Franken Berry, the Beloved Halloween Cereal, Was Once Medically Found to Cause Pink Poop | Food & Think| Smithsonian.
Another interesting Halloween story from Smithsonian. I dimly remember something about this growing up. I thought it was kind-of cool. I mean really? Pink poop? Sounds pretty cool to most kids I think. Parents panic, but what the heck. Maybe that was part of the fun of the whole experience?
PS- they even managed to find videos of the original commercials 😉
The Haunted and the Haunting: Best Places to Visit on Halloween | Off the Road| Smithsonian.
Here’s a good article in honor of it being Halloween tonight. 😉
Smithsonian tells about the best places around the world to get your Halloween chills and thrills. Enjoy reading about the Blair Witch Forest, the mummies of Guanajuato, the Capuchin Catacombs, the hotel from The Shining and more.
It would be cool to do some scary stuff on Halloween. I won’t be home til late and will probably miss all the trick or treaters. 🙁
The World’s Fastest Failure | Laissez-Faire Bookstore.
Great article by Jeffrey Tucker about Obamacare and why it is such a huge failure (at least a failure if you don’t think Obama was trying to ruin the country on purpose- there are plenty who DO think that and they have some good reasons).
It’s true that this program has degenerated faster than the rest of them. Maybe it’s just because its SO big? Maybe it’s just because people are waking up? Maybe it’s because some people actually understand economics and that Obamacare can NEVER work and they’ve been able to make some progress informing others? Maybe it’s just because government has already taken over so much of the economy already? Maybe it’s just that people are sick and tired of government encroaching on our freedom?
Mr Tucker compares the government to a start-up company which has to compete in the market. He shows why government can NEVER be successful in the markets. It’s just their nature and can’t be avoided. He doesn’t think Obamacare will ever be repealed. Instead it will just collapse eventually under its own weight. I hope not, I hope it will be repealed before it collapses and also takes down the rest of the country (and us) with it. 🙁
Its worth reading and thinking about it.
Flying in to Fourchon
I took this from the helicopter on the way in from the Ensco 8501 last hitch. We had just crossed the shoreline on the way in to Fourchon. This was a nice shot of the marshland that goes on for miles. The colors were just gorgeous. My photo doesn’t really do it justice, it’s really hard to get good photos from a helicopter with a point and shoot camera. 😉
Chicago skyline in the evening
I took this from the observation deck of the Hancock Tower in Chicago. I was there for the AWAI Workshop last year.
Horizon from the beach
I took this on the beach while I was at the International Living conference at the Mayakoba resort near Playa del Carmen Mexico.
the sun sets over the clouds
I took this on the plane while flying home from the travel writing/blogging/photography workshop in Boston. I’ve been having a lot of fun with this blogging stuff since then. 😉
I thought this was pretty good, despite the reservations I have from only seeing this article. It’s an interview with author Rose George about her latest book: Ninety Percent of Everything. She somehow arranged to spend some time sailing around on the container ship Maersk Kendal. I’m going to have to find a copy of this book to read. 🙂
a container ship underway
She makes a lot of good points. That people who aren’t personally involved with shipping are totally unaware of the industry. That those of us living in ‘first world’ countries don’t know any seafarers personally any more. That the ports have been moved so far away from the cities that most people don’t have any awareness of them anymore. That people on the beach have absolutely no idea what it’s like to be a seafarer.
I do think she got a lot of that correct. She sees how isolating it is out here now. She mentions the lack of communication and that the ships don’t provide internet or phone access to their crews (because of the expense). I do agree that it is an expense. I do not agree that it is an ‘extra’ expense. I don’t think it’s very much to pay a couple of thousand dollars a month when that would be something like 1% of expenses on most ships (if that). Isn’t it worth that for such a HUGE increase in crew morale?
a tank ship underway
I don’t really know if she’s right in her assessment of how much or how little sailors have a ‘sense of romanticism’. She mentions that she thinks the captain has more of it then he lets on, that he still secretly loves the sea.
She seems to think that most sailors are only out here for the money. I might agree that most sailors from the poorer parts of the world go to sea for the money. They probably went to sea because it paid better than anything they could find at home.
I would agree that the great majority of seafarers are not in a great position at sea. Some of the conditions sailors work under are just horrible. A lot of shipowners do flag foreign just so they can cut expenses.
They all say that the cost of the crew is their largest expense so they cut it any way they can. They cut the crew size, they lengthen the hitch (2 YEARS or more), they skimp on groceries, they skimp on medical care, they refuse to pay for visas so the crew can’t leave the ship in port, etc.
That’s not even to start on the issue of crew abandonment. Rose George seems to think the Maritime Labor Convention (MLC) will help. I’ve seen in the news there have already been 3 ships detained, but I have serious doubts it will actually help the crews.
In spite of conditions like that, I believe most seafarers do still enjoy sailing (at least sometimes). 😉
romanticism of life at sea
I know I still do. Most of the time. 😉
The Enchanting Sea Monsters on Medieval Maps | Collage of Arts and Sciences.
Another good one from the Smithsonian this morning. I always thought those old charts were so cool. I really loved the drawings.
Those people really had some great imaginations! 🙂
Where Did the Fear of Poisoned Halloween Candy Come From?Smithsonian
I always figured this whole thing of the poisoned candy was some sort of old wives tale. I read this article thinking ‘here’s one more example of how we’ve been scared to death over nothing.’ I was right.
I do remember some scare stories about poisoned Tylenol and bad apples. I seem to remember a pretty big media frenzy over both of those things. I do have to admit that I can’t remember anything specific about poisoned candy or razor blades in apples.
Did all this fear really come about from Dear Abby? WOW! How have we come to let the media manipulate us all like this? I feel sorry for the kids now a days that can’t even enjoy a good time on this holiday without somebody bringing this stuff up. Let them enjoy their treats in peace please.
Reading to the end of the article really makes me wonder about people, WTF are they thinking??? (trying not to give away the story- read it- it’ll get you going!)
root of all evil
From Big Foot To Bluto, Gulf Of Mexico Set For Record Oil Supply Surge | gCaptain
Good news for the Gulf of Mexico. At least that looks like the consensus at the moment. Somehow it seems the predictions never pan out. We go through booms and busts for reasons we never seem to figure out until after the fact.
From my perspective, the GOM does seem to be gearing up for a boom. I see more rigs heading this way, more boats being built, etc. (Check out the photos of the Olympus rig under tow in the link.) I also see more roadblocks for people who want to get into the industry which can’t help since nothing can get done without the trained workers to do the job.
I don’t see the hiring process matching any definition of the reality out here. There are lots of people looking for ways to get into the industry but the companies seem to be intent on isolating themselves behind online applications and never answered phone calls.
One other thing, the price of oil has been dropping lately. I’ve noticed the price for light crude has dropped from around $110/bbl to around $96/bbl in the last couple of months. It’s up slightly now but if it starts dropping off, so will the drilling and so once more the boom will bust.
I’m trying my best to work as much as possible now. 🙂
5 Sky Events This Week: Morning Comets and Solar Eclipse – News Watch.
If I was still working as planned, I would be sure to see the (partial) solar eclipse. Nowhere better to see one than while at sea. 🙂
If you’re somewhere where you have clear, dark skies, this should be an interesting week for skywatching. Comet ISON will be visible in the constellation Leo from November 1. The Zodiacal Lights will be visible from November 2 for about 2 weeks. Then the solar eclipse on the 3rd.
For readers in Africa, you will be able to see a total eclipse! Be sure to use good shades. 😉
Following up on my earlier (http://captjillsjourneys.wordpress.com/2013/09/28/texas-adopt-a-beach) post about the Texas Beach Cleanup last month, I was able to find the results of our efforts online this morning.
Stahlman Park, Fall Beach Cleanup 2013
At Surfside Beach, (which was where I went-along with a few friends), they had 1200 (!!) volunteers who cleaned up 13.35 tons of trash over 14 miles of beach! WOW! What a great turnout for a day that wasn’t expected to be nice weather wise. It was fairly windy and it actually did rain a bit after noon. And remember, Surfside Beach only has about 450 full time residents.
Houston Zoomers came down to help out
The great bunch of SaveOurBeachAssociation (www.sobatx.org) volunteers manned the home front at Stahlman Park and provided plenty of (FREE!!) hot dogs, chips and cold drinks to the hordes of cleanup crews. They served over 1800 volunteers around Brazoria County that day!! Here’s a big Thank You to S.O.B.A.!! 🙂
SOBA volunteers serving up the cleanup crews at the 2013 fall cleanup
Quintana Beach had another 174 volunteers who cleaned up 2 miles of beach and found 2.32 tons of ‘marine debris’. Yeah!!
I was not prepared to see bus after bus unloading at Stahlman Park and along the beach. People came from all over the area: representatives from Houston, Galveston and even further away. It was great to see so many people out and about, helping out. School kids in uniforms, church groups, civics clubs, sports teams…Young and old, all colors, all types, from prim and proper to young punks to grizzly old fishermen.
Bus unloads helpers at Surfside Beach
I didn’t really understand until I got there and started wandering the beach how the data would be gathered. It was a little harder than expected to keep track of every piece of garbage we found, from cigarette butts, bottle caps, plastic and glass bottles (none with messages inside), plastic bags, soda cans, plastic cutlery and tiny pieces of unrecognizable plastic to dead fish, old tires, fishing line, floats, escaped balloons, etc. The organizers gave us tally cards along with our collection bags. Great job everyone!
Assigned search areas for Surfside Beach 2013
You can see the results for all of Texas here…http://www.glo.texas.gov/adopt-a-beach/pdfs/results/2013-fall-results.pdf.
And if you want to help out with the next one, you can find more information on that here: http://www.glo.texas.gov/adopt-a-beach/cleanups/overview.html
Worldwide, the place to go is: http://www.oceanconservancy.org/our-work/international-coastal-cleanup/sign-up-to-clean-up.html
I had a lot of fun at this event. It was a wonderful way to get out of the house, play on the beach, enjoy the natural world, learn something new, have a good time with friends old and new. I hope I’ll be able to make the next one. I didn’t know it until I looked it up for this post, but there are at least 3 more cleanups in Texas coming up before the main one in Spring (April 26, 2014).
Just curious, but did anybody make it to one of these events where you live?
Surfside Beach 2013 Fall Cleanup
Gary Johnson speaks at the Stop Watching Me Rally last Saturday. I wish I could have been there. Gary Johnson should have had the chance to speak during the last Presidential campaign, but like Ron Paul, he was shut out by the mainstream media and their bosses in the Democrat and Republican parties(y). Too bad. He has lot of GOOD ideas. Listen for yourself…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=1iljZltuc_w
Filthy-Minded Teenager | OnEarth Magazine.
This sure sounds like a great idea. It looks feasible. It’s great to hear about kids coming up with such new and interesting ideas. We sure can use all the help we can get on coming up with practical solutions to all the problems we have (mostly self inflicted).
A comment below the article ( http://ecowatch.com/2013/04/09/fallacy-cleaning-gyres-of-plastic-with-ocean-cleanup-array/), leads to another really great article about the issue of plastic polluting the oceans.
So this might not really be a solution after all. Maybe at least its a starting point. So far, I haven’t heard (but Stiv Wilson has) of anybody else coming up with anything to try to get rid of all that crap floating around out there in the middle of the ocean and washing up on our beaches. 🙁
Read both articles for a good idea of what’s really happening out there.
14 Halloween Cocktail Recipes : Decorating : Home & Garden Television.
It looks like I’m going to miss all the Halloween parties this year (again). Here are some scary looking Halloween treats for the grown ups to enjoy while the kids are out hunting for candy. 😉
Instead of the usual Zombies in celebration of Halloween, I’d like to try some of that Pumpkin Spice Halloween Punch or maybe try a Liquefied Ghost or a Vampire, after a few of those I might be ready for some Bloody Brain Shooters (braaaaiiiinnnss)!
Save me some!! 🙂
WATCH: OSV Crew in Africa Performs Toto’s “Africa” in Viral Video | gCaptain
Great job by the crew of the Bourbon Peridot!
Working in Africa is one of the most dangerous places in the world for working seafarers. At least these guys still have a sense of humor. 🙂
It’s nice to see there are some places in the world where we can still enjoy doing our jobs. It’s encouraging to think that there is still some hope to find a shipboard job where its not all about the ISM, IMO, SMS, USCG, BSEE, and all the other alphabet soup that organizes our every move.
In the USA, the lawyers and accountants have taken all the fun out of the job. We would NEVER be allowed to do something like this here anymore. I see ‘no horseplay’ posted on almost every vessel now and the companies here do take that very seriously.
Someone would be hounding these guys about their JSA, and where the heck is their PPE? Gloves, safety glasses (with side shields), steel toes, long sleeved fire-resistant clothing, ear plugs, hardhats, etc. No one is allowed out the door here without all that on! 🙁
And OMG!!! He had a KNIFE! Not an alternative cutting device! He would be fired immediately! Sailors without knives are like birds without feathers. A necessary part of our garb has been stripped away from us. A safety item has been declared ‘too risky’ for us to use!! What total BS!!
No wonder most sailors who have been anywhere other than the USA are so desperate to get away from this place again and will work pretty much ANYWHERE else. Personally, I am willing to take quite a pay cut in order to enjoy my job again. Too bad that’s what they’ve done to this place. 🙁
Hey, anybody over there need a good DPO??? I’m available any time. 😉
Hard to believe he still hasn’t been charged with anything, he’s done a hell of a lot more to hurt this country then Nixon ever even thought of. He swore an oath to uphold the Constitution (or he SHOULD have) and he has done nothing since he’s been in office but work to destroy it. 🙁
He should have been MORE than impeached over this illegal spying. Don’t even try to tell me he didn’t know about it. He knew. Therefore he was complicit. As the leader of the Executive Branch, he was ultimately responsible. Since he was a ‘constitutional law professor’, he KNEW every bit of every one of those programs was unconstitutional (and so illegal) and it was HIS duty to destroy ALL of them! Period!!
Instead, he chose to destroy the constitution. He should be drug out of the White House on his ass, tarred and feathered and then thrown in a (regular) prison for the rest of his life! And yes, Bush should have had the same treatment for Iraq and the PATRIOT ACT. (But Obama has done NOTHING to get rid of that horrible ‘law’, and our people are STILL in Iraq and Obama could have brought ALL of them home years ago!)
I can’t think of ANY other reason he’s still in office and has evaded the trouble that even Clinton had except that Obama is ‘black’. Yeah, I know, I’m going to be accused of racism. Well, accuse away…
I know I’m not a racist and that anyone who brings that up is only doing it because they have nothing else to say. They have NO rational argument to make, so they start calling names. All those high hopes for our first black president from so many people. Obama has sure given the shaft to the next few dozen blacks who might want to run. It’ll take a LONG time to get rid of his ‘legacy’. I only hope this country can survive the rest of his term. 🙁
I am SO sad to see what has become of my once great country. ALL of our presidents for the last few decades (at least) have been working overtime to destroy that history but Obama is the one in there now and he needs to GO before he’s allowed to do any more damage!
Alienable Rights = Glorified Privileges.
Very good article by Kelly Diamond! I have been noticing for a LONG time that most people don’t have any kind of idea of what ‘rights’ are. This article does a good job of explaining what they are.
People now a days seem totally confused. They don’t seem to understand that there is a BIG difference between natural rights (which belong to everyone regardless of whether any person or even government recognizes that fact) and those ‘rights’ we enjoy because of the society we live in.
Because of this confusion, we are losing more and more of our natural rights. Our government, which was expressly created for the sole purpose of PROTECTING those rights is instead intent on chipping them away to nothing.
Diamond makes some good points about the ‘freedom of the press’ guaranteed to us by our Constitution and how Dianne Feinstein (and others) are working right now to restrict that freedom even more. As a blogger (and hopefully one day able to do more), I am NOT happy with the arrogance of ‘our leaders’ latest attempts to decide who can and can not be considered a journalist re: freedom of the press.
ALL of us should be considered able to publicize whatever we feel is news. That is what the internet has done for ALL of us! Who the hell does Feinstein think she is, to decide what can and can’t be published? Who can/can’t be considered a ‘real’ journalist? What information is OK or NOT OK to be publicized?
The reason the founders included ‘freedom of the press’ in the Bill of Rights was to ensure that we could always get information that the government might prefer to keep secret! The mainstream media has not been doing their job at all for the last few years (at least). Thank goodness for the internet and ordinary people posting to the internet!
Look to England for America’s Future | Laissez-Faire Bookstore.
Good post on some history from across the pond. I would certainly think it would follow that we would wind up the same way if we follow the same path. It looks to me like that’s what IS happening here. WHY can’t we ever learn from history, instead of repeating the same mistakes? 🙁
‘Captain Phillips’ Torn From the Headlines, But Tells an Old Story | gCaptain
I did go see this movie the other day. I thought it was pretty good. Maybe its because I’m a sailor but I REALLY don’t appreciate the way the article tries to make excuses for the pirates. Yeah, they’re poor, so are a lot of other people around the world. That does NOT in any way excuse the violence, kidnappings, beatings, theft, etc of the pirates!
I thought the crew of the Alabama deserved more credit for their actions. It seems Captain Phillips got all the recognition. The crew actually managed to capture the pirate leader and traded him off for their captain. Good job!!
Remember, in the Merchant Marine, we are not allowed to defend ourselves with anything but fire hoses against these thugs with machine guns and RPGs! They still managed to take down a couple of the pirates! Good! I salute them!
I am REALLY sick and tired of hearing about how we can’t be trusted to defend ourselves, we somehow don’t deserve any kind of REAL protection when our companies send us to work in these dangerous waters!
The bigwigs sit in their penthouse air conditioned offices and debate how much we’re worth to them. Can they ‘afford’ to pay our ransom? The ransom payment is just another cost of doing business to them. It’s our LIVES on the line! We’re just out there trying to earn a living and should NOT have to put up with pirate attacks!
Seamen from all over the world are suffering severely from pirate attacks, even for YEARS AFTER they return home! There are HUNDREDS of them being held at this moment! According to the ICC International Maritime Bureau (http://www.icc-ccs.org/piracy-reporting-centre/piracynewsafigures), there have been 176 REPORTED incidents including 10 hijackings in 2013 alone!
No one is helping them. No one cares. The world depends on shipping. Over 90% of the worlds trade moves by sea, in the USA its over 95%! Yet, we mariners get a bare minimum of help from the worlds navies. 🙁
Where are the convoys like they had during WWII? Where are the marines who might be assigned to a ship to protect it? Where are the security companies and their trained armed guards??? WHY is there such an issue about giving us the protection we should have before we go anywhere near any pirate infested waters???
The ONLY reason the world even knows (or cares) about Captain Phillips and the Maersk Alabama is because it happened to be an American ship! There have been dozens of ships and HUNDREDS of sailors held in captivity by various pirate groups worldwide.
The pirates holding these mariners are NOT like Johnny Depp! They are mean, abusive, dangerous, desperate men! They have nothing to lose and they mean business!
WHY can’t we get some REAL protection? WHY can’t we at least arm our ships? It’s hard to believe but the powers that be expects us to be able to run away! If that doesn’t work (which it won’t most of the time since most ships are not very fast), then we are supposed to fight off the machine gun toting pirates with nothing but FIRE HOSES! If that doesn’t work (which it doesn’t), then we are supposed to run away and hide (again). The movie did a great job of showing just how effective those tactics are! (Totally useless! But they are the industrys’ ‘best management practice’).
I recommend the movie. It’s good entertainment if nothing else. I hope it’ll be more than that for the people who watch it. I hope it will help get people involved in trying to solve the problems of piracy. I hope it will give people ashore some idea of the things that are still going on out there in our world.
VIDEO: Animation Shows Float-On of Costa Concordia Onboard Dockwise Vanguard | gCaptain
Here’s an update from gcaptain on the Costa Concordia. They have a neat little animation showing how they plan to put the Costa Concordia on the heavy lift vessel Dockwise Vanguard.
They won’t be doing any of this til the weather settles down in the Spring. For now, they’re working on prepping it for winter and getting it ready for the move in the Spring. They make it look easy. 😉
Giant Catamaran ‘Pieter Schelte’ to Carry Worn Out North Sea Platforms Ashore | gCaptain
What an interesting ship!It looks pretty impressive from the picture. I wonder, what kind of crew they’ll have on there to work it? I hope they do get it built. It looks like it would have plenty of work to last for a while.
If they have 500 rigs in the North Sea to eventually decommission, we have thousands of them here in the Gulf of Mexico. I’ve been involved with doing some of that work already, tho not on anywhere near as advanced a vessel as the Pieter Schelte.
That sort of work is a lot more interesting then drilling, at least from a mariners perspective. I’d love to get back to doing something more challenging like that. 😉
This Is Mars in Extremely High Resolution | Collage of Arts and Sciences.
Another good article from the Smithsonian this morning. This one is about Mars. The article shows a dozen or so beautiful black and white photographs of Mars. They were taken over the years by various spacecraft. That in itself is pretty fantastic.
Now, a French photographer, editor, designer- Xavier Barral is putting together a book. Called This is Mars, it will showcase about 150 of these gorgeous pictures. I’ll have to look for it at the library. 🙂
2013 Women on the Water Announcement.
It looks like I won’t be able to make it this year. 🙁
I’ll be heading back offshore on Sunday and won’t be back in time for this event (www.sunymaritime.edu/wow). I would encourage anyone living in the NY area to try to make it.
I went to the one in Galveston at Texas A & M two years ago and had a really great time. It was so interesting meeting all the people there (not just women 😉 ). We went on a dinner cruise around Galveston and had a reception on the sailing ship Elissa.
I’m sure SUNY will do a great job too!
I’m sure not going to say I’m anywhere near as intelligent as Einstein (duh!), but these quotes of his at least let me know I’m not as stupid (or crazy) as a lot of people think I am. I would much rather know Einstein agrees with me than a few yahoos on Facebook! 😉
I think everybody on this earth is in general equivalent. NOT equal, but equivalent. There is a difference! We all have brains in our heads and our capacity to reason is what makes us special (or at least a large part of it). We all have things we’re good at, things we’re not so good at, things we suck at. No one is perfect. We all have to work together to make a well functioning society. Each of us has our part to play.
One of the things I really like about shipboard life is that it’s very clear there that we’re ALL there for a good reason. We’re ALL necessary for the proper functioning of that vessel. The lowest man is just as important in the scheme of things as the master.
I think that general attitude should be more prevalent in general society. We’re all born with the same rights. We’re all equal under the law (except congress it seems- who can’t understand that they are ILLEGALLY exempting themselves from the ‘laws’ they create for the rest of us).
Our educational system has been going downhill for decades. Have you ever seen that test that’s been going around online? I think it was a grade school graduation test. I’m running out of time this morning, but I’ll try and find it and post it here tomorrow so everyone can check it out. I’ve got 2 college degrees and I would have a hell of a hard time passing it!
If you look at the history of our educational system, you’ll find that we were doing just fine up til the 1960’s or so. It took that long for the ‘public’ educational system we borrowed from the Germans to really take hold and ruin OUR system. It was based on training people to work in an industrial society.
Schools became little more than babysitters where kids were told to sit down, shut up and DON’T question authority! Back in the old days (before ‘public’ schools), everyone who wanted an education could get one. We had TRUE public schools then, founded and controlled by the COMMUNITY. Back then, people were taught to THINK for themselves!
Most people did fine without a college education. Most people TODAY would probably do fine without one (IF they could get a decent grade school and high school education).
I really hate to see so many young people get themselves into such humongous debt loads, especially when they’re just starting out in life. It’ll take them years to pay off their college loans. For what? How many people go to college now and don’t get a job in their field of study? I’m one. I’ve never seen a job in any way relating to my degree (math) since I graduated in 2001.
Our schools no longer teach people to think. They haven’t for a LONG time. Maybe we should take a long hard look at our educational system and see if we REALLY want to keep on training our kids to settle for being a ‘cog in the machine’, to fit into the corporate culture? Or do we want them to be able to develop to their full potential?
Universal Subjectivism: An Ethical Theory for the 21st Century
This looks like a very interesting book. I haven’t read it yet but the review in Utne Reader makes me want to try and find a copy.
I read the review and of course I agree, it would be a wonderful thing to stop all suffering. I just don’t know how to accomplish that.
The author suggests that it would be simple to just pass a law and we could stop factory farming here and so end so much suffering. I totally agree, factory farming is really a sickening situation, horrible for the animals. But how ‘simple’ would it be for us to stop it?
First of all, I’m not sure it would be simple even to pass a law like that. Our political system here is SO screwed up. Our politicians pass laws every day, THOUSANDS of pages long, they never read them, no one understands them, special interests get their little favors hidden inside somewhere, we all have to wait until the shit hits the fan to find out that maybe SOMEBODY should have READ the bills BEFORE they passed them into ‘law”!
We’re fighting Obamacare right now because of that exact same situation. Our agriculture lobby is pretty powerful too. As powerful as the insurance/pharmaceutical/medical lobby? I don’t know. I DO know they would not want to have their profits hurt even a teeny tiny bit! They’ll fight tooth and nail, spend millions of dollars to riddle whatever law comes up with benefits to them and detriments to the rest of us. That is how our politics works now a days! They ALWAYS find a way to screw the little guy! 🙁
Besides the fact that it would be a huge political issue, MY objection to the whole factory farming thing is: would it REALLY be possible to feed everybody (without destroying even more of our land and resources)? I have seen SOME things that suggest that localized, organic type farming can be just as productive, even MORE productive than factory farming, (Farmaggedon-film- was one if I remember right). It just seems so hard to believe. I would really need to learn a lot more before I’m totally convinced that is true.
The author makes the point that people starve every day tho there is enough food to feed the population of today. I would agree with that, most of the people who are starving today are in that situation because of POLITICS and not because there isn’t enough food around. Corrupt and greedy ‘rulers’ find ways to work the system to benefit themselves and their cronies and screw everyone else! The issue is getting the food (or other aid) to the people who need it. Best way to solve that problem is to get rid of politics! Get rid of ‘rulers’!! They’re nothing but thugs wearing suits!
I have to admit, I really don’t want to change my lifestyle. I’m not a vegetarian now and I don’t really want to be one. I don’t want to learn to eat worms or insects either. I travel every chance I get and I don’t want to stop doing that either. So, OK, I am not very ethical according to this author, at least according to what I can get out of the intro to the book in the review. I don’t feel bad about it. I don’t think reading the book will make me change my mind.
How in the heck are we going to get everyone to change their mindsets to this kind of ethics? That question alone makes me want to get hold of the book and find out the authors ideas. I am curious to see what other people propose to solve these sorts of problems. I can’t imagine it ever happening by choice. I have a feeling people will eventually be using force, like they say about climate change, we don’t have time to THINK about the proper kinds of solutions, it’s time for ACTION. Same old, same old here. 🙁
As usual, MY solution to the issue of suffering is the same as it is for almost every other issue… start using some BIRTH CONTROL!!!!! We sure as hell can feed 9 million people on this planet a LOT easier than we can 9 BILLION!!! We MIGHT even have some land/water/resources left over for some of the OTHER creatures on the planet if we would use our big heads instead of our little ones for a change!
To me, that would involve a whole lot less suffering for everybody. I mean, really, how hard can it be to just take a pill every day? or a depo shot every 3 months? Everybody that can have a kid, gets ONE. Maybe that policy would even encourage people to appreciate their kids for a change. 🙂
Let the people who can’t have one adopt one that is already here on this planet (instead of spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on artificial insemination, etc). Oh, you want your own genes? Too bad, life’s not fair, it’s YOUR problem, don’t expect the rest of the world to pay just to indulge your FEELINGS. If you have the big bucks to pay for the procedure all on your own (NO insurance should cover these procedures!), then fine, maybe we’ll consider an exception if you’re some kind of genius (maybe). Instead of giving incentives to HAVE kids, give incentives to NOT have kids!
Just do the same thing as China did, establish a one child policy (must CONVINCE people of the need- NOT force them!). It shouldn’t be THAT hard. After all, most people have been convinced that people caused global warming and they’e only been spouting that story since what, the 80’s?
After a while, the population will eventually start shrinking, human suffering will lessen (and animal suffering along with it) and we can start solving the REST of the problems we have created here, such as starvation, medical care, education, engaging and fulfilling work, improving the condition of our land/water/air, maybe even make a dent in climate change. 😉
Since I’m spending some time in New Orleans and my hotel is right on Bourbon Street, I thought this might be a good time to post these cute little signs. I didn’t take these pictures, a friend of mine sent them to me a while back. I haven’t really spent much time out on Bourbon street (yet), tho I did wander through a couple of times already. I was invited to a few good private parties the first couple of nights I was here. Today I went on a plantation tour and was just too tired to go out and deal with the crowds. I’ll have to see how I feel tomorrow. There’s SO much to do here, its hard to decide what to do when. 🙂
House of Blues
OK, so sorry to all my faithful followers 😉 I’ve been SO busy! Since I got off work I’ve been going non-stop. I made it to the beach clean up (fantastic turnout there)! I managed to get some work of one of my rental houses done . I FINALLY got my taxes for 2012 turned in to my accountants (still was not really finished but there was no way to get all the information to them before time was up so I just had to drop off what I had). And now, I’m in New Orleans for the Workboat Show!
Yeah, its way early this year. Its usually the first week of December. That’s nice since the weather is cool and everything is all decorated for Christmas. It’s different this year, I didn’t think about it, but they’re already decorating for Halloween, so that’s pretty cool too.
I’m staying over a couple extra days to do some tourist stuff. I’m going on a plantation tour tomorrow and a 3-in-1 combo ‘witches brew’ tour Sunday night. I have not managed to get any pictures on the computer yet since I’ve been home, but just to whet your whistle, here are a few from last years show here.
Hurricanes at Pat O’Brians, New Orleans
Voodoo Bar Bourbon Street New Orleans
Street musician, Bourbon Street New Orleans