I’ll be doing my holiday grilling this evening since I’ll be in Oklahoma City tomorrow.
USDA wants to remind people about making sure their meat is cooked properly with this story from their audio news service.
Whether summer cooking consists of charcoal, a gas grill, or even wood, the key is still to make sure meat and poultry is cooked thoroughly inside. The report is done by Rod Bain with sound bites from Diana Van of USDA-FSIS. usda-grilling-temp.mp3
Here’s an example of how you can use a MySpace page. It’s called the Krystal Lover’s Lounge. You can download a print a coupon for one of their MilkQuakes from the site.
Since it’s MySpace it’s a blog and they’ve got posts. It looks like they’ve got 630 friends so far.
It’s hot outside. And summer doesn’t “officially” begin for 3 more days. But never fear, because we here at Krystal have made it our mission to keep you cool all summer long. In fact, we’re going to start today by offering all Krystal Lovers a coupon for a FREE MilkQuake – our new line of premium milkshakes made only from real ice-cream.
And because we just couldn’t stop there, we’re going to help you “Chill Out” all summer by providing you with earth-friendly tips that you can use to keep your home cool without having to crank the AC (see, we care about the earth’s well-being as much as we do yours – plus, by saving $$ on your energy bill, you’ll have more $$ for MilkQuakes). One tip will be included in our Krystal Lover VIP emails (if you don’t receive these, you’re missing out – so sign up at www.krystal.com) – and of course, they’ll be posted here on our MySpace page.
So here goes, our first “Chill Out” tip of the summer:
· Turn off the hot stuff. Switch off your computer (only after you’ve finished downloading the free coupon of course) and any lights not in use. In fact, try to avoid incandescent and halogen lamps all together if you can. Go around your home and conduct a “touch test” – if it feels hot, turn it off – that simple.
And, if you have any earth-friendly summer survival advice, do tell by posting your tip in our comments section.
Now, click here for your coupon – good for one free MilkQuake. Oh, and feel free to share this post with your Krystal-lovin’ friends so they can download their own coupon.
Garfield the cat is now an FFA spokesperson or rather cat. Find him on Garfield’s Middle School Discovery.
The National FFA Organization launched a new Middle School Discovery website dedicated to middle school FFA members and their teachers. And Garfield the cat serves as FFA’s Spokescat, revealing his “catitude” about the wonders of agriculture and FFA.
Garfield and friends also introduce concepts of leadership, personal growth and career exploration through FFA activities and fun interactive resources for middle school members. There is the Komiczone that lets members’ creativity soar by creating their own comic strips about FFA, agriculture, careers and much more. Then there is Ag Witz—a trivia game which challenges young people on FFA, U.S. history, agriscience and current events. The teacher section offers information and promising practices to successfully engage students with the new website.
Here’s where you can create your own Komic (isn’t that spelled wrong?). Or you can play some ag trivia on Ag-Witz (what’s with the spelling?).
I think this is one of those lazy kind of weeks. We’ve got a national holiday in the middle of it! Either you’re getting ready for it or you’ll be recovering from it afterward. But some of us are working at it. One of those people is Jenny Pickett, Chief Operating Officer for the National Agri-Marketing Association.
I talked with Jenny on the phone about the Boot Camp program coming up August 21-23 in Kansas City. Jenny reviews the program with me and talks about who should attend.
If you’ve never attended a Boot Camp or even if you have you are welcome. ZimmComm New Media is a sponsor of this year’s program too.
The program ends with music from the Podsafe Music Network and a band called The Vinyl Strangers. The song is “Patriotic Girl.” Just in time for your 4th of July celebration.
You can download and listen to the ZimmCast here: 
ZimmCast 126 (12 min MP3)
Or listen to this week’s ZimmCast right now:
zimmcast126-7-2-07.mp3The ZimmCast is the official weekly podcast of AgWired which you can subscribe to using the link in our sidebar. You can also subscribe in iTunes.
I have a niece who would probably love to go to this show which is taking place right now in Oklahoma City. I emailed her yesterday that she will be able to see a lot of what’s going on here on AgWired later this week. I’ll be covering activities there starting Wednesday. Yep. Independence Day. I guess it’s because the Appaloosa Horse Club is an international organization maybe? Why else be conducting a show on July 4th here in America?
Besides posting here on AgWired I’ll also be posting onto Appaloosa Blog Spot, their blog. If you’re curious about what’s taking place there you can find the schedule here and they have a live webcam going in the ring.
Have you ever tried Dippin’ Dots? They are awesome. How about winning a year’s worth?
Kicking off the summer season with “cool” news for ice cream lovers, Dippin’ Dots today announced a call for entries for the “Adventures of Packy Movie Mash-Up Challenge” — the company’s first-ever, user-generated online contest.
Contestants are invited to create an animated short film starring Dippin’ Dots’ mascot, Packy, via an easy-to-use, web-based game tool located at www.dippindots.com/contest. The grand prize winner will receive $2,500 and Dippin’ Dots for a year; and a wildcard winner will take home $1,000 and a six-month supply of Dippin’ Dots ice cream.
Entrants will be able to produce a 15 to 90-second movie using the all-in- one director’s tool. No cameras or audio/video uploads are required. The tool allows easy selection of various background scenes, animations, props and soundtracks provided by Dippin’ Dots, as well as the ability to add bubble- text dialogue similar to a comic book.
A panel of Dippin’ Dots judges will select the top five movies based on website visitor ratings and views, plus creativity and originality. The selected movies will advance to the finals where contest members will vote for their favorite as the grand prize winner. The top five movies will also be posted on YouTube where the most viewed entry will win the wildcard prize.
Notice how they used the “Y” word here (YouTube).
Since I’m getting pretty comfortable with my Mac now I might from time to time let you know about some things that make using it even more fun. One of those is a cool little app I found from Joesoft called Jax. If you want to load video onto your iPod and you want it to be easy then this little program is what you need. It even lets you load YouTube videos which is what got my attention. The best thing about it is that it integrated right into iTunes.
Joesoft says their software is “Software for the Average Joe.” After downloading and trying it I would agree.
I think I have to mention iPhone mania, especially since you can even find it in a little town like Jefferson City, MO.
This is outside the local AT&T store here in Jefferson City, MO. There were people lined up even here to get their iPhone before anyone else. I think the store kind of overdid it on the security thing. They were locked up tight with a police guard outside. At 6pm they let in the first nine people. You can see number one-in-line going inside in this photo. Then they locked it back up again. One of the reporters outside said that a customer stopped by to pay her bill but they wouldn’t let her in. Now that’s crazy.
While I was standing there taking these pics a guy who looked like the store manage walked up in an AT&T logo shirt. Even he had trouble getting in. He wouldn’t do an interview either.
I stopped first at another local AT&T authorized dealer and they said Apple wouldn’t send them phones for today’s launch. Why? I need to buy one for the winner of our NAMA convention booth drawing. I’m not standing in any line to wait though.
So why should you care? Apple is going to revolutionize mobile content delivery. That means the information and way you communicate with your clients. Think about it.
I did go to the Apple Store just now and got this message saying I need to come back later. I guess that’s what I’ll do. Post Update: I was able to place my order online last night. It says I will have a 2-4 weeks delivery time.
You can learn all about this week’s Fuel Ethanol Workshop trade show right here.
Cindy’s getting into this YouTube thing finally. I did have to do some editing for her though.
In the video she does a walking tour through the trade show with BBI International (conference organizer) president, Kathy Bryan.
Cindy’s also got her pictures from the event in a photo album too: 2007 Fuel Ethanol Workshop Photo Album
