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[{"content":"A space for thoughts. # ","date":null,"permalink":"/","section":"","summary":"A space for thoughts.","title":""},{"content":"Background # I bought the domain that I’m using —vegancambodia.com— a while ago, thinking it made sense, living in Cambodia and wanting to do something with veganism. I usually buy .org names, but thought I\u0026rsquo;d go for a .com in case we decided to make a business out of it. Well, it must be close to a year later and nothing has happened with the domain or with veganism (aside from the practice it, of course). So, let me say something about veganism then, in honor of the domain name and the unfortunate souls that may land here searching for information on veganism in Cambodia in the future.\nWhen my wife was pregnant, I had a conversation with a friend in Penang. To explain to me how unnatural it is to eat animals, she told me how shocking it had been for her three children when they each discovered that the food they ate came from living animals that had been killed so that they could eat them. We only come to see this as natural as part of a long process of normalization.\nFor months, I couldn’t stop thinking about our conversation, and I kept trying to think how I would explain our eating habits to my daughter in a logical and ethical way when the time came. No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t come up with a satisfactory explanation for why we enslave, torture and kill other species so that we can eat them and their secretions.\nEventually, I had to accept that I had grown up with illogical belief system, and the only way to escape the cognitive dissonance was to ignore it or to align my actions with my ethics. This was likely the single biggest realization I had toward becoming vegan. I thank my friend Esther and my daughter for this wonderful awakening.\nSundays # Talking of veganism, there\u0026rsquo;s a new vegan restaurant in town. This is big news, as the count currently stands at three (including the new place), and we don\u0026rsquo;t eat at one of the three anymore for reasons I will not go into on this post.\nThe place is called Sundays (yeah, we went on a Saturday, I know) and is run by Darren and Tam, a charming Aussie-Khmer and British couple. It has a beautiful loft style interior with Japanese and Thai accents and a skateboarder ethos. Colorful lithographs by various Thai and Chinese artists line the walls, with some skateboard wall art. A spiral staircase leads to a mezzanine lounge featuring bespoke wooden lounge furniture and a neon sign at the back that reads ‘Take It Easy.’ The design showcases a spacious and inviting open kitchen and high ceilings and large windows, which let in a ton of light and make the place feel airy.\nForgive me for starting with dessert, but I\u0026rsquo;ve never been one for rules. They have vegan waffles! I hadn\u0026rsquo;t had a waffle for a while. In fact, I\u0026rsquo;ve had two waffles in the almost four years since I became vegan (largely because we were stuck in Cambodia for three of those years, without Sundays). I had a waffle once at Wai Nam Beach resort in Koh Pha Ngan last year and another at Veganerie, in Bangkok, a few months ago. It sounds silly, I know. I could go out and buy a waffle machine, but then I\u0026rsquo;d have to own a specialized device that I would only use sporadically, and I\u0026rsquo;d rather not add another clunky machine to the kitchen storage. So, we shared a tasty pandan coconut waffle with homemade, hand-churned, coconut ice cream, and it was perfect.\nFor dinner, we had some sort of sticky cauliflower chunks, a Khmer fusion somlor korko noodle dish and a spicy tom yum club sandwich. For drinks, we had Thai bubble tea and water.\nWe liked the place so much we\u0026rsquo;re going back for breakfast today (on a Sunday, of course).\n","date":"2 July 2023","permalink":"/archives/2023-07-02/2023-07-02/","section":"Archives","summary":"One of the reasons I became vegan, and dinner at a new vegan restaurant in town.","title":"A life-changing conversation"},{"content":"","date":null,"permalink":"/archives/","section":"Archives","summary":"","title":"Archives"},{"content":"","date":null,"permalink":"/categories/","section":"Categories","summary":"","title":"Categories"},{"content":"","date":null,"permalink":"/tags/dystopia/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"dystopia"},{"content":"","date":null,"permalink":"/tags/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Tags"},{"content":"","date":null,"permalink":"/tags/technology/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"technology"},{"content":"","date":null,"permalink":"/categories/technology/","section":"Categories","summary":"","title":"Technology"},{"content":"I arrived at the gym a few weeks ago to notice they were removing the key locks from the lockers and replacing them with some sort of RFID bracelet technology. I chuckled, because this is exactly what I feel is wrong with technolgoy: They replaced a low maintenance time-tested technology (lock and key), with a high-maintenance untested fad consisting of many more moving parts. For starters, each locker now requires a regular battery change. I didn’t open the battery compartment, but it looks like it takes triple A’s.\nTo be fair with the management, the new technology did solve the perennial problem caused by whatever sequential (FIFO?) system they were using to distribute keys to people as they walked in, and which caused congestion at specific areas of the locker room while leaving the rest of the space completely unused. The digital bracelets can lock any locker, allowing members to choose for themselves. I can think of simpler ways of fixing that problem.\nA week or so later, I walked into the lobby and noticed they were changing the check-in system, which consisted of an RFID enabled member card scanned on entry, to what appeared to be fingerprint scanners. Bad news, I thought. Sure enough, within a few days the new system was up, and I was asked to scan my finger and get a new membership card to continue using the facilities. I informed them I would not provide my biometrics to enter a gym (or any place for that matter). The only exception being entering and leaving countries and other mandatory government initiatives where I have no choice.\nWhy do I have a problem with biometrics enabled doors? It makes me feel we’re ushering in a dystopian future we will regret. I see a future where, cheaply and on a massive scale, every door will open (or not) based on each individual: \u0026ldquo;Sorry citizen, this a ‘Class A‘ facility. Based on your socioeconomic profile and psychometric tests (or social credit score?) you are ranked ‘Class B-’. Please step aside.\u0026rdquo;\nI have a problem with the data collection itself. Will this database be sold to third parties? Where are the servers located? What kind of firewall is used? This gym is one of the fanciest in town. Who would like to access member data? For what purposes?\nI asked politely why they required my fingerprint in addition to the RFID enabled card (which now need not be scanned, but must be deposited at reception to receive towels and locker opening bracelet). They informed me members were sharing their cards with third parties and the owner wanted to fix the problem.\nI told them my wife and I use the gym almost every day, and had no desire to share the card with anyone else. I also reminded them of the large TV hanging over the entrance gate and displaying each member’s private information as they scan the card, including a photo (the same photo printed on the card itself), and number of times the door has been accessed since the membership became active. They said they would raise the issue with \u0026ldquo;The Big Boss.\u0026rdquo;\nA few weeks of silence ensued; The Big Boss was out of the country, I was informed. Finally, last week I went to ask again and was told The Big Boss understands and respects my dilemma. There are four of us refuseniks in the entire gym. We will be allowed to finish our yearly membership, but will not be allowed to renew it. I mentioned this drama to an acquaintance who lives in a suburb recently and he laughed and told me his gym has no need for cards or fingerprints: a facial recognition system automatically opens the door.\nMeanwhile, at my gym, a security guard scans an RFID enabled card to let me in every time after I show him my old RFID membership card, which I then deposit with the reception to receive a silicon bracelet and two towels, and scans the card again after I exchange the towels and bracelet for the card. I asked them why they wouldn’t make an exception and allow me to have an RFID card that opens the gate, like the guard’s. Not possible, they said, but would I reconsider my position maybe? I told them there’s only one finger I’m going to give them, and it will not be used for biometric scanning.\n","date":"1 July 2023","permalink":"/archives/2023-07-01/","section":"Archives","summary":"Fingerprinting as fashion. On enabling useless and potentially harmful technology for the sake of looking cool.","title":"On technology"},{"content":" A couple of months ago, I stumbled on Jack Baty\u0026rsquo;s blog, added it to Elfeed, and started reading his daily updates. After a few weeks, I was looking forward to reading them every morning.\nBeing a digital recluse, I\u0026rsquo;m still a bit skeptical of my capacity to enjoy sharing tidbits of my life openly online, but what the heck, I\u0026rsquo;ll give it a shot.\nA shout-out to Jack for unwittingly coaxing me out of the shell.\nLet the experiment begin!\n","date":"30 June 2023","permalink":"/archives/2023-06-30/2023-06-30/","section":"Archives","summary":"Why I am starting this blog.","title":"My First Blog Post"}] |