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Archive - 2011 - blog
Photo: US narrowly avoids default.. $14.3 trillion debt.. 7-year-old girl holds sign in Washington DC - "Why Do I Owe $46,000?"
*Update* March 19, 2012 - http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/ - "The Outstanding Public Debt as of 19 Mar 2012 is: $15,580,446,972,442
The estimated population of US is 312,429,020
Each citizen's share of this debt is $49,868.76.
The National Debt has continued to increase an average of $4.02 billion per day since September 28, 2007!"
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[Aug. 2, 2011] Holly Matthews, 7, of Kansas City, Mo., holds a sign supporting a balanced budget amendment just before the House voted Monday to pass debt legislation on Capitol Hill in Washington.
11/23/2011 CNN Report: 1 in 5 U.S. children at risk of hungerThe number of families that struggle to get enough food has increased in recent years. The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that in 2010, 14.5% of households in US -- about 17.2 million -- lacked the resources to provide enough food for everybody. read more »
Hungary destroys GM corn; African Biodiversity Network:"GMO no solution to food shortages..";11 EU states want right to ban GMOs
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Hungary Destroys Genetically Modified Corn Crops
Hungary has destroyed almost 1,000 acres of corn found to have been grown with genetically modified seeds, which are illegal in the country, International Business Times reports. The corn was plowed under so that pollen would not contaminate other crops.
The action came in response to a new regulation introduced in March that stipulates that seeds are supposed to be checked for GMO before they can be sold to farmers. But some of the GMO seeds, manufactured by U.S. seed giants Monsanto and Pioneer, made it onto the market anyway. The Hungarian government said it will continue to test seeds despite the fact that seed sellers are obliged to make sure their products are GMO-free.
Last week the Hungarian unit of Monsanto, the largest producer of GMO seeds, appealed to the Budapest Municipal Court to suspend the resolution by the Hungarian Agriculture Office to destroy the corn, but they were turned down, according to the Budapest Times. With the growing season already underway, it's too late to sow new seeds, so this year's harvest is a total loss.
Monsanto released a statement saying it "respects Hungary's efforts to prevent the production of genetically manipulated plants on Hungarian farms. Monsanto sells only traditional, not GMO seeds to Hungary. Our seeds can only enter Hungarian markets after they were tested for GMO and found clean, in accordance with national and international laws." read more »
The space shuttle, icon of US high technology, leading mankind into space age; after 30 years, turns into victim of recession
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Atlantis landing ends 30 years of space shuttle flights
CAPE CANAVERAL - Space shuttle Atlantis touched down before dawn Thursday on Kennedy Space Center's Runway 15, ending 30 years of space shuttle flights.
"Atlantis is home," said NASA's Mission Control moments after its arrival at 5:56 a.m. ET. "Its journey complete. A moment to be savored." In its final act before beginning the long journey home, Atlantis sent a small payload into orbit.
As an era comes to a close, nearly 200 satellites, probes and spacecraft have emerged from the cargo bays of NASA's five space shuttles since the Columbia launched from Florida's Kennedy Space Center on April 12, 1981. "We really wish we could share with everybody this really cool glow," commander Chris Ferguson radioed as he and his crew entered the Earth's atmosphere in a plasma of heated air before touching down. "We're doing fantastic." read more »
World Water Crisis: >1 out of 6 people lack safe drinking water, 2/3 of world population to suffer fr water shortages by 2025
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According to the UN, unsanitary water kills more people worldwide than war. As the precious water supply dwindles, it may prove to be more than just a crisis for developing countries.
Everyone is aware of the dangers of peak oil, but peak water is just as, if not more, devastating. The planet's fresh water supply is a precious resource and the rate at which the industrialised world consumes it is always increasing. As such, there is a fear, as with oil, that eventually extraction rates hit a peak and it's only downhill from thereon-in. Staff at the Pacific Institute however have made a disturbing discovery - that the US hit 'peak water' in 1970... and nobody noticed.
The Facts About The Global Drinking Water Crisis
• 1.1 billion people in the world do not have access to safe drinking water, roughly one-sixth of the world's population.
Consumption
• The average American uses 100 to 175 gallons of water per day.
• The average African Family uses 5 gallons per day.
• It takes 5 liters of water to make 1 liter of bottled water.
• Almost 70 percent of the available fresh water gets used for irrigation in agriculture.
• More than half of the water used for irrigation leaks, evaporates or runs off.
• It takes 2,900 gallons of water to produce one quarter pound hamburger (just the meat)
Our Planet read more »
Makers of golf history: Ms. Yani Tseng is the youngest to win 4 major championships at 22; Mr. Tiger Woods, at 24
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Once she made the turn with a 10-stroke lead Sunday, the best female player in the world set her sights on making a little more history. "I was like, what's a new goal for me?" Tseng said. "And that's why I told myself I wanted to set a record, to make 20 under."
Tiger Woods won his fourth when he was 24. And Tseng's idol, Annika Sorenstam, was 24 when she won the first of her 10 majors - the 1995 U.S. Women's Open. "It's very special," Tseng said. "Now I'm thinking about a grand slam."
It's one step at a time for the top-ranked Tseng, who won her second LPGA Championship and has won three of the tour's last six majors. The only major she's missing is the U.S. Women's Open title, which she'll have an opportunity to complete her career slam in two weeks at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, Colo. read more »
Presumed Innocent. Friend, wife, ex-wife and 60% of French people believe Strauss-Kahn's innocent when he's accused of 7 charges
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The prize-winning, blue-eyed television interviewer first met Strauss-Kahn in 1989 at the apex of her career as a political talk-show host on French channel TFI. For years her celebrity largely eclipsed his. She became his third wife in 1996. He is her second husband.
People who know them say they are an affectionate couple who have an easy relationship and like to vacation together with friends in their holiday home in the Moroccan town of Marrakesh.
Sinclair sacrificed her career to his, giving up her popular prime-time Sunday show -- which featured guests from President Bill Clinton to Madonna and every major French political leader -- when her husband was appointed finance minister in 1997. Many on the center-left saw her as an ideal "first lady" if, as expected, Strauss-Kahn sought the Socialist nomination for the 2012 presidential election. read more »
"We're what we eat"- 1 burger 20 yrs ago: 333 calories; today: 590 calories. Av. weight(M) in 1960-62: 166.3 lb; 1990-02: 191 lb
Obesity rates rise at least 90% in 17 states since ’95, study says. One-third of children are overweight or obese.
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Nine of the 10 states with the highest obesity rates are in the South, led by Mississippi at 34.4 percent, followed by Alabama and West Virginia, according to the report by the Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Those states also lead the nation in diabetes and high blood pressure, the report found. Michigan was listed as 10th at 30.5 percent. Massachusetts ranked fourth best at 22.3 percent.
Medicare and Medicaid, the public health plans, each spend more than 20 percent of their budget to treat illnesses related to obesity and smoking, which are avoidable medical risks.
The survey’s authors dubbed a swath of 644 counties in 15 mostly southern states the “diabetes belt,’’ as reported in the Journal of Preventive Diseases. Colorado, the slimmest state with a 19.8 percent obesity rate, had the second-smallest rise since 1995, though its rate is still higher than Mississippi’s was at that time, according to the study. read more »
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