Catching up with the Village Reader

We're back from adventuring to the East Coast and somehow need to find a way back into regular blogging habits. After slogging through tons of email and attempting to get through the backlog of blog posts the Google Reader, I've got some highlights to share here:

Aphra Behn has a good long rant about "quacktitioners" proposing a theory that women choose alternative therapies to get that "me time" so lacking in visits to medical doctors.

Good4Girls is organizing donations of reusable cloth menstrual pads for girls in African countries. Perhaps you've seen the ads on TV promoting a certain commercial disposable menstrual product's charity donations to help keep young African girls in school. Great thought, but not exactly environmentally friendly. Good4Girls has the answer and many people are sewing hand-made re-usable pads to donate to the cause. They also have many links to sites that show you how to sew your own reusable pads. This site, for example.

Beth of Fake Plastic Fish has some tips on brewing coffee without involving anything plastic.

Metaefficient has pictures and news about the first ever installed tidal turbine that produces clean energy from beneath the sea.

Thanks to TalkLeft for leading us to this Washington Post story on Obama's major big money backers.

On the other hand, The Playgoer gives us a very good reason to support Obama -- the candidate's words on arts and education are quoted in this post.

Michael Shermer reviews Expelled in Scientific-American online.

And in today's ABJ, news that Countywide landfill has struck a deal with the EPA to cap and cover a portion of its smelly landfill. Environmental reporter Bob Downing reports:

The agency and Republic Services Inc., the Florida firm that owns the Countywide Recycling & Disposal Facility, announced a negotiated agreement to install the cap at the 258-acre landfill in Pike Township.

And I wonder what is the point of an EPA if it has to "negotiate" agreements for actions that affect public health? Downing points out that no clear timetable for installing the cap is included in the agreement.