For Your Reading Enjoyment. . .

I like reading about legal matters, when they are written in layman's terms that I can grok. Things that seem so simple on the surface turn out to be so complex underneath, and a proper look at legalities leaves out partisan fluff and goes straight to the heart of the matter with Vulcan clarity of logic. Here, for example, is a nice blurb at the Garden Professors about why educators need to be very careful when recommending home remedy pesticides, even when such remedies seem more safe than their commercial counterparts.

And in this corner, Monsanto acknowledges the benefit of no-till farming, as is demonstrated by a Purdue study. Whoda thunk it?

Last but not least, here is a nice little article on how invasive species trigger mass extinctions. And to think I ever wasted time arguing with people who consider invasive species to be a man-made problem. Of course, they said, when species migrate without the help of people, it's all natural and completely different from what's going on now! Morons.

(This does not absolve us from our role in mixing up the world's ecosystems, but, more importantly, gives us a more accurate and scientific perspective from which to evaluate the current mess.)