Not an internet addict!

Good news! I just took an online test to find out if I'm addicted to the internet (the irony...an online internet addiction test...). I'm in the clear. The results indicate "You are an average on-line user. You may surf the Web a bit too long at times, but you have control over your usage."

Now that's out of the way I can focus on more pressing things, like the end of the world. Well, not the end of the world but certainly it's decline. I've just finished reading a book entitled Forecast and a National Geographic article about vanishing frogs. Both were equally uplifting.

Forecast pointed out that there is civil unrest, political upheaval, and natural environmental factors that are going to be exacerbated by the climate shift that is already upon us. That's right, it seems the temperature increases, warming oceans and weather changes we're experiencing now are largely due to CO2 emitted about 50 years ago.

Anyway, I could go on with facts and examples but suffice it to say that this is a well written book that connects the dots on international conflict and climate change. It's not what one might expect from a book on climate change forecasts - I don't thing there are any graphs or charts at all.

The frog article is just disappointing. Not because of the quality of the article (I mean come on, it's National Geographic) but because of the role of human actions in their demise. Oh sure, there's a fungus but there are also environmental effects that may have made the fungus infection easier. Here is a particularly telling quote from the article "It's no wonder some view our time on Earth as a mass extinction. Biodiversity losses today have reached levels not seen since the end of the Cretaceous period 65 million years ago."