Pink Slime and other random bits

Images of pink slime has been dancing in my head. If you haven't yet heard about the rage over pink slime it is made from fat and other dregs from beef (which includes spinal and rectal tissue according to Wikipedia). This former garbage is then zapped by ammonia gas and sold as "boneless lean beef trimmings" or "lean finely textured beef".

Yes, that's right, fat and other nasty bits of beef rendered and returned to market as lean finely textured beef. Only in America. Or is it happening in Europe, or down under, too? It is enough to make me gag. Apparently it made enough other people gag they started pushing back. Grocery chains heard the customers and have removed it from their ground beef products.

This, of course, means the industry has to shut down production. If you can't sell it you might as well stop manufacturing it. If you stop manufacturing it you have to start laying people off. In our economy that creates hardship. What I don't see happening are the producers asking themselves what useful product can we produce. No, instead the wealthy business owners go to their best friends--the politicians in their pockets. So our beef producing states have champions in the government. The governors and industry leaders are saying, "you don't get it," and pointing their fingers at reporters and their critics.

Rage, divisiveness and finger pointing is alive and well in America. Is it exhausting? Yes. One thing that boggles my mind are the number of my generation--the generation that protested so much in the sixties and seventies, including the establishment--are now the establishment.

Are there things happening around you that boggle your mind?

Oh, do share.

February Fail and Random Thoughts

I planned to try posting a blog at least once a month. Instead, I spent the time writing and now it is March 1st--already!

We were experiencing a winter with minimal snow, including a February with only 6/10ths of an inch of snow and then leap day arrived. With leap day came the snow. By dark we had about six inches of snow. By midnight we had at least another inch of snow and by daybreak we were up to 9 inches of the white stuff and it is still snowing.

The wild thing this winter has been the high temperatures ranging well above the norm. And Saturday will be no different. It is supposed to continue to snow throughout most of the daylight hours. Tomorrow (Friday) is supposed to be a typical 'seasonal' day--mid thirties to high thirties. By Saturday the temperature is expected to get close or top fifty degrees (F). That is quite mild for this time of year. We may get hit by another storm on Saturday, but this time it will be a rain event.

And goodby to winter--it was nice knowing you, even if you could only stay for a few days.

Nattering on about the weather was not my original plan when I started writing, but sometimes it does such unexpected things it is hard not to write about it.

What is your favorite time of year and how does weather play a role in it?