Ancient Chinese Secret straight from the Motherland

Despite being a person of Chinese descent (and Cantonese to boot!), it is a known, accepted and sad fact that I do not know how to spit up (aka "hauk") mucus and/or phlegm. Throughout my life, I either blew my nose or remained stuffed up, while admiring my brother's expert hauking skills and clear passageways. Interestingly I accepted my lot in life and never questioned my inability to hauk... until a few weeks ago when Divinestyler rocked my world. He was the first person in my life who actually explained the act of hauking to me: essentially, one would inhale the mucus upward into the nose and then downward through the back sinuses to the bottom of the throat and up the throat again by spitting a loogie out of the mouth. It's a basic circular motion.

I responded with wonder... and also with disgust. I was like, Joe, are you serious? That sounds fucken gross. That must be why I've never tried it... somewhere in my girlie subconscious, I must have suppressed even the desire to learn how to hauk. And now that I know, I refuse to do it. Yuck.

But both my primary care physician and friends disagree. They all say it's important to remove the mucus/phlegm before it turns into something worse. No one can tell me exactly what that worse would be... but if you think of hauking in a survival-of-the-fittest context, I would not evolve. I would just die off. And that's not cool.

So you think the Ancient Chinese Secret for ridding phlegm is hauking? WRONG. That's the harsh unnecessary unsanitary old school way. The aristocrats in Shanghai drink pig lung soup. Yes, you read it correctly... pig lung soup. Why would one need to hauk when there's plenty of pig lungs everywhere to consume! Be Chinese and don't waste any part of the animal, you know? Especially if it's medicinal, i.e. get rid of phlegm.

I did indeed boast to friends prior to my trip that I had planned to eat all the funky meats available (eg. dog, cat, raccoon, snake, whatever) in Shanghai and Hong Kong before returning to the US as a devout lacto-ovo-pesco vegetarian for the rest of 2009 after Chinese New Year.

Pig lung was not on my list of funky meats, but DBB said that it's good for eliminating mucus... he noticed my phlegmy cough once I arrived to his apartment in the French Concession. So I said what the heck. And you know what? It wasn't so bad. It tasted like bland gelatinous fat.

So I had the soup for lunch today at 4 pm. By 1 am this morning, the phlegm was gone! For real! It's crazy dude. The medicinal value of pig lung -- one of the many ancient Chinese secrets I will discover during my stay in the Motherland. I will share them with you all if you believe. But you must believe.

Pig Lung Soup yo -- Shanghai, China

Remember the Corey's?

Damn! Here's my one and only advice to white people:
SAY NO TO DRUGS! For real.

Water conservation is fun!

A reader of Adbusters Magazine writes:

I've noticed that most people leave the water running full blast while they brush their teeth. As an experiment, I did likewise, but left the plug in the sink. In an average quick brush of less than a minute, the sink filled up with four liters of water. This means that if you brush twice a day, you'll needlessly waste about 3,000 liters a year. So instead, simply wet your toothbrush, brush away, and then turn on the tap for a final rince, and you've done a small part to change the world.

DYY admits that she used to to leave the faucet on when she brushed her teeth. But no longer... and she's not experiencing any withdrawal symptoms either. In fact, it's probably one of the easiest habits to change in an effort to conserve water.

Water Crisis: not just for poor countries anymore. Industrialized nations must make drastic policy changes if they wish to maintain water supplies, warned the World Wildlife Fund last week, as supply declines thanks to everything from global warming to wetlands loss. A report by the International Water Management Institute said that a third of the world faces water shortages; water use has increased by six times in the last century and will double again by 2050, mostly from agricultural use. WWF suggests a combination of solutions -- conserving, repairing infrastructure, reducing pollution, and requiring agriculture interests in rich countries to pay more for water and be held accountable for efficient use -- but noted that implementing common-sense measures "in the face of habitual practices and intense lobbying by vested interests has been very difficult."

Here's some more very easy tips to conserve water in your household:

1. Water your lawn only when it needs it. Step on your grass. If it springs back, when you lift your foot, it doesn't need water. So set your sprinklers for more days in between watering. Saves 750-1,500 gallons per month. Better yet, especially in times of drought, water with a hose.

2. Fix leaky faucets and plumbing joints. Saves 20 gallons per day for every leak stopped.

3. Don't run the hose while washing your car. Use a bucket of water and a quick hose rinse at the end. Saves 150 gallons each time. For a two-car family that's up to 1,200 gallons a month.

4. Install water-saving shower heads or flow restrictors. Saves 500 to 800 gallons per month.

5. Run only full loads in the washing machine and dishwasher. Saves 300 to 800 gallons per month.

6. Shorten your showers. Even a one or two minute reduction can save up to 700 gallons per month.

7. Use a broom instead of a hose to clean driveways and sidewalks. Saves 150 gallons or more each time. At once a week, that's more than 600 gallons a month.

8. Don't use your toilet as an ashtray or wastebasket. Saves 400 to 600 gallons per month.

9. Capture tap water. While you wait for hot water to come down the pipes, catch the flow in a watering can to use later on house plants or your garden. Saves 200 to 300 gallons per month.

10. Don't water the sidewalks, driveway or gutter. Adjust your sprinklers so that water lands on your lawn or garden where it belongs--and only there. Saves 500 gallons per month.

The case against beef

Did you know...

• You'd save more water by not eating a single pound of California beef than you would by not showering for an entire year.
• Producing a single hamburger patty uses enough fuel to drive twenty miles. It also causes the loss of five times its weight in topsoil.
• More than a third of all raw materials and fossil fuels consumed in the US are used in animal production.
• It takes 4.8 pounds of grain (fed to cattle) to produce one pound of beef.
• A pould of wheat can be grown with sixty pounds of water, whereas a pound of meat requires 2,500 to 6,000 pounds.
• Reducing meat production by just 10% in the US would free enough grain to feed 60 million people.

Making changes in a consumer culture

"Every time we pull out our wallet to buy something, we are casting a vote for the kind of society and economy we want. Whether we fully realize it or not, we vote with our dollars every single day, either for or against sustainability, for or against health, for or against justice," asserts Ronnie Cummins, National Director of the Organic Consumers Association.

"There's only one reason for buying organic food, clothing, and other products; for supporting Fair Trade; and giving preference to independently owned local and regional businesses - because it's the best way to live."

-- excerpt from GREEN LIVING, the E Magazine's Handbook for Living Lightly on the Earth.

ps. you like my clip art? It's raining benji's, baby!

Denial

I can't believe there are people, many in positions of power, who still deny that global warming exist, despite unrefuted scientific evidence. In fact, there is no significant disagreement within the scientific community that the Earth is warming and that human activities are the principal cause.

Ignorance is bliss, I guess. I wonder if the victims of Katrina, or the families of loved ones who recently died from the heat, are blissful now. Soon we'll all die from heat or flooding, and be extinct like the dinosaurs. And only the cockroaches will survive.

We need to be like our friends, the cochroaches, and do what we need to do to survive. We as people of the Western hemisphere have lived so comfortably for the last several centuries, and we have so much privilege and opportunity to change our bad habits that negatively affect people of poor and war-torn countries, vegetation, and animals of the world.

Like the thinning of the ozone layer, the effects of global warming are reversible... and it starts with personal use and conscientious consumption. Only until we can change the way we live, thereby changing market supplies and demands, is when major perpetrators like corporations will change. And you know our government will do whatever the corporations tell them to do.

In light of the unbearable heat and power shortages across the nation, here are some simple tips to saving energy:

• Appliance Maintenance

Your appliances need a tune-up too; clean all filters and coils.

• Clean Your Light Bulbs!

Don't forget to clean your light bulbs (while the power is off). Dust build up can reduce the light intensity by 25%.

• Enery-Efficient Applicances
  

When buying a new appliance, choose an energy-efficient one.

• Energy Efficient Light Bulbs

When replacing hard to reach light bulbs, such as exterior porch lights, switch to energy efficient compact florescent bulbs. You won't have to change them for seven years!

• Home Insulation

Make your home more energy efficient through improved insulation, caulking and weather-stripping. The less energy you use, the less impact you have on the environment.

• Set the thermostat

Install and use a programmable thermostat. For every 1° C you lower your thermostat you can save 2% on your heating bill. A reduction of 3° C at night and when you are away during the day provides optimal savings and can reduce your GHGs by half a ton.

• Wash with cold water

Wash your clothes using cold water. Many detergents clean just as well in cold water.

• Window Coverings

Use your window coverings to help warm or cool your house.

Here's another simple one: Turn off your lights, tv, computer, etc. when you're not using them! This is my ultimate pet peeve! Arrggghhhhh!

Excerpts so true

"For a long time I thought I'd go into politics," he says now. "But who really has more influence: a congressman or Rupert Murdoch?" As much as anything, it is a comment on his generation—ambivalent about Democrats and Republicans, but likely to volunteer, buy socially responsible goods and be steeped in media.

"I didn't want to work in government, but I wanted to effect change. The cultural arena provides just as good an opportunity."

"There's an emerging culture of giving a damn among young people," he says. "We just want to offer a platform for that."

-- From an article about Ben Goldhirsh in the West Magazine.