New welder !

As far as the covid vaccine , I've seen too much evidence of people dying from stuff that was almost nonexistent in the recent past . Other vaccines , well I've seen evidence of problems such as autism that were a lot less prevalent before many of them were in common usage . Not any "scientific evidence" , just empirical evidence of a possible causal link . Snag

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In medicine it's extremely difficult and EXPEN$IVE to disprove an alleged cause and effect, especially a rare one, so the limited funding mostly goes to more productive efforts. That's why so many fad diets can persist. The COVID vaccine certainly does have a bad effect on some people, my sister for instance, but I believe without proof that her strong immune response was the culprit and the disease would have been much worse.

Here is an example of the uncertainty:

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"However, there was no apparent difference in risk for women for any of these dietary groups."

A possible cause the study didn't mention checking for is the high temperature breakdown products of fats etc, as in rare, medium or well done. The prof warned us about carcinogenic PAHs (tar, char) in Chemistry class in the 1960's, and since then I've cook meat at lower temperature.

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"Population studies have not established a definitive link between HCA and PAH exposure from cooked meats and cancer in humans. One difficulty with conducting such studies is that it can be difficult to determine the exact level of HCA and/or PAH exposure a person gets from cooked meats."

Beware of studies that find what they were paid to look for. Researchers who don't may risk unemployment.

Reply to
Jim Wilkins
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If you want to go down a rabbit hole do some research on pthalates. One theory is that they fundamentally changed society today on a biological level. I am not making an argument here. Just pointing out the rabbit hole.

Reply to
Bob La Londe

I could be mistaken of course, and since I don't live there its all hearsay to me. I had been lead to believe that the UK had a feral or semi feral domestic cat breed population that was the dominant predator due to the eradication historically of most if not all larger predators. That it was this not naturally checked population that had nearly eradicated song birds in the UK.

Reply to
Bob La Londe

I could be mistaken of course, and since I don't live there its all hearsay to me. I had been lead to believe that the UK had a feral or semi feral domestic cat breed population that was the dominant predator due to the eradication historically of most if not all larger predators. That it was this not naturally checked population that had nearly eradicated song birds in the UK.

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I was curious.

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Reply to
Jim Wilkins

I rather liked that first picture.

Having trapped fox (grey and kit) I suspect it may also be a matter of breed and opportunity. A healthy adult male kit fox would be sadly under powered against a healthy adult male tom cat, but a grey fox is larger and smarter. The thing is grey foxes are more wary and less populous, so unless you have a country kitty surrounded by fox treats the chance of an encounter is slim. I really know little or nothing of other fox breeds. That was a fun read Jim. Thanks.

Reply to
Bob La Londe

I think this varies with location, I'm not aware of a feral cat population here in the south west of the UK but a friend lives near Huntingdon and there are quite a lot of feral cats around there which is apparently largely attributed to US service personnel in the area  abandoning their cats when they go home. Near me many years ago animal protestors broke into a local mink farm and let them free and that did decimate the local bird and small animal population for a while.

Reply to
David Billington

Mink (and other weasels) are certain very efficient killing machines. We had pet ferrets for a while back in the 90s, and when a much larger cat squared off with one that cat usually went crying for momma. There was a truce in our house between the ferrets and the cats. I watched them hunt. One ferret named McDuff had a passion for stuff animals. Teddy bears. We would periodically place a teddy bear in a difficult location to see how long it would take him to make the kill. I've seen McDuff make leaps that would astound a full grown cat. Ferrets are not known for their ability to jump. Why I do not know. Their bodies are like little springs. They bend in half and let go like a bow with a broken string.

Reply to
Bob La Londe

No as I know of. The wild ancestor of the domestic cat still exists in far-out wilds in Scotland, apparently.

Reply to
Richard Smith

David - I am far down the West Country now. Anywhere near?

Reply to
Richard Smith

Near Bath, where are you.

Reply to
David Billington

Wow. I am very misinformed. I'd been lead to believe the oldest known direct ancestors of the modern domestic cat breeds were from Egypt. That seems to make sense to me since a native African Wildcat looks a lot like a domestic grey tabby.

Reply to
Bob La Londe

Wow. I am very misinformed. I'd been lead to believe the oldest known direct ancestors of the modern domestic cat breeds were from Egypt. That seems to make sense to me since a native African Wildcat looks a lot like a domestic grey tabby. Bob La Londe

-------------------------- Apparently it's hard to be sure, because modern wild populations have interbred with domestic cats. Egypt has the advantage of very ancient records preserved on stone, while Scotland's written history doesn't go back far at all, for instance we don't know what the Picts (Latin for Painted, with woad and tattoos) called themselves, or what happened to them.

Pictish raiding caused the Britons to call on the Saxons of Germany for military aid after Rome declined, and the Saxons soon took over much of the island. King Arthur may have opposed them.

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Reply to
Jim Wilkins

Near Truro, Camborne / Redruth

Reply to
Richard Smith

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The 240V HF spot welder is a copy of the Miller LMSW-52. Partial disassembly hasn't revealed anything disturbingly wrong with it yet, just minor things like the 14 AWG power cord. HiPot gives 500 MegOhms at 500V between the primary and the case. The moving tong is grounded.

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Reply to
Jim Wilkins

I always liked the theory that Arthur was an expatriated Roman. Probably utter hogwash, but amusing nonetheless.

Reply to
Bob La Londe

I always liked the theory that Arthur was an expatriated Roman. Probably utter hogwash, but amusing nonetheless.

--------------------------- He wasn't expatriated, Rome had conquered Britannia without much resistance a few decades after the time of Jesus. Constantine the Great was first acclaimed Roman Emperor in York, and fought his way to the top of the rest of the Empire.

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Little writing survives from the time of the decline of Roman power in the provinces and resulting disruption of literate society by warlords who filled the power vacuum, and the orally passed stories evolved into mythology. Why not explain dinosaur fossils as dragons? "Londinium, once a major city, was completely abandoned during the 5th century."

The same Flavius Aetius to whom The Groans of the Britons was addressed was responsible for the disruption among Germans that inspired the legendary Ring Cycle. King Etzel in that story is Attila the Hun.

Most ancient text exists as handwritten copies (manuscripts) from 1000 -

1200AD or later, with a few exceptions from the Roman era.
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codex is a bound book, then beginning to replace scrolls. It may be a first edition, one of the 50 Bible copies that Emperor Constantine commissioned, after a convention to decide what material to include or omit (much), that Santa Claus attended and where he was naughty.
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jsw, weaving in a tale for Christmas.
Reply to
Jim Wilkins

I'd recommend Mary Stewart's _The Crystal Cave_ and _The Hollow Hills_ for an historically fictional account of Arthur and Merlin. The first covers the time from Merlin as a child (bastard son of Ambrosius, who became King of Britian) through to the conception of Arthur (by Ambrosius' brother Uther and Ygraine of Cornwall). The second covers Arthur from a babe in arms to becoming King of Britian. The third, The Last Enchantment, covers Arthur's reign and death. All are written from Merlin's viewpoint; and give an interesting depiction of life in the 6th century.

In the story, Ambrosius and Uther had been exiled to Brittany (France) when Vortigern took the throne. They returned, killed Vortigern and chased the Saxons (Germans bribed with land by Vortigern) out of Britian.

Ambrosius and Uther were the sons of Constantine, who was the son of Maximus (a Roman general, usurper and emperor) who settled in Britain after being deposed in the 4th century, which in the story anyway, makes Arthur a descendent of Maximus.

Stewart doesn't follow history exactly, but it is pretty close. And far better than T.H. White (The Once and Future King) or MZB (_The Mists of Avalon_).

Reply to
Scott Lurndal

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Reply to
Jim Wilkins

New on Project Gutenberg:

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Reply to
Jim Wilkins

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