Media Picks

Fucking became the subject of congressional debate in 2003, after NBC broadcast the Golden Globe Awards. Bono, lead singer of the mega-band U2, was accepting a prize on behalf of the group and in his euphoria exclaimed, "This is really, really, fucking brilliant" on the air. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which is charged with monitoring the nation's airwaves for indecency, decided somewhat surprisingly not to sanction the network for failing to bleep out the word. Explaining its decision, the FCC noted that its guidelines define "indecency" as "material that describes or depicts sexual or excretory organs or activities" and Bono had used fucking as "an adjective or expletive to emphasize an exclamation."

Viacom made YouTube remove this from their site, but thanks to better living through technology, you can see it anyway. Bolivian President Evo Morales had to use an interpretor for this appearance, and thus some of Jon Stewart's humor was lost in translation, but it's still a significant and interesting mainstream media appearance by Bolivia's first indigenous head of state, and the head of the Movement for Socialism (MAS).

Research into the link between regular handset use and disease reveals the risks rise significantly after 10 years, despite official assurances that they are safe. Geoffrey Lean reports

The flurry of media attention given this winter's bee losses, now labeled "colony collapse disorder," has updated the world of bees for a heretofore-clueless public. Our image of honeybees is a lot like our bucolic images of farm animals -- and just as far from the brutal truth of today's corporate agriculture. We picture fields of clover, blossoming orchards, the wildflowers beneath the trees, filled with happy bees industriously gathering nectar and pollen to take back to the hive.

American prisons employ more people than Ford, G.M., and Wal-Mart combined. With 5% of the world population, the U.S. has 25% of its prisoners. Never before has a supposedly free country denied basic liberty to so many of its citizens. In December 2006, some 2.25 million persons were being held in the nearly 5,000 prisons and jails that are scattered across America’s urban and rural landscapes...

Feel guilty over your CO2-belching air travel? Why not hire little brown kids to pump water on “traditional” green treadmills? You fly, they get healthy exercise...

Bonobos are celebrated as peace-loving, matriarchal, and sexually liberated. Are they?

Despite killing everything I touch, I’m still determined to get some cool plants. Below are a few that I look forward to brutally massacring sometime in the near future.

If humans vanished from the Earth, days after people disappeared, New York City's subways would flood, and in 10 years, Lexington Avenue would be a river. Streets would buckle and domesticated dogs would fall prey to predators. Those ghostly images are described in vivid detail in The World Without Us by Alan Weisman, a freelance journalist who has written for The Atlantic, The New York Times Magazine and NPR. The non-fiction book, which is a combination of science reporting and speculation, explores what would occur if mankind disappeared, concluding that the Earth would gradually consume man's massive infrastructure and heal itself despite humanity's indelible — and destructive — imprint.

Visiting the hospital is supposed to heal people, but it's hard to get better in a place that uses toxic chemicals and serves processed food. Is change on the way?

The word “friend” on social networking sites is a debasement. Having as many MySpace “friends” as possible is about status, not friendship...