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Of eighty men, three of the four surviving members of Doolittle's Raiders, all now living their ninth decade, met publicly — and, they say, for the final time — during the week of April 15, at Eglin Air Force Base, to commemorate the 71st anniversary of their April 18, 1942, one-way mission to bomb Japan. The three members present were 97-year-old Col. Richard Cole; 91-year-old Staff Sergeant David Thatcher; and 93-year-old Lt. Col. Edward Saylor. The fourth surviving member, 93-year-old Lt. Col. Robert Hite, was unable to attend the reunion. All of the men had trained for the mission at Eglin in the winter of 1942. And this year Cole was afforded a flight (and reportedly flew a good portion of it, including the landing) in a B-25 owned by Larry Kelley. The men say they toast each year to the comrades who shared their mission and have since passed. But they have decided a special toast will now come sooner than originally planned.
Over the years, the men have made and kept a case of 80 silver goblets. Each goblet is inscribed twice with the name of a raider. One inscription is upright, the other upside-down. Each year, the surviving men toast to the comrades they've lost and turn upside-down the goblet of any man lost that year. But they have also kept a bottle of Hennessy cognac from 1896, the year their leader James Doolittle was born. The bottle was meant to remain untouched and saved for the last two surviving members. But they have decided to change that. According to a story filed from the gathering by The Associated Press, the men have decided that later this year they will meet together privately and, all four, share a drink from that bottle.Find more information about the Doolittle Raiders, here.


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Somewhere in France
July 16th, 1918
Dear sister Madaline:
Am just about settled as we moved again and am under canvas. The weather have is terrible but just the same our small dog tent is holding out in great style. I am tenting with another corporal. He and I have been like brothers since we left the states. I surely do take a great liking to him and only hope that him and I can stay together at all times. Mail is coming in very regular now as I received another letter from John, Mr. Grill, Rudy Kunkel and Uncle Art. I expect to write them all today during my spare moments. I had my photo taken in the last town that we were stationed at. As yet I have not received them nor do I know how they turned out but believe me I shall send one to you as soon as I do. I have plenty of time to myself of late as we drill about six hours per day and at night we are forbidden to leave the company street. At night I generally write letters or wash clothes. Washing facilities are very poor here. In order to bath a man has to wash on a cup or canteen of water. Empey was right when he said that the billets were all cootied up. This isn't very pleasant to write about but just the same it might be interesting. No matter how clean a man might keep himself he is bound to get cootied. I received a few stars from a girlfriend from Flushing dated from May 1st to 15th but did not as yet receive the ones you sent me. I found some real interesting news in the papers and am going to write a short letter to Mr. Gelwicks editor and lawyer for the star who is a personal friend of mine through business dealings while working in L.I. City.
Must close now dear sister with love and kisses to you all, I am
Your Brother
Corp. J. Maus
105 U.S.Inf. Co A
American E.F.
© Copyright 2011 by Lanny & Patti Brown, All Rights Reserved. No reproduction without permission.

subset: commoncrawl


text: Welcome to everyone joining through the new corporation I have created in Eve Online called Average Pilots. We are only a few days in and already we are doing glorious things, such as extorting 1B ISK out of a high sec corporation we declared war on. Corporate bounties have been posted in the Eve forums, claim them by posting a link to your valid Zkills! Good luck, have fun, and explode some ships!


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Pittsburgh vs. Mississippi
Sat., Jan. 5 – 1 p.m. ET, ESPN
Birmingham, Ala. – Legion Field
OK, there's excellent barbecue. But the compass has led Pittsburgh (6-6) on its third straight trip to Birmingham. So much for the wide and varied bowl experience of Pitt's seniors.
Actually, with the way Pittsburgh began (losing against Youngstown State, starting 2-4), any postseason game should be satisfactory.
The Panthers offer some real problems. Senior QB Tino Sunseri has thrown 270 consecutive passes without an interception. Senior RB Ray Graham has his first 1,000-yard season.
First-year Pittsburgh coach Paul Chryst held things together during a rough start and the Panthers were terrific in the season's second half. They should've defeated Notre Dame (29-26 loss in three overtimes). Their defense surrendered just nine points in the last two games.
Mississippi (6-6) needed a season-ending victory against Mississippi State to get bowl eligible, but the Rebels were awfully feisty in losses against good competition such as Texas A&M (30-27), Vanderbilt (27-26) and LSU (41-35).
Opening point spread: Mississippi by 2
The pick: Pittsburgh 35, Mississippi 20
Click HERE to get predictions for the remaining bowl games.


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Quality Leads
Have you ever bought leads from some lead generation company and when you called the lead, the person on the other end had no idea why you called them? Did you ever work a lead, only to find out that that same lead had been sold to several other agents in your area? Are your leads just names and addresses on a card that you have to door knock in order to sell them anything? Or are your leads and appointments generated under the pretense of "explaining" their union benefits when your real objective is bait and switch them into a life insurance policy? Are you closing only one or two deals per 20 leads that you're getting? Ready for something really different? Read on …
We own the entire lead generation process, from data research to mailing.
At National Agents Alliance®, we have a vested interest in our leads – that's why we don't rely on any outside company to generate our leads for us – we do it all ourselves, in house. Our leads go only to our agent/agency partners that are members of our alliance and not sold on the open market. We are not in the business of creating profit from selling leads – we are in the business of making profits from working the leads. We have the most comprehensive lead generation program in the industry. Much of what we do is proprietary and cutting edge in getting our agents in front of buying customers.
Beware of companies that give you several lead company choices to get your leads. Why do they do this? Because they are not in control of their lead program. If you're not closing, they can blame it on that lead company and tell you to use another. At National Agents Alliance® we own the entire process – from directly hiring court researchers to owning the printing machines and mail house facilities. We do not sell our leads or data to any other company to generate additional profits. All other agencies in this business subcontract every aspect of the lead generation process to other companies. Then if something breaks down in getting you leads, they can always blame that subcontractor. We are totally accountable to every aspect of the lead generation process.
The buck stops here when it comes to generating leads for our agents.
This is why our leads are the highest quality, freshest, most qualified leads in the industry – NO ONE ELSE IN THIS BUSINESS CAN MAKE THAT CLAIM! Click here to check out one of our leads. Please don't confuse the format of the lead form looking like others out there and thinking that our lead is the same as all the others. The key is not how it looks – this lead format has proven extremely effective in getting the best lead response. They keys are: how fresh is that name on the lead, how many other agents got that same lead that you are competing against, and what kind of quantities of leads do you have to work to make one sale? Don't judge by the format of the lead, judge our leads by the company and process behind each and every lead: National Agents Alliance® – the largest and most successful association of agents and agencies in the country!
Why do so many insurance companies who get into the lead business try and fail? Because they think it is a simple process of downloading data electronically from some source. The problem is that the data they get represents only a fraction of the possible population of lead data that exists.


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I was about to call this Ideo electric commuter bike the best, well, something, but that's just not the case. It won an important competition in Oregon, the Manifest bike building competition, and that's where the accolades stop.
That's not necessarily a bad thing, however. The bike is a simple yet sharp take on the commuter bike, and was cozy with the competition's stated goal of getting more people on bikes (the motor helps the not-so-willing get up a hill, for example).
The bike, a prototype called Faraday, cost about $5,000 to create, which includes a 24-volt 250-watt motor that kicks in with the flick of a thumb-controlled switch on the left handlebar. The lithium-ion batteries are stored in the peculiar top tubes—this is done on purpose so that the bike keeps its bike aesthetics and doesn't venture into moped territory. [CNET]


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Monday, December 14, 2009
Live on TV: An Implantable Cardiac Defibrillator Fires
Danish physicist Henrik Svensmark was attending the Coppenhagen Climate Summit '09 and had three repetitive ICD firings recorded on live television. Reportedly he was rushed to a hospital and his condition stabilized.
Implantable cardiac defibrillators fire when the ventricular heart rates exceed a pre-determined heart rate that is sustained for a predetermined number of heart beats. It is unclear if his heart rate was elevated from a lower heart chamber (ventricular) arrhythmia (the most likely cause) or a racing upper chamber (atrial) heart rhythm abnormality that drove the lower chamber too fast. Unlike Mr. Van Loo, Dr. Svensmark heart rate was probably not fast enough to cause him to lose consciousness. Nonetheless, when the defibrillator fires, it delivers the equivalent of approximately 830 volts in a tenth of a second, causing the muscles of the chest, heart, vocal coards and diaphragm to contract forcefully, occassionally resulting in the "yelp" heard at the just before the video ends.
Communicating with the patient's ICD with a programmer after such an event helps doctors determine the cause of ICD firings and assure the device was working as expected. Based on that information, medication therapies or device adjustments can be made to help prevent future firings.
It should be noted that this event was NOT a "heart attack," or a sudden disturbance of the blood flow that supplies the heart, but rather an implantable cardiac defibrillator treating the sudden onset of a potentially lethal heart rhythm disturbance. As such, because the defibrillator responds so quickly, heart muscle function is usually preserved.
h/t: A faithful reader.
5 comments:
- Helen said...
Yikes. I've got one, but no shocks yet. My Dad had 6 inappropriate shocks in 2 minutes last year, which was rather an unpleasant experience for him.
For all of that, they're incredible devices and I'm very grateful for them. Still cringe a little watching this, though.
- Mon Dec 14, 07:27:00 PM CST
Yikes, an inappropriate shock! Don't you think the device companies should be doing more to increase detection specificity? The number of inappropriate shocks is alarming and companies are slow to improve their algorithms due to FDA scrutiny. The EP community ought to be outraged!
- Tue Dec 15, 10:44:00 AM CST
- Jay said...
Agree, this one's cringe worthy. I hope the shocks with both appropriate and necessary.
I don't think this video would do much to increase referrals to EPs, but it might be useful in a talk on shock reduction strategies.
- Tue Dec 15, 10:58:00 AM CST
- Named Just Bob said...
Thanks to Dr. Wes and my ICD I'm alive and only two shocks in six years - both very much appropriate. ICD, never leave home without it. And it's a heck of lot better than the 300 joule external cardiovert delivered courtesy of the paramedics while I was still conscious.
- Tue Dec 15, 11:34:00 AM CST
Hey Dr. Fisher,
My boss forwarded this link to our team to take a look at the video. I was surprised to see it's your blog. I had to tell everyone that I used to work with you and what a great EP you are. Pretty interesting stuff you're posting here.
- Thu Dec 17, 06:49:00 PM CST


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✔77 living room furniture design & decoration ideas 58
Your living room furniture can create an immense effect on the aesthetic states of the home. So if it is mainly made of bright colors, a dark floor is worth considering. Decide on a style which you like, such as contemporary living room furniture, and search for pieces within precisely the same style grouping. Rumors, Deception and Living Room Furniture Decoration Once you select the tremendous furniture, it will be less complicated to decorate the space. Naturally, it's simpler to buy all of the furniture that you need with our collection of complete living room furniture sets, like several pieces at a discount price. Leather living room furniture isn't only durable but also rather luxurious. Now once you examine the room you see what it really appears like before you get it. The room shouldn't be dark. Typically living rooms have tons of seating. A living room might be the most critical places in your home. It is the place where friends and family gather to spend quality time in a home, so it's important living room furniture for it to be well-designed. So Now, you are aware that updating your living room does not need to cost you a… Continue Reading Read More


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We recently held our first-ever, official Adobe Game Jam at the San Francisco office – and had quite the turn out with more than 40 attendees, including Zynga, Idle Games, Kabam and Buffalo Studios. The event far exceeded our expectations in every way and we kicked things off Friday night with a short demo session to level the knowledge playing field and allowed attendees – ranging from developers, designers and musicians – to select their teams. By Saturday, game development was well underway, and up for grabs were one-year Creative Cloud memberships.
To foster creativity, there were only two rules to follow: 1) ensure the game executed our theme, San Francisco, and 2) build the game using Stage 3D. The theme alone offered participants many visual landmarks and local cultural details to incorporate into their games (e.g., one of the winning games was based on a gay, roller skating Sean Connery escaping from Alcatraz).
The crowd judged the games in three categories – Best Art, Best Tech and Best Game. The winners of each category were:
- Best Game: Alcatraz Roller Escape
- Best Tech: Alcatraz Interrogation – a game with a combo of voice recognition and text-to-speech features
- Best Art: San Francisco Bizarre Adventure
Given the success – and fun of our first Adobe Game Jam – we're looking forward more events, including the next one in Chicago on November 30. Stay tuned to our Adobe Game Jams events page for the latest updates: http://gaming.adobe.com/events/gamejams. Check out the recap video below:


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This Retail Customer Service Skills Training course will prepare you with the skills and knowledge you'll need for a successful career in the retail world. This is an excellent opportunity regardless of whether you're thinking of starting a new retail job or whether you're trying to advance your current retail career. In this course, offered by Smart Horizons Career Online Education, you will master the skills you need to obtain a career certificate in Retail Customer Service Skills Training while you progress towards earning your High School Diploma.
As you prepare for your career in the retail industry, you will learn about providing excellent customer service, as well as personal management skills that will make you effective in the workplace. Throughout the course, you will have the support of experienced, enthusiastic teachers who are committed to your success, while you obtain High School credits and progress through the course. When you complete the course, you will earn a Retail Customer Skills Certificate. Get started today and prepare yourself to enter this exciting career field. The career component of this course takes an estimate of 120 hours to complete; however, the hours for the High School Diploma general education can vary based on the number of high school credits you have prior to enrollment.
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The ICVM Crown Awards were filled with too many moments and memories to capture it properly in one blog post, so I am giving you just a few highlights. I led a "Selfie Moment" at the #ICVMOhio Crown Awards–taking a photo on stage with the emcee Heinz Winckler, winner of South African Idol and actor. …Read more »
- Home Burns Family Studios


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To obtain something from someone through deception. I can't believe that shady salesman conned you out of hundreds of dollars. I'm confident that we can con that sweet old lady out of her diamond necklace.
to trick someone out of money or something of value. Anne conned her little sister out of her allowance. Dave conned me out of my autographed baseball.


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Markell: Obama not exaggerating
The chair of the National Governors Association said on Monday that President Barack Obama isn't exaggerating the impact of the deep, across-the-board spending cuts that will kick in this week if Congress doesn't head off sequestration.
"Here's the issue," said Delaware Gov. Jack Markell, a Democrat, on CNN's "Starting Point." "If you're one of the people, if you're a kid in Head Start, and you're going to be impacted, if you're somebody who's supposed to get some job training so you can go get a job and you're not going to get it and you're impacted, there's no exaggeration for you."
( PHOTOS: What they're saying about sequestration)
The deadline to hammer out a sequestration deal is Friday, March 1. On Sunday, the White House released a summary of the "devastating impact the sequester will have on jobs and middle-class families across the country" on a state-by-state basis.
Some Republicans have charged that Obama is exaggerating the impact of those cuts. On Monday, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker said that there's "no doubt" that the administration is using "scare tactics."
"As governors, Democrat and Republican alike, we have to do this all the time, we have to make those tough choices and we find a better way than the scare tactics," the GOP governor said on Fox News's "Fox & Friends." "For years I've heard, not just in state but even in local government, 'If you don't give us all this money at the local level, fire and police are going to go away' or other things like that. Well, there's always a better way."
Walker called for authorizing the administration to make the necessary cuts, adding that there is "certainly enough waste to be cut in this town."
But Markell said that if the automatic cuts are allowed to take effect, the country's economic recovery will be thrown off track.
"… [The] most frustrating conversation any governor can have these days is when we talk to a business [person] who says, 'I'd love to hire, but I can't find people with the right skills,'" Markell continued. "So we have resources available for job training and if those resources get cut, it … stops the recovery in its tracks. And that's just not what we should be doing."


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Agriculture is the production of food and goods through farming and forestry. Agriculture was the key development that led to the rise of human civilization, with the husbandry of domesticated animals and plants (i.e. crops) creating food surpluses that enabled the development of more densely populated and stratified societies. The study of agriculture is known as agricultural science.
Agriculture encompasses a wide variety of specialties and techniques, including ways to expand the lands suitable for plant raising, by digging water-channels and other forms of irrigation. Cultivation of crops on arable land and the pastoral herding of livestock on rangeland remain at the foundation of agriculture. In the past century there has been increasing concern to identify and quantify various forms of agriculture. In the developed world the range usually extends between sustainable agriculture (e.g. permaculture or organic agriculture) and intensive farming (e.g. industrial agriculture).
Modern agronomy, plant breeding, pesticides and fertilizers, and technological improvements have sharply increased yields from cultivation, and at the same time have caused widespread ecological damage and negative human health effects. Selective breeding and modern practices in animal husbandry such as intensive pig farming (and similar practices applied to the chicken) have similarly increased the output of meat, but have raised concerns about animal cruelty and the health effects of the antibiotics, growth hormones, and other chemicals commonly used in industrial meat production.
The major agricultural products can be broadly grouped into foods, fibers, fuels, and raw materials. In the 2000s, plants have been used to grow biofuels, biopharmaceuticals, bioplastics,and pharmaceuticals.Specific foods include cereals, vegetables, fruits, and meat. Fibers include cotton, wool, hemp, silk and flax. Raw materials include lumber and bamboo. Other useful materials are produced by plants, such as resins. Biofuels include methane from biomass, ethanol, and biodiesel. Cut flowers, nursery plants, tropical fish and birds for the pet trade are some of the ornamental products.
In 2007, about one third of the world's workers were employed in agriculture. The services sector has overtaken agriculture as the economic sector employing the most people worldwide.Despite the size of its workforce, agricultural production accounts for less than five percent of the gross world product (an aggregate of all gross domestic products).
The word agriculture is the English adaptation of Latin agricultūra, from ager, "a field",and cultūra, "cultivation" in the strict sense of "tillage of the soil".Thus, a literal reading of the word yields "tillage of a field / of fields"…
Agriculture has played a key role in the development of human civilization. Until the Industrial Revolution, the vast majority of the human population labored in agriculture. Development of agricultural techniques has steadily increased agricultural productivity, and the widespread diffusion of these techniques during a time period is often called an agricultural revolution. A remarkable shift in agricultural practices has occurred over the past century in response to new technologies. In particular, the Haber-Bosch method for synthesizing ammonium nitrate made the traditional practice of recycling nutrients with crop rotation and animal manure less necessary.
The percent of the human population working in agriculture has decreased over time.Synthetic nitrogen, along with mined rock phosphate, pesticides and mechanization, have greatly increased crop yields in the early 20th century. Increased supply of grains has led to cheaper livestock as well. Further, global yield increases were experienced later in the 20th century when high-yield varieties of common staple grains such as rice, wheat, and corn (maize) were introduced as a part of the Green Revolution. The Green Revolution exported the technologies (including pesticides and synthetic nitrogen) of the developed world to the developing world. Thomas Malthus famously predicted that the Earth would not be able to support its growing population, but technologies such as the Green Revolution have allowed the world to produce a surplus of food.
Agricultural output in 2005.Many governments have subsidized agriculture to ensure an adequate food supply. These agricultural subsidies are often linked to the production of certain commodities such as wheat, corn (maize), rice, soybeans, and milk. These subsidies, especially when instituted by developed countries have been noted as protectionist, inefficient, and environmentally damaging. In the past century agriculture has been characterized by enhanced productivity, the use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, selective breeding, mechanization, water contamination, and farm subsidies. Proponents of organic farming such as Sir Albert Howard argued in the early 1900s that the overuse of pesticides and synthetic fertilizers damages the long-term fertility of the soil. While this feeling lay dormant for decades, as environmental awareness has increased in the 2000s there has been a movement towards sustainable agriculture by some farmers, consumers, and policymakers. In recent years there has been a backlash against perceived external environmental effects of mainstream agriculture, particularly regarding water pollution,resulting in the organic movement. One of the major forces behind this movement has been the European Union, which first certified organic food in 1991 and began reform of its Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in 2005 to phase out commodity-linked farm subsidies,also known as decoupling. The growth of organic farming has renewed research in alternative technologies such as integrated pest management and selective breeding. Recent mainstream technological developments include genetically modified food.
As of late 2007, several factors have pushed up the price of grain used to feed poultry and dairy cows and other cattle, causing higher prices of wheat (up 58%), soybean (up 32%), and maize (up 11%) over the year. Food riots have recently taken place in many countries across the world. An epidemic of stem rust on wheat caused by race Ug99 is currently spreading across Africa and into Asia and is causing major concern. Approximately 40% of the world's agricultural land is seriously degraded. In Africa, if current trends of soil degradation continue, the continent might be able to feed just 25% of its population by 2025, according to UNU's Ghana-based Institute for Natural Resources in Africa.
Main article: History of agriculture
A Sumerian harvester's sickle made from baked clay (ca. 3000 BC).Since its development roughly 10,000 years ago,[22] agriculture has expanded vastly in geographical coverage and yields. Throughout this expansion, new technologies and new crops were integrated. Agricultural practices such as irrigation, crop rotation, fertilizers, and pesticides were developed long ago, but have made great strides in the past century. The history of agriculture has played a major role in human history, as agricultural progress has been a crucial factor in worldwide socio-economic change. Wealth-concentration and militaristic specializations rarely seen in hunter-gatherer cultures are commonplace in societies which practice agriculture. So, too, are arts such as epic literature and monumental architecture, as well as codified legal systems. When farmers became capable of producing food beyond the needs of their own families, others in their society were freed to devote themselves to projects other than food acquisition. Historians and anthropologists have long argued that the development of agriculture made civilization possible.
Ancient origins
Further information: Neolithic Revolution
The Fertile Crescent of Western Asia, Egypt, and India were sites of the earliest planned sowing and harvesting of plants that had previously been gathered in the wild. Independent development of agriculture occurred in northern and southern China, Africa's Sahel, New Guinea and several regions of the Americas. The eight so-called Neolithic founder crops of agriculture appear: first emmer wheat and einkorn wheat, then hulled barley, peas, lentils, bitter vetch, chick peas and flax.
By 7000 BC, small-scale agriculture reached Egypt. From at least 7000 BC the Indian subcontinent saw farming of wheat and barley, as attested by archaeological excavation at Mehrgarh in Balochistan. By 6000 BC, mid-scale farming was entrenched on the banks of the Nile. About this time, agriculture was developed independently in the Far East, with rice, rather than wheat, as the primary crop. Chinese and Indonesian farmers went on to domesticate taro and beans including mung, soy and azuki. To complement these new sources of carbohydrates, highly organized net fishing of rivers, lakes and ocean shores in these areas brought in great volumes of essential protein. Collectively, these new methods of farming and fishing inaugurated a human population boom that dwarfed all previous expansions and continues today.
By 5000 BC, the Sumerians had developed core agricultural techniques including large-scale intensive cultivation of land, mono-cropping, organized irrigation, and the use of a specialized labor force, particularly along the waterway now known as the Shatt al-Arab, from its Persian Gulf delta to the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates. Domestication of wild aurochs and mouflon into cattle and sheep, respectively, ushered in the large-scale use of animals for food/fiber and as beasts of burden. The shepherd joined the farmer as an essential provider for sedentary and semi-nomadic societies. Maize, manioc, and arrowroot were first domesticated in the Americas as far back as 5200 BC.The potato, tomato, pepper, squash, several varieties of bean, tobacco, and several other plants were also developed in the New World, as was extensive terracing of steep hillsides in much of Andean South America. The Greeks and Romans built on techniques pioneered by the Sumerians but made few fundamentally new advances. Southern Greeks struggled with very poor soils, yet managed to become a dominant society for years. The Romans were noted for an emphasis on the cultivation of crops for trade.
The Harvesters. Pieter Bruegel. 1565.Middle Ages
During the Middle Ages, farmers in North Africa, the Near East, and Europe began making use of agricultural technologies including irrigation systems based on hydraulic and hydrostatic principles, machines such as norias, water-raising machines, dams, and reservoirs. This combined with the invention of a three-field system of crop rotation and the moldboard plow greatly improved agricultural efficiency.
Modern era
Further information: British Agricultural Revolution and Green Revolution
This photo from a 1921 encyclopedia shows a tractor ploughing an alfalfa field.
Satellite image of a farm in Minnesota.
Infrared image of the farm. To the untrained eye, this image appears a hodge-podge of colours without any apparent purpose. But farmers are now trained to see yellows where crops are infested, shades of red indicating crop health, black where flooding occurs, and brown where unwanted pesticides land on chemical-free crops.After 1492, a global exchange of previously local crops and livestock breeds occurred. Key crops involved in this exchange included the tomato, maize, potato, manioc, cocoa bean and tobacco going from the New World to the Old, and several varieties of wheat, spices, coffee, and sugar cane going from the Old World to the New. The most important animal exportation from the Old World to the New were those of the horse and dog (dogs were already present in the pre-Columbian Americas but not in the numbers and breeds suited to farm work). Although not usually food animals, the horse (including donkeys and ponies) and dog quickly filled essential production roles on western-hemisphere farms.
The potato became an important staple crop in northern Europe.Since being introduced by Portuguese in the 16th century, maize and manioc have replaced traditional African crops as the continent's most important staple food crops.
By the early 1800s, agricultural techniques, implements, seed stocks and cultivated plants selected and given a unique name because of its decorative or useful characteristics had so improved that yield per land unit was many times that seen in the Middle Ages. With the rapid rise of mechanization in the late 19th and 20th centuries, particularly in the form of the tractor, farming tasks could be done with a speed and on a scale previously impossible. These advances have led to efficiencies enabling certain modern farms in the United States, Argentina, Israel, Germany, and a few other nations to output volumes of high-quality produce per land unit at what may be the practical limit. The Haber-Bosch method for synthesizing ammonium nitrate represented a major breakthrough and allowed crop yields to overcome previous constraints. In the past century agriculture has been characterized by enhanced productivity, the substitution of labor for synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, water pollution, and farm subsidies. In recent years there has been a backlash against the external environmental effects of conventional agriculture, resulting in the organic movement.
The cereals rice, corn, and wheat provide 60% of human food supply.Between 1700 and 1980, "the total area of cultivated land worldwide increased 466%" and yields increased dramatically, particularly because of selectively-bred high-yielding varieties, fertilizers, pesticides, irrigation, and machinery. For example, irrigation increased corn yields in eastern Colorado by 400 to 500% from 1940 to 1997.
However, concerns have been raised over the sustainability of intensive agriculture. Intensive agriculture has become associated with decreased soil quality in India and Asia, and there has been increased concern over the effects of fertilizers and pesticides on the environment, particularly as population increases and food demand expands. The monocultures typically used in intensive agriculture increase the number of pests, which are controlled through pesticides. Integrated pest management (IPM), which "has been promoted for decades and has had some notable successes" has not significantly affected the use of pesticides because policies encourage the use of pesticides and IPM is knowledge-intensive.Although the "Green Revolution" significantly increased rice yields in Asia, yield increases have not occurred in the past 15–20 years.The genetic "yield potential" has increased for wheat, but the yield potential for rice has not increased since 1966, and the yield potential for maize has "barely increased in 35 years".It takes a decade or two for herbicide-resistant weeds to emerge, and insects become resistant to insecticides within about a decade.Crop rotation helps to prevent resistances.
Agricultural exploration expeditions, since the late nineteenth century, have been mounted to find new species and new agricultural practices in different areas of the world. Two early examples of expeditions include Frank N. Meyer's fruit- and nut-collecting trip to China and Japan from 1916-1918and the Dorsett-Morse Oriental Agricultural Exploration Expedition to China, Japan, and Korea from 1929-1931 to collect soybean germplasm to support the rise in soybean agriculture in the United States.
In 2005, the agricultural output of China was the largest in the world, accounting for almost one-sixth of world share, followed by the EU, India and the USA, according to the International Monetary Fund.[citation needed] Economists measure the total factor productivity of agriculture and by this measure agriculture in the United States is roughly 2.6 times more productive than it was in 1948.
Six countries – the US, Canada, France, Australia, Argentina and Thailand – supply 90% of grain exports.Water deficits, which are already spurring heavy grain imports in numerous middle-sized countries, including Algeria, Iran, Egypt, and Mexico, may soon do the same in larger countries, such as China or India.
Crop production systems
Farmers work inside a rice field in Andhra Pradesh, India.Cropping systems vary among farms depending on the available resources and constraints; geography and climate of the farm; government policy; economic, social and political pressures; and the philosophy and culture of the farmer.Shifting cultivation (or slash and burn) is a system in which forests are burnt, releasing nutrients to support cultivation of annual and then perennial crops for a period of several years. Then the plot is left fallow to regrow forest, and the farmer moves to a new plot, returning after many more years (10-20). This fallow period is shortened if population density grows, requiring the input of nutrients (fertilizer or manure) and some manual pest control. Annual cultivation is the next phase of intensity in which there is no fallow period. This requires even greater nutrient and pest control inputs. Further industrialization lead to the use of monocultures, when one cultivar is planted on a large acreage. Due to the low biodiversity, nutrient use is uniform, and pests tend to build up, necessitating the greater use of pesticides and fertilizers. Multiple cropping, in which several crops are grown sequentially in one year, and intercropping, when several crops are grown at the same time are other kinds of annual cropping systems known as polycultures.
In tropical environments, all of these cropping systems are practiced. In subtropical and arid environments, the timing and extent of agriculture may be limited by rainfall, either not allowing multiple annual crops in a year, or requiring irrigation. In all of these environments perennial crops are grown (coffee, chocolate) and systems are practiced such as agroforestry. In temperate environments, where ecosystems were predominantly grassland or prairie, highly productive annual cropping is the dominant farming system.
The last century has seen the intensification, concentration and specialization of agriculture, relying upon new technologies of agricultural chemicals (fertilizers and pesticides), mechanization, and plant breeding (hybrids and GMO's). In the past few decades, a move towards sustainability in agriculture has also developed, integrating ideas of socio-economic justice and conservation of resources and the environment within a farming system. This has led to the development of many responses to the conventional agriculture approach, including organic agriculture, urban agriculture, community supported agriculture, ecological or biological agriculture, integrated farming, and holistic management.
Crop statistics
Important categories of crops include grains and pseudograins, pulses (legumes), forage, and fruits and vegetables. Specific crops are cultivated in distinct growing regions throughout the world. In millions of metric tons, based on FAO estimate.
Livestock production systems
Main article: Livestock
Ploughing rice paddies with water buffalo, in Indonesia.Animals, including horses, mules, oxen, camels, llamas, alpacas, and dogs, are often used to help cultivate fields, harvest crops, wrangle other animals, and transport farm products to buyers. Animal husbandry not only refers to the breeding and raising of animals for meat or to harvest animal products (like milk, eggs, or wool) on a continual basis, but also to the breeding and care of species for work and companionship. Livestock production systems can be defined based on feed source, as grassland – based, mixed, and landless.Grassland based livestock production relies upon plant material such as shrubland, rangeland, and pastures for feeding ruminant animals. Outside nutrient inputs may be used, however manure is returned directly to the grassland as a major nutrient source. This system is particularly important in areas where crop production is not feasible due to climate or soil, representing 30-40 million pastoralists.[36] Mixed production systems use grassland, fodder crops and grain feed crops as feed for ruminant and monogastic (one stomach; mainly chickens and pigs) livestock. Manure is typically recycled in mixed systems as a fertilizer for crops. Approximately 68% of all agricultural land is permanent pastures used in the production of livestock.Landless systems rely upon feed from outside the farm, representing the de-linking of crop and livestock production found more prevalently in OECD member countries. In the U.S., 70% of the grain grown is fed to animals on feedlots.[36] Synthetic fertilizers are more heavily relied upon for crop production and manure utilization becomes a challenge as well as a source for pollution.
Production practices
Road leading across the farm allows machinery access to the farm for production practices.Tillage is the practice of plowing soil to prepare for planting or for nutrient incorporation or for pest control. Tillage varies in intensity from conventional to no-till. It may improve productivity by warming the soil, incorporating fertilizer and controlling weeds, but also renders soil more prone to erosion, triggers the decomposition of organic matter releasing CO2, and reduces the abundance and diversity of soil organisms.
Pest control includes the management of weeds, insects/mites, and diseases. Chemical (pesticides), biological (biocontrol), mechanical (tillage), and cultural practices are used. Cultural practices include crop rotation, culling, cover crops, intercropping, composting, avoidance, and resistance. Integrated pest management attempts to use all of these methods to keep pest populations below the number which would cause economic loss, and recommends pesticides as a last resort.
Nutrient management includes both the source of nutrient inputs for crop and livestock production, and the method of utilization of manure produced by livestock. Nutrient inputs can be chemical inorganic fertilizers, manure, green manure, compost and mined minerals. Crop nutrient use may also be managed using cultural techniques such as crop rotation or a fallow period.Manure is used either by holding livestock where the feed crop is growing, such as in managed intensive rotational grazing, or by spreading either dry or liquid formulations of manure on cropland or pastures.
Water management is where rainfall is insufficient or variable, which occurs to some degree in most regions of the world. Some farmers use irrigation to supplement rainfall. In other areas such as the Great Plains in the U.S. and Canada, farmers use a fallow year to conserve soil moisture to use for growing a crop in the following year. Agriculture represents 70% of freshwater use worldwide.[edit] Processing, distribution, and marketing
Main article: Food processing
Main article: Agricultural marketing
In the United States, food costs attributed to processing, distribution, and marketing have risen while the costs attributed to farming have declined. From 1960 to 1980 the farm share was around 40%, but by 1990 it had declined to 30% and by 1998, 22.2%. Market concentration has increased in the sector as well, with the top 20 food manufacturers accounting for half the food-processing value in 1995, over double that produced in 1954. As of 2000 the top six US supermarket groups had 50% of sales compared to 32% in 1992. Although the total effect of the increased market concentration is likely increased efficiency, the changes redistribute economic surplus from producers (farmers) and consumers, and may have negative implications for rural communities. Crop alteration and biotechnology
Main article: Plant breeding
Tractor and Chaser bin.Crop alteration has been practiced by humankind for thousands of years, since the beginning of civilization. Altering crops through breeding practices changes the genetic make-up of a plant to develop crops with more beneficial characteristics for humans, for example, larger fruits or seeds, drought-tolerance, or resistance to pests. Significant advances in plant breeding ensued after the work of geneticist Gregor Mendel. His work on dominant and recessive alleles gave plant breeders a better understanding of genetics and brought great insights to the techniques utilized by plant breeders. Crop breeding includes techniques such as plant selection with desirable traits, self-pollination and cross-pollination, and molecular techniques that genetically modify the organism. Domestication of plants has, over the centuries increased yield, improved disease resistance and drought tolerance, eased harvest and improved the taste and nutritional value of crop plants. Careful selection and breeding have had enormous effects on the characteristics of crop plants. Plant selection and breeding in the 1920s and 1930s improved pasture (grasses and clover) in New Zealand. Extensive X-ray an ultraviolet induced mutagenesis efforts (i.e. primitive genetic engineering) during the 1950s produced the modern commercial varieties of grains such as wheat, corn (maize) and barley.
The green revolution popularized the use of conventional hybridization to increase yield many folds by creating "high-yielding varieties". For example, average yields of corn (maize) in the USA have increased from around 2.5 tons per hectare (t/ha) (40 bushels per acre) in 1900 to about 9.4 t/ha (150 bushels per acre) in 2001. Similarly, worldwide average wheat yields have increased from less than 1 t/ha in 1900 to more than 2.5 t/ha in 1990. South American average wheat yields are around 2 t/ha, African under 1 t/ha, Egypt and Arabia up to 3.5 to 4 t/ha with irrigation. In contrast, the average wheat yield in countries such as France is over 8 t/ha. Variations in yields are due mainly to variation in climate, genetics, and the level of intensive farming techniques (use of fertilizers, chemical pest control, growth control to avoid lodging)..
Genetic Engineering
Main article: Genetic Engineering
Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) are organisms whose genetic material has been altered by genetic engineering techniques generally known as recombinant DNA technology. Genetic engineering has expanded the genes available to breeders to utilize in creating desired germlines for new crops. After mechanical tomato-harvesters were developed in the early 1960s, agricultural scientists genetically modified tomatoes to be more resistant to mechanical handling. More recently, genetic engineering is being employed in various parts of the world, to create crops with other beneficial traits.
Herbicide-tolerant GMO Crops
Roundup-Ready seed has a herbicide resistant gene implanted into its genome that allows the plants to tolerate exposure to glyphosate. Roundup is a trade name for a glyphosate based product, which is a systemic, non-selective herbicide used to kill weeds. Roundup-Ready seeds allow the farmer to grow a crop that can be sprayed with glyphosate to control weeds without harming the resistant crop. Herbicide-tolerant crops are used by farmers worldwide. Today, 92% of soybean acreage in the US is planted with genetically-modified herbicide-tolerant plants. With the increasing use of herbicide-tolerant crops, comes an increase in the use of glyphosate based herbicide sprays. In some areas glyphosate resistant weeds have developed, causing farmers to switch to other herbicides.Some studies also link widespread glyphosate usage to iron deficiencies in some crops, which is both a crop production and a nutritional quality concern, with potential economic and health implications.
Insect-Resistant GMO Crops
Other GMO crops utilized by growers include insect-resistant crops, which have a gene from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), which produces a toxin specific to insects. These crops protect plants from damage by insects; one such crop is Starlink. Another is cotton, which accounts for 63% of US cotton acreage.
Some believe that similar or better pest-resistance traits can be acquired through traditional breeding practices, and resistance to various pests can be gained through hybridization or cross-pollination with wild species. In some cases, wild species are the primary source of resistance traits; some tomato cultivars that have gained resistance to at least nineteen diseases did so through crossing with wild populations of tomatoes.
Costs and Benefits of GMOs
Genetic engineers may someday develop transgenic plants which would allow for irrigation, drainage, conservation, sanitary engineering, and maintaining or increasing yields while requiring fewer fossil fuel derived inputs than conventional crops. Such developments would be particularly important in areas which are normally arid and rely upon constant irrigation, and on large scale farms. However, genetic engineering of plants has proven to be controversial. Many issues surrounding food security and environmental impacts have risen regarding GMO practices. For example, GMOs are questioned by some ecologists and economists concerned with GMO practices such as terminator seeds, which is a genetic modification that creates sterile seeds. Terminator seeds are currently under strong international opposition and face continual efforts of global bans. Another controversial issue is the patent protection given to companies that develop new types of seed using genetic engineering. Since companies have intellectual ownership of their seeds, they have the power to dictate terms and conditions of their patented product. Currently, ten seed companies control over two-thirds of the global seed sales.Vandana Shiva argues that these companies are guilty of biopiracy by patenting life and exploiting organisms for profitFarmers using patented seed are restricted from saving seed for subsequent plantings, which forces farmers to buy new seed every year. Since seed saving is a traditional practice for many farmers in both developing and developed countries, GMO seeds legally bind farmers to change their seed saving practices to buying new seed every year.
Locally adapted seeds are an essential hertitage that has the potential to be lost with current hybridized crops and GMOs. Locally adapted seeds, also called land races or crop eco-types, are important because they have adapted over time to the specific microclimates, soils, other environmental conditions, field designs, and ethnic preference indigenous to the exact area of cultivation.[68] Introducing GMOs and hybridized commercial seed to an area brings the risk of cross-pollination with local land races Therefore, GMOs pose a threat to the sustainability of land races and the ethnic heritage of cultures. Once seed contains transgenic material, it becomes subject to the conditions of the seed company that owns the patent of the transgenic material.[69]
There is also concern that GMOs will cross-pollinate with wild species and permanently alter native populations' genetic integrity; there are already identified populations of wild plants with transgenic genes. GMO gene flow to related weed species is a concern, as well as cross-pollination with non-transgenic crops. Since many GMO crops are harvested for their seed, such as rapeseed, seed spillage in is problematic for volunteer plants in rotated fields, as well as seed-spillage during transportation.
Food safety and labeling
Food security issues also coincide with food safety and food labeling concerns. Currently a global treaty, the BioSafety Protocol, regulates the trade of GMOs. The EU currently requires all GMO foods to be labeled, whereas the US does not require transparent labeling of GMO foods. Since there are still questions regarding the safety and risks associated with GMO foods, some believe the public should have the freedom to choose and know what they are eating and require all GMO products to be labeled.
Environmental impact
Main article: Environmental issues with agriculture
Agriculture imposes external costs upon society through pesticides, nutrient runoff, excessive water usage, and assorted other problems. A 2000 assessment of agriculture in the UK determined total external costs for 1996 of £2,343 million, or £208 per hectare.[72] A 2005 analysis of these costs in the USA concluded that cropland imposes approximately $5 to 16 billion ($30 to $96 per hectare), while livestock production imposes $714 million.Both studies concluded that more should be done to internalize external costs, and neither included subsidies in their analysis, but noted that subsidies also influence the cost of agriculture to society. Both focused on purely fiscal impacts. The 2000 review included reported pesticide poisonings but did not include speculative chronic effects of pesticides, and the 2004 review relied on a 1992 estimate of the total impact of pesticides.
Livestock issues
A senior UN official and co-author of a UN report detailing this problem, Henning Steinfeld, said "Livestock are one of the most significant contributors to today's most serious environmental problems".Livestock production occupies 70% of all land used for agriculture, or 30% of the land surface of the planet. It is one of the largest sources of greenhouse gases, responsible for 18% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions as measured in CO2 equivalents. By comparison, all transportation emits 13.5% of the CO2. It produces 65% of human-related nitrous oxide (which has 296 times the global warming potential of CO2,) and 37% of all human-induced methane (which is 23 times as warming as CO2. It also generates 64% of the ammonia, which contributes to acid rain and acidification of ecosystems. Livestock expansion is cited as a key factor driving deforestation, in the Amazon basin 70% of previously forested area is now occupied by pastures and the remainder used for feedcrops.Through deforestation and land degradation, livestock is also driving reductions in biodiversity.
Land transformation and degradation
Land transformation, the use of land to yield goods and services, is the most substantial way humans alter the Earth's ecosystems, and is considered the driving force in the loss of biodiversity. Estimates of the amount of land transformed by humans vary from 39–50%.Land degradation, the long-term decline in ecosystem function and productivity, is estimated to be occurring on 24% of land worldwide, with cropland overrepresented.The UN-FAO report cites land management as the driving factor behind degradation and reports that 1.5 billion people rely upon the degrading land. Degradation can be deforestation, desertification, soil erosion, mineral depletion, or chemical degradation (acidification and salinization).
Eutrophication, excessive nutrients in aquatic ecosystems resulting in algal blooms and anoxia, leads to fish kills, loss of biodiversity, and renders water unfit for drinking and other industrial uses. Excessive fertilization and manure application to cropland, as well as high livestock stocking densities cause nutrient (mainly nitrogen and phosphorus) runoff and leaching from agricultural land. These nutrients are major nonpoint pollutants contributing to eutrophication of aquatic ecosystems.
Pesticide use has increased since 1950 to 2.5 million tons annually worldwide, yet crop loss due to pests has remained relatively constant. The World Health Organization estimated in 1992 that 3 million pesticide poisonings occur annually, causing 220,000 deaths.Pesticides select for pesticide resistance in the pest population, leading to a condition termed the 'pesticide treadmill' in which pest resistance warrants the development of a new pesticide.An alternative argument is that the way to 'save the environment' and prevent famine is by using pesticides and intensive high yield farming, a view exemplified by a quote heading the Center for Global Food Issues website: 'Growing more per acre leaves more land for nature'.However, critics argue that a trade-off between the environment and a need for food is not inevitable, and that pesticides simply replace good agronomic practices such as crop rotation.
Climate Change
Climate change has the potential to affect agriculture through changes in temperature, rainfall (timing and quantity), CO2, solar radiation and the interaction of these elements. Agriculture can both mitigate or worsen global warming. Some of the increase in CO2 in the atmosphere comes from the decomposition of organic matter in the soil, and much of the methane emitted into the atmosphere is due to the decomposition of organic matter in wet soils such as rice paddies. Further, wet or anaerobic soils also lose nitrogen through denitrification, releasing the greenhouse gas nitric oxide. Changes in management can reduce the release of these greenhouse gases, and soil can further be used to sequester some of the CO2 in the atmosphere.
Distortions in modern global agriculture
See also: Agricultural subsidy
Differences in economic development, population density and culture mean that the farmers of the world operate under very different conditions.
A US cotton farmer may receive US$230[88] in government subsidies per acre planted (in 2003), while farmers in Mali and other third-world countries do without. When prices decline, the heavily subsidised US farmer is not forced to reduce his output, making it difficult for cotton prices to rebound, but his Mali counterpart may go broke in the meantime.
A livestock farmer in South Korea can calculate with a (highly subsidized) sales price of US$1300 for a calf produced.A South American Mercosur country rancher calculates with a calf's sales price of US$120–200 (both 2008 figures). With the former, scarcity and high cost of land is compensated with public subsidies, the latter compensates absence of subsidies with economics of scale and low cost of land.
In the Peoples Republic of China, a rural household's productive asset may be one hectare of farmland.In Brazil, Paraguay and other countries where local legislature allows such purchases, international investors buy thousands of hectares of farmland or raw land at prices of a few hundred US$ per hectare.
Agriculture and petroleum
Since the 1940s, agriculture has dramatically increased its productivity, due largely to the use of petrochemical derived pesticides, fertilizers, and increased mechanization (the so-called Green Revolution). Between 1950 and 1984, as the Green Revolution transformed agriculture around the globe, world grain production increased by 250%. This has allowed world population to grow more than double over the last 50 years. The vast majority of this energy input comes from fossil fuel sources. Because of modern agriculture's current heavy reliance on petrochemicals and mechanization, concern exists that oil shortages will increase costs and reduce output in the industrial agriculture system, and could cause food shortages.
Modern or industrialized agriculture is dependent on petroleum in two fundamental ways: 1) cultivation—to get the crop from seed to harvest and 2) transport—to get the harvest from the farm to the consumer's refrigerator. It takes approximately 400 gallons of oil a year per citizen to fuel the tractors, combines and other equipment used on farms for cultivation or 17 percent of the nation's total energy use.Oil and natural gas are also the building blocks of the fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides used on farms. Petroleum is also providing the energy required to process food before it reaches the market. It takes the energy equivalent of a half-gallon of gasoline to produce a two-pound bag of breakfast cereal.[98] Additional energy is needed to transport that cereal to market; most food items on the consumer's plate travel average of 1,500 miles just to get there.
Oil shortages could impact this food supply. Some farmers using modern organic-farming methods have reported yields as high as those available from conventional farming (but without the use of fossil-fuel-intensive artificial fertilizers or pesticides. However, the reconditioning of soil to restore nutrients lost during the use of monoculture agriculture techniques made possible by petroleum-based technology will take time.
A conscious consumption movement exists in which consumers count the "food miles" a food product has traveled. The Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture defines a food mile as: "…the distance food travels from where it is grown or raised to where it is ultimately purchased by the consumer or end-user." In a comparison of locally-grown food and long-distance food, researchers at the Leopold Center found that local food traveled an average of 44.6 miles to reach its destination compared with 1,546 miles for conventionally-grown and shipped food.
Consumers in the new local food movement who count food miles call themselves "locavores"; they advocate a return to a locally-based food system where food comes from as close as possible, whether or not it is organic. Locavores argue that an organically-grown lettuce from California that is shipped to New York is still an unsustainable food source because of dependence on fossil fuels to ship it. In addition to the "locavore" movement, home and community gardening also reduces the number of food miles traveled by food.
The neutrality of this section is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved. (December 2008)
Farmers have begun raising crops such as corn (maize) for non-food use, which has impacted fuel prices.
Further information: Effect of biofuels on food prices
In 2007, higher incentives for farmers to grow non-food biofuel crops combined with other factors (such as over-development of former farm lands, rising transportation costs, climate change, growing consumer demand in China and India, and population growth)to cause food shortages in Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Mexico, as well as rising food prices around the globe. As of December 2007, 37 countries faced food crises, and 20 had imposed some sort of food-price controls. Some of these shortages resulted in food riots and even deadly stampedes.
The biggest fossil fuel input to agriculture is the use of natural gas as a hydrogen source for the Haber-Bosch fertilizer-creation process.Natural gas is used because it is the cheapest currently available source of hydrogen.When oil production becomes so scarce that natural gas is used as a partial stopgap replacement, and hydrogen use in transportation increases, natural gas will become much more expensive. If the Haber Process is unable to be commercialized using renewable energy (such as by electrolysis) or if other sources of hydrogen are not available to replace the Haber Process, in amounts sufficient to supply transportation and agricultural needs, this major source of fertilizer would either become extremely expensive or unavailable. This would either cause food shortages or dramatic rises in food prices.
Mitigation of effects of petroleum shortages
One effect oil shortages could have on agriculture is a full return to organic agriculture. In light of peak-oil concerns, organic methods are more sustainable than contemporary practices because they use no petroleum-based pesticides, herbicides, or fertilizers. Some farmers using modern organic-farming methods have reported yields as high as those available from conventional farming.Organic farming may however be more labor-intensive and would require a shift of the workforce from urban to rural areas.
It has been suggested that rural communities might obtain fuel from the biochar and synfuel process, which uses agricultural waste to provide charcoal fertilizer, some fuel and food, instead of the normal food vs fuel debate. As the synfuel would be used on-site, the process would be more efficient and might just provide enough fuel for a new organic-agriculture fusion.
It has been suggested that some transgenic plants may some day be developed which would allow for maintaining or increasing yields while requiring fewer fossil-fuel-derived inputs than conventional crops. The possibility of success of these programs is questioned by ecologists and economists concerned with unsustainable GMO practices such as terminator seeds,and a January 2008 report shows that GMO practices "fail to deliver environmental, social and economic benefits."While there has been some research on sustainability using GMO crops, at least one hyped and prominent multi-year attempt by Monsanto Company has been unsuccessful, though during the same period traditional breeding techniques yielded a more sustainable variety of the same crop. Additionally, a survey by the bio-tech industry of subsistence farmers in Africa to discover what GMO research would most benefit sustainable agriculture only identified non-transgenic issues as areas needing to be addressed.Nevertheless, some governments in Africa continue to view investments in new transgenic technologies as an essential component of efforts to improve sustainability.


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Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (27 February 1807 – 24 March 1882 / Portland, Maine)
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Tales Of A Wayside Inn : Part 1. The Musician's Tale; The Saga Of King Olaf Xi. -- Bishop Sigurd At Salten Fiord
Loud the anngy wind was wailing
As King Olaf's ships came sailing
Northward out of Drontheim haven
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Historic Lane House ground floor Loft with spacious garden
This beautiful Loft Duple Apartment is located in the downtown area of Shanghai's former French Concession and occupies the first two levels of a Historic french colonial Lane House.
It features a polished cement style floor in the ground floor which adds to the dramatic loft feel of the place, yet charming hand carved wood contrasts the minimalistic feel well.
The open kitchen features a built in oven and dishwasher, lots of cabinet space and a big two door refridgerator.
To the side is a small guest bathroom (powder room).
The TV is built in the wall and encased with a large hardwood frame.
The Patio outside is layed out with "Pflasterstein" Stones and surrounded with bamboo style plants all around.
Upstairs are three bedrooms, the master bedroom with it's en-suite bathroom featuring a walk in shower, a second guest bedroom, a study or work out room and another bathroom.
The renovation also features a built in heating system with radiators throughout the property.
It's in a fantastic location right at the entrance of Tian Zi Fang (Casa 13, Ovio, Origin, Bali, Commune and many other famous restaurants inside).
Asking 35000 Rmb per month.


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"Where in the World is Matt Lauer" is back, and this time, "Today" viewers are being given a chance to follow in his footsteps.
To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the "Today" host's travel series - where he traipses from country to country without giving his 30 Rock-logged co-hosts a head's up as to where he's headed - the daily news program is offering viewers a chance to win a trip to one of Lauer's destinations.
Not only will Lauer's latest trip - set to kick off November 7th - feature brand new Facebook and Twitter interaction (viewers will be able to unlock clues as to his whereabouts), the official "Today" show site will allow fans to log on for a chance to win a trip for two to one of Lauer's 2011 destinations. The best part? The winner gets to choose the destination.
U.S. & World
News from around the country and around the globe
The odds of one of the choice locales being extremely exotic are good, seeing as Lauer has already visited 44 different destinations, logging well over 200,000 air miles.
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Selected Reading: MSNBC


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Faculty and students in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace carry out research in diverse areas such as smart materials, complex dynamical systems, biomimetics, nanomaterials, energy systems, fire propagation, and bio-fluid mechanics.
The main research in the department in carried out through seven laboratories:
The labs concentrate on research related to the development, deployment, and utilization of advanced biomimetic smart systems and materials, and electromechanical systems.
Our programs offer students diverse and multidimensional education that addresses fundamental understanding of the underlying mathematics, sciences, and engineering; design methodologies; use of modern simulation and design tools; and extensive laboratories for undergraduate and graduate instruction and research.
Our mission is to prepare students for careers in mechanical and related engineering disciplines for professional development, life-long learning, and contributions to society.
We seek to add value to our students' career potential by placing an emphasis on (a) understanding the physical world through project, tools, and practice; and (b) providing the foundation tools for innovation, invention and entrepreneurship.
The department offers BS, MS, and Ph.D. degrees in Mechanical Engineering. It also offers a minor in Aerospace Engineering and an Interdisciplinary minor in Nuclear Science and Engineering.
Mechanical engineering is a dynamic and continually evolving profession and the most diverse among all engineering disciplines. Mechanical engineers develop the physical systems and devices that modern society needs or wants, from automobiles to air conditioning, robots to power plants, people movers to artificial limbs and rocket engines to communications satellites.
Mechanical engineering also has a long tradition of leadership in helping to develop the natural environment by breaking new ground in such areas as resource conservation, improved efficiency of energy-consuming devices, development of codes for a safer technological environment, new energy sources and the like.
Our programs in mechanical engineering are designed primarily to develop talents in such areas as design of components, fluid and thermal systems, controls and robotic systems and computer-integrated mechanical and electromechanical systems. However, many graduating students eventually apply their training to the additional diversified fields of computer engineering, nanotechnology, software development, financial engineering, bioengineering, manufacturing, astronautics, systems engineering and corporate management and law. As students mature and realize their abilities, their professional lives may center on engineering research, government, business or education.
The history of the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department can be traced to 1899 when the then Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn established its original Mechanical Engineering Department. In 1931, it began offering its first classes in aeronautical engineering: Airplane Designs and Aerodynamics, and Airplane Structures. And in 1941 began granting master's degrees in aerospace engineering.
The Institute offers a double-degree option in Mechanical Engineering from the Sapienza University of Rome and the NYU Tandon School of Engineering. Students complying with the degree requirements of both institutions will be granted a double degree.
Download the terms and requirements of the agreement. For a version in Italian.
The Institute offers a double-degree option in Mechanical Engineering with a concentration in Dynamic Systems and Control or Manufacturing Engineering from the Polytechnic of Bari and the NYU Tandon School of Engineering. Students complying with the degree requirements of both institutions will be granted a double degree.
Download the terms and requirements of the agreement. For a version in Italian.
Department Chair: Richard S. Thorsen


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GOP leader asks Brown not to appeal teacher ruling
Senate minority leader urges Governor to consider civil rights
Republican lawmakers are asking Gov. Jerry Brown not to appeal a Los Angeles judge's decision striking down tenure and other job protections for California teachers.
Senate Minority Leader Bob Huff sent Brown a letter Thursday, a day before the Democratic governor is scheduled to address a national teachers union convention in Los Angeles.
Huff urges Brown to resist pressure from teachers unions and consider the civil rights of disadvantaged students. Huff writes that "an appeal would further disenfranchise inner-city students and those who come from challenging socio-economic circumstances."
Last month, a judge found that a handful of laws governing the hiring and firing of the state's teachers are unconstitutional because they deprive children of a quality education.
Brown, one of the main defendants, has not said whether he will appeal.