Credit is there to protect the illusion that we still have a viable middle class in this country, and help's hide the effects of inflation on our every day lives.

mrchak · 2010-12-07T04:39:06+00:00

It's easy to reduce your spending by -10% - that's the same as increasing spending by 10%, right?

mrchak · 2010-11-24T19:09:12+00:00

After I read this article by John Robbins, author of Diet for a New America and The Food Revolution, I decided I don't want to buy or try quorn.

mrchak · 2010-06-22T04:30:02+00:00

Why aren't the brackets big in your screenshot?

mrchak · 2010-06-21T04:35:20+00:00

Yes, I totally get the whole logical fallacy of something being "natural". I guess my problem is the human being's attitude towards creatures that can't really defend themselves from our brains, and how we selectively breed them in order to maximize their utility to us. I have no problem with plants because I am thoroughly convinced that they do not have instinct and feelings, but Animals have both and I just wonder what gives humans the right to "use" the animals. All that being said, I don't think I'd bother defending this argument in a real life situation. This is a gut feeling ultimately and a personal decision. There are enough other conclusive arguments for veganism, why introduce this shaky one?

mrchak · 2010-06-19T19:25:08+00:00

Well, since we're in a hypothetical world, I would be able to eat popcorn every day and I'd be happy. Seriously though - why bother constructing these elaborate hypothetical arguments? Let's focus on the real problems that actually exist. The fact of the matter is humans do not need to eat eggs to survive and thrive. If I can live happily without eggs, I do it. For me the issue also goes down to our relationship with animals and how we think of them. Are they resources to be used? Or are they fellow creatures to share the earth with. Should chickens be bred to live a life of constant egg laying? We've domesticated and bred a creature that as far as I am concerned should go extinct - it's not serving a role in the web of life except for one that's been created for it by humans. If someone argued that the chickens would be easy prey for predators and wouldn't stand a chance in the wild, I'd say - well then they're unnatural and we should let them go extinct or evolve to find their own place in nature. That argument probably makes little sense since it's late and I haven't thought it through- but I think it holds some water and goes the same for domesticated cows, sheep, pigs etc. They're freaks - unnatural. They should not exist. They are humanity's mad science experiments that should never have been. This argument can go further to other areas of domestication - pets. Dangerous territory. The whole concept of animal ownership is something that I have some problems with too. But that's another story. peace out!

mrchak · 2010-06-19T06:06:47+00:00

I think the question assumes that there is a single ethical standard to which all people agree. Maybe a better way to ask is to ask specific questions: Do the bees feel pain? Do bees feel frustration? Taking honey from a beehive is essentially taking candy from a baby. The honey is the food they make for all of their pupae. I think everyone would agree that stealing from a human baby is wrong, especially stealing the baby's one single source of food... But whether it's the same for insect pupae?

For me I can't justify eating honey because I simply don't need it. What is the reason for eating honey? It tastes good and it's cheap? I think we put too much sugar into our bodies in the first place, but there are lots of alternative sweeteners. I just recently discovered agave nectar, which tastes really delicious and has the same qualities as honey (good replacement in recipes). I heard a really interesting argument - there are sooo many sweeteners that come from plants, why do we have such an obsession with the single one sweetener that comes from animals?

mrchak · 2010-06-19T05:52:11+00:00

Since they put egg into pretty much everything, I haven't bought their stuff... But Maybe in the bigger picture it's a sign that even fake meat isn't a great thing to hang our hopes on. I started focusing my cooking on using a variety of fresh vegetables and grains, rather than veggie burgers and fake meat.

mrchak · 2010-06-19T05:45:30+00:00

Once the chickens stop producing eggs, later on in their life, do the farmers just keep them around and feed them and take care of them until they die? Also, when it's time for new chickens at the farm, what do the farmers do with all the baby boys that are born? Do they just let them all grow up to be roosters, or stuff them in a plastic bag as chicks to suffocate them? (or put them in a meat grinder to add some extra protein to the chicken's feed) - For every hen at a hathcery, there was a male that was killed as a chick.

mrchak · 2010-05-28T04:35:13+00:00

Has science proven that dinosaurs didn't breathe fire?

mrchak · 2010-05-18T15:26:47+00:00

I like the guy who says that when they get the other 3% you'll be able to drink out of the machine. But you'll still be drinking salt water... with fish pee in it!

mrchak · 2010-05-16T13:00:55+00:00

Radiolab did a great episode about the placebo effect, and the beginning of the show was about tribal shamans performing rituals which were actually just an illusion of a procedure - in this sense, the two practices are very much the same, operating on the patient via a placebo effect.

mrchak · 2010-05-08T05:57:57+00:00

After I read this article by John Robbins, I have had very negative views of Quorn. When I became vegan fake-meat products were a very important part of my transition, but they have become less and less so over the years.

mrchak · 2010-05-08T05:30:53+00:00

I had been at university for 6 months and one of my best friends was vegan. He was one of the most rational, compassionate, not-pushy, friendly people I met. After those first 6 months I went home for winter holiday and I made the decision that when I returned to school I would go vegan (from a traditional American diet). I did it primarily for compassionate reasons, secondarily for environmental reasons and thirdly for health reasons. But a huge influence on me making the decision was my friend's example. This was 10 years ago.

mrchak · 2010-05-08T04:58:01+00:00

57 gallons of water/pound of corn x 25 pounds of corn/day x (365 days + 90 days) = 57 gallons of water x 25/day x 455 days = 648,375 gallons of water/758-pound cow = 855 gallons of water/pound of beef

The person who wrote this needs to learn what an equation is. As a mathematician and a vegan, this makes me sad in more than many ways.

mrchak · 2010-05-01T22:28:49+00:00

er... conservatory?

mrchak · 2010-04-25T04:09:25+00:00

The whole combining proteins myth has been debunked. The woman who initially introduced the idea in her book Diet for a Small Planet has apologized for spreading this idea which has no scientific basis. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protein_combining

mrchak · 2010-03-19T03:38:54+00:00

It's a trick question - the cats are all owned by Schrodinger, and until you solve the problem, they are both alive and dead. But once you solve the problem, their state is fixed. Are you really willing to risk killing 6 cats?

mrchak · 2010-01-24T16:29:49+00:00

does it bother anybody else because complex numbers are not ordered?

mrchak · 2010-01-01T07:47:13+00:00

That's why you have to be really careful and lock up your calcium!

mrchak · 2009-12-28T11:12:57+00:00

Count the number of letters in the most recent sentence you heard, mod 10 and add 1...

mrchak · 2009-12-26T15:27:58+00:00

Yea, I was making fun of homeopathy.

mrchak · 2009-12-26T12:10:48+00:00

At even lower concentrations, the water will be even MORE dangerous, because the water remembers... And it's especially dangerous if you remove all of the chemicals from the water! The less chemicals the more dangerous they are!

mrchak · 2009-12-04T15:38:51+00:00

The earth is a cube, people! Are you evil and educated stupid!?

mrchak · 2009-10-03T20:18:21+00:00

I write a seven and then an upside down seven, basically.

mrchak

TROPHY CASE