Category Archives: My World
Sometimes learning is depressing
Monsanto is a name that those of us in the south grow up hearing. It is synonymous with farming, cotton, seeds, soy beans, and farmers that you know and see everyday. It has a non-intrusive, non-threatening, “we love farmers” vibe around here. With Round-Up selling as fast as they can produce it and their Round-Up Ready Soy Beans and Cotton genetically modified seeds, needless to say they are more than a minor influence in the southern United States. So, when I saw the documentary “The World According to Monsanto” listed on my DirecTV guide, I immediately flagged it to record. What I learned shocked me and really made me think about what Monsanto and its genetically modified seeds are doing for food production and the “intellectual rights” associated to a seed produced by a plant.
We learn in grade school that plants grow from a seed of some sort. When that plant continues to grow it produces seeds of its own. The plant does this so the plant can propagate its species. You may assume that if you grow something from a seed you can replant the seeds that original plant produces and grow more plants. That may be true…sometimes. It is never true for a Monsanto seed. Farmers must sign contracts that state they may not keep any seeds produced by the plants that they grow from Monsanto seeds. Monsanto uses this policy to protect their “intellectual property.”
We also learn about cross pollination in grade school. If a farm growing seeds bought from Monsanto cross pollinates with another crop near there grown from non-Monsanto grown seeds. The result is both fields produce genetically modified crops that fall under Monsanto’s GM seed property rights and the non-Monsanto crop owner will be sued. Mr. Schmeiser won is his ordeal, but hundreds others haven’t.
BUT WAIT THERE IS MORE.
MONSANTO OWNS PATENTS FOR “TERMINATOR SEEDS” These seeds will yield pants with sterile seeds so farmers will have to buy MORE seeds next year and the next year and the next year. This coupled with their stance on “seed savers” MONSANTO POLICY The only reasonable motivation is domination and control of the global food market.
WAIT, with all this talk about global food production and market domination, I have missed one important question… Is genetically modified food safe to eat? Well, Reports vary. However the American Academy of Environmental Science has issued a moratorium on GM foods. According to their study GM foods caused damage to the organs to animals who ate it. Here is their position paper concerning their findings and an excerpt from that paper.
“However, several animal studies indicate serious health risks associated with GM food consumption including infertility, immune dysregulation, accelerated aging, dysregulation of genes associated with cholesterol synthesis, insulin regulation, cell signaling, and protein formation, and changes in the liver, kidney, spleen and gastrointestinal system.”
In all fairness this may be a biased study…WHAT? A former Monsanto employee feels GM food is unsafe????
ARE YOU KIDDING ME!
So this study is saying that GM crops, like the ones Monsanto manufactures, are unhealthy to consume and cause health problems. I need to calm down….
Well thank god we have non GM foods to consume….ummm, apparently not.
“As of 2001, 75 percent of all food crops grown in the United States were genetically modified, including 80 percent of soybeans, 68 percent of cotton, and 26 percent of corn crops.”
Just to make it worse: Here are the Top 10 Dangers of GM Foods
Well shit.
All I can say now is that we need to be more informed. We just need to know that when we stop to smell the roses, it may be a genetically “enhanced” blue rose.
EVERY FAN OF GEORGE BUSH NEEDS TO READ THIS, BUT WON’T.
I am completely floored by this. If you think I am completely off base for posting this…follow the links included and cut off your biases and weigh the evidence for yourself.
CLICK HERE FOR ORIGINAL POSTING ON KOTORI MAGIZINE
YOU HAVE BEEN EDUCATED thanks to Dan Benbow.
And the award goes to…
My wife and I had talked about getting some form of tattoo as a sign of devotion to our marriage for weeks leading up to our 1st anniversary, as if mutual debt, marital property, matching towels, and a Yorkie weren’t enough? As part of the Surprise Memphis Night Out, my wife had made me an appointment with Vanessa Waites to discuss my matrimonial tattoo. (So much for being able to plan ahead.) Upon entering Underground Tattoo, the scent of incense filled my nose. The Rev. Maynard Keenan was singing from another room. I felt comfortable immediately. The casual atmosphere and … eclectic decor was ok with me. *NOTE: I have never felt more comfortable around multiple speculum.* I met Vanessa and we discussed the ins and outs of my tattoo ideas. It became clear to me during that initial discussion that her attitude and humor were well suited for the person I was going to choose to adorn my body with the name of my beloved wife. Her comments about marriage and how she “marked” her husband were pretty funny and appropriate. It was a good time. We said our “thanks yous” and left after making a date for the application of the ink.
When Sabrina and I arrived for the tat. My research on Mrs. Waites was complete. I had looked at her painting and tattoo gallery. (LINKS ARE BELOW) I was impressed by her artistic ability and not at all wary of her tattooing my wife’s name into (or onto…I don’t know which is more appropriate in the tattoo world) my back.
As she began tattooing me, I was constantly reminded to keep my head down and “slunch” over. As my wife took pics, we talked about education, art, tattoo apprenticeship, food and Carl Sagan. I couldn’t have drawn up a better discussion list to be involved in as ink was jammed into my dermal layer of skin.
This was the best experience in tattooing that I have ever been apart of. I have other tattoos before Vanessa. No one has yet to tattoo me twice. Vanessa will be the first. ( Assuming she agrees to…)
OFFICIALLY RECOMMENDED
Vanessa Waites
Vanessa is an artist at Underground Art in Memphis, TN.
A gallery of her tattoo work is here.
A summary of her bio is here.
*BE SURE TO ASK HER HOW SHE “MARKED” HER HUSBAND*
Sadly, Inspiration Is Too Strong To Ignore
As I was heading to work today my mind was deciding on what topic I should write about today. Honestly, I was not feeling overly creative, until inspiration struck. There, at a convenience store ATM, was the spark I needed to choose a topic. (See above) It was a print out that made me realize something about the state of most American’s lives…as well as America as a whole. Credit card abuse is a pandemic that effects the USA. Poor education and brilliant marketing are at the root of the problem. Let’s face it. Most American’s don’t understand how interest works. (WANNA LEARN? CLICK HERE) Learning how credit works, frankly, isn’t stressed enough in our lives. If it was illustrated and taught as is SHOULD be our financial system in the US would crumble due to no one accepting horrible terms on that line of credit. I KNOW…I KNOW. That may be an overestimation. (Maybe not.)
Surely our elected leaders, the best among us would not let our country be based on money we OWE SOMEONE ELSE…
Yeah they would-and have-and its bad for us all. (SEE!) Our country is being slowly owned by our lenders. The Christian Bible says the “Borrower is slave to the lender.” Well, get used to the shackles everybody, because your share of our nations debt comes to (CLICK HERE TO SEE). I think that is over our collective credit limit. Maybe they will take a check????
you arent alone…see?
I was looking at Will Richardson’s content feeds and came across this. It is from Dana Boyd’s blog.
I think many of us can relate to this post.
sometimes I feel like a bitch
For the most part, I’m a fuzzy lovable energetic creature (or at least I like to think so). But new technologies combined with information overload sometimes bring out the inner bitch in me. And then I feel guilty.
I am drowning in information overload. I cannot read everything that I want to, engage in conversations with everyone I’d like to, let alone deal with high-bandwidith content like video. Over the last decade, I’ve developed a set of coping mechanisms for dealing with online conversations. Ways of keeping myself sane amidst the onslaught. The problem is that each new genre of communication and consumption brings new challenges and forces me to adjust. And just when I think that I’ve got a grip on what’s going on, the genre gains mainstream adoption and I’m forced to get all rigid on people. And I hate that.
Let me be a little more concrete. And self-involved. I get hundreds of emails per day that I have to directly respond to. (Hundreds more get filtered into the “will read one day” folders that get very little attention.) I do a huge amount of my responding offline (on airplanes, public transit, cafes, etc.). Thus, messages with links take much longer to get my attention than messages without links. But there’s something nice about turning an INBOX into something manageable before people have the chance to respond. The problem with Web2.0 technologies is that each one wants to replace the INBOX (or at least be an additional channel). For example, there are private messages and comments on social network sites, direct messages and @replies on Twitter. There are blog comments. And RSS feeds. And then there are all of the online communities and bulletin boards and chat spaces that have evolved from those developed in olden days. For me, it’s too much. Too much I tell you. And we haven’t even gotten to voicemail, text messages. Let alone all that’s coming.
The onslaught of places to check makes me want to crumple. And, for better or worse, it’s simply 100% not manageable if I want to keep up my research and stay sane. So I’ve developed my own quirky habits to cope and rather than be flexible for others, I’ve become demanding. I check voicemail sporadically (so please don’t leave a message – send a text). I refuse to even check the private messages on social network sites (so if you’ve sent something there, I’ve never seen it). Because of how @replies are overloaded with retweets and references, I’m simply incapable of keeping up with the stream of directed @replies with requests to respond. And I almost never check online communities or bulletin boards and have bowed out from all collaborative projects that require that kind of engagement.
It’s terrible you see. It’s not that I *like* email (cuz goddess knows it’s been a long time since “you’ve got mail” made me do anything other than cringe). But I know how to manage it. Too many years of Getting Things Done training has taught me to manage it as a glorious ToDo list that can get resolved. But I don’t know how to meaningfully manage streams of content. And I don’t have the structures in place to deal with content in the cloud that requires connectivity. And I don’t like having to deal with Yet Another Walled Garden’s attempt to replicate email. For my own sanity, I need one pile of ToDo. So at the end of the day, the only channel that actually works for me is email. And if you need me to respond to something, don’t message me elsewhere; send me an email.
This is exactly the kind of issue that Bernie Hogan deals with in his dissertation. The complexities of multiple channels and people’s individual preferences. And there are huge issues here – should someone be flexible to others’ preferences or demand that others work around them? And here’s where I feel like a bitch. I’m asking people to work around me. Because I can’t cope with the alternative. And that makes me feel guilty and selfish. And I don’t know what to do about this. Le sigh. So please forgive me.
This article has been translated. En francais. Thanks Ulysse!
When someone tells you to cheer up…
…tell them you are thinking critically.
Then send them here…
http://www.chrisnull.com/2009/11/03/be-mad/
This blog is a good read all around.
The “Word”
First off, I have no issue with any religion placing material in public places. That being said, I suggest you at least spell the name of whatever super being you promote correctly. It adds validity and intelligence to your recruitment efforts. Just a FYI for ya.
“By the People: The Election of Barak Obama”
I am watching this documentary about the election of Pres. Obama and all I can think of is how “political” he looks. As much as I like the man- he looks like a politician. That is unsettling to me. The screen is showing David Poluffe talking about how little sleep they have going into the Iowa primary while Wolf Blitzer and his expert discuss the ” Viability” of the candidates. There is a baby toting mom searching the caucus for Obama supporters as Obama’s Iowa victory is announced. At the after party Tommy Vietor shrugs and says, “Who knew?” I think he should have. After the volunteer cries to his mom on the phone about how happy he is that his work for all these weeks is not in vain, Obama is shown on a private jet flying away from Iowa to focus on New Hampshire. It looks like he is saying “Thanks…See ya.” I love watching Chuck Todd and Chris Matthews discuss the emerging political scene with questions firing back and forth at each other. Ryan Lizza from the New York Post spouts stats like he is reading a text book. When Axelrod and Gibbs broke the news to Obama that he did not win the New Hampshire primary he looked at them and said, “This is going to take a while, isn’t it?” That question led to his realization that American politics is a corn maze that sometimes has no end. I think Obama knows now that you have to be a politician, you have to take certain steps, you have to pay the pipers and the gate keepers and yes President Obama…It is going to take a while for any change to happen.
sometimes right - sometimes not - always correct 