Obligatory Readings of the Day

Lots of them today:

A Change In The Wind: Largest Insect Epidemic in North American History:

That's according to the Canadian Forest Service. Hat tip to the Washington Post, for an excellent story about the spread of the Mountain Pine Beetle, a tiny little critter that for eons has been controlled by cold winters...but no longer.

"It's pretty gut-wrenching," said Allan Carroll, a research scientist at the Pacific Forestry Centre in Victoria, whose studies tracked a lock step between warmer winters and the spread of the beetle. "People say climate change is something for our kids to worry about. No. It's now."

Dr.Biobrain: God's Big Kick and Faith After Death.

Big Monkey, Helpy Chalk: A Qualified Defense of Standardized Testing in Higher Education.

Archy: Beware of frozen mammoths - part 2: The admiral and the mammoth.

Sean explains the way a computer solved a problem without running it at all in: Quantum interrogation

Echidne and Amanda rip into John Tierney and he gets what he deserves.

Environmental Action Blog: Americans Will Support Gas Tax Increase If...

I applaud every excuse to post a picture of Scarlett Johanssen, as in Anatomically modern gentlemen prefer blondes on Archaeoblog. Update: Here is another blonde cave-woman.

Global Warming, the only issue that is REALLY serious, as it is global and long-term and irreversible, ranks dead last in a recent survey of what the government should focus on: Matt Nisbett reports.

Everything made its way into science fiction. Even my old oft-repeated harping that conservatives are hierarchical and liberals individualistic. See Musical Perceptions: The evils of hierarchy. I'll have to get some Octavia Butler stuff to read soon.

Mahablog has been on the roll lately. See Obliviousness on healthcare, Rights, Facts, Comments and Kibble on abortion, and The Bush Policy Flow Chart on Rovian politicking, among else.