Monday, February 12, 2007
Saturday, February 10, 2007
Thursday, February 08, 2007
A Few More Things About Food
1)... No, not true. Cows see very little grass nowadays in their lives. They get them on corn as fast as they can, which speeds up their lifespan, gets them really fat, and allows you to slaughter them within 14 months.
2)The problem with this system, or one of the problems with this system, is that cows are not evolved to digest corn. It creates all sorts of problems for them. The rumen is designed for grass. And corn is just too rich, too starchy. So as soon as you introduce corn, the animal is liable to get sick.
3)It creates a whole [host] of changes to the animal. So you have to essentially teach them how to eat corn. You teach their bodies to adjust. And this is done in something called the backgrounding pen at the ranch, which is kind of the prep school for the feedlot. Here's where you teach them how to eat corn.
4)You start giving them antibiotics, because as soon as you give them corn, you've disturbed their digestion, and they're apt to get sick, so you then have to give them drugs. That's how you get in this whole cycle of drugs and meat. By feeding them what they're not equipped to eat well, we then go down this path of technological fixes, and the first is the antibiotics. Once they start eating the [corn], they're more vulnerable. They're stressed, so they're more vulnerable to all the different diseases cows get. But specifically they get bloat, which is just a horrible thing to happen. They stop ruminating. 5) Michael Pollan
6) Organic farmer is back!
7) Wild Food video clips
8) Whole Foods responds to Michael Pollans book The Omnivore's DillemaBecause of our success and growth, Whole Foods Market attracts a lot of praise, comparison and, sometimes, hostility — along with the occasional puzzling ethical or moral judgment. As a retail business that operates at a level of transparency far exceeding that of almost any other business of its size, I find this curious but figure that these judgments are a by-product of our success. Your book focuses on several points, either by implication or actual statement that I find troublesome in terms of their accuracy. I want to provide you with additional background on these points and provide you with the names of Whole Foods Market spokespersons who can assist with any research materials or clarification that you may need in the future.
I regret that you did not engage in any serious research about how Whole Foods Market actually does business or you would have discovered that we support local and small farm food production all over the United States as well as in other parts of the world. Whole Foods Market, despite its size, does not operate as a typical monolithic corporation such as Wal-Mart (with which you associate Whole Foods Market several times in your book). Our company continues to operate on a decentralized model wherein each of our 11 regions, as well as each store, has a high level of autonomy. Differences in product offerings, suppliers, and seasonal availability result in a significant variation of items on our shelves from region to region and even store to store within the same city. However, our strict quality standards, the highest in the industry, are observed with every supplier and retail outlet. In other words, you may find a variation in the types and kinds of products, but each has been screened by our rigorous quality standards.Whole Foods Blog and here.
9) Sustainable Table
10) Food and Design
11) Grass-fed Basics
12) Grass=fed Revolution
13) Peak Oil News
2)The problem with this system, or one of the problems with this system, is that cows are not evolved to digest corn. It creates all sorts of problems for them. The rumen is designed for grass. And corn is just too rich, too starchy. So as soon as you introduce corn, the animal is liable to get sick.
3)It creates a whole [host] of changes to the animal. So you have to essentially teach them how to eat corn. You teach their bodies to adjust. And this is done in something called the backgrounding pen at the ranch, which is kind of the prep school for the feedlot. Here's where you teach them how to eat corn.
4)You start giving them antibiotics, because as soon as you give them corn, you've disturbed their digestion, and they're apt to get sick, so you then have to give them drugs. That's how you get in this whole cycle of drugs and meat. By feeding them what they're not equipped to eat well, we then go down this path of technological fixes, and the first is the antibiotics. Once they start eating the [corn], they're more vulnerable. They're stressed, so they're more vulnerable to all the different diseases cows get. But specifically they get bloat, which is just a horrible thing to happen. They stop ruminating. 5) Michael Pollan
6) Organic farmer is back!
7) Wild Food video clips
8) Whole Foods responds to Michael Pollans book The Omnivore's DillemaBecause of our success and growth, Whole Foods Market attracts a lot of praise, comparison and, sometimes, hostility — along with the occasional puzzling ethical or moral judgment. As a retail business that operates at a level of transparency far exceeding that of almost any other business of its size, I find this curious but figure that these judgments are a by-product of our success. Your book focuses on several points, either by implication or actual statement that I find troublesome in terms of their accuracy. I want to provide you with additional background on these points and provide you with the names of Whole Foods Market spokespersons who can assist with any research materials or clarification that you may need in the future.
I regret that you did not engage in any serious research about how Whole Foods Market actually does business or you would have discovered that we support local and small farm food production all over the United States as well as in other parts of the world. Whole Foods Market, despite its size, does not operate as a typical monolithic corporation such as Wal-Mart (with which you associate Whole Foods Market several times in your book). Our company continues to operate on a decentralized model wherein each of our 11 regions, as well as each store, has a high level of autonomy. Differences in product offerings, suppliers, and seasonal availability result in a significant variation of items on our shelves from region to region and even store to store within the same city. However, our strict quality standards, the highest in the industry, are observed with every supplier and retail outlet. In other words, you may find a variation in the types and kinds of products, but each has been screened by our rigorous quality standards.Whole Foods Blog and here.
9) Sustainable Table
10) Food and Design
11) Grass-fed Basics
12) Grass=fed Revolution
13) Peak Oil News
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
Stroud Off the Grid Preview
This one is for my friends who have an old farmhouse and land EXACTLY near where this show is located. They are doing the exact same idea as one of my heroes...Les Stroud.
I wrote him a fan latter last year and haven't heard back from him...maybe he'll see this...here is his blog...
Friday, February 02, 2007
SPIN Magazine: 10 Ways to Fix The Biz
Could SPIN Magazine's ten ways to fix the music business help the art scene?
1) Make CDs cheaper. This is obvious you wouldn't think it should have to be spoken. But we're saying it anyway. After two decades, CDs should not be more expensive than they once were.
2) Stop indulging artists. (here SPIN talks about the bloated, overpriced behemoth as the dreaded double disk. They call everyone, Christian Aguilara, REd Hot Chili Peppers, Oukast...and reissuing the same CD a few months later "expanded". Yes, Bruce, that's you. Does this sound like the bloated overpriced behemoth of the art market?)
3)Have a TV network launch the songwriting equivalent of American Idol.
4) Give up the ghost of the blockbuster album. (okay...that really sounds like Major Art Galleries.)
5) Only release certain kinds of music on CD. The fact that Barry Manilow was able to reclaim the No.1 spot on the album chart with his karaoke-style covers albums proves conclusively that boomers are buying more CDs than younger music fans. So if a particular CD is mainly going to appeal to someone below the age of 30, go digital-it'll be better for the environment, too.
6) Cut concert prices.
7) Stop making it so hard to choose between formats. ( Is this a cousin to popsurrealism versus the notion of historically correct?)
8) Fully embrace the web. Instead of making threats when an unauthorized song or video shows up on mySpace or YouTube, majors should welcome the exposure. In its early days, MTV made you want to buy records and go to shows. The Web has the ability to provide those same thrills. (Peter Plagens in Art In America wrote: "Exceptions [to reader disinterest in art critics] exist -- as with the lead critics for a few of the major dailies -- but they don't abound. More and more people in the audience for contemporary art would rather read Tyler Green snark somebody in his blog, Modern Art Notes, than ponder the considered judgment of Michael Kimmelman on a MoMA retrospective. Many art writers have either added unpaid blogging to their activities or been squeezed into it from want of other, traditional outlets -- for which many bloggers don't have enough writerly inclination or discipline, anyway. Each of those art bloggers has a following of fans and other bloggers, and each of those bloggers has... and so on. A growing form of art criticism consists of posting links to other people's criticism, which consists of posting links... and so on." For more read Edward Winkleman
9) Reinvent the record store. We're approaching a time when anyone who walks into a record store will truly be like those obsessives in High Fidelity. So why not cater to them? Sell only indie, alt rock, and hip-hop, not to mention vinyl and every type of iPod and iPod competitior.
10) Stop releasing crap.
1) Make CDs cheaper. This is obvious you wouldn't think it should have to be spoken. But we're saying it anyway. After two decades, CDs should not be more expensive than they once were.
2) Stop indulging artists. (here SPIN talks about the bloated, overpriced behemoth as the dreaded double disk. They call everyone, Christian Aguilara, REd Hot Chili Peppers, Oukast...and reissuing the same CD a few months later "expanded". Yes, Bruce, that's you. Does this sound like the bloated overpriced behemoth of the art market?)
3)Have a TV network launch the songwriting equivalent of American Idol.
4) Give up the ghost of the blockbuster album. (okay...that really sounds like Major Art Galleries.)
5) Only release certain kinds of music on CD. The fact that Barry Manilow was able to reclaim the No.1 spot on the album chart with his karaoke-style covers albums proves conclusively that boomers are buying more CDs than younger music fans. So if a particular CD is mainly going to appeal to someone below the age of 30, go digital-it'll be better for the environment, too.
6) Cut concert prices.
7) Stop making it so hard to choose between formats. ( Is this a cousin to popsurrealism versus the notion of historically correct?)
8) Fully embrace the web. Instead of making threats when an unauthorized song or video shows up on mySpace or YouTube, majors should welcome the exposure. In its early days, MTV made you want to buy records and go to shows. The Web has the ability to provide those same thrills. (Peter Plagens in Art In America wrote: "Exceptions [to reader disinterest in art critics] exist -- as with the lead critics for a few of the major dailies -- but they don't abound. More and more people in the audience for contemporary art would rather read Tyler Green snark somebody in his blog, Modern Art Notes, than ponder the considered judgment of Michael Kimmelman on a MoMA retrospective. Many art writers have either added unpaid blogging to their activities or been squeezed into it from want of other, traditional outlets -- for which many bloggers don't have enough writerly inclination or discipline, anyway. Each of those art bloggers has a following of fans and other bloggers, and each of those bloggers has... and so on. A growing form of art criticism consists of posting links to other people's criticism, which consists of posting links... and so on." For more read Edward Winkleman
9) Reinvent the record store. We're approaching a time when anyone who walks into a record store will truly be like those obsessives in High Fidelity. So why not cater to them? Sell only indie, alt rock, and hip-hop, not to mention vinyl and every type of iPod and iPod competitior.
10) Stop releasing crap.
Thursday, February 01, 2007
Muse, Poet and Supermodel
1) A photo of Elizabeth Siddal, pre-raphaelite goddess. The boys got all the press and credit...but the models were the face of their movement. Elizabeth Siddal was a woman with her own talents: she was an excellent painter, perhaps with more edge than her boyfriend! She also wrote poems.
2) Before the Battle by Elizabeth Siddal3) I think she would be an incredible subject for a movie. Just think of the sets, the costumes and make-up of this fascinating period of art and ideals.
4) She floated in a bath tub to model for the painting of Ophelia. She got very ill from this and had continued ill health for the rest of her life. Her father almost sued Millias.5) Art critic John Ruskin subsidized her career. He was her real friend. I wonder if he was in love with her?
6) One of her poems...The Lust of the Eyes
I care not for my Lady's soul
Though I worship before her smile;
I care not where be my Lady's goal
When her beauty shall lose its wile.
Low sit I down at my Lady's feet
Gazing through her wild eyes
Smiling to think how my love will fleet
When their starlike beauty dies.
I care not if my Lady pray
To our Father which is in Heaven
But for joy my heart's quick pulses play
For to me her love is given.
Then who shall close my Lady's eyes
And who shall fold her hands?
Will any hearken if she cries
Up to the unknown lands?
7) The Ladie's Lament from the Ballad of Sir Patrick Spenser. A painting by Elizabeth Siddal.
8) The Queen of Hearts Siddal posed for Gabriel Dante Rossetti almost exclusively after the bath tub ordeal. They were in love. But were not married for most of their relationship.
8) Beata Beatrix by Rossetti. Siddal and Rossetti were lovers, she was his model and learned art and poetry from him. He eventually married her although his family did not approve. 
9) The women involved in the Pre-Raphaelite movement were radicals...this photo is the strict formal materialistic clothing of the time of Siddal. Siddals loose fashions harken to ancient motifs of a return to traditional and artist interests in history rather than uptight materialism.
10) Compare Siddal's wild orginal flowing hair to this mean style from the mainstream.11)) Siddal was addicted to laudadum and died of an overdose. Rossetti threw an original manuscript of poems into her casket in torment...but later regretted the action and she was exhumed to rescue the poems. The poetry was a critical failure.
12) When her body was exhumed to collect the poetry manuscript of Rossetti, he could not attend. His friend in charge of collecting the poems calimed that her copper hair had grown after her death and filled the casket and she hadn't decomposed. Her former lover was haunted by the exhumation for the rest of his life.
13) The Quest of the Holy Grail by Elizaberth Siddal.Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!
View More Thursday Thirteen Participants
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
