No I'm not talking about the liquid substance we put on our cereal.
I'm talking about the film Milk. Starring Sean Penn and James Franco.
The movie tells the story of the last 8 years of Harvey Milk's life. For those that don't know, Harvey Milk was a gay activist, and the first openly gay person to be elected to local government in California.
Anyway, this movie is really inspiring and I thoroughly recommend watching it.
It's quite possibly Sean Penn's best performance yet in any film, right up there with I am Sam.
Friday, May 22, 2009
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Taking things too far and PIGS.
Recently in New Zealand there has been a huge 'scandal' over the pig farming industry. Now I'm probably going to piss off animal rights activists with this post, but quite frankly, animal rights activists piss me off a lot, especially groups like the Animal Liberation Front and those that support them, namely P.E.T.A.
There are two huge problems with this whole pig farm scandal, one is that it contains many mistruths, and the other being that if the animal rights activists had it their way, they would bring an end to pig farming in New Zealand, and we would be forced to eat pork imported from other countries where the pigs actually are farmed in very poor conditions.
The scandal involved Mike King and a camera crew breaking into a pig farm at night, getting the pigs worked up, shining lights in their eyes, and getting animal rights activists even more worked up about pig welfare. The first problem is the depiction of pig farming in New Zealand. As far as I'm aware, the pigs do not live in the small pens depicted in the footage but are only held there for short durations, such as when the mothers are giving birth, to separate the sows (female pigs) and prevent the dominant sow from attacking the other sows or killing their young. The footage even showed a few shots of piglets being fed by their mothers.
The other problem is the effect it may have on our pig farming industry. If the activists pressure our government into banning pig stalls, our pig farmers will have a tougher job, and may have to hire extra staff to run the farm, and either causing them to go out of business (hurting the whole industry), or raise their prices. Either way, we are going to be importing a lot more pork from overseas, where we can't guarantee that the pigs were treated like royalty, hurting the economy, and still not making any progress with respect to animal rights.
So a note to animal activists. You're going to shit all over the pig farming industry if you're successful in this move, and you won't have done any good, our pork will come from overseas where the pigs were probably treated worse.
There are two huge problems with this whole pig farm scandal, one is that it contains many mistruths, and the other being that if the animal rights activists had it their way, they would bring an end to pig farming in New Zealand, and we would be forced to eat pork imported from other countries where the pigs actually are farmed in very poor conditions.
The scandal involved Mike King and a camera crew breaking into a pig farm at night, getting the pigs worked up, shining lights in their eyes, and getting animal rights activists even more worked up about pig welfare. The first problem is the depiction of pig farming in New Zealand. As far as I'm aware, the pigs do not live in the small pens depicted in the footage but are only held there for short durations, such as when the mothers are giving birth, to separate the sows (female pigs) and prevent the dominant sow from attacking the other sows or killing their young. The footage even showed a few shots of piglets being fed by their mothers.
The other problem is the effect it may have on our pig farming industry. If the activists pressure our government into banning pig stalls, our pig farmers will have a tougher job, and may have to hire extra staff to run the farm, and either causing them to go out of business (hurting the whole industry), or raise their prices. Either way, we are going to be importing a lot more pork from overseas, where we can't guarantee that the pigs were treated like royalty, hurting the economy, and still not making any progress with respect to animal rights.
So a note to animal activists. You're going to shit all over the pig farming industry if you're successful in this move, and you won't have done any good, our pork will come from overseas where the pigs were probably treated worse.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Cleansing Part 2: Detox Diets and Fasting
I was informed my first part wasn't long enough, so I'll try make this one a bit more long-winded.
As I mentioned in part 1, Colonic hydrotherapists believe that the foods you eat inevitably "rot" in your large intestine, and poison you from the inside (called autointoxication), thus requiring a "flush" on the inside. Believers of 'detoxification' have a similar view, that our regular food we eat contains 'toxins' and to rid ourselves of them we must go on a specifically tailored diet that purges our body of these toxins, this is the 'cleansing' mentioned in the title of this 'rant'.
autointoxication
n. Self-poisoning caused by endogenous microorganisms, metabolic wastes, or other toxins produced within the body. Also called autotoxemia.
The theory of autointoxication actually came from the ancient Egyptians, the same people who used incantations to magically cure diseases. The ancient Greeks also had a similar belief in autointoxication which was a part of their theory of medicine called Humorism.
Humorism was believed until the advent of modern medicine around the nineteenth century and as modern medicine advanced more evidence piled up against this theory of autointoxication.
Detoxification has come under many guises over the years, but now are generally referred to as 'detox diets'. Some examples of various detox diets over the years are: Grapefruit diets (yes Weird Al Yankovic wrote a parody about grapefruit diets, water fasts, total fasts, Raw food diets, fish diets, lemonade diet, special "anti-toxin" tea diets and so on and so forth.
From Wikipedia
"Some proponents of detox diets emphasize it as a lifestyle rather than a diet. Others have touted spiritual and psychological benefits of regular detox dieting."
As soon as I hear something like "spiritual and psychological benefits, alarm bells start to ring, I smell bovine feces! Though not all detox-ers will believe this crap, they should know that their 5000 year old pseudo scientific beliefs are associated with new-age religious beliefs.
The problem with believing the detox-con artists is that their reasoning behind the whole concept of detoxification is a hoax. Perhaps they feel inadequate as medical practitioners (modern science and medicine holds the trump card), so they feel the need to create their own imaginary disease called "toxins" and they are the only ones who hold the key to the cure. Autointoxication was disproved in 1919 and again in 1922 as I mentioned in part 1 about colonics so their only premise for detoxification is a strawman that was burned nearly a century ago.
I can imagine how horrifying it is to find out that your body poisons itself, but if it were true the human race would have become extinct thousands and thousands of years ago says Vincent F. Cordaro, M.D., an FDA medical officer. "A person who retained wastes and toxins would be very ill and could die if not treated. The whole concept is irrational and unscientific."
Fasting goes by the same principle as detox and colonics, but all that happens is you starve yourself and shock your digestive system. Fasting IS prescribed in modern medicine, but not for detoxification purposes, If you are undergoing certain surgeries, you are not allowed to have food in your digestive system. Certain medical tests also require a short term fast for example cholesterol tests (note by short term I mean around 12 hours, not days).
Longer term fasting or juicing can be dangerous, and potentially fatal, any detoxer promoting medium term fasting or longterm juicing needs a slap with a wet fish.
As I mentioned in part 1, Colonic hydrotherapists believe that the foods you eat inevitably "rot" in your large intestine, and poison you from the inside (called autointoxication), thus requiring a "flush" on the inside. Believers of 'detoxification' have a similar view, that our regular food we eat contains 'toxins' and to rid ourselves of them we must go on a specifically tailored diet that purges our body of these toxins, this is the 'cleansing' mentioned in the title of this 'rant'.
autointoxication
n. Self-poisoning caused by endogenous microorganisms, metabolic wastes, or other toxins produced within the body. Also called autotoxemia.
The theory of autointoxication actually came from the ancient Egyptians, the same people who used incantations to magically cure diseases. The ancient Greeks also had a similar belief in autointoxication which was a part of their theory of medicine called Humorism.
Humorism was believed until the advent of modern medicine around the nineteenth century and as modern medicine advanced more evidence piled up against this theory of autointoxication.
Detoxification has come under many guises over the years, but now are generally referred to as 'detox diets'. Some examples of various detox diets over the years are: Grapefruit diets (yes Weird Al Yankovic wrote a parody about grapefruit diets, water fasts, total fasts, Raw food diets, fish diets, lemonade diet, special "anti-toxin" tea diets and so on and so forth.
From Wikipedia
"Some proponents of detox diets emphasize it as a lifestyle rather than a diet. Others have touted spiritual and psychological benefits of regular detox dieting."
As soon as I hear something like "spiritual and psychological benefits, alarm bells start to ring, I smell bovine feces! Though not all detox-ers will believe this crap, they should know that their 5000 year old pseudo scientific beliefs are associated with new-age religious beliefs.
The problem with believing the detox-con artists is that their reasoning behind the whole concept of detoxification is a hoax. Perhaps they feel inadequate as medical practitioners (modern science and medicine holds the trump card), so they feel the need to create their own imaginary disease called "toxins" and they are the only ones who hold the key to the cure. Autointoxication was disproved in 1919 and again in 1922 as I mentioned in part 1 about colonics so their only premise for detoxification is a strawman that was burned nearly a century ago.
I can imagine how horrifying it is to find out that your body poisons itself, but if it were true the human race would have become extinct thousands and thousands of years ago says Vincent F. Cordaro, M.D., an FDA medical officer. "A person who retained wastes and toxins would be very ill and could die if not treated. The whole concept is irrational and unscientific."
Fasting goes by the same principle as detox and colonics, but all that happens is you starve yourself and shock your digestive system. Fasting IS prescribed in modern medicine, but not for detoxification purposes, If you are undergoing certain surgeries, you are not allowed to have food in your digestive system. Certain medical tests also require a short term fast for example cholesterol tests (note by short term I mean around 12 hours, not days).
Longer term fasting or juicing can be dangerous, and potentially fatal, any detoxer promoting medium term fasting or longterm juicing needs a slap with a wet fish.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Cleansing Part 1: Colonics
Ok you may think this is a bit of a strange thing to be ranting about, but it really need a new one ripped.
In short, colonics just take tomorrows shit out today. LITERALLY.
Long version:
Colonics supposedly remove 'toxins' from your body. The first problem we have here is that there is no such thing as 'toxins' if you ask a Colonic Hydrotherapist or whatever they want to be called, they will not be able to name a single toxin, because they don't exist. Furthermore, these imaginary 'toxins' supposedly sit in the "pockets of the colon" (which conveniently do not exist either) and poison your body.
The idea that your body poisoned itself through its colon was generally accepted around the early 1900's, but was proved wrong in 1919 by Alvarez WC and again in 1922 by Donaldson AN after scientific testing showed otherwise.
If you're interested in reading more on colonics Click Here.
In short, colonics just take tomorrows shit out today. LITERALLY.
Long version:
Colonics supposedly remove 'toxins' from your body. The first problem we have here is that there is no such thing as 'toxins' if you ask a Colonic Hydrotherapist or whatever they want to be called, they will not be able to name a single toxin, because they don't exist. Furthermore, these imaginary 'toxins' supposedly sit in the "pockets of the colon" (which conveniently do not exist either) and poison your body.
The idea that your body poisoned itself through its colon was generally accepted around the early 1900's, but was proved wrong in 1919 by Alvarez WC and again in 1922 by Donaldson AN after scientific testing showed otherwise.
If you're interested in reading more on colonics Click Here.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Perfect Poached Eggs
Ok this is not a rant at all, I just thought I'd share my method of cooking perfect poached eggs.
Fill a pot with water so it is deep enough to submerge an egg without it touching the bottom. (filtered water if possible)
Boil.
Once it's boiled, turn the heat down and add a few dashes of white vinegar.
Break an egg into a ladel (don't put it in the pot yet).
Swirl the water in the pot so you get a sort of whirlpool effect where the water goes to the sides.
Drop the egg from the ladel into the water and cook for around 1 minute or until the egg is no longer see-through.
You should have a perfect poached egg, with the white all cooked, almost perfectly formed, delicious and have a runny yolk.
Enjoy.
Fill a pot with water so it is deep enough to submerge an egg without it touching the bottom. (filtered water if possible)
Boil.
Once it's boiled, turn the heat down and add a few dashes of white vinegar.
Break an egg into a ladel (don't put it in the pot yet).
Swirl the water in the pot so you get a sort of whirlpool effect where the water goes to the sides.
Drop the egg from the ladel into the water and cook for around 1 minute or until the egg is no longer see-through.
You should have a perfect poached egg, with the white all cooked, almost perfectly formed, delicious and have a runny yolk.
Enjoy.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Relativism
Something that also really annoys me is the idea of relativism. Whether it be religious relativism, ethical relativism or some other kind or spiritual cultural shenanigan. It's stupid!
Well perhaps relativism isn't exactly the right word, and perhaps it's only the religious side that I hate.
Anyway... The idea that "what works for you is good" is one of the stupidest ideas ever. When it comes to something like religion which makes claims about the nature of the world and how things work and why, if you're wrong, you're wrong. Simple as that. If you say that the world is flat, you're wrong, and chances are your whole religion is wrong, which means that it doesn't "work" for anybody.
I'll try and put it clearer. You can NOT have it both ways, you can't say "whatever works for you" and then plough ahead and make preposterous claims about the world and the universe. Now some people don't accept relativism and I respect that, even if you believe some ridiculous things like reincarnation, ESP, psychics, nirvana, 6000 year old universes, evil vegetables or unclean pigs.
I'll have to think some more to decide whether or not this applies to other kinds of relativism.
Well perhaps relativism isn't exactly the right word, and perhaps it's only the religious side that I hate.
Anyway... The idea that "what works for you is good" is one of the stupidest ideas ever. When it comes to something like religion which makes claims about the nature of the world and how things work and why, if you're wrong, you're wrong. Simple as that. If you say that the world is flat, you're wrong, and chances are your whole religion is wrong, which means that it doesn't "work" for anybody.
I'll try and put it clearer. You can NOT have it both ways, you can't say "whatever works for you" and then plough ahead and make preposterous claims about the world and the universe. Now some people don't accept relativism and I respect that, even if you believe some ridiculous things like reincarnation, ESP, psychics, nirvana, 6000 year old universes, evil vegetables or unclean pigs.
I'll have to think some more to decide whether or not this applies to other kinds of relativism.
Monday, May 11, 2009
Merging
I'm not sure whether this phenomena occurs in other countries, but it most certainly happens here in New Zealand. You know when one lane of a road ends and two become one? Yes, merging lanes. People here simply cannot merge. I don't know whether it is sheer stupidity, an inflated sense of self importance, ignorance or just plain ol' bad driving, but people in New Zealand don't know how to merge.
Perhaps you've experienced this too, when the person you're supposed to be merging in front of, just drives straight up beside you to try to jump the queue. I swear it happens to me every time I encounter merging lanes in traffic, some asshole thinks they deserve to be in front of everyone else and refuses to merge until they have to make the choice between conforming, or driving into a concrete wall. I would be very interested to know if this occurs anywhere else in the so called civilised world.
Perhaps you've experienced this too, when the person you're supposed to be merging in front of, just drives straight up beside you to try to jump the queue. I swear it happens to me every time I encounter merging lanes in traffic, some asshole thinks they deserve to be in front of everyone else and refuses to merge until they have to make the choice between conforming, or driving into a concrete wall. I would be very interested to know if this occurs anywhere else in the so called civilised world.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Bad Service
Went out to a cafe for Mothers Day with all the family, we'd booked in advance so the Cafe knew we were coming and knew there were 13 of us. We waited an hour for coffee, and they screwed up 1/3 of the orders bringing out the wrong drinks, wrong sizes etc. It took another 45 minutes after the coffee was brought out before the first meals were brought out and the last meals were brought out long after the first meals had been consumed.
The food would have been great, if it hadn't been luke warm, served on plates that were only room temperature, and served over the span of almost an hour. It was obvious that the chef could cook, but whoever it was has no fucking clue how to manage a cafe or serve more than 2 people at once. It really makes me wonder why some people get into the food industry in the first place.
The name of the Cafe was Jacaranda, I don't really recommend going there.
The food would have been great, if it hadn't been luke warm, served on plates that were only room temperature, and served over the span of almost an hour. It was obvious that the chef could cook, but whoever it was has no fucking clue how to manage a cafe or serve more than 2 people at once. It really makes me wonder why some people get into the food industry in the first place.
The name of the Cafe was Jacaranda, I don't really recommend going there.
Friday, May 8, 2009
Music Therapy
I'm taking this paper at university called 'Music Now: Understanding Music Through the Lens of the 20th-21st Centuries' most of the subject matter consists of articles from Socialist or Communist magazines, but the other day we had a guest lecture talking about music 'therapy'.
From Wikipedia
"."Music therapy is an interpersonal process in which the therapist uses music and all of its facets—physical, emotional, mental, social, aesthetic, and spiritual—to help clients to improve or maintain their health."
The lecturer played various video clips from some 'therapy' sessions, ranging from absurd to offensive to plain boring. One clip was a video of a therapist wailing and screeching at a baby, one of a therapist talking baby talk to a different baby, one of some disabled children banging on drums and one of some criminals playing on kiddy instruments you see, they had been sentenced to music therapy rather than prison.
I'll separate my rant on music therapy into two categories: the Bullshit and the Basic.
The Bullshit:
Music therapists, like other 'alternative medicines' and herbalists claim miraculous things from their so called therapy, from healing to cessation of pain to being an integral part of the cure for cancer (no jokes, the lecturer actually claimed this). When these quacks manage to convince people of their miracles they are potentially endangering lives by leading them away from modern medicine which actually can stop pain, aid the body in healing and we are constantly researching cancer cures. A website I've found quite interesting and helpful in separating the quacks from the real medicine is Quackwatch. As well as their potential for harm, their claims are not proven and some are outright false.
The Basic:
Some of the supposed benefits of music therapy are so ridiculously basic and fundamental to human existence that it's quite ridiculous to think that these people trained for something so simple. Take for example the video of the therapist screeching at the baby, they teach that music stimulates the babies brain and they attach this overinflated sense of profundity to it, when in reality, basic human interaction that engages the senses of a child is just that, BASIC. The fact that we allow these wish-washy quacks to touch our babies and screech at them is sickening, when our parents should be the ones engaging in human interaction, not some stranger.
From Wikipedia
"."Music therapy is an interpersonal process in which the therapist uses music and all of its facets—physical, emotional, mental, social, aesthetic, and spiritual—to help clients to improve or maintain their health."
The lecturer played various video clips from some 'therapy' sessions, ranging from absurd to offensive to plain boring. One clip was a video of a therapist wailing and screeching at a baby, one of a therapist talking baby talk to a different baby, one of some disabled children banging on drums and one of some criminals playing on kiddy instruments you see, they had been sentenced to music therapy rather than prison.
I'll separate my rant on music therapy into two categories: the Bullshit and the Basic.
The Bullshit:
Music therapists, like other 'alternative medicines' and herbalists claim miraculous things from their so called therapy, from healing to cessation of pain to being an integral part of the cure for cancer (no jokes, the lecturer actually claimed this). When these quacks manage to convince people of their miracles they are potentially endangering lives by leading them away from modern medicine which actually can stop pain, aid the body in healing and we are constantly researching cancer cures. A website I've found quite interesting and helpful in separating the quacks from the real medicine is Quackwatch. As well as their potential for harm, their claims are not proven and some are outright false.
The Basic:
Some of the supposed benefits of music therapy are so ridiculously basic and fundamental to human existence that it's quite ridiculous to think that these people trained for something so simple. Take for example the video of the therapist screeching at the baby, they teach that music stimulates the babies brain and they attach this overinflated sense of profundity to it, when in reality, basic human interaction that engages the senses of a child is just that, BASIC. The fact that we allow these wish-washy quacks to touch our babies and screech at them is sickening, when our parents should be the ones engaging in human interaction, not some stranger.
Fanboys
I'm not quite sure where to start on this one, because the disease of fanboyism is very common, especially among teenagers. Take for example a particular video on youtube An Avenged Sevenfold fan states emphatically "syn is 1 of the more talented guitarists around and for those stuck in the past, he shreds better than any off the old bands, they are just better known than him. he has mad skills and you cannot denie that". I would love to spend this whole post pwning this fanboy seven ways sideways and backwards but I think those of you reading this understand my point here.
This fanboyism extends far beyond just music, though I'm sure I could find examples of fanboys of almost any artist for example
Britney
"OH POOR BRITNEY :( I WANNA CRY... "
Nelly
"NELLY IS SOOO FRIEKIN HOTT "
Metallica
"Fuck all those pop star pussys,MATALLICA ROCKSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!! "
John Coltrane
"PEREFCT! "
Bob Marley
"I LUV THIS SONG!!!!!!!!!
:] "
The Beatles.
"The BEALTES! Is there anything more to be said. "
I guess you can see exactly what I mean by fanboyism (or fangirlism, have to be PC now don't we) either obscene use of capital letters or (or both) terrible spelling combined with either stupid or deifying statements.
We are probably all guilty of this disease to some degree at some point in our lives, but we should do our best to avoid making complete fools out of ourselves, or in my case avoid being a complete hypocrite asshole.
This fanboyism extends far beyond just music, though I'm sure I could find examples of fanboys of almost any artist for example
Britney
"OH POOR BRITNEY :( I WANNA CRY... "
Nelly
"NELLY IS SOOO FRIEKIN HOTT "
Metallica
"Fuck all those pop star pussys,MATALLICA ROCKSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!! "
John Coltrane
"PEREFCT! "
Bob Marley
"I LUV THIS SONG!!!!!!!!!
:] "
The Beatles.
"The BEALTES! Is there anything more to be said. "
I guess you can see exactly what I mean by fanboyism (or fangirlism, have to be PC now don't we) either obscene use of capital letters or (or both) terrible spelling combined with either stupid or deifying statements.
We are probably all guilty of this disease to some degree at some point in our lives, but we should do our best to avoid making complete fools out of ourselves, or in my case avoid being a complete hypocrite asshole.
Incoherent Rant
I've decided to make this blog to vent anger and frustration at the things in life that really get me riled up. This may include but will not be limited to: shitty music, politics, current events, naturopathy, Apple computers, Ipods, fanatics, fanboys, religion, extremists and anime.
If you find yourself unnaturally attracted to any one of the previously mentioned articles, you may find yourself getting pissed off at me, but that is the whole point of this blog. If there aren't people who hate me for writing some of the things I'll be writing, something is wrong.
If you find yourself naturally frustrated at the aforementioned list of articles, then we should hang out, and have a discussion over a nice cold beer.
If you find yourself unnaturally attracted to any one of the previously mentioned articles, you may find yourself getting pissed off at me, but that is the whole point of this blog. If there aren't people who hate me for writing some of the things I'll be writing, something is wrong.
If you find yourself naturally frustrated at the aforementioned list of articles, then we should hang out, and have a discussion over a nice cold beer.
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