Food Security – How Will We Grow Enough Food?

Around the middle of 2011 the world population clocks tell us that there will be 7 billion people on earth; that is 7,000,000,000 chemical engines requiring a minimum of 2,000 calories a day in food to stave off hunger.

The calorific value to our digestive systems of rice and wheat, the staple starches for most of us, is around 340 per 100g. If we only ate cereals to supply our daily calorific needs the gents would get through 290 kg and the ladies 214 kg in a year.

So we need 1.76 million every day if we were all vegetarians. Of course many of us enjoy meat. The efficiency of the energy transfer from plant to livestock to us means we need roughly three times the plant calories to provide animal protein.

Round off some numbers and ratios for the meat eaters and each and every day the agricultural land must produce the equivalent of 3 million metric tons of usable grain; over a billion tons every year.

Continue reading “Food Security – How Will We Grow Enough Food?”

A Historical Perspective of Critical Thinking

Philosophy and psychology both started as a study of the human condition and the thinking process. From the musings of the philosophers came the sciences of behavior and mental processes. In earlier times the study of psychology and the human condition were considered to be a part of the study of philosophy.

In ancient Greece attempts were made to create the “ideal” society and the truly happy individual. Pericles was seen by the people of Athens as a great leader in this effort. He was elected to his position of leadership in Athens over and over again. He wanted Athens to be strong and powerful and the people who lived there to be prosperous and happy. He carefully developed policies to win the world and gain an empire by commerce rather than by war. Since Athens was dependent upon imported food they built a powerful navy to guard the routes by which that food came. The people were wealthy, happy, well fed and proud of themselves. But as history soon proved – they were very short sighted. They were only interested in their own well being not that of others. Continue reading “A Historical Perspective of Critical Thinking”

How Online Food Ordering Benefits Restaurant Owners

Online food ordering is gaining grounds these days. Restaurant owners and consumers both are availing the benefits and the services are being used in full swing. People find it the most convenient way to order food where as restaurant owners see it as commercial advantage.

Customers take it as the most suitable way as they get food delivered at their doorstep, no hassles of getting stuck in traffic jams, they save on petrol or gas as well as on parking and tips, and cashless payments through credit cards, debit cards or net-banking are awesome.

Feasible accessibility of internet through mobile phones and tablets is the reason for picking up on new trend ‘login for food’. People prefer online food ordering over calling for food as it provides them a number of advantages. Contemplating the trend, restaurant owners are also making their presence online to take many benefits like – Continue reading “How Online Food Ordering Benefits Restaurant Owners”

Here Is How You Can Hire the Best Wedding Catering Company

Unless you know how to hire the best wedding catering company chances are that you may find yourself spending more money on the wedding food than you really should be spending. Before hiring a wedding catering company it therefore makes sense for you to ask your caterer a few important questions. The answers that you get to these questions will help you pick the best wedding catering company.

The first question that you should ask is does the company specialize in a particular kind of food or service. Next, ask if they can arrange a tasting of the foods that you wish to have served at the wedding. Thirdly, ask the caterer what their average price is and whether costs will be itemized according to the foods that you wish to have served at the event.

It is also important to check the level of involvement of the caterer at the proposed reception. It also pays to ask the caterer whether they will provide the tables and chairs as well as table-linens and silverware and the like. Finally, before choosing a wedding catering company be sure to ask who their main contact person is. It is important to know whether the same person will be working with you at the planning stage and also when the event takes place. Continue reading “Here Is How You Can Hire the Best Wedding Catering Company”

Why Are Civil War Cannons So Highly Treasured?

Are we wired for weaponry?

“Men will be men” as they say and history has shown us on a repeated basis that this is going to involve fighting, conflict and war.

Right from the dawn of time itself, man (or rather men) have discovered and developed tools. They set about putting them to good use and in so doing they inadvertently invented productivity. It, unfortunately, but naturally followed that these tools evolved from simply assisting with the hunt for food into improvised contraptions to aid hunting for enemies. Over time these simple hand to hand combat utilities developed into more powerful, more effective and more destructive devices capable of being put to devastating use from a distance.

What is it about how we arrived at today, that we hold so dear? Continue reading “Why Are Civil War Cannons So Highly Treasured?”

Farmall H Tractor – History and Manufacture

The magnificent Farmall H Tractor was built by International Harvester Corporation as a part of the “letter series” for 14 years from 1939 until 1953 covering the end of the Great Depression, the Great Dust Bowl and the during and throughout all the trials of World War Two.

Symbolizing an extraordinary progression in farming it ended up being an all-purpose farm machine and general-purpose work-horse. It generated the primary food output for the nation at war very economically.

Truly much of the food grown that sustained the war efforts coming from the great breadbasket of America ended up being sown, tended and reaped by the iconic farmer on top of the Farmall H Tractor.

In the beginning the Farmall H Tractor possessed all-steel wheels since it was initially customary, and also since the war effort around 1941 used all the obtainable rubber supplies. However that actually assisted the farmer hugely considering the cost of metal wheels had been what was still a costly $765 instead of the $962 pertaining to rubber. Continue reading “Farmall H Tractor – History and Manufacture”

Water A Basic Right

Water! The most precious of all things Through-out history wars have been fought over the right to claim water rights. Like a nations finances, governments ability to control the availability of water is the other source in determining the destiny of populations. Transparency and effective governance of water is the prerequisite for all human and animal development. It also ensures environmental stability. Yet we especially here in the United States take the supply of readily available access of water for granted. We waste it, we squander it, we horde it, we pollute it, and generally abuse the supply we have.

Where ever there is power to control, corruption of those in control is rampant in governments through-out the world. These facts will emphasize the scope of the monumental disaster we have taking place right now. More than 1 billion people live without safe drinking water, and more than 2.6 billion are without adequate sanitation. Unclean water and poor sanitation have claimed more lives over the past century than any other cause. Corruption is a major roadblock to solving this human development crisis. A study of 21 water utilities in Africa, revealed that nearly two thirds of their operating costs were due to corruption. Water is indispensable for all food production. Irrigated agriculture produces 40% of the world´s food on only 17% of the agricultural land. An increase in world food production will come through irrigation. Changing from rain-fed agriculture to man managed irrigation requires an impeccable governance system, with maximum transparency and accountability to all agents. Continue reading “Water A Basic Right”

Chihuahua Training is Easy!

You may be wondering if Chihuahua training is easy or hard. Well, from my experience it is very easy! If you’ve already managed to raise a dog with behavioral problems (this is easy too!) you can correct them in a very natural way by following a few simple recommendations.

There is one book that I highly recommend (I wish I had written it!) that goes well beyond what most dog trainers talk about and gets to the heart of how your dog feels about and experiences life. In the book The Dog Listener by Jan Fennell, you’ll read that dogs naturally feel like they still belong to a pack and they want to interract with you as part of the pack.

Our Chihuahua is named Yoda (our son is a huge Star Wars fan) and he’s so happy now that he doesn’t have to worry about leading the pack anymore. He’s no longer “top dog” …unless of course we change our behavior in a way that promotes him up to leader of the pack again. But then it’s easy enough to change positions again by performing our newly learned Chihuahua training methods! Continue reading “Chihuahua Training is Easy!”

The History of Hedgerows

The first hedgerows were merely strips of woodland marking the boundaries of fields carved out of the landscape by Bronze Age farmers. The oldest remaining hedge boundaries today are to be found in Cornwall. They are stone-faced earth banks often with vegetation growing at the top. They can be up to 4,000 years old.

New hedges were often planted in Roman times and the practice continued through the following centuries to some degree. But The Enclosures Acts implemented between 1750 and 1850 prompted a great surge in hedge planting by powerful landowners in their avid quest for land acquisition and desire to mark boundaries. This helped to create the patchwork of fields we so associate with the English countryside.

The beginning of the hedge losses started in the Napoleonic Wars when a besieged Britain struggled to become self-sufficient in food or face starvation; as much land as possible had to be used for growing crops. This situation was repeated in the Second World War when surrounding seas became dangerous for ships carrying imported goods. Continue reading “The History of Hedgerows”

Famous Foods for Famous People

The Stage Deli, an institution in New York City, was famous for its sandwiches named after celebrities. Sadly, those mile-high sandwiches have disappeared along with the closing of the Deli. But for a lucky few, whose memory lives on in the form of famous dishes, here are some of the more popular, familiar to all.

Beef Wellington: Who put the beef in Wellington? Controversy abounds. The Duke of Wellington, a war hero who clobbered Napoleon at Waterloo in 1815, frequently dined on steak, pate and mushrooms, so after he emerged from his military duties, this rich dish was purportedly created in his honor (what Napoleon dined on is unknown, quite possibly crow). However, some historians pooh pooh that story and insist meat wrapped in pastry dough had been around for centuries, unlike the Duke. (Yes, but did it also include mushrooms and pate?). A possible connection to Wellington, New Zealand also shares the credit.

Oysters Rockefeller: This one is easy. Created by the son of famous New Orleans restaurateur Antoine’s, it was named after John D. Rockefeller, who at the time (1889) was the richest man in America (and the oysters were pretty rich themselves). The original recipe was never shared, hence all future chefs have had to wing it. No one knows if it was a popular item on John D’s dinner table, but we’ll just assume it was. Continue reading “Famous Foods for Famous People”