Short Takes: News From All Over

Staff Utne.com

Largest Science Teachers Organization Rejects Gore Video... Why?
By John F. Borowski, Truthout
The National Science Teachers Association recently rebuffed an offer of 50,000 free DVD copies of Al Gore's climate change film, 'An Inconvenient Truth.' The 55,000-member organization claimed that it saw little benefit to teachers in accepting the DVDs and didn't want to politically endorse the film. This is the same organization that, according to science teacher John Borowski, passes along donated items to science teachers that include everything from 'coal coloring books' to videos such as 'Fuel-less: You Can't Be Cool Without Fuel.' -- Jenna Fisher
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112806N.shtml

Swapping Striga for Patents
By Staff, Seedling
With Monsanto taking heavy criticism for its genetically engineered crops, the genetically mutated seeds of biotech giant BASF seem to have snuck under the radar. Both companies create genetically engineered herbicide-resistant plants; the difference is that while Monsanto uses gene splicing, BASF mutates plants' genetic code by exposing them to chemicals. When it comes to intellectual property tactics, though, the companies are strikingly similar. This year, many Kenyan farmers will be choosing whether or not to use BASF's new seeds to help them conquer the maize-killing Striga weed -- an arrangement that would require them to sign strict contracts agreeing not to save seeds and to buy only BASF herbicide. -- Suzanne Lindgren
http://www.grain.org/seedling/?id=440

Too Disturbing
By Daynah Burnett, Pop Matters
Last month, movie theaters across the country hosted a weekend of horror flicks entitled '8 Films to Die For: After Dark Horrorfest' -- films billed as 'too graphic or too disturbing for wide release.' Daynah Burnett investigated whether 'graphic' and 'disturbing' could possibly mean 'groundbreaking.' It didn't. What Burnett found was 'a lack of imagination' made evident by, yet again, casting women as terrorizers' targets of choice. In lieu of subversion or innovation, the filmmakers offered only more extreme, more repulsive, and more sexualized violence. -- Rachel Anderson
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/features/article/8153/too-disturbing-after-dark-horrorfest-17-19-november-2006/

Happy Un-Thanksgiving
By Very Short List
There's a lot to complain about in the world: 'When you buy furniture, all you get is a pile of boards,' or 'Nice shirts get discoloured in the wash, but ugly shirts never do.' Luckily, the Complaints Choir of Helsinki, the brainchild of husband-and-wife artistic team Oliver Kochta Kalleinen and Tellervo Kalleinen, is lending its Finnish voice to get the unfairness of life known in the form of a swelling choral number. Check out this clip at YouTube, but be warned: you may be humming 'On se niin v??rin!' ('It's not fair!') all afternoon. (Thanks, MoJo Blog.) -- Rachel Anderson
http://www.veryshortlist.com/lists/pick.cfm?email_key=0354d60f-9696-401a-aaf1-4028fb935620

The UK's First Recycled Kitchen
By Milestone Eco Design
Cupboard doors made from yoghurt containers and countertops made from vending machine coffee cups may seem like concoctions from an undiscovered Lewis Carroll novel, but they're actually part of what the company Milestone Eco Design is calling 'The UK's 1st Recycled Kitchen.' Everything in this model kitchen has some recycled content, from 50 to 100 percent. (Thanks, TreeHugger.) -- Suzanne Lindgren
http://www.milestone.uk.net/eco/recycledkitchen.htm

From the Junkyard to the Kitchen
By Karla Zimmerman, Plenty
If you've ever wondered what to do with your sorry, worn-down bike once it has jumped its last curb, wonder no more. A number of groups across the country are taking mangled or old bikes, repairing them or using them for parts, and sending the renewed bicycles to developing countries. The Chicago-based Working Bikes Cooperative, for example, recycles around 10,000 bikes a year, selling many of them to fund the shipping costs of sending the remainder overseas. -- Jenna Fisher
http://plentymag.com/features/2006/11/from_thejunkyard_to_the_kitch.php

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