"Can These Panties Disrupt the $15 Billion Feminine Hygiene Market?"

THINX panties have "antimicrobial, leak-resistant fibers in the crotch that promise to absorb as much menstrual blood as up to two tampons or a pad � without the wearer feeling it � and promise to leave the wearer feeling dry."

The business is built on a buy-one-give-one model, by which every pair of THINX sold generates a donation to Uganda based AFRIPads, which trains women in developing countries to make and sell reusable pads, which are sold at affordable prices to local women.

On the environmental front, Agrawal says THINX panties can eliminate the landfill waste generated by traditional feminine products. The National Women�s Health Network reports that each year 12 billion pads and 7 million tampons are dumped into U.S. landfills. Agrawal says that by using only THINX during her period, she has made zero carbon impact for the past year.

"Turning sewage into drinking water gains appeal as drought lingers."

California gets ready for "indirect potable reuse."

Instead of flushing hundreds of billions of gallons of treated sewage into the Pacific Ocean each year, as they do now, coastal cites can capture that effluent, clean it and convert it to drinking water.

"That water is discharged into the ocean and lost forever," said Tim Quinn, executive director of the Assn. of California Water Agencies. "Yet it's probably the single largest source of water supply for California over the next quarter-century."...

"You know, toilet to tap might be the only answer at this point," said Van Nuys activist Donald Schultz. "I don't support it, but we're running out of options. In fact, we may have already run out of options."

"The body is first encapsulated into a fetal position in order to fit inside of the burial pod."

"The pod looks like an earthy piece of art, but really it�s a biodegradable 'casket.' Once the burial pod is buried deep underground a tree seed or a young tree is placed directly above, and from one source of life sparks another."

"The Hole in the Rooftop Solar-Panel Craze/Large-scale plants make sense, but panels for houses simply transfer wealth from average electric customers."

"Most people buy rooftop solar panels because they think it will save them money or make them green, or both. But the truth is that rooftop solar shouldn�t be saving them money (though it often does), and it almost certainly isn�t green. In fact, the rooftop-solar craze is wasting billions of dollars a year that could be spent on greener initiatives. It also is hindering the growth of much more cost-effective renewable sources of power."

Subscription needed for direct access to the WSJ, but you can Google some text and get a workable link.

What will sex education sound like when the government sees a need to encourage young women to get pregnant?

The NYT has an article titled "Sex Education in Europe Turns to Urging More Births," but there's precious little in it about how a society � having given sexual freedom and birth control to women � can foster a rebirth of birth.

The comments at the NYT are loaded with statements that we don't need more people on earth. Now, the article is mostly about the need to keep up the birthrate, so I understand why people are responding on that level, but it's interesting that so few accept the presentation of the problem.

My criticism of the article is that it didn't do what the headline made me think it would do and get into a topic I've been concerned with for years. What if, over time, with perfect reproductive freedom, the choice to avoid childbirth is far more popular than we'd ever imagined? One solution would be to back off from women's freedom and equality, and I don't like that. So the thought experiment is: Assume women will continue to have the power to avoid childbirth and complete freedom to exercise that power. Assume we agree that the birthrate must be increased. What can we do?

ADDED: I just happened to run into another NYT piece from a week ago, "No Kids for Me, Thanks":

Meghan Daum, the editor of the anthology ["Selfish, Shallow, and Self-Absorbed: Sixteen Writers on the Decision Not to Have Kids"]... said, �It�s undeniable that watching this culture play out � the helicopter parenting, the media fixation on baby bumps and celebrity childbearing and -rearing � is overwhelming, and it�s natural that people would react against it.�

Click for more �

"To many Democrats and professors at Harvard, Mr. Tribe is a traitor."

Says this NYT article, "Laurence Tribe Fights Climate Case Against Star Pupil From Harvard, President Obama":

�The administration�s climate rule is far from perfect, but sweeping assertions of unconstitutionality are baseless,� Jody Freeman, director of the environmental law program at Harvard Law School, and Richard Lazarus, an expert in environmental law who has argued over a dozen cases before the Supreme Court, wrote in a rebuttal to Mr. Tribe�s brief on the Harvard Law School website. �Were Professor Tribe�s name not attached to them, no one would take them seriously.�...

[A] number of legal scholars and current and former members of the Obama administration say that Mr. Tribe has eroded his credibility by using his platform as a scholar to promote a corporate agenda � specifically, the mining and burning of coal.

�Whether he intended it or not, Tribe has been weaponized by the Republican Party in an orchestrated takedown of the president�s climate plan,� said one former administration official.

Tribe says that he's "very comfortable" representing Peabody Energy, because the arguments he needs to make "happened to coincide with what I believe." The NYT provides a quote to cast doubt on Tribe's veracity...

�That a leading scholar of constitutional matters has identical views as officials of a coal company � that his constitutional views are the same as the views that best promote his client � there�s something odd there,� said Richard L. Revesz, director of the Institute for Policy Integrity at the New York University School of Law.

... and a prediction of his social death...

The Republicans who are citing Mr. Tribe�s work are not surprised. Mr. McKenna, the Republican lobbyist, said dryly, �He�s about to be banned from a lot of cocktail parties.�

Oh, you poor man, now the only friends you'll have are friends nobody wants. 

IN THE COMMENTS: Fernandinande said:

"Were Professor Tribe�s name..."

I first read that as referring to the name of a tribe of "Were-professors," who attack when the moon is full.