Really Good Freeganism/Dumpster Article

This is a great article.

Here is my favorite quote of the article. The speaker is asked if he thinks dumpsterdiving is stealing and replies:


"Actually I don't consider it stolen - it's liberated. Liberated from those who neither wanted nor deserved it. Diverted on the way to the landfill."

Click the title of the blog or paste this into your browser:

http://lifeandhealth.guardian.co.uk/food/story/0,,2149304,00.html

Freetown Christiania

Recently my younger brother went backpacking across Europe with a group of friends, which is something that I am planning to do for next year.

Of all the places that he went to, the one that peaked my interest the most was Freetown Christiania in Denmark near Copenhagen. Christiania is basically an anarchist/communist collective of about 900 people living by their own rules. They have sucessfully thwarted government action and violent police raids for years.

Until my brother mentioned it, I had never heard of Christiania. I had heard of the nearby Ungdomshuset in Copenhagen because of all the recent media coverage over the riots.

Click the name of the blog for a link to the wikipedia page or paste this into your browser:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freetown_Christiania

I want to check it out.

Zeitgeist Movie

My friend Alex sent me this link lastnight.

http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com/


It is a two hour long documentary with some very interesting and compelling arguments. It has three major parts, one about religion and Christianity specifically, one about September 11th, and another about the federal bank.

I guess you could say it has a few conspiracy theories in it.

Anyways, the title of this blog is a link there, and there is also a link on the right-hand side of your screen under "Useful Links". I also encourage you to check out any of the other links listed there as well. They aren't advertisements or anything, just things I find interesting.


EDIT: Oh shit, the link is not working anymore. I just watched the movie less than a few hours ago, and now it isn't working. IT'S A CONSPIRACY!! haha

EDIT2: I just checked and the link works again, so it seems like the site goes up and down. If you click it and it doesn't work, just try again another time.

Freeganism

Tonic Immobilization

I saw one of the most interesting things ever tonight on the Discovery Channel. I am hoping that most of you already know that it is shark week.

Well today happens to be the first day of my family beach vacation, and we rented a house right on the ocean. When we got in tonight, we ordered pizza and checked out what was playing on the tube. We stumbled across SharkWeek, and I considered changing the channel, as I was very disapointed at one of SharkWeek's previous shows. But I stuck it out, and I'm glad I did.

The show was called "Sharkman" and it was about a guy that willingly swam with great white sharks, without a cage or any other sort of protection. And even more, he would reach out and touch them. He was experimenting with some sort of hypnosis, where if he touched certain sharks in certain places, they would go into a trance-like state. This was much easier to demonstrate on smaller sharks. He would flip some smaller sharks over, or just rub their nose, and they would immediately relax and lay still, allowing him to rub all over their bodies.

In one case with a caribean coral reef shark, which I believe was around 6-8 feet long, he induced this trance-like sleep, moved shark bait a few feet away and then let the shark wake up. Instead of immediately going for the bait, the shark followed him, asking for more. This indicated that the sharks enjoy this tonic immobilization. Some of the sharks were competing for the Sharkman's attention, wanting to get their snouts rubbed.

This reminded me somewhat of my dog Chloe. If you pet her in a certain place, she basically falls into a hypnotic trance and rolls onto her back, presenting you with her belly, which she wants you to rub for her. If you stop and walk away, she follows you, wanting more.

The fact that my little westie and massive predators of the sea may have a lot more in common than I ever would have imagined possible, in terms of ability to interact with humans, is astounding.

It also blows the traditional view of sharks, especially great white sharks, to pieces. The sharks seemed playfull, curious, and friendly even towards humans in the water, as apposed to "mindless killing machines."

I think it's a great thing when all previous negative connotations towards anything are totally shattered, whether it be stereotypes towards certain groups of people or negative views of sharks.

Funny Video