ginnyfizz

At the time Banting and Best made their breakthrough, bear in mind that this was in 1922, no, they did not have the ability to produce non-animal insulin, especially as Crick and Watson did not discover the DNA double helix structure until the 1950's DNA - Crick and Watson Insulin may well be able to be produced in three different ways, - animal derived, DNA synthesised or more recently, plant synthesised, but as I said before, it really depends where you live as to what you are getting, which is licensed and what isn't. And sorry again, but most people with a life threatening condition would not give a monkey's whether their insulin/thyroxine was animal tested/derived or not. I'm asthmatic, but when I start to wheeze, I don't ask if any lab animals suffered before I take a puff of my salbutamol. I ain't that ready for martyrdom. I suffer from arthritis, and to keep me working and moving I have to take NSAID's, and I don't enquire where they came from either.

Not all alternatives are widely available in all countries though, with all the different licensing issues, and by no means all doctors, or patients, for whatever reason, are always aware of the alternatives. In Britain they can refuse to licence stuff on grounds of cost. You just CANNOT see this in terms of black and white. I know a lot of animal rights fanatics say you can, but you can't.

Interesting that you bring up insulin, if we relied on animal testing there would be no insulin because it can cause birth defects in animals. This is the problem with animal testing, we are not the same species and less than 2% of human diseases can be seen in animals. The manufactures of Thalidomide were acquitted in court because experts agreed that animal tests could not be relied on for humans. Surely we are at a stage now where these barbaric and unscientific practices can be replaced by computer models and tissues grown in labs. Sorry, it is wrong to say that there would be no insulin if we relied on animal testing. Banting and Best copped Nobel Prizes for their research...on dogs Discovery of Insulin When I was doing my Law Degree, my thesis was on the legal aspects of birth defects in children, so I am well aware of the Thalidomide issue as it was one of my main sources for said thesis. And I am therefore well aware that the results of animal testing are not always 100% reliable. But you can say the same for computer models and tissue cultures. I'm sorry, but it's true, I looked at that as well. It's very easy to condemn ALL animal testing, until either you or someone close to you has to use certain drugs to survive or to make their life worth living. My Dad had throat cancer and during his laryngectomy they found the thyroid was affected and took that away too. So should he just go away and die because the thyroxine he takes is animal derived? I have to take meds to survive, and I have to admit, I don't ask how they were tested. But at the same time, I would refuse to take HRT for menopausal symptoms (yes I am getting to be that age....) unless it was plant derived - as it's non-essential. I long ago refused to use cosmetics and detergents tested on animals. It's all a question of balance.

It is always a difficult subject, but where do you draw the line? Some of the animal rights campaigners here in the UK have done some truly terrifying and gross things which cannot be justified...like bombs under scientists cars, threats to their families, digging up the corpse of an old lady whose family bred lab guinea pigs and holding it to ransom. Some might say THEY have their priorities wrong.

I have Logitech Clearchat Wireless (there is a natty little receiver that plugs into a USB slot) and they work superbly with Skype and all other applications. The headband is adjustable and the earpieces are padded, and the mike pivots round so is adjustable too. But you are going to pay a lot more than $20, mine were about GB£50.

At least there is a hardcore of fellow oldies on here....

I just tried it and am getting the same. From what I remember on one of the sites I now own, during the previous administration, an Admin rashly banned GoogleBot with the same result as we are all seeing. As I said, it wasn't me.

Undoubtedly, it is a great game, but like all new games it seems to have a lot of bugs, which I am sure will be patched soon enough. Oblivion was of course the same! The one thing that I dislike, and maybe I should have read more about the game beforehand, is that it isn't a single player RPG. I'm used to games like OB and MW and I can't quite get round the tactics aspect of having a party to organise, no doubt that will come. Also you cannot really free roam in the sense that you can in OB/MW/FO3, where you can just decide to go walkies anywhere you like. You are limited to specific entrances/exits to the next part of the world. Drakensang is much the same. That's why I think, having played it, that good though it is, it is NOT going to wipe Oblivion off the map after all.

I think it is very proper how they are doing such things as you describe in the schools, Omeletter. A lot of our young people are also being taken on school visits to the battlefields in France and in Flanders. At this moment I am watching the early evening news showing a recording of the Queen taking part in the national ceremonies today, with a bugler sounding The Last Post and the standards of all three Armed Services being dipped. I had some time free at work and my office is just a step away from the town war memorial, so at 11am I slipped out and joined the simple ceremony there. The poem I quoted above was read by a veteran, The Last Post sounded and then two minutes silence followed by Reveille. At this time we give thanks for the sacrifice of all veterans, and also particular ones in some cases. My paternal grandfather and his two eldest sons, killed within a few weeks of each other in WWII. Another uncle was only eighteen when, during the retreat towards Dunkerque, he had the misfortune to run into a Waffen SS unit. Shot AFTER surrendering. My maternal grandfather was carried half dead from Flanders Field on 11/11/1918, haunted to his dying day by what he saw and experienced. The tragedy is, such tales are being repeated still. Requiem aeternam dona eis Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis.

In the UK we do mark this day, 11th November, as Armistice Day, which is the same as Veterans Day. Two minutes silence will be observed at 11am GMT. I believe the day will certainly be marked in much of Europe too. "They grow not old, as we that are left grow old Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn At the going down of the sun and in the morning We WILL remember them." (Lawrence Binyon, For The Fallen)

Had to drop by and wave hi! You'll remember me from TESEyecandy and Lucienlachance.net - you know, the Red Witch Queen and The Night Mother in my variously evil incarnations. Graves...crypts...WTF...why don't you drop by my crypt? The one under the statue in the cloaca of Cyrodill? Hmmph... *Paints on the woad, jumps in her chariot and trundles off in a huff ....*

Oh yes we are! I mended it ALL ON MY OWN! I need to lie down and be drip fed large quantities of Macallan single malt now. Roll up, roll up one and all!

Well I will try and get the site up and running as soon as, although at the moment I want to make sure that the little dirtbag has not got my bank details. As far as the forum goes, it seems to be the index.php file that has been interfered with.