Rain, rain and more rain. It is a bleak, rain-soaked day outdoors...so no biking today. A day to stay cozy indoors, and perhaps write/think and read.

For my reflections on the news today, here are a couple of recent articles that are thought-provoking.

An excerpt from a N.Y. Times article:
Drastic Shifts in Climate Are Likely, Experts Warn

By KENNETH CHANG

The vast reshaping of the environment by modern civilization raises the chances of sudden and drastic upheavals in the climate, a panel of experts warns.

Now, that is possibly common knowledge by now, but another passage further along is more interesting:

Most of the report focuses on abrupt changes that occurred naturally, long before humans dominated the landscape. One prominent example is a period 12,800 years ago known as the Younger Dryas cold interval. The climate had almost completely recovered from the last ice age, but then average temperatures dropped 10 degrees or more and remained cold for more than 1,000 years. Then the Earth abruptly warmed again, perhaps 15 degrees in a decade. By contrast, the warming of the Earth in the last century was 1 degree.

And here's some more dark news from a Wired Article, Where Did That Galaxy Go?:

Even as distant galaxies fade from view, the local scene will remain recognizable. The Virgo Cluster of galaxies, of which the Milky Way is a part, will hold together, as will our orbital pirouette with the Andromeda Galaxy.

Well, that is, until the age of stars has passed and the universe is filled with black holes.

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Just some dreary prospects for our planet and our existence to match this dreary day!