Bob The Badger

What a wonderful world. ?

It's a terrible question, in that if you asked me every day for a year, I'd give you 300+ answers!
So much of the enjoyment of music is down to mood, environment, company, etc, that I find it hard to believe people who can name the one song and stand by it.

Stop it. There's no place for language like that on this forum. Do you mean from the start or from the beginning??

I stuck with ZeroZeroZero, it was okay but not in the same league as Gomorrah sadly.  Currently enjoying TopBoy from the beginning as i never saw any of it.  I am quite impressed so far.

I have Operation Mincemeat on the go at the moment. Fascinating stuff and incredibly well researched too.

Schindlers List - Netflix
I've wanted to watch this for the 30 years it's been out but the wife never did and I was hesitant that it would just depress me.
The was going out on Saturday and as it gets thrown off Netflix at the end of this month I thought I'd watch it.
Totally remarkable.
Seldom have I seen a film where the acting, screenwriting and direction are all almost flawless.
I can see why it scores 9.0 on IMDb.
A harrowing yet heart lifting story and not for the squeamish.
It's tough to say you enjoyed a movie like this for obvious reasons, but jeez if you haven't watched it you probably should.
Steve Bloomer/10

Schindlers List - Netflix
I've wanted to watch this for the 30 years it's been out but the wife never did and I was hesitant that it would just depress me.
The was going out on Saturday and as it gets thrown off Netflix at the end of this month I thought I'd watch it.
Totally remarkable.
Seldom have I seen a film where the acting, screenwriting and direction are all almost flawless.
I can see why it scores 9.0 on IMDb.
A harrowing yet heart lifting story and not for the squeamish.
It's tough to say you enjoyed a movie like this for obvious reasons, but jeez if you haven't watched it you probably should.
Steve Bloomer/10

Schindlers List - Netflix
I've wanted to watch this for the 30 years it's been out but the wife never did and I was hesitant that it would just depress me.
The was going out on Saturday and as it gets thrown off Netflix at the end of this month I thought I'd watch it.
Totally remarkable.
Seldom have I seen a film where the acting, screenwriting and direction are all almost flawless.
I can see why it scores 9.0 on IMDb.
A harrowing yet heart lifting story and not for the squeamish.
It's tough to say you enjoyed a movie like this for obvious reasons, but jeez if you haven't watched it you probably should.
Steve Bloomer/10

Schindlers List - Netflix
I've wanted to watch this for the 30 years it's been out but the wife never did and I was hesitant that it would just depress me.
The was going out on Saturday and as it gets thrown off Netflix at the end of this month I thought I'd watch it.
Totally remarkable.
Seldom have I seen a film where the acting, screenwriting and direction are all almost flawless.
I can see why it scores 9.0 on IMDb.
A harrowing yet heart lifting story and not for the squeamish.
It's tough to say you enjoyed a movie like this for obvious reasons, but jeez if you haven't watched it you probably should.
Steve Bloomer/10

Good call. The guy I saw at the beach a week or so ago did have a dragon tat. Never crossed my mind that was the reason.

Bob, I am into the second series of Spiral, after I think your recommendation. I struggled a bit with Series 1 for a couple of reasons, partly because it being 16 years old it is somewhat dated. However, I am warming to Series 2. Strange old justice system has France, which seems to favour men significantly (particularly in respect of matrimonial matters).

Even more if they have tattoos on their legs. They’ll freeze to death as long as you all get a look at those horrible tatts 

I’ll be there. Holding off on booking accommodation until Sky finalise their fixtures though. 
Should be a great day out, whatever happens. And it will be my first season where I’ve done every away game: league, cup and pre-season!

Went back to watch what were the two original series of Top Boy that are now called Top Boy Summerhouse.
These came out when we were. living in the US so I wasn't familiar with them.
Only 4 seasons in each series from Channel 4, but really good stuff. so far (half way through the 3rd series done by Netflix)
I was concerned that Netflix wouldn't maintain the standard with series 3 and 4 which are confusingly called season 1 and 2 with the Summerhouse part dropped, because they were making (I think) 10 for each series.
I was wrong. They're equally as good, if not better.
I would imagine most of you guys are familiar with the outline, but just in case, it follows the leader of a drug selling gang on the (fictional) Summerhouse estate in East London.
In season one there are two top boys, best mates Dushane and Sully, but it soon starts to get fractured with a power struggle developing as Sully starts to get more violent and do his own thing.
It reminds me a lot of Gomorrah in terms of the gritty realness of it, but without the proliferation of semi-automatics. Not because they're not as violent, they are, but because it's tough for your average thug to get an AK47 and there's a brilliant scene when they're talking the piss out of a local rapper because he's talking about AK47's and they're saying 'we ain't never seen an AK'
Very, very well acted and Sully is a really charismatic screen presence.
There is about an 8 year gap between when they filmed season 2 and 3 (now called 1)  so it's interesting to see some of the older characters come back.
I won't say any more than that because it could spoil the first 8 episodes for anybody who goes back.
I struggled to find a trailer for the first one as it kept bringing back the new stuff, but for those of you who haven't see nit, here you go.
 

Saturday 30th April (at the moment until Sky move it about two weeks before its due).
A few of us from Utch have booked for the Friday and Saturday nights in Blackpool. No idea if we'll get tickets or not for the match. Not that bothered really, if we have a chance of staying up then we'll make our way to the ground with 15 minutes to go and join in any celebrations that may occur, (very doubtful but would be great to be there if we did manage to secure safety).
The chorus of "We are Derby County, and we are staying up....." alone would be worth the time, effort and money.
Either way, we will be drinking in Blackpool on the Friday evening, Saturday lunch and Saturday night hopefully.
We will be a sociable bunch and happy to welcome anyone off the forum to join us for a pint and singsong.
I'll post where we are drinking on the days in question so feel free to look out for the Uttox rams flag and come and say hello.
 
 

This is hysterical, but I cannot figure out of they used way too much or not enough.
 

Got the book on audible a while back and it’s really interesting.
 

I wrote an email for my list today that I thought some of you people may enjoy
-------------
I’ve just read a quite remarkable and scary book called Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker a Professor of Neuroscience at UC Berkeley.

Everybody knows sleep is good for you and not enough can hinder all forms of mental and physical health, but I had no clue how crippling a lack of sleep can be.

Walker doesn’t stray into hearsay and on the occasions where there’s a correlation between poor sleep and poor health rather than causation he goes to great lengths to explain that.

Here are some of the urban myths and scientifically proven facts from the book that may make you sit up and take notice, especially if you have kids and want to safeguard their long-term health.

Myth # 1 - We need less sleep as we get older

Nope, it just seems that way because sleep function declines as we age.

Consequently, we presume struggling to get to sleep, or waking up earlier than we used to means we don’t need it.

We do.

We all need 7 to 8 hours.

Myth # 2 - Some people just don’t need much sleep

Ok, so this is somewhat of a volte-face from the last myth because there are some people who can get away with 6-hours and not see a negative impact on their mental and physical health.

How many?

About the same amount as those who get struck by lightning every year.

Myth # 3 -  Our metabolism slows down in middle age

It doesn’t.

There is no discernible drop off in the rate of metabolism before you get into your 60s’ and even then it's not a certainty.

However, things we normally associate with ageing and a slowing metabolism like weight gain, reduced memory function and higher blood pressure, can be directly attributed to a lack of quality sleep.

Myth # 4 - If I miss a couple of hours I may as well miss the entire night

A lack of sleep impacts us exponentially, not incrementally.

This means that only getting 5 hours of sleep isn’t a bit worse than 6 hours, it’s a lot worse.

And only getting 4 hours a ducking lot worse.

This is why the Guinness Book of World Records removed sleep deprivation records because they can cause long-lasting physical and psychological harm.

It’s also why very few countries (although the US is one) still use sleep deprivation tactics on prisoners.

Myth # 5 - You can catch up on sleep at the weekend.

It’s no good getting up after 6 hours of sleep all week and then bingeing at the weekend.

Your body cannot catch up on lost sleep and the negative effects are cumulative.

Myth # 6 - Sleeping tablets will help you sleep

Since they’re called sleeping tablets, they really should, right?

Alas, sleeping tablets don’t help you sleep.

They just sedate you in the same way as a lot of alcohol does with the same deleterious impact.

Speaking of which....

Myth # 7 - A few glasses of wine will help me sleep

Alcohol offers some benefits in terms of relaxing you for a very short period of time.

But it's all downhill after that.

Alcohol disrupts sleep because your body is working hard beating off what it sees as an invader (alcohol is a poison) at a time when it has more important things to do.

Alcohol raises your core temperature which promotes wakefulness as does the accompanying dehydration and needing to go to the bathroom.

It obliterates REM sleep (this is the reason why we remember so little after heavy drinking as that is when memories are formed) and sedates us rather than helps us sleep.

That's why nobody bounces out of bed after a skinful feeling fresh and rested.

Truth #1 - A lack of sleep can be worse than alcohol for driving

Ten times more people die in accidents attributable to tired drivers than through alcohol and drug-related deaths combined.

Going 16-hours without sleep and then driving is as dangerous as being legally drunk.

But, most accidents aren’t caused by people falling asleep at the wheel in the traditional sense.

They are caused by people being slower to react than normal and making poorer decisions because of fatigue.

Plus, there is something called microsleeps that may only last two seconds or less, are commonplace and indiscernible to the person having them.

A two-second microsleep doesn’t seem like a lot, but at 30 mph it can take you across four lanes of traffic before you snap out of it....or die.

Truth # 2 - Forget losing weight if you’re short on sleep

When you’re body is short of sleep it prefers to burn muscle and preserve fat because it’s dealing with an existential threat.

Also, a shortage of sleep suppresses the production of the hormone leptin, which tells you when you have eaten enough.

And for the trifecta of weight-losing crapiness, the prefrontal cortex (responsible for good decision making) is overridden by the hypothalamus which is insisting on two burgers, fries and a big duck off shake because it’s in survival mode.

Truth # 3 -  Kids shouldn’t be allowed to fall asleep watching TV

You shouldn’t put a child to bed after he or she has fallen asleep, but as they are doing so.

Otherwise, you can reduce their ability to self-nurture causing sleep difficulties later in life.

Truth # 4 -  Kids shouldn’t be made to get up too early

Kids have an advanced circadian rhythm of about 3 hours, meaning that they’re owls, not larks.

Put another way, asking a kid to get up at 7 am for school is like asking an adult to get up and go to work at 4 am every day.

And it’s not just a question of pushing through it, their ability to learn is SEVERELY hampered for the first half of the day.

Experiments by schools in the US showed huge jumps in grade point averages when they pushed the school start day back.

Even so, kids are still made to get up too early because it fits with parents' and bus company schedules and it’s just the way we have always done things.

Truth # 5 - Pulling an all-night to learn is counterproductive

After as little as 15 hours awake the brain's ability to learn falls off a very steep cliff and the ability to absorb information degrades rapidly.

Also, a good night's sleep before learning is wasted if you then have poor sleep the following nights because it takes the brain at least 3 nights of sleep to move that learning into long term memory.

Truth # 6  - Don’t get a flu vaccine if you’ve had a bad night's sleep

Having a flu vaccine (and I presume this is the case with Covid, but the book came out in 2018, so I'm guessing) when you are sleep deprived can reduce its efficacy by as much as 50%.

Insufficient sleep suppresses the immune cell response.

Truth # 7 A warm bath before bedtime really does help you sleep

Not just because it relaxes you, but also because blood rushes to the surface of your body causing your core body temperature to drop (the opposite of the aforementioned alcohol).

Which is exactly what’s needed to sleep well.

This is the reason why if you are too hot in bed at night you may well stick your feet out from under the duvet.

This causes your feet to cool so your body reacts by sending lovely warm blood there and dropping your core temperature.

After careful consideration I have decided to forgive you.
Go in peace.

I'm no expert, but I suspect that invading democratic countries and being happy to use chemical weapons (both with total disregard for international law) are probably key factors......

If anyone is interested in helping by taking in a refugee please contact me. My wife is working on matching people with families to sponsor. I short supply are people with capacity to host a family of 4 or more. 
Below are some pictures I have been sent. I won't vouch for their authenticity, before anyone challenges me. 

I wrote an email for my list today that I thought some of you people may enjoy
-------------
I’ve just read a quite remarkable and scary book called Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker a Professor of Neuroscience at UC Berkeley.

Everybody knows sleep is good for you and not enough can hinder all forms of mental and physical health, but I had no clue how crippling a lack of sleep can be.

Walker doesn’t stray into hearsay and on the occasions where there’s a correlation between poor sleep and poor health rather than causation he goes to great lengths to explain that.

Here are some of the urban myths and scientifically proven facts from the book that may make you sit up and take notice, especially if you have kids and want to safeguard their long-term health.

Myth # 1 - We need less sleep as we get older

Nope, it just seems that way because sleep function declines as we age.

Consequently, we presume struggling to get to sleep, or waking up earlier than we used to means we don’t need it.

We do.

We all need 7 to 8 hours.

Myth # 2 - Some people just don’t need much sleep

Ok, so this is somewhat of a volte-face from the last myth because there are some people who can get away with 6-hours and not see a negative impact on their mental and physical health.

How many?

About the same amount as those who get struck by lightning every year.

Myth # 3 -  Our metabolism slows down in middle age

It doesn’t.

There is no discernible drop off in the rate of metabolism before you get into your 60s’ and even then it's not a certainty.

However, things we normally associate with ageing and a slowing metabolism like weight gain, reduced memory function and higher blood pressure, can be directly attributed to a lack of quality sleep.

Myth # 4 - If I miss a couple of hours I may as well miss the entire night

A lack of sleep impacts us exponentially, not incrementally.

This means that only getting 5 hours of sleep isn’t a bit worse than 6 hours, it’s a lot worse.

And only getting 4 hours a ducking lot worse.

This is why the Guinness Book of World Records removed sleep deprivation records because they can cause long-lasting physical and psychological harm.

It’s also why very few countries (although the US is one) still use sleep deprivation tactics on prisoners.

Myth # 5 - You can catch up on sleep at the weekend.

It’s no good getting up after 6 hours of sleep all week and then bingeing at the weekend.

Your body cannot catch up on lost sleep and the negative effects are cumulative.

Myth # 6 - Sleeping tablets will help you sleep

Since they’re called sleeping tablets, they really should, right?

Alas, sleeping tablets don’t help you sleep.

They just sedate you in the same way as a lot of alcohol does with the same deleterious impact.

Speaking of which....

Myth # 7 - A few glasses of wine will help me sleep

Alcohol offers some benefits in terms of relaxing you for a very short period of time.

But it's all downhill after that.

Alcohol disrupts sleep because your body is working hard beating off what it sees as an invader (alcohol is a poison) at a time when it has more important things to do.

Alcohol raises your core temperature which promotes wakefulness as does the accompanying dehydration and needing to go to the bathroom.

It obliterates REM sleep (this is the reason why we remember so little after heavy drinking as that is when memories are formed) and sedates us rather than helps us sleep.

That's why nobody bounces out of bed after a skinful feeling fresh and rested.

Truth #1 - A lack of sleep can be worse than alcohol for driving

Ten times more people die in accidents attributable to tired drivers than through alcohol and drug-related deaths combined.

Going 16-hours without sleep and then driving is as dangerous as being legally drunk.

But, most accidents aren’t caused by people falling asleep at the wheel in the traditional sense.

They are caused by people being slower to react than normal and making poorer decisions because of fatigue.

Plus, there is something called microsleeps that may only last two seconds or less, are commonplace and indiscernible to the person having them.

A two-second microsleep doesn’t seem like a lot, but at 30 mph it can take you across four lanes of traffic before you snap out of it....or die.

Truth # 2 - Forget losing weight if you’re short on sleep

When you’re body is short of sleep it prefers to burn muscle and preserve fat because it’s dealing with an existential threat.

Also, a shortage of sleep suppresses the production of the hormone leptin, which tells you when you have eaten enough.

And for the trifecta of weight-losing crapiness, the prefrontal cortex (responsible for good decision making) is overridden by the hypothalamus which is insisting on two burgers, fries and a big duck off shake because it’s in survival mode.

Truth # 3 -  Kids shouldn’t be allowed to fall asleep watching TV

You shouldn’t put a child to bed after he or she has fallen asleep, but as they are doing so.

Otherwise, you can reduce their ability to self-nurture causing sleep difficulties later in life.

Truth # 4 -  Kids shouldn’t be made to get up too early

Kids have an advanced circadian rhythm of about 3 hours, meaning that they’re owls, not larks.

Put another way, asking a kid to get up at 7 am for school is like asking an adult to get up and go to work at 4 am every day.

And it’s not just a question of pushing through it, their ability to learn is SEVERELY hampered for the first half of the day.

Experiments by schools in the US showed huge jumps in grade point averages when they pushed the school start day back.

Even so, kids are still made to get up too early because it fits with parents' and bus company schedules and it’s just the way we have always done things.

Truth # 5 - Pulling an all-night to learn is counterproductive

After as little as 15 hours awake the brain's ability to learn falls off a very steep cliff and the ability to absorb information degrades rapidly.

Also, a good night's sleep before learning is wasted if you then have poor sleep the following nights because it takes the brain at least 3 nights of sleep to move that learning into long term memory.

Truth # 6  - Don’t get a flu vaccine if you’ve had a bad night's sleep

Having a flu vaccine (and I presume this is the case with Covid, but the book came out in 2018, so I'm guessing) when you are sleep deprived can reduce its efficacy by as much as 50%.

Insufficient sleep suppresses the immune cell response.

Truth # 7 A warm bath before bedtime really does help you sleep

Not just because it relaxes you, but also because blood rushes to the surface of your body causing your core body temperature to drop (the opposite of the aforementioned alcohol).

Which is exactly what’s needed to sleep well.

This is the reason why if you are too hot in bed at night you may well stick your feet out from under the duvet.

This causes your feet to cool so your body reacts by sending lovely warm blood there and dropping your core temperature.