text:
Which is more valuable: diamonds or water? It's clear to me. Water is the perfect product. It is endlessly useful, cheap, simple, ubiquitous, and beautiful. Water is essential to all forms of life and is used in every industry, not to mention its calming presence. As our species continues to shape the planet I find it increasingly important that we take pains to conserve the purity of this critical chemical. This is why, when my friend George McGraw of digdeepwater.org invited me to take the 4 Liter challenge I jumped at the chance.
The rules are simple. Do not use more than 4 liters of water per day. I also decided to track 'virtual' water usage. That is, be mindful of the water used to produce a good that is used, in addition to water used directly. Given that a single toilet flush takes over 6L of water, and the cotton in a pair of jeans takes about 7000L to grow, some changes to my life were clearly in order.
I awake the morning of the challenge and throw off my cotton sheets with disgust. From this moment on every drop counts. I brush my teeth without water and put on dry deodorant. Relieving myself in the toilet is not an option. For a moment I consider following Clinton's advice: "if it's yellow let it mellow", but decide to go full Bukowski instead: "sometimes you just have to piss in the sink". Could we engineer more efficient kidneys?
For number two I had to plan in advance. Inadequate sanitation is an enormous quality of life problem globally. The most popular toilet in the world is no toilet at all as 4 in 10 people in the world defecate in the open. Flush toilets use enormous quantities of water so I needed a way to make it unnecessary.
Feces are almost entirely deceased gut bacteria and water. I massacred my gut bacteria the day before by consuming a DIY Soylent version with no fiber and taking 500mg of Rifaximin, an antibiotic with poor bioavailability, meaning it stays in your gut and kills bacteria. Soylent's microbiome consultant advised that this is a terrible idea so I do not recommend it. However, it worked. Throughout the challenge I did not defecate.
In lieu of showering I sprayed myself with AOBiome's custom skin bacteria blend. Body odor is caused by the emissions of proliferating skin bacteria, as unique as a fingerprint. The Nitrosomonas eutropha taking over my skin now metabolizes ammonia into odorless nitrite and nitric oxide. Success! I wish I had a strain that excreted lipases, as my hair was still greasy.
Direct water usage: 0L
Virtual water usage: 0L
My standard outfit is mostly cotton, which takes 20,000L of water per kg so I had to improvise. I did some research and settled on Nomex, a meta-aramid invented by DuPont in the 1960's. Nomex is a fantastic material used in applications as diverse as circuit boards, loudspeakers, and clothing. Made via condensation from m-phenylenediamine and isophthaloyl chloride, its production uses no water. I found a Nomex flight suit on Alibaba and added a "Soylent" patch. I love it. It's cheap, simple, comfortable, and fireproof, just in case. I also did no laundry of course, which would have used 170L.
Direct water usage: 0L
Virtual water usage: 0L
There are some species that never drink water. They obtain it from the food they eat, or synthesize it biochemically. Humans only synthesize about 10% of their water needs which means I'll need to drink some. I also need food, the production and distribution of which is the single largest burden on the water system by a mile. Agriculture constitutes 80-90% of the water used in the United States. A mere kg of red meat takes 15,415L of water to produce. I was a little crestfallen to learn that a single cheeseburger can outweigh using a high efficiency toilet for a year.[1][2]
To avoid this issue I consumed nothing but Soylent throughout the challenge. Soylent uses no meat or dairy and only 1.6L of water. To avoid dishes and their subsequent water usage I poured my Soylent one meal at a time in to a polystyrene cup, which takes less than 1L of water to make.[3] Soylent does not contain enough water in itself so I begrudgingly drank an additional 400ml of tap water.
If there's anything as amazing as water it's petroleum. My clothing and dishes take less water to make than they do to clean.
Dying to know the virtual water footprint of Soylent, we contracted an analyst at a Chicago think tank to run a study on the product. The complicated formula and numerous sources, as well as proprietary manufacturing and process information made this difficult and a bit imprecise. However, there was enough published data to end up with a conservative estimate. Rice protein was the biggest issue, given that rice is relatively water intensive to grow and is only about 10% protein by mass. Our rice processor claims they have a 0 carbon footprint and reclaim much of the water used but I couldn't get many specifics. Not accounting for this we still ended up at 2030L per day of Soylent, which is about 50% of the virtual water footprint of the standard american diet (SAD), 4000L. Not bad. I bet we could lower it though.
Complete analysis here (criticism encouraged): https://s3.amazonaws.com/robrhinehart.com/soylent-water-footprint.xlsx
Final tally:
Direct water usage: 2L
Virtual water usage: 2031L
US Average:
Direct water usage: 1135L[4]
Virtual water usage: 7570L[5]
Water is the most popular beverage in the world, and still 20% of us are living without enough even to drink[6]. Our foods, our bodies, and our planet are mostly water, and yet, we are spoiling and wasting what the cosmos has made[7] at an unsustainable rate. I don't expect anyone to live as I did during the challenge. Even I missed coffee and a hot shower. However, I do think it is important to be mindful of the network effects of one's lifestyle. With water, as with most things, it is better to do more with less.
[1] http://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/farm-practices-management/irrigation-water-use.aspx
[2] http://www.waterfootprint.org/?page=files/Animal-products
[3] http://plasticfoodservicefacts.com/Life-Cycle-Inventory-Foodservice-Products
[4] http://www.epa.gov/watersense/our_water/water_use_today.html
[5] http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/freshwater/change-the-course/water-footprint-calculator/
[6] http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4787758.stm
[7] http://www.nature.com/news/earth-has-water-older-than-the-sun-1.16011
It is possible that a substantial amount of earth's water was synthesized by purple sulfur bacteria in the photosynthetic reaction
This means we could manufacture water out of sunlight, CO2 and flatulence. What if we scaled this up?]]>
It gives me great pleasure to announce the first public release from Soylent X, our research arm focused on "solving the unsolvable". After solving physical health with Soylent, we sought to tackle the elephant in the room of America's healthcare system: mental health. Americans suffer from the highest levels of anxiety in the world. Research shows we're lonely, stressed, overworked, and underpaid. While problematic overall, I find the gist of this trend encouraging. Work is the lifeblood of a thriving economy. Work has given us space shuttles, particle accelerators, and a booming finance industry. Work is the noblest of man's pursuits, and just as violence has declined, economies have grown, and life has lengthened, I believe workdays will continue to get longer.
If only we could relax more efficiently, we could work more, and better, and be happier. Research shows people spend their free time with family or friends, wasting time and money at expensive parties, restaurants, and bars. These same people report relationships as a primary source of stress. Therein lies the problem. People are vexing. You are more likely to be murdered by a lover than a stranger. Gossip is ubiquitous and no one can be trusted. The way we relax is only adding to our anxiety.
The solution? Cats.
Humans are social animals. We need to be needed, yet today demand a high level of convenience, ruling out the emotional distress of dealing with other humans. Originally incorporated in to society as useful vermin hunters, house cats have since been cultivated as baby replacements. It took centuries to domesticate feral cats in to playful, personal felines. To do so we had to rely on primitive techniques such as artificial selection and cross-breeding. New strains have been periodically introduced in order to provide consumers with greater selection, and today genetic engineering and synthetic growth lines allows for greater control, efficiency, and sustainability. This is why we are expanding our business to offer the world's first Genetically Modified Kittens (GMKs).
The timing and the technology are perfectly aligned. The pet industry is growing rapidly, and is divided among thousands of local, independent, brick-and-mortar stores. Cats are the most popular pet in the world. A higher degree of customer service, control, efficiency, and sustainability is poised to disrupt a fragmented, entrenched industry. The explosion in 3D printing and hacking has made it clear that personalization and customization is the future of manufacturing. Furthermore, synthetic biology and tissue engineering technology have not only made the genome rewriteable, but embryos producible without the unpredictability and cost of a natural medium.
Our beautifully well-designed web site offers an intuitive interface to allow customization of nearly every aspect of your feline. You may even code one from scratch if you'd like and upload a CSV of Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs). Options include:
Physical Characteristics
Hair Color
Eye Color
Ear Length
Sanguine <> Truculent
Curious <> Oblivious
Pensive <> Negligent
Progressive <> Conservative
Astute <> Obtuse
For the "kitten connoisseur" our premium service also offers clones of celebrity cats. Note that these remarkably skilled felines, famous in their own right, could be a serious asset and should be seen as an investment.
Grumpy Cat – $15,000
Lil Bub – $50,000
Maru – $100,000
Keyboard Cat – Call for Pricing
Our companion product, "Soylent for Cats" is another innovation and a massive improvement over the status quo of feline nutrition. Perfectly balanced and optimized for the needs of your cat, Soylent for Cats is a genetically engineered mouse which has the precise nutritional balance needed by your cat. It also has no bones.
Soylent for Cats is designed to be completely absorbed by your animal's bloodstream, obviating the need for defecation and smelly litter boxes. Your cat will still pee. More than normal actually. But, thanks to a clever transgenic modification, it will smell like lavender.
Do not feed a natural cat with Soylent for Cats.
Customer service is our top priority for our GMK line. If you are unsatisfied with your kitten for any reason you may ship it back for recycling. GMKs come neutered and immunized, and arrive, beautifully packaged, in a chemical-induced coma. It may be a bit groggy for a few days but don't worry, it will wear off, and testing shows it's adorable to watch them stumble around.
These will be fixed by the final release. I would also like to point out that the controversial paper published recently in Journal of Housecat Toxicology deliberately used the media to sensationalize bad science. The statistical methods were amateur at best and deliberately misleading at worst. The paper has since been removed by the editors. GMKs are completely safe and due to genetic engineering are far healthier and robust than naturally occurring cats, especially when fed exclusively with Soylent for Cats.
Cats are an excellent investment in social capital. Users have reported a 38% increase in social media likes and shares after incorporating cats into statuses and photos. Unlike friends, cats will not talk about themselves, ask you to pick them up from the airport, or analyze your facial expressions. However, they will eat you if you die in their presence.
The despondency industry in America is growing 7% year over year, and has not seen innovation in centuries. It is time for disruption. By providing a superior, customizable product over natural cats at a lower cost, Soylent Corporation is positioned to take a lion's share of a fragmented market. According to our projections, the synthetic companion market segment is due to grow by playful leaps and bounds thanks to innovations in the underlying biotechnology of dependency. The future is meow.
pre-order here]]>
Paying is strange. Consider the following exchange:
Me: Hello unfamiliar person. I would like to give you some fiat currency in exchange for the goods and / or services you provide.
Clerk: Splendid! Let me just whip out this large, obnoxiously bright, unwieldy machine and get the banks involved in our newfound relationship.
Me: That sounds reasonable. Surely Jamie Dimon did not make enough money last fiscal year and deserves a cut of your vanishingly low margin retail business. Please take this cold, hard, magnetized piece of plastic. The design reflects my personality and pecuniary worth.
Clerk: I am obliged to thank you for handing me this trinket. Allow me to swipe it, the same way humans have read information off of cards for decades. You will also be required to sign a piece of paper because I honestly believe you may call your bank and vehemently deny purchasing this cup of black coffee.
Me: Perfectly understandable. I love the feeling of generating potential evidence for a court case every time I want to buy something. I also demand a paper record of this transaction because I do my taxes with a quill pen and slide rule.
Clerk: Yes quite common. Well, have a wonderful day, stranger I have interacted with but not touched. This large, black, computerized point of sale system symbolizes the technology-driven separation that grows between humans even when we interact in pers..
Next Customer: Hello unfamiliar person!
Paying isn't too hard. Swiping plastic takes seconds. It's just too weird. Here I propose the way I would prefer to pay, optimized for low friction and high humanity.
The handshake, like currency, has been around for millennia as a symbol of trust. Unlike currency though, the handshake requires no additional hardware, central banking system, or card. It does not allow for a precise and safe transference of wealth, but it could, with a little help from our friend the bitcoin.
This is an idea I call "platonic payments".
To accept payments you wear a watch, or ideally it is integrated in to an existing watch like the Pebble. To pay you wear a ring, which contains a short-range rewritable RFID tag storing a single bitcoin address. The payee specifies the amount with two dials on the watch, one for dollars, one for cents. Both parties then shake hands, bringing the RFID ring within reading range of the detector, which uses the information to charge the payer's bitcoin wallet. No fees. No slow hardware exchange. No cold plastic or large, expensive POS systems blaring light in an otherwise relaxing environment. I also think service establishments should just charge 20% tip by default.
Bitcoin addresses are nearly infinite and can be created, online or off, and disposed of at will. Thus an NFC chip in a smartphone could passively rewrite the tag with a fresh address every time you pick up your phone. The merchant software, either run on the watch or connected to a smartphone, would request the appropriate amount from the user's bitcoin wallet with the public key. This is not built in to the bitcoin protocol but could be managed by a service like Coinbase, which could then verify the account is valid and securely transfer the private key.
This does face the problem of a change by both parties. However, if it started being built in to smartwatches and all users had to do was buy a cheap, stylish ring that barrier may lower. A payment method that didn't force me to take anything out of my pockets or even carry a wallet, while increasing the humanity of a transaction sounds like a dream come true. I would even get my tag implanted so I wouldn't have to wear the ring.
The other problem is the system still involves trust. Someone could skim your ring, grab the address, and post a request if they got close enough. Since each transaction involves a new address the hacker could only make one request, but it could be big. This could additionally be mitigated by only allowing transactions of a certain size or only keeping a small amount of money in this wallet, making skimming uneconomical.
Alternatively, Coinbase could ask the user to verify the transactions they made after the fact, but this would allow the payer to deny legitimate transactions. And that, is something I would love to test. If you knew you would get away with it, would you rob someone after shaking their hand?]]>
The other day I realized there was something missing in my life, so I set out to find a solution. Online dating is in vogue, which makes sense. The internet already has no small part in satisfying most of my other needs. I was pleased to learn that the latest popular dating app, Tinder, now has an Android client. Besides forcing me to reactivate my Facebook account it seems simple enough. Unfortunately, I quickly realized that this was going to turn in to a massive time sink. Perhaps, I thought, I could optimize it?
I did some simple man in the middle packet sniffing to reverse engineer the Tinder API. It's pretty simple. Send your location, grab a handful of images and user ids, and tell the server which ones you liked. I wrote a minimal python client in Ubuntu and began designing an algorithm to speed up the process a bit. The algorithm first segments the main image by finding all of the faces via OpenCV. If none are found the candidate is discarded. If multiple faces are found the end score will be the average of all of them. This seems to work since people tend to associate with those of similar levels of attractiveness. Facial attractiveness is surprisingly uncomplicated to quantify. Essentially, evolution has us seeking partners that are as "normal" as possible. Anything that is unusually big or small, any ratio that differs from , or about 1.618, hurts the score. After the face(s) are identified in the image, a mask of 25 anthropometric proportion indices is overlaid and mean compliance is measured. This is also done with a custom OpenCV routine.
The client also has messaging capabilities. After a match is identified the algorithm sends a simple message "Can I have a dance?" inspired by Mos Def's success with Ms. Fat Booty. If no response is received the candidate is discarded. If any response is received, it is ignored and a follow up message is sent "Haha okay then how about we go to a fancy seafood restaurant?", inspired by the classic meat-for-sex exchange that is common in the animal kingdom as well as among humans. The client uses NLTK to judge an affirmative or negative response. From here an Odesk virtual assistant coordinates dates. This also handles rescheduling but conflicts are not an issue as you will soon see.
Come date night a Double Robot loaded with over 10 hours of pre-recorded content of me rolls up to a restaurant automatically chosen from Yelp based on reviews, distance, cost, and whether or not another double of me has a date there at the time (awkward). Reservations are made via OpenTable's API. Everything from witty, non-offensive stories to mildly embarrassing personal traits to compliments are recorded. According to the logs candidates are often taken aback at a robot showing up, but a sincere recording complimenting their shoes immediately puts them at ease. Mostly, though, it asks questions and listens. The algorithm aims for a 4:1 ratio of listening to presenting. Based on tone of voice computed by DSP, the system knows which topics to go deeper on and which to avoid, organized in a tree structure in memory. If things are going poorly the emergency "tell me about your cat" routine is run and the microphone is muted to prevent the Speech to Text processor from running useless cycles.
The check is paid via E La Carte and a car is called with Uber's API. If the algorithm has not been meeting its heuristics the candidate is driven home and the robot self-destructs after uploading its data to the cloud so future iterations can learn from its mistakes. If it has been going well an AirBnB room is insta-booked and the Uber drives there. Once in the room a music playlist is algorithmically generated with Spotify and the candidate's musical taste gleaned from their Facebook likes. At this moment an Instacart driver should be arriving with a $10 bottle of wine and fresh strawberries and an Exec delivers a NeuroSky Mindwave 3 and a Vibease Smart Vibrator.
Both devices connect to the Double's iPad via Bluetooth wirelessly and to the female directly. The female's brainwaves are fed in to a Learning Vector Quantization Artificial Neural Network (FABIO). At first FABIO adjusts the parameters of the Vibease mostly at random, but partially based on previous experience. Based on feedback generated by the headset the system learns and adaptively adjusts the output parameters in order to maximize EEG amplitude. Unfortunately, the complex mathematical operations required by FABIO typically exhaust the Double's battery in around 01:57-02:03 minutes, depending on the female. At this point the Double gruffly requests the female retrieve his charger. The robot records the candidate's experience with a Go Pro 3 and securely uploads the video to a private Amazon S3 bucket.
At 09:07 in the morning an Uber is automatically called for the female and 3 days later she will receive a heartfelt e-card / receipt. The algorithm will also wish her happy birthday on Facebook and like the top 20% of her Instagram photos as they are posted and start getting a lot of other likes. This continues until her Facebook relationship status switches away from single.
Ahhh modern romance. Turing would be proud. Unfortunately I haven't found the time to watch any of the videos since I'm too busy optimizing the algorithm.]]>
cross-posted here: http://blog.soylent.me/post/66807143901/this-morning-vices-brian-merchant-published-a in regards to the Vice / Motherboard piece here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8NCigh54jg
This morning, Vice's Brian Merchant published a documentary video and accompanying article that outlined his experience living off Soylent exclusively for thirty days, several months ago. Brian sought to recreate the scrupulous conditions of my initial Soylent test. Though the overall tone of the article was positive and he concluded that Soylent is something he will likely continue to use as a cheap, healthy, and easy staple meal, there were a few points that we feel require clarification. We encourage you to watch the entire video and read the article as well.
Merchant was able to run his 30-day test because of the Soylent Beta program, which consisted of small-batch Soylent production by hand, for limited distribution to friends and family, as well as journalists who expressed an interest in trying out early versions of Soylent. The Beta program was incredibly useful for discovering weaknesses in our workflow. At one point in the video, mold was discovered in one of Brian's bags. This was due to inadequate packaging that we were testing at the time being punctured in shipping, allowing ambient moisture inside. This was one of several important discoveries from the beta program and prompted us to utilize more robust packaging. The beta program, along with our tenancy at the Oakland warehouse, concluded in early October, very soon after the Vice shoot wrapped. Our former landlord has been informed of our issues with the space.
We would also like to emphasize the fact that Soylent 1.0, the product for which we have accepted over $1.5M in preorders, will not be manufactured by hand by our executive team. We have signed a purchase order with RFI Ingredients, a contract manufacturer with over 20 years of experience producing FDA-approved food products. Soylent is designed and regulated as a food, not a supplement. Their safety record is unimpeachable, which is one of the major reasons we chose to partner with them. To learn more about RFI's certifications, please visit http://www.rfiingredients.com/certifications.asp.
We are grateful to be featured in a well-made piece regarding food security, design, and production. If one thing from the video is clear, food and people are always changing. The company and idea has come a long way in a matter of months, and we are devoted to producing the highest quality product possible.]]>
Cross-posted from the Soylent company blog at http://blog.soylent.me/post/64789154918/soylent-funding-announcement
It gives me great pleasure to announce that we have accepted over $1.5 million in seed capital from Andreessen Horowitz, Lerer Ventures, Hydrazine Capital, and Initialized Capital. This is in addition to the now over $1.5 million in pre orders our Crowdhoster campaign has collected since May. We have also not reincorporated since going through Y Combinator meaning Start Fund and the YC partners still own a portion of Soylent.
Like most things in life, I find it preferable to not have more than necessary, and capital is no exception. Given our revenue and vision it certainly would have been possible to raise more, but at this point I am more concerned with the people behind the investment than the money itself, and am very proud to have the support of the people we do. The amount raised was based on our projections and 18 month plan, and should carry us comfortably through the near term of product development, hiring, and the first stages of in house manufacturing, allowing us to lower our costs.
We have also enlisted the help of an illustrious group of advisers, including:
These are humble beginnings for something that is going to be very, very big. Many will dismiss Soylent as a joke, a toy, or judge the book by its cover, but in time people will wonder how we ever got along without engineered foodstuffs.
The first computers could only be used by programmers. The first cars were unusable except by mechanics. Today one practically has to be a nutritionist to manage a balanced diet, and it's just too much work. It should be automated. Billions of people are collecting recipes, buying ingredients, cooking, and cleaning, all in parallel, not for pleasure, but for survival. How wasteful. Imagine chefs soldering their own smartphones or architects knitting their own clothing. Cooking is a pleasant art for some, but it would be better to have an option, without having to compromise one's health or wallet.
Soylent is that option. If you're a food enthusiast you can have a simple healthy meal to hold you over until your next feast. If you're short on time you can fuel your body in seconds. If you're trying to save money Soylent is hands down your cheapest option in terms of nutrition per dollar, and will only get cheaper. Soylent is designed from scratch to be as healthy and sustainable as possible, the most refined food in existence. Though too early to tell what the ideal human diet is, it is certainly possible to engineer something better than what most people are living on.
Health is about balance; moderation. I still enjoy all my favorite foods. In fact, my mostly Soylent lifestyle makes my recreational meals more enjoyable than ever, now that I'm not bombarding my senses with the engineered indulgence of fast food. I hope the very idea encourages one to consider how balanced the typical human diet is and the potential of everyone having the means to eat, and live, well.]]>
This is a response to: http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2013/08/20/soylent/, as well as some of the comments
In 1828, a young organic chemist named Friedrich Wöhler committed heresy. Wöhler accidentally synthesized Urea, a component of many lifeforms, from inorganic components. At the time everyone knew there was a special "life force" that separated organisms from other matter. It was a long uphill battle to convince the scientific community, but eventually the evidence won out. Regardless, even today many laymen tacitly assume that the holistic makeup of lifeforms such as food rise magically above their constituent chemicals.
Everything is made of parts. The idea of holistic food represents the death throes of Vitalism, the fallacious assumption that there is something materially special about forms of life separate from other forms of matter. This is an easy mistake to make. Humans and animals move, breathe, and mate, unlike rocks or soil, but we're all made of the same interchangeable forms of matter and energy. A stone dropped in to a pond will take the shortest path to the bottom. A human will take the shortest route to work, and cling to old ideas. Life is complex, but there is nothing about it that disobeys well understood laws of chemistry and physics. I am not sure if consciousness is reducible, but carrots certainly are.
Creating a lifeform from scratch is an elusive task, and though great strides have been made recently we still have limits in our understanding. However, you do not need to fully understand an organism to feed it. Bacteria grown in labs are always grown on a synthetic medium of nutrients called "LB". Pets live on synthetic diets and are much healthier and long-lived than their wild counterparts. We don't know how proteins fold but we do know all the metabolic pathways of a human, and our complete elemental makeup, thanks to elemental analysis. Even the grand diversity of the human microbiome contains conserved metabolic pathways. We do not yet know what the ideal diet for a human is, but our present understanding permits us to easily design a diet that is far superior to what most people are eating.
Humans have lived on animal flesh and the reproductive organs of plants for a long time, but food has been changing all along. And it still is. The development of agriculture, then preservation, then nutrition, then processing, and now even biotechnology have all vastly improved our food products and lifestyle over their natural forms and immensely increased the carrying capacity of the earth. In fact, the foods we thrive on today are far from natural. How do you think bananas reproduce without seeds? The United States began adding Niacin to bread in 1938, which largely eliminated the deadly disease Pellagra, and iodized salt likely has a lot to do with the steady rise in IQ seen in the last century.
This is not to say that all new foods are healthy. Many food companies design purely for the sensory experience of food, leading to products that are over-stimulating, unbalanced, or even addictive. I am amazed that we have cheap chocolate bars, which would have been a kingly delicacy not long ago, but I think we deserve new healthy options as well.
Now, to respond to Tim's concerns:
Food is not a game – I agree. What food company is more concerned with the nutrition of their product than its sensory appeal? We are more serious about health than any competitor in the industry.
Meal-replacement powders aren't new – Affordable food substitutes are. No MRP has been designed to be a sustainable source of nutrition. Furthermore, in terms of calorie per dollar, we are easily a factor of 5 better than any of them, and will only get cheaper. Competing with groceries is a new market. And it's a big one.
Be careful with any terminology – Soylent is not a medical product and we make no medical claims. It's not a diet or "cleanse" either. It's quantified food. Soylent is healthy food without all the unnecessary parts. I suppose you could live on it entirely, but why would you want to? Leisure food is an important part of life and culture.
Epistemic arrogance – Elemental analysis has given us a finite, complete list of the elements our bodies are made of. This doesn't tell us the different chemical configurations required, such as vitamins, but patients have lived for many years on synthetic diets in a medical setting. It was premature in the 19th century, but it's overdue today. Again, beware of zero-risk bias. How nutritionally complete is the average western diet already?
Nutrition and people are not one-size-fits-all – Our metabolic pathways are largely identical. Everyone makes proteins out of the same Lysine and breaks down glucose polymers with the same enzymes. It's the extra "stuff" in food that gives people problems. By removing that you can have something fit for almost everyone. Still, people need different amounts of calories. Everyone lives on water, just different amounts.
Other common criticisms from the comments,
We don't know what we don't know – Not good enough. Show me some evidence that "food synergy", which sounds suspiciously like a "vital force", is essential to thrive. The evidence to the contrary is mounting rapidly.
Why not just put the work in to eating "real" food? – Your computer is slow? Just be more patient. No. Make it faster. By automating the essentials of living we can enjoy life more. Less cooking and cleaning means more math and music.
I like Soylent. I use it all the time. My life is simpler, cleaner. My thoughts are clearer, my body leaner. I still enjoy my favorite foods, though my tastes have changed somewhat towards nicer, more flavorful kinds. I find eating is a lot more fun when it's optional, similar to taking a road trip versus driving to work.
I do not understand the negativity surrounding Soylent. Perhaps some people confuse matters of taste with matters of morality. Some have their cooking and eating habits and seem to be offended that mine are different. I do not think it is unreasonable to desire to eat on my own terms. I would never look down on someone else's eating habits, but I do want people to be healthy. I reasoned that by making eating healthy easier, and cheaper, more people would do so, and it seems to be working. People are not going to stop eating poorly overnight. Perhaps we should make the easy food healthier, rather than asking people to mold their entire lives around it. If the existing options for eating well were adequate more people would do so.
Most meals involve little to no ritual or social experience. Most meals will be forgotten. If we had an ultimate staple food replace these we would be much healthier and happier and not have to worry as much about the nutrition of the experiential meals we enjoy for pleasure.
I do not enjoy grocery shopping, cooking, or cleaning dishes and I shouldn't have to. I do not like to repeat myself and I do not like having things that I do not need. No one asks me to make my own clothes. Why should I be expected to make my own food? Of course I respect a good designer or chef, I just have other skills and hobbies. Food is great, but most of the time I find what is on my computer or in my books far more stimulating than what is in my refrigerator.
I find it very strange that people want us to fail, but it doesn't matter to me. Things are getting better. Even the deluge of negativity from Hacker News is subsiding into mere grumpiness. A decade from now when everyone is healthier we'll all have a good laugh about it.]]>
Our world has gotten more complex, but it is safer than it has ever been. Paradoxically, it seems people are less comfortable than ever. Cancer is the new communist. It's in everything new that we don't understand. My mother is afraid of her microwave. Watching network news is gruesome. People overpay for food of inferior nutritional value and drink bottled water in their homes. I just don't understand. We still have problems, but overall things are pretty good right now. The middle class lives better than medieval kings. Life expectancy is higher than ever. Essential products are cheaper than ever. I think those that understand technology have a responsibility to explain it's purpose and safety to the world. Here I describe a few that I keep hearing about. Relax, technology is on our side.
Electromagnetic radiation, like gravity, is one of the four fundamental forces of physics. When an electron loses energy, it 'radiates' a photon. All light is radiation. Microwaves, and radio waves like those used by cell phones, are photons of lower frequency than light, and thus lower energy. At extremely high energy levels, like in a nuclear reactor, photons have enough energy to potentially break the chemical bonds in cells, damaging health, but even nuclear reactors are well shielded enough to ensure their next door neighbors have no ill effects. Short of an atomic blast, radiation is nothing to be afraid of. Furthermore, I consider modern nuclear reactor designs the safest form of energy production.
A chemical is any substance with a defined chemical formula, like water (H2O). Everything is made out of chemicals, from gasoline to carrots. In fact, beta-Carotene is a hydrocarbon, like Methane. It is possible, and prudent, to add some additional chemicals to food that have benefits like improving shelf life. Spoiled food is dangerous and unhealthy. These chemicals are heavily tested and regulated by the FDA and the USDA, which ensures their safety in the amounts used. Agriculture uses safe chemicals as well, like anhydrous ammonia which vastly improves corn yield, and poses no danger to animals or the environment.
We also use chemicals like pesticides to improve the yield of our crops. Caffeine, for example, is an effective pesticide, and is consumed daily by billions. It is the dose that matters. I personally think the amount used in the U.S. is too high, since agricultural workers frequently fall ill, and countries like Sweden demonstrated a 50% reduction in pesticide use without a significant effect on yield.1 However, refusing to use modern fertilizers and pesticides entirely is imprudent, and by the time food reaches the consumer the levels are negligible.2
Just because something is natural that does not mean it is safe or healthy. All-natural, fresh, organic, gluten-free scorpion venom would sitll be quite deadly. Natural plants are rife with toxins and allergens and the source of most narcotics.
If one does not trust the current evidence for the safety of these artificial substances, what level of proof would you require?
A hormone is a chemical that the body uses to control the behavior of multiple cells. Dairy cows already generate the hormone bovine somatotrophin in their pituitary gland. In the United States, about 20% of cows are given extra, which increases their milk production 11-16%. Milk produced by these cows is identical to that produced by untreated cows.3 This hormone has absolutely no effect on humans,4 though it does have negative long term effects on the cows,5 making the hormone's use an ethical question, not a human health concern. For what it's worth, I don't think it's worth it.
Almost all cows raised for meat in the U.S. are administered a series of 3 natural steroids, and 3 synthetic hormones, which increase their lean muscle mass. Despite extensive investigation by the FDA, there is no scientific evidence any of these substances have an adverse effect on human health at the levels used. It is easy to overdose rats with the hormones and scare people but it would be practically impossible to consume enough through meat to have any effect on a human. Pay close attention to the difference between in vitro (outside the organism) and in vivo (in a live organism) results.
Antibiotics of course increase the animals' resistance to disease. The FDA takes strict measures to prevent the development of antibiotic resistance6, and there is no evidence of any adverse health effects in humans.
There is no evidence organic food is any healthier than conventional food,7 despite higher costs. Food processing has a negligible effect on nutritional content.8 The calories from "raw" food and the calories from processed food are identical to the body. It is the amount that matters. Food that is processed can even have additional nutrients added in, like iodized salt, and fortified rice, which has gone a long way in eliminating deficiencies in the U.S. as well as abroad. In fact, canned fruits and vegetables are usually healthier than their fresh counterparts since they are sealed right after picking, which preserves the micronutrients.9
The economic and environmental cost of agricultural is a problem, but reverting to old tactics is not the solution. Technology is. Producing nutrition more efficiently and reducing its waste will do far more than expensive health food stores. It is preservatives and artificial sweeteners that have real potential to combat waste and obesity. If we want solutions we're going to have to stop being afraid of progress.
Humans have always been genetically engineering their food. We select the best crops from the previous season and plant those. This gives us bananas without seeds, yellow corn, and tasty carrots, which used to be a bitter white root. Modern genetically engineered crops are larger and more robust than their natural counterparts and may soon have a significant impact on global malnutrition. Golden rice, for example, includes beta-Carotene and could help the hundreds of thousands of children who die annually from Vitamin A deficiency. Genetically modified foods are of course heavily regulated by the USDA and FDA and are completely safe. In fact, controlling the evolution of a food is likely much safer than trusting it to evolve on its own, which could produce any number of toxins or allergens.
Like all technologies, GM is a tool, that could potentially be used irresponsibly. I personally do not think Monsanto is using this technology responsibly. The journal Nature devoted an entire issue to GM and seemed to come to the conclusion that GM research should continue, but should not be performed by competitive private industry. I think that is a reasonable compromise.
Tap water in the U.S. is regulated by the EPA, which has even stricter standards than the FDA, which regulates bottled water. Heavy metal content is negligible. Your body can easily handle orders of magnitude more metal than you will ever get from tap water with no noticeable effects. Chloramine is usually added, which prevents the growth of pathogens and has no effect on humans. Fluoride is added as well, which is completely safe at the levels used and has been hailed by the American Dental Association as "unquestionably one of the safest and most beneficial, cost-effective public health measures for preventing, controlling, and in some cases reversing, tooth decay."10 I feel uncomfortable drinking non-fluoridated water.
Our ancestors were having the equivalent of a world war every few years. We have gone a generation without one. Violent crime in the United States has been declining since colonial times.11 The odds of being murdered in the U.S. is practically negligible at 4.8 in 100,000, and crime of every kind has decreased since 1991.12 Shooting sprees are rare enough to become international news. In fact, as safe as we are I find it difficult to justify the high incarceration rate, especially of non-violent offenders. Even our most violent cities pale in comparison to the murderous competition of the animal kingdom. We are slowly winning the war with ourselves and focusing on disease, hunger, and poverty. This is progress.
There is still much work to do. Our energy consumption and impact on the environment is unsustainable. Some areas struggle with hunger, others obesity. There is still much too large a disparity of safety, health, quality of life, and education globally. We don't know how the mind works or how proteins fold. However, I believe in the second derivative. The rate at which we are developing technologies to solve our problems is acceptable. Every time I receive an issue of Nature I read the cover and cheer out loud. We are making progress. We are humans. We can do it.
Why do people insist on believing that things are getting worse? Perhaps it is an extension of the observation of local entropy, or a latent belief in an 'end times' that is present in most religions. In reality, our ancestors were starving, miserable, and ignorant and today we have abundant food and warmth and the sum total of human knowledge at our fingertips. We have setbacks, but they are temporary. It does not take much perspective to realize that larger time scales invariably show improvement and progress.
Even life gets better. I am much more knowledgeable and experienced than my foolish high school counterpart. I look forward to the proficiency and stability that comes with age, and am optimistic about the tranquility and wisdom of seniority.
People today are much more likely to die from the complications of an unnaturally long, enjoyable life than war or famine. No one has ever been hospitalized by artificial sweeteners or fluoridated tap water. Curious what actually has been overwhelmingly linked to the onset of cancer, heart disease, and a host of other ailments? Stress. Our world is more peaceful, healthy, and productive than ever, yet people are terrified of it. To really lower one's risk of cancer one of the best things to do is stop worrying and enjoy your life and the people in it. The only modern idea worth being afraid of is the fear-mongering itself.
Given that we are continually receiving additional energy from the sun it makes sense that our planet would run up, not down. Despite what a tired mind would believe, things are going to get better, not worse. The future is going to be unrecognizably awesome.
1: Miller GT (2004), Sustaining the Earth, 6th edition. Thompson Learning, Inc. Pacific Grove, California. Chapter 9, Pages 211-216.
2: http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/food/viewtols.htm
3: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022030292781193
4: http://www.agribiotech.info/details/2010%20rBST%20article%20for%20NABC_Bauman%2009-15%20Final%2004.pdf
5: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC280709/
6: http://www.fda.gov/downloads/AnimalVeterinary/GuidanceComplianceEnforcement/GuidanceforIndustry/ucm052519.pdf
7: http://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/organic-food-no-more-nutritious-than-conventionally-grown-food-201209055264
8: http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/Data/retn5/retn5_tbl.pdf
9: http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/news/20070316/canned-fruits-veggies-healthy-too
10: http://www.ada.org/2467.aspx
11: http://blogs.berkeley.edu/2010/06/16/a-crime-puzzle-violent-crime-declines-in-america/
12: http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2010/crime-in-the-u.s.-2010/tables/10tbl01.xls
Over the past few months I've gotten to engage with a lot of picky thinkers regarding soylent. I think people tend to make up their minds quite quickly, and then proceed to defend their snap judgments. As Stephen Pinker says, the mind is more of a spin doctor than a commander-in-chief, and it can be extremely difficult to change. In fact, trying to change it can simply solidify perceptions. This is one of many cognitive biases we are burdened with. For fun I've cataloged a few others, and explored how they may lead to a critical perspective of soylent. Even if you are supportive of the idea, it is crucial to be cognizant of our own biases, and the fallacies they can lead to. If you're on the fence, I hope you will at least agree that food could use some innovation.
System Justification / Status Quo Bias: The brain, seeking to conserve energy in the short term, has an irrational preference for the current state of affairs. The longer things have been a certain way the more difficult they are to change, and the harder it is to see inefficiencies. Food's necessity and ubiquity gives it a powerful status quo, along with massive potential for improvement. It is easy to lose perspective. Most of the world finds it weird that adults in the United States drink milk. Inuit would find it strange that one would own a cat with no desire to eat it. I wish eating organ meats were more common in the United States. I think they're delicious. There is nothing sacred about the way we do things. Improving food security, the health of those with an average income, giving more people the option to cook less and eat out more often, and abandoning the appeal to nature fallacy would certainly be a change, but it is one that is long overdue.
Appeal to Nature Fallacy: Nature is not on our side. Most of it is trying to kill us. Nature abounds with neurotoxins, carcinogens, starvation, violence, and death. It is technology that makes our lives so comfortable. We have a responsibility to protect the environment, but it feels no such responsibility for us. Technological innovations should be thoroughly tested and verified to be safe, and they are. Besides being an arbitrary distinction, being "natural" is absolutely no guarantee of safety, usefulness, or practicality. Today it is often the opposite. I think it's a little weird to eat food that comes from a tree. Do we still use leaves for clothing? Like diet, balance is key. I am glad to drink fluoridated water for the same reason I prefer the natural sky. It's healthier.
Essentialism: There is no magical mold objects are cast from. Every label is a lossy abstraction, and our world abounds with diversity. Even electronics like iphones vary within industrially controlled limits. Description is important, but no distinction should be sacred. Michael Pollan's "real foods" are like Sarah Palin's "real americans". It's good to have standards, and tastes, but labels can be problematic. More practically, our old foods can't really compete today. They are too expensive, inconvenient, and bland for most consumers. If we want people to be healthier we're going to have to beat fast food at its own game.
Anchoring: Anchoring is relying too much on one piece of information and having all further analysis tainted by it. This is partially my fault, since I called it Soylent. Many people hate the name and thus the whole idea. Part of the reason for the name was to demonstrate this bias. However, others point out trivial information like the alleged benefit of unknown phytochemicals, or even the color. Should we call off the mission to feed the hungry until we have thoroughly tested and categorized a few thousand more plant metabolites? It may not be perfect, but it's certainly an improvement. Also, the vast majority of phytochemicals studied have no biological role or a mix of marginally positive and negative effects. Some are even toxic or allergenic. I do not think cancer has not been widespread enough in humans long enough for plants to be selected based on their antioxidant properties. The benefit of lycopene is purely coincidental, and there is evidence it is the most potent antioxidant that exists naturally. Surely we can engineer better ones.
Binary Opposition: This is not an all-or-nothing endeavor. While a dream come true for a busy bachelor, I think most people would probably prefer soylent for breakfast and lunch and then have a nice dinner. My net enjoyment of food is far higher than it has ever been. Being in excellent health, never eating poorly, and still enjoying good food socially is a win-win-win. Exchanging my biological cravings for psychological ones has been intensely liberating. I still eat, but I have not been to the grocery store, cooked, or cleaned a dish in 4 months, nor has hunger ever led to stress. There is always a healthy, cheap, convenient option. I feel like the world's most food secure human. I carry a Nalgene of soylent in my laptop bag and only eat for pleasure. In light of this, eating multiple times every single day seems incredibly excessive and imprudent. Perhaps in the future today's eating habits will be seen the same way we see the smoking and drinking habits of the 1950's.
Argument from Authority: "Science", Feynman says, "is the belief in the ignorance of experts." I am not a doctor, biologist, or nutritionist. However, we all have access to the same information. Anyone can read a textbook. One does not have to take a class on something to know it, nor must one fully master a field in order to do something useful with it. People learn in different ways. Even when paying for a formal education I tended to skip class and self-educate. Graduation is no reason to stop studying. Research journals are going open access, Wikipedia is my television, and Khan Academy, Coursera, Udacity, and OpenCourseWare are lowering the barriers to information that used to be reserved for a select few. Like health, I would like to see a future where education is uncorrelated with income.
Ad Hominem: It doesn't matter who we are. Ideas should be evaluated based on evidence and principle, not source.
Objectivity Bias: The tendency to see yourself as objective and others as biased. I fall prey to this one a lot, which is why I try to always place evidence over opinion, and remain open to criticism.
Demand for Omniscience: Some say this experiment makes no sense because we do not understand everything about the body. I think this is backwards thinking. If we do not understand something that is all the more reason to experiment with it in the pursuit of greater understanding.
Downplay Results: "The only reason you feel so much better is your diet is so much healthier than it was before." Yes. That's that point.
New vs Useful: How strange that some criticize this as being unoriginal, others as too weird. Obviously I considered other options before deciding to do this on my own. Nothing fit my requirements. There are plenty of liquids with calories. You'd probably be surprised how long you can survive on just cow's milk or beer, but you can't run a 5k every day on them. If you think something is a good idea and find the current options inadequate that may mean there is a lot of potential there. A good idea does not have to be altogether new, just practical. Soylent is certainly not a new idea. "Let medicine be thy food", advises Hippocrates, millenia ago.
Foodies: Most people cycle through their entire meal repertoire every 4 days, and precious few manage a balanced diet. If all of your meals are delicious and nutritious I ask you to consider what percentage of the domestic or global population has the means to eat exactly like you do. Remember, time is money. If eating at home was cheaper more people could enjoy nice restaurants more often, and I think they want to. When gas prices fall the first thing that falls with it is grocery spending, as people eat out more. We already have plenty of luxury foods, we need something with utility. People rarely go to restaurants alone either. It's not about the food. It's about the people.
This is Just Weird: Look at the current behavior around food in the developed world. Fad diets are in constant rotation, and the food industry follows suit based not on data, but demand. People staple their stomachs, freeze themselves, starve themselves, slavishly clean juicers, and drink weird liquid diets like Odwalla juice, which had a fatal e. coli outbreak due to a refusal to pasteurize (they do now). Eating disorders claim more lives than any other mental condition. Obesity and diabetes are out of control. Diets are unsustainable because they are too difficult. 95% of those that go on a diet quickly gain the weight back. Being healthy is about forming good habits and allowing yourself time off. Every organism makes decisions based on perceived energy expenditure. Humans thus consistently seek the cheapest, easiest solutions. By making the cheapest, easiest option for food the healthiest, and helping maximize the enjoyable aspects of social eating, soylent breaks the cycle of poor diet and makes users healthy by default. Currently health and diet are strongly correlated with income. I wouldn't say it's normal to have a perfectly balanced diet on the cheap. But I wouldn't say it's weird. Worrying about something as simple as food in the digital age is weird. If my behavior is making me happier, healthier, and reducing my environmental impact it should be encouraged, not mocked.
But I like food: I like beer, but I usually drink water. I love walking through the city, but I usually take the bus. I love conversation, but I still send a lot of emails. I find separating utility from leisure increases my enjoyment of both. Personally, I enjoy food, there are just many things I enjoy more. I get far more enjoyment out of a Stephen Pinker book or a jazz band than a fancy dinner. I'd rather build a ham radio or learn a new programming language than plan a meal. Asking me to cook is like asking a chef to program. It's not for everybody, but I respect their passion and skill. I want cooking to be a hobby and a profession, like photography, not a necessity. Now I have the freedom to spend more time on the things I want to do. When I do want a nice meal I'll happily pay someone to cook who is actually good at it.
I don't care much for cooking or eating but I care deeply about food. Food is how we extract energy from the stars. Food is all that staves off entropy. At this point my body is largely made of Soylent, and I couldn't be happier with it. We should solve the biological and logistical problems behind health and food security and then focus on making foods that are altogether new and wonderful. I see a bright future for food, but utility should come first. I think people would enjoy food more by needing it less, like having central heating in addition to a fireplace. I am not alone in having loves outside eating, either. Emerson wouldn't eat all day. Chomsky says he pays as little attention to food as possible. Biologist Rita Levi-Montalcini ate the same tiny meal every day and lived to be 103. Even Kanye West considers five star dishes ridiculous. Surely our minds can find more enjoyable activities than chewing. Despite all our innovation finding food still takes up a significant percentage of many individuals' free time and money. This is wrong. Busy people should be among the healthiest people alive. They're the ones who need it the most. Not having time to cook because you're working on your career or passion should be praised. If you never got hungry how often do you think you would eat? I find the pleasures of discovery, creation, laughter, learning, or pursuing a passion far more satisfying than a stomach full of ancestral food. Man was meant to do more than subsist.
get some at campaign.soylent.me]]>
After three months I should be finding deficiencies, and I did. I started having joint pain and found I fit the symptoms of a sulfur deficiency. This makes perfect sense as I consume almost none, and sulfur is a component of every living cell. Sulfur is hard to miss in a typical diet so the FDA would have little reason to recommend it. A typical male physique has 140g of sulfur, making it the sixth most abundant element in the human body. Ten grams of sulfur from Methylsulfonylmethane cured me right away, and I now consume 2g/day. Sulfur is also what gives flatulence its characteristic odor. Most gas is just Hydrogen, but humans have evolved to be extremely sensitive to Hydrogen Sulfide, which is by the gram as deadly as cyanide, and produced by the bacteria in our colon. Before this change my gas was odorless. Releasing the equivalent of deadly cyanide gas from our anuses is a questionable design decision, nature. I have not experienced any other deficiency symptoms and am quite confident I am now getting everything I need, but I will keep testing.
I have been keeping better track of my physical traits. I'm holding steady at 180 lbs, and my muscle mass is about 46%, which is optimal for my lifestyle. I have 6.4lbs of bone mineral mass and am 63.8% water by weight, both normal. My body fat is currently 9.6%, which is a little too low for a non-athlete. Because of this when I do take the time to eat I converge towards bacon, which serves as an efficient source of fatty acids and happiness. Bacon is high in Oleic acid, the principal component of adipose (fat) tissue so it is great for increasing body fat. While the environmental effects of livestock farming do bother me, I think eating meat as rarely as I do is completely sustainable. However, bacon also has Palmitic acid, which is closely associated with cardiovascular disease so moderation is still in order. By the way, an acid is anything that donates protons. Only a few have corrosive properties like sulfuric acid, and bases can be corrosive too. Additionally, I track my sleep now, using a device called the "Zeo", an EEG headband that measures characteristic patterns of different sleep cycles. According to this device, I sleep like a baby, with an average "ZQ" of 104. Typical 20 year olds score 84.
I spent a week in L.A. to appear on a TV show and film the Kickstarter video. This served as a good control since I went without soylent almost the entire week. Though leisure food is fun, with no soylent in my diet the difference was clear. Cognition was the first to go. Patience shortened, attention dulled, curiosity waned. Socializing was more taxing, my inbox more foreboding. The physical effects took another few days. It was harder to wake up, the gym seemed much less inviting, and I gained a few pounds. Upon returning and going back to soylent I quickly bounced back, no harm done. I now refer to this as "low power mode".
Soylent has changed my relationship with food. Before I probably craved pizza and cheeseburgers because that was the easiest way to provide my 6'3" frame with the calories it needed. Now that my nutritional needs are always met I am able to appreciate food more for its flavor, and started really enjoying sushi. Sushi is especially interesting because there is such range and intensity of flavors, and it is so difficult, yet rewarding to make well. This makes it pricey, but I spend so little on food I can enjoy nice sushi once or twice per week. Fast food restaurants look laughably obsolete to me, like a Blockbuster.
I made a rather significant change to the formula, now on major revision 7. I've replaced half of the maltodextrin carbohydrates with oat powder, which has a much lower glycemic index. Oat powder is quite nutritious, and while not a raw chemical (I had to adjust several other ingredients to compensate), is very stable and inexpensive, should be fine for celiacs, and dramatically increases the fiber content, without interfering with the absorption of the maltodextrin. I underestimated the importance of fiber in a diet, and went from consuming 1.2g / day to 40g / day. The maltodextrin kicks in quickly, providing energy almost immediately, and when it runs out the oat powder takes over as an energy source. It also seems to improve the feeling of satiety, and affects the taste to be less sweet, which I actually prefer. I also added creatine, spurred by this study1, and Coenzyme Q10, a component of the electron transport chain with preliminary evidence for a variety of benefits. I made the decision to use whey isolate rather than the slightly cheaper concentrate / isolate blend. I am glad I did not just because my skin looks a little better and soylent is now lactose free, but crucially whatever was causing it to congeal after a few days must have been in the extras of the concentrate. My test has lasted in liquid form for 2 weeks now and is still holding steady. The flavor has dulled but it's still very drinkable. Flavor chemicals tend to be very volatile so it's hard to make them last, but they can always be added back in before consumption. I use ethyl vanillin, a synthetic form of vanillin that is more potent. Having soylent stable in liquid form could prove very useful. I'm currently working on kegging it.
I was intrigued to find that on nootropic days I craved about 15% more carbohydrates. This got me thinking, and researching. Our brain requires glucose and ions to operate, just like our muscles do. Perhaps processes and traits like learning, analysis, optimism, and self-control consume more calories than their lazier counterparts, and if the brain doesn't have easy access to them, they will be impaired. Neuroscientist Gregory Bems writes about how our brain optimizes itself to reduce its energy consumption as needed. One of the ways it does this is by framing new things in terms of old. Those who cannot form new pathways rely on old information, insisting that nothing is new. "Imagination," says Bems, "stems from the ability to break from categorization". Remapping takes effort. Asking someone to change deep-seated beliefs like political or religious viewpoints is asking them to run a mental marathon, and the vast majority of people cannot be bothered. Often only the youth, with healthy energetic minds stay in a state of flux in their viewpoints. However, the youth know so little in general it is often a trade-off versus our older, more experienced, conservative selves. It would be really nice to have both though, and I have met enough open-minded older people to know it's possible. Perhaps the real value of efficient food is not in making us skinnier, but having better fuel for our brains.
We no longer live in a hunter-gatherer society. I have no use for bulging biceps. No one in the United States plows fields or hammers steel by hand. It has all been automated. We need mental strength. We need creativity, patience, discipline, and humility. If people had more self-control obesity would take care of itself. Perhaps companies would be more productive if managers had more humility and employees had more discipline. These processes are abstract but they must have a physiological basis, and it seems intuitive that more difficult processes consume more energy. I fear many people who work primarily with their minds do not put much effort in to their health, and we are all missing out because of it.
The world has changed. We don't live anything like our ancestors. We don't work like them, talk like them, think like them, travel like them, or fight like them. Why on earth would we want to eat like them? Practically everything has gotten better over the past century but food has gotten worse. This is because food is a haven for reactionaries. Reductionism is not romantic, but everything can be improved once seen as the sum of its parts. If we can make transistors that are cheap, fast, and low power, surely we can make food that is tastier, cheaper, and more nutritious than anything that exists naturally. In the past food was about survival. Now we can try to create something ideal.
I promised that if I was still healthy after three months of soylent I would launch a Kickstarter campaign to bring it to the world. That time has come. The project is currently being reviewed and if approved I will post the link here, and tweet about it as soon as it is up.
edit: Since posting this I have heard from a number of additional platforms. I now realize crowdfunding has come a long way since Kickstarter coined the term 4 years ago. In light of this perhaps a different venue would be a better fit.
Email / Twitter / Discourse
1: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1691485/pdf/14561278.pdf]]>


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Classical Jazz Rags & Blues, Book 5
9 Classical Melodies Arranged in Jazz Styles for Late Intermediate to Early Advanced Pianists
By Martha Mier
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Classical Jazz Rags & Blues, Book 5 (9 Classical Melodies Arranged in Jazz Styles for Late Intermediate to Early Advanced Pianists). Composed by Martha Mier. For Piano. Book; Piano Collection; Piano Supplemental. Classical Jazz, Rags & Blues. Blues; Jazz. Late Intermediate. 24 pages. Published by Alfred Music (AP.39316).
ISBN 0739089218. Blues; Jazz.
Classical melodies from piano, opera, and orchestral literature are revisited in this unique series. The arrangements feature jazz styles including ragtime and blues. Students who are familiar with some of these gems will enjoy their new settings while those playing them for the first time will become familiar with these wonderful melodies. Titles: Boogie for Elise * Habanera * Jazzy Sonatina No. 2 * Lively Sonatina * Old French Song * Perky Turkish March * Ragtime Rage * Ragtime Surprise * Träumerei Dreams.
About Jazz, Rags & Blues
Jazz, Rags & Blues, Books 1 through 5 contain original solos for late elementary to early advanced-level pianists that reflect the various styles of the jazz idiom. An excellent way to introduce your students to this distinctive American contribution to 20th century music.
- Boogie for Elise (from Fur Elise, WoO 59) Composed by Ludwig Van Beethoven
- Habanera Boogie (from Habanera) Composed by Georges Bizet
- Jazzy French Song (from Old French Song, Op. 39, No. 16) Composed by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
- Jazzy Sonata (from Sonata in A Major, K. 331) Composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
- Lively Sonatina (from Sonatina No. 3 in F Major) Composed by Attwood
- Perky Turkish March (from Turkish March) Composed by Ludwig Van Beethoven
- Ragtime Penny (from Rondo a Capriccio, Op. 129) Composed by Ludwig Van Beethoven
- Ragtime Surprise (from Symphony No. 94, The Surprise) Composed by Franz Joseph Haydn
- Traumerei Dreams (from Traumerei, Op. 15, No. 7) Composed by Robert Schumann
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Classical Jazz Rags & Blues, Book 5
9 Classical Melodies Arranged in Jazz Styles for Late Intermediate to Early Advanced Pianists
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Classical Jazz Rags & Blues, Book 5
9 Classical Melodies Arranged in Jazz Styles for Late Intermediate to Early Advanced Pianists
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Instrument: Piano Solo Sheet Music
Genre: Blues Sheet Music Jazz Sheet Music
Level: Intermediate
Series: Classical Jazz, Rags & Blues

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text:
Over the last couple of years, mini-PCs in the ultra-compact form factor (UCFF) have emerged as one of the bright spots in the troubled PC market. Zotac is no stranger to this segment. In fact, their nano xs units came to the market before the Intel NUC, even though the NUC is credited with kickstarting the UCFF trend. Almost all the mini-PCs that we have evaluated before have been based on Intel CPUs. However, Zotac's recently launched 'ZBOX C Passive Cooling Series' of mini-PCs includes an AMD Temash-based SKU, which we promptly requested for review. Read on to identify what AMD brings to the table for the passively cooled mini-PC market.
Dell Inspiron One 2320: Stuck in the Middle With You
Our last Windows all-in-one review was for HP's TouchSmart 610, an interesting if slightly pricey piece of desktop kit. HP brought a lot of innovation to the table but...35 by Dustin Sklavos on 11/17/2011
Commodore USA Announces C64x Extreme: Quad Core in a Classic Commodore Chassis
Everyone old enough remembers Commodore 64. For many, it was their first computer. It was among the first computers aimed for home use and its unique form factor was...14 by Kristian Vättö on 11/7/2011
HP TouchSmart 610: For Business or Pleasure
As much as it might pain some of us to hear it, Apple's iMac really did essentially legitimize the all-in-one as an alternative to the typical desktop-and-monitor combination. There...21 by Dustin Sklavos on 11/2/2011
iBuyPower Professional Series: Reversal of Fortune
When it comes to buying a pre-built desktop for the average consumer or gamer, about the only thing the big box manufacturers really have going for them is price...21 by Dustin Sklavos on 10/21/2011
AVADirect Compact Gaming PC: Small Case, Big System
It's easy to build a powerful desktop if you take a big, beefy enclosure like SilverStone's FT-02 or the Thermaltake Level 10 GT and just fill it with the...17 by Dustin Sklavos on 10/4/2011
HP Compaq 8200 Elite Ultra-Slim: The Littlest Desktop
If you've been following along for a while, it should be pretty clear that around here, we're fans of doing a little computing. Awkward turns of phrase notwithstanding, we...40 by Dustin Sklavos on 9/29/2011
HP Z210 SFF Workstation: Serious Power in Cramped Quarters
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HP Releases HP Pro 3400 Series for Business
HP has released HP Pro 3400 Series desktops today. They are aimed for business users and HP markets them as microtowers (seems to be mid-tower Micro-ATXs). HP Pro 3400 Series Model XZ937UT XZ938UT XZ939UT XZ940UT Processor Intel...6 by Kristian Vättö on 8/29/2011
Zotac ZBOX: Brazos Goes HTPC
The ultimate goal of any HTPC is to handle any media content you might desire, all while consuming very little power and generating no noise. Package all of that...37 by Andrew Van Til on 6/9/2011
WarFactory Sentinel: Gaming on a Grand
Getting the monster gaming machines from boutiques in house for testing is often at least interesting if for no other reason than to see just how fast a computer...37 by Dustin Sklavos on 6/8/2011
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It's time for another break from the Computex 2011 coverage, this time with an extreme system review. There seems to be an interesting cottage industry between custom desktop boutiques in...32 by Dustin Sklavos on 6/1/2011
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- 10:33 p.m. - 5.1-magnitude aftershock jolts Eastern Samar
- 09:46 p.m. - US mulls putting NKorea on terrorism sponsor list
- 08:04 p.m. - Palace cites legal hurdle for gay marriage
- 07:59 p.m. - P76M released to build 4 Visayas fish ports
- 07:52 p.m. - Palace asks for understanding on train fare hike
- 07:46 p.m. - Aquino to visit Ruby-hit Eastern Samar
- 05:47 p.m. - Pagasa: No weather disturbance until Wednesday
- 02:58 p.m. - Lacson resigns as rehab czar
- 02:10 p.m. - DOH calls for healthy holiday celebration
- 12:05 p.m. - Muhammad Ali hospitalized with pneumonia
- 11:53 a.m. - Australian woman charged with murder of 8 children
- 10:42 a.m. - Fire hits Barangay Tisa; damage pegged at 80,000
- 10:24 a.m. - 5.5M quake strikes Eastern Samar
- 09:54 a.m. - North Korea proposes joint probe over Sony hacking
- 07:28 p.m. - PHL inclusion to EU's GSP+ to provide more opportunities for Pinoys
One big hungry family-A A +A
Saturday, November 12, 2011
IT WAS the opening day of the two-man exhibit by Davao artists Vic Secuya and Kublai Millan at Abreeza Mall, and we were getting really, really hungry. Thus, after the necessary chit-chat and smile-smile, we sneaked out. Although… sneaking out with bespren Kublai and the whole family (wife Maan, sons Kubing and Kunta, Maan's mom Gina, Maan's brother and the brother's girlfriend plus friend Imee) was proving to be quite difficult. Either Maan gets caught in a conversation with some friend, or Kublai or Imee… we did make the break at near 8 p.m., when restaurants were all filled up because the whole dining crowd were already seated and well into their dinner.
One handicap, Kublai is pesca-vegetarian, and so that limits our choices. First choice (because we ate here before and knew that there is enough fish and vege dishes there to make Kublai happy) had a lot of customers and available tables were not grouped together (we're trying to fit in nine people including two rambunctious little boys), and so we went straight for the next restaurant that had two long tables still empty. The restaurant name: Seafood Island. It's at the second level of Abreeza, and let me jump ahead and urge you to try their Jumbangus. Fried boneless bangus with super-duper lots of toasted garlic bits. It was super sarap.
Word for the owner though… can I make one suggestion please? A suggestion that will make me and little boy Kubing -- and for all we know, a hundred others, really, truly, absolutely happy. Please make an extra effort of removing the scales… we love munching on the skin of the bangus, and we were both dismayed when we each got a big piece, placed these inside our mouths with flair, and ended up spitting scales. It was a sad time for both of us, having to leave the other half of the skin untouched. Fish scales do not taste good…
We didn't just eat bangus. We ate a lot!
Let's see… sizzling mushroom and tofu (sarap!), pinakbet (tastes like pinakbet and cooked just right), deep fried tilapia (with scales removed!), that platter of boiled eggplant and okra served with salted egg, chopped green mango, tomtatoes and onion, and bagoong (ginamos to us), and two mountains of bagoong rice. Warning: Never order large rice if you're trying to cut down on carbs.
We ordered a feast and earned a free dessert for that (fried ice cream), which tasted swell, except that I can only take a taste not just because I was already very full but because I'm lactose intolerant. We were treated to a freak show of how a tiny Kubing could eat up two slices, on top of one big plate of rice and fish. That boy has an appetite! And he's just…. Errr… two… three?
Seafood Island offers set menus in boodle sizes, where all of you get to attack the food placed all together in one big tray. But with the two boys with us, a boodle fight is out of the picture. No, thanks. In more controllable company, boodle fights should be fun.
Over all, food is very good and I am still craving for that jumbangus several days later.
Country News
Cagayan de Oro
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text:
Leaving Home - JM
Credits & Info
- Date
- 06/01/2010
- File Info
- Song
- 3 min 26 sec
- Score
- 4.25 / 5.00
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- Score:
- Rated 4.25 / 5 stars
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- 4,895 Plays | 1,030 Downloads
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Rated 4.5 / 5 stars
This is awesome! :D
Love it! :) It really fits in to the story :D
Rated 4 / 5 stars
Original tickings
I liked this from the start, great unique sounds, everythin sounds crisp with a lot of warmness in them! All instruments fit, feel like im playing little big planet. Only its a bit repetetive, but as game music it serves its purpose. At the end i was hoping for some change in the melody.
Rated 4.5 / 5 stars
Works well with a story
I've recently been trying to narrate a bunch of short stories, and as such I've definitely been keeping my eye on mood pieces, songs that help increase the impact of a story.
This is a good mood piece. Keep up the good work.
thanks! if you need music done, i'm always willing to have a go, composing is something that i'd like to do a bit more :)
Rated 5 / 5 stars
But...where are all the reviews?
I know!


text:
Photo Credit: Getty Images
Listen to Jeremy Vandekar's credentials and you'd assume he'd have no problem finding a job: four years as a member of Marine Recon, the U.S. Marine Corps' elite special operations unit, two deployments in Iraq, graduate of Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, and author of a memoir, Kicking Ace – Taking Names. And yet, after the 27-year-old graduated and realized he didn't want to become a commercial pilot, he couldn't find a job.
"I was applying for everything from nuclear plant specialist to Enterprise management trainee, even at grocery stores everywhere," Vandekar told me in an interview. "The unemployment was ridiculous, I couldn't find a job at Home Depot, Pet Smart, anywhere." But then he applied to Enterprise's management trainee program and was hired in December. "I realized that this was not just going to be a stand-at-the-counter-and-say-hello-to-people-kind-of-job," he said. "This was a full blown career that had really good potential…I love it, I can't say enough about it."
New Jobs for Veterans & Military Spouses
What happened to Jeremy could soon happen to other veterans and military spouses. First Lady Michelle Obama announced that the American Society of Travel Agents, the largest travel agency association in the world, has committed to hiring 3,000 veterans and military spouses by 2014, iVillage has learned exclusively.
"This commitment means that thousands of our heroes can build meaningful careers and provide for their families," said Mrs. Obama. "And we're especially excited that many of these jobs are tailor-made for our military spouses, who can keep their job as they move to new duty stations around the country and the world."
The companies who have pledged to hire veterans and military spouses include Enterprise Holdings, Avis Budget Group, Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group, Hertz Corporation, American Express Consumer Travel Network, Amadeus North America and Orbitz Worldwide.
"The beauty of this program is it essentially opens up the jobs that are required, everything from entry level telemarketer who is taking inbound calls or providing customer services all the way through to development… and engineering," said Tony Gonchar, CEO of the American Society of Travel Agents.
Brad Cooper, executive director of Joining Forces, the first lady and Dr. Jill Biden's military families initative, added, "There are really a broad range of job options and these are companies that have reach around the country… so there is an accessibility component that makes this appealing."
The Perspective from a Military Spouse
Erica Pena-Vest knows why accessibility is important. As a military wife, she had to give up her public relations career to move with her husband, an active duty officer in the U.S. Navy. She founded a site with the largest collection of military travel discounts found anywhere and applauds the move to hire military spouses and veterans in the travel industry. "It's a natural fit for military spouses because we are so good at travel, we achieve an expertise in that area that is unlike any other," the mother of two said in an interview. "Our civilian counterparts, as we call them, will never achieve the fluency in travel that a military spouse has because of the fact that we have to constantly uproot and move our families around the world."
"You are dipping into a pool of people that are tailor made for representing U.S. travel because we are already used to representing our country, which is what travel is all about. It's also something that we have a natural affinity and grace in," she said.
The Other Industries Already On Board
The move by the American Society of Travel Agents follows announcements last fall by the first lady, as part of Joining Forces, about other private sector commitments: the American Logistics Association, which includes major manufacturers such as Tysons Foods, Coca Cola, Unilever and ConAgra, committing to hiring 25,000 veterans and military spouses by the end of 2013, the International Franchise Association, which represents 1,100 franchises, committing to hiring 80,000 veterans and spouses by 2014, and the Military Spouse Employment Partnership, which includes nearly 100 companies including Microsoft, Home Depot and Citi, pledging to hire 20,000 military spouses.
"There are some things in life that are just visceral and the belief that I have in terms of paying it forward, paying back debts that we owe," said Gonchar, who says he will be personally overseeing each travel company's commitment. "This is the largest debt that we could owe to anybody, those people who protect us and sacrifice their lives on our behalf is something we should not take for granted."
To help get the word out to veterans and military spouses, Enterprise Holdings and Avis Budget Group recently participated in a hiring fair for wounded warriors and their spouses in Maryland. On March 28, at a hiring fair at Ft. Hood, Texas, one of the leading companies participating will be Hertz.
Jeremy Vandekar: Remember His Name!
Jeremy Vandekar thinks the new hiring commitments are "awesome" but believes the only way to ensure success is by educating the business community and the veterans. "The private sector, yes, they have to be made aware that yes, veterans, might not have the skills but they absolutely have the motivation," he said, adding that veterans are going to work "so much harder that most people who have not been in the military."
The second thing, according to Vandekar, is the veterans themselves need to be educated. "It doesn't make any difference if the veteran doesn't want to be hired or doesn't seek help," he said.
As for his own career, I would say we should just remember his name: Jeremy Vandekar. When his Enterprise recruiter asked where he saw himself in a few years, Vandekar said he wanted to be exactly where she was. He will likely get there -- and soar to even greater heights.
May more companies see just what veterans like Vandekar and military spouses can do!
Kelly Wallace is Chief Correspondent of iVillage and was one of only five reporters who recently traveled with Michelle Obama during her Let's Move anniversary tour. Read Kelly's blog about the trip here and follow Kelly on Twitter (@kellywallacetv).


text:
PIAA changes gender rules
The state organization also plans to sanction boys' field hockey.
The PIAA issued guidelines on the rules changes Friday. The changes are the first that the PIAA has attempted since a 1975 Commonwealth Court decision ruled that a girl could play on a football team.
The PIAA said it always assumed that court decision cut both ways - meaning boys couldn't be denied opportunities to play on girls' teams if their school didn't offer the sport for boys - until the court clarified last fall that the injunction applied only to girls seeking to play on boys' teams.
Under the new rules, a boy may play on a girls' team only if the school's principal determines four things: The boy wouldn't displace a girl from the team, the boy wouldn't increase the risk of injury to opponents because of his size, the boy wouldn't provide a significant competitive advantage, and the overall sports program at the school provides fewer opportunities for boys than girls.
The PIAA is further discouraging boys from playing on girls' teams by ruling that any "mixed-gender" teams must participate in playoffs against other boys' teams.
The PIAA also agreed to sanction boys' field hockey "with the hope that the sport will grow and have enough all-boys' and mixed-gender teams to have boys' playoffs."
Boys have played field hockey in the Philadelphia area, including Oliver Everts, who has competed the last three seasons for Conestoga, and Ron Shousky was a member of the girls' lacrosse team this spring at Franklin Towne Charter, which lacked a boys' squad.
Girls still may play on a boys' team if the school doesn't offer a comparable sport, such as football or wrestling. That could mean some girls could play baseball because the PIAA doesn't consider that comparable to softball.


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Nordstrom, Costco January same-store sales rise
- Staff Puget Sound Business Journal
Both Nordstrom Inc. and Costco Wholesale Corp. reported increases in January same-store sales at stores open a year or longer.
Seattle-based Nordstrom (NYSE: JWN) reported same-store sales rose 11.4 percent last month compared with a year earlier. Total retail sales for the four-week period that ended Jan. 26 rose 14.9 percent from 2012.
Issaquah-based Costco (NASDAQ: COST) reported same-store sales rose 4 percent last month from 2012. Analysts had expected January same-store sales to rise 3.9 percent. Net sales rose to $9.35 billion in January from $8.74 billion a year earlier.
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