Royal bloomers of Queen Victoria (1837-1901, waist: 50")

Former jeans of Subway's Jared (born:1968, waist: 60")

The Associated Press reports that a pair of Queen Victoria’s bloomers went for $9,000 on eBay.

The undergarments had been listed for sale by a UK family whose forebear was apparently a “lady in waiting” for the Queen back around 1900.

As evidenced by the knickers, Queen Victoria had a 50-inch waist — which gives Subway’s Jared a run for his money even at his tubbiest.

The airing of this bit of dirty laundry should serve as a stark reminder that 21st-century Americans don’t have a lock on weight problems.

takepart by taking the Subway Challenge.

A chuck of ice measuring 7 square miles broke off a Canadian ice shelf in the arctic yesterday. The sheet broke away from the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf off the north coast of Ellesmere Island in Canada’s far north.

Derek Mueller, a polar scientist and research fellow at Trent University explained that a crack in the shelf was first spotted in 2002. This is the biggest chunk of ice to break away from one of Canada’s six ice shelves since the Ayles shelf broke loose in 2005.

“Ice shelves don’t just break up. There’s no karate chop,” he said. “This is the result of a gradual weakening over time as a result of warming temperatures.”

“We’re in a different climate now…. “It’s not conducive to regrowing them. It’s a one-way process.”

takepart with We Can Solve It and support Al Gore’s challenge: America must commit to producing 100 percent of our electricity from renewable energy and other clean sources within 10 years.

Related:

Inconvenient Truth of the Day
Huge Ice Sheet Breaks Loose in Arctic
Ice sheet breaks loose off Canada

Nano-foods are even smaller than those pictured above.

Nano-foods, foods produced using nano-particles, have a good shot at becoming the next trendy health scare, reports Reuters.

What’s to worry about, you may ask? Well, for starters, you probably don’t even know you’re eating them:

Michael Hansen, a senior scientist with the organization that publishes Consumer Reports, said there is no requirement that nano-products be identified as such.

“Just because something is safe at the macro level, doesn’t mean it’s safe at the nano size,” Hansen said. “All scientists agree that size matters.”

Well, there you have it: Scientific consensus that size matters.

It’s science, baby.

takepart with these resources on U.S. Food Safety.

Be on the lookout for both types of veggies...

Remember when tomatoes got linked to a salmonella outbreak? Turns out the real culprit may have been serrano jalapeño peppers.

The AP has more on the story.

In the meantime — now that vegetables are apparently trying to kill us — it’s time for some carbo-loading.

takepart by getting together with your friends to host a bake sale to benefit child cancer care patients at Cupcakes for a Cause

A creature resembling a cross between a wolverine and a jackal just washed up on the shores of Eastern Long Island, New York.

No one’s really sure what it is (NY Mag has more about the photo’s origins), but what is sure is this:

You don’t want this as the off-spring of one of your pets.

So takepart by learning about neutering or spaying your pets.

Knightley's breasts were digitally enhanced for 2004's "King Arthur."

Keira Knightley won’t allow her cleavage to be digitally enhanced on publicity photos for her new film “The Dutchess,” reports The Daily News of New York.

Knightley’s breasts have been famously enhanced in publicity stills in the past, but this time the UK actress decided that enough is enough. Let’s hope this starts a trend.

takepart by making use of these resources on female body issues

Courtney at Feministing has a good take on Keira’s move:

What she is doing–and it’s significant–is reminding us to honor what we already know: namely that the images we see every day on television, in magazines, online, are notoriously technologically-altered and unrealistic. It’s not willpower that makes these women’s bodies perfect–it’s money, money, money, and a splash of genetic predisposition. It’s important that someone inside the system, someone that has benefited from the system, has the balls to come out and remind us of our own wisdom.

After the jump: Keira talks about learning that US magazines won’t feature women with anything less than a certain bra cup size on their covers.

(And: the best video ever made on the depiction of beauty in the media…)

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The Trevor Project just launched this new campaign called, “I’m Glad I Failed” in conjunction with National Suicide Prevention Week (September 7-13, 2008).

There are 4 ads similar to this one, each profiling a teenager who contemplated or attempted suicide because of the intolerance and harassment they experience for being an LGBTQ young person.   But the teens fail - and the Trevor Project is helping youth fail at suicide every day.

The Trevor Project operates the only nationwide, around-the-clock suicide prevention helpline for LGBTQ youth. And offers online and educational resources that are also help save lives.

A friend of mine emailed me a link to this powerful (and chilling) poster with a plea to help spread the word about the campaign.   Especially in time for September 7th.

takepart and download a banner for your blog and post it on your social network profile.

You can also make a donation that may help get this campaign into national publications.

Related:

Trevor Project

National Suicide Prevention Week

When it comes to water conservation, a little effort makes a big difference.   Here are six things you can do to takepart:

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The Los Angeles City Council unanimously voted today to put a ban on new fast food restaurants in South Los Angeles. City Officials are hoping the ban will help slow the rapidly growing obesity rate in this impoverished area of the city. Thirty percent of South L.A. adults are obese compared with 19.1 percent of adults in the Los Angeles Metropolitan Area and 14.1 percent on the more affluent west side of town. This comes as little surprise when you consider that 73 percent of all restaurants in South L.A. are fast food compared with 42 percent in West Los Angeles. The moratorium will last for one year and is intended to attract other types of restaurants to an area desperately in need of healthier choices. The bill requires the signature of Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to become law. The California Restaurant Association is considering a legal challenge to the city ordinance.

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Rep. Barney Frank announced a proposal (HR 5843) to stop federal penalties for carrying fewer than almost a quarter-pound of marijuana (100 grams) today. A Democrat from Massachusetts, Frank stated that

“The vast amount of human activity ought to be none of the government’s business, I don’t think it is the government’s business to tell you how to spend your leisure time.”

The key behind a lot of this policy is not to promote drug use, but to stop arrests - which as Reps. William Lacy Clay, D-Missouri, and Barbara Lee, D-California pointed out, usually only target people of color.

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