Monsanto Corp.

Never mind arguing the atrocities they committed in the name of legality, forsaking ethics. Never mind debating their right to step on honest people to "protect their patent."

Never mind that you cannot save your own seeds that have been contaminated by their unwanted yet protected intellectual property.

The original point here is, who gave them the right to change the DNA of our food, to change our planet without even asking???????

I always wondered why this was not an issue during the George W. administration. Then I watched the documentary, FOOD, INC. According to the film, appointed cheeses in the FDA and so forth were former Monsanto executives.

Note that while the prevalent claim is that genetically modified soy beans do not harm us, I regularly ate non-organic run-of-the-mill tofu and roasted beans and soy mayonnaise for years, right up through the contamination and take-over of GMO soy. When the take-over occurred, I suddenly found myself breaking out in hives that wouldn't quit until I switched to organic, non-GMO food. Call it anecdotal.

What gives them the right?

Use it now, worry later - that's always been the American way. It was that way with killing the buffalo, nuclear testing, x-ray machines in the corner drug stores, and everything in between.

So now let's make it an issue. Go watch the film and see who to boycott.

Ironies

Managers of engineers are forever vigilant to prevent engineers from spending too much time on "science projects" in which more analysis and more than adequate tools are used than the need justifies. Problem is, they only have themselves to check themselves and they are men (though a different sort, many times) like their engineers. The result is, they go berserk with more tools and analysis than the problem justifies.

In some offices, engineers are spending all their time assessing and documenting their own poor performance on the job they didn't do because they were busy assessing and documenting their poor performance. When not assessing and documenting, they are documenting and seeking signatures of approval of a plan for their project that they cannot start on until all signatures are obtained. They are compelled to do it by management, who claim to believe it should make the project go faster and seamlessly, while any idiot knows that true inspiration for what to do comes only after one gets started. So the planning intended to prevent screw-ups takes longer to accomplish than the project (including screw-ups) itself. This mostly occurs when there are more managers than are needed, so they institute programs that can show on paper that they accomplished something. Otherwise, they get demoted. So inefficiency grows and professionals spend more and more time at the office. Can you say "Six-Sigma"?

Like a powerful finite element program, Six-Sigma has its place but can be overkill. Managers have been "playing around" with their tools too much in some offices and at the same time admonishing their engineers to "just make it bigger - never mind all those equations."

The reason engineers tend to overkill is that it is fun to get fancy and use the knowledge that they worked so hard to obtain. Managers are no different. Of course, not all engineers nor all managers are like that. But there are enough who are to make a problem in management where there is no one to rein them in. Normally, the Customer serves as the management check, but things are not always normal, especially when the Customer is the government, or indirectly, the taxpayer.

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One popular self-image in America is that of World Protector. "Our role in the world is to sacrifice the lives of our young men to defend all from tyranny in the world." Some seem to relish that role, even when their own sons have not been lost. I see the moral sense in it, but find it ironic that while we "freed the Iraqis," the French, etc., and passionately decry Hitler to this day, we put on blinders to the atrocities in North Korea that exceed those committed by Hitler & Co. We are no different than Hitler's German general public that "didn't seem to know what was going on with the Jews."

There is a reason for this, I'm sure. I don't know what it is, so I don't know whether it is a good reason. Anyway, there it is. You don't need to know the reason to see the irony.

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Do I need to go into detail on how many Americans these days think black is white and other times it is black and if the compass says your train is traveling West it is actually traveling East when it comes to Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Religion? If so, I'll edit this as time goes on.

Slake It Kid

One of the things I enjoy about little kids is the way they drink big a small amount: They ask for milk and you pour them the standard 3/4 inch. They stick their face into the cup and gulp, gulp, gulp, gulp, groan, gulp, gasp, gulp, kazoo, gulp, kazoo, gulp, and a big sigh of satisfaction. It sounded like they drank a litre, but it was a 1/4 cup at the most.

Update

What I had for breakfast: raw milk, raw sprouted millet, raw sprouted spelt, raw sprouted barley, raw cranberries, raw hazel nuts, raw broccoli sprouts, "raw" rolled oats, chocolate, vitamins and supplements. I don't know whether chocolate is raw.

This is typical of my diet lately, except that it also still includes juice. I am eating all sorts of meat, in small amounts, but my main protein staples are millet and wheatgrass. And I still eat a lot of cheese; I only wish it was raw (tastes so much better).

It is colder now. Yet I am eating the way I did in summer. I conclude that my regression was not directly due to the onset of Winter, that I could have remained insulin-independent had I stuck to my guns. I became lax in what I ate and how much when. I do not feel it is critical that I strictly eat raw. I am certain mostly raw is key. I am also certain I will never become permanently insulin-independent until I finally learn to NEVER eat a large or long meal, and never miss a small, nutri-packed one to make that possible.

Small meals, people. Nutri-packed ones.

I am not there yet; last night was a case in point.

Generally though, I am down to 2-4 units of insulin per meal, so here we come.

...and Speaking of Enjoyable

Today's breakfast was a significant discovery of flavor:

Frosted, dark dark green collards from the garden with yellow yeast. wow. Followed by a nice organic carrot. Hit thee spot.

This past year, I have regularly enjoyed and hungered for brown yeast on romaine. Had no idea about yellow yeast on collards.

Food is Fuel, Not Entertainment

This statement is incomplete.

The main premise of my blog is that simple, whole foods are far more enjoyable.

See Blog Title for Post Title

Bowl of milk and grain and whole frozen cranberries with hazel nuts crackin' on the side.

Grain: one part barley, twice that of spelt and twice all of that of millet, soaked in water about an hour and then left to sprout however long (but refridgerated after the first day) it takes to eat the stuff gone.

I will also mention the wow of cranberries in the juice with and without (2 very different and very wonderful effects) apple. But you have to play around with the amounts and get it right, or it's just pretty good. Which doesn't qualify for the "you ain't lived" category.

The breakfast in the first paragraph did qualify. In fact, it hit the spot.