Issue 99 (2013-2014)

Issue 99 (February 7, 2014)

Sidebar

Get Ready…

We’re hitting you up with some mad fresh faculty profiles next week, dawg.

Typos

There probably are some. Just let them happen.

Jay Leno

Greg will be taking bets as to how long it will take Jay Leno to come out of retirement and cheat Jimmy Fallon out of his spot on the Tonight Show.

Macbeth!!!

Go see Macbeth, at 7 tonight and everyday this weekend and next weekend. Everyone dies. Sorry, didn’t want to give anything away, but…

Lyrics Quiz

When the fantasy has ended
And all the children are gone
Something good inside me,
Helps me to carry on!

I ate some bugs,
I ate some grass,
I used my hand,
To wipe my tears

To kiss your mouth
I break my vow
No no no, no no, no WAY JOSE
Unless you want to
Then we break our vows together

Encarnacio-hooooon
Encarnacio-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho-hon
Encarnacion
*Diduliduliluli!*
Encarnacio-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho-hon

Articles

Meatless Mondays: First World Problem or Global Inspiration?

By: Dr. Pam Reynolds (Faculty Guest Contributor)

Like Daniel Cohn, this is my first DU article in 5 years.  First, I would like to thank Priscilla Hardianto for proposing Meatless Mondays in a responsible and thoughtful manner and I would like to address some of Daniel’s concerns. 

My Honor’s Chemistry students study the energy of food in the lab.  Just this week we found that not surprisingly peanuts (a vegetable) have the most energy per gram as compare with Cheetos, marshmallows, popcorn, potato chips and goldfish.  As my students concluded, with a little research, the energy stored in the bonds of protein was much greater than that of carbohydrates found in the latter five foods listed above.  However, Ms. Hardianto’s proposal is Meatless Monday, not Proteinless Monday.  I am not a red meat eater by choice.  I am an athlete and I have never had issue with my diet.  Ms. Sweet and her team always have a protein alternative for those of us who do not eat meat.  What Ms. Hardianto is proposing is choosing to forego meat one day a week to address living more sustainably. 

Let’s begin with protein content in food since it has the highest return on energy.  From a Men’s Health article titled “ The World’s Best Protein Sources” for building muscle and better performance these foods were ranked in order of their protein content per 100 grams: 1. Whey protein:  80-90g; 2. Soya protein isolates:  88g; 3. Cod:  63g; 4. Clams and other molluscs:  48g; 5. Tofu:  48g; 6. Low sodium Parmesan cheese:  42g; 7. Lean beef: 36g; followed by Lamb, Chicken and Pork in the low 30’s.  The second highest was a vegetable product and the 5^th highest, significantly higher than beef was Tofu. 

Now let’s consider the environmental costs of meat on the table.  About half of the world’s meat comes from range livestock and the other half is from highly energy intensive industrial feedlots.  Overgrazing contributes to topsoil erosion and loss of soil fertility, not to mention loss of biodiversity.  Much of our water goes toward excessive irrigation in part to support our diets; our current drought is causing some in the Northern California cattle industry to sell off their herds due to lack of water and poor grazing conditions. 

On average it takes about 10 units of nonrenewable energy to put 1 unit of food energy on the table.  It takes approximately 35 units of energy to produce 1 unit of energy in grain-fed beef; this does not include the energy costs of processing, transportation and food preparation for beef.  Much of our beef is raised on corn, a highly energy consuming product.  Diets based on meat are highly inefficient since roughly 90% of the caloric value of the plants (corn or grass) is lost in the conversion to animal biomass. 

The price of meat is also artificially low due to “perverse subsidies” as supported by the U.S. farm bills, which coincidently was passed just this week by the House and Senate. This version of the Farm Bill will be sent to the President to continue a history of overproducing corn and other grains so that the prices are kept lower than their true production costs.  These subsidies ensure that it is less expensive to feed cattle energy intensive corn than grass. 

Finally for those of you who know I love the gas laws, cattle are a huge contributor to global greenhouse gases producing approximately 16% of the annual global emissions of methane.  Our Environmental Science text reports that the annual emissions from cattle in the U.S. are equal to the green house gas emissions of 33 million automobiles. 

So, will one meal, once a week, really affect your performance?  No, especially if you supplement with an alternative protein source.  Could a cultural change in attitude and food choice affect a planet?  Yes.

Macbeth Review

By: Leo Li (Wait, who?)

When I walked onto the stage of Macbeth, my friends and I had to argue for several minutes on whether to sit on the stage, on (literally on) the castle, or in the regular seats. For reference, sit in the regular seats if you don’t want a good view. Sit in the stage if you like swords flying in your face, and sit on top of the castle if you have a sense of superiority you have to fill.

                There are perhaps many specific areas I would like to point to when reviewing Bishop’s take on Macbeth. One is the ghost of Banquo (Zach Provost ’14), who appears during the dining scene after his murder. This production chose to present Banquo as a bloody ghost, who points and haunts Macbeth (Justin Geier ’15), to the point of climbing out of a dinner table as fellow lords (including the illustrious Ben Higgs ‘14) look on. Similar scenes like the Apparitions physically portray the supernatural, creating a sense of dread and wickedness the audience could “see,” especially when compared to a psychological hallucination of Macbeth.

                This version of Macbeth has slight alternations. One of these is the murder of Lady Macduff  (Alina Pham ’14) and her sons (Samy Hamdy/Theo Sun), of which lines like “what, you egg?” and “He has killed me, mother!” were taken out, for a more sensitive scene involving a crying baby (trying real hard not give away everything).

                Fight scenes, of course, were fantastic. If you’re sitting on the stage as I did, swords literally are right next to you, and the Fight Captain (Adi Chang ’14) literally crashes into the wall next to your seat.

                Out of the many great scenes of Macbeth, a specific one I would like to point out specifically is the Porter scene (Kenan Draughorne ’15), which I found highly entertaining. The porter never gets enough credit.

                The set was enormous and embodied the very ambition of the production: A huge castle with two sides, along with trap doors for the witches. It is truly a unique setup, of which I applaud Mr. McNamara and tech for creating.

                If you haven’t planned on seeing this tragic (but good!) Shakespeare it’s a must. See it on Friday, or on the weekends, maybe on Valentine’s Day next week.