Super rare ice boulders form on secluded Lake Michigan beach. Video at CNN.

Coffin? Nailed. Way to go Elon Musk!

 thedailywhat:

You Saw This Coming of the Day

After New York Times reviewer James Broder wrote a scathing review of the Tesla Model S electric car, Tesla Motors founder Elon Musk fired back with damning data logs claiming that Broder’s review was a “fake.”

Following this exchange, CNN decided to do a repeat of the entire trip and managed to complete the drive from Washington D.C. to Boston with plenty of battery life to spare.

Marines called in to help fight wildfires.

Wildfires roast western states

At least 70 large fires were burning across 13 states west of the Mississippi River, according to the National Interagency Coordination Center. California had the most with 13, followed by Nevada with 12 and Idaho with 10, the center said.

The Marines joined the fight on Wednesday, with helicopter units from California joining U.S. Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard units from Colorado, Wyoming, North Carolina and California in fighting the fires by air. The Marine units will help fight fires around San Diego.

Via CNN

My dear son,
I am appalled, even horrified, that you have adopted Classics as a major. As a matter of fact, I almost puked on the way home today. I suppose that I am old-fashioned enough to believe that the purpose of an education is to enable one to develop a community of interest with his fellow men, to learn to know them, and to learn how to get along with them. In order to do this, of course, he must learn what motivates them, and how to impel them to be pleased with his objectives and desires.
I am a practical man, and for the life of me I cannot possibly understand why you should wish to speak Greek. With whom will you communicate in Greek? …
For the life of me I cannot understand why you should be vitally interested in informing yourself about the influences of the Classics on English literature. It is not necessary for you to know how to make a gun in order to know how to use it.

In 1957, at 18 years of age, future billionaire and founder of CNN, Ted Turner, informed his father that he would be majoring in Classics after being inspired by a professor at Brown University. His father was furious to say the least, and responded to his son’s announcement with the following despairing letter — a letter which Ted later sent to the college paper in retaliation, who then reprinted it in full.

The rest of the letter is epic.

turnthrice asked: I have a random question. Bill Nye has been cited by some as an ill-informed advocate for climate adaptation. His recent interview on CNN made me aware of the controversy that exists regarding his authenticity as a scientist who may or may not be educated enough about climate change. Some people are saying that although Bill is a good scientist, he has no credentials in the actual topic of climate change and should not be expressing his opinion on national television. Thoughts?

Hey turnthrice,

Look, you meant to write, “advocate for climate change,” not adaptation. Second, “advocating for climate change” is nonsensical. You meant to write “advocate for climate change solutions.” 

Words matter. I get what you are asking, but know that, in life, sloppy inquiries waste people’s time, could land you in trouble, or cost you an opportunity, such as a dream job…

Regardless, I tersely covered the Bill Nye “interview” here.

Cheers!

Michael

CNN busts open child slavery and chocolate growers with “The bitter truth about the chocolate bunnies.” 200,000 children are enslaved to work the cocoa trees, which provide 70% of the world’s beans.

I’m writing several chocolate and climate change pieces, which I hope to post in about a week. It’s crazy what’s happening in 2012. I’m not into solving problems by buying things. And I’m an utter cynic when it comes to the manic buffoonery called “recycling.”

But, with chocolate, I cannot think of a better reason to choose an organic product.

“Chocolate is one of life’s greatest pleasures, but for the children working in slavery conditions in cacao fields across West Africa’s Ivory Coast, the reality behind it is anything but sweet.

Some 70 to 75 percent of the world’s cocoa beans are grown on small farms in West Africa, including the Ivory Coast, according to the World Cocoa Foundation and the International Cocoa Initiative. The CNN Freedom Project reports that in the Ivory Coast alone, there are an estimated 200,000 children working the fields, many against their will, to satisfy the world’s hunger for chocolate.

The average American eats around 11 pounds of chocolate each year, and the weeks leading up to Easter show the second biggest United States sales spike of the year next to Halloween - 71 million pounds according to a 2009 Neilsen report. A recent press release from Kraft claims that worldwide, more consumers purchase chocolate during Easter than any other season.

So how does a chocolate lover ensure that the treats filling their family’s Easter baskets are not supporting a life of slavery for a child half a world away?

Opt for organic

Gene Tanski, a supply chain expert and CEO of Demand Foresight says that the most basic way to ensure that you don’t purchase chocolate that is made with slave labor is to insist on organic”

Read the rest at CNN’s Freedom Project, which aims to end child slavery.

Mind Blown: Big report shows GOP uses twitter more effectively than Dems. Their tweets have more substance, more followers and retweets, more bi-partisanship(!), more mentions of legislation their working on, and more invitations to the public to engage in town hall meetings. Really interesting video.

CNN discusses climate adaptation in "Floods, heat, migration: How extreme weather will transform cities" ›

Good to see CNN pick up the green cities question.

Gasoline: U.S. exports more gas than ever before. And demand is down 10%. So why the high prices? ›

This has to happen or OWS ends up in the fail bucket.

“Consider the following: In about 13 months, all 435 members of the House of Representatives must stand for election. In addition, 33 Senate seats and residency at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue will be up for grabs. And this is just at the federal level. So if the “Occupy Wall Street” crowd wants to peacefully overthrow the government, there is no need to gather in a public square. The demonstrators can work for a candidate or run themselves.”

CNN

Friend and colleague Jill Dougherty of CNN reports on Keystone XL Pipeline hearings (she’s also wearing a hot black leather jacket - rare for stodgy CNN). Apparently there was another public hearing, and the public actually showed up to voice it’s opinion on the pipeline. No one in the audience, that I could tell, supported the pipeline.

Source: CNN c/o Charter

See also: my Keystone XL posts, here.

Governor Dannel Malloy: “Ron Paul is an idiot.” On the topic of disaster relief, Malloy goes on to say that Paul’s state of Texas has benefited more from FEMA disaster relief than any other state. He also points out misguided priorities in that the US is spending $900 million per week in other countries for war and rebuilding, which equals FEMA’s remaining annual budget.

2011: Year of billion-dollar weather disasters - CNN.com ›

My friend, a brave CNN correspondent, Jill Dougherty's 2010 interview with Ghulam Haidar Hamidi, mayor of Kandahar, Afghanistan. Hamidi, a seemingly kind man and hopeful manager, was assassinated today at a city hall meeting. ›