” Morning cows”photo by James Jordan. (Creative Commons License)

I’ve always thought cows were awesome (not for eating…) and now it seems there is scientific proof. An article on NPR is talking about a new study that says cows can sense the Earth’s magnetic field and more than that, they use it the magnetic field to line up their bodies so they face either north or south for eating, grazing and resting.

Hynek Burda of the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany didn’t intend to study cows at first and kind of happened upon them.

Eventually, his team used Google Earth to look at more than 8,500 cows, over 300 pastures all around the world, according to a report in this week’s issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

By analyzing the images, the team found that cows tend to face either magnetic north or south when grazing or resting. [NPR]

Google Earth is so amazing!

Read the rest of this entry »

So I’ve been back in New York City for almost 2 weeks now and finally uploaded the last of my vegan food pictures and my mouth actually started watering.

My vegan experiment went really really well and I feel so much better. I don’t think I’ll be 100 percent vegan now that I am back - but I am definitely cutting back on the dairy and eggs. The photos below and my happy body are motivation enough:

Lemon, arugula, white and green bean pasta salad with roasted pine-nuts w/ stuffed red peppers, romaine salad and fresh corn on the cob.

Read the rest of this entry »

Pamela Anderson announced that during a recent trip to the United Arab Emirates for the Make A Wish Foundation she had been convinced by the royal family to build a green hotel in Abu Dhabi. Here’s more from the former Baywatch actress on her new environmental endeavor:

“I’m building a hotel there. It’s environmentally friendly. I went there with the Make a Wish Foundation and met some great people there, and the royal family was really friendly. It’s built with no fossil fuel at all….in Abu Dhabi - where they have all that oil.

Read the rest of this entry »

U.S. swimmer Amanda Beard defied a Chinese ban and unveiled her nude PETA ad in Beijing. Former Olympian Joey Cheek, meanwhile, got his Via revoked in advance of a trip to urge China to bring peace to Darfur.

U.S. Olympian swimmer Amanda Bear just became the latest in a long line of celebrities to pose nude for a PETA (animal rights) ad.

Chinese officials had earlier prohibited her from unveiling the photo indoors (”for security reasons”), so Beard merely moved the procession outside. Security officials didn’t press the issue.

I guess China didn’t want to risk another international incidient — not when it’s trying so hard to make sure no Olympian mentions the word “Darfur.” (Just today it revoked the Visa of Ex-Olympic speedskater Joey Cheek, who intended to travel to China to urge Beijing to promote peace efforts in Darfur)

takepart visiting AmandaBeard.net for ways to take action on animal rights (yes, there are more photos, too.)

takepart by visiting the takepart wiki to take action on Darfur

Well it has almost been a week of me being vegan - (I officially started Tuesday afternoon last week) and I have to say I feel pretty great.

Eating good vegetables and healthy grains (along with some protein from tofu, soy etc…) is really a good way to go - I feel lighter, happier and find myself craving fatty gross (yet tasty) foods a lot less. And, if you put a little effort in, you’ll see that vegetables can really look and taste good:

*Grilled tofu sandwich with fresh greens and red pepper (in a balsamic vinegarette)

More pretty pictures and a recipe - after the jump

Read the rest of this entry »

The TakePart Top 10 Weekly Roundup is a compilation of the week’s most notable stories from our entertainment-meets-social-action blogging network. Check out some of our most popular stories of the week, as well as a few TakePart blogger favorites!

Nicole Hughes:

U.S. Media Ignores Link Between Midwest Floods and Global Warming

Top 10 Houseplants for Removing Indoor Air Pollution

* * *

Andy Kondrat:

Dubai to Build Rotating Positive Energy Tower

Bioethicist Peter Singer Tackles World Food Shortage

* * *

Jon Popham:

Americacorps Workers Assist Flood Ravaged Town

Australians “Out-Fat” Americans

* * *

Giulia Rozzi:

Progressive Book Club

Oprah Recommends “A New Earth”

* * *

Gina Telaroli:

Human Rights Watch 2008 Film Festival Update

SilverDocs 2008 Update

The results for PETA’s Sexiest Vegetarian Celebrity of 2008 are in! And the winners, who will be given a lifetime supply of tempeh and tremendous amounts of smugness, are Anthony Kiedis and Leona Lewis! Hooray!!!

Now, when I reported on this contest three or four weeks ago, I made mention that I had no idea who Leona Lewis is. Of all the people on the list, I had to go and single her out, and now she’s won, and I have been shamed.

Read the rest of this entry »

Peter Singer, possibly the world’s most renowned bioethicist (I mean, how many others can you think of?), found himself on NPR’s Marketplace today to discuss this food crisis we’re in the midst of. Dr. Singer starts with a very simple question: “Why are we in the midst of a food crisis when world production of food per person has actually grown steadily since the 1960s?”

There are a few reasons according to Dr. Singer, not least of which is our new forays into ethanol production, which takes 100 million tons of corn off our tables. But it’s the meat people eat that’s really doing it. Dr. Singer breaks it down old skool:

But most corn isn’t eaten by humans; it’s eaten by animals and that’s the biggest part of the problem. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, 756 million tons of grain plus most of the world’s soybean crop are fed to animals and that amount has increased sharply in recent years as Asian nations have become more prosperous and their populations have started eating more meat.

Read the rest of this entry »

The TakePart Top 10 Weekly Roundup is a compilation of the week’s most notable stories from our entertainment-meets-social-action blogging network. Check out some of our most popular stories of the week, as well as a few TakePart blogger favorites!

Katie Halper:

Brigitte Bardot Fine: Top 5 Bardotisms That Got Hot Sex Symbol In Hot Water

Obama Pound: In Historic Moment, White People Exposed To “Fist Bump” For First Time

* * *
Nicole Hughes:

Get a Job: Top 10 Guides to Finding the Perfect Eco Career

Schwarzenegger Declares Drought in California

* * *

Andy Kondrat:

Barcelona Fines Citizens for Using Drinking Water in Pools and Gardens

Coal Power Plants Waste Two-Thirds of Energy Input

* * *

Jon Popham:

Megabus Expanding to the East Coast

Egyptian Blogger Freed from Prison

* * *

Giulia Rozzi:

Diamonds In The Rough: A Ugandan Hip Hop Revolution

Cluster Bomb Ban

* * *

Gina Telaroli:

Interview with Nina Davenport, Director of Operation Filmmaker

KidZui : Internet for Kids (and Those Young at Heart)

For Brigitte Bardot, the whole getting fined for making anti-Muslim remarks is soooo pasee. Been there, done that.  Her repeat offender behavior has led the prosecutor to say, “I’m a bit tired of trying Madame Bardot.”

The former actress and model was famous for her sex symbol status and roles in films like “And God Created Woman” by Roger Vadim in 1956 and “Contempt” by Jean-Luc Godard in 1963. But it’s no longer her sex appeal or her films that gets the 73 into the headlines and into the blog posts of  Gina Telaroli. Bardot has been a long-time a champion of animal rights, which she takes so seriously, she had a neighbor’s donkey castrated because he was sexually harassing her mare. But Bardot is not as fond of the Muslims as she is critters, and today was sentenced, for the FIFTH time, under a French law against for inciting hatred and discrimination on racial or religious or racial grounds. The equivalent of $23,325, this was the heaviest fine so far. So here are the five racism-inciting statements Bardot has made and paid for– literally– since 1997

1. “…my country, France, my homeland, my land is again invaded by an overpopulation of foreigners, especially Muslims.” - published in 1997 Open Letter to My Lost France Le Figaro.

2. “I am against the Islamisation of France. For centuries our forefathers…our fathers gave their lives to chase all successive invaders from France,” her book, A Cry in the Silence, 2003.

3. “Our lovely, kind street-walkers have been replaced by girls from the east, Nigerians, travellers, transsexuals, drag-queens, bearers of Aids and other friendly gifts… Not even French prostitutes are what they used to be.” A Cry in the Silence, 2003.

Read the rest of this entry »