CrispyQ

Me too! You were funny!

No, but when I first got married, I had dreams that I had just had sex with some guy (not my husband) & suddenly it would occur to me that I was married & I would be horrified. I suspect dreams like this are simply your unconscious mind taking on your new belief or circumstances.

"You can't love nature with a gun." Excellent quote!! I'm surprised, too, that they would sponser a contest with that type of 'prize.' Grrr... Raven, I love your new avatar! Cool. And as for the comic, I have no idea. Hypocrisy is certainly an appropriate title.

Oh Nat. I am so sorry about your father. I can't imagine how difficult this situation must be for you & your family. Is there any chance of recovery for your father?

Good idea. I've always thought that sharing good vegan food is the best way to spread the message. When I was in Phoenix I cooked up some vegan mac-n-cheese for the people I was staying with. "This is vegan?" they asked. "But it tastes so good."

Eco Products liquid. They are a local company & all their cleaning products are eco friendly & work great! I also like supporting a local company.

I love to hear about compassionate kids! He sounds wonderful! What kind of response did he get to his "Why I'm a vegetarian" speech?

Oh man! I would love to go to Vancouver! And the natural product expo sounds cool too. Let us know what kind of interesting stuff they have. BTW, are you still doing your animal shelter visits?

I'm always up for a 4:20 celebration!!

Hi all. I've been gone for awhile & been in a major funk. My dearest & closest friend succumbed to a three year battle with breast cancer in early March. She was only 37 & leaves behind three children the oldest of which is 7. ~~cry. My father died of cancer several years ago at the age of 56. By the time he was diagnosed it had metastasized & he was riddled with it. The 3-6 months he was given to live turned out to be less than 2 weeks. I was going to fly out to see him a week after he died, sure that I had at least a month or two before he passed. Did I say how much I hate this fucking disease? === On a more positive note, I came across an Outside magazine in an airport terminal. The main feature was about 100 Things You Should Do Before You Die type of article. They featured people who accomplished (or at least tried to accomplish!) something they had always wanted to do. It was quite inspiring. Many of you are young & maybe don't think of things like that but at my age & with my friend's death it was good timing. One of the guys in the article said, "When there is something in your life that you want to do & you are sure you can do it, if you don't even try, it is a slow, painful life." That really hit home with me & I realize that being in great shape is something I really want to accomplish & I have been lackadaisical about it. The bonus was a one page article with 15 steps on how to get in great shape & stay fit for the rest of your life. Very inspiring. When I got home I found the magazine at my local library & copied that 15 steps page. I've added it to my workout journal. Kathryn, a friend at work has loaned me her stability ball for the next two months. I was pretty surprised when she handed me a small box. I was wondering how they shipped those things -- now I know! It has an instructional vid. I will check it out this weekend. Oh & Booyah is such a joy! This dog is so much fun and we love him soooooooo much! He has a such a sweet & gentle spirit. Why would anyone take this dog back to the pound? Guess we were meant to be together! Nat & Robert, thanks for the inquiring pm's. Makes me feel cared for. Hope you are all well & I look forward to catching up with you. I've missed you guys.

I'm not sure I understand all that you state, but I hope you are right that the sharks will ignore human commands.

Oh, please!!!! A strong, albeit religious, influence vs. the subversion of our Constitution? Is this town willing to deny its access to ALL Federal & State funds? That would include but not limited to: Federal AND State clean air & clean water funds; highway funds; worker funds; educational funds: disadvantaged people funds: agricultural funds & let’s not forget, social security funds, Medicare funds, & the list goes on & on. A couple cannot practice birth control within their private household even though they recognize they are not yet ready to support a family? Is this the kind of religious intrusion on our personal lives you endorse, Will? If a group of Muslims or gays or atheists or whatever decides it also wants to extradite themselves from the Constitution of the United States of America & define their own laws within their own community, will you still be ok with that, Will? They are, after all, only exercising their religious freedom. The question here is can an entity within the boundaries of the United States of America, establish a township within the borders of the United States of America, based on laws that are outside of the CONSTITUTION of the UNITED STATES of AMERICA?

Ditto what Crash said! Have a great day & treat yourself!

Try to convince me that homo sapiens are not the vilest, most perverted species this planet has spawned. http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0302-03.htm Pentagon Develops Brain Implants to Turn Sharks into Military Spies Published on Thursday, March 2, 2006 by the Independent / UK Pentagon Develops Brain Implants to Turn Sharks into Military Spies by Steve Connor Military scientists in the United States are developing a way of manipulating sharks by remote control to turn them into underwater spies or weapons. A nurse shark at an aquarium. The Pentagon is reportedly funding research into neural implants with the ultimate hope of turning sharks into "stealth spies" capable of gliding undetected through the ocean(AFP/File) Engineers funded by the Pentagon have created electronic brain implants for fish that they hope will be able to influence the movements of sharks and perhaps even decode what they are sensing. Although both Cold War superpowers have trained sea mammals such as dolphins and killer whales to carry out quasi-military duties, this is probably the first time the military have seriously considered using fish. The Pentagon hopes to exploit the ability of sharks to glide quietly through the water, sense delicate electrical gradients and follow chemical trails, according to New Scientist magazine. "These researchers hope such implants will improve our understanding of how the animals interact with their environment, as well as boosting research into tackling human paralysis," says New Scientist. But the research also has a military objective. "By remotely guiding sharks' movements, they hope to transform the animals into stealth spies, perhaps capable of following vessels without being spotted," the magazine says. The neural implants consist of electrodes buried in the fish's brain which can then be triggered by remote control to stimulate specific areas of the animal's central nervous system. New Scientist says that the project is funded by the US Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency in Arlington, Virginia, which is also involved in a number of other research studies investigating the use of electronic implants to monitor or control the movements or behaviour of animals. Scientists at Boston University have already developed brain implants that can influence the movements of dogfish - members of the shark family - by "steering" them with a phantom odour. The electrodes are attached to the region of the dogfish brain associated with scent detection. When the stimulus is to the right side of the olfactory centre the fish turn right, when it is left, the fish swim left. The stronger the signal, the more sharply it turns. The shark study is also designed to investigate the possibility of monitoring the brain activity of a shark to decipher different patterns of activity that indicate whether the fish has detected an ocean current, a scent or an electrical field.

LOL -- good one, Kathryn!!!

Mind boggling! I almost wish I ate pizza so I could boycott this zealot. Holy fuck! Is this where we're headed? Each of us will group together with a few like minded souls & isolate ourselves from others just because we fear their differences? What will people who support this do when a group of Muslims want to do the same thing? Or a group of gays? Or a group of whatever? Will they still think it's ok to form a community that defines it's own laws contrary to the Constitution? Or is it just ok for them? Some time ago I read an article that said that America is not a melting pot of cultures, but rather more a pacthwork quilt of cultures. We don't meld together, we build little fences around ourselves, we define ourselves by our differences not our similarities. I read this shit & I feel total hopelessness for the human species.

I agree, Nat, this is a very interesting issue. Also, what is with preserving the body before burial -- that seems so damned morbid to me. Don't Jewish people bury their dead in a box with holes drilled into it & no preservation so the body will decompose more quickly? That seems so much more natural to me than embalming. I will say, old grave yards are some cool places to walk through. The tombstones, the dates, the names. I like them.

I've never seen a machine like that before.

LOL - I had forgotten that slogan! I loved Mars bars when I was a kid & just about every other candy bar, too. I lived on sugar. Recently they came out with a dark chocolate covered Mars bar. Ya know, I don't have near the sweet tooth as I did when I was a kid, but when I saw that new bar at the checkout lane it was only my vegan-ness that kept me from buying a couple of bars. Funny how those childhood memories impact you years later.

Finbarrio, I experience the book-to-move disconnect all the time! Or when you've read a book & you go see the movie & realize they left out critical parts or worse, the best part! They did that in "Contact". The very end of the book gave meaning to everything else & they totally left it out in the movie. It was such a disappointment! IMO, books are always better than the movies. There are only 2 books where I think the movie version was almost as good, One Flew Over the Cookoo's Nest & The Shining. Both had Jack Nicholson -- don't know if that made a difference.

Yes, we've chosen the red pill. Crash, this preverted cycle angers me to no end. And yet the masses are ignorant, willfully or not, to how it impacts the real quality of their lives. I think for many people it has been so long since they were truly healthy & fit that they don't remember how fantastic it feels! So they settle for the easy, yet empty satisfaction of a heavy, greasy meal that they think tastes good. Also, their taste buds have become accustomed to salt & fat, so whole foods seem to lack flavor to them. It takes about two weeks to readjust your taste buds. If they would just back away from the typical western diet for a couple of weeks, they would be surprised how delicious & varied whole foods really taste. A movie character said, “Most people only do the right thing when it’s the easy thing to do.” Sadly, I think there is much truth in that. I believe that the masses will go vegetarian only when it is no longer economically feasible for our government to subsidize the meat industry or when Earth can no longer support factory farms. I think a lot of this stems from the ‘we’re the pinnacle of creation’ attitude that humans have & the belief that so many have that G-d gave us this planet & the animals to do with what we want. I believe that a kind & loving G-d meant stewardship, not dominion. BTW, one of my favorite sayings (can’t remember who said it though) is, “Well G-d gave you dominion over your children, too, but G-d didn’t mean for you to eat them!”

Yeah, thought a fun name was in order, I am the Mexican Yoga Guru afterall... That's Indy, our sweet ol'husky, one of the members of our "pack." You've got a lovely tuxedo cat there yourself! Funny that I have never heard the term tuxedo cat & then on this site I've heard it twice! BTW, there is a photo forum where we would love to see pics of the rest of your pack!

Thank you CollegeB for posting this!! Please people, sign the petition in CollegeB's link! Once again, congress is acting in the interests of their big campaign contributors, the grocery industry & the food industry & against WE THE PEOPLE. Also, if you have a few minutes, call your congress person's office & let them know you oppose this bill. I'm all for online petitions, but a followup phone call makes a great impact. You can find your congress person & their contact info here: http://www.vote-smart.org/index.htm

Oops! Double post -- sorry!

Dylan, I think you'll get lots of suggestions & I look forward to reading what others have to say. Personally, I need to snack all day. If I let myself get too hungry, I will gorge when I finally sit down to eat. I keep my meals small & snack in between -- just like mom told us all not to do! Here's a typical day: 7:00am - coffee w/small handful of dried fruit 7:30am - workout 9:00am - tofu scramble w/ 2 slices of tempeh bacon 11:00am - fiber drink 1:00pm - Spanish rice, refried beans, a handful of Guiltless Gormet corn chips w/salsa 3:30pm - celery sticks with tad bit of hummus spread in them 6:00pm - baked yam, broccoli, corn 9:30pm - apple Apples are supposed to be really good for your digestion, especially if eaten alone. I find them a nice before-bed-treat. Recently I read that we need to be mentally flexible with our diet. When you think in terms of "I'm on a diet", if you slip up -- & you will -- it's easy to fall into thinking, "Oh heck, I blew it, I may as well have the rest of those cookies." Instead, we should see our weight loss as a journey with varied terrain. It can be narrow when you are feeling focused & wider when you need to relax your efforts a bit.