https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjymJGAPFQ4
NOTE: this blog will not be updated for many months, as I will be living in China. You can find me via Patreon in 2016–2017: http://patreon.com/a_bas_le_ciel
H.M.U.
Sunday 22 May 2016
What I Value About Chinese Culture.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjymJGAPFQ4
NOTE: this blog will not be updated for many months, as I will be living in China. You can find me via Patreon in 2016–2017: http://patreon.com/a_bas_le_ciel
H.M.U.
My Daughter & My Divorce, 2016.
On youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3la7XP8viw
Audio-only, on archive: https://archive.org/details/my-daughter-and-divorce-2016-reflections
Patreon Channel Opened / Announcement
On youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyVfuA9t7vE
And, of course, on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/a_bas_le_ciel
Thursday 12 May 2016
Vivisection, a Letter to E.M.
Below is an anonymous letter received from a biologist, quoted and discussed on my youtube channel.
Hi Eisel
I’ve thought about mailing you for a while and have never got around to it, but your recent video ‘Vivisection: the next 10 years…’ made me think of a couple of points I’d like to share with you.
I’m a recent graduate, working in a comparative immunology lab, and about to start a PhD in global health at a major UK university. I’ve been vegan for just over a year and was vegetarian before that. A few years ago, I went on a 4 day training programme on murine/mouse experimentation, and it was about this time I went vegetarian. The guy doing the training was vastly experienced in animal research, having worked on everything from rats to pigs to dogs, and spent the 4 days delivering material on anaesthesia, minor surgery, euthanasia, animal behaviour etc. Although he had not trained formally as a biologist (i.e. started out as a young animal technician and worked his way up), I was amazed at how much he knew about animals. On the first day, he gave an introductory talk that touched on perspectives regarding animal research, and to my surprise, he actually touched on the hypocrisy of meat eaters who are against animal research (I’ve attached the graphic he used in his presentation, which shows the magnitude of animals killed for food vs. animals killed by cats vs. animals killed for research). This really made me think deeply about my carnivorous diet, and shortly after I came home, I went vegetarian. Although it was a while before I went vegan, I’m still grateful to this guy for making me realise, whether he meant to or not, that I could no longer justify by decision to eat meat.
Saturday 30 April 2016
Talking About Veganism on Youtube (with Cheetah)
Thursday 21 April 2016
The Agony of Activism: talking to Zahria 269
An hour and 30 minutes long, on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ne6BMFTjZ44
The conversation is also available as an audio-only (podcast) MP3 for download: https://archive.org/details/Zahria269-interview-Eisel-Mazard-2016
Vegans: skepticism, dogma, democracy & paradox.
If found this one is difficult to summarize, and difficult to put a title to. Veganism, like democracy, is imperfect, and susceptible to criticism; but that makes it all-the-more-important, and makes it important that we (i.e., vegans) don't preach it as a religion (to be believed in), but instead explain it, while being honest about its limitations and flaws. On Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4z6PKSYrjE
The Appeal to Nature Fallacy
This video addresses several logical fallacies, all over-used within the vegan-demimonde, some overused by the world at large: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTfayLc4o7U
Is Ethical Veganism Reasonable? Sustainable? Oppressive?
This is actually a response to an ex-Vegan's critique/rationale: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHKc2fXHadg
Friday 15 April 2016
尼港事件: an Essay on the Nikolaevsk Massacre, 1920
A fascinating and horrifying event in the world's history, transpiring where the borders of Russia, China and Japan overlap, and involving all three: https://medium.com/@eiselmazard/1920-the-other-russo-japanese-war-70deb2972c42
Thursday 14 April 2016
Talking to the Vegan Cheetah (Video and/or Podcast)
Over one hour long (there's a link to the audio-only version, downloadable as an MP3/podcast, below the video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yP1nkuON9NY
Goals in Life OTHER THAN Vanity & Issues OTHER THAN Veganism
Goals in Life OTHER THAN Vanity: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ml5zqRTZmkk
Vegans on Issues OTHER THAN Veganism: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEaM8UEf9jM
Why Do I Study Languages?
On Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8m01_AMjZI
Friday 1 April 2016
Sunday 27 March 2016
Talking to Jason Pizzino on Thailand, Life & Politics
Also available as an audio-only MP3 (not quite "a podcast"): https://archive.org/details/Eisel-Jason-and-Henya-2016
Saturday 26 March 2016
Ethics, Vegans and Various Questions of Good and Evil.
Ethics: Vegans, Vasectomies, Flexitarians… questions of good and evil (on Youtube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhKiQ_E7dik
Thursday 24 March 2016
Interview vs. "The Violent Vegan"
On Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Nkdq6T8IRE
ALSO AVAILABLE AS A PODCAST (audio-only MP3): https://archive.org/details/Eisel-Mazard-2016-Interview
ALSO AVAILABLE AS A PODCAST (audio-only MP3): https://archive.org/details/Eisel-Mazard-2016-Interview
Monday 21 March 2016
"Being a Nice Guy" vs. The Vegan Jerk
The minor agonies of the whole man-of-principle thing (and refusing to wear wool suits), in an era when being an uncompromising character is considered a bad thing. On Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCIn_Xs-VLI
On Freelee's Credentials (or Lack Thereof)
Freelee's Credentials: Half-Truths & Pseudoscience. This one actually contains quite a few digressions (with all due humility) on my own credentials, and on the struggle to make it clear (in newspaper interviews, job interviews, etc.) what exactly your credentials are (and aren't). On Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNzElhpjgjQ
Sunday 20 March 2016
Beauty is Meaningless.
I somehow managed to include the word "atavistic", in these reflections. ;-)
Friday 18 March 2016
Air Pollution, Catching Up With Kunming
However, you'll notice that Kunming is actually less polluted than many of the surrounding cities, at least at this moment in time. Remarkably, air-pollution in 西雙版納, 德宏, and many other (small) cities has caught up with Kunming, and has even exceeded it.
I wonder if Kunming has upgraded its power-plants to take some measures to ameliorate air-pollution that haven't yet reached the smaller cities. Those smaller cities are often presented to tourists as offering cleaner air than the regional capital; but, at least for the moment, that seems to be untrue.
