Big Fat Figures For Americans To Munch On

The title of this entry is actually the title of an article in today's NST (world section). The article is taken from Times of India and written by SubodhVarma. Click here for the Times of India article.

Facts as stated in the article :

1. Total food grain consumption (wheat, rice, and all coarse grains like rye, barley, etc.) by American is more than 5 times that of an Indian. 
2. Each Indian eats about 178kg of grain annually while an American consumes 1,046kg.
3. In per capita terms, US grain consumption is twice that of the European Union and thrice that of China.
4. Each American consumes an average of 78kg of milk compared to 36kg in India and 11kg in China.
5. Vegetable oils consumption per person is 41 kg oer year in US, while Indians are making do with a mere 11kg per year.
6. 43.6kg of beef are consumed in America yearly in per capita terms. In India, 1.6kg and China 5.9kg.
7. In the US, 45.4kg of poultry meat is consumed every year by each person compared to 1.9kg in India.
8. As for pork, in per capita terms; European Union consumes 42.6kg, America consumes 29.7kg and in China 35kg.
9. Food grain consumption in Africa is 162kg per year for each person or about 445g per day.

Melodi

I saw probably 2-3 minutes worth of Melodi this afternoon. And in that 2-3 minutes, an unknown Melodi reporter was interviewing a sick artiste (I don't know his name, he was formerly in some rock kapak band unfamiliar to me). I remembered that he was previously featured for his current state - selling nasi lemak by some sidewalk in KL. He seemed to have "repented" and very much humbled by his present disposition.

But today's story is not about him selling nasi lemak but on the fact that he is now stricken by some illness which I suspect has got to do with kidney problems. I watched it halfway, so I may get that wrong. The point is he's sick.

Empathicalism

I can't say for sure, but based on my modest research (solely via the internet), I have come to be rather certain that the philosophy of "empathicalism" is fictitious, even if it's not, it has a relatively low number of disciples.

What's "empathicalism" you may wonder. Well, maybe the excerpt below would be of some help.

FA : Oh? What's empathicalism?
AH : The most sensible approach to true understanding and peace of mind.
FA : Sounds great, but what is it?
AH : It's based on empathy. Do you know what the word "empathy" means?
FA : No, I'll have to have the beginner's course on that one. Empathy. Is it something like sympathy?
AH : Oh, it goes beyond sympathy. Sympathy is to understand what someone feels. Empathy is to project your imagination so that you actually feel what the other person is feeling. You put yourself in the other person's place.

[ FA: Fred Astaire; AH : Audrey Hepburn ]