- "April 12th's Saturday Night Live featured three clips of Ashton Kutcher dressed up as a giant chocolate bar with a killer instinct, cute mime clown face and all." (Thanks Serious Eats)
- "What was supposed to be a temporary financial safety net for imperiled family farmers has become a huge boondoggle for a fraction of wealthy farmers, including landowners who've never gotten close enough to a barn to slip on the manure." (Thanks PBS.org)
- "A simulated outbreak of the disease — part of an earlier U.S. government exercise called "Crimson Sky" — ended with fictional riots in the streets after the simulation's National Guardsmen were ordered to kill tens of millions of farm animals, so many that troops ran out of bullets." (Thanks AP)
- "Planners couldn't come up with enough organic or sustainably grown food from Georgia to nourish just 600 people over two days." Hmm, maybe I'll have to start giving back to my alma mater. (Thanks AJC)
- "Smart owners, of course, have always carefully watched their costs, but when every bill comes with a "gasoline-price surcharge" and fewer people are walking through the door, it's hocus-pocus time." (Thanks WP)
- WORLD FOOD CRISIS UPDATE: "Cropland is suddenly in heavy demand, a situation that is fraying old alliances, inspiring new ones and putting pressure on the Agriculture Department, which is being lobbied directly by all sides without managing to satisfy any of them." (Thanks NYT)
- WORLD FOOD CRISIS UPDATE: "When millions of people are going hungry, it's a crime against humanity that food should be diverted to biofuels," said India's finance minister, Palaniappan Chidambaram, in an interview." (Thanks WSJ)
- WORLD FOOD CRISIS UPDATE: “As we know in the past, sometimes those questions lead to war,†he said. “We now need to devote 100 percent of our time to these questions.†(Thanks NYT)
This article appears in Apr 9-15, 2008.