Northern nights

An update is an update, right? I made this mouthwatering champignon soup yesterday, combining four recipes I found on the Internet. I added some parsley oil on top for that little extra taste and decoration. Unfortunately still only in Finnish... Though the Google translation is hilarious!

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I've been a vegetarian for over a year. During the past months, however, I've been giving a lot of thought to my decision and the whole topic of (not) eating meat. There are people who think my zero tolerance is unreasonable and illogical, and some arguments have convinced me that there is indeed some incoherence in my thinking. Therefore, I'm confused. I found a bunch of books on animal rights and ethics and I'm yet to read them, but a course book on environmental philosophy has already given me some food for thought concerning the topic. No matter how I look at it, I can't possibly think that it would be right to kill animals for their meat. There are simply no sound arguments to justify it.

Let me ask you. Is it okay? If you take the poll, please read all the questions before answering. Even if you eat meat, it's possible to think it's actually wrong. Or maybe you're a vegetarian like me, but still think it's okay to eat meat. Even if you think it's okay to eat meat, you may think it's not okay to obtain it by killing animals. And even if you think it's okay to kill animals for meat, you may think it's wrong to raise animals in captivity just so they can be killed for their meat later.

Finally, comments are very welcome. Especially if anyone has anything to say in defence of eating meat.

I need a little help. Inspired by orzel's photography studies, I want to start a small photography project of my own. I am, however, out of fresh ideas for the kind of photography I want to try. Here's where you come in. I'd love it if you could all think of a word, phrase or concept that I can attempt to photograph. It can be anything from a simple noun or verb to a proverb or lyrical line. The point of asking others for suggestions is that my interpretation may be completely different from what you all originally meant, and I want to challenge myself by trying something totally new. I'm going to ask for ideas outside LJ too, and eventually I will compile a list of everyone's suggestions and start working on them as I go. I'm not all that familiar with conceptual photography, so this should be a fun and refreshing experiment. Please comment on this entry with up to three suggestions! :)

I suddenly just want to post something on LJ all the time, where does this instability in posting frequency come from? The above poll is just for fun, as I often find most of the things listed a nuisance. This brings me to skincare, which seems superficial but is actually something I have to think about every single day. I have atopic syndrome and my skin can get very sensitive at times, so I need to be careful when choosing the products I use on it. I'm lazy, but slacking on skincare quickly comes back to bite me in the butt in the form of eczema, a pimple or two or some other annoying problems. Here I've listed my favourite skincare products.

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I haven't posted a poll in ages, so here's one related to chores! Yes, I'm curious, but only because I tend to be really lazy at home myself. :P

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Because we all love 'em! 10 arbitrary summer-related questions.

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Quite often when I read an article on a topic that interests me, I have a very strong opinion about it. On certain news websites there are people who comment with equally strong opinions, and when they clash with mine, fury ensues. It's not that I think everyone should think the way I think. I just think some people are incredibly stupid in how they can think in certain ways. It's usually a matter of ideology and personal ethical values, which explains why these dangerous topics often revolve around things like environmental responsibility, left/right, nutrition and people's right to decide about their lives and bodies (think abortion!).

Today I read an article on low-carb diets. Just an overview of what they generally are and whether they really work better than diets following the public nutritional recommendations. Okay, I was interested, and I really would like to know if the Atkins diet or South Beach are healthy or not. (My personal belief and guess is that they are BULLSHIT.) However what pushed my buttons was the notion that Finns are fatter and fatter because of our consumption of carbohydrates. What an idiotic claim! What do they think we ate before these days? Wouldn't a more likely explanation be, eh, that we consume way more sweets, crisps, sweetened drinks, pastries, sausages and alcohol than we used to? (Maybe not the alcohol...) And even more importantly, the fact that Finns - just like the rest of the Western world - simply don't MOVE enough anymore. How many times have I seen a friend of mine take the car to go to the shop that's a five-minute walk away from her house? It seems to be a general trend. Then there's Internet, which means kids no longer have to walk to the neighbour's door to ask a friend out, and makes communication a lot faster and more effortless in general. And say what you say, I'm sure computers, computer games and video games HAVE affected how kids spend their free time nowadays. Even if they haven't completely stopped doing sports and playing more traditional games, the TV and all the electronics have made their way into children's lives. And you have to take that time from somewhere.

Sometimes the simplest explanation is the right one. Why look for answers in pasta and potatoes when you've shoved your skis, swimming suit and bike in the shed?

"Global warming PSA - time" by Ferdi Rizkiyanto. Can be found here. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.



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I've been itching to do this for ages. Just random questions out of nowhere. I'm interested! 16 questions in total. Quick to answer. Humor me! SORRY, FOR SOME REASON THE POLL ISN'T WORKING!

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And a bonus question for girls, inspired by discussions (i.e. arguments over my several pairs of "useless" shoes) with orzel: