The Watering Hole: Tuesday October 7, 2014 – Environmental News and Food Politics

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California leads the way again! The truth is most plastic bags don’t get recycled, and as we now know, plastic particles are affecting the food chain in the oceans. Hemp is a suitable alternative for making ‘throw away’ totes.

BYOB Policy -Bring Your Own Bag

“Reports show that traditional breeding techniques are years ahead of GM technologies in developing crops to withstand drought and poor soils, writes Lawrence Woodward. Yet GM advocates are sticking rigidly to their script even as the evidence mounds against them.”

Read on.

48 thoughts on “The Watering Hole: Tuesday October 7, 2014 – Environmental News and Food Politics”

  1. This is the kind of cool stuff my daughter is involved with now:

    Dear members of the UCSC Science and Engineering Community,

    UC is a key partner in the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT), a spectacular
    initiative that will couple unprecedented light collection area (almost 10
    times more than one of the Keck telescopes) with diffraction-limited
    spatial resolution. Relative to the Hubble Space Telescope, TMT will have
    144 times the collecting area and more than a factor of 10 better spatial
    resolution at near-infrared wavelengths.

    We invite you to join us for a webcast of the Thirty Meter Telescope
    Groundbreaking and Blessing Ceremony, which will take place atop Mauna Kea
    Volcano in Hawaii next Tuesday, October 7 marking the start of on-site
    construction for the TMT Observatory. There will be a live, worldwide
    webcast, featuring actor and director George Takei (Star Trek), who will
    present science segments.

    Please join us on Tuesday, October 7 in the Interdisciplinary Science
    Building room 102 from 2-4 p.m. for a live stream of the event.
    Refreshments will be served.

    TMT Webcast URL: http://tmt.org/buildingTMT

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    • Nice! I’ve seen the Very Large Array, and visited the Sunspot Observatory here in NM. Always very interesting people to meet, and images to see. They don’t seem to mind “dumbing down” what they are doing for me to appreciate. the TMT is just another reason to plan a trip.

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  5. Traditional breeding techniques make sense as one can more easily observe and breed for the qualities that one wants. Humans have been using these techniques for thousands of years. Just take a look at our fruits and vegetables. We don’t need no GMO’s.

    GMO labeling will be on the ballot in November in Oregon. I hope it passes. One county in Oregon has already banned the planting of GMO seeds.

    http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/index.ssf/2014/05/jackson_county_measure_15-119.html

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  6. Ebola researcher says he would not rule out possibility that the virus spreads through air in tight quarters, says he thinks there is a chance asymptomatic people could spread the virus.

    ‘Oops’, eh CDC?

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  7. Have any of the rightwhiners who are fear mongering over “this administration’s inability to deal with Ebola” so much as suggested a little emergency funding for the CDC? Of course not. In fact; is there any doubt that they would block any attempt to allocate additional funds? Of course not. The freaks would exist in a state of perpetual orgasm if there was an outbreak while the first black president was in office.

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      • I really, really, wish we could find the bottom. Every time I think I have finally discovered the bottom of the right-wing barrel I find a whole new barrel.

        BTW, Ebb. My fish are doing well, my new RC airplane project is progressing nicely, and Banzai Kitty is still one of the best cats I’ve ever had. He has even mastered the art of jumping up into my arms without digging in any claws! Add in a few ounces of high-test peppermint schnapps and life is pretty good. Hoping that your life is going equally well.

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        • Always glad to read that life is treating you with respect!
          Is MN weather still conducive to RC flying?
          BanzaiKitty sounds like a character!

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  13. Renegade squirrel darts into cyclist’s path, causing strange crash, injury

    …According to The Press-Democrat, the rider – one of 7,000 cyclists participating in the race – took a spill after the squirrel darted onto the course and became lodged in the spokes of his bike. The squirrel died; the man reportedly flipped over his handlebars and hit the ground.

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    • My god, it might be an ISIS suicide squirrel. Its entirely possible that an ISIS cell has been training squirrels (probably in Canada) to run into bicycles and letting them loose at the border I must add this to the list of dangers I should worry about, tout de suite. 😯

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  17. Is Stephen Collins dead?

    The Twitterverse is abuzz with rumors that actor Stephen Collins has shot himself. Though he was cleared by LAPD in a 2012 investigation to possible child molestation charges (against underage girls, as near as I can tell), TMZ released a tape in which someone who sounds like him confesses to his ex-wife that he molested some girls. A neighbor, actress Donna D’Errico tweeted this:

    https://twitter.com/DonnaDErrico/status/519687823897542656

    https://twitter.com/DonnaDErrico/status/519689356026454016

    Then “confirmed” it with this:

    https://twitter.com/DonnaDErrico/status/519697153514405888

    People on Twitter are begging for TMZ to confirm the story, as everything else appears to be just a rumor.

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