Biology 101 for meatheads: Why plants have feelings is dumb.

Yes, there is the obvious argument that plants don't have feelings, or at least plants don't react to pain the way animals do.   But there is a better reason this argument is dumb than the above.

Eating animals (or even just raising them to steal their milk or eggs) actually causes more plants to die because these animals have to eat plants or eat animals that eat plants.   Thus if you eat animals you are actually killing more plants, than if you eat plants directly.


                                   

Why I regret referencing the "Free Range Kids" movement in Bubble Burst

If I have a regret about something I included in my book "Bubble Burst: The Truth About the Dairy Farm", I would definitely say it is including the "Free Range Kids" movement headed by Leonore Skenazy.

Sadly, as of recently I feel like her blog has gone from the "Free Range Kids" movement to the "Lazy Selfish Parents" movement.   I'm all for what it originally stood for...encouraging kids to walk places and to play outside.  To love your neighbors rather than to fear them and to reignite community.

But sadly, these posts now seem to be an all to distant memory.  Instead, they have been replaced by posts about leaving kids, even young babies, in cars alone (horrible car-centered idea), drinking wine while pregnant (another horrible idea), and trying to claim formula is just as good as breastmilk.  Don't even get me started on this last one as it flies in the face of everything this book stands for.  Not to mention pretty much every study that isn't being funded by some corrupt industry shows human breastmilk is superior.  

Sadly, the people who seem to comment there now are basically like those of Ekalfwons: greedy and selfishness.  It's like they are in some race to the bottom to see who can leave the youngest child, in the hottest/coldest conditions in their stupid gas guzzler SUV which they probably drove two blocks to get there.  These idiots have even gone as far as to suggest dark window tints to prevent anyone noticing their child who may be meanwhile freezing or baking to death (or maybe just crying helplessly in vain not knowing where mom or dad is and why no one is coming for them when they cry).

No I'm not making this up.  This was the actual post below

"lollipoplover December 5, 2016 at 1:07 pm # 

“The officer told my wife that if your our child is out of sight for more than “10 seconds”! We are endangering our child”

Should I call the police on myself while in the bathroom? The definition of endangered has certainly changed.

And a 4 year-old is NOT a baby. This cascade effect of this overreaction caused more harm to this child and his family than any period of time this child was sleeping “endangered” in a car.

Tinted windows, people. I highly recommend them".

Too lazy to parent a 4 year old or take them with you...nice.   So I guess that now leaves those of us who aren't lazy, parenting these poor kids instead of the parents, checking in windows of dark color SUVs knowing this stupidity is going on.

Now they are on the blogtoday again bragging about their stupid useless SUVs, bragging about how they exploit animals, and defending some idiot who's kid had to be taken out of his vehicle by paramedics.

Not helicoptering doesn't equal neglecting your child.   Something which now seems to be lost of this new breed of so called "Free Range Parents" who are really just a bunch of "Lazy Selfish Parents".

Side note: If you see a baby, toddler or young child left alone in a vehicle do not hesitate to call the police (either the non-emergency number or 911 depending on the situation).  Many children have died this way and it is a slow painful death.    Pay special attention to SUVs or others vehicles with dark window tint, especially if you happen to be walking by, as now we have people buying these vehicles just to leave kids in them in dangerous conditions to prove how "Freerange" they are.   .  You could save a life.          



                                   

Product Review: Nature's Gate Chamomile Replenishing Duo

                                                                         

Pros: Vegan, seems to work well enough, inexpensive compared to other vegan/natural brands,

Cons: A little bit boring, I think the smell is fine, but some people don't seem to like it.

Rating: 8/10

In general, I've been pretty happy with the shampoo conditioner set.   It isn't really amazing or exciting, but it seems to get the job done.    The bottles are a good size and last a bit.   Ist lack of color and smell does leave me missing my exciting days of buying LUSH products a little bit, but wanting to scale back on spending, this works well enough.

                                                 

Sorry, but Trump being elected doesn't retroactively make Clinton an enviromentalist

I'm frequently involved in conversations about how awful it is Trump was elected; and I agree.  But then these conversations too often sadly turn into Clinton retroactive history.

Trump isn't, Clinton isn't, Obama isn't an environmentalist.   The only difference is Trump says he doesn't believe in global warming.  But that is just words.  They all act exactly the same.

Does an environmentalist get driven around in an SUV which she has secret service park in a bike lane?   Does an environmentalist fly around in a private jet?   Does an environmentalist eat meat?   Does an environmentalist joke on national tv about eating animals?

Because if this is what constitutes acceptable to be labeled an environmentalist we are all doomed to extinction.  And claiming to care about the environment but acting this way as an important person just sets the stage for do nothing environmentalism.  8 years of Obama and the gloabl warming is as bad as ever and it may already even be an end game.

But hey how can this be?   You packed your meat and cheese in reusable bags that you drove home in your SUV.   Aren't you a good little corporate puppet!

In fact, in many ways it almost makes me angrier to see people who claim to be environmentalists or to claim to believe in climate change acting this way.   In some ways I would rather just talk to some anti science freak, than listen to some so called liberal tell me their 10 lame excuses for why they drive an SUV or their ten lame excuses for why they still eat animal carcasses, chicken periods, and cow breastmilk.


                                                   

Quick(ish) Vegan Guide: Reykjavik,Iceland

Last month I made my first trip to Reykjavik, Iceland.  Like many other places I have traveled, I heard mixed things about the presence (or lack there of) of vegan food.  Like many of these places I didn't find Reykjavik to be a vegan food haven, but I certainly didn't go hungry either.  If you are going to starve in Reykjavik, it probably won't be because of the lack of vegan food, but because of the high price of food (not unique to vegan food)!

How you will want to go about eating vegan in Reykjavik will depend largely on your budget.  If you are budget travelers like us your best option is probably to stay somewhere, with minimally access to a refrigerator and preferably a stove or more.  A microwave can't hurt either, although far less useful than a stove unless you have special cooking equipment.   We stayed at Stay Boholt which was an okay, but not great or amazing budget hotel with a minifridge, microwave, and stove (with cooking equipment and dishes).

Iceland allows most vegan foods to be brought in, so long as the amount of food is consistent with the length of your stay.  Bringing in staples, especially vegan proteins is a great idea.   We brought in a lot of lentils which worked out great!   Officially the limit is about 6.6 lbs of food, but I have doubts anyone is actually weighing it.

There are many grocery stores in Reykjavik including downtown, all which you can easily access on foot.  Bonus is the cheapest and where most of the locals shop.  They have a lot of produce, canned goods that one would call naturally vegan vs intentionally, hummus (labeled vegan) and soy yogurt (labeled vegan).  At another grocery store I found the vegan slices below.  There is a "health" food store, but like many "health" food stores I found it a disappointment as many of the items featured animal products and it was expensive.

 
If you are looking at a nice sized budget or are stuck without even a refrigerator there are a few options for eating out.  I would still recommend having some food with you for hours when you might not be able to access vegan food.   Keep in mind restaurant food in downtown Reykjavik will leave you with sticker shock.  Smoothies run close to $10, soup is about $15, coffee about $6, actual meals $25-$30 and snacks around $8-$10.  Keep in mind this is fast casual to casual light.  I don't even know what fine dining would cost.  Then again I heard from someone staying outside of Reykjavik food was even more expensive there.

I could only find one fully vegan restaurant in Iceland.  This would be Vinyl.   Even if you are on a budget it is probably worth at least stopping by there for a snack once, although perhaps more for the ambiance or coffee, than for the food which was okay, but not amazing.  As the name would imply, they also sell records and have some neat record related decor.  If you plan to mainly eat out you will probably find yourself there often!  Below is the parfait at Vinyl.

Vinyl is in central Rekyjavik one street away from the major downtown street in the downtown area(in the direction of the water).  You kind of have to know it is there to find it, but if you know it is there it's really easy to get to.

I only ate out one other time during, our stay in Iceland.   It was an awful experience and I think I may have been vegan scammed a place called Nat Kitchen, especially after retroactively reading other reviews on happy cow.  They had the words vegan and vegetarian plastered in huge letters on the front.   Having not had a lot of time to research this trip in advance and having heard there was a vegetarian/vegan place downtown I assumed this was the place.  Bad assumption.

On entering and perhaps being jet lagged I assumed given the first word on the door was vegan and the second vegetarian the meat and fish all over was fake meat and fish.   Given that fake meat isn't always vegan I asked what is vegan.  I got a very weird answer and was recommended several things including fish.  Eventually after several more rounds of questions I figured out the fish was likely actually fish, but thought the soup was vegan.  But after reading the reviews on happy cow and given the soup tasted like it had dairy in it I doubt the soup was vegan.  So my advice: avoid Nat Kitchen.

Speaking of the place that is vegetarian/vegan that would be Glo, which I didn't make it to, as like most restaurants in Iceland it is a bit pricey and I get more excited about purely vegan restaurants.   If someone has been there it would be great to hear what you think in the comments!

Not sure how eating at "regular" restaurants would go, as I didn't try this, due to the kitchen and the budget.

Looking for my other quick vegan guides.  See below:
Budapest
BWI E terminal
Dublin
International Air Travel
Kansas City
Little Rock Airport
London (UK)
Mall of America
Oslo


                                    

Vegan food at BWI terminal E

      Below is my picture of my nice meal at BWI terminal E.  Not seeing a pick?  That is because terminal E doesn't have one  vegan meal I could find unless you count overpriced fruit, nuts and some processed fruit cookies labeled vegan sold at the news stand.  The cookies were quiet good: then again I was quite hungry.    So there you have it:  bring your own food unless you want to waste money.  

Note: While I'm not doing a full book on it I'll be blogging about my recent Iceland trip, so look for some more lengthy and interesting posts coming soon.  


                                    

Why Cal and other state exits are long overdue

One bright spot of Trump winning is we now have hit the Marxist bottom (hopefully) of this ever increasing oligarchy called the United States.  The bottom where we now realize the US oligarchy has failed us the people.   In fact, in my book Bubble Burst: The Truth About the Dairy Farm the US has split into 2 countries-however I imagined this much deeper in the future-never did I think it might have happened so soon.

First let's start with some common misconceptions about states leaving the union:

1. It is going to be or has to be violent: No reason it has to be.  Let the people vote.   
2. Larger isn't better: Except that it is-just look at Europe.  And forget UK, Spain, France and think of the countries with small populations like Liechtenstein, Monaco, Andorra, Iceland, and San Marino.   In fact, according to the most recent WHO data I could find Monaco and Vatican City were the only countries in 2013 to actually achieve vision zero!  San Marino was close with only 1 death.  These countries also boast high levels of happiness!
3. Individual cities can't function as countries: Except in some cases in Europe and Asia there are countries the size of a city and they function great.  For countries like Singapore that just are the city!        

Now let's discuss some of the merits of this

1. We might be able to pass laws more easily in these areas that actually truly protect pedestrians, cyclists, animals, the environment, and provide for quality public transit.   
2. Now this relates to how: A smaller country within the US will see less industries in that area that are in direct competition with these needs.  Example, if your country doesn't produce cars, you aren't going to have to fight the car lobby for vision zero, not to mention have your tax payer dollars stolen to bail them out.  Examples of countries: Denmark, Netherlands.  
3. You can truly protect the resources where you are.  While it would be ideal to be able to protect all resources all over the world, unfortunately dumb and selfish people make this impossible.  Better to protect some than none.   Then build a fence to keep them out when they run out of resources-LOL!      

But is there another way to form a country where animals, resources, and people are protected.  Here is one more idea.  A bunch of us who want vision zero and to stop seeing animals killed move to a small town.  We outnumber the local population.  We then vote to leave the union.  We make the city car free.  We give animals protection there.   

There are so many options.  Why not have what they do in the best countries in the world? 

  

                                    

Vegan Food Review: Virginia Hospital Center (Maternity Ward)

I would recommend Virginia Hospital Center as a pretty decent place to go if you are vegan, although could be better.

You order  your meals from a menu.   None of the main dishes are vegan, however there are a few options under salad including the hummus platter in the picture above.  There is also a veggie burger.  You could also order a bagel with peanut butter and jelly (also in pic).  Sides are mostly vegan and many of the desert options are actually just fruit (such as the fruit cup in pic).  A bonus is that they also have soy milk (also in pic).  I think they also had spaghetti with tomato sauce.

I was okay with the lunch and dinner options.  Breakfast could have been better which consisted of the peanut butter and jelly with bagel, soy milk, potato, and fruit.  Still could have been far worse from stories I have heard.

The food was not amazing, but was decent.  I certainly didn't go hungry.   Something which I have actually heard sadly happens to vegans at some hospitals.

I did have a problem with my first order, as they sent a cheeseburger instead of the veggie burger.   They did send a veggie burger to correct the order, but I hate feeling that animals were hurt because of a mistake.

Dietary routinely comes around to check how the food was.   She was apologetic about the mistake.  I suggested more vegan options and she seemed open to the idea so perhaps there will be more in the future.   She also said there was a special vegetarian/vegan menu, which I never received so perhaps there are more options on that then the regular menu.



                                   

Is it time to fire Wiedefeld?

I've seen some amazing public transit systems around the world.  Wmata is certainly not one of them.  The only two I've been on that I would consider worse are in Houston and Cleveland-and both of these are much less expensive than wmata.   In fact, for a family wmata is probably the singular most expensive system I've been on and as expensive as any for an individual.

And now wmata wants to make it worse.  In fact, after taking the first steps to shut it down and the dc region having done little more than complain on twitter and facebook, they have now decided to proceed further.   They want to shut numerous stations down.  Let's look at the impact of shutting down some of these stations at all times but rush hour:

Now in fairness I'll admit I haven't been to a lot of these stations, but I have been to some and let me share from my general knowledge.

The Stations in SE DC and PG county-I'll admit I've never been out that way, but my understanding is that many of the people who live there are not high wage earners and often don't work 9-5.  Granted Wiedefeld, not caring about the working poor isn't anything new.  Most of Wiedefeld's nonsense hits them the hardest.  So we are looking at taking struggling people and making them struggle even harder.  What are the impacts of this?  People make drastic decisions such as having to choose between feeding their kids and feeding pets-so the pets end up dead in animal shelters.  So basically Wiedefeld and his metro cronies are dog and cat killers.  Not to mention increased homelessness and loss of health care-then we'll tax these poor unlucky souls for their lack of health care-what a country!
     
Now for the stations on the west part of the line, I have been to some of those (except Virginia Square): So-called wealthy families-who cares about them right?  Well for one things many of them work hours that exceed rush hour at times and don't always know this at the beginning of the day.  And unfortunately people too often stereotype all six income earners as having unlimited money.    In the DC area not even close.  And sometimes people need to come home during the day.   Don't be naive and think when rideshare helps kill of metro they won't raise prices sky high-not to mention ride share is not pubic transit.  In fact, from a climate change perspective it's probably much worse than owning a car because you have people driving around in circles all day whether someone is in their vehicle or not.   And isn't that one of the points of public transit.   Have we completely forgotten this?

Virginia Square is going to be it's own mess.  I actually looked at an apartment near there.  Really liked the building and only didn't move in because the place was filthy and I felt the owner was going to be a slum lord.   Now I'm sure glad that place was filthy, because knowing the station might be closed all day I wouldn't touch Virginia Square with a ten foot poll.  Virginia Square is also home to numerous medical offices.  While you can walk from Ballston not all sick people can walk that far.  Even as someone who doesn't ride wmata even near daily I find being able to use the metro during the day time critical, for various reasons sometimes my husband needs to come home during the day time and why would I pay Virginia Square prices to walk all the way to Ballston or Claredon?   Virginia Square also has very limited bus service.

You are also going to see a larger negative impact.  Housing prices by the metro stations that are open all day will skyrocket and price many people out (probably including me).  Meanwhile prices at stations closed during the daytime will crash.  But this wont' really matter because the working people who need them most won't be able to live their because they will need hours other than 9-5.  People will them start to leave the DC region if they can.  If they can't be prepared for even more unhappy depressed DC people.  There may also be a lack of people to fill low paying service jobs because they can no longer afford to get into wealthier neighborhoods.  At the same time, you will see stay at home mom's, retirees and others who have higher earning potential trying to get after higher paid jobs, which their won't be enough of due to the increased cost of living (where one income or retirement is no longer enough to stay where they are).  This will create a whole new group of people who will struggle who will no longer have high paying jobs, many of whom will be the sole earner for their household (aka in Arlington many singles, but others too).   You can also expect more traffic and no widening roads never has and never will solve that problem.  

So here is where I'm supposed to mindlessly say something about safety and the so called safety issue?  Well, as far as I'm aware no one has been directly killed by metro in 2016.  That is basically vision zero.  You can't even come close to that statistics for driving (yes, taxis ubers and care shares are driving), cycling, or walking.  So, if you want to scream shut it down until it is safe, you better start with the roads.

Don't be naive.  There are many vested interests that want wmata shut down, including internal forces.  Ever notice how when there is a problem on wmata you are pounded with ads for lyft?  

Movies without cars/Movies without SUVs

Updated Version!  

Movies without cars

All Creatures Big and Small

Ex-Machina

Kinky Boots

Macbeth (2015)

Maya the Bee (2015)

Noah

Solomon Kane

Space Jam

Swimming in Auchchwitz

Movies without SUVs

Airplane

All Creatures Big and Small

Astro Boy (A little hard to tell though as it is a cartoon with cars that fly, but I don’t think they look like SUVS)

A Walk in the Woods

Dennis the Menace

Elvis and Nixon

Ex-Machina

Gattaca

Hackers

I’ll See You in My Dreams

Kinky Boots

Little Monsters

Love and Mercy

Macbeth

Margin Call

Maya the Bee (2015)

Noah

Project Almanac (possibly none-hard to tell)

Sea Level

Solomon Kane

Space Jam

Swimming in Aushchwitz

The Perfect Crime

Movies with low use of cars

Airplane

Annie

A Walk in the Woods

Elvis and Nixon

Everybody’s Fine

Hackers (I’m going to put it here because the good gal/guy Hackers use public transit, etc to get around)

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (maybe none?)

Little Monsters

The Perfect Crime

Movies with low use of Suvs (or other gas guzzlers)

Da Vinci Code

Dennis the Menace

Ghost Busters

If I Stay (Surprising less than one would think for a movie about a car accident and characters also ride bikes)

I Smile Back

JKF

Love and Mercy (I actually don’t remember seeing any SUVs in the movie, but oddly the vehicle on the cover looks SUV like?)

Men in Black

Project Almanac (possibly none-hard to tell)

Sea Level

Sliding Doors

The Big Lebowski

The Whistleblower

Valkyrie

Where Hope Grows (Seem to only be driven by unlikeable characters)

Wild Card

Wolf of Wall Street

Movies excessively promoting car culture/ car centric or aggressive driving

6 Souls

Amy

Anchorman 2

Da Vinci Code

Everything Must Go

Ghost Busters

Instellar

I Smile Back

Love and Mercy

Man of Tai Chi (By the way this movie is so terrible, I couldn’t even finish watching it.  I’ve done tai chi and the movie violates every principle of tai chi I’ve seen and is senseIess violence with a boring plot.  I gave up when he blew his earnings on a stupid useless gas guzzler which I’m sure he will them use to drive around an urban area). 

Men in Black

Mocking Jay Part II (note this movie gets knocked down not because of what is directly in the movie, but because of using the movie and its actors to do commercials for gas guzzling pick-up trucks)

Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation

Mortdecai

Room

Spiderwick Chronicles

The Big Lebowski

The Captive

The Holiday

The Transporter Refueled

The Voices

The Whistleblower

Transformers: Age of Extinction

Twister

Where Hope Grows (Spoiler Alert: Drives me crazy he is using the cell phone while driving even after what happened to his friend)

Wild Card

Wolf of Wall Street

Z for Zachariah

Movies excessively promoting SUV culture (or other gas guzzlers) or aggressive driving

6 Souls

Age of Adaline

Anchorman 2

Instellar

Man of Tai Chi (By the way this movie is so terrible, I couldn’t even finish watching it.  I’ve done tai chi and the movie violates every principle of tai chi I’ve seen and is senseIess violence with a boring plot.  I gave up when he blew his earnings on a stupid useless gas guzzler which I’m sure he will them use to drive around an urban area). 

Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation

Mocking Jay Part II (note this movie gets knocked down not because of what is directly in the movie, but because of using the movie and its actors to do commercials for gas guzzling pick-up trucks)

Room

Spiderwick Chronicles

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014)

The Captive

The Holiday

The Voices

Transformers: Age of Extinction

Twister

Z for Zachariah

Vegan Nursery Rhyme

Okay this is going to be a quick one, but I came up with this variation on ba ba black sheep this morning (actually now a morning about a month ago-such is my busy life.)   Anyway I veganized it.

Ba ba black sheep, it's not fair to take my wool.
No sir, no sir, not three bags full.

Not one for the master.
Not one for the dane.
Not one for the little boy
Who lives down the lane.




                                    

Why I boo Michael Phelps?

So some people want to know why I boo Michael Phelps and want others to beat him.  Here is why: He's a horrible person.  And I'm not countriest.

In other words I don't really care what country a person comes from: what I care about is are you a good person.

Now let's look at Michael Phelps:
Large SUV driver
Drunk driver

Clearly Michael Phelps still has many unresolved internal issues,  In fact, according to Keith Bradsher's book "High and Mighty" automobile companies deliberately market SUVs to people with insecurities and negative personality trades.  Deciding to express your insecurities with a vehicle that according to an article in Tree Hugger is 3x more likely to kill a pedestrian or cyclist makes you a bad person.

Now in addition, he is a drunk driver.  Just another act of selfishness along with the overcompensation mobile.

And this is why I can't stand Michael Phelps.

                              

List of movies that do and don't promote car and suv culture

Here is my updated list of movies for those of you looking for movies that don't feature cars or that don't feature suvs.  Now granted this is obviously not an very extensive list.   I'll add more as I see more and feel free to comment about other movies you have seen or if you feel some of this information is incorrect.  I'll try to create updated lists as I see more movies. 

Movies without cars

All Creatures Big and Small
Colette
Eragon

Ex-Machina

Macbeth (2015)

Maya the Bee (2015)

Noah

Solomon Kane
The Illusinist

Movies without SUVs

All Creatures Big and Small

Astro Boy (A little hard to tell though as it is a cartoon with cars that fly, but I don’t think they look like SUVS)
Bad News Bears
Blue Chips
Colette
Eragon

Ex-Machina

Gattaca

I’ll See You in My Dreams

Macbeth

Margin Call

Maya the Bee (2015)

Noah

Project Almanac (possibly none-hard to tell)
Reservoir Dogs
School Ties

Solomon Kane
The Illusionist
The Score

Movies with low use of cars

Annie
Dr. Zhivago (newer version)

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (maybe none?)

Movies with low use of Suvs (or other gas guzzlers)

Da Vinci Code

Ghost Busters

Men in Black

Project Almanac (possibly none-hard to tell)

Wild Card

Wolf of Wall Street

Movies excessively promoting car culture/ car centric or aggressive driving

Amy

Anchorman 2

Da Vinci Code

Everything Must Go

Ghost Busters

Instellar

Men in Black

Mocking Jay Part II (note this movie gets knocked down not because of what is directly in the movie, but because of using the movie and its actors to do commercials for gas guzzling pick-up trucks)

Mortdecai
Percy Jackson: Lightning Thief

The Captive

The Voices

Transformers: Age of Extinction

Wild Card

Wolf of Wall Street

Movies excessively promoting SUV culture (or other gas guzzlers) or aggressive driving of gas guzzlers

Anchorman 2

Instellar

Mocking Jay Part II (note this movie gets knocked down not because of what is directly in the movie, but because of using the movie and its actors to do commercials for gas guzzling pick-up trucks)

Percy Jackson: Lightning Thief
The Captive

The Voices

Transformers: Age of Extinction

I66, 495 and many major roads to possibly be shut down for six months

There is a new standard in DC.  If one person dies in over a year it must be shut down.  So safety officials have now announced that "166, 495 and any road where a pedestrian, cyclist or driver is killed will be shut down entirely until they are made safe".

Not only that said the safety official "We will have to shut down all the car dealerships".

When asked about this Don Beyer Congressman from Virginia  commented "This is not fair.  I don't like this.  I own the car dealerships.   Now I'm okay with metro shutting down and forcing more people to drive, after all it serves my interests.  But don't mess with my car dealerships".

When one driver was asked they said "Yes shut the road down.  I don't even care that nothing has improved in years of weekend work.  We will have world class roads six months from now".

Meanwhile other politicians said "We will tolerate it.  After all we have private jets, helicopters and limo drivers who don't obey the traffic laws including driving and parking on the sidewalks".

Other officials could not be reached for comment as they were busy dining and partying at the Mayflower Hotel.  But one did comment "I want a bigger bonus for all of this.  If the people can't get to work and have no money to shop at the grocery store, let them take a helicopter to the Mayflower and dine here too!"

Is anything being done about the SUV driver who hit a woman in a crosswalk?

The pedestrians and cyclists did everything right.  The woman was in the crosswalk.  Someone got the license plate number JSC 2652 (PA).  Calls were made to 911.  Yet it seems as if nothing has happened or ever will.

Patrick Miner took this and another image below and posted it to twitter including the Philadelphia Police in the tweet.  Yet, there has been no response from the Philadelphia police on twitter that I could find.  Meanwhile there have been numerous tweets on the Philadelphia police accounts including posting pictures of suspects involved in non-violent non-life threatening crimes.  I also tried to contact the media department on Monday of the Philadelphia Police and have not received a response.

I'm sadly surprised that even with the license plate number nothing seems to have happened.  I would think unless there were some unusual circumstances it would simply be a matter of showing up at the residence of whomever has the license plate number.

And someone must know who did this anyways.   If you see or know the license plate number JSC 2652 PA please share your knowledge.

We need to fight for justice against traffic violence until the problem is stopped.  Until then you might as well go visit Europe instead of Philadelphia, New York, DC and other cities that do nothing about traffic violence-you are far safer there, than in a city filled with indifference towards cyclists and pedestrians.

And please keep tweeting about this, blogging about this, and drawing attention to this until something is done!

List of movies that do and don't promote car and suv culture

Here are some lists of movies for those of you looking for movies that don't feature cars or that don't feature suvs.  Now granted this is obviously not an very extensive list.  It basically reflects movies I've seen recently (yes, mostly on Amazon Prime for those of you who probably guessed from the list).  I'll add more as I see more and feel free to comment about other movies you have seen or if you feel some of this information is incorrect.  I'll try to create updated lists as I see more movies.  

Movies without cars

Ex-Machina

Macbeth (2015)

Maya the Bee (2015)

Noah

Solomon Kane

Movies without SUVs

Ex-Machina

Macbeth

Margin Call (I think?)

Maya the Bee (2015)

Noah

Project Almanac (possibly none-hard to tell)

Solomon Kane

Movies with low use of cars/where characters get around by ways other than cars at least some of the time)

Annie

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (maybe none?)

Movies with low use of Suvs (or other gas guzzlers)

Da Vinci Code

Ghost Busters

Men in Black

Project Almanac (possibly none-hard to tell)

Wild Card

Wolf of Wall Street

Movies excessively promoting car culture/ car centric

Amy

Da Vinci Code

Everything Must Go

Ghost Busters (is also anti-EPA)

Instellar

Margin Call

Men in Black

Mocking Jay Part II (note this movie gets knocked down not because of what is directly in the movie, but because of using the movie and its actors to do commercials for gas guzzling pick-up trucks)

Mortdecai

The Captive

The Voices

Wild Card

Wolf of Wall Street

Movies excessively promoting SUV culture (or other gas guzzlers)

Instellar

Mocking Jay Part II (note this movie gets knocked down not because of what is directly in the movie, but because of using the movie and its actors to do commercials for gas guzzling pick-up trucks)

The Captive

The Voices

Metro shut down is about liability not safety

I know I'm about to piss a whole bunch of people off, but please at least try to understand.  Unfortunately, so many people have a horrible knowledge and understanding of statistics.

Statistically, you are far more likely to die commuting by any other form of transportation other than rail (unless you count flying).  So thus forcing people to commute by other forms of transportation does not increase safety.

Many employees had no choice but to go to work during Wednesday's metro shut down.  The worst affected in many cases are the working poor who do jobs that require a physical presence, whom can't afford to miss work, and whom can't risk losing their job because they could not get to work.  Even harder, many of these people have less options, not to mention less safe options to get to work.

Even worse metro rail did not run buses along the train routes and gave extremely limited notice.  If they had waited a few days for the weekend my guess is they could have run buses along the train routes.  Keep in mind some train stations see zero bus service during most hours including DCA.

So basically, by forcing people of rail, metro might be decreasing their liability, but not increasing safety.  Sure you can say someone could have died in a fire.  But someone is far more likely to die because of a jay driver hitting them, a reckless driver, etc.   And if someone dies because of a jay driver or other reckless driver or poor road design (just to name a few things) metro isn't liable.

Which begs the question why is zero considered the standard on metro rail, but not when it comes to any other form of commuting?

Worse though while politicians come down on metro, where is the concern about the ever increasing number of pedestrians and cyclists being killed?  Why aren't they attacking the car companies for all these deaths?  Oh wait that's right the car companies give them money and are in their pockets.

In fact, if I could propose 5 ways to seriously decrease deaths and serious injuries they would be the following.  Now when have you ever heard a politician suggesting these?

1.  Once a pedestrian or cyclist is injured or killed at a crossing by a turning vehicle, do not allow vehicles to make turns at that crossing until the intersection is fixed.

2.  Enforce jay driving laws.  I've never seen one driver ticketed for jay driving ever.

3.  Enforce no parking in bike lanes.  I really should not even have to say this.  But it amazes me counties invest all this money in bike lanes and then don't bother to ticket those parked or standing in them-which is a revenue maker.

4.  Restrict who can drive an SUV as the death rates to pedestrians from SUVs are much higher.

5.  And for goodness sake, make sure there is always a safe place for pedestrians to walk when there is construction.  It's ridiculous what I've seen over and over.  Multiple lanes for cars without a single one taken away and zero sidewalk.  

Update: Kaufman Green Guide Dublin: Guinness to be Vegan by end of 2016

I wanted to share the good news.  Guinness is going to stop using fish products in its production process by the end of 2016.  In other words us vegans will soon be able to go to Ireland and enjoy Guinness.

The implications go even further though than just drinking beer as:

1.  Some popular food products in Ireland such as brown bread are often made with Guinness.  Thus there will be more food available to vegans too.  

2.  The Guinness Museum is  a popular tourist attraction in Dublin.  I now feel a lot more inclined to recommend a trip there since now they are making their product vegan.  Vegans will also be able to get more out of the tour as you will be able to enjoy the samples that come with the tour (including a free pint)-thus making the cost more reasonable.  

3.  Mixed drinks really aren't such a thing in Ireland (at least from my experience) so if you wanted to enjoy the bar scene with an alcoholic drink your choices were a bit limited.   

Cheers!  

People not Statistics-Feb 22nd and Feb 23rd

I get really sick of hearing about people killed by the ridiculous car-culture referred to in statistical terms.  Each person killed should be treated as a human.   Maybe only then will we start realizing just how severe the killing is.

So I'm going to work on compiling stories of the lives of those murdered by car-culture.   Here are just a few people who we remember who were murdered by car culture either on Feb 22nd or Feb 23rd (of any year) or has a birthday on these dates.

Before I list this though I'd like to mention unfortunately I doubt I will be able to keep this up on a daily basis but will try to do as many of these posts as possible.   If anyone would like to help volunteer with this project please let me know.   Also if you have a person to add, pictures, or information to add to a bio for the following year please contact me.

Christopher Beaulieu (Feb 23, 2015):

Christopher was an experienced cyclist from the Edmonton area of Alberta who at the time of his death at age 21 was training for an upcoming tour. He had 2 sisters and one brother.  Sadly, his parents and even some of his grandparents had to bury him.   He was killed by a pick-up truck.

Jay Carlile (Feb 23 2004): From Paris Texas.  Happened in Texas so unfortunately no information or justice, only victim blaming.

Juan Guillermo (Feb 22, 2015):  Juan was a cyclist from Chile who was attempting a world record, trying to cycle around the world in 5 years.  At the time he had already cycled 140,000km out of the 155,000.  He died in Thailand hit by a pick-up truck that was being driven recklessly. He had a wife and daughter both of whom were present when he was killed.  If there is any silver lining Thailand takes this much more seriously than many other countries and there is a minimum 10 year jail sentence.

Update: Kaufman Green Books and Guides Gives

Last year I wrote this post in which I offered to help young vegans.

In case anyone wondered how much help I was able to give these are the statistics:

Zero-no one asked for help.

So as promised, since no one asked for help and I could not donate that way, instead I ended up making a donation to Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.  In fact, I made the donation in excess of the amount promised.  For those of you not familiar with this charity as a brief summary they are medical professionals who encourage improved health through vegan diets, alternatives to animal testing, and have even recently opened up a clinic in Washington DC.

                                          

Arlington (VA) snow fail

Okay since this survey so far has been utterly useless let me explain to you why I'm filling it out.  As far as I'm concerned if the county had done nothing it would have been better.  You claim to be people centric, walking centric, bike and public transit centric, yet every resource and concern seems to be devoted to cars.  I live in ******* and more people walk them drive here.  Yet you were quick to clear roads and had a "who cares attitude its the property owners responsibility about the sidewalks".  Speaking of sidewalks the intersection and curb at ****** street is still a snow covered mess.  So are bike lanes.  Not to mention it is your plows that piled snow there.  If the county had let the snow melt on its own it would have been a better response.  And if you think this is bad for regular pedestrians what about disabled pedestrians in wheel chairs who need access to the curbs still covered in snow.  What about pregnant woman for whom a fall can be very dangerous?  In short Arlington failed.

Take the survey:Click here

Go to the meeting on Feb 24 : Click here

Capitals Quiz

Here is one more quick trivia quiz today.  A quick test of your knowledge of capitals from easier to harder!

1.  What is the capital of the United States?

2.  What is the capital of the United Kingdom?

3.  What is the capital of Ireland?

4.  What is the capital of Germany?

5.  What is the capital of Hungary?

6. What is the capital of New Zealand?

7.  What is the capital of Minnesota?

8.  What is the capital of Puerto Rico?

9.  What is the capital of Madagascar?

10.  What is the capital of Rwanda?

Answer:

1.  Washington DC
2. London
3. Dublin
4. Berlin
5. Budapest
6.  Wellington
7.  St Paul
8.  San Juan
9.  Antananarivo
10. Kigali



                                        

High and Mighty trivia

I've decided to do a trivia quiz based on Keith Bradsher's excellent book called High and Mighty the Dangerous Rise of the SUV (I'll also include a link to its amazon page at the bottom).

1. True or False: A Dr. Martinez of the NHTSA did a study that estimated the design of light trucks to be causing 200 extra deaths a year (compared to cars).

2.  True or False: SUV advertising caters to people who market researches describe as especially self-centered.

3.  True or False: Car dealers often have more influence on Capital Hill than even the automakers.

4.  True or False: A very problematic loophole is that cars and light trucks (aka SUVs) are classified differently.

5.  True or False; The worst danger from SUVs comes from their weight.

6.  True or False; North American drivers tend to view vehicle safety the same way as European and Asian drivers.

7.  Which of the following does Bradsher suggest to decrease deaths from SUVs and to decrease the number of SUVs.  A.  Encouraging insurance companies to charge rates based on the danger the vehicle posses to others.  B.  Not allowing 16 year olds to drive SUVs or pick-up trucks.  C.  Banning Steel Grille Guards in cities.  D.  All of the above.

8. True or False Some people buy SUVs due to an irrational fear of crime.

9.  True or False.  While SUVs often cause knee injuries to pedestrians they rarely kill.

10.  Which two senators in the early 2000's  proposed legislation to increase both the fuel efficiency of cars and light trucks to 35 mpg, but were viciously and selfishly attacked by the United Auto Workers and others?

Answers:
1. False, the study actually found that there were an additional 2000 deaths a year!

2.  True.  Market research shows that SUV drivers are more likely to not only be self-centered, but have a number of other negative personality traits and insecurities.  Thus advertisers play to these.

3.  True.  There are dealers in almost every district and according to Bradsher they tend to give more generously than automakers.  Granted this didn't of course stop Congress from stealing tax payer dollars and giving them to the automakers who flew to Capital Hill in private jets.

4.  True.  This has allowed SUVs to not have to meet standards both when it comes to parts and when it comes to fuel efficiency among other things.

5.  False.  The worst danger actually comes from their flat end design, among other design problems.
6.  False.  European and Asians tend to have a much more accurate view of what makes a safe vehicle.  Rather than falsely relying on size, according to Nissan's past president Jerry Hirshberg, Europeans and Asians tend to associate safety with a nimble vehicle with excellent breaks that can swerve to avoid a collision.

7.  D. All of the above.  Steel Grille Guards are especially deadly to pedestrians.

8.  True.  And the marketers know this and play on it in advertising.

9. False.  This actually describes sedans and to some extend minivans(not SUVs).  The flat ends on SUVs are much more likely to kill and this is particularly true for children or shorter adults.

10.  John Kerry (Massachusetts) and Ernest Hollings (South Carolina)

                                  .

Vegan Trivia

Thought while I'm creating some trivia how about some vegan trivia?  

1.  What co-founder of the Vegan Society of England founded the term "vegan"?

2.  True or false.  A vegan diet can reduce your risk of heart disease and cancer?

3.  All the way back in 1813, what poet wrote "A Vindication of the Natural Diet" which suggested abstinence from animal food?

4.  Who wrote the first vegan cookbook called "No Animal Food: Two Essays and 100 Recipes?"

5.  In what year was "No Animal Food: Two Essays and 100 Recipes" published? 

6. In 1965 this group was founded to explore commercial soymilk production.  Can you name the group?

7.  In what year did the word "vegan" first appear in the Oxford English dictionary?

8.  Who narrated the film "Earthlings"?

9.  At almost five percent (according to a poll by the Panels Institute), what country has the highest per capita vegan population in the world?

10.  What happens to most male baby chickens in the egg industry?

Answers:
1. Donald Watson
2.  True
3.  Percy Shelley
4. Rupert Wheldon
5.  1910
6.  Plantmilk society
7. 1962
8.  Joaquin Phoenix
9. Israel
10.  They are killed.