THINGS I'VE HAD TO LOOK UP FOR CLASS, Part 2, vol. 1

• Ibn Khaldun's Outline of Theory of History, or An Arab Philosophy of History: 13th Century historical sociologist.
• That I should invest in US Ethanol because the US has high tariffs on importing it (except for Brazil, who can do it tariff-free). Renewable Fuels Association report on it.
• The Chesterfield Valley: Wal-Mart doesn't actually own the buildings in the valley, like I thought. In my dad and my series of discussions on the ethics and business practices of Wal-Mart, we had just assumed that Wal-Mart bought all the land in the flood plain and insured itself. *Okay, a woman behind me in class said this, but I just checked on it and the CEO of the company developing the Valley (THF) is an heir of the Wal-Mart fortune. Clever. Also, THF CEO said that he is "absolutely convinced it will never flood again." (STLtoday.com) Haha. THF also offers private insurance to its tenants.
• Times Beach, MO: A town near Eureka that was evacuated in the 80s because of a DDT scare. My professor said that DDT is pretty much the reason that there isn't yellow fever or malaria in Missouri. And it was just because of unhealthy levels of DDT that things went wrong, otherwise it is quite safe. What about Silent Spring?