Uh-oh. The permafrost is thawing.

[unixronin]

This could have serious consequences.  A mass thaw of the permafrost would dump billions of tons of methane and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, which -- if it happened -- would likely cause a massive global warming.  There's already concerns about land-locked icecaps melting (Antarctica and Greenland), even without this.

Also from the BBC:  Pakistan has successfully launched its first cruise missile.  Named "Babur", the missile is nuclear-capable and has a 500km range.  "The launch," the BBC observes, "comes days after Pakistan and India agreed to give each other advance notice of future nuclear ballistic missile tests."  India was not informed of the Babur test because the agreement did not cover cruise missiles.

And, expect another fatwa against Salman Rushdie:  he's gone on public record as stating that Islam needs to be reformed to bring it into the modern era.

"What is needed is a move beyond tradition - nothing less than a reform movement to bring the core concepts of Islam into the modern age.

"A Muslim Reformation to combat not only the jihadi ideologues but also the dusty, stifling seminaries of the traditionalists, throwing open the windows of the closed communities to let in much-needed fresh air."

Comments

[anda.livejournal.com]

May I reccomend:

http://www.livejournal.com/users/savya/84269.html

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Well written, detailed, and accurate; but it's not really relevant to the question of whether melting tundra will presage accelerated global warming, or whether there would be severe consequences to the ice caps melting. I don't think anyone's suggesting global warming or rising sea levels would be an extinction event, which seems to be the boogeyman that article is arguing against (one might go so far as to mention the words "straw man"); but it's hard to dispute that a rise of thirty meters or more in sea level on a comparatively short timescale would cause catastrophic problems in many low-lying areas, including many coastal cities. Very few nations have the resources to build a forty-meter dike along their entire coastline.

[olafthunderfoot.livejournal.com]

on the plus side, the human population would be massively reduced!