Jay:”Hmmm. Pity ya couldn't that for real. ;-) Just kidding, just kidding.”

For sure. My brother rang me when his wife got pregnant for the first time asking what to do if it came out “retarded”. I said that was unavoidable given the DNA but did add he can walk away and leave ‘it’ in hospital, he was so relieved. I haven’t even formed an opinion on that one yet.

And swerving even further off topic: My house stinks, over a block away some young dudes are pouring turps down their drain and my house reeks of it, the smell is coming out of all plug holes in my house. Plugs are in but the smell is killing me. Who in this “Lucky” (who the hell made that one up?) Country do I call now or on a Saturday morning?

Given the neighbourhood I live in and the number of unexplained illnesses and smells suffered over a couple of years in this house it wouldn’t surprise me if we’ve all been enjoying the byproduct of a meth lab or worse for a long time. An obvious turpentine smell coinciding with knowing what the people down the road are doing finally solved the mystery for me tonight.

Could I get some OLO advice? My pets are also obviously at risk.

Jewely: over a block away some young dudes are pouring turps down their drain. Could I get some OLO advice?

Drop into the local Fire Brigade. What they are doing is illegal & dangerous. It's a Bio Hazzard. They'll contact the Police. The Firies have an instrument that will detect exactly where it's coming from. Do it now!

Hey Jay, thanks for that - I’m less concerned about getting the dudes in trouble as I am about the dangerous fumes that have been exiting my plug holes for a couple of years now.

The boys have been stopped (in a friendly way) but it must have pooled or something in the sewage main drain next to my property. That can’t be how sewage works normally…?

Usually every couple of days for the last couple of years we’ve had this other smell that a person from the local council suggested was coming through the windows from a nearby sewerline vent pipe (no offer to fix it and local council said it isn’t their job). It hasn’t been an odour I can identify but it gives me instant headaches each time. It’s been a very long time with some pretty bad headaches, vomiting and other stuff by several members of the household and this turps thing tonight is foul but at least recognisable.

Do I go back to the people that send me my rates bill?

Again – Animal’s lives could be at risk here.

Pericles, my objection to slavery is that, by definition, it entails human beings owning other human beings. What purpose they are used for is irrelevant. My concern for animals is that they are well treated.

Your position I find puzzling, as you repeatedly liken pet ownership to slavery. Yet you find the exploitation of animals for their utility as acceptable, even though such exploitation was the basis of most slavery. The point is probably moot anyway, as slavery is exclusive to human beings.

So wouldn't it make sense to judge on the basis of how an animal is treated, rather than the use it is put to? You ask me of puppy farms, and my concern is with the treatment of animals in them. But would they be any more acceptable were the puppies barbecued and sold at the local supermarket instead of live in pet stores? I doubt that you would, and I also doubt that future people would either.

But if future people see the treatment of animals as more relevant than the use which is made of them, then what objection could they have to owning pets? Like Andre Rieu, I cannot see reason beyond the perception of bad taste, and I cannot see the demise of bad taste any time soon.

As for "Brave New World", the genetic modification of plants and animals has been a part of human civilisation for a very long time. Huxley was considering the hypothetical of humans having the capacity to genetically modify themselves. But had Huxley been alive to see the third world exploitation of today, he would have realised that the creation of willing slaves would entail nothing so sophisticated, yet be no less diabolical. The denial of contraception in these places ensures the birth of slaves with the very powerful motivation of starvation.

Puppy farms are horrible enough, but to see similar exploitation of human beings in the third world is in another realm altogether.

Jay the firies being able to track down smells... urban myth. They said the machine isn’t that good.

The fumes came back and it wasn’t the dudes down the road this time so we called the local council who said yeah fire peoples or a plumber. Yes it was bad the fire peeps said and added not to smoke in the house because of something ignition with the gas – then they left after also saying maybe call a plumber.

I should add my dog wet himself when they arrived.

So no result and I’m sitting here dizzy and with a headache in a house that is apparently filled with a flammable gas and there’s a damn puddle on the floor. If you don’t hear from me again please print this and send it to your local fire department.

Are you insured? If so take everything of value you own out of the house & the dog. then have a fag.

Sue the firies & the Council. Collect the insurance. It's a win, win situation ;-)