Monday, January 07, 2019

Coffee and Provocation


Ducks Unlimited Has Joined the Dark Side
Groups that are started to help, often move from public service cause to commercial enterprise. The latest bit of ugliness is Ducks Unlimited, which is now throwing in with polluters and partisan politicians. Ted Williams reports.

We Still Know Who We Want Our Kids to Be
Michelle Obama has been named America's most admired woman in a Gallup poll (followed by Oprah), and former President Obama is the most admired man for the 11th time in a row.

Four Grain Crops Produce 2/3 of Calories
Two-thirds of the calories we consume across the globe come directly or indirectly from just four crops: rice, wheat, soybeans, and corn.

Men and Sparrows
The house sparrow is the most widely distributed wild bird in the world, found on every continent except Antarctica.

Rapacious Greed
Less than 1% of the world's population owns 50% of the world's wealth.

Modern Roads Were Made for Bicycles
Bicycles needed roads before cars were invented: "People started riding bikes in Victorian times, back when cars were a twinkle in sci-fi writers' eyes. And bicycle owners and bike manufacturers wanted nice roads. So large cycling organizations including the U.S.'s League of American Wheelmen and the U.K's Cyclists' Touring Club lobbied politicians for better roads and repairs."

Isaac Asimov on 2019
Thirty-five years ago Isaac Asimov was asked to predict what 2019 would look like.

M Was a Woman
Women now hold the top positions at the CIA.

What Fox News Won't Tell You About the Wall
Fully 820 miles of the nearly 2,000-mile US-Mexico border -- 41% -- is represented by a Republican, Congressman Will Hurd of Texas, who opposes a wall and was just reelected in a tough race in which he emphasized that position.

The sign in front of my local coffee spot advertises the business next door.

3 comments:

LRM said...

Gunrunners looks cool. I was going to Heritage across town, but it's kind of sterile.

Jennifer said...

Guess : the house sparrowsis also the most common bird in the world. No?

PBurns said...

The chicken is the most common bird in the world with about 50 billion worldwide at any given moment.

This number dramatically underestimates the number of chickens that exist in a year, however, as meat chickens in the modern world only live about 7 weeks from hatch to slaughter (egg layers live a year to 18 months or more).

While the House Sparrow is the most widely DISTRIBUTED wild bird, the bird with the biggest wild population is probably the red-billed quelea of southern Africa, a type of sparrow-sized weaver finch with a population estimated at about 1.5 billion.