Catalogue

Happy birthday, Matt and Dan!

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 23:05:35 -0400

"There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and..."

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 14:01:37 -0400

“There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs.”

- John Rogers at Kung Fu Monkey, via Daily Kos (via Balloon Juice) (via hereblog)

Sawes. Sawes is what bwings us togethaw today.

Mon, 02 Mar 2009 20:27:58 -0500

Sawes. Sawes is what bwings us togethaw today.

"Bob’s feeling may have something to do, in this case as in many others, with the circumstances under..."

Thu, 26 Feb 2009 10:23:30 -0500

“Bob’s feeling may have something to do, in this case as in many others, with the circumstances under which he first got to know his animal. After he paid $1,500 to a dealer in Missouri, Higgins arrived, at about 3 months old, in diapers, with a bottle. Although he had his own cage, in his own room, he often slept in the couple’s bed. Bob changed his diapers several times a day, and often took him to work at his construction equipment business, slipping him under his shirt. On the way back, they would get Higgins an ice cream.”

- “Living Together,” NYT

Higgins is a a 7-year-old Hamadryas baboon living with Bob and his wife in upstate New York.

Is this mutual bonding?

eatsleepdraw: daily doodle #139
Tue, 24 Feb 2009 15:51:27 -0500

eatsleepdraw:

daily doodle #139

more daily doodles

I will bring candy. You will bring an unquenchable thirst for...

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 13:54:56 -0500

I will bring candy. You will bring an unquenchable thirst for liquor.

Alanis went vegan?

Sun, 04 Jan 2009 21:42:19 -0500

Alanis went vegan?:

Alanis Morissette has lost 20 pounds through a strict vegan diet. The 34-year-old Canadian singer shed the weight over three months after making a conscious decision to drastically change her eating habits. She said: “I used to get out of bed in the morning and things were aching, and I just thought, this is what happens when you get into your 30s. “But now I jump out of bed and have so much energy. I feel very alive. I have no more aches and pains, and my allergies are gone, too.”

'Obama's "Secretary of Food"?', NYT

Thu, 11 Dec 2008 20:31:25 -0500

'Obama's "Secretary of Food"?', NYT

What is a superorganism, anyway?

Sat, 06 Dec 2008 17:21:03 -0500

Is ant society as complex as human society? Are ants sophisticated in the ways we consider humans to be? So supposes The Superorganism: The Beauty, Elegance, and Strangeness of Insect Societies, by Bert Holldobler and E.O. Wilson, recently reviewed in Slate:

In an advanced ant city, thousands of individuals work closely together to create a functioning colony in which there is a balance of cooperation and conflict. Some ant societies feature spectacular architecture and climate control. The most remarkable ant species have agriculture: They farm fungus and even domesticate other insects as livestock. In fact, at its height, ant civilization is remarkably like ours. A key contrast is that their society emerges from the hard-wired decision-making of thousands of efficient little biological robots, whereas ours is, at least partly, conscious and intentional. Despite this seemingly massive difference, it appears you can go a long way without a mind.

I wonder how the authors unwind the ants-as-livestock-farmers thread here. The reviewer seems to think that livestock farming is a sign of incredible sophistication, and perhaps it could be, but I doubt there is an ant equivalent to modern-day farming practices that humans enact.

'As more eat meat, a bid to cut emissions,' NYT

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 08:56:25 -0500

'As more eat meat, a bid to cut emissions,' NYT:

STERKSEL, the Netherlands — The cows and pigs dotting these flat green plains in the southern Netherlands create a bucolic landscape. But looked at through the lens of greenhouse gas accounting, they are living smokestacks, spewing methane emissions into the air.

The farm at Sterksel makes electricity for itself and for sale, and sells carbon credits.

That is why a group of farmers-turned-environmentalists here at a smelly but impeccably clean research farm have a new take on making a silk purse from a sow’s ear: They cook manure from their 3,000 pigs to capture the methane trapped within it, and then use the gas to make electricity for the local power grid.

Ritzy New York event planner David Monn creates a spectacular(ly...

Sat, 29 Nov 2008 12:53:24 -0500

Ritzy New York event planner David Monn creates a spectacular(ly cheap), meat-free holiday dinner party for NYT writer Alex Williams and his girlfriend.

Click the photo (via NYT) for a quick video.

Chicken manure pollutes Chesapeake Bay; Answer? Dump it elsewhere.

Sat, 29 Nov 2008 00:50:23 -0500

Chicken manure pollutes Chesapeake Bay; Answer? Dump it elsewhere.:

Just inland from the shore, the scope of the farms overwhelms the senses. The 500-foot-long chicken houses stretch from the roadways like airplane hangars.

Inside each house, 20,000 to 35,000 chickens cramp the floors farther than the eye can see. Feed and water are delivered in automated pipes that stretch the length of the houses.

Corn and soy fields separate the houses from the roads, and three quarters of the state’s crop go toward feeding the birds.

Gigantic fans suction ammonia from the birds’ waste, filling the air for miles around.

…

As the phosphorous and nitrogen levels in the bay have grown, so have the algae that deplete oxygen needed by other aquatic life.

In the past two decades, working oystermen on the bay have dropped to less than 500, from 6,000. The crab population has fallen by 70 percent.

…

State officials have started to realize that there are consequences to being able to sell skinless, boneless chicken breast for just over $2 per pound when virtually no other protein source with so little fat is that cheap, Mr. Winegrad said.

Really. Really? Come on. The last time I bought a pound of tofu it cost $2 or less. What about vital wheat gluten? That’s cheap to make. These must be the “virtual” protein sources he’s referring to. Or maybe, just maybe, he wants to draw out this sob story of an economically oppressed farmer who’s just trying to make a couple bucks and shovel himself out from underneath a pile of chicken shit.

"“I will be continue shopping (sic—he’s French) because shopping is part of life. ..."

Fri, 28 Nov 2008 21:00:00 -0500

“

“I will be continue shopping (sic—he’s French) because shopping is part of life. If you can’t shop you feel like you’re not living. So it’s like eating; it’s a necessity.”

“Now we can go home to our new gifts and eat some more turkey.”

”

- Jean Roukoz, average Westerner, and Steven Santiago, average American, as told to the NYT.

'Wal-Mart employee trampled to death' in Black Friday madness, NYT

Fri, 28 Nov 2008 17:43:00 -0500

'Wal-Mart employee trampled to death' in Black Friday madness, NYT:

At 4:55 a.m., just five minutes before the doors were set to open, a crowd of 2,000 anxious shoppers started pushing, shoving and piling against the locked sliding glass doors of the Wal-Mart in Valley Stream, N.Y., Nassau County police said. The shoppers broke the doors off their hinges and surged in, toppling a 34-year-old temporary employee, Jdimypai Damour, 34, of Jamaica, Queens, who had been waiting with other workers in the store’s entryway.

BUT I JUST HAVE TO BUY THESE FUZZY SLIPPERS FOR MY WIFE WHILE THEY ARE ON SALE. AND MY CHILD NEEDS A WII! HE IS THE ONLY KID IN HIS SECOND-GRADE CLASS WHO DOESN’T HAVE ONE! IT IS ESSENTIAL LIKE FOOD AND WATER AND ALL THE RESOURCES THAT WE CARELESSLY POUR INTO PRODUCTS WE DON’T NEED AND THEN TRAMPLE EACH OTHER TO CONSUME, CONSUME, CONSUME THE DAY AFTER WE SLAUGHTER 45 MILLION TURKEYS FOR THE PLEASURE OF OUR TASTEBUDS. IT’S TRADITION, DAMN IT.

(Click to vote this one up!)

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 12:51:00 -0500

(Click to vote this one up!)

Never too late to adopt a turkey.

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 18:31:00 -0500

Never too late to adopt a turkey.:

So when those Children International folks pester you on the street,you can say, “Sorry, I’m all out of cash. I just adopted a turkey.”

Actually, over the summer, I had one such encounter in front of my Midtown office building, and it went something like this:

Guy: Would you like to make a donation to Children International?

Me: What is my donation buying, exactly?

Guy: Food, clothing, and medical care for one child in a third-world country.

Me: That’s nice, but are they going to be eating other animals?

Guy: Oh…are you a vegetarian?

Me: Yes.

Guy: Well, actually, I never thought of that. I’m actually reading this really greatbook right now called Ishmael, and, I mean, I don’t even GETthe stuff this guy is saying. It’s just so smart! And so…I don’t know. Who even thinks of that?

Me: Yes, it’s a great book. But actually I think it’s more transparent than that. It seems to me that the message is pretty clearly about…

Guy: What I mean is, I see where you’re coming from.

Me: Great. Then you’ll understand why I can’t possibly donate to Children’s International. Ciao.

Alex still gone, still making keeper famous

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 10:37:00 -0500

Alex still gone, still making keeper famous:

Irene M. Pepperberg, Alex the parrot’s keeper, has authored a book about her experience with the beloved bird called Alex and Me.

People would ask, “What is all the fuss about, why was Alex so special?” and I’d say, “Because a bird with a brain the size of a shelled walnut could do the kinds of things that young children do. And that changed our perception of what we mean by `bird brain.’ It changed the way we think about animal thinking.”

Read the first chapter here.

(image via NYT)

NYC vegan Thanksgiving tips from SuperVegan

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 23:20:35 -0500

NYC vegan Thanksgiving tips from SuperVegan

'Vegetarian' vampires?

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 16:59:00 -0500

Am I extremely behind the times, or did no one else know that the vampires in Stephanie Meyer’s inane teen novel have been dubbed vegetarian? Explanation? They don’t drink human blood. No wonder so many people are so terribly confused about what is and what is not vegetarian. If it wasn’t bad enough that Meyer’s vampires are “ethical” because they don’t drink from humans, they’ve been assigned the blatant misnomer “vegetarian.” Well, at least Meyer’s monsters are not committing any real misdeeds, like engaging in sexual activity.

Thanksliving

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 16:36:18 -0500

hereblog:

Matthew, Sam, and I traveled to Woodstock, NY, over the weekend to attend the Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary’s annual ThanksLiving dinner/fundraiser. The event was sold out, and was by all accounts a great success. (Well, maybe not all accounts: my raffle ticket losing streak continues.)

A few celebrity vegans attended and spoke, but the rescued animals living at the farm were the stars of the show. Having begun their lives enslaved, tortured, and destined for slaughter, these fellow animals are leading safe, healthy, happy, and peaceful lives — as they should be, and as we all would wish for ourselves.

It was a wonderful example of what humans can be, and a stark reminder of what we are not yet.

P.S. If any photos came out well, we’ll post them here later.

Catalogue

Happy birthday, Matt and Dan!

"There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and..."

Sawes. Sawes is what bwings us togethaw today.

"Bob’s feeling may have something to do, in this case as in many others, with the circumstances under..."

eatsleepdraw: daily doodle #139 Tue, 24 Feb 2009 15:51:27 -0500 eatsleepdraw: daily doodle #139 more daily doodles

I will bring candy. You will bring an unquenchable thirst for...

Alanis went vegan?

'Obama's "Secretary of Food"?', NYT

What is a superorganism, anyway?

'As more eat meat, a bid to cut emissions,' NYT

Ritzy New York event planner David Monn creates a spectacular(ly...

Chicken manure pollutes Chesapeake Bay; Answer? Dump it elsewhere.

"“I will be continue shopping (sic—he’s French) because shopping is part of life. ..."

'Wal-Mart employee trampled to death' in Black Friday madness, NYT

(Click to vote this one up!)

Never too late to adopt a turkey.

Alex still gone, still making keeper famous

NYC vegan Thanksgiving tips from SuperVegan

'Vegetarian' vampires?

Thanksliving

eatsleepdraw: daily doodle #139
Tue, 24 Feb 2009 15:51:27 -0500

eatsleepdraw:

daily doodle #139

more daily doodles