'Forget climate change, we should spend on nutrition'

Malnutrition should be the world’s major priority for aid and development, a panel of eight leading economists, including five Nobel laureates, declared yesterday.
The provision of supplements of vitamin A and zinc to children in developing countries, to prevent avoidable deficiencies that affect hundreds of millions of children, is the most cost-effective way of making the world a better place, the Copenhagen Consensus initiative has found.

Efforts to control global warming by cutting greenhouse gas emissions, however, were rated at the bottom of the league table, as the economists considered the high costs of such action were not justified by the payoffs. Research into new low-carbon technologies, such as solar and nuclear fusion power, was ranked as more worthwhile, in 14th place.

The previous Copenhagen Consensus, held in 2004, also listed global warming as its lowest priority. The exercise was organised by Bjorn Lomborg, the controversial Danish statistician who has long argued that though climate change is real, current approaches to fighting it offer poor value for money.

And when you see pictures of children in 'developing' countries like the one above, how can you not agree! But save the planet and the children be damned, right? In a funny way i'm thinking of quote No.4 in the post below...Men really are absurd!

Click on the link below for the full article:
'Forget climate change, we should spend on nutrition' - Times Online

What does these mean to you?

(26/05/08 - OMG! I've just realised the ibon that i ta'd (the grammatical error) in the title of this post. Wow! In defiance i refuse to correct it. Nobody's perfect, right?!)

Soren Kierkegaard is the philosopher du jour in chez Undacova.

I like to engage in the pastime of navel gazing every once in a while, and i invite you to join me...What do these quotes mean to you:

1 - Face the facts of being what you are, for that is what changes what you are.

2 - Boredom is the root of all evil - the despairing refusal to be oneself.

3 - Faith is the highest passion in a human being. Many in every generation may not come that far, but none comes further.

4 - How absurd men are! They never use the liberties they have, they demand those they do not have. They have freedom of thought, they demand freedom of speech.

5 - If I am capable of grasping God objectively, I do not believe, but precisely because I cannot do this I must believe.

6 - Once you label me you negate me.

7 - People understand me so poorly that they don't even understand my complaint about them not understanding me.

8 - Love does not alter the beloved, it alters itself.

9 - Take away paradox from the thinker and you have a professor.

10 - Just as in earthly life lovers long for the moment when they are able to breathe forth their love for each other, to let their souls blend in a soft whisper, so the mystic longs for the moment when in prayer he can, as it were, creep into God.

Random laughs...

My Empire

To all of you demanding an update, i've been away...building my empire (make of that what you will!)...not so much time on my hands to blog. Will be back ASAP.

PS - This empire is striking back for real. Rome wasn't built in a day? No kidding...!!!

Tagged

Tagged by Flo

Da rules

1. Link the person who tagged you
2. Mention the rules in your blog
3. Tell 6 unspectacular quirks of yours
4. Tag 6 following bloggers by linking them
5. Leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger’s blogs letting them know they’ve been tagged


Six Quirks in my Personality

1- I subconsciously match songs with real life events. I think I’ve done this for so long that it’s become an inherent part of me which I don’t even take note of. An observant friend pointed it out not too long ago and since then I’ve become more cognisant. The most recent occurrence that comes to mind is when one day at work, the last of my colleagues left for the day (I’m usually the last to leave) and as the door shut behind him I burst into a rendition of ‘All by myself’. I think it might have been the Celine Dion version.


2- I provide sound effects to my yawns i.e. I can’t yawn quietly. This is fine when I’m on my own, but sometimes, when I’m in company I forget myself (is that an English expression? Or a direct translation of mo gbagbe ara mi? Can’t be bothered to think or check) and let myself go. Doesn’t do anything for the poised and sophisticated image I like to project, but hey ho.


3- I deliberately place cards (birthday, thank you, congratulations etc) in envelopes back to front to prolong the anticipation and excitement for the recipient.


4- I don’t like food.


5- (I’m scraping the barrel now) If I think about doing something hard enough, usually end up doing it. Even if it’s out of character. And when I do end up doing it, it’s usually spontaneous and surprises even myself. This one is in relation to Florida’s quirky point on interracial couples.

My issue is that the black ones in the relationship (male or female) tend to have chips on their shoulders about being with someone of another race. This tends to be revealed in the defiant/defensive sometimes even belligerent looks they give if you so happen to catch their eye in the street. My reaction to this is unfailingly 'who gives a freak? I have problems of my own to worry about. I do not know you, neither do i care who you choose to walk down the street with!'

Each time it happens, i run this scenario through my mind, and i know it's only a matter of time before i actually say it to someone...

6 - I like bland food. And spicy too..

There peeps. Quirky enough for you?

And sorry, me no taggee...

Yet Another Question Is...

I have another question. It’s a bit of a sensitive (is that the word? It is in a way that will soon become clearer, I guess. Lol!) area.

To set the scene...I have 2 nieces and nephews – 2 nieces and 1 nephew from Sister 1, and 1 nephew from Sister 2. So far so good, abi? Right, so nephew number 2 lives with my mum (looong story) and he is literally days away from his 9th birthday.

We were at a family function last weekend, when from across the room, I noticed my Mum and Sister 1 having what appeared to be a heated-ish discussion. I wasn’t particularly in the mood to do anything more than mentally note it. Subsequently during the afternoon, Sister 1 steps out into the garden with the children. I eventually follow. She doesn’t look too pleased so I ask her what’s up.

She explains that my mum had asked her to have a conversation about the birds and the bees with Nephew 2. I was like, okayyyyy. So? She was like, she didn’t want to do it. I was like, why? She was like (yes I know there are lots of ‘likes’ in this story. Bear with me) she just didn’t. I was like, what brought up the issue anyway? Had he been asking questions? She said, no my mum had walked in on him that morning, ‘playing with himself’. Ahhhh, I nodded. I seeeee. Basically, she didn’t feel comfortable doing it.

My mum later brought up the topic with me and I asked her why she couldn’t do it herself. She replied shortly ‘mi o t’omo okunrin ri’, which translates ‘I’ve never brought up a boy before’. Never a truer word spoken. I come from a family of women. The arrival of my two nephews was greeted with much rejoicing....But back to my earlier convo with Sis.

In the process of explaining why she didn’t want to have the conversation, she had mentioned that in her opinion it was a bit early for Nephew 2 to be doing ‘that’. This immediately caused my hackles to rise, as my immediate question was – early, compared to whom or what exactly? I don’t agree with such comparisons at all, because everyone is an individual. What may be the norm for one is not necessarily going to be the norm for another. Of course there are indicators for certain things, but as I’ve said, I do not like comparison. It really annoys me.

So I asked her if she’d had the conversation with Nephew 1 (her son aged 11). She was like, no because he doesn’t do that. I was like, er how do you know? She was like she just did. I was like, no, not good enough. It’s not exactly the kind of thing he would broadcast as in ‘hey mum, guess what I’ve just done…’. She insisted that he was like an open book and her relationship with him was such she would know (maybe by telepathy? Or perhaps Jedi mind trick. Ok, I’ll lay off the sarcasm!..).

So, my questions, just because it’s been on my mind and I have no frame of reference, are:

1. Is 8 going on 9 ‘too early’ to …You Know What?
2. And this one is probably for the men folk…and specifically those who are willing to admit that they ‘indulged’…would you ever in your wildest dreams have considered sharing that kind of information with your mother, no matter how close to her you were?

PS
See here for answers to the movie quotes quiz. Well done to those who took part. Please rate yourselves :)