Worth watching if you were ever curious about how the meat in your burgers and the food in the grocery stores actually gets there. My family and my wife’s family buy a lot of organic food, and watching this convinced me I should be doing more of the same.
You are voting every time you decide what to eat for a meal, so why not vote for something a little less unhealthy? Ultimately the supply of a market is determined by what is demanded by the consumer. The movie came out a couple of years ago, so it should be easy to find on netflix or blockbuster.
The current method of raw food production is largely a response to the growth of the fast food industry since the 1950s. The production of food overall has more drastically changed since that time than the several thousand years prior. Controlled primarily by a handful of multinational corporations, the global food production business – with an emphasis on the business – has as its unwritten goals production of large quantities of food at low direct inputs (most often subsidized) resulting in enormous profits, which in turn results in greater control of the global supply of food sources within these few companies. Health and safety (of the food itself, of the animals produced themselves, of the workers on the assembly lines, and of the consumers actually eating the food) are often overlooked by the companies, and are often overlooked by government in an effort to provide cheap food regardless of these negative consequences. Many of the changes are based on advancements in science and technology, but often have negative side effects. The answer that the companies have come up with is to throw more science at the problems to bandage the issues but not the root causes. The global food supply may be in crisis with lack of biodiversity, but can be changed on the demand side of the equation.
A montage of public comments at Santa Cruz City Council and the County Board of Supervisors. This is great for character studies….such an interesting cornucopia of different personalities.
There’s a growing rift between legislatures at the state and federal level. What started as only a few could grow to over half of the United States advertising separate identities under the constitution. It will be interesting to see how this situation plays itself out. Keep your finger on the pulse.
Click on the links according to each state to see more information:
Analysts expect that in addition, another 20 states may see similar measures introduced this year, including Alaska, Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Nevada, Maine and Pennsylvania.
The concept is direct and communicated in a creative way.
The animation speaks for itself very well.
Paris VFX and 3D animation studio Space Patrol handled the production of this 3D clip for French NGO Pain without Borders/ Douleurs sans frontières with the goal of increasing public awareness to pain in its various forms and drive enough online signatures to enable the French government to present a resolution at the U.N. Agency: TBWA MAP, directors: Philippe Gamer, Fred Remuzat.
During the year of 1994, Rwanda was a country torn by conflict between the Tutsis and Hutus. The violence affected many and sparked an eventual genocide of over 1 million people. This story focuses on one real-life individual doing his best to manage in the eye of an ever-closing storm: hotelier Paul Rusesabagina at Hôtel des Mille Collines. Straddling the thin wire between tribal politics and professionalism for his work, Paul makes good of a progressively hostile situation whilst providing a shelter for both Tutsi and Hutu refugees from the mounting conflict.
Without giving away any details that would spoil the film, I’d say that it was one of the most intense and engaging movies I’ve seen in a long time.
The tension is further escalated in several scenes where he, as both father and husband, is forced to make incredibly difficult decisions and anticipate scenarios only present during war. The film has a brilliant way of posturing questions to the audience as well as Paul himself. How far would you compromise your own morality to save those closest to you? Under circumstances of potential death to yourself and loved ones, how would you plan and face it? These are among the most sobering and humbling questions, and ones that Paul’s character answers in an inspiring way.
The acting is top notch, with all lead and supporting characters supplying ample amounts of believability, method, and honest emotion. You often forget that the movie is a movie, and become entrenched in the unfolding story wondering what the consequences will be for Paul, his family, and his extended family of refugees.
You can read an NPR article on the real-life Paul Rusesabagina here.
After putting in a day’s work, I headed off to vote. If you haven’t done it yet, make sure to get out to your local precinct and caste your ballot.
Not too long ago my friend Joe sent this funny video to myself and others relating to the election. Hahaha. I was tricked at first and wondered why the world hated me so much. I’m happy to report that as of 2 hours ago, there won’t be any elderly ladies expressing my lack of responsibility in colorful, profane, language.
Man, that would suck if I did sleep in and forget to vote.
Hofstra University hosted this year’s third presidential debate in a sit-down forum moderated by Bob Shieffer. The University has a feature-rich index page with various media relating to the issues discussed. If you haven’t looked into some of the issues on the tip of spear, this hub of information is a good place to start.
The elections are less than a month away (november 4th). For a full list of all candidates including third party and independents go here.
If you missed the debate you can watch it in its entirety below.
A stock investor by profession I am not, but I’ve been keeping my eye on the Dow Jones for the past few years. Market trends and how they are affected have always interested me. It’s like a complicated role-playing game of statistics and probabilities. Main St. is effected by Wall St, and every other market around the world for that matter.
Google has a good index page to check out what’s going on. Go here to check it out. You have to refresh the page to get the latest figures. It not only shows the index where it currently sets, but also marks a dotted guide to visually compare where it was at opening. There are also news, blog, and feed tags that integrate into the layout to show where they fall along the timeline. The daily postings on the google groups are interesting as well. It’s worth a look-see if you want to brush up your chops on some peripheral information and opinions.
I think I can speak the mind of most people tied into the world economy and say things are a bit on edge right now. As I wrote about earlier, most of this debacle was heralded by the situation with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. This maelstrom, however, has been brewing for years.
One of my friends forwarded me this article said to be written by Alexander Tytler, which I think illustrates some lucid points about history. We are not the first of highly developed civilizations and we won’t be the last. The interesting thing are the trends that tend to be cyclical, no matter the example that is examined.
About the time the original thirteen states (of the US) adopted their new constitution in 1787, Alexander Tytler, a Scottish history professor at the University of Edinburgh , had this to say about the fall of the Athenian Republic some 2,000 years earlier:
“A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government.”
“A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury.”
“From that moment on, the majority always vote for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship.”
“The average age of the world’s greatest civilizations from the beginning of history, has been about 200 years”
“During those 200 years, those nations always progressed through the following sequence:
1. from bondage to spiritual faith;
2. from spiritual faith to great courage;
3. from courage to liberty;
4. from liberty to abundance;
5. from abundance to complacency;
6. from complacency to apathy;
7. from apathy to dependence;
8. from dependence back into bondage”
Our founders were keenly aware of the shortcomings of a democracy and that is why they chose a Republic for us instead. Our founders disliked democracy as a form of government and did everything they could to prevent us from falling into such a condition. Sadly, most people think we live in a democracy by design and that democracy as a governmental form is good and noble. However, in a pure democracy the majority always out rule the minority by a simple 51/49 vote. This is far from what our founders crafted but we the people have not learned we live under a Representative Republic.
What is one of the largest pinch-points of the current economy in the United States? Mortgage loans and the housing bubble, of course. This is only one corner of the multi-faceted tower that comprises the country’s stability as a whole, and its syncopation into the world system. The government acquisition of the lending giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac signal one of the largest bailouts in history, a new set of rules, and standards yet to be written by federal political policy. What future does this spell for those whose loans were previously under the wing of these entities? More importantly, does this signal a growing trend and endgame for other businesses under the same strain and state as Fannie and Freddie? A diverse group of experts get real and extrapolate the issue on this episode of Charlie Rose below.
A discussion about the U.S. government’s takeover of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac with Mohamed El-Erian, co-CEO co-CIO for PIMCO, Gretchen Morgenson, Floyd Norris both of The New York Times and Nouriel Roubini of New York University.
When I’m looking for some real hip hop, I’ve always got to dig deep. Thankfully there are bands out there with a natural metronome of pacing, lyrical rhythm, and style, all wrapped up in a bun of philosophy and content.
Flobots, I feel, satisfies this checklist. Their album, Fight With Tools is a mix between many ideas, and It’s sure to provoke agreements and disagreements on the myriad of social and political concepts it explores.
born in the flood
bloody fingerpaint sets
blackmarketed fresh
water canons forget me not
epitaph airbrush with death
white t’s
wife beaters
button up
reattach flesh
in between the lines
outside of the law
underneath the veil
we dig our foundations
we navigate the globe
trying to find a pattern to break the mold
with a family to feed
theres nowhere we wont go
but what if were caught
they say Im a snitch
shot at the check point
found with his throat slit
theres spray paint on the teleprompter
anchorman screams that hes seen a monster
mayday
theres bloodstains on his shirt
mayday
they say that hes gone berserk
A tangible march towards regionalism of trade and foreign policy in the asian-pacific countries is being promoted, as the below article states. The important things to mind are the costs and benefits associated with steps towards this direction, and the individual sovereignty of every nation involved. How will this impact the economy and identity of each party as well as the whole? As the campaign unfolds, expect these issues to be brought to the forefront in more detail.
Kevin Rudd wants to spearhead the creation of an Asia-Pacific Union similar to the European Union by 2020 and has appointed veteran diplomat Richard Woolcott – one of his mentors – as a special envoy to lobby regional leaders over the body.
The Prime Minister said last night that the union, adding India to the 21-member APEC grouping, would encompass a regional free-trade agreement and provide a crucial venue for co-operation on issues such as terrorism and long-term energy and resource security.
And he outlined his plans for his visits to Japan and Indonesia next week, saying he would explore greater defence co-operation between Australia, Japan and the US – an approach that had been championed by John Howard.
Speaking in Sydney last night to the Asia Society Australasia Centre, the Mandarin-speaking Mr Rudd said global power and influence was shifting towards the Asia-Pacific region and that Australia must drive the creation of a new global architecture for the Asia-Pacific century.
“We need to have a vision for an Asia-Pacific community, a vision that embraces a regional institution, which spans the entire Asia-Pacific region – including the United States, Japan, China, India, Indonesia and the other states of the region,” said the Prime Minister.
August 3, 2010 | category: 
During the year of 1994, Rwanda was a country torn by conflict between the Tutsis and Hutus. The violence affected many and sparked an eventual genocide of over 1 million people. This story focuses on one real-life individual doing his best to manage in the eye of an ever-closing storm: hotelier 
