Highlights from today's ABC news

Couldn't resist sharing these gems:

Winner for the Best (or Worst) headline pun Award, for a story on Eddie Izzard completing his Ultra-Marathon:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/09/16/2687143.htm?section=justin

Winner of the Unintended Irony Award, for providing a phone number to people whose phone connections have been cut off in Sydney CBD:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/09/16/2687107.htm

Favorite story update

I just found this update from the world's favorite bank robbers (excluding Ronnie Biggs of course).

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/08/26/2667264.htm

Interesting that the bank teller has now been fired after a second mistake. I guess they won't ever really be able to justify the 'attention to detail' component on their future job applications...

Reason to become a Scientist #1

Reason #1: So you can tell poisonous salad from non-poisonous salad in your local supermarket.

A trained botanist in Hanover, Germany was buying some pre-packaged salad when he noticed the abundance of common groundsel (senecio vulgaris, also known as Ragweed). He alerted the store, who removed all the salad and sent a sample to the University of Bonn for testing.

They detected 2,500 micrograms of poison in 150g of salad (and in a brilliant bit of journalism, Reuter's online points out that this is 2,500 times more than the recommended amount of daily poison).

Scientists 1: Retailers, Farmers and Journalists 0.

Climate change and politics

An open letter to Senator Fielding, the man who supports climate sceptics and willingly gives them an open platform, from Will Steffan, the leading ANU climate scientist and one of the Australian delegates at the Copenhagen talks.

Well worth reading for both tone and information.

http://www.crikey.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/ltr-senator-fielding-22-july-09.pdf