Economist

Source: “We are the canary in the mine,” says Josette Sheeran, the head of the UN's World Food Programme, the largest distributor of food aid. Usually, a food crisis is clear and localised. The harvest fails, often because of war or strife, and the burden in the affected region falls heavily on the poorest. This crisis is different. It is occurring in many countries simultaneously, the first time that has happened since the early 1970s. And it is affecting people not usually hit by famines. “For the middle classes,” says Ms Sheeran, “it means cutting out medical care. For those on $2 a day, it means cutting out meat and taking the children out of school. For those on $1 a day, it means cutting out meat and vegetables and eating only cereals. And for those on 50 cents a day, it means total disaster.” The poorest are selling their animals, tools, the tin roof over their heads—making recovery, when it comes, much harder.

Economist also here. The only niggling thing is focus on forcing nations to supply internationally. I would much rather see a continued price hike here than see the consequences of local populations competing for food at international prices.

If anything, perhaps an intelligent method of global rationing might work???

Looking for a breakdown of the impact of individual factors:

• Biofuels
• Poor crops/harvest
• Increasing costs of oil (production as well as distribution costs)
• Increasing consumptions
• Government interventions (e.g. quotas and controls)

Anyway, this is the wrong forum. Not had time to think about silly things like that - will move to something more dedicated/appropriate eventually. Watch this space.

wake up call / call to action

I don't normally bring the world in here so starkly, nor am I prone to panic.
This time I'm worried. It has taken me far too long to realize the shit has hit the fan.

So the bees are dying in the UK and US
In case the international food crises wasn't enough
wide-spread starving and riots (I am painfully aware just one link isn't representative)
liberians start eating spaghetti
costco and sam's restricting purchase sizes in the US

Not that it's really being talked about, but then again we're all too busy worrying about mortgage rates, loosing our jobs and energy bills going through the roof. Yeah, the world economy is going to bust, we know that don't we? With oil right up there, with water shortages, of course food was bound to follow. We've watched the prices go up, but it's dawning on me that was a warning of something much bigger.

..and I feel like a fucking sitting duck.

If anyone has ideas let me know?

itch

you gotta scratch where it itches
or the itch ain't gonna go

word of the day:

sapiosexuality

the search for truth

if truth is relative then how do we know when we've found it?
certainty more than anything is likely to lead us astray.

• Chicken
• Chicken Chicken

muses and musings

embrace your pain she said
it is the sweet pain of the cupid arrow
tangible only in the infancy of relationships
this too shall pass

is it harder to know beauty as well as that it must pass
or to live without it, shutting out the knowledge altogether?

ongoing love poem

it would be dedicated to the rays of sun
and how they play off the hills
the tingles of a tune
vibrating through the melody of my hands playing
a tune on the fence

or the parcels that came and went with the mail
siblings of countless letters and postcards
the memories of friends
now grown and sharing their present

the cups of tea
the cosy room
the smiles and the laughs

twirling while someone plays guitar
or just playing
breathing in the beat of the drums
sometimes
life is just so beautiful it hurts

habits and temporal space

remove one thing and another takes its place
this is inevitable and takes no effort
it is in the choice to remove a habit and the persistence to do so that the effort lies

... time to pack up soon.../memories

parallel personae embodied by medium and source
coexisting in the same temporal frame
unlike the forgotten life-times they came from
though those can reappear like so many recreated memories
rethought each time they are encountered
it's incredible how many people fit in one mind
how many life times can fit in one body

travelers dilemma all over again

don't say 'goodbye' it really means 'see you later'
: but 'see you later' sometimes also means 'goodbye'

the words are getting devalued
for each time the stories are told
the number of flavors is limited of course
maybe it's time to stop speaking altogether
but who would want to un-write the beautiful stories of this world

Yamato drummers

Yamato was founded in 1993 in Nara, "the land of Yamato," which is said to be the birthplace of Japanese culture. It is a high-energy group that performs on the ancient Japanese wadaiko drums with a cultural and spiritual tone that connects the performers with the audience. The performers put their very souls into these unusual instruments and are infused with the idea that the drumbeat, like the heartbeat, is the very pulse of life. Prepare yourself… Yamato’s drumbeats will bond the beating of your heart with the rhythm of your spirit. (taken from here)

Though the vibration does not carry in low quality digital form, some of the spirit can be seen here.

so long and thanks for all the fish

Doubt?

"That's the problem with seeing things. Nothing is clear. Feelings, ideas shape what's in front of you. Cézanne wanted the naked world, but the world is never naked. In my work, I want to create doubt." He stopped and smiled at me. "Because that's what we're sure of."
~ Siri Hustvedt (What I Loved)

...and again there is the uncertainty of the question mark. the issue of what to mark. and the decisions of what is worth bringing up at all ...marked or not

On judgement

That's a rule of the game. People will beg you to condemn them, but you must be sure to judge them only on the sins they own to; their other evil deeds are no one else's business, and they wouldn't thank you for detecting them.

~Sartre (The Flies)

assimilation and accomodation

... now what would Piaget say about writing research papers? ...
does knowledge acquisition stay in this manner? ...
... and what of connectivist theories whereby the mind fits the pieces while preoccupied elsewhere...

sometimes keeping up steam goes a long way!

partial mirage

........... but the oasis ...............
- it grew into the rain falling over the sunset -
- only the sound of sand embracing the wave to keep us company -