The Grand Cafe

Chicken wings anyone or shall we start with veggie mozzarella sticks to go with the beers today?

My wife loves ā€˜em! (Chicken wings.) She says the tips are the best part - but our local supermarket has switched and is now selling them with tips removed - she is distraught!

1 Like

I donā€™t like chicken wings, but it is something which is quite well known internationally and in different cultures. Iā€™m by no means a vegetarian, but I love good salads or olives to go with either Beer or Wine.

Iā€™m not keen on chicken wings either - too low a meat to bone ration! I canā€™t stand olives, but a good salad with dressing can be great (and quite unlike the boring salads I was brought up on: predominantly lettuce (cos), with cucumber, spring onion and tomato, except that as a kid I didnā€™t like tomato (love them now), the only ā€˜dressingā€™ was salad cream - the British take on mayonnaise, substituting vinegar for 2/3rds of the oil.

A favourite of mine is tomatoes with a small amount of raw onion, avocado and coarsely chopped basil leaves, drizzled with olive oil and ground black pepper and a little salt, with or without chunks of buffalo mozzarella, on its own, on lightly toasted bread, or in a wrapā€¦ mmmm!

1 Like

Highest death toll from shark attacks in Australia since 1929. Why the spike?

I had smoked olives recently for the first time. Addictive!

1 Like

Maybe theyā€™ve heard that COVID canā€™t be stopped so are making the best of it before mankind is off the menu permanently?

2 Likes

Good morning 7.15 am here.

Think thereā€™s a few reasons, more people are swimming as our population increases. Sharks are a protected species as they were almost hunted into extinction back in the 60/70s. Itā€™s worth remembering that youā€™ve more chance of getting hit by lightning than being attacked by a shark.

Without diminishing the loss of a loved one I canā€™t blame the shark for just doing what theyā€™re done for thousands of years.

3 Likes

I love olives, chicken (buffalo) wings and salad. Iā€™ve grown up eating salads as it suits our climate but I have noticed a real change in what goes in them now and how theyā€™re dressed. My grandmothers salad would generally be, ice berg lettuce tomato beetroot (canned) radish and onion. The only dressing was vinegar.

Especially if you stay out of the water!

Seriously, though, I wonder what that statistic based on? I guess average population with average visits to the sea entering average depth and time in mainstream locations? if so, then meaningless to a person fanatical about one pursuit or other taking them into the sea at every opportunity.

Iā€™d choose lightning all the time.

I guess a fatal lightning strike would cause near instantaneous death, with no prior awareness - rather more palatable than a shark attack. (pun not intended!)

Iā€™m not sure about the authenticity of that statistic it gets a lot of air play every time thereā€™s an attack.

Thereā€™s thousands of sharks killed every day some just have their fins cut off and tossed back into the sea (and weā€™re scared of them!) and you never hear about it or rarely. One human gets attacked and itā€™s a world wide story. Most Aussies realise youā€™re swimming in their domain itā€™s not like they knock on your door and drag you out of your house.

I always assumed it was based on the fairly trivial analysis that S people die per annum from shark attacks, and L from lightning strikes, and that L is greater than S.

I guess itā€™s like all statistics they can be used by whoever to support their argument then you also have alternative facts (apparently).

Yes, that was my assumption - if so it only applies if you enter the sea an average frequency for an average time in the main locations. Once someone starts to spend a more significant part of their time in the sea, or in locations more favoured by sharks than the main seaside places, their risk factor will rocket., so for them it is quite an incorrect statistic.

Not us sensible people on this forum, but Mrs D, her friends and lots of others just love gossiping, conspiracy theories, shocking headlines etc. The odd statistic gets thrown into the discussion, totally out of context and ā€œwow !ā€ The gossip goes viral !

TV, Radio and most media outlets seem to be closely aligned with Mrs D and her friends.

Just went and looked up the odds of being taken by a shark in Australia (I guess you have to go in the water first) and itā€™s currently 1/16000. Apparently itā€™s based on drivers in WA. Hit by lightning is 1/12,000.

Iā€™m now wondering what the odds are on being hit by lightning while swimming :face_with_monocle:

3 Likes

Actually think youā€™ll find itā€™s rather high as you stick out of the water. We could calculate the risks of getting hit by lightning and taken by a shark. It be like a aqua BOQ.

1 Like