Off-grid, Beer (mmmmm beer) and the Olympic Flame

Q: What do the 3 things in the title of this update have to do with each other?

A: They all appear in this update.

Firstly and most importantly let's talk Beer. If any of your pub buddies are still sceptical about climate change and need convincing point them to this article Global warming will affect beer production.

Also on the subject of fall down juice be sure to check out Grist's review of organic beers for hippies.

Spent all your utility bill budget on Beer? Never fear. Live off grid.

And finally, the link that isn't beer related. Let's all congratulate China on being so downright lacking in human rights that they have managed to taint an Olympic tradition that has managed to stand proud for decades despite the fact that it was invented by Hitler. Free Tibet, or "how parading something invented by Nazi's is backfiring on commies".

ED out.

China, Lead and our desire for Cheap Shit.

It seems that barely a week goes by without us being told of another item that has been manufactured in China for sale in the west which is loaded with dangerous levels of lead.

This week a report from the California based Center for Environmental Health came to my attention, mainly as it focusses on Hannah Montana, and I have a child who is slap bang in the target audience for the popular Disney Channel production.

Anyway CEHCA went out and randomly bought a bunch of Hannah Montana products and found dangerous levels of lead in them.

Recent studies have shown that lead exposure can reduce a childs IQ, cause ADHD and reduce reaction times.

You'd think that with the number of these discoveries occurring in products manufactured in China something would be being done. The problem is China is an economy built and strengthened on human rights abuses. It's not surprising then that they don't give a flying fuck about people and whether they are producing dangerous products to sell overseas. The only thing the Chinese power-mongers seemingly give a toss about at the moment is money and power, and so the solution to the problem of dangerous toys won't come from there. Unless of course it starts to hurt their bottom line, then they might force their manufacturing industry to clean up their act.

Of course this is unlikely to happen as the other link in the chain, the western retailers, want to sell cheap shit at a high price and China is a great source of cheap shit so our retailers will buy it in and sell it on to us no questions asked. The odd bit probably gets picked up and a low key recall is issued but most of it probably won't be returned and the profits are made.

More info here

The shitty economy of stuff we don't need.

Gordon Brown, The Dalai Lama, And the trouble with politicians

In the UK news over the last day or two there has been occasional mention of Prime Minister Gordon Brown's refusal to meet the Dalai Lama.

This puts the exiled Tibetan leader in the company of such horrendous wastes of flesh and blood as Robert Mugabe as the previous newsworthy Brown non-meeter.

Of course there is absolutely fuck all the Dalai Lama has in common with Mugabe. One is the exiled leader of an occupied country who advocates peaceful action, the other has presided over 3 decades of human rights abuse, corruption and economic mismanagement that has destroyed the quality of life and halved the average life expectancy of the population of an entire country.

Of course you can understand Brown snubbing Mugabe, who is clearly a grade A cock, but why does he want to snub someone who despite intense provocation has refused to stoop to violent conduct in the face of human rights abuse? The very reason Mugabe is off his Christmas card list.

1 reason. Most of the influential countries in the world agree that Mugabe is a plum, therefore Brown feels that he can do what he likes as far as he is concerned. He's like a mid-ranking School bully only picking on the kids that the bigger kids say it's OK to wedgie.

Unfortunately for the Dalai Lama one of these bigger kids in the form of China is his own personal bully so Brown has no choice but to steal Tibets dinner money and flush it's head down the toilet otherwise China might call Brown a soft lad and push him off his bike.

In short Gordon Brown, like the majority of politicians is a 2 faced cock who only gives a shit about the suffering of foreign nationals if the people causing the suffering aren't ever going to be of any (usually economic) benefit or cause any ripples in his power pool. It makes me proud to be British.

And here endeth politics 101.

Running is bad for your health - in China at least...

With the 2008 Olympics in Beijing mere months away world marathon record holder Haile Gebreselassie has ruled himself out of competing in the event as he fears that pollution in the city makes it too dangerous for him to run.

In fact pollution in the city is so high that spectators have been warned to only take limited exercise while visiting the city.

One wonders what the IOC were doing in the first place awarding the games and shipping the cream of the worlds athletic talent to a city that is so hazardous to health. Hardly in the olympic spirit now is it?