Mid-Autumn Festival

Today is Mid-Autumn Festival which means if you look up into the night sky and you’re lucky enough to have a clear view you’ll see a big bright full moon. This year the festival falls on September 15th however it changes every year and next year it will be on October 4th. Although the date changes from year to year on the Gregorian calendar it’s the same every year on the Chinese lunisolar calendar and falls on the 15th day of the 8th month.

If you’re unfamiliar with this holiday which is celebrated in China, around East Asia, and in Chinese communities around the world it’s kind of like Thanksgiving in the States except that it takes place on the full moon and enjoying the full moon with family and friends is a big part of it. Also instead of turkey the signature food of the event are mooncakes which are little dense cakes that come with a variety of fillings and flavors. Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!

mid-autumn-festival

Drunk Driving

During my evening walk I passed a strategically placed sobriety checkpoint that was swarming with cops. I saw one guy handcuffed and sitting in the back of a police pickup and I’m guessing the police intend on getting a few more people into the back of that truck before heading back. Considering the prevalence of drunk driving around here I don’t think they’ll have a problem doing so, in fact I think they might need another truck.

The worst is when people come to work drunk… and their job is to drive people around on a motorcycle without helmets. I’ve had a couple encounters in which I gave stern lectures. I’m not writing this to tell anyone how to care for their liver but I am telling everyone: DO NOT DRINK AND DRIVE and if you want a few reasons why not to do such an irresponsible thing have at look all these people who are now dead due to a drunk driver. M.A.D.D.

P.S. Although I’ve never consumed alcohol and even if I did I would still never get behind the wheel, one thing I have done a few times in my teens and early twenties is drive throughout the night without sleep and drive during the day after a near-sleepless night. Very dangerous and extremely dumb because no matter how loud the music is when you’re body needs to sleep it will sleep, even if you absolutely refuse to shut your eyes. Luckily I didn’t cause any harm but many others have during periods of micro-sleep or all out naps at the wheel.

‘In the Blink of an Eye’: Dozing While Driving

3.8 Billion Dollars Annually

How can the U.S., a country so deeply in debt that we’ve been told it can’t afford to provide health care and higher education to all its citizens, afford to give Israel, a country with a per capita GDP of around $35,000 and the most technologically advanced military in the Middle East, 3.8 billion dollars a year in military aid? I understand it costs Israel a lot to defend its illegal settlements but I don’t think U.S. taxpayers should be the ones to pay for it. Moreover as the sole nuclear power in the Middle East Israel is perfectly capable of deterring and defending itself from its neighbors without U.S. taxpayer dollars.

U.S. and Israel reach agreement on unprecedented amount of military aid

Feel free to let your government representatives know if you think this is a good way to spend 3.8 billion in taxpayer dollars over the next 10 years. I think the U.S. and the rest of the world would be much better off if this annual $3,800,000,000 was spent on health and education or perhaps on alternative energy infrastructure.

White House     U.S. Senate     U.S. House of Representative

Durian

For me premium durian is like creamy bitter sweet chocolate pudding with nutty and sulfuric undertones that will leave your taste buds in bliss and the rest of your mouth with a pleasant sensation of slight numbness provided you’re lucky enough to get one that’s just taken a hard fall from a good tree. Depending on the species, cultivar, and age of the tree there’s a wide variety of durian scents and flavors not to mention textures, colors, shapes, and sizes. There’s also a wide range of quality much of which depends on whether a durian was cut from a tree unripe and consumed days or weeks after harvest and if ripening chemicals were used, or whether it dropped from the tree naturally and fully ripe and was consumed within minutes or hours after harvest.

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Ban Bullfighting

Bullfighting is another instance where culture and tradition overrides empathy and humanity and anyone participating in these events and/or opposing an outright ban of them should be ashamed of themselves. It’s great to see the good people of Spain take to the streets to oppose this barbarism that is still taking place in their country.

Spain bullfighting: Thousands rally in Madrid to demand ban

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September Eleventh and November Eighth

In addition to remembering the innocent people who were murdered 15 years ago we should also remember the decades of U.S. interventions in the Middle East and elsewhere that helped fuel the hatred that culminated in that terrorist attack and reflect upon the poorly planned interventions that followed it. 9/11 was a turning point in U.S. and world history and unfortunately the U.S. turned the wrong way. On this anniversary a sarcastic thanks must be given to U.S. mainstream media, particularly Fox News, for too often failing to challenge Bush administration assumptions and leading an uninformed/misinformed U.S. public into a strongly opposed war of choice.

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Third Time This Year

For the first 15 years of this century I recall visiting an emergency room twice however over the past 5 months I’ve visited the same one 3 times. Today’s visit was the result of a fall while bouldering. I landed barefoot on a rock which snagged my second smallest toe and snapped it like a popsicle stick. I didn’t need a ruler to tell me that thing was pointed in the wrong direction, gross/ouch. I immediately ripped the worn-out organic cotton t-shirt I was wearing into a bandage and used it to tie my bad toe to a good one. I then made my way to the hospital for an X-ray. Continue reading →

Kids and Candy

I just saw a video featuring a little girl freaking out as her blood sugar spiked on her first dose of cotton candy similar to the way a person might freak out upon snorting their first line of coke. How is this cute or funny? Sure the kid is cute but all kids are cute because evolution made them that way so annoyed parents wouldn’t beat or abandon them, but how is feeding a kid sugar, not cereal or some other legitimate food with sugar in it, but straight up sugar, food coloring, and artificial flavor anything other than irresponsible and disgusting?

Please don’t use candy and soft drinks to reward or bribe children or elevate such “foods” to be some kind of a special treat. Instead make them out to be what they are which is garbage disguised as food by setting a good example and encouraging kids to eat healthy. Fresh fruit might not give the same jolt as pure sugar but it’s a much better option. Also before recommending or putting kids on drugs to calm them down after they’ve been fed garbage why not recommend or change their diets first by adding more fruits and vegetables and eliminating the sugar and oil along with any processed and/or factory farmed meats and dairy.

Childhood Obesity Facts

Three-quarters of people don’t know about the link between obesity and cancer

Smoke Spewers

As one should I often call people out when they ride or drive past me in smoke spewing vehicles. If I’m able to speak with them I give them a brief and cordial lecture. Even if I’m unable to have a word with them if I can at least get their attention I will often point at the smoke coming from their vehicle and follow them with my extended arm with a look of disappointment/disapproval on my face as they go by. I think most people are intelligent enough to get it including onlookers most of whom I imagine after having been smoked many times themselves are happy that someone is in some small way is taking a stand.

Obviously the operators of these smoke spewing vehicles aren’t out to pollute the air on purpose it’s just that they lack the will, and sometimes the funds, to have their vehicles fixed. I see neither a valid excuse but can understand a poor persons predicament especially if they need their vehicle for work. However one thing I have never heard of, until today, is someone actually spending time and money to turn an emissions compliant vehicle into a smoke spewer. Where might you find such inconsiderate and irresponsible idiots? I wonder who these fine human specimens are going to vote for in November?

‘Rolling Coal’ in Diesel Trucks, to Rebel and Provoke

Donald Trump just lied again about opposing the Iraq War before it started. Here’s proof.

No More Unstable Strongman Leaders

The world doesn’t need another alpha male with a tendency to speak before they think leading a country especially one as powerful and influential as the United States.

Rodrigo Duterte’s Most Contentious Quotations

Philippine President Sorry, Not Sorry He Cursed Obama for Criticism of His Killing Spree

The more you think freely and amass knowledge the more you realize that the religion you were indoctrinated into and the country you were told to pledge allegiance to are just one of many within our fragile biosphere and that blind faith in either of them, or in a charismatic leader that claims to represent them, is what most often gets us humans into trouble.

Create your own culture, be your own leader, and strive to set a positive example for others.

Scapegoating Immigrants

I just read a news story regarding that sexual assault at the beach. The authorities now have the suspect in custody and surprise surprise he is a Thai man. I say it like that because the couple who told me the story the day it happened were told by their Thai friends, without them even having seen or heard the attacker, that he was a Burmese man to which I replied “bullshit”. I knew odds are it was a Thai guy simply due to the fact that in Thailand there are like 35 Thai guys for every 1 Burmese guy. Scapegoating immigrants is a common tactic used by insecure people everywhere and in the U.S. they even have a presidential candidate who’s made it a major part of his political platform.

Anti-mask Laws

Although I dislike the idea of legislating a dress code and infringing upon the personal freedom of individuals to wear what they want, or in the case of hijabs, niqabs, and burqas “want”, I do support banning burqas, niqabs, ski masks, and any other identity-concealing attire in public spaces because arguments regarding the oppressive and divisive nature of the religious clothing in question aside these garments pose a legitimate security concern. Continue reading →

Alcohol, Strangers, and Rape

Last night there was a tourist at a bar and she was alone but met some new friends, a couple from California, who this afternoon told me the following story on a little boat returning from the beach it took place. Yesterday evening after a few drinks this young lady left the bar and was later spotted by her new friends walking with a guy. Not too long after in a secluded place not too far from the bar the guy tried to molest her and while fleeing from him she stumbled and fell off a cliff. Continue reading →

Gasoline Is Not Cheap

The fact that the average person in the U.S. is responsible for emitting more than twice as much greenhouse gas as the average person in the E.U. and Japan doesn’t seem to affect their vehicle purchasing or driving habits like you’d think/hope it would. Climate change, dying planet, future generations having to deal with the consequences… who cares. Gas is cheap so lets buy gas guzzlers and drive more! All people who drive, especially those who drive gas guzzlers, should make a serious effort to carpool.

American Drivers Regain Appetite for Gas Guzzlers

Cheaper Gas Means More Americans Are On The Road

Sweetened Beverage Tax

It’s difficult to tax unhealthy food because it’s difficult to determine where exactly to the draw the line. A hotdog stuffed with cheese isn’t the healthiest option for the consumer, the consumed, or the planet but it’s still food that provides anyone who dares to eat it with essential nutrients… and perhaps an increased risk of having a heart attack or developing colon cancer among other diseases. However with beverages it’s easy to determine where to draw the line: anything with an added sweetener.

In terms of public health sweetened beverages are more like alcohol and cigarettes than they are “cheesedogs” therefore they should be subjected to the same types of sin tax in order to dissuade people from consuming them. Taxes should be used as a tool to incentivize behavior conducive to the health of individuals, society, and the environment and I’d say a sweetened beverage tax clearly falls into this category so if you’re city, state, or country is considering placing a tax on sweetened beverages please consider supporting it.

Berkeley vs. Big Soda

Berkeley’s Soda Tax Is Working And That Could Be A Game Changer

crazywalmart5-2

Am I Dreaming or Am I Dead?

Yesterday I decided to go to a hot springs not too far from where I live to soak for a few minutes and swim like a beaver in the muddy brown river that runs next to it. I went to the bus stop to get on a “local bus” which are generally 30 year-old mid-size Japanese trucks with a cap and two benches running along the bed. I happened to know the driver who was in line to take off next and he just happened to be taking the afternoon off and was going to the hot springs to nurse his knee so I went with him. I’ll refer to him as K. K is in his mid sixties and speaks so loudly that I need to use my earbuds as earplugs when I sit up front with him. Continue reading →

Ecological Footprint

I know what I’m doing to reduce my ecological footprint, how about you? What are you doing? Is that the best you can reasonably/comfortably do? I say reasonably/comfortably because I don’t think people should have to live in caves on diets of locally harvested edible weeds however according to my observations and this graph the average person, particularly the average U.S. and Canadian citizen, has major room for improvement. Climate Change Continues

per_capita_emissions

Stalactite Stitch

While in a cave this afternoon I bumped my head on a stalactite. After confirming there was a decent amount of blood leaking from the back of my head I rushed back to civilization to have my scalp pulled back together. Stitches without any procaine aka novocaine, ouch. Luckily I only needed one. The grand total for my emergency room visit was $13. Such a simple and quick procedure probably would’ve cost over $500 in the States. Maybe Republican voters in the U.S. wouldn’t fear socialized medicine so much if they knew how cheap and efficient it could be. Thanks Ministry of Public Health Thailand and all the wealthy and middle class people who paid a little more in taxes so they themselves and everyone else could have access to affordable health care. Physicians for a National Health Program

stalactite stitch

Crappy Tourists

Don’t be a crappy tourist. Instead try to set a positive example for the locals regardless of which country you visit and which country you’re from. For instance bring your own reusable shopping bags along with a food container so you don’t need to waste plastic bags and foam boxes. Considering you already did some serious environmental damage traveling to your destination when you get there the least you can do is try not to produce so much garbage and to properly dispose of any garbage you do create. Also don’t get drunk in public. If you’re into alcohol and you won’t be driving a car or riding a scooter then a couple of drinks isn’t a problem however getting drunk often is. Anyway I just thought I’d mention that after seeing a lot of crappy tourists this year and after hearing about those lying U.S. swimmers in Rio.