OPEN BAR: 50 Shades of Chronic Liver Disease

[LMNO]

That game... So much is happening, it can be hard to follow sometimes.

[Cain]

Yeah, playing on Gold doesn't help.  On lower difficulties, you get less enemy spawns, and less powerful spawns.  But you also get less money, and since I am on a quest for all blacklisted weapons at level X, I need as much money as I can get.  I'd play Platinum difficulty, which is even worse, but there are so many bad players on Platinum it's not funny.  Then again, there are lots of bad people on Gold too, but at least I know I can usually carry the match.

Especially with this baby unlocked.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I think there are ways to do it that would be functionally acceptable, but not the way it's run under our current system. Which I suspect is even worse here in the US.

In the UK, a good start would be instead of cutting benefits, assuring the workfare employees were being paid minimum wage.  Sharing the costs of employment between government and private sector, perhaps on a means-tested basis.  Trying to create paths into employment by some kind of system of checks and assessment for performance.

But our government will never do that.  It will just send people 50 miles away every day, to work 14 hour shifts in factories under the threat of having what little money they get from the government to live on taken away.  That's just how they roll.

But they're clothing and housing their workers. They're good masters, and their workers should be grateful.

[Junkenstein]

Those are some horrorstories.

Not really, the real horror is in the number of people it seems directly responsible for killing on a week to week basis. Around 30 or so the last time I looked.

Don't worry though, the other lot will fix all these problems and more:
http://johnnyvoid.wordpress.com/2014/03/11/labours-workfare-plus-a-sandwich/

Just like on the New Deal – Tony Blair's bodged plan to cure youth unemployment -  those in a compulsory job will also face mandatory training for 10 hours a week.  It is unclear how this will work in practice, although a Labour Press Release seems to suggest this will merely mean employers are handed £500 on top of their free workers to provide this training.  It seems likely that people with Compulsory Jobs will find themselves working these ten hours without wages under the guise of it being 'work experience'.  This will mean participants on the scheme working five hours a week more than those on current workfare.

On the Politics Show yesterday, the Shadow Employment Minister Stephen Timms, admitted that the cost of the Jobs Guarantee may mean that other previously announced initiatives, such as building more low cost homes, may not be included in the party's next manifesto.  Labour would rather spend money forcing people to work on poverty pay than in solving the housing crisis – the real reason for the spiralling benefit bill and the cause of huge suffering for both the young and old alike.

2 man con indeed.

Needless to say, the lack of affordable housing in the UK is a key factor in several issues. The levels of social housing built by councils have been minimal for years and is a direct factor in high rents and subsequent high house prices. Needless to say, by dropping any intention of fixing the housing situation banks, landlords and the almighty markets will be sure to reward them accordingly.

There's also the angle of many tenants requiring housing benefit so in a very real way the offer here is for Labour to continue to fund landlords.

The deaths i didn't see coming, I assume that it is statistically significantly more death than in normal workplaces?

The housing situation is quite fucked here as well. There's something about social housing and housing benefits that leads to more expensive housing for everyone. We are getting fucked on both sides of the north sea.

The problem here is pretty firmly rooted in the "Right to buy" schemes pioneered by Thatcher and championed by new labour. In short, owning your own house is seen as something of a right and mandatory obligation in the UK. The media is constantly informing you about how much your house is/isn't worth and how much it's value has apparently increased or decreased. It was a great vote winner and had a lot of people convinced that X party is for me because they let me buy this place for Y.

The money raised by the selling was supposed to fund new social housing but in reality it ended up covering council budget shortfalls.

Even funnier are "section 106" agreements. These mean that any development of a certain size is supposed to allocate X% to affordable (By which I mean "Substantially below market value") homes. A section 106 payment allows developers to give cash straight to the council so they don't have to do this and the council can go and build these affordable places elsewhere. Guess how much building councils actually do.

It was a relatively noble idea to try and ensure that nurses/teachers/etc. are able to live near where they work. Again, the reality is that you are very unlikely to find nurses/teachers/etc. living near their workplace, particularly in larger towns and cities as the rent/mortgage can in no way be covered by the wage earned.

As a result many new developments, particularly in larger places become ghettos for the wealthier in society.

As a total aside, there is something very sick in a society that deems a 5/6 figure debt to a bank as a good thing. I'm sure this has nothing to do with banks, UK government and media interact at all.

[Suu]

They Navy just changed their mind. Again. He's not going as of about 5 minutes ago. I'm not buying this just yet.

[LMNO]

The Navy has the kind of strong, decisive leaders that will make this country GREAT again.

[Sir Squid Diddimus]

The Navy has the kind of strong, decisive leaders that will make this country GREAT again.

[Suu]

The Navy has the kind of strong, decisive leaders that will make this country GREAT again.

He just read that and started choking. 

But seriously, this little faux pas is all you need to know about how our government works. This isn't a normal occurrence, but going full retard happens.

I need to fix my brain now. It just went from happy vacation mode to FUCK THE WORLD I NEED TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO DO THIS ON THE FLY to oh, well, Eris.

[Ben Shapiro]

In /b/ear health.

Blood Pressure was at 140/90. Which means I'm at the door at Stage 1 Hypertension. Doctor told me he won't give me meds until 3-4 months from now. If it stays the same then I get meds. Blood sugar was at 77 after fasting. Acanthosis Nigricans was detected, and was told I will have type 2 if I don't drop the weight off. Glucose urine test produced normal levels. Cholesterol is fine. His goal for me is to drop to 300 lbs even. He told me he's happy I've stuck with the gym, and lost 30+ pounds so far. Just keep doing what I'm doing and start eating less sodium, and to continue not picking up smoking. Everything will come together once weight is at 300. He asked if I was walking 30 minutes a day. I said Hell fucking No! I do 1-1.5 hrs 2-3 week on a ski machine. He was surprised that I was able to last that long. Waiting on my thyroid and other things as well. Feel like I dodged a bullet, or two.

TL;DR Bear needs to lose more weight and then America wins.

[LMNO]

Pro tip from another high blood pressure person:

1. Lay off booze (LOL)
2. Unsalted butter, or olive oil
3. Acids. Vinegar, citrus.
4. Make your own hot sauce. It's really easy. I may post something in Cooking With.

[Cain]

Good to hear things are improving in /b/ear country.

I've recorded the video....but since my throat still don't feel great, I have instead come up with a brilliant idea to compensate.  First, Mass Effect 2 music in the background...by far the best music of the series (Virmire Ride aside).  Secondly, as we're fighting Collectors, quotes from Harbinger will appear throughout the battle, much as they did in Mass Effect 2 when fighting that enemy.

This will be awesome, I promise.  I just need to do more editing.

[Ben Shapiro]

Pro tip from another high blood pressure person:

1. Lay off booze (LOL)
2. Unsalted butter, or olive oil
3. Acids. Vinegar, citrus.
4. Make your own hot sauce. It's really easy. I may post something in Cooking With.

I don't drink hard liquor and I have 2-3 beers once a month. Is that good?
I use olive oil very rarely do we use butter. Looking at our stuff in pantry and throwing away anything that has stupid amounts of sodium. A few years ago we switched to the liquid/gel bouillon that has very little sodium.

[Telarus]

They Navy just changed their mind. Again. He's not going as of about 5 minutes ago. I'm not buying this just yet.

Damn Suu, I'm sorry you are going through this.

[Ben Shapiro]

I also found this glorious site!
http://diabeticgourmet.com/recipes/Meat/Pork/

[Sir Squid Diddimus]

What I've learned in the last six months:

-"Craft Beer Geeks" are assholes AND idiots
-People who use Yelp (website) are cheap, lookin for something free, and don't tip for shit
-Kegs are heavy as fuck when they're full, light as fuck when empty
-Key kegs (disposable) are sons of bitches and whoever invented them should be dragged out into the street and beaten till they piss blood
-Lipstick is bartender's bane
-Pulling levers and filling glasses is fun and fulfilling
-Putting together cider and cheese pairings affordably is not as easy as it seems