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Infographic of the Day: How the Global Food Market Starves the Poor

Infographic of the Day: How the Global Food Market Starves the Poor
To understand the complexities of the international food market--and how traders in Chicago can cause Africans to starve--you could get a ph.D. in economics, or read a 400-page report from the World Bank. Or you watch this superb nine minute video, directed by Denis van Waerebeke. Though ostensibly created for a science show in Paris for 12 year olds, it's actually probably waaaay over a kid's head. Just watch--it's excellent, and very well illustrated: The video begins with a basic question: How is it that the first world has an oversupply of food, while 1 in 7 in the world go malnourished? That can have disastrous effects. The solutions will involve everyone, the world over. Still hungry for more infographics videos? [Via Infosthetics]

The Crisis of Credit Visualized smitten kitchen File:Plutchik-wheel.svg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Cancel Edit Delete Preview revert Text of the note (may include Wiki markup) Could not save your note (edit conflict or other problem). Please copy the text in the edit box below and insert it manually by editing this page. Upon submitting the note will be published multi-licensed under the terms of the CC-BY-SA-3.0 license and of the GFDL, versions 1.2, 1.3, or any later version. Add a note Draw a rectangle onto the image above (press the left mouse button, then drag and release). Save To modify annotations, your browser needs to have the XMLHttpRequest object. [[MediaWiki talk:Gadget-ImageAnnotator.js|Adding image note]]$1 [[MediaWiki talk:Gadget-ImageAnnotator.js|Changing image note]]$1 [[MediaWiki talk:Gadget-ImageAnnotator.js|Removing image note]]$1

Major Crops Grown in the United States | Ag 101 | Agriculture In round numbers, U.S. farmers produce about $ 143 billion worth of crops and about $153 billion worth of livestock each year. Production data from the year 2011 for major agricultural crops grown in this country are highlighted in the following table: Source: U.S. USDA. Corn: The United States is, by far, the largest producer of corn in the world, producing 32 percent of the world's corn crop in the early 2010s. According to the National Corn Growers Association, about eighty percent of all corn grown in the U.S. is consumed by domestic and overseas livestock, poultry, and fish production. Sources:National Corn Grower's Association 2013 Report. U.S. Soybeans: Approximately 3.06 billion bushels of soybeans were harvested from 73.6 million acres of cropland in the U.S. in 2011. Soybeans are used to create a variety of products, the most basic of which are soybean oil, meal, and hulls. Sources: U.S. U.S. U.S. United Soybean Board. Sources: "World of Cotton." U.S. Sources: "Biofuels."

Listen Up Democrats: Fuck Bipartisanship am angry. I'm tired of pundits and know-nothing media gasbags. I'm tired of snarky "inside politics" programming. I am sick of the bigotry and hatred of "birthers" and faux patriotic cranks and their GOP puppet masters. And I'm really pissed at the Democratic Party that confuses having a plate of limp noodles with having a spine. I'm going to vomit if I hear the word "bipartisanship" one more time. It was "bipartisanship" that gave us this activist conservative Supreme Court. "Bipartisanship" gave us the Patriot Act and FISA and illegal wiretaps and two wars and "free speech zones" and "no fly" lists. I get nauseated every time the Senate explains how it takes a super majority to do anything for the American people. When some Tea Party crank says, "I want my country back," I respond, "No madam, you want your country backward." When a deficit-mongering politician says, "How do we pay for this?" Yes, I can hear it now: "You are naïve and simplistic. Bite me. G-O-P = Greed Over People. Really?

Back to the Cutting Board A Wordy Egg - Beyond Beyond | Beyond Beyond Over in Beyond Beyond towers we have one weakness, of the Achilles Heal variety and it is eggs. Scrambled, poached, sunny side up, boiled – whatever way you can imagine them we have had them in all the many fangled ways that you can imagine! What we have never had is an invitation in an egg and this exploded our minds not even blew them. So, if you want to fry people’s minds like eggs then you can learn how to make these eggtastic wonders here on Poppytalk. About the author I'm the big kahuna with the whole shebang.

Hemp versus cotton: Which is better for the environment? - By Brian Palmer I keep hearing about how beneficial hemp is for the environment, and what a shame it is that U.S. farmers aren't allowed to grow it. Is hemp really that eco-friendly? With the possible exception of soy, no plant has managed to spawn so many different products, and as much controversy, as hemp. The legal problem for hemp is that it's visually and taxonomically identical to marijuana. The plant is a Schedule 1 controlled substance in the United States, which means you need special permission to grow it regardless of THC content. Hemp is so versatile in part because it can be grown for either seed or fiber. So is hemp the answer to all our environmental problems, or just boring pot? A 2005 report (PDF) by the Stockholm Environment Institute compared the water, land, and energy requirements of cotton, polyester, and hemp textiles. Producing the raw ingredients for any textile consumes more energy than any other stage in the process. So where does all this leave us?

What Republican Policies Have Done It all started in 1980, when Reagan convinced people that his "trickle down" economics (or as the first George Bush called it -- voodoo economics) would create a richer country for all Americans. He said if we removed regulations and allowed the corporations and the rich to make unlimited profits, those profits would be shared by everyone. He lied. There were unlimited and record-breaking profits, but it all stayed in the bank accounts of the richest Americans. This resulted in the most uneven distribution of income and wealth since the 1920s. That vastly uneven distribution in the 20s lead to the Great Depression. George W. The recession in 2007 and 2008 hurt all Americans, but the bottom 90% were hurt the worst because they had the least they could afford to lose. Now the recession is over for the rich and they are once again making record profits and enjoying record bonuses (after being bailed out by the rest of us). Link to original post

Peanut Butter & Nutella Brownies « The Craving Chronicles Believe it or not, this is the first time I’ve ever made brownies that weren’t from a box, and boy was it enlightening! My husband and I have been together in some way (dating or married) for going on 8 years now. You’d think that would be enough time to get to know a person, right? Wrong! I had just finished baking this batch of Peanut Butter & Nutella Brownies. I had cut them and set them out on the counter to cool when my husband came bounding up the basement stairs into the kitchen. “Brownies are my favorite! No way! Anyway, back to the brownies. After trying another brownie the following day, I decided they really are a bit sweet for my taste. The whole pan was devoured in less than a week. Nutella & Peanut Butter Brownies (adapted from OvenHaven) This is a very adaptable and forgiving recipe. Preheat oven to 350°F. Measure the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt into a small bowl and whisk to combine. Stir the sugar into the melted butter. Like this: Like Loading...

Photography: The Flying Japanese Girl « Chuk'num Before you freak out for a split second, this is photography and not real to some extent. Meet natsumi aka yowayowa camera woman, a Japanese woman who takes self portraits like never been seen before. Instead of the usual self portraits, natsumi takes it to the next level, all her photos show her flying mid-air, her feet off the ground and there is no blurry elements what so ever. Of course that is a photography technique relying on shutter speed adjustment, none the less, the outcome is fun and full of life.

Chewing gum: environmentally friendly or not? - By Brian Palmer Gum is a blight on civilized society. It's always hiding on the underside of tables, or flattened on the pavement, or sticking to my shoes. Is it bad for the environment, too? Unfortunately, there's not a lot of environmental data on the chewing-gum industry. But given how useless gum is, at least for most people, the Lantern isn't prepared to cut Big Chew much slack. And yet, gum-chewing has a long history, going back to the ancient Greeks, who chewed a gumlike product derived from the resin of the mastic tree. Twenty years later, in 1869, a Mexican exile named General Antonio de Santa Anna and American photographer Thomas Adams introduced chicle, a resin, from the sapodilla tree to the American palate. Decades after chewing gum became an American obsession, most manufacturers ditched chicle, replacing the natural resin with a synthetic polymer known as polyisobutene. While the new base produces a supremely soft and chewable gum, it's not biodegradable.

Political Myths WE Live By by Peter Lach-newinsky Whenever most conversations I have these days move around to matters political I often find myself in a quandary. I have the choice of either accepting the tacit assumptions behind the other person’s remarks or questions, or else remaining largely silent and trying to change the topic. This is because I don’t share the tacit assumptions. I would classify most of these usually unexamined assumptions as social democratic or liberal. 1. If ‘democracy’ means ‘rule by the people’, it isn’t. 2. Just like any communist party, when it comes to the crunch, the major parties are all run top-down from head office. 3. This reduces the core political notion of freedom to the freedom to choose between the two wings of the one pro-capitalist and neo-liberal party. The key investment decisions are not made by politicians and thus elections are only of secondary importance. 4. 5. 6. Politicians may be personally honest or dishonest to varying degrees. 7. 8. It isn’t. 9. 10. 11. They are not mistakes.

use real butter

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