Musings From New York

Vegetarianism and The Circle of Life

There was a bit of a outrage in the UK recently when Mars Bars went non-veggie ... specifically, they were going to have a bit of animal enzyme, rennet. The Vegetarianism Societies called on the public to protest, which they did (all 6,000 of them! Gosh isn't that a large number of people who won't buy Mars bars?) such that Mars apologized and pulled the plug on these new plans.

Now, I have nothing against vegetarianism ... people have the right to choose what they will, or will not, eat. One cannot expect a vegetarian to tuck into a bloody steak. But to protest a chemical found in an animal (and this isn't an isolated case - I know people who refuse to buy products because it'd contain traces of animal gelatin) ... this seems a little silly to me.

Cast your mind back to a fortune-reviving, animated production by Disney that gave us smelly warthogs, smart talking loner meekrats, an exciting soundtrack ... and the "Circle of Life". Simple philosophy on the surface, really - everything is connected.

So ... cow crap is used to grow plants ... ergo, plants can contain traces of that cow (and BTW, this is sometimes how diseases and evolutionary mutations can sometimes spread). Does that mean we swear off plants grown in the field, grown from manure usage? Let's all rely purely on pharma-fed produce!

Can anyone offer a rational explanation of this seemingly-ridiculous eccentricity vegetarians sometimes exhibit?

This is not about me, I swear.

I was in Kansas City the whole time.

Honest.

Public Service Announcement

From this year onwards, Daylight Savings Time (DST) in the US will now be marked on different dates.

DST starts (clocks will be moved forward 1 hour) 2nd Saturday of March - this year, March 11th
DST ends (clocks will be moved back 1 hour) 1st Saturday of November - this year, November 4th

Apple has just released several patches to OS X to accommodate these changes ... I'm not sure if Microsoft has followed suit yet.

RIP Steve Irwin

The world lost a master showman and a passionate conservationist in Steve Irwin. He probably did as much for promoting conservation and interest in the natural world as David Attenborough, and to me is one leg of the holy trinity of naturalists of the 20th Century (Attenborough & Durrell being the other two). He will be sorely missed.

Independence Day ...

Had 30 minutes left to make this post ... damn what a day!

New airline travel policies

So we've all heard of (in great detail) the various new restrictions on carry on items - the latest knee jerk reaction to a foiled terrorist plot. The way things are going, I wouldn't be surprised if, at some point in the future, we'd arrive at the airport, strip and change to airline issued orange jumpsuits, shackled to our seats with armed guards walking the aisles.

Yes folks, it's "Con Air", gone crazy.

Tragedy in Bombay

I hope everyone who is from/ has family in/ has friends in Bombay haven't been affected.

Secular Integration

I'm all for it.

And its goodnight from him ...

Ronnie Barker - one of the Two Ronnies - died, aged 76. Of all the comedians of the 60's and 70's, he was one of my firm favorites (the entire Monty Python troupe occupy the top spot, somehow managing to keep their balance and not fall off). He was also the star of Porridge & Open All Hours.

I loved watching The Two Ronnies. The linguistic wordplan & dexterity of the duo is staggering, especially Ronnie Barker's. Case in point, the piece on The Loyal Society for the Relief of Suffers from Pismronunciation. I have a "Best of The Two Ronnies" from Audible.com that has this skit in it, and trust me, listening is believing!

You can find more of Ronnie Barker's gags here and here, and a full obituary here.

Harry Potter & The Book of Terminal Boredom

OK, I've been taking advantage of my holidays to catch up on my reading, specifically, Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince. I'm halfway through, and I must say that I'm extremely bored. Nothing is happening in this book. Nothing. Just hints, phantom threats, and a very Stars-Wars-y feel (I've just gotten through Dumbledore's second lesson with Harry, and was left with a profound sense of Obiwan explaining Vader's real origins to Luke). Not really getting any sense of wonder or magic from the new classes, or from new characters or even familiar plotlines. Just the sort of formalities needed to establish that a year's passing by at Hogwarts!

So yeah, book 7, whenever that's due, will be the last, so it makes sense that she's trying to gather any loose threads and set them up for the final, grand denouement ... but man, am I bored! She should have read Eddings to see how to develop a story and keep things fresh while simulatenously setting up the big ending.

Chamber of Secrets is still the best I've read so far, followed by Prisoner of Azkaban. Something better happen soon, or else Half-Blood Prince will be relegated to the bottom of the favorites list, along with Order of the Phoenix!

Update: OK I finished the book, and I'm even more bummed at the death at the end. Why? Because it was a cheap death. It wasn't a die-with-all-wands-blazing death. It wasn't a Mace Windu or a Obiwan type of death. It was ... very disappointing. Did anyone get the feeling that the end was rushed? I did ... it was as if she said "Cripes, I've written 500 pages, and acheived as much as a bad Mills & Boon novel. Got to wrap it all up in time for tea!" And who do I think is RAB? Knowing Rowling's penchant for throwing in minor characters in the beginning of a book, and then reintroducing them at the climax ... a la Scooby villains ... I think it's either Borgin or Burkes - the owners of the shop that Draco uses to smuggle Death Eaters into Hogwarts. I think it makes sense that they could hide a Horcrux in their shop of magical curios.

PS: One day in Madras, out of sheer boredom, I picked up an M&B and read a couple of chapters. I didn't know whether to laugh, or laugh harder. I mean, it is so bad, its almost good. Kind of like how most of the world would see a movie like From Dusk Till Dawn as really bad ... but then a small majority of it look at the movie and say "You know what. This movie is cool!" I didn't have the heart to continue reading ... I'd split my sides 15 pages in as it was.