the good...
the UK could get all electricity from wind turbines by 2020. hurray! hurray! hurray!
yes, my cynical side is thinking "i'll believe it when i see it" as, to be honest, all they (where "they" = the government, of course) have landed the entire responsibility for this radical and exceedingly positive move squarely in the laps of the energy producers. yes, those self-same energy producers who claim they can't make enough money off windpower to make it viable. ho hum.
whatever, it's a start.
read the article in the grauniad
the bad...
shocking. over 30 tonnes of unwanted free newspapers are collected by tube rubbish crews every day. the official number is 9.5 tonnes on 3 of the underground's 12 lines, so i'm estimating. but even if it were just on those 3 lines they have solid fact for. 9.5 tonnes! the grauniad, in their infinite wisdom, decided to spin the story with a commuter guilt trip, running the headline "Tube passengers discard 9.5 tonnes of free papers a day" but what about the makers and distributors of the free papers? shouldn't they be cutting down somewhat on the amount they produce? huh? especially London Lite which isn't fit to even put fish and chips in.
the ugly
coca-cola have brought out two new varieties of diet coke and they're pimping them as healthy!
i've seen the adverts online and there's an article, again in the guardian, about them today. one variety had antioxidants courtesy of a "hint of real green tea" and the other has added vitamin c and two b vitamins. so what intrigues me in all this is whether people who don't ordinarily drink diet coke because it's so horrendously bad for you will suddenly think 'ooh, it's healthy, i can drink it now' - though i have more faith in humankind than that. or, will it work that regular coke/diet coke drinkers will swap to the new varieties because they think they're doing themselves a favour?
whatever happens, my advice is to never, ever drink it. despite coke's official claim of helping people "keep up with today's hectic lifestyle", the stuff contains carcinogenic additives which are likely to shorten your life. and if you want antioxidants and vitamins then have a cup of green tea and some fresh fruit instead.
