David > Recent Status Updates

What an interesting cultural encounter: Christian Europeans discover that Hindu Indians better represent Christian principles than they themselves!

"encountering Indian vegetarianism [from the 15th c. on] triggered a review of European morality."

I actually didn't finish the book. Astaire was a great guy whose only flaw might be perfectionism -- which is debatable flaw! A life without scandal and turmoil doesn't make for an interesting read. Better to just enjoy the films, recordings and TV specials, which are on YouTube.

Leonardo da Vinci was a vegetarian. How about that?

Prohibition is worse than the drugs. If that isn't obvious, here's a book to make it plain.

In 2010, there were 3,111 murders in Ciudad Juarez. Across the border in El Paso (walking distance) there were only 5.

This is almost as low as a society can sink: a terrorism affecting every aspect of life.

Life is literally cheap. Ten years ago you paid $1,500 for a murder, minimum. Now, killers are on salary -- a low one -- $300 a month. Minimal chance of advancement; in fact, after a few years your boss will kill you.

A lawyer on the side of good is a real-world superhero.

Don't refrigerate tomatoes: it kills the flavor. Who knew?

Flavor is the one thing that does NOT affect a tomato's acceptability, according to Florida rules.

"Workers who pick the food we eat cannot afford to feed themselves." And this soup kitchen thus has the unintended consequence of enabling the servitude of the farm workers!

A law against modern slavery, affecting migrant farmworkers in particular, could have been much more effective if only Senator Orrin Hatch hadn't insisted on a little change: he didn't want companies that know their contractors are enslaving workers to be held liable. Nice work, Senator Hatch. You don't really believe in hell, do you?

Slavery (literally) so that we can have (tasteless, pesticide-drenched) tomatoes in winter. Worth it?

So, there are people who will douse workers in pesticides and lawyers who will defend them. Then, there are a few people who will stand up for the "right" of human beings to not be doused in poisons. But what the fuck is it about humans that makes us bend over backwards to do everything we can to avoid protecting people? It's not a matter of ignorance and passivity.

So many facts and figures that I want to have at my disposal: I have to back through the whole book now.

I would pay a lot more for a tomato the growing of which had NOT led to (to pick one example) the children of field workers being born with horrible birth defects.

If you knew what it takes to grow tomatoes in Florida so that Americans could eat fresh ones in the winter, you'd say forget about it and go without.

Reading about the theory of efficient markets. Good grief, this is the kind of naive, abstract thinking that gives academics a bad name.

Finance accounts for one-third of the profits of the US's private sector. That's just not healthy.

Why isn't there more slavery? Because workers are cheaper.

Call me judgmental but the idea of "culling" females is repugnant.

Imagine a dowry equal to 6 years of the bride's family income. So it is in India.

Ever hear of Quiverfull? It's an evangelical Christian movement that wants to use the womb as a weapon: produce lots of children so they can take over Congress in a few generations.

Americans believe a life saved from a terrorist attack is worth two lives saved from a natural disaster.

What an unsympathetic cast of characters are the Portuguese royals!

"This had been no new beginning, but an extended pause -- a moment of delusion in an era of protracted imperial decline."

Masters sent their slaves to say Ave Marias for them. Why not? Cariocas had slaves performing every other chore.

How can you tell the Portuguese from the Brazilians? The Portuguese never wash themselves; the Brazilians are fastidious.