craftsmanship, consumerism, virtue, privilege, and quality

rip planet's children ;_;

I eat a tin of sardines every week, I have cream cheese too, I guess that's about it

if we all switched TO a standard sedan

http://etc.usf.edu/clipart/2100/2112/sedan_1_lg.gif

I guess we are talking about this in a craftsmanship thread because it's pretty convenient to convince yourself that you're doing good for the environment by eating a grass-fed beef burger with artisanal american cheese or locally smoked hickory bacon when really you would do a lot more good for the environment if you refrained from eating that grass-fed beef burger and had a carrot some hipster grew on a rooftop in Brooklyn instead

fwiw there are areas where grass is everywhere and I think a handful of cows grazing over a few square acres really isn't what's blowing the planet's resources. If you're just eating those items, and mostly refraining from meat products otherwise, you're probably fine

yeah but how often does that kind of situation exist irl. are you the guy who butchers the cow?

if so, what kinda axe do you use?

1000s of people with animals in their backyard are unlikely to create the lakes of shit that factory farming tend to produce.

*high fives self for working 'outside chicken' into a serious discussion*

― ASPIE Rocky (dayo), Friday, November 4, 2011 11:44 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

my man

that is true, but I was only talking about GHG. xp

Let's have some good locally-sourced vodka and discuss this into the evening.

1000s of people with animals in their backyard are unlikely to create the lakes of shit that factory farming tend to produce.

that's not because of some inherent flaw that a larger farm has, it's due to the fact that we poorly regulate these things and large farms don't have to pay for their pollution.

but my main point is that if you incorporate every single increase in ghg that comes w/ living somewhere w/ a backyard large enough to sustain you (your commute every day, the path of *every single thing you consume*, etc. etc.) the marginal environmental gain of that chicken in your backyard doesn't seem so impressive anymore. this is different if you're, idk, some old man in the middle of nowhere who leaves his self-sustaining farm once a year. anyway if you already have a backyard then yeah, why not, it's not like what you're doing within that limited context is *bad*, I was mostly talking about the 'let's turn cities into farms' fad.

"yeah, that's true - another tragedy of modern food culture is the expectation that every vegetable/fruit is gonna be in season 365 days a year"

thanks to global warming though you will probably be able to buy canadian pineapples in 20 years or so. brooklyn banana farms! we must have faith in the future.

and hepcats in brooklyn will totally be reviving long-forgotten heirloom banana varieties! the kind you could get before dole came along.

you'll have to dodge all the lunatics wielding artisanal axes during the 130 degree summers, but it will be worth it for that old world banana flavor.

Skot you are a national treat.

i'm kinda freaked by the weather.

was etsy the seventh sign in the bible? did not read too long.

q: does anybody know where I can find a locally hand fermented boombox, I need one for this look I'm putting together

I guess we are talking about this in a craftsmanship thread because it's pretty convenient to convince yourself that you're doing good for the environment by eating a grass-fed beef burger with artisanal american cheese or locally smoked hickory bacon when really you would do a lot more good for the environment if you refrained from eating that grass-fed beef burger and had a carrot some hipster grew on a rooftop in Brooklyn instead

― ASPIE Rocky (dayo), Friday, November 4, 2011 8:39 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Yeah I didn't bring up food in the first place because people think of food choices as an ethical issue I think even more than they do with local artisan axe choices, and there's the whole extra valence of you actually want to be healthy and feel satisfied when you eat. Also eating is required or you die. It feels like a related but distinct issue to me.

For my own part I forget to eat all the time and never know what to eat and then I get grouchy. I also like going out to nice restaurants and eating animals.

dayo otm all over this thread

meat is so delicious, think it might get better the further it travels

that's not because of some inherent flaw that a larger farm has, it's due to the fact that we poorly regulate these things and large farms don't have to pay for their pollution.

WE HAVE A WINNER

Or more accurately, they only get slapped with a large fine when they fuck up so badly that they kill entire creeks/rivers.

dayo somewhat otm, but the "everyone stops eating meat and the system is fixed" solution is so obvious and irrelevant to what will ever happen in most countries that currently eat meat, let alone the US. Getting people to eat a lot less beef, more sustainably farmed chicken & some pork, and getting this whole fish mess sorted is going to knock out a good third of the prob

the glut of awful, pointless "white whiskies" that you can get now

whatever the fuck this is referring to it made me very glad I live far away from the Big City

The fifteen minute designer "moonshine" fad.

I think I missed my chance to make a mint on designer Mason jars.

this is my answer to everything but we should just make meat really expensive. and if all environmental costs were accounted for it already would be. we don't have to force people to be vegetarians and the idea that that could happen worldwide in the next 100 years is pretty lol. we just need mcdonalds hamburgers to be $20. voila. xp

Probably someone should post that times article about the death of authentic unique specialness or w/e

this is my answer to everything but we should just make meat really expensive. and if all environmental costs were accounted for it already would be. we don't have to force people to be vegetarians and the idea that that could happen worldwide in the next 100 years is pretty lol. we just need mcdonalds hamburgers to be $20. voila. xp

― iatee, Friday, November 4, 2011 11:18 PM Bookmark

Well we could start by not subsidizing corn, which is a lot of the feed for that hamburger.

btw those extinct bananas scott refers to make me get all misty-eyed, I will pay top dollar for artisanal banana

xp oh lol moonshine, yes I've seen the designer moonshine and had a lol from that

I said this on another thread, but I get annoyed with stuff where the handcraftedness is marketed as novel when it really isn't, like "Hey, let's take something ordinary like ICE CREAM but make an HIGH QUALITY VERSION with GOOD DAIRY" um that already exists and costs like half as much as your version of it.

sometimes they make weird flavors I guess

that's true. I was pretty ecstatic from momofuku's cerealmilk ice cream tbh

The Haagen Dazs (so authentic it has a made up ethnic-looking name!) "five" series is pretty good and about as mainstream commercial as it gets

They really need to bring back their green tea one

never mind, their website claims that this flavor is still made!

bbl, off to the grocer

the glut of awful, pointless "white whiskies" that you can get now

whatever the fuck this is referring to it made me very glad I live far away from the Big City

― pathos of the unwarranted encore (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Friday, November 4, 2011 11:15 PM (44 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

http://deathsdoorspirits.com/pages/spirits/spirits.php
http://www.bullyboydistillers.com/bully-boy-whiskey.html
http://highwest.com/index.php/spirits/high-west-silver-whiskey-western-oat

It’s akin to vodka, but with bolder flavor notes.

looooooooooolllll

Buffalo Trace has one too, iirc

It's basically whiskey before it's been put in a barrel. Some places put it in a barrel overnight so it counts as "whiskey" since there's some minimum requirement for that nomenclature.

noun, noun, noun, noun, and adjective

what's really regrettable is that the notion that beef = the best of the meats is entering the mindspace of countries where culturally that was never the case (like china)

Another problem I have with the "local grass-fed beef" thing is just that it feeds into this notion that we can have whatever we want ethically and sustainably. Some of it is so indulgent -- borderline gluttonous -- and it's like the ethical trappings just excuse that.

Not one mention of vinyl yet in this thread?

i thought the local grass-fed beef thing was less about ethics/sustainability and more about taste/quality. at least i think thats where it originated...

Yeah, and it sets up beef as a luxury/premium good, which I think is fine in the mid term. If the only beef you eat is this premium grass fed stuff, then you're probably only having it once in a while. Eating Hamburger Helper daily as your staple is going to burn through more beef total, right?

(also a health thing, i.e., grass-fed beef doesnt have mad cow disease)

male model/knife-maker in today's times:

http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/03/timely-christopher-harth/

CHRIS HARTH IS A NATIVE MINNESOTAN LIVING IN BROOKLYN. HE'S MAKING HAND CRAFTED KNIVES, END GRAIN CUTTING BOARDS AND HARDWOOD CHARCOAL UNDER THE NAME NY CUTLERY. ALL HIS MATERIALS ARE RECLAIMED, THE METAL COMES FROM USED SAW MILL BLADES AND THE HANDLES ARE HARDWOOD SCRAP FROM A FURNITURE MAKERS BIN. HE IS ALSO MAKING CHARCOAL THAT COMES FROM (GLUE FREE) OAK SCRAP. THIS STUFF BURNS HOT AND FAST, THE KIND YOU WANT TO COOK YOUR DRY AGED RIBEYE OVER. ALL GOOD STUFF.

http://www.thewilliambrownproject.com/2011/04/ny-cutlerybrooklyn-ny.html

A sharp education
Everyday I spend working on knives I learn more about being a craftsman. There are tips and tricks one can learn from reading books or watching instructional videos, but there is something physical and internal that can't be put to words when it comes to an action that needs to be repeated thousands of times over to create just one knife. The profiling of a blade, the grind geometry of the cutting edge, the shaping of the handle, the polishing of the steel... it is all meditative and soothing to me on the physical level. My hands, wrists, arms, shoulders, and hips all play a part in the subtle dance that I am refining as I improve my technique at the work bench.

Yesterday I was graced with a visit from Matthew Hranek, the man behind The William Brown Project. He heard about my knives, cutting boards and hardwood charcoal from a mutual friend, Michael Rudin, who spent a lively afternoon enjoying bourbon and venison in my backyard a couple of weeks ago. Matt is one of those fellows that has seen his share of the world and has taken the time to edit his experiences into a lifestyle that is quite admirable. He procures his own wild fish and game, raises heritage breed pigs, frequents flea markets near and far in search of the curiosities that spark his interest, and makes wonderful photos to share on his blog from the experiences.

Matt arrived in the early afternoon while I was profiling a Bowie knife for Miss Amber Doyle of Doyle Mueser. Sparks were flying and I had on my leather apron and goggles. We chatted about our common interests and mutual friend, Michael. It turns out that they traveled to a little fish shack called Lou's a few miles up the shore of Lake Superior from where I grew up in Duluth, MN to photograph the operation. It's a big-small world as I often say. If you find yourself on Scenic Highway 61 make a stop at the smokehouse and get a nice fillet of smoked whitefish and you will be pleased.

The Bowie knife for Amber Doyle is now on the grind geometry phase. This is where the knife gets the angles and attributes that make it cut the way it was intended - both ways, as David Bowie would tell you himself. I am about to start my delicate dance with the knife again today. This is the most critical phase of the process which will dictate whether or not this knife is a success as a user tool. I never thought that the process would feel so rhythmic, and from the perspective of the casual observer it may seem brutal and dangerous, but through my hands, shoulders and hips I sway ever so gently as the steel grinds away revealing a tool that is functional. This is indeed a SLOW dance.

http://www.notquitenigella.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/jpeterman.jpg

He seems to like his job. That's something.

A few days after finishing a foraging knife with a short, curved blade for cutting back toward the thumb, Harth used it himself to gather chanterelles for a delicious ravioli.

looooool the nyt is so trolling us