A Swift Boat a Day...

Wired magazine reports on, “a slick pro-Obama, anti-Clinton riff on Apple's 1984 Super Bowl commercial that's been the buzz of both the blogosphere and the media. By midweek, the Vote Different video had been viewed more than a million times, according to YouTube statistics.” Sarah Lai Stirland of Wired goes on to say, “The video's success has fired up a new round of debate about the impact of federal regulators' decision a year ago to exclude unpaid online political activity from the detailed disclosure requirements that apply to political advertising in traditional media.” This is an interesting development which means that political ads can now be even more dishonest and unethical--and entertaining. See the Wired article for links to some sample ads.

Fossil Fuel Walking

Every bushel of conventionally grown corn requires a half-gallon of fossil fuel to produce (nitrogen fertilizers and pesticides are made from fossil fuels). When you consider that about 60 percent of that corn goes to feed livestock, it’s possible to calculate…that a typical steer consumes about 284 gallons of oil in its lifetime. That’s enough fuel to drive an average car from New York to Los Angeles and back…[W]e could slow the rate of climate change more effectively if meat-eaters went vegan than if they traded their gas-guzzlers in for hybrids. (Amy Hassinger. “Ethical Eating.” UU World, Spring 2007.)