Photo by RichSeattle, used with permission In addition to our daily bite size news, which keeps you up to date on things that happen in the area and around the world, we're adding a weekly link roundup of meatier articles--some Boston-related, some not. We hope this helps give you some interesting reading for the weekend--since we know you have so much free time for that. A Suffolk econ professor conducted a study on sweatshops......

The battle over global warming is escalating and it's being fought all over the cultural map, most recently in a three state struggle for the "right to dry." The Globe reports today that some environmentalists, specifically a group called Project Laundry List, are pushing for legislation in New Hampshire, Connecticut and Vermont that would guarantee residents are allowed to set up clotheslines. They claim that dryers are a house's second biggest electricity drain (number......

Update: Greenpeace sent out a statement regarding Cape Wind. Greenpeace approves, with a caveat: "While the review is positive, it does point out that Cape Wind needs to minimize the impacts to avian species. We, along with others alarmed by the climate crisis, look forward to participating in the public feedback process of this review and doing all we can to bring this important global warming solution to Massachusetts." The US Minerals Management Service released......

Human Rights Watch International Film Festival Various Showings, January 16-20 Museum of Fine Arts Boston and Peabody Essex Museum It can be easy to get caught up in local and national news, especially when election coverage is hot and murderous Marines are being sought. But even in the face of exciting events, we shouldn't lose sight of larger, less glamorous issues like human rights. Human Rights Watch has been keeping an eye on international abuses......

--Another snowstorm is on its way and is expected to have its greatest impact tonight. [WCVB] --Speaking of snow, Bostonist has the temperature and weather-condition icons at the top left of the home page. If you click on that icon, you'll get all the latest weather news. --People got cold in order to protest the heat of global warming during yesterday's Polar Bear Plunge in Concord. [AP/Globe] --Patriots owner Robert Kraft is partnering with......

Former Massachusetts governor and presidential aspirant Mitt Romney attended the Republican CNN/YouTube debate last night, even though he admitted he was concerned about taking questions from a snowman complaining about global warming. CNN teased him a little bit in the beginning by showing a brief highlight reel with the snowman, but then they disappointed by saying that only "serious" questions would appear. And then CNN showed questions from a dude performing a singsongy tune on......

"Authorial Intent" wraps up book events for the week in the Boston area. Wednesday, October 24 Chris Matthews, 6:00 pm, Coolidge Corner (via Brookline Booksmith), $5 Recently, Jon Stewart sank his fangs into Matthews for pimping the concept that "Life's a Campaign," which is, admittedly, a little scary. Bostonist prefers the old saw that life is a bowl of cherries. Watch what Matthews has dubbed the "interview from hell," and you'll already be armed with......

Gothamist learned about the craziest urban nightmare come true: A huge python found in the bathroom pipes. It was also a nightmare for some Yankees fans, as manger Joe Torre declined to come back and manage the Bronx Bombers. At least the city's attempt to give some direction to subway riders was interesting, pranksters went shirtless at the Fifth Avenue Abercrombie & Fitch and the I Heart Brooklyn Girls calendars came out. And just......

Yo La Tengo Presents "The Sounds of Science" Tuesday, September 25, 8:00 pm Coolidge Corner Theatre $25 Introduction by Fabien Cousteau The third-annual Muddy River Environmental Film Series is running at Coolidge Corner Theatre. The series covers wine, global warming, and Tuvalu. Closing night features a screening of several works by Jean Painlevé, a nature filmmaker who sounds like a real-life Steve Zissou, only without the silly outfits. Painlevé's images shocked the scientist crowd, not......

The battle between Mitt Romney and the Snowman is heating up – and Romney might melt first. The snowman in question was in a YouTube video aired at the Democrats' CNN/YouTube debate. While using a snowman instead of a human to ask a question is geeky, it wasn't completely out of left field because the snowman asked about global warming. However, Romney took offense to the playful snowman and found taking questions from snowmen -......

Charlton Heston's Apocalypse runs Friday, August 17, through Monday, August 20, at the Brattle Theatre. Check the Brattle's website for showtimes. While we're all worried about global warming wiping humanity off the map, the Brattle is paying tribute to cinema's biggest disaster magnet – Charlton Heston. Everyone knows and appreciates Heston's scenery-chewing in the classics Planet of the Apes, The Omega Man, and Soylent "It's people! It's people!" Green, which the Brattle is showing......

When The Boston Phoenix hit newsstands on Thursday, a month and a day had passed since Kelly Wallace was killed at the intersection of Cambridge Street and Harvard Avenue in Allston. Wallace was riding her bicycle when the accident occurred on May 6 - her death marked the second Boston bicycle fatality in about a month. Two lives, two scenes, two ghost bicycles. According to the Phoenix story that ran late last month, Wallace wrote......

Unfortunately, this story about dolphins isn't as pleasant as the plot of a Douglas Adams book. Our clever water buddies just threw themselves on a sandy grave at Wollaston Beach. Surely, scientists must have a more reasonable explanation than that the dolphins are in a kamikaze mood. The Patriot Ledger has a possible reason from a spokesman at the New England Aquarium: "The dolphins were likely to have been sick because they died quickly......

Yesterday, the hotness of Boston was all the rage in the local media. Residents wandered around dazed and confused in their cargo shorts, wondering if they were still in Boston or if they'd been transported to California overnight. The temperature yesterday hit 69 degrees in the city. Those who enjoyed An Inconvenient Truth have more ammunition in the debate over global warming. But those who remain unconvinced about all that global warming jazz will......

Wonkette.com reports rumors that Al Gore is "on the shortlist" for presidency of Northeastern University. Gore could bring the "big name" to help with jumpstart fundraising at the school where the fundraising has been in a slump. Deans and professors really are the academic backbone to the University machine – the post of President is largely regarded as a handshaking titular head, responsible for bringing in the bucks. Current President of Northeastern, Richard M. Freeland,......

We learn from today's Globe that a pact among New England states to reduce the industrial emissions that cause global warming is hitting the skids because our dear governor has reservations (even though he initially said he supported it). Not surprisingly, these reservations have to do with limiting any cost increases for the business sector. What's curious, though, is that this particular plan to reduce pollution is just the kind of arrangement that free-market guys......

Chatter for the last few months has been hitting the media as more studies on global warming come out. Boston is in for it according to the newest report. Severe flooding, the bigger badder older brother of the flooding from the Blizzard of ’78, will wash over Boston. Adamg over at the Universal Hub says we’ll have to teach our kids why they call it the Back Bay. To combat the threats of global warming......

With another half a foot of snow falling yesterday and the temperature falling even more the last thing we’re thinking about is heat. Those warm summer days watching the swan boats float around, lemonade, ice cream, t-shirts and sandals are far from the mind. Science is great, the technologies we’ve seen in the last few years are amazing, timing, though, remains of the essence. One would think there could be a better time of......