Scrutable

I follow ex WSB and MotoGP rider Colin Edwards on Twitter, because I was a fan of him as a rider. He was known as the Texas Tornado. He retweets the most amazing conspiracy shite these days, maybe not quite full QAnon but not far short. Gives me quite an insight into what the nut jobs think, especially those in the USA. What accidental windows into the conspiracy world have you got?

A very old friend of MrsFF. We went along to his second wedding he sent a Facebook friend request that I accepted. Turns out he is a huge conspiracy theorist. Aliens, contrails, 9/11, a lot. Really nice guy. I've not unfriended him as it makes for interesting reading. One thing he wasn't into, which surprised me - he's not an anti-vaxxer. He did a lot of arguing with anti-vaxxers in regard to covid.

The most batshit ones are the friends-and-relations of my father, generally well in their 80s.

Some rich but somewhat distant relatives of his - Eton and Roedean - refused to have Covid vaccine, citing the fetal stem cells issue. My father has felt it unwise to inquired in detail into their religion, though they are evidently some kind of evangelical protestant, who are apparently more rigid on this point than the Pope. Adventures into scientific and technical conversation revealed that they don't believe in the moon landings. They have somehow avoided catching Covid, and by some miracle their mobile phones work.

Another friend of his, of similar age, spends a lot of time on his computer researching the correct positions on things. He's very well educated on Russian history, and Mr Putin is his hero! His economics are Kwartengian. Sadly this has prejudiced my father against researching stuff on the web, as apparently it can brainwash people who for years had their heads screwed on into believing nonsense. He has offered to smash his friend's computer with a sledgehammer, but this doesn't seem to be appreciated, well, I think his long-suffering wife appreciates it.

Another friend revealed himself to be a member of the Conservative party, when my father made a disparaging comment about Priti Patel, and told my father he was biased for describing her as a terrible person. He hasn't dared to ask him whether he voted for Liz Truss. Some other batshit views were revealed, but I forget those.

Then there's my Czech in-laws, who keep sending us raw chocolate, which tastes horrible, and other "super-healthy" foods that taste horrible, because it's very good for you. Inclined to choose herbal remedies, etc, over medicine when suffering, though sensible enough to go to the doctor when it gets really bad. They believe in cleaning their teeth before breakfast, on some batty theory, which is why their teeth are full of holes. I think in general the British are relatively insusceptible to alternative medicines, etc, in comparison to central Europeans. We have a Swiss friend who peddles one of the more implausible alternative treatments - I think she is half romany, but her husband is a banker.

I have a friend I used to share a flat with when I worked in Montreal, he's gone anti-vax in a big way. Apparently his first daughter had a reaction to her vaccinations when she was a baby and went into fits. This freaked him and the dismissive response from the doctors didn't help. So he 'did his research', and went down a rabbit hole of conspiracy and lunacy. Fortunately that seems to be the only thing he's fallen for.

Whale.to

Chris Preston wrote: ↑

Tue Apr 18, 2023 11:05 am

Whale.to

Definitely crazy, I wonder if QAnon people read it?

Chris Preston wrote: ↑

Tue Apr 18, 2023 11:05 am

Whale.to

Oh wow, I'd forgotten about that. Getting flashbacks now.

IvanV wrote: ↑

Tue Apr 18, 2023 10:50 am

They believe in cleaning their teeth before breakfast, on some batty theory, which is why their teeth are full of holes.

I thought everyone cleaned their teeth before breakfast (e.g. when the get up in the morning)?!

Have I just discovered I'm crazy?

Hunting Dog wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 19, 2023 9:38 am

IvanV wrote: ↑

Tue Apr 18, 2023 10:50 am

They believe in cleaning their teeth before breakfast, on some batty theory, which is why their teeth are full of holes.

I thought everyone cleaned their teeth before breakfast (e.g. when the get up in the morning)?!

Have I just discovered I'm crazy?

After surely? Otherwise toast in your teeth and coffee breath (unless going out for breaky with a friend).

bjn wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 19, 2023 9:54 am

Hunting Dog wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 19, 2023 9:38 am

IvanV wrote: ↑

Tue Apr 18, 2023 10:50 am

They believe in cleaning their teeth before breakfast, on some batty theory, which is why their teeth are full of holes.

I thought everyone cleaned their teeth before breakfast (e.g. when the get up in the morning)?!

Have I just discovered I'm crazy?

After surely? Otherwise toast in your teeth and coffee breath (unless going out for breaky with a friend).

Before breakfast, or after breakfast but not immediately after.

I tried brushing my teeth after lunch for a bit, the hygienist noticed something worse, and when I stopped, he noticed something better. This was him noticing and mentioning it, I hadn't told him I'd changed my habits, and I don't remember changing anything else.

Hmm, can you get mildly alkaline mouth washes? Half a teaspoon of bicarb?

shpalman wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 19, 2023 10:13 am

Hunting Dog wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 19, 2023 9:38 am

I thought everyone cleaned their teeth before breakfast (e.g. when the get up in the morning)?!

Have I just discovered I'm crazy?

Before breakfast, or after breakfast but not immediately after.

I tried brushing my teeth after lunch for a bit, the hygienist noticed something worse, and when I stopped, he noticed something better. This was him noticing and mentioning it, I hadn't told him I'd changed my habits, and I don't remember changing anything else.

I was repeatedly told by my dentist that teeth take about 15-30 mins to develop self-protective coatings after brushing, so introducing sugar and acid straight after brushing was a bad thing to do. Ie don't eat in approx 30 mins after brushing. Clearly also not good to brush straight after eating when the mouth is still full of sugar and acid, need to wait 15-30 mins after eating too. And also that one should clean teeth after meals, with the proper timing. My morning routines have generally been at a speed that there wouldn't be a 15-30 min gap available to wait before eating, so this is why I disparaged brushing before eating.

I'm interested by the explanation here that in fact an important mechanism is the plaque on the teeth, which convert sugars into acids to attack the teeth. Numerous other articles suggest that the conventional wisdom is before rather than after, and tolerate the food rotting between our teeth to flavour our breath.

I have to confess that for many years I rarely brushed my teeth in the morning at all, usually because I was in too much of a hurry, with a very compressed get up-shower-breakfast-leave routine. My tooth health remained very stable over that period.

We still have the datum point to explain that our in-laws teeth are dreadful and deteriorating, and ours are good. I had attributed it to their teeth cleaning routines, but it is looking like I'm wrong.

My mum is a retired dentist. She says the most important thing is that your teeth get brushed twice a day.

I solve the problem of before or after breakfast by not eating breakfast.

IvanV wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 19, 2023 12:33 pm

We still have the datum point to explain that our in-laws teeth are dreadful and deteriorating, and ours are good. I had attributed it to their teeth cleaning routines, but it is looking like I'm wrong.

My reckon is that you either have the kind of bacteria which rot your teeth, or the kind which will eventually make them fall out.

shpalman wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 19, 2023 10:13 am

bjn wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 19, 2023 9:54 am

Hunting Dog wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 19, 2023 9:38 am

I thought everyone cleaned their teeth before breakfast (e.g. when the get up in the morning)?!

Have I just discovered I'm crazy?

After surely? Otherwise toast in your teeth and coffee breath (unless going out for breaky with a friend).

Before breakfast, or after breakfast but not immediately after.

I tried brushing my teeth after lunch for a bit, the hygienist noticed something worse, and when I stopped, he noticed something better. This was him noticing and mentioning it, I hadn't told him I'd changed my habits, and I don't remember changing anything else.

I'm doubtful.

Surely just drinking water will wash most acid away, and most toothpastes are slightly alkaline to neutralise any acids that are hanging around.

Also, eating and drinking after brushing (see also: rinsing with water or mouthwash) makes fluoride in toothpaste largely pointless.

I had to cut off and block someone I've known for years bc he just wouldn't stop with the Dems = pedo/cannibal/satanist/cabal/pizza gate shite. Constantly bombarding me day and night like so many B-29's full of napalm bombs flying over Tokyo in 1944. Insisting that I answered these accusations presumably because I'm not a repugnican who lives to watch tucker f.cking carlson and fox news. Refusing to accept that the f.cking pizza parlor didn't have a basement. Believing that facefuckingbook and Troof social counted as legitimate sources of primary information. And the like.

He's not alone. Millions of merkinanians are totally sick of the sh.t of millions of other merkinanians, and it's only getting worse.

Christians are particularly emboldened by scotus (serving corporations, err, christians of the United States). They now believe they can be a serious f.cking asswipingful SUPER-douche to absolutely everyone because Jesus wrote the constitution and says they can.

Could be worse. I know a guy who's reasonable in almost every measurable way. Until you realize he's a flat earther, and it's too late to repeal your off hand comment that got this unwanted discussion going.

Al Capone Junior wrote: ↑

Mon May 29, 2023 7:35 pm

I had to cut off and block someone I've known for years bc he just wouldn't stop with the Dems = pedo/cannibal/satanist/cabal/pizza gate shite. Constantly bombarding me day and night like so many B-29's full of napalm bombs flying over Tokyo in 1944. Insisting that I answered these accusations presumably because I'm not a repugnican who lives to watch tucker f.cking carlson and fox news. Refusing to accept that the f.cking pizza parlor didn't have a basement. Believing that facefuckingbook and Troof social counted as legitimate sources of primary information. And the like.

He's not alone. Millions of merkinanians are totally sick of the sh.t of millions of other merkinanians, and it's only getting worse.

Christians are particularly emboldened by scotus (serving corporations, err, christians of the United States). They now believe they can be a serious f.cking asswipingful SUPER-douche to absolutely everyone because Jesus wrote the constitution and says they can.

Could be worse. I know a guy who's reasonable in almost every measurable way. Until you realize he's a flat earther, and it's too late to repeal your off hand comment that got this unwanted discussion going.

Global conspiracy: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/p ... 234741082/

Oh yes. The "thou doth protest too much" thing with the globes. Globes, of course, being the very evidence that shows the earth is, in fact, flat.

So what does a flat earther's globe look like?

STAND BACK EVERYONE. NOTHING TO SEE HERE. KEEP MOVING AND NO RUBBER-NECKING.

FlammableFlower wrote: ↑

Tue Apr 18, 2023 2:06 pm

Chris Preston wrote: ↑

Tue Apr 18, 2023 11:05 am

Whale.to

Oh wow, I'd forgotten about that. Getting flashbacks now.

I hadn’t, unsurprisingly.