General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forumsshit foam and exploding barns
When you hear about foam in the context of food, you might think of the culinary innovations of the Spanish chef Ferran Adrià, who's famous for dishes like apple caviar with banana foam.
But this post is about a much less appetizing kind of foam. You see, starting in about 2009, in the pits that capture manure under factory-scale hog farms, a gray, bubbly substance began appearing at the surface of the fecal soup. The problem is menacing: As manure breaks down, it emits toxic gases like hydrogen sulfide and flammable ones like methane, and trapping these noxious fumes under a layer of foam can lead to sudden, disastrous releases and even explosions.
http://www.motherjones.com/tom-philpott/2013/05/menace-manure-foam-still-haunting-huge-hog-farms
Check out this amazing 2011 video presentation on the matter by University of Minnesota researcher David Schmidt. He opens by describing a 2009 explosion that lifted a hog barn a "couple of feet off the ground" and blew the farm operator himself 20 feet from the building. (Thankfully, he wasn't injured, and there were no animals in it.) And check out the footage, starting about 3:19 in, of the foam itself, which must be seen to be believed. At one point , a shovel dips into the mire and scoops up as samplewhich jiggles and pulsates, alive, apparently, with microbial activity. Schmidt also does a great job of explaining just how manure foam can cause explosions.
http://vimeo.com/22358091
EeeeEEW.ewww.BTW,that foam for all appearances really is alive full of who knows what bacteria and viruses are co-mingling in that mess exposed to people shoveling it for the camera,people who work there and open air...It looks to me the shit foam is like a giant virus/bacteria incubation medium.And is it any wonder we have strange conaviruses and sars like viruses...These factory farms need to go AWAY.
pinboy3niner
(53,339 posts)...moi.
You just better not tell Kermie...if you know what's good for you!
Buns_of_Fire
(17,175 posts)Where's Steven McQueen ("The Blob" when we need him?
pinboy3niner
(53,339 posts)? This may be worse..
Eleanors38
(18,318 posts)n2doc
(47,953 posts)redgreenandblue
(2,088 posts)At least it sounds like a worthy successor.
Berlum
(7,044 posts)SkyDaddy7
(6,045 posts)Due to the sad state of some here on DU I am forced to include this tag so folks don't think I am serious.
pinboy3niner
(53,339 posts)I'm thinking...BACON! Yum!
SkyDaddy7
(6,045 posts)That foam would make a good gravy for bacon, eggs & biscuits!! TASTY!!
pinboy3niner
(53,339 posts)But if Miss Piggy has to sacrifice for a higher bacon calling, I'm in.
NickB79
(19,243 posts)Pump that into the walls and see what happens.
kentauros
(29,414 posts)that the writer felt I'd associate food-style foam with "you might think of the culinary innovations of the Spanish chef Ferran Adrià, who's famous for dishes like apple caviar with banana foam" instead of the far more common and well-known "meringue" and "whipped cream."
Egg white-foam and cream-foam. Most people know about them. I've never heard of this Spanish chef or even the very concept of "banana-foam." Doesn't sound nearly as appetizing as a good lemon-meringue or coconut-cream pie
LWolf
(46,179 posts)there's a good solution to the waste problem.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/energy-manure-bull-article-1.1245260
KoKo
(84,711 posts)Blue Owl
(50,373 posts)I'll keep this thread in mind.
Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)I promise you'll never eat pork again.