PlasticBoy

More veggie stuff: People, not technology, are the key to ending hunger.
“We’re shrinking the world’s food supply for one reason: The hundreds of millions of people who go hungry cannot create a sufficient ‘market demand’ for the fruits of the Earth. So more and more of it flows into the mouths of livestock, which convert it into what the better-off can afford. Corn becomes filet mignon. Sardines become salmon.”

Eating more veggies can help save energy.
“Washington state, Oregon and California lose 17 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity to livestock production. With this kind of power, every home in the United States could leave the lights on for a month and a half.”

Informal discussions on a compromise Kyoto Protocol have begun .
“If the treaty is ratified without the US, it will be a major embarrassment to Bush, Hampton says. ‘If not only the EU but Japan comes on board, Bush’s position will become untenable,’ she argues. ‘It will become obvious that Kyoto can work economically.’”

“Judith Scott, a fifty-five year old woman with Down’s syndrome, has spent the last ten years producing a series of totally non-functional objects which, to us, appear to be works of sculpture, except that the notion of sculpture is far beyond her understanding. As well as being mentally handicapped, Judith cannot hear or speak, and she has little concept of language.”

Tsk, Tsk. That’s what you get for not following your meat safety guidelines.

Doctors weigh in against antibiotics in animal feed.

Study finds fewer men holding doors for women.
Research dollars well spent!

Hanover, N.H.: a town with Dartmouth among its lures

Microsoft uses open-source code despite denying use of such software.

In pig farming, growing concern
“‘Animal producers will never convince the public that they care about their animals if they house them in stalls where they can’t turn around for months,’ said David Fraser of the University of British Columbia… ‘I’m not saying the alternatives are necessarily better, but this particular technology does not fit with many values of animal treatment, and the . . . behaviors illustrate why.’”

Think Different… just not too different.

Tofu may lower lead levels in blood.

Regarding this, that article has it wrong. The Senate has never voted on the protocol because neither Clinton nor Bush ever submitted it for advice and consent. The 95-0 vote took place about five months before the protocol was even adopted and it was on a nonbinding resolution that declared that the Senate wouldn’t ratify a treaty that didn’t require developing countries to limit their greenhouse gas emissions. Clinton signed the protocol but wouldn’t submit it to the Senate until developing countries agreed to limit their emissions. Bush abandoned the process of trying to get the developing countries on board. If you think I’m defending the Democrats here, I’m not. The vote followed a $13 million advertising campaign by the fossil fuel industry warning against the adverse economic effects of a treaty that only affected industrialized nations. I think both parties were probably kowtowing to the energy industry.

How apropos: Arsenic flap and ’sound science’
“‘The Bush administration was right to junk the Clinton rules on arsenic,’ Cato’s Mr. Milloy says. ‘But now [EPA head] Christie Todd Whitman is going to do her own little junk science review. She’s going to decide what the answer should be and then come up with a rationale.’”

Remember Productopia? Well it’s back, but it sucks. Terrible site design, the reviews now only cover electronics, and there are no product rankings… it could not be less useful.