July 2007 Archives

Using plants to feed our fuel needs may be a great idea, and the biofuel goldrush could be a moneyspinner for several poor countries, but some experts warn people may go hungry as food prices rise.
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Even though the biofuel boom is only just beginning, it has already pushed up the cost of staples in places like Mexico where rocketing tortilla prices have sparked angry protests.

Some experts foresee a permanent change in food economics if farmers scent higher profit in fuel crops than in growing plants to feed people.

"We're into a new structure of markets," said British food aid expert Edward Clay. "It could have profound implications on poor people."
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Farmers in the United States are raising production of maize, now a lucrative material for biofuel production. Soaring U.S. demand for ethanol—produced from crops like maize and sugar cane—has sent maize prices to their highest level in a decade.

Mexicans are feeling the impact. Tens of thousands took to the streets in January when the price of tortillas tripled to 15 pesos ($1.36) a kilogram. There are about 35 of the flat maize patties that are Mexico's staple food in a kilogram.

Since half of Mexico lives on $5 a day or less, that's no small jump…

Weary of the usual bad news, I decided it would be fun to cook up a facsimile of Google News with only good news. Really good news. So I put on my happy cap and made up a bunch of delightful headlines and blurbs, which you can see here:

Andrea's totally made-up Google News

For obvious reasons, none of the links work. And you might detect a wee personal bias in what I consider good news -- if you don't share my views, I encourage you to make your own happy news page. But I'm finding it very soothing to read this page in place of the actual Google News page, which now looks rather grim by comparison. In fact, reading my happy news page seems to have quite a tonic effect on my spirits.

If you have any suggestions for other happy headlines or stories, please let me know in the comments. I'd love to add more stories!

But then-get this-I get SIX PAGES of listings of data tidbits that the iPhone has downloaded in the form of email and Web pages-KILOBYTE BY KILOBYTE! Every graphic on every Web page, every message sent or received-it's all carefully listed by date and time. Not as anything helpful like NYTIMES.COM HOME PAGE or EMAIL-no, no. Instead, every single one of the hundreds of listings says the same thing: "Data Transfer" of type "Data" at rate code "MBRF," along with how many kilobytes it was (usually 1K or 3K).