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WHEEL
As old as my gums and a little older than my teeth.
Articles Posted: 30; Links Seeded: 849
Member Since: 5/2006Last Seen: 11/23/2009
Member Since: 5/2006Last Seen: 11/23/2009
15 Votes
95 Comments
World food crisis hits home
News Type: Event — Seeded on Wed Apr 23, 2008 8:25 AM EDT
Article Source: Seattle Post-Intelligenceradvertisement
As the world faces its first global food crisis since World War II, even American consumers are starting to fret.
Media reports are starting to trickle in about grocers limiting some food purchases, while Costco Wholesale Corp. is seeing higher-than-usual demand for staple foods such as rice and flour as consumers appear to be stocking up.
Published to:
- Wheel's Column, All of Newsvine
- Groups: Armageddon Watch, Political Analysis, Seattleites, World Funk Monthly
- Regions: Seattle/Tacoma
 | World Food Program warns of 'silent tsunami' of hunger | Associated Press | Tue Apr 22 | 34 |
 | World Bank Says Thai Curb on Rice Exports Would Deepen Crisis | Bloomberg.com | Wed Apr 23 | 3 |
| UN food chief urges crisis action | BBC News | Tue Apr 22 | 0 |
| UN Calls Food Crisis the 'Silent Tsunami' | The Washington Post | Wed Apr 23 | 0 |
| reportonbusiness.com: From Wal-Mart quotas to a 'frenzy' in Vancouver, Asia's rice crisis goes global | The Globe and Mai | Fri Apr 25 | 1 |
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{"commentId":1723914,"authorDomain":"Wheel"}
The World Food Program says that rising food prices -- and a corresponding food shortage -- threaten 20 million of the planet's poorest children.
Only the beginning. As the poorest people on Earth start to die in rows from hunger and even the wealthy start to feel the pinch I expect world wide food riots. Countries that have food are going to curb exports, countries that don't will starve and riot.
{"commentId":1723914,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"Wheel"}
- 6 votes
#1 - Wed Apr 23, 2008 8:28 AM EDT{"commentId":1724362,"authorDomain":"TacitusAndronicus"}
Wheel,
An avoidable tragedy. People either procreate unconsciously or insist on their rights to have lots of offspring - the latter of which usually employ culture and/or tradition in their rationalizations. Then there's the outdated religious edict of "go forth and multiply" which has been followed too well and today should be more along the lines of "Relax, don't do it..."
We are running right up against cause and effect. The effect is tragic sufferings of many and the cause is squarely our own. So instead of addressing the problem rationally we'll start seeing the blame game and, worse, the whole "divine wrath for our sins" diatribe.
{"commentId":1724362,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"TacitusAndronicus"}
- 4 votes
{"commentId":1724407,"authorDomain":"Wheel"}
TA,
"The way in which, these effects are produced seems to be this. We will suppose the means of subsistence in any country just equal to the easy support of its inhabitants. The constant effort towards population... increases the number of people before the means of subsistence are increased. The food therefore which before supported seven millions must now be divided among seven millions and a half or eight millions. The poor consequently must live much worse, and many of them be reduced to severe distress. The number of labourers also being above the proportion of the work in the market, the price of labour must tend toward a decrease, while the price of provisions would at the same time tend to rise. The labourer therefore must work harder to earn the same as he did before. During this season of distress, the discouragements to marriage, and the difficulty of rearing a family are so great that population is at a stand. In the mean time the cheapness of labour, the plenty of labourers, and the necessity of an increased industry amongst them, encourage cultivators to employ more labour upon their land, to turn up fresh soil, and to manure and improve more completely what is already in tillage, till ultimately the means of subsistence become in the same proportion to the population as at the period from which we set out. The situation of the labourer being then again tolerably comfortable, the restraints to population are in some degree loosened, and the same retrograde and progressive movements with respect to happiness are repeated."
Malthus get's the last word.
{"commentId":1724407,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"Wheel"}
- 2 votes
{"commentId":1724416,"authorDomain":"seward"}
Tacitus, so you're blaming this current "food crisis" on Over Population?
Personally, I think it's all being engineered as a further step towards "The New World Order".
{"commentId":1724416,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"seward"}
- 4 votes
{"commentId":1725052,"authorDomain":"TacitusAndronicus"}
Sandie,
It might in fact be a bit of both. I don't know much about the new world order, except that it sounds somewhat ominous. The human race however has been doing this since the earliest days but it's been only in the last 150 years that the population has simply exploded. For thousands of years the planet could support our numbers because we weren't that great and our harvesting was too efficient. Now, with mechanization we are over efficient to the point mass deforestation (I understand that Britain was once covered in forests) and overfishing of the oceans. Thats just the start, most of our water is fouled by some chemical or another...
{"commentId":1725052,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"TacitusAndronicus"}
- 4 votes
{"commentId":1726431,"authorDomain":"seward"}
Yes, Britain was once upon a time covered in Forests, all except the really highest areas. It was the English Oak that was used to build the ships of the Royal Navy for centuries, right up until the late 19th. Century, when iron started to be used.
The only forests we have left now are nothing but sad remnants of what there used to be.
Not too far from my home there is an ancient oak tree. It is well-hidden, and not many people, even locals, know about it. It is at least six hundred years old, and is very special and much loved by the few, like myself, who love trees, and know it's there.
{"commentId":1726431,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"seward"}
- 4 votes
{"commentId":1726458,"authorDomain":"TacitusAndronicus"}
Yes. And Lebanon went the same way - it was once famous for its cedar - but overharvesting and the "don't worry, it'll come back" attitude left it in the same condition.
I live in Oregon and we still have some trees but nothing like there used to be.
{"commentId":1726458,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"TacitusAndronicus"}
- 6 votes
{"commentId":1726534,"authorDomain":"Wheel"}
The Cedars of Lebanon, like the Tasmanian Tiger, grace little more than the flag of their respective countries now.
{"commentId":1726534,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"Wheel"}
- 3 votes
{"commentId":1726922,"authorDomain":"eric-albert"}
Just responded to Redruby's concern also about the same issue.....the whole civil structure, Western class development is collapsing from its own internatl contradictions, and the poor, are bearing the brunt. Good seed to remind us of what policies, class deformed ideologies are behind this catastrophe.
{"commentId":1726922,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"eric-albert"}
- 4 votes
{"commentId":1727327,"authorDomain":"TacitusAndronicus"}
The Cedars of Lebanon, like the Tasmanian Tiger, grace little more than the flag of their respective countries now.
Wheel, yes - it's like housing developments adopting the names of the things they destroy. I think, on a social level, the mass of humanity has the emotional development of, maybe, a toddler. The more emotionally developed among us are often singled out for ridicule and even death because what they represent is an effort that the mass is unwilling to make. For instance, family planning ("you have no right to tell me how many children I can have"), human rights ("In our culture it is customary to treat women this way"), environmental concerns ("What are you? Some kind of environmental fascist?").
The whole "culture war" concept is, I think, based on a selfish reverence for the past. As if things could go back to "the way they were", whatever that is. We know what the christian conservatives think it is...
Here's something from Mill that I think about from time to time and it's pretty obvious that many of our conservative chums have not picked up this work...
"though the customs be both good as customs, and suitable to him, yet to conform to custom, merely as custom, does not educate or develop in him any of the qualities which are the distinctive endowment of a human being. The human faculties of perception, judgment, discriminative feeling, mental activity, and even moral preference, are exercised only in making a choice. He who does anything because it is the custom, makes no choice. He gains no practice either in discerning or in desiring what is best. The mental and moral, like the muscular powers, are improved only by being used."
{"commentId":1727327,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"TacitusAndronicus"}
- 4 votes
{"commentId":1727352,"authorDomain":"Wheel"}
The more emotionally developed among us are often singled out for ridicule and even death because what they represent is an effort that the mass is unwilling to make.
In the kingdom of the blind the one eyed man would be beaten to death as a lying son-of-a-@!$%#.
"though the customs be both good as customs, and suitable to him, yet to conform to custom, merely as custom, does not educate or develop in him any of the qualities which are the distinctive endowment of a human being.
Question everything.
I agree, good points.
{"commentId":1727352,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"Wheel"}
- 5 votes
{"commentId":1727539,"authorDomain":"TacitusAndronicus"}
In the kingdom of the blind the one eyed man would be beaten to death as a lying son-of-a-@!$%#.
LOL
Classic!
{"commentId":1727539,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"TacitusAndronicus"}
- 2 votes
{"commentId":1734441,"authorDomain":"MinnieApolis"}
I have seeded the occasional story about how speculators are driving up the price of food staples so now the poor are starving.
Here is another recent article fro Spiegel International about the speculators -- here. Headline: The Role of Speculators in the Global Food Crisis. Some excerpts:
Hedge fund manager John Paulson was recently celebrated for achieving a record annual profit of $3.7 billion (€2.3 billion). Those who work in this environment have only one rule: Don't disappoint profit-hungry investors.
Not only is there talk that investors have profited from desperate hunger in Honduras, the Philippines and Bangladesh; critics also wonder if commodity speculators are making the crisis worse.
The planet's grain reserves are almost empty for a number of reasons, including global population growth and greater prosperity in some countries like India. Feed corn is in short supply because industrialized nations have used it for ethanol. Droughts -- in Australia, for example -- have devastated rice and wheat harvests. Wheat reserves worldwide are only sufficient right now to cover about 60 days of demand.
Profitting off the world's poor is beneath contempt.
{"commentId":1734441,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"MinnieApolis"}
- 7 votes
{"commentId":1734613,"authorDomain":"Wheel"}
Profiting off the world's poor is beneath contempt.
You're right Minnie, and every corporation in America is doing it.
{"commentId":1734613,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"Wheel"}
- 3 votes
{"commentId":1734844,"authorDomain":"witchofthenorth"}
I agree with you Minnie - it's a despicable practice and I suspect the main factor in this crisis
{"commentId":1734844,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"witchofthenorth"}
- 4 votes
{"commentId":1735700,"authorDomain":"TacitusAndronicus"}
I agree with you guys, and why corporartions are allowed the degree of autonomony that they have, not just to steal from the poor but to pollute our environment on a massive scale with their products and effluent, is beyond me...
{"commentId":1735700,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"TacitusAndronicus"}
- 5 votes
{"commentId":1750962,"authorDomain":"PamelaDrew"}
why corporartions are allowed the degree of autonomony that they have, not just to steal from the poor but to pollute our environment on a massive scale with their products and effluent, is beyond me...
Most of that criminal activity is "permitted" by corporate influence on a corrupt Congress. Not only are the laws continually updated to set "allowable limits" for toxins, the regulatory agencies are without the resources to do their job adequately and often dominated by industry appointees as their Directors to make sure the industry interests are protected thus operating by corporate rule.
{"commentId":1750962,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"PamelaDrew"}
- 4 votes
{"commentId":1724027,"authorDomain":"TeddRi"}
Interesting timing as I was planning to go over to Costco's HQ building this morning and they have a store right next to it, I will have to see if I notice anything different and at the same time try not to pick up one of everything. Between Costco, Hardware and Music/Book stores, I can do some major damage to my bank account real fast..
{"commentId":1724027,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"TeddRi"}
- 5 votes
#2 - Wed Apr 23, 2008 9:09 AM EDT{"commentId":1726947,"authorDomain":"TeddRi"}
Looks like it is happening in more places then just Costco. However in the local stores, nothing looked different and no signs on limits of any kind that I could see. When I asked, I was told it was only in select area's of California, mainly LA.
{"commentId":1726947,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"TeddRi"}
- 4 votes
{"commentId":1726956,"authorDomain":"Wheel"}
Thanks Tedd,
Ephraim Leibtag, an economist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Washington, said in a telephone interview. ``Food supplies have been pretty stable in the U.S. over the last 20 to 30 years.''
There's a difference between stable and affordable. You'd think an economist would know that.
{"commentId":1726956,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"Wheel"}
- 3 votes
{"commentId":1726983,"authorDomain":"gwenny"}
From what I understand, it's because they are anticipating a run on food, not because of actual shortages. The Costco in our area is not stopping folks from buying rice, but they are limiting hoarding. So restaurants and places that have always bought in large bulk are free to do continue to do so. But if you go in and have never purchased rice before and suddenly want to buy 500 pounds like that ass in Mountain View, then they won't let you.
{"commentId":1726983,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"gwenny"}
- 7 votes
{"commentId":1727002,"authorDomain":"TeddRi"}
They do the same thing here when they come out with a heavy snow forecast. People go crazy and stock on a years supply of batteries, drinks and video games...
{"commentId":1727002,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"TeddRi"}
- 6 votes
{"commentId":1727016,"authorDomain":"Wheel"}
Here in NC it doesn't have to a heavy snow foercast. We close the schools and delay work if there's a 1/2" of snow. Then we go to the store and buy all the milk and bread. :)
{"commentId":1727016,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"Wheel"}
- 6 votes
{"commentId":1727336,"authorDomain":"TacitusAndronicus"}
Here in Oregon we just sleep in and let all the California transplants wreck their cars. Once the hazard that is California is safely immobilzed on the side of the roads we drive to work. Actually saves time so it's a win/win...except for our friends from Ca., that is.
{"commentId":1727336,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"TacitusAndronicus"}
- 6 votes
{"commentId":1727438,"authorDomain":"TeddRi"}
I would not admit that of course. But that fact does help to get the clutter off the roads in Seattle also :-)
{"commentId":1727438,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"TeddRi"}
- 7 votes
{"commentId":1727526,"authorDomain":"gwenny"}
We close the schools and delay work if there's a 1/2" of snow. Then we go to the store and buy all the milk and bread. :)
Either you live close to the mountains or N Carolinians have gotten braver. I remember workers bailing from the sewing factory if one snow flake fell. I would so laugh at them. The first day of drivers ed in Ohio there was 10 inches of new snow and the instructor threw the keys at one kid and said, "What are you waiting for? You might as well learn how to drive in this now."
{"commentId":1727526,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"gwenny"}
- 5 votes
{"commentId":1727891,"authorDomain":"TeddRi"}
Trying living around Northern VA-DC area, since 99.7% of the people are transplants from out of the area and change about every 4 years when a new president rolls in a snow forecast will cause massive gridlock and stores to be hit hard.
Then if the snow does arrive....Just stay home, trust me, it is not worth even thinking of driving, between black ice and the idea that cars only have two speeds Full speed ahead or brakes locked, it can get messy.
However if you ever wanted to listen to all those CD's or tapes you never listened to in your car, you will get that chance....
{"commentId":1727891,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"TeddRi"}
- 7 votes
{"commentId":1728047,"authorDomain":"Wheel"}
I had an elderly neighbor. She didn't have a car but I tried to make sure when I went to the store that I asked if she needed anything. One day the forecast was calling for snow and I called to ask if she needed anything.
She said:"I'm fine, I've got 3 loaves of bread and 4 lbs. of coffee!"
Got to have priorities I suppose. :D
between black ice and the idea that cars only have two speeds Full speed ahead or brakes locked, it can get messy.
I Hate Black Ice! It's way worse than snow. :P
{"commentId":1728047,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"Wheel"}
- 5 votes
{"commentId":1728451,"authorDomain":"TeddRi"}
4 lbs. of coffee!
I learned long ago from this State. I always keep at least a 2 week survival supply of coffee, sweet & low and toilet paper. Without those, life stops.....
We had the famous "Inaugural Day Snow Storm" years ago, I went 16 days with no power and a 250 ft fir tree blocking my driveway. Ugh.....That was not fun. The only thing that worked was my gas stove and water heater and the two fireplaces..
{"commentId":1728451,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"TeddRi"}
- 5 votes
{"commentId":1724341,"authorDomain":"eriktheread"}
People in rich countries have been spending proportionally less on food. 50 years ago we were spending up to 40% of our income on food, now it's 15% (depending a bit on your income bracket). The money has shifted to transportation and electronic communication. Guess we are due for a "correction" in the market.
Now I feel rotten, importing food is starting to sound like we are taking food out of the mouths of babies. I guess I'm going to have to learn to like fish. Anyone care for a whale steak?
{"commentId":1724341,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"eriktheread"}
- 3 votes
#3 - Wed Apr 23, 2008 10:19 AM EDT{"commentId":1724391,"authorDomain":"witchofthenorth"}
Fish is better for you Erik - I'll pass on the whale though.
{"commentId":1724391,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"witchofthenorth"}
- 1 vote
{"commentId":1724415,"authorDomain":"Wheel"}
Whales aren't fish, they're mammals.
{"commentId":1724415,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"Wheel"}
- 7 votes
{"commentId":1724679,"authorDomain":"PamelaDrew"}
The money has shifted to transportation and electronic communication.
Actually the biggest shift in cost has gone to housing where most people now spend half their income for mortgage or rent. It went from the farmers to the bankers. Now that agribusiness controls the food the cost will soar. This is manipulation at its best.
Go to Local Harvest, know your farmer, plant a garden and work on CSA -Community Supported Agriculture programs. Like the big oil profits from the gas pump, the food hype is going to the bottom line of Monsanto, ADM, Cargill etc.
{"commentId":1724679,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"PamelaDrew"}
- 8 votes
{"commentId":1724750,"authorDomain":"seward"}
In Britain we have "Farmers Markets" where you can buy produce direct from the fields, no "middlemen" or excessive "mark-ups", just honest-to-goodness products at "honest-to-goodness" prices!
{"commentId":1724750,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"seward"}
- 4 votes
{"commentId":1724916,"authorDomain":"eriktheread"}
And it doesn't taste or look like fish either. It tastes of cod liver oil. I don't know who eats it except the Japanese.
Yes, Pamela, the cost of housing is up, even in Norway. In 1958 it averaged 15%. Now it's higher than 20% for the rich and above 30% for the poor. Back in 1958 we didn't have a lot of private cars and a phone was considered a luxury item, so this it hardly registered as a cost of living. At that time the US was way ahead of us, so your statistics will look very different.
Guess I messed up on that one :-(
{"commentId":1724916,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"eriktheread"}
- 6 votes
{"commentId":1725046,"authorDomain":"TeddRi"}
Guess I messed up on that one :-(
Erik the Read-161455
Just like to document these facts Erik for later use when I do the same :-)
{"commentId":1725046,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"TeddRi"}
- 3 votes
{"commentId":1725573,"authorDomain":"eriktheread"}
Anyway, we have been spending an ever lower percentage of income on food. That was my main point, and I got that right. So, if we have to increase that percentage, what will we be spending less on? Americans have generally no savings, homes are mortgaged, interest rates can hardly get any lower.
Looking at my national statistics, comparing the poor with the well-to-do, a major difference in spending pattern is on transportation, the rich have newer cars and travel a whole lot more. So maybe the shift in spending will come there when or if food becomes more expensive.
{"commentId":1725573,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"eriktheread"}
- 3 votes
{"commentId":1725596,"authorDomain":"Wheel"}
Erik,
don't forget cable and the telephone, landline especially. People will cut down on a lot things to keep eating. You're right people will be buying more used cars and making their old cars run longer. Second hand clothes at the Goodwill and off the bargain racks are going to be making a comeback.
{"commentId":1725596,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"Wheel"}
- 5 votes
{"commentId":1725716,"authorDomain":"eriktheread"}
...and maybe even more @!$%#ty food. "Pass me some of that trans-fat, will ya?" When I see fathers and mothers filling their kids up with nothing but French fries, I get a serious case of wanting to tell people off.
{"commentId":1725716,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"eriktheread"}
- 5 votes
{"commentId":1725764,"authorDomain":"TacitusAndronicus"}
Wheel,
People will cut down on a lot things to keep eating.
Except cable, god help them if they give up cable...
{"commentId":1725764,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"TacitusAndronicus"}
- 3 votes
{"commentId":1725790,"authorDomain":"Wheel"}
T A,
I can see it now, everyone on the entire street will be stealing cable from one guy and paying him off in sandwiches and beans an rice. :)
{"commentId":1725790,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"Wheel"}
- 6 votes
{"commentId":1725806,"authorDomain":"gwenny"}
Except cable, god help them if they give up cable...
We don't have cable. When my husband moved out and took his account with him, we never bothered to get it hooked up. What is going to happen to us?
{"commentId":1725806,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"gwenny"}
- 4 votes
{"commentId":1725839,"authorDomain":"Wheel"}
We don't have cable. When my husband moved out and took his account with him,
The bastard! How will you watch 'Deadliest Catch'?
{"commentId":1725839,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"Wheel"}
- 2 votes
{"commentId":1726189,"authorDomain":"ontological"}
When I see fathers and mothers filling their kids up with nothing but French fries, I get a serious case of wanting to tell people off.
Fun Fact: Hot Dogs first took off during the Depression when a family member could be fed on a Chicago-style dog with everything for a nickle. Bun, Meat, ketchup, mustard, relish, a pickle, peppers, etc.
{"commentId":1726189,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"ontological"}
- 5 votes
{"commentId":1726270,"authorDomain":"TacitusAndronicus"}
Gwenny,
My God! We need to get you cable, STAT! I'm starting a collection fund today...somewhere...
I don't have it either - a waste of time and money. I guess I'm a Communist...
{"commentId":1726270,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"TacitusAndronicus"}
- 4 votes
{"commentId":1726311,"authorDomain":"gwenny"}
My God! We need to get you cable, STAT! I'm starting a collection fund today...somewhere...
LOL I can put a paypal donate button on one of my websites. I PROMISE to use any money donated to get cable. Honest.
{"commentId":1726311,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"gwenny"}
- 4 votes
{"commentId":1726470,"authorDomain":"seward"}
I don't have cable where I live, but my landline gives me around 6.4 Mbps.of Broadband, with no restrictions, and telephone, for around £23 per month. If I had to give this up now, I would really miss it, as it has become such a huge part of my life.
I don't go out to pubs or clubs anymore, my t.v. and Broadband are enough.
{"commentId":1726470,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"seward"}
- 3 votes
{"commentId":1726537,"authorDomain":"Wheel"}
Sandie,
I'm with you, as long as I have books and the internet I can do without tv very well.
{"commentId":1726537,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"Wheel"}
- 3 votes
{"commentId":1726559,"authorDomain":"seward"}
I still watch some t.v. but I am very selective as to what programmes I watch. Sadly, the decent ones are getting fewer each year.
At least I still have lots of my favourite Dramas and Documentaries on video, and I can watch those anytime.
{"commentId":1726559,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"seward"}
- 2 votes
{"commentId":1727027,"authorDomain":"eriktheread"}
#3.12 Ontological Zombie
Bun, Meat, ketchup, mustard, relish, a pickle, peppers, etc.
I recall this Wash., DC radio add from about 1960, I don't remember who the sponsor was:
"Twenty-five cents for a three course meal?" The meal consisted of onion rings, a coke and some ice cream.
We have to understand food prices relative to what people earn. Though I pay four-five times more for a dinner at a restaurant in Norway than I do in China, the relative price is much higher in China since ordinary people here earn ten or twenty times what they do.
{"commentId":1727027,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"eriktheread"}
- 4 votes
{"commentId":1727064,"authorDomain":"Wheel"}
Hot Dogs first took off during the Depression when a family member could be fed on a Chicago-style dog with everything for a nickle. Bun, Meat, ketchup, mustard, relish, a pickle, peppers, etc.
Ketchup on a hotdog?! Blasphemer!!!
{"commentId":1727064,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"Wheel"}
- 4 votes
{"commentId":1727101,"authorDomain":"TeddRi"}
Hey when I lived in Germany I even got to liking Mayonnaise on French Fries !
They thought I was crazy putting ketchup on them...
{"commentId":1727101,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"TeddRi"}
- 4 votes
{"commentId":1727134,"authorDomain":"Wheel"}
Try mayonnaise on scrambled eggs sometime.
Try mustard on black eyed peas. Looks disgusting but it tastes good.
A-1 steak sauce on pinto beans is good too.
{"commentId":1727134,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"Wheel"}
- 5 votes
{"commentId":1727150,"authorDomain":"TeddRi"}
Thats scary Wheel...That sounds exactly like one of my Dad's favorites, along with Hot Cereal or gravy and biscuits.
{"commentId":1727150,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"TeddRi"}
- 4 votes
{"commentId":1727216,"authorDomain":"Wheel"}
Here's a good one too. French toast with syrup, topped with a fried egg. Clear arteries are for sissies. :)
{"commentId":1727216,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"Wheel"}
- 4 votes
{"commentId":1727229,"authorDomain":"TeddRi"}
I agree, you would think by now they could have at least come up with a two way Vein.
{"commentId":1727229,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"TeddRi"}
- 4 votes
{"commentId":1727342,"authorDomain":"TacitusAndronicus"}
Tedd,
Biscuits and gravy are sweet!
And the other morning for breakfast a buddy and I had peanut butter and bacon sandwiches - he cooked the bacon right at his desk and talked me into trying it - it was pretty tasty, I must say!
{"commentId":1727342,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"TacitusAndronicus"}
- 5 votes
{"commentId":1727369,"authorDomain":"Wheel"}
Biscuits and gravy are sweet!
And the other morning for breakfast a buddy and I had peanut butter and bacon sandwiches - he cooked the bacon right at his desk and talked me into trying it - it was pretty tasty, I must say!
I love the Micky D's Gravy biscuits! The peanut butter and bacon sandwich sounds good too. I like peanut butter and banana sandwiches too. Bananas sliced long way of course.
{"commentId":1727369,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"Wheel"}
- 4 votes
{"commentId":1727400,"authorDomain":"TacitusAndronicus"}
Wheel,
Ya, PB and banana! When I was a kid I like PB and black olive sandwiches.
{"commentId":1727400,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"TacitusAndronicus"}
- 5 votes
{"commentId":1727443,"authorDomain":"TeddRi"}
TacitusAndronicus,
Opps...Sorry I forgot where you were located from for a moment. I thought you guys added Granola to everything down there and then dumped it on the compost pile ?
I had thought about that, but did not want to mess up my Birkenstock Sandals and mis-matched REI hiking socks :-)
Yeah my sister loads up her sandwiches with Banana's also...
One day I will figure out the Banana and PB connection. At the moment I think it had to do with something that Max Yasgur added to his farm's water supply right before the Woodstock Festival. Nothing else could explain this. Unless maybe the Aliens can.
{"commentId":1727443,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"TeddRi"}
- 5 votes
{"commentId":1727532,"authorDomain":"gwenny"}
OMG people, I missed dinner and it's too late to eat. GAH! I'm starving. I need to go to bed so I don't think about it.
{"commentId":1727532,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"gwenny"}
- 2 votes
{"commentId":1727537,"authorDomain":"TacitusAndronicus"}
Tedd,
We do! We're also pushing to have the beaver removed from the state flag, to be replaced by an heroic Ule Gibbons.
;)
{"commentId":1727537,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"TacitusAndronicus"}
- 4 votes
{"commentId":1727549,"authorDomain":"gwenny"}
Now it's higher than 20% for the rich and above 30% for the poor.
Wow, lucky. Our rent, not all the bills associated with living, is over 50% of my son's and my combined incomes. i.e. it's more than I take home.
{"commentId":1727549,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"gwenny"}
- 2 votes
{"commentId":1727677,"authorDomain":"seward"}
Regarding "odd" food combinations. I had a friend that used to spread natural yoghurt on her breakfast kippers!
{"commentId":1727677,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"seward"}
- 3 votes
{"commentId":1727919,"authorDomain":"TeddRi"}
TacitusAndronicus
We're also pushing to have the beaver removed from the state flag,
Heck just ship your flag up here for a few weeks, I am sure "The Green State" would get some nice mold growing on that beaver in no time at all.
At least you guy have a real flag, our's looks like an everyday quarter. They could at least replace it with a Starbucks or REI logo and have it look a little more up to date.
{"commentId":1727919,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"TeddRi"}
- 6 votes
{"commentId":1734475,"authorDomain":"MinnieApolis"}
I don't have cable either!!!
Can I apply to a Newsvine grant? Am willing to share goofy food combinations.
{"commentId":1734475,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"MinnieApolis"}
- 4 votes
{"commentId":1734615,"authorDomain":"Wheel"}
Am willing to share goofy food combinations.
Well?
{"commentId":1734615,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"Wheel"}
- 2 votes
{"commentId":1725233,"authorDomain":"jdl-28"}
Our world is coming apart and over population isn't helping, back in the fifity our government ask us not to have over two kid, but now they are allowing more and more people to enter our country from every other countries. Our land will only produce so much period, maybe it is time to send people back to their own country. We should not run out of wheat sense we are producing it, let charge $500.00 dollars a bundle to the mid east to see if there oil price come down. How much farm land have we taken away over the years to build home, greed cause many problem that people will be understanding in a very short time now.
Some one said he believe it was part do to the new world order, it could be sense the government control everything we do. They keep trying to control us by fear and have been doing a good job for the pass seven years. We need to start producing our own produce here and for get about helping everyone else in this world.
{"commentId":1725233,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"jdl-28"}
- 4 votes
#4 - Wed Apr 23, 2008 1:30 PM EDT{"commentId":1725882,"authorDomain":"eriktheread"}
jdl-28
We need to start producing our own produce here and forget about helping everyone else in this world.
You'll be glad to know, that has been US government policy for quite some while. Your strings-attached foreign aid is a lowly 0.19% of GNP and you have some of the world's highest import taxes. In addition you use "legal" means like anti-dumping regulations rather liberally.
{"commentId":1725882,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"eriktheread"}
- 3 votes
{"commentId":1725970,"authorDomain":"solight"}
UG99 - Wheat rust began in Uganda in 1999 and has traveled into the middle east, killing the entire crops. It is expected to travel into China and eventually the US within the next 5-7 years.
http://www.farmandranchguide.com/articles/2008/03/13/ag_news/production_news/pro10.txt
This is what started the food shortage. That coupled with a drought in Australia that killed off their rice.
{"commentId":1725970,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"solight"}
- 3 votes
{"commentId":1726064,"authorDomain":"Wheel"}
light,
I had known about the Australian drought but not about the wheat rust. The 2 year plus drought here, in the American southest has cut into crops of soybean and peaches and other fruits.
{"commentId":1726064,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"Wheel"}
- 1 vote
{"commentId":1725382,"authorDomain":"gwenny"}
I was just talking to my boss how some news source writes an hysterical scare piece and all the news sources pick it up. Is there any corroboration of this from any than the first news source? I happen to live in the East Bay and we are not seeing this stuff. Yes, Thailand may not export as much since they had a horrible year, but India is posting record crops, a 5% increase in rice with 2 MILLION tonnes more than last year. But there's not a REAL food shortage.
The problems we are facing are not the ability of the Earth to feed us, but of government and business to be sane and care about people. In Africa starvation is entirely due to government. They could produce enough food if it were a priority. Hell, we send enough food to feed them all, if it didn't rot because of red tape. Now food is being diverted to feed our consumer lifestyle instead of feed people.
Eh, this will die down in a few weeks and no one will have made any changes.
{"commentId":1725382,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"gwenny"}
- 4 votes
#5 - Wed Apr 23, 2008 2:04 PM EDT{"commentId":1725539,"authorDomain":"Wheel"}
Gwenny,
Try telling that the people who are rioting for food. This is not going to go away in a few weeks. It will be like the war, it will go on for so long and be so bad that people will start to ignore it. When's the last time a story from the war topped the evening news?
{"commentId":1725539,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"Wheel"}
- 1 vote
{"commentId":1725777,"authorDomain":"TacitusAndronicus"}
Gwenny,
The problems we are facing are not the ability of the Earth to feed us
This is not entirely true. We are overexploiting every food source. I've seen the fisheries in Alaska and have read about the massive bird die-offs in the North Atlantic due to overfishing.
If we are starving the other life forms that share this planet (as we certainly are) then our turn is only a matter of time. Reap what you sow...
{"commentId":1725777,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"TacitusAndronicus"}
- 4 votes
{"commentId":1725827,"authorDomain":"gwenny"}
If we are starving the other life forms that share this planet (as we certainly are) then our turn is only a matter of time. Reap what you sow...
The technology exists and has existed for decades to feed humanity in sustainable ways. We will adapt. It's unfortunate that most of you need this sort of hysteria to force you into action.
{"commentId":1725827,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"gwenny"}
- 4 votes
{"commentId":1726490,"authorDomain":"seward"}
Do I see "Soylent Green" on the horizon?
{"commentId":1726490,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"seward"}
- 2 votes
{"commentId":1726519,"authorDomain":"gwenny"}
Do I see "Soylent Green" on the horizon?
I don't think so. LOL It's really not so much a matter of lack of food as difficult distributing the food that is grown.
{"commentId":1726519,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"gwenny"}
- 2 votes
{"commentId":1726533,"authorDomain":"seward"}
Thank goodness. I don't much fancy eating my neighbour, much too tough!!!!!! :O)
{"commentId":1726533,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"seward"}
- 3 votes
{"commentId":1726541,"authorDomain":"Wheel"}
Sandie,
How bout me? My neighbor has more and better guns than I do! :)
{"commentId":1726541,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"Wheel"}
- 3 votes
{"commentId":1727355,"authorDomain":"TacitusAndronicus"}
To quote Homer Simpson:
mmmmMMMmmmm....Soylent Green.....
{"commentId":1727355,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"TacitusAndronicus"}
- 3 votes
{"commentId":1727534,"authorDomain":"gwenny"}
I don't much fancy eating my neighbour, much too tough!!!!!! :O)
::Looks thoughtful:: Naw, all my neighbors are old people. Not a frisky one among them. ::sigh::
{"commentId":1727534,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"gwenny"}
- 2 votes
{"commentId":1727679,"authorDomain":"seward"}
They get too tough to chew when they get old. Too sinewy and skinny. Ugh!
{"commentId":1727679,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"seward"}
- 3 votes
{"commentId":1734465,"authorDomain":"MinnieApolis"}
Whew, what a relief! I feel a little bit like the frog in the old Far Side cartoon, who yelped to the human "Skinny legs! Skinny legs!"
{"commentId":1734465,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"MinnieApolis"}
- 2 votes
{"commentId":1725632,"authorDomain":"steelerdog"}
I see Bush has approved 200 million in aid. I'm guessing that, a couple more years of drought in some of the places in Africa and other nations who've been hit in recent years, and this thing's gonna get to the point where we may not be able to keep up with the aid.
{"commentId":1725632,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"steelerdog"}
- 1 vote
#6 - Wed Apr 23, 2008 2:58 PM EDT{"commentId":1726008,"authorDomain":"gwenny"}
It's a pity some of that aid won't be spent on things like vertical farms.
Advantages of Vertical Farming
- Year-round crop production; 1 indoor acre is equivalent to 4-6 outdoor acres or more, depending upon the crop (e.g., strawberries: 1 indoor acre = 30 outdoor acres)
- No weather-related crop failures due to droughts, floods, pests
- All VF food is grown organically: no herbicides, pesticides, or fertilizers
- VF virtually eliminates agricultural runoff by recycling black water
- VF returns farmland to nature, restoring ecosystem functions and services
- VF greatly reduces the incidence of many infectious diseases that are acquired at the agricultural interface
- VF converts black and gray water into potable water by collecting the water of evapotranspiration
- VF adds energy back to the grid via methane generation from composting non-edible parts of plants and animals
- VF dramatically reduces fossil fuel use (no tractors, plows, shipping.)
- VF converts abandoned urban properties into food production centers
- VF creates sustainable environments for urban centers
- VF creates new employment opportunities
- We cannot go to the moon, Mars, or beyond without first learning to farm indoors on earth
- VF may prove to be useful for integrating into refugee camps
- VF offers the promise of measurable economic improvement for tropical and subtropical LDCs. If this should prove to be the case, then VF may be a catalyst in helping to reduce or even reverse the population growth of LDCs as they adopt urban agriculture as a strategy for sustainable food production.
- VF could reduce the incidence of armed conflict over natural resources, such as water and land for agriculture
Okay, I just bit the bullet and posted an article about how I think it could be. This was posted in my LiveJournal a while ago.
{"commentId":1726008,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"gwenny"}
- 4 votes
{"commentId":1726071,"authorDomain":"Wheel"}
Gwenny,
I love that! Great idea.
{"commentId":1726071,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"Wheel"}
- 4 votes
{"commentId":1726133,"authorDomain":"steelerdog"}
It's a pity some of that aid won't be spent on things like vertical farms.
Never heard of a vertical farm. Sounds pretty cool. Thanks for the enlightenment.
{"commentId":1726133,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"steelerdog"}
- 2 votes
{"commentId":1726296,"authorDomain":"TacitusAndronicus"}
Gwenny,
That is VERY cool! It's capital intensive but what if something like this were integrated into skyscrapers (never mind just saw the living skyscraper - Some years ago I proposed this at my MBA program and was looked at like I was crazy..) ? Then you'd have alternating growing and working levels, water being reused, ventilation would be enhanced by the plants and the buildings themselves woulnd't be such energy sinks or heat islands.
What a great link, thanks!
{"commentId":1726296,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"TacitusAndronicus"}
- 3 votes
{"commentId":1726531,"authorDomain":"gwenny"}
It's capital intensive but what if something like this were integrated into skyscrapers
Get someone like Warren Buffet to invest. This is an investment in the future of urban areas. Reclaim abandoned parts of cities like Oakland. Sell the produce in shops around the base. Hire local folks to work there. I have dreams. . .before I go to sleep . . of saving our cities. ::cries::
{"commentId":1726531,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"gwenny"}
- 2 votes
{"commentId":1727359,"authorDomain":"TacitusAndronicus"}
I agree, this is the way of the future. Where I live I see the farmland disappearing under slapdash housing projects and business parks. It's downright criminal.
{"commentId":1727359,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"TacitusAndronicus"}
- 4 votes
{"commentId":1726456,"authorDomain":"eriktheread"}
I've seen a list of some ten good reason why we have food shortages in the world, so I guess we have a combination of negative effects. What I did not find on that list was third world farm hands demanding a living wage for their work and going on strike.
{"commentId":1726456,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"eriktheread"}
- 5 votes
#7 - Wed Apr 23, 2008 5:57 PM EDT{"commentId":1728093,"authorDomain":"mwestenfelder"}
Food shortages????
Hmmmmm
We had dotcom
it burst
when it burst, we had real estates
it burst, we had
Chinese equitis
jibbers in Shanghai
we have
commodities
There is not too little food, there is too much speculative money looking for placements
{"commentId":1728093,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"mwestenfelder"}
- 3 votes
#8 - Thu Apr 24, 2008 8:46 AM EDT{"commentId":1728695,"authorDomain":"eriktheread"}
When it comes to food, production and consumption has to be fine-tuned. You produce as much as people will eat. When there is a disturbance in the market either because of prices or quantity, you get a chain reaction.
If you can't get pork, you eat beef, if you can't get beef, you eat chicken, if you can't get chicken, you eat fish. The same is true of vegetables. But vegetables are also what animals eat, so if there is too little corn then both people and animals move on to the next preference and the market gets even more skewed. Now we have a brand new consumer on the market, ethanol producers. We are seeing a chain reaction caused by that event and the effect of the business people who know how to make a quick buck gambling on the repercussions of that event.
{"commentId":1728695,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"eriktheread"}
- 4 votes
#9 - Thu Apr 24, 2008 10:56 AM EDT{"commentId":1751879,"authorDomain":"MinnieApolis"}
Excellent explantion, Erik, of how we are all jostling each other on the food chain.
So to me, that means I may as well order up a bag of silage to eat for breakfast lunch and supper. Or literally, chicken feed. Yum. Maybe if I put some Spike on it, it will be palatable?
Either that or I could always put on a saffron robe and go begging with a rice bowl in hand.
{"commentId":1751879,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"MinnieApolis"}
- 2 votes
{"commentId":1755774,"authorDomain":"seward"}
The problem with that Minnie, is the price of rice! :O)
{"commentId":1755774,"threadId":"254360","contentId":"1447731","authorDomain":"seward"}
- 2 votes
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