Pete_C's Blog

How many more millions of pounds of food must be recalled and destroyed before we decide to apply tried and proven technology to ensure the safety of the nations food supply?

Gamma irradiation of food in early processing stages would destroy any and all harmful bacteria, fungi, and viruses. It does not leave the food radioactive or otherwise dangerous to consume; but because of a small number of loud mouthed pea brains who say  "what if there is some undiscovered side effect of irradiating food" it has not caught on like it should.

Personally I would rather take that remote risk than face the known danger of eating spinach or ground meat contaminated with e.coli  bacteria.  Sure, leave the "organic" label stuff non irradiated for those who prefer to take the known risk of eating contaminated food;  but the majority of the food should be disinfected prior to distribution and before it can spoil. Not only does gamma sterilization of food prevent it from spreading disease, but it prolongs its fresh shelf life since the bacteria which cause spoilage also are destroyed .

 By decreasing the amount of spoilage losses, and eliminating the cost of recalling and destroying contaminated food ; the cost of gamma sterilization would soon be offset and consumers would face a lower cost  and safer product in the marketplace.

 Listening to these technophobes is not a good idea; they rarely see the consequences of their insistence upon living in the last century. By stopping the construction of Nuclear Power plants in the early 1970s, they left the world with global warming as a consequence of having to rely on Coal Oil and Gas as power sources.  Spurred by their success they moved to oppose new hydro electric plants and even forced some existing ones to be dismantled. Now they fight against wind farms arguing that they endanger birds and are unsightly.  Where will it end? 

Back when they first started putting in Red light cameras I thought that I sensed that the length of yellow lights was shorter than in the past.
I contacted my City Councilwoman Angela Hunt who contacted the people in charge of such things who assured me that in Dallas yellow lights conform to a national standard of one second for every ten  miles per hour speed limit on the street concerned.  I noted that this was often not sufficient time to clear an intersection since intersections come in different sizes which have no relation to the speed limit. I suggested that it would be a good idea to have countdown timers like those downtown on Commerce Street to let you know the time till red long before the light turns yellow on the intersections with cameras if the purpose was indeed to prevent accidents and not just a money maker. I also noted that it was unfair that other cities put up warning signs but I had not seen any in Dallas.

 Recently I saw a camera had been installed at the intersection of Beacon and Lindsley. While this is a small intersection back in a neighborhood there was a fatal car hits pedestrian accident last year there so I saw the logic.  But what really pleased me was to see not only a "Warning Photo Enforced Red Light" sign, but  a big easily visible countdown timer from ten seconds counting down to let you know when the light turns red.

I do not know ,nor  care , whether this was the plan all along or if my input spurred action ; but I am pleased with the result and  hope to see more of these in the future.  If she is responsible for this improvement I say "kudos to Angela Hunt" for following through on another important civic issue.

When you showed the satellite photo of the west coast weather to show the low which may affect our weather in  a few days there was a big dark spot over Baja.

It looked like the eye of a hurricane; but there was no hurricane surrounding it.

What is it??? 

Now I cannot swear that it is Racetrack gas, but the last time I filled up was at Racetrack on Greenville ave near Park Lane, and before that the one on Forest lane.

My truck go to running really bad, the check engine light came on indicating repeated misfires and excessive fuel in the exhaust.

You guessed it, not just water, but sandy grit in the fuel tank. No I have a locking gas cap so it could not be that someone put it in there, it had to get in with the gas.

I have some pics which I will upload to show you what was clogging the fuel filter.

So , the city council is considering requiring businesses to turn out the lights at night?  What kind of misguided environmentalism is this. Are they trying to drive businesses out of the city?
First they let the police get away with not responding to business burglar alarms until the owner or a private response team verifies that burglars are really there; and now they want them to do it in the dark?
This is just one more invite to criminals to come to Dallas and thorn to drive honest businesses and citizens out.  We have one of the highest crime rates in the country and telling burglars that not only will the police not respond but that they will be guaranteed darkness in which to perform their crimes is not what we need to be doing.

When someone gets raped , robbed, or murdered on a dark property which was conforming with this misguided attempt to make Dallas a "green" city who is going to be held liable?