Where coffee comes from :)

I found this amusing and interesting :) See the original article here



A wild civet in a cage is fed ripe Arabika coffee fruits at a coffee plantation producing the expensive Luwak coffee in Bangli district on Bali island on July 21, 2010. Luwak coffeee beans come from the ripest fruit eaten by the cat-like creature, digested and excreted in droppings. It is then washed, dried and ground. The mammal's digestion process gives the famed flavor of Luwak, the world's rarest and most expensive coffee. Indonesia's highest Islamic body on July 20, 2010 abandoned a proposal to ban Muslims from drinking Kopi Luwak. It had considered issuing a fatwa against the pricey brew, on the grounds it was unclean. A cup of Kopi Luwak go for 80,000 rupiah (8.83 USD) in plush Jakarta coffee shops while the beans cost up to 500 dollars per kilogramme.

Big Brother

'Big Brother'contestants evacuated after flood

I hardly ever watch TV and I didn't even know that crap was still on... I hope the floods will put the show on indefinite hold (hope spring's eternal, I know). What is so appealing and interesting about watching a group of people locked in a house?

By evacuating the house, they have missed a unique opportunity to push the concept a bit further: it would have made for great television to let the housemates drown :) and to have their last convulsions on tape for posterity.

Anti-Alcohol propaganda (Soviet Russia)

Have a look at this:



See more in the link below:
Anti-alcohol propaganda posters in Soviet Russia

I have to say some of these posters are extremely efficient and well-designed.

But did they work?

The reason I am asking is, like anti-drugs campaigns, telling people to stop substance abuse of any kind doesn't appear to work...

The pertinent question would be: What drives someone to drink himself to death? in order to be able to act upon the causes of substance abuse.
Merely telling someone "Don't drink!" or "Don't drink because it's bad for you, your family and society in general." won't stop someone from doing so. Especially if he derives enjoyment out of it.

Gong the band

The question is asked but, if the path to the solution is shown, the way to even start on it isn't. The clip is formidable nonetheless.



I had long thought the band to be French; but after some search, it appears Gong was set up by an Australian apparently stranded in France at the time, over visa problems to go to England. The personnel was a mix of French and English musicians over quite a stretch of time, since the 70s.