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Thursday, November 18, 2021

What People Eat/Ate, Random Stuff, and More

- I obviously like to experiment with food. Most of the time that means food in the 5-10 ingredient range that often involves simply mixing and sticking into an oven or in a pot/pan and cooking. I recently tried the following recipe for Afghan Kidney Bean Curry. It's actually pretty good if you add some beef, sugar, and vinegar (not filling enough with only kidney beans and vegetables). This made me wonder what people in other parts of the world eat... In fact, one thing I'd actually like to try is to try the actual diet of people from every country of the world based on what the average person has locally and on the average wage one day
- ironically, if the US/West have been nation building/spreading their wisdom in Iraq/Afghanistan/Pakistan it's obvious that they don't think much of it? Tribal people think a lot of food from other parts of the world aren't that much different from that of their own? Ironically, some tribal food looks better/more appetizing then food from other parts of the world?
Tribal People Try McDonalds for the First Time
Tribal People Try Soul Food For The First Time
Tribal People Discovering Chocolate Fondue Will Make You Grin for Hours
Tribal Twins Try BEER Challenge
TPT's Extras
tribal food
- life in US seems very cheap? I can't fathom how people can make $10 work for an entire week without eating very little? The US made good use of neo-colonialism/neo-liberalism to get cheap goods, labour, food, etc? Instead of maintaining a check on inflation by creating more at the top they push down and create more by externalising their problems?
How to Eat for $10 a Week: Emergency Extreme Budget Grocery Haul
126 MEALS FOR $30! | Emergency Extreme Budget Grocery Haul 2020
CIA Stories - The CIA is Born
Eric Li - China's Meteoric Rise Impossible Without Achievements of Mao Era
global gdp share history
The 19th century appears to be the key juncture when China and India declined and the West rose. Imperialism appears to be the most obvious answer given that before China was 'opened' in 1842 in the first Opium war, it had its greatest share of world wealth. Within a century of these interventions China went from 32% of the world's GDP to just under 5%.
In the graphic below, the area for each country represents the share of the world's wealth. The rise in the share of wealth by the US and Europe is of similar proportion to the decline in wealth of India and China. The total area shown represents the amount of wealth that the seven selected countries have collectively. Note the decline of collective wealth in the last century as the rest of the world has begun to take a greater share of the global economy.
- people in other parts of the world do heaps of neat stuff like making bread in a pan, one pan cooking, etc? I just find it easier/more convenient to use and maintain a smaller number of kitchen utensils/pots/pans?
How I make bread for dinner in 10 minutes! Yeast-free bread! # 84
Forget the Set: All You Need Is A 10-Inch Pan | Game Changers
An Entire Meal Cooked in One Pan | The Cooking Show
What I Eat In A Day As A Russian | Simple and Tasty Russian Food Recipes
- as an aside, if you want to keep your food costs in check (but live in a more normal way) then look for coupons, government and charity food programs, religious and community based food banks/pantries, online, restaurant openings (where there is sometimes food giveaways or discounts), growing your own food, eating more canned (as long as the inner seal isn't broken it's fine)/frozen/sale food, learning how to cook yourself, finding cheaper restaurants locally, etc... Just think and you'll often find someone out there that there is willing and able to help?
food coupons
food stamp program
charity food program
food charity
free food
How Long Does Canned Food Last? Survival Tip
55 Year Old Canned Foods, Opening decades-old Canned Foods 3
- cooking and food experiments are interesting because they force you to think about what matters and doesn't. What you should spend your money on versus what you can spend your money on...
We meet for lunch on cafe-lined King Street at a Palestinian vegan cafe called Khamsa. We both order the Jerusalem Bowl — a rich mix of hummus, babaghanoush, quinoa, fattoush, cauliflower and falafels. While Leong has always felt at home on King Street, her experience on the SBS program showed her how unwelcome she would feel without enough money to buy a coffee or to shout someone a beer.
"The thing that I felt like was really a massive eye-opener for me was the sense of exclusion and isolation," she says. "It was the first time I'd had any taste of this nice street doesn't feel welcoming because I know I can't buy anything at the shops.
"For people I met in the show and people I interact with daily here in the electorate, there is no escape from that."
Apart from her brief stint on the show, Leong has never lived in public housing.
As a woman, she has experienced exclusion and racism. But other than the occasional racial comment in the playground which made her want blonde hair and blue eyes, her life growing up in Adelaide had felt "safe and secure". She and her sister lived in a middle-class home with their parents, who had a family business. Their Malaysian Chinese father, Chris, had come to Australia as an international student and is still working. Their mother, Jan, an Anglo-Australian from Collingwood, is retired.
- one strange and funny thing is that I've noticed that consumption of type of food may be a better indicator of progress then then GDP as a means of social progress?
food security global map
vegetable consumption global map
meat consumption global map
kidney bean recipes
food intake by country
water intake by country
Total Water Use per capita by Country
bean consumption by country
rice consumption by country
- if you look at where people have unusual diets it's normally a pretty good indication of desperate circumstances (animal rights activists are not seeing the full picture?)? If you try eating like that you'll realise how lucky/unlucky some people are in various parts of the world? One interesting thing is how much less meat people in poorer parts of the world eat? 
Morgan Spurlock - Exposing the 'Big Chicken' Industry (Super Size Me 2 - Holy Chicken!)
Supersize Me in 7 mins How too much of McDonald's will make you feel
Yes Men - Post Consumer Waste Recycling Program (WTO)
cuisine by country
Injo-gogi-bap, which means rice with artificial meat, is a North Korean dish,[1] made of rice, kimchi, soy bean paste and soy bean oil. It is made by wrapping steamed rice in a light skin made from leftover soybean paste and dressed with a chili sauce. This creates a meat-like texture.[2]
Injo gogi bab was created during the North Korean famine, which lasted from 1994 to 1998.[2]
garbage soup
south korea garbage soup
Etymology
Budae (부대; 部隊) is a military unit, often a "troop". As a troop's camp is also called budae, the word gun budae (군부대; 軍部隊; "military camp") is often used to refer to military camps in general, and migun budae (미군부대; 美軍部隊; "U.S. military camp") to the U.S. military bases. Jjigae (찌개), often translated as "stew", means a soup thicker than guk (soup).
History
After the Korean War, food was scarce in South Korea. People dwelling around U. S. army bases, in the Uijeongbu, Pyeongtaek, and Munsan areas made use of surplus foods from army bases, commonly processed meat products, collectively known as budae-gogi (부대고기; "army base meat"), such as ham, hot dogs, and Spam, along with canned baked beans.[4][5] It is said that budae-jjigae begun as a buttery stir-fried meal made of canned pineapples, cabbages, onions, American cheese, and mystery meat called 'ggulgguri-juk' (꿀꿀이粥 piggy porridge),[6] but later on, anchovy broth flavored with gochujang and kimchi was added to create the stew that is enjoyed today.[4] The ingredients were often scrounged or smuggled through a black market, as American products were not legally accessible to Koreans.[2]
Budae-jjigae is still popular in South Korea. Common ingredients now include baked beans, Vienna sausage, bacon, tofu, pork, ground beef, instant noodles, macaroni, tteok (rice cake), American cheese, mozzarella, minari, scallions, chili peppers, garlic, mushrooms and other vegetables in season.[6] The city of Uijeongbu, which is bordered by Seoul to the south and has many army bases, is famous for its budae-jjigae. In the late 20th century, the city of Uijeongbu stipulated that the dish be referred to as Uijeongbu-jjigae to remove the military or war-time connotation in the name, though not many restaurants follow this guideline. Some restaurants have begun calling their product Uijeongbu-budae-jjigae. There is also what locals refer to as "Uijeongbu Budae-jjigae Street" where there is a high concentration of budae-jjigae restaurants.[7][8]
How to make Korean army stew
Budae jjigae is easy to make. As long as it has kimchi and some processed meats, it's a budae jjigae. You can't go wrong with the combination of sour kimchi and fatty bacon, spam, ham, and/or hot dogs. The older the kimchi is, the better your stew will taste.
Other popular bugae jjigae ingredients include: slices of American yellow cheese, canned baked beans, instant ramyeon (or ramen) noodles, and rice cake slices.
I kept it simple in this recipe. To make the stew, cut the ingredients into bite size pieces, and arrange them in a medium size shallow pot. Cook after adding the broth and seasoning ingredients.
insect consumption global map
cannibalism global map
dog eating global map
A mud cookie, or bonbon tè in Haitian Creole, is a food that is eaten in Haiti, particularly during pregnancy. They can be found in slums like Cité Soleil. Dirt is collected from the nation's central plateau, near the town of Hinche, and trucked over to the market (e.g. La Saline market) where women purchase it.[1][2][3] It is processed into cookies in shanty towns such as Fort Dimanche.[3] First, the dirt is strained to remove rocks and clumps.[3] The dirt is mixed with salt and vegetable shortening or fat.[1][4] It is formed into flat discs.[1] Then, it is dried in the sun.[4] The finished product is transported in buckets and is sold in the market or on the streets.[2]
Due to the mineral content, it was traditionally used as a dietary supplement for pregnant women and children.[1][4] For example, its calcium content could be used as an antacid and for nutrition.[4] The production cost is cheap; the dirt to make one hundred cookies was five US dollars in 2008 (about 5 cents apiece) even after increasing by $1.50 since 2007.[2][3] It is also seen as a way to stave off starvation.[1][4] This is especially true in times where there is a rise in global food prices like in 2008.[2][5]
The taste has been described as a smooth consistency that immediately dries the mouth with a pungent aftertaste of dirt that lingers for hours.[3]
Preparation
Griot is usually made from pork shoulder. The meat is first washed in a mixture of citrus juices, then rinsed. Meat should always be washed; sour oranges or limes are used instead of water since clean water is often difficult to access.[4] After being washed, the meat is marinated in epis, which is a mixture of Haitian herbs, vegetables, and spices. Next, the meat is either braised or roasted until tender. The cooking liquid produced is used in the preparation of an accompanying sauce, known as sòs ti-malis.[5] Finally, the meat is deep-fried until golden-brown and crispy. Griot is almost always served with pikliz as well as rice or bannann peze.
Balut (/bəˈluːt/ bə-LOOT, /ˈbɑːluːt/ BAH-loot;[1] also spelled as balot) is a Filipino term for a fertilized developing egg embryo that is boiled and eaten from the shell. It is commonly sold as street food in South China and Southeast Asian countries: notably Cambodia (where it is called "ពងទាកូន") and Vietnam (where it is called trứng vịt lộn).
The length of incubation before the egg is cooked is a matter of local preference, but generally ranges between 14 and 21 days.
soul food
Soul food is an ethnic cuisine traditionally prepared and eaten by African Americans, originating in the Southern United States.[1] The cuisine originated with the foods that were given to enslaved black people by their white owners on Southern plantations during the Antebellum period; however, it was strongly influenced by the traditional practices of West Africans and Native Americans from its inception.[2] Due to the historical presence of African Americans in the region, soul food is closely associated with the cuisine of the American South although today it has become an easily identifiable and celebrated aspect of mainstream American food culture.[3]
The expression "soul food" originated in the mid-1960s, when "soul" was a common word used to describe African-American culture.[4]
broken rice origin
Broken rice is a traditionally cheaper grade of rice produced by damage in harvest, milling or transport. It is mainly used as a food industry ingredient in America and Europe, but is eaten in Southeast Asia. Broken rice is fragmented and there is nothing wrong with it. Due to the different size and shape of the grains, broken rice has a different, softer texture from "unbroken" rice and absorbs flavours more easily. It cooks faster and can be used to make rice porridges and congees, which need long cooking times. The broken varieties are often less expensive and have historically been preferred by poorer consumers, but they are also eaten by choice. Some cookbooks even describe how to break unbroken rice to produce the desired texture or speed of cooking.
pho origin
While most historians agree that pho was invented in the late 19th and early 20th Century in northern Vietnam during French colonial times, its origins are murky. Some believe pho was an adaptation of the French one-pot beef and vegetable stew pot-au-feu, which shares a phonetic similarity to "phở".
Phở or pho[2] (UK: /fɜː/, US: /fʌ/, Canada: /fɑː/;[3] Vietnamese: [fəː˧˩˧] (About this soundlisten)) is a Vietnamese soup dish consisting of broth, rice noodles (bánh phở), herbs, and meat (usually beef) (phở bò), sometimes chicken (phở gà).[4][5] Pho is a popular food in Vietnam[6] where it is served in households, street stalls and restaurants countrywide. Pho is considered Vietnam's national dish.[7]
Pho originated in the early 20th century in northern Vietnam, and was popularized throughout the world by refugees after the Vietnam War. Because pho's origins are poorly documented,[8][9] there is disagreement over the cultural influences that led to its development in Vietnam, as well as the etymology of the name.[10] The Hanoi (northern) and Saigon (southern) styles of pho differ by noodle width, sweetness of broth, and choice of herbs.
A crumble is a dish with a crumblike flour-and-butter topping baked over stewed fruit, meat or vegetables. The dish became popular in Britain during World War II,[1] when the topping was an economical alternative to pies due to shortages of pastry ingredients as the result of rationing.
The Anzac biscuit is a sweet biscuit, popular in Australia and New Zealand, made using rolled oats, flour, sugar, butter (or margarine), golden syrup, baking soda, boiling water, and (optionally) desiccated coconut.[1] Anzac biscuits have long been associated with the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) established in World War I.
It has been claimed that biscuits were sent by wives and women's groups to soldiers abroad because the ingredients do not spoil easily and the biscuits kept well during naval transportation.[2][3]
Anzac biscuits should not be confused with hardtack, which was nicknamed "ANZAC wafers" in Australia and New Zealand.[4]
- if you want to see what people in other countries eat I cover a lot of this in some of my other posts...
- one of the remarkable things is how similar the people of yesteryear and nowadays eat. Stronger flavours and better access  to ingredients as you move up demographic classes. The English had their own version of fried rice? Soups back then not very different from now if you come from particular backgrounds? Note, that sometimes it feels like the rich are splitting hairs when it comes to "bang for buck" in terms of food?
A "Soup for the Poor" From 1806
How to Make Soup for the Poor – The Victorian Way
Sailor Rations in the 18th Century - Burgoo
Sober Sailors - Rum Rations In The Navy: Grog
Feeding A Medieval Knight
Feeding a Roman Gladiator
How to Make Breakfast - The Victorian Way
Modern History TV 
Lords and Ladies: what did posh, rich people eat in medieval times?
Medieval food: What did a knight's servants eat?
Darren McGrady
A PROPER FULL ENGLISH BREAKFAST
British Fish and Chips - The Traditional Way or The Queen's Way? - Part 1
British Fish and Chips - The Queen's Way or The Traditional Way ? - Part 2
what did slaves eat
Weekly food rations -- usually corn meal, lard, some meat, molasses, peas, greens, and flour -- were distributed every Saturday. Vegetable patches or gardens, if permitted by the owner, supplied fresh produce to add to the rations. Morning meals were prepared and consumed at daybreak in the slaves' cabins. The day's other meals were usually prepared in a central cookhouse by an elderly man or woman no longer capable of strenuous labor in the field. Recalled a former enslaved man: "The peas, the beans, the turnips, the potatoes, all seasoned up with meats and sometimes a ham bone, was cooked in a big iron kettle and when meal time come they all gathered around the pot for a-plenty of helpings!" This took place at noon, or whenever the field slaves were given a break from work. At the day's end, some semblance of family dinner would be prepared by a wife or mother in individual cabins. The diets, high in fat and starch, were not nutritionally sound and could lead to ailments, including scurvy and rickets. Enslaved people in all regions and time periods often did not have enough to eat; some resorted to stealing food from the master. House slaves could slip food from leftovers in the kitchen, but had to be very careful not to get caught, for harsh punishments awaited such an offense.
Clothing, distributed by the master, usually once a year and often at Christmastime, was apportioned according sex and age as well as to the labor performed by its wearer. Children, for instance, often went unclothed entirely until they reached adolescence. 
Elderly slaves who could not do physical labor were not given the shoes or extra layers of clothing during the winter that younger fieldworkers were. Whereas many field workers were not given sufficient clothing to cover their bodies, house slaves tended to be dressed with more modesty, sometimes in the hand-me-downs of masters and mistresses. Most slaves lived in similar dwellings, simple cabins furnished sparely. A few were given rooms in the main house.
why is it called junk food
Junk food isn't actually made of garbage. People use the term junk food to describe a food that has few of the nutrients your body needs, and a lot of fat, sugar and salt, which your body can easily get too much of. Potato chips, candy, and soft drinks are often considered junk food.
- one very strange thing I've found is how well the armed forces are taken care of (even in the field)? Easy to see why people from poorer backgrounds choose life in the military as an option even if there is a chance of getting killed, maimed, disabled, etc?
Inside US $2 Billion Nuclear Submarine Kitchen
Lunch time in Iraq, 2004-05.
How-to Eat Like a Marine in the Field
What’s in Russian and American military meals _ The Kalashnikova Show Episode 34
Cooking Breakfast for 1,500 on a US Navy Ship
24 Hours as a Navy Ship Line Cook - A Frank Experience
The Difficult Life of a Ship's Cook | Chief Cook : Life at Sea | Seaman Vlog
- deep historical roots for a lot of food. Asian fusion food seems to be a consequence of colonialism? Chinese American food tastes strange/funny/bad because it comes from people lacking expertise, ingredients in US, inventions, entrepreneurship, etc...
Uncle Roger SHOCKED by the WORST Fried Rice Video (Kay's Cooking)
SHE DESTROY RICE AGAIN... (Kay's Cooking)
Uncle Roger HATE Jamie Oliver Egg Fried Rice
Uncle Roger Review GORDON RAMSAY Fried Rice
Uncle Roger HATE Jamie Oliver Thai Green Curry
Jamie Oliver ALMOST Made Ramen...
CAN JAMIE OLIVER REDEEM HIMSELF?
NIGELLA LAWSON So Pretty But CAN SHE MAKE RAMEN?
Southern China such as Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Tianjin similar taste preferences.
Cha chaan teng (Chinese: 茶餐廳; Cantonese Yale: cháhchāantēng; "tea restaurant"), often called Hong Kong-style cafés in English,[1] is a type of restaurant that originated in Hong Kong. Cha chaan teng are commonly found in Hong Kong, Macau, and parts of Guangdong. Due to the waves of mass migrations from Hong Kong in the 1980s, they are now established in major Chinese communities in Western countries such as Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The cafés are known for eclectic and affordable menus, which include dishes from Hong Kong cuisine and Hong Kong-style Western cuisine.[2] They draw comparisons to Western Cafés due to their casual settings, as well as menus revolving around coffee and tea.
Why We Eat Congee, The Humble Rice Porridge
Why We Eat: Chow Mein
A Classic Hong Kong Diner Dish That Came from British Rule
- the interesting thing about street food, food vans, and other small scale food production is that they seem to have their origins from thousands of years ago. It makes sense, low cost of running a business, quick food and cheap food production for customers, etc... It was a global phenomenon not just one based in Asia
$2 Burgers in Harlem | Street Food Icons
Filipino Style BBQ for $1 in the Heart of LA | Street Food Icons
street food origin
The most ancient evidence of food prepared and cooked on the street dates back to the dawn of civilisation, around ten thousand years ago. The ancient Greeks described the Egyptian custom, traditional in the port of Alexandria and subsequently adopted throughout Greece, of frying fish and selling it in the street.

Random Stuff:
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Random Quotes:
- Jason Lollman, a public defender in Tulsa, Okla., told NBC News that it's a common occurrence for suspects to plead guilty to crimes they didn't commit, as it saves them from having to "sit in and wait" in prison before their trial.
"The cash bail system, posting cash bail, is a problem," Lollman said. "If they can't afford an attorney, they're not going to be able to post bond to get out."
Lollman said he's regularly had to talk clients out of falsely pleading guilty, but added that he ultimately can't blame Gregg for his decision. 
"Sometimes it's like we, the attorneys, have more stamina than the clients do," he told NBC News. "But that's because we're on the outside and they're in jail." 
The attorney added that Oklahoma City Jail, where Gregg was being held, is a "generally awful jail." As of September, at least six inmates had died in the prison this year, The Oklahoman reported. 
- optimist wrote:
mixelflick wrote:
Except the pilots/wives really were stuck with an inferior aircraft on many counts.
Politics and $ built the Hornet and SH, military requirements - not so much. To this day that decision weighs heavily on the carrier air wing, with a less than dominant "strike fighter" filling the decks of every large carrier we field.
I'll take that as your uninformed opinion. They actually kept the politics out of the super hornet and is the reason it looks like it does. The block ll is where boeing dumped their 5th gen tech and radar from their x-32.
This is what struck me as factually wrong, as a quick google will show. Indeed if he knew anything, He would know it wasn't politics that built the Super hornet. It was deliberately done as a legacy hornet 'update' by USN, that kept a lot of political oversight out of it. It was indeed a master stroke that may not work next time. Depending on memories. It was a design made to look like the legacy hornet, It could have just as easily be shaped differently. It had to go through all the elements of a clean sheet design. It was the reason it came in on time and budget compared to other clean sheet programs. It was indeed built by military requirements and politics had relatively, nothing to do with it.
- There are two ways of describing stinginess in Hindi, the language spoken by a majority of Indians. One word, kanjoos, means someone who picks a fly out of a curry he/she is eating, and continues to eat, mindless of the germs the fly has left behind.
And then there is the kanjoos makhijoos individual, one who picks up the fly, licks the curry off the insect, and then releases it, before turning back to his/her curry. Microsoft fits very well into the latter category – and its current chief executive, Satya Nadella, understand the analogy very well.
There are some people and companies who have lost the ability to feel shame. Microsoft is out there right at the top, jostling for position with Google, Amazon, Facebook... the list goes on.
Selva described the special chair that the U.S. military uses to simulate what going through spatial disorientation feels like.
"Basically, what they do is they have you lower your head and they spin you like a merry-go-round, and then they ask you to turn your head either right or left," he said. "And while the chair is spinning, they say 'sit up' and they stop the chair. ... I guarantee you that when you experience it, you won't know which way is up ... and that is just in a chair on the ground with one G of gravity."
In flight, environmental factors add to the condition to the point where "you will believe your eyes before you believe your body," Selva said.
"If you are flying on a starlit night, where the stars reflect over the ocean, your eyes can't tell you which way up is," he said. "If you become spatially disoriented -- which means your inner ear has been defeated -- so you have ... maneuvered the aircraft in a way that causes the fluid in your semicircular canals to flow in a way it doesn't normally flow. Then all of your sensory processes in your body can't tell you which way is up, and it doesn't matter how hard you try. You won't be able to do it."
- The Thursday downing of a US drone by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has caused tensions between Tehran and Washington to reach new heights, with both sides claiming to have been in the right. Some argue, however, that history shows the US is not afraid to fire first and withhold admissions of guilt until they get what they want.
Both the US and Iran have released footage they say back up their respective claims about whether the RQ-4 Global Hawk drone was operating within international or Iranian airspace before being shot down by the IRGC earlier Thursday.
In addition, no one has claimed responsibility for the Wednesday missile strike in Basra, Iraq, that injured two Iraqi workers at a compound housing the offices of international oil and gas corporation Exxon Mobil.
With many questions in the air and reports of an impending war between Iran and the US, Mohammad Marandi, an expert on American studies and postcolonial literature who teaches at the University of Tehran, provided his analysis of the situation to Radio Sputnik's Loud & Clear.
"This is not the first time that US drones have been downed in Iran, and the Americans have, on many occasions, violated Iranian airspace. And one occasion the Iranians successfully hacked a US drone and successfully landed it in Iran," Marandi told hosts Brian Becker and John Kiriakou, dismissing US claims that the reconnaissance drone was in international airspace when it was shot down.
"No one in Iran trusts the United States, and, in particular, no one trusts Trump," the educator added.
...
Though the economy should not be put before lives, Marandi did warn listeners that "if people don't stand up to the United States, whether governments or citizens, then everyone will pay a price, because the wellbeing of people across the globe depends on the energy that comes from the Persian Gulf region."
- Researchers at Nokia Bell Labs and AMBER — the SFI Centre for Advanced Materials and BioEngineering Research — have announced the creation of what they claim as a "new innovative formula" for battery composition that makes batteries more powerful.
The two companies say the new battery technology offers 2.5 times the battery life in the same volume as the current market leading super slim battery – and provides "critical attributes for 5G networks, renewable energy grids, and the consumer and Industrial Internet of Things".
According to Nokia and AMBER, the increasing power requirements of connected devices such as smartphones, drones, electric cars and robots necessitates greater battery performance for both new applications as well as longer battery lifetimes.
"The new battery design also has far-reaching implications for 4G and 5G networks where conventional power may not be available for network equipment, or where emergency backup battery systems are essential to keep systems running," the companies say.
- The Gripen compares very favourably to Thailand's F-16 Block 15 fighters, which are undergoing a mid-life upgrade to a standard similar to Lockheed's international Block 50 configuration. "Performance-wise they are very similar, but avionics-wise it's a different world," he says. "These are different generation aircraft: Gripen is much better in terms of the human-machine interface, and with the datalink system this increases the SA [situational awareness] of the pilots a lot."
- "And you want to crystal ball gaze into the future about the changes to come? I'd be as wrong today as I would've been wrong 30 years ago had you asked me then!"
Huston said his personal view was that the world faced a a whole new set of challenges and it was unclear if people had the tools and capabilities to ensure a reasonable outcome.
Another of his slides which were used for his Melbourne talk, read, in part, "The Internet is now a toxic wasteland that glows in the dark!"
Regarding his role in bringing the Internet to Australia, Huston, the former technical manager of AARNet, said he had no particular personal anecdotes to offer around his experience. But his CV makes it clear that this is far from being the case.
"I was hired by the university peak body to set up a national network to link all universities and CSIRO at the start of 1989 and that's pretty much what I did," he said, breaking down something very complex into what sounds like something very simple.
"I got sucked into all kinds of fights with all kinds of people – some were won, some lost. But the objective was simple – get a national IP network up and running quickly, and that's exactly what I did. Started the job in January '89, first connection up in June '89, fully functioning national network connecting all universities and Colleges up and running by May 1990."
But in the years after that, what happened was that it became evident that the matter did not end there.
"What emerged in the ensuing years was that this was far larger than just the universities and far larger than just a network to link up academics and researchers," Huston said. "We found ourselves as a university-based activity (it seems like any other term would be a little too grand for a two-person outfit!) running a very large wholesale ISP, growing every month.
"We became a victim of our own success, I guess, and it was logical for the universities to sell the network off to Telstra in 1995 to try and get out of a situation that the universities found to be somewhat uncomfortable and unmanageable."
- "We don't use the Arctic the same way the Russians do. We don't have the same exposure as the Russians do. They've got 7,000 miles of coastline, it's difficult to patrol and they're somewhat neurotic about homeland defense anyway. It's a perceived vulnerability on the part of Russia and has been for a long time, so they've always put a lot of money into the ability to break ice, maintain access."
For all those reasons, one-for-one comparisons with Russia's Arctic capabilities are misguided, he said. "Comparing our Arctic capabilities to theirs, it's kind of off base because you are comparing two very different countries on things that they need in different amounts."
- As one of the five pillars of Islam, zakat is mandatory giving; all Muslims eligible to pay it must donate at least 2.5% of their accumulated wealth for the benefit of the poor, destitute and others – classified as mustahik. It is one of the largest forms of wealth transfer to the poor in existence.
But despite its tremendous potential for contributing to the SDGs, zakat organisations have been overlooked by development organisations as an influential partner and source of finance. Between $3tn and $5tn is estimated to be needed per year to achieve the goals, but current investment falls short at around $1.4tn. By working together with religious organisations, development bodies can fill the $2.5tn investment gap, while also promoting peace and development.
Roughly 22% of the world's population is Muslim. Islamic finance, including zakat, was estimated at almost $2tn in 2015 [pdf] and is expected to surpass $3tn by 2020. In addition, between $200bn and $1tn is spent in the form of zakat [pdf] across the Muslim world annually.
Zakat is often channelled informally between individuals – a cash payment to an acquaintance in need, for example. Just a quarter of contributions are thought to be channelled through formal certified organisations. But there is growing recognition among Islamic organisations that giving to more intractable issues, such as poverty reduction, can reach more people, thus providing a more sustainable solution. Shifting the public mindset so that zakat is seen as a programme needing professional management for positive change, rather than simply charity, will enhance its development impact. These shifts could increase the development impact of zakat in African and Asian countries that have large Muslim populations and high levels of poverty and hunger.
- Tensions between the US and Iran are running high. After the downing of an American drone last week, and a last-minute decision not to strike Iran on Thursday night, Trump on Tuesday warned that an attack on "anything American will be met with great and overwhelming force."
Iranian president Hassan Rouhani, responding to new sanctions signed by Trump on Monday, said that the White House was "suffering from mental disability."
In his interview with Amanpour, the Iraqi President Salih questioned the efficacy of sanctions to change a country's behavior, saying there was a "fundamental question" about whether sanctions could induce a country to change policy.
"We in Iraq have suffered from sanctions in the 1990s, and the devastation that has afflicted Iraqi society has been really enduring, even to date," he said.
US policymakers have repeatedly accused Iran of regional malfeasance in recent days, like mysterious attacks on ships in the Gulf of Oman, which many observers say echo the drumbeats heard ahead of the Iraq war in 2003.
Amanpour asked Salih if he, too, saw the connection. He pointed out that then-Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was "a unique case in history," and then added: "But the parallel is as follows: It's easy to start a war, but very, very difficult to end a war."
- "Wealth accumulation that's not morally justified has no meaning," he once told South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo. "We need to look back on how we made our fortunes."

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