Inhumane Treatment of Pigs
1100 pigs are slaughtered inhumanely every hour. Yes, pigs are high in nutrition. People need to learn to be humane.
Carnival Catastrophe
Carnival Catastrophe: Is there a Real Reason to be Afraid? Counties and Cities with Carnivals or Fairs There are over 3,000 counties in our country. There are almost 20,000 cities and towns. Just about every one of them has at least one carnival or fair, and in the case of the bigger cities, perhaps dozens every year. According to data from the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) it comes in at about 4,400 injuries annually but only about 1.5% of that number (66) require hospitalization each year. Complied statistics for (non-Amusement Park) carnival and fair injuries or deaths are calculated to be 6 per 100,000 visitors, or 0.006%. Not only is the number quite small, but the classification of injuries is quite broad, including anything requiring treatment or hospitalization. Everything from twisted ankles or sprains, bumped heads, chest pains, numbness, neck strains, back pain, dizziness, and vomiting all count. If you were to pick a large amusement park, such as Disney World with its 19.33 million visitors each year, and apply those statistics, you might expect 1,160 injuries per year. Big parks are actually much better than that because they have permanent equipment that stays in one place, and experienced maintenance crews with multiple inspections per day. An actual Carnival incident In July (2017), when one of the rides at the Ohio State Fair experienced a severe failure, an 18-year-old man was killed. A further six were injured. Despite undergoing three separate inspections, by the operator, the city officials, and an independent third party, they all missed some significant corrosion for one of the seating areas. The metal was thin enough to shear when the ride was under strain with a full load of passengers. Who is to blame? In this particular case, the manufacturer had issued a notice about the fault in the ride considerably earlier. They had notified, or attempted to notify, all purchasers, of the potential danger of failure and recommended not using the ride until repairs could be effected. These carnivals and fairs do a lot of traveling, meaning that equipment is assembled and disassembled daily or weekly, moving from one location to the next. It might be hard to keep up with notices, warnings, alerts, or changing maintenance requirements when you’re constantly on the go. But perhaps, you would think, workers familiar with the equipment might notice changes and deterioration. Except that they might not… It might be invisible because it is encased in fiberglass, or in other ways hidden from view. [...]
Indoor Grilling Basics with Flavor!
Indoor Grilling Basics with Flavor! -want to grill but cannot - learn how to grill indoors in the winter
Artificial Intelligence on Farms
Artificial Intelligence on Farms, Now it’s making practical Advances A long time ago, back in kindergarten or grade one, each student might have been given a tiny little flower pot, a tablespoon or so of soil, and a seed of some description. It became their job to grow a plant. The teacher helped them put soil in the pot, put the seed at the right depth, and then they would put their names of the pots and water them each day until something grew. Bean sprouts are fast, edible, and give satisfaction to kids. Most people experienced something like this at some point and it dwells in their mind as “how food is grown”. That is changing now. The World By the year 2050 our population might be over 9 billion people. Back in the year 1600 C.E. the population of the entire world was just a little over 0.5 billion. It wasn’t until 1800 C.E. that we probably broke through the billion barrier. That was the first time we probably heard the cry “Earth cannot sustain any more people. We can’t grow food for a billion mouths!” Obviously that was not true, since we have continued to grow to our current 7.6 billion—and there has never been a shortage of food. Yes, people have starved to death all over our planet, but never because there wasn’t enough food—we have always had a problem of distribution, getting excess production in one area to somewhere else with a severe lack. At every turn where we thought we had reached a limit, we found new ways of growing more food, with fewer resources, and even less human-powered interaction. We are unlikely to ever be defeated on that front. Long before we run out of the capability to produce sufficient food we will become smart enough to reduce our population to appropriate levels. Artificial Intelligence on Farms When people think of artificial intelligence nowadays they probably imagine C3PO and R2D2. Those movie creations were portrayed as considerably more advanced than what we have currently achieved. Nevertheless we’ve made some terrific progress. A company called BOWERY has moved farming indoors. Their crops are stacked one atop the other, lighted, fed, monitored, and diagnosed by sophisticated computer programs. Their crops are largely grown hydroponically, without soil, in trays that travel throughout the complex by conveyor. The sterile facility requires no pesticides to maintain the health of their plants. Faster than a human could ever do so, the Artificial Intelligence program is learning [...]
Spooky Halloween Shrunken Head Sliders
By Kent Whitaker - How to Grill Shrunken Head Sliders for Halloween Have you ever eaten a shrunken head with melted Colby and Pepper Jack cheese? Who says that Halloween is just for handing out candy and popcorn balls to neighborhood kids? It’s time to toss in some fun foodie ideas that are well suited for the kitchen or grill. And, why not make it fun, kind of gross… and yet packed with flavor? For any other article this recipe would simply be for a burger with some spicy seasoning, steamed onions, a tangy jalapeno mustard BBQ sauce and gherkin pickle wedges. For Halloween, this recipe transforms into something a bit more fun. Tell your family, or guests, you’re serving up Shrunken Head Sliders with tape worms, zombie sauce and alien fingers… with cheese! Remember, you’re having fun and getting into the Halloween spirit, pun intended, but that’s no reason to forget about making a great tasting dish. I suggest that you make a blended burger for extra flavor. I suggest combining ground beef with ground Italian sausage. Or, ground turkey and black bean burgers. If you break up the beans your ground turkey will have a creepy purple tint to them – perfect for Halloween! The “zombie sauce” mentioned above is one of my standard quick and easy “cheater junk sauces.” That’s where you have some sauce in the fridge and you add some extra “junk” to it for bonus flavor. For this I combined a mustard based barbecue sauce with a splash of honey and store bought chopped jalapenos. Use these recipe as a starting point for your creative ideas and have fun! Easy Beef & Italian Sausage Burgers 1 pound lean ground beef, 80/20 1/2 pound Italian sausage, ground Salt and pepper to taste Steak sauce Cajun seasoning Cheese Combine the beef and ground Italian sausage in a bowl and season with salt and pepper. Form into equally sized meatballs about the size of a golf ball. Next, flatten each ball while pinching one side into a thinner piece forming a skeleton head type of shape. Next, season each side with a light brushing of steak sauce and a few dashes of Cajun seasoning. Grill, bake or broil as you normally would. Use tiny slices of cheese for x’s representing stitched eyes and for the mouth. I used pepper jack. Serve hot on toasted slider buns covered in cheese with zombie sauce, steamed onion slices and gherkin pickle wedges. Serve open faced. Kent “The [...]
Oklahoma State Fair 2017
The Oklahoma State Fair is about to open on September 14th, with all kinds of new and exciting things. There is a lot of stuff to do here for the ten dollar admission costs. This is an interview with Scott Munz , Vice President of Marketing and Public Relations about all the new and great things at this years event. Listening to this for a few minutes will give you a great overview of the fair and all the fancy new fair foods they have. Come hungry and come rested and be prepared to have a great time.!!! Oklahoma State Fair - Frequently Asked Questions!
Colorado State Fair
Interview on August 22nd, 2017 with the Fair Manager of the Colorado State Fair Sarah Cummings, about what is upcoming at this years State Fair Get your Tickets!
Bratwursts – Just in Time for Football Tailgates!
By Kent Whitaker Fall is coming which means more tailgates centered around football tailgates! And that means more and more people are going to toss bratwursts on the grill! And, at the same time – some people shy away from grilling brats because of the perceived mystique of the stuffed link! Have no fear – grilling Brats – aka Bratwursts – is as easy as grilling a batch of hotdogs. Here’s a couple of tips that you can use for serving up some perfect brats every you toss some on the grill. Beer Bath or Veggie Boil Yes, you can use a beer bath to add some bonus flavor to your brats. However, most brats are sealed in a casing which limits the transfer of juices. So, that beer bath may not add as much flavor as you think to your finished bratwursts. On the other hand, most people toss a whole bunch of veggies in with the beer. The veggies, most often onions and pepper slices, cook in the beer mixture, along with drippings from the bratwursts, and whatever added spices you toss in. Before serving up the bratwurst simply toss some of the bath boiled veggies onto the hot grates to add some grill marks. Serve those tasty slices of flavor on the finished bratwurst. Some people use a beer bath, some use a fruit juice bath, some use a light marinade bath, and some just toss the things on the grill and go for it. All the above are fine. Method for Bath Grilling a Bratwursts My personal preference for grilling bratwurst with a beer, or fruit juice, bath is to rotate the bratwurst from bath to grill grate and back. Then, finish off with a quick roll across the hot grates. I start the bath first in a foil pan. This gives a chance for the liquid to heat up. Then, place the bratwurst on the grill grates to add some marks before moving them to the bath. Toss your sliced veggies, if using any, into the bath as well. Let the bratwursts simmer a bit and then move them back to the grill, then back to the bath. Keep them warm in the hot bath until someone walks up with a plate and bun. Roll the bratwurst across the grates to let any excess bath burn off before placing on the bun. What’s up with the No Fork Rule? I’ve had several people question me over the years about why people say [...]