Jackson Pollock Toy
Lets all try this fun game. You get to be Jackson Pollock.
(Via I Blame The Patriarchy)
Hungry Bears…
It’s already basically common knowledge that melting icecaps are causing polar bears to drown. Apparrently, they’re now also eating each other.
Test Tube Burgers
Emily pointed me toward this article today about scientists making meat in a laboratory. Basically, pig cells + bioreactor = dinner.
The idea is to grow “meat sheets” — sheets of animal tissue less than a milimeter thick, which can be ground up or (gag) “rolled” into thicker pieces. These researches are hoping that, once perfected, the technology will be super productive: “A single cell could theoretically produce enough meat to feed the world’s population for a year.” It’s also really effecient, since something like 3/4 of the nutrients one puts into animal one never gets back, between the animal’s metabolism and the animal growing things other than meat (i.e. bones).
Okay, a few things. Firstly, this makes me feel kind of sick. Secondly, as gross as it is, it’s not as gross as where our meat comes from now. Thirdly, it’s probably way better for animals, the environment, and maybe even people, too (scientists are hoping the meat will cost something like $1 a pound). And finally, I’m curious about what the implications of this are for people who are vegetarians for animal rights’ reasons (unlike Emily and me, who are vegetarians because of strange and more personal things); if the meat was never part of an actual pig or cow, is it still meat? If you’re an animal-rights vegetarian and you’re reading this, how would you feel about eating meat grown in a lab?
What Would Dumbledore Do?
Sometimes it’s easier to understand complicated situations and crises when they’re put into a familiar context. It makes the problem seem more tangible and easier to deal with. Even to those who don’t read kids’ books or aren’t so into Harry Potter, the Harry Potter Alliance represents a great way to spread information about things such as the genocide in Darfur and global warming to an audience that may otherwise be uninterested. Yay!
“It’s our responsibility to arrange the meeting…”
We had a gross experience today.
We were walking though a parking lot and noticed some really ridiculous stickers on a car. The worst one happened to be peeling. Emily suggested that I tear it off, and I, in a moment of unusual boldness and stupidity, did.
This is where it gets really gross. The owner of the car (who was sitting inside, apparently), marched up to us. This guy was probably seven feet tall and three feet wide. He had bulging muscles and a bandana. We were pretty sure he was going to hit us.
I said sorry and handed him his crumpled sticker. He replied, “I don’t really think you are. Fuckin’ hippies, get out of here.” And we went. He called out after us, “I hope they get your house first when they come.”
Okay. We shouldn’t have messed with his stuff. That was definitely immature and uncalled for. Tapering with private property is not an okay thing to do. So, I’m sorry we did that. Regardless of our questionable behavior, he was pretty much the grossest person ever.
Edible Estates
Edible Estates is a project launched by Fritz Haeg. The aim of the project is to “delawn” America, turning typical lawns into healthy, productive, food-bearing gardens as opposed to the useless, purely decorative resource drainers that they are now. Edible Estates makes it easy! Considering that most of the food now available to the general public is really disgusting (for a whole lot of reasons), and that lawns cover about 30 million acres of the U.S., I think that this project is something that YOU should support whether you have a lawn or not. Read this to learn more about it.
Our Planet is ON FIRE!
Europe is having a heatwave again this summer. The air inside English subways is 117 degrees. The pavement in melting off the roads.
It feels like time to panic to me.
Tigress Adopts Piglets
A tigress, after losing her own cubs, has adopted piglets. They are disguised with tiger stripes. Look.
Straight To Jesus
Another interesting thing I’ve been reading lately: Straight to Jesus: Sexual and Christian Conversions in the Ex-Gay Movement, by Tanya Erzen. Erzen lived volunteered at an “ex-gay ministry” for over a year, observing daily life and interviewing the people there.
I think all that “ex-gay” business is just plain stupid, for quite a few reasons (a big one: it’s definitely insane to accept Biblical condemnations of homosexuality and not similar condemnations of, say, cheese burgers, or women not covering their hair), and the introduction gives the impression that Erzen does, too. What I really like about the book, though, is that, regardless of her own beliefs, she manages to write about “ex-gays” accurately and with sensitivity. No matter how ridiculous I think those people are, it’s really neat to get a clear picture of what their lives are like, specifically, what would motivate someone to commit him- or herself to a lifelong battle against a fundamental part of his/her identity. And, bonus: now I understand their thinking and their dilemna, and I still think they’re being absurd.
The Book of Nothing
I’d like to hereby recommend The Book of Nothing: Vacuums, Voids, and the Latest Ideas About the Origins of the Universe, by John D. Barrow, to anyone with even the slightest interest in the nature of existence, quantum mechanics, and/or why there is everything instead of nothing. The book is technically categorized as “science and mathematics,” and there’s some of that, but also plenty of history and literature. I think it reads more like philosophy than anything. Plus, there are neat-looking diagrams.
