Quality versus crap.

Todd William has a good essay pointing out the importance of human creative invention throughout history. The accumulations created and left for us by past expert craftsmen and artists help to create our cultural and physical reality today, however, we also have today an over-abundance of machine made objects that serve no honest long-term purpose! Most of today's inventions serve only as products to maintain a corporate economy. The producers and marketers of this junk, profit only if the item is purchased by so called "consumers" and rendered useless within six months. This helps to keep the economic machinery functioning. So called "New" products quickly replace the older products. It also creates a danger to the planet!

 The concept of consumerism where you market and destroy has got to change! Mass marketed products created as disposable "consumer" items are filling up garbage land-fill sites faster than our human ability to recycle and re-use. The pollution is incredible! Nature cannot tolerate the sustained pressure on its Bio-system! We can create work for people without creating more junk and more environmental devastaton! Today we do need Artists and Artisans and Inventors creating long lasting products for future generations but what we do not need is more Madison Avenue planned mass marketed corporate junk creating pollution! Visit the http://www.Storyofstuff.org  for a better understanding.

Joseph Raglione.

===============================================================

Todd William

Shared publicly  -  Yesterday 5:02 PM

The Accumulation of Humanity

Two centuries ago, Sam Smiles made the observation that we would have "remained uncivilized but for the savings and accumulations made by our forefathers - the savings of skill, or art, or invention, and of intellectual culture." This remains as true today as it did then.

Nearly every physical item you use began as a thought in other people’s minds. Look around your home. Your table, your chair, your bed, your electronics, your car, even your house, all of it was invented by someone other than you. And you have never met any of these people.

This notion isn't limited to physical items. The language you speak, the manner in which you communicate, even the way you prepare your food was mostly someone else's idea. What exactly have any of us contributed to this?

There is no harm in admitting we all benefit from society in some way. Even history's most notable minds at best added only small increments to the massive ocean of human ideas. As great a mind as Isaac Newton was, he slept on a bed he didn't invent and under a roof he didn't design just like we all do.

The point isn't to drop everything and find a way to start contributing, as worthy as that might be. What's important here is that even though we should praise self-sufficiency and individuality, none of us should ever overlook the tremendous value we all gain by merely being a part of humanity



(Image by: Jean-François Rauzier)

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ECONOMY

Texas’ Largest Jail Accused Of Jailing Poor People Because They Don’t Have Money

BY BRYCE COVERT MAY 23, 2016 4:13 PM

CREDIT: AP PHOTO/ERIC RISBERG

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Maranda Lynn ODonnell’s supposed crime was small. On May 18, she was arrested for allegedly driving with an invalid license. But the 22-year-old mother says she was still jailed for two days at the Harris County Jail in Texas, kept away from her four-year-old daughter and her new job at a restaurant.

If ODonnell had more money, she would have been able to go home immediately. But she doesn’t have many resources. She can’t afford her own home, so she and her daughter stay with a friend. She relies on WIC benefits to feed her child. She lives paycheck to paycheck. So when she was told she either had to pay a $2,500 bail after her arrest or be detained, she was stuck in the jailhouse.

She’s not the only one. In a lawsuit she filed with the nonprofit Equal Justice Under Law against Harris County, two others recounted similar stories. Loetha Shanta McGruder, another 22-year-old mother of a four-year-old with Down syndrome and ten-month-old infant who is also pregnant with a third child, was arrested on May 19 in Jacinto, Texas and told to pay a $5,000 bail. She can’t afford it; she has no job, no money or savings, lives on disability payments and child support, and was already planning to apply to Medicaid so she can get OB-GYN care as well as food stamps. Robert Ryan Ford, a 26-year-old with no work, no bank account, and no assets was told to pay $5,000 after he was arrested on May 18.

The three of them are lucky, though. Two days after her arrest, ODonnell was released and reunited with her daughter. While she almost lost her job — the restaurant hired a new waitress when ODonnell missed a few shifts — the new hire didn’t work out and she should be able to go back to work later this week. McGruder and Ford are both supposed to be released on Monday.

But the county’s practices haven’t changed since the lawsuit was filed, according to one of the attorneys, and hundreds of other people too poor to afford bail are still being held.

The Harris County Jail is the largest in Texas and the third largest in the country. And most of the people inside, 77 percent, are there because they can’t afford to pay bail of $5,000 or less, according to the lawsuit. In a typical month, the jail will see about 8,600 people, 6,800 of whom are detained awaiting trial. About 8 percent of those pretrial detainees are arrested on misdemeanors.

Even worse, 55 people died in the Harris County Jail between 2009 and 2015 while awaiting trail and unable to afford bail. The most recent death was Patrick Brown, according to the complaint, who died on April 5 while being held on a $3,000 bail he couldn’t afford after he was charged with misdemeanor theft.

If an arrestee “can’t pay, they sit in jail.”

And while the jail population fell by 2,500 between 2009 and 2014, the share of people there waiting for their trials only fell by 15, while the number of people awaiting trial on a misdemeanor actually grew by 29 percent.

The lawsuit argues that the practice of detaining people too poor to pay bail without assessing whether they can afford it is unconstitutional. It alleges that the county’s practice is to determine bail based on a generic offense-based schedule. Anyone who can’t pay is detained. Then usually within 24 hours, arrestees appear via a videolink before a hearing officer, who determines probable cause for the arrest and approves the original bail amount, sometimes adding to it, without inquiring about whether the arrestee can pay. Arrestees don’t get defense attorneys, nor are they usually allowed to speak or request to have their bail reduced. ODonnell said she was told not to speak during her hearing and it took all of 60 seconds. As one prosecutor recently put it, according to the lawsuit, if an arrestee “can’t pay, they sit in jail.”

After the hearing, anyone who still doesn’t have the money is taken to the County Court to see a judge and is assigned a court-appointed attorney. But bail is still unlikely to be reduced, given that it only happens in less than 1 percent of cases, and detainees stay locked up outside of the courtroom, often not even appearing inside. Many plead guilty — almost 80 percent, compared to 56 percent of those who aren’t locked up before trial — because they are told they can get released more quickly.

“Harris County’s wealth-based pretrial detention system violates the Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses of the United States Constitution,” the lawsuit says. “It has no place in modern American law.” It seeks an injunction to end the practice.

It’s not the only place using such practices, however. Money bonds are required in agrowing share of pretrial releases. California faces a class action lawsuit against its use of money bail, while the practice is being reformed or ended in big cities like New York as well as small ones in places like Missouri and Alabama. Officials at the Department of Justice (DOJ) have also put the practice on notice, sending chief justices and court administrators across the country a letter in March warning against money bail schemes that jail people solely because they can’t pay.

Other, similar practices have come under notice by the DOJ. The same letter highlighted modern-day debtors prisons, where courts levy fines and fees without determining whether people can pay and then jailing them if they can’t afford them. Lawsuits have been brought against the practices in a number of places across the country.

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Gene editing cured a Leukemia patient in the U.K.

Science

 

agriculture

 

CRISPR

 

talen

CRUNCH NETWORK

Reshaping human health and changing lives through gene editing

Posted May 20, 2016 by André Choulika

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André ChoulikaCRUNCH NETWORK CONTRIBUTOR

André Choulika is chairman and CEO of Cellectis.

How to join the network

Gene editing is going to fundamentally change our lives and how we traditionally think about health throughout the first half of the 21st century.

Gene editing is going to change the way people are treated by curing the roots of diseases instead of merely treating the symptoms. It’s going to change the way we think about what we put into our bodies, as gene editing will put healthier food on our plates without polluting the planet. This food will not only be safe to eat, it will also meet the environmental challenges related to sustainable growth and climate change.

As a result, people will no longer focus on whether or not we should engage in gene editing from an ethical standpoint. The question isn’t “When will gene editing become a significant reality for the majority of the world?” The truth is, this is neither science fiction nor a prediction — gene editing is happening now, as evidenced by the first cancer patient having been treated by TALEN®-based gene-edited T-cells. Additionally, this fall, fields across the United States will harvest TALEN®-based gene-edited soybeans and potatoes. There are even gene-edited pigs and hornless cows that are currently walking around the barnyard.

The landscape in gene editing is anything but clear, but the recent emergence of new gene-editing technologies, with new players in the space, has led to an inevitable ethical debate.

For example, three early clinical-stage startup companies, all based on CRISPR technology, have struck major alliances with big pharma and biotech companies: Editas Medicine (Juno Therapeutics), CRISPR Therapeutics (Vertex and Celgene) and Intellia Therapeutics (Novartis).

While these alliances are important, the long-term successes of these companies depend upon their ability to deliver on their promises. Turning CRISPR innovations into approved and effective drugs is a core focus, and it will still take years of more hard work before an effective, approved drug will result from these efforts — if at all.

Additionally, Sangamo BioSciences and Precision BioSciences are two other well-established companies that operate in the gene-editing space. Precision Bio, which has so far used its ARCUS gene-editing technology to advance the research efforts of its biotechnology partners, is now aiming to use its technology to develop its own products.

Sangamo is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company that is researching ways to commercializeZinc finger nucleases, which modify a cell’s DNA at a location, thereby correcting or disrupting a specific gene. Its lead therapy, SB-728, is a potential functional cure for HIV/AIDS, and recent published data further support the company’s ongoing progress, which has been described as a major step toward immunological functional control of HIV.

All of this brings us to the subsequent ethical debate, which centers on the potential threat of gene editing, specifically gene-edited humans.

The fear of gene editing — and the concerns around what people could do through gene editing — isn’t based on any kind of rational fact.

It’s important to remember that animal transgenesis took place more than 35 years ago through a process that was immediately transposable to humans, and this has not led to any wave of transgenic humans. The same goes for the ability to knock out genes in human embryonic stem cells, cloning humans after Dolly the Sheep technology or using human iPS cells to create new clones. The fear of gene editing — and the concerns around what people could do through gene editing — isn’t based on any kind of rational fact.

People often ask: “What is gene editing? Should I be concerned about this. What happens if ill-intentioned people get their hands on this technology?”

The answer is complicated. Technologies such as cell phones and social media have fundamentally changed global society. For the vast majority, these changes have been for the good, even if bad people misuse them.

Gene editing is similar to this; it is a fundamental change in the way we look at the basic building blocks of life. It provides us with the ability to rethink how we treat diseases, how we grow our food and how we think about ourselves as humans.

The ultimate act of civilization was initially thought of as growing plants and breeding animals, hence genetic selection and cloning. Cloning, or selecting the best breeds, was initially done to improve survival. Since then, humans continued to perfect this technology.

With a population that’s close to reaching more than 9 billion humans on the planet, much of our survival may depend on the strength of gene editing. Furthermore, who cares today if a person is the result of in vitro fertilization? Do you remember the debate on this in the 1970s? This is no longer a debate.

2015 was a pivotal year, and gene editing is now transforming our lives in very real ways. The first leukemic patient — who could not be saved by any other therapy — was injected with a gene-editedCAR T-cell product candidate at the Great Ormond Street Hospital in the United Kingdom. She was the first patient helped by gene editing.

According to experts at the European Medicine Agency, this is the most complex product they have ever seen. It is the result of very sophisticated reprogramming of T-cells — adding some genes while suppressing others — to convert T-cells into a powerful cancer-killing machine.

This product can be produced by the thousands, stored long-term, provided to hospitals around the world and given to any patient who is in medical need. Today, this may be complex to produce, but it is simple to administer to patients. Tomorrow, it has the potential to become a standard in medicine.

Related Articles

CRISPR creates a way out of regulation for GMO foodMicrosoft co-founder Paul Allen pledges $100 million toward cutting-edge biotech researchEditas biotech stock drops by 26 percent over CRISPR patent dispute

2015 was an equally positive year for commercial agriculture, as gene-edited harvests across the United States were abundant, making it conceivable for gene-edited potatoes and soybeans to make it to consumer plates within two years. For the previous 50 years, the focus of plant breeding was increasing yield that resulted in greater productivity but included increased use of herbicides and pesticides. Until recently, the health of consumers was not a focus, resulting in a negative impact of mass agriculture and the rise of organic agriculture.

Today, organic agriculture represents less that 10 percent of current U.S. production. Nevertheless, with a growing population and an ever-diminishing cultivation space (not speaking about global warming, sustainability or equitable growth), a strong demand for healthier products and respect of nature is a paradox that can be solved either by economic shrinkage or technology. This upcoming harvest is the first step to finding an answer to this margin squeeze, and sets the stage for a new route to human expansion and sustainable development.

Again, it is not a question of if or when gene editing will happen; rather, it’s whether or not we would like to be the first to make it happen. As President Obama stated in his most recent State of the Union address: “Let’s make America the country that cures cancer once and for all.” This came one day after the launch of the Cancer MoonShot 2020 effort, led by big pharma and biotech companies. But we don’t have to wait until 2020 to administer a treatment that eliminates cancer cells. We are well on our way with gene editing.

FEATURED IMAGE: BRYCE DURBIN

President Barack Obama keeps another promise.

Just three weeks into my presidency, I made a promise to the people of Elkhart, Indiana.
It was the first city I visited as President. Folks there had been hit harder by the recession than almost anywhere else in America. The unemployment rate was on its way to nearly twenty percent. Companies that had sustained that community for years were shedding jobs at an alarming speed -- and hardworking families were losing their homes and health care along with those jobs.
When I spoke to the people of Elkhart in February of 2009, I promised them that if we worked together, we could pull that community and this country out of the depths of recession -- that we could not only recover, but put ourselves on a better, stronger course.
Today, thanks to the hard work of people in Elkhart and in communities across the country, America has recovered from crisis and we’re on the cusp of resurgence.
That's why I'm going back to Elkhart next Wednesday -- to highlight the economic progress we’ve made and discuss the challenges that remain.

---

---

The story of Elkhart's recovery is the story of America's recovery.
Today, Elkhart's manufacturing industry is back, and the town has regained nearly all of the jobs it lost during the downturn. The unemployment rate is lower than it was before the recession, and lower than the national average. In Indiana, more people have health insurance, and fewer homeowners are underwater.
This progress is thanks to the effort and determination of Americans like you. And it’s a result of the choices we made as a nation.
We still face some tough economic challenges, there’s no doubt about it. And all of us have to make some very important decisions about where we go from here.
That’s what I’m going to talk about when I return to Elkhart on Wednesday. I hope you'll tune in.
Thank you,
President Barack Obama

This email was sent to human4usbillions@gmail.com.
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Please do not reply to this email. Contact the White House
The White House • 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW • Washington, DC 20500 • 202-456-1111

This kid hammers facts into our heads!

Veganism: Healthy, Kind, Climate & Forest Friendly

Alex P

Shared publicly  -  Dec 25, 2015

Bill Gates went vegan. Beef uses 150 times the water, 200 times the land, 160 times the emissions of legumes per protein calorie. Reasons why I did not eat meat for 20 years and no dairy for 12 years (12% of millennials have already given up meat in America):

The Survival of Humanity Argument

Veganism reduces greenhouse gas emissions, which is key to preventing ocean acidification. If the ocean is too acidic, plankton dies and with that 50-80% of the oxygen we breathe is gone, making life impossible ►https://plus.google.com/+AlexP/posts/gwKRRDiX3nc

The Hunger Argument

Number of people worldwide who will die as a result of malnutrition this year: 20 million
Number of people who could be adequately fed using land freed if Americans reduced their intake of meat by 10%: 100 million
Percentage of corn grown in the U.S. eaten by people: 20
Percentage of corn grown in the U.S. eaten by livestock: 80
Percentage of oats grown in the U.S. eaten by livestock: 95
Percentage of protein wasted by cycling grain through livestock: 90
How frequently a child dies as a result of malnutrition: every 2.3 seconds
Pounds of potatoes that can be grown on an acre: 40,000
Pounds of beef produced on an acre: 250
Percentage of U.S. farmland devoted to beef production: 56
Pounds of grain and soybeans needed to produce a pound of edible flesh from feedlot beef: 16

The Heart Disease Argument

Vegans have lowest rate of heart disease and low fat low sugar vegan diets have been used extensively by many doctors to reverse heart disease in patients ►https://plus.google.com/+AlexP/posts/5VAwFvKttav.

The Diabetes Argument

Vegans have the lowest diabetes rates ►https://plus.google.com/+AlexP/posts/VLnN7mYbYnM. See in this post how to reverse diabetes with a vegan diet.

The Obesity Argument

Vegans are the only group with a healthy BMI, body-mass index on average, being the thinnest group of all. With 2 billion people overweight, it is essential for people to think about going vegan ► https://plus.google.com/+AlexP/posts/FKuTRJFy5tD.

The Alzheimer and Dementia Argument

Vegans are 2-3 times less likely to get dementia and Alzheimer compared to meat eaters ► https://plus.google.com/+AlexP/posts/eD2Sa4Qz57V.

The Osteoporosis Argument

Studies show that countries with highest milk consumption have highest osteoporosis ► https://plus.google.com/+AlexP/posts/N29AnqZKfex. Kale, greens, oranges, broccoli, spinach, beans, lentils are good sources of calcium.

The Environmental Argument

Cause of global warming: greenhouse effect
Primary cause of greenhouse effect: carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels
Fossil fuels needed to produce meat-centered diet vs. a meat-free diet: 3 times more
Percentage of U.S. topsoil lost to date: 75
Percentage of U.S. topsoil loss directly related to livestock raising: 85
Number of acres of U.S. forest cleared for cropland to produce meat-centered diet: 260 million
Amount of meat imported to U.S. annually from Central and South America: 300,000,000 pounds
Percentage of Central American children under the age of five who are undernourished: 75
Area of tropical rainforest consumed in every quarter-pound of rainforest beef: 55 square feet
Current rate of species extinction due to destruction of tropical rainforests for meat grazing and other uses: 1,000 per year

The Cancer Argument

Latinas eating bacon and Caucasians eating tuna have increased breast cancer risk according to a February 2016 study in Cancer Causes and Control Journal ►https://news.usc.edu/92558/processed-meat-may-increase-the-risk-of-breast-cancer-for-latinas-usc-study-finds/

VEGANS have lower risk of PROSTATE CANCER ►https://plus.google.com/+AlexP/posts/4Xq2dd7LMs2

The higher the intake of dairy, the higher the prostate cancer rate ►http://www.pcrm.org/health/health-topics/milk-and-prostate-cancer-the-evidence-mounts. See a recent review of studies athttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25527754

VEGANS can have 3 times lower rate of OVARIAN CANCER ►https://plus.google.com/+AlexP/posts/5ozBdZZRrbm

According to Harvard researchers, when dairy intake exceeds the enzymes’ capacity to break down galactose, it can build up in the blood and damage the ovaries. Women with low levels of these enzymes have triple the risk of ovarian cancer when they consume dairy. ► http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2567871

The World Health Organization has ruled that bacon, sausages, hot dogs cause cancer, while beef, pork, veal and lamb are "probably carcinogenic" ►http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/10/26/451211964/bad-day-for-bacon-processed-red-meats-cause-cancer-says-who

Increased risk of breast cancer for women who eat meat daily compared to less than once a week: 3.8 times
For women who eat eggs daily compared to once a week: 2.8 times
For women who eat butter and cheese 2-4 times a week: 3.25 times
Increased risk of fatal ovarian cancer for women who eat eggs 3 or more times a week vs. less than once a week: 3 times
Increased risk of fatal prostate cancer for men who consume meat, cheese, eggs and milk daily vs. sparingly or not at all: 3.6 times.

The Waste Argument

Animal agriculture produces millions of pounds of waste daily in America alone. A 2500 dairy cow farm produces more poop than the city of Minneapolis (almost half a million people). This has to be gotten rid of. It can be infested with mad cow disease at times, swine flu, bird flu perhaps if not beef. Fecal matter from dairy farms is starting to destroy our drinking water supplies and it has already been causing huge dead zones from the Chesapeake Bay to the Gulf of Mexico. 11 HEALTH Reasons to avoid milk are explained here ►https://plus.google.com/+AlexP/posts/dAtsd3jLETh

The Cholesterol Argument

Number of U.S. medical schools: 125
Number requiring a course in nutrition: 30
Nutrition training received by average U.S. physician during four years in medical school: 2.5 hours
Most common cause of death in the U.S.: heart attack
How frequently a heart attack kills in the U.S.: every 45 seconds
Average U.S. man's risk of death from heart attack: 50 percent
Risk of average U.S. man who eats no meat: 15 percent
Risk of average U.S. man who eats no meat, dairy or eggs: 4 percent
Amount you reduce risk of heart attack if you reduce consumption of meat, dairy and eggs by 10 percent: 9 percent
Amount you reduce risk of heart attack if you reduce consumption by 50 percent: 45 percent
Amount you reduce risk if you eliminate meat, dairy and eggs from your diet: 90 percent
Average cholesterol level of people eating meat-centered-diet: 210 mg/dl
Chance of dying from heart disease if you are male and your blood cholesterol level is 210 mg/dl: greater than 50 percent

The Natural Resources Argument

User of more than half of all water used for all purposes in the U.S.: livestock production
Amount of water used in production of the average cow: sufficient to float a destroyer
Gallons of water needed to produce a pound of wheat: 25
Gallons of water needed to produce a pound of California beef: 5,000
Years the world's known oil reserves would last if every human ate a meat-centered diet: 13
Years they would last if human beings no longer ate meat: 260
Calories of fossil fuel expended to get 1 calorie of protein from beef: 78
To get 1 calorie of protein from soybeans: 2
Percentage of all raw materials (base products of farming, forestry and mining, including fossil fuels) consumed by U.S. that is devoted to the production of livestock: 33
Percentage of all raw materials consumed by the U.S. needed to produce a complete vegetarian diet: 2

The Antibiotic Argument

Percentage of U.S. antibiotics fed to livestock: 55
Percentage of staphylococci infections resistant to penicillin in 1960: 13
Percentage resistant in 1988: 91
Response of European Economic Community to routine feeding of antibiotics to livestock: ban
Response of U.S. meat and pharmaceutical industries to routine feeding of antibiotics to livestock: full and complete support

The Pesticide Argument

Common belief: U.S. Department of Agriculture protects our health through meat inspection
Reality: fewer than 1 out of every 250,000 slaughtered animals is tested for toxic chemical residues
Percentage of U.S. mother's milk containing significant levels of DDT: 99
Percentage of U.S. vegetarian mother's milk containing significant levels of DDT: 8
Contamination of breast milk, due to chlorinated hydrocarbon pesticides in animal products, found in meat-eating mothers vs. non-meat eating mothers: 35 times higher
Amount of Dieldrin ingested by the average breast-fed American infant: 9 times the permissible level

The Ethical Argument

Number of animals killed for meat per hour in the U.S.: 660,000
Occupation with highest turnover rate in U.S.: slaughterhouse worker
Occupation with highest rate of on-the-job-injury in U.S.: slaughterhouse worker

The Survival Argument

Athlete to win Ironman Triathlon more than twice: Dave Scott (6 time winner)
Food choice of Dave Scott: Vegetarian

The Fear-Stress Hormones Argument

When animals suffer for seconds/minutes during the sudden slaughter death, they release stress-fear hormones that age and sicken us ► goo.gl/yxY4h. Fear hormones as well as astral vibrations that contaminate their flesh also prompt us into human-human conflict more often; we and animals share a lot of hormonal pathways, as neuroscience shows. Bill Gates is vegan and so are some CEOs (http://goo.gl/7laCI). Gandhi, Tesla, Edison, Einstein, Newton, DaVinci were vegetarian: goo.gl/IMJQJ.

The Amazon and other Key Forests Argument

Rainfall and preventing desertification is achieved thru a complex hydrologic cycle that involves forests. If we wipe out all forests, we are in big trouble, since forests generate 20-50% of the oxygen we breathe and ensure we get rain. Beef uses 160 times more land and 200 times more water per calorie than wheat, lentils, beans, potatoes do. Beef requires 28 times more land and 11 times more water than chicken and pork ► http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/jul/21/giving-up-beef-reduce-carbon-footprint-more-than-cars. If people go vegan or just without beef, you help save lots of water and forests.

ESP-Telepathy Argument

It has been noticed that telepathy and other ESP functions become enhanced when meat is given up ► https://plus.google.com/+AlexP/posts/UuoSukYzycu. See also the telepathy and biophotons connection ►https://plus.google.com/+AlexP/posts/1e7bYQEWmsa. The MIT paper on biophotons in fresh fruits and veggies ►https://plus.google.com/+AlexP/posts/ef6UA8yGtLk

Space Exploration Argument

How can astronauts go in space and raise cattle on their spaceship to get to Alpha Centauri? lol. You got to be kidding me. The nice thing about veganism is that with vertical urban farms, people can get local food (fresh - picked up 2 hours before, thus very rich in biophotons) easily in any area and Earth can thus feed 50 billion vegans easily. Going off-planet is a lot easier too when there are more scientists/engineers working on space travel, terra forming planets, etc. Creating perfect weather, eliminating deaths from natural disasters, etc all these things require a lot of science.

The Longevity Argument

Vegetarians and vegans were shown to live 7-12 years longer than non-vegetarians (take your B12 or a normal vitamin pill with B12 in it, as it's scarce in vegan foods and get B12 even if you eat meat and are over 50, because animal foods B12 is harder to assimilate as people age). The Longest living people in North America are the vegetarian Adventists in Loma Linda, who reach 105 often. Here is a Loma Linda doctor (I talked to him) who did surgeries at 95: http://goo.gl/MQqn3, after decades of being vegan. This shows meat is not needed for longevity. Mahatma Gandhi was vegetarian, just like 500 million people in India today and Albert Einstein, Leonardo DaVinci, Nikola Tesla, Isaac Newton, Pythagoras. Did you know India is the most vegetarian country in the world? :) RED MEAT CAUSES CANCER ►http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/11316316/Red-meat-triggers-toxic-immune-reaction-which-causes-cancer-scientists-find.html.

The Flu and other Diseases Argument

Without incredibly toxic and filthy factory farms, there will be no frequent epidemics of swine flu, bird flu, mad cow disease, etc.

The Poop Argument

There is fecal matter in virtually all American beef according to Consumer Reports ►http://www.inquisitr.com/2368247/all-ground-beef-in-the-us-is-contaminated-with-fecal-matter-according-to-consumer-reports/. Also much of chicken meat has poop in it ► http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kathy-freston/chicken-contamination_b_1655170.html

The IQ Argument

It's been noted that people with higher IQ are far more likely to give up meat. "Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet.” Einstein. On a similar note he stated, “Our task must be to [widen] our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.” And on the day he became a vegetarian, Einstein wrote in his diary, “So I am living without fats, without meat, without fish, but am feeling quite well this way. It always seems to me that man was not born to be a carnivore.” For more quotes on giving up meat from world's most amazing people, see this post ► https://plus.google.com/+AlexP/posts/CapnTqw8Xix

The Renal Acid Load Score Argument

Vegans have a much lower renal acid load score, which prevents a series of health issues. The United States Department of Agriculture has come up with the PRAL (Potential Renal Acid Load) Chart to help people prevent ingestion of acid forming foods, which then lead to chronic secretion of ammonia in the kidneys, and damage to kidneys and other organs. Most raw fruits and raw veggies are alkaline forming. All meats and grains are acid forming. Most legumes are alkaline forming. Foods can be categorized by the potential renal acid loads (PRALs). The best foods are those with negative PRALs, see the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) table here for each food (per 100 grams) ►http://www.alkalisinggreens.com/files/pdf/PRAL-List.pdf or you can search 8000 foods for the PRAL score at http://health-diet.us/alkaline-diet/ (human milk has negative PRAL, like alkaline forming foods do). Our renal acid load for overall diet should be negative according to many doctors and nutrition experts. :) Chronic acidosis can lead to lots of diseases, even more acne breakouts which are far more common in people ingesting foods with high PRAL. There are lots of papers published about PRAL, for example ►http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7797810. Alkaline diet benefits study ►http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3195546/. High acid forming or positive PRAL diets lead to calcium stones too ►http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11223695 andhttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24002043. For more databases of foods and their content see http://foodhealth.info/. Vegans need B12 vitamin from a multivitamin or B12 fortified foods, even vegetarians need it and meat eaters after the age of 50, as the body cannot produce it well anymore. :) Costs 2$ a year to get B12 vitamin.

The Telomere Length Argument

After a low fat whole plant foods vegan diet (the Ornish diet), Nobel Prize winner Elizabeth Blackburn found that telomerase activity increased by 30% in 3 months (telomerase reportedly helps us live longer by repairing the end of our chromosomes) ► http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/06/ornish-diet-heart-health-us-news_n_1188205.html.

Eye health (more carotenoids), bone health, Heart health (higher magnesium intake) and other reasons (57 reasons) ► http://www.nursingdegree.net/blog/19/57-health-benefits-of-going-vegan/

Heart Rate Argument

Vegetarians heart rate is 20 beats lower, leading to less heart wear and longer life.

Toxic Chemicals Argument

Animals are fed 80% of antibiotics in America, and all kinds of hormones banned in the EU. These things don't go into lentils, grains, beans at all. Also, a cow eats 21 times its weight of vegetables before slaughter, meaning it ingests huge amounts of insecticides, pesticides, etc that are found in the cow feed (mostly GMO corn and soy). So, the meat accumulates all these toxins absent in non-GMO lentils, beans, etc.

Water Argument

Vegans use 4 times less water than vegetarians and 13 times less than meat eaters► https://plus.google.com/+AlexP/posts/EFUbV8uNd8g. It's clear that veganism is the most compassionate choice. :)

Alex P

Shared publicly  -  Yesterday 11:36 PM

Dried Moringa leaves have 10 times the vitamin A in carrots, 17 times the Calcium in milk, 12 times the vitamin E of almonds, 15 times the potassium in bananas, 25 times the iron in spinach, 9 times the protein in yogurt, while fresh Moringa leaves have 14 times more vitamin C than dried ones and 7 times more vitamin C than oranges. Moringa contains 90 verifiable nutrients, 46 types of antioxidants, and 36 anti-inflammatory compounds, 18 out of the 20 amino acids in the human body, all nine of the essential ones that our bodies don’t produce. Every part of the tree is edible and highly nutritious: the pods (string beans taste), leaves, seeds (peanut taste) and roots (horseradish taste). The drought-resistant tree grows from seed to 15 feet in just one year, being one of the or the fastest growing tree in the world. A few crushed seeds of moringa can purify dirty water within 1 hour, as the seed protein is a flocculent and coagulant causing bacteria and dirt to settle. ►http://www.offthegridnews.com/off-grid-foods/the-life-saving-miracle-tree-known-as-moringa/. It's been used to cure many diseases too.

A seed bomber can plant 1 million trees in one day ►http://www.trueactivist.com/seed-bombers-can-plant-an-entire-forest-of-900000-trees-a-day.

TIME Magazine covered it too ►http://time.com/3544425/superfoods-moringa-tree-breadfruit-prickly-pear-cactus/.


► VEGANISM ◄

For 100+ reasons I didn't eat meat for 20 years and dairy for 12 years see ►https://plus.google.com/+AlexP/posts/UsxcV9Bycsb

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