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Despite what’s happening in Alaska and the Midwest, a recent study of centuries of weather suggests we have record warming ahead.

Researchers looking at weather patterns since the end of the last Ice Age predict that average surface temperatures will be at their highest point in human history by the end of this century. But we’ll survive: In the last 11,300 years, humans endured a planet warmer than today’s, as they built their earliest civilizations.
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Despite not having sugared soft drinks or fast food, the ancients didn’t lead healthier lives than we do. Researchers who examined 137 mummies from four different cultures, spanning 4,000 years, under CT scanners, and found evidence of atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) in almost half of them.

In the March 11th edition of the Wall Street Journal, Ron Winslow quotes cardiologist Randall Thompson as saying, "The older ones at the time of death had a lot more calcification than the younger ones, and there was a trend toward worse disease in women." This is the opposite of heart disease today, where women generally develop cardiovascular disease a decade or so later than men.
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I was raised by atheists, and when it comes to religion, I often joke that I’m a "lapsed Wiccan." However, I AM (officially, anyway) a Catholic, and I have high hopes for the new pope.

I never thought that Ratizinger was going to work out–he was too hidebound and rule-oriented. When he told the nuns to stop paying so much attention to the poor, that was the last straw for lots of us.
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In the March 14th edition of the Financial Times, Richard Waters writes: "What people choose to strap to their wrists has much to do not just with ease of use, but also fashion and self image." Swiss watch makers, who sell the most timepieces, know that their customers aren’t just paying big bucks "just because they want to know the time."
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