The Viva Vine: vol #4, no #3: May/June 1995

cybervine logo



"Surfing the Net."
That's what everyone's talking about. Through the Internet, The VivaVine has gained easy access to a lot of industry (i.e.: agriculture industry) information. Though we feel we have only scratched the surface, "The VivaVine" has come across a few ways to access farm information. We have keyed into the "Advances Technology Information Network," a fairly complete agriculture news service, gaining access via: telnet caticsuf.csufresno.edu; login super. Following are a few headlines we found of interest to VivaVine readers there: Following is a sample of two stories from this news service. (It was hard to pick one.)

March 06, 1995 Agricultural Commodity News: Birds Of A Different Feather
(The Fresno Bee) -- Bob Kloster raises ostriches, emus and rheas, all of which are ratites--flightless birds with a flat breastbone. Ostriches, rheas and emus all have the same type of meat, which is lower in cholesterol and fat than beef, poultry, and pork. Kloster says researchers have turned ostrich fat into cooking oil, arthritis ointment and cosmetics. Car owners use ostrich plumage instead of abrasive brushes or cloth strips; and the western crowd love to two-step in their ostrich kickers. Paul Evert, renowned RV salesman and owner of an ostrich ranch, said several Fresno restaurants should be serving ostrich by April 1. People interested in touring the ranch may do so by calling 209-497-1500 for hours and directions.

March 15, 1995 International Agricultural News: Exporting To The World'S Most Populous Nation: The China Syndrome
(Meat & Poultry) -- ...What does 1.2 billion people with the world's fastest growing economy mean to the American meat and poultry industry? Quite a lot, according to China watchers and executives who have already entered the market. As experience with other Asian nations such as Japan, Taiwan and South Korea has demonstrated, increased prosperity means increased consumption of meat by a newly affluent middle class. Today you find the highest-volume McDonald's in the world at the corner of Wan Fu-Jing and the Avenue of Eternal Peace. It wasn't too long ago that the idea of paying 10 or 20 yuan (which is like one or two U.S. dollars) on snack food was not within the budget of most Chinese. But now you see literally thousands of people every day eating McDonald's hamburgers.

Renowned China scholar and beef rancher Orville Schell says. "They're not only eating higher on the hog, they're finally eating the hog."

Newsgroup Download: rec.food.veg
A David Goodwin (goodwid@python.-CS.ORST.EDU) wrote: "Eating meat is something we're equipped for, so: why shouldn't we do it?"

*A response came from: seshadri@cup.hp.-com (Raghu Seshadri) "Ok, if this is the argument, may I point out that we are also equipped to put our hands around children's necks and squeeze till they stop breathing. Does that mean we should do it?"

*From: gimila@tartarus.uwa.edu.au (Susan Whitham): Newsgroups: rec.food.veg, alt.mcdonalds, alt.flame, alt.food.mcdonalds Subject: Re: Pro BEEF: "I'm not trying to 'preach' vegetarianism to people. I'm just tired of hearing the same old misinformation being flung around and having to constantly defend my personal choice. (I'm a vegetarian because I disagree with the cruelty involved in the farming of animals. The health benefits, in my opinion, are a side effect.:) I have been vegetarian for 15 years, have never been anemic; and in my last physical fitness test was in the top 5% for my age group. This is a single case and doesn't, therefore, prove anything...I just added it for those who think I must be anemic and literally dying at the terminal (i.e.: computer terminal) *grin* :) "

*The following came from: jai@aloha.com (Dr. Jai Maharaj) "The raw materials needed for food production from livestock exceed all oil, gas and coal consumption. Meat-eaters hurt themselves, their families and others."

*The response from Jay Hutter <jayhutt@li.net was: "We are on the top of the food chain, it took a long time, Meat is what my dad ate, what his dad ate, what my god dam caveman ansestor ate and he did pretty dam good I think!! So shut up and go have a nice Big Mac and a Camel non-filter afterwords."

*Gerry Browne (gbrown@ozemail.com.au) wrote: "A friend of mine told me all vegetarians have a homosexual gene. Is this true?"

*A response came from: rwahl@netcom. com (Robert Wahl) "Yeah. I even got mine to replicate, and have been having a great time. Read about how to do it in the National Enquirer. :} 'Standing by a stump, waiting for rabbits...'"

*From: vanessa@vancam.demon.co.uk (Vanessa Campbell) "I had a vegetarian boyfriend and had problems feeding him during his visits but I remember once saying that he couldn't risk eating my biscuits because they had animal fat in them. He said that he didn't mind eating them. I later found that he was two-timing me as well as being unfaithful to his animal cause."

Next article or back to previous article.

Copyright © 1995. The VivaVegie Society. All rights reserved.
HTML source file: Copyright © 1995 EarthBase, Inc. All rights reserved.