I’ve been thinking for a long time to sell all of my gasoline-powered automobiles and buy a diesel (car); not the smelly one with the thick smoke coming from the tailpipe. I want a mid-sized car (a VW TDI, for example) with a diesel engine that has been configured to run either biodiesel or vegetable oil. Your question is probably what is biodiesel and what does it have to do with used fryer oil?
Some ingenuous person figured out that you can make an environmentally-friendly and clean burning fuel from used fryer oil. If, for example, you go to McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s, KFC, Taco Bell, etc., you can collect their used cooking oil for free (otherwise, they will have to pay to have it disposed of). Next, you filter the oil to remove as many particles as possible. After that, you mix this oil with Sodium Hydroxide (i.e. Lye). This act like a catalyst (causes a reaction without being a part of the chemical makeup). Then, add methanol or ethanol to the oil/lye mixture. There are several other steps involved in making the biodiesel, but in the end, you have biodiesel + glycerin (used to make soap; it’s the sticky part of the oil).
Biodiesel is safe to the environment, non-toxic, clean burning and most of all, cheap to make….about $0.75 per gallon (if you can get free used fryer oil)! Why don’t more people switch to Biodiesel? The bigger question is why don’t governments or public companies support this initiative?
Describe a custom from your country that you would like people from other countries to adopt. Explain your choice, using specific reasons and examples.
I like the fact that Americans usually give very warm greetings when they meet either a new person or an old friends. It’s typical in a first meetings to give a strong, confident handshake. Remember if the handshake is loose or weak, an American might think that either you do not like them or you do not want to touch them for some reason, so always complete your handshake with a little squeeze. You will often see an American (typically a man) grab another man’s elbow while shaking his hand. This denotes a great friendship or a relationship of deep respect.
More than anything, Americans like to hug. Hugging, I think, is one of American’s best customs. I know that there are cultures that do not touch (especially between men and women), but isn’t it curious how many visitors to the US take to (or adopt) the American custom of hugging enthusiastically? Well, at least many of them do. Hugging is a handshake + 1; it denotes a strong appreciation, a lasting friendship, a deep like, eminent respect, and various other things. The hug is the ultimate sign of affection. It’s not the same as the ‘affection’ a husband and wife or a boyfriend and girlfriend might share; it’s typically not lustful or sexual.
In recent years, the African-American community have created a combination handshake hug. This is the best of both world. You should shake the right hand while embracing shoulders with the left hand. Since men typically shy away from hugging other men, American of all races have adopted this greeting.
As you can see, I’ve chosen the handshake and the hug as the two things I’d like to export Worldwide. Now you all know why you often get handshakes or hugs from me. Hopefully we can continue this customs next week…
What custom from your country would you like others to adopt?
Wikipedia.com says a ”genetically modified organism(GMO) is an organism whose genetic material has been altered using techniques in genetics generally known as recombinant DNA technology…The term generally does not cover organisms whose genetic makeup has been altered by conventional cross breeding or by “mutagenesis” breeding, as these methods predate the discovery of the recombinant DNA techniques. Technically speaking, however, such techniques are by definition genetic modification”.
The larger concern is how does GMOs affect the food supply? Are the safe to eat? Are they wholesome?
“StarLink,” a variety of genetically-engineered corn not approved for human consumption, was initially detected in September of 2000 in Taco Bell taco shells distributed by Kraft Foods, Inc. The tests that identified the presence of StarLink were conducted for the watchdog group “Friends of the Earth” by Genetics ID, an independent testing lab. Kraft issued a voluntarily recall of the taco shells that might have contained processed StarLink corn.
Subsequently, StarLink corn flour was detected in taco shells manufactured by Mission Foods of Irving, TX, which issued a voluntary recall of all of its products containing yellow corn. Because many Mission products are relabeled with store-brand packaging, taco shells produced by Mission for Safeway, Food Lion, Shaw’s, and several other grocery chains have also been recalled. In the following months, Starlink was detected in a wide variety of yellow-corn products, many even outside the US. It has been estimated that as many as several hundred corn products may have been quietly recalled by individual manufacturers.
StarLink, owned by France-based Aventis, was the only variety of genetically-engineered food marketed for animal feed but not approved for human consumption. Aventis had assured regulators that appropriate precautions would be taken by StarLink growers to prevent the GE corn from entering the food supply, but those precautions were apparently not adequate. Although Aventis agreed to purchase all of the remaining 1999 and 2000 harvests of StarLink corn, several million bushels of StarLink corn were unaccounted for, and probably entered the human food supply. Although Starlink represented only about 1% of the total corn harvest, estimates suggested Starlink may have contaminated as much as 50% of the year’s corn harvest.
Presently, most corn buyers and processors routinely test for the presence of Starlink corn. If it is still detected, the corn is sold for feed or non-food industrial uses. Q: How do you feel about genetically modified foods?
This week’s freewriting was about children and bilingualism. Should children begin learning a foreign language as soon as they start school?
In many spanish-speaking communities, people of all nationalities are learning Spanish. Children younger then 5 years old are learning how to count, sing songs, and converse in everyday expressions all in Spanish.
In other communities, Chinese is an in vogue language. Maybe children are drawn to Chinese because it’s a tonal language and kind of melodic (meaning ‘like music’). I’ve added a youtube click for you review.
Please share some of your freewriting with you classmates.
Is the US being overrun by illegal immigrants? Americans complain specifically about Mexicans and other ’spanish-speakers’ who enter the US to live and work illegally. But, remember, there are illegal aliens in this country for all over the world. There are many reasons why Americans want to stop this flow of illegals – security, job availability, etc. On the other hand, American want to pay as little as possible for food (fruit and vegetables which are predominately picked by illegal aliens), for domestic related jobs (nannies, landscaping, housekeeping, etc.), construction (new homes and remodeling, for examples), and other labor intensive jobs.
Read the attached link and comment with your opinion on this issue. Should workers from other countries be admitted into the US, permanently or temporarily, for work? For illegal aliens who are already living and working in the US be given amnesty? If so, should there be an associated punishment? Finally, does your country have a similiar issue and how do they handle it?
