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Latin America is leading worldwide opposition to food industry marketing, and The Nation has a story on how much is happening in Brazil.
[...] Over the last 30 years, big transnational food companies have aggressively expanded into Latin America. Taking advantage of economic reforms that opened markets, they've courted a consumer class that has grown in size due to generally increasing prosperity and to antipoverty efforts like minimum-wage increases and cash transfers for poor families. And as sales of highly processed foods and drinks have plateaued (and even fallen, in the case of soda) in the United States and other rich countries, Latin America has become a key market.
[...] In recent years, Brazil has inscribed the right to food in its Constitution and reformed its federal school-lunch program to broaden its reach while bolstering local farms.
And, in 2014, the Ministry of Health released new dietary guidelines that made healthy-food advocates across the world swoon. [...] The guidelines transcend a traditional nutrition-science framework to consider the social, cultural, and ecological dimensions of what people eat. They also focus on the pleasure that comes from cooking and sharing meals and frankly address the connections between what we eat and the environment.
This is precisely the kind of holistic, unambiguous advice that US food reformers hoped to see in our new dietary guidelines, which were released in January. But for the most part, the latest version—which influences billions of dollars in government spending, the $5 trillion food industry, and the diets of millions of Americans—remains vague and narrowly focused, ensuring that no corporate ox was gored.
There is an infographic which nicely summarizes the differences between Brazil's and the USA's food policies and dietary recommendations.
(Score: 1) by anubi on Friday August 05 2016, @08:26AM
Yup, the exact carbonator cap you linked to is what spawned off the idea for me to mount a stainless-steel type tire stem from Pep-Boys ( off-the-shelf ) into a bottle cap. I could also get the mating tire connector as well, known as an extension hose. I already had a regulator and hose, so a little knife-work and clamps and a few short pieces of copper tube and a refrigerator-ice-maker needle valve from Home Depot and I was in business.
The whole idea of the needle valve was just in case the thing got away from me... like a burst hose ... the valve would limit the flow of CO2 so I would not have an out of control hose whipping around. I barely crack open the tank's CO2 valve as well - but that one is running around 700-1000 PSI.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 1) by nitehawk214 on Monday August 08 2016, @03:09AM
Yeah, I tried the tire stem thing but couldn't get it to not leak. My assembly skills are somewhat limited, though.
Another interesting consequence of using the carbonator is that I learned that a soda bottle threads are exactly the same as garden hose threads.
Normally this would not be useful information, as hooking up a hose to a soda bottle would not normally produce a useful effect. But I found that I can connect a carbonator to the garden hose threads on my wash-room sink, then connect a corny keg post to that, and run tap water through my beer fridge system to easily rinse it out.
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 1) by anubi on Monday August 08 2016, @10:12AM
For the first thing, ShoeGoo or RTV Silicone sealant. I used the stainless steel threaded tire stems sold by PepBoys, and the rubber washer that came with them seemed sufficient, but one of mine did leak a bit, I reassembled with silicone, and it hasn't leaked since.
The trick was getting a clean hole centered on the bottle cap. I drilled a tiny hole first, then worked my way up until I had a hole big enough for the stem. The drills made a messy hole, so I ended up using a reamer to get a clean round hole without snags of plastic on the edge of the hole.
For the second thing, thanks! I had not tried a garden hose fitting on it - thanks for mentioning it. Knowledge like that really comes in handy when one is pressed to rapidly know how to assemble what he has on hand into some needed thing.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 1) by nitehawk214 on Monday August 08 2016, @02:09PM
Yeah, I was using a vice and a hand-held drill, which is probably why I couldn't drill straight. I might give it another try, since the carbonator gets expensive if you want a bunch of them.
I can't remember what epiphany caused us to try to put the carbonator on a hose, but it holds the pressure back brilliantly and results in much less spillage.
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 1) by anubi on Tuesday August 09 2016, @07:17AM
You saved me a bit of frustration with your observation as well.... Being its kinda late in the game on this topic, this will be a little off-topic.
I just found an old kitchen sink in the dumper a couple of weeks ago. I grabbed it, knowing I have been wanting a sink in the back yard for a long time, but simply did not wanna fork over big bucks for a brand new thing, to put outside, for things like washing my hands or dirty stuff I seem to find and have to drag home. I was wondering how I was going to handle the drain, as I did not want the water puddling around my feet... your observation led me to cut an old soda bottle to size, so I could wedge/glue it into the sink drain fitting, and put a garden hose on it to drain the water to a more convenient and useful place... in the bushes. Having plenty of old garden hose laying around, it was a slam-dunk to dig a little trench, bury it, and run the drain so the puddles did something useful and watered some shrubs. Thanks to you - I did not spend a dime to implement my outdoor sink.... all the plumbing done with either washing machine hose, and old garden hose - both of which I had laying around from previous projects.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 1) by nitehawk214 on Tuesday August 09 2016, @02:41PM
Nice. Always fun to see a hack be useful for something that was not intended.
Also partially unrelated, was another use I saw for the garden-hose-soda-bottle trick. You could make a garden sprinkler by punching some holes in a 2-liter bottle, then threading it on to a hose. As long as you don't turn the pressure up too high, it should restrict the water flow and spray it around however you like.
Though this veers too close to "life hacks" for my comfort, so I have not tried it.
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 1) by anubi on Wednesday August 10 2016, @07:21AM
Oughta work.... the only problem I see is the bottle is the wrong sex and one has to use a coupler.. however I could easily see this buried as a "soaker hose" kind of thing, so that if it got plugged by plants running their roots into the holes, the flow could easily be restarted by poking a few more holes.
I love these hacks... finding other uses for stuff instead of tossing it.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 1) by anubi on Wednesday August 10 2016, @07:35AM
Oh yes, forgot to mention... the old washing machine frame became the enclosure for my "new" sink. I sawed the top out ( metal cutting blade in a circular saw ), and dropped the sink in. It was a smaller sink, so it fit. I just rotated the machine frame so the back now faces me, and mounted two plywood doors onto it with old brass door hinges.
I have a little shelf in it now, so I have somewhere to store things like soap and small garden tools, and various other little outdoor tools like shoe scrapers, brushes, and the like.
Probably woulda have to spend $300 for something like it had I bought the thing pre-made. All made out of trash. Most glaring thing is the doors aren't the exact same shade of white as the washing machine frame. I won't complain... the paint was free too.
( An old washing machine has a *lot* of reusable stuff in it! Even the motor has a lot of usable wire in it, even if it never sees another electron going through it. I have used the copper wire out of an old washing machine motor for years for various "baling wire" applications. It stays where you put it and won't rust. Just consider it wound on a funny spool. )
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]