The Reduced Fed. Excise Tax on Beer Launched in 2018 Is Now Permanent in 2020

Tax on alcohol has been with us since the Revolutionary War and later it was a device used to help pay for the Civil War. Honest Abe gave us the first tax on beer in 1862 at $1 per gallon. Even Cleopatra VII imposed beer taxes on Egyptians to pay for her wars. In America’s early history 80% of the Federal budget was funded by tax on beer, wine, and whiskey. The Whiskey Rebellion of 1794 was a direct result of an alcohol tax that increased from $0.09 per gallon to $0.25 per gallon.

The Temperance movement got its start in the 1780’s and had an active presence until Prohibition which lasted from 1920 through 1933. The tenants of temperance were that alcohol destroyed the family, promoted abuse, destroyed the mind, led to alcoholism, and destroyed initiative. Basically, Alcohol was of the Devil to capture and destroy man’s soul. In the mid 1900’s, the message turned to using taxes as a means to throttle the availability of alcohol. The theory was that cheap alcohol was the genesis of abuse by the young and was the primary cause of highway tragedies. Continue reading “The Reduced Fed. Excise Tax on Beer Launched in 2018 Is Now Permanent in 2020”

A Monk and Two Widows!

Reims, which is the main town of the champagne area in France, is a town full of contrasts, colour, and impressive architectural styles and of course not to forget those wonderful bubbles that are Champagne!

The streets meander around buildings that date through the ages of Gothic architectural style through to art deco which are colourfully decorated with baskets of geraniums and petunias. A large Gothic style cathedral towers and is naturally the centre of town!

Both world wars played a huge part in this town and it is common to see reminders of the American influence during the world wars and the assistance they gave in post war restoration. E.g. Eisenhower Bar and the Roosevelt Building etc! The champagne caves became hideouts for the resistance and shelters from the bombs during the Second World War. Champagne is so important to this area, that limited production continued during the wars. Continue reading “A Monk and Two Widows!”

Waffles – Contemporary Food with Thousands of Years of History

Although waffles seem to be a relatively contemporary food, they have been around, worldwide, for thousands of years. It is quite likely the Ancient Greeks ate extremely flat cakes, called obleios. However, it would appear the earliest evidence of the manufacture of waffle irons may have come up from Holland or Germany during the 1300s. Construction of these waffle irons consisted of two hinged plates which were connected to two long handles of wood. It was not unusual to find elaborate patterns, such as landscapes, religious symbols, or heraldic shields, imprinted upon the waffles by plates embossed with these symbols. Some plates had the honeycomb-grid that we now use. The waffle plates (or irons) were then baked over the fire in the hearth.

Waffles were cooked between two hot metal plates, a method used continuously throughout the Middle Ages by obloyeurs, people specializing in making a variety of obleios that were often flat or rolled into coronets (a horned shape). Continue reading “Waffles – Contemporary Food with Thousands of Years of History”

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”