headline, we at FNS towers are long-standing fans of the incredible healing powers of the revered orange beverage. Reading the said article however had effects wildly different to healing;
Coconut water has become the latest celebrity craze after studies showed that fluid extracted from young green coconuts is naturally full of isotones – the kind of electolytes which are added to sports drinks to aid hydration. [emphasis mine]
Let's have a look at the Wikipedia article for 'isotone' - "Two nuclides are isotones if they have the same neutron number N, but different proton number Z."
Somehow I doubt that is what this article refers to.
Probably it is either some kind of moronic misunderstanding or charlatanesque misrepresentation of the word 'isotonic', a word commonly used to market sport drinks and meaning that two solutions have the same osmotic concentration when compared. This is important for example when something is going to be administered by a drip; if the drip is too watery or too concentrated (i.e. not isotonic) compared to your blood, then bad things will happen (your blood cells for example will either shrivel or explode). For a sport drink this is somewhat less important. As for containing 'isotones', this makes about as much sense as saying that a warm coat contains particles of warm.
Methinks the Mail is printing bloody adverts as 'news' again.
Anyway, if we're talking sport drinks or electrolytes, Brawndo can't be beat. It's got what plants crave.
“Leading doctors call for ban on smoking in cars”
From here: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article7073299.ece
"Twenty of Britain’s most senior doctors call today for a ban on smoking in cars as part of a sweeping expansion of laws to protect children against the effects of inhaling smoke."
"The doctors say that the national strategy must include tobacco price rises, media campaigns, more effective health warnings and better provision of smoking cessation services."
And here's another thing:
"Leading internet radio presenters call for doctors to go fuck themselves"
Whenever such "Doctor's" pronouncements are in the press, they cause me to become quite annoyed and as such my blood pressure rises dangerously. Of course this is rather bad for my health and wellbeing. As such I call for a ban on 'doctors' sticking their frigging noses into affairs that don't and shouldn't concern them.
More and more the attitude of the state appears to be that our bodies are somehow owned by them, much like a mortgaged house is actually owned by the bank, and that action should be taken against anyone who has that audacity to 'abuse' 'their' property.
When did we become the property of the state? Was it when the NHS was founded, or did it come later? Was there a defined event, or was it a slow and creeping process? Answers on a postcard please...
Minimum alcohol pricing
As we mentioned on our last show, there was a propaganda push last week in support of 'minimum alcohol pricing', the idea whereby if alcohol was made a little/much more costly, problems such as 'binge drinking' etc would disappear overnight..
The push took the form of reports that alleged close government links 'to the drinks industry', implying that any perceived lack of support for the proposals would be due to backroom deals or somesuch. It's the same bullshit thats been applied to many other issues, such as "anybody who disagrees with my authoritarian proposals to combat global warming is in bed with OMG BIG OIL!".
Minimum pricing won't work; its yet another situation where supporters are claiming that prices will rise very little (so as not to affect the price of YOUR pint) but will also rise massively (and only affect OTHER people). Its exactly the same as for Road Pricing (driving will still be cheap for you, but so expensive for everybody else that the roads will be clear). As well there is a very real 'slippery slope' effect, whereby once price controls are introduced there will ALWAYS be pressure for prices to increase a little more. After all, it's only a little more, isn't it? Add to this the fact that elsewhere in the world very high taxes/prices for booze haven't done anything to reduce problem drinking or alcoholism (Norway being a case in point).
The Devil's Kitchen covers the issue wonderfully here.