Jay Haynes

Meat

New York Times.

The world’s total meat supply was 71 million tons in 1961. In 2007, it was estimated to be 284 million tons. Per capita consumption has more than doubled over that period. (In the developing world, it rose twice as fast, doubling in the last 20 years.) World meat consumption is expected to double again by 2050, which one expert, Henning Steinfeld of the United Nations, says is resulting in a “relentless growth in livestock production.”

Americans eat about the same amount of meat as we have for some time, about eight ounces a day, roughly twice the global average. At about 5 percent of the world’s population, we “process” (that is, grow and kill) nearly 10 billion animals a year, more than 15 percent of the world’s total.

Growing meat (it’s hard to use the word “raising” when applied to animals in factory farms) uses so many resources that it’s a challenge to enumerate them all. But consider: an estimated 30 percent of the earth’s ice-free land is directly or indirectly involved in livestock production, according to the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization, which also estimates that livestock production generates nearly a fifth of the world’s greenhouse gases — more than transportation.

One Day = $720 Million

Cost of the Iraq war every single day.

Imagine what we could do.

Dirty

Grist.

Planet Earth loses some 1 percent of its topsoil to erosion every year -- and that's an environmental threat on par with global warming, say experts. "Globally, it's pretty clear we're running out of dirt," says geologist David Montgomery, who identifies agriculture as the main culprit for "soil mining." In the U.S., cropland is estimated to be eroding at least 10 times faster than it's replaced. Farmers with an interest in sustainability are trying to persuade others to adopt "no-till" and organic farming methods to address the problem, but "it's hard to get people to pay much attention to this," says soil expert John Reganold. "Frankly, most of us take soil for granted."

AirHead

It's always interesting to see tech reviews by technologists or power users who don't understand markets.

CrunchGear has a review of the new MacBook Air that claims its lack of optical drive, its slower processor, lack of inputs and its thinness (!) are all "impractical" flaws. And Devin ends with an insightful analysis that "a lot of people will buy this laptop" even with its flaws.

So who will buy it any why? This is the real question, and one that CrunchGear unfortunately misses entirely because they are focused on the product and not the customer and the market.

So who is not going to buy the Air? Clearly people that use their laptop as their only machine and who do processor intensive work (video and photo editing, music production, graphic design, etc.) are not going to buy the Air. These users should buy a Mac Pro anyway because the power/$ ratio is much better. If a you are a professional and using your MacBook Pro as your main graphics machine, you are probably losing businesses to your competitors who can work faster and more productively on a Mac Pro.

Who will buy the MacBook Air? In short, me and people like me. My job is 100% communications (email, chat, contacts, calendar) and analysis (spreadsheets, presentations, documentation). And travel to and from the office and meetings every day. I absolutely never need a USB port because I have wireless printing. I definitely never need an optical drive unless I am installing software, and then I am happy to plug the optional drive (or use remote disk, of course). I suspect the processor and 2 GB will be plenty quick for my needs.

Finally, does it need to be that thin? Absolutely. The debate about thinness reminds me of ultralight backpacking. Until you have tried it, you won't believe how much better it feels to lose every ounce of weight.

There is one thing missing on the MacBook Air: a built-in 3G card. It is strange that my iPhone is always on a network, but my Mac is not. It would have been nice to see a Bluetooth connection between the Air and my iPhone to keep my Mac online on the road. I suspect we will see something like this in the near future.

"There's something in the air"

It will be hard for Apple to follow up last year's Macworld. Now that the 2008 slogan has been revealed, it's time to speculate.

Here are my predictions (and hopes):

1. Apple Store WiMax network.

Apple will announce it's own WiMax network for data and VoIP. The Apple stores will serve as giant connection points for Apple customers. iPhones will be able to make free VoIP calls when in range of a store and Mac users will get super fast broadband connections if they live within range of a store.

2. Mac to iPhone connectivity.

Any Mac will be able to use an iPhone to connect to the web via cell data networks.

3. Real over-the-air sync.

.Mac will be upgraded for OTA with iPhone and Macs. And iCal Server will be available via .mac seat licenses.

How To Jam an Election

From Someone Who Has Done It .

In Raymond's telling, the phone-jamming scheme reached up the ranks to the top echelons of the Republican National Committee and even to the White House. In his estimation, nobody in the RNC would cook up such a scheme without prior authorization from the top.

"The Bush White House had complete control of the RNC and there was no way someone like Tobin was going to try what he was proposing without first getting it vetted by his higher-ups," Raymond writes.