Understanding peak oil
Interesting, informative, eye-opening, and a bit depressing. Even if you think it’s sensationalist, these should really be required viewing for all, as the Peak Oil phenomenon is not a question of if, but when. My takeaway: we all need to use less energy, and have fewer kids.
Crazy robotic handiwork
This stuff is crazy, especially the cell phone flip catch. I think we might be doomed.
Read Orwell, Darwin, Dickens, Twain, and Shakespeare online for free
Apparently their works are in the public domain thus perfectly legal. I discovered this trove after reading this article about how Orwell wrote 1984 while suffering from tuberculosis in the last years of his life.
Links: George Orwell, Charles Darwin, Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, William Shakespeare
Trans fats, MSG, aspartame, Oh My!
Some vids about just how terrible trans fats, MSG, and aspartame are. So much evidence is known of how bad they are, yet they’re all still legal. The whole of it just speaks to how sketchy the system is, and how we should be so wary of anything processed or artificial lest find ourselves guinea pigs of the FDA. Not just with foods either but all kinds of chemicals that we are poisoning the earth with.
Trans fats: The scary thing about trans fats is that even if it says 0g on the label, the FDA allows it to be up to 0.4g and it’ll be rounded down to 0 for the label. You very rarely see anything containing any grams of trans fat according to the label, but I’d be willing to bet that tons of products have it snuck in there and they get to round down to 0. They probably lower the serving size to accomplish this too. A person could eat 6 servings of such things in a day, that could be over 2g of trans fats all the while the label said 0. Again it could also come at a restaurant and you’d never know it. “hydrogenated” or “partially hydrogenated” oils. Avoid them! It’s a shame that whole cities (like NYC back in 2006) place bans before the FDA even thinks of it.
MSG: The scary thing about MSG (other than of course how bad it is for you) is how it’s disguised so innocuously as other things in ingredient lists. Like “hydrolyzed vegetable protein”, “autolyzed yeast”, “hydrolyzed yeast”, “yeast extract”, “soy extract”, “protein isolate”, even just as “spices”, or “natural flavorings”. Be deligent with your label reading, or better yet avoid that processed crap all together. But it’s ALSO served up in restaurants, you gotta be diligent.
(watch parts 2a, 2b, 3, 4)
Aspartame: This vid series is called Aspartame and MSG are Poisoning Us, but it’s really just about aspartame and how it causes brain tumors and various other things. It’s kinda long but near the end is a pretty sad story about how a woman was convicted for poisoning her husband who died of methanol poisoning, the actual suspicion being that it was from the component of aspartame. Stevia gets mentioned in the credits; it’s a joke how aspartame is still approved for food use but stevia isn’t.
(watch parts 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
Or this 60 Minutes piece which kind of sums up the above aspartame material in 10 minutes.
The World According to Monsanto
This is a French documentary entitled The World According to Monsanto. It reveals how “the gigantic bio-tech corporation Monsanto is threatening to destroy the agricultural biodiversity which has served mankind for thousands of years.” Please watch the whole thing, and pass it on. And just say NO to GMO. Trouble is that Monsanto fought hard so that GM products don’t have to be labeled as such, so the only reliable way to know your food is GMO-free is to buy organic.
Support local farmers at farmer’s markets, join a CSA, start a garden. Stop drinking milk, cut way back on or eliminate your red meat intake, and stop being so fat. Wake up America!
Making a Killing: The Untold Story of Psychotropic Drugging
I think that may be the Scientology guy narrating this, but this is an interesting view. Bit scary. Parts 2-10 after the jump.
Super sick electric car: Shelby Ultimate Aero EV
Leave it to Shelby to blow the [electric car] world out the water with this beast. With 1000hp, top speed of 208mph and a 0-60 of only 2.5 seconds, this thing is sure to get you the company softball game quickly.
The most exciting thing to me though is they have technology which will allow it to be recharged in as little as 10 minutes. So while it has the typically short electric car range of 150-200 miles, 10 minutes isn’t really any longer than you’d spend at a gas station. Long distance travel could be possible.
Isn’t the majority of our electric produced from fossil fuels though? Why haven’t we gotten with that whole nucular thing.
Click the pics for their high rez glory, or check out Shelby’s official announcement page.
Michael Pollan: fascinating lecture on the evolution of plant drugs and their ubiquity in human culture (and religion..)
This is fascinating stuff, especially the 2nd half. He was a little nerdier back in 2003!
Botany of Desire:
Michael Pollan’s one hour talk at Google headquarters on what we eat
Michael Pollan, author of In Defense of Food
See also my earlier post featuring an interview with this man.
Bill Maher’s movie Religulous now viewable online in its entirety
This is an entertaining film. I do think it’s preaching to the choir a little bit, and some of his methods are a little too antagonistic in my opinion, but an interesting watch nonetheless. I saw this film in a relatively empty theater and some people sat down directly behind us (who does that?) and one of these bitches laughed ridiculously at every other line. I didn’t find this film that hilarious, in fact I found it somewhat scary.
The Future of Food: documentary
Another MUST SEE food industry doom-n-gloom documentary. It’s a little depressing, but there is some tunnel light in the last part. Buy organic!
edit2: here it is on Hulu.
Parts 2-9 after the jump Edit1: Here is only the first part remaining on youtube.. the pirated one got pulled. buy the dvd or see it elsewhere but watch it!
How the Food Industry is Deceiving You
More from my health/food “series”. A powerful Peter Jennings piece on the nasty side of the American food industry. These phenomenon are now also creeping into the rest of world as its growing middle class starts eating more of a Western diet.
Part 1:
(Watch parts 2-5 after the jump..)
Dropping some science from the past few weeks
These links have been sitting in my tabs for a while, and rather than post them individually, I’m going to drop them here together.
Cheetah joins endangered species list
Scientists Back Brain Drugs for Healthy People
Is Einstein the Last Great Genius?
Proof that Albert Einstein’s black holes do exist, claim scientists
Black hole confirmed in Milky Way
Why We Procrastinate and How to Stop
Academics invent a mathematical equation for why people procrastinate
Does a short haircut mean women have gone off sex?
Men find long, wavy locks the sexiest hair do, while short hair leaves them cold, says poll
Young women ‘have more sexual partners’ than men
Birth Control Pills Affect Women’s Taste in Men
Could Males Really Become The Weaker Sex?
Cold Sore Virus Linked To Alzheimer’s Disease: New Treatment, Or Even Vaccine Possible
World’s first flying car on the roads from next year – yours for just £130,000
Mark Bittman TED talk: What’s Wrong With What We Eat
Similar in vein to the Michael Pollan stuff I posted the other day. He talks about modern agribusiness and lightly pleads a return to eating healthily.
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