I rode only about 2.25 miles today. Maybe a total of 40 minutes on my bike. I remember when I could bike nearly all the trails at Minto Brown in a day! It's gonna take some time, but I can do it again. Yes I can! Minto Brown is so nice and the people there very friendly, of course the friendly ones all said hi when I was struggling to breath so I looked like a total poop head.
The best thing is that I feel good and nothing hurts!
July 20, 2010
Angry people
The great thing about the Internet is that you can get all this information and it's also the worst thing. With information comes opinion and with the Internet comes some anonymity. You can eviscerate someone and they don't know who you are.
Issues like animal rights, global climate change, the environment get people hyped up. They get me hyped up, but I don't do a good job of eviscerating back. I would prefer a healthy debate to name calling, band wagon, all the terms I learned in Speech class for bad argument. Saying I'm like Sarah Palin because I eat meat and don't have an issue with that, is not good argument. It lumps me in a group that I don't belong for no other reason to titillate other readers and make me angry.
We need to construct our words so that they will be listened to and, if we want it that way, to change people's opinions.
Issues like animal rights, global climate change, the environment get people hyped up. They get me hyped up, but I don't do a good job of eviscerating back. I would prefer a healthy debate to name calling, band wagon, all the terms I learned in Speech class for bad argument. Saying I'm like Sarah Palin because I eat meat and don't have an issue with that, is not good argument. It lumps me in a group that I don't belong for no other reason to titillate other readers and make me angry.
We need to construct our words so that they will be listened to and, if we want it that way, to change people's opinions.
July 18, 2010
Really?
We have no ethical obligation to preserve the different breeds of livestock produced through selective breeding. ...One generation and out. We have no problems with the extinction of domestic animals. They are creations of human selective breeding...Wayne Pacelle - Former National Director of Fund for Animals.
I don’t use the word "pet." I think it’s speciesist language. I prefer "companion animal." For one thing, we would no longer allow breeding. People could not create different breeds. There would be no pet shops. If people had companion animals in their homes, those animals would have to be refugees from the animal shelters and the streets. You would have a protective relationship with them just as you would with an orphaned child. But as the surplus of cats and dogs (artificially engineered by centuries of forced breeding) declined, eventually companion animals would be phased out, and we would return to a more symbiotic relationship – enjoyment at a distance -- Ingrid Newkirk, PETA's President, quoted in The Harper's Forum Book, Jack Hitt, ed., 1989, p.223.
So, while the quote from Newkirk is a bit old, it still gives me a chill as I sit here with four dogs and at present 2 cats. Oh and Oliver the cockatiel. Pacelle is now involved with the Humane Society of the United States. You should know that dollars you to his organization does not trickle to let's say The Humane Society of the Willamette in Salem, OR.
The HSUS is actively pursuing ways to curb animal farming, even at the smaller sustainable levels, so be careful when the ask for money if you think all they do is for the good of all animals.
I don’t use the word "pet." I think it’s speciesist language. I prefer "companion animal." For one thing, we would no longer allow breeding. People could not create different breeds. There would be no pet shops. If people had companion animals in their homes, those animals would have to be refugees from the animal shelters and the streets. You would have a protective relationship with them just as you would with an orphaned child. But as the surplus of cats and dogs (artificially engineered by centuries of forced breeding) declined, eventually companion animals would be phased out, and we would return to a more symbiotic relationship – enjoyment at a distance -- Ingrid Newkirk, PETA's President, quoted in The Harper's Forum Book, Jack Hitt, ed., 1989, p.223.
So, while the quote from Newkirk is a bit old, it still gives me a chill as I sit here with four dogs and at present 2 cats. Oh and Oliver the cockatiel. Pacelle is now involved with the Humane Society of the United States. You should know that dollars you to his organization does not trickle to let's say The Humane Society of the Willamette in Salem, OR.
The HSUS is actively pursuing ways to curb animal farming, even at the smaller sustainable levels, so be careful when the ask for money if you think all they do is for the good of all animals.
Watching Tour of Duty
So, I put Tour of Duty on my Netflix que when I was teaching Global Issues and US History. Finally getting a chance to watch the old episodes. Having a lot of time on my hands and realizing some underlying philosophies in this show. Should have known even back when it was on TV, but I had other priorities back then.
I remember not liking the officers at all. While I can now look at them with a different mindset, I see that maybe they were created to illustrate the total stupidness of the War in Vietnam. I think of how what we are doing now is similar to Vietnam. I doubt I am the first, maybe even Korea. The U.S. always sticking its nose places it probably doesn't belong not for the good of indigenous people, but for the show of might.
There is even an objector that I totally don't remember! He makes the foil to the gunho attitude of the grunts and NCOs. Gunho, of course, is good when you are fighting. Not so much when you come home.
I remember not liking the officers at all. While I can now look at them with a different mindset, I see that maybe they were created to illustrate the total stupidness of the War in Vietnam. I think of how what we are doing now is similar to Vietnam. I doubt I am the first, maybe even Korea. The U.S. always sticking its nose places it probably doesn't belong not for the good of indigenous people, but for the show of might.
There is even an objector that I totally don't remember! He makes the foil to the gunho attitude of the grunts and NCOs. Gunho, of course, is good when you are fighting. Not so much when you come home.
July 17, 2010
What will the next global war be over?
In my opinion the next global war will be over water. Access to it will begin to be controlled. Countries will begin to attempt to control where and when water flows. Look at many third world countries. Go to http://www.water.org/ and see how important access to water is.
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