Is eating meat a kind of animal testing?

curno: What with all teh debate about animal testing happening recently i thought id set this up
curno: so what do u people think
curno: a vital method for obtainig cures or downright cruelty
curno: well i dotn see tehse protestors complaining when they get sick and nee dthe cures
curno: so i think they be hypocrites
webmaster: I'd be interested to see whether you think farming (animals) is a similar issue to doing medical tests on animals?
curno: farming animals is DISGUSTING
curno: i appreciate that a lot of ppl have to eat chickens and that
curno: but i dont cos i think its inhumane to keep them in those conditions simply for food to fill our greedy stomachs
sturdylemon: The resent news story about the animal right activists taking the remains of the dead family member from tht animal farm place because the animals were used in animal testing, tht was too far. Howeva I do feel animal testing is a good thing and the animal right activists should be trying to find an alternate way of medical testing rather then saying stop stop stop then if it happens go start start start
curno: good point. i do think that was to far but if u saw the paranoia tv special on supermarket meats and stockists u wudnt b eatin it either
sturdylemon: yea adverts for Jamie's school dinners make my skin crawl enough
curno: lol fair enough it was meant to that was the point
curno: to try and get us to eat more healthily. i was shocked at that kid who wouldnt eat the wrap 4 £100 tho
sturdylemon: Yea tht was quite shocking. Wait a minute isnt cooking kinda animal experimantation as u r experimentning cooking the food, in my world
curno: erm no
curno: tho humans are the only species tht need 2 coo their food b4 they eat it
curno: and would u want cold liver on a cold day
curno: i mean, hello!
sturdylemon: true but another thing about animal testing, or related is the subject of people who feel it is wrong to eat meat, vegitarians, vegies, vegans, wateva u call them, wat gets on my nerves is if they say i am a vegitarian but i eat fish and chicken
curno: well there are some vegetarians who will eat white meat because it isnt red blood.
curno: like steak or whatever
curno: i just dont eat meat but i know what you mean
sturdylemon: yea but most people today associate the word vegitarian with eats vegatiables and doesnt eat meat not eats only white meat as the are afraid of the colour blood red
curno: then there are sum ppl hu dont eat meat cos they just dont like the taste
curno: not afraid u twit
curno: and thats the definition of a vegan- no meat associate productas, like eggs and milkand yoghurt
curno: vegetarians still eat things liek that
sturdylemon: yea but vegan is basically a hard core vegitarian, and they dont eat eggs and milk so on, but how is tht meat? Its an animal product but not meat
curno: its not meat but its a product the animal was manipulated and breeded to produce
sturdylemon: oh thts why i was always curious why they had such a problem with tht
sturdylemon: yea but if they dont eat meat as they dislike the taste r they still a vegitarian
curno: yes but vegans and vegetarians do genrally respect tht with other people its their choice
curno: i mean its not liek i try to force my views on every person i c eating meat
sturdylemon: some do
curno: well ya but thats like the animal rights activists who dug up the body. a step 2 far.
curno: and those silly rumours that if ur a vegetarian you never hit puberty are just stupid
sturdylemon: true so all in all 2 me yep vegans and vegatarians r different howeva to me i commonly associate the word vegatarian with doesnt eat meat full stop and yes they are different but vegan is a very rare term used u dont go out in public and see two vegans talking if anything you would see a vegitatrian, and i would think they dont eat meat, thts a funny rumor
curno: right...................
davidweb: Bodily health is at risk for vegetarians
davidweb: They do't get meat protein
davidweb: So they have to make do with plant protein
davidweb: which doesn't work as well
davidweb: so they have to eat more food
curno: thanks for that but thats what vitamins are for
curno: besides that may be true in general but i get along fine on a meal a day besides being a vegetarian
sturdylemon: Yea but arent vitamins meant to be used only if you need maor daily intakes of said vitamin
sturdylemon: or strict diets, or on medical prescription
curno: strict diets like vegetarianism!
curno: no u cn take em yways
sturdylemon: fine but arent they meanna be like if u take too much its like taking an overdose
curno: erm ive never heard of anyone taking a vitamin overdose
curno: thats more the painkiller variety
davidweb: It is quite easy to vitamin overdose if you take supplements
curno: what harm would a vitamin overdose do?
curno: ok well we cleared this topic up in reallife. We read an article about some vitamin being bad for you
curno: like an overdose
curno: That's all

Links to find out more about the topics raised in this discussion:

• Animal rights activists dug up woman's grave as macabre protest
• The Vegetarian Society website
• Vitamins and Minerals advice from The Food Standards Agency
  

Are online discussions inevitably confusing?

webmaster: online conversations: more or less confusing than real life ones? discuss...
davidweb: You can't hear people's tone of voice online
Curno: yes i guess but when online you have more of a chance to think about what you say
Curno: i guess the tone of voice thing sucks when being sarcastic

Swimming pool and quangos waste money?

davidweb: Say what you like about the swimming pool
guest: we should keep the swimming pool
curno: no we shouldnt
curno: our local economy cant afford it, and tax payers shouldnt have to pay for something they dont want
davidweb: But pacifists have to pay towards the defence budget.
curno: A good comparason, however having defence will benifit them whereas a swimming pool will not
davidweb: We're not at war with anyone. How will defence benefit when noone is threatening our beloved country?
curno: Wow David turned patriot. Our 'beloved country' isn't being attacked because of the level of defece we have
curno: if we were not spending as much we would have weaker defence and therefore be threatened more
davidweb: No chance of us being threatened in this day and age except from islamic extremists.
davidweb: Noone is going to declare war on us, not with our friends the americans in the same room
curno: tsch, yes our 'friends' the americans. in case you hadnt noticed our defence can still be improved, people are still being attacked
curno: we are still on top defence level of alert and people are still being killed
curno: and what refrence does this have to a swimmingpool
davidweb: You said that people shouldn't pay taxes towards something they don't want.
davidweb: And I pointed out that as taxpayers, everyone pays money towards stuff that is useless and not needed
davidweb: Like the south east reigonal assembly
davidweb: And the European Union
davidweb: And bloated government departments
davidweb: and quangoes
curno: quangoes?
curno : pray expand on this us people with mortal brainpower may not understand
davidweb: They are stuff like the chewing gum action committee
davidweb: and the British Potato Council
davidweb: And other useless bodies the government sets up
davidweb: They waste each £50 million each year.
davidweb: There are 147 of them
davidweb: So £9 billion on average gets wasted by them each year davidweb: Taxpayers money is used to keep these bodies running davidweb: Get my point yet?
webmaster: Potatos and chewing gum are useless, hmm?
webmaster: Actually, I think both the organisations you mention do useful work.
webmaster: Potatos for healthy eating and food safety
webmaster: Not to mention promoting local produce and farmers markets
webmaster: and the chewing gum stuff is looking at cheaper and better ways of cleaning chewing gum
webmaster: as well as looking at why people who don't litter otherwise webmaster: are nevertheless happy to gob their gum on the pavement] webmaster: their report's actually kind of interesting
webmaster: I think
webmaster: Interesting point on spending, though.
webmaster: What *do* you think is a good use of taxpayers' money?
davidweb: They are useless!
davidweb: Recently, chewing gum action committee proposed taxing people who dropped gum
davidweb: It took them a year to come up with it
davidweb: On average, that's £50 million spent on coming up with that idea.
davidweb: Are you telling me that's not a waste?
davidweb: I think taxes should be lowered anyway
davidweb: Sack the huge amount of civil servants
davidweb: Close down the bodies mentioned above = £9 billion of tax cuts
davidweb: Withdraw from the EU = £10 billion of tax cuts
davidweb: A good spending of taxes is on education and health
davidweb: If people want to set up chewing gum action committes, they can do so with their own money
davidweb: The only thing taxes should be raised on is cigarettes davidweb: an extra 10p per cigarette of duty should help people stop smoking
davidweb: When we've finished arguing, can we put this topic on the valeyouth website?
sturdylemon: I think more should be done to stop cigarettes eg. more than 10p on cigeratte tax and no bring cigarettes back from abroad
davidweb: Read the rest of this page to get how we got from swimming pool to cigarettes
davidweb: Tom
sturdylemon: ok
sturdylemon: from swimming pool to the local economy to taxes..... right
curno: gosh a lot has happened whilst ive been away
curno: so to summarise-
curno: quangoes ARE a waste of taxes
curno: and raising the taxes on cigarettes is a good idea
curno: and yes i get your point about pointless taxes
curno: which is why the pool should be gotten rid of - just like the potato council
davidweb: That would cut down on council tax
davidweb: Which has had a lot of stick in the last few months
davidweb: As it is based on the value of your home
davidweb: I don't see what's so bad about it
davidweb: But the Lib Dems don't like it, and their tax plans involve 6/10 people being worse off
davidweb: so don't listen to them]
curno: lol, allways with the lib dems
curno: though i do agree that their ersion of council tax majorly sucks
davidweb: good
davidweb: sturdylemon?
jeremy: Whose claim has 6/10 people being worse off under Lib Dems?
jeremy: And council tax also depends on where you are.
jeremy: I moved to a bigger house, but my council tax went down.
davidweb: Tories

Links to find out more about topics raised in this discussion:

• Find out about the Chewing Gum Action Group
• The Wikipedia definition of Quangos
• Right wing think-tank blasts Quangos

Windfarms are pretty

Discussion started by "curno" on 23 July 2005

curno: Hey people- what do we think about te wind farm thats gonna be built near faringdon?
curno: approved by the VOWH council
curno: well does any1 have any opinions on the matter?
curno: take that as a no then......
curno: so nobody has any views then
curno: yay such an interesting topic. do you agree with the windfarms david?
davidweb: I don't care, as I've never been to Faringdon
davidweb: I can't comment
webmaster: I like windfarms
webmaster: But I read somewhere they can disturb the flight of birds
sturdylemon: Wind farms are pretty. Can they do that really, disturb bird flights, what do they do fly by and get chopped?
davidweb: If they disturb the flight of pidgeons, good on them
sturdylemon: thats funny but still how do they disturb pidgeons flight
davidweb: Someone answer the poor boy's question!
curno: david building a windfarm in faringdon could effect us too, in events suchas a power shortage
curno: i think they disturb the flight of birds by changing wind patterns that birds use to navigate
davidweb: They don't change any wind pattern, they just use the wind. davidweb: The wind blows the same strength regardless
curno: oh ok sorry it just seemed logical to me
curno: go figure
curno: how would they harm birds then?
curno: apart from being sucked into the propllors and sliced
curno: which would only happen if the bird was silly enough to fly near them in the first place
davidweb: and if the bird was a pidgeon, wouldn't be a bad thing
curno: or a seagul i really dont like them
davidweb: Are we finished on windfarms then?
jeremy: Birds and wind farms here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4072756.stm
jeremy: More worried (on the inshore ones) about the disruption to nesting/feeding areas.
curno: my sister saw a windfarm yesterday in cornwall and started crying about tellietubby land.

What does lol mean?

Discussion started by "davidweb" on the off-topic board

Curno: lol, my interenet was down for a while
davidweb: What does lol mean? It crops up a lot.
webmaster: lol = laughs out loud
webmaster: msgboardspeak
webmaster: also imo = in my opinion
webmaster: there are a bunch of others but I don't use them musch webmaster: my fave is raebnc = read and enjoyed but no comment

The webmaster is at sea (time to go home)

Story started by webmaster on July 14 2005

webmaster: The webmaster was all alone on an infinitely long white plain.
webmaster: And feeling kind of lonely.
webmaster: Still (philosophically) worse things happen at sea.
Curno: And suddenly The web master realises that she is in actuall fact, at sea.
Curno: where worse things happen
webmaster: Fashions a small raft out of handy banana leaves.
webmaster: Just as well I read Coral Island when I was a kid.
curno: well i read robinson cruesoe
curno: i think webmaster might discover a secret tribe somewhere in the sea
curno: and where did banana leaves come from if you are at sea?
webmaster: Had 'em in my back pocket.
webmaster: Along with a small knife, a compass, a piece of plastic sheeting and a pair of trendy sunglasses.
webmaster: All of which should make the desert island experience a bit more congenial.
Curno: And oh so origonal.
Curno: (i will buy a dictionary)
webmaster: Makes some final adjustment to the raft, and puts on her sunglasses.
webmaster: Now, which way to go?
davidweb: Home
curno: Oh but David where is home
webmaster : How is where the enormous job list is, I think (disheartened).
webmaster: Can't I go to a peaceful island instead?
davidweb: You can go back to a peaceful Island later.
davidweb: Now, you go home
Curno: Why so desperate to get back?
Curno: Are you missing the cricket
davidweb: The cricket is very interesting
curno: I know ive been watching some of it.
curno: i just wandered if you wanted to go home so you cold see some of it
curno: damn we lost
curno: tiem to go again
curno: time
davidweb: The end

Bus Drivers are arrogant

Discussion started by "jeffersen" on 28 June 2005.

curno: hey so whats this page about then
webmaster : It's about public transport issues, yep. Bus routes, that sort of thing.
davidweb: Sounds thrilling. What do you do if you hardly ever take a bus?
curno: lol, you catch a bud to prove a point david!
curno: well the bus drivers ive met seem really nice.
curno: i say thanks to them when i get off, and they smile at me and wave.
curno: the bus driver of the same bus that i catch every friday knows me pretty well now
curno: but i still prefer trains
davidweb: I catch a bud do I? How do you do that?
curno: lovely spelling of bus you have there david
curno: and how do you do what?
davidweb: you wrote bud in your original statement. How do I catch a bud to prove a point?
curno: im sorry i didnt realise i wrote bud.
curno: catch a bus......but if u really wanna catch a bud
curno: then take a budwiser
curno: and play catch with it in the back garden
webmaster: Mmm, back gardens.
webmaster: I got a nice bus-driver yesterday. On the Brookes bus. The Brookes buses are great, they have music. I'm sure that makes the drivers happier.
Curno: well......ive never caught a brookes bus i wouldntr kno
Curno: most perople have their mp3s on
webmaster: My listen on ipod. But the drivers don't get to listen anything
curno: no because thats a saftey hazard
webmaster: Ah, but on the Brookes buses there's music piped, so they do
Curno: oh. ok. sorry.
webmaster: I only take the bus when I'm late into work, anyway -- I prefer to walk, really.
curno: well its healthier and more fun
webmaster: I like taking photos, too -- and there's better stuff on the walks than in the bus where it's mostly people who probably don't want their photo taken by strangers

Discussion closed on 8 August 2005

The land of teh beanies

Discussion started by "curno" on the online storyboard

curno: Jullian Tom David Chris Lauren and Katy opened teh door to conference room 1 to find...
curno: a portal!
curno: they entered the land of teh beanies
webmaster: Sings the beanie song
webmaster: Beans, beans beans beans, beans...
curno: god save our gracious bean...
webmaster: The bean knows what we mean to say
jeremy: And that is what we'll say today!
curno: wow this story's, like, so interesting!
jeremy: Suddenly, the bean eating giant of abingdon turned up and said ...
curno: what ho old bean! o wait..... thats me!
webmaster: Because he was a giant entirely made of beans ...
webmaster: With beans for eyes ...
webmaster: and then Jack came, cut down the beanstalk, and the giant turned into a flock of birds and flew away.
webmaster: The end.

Young people into politics discuss articles

curno: Webmaster, i had an idea for the article and i wanted to know what you thought
curno: I thought what with all the spin and suspicion crowding the upcoming elections
curno: i could do an article about how we've ben brought up 2 blieve we're living in a fair democracy where we can choose our leader
curno: but if the elections are gonna b 'fixed' then wouldnt living under a dictator and being honest about it
curno: be better than living in a supposed democracy and pretending to the out side world that everything is fine?
curno: let me know what u think
webmaster: Looking at the process of democracy, do you mean?
webmaster: All the things we do to try and keep our votes secure and private and fair?
webmaster: Or are you more about how we can vote but it's unlikely to change things because of the lack of beleivable candidates?
curno: im kinda goin on how there's all this stuff in the media about teh election being fixed
curno: but how we were brought up to believe we could chose our leader not that it was fixed for us
curno: and how maybe living in a dictatorship honestly
curno: would be better than living in what our leaders are trying to pretend is a fair democracy
curno: but isnt really
curno: heay
sturdylemon: hiya
curno: so what u think of teh topic suggestion
curno: see above
sturdylemon: well to be honest, a dictatorship would be bad as I like my freedom to be as annoying as possible, also I doubt England would like being told wat 2 do!!!
sturdylemon: I think we need to aim it to maybe our age group or explain the election or something but I do think the election is a gd topic
curno: well yeah but dont u just hate the way we're pretending to b summat we're not?
curno: im not sayin install stalin, im just sayin start tellin teh truth
curno: or actually have a fair election
sturdylemon: how do u mean? us in general or england itself
sturdylemon: well politians call a lie is infact the election campain
curno: england, cos we're the ones with an electiuon comin up and the media sayin teh elections fixed
sturdylemon: ok one thing tht might be good is if we talked about the election, its importance, why it is important to vote and then explain about democracy, highly polictical and highly challenging, however I doubt young people would read it
curno: we're teh ones whos reputations is at stake, cos quite frankly if a 15yr old with no political knowledge whatsoever can point out flaws in teh system tehn we're in trouble
curno: well yea but bear in mind who teh news papers aimed at
curno: mayb we could say how in future years teh population turn out at elections is going to dramaticly drop if we dont start appealing to the yout more
curno: cos they're just gonna lose interest
curno: bye bye i gtg
webmaster: So what are the flaws with the system -- as you see them? What would you do better?
curno: that kinda thing yea. u thinkl that a good idea?
webmaster: I'm interested to know what the problems are that you see with the current system -- what makes it a dictatorship?
webmaster: You should be able to make a great article starting from the list of the reasons, and working your way towards a conclusion about why that discourages you from voting or whatever
webmaster: if you tell me what they are I can give you some useful pages to look at to get more ideas.
webmaster: Here's a couple to get started with:

• Youth attitudes to voting
• Young people 'need strong voice

Welcome to the Vale Youth Forum / Visits

First discussion in the first chatroom

webmaster: Welcome to the Vale Youth Forum.
webmaster: Right now!
curno: a useful and interesting waste of time that makes a nice change from watching the antiques roadshow
curno: nice pictures but not enough making fun of councilers
julianb: what is going on here?
julianb: when are they intending to leave alone the land so we can at least see the river
sturdylemon: So do you all think that parliaments decision to build more housing is going to affect us dracstically in a bad way?
sturdylemon: To be honest I do
christo: Do you think you get too much homework during the week and the holidays
webmaster: Visits!
webmaster: Where should we go next?
curno: dalton barracks [takes suggestions]
curno: millets farm centre- in the maze, didcot power station, tilsley park/ albert park, fire/ police station, cranfield universit y, St Helen's school, New leisure center in Abingdon, Youlbury, Snakes and Ladders, curno: Multiplex- then learn about y we dont have a cinema in abingdon curno: The Net, Brookes university, Oxford museum of natural history, Alton towers
curno: Day trip to france