Our Descent Into Madness

From Boing Boing, check out the strange and wonderful art of Aganetha Dyck. She collaborates with bees.

Just one more reason to be sad and frightened about colony collapse disorder.

Oh dear. From Treehugger:

According to a recent nationwide online survey, 72 percent of the American public does not know that conventional plastic is made from petroleum products, primarily oil. Moreover, 40 percent of the respondents believe that plastic will biodegrade at some point. The survey was conducted by InsightExpress on behalf of Metabolix, a company that manufactures a biodegradable plastic made with corn. In their press release, Metabolix says “…Very few people realize that plastics are made from oil, further contributing to the problems of energy dependence, greenhouse gas emissions and depleting resources. In fact, nearly 10 percent of U.S. oil consumption - approximately 2 million barrels a day - is used to make plastic.

Despite the fact that petroleum-based plastic will never biodegrade, 40 percent of respondents believe that it will biodegrade underground, in home compost, in landfills, or in the ocean. Plastics will not biodegrade in any of these environments. In fact, the only way to rid the planet of existing plastic is by incineration in those cases where it can be recovered.”

Take this quiz to see the crap kids are fed in school cafeterias and how it’s justified by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which regulates it.

Yep, they exist. There is one underwater post office, and there are four underwater mailboxes. Bizarre.

And for good reason. From RH Reality Check:

Citing “several federally funded abstinence-only-until-marriage programs that include medically inaccurate information in violation of federal law” the ACLU, Adovcates for Youth and SIECUS today put the Bush Administration on notice: comply with the law or be prepared to go to court in 30 days.

A nine-page letter notifies Secretary of Health and Human Services Micahel O. Leavitt of violations of federal statutes that require medically accurate information. Listing numerous abstinence-only documents, web sites and teachings published with taxpayer dollars that contain blatantly false and medically inaccurate information, the letter challenges HHS to change the abstinence-only materials or be forced to by the courts.

“This is not the first time HHS has been asked to address serious problems in federally funded abstinence-only-until-marriage programs,” said Julie Sternberg, Senior Staff Attorney with the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project and author of today’s letter. “The federal government’s insistence on putting ideology before teenagers’ health has to stop.”

“HHS cannot justify giving teens incomplete and misleading information about how to protect themselves against unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infection, including HIV,” said John Santelli, MD, MPH, Chair of the Heilbrunn Department of Population and Family Health at Columbia University and the author of a 20-page declaration enumerating the medical inaccuracies in the federal programs. The declaration accompanied today’s letter.

Comprehensive sex education is necessary for a just, informed, healthy, and responsible society. Tax paying citizens should be insulted and outraged to see their money used to pay for the opposite (and so should everyone, for that matter).

Octopus tentacles, severed and writhing on a plate. I think I just gave up all sea food.

I warned you…

Via Boing Boing.

If you haven’t already read this intense post about a man having to choose whether or not to terminate a pregnancy (his wife was unconscious and her life was at risk), do so. It’s a powerful personal account that would convince any decent human that safe abortion must be guananteed in a just society.

Over at Feministe, Jill has called attention to a gross pro-life comment, which is worth a glance, but I’d like to call attention to just a single sentence:

I am strongly pro-life (of the baby).

Wow.

That’s the whole thing right there, isn’t it? Pro-life, yes, but for embryos only.

This is hilarious.

In 1989 the Barbie Liberation Organization was formed. Taking advantage of similarities in the voice hardware of Teen Talk Barbie and the Talking Duke G.I. Joe doll, er, “action figure,” they absconded with several hundred of each and performed a stereotype-change operation on the lot.

The BLO returned the altered dolls to the toy store shelves, who then resold them to children who had to invent scenarios for Barbies who yelled “Vengeance is mine!” and G.I. Joes who daydreamed “Let’s plan our dream wedding!” Cleverly placed “call your local TV news” stickers on the back ensured that the media would have genuine recipients to interview as soon as the news broke.

One BLO member counted up the many benefits of their program: “The storekeepers make money twice, we stimulate the economy — the consumer gets a better product — and our message gets heard.”

For those of you who can’t read that smaller text, it says “Luckily, we checked ourselves into a special hospital and had the damage reversed. You can help us! Give us new voices!”

Love it.

Via We Make Money Not Art.

Please, watch this slide show by Amnesty International.

Quick facts:

1. One out of three native women will be raped or sexually assaulted.

2. This means that they’re twice as likely as other women in the U.S. to be raped or sexually assaulted.

3. 86% of these women are raped by men that are non-native.

Now take action.

Via Feministing.

Students at Turner County High School in Ashburn, GA, just celebrated their first multi-racial prom. This year.

Although segregation ended in this farming community years ago, some say the old ways never truly died. And every spring, while schools around the country planned junior/senior proms, Turner County’s parents and students planned two unofficial private proms — one for the white students, and one for the black.

Meaning, although segregation ended in this farming community years ago, it didn’t. Apparently, this has been accepted as an “okay” practice because it’s organized privately, by parents. Maybe I shouldn’t be so surprised by this story. But I am.