I knew it

I'm fat because of those greedy capitalist food makers! It has nothing to do with my love of not starving or my love for new gastronomic experiences. If food wasn't so moorish I could give it up altogether and live on a diet of sunlight (topping up with maltesers when it's overcast).

Via the Filthy Smoker at DK's place and Leg-iron over at his place it turns out that rats fed a diet of dried pellets tasting faintly of wood chipping for one hour a day preferred a diet of fattening foods rich in all sorts of energy, vitamins and minerals which to an animal that has survived and thrived as a scavenger for thousands of year is a godsend.

They've both highlighted some very good points; I've another on the subject of addiction an it comes back from something I read years ago on the subject of addiction.

Some time ago while reading an essay by Theodore Dalrymple (I forget which) I came across an interesting experiment termed Rat Park; in essence the study appeared to show that addiction observed in rats was actually a product of their environment rather than the pharmacological addictiveness of drugs like morphine; given free choice, in this case putting them in ideal conditions to live, feed and breed and have access to pure water and water laced with morphine there was no discernable discremination towards taking morphine. Even introducing rats who had been fed morphine and stressed in cages reverted to no discrimination when put in the park.

Think about this for a second; up to the 1940's and beyond the vast majority of heroin users were fully functioning; they worked, were taxed and didn't break the law (opium was legal in dem days). Fast forward to 2010 and the stresses of welfare-induced poverty have les to thousands simple seeking an escape to the drudgery of modern, crappy life in socialist Britain**.

Back to convenience food - they've posited that it has addictive qualities; if so there is a simple way to confirm this in a more practicle way and also investigate the model for addiction altogether.

Simply take measurements of the body weight and biochemistry of newborn urban street rats compared to their adults by trapping them in their environment and compare the results against their controlled experiment results; this would reveal whether the availability of convenience food actually has a verifiable effect, or whether, like the morphine-fed rats introduced to rat park they quickly found a happy medium. The prevalence of convenience food detritus on the streets is more than an ample food supply and the data set from all those rats more than sufficient.

But then, what are the chances that they'd do something like that though? That would require the "scientist" to not have an agenda*** and only he interested in his hypothesis.

*= am I the only one out there who thinks this was the kind of experiment done by marketing departments? Listen to the following moniker and decide:

nine out of ten rats prefer...

...and it sounds considerably less impressive no?

**= of course collectivist blame the crushing poverty on a whole host of things from Maggie to the Bory's to those filthy industrialists/capitalists/corporations etc., whilst ignoring the fact that whilst poverty is less of an issue now than it was 40 years ago, and almost non-existent when compared to 100 years ago when poverty meant you starved, rather than meant you had to buy own-label; that's why they need the term "relative poverty", which if you think about it is self-defeating as it can never be destroyed by increasing anyones wealth- fact is the only way you can reduce relative poverty is to make everyone poorer.

***= this is probably the most subtle but destructive problem with the scientific process today and almost certainly due to politicisation; scientists go in with a hypothesis which, proven or disproven, led to the advancement of science overall - the most exciting words in science not being "eureka!" ("I have found it!" in Greek kind of) but "that's funny..."

With the kid glove treatment of children by educators and the pathological inability to tell them they are wrong/have failed/are failing, coupled with the vested interest in many wrong theories being right, a la climategate, it is easier and more profitable to have an agenda to be backed up, rather than a theory to be disproven.

More Reasons to be Incandescent

Had to have my V+ box replaced again today after it failed, losing in the process seventy hours worth of film and tv I would probably never watch but wanted to look impressive with having.

Still the technician told my wife something interesting which again makes me all that bit more vitriolic about the EU and the madness it enjoys- apparently not only do you expose yourself to more toxic chemicals and cause severe migraines with those energy saving light bulbs but apparently they also interfere with IR radiation of the type emitted by remote controls, interfering and reducing their effectiveness, even causing complex machines in their vicinity to malfunction in rare cases; no really:

Electronic devices operated by infrared remote control can interpret the infrared light emitted by CFLs as a signal, this limits the use of CFLs near televisions, radios, remote controls, or mobile phones.

So not only is the EU intent on sucking the joy out of life, the economy and the collective free spirit of every country in it, it now deems to push a device on us that will kill us with toxins, pain us with migraines and wreck our possessions.

And all to save the planet, one watt at a time; that will provide me with little succour come the snow we are expecting in Leeds this week, on the first of April, 8 days after spring officially started.

You know a country is really in trouble...

...when the Internet scammers start putting less effort into stealing your money*:

Notification of new security messages

We are upgrading to Serve you better than before, so we need all
our numerous customers to verify their Log in Details


Click here to verify

Thank You..
* Please do not reply to this email, as your reply will not be received. This is an automatic notification of new security messages.

Sincerely,
The Internet Banking Team at HSBC.

Not even an attempt at addressing me in a personal manner nor was there any attempt at using any fake marketing labels from HSBC. Thats just sloppy work....

*=I don't even have a HSBC account!

Fill yer boots

Apparently bereft of ideas about how to sell themselves to the population as anything other than collectivist wastrels and bootlicks they are now looking to the peasants for ideas.

Create Labour's next ad campaign
In recent weeks progressives across the web have produced some striking political imagery on websites like mydavidcameron.com. We’ve stood back and admired this work. Now - for those who want to extend their creative skills we are offering you the chance to produce a poster which we will release on digital adboards over the Easter weekend.

Here's my inspired concept for their digi adboards, delivered in the best possible taste you understand:



Labour: Why Not Try
Another Term of the
Nations Turd Sandwich?

Coming to an idiot census near you soon...

More MyDaves

Sadly inspired by this article

(H/T to fearless leader.)

Coining A New Term Today

Inspired by this piece over at Old Holborn's I am coining a new term that I believe sums up the near pathological contradictions of this man and his party.

People, I give you...sociopatholism, and as with thr cynical libertarians term fascolism I also posit a definition and accompanying adjectives an pronouns (suggestions positively welcome):

sociopatholism.
(so-sheo-paf-o-lism)
Personal: sociopatholist
Adjective: sociopatholistic
Noun:
1. Hegelian ideology which attempts to merge 2 or more contradictory values together.
2. Political belief system in which practicalities are not merely obstacles to overcome but are merely non-existent; the belief that socioeconomic realities are dealt with instantly by legislation and that unintended consequences are either non-existent, unimportant (with no accompanying regard to those it affects directly) or merely a product of another mitigating factor altogether disconnected from the original.
3. Value system driven purely by pathological self-interest with accompanying disregard for others wellbeing; the self-regarding nature of this scheme means success is either fitted around the outcome or the outcome is ignored completely with an accompanying detachment from reality.

Spread the word!

Yet More Indications We Are Ruled By Thieving, Conniving Turds

A Labour MP yesterday. Hope he's got receipts for those

Honestly how is it we are still ruled over by thieves, liars and corrupted souls? When was someone going to tell me Byers was still around causing trouble? Whether he's allowing his buddies to loot British car manufcturers and the taxpayer or undermining the privatised rail industry stock price to enable the government to renationalise it on the cheap, putting old retirees on the breadline he's bad news anywhere he goes*.

Guido and the sunlight centre have him pegged and are petitioning our Buffy to have the "right honourable" bit removed from his name in an official capacity - it was probably removed long ago in the unofficial one. Ofcourse on present form the Queens actions tend not to extend beyond arm waving but we can live in hope.

To make matters worse the Daily Fail is saying that as ex-cabinet ministers they are in line for peerages; this is insult on lasting injury.

What is the panacea to all of this? Politicians will tell you it us mire QUANGOs, more faux-scrutiny and more money to stop them stealing from us or undermining the rule of law; I have a simpler, more elegant solution: a recall law.

Have a localised recall law which comes into effect after the mp's first year in power that allows his constituents to remove him upon collection of more than 51% of registered voters (NOT popular votes; we've all got to want rid of them, not just the ones who are bothered enough to turn up; the right to recall should ensure this figure is closer to the popular one) which immeadiately calls for a byelection.

Likewise a national referrenda (again based on total registered voters not the popular vote) for the removal of a lord which requires a 1% higher than that of the mps who voted to give them a seat in a secret ballot for the lords.

I still think there is some stock to keep the Lords, and that democratising it needs to be done carefully; the only thing that should prevent a Lord entering the upper house is being behind bars and/or being recalled by the citizenry, not the autocracy.

And This Comes As A Surprise To Whom Exactly?

Via the Dirty Flail:

Militants behind the British Airways strike have a secret agenda to take control of the Labour Party, the Daily Mail can reveal.

The hard-Left clique which runs the giant Unite union plans to 'reclaim or refound' Labour, dumping Blairite policies in favour of old-style socialism.

They believe that, because Labour needs union cash to stay afloat, Unite can control its political direction.

Would love to be behind a glass partition when a daily mail hack is told the pope is indeed a catholic and the dali llama isn't actually a llama; and bears do indeed crap in the woods.


-- Post From My iPhone

Predictions for #budget2010

A KFC in every bucket, and an uninsured vauxhall nova in every yard.

Either that or the party slogan (pick any party, doesn't matter).

Vote same. Get same.

The Non-Ideal Solution to Meow Meow

A lot has been made of the use and dangers of legal highs recently, particularly with the deaths of 2 children in Scunthorpe thought to be linked to "Meow meow" or mephedrone as it is known chemically.

Whilst drug deaths, especially those where children are involved are heartbraking I remain convinced that the calls of those directly affected for a ban are misguided whilst those of their political masters are purely taking advantage of the situation; either through more thorough control over us proles or, though a more cynical reason there is none, for political gain (particularly odious considering the cause of these childrens deaths isn't entirely as clear cut); if there were any proportionality to there reasoning why not ban alcohol and tabacco, blowing up distilleries.

Boatang has recorded some of the goings on with prohibition over the last century; he makes the standard libertarian arguements, and I agree with them. All.

Problem is as I found out in very practical terms recently people put very little stock in arguements that are inherently pro-freedom; they are geared to accept a smaller world view and find the path of least resistance in simple punitive arguements of one group or another (Melanie Philips being a case in point).

That is why I would like to propose an alternative to outright legalisation which would reduce the prevalence of deaths attributable to drug taking whilst curbing the spread: expand the powers of the MHRA to include recreational drugs of all kinds (including alcohol and tabacco) and alter the remit of drug laws to inform peoples of the risks involved.

Additionally tax it as you would any other legal recreational drug; weight for weight recreational drugs like alcohol and tabacco mitigate the costs associated with their use many times over - possibly one of the only reasons why they've not been banned outright by a bansturbating parliament, plus the fact that they are populist, attention-seeking scumbags probably figures into it quite heavily too. Either way one of the most egregious aspects of prohibition has been the lack of research that goes into these drugs; a fact that through much of their history has led to pathways of research being controlled by some particularly unsavoury elements, which can never be a good thing.

Drug licencing means that credible research will have to be done into the effects of these drugs in their pure form and delivery methods will be improved - we will swap pharmaceutical-grade talc and polyols for brick dust and cut glass currently used.

All the while drug development can continue in a self-sustaining manner; the burdens of abuse becoming self-mitigated problems.

This isn't ideal; I am effectively calling for the problem of recreational drugs to fall out of one government agencies lap (the police and justice agencies) into another (the regulatory bodies) and to ensure comparisons can be drawn include tabacco (alcohol is covered by strict GMP guidelines making it less worthwhile); the outcome of any credible study would probably make uncomfortable reading for some users of current legal drugs.

All in all though I am advocating a net increase in the individuals freedom; not everyone will make decisions which will be good for them but fewer of those bad decisions will prove fatal or find them taking their life places that will prove impossible to come back from. Drugs will naturally become cheaper and safer, releasing the burden on healthcare and remove the criminal monopsonies that plague our inner cities; the police becoming able to mop up weakened and impoverished criminal gangs.

If the war on drugs teaches us anything it illustrates where denormalising behaviour eventually takes us; to disenfranchise and criminalise an entire subculture merely impoverishes us all.

I am no fan of drugs; I think it is pure escapism, but as a drinker and resident of the UK I have to say of late we have all needed an escape; making drugs pay their own way will only reduce the dependency on them overall and help those who use them become responsible for their own actions.