Possible ≠ Necessary

In this short video interview, novelist Jonathan Safron Foer, author of Eating Animals, talks about food choices while walking through a market in Israel. He is one of the few people I've ever heard raise the argument that just because something is likable or possible, that doesn't mean we should do it. That is, just because meat tastes good is not a reason to kill animals to get it. This is an argument food writer Michael Pollan needs to hear -- he says he eats meat because he likes it.

This argument for self-limiting was voiced in a different context 1,900+ years ago by the apostle Paul: "Everything is permissible—but not everything is beneficial. Everything is permissible—but not everything is constructive" (1 Corinthians 10:23).

Ten Years from Now

I recently read Guitar Lessons: A Life's Journey Turning Passion into Business by Bob Taylor, co-founder of (now) world-famous Taylor Guitars. It's a book of reminisces -- lessons on life and business learned in the process of pursuing a passion. From the age of 17, when he built his first guitar in high school shop class, to being the head of the fastest-growing guitar brand in the world, Taylor learned a lot and recounts most of it in the book.

I thought the next-to-last chapter was the best: "In 10 Years, We'll Be Glad We Did." He cites numerous examples in the history of Taylor Guitars when they struggled mightily to learn or implement something new; when common sense would have said, "This is too hard." Like when they started a new factory in Mexico -- navigating the maze of a different culture's language, legal requirements, work styles, etc., was a nightmare. His stock answer to such difficult situations was, "In ten years, we'll be glad we did." In other words, everything is hard. But if we can get through the start-up phase, it will pay off in the long-run.

He cites an example of when he failed to follow through with that belief: When he and his wife moved into their third (California) home, his wife wanted to plant an avocado tree. Taylor put it off because they take four to five years to bear fruit and he didn't think they'd be there that long. But they ended up staying in that home for 20 years. So they missed out on 15 years of avocados. If he had just planted the tree(s) when they moved in, "In ten years I'd have been glad I did." (my paraphrase)

Taylor likes to say, "It might take ten years, but time goes by whether you do something or not, so why not start?" Ouch -- I can think of many things I wish I had started 10 years ago. Time goes by regardless. It doesn't wait while we procrastinate or "do more research."

The concluding paragraph of the chapter:

Taking that chance, getting started and seeing new plans and projects through is the ony way you will get to the point where you can look back and say you're glad you did. I blew it on the avocado tree. I passed up my opportunity to start. But with Taylor Guitars I jumped in and started the projects that would change our future and I'm glad I did.

Having celebrated my 63rd birthday this week, the book has caused me to think, "When I'm 73, what will I look back to 2011 and wish I had started when I had the chance?"

There are tons of YouTube videos involving Taylor Guitars, of course, but there's a nice promo video for the book at Amazon here.

Virtual Colonoscopy

Wanna' see a squeaky-clean colon? I'll treat you to a look at mine -- at least a digitally re-created version of it, anyway.

In 2005 I decided to have a colonoscopy and investigated "virtual colonoscopy" (v.c.), a technology I had read about. At that time, there was one company that was the leader in the field. and there were hospitals/clinics across the country that had installed their technology for doing v.c.'s. There was one in Greensboro, NC, so I made an appointment and had the procedure done.

Here's the difference between a traditional, invasive colonoscopy and a non-invasive v.c. (both procedures require thorough emptying and cleansing of the colon before the procedure):

Traditional: insert a "snake" with a camera attached into the rectum and thread it through the colon while the doc watches the images returned by the camera on a screen -- looking primarily for pre-cancerous polyps or other abnormalities. If polyps are found, the snake can produce a wire lasso that clips the polyp off the colon wall. Sedation is required meaning a traditional colonoscopy is a tag-team event: you and someone to drive you home.

Virtual colonoscopy: inflate the colon with carbon dioxide gas via the rectum. Lying on a table, you pass through an imaging machine (either CAT or MRI) where 3-D "slices" of the colon are captured and saved to a computer. The computer software then creates a 3-D image of the interior of the entire colon which the doctor can then "fly" through and look at every nook and cranny of the colon wall. The carbon dioxide gas dissipates from the body and you're done. The downside of the v.c. is this: if polyps are discovered, you still have to have a traditional colonoscopy done with the snake, etc., so they can go in and clip the polyps off. Remember that the v.c. is non-invasive, so it can't clip polyps off since it's not actually inside the colon. Knowing that, I took a chance on my colon being in pretty good shape and not having any polyps which turned out to be true.

I didn't choose v.c. for fear of the invasive nature of the traditional method. I just like technology and cutting edge stuff so opted for the v.c. Everything I read about it, and was told pre-op by the clinicians, was that it was virtually "painless" -- just a slight expansion of the diaphragm area as the colon inflates.

That was the understatement of the decade. It turned out to be one of the most uncomfortable experiences of my life -- VERY painful -- and here's what I think happened: I think the technician pumped in WAY more gas to inflate the colon than was needed. I thought I was going to explode. I could hardly even turn myself over on the table to make the second pass through the imager. As much as I don't like to express pain, I was moaning and groaning like a medieval heretic on a rack in the basement of an inquisitor's castle. I spent 20 post-op minutes on the floor of a bathroom waiting to deflate, after which I felt fine.

Time for my next objective: Get the doc to show me my home movie. He was a young internist with sterling credentials and more than happy to show off his high-tech toys. The software had crunched the images together into a movie by the time I was dressed, so we sat down in front of his monitors and watched the fly-through. He commented on what great distention (expansion) I had (that was my first clue that the technician had over-inflated my colon), and said it all looked great -- no polyps or any other problems.

Because the movies were in standard .avi format I asked him if he would burn them to a disc for me that I could keep: "No problem."

There were two different movies on the disc -- the one below is the shorter of the two showing the lower end of the colon (cecum) near where it connects with the small intestine. The other longer movie wouldn't play when I got it home. Apparently there was a glitch when he burned it to the disc. Lucky for you -- you only have to see part of my colon.

Pretty cool, huh? (Remember: these are digitally drawn images, not pictures. There are movies on YouTube of colon interiors taken with the camera used in the traditional method. Needless to say, those movies are a bit, er, messier looking than these.)

Half the People vs. Half the Meals

EdibleManhattan.com has a helpful interview with novelist Jonathan Safran Foer, most recently the author of Eating Animals. Foer is a smart guy—he makes some good points in the interview like distinguishing between half the world becoming vegetarian (not likely) versus half the world's meals being vegetarian (very doable). Good point that I hadn't considered.

Related articles, courtesy of Zemanta:

• Anthony Bourdain Versus Jonathan Safran Foer on Q: Should we eat meat or not?
• Eating Animals, By Jonathan Safran Foer
• "Eating Animals" by Jonathan Safran Foer
• The Author Of "Eating Animals" Reveals That His Dog Is An Omnivore

Animal Rules

The New York Times food "Opinionator" Mark Bittman has a great column about inconsistency when it comes to animal welfare. A pet pig is protected by welfare laws whereas a pig in an industrial food factory is not. Basically, factory food farmers are allowed to define "common use" when it comes to how to treat animals they own. Jonathan Safran Foer said to Bittman that giving the factory food industry the right to define cruelty is like "giving burglars the power to define trespassing." Bittman is not a vegan, but he is sensible and smart when it comes to observing "the system." (And a follow-up column here.)

Tinker Toys in Space

USA Today has a great animated piece on the evolution of the International Space Station since 1998. It reminds me of building with Tinker Toys or Legos -- and it's much larger than I was aware of. Pretty amazing.