Schwelmo's Welt

Here they are

I am happy not to live in the states. For a lot of reasons. I think there are actually quite a few reasons, why it could be fun to live in the States. At least for a white, non-moslem with a interest in rock music, who is also a vegan. It doesn’t need to be Texas. But right now the US facing a epidemic. There is a fear of spinach, prepacked and looking healthy, but it might be deadly. Poeple die because of eating spinach (Somehow I think it is funny). The spinach is full of E. coli O157:H7. This is a nasty bug. It makes you shitting blood and causes liver failure. Popeye wouldn’t be able to take a fight after eating some of this, I guess (but he wasn’t eating fresh spinach, instead it came out of a can. Have you ever seen spinach in cans?? Its bad enough they do it to beer.). Anyway now you shouldn’t eat spinach in the US. But the very interesting thing is E. coli O157:H7 is a bacteria living in the guts of animals. The main problem with it until now was contamination of meat, undercooked mince etc. If you were unlucky you could get it even as a vegetarien from handshaking with your meat eating friend (not washing his/her hands) or using MacDonalds toilets. Eric Schlosser tells a very interesting story about O157:H7 and the meat industry in “Fast Food Nation” (recommended read, but for people to lazy, they just made a movie out of it). So how did it get onto spinach? I haven’t heard anything about that, but I suggest using pee and poo from animals to fertilize the spinach fields has something to do with it. Or it comes from the flooding of ..maybe New Orleans, I am sure they still haven’t cleaned it up. Anyway, dear meat eater, eat what you want but don’t mess up our food as well. Please!

Meanwhile in New Zealand:

A study showed 1 in 5 New Zealanders has some sort of mental illness. That actually did not surprise me. There are quite a few people I know of how taking anti-depressives and similar things. I would like to know the figures of other countries. Not really mentally straight are the doings of New Zealand politics. First Don Brash (National Party leader and conservative Sexgott) got blamed of having an affair with a business women, who benefits from some funding, tax money, I don’t know. It shouldn’t be surprising that conservatives have a closer relation to the business world than others. And they might even sleep with them. So be it! That’s what you do if you like each other (at least sometimes). Well, to fight back the National Party (not officially I think) accused Helen Clarks husband to be gay. Well, who cares? Does it matter for the country? Is it maybe even better if the prime minister doesn’t get distracted when she comes home and can concentrate on her work? Anyway, being gay is apparently the heaviest insult you can get in New Zealand. …. Grow up!

Me personally haven’t been up to any exciting things. On Thursday we tried to go to a different pub than the Winchester. Everything else was empty, had crappy beer, was closed or you didn’t get in with a hoodie (apparently it defines you as a gang member). So we ended up at the Winchester. We tried hard not to. Then I realized …I need to get out of Palmy, quick and more often. And I need to get l..d. but that I knew before. Tonight I will go to see Shapeshifter, a NZ electronic music band. You see how desperate I am….?? Tomorrow there will be a Handball mini-tournament. So that is finally a weekend being different. I am looking forward to it . And the sun is coming out… oh no its gone…there she is..was …again. Here she comes… or not it is raining … and windy…but sunny.

I just wanted to let you you know that I hate statistics. Well, I don't understand statistics and some wise people said, you only hate, what you don't understand. I don't understand Rusian but if it is spoken by a beatyful lady I am sure I like it. But I do not understand statistic and I do not like it. Basically I hate not to know what I am doing. There are hundreds of webpages, books and computer programs available (Nowadays you even don't have to do the calculations). But, which test do you use for what, when, how and why. I can answer the when. That is when you have to.Or they make you (they are everybody -thing taking part in that big conspiracy against you and your dreams. I wanted to be a rockstar and now I am doing statistics, see what THEY did to me). And I can answer you the how. You just put numbers into prepared webpages or excel sheets and press ENTER on you computer and that is it. But then you get those nice data (=numbers) which try to tell you a story. But I don't get their story. I don't understand them. We are not even speaking the same language. This might be, because I don't know which statistic I should use for what and why. I think that is why I hate it. But my results looking good, I guess. Its just a feeling I did everything allright. But feelings and statistic don't mix, do they? And I am not even doing real statistic.....I am stucked. Time for the weekend.

Are you sick of eating bad meat but can’t be bothered to become vegetarian? Stop worrying now. The FDA and Intralytix just came up with a solution. No more “Gammelfleisch” or bacteria poisoned meat. In the US they just approved the use of viruses which will kill bacteria in meat.

“The special viruses called bacteriophages are meant to kill strains of the Listeria monocytogenes bacterium, the Food and Drug Administration said in declaring it safe to use on ready-to-eat meats prior to their packaging.

The viruses are the first to win FDA approval for use as a food additive, said Andrew Zajac, of the regulatory agency's office of food additive safety.”

The company Intralytix also plans to seek FDA approval for another bacteriophage product to kill E. coli bacteria on beef before it is ground. Well, that’s a great idea considering the number of E. coli in stomach flora (although phages should usually work against bacteria very specific but I am not sure if it is strain specific). There is a possibility that bacteria can get resistant against phage (the viruses). As there are truckloads of bacteria on meat, which due to the progressive and modern farming methods already have a high antibiotica resistance we can make now superbacteria out of them. But I am sure they have intensively test everything and are not hurrying to bring their second product on the market. And why was everybody afraid that the bird flu virus could change and mate with the human influenza virus...?? Well, I do not understand enoug about viruses, so maybe I am just against progression.

Ah, in case you think that you’ll just avoid the food products that have been treated… they’re not going to label the products. :-)

I liked this comment on the topic....but I am biased. Look at printer friendly version

Labels: food industry mafia, vegan

Everybody loves his home country
That's why we obviously love the beach along the Rhein (the coast)
Where the old castle tower (watch tower at the square) is standing that is where we are at home
As we cannot be without beer we quickly shout out:

[Chorus]
Is it the forest here? (No, its the Manawatu)Where is the Altbier?
We in Düsseldorf have the longest bar (Palmerston North don't have many decent bars) in the world, yeahyeahyeahyeahyeah
Well, are we in the Woods? Where is the Altbier?
Where is the hero that orders a round with his money?

Let's go for a guys tour along the beautiful Ahr (Manawatu)
Let's drink burgundy only (can't drink in public), well that's obvious
But once midnight comes around what we want is clear
After a glas of beer from the Altbier barrel the whole group starts to sing:

[Chorus]