Happy Buy Nothing Day!

A very happy Buy Nothing Day to all

I’m not happy with BND as a meme – personal consumption is a good place to start but we need to look farther down the road we are travelling.  Since BND is from AdBusters.org perhaps BND could be combined with another of their campaigns, Occupy Wall Street.  Thus: Occupy Black Friday.  One strength of occupying time instead of space is more corporeal safety; another strength is ease of temporal expansion (e.g.: Occupy Cyber Monday, Occupy the 5 Days of Gluttony, Occupy Every Friday).

Also a very happy, belated Genocide Remembrance Day to all

I’m not happy with genocide remembrance day as a meme, either – too many syllables – how about Tigers Day (The Indians Gave, Europeans Raped and Stole) – my literary muse seems to be hungover and vomiting in the hall at the moment.  I would appreciate your corrections and contributions.

This is inspired by “John Horstman” at http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2013/11/27/my-thanksgiving-plans/comment-page-1/#comment-721274

We treat Thanksgiving as a day of remembrance for the First Nations groups whose members were exterminated by colonial imperialism. I find that normative nationalist holidays can be repurposed as reminders that everything we have is built on a foundation of genocide and slavery and exploitation with relative ease, and I’d rather put them to subversive ends than abandon them entirely.

Did you miss me?

Sorry to be silent for so long.  I have been preoccupied with the Rim fire, disorganized work, and a Coursera  adventure.  My deepest apologies to my three readers.  To make amends, I have installed a new widget for your entertainment.  Unfortunately, the new toy is not fully functional in free WordPress.

You may read about the widget at http://www.skepticalscience.com/4-Hiroshima-bombs-per-second-widget-raise-awareness-global-warming.html

Visit the website at http://4hiroshimas.com

and read about the meme at http://www.thebulletin.org/how-many-hiroshimas-does-it-take-describe-climate-change

Vegan Today 6

Day 001 2013 07 13 BMI 27.3 kg/m^2 Blood Glucose (14 day avg.) 135 mg/dl
Day 040 2013 08 21 BMI 26.0 kg/m^2 Blood Glucose (14 day avg.) 107 mg/dl

These numbers are quite good.  Which reminds me, yet again, to not let “the best be the enemy of the good.”  On one level, I am building the body I will be next year.  You can do likewise.  On another level, I am building the society I want to live in next year.  So are you. 

Vegan Today 5

Day 001 2013 07 13 BMI 27.3 kg/m^2 Blood Glucose (14 day avg.) 135 mg/dl
Day 036 2013 08 17 BMI 26.1 kg/m^2 Blood Glucose (14 day avg.) 107 mg/dl

My BMI goal is 22.0; at this rate only another 126 days to go. Wish me luck.

I was wondering, if this blog were to have a bumper sticker what would it say?  Not that this blog needs a sticker for its nonexistent bumper.  But I need at least one more post today, so how about:

Stop the Sixth Great Extinction!

What?  There are five mass extinctions, already?  Are we supposed to stop the sixth from coming?  Or is it happening now and we have to stop it?  How?
Yes it is a very bad sticker – unclear, polysyllabic, urgent, yet dull.  A slight improvement:

End the Sixth Great Extinction!

But now a light begins to dawn.  Since extinction events and geological epoch boundary layers are associated the sticker can be re-written as:

End the Anthropocene!

Much better, even though it may only end up as graffiti on my barn.

Bumper Stickers

Carbon-free Friday

My Friday will not be carbon-free.  I must go to work and do many other things that increase my carbon footprint.  However:

  • I will not eat meat
  • I will not buy anything
  • I will go to bed when the sun sets.

Perhaps you will join me.  Now I must leave.  It is time to ravage my vegetable brethren.

 

Vegan Today 4

I have been enjoying a most clement summer in the Sierra of late and consequently have not been pounding a keyboard.  My deepest apologies.  

This blog is now enforcing a 15 minute / day posting policy to encourage more frequent posts.  The format for vegan today data is now streamlined, thusly:

Day 001    2013 07 13    BMI 27.3 kg/m^2    Blood Glucose (14 day avg.)  135 mg/dl
Day 029    2013 07 13    BMI 26.2 kg/m^2    Blood Glucose (14 day avg.)  115 mg/dl

Thanks to all who like.

Vegan Today 3

Day  08 – 86.9 kg – 093 mg/dL – 20130720
Day  09 – 87.1 kg – 094 mg/dL – 20130721*
Day  10 – 86.5 kg – 120 mg/dL – 20130722
Day  11 – 86.3 kg – 100 mg/dL – 20130723
Day  12 – 85.9 kg – 112 mg/dL – 20130724
Day  13 – 86.5 kg – 100 mg/dL – 20130725*
Day  14 – 86.3 kg – 113 mg/dL – 20130726
 
* after a small meal
 
Trends:
week 01 – mean weight 87.4 kg – mean blood sugar 121 mg/dL
week 02 – mean weight 86.5 kg – mean blood sugar 105 mg/dL
 
Trends are looking good!

Vegan Today 2

Day 1 – 88.4 kg – 147 mg/dL – 20130713 *
Day 2 – 88.3 kg – 112 mg/dL – 20130714
Day 3 – 87.9 kg – 122 mg/dL – 20130715
Day 4 – 86.6 kg – 120 mg/dL – 20130716
Day 5 – 87.1 kg – 116 mg/dL – 20130717
Day 6 – 86.8 kg – 105 mg/dL – 20130718
Day 7 – 87.0 kg – 122 mg/dL – 20130719

*after small meal

Some FAQs for you:

What is the connection between geology and a vegan diet?

Geology informs my concern about the possibility of a sixth mass extinction due to global warming, while converting to a vegetarian diet is the most effective simple action to stop a growing human carbon footprint.

How vegan are you?

If I were already completely vegan this would be an especially boring series of blog posts.   I am a flexible vegetarian – during the past week I have consumed 1 L of yogurt, 250  ml of milk, 500 g of cheese, 8 homegrown eggs, and 100 g of diced chicken.

Why the numbers?

Those are my numbers for weight and blood sugar.  If they continue to improve perhaps other members of the hyper-adipose societies of North America may join this project for themselves.  

Why is the bridge waiting?

See the next post.