My recent purchase of an Ipod and discovery of podcasts has allowed my to stay in contact with the world even in the remotest and disconnected places in the world. Two things I heard recently pricked my interest.
Viagra - Rogue Economics
It turns out that the world is awash with fake pharmaceuticals, for example, almost 90 percent of the pills sold in Nigeria are fake. Of course this generates huge amounts of money for those notorious and shady criminal gangs, so much so that the trade in fake Viagra involves more money than the global heroin trade. One wonders why the bizarre moral crusade against heroin producers, sellers and users completely ignores this larger trade, which presumably has all the same delirious effects.
I can't wait for those public service messages about how buying fake Viagra supports terrorism.
Bananas - Jungle Capitalist - Peter Chapman
Bananas as a affordable fruit have only been around for a hundred years, mass cultivation only started at the end of the 18th century when Americans went to Costa Rica to build a railway line linking the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. The intensive monoculture of a specific type of banana has created a genetic defect that makes bananas susceptible to a variety of diseases and insects. Unless a new type of disease resistant banana is found or made, the world is likely to see the end of bananas as we know them in six or seven years.
So, eat up your nanas while you can.
A travel blog for the thinking clown who has drunk a little too much of the local tap water
1 comment:
That is ridiculous - what do bananas and viagra have in common
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