The cutening!

Life got you down? Go to Cute Overload and chase those blues away.

Carbon Monoxide is tasty

It makes a perfect meat color preservative. But don't worry folks, it's safe. The meat industry says so.

Watch Me Solve the Energy Crisis

We all know that filtering edible plants through animals is an incredibly inefficient use of them in terms of providing nourishment to humans. The production of animal foods requires lots of petroleum as well. We also know that vegans can live off of far fewer resources and farmland than omnivores. And the majority of crops grown in the US are for animal consumption.

So check this - everyone goes vegan. We convert all the farmland used for animal grazing or raising food crops for animals into crops for biodiesel. Stick windmills all over these fields, with - get this - solar cells ON the windmill posts (facing north). It's a triple whammy of energy goodness.

Ta da. Fuel crisis solved.

My nobel prize speech will be short. Promise.

Downer Cows

It is time to ask myself - is mad cow more of a hobby or an obsession?

I think it's an obsession, but in the sense that I really try to get information out there on it. I am just hoping that after enough people learn about it (and I'm getting something like 100 hits a day at this point) that people will boycott the beef industry. Of course, they'd probably eat more chicken, which is worse in terms of animal cruelty. So maybe I should encourage meat eaters to eat more beef, get mad cow and die, thus removing themselves as supporters of factory farming. (I kid! I kid!)


Remember how they were telling us that they catch all the potential mad cows because they don't allow downers into the human food supply? Well, not any more. The USDA Inspector General has now stated that downers are being eaten by humans.

I have, of course, added this to my Mad Cow List.

Book Review: The Shifting Tide by Anne Perry

The Shifting Tide

by Anne Perry

You know what I like about Anne Perry? She uses the word "lugubrious" in almost every book She used it three times in this book, which I believe is a personal record. Good on ya Anne!

This is the 14th book in the Monk series, and I have read all 14. I love this series. They're Victorian murder mysteries, with enough tea to keep you feeling cozy, and enough murder and prostitution to make it gritty. Sort of like Dickens meets Agatha Christie. With prostitutes.

Plus the series includes the absolute hottest book kiss ever. After something like 6 books of bickering and sexual tension, the main characters have this moment where one accidentally calls the other "my love." Then they get trapped in a room and kiss. Ok, so when I write it like that, it sounds like a Harlequin romance. But it was incredibly hot. Like Mulder/Scully hot before X-Files went all to shit.

But The Kiss was way back when. This installment of the series was one of the better ones. We've got the Black Plague (a resurgence!), big ships with billowing white sails, stolen ivory, starving prostitutes, and plenty of grumpy characters. Plus, after 14 books, poor Oliver Rathbone finally gets a lady worthy of his brave heart and fierce intellect.

If you think you might be interested in this series, begin with Face of a Stranger. Oh, and sorry in advance for giving away the kiss thing. But c'mon. We all knew it would happen sooner or later. Don't get all lugubrious on me.

Here's the list of books in the series.

Milk Gone Wild

This is without a doubt one of the weirdest things I have ever seen.

Double dog dare milk drinkers to watch it to the end.

www.milkgonewild.com

New Year's Resolutions

So sue me, I'm more than a month late in reevaluating the New Year's resolutions I made back in October.

Let's see how I did:

1) Give up soda.
95% - I have still had a couple sodas, but I have cut way back. Not eating out has helped, since I hardly ever buy soda for home. In 30 years I'll bet they find out that soda has addictive chemicals added (aside from sugar and caffeine).

2) Work at not being an angry vegan.
Uh. I'm not sure on this one. Judging by my posts from a couple weeks ago, I think I've gone from angry to sad, and no one likes a weeping whiner. I'm still working, but it's hard. Trying to focus on the big picture - a massive societal change that is in its infancy. I'm just packing on as much snow as I can onto that snowball so it's bigger in 20, 50, 100 years. I do love being vegan. As I mentioned before, it is the fourth best decision I have ever made. I need to remember that and enjoy all the wonderful rewards it has brought to my life.

3) Eat out less -
100%. Being near broke has meant eating cheap meals at home. I'm either working or doing house/kids stuff for 14 hours straight most days, so the temptation to let someone else cook and clean up is strong. But this is the life we have chosen, so chin up, eh?

No TV is good TV

I have mentioned before that we don't watch TV. We do let our kids watch videos sometimes on weekends.

My dad taped Mulan off of TV a couple years ago, and we let the kids watch it last weekend. A car commercial came on and my son asked, "Why is that car driving?"

I told him it was just driving. It's what cars do. Then he asked about a lady who was tossing her shiny hair around and why she was doing that.

Then we realized why he was confused. He had never seen a TV commercial before. My husband and I exchanged looks of mixed delight and bafflement at this realization. I explained that commercials are shown to people to make them want to buy stuff, but we don't need any of that stuff.

I'm not sure if we'll win the battle against materialism, but my kids give me hope. In Trader Joe's a few days ago, my son told me that we were lucky to have so much food in our cart. I was taken aback for a moment. Then I told him that yes, we are very lucky to have so much food.

I had been stressing about how we were going to pay for it all, and he reminded me how fortunate we are. Sometimes the little ones are wiser than the big ones.

Crazy World

In case you haven't noticed, the world in which we live just doesn't make sense.

You can have strong emotions relating to fake movie situation or something on TV, but if you are upset about something real, you're a nutjob. Controlled emotions in controlled situations are the only thing that's acceptable.

Try this - tell your coworker that you cried last night over Steel Magnolias, and you're a little sentimental. Tell them that you cried last night because there are AIDS orphans in Africa and you're a nut.

Or talk about the Superbowl and part of it that made you angry or upset, and you'll get a nod and a smile. Then share this little tidbit and see what happens.

Recently, the Humane Farming Association obtained massive evidence documenting that, for years, the nation's largest meat producer and major fast-food supplier had been skinning and dismembering conscious cattle. Nearly two-dozen plant workers signed affidavits stating that they were being required to skin and chop the legs off of many thousands of live, conscious animals. Videotape shot at the plant depicted fully conscious cattle cut open and dangling from the bleed rail.


Boom. You're the nutjob.

If someone can't profit off of it, or if it disrupts The Way Things Are, it's not ok to feel it or think it. And it sure as hell isn't ok to talk about it or get upset about it.

Bread and Circuses, I tell you.

Daphne's Greek Restaurant

I'm just posting this as reference for anyone else in Southern California who likes Greek food. Daphne's is a chain of Greek restaurants. Their food is cheap, yummy and quick. I sent an email to ask if their vegetarian lunch plate (ordered without feta or yogurt sauce) is vegan.

Here is their response:

Thank you so much for contacting us to let us know about your need for nutritional information on Daphne's menu. I am excited to tell you that we are designing a new page for our website for exactly this information.

In response to your question regarding the Vegetarian Lunch Plate, Rice and Pita Bread do contain dairy product in their ingredients. However I am happy to tell you that the Hummus, Falafel, Dolmas, Salad (except the Feta), and Salad Dressing do not contain any animal or dairy products.



Daphne's website - www.daphnesgreekcafe.com

Common People

There's this song that I love. Now, you're going to laugh, because it's done by William Shatner. I assure you, my love of Star Trek has nothing to do with my affection for this song. It's just a good song and I want to share.

My favorite part about no one smiling in the grocery store.


Common People

She came from Greece,
she had a thirst for knowledge.
She studied sculpture at Saint Martin's College.
That's where I caught her eye.

She told me that her Dad was loaded.
I said, in that case I'll have a rum and coca-cola.
She said fine,
and in thirty seconds time she said,

I want to live like common people.
I want to do whatever common people do.
I want to sleep with common people.
I want to sleep with common people, like you.

Well, what else could I do?
I said, I'll see what I can do.

I took her to a supermarket.
I don't know why, but I had to
start it somewhere, so it started there.

I said, pretend you've got no money.
She just laughed, and said oh you're so funny.
I said, yeah?
Well, I can't see anyone else smiling in here.

Are you sure you want to live like common people?
You want to see whatever common people see?
You want to sleep with common people?
You want to sleep with common people, like me?
But, she didn't understand,

[Joe Jackson] She just smiled and held my hand.

Rent a flat above a shop.
Cut your hair and get a job.
Smoke some fags and play some pool.
Pretend you never went to school.

But still, you'll never get it right.
When you're lying in bed at night
watching roaches climb the wall,
if you called your Dad he could stop it all.
Yeah.

[Shatner] You'll never live like common people
You'll never do whatever common people do.
You'll never fail like common people.
You'll never watch your life slide out of view,
and dance and drink and screw

[Jackson and Shatner] because there's nothing else to do.

[Shatner and Chorus] Sing along with the common people.
Sing along, and it might just get you thru.'

[Chorus] Laugh along with the common people.

[Shatner and Chorus]
Laugh along, even though they're laughing at you

[Shatner]
and the stupid things that you do
'cause you think that poor is cool.

[Jackson]
Like a dog lying in a corner,
they'll bite you and never warn you.
Look out.

[Shatner]
They'll tear your insides out
'cause everybody hates a tourist.

[Jackson]
'Cause Everybody hates a tourist,
especially one who thinks it's all such a laugh.

[Shatner]
Yeah, and the chip stains' grease
will come out in the bath.

[Shatner and Jackson]
You will never understand
how it feels to live your life
with no meaning or control
and with nowhere left to go.

You're amazed that they exist
and they burn so bright,
while you can only wonder why.

Rent a flat above a shop.
Cut your hair and get a job.
Smoke some fags and play some pool.
Pretend you never went to school.
But still, you'll never get it right.
'Cause When you're lying in bed at night

[Shatner]
watching roaches climb the wall,
if you called your Dad he could stop it all.
Yeah.

You'll never live like common people

[Shatner and Jackson]
You'll never do what common people do.
You'll never fail like common people.
You'll never watch your life slide out of view
and dance and drink and screw
because there's nothing else to do.

[Chorus] I want to sing with common people, like you.
I want to sing with common people, like you.
I want to sing with common people, like you.

Steven the Vegan

"What if the monkey died?"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puGYYhTs4Fo