Population; Resource Management; Technology; Knowledge; Economic Integration; Conflict; Governance.

Seven Revolutions

] There developers creating "virtual Earth"
]
] The Department of Defense is commissioning a re-creation
] of the entire planet from online-sim maker.
]
] As a rule, the developers of There prefer calling their
] creation a "virtual world" rather than a "game."
]
] Now it looks like that statement will no longer be
] hyperbole.
]
] According to a report on the BBC and HomeLAN Fed, the
] Department of Defense has commissioned the Menlo Park,
] California, company to create a replica of the entire
] planet. According to the report, the Earth sim will be to
] scale, featuring real-world distances--so if a user's
] avatar wanted to spend three months riding a bike around
] the Australian coastline, it could.

There developers creating 'virtual Earth'

] Tuesday, February 24 will be a day of coordinated civil
] disobedience: websites will post Danger Mouse's Grey
] Album on their site for 24 hours in protest of EMI's
] attempts to censor this work.

Well, not exactly, but lots of people are turning their web pages grey.

I didn't find this until just this morning and I don't have time to tweak up the site code. However, if you re-recommend this meme others are more likely to read it.

Grey Tuesday

] The Great Barrier Reef off the east coast of Australia
] will be largely destroyed by 2050 because of rising sea
] temperatures, according to a new report.
]
] Researchers from Queensland University's Centre for
] Marine Studies said there was little evidence that corals
] could adapt quickly enough to cope with even the lowest
] projected temperature rise of 2C.

ugh...

Australia reef's days 'numbered'

careful not to go blind.

The 10 worst Album Covers. Ever.

] Mr. Schwarzenegger, who immigrated to the United States
] from Austria 35 years ago, on Sunday endorsed an
] amendment to the Constitution to allow immigrants who
] have been citizens for at least 20 years to run for
] president. Mr. Schwarzenegger became a citizen in 1983.

I fully endorse this amendment. :)

Schwarzenegger Backs Amendment to Allow Immigrant Presidents

OhMyNews has started an English language section.

OhMyNews English Edition

] We should recognise what a major transition this is.
] 'Coupling' and 'uncoupling' provide a more
] accurate description of the arena of personal life now
] than do 'marriage and the family'. A more
] important question for us than 'are you married?' is 'how
] good is your relationship?'

Some readings about globalization today eventually lead me to this short essay, which talks about the dynamic nature of the concept of marriage. It puts all the recent debate about gay marriage in an overall context. I found it interesting for other reasons as well as I've been sort of grappling uncomfortably with the realization that a lot of people my age are now married and I'm not a kid anymore.

An interesting discussion of the state of Marriage...

] As the planet's carrying capacity shrinks, an ancient
] pattern reemerges: the eruption of desperate, all-out
] wars over food, water, and energy supplies. As Harvard
] archeologist Steven LeBlanc has noted, wars over
] resources were the norm until about three centuries ago.
] When such conflicts broke out, 25% of a population's
] adult males usually died. As abrupt climate change hits
] home, warfare may again come to define human life.

Fortune.com: Grim Pentagon Climate Change scenario

] Pakistan has dramatically stepped up its assistance to
] the U.S.-led campaign to capture Osama bin Laden,
] deploying thousands of soldiers into its lawless
] northwestern frontier, pressuring tribal elders, and
] allowing American soldiers from neighboring Afghanistan
] to make forays across the border, senior Pentagon and
] Pakistani officials say.

It begins.

Mercury News | 02/21/2004 | Pakistan turns up the heat on the hunt for bin Laden