I think this proves my point about Boiler; he hasn't posted anything in this thread yet, but my mention of his name almost immediately triggered a post from him ... some Bot was looking for threads with his name in them and that triggered a response ... the plot thickens ....

That's a ridiculously good point now you come to mention it.

See above

I have no problem with that video - apart from the fact that it fails to mention that seafood from any source is a major cause of food poisoning. As with pork, the reason for dietary laws banning seafood is because, in a hot climate, the chance of dying from food poisoning was just too high..... better to make them treif or haram.

It underlines my comments on other food too..... if it's cheap, it's cheap for a reason - and any use of antibiotics or other drugs and hormones should be declared by law.

At Ardnacrusha, on the Shannon, the dam blocks the migration route for Salmon. So there are "steps" to allow them past, but there were also tanks to allow Salmon to be bred from the roe and milt of those who didn't make it. When I visited as a kid, one tank held cross-bred Salmon/Trout which I was told would never be released. At feeding time a bucket of chopped liver was scooped out and cast on the surface..... and the result was akin to those Piranha shockers - the water boiled!! I "know" that Salmon Trout is just a misnomer, but whenever I see it on sale in the supermarket, I think back to Ardnacrusha.........

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine...-H7Dmu8fuMnhv8

And Atlantic salmon smolts exposed to benzodiazepines—medications, such as Valium and Xanax, that are frequently used to treat anxiety—migrate nearly twice as quickly as their unmedicated counterparts. Recklessly so, for the juvenile fish are likely to arrive at the sea in an underdeveloped state and before seasonal conditions are favorable. The smolts do not usually exhibit such gusto: In fact, they are frequently observed traveling tail-first, as if reluctant. It would seem, then, that they have a cognitive and perhaps emotional switch that, when flipped, prompts them to strike out for sea. This complicates the common understanding of migration, which holds that animals are puppetted by seasonal cues and physical readiness (here, the adaptation of scales and gills to briny water). Pharmaceutical pollution reveals that a psychobiological release may also be required—to set off, the smolts must first surmount their own feelings of stress.

I am fairly sure that's a really bad idea!

Well this has meandered far away from the original point of the thread...

As to Boiler (or should we just starting calling him HAL 9000 at this point?).... he's just as bad over on VisaJourney too

I'm afraid I can't do that, Dave.

Anyway, I wish I could find the mouse that's been shitting on my desk and turn it into roadkill. I'm starting to think it was the ungrateful bastard that I set free the other week.

Poor little Jeremy the Squishel

A fitting sendoff to a worthy creature. If it were a cat, on the other hand, a party would be called for ...

It could have been suicide. He was probably bullied because of his name. If only his parents had named him Tufty just like all his other siblings.

The creature that strikes me as most intelligent when crossing the road is the Quail. Quails roam about in families and prefer to walk across the road, although they can fly in a push. They can always figure out which way to run whan a car approaches, the shortest path to safety. Chicks can be tiny, but parents scoot them out the way in good time. The only time they get caught out is when they are in the middle of the road and cars are coming both ways, so they are caught out in a pincer attack. In this situation I hit the brakes, and if I get rear-ended that is the other driver's problem.

As to cats, every cat has a unique personality. Some plod knowledgeably about the street and live to a venerable age, others like to play chicken and run across the street at the last moment under the wheels of a car.

Rabbits, well.

Funnily enough, my g/f and I have always called every squirrel we see (and we see lots!) 'Jerry'. I have no idea where this came from but it's stuck with us to this day.

A likeness towards Jeremy Beadle perhaps? A small rat like creature that some people think is cute?