just in time for class!

following the lead of the NYTimes;

Wall St. Journal to End Fee for Web

November 13, 2007

my guess is that you will need to remember to use firefox; and load adblock plus.

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bird blogs

the wall street journal hasn't gone to free access (like the NYTimes); but, they had a very nice article regarding three avian-type blogs!
while they missed our little spot in iSpace... there is:

• birds etc.
• i and the bird
• bird watchers digest
• bird chick

the first, BirdEtc is a nice summary of recent posts on birds from other sources -- a nice RSS feed, if i've ever seen one! the others have a variety of well done photos/videos, as well as unique (if romanticized) commentary...

Technorati Tags: science

if we took out the bones, it wouldn't be crunchy...

one of my alltime favorite topics around penn state is whether or not we should be eating horses. its a shocker for all of our equine.minor students, but also a bridge to talking about other ideas. certainly, when i was in france -- horse meat was not so strange; but, then again snacking on man's best friend leads to cogent and necessary discussions about the ethics of eating meat.

enter the plight of the bluefin tuna; and the ever-so-burdensome effort to replace it with, gasp, yellowfin tuna.

Ready for Life Without Bluefin Tuna? - The Lede - Breaking News - New York Times Blog

Martin Fackler of The New York Times reported that the Japanese are using more yellowfin, are beginning to try the previously unspeakable avocado roll from the United States, and most notoriously, are tasting “sushi” made with smoked deer and raw horse. That last one may sound like a scary, even gross, proposition. But David Pasternack, a chef who serves plenty of raw fish at Esca in New York, said it’s nothing like what you’re picturing. “The horse in Japan is raised Kobe-style,” he told Serious Eats. “It’s incredibly delicious, sweet and tender.”

who knew horses would be in such demand?!
me? i'll stick with the smoked duck.

[crossposted at gfb.log.alt]

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Feed Factor

not to pile on ... but; the natural concomitant of the previous post regarding the price of feed ingredients, is the increase in the consumer price index -- especially poultry.

further, look at what has happened to Tyson's stock over the last month.

Tyson's shares have fallen ~10% over the last couple of days as earnings estimates have fallen. however, they are not alone, meat producers across the board have taken a hit. Pilgrims Pride shares fell ~$1, Smithfield Foods fell ~$0.50, Sanderson Farms fell ~$0.20 and Hormel Foods ~$0.14.

some analysts retain a 'buy' position for 'meat' companies, based on increasing prices, management restructuring, potential of exports to china and

added thurs 20070906 2:37pm (edt):
and if we think this isn't bad enough... how about the tortilla crisis??

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Futures

a new semester; and what better way to start with the engine that drives the machine!!

Agriculture Futures Rally Higher - New York Times

CHICAGO (AP) -- Futures for wheat, soybeans, oats and corn advanced Friday on the Chicago Board of Trade. Wheat for December delivery rose 6 cents to $7.905 a bushel; December corn rose 3 cents to $3.4275 a bushel; December oats rose 2.25 cents to $2.55 a bushel; November soybeans jumped 4.75 cents to $8.8975 a bushel. Beef and pork futures were mixed on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. October live cattle rose 0.35 cent to 97.42 cents a pound; September feeder cattle dipped 0.12 cent to $1.1785 a pound; October lean hogs were flat at 67.85 cents a pound; February pork bellies fell 1.5 cents to 90.5 cents a pound.

Notably lacking were chicken and egg prices... so, you can always look here and there. since there is no apparent RSS feed, you may want to have the reports emailed !!

btw.. there is also a great compilation of monthly and annual data regarding production and prices for eggs, broilers, chickens and turkeys from 1960-2004!!

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women's salaries

i'm an on-again/off-again suze orman fan. somedays i think she's brilliant -- others, the dregs.

having said that, she has an article pointing out the well-known salary discrepancies between men & women; including suggestions for closing the gap.

it seems to me that the telling paragraph is here:

In their book "Women Don't Ask: Negotiation and the Gender Divide", Linda Babcock and Sara Laschever report that women are 2.5 times more likely than men to say they feel "a great deal of apprehension about negotiating." In one study referenced in the book, women likened negotiation to "going to the dentist" while men described the negotiation process as "winning a ballgame."

of course, if that's not enough to motivate you:

Babcock and Laschever estimate that a woman's lack of negotiating mojo in her first job can end up costing her about $500,000 in foregone earnings over her career.

wow...

Technorati Tags: Must Reads

poultry power

no, not anything to do with poultry welfare!!

but, rather, a new method of generating electricity by burning poultry manure (and litter).

according to the NYTimes; Minnesota has completed construction of a $200 million dollar power plant that burns turkey litter. there are even some nice pictures on the FOXnews site. the power plant is buying manure from farmers for $3 to $7 a ton, depending on the quality! i'm not sure of the current price of shavings; but, i'll check!

there is some controversy about the amount of power currently being produced.

more to the point, not everyone is convinced of the ecological sanity of the new technology.

Technorati Tags: science