To answer the question of “What should I eat for dinner?” you must first answer, “What does it mean to suffer?” (This is a joke. Answer it after you eat dinner. You’ll need brain fuel.)
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- [note::"If you wish to meet an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the Universe."]

I’ll debate the ethics of preserving heritage livestock breeds or bringing beings into existence just to kill them down the line, once we stop amputating body parts without anesthesia.
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- [note::Love the phrasing of "amputating body parts without anesthesia" as a reference to what we do to chickens, cows, etc.]

Polls find that most people don’t support factory farms. Everyone likes the idea of treating animals well. Still, 99% of farmed animals live in factory farms. I can talk about grass-fed beef or cage-free chickens but that’s very few of the farmed animals. Buy them carefully or don’t buy them; look, that’s great. But let’s not get distracted from the 99%.
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- [note::So true! "I source my meat ethically" - well, what are you doing about everyone else who doesn't?]

I focus on animals for three reasons:1: There are many more animals involved, and the things that happen to those animals are worse than the things happening to humans. If there’s some industry where humans are regularly subject to surgery without anesthesia or kept in cages or for that matter selectively bred as workers, please let me know.2: Other people are on this — organizing boycotts, working on political improvements for migrant laborers, etc. Fish or shrimp have fewer advocates.3: Agency. I don’t mean to imply that everyone in awful working conditions “can just leave if they want” — it’s not that simple. But disenfranchised people still have voices and can report on their own state of being. A person can choose to opt into some suffering in lieu of a different outcome or for a benefit later, even on the scale of years. Nonhuman animals can’t do either of these. If these systems regularly mistreat the humans who operate them, do you trust them with billions of animals?
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- [note::"If there’s some industry where humans are regularly subject to surgery without anesthesia or kept in cages or for that matter selectively bred as workers, please let me know." - lol
Still, I think it's important to emphasize that factory farming is also a human rights issue, not just an animal rights one (even if 99% of the bad is due to animal exploitation)]

(highlight:: I offer this, my go-to, the easiest cake I know how to make. It’s adapted from the 1997 edition of The Joy of Cooking.
The Only Chocolate Cake
Grease a 9-inch square cake pan. Mix 1 1/2 cups flour, 1 cup sugar, 6 tablespoons cocoa powder, 1 teaspoon baking soda, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. In another bowl, stir 1 cup water, 1/4 cup vegetable oil, 1 tablespoon vinegar, and 2 teaspoons vanilla. Combine and mix until it’s homogeneous, but no longer. Pour into pan. Bake at 350°F for 25-30 minutes, until a toothpick stabbed into the middle of the cake comes out clean.Let it sit for 10 minutes and turn it out of the pan. Once the cake is totally cool, frost it, or for dinner party panache, use a mesh strainer to dust confectioner’s sugar or cocoa powder over the top. Enjoy!)
- No location available
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To answer the question of “What should I eat for dinner?” you must first answer, “What does it mean to suffer?” (This is a joke. Answer it after you eat dinner. You’ll need brain fuel.)
- No location available
-
- [note::"If you wish to meet an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the Universe."]

I’ll debate the ethics of preserving heritage livestock breeds or bringing beings into existence just to kill them down the line, once we stop amputating body parts without anesthesia.
- No location available
-
- [note::Love the phrasing of "amputating body parts without anesthesia" as a reference to what we do to chickens, cows, etc.]

Polls find that most people don’t support factory farms. Everyone likes the idea of treating animals well. Still, 99% of farmed animals live in factory farms. I can talk about grass-fed beef or cage-free chickens but that’s very few of the farmed animals. Buy them carefully or don’t buy them; look, that’s great. But let’s not get distracted from the 99%.
- No location available
-
- [note::So true! "I source my meat ethically" - well, what are you doing about everyone else who doesn't?]

I focus on animals for three reasons:1: There are many more animals involved, and the things that happen to those animals are worse than the things happening to humans. If there’s some industry where humans are regularly subject to surgery without anesthesia or kept in cages or for that matter selectively bred as workers, please let me know.2: Other people are on this — organizing boycotts, working on political improvements for migrant laborers, etc. Fish or shrimp have fewer advocates.3: Agency. I don’t mean to imply that everyone in awful working conditions “can just leave if they want” — it’s not that simple. But disenfranchised people still have voices and can report on their own state of being. A person can choose to opt into some suffering in lieu of a different outcome or for a benefit later, even on the scale of years. Nonhuman animals can’t do either of these. If these systems regularly mistreat the humans who operate them, do you trust them with billions of animals?
- No location available
-
- [note::"If there’s some industry where humans are regularly subject to surgery without anesthesia or kept in cages or for that matter selectively bred as workers, please let me know." - lol
Still, I think it's important to emphasize that factory farming is also a human rights issue, not just an animal rights one (even if 99% of the bad is due to animal exploitation)]

(highlight:: I offer this, my go-to, the easiest cake I know how to make. It’s adapted from the 1997 edition of The Joy of Cooking.
The Only Chocolate Cake
Grease a 9-inch square cake pan. Mix 1 1/2 cups flour, 1 cup sugar, 6 tablespoons cocoa powder, 1 teaspoon baking soda, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. In another bowl, stir 1 cup water, 1/4 cup vegetable oil, 1 tablespoon vinegar, and 2 teaspoons vanilla. Combine and mix until it’s homogeneous, but no longer. Pour into pan. Bake at 350°F for 25-30 minutes, until a toothpick stabbed into the middle of the cake comes out clean.Let it sit for 10 minutes and turn it out of the pan. Once the cake is totally cool, frost it, or for dinner party panache, use a mesh strainer to dust confectioner’s sugar or cocoa powder over the top. Enjoy!)
- No location available
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