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Cow Brains Into Biofuel
beatleadam writes "If the reality of $2.00 per gallon of gas does not scare you enough, then perhaps this will. '...Cattle brains, skull, eyes, spinal column, small intestine and other parts suspected of harboring mad cow disease were banned from human consumption in December as a safety precaution, shortly after the discovery of the first case of mad cow disease in the United States...' The FDA is now funding research aimed at producing biofuels from cattle brains. What about the exhaust given off from cars that are burning Mad Cow Fuels?" It's the grand circle of life.
I've always wondered, is it better to kill a cow without it knowing, or to use the current method of lining the cows up for slaughter?
Stress causes muscles to tense up and prevents the release of toxins from the muscle tissue into the bloodstream. Relaxed muscles do the opposite and are usually fairly clean because of a fresh supply of aerobic blood.
If the cows know that they are going to die, wouldn't this increase their stress level and ultimately degrade the flavor and consistency of their meat?
Perhaps it would be better to pamper the cows and then slaughter them one by one out of sight of other cows who may become distressed.
Flavorful beef is what I'm after here, but if it also leads to better fuel for my Impala then I'm glad to help start the conversation.
why not burn our dead people not spawn the bovine damned
?
the horror
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There are places where the networks are not touching,and there are places where they are-Boeing's Lori Gunter
Why would $2.00/gal for gas scare me? Two dollars isn't a damn thing. I go through two dollars in coffee while I'm sitting at breakfast reading the newspaper at the local diner, before work. Two dollars is three minutes of work in the office. For an hour's worth of work, I can afford 20 gallons of gasoline which will take me about 500 miles in any direction I want. That's seven seconds of my time to afford a mile's worth of gas. That's a pretty sweet deal!
And if I were too poor to afford a measely $10/wk for gas, I could save a whole lot of money by taking public transportation. For a $50/mo bus pass, I could save by not having to pay gas, maintainance, tune-ups, insurance, lease, tolls and everything else that's related to owning a car.
In fact, I make about $120,000/yr and am 31 years old and do not own a car. I never have owned a car. I don't have a driver's license and have never even been behind the wheel of a car. Why waste that kind of money on something that only depreciates over time when I can just put out $50 for a bus pass and even gain an extra two hours per day to read the newspaper, technical manuals, listen to music, watch movies on my DVD player and whatever else I feel like doing that morning or evening?
People who complain about gas need to get themselves in check. Gas is cheap. Driving is something you do because you want to. Either deal with the expense and stop complaining or stop driving and take public transit or ride a bike or something. Cars aren't fucking necessities for fuck's sake.
Just out of curiosity... It is said that when you move form one level in food chain to next, only 10% of energy is tranferred. (For e.g. if a cow eats 100 Joules worth of grass, then human who eat cow get 10 Joules from those 100 J ). Taking this 10% efficiency rule in to account, would it not be better if we invested in obtaining power from plants rather than from animal's flesh? Am I missing something here?
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More intriguing is the use of manure. Cattle are not raised in confinement so much yet, but hogs are. Some of the confinement sites in Iowa make as much waste as small cities - and the biggest problem with it is that you need to plan to get rid of it. They make so much waste in such a small place that it becomes a problem (both ecologically and "smellologicallY").
If that manure can easily be converted into oil - that solves 3 problems very easily (excess manure running off into streams and creeks, smell, fuel).
A fine is a tax you pay for doing wrong and a tax is a fine you pay for doing all right.
COMBUSTED
The prions that cause BSE are incredibly hardy and are extremely heat resistant! They can easily withstand 1 hour at 360 C.
IDIOT
Why not just state your case without the flame? Take a deep breath, relax, think happy thoughts.. then post.