The “ I’ve got something to say, but it doesn’t warrant its own thread “ thread.

[danny.]

1 hour ago, leicsmac said:

Oh, there's plenty of opportunity for it to get worse.

Still one of the best times in human history to be alive. At least you didn’t die at 20 from tooth infection or childbirth or have Norse raiders kill your family and livestock. 

[HighPeakFox]

22 minutes ago, danny. said:

Still one of the best times in human history to be alive. At least you didn’t die at 20 from tooth infection or childbirth or have Norse raiders kill your family and livestock. 

Best careful what you wish for, eh? Try that one with the zealots. 

[AyewJoking]

15 hours ago, leicsmac said:

"The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born: now is the time of monsters."

 

Such are the times we live in. 

 

And another quote. 

 

"I wish it need not have happened in my time."

 

"So do I and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”  - Tolkien. 

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuk oooffff

 

that was Gandalf

[leicsmac]

10 hours ago, danny. said:

Still one of the best times in human history to be alive. At least you didn’t die at 20 from tooth infection or childbirth or have Norse raiders kill your family and livestock. 

Oh, no doubt. In fact, statistically, in terms of overall species quality of life, likely the best. 

 

The problem is navigating both the way the Earth is changing and our own very human self interest and hubris to make sure it stays that way and progress, rather than regression, keeps happening. 

 

 

9 hours ago, AyewJoking said:

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuk oooffff

 

that was Gandalf

Tbf if I was plunging into a truly massive abyss with a demonic entity of rivaling power to my own I'd be saying that too. 

[Sampson]

14 hours ago, HighPeakFox said:

Best careful what you wish for, eh? Try that one with the zealots. 

An always worthwhile reminder in these chaotic times we’re living through.

 

 

Whenever life gets you down, Mrs. Brown,
And things seem hard or tough
And people are stupid, obnoxious or daft
And you feel that you've had quite enough...

Just remember that you're standing on a planet that's evolving
And revolving at nine hundred miles an hour;
That's orbiting at nineteen miles a second, so it's reckoned,
A sun that is the source of all our power.

The sun, and you and me, and all the stars that we can see
Are moving at a million miles a day
In an outer spiral arm at forty thousand miles an hour
Of the galaxy we call the Milky Way.

Our galaxy itself contains a hundred billion stars;
It's a hundred thousand light years side-to-side.
It bulges in the middle, sixteen thousand lightyears thick,
But out by us it's just three thousand lightyears wide.

We're thirty thousand lightyears from galactic central point;
We go round every two hundred million years.
And our galaxy is only one of millions of billions
In this amazing and expanding universe.

The universe itself keeps on expanding and expanding
In all of the directions it can whiz
As fast as it can go--the speed of light, you know--
Twelve million miles a minute and that's the fastest speed there is.

So remember when you're feeling very small and insecure,
How amazingly unlikely is your birth,
And pray that there's intelligent life somewhere up in space
'Cause there's bugger-all down here on Earth.

[ozleicester]

This world we  think of as normal, and has always been this way... is barely 100 years old.

[Sampson]

Smiling is infectious

You catch it like the flu

When someone smiled at me today

I started smiling too

 

I walked around the corner

And someone saw me grin

When he smiled I realised

I had passed it on to him

 

I thought about the smile

And then realised its worth

A single smile like mine

Could travel round the earth

 

So if you feel a smile begin

Don’t leave it undetected

Start an epidemic

And get the world infected

 

- Spike Milligan

[CornwallFox]

On 10/01/2026 at 14:33, ozleicester said:

This world we  think of as normal, and has always been this way... is barely 100 years old.

The economic system we can't possibly change as everything else is terrible, is only about 40 years old. 40 years coinciding with falling standard of living for the majority, increased wealth disparity, everything the country once owned now being owned by private companies while their cost to consumers constantly increases.....

[HighPeakFox]

 

[Trav Le Bleu]

Was listening to radio at work when I thought I heard it say, "entrants must be Asians forever."

 

Took me a couple of puzzled seconds that they'd said, "entrants must be 18 or over."

 

[Parafox]

On 10/01/2026 at 14:04, Sampson said:

An always worthwhile reminder in these chaotic times we’re living through.

 

 

Whenever life gets you down, Mrs. Brown,
And things seem hard or tough
And people are stupid, obnoxious or daft
And you feel that you've had quite enough...

Just remember that you're standing on a planet that's evolving
And revolving at nine hundred miles an hour;
That's orbiting at nineteen miles a second, so it's reckoned,
A sun that is the source of all our power.

The sun, and you and me, and all the stars that we can see
Are moving at a million miles a day
In an outer spiral arm at forty thousand miles an hour
Of the galaxy we call the Milky Way.

Our galaxy itself contains a hundred billion stars;
It's a hundred thousand light years side-to-side.
It bulges in the middle, sixteen thousand lightyears thick,
But out by us it's just three thousand lightyears wide.

We're thirty thousand lightyears from galactic central point;
We go round every two hundred million years.
And our galaxy is only one of millions of billions
In this amazing and expanding universe.

The universe itself keeps on expanding and expanding
In all of the directions it can whiz
As fast as it can go--the speed of light, you know--
Twelve million miles a minute and that's the fastest speed there is.

So remember when you're feeling very small and insecure,
How amazingly unlikely is your birth,
And pray that there's intelligent life somewhere up in space
'Cause there's bugger-all down here on Earth.

Eric Idle was a genius. Sadly missed.

[Parafox]

On 12/01/2026 at 09:15, Sampson said:

 

Smiling is infectious

You catch it like the flu

When someone smiled at me today

I started smiling too

 

I walked around the corner

And someone saw me grin

When he smiled I realised

I had passed it on to him

 

I thought about the smile

And then realised its worth

A single smile like mine

Could travel round the earth

 

So if you feel a smile begin

Don’t leave it undetected

Start an epidemic

And get the world infected

 

- Spike Milligan

I smiled at an old man in Morrison's today.

 

He didn't respond.

 

I think he might have been a corpse.

Edited 14 January by Parafox

[Parafox]

On 12/01/2026 at 10:42, CornwallFox said:

The economic system we can't possibly change as everything else is terrible, is only about 40 years old. 40 years coinciding with falling standard of living for the majority, increased wealth disparity, everything the country once owned now being owned by private companies while their cost to consumers constantly increases.....

I might have 10 years of life left in me.

 

Thank goodness.

 

The future is terrifying.

[leicsmac]

9 minutes ago, Parafox said:

I might have 10 years of life left in me.

 

Thank goodness.

 

The future is terrifying.

"The world is a fine place and worth fighting for. I agree with the second part."

[Trav Le Bleu]

4 hours ago, Parafox said:

I smiled at an old man in Morrison's today.

 

He didn't respond.

 

I think he might have been a corpse.

Isn't that one of the traits of a psychopath?

[ozleicester]

4 hours ago, leicsmac said:

"The world is a fine place and worth fighting for. I agree with the second part."

Impossible to fight when you are assaulted, arrested, murdered or, even simply refused the oportunity to speak. Applies beyond the obvious

[Alf Bentley]

13 hours ago, Parafox said:

Eric Idle was a genius. Sadly missed.

 

Eric Idle is still going strong. 

[leicsmac]

8 hours ago, ozleicester said:

Impossible to fight when you are assaulted, arrested, murdered or, even simply refused the oportunity to speak. Applies beyond the obvious

 

Gotta try, even though I do know what you mean. 

[Sampson]

Yeah Eric Idle still appears semi-regularly on The Infinite Monkey Cage science comedy show on Radio 4.

Edited 15 January by Sampson

[UniFox21]

Does taking an ill day off work ever stop feeling like your skiving?

[Trav Le Bleu]

54 minutes ago, UniFox21 said:

Does taking an ill day off work ever stop feeling like your skiving?

It never started.

 

If you're ill you're ill, it's not skiving is it?

 

Problem is with sick leave, it's a mixture of blind chance and genetics, neither of which are in your control. Got people in my workplace who have never had a day off, in fact, they're never even vaguely sickly looking at work.

 

Then there's others who frequently come in looking like they're at death's door, usually because they've already been off sick quite a bit and got a written warning.

 

Then you've got the people who seem to always go sick before holidays or if work starts getting heavy, but are too canny to pick up a written warning (genuine skiving).

 

If you're ill (especially if you're contagious) you've every reason not to work. Working for Five days at 50% makes 250 - take a couple of days of and come back 100% - 3 days at 100 = 300. Being contagious adds in the risk of making your colleagues perform under par too.

 

Unless you're self-employed, staying off work when ill is practically doing your employer a favour 

[Samilktray]

1 hour ago, UniFox21 said:

Does taking an ill day off work ever stop feeling like your skiving?

Went about 5 years without a sick day when I worked in retail purely due to guilt, which in hindsight was really daft. Now I’m out of retail I take them if I need them and don’t really think twice.

[foxile5]

People who get semi colon tattoos don't understand what a semi colon does. 

 

I always see people say that they get them to reflect their story isn't over etc usually related to some trauma or other but all a semi colon indicates is that there is just more of the same coming. 

[AyewJoking]

if you have a water meter in your home can you use a hose pipe during a hosepipe ban?

[Parafox]

9 hours ago, Alf Bentley said:

 

Eric Idle is still going strong. 

I didn't say he had fallen off his perch.