Another Elephant in the Room

Effects of carbon dioxide and climate change on ocean acidification and carbonate mineral saturation

http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/2007/2006GL028605.shtml
Basically, this means high CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere are causing more CO2 to be absorbed by the oceans, which raises their acidity. Since pH is measured on a logarithmic scale, the numbers mean that acidity has already increased by 29% since the Industrial Revolution. No one knows exactly what the effects will be, but marine life has evolved for millions of years at pre-industrial acidity levels and those levels are changing very fast. Large scale extinctions of marine life will occur at some point. The question is how much further we can denature the oceans before this happens. Note, also, that this acidification process occurs independently of ambient temperature, that is, of global warming. I consider this one of the top ten, possibly one of the top five problems globally.
This constitutes another very bad gamble on the part of humankind.

In Defense of Bad Books

Not being a book reviewer, there are a great many good books I've yet to attempt and, consequently, have fallen well behind on the reading of bad ones. I did look into O.J.'s though--and it was truly impressive, covering 2 out of Queenan's 3 categories of badness: both stupid and immoral.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9505E7DC133EF935A35756C0A9619C8B63