Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Name That Food Blog

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  • Che Tibby, in reply to Islander,

    and therein the impossibility of certainty. what is it to be humane? to be inhumane?

    i only know what time and tide has taught me is wrong. it could be different for you.

    the back of an envelope • Since Nov 2006 • 2042 posts Report Reply

  • Deborah,

    Channeling my beloved uncle, who is dying, and there is no consolation for it... humanity is compassion. That is what marks us out, and the lack of it marks the inhumane.

    New Lynn • Since Nov 2006 • 1447 posts Report Reply

  • Jackie Clark, in reply to Deborah,

    Oh Deborah, oh darling. I am so very sorry. That lovely lovely man. All my love to you.

    Mt Eden, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 3136 posts Report Reply

  • Deborah,

    The drugs may keep him in remission for months, maybe a year, but it is a temporary reprieve. We are in a liminal space of summer joy and grief. The only thing we can do is enjoy the pleasures of the moment, conversation and presence, music and food shared.

    Thank you, Jackie.

    New Lynn • Since Nov 2006 • 1447 posts Report Reply

  • Lilith __,

    Compassion, fellow feeling, is such an essential thing. I've always had trouble with "humane" because it implies that tenderness is exclusive to humans; so many humans are so inhumane to each other and to other forms of life.

    Dunedin • Since Jul 2010 • 3895 posts Report Reply

  • Islander, in reply to Lilith __,

    Compassion: yes. Because it is NOT exclusive to fellow humans - and all of us (even those terribly damaged) can still exercise it towards other living beings...

    But the only religion which purports to be about compassion (Bhuddism) can be extremely cruel (karma.)

    So - compassion as a totally non-religious but totally directed *human* quality?

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report Reply

  • Deborah,

    Very much non-religious. But so imaginative. The capacity to think and feel towards another's place. Imagination is a critical moral capacity.

    New Lynn • Since Nov 2006 • 1447 posts Report Reply

  • Islander, in reply to Deborah,

    Imagination is a critical moral capacity.

    YES - do other species have this quality?

    My gut feeling, after quite a bit of academically-UNdirected research is, Yes-

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report Reply

  • Joe Wylie, in reply to Islander,

    YES - do other species have this quality?

    My gut feeling, after quite a bit of academically-UNdirected research is, Yes-

    Torkel Franzén on animals, souls, and guinea pigs. I've posted the piece in full as his exquisite little website where I sourced it from some years back appears to have vanished from this world, just as he sadly did, far too early:

    I know what most revealed religions say - only humans have souls;
    animals are disposable.  If any of you can point me to an answer
    that I can believe and still live with myself, I'd be grateful.

    There aren't any answers to be had here except the ones that we make up ourselves. What I know about souls, if there are such things, I know from speaking to and touching and living with other creatures. In talking to and touching another person I know that if that person has no soul, then I have no soul. In talking to and touching a guinea pig I know this just as well.  Guinea pigs, to be sure, have a somewhat limited range of interests. For example, they're not very interested in computers. Within that range, though, there is great variation. I have known (I believe) an Einstein among guinea pigs, of tremendous
    intellect and curiosity, as well as ordinary guinea pigs mostly
    concerned with getting a good supply of hay and a place to hide away
    in. 

    But these different guinea pigs, with varying amounts of courage,
    intelligence, and determination, have all been individual beings
    within their limitations and it is the most arid and pitiably limited
    theology to say they have "no soul". As we move to ever simpler
    organisms, the question becomes more academic. For example, the souls of bacteria are not a matter of great concern.  This does not show that there is anything at all arbitrary in ascribing "souls" to guinea pigs, for the bond of love between human beings and guinea pigs shows that we partake of the same spiritual nature, whatever it may be.

    There are of course those who think otherwise, and I can only imagine
    that they are blinded by doctrine or have no love for animals. Guinea
    pigs die without thinking what it means, and herein they differ from
    us, to be sure. The grief and joy they give is surely that of life as
    such.

    flat earth • Since Jan 2007 • 4593 posts Report Reply

  • Islander, in reply to Che Tibby,

    i only know what time and tide has taught me is wrong. it could be different for you.

    That is an interesting skew - please let me ponder it-

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report Reply

  • Islander, in reply to Joe Wylie,

    Joe - *that* is a ref I am profoundly grateful for - and will emerge from the reading thereof to - maybe- comment upon - soonish.

    I have a weird book luck; when I get interested in a book - or person who has written a book - it turns up-

    yeah yeah, I know, remember name & title and you are subconsiously atuned to finding it-

    I wont bore anyone with pseudo-evidence...

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report Reply

  • ChrisW, in reply to Joe Wylie,

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    Guinea pigs die without thinking what it means, and herein they differ from us, to be sure. The grief and joy they give is surely that of life as such.

    Agreed, with thanks to you and Torkel Franzén. Here's the gravestone on the home lawn cemetery for a lovely guinea pig family that had given much joy, after murder most foul by human hands. The flag of sandstone naturally somewhat guinea-pig-shaped, the guinea pig initially drawn in pencil by my grieving then-7-year-old daughter, it remains a memorial 14 years later, helping us in our attempts to negotiate between/around/above life/death boundaries (thanks Islander for that way of putting it, best wishes).

    Gisborne • Since Apr 2009 • 851 posts Report Reply

  • ChrisW,

    Sorry all to capture the naming food blog thread on such a subject on this pre-Christmas morning, but it did seem pretty well tuckered out, and guinea pig life and death not at all a childish thing to be set aside!

    Hmm - tuckered out - could be a nomination for a food blog name.

    Gisborne • Since Apr 2009 • 851 posts Report Reply

  • James Butler,

    Ooooh ooh ooh one more: Petit Fourgeois.

    Auckland • Since Jan 2009 • 856 posts Report Reply

  • Joe Wylie, in reply to ChrisW,

    . . . guinea pig life and death not at all a childish thing to be set aside!

    Years ago, when I had the privilege of garden guinea pigs, a little girl visitor picked herself a posy of violets and tied them with a piece of grass. As we passed the guinea pigs' home the boldest of their number stood up with her forepaws against the wire of her hutch and set up a clamour.
    "Would you like to smell my flowers?" asked the kind young lady, charmed by the sweet little fairylike posturing. Before I could warn her Miss Piggy had deftly jerked the entire bouquet through the wire and was gobbling the lot.

    It's the ones with red eyes and mohawks you've got to watch. Some animals are evidence that punk may have a physical basis.

    flat earth • Since Jan 2007 • 4593 posts Report Reply

  • Lilith __, in reply to Joe Wylie,

    Miss Piggy had deftly jerked the entire bouquet through the wire and was gobbling the lot

    But why would you gather some food and then just keep it to look at? ;-)

    BTW violets are edible for us, too – they make lovely cake decorations, as they are, or sugared. Pansies, likewise.

    Dunedin • Since Jul 2010 • 3895 posts Report Reply

  • Lilith __,

    [I remember with horror the time I garnished a fancy desert for a dinner party with rose petals I'd fetched specially from my Mum's garden, only to find they had a few earwigs. Wash them really thoroughly!]

    Dunedin • Since Jul 2010 • 3895 posts Report Reply

  • Islander, in reply to Lilith __,

    Greenfly, being pure plant sap encased in extremely thin chitin, are okay though-

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report Reply

  • Ian Dalziel, in reply to Joe Wylie,

    It’s the ones with red eyes and mohawks you’ve got to watch. Some animals are evidence that punk may have a physical basis.

    Don't you have some paintings somewhere?

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report Reply

  • Joe Wylie, in reply to Ian Dalziel,

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    Don’t you have some paintings somewhere?

    I think it was you who nominated me for that skate show.
    Here's Terrible Boars.

    flat earth • Since Jan 2007 • 4593 posts Report Reply

  • Joe Wylie,

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    And Flame Job Hogs.
    There aren’t enough flame jobs in NZ art IMHO.

    flat earth • Since Jan 2007 • 4593 posts Report Reply

  • Islander, in reply to Joe Wylie,

    Ooooh so excellent!
    This weekend I will win Lotto and end a lotto our immediate problems, yes?
    Or next weekend, I’ll win – would someone please stifle that noise?

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report Reply

  • Lilith __, in reply to Joe Wylie,

    Joe! These are awesomely brilliant!

    Dunedin • Since Jul 2010 • 3895 posts Report Reply

  • Islander, in reply to Joe Wylie,

    I love the guinea pig bum morph into a chook!

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report Reply

  • ChrisW, in reply to Joe Wylie,

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    There aren’t enough flame jobs in NZ art

    No claim to art, but here's a flame job *and* lowered suspension. Thought of this as a possible response to your earlier reference on another thread to a flame job on your Model A Ford (my grandfather's car in its first go-round) but, well, not flash enough.

    Your flamin' millipede and perfect mapou Myrsine australis the pièces de resistance.

    Gisborne • Since Apr 2009 • 851 posts Report Reply

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