The Nice People Thread, No.16: A Universe of Niceness.

silvercar

michaels wrote: »

Don't think our house is the hotbed of learning and culture that yours was so unless they go out more their specialist knowledge in Mastermind will be British soaps 2015 - 2025.

Don't be fooled. There were a couple of years when certain people in our house would have won for Big Brother knowledge!

Not much culture in our house.

vivatifosi

Our specialist subjects would be the Eurovision Song Contest since Waterloo, Disney movies, Neighbours and the US space programme. Not sure that's much better.

I'm hoping that at least one NP will be a closet expert in mycology.

SingleSue

vivatifosi wrote: »

Our specialist subjects would be the Eurovision Song Contest since Waterloo, Disney movies, Neighbours and the US space programme. Not sure that's much better.

I'm hoping that at least one NP will be a closet expert in mycology.

Not in ours although Joe would probably come closest in the stuff he researches..

Our specialist subjects (and we are all going to sound really boring now) are politics, history, music (obviously), gaming, pokemon, architecture, cartography (Joe) and maybe Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead.

vivatifosi

Ah, Game of Thrones. I remember the days you had to try to make special displays of those books as nobody wanted to borrow them. How times have changed.

Pyxis

SingleSue wrote: »

Neither was ours until we had the time to actually sit down, talk and debate. We were all too busy running around like headless chickens to actually know before though....

It's amazing how underrated simple family togetherness is.

I can remember when I was a child/teenager that some of the most enjoyable times were when there was a get together and we were just doing general chat and banter, with the odd party piece thrown in.

Interestingly, a lot of those times were when we were having a meal together around a table. It was never the same when someone was missing, for whatever reason.

Simple, simple things can give the most pleasure and the best memories. I suppose it's what we now call bonding. We seem to be trying to get our bonding from other groups instead.... hobby and activity groups.

vivatifosi wrote: »

Our specialist subjects would be the Eurovision Song Contest since Waterloo.

I'm hoping that at least one NP will be a closet expert in mycology.

I didn't know the Eurovision Song Contest went back as far as Napoleonic times.
:rotfl: :rotfl:

Out of interest, how did this thing about fungi come about on this thread?
(Pardon the pun).

Did you see those pics of ants and other insects that get infected with certain types of spores, and the hyphae threads spread inside them and then the fruiting bodies sprout from the insect's body?
If it won't put you off your breakfast, I could find a pic if you like?

It's almost the stuff of science fiction. Fungi are seriously interesting.

Cordyceps - that's the fungus, and here's the link to the David Attenborough programme about them. Deffo worth a view.

(After breakfast!)

https://youtu.be/XuKjBIBBAL8



(Just seen that you can get the ground-up fungi as a nutritional supplement! :eek:

"Traditional healers in Sikkim recommend the fungus/mushroom Cordyceps sinensis for “all illnesses” as a tonic, because they claim that it improves energy, appetite, stamina, libido, endurance, and sleeping patterns. It is a rare combination of a caterpillar and fungus found in Sikkim at altitudes above 3,800 m"
It can be produced commercially, because it can be reproduced in the laboratory.

Why do I find the idea rather disconcerting?
It's supposed to be good for respiratory conditions, which would be good for me, and may boost the immune system, etc., but I find the idea illogically scary. They might start sprouting! :eek:! )

michaels

Pyxis wrote: »

It's amazing how underrated simple family togetherness is.

I can remember when I was a child/teenager that some of the most enjoyable times were when there was a get together and we were just doing general chat and banter, with the odd party piece thrown in.

Interestingly, a lot of those times were when we were having a meal together around a table. It was never the same when someone was missing, for whatever reason.

Simple, simple things can give the most pleasure and the best memories. I suppose it's what we now call bonding. We seem to be trying to get our bonding from other groups instead.... hobby and activity groups.




I didn't know the Eurovision Song Contest went back as far as Napoleonic times.
:rotfl: :rotfl:

Out of interest, how did this thing about fungi come about on this thread?
(Pardon the pun).

Did you see those pics of ants and other insects that get infected with certain types of spores, and the hyphae threads spread inside them and then the fruiting bodies sprout from the insect's body?
If it won't put you off your breakfast, I could find a pic if you like?

It's almost the stuff of science fiction. Fungi are seriously interesting.

Cordyceps - that's the fungus, and here's the link to the David Attenborough programme about them. Deffo worth a view.

(After breakfast!)

https://youtu.be/XuKjBIBBAL8



(Just seen that you can get the ground-up fungi as a nutritional supplement! :eek:

"Traditional healers in Sikkim recommend the fungus/mushroom Cordyceps sinensis for “all illnesses” as a tonic, because they claim that it improves energy, appetite, stamina, libido, endurance, and sleeping patterns. It is a rare combination of a caterpillar and fungus found in Sikkim at altitudes above 3,800 m"
It can be produced commercially, because it can be reproduced in the laboratory.

Why do I find the idea rather disconcerting?
It's supposed to be good for respiratory conditions, which would be good for me, and may boost the immune system, etc., but I find the idea illogically scary. They might start sprouting! :eek:! )

Pyxis, have you beenntaking the dried frog pills again?

Pyxis

michaels wrote: »

Pyxis, have you beenntaking the dried frog pills again?

Rivet rivet

Pyxis

Talking of frogs........

Did you know that most frogs don't go rivet rivet, and I believe that no British frogs do.

It was the fault of American cartoons, which always had frogs going rivet rivet.

There's an American species of frog that does this, hence why they put it so in the cartoons.



Most frogs are either silent or go croak croak.

SingleSue

vivatifosi wrote: »

Ah, Game of Thrones. I remember the days you had to try to make special displays of those books as nobody wanted to borrow them. How times have changed.

I've still yet to watch an episode although it doesn't stop Joe trying to discuss the show with me.

He is currently reading his way through the books too.

Pyxis

I learned something worrying the other day.

While I was on holiday, I received a call on my mobile. Didn't recognise the number so rejected it, thinking that they'd leave a message.

No message, but the number looked vaguely familiar.

I googled the number on my iPad and it came up as a scam on a bank... one of the big four, and the bank that I bank with.

I was very worried, but I couldn't do anything about it as I was in Italy, didn't have any bank cards with me and couldn't even remember any of my account numbers! (Not the whole number, anyway!)

Anyway, further googling revealed that the telephone number was that of the Customer Services dept. of my bank, which was why it was vaguely familiar, and is actually the number in the back of my debit card.

It also turns out that scammers/fraudsters have found a way to disguise their own phone number with that of your bank! :eek:

So you see what you think is your bank's number calling, and it isn't.


When I got home, I went to my bank and told them, and they checked on their computer and confirmed that the bank hadn't tried to phone me.

They gave me the number of their Fraud department, so I told them, and they also said that if the bank phoned me, it would come up as "Private Number" and not the Customer Services number.

They then gave me the telephone number of Action Fraud, which is linked to the police force, so I rang and told them too.



What's extremely worrying is how the fraudsters can hi-jack a bona fide number in this way.

The moral is, never ever discuss your finances over the phone with anyone that rings you, even if the number seems to be the right one. You should ring the bank yourself, preferably from another phone, on the number given to you by the bank itself.

If you can't use another phone, presumably you could clear the incoming call numbers from your phone first, and/or make another call first, to anyone, so that you aren't still connected to the fraudsters' line.