After the holiday, returning to car pool unprepared for gloomy radio news

Sex Up Climate Change: How To Get The Public Interested?
Spiegel Online: The amount of Greenhouse Gases in the atmosphere keeps going up and up, but public interest in Climate Change is sinking. Environmentalists are trying to come up with new ways to make the issue sexy. But shock tactics can backfire all too easily. Read the whole story: Spiegel Online Get HuffPost Green On Twitter and Facebook! Know something we don't? E-mail us at [email protected] ...

Norman Lear: If He's an Entertainer, I'm an Astronaut
I might have been six years old when I first learned how integral the bumble bee was to the human food chain. The Huffington Post article yesterday about the American bee population plummeting and the disastrous effect this is likely to have on those of us who eat scared the food I had digested up to that moment out of me. Then I remembered someone who eats far more than me and is certainly far more informed on such matters as the calamitous loss of bees and other pollinating insects, not to m...

Bye, Bye, Borders?
"Needless to say, I'll never shop at Borders online again." That's Kevin Drum, discovering that Borders apparently doesn't discount its online books--at least, books that aren't bestsellers. A lot of people seem to have decided not to shop at Borders, lately. The company's been struggling for years, as eBooks and Amazon cut into its market. Unlike Barnes and Noble, the company never really successfully transitioned to digital, leaving it with a lot of physical inventory and Real Estate assets t...

I'm Sure This Was Just an Accident of Page Layout...
... but, as so often with serendipitous humor in the China Daily, we're left to wonder: intentional? or Found Art? From the NYT home page just now: No larger point. And, yes, I realize it was probably just an automatic story-grouping algorithm. Still... To Environmentalists, “Clean Coal” is an insulting oxymoron. But for now, the only way…...

Leaking lorry driven into river
Environmentalists are monitoring a river after a leaking tipper trucker was driven into the water by thieves. Fuel was taken from the vehicle which was parked in a cement firm compound in South Shore Road, Gateshead, on Monday night. Thieves then drove the leaking, two-tonne loading tipper into the River Tyne. Port of Tyne experts are now trying to tackle the spillage. Police said the thieves were "mindless". Officers said they had tampered with several vehicles on the company's ...

Jonathan A. Schein: Sarah Palin, An Environmentalist's Best Friend
Even though the holidays are now over, there are certain gifts that just keep on giving. Last week, for instance, Sarah Palin accused conservationists of "hypocrisy" because they send her letters on paper written with wooden pencils. While discussing the tree and lumber harvesting industry, Palin was quoted as saying, "Conservationists write me these nasty letters because I support an industry like this...They write me these nasty letters using their pretty little pencils on their pretty littl...

EPA approves plan for Klamath River
WASHINGTON, Jan. 5 (UPI) -- Opponents of an Environmental Protection Agency plan to reduce nitrogen and phosphorus in the Klamath River in Oregon and California say they may sue the EPA. Under the plan, farmers, timber companies and utilities would all have to make changes in the way they operate, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Wednesday. PacifiCorps, which operates four hydroelectric dams on the river, has threatened to sue the EPA, with a spokesman calling the plan "inappropriate and una...

Video: 65 Million Years with James Hansen
Environmentalist Peter Sinclair posted this fascinating excerpt from a Speech by NASA chief atmospheric scientist James Hansen, discussing the reasons why the Earth was much warmer 65 million years ago. It all comes down to the CO2. YouTube Video ...

Cuomo Picks Open Space Advocate For DEC Chief
Gov. Andrew Cuomo will nominate Joe Martens to become the new head of the State Department of Environmental Conservation. Martens is currently the president of the New York-based Open Space Institute. The agency has been hit hard by layoffs and the last commissioner, Pete Grannis, was fired after a memo critical of layoffs was leaked to the press. Perhaps the most significant selection of Martens is his stance on Hydraulic Fracturing, a Controversial drilling process that involves blasting a c...

Chasing the dragon. Straight into Hell.
A group of Evangelical decry the Environmental Movement as “The Cult of the Green Dragon”: “Around the world, Environmentalism has become a radical movement,” Christian Talk Show radio host Janet Parshall said in a promotional video for the series. “Something we call the ‘Green Dragon.’ And it is deadly. Deadly to human prosperity, deadly to human life, deadly to human freedom. And deadly to the gospel of Jesus Christ.” But when Murfreesboro enviro...

Tonsillectomy Guidelines Could Reduce Kids' Surgeries
What is this? Parents and their child before a tonsillectomy at the Children's Hospital in Philadelphia in the 1950s. So who do I see to get my tonsils back? All right, I'm not sure I really want them returned because then I'm afraid I'd have to hand back the cool astronomy book my Mom brought me after the operation. Still, in looking over new guidelines on when kids should have their tonsils removed — and when they shouldn't — I'm thinking I probably could have avoided the knife way...

Ron Ashkenas: Return, Reenergize, and Reinvent Your Business
Cross-posted in Harvard Business Online A number of years ago I encountered a puzzling holiday phenomenon. I was working at what was then J.P. Morgan Bank with a back-office department in which the staff was hard-pressed to collect and reconcile data at the end of every month. Consequently the last week of each month was always stressful and came with the constant complaint that the department was short on staff. Yet somehow this same process in the month of December -- when many employees we...

Welcome to my coming-out party
A candid admission: There was a time when I hated it when my mother would call with an urgent request that I drop everything to take her shopping. These trips often involved the pursuit of trivial items — shoes, a table lamp, frozen strawberries. Or scatter rugs: In any given year, my mother would acquire enough scatter rugs to cover every inch of the playing field at Fenway Park [map], including the bullpens. I, on the other hand, had much more important things to do — such as go on...

Lexington councilwoman K.C. Crosbie to run for state Treasurer
Urban County Council Member K.C. Crosbie will file to run for state Treasurer next week, she confirmed on Thursday. Crosbie, a registered Republican, would likely take on Incumbent Todd Hollenbeck next fall if she wins the GOP nomination. Crosbie was re-elected to the LFUCG council in November. If she won the treasurer’s race, Mayor Jim Gray would appoint someone to finish out her term. Crosbie, 42, said she decided Wednesday to take the plunge after getting approval from her husband and ...

Bad news: Obamas Hawaiian vacation rental was illegal
“Illegal” is such an ugly word. Instead, let’s say that the rental wasn’t … properly documented. And before any Birthers e-mail me: Yes, yes, I know. “Neither is he.” Something for Darrell Issa to add to his list? President Barack Obama’s two-week stay at his Hawaii Winter White House was illegal under a long-standing Honolulu ban on short-term rentals. Obama did not break the law by staying at the house, but the property owner who rented his hou...

New Mexico May Recognize CA Marriages
It's a serious problem for thousands of California couples: as soon as they travel out of state, their marriages may no longer be recognized. That could spell disaster if one of them winds up in a Hospital while on Vacation, or if a family needs to move to take a new job. Californians may find themselves unable to make medical decisions for each other, or could find themselves with no legal custody over their Children. But New Mexico is taking steps to recognize all California marriages. Accordi...

Boston Herald Sportswriter Steve Buckley: 'I'm Gay'
Boston Herald sportswriter Steve Buckley revealed that he is gay in his latest column. In the column, titled "Welcome to my coming-out party," Buckley says that he had intended to tell his readers--and his listeners who hear him talk about Boston sports on local radio--about his Sexuality years ago, after his mother, who had been worried about the public reaction to such an admission, changed her mind: Just over seven years ago, before Thanksgiving, we were getting into the car outside of a CV...

Apple Restricts Employee Vacation Days in Advance of Spankin New iProduct
AppleInsider has it on good authority that the company has been quietly restricting some retail employees' Vacation days for three weeks starting later this month, and you know what fully staffed Apple Stores means?! Waiting in line for a futuristic-looking iProduct that will revolutionize your life and then seem obsolete and shabby two years hence! Steve Jobs has already achieved his annual goal of upstaging the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Vegas with today's announcement about the openin...

New Southwest frequent flier plan rewards price, not miles
It is unprecedented and risky for a major airline to completely remake its loyalty program from scratch, analysts said. “There’s never been a frequent-flier program, especially one of this size, that started all over again,” said Randy Peterson, editor, InsideFlyer Magazine. “There is certainly nothing left today of what we knew as Rapid Rewards.” Southwest’s goal is to link its rewards to the amount that travelers spend on travel at the low-cost carrier, exec...

Alaska Airlines Announces Low Fares to Its Nine Mexico Destinations
SEATTLE, Jan. 6, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air announced a winter fare sale with hot fares starting as low as $119 to nine Mexico destinations. Fares are good for travel from Jan. 10 through April 7, 2011. Tickets must be purchased by Jan. 18, 2011 and are available for purchase starting today at www.alaskaair.com and www.horizonair.com. "There's never been a better time to get away to Mexico with these low fares to your choice of nine great destinations," said Joe Sprague...

Burglars break door, toilet water freezes
DES MOINES, Iowa, Jan. 6 (UPI) -- Iowa police said a couple returned from a Vacation to find burglars had smashed a window in their home, causing the water in their toilet to freeze. Des Moines police said Charles Pope, who reported the Burglary Tuesday, told investigators he and his wife arrived home from their holiday Vacation to find a brick had been thrown through a glass door, The Des Moines Register reported Thursday. Police said there was water on the kitchen floor and in the basement. Th...

NPR Boss Who Fired Juan Williams Resigns...
Ellen Weiss resigned as senior vice president for news on the same day that NPR's board of directors completed its independent review of the dismissal of Williams. But the company came under withering criticism for the dismissal because it appeared rash and unfair since other NPR analysts have expressed their opinions with impunity. According to Williams, Weiss fired him over the phone without giving him a chance to defend himself in person. Williams said she accused him of Bigotry although he w...

Review Of Juan Williams Firing Complete: NPR To Undertake Ethics Review; Weiss Resigns, Schiller Denied Bonus
National Public Radio has completed an external, independent review of last year's firing of then-NPR news analyst Juan Williams for comments he made about being a-scurred of people in "Muslim garb" on airplanes. Per NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik, the review found that the Williams firing "was legal and within terms of contract." Nevertheless, NPR was advised to undertake a thorough review of "ethics and other policies," with an emphasis on "outside appearances by NPR News personnel...

A Millisecond Moment: When The Moon And Space Station Eclipse The Sun
French photographer Thierry Legault knew he had .86 seconds to get the shot. He'd flown to the Sultanate of Oman for the perfect vantage point. January 4th that part of the world saw a partial solar Eclipse, but Legault, who's a Veteran astrophotographer, didn't want just a spectacular shot of The Moon crossing in front of the sun. No, he wanted to capture that millisecond moment when The Moon and the International Space Station eclipsed the sun at the same time. He explained the logis...

NPR Says Executive in Williams Firing Has Resigned
Thursday, January 06, 2011 By Staff, Associated Press Washington (AP) - A senior executive at National Public Radio who had a role in the firing of commentator Juan Williams has resigned. NPR announced Thursday that Senior Vice-President for News Ellen Weiss has resigned, but gave no reason for that step. NPR simultaneously announced the completion of a review of the October firing of Williams, who has since taken on a bigger role with the Fox News Channel. Based on the review, NPR's Board ...