How Green Is My Produce? Locally grown produce bought at the farmer's market may be delicious, nutritious, and good for the local economy, but it's probably not helping reduce the use of fossil fuels. Or so argues Brian Dunning over at Skeptic Blog "Locally grown produce is rarely efficient," he says. "Apply a little mathematics to the problem, and you’ll find that the ugly alternative of giant suburban distribution centers accomplishes the same thing - fresh produce into stores on the same day it’s picked - but with much less fuel burned."  (Skeptic Blog)

Nadia's Big Adventure Mother of 14 Nadia Sulyman has signed a television deal to create a "quasi-reality" show about her life. The controversial mom, who gave birth to octuplets (a word spell check doesn't even recognize) after what one might describe as "overzealous" in-vitro fertilization treatments, has made a move to trademark the name "Octomom." She also thinks "Jon and Kate Plus 8" is boring. We now return to reporting real news. (People)

The Slow Race Towards Stem Cell Breakthroughs: The good news for stem-cell therapy advocates: there's a pro-stem cell president in office,  restrictions on research are fewer and funding is more accessible. The bad news: it's still going to take a long, long time before we see any real results. Scientific America says not only will conclusive research take years, so will building up a bank of available stem cells for treatment. Most significantly, the battle over the ethics of stem cells is far from over, and research and advancements in this field will still be highly political. (Scientific America)

Disney's Princess Problem After unveiling their first black princess, who will be featured in the upcoming animated film "The Frog Prince," Disney is facing criticism for not being sensitive enough regarding the portrayal of an animated African American. This line of attack (which is not always off-base) happens whenever Disney strays away from lily-white heroes and heroines: remember the dust up over Mulain, Pocahontas, and Aladdin? Disney gets points for diversifying, but that shouldn't make them immune to criticism: if anything, it creates a dialog about all the associated issues around race and media representation. Of course, there are also all those conversations about the role of women and the influence of consumerism, but one meme at a time today, people. It's Monday.  (New York Times)