Google Public DNS

I am a big proponent of not using your ISP's DNS services, since they are often much slower than alternative such as Open DNS. Well, Google has just launched a public DNS. Word is that it is very fast, but not as fast as Open DNS if you live in the US. It is also not nearly as configurable.

While I may use Open DNS, for most users (especially international users), Google's solution will likely be the best option. Here is the page for instructions on how to configure your computer or router.

Food, Inc.

I watched Food, Inc several weeks ago, and it has made a big difference in the types of food I have consumed since. I always have tried to eat natural foods when possible, and organic when it is a good deal but after watching this movie I realized it is very difficult to avoid certain things, like corn, especially high fructose corn syrup.

I'm happy to say that in the past two weeks, I have not consume any meat other than fish. I'm not against eating meat, I just don't want to eat corn fed industrial farmed meat. Which does leave me a lot of choices, most notably bison (sometimes called buffalo) a grass fed animal that is mostly carbon neutral.

It is especially disheartening to learn about the big push to silence critics of the food supply, as if this is some type of god we ought to deify, leaving aside the impacts to all of us.

One criticism I have of the "healthy food" movement is the reluctance (or outright opposition to) food irradiation. Food irradiation has the potential to make our food supply much safer and more efficient, whether it be killing salmonella or helping fruit stay fresh for much longer without preservatives, and thereby lowering costs for consumers.

I recommend that everyone watch this film, the trailer is below.

Swiss crackdown on minarets

This is practically an "oddly enough" news item: Swiss voters have banned minarets in a referendum.

Switzerland prouds itself as being a direct democracy, wherein the voters are the ultimate decision makers. In this case, they have voted to ban minarets which appear to be pointing tops on mosques. Though I think they may also be on churches. Not sure.

Here is a good article on the pros and cons.

I agree that it would have been easier to have local bans on buildings of certain heights instead of singling out minarets, but the Swiss are known to be somewhat xenophobic at times.