Good Stuff

penicillin induced reflections

Lying in bed with tonsillitis the last few days I have digested more than my fair share of news. What an odd few days it's been. The world's financial markets have kept me entertained with banks disappearing overnight and share prices falling. There's been a lot of doom and gloom here in Denmark too. For example, yesterday I watched Danish Investor Morten Lund being interviewed about the collapse of the newspaper Nyhedsavisen. Having made millions as a 'serial entrepreneur' Lund now faces personal bankruptcy.

And then this morning, I wake up to an almost entirely positive front page news. Share prices bounce back after governmental intervention, optimism returns to Zimbabwe, a Welsh hill becomes a mountain overnight and perhaps the most heartening story of them all, an organic farm growing inside one of Kenya's slums.

Personally, I value the times in my life when things haven't gone according to plan. For example, the job that caused me the most difficulties inspired a new direction for my career. The difficult times I've faced as a parent, have helped me develop as an individual. There's always something positive you can take from a bad situation.

The general prognosis seems to be that this recession will be a long and drawn out affair and it looks like it will provide us with plenty of opportunities for reflection. There'll be a great many challenges in the years ahead and in a strange sort of way, I relish them. As Napoleon said, "adversity is the midwife of genius."

pets are obsolete

At the risk of sounding like a bit of an extremist, I have decided to write a short post about my views on pets. Now, I know there are many of you out there who might think I'm a little cold hearted or a bit of a kill joy for suggesting this but I feel I have a rational argument against pet ownership.

Pets are an unnecessary luxury.

Just to make it clear, I am referring only to household pets here of course. There is no doubt that keeping animals to provide us with food or as work animals is a perfectly sound thing to do. (this type of animal can also provide companionship too) but for the purpose of this article I am talking about animals we keep for pleasure.

Here are some figures relating to pet ownership in the US in 2007. (I'd imagine they are fairly typical of most developed countries)

72,114,000 dogs
81,721,000 cats
11,199,000 birds
7,295,000 horses

That's a lot of luxury.

Imagine the carbon saving we'd make if we could just get over our obsession with keeping animals at home for our 'pleasure'. When you start to try and define just how much energy we use it starts to become significant.

Related car journeys (walking the dogs, horse riding events, trips to the vet)
Food production and related industries
Food transportation
Accessory production (they get Christmas and even birthday presents these days)
Accessory transportation
Vets services (heating, lighting, development and production of medical products)
Pet care during holidays (heating, light)
Dare I add extra heating/lighting to this list. (I'm sure there are people who leave the radiators on for the cat)

Does anyone else think amount of love (and energy) lavished on let's face it, dumb animals is totally disproportionate? Isn't it time we stopped pampering our own egos and started to think rationally about animals again? Am I just too grumpy for words or what?

Green Valentines Day

I get the impression that most Danes, quite rightly to some extent, see Valentines Day as a bit of a marketing ploy - a recent cultural import from the States or UK. However, like a lot of other recent cultural imports, it seems to be gathering momentum.

So with the wastefulness of Christmas still fresh in my mind (there's a pile of rotting Christmas trees in our yard which serves as a daily reminder) I am compiling a list of suggestions for green alternatives to the ubiquitous bunch of red roses and chocolates.

1. Compose your own love song.

You don't have to be a musical genius to sound good these days. If you're a Mac user, Garageband is packed full of enough interesting loops and effects to have even the most inexperienced composer sound good. There's also all kinds of interesting web-based options. Try for example soundjunction. Start writing those lyrics.

2. Be his/her slave for a day.

The promise of unconditional 'service' for 24 hours could turn out to be a lot of fun for both of you. Just remember to stipulate that any activity undertaken must not be environmentally damaging in any way.

3. Say it with pictures.

What about a three minute film that tells the story of your love? Be creative. Have fun doing it. It will be something they remember forever. (at the very least you'll be able to laugh about it)

4. Say it with words.

Why not write a poem? If you're lacking inspiration you could always use this.

Here's the last few lines of one I generated earlier. I think you'll agree, it's almost Shakespearian:

"My heated front bottom leaps to my bikini. I wait in the moonlight for your secret choir so that we may vibrate as one, front bottom to front bottom, in search of the magnificient red and mystical tiger of love."

5. Restore something they love.

There must be something he or she has a special fondness for, that's just sitting in a dark corner collecting dust. It might be an old lamp or a picture frame. Whatever it is, if you spend a few hours polishing/varnishing/painting it so it's all shiny and new again, they'll love you forever. (maybe get some exepert advice first or you might end up in the dog house)

There you go. Five green Valentine tips so you can declare your burning love without contributing to global warming. Please feel free to add to this list if you have any other bright ideas.

More interesting graffiti

Via PSFK