“[I]t is the responsibility of those of us fortunate enough to exercise choice to ask whether this is the way the world should be going.”
--Charles Clover, from “The End of The Line,” as quoted in “Rightous Porkchop” (by Nicolette Hahn Niman).
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http://www.panna.org/blog/bring-2011-update-strawberry-pesticide
Dear Family,
“Everything has multiple variables, and _everything_ is non-linear! It's amazing anyone can make any progress at all.”
--Terry Matilsky [hard at work on his gravity/early universe theory...]
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Jemmerisms:
“Pig is my favorite meat. Pepper is my favorite pepper.”
“I love this car [toy with pull-back action], because it's SO frickin' cool! ...It goes, Zoomy! Zoomy!”
As we drive by a wintry Cayuga Lake: “Those really are frozen waves.”
Here's an article written for elderly patients, but fascinating for people of any age who have fingernails and have ever wondered about the various annoying symptoms that can afflict these small and useful body parts:
http://mrishaanshareef.blogspot.com/2008/10/finger-nails-to-predict-hea…
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Dear Family,
It has...ahem...come to my attention that some family members would prefer not to wade through lengthy article excerpts concerning, say, gut dysbiosis and its effect on neuromuscular occlusion...when all they really want is to read the cute things that Jem and Ben said this week.
Therefore and henceforth, my updates will begin with Family News and Isms, followed by fascinating-article reviews and op ed content. I hope this will prove more user-friendly; let me know what you think. :)
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Dear Family,
Is it possible that meat-eating can be ecologically sustainable, even compared with a vegan diet? Is it healthy to regularly and copiously eat meat? Is it true that my new diet, full of saturated fat, cholesterol, and animal flesh (as well as very few carbs), lots of broths and fermented veggies/dairy, might actually be even _more_ healthy than the whole-foods vegetarian regimen I consumed, Before?
Dear Family,
Jemmerisms:
Looking deeply into my eyes: “There are two Jems in there! See them?”
In NJ, enjoying the carpet: “I'm gonna hop up the fuzzy stairs!”
Staring wistfully out the window, over the mountains, while Ben and he and I discuss the far ranging nature of Sky: “I want to go FAR away.”
Stomping down the path: “That's the sound of the crunchy snow... I like it!”
“I wanna be a train driving on tracks--'cause I wanna drive on tracks.”
I just started reading “Righteous Porkchop,” by Nicolette Hahn Niman, which chronicles Niman's adventures as an environmental attorney who begins her career by investigating the non-glamorous and severe problem of hog manure pollution on factory farms. The book's first surprise (for me) came on the first page, in the forward by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.: a searing indictment of the CAFO/factory farming meat industry. It contains passages like this one:
Dear Family,
“Tooth decay is not only unnecessary, but an indication of our divergence from Nature's fundamental laws of life and health.”
--Weston Price
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There are always interesting things to read around here, like the current issue of _Academe: Magazine of the American Association of University Professors_. Among other related content is “Diagnosing Conflict-of-Interest Disorder: Big Pharma works in subtle but powerful ways inside the pages of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.” http://www.aaup.org/AAUP/pubsres/academe/2010/ND/feat/cosg.htm
http://www.math.cornell.edu/~gaarder/east-hill-flood.jpg
Take a look at the crazy flooding in Ithaca this week!
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I've just started reading a new cookbook! It's called “Full Moon Feast,” by Jessica Prentice, and last night I adapted the Swedish Meatballs recipe for dinner. They were delicious: http://www.lifeisapalindrome.com/recipes/swedish-meatballs
