glocal news

outsourcing Pasadena coverage to India at Pasadena Now

seen in: The New York Times, Sunday, November 30, 2008

Hold the Fart

Now that’s an interesting headline in today’s Slate Magazine!

Here’s the proposal:

Scientists are trying to fight global warming by changing animal flatulence. As emissions from livestock reportedly account for up to half of greenhouse gas emissions in some countries and Kangaroos have stomach bacteria that eliminate methane from their gas, scientists want to transfer these bacteria to sheep and cattle.

Christian values in Britain

In a way, the views of British MP Mark Pritchett about attempts to move Christianity to the “margins” of British life [see BBC online news] fit in nicely with the previous post.

merry-go-round at a British hospital

According to the Guardian Wrap there are plans by Mid Yorkshire NHS Trust to turn the beds of Muslim patients towards Mecca five times a day if they request it and a look at the Trust’s website confirmed that this is already being done at one hospital at least: to my mind another example of political correctness gone too far.

of the pleasures of a state prosecutor

“It got to the point where there was no thrill for me unless there was a chance for the death penalty.” – State (?) attorney Jim Williams [Louisiana] in an interview – in the mid-90s, admittedly, so there’s a chance he might have changed his views.

for the whole article, check out the Los Angeles Times

dangerous evolution

Just mentioning a lecture on this subject to someone in an e-mail can cost you your job, if you are the director of science of the Texas Education Agency according to an article in the New York Times: a dangerous evolution indeed.

need money, steal roof

It’s quite interesting what ingenious thieves come up with: now the actually steal roofs – leaden ones, that is – and not even churches are sacrosanct any more, as the example of Tewkesbury Abbey in England shows.

have cell phone, don’t p*** my pants

Texting your way to a toilet in London

The Associated Press
Published: November 29, 2007

LONDON: A new service promises Londoners they’ll never have to spend much time looking for the loo.
Westminster City Council, which covers London’s bustling Oxford Street, the West End, and the Houses of Parliament, on Thursday launched “SatLav” — a toilet-finding service for mobile phone users.

[...]

What an excellent idea!

from toilet to tap

To Your Health in California

According to an article in the NYT, Californians will soon be recycled sewage. On Friday, Nov. 30, the Orange County Water District will start purifying sewer water to increase drinking water supplies, a process that is called “from toilet to tap” by its oppenents.

So, all that remains to say is: “Cheers and to your health!”

On this subject, check out also the Slate Magazine

Big Brother in British schools?

A school in Doncaster is trying out a scheme to track students’ movement with RFID chips woven into their school uniforms, according to a report in the BBC online news service. And the scheme even provides for the pupils’ academic records to be stored on these chips.

Sounds definitely Orwellian, doesn’t it?