Ask Y'all

As I’m not a dentist, nor am I even making dentist money, here’s one for y’all who might be: Danielle writes, “I suffer from severe food and skin allergies, and can’t for the life of me find a toothpaste that doesn’t contain absurd, unpronounceable ingredients or scents, as these all irritate my hyper sensitive skin. The toothpaste I would usually use was fine… until some inconsiderate so-and-so decided to change the ingredients – bottom line is, it’s now unsuitable for me. I’m fast running out of the bulk of supplies that I’d stocked up on, and so am now pondering on the idea of making my own version of a toothpaste. The ingredients Glycerin and Salt are part of my daily diet (and so I shouldn’t have any allergic reaction them) which is leading me to ask whether anyone knows if a homemade toothpaste made entirely of just Glycerin and Salt is at all effective?” As with anything on the interweb, you should take any advice provided by pseudo-anonymous strangers as merely a pointer to further research and not as a statement of actual fact, yada yada yada…

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We haven’t had one of these in a while: vegyay asks, “I haven’t been vegan for very long, but i’ve been finding it very difficult to find vegan food at school. I was wondering if anyone wanted to share some favorite vegan snacks on the go, homemade or otherwise.” This is timely, as I start commuting again in a week or so. The oft-cited Vegan Lunch Box is always worth a look, but what’s everyone else doing for lunch?

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Dear lazyweb, Barbara is looking for instructions on making corn nuts. As far as I know, these are the deep fried and salted corn kernels you can buy in the convenience store, but maybe there’s a trick or two involved. I have no idea. I even googled 2 whole pages of “corn nuts recipe” results to no avail. Anyone? (Regular posting will resume in the morning…)

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sparkalina sent in a Tom Purcell op-ed that pretty much reads like bad talk radio, wherein Mr Purcell proudly states that he’s going to keep eating meat, no matter what a few scientists say about meat’s effects on the environment. With words like “The truth of the matter is that the American people care plenty about the environment. If we were convinced our steaks are harming it, we’d stop eating them” (I wish!), Tom’s managed to articulate the heads-up-butts thinking that’s holding back real meaningful changes in the world. The problem is, his column might be the only thing some people read in their daily paper – after all, they’re not paying good money to be told they’re wrong every day, right? So how does one get through to what I’m going to call the Conservative Talk Radio Crowd? Do we bother, or do we just follow the path of other social changes and just keep barreling forward until they become no longer relevant? Link.

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kunsjoi sent in an article that provides some food for thought – the US almond crop is in jeopardy due to a shortage of bees. It seems that the 2.5 billion dollar crop requires a whole lot of bees for pollination, and these bees come from beekeepers who rent out their hives – some travel from as far away as North Carolina. At this point, the world’s demand for almonds clearly outstrips the supply of bees in the wild, and beekeepers are needed to make up the balance. There are other crops that require bees for pollination, but this is the only case I’ve heard of where bees are imported. So where does that leave vegans in the whole “honey isn’t vegan” debate? Link.

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Vegetables are finally having their day in court, I suppose… Dagda Samildanc reports that a woman is going to fight a littering charge. At issue: is it OK to throw salad greens onto the ground? Actually, I don’t know if littering was the charge or not, but Dawn Higgins is definitely looking at a possible $173.50 fine for throwing some leftover salad onto a Wal-Mart parking lot. According to Higgins, the leaves came from the ground, and should be allowed to return there. I can see her point, and can’t imagine a charge if, say, some autumn leaves fell out of her car, for example, but I’d draw the line at an apple core, and in any event, there’d better not be any cigarette butts in the parking lot… What say you, our panel of produce-biased experts? Link.

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kunsjoi sent in a story about farm animal mutilations and various theories about alien involvement. Now, besides the fact that some say there’s supposed to be an actual alien species called the vegans, do you reckon that there are aliens out there, and if so, do you suppose if they’re smart enough to travel the stars and meet other species, they’d have the good sense to realize that other life forms are, uh, more than a meal, or at least not something to be mutilated in the night with, and I quote, “laser precision”? Link.

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Justin wrote in with this one: “I really have to bug you with this question, but I was unsure really to start… My girlfriend and I are moving to the San Franciso area later this year. We are devout vegans, and have been for years. It has always been my dream to get into a job that goes hand in hand with my vegan views. Well. We currently live in Milwaukee, WI, and while yes there are a decent amount of vegan friendly restaurants, there certainly isn’t the volume like San Francisco where I truly could have a shot to get in somewhere. I’ve been doing IT Help Desk work for the passed 5 years and its not where I want to be at all. My question for you is if you know of any web sites or groups to get in touch with that have listings or connections to vegan or simply earth friendly jobs in the bay area. I’ve been there before, but not enough times to know the ins and outs or even know where to start looking.” Any ideas for San Francisco, or anywhere else for that matter?

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Here’s a site sent in by julepandme: what does everyone think about yarn harvested from pet hair, when it’s your pet, of course, and not some product of a disturbing farm where the sound of brushing haunts the workers’ dreams… Link.

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