Beer is an interesting beverage. Why do people order just one? If you're just going to order one beer, you might as well just have a water. Or a more delicious root beer.
I was at happy hour today, and got a burger, and then I got a beer, without thinking. Very automatic response. HOWEVER. If I had thought about the fact that I didn't actually want a beer, I would have ordered a water. but i didnt. And if I hadn't thought about this just now, I would probably continue on in life, just sitting down and ordering beers every time I sat down at a drinking establishment.
Objectively, beer does not taste good. Beer is wonderful, and amazing, and some beers are way better than other beers. But if you had to compare a beer to a delicious iced tea, or lemonade, or hawaiian punch, beer would lose every time. Its just that delicious iced tea, lemonade, and hawaiian punch don't come packed with that feel-good wonderfulness that every beer is guaranteed to come with. And after years of drinking beer while searching for the feel good wonderfulness, one begins to associate the taste of beer with this feeling, and one fools themselves into thinking that beer tastes good. When in reality, it is being drunk that tastes good, not the beer, but we have lost sight of that along the way.
The point is. I am not going to waste my time drinking just one beer anymore. I'm not saying I don't love beers but - if you're not going to drink at least 2, why have any at all? Instead, I am going to make sure that I donate my part to the corn lobby -- dr pepper, here i come (back) !
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
dog dreams
I love watching Napoleon sleep. Sometimes his legs shake a little bit, when he dreams hes running, and his whiskers flutter a bit, when he dreams hes barking. But what could he be dreaming about?
Does he have nightmares? Whats a dog nightmare consist of? Is there a plump, juicy looking bird that is just constantly out of reach (this is actually more like real life for him)?
Does he maybe do the stumble-run ... where you dream you're running, either away from or to something very important, and you have to run fast, but your legs keep stumbling underneath you?
Or maybe theres the recurring nightmare where the laser pointer is on a counter that is just out of reach, and he has to just jump, and keep jumping, and he never gets it (this is real life too).
Whats a good dream consist of? Does he catch his birdie? He would have no real life experience to base this on. Maybe he humps barry in some of his dreams (also real life). Does he dream about Evan, when Evan is gone?
I wonder if dogs that have saved their owners have nightmares that their owners are drowning or suffering again, and they can't do anything to save them. I bet that happens.
But the thing I am most confused about, is how dogs distinguish reality from their dreams. When Napoleon wakes up, after a particularly awesome dream where he is allowed to eat five rare steaks without having to sit or do any tricks for any of them, does he think that experience actually happened? Does it affect the way he perceives the world when hes awake (i.e., thinking he doesn't have to sit for treats)? Or are their dream memories so fuzzy and vague that it can't affect anything when they're awake?
I wonder if the ability to recall dreams is uniquely human. Why do we dream anyway? whats the point? If we sleep without dreams, are we missing out on some crucial bodily function? or...maybe dreams are the necessary ingredient, and not sleep -- perhaps if it were possible to dream without sleeping, then we would fulfill the necessary requirement that we currently attribute to sleep (these would be memory consolidation, categorization, recharge, rest, etc). Not that this is possible. and if it were, nobody would think to separate the two, or even be able to separate the two, for a very long time.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
obesity in the poor
Too many fat people in the world, too many poor fat people in the USA. America is one of the prized few countries where childhood obesity is correlated with poverty. Or at least with not being rich.
(man, my dog is cute)
Sooo what to do, what to do.....
ooooh pick me! pick me!
okay, yes, you, go ahead.
Alter the food stamps program to encourage consumption of healthier, low fat foods. People on food stamps do not get all of their food from the grocery store; rather, they get free food from the grocery store so now they can spend that money on something else (like, perhaps...McDonalds). But what if you could make it so that they didn't buy a McDonald's cheeseburger, and instead, they bought one of those healthy options (i never go to Mickey d's anymore so i actually have no idea what i'm talking about). But, you may ask, why get the healthy option when the fat one is so much more delicious? Because....the healthy option was redeemable with your food stamp card!
So heres the idea. Local and state governments should partner with restaurants and other dining establishments, hold them to a "healthy dining option" standard, and for restaurant items that live up to that standard, allow food stamps consumers to use their food stamps to purchase that item. For example -- a whole foods salad would be redeemable on food stamps (kind of absurd, since whole foods salads are insanely expensive). Or the McDonalds' fresh fruits and yogurts would be redeemable, or their healthy sandwich options. Like Arby's fresh sandwiches.
Eating healthy is expensive. I've been there. I am quite aware of how expensive it is to eat a)organic and b) enough healthy food to fill me up. Essentially, one ends up eating beans every single day of their life, and who in their right mind wants to do that? We weren't on food stamps, because we were intentionally trying to be poor (and who in their right mind wants to do that? yeah. right. www.jesuitvolunteercorps.org, thats who.), but IF we DID have food stamps, it certainly would have been nice if we could have gotten some prepared, healthy food on those stamps. As it was, we couldn't afford anything except beans and rice.
Right now, states and local govts should take advantage of this opportunity to combat childhood obesity and bring some revenue to restaurants offering healthy food items. This not only benefits food stamps users, but the population as a whole; as more restaurants started offering more healthy options, consumers (non-food stamp users) would have more healthy options to choose from.
(man, my dog is cute)
Sooo what to do, what to do.....
ooooh pick me! pick me!
okay, yes, you, go ahead.
Alter the food stamps program to encourage consumption of healthier, low fat foods. People on food stamps do not get all of their food from the grocery store; rather, they get free food from the grocery store so now they can spend that money on something else (like, perhaps...McDonalds). But what if you could make it so that they didn't buy a McDonald's cheeseburger, and instead, they bought one of those healthy options (i never go to Mickey d's anymore so i actually have no idea what i'm talking about). But, you may ask, why get the healthy option when the fat one is so much more delicious? Because....the healthy option was redeemable with your food stamp card!
So heres the idea. Local and state governments should partner with restaurants and other dining establishments, hold them to a "healthy dining option" standard, and for restaurant items that live up to that standard, allow food stamps consumers to use their food stamps to purchase that item. For example -- a whole foods salad would be redeemable on food stamps (kind of absurd, since whole foods salads are insanely expensive). Or the McDonalds' fresh fruits and yogurts would be redeemable, or their healthy sandwich options. Like Arby's fresh sandwiches.
Eating healthy is expensive. I've been there. I am quite aware of how expensive it is to eat a)organic and b) enough healthy food to fill me up. Essentially, one ends up eating beans every single day of their life, and who in their right mind wants to do that? We weren't on food stamps, because we were intentionally trying to be poor (and who in their right mind wants to do that? yeah. right. www.jesuitvolunteercorps.org, thats who.), but IF we DID have food stamps, it certainly would have been nice if we could have gotten some prepared, healthy food on those stamps. As it was, we couldn't afford anything except beans and rice.
Right now, states and local govts should take advantage of this opportunity to combat childhood obesity and bring some revenue to restaurants offering healthy food items. This not only benefits food stamps users, but the population as a whole; as more restaurants started offering more healthy options, consumers (non-food stamp users) would have more healthy options to choose from.
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