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Notable quotable

“We need to create new jobs in this country — green collar jobs that can help our economy and our environment. And I’d like to point out that that’s my term — ‘green collar’ jobs. See, I can come up with exciting phrases.” — Hillary Clinton … at least according to The Onion.

New study: Ordinary soot second biggest driver of climate change

After carbon dioxide, the second largest contributor to global warming is ordinary soot, according to new research published Sunday in Nature Geoscience. So-called "black carbon" has up to 60 percent the warming effects of the more oft-noted culprit CO2. The implication is fairly radical: Quickly reducing soot could have substantial short-term effects on the rate […]

Out of the mire man made of Earth, back to the father who gave us birth

In the Christian tradition, Easter Sunday marks Jesus’ ascent from death to eternal life. In Iraq, this Easter Sunday marked the death of the war’s four thousandth U.S. solider.

Duplicitous sand dollars and tenacious sea worms

A federal appeals court ruled that a Hong Kong company should not have been forced to give up the proceeds from 32 tons of shark fins seized by the U.S. Coast Guard in 2002 from the vessel King Diamond II. The 64,695 pounds of shark fins were valued at $618,956 ...

... a three-year study found a thriving reef fish community around three freighters sunk off the coast of Florida ...

... a graduate student discovered that sand dollar larvae can clone themselves in an effort to escape predation ...

Friday music blogging: Kathleen Edwards

Sometimes an artist you’ve categorized and filed away surprises you. So it is with Canadian singer-songwriter Kathleen Edwards. Her 2003 debut Failer introduced her as a total kick in the pants — an Americana-tinged female singer who combined disarming vulnerability with raspy, almost confrontational bluntness. The follow-up, Back to Me, sounded less varied and more […]

A roundup of news snippets

• Wal-Mart will sell milk without rBST. • John McCain discusses climate with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. • California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger boots Clint Eastwood off the California parks comission. • Skeptics raise questions about Norway’s quest for carbon neutrality. • Home Depot donates $30 million to Habitat for Humanity to build green.

High oil prices revive urban oil drilling

The high price of oil has spurred many drillers to revisit formerly abandoned wells all over the country, including some in towns and cities. Suburban developments that have sprung up near old wells abandoned years ago are seeing oil drillers returning to their old ‘hood, often using new techniques to extract every drop of oil […]

A roundup of news snippets

Hospitals recycle surgical blades to reduce waste … Mass-produce a 100-mpg car, win $10 million … That Easter egg is way overpackaged … Congo park ranger accused of killing gorillas.

Not anytime soon, according to the U.S. Court of Appeals

The brutal practice of shark finning got a boost this week as the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that a Hong Kong company should not have lost the proceeds from 64,695 pounds of shark fins seized by the Coast Guard in 2002.

Let me repeat that figure: 64,695 pounds of shark fins alone were on that boat. That's the weight of more than eleven Cadillac Escalades. Or eight female African elephants. Or 470 Oxford dictionaries.

Much of U.S. Midwest flooded, weather service warns of more to come

Heavy rains in the U.S. Midwest since Monday have flooded large parts of the region, with some areas enduring over a foot of rain. Officials warned of more flooding to come as communities downriver and downstream brace themselves for hugely increased flows. Thousands of people have been evacuated, including more than 500 homes in Missouri. […]