To Aspartame Advocates

When I'm thirsty I usually drink either sparkling water or lager. Those quench my thirst best. But I drink during the day quite enough, so my thirst is not always just a sign of dehydration. Normal water won't quench thirst that is not caused by dehydration. At least not for me. So I drink anything but plain water as that I need to drink so much I feel bloated - and I'm still a bit thirsty. Thus I drink mainly juices. I love this juice, Appelsientje Dubbel Drank - Mango & Guanabana. But it was out of stock in our supermarket.

I found another nice brand, Maaza. Mango, guava - red and yellow, tropical, what have you. I took mango, without thinking too much. Now, normally I read the ingredients of all products I buy. But those you already know, you don't need to. (And I hate the fact that I need to look at the ingredients because of all the weird stuff you add in our food.) Most of these juices are from 100% concentrate + water. So I picked up the mango drink, got home, poured a glass and took a sip.

Yuch! Aspartame!

Instinctively I took the carton and checked the ingredients, although I knew them already by now. Yes, aspartame. Why? The fruit itself tastes great. Why extra sweeteners that aren't even that sweet. Aspartame tastes gross at the back of your throat. I know there's controversial information about the health risk of aspartame. But they are for and against the possible risks. (Some crazier than other.) I'm not afraid of aspartame; my biggest problem with it is the taste. It just tastes disgusting. It is useless sweetener. The whole idea of light-drinks is crazy. A person who buys light-drinks shouldn't drink soda in the first place.

Stop hiding aspartame in our drinks. Sure, light drinks. That's why I don't even bother taking a light-drink can/carton/bottle in my hand - I know they contain aspartame. That's the only artificial sweetener you drink manufacturers know anyways. But if you put that in non-light drinks mark it clearly on the front and don't hide it next to normal juices. It's place is next to light-drinks. If you do juice out of concentrate and pulp, it already has sugar from the fruit. Why add more sweeteners? And why, oh why aspartame?

What surprises me is how "blind" people are for taste. Doesn't anyone else taste that weird bitter taste at the back of the throat after drinking anything with aspartame? I guess if you drink it every day, you won't notice the taste. I wonder how addictive it is? Come to think of it. All of my friends who drink light-sodas are light-soda freaks. They drink a can after a can of it. Hm... maybe it invokes some compulsive drinking?

Still I don't get adding extra sweeteners to perfectly good juice. Kinda same with tobacco. I have smoked rolling tobacco longer than those ready made cigarettes. The ready mades are dry and very rough on your throat. So I smoke rolling tobacco. When I found American Spirit (Santa Fe Tobacco Company) I fell in love with the taste. Then I learned it contains no additives. Is this what tobacco is supposed to taste like? And all this time I was smoking tobacco with additives without knowing the real thing tastes so much better. Smoking kills, yes, so why not go for the one that tastes best if you're not gonna stop? Why the additives in tobacco? And why American Spirit is the most expensive rolling tobacco in shop? Is it something like: "Pay us more, or else we'll put additives in your tobacco!" The additives must cost money, and putting the stuff on costs money. Howcome that tobacco is still cheaper? I feel like in a weird Batman movie. A crazy supervillain is pouring chemicals on all of Gotham City's tobacco, unless all the citizens are willing to pay extra!

I get the additives in a lot of products that you ship all around the world so they have to keep. Concervatives, yes, ok. But aspartame is not a concervative. It's useless. Makes everything taste bad. And tobacco doesn't really need concervatives either.

Just please stop adding aspartame to everything. Or at least label all products clearly that they are those ligh-products.

Strange dream

I saw the strangest dream last night.

You know those dreams where you run away from something, and you run and you run, but can't get away?

...This dream wasn't like that.

I was walking along in savanna(?) and minding my own business. All of a sudden I saw a cheetah running towards me and I knew it was gonna attack. I took a branch in my hand and waited that it was closer and it jumped. I kneeled down and hit it on the side, knocking the air out of it. I ran immediately to the cheetah before it can gather it's strength and air again, and strangled it. After strangling it I stood up and shouted to the dead animal: "Opposing thumbs, bitch!"

That was very weird.

But I seriously never ever thought I'd see a dream about strangling a cheetah. Nor that I would be even thinking about it. It's just not the first thing you think when you see such an animal...

I know cheetahs are more fragile felines than most other predator felines, so knocking the air out shouldn't be too hard, but a cheetah wouldn't attack man running full speed. There's just no need. It would more likely stalk on you and then it's too late. Those claws are probably not dull. Oh well, it was only a dream. Good thing too, I wouldn't like to kill an animal I'm not gonna eat anyways. But in this dream my survival depended upon it.

Shrinks, analyze this!

Company party

I knew then what text should go here:

A friend 'But those are "hi mom"-pictures.'
Sami :)

Touché.

In the last pic is me and my boss.

Samistan

As it is possible for someone to sell moon estate, I hereby claim a portion of Antarctica as my own land and name it "Samistan". You are all welcome there, no passport checks, easy to get in.

The portion is shown here:

So you can now call me Dude Sami I of Samistan, or His Dudeness, if you will.

Some facts: The Samistan is an area of Antarctica claimed by the ruler, Dude Sami the First.
It is defined by a sector originating at the South Pole, passing along longitudes 90° west to 150° west, and terminating at latitude 70° south at the South Pacific Ocean.

Tourist attractions:
Bentley Subglacial Trench. It is the lowest point in Antarctica, at 2540 metres below sea level.
The South Pole, at 2800 metres.

Capital: None.
Government: Federal unconstitutional totalitarian monarchy
King: Dude Sami the First
Independence: Self proclaimed independence on 4th of May, 2007. No countries have recognized this.
Currency: Seashells, shiny pebbles and painted rocks. 1 painted rock = 10 Seashells. 1 Seashell is 10 shiny pebbles.
Area: Around 1,200,000 km²
Population: 0
Time zone: UTC-9/DST-8
Language: Gibberish
Flag:
The flag represents freedom and peace, of which majestic justice lies beneath, divided by the joy and loyalty in universal love.

Tax-Office Laboratories

I saw this sign at The Netherlands' Tax-Office in Sloterdijk, Amsterdam. I think it was some sort of main office or something.

Where does a tax-office need laboratories for?

Better pay my taxes, they may have more ways to make people pay than previously believed. I wonder how is it when big tax-office officials have a meeting. I wonder if there's a professor called Klaus working in the laboratories trying to find interesting ways for collecting taxes and presents the new inventions in the board meeting.

"Yes, bring in the Doc. - Doc, what have you developed for us to make people pay their taxes?"
"Ach, mein herr. Wee have developed a small, easy to deploy, solution. We zimply inject the patient... uhm, ze tax-evator with a small dose of plague and wee tell ze schweinhu... ahm, ze tax-dodger to pay und wee give ze man ze antidote."

Or maybe it's kind of behaviour-based research? Doctors in white coats are testing with laboratory mice how much stress they can withstand. Make the mice run on a wheel and give them cheese as pay. But they show the cheese, and cut off a piece of it - for taxes. And they test how much they can take from it before the mouse snaps.

Then they go ahead with the human testing. They put people behind one way mirrors, each subject in their own room. The subjects think they are there to talk about their taxes. Some maybe thinking that they are testing a new tax-form or something. They test the subjects thurally.

"Nurse, bring this man the news that he's going to get a tax deduction. ... Good ... Good ... Now let's test what happens when we take the tax deduction away and double his taxes."

Then the white coated doctor takes his notepad and marks his findings on it.