Saturday skittles

Melissa Harris-Perry's apology to the Steubenville rape survivor.


Peru Bans Monsanto and GMOs

The decree banning GMO foods was drafted in 2008. It not only bans GMO crops like Monsanto’s BT-Corn, but also expands on a prior law that required all foods on supermarket shelves that contain GMOs to be labeled. Those GMO containing foods will now be completely banned. After being subjected to public discussion, being amended, and finally passed in the Peruvian congress in April of 2011, the ban is finally going into effect this week. 

A study done in April of 2011 by the Peruvian Association of Consumers and Users (ASPEC) tested 13 products purchased in major supermarkets and shops in Lima, Peru. Unsurprisingly, 10 out of 13 tested positive for containing GMOs.

Pesticide Suspected in Bee Die-Offs Could Also Kill Birds

Controversial pesticides linked to catastrophic honeybee declines in North America and Europe may also kill other creatures, posing ecological threats even graver than feared, say some scientists.

According to a report by the American Bird Conservancy, the dangers of neonicotinoid pesticides to birds, and also to stream- and soil-dwelling insects accidentally exposed to the chemicals, have been underestimated by regulators and downplayed by industry.

First transgender character in comics.

4 Myths About Emergency Contraception Explained

One way to deal with our nation's obesity problem

Threaten them with Peruvian gangs:

Peruvian gang allegedly killed for human fat for cosmetics

It's WTF Wednesday!

Oh boy...

A sharp increase in swine flu cases in Australia may mean the infection has become a pandemic, the World Health Organization says.

For that to happen, officials would have to verify that the disease had become established outside North America, where the crisis began.

[snip]

"We are getting close to knowing that we are in a pandemic situation," he said.

But Dr Fukuda urged calm. "It does not mean that the severity of the situation has increased or that people are getting seriously sick at higher numbers or higher rates than before," he said.

[snip]

Following the major outbreaks in North America the flu alert is currently at phase five of a six-level scale.

The virus has infected more than 26,500 people in 73 countries, the WHO said on Tuesday.

I don't think the island of Palau (explanation here) has enough room:

Baghdad, Iraq (AHN) - Years after President George W. Bush declared major combat operations were over in Iraq, the Multi-National Force (MNF-I) continues to hold thousands of prisoners. According to the U.S. Defense Department the 89th Military Police Brigade from Fort Hood, Texas is in charge of three prisons holding a total of 11,057 detainees in Coalition custody.

No, no, no! Anti-bacterial soap doesn't mean you GIVE people bacteria:

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - The Food and Drug Administration is warning consumers not to use hand sanitizers made by a Utah chemical company.

Clarcon Biological Chemistry Laboratory Inc. of Roy, Utah has voluntarily recalled some of its skin sanitizers and skin protectants marketed under different brand names because of high levels of disease-causing bacteria found in the product during a recent inspection by the FDA.

Um...

KIller Flashlight Requires Goggles And Protective Clothing.

It's our fault gas prices are going up. We weren't spending enough...

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) predicts gas prices to average $2.21 this summer--$1.60 less than last year. Crude oil is projected to be $53 a barrel, down from the average $100 a barrel in 2008. However, since the beginning of May, gas prices have been creeping up with the largest increase last week when prices rose 16 cents from the week prior to $2.24.

Due to the economy, petroleum demand has been weak and that has kept prices low and has forced refineries to cut their inventory. But new signs are showing that we are nearing the end of the recession and consumer confidence is growing. Low gas prices generated a rebound in demand during February and March. A Reuters/University of Michigan survey found that consumer confidence rose in May above economists’ expectations. So, we are at a time where demand is increasing while oil supply is low.

One way to deal with teen pregnacy?....

Archaeologists in Peru have discovered the remains of nearly three dozen people sacrificed some 600 years ago by the Incan civilisation.

[snip]

"Most of the remains belong to young women, around 15 years of age. One of them appears to have been pregnant because in her abdomen, the collarbone of a fetus, probably around 4 months, was found," Mr Webster said of the latest find, made over the past year and a half.

And what do his/her kids call him/her?

A US man who was born a woman before undergoing gender realignment surgery has given birth to a second child

We should be absolutely freaked out about this. Serial killers start this way: 20 cat deaths leave Fla. communities worried.

No fish for you

The oceans are acidifying as they heat up, and the fish are disappearing:

Feb. 5 (Bloomberg) -- The risk of fisheries collapsing in Peru, the world’s largest fishmeal producer, and developing nations such as Senegal that depend on fish for both food and jobs means economic hardship as climate change threatens fishing grounds.

About 33 countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia are “highly vulnerable” to rising ocean temperatures, changes in river flows and less precipitation, said Allison Perry of the World Fish Center, who co-wrote a study that looked at the economic risks to fisheries in countries affected by changing weather.

The world’s poorest countries are less able to adapt to these changes because they lack the financial resources to replace a food source and an industry that contributes more to economic activity than in wealthier nations. “Many of these countries are simply not in a position to adapt and implement measures,” Perry said.

One more thing that global warming is going to cause: starvation.

Peace on earth, good will to men

Blackwater wants you to know they are peacekeepers.

And I suppose we should start apologizing now.... Georgie is planning a bunch of furrin trips:

At his year-end press conference last week, President Bush said “I go around spreading good will” to other countries. His schedule next year will test his ability to spread good will:

In early January, Bush flies to Israel for his first visit as president. While in the region, he also will visit the West Bank, Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. The trip is a follow-up to the Israeli-Palestinian talks that the U.S. hosted in Annapolis, Maryland, last month.

In February, Bush will tour Africa, where U.S. public health initiatives are popular. That will be followed by an April North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit in Romania, a June U.S.-European summit in Slovenia, a July meeting of Group of Eight leaders in Japan, the summer Olympics in China and a November Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Peru. Bush is likely to visit other, nearby countries during those trips.

Jim Jeffrey, the deputy White House national security adviser, said, “We want to be well-perceived in the world.”

Besides choking on my tea when I saw there actually is a Jimmy/Jeff in the White House (is he bald?), this last line apparently was said with a straight face and no trace of irony....

I'd be too busy running away to be concerned...

Via Dan of A Blog Named Sue, news that a mysterious illness followed a meteorite strike in Peru:

Around midday Saturday, villagers were startled by an explosion and a fireball that many were convinced was an airplane crashing near their remote village, located in the high Andes department of Puno in the Desaguadero region, near the border with Bolivia.

Residents complained of headaches and vomiting brought on by a "strange odor," local health department official Jorge Lopez told Peruvian radio RPP.

Seven policemen who went to check on the reports also became ill and had to be given oxygen before being hospitalized, Lopez said.

Rescue teams and experts were dispatched to the scene, where the meteorite left a 100-foot-wide (30-meter-wide) and 20-foot-deep (six-meter-deep) crater, said local official Marco Limache.

"Boiling water started coming out of the crater and particles of rock and cinders were found nearby. Residents are very concerned," he said.

Dan suggests brain-eating zombies, I think it might be more like this: