European Tribune - Comments - Monday Open Thread

Monday Open Thread | 97 comments (97 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)

Colman has been feeding my photography addiction this afternoon.

I gave blood earlier today. My blood comes out very slowly apparently, giving me a full 15 minutes with the needle and a concerned nurse watching my blood drip out at it's most leisurely pace. So I need to drink more fluid, be less laid back and not so little next time.

I felt reasonably ok until I got home and then projectile vomitted in the sink from about 6 feet away. A finely honed skill.

A night of chilling out is called for and we have another long bank holiday weekend to look forward to, Monday AND Tuesday off.

Ad astra per aspera

by In Wales (inwales aaat eurotrib.com) on Mon May 19th, 2008 at 01:17:31 PM EST

this one's empty (none / 1)

I thought the idea after giving blood was to go out on the razz. Leastways it was when I was a student.

I know I should give blood, but the idea gives me the yuggs. Not fond of needles, dislike bloodtests (and I have them regularly). The idea of sitting around watching my lifeblood drain away just makes me feel queasy.

You have my respect, I wish I could do it.

keep to the Fen Causeway

by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Mon May 19th, 2008 at 01:23:20 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: this one's empty (none / 1)

Actually you may have a good excuse not to, since you take hormones, they don't take blood from people on certain types of medication.

I could not imagine going out on the razz... although I can see the appeal of that to students.

Hmm, the whole thing makes me really queasy too, and I hate needles but frequent blood tests have taught me how to relax myself to get through it. Although perhaps I relax too much, making my blood slower. But it is yukky anyway, I'm glad I have a friend who goes with me.

Ad astra per aspera

by In Wales (inwales aaat eurotrib.com) on Mon May 19th, 2008 at 01:35:26 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: this one's empty (none / 1)

Don't they refuse blood from non-straight people ? As a TG I sneak in under that one.

keep to the Fen Causeway

by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Mon May 19th, 2008 at 01:41:41 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: this one's empty (none / 1)

They won't accept blood from a man who has had sex with another man, or from a woman who has slept with a man who has had sex with another man, or from anyone engaging in high risk sexual activities, using prostitutes or having sex in Africa or with anyone from Africa. They appear vague on TG.

Ad astra per aspera

by In Wales (inwales aaat eurotrib.com) on Mon May 19th, 2008 at 01:57:18 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: this one's empty (4.00 / 2)

They won't accept blood ... from a woman who has slept with a man who has had sex with another man

Do they presume a blood donor would know about the sexual history of their partners?

They could just test all samples instead of instututing blanket bans like this.

When the capital development of a country becomes a by-product of the activities of a casino, the job is likely to be ill-done. — John M. Keynes

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Mon May 19th, 2008 at 02:01:49 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: this one's empty (4.00 / 3)

Yes, but the ban was instituted on a false and prejudiced premise. To remove the ban would be to admit that fact.

keep to the Fen Causeway

by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Mon May 19th, 2008 at 02:05:49 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: this one's empty (4.00 / 4)

What Helen said.
Obviously no, not all women will know or for that matter not everyone will be honest. They have to check all blood anyway I think, at the very least for first time donors. Even if a gay man has had an HIV test and is clear, he still will not be allowed to give blood. It's incredibly unfair. I diaried it 6 months ago when I last went.

Ad astra per aspera

by In Wales (inwales aaat eurotrib.com) on Mon May 19th, 2008 at 02:10:20 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: this one's empty (4.00 / 3)

Actually, testing all samples is quite inefficient : blood tests are quite expensive. They simply mix a large quantity of samples together, and test the result. The downside is having to trash the large amount of blood if the test is positive. That's why they use statistically relevant information in deciding who donates blood. Of course, quite often the prejudices of the doctor or of the agency get in the way.

Auferre, trucidare, rapere, falsis nominibus imperium; atque, ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant.

by linca (antonin POINT lucas AROBASE gmail.com) on Tue May 20th, 2008 at 03:43:07 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: this one's empty (none / 0)

You know as well as I do that to find a tainted sample among n takes only O(log(n)) tests...

When the capital development of a country becomes a by-product of the activities of a casino, the job is likely to be ill-done. — John M. Keynes

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Tue May 20th, 2008 at 02:56:31 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: this one's empty (none / 1)

I'm not an industry specialist, but I had understood that the samples were already actually mixed...

Auferre, trucidare, rapere, falsis nominibus imperium; atque, ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant.

by linca (antonin POINT lucas AROBASE gmail.com) on Wed May 21st, 2008 at 05:06:39 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: this one's empty (4.00 / 3)

In the US, they also won't take blood from anyone who's travelled in Britain. Also, no skinny people. Those are the first two things on the long list of reasons I've never been able to donate blood.

Maybe we can eventually make language a complete impediment to understanding. -Hobbes

by Izzy (izzy at eurotrib dot com) on Mon May 19th, 2008 at 02:33:04 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: this one's empty (4.00 / 2)

no skinny people? How is that defined? I donated back in college when I weighed 140lb at 6'2" (64kg and 1.87 for those of you from countries that have made it into the 19th century).

by MarekNYC on Mon May 19th, 2008 at 02:39:34 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: this one's empty (4.00 / 3)

Well, as usual the rules make no sense -- there was some random cut-off weight that didn't take height into consideration. I think it was 105 lbs. or something like it. This was back in the early 80s. I got a letter asking if I'd donate blood to replace the blood I'd gotten in transfusions. Attached was a list of rules including the weight restriction and no donating if you'd had blood transfusions. I haven't even bothered trying since.

Maybe we can eventually make language a complete impediment to understanding. -Hobbes

by Izzy (izzy at eurotrib dot com) on Mon May 19th, 2008 at 02:51:11 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: this one's empty (none / 0)

Weight makes sense - lower weight means much less blood available, and taking too much of your blood is bad for your health, obviously.

It's the same reasons for which light - not skinny - people get drunk much faster.

Auferre, trucidare, rapere, falsis nominibus imperium; atque, ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant.

by linca (antonin POINT lucas AROBASE gmail.com) on Tue May 20th, 2008 at 03:46:16 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: this one's empty (none / 0)

Damn, I thought I was skinny. That's friggin' skinny.

Where's your motherf*%&ing flag pin?

by Drew J Jones (blahblahblah@blahblahblah.com) on Mon May 19th, 2008 at 02:52:12 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: this one's empty (none / 1)

I think they use weight here too (over 50kg or 7st12) but are requesting height and weight info now so maybe BMI (body mass index) will be used instead in future.

Ad astra per aspera

by In Wales (inwales aaat eurotrib.com) on Mon May 19th, 2008 at 03:04:22 PM EST
[ Parent ]

My wife (none / 1)

who lived 6 years in the UK in the 90s is not allowed to donate blood in France.

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes

by Jerome a Paris (jeromeguillet@yahoo.fr) on Mon May 19th, 2008 at 03:06:42 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: My wife (none / 1)

What's the reason for that ??

keep to the Fen Causeway

by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Mon May 19th, 2008 at 03:17:49 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: My wife (none / 1)

Mad cow.

As far as I can work out I'm banned in Ireland - I spent more than the limit in total in the UK working summers as a student.

by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Mon May 19th, 2008 at 03:20:02 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: My wife (none / 1)

What if you'd lived a wholesome vegetarian life and never went near a cow?

Ad astra per aspera

by In Wales (inwales aaat eurotrib.com) on Mon May 19th, 2008 at 03:26:58 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: My wife (none / 1)

I don't think it matters.

by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Mon May 19th, 2008 at 03:29:49 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: My wife (none / 1)

no, all sorts of places dont trust you to tell the truth about eating meat.

Life should consist in at least fifty percent pure waste of time, and the rest doing what you please.

by ceebs (bunchofwankers (at) gmail (dot) com) on Mon May 19th, 2008 at 03:33:44 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: My wife (none / 1)

But they apparently trust you to tell the truth about having had homosexual relations. I've never understood that.

FWIW, I had some sketchy blood work done in Russia, so I think it's best I don't go around donating to the world whatever scariness might be lurking in my red cells. Also, I have a pretty serious phobia about needles and blood, so I'm not inclined to do so to begin with.

"This is nothing compared to how Putin rigged Eurovision."

by poemless on Mon May 19th, 2008 at 03:43:12 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: My wife (4.00 / 3)

Weren't we all supposed to be frothing at the mouth and falling over from BSE by now - 'epidemic', etc?

If there is an epidemic, it seems to have localised itself to Washington and Westminster.

by ThatBritGuy (thatbritguy (at) googlemail.com) on Mon May 19th, 2008 at 03:54:59 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: My wife (none / 1)

thats hardly a fair description of her. ;-)

Life should consist in at least fifty percent pure waste of time, and the rest doing what you please.

by ceebs (bunchofwankers (at) gmail (dot) com) on Mon May 19th, 2008 at 03:32:49 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: My wife (none / 0)

Cooties.

"This is nothing compared to how Putin rigged Eurovision."

by poemless on Mon May 19th, 2008 at 03:30:43 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Blood from a stone (4.00 / 2)

All of these events you describe represent a challenge to the documentary photographer. Are you telling us that you simply vicariously enjoyed them and failed to turn them into pictorial montages for us all to wonder at? ;-)

You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Mon May 19th, 2008 at 01:29:20 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Blood from a stone (none / 1)

Ah I've already cleaned up the sink and I wasted my last 2 Holga exposures on my friend pulling faces and me drinking coffee after the blood letting. Next time...

Ad astra per aspera

by In Wales (inwales aaat eurotrib.com) on Mon May 19th, 2008 at 01:39:46 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Warning: graphic imagery (none / 0)

This is the sort of dedication we expect from our photographers. ;-)

You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Tue May 20th, 2008 at 05:22:09 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Warning: graphic imagery (none / 0)

even though this thread is already dead, i would like to point out the pervasive but brilliant nature of the internet, and some of its supporters here. How could Sven have captured the "dedication" of real photographers around the globe, and brought it here to us, without forgetting one's real life in slave to searching the net? I only wish he would have posted the picture, which shows so graphically the intersection between javelin and skin.

Parenthetically, the man's a lucky bastarde.

Skennah Kowa

by Crazy Horse on Tue May 20th, 2008 at 04:14:48 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Monday Open Thread | 97 comments (97 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

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