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Opinion
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- Written by: Lori Patotzka
If there will be a turkey on your table this Thanksgiving, you can be almost certain that he or she suffered a miserable life and death for your brief pleasure. There are no laws for the humane treatment of turkeys on farms or in the slaughterhouse. (Neither chickens nor turkeys are included in the Humane Slaughter Act.)
In the wild, turkeys have complex language – more than 20 different vocalizations – and can recognize one another’s voices. Rescued farm turkeys show affection toward humans and, like cats, they purr when content.
But on modern “farms” – including organic farms – turkeys live their entire lives in windowless sheds with about 1 square foot of space per bird.
While wild turkeys can fly, farmed turkeys cannot. In fact, because they are bred for excessive growth, many cannot walk. En route to slaughter, 10 to 15 percent of turkeys die from suffocation (an accepted industry standard). Many others arrive in extreme pain with broken bones.
Because of the fast pace of slaughterhouses, turkeys and chickens are often insufficiently stunned before slaughter. Government estimates are that about four million birds per year are still conscious when dropped into the scalding tanks.
Conditions for organically-produced animal foods are no better. (The Vermont slaughterhouse that was closed this month after employees were filmed kicking and electro-shocking two-day old calves – who were too weak to stand – was one that slaughtered animals from local organic dairy farms).
Most Americans say that they care about animals, that they would never hurt or abuse an animal. The hard truth is that when you eat meat, eggs and dairy, you participate in animal abuse.
Thanksgiving – an expression of gratitude and a celebration of family and abundance – is the ideal time to consider going vegetarian.
In his book “Eating Animals,” Jonathan Safran Foer says this about a vegetarian Thanksgiving: “There is no turkey. Is the holiday undermined? Or would Thanksgiving be enhanced? Would the choice not to eat turkey be a more active way of celebrating how thankful we feel? Try to imagine the conversation that would take place. This is why our family celebrates this way. Would such a conversation feel disappointing or inspiring?”
Vegetarians know the answer. It feels good when our choices reflect our true values about compassion for animals.
Lori Patotzka lives in Clearlake.
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- Written by: Nina Marino
The Soper-Reese Fundraising Committee is grateful for the support of the following businesses and individuals who made generous donations to our annual fundraising event in the fall, held for the first time at the Soper-Reese Community Theatre. For our Harvest Moon Dinner & Dance on Oct. 3, the theater was transformed into a dinner/dance club and showcased another use of your performing arts theater.
We thank our major sponsors who include the Blue Wing Saloon & Café in Upper Lake, the Lake County Winegrape Commission and Ceago Vinegarden. Wineries, as always, were generous in their donations of wine: Brassfield Estate, Ceago Vinegarden, Gregory Graham, Six Sigma, Tulip Hill and Zoom Wineries. The Early Lake Lions Club provided an inviting cocktail bar for our guests. Applerain Nursery loaned many plants to enhance the ambiance of the theater, with florist Sabrina creating the beautiful centerpieces.
Shaun Hornby of Hornby Furniture Restoration was our auctioneer extraordinaire. Live auction items were donated by the following: Lakeport English Inn, Park Place Restaurant, Ann and George Linn, Enrico and Kris Frediani, Karl and Sharon Nicoll, Chuck Farrell, R.B. Peters and Kelseyville Lumber.
Silent auction items were donated by Brad Barnwell, Clear Lake B&B, T.J.’s Restaurant, Tom Jordan, Guy Strohmeier’s Auto Center, Mackey Tire, Buckingham Golf & Country Club, Disney’s Water Sports, Ciao Thyme, Steele Winery, Wildhurst Winery, Cindy Carr, Pieces Boutique, Hans Dobusch, Debi Freeland, Betty Lou Surber, the estate of Joan Holman, Lakeview Market and Edgewater Resort.
Lovely music during the reception and dinner was performed by Dan Meyer. Following dinner and the live auction, the Mendocino Jazz Band, under the direction of John Parkinson, played their big band music, to the delight of the guests.
The entire event was a success, thanks to our donors and those individuals and organizations mentioned above. We appreciate the support of this generous community as we continue the renovation of the Soper-Reese Community Theatre.
Nina Marino chairs the Soper-Reese Community Theatre's fundraising committee.
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- Written by: Lake County News Reports
This workshop focused first upon cleaning up your computer operation with special software to make it run more efficiently. Every registered participant was given a flash drive with special software on it to make both their laptop (which they were encouraged to bring to the workshop) and their desktop computer at home run more efficiently. Mark Rudiger of LakeCountyWebsites conducted that portion of the workshop.
Once the flash drives had been distributed and the tutorial on how to use several of the programs included on the device had been completed, it was time to focus on Social Media. How could an individual or a small business take advantage of the exploding popularity of the Social Media Space? This portion of the workshop was conducted by Lamar Morgan of CDMM - Synergistic Business Marketing. Here such online resources as Skype (VOIP), Yugma (desktop sharing), Twitter (micro-blogging), Squidoo (now-blogging), budURL (website link shrinkage) and Aardvark (cyberspace Q&A minus SPAM) were discussed.
What makes so much of what social media has to offer work is mutual collaboration between individuals. It's wikinomics meets Web 2.0 innovation. Squidoo, for example, has more than one million one-page websites - all built by volunteers in just a few short years. How many employees does Squidoo have? Six. How is it possible that just six people could set up a system online that generates enough revenue to not only pay its employees, but many of its volunteer lensmasters, and also raise money for needy charities - especially in today's difficult economic environment? The key is in cleverly encouraging mutually beneficial business relationships with an audience of followers. Squidoo has accomplished this extremely well. And, Squidoo is not alone.
Twitter is perhaps one of the fastest-growing Social Media sites in the world. It got that way by asking a simply question – "What are you doing now?" and hoping people would be willing to answer it in just 140 characters or less. Not only did the world want to answer that question, many software developers saw ways they could help once Twitter's API was available to them. Check out Twitter.com at http://twitter.com .
Then, along comes Aardvark. A group of former Google employees decided that when people need answers to questions in a hurry and do not know who to ask, they should come to them. Aardvark believes people deserve answers to questions from real people – not databases. They believe those answers should come in about five minutes from the time they are asked by text message. They believe those answers should be to able to be followed-up. But, they do not believe the sharing of contact information is needed. Therefore, the interaction between the person asking the question and the person answering is done through Aardvark as an intermediary. This arrangement is SPAM-free by design. Need a question answered in a hurry? Ask Aardvark at http://vark.com .
For nearly five years, the Ryze Business Network has been reaching out to Lake County. This actually goes back to a 2005 Middletown Merchants Mixer at the Calpine Visitor Center, where the network was first introduced to the county. At last Sunday's workshop, each participant was given a magnetic to-do-list board for use on the most popular location in the home – the refrigerator door. This board was created by members of the Ryze Business Network across the United States and Canada. A small quantity of those boards were actually shipped from Canada to Lake County to demonstrate to local residents the power of "mutual collaboration" between people. Ryzers also want to encourage Lake County folks to freely join Ryze.com.
The Ryze network, Clusters, is especially appropriate for Lake County folks as it is moderated by someone living in Hidden Valley Lake. Clusters advocates the formation of small business networking groups - about four people - who desire to mutually collaborate to help each other out. Several Lake County businesses – the Hidden Valley Food Mart, Spirit Lake Bed and Breakfast, Ting's Thai Kitchen and the Ocean Spirit Vacation Rental – are already engaged in this process. While they last, to-do-list boards may still be available at the Hidden Valley Food Mart and the Doug Reams Dental Clinic in Lucerne, off Highway 20. More information about membership in the Ryze Clusters Network is available at http://clusters-network.ryze.com .
Although the workshop was a tremendous success, it was decided that future workshops would not be conducted until January of next year. The public needs a break for the holidays. In the meantime, folks all over Lake County are encouraged to join the Lake County Social Media Workshop Meetup to ask questions about cleaning up their computer and benefiting from Social Media. The process for joining the Meetup is simple and free. Just visit http://budurl.com/LakeCountySMW and join up.
This workshop would not have been possible to conduct had the Hidden Valley Food Mart not built a nice dining area, placed a 42-inch HDTV screen up on the wall with a 16-foot VGA cable attached and become a FREE Wi-Fi hot spot. Other Lake County groups may be able to take advantage of this wonderful resource for showing slide show presentations and videos. All they really need is to show up with a laptop computer and connect to the VGA cable. For more information on what the Hidden Valley Food Mart has to offer, just call the owners of the Hidden Valley Food Mart, Jack and Karen Lair at 707-987-9794.
Lamar Morgan lives in Hidden Valley Lake.
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- Written by: Ann White
The madrigal singers from the pageant, volunteering their time and energy every day of the festival, braving the heat in their authentic costumes, created a "noble presence" and performed their music flawlessly, all the while staying in character and being part of our environment of the 16th century.
I never thanked them properly, so it seems like an appropriate time to tell them that they are welcome in our little Italian village anytime. And especially in their English noble persona.
If you have the opportunity to enjoy their historical reenactment of Christmas in the 1500s you shouldn't miss it. And while enjoying the meal remember what they used to say, "If God had meant for me to eat with a fork … he wouldn't have given me fingers."
Ann White is artistic director of the Lake Renaissance Festival.