Evidence of water was just discovered on Mars, but as George Monblot writes in the Guardian the search continues for signs of intelligent life on Earth......he lists just a few of the ways we are plundering the resources of our planet, and even without climate change we are in trouble....
Good article.....
E
vidence for flowing water on Mars: this opens up the possibility of life, of wonders we cannot begin to imagine. Its discovery is an astonishing achievement. Meanwhile, Martian scientists continue their search for intelligent life on Earth.
We may be captivated by the thought of organisms on another planet, but we seem to have lost interest in our own. The Oxford Junior Dictionary has been excising the waymarks of the living world. Adders, blackberries, bluebells, conkers, holly, magpies, minnows, otters, primroses, thrushes, weasels and wrens are now surplus to requirements.
In the past four decades, the world has lost 50% of its vertebrate wildlife. But across the latter half of this period, there has been a steep decline in media coverage. In 2014, according to a study at Cardiff University, there were as many news stories broadcast by the BBC and ITV about Madeleine McCann (who went missing in 2007) as there were about the entire range of environmental issues.
Think of what would change if we valued terrestrial water as much as we value the possibility of water on Mars. Only 3% of the water on this planet is fresh; and of that, two-thirds is frozen. Yet we lay waste to the accessible portion. Sixty per cent of the water used in farming is needlessly piddled away by careless irrigation. Rivers, lakes and aquifers are sucked dry, while what remains is often so contaminated that it threatens the lives of those who drink it. In the UK, domestic demand is such that the upper reaches of many rivers disappear during the summer. Yet still we install clunky old toilets and showers that gush like waterfalls.
The Pope had a very successful visit - he consolidated his position as the "cool" Pope, but he still represents one of the richest and most conservative institutions in the world, and although he sounds good on social issues none of the controversial positions have changed to any significant degree....
And he had a secret meeting with Kim Davis, the Kentucky bigot....
(Credit: Reuters/Max Rossi/AP/Timothy D. Easley/Photo montage by Salon)
Imagine if a rumor started to spread that Kim Davis – the Kentucky clerk disdained by many liberals for her very noisy opposition to gay marriage – had met with Jon Stewart, or Elizabeth Warren, or Bernie Sanders, or Cornel West, or just about any progressive hero. It would be pretty clear that it was either a hoax, or a media stunt resembling a cage match. We’d expect leaked photos with the two wearing boxing gloves.
But the early murmurings that Davis met with Pope Francis, increasingly known among liberals and lefties as the Cool Pope, turned out to be for real. After half a day of speculation, the New York Times confirmed the encounter with reference to a Vatican spokesman.
Ms. Davis, the Rowan County clerk, has been at the center of a nationwide controversy over whether government employees and private businesses have a legal right to refuse to serve same-sex couples. She spent five days in jail for disobeying a federal court order to issue the licenses.On Tuesday night, her lawyer, Mathew D. Staver, said in a telephone interview that Ms. Davis and her husband, Joe, were sneaked into the Vatican Embassy by car on Thursday afternoon. Francis gave her rosaries and told her to “stay strong,” the lawyer said.
This should make any progressive who digs the pope wonder a little bit.
Whew......Trevor Noah had a pretty good first show.....he's quite funny, charming and quick too.....give this show a few weeks and it'll be great! Not like the Master, but still worth watching.....
Two clips - his opener [3 minutes] and a piece on politics [5 minutes]....
Trevor Noah kicked off his inaugural Daily Showtonight by addressing how “weird” this transition is, thanking Jon Stewart, and promising to continue “the war on bullshit” that Stewart spoke of in his final Daily Show last month.
Noah got all of the awkwardness out at the top before continuing things in true Daily Show fashion: riffing on the Pope’s visit––”he rolls humble”––and the departure of John Boehner, to which Noah cried, “Why leave now? I just got here!”
But when Jordan Klepper came on to report on the transition of a man named John and the scramble to replace him with a younger, fresher face… well, you can probably guess where this is going…
Got excellent credit? You may want to think about one of these cards.....I have looked at these and can't tell if they are promotions, but the deals look great....
Full disclosure - I have the first one!
Top 7 Credit Card Offers For Those With Excellent Credit
by Tasha Lockyer November 6, 2013
I'm lucky enough to not have to take multiple meds or anything expensive, so I am not familiar with this appalling story of a doctor's monthly nightmare to fill his prescriptions......and he's a doctor! We have the worst, most unfair and most fucked up medical system in the world.....
A painful story from the Times.....
We spend a lot of time talking about various metrics of quality or access in the American health care system. The problem with many of them is that they rarely seem to capture the issues that people face in dealing with care. Although many metrics are improving, problems remain that still seem insurmountable.
It’s true that the number of people with no insurance has gone down significantly since the Affordable Care Act was passed. But that’s only one measure of access. In many other ways, access is still surprisingly bad. I rarely use anecdotes to make my point, but in this column I’ll make an exception.
Todays collection of awful puns
I tried to catch some Fog. I mist.When chemists die, they barium.Jokes about German sausage are the wurst.A soldier who survived mustard gas and pepper spray is now a seasoned veteran.I know a guy who's addicted to brake fluid. He says he can stop any time.How does Moses make his tea? Hebrews it.I stayed up all night to see where the sun went. Then it dawned on me.This girl said she recognized me from the vegetarian club, but I'd never met herbivore.I'm reading a book about anti-gravity. I can't put it down.I did a theatrical performance about puns. It was a play on words.They told me I had type A blood, but it was a Type O.A dyslexic man walks into a bra and orders a martini.Class trip to the Coca-Cola factory. I hope there's no pop quiz.Energizer Bunny arrested. Charged with battery.I didn't like my beard at first. Then it grew on me.How do you make holy water? Boil the hell out of it!
Stephen Colbert finally faced off with Donald Trump tonight and told him very bluntly that it’s hard to discern between his over-the-top comments and over-the-top comments his faux conservative character used to say.