waiting till after breakfast for first cig greatly reduces risk of cancer

some interesting non-headline items: opening of the NW passage; india-china hotline; beijing-brazil naval coop; etc.

photo essay of slums from 4 cities

- "James Hansen, the world's pre-eminent climate scientist, said any agreement likely to emerge from the negotiations would be so deeply flawed that it would be better to start again from scratch."
- ""This is analagous to the issue of slavery faced by Abraham Lincoln or the issue of Nazism faced by Winston Churchill," he said. "On those kind of issues you cannot compromise. You can't say let's reduce slavery, let's find a compromise and reduce it 50% or reduce it 40%.""
- "He is scathing of that approach. "This is analagous to the indulgences that the Catholic church sold in the middle ages. The bishops collected lots of money and the sinners got redemption. Both parties liked that arrangement despite its absurdity. [..] We've got the developed countries who want to continue more or less business as usual and then these developing countries who want money and that is what they can get through offsets.""

Around 950 Chinese companies have set up operations in Egyptian free zones, representing a total investment of nearly 300 million dollars.

Most of them work in industry (526 companies), 306 companies are in the service industry, 31 in the agricultural sector and eight in tourism, according to Egypt's General Authority for Investment (GAFI) which oversees free zones in the country.

- ""We were given beautiful homes, but they're good for nothing. What can a fisherman like me do in the desert?" Mohamed, whose former slum of Istable Antar was near the River Nile, told IRIN. There are some 1,221 slums in Egypt (76 in Cairo), and around 20 million people, a quarter of the population, live in them, according to the country's Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS).
Between 1993 and 2007, the government spent the equivalent of US$727 million developing some slums and relocating the residents of others, according to CAPMAS."
- "To date, 4,000 families have been relocated, and Mohamed was one of the "lucky ones".

But he now travels up to 50km to get to his boat and fishing gear on the Nile. With a weekly income of less than LE200 (US$36), Mohamed bemoaned his travelling costs and the time lost travelling. "Almost a quarter of my income goes on transport…"

- Little has changed in Egypt to move the poor from unsafe places and prevent a repetition of a rockslide in a Cairo shantytown that killed more than 100 people last year, Amnesty International said in a report on Tuesday.

- "Climate change will be critical for the Arab world because this region in particular already suffers from poverty, widespread aridity, water scarcity and social marginalisation," said Sima Bahous, Deputy Secretary General for Social Development in the Arab League
- Fifteen percent of people in the Arab world already have limited or no access to potable water, the officials said, speaking on Tuesday at the launch in Cairo of the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA) report on climate change.
- Chekir said Egypt, where most of the 77 million population are crammed into Nile Valley and low lying Delta, could be one of the world's countries worst affected by climate change.

A previous U.N. study said 8 million people could be displaced by a one metre rise in sea levels flooding the Delta, a major agricultural production area. Egypt is already the world's biggest wheat importer.

FP is a joke. This is really a ridiculously put together list.

refutation, again, of the solar effect on climate change.

resource for discussing climate change with climate-deniers; includes responses to pretty much all the objections, from the trivial to the nit-picky to the valid.

great animation criticizing the false-solution of securitization of pollution.

report on US states' grid (net-metering and interconnection) policies and regulations

"On 20 November 2009, emails and other documents, apparently originating from with the Climate Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia.

If real, these emails contain some quite surprising and even disappointing insights into what has been happening within the climate change scientific establishment. Worryingly this same group of scientists are very influential in terms of economic and social policy formation around the subject of climate change."

pfft

- “I reiterate that the United Kingdom believes that disinvestment, sanctions and boycotts directed at Israel would be counter productive,” said Foreign Office Minister Baroness Kinnock.

- At their annual congress in September, British trade unions voted overwhelmingly to support the boycott, divestment and sanction campaign against Israel, the first motion of its kind since the boycott campaign helped to end apartheid in South Africa.

Re:Imagining Change is an interactive and accessible resource guide to smartMeme’s story-based strategy tools and methods. Download 60 pages of ideas, analysis, case studies, and strategies to change your campaign, your community and your world.

Canada's parliament on Tuesday passed a motion urging Prime Minister Stephen Harper's minority Tory government to adopt a deep carbon dioxide reduction target at upcoming international climate talks. The motion calling on the ruling Conservatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent from 1990 levels was supported by all three of Canada's opposition parties, 137 votes to 124.
It has no legal weight.

Canada has committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent from 2006 levels by 2020, leading to a 60-70 percent reduction from 2006 levels by 2050. But the figures are less significant when compared to the efforts of other nations and political-economic blocs — notably the European Union, which is to cut emissions by up to 30 percent by 2020 from 1990 levels, as required by the Kyoto Protocol. If pegged to 1990 levels, Canadian carbon reductions would amount to a mere three percent, critics note. And carbon emissions are currently up more than 35 percent from 1990.

The Gigaton Throwdown is an initiative to encourage investors, entrepreneurs, business leaders, and policy makers to “think big” to massively scale clean energy during the next 10 years.

I dont know what part of these statements is the most ridiculous and risible. Is that that Egypt is a major power?!? a diverse society?!? Or is it just the absurdity of this soccer quasi-nationalism and Egypt's wrath…
Anyway, Brince Jimmy Says:
“Anyone who thinks that this will just pass is gravely mistaken. [..] They will also suffer the consequences of Egypt’s wrath… Egypt is a major power that should not be taken lightly. It is great by its government, by its diverse society and by the influence of that society in the region and the world.”
“They should know that they have made a big mistake against a big country and so will suffer the aftermath of Egypt’s anger, not just that of the state, but of society as a whole.”

Mubarak said that Egypt’s government and its various institutions, whether or not they are sports-related, including culture, media and civil society, have already begun coordinating a joint response which will go beyond a mere expression of anger.

I dont know what part of these statements is the most ridiculous and risible. Is that that Egypt is a major power?!? a diverse society?!? Or is it just the absurdity of this soccer quasi-nationalism and Egypt's wrath…
Anyway, Brince Jimmy Says:
“Anyone who thinks that this will just pass is gravely mistaken. [..] They will also suffer the consequences of Egypt’s wrath… Egypt is a major power that should not be taken lightly. It is great by its government, by its diverse society and by the influence of that society in the region and the world.”
“They should know that they have made a big mistake against a big country and so will suffer the aftermath of Egypt’s anger, not just that of the state, but of society as a whole.”

Mubarak said that Egypt’s government and its various institutions, whether or not they are sports-related, including culture, media and civil society, have already begun coordinating a joint response which will go beyond a mere expression of anger.

- It's almost like we don't mind being played. [..]

We loved it. Ate it up. Hung our flags out the window, in many cases for the first time, and suddenly Egypt became something to talk about lovingly, over the Vodafone network, of course. In between songs by Shadia football players on radio shows talked about how they did it all for the fans, to make the sha3b, el sha3b el ghalban, happy. We clapped for them, called them heroes, pharaohs, saviors. When they wanted us to be happy, excited, supportive, we were. And then, when they wanted us to be angry, outraged about acts which we have no evidence of, demanding disqualification of the opposite team, forgetting our daily humiliations, we were.

Bravo, Egypt.

"روعة الوطنية الكروية أنها وطنية لا تحتاج إلى مواطنين، يكفيها مجرد «مشجعين».
"

Obama Greenwashes: This is effectively about 0-7% compared to 1990 levels which is the baseline everyone else is using.

- The US will announce a target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions before next month's UN climate summit, according to a White House official.

The target is expected to be in line with figures contained in legislation before the Senate – a reduction of about 17-20% from 2005 levels by 2020.
- In the UN climate process, targets are conventionally given in comparison with 1990 levels of emissions.

On that basis, the likely US figure amounts to a cut of just a few percent, as emissions have risen by about 15% since 1990.

This is much less than the EU's pledge of a 20% cut over the same period, or a 30% cut if there is a global deal; and much less than the 25-40% figure that developing countries are demanding.

monopoly on the whole world thanks to google maps