Fast and Furious Friday

joe6pack Uncategorized

Hello Pubsters . I”m still in Cairns so this is a quick Friday Post.

I’m Sure all people on this site contributors and lurkers where saddened to hear of the passing of Fiona’s Mum. I only met her once and liked her immensely. We owe her and her husband many thanks for raising such a wonderful daughter.

On a Happier Note

ON THIS DAY

BK WAS BORN  HAPPY BIRTHDAY

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ALSO

  • 1992 The first exoplanets are discovered

    Polish astronomer Aleksander Wolszczan announced that he found two planets orbiting the pulsar PSR 1257+12.

  • 1967 Dictator Georgios Papadopoulos assumes power in Greece

    During his six-year reign, thousands of political opponents were incarcerated and tortured.

  • 1934 The Surgeon’s photo, allegedly showing the Loch Ness Monster, is published in the Daily Mail

    In reality, the famous image depicts a toy submarine with a head and neck made of wood putty.

  • 1918 The Red Baron is killed

    Manfred von Richthofen was a legendary German fighter pilot. He earned his renown and nickname by achieving 80 air combat victories in World War I. He was shot down and killed during combat at the age of 25.

  • 1509 Henry VIII is crowned King of England

    In popular culture, the monarch is known mainly for his six marriages, two of which ended with the wife’s execution.

Births On This Day – 21 April

  • 1959 Robert Smith

    English singer-songwriter, guitarist

  • 1947 Iggy Pop

    American singer-songwriter, producer, actor

  • 1926 Elizabeth II

    of The United Kingdom

  • 1864 Max Weber

    German economist, sociologist

  • 1838 John Muir

    Scottish/American environmentalist, author

Deaths On This Day – 21 April

  • 2016 Prince

    American singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, actor

  • 2003 Nina Simone

    American singer-songwriter, pianist

  • 1946 John Maynard Keynes

    English economist

  • 1910 Mark Twain

    American author

  • 1736 Prince Eugene of Savoy

  • As Anzac Day is next Tuesday I predict the Libs are going to ramp up the patriotism cry to high level.
  • I don’t think it is doing them much good.
  • Labor still ahead in the polls. YAY

275 thoughts on “Fast and Furious Friday”

  1. Professor Tim Noakes has been found innocent of the charge of Unprofessional Conduct! Congratulations to The Prof, Tim’s Angels and his fantastic legal team. This is a massive win for common sense, nutrition science and LCHF!! [Low Carbohydrate, High Fat diet]

    If you’d like a hilarious bird’s eye view of the lead up to this momentous decision we’re delighted to now be able to release Dr. Zoë Harcombe’s video from ‘Low Carb Breckenridge 2017’. We’ve been under strict instruction from Zoë not to release this great presentation so as not to influence the verdict.

    Enjoy this great win Low Carbers!!

    After conflicting statements on “good”/”bad” foods (red meat, eggs etc.), I place dietitians into the same category as economists (Yes, Prime Minister):

    James Hacker: Bernard. Humphrey should have seen this coming and warned me.

    Bernard Woolley: I don’t think Sir Humphrey understands economics, Prime Minister; he did read classics, you know.

    James Hacker: How about Sir Frank? He is head of the Treasury.

    Bernard Woolley: Well, I’m afraid he’s in even greater disadvantage in understanding economics. He’s an economist.

    • After conflicting statements on “good”/”bad” foods (red meat, eggs etc.), I place dietitians into the same category as economists (Yes, Prime Minister)

      Me too. I’d include any doctor who still makes a big deal about cholesterol.

    • High cholesterol is dangerous. Instead of taking high doses of Crestor, reduce your fat intake. It’s simple. And you’d feel so much better. High cholesterol makes me sleepy and gives me migraines. I reduce my cheese intake and I feel better. It’s not hard.

    • High (blood) cholesterol is a symptom, not a cause of disease.

      Nina Teicholz at TEDxEast: The Big Fat Surprise

  2. HEAR YE HEAR YE

    THE SA CHAPTER KNEES UP IS ANNOUNCED.

    Saturday, 6 May 2017
    in Kapunda South Australia.

    If you have not received an email invitation by now, or would like one sent, please email my via
    tuckerboxdog@hmamail.com and I will add you to the invitation list.

    There may be an interstate visitor, but I will say no more in case they cannot make it.

    PuffyTMD

  3. And other than pathetic good government starts when?

    A Senate inquiry into the government’s GST plan was held on Friday. It was the first public hearing of the government’s plan to impose a 10% GST on all online goods imported to Australia, despite being announced by the former treasurer Joe Hockey in August 2015.

    Senators heard from the internet giants Amazon, eBay and Alibaba, from consumer advocates Choice, retailers and tax experts, and officials from Treasury and the ATO.

    Treasury officials admitted the government’s plan was in breach of its own best-practice requirements because it had not been subjected to a regulatory impact statement.

    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/apr/22/labor-calls-for-12-month-delay-on-import-gst

    • I wonder where the NEs, old and new, fit on this scale

      “Worse than just being a liar or a narcissist, in addition he is paranoid, delusional and grandiose thinking and he proved that to the country the first day he was President. If Donald Trump really believes he had the largest crowd size in history, that’s delusional,” he added.

  9. Thanks jaeger for that video from Zoe Harcombe on Tim Noakes acquittal.

    As far as I know Tim is one of the advocates of the Banting health/diet program, which was started in South Africa by a group of sports and other medical scientists. In broad theory it is not dissimilar to the Paleo types of diets, which challenge the conventional strategies of the medical profession that the primary causes of heart disease are high fat/high cholesterol intakes.

    Fat is one factor, but not necessarily the only one. They put a greater impact on carbohydrates because they believe that too many can interfere with the flow of insulin through the body. So they place a high emphasis on removing high carbohydrate foods from the diet. So things like potatoes, flour products (notably bread) are removed. Even rice is viewed the severe restrictions, and unlike Paleo they’re not keen on grains of any kind, even whole grain. Preferred oil is olive, but animal fats especially pork fat, are not regarded as taboo. This is probably what puts them at odds with most established medical diets,

    It has been quite successful in South Africa where there is a semi-cult following among elite circles. My nephew (niece’s OH) is South African origin and was put on to it by his sister. He had a heart murmur despite being a health and fitness fanatic. It may be hereditary because his father died of a heart condition at 60. She urged him to try it, which he did. In 3 months he was tested again and had no heart issue. He and his family follow it. He put me onto it some years back after I’d put on weight from my struggle with cellulitis. Sim adapted recipes to it very readily and I lost weight. Incredibly it also seemed to clear up residual damage in my calf from the cellulitis.

    We haven’t followed it literally for some months because of other things happening in my life. But we still have very little bread or potatoes, or pasta. It is not against carbs, vegies being a major component of the whole show. The argument is that we get enough carbs from them and the high-concentrated ones are unnecessary. There’s a lot online about Bantings and some real enthusiasts with recipes, especially in South Africa. But it is yet to meet the blessings of the health establishment, which is perhaps why that prosecution was attempted. Bantings advocates have not been able to get past the FDA requirements to be promoted in the US, where the big markets would be.

    • I didn’t know it until a few months ago, but I’ve been following the Banting diet for three years now. My GP discovered I had insulin resistance and if something wasn’t done I’d end up with type 2 diabetes. A locum at my practice wanted to put me onto Metformin as what he called a ‘proactive measure’. I thought I could try a change of diet rather than just pop a pill with some rather nasty side effects so that’s what I did. My GP is very supportive.

      I’d been eating what a dietitian would tell you was a healthy diet. Wholegrain bread, low-cholesterol margarine, low-fat everything, potatoes, corn, rice , pasta. It was the opposite of what I needed. Now I eat meat, nuts, eggs, vegies (except the starchy ones), butter, full-fat dairy and I cook with olive oil, butter and coconut oil. I’m supposed to eat fish, but I don’t like it so I leave that out. I avoid rice, bread, pasta, anything with wheat,and sugar and certain kinds of fruit.

      And – my cholesterol did not go up with the increased intake of eggs, butter and all the other stuff we are always told to avoid. It actually dropped a bit, although it was always within the ‘normal’ range. My blood pressure has improved too.

      I have a couple of other chronic health issues, diagnosed at around the same time, and the diet for managing them is also pretty much the Banting diet. The aim is to reduce and then keep down inflammation in the body, which is behind these problems. Things have improved with those problems too.

      I fall off the wagon regularly, if I go out to eat I don’t worry too much about the diet. The occasional break-out won’t hurt me. I suppose i’m lucky, because I’ve never had much of a sweet tooth. That means I didn’t go through the sugar withdrawal cravings a lot of people have to deal with when they change their eating habits to something like Banting.

  14. SA Chapter Knees Up.
    The usual suspects please check your junk folder for your VIP invites.
    If you want an invitation please email me via tuckerboxdog at hmamail dot com
    Cheers
    Puffy.

    • Ms Atwood is 1000% correct.

      Women who don’t/won’t realise how easily their rights can/will be removed are seriously deluded.

  19. How can people not eat bread? The staff of life! With seeds on it it cleans your guts too!

    High fat diets worry me—bowel cancer can be caused by high fat.

    All this talk of diets—what about exercise?

    My stupid sister cut wheat out of her diet “I feel bloated after eating it” so just a stupid fas. All the “gluten free flour” is not flour but 100% starch. She has a spare tire around her waist from this idiotic GF fad! Diabetes next I reckon. I am persona non grata as far as my sis is concerned so I will have to tackle her daughters about it at Naracoorte next week.

    They will likely say I am being nasty but it is their Mum so I will see what I can do.

    Fad diets aarrrgghhhhh!!!!

  21. http://www2.politicalbetting.com/index.php/archives/2017/04/22/the-french-ban-on-opinion-polls-came-into-effect-at-midnight-with-macron-still-ahead/

    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-39676947

    http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/04/21/the-trumpkins-turn-on-assange.html

    https://icct.nl/publication/extremist-construction-of-identity-how-escalating-demands-for-legitimacy-shape-and-define-in-group-and-out-group-dynamics/

    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-39661339

  22. Apologies to CK Watt, but I kind of want to share Bill Maher’s videos this week.

    New Rules:

    Monologue: The Slow and the Furious:

    Overtime:

    And I thoroughly recommend that peeps watch the whole episode for some good discussion on relevant stuff.

  24. Kirsdarke

    No wuckin my friend, I only wait till late to post so that they are there for the honourable BK to see when he logs on to post dawn patrol first thing, he spends so much time searching for stuff for us to read that I try to make it easy for him. He’s a hero and deserves to be treated as such.

    • Also I see that you have suffered from disappearing link disease l will look for another link for the whole show tomorrow. I’m reposting the links for the above reasons.

  27. How can people not eat bread? The staff of life! With seeds on it it cleans your guts too!

    🙂 I love bread. Real, freshly baked, yeasty bread – not the dreadful “white slice”.

    I would *love* to be able to buy an off-the-shelf, low carb., bread machine mix to DIY at home.

    There are “lower carb.” bread options; Herman Brot is the best of them, but difficult to source unless you’re in QLD.

    Seed-based crackers and pizza bases are tasty alternatives – but expensive.

    “Low Carb., Healthy Fat” is probably a better expansion of LCHF.
    “High fat” is relative to “low fat” (high sugar) – and reminds me of James ‘erriot and “fatty bacon”:

    Chapter 39
    James revels in his marriage to Helen and the domestic bliss she brings to Skeldale House. After a calving, Mr. Horner invites him into a breakfast of bread, butter, jam and 100% fat bacon that is eaten cold. Only by spooning tons of piccalilli on it, is James is able to gag it down.

    Substituting a traditional “cooked breakfast” for “cereal” would be a great start; the problem is “time”.

  29. Good morning Dawn Patrollers. A very slow news day.

    North Korea’s foreign ministry has lashed out at Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and warned Australia was “coming within the range of the nuclear strike”. What a wonderful world!
    http://www.smh.com.au/world/north-korea-warns-australia-of-nuclear-strike-over-julie-bishops-comments-20170422-gvqg5e.html
    A family court judge with common sense!
    http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/court-rules-on-parents-dispute-about-sending-their-children-to-private-schools-20170422-gvq68a.html
    Amy Remeikis on Turnbull doubling down on his “Australia First” message.
    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/prime-minister-malcolm-turnbull-doubles-down-on-australia-first-message-20170422-gvqc6s.html
    What’s going on with the Liberal Party and Kelly O’Dwyer?
    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/vexed-liberals-move-to-dump-kelly-odwyer-while-on-maternity-leave-20170422-gvqajr.html
    The French election could be catastrophic for Australia, delivering a greater local impact than Ms May’s almost certain landslide return to Downing Street and the continuity of Brexit.
    http://thenewdaily.com.au/news/world/2017/04/22/french-election-result/
    Eight hundred mental health professionals have come together to issue a warning to the American people about the dangerous mental state of Donald Trump.
    http://www.politicususa.com/2017/04/22/hundreds-mental-health-professionals-warn-america-trump-mentally-ill.html
    Are Amazon and the AWU heading for a big stoush?
    http://www.theage.com.au/national/investigations/unions-vow-to-take-on-amazon-as-its-harsh-reputation-precedes-it-20170422-gvq8nd.html
    Deliberative democracy at work in Ireland.
    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/apr/22/abortion-in-ireland-committee-votes-for-constitutional-change
    Yesterday’s March for Science delivered some good messages.
    http://www.smh.com.au/technology/sci-tech/thousands-march-across-australia-for-science-and-reason-in-public-policy-20170422-gvqbbo.html

  30. Section 2 . . .

    Adele Ferguson has a good crack at the cosy arrangement that ASIC had with the big banks.
    http://www.smh.com.au/business/banking-and-finance/sweating-on-every-word–how-asic-massaged-the-banking-message-20170421-gvp9qt.html
    A US Federal Court judge has given VW another hurdle to jump.
    http://www.smh.com.au/business/world-business/us-judge-sentences-volkswagen-to-three-years-probation-following-emissions-scandal-20170422-gvq67b.html

    Cathy Wilcox sums up Aussie values.

  32. This bread issue – I promise this is the last thing I’ll say on this topic, but mentioning not eating bread really does seem to have upset someone. I need to explain.

    I like bread. I just don’t eat much of it. A small loaf of bread will last me more than a week, maybe several weeks. I have to keep it in the freezer, I eat so little of it. I buy low GI bread and sometimes I’ll go for sourdough rye bread from a local bakery but I try to stay away from it. I know what it will do to my blood sugar and insulin and I know how I’ll be feeling a few hours after I indulge. .

    Here’s the thing – I had severe asthma when I was a very small child. I was tested for allergies in the hope that would give some clues about what was triggering attacks. I was found to be allergic to house dust (that will still make me sneeze and wheeze) horses (no big deal, I have come in close contact with a horse maybe half a dozen times in my life without any allergic reaction) and the third thing was wheat. My parents decided that meant wheat in its natural state and that wasn’t a problem because I wasn’t likely to come in contact with wheat fields or wheat harvesting. I did though, many years later, I even rode on a harvester a few times. The dust and being close to .natural. wheat didn’t cause any harm. I eventually realised the allergy was in eating wheat – all my life I’ve had to deal with the consequences of eating more than a slice or two of bread, or a piece of cake. That has become worse as I’ve grown older. t’s not a gluten intolerance thing, gluten-free baked goods have the same effect. I can eat barley and oats with no ill effects and they contain gluten. It’s just the wheat, an over-reaction to the protein in wheat, I’m told. That over-reaction sets off inflammation in the body and inflammation is behind all my medical issues.

    So don’t yell at me for not eating bread. I do eat it, just not much of it. I do like it, but bread doesn’t like me. Don’t accuse me or anyone else who says they want to limit their bread intake for medical reasons or to cut back on carbs or for whatever other reason. If someone says bread makes them feel bloated then they are probably right. Bread does that to me and I understand why. Some of usw ant to cut back on starchy carbs too, that’s OK. It’s a healthy thing to do. Let’s just accept that rather than yelling about ‘how can you not eat bread’.

    • We are all different, leone. I eat very little bread myself. In another post you had mentioned birds. Why can’t you give them a bit of stale wholemeal bread every now and then? They like it. And why should they die from it?

    • My OH did not encourage the kids when they were younger, or the gran kids now, for the reasons in your article leonetwo. As well, she argues, it encourages the birds to hang around the backyard and poop on her clean washing hanging on the clothes lines.

    • My mother didn’t have a problem with wheat until we migrated to Australia, and it was several years before wheat in particular was identified as the trigger for a lot of her physical troubles. She and Dad went back to the UK a few years back and she discovered that wheat products in the UK don’t set her off.
      We suspect it could be something in the micro-nutrients in Australian grown wheat that was causing the problem because UK or European grown wheat doesn’t have the same effect … and I’m starting to head the same way, which is really annoying as I like making and eating bread and now I have to restrict that particular pleasure because the side effects are not fun *sighs*

    • curioz
      That makes sense to me. There’s a view that the increasing occurrence of coeliac disease might be caused by the strains of wheat we have now, as opposed to those our ancestors ate, so it’s likely the wheat in the UK is a different strain to Australian wheat.

      There’s quite a bit of info out there on this, just google.

  33. Some good points there, leone. I’m quite aware of them. All I’m saying is the occasional bit of bread won’t harm them. And if they come in winter only, I don’t believe they’re lazy. They’re hungry, mainly because they don’t find the food they used to find.

    • If I thought the birds here (there are a lot) were starving I’d feed them, but it would not be bread.

      The birds around here seem to do very nicely foraging by themselves. There’s a fair bit of bush and a heritage vineyard and orchard across the highway, plus a lot of open grassy space. I suppose all that helps if you are a bird looking for a meal.The neighbours sometimes throw bread out for them but the birds ignore it and it ends up attracting rodents. The only birds that go for bread here are the ibis, and they haven’t been around for quite a while.

  34. How insults and a campaign over sanitary towels landed activist in jail

    Stella Nyanzi’s attack on her government’s refusal to fund sanitary wear for girls led to a successful crowdfunding campaign, and prison

    Stella Nyanzi, an academic and formidable campaigner, is languishing in a jail in Kampala for describing her president as “a pair of buttocks”. Uganda’s 72-year-old leader, first elected more than 30 years ago, has become the subject of ferocious criticism for his government’s treatment of the country’s poor schoolgirls.

    To Nyanzi, the announcement that her country’s government, under the leadership of President Yoweri Museveni, could not afford to supply sanitary towels to schoolgirls – despite three in every 10 missing school because of menstruation – was more than just another broken campaign promise. It was, to the academic, the epitome of abuse – a symbol of the humiliation that the east African country has endured at the hands of a political monarchy detached from the realities of those it leads. It was also the beginning of an activist journey that would land Nyanzi in a maximum-security prison for insulting the president the west once touted as a poster boy for African democracy.

    It was first lady Janet Kataaha Museveni – speaking in her position as minister of education – who told parliament in February that there was no money for sanitary towels. Before her husband appointed her to her current post, Janet Museveni was the minister for Karamoja, one of the country’s poorest regions and a hub for illegal gold mining. Nyanzi, a single mother of three and medical epidemiologist who holds a PhD in sexuality and queer studies, took to Facebook to criticise the self-proclaimed Mama Janet, mother of the nation.

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/apr/22/activist-uganda-president-buttocks-jail-stella-nyanzi

  35. How a Handwritten Note Gave Erdogan an Uncheckable Election Win

    Turkey’s referendum on presidential powers had just finished. Counting was under way. Then, supervisors at more than 167,000 polling stations received an unprecedented order from election central in Ankara.

    They were told to count every ballot, even the ones without an official stamp to verify their authenticity. It was a clear departure from election rules. And it means that the allegations of fraud that have echoed around the country since the April 16 vote, one of the most momentous in Turkey’s history, can probably never be set to rest.

    With the margins narrow and the stakes high, it’s not surprising that there’s been intense scrutiny of the ballot process. At the heart of it is a handwritten note from Recep Ozel, the governing Justice and Development Party representative on Turkey’s election board. He asked for — and got — an exception to the election-law requirement that only stamped ballots be counted. Local waivers have been granted in the past, but not a blanket one nationwide.

    The purpose of having those stamps is “to prevent fraudulent ballots, votes brought in from outside,” said Ozel. He knew the decision, requested by his party headquarters, would cause uproar. But, he said in an interview on Tuesday at the board’s office in Ankara, it had to be done. Officials at polling stations had been handing out unstamped ballots, “we can’t even guess how many,” and voters had been using them. Refusing to count them would be undemocratic.

    “Yes, there was a big negligence here, but if you’re a voter, was it your fault?” Ozel said. “You can’t sacrifice a citizen’s vote because of some bureaucrat’s mistake.”

    https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2017-04-21/how-a-handwritten-note-gave-erdogan-an-uncheckable-election-win

  36. Jaeger

    The storm only lasted minutes, but it caused enormous damage to the city of Utrecht.

    Coincidence … yesterday I watched a doco about the meteorologist who came up with the ‘downdraft’ idea, and then went on to prove it, leading to the development of ‘weather radar’ for airports.

  37. Far-right Israeli activists hold BBQ to taunt hunger striking Palestinians

    The strike, started by Marwan Barghouti, calls for better conditions for prisoners, including expanded visitation rights and installation of public phones.

    National Union activists held a barbecue to taunt Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike Thursday.

    The youth branch and secretary-general of the far-right party, which has two representatives in Bayit Yehudi, Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel and MK Bezalel Smotrich, set up grills outside the Ofer Prison to “celebrate the hunger strike” and “break the spirit” of the strikers, in hopes that the smell of the meat would waft into the prison.

    The prisoners “will enjoy breathing in the smoke and suffer from the smell of the meat, and [we will] show them that we will not give in to their whims,” the group said.

    The group also called on the government “not to surrender to the oppressor terrorists and act with full force to free the captives [Hadar] Goldin and [Oron] Shaul,” who are presumed dead and whose bodies are being held by Hamas in Gaza.

    The prisoners want visitation rights expanded. There are health concerns, with prisoners waiting for years for operations and diagnoses being a protracted matter, he says. Prisoners are also demanding the installation of public phones, which Fares says could still be monitored and tapped by prison authorities.

    Another demand is to reinstate study programs for matriculation exams and correspondence courses.

    http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Far-right-activists-hold-barbecue-to-taunt-hunger-striking-Palestinians-488462

  38. Man charged with making threatening calls to Jewish centers

    ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — An 18-year-old man living in Israel left scores of messages graphically describing children’s deaths in calls to Jewish community centers and schools across the United States, using an online calling service to disguise his voice as a woman and hide his identity, according to a federal indictment filed Friday in Florida.

    A month after his arrest in Israel, Michael Ron David Kadar was charged with 28 counts of making threatening calls and conveying false information to police, according to the indictment filed Friday in federal court in Orlando.

    Separately, he was charged with three more counts of making threatening calls, conveying false information and cyberstalking in an indictment filed in federal court in Athens, Georgia.

    Kadar has duel Israeli and U.S. citizenship. The calls to the Jewish community centers and schools stoked fears of rising anti-Semitism and led to campus evacuations.

    Online federal court records in Florida showed no attorney listed for Kadar.

    At the time of his arrest last month, his lawyer in Israel said Kadar had a “very serious medical condition” that might have affected his behavior. She said the condition had prevented him from attending elementary school, high school or enlisting in the army, which is compulsory for most Jewish men.

    https://www.yahoo.com/news/man-charged-making-threatening-calls-jewish-centers-210522755.html

  39. Afghan Ex-President Karzai: ISIS Is A Tool Of The United States

    In an interview with Voice of America (VOA) on Wednesday, ex-Afghan President Hamid Karzai – a former Washington Ally, made statements which go hand in hand with revelations from Wikileaks during the 2016 elections. Karzai criticized recent U.S. foreign policy – including the “weak” attack on an ISIS stronghold using the largest ever non-nuclear weapon (MOAB) which failed to wipe out the Islamic State – calling ISIS a tool of the United States:

    I do not differentiate between Daesh [ISIS] and America… …I consider Daesh their tool. -VOA

    http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-04-21/afghan-ex-president-karzai-isis-tool-united-states

  41. Just a final point or so on the dietary issues mentioned. One benefit of the Paleo and Banting systems in challenging the conventions of eating fat and cholesterol-loaded foods is the attention to another racket in the marketing of ‘healthy’ foods. As jaeger mentioned, many boast about bring fat-free while quietly ignoring the sugar content of such foods. Sugar is potentially much more harmful than fats.

    A thing I liked is that eggs (never really proven to be harmful to the heart IMHO) and butter (which is viewed as less harmful than artificial spreads, albeit olive oil and avocado are excellent alternatives), are part of the good guys. They can be consumed without feeling guilty.

    Another good guy is coconut products. Coconuts originally got a bad press as the only vegetable fat to contain cholesterol, but that works on the assumption that consuming foods with fat and cholesterol will add to your own accumulation of fat and cholesterol. It’s not necessarily so, according to Banting research, because fats, minus the high carbs intake, can burn quicker in the body system. They view the flow of insulin more critical to both diabetics and heart condition people. So coconut oil is a very healthy product and the next best thing to olive oil.

  43. gorgeousdunny1

    The problem with the Paleo diet is that its claim to be ‘Paleo’ is bullshit. That and Pete Evans 🙂 A recent article in New Scientist, will try and find, from a person in the ancient diet field said that the diet at the time was “whatever was available” and every region was very different from bulk fats to carb city. It changed often and rapidly as the post ice age changes marched on. Also mentioned some area where 10,000 years ago wild wheat+grains were very much part of the diet.

    I think lots of variety and whatever is in season is the way to go.

    An interesting read from Scientific American. The hard to argue with study showed that although “healthy fats” lowered cholestorol the people carked it at the same rate.

    Records Found in Dusty Basement Undermine Decades of Dietary Advice
    Raw data from a 40-year-old study raises new questions about fats

    Ramsden, of the National Institutes of Health, unearthed raw data from a 40-year-old study, which challenges the dogma that eating vegetable fats instead of animal fats is good for the heart. The study, the largest gold-standard experiment testing that idea, found the opposite, Ramsden and his colleagues reported on Tuesday in BMJ (formerly the British Medical Journal).

    Although the study is more than just another entry in the long-running nutrition wars—it is more rigorous than the vast majority of research on the topic—Ramsden makes no claims that it settles the question. Instead, he said, his discovery and analysis of long-lost data underline how the failure to publish the results of clinical trials can undermine truth.

    https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/records-found-in-dusty-basement-undermine-decades-of-dietary-advice/

    • That’s a great link thanks, KK.

      I think your general point that some things work well for some people in some areas, and sometimes less so for others in other places. The Japanese heart rate conditions have been said to increase as their diet becomes more Westernised. Eskimos were observed to have few heart issues living on a diet loaded with whale and seal blubber, but there may be other variables, possibly unrelated to diet, at work.

      I also found the Paleo view a bit romantic on mankind’s history. I was more drawn to the Banting one. Although it was inspired by a nearly forgotten character from Victorian-age history, it has been worked on by a number of sports scientists and others in South Africa. Their research seems pretty solid, at least to my non-scientific mind. Like the Paleo advocates, they have run into some quarrels with established dietary thinking.

  45. For those who have been annoyed by this around the net (mostly on Fairfax) today:

    Start with the original equatons:

    x^2 + xy = 20
    y^2 + xy =30

    Adding the two equations together we can find out what (x+y) is equal to:

    (x^2 + xy) + (y^2 + xy) = (20) + (30)

    x^2 + y^2 + 2xy = 50

    x^2 + y^2 + 2xy is the expansion of (x+y)^2, so…

    (x+y)^2 = 50

    Therefore:

    x + y = sqr50

    Now rewrite the original equations:

    x^2 + xy = x(x+y) = 20
    x * sqr50 = 20

    x = 20/sqr50

    and likewise,

    y^2 + xy = y(x+y) = 30
    y * sqr(50) = 30

    y = 30/sqr50

    Therefore, multiplying the two values together:

    xy = (20/sqr50) * (30/sqr50)
    xy = 600/50

    Ta-da!

    xy = 12 .... QED

    With

    x = sqr8

    and

    y = sqr18

  46. Home again and have no idea what agh xy=poliz mean but happy that others do
    Boys went nuts for about 30 seconds that we are back then settled back in to normal life.

  47. And, in a universe far, far away …

    “The prime minister said that he wants to put younger people in the ministry and he wants to make sure that we’ve got female representation and we’ve got talent that is emerging for us in great number from the backbench and we have an incredibly talented outer ministry and backbench,” Dutton said.

    “And Malcolm Turnbull has made the point before that he wants to try to put people in to provide them with that training and skill so that they can be great cabinet ministers into the future.”

    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/apr/23/rock-solid-peter-dutton-says-hed-like-to-be-pm-but-so-would-148-others

  48. leone

    Still about birds …

    I’m not talking about the daily birds. eg the blackbirds, mynas, maggies, peewees. They get enough food without help. It’s the currawongs. They come in winter. They’re big shy, wild birds. They don’t come every day in winter; only when it’s very cold and raining. I don’t really think they like gardens. They come because they’re hungry. I feel that there is no harm in helping them out a bit. imo

  49. A fair assessment

    After events this week it is hard not to conclude that Australia would have been better off had Malcolm Turnbull never become prime minister. Certainly anyone with a progressive outlook should share that view.

    Harsh? Perhaps, but look where we are. This supposedly moderate leader is completely hostage to the right, and any voices at the other end of the pews in the Liberal party’s supposably broad church are conspicuously quiet.

    With Turnbull as prime minister we still have all the negatives of an Abbott government – indeed Turnbull is so desperate to prove his conservative bona fides he’ll even go further than Abbott did on issues such as 18C. And on other issues where the hope was he would change direction, such as climate change policy, he steadfastly sticks to Abbott’s path.

    But a Turnbull prime ministership is worse because it lacks Malcolm Turnbull in the ministry providing any meagre level of pushback to the most base nationalistic impulses.

    Where is the man who once counselled with regards to changes to citizenship laws that “this is not a bravado issue; they’ve got to be the right laws”? Where is the man who once promised the Australian people he would offer “a style of leadership that respects the people’s intelligence”?

    That man is now reduced to speaking lines more suited to a particularly poor contestant in a Donald Trump lookalike contest.

    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/grogonomics/2017/apr/23/the-incredible-shrinking-malcolm-gets-even-smaller-spouting-australian-values

    • Funny isn’t it that so many words are written about Turnbull not living up to people’s expectations. Turnbull never ever deserved to be viewed as a moderate liberal or possessing the potential to be a great leader. I doubt that he was even a great lawyer/barrister in the time he spent working at that profession. He certainly didn’t show any talent when he was LOTO and his performance as an MP in opposition and a Minister in Govt was mediocre at best. The only talent he did show was his ability to destroy the greatest infrastructure project in our history, the NBN.

  50. Insiders, this morning – Bazz interviews Dutton.

    Dutton will not admit his rubbish about asylum seekers on Nauru sexually abusing a five year old boy was nothing but lies. Everything he has said has been a lie or a twisting of the truth, yet he is still sticking to his story even though the PNG police and witnesses on the scene say his version is not true. Dutton should already have been kicked out of the ministry for this, but Turnbull lacks the spine to do that.

    CASSIDY: I want to ask you about the recent disturbance at Manus Island. You recently linked that to a situation where you said that a 5-year-old boy was led away by three asylum seekers and that caused the mood to elevate quite quickly. Now, that’s not true, is it?

    DUTTON: Of course, it is true.

    CASSIDY: It’s not true.

    DUTTON: It is true. And the briefing that I’ve had is particularly succinct and clear.

    CASSIDY: Who gave you this information?

    DUTTON: Well Barrie, I have senior people on the island. We also have obviously, significant contacts with the governor and people of Manus.

    CASSIDY: You didn’t speak with the police commander, clearly?

    DUTTON: I can give you the facts in relation to it or you can take the Twitter version.

    CASSIDY: Well let me give you what I understand the facts to be. The boy wasn’t five, he was ten. It didn’t happen on the day of the disturbance, it happened a week before the disturbance and there’s CCTV footage outside of tent number one that shows the boy went inside and the people are packing fruit into plastic bags. They gave him the fruit and he left.

    DUTTON: So let me give you the facts. The fact is that as people would understand, Manus Island is home not only to the regional processing centre but also to the naval base there as well. The point that I was making and certainly the clear advice that I received was that there had been a ramping up in terms of the mood on the ground over a period of time which included a sexual assault, to which you’ve made no reference, separate to any incident that we’re talking about here.

    CASSIDY: The sexual assault, that you’re talking about two people have been charged with sexual assault but deny the charges.

    DUTTON: So as you imagine ..

    http://www.abc.net.au/insiders/content/2016/s4657481.htm

    There’s a lot more, Bazz kept trying to get an admission out of Dutton, Dutton kept lying and refusing to give a straight answer. I read the transcript rather than listen to Dutton. I tried that and lasted less than twenty seconds.

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