Comments for The Indigestible

Comment on Golly! Why is Obama’s Lead so Slim? by the third chimpanzee

the third chimpanzee — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 08:54:34 +0000

That’s okay, Obama seems to have made up for this by choosing (for his running mate) a boring old white guy known for foot-in-mouth racist sounding comments!

The yang to his yin!

(Is it too late to switch my vote to Hillary??? Please???)

Comment on A Guns-in-School Twofer by Warren

Warren — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 15:24:22 +0000

Canada moving south. As an invasion, you mean?

Actually, they could probably just buy the US out right about now. Which wouldn’t be so bad.

Comment on A Guns-in-School Twofer by the third chimpanzee

the third chimpanzee — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 07:20:13 +0000

“And good non-god, do I ever miss culture.”

I know what you mean… Rural Illinois ain’t exactly a cultural hot spot.

Canada does oft sounds tempting to me too, but I’m an Arizona boy, and I have pretty persistent seasonal affective disorder, so anything north of…well, the northern most border of Arizona is too far north for me.
Maybe Canada could consider moving south a few thousand miles???

Comment on Whose Fault? by the third chimpanzee

the third chimpanzee — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 11:24:33 +0000

First (it seems) they send their son *away* because he’s gay…now they sue for $$$ cause he’s dead.

Oh yeah, real Parent of the Year winners here…

Comment on A Guns-in-School Twofer by Warren

Warren — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 20:39:08 +0000

Actually, yes. Toronto’s tempting, as is Vancouver. I lived in Milwaukee for a while, about the same latitude as Toronto, so I know I can hack the daylight (or lack thereof) that far south, and the climate would be about the same too.

And good non-god, do I ever miss culture.

Comment on A Guns-in-School Twofer by Luna

Luna — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 19:55:19 +0000

wow. So glad I’m in Canada. Have you thought about emigrating, by any chance?

Comment on The Interesting Interaction of Vision and Language by Uber-retro, or, Going Medieval (or at least Renaissance) on the Doctors at The Indigestible

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 16:17:07 +0000

[...] It actually was a fairly major coup when, just about exactly one year ago, I was able to use a minimalist design, composed pretty much exclusively of typography, to promote an open house event. My interdepartmental contact on this job was one of those blessed clients you sometimes get: She basically said she trusted me to do my thing, without interfering at all with the development and design process. I still love the hell out of the results, and so did she (though to my eye now, the kerning is off in some places in those images, particularly the second one). [...]

Comment on Peta: Blowing Goats for 28 Years by Warren

Warren — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 06:50:59 +0000

There might be a good reason for that, actually; the stress of restraint could change the flavor of the meat due to adrenaline. Also, I suppose stress-related mortality could go down.

TTBOMK most animals killed in slaughterhouses today are done in with stun bolts, which makes it pretty fast. Until a few minutes before they’re led into the chute they’re probably clueless about what’s happening, so overall it could be argued that the regulation is more or less sensibly humane.

What I haven’t seen, and would like to, is legislation increasing protection of slaughterhouse employees. Eric Schlosser, in Fast Food Nation, documents rising cases of repetitive-motion injuries, lacerations, missing digits, etc. as slaughterhouses have increased production with decreased workforce over the last decade or so. It’s a hard, tiring job on the floor, probably exacts a rather painful psychological toll, and the work is a big social blind spot. (”I work in a slaughterhouse” is almost guaranteed to be a conversation stopper.)

Having seen a whole cow shot, bled and butchered on a ranch, I’ve got some idea of the connection between the mooing, pooping animal and the slabs of meat that come from it — but that was out in the open, under a blue sky, with several experienced people working on the carcass. Modern slaughterhouses are nowhere near as demi-romantic. Generally, the animal is taken apart so fast that its muscle fibers might still twitch even as they’re being cut into steaks.

The point is that things happen so fast, and under such high-stress conditions, that the humans working on the animals are subject to pressures most of us can’t probably imagine, and that leads to all sorts of problems for them.

Comment on Peta: Blowing Goats for 28 Years by Guy Mac

Guy Mac — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 18:48:20 +0000

I’m no veg, but can understand their point of view (and tactics). What I don’t get are things like the (recent AZ proposition) which would require that animals be humanely penned… on the way to the slaughterhouse. It’s sort of like what Sam Harris says about Fundamentalist Christians compared to “lukewarm faiths” : he may disagree with them entirely, but at least they are consistent!

Comment on If you Must Have an Official Religion by Luna

Luna — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 01:10:31 +0000

Well, gay marriage is legal in Spain, but centuries of religious cleansing leave a mark … Catholicism is well entrenched there and the Church still has a lot of power (e.g., most Catholic schools in the country are subsidized). You’d have plenty of material for your blog!!