Weekend Thoughts - 10.17.15

Image by Amre, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Happy Saturday y'all! Below, I have rounded up some things for you to think about this weekend:

1. I hope I will see some of my local readers at the second annual TriVegFest in Raleigh, NC later today! There will be an impressive collection of vendors, speakers, and an amazing community to take part in. If you are able to make it out and see me, feel free to say hello!

2. A tropical mushroom that grows on lava flows gives one in three women spontaneous orgasms from smelling it. Naturally, all of the men tested found the smell abhorrent. 

3. Turns out that over the past ten years, the DEA has spent millions of undisclosed dollars on cell phone tracking. However, the organization refuses to release acquisition documents even though the fact that it is operating like this is publicly-known.

4. A photography project that removed cell phones from pictures of people engaged with them, which results in an eerie commentary depicting mobile phone addiction. They're definitely worth looking through.

5. For the collectors out there, here are some coins that have been carved to reveal skulls underneath the faces.

6. One of my favorite food bloggers, Gena Hamshaw of the site formerly known as Choosing Raw, will be changing the blog's name to The Full Helping in an effort to have the name reflect the site's main content a bit better. While Gena was originally a raw foods, she has evolved the blog to include more than just raw-focused posts. I highly recommend reading her blog for recipe recommendations, healthy journey guest posts, and a weekly link roundup that focuses on food, health, and nutrition.

That's all for this week's edition of Weekend Thoughts. Until next week, keep thinking wilder.

Weekend Thoughts - 10.3.15

Image by Hernán Piñera, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Happy Saturday y'all! Below, I have rounded up some things for you to think about this weekend:

1. The search for extraterrestrial life is one of my favorite topics. Scientists have been attempting to find water on Mars, and this week NASA announced that evidence for liquid water on Mars has been found. That's pretty big news, because that means there could be life on Mars, and the planet could support human life in the future. 

2. Some politicians have recently proposed that beneficiaries of the social welfare system should have their names published for all to see. An article from ATTN: proposes that the government also publish the names of companies who receive monies from the corporate welfare system (the top five are McDonald's, Olive Garden, the NFL, oil companies, and agricultural companies). After all, if people want to scrutinize impoverished citizens at the lower end of the economic scale who receive help, why not also scrutinize the privileged business folk at the top who are essentially doing the same thing? 

3. When skateboarding became emerged in the 1950s, the media was confused. Ratter put together an amusing collection of newspapers that just didn't the sport at all.

4. Something that I have long held as a personal hunch, it turns out that the FBI really does have the methods to spy on any Internet activity they want to, whether it is encrypted or not. Although they may not legally be able to do so, the organization has the means to hack devices and get past the levels of encryption that provide the infrastructure for technological innovations like the Dark Web. In addition, the FBI has been pushing for the ability to install spying malware directly into operating system updates, which the article covers in detail. They are already able to decrypt our communication, and I believe that side of the war has already been won. This is why I have been arguing for a movement toward two-way transparency, rather than an insistence on personal privacy.

5. Wired has its eyes set on the future horizon in its piece about platform blogging, which they have dubbed plogging. Social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter are planning to release features that will allow their users to publish long-form posts on the platforms, essentially enabling the option to blog on a social media platform. The concept is interesting, and it may just work—there are fascinating things that everyone has to share with the world, and it is easier for the average Internet user to read content produced in a social media platform feed than to go directly to a blog or news website. The tradeoff here—from what I can see—is that the content would be published on the social media platform, so the writer wouldn't have control over it the same way she would if it was published on a personal website. We'll have to see if it kicks off. Maybe it's time for more people to start thinking about the possibility of creating long-form content for other people to read?

6. The concept of universal basic income has been a fascinating and inspiring idea to me for a while, and it turns out that offering money to citizens regardless of employment is an idea that is becoming increasingly accepted by both sides of the political divide. Could it be the end to poverty that we are looking for?

7. Would you like to eat less plastic? Maybe you should reduce or eliminate your consumption of fish, since a recent study found that one-in-four fish consumed contains plastic. In addition to taking this into consideration for your own health, don't forget about the health of your extended family—your pets!

8. This most likely doesn't come as a surprise to Think Wilder readers, but it turns out that DARE—the anti-drug "educational" program—was not effective. At all. I remember receiving DARE "education" classes during my elementary schooling in the 1990s, and they fed me with undeserved fear and paranoia about all drugs that remained unchecked until the mid 2000s, during my college years. It was at that time that I learned about amazing resources like Erowid, NORML, and MAPS by listening to the Psychedelic Salon podcast. Since then, I have learned that educating myself is more fruitful and valuable than anything the establishment could ever shove down my throat. I believe that the best education for children is to be honest about the potential dangers and the potential benefits that some drugs have to offer. Outright dishonesty and political propaganda does nothing but embed a feeling of distrust in our youth. They will eventually find out that, like Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny, much of the anti-drug rhetoric that is taught in schools is false. And when that happens, it is possible that they will make bad decisions—which could have been prevented with accurate information—because they assume the entire message was false.

9. Finally, local readers may enjoy this brief history of cannabis legislation in North Carolina from 1977 to 2015.

That's all for this week's edition of Weekend Thoughts. Until next week, keep thinking wilder.

Weekend Thoughts - 8.22.15

Image by Minoru Nitta, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Happy Saturday y'all! Below, I have rounded up some things for you to think about this weekend:

1. A great reminder to stay positive, an article titled "Negative Thinking: The Number One Cause Of Chronic Depression And How To Overcome It" points out that negative thoughts attract more negativity. The piece makes a point about proof of the results of positive thinking, claiming that "Proof is not the result of what is true. Proof is the result of what you believe." Chronic negative thinking can be a real problem, and my main advice is to remember to smile!

2. Vice published an article on the need for a regulatory organization in the recreational drug market. Rather than the outright banning of all psychoactive substances other than the exempted few, which causes a host of public health and safety issues as well as criminalizing a group of otherwise law-abiding citizens, why don't we focus on ensuring the safety, purity, and efficacy of these new psychoactives?

3. Mrs. Homegrown at Root Simple wrote a piece on the value of trees that is worth reading. To summarize her points briefly: trees increase property values, cool the environment, absorb rain and share it with other plants, assist with cleaning water, absorb and store carbon, improve air quality, create food and habitat for animals, and heal the soul. Give her article a read for more detail, and while you're at it, check out the rest of the blog—I've been reading it for at least five years now and have enjoyed it immensely.

4. I found this take on the "Thanks, Obama" meme to be pretty spot-on. It's interesting that the meme can be used in a sincere way as well as a sarcastic one. Obama's presidential career has certainly proved to be an compelling one to follow.

5. There is finally some scientific evidence showing that e-cigarettes are about 95% less harmful than smoking tobacco. I think it's beyond clear to anyone who has tried both vaporizing and smoking that the vapor is easier on the throat and lungs than smoke. It's nice to see some scientific research being done in this arena, because for what feels like the longest time there hasn't been much research to speak of. Vaping is almost all around better than smoking—it tastes better, it smells better (and the smell dissipates extremely quickly), it's easier on your body, it can be less expensive, and it can actively aid in smoking cessation. The one thing I can think of that smokers may miss is the huge clouds of smoke that you can get from smoking, although many vaporizers produce full clouds of vapor instead. If you're a smoker, and you haven't tried vaping, I highly suggest you give it a try.

6. In the aftermath of Jeb Bush's recent statement supporting giving the NSA broader powers to spy even harder on Americans, a news story broke at The New York Times explaining how AT&T helped the NSA spy on Internet traffic on a vast scale and was in fact the most enthusiastic and top surveillance provider for the agency. For many decades, the United States government has relied on eager cooperation from AT&T to spy on immense quantities of Internet traffic. Now if only we could get the same amount of transparency from the other side of the equation—looking into our own government—that they are forcing on us...

7. Local (Durham, NC) vegan chef Kathy Hester featured a post on her blog Healthy Slow Cooking that centers around building a vegan pantry with dried beans. As an amateur vegan chef and bean-lover myself, I enjoyed her piece—especially the links to articles debating whether or not to presoak dried beans before cooking, the must-have beans to stock your shelves with, and the more uncommon beans to sample for a fun treat. There are also several recipes to try out, although I can't vouch for them personally as I haven't attempted to make any of them yet. I had the great fortune of meeting Kathy at last year's inaugural Triangle VegFest in Raleigh, NC and found her to be an engaging speaker with a warm personality and a wealth of knowledge about vegan cuisine. Her specialty is slow cooking, so give her blog a read if that piques your interest!

8. And speaking of Triangle VegFest, the 2nd annual event will be held in Raleigh, NC's Moore Square on October 17th from noon to 5PM. The event is free to enter and features tasty plant-based foods, exhibitors and vendors, and a lineup of fantastic informational speakers (including a favorite of mine, Chef AJ—a knowledgeable and extremely inspirational plant-based chef and culinary instructor). I hope to see you in the Square for some veggie-related fun and learning!

9. A writer tested out the Polyphasic sleep practice for a week and found it to be similar to taking LSD. The topic of Polyphasic sleep holds a sort of fascination for me although I haven't given it a try yet. It is the practice of breaking sleep into several segments spread throughout the day rather than one long segment of sleep overnight. I found this account to be entertaining and enlightening, with some great tips for going to sleep—even for regular sleepers!

That's all for this week's edition of Weekend Thoughts. Until next week, keep thinking wilder.