Bottled water industry combats anti-green perceptions with fake journalism

Where do all the empty bottles go? Ummm....

Huffington Post's Jason Linkins reports on an attempt by the International Bottled Water Association to pass off an internally produced promotional video as real journalism. Is it true that the IBWA has stopped beating its dog? Get the not-so-straight answers to all the not-so-tough questions, right here.

Robots: friends or foes?

I have to admit, I'm prejudiced against robots. I think they're terrible actors.

I know that's not fair. As a bald, white dude who doesn't like to shave very often, I'd hate for people to judge me based on Jason Statham's body of work.

Robots actually have very active off-screen lives as well. Among other things they perform surgeries (fun!), execute military and rescue missions that are far too dangerous for humans (hooray!), and conduct menial manufacturing tasks that used to provide family-supporting income to human workers (boo!). In this film, which was heavily promoted during yesterday's NCAA basketball tournament selection show, Honda suggests that we all cancel our robot insurance policies and give robots a second chance. After all, they're not all Austrian, bodybuilding, good/evil killing machines turned California governors.

(photo: Google images)

The greatest [hotbed of social issues] on Earth!

Who knew that circus culture was so rife with race, gender, animal rights, and other social issues? Check out the blogoshpere's newest trove of circus-related material: Hey Rube Circus, administered by LSC's own Noel Benedetti.

(photo by Harry Atwell from heyrubecircus.com)

Climate change scientists have not yet begun to fight. Good or bad?

In this segment from the New York Times' Dot Earth blog, science communication experts Matt Nisbet and Randy Olson debate whether or not climate change scientists should get nasty and fight back against those trying to discredit them.




Meanwhile, noted science guy Bill Nye very calmly and politely sticks it to Bill O'Reilly.





(photos courtesy of webomator.com and treehugger.com, respectively)

Go Big Read is on facebook, just like you

Go Big Read is on facebook, and today they're discussing the First Family's kitchen garden. Hey, if the most powerful family in the world can do it...then anybody...yeah.

Kidding. First Lady Michelle Obama's program that teaches urban kids about food is actually very inspiring, and not all that different from what a variety of programs all over the country are doing.

Become poke buddies with Go Big Read now!

Health claims? Questionable celebrity involvement? Orange Juice?

If you've spent any time in front of the television over the past few months, you may have heard a vaguely familiar voice expounding upon the benefits of healthy, pure, and simple Florida orange juice. Did you know that one 8 oz. glass contains 25% of your recommended daily value of fruits and vegetables? Did you know that all of those "scientists" have not been able to replicate this quality using their "chemistry sets?" Did you know that the voice of Florida orange juice is Tom Selleck?


Check out the official Florida Juice website, read the health claims, and decide for yourself. Don't forget to turn up your speakers in order to hear the soothing sounds of the 'stache.







("Florida what? Whatever, tell them I'll do it." Photo courtesy of Google images)

Punctuation is also a part of National Grammar Day

Check out this blast from the past: Seven awesome examples of misplaced quotation marks from Huffington Post (via last semester's LSC 100 blog).

Happy National Grammar Day!

While I'm very embarrassed that I wasn't aware of this important holiday until now, I will celebrate it with gusto for the rest of the day. Huffington Post is also celebrating with some examples of unfortunate grammar and spelling errors (some funnier than others). Check it out.

Got to be startin' summit

 

Got opinions about health care? Yes you do. So do your friendly Congressional Representatives from Wisconsin.

See what Sen. Russ Feingold has to say about last Friday's bipartisan health care summit in Washington D.C.

Then, check out this video of Rep. Paul Ryan's comments at the summit.

(photo courtesy of CBS News, via Google images)

Wisconsin a big player in organic farming

Surprising article in the Cap Times, but no matter what your opinion of organic versus non-organic farms, you've got to be happy that organic farmers are having some success. Organic farms in Wisconsin are making as much money as their non-organic counterparts. And overhead costs are slightly lower for the organic farms. I would have expected the opposite.

See Bill Novak's article here.

Also, see below for a map of certified organic farms in Wisconsin (source: UW-Madison Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems)

Check out the Ironworks Cafe at the Goodman Community Center

For anyone who saw (or didn't see) Camille's post about the Underground Food Collective and thought to themselves, "This is a little too hipster-foodie for me," you may want to reconsider, as the food is great. However, if you want something equally delicious (I will vouch for it) and want to support a cause other than being being part of a really cool secret food club with other local bike polo players, check out the Ironworks Cafe at the Goodman Community Center on Madison's East side. It's run (in the shadows, of course) by the same cast of characters, more or less, and supports a great cause. According to their website:

"The Ironworks Café has a partnership with East High School's alternative educational program Vocationally Integrated Pathways (V.I.P.). Students from V.I.P. and other area students, under the guidance of restaurant professionals, are responsible for the entire operations of the business. Ironworks Cafe offers a menu featuring local and seasonal ingredients, fairly traded coffee (Just Coffee Coop), teas (Rishi), and other commodities (cocoa, sugar, oils). The menu changes daily, but will retain a familiar format. From-scratch soups, salads, sandwiches and special breakfast offerings will always include sweet and savory, as well as vegetarian options."

Check out the website for more details...

Wisconsin to get $810 million for high-speed rail

This post may be welcome news to those of you hailing from Chicago or Milwaukee (or potentially the Twin Cities area). There are all sorts of great benefits to this - not the least being the potential to come home and sleep in my own bed in Madison after an "adult beverage" or four at the Brewer's game. In any case, Madison, welcome to the 21st century (or 20th century Europe)!

by Jason Stein

After decades without rail service between Madison and Milwaukee, an infusion of more than $800 million in federal stimulus money could establish passenger train service between the state’s two largest cities by 2013.
The passenger rail service between Milwaukee and Madison would include stops in Brookfield, Oconomowoc and Watertown and eventual top speeds of 110 mph.
“The state is well positioned to get it done quickly, and that’s very, very exciting,” said Rick Harnish, executive director of the Midwest High Speed Rail Association.

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Time Magazine: Getting real about the high price of cheap food

By Brian Walsh

Somewhere in Iowa, a pig is being raised in a confined pen, packed in so tightly with other swine that their curly tails have been chopped off so they won't bite one another. To prevent him from getting sick in such close quarters, he is dosed with antibiotics. The waste produced by the pig and his thousands of pen mates on the factory farm where they live goes into manure lagoons that blanket neighboring communities with air pollution and a stomach-churning stench. He's fed on American corn that was grown with the help of government subsidies and millions of tons of chemical fertilizer. When the pig is slaughtered, at about 5 months of age, he'll become sausage or bacon that will sell cheap, feeding an American addiction to meat that has contributed to an obesity epidemic currently afflicting more than two-thirds of the population. And when the rains come, the excess fertilizer that coaxed so much corn from the ground will be washed into the Mississippi River and down into the Gulf of Mexico, where it will help kill fish for miles and miles around. That's the state of your bacon — circa 2009.

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