Britain Made Entirely Out Of Knives @10:00 AM
When London hosts the Olympics in 2012, athletes at the highest level of their sports will be competing in a stadium constructed out of recycled knives and guns. And this is not a new thing for Knifecrime Island: Recycled weaponry is frequently "melted down and used in the structures of bridges and buildings, as well as in car and train production" and also winds up in photo frames and jewelry. Even the very crown that rests upon the monarch's head was made from old Robbins of Dudley push daggers. Prince Charles is PART SWITCHBLADE. They like knives, is what I'm saying. 6
This is why I stick to booze: "[S]ince 2004, the water provided to more than 49 million people has contained illegal concentrations of chemicals like arsenic or radioactive substances like uranium, as well as dangerous bacteria often found in sewage." @10:30 AM 11
This Greenpeace ad suggesting the regrets world leaders will feel in the future if they are unable to effect some sort of relief for climate change at this week's conference in Copenhagen makes its point fairly well but, 20/20 jokes aside, if Barack Obama has another year like the current one, he's gonna look like this by 2011. 5
Scientific American gives you Seven Answers to Climate Contrarian Nonsense. Not that the people who spout contrarian nonsense in the first place are willing to be swayed by "reason" or "logic" or "science," but, still, nice to have handy. @9:30 AM 4
Everything you think you know about climate change is wrong: It's actually much worse. @1:30 PM 6
Next Up For New York: Floods @10:15 AM
Could global warming's elevation of sea levels result in a flood here in New York City? Some scientists say yes, and suggest that the city erect expensive storm surge barriers to protect low-lying areas. Others worry about the cost and caution restraint until the potential danger is more evident. But we may be facing the threat even now—particularly with this goddamn rain. READ MORE 6
On Tap: Fiji Water @12:10 PM
"I did contact Fiji Water before my trip, and Six mentioned that the company 'takes journalists to Fiji'; I didn't follow up about joining such a junket. Despite news reports showing that Fiji wouldn't cooperate with journalists who went there independently, I chose to do so and visited the factory on a public tour. I had planned to speak to Fiji Water's local representatives, and to visit the surrounding villages, afterward. But it was at that point that I was arrested by Fijian police, interrogated about my plans to write about Fiji Water, and threatened with imprisonment and rape. After that incident, personnel at the US embassy strongly encouraged me not to visit the villages."
Fiji Water is either a benign corporation which wants to benefit a developing nation and help the environment at the same time, or it is a secretive polluter which props up a military dictatorship and engages in deceptive practices to burnish its image. Mother Jones' Anna Lenzer makes the case for the latter here. 11
