Blog 4

BLOG #4 – due by midnight 9/29/08

Ø What is your plan to get involved on campus? What are your interests? Will you or have you joined any student organizations? Which two events besides UNITED & Career Major Fair do you plan on attending?
My plan to get involved on campus is to be active in my hall and do intramural sports with them. My interests are playing sports and doing something active. I plan to attend sporting events, i've gone to a football game and then next thing i plan to attned is a hockey game.
Ø Fast Food Nation - Chapter 6:

Ø What are some of the problems facing cattle ranchers?
They face a host of economic problems: rising land pirces, stagnant beef prices, oversupplies of cattle, increased shipments of live cattle from canada and mexico, development pressures, inheritance taxes, health scares about beef.
Ø What are “captive supplies” of cattle? (“The four major meatpacking companies now control about 20 percent of the live cattle in the U.S. through ‘captive supplies’” (138). (See also p. 142).
Captive supplies are cattle that are either maintained in company-owned feedlots or purchased in advance through forward contracts.

Ø What was the impact of the Chicken McNugget on the poultry industry?
It was that it turned a bird that once had to be carved at a table into something that could easily be eaten behind the wheel of a car. It turned a bulk agricultural commodity into a manufactured, value-added product.
Ø How does the nutritional value of a McNugget compare to a hamburger?
A McNugget has double the amount of fat than a burger does.

Ø How does the suicide rate for ranchers and farmers compare with the rate for U.S. citizens in general? Why?
The Suicide rate for ranchers and farmers is about three times higher. As ranchers traditional way of life is destroyed so are their beliefs.

Ø Do you feel as if there is any healthy fast food available to consumers? If so, where and why? Give specific examples of products.. Please be honest and support your opinions. For example, I feel that Subway's Veggie Sub is extremely healthy due to its freshly-cut produce, cheese, and fresh-baked breads. I actually talked to a friend who works at Subway and he said in MQT, they slice their own produce. (My fear was that it arrived pre-sliced and filled with preservatives). It's not organic, but it's a start.
I don't think that there are many fast foods that are healthy becuase of all the preservatives they put in them that are not healthy. But i guess there can be some, like with subway, some subways cut their preduce there and then others have it already cut, so it can vary if fast food is healthy or not.