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The pop star shares his holiday plans

Ever wonder what celebrities do for the holidays? Are they sipping Cristal and nibbling foie gras, or throwing back eggnog and turkey giblets like the rest of us?

During a phone chat with pop star Moby this week, I got the chance to ask that very question. A strict vegan, Moby hasn't touched anything close to eggnog for 20 years, so what is he chowing on this weekend? You might be surprised by what's on -- or off -- his menu.

The following is a snippet from a longer discussion about Moby's new release Go, a two-disc "best of" album, and his work with various political and social causes. Consider it an appetizer, a holiday-themed taste of what's to come. Stay tuned for the full interview -- or main course, as it were -- in the illustrious pages of Grist next week.

Albertsons joins the ‘green list’

For the past two years my organization has been working with supermarkets around the country to get them to post FDA warnings about mercury in seafood.

The FDA warns women of childbearing age (including pregnant and nursing women) and young children to avoid eating any swordfish, tilefish, shark, or king mackerel, and to limit their consumption of albacore tuna and tuna steaks. One store we've focused on, along with Women's Voices for the Earth in Missoula, is Albertsons.

Today, I'm happy to report that Albertsons and its subsidiaries Acme, Jewel-Osco, Shaw's, and Star Market will be posting that much-needed advice at their seafood counters.

George Allen’s parting shot

Priceless:

As a last little gift to America, Senator George Allen, who was narrowly defeated by James Webb this month, has introduced what may be his final piece of legislation: a bill that would allow the carrying of concealed weapons in national parks.

(via TP)

Enviros, believe it or not, protest

A government commission has recommended lifting Australia's restrictions on nuclear energy and uranium mining, according to a report by Tim Johnston in The New York Times and the International Herald Tribune.

Australia, with 40% of the world's uranium reserves, currently has no commercial nuclear power plants and strictly limits uranium mining. Along with the U.S., Australia refused to join as a signatory to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol.

The panel, commissioned by Prime Minister John Howard's government last June, asserted that developing nuclear power and easing curbs on uranium mining could reduce carbon emissions from coal and lift revenues from uranium exports by $1.4 billion a year. The commission advocated constructing 25 nuclear reactors to supply a third of Australia's electricity by 2050.

Electric bike talk

This post is for all the nerds out there who keep sending me emails with technical questions. Consider it an update to my update.

I designed a new battery holder out of PVC sheet to replace the wooden box used on my first prototype. I also replaced a fried switch with one that has a higher current rating and designed a new wiring harness with quick disconnects. My lead-acid battery pack is already starting to take less charge and I have now relegated it to back-up status.

‘Chaotic systems are not predictable’–Sure, but who says climate is chaotic?

(Part of the How to Talk to a Global Warming Skeptic guide)

Objection: Climate is an inherently chaotic system, and as such its behavior can not be predicted.

Answer: Firstly, let's make sure we define climate: an average of weather patterns over some meaningful time period. We may thus discount the chaotic annual fluctuations of global mean temperature. That's weather, and one or two anomalous years does not represent a climate shift.

Quite a few people believe that climate is a chaotic system, and maybe on some large-scale level it is. But it is not chaotic on anything approaching the time scales of which humans need to be mindful.

I’m having a pessimistic day

Sometimes I am amazed at the stories that come to light about the duplicity, dishonesty, and plain old inadequacy of politicians and industries. OK, not amazed. Perhaps outraged. What really gets my goat (ha! Did I really just say "gets my goat"?) is that these stories show up in the MSM, and are read, and I'm sure people are amazed/outraged, and then ... what? Then nothing, that's what. We go back to staring out the window at the rain.

To wit:

Perpetually

AP:

As many as 100 million acres of cropland and pastures would have to be dedicated to cultivating biomass fuels like switchgrass to support a national goal of 25 percent renewable energy use by 2025, a University of Tennessee study says.

Moreover, new commercial technologies will be needed to turn switchgrass, wheat, rice and forest products into ethanol fuel, now principally made from corn, and their byproducts into feedstock for power generation.

And on that note, see: Robert Rapier, "Cellulosic Ethanol Reality Check"

Yes? No? Maybe?

I've seen about 10 head-scratchers since the election about the prospects of climate-change legislation in the new Democratic Congress. They're all working with the same basic premises:

• Scientific consensus has rendered denialism untenable.
• International pressure is growing.
• Barbara Boxer, the new Senate EPW committee chair, gets it.
• John Dingell, chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, doesn't get it.
• Dingell is in powerful thrall to American automakers, who still -- unbelievably -- don't get it.
• The oil barons have Democratic quislings in the House too, not just Republicans.
• Bush may veto a bill, or then again, may be forced to compromise.

Every piece more or less rearranges these facts. If I were smarter, better at self-promotion, and less lazy, I would have cranked out such a piece myself.

All of this is a roundabout way of saying that Brad Plumer at The New Republic has one of these pieces out. It's better than most, and has some background on Dingell's history on climate change. Worth a read.

America’s national feast has seen better days, but remains well worth preserving

In every era the attempt must be made anew to wrest tradition away from a conformism that is about to overpower it. — Walter Benjamin, “Theses on the Philosophy of History” Eat, drink, and be mindful. Photo: iStockphoto Does Thanksgiving suck? There’s certainly a potent case to be made. In a land where communal eating […]