Articles by Trina Stout

Water, world

Nifty:

Left: All the water in the world (1.4087 billion cubic kilometres of it) including sea water, ice, lakes, rivers, ground water, clouds, etc. Right: All the air in the atmosphere (5140 trillion tonnes of it) gathered into a ball at sea-level density. Shown on the same scale as the Earth.

GOP (and Dem) candidates: red-meat-lovin’, veggie-hatin’

From a compilation of responses given to AP reporters throughout the year:

FAVORITE FOOD TO COOK
DEMOCRATS:
Clinton: "I'm a lousy cook, but I make pretty good soft scrambled eggs."
Edwards: Hamburgers.
Obama: Chili.
Richardson: Diet milkshake.

REPUBLICANS:
Giuliani: Hamburgers or steak on the grill.
Huckabee: Ribeye steak on the grill.
McCain: Baby-back ribs.
Romney: Hot dog.

SHUNNED FOOD ITEMS
DEMOCRATS:
Clinton: "I like nearly everything. "I don't like, you know, things that are still alive."
Edwards: "I can't stand mushrooms. I don't want them on anything that I eat. And I have had to eat them because you get food served and it's sitting there and you're starving, so you eat."
Obama: "Beets, and I always avoid eating them."
Richardson: Mushrooms, specifically. "I'm not a big vegetable eater." Recalling the first President Bush's distaste for broccoli, he said: "I sympathize with that fully."

REPUBLICANS:
Giuliani: Liver.
Huckabee: "Carrots. I just don't like carrots. I banned them from the governor's mansion when I was governor of Arkansas because I could."
McCain: "I eat almost everything. Sometimes I don't do too well with vegetables."
Romney: "Eggplant, in any shape or form. And I've always been able to avoid it."
Thompson: "Not much. I've tried to do better about that. I jokingly say that we kind of have a diet around our house that if it tastes good, you don't eat it. I haven't quite got there yet. There's not much that I turn down. That's a good thing on the campaign trail because you get quite a variety."

You know, because vegetables are for wusses, true patriots love meat, vegetarianism is a gateway drug to liberal snobbery, etc., etc.

Scrolling through the responses, some amusing patterns emerge. Namely, McCain loves anything and everything to do with barbecuing, and Huckabee desperately wishes that guitar ownership would make him cool. (Hey guys, hey guys! I have a bass guitar! Did -- did you hear that? Did I mention my guitar? Because I have one.)

Now if only someone would compile a useful table of candidate responses to relevant questions ... say, a table with candidates' stances on fuel-economy standards, renewable energy, and coal. Oh wait! We did.

Shout-out to Grist donors

Grist reader, donor, and prize-winner (See? We really do give that stuff away!) Irvin Smith of Rochester Hills, Mich., sent in this adorable photo of his son and nieces eating ice cream out of the ice-cream maker he won. A big, public Grist thanks to Irvin.

As I was looking at the photo, I thought to myself: Self, what a fabulous opportunity to give props to all our wonderful donors. So thank you, Grist donors! We are but a humble nonprofit, and without your generosity, we'd all be sitting here in the dark.

If you're reading this and it moves you to donate a few bucks, know that we'll spend it wisely on organic beer for the staff more of the same feisty, witty journalism you know and love.

Willy Wonka would be pissed

The FDA is thinking about allowing Big Chocolate to pass off waxy imitations as the real deal: