Great time to be outdoors (Hot Springs Village Voice)
Autumn is a spectacular time to experience the great outdoors of Arkansas with temperatures that are perfect for picnicking, fishing, water sports, camping and hiking. us.rd.yahoo.com
VDM Group Announces Civmec Awarded $30m Mine Camp Project in Queensland (VMG.AX, 00787160, 20071126) (Aspect Huntley via Yahoo!7 Finance)
VDM Group announced that its subsidiary, Civmec Construction & Engineering, has been awarded a $30m contract to construct a permanent mine camp at Moorvale Queensland by Transpac Capital. Transpac is an experienced accommodation services provider, specialising in owning and operating accommodation facilities for the mining sector. Construction is due to commence immediately on the $22m first ... us.rd.yahoo.com
Do you like beans in your chili? (About.com)
If you're camping at this chilly time of year, a hot bowl of chili will warm your bones. There are lots of recipes for making chili, but one of the... us.rd.yahoo.com
News: Grass Makes Better Ethanol than Corn Does
Farmers in Nebraska and the Dakotas brought the U.S. closer to becoming a biofuel economy, planting huge tracts of land for the first time with switchgrass--a native North American perennial grass (Panicum virgatum) that often grows on the borders of cropland naturally--and proving that it can deliver more than five times more energy than it takes to grow it. rss.sciam.com
The African Green Revolution (Extended version) [Scientific American Magazine]
Africa needs a green revolution. Food yields on the continent are roughly one metric ton of grain per hectare of cultivated land, a figure little changed from 50 years ago and roughly one third of the yields achieved in the rest of the world. In low-income regions elsewhere in the world, including China and India, the introduction of high-yield seeds, fertilizer and small-scale irrigation boosted food productivity beginning in the mid-1960s and opened the escape route from extreme poverty for huge populations. A similar takeoff in sub-Saharan Africa is both an urgent priority and a real possibility. Until this change happens, Africa’s vast rural areas, which are home to two thirds of its population, will remain mired in poverty, hunger and high child mortality and will stay isolated from the world market economy. Proven technologies--high-yield seeds, new water-management techniques for Africa’s mainly rain-dependent crop lands and new ways to replenish soil nutrients--are already achieving three to five tons per hectare in many parts of Africa but too often only in small demonstration projects. [More] rss.sciam.com