Well that was a ramble (below) wasn't it. My migraine story ..! Well it IS true ...
On my old blog there was a facility I never managed to install (due to chronic lack of html instructions) called Poll Gear. I set up my poll. Got the colour scheme right. It resembled vaguely a set of traffic lights with push-button voting and the query went like this: Lindsay Lohan -- actress or ho? If anyone knows where I can import a "poll" from I'd be most interested. I didn't have anything like the same html worries here as on the last blog. It was really simple ...
Thanks for all the paperclip advice re "insert link": I think I've just found the right button. Not the paperclip I imagined I remembered, but hey: okay, if you want to see Ruth's blog or Deb's, the correct links should be here, so get clicking away!! I can't believe it's so easy. I believe I"m on the "new" blogger. But what's oldfashioned to me is that I'm typing in practically html code; ie if I want to embolden, literal spiky brackets appear in my version of the text with the word "strong" in them. Don't know if it'll let me say that either without strengthening the type also ...
Can I alter the type face and size mid-posting? On my old one I had the choice of about 20 faces and every size from 8 point to 34++ was readily available to me .... oh the good old days of waiting 20 minutes staring at that egg timer every time I wanted to just alter a single comma. The good old days of absolutely no idea how many visitors my site got. It wasn't till I moved over to blogger that it was confirmed, I get the same number of hits as all my friends (which obviously stands to reason as we're reading one another's blogs) and I can now post something without having to budget ten minutes' egg-timer time ...
News, anyone? Upwards of 150,000 turkeys have been slaughtered at that Bernard Matthews poultry farm in Suffolk. And yes it is slightly disturbingly near Ruth's neck of the woods. I used to know someone who worked in one of Bernard Matthews' 57 farms, scattered across Norfolk and Suffolk. Now Bernard Matthews, y'all need to know, always appeared in his own advertising, assuring us in his Norfolk patois that his product was "bootiful". To me, to be honest he makes the same Christmas turkeys as anyone else but the Bernard Matthews name marks a price premium ... Anyhow, as I was saying, I knew this guy (a troubled soul, like so many of my old friends) who had worked on one of Bernard Matthews's turkey farms. The labour conditions were dreadful. These poor turkeys lived their entire lives in huge darkened sheds, air thick with feathers ... utter claustrophobia ... Several jobs were available from caring for the live birds to slaughtering, cleaning and packing them. Killing the birds earnt you a premium wage as not many people could stand slaughtering the poor little chooks day in day out with an electronic stun-gun. Anyhow, this guy's job was to grab the dead birds and hang them by the feet on hooks. Eventually, from the constant restricted movements repetitive strain type injuries developed in the hands. And scratches from the birds' claws became infected with salmonella... leading to horrifically deformed knuckles on both his hands. Also tis guy had a nasty habit of losing his temper and punching various unknown members of the public, which never helped them to heal.
They put a turkey shed on the radio before Christmas. The little birdies make noises like a crowd of people and every so often literally make the noise of a crowd bursting into laughter and applause. It was quite fantastic. Turkeys are quite gentle birds. It's a shame they are forced to live their short lives under such squalid over-crowded conditions. I've heard that sometimes (not necessarily at Bernard Matthews' farms)that they have their beaks clipped so they can't even peck at each other. Which is a normal part of their behaviour.
The bird flu must have gone through that shed like proverbial Wildfire. By midday yesterday at least 60,000 birds had been culled at this flu-ridden farm. By the end of the day, all 160,000 were dead. Gassed by this special culling-gas. I think it's awfully sad.
Avian influenza, contrary to certain comments I have overheard does not affect British garden songbirds like robins, bluetits, larks and thrushes. It only affects ducks, chickens, geese, swans and turkeys - the type of birds we coincidentally like to eat... One wild swan was found a year or so ago believed to have died from bird flu. But the current outbreak is really Britain's first major skirmish with the virus. Most worryingly it is indeed the most deadly H5N1 strain that can pass from bird to human with fatal consequences.
No strain of the flu has yet developed that can pass from human to human. When that happens - and let's hope it never does - we'll have the so-called pandemic on our hands ...
And a good afternoon
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A lovely walk on the beach at Caswell with Daughter, Son-in-law,
GrandDaughter2, Husband and dogs. The weather was mild and dry and the
waves were much m...
14 hours ago
10 comments:
Hi!! Thanks a lot for your visit!!! Return always!!! Have a nice week!!! Bye!
i watched a good program on pandemic preparedness...the masks that fly off the shelf don't offer much protection. and people often forget to stock up on their medicine and are unable to gain access to it, so it helps to have a good supply on hand (3-6 mths worth).
When there was a concern over bird flu here, the vehicles had to have their tires disinfected before they travelled in/out of the infected farm. I don't know why I told you that.
I'm edging my way closer & closer to a meatless diet. #1 reason - it's not my favorite anyways...I prefer fruits/veggies, etc. #2 - i love the animals and feel just horrible about those very conditions you describe. we used to go the the PNE where they'd have the cows numbered, ready for auction/slaughter and I'd go sit with them and look into their big brown eyes and cry (pathetic, I know). They are gorgeous. I have some good cow pics, I'll post them later. I "visit" with the ones up the road a lot.
Long comment...sorry. Off to visit Mom...back later.
Hi there, it's me, Wee-Leng. Thanks for dropping by. Am pure born and bred Malaysian Chinese in every sense so ain't no Brit nor American. =)
U take care *wink
bird flew or bird flu
bird droppings are a problem here on the Canadian river in Oklahoma. nice blog...
Getting infections in hands from birds sounds horrible! It's cool you checked out my blog!
See ya,
Glad you found the peaper clip ok. You're "article" on Bernard Matthews is really interesting. Who needs a daily paper with GW in our midst.
Rx
i think it would be good to have a pandemic.
that will teach them to treat animals in such horrid conditions.
and to farm millions of birds for our greedy consupmptions.(huh?? sp??)(tired.....)
i prefer to just eat benzos and opiates and such with a side dish of potatoes.. much tastier and better for the environmment and nobody gets tortured.
Good point that the Avian Flu doesn't kill the songbirds, BUT they can still be carriers... that's why it's important to make sure that you wash, wash, wash when filling birdfeeders, or after coming in from working in the garden.
I'm with Deb on going veggie... I'd prefer a big bowl of pasta and greens anyday to something that's been stunned and or clubbed... UGH
E
Hi, Klini here. I haven't read the whole story yet, since I am a bit in a hurry, but if you want a poll, just type in "free poll" in google, you will get a while list from which to choose from. I will be reading the rest later.
How come Women on the Verge moves now? She didn't used to ... I'm sure ...
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