Washington, DC’s Metro system recently enacted a random police search policy for its riders, citing increased security concerns for the decision. But in reality, the new policy does nothing to protect people from terrorist attacks and pushes people away from public transit and into cars.
Which is the bigger threat: a terrorist attack on a train or the greenhouse gases that spew from cars stuck in rush hour traffic?
Despite pleas from environmentalists and wildlife groups, the Scottish government has approved Donald Trump’s plans for a $1.5 billion golf resort along the Aberdeenshire coastline, an area previously designated as a ‘Site of Special Scientific Interest.’
The government defends the decision by pointing to the hundreds of jobs the 2,000-acre facility will create amid a damaged economy. The facility is expected to generate $100 million annually for the Aberdeenshire community.
The government has essentially given Trump free reign to do what he’d like with the land with little-to-no environmental supervision. Wildlife groups had hoped to form a compromise, but instead, Trump’s development will not be required take the wildlife habitat into account whatsoever.
Democratic Oklahoma state senator Earl Garrison has proposed a “Hunters Bill of Rights” that would guarantee the legality of hunting. He fears a ban on hunting could could happen at some point due to pressure from animal rights groups and hopes to preemptively block any attempts with a constitutional amendment.
“Animals have to be harvested,” he said. “It’s important that you have management because if you don’t, you get overpopulation, and the animals get smaller and there’s too much inbreeding.”
CNN is reporting that 1,500 Chinese Raccon Dogs have died because of a tainted food supply.
Apparently melamine was found in the dog food supply. Melamine is the same deadly chemical that was added to the dairy supply last month and sent Chinese babies to the hospital with kidney stones. Four Chinese babies’ deaths have been blamed on infant formula that was laced with melamine. Some 54,000 other children were sickened.
Zhang determined that the animals died of kidney failure after performing a necropsy — an animal autopsy — on about a dozen dogs. He declined to say when the deaths occurred but a report Monday in the Southern Metropolis Daily newspaper said they had occurred over the past two months.
“First, we found melamine in the dogs’ feed, and second, I found that 25 percent of the stones in the dogs’ kidneys were made up of melamine,” Zhang told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. (from CNN)
We have a problem. We have 1,500 dead dogs but let’s take a look at what these dogs are. These dogs are bred for their raccoon like coat which is used for trim on coats. Are we as a global economy okay with the slaughter of dogs, man’s best friend, for ornamental fabric? Is it acceptable that Melamine is added to the food supply of both humans and animals?
This past weekend, undercover operatives from Greenpeace tested the DNA of fish served in several London-based restaurants that are part of a chain known as Nobu. The restaurants are partially owned by actor Robert De Niro. The tested fish were discovered to be endangered bluefin tuna. In an incredibly stupid response, Nobu’s principal manager has decided to label the endangered fish with an asterisk on the restaurants’ menu, rather than stopping to serve it. Read the rest of this entry »
High-fructose corn syrup: is it hemlock, or the nectar of the gods? The Corn Refiner’s Association (CRA) believes the latter—that the dreaded syrup is really Aphrodite’s bathwater.
Sure, they claim that high fructose corn syrup has the same amount of calories as sugar and has no artificial ingredients. You have probably seen the commercials combating the urban myth; Eve offers Adam a cherry-colored popsicle and he initially denies it out of unbridled piety to the American Heart Association and its pyramid of truth. She reassures him that it’s ok—American, even—and he takes it from her with an impish grin.
But the CRA hasn’t told you everything. Not only is high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) good for you, it also boosts romance. Dr. Ben Dofa of the National Institutes of Health reports:
“HFCS binds to the endorphin receptors in your brain, making you undeniably randy. That’s why everyone drinks soda at parties. The lone wolf hanging out by the punch bowl isn’t a loser—he knows what he is doing.”
HFCS also doubles as sensual massage oil. If you want to get in the mood, just head to your pantry and break out this disaccharide treat and flip on some Barry White. You will soon be reliving the summer of ’69, rolling through the Kansas cornfields without a care.
So next time, show up at your date’s door with a bottle of Karo and a bouquet of free-labor roses. She will be thankful you did.
Magicians Penn and Teller are whizzes when it comes to performing offbeat, weird, funny and gross sleights of hand and other tricks. But they’re neither scientists nor fair and objective journalists (not that many of today’s so-called “mainstream” journalists are either). So it pays to view their scam- and myth-debunking efforts with a healthy dose of critical thinking.
Case in point: their Showtime channel program, “Bullshit!” I’ve watched most of the early episodes, and they’re highly entertaining, because that’s what Penn and Teller are: entertainers. But their fact-checking and analyses can leave much to be desired, as when — for example — they “debunk” global warming with the help of libertarian think tanks like the Cato Institute ,.. without turning to real scientific sources like say, oh, NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies or the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Their 2004 episode slamming recycling has been garnering big Internet traffic and lots of social networking hits … presumably because a lot of people take glee in seeing enviro-minded hippies put in their place. There are a few problems with the episode, though:
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