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In India, the Hindu political group Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangha will soon market cow urine soda as a health elixir. From our friends at ZapRoot.

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And Stewart didn’t pull any punches on former Senator John Sununu who is part of the bipartisan committee that will sort out the details of how the economic stimulus package is spent. Watch it:

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Really.

According to MTA bus driver Peter Williams, Ms. Bolar was visibly upset when he picked her up on New York’s upper West Side. “She came on the bus, and she said she waited more than an hour for a hybrid,” he explained. I told her “I’m not in control of what bus is assigned to me.”

More evidence that we’ve been bought out by the Weekly World News after the jump.

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“What,” you may be asking, ”could possibly go wrong?”

Plenty.

More on why we should never, Never, NEVER elect public officials who are bad at math after the jump.

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“Well, it’s a sad night because we’ve reached the end of George W. Bush’s presidency and that means we have to unload what was a tremendous, rich, heavy-laden vein of comedy for us - like mining a dense vein of coal by god…” - David Letterman, January 16, 2009

The late night TV hosts have made their living over the last eight years thanks to the guffaws of the forty-third President of the United States, George W. Bush. But now that Bush is leaving the White House, the same late-night denizens of the airways have made a cottage industry talking about how they will have no material to make fun of after Obama takes office. Letterman recognized the end of the George W. Bush era with a video tribute to some of the President’s “rougher” moments [3:46].

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(All rights reserved by Zancy.com)

Senator Barack Obama has been questioned over and over again by the McCain campaign about his affiliation with ACORN, or The Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now. The FBI is currently investigating any activity that would point to ACORN’s fradulent voter registration processes for less fortunate citizens. However, Senator McCain believes that the activity is even more nefarious than it seems.

“We all know that Barack Obama has some shady ties,” says McCain, “but this one–this one breaks all the rules of human decency. We have enough evidence to assume that Obama has fraternized with an enemy that will terrorize you neighborhood. I only have two words: Trained Squirrels.

“We believe that Obama is exchanging premium-grade acorns for underground political intelligence. They sit by your windows at dinner time, hearing your discussions like fuzzy flies on the walls. They seem innocent enough–you might even want to throw them a cheez doodle–but know beneath that fuzzy outfit lies the heart of a Pinko rat!

“Mud slinging is a heavenly ordained act between a man and another man. Squirrels should never be provided the right to break the First Amendment through covert spying. They are not, and shall never be, mentioned in the Patriot Act.

“If you are a real American, you will not include acorns in your Halloween and Thanksgiving decorations. In fact, no tree nuts or dried Indian corn should be included. Only Freedom Fruits.”

Obama declined to comment.

What I appreciate more and more about David Letterman (though other demands mean I watch his show less and less) is that he no longer shields his politics. Sure, he’s always been critical of the stupid politician du jour, but his critiques are much more substantive now - and for that he deserves some props.

In the clip below, Letterman weaves a spirited diatribe through the intricacies climate change, alternative energy, gas prices, cutting carbon levels, riding bicycles, and most enthusiastically, the absence of political leadership that’s yet to help us get out of this mess.

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Grist

I’m a mosquito hunter. If you’ve seen the Monty Python sketch, then you know what I’m talking about. If you haven’t, just scroll down. For me, there’s nothing more maddening than the high-pitch whine of a mosquito in my ear just as I’m drifting off to sleep. On any given night during mosquito season, you can find me prowling the house under-shorts (Shh! Don’t tell.) stalking my prey.

However, this morning I had an epiphany. It took one particular mosquito buzzing in my ear at 6:30 on this particularly beautiful early fall morning to make me understand that mosquitoes aren’t really all bad. Like Cat Stevens before the Qu’ran, “I think I’ve seen the light.” Now, I’m not saying I won’t ever smack another skeeter. But I might also start a new amnesty “catch and release” program in my household because I now have five reasons to love mosquitoes.

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There are games and puzzles, coloring pages and support material for educators.  You can even get ring tones! The call to action is also handle with aplomb and humor.  And when called to shop for branded items, Hippoworks smartly teams up with Wildlife Works to deliver its characters on organic, fair-trade eco tees. 

You can grab the code to put these smart cartoonlets on your own site or sign up to have them delivered to your inbox.  Start with “Extinction Sucks,”  it’s a great one to forward on to your friends and has a t-shirt to match it!

You can feel good about viewing Hippoworks; their webserver is powered by “wind, sun and poop!”

Levitating Monorail, Germany. An electric car? Cool. An electric train? Awesome. An upside down electric monorail?? Now that qualifies as unusual public transportation. Believe it or not, this transit system was built over 100 years ago. While Ford was fidgeting with his “quadricycle,” the city of Wuppertal built this transportation marvel that still appears ahead of its time today.

It’s a zero emissions, all electric transit system, and it floats through Wuppertal (the self-styled “German San Francisco”) with over 20 million passengers a year. Photo: Flickr

Mae Klong Train Market, Thailand. Yes, those are train tracks running through that market. One of the shortest train routes in Thailand is also one of the most bizarre. Ambling past windmills and salt flats, the train stops halfway through its route at a river. Right, no bridge. So, people get out and ferry across to a second train, which picks up where the first left off. But wait, it gets better…

In order to arrive at the Mae Klong station, the train must pass right through the middle of a crowded street market. Vendors quickly pull in their stalls several times a day as the train goes by. For an excellent account of the journey, read Steve Van Beek’s article on the Tourism Authority of Thailand website or this article at 2Bangkok.com, or see this video. Photo: Thai-Blogs.

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In a video from Reuters Television, which is available at the bottom of this story, two aluminum panels inside the eel’s tank act as electrodes, capturing the power needed to light the tree. Kazuhiko Minawa, who thought up the idea, spent two months devising a system that would capture the animal’s electric power.

Eel’s use electricity to fend off threats to their well-being, or getting a bite to eat. Actually, the eel isn’t an eel at all, it’s a fish, more commonly known as the Knifefish, a relative of the catfish family. Wikipedia says the fish is an obligate air-breather, rising to the surface about every 10 minutes for a gulp of air and then returns to the bottom.

When hunting, or defending themselves, eels can produce electrical shocks of up to 500 volts and 1 ampere of current, enough to do serious, or even fatal harm to a human. That’s why they wind up in public aquariums and not the home fish tank. You’d need a pretty large one at that, they can grow up to eight feet in length and weigh 40 pounds.

Back to our Japanese aquarium. The eel-Christmas tree inventor told Reuters Television that gathering all electric eels from around the world would light one very large Christmas tree.

Video of Eel-powered Christmas tree from Reuters Video.

Boy, that’ll increase condom sales and I’m sure doctors will certainly enjoy the likely increase in sterilizations, which will be showered with carbon credits for what he termed “greenhouse-friendly” services.

He went on to say the annual emission of carbon dioxide by an Australian individual is about 17 metric tons, which included energy use. In his article for the Medical Journal of Australia, Walters claims, “Every newborn baby in Australia represents a potent source of greenhouse gas emissions for an average of 80 years, not simply by breathing but by the prolifigate consumption of resources typical of our society.”

He hinted that the government should get rid of the $4133 baby bonus and consider population controls like those in China and India. Wikipedia has a good update on those controls which have been in place for years. China’s one child policy involves forced abortions and sterilizations, while in India young women are rewarded with money for not getting pregnant. Family planning and sterilization are among many steps being taken to curb population growth in India.

I doubt much will come of the good professor’s suggestion. Angela Conway, spokeswoman for the Australian Family Association is quoted as saying, “I think self-important professors with silly ideas should have to pay carbon tax for all the hot air they create.” She went on to say, “There’s masses of evidence to say that child-rich families have much lower resource consumption per head than other styles of households.”

Maybe that hot-air tax would work on politicians as well. What a concept!

Anyway, a high-profile doctor in Australia, Garry Egger, is quoted as saying, “One must wonder why population control is spoken of today only in whispers.” His comments were printed in an MJA response article, and echoes concerns by many experts that we’re just putting too many people on this rock.

photo: cosmosmagazine.com

The whole thing apparently started in the 1930’s when the spelling of the name changed from Fjukeby. Embarrassed and finally tired of all the jocularity, a committee of residents pleaded with the National Heritage Board for the change.

So what’s the fuss? Well, according to the article in The Local a Swedish English-language website, the Swedish word “juck”, essentially means the same thing as Fjuckby’s English component. In addition, villagers complained that the present name makes it difficult to sell property there, or run a successful business.

According to Wikipedia, , the town is located about 15km north of Uppsala. The name has apparently resulted in a certain amount of tourist trade to the small community. That hasn’t helped the situation at all.

Unfortunately, the National Heritage Board said it was following the recommendation of the Institute of Language and Folklore to preserve the name Fjuckby. Which begs the question, if it was named Fjukeby in the 30’s, why was it changed, and what’s wrong with changing it back?

Oh, Fjuckby has a population of about 60, and only 15 residents were involved in the petition for a name change. In it’s ruling, The NHB apparently felt they did not represent the majority of residents in the town.

A writer for The Local ended the story with this observation; “If Fjuckby gets its way it is conceivable that Anusviken, Arslet and Dicken may be next in line for a swift reversal of misfortune”.

In case you’re wondering, Fjuckby and Fjukeby both roughly translate as “Windy Village”.

Community and homeowners associations across the country are trying to ban the use of clotheslines in their communities. According to the article, they seem to think clothes drying in the sun are an eyesore, and could well affect property values. Hello? Who thinks up this kind of idiocy anyway? Obviously, some people have way too much time on their hands.

Let’s start with clothes dryers. They can add up to 6 percent of your electric bill and dump up to a ton of CO2 into the air, per household each year. That’s a good reason to use them sparingly and do like us old folks used to do, and hang the clothes outside. When the weather got too cold or rainy, the laundry went on and mom hung the clothes in the basement to dry. Of course, that might be a problem for homes without basements, but you get the idea.

As ridiculous as this sounds, it’s a fact - state legislatures are being asked to pass laws prohibiting people from hanging their laundry out to dry. I can’t believe in this enlightened age that people would be embarrassed to see someone else’s undergarments catching some rays, but on the other hand I can think of some blue-nosed areas where that might be a problem for some folks. And to think someone’s laundry would lead prospective buyers to think their would-be neighbors couldn’t afford a clothes dryer. What rubbish!

But, if a person is reluctant to display the undies to all who pass by, there’s still the dryer, or better yet, the basement or an indoor rack on which to hang the more delicate apparel.

If you’ve ever slept on sheets that dried in the sun, you can understand how wonderfully clean and fresh they smell as you crawl in for a night’s rest. The same goes for clothing. There’s nothing like sun-dried wash, nothing.

So, what do you think? Are we looking at another effort to deny us our rights in our own backyards, or do the HOA’s and neighborhood associations have a valid point? If it’s already affected you, I’d like to know that too.

Till then, “hang” in there.