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Jul. 6th, 2009 @ 10:39 am
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Gah, for one glorious day I thought my computer was fixed. Then it wasn't. I have some rather excellent photos that I took at the Inavale Horse Trials that are stuck on my backup harddrive because I insist on shooting in RAW format which can only be viewed/edited in photoshop which was only on my computer... blah blah blah.
In other news, I have a request for everyone who utilizes the English language. Please no longer refer to anything you have to say as "not PC". This is simply code for "something I'm about to say is completely douche-baggish" OR "Somebody, somewhere might possibly have a different opinion than I do, and I guess disagreeing with someone isn't, um, nice or something? And someone might be mad at me if I disagree with them?"
I have yet to see the term used correctly. Ever. No really, I mean EVAR. I mean, really, prefacing something totally jerkwad with "tee hee, this is totally not PC, but..."
does not get you off the hook. Also, politically correct has nothing to do with having a different opinion than someone else.
So please, no more using this term. No one seems to know what it means anymore, anyway.
Thank you for your attention.
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Feb. 17th, 2009 @ 07:02 am
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There is a certain breed of pesticide manufacturer who is in denial that they manufacture pesticides. They are the type that call us and act, frankly, snooty. They are are soooo much better than those soulless CHEMICAL pesticide manufacturers who sell products with scary, unfamiliar names like glyphosate. Oh no, their ALL NATURAL product is safe. It's made from acetic acid. That's practically just like the vinegar you use in cooking! The normal (expensive) pesticide laws shouldn't apply to THEM. Everyone should just trust them that they're selling a SAFE product and there shouldn't be any sort of oversight for them.
Right. Never mind the fact that their 'vinegar', or essential oil, or 'orange peel' product ... none of them are risk free. There are plenty of essential oils that are quite toxic, (did I ever tell you the time I used lavender hand lotion as paint stripper for a coffee table?) and acetic acid is corrosive. CORROSIVE, people! Glyphosate, even though it's unfamiliar and has a scary chemical name, and comes in a scary package that says 'herbicide' on it, at least it won't BURN YOUR EYES OUT OF YOUR SKULL. Glyphosate, and other scary-sounding chemicals, manufactured by those soulless chemical manufacturers, is actually lower risk than a lot of these so-called 'natural' products.
You don't get a free pass from the labeling laws and required health testing just because you extracted your chemical from a plant instead of making it in a lab.
Natural does not mean 'safe'.
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I've been watching it unfold with interest. For various reasons. When the pet food recall happened last year, we got a bunch of calls on it at work, and I also found myself frantically checking my pets' food labels. Ever since, 'melamine' is one of those words that grabs my attention if its in the news.
Recently, one of my bosses sent out a link to this article , and IMHO, it is by far the best media report I've seen. It might be because, I dunno, they actually interviewed a scientist?
Anyway, I have more to say about this thing. But I had to get up at 5:15 today to come to work, so I'm too tired right now. Mostly, I'm thinking that people in general aren't very good at evaluating risks in their lives. Parents are even worse.
Most will happily strap their kid into a car and take a drive on the freeway without second thought. And yet, reveal that there's trace amounts of a scary 'chemical' in their kids food - a chemical that's probably been there in trace amounts all the time and has never shown to cause any effect - and suddenly they freak the fuck out.
I deal with it every day at work. And I often find myself in the odd position of defending the EPA or FDA. Odd because I'm as critical of them as anyone - probably more so, in fact. But I hate hate hate people who expect the government to wrap them and their precious kids in silk covered bubble wrap.
Here's my half-awake take home message - and this goes out as well to those parents who use sanitizer on everything before allowing their kid to touch it - there are going to be trace contaminants in your life. This is unavoidable. Learn to choose your battles. Look around and access ALL the risks in your life. GET SOME PERSPECTIVE. Also, don't expect some kind of extreme, extensive government oversight without a huge cost. Science takes money. Pony it up, and maybe we can talk about that bubble wrap you think you want so badly.
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Edited to add: Yeah, my little rant seems so quaint, doesn't it? I meant to keep it updated, but oh well.
Dear family and friends, (and lady at the store overheard saying "...that Muslim Obama..."),
I don't like discussing politics. The main outcomes of political 'debates' are strife and indigestion. I do, however, try to stay fairly updated on current events so that I may cast an informed vote come November. Therefore, every time I hear an ill-informed opinion about the current presidential candidates the urge to correct it wells up in me. I can only suppress these feelings for so long. I needed an outlet that wouldn't start a dinner table fight, elicit a rant from a co-worker, or force me to start mainlining Tums.
( Read more... )
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Random notes while watching the reality show "30 days" where a bow hunting meat-eater lives for 30 days with a family of vegan animal rights activist. (Aired June 17th, but didn't watch it until tonight). Tom turned it on, and I immediately started bashing PETA (biased? Me? Nooo...), so he told me to keep comments to myself until the show was done. My laptop's right here, so I'm taking notes, instead.
Right from the start, I identify more with Mr. bow hunter.
PETA sure does try to make itself look good (as always). I can't tell if the activists are being dishonest (both with themselves and the cameras) or if they truly don't know that PETA's overall goals are not to improve animal welfare, but to cause the extinction of all domestic animals so that humans can never use them.
(OK, I have to admit: I'm having a hard time distinguishing between the well-meaning people who happen to be PETA activists, and PETA itself. I just wish they'd chosen a different club to join)
PETA / PETA members / vegans try to frame a dichotomy: either you're a vegan, or you support factory farming. There's no room for sustainable, ethical animal products.
It only took about 5 minutes for a PETA member to compare people eating animals to Nazis killing Jews. Tally of the use of that analogy so far: 2
Seeing Mr. bow-hunter dressed in a chicken suit pretending to kill a woman dressed as Colonel Sanders = LOLZ
Even after seeing some horrific images, bow hunter is very reluctant to reject factory farming. The dichotomy that PETA frames in the beginning works on him: he thinks he has to choose between factory farm animal products or veganism, and he does love him his meat. No one explains that you can choose different types of animal products. You can CHOOSE humane food. That's never mentioned. It's either "you eat factory farm meat" or "you don't eat meat at all".
Bow hunter visits a farm that specializes in rescuing animals from factory farms ("rescuing" = "stealing"? Not sure... There's a sequence where they "rescue" a sick veal calf at 3am that makes me wonder). Owner lady goes on and on about how humans don't have the right to keep animals for food, and don't have the right to force animals to do what we want, etc, etc. Yet, I see a lot of fences on her property. She treats her animals very well, but she's still keeping them captive "against their will", she still forcing medication on them, even though they obviously don't want it - who is she to force them to do what SHE wants?
Cue images of a factory milk farm. OMG. Factory farms are bad. Wow. Only PETA could have given us this revelation.
(It's actually good to see, on a mainstream cable show, images of a commercial milk farm - but having PETA take credit for exposing these practices makes me mad. Like they're the only one's doing anything about it.)
Image: bow hunter walking the family's small dog. The small dog pulls on the leash like crazy.
Owner of the dog: "Don't choke him!"
Tom: "Then leash train him, lady!"
Me: "lol"
PETA lady also implies that PETA is behind important spay and neuter campaigns. Yup. They're certainly the only ones who send out THAT message.
Cue sequence where they visit an animal shelter and show a healthy, friendly, young pit bull being taken to the back room to be euthanized, all the while talking about how this could have been avoided if only people spayed and neutered their pets. The hypocrisy kills me. PETA's official stance on pit bulls is that they should all be euthanized, anyway (well, they think all pets should be killed, but ESPECIALLY pit bulls). How horrible to use the tragedy of this dog's life to further their agenda.
I like bow-hunter even more by the end of the show:
"Am I going to hunt again when I go home? Yes I am. But I do believe animals have rights. Animals don't deserve to suffer or be abused."
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Final thoughts:
Every time I see something about "animal rights", I feel left out (and usually angry). I rarely see anything even close to my views portrayed in the media.
Anyone who knows me, knows that I love animals (even the ones that PETA forgets, like bugs). Pretty much the only time I act "girly" is when I'm around a dog (or frog. or beetle.) My life, actually, pretty much revolves around animals. My art and photography centers mainly on creatures great and small. I volunteer at my local shelter. All my pets are rescues of some type. I want to be a vet tech. One of my main life goals is to own a small farm and have a huge garden and rescue un-wanted dogs and horses.
I also want to raise my own chickens for eggs and meat, goats for milk, and maybe a pig or two for meat. I also hunt and fish. I have no trouble kiling and butchering animals. I have a freezer full of elk meat right now and I know exactly where it came from, how it died, and how the carcus was handled and cleaned. I also saved the hooves and bones for future artwork, and I'm in the process of tanning the hide for leather.
I see nothing wrong with eating meat, or using animal products. I feel that my views of food and animal welfare are pretty enlightened and well-balanced, but I rarely see them in the mainstream. Here on campus, yes. In books, yes. In blogs I read, hell yes. But PETA's false dichotomy is very pervasive. I often think they do more harm than good.
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