Lyrics

I enjoy this song by the RX Bandits.

"Overcome (The Recapitulation)"

We've had enough
We've had enough
We've had enough of the politicians
We've had enough yeah
Of these politician's wars
All we need right now is love
We've had enough of these military scoreboards
What we need right now is love, come on
We've had enough of these politician's wars
All we need right now is love
We've had enough of these military scoreboards
All we need right now is love
We've had enough of these politician's wars
All we need right now is love
We've had enough of these military scoreboards
All we need right now is love

Turn it up
The future is held in the hands
Who right the textbooks
Ignorance is bred when falsified thinking is taught
To the youth instead of
Past mistakes and mind elevation,
Like the graves that manifest destiny has created
So we can build our
Capitalist consumer based economy,
To build, market,
And sell commodities we don't need
But we are trained to believe like celebrity imaging
Well I'm here to take my feelings back and I hope That you will be with me

I can't wait for that day
When I hear us all screaming.
Ahhhhhhhhh,
I can't wait for that day
When I hear us all singing together,
Ooooohhhhhh
I can't wait for that day
When I hear us all screaming.
Ahhhhhhhhh
I can't wait for that day
When I hear us all singing together,
Ahhh,

I can't wait for the day
When I hear us all screaming,
HERE COMES THE REVOLUTION.
When every race color
And creed of militant human beings stand up
With fists together for substance and true meaning
Because right now we got our feet stuck in cement
We're too caught up in
A material status quo punishment
And one thing is for sure
And that's the sun will always set,
Darling you can bet our moon is quite the opposite
So baby take an axe to your makeup kit
Set ablaze the billboards and their advertisements
Love with all your hearts and never forget
How good it feels to be alive
And strive for your desire
Just cause you can't see
Your cage doesn't mean that you are free
When there are laws against nature
But its ok for you to be
Addicted to over the counter prescriptions
And magazines dictate all our human relations

I'm not buying, no I'm not giving in
To a culture that objectifies all of our women
I'm not buying, no I'm not consuming
The apathetic dribble on the news media's chin
I'm not buying, no I'm not giving in
The lies that are sold through textbooks to children
I'm not buying, no I'm not consuming
Cause the positive will
Always overcome the negative right

And we stay inside, its right outside,
We stand in line
We all enjoy the fences to keep it at bay
But I'm not giving in

Opposing Views

I found this great website, OpposingViews.com, which features debates between knowledgable experts on controversial issues. Users can vote, comment, and read the pros and cons of each debate.

To Meat or Not To Meat

VS.



I started this post hoping to settle the dispute forever one way or the other: Ethics of animal consumption aside, can eating meat be as healthy, or even healthier, than a vegetarian diet?

Naturally, I scoured the internet for information to point me to the answer. The problem is (a) to really answer this question, serious scientific inquiry is necessary (b) much of the research may not be sound and (c) I don't have the time to sift the scientific wheat from the chaff, to use an agricultural analogy.

Some of what I expected to find related to humans' ability to handle meat biologically. I found disagreement on this issue. And even if we are able to merely process it, is eating meat detrimental to our bodies? There wasn't a lot out there, backed by science, to suggest that eating meat HAS to be a bad thing.

Although some would disagree, I am going to take it as fact that industrially produced meat sources (e.g., grain and anti-biotic fed beef from packed feedlots) are less desirable for our bodies and our environment than pastured animals.

Taking the above for given, I don't find the evidence particularly compelling either in favor of vegetarianism or meat consumption. If one does choose to eat meat, it seems that eating naturally-raised meat in moderation, cooked without heavy browning over high heat, and accompanied by high levels of physical exertion (exercise) would be required. I am struggling to find solid, science-backed information to support that eating meat responsibly (as described above) will shorten your life or lower its quality. My guess is that a "flexitarian" diet is the most healthful.

Here's some of what I found:

Here is an excellent webpage by westonaprice.org, with research citations, debunking myths of a meat-free diet.

Here's an argument supporting that it's natural for us to eat meat, from straightdope.com.

A quote from emagazine.com:

Cardiologist William C. Roberts hails from the famed cattle state of Texas, but he says this without hesitation: Humans aren’t physiologically designed to eat meat. “I think the evidence is pretty clear. If you look at various characteristics of carnivores versus herbivores, it doesn’t take a genius to see where humans line up,” says Roberts, editor in chief of The American Journal of Cardiology and medical director of the Baylor Heart and Vascular Institute at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas.

I recommend an excellent book, Real Food, which makes the case in favor of meat and dairy products (from naturally raised animals). The book cites many scientific research sources and I feel it's very credible.

From National Geographic: Humans evolved not only to eat meat, but to eat cooked meat. This explains our smaller mouth structures and lack of typical carnivore's teeth, which is often cited by anti-meat folks to support their case.

A note on my problem with the scientific research:

Scientific studies can be very deceptive if you do not understand the method that was used to gather the data and which factors were accounted for in the research. Did the study account for how the meat was cooked? Did the meat come from pastured animals spared of unnatural levels of anti-biotics and other chemicals? Was the meat unadulterated or was it processed into lunch meat or some other concoction? Were lifestyle factors accounted for, such as whether the subjects smoked or exercised. What was the measure of success? Long life? Cholesterol levels? Quality of life? Who paid for the study? Argghhh....

For those who argue that prehisoric man ate meat, it's possible that our ancestors merely died from other causes (sabre-toothed tiger, influenza, angry neighboring tribe) before the ill effects of meat consumption were able to strike them down. It's also possible that our bodies aren't even designed to last us far past age 40 anyway.

Perhaps it has not been our eating of meat that has caused the purported increase in heart disease and cancer, but instead our choice of industrially produced meat and lack of the strenuous physical exertion our ancestors were required to engage in to survive.

The debate goes on...

If you have any strong evidence either way, please share!

Monkeying Around

Went to the San Antonio zoo this weekend. Here are some sights.

Hot Sauce

Today was the Austin Chronicle Hot Sauce Fest in Waterloo Park, which is here in Austin. Imagine a park-full of hot, sweaty people listening to hot, sweaty music and standing in long lines to taste hot (but not sweaty) salsa - what some call "hot sauce."

There seems to be a discrepancy out in the world about the meaning of the phrase "hot sauce." I have heard many people refer to what I'd call salsa as "hot sauce." Salsa and hot sauce are not the same! Perhaps this is a regional distinction (like "coke," "soda," and "pop" all referring to the same thing depending on where you find yourself). Allow me to clarify:

SALSA: Mushy combination of solid ingredients which are not homogenized or emulsified. Made from chunks of tomato, onion, peppers, and other stuff. Very dippable with a tortilla chip. Photo below:



HOT SAUCE: Soupy emulsion of liquids/liquefied ingredients. Made from peppers, vinegar, salt, and other stuff. Not particularly dippable with a tortilla chip. Photo below:

Tasting: Honey Boy Pink Salmon

I tried Honey Boy Pink Salmon (canned) today, and I spooned in a few bleu cheese crumbles to add another dimension. It was pretty moist, but I'd say it was lacking in salmon flavor, which was present but not distinctive. Also, the color was a bit less than pink - more of a tan, I'd say (see below).



Overall I'd say it's passable and not offensive whatsoever. If you're craving salmon and you can't get fresh salmon, this will certainly do. Just don't serve it to your guests.

Drinking Age

Here is a fascinating development out of the higher education news wire: about 100 higher education institutions are asking congress to lower the drinking age from 21 to 18. The cynic in me thinks that college presidents must have gotten tired of binge drinking scandals and think this is a solution: Just push the youthful sneaking of booze earlier in the life cycle of humans, so that by the time they get to college, they'll have gotten it out of their system.

This might actually turn out well: With the drinking age at 18, parents may be more apt to intervene in any underage binge drinking since most young people will be living at home during their pre-drinking age high school years. And I am generally in favor of increased personal freedom, so this notion has strong appeal for me.

The cynic in me wonders about the role of big business in this - won't they have significantly more to gain by opening up the consumer market to the 18-21 crowd? I think not, since that group is already consuming alcohol to a degree that apparently warrants college and university intervention.

As for whether we should be consuming alcohol at all, I'll leave that for another post.

Comments?

Throwing Stones at McCain and Obama

McCain is a borderline compulsive gambler?  (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stephen-c-rose/mccains-mostly-ignored-ga_b_119535.html)

 

Obama is a nicotine addict?  (http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/06/obama-admits-sm.html)

 

Who among us is without sin?  Let them case the first stone.

 

The fact is that whether it’s eating, drinking, sex, shopping, knitting, collecting, exercising, or anything else, most of us do things somewhat compulsively at times.  And doing things compulsively often doesn’t make sense rationally but it make us feel good or helps us numb out in some way.  Should we try to stop?  Of course.  But we shouldn’t think that our presidential candidates are horribly flawed people because they do things that everyone else does. 

College: Waste of Time?

From the Wall Street Journal:

 

Imagine that America had no system of post-secondary education, and you were a member of a task force assigned to create one from scratch. One of your colleagues submits this proposal: First, we will set up a single goal to represent educational success, which will take four years to achieve no matter what is being taught. We will attach an economic reward to it that seldom has anything to do with what has been learned. We will urge large numbers of people who do not possess adequate ability to try to achieve the goal, wait until they have spent a lot of time and money, and then deny it to them. We will stigmatize everyone who doesn't meet the goal. We will call the goal a "BA." You would conclude that your colleague was cruel, not to say insane. But that's the system we have in place.

 

Full article: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121858688764535107.html?mod=most_viewed_day

 

The article goes on to say that instead of years of college and judging prospective employees based on the status of their school and the inflation of their grades, that we base hiring decisions on credential test results, such as the Certified Public Accountant exam.  Such test results measure actual ability, instead of how well connected daddy is to the Yale alumni association. 

 

Jump Into Football Season! (Or Not)

So, it's almost football season. That makes me happy, yes it does. But not everyone enjoys the game. And just because I enjoy it, does that make it a good thing? I mean, I'd probably enjoy a nice shot of heroin in my arm right now, but that doesn't mean it's a good idea or that I would choose to do it. So what's good and not so good about football?

What About Male Bonding?

Nothing brings people (usually men) together like a football game. You've got your food, your analyzing the play tactics, the play calling debates, and at halftime you can go outside and toss the ball around. For once in our often numb and unfeeling lives (not our fault and totally fixable), we can show unconditional support for another set of people - male people, in fact. This is somewhat remarkable. How often do you see anyone, especially men, so excited in their support of another person that they would jump up and down and scream how happy they were? Shouldn't we all support our loved ones with this kind of enthusiasm?

Yes there is a bit of unsupportive behavior: booing (the other team and even your own team), objectifying women, numbing out with booze, but those are not required parts of the sports experience.

Isn't Football Just Mindless Entertainment?

Would you rather watch life happening on TV, or live it? Why do we get so keen to support a bunch of people we don't know, playing a sport we might play ourselves outside at a park, and living someone else's lives?

This seems compelling at first, but let me ask this: Do you enjoy art? Does that mean you should spend time dancing or painting and never watch another ballet, or gaze upon a marvelous Picasso? The athleticism, intellect, and strategy of football has a beauty all its own. That said, don't forget that it is just a game on TV. Real life is a mix of doing your own thing, supporting others, and connecting with friends/family. Don't let football overshadow those.

Doesn't Football Create Unnecessary Rivalry Between People?

As a person from a football rabid town (Baton Rouge, LA), I can tell you that support for a common team brings a level of community connection that's very valuable. Wherever you are, you know you've found a friend when you see them wearing your team's logo. Does this translate into hostility toward other teams and their supporters? For many unthinking people, yes it does. But if we have the right attitude, we can have mutual respect for and closeness with other teams' supporters. I have generally seen respect between my teams' supporters and fans of another team.

Isn't Football Bad for Relationships?

Some women are not fond of their significant others' passion for football. I can see why. Some men spend all weekend poring over stats, alienating family, and watching game after game. I say to this person, you're probably taking it too far. Support your team, enjoy the camaraderie, but don't ignore your real life.

Isn't Football Bad for the Players?



This one is of increasing concern to me. I have read many stories of players

- playing through pain
- sustaining lifelong injury
- returning to "real" careers with no skills

Should we support a system that creates perverse incentives for players to injure, drug, abuse themselves, and ignore their minds? I have to trust that most players are in the game with eyes wide open, but this one deserves more research and analysis. It may be that most athletes lead healthy, successful lives after football. My guess is that most athletes, due to the passion, wit, and perseverence that got them into pro sports initially, would be successful in almost any field of endeavor. As for the health issue, I don't claim to be clear on it. Comments, anyone?

A great topic for another post: Should college athletes be paid to play?

The Artist at Work

Patty's latest work. Acrylic on newsprint.

Clouds

Check out these amazing cloud formations on environmentalgraffiti.com.

 

Gay-Friendly Travel for Me

The above ad came up while I was doing a search on Travelocity for holiday travel to Albany with my wife. I guess they got wind of my recent post on gay marriage and sent me a targeted ad. The gay market is very strong and businesses are wise to pay attention to it. I actually enjoy discovering ads which are subtly targeted to the GLB consumers without overtly referring to them. Kudos to Travelocity for not being secretive - they want your dollars, gay men of the world!

Water

Great video on the blessing of water in our lives.

Same Sex Marriage

Now persons of the same sex can get married in Massachusetts. First off, let me say this issue has been in the news so much, I can't keep straight where same-sex marriage is legal, where civil unions are legal, where the laws have been repealed, appealed, and overturned multiple times. All I care to say about this is that I am for personal freedom. Thank you Massachusetts for letting people live their lives.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/08/01/same_sex_couples_applaud_repeal/