I have researched a Vegan diet lately and found some interesting things. I was vegetarian for many years, and I regarded the times I ran into Vegans as unfortunate. Vegans, in general seemed crazy to me, but then most people treated me like I was crazy for being vegetarian. It has long been an fact that the only thing wrong with a vegetarian diet is the way other people act towards you. People often times would challenge me to explain my choice, sometimes actually getting angry at the idea, and then asking me crazy questions like “didn’t I know God wants us to eat meat?”, and that it was “Our right as masters of the world” etc. You generally don’t get invited to barbecues. People respond to vegetarians pretty badly, and that’s how I viewed Vegans. I recently watched the Vegan documentary “Vegucated” and another one called “Making the Connection” which were both good and informative. I am not sure I am entirely convinced by the Vegan rhetoric that the prime basis is to make the world cruelty free for animals, but that reasoning doesn’t work, since, If the world changed and we removed all cruelty from the raising and slaughter of food animals, gave them healthy, happy and good lives with an absolutely pain-free death, I still think the Vegans would not be happy, and still insist we do not ever eat animals. So it seems to me that it’s not really about cruelty in the final analysis, but I can’t argue with the health benefits that come from being Vegan. The Vegan diet is also better for the World and global food economy. It is a fact of ecology that as you move up the food chain of consumers and the consumed, about only 1% of energy is actually metabolized to the next level. All life on earth is powered by the Sun, and it is estimated that all plant life on Earth only metabolizes about 2% of the Sun energy that falls on the Earth each day. So if you consider a simple food chain, one that only involves corn, pigs, and man, you can see that in raising the corn to feed the pigs, the pigs only metabolize about 1% of the energy in the corn, and when man eats the pigs, man only metabolizes 1% of the energy from the pigs, or by extension, only 0.1% of the energy that was in the corn. So we can get our 1% from the pigs, or the corn, but if we choose to get it from the corn, we can feed 100 times as many people. That seems better to me. I am contemplating taking the Vegan challenge, living only on a Vegan diet for 4-6 weeks, and seeing how I feel, and if there are any health benefits. I already like most soy products from being vegetarian, so I have a head start there. One thing I think needs to be considered though, is that a healthier diet containing more fruits and vegetables should be striven for by everyone, but Vegans need to accept that if everyone in the world increased their fruit and veggie intake by only a few percent, that would be a good thing for the world. So Vegans need to stop being ethics snobs and looking down on Vegetarians, if people in the world became “mostly vegetarians” but still ate meat from time to time, that would be a good thing, and it would lead to changes that are more in line with what Vegans want for the world. Instead of viewing Vegetarians or “mostly Vegetarians” as failed Vegans, they should accept that is a good thing for the person and the world. Ultimately food is food, and sometimes the human condition doesn’t afford is the luxury of choice, so food should never be the basis of a morality.

sorry I haven’t updated this much lately, been spending a lot of time working on my Sci-Fi book review blog @ http://scifibookreader.wordpress.com

A couple of years ago i decided to start shaving with a straight razor. I felt at the time it was a significant gesture against the waste and rush of the modern world, because in a lifetime one spends thousands of dollars on “disposable” razors, and they don’t really give you that good a shave. It reminded me of what the Dalai Lama said about the modern advertising world, and how ultimately it could not make money on selling you the cure for thirst, but instead, in order to make itself useful and needed, had to make you more thirsty. Hence providing a cheap, disposable shaving device that did not shave well, would wind up in the end making vastly more money than just investing in a lifetime single straight razor. Fight the Power! At least that’s what I thought at the time. My first few months of learning to shave with a sraight razor were like scenes from a horror movie, with co-workers asking me if I had been atacked by a street gang and such. Eventually I learned that being slow and gentle was the key, and I eventually became a master of the close and meticulous shave with a deadly straight razor, often shaving over my moles and other imperfections in my skin without the slightest trace of blood. Then came the real lessons. You see, life has to be about balance, and patience. I still find, that when I am emotionally frustrated, distraught, or otherwise not engaged in the moment, my perfect shaves don’t go so perfectly. I have had a frustarting week, filled with doubt, hearing about people who make integer multiples of my annual income in only one month, I find myself in the work place asking myself “what am I doing here?” and “am I really serving my goals? Or just passing time here?”, it has been a solid week of these thoughts, and as I cracked open my straight razor tonight, and began my methodical process, I knicked myself twice. I stood there, looking in the mirror, with two little streams of blood, that I knew I could have avoided, and realized I had lost my balance this week. I asked myself why I had done this, what was it that made me so impatient, why did I feel so rushed? Why do I feel so exhausted? I knew that these doubts about my own strength were at the root of the mistake. I had to take moment to remember, that life is not a race, there is no winner, this is all the time I will ever have, and that I need to enjoy it, savor it, and be one with it. Once again I had been tricked into thinking that I had to move twice as fast and work twice as hard to get ahead, but did not ask myself where I was trying to go. I came home, from a frustrated week, and was tempted to be angry with my good and gentle partner, and I wasn’t sure the reason why. Our relatioship seemed like more business that I had to take care of, without asking myself what the cost of business was. My partner got the better of me in the end and started sharing with me details of his day, and as I enaged, I felt my stress and anger melt away, and was once again reminded to be mindful. I still feel frustration that somehow I have been tricked into being two people, a callous person of business, and a mindful, meditative person, and am never quite sure where the difference lies, or when the switchover takes place. It doesn’t seem right that I should lead this dual existance, I like who I am now, the person who is writing this, the person who can shave with a straight razor gently, with a slow deliberate focus that never cuts, the person who loves my kind and gentle partner Joe. What is it about the world that changes me? I’m not sure I will ever understand.

Ever since I came here to Hawaii, and saw how poorly the highways are designed, how jammed the traffic gets, and how reckless some of the developments are I have started to feel like I can sympathize with some of the native people s notions of “just say no” to further development of Oahu. They have been the victims of poor public planning, Urban sprawl, and political crookery for far too long. Hawaii is a world-class destination, and Honolulu a world-class city, that is forced to get by on 1950’s planning and design. We are very close to the choke point where business and tourism will be at capacity, and I shudder to think of the chaos we are heading towards if sprawl is to continue the way it has been . The only way out of this mess is to say no to the past, and say yes to an intelligent, cost efficient system, that is actually planned right. Like the Rail. After having been burned so many times in the past many here do not want to risk more on a new project, but the problem is not just one of risk, it is a matter of the future, and setting a precedent. It is a travesty that during rush hour gridlock, thousands of vehicles for miles stop being vehicles (since they aren’t moving) and become pollution machines, whose only function is to convert gasoline into smog. Many on the island aren’t concerned about smog, since we are an island, but globally this is a disaster. I know Rail is expensive! But doing the right thing the right way always is! It will connect Kapolei with the AlaMoana Center Via the Aloha stadium and the airport, this will take thousands of cars off the road, help tourists going from Airport to Town or Kapolei, and allow some commuters from Kapolei to live without a car. One of the best payoffs a City can have is investing in infrastructure that is actually worth it! It saves the City and citizens money in the long run, and it’s a step in the right direction for the future of Hawaii, towards an efficient, smart, and cleaner future.

 with

Baby boy born on Oahu freeway during morning rush hour traffic; 2nd freeway birth since Friday.

I know there has been a strong attempt in the media and on the part of Mitt Romney’s campaign to minimize the effect of his religion on his election and on his possible future role as President of the United States, and this is somewhat understandable since there have been serious concerns  about electing a Catholic as President in an earlier election. I know that in most cases a man’s religion is his own business, and attacking him on his religion is downright un-American. Despite this fact,  I would like to voice a concern I have about this, in that I feel electing a Mormon as President does not have the same concerns as electing, say, a Catholic President. Some of the most important and germinal ceremonies of the Mormon Church, I feel, would directly conflict with a person’s role and obligations as a President. Here’s why…

How copyright enforcement robots killed the Hugo Awards [UPDATED].