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staying alive

On Grannie Dumping

Ubasute is a Japanese myth which roughly translates as Grannie Dumping. Should a matriarch inconveniently reach the age of 70, it would be the duty of her eldest son to carry her on his back up to the top of Mount Naruyama and leave her there to die. In modern day rural Scotland the more conventional method of ubasute is to let the social services find a bed in the local care home. I dumped mine there just over a year ago.

can you hear the crane call?

Rock. Paper. Scissors. What if we woke each morning and made ourselves a paper crane? Surely there is much more to lose than there is to not gain. This is not a child’s pastime, nor is it a game. White Light. Black Rain. Fires Burn. Tides Turn. Disease. Unease. Virus gone Viral. It all comes down to a life of survival. Someone... someone...

On vegans and cats

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Is it ethical for vegans to own cats? I gave up meat before I got the cats, and I'm trying to give up dairy too. BUT how can I say "I'm doing this for the animals" when I feed them processed chunks of COW? When did CATS start eating beef!?!? I've heard some vegans say it's OK to eat roadkill. Maybe I could freeze this rat for when times get tough?

... and aftershocks

How many suicides since the explosion?

Is it better to have been swallowed whole in a wave of mythic proportions than die a slow and soulless death in temporary accommodation?

Are we any wiser for our advances in emergency relief?

Science has made us arrogant.

My mind goes round in circles with circular thoughts.