We're fucking doomed. Or are we?

[Magnus McGinty]

Apart from the fact that the top producer Mexico produces four times as many as its nearest rival (Dominican Republic) and that they originated there, and both these countries are northern hemisphere...a good point well made Magnus.

Well they’re not European, unlike garlic and tomatoes.
Are you the same person crying about global warming?

 

[scifisam]

Apart from the fact that the top producer Mexico produces four times as many as its nearest rival (Dominican Republic) and that they originated there, and both these countries are northern hemisphere...a good point well made Magnus.

They're imports, though. You can sort of grow avocado trees in the UK but not to the point where they're actually producing fruit, except in places like Cornwall where it's just about possible.

 

[camouflage]

The main concern is that in a conventional, limited, “theatre” war, the big players tit for tat and spread out of theatre and escalate level of weapons used, also that in that situation it only takes a few trigger happy types, misread signals, misunderstood intercepts etc to trigger a pre-emotive nuclear strike and the full exchange - game over. There was some Russian guy who apparently saved all of us back in the 80s by his disbelieving delaying response to what looked like a detected preemptive strike.

Yes, the situation is unstable (specially since ABM treaty was dropped).

The Americans seem to increasingly believe in the concept of a 'winnable limited nuclear exchange', part of why they want a wider range of nukes (from teeny tactical ones to planet fuckers) - make em more "usable". I reckon that might explain all this Russia bollocks... somebody's impatient and wants to "start this thing already" coz they reckon they can win. Recently the Russians demonstrated capabilities that may modify that calculation somewhat. We'll see if this latest range of stink blows over and then the heart goes out of it all. Who knows, perhaps it's just another battle of importance between the US Army and the US Airforce and the US Navy again (More Nukes Bcoz Russia! No- More Carriers Bcoz China! Fuck that More Tanks Bcoz Iran!)

 

[planetgeli]

Well they’re not European, unlike garlic and tomatoes.
Are you the same person crying about global warming?

WTF are you on about? I just know where countries are.

You don't.

 

[scifisam]

Well they’re not European, unlike garlic and tomatoes.
Are you the same person crying about global warming?

Well, tomatoes are North American in origin. Garlic's from Asia but wayyy back in the depths of history. At least they're both easy to grow here though.

 

[Magnus McGinty]

WTF are you on about? I just know where countries are.

You don't.

Yeah. I got the wrong side of the equator but the distance point still stands.

 

[Magnus McGinty]

Well, tomatoes are North American in origin. Garlic's from Asia but wayyy back in the depths of history. At least they're both easy to grow here though.

And we are all from Africa. That doesn’t really answer modern questions though.

 

[LDC]

From the possibility of nuclear war to arguing about avocados in 4 pages. The apocalypse is already here on U75.

 

[Orang Utan]

Well they’re from the Southern Hemisphere for starters, unlike garlic and tomatoes.

they've been around for ages - some people seem to think they've only just been introduced by hipsters ffs

 

[Orang Utan]

the point's not where they're from, but they're not some fashionable novelty

 

[Magnus McGinty]

they've been around for ages - some people seem to think they've only just been introduced by hipsters ffs

We did halloweeing with Swedes (known as turnips in the NE). I told some Londoner this once and they were horrified at our lack of Americanisation. Maybe I was a child chimney sweep or something?
You can get avocados in the local Tesco now, as you can pumpkins too. But they’ve both appeared in recent memory.

 

[Orang Utan]

We did halloweeing with Swedes (known as turnips in the NE). I told some Londoner this once and they were horrified at our lack of Americanisation. Maybe I was a child chimney sweep or something?
You can get avocados in the local Tesco now, as you can pumpkins too. But they’ve both appeared in recent memory.

I'm in my 40s, grew up in Yorkshire and I've been eating them since I was a kid - they've always been widely available wherever I've lived

 

[Mr.Bishie]

What veg won't become contaminated with radiation? I'll bet it's the fuckin' turnip! I fuckin' hate turnips!

 

[scifisam]

And we are all from Africa. That doesn’t really answer modern questions though.

Tomatoes weren't even seen in England until Shakespeare's time and then they were very rare, so it's not exactly ancient history, but yeah, they can be grown in the UK pretty easily. It's amazing how many of our most common foods weren't part of European diets till we had contact with the Americas.

From the possibility of nuclear war to arguing about avocados in 4 pages. The apocalypse is already here on U75.

 

[Magnus McGinty]

I'm in my 40s, grew up in Yorkshire and I've been eating them since I was a kid - they've always been widely available wherever I've lived

It’s avocado on toast that’s seen as hipster anyway. I don’t care about that tbh. It’s less irritating than them co-opting working class culture and moving into working class areas and driving prices up so the genuine proles have to leave.

 

[Magnus McGinty]

Tomatoes weren't even seen in England until Shakespeare's time and then they were very rare, so it's not exactly ancient history, but yeah, they can be grown in the UK pretty easily. It's amazing how many of our most common foods weren't part of European diets till we had contact with the Americas.

I was relaying my own experiences but presumably anything can be grown in the U.K. now if it’s more cost effective than importing it. Tomatoes can be grown in residential greenhouses etc.

 

[Thimble Queen]

Come the apocalypse we can simply eat the gentrifiers, there's definitely enough of them to keep us going for a good while...

Hmm it's more like the road than I thought

 

[2hats]

The Americans seem to increasingly believe in the concept of a 'winnable limited nuclear exchange', part of why they want a wider range of nukes (from teeny tactical ones to planet fuckers) - make em more "usable".

The current Russian nuclear arsenal has a wider range of warhead yields than the US one.

 

[agricola]

I'll see anyone elses evidence of the coming apocalypse as being the fault of the idiocies of man, and raise them this:

When police in northern India went to court to lodge a charge sheet on Monday, they were confronted by dozens of lawyers determined to keep them out.

The lawyers were Hindus. The charges, which police managed to lodge only after calling backup, implicated eight men in the rape and murder of a Muslim child.

The killing of eight year-old Asifa Bano, details of which were released on Wednesday, and ongoing efforts by Hindu groups to disrupt the police investigation have sickened many Indians and deepened concerns about a growing sense of impunity among religious nationalists.

Asifa, a member of a nomadic Muslim tribe, was grazing horses on 10 January in Kathua, a district of Jammu and Kashmir state, when a farmhand lured her away. She was confined in a small Hindu temple, drugged, raped for five days by a group of men and killed with a rock.

Police allege the crime was intricately planned by Sanji Ram, the temple custodian, who they say agreed to pay local officers 500,000 rupees (£5,400) to create false evidence that would lead investigators away from him and his men.

Ram had been a staunch opponent of the settlement of the Muslim tribe, known as the Bakarwals, in the area, and saw Bano as a soft target in a plot to frighten the group into leaving, police said.

The arrest of Ram, his men and several police officers quickly took on religious overtones in Jammu where, as in other parts of India, rightwing Hindu groups have become increasingly active.

In February, state ministers and senior officials from the ruling Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) helped to form a protest group that marched through Kathua waving Indian flags and demanding the release of one of the accused officers.

They argue that because some of the investigating officers in the case are Muslim, they cannot be trusted to be impartial. They called for the case to be transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation, an agency overseen by the national government.

The prime minister, Narendra Modi, a staunch Hindu nationalist, is yet to comment on the case or the involvement of his party’s ministers and officials in protests in support of some of the accused men. On Thursday he and other senior BJP officials were holding a daylong fast in protest at obstruction by the opposition in the Indian parliament.

Criminal cases have been registered against more than 40 lawyers for trying to prevent the police from filing the charges on Monday. The district bar association released a statement in support of the protests, saying the government had failed in “understanding the sentiments of the people”.

also:

The Gujjars wanted to bury Asifa in a graveyard where they had purchased some land a few years ago and had already buried five people but when they arrived there, Mr Pujwala said, they were surrounded by Hindu right-wing activists who threatened them with violence if they were to continue with the burial.

"We had to walk seven miles to bury her in another village," Mr Pujwala said. Two of his daughters were killed in an accident some years ago. On his wife's insistence, he adopted Asifa, the daughter of his brother-in-law.

His wife described Asifa as a "chirping bird" who ran like a "deer". When they travelled, she looked after the herd.

"That made her the darling of the community," Ms Bibi said. "She was the centre of our universe."

more here and here

 

[scifisam]

I was relaying my own experiences but presumably anything can be grown in the U.K. now if it’s more cost effective than importing it. Tomatoes can be grown in residential greenhouses etc.

Well, not really. Tomatoes don't need greenhouses (except probably in some parts of Scotland), that's why I said they can be grown in the UK. Avocados can't really be grown to the level of fruiting even with a greenhouse because of the level of humidity required as well as the heat, and they take ten years to reach maturity. Don't think anyone would be growing British avocados even in the cosiest vision of living after the apocalypse.

 

[Mr.Bishie]

The current Russian nuclear arsenal has a wider range of warhead yields than the US one.

Yeah, but what veg can we eat when a nuclear winter kicks in? Don't say turnip

 

[2hats]

Yeah, but what veg can we eat when a nuclear winter kicks in? Don't say turnip

Any veg you want.

It will all make you ill.

 

[Mr.Bishie]

Good! I'd hate to think turnip lovers would triumph.

 

[Magnus McGinty]

Well, not really. Tomatoes don't need greenhouses (except probably in some parts of Scotland), that's why I said they can be grown in the UK.

They’re grown commercially in greenhouses. In fact in those polythene tunnel things if you want to keep ramping up the pedantry.

 

[scifisam]

Yeah, but what veg can we eat when a nuclear winter kicks in? Don't say turnip

Nothing during nuclear winter because there'd be no sun. Kale and spinach might be OK if there wasn't much light, especially because they don't need much soil, and you'd have to try to deradiate the soil (if you knew how). For post-radiation though turnips probably would do quite well - they grow at a deeper level of soil and they have a thick peel so would be safer than a lot of foods.

 

[scifisam]

They’re grown commercially in greenhouses. In fact in those polythene tunnel things if you want to keep ramping up the pedantry.

Yes, and they're grown commercially not in greenhouses too. They don't need greenhouses, which is what I said. And dude you're the one who keeps trying to correct me, not the other way round

 

[2hats]

Nothing during nuclear winter because there'd be no sun. Kale and spinach might be OK if there wasn't much light, especially because they don't need much soil, and you'd have to try to deradiate the soil (if you knew how). For post-radiation though turnips probably would do quite well - they grow at a deeper level of soil and they have a thick peel so would be safer than a lot of foods.

Potassium iodide tablets first.

 

[Gromit]

Look the world can't end until I've claimed a decent amount of pension. I'm not leaving this existence until I get most of those funds. If I don't then the pension companies win.

 

[Mr.Bishie]

For post-radiation though turnips probably would do quite well - they grow at a deeper level of soil and they have a thick peel so would be safer than a lot of foods

ffs

 

[Mr.Bishie]

Look the world can't end until I've claimed a decent amount of pension. I'm not leaving this existence until I get most of those funds. If I don't then the pension companies win.

Good. I hope you don’t get a penny, you wretched toad.