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Our family supports local farmers as much as we can. We're members of a local CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) farm, and we buy all our meat and milk from local farmers who graze them on grass and don't use routine antibiotics and hormones. It's healthy, and the food is really just plain better. My charming wife bought the reserve champion lamb at the 4-H auction at the county fair last year, and we were astonished at the comparison between the meat from that lamb and the meat we'd been getting from a local sheep farmer who pastures on grass.

But here's another reason to avoid "factory farmed" meat: they're serious polluters.

According to a 1998 report from the Department of Agriculture and U.S. EPA, CAFO [Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation - basically, feedlots] muck has fouled roughly 35,000 miles of rivers in 22 states and groundwater in 17 states. More recent data show that 29 states have reported water contamination from these feedlots. [Emphasis mine]

 

...or 2.0. Crucifix NG is a printed electronic circuit board in the shape of a crucifix. This handheld, wall-mountable device houses a battery-operated transmitter that broadcasts an ASCII, non-denominational version of the Lord's Prayer at 916 megahertz. So if you want your body to be imbued with an anointed electromagnetism, this is for you.

George Steinbrenner is 76 today. The Cleveland Indians celebrated by beating the Yankees 19-1.

Say, where do you keep the books on dominoes?

It's been a quiet day here. Staked our tomatoes, which we should have done a couple of weeks ago. Did some weeding. Stayed home so the dogs wouldn't freak out at the fireworks. Appreciated living in a free country. Reflected on Ben Franklin, responding to the question of what kind of government we would have, saying "A republic, if you can keep it."

Happy Independence Day. Hope you are all safe and sound, and that our citizens in uniform are as safe as they can be, and that they all return home safely.

If you have ever lived in the Northeast, you certainly remember "Crazy Eddie", the NYC retailer with the tagline "His prices are INNSAAAAANE! (if you don't, a number of his ads are available online at crazyeddie.com). Well, he's been trying to sell the domain name and trademark on eBay. Unfortunately, he didn't get very close to the "Buy it now" price of $800K or to the (unknown) reserve price, only garnering a top bid of about $30K.

But hey, keep an eye out. Maybe he'll relist!