Zombie

"Nudity in America is a four letter word. Especially when it comes to men. I really do find that pretty silly and ironic at the same time. I was raised in a very Midwestern lifestyle and quite prudish when it comes to sex and nudity. But that is me. What I am not is judgmental. How is it possible in America we can show violence and war... but god save us if we show a nipple in a photo! There is definitely a double standard when it comes to male nudity in America. We can objectify the hell out of women and that is the norm. But a portrait of a man standing naked is obscene. It is so weird to me." Tony Duran, photographer What's going on? Where have the links gone? I had posted several links to ohlalamag.com, an online blog mag, interviewing Tony Duran about his explicit homoerotic photographic work with the French rugby team, Stade Français Paris. The problem is the links contain the photographs of the rugby team. Lots of them. Since 2001 the rugby team has produced an annual calendar called "Dieux du Stade" on sale to the public as well as a lavish book of photographs called "Dieux du Stade: Gods of the Stadium The Book". Now here's the irony. GA has asked me to remove the links because.... they contain male nudity... The reason for this is that commercial sponsorship of GA to keep it going - and here I'm guessing, but I suspect most likely American sponsors - would be put at risk. Which kind of confirms what this blog is about. The good news is if you are now desperate to see these pics although I can't give you the links I can suggest how you might find them First of all copy and paste this into Google... site:ohlalamag.com ...leave a space then type in a search phrase between inverted commas, maybe you could try "Dieux du Stade". Yes, that might work The "site:" prefix forces google only to show pages on that site and no others - useful to know if you want to search other sites for key words - and the phrase picks all the relevant pages on that site. And there are lots - when do those French rugby players ever get time to play rugby??? Any problems just PM me

Why would I specifically name Benjamin Jesty? Benjamin Jesty was not the only person who was active in England before Jenner. And others were involved in Germany as well. That's why I said: "The first vaccine was developed not in France by Pasteur in the 19th century, but in England and Germany during the 18th century." You were just repeating what had already been said, adding nothing new. Anyway, at least you now agree that Pasteur's vaccine was not "the first human made vaccine in history".

When people died from smallpox they were blameless. There was nothing they could do. Likewise polio - a crippling disease. These were not "rare" diseases. They killed and maimed millions. But it is healthcare systems that have had incredible success in completely eradicating smallpox across the world, and largely eradicating polio in the Western world, not life choices. These are just two examples of the huge benefits of healthcare systems. And there are many other examples, like surgery which can repair people's damaged bodies so they can resume a normal active life after illness or accident, and many others I won't bore you with. You are right about choices, and no-one can seriously doubt that life choices play a big part in people's health. But life choices are only - and will only ever be - one part of a much broader and more complicated picture.

good job I put that warning in,eh? On the plus side, you've now got something to look forward to when you get home...

Justice for Justin...

With respect, what you think is not the point. It's what the rest of the world thinks that matters. The cowpox needed preparation, by a human, and application, by a human, to a suitable patient, selected by a human. That is what makes Jenner's work a "vaccine" within the standard definition agreed by everyone else: "any preparation used to confer immunity to a disease by inoculation" Um, did you not read my earlier post where I already pointed this out? Um, did you not read my earlier post where I already pointed this out? :P

By definition vaccines are made by man. Jenner made his vaccine before Pasteur - therefore Pasteur's vaccine cannot be "the first human made vaccine in history". What you are describing is the different methodologies used by Pasteur and Jenner. But despite their different approaches the outcome was the same: creating "any preparation used to confer immunity to a disease by inoculation", which is the definition of vaccine [Collins English dictionary]. Jenner's work and Pasteur's work both fulfill this standard definition of "vaccine" And so were Jenner's

This will probably be of no interest to most GA members but I thought a pic of scrum-half Danny Care might be appropriate to celebrate his sneaky try on Sunday. Sadly the only pic I could find was this pose for Cosmo - all the others seem to have mysteriously disappeared... And here's the French team fly-half, Jules Plisson. Unfortunately, as you can see, he's a little mud-smeared after a heavy work-out session with his teammates but again, sadly, this was the only pic I could find of him...

Well none was permanently maimed, they were happy to sign up for the cash and it's paid business for the hospitals so it's all good Sorry you got all bothered and bewildered by the blank second post - I jabbed the wrong button by mistake

"Louis Pasteur in his testing of the Rabies' vaccine, the first human made vaccine in history" This is not correct. The first vaccine was developed not in France by Pasteur in the 19th century, but in England and Germany during the 18th century. And it was Edward Jenner who performed the first "unethical" testing, in 1796, by inoculating an 8 year old boy with a smallpox vaccine. The boy was selected because "he was healthy". Happily his treatment was successful and he lived until 1853 - so the lawyers all went home hungry...

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Pain and suffering A popular genre of trash TV is watching other people suffering. It started off with shows that humiliated people and made them look stupid. This kind of TV still exists, with shows like the X-Factor where deluded trailer-trash expose their pitiful lack of talent so that the celebrity judges can crush and destroy them on national TV. And it gets even better if the cameras can zoom onto the outraged mother offstage, mouthing bleeped obscenities and threatening to rip off Simon Cowell's dangly bits with a rusty claw hammer (actually, I might pay for a ticket to see that... ) so that the audience at home, slumped on their couches, can chortle, point and laugh while simultaneously stuffing more high-salt, high-fat, nutritionally valueless snack items down their distended gullets. Hmm, I've just had an idea for a new TV show... But this wasn't enough. Appetites were getting jaded and viewers wanted more - people had to suffer physical and psychological pain to maximise viewer enjoyment. As I understand it shows like this originated in Japan and victims were just ordinary members of the public. But again that wasn't enough. Who were these people anyway? Why should viewers waste their valuable time gawping at the pain and misery of nonentities no-one's heard of? That's the beauty of trash TV. It's endlessly inventive. So it moved onto the next level - taking those "celebs" who'd mocked and guffawed at the trailer-trash and doing a 180 - inflicting pain and suffering on the "celebs". And we're talking real pain, suffering and misery. What's not to like? Shows like I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here! offer top quality entertainment - "celebs" suffering in a God-awful Hell hole (Australia ) and being forced to eat giant grubs while sitting in a bathtub full of live maggots and watching re-runs of Simon Cowell. Then came Splash! This moved the game on with real actual injuries shown in hi-def as the "celebs" belly flopped from the diving board. The bruises were just spectacular (you'll be happy to learn Dan Osborne was completely unharmed in the making of that programme ) Then, as a warm up to Sochi, came Channel 4's The Jump where our viewing pleasure included watching "celebs'" perform dangerous winter sports activities. And when it all went horribly wrong - as we knew it would - watching the exact moment when their bones snapped and they were rushed off to ER for emergency, and hopefully painful, surgery. But for me the best bit was watching these creatures do the "skeleton", with a backwards head-cam transmitting their eye-bulging terror and horrific screams as they hurtled head first down the ice track at 100kph+ I dunno, maybe it's just me, but I find I can't tear my eyes away. Does that make me a bad person? .

Well evidently horse meat doesn't taste that different from beef because it was only uncovered in the recent UK horse meat scandal because of food testing by public trading standards officers. None of the punters complained - they were too busy stuffing more burgers down their throats The reason we don't eat horse meat is purely cultural. Provided the welfare of animals is assured and we are not misled about what we are eating then it shouldn't matter. The same argument could be made about cats and dogs. But I have a personal issue about eating dogs. They have been domesticated by humankind over thousands of years and dogs are capable of forming such close bonds of trust, loyalty - and, yes, love - with their owners that it just seems wrong to betray them and eat them

life's just too short for this... post me an update after he's been banged up with the sex-starved muscle guy covered in mean looking tats

I lost interest in football - oops, "soccer" - a long time ago partly for this reason and also it's become such a cynical business corrupted by money. Rugby for me is just a much better game all round, more exciting to watch and more mature, fans are not segregated, they can drink beer responsibly while enjoying the game, it's family friendly and everyone has a really good time. Oh yeah, and one of the best top rank Refs, Nigel Owens, is openly gay - no-one cares

England Triple Crown Champs! Wales really were asleep to let Danny Care get his sneaky try - but they all count

Happy birthday of yesterday! - sorry to be late

That is a real problem with farmed meat and poultry - routine, unnecessary overuse of antibiotics which isn't good for them or us Another reason to catch your own meat.

There's also a whole other discussion to be had on squeamishness about buying, preparing and cooking animal organs like kidneys you mentioned, and liver and heart and such. Handling these is quite literally visceral and while your grandma's generation had no problem, now it's definitely an issue for many. As for trotters, tripe and sheep's head *licks lips * ... ooo, and brains on toast...

That'd be a one-horse town then In Britain you have to have a landline in order to get an affordable broadband connection Same reason people leave the phone "off the hook" and "hang up" after a call - from the old days when the ear piece used to dangle from a hook

I don't think this is about survivalists, Bill, it's about the growing disconnect between urban and country life. For all their cultural sophistication / urban lifestyles, city dwellers are as dependent on farming and agriculture as humans have ever been. The big change has been that they can now live their lives with no knowledge of how food gets onto their plate. And that's a bad thing all round .

There's an important difference. The gay to straight "therapy" is an organised belief system involving group pressure against a targeted individual to achieve the group's objective of making everyone they have power over fall into line with their very narrow belief of what is "normal". In reality this often means young people who are not yet independent and are therefore especially vulnerable The gay trope is just, er, one-on-one lurrrve

A family butcher in Suffolk has been forced to remove the carcasses hanging in its window display after a petition because the dead animals on display "upset children". Richard Balson, manager of Dorset butchers RJ Balson & Sons, expressed dismay at the petition: "The people kicking up a fuss about this man have gone soft. They've lost touch with reality. When our family business was founded in 1515, the animals would have been walked into the middle of the towns, where they'd be slaughtered in front of everyone. I appreciate that it's a completely different world that we live in now. But this is over the top". Understandable, perhaps, for non meat eaters. But some meat eaters obviously have a problem with the reality of their dietary habits and it seems dishonest to shield their kids from this reality. Perhaps they need reminding that the neatly packaged, plastic-wrapped portions displayed on supermarket shelves are not synthesized by some Startrek Replicator - they come from real animals http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2014/feb/24/butcher-meat-window-display-row-suffolk *And, yes, it is true - Richard Balson's family butcher business has been going continuously since 1515* .

I can't really improve on what Kitt said for all the nominees and winners... Every single one of you deserve Congratulations!

Just to concur with what's already been said, I think you're doing a pretty fine job doing what you're doing, Graeme. If all kids had open lines of communication with responsible and caring parents they respect, trust and love like yours obviously do with you, then many of the problems we see around us would just disappear As for addiction, well that applies to internet use generally and sitting for long periods every day is definitely not healthy. Maybe you could agree a daily limit to all online activities so they can get off their butts, give their eyes a rest and go do all the stuff that kids used to do Talking of which, what should I do about my GA addiction?