Great Article (Graduation: T-11 days)

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/26/opinion/26douthat.html

Week 15!?

It saddens my heart that this is the final week of my favorite class. Nevermind that this is also the last week of my less than favorite classes. Draft horse class is by far the most enjoyable, most practically applicable and most experiential learning-based class I was fortunate to take this semester. I love this class!

I am currently cramming for tomorrow's exam. I'm not going to lie; tomorrow's exam frightens me moderately due to its unknown level of competency expectations and the fact that I have not been able to attend all of the classes in the last exam period. I was most disappointed by not being able to attend the hoof trimming lecture as I was interested in how I could apply this to my own horses at home. Regardless, I have really enjoyed this class and will miss it when I go home this summer.

Flash/Bang Method

For those of you who thought so, the flash/bang method here is not talking about a weapon. I'm in first aid class and they're lecturing about the importance of avoiding lightning injuries. After seeing lightning, then count until you hear corresponding thunder. Each 5ish seconds is a mile. Once the count has reached a frequency of 30, you should already be inside. Thinking back over my past, I have to say I've been in some crazy unsafe situations (like 2 summers ago when the lightning hit while the thunder blasted my ears - probably a little close... since I lost my vision and fell over.). However, 30 seconds seems like some severe overkill. I've felt perfectly safe down to 5-6 seconds.

Anyhow. Of related interest is the fact that this year Westerville put in lightning alarms at their parks. I think that's a pretty cool idea, and will be interested to see sometime how that works firsthand. But apparently it alerts parkgoers when the risk of lightning strike is high. Pretty cool.

Toxic Couches (Graduation: T-12 days)

Toxic couches.... who knew? Definitely sounds worse than a rug burn. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8644156.stm

I still can't figure out how to make a link work. I did it just once, and had to remove it because it linked double in a row and was really awkward looking. Anyhow, until I figure it out or learn how to write my own, please continue to copy and paste into your browser. If I use the google blogger method the entire link disappears (even though they say it's linked) so that was definitely not a viable option.

I'm sitting in 401 class today and really questioning what this was supposed to accomplish. Some of these students have been here 4 years and still can't talk in public without notecards, yet this class is about debating animal issues. If you can't debate or even discuss, I'm a strong proponent of you not passing this class. Sure, I may sound cruel, but the opposite viewpoint states that I don't want you out in the world toting a BS in Animal Science without you being able to even discuss what you've learned in the past 2 years.

Also. I'm pretty good about blowing through questions and forcing believable answers without people knowing I have no idea what's going on. I have seen some very sad cases of people trying to lie in front today without any clue of what they're talking about.

Cowlumbus, take 2.

http://www2.nbc4i.com/cmh/news/local/article/2_cows_run_loose_on_osu_campus/35462/

Amanda's said all that needs said about this. But really, if 2 bulls are loose on campus, why would a responsible journalist or broadcaster then refer to them as cows? I've seen the journalist cheat sheet for terms during ag interviews and stories and it definitely outlines the difference.

Earth day

It's earth day today and I didn't even know till now. Must be because I care about the earth the other 364 days of the year also. Remember: Every day is earth day to a farmer.

Fantastic!

Unbelievably awesome: http://backporch.fanhouse.com/2010/04/21/fordham-baseball-player-brian-kownacki-believes-he-can-fly/?icid=main|main|dl4|link2|http%3A%2F%2Fbackporch.fanhouse.com%2F2010%2F04%2F21%2Ffordham-baseball-player-brian-kownacki-believes-he-can-fly%2F

Reflections on Politics and such

Tony and I had an interesting conversation today at Harper's relating to the state of world affairs and politics. I think I will just sum things up here since nobody has enough time to read the rantings of mind. Basically, our frustration with politics, be it local or state or national is the lack of both of two vital characteristics in a morally legitimate politician.

Firstly, politicians can lack the ability to think critically. They perhaps vote on party lines or get caught up in catch phrases or hot topics without the ability or foresight to consider the future results of their actions or the potential harm that their voting preferences for the present might have on the future.

Secondly, politicians can lack the ability to stand to their convictions which should have gotten them elected. Consider if you will the possibility that there is a politician who is able to independently evaluate situations and will vote according to their predisposed morals and experience. Not many politicians will admit to this, I doubt. However, then there is my concern that politicians who are able think premeditatively towards the future results of their actions and voting will instead be debating the public consequences of said actions. Why is it that there are no convicted politicians who are willing to voice their convictions, stand on them through trial and act on them. If a politician is elected on their convictions, which they should be, then they should also stand by these during their representation of their constituents since these are the people who have elected them on their assumed convictions.

On a different note. Class today was on suicide prevention. Well, that's just great, I guess. Interesting at least. But what was most interesting to me was that 3x more females attempt suicide than males. However, males are significantly more successful. Apparently guys have more follow-through.

Tri-State

It's 10.27 pm and I am back from Tri-State Dairy Nutrition Conference and settled in for the evening. I'm planning on sleeping soon and late into the morning because I am absolutely exhausted from such a long day. However, it is really exciting to be returning with a 2nd Place certificate for my efforts and a good day in general. Honestly, after giving my presentation, I was pretty unhappy with how it went and I was very pleased even to be able to receive 2nd place in the competition. Congratulations to the other two winners, and props to everyone who presented. It was great having such a large increase in presenters this year.

Plow Day recap

As I type, I am uploading pictures of Plow Day to my facebook, courtesy of Amanda. They are pretty good pictures, and cooler than that, I am even in them driving the horses. :) I have attached one for your enjoyment. Please humor me.

Well, the upload just failed, but that doesn't mean I can't put one up on here anyways. I really enjoyed talking to the people who came up for plow day, and also getting the chance to drive around as well. Saturday was truly a great day.

Delinquent

Even more ironic would be if I misspelled that title. Anyhow, I'm back on a Monday. It's 1.39pm, and I am typing in class after giving a presentation I never reviewed before going to an exam I never studied for (don't worry, it's first aid). I'm hoping to get lucky on both accounts, but I have attached a picture from my presentation for your entertainment. I used it in the presentation to talk about negotiation between activists and producers and the importance of negotiating in the zone of potential agreement, but it could also summarize our group. Well, mostly. I think we did well, but only through luck and 2 very skilled presenters. ;)


Also, I am returning to H & H today with my wedding ring. I would love to say right there that they have been great to work with and have so far saved us over $150 by my best guess. But today I am headed back to get a size of wedding ring that does not fly off my finger. Also, please be impressed by my new ability to add italics into the blog. I'm getting this thing.... slowly.

We went and saw the movie "Bounty Hunter" last night. It was a good movie, and had a good plot, but I have to say it was not at all what I had expected. Based on the previews, I expected greater amounts of humor and less serious drama, but instead it was a more even balance of the two. Good movie, and if you have spare time in the next couple of days I would suggest watching it.

Fantastic

That's not how I feel exactly... but I'm getting there. I'm almost done with this presentation and with it ends all other true responsibilities for the week. Sure, I have a lot of other stuff to do, but it's all fun.

This is my last plug for the Relay for Life. Please go to my facebook page if you know me, or comment under here if you don't, and I will find a way for you to donate to my walk in support of cancer research

Also, in case you wondered if CNN was the only terrible news station.

Also. Dear google blog. You are hating on my links. Please let them start working?

P.S. (4.29.2011) - Links correct on here as well.

Just another day in first aid class

I'm in lecture today and my poor lecturer is from Trinidad and Tobago. Great guy, and I wish I had his entire lecture recorded. For example: He described himself as a fetus, living in his apartment (uterus), with his carpet as the placenta, his door as the birth canal and his internet cable as the umbilical cord exposing him to the world wide web. lol.

Anyhow, he's pretty funny, but I think it's a cover-up for the fact that he hates this job and hopes he doesn't have to keep doing this. lol.

Yay for pregnancy in class. I love that my lecturer handed this off to a sub because he didn't want to teach it himself. Please enjoy our guest Jason's comments in quotes...

"Ladies, you have a lot to look forward to. You might poop while giving birth. If you do, just pretend it never happened."

"If you are helping with a birth, remember: You don't want your hand down there, and then on a sandwich, and then down there."

As I continue to blog during class, I just got complimented by him for answering questions directly and correctly. "There's only one guy in this class who answers questions. Great." Too bad he doesn't know I'm also editing a paper, chatting with Brittany, and making a ppt.

The good news is, it looks like it's all good once you get the head out. Phew...

Apparently this link is actually a legit undercover capture, lol. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9n9JJKlIpI
I still don't know how to make these links work. I tried to attached the link, and yet when I posted the link it wasn't there. AHHHH! the frustration.

Now we're discussing heat and cold stress. "If it's January and you're in a Speedo, that's a problem. Same as if you're in a winter coat in August."

"Rap music?" (as he leans over a student) "Oh, that's good. No, really, I like rap music, but I can't understand Gucci. All I hear is rah rah rah rah (then high pitched voice) Gucci! I'm a foreigner and can't understand him".

"So, if it's early in the morning ... and I'm going to practice early and I have my hands down my pants, I'm just keeping them warm." ... "It's just that my groin is most accessible to me."

"In my version of the movie (Titanic), Jack would have lived. Rose would've got her own boat. Or she could have shared. Jack got played."

Chocolate Bacon?

Check out this link, and then watch the video called "Bacon Bliss". Funny, but I have a hard time thinking many people took this very seriously.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/nightlinedailyline/2010/04/sizzle-bacon-lovers-of-the-world-unite.html

Got Milk?

I do. One of my favorites brought me some today from her home and I have to say that it is absolutely fantastic to have real milk. I can understand why people have this vision of organic greatness in the taste of good milk. Now, I'm pretty sure these cows weren't organic (and if you do finally read my blog again, you can correct me), but still the milk tastes so great and I feel like I can taste the cow in it. Now of course, with Michael Pollan's big quantity points last night, this milk is exactly what he wants. No offense, random cows... while your milk might taste better than Meijer's, you still won't get all of my business.

I need to be able to get milk when I need it and at a price I can afford. This is my personal reason for all of the foods I buy. Sure, local is great, but if I can't afford it, or if local isn't available when I'm finally out of work after a busy day, I'm still going to buy the milk that I can get.

In other news, Trent Loos facebook friended me today. This is pretty special, even if he does have 2100 friends, if only for the fact that he friended me without my searching him out. Heck, I didn't even know he was on facebook, and I was really excited to receive that news this evening.

Also, we played 2-3 hours of basketball today on the feedmill "court". I love playing basketball, and really enjoyed the exercise and the competition. I felt like it was a great, friendly set of matches and I had both my good games and my bad ones. Yet, I always seem to play better on a bad hoop, even if I've never played on it before for previous experience.

And can I just say that it frustrates me when people like Farm Sanctuary do such great things such as save injured animals. That's great, really. But then Gene Baur and his crew turn around and complain about Factory Farms. Find a new term already, because this one still doesn't have a clear definition, only a misguided set of followers.

A busy day for blogging

Tonight was eventful and interesting. I arrived for dinner at 5.30 pm, courtesy of Tony dropping me off at the stage gate for the Wharton Center. After talking my way through security, I was greeted by Gavin who looked fantastic in his white sneakers. In all honesty, I have trouble picturing him any other way now. Then I conversed with Greg, Dean Armstrong (who today finally didn't remember who I am, even though he always has remembered me before), Michael Pollan (who insisted he not be called "Dr."). Wait, did I just say I met Michael Pollan!? Yes, yes I did.

I ate dinner with Michael Pollan and 21 other people, and I found him to be a really nice guy. There was nearly nothing he said with which I couldn't agree. Well, yeah, nearly nothing. Then there was his comment about the Catholic church not being able to talk to God on their own, but needing intercessors. Blah. And is it really possible to feed the world in this way. Well, yes, it is probably possible, but what it really seems like is that this guy is dreaming of the impossible and politics will never allow what he wants to be accomplished. He even didn't come across too strong on organic, or too strong on non-meat eating. In fact, he even made a joke about eating pigs at dinner, and we ate an all-Michigan meal complete with some pretty good round roast.

All told, I had a great night, and I will post some of his jokes later that were pretty entertaining.

Spiders on Drugs and Trent Loos

For those of you that know who Trent Loos is, you're probably wondering how he is in the same title as "Spiders on Drugs". Well, Loos is on campus today and as he is a popular hero of agriculture, I am very glad that he was brought onto campus today to balance the arrival of Michael Pollan. I for one am going to see Pollan, but only because I've seen Loos before. Loos is an inspiring man with critical thinking and debating skills, but sometimes I need a change of climate to increase my debating ability, so I will probably not see Loos today unless I am lucky enough to get out of class early.

Which leads me to my post title. Currently we are discussing intoxication and drug overdose in class and so we started today with the "Spiders on Drugs" Youtube clip. If you haven't seen it, I highly suggest it. Check it out through this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHzdsFiBbFc

To link the two together... HSUS recently released another video depicting animal cruelty to chickens on a farm in Iowa. I'm not going to challenge the fact that this happens. Instead, I call on farmers in the entire US to accept the fact that this cruelty happens and to stop it in their own industries. It is not any more acceptable for an animal to be abused than it is for you to winter dump your whole lagoon on ice. Whether or not we like for these regulations to be imposed on us, the only thing that attacking these videos is doing is drawing more attention to the shameful videos themselves. This isn't to say that we should all be spying on each other to make sure that nobody is abusing animals, but I do think that we should all do a better job to take enjoyment in the better care of our animals and to proudly share it with those around us.

For example, check out the Proud to Dairy website. Or visit it through facebook. I met a journalist for Proud to Dairy this week in California, and it was inspiring to me that this man had taken on the cause of agriculture without having any agricultural experience before in his life. I don't remember his name right now, but he should be commended.

Donation!

Dear Amanda, I absolutely love you. And your donation to my Relay Walk made my morning. It's so nice to know that somebody read everything, and my club is really happy to have more money donated on our behalf. MSU has now raised $80,000 dollars for Relay for Life and it is because of people like you. You're my favorite. :)

Back from California

So I'm back from California, and I think I can term the trip a success. We didn't win, but we did have a great team bonding experience and met great people who we will have the opportunity to interact with in the future in our careers. That's what's most important, right? Still, I would really like to have won.

In other news, I am now 4 weeks from graduation. I have limited exams left and it's relieving to think that I'm nearing the end. I've been kind enough to book myself with other non-academic things to replace it, but the change is still welcome.

Also, I have gained a lot of respect for Taylor Swift today, thanks to Kevin Messing's facebook posting. Check out the link: http://www.cmt.com/videos/misc/401599/thug-story.jhtml

Cowlumbus?

http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2010/04/09/i-70-travelers-nearly-have-a-cow.html?type=rss&cat=&sid=101&title=I-70+travelers+nearly+have+a+cow

Amanda sent that link to me, absolutely great. :)

Sigh of relief

My biochemistry grade is in today. Don't go expecting me to save the world with my knowledge of basic life functions and processes, but I did get a 52.5 out of 100. Laughing? I wasn't. The class average is a 59, after he gave 5 gimme points for questions that he wrote incorrectly without complete answer options. And consider that this was right after Easter. The class average has been consistently below a 60. That means he has to curve, right? Anyhow, my overall grade in the class is now up to a 51.96, which is just 1.97 about failing. I'm walking the tightrope, but so far haven't fallen off.

Celebrating the weather...

...by being inside and working. It was a long day, and after my tail docking presentation got torn up a bit, and after my biochem exam this morning, I just needed to go home and sit. I've worked a long time for today to be over, but it finally is over and I'm glad. Now if only I can finish up with all my stuff and be ready to go by tomorrow night, and be packed, and be studied up on Michael Pollan, and done with my fish meal draft?

Vog is not always a typo...

Who knew this even existed? Well apparently wikipedia has spoken. It's official, America, I can add one more word to my Office 2007 dictionary.

Guam

For those of you who tried to view my previous link about D-Rep. Hank Johnson's capsizing comment, please view today's post with the more current video - yesterday's was removed from Youtube.com.



After reading this article and watching that movie, please feel free to answer the question of the day: How on earth did this man get elected?

And to solve the debate about Guam's size, I have attached a topo map, and dimensions. 30 miles long, 12 miles wide.

P.S. (4/28/2011) - I have corrected the video and links in this article since at the time I didn't know how to input them right. Thanks!

Don't be stupid in public...

Dear readers (and I know there are few of you),

Please notice on the following link 2 things. 1) PETA has finally recruited non-old/non-ugly women to stand out naked in protest of animal cruelty in replacement of their previous models. 2) They have instead switched to ignorant/young ones. If you're going to protest successfully you would assume you should get your facts straight, or your cuts of meat? She didn't.

http://www.courant.com/community/hartford/hc-peta-protest-hartford-pictures,0,5003206.photogallery

For those non-livestock readers I have also attached an image of beef wholesale cuts.

While I am ranting on unintelligent people, let me please also add this youtube video link for the Senator who thought Guam would flip over.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsFsn8ekyhw

In other news, my car dropped into neutral on my way home today, in the same spot as it did 3 years ago when the tires blew out. Kinda weird, but weirder (I know...) was the fact that once I turned Mabel off and let her sit a minute she turned back on fine and has run well since. I need to get a new one soon!

For those of you who haven't seen the video yet, please check out the Honors College Class Committee video for MSU 2010. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WySJbduxc8g

I am posting this blog on my facebook for the entertainment of the first two links to be shared with as many people as possible. If this is your first time reading my blog, please feel free to subscribe (and feed the fish on the sidebar). Thanks!

90,000 is a big number

Yeah, that's what I said when I logged into gmail today and saw that the SET fan group on facebook is at 90,000. Wow.

Anyhow, I'm trying to put in some solid work on my bioenergy factsheets and then on a fish meal paper, so I've gotta go for now.