Paul Brownjohn @Paulos_the_fog@qoto.org
Retired software engineer & woodworker.
Anglo-francophone.
Detest tories. Subscribe to green, leftish radical politics but not to any particular political party!.
Love the EU and all it stands for, moreover, I spent the last 10 years of my career working at an EU agency.
Enthusiastic photographer, especially wildlife and most especially butterflies.
Slightly knowledgeable gardener.
Atheist; loathe almost all religions and pity the people deluded enough to follow them. I make exceptions for Buddhism as it isn't really a religion in the strictest sense of the word as it doesn't postulate the existence of any god, and Jainism which is the epitome of peace.
For anyone who is interested, my header photo is of the most stupendous sunset I have ever seen. On the right is the waterfront of Vientiane, the capital of Laos, on the left is Thailand and in the middle, acting as the border between the two countries is the mighty Mekong river.
Joined Nov 2022
I have lived on my own for over 30 years and I would attest to the same. I have also noticed that alcohol in large quantities seems to have liitle or no noticeable effect on me, at least until I try to stand up or speak to someone on the phone!
@yosasocial @HarriettMB @BrianJopek
Almost unknown in the UK and very rare in mainland Europe BUT common as muck in some places I have lived , e.g. Thailand - it is estimated that up to 40% of 'soi dogs' (feral dogs that wander round towns and villages in Thailand) are infected with rabies and I would guess that the same applies to the similar feral dogs in India, Pakistan and other parts of Asia.
Around New Year in 2018, I contracted influenza - something I tend to get about every 10 years! I wasn't vaccinated and I cannot even begin to recount how ill it made me. I was unable to stand up for 4 days - for the first couple of days of it, I thought I was dying - for the next few days I hoped I was dying as I felt so incredibly ill! After recovering, I developed an opportunist infection of bacterial pneumonia (something that commonly kills influenza patients), fortunately a timely course of antibiotics stopped that in 48 hours.
As I am now of the age that means I can get the flu vaccine free of charge, I do exactly that every year religiously now!
I had a heated discussion with someone on the web about vaccines.
He insisted that they are all bad, none of them work, and all the usual bullshit that anti-vaxxers come out with.
I asked him therefore, theorectically, if he were to be bitten by a dog or other mammal that was known to be rabid, if he would allow himself to be vaccinated against rabies (the rabies vaccine is effective for up to 48 hours following a bite from a rabid animal). He said no but that he would treat the bite with lavender oil which he insisted was far more effective than the rabies vaccine!
Rabies results in an absolutely awful death during the throes of which morphine and other pain killers are largely ineffective!
The USA has just had the right to do just that and they turned it down. Instead they have voted the anti-christ - a direct political descendent of Hitler into the White House!
One of the most irritating aspects of British culture is the fact that as a nation we are, it seems, constituionally unable to look over the shoulders of other nations. Many, many other nations have already introduced various forms of assisted suicide - why not gather data from them about how it has panned out for them?
Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg (where I live) have all introduced assisted suicide. Switzerland has had it for some considerable time as have many other nations. The full(ish) list is:
Australia
Belgium
Canada
Colombia
Ecuador
Luxembourg
The Netherlands
New Zealand
Portugal
Spain
Switzerland
France has a slightly different take on on it: they allow physicians to place the terminally ill patient in an induced coma until natural death intervenes. I see no problem with that as the idea is to alleviate suffering if that goal is achived; the method matters little. However, it must be hell for the relatives!
I have no doubt whatever that you are absolutely right!
The USA has just voted that worthless imbecile Trump back into the whilte house and the UK has voted in the equally useless imbecile Farage as an MP.
Based on that I think we need to put the lead back in petrol!!!
So apparently, according to most Americans who voted for Trump - the tariff war that Trump has said he would declare against China and some other countries will mean that China (and the other impacted countries) will have to pay the tariffs. The economic illiteracy it really BURNS, it really screams "I'm an economic ignoramous" in MAGALAND. Don't the imbeciles understand that it's not China who will pay the tariffs, it's them!
Paul Brownjohn
boosted
At the time I got married, 13 years ago, I lived in a flat. I liked it cos it was a short walk from the train station. Good for getting home after late nights out.
My wife moved in. One day she said, "The only problem with this flat is that it's a long walk from the station."
Long?
Turns out it's short if you go thru the woods & by the dark underpass, a route a woman would never think of taking.
And that was my 1st lesson in how we inhabit the same space but live in different worlds.
I don't know why the USA doesn't make an Amendement to the constitution - thou shalt not become POTUS whilst being a person born with a cunt!
Paul Brownjohn
boosted
Nigel Farrage on the BBC just now "...he wasn't the bogeyman he was in '16...". A convicted felon who instigated an insurrection in '21!
But, it seems to me, the main thing determining this outcome of this election is that he is white and not female.
SMDH this AM.
Paul Brownjohn
boosted
My grandmother was in an iron lung. Fortunately, she managed to recover.
EVERY SINGLE ONE of my great-grandparents LOST children to childhood diseases that science had eradicated until anti-vaccine morons started bringing them back. https://mstdn.social/@mcnado/113420204821350697
Considering what that arsehole Trump has said he would if elected - the well being of the entire world is at stake!
Seems somehow terribly appropriate!
Paul Brownjohn
boosted
You can register to vote on Election Day in the following states: AK, CA, CO, CT, HI, ID, IL, IA, ME, MD, MI, MN, MT, NV, NH, NM, RI, UT, VT, VA, WA, WI, WY, + Washington, D.C.
Boost and share! #kamalaHarris #FederatetheVote
Paul Brownjohn
boosted
I might be getting overheated but honestly the pm dog whistling to Trump with an anti-immigrant speech on the eve of the US election was crass.
Can he not even wait until the orange is in the White House again before signalling how much on board he is?
Paul Brownjohn
boosted
If Trump is indeed God's choice, His plan must be to speed up the extinction of humanity, writing mankind off as a failed experiment.
Paul Brownjohn
boosted
Retired software engineer & woodworker.
Anglo-francophone.
Detest tories. Subscribe to green, leftish radical politics but not to any particular political party!.
Love the EU and all it stands for, moreover, I spent the last 10 years of my career working at an EU agency.
Enthusiastic photographer, especially wildlife and most especially butterflies.
Slightly knowledgeable gardener.
Atheist; loathe almost all religions and pity the people deluded enough to follow them. I make exceptions for Buddhism as it isn't really a religion in the strictest sense of the word as it doesn't postulate the existence of any god, and Jainism which is the epitome of peace.
For anyone who is interested, my header photo is of the most stupendous sunset I have ever seen. On the right is the waterfront of Vientiane, the capital of Laos, on the left is Thailand and in the middle, acting as the border between the two countries is the mighty Mekong river.
Joined Nov 2022
