The Junk Mail Stops Here

Mail time at home has become an effort in futility for me these days. 90% of the mail is worthless junk mail. It infuriates me. I spend a good 15 minutes opening this crap so as to pull out my personal information for shredding. The remaining portion is directly recycled. While I have followed the opt out procedures for telemarketers, it is almost impossible to manage the same feat with junk mail. Enter my new best friend. Greendimes is a for-profit group that does the work for you to stop unwanted junk mail from ever reaching you. It saves paper. It saves water. They plant ten trees when you sign up. I just joined this group so cannot comment on the true extent of its effectiveness. It apparently can take up to three months to see the full benefit. However, if this removes even a fraction of the junk mail that arrives at this house, I will be a happy little Maus.

That Crazy Global Warming Myth

I've lamented to friends about the wall I run smack dab in to at work concerning the "crazy notion of global warming." I often find that I have nothing to say. This is not because I have nothing to say, but because I find that I simply cannot combat them. Seriously, if a group of otherwise intelligent people want to discount mounds of valid scientific data supporting global warming, what is a girl to do? How does one debate when the bottom line the enemy uses is that this is simply normal environmental cycling...even when it clearly is not?

What I find as one option is to use not the valid scientific evidence, but rather the real-life evidence provided by those among us who are living through the actual effects of global warming. If life was one way for a consistent period of time and now it is not and in fact it is not on such an extreme scale, well...I think we should listen. I think we *all* should listen. Honestly, whether you believe in global warming or not, *something* is happening to our environment. At the very least, we should respect the signs. We should respect the tales that our world neighbors are telling us...even if the tales are coming from developing countries. Perhaps that is why the effects are being discounted so much? I say, regardless of where the main effects are being seen right now, we should all start to accept it and do something about it because I assure you it is only a matter of time before it is on all our doorsteps. Mind you, I am one of the few at my work that feel it already is.

Is this for real?

Really, I want to know. 'Cause suggesting that teen girls use their, ummm... feminine charms for cash would be pretty weird for any store, but particularly for one that only sells edited versions of pop music. If anyone can prove or disprove the existence of these undies, which Feministing claims are being sold in the juniors departments of some Wal Mart stores, then you win... my thanks. But, really, is it real?

UPDATE: Yep, they're real.. but they've been, ummm..., removed from shelves in recent days.

Ayumu the Chimp is Smarter than You

Via.

Water Misers Sounds Dirty

I enjoyed this AJC article about the water conservation steps taken by one Roswell, GA couple who is making good use of gray water and rain barrels. Never willing to pass up even the weakest pun, though, the AJC subtitled the article "The Miser's Touch," a title that sorta insults the couple even while introducing an article which ostensibly seeks to promote responsible water usage during the drought.

Sigh.

Anyway, here is how the clever rain barrel chain works:

Let The Games Begin!

Right then. I was chastised for not having posted a sufficient number of blog posts as of late. Woe to those who challenge me.

Here is my news of the utterly bizarre courtesy of a friend in Scotland. We've seen one Haggis already. Game on. Who is gonna beat us?

Bravo to Creative Educational Methods

In honor of World AIDS Day, I submit this article for consideration.

Road Bike, Not Dope Bike

I realize that money runs the world. In particular, sponsorship rules the sporting world. It is refreshing to see that some companies still have principles.

I love cycling. I've even managed to teach Agincourt the fine art of cycling tactics. As an avid fan, I have been utterly saddened by the doping scandals to hit the sport. I suppose I should admit that I choose to believe that Lance Armstrong has always been clean, although that forces me to also admit that I am not always convinced of that. My hope is that the new generation of cyclists are indeed committed to making it a clean sport. My other hope is that sponsors continue to demand the same.