One last thought before bedtime

THINKING of helping the planet by buying an eco-friendly car? You could do more by going vegan, say Gidon Eshel and Pamela Martin of the University of Chicago.

They compared the amount of fossil fuel needed to cultivate and process various foods, including running agricultural machinery, providing food for livestock and irrigating crops. They also factored in emissions of methane and nitrous oxide produced by cows, sheep and manure treatment.

The typical US diet, about 28 per cent of which comes from animal sources, generates the equivalent of nearly 1.5 tonnes more carbon dioxide per person per year than a vegan diet with the same number of calories, say the researchers, who presented their results at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco last week.

By comparison, the difference in annual emissions between driving a typical saloon car and a hybrid car, which runs off a rechargeable battery and gasoline, is just over 1 tonne. If you don't want to go vegan, choosing less-processed animal products and poultry instead of red meat can help reduce the greenhouse load.
From issue 2530 of New Scientist magazine, 17 December 2005, page 19

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British article. Obviously. Still, it's something I've heard before, and worth repeating.

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The internet is, sometimes, a beautiful thing.

So, I was reading Neil Gaiman's blog, and someone had written him an email, giving him a link to where Frommer's had reccomended Gaiman's book Neverwhere in a list of books that inspired travelling--the actual title of the article is, Our Favorite Books that Make us See the World, and it's over here.

One of the things they mentioned was a book talking about Amelia Earhart's hometown. One of the bridges there has a blue light atop it. I'm guessing it's been there since she was alive, and apparently it's there to guide her home. For reasons I can't really explain, that really really got to me. Gods only know why.

Also, someone mentioned Don't Let Go to the Dogs Tonight, as a good book specifically about Africa. I have that one somewhere, I bought it at Costco after remembering I'd read good reviews about it. It's a fantastic book, and very sad in places. That book is almost a definition of the idea of "a sense of place." I'd loan it out if I knew where it was. *lol*

One of my favorite books about travelling, is No Touch Monkey: And Other Travel Lessons Learned Too Late, by Ayun Halliday (who also writes the zine East Village Inky, and has a regular column in Bust magazine, if you care). It's hysterical, as is most of her writing. It also gives a person the feeling that no matter how bad things can get while you're in another country, you could probably always tell yourself that at least now you have a really great story.

I need to read The Bone People by Keri Hulme.

Anyway. Back to your regular LJ.

(PS: Changed my username. In accordance with my icon. Tee hee hee.)

Randomness is my specialty

My mom gave me some pajamas of hers that I wanted. They shrunk in the wash, and now they're mine. They're covered in many sizes and colors of stars, with blue satin on the hems. They make me think of what Rainbow Brite would wear to bed. I should put them on and get a picture. I told my mom that, and she said I'd have to put my hair in braids like Rainbow Brite too.

Rainbow Brite and Punky Brewster both heavily influenced my childhood. I know that must be a shock to you. ;^)

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I have a to-do list today. So far it mostly involves laundry and cleaning my room. They tend to go hand-in-hand, actually. I should also cook myself something (I have the stuff for one of my favorite recipes from La Dolce Vegan, as long as the broccoli isn't off by now).

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It used to be that when I was queasy, I always craved a can of tuna fish. Sometimes I'd go for days feeling oddly nauseated with no obvious cause, and when I finally gave in to the tuna, I'd feel better. I kept this up even after becoming a vegetarian, figuring that since it was only a few times a year....

I haven't done it since I became vegan, though; and I'm trying to figure out what it was about the tuna that I needed that always ended the queasy feeling. Especially since yesterday was one of those days. I'm thinking it was protein and a little fat together, because all day yesterday I craved edamame instead. I know that when I feel icky I tend to eat very strange things, so is edamame just another food I wanted (I also ate cookie dough, ramen, chocolate, naked salad, and drank ginger ale) or what I actually need? Hmmm.

I'd like to think I was capable of just keeping edamame around, but when I have it, I eat it. I like edamame.

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I had a long list of possible New Year's resolutions. The only one that really sticks out in my head as something to commit to, is spending less time online. I think I may impose an actual time limit for a while, until I can figure out how to get online once a day without spending every free moment plastered to the computer. I don't do all the other things I want/need to do, because the internet is always more appealing and easier. I'm late to work almost every day because I "have" to check my email before I go to work. And my friends list. And some webcomics...

So, my time limit is 1.5 hours total daily. Except for one weekend day, when I can spend all day looking up fanfiction and reading articles and chatting on AIM. Apparently, this week's day for that is, uh, today. Not the best start. Grr.

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Of my friends that grew up in other places, Utah and Michigan are the most-represented. WTF is up with that? I have at least a hundred or two hundred relatives on my dad's side in Michigan (mostly second cousins), but that's not how I met those people.

(Speaking of which, People From The Mitten-Shaped State, you can get Vernor's here now. My dad flipped out when he saw the cans in the fridge that were left over from my trip this weekend. Mmm...Vernor's...the taste of my childhood roadtrips to my dad's family. *lol* The first time I saw it in Oregon (a bottle of it at a Pizza Schmizza a few years ago) I got all excited.)

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I mentioned on here that I needed some double-pointed knitting needles and where I went didn't have those sizes in stock. My Christmas present from ninja_pidgeon and sagcat was, those exact needles. Woohoo! Thank you.

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I've run out of things I wanted to say. I'm sure you're all thankful.

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SCORPIO. Life is expansive and very busy. The lucky breaks are coming for you. After a long hiatus and some reversals, partnership is lively again. Retrograde, however, is asking you to rethink your communication style. Conditions at work may undergo disruption. You’re preparing for some changes at home.

From DayKeeper.

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This link is especially for ourglasslake. I don't know what song that is he's singing, but I think it's damn funny.

Actually, I think he's singing several different songs...

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Over here, the lovely fictualities has posted an essay talking about how both Frodo and Harry are orphans, and how it affects their characters and how they act. Heavy stuff, led to much thinking on my part.

Half the fun is people's comments, and the back'n'forth between them and fictualities. Few things warm my heart like a very smart fangirl.

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Got done: one load of dishes. Two loads of laundry. Making myself some food. Am done for the day, I think.