Why would someone put me on PETA’s mailing list?
It’s been a short week yet I feel exhausted. Every morning this week I’ve been wide awake between 2 and 3 am. I usually roll out of bed at about 4.20 am so I can cook breakfast, shower, shave and everything else, and be out the door in time to arrive at work at 6.30.
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I have a few things on my mind at the moment and there won’t be any resolution to these matters for the foreseeable future so I just hope I can get back into a pattern of better sleeping. I will try to move more but I don’t feel the motivation to exercise to a great extent.
The Queen’s birthday public holiday was a good day. I managed a decent walk and got some things done that needed doing. I think the next public holiday falls in September and then the next break is Christmas.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals or People Eating Tasty Animals
I received a letter in the mail from PETA this week. It contained a couple of pages about the domestic cat and dog fur trade as well as a survey.
For the life of me, I can’t work out how I got on the PETA mailing list. I’m a happy omnivore with a passion for Brassica vegetables, mammals, avians and the poikilothermic (cold-blooded) creatures of the seas, rivers and lakes. Why would PETA think I’d want to donate money? I’ve never been enamoured by PETA’s activism and while I have donated money to organisations like the local branch of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA), I’m not about to donate money to PETA. Mind you, I’m annoyed with some major Australian charities which do not use volunteers to collect donations. Instead, a begging company is retained and paid staff are employed to harass people in the streets.
As soon as someone approaches me I ask for a website URL rather than handing over my credit card details. The same applies to the incessant telephone calls from people begging for a donation. I ask for a website URL. One caller asked me to write her name in the relevant field of the online donation form. I asked why and she said it was for market research. My cynical mind assumed it was so she would get a commission.
If I receive a call on my mobile telephone, I have noticed more of them block their caller identification. I’m guessing, a lot of people are blocking telephone numbers from begging agencies. I’d give more generously if I didn’t feel like I was being harassed into it. Sadly, courtesy is no longer common.
I do donate to some charities. However, I choose my charities carefully and the charities I choose have an underlying personal or professional meaning to me.
But how did I get on the PETA mailing list? It’s like I also can’t figure out how my contact details got on the mailing list of a company that sells unconventional medicine products and which promotes unsound practices and concepts.
I’m grateful Australia Post has rubbish bins close to its post office boxes because that’s where these letters get filed.
World cup
I thought about watching the soccer but I quickly lost interest. Over the years, I’ve watched a bit of soccer, for example, when watching Olympic Games coverage. I don’t think I could be arsed watching an entire match rather than highlights. It just doesn’t hold my attention. I know it’s the most popular code of football around the world, but for me, it’s as interesting as watching paint dry.
Brassica vegetables
I was pondering what else to write about today. The news is full of stories for which I am not qualified to comment on but which hold my attention as I observe so much commentary on social media. I know some people regard social media as an unbalanced way to consume current affairs. Like all things, our personal biases will influence how we react and respond to ‘news’. I find Twitter to be a reasonable tool for getting a feel on how people are reacting whether it be in response to a natural disaster, political controversy, major criminal event or the latest drama involving a celebrity or celebrities.
So in a sea of so much that is holding my attention, I find I will not write about any of it. My personal thoughts about matters that make the news remain personal.
I will wait until 2035 when I turn 70 years old and retire. Then I look forward to being a qualified curmudgeon and free to remain awake all night and call talk-back radio stations and share my opinions on everything.
Until then, I will continue to focus on the safe and steady topic which always holds my interest and that is food.
Fellow Canberra Food Blogger, viz., Michele Walton, sent me an abstract from a paper on cooking Brassica vegetables by sous vide. So last night, I cooked Brussels sprouts and broccolini in a hot water bath.
Today I’m cooking a brisket in my slow cooker. Unfortunately, about three hours into the cook the main circuit breaker in the flat I rent ‘went’ and I lost power to everything. I traced the cause to the power socket connected to the slow cooker. This bloody piece of brisket better be good because I lost some work as a result of the outage. It’s a good thing I save my work regularly.
What I ate this week
This is a gallery of photographs in no particular order. Click on one and scroll through the rest.
Photographs I wanted to share
This is a gallery of photographs in no particular order. Click on one and scroll through the rest.
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Final thoughts
How has your week been?
Do you give money to charity? How do you prefer to make the donation?
Are you a fan of the soccer world cup? What’s your favourite sport to watch on TV?
I can’t stand being harassed by paid staff asking me to donate to a particular charity…l donate regularly to ones I feel are doing important work for the homeless and for mistreated animals. Oh and I just love the work of the Guide Dogs. But I know part of the money you donate if you hand over your credit card details on the street, goes to the wages for these harassers…and then they make you feel guilty if you don’t hand over your credit card details. Grr…
PS I did have to look up to see what sort of vegetables ‘brassica’ are…now I know. Loving your Lake photos too Gary.
Thanks Sue, I’m glad I’m not the only person who isn’t keen on the paid harassers.
I give to the Guide Dogs. As a former Labrador owner I feel a connection with them and prior to coming to Canberra I used a lot of Guide Dogs tea towels 😃👍
The weather lately, although cold, has been nice for finding some birds on the lake to shoot. I wish the pelicans would return to Lake Ginninderra. I miss them the most.
Gee Gary, I think Straya is taking a misstep by following the US method of mass marketing and harassing people every day for money until they finally break down and pay hoping the hawkers will just go away. It’s insane over here.
It’s a huge mistake in my opinion. The people are unhappy and this approach to fund raising just turns people away from philanthropy.
I agree. Still they proceed. I don’t get it.
Not enough thinking action between the ears of executives I reckon.
Where are the parents when their children are out doing these things? They probably think the kids are just YouTubing when really they are making major corporate decisions to prank the world..
I’d prefer they were YouTubing, then I could block their channels and avoid their silliness.
We need an omnipotent blocker app. I’m off to find the suggestion box.
I wish you every success.
finding investors for development may not be too hard. I can hire an aggressive and obnoxious marketing firm and send letters to people once a week until they get frustrated enough to pay me for a device to block me.
It’s perfect logic.
I must confess, it isn’t very original but it does seem to work. At least on me.
Success comes from making something of an original idea. If the person who thought of it first doesn’t exploit it then whoever does, is the victor.
Very true. Here in the land of the great orange tweeter-in-chief, exploitation is at an all time high and the economy is booming due to the success of the scam industry.
In a time when our elected officials are not what we all hope for, it’s up to us to lead the charge for our communities. If we can block scammers, we can block messages from politicians too.
I do like that idea a lot. We need a braying donkey button that plays back to the sender as an indication of our political stance.
Such an idea would be a crowd source funding project I’d support.
LOL! and I as well. I miss Jennifer in these intellectual exchanges. She would have lots to add.
I know she is busy and making progress in her current path. I hope when her situation finds a good rhythm she will join us here again and bring us the joys of Zela and Full Moon and the other characters we’ve grown to love.
She definitely spread some good humor and lots of laughs. I have a few art pieces she did for me that remind me every day to smile and maybe act up a little.
Likewise, I have a drawing of Zela above my TV which I see every day.
Since I ditched my social media except for WP, I’ve been out of contact with many good cyber friends. Except for the elevator and stairwell rituals, life has gotten a lot quieter.
From time to time I think about ceasing my activity on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. I’m still an active user and get some enjoyment, when the enjoyment ceases so will my engagement 😃
I think that’s the key. As long as the smiles last, it’s good to go.
I love the community and the friends I’ve made from all over the world. Growing up, I would never have predicted I’d be in a daily chat with podcasters in the USA, Twitter friends in the UK and Ireland, and keeping in touch with school friends via Facebook. There there are all the bloggers from all over the planet. WordPress has really helped the Earth become a tiny place.
It has indeed. I have met and made many close friends and we have yet to meet face to face. Now if travel becomes as easy as connecting on social media the planet will truly be a busy place. Coffee in Vienna anyone?
When Star Trek transporter technology becomes a reality, I look forward to a good coffee and cake with you in all parts of the globe where good coffee is sold.
I will definitely ask for funding for such a study and of course can easily justify the expense by doing a good cost benefit analysis. What could possibly go wrong?
As our molecules are separated and reconfigured elsewhere, it seems so simple. I don’t know why it’s not already a thing.
LOL! enough volunteers has always been a bit sketchy at first.
Haha, I didn’t see this comment, Daniel. It got caught in spam.
Your spam catcher was just trying to protect you from my overactive commentary, LOL 😆
Hopefully you don’t get too stressed over what is going on, Gaz. Having bad sleep can ruin you day just like that. It has been a short week, and even shorter since I took an extra day off. While you’ve been waking up at 3, 4am, I have been going to bed at that hour. Going back to work will prove interesting for me 😃
Actually I am quite a fan of the World Cup, hence the erratic sleeping pattern of late…which really is the norm for me. I do like to have my phone or laptop when watching a match. Just not your cup of tea, fair enough 😃 Apart from soccer I like watching tennis.
Pity about the electricity incident and hope the meal was good.
I wish I was like you Mabel and a night owl.
I reckon I’d be more productive.
The brisket turned out well so I’m very relieved.
I could watch competitive swimming all the time.
Judging from your IG posts and your blog, it seems you are already very productive – going out, photography, TV, cooking, meal prep and your other interests. Don’t wear yourself thin 🙂
No risk of that Mabel, I really need to focus on portion size 😂
I do like my extracurricular activities 👍😃
Portion size is key. Bit of this, bit of that and slow and steady. You do pack quite a bit in 😃😃
I’m living up to the eating machine reputation 😂
True. Just a matter of time before you put together a cook book 😂😂😂
I really need to start the outline for it
That makes NO sense. Am glad you could round file it since you obviously didn’t need it anywhere else.
I love the black swan photos! The trolleys out for a swim is cute, but sad.
I sincerely hope your brisket was ok. So lucky you hadn’t left the flat and arrived home to a dubious meal. My sister is forever putting things in her slow cooker, dashing off to events or errands, and arriving home to discover she forgot to plug it in or turn it on!
Thanks Kris. I love round filing 😂
The brisket was good. I’ll be posting photographs soon.
I’m always hesitant to leave appliances on while I’m out.
It’s been a good weekend for bird photos 😃