Compared to last year with my trip to the fish market, year four was an easy one in my ongoing fish and seafood boycott (http://sumocat.blogspot.com/search/label/fish%20boycott). The past month has been a stronger one for my cause as we've seen illegal whale meat show up in a number of sushi restaurants. The average person may not have a problem with driving our fish supply into oblivion, but few think hunting and eating endangered whales is acceptable practice. Well, one industry affects the other, and there's no question that wiping out the ocean's fish population adversely affects sea animals higher up the food chain. [+/-] Hide/Show Text [+/-] Hide/Show Text
I initiated my 50-year fish boycott (http://sumocat.blogspot.com/2006/04/50-year-fish-boycott.html) in April, my effort to save fish now so I'll have some later. Not sure if this latest report on fish depletion means I started just in time or not soon enough.
['Only 50 years left' for sea fish (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6108414.stm) By Richard Black Environment correspondent, BBC News website
There will be virtually nothing left to fish from the seas by the middle of the century if current trends continue, according to a major scientific study.
Stocks have collapsed in nearly one-third of sea fisheries, and the rate of decline is accelerating.]
No, I don't know why the topic of fish (http://sumocat.blogspot.com/search?q=fish) keeps coming up. I'm weird, okay? Deal with it.
Anyway. Microsoft has released a new "Touch Pack" for Windows 7 (http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windows7/archive/2009/05/27/introducing-the-microsoft-touch-pack-for-windows-7.aspx), which my GBM homey Rob Bushway has demo'd at GottaBeMobile (http://www.gottabemobile.com/2009/05/27/gbm-inkshow-microsoft-touch-pack-for-windows-7/). Lot of good stuff there, particularly Lagoon, a multi-touch virtual fish pond (http://sumocat.blogspot.com/2008/08/virtual-fish-in-multi-touch-pond.html). Great idea, and not just because I proposed it two years ago (http://www.gottabemobile.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=3049&PN=3). You're welcome. [+/-] Hide/Show Text [+/-] Hide/Show Text
Closing out year three of my fifty year fish boycott (http://sumocat.blogspot.com/search/label/fish%20boycott) and not without temptation, coincidentally involving my mother yet again.
At the Maine Avenue Fish Market (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maine_Avenue_Fish_Market), I fought off the urge to bite into a lobster with a meal of faux eel and squid. I admit it was tough, but I stuck it out. Only 47 more years to go. [+/-] Hide/Show Text [+/-] Hide/Show Text
Another year logged in my 50-year fish boycott
It may look like this photo of me eating tater tots with chopsticks has nothing to do with anything, but it shows me enjoying brunch at a sushi joint in DC called Sticky Rice (http://www.stickyricedc.com/) where I enjoyed some vegan dishes to celebrate another year in my 50-year fish boycott (http://sumocat.blogspot.com/search/label/fish%20boycott). Yum! [+/-] Hide/Show Text [+/-] Hide/Show Text
Little move than a year ago Microsoft announced their table computer called Surface sporting multi-touch screen operation. Great technology, but I thought the initially proposed applications were unimaginative. I was challenged to think up something better. I imagined a virtual fish pond (http://www.gottabemobile.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=3049&PN=3).
Pet the fish, push them around, ripple the water, feed them jalapeno poppers. Aside from the poppers, The Blimp Pilots (http://theblimppilots.com/The_Blimp_Pilots/Koi_Pond.html) made that idea a reality with Koi Pond (http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=286420263&mt=8)... for the iPhone.
Naturally, I had to download it, and except for the lack of commercials, it's exactly what I envisioned. Oh, and it's also the #1 paid app in the App Store. So what I thought would be a killer app for Microsoft Surface has arrived as a killer app for Apple's iPhone. That's weird, right? I should start a blog category called "Great minds think alike". (http://sumocat.blogspot.com/search/label/Great%20minds%20think%20alike) [+/-] Hide/Show Text [+/-] Hide/Show Text
Despite plenty of delicious looking and discounted temptation, I managed to log another year on my 50-year fish boycott (http://sumocat.blogspot.com/search/label/fish%20boycott). Helped that there was less of me to be tempted this year since going vegan. Haven't even had to resort to the fake stuff in a while. [+/-] Hide/Show Text [+/-] Hide/Show Text
Yep, it's been two years since I cut aquatic animals from my diet (http://sumocat.blogspot.com/search/label/fish%20boycott) in order to save up my Karma points for retirement when I will eat all the seafood I want. (It's like a 401k for eating fish.) Been easy going until, ironically, this week when I received a bunch of goodies my mom picked up in Japan. Pretty sure I tasted bonito (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonito) in that wasabi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wasabi)furikake (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Furikake). Can't read the label to be sure, but I'm adding a few minutes to the boycott for balance (unless it ends early due to the advent of sustainable, non-polluting, open water aquaculture -- I support high tech solutions). [+/-] Hide/Show Text [+/-] Hide/Show Text
Sated some of my five-year suppressed seafood cravings with faux seafood from the Lotus Vegetarian Restaurant (http://www.lotusvegetarian.com/). Usually I find vege-prawn to be chewy or spongy, but the ones at Lotus have an excellent texture. I also had a breaded piece of "fish". Wonderful meal as usual from Lotus. So nice to have the full menu open to us. [+/-] Hide/Show Text [+/-] Hide/Show Text
Barack Obama (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama) has taken some flak for "refining" his position on the Iraq war. I offer him praise. In my opinion, refinement is a mark of intelligence and open-mindedness.
As demonstrated yesterday (http://sumocat.blogspot.com/2008/07/scribbles-is-3-rambles-is-0.html), I am continuously refining my methods and procedures. From technical stuff like blogging options to lifestyle systems like my fish boycott (http://sumocat.blogspot.com/2008/04/50-year-fish-boycott-two-years-and.html), I am always looking to improve my life now and down the road. That is my philosophy of refinement.
The situation in Iraq is fluid. It requires flexible handling, not the mindless and static policy of throwing move money and manpower at it practiced by the current administration. It is that distinct lack of strategy that I have persistently opposed.
What you see here is the last dish of seafood I will eat for the next fifty years.
I call this my 50-year fish boycott, but really it extends to all seafood. Basically, I'm giving up seafood for the next fifty years, so that the chunk of the ocean population I would normally be killing will have a chance to replenish itself so that I can enjoy seafood after I retire.
Think of it as an investment in which I build up seafood credit to be spent later, either by myself or my offspring. Not only do I want to enjoy seafood in the future, but I would like my kids to have the opportunity as well.
More details to come, but I wanted to establish this date, my 31st birthday, as the official start of my boycott, To be clear, I do love seafood and I am not giving it up. Rather, I am hoping my sacrifice now will accrue interest and deliver a hefty reward in the future. The time to preserve our seas is now.
Though I haven't exactly been keeping it a secret, I have refrained, due to my mom wanting to make it a surprise, from coming out and stating I'm back in Hawaii for a week. My last trip was six years ago, documented in my Hawaii Ink series.
So far, I've had breakfast at the beach, encountered a possibly undead fish and eaten a vegan manapua. No shave ice yet, but I have it on the agenda for tomorrow. [+/-] Hide/Show Text [+/-] Hide/Show Text
What you see here is the last dish of seafood I will eat for the next fifty years.
