Month: May 2020

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Going back to our Roots

I read this article about an amazing discovery that bumblebees chomp leaves so that the plants will flower… up to a month earlier! They depend on the pollen for nectar. One thing that was obvious to me, but apparently not to the scientists in charge, stood out…

“When the study authors used metal forceps and a razor to mimic the holes the bees made, the plants bloomed earlier than normal, but not as soon as they did in response to the bees’ bites…’They do something we haven’t quite captured… We hope to figure this out.’…Doing so could create a whole new way for HUMANS to cultivate plants, a potentially major boon for agriculture.”

Why don’t they just use bumblebees to make the cuts? After all, they are going extinct…

My cousin owns a very successful company in California, dispersing beneficial insects over crops. Give owners have since time immemorial put hives into fruit tree fields to pollinate the flowers to make fruit.

We need to start working with nature again instead of trying to do things on our own. I know there are some powerful companies that would like to own seeds and the very DNA of life, but this practice needs to stop. So far it has caused a lot trouble for the world. It’s time for us to evolve… By going back to our roots.

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No-Bake Awesome Cookies!

Hi guys! I have a suuuuper E-Z, tummy yummy recipe for you today! It is no-bake vegetarian cocoa cookies… Mmm’M!
I got a pack of ‘Green Banana Flour’ on iHerb. There was really no other flour to choose from, but this was pretty cheap and is really healthy, so I’m glad I got it! It doesn’t need to be cooked, either.

It has a similar recipe to what I made on the back, but I like to substitute oils and sugars for things that are less heavy. It calls for 3TBSP of coconut oil… Very greasy. Sometimes we can substitute milks for oils, and in this case it works. I substituted that for 1 TBSP of soymilk.

Instead of rolling the cookies in coconut flakes, I rolled them in Almond Flour, very easy to find in Japan.

And instead of 3 TBSP of hard-to-find Agave Nectar, I added 1 TBSP of Honey plus a tsp of Stevia, so the calorie content is really low but it doesn’t have that stevia taste.

Here is my recipe. The ingredients don’t have to be precise:

3 TBSP Green Banana Flour (or coconut flour)
3 TBSP Cocoa Powder (unsweetened)
3 TBSP Any Nut Butter
1 TBSP Soymilk or Milk
1 TBSP Honey or a thick Syrup
1 tsp Stevia
Some Almond Flour spread out in a plate
A few Almonds

Mix together everything except the almond flour and the almonds until they stick together, about three minutes.
Wash your hands. Take about a TBSP and roll it in your hands. Squeeze an almond into the top and fit it around it. Roll the cookie in the almond flour. Remove the excess.

Put it on a plate and do the next one. Put them in the fridge for a few hours until they have set. Enjoy!

These are amazing cookies!! They are really filling and sweet but creamy, and they don’t have that much fat in them. They have a lot of fiber and protein. And best of all, they taste incredible!!

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The real Lord of the Flies: what happened when six boys were shipwrecked for 15 months | Books | The Guardian

Perhaps there is truth in the magic of dates. On September 11, 1999 an unimaginable tragedy occurred in New York, as America woke up to the crumbling and enflamed Twin Towers.

On September 11, 1966 on the other hand, a story of warmth and humanity contradicting what has been taught in American High Schools for so long, was happening in Australia. This story reframes humanity and gives hope.

When I was in high school and junior high, almost all of the books we were forced to read were dark accounts of humanity, the evils of society and our world. The Grapes of Wrath, Of Mice and Men, and The Lord of the Flies are titles that everyone recognizes. My fellow students and I all wondered why we were subjected to a deluge of darkness at the dawn of life, and rightly so.

Now I see this wonderful story, the true story of the Lord of the Flies, not written by a bitter drunkard, but by the true history of six boys stranded on a deserted island and how they survived for a year and a half all alone by the goodwill of their hearts, comraderie, and their sheer determination.

I have often thought that literary education stands to change. I believe it is ridiculous that our youth should be subjected to suffer through these books, when much more optimistic ones abound. And clearly, as it is proven here, that dark view of society is simply not the only truth, and certainly not the only one we should be giving our next generation. I call for a cleansing of the shelves, a reevaluation of what is important so that we can envision and create a brighter and more human future.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/may/09/the-real-lord-of-the-flies-what-happened-when-six-boys-were-shipwrecked-for-15-months

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Major companies, permanent work-from-home, and the future of humanity

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/01/major-companies-talking-about-permanent-work-from-home-positions.html

Yes. Let’s fast forward about 10 years. Because there are less people in cities, there is less chance for people to spread disease. Also, with more people in localized areas, local business flourishes again. Small businesses, mom and pop shops, and true pride through craftsmanship are given a new beginning. We also find space (in my wholesome and imagined future) for public edible landscape where everyone can meet their neighbors and chat while picking the red raspberries. Because people can get out more freely, there are more local social networks, and there’s also a deeper relationship with the landscape, as well as the inhabitants of it, the birds, the butterflies, and the bees. We move forward into another, more mature stage of humanity.