2011-05-16

Purchasetarian [noun]

pur•chas•e•tar•i•an |ˈpərchəsiˈte(ə)rēən|
[pur-chuhs-i-tair-ee-uhn]
noun
a person who does not purchase certain food products, therefore not supporting their production, while preferring others on principle : Qays is still using the meat left in his freezer but as a purchasetarian he won't buy more.
adjective
of or relating to the refusal to purchase certain food products, esp. unsustainable meats : a purchasetarian grocery list.
DERIVATIVES
pur•chas•e•tar•i•an•ism |-ˌnizəm| noun
ORIGIN early 21st cent.: formed irregularly from purchase + vegetarian .
RELATED TO: Ethical Consumerism.

The film Food, Inc. makes a very strong argument for Americans to become vegetarian or at least reduce meat consumption. We really are wasting so much oil and putting ourselves (and our Earth) at risk to feed our meat addiction.
I originally watched the movie for my Biology and the Human Predicament class just a few weeks ago. While rewatching for parts I missed, and coincidentally eating a veggie bowl from Chipotle, the argument set in. While I have admittedly eaten meat since, I have not purchased any since earlier that day. I vowed not to purchase conventional meat or fish products. I say conventional because it may be possible to justify eating sustainable pasture-raised meats and Marine Stewardship Council certified sustainable seafood. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be much research as to whether the impact would be greater by avoiding meats entirely or supporting the better choice through positive buying of only "sustainable" meats. On top of that is the problem of determining what really is sustainable with all the different marketing and labeling. For now, I will just continue to avoid meats.
As for my pesceterian friend, eating fish in no way absolves you. The world's fish supply is dwindling and we are not lowering our consumption. In many ways our harvesting of the ocean is as damaging or even more so than land-based meat production, as can be seen in the film The End of the Line. For you, I recommend checking out Seafood Watch by Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Overall though, it's great that more places are selling sustainable food products and giving people the option to go purchasetarian.

Related/Recommended Movies:

2011-03-14

Blog Import

I have imported (well, there were only two posts) my pointless and dead blog from blog.qays.net and have replaced my WordPress installation with hosted Blogger.
Quick steps:

  1. Export from WordPress management.
  2. Reformat the XML from WordPress to Blogger format (based on an open source project)
  3. Import the XML into Blogger
  4. Change DNS settings :)
I may regret this because the Blogger Android App is quite a bit larger than the WordPress App, but for now it seems like the better choice.

2008-10-18

Yahoo! HackU + iPhone + GrandCentral = Visual Voicemail

I've had an iPhone since somewhere in July, and had GrandCentral since last September.... GrandCentral gave me visual voicemail on my BlackBerry and saved me minutes (since it used my unlimited data plan, but this doesn't really matter since T-Mobile now give unlimited minutes to voicemail). Sadly, Google never made GrandCentral's mobile (or other) site work on the iPhone, so I was left in the dark.

I quickly realized why Mobile Safari couldn't play what GrandCentral mobile returns, but I was too lazy to do anything with that knowledge. That is, until Yahoo! and God himself (creator of PHP) came to my school.

The Premise of HackU is "a day-long festival of coding, camaraderie, demos, awards, food, music and jollity (it’s a real word, look it up). It’s not about perfect code, just your creativity, a cool idea and a working prototype." [HackU Oct 18, 2008] Well, this isn't really a prototype... it's a full blown product! I owe any style (in the buttons and background), and the multiple message code to Jeffrey Sung.

If you have an iPhone and a GrandCentral account, try it out by going to http://rectu.ms/iphone on your iPhone! (Note: the site will only display properly on Safari, Mobile Safari, or Google Chrome) Also, I have submitted the WebApp to Apple for possible inclusion at their WebApps page.

If you're really interested, you can see the presentation I gave at HackU bellow... or even email me for the code (soon to be released under GPL).

2008-08-18

Google Calendar CalDAV

Google Calendar now has the CalDAV API open! More information can be found here.

What does this mean? You can now fully (bidirectional) sync your Google Calendar with Apple's iCal or Mozilla's SunBird without using expensive applications like Spanning Sync or CompanionLink for Google! What it means for ME is that now I can sync my iPhone with Google Calendar (albeit not without syncing it with my Mac). So long NemusSync, for now.

Instructions for iCal can be found here, or read on:
Simply open iCal (currently version 3.0.4 build 1263) and open it's preferences (?+,). Go to the Accounts tab and click the plus sign under the (empty?) list. The description is up to you, but the username and password have to be your full Google login (ie: [email protected] or if you use Google Apps [email protected]). To make things work, the key trick is to click the arrow for server options and enter the specific Account URL for your calendar: https://www.google.com/calendar/dav/calid/user and ONLY change the calid. CalID is your calendar's name inside Google, and if you only have one main calendar it will probably be the same as your login.

A useful example (for those in the U.S.) would be to use
https://www.google.com/calendar/dav/[email protected]/user

(note: you will still need to use a valid login).

Hooray for Google!

2007-09-05

randomly...

You Belong in San Diego

Laid back and friendly, you were meant to live most of your life on the beach.
You usually think everything is "all good"... except when the weather dips under 60F.
You stay classy - especially when you're in Tijuana!

My Blog Will Reflect This... just you wait

Your Blogging Type is Pensive and Philosophical

You blog like no one else is reading...
You tend to use your blog to explore ideas - often in long winded prose.
Easy going and flexible, you tend to befriend other bloggers easily.
But if they disagree with once too much, you'll pull them from your blogroll!

Updated: How old am I

You Are 27 Years Old

Under 12: You are a kid at heart. You still have an optimistic life view - and you look at the world with awe.

13-19: You are a teenager at heart. You question authority and are still trying to find your place in this world.

20-29: You are a twentysomething at heart. You feel excited about what's to come... love, work, and new experiences.

30-39: You are a thirtysomething at heart. You've had a taste of success and true love, but you want more!

40+: You are a mature adult. You've been through most of the ups and downs of life already. Now you get to sit back and relax.