When UK Vapefest 2015 was announced around October last year, and having missed out on Vapefest 2014 part of me really wanted to go. I’d never been, so I was the epitome of a Vapefest virgin, so I scrambled to book some time off work on the Friday and Monday so I could take a leisurely stroll to Shrewsbury, settle into a hotel or a tent and be able to be up and about at a reasonable hour for both days, then take a leisurely stroll home on the Monday.
In the absence of any credible news based on, or loosely based on actual science there is a trend for opinion pieces where budding journalistic hacks seize the opportunity to make a name for themselves by cobbling together a mix of information, loosely based on other media stories upon which they base their own “informed opinion”. There was a time when “opinion pieces” were just that, actual opinions from properly informed investigative journalists, whilst now it’s all about driving traffic to a website and the associated click-throughs.
It isn’t often that I post about things that are completely unrelated to vaping, but sometimes things happen that social media just doesn’t give enough space for me to comment with the entirety of my thoughts, hence the blog.
Today, 1st August 2015 is #WorldLungCancerDay and the subject of lung cancer, and cancer in general is one I hold near and dear to my heart simply because I lost both of my parents to forms of cancer. I donate on a regular basis to charities that are active in bringing the varying forms of cancer to the attention of the masses. The work these charities and organisations do is incredibly valuable in raising awareness and much-needed funding for the ongoing research into the varying forms of cancer, both for treatment and detection for the sufferer and for the families.
Let’s face it, there’s a whole world of industries out there that run quite happily on its own without interference from any kind of trade union, and even if they had a union they still don’t have a huge amount of power or influence. With some exceptions, most notably the British Medical Association.
You will of course remember that the Bloody Meddling Association held their Annual Representatives Meeting recently spread over the course of four and a half days, seriously how many times do you think someone said “any other business” only to have some cockweasel cough irritatingly with a “yes, there is just one more thing”.. Of course that’s a major exaggeration, as the entire ARM was scheduled with quite a lot of the schedule being specified as “if we have time”.
It is rare that I feel the need to blog when angry, I usually like to let my thoughts cool off so I can put them in some semblance of order to articulate exactly why I am angry. Though in this case anger doesn’t factor in to it, more like total disappointment.
Before I begin I need to be 200% clear and state an aspect of my past in black and white:
I’ve resisted writing about this for several reasons, not least of which I’m still somewhat concerned about my relationship with tobacco, but I’m also one of those that likes to try to see both sides of the argument then make up my own damn mind.
On the one hand we have an ardent supporter of smokers rights who occasionally supports vaping, or at least doesn’t support bans. On the other we have prominent figures in vaping advocacy. Both sides can be viewed as being both angels & demons.
To be honest I wasn’t going to write about my trip to Birmingham and the Vaper Expo, but having now had a chance to reflect and sleep on the occasion I’ve changed my mind. There are few things I want to go over, most of it good and some of it not so good, all my opinion of course!
The Queue
When my alarm went off at ridiculous o’clock in the morning, I wasn’t quite sure what to feel. Nervous, excited, dread, a combination of all? Whilst I had made the effort to get to Harrogate a few weeks ago, Vaper Expo had far more publicity in comparison and many folks on all social media platforms had been discussing the event for weeks.
There’s an awful lot going on in the world of vaping right now. Plenty of shiny new mods to look at, like the Sigelei temperature control mod, there’s a new one coming from VaporShark and so on. I’ll admit to keeping an eye on what is coming after all I did suffer extensively from shinyitus in the early stages of my journey into vaping so I know all too well the attraction of a new shiny.
In a rare moment, I came within a hairs breadth of totally losing my shit on social media recently. Not just a minor spat, but full on warp-core style meltdown. Not aimed at anyone, just endless frustrations boiling over.
There has been a lot going on in and around the community recently, mostly centred around diacetyl and AP in liquids. Well respected names are being called out in a public display of shaming. Yes it is disappointing that diacetyl and AP are still being used, and even more so that juice makers are either hiding or lying about their test results, but that’s not the main reason for the almost melt-down.
All of the posts on this blog contain an opinion, mostly my opinion which usually differs greatly from the article or study that I’m picking apart. This post is no different except in this case, my opinion likely differs from everybody elses’ opinion too.
Everybody has opinions them and I am thankful that many of you regularly stop by to read my opinions. Whether you take them to heart or not is entirely up to you.