On the subject of the Middle East, two things come to mind: oil and sand. Oh, and Jennifer Aniston giving up her first-class cocoon on Emirates Air for a middle seat between two kids playing video games.
So why is Dubai importing sand?
Month: October 2016
Climate Change – Real or Hoax?
The western United States has suffered a large increase in wildfires in over the past three decades. A new study reports that the area burned is twice what used to be normal. That’s an additional 16,000 square miles of scorched earth. The report blames climate change; more specifically, climate change caused by human activity.
The higher temperatures dry the air, sucking moisture from plants, trees and dead vegetation. Millions of trees are dead, killed by warm-weather beetles. Less snow fall means less snow melt which means drier ground.
The report concludes that wildfires may eventually become smaller as there is less to burn.
For some amusement, read the comments below the Los Angeles Times story. Deniers are eager to flaunt their willful ignorance by posting the same dreary, debunked bromides.
Why Does Austin Texas Have Six Congress Persons?
Gerrymandering has a long and proud tradition in the state of Texas. Republicans have been firmly in control for years. In 2012, the Texas legislature redrew the lines for Congressional districts. Austin, famous as an island of weirdness in a deep-red state, presented a challenge: how to prevent a liberal area from sending a liberal politician to the Congress. Republicans were up to the challenge, however. They carved Austin up into six districts, one stretching in a narrow eighty-mile band all the way to San Antonio.
Here is the Daily Show’s portrait of Austin:
Recollecting About Sexual Assault
All the news lately about sexual assault brings to mind the story of the Rideouts, On October 10, 1978, Greta Rideout called the police in Salem, Oregon to report that she had been beaten by her husband John, who then raped her in front of their two-year-old daughter. The subsequent trial made national headlines and even resulted in a TV movie featuring Mickey Rourke and Linda Hamilton.
The Gray Lady Responds, “Smack!”
Donald Trump’s attorney to New York Times:
“We hereby demand that you immediately cease any further publication of this article, remove it from your website and issue a full and immediate retraction and apology. Failure to do so will leave my client with no option but to pursue all available actions and remedies.”
New York Times attorney responds:
“If Mr. Trump disagrees, if he believes that American citizens had no right to hear what these women had to say and that the law of this country forces us and those who would dare to criticize him to stand silent or be punished, we welcome the opportunity to have a court set him straight.”
The Great Monster Cereal Panic
Sales of cold cereal have been declining in recent years. The quick and smarmy answer would be it’s the millennial generation. They don’t eat cereal because it’s too much trouble to clean the bowl afterwards. Critics claim ready-to-eat cereal has much too much sugar and little nutritional value. Whatever the reason, it’s not as worrisome as the great Franken Berry Stool scare of the seventies.
Panicked mothers rushed their children to emergency rooms around the nation, fearing internal bleeding. Turned out it was merely the red dye General Mills used to give their Red Razberry Zingers cereal its appealing color. Similar outcomes resulted from eating Count Chocula, Boo Berry and other sugar- and color-filled “Monster” cereals marketed to children.