MSNBC reports that “With the national debt now topping $12 trillion, the White House estimates that the government’s tab for servicing the debt will exceed $700 billion a year in 2019, up from $202 billion this year, even if annual budget deficits shrink drastically……. In concrete terms, an additional $500 billion a year in interest expense would total more than the combined federal budgets this year for education, energy, homeland security and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

Uncle Sam is underwater.

posted by Mudd

From the BBC News – “Ocean acidification could cause fish to become ‘fatally attracted’ to their predators, according to scientists. A team studying the effects of acidification – caused by dissolved CO2 – on ocean reefs found that it leaves fish unable to ‘smell danger’.”

Another reason to give up the riding lawn mower.

posted by Mudd

In case you’ve been a keen follower of the nefarious Dixieland Water Wars, there’s breaking news. As reported by the Associated Press – “The new attorney handling Georgia’s appeal in the long-running legal battle with Alabama and Florida over water rights will be paid $855 an hour.”

And that’s after a 10% discount!

Where’s my law license?

posted by Mudd

CNBC reports: With a flurry of green-focused agreements announced, the world’s two largest carbon emitters—the US and China—may have put the final nail in the coffin of any global carbon reduction agreement at the United Nations’ highly anticiated climate change conference in Copenhagen.

Funny how often the phrase “It’s the economy, stupid” comes back to haunt those in power.

posted by Mudd

Thanks to the Christian Science Monitor, we learn that “Coal-fired plants produce about half the nation’s electricity. The report found that pollutants like sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and particulate matter cost the US $62 billion. That works out to about 3.2 cents’ worth of “nonclimate” damages for every kilowatt-hour (kWh) generated.”

That’s “non-climate” damages. Stuff like the toxic effects of air pollution on human lung tissue (especially kids and old folks).

It’s nice to put a number on toxic spew; but do we need to know how many cents’ worth of damage foul air is worth? Isn’t it insulting enough to know that America’s air is too toxic for human consumption?

When will America finally address fumes? Don’t hold your breath.

posted by Mudd

Hold the phone! In a major exhibition of sanity, a UN panel has poked a proverbial hole in the Great Taboo –

“The battle against global warming could be helped if the world slowed population growth by making free condoms and family planning advice more widely available, the U.N. Population Fund said Wednesday.” (CNBC)

The world’s population is predicted to rise to 9.2 billion in 2050, with most of the growth in less developed regions.

posted by Mudd

Good news for men with a thing for the bottle – “Drinking alcohol every day cuts the risk of heart disease in men by more than a third, a major study suggests.”

As reported in the BBC, “For those drinking little – less than a shot of vodka a day for instance – the risk was reduced by 35%. And for those who drank anything from three shots to more than 11 shots each day, the risk worked out an average of 50% less.”

As a side note – various experts remain cautious about the study’s findings, as being drunk tends to lead to other assorted catastrophes.

bottoms up!

posted by Mudd

Most folks are now aware that the great state of California has decided to clamp down on flat screen TV’s. As reported in the New York Times, “California regulators on Wednesday approved the nation’s first energy efficiency standards for televisions, requiring their electricity consumption to be cut nearly in half by 2013.”

“This is a consumer protection measure, a measure that will protect the environment and which will save us from building a massive new power plant,” said Karen Douglas, chairman of the California Energy Commission, at a meeting in Sacramento.

What’s a reality show junkie to do? We must protect consumers from themselves.

Of course, the better idea is so simple it flew too far beneath the radar to be noticed – Turn Off the Freaking Television and do something requiring an iota of intelligence. End of problem; consumer is protected.

posted by Mudd

More evidence that quick-techno fixes for carbon spewing humanoids is bogus –

As reported by the New York Times in a piece titled: Paying More for Flights Eases Guilt, Not Emissions – “The carbon offset has become this magic pill, a kind of get-out-of-jail-free card,” Justin Francis, the managing director of Responsible Travel, one of the world’s largest green travel companies to embrace environmental sustainability, said in an interview. “It’s seductive to the consumer who says, ‘It’s $4 and I’m carbon-neutral, so I can fly all I want.’” Offsets, he argues, are distracting people from making more significant behavioral changes, like flying less.

buckle your seat belts.

posted by Mudd

“According to a growing number of studies, some insects can count, categorize objects, even recognize human faces — all with brains the size of pinheads,” reports MSNBC.

I love these studies; they pop big holes in the old anthropocentric ideology that seems inbred in most members of our species – Homo erectus asphaltus.

posted by Mudd