Actually, I believe the movie was inspired by the book. There is another good book out there about simpler living called "Back to Basics". It was distributed by Readers Digest back in the early 80s. I have been using this book for ideas, since we moved out to Kansas to a remota area.

I don't think you have to do everything this way in order to live a "simpler" life, though (at least as far as food goes). If you want to break away from eating crap, raise your own chickens. They aren't too hard to take care of. Grow a little garden of the veggies you like. Start it as a project that over time, becomes more robust, so that way you are making progress and you can at least feel good about that.

There are a large number of pheasant farms out here, where the local farmers raise pheasants for hunting. Do you know what that means? We get many occasional stray pheasants hanging around our yard. I have never tried pheasant, but in operations like what exist around here, one can be sure unhealthy pheasants = unhappy pheasant hunters. I hear the meat is pretty good, though, so soon we will be trying it. Also, you can research other types of farms and buy an animal for slaughter. Maybe look up some organic farmers who have he ability to assure you their animals have not had hormone injections for generations...you can find out if they are grass fed or corn fed, too. I am sure there is some sort of organic license or something that is required in order to assure that. Get a friend with the same desire for natural meat and go in half and half on a cow. Get someone to slaughter it for you and store all the meat in a deep freeze. It is surprisingly inexpensive to do this with cattle farms, considering how much you pay for a pound of ground beef here and there. Think about all the money you save, by not going out to eat? You can do this with pork too. If you have a couple of acres, you can raise a cow or 2 of your own. Simpler living doesn't necessarily mean tireless work for the rest of your life. It just depends on what is important to you and how important you feel it is.

Oh yeah, the guy's name is Dick Proenneke. I just looked it up. :D

I think you need to brush up on your physics. Pendulums work because the only force on them is gravity. If you motorized them, they'd go faster, and a stronger motor would move them faster. Likewise, a stronger person can swing a hammer faster and harder.

I haven't seen that documentary, so I can't speak to that specific instance, though.

Maybe I need to post that in the ignorance thread.

All those old home movies look fast. Anyway, the impressive thing wasn't how fast he built the stuff, it was the ingenuity and planning that was cool. I don't want to watch the whole process of building anything. He can plane one log and I get the picture. I don't need to see all 70 of them planed.

I wanted more wildlife scenes, though. The one of the moose with the black flies attacking it is the only one that jumps to mind.

Um, and KFC is um, yeah. Back to that.

In honor of this thread, I ate KFC last night for dinner (after a leisurely 45-mile bike ride).

I actually wanted to go to Popeye's, but that was closed, so I had to go to the KFC next door.

I walked inside and a customer is bickering alternately with a cashier and the equally-dumb manager over whether he had already paid for his meal. The guy had a receipt and about $7 in change (out of $20), so I'm not really sure why they were arguing for a good 5-6 minutes.

But then it's my turn to undergo the wrath of the cashier. I order: a three-piece meal with white meat, mashed potatos and gravy, green beans and a medium Pepsi.

I get: two pieces of chicken - a drumstick and a thigh - mashed potatos with no gravy, cole slaw and a medium root beer. Of course I don't know this until I am back in my apartment, but grr, I was angry.

Anyway, just a sidenote.

ain't karma a bitch.

bn, dude. You got the other guy's dinner! :) or :(

Pheasant is excellent, as long as it's prepared right, and that means from right after it's killed until it's cooked. (Don't ask me how, but I have tasted the difference. But I'm sure my hubby knows.)

Just from driving by a Tyson plant in Arkansas, and seeing in the parking lot semi-trucks accidentally running over numerous chickens and hearing that loud POP! made me NOT want to see anymore, and I lost my appetite for chicken.
For a little while.
BTW I skipped the video, I don't care to see a PETA video (or anything from PETA for that matter), but thanks anyway.

Word of warning about travelling about Kansas - when we went from Oklahoma to Colorado, - by way of Dodge City - somewhere in Southeastern Kansas, we encountered a strong ammonnia smell, and a few miles later, another very unpleasant odor began mixing in too. A few miles later, after repeatedly reassuring children that nobody had gas or had had a terrible accident, we saw a sign that said "Senic Overlook Ahead". There's a few nice places to pull off of the road to take pictures of, appreciate, and enjoy a huge horribly vile smelling, did I mention huge - massively huge? cattle feedlot. I've seen "scenic views" of beautiful places in Arkansas, Missouri, Colorado, Alaska, Hawaii, New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma (can't think of any in Iowa), but is this scenic to anyone??!! Sure, it's probably quite a sight to some folks who've never been exposed to anything like that, but I still think a sign reading "Stench Site" would've been more appropriate!

Yes, BH, I know about that feedlot. It is on the other side of the state from me. I am on the southwestern side. I believe that feedlot is in a valley and it is notorious for smelling really bad. We have feedlots around here, but the land is very flat and we don't get much of the smell at all.

I am starting to lose my appetite for chicken...at least that prepackaged stuff in the plastic, anyway. Blech. Beef can be bad, too, but at least I get to see how they are raised and I don't see the same gross inhumane treatment (at least not yet). :eyebrow:

OK, I've been lurking for awhile. I figured now is as good a time as any to butt in, so here goes...

Not to give you a hard time or anything, but aren't we responsible for our own actions? No matter what the guy videotaping was doing, that doesn't give those guys the right to stomp on chickens because it's fun. If someone "eggs you on" (pardon the pun! haha) to rob a bank, should they be held responsible? Of course not. I haven't watched the video and don't want to, but I have a hard time defending anyone who abuses an animal for fun, no matter what the circumstance.

OK, that's my 2 cents...back to lurking! :biggrin:

Welcome. You don't have to go back to lurking. It's kind of like potato chips. You can't post just once ...

Actually it does matter what the videotaper was doing ... if s/he instigated the stomping in any way that person is responsible for it. Yes, the one who plans the bank robbery is as responsible as those who carry it out.

Thank for the welcome, Wolf! I appreciate it! :) I've even figured out the smileys already!

I still don't think I can agree with you on this, though. Unless somebody's holding a gun to my head, I'm not going to stomp on a chicken, rob a bank or whatever. Maybe some people are more easily led astray than others, but that's their problem. It all comes down to personal responsiblity, which it seems like there's too little emphasis on these days.

Indeed it is, but under that principle, the instigator is as responsible as the perpetrator.

That's all I'se sayin'.

Yes, many people have been charged with "conspiracy to commit a crime" after "convincing" or coaching somebody else to do the dirty work. And the phrase "unlawful entrapment" (I think) comes to mind.....