Who are/were some aristocrats who did not hunt, may have loved animals or were vegetarians?
I don't know. But I would like to comment anyway.I'm sure the modern age - and we are obliged to distinguish between the modern Western age, the modern Far Eastern age, the modern South American age etc, you get my drift: cultures and social values around the world are quite different so there is not a 'modern age as such - is not the only age to do so, but the modern Western age, for one, has a bad habit of judging previous ages according to modern values. And invariably previous ages are found to be wanting. We assume we have more or less reached the pinnacle of civilisation and that our values are the ones to strive to hold. At best that attitude is naive, at worst downright arrogant.It is a nonsense broadly to judge previous ages and cultures in modern terms, yet consciously or not we do so all the time. So implicit in the question is the assumption that it is 'good' to be vegetarian, not to hunt and love animals. (NB Which animals: malaria virus-bearing mosquitos, hyenas and rats or just the cuddly ones?) So any aristocrat who went against his age and its culture and was a vegetarian non-hunting animal lover was, by definition 'better' than his peers.What would the writer say to the suggestion that in, say, 300 years when our planet is in a far worse state environmentally, those of us who refused to drive a car, use any electricity which was not produced sustainably and refused to use anything made of plastic were regarded as 'better' than the rest of us? The rest of use might regard such a person as being slightly bonkers, yet that seems to me exactly what the questioner is doing.All ages must be judged in their own context. Admittedly there are some values which seem to be eternal - kindness, perhaps - but in some societies even showing compassion was seen as rather eccentric.
What aspect of society scares you the most?
Probably the people.Everybody has a platform but the idiots are the one who are shouting out disproportionately loud and without nuance. The smarter ones reflect that perhaps they don’t know enough to give a view. If you think that, you are exactly the person to give a view. Look into it then give a view! I’m doing it right now, a snapshot view on the question. It’s partly because I’ve thought about things a lot but also due to practising and connecting with people.People will always be the volatile ingredient in society. Your opinion of humanity is based upon the evidence you find compelling. I’m on the fence, trying to help people see things clearly. Anything else that can affect society the most is outside of society. If you factor that in, it’s a case of which you think is most important… that we make certain not to destroy ourselves through nuclear war before we’d be got by climate change.I fear that if we can’t get beyond tribalism towards working out a fair meritocracy with liberal values and which promotes innovation (aim high!) then we’ll not be able to focus on climate change, our next most immediate danger, before it’s too late. Of course, I am too old and my geography isn’t such that I’m likely to ever experience this problem in a big way before I’m dead.
What are your top tips to improve my health starting today?
Couple of things to start with:SleepEnsure you have 7–8 hours of sound sleep and you sleep at the same time everyday (less cheat days for sure).Switch off from the social world - fb,twitter, insta,snapchat and everything along the same lines atleast half an hour before your sleeping time and try and read something or may be write a journal.There should be a gap of atleast 2 hrs between your dinner time and bedtime. Also, coffe or tea before sleeping is a big NO.Water60% of the body is made of water so its essential to stay hydrated all the time.Start your day with 2 glasses of water - place it on your bedside table everynight so that it is the first thing you do after opening your eyes everyday- Trust me for the immediate boost in energy.Ensure you are hydrated at all time - dont mind frequent restroom trips consider it the toxins flushing.Exercise ,walk or YogaTry and walk for atleast 50–60 minutes everyday. This could be the brisk walking after dinner or swift walk everymorning.I highly recommend Yoga but you can always start with walk and running.Eating HabitsI am a vegetarian so all I suggest is have a 5 different color fruit per day scheme where you consume a banana everyday and also apple. You can mix and match the rest.Replace your morning cerials with Oats and you will see great difference.These are some basic ones to start with however there are many other simple changes that you can adapt for a healthy living.I had severe PCOS a couple of years back and one issue lead to another making my health and life miserable. All I did was made some major lifestyle changes and here I am today writing this post:) I havent had a single medicine in more than 9 years now and life is healthy , happy and I am thankful for everybit of it.Hope this helps someone out there! Good Luck..Cheers!
What would the effects be to humans if the moon were hit by an asteroid knocking it from its orbit around Earth?
Background: Earth did not always have a moon. An object about the size of Mars, called Theia, collided with Earth about 4.5 billion years ago. Striking at an oblique angle, it raised a cloud of debris to form the Moon, which was approximately 100 million years later. This had profound effects on Earth. Earth and its newly formed moon exerted a gravitational force on each other, slowing the rotation of Earth and lengthening the Earth day from 5 hours to 24. Initially, the Moon was considered to be approximately at a distance of 12,000 km from the Earth, causing larger tides than we experience today. Those tides that are thought to have been important in mixing the oceans and in the early evolution of life, some 3.8 billion years ago. Here we know that the Moon played an important part in the evolution of life. The lunar tides that cause the large tides forced migration, thus resulting in speciation. What if we never had a Moon?It is believed that some sort of life would probably exist on Earth, but humans almost certainly wouldn't. And if the Moon had never formed, Earth would be a different place. An Earth day would be only 8-10 h long, with no moon to slow it down. The faster rotation would cause winds of 160-200 km to sweep Earth’s surface. The tilt axis of Earth would wobble, resulting in dramatic changes in temperature over thousands to millions of years. And although our seas would still be tidal, the tides would be much smaller, caused only by the Sun.What if we suddenly lose the Moon?Without the Moon, the stability of Earth’s axis would be lost again, and with it, our predictable temperatures. As the temperatures changed, Earth would lose its reliably cold regions: the poles, which contain huge amounts of ice. This ice would melt and the oceans would rise, changing the coastlines all around the world. With the lack of stability in Earth’s tilt, we would also lose our regular seasons, with far-reaching consequences. Changes in temperature would affect the growing season and climate for plants, making food production for the billions of people on Earth more complex. This however will take several (say hundreds) of years to, possibly, wipe out the population.Other possible effects:No eclipsesSmaller tides, caused by the SunShorter days (more days in a year)
How do I expand my food preferences?
I’ve dealt with many picky eaters over the years, both children and adults, and introduced many new foods to them. What I strongly suggest is to go to an ethnic buffet with a knowledgeable person who is willing to patiently walk you through things, and explain what each item is. The advantage here is that there will be dozens of new foods, and no commitment whatsoever. You can take one tablespoon of each new food and simply taste it. If you like it, go back for more, if you don’t, no great loss. After you’re done sampling, you can surely find something to fill you up even if it’s just the salad bar and ice cream. Try to get to at least a Chinese/Asian buffet and an Indian buffet.
What do you think of Thai food?
Every morning, I sit in my office drinking coffee and peruse the news. The Office is surrounded by rice fields and a Thai tropical forest. You see, Thailand has been my home since ’99. But sometimes too much of a good thing can be too much of a good thing.Very seldom do I eat Thai food anymore. Oh, I still eat the occasional bowl of noodles with my wife or the less frequent rice dish when dining out with friends, but the truth is I am tired of Thai food. Please, no more rice and noodles. I don’t care for any more rice with meat, rice with vegetables or rice with meat and vegetables.When we travel throughout Thailand we always have to stop and sample one of the local noodle stalls. The best in Thailand the vendors will say. Hamburger joints in America also say the same thing about their sandwiches. They all can’t be telling the truth.My Thai wife says that Thai food is healthy. And it is. She also says it tastes good. Which it does. She also says Thai food is cheap. It is. However, I would soon grow tired of eating pizza, tacos or hamburgers every day, so I try to have a variety of dishes in my diet. Even vegetarian. But please, no more Thai food.She also says that I am weird…
What food is low glycemic, and how do I follow a low-glycemic diet to delay type 2 diabetes?
Some of the general food items that are more lower in the glycemic index are: just about all green leafy vegetables, lentils, asparagus, chickpeas, cauliflower, sweet potatoes, seeds as sesame and fax, legumes, oatmealpeanuts and other nuts, reduced-fat yogurt and skim milk.Conversely avoid these high-glycemic foods as they always cause a spike in blood sugar which in turn increases the amount of insulin your pancreas cranks out. These foods are foods to severely limit in your diet.The range of high glycemic index foods are concentrated sweets- all of them, rice, white potatoes in all forms (I am looking at you, French Fry), flour, bread= all forms of this including doughnuts, crackers cookies and tortillas too, all breakfast cereals- (besides their sugar content), raisins, grapes, cherries and watermelon.If you can do that, you will have the best chance.