Fat? Blame a Hippy So when they were looking for something to replace the preservatives in our food with that wouldn’t have a name that scares hippies, they settled on corn syrup. via Metafilter Also: Global warming rage lets global hunger grow The UN says it takes 232kg of corn to fill a 50-litre car […]
Category Archives: serious stuff
The Starving Ocean
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
The Starving Ocean Atlantic Canada reveals what is probably the clearest evidence anywhere of the ecosystem-effects of persistent human fishing. The early 1990’s crash of the once great Canadian cod stock is held up as a global cautionary tale against fisheries mismanagement, against greedy human ‘overfishing.’ But less well known is that the story is […]
Long Bets
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Long Bets – The Arena for Accountable Predictions The purpose of Long Bets is to improve long–term thinking. Long Bets is a public arena for enjoyably competitive predictions, of interest to society, with philanthropic money at stake. The Long Now Foundation furnishes the continuity to see even the longest bets through to public resolution. This […]
Asteroids
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
‘Urgent’ Alert Sounded Over New Incoming Asteroid Less than two days from […] warnings on the potential of Global weather chaos caused by Asteroid 2007 TU24’s 1.4 Lunar Distance close approach to our Earth, and which Western scientists had stated would be “… the closest approach by a known asteroid of this size or larger […]
Subprime mortgages explained
Sunday, February 17, 2008
“Sir, as an investor and a concerned citizen, I demand that you force our financial institutions to show greater transparency and openness in their financial reporting!” “Blow me.” (via Metafilter)
Paper money is obsolete
Monday, January 14, 2008
Mysterious $100 ‘supernote’ counterfeit bills appear across world The only way to distinguish some of the “supernotes,” experts say, is to compare photographically blown-up sections with magnifying instruments, […] About $50 million of the mystery money has been seized since 1989.
Gee, this sounds familiar somehow
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
‘Belgium? Something that does not exist’ Political fault lines divide nation | The Guardian | Guardian Unlimited […] There is not a single national politician or leader (bar King Albert) or a single national political party that straddles the linguistic and cultural north-south divide between Flanders and the southern region of francophone Wallonia. “I don’t […]
After Katrina, pointing fingers
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
The Loved Ones – Esquire “Mr. Cobb, how are you doing?” I asked James Cobb, a lawyer in New Orleans, Louisiana. “It depends on what you mean,” Mr. Cobb answered. “If you mean how am I doing after losing my house and every fucking thing in it, and after being forced to live in a […]
Kowloon Walled City
Monday, August 20, 2007
area – 0.026 km² population prior to demolition – 50,000, approx population density – 1,900,000 / km² (it’s interesting to note that the city of london has a population density of 4,669 / km² and that hong kong itself a density of 6,206 / km2)
