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

[jilara.livejournal.com]

Back in the '70s, I attended a NASA presentation on global environmental modification, mostly to do with speculation on terraforming. I'm muttering because I can't recall if the temperature variation was in degrees F or C. But apparently, for a planet with as much water as ours, the magic number is raising the planetary mean temperature 5 degrees. This is the point of no return in a chain reaction of things like polar meltdown and catapults the planetary atmosphere into conditions last experienced "when dinosaurs roamed the earth," warm, wet, and rich in CO2. A 2 degree rise was a danger sign that the process was starting. I have a bad feeling...

BTW, the permafrost problem also causes a major shift in arctic ecosystems and the creatures that depend on the permafrost. Cynically put, we soon may not have to worry about the consequences of drilling in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge, because the thawing of the permafrost will have caused population collapses of key species before we get there.