Cargill Recalls 36 Million Pounds of Turkey
- 2011 August 06
- Post 038
Buying local is one of the most important things you can do to change your lifestyle to a greener shade. Not only does it benefit your local economy and real farmers, but it stops the massive factory farms that mistreat animals. Cargill announced a recall two days ago of 36 million pounds of meat nationwide. After digesting the article, someone in the wired.com discussion of the 2011 turkey recall related the math of how much turkey that is.
Quoted from Doug at the bottom of the page. If I assume 1 Lb of turkey is 1/8 a cubic foot, that is 4,500,000 cubic feet of turkey. A footbal field is 160 feet by 300 feet (HS Football, ignoring the endzones). That is 48000 square feet. Stacked so it was 1 foot high would require nearly 94 football fields. Stacked 10 feet high would be 9.4 football fields. That is a LOT of turkey.
So having some more fun with his numbers we find that on one football field, the Tower of Tainted Turkey would reach 940 feet high. By comparison, the Empire State Building is 1,225 feet high at the top floor, with 102 floors. That means the Tower of Tainted Turkey would be as high as your knees standing on the 78th floor. With a floor area of 2.8 million square feet, each of the 102 floors would have almost two feet of turkey to slop through. Now I have to go to New York.
My calculation of an 8x8x40 shipping container on a semi truck yields 2560 cubic feet, meaning 1,758 semi trucks will be needed to haul that away, sans packaging. We are talking about 2,500 trucks delivering this shit to the stores in the first place. Now do the math on the gas for the semi trucks, the food force fed to the turkeys, and the bad runoff created for the 36 million pounds of meat and you have a disaster zone.
A link on the Cargill recall page contains the list of retailers affected. I will discuss the list below and where this meat is going.
Retailers Affected by the 2011 Turkey Recall
- Aldi nationwide.
- Giant Eagle in PA, MD, WV, OH.
- HEB in TX.
- Ingles in SC, NC, AL, GA, TN, VA.
- Kroger nationwide..
- Meijer in MI, IL, KY, IN, OH.
- Stater Brothers in CA.
- Walmart nationwide.
- WinCo in WA, ID, NE, CA, OR.
Looking at this list, we have the following States under recall: Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, Ohio, Texas, South Carolina, North Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia, Michigan, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, California, Washington, Idaho, Nevada, and Oregon. Not including the nationwide recall from three major brick and mortar stores, the others cover the whole country from coast to coast.
Admittedly, I shopped at Walmart for camping trips, and coming to a 24 hour store when you need something is really nice. All that may never go away, but do we need food there? Could we get away with not putting something that can come locally at a Walmart?
CDC Irony
Reading the CDC report on the 2011 turkey recall only confirms the map set up in the list above. The whole country is afflicted by Shitty Sood Shopping Syndrome, or S.F.S.S. for short.
The irony of all this is there are no outbreaks in Arkansas where the Cargill plant operates. They either have tough guts, or they do not eat what they ship out. What do you think? I was in Arkansas in late May, so I was concerned with some bubbly gut I got after eating some hotdogs we were forced to purchase after our stay was extended by a day. The meat industry is out of control with their cheap shit mixup meats, and we never should have purchased that crap meat in the first place.
Kanrocksas is Corporate Crap, Offers No Recycling
- 2011 August 06
- Post 038
A search of the full website for the Kanrocksas Music Festival returned absolutely zero recycling or sustainability information. The only time recycling was referenced is contained in the link above. The reference is to the first recycling operation Bridging the Gap completed. I am admittedly not at the festival, but from my end it appears there is nothing good going on there.
The Kanrocksas festival got off the ground by a couple rich people getting together to throw a massively profitable party. That information has since been removed from their site. It now contains a list of corporate sponsors which likely threw millions at the budget. Do the concert goers get to see the balance sheet? Probably not.
My problem is that no one in this organization has any taste for music, hence the diverse list of crap mixed with some quality choices. Throw money at the artist and they will show up. There are no roots for this show, no original party that blew up, no original promoters that went big, and no core of love. There is a passion for profit, as evidenced by their trendy website decked with sponsors.
The idea is to stick everyone in a place far away from the campgrounds where they are forced to buy vendor food. The same thing went on during Rock Fest 2011, where before one could leave and come back. This year everyone was locked in and the ATMs were busy.
Stay posted as I post updates on the conditions at Kanrocksas. Will it be a plastic party? Probably so.
Other Target Gasses in the Climate Battles
- 2011 August 05
- Post 037
Methane is a Bad Atmospheric Gas Right Now
It is argued that Earth warmed to the point it is now because of the delicate balance of warming that we experience from the atmosphere. Going back to Weather and Climate class we learned that light enters the atmosphere in high energy UV rays, then the ground absorbs the waves and emits infrared waves to the atmosphere. We are experiencing heating greater than normal because complex gasses like carbon dioxide and methane absorb these infrared rays more readily, thus heating the whole known world.
Kansas City Needs Something Better Than Ripple Glass
- 2011 August 05
- Post 039
Ripple Glass appears at first to be a great idea. Bring your empty bottles to their conveniently located bins and they take it to a local fiberglass insulation manufacturing plant. This plant makes insulation which is stuffed in cheap housing that is only intended to last for a few decades, possibly a century at best.
Houses are not built like they used to be. The pine used today is weaker and easier to eat through, so when you drive down the street and look at the old three story mansions from the 1800s, know your house will not be standing in the 2100s.
Obviously a better solution is needed. With such an honorable brewing company residing on Southwest Boulevard, one would think that a bottle manufacturer would be producing bottles right next to the place of demand. Boulevard Brewing Company produces some of the finest beers in the Midwest, but they offer no organic brews and no bottle return. This is an obvious error, and one that should be easily solved.
Going to a returnable bottle for the Smokestack Series would be an easy start. Collection should be easy since most of their business is close by. I have personally run the numbers for the business, and things look good. Many customers would opt for the bottle deposit, and they may see a reduction in overall price.
Equal Time for Evolution in Churches
- 2011 August 05
- Post 038
If you don't think this is funny, you need more science classes and a logic and critical thinking course. I sat and stared at it for a long time just laughing at so many different thoughts. Imagine the arguments this would stop.
If someone knows a good printer, they need to contact the artist at yoism.org for rights to do a full size poster. This is Far Side material. Click the comic for a larger image.
Renaissance Fest is Soon, Get Your Native Earth Sandals Now
- 2011 August 03
- Post 037
My feet have been more comfortable this Summer than any previous year I can remember. I owe all of this to the Native Earth Sandals that my lovely fiancee Erin bought me last year while working as a Rose Goddess at one of the booths.
I was initially skeptical due to their lack of substance. The sandals lace up like oldskool Roman foot gear, leaving the top of your foot open as well as the sides and front. Now I understand why they are so open - my feet never sweat and never get gooey.
I have taken my sandals up and down the mountains of Arkansas at breakneck speed and found them amazing on the uphills. Downhill running is a little more dangerous due to the open toes, but it was way more enjoyable than wearing my hiking boots.
Initially, it seemed like the soles would wear out quickly. They are made of old conveyor belts which are amazingly durable. I wear my sandals every day in hopes of wearing them out in time to be repaired this year at the fest, but it looks like they will make it to next year at least.
My particular model is the Single Tab Sedona Sandal, the most minimalistic of the options. Make the journey to the Renaissance Festival this year and bring a few Benjamins for some shoes that will last a lifetime.
