Pink Slime Time !! .. Tina, the last batch of textured beef ...item 4.. Three 'pink slime' factories closing after controversy decreases sales (7 May 2012) ...
Image by marsmet471
The plant in Amarillo, Texas, the plant in Garden City, Kansas, and the one in Waterloo, Iowa will close on May 25. A plant in South Sioux City, Nebraska, will remain open but run at reduced capacity.
The South Dakota-based company blamed the closures on what it said were unfounded attacks over its lean, finely textured beef.
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.....item 1)... Mail Online ... Daily Mail ... www.dailymail.co.uk/news ...
'Pink slime' company files for bankruptcy amid controversy over the ammonia treated filler
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
PUBLISHED: 12:09 EST, 2 April 2012 | UPDATED: 12:41 EST, 2 April 2012
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2124098/Pink-slime-compa...
A company that makes ‘pink slime’ products has filed for bankruptcy as the backlash against the controversial beef filler continues.
AFA Foods has announced that it is filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and selling its assets after the public outcry over the beef substance derailed its efforts to save its already struggling business.
The Pennsylvania-based company processes more than 500 million pounds of ground beef products a year and distribute to retailers including Wal-Mart and Safeways – both supermarkets that no longer sell beef containing ‘pink slime.’
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img code photo ...
i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/04/02/article-0-1264E5E90000...
'Pink slime': AFA Foods, which makes products containing the controversial beef substance known as 'pink slime', has filed for bankruptcy
Reuters
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AFA Foods, which also sells products under the brand names Moran's, Stone River Ranch and Miller Quality Meats, provide beef to customers including Burger King, Wendy's and Jack in the Box.
More...
...Junk food is not just bad for your waistline... it can give you the blues too
...Snakes on a train! PETA plans to drape fake animals on public transport in campaign against wearing skins
The bankruptcy comes a week after Beef Products Inc, another company which sells ‘pink slime’, announced they were suspending operations at three of four plants where the beef ingredient is made.
Beef Products Inc. have stopped operations at its plants in Texas, Kansas, and Iowa - a move that will affect 650 jobs.
The company's South Dakota headquarters will continue operations.
Last week the governors of three states toured a Beef Products’ plant to demonstrate their support of the product.
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img code photo ...
i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/04/02/article-0-1264EAF00000...
Backlash: AFA Foods processes more than 500 million pounds of beef products a year and counts Burger King and Wendy's among its customers
Reuters
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Former GOP candidate Rick Perry was pictured chomping down on a burger made with the chemically-treated left-over bits of meat during the tour with Kansas Governor Sam Brownback and Iowa's Terry Branstad.
Federal regulators say the ammonia-treated filler, known in the industry as 'lean, finely textured beef,' meets food safety standards.
But critics say the product could be unsafe and is an unappetizing example of industrialized food production.
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img code photo ... Texas Governor Rick Perry
i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/04/02/article-0-1264CA550000...
Support: Last week Texas Gov. Rick Perry showed his support for Beef Products Inc by tucking into a 'pink slime' burger during a tour of one of their plants
AP
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The low-cost ingredient is made from fatty bits of meat left over from other cuts. The bits are heated and spun to remove most of the fat. The lean mix then is compressed into blocks for use in ground meat.
The product is exposed to ammonium hydroxide gas to kill bacteria, such as E. coli and salmonella.
The product has been used for years, but it wasn't until earlier this month that social media suddenly exploded with worry and an online petition seeking it to be ousted from schools garnered hundreds of thousands of supporters.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture decided to allow school districts to stop using it and some retail chains have pulled products containing it from their shelves.
In the affidavit filed as part of AFA Foods’ bankruptcy, interim CEO Ron Allen said the company's profits have suffered because of decreasing retail demand, costly customer demands for product testing and growing competition from different types of meat.
AFA Foods had had been pursuing a turnaround strategy to increase sales to retail customers, but Allen said that the 'unfounded public outcry' over the use pink slime, known in the industry as lean, finely textured beef strained those efforts.
AFA Foods said it secured million in financing from its lenders to fund operations and expects to continue serving customers throughout the process.
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.....item 2)... Florida Today ... www.floridatoday.com ... Jeff Parker: Cartoon Caption Contest 4/3
4:56 PM, Apr. 2, 2012
www.floridatoday.com/proart/20120403/columnists0204/12040...|newswell|text|home|p&pagerestricted=1
April 3, 2012 / Jeff Parker, FLORIDA TODAY
FILED UNDER
Columnists
Jeff Parker Cartoons
Pink slime time... Come up with a snarky caption for this cartoon, email it to us, and we'll sort the best and funniest punchlines from the rest. Then, on the following Monday, we'll post the winner's name and caption along with two runners-up here at JPTI as well as in the print edition of FLORIDA TODAY.
Since you'll be writing for a cartoon, we've added the professional feel by setting a deadline for you -- please e-mail your entries to us by 4pm Thursday.
In your e-mail message, be sure to include your name and where you live. E-mail: jparker@floridatoday.com
Challenge your office co-workers, friends and families.
Captions submitted as comments will be disqualified.
A few guidelines:
-Please keep your captions clean and libelous-free. Remember, we're a family newspaper.
-Keep it brief. I know it's difficult, but bear in mind the funniest cartoons depend on brevity for maximum effect. And since these are editorial cartoons, don't spare the vinegar.
-Be original. Don't go for an obvious gag line that 20 other people will come up with.
Most of all, have fun!
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.....item 3A).... Plot Summary for Soylent Green (1973)
A tale of Earth in despair in 2022. Natural food like fruits, vegetables, and meat among others are now extinct. Earth is overpopulated and New York City has 40 million starving, poverty stricken people. The only way they survive is with water rations and eating a mysterious food called Soylent. A detective investigates the murder of the president of the Soylent company. The truth he uncovers is more disturbing than the Earth in turmoil when he learns the secret ingredient of Soylent Green. Written by Mystic80
MOVIE INFO
Richard Fleischer directed this nightmarish science fiction vision of an over-populated world, based on the novel by Harry Harrison. In 2022, New York City is a town bursting at the seams with a 40-million-plus population. Food is in short supply, and most of the population's food source comes from synthetics manufactured in local factories -- the dinner selections being a choice between Soylent Red, Soylent Yellow, or Soylent Green. When William Simonson (Joseph Cotten), an upper-echelon executive in the Soylent Company, is found murdered, police detective Thorn (Charlton Heston) is sent in to investigate the case. Helping him out researching the case is Thorn's old friend Sol Roth (Edward G. Robinson, in his final film role). As they investigate the environs of a succession of mad-from-hunger New Yorkers and the luxuriously rich digs of the lucky few, Thorn uncovers the terrible truth about the real ingredients of Soylent Green. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
In Theaters: May 9, 1973 Wide
On DVD: Aug 5, 2003
PG, 1 hr. 35 min.
Drama, Mystery & Suspense, Classics, Science Fiction & Fantasy
Directed By: Richard Fleischer
Written By: Harry Harrison, Stanley R. Greenberg
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.....item 3B).... youtube video ... Soylent Green trailer ... 3:26 minutes
www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVpN312hYgU
Uploaded by transfofa on Aug 20, 2006
one of the bests sci-fi movies
Category:
Entertainment
Tags:
soylent green trailer science fiction sci-fi movies charlton heston
License:
Standard YouTube License
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.....item 3C).... youtube video ... Soylent Green Euthanasia Scene/Ending (favorite scene) ... 6:30 minutes..
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYTIgcMRdbU
Uploaded by omjeremy on Nov 22, 2010
My Favorite Scene from Soylent Green
Category:
Entertainment
Tags:
Soylent Green Ending
License:
Standard YouTube License
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.....item 4)... Mail Online ... Daily Mail ... www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ ... Three 'pink slime' factories closing after controversy decreases sales
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER and ASSOCIATED PRESS
PUBLISHED: 21:27 EST, 7 May 2012 | UPDATED: 22:41 EST, 7 May 2012
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2141064/Three-pink-slime...
Three of the controversial factories that produced the so-called ‘pink slime’ that disgusted the nation will close later this month.
Roughly 650 jobs will be lost when the plants in Texas, Kansas and Iowa are closed by parent company Beef Products Inc. in light of poor sales.
The plant in Amarillo, Texas, the plant in Garden City, Kansas, and the one in Waterloo, Iowa will close on May 25. A plant in South Sioux City, Nebraska, will remain open but run at reduced capacity.
The South Dakota-based company blamed the closures on what it said were unfounded attacks over its lean, finely textured beef.
During its processing, bits of beef are heated and treated with a small amount of ammonia to kill bacteria. The filler has been used for years and meets federal food safety standards.
But the company suspended operations at the three plants in March amid public uproar over the filler.
BPI has declined to discuss financial details, but has said it took a 'substantial' hit after social media exploded with worry over the product and an online petition seeking its ouster from schools drew hundreds of thousands of supporters.
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The U.S. Department of Agriculture has decided that school districts may stop using it, and some retail chains have pulled products containing it from their shelves.
Company officials had hoped to recover but have since realized that doing so wasn't possible in the near future.
'We will continue communicating the benefits of BPI's lean beef, but that process is much more difficult than (countering) the campaign to spread misinformation that brought us to this point,' company spokesman Rich Jochum said in a statement.
State executives who have supported the company blamed what they considered a smear campaign against the product, which has drawn scrutiny even though they and industry officials insist that it's safe.
'This is a sad day for the state of Iowa,' said Iowa Governor Terry Branstad.
'The fact that a false, misleading smear campaign can destroy a company's reputation overnight should disturb us all.'
The Republican governor said the workers will 'go home to their families and will soon be without a job, all because some media on the coasts decided to unfairly and viciously smear the product they so proudly produced.'
The phrase 'pink slime,' coined by a federal microbiologist, has appeared in the media at least since a critical 2009 New York Times report.
Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has railed against it, and it made headlines after McDonald's and other major chains discontinued their use last year.
But a recent piece by The Daily on the USDA's purchase of meat that included 'pink slime' for school lunches touched a nerve with a Texas blogger who focuses on kids' food.
She started an online petition asking U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to halt its use in school food, and the USDA will give schools the option of choosing ground beef that doesn't contain it starting in the fall.
Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman called the plant closings 'unfortunate and needless,' and said the product BPI produced is safe for consumption.
'BPI is a good family-owned business, and we will continue to work with them in an effort to continue to promote their safe and healthy beef,' Mr Heineman said.
Several politicians who toured one of the plants in March – including Mr Branstad, Texas governor Rick Perry, Kansas governor Sam Brownback, Nebraska lieutenant governor Rick Sheehy and South Dakota lieutenant governor Matt Michels- all agreed with the industry view that the beef has been unfairly maligned and mislabelled.
The public backlash against the product offers an important lesson to other food makers in the social-media age, said Marion Nestle, a nutrition and food-studies professor at New York University.
She noted that past food controversies, such as criticism of trans fats, took years to surface as major public issues, whereas social media enabled the campaign against 'pink slime' to quickly attract widespread public attention.
Ms Nestle also said BPI misinterpreted the public concern as a food-safety issue, instead of recognizing that critics were focused on not knowing what was added to their food and the belief that they were deceived.
'It's always sad when people are put out of work,' Ms Nestle said.
'But this company, they could have handled the whole situation differently. ... They were faced with a public relations disaster of really astonishing proportions.'
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Meme and my contacts...
Image by JolieNY
My photo meme: In my contacts Flickr search box, I typed my answers, one at a time, to the questions below. I chose the picture I thought best illustrated the answer.
1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up.
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One Word to describe you?
12. Bonus track: Most recent Flickr Favorite.
This was so much harder than I thought it would be. I got lots of black boxes but figured out how to work around it... Ay Yi Yi!
1. Jolie and the famous red Holga!, 2. Cheese Bread Coffee, 3. Memories, 4. Red berries shine through the mist. (33/365), 5. George Clooney, 6. 309/365 - SO GOOD SO FAR. SLOW DOWN HA HA., 7. Quintessential Vacation Shot, 8. Raspberry & white chocolate tart, 9. day 65 : 365 jan 27 • buddha, 10. mom's first car, 11. .curious, 12. Bubbly
Swifts @ Chapman School
Image by John Carleton
EVERY SUMMER thousands of tiny Vaux swifts swoop into Portland, Oregon, to spend several months feasting on flying insects during the day and roosting in the tall chimney at Chapman School at night. NW Portland is a regular vacation stopover for swifts during their annual migration from Alaska/Canada to Mexico/South America.
Historically, migrating swifts roosted in big hollow trees they found in Oregon's old growth forests, but now, thanks to logging and urban sprawl, most of those trees are gone. In 1994, some adventurous swift scouted out new digs in the brick chimney atop Chapman Elementary School. The little birds, 4-5" ("cigars with wings"), like the rough surfaces and cracks in the bricks that give them lots of convenient toe holds, plus the chimney is big enough to accomodate between 20,000 to 40,000 birds.
The school children and their teachers welcomed the swifts in their chimney. They researched the swifts and other migratory birds, drew and painted pictures of their feathered friends, and even elected the swift as the school mascot. As the days grew colder in late September and October, students wore their coats to class so that administrators could postpone starting up the school furnace until after the swifts left the chimney to fly south. At last, the Portland Public Schools and the Audubon Society teamed up to raise grant money to stabilize the chimney for the swifts and to install a new gas heating system for the school. The renovation cost approximately ,000 (that's not chicken feed!), and was funded by the Collins Foundation, the Metro Central Enhancement Grant Committee, and the Autzen Foundation.
Nine years have gone by, and the swifts are still summer celebrities in Portland. If you wander over to Chapman in the early evening, you'll find a crowd of spectators sitting on a grassy bank overlooking the school. Some bring their picnic suppers, some bring champagne, many have binoculars and cameras. All ages come to watch the swifts as they congregate and prepare to call it a day. At first, there are just a few of the little birds circling the chimney, dipping close to the mouth of the chimney stack, then abruptly pulling up and flying away to repeat the cycle. As more and more birds arrive, from a distance, they look like a cloud of bees, wheeling round and round the chimney. Other birds - predators - also appear. A hawk sits on the rim of the chimney, watching, waiting, then suddenly strikes and carries off his unlucky prey. Occasionally, the tables are turned, and a gang of irate swifts attack the hawk, driving him away, at least for a short time.
The flock grows and grows until the cloud of birds turns black, and still they circle. What are they waiting for? Maybe they're waiting for late arrivals? Maybe they are still catching insects as they fly? (Swifts eat in the air, and during their migration, sleep midair, too). Maybe they're waiting for the air in the chimney to be the right temperature, or for the setting sunlight to fall at a certain angle? The Audubon Society has put an information kiosk in the schoolyard; perhaps it explains what finally triggers the birds' descent.
Gradually the circling picks up speed. The birds fly several rapid last laps, and then.....Swooosh! They dive down the chimney and disappear. The sky is suddenly empty, blank. The sun is going down, too, and evening is here. Time to go home. The swifts will stay a few more weeks, until the days get shorter and the weather gets colder. Then mid-October or so, possibly when we fall back to standard time, they will fly away to winter in Mexico.
Text from here.
More info here.
Image by Kemon01
13 Jul 1941, Stockton, California, USA --- July 13, 1941 - Stockton, California: Motion picture beauty Jane Russell inspects her own insignia on the training plane of Don Brown, son of gap-mouthed screen comic Joe E. Brown at the Air Corps Advanced Training School at Stockton. She's the first actress to be chosen mascot by a group of Uncle Sam's airmen. "D" flight, 1st Echelon, 2nd section, named their group after the starlet. --- Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS
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