MNN - Mother Nature Network

Happy Presidents Day!

I'm giving away a copy of a great book called The War on Bugs, by Will Allen.

From book publisher Chelsea Green:

In the early nineteenth century as the American population grew rapidly, demands on crop output increased. Seeing an opportunity to play upon fears from market demand, chemical companies declared war on the vile, profit-sucking, output-wrecking, arch-nemesis of the average American farmer – bugs. With precision, pesticide manufacturers delivered a "shock and awe" media campaign, that can only be paralleled to the current blitzkrieg from today's pharmaceutical companies. Bugs were the threat to the American dream – and there was a cure available to every farmer available in spray, granule, dust, or systemic form that could be applied to your crops.

Will Allen's War on Bugs reveals how advertisers, editors, scientists, large scale farmers, government agencies, and even Dr. Seuss, colluded to convince farmers to use deadly chemicals, hormones, and genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in an effort to pad their wallets and control the American farm enterprise.

The first reader who leaves a comment with the correct answer to this question wins the book:

In Star Wars IV: A New Hope, Luke Skywalker is almost killed when he is dragged under the grimy water by a large tentacled alien (aka giant composting monster) in the trash compactor of the Death Star. What planet did the species originate from?

First correct answer left in comments wins the book.

Good luck, may The Force be with you.

Update: We have a winnah!

I'm going to have to trust the honor system on this one. Will the Anonymous that correctly answered the question (the correct answer is Vodran-- Dianogas, the composting monster in the Death Star garbage compactor originated from the planet Vodran) at 10:18am please email me at sheagunther@gmail.com and tell me where to mail the book? Next time I'll probably require people to be registered users of the site to answer to avoid this happening again. Live and learn. More free books to come!