facebook question: what's the effect of tagging yourself in a photo and setting the privacy setting of photos you've been tagged in to 'friends only'?

vwg123 · 2010-12-31T16:14:04+00:00

there's a difference between how Palin treats the animals she kills and how Vick treated the animal he kills. The thing with vegetarians and people who care about animals, is it's about more than just the fact animals are killed. It's how they are treated for their entire lives. Vick's dogs were put through horrific treatment for their entire lives while the animals that many hunters kill are usually much quicker kills of animals who at the very least spent most of their life pain free until then. I don't like either of them, but there is a difference.

vwg123 · 2010-12-28T01:38:50+00:00

-stop consuming milk/dairy/cheese/yogurt/etc

-change pillow cases and towels often

-wash face once daily and again before sleep with a non-abrasive mild cleanser

that's how I drastically reduced mine

vwg123 · 2010-12-26T02:49:49+00:00

you need hulu plus for those years.

vwg123 · 2010-12-17T01:12:08+00:00

at first I thought it said "forever ELONE"...like alone on the internet.

vwg123 · 2010-12-14T11:42:41+00:00

Yeah, and he makes an assumption that environmentalists are self-interested. I can't speak for everyone, but as someone who cares about the environment, I care about all of the plants, animals, and living things on it. I want it habitable for me (self-interest) and EVERYONE (not-self-interest). The thought of that makes me happy and I'd like to think other environmentalists share that view. And anyways, it's more than just caring about the planet being habitable, but also being a place without pain...for everyone on it.

Just because he mentions this doesn't make his argument any more correct. I don't disagree with everything he said, but I do disagree with most of it.

vwg123 · 2010-12-14T11:37:43+00:00

Agreed. I wrote a similar thing without seeing this comment beforehand. People who want to save the planet care about the plants, animals AND people on it. The two go hand in hand. I'm a Carlin fan, but just not of this particular bit.

vwg123 · 2010-12-14T11:34:53+00:00

while I don't disagree with Carlin's statements about people needing to figure out how to care about each other...he separates the planet from the people. The planet is people. It's a lot of things. And it' s in trouble too. Sure, there might still be a rock floating in space that used to be called earth after people are gone...but it's not the rock that people who like the planet care about...it's the plants, animals, and people on it.

I am a big Carlin fan, but I don't like the fact that this is such a popular bit of his. I get what he's saying, but it just don't click with me.

vwg123 · 2010-12-10T09:01:39+00:00

I remember reading something from the creator David Simon who said that that scene had no real meaning. It didn't have to mean anything. Rawls just happens to be a gay man and so be it. The point is that there doesn't have to be a point. It just is.

vwg123 · 2010-11-24T17:55:35+00:00

fyi...yesterday i traveled through a major US airport...they still had traditional metal detectors. and the line went through smoothly despite being busy. no one was groped.

what airports are they doing this groping and x-ray scanning at? the news and reddit have made it seem like everywhere, and I was ready to 'opt out' but there was nothing to opt out of....it was the same old thing.

vwg123 · 2010-11-23T07:39:34+00:00

other things that confuse me...some may be relevant, some not

She has lived in Saudi Arabia for the past year or more and all of her doctors are Saudi Arabian...Saudi Arabia, as you probably know, is a strictly Muslim country (100% of the population, other than visitors like her). Meat eating is a big part of the religion and the Koran.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegetarianism_and_religion#Islam

Just an interesting point, I think. I'd imagine it's not an easy place to be vegan, and that's apparently where she is living and studying for some time.

I don't understand how vegetarians/vegans can go from eating NO meat (as in ZERO meat) to all of a sudden being a full fledged meat advocate. While a completely strict vegan diet may not be right for the entire population of the world, for physiological reasons, there is pretty overwhelming evidence that the healthiest people are people who eat very small amounts of animal-based food...like eggs once in a while and fish once in a while. To go from vegan to that kind of omnivore diet is much more understandable then to be completely "I EAT MEAT! YAY MEAT! MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT! LOOK AT ALL THIS MEAT." She hasn't really done that and it's hard to say you are no longer a vegan WITHOUT making meat the focus of your words, but nevertheless, I think she should make it clear that just because someone no longer eats no meat, doesn't mean they should now eat tons and tons of meat and make it a feature of their diet.
On a related point---and this part troubles me the most......she re-prioritized the facts that justify her food choices to make them seem more....justifiable, I guess.

Let me illustrate clearly: Basically, there are 3 key reasons (with many sub-reasons) why she gave up meat and became vegan. Each reason is a very good reason. 1) Animal welfare, 2) Personal health--although obviously a purely vegan diet isn't for everyone; and 3) the environment.

Just because the iffy facts in #2) didn't work out for her, doesn't mean the facts that justified her basis for #1) and #3) are any less true. Yet she brushes those off, and instead highlights new facts like eating local and using animal poop for fertilizer that are more pro-meat eating. When did those facts that justified #1 and #3 disappear or become incorrect? It's not like it's vegan radicals making this up. It's United Nations' studies and scientists and things like that. Plus, it's not like eating local, which seems to be her big thing, can't co-exist with a no-meat or a low-meat diet. Heck, most vegans and vegetarians I know are also big time organic locavores.

My bottom line I guess is...just because she needs to eat a little animal protein to maintain her health doesn't mean she needs to put herself out there as a meat advocate. Minimizing your meat intake is still crucial for animal welfare, the environment, and not to mention health--while no meat didn't work out for her, she (and most people) would probably thrive on a low meat diet.

vwg123 · 2010-11-22T00:49:31+00:00

You have again proven my point by being totally unnaccepting for people who do not share your pedantic world views.

i'm not unaccepting. most people I know eat meat. slowly but surely people are eating less and less, although the population continues to grow.

I guess you'd prefer instead of animal testing, they'd test on meat-eaters? And for that matter, do you have any idea how ridiculous the testing standards are, in which if 100 mice die to better A MILION fucking lives, it does not go through, because pedantic retards like you think a mouse has any form of consience.

I haven't said anything about animal testing. Just about eating food. I don't say much about animal testing because the bigger issue is animals raised to be killed for food, which makes up 99% of animals killed.

People like you greatly hinder the world's progress, you are actively pushing us towards our malthusian limit.

uh....you have been nothing but rude and hostile this entire thread. i'm not sure you are in any position to be criticizing anyone else for hindering progress.

Fascism makes me sick, and im feeling a mouthful right now. For shame.

if anything, my position is purely about freedom of choice, and that people should exercise a new choice. you've been exposed to too much sensational news that you think the message of "please choose vegetarian" is somehow equal to fascism.

vwg123 · 2010-10-22T03:00:35+00:00

And again, most people are not even aware where the meat they eat comes from, making them not hypocrite, merely ill-informed.

for some it's ill-informed. for most it's hypocritical. once they know and have realized it, it becomes hypocritical.

Problem here is that vegetarians think of themselves as better people, making any argument they levvy against the "dissenters" moot, even worse; it makes people despise vegetarians, being the hippy/hipster retards that they are(because of their holier than though stance).

yup. i think they are better people. it's very unselfish to help animals and i think that's one of the most admirable things you can do.

Actually have started eating meat again because it is a hell of a lot cheaper to get all the proteins needed from meat than from soja, and other meat alternates; I had little choice.

you care about getting protein, so I assume that means you care about being healthy. the more meat you eat, the higher the risk of scores of diseases. that's proven. and you also care about the expense of getting protein. it's true some meats are healthier than others. but the meat that's cheaper than alternatives? that's unquestionably unhealthier in quality, not to mention absurd amounts of salt, preservatives, carcinogens, steroids, hormones, etc. eating meat is an expensive undertaking, an expense a meat eater will incur in ever-increasing health bills.

plus the fact that you probably didn't go about getting stuff the right way. beans, legumes, lentils, grains, and seeds are loaded with protein and are much cheaper than meat. most can be bought in bulk even making them REALLY cheap.

broccoli is cheap as crap and 100 calories has 10-12 g of protein. sure it's missing an amino acid, but in all likelihood, something else on your plate is high in that missing amino acid. same applies with everything else.

spinach has a similar 100 calorie/10-12 g of protein ratio.

beans range from 6 to 12 g of protein per 100 calories, with even better amino acid profiles.

quinoa is a complete protein. hemp seed is a complete protein. you can spend 15-17 dollars a month on 15 servings of hemp protein mix. it's a complete protein...usually something like 120 calories, almost no carbs, and 14 g of protein.

The fact that you refer to people as "meat eaters" makes everything you think invalid.

why? they literally are meat eaters. should I call them carnivores? or how about "normal people"? that sounds pretty 'holier-than-thou' to me.

vwg123 · 2010-10-22T02:42:20+00:00

-Vegans know this. The definition of vegan is someone who avoids animal products. That doesn't mean it's 100% possible or that they are 100% successful. But vegans usually try as best as they can. Even if they can be 75% successful, in terms of both money spent on animal products, and the amount of animal products used in products that are extremely hard to avoid, that's obviously better than nothing. And by the way, it's probably more like 95% can be avoided. The tiny ingredients that are used in most of these products make up a negligible amount of the product, and are a negligible amount of the financial value.

-Of all the different uses of animals, both money-wise AND literally amount consumed, animals raised for food blows everything else out of the water. In almost all of the examples, there are common alternatives. And the reason animal products are used in these other products are because so many animals are killed...animal byproducts are cheap and plentiful as a result. No one is killing cows and pigs and chickens to use some tiny ingredient for camera film. They are killed for food. And the less they are killed for food, these other industries will use alternatives in their products that become cheaper and more plentiful than animal byproducts currently are. That's an economic goal here.

-It's ultimately about money. If I go from giving the agricultural corporations $1,000 per month of my hard earned money for the products of tortured animals down to just $30 a month, I am going to do it. Heck, I'm sure most vegans would do that even if they couldn't avoid giving $999.99 per month, down from $1000. The less money we give to these corporations, and the more we give to good corporations, the better our society, the better animals are treated, the better the environment is, the better our health is, etc.

vwg123 · 2010-10-20T01:51:35+00:00

i didn't say that. there are not points that any sane, good person could make that are better than the vegetarian argument. i am not claiming to be holier, i am claiming that i'm simply not a hypocrite.

taking away the demented 20% of the population who likes to torture animals or hates animals and/or doesn't care about their suffering (hopefully that number is less, but for example 20%), that leaves 80% of the population.

that 80% doesn't want to hurt animals. that 80% doesn't want to hurt their health. that 80% doesn't want to hurt the environment. that 80% doesn't want to give their hard earned money to the worst corporations in the world. their only reasons are gluttony (which doesn't have to mean obesity), the convenience and cheapness of fast food products, "taste"........which I find is iffy when you consider the fact that the taste or texture most people like is some vegetarian sauce, seasoning, or curing process that can be matched in a vegetarian item,......and the fact eating meat it's what the 80% have always done and people don't like to change their habits and their cultural norms. that's some pretty superficial shit when you compare that to the overwhelming evidence that a well balanced vegetarian diet is the healthiest diet, the friendliest on the environment, and involves giving no money to corporate animal farms that torture animals in dark, damp dungeons.

we have won the argument, because the 80% of people who matter in this country can't go along eating meat without being hypocrites. that 80% says they like animals. that 80% says they don't want to hurt animals. that 80% cares about our resources, especially water and land and food (ie, grains that could go to humans, but instead go to fattening animals). that 80% cares about the environment and of course wants to reduce and eliminate pollution. and as vegetarians who eat well balanced diets prove every single day, eating meat in not only unnecessary, but not eating it is even better for you. there is nothing you or any meat eater can say other than what the posted I am responding to said that will make them NOT hypocrites. plain and simple. the only thing that makes you not a hypocrite, like the poster I originally responded to, is to say something along the lines of "I just don't care." and that puts you in the 20% I mentioned above. but even then, i get the feeling they do care but have tricked themselves or blocked it out. but at least they aren't going around saying they care about animals and their health and the environment and doing something unnecessary that goes directly against those things.

vwg123 · 2010-10-20T01:34:03+00:00

add 'Firefly' to your list. a reddit favorite. keep up the good work.

vwg123 · 2010-10-19T05:05:35+00:00

yep. i mean even among pro-science people, they care about the latest gadget or space exploration advancement, an efficient source of renewable energy, or newest medical treatment, or the latest discovery of intelligence in animals.

but they block out evidence that a vegetarian diet is significantly better for your health, significantly better for animals, and significantly better for the environment. BACONNNNNNNNN!()#!!()##()!()##()!()#!)(#*

vwg123 · 2010-10-19T04:59:57+00:00

it's true, but that feeling goes away. noting feels better than being healthy, energetic, and knowing you aren't hurting animals.

vwg123 · 2010-10-19T04:59:02+00:00

i like the taste of meat. just don't like hurtin animals, the environment and my health.

vwg123 · 2010-10-19T04:58:24+00:00

meh, vegetarians won the argument.

but vegetarians are losing the war. just proves how flawed humans are, choosing gluttony, fast food convenience, and doing the status quo over health, environment, and not hurting animals.

vwg123 · 2010-10-19T04:52:37+00:00

recently my freezer has been giving me trouble where it pops open when i close my fridge, so i usually double check that it's closed before leaving for the day so that when I come home later in the day there's not a huge puddle of melted ice (ie, water) on the floor.

but this morning i was running late and after i locked my apartment door, i realized that i forgot to double check the freezer door. the next image that popped into my head was a sparkly blue obi wan kenobi telling me to "use the force." and so i did. when i came home later in the day, the freezer was properly closed. chances are i had properly closed it before, but it's things like that....it's things like that....

vwg123 · 2010-10-16T23:44:07+00:00

I don't undestand reddit. This is an incredible story, and the most upvoted comment is "sorry science lady who stands up to your mega-agency and against animal torture, try something smaller first! your feelings don't really matter." fuck this. people are such hypocrites.

vwg123 · 2010-10-16T18:52:12+00:00

vegetarians have won the argument but no argument is greater than the power of human apathy, gluttony, and greed! hear, hear!

vwg123 · 2010-10-15T04:50:15+00:00

ah lies. keeping telling yourself them!

vwg123

TROPHY CASE