Are you really saying that all chemicals are the same in their effects? I think this might be a bit more Devilās Advocate stuff so Iām leaving this discussion 
1 Like
No, Iām saying people get all het up about it and do not engage their brains.
I am not totally dimā¦ā¦ which is why I specifically said:
After all I love cheese which is processed. But mainly unpasteurised with a taste not stuff in plastic packets from supermarket.
So please donāt be quite so patronising, and make assumptions about the level of knowledge I have and the thought I put into my consumer actions.
1 Like
Get off your high horse Jane.
Food prepared for the supermarket has to meet a different set of objectives to food prepared in your kitchen. The most obvious being shelf life.
So, the method of preparation might differ. Extra ingredients might be needed to keep food safe - e.g potassium nitrite commonly added as a preservative to canned foods. By all means leave it out, if you donāt mind botulism that is.
The result is sometimes that food winds up looking unappetising or loses flavour, then extra ingredients get thrown into the mix to counter that - often lots of sugar and salt but also food colourings and other stuff.
Sometimes the preservation wrecks vitamin content so those get added back in.
But no food producer sets out to make food with is unhealthy, unappetising or not wholesome - in fact (as above) many of the additives are there to improve food which must be prepared so as to stay fresh for much longer than home produced.
My point, once again, is that people get very agitated by this without stepping back to think why it is there and what it is for, or the fact that many āEā numbers are in fact perfectly innocent ingredients that they might well find in their own kitchen.
This is the cheerful news thread so I will not continue this debate.
3 Likes
Pack all your thermals then. If Illinois is as cold as Michigan in December, itāll be colder than a witchās *** in a brass bra!
Thanks for the warning. I once went to Minnehopeless in mid December and it was -20 when we arrived, though the weather did warm up considerably so it could snow. 
The forecast doesnāt look too bad next week, wobbling around either side of zero 'C with a small chance of snow on Tuesday.
I once went to Hell, and it wasnāt that warm, but then it is in Norway.
2 Likes
There is a place called Purgatory not far from here in Oxfordshire, and earlier this afternoon I drove past Nirvana, close to Henley on Thames. Both were cool and damp.
Left the boot of my car open while I transferred a bag of birdseed to my workshop at 4pm, accompanied by Toerag my cat, then took the shopping bag out of the boot, shut it, locked up the car and walked to the house.
As I climbed into bed at midnight, it suddenly dawned on me that I hadnāt seen Toerag around as usual during the evening. Heās usually somewhere in the house, as are the others.
Got up next morning to a heavy frost, bird baths solidly frozen over and my car wearing a glistening coat of ice.
Called but no response so searched with my radio cat tracker which led me straight to my car. And there he was, in the boot! And none the worse for wear!
What a relief, and how hardy are cats!
If Iād been locked up in the boot of a car in freezing temperatures all night long, Iād need resuscitating!
3 Likes
Lolā¦especially if I eat all 60 of them in one goā¦! 
1 Like
Use vaseline instead of fuddy-duddy old unhealthy butter in your cooking, mmm-hmmm canāt you imagine the advertisement? Just after smoke this brand of cigarettes for a smooth feeling in your throat, opera singers swear by them. 
I feel for you, we had similar a year or two ago. Oscar disappeared for a few days (not unusual so wasnāt too worried but had been long enough Iād noticed). Luckily I was out on the terrace just on dusk when a light flashing in the car caught my eye and an odd bang noise and when I looked up I saw his little face in our 2nd car window. Heād been locked in for at least 2 days, it stank like a litter tray but he was happliy fine! Amazing after all that time without water!
One of ours spent a week in the neighbourās shed. Trotted out, went to look for her food bowl, had a bit of a drink first and generally behaved as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened.
My wife had been tearing her hair out all week - weād done posters, asking door to door, the whole nine yards.
1 Like
Cat Fanny went missing for a month - thought that was the end of her. Then early one morning around 3am I was awoken by noises near the window. Got up in the dark, opened the window and felt the bony back of a cat ā it was Fanny. Sheād climbed a vine to get up to my bedroom window.
Sheād been trapped somewhere in someoneās garage/barn/shed during the French summer holidays ā her arrival coincided with the end of the official holiday period, first week of September I think it was.
She was a bag of bones but in very good health. Nothing wrong with her except her looks, skin and bone. She must have fed off insects and whatever came her way to survive.
That was what spurred me to get them all fitted up with radio transmitter collars.
It must be true what they say about cats having nine lives!
1 Like
. We made āThe Scientistā 10 top innovations at number 7 with our SARS-Cov-2 neutralisation kit. 
8 Likes
Wow congratulations!
1 Like
Yes, from me too. 
More down to earth, this morning both dogs, trailing their respective 30 metre lines weaved totally different tracks in and out of the trees. Jules (red) went round one tree twice thereby tethering himself to it. I went to undo him and let go of the blue lead which suddenly accelerated away and I lost track of it but caught a glance of Noubia racing into the field. Bugger it I thought, sheāll come back when sheās ready and proceeded to free Jules. Once done I followed his line and, guess what, came across a blue line, and jumped on it with both feet. 
Situation normal.
3 Likes
Went to a place in Lancashire called nob end a few days ago 
1 Like