Bathrooms

It's a hot topic.  I know what you are thinking?  Will my roomie ever clean the bathroom?  This is especially a problem for males, students, and young persons.

Well, this is how I got my roomie to polish it all up without threats of violence or the supreme court getting involved.

One day I tacked an envelope to the wall.  On it I wrote "Great American Bathroom Sweepstakes", and wrote in the rules.  Every week, each roomie would put a dollar in the envelope and initial it.   The money was free for the taking to whoever broke down first and cleaned the lou.

I hardly saw my roomie, but he faithfully added a dollar to the envelope each week.  On the 4th week I came back from class to a sparkling bathroom.  My roomie smiled and said "I really needed the money".

How to chat

When two whaling ships met out in the ocean, they would exchange information in a session known as a gam. Most of us today travel not by whaling ship, but by car, foot, bike or ATV as the case may be. Now consider this scenario. Person “A” is in a car or ATV, and stops to talk with person “B” who can be moving in any sort of fashion. The first thing person “A” should do is to turn off their motor. This is because leaving it running pollutes, makes it hard to talk over the noise, and results in getting zero MPG. If they are using a motor driven conveyance, person “B” should do likewise. Typically, towards the end of the conversation, person “A” will restart their engine, and let it run while they get ready to leave. This is premature, as a Minnesota Goodbye could potentially drag on for hours. Person “A” should instead wait until all goodbyes have been said and person “B” starts to leave before starting up their engine and proceeding on their way.

Similarly, consider a group of Minnesotans on a typical zero degree day. They are leaving a restaurant. They step outside. The wind picks up. They start a long conversation, and discuss what to do next. Frostbite sets in. Couldn't this conversation have taken place before leaving shelter, not after?

I'll Fly Away

The biggest contribution most of us make by global warming is by flying.  There are two alternatives.  Skip the trip, or take surface transportation.  Despite some planes falling out of the sky recently, flying is very safe.  And annoying.  Like when the stewardess does the safety lecture, and says "In case of a loss of cabin pressure, for a small additional fee an oxygen mast will come down."

Consider the advantages to trains and cars and buses.  You see the scenery, can stop on the way, bring more toys, reschedule without penalties, don't have to track your miles, eat better, and go thru less stress.

There are trips that are easier to take by car than by plane.  These can be surprisingly long.  Let's say you fly 600 miles.  Yes, it only takes an hour or two.  Plus waiting on the tarmac, checking in an hour or two early, getting to the airport, etc.  The time it takes to drive may be pretty comparable.  Then factor in the expense and hassle of flying, taking off your shoes, going thru security, and the 600 miles drive seems pretty reasonable.  And when you get there, you don't have to rent a car and look for your lost luggage.  Depending on your type of vehicle and personal preference, you may choose to drive 1000 miles or more.  See some new places, wind and wend thru small towns, and visit your friends and relatives on the way.  If you avoid Interstates, you can go back in time and gawk at the Norman Rockwell scenes.

To increase the green-ness of a trip even more, you can take a hybrid or diesel, and pack the seats with friends or ride-seekers.

The train routes have nice scenery.  It's too bad it's so hard to go from point A to point B at a convenient time and price.  But one can always hope.

Eating south of the border

When in Rome, eating Romas doesn't take much effort.  Eating south of the border has its advantages.  The fruit grows on trees, the fish swim in the sea, the cows munch on grass.

Camping on the beach, we ate pretty well.

At the fishing village we ate fish.  The trick is to not eat too much of it.  Over time we tried to have fewer dishes on the table, less overall food, and more vegetative dishes.

On the beach we potlucked.  This works itself out, leading to chili, salsa, pineapple, and other real food items.  Spicy rice with carrots was well received.

My personal chef figured out how to make bread on a propane stove burner.  And pineapple upside down cake.  And other fine dishes.  Who needs a house kitchen?

When we dined out, it was at taco stands.  Our favorite would put out guacamole, salsa, cucumber, radish, cilantro, onion, more salsa, cabbage, chips, etc.  With that on the table, why have more than one?  Just an extra tortilla will do.

Back in the over-portioned US of A we've had to resort to meal skipping.

Food Trucks

There is a lot of buzz about food trucks nowadays.  The restaurants hate them, because they offer inexpensive quality home-style food cooked to order.  OK, some of their wares are unhealthy, but they seem a good alternative to sit downs.  The portions are smaller too.  In Mexico, street vendors lack refrigeration, and thus are forced to use fresh ingredients.  You can buy fruit cups, tacos, and all sorts of things.

There are restrictions i the U.S. on parking and selling food.  Are they there for health reasons, or do the restaurants pay the city council to make things hard for the competition?

The other thing you see in Mexico is shacks.  Among then, every 10th shack will have a window and a little store.  Think about it, during the latest recession unemployment got near 10%.   What if every tenth person sold food to his neighbors?  or made food to sell out of a cooler on the street or in the bus?  Whey then, chunk chunk, lets do the math, 10 - 10 = 0, we'd have no unemployment.

What is so wrong about neighbors selling food to each other?  Vested interests try and prevent people from doing a little business and supporting themselves because they don't want competition.

Street food is cheap and often the best chow in town.

Let's eat.

Corporate Food

It's all about money.  Big oil, big ag, big fast food, big business.  That's why our food is artificial and our school lunches unhealthy.

I was reading in the New Yorker that environmentalists are disappointed that Obama wont come out against the pipeline.  That's not the only issue he's weak on, here are ten issues that he has not taken a stand on.  What is the bully pulpit for if you don't use it?

1) he supports foreign wars

2) supports foreign military bases

3) supports drug war and mass incarceration of harmless people

4) supports bailouts for banks and auto companies

5) supports coal, oil and nuclear industry over solar and wind

6) supports ethanol

7) supports agribusiness

8) supports arresting and killing whistleblowers

9) supported gay rights only weakly, and only after "evolving"

10) supports big fences on the border

12) supports the IRS

13) supports corporate welfare

At least Michelle speaks out about food and health.

 

Spreading the Word

What might I do to spread the word of The All-Food Diet throughout the land?

Funny you should ask that...

You can follow this blog.

You can tell your friends.

And like the facebook page.  Only 16% of my facebook friends have liked so far.

www.facebook.com/AllFoodDiet

You can write on the page anything you want about diet, health, food, lifestyle, or what you are making for lunch.  Or tell us where you shop.  How you keep fit.  Your views on the industrialization of the food supply.

You can also share the page onto your timeline. 

Write a  review on Amazon.

www.amzn.com/gp/product/148009966X 

This site not only lets you like, but lets you 'try' and 'rate'.  If enough people do so, the relative rankings appear.  They list several thousand diets.

www.dietsinreview.com/diets/the-all-food-diet/

or like or review on goodreads, or put it on your shelf or lists...

www.goodreads.com/book/show/16145627-the-all-food-diet

You can still like or comment on the Waking Times piece.

http://www.wakingtimes.com/2013/06/28/the-all-food-diet-buy-foods-with-one-ingredient/