A few hypothetical questions for all the vegans out there:
Let's assume I get in a horrible car accident which results in both my legs being amputated. I would immediately have the legs put on ice and saved for my next memorial day party. This doesn't sound like much fun, but let's look at the silver lining: there would be a few pounds of morally neutral meat available for the eating.
Would YOU, as a fellow enjoyer-of-barbeque, ever eat human meat if it was presented to you in this way?
Do the tenets of veganism (no violence against another creature) imply that cannibalism like this is not allowed? If I consciously offer my own meat, does that remove any moral qualms about where the meat came from?
Can I invite my vegan friend to the party without him/her getting offended?
How would you want the meat prepared?
If this question is too strange for you, ask yourself what about cannibalism makes it wrong or at least undesirable?
It may be human meat, but we are just animals with very similar biochemistry to monkeys, whether you think Darwin was a douche or not. If you would eat monkey, why wouldn't you eat me.... if I offered?
The Twilight Zone - To Serve Man
Monday, April 28, 2008
Tuesday, April 08, 2008
Disaster season 2008
I just made it through my third typhoon season in the Philippines and even though the damage caused was nothing compared to the season of 2006 (remember typhoons Reming and Milenyo), Bikol is still an uncertain and volatile place to live. This year, the typhoons were mild and the winds were weak but there have been heavy rains extending 2 months into what is now supposed to be the dry season. The Philippines can be brutally hot when the time is right, but honestly I have been looking forward to a break from the overcast sky and intermittent downpour.
The rains fall with such intensity that the water cannot runoff fast enough, the result of which is widespread flooding and landslides.
Aquinas University (called Aquarium behind its back) is adjacent to the largest river in the province, the Yawa, which is tempermental and likes to flood and cancel classes on a regular basis. After typhoon Reming's reaming of the province, the school planners wised up and built all classrooms at least a meter above the floodplain so the school would be more resillient to disasters, but that has only worked so well.
During a particularly torrential rainstorm, students and teachers (and Peace Corps Volunteers) flee the flooding.
To escape the rising floodwaters without getting your feet wet, improvise a bridge!
The canteen, underwater
When weak, clayey soil becomes saturated with water, it becomes more prone to fail. Due to the soil in Albay, as well as the steep hills, makes the danger of landslides a very real one. There is no local budget for any kind of preventative measures besides relocating families to some where flatter, so the earth reshapes itself on a regular basis.
They just never let up
A minor slope failure in an area where I work regularly. You can see the failure plane around the rim of this area
A landslide diverted a river from its natural course and through the yard of this house
More drowned vehicles
The shoulder of the road has been totally scoured by the new river
These were semi-trucks at one point...
Manmade Disasters
On a morning much like any other, I walked out of my house full of caffeine and oatmeal, headed for parts unknown. As I passed a jeep parked on my street, I noticed some Filipinos running around and yelling at each other. Things are generally quiet and calm in my neighborhood so I went to investigate and found that a jeep parked on my street had a trickle of flame coming from the gas tank.
People ran back and forth throwing wet towels and sand bags at the flames, to no avail. Within 30 seconds of my watching the car, the car was a fireball with a tower of black smoke covering the nearby houses.
The towering inferno
"Oh shit, I hope I didn't leave my wallet in there!!"
Thinking like an American, I turned to the man next to me:
"Do you have a phone? We should call the fire department or someone with some water!"
"Oye, sorry sir. Walang load." (He didn't have enough prepaid credits on his phone to call anyone who might be able to help.)
At this point, he turned away from me and went back to watching the fire begin to spread to other vehicles and nearby houses.
The crowd that has gathered to stare dumbly and not do anything about the flaming car
Instead of lecturing people on the need to help others around you and passing out cards with the local emergency number (117) on them, I picked up my phone and called the local fire department.
I'll be honest, I didn't have much faith in the fire department here at first, but that has changed. Using the stopwatch on my phone, I marked them at a 4 minute response time; better than most places in the states. Luckily for us, it is national fire prevention month in Albay, so the firemen were on top of their game.
If it is going to be an official awareness month of any kind, you HAVE to have a banner
Only in the Philippines would you see a fireman wearing shorts and tsinelas (flip-flops)
Local reporters arrived moments after the fire department
As the fire died down, the crowd moved in until everyone was huddled around the burnt hull of this poor guys jeep
Videoke: A true natural disaster
Hanging out on the fresh lava flow from Mt. Mayon
Soon-to-be-cooked pig
Oh the sun'll come out tomorrow. Bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow, there'll be sun
The rains fall with such intensity that the water cannot runoff fast enough, the result of which is widespread flooding and landslides.
Aquinas University (called Aquarium behind its back) is adjacent to the largest river in the province, the Yawa, which is tempermental and likes to flood and cancel classes on a regular basis. After typhoon Reming's reaming of the province, the school planners wised up and built all classrooms at least a meter above the floodplain so the school would be more resillient to disasters, but that has only worked so well.
During a particularly torrential rainstorm, students and teachers (and Peace Corps Volunteers) flee the flooding.
To escape the rising floodwaters without getting your feet wet, improvise a bridge!
The canteen, underwater
When weak, clayey soil becomes saturated with water, it becomes more prone to fail. Due to the soil in Albay, as well as the steep hills, makes the danger of landslides a very real one. There is no local budget for any kind of preventative measures besides relocating families to some where flatter, so the earth reshapes itself on a regular basis.
They just never let up
A minor slope failure in an area where I work regularly. You can see the failure plane around the rim of this area
A landslide diverted a river from its natural course and through the yard of this house
More drowned vehicles
The shoulder of the road has been totally scoured by the new river
These were semi-trucks at one point...
Manmade Disasters
On a morning much like any other, I walked out of my house full of caffeine and oatmeal, headed for parts unknown. As I passed a jeep parked on my street, I noticed some Filipinos running around and yelling at each other. Things are generally quiet and calm in my neighborhood so I went to investigate and found that a jeep parked on my street had a trickle of flame coming from the gas tank.
People ran back and forth throwing wet towels and sand bags at the flames, to no avail. Within 30 seconds of my watching the car, the car was a fireball with a tower of black smoke covering the nearby houses.
The towering inferno
"Oh shit, I hope I didn't leave my wallet in there!!"
Thinking like an American, I turned to the man next to me:
"Do you have a phone? We should call the fire department or someone with some water!"
"Oye, sorry sir. Walang load." (He didn't have enough prepaid credits on his phone to call anyone who might be able to help.)
At this point, he turned away from me and went back to watching the fire begin to spread to other vehicles and nearby houses.
The crowd that has gathered to stare dumbly and not do anything about the flaming car
Instead of lecturing people on the need to help others around you and passing out cards with the local emergency number (117) on them, I picked up my phone and called the local fire department.
I'll be honest, I didn't have much faith in the fire department here at first, but that has changed. Using the stopwatch on my phone, I marked them at a 4 minute response time; better than most places in the states. Luckily for us, it is national fire prevention month in Albay, so the firemen were on top of their game.
If it is going to be an official awareness month of any kind, you HAVE to have a banner
Only in the Philippines would you see a fireman wearing shorts and tsinelas (flip-flops)
Local reporters arrived moments after the fire department
As the fire died down, the crowd moved in until everyone was huddled around the burnt hull of this poor guys jeep
Videoke: A true natural disaster
Hanging out on the fresh lava flow from Mt. Mayon
Soon-to-be-cooked pig
Oh the sun'll come out tomorrow. Bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow, there'll be sun
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