Friday 9 October 2009
Its hard to be pc all the time!
This video was probably from a comedy sketch designed to appear like a real interview. It is hysterical nonetheless!!
Sunday 16 August 2009
Swine Flu Vaccine
Recently, the BBC showed a programme about the Spanish flu epidemic in 1918, which of course, will scare-monger everyone into rushing out to get the swine flu vaccine soon. The pharmaceutical companies will of course make a fortune out of all this, and a few others.
Yet there are many health professionals who have publicly expressed their concern for this fast-tracked yet untested vaccine which is coming soon. The Lancet, which is a notable and well respected medical journal have already recommended caution, (google Generation Rescue -Lancet recommends caution for H1N1 vaccine). Also, a leading German lung specialist, Dr Wolfgang Wodarg, who is chairman of the health committee in the German Parliament and European Council, has "grave concerns" about Novartis who are developing the vaccine, which is, and I quote, "injected with a very hot needle" and has a nutrient solution which contains CANCEROUS CELLS from animals!! Dr Wodarg has described the fear of the swine flu pandemic as "orchestration", and has advised that the virus is not very different from an ordinary dose of the flu, as most people recover!!!
I am suspicious of anything untested and fast-tracked like this, and bound to make some already rich people even richer, so there will be no swine flu jab for me. I'll take my chances...
Yet there are many health professionals who have publicly expressed their concern for this fast-tracked yet untested vaccine which is coming soon. The Lancet, which is a notable and well respected medical journal have already recommended caution, (google Generation Rescue -Lancet recommends caution for H1N1 vaccine). Also, a leading German lung specialist, Dr Wolfgang Wodarg, who is chairman of the health committee in the German Parliament and European Council, has "grave concerns" about Novartis who are developing the vaccine, which is, and I quote, "injected with a very hot needle" and has a nutrient solution which contains CANCEROUS CELLS from animals!! Dr Wodarg has described the fear of the swine flu pandemic as "orchestration", and has advised that the virus is not very different from an ordinary dose of the flu, as most people recover!!!
I am suspicious of anything untested and fast-tracked like this, and bound to make some already rich people even richer, so there will be no swine flu jab for me. I'll take my chances...
Saturday 15 August 2009
Destruction of the English language.
Everywhere I go, both at work and in my everyday life, I come across this kind of semi-English language. For example, the use of the word "innit", after any statement or question, just drives me up the wall!
"I just had this bill in, innit.."
"Can I help you with that, Sir?"
"Well, basically, yeah...." yada yada yada....launches into full story..
The term "basically" in every case nowadays, is being used to describe the full situation, rather than "in a nutshell" or "to cut a long story short". I believe the word "basically" has been the only four-syllable word that some people were taught at school, it has to be - it is used in almost every situation.
The advent of mobile phones has not helped the situation either, and primary school children regularly use txt-spk when texting each other. I feel these mobiles should be banned for children at an impressionable age who should be learning proper English, and not 'shorthand'. I worry for their future working life and even the ability to write a letter or fill in a form. It is hard enough for them today, with most of them using email with spell-check (used only if they care enough to at least appear to spell correctly) But what about reading? It will be so difficult for them without a standard education. Will publishing companies go bust due to lack of sales in books, in 15-20 years time, or sooner? Young girls (and boys) are more interested in visual imagery, pictures of celebrities, clothes, shoes, cars, computer games, and apparently it is also a perfectly acceptable thing to have "attitude". In my day (which wasn't that long ago!) that just meant "cheek" and we got a clip round the ear for it.
I worry for the state education system now and in the future. We are bringing up semi-illiterates. I recently was asked by a 21-year-old whether the River Clyde was a sea (!!) , to which I could only advise them to look it up on Wikipedia, and if they still weren't sure, then to look up "sea" and "river". This is obviously just a lack of education, and it's not their fault, but the fault of those who happen to be in power in this poor country.
"I just had this bill in, innit.."
"Can I help you with that, Sir?"
"Well, basically, yeah...." yada yada yada....launches into full story..
The term "basically" in every case nowadays, is being used to describe the full situation, rather than "in a nutshell" or "to cut a long story short". I believe the word "basically" has been the only four-syllable word that some people were taught at school, it has to be - it is used in almost every situation.
The advent of mobile phones has not helped the situation either, and primary school children regularly use txt-spk when texting each other. I feel these mobiles should be banned for children at an impressionable age who should be learning proper English, and not 'shorthand'. I worry for their future working life and even the ability to write a letter or fill in a form. It is hard enough for them today, with most of them using email with spell-check (used only if they care enough to at least appear to spell correctly) But what about reading? It will be so difficult for them without a standard education. Will publishing companies go bust due to lack of sales in books, in 15-20 years time, or sooner? Young girls (and boys) are more interested in visual imagery, pictures of celebrities, clothes, shoes, cars, computer games, and apparently it is also a perfectly acceptable thing to have "attitude". In my day (which wasn't that long ago!) that just meant "cheek" and we got a clip round the ear for it.
I worry for the state education system now and in the future. We are bringing up semi-illiterates. I recently was asked by a 21-year-old whether the River Clyde was a sea (!!) , to which I could only advise them to look it up on Wikipedia, and if they still weren't sure, then to look up "sea" and "river". This is obviously just a lack of education, and it's not their fault, but the fault of those who happen to be in power in this poor country.
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