It feels improper to dump on King Charles III during mourning times but I recently read of his support for homeopathy. Not known to me before. There, I improperly said it.
Per Wikipedia, "The Late Middle Ages or Late Medieval Period was the period of European history lasting from AD 1300 to 1500." Our species has not evolved fast enough to claim we have really left the Medieval period. Sure there are notable exceptions but more as individuals than families or any well identified groups. So let us celebrate those who do good but realize enligjhtenment and empiricism is far from universal. At least Elizabeth II did no harm. Now it is Charles III to show what he may have learned. Bob Wilson
In America these days there is a movement called 'Cancel Culture' where peoples own self-hate and self-loathing know no limits and events like this are a perfect storm for them to vent their pent-up feelings about themselves onto others.
Cancel culture has been with humanity for a very long time. Like anything, it can be taken too far and abused, but many complaining about it now had no problem with it in the past when it was used against those they disapproved of.
How could you not know? Surely if someone who did know (most British people) had been in contact with anything you have touched, you would have the molecular memory of this fact. (When the biggest British pharmacy chain, Boots, started selling homeopathic remedies, doctors did a mass shoplift of the products across the country. They said they had paid for the products by passing their money near the checkout, giving the checkout the molecular memory of the cash.) Given your expertise on flora, maybe you could give us some insight on Charles' theories about talking to plants. ------------ I think a big part of the problem is the same one we saw with, for example, Michael Jackson - that whole thing of growing up surrounded by yes-men. No-one ever says, "No, that's a terrible idea" or "No, that's stupid", and that allows them to grow up thinking their weird ideas are normal. Bear in mind that this is a man who has a valet whose job is to squeeze an inch of toothpaste onto his toothbrush so he doesn't have to do it himself.
Some may have noticed in the past that I'm quite happy to tell Americans how to run their country. So I'm in no position to complain about @bisco saying what one of my countries should do.
How could you not know? (about Charles homeopathy). I guess my attentions were focused elsewhere. I shan't name a Mensa member known to me who is quite homeopathetical. IQ tests may have some gaps? Given your expertise on flora, maybe you could give us some insight on Charles' theories about talking to plants. OK then. If people care enough about plants to talk to them, there is a chance they will notice some bug problem, or water or nutrient shortage meanwhile. People might respond to actual biological things, while being ... goofy. Notion that plants need human assistance misses the mark by a few hundred million years. However the notion that 'domesticated' plants are needful is not so different than the notion that 'domesticated' animals are needful. I could not say that either have been ruined, but they have been very much moved off their games.
I missed thanking @hkmb for telling about shoplifting (water) in Boots. UK Monarchy is highly staffed and may be able to rein in the reign of King C on these matters.
It has long been a widely-known source of mirth in Britain. I've always found Mensa membership to be a bit of a red flag. All it means is that you're moderately (and really, just moderately) good at IQ tests, and you're quite smug about being moderately good at IQ tests. And they seem to think that IQ test scores in some way mean something more than how good someone is at IQ tests. Some of the most generally inept (and unpleasant) people I've met have been Mensa members, and have been all too keen to tell me about it. So the homeopathy wouldn't surprise me. That is a very good point indeed. It's one of those things where clear background trends skew the data. I think my cat's game was only ever sitting on sofas and being friends with people. If you dropped him in the Savannah to fend for himself, he'd be appalled. He has in the past come to ask me for help when birds were intimidating him in the garden.
In today's news, tribal members are fishing for lamprey at the very same falls where the above picture was taken, but populations have been very severely decimated over the past century by dams and other factors: How Northwest tribes are leading the push to restore eel-like lampreys
