Welcome to Grumpy Vegan. To be is to grumble. The point of the world is to complain about it. A good moan is a job well done. If this is you, well, this is me, the Grumpy Vegan. And this is my personal Web site. A grab bag of grumbles inspired by the daily struggle of living in a world I try to make sense of. Compassion, nonviolence, truth and a sense of interbeing (the interrelatedness of it all) are the only things that keep me going. And the occasional drink.
Being intolerant and short-tempered could be a sign of evolutionary superiority. Researchers at Harvard gave chimpanzees and bonobos, two species of apes that are among the closest living relatives to humans, a variety of reward-based tasks. Chimpanzees, who can be quite grumpy, especially as they age, consistently outperformed the bonobos, who maintain a childlike playfulness throughout their lives. Victoria Wobble, the project's leader, believes the chimps' ability to put aside their sociability is one of the reasons they are more intelligent and civilized than their genetically similar great ape cousins. She also thinks the evolutionary development of chimpanzees and bonobos could provide insight into our own species.
Grumpy People May Be More Evolved
The Grumpy Vegan thanks his long-standing friend and colleague, Jill Howard Church, for this reference, who, in her better moments, epitomizes all the above qualities (or should that be the opposite?).
The Grumpy Vegan went veg. He's forever trying to live green. And doing his bit to save the planet. So, this isn't for him. But why does it want to make him vomit?
It's an interesting idea to convert an old red Routemaster London bus into a vegan cafe and park it in Soho in central London. The Grumpy Vegan stumbled across Vegan Routes on his way to another restaurant and took this photo. It will be checked out on his next visit to London.
While in office Labour has had a good track record. As well as the hunting ban, Labour has brought in a new Animal Welfare Act, banned fur factory farming, driftnet fishing (which helps protect dolphins and sea birds) and the testing of cosmetics, toiletries, alcohol and tobacco on animals. Labour has also refused to license any testing on great apes (such as chimpanzees) and established the National Centre for the Replacement, Reduction and Refinement of Animals in Research which provides research into alternatives to animal testing. During 2009 it was the Labour government and Labour MEPs whose work and commitment was crucial in securing a European Union-wide ban on the commercial trade in seal products.
More could and should have been done - it is a disgrace that we still allow wild animal performances in circuses, for instance - but no other government has done as much for animals. Ever.
They say an elephant never forgets. But there is one elephant who we should remember every time we turn on the light. Her name was Topsy. She was electrocuted by Thomas Edison in New York on January 4, 1903 before a crowd of 1,500 spectators, who each paid 10 cents to watch. Why electrocute an elephant? Edison wanted to prove that alternating current was safer than direct current (the alternative promoted by his rival, George Westinghouse) and thereby win the battle to electrify America. Topsy was an Asian elephant who became a dangerous embarrassment to one of America’s first amusement parks on Coney Island. Tormented and abused, she killed people through no fault of her own. Topsy was murdered because expediency and spectacle conspired with power and profit.
Well, not quite like Stephen Fry; the Grumpy Vegan starts the New Year with an obsession to get written the book (well, as much as possible between now and March 31) he should've read when he first became a vegetarian and involved in animal rights in 1974. What this means is that the Grumpy Vegan enters into a period of "light" activity as well as on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. So, wish me Bon Voyage and Happy Scribbling!
