What do you hate the most about human behavior?

Violence, Gullibility, and Apathy. There are other animals such as bears who can be very violent towards each other but we use our consciousness of self to manipulate each other more. There exists such a gross lack of compassion and such apathy. A very dangerous mix. People endure painful existences, exploited by others, because they don't believe they can change things...they are made passive by consumer culture which says work to get that next paycheck and then spend it..."Heck, why not spend your next 20 paychecks right now!"

And so people are stuck in wage labor jobs while the big guys take away more and more of what made their livelihood anything close to decent, social security in oldage, healthcare, a living wage. Passivity/Apathy, demonstrated by America's obsession with the entertainment industry, is a great evil. Informed action to change our world (our lives) for the better, couldn't be more important. As Al Gore has tried to tell people, if we don't stop being so passive, and actually do something about global warming, soon it will be too late. Humans can be beautiful. We have awesome potential but the question is, "Will we decide to reach that potential or to kill ourselves as a species?"

What is something you know you should care about but don't?

"Lots of things if you mean caring in the only way that matters...enough that you go and do something about it. I mean, I really am disgusted by the continuation of human rights violations in the present day, around the world and right at home. However, I don't directly go do much about it unfortunately. Indirectly, I imagine that my work with children does good in the world and I hope that some of my own compassionate philosophy will rub off on them...but this all seems rather too nebulous to take credit for really."

Response: Exactly what I meant. If there is no action to make change, do you REALLY care?

The Sour Side of Honey

Stoat: Fluid dynamics: honey spirals

Yes, honey is beautiful. However, there is apparently more to having honey on your table than all sweetness and beauty...

Though I am a lifelong vegetarian, I was only recently made aware of the ethical dilemma of eating honey. The idea is that we are taking something from the bees that belongs to them and thus making them either work harder or do without, both potentially harmful and unethical things. That the bees try to stop you from taking the fruits of their labor is given as evidence of harm possibly being done. A beekeeper also uses smoke to tranquilize the bees, kills the queen bees on a regular basis to essentially maintain control over the hive, artificially inseminates another one, incites bees to sting out of fear and thus die, and otherwise manipulates these anthropod animals to produce the nutrient rich honey for humans while feeding the bees a pure sugar diet. This is contrary to the basic vegan philosophy that animals should not be exploited or tortured simply to provide us pleasure. Please see the source below for more details on this.

Why Honey is Not Vegan

The Most Fabulous Language Site Online Yet!

*Beware: unabashed advert follows. But I'm not being paid for this, I just found this new website and have been heavily recommending it every since to all language lovers.*

I mean, I loooove ChinesePod.com!! This site is sooooo incredible. For free, you can listen to literally hundreds of podcasts that teach you how to speak chinese in a relaxed, completely friendly setting. They break down each dialogue into small pieces and tell you exactly what it all means. And there are podcasts for every language level from absolute Newbie to seasoned aka advanced speakers...I've been listening to it, learning from it, recommending it and enjoying it for over a month now. You can even try the array of augmentary online features free for 7 days...but I think the free podcast is plenty good enough. It'll certainly keep my ears satisfied indefinitely (they post new podcasts every week). It that's not good enough for you, they are also coming out with a Spanish podcast soon enough.