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wilful (3)

A new study finds that re-usable grocery bags don't harbor sickening bacteria as much as previously found. Turns out, the previous study (June, 2010), which reported significant levels of sickness producing bacteria present in the bags they tested, was sponsored by the American Chemistry Council, an organization that represents the interests of the people who manufacture plastic bags. “A person eating an average bag of salad greens gets more exposure to these bacteria than if they had licked the insides of the dirtiest bag from this study,” says an expert.
posted by crunchland on Jun 28, 2011 - 67 comments

The draft Garnaut Climate Change Review was released last Friday. This is the most comprehensive look so far at the economic implications of climate change and emissions trading for a developed country (Australia). Essential (but weighty) reading for those interested in the economics of the issue, a useful localisation of Stern (2006). [more inside]
posted by wilful on Jul 6, 2008 - 18 comments

The costs of climate change adaptation are estimated at US$1 Trillion* (wordwide, by 2050), equal to one year's growth. "Our analysis suggests that there are technologically feasible and relatively low-cost options for controlling carbon emissions to the atmosphere. Estimates suggest that the level of GDP might be reduced by no more than around 2-3% in 2050 if this strategy was followed, equivalent to sacrificing only around a year of economic growth for the sake of reducing carbon emissions in 2050 by around 60% compared to our baseline scenario. But if this is to be achieved, it will take further concerted action by governments, businesses and individuals over a broad range of measures to boost energy efficiency, adopt a greener fuel mix, and introduce carbon capture and storage technologies in power plants and other major industrial facilities". * that's less than half one cock-arse war!
posted by wilful on Oct 1, 2006 - 13 comments

More gloomy news on the whole climate change thing. It seems that Greenland's ice caps are melting three times as fast as previously measured (ultimately, in a thousand years or so, leading to a 6.5m sea level rise). While at the other end of the planet, it's not snowing as much as we hoped to limit sea level rises. But hey, we can still laugh about it, right?
posted by wilful on Aug 10, 2006 - 29 comments

Jon Johansen of DeCSS fame has made a program that strips iTunes ACC files of DRM. Here is what he has to say about it. Maybe I will give iTunes a try after all.
posted by epimorph on Nov 26, 2003 - 16 comments

Life imitates "art" as the singer for Brazilian rockers ACC storms the studio, so to speak, and forces a DJ to play his band's record over and over for an hour. Are things really this desperate?
posted by mikrophon on Sep 19, 2002 - 12 comments