AAA (Ask Anyone Anything).

[Whateverfuckingnext]

Not sure if this has been done before (or done to death even), so apologies if so!

A thread to ask those burning questions and mundane ponderings. Anyone can ask or answer anything. Please no making things up though as that will spoil the fun!

I'll go first... Vegans. I completely understand the ethics of not eating and using animal produce that results in the harm or death of animals. I understand in particular the cruelty of the dairy industry. However, I am genuinely curious as to what the ethical issue is with free range eggs. For example, if someone raised hen's as pets, on their land, fed them good food etc. Then surely the unfertilised eggs laid are nothing more than a waste product and there is no cruelty involved? (I am genuinely curious and not trying to be inflammatory. I know Google exists but first hand experience and accounts are much more interesting).

Thank you and feel free to add your own!

This! In Italy it's Lu-_chee-a, in Spain, Lu-thee-a.

Yes, because they are, technically!

Think for a moment - why do you suppose bees put in all that work to create and fill honeycombs?

My mum is a GCSE and A level teacher and definitely re-uses lesson plans year to year. She has her favourite ones she really likes doing.

Yes, because they are, technically!

Nope. A period is the shedding of a woman's womb lining if she's not become pregnant that cycle. I suppose other female mammals may be considered to have periods but birds laying eggs isn't the same thing at all.

But you can be veggie and feed your pets meat. Vegetarian means you yourself don't eat meat.

How do super injunctions work? My understanding is that these are injunctions that you can't even mention the existence of, so how do people know about them, in order not to break them? For example, if I was aware of a scandal and tweeted about it to my (hypothetical) hundreds of thousands of followers, and then found out that it was the subject of a super injunction that I have now broken, how could I have known that? Do newspaper editors all get told "scandal X now has a super injunction" so they know not to print it, even though some of them might not have even known about it in the first place?

What does it feel like when your piss boils?

It's actually not as bad as it sounds. Mild to medium irritation.

Yes I declutter regularly and have good organisation systems and a lot of storage space. It all helps

A mix depending on what I’m doing, who I’m speaking to, what I’m reading. Sometimes both at the same time. Not generally a conscious decision. I can’t pray in English and prefer to count in my native language too.

Does anyone who has a mega clean house have stuff ? Is decluttering the only answer? I fear it is

I don't actually know the answer to this but I very much like Dana K White's theory that we all have a "clutter threshold" aka an amount of stuff we can handle. Which means that you don't necessarily need to be mega minimalist (which doesn't appeal to me AT ALL) but yes it probably does mean you need to get rid of SOME stuff if you can't keep on top of the house (me = guilty). The secret seems to be to find that optimal level!

My question is - why do babies like you to hold them while standing up? The can be in exactly the same position but you sit down and they yell.

I like the continuum concept answer to this, that babies crave real movement but they can't do it themselves so they want adults to do it for them while being in bodily contact. Being upright you tend to move, sway, balance weight constantly etc in a different way to when you are sitting down.

Why do barn owls, especially the chicks move their heads and sway like they are dancing ? It looks adorable but I've no idea why they do it!

Also do all mammals fart? Are there any that don't ?

Great question. I have often wondered this. Had a family member who was born in the UK and then moved to France, worked in France, married a French man, brought up her children as bilingual (but their primary language is french) and I often wondered if her internal
monologue was in English or French. Sadly she died before I got a chance to ask her.

Lowering your standards with each child. Everyone asked me how I worked with four kids. I wasn't kidding either! Kids was smart, clean, in multiple clubs. The house was OK but never great. Just are a bit less about everything and stop ironing!

Everyone fed, nobody dad = good week. Looked amazing from the outside!

Does anyone else have a sort of changing colour mental screensaver when they’re totally zoned out or having an orgasm?

They don't have access to internet so wouldn't be able to access them.

@MrsMoastyToasty
I have been teaching since 1988. In schools and FE colleges I have never been able to regurgitate the same course from one year to the next. Some reasons:
syllabus change
curriculum change
policy changes
strong emphasis on differentiation

School and FE Teachers don’t just plan a lesson and teach it to everyone. Every student has different targets based on their learning needs, abilities etc. you have to establish what these are for every single pupil at the start of the year and then teach according to their needs. This is nothing to do with ‘strong’ or ‘weak’ any more. It’s to do with learning styles, ADHD, dyslexia, ESOL etc. and has to be evidenced. It involves making new sets of materials all the time (really, every day). That’s what it’s like in schools and FE colleges.

In contrast, I have been teaching at uni for the last 5 years alongside school and FE teaching. It’s a doddle, just like you might remember teachers teaching you at school years ago. You design a course and just keep on teaching it for years. Students who can’t keep up? Their problem.

I have music running through my head when I'm zoned out.

I can only speak for myself, but (if I needed to give them a label at all) I'd call your examples people that follow a plant based diet. Veganism, as it's always been defined by the Vegan Society (and annoying as it can be to argue about semantics they did invent the word so they have at least some right to say what it means) is much more than a diet or way of eating. It is a philosophy or belief grounded in never using (or avoiding as far as is feasibly possible) the use of animals for human gain. So yes, there's the dietary stuff but most vegans will also avoid leather clothing and shoes (or only second hand or recycled), avoid cosmetics and other products tested on animals etc. Many do not condone pet ownership at all, or only rescue animals, and are opposed to zoos, circuses and equestrian sports that use animals for entertainment purposes. Some will even refuse all medicines that were tested on animals in their development, or avoid walking or cycling on tarmacked roads because insects will have been killed in the laying process.

Most vegans I know prefer to use the 'plant based' term when talking about the dietary stuff (although recognise that they're fighting an uphill battle as veganism is so often used as a catch all these days), to recognise and encompass the many people who try to reduce or eliminate their animal product usage for environmental or other reasons without subscribing to the full gamut of vegan beliefs and to prevent petty arguments about whether someone that eats cheese once in a blue moon is 'really a vegan' or not. But of course if someone wants to call themselves or other people a vegan, or if others don't understand the plant based term then what are you going to do?

From the campfire songs of my youth " he wore pink pants to the dance last night...hey hey ain't it great to be crazy!"

I'm not a teacher but my bill is and from what he tells me yes, a lot of it is regurgitated year on year.

This. However, from having worked in prison literacy in a previous life: true crime books can sometimes be found in the prison library, or brought in by relatives, and some offenders do enjoy reading them - which isn’t so morbid considering the majority of offenders haven’t committed the sort of crimes which tend to be the subjects of those books and are often just as fascinated by human psychology / thrill / horror / whatever the reason is which makes people on the outside think that a biopic of Christie or a Jack The Ripper whodunnit is a fun way to pass the time.

Spanish people… is it really easy for your kids to learn to read and write because it’s all phonetically spelt? (Or any other phonetic language speakers)

I have a couple of ex-battery hens. They were completely free ranging, and roosted in trees. Then bird flu came, and over the last few years their incarceration has got longer and longer. They now have a purpose built very large shed, they have huge wired windows to allow for maximum airflow, they have perching poles, lots of greenery to scratch and different toys to beat the boredom.
Couple of things. My chooks laid for approximately 9-10 months, every day, for the first few years I had them. They are now quite elderly but still lay every few days and they still lay for 8 months of the year.
Depending on the breed of hen, most lay for several months, not just in the spring (as they can raise two lots of chicks if given optimal conditions a year...although it would take a tremendous toll on them. All chickens will go off lay when the lose their feathers and whilst regrowing feathers, which requires a lot of energy and protein.
Chickens won't naturally eat their own eggs. They will only do this if; not being fed a balanced diet; not being fed enough; not having enough fluid; not being provided with enough grit (they need grit for the shell, otherwise you get soft shells), or they are stressed. In short a happy, healthy hen won't eat their own egg.
Even if you don't eat the hens eggs, you have to collect them because chickens naturally go broody, so if no cock has been provided, and you don't collect the eggs, the chicken will lay a clutch and then go broody and sit on them. A broody hen will only leave her eggs for a very brief time, enough to enable her to take a few sips of water and a little food. Because the eggs aren't fertile the hen will continue to sit. Normally her chicks will hatch after 20/21 days, and her body is adapted to survive her reduced nutrition for this period of time.
Again this is a bit breed dependent, but some chooks will continue to sit, until they've become very malnourished. But removing her eggs if she has a clutch, causes her huge stress. It doesn't cause her stress if you remove the egg straight away because she hasn't gone broody and hasn't started sitting.
I love my chickens, and when they are not locked up, they garden with me, and if I'm sneaking a nap on the sun lounger they'll nap on my lap! Chickens don't like being cold (their body temperature is slight higher than our), they don't like getting wet (their feathers only have 'basic' oils so they aren't waterproof). They love a dust bath to keep the bugs at bay and help keep skin and feathers in good condition. They are ground nesting, but like to roost at night, some species can't fly, some species can, although those that can fly, can't fly very far or very high.