The Occupy movement has been going green, so why not make your green get Occupied? Occupy George has some pretty stark money-based infographics, and templates for printing them onto your own bills. Chances are any bill in your possession will eventually end up in the pocket of the 1 percent, so why not let it educate them while it's there? (We checked, and this is legal -- you're not allowed to deface a bill "with intent to render such item(s) unfit to be reissued," but these are clearly still circulable.) 

Does anyone else remember those Ben Stiller Show sketches where Bruce Springsteen would, like, deliver a baby? Jon Bon Jovi is basically that, but for real. He's opening a community kitchen in New Jersey where patrons pay what they can afford -- or, if they can't afford it, they can get gift certificates in exchange for volunteer work in the kitchen, the kitchen garden, or elsewhere in the community. (And don't act like you're too good to work in the kitchen. You know who works in the kitchen? JON BON JOVI works in the kitchen. No fooling, he washes pots …

Remember when physicist Richard Muller was called to testify in the House by denialist Republicans who thought he'd debunk global warming, and he ended up supporting it instead? That was fun! And it just happened again on a grander scale. Muller's group at Berkeley, which was funded in part by the Charles G. Koch foundation, has reexamined (with a skeptical eye, of course) a metric crapload of climate information -- including data from the University of East Anglia, i.e. Climategate Central. Their conclusion? "Global warming is real." Direct quote. "Our biggest surprise was that the new results agreed so closely …

Here's a really scary story for your Halloween: The candy you're handing out might have been made by foreign students who were tricked into factory labor. Hershey's, which also distributes Cadbury candy in the U.S. and Nabisco candy in Canada, charged students up to $6,000 for a "summer work and travel" program, which actually consisted of drudgery at the packing plant. Students like Mr. Ureche, who had paid as much as $6,000 to take part in the program, expected a chance to see the best of this country, to make American friends and sightsee, with a summer job to help finance …

A few places around the internet are calling this phenomenon -- quantum levitation -- the first step to magical hover-trains. This is probably not true, according to my physics source (it's my husband). Maglev trains use superconducting magnets, but that's just a type of electromagnet -- it has nothing to do with the Meissner effect, which is what's being demonstrated here. Also, the disk they're levitating includes a sapphire wafer, which is maybe not a sustainable train-building material. Plus, that smoke's not for show; the effect only works when the disk is very very cold. But who cares, really? This …

Well, no. He's not. But that's the beauty of this clip, where Australian comedian Craig Reucassel interviews completely over-the-top climate denier Lord Monckton as though he were a Sascha Baron Cohen creation. It's a masterpiece of layered irony -- Reucassel gives a deadpan interview worthy of Ali G while pretending that Monckton is doing the same. We all wish people like Monckton were satirical characters, so this is a refreshing peek into an alternate universe where he's actually a comedy genius who's been punking us all this time. Do Rick Perry next!

So, talking about global warming is "alarmism"? Hardly. In many cases, it now turns out, climate reality has been much worse than climate scientists predicted. The Arctic now has ice-free summers, 90 years in advance of predictions. Animals are fleeing to higher elevations twice as fast as models said. Extinction rates are double what was expected, too.  Science historian Naomi Oreskes puts these discrepancies down to scientists being overly conservative in their predictions. Conservative estimates are thought to protect credibility, Oreskes says, so scientists tend to understate climate impacts. The peer review process also rewards sober assessments, and the media could …

We noted yesterday that 48 exotic animals had escaped from an Ohio farm, and that authorities were handling the problem by shooting them. That's enough of a downer, but the more details we hear the worse it gets. There ended up being more than 50 animals running amok, and 49 of them were killed, including 18 endangered Bengal tigers and 17 lions. Local police say they did try to sedate the animals instead of killing them, but they didn't really have tranquilizers suited to 300-pound wildcats. And, as if that's not enough, the reason they were loose in the first place …

The risk that potatoes might be restricted in school lunches sent Stephen Colbert into a twitching, shouting anxiety spiral. But all is well, Stephen -- your tater tots will remain unmolested! The Senate voted down a measure that would have limited starchy vegetables to one cup per student per week. ("Starchy vegetables" includes corn. Just saying.) Sen. Mark Udall of Colorado did point out that the problem isn't potatoes, or corn or peas or lima beans (also starchy vegetables) -- it's the fact that schools prepare all of those by deep-frying them and/or adding butter. Which means the reprieve on …

Let's not forget the importance of land use and resource allocation.