Hey, how’s the killer beach party very serious United Nations climate conference in Bali been going? According to the Sydney Morning Herald:
The air-conditioning system installed to keep more than 10,000 delegates cool used highly damaging refrigerant gases — as lethal to the atmosphere as 48,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide, and nearly the equivalent of the emissions of all aircraft used to fly delegates to Indonesia…
Staff from Australia’s Natural Refrigerants Transition Board and the London- and Washington-based Environmental Investigation Agency noticed the stockpiled cylinders of hydrochlorofluorocarbons — a refrigerant likely to be phased out over the next few years because it devours ozone in the upper atmosphere.
In addition, the refrigerant is a potent greenhouse gas, with each kilogram at least as damaging as 1.7 tonnes of carbon dioxide.
Whoops! There are over 700 13.5-kg canisters of the gas, and some of them are leaking. I’ll bet that’s not the only leak the U.N. organizers would like to plug up!
A woman who won a BRAND! NEW! CAR! on “The Price Is Right” is suing, claiming that the game show passed off a lemon as a prize.
Donna Tillman won a 2004 Pontiac GTO Coupe during her appearance on the show, but when the car was delivered, the mileage was suspiciously high for a new vehicle. Following a fender-bender several months later, a Pontiac dealership in her hometown told her the car had previously sustained major damage to its frame that had been rehabilitated and concealed.
The show’s lawyers said they had no comment on the lawsuit.
One of my favorite political-junkie web tools is the Truth-o-Meter at Politi-Fact.com, which is run by The St. Petersburg Times and Congressional Quarterly. Editors rank statements made by and about U.S. presidential candidates on a scale from “True” to “Pants on Fire.”Best bets for entertaining reading (in the “false” and “on fire” categories):
- Rudy Giuliani: “I’m probably one of the four or five best-known Americans in the world.”
- Mike Huckabee: The signers of the U.S. Declaration of Independence were “brave people, most of whom, by the way, were clergymen.”
- Barack Obama: “If we went back to the obesity rates that existed in 1980, that would save the Medicare system a trillion dollars.”
- Hillary Clinton: “It’s just outrageous that under President Bush, the National Institutes of Health have been basically decreased in funding.”
- Joe Biden: “There are 300,000 babies born deformed every year in this country because of women who are alcoholics while they’re carrying those children to term.”
- Mike Gravel (yeah, I know he’s more like a punchline than a candidate): “In 1972, we had a 179,000 human beings in jail in this country. Today, it’s 2.3-million, and 70 percent of them are black, African-American.”
More at the source. Fun stuff.
Michael Jackson went on a late-night buying binge at Barnes & Noble in Las Vegas looking like a creature from the crypt. What was visible of his face was covered in bandages, fueling rumors that he’s gone under the knife recently.
I know what you’re thinking: “Michael Jackson, plastic surgery? You libelous wench!” At least, Michael Jackson would be thinking that. In the documentary Living with Michael Jackson, the former King of Pop admitted to having undergone only two cosmetic procedures. So would whatever it is that has him mummified qualify as the third?
Former rapper Eminem has been enjoying his time out of the spotlight for the last few years, but that could change with the release of My Son Marshall, My Son Eminem, a tell-all book written by his mom, Debbie Nelson. She’s had to put up with a lot of grief from her son over the years, including the worst fate imaginable: watching Kim Basinger portray her in a movie.
Now the femme-sire strikes back! According to Page Six:
Nelson alleges Em made up his whole hard-knock childhood in order to succeed in rap…
“After his first album, Infinite, flopped, he reinvented himself as white trailer trash with a crazy welfare mom. I was shocked when I first heard the lyrics… but he constantly reassured me it was all a big joke… I went along with it for Marshall’s sake.”
Damn. So 8 Mile didn’t really happen that way? Next you’ll try to tell me Insane Clown Posse ain’t really gansta. Don’t even! Just don’t.
Newsweek has uncovered an incident from 1998 when presidential candidate and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee protected his son from prosecution after he tortured and killed a stray dog while employed as a counselor at Boy Scout Camp. The elder Huckabee leaned on the director of the state police, John Bailey, to deny a prosectuor’s request for an investigation into the matter, but then was fired:
“I’ve lost confidence in your ability to do your job,” Bailey says Huckabee told him. One reason Huckabee cited was “I couldn’t get you to help me with my son when I had that problem,” according to Bailey.
All of God’s creatures — right, preacher? Maybe Michael Vick needs a cell mate.
Hayden on dolphins (11/2/07):
“Now more than ever the world has to come together to make changes. Just because certain cultures [ed: like the Japanese] have had long-standing traditions does not mean that in today’s world they are acceptable any longer. The world and the environment are evolving and that means we must change our ways as human beings as well.”
Hayden on cows (order now):
“What if you had the chance to design the handbag you’ve always wanted? For Hayden Panettiere, currently starring in NBC’s hit show Heroes, it was an exciting opportunity. She began by describing to Peter Dooney just what she envisioned: a large leather shoulder bag with puffy pleats, a buckle closure and great style. The design team made some sketches, then Peter Dooney transformed her ideas into prototypes at Dooney & Bourke’s design studio in Florence, Italy. After several revisions and lots of input from Hayden, the limited edition Hayden Bag was born.”
And it’s only 500 bucks! Lesson to Japanese dolphin hunters: Just give Hayden a cut of the take, put her initials on the lil’ fellas’ skins, and you’ll be golden. Or in this case, red. Red like, say, blood.
(Hat Tip: I’m Not Obsessed)
This might be a stretch, perhaps a bit meta, but Merriam-Webster has announced the winner of its 2007 Word of the Year contest. (Last year’s winner was “truthiness.”) My favorite Google News search term, “hypocrite,” made this year’s finalists, but it lost out to…
Are you sitting down?
The winner is: “w00t”! That’s right, the Word of the Year has numbers in it. Congratulations to all you l33t gamers out there, because your victorious exclamation of choice is now an actual word. Go celebrate by killing some orcs or dragons or whatever. (Tip: I’ve found that a folded-up Hefty bag tucked into the collar of my shirt makes the Doritos crumbs slide right off. HTH!)
Better luck next year, “hypocrite.” We’ll do our part to keep you on people’s minds.
Lindsay Lohan has been watching her movie career wither and die after all of her addiction problems this year. But she knows her face on the cover of a magazine will move copies, so why not help it along and sell staged photographs of her going to a recording studio — “in full hair and makeup” — to generate a little extra cash?
Because she did a whole interview with Radar magazine earlier this year about how the paparazzi goes too far, and posed provocatively with a gun over the body of a photographer. Even then, she equivocated to Nylon magazine:
“I wouldn’t ever want them to not take my picture,” she says. “I’d be worried. I’d be like, ‘Do people not care about me?’”
Clearly the media needs to revive that flagging affection. Or else.
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