Word: metrical
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...metric by which any diplomatic deal is judged is simple: Which side got more for less? By that measure, the U.S. and the Administration of President George W. Bush are the hands-down winners in the North Korean nuclear deal announced this week...
...mixed in and weigh the bags. The porters then run the food into the warehouse and stack it in neat rows and columns to form elaborate, sheer-faced structures as high as three-story buildings. On average last year porters like these across Uganda handled more than 1,000 metric tons of food - tens of thousands of bags, all loaded and unloaded manually - every single day. "Whatever comes in goes out almost immediately," says Konjit Kidane, the Ethiopian who is WFP's head of logistics for Uganda...
...this compounds the enduring logistical challenges that Africa presents for aid agencies: poor roads, unpredictable weather and political instability. After Kenya's disputed election in December, a U.S. shipment of 9,000 metric tons of sorghum was blocked for more than 100 days in Mombasa, with no safe way to get it out, Kidane says. Violence returned to Burundi after a ceasefire deal failed, so WFP must postpone plans to stop feeding Burundian refugees in Tanzania. WFP is sometimes a target of violence too. Darfur rations were cut by nearly half in May because too many trucks had been hijacked...
...that becomes a problem in municipal landfills. As buried food breaks down in these oxygen-free environments, it produces methane, a greenhouse gas that has a warming effect 23 times as potent as carbon dioxide. Global methane emissions from garbage are estimated to be as high as 70 million metric tons a year. By recycling organic waste--composting it--methane emissions are eliminated...
...nation's highest rates of childhood obesity--is in the vanguard. Led by Joseph Thompson, director of the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement, the state in 2004 began tracking the BMI of more than 400,000 children, sending home confidential health reports to parents. BMI is an imperfect metric since it often mistakes a stocky or muscular kid for an obese one, but as a quick way to spot weight problems it can reveal a lot. Officials also eliminated junk-food vending machines in all elementary schools--a policy that's becoming more common around the U.S.--and added half...