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“I was left wondering quite why it needed to be so intrusive.”
This is a well-known problem and often comes down to either laziness on the part of the app designer, or thoughts of monetizing the results. As Steve will point out the later versions of Android allow you to turn off many of these.
Any studies of humans over a period of decades can only be very broad strokes. They will largely depend on how well–crafted are the data collection and any survey forms. My wife has recently had to fill in a very large extremely poorly crafted bone-density survey. It required yes/no answers to events that took place decades ago and would not accept a ‘do not know/remember’ response. It further compounded the uselessness of the survey by using specific obscure medical terminology for various complaints and omitted others which probably have a major bearing on results. I told my wife to just tick ALL the boxes where she did not know, but she is too conscientious and left them blank to discuss at the hospital. I told her she was making a big error, in that the form designer needs to be taught a lesson. Given that most of the population are either not as intelligent or as diligent as my wife any results from that particular survey are going to be worthless, but will no doubt be published for ‘evidence-based’ decision making.
Some research suggests that evening exercise is better for the heart, but morning exercise burns off more weight as your body takes a long time to turn off the fat burner. The consensus is do it whenever it is convenient!
There has also been a whole slew of references to retirement causing earlier onset of mental deterioration. It is clearly a multifaceted problem.
While the finding may be correct, I am extremely cautious about anything where correlation and causation are so closely linked. e.g. People retire as they get older, + brain deterioration takes place in older people!
It looks possible that galloping brain-rot is another ill that can be attributed to sugar. So no mango chutney with your curry!
Ox and pig roasts are now done by professionals. Typically it will be an attraction at an out-door event and they tend to use quite decent hard wood in their fires. Of course the roasting is not done over a flaming fire but rather the hot embers after the flames have gone. I believe a number of farms have gone into this as an attractive add-on to their farm shops. — random example link
Spit-roast pig/ox over a wood fire — yum. Much nicer than the same thing cooked in a boring gas/electric oven.
Just goes to show that the cooking process can make the world of difference. I can still remember the distinctive but not unpleasant taste of a can of strong tea brewed on a ship-yard foundry fire. Hot iron has a taste and smell of its own! Even an onion baked in the hot ashes then a knob of butter added tastes quite different from onions done in any other way. (memories of a 14 years-old gofer on a steel riveting crew – summer holidays were times for working not swanning around on a beach)
If you can, it is always wise to check on other human’s actions especially wrt tablets.
I see on today’s Beeb that a Boot’s dispenser dropped one because he/she was under pressure, as was their ‘checker’ and gave someone the wrong drug. The recipient then accidentally overdosed on the drug as a result of his not doing his own checking! He was very lucky just to get a scare as I had to be taken off that particular drug (amlodopine) as it resulted in my having a potentially catastrophic collapse in blood sodium levels. (I am also very lucky in having a GP who has an excellent attention to detail and always follows up on reports of adverse drug reaction alerts. She also has a very healthy disrespect for big Pharma)
I persisted with Elex and eventually ‘finished’ it.(It does not in fact end, but allows continued play with a slightly different class of opponents replacing previous ones.)
My final verdict is that it is a diamond in the rough (very rough in parts). It is however a very ‘different’ sort of hack/slash & shoot game. Without putting in too many spoilers you have three contending parties with different attributes and weapons and you can choose to join one of them. I’d recommend putting off that step as long as you can.
As noted before initial play is very imbalanced and you have to either run a lot or use npcs as unwitting companions/cannon fodder. Much later you gain the abilities you need. Being sneaky pays in this game! Each level opens up access to different abilities (mild spoiler – some of these are pretty useless, so choose carefully).
The game then devolves into one of balance – balancing contending parties that you will eventually need as allies, and balancing a player attribute that runs from ‘cold’ i.e. computer logic level to ‘irrational’. A major essential spoiler is that ‘irrational’ is not necessarily bad as it is easy to get ‘cold’ through use of the elex drugs and logical conversation responses, but irrational is only gained through the conversation process and emotional/b-minded responses. This latter is probably the roughest element of the game as being too cold locks you out of some essential choices. This would have been ok if warned about, but no warning is given. The balancing bit, while somewhat frustrating adds up to making the game more than just a hack & slash.
Worth a try if you are willing to go for a long haul.
I now need another open-world single player rpg. It has to be off-line as I just dip in and out of games at will.
Richard I’ll emphasise that in my post I stated (the) reduction in salt adversely affects the cooking chemistry.
You need some at the start of cooking because it participates in the cooking process: It is necessary for browning effects, caramelization, and the generation of the flavour enhancing Maillard reactions (break-down of amino acids to complex sugars). It is of course essential when baking with yeast.
Cooks have a different take on your suggestion of after-seasoning and recommend against it – it does not diffuse into the product but stays as a too salty layer on the outside. Things do not taste as good.
I have no problem with providing low salt foods for those who need them (about 10-15% of the population), but why unnecessarily inflict it on the general population?
I recommend reading this article as it gives both sides of the salt debate in I think a fairly dispassionate way.
Re other forms of dementia I suggested nothing I just quoted the turmeric research in the paper I linked. If you read that it merely states a lower rate is found in people from the sub-continent (not an elimination). Assuming that turmeric has beneficial effects only in certain types of brain disorders then that could explain why it does not completely eliminate the problem, but it would appear to have a beneficial impact on those that are most common otherwise the effect on the general sub-continent population would not have been noted.
I did not bother to comment on adulteration as that is a totally extraneous matter, and equally I did not criticize the reduction in sugar:
“That said, unfortunately the need to reduce sugar intake is more soundly science and research based..
Perhaps the word unfortunately was out of place, but it would have been nice if the flavour boost did not carry real health risks (not just obesity but also adverse impacts on gut flora and commensurate risks of arterial plaque formation) .
For Steve – garlic is loaded with FODMAP check out if you are sensitive to other high fodmap foods and their general categories. link
As to cause – probably antibiotics as they can totally screw-up the way your gut works. A fecal transplant may be required to completely sort it, but you could try probiotics.
You are not alone in complaining. Best guess is that it is just a carp program. Google on ‘Adobe digital editions slow’. This is typical.
“I am unaware of any move to ban or bar otherwise safe foodstuffs from being ingested by anyone who so desires, though adulterated products do emerge from time to time only to cause severe problems.”
Our food police have already done that with salt and sugar with the result that my once favourite Heinz Baked Beans are now on my list of vile products to be avoided like the plague! (Branston baked beans are a somewhat acceptable substitute but reduction in salt adversely affects the cooking chemistry).
The reduction in salt was implemented based on somewhat dodgey science as numerous studies even show dangers in not ingesting enough salt. link That said, unfortunately the need to reduce sugar intake is more soundly science and research based.
You can possibly try the more expensive and less tasty option – Curcumin capsules
Re your reflux problems: my local gut consultant prescribed Motillium, a mild laxative that speeds up the gut. He told me to use it (infrequently) when I accidentally consume anything in a restaurant that causes reflux. (For me, red/green peppers concealed in a jus are the beginning of four hours of unremitting pain. Paradoxically I can eat chillies till the cows come home with no ill effects). He also said my problems were probably initiated by time spent overseas and too many antibiotics screwing up my gut flora,. He recommended yoghurts laced with probiotics – over time this has actually helped eliminate some of the food intolerances I had developed.
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Many Trade Unionists have also crossed onto the other side and become HR Advisors or the like. This seems to be a recognised state of play as it rarely seems to affect their dealings with their old mates. A number of the ones I knew rose up through the Union ranks then got scholarships to Ruskin, paid their dues then crossed over to the other side. These pragmatic Unionists normally got the best deals for their people as well as themselves later on.
I have just complained to Amazon that the >£50 purchases from Prime were not discounted so I canceled them. The T&C for their deals are too damned obscure for my liking,
About four years ago our local council had a £20 offer on something called a Green Johanna hot composter.
Frankly the thing worries me as I think it may actually be a disguised alien monster. In all the time we have had it we have never had a need to empty it despite it being fed a diet of dead foxes, pond fish, a rather ‘high’ duck, autumnal eaves and other assorted compostables. Without any smells or complaints, the contents just get quietly turned into some sort of non-odourous liquid which in turn feeds a large fir tree and associated worms.
If your Council offers you one (and you have space), grab the offer!
The only thing is do not offend SWMBO, I suspect that a Green Johanna could easily eat a human during the course of a summer!
Giffgaff is great – each month they give a contract renewal reminder and opportunity to change the contract level. Often if I have not done a lot of traveling (Xmas for instance) they will suggest I need a cheaper contract with less data. To my mind any company that reminds you to use a cheaper option has a lot going for it!
Bangladesh was on my turf, and ‘our man’ lived in a ‘penthouse’ apartment on the top floor of a building in Dhaka which had sweat shops on every other floor. He used to take visitors up to his apartment via the production lines for all the main fashion houses — other than designs and possibly some materials there was hardly a hairsbreadth of difference between the production of stuff for Primark or that for Versace/Dior.
I’ve parenthesized ‘Penthouse’, as although it was large, air conditioned and had a city view, it still suffered the down-sides of a live-in population of rats and Mozzies the size of efflumps. Visitors went through the production lines to his flat rather than getting trapped in less than reliable lifts. One of the live-in rats bit him on the toe and enforced a battery of health checks.
I’m therefore with Steve on buying cheap rather than name brand.
A simple solution — just make all Supermarkets responsible for the collection and recycling of all their packaging. They would soon find a way of eliminating it. Administer through a three monthly check of a basket of purchases (this already exists) then charge them on the difficulty of recycling their associated crud. Even the ones (Waitrose) who claim to be squeaky clean use mixed materials packaging (paper+plastic) or tetra paks which is almost impossible to recycle.
Charge 10p on all cans bottles etc then provide recycling points where the containers can be turned into cash. Norway has had this for years. link
Wellington in New Zealand had this for beverage cans and the recycling yard was full of kids and deadbeats turning trash into cash (they had a machine into which cans were fed and dispensed 5c in return.)
They used to discourage regular use of ‘cleaning tapes’ as they caused head wear, but in an umpteen years old vcr — who cares!
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