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FIVE JAPANESE MEN became sick after eating poisonous puffer fish, becoming the latest victims of a delicacy seen as sophisticated by fans and crazy by others.
The men, all in their 40s and 50s, dined at a restaurant in western Wakayama city on Friday night, the city’s health official confirmed today.
They were taken ill early the next day, experiencing breathing difficulties and vomiting, the official said.
“They consumed a dinner that included liver, which is regarded as toxic material,” she told AFP, reading from a statement.
The city shut down the establishment for five days from Sunday, she said.
Calls to the restaurant went unanswered.
The restaurant served the banned, poisonous parts after requests from the diners, the official said.
The livers, ovaries and skin, among other parts, of the puffer fish — also known as the blowfish or “fugu” in Japanese — contain toxins powerful enough to kill an adult, in the worst case scenario.
Aficionados say the tingle that the organs leave on your lips — caused by the potent neurotoxin they contain — is part of the appeal.
Every year, several people in Japan are hospitalised after eating fugu.
In order to get a licence for serving the fish, restaurant chefs must train for years to pass a stringent exam, which includes paper and practical tests on how to distinguish poisonous parts from others.
Strict regulations are often credited with the low level of fatalities.
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“displaced millions” we know, they’re coming here!
@Brian Hunt: the Americans displaced by hurricanes usually return home after a few day. Those displaced by the ak47 or it’s like usually head for Europe
@P. V. Aglue: Over 80% are economic migrants, but sure you know that and keep plugging the narrative!
Displaced by the WEF/Davos agenda and labelled as climate change.
@087 bed: Can you offer any actual evidence of this?
If you can’t, your claim is worthless.
Nonsense
The 2022 Hunga Tonga Volcano Eruption increased global water vapour levels by 10%. This extra moisture is responsible for increased temperatures and increased rainfall.
https://research.noaa.gov/hunga-tonga-2022-eruption/
@Lone Hurler: But climate change caused by humans existed long before 2022: climate change obviously can’t all be attributed to a 2022 event.
@Brendan O’Brien: no, but not all climate change can be attributed to humanity either, which was the Green Party’s rhetoric. We have been constantly bombarded over the last 12 to 24 months how each month was the warmest on record with the Green Party constantly blaming it on the actions of the human race, totally excluding any mention natural events like the aforementioned volcano or the fact that the Sun’s solar cycle was peaking, which by the way was also happened to be the most active on record, hence the spectacular aurora’s that we have witnessed lately. A lot of factors that contribute to warm the planet have coincided in the last 2 years, and yes humans are one of them but by denying the natural ones, the Green Party are effectively lying to people.
@Brendan O’Brien: He never claimed otherwise.
@Pat Barry: Perhaps it’s time to stop obsessing about the Greens (given that they have pretty much left the stage), and start to focus on what needs to be done to mitigate the climate crisis.
@Lone Hurler: Don’t be coming on here with your facts, doesn’t suit the narrative!
@Brendan O’Brien: They didn’t leave the stage, they were thrown off it.
@Brendan O’Brien: So you are saying we should forget about what they did? Basically put people into poverty by denying facts about the natural world? Funny, usually when I explain that little fact about the sun and the Green Party’s usual denial of any natural cause, you leap to their defence usually by claiming how natural climate change takes millions of years, (which for the most part is true, but not fully) and now you want us to forget about what they have done…….
@Brendan O’Brien: Now, even if we lived in a perfect society where we were 100% carbon neutral, this planet would still be going through a warming cycle, the volcanos of history will still have erupted and the solar cycles will still have happened. All we can mitigate are our own actions but we will never be able to fix it as we are not even 0.1% of the words population trying to fix a global problem which is not completly the fault of humanity, like the Green Party were leading people to believe
@Pat Barry: Even small countries can make a difference, and the EU, of which we are part, certainly can. If the world addresses climate change, the outcomes will be better than if it doesn’t, regardless of the fact that a certain level of climate change may happen anyway.
Here is an article on the causes of extreme weather.
@Brendan O’Brien: never denied that we couldn’t, but the way the Greens loaded cost after cost onto the Irish people you would think we were the only cause of it and it was completly in our hands, especially when compared with some of the other nations in the world. We do our bit, but that’s all we can do. Full stop. Even you, just now, dismissed Lone Hurler’s claim of the effects of the Hunga Tonga volcano on the global enviroment, basically dismissing it and still blaming humanity for it all, which quite frankly, is a spurious claim on you’re part especially seeing as that particular eruption happened in 2022, and since then we constantly heard about the warmest months on record.
@Brendan O’Brien: Even this time last year, there was an El Nino event, which is a warming factor, in progress with some sources calling it the 5th most powerful on record, or how about the number of volcanoes that have erupted in that time some of which have not erupted in years, sending ash clouds ( cooling effect) and water vapour ( warming effect) into the atmosphere.
@Brendan O’Brien: “The Guardian”, who’d have guessed!
@Brian Hunt: There’s a huge amount of scientific evidence out there, all of which you will ignore because you only care about your feelings.
@Pat Barry: You sound like a politician getting ready to pass the buck, yet again. No expertise in the area but loads of factless opinions.
Of course, it is 100% humanity’s fault. From the cars we drive to the clothes we wear, to the houses we live in, and the family holidays we take. Are you blaming Nature? e.g. How many animals wear cotton t-shirts?
Individuals do make a difference. We continue to make the rich richer by buying their destructive products.
The truth is that Global warming is happening and the longer it takes politicians to tackle Capitalism, the more expensive it will become for the rest of us plebs.
Drive a smaller car, buy less clothes, walk or get the bus, but Irish, fix things / recycle.
Even if you don’t believe in Global warming, you could still make the World a better place.
@BarryH: really, where did I ever deny humanity’s contribution? Show me. You will not be able to, because I haven’t. What I am doing is challenging the assertion that man is solely to blame, which it isn’t and if you cannot see the evidence of the last 2 years when we have the likes of the most active solar cycle on and volcanos erupting, and increasing the amount of water vapour in the atmosphere by a tenth and an El Nino last December being one of the most powerful on record, ( and another due in 2025) and it all occuring at the same time as the warmest global average temperatures on record on record, and yet we still have the likes of yourself and the Green party denying the natural worlds contribution, and I’m the one you accuse of acting like a politician….Go look in a mirror.
@Brendan O’Brien: There certainly is, but the stuff you find in the Guardian, that bastion of Woke Liberalism, has been carefully shaped to fit the narrative!
@BarryH: by the way, concerning your argument of how I’m blaming nature and then citing how animals don’t wear cotton T-shirts….all you did was kill your own argument. When I talk natural events, I mean volcanos like Hunga Tonga and Sundhnukar in Iceland, the likes of El Nino and the biggest contribution to the climate….the Sun. The only one without a clue from what I can see is yourself and thd others swalliwing the Green party rhetoric blindly instead of actually reading ehat is hapoenjnv un the world around you. Again, not denying humanity’s contribution but in terms of motor vehicles, for example, more and more EV are on the road with non EVs using more and more biofuels and yes, climate change is happening but humanities contribution to it is reducing and it is still happening.
@Pat Barry: As you said ”””but not all climate change can be attributed to humanity either””’ So nature is destroying the planet then and the oil companies made COP 29 a roaring success.
@BarryH: Again cop your self on. I never denied the human factor but people like you are the ones turning people against the Green movement by denying the effects of the natural world, and plaving it all on mankind’s shoulders. I’ve listed them out enough, but if you choose to deny nature’s effects on the planet, because the birds and the bunnys don’t wear t-shirts, well that’s your issue, not mine. However judging by your comments, it is quite easy to see you and people like you will not be happy until you have consigned us all back to the stone age.
@Lone Hurler: and we are in one of the coldest periods for the last 9000 years.
@Lone Hurler: agree 100% . We are also in one of the coldest periods for the last 9000 years.
The Greens, remember them?, would have you believe that Irish commuters and cows are responsible for much of the climate problems.
The daily climate scare article from The Journal (it’s almost like somebody was funding these stories . . .)
@Mark Eightfourone: It’s almost like you have a problem with facts.
The world was once covered in ice it melted over thousands of years and it will still melt its the way the world exists no climate change green agendas for increase in tax as well as the lies they spurt
@giles wolohan: “Natural” climate change occurs over tens of thousands of years. Climate change caused by human activities has occurred over mere decades. Do you not understand the difference Giles?
Or do you think it’s all a lie because you read something on twitter once about how the WEF lizard people want to make us all live in cashless trans 15 minute cities?
@Kevin Collins: really? Read my replies to Brendan O’Brien above when he basically tried that line with Lone Hurler!
@Pat Barry: Kevin is right, though. It can’t be credibly denied that humans have made a major contribution to climate change, even if other factors are also at work. The scientific evidence for this is overwhelming.
https://science.nasa.gov/climate-change/scientific-consensus/
@Pat Barry: No-one denies that climate change occurs naturally. And slowly. This is not the issue. Climate change that is caused by human activities is the issue, as it is occuring rapidly and is escalating. Whether or not you believe this – or prefer to deny, deflect and diminish it – is quite frankly irrelevant.
@Brendan O’Brien: but that’s just it. I never denied humanity’s effects on the climate, I’m challenging your’s and Kevin’s and those others who follow the Green Party’s claims of how natural events have no effect on the Global climate when you can see quite easily they do, and how it is all man made, which it is not.
@Kevin Collins: but that’s just it, there are several events that can cause it to happen faster naturally. Look at my replies to Brendan but there have been several natural events which have warming factors in the last 2 years and all of a sudden, we are getting reports of warmest global average temperatures. Just a quick list. You can read up on them yourself because I’m already debating with Brendan on them.
1: El Nino event 12 months ago 5th mist active on record
2: Peak in the sun’s cycle, most active on record
3: Hunga Tonga and other volcanic eruption especially in the last 2 to 3 years.
And yes human activity, just not to the heights that we are being led to believe
@Pat Barry: Natural events have a small but relatively insignificant impact on climate change over a short time span. No-one has ever denied this. The major contributory factor is human activities, and this is far more impactful than volcanoes, el ninos etc. You seem to want to give natural and human factors equal prominence, which is a misleading and disingenuous viewpoint.
@Kevin Collins: According to the link Lone Hurler posted The Hunga Tonga eruption 2 years ago increased the water vapour in the atmosphere 10% That is not insignificant, and it was also not the only major eruption in the last few years. The sun’s Solar cycle is currently peaking and that is when the Sun is at it’s hottest. This particular cycle is the most active on record. That is not insignificant. Only 12 months ago, we were at the height of an El Nino event, the 5th most active on record. Also not insignificant. And yet you still call these natural effects insignificant when they all coincide with the Earth average temperatures at the warmest recorded. I am not giving them equal prominence. I am saying the natural world is the bigger factor and it is your view is the misleading one.
@Pat Barry: Well my “misleading” view point is aligned with the current scientific consensus, which is backed by plenty of evidence which proves that climate change is demonstrably and overwhelmingly driven by human factors, not natural ones. Whether or not you believe this doesn’t really matter anyway, as it is actually happening, irrespective of what you or I believe.
@Kevin Collins: Funny how you and the Greens fall back on that as more and more scientists are now going the other way. Various reports from various sources are now going the other way (such as the link provided by Lone Hurler above) it kind of reminds me of how Tesla was considered a crank in his own time due to the better public standing of the likes of Edison but is now recognised as one of the genius our species has produced.
@Kevin Collins: You also seem to be implying that I deny man’s contribution to climate change…I actually don’t. What I am saying is that the natural world’s contribution to it, which you flat out deny by calling it slow acting, is a bigger factor. I have provided example after example of natural events which are warming factors, which have occured as as some nations are reducing thier contribution, yet the average Global temperatures are still increasing, breaking records even over the last 2 years
@Pat Barry: I think you left out industrialisation and the use of pesticides. Nature does adjust through Evolution but that can take thousands of years and time ain’t on our side. And what effect does the removal of fossil fuels and chemicals, for commercial reasons have on the planet i.e. lithium, besides making billionaires trillionaires.
@BarryH: Again Barry read up on stuff. Ye all seem like intelligent lads, but cannot see how that in the space of 2 years we have several major volcanic eruptions, The most active solar cycle on record and an El Nino event that was one the most powerful on record, and yet you 3 are here denying how they have any effect on the climate…..3 major natural warming factors occuring in the same time period as the warmest global average temperatures are recorded. As to your claim about lithium…..I thought you would have been happy about it’s use, seeing as it would cut the use of fossil fuels, and as a result stop even more of humanity’s contribution to carbon in the atmosphere. After all I am, because if it reduces our contribution, it should lead to finally less cost to the rest of us.
Going by figures alone for climate change (in 2024 min. 3,700 deaths and unspecified millions displaced), I dare say various wars, conflicts etc. individually are responsible for higher numbers, all man-made, too.
Don’t get me wrong, everyone’s life matters but only CC seems to be priority.
Surely, some make equally money from CC as well as the conflicts.
If your affected by bad weather you can come to Ireland and say your a climate refugee. The Irish are not very smart
Only the ones that support a hugely expensive gravy-train which we are all paying for and has dubious results
Quick pay more tax… that’ll fix it..
Rabble rabble rabble…he’s a cabbage…rabble rabble rabble…sure I remember it was hotter on the 70’s etc etc
It’s almost like bs spread on the Internet is just that and scientists don’t have the same vested interests as polluters and oil companies. Mind boggling
Please provide data on the “dangerous new heights” and “record-breaking temperatures brought heatwaves, droughts, wildfires, storms and floods” as compared to the last, say 25 years. There is no discernible trend in extreme weather events in the last 25 years. The worst year for weather disasters in the last 25 years was 2005 when there were over 400 such disasters. The next is 2007 when there were about 390. The figures for the last four years are: 2020; 376, 2021; 385, 2022; 350 and 2023; 363. See EM-DAT.
In fact, on any metric, deaths, economic losses, number of events, the impact of climate is falling not rising.
have your say