Manihot esculenta called cassava, yuca, mandioca, kappa kizhangu and aipim, is a woody shrub native to South America of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae. Although a perennial plant, cassava is extensively cultivated as an annual crop in tropical and subtropical regions for its edible starchy tuberous root, a major source of carbohydrates. Though it is called yuca in Spanish America and in the United States, it is not related to yucca, a shrub in the family Asparagaceae. Cassava is predominantly consumed in boiled form, but substantial quantities are used to extract cassava starch, called tapioca, used for food, animal feed, industrial purposes; the Brazilian farinha, the related garri of West Africa, is an edible coarse flour obtained by grating cassava roots, pressing moisture off the obtained grated pulp, drying it. Cassava is the third-largest source of food carbohydrates in the tropics, after maize. Cassava is a major staple food in the developing world, providing a basic diet for over half a billion people.

It is one of the most drought-tolerant crops, capable of growing on marginal soils. Nigeria is the world's largest producer of cassava, while Thailand is the largest exporter of cassava starch. Cassava is classified as either bitter. Like other roots and tubers, both bitter and sweet varieties of cassava contain antinutritional factors and toxins, with the bitter varieties containing much larger amounts, it must be properly prepared before consumption, as improper preparation of cassava can leave enough residual cyanide to cause acute cyanide intoxication and ataxia, partial paralysis, or death. The more toxic varieties of cassava are a fall-back resource in times of famine or food insecurity in some places. Farmers prefer the bitter varieties because they deter pests and thieves; the cassava root is long and tapered, with a firm, homogeneous flesh encased in a detachable rind, about 1 mm thick and brown on the outside. Commercial cultivars can be 5 to 10 cm in diameter at the top, around 15 to 30 cm long.

A woody vascular bundle runs along the root's axis. The flesh can be yellowish. Cassava roots are rich in starch and contain small amounts of calcium and vitamin C. However, they are poor in protein and other nutrients. In contrast, cassava leaves are a good source of protein, but deficient in the amino acid methionine and tryptophan. Wild populations of M. esculenta subspecies flabellifolia, shown to be the progenitor of domesticated cassava, are centered in west-central Brazil, where it was first domesticated no more than 10,000 years BP. Forms of the modern domesticated species can be found growing in the wild in the south of Brazil. By 4,600 BC, manioc pollen appears in the Gulf of Mexico lowlands, at the San Andrés archaeological site; the oldest direct evidence of cassava cultivation comes from a 1,400-year-old Maya site, Joya de Cerén, in El Salvador. With its high food potential, it had become a staple food of the native populations of northern South America, southern Mesoamerica, the Caribbean by the time of European contact in 1492.

Cassava was a staple food of pre-Columbian peoples in the Americas and is portrayed in indigenous art. The Moche people depicted yuca in their ceramics. Spaniards in their early occupation of Caribbean islands did not want to eat cassava or maize, which they considered insubstantial and not nutritious, they much preferred foods from Spain wheat bread, olive oil, red wine, meat, considered maize and cassava damaging to Europeans. The cultivation and consumption of cassava was nonetheless continued in both Portuguese and Spanish America. Mass production of cassava bread became the first Cuban industry established by the Spanish, Ships departing to Europe from Cuban ports such as Havana, Santiago and Baracoa carried goods to Spain, but sailors needed to be provisioned for the voyage; the Spanish needed to replenish their boats with dried meat, water and large amounts of cassava bread. Sailors complained. Tropical Cuban weather was not suitable for wheat planting and cassava would not go stale as as regular bread.

Cassava was introduced to Africa by Portuguese traders from Brazil in the 16th century. Around the same period, it was introduced to Asia through Columbian Exchange by Portuguese and Spanish traders, planted in their colonies in Goa, Eastern Indonesia and the Philippines. Maize and cassava are now important staple foods, replacing native African crops in places such as Tanzania. Cassava has become an important staple in Asia, extensively cultivated in Indonesia and Vietnam. Cassava is sometimes described as the "bread of the tropics" but should not be confused with the tropical and equatorial bread tree, the breadfruit or the African breadfruit. Cassava was introduced in 1880-1885 C. E. to the South Indian state of Kerala by the King of Travancore Vishakham Thirunal Maharaja after a great famine hit the kingdom, as a substitute for rice. Cooked cassava is called kappa or maricheeni in Malayalam, it is referred to as Tapioca in Indian English usage. In 2016, global production of cassava root was 277 million tonnes, with Nigeria as the world's largest producer, having 21% of the world total.

Other major growers were Thailand and Indonesia. Cassava is one of the most drought-tolerant crops, can be grown on marginal soils, gives reasonable yield

Kellyn George is from Dominica and in 2013 created a support foundation to help people with sickle cell anemia in her homeland. In 2015, she was awarded Queen's Young Leader Award for her activism in changing the lives of people in her community. Kellyn George is a Dominican from the village of Mahaut. In 2006 she earned a double associate degree from Dominica State College in chemistry and biology and went on to study at Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Texas from 2006 to 2008. From 2008 to 2010, George studied biology at Barry University and in 2011 her research team was the first-place winner of the Biology S. T. E. M. Award at the 3rd Annual S. T. E. M. Research Symposium, for their work on the "effect of embryonic ethanol exposure on zebrafish cranial motor neuron development". Completing her studies, George returned to Dominica where she worked with the Commonwealth of Dominica on their Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States Electronic Government for Regional Integration Project in 2012.

At the end of 2013, George took a research officer's position at the Livestock Development Unit of the Ministry of Agriculture. In January, 2013, George founded an NGO called the Sickle Cell Cares Foundation to provide information and education about Sickle Cell Disease in Dominica. George, who serves as director of the organization, recognized the need for additional support because she has had the disease all her life and statistics show that 35% of the citizens of the island have the disease. In January, 2015, George was named as one of the winners of the inaugural Queen's Young Leaders Award for 2014 for her work in improving the lives of her fellow citizens; the awards were bestowed in June, 2015. Sickle Cell Cares Foundation

In the Next World, You're on Your Own was the last comedy album recorded by the Firesign Theatre for Columbia Records. It was released in October 1975. "Police Street" – 21:30 "We've Lost Our Big Kabloona" – 22:30 The first side of the album, "Police Street", features a group of sketches interconnected by the kind of police show satire reminiscent of Phil Austin's detective fiction. The highlight sketch is "Give It Back," a mock game show in which losing contestants have to surrender their parents' material possessions to the Native Americans. In surreal fashion, the police satire plays out a family drama. In this drama the main characters are: the hard-boiled Lieutenant Detective Random Coolzip. Several side sketches are interwoven with the police drama. In the first, a commercial for Dead Cat Soap segues into a soap opera spoof. We learn that Random is home, Peggy is having an affair, Skip's sexual orientation is a scandal. In the second, Kim Coolzip presents a seductive commercial for liquid meat, which segues into her appearance on a charity fund-raising telethon.

The third is the game show, in which Skip Coolzip "gives back" to Native Americans his family's car his father's squad car, "everything." He is assigned, with his sister, to take over the Academy Awards celebration "with these stirring words:'Eat flaming death, fascist media pigs.'" The second side of the album, "We've Lost Our Big Kabloona", culminates in the hostage situation, on stage during the live broadcast of the Academy Awards. While accepting an award for a police/family drama called "Squat!," which stars their parents and seems identical to the show on the first side of the album and Kim Coolzip reveal a gun. They demand that the President of the United States appear in Hollywood "with a plane full of cash and all those broken treaties," or they will shoot the nominees one by one in alphabetical order; this sketch was inspired by Sacheen Littlefeather's appearance at the 1973 Academy Awards. In the liner notes, thanks are given to authors Jorge Luis Borges and Raymond Chandler; this album was the only commercial album during the group's Columbia Records period, released under the group name but not crediting all four members as writers.

The script is formally credited only to Phil Austin and David Ossman, although the other two members, Peter Bergman and Philip Proctor, honed their parts further during recording. The result did not sell well, the label declined to renew the group's contract; this album was recorded in the same Warner Brothers studio in Burbank, where John Lennon and Harry Nilsson recorded Pussy Cats. The same engineer worked on both albums; this album was released on LP and 8 Track. LP — Columbia PC-33475 8 Track — Columbia PCA-33475It has been re-released on CD at least once 2001 - Laugh.com LGH1078 The album's quote "Eat flaming death, fascist media pigs!" may have influenced the phrase "Eat flaming death", popularized among hackers by the CPU Wars webcomic. The album cover by William Stout references many of Firesign Theatre's previous albums. Don't Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers Morse Science High Groat Cakes Pico & Alvarado More Sugar George Papoon Dear Friends Adult Bookstore Motel Old Oildale Highway Everything You Know Is Wrong Bear Whiz BeerAlso appearing on the back cover are all four members in cartoon form.

Firesign Theatre. In the Next World, You're on Your Own. Columbia Records, 1975. Firesign Theatre. Firesign Theatre. 9 February 2006 <http://www.firesigntheatre.com/>. "FIREZINE: Linques!." Firesign Theatre FAQ. 10 February 2006 <http://firezine.net/faq/>. Marsh and Greil Marcus. "The Firesign Theatre." The New Rolling Stone Record Guide. Ed. Dave Marsh and John Swenson. New York: Random House, 1983. 175-176. Smith, Ronald L; the Goldmine Comedy Record Price Guide. Iola: Krause, 1996. 124-127