In this ten minute video economist David McWilliams explains the European debt crisis. It is pretty bleak and as you might expect, the banks and the richest people will come out in the end even richer.

Via Talking Points Memo:

She may, famously, not be a witch, but here’s a bit of money magic from former Delaware Republican Senate candidate and recent Mitt Romney endorser Christine O’Donnell: her political campaign gave $142,000 to her super PAC, which proceeded to buy copies of her book.

Federal Election Commission reports filed by her campaign and super PAC this week show that the money her campaign gave to her super PAC represents just under 62 percent of the $229,985 the PAC took in during 2011. $19,912.30 of that money went towards an August 20th purchase labeled “PAC Fundraising Non-Residual Books” from a book shop in Philadelphia.

O’Donnell’s book, “Troublemaker,” had a list price of $25.99. If the books were purchased at that price, the campaign would have gotten around 766 copies. It’s unclear how all those copies were used for fundraising purposes since O’Donnell only received contributions from 16 individuals in the second half of the year. If all of them received a copy, she would have 750 copies of the book on hand.

Look this happens all the time in politics. A book is bought and signed by said politician and used for fundraising. I got no problems with that. None. But a couple questions. Why didn’t she purchase the book from her publisher, you know at a discounted rate? Two, she is from Delaware, wouldn’t it make sense she buy the book from a store within her state? And finally, what the heck as she done with all these books? You know, just asking.

Yield: 8 Servings

Overview:

Cooking dried beans is low maintenance and a great value. Make sure to plan ahead and allow time for soaking the beans. Serve with hot sauce or salsa, if you like.

Ingredients:

• 1 pound dried black beans (about 2 1/2 cups), rinsed
• 2 medium onions, chopped
• 1 large red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon ground chipotle pepper
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
• 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
• 1/2 ripe avocado, chopped

Instructions:

Soak the beans overnight or 6 to 8 hours prior to cooking. Drain and rinse.

In a large pot, bring 1/2 cup water to a simmer over medium-high heat. Add onions, bell pepper and garlic and cook, stirring frequently, until onions are translucent and beginning to brown, about 10 minutes. Stir in cumin and chipotle and cook 1 minute, stirring.

Add drained beans and 10 cups water. Bring soup to a boil, then lower to a simmer and cook, uncovered, for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, until beans are tender. Remove 4 cups soup and carefully purée in a blender. Return purée to pot and stir in cilantro, nutritional yeast and lime juice. Spoon into bowls for serving and garnish with avocado.

I am close to a red beans expert, but never really cooked black beans. Well I tried this today, following the intructions word for word and ingredient by ingredient, and wasn’t very impressed. However never thought to try avocado as this type of garnish and that was wonderful. So it wasn’t a total failed effort.

[Found via Boing Boing]

Here is how the design process works at the magazine.

Amazing, just amazing. Folks “training” roots go grow across a river.

Deep in the rainforests of the Indian state of Meghalaya, bridges are not built, they’re grown. Ancient vines and roots of trees stretch horizontally across rivers and streams, creating a solid latticework structure strong enough to be used as a bridge.

Coming to your Facebook on February 14.