Some joys

Wine Tasting May Be An Art, But There Is Science In The Swirl (Worldcrunch)

 Il giro del mondo in 30 colazioni (dissapore) – photo series - breakfast anyone?

Indottrinamento al cioccolato: esegue Gianluca Franzoni di Domori (dissapore)

Some things political, economic…

Is Germany’s future still European? (Eurozine)

The curious case of German leadership (Centre For European Reform)

Jean Pisani-Ferry video interview on eurobonds (Bruegel TV)

Jacques Delors interview: Euro would still be strong if it had been built to my plan (The Telegraph) – interview with architect of the eurozone

In Translation: Ahmed al-Sawy on the elections – “This isn’t the final bout” (The Arabist)

Some of the thinkers…

Umberto Eco: ‘People are tired of simple things. They want to be challenged’ (Guardian)

‘We’re blind to our blindness. We have very little idea of how little we know. We’re not designed to’ (Independent) – Nobel Prize winner for Economics analyzes how we make decisions — I’m going to buy his book.

What does seven billion look like? (Fathom) -  – graphic illustration (saw this on fastcodesign.com)

Good to know

Attempted Malvertising on KrebsOnSecurity.com (KrebsOnSecurity)

One of the heroes

A Video Message from Carlo Petrini (Slow Food) – Italian w/English subtitles – click on screenshot below to see video

No details, flimsy numbers: Varoufakis (ABC TV – Australia) — Greek economics professor Yanis Varoufakis interviewed about EU’s latest rescue plan for his country and the eurozone — not exactly a rave review. Video — click on screenshot above.

How Germany Became Europe’s Green Leader: A Look at Four Decades of Sustainable Policymaking (The Solutions Journal)

CONVEGNO: “UN’EUROPA. MOLTE LINGUE. NUOVE OPPORTUNITÀ” (Mediapolitika) — saw this thanks to Ivan Turatti — interesting Umberto Eco quote, “The language of Europe is translation.”

Looks like Congress has declared war on the internet (GigaOM)

Celebrate with us on December 10…  TerraMadre Day (Slow Food)

In Honor of Bella – Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee Slideshow (The Elephant Sanctuary) – Bella died this week. Click on screenshot below to see slide show of Bella and her boon companion Tarra.

Waters is on the advisory board for Slow Food USA, which is part of Slow Food International (see post here) founded in Italy by Carlo Petrini.

To accommodate all this interest, Terra Madre (Mother Earth) has just launched its new website (www.terramadre.info). It’s available at present in English and Italian, with six more languages coming soon, according to the organization (German, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Japanese, Russian).

Just to fill you in, if you don’t already know, Terra Madre is a project of Slow Food. Slow Food is based in Italy and was founded in 1989 by Carlo Petrini.

Terra Madre describes itself as “The Food Communities Network.” That network now is comprised of 250 universities and research centers, and 450 individual academics throughout the world, according to the website.

Here’s an excerpt from the introduction section:

The Terra Madre network, which integrates new members every day, is made up of all those who wish to act to preserve, encourage, and support sustainable food production methods. These methods are based on attention to territory and those distinctive qualities that have permitted the land to retain its fertility over centuries of use. This vision is in direct opposition to pursuing a globalized marketplace, with the ongoing, systematic goal of increasing profit and productivity. Such methods have substantial externalities for which we, the guardians and inhabitants of this planet, pay the price. And the damage begins with small producers, lacking the means to create markets even within their own regions, who become crushed by subsidy systems that render their working conditions unfair.

Day after day, the Terra Madre family grows, strengthens, organizes, and defends local cultures and products, and makes real the Slow Food concept of Good, Clean, and Fair quality. Good refers to the quality of food products and of their taste; Clean, to a production process that respects the natural environment ; and Fair, in which there is dignity and appropriate economic return for the people who produce, including respect from those who consume.

Terra Madre offers a free newsletter. You may subscribe here if you’re interested in knowing more (email: NewsletterTM@slowfood.com).

Exploring the new website, I drifted into the Multimedia section and found this 2006 video (below). Parodying the film series Star Wars, the video (Store Wars) is a funny, informative presentation of just why an organization such as Terra Madre is so important.