It crosses cultures and continents

mstang67chic

Going Green
I was just talking to a friend on Facebook. He's in Malawi, Africa right now (not sure why) and sent me some pictures. I had to laugh. It apparently doesn't matter the country or culture.....take a picture of a group of kids and at least one of them is bound to be picking his nose! :rofl:

I'll see if I can post his pics. There's nothing too out of the ordinary...mostly pics of the locals and him. I also need to find out why he's there. I'm guessing some sort of health or philanthropy (butchered that, I'm sure) mission. Their clothing is just beautiful though! Lots of patterns and vibrant colors.
 

mstang67chic

Going Green
Oops...just read the rest of his email.....didn't bother so I could download the pics. It seems to be some kind of research trip. He's a scary smart guy who works in the AIDS field regarding the (I believe) psychiatry end of things. He also made a point of pointing out which one he was in the pics. Pretty smart as I don't know that I would have been able to pick out the lone American in them. LOL
 

Shari

IsItFridayYet?
Pretty smart as I don't know that I would have been able to pick out the lone American in them. LOL

That tends to go with the scary smart ones...

That's funny. Kinda like motor noises and little boys...I'm pretty sure that noise is a genetic component.
 

Lothlorien

Active Member
Is he part of a missionary group? I know there are a lot of church groups supporting Malawi and sending missionaries there.

I was taking pictures of our kids play in church the other day.....of course one little one was picking a nose also!

I took pictures at a big Halloween party several years ago. I put them in nice photo album and scrapbooked them without realizing one kid was really going town.
 

mstang67chic

Going Green
LOL He's scary smart but still pretty....um....with it. :tongue: We went to school together up until around end of Freshman year when he switched schools.

I also found out what the trip was for: (from his Facebook IM)

Ok. The trip is for a research project I'm doing funded by the National Instutte on Child Health and Human Development. We're evaluating a food security program run by CARE international, to see what effects it has on people's economic situation, food production, child malnutrition and HIV vulnerability. The field we're standing in is a Farmer Field School where farmers are trying different sustainable ag approaches to growing peanuts (for protein and for selling) and some of the women in another picture are in microfinance groups.

Because it's a research trip and some of the people are participants, he's not too comfy with me posting the pics. If he sends me any general ones though, I'll be sure to post them.


I was pretty proud of myself too. We were discussing the farming techniques of the locals where he is and I thought I was holding my own. Then he mentioned fungal micchorizae and legume nitrogen fixers. Yeah, uh huh, sure. :slap:
 

GoingNorth

Crazy Cat Lady
Actually, Lamisil would do in the fungal mycorrizae.

These are a sort of microscopic fungi that colonize plant root in miniscue threads. Instead of hurting they plants, they help by passing on nutrients from the soil and secreting chemicals that act as antibiotics. In exchange, the plant host passes on "pre-gested" glucose from its system

Legume nitrogent fixation is a kind of neat system. All legumes can do this (beans, lentils,cruciferous vegetables, and members of the clover family like alfalfa). Basically, plants use nitrogen as part of the metabolic process of creating proteins to use as nutrition. (Nitrogen is in nearly all fertilizers).

Legumes don't cast off the excess nitrogen as waste as other plants do. Instead, they fix it in their tissues.

When they are eaten, the products of the nitrogen cycle are passed on those who consume them.

Even more important, nitrogen fixers are able to survive in rough environments because they can store nitrogen. When a legume decays, the nitrogen is released into the soil in addition to the nitrogen cast off by the roots while the plant is alive.

In fact, in many areas of the world, legume plants are intentionally grown to be used as "green manure". In late fall, a crop of alfalfa might be plowed under to fertilize the soil.

In other areas legumes are rotated from field to field to replenish nitrogen taken up by nitrogen hungry crops such as wheat and corn and other grains.

Hope that clarifies things a bit. Now, if someone could just explain to me how I can learn all this junk and STILL have trouble balancing my checkbook?

ToK (another cool thing that the fungae do: there are tiny worms called nematodes EVERYWHERE including in us. Some kinds will attack plant roots. Some forms of fungi can make little "nooses" and chemically recognize the worms. They literally lasso them and kill them!)
 

GoingNorth

Crazy Cat Lady
Sorry Shari--the AS just broke through for a moment! But...anyone offering remedial checkbook balancing classes?

Let's just say I have overdraft protection running out of a savings account. Otherwise I'd be in real trouble.
 

GoingNorth

Crazy Cat Lady
I'm going to start raising microscopic fungi that can lasso and strangle microscopic worms...maybe I can sell them to farmers or something...

Sure would save cleaning the bathtub every few days, right?
 
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