PlasticBoy

Farming will cause more damage than global warming
“Tilman and nine other ecologists in the U.S. forecast that over the next 50 years growing populations and an increasing demand for meat will mean the world needs new farmland covering an area the size of the U.S. Meeting this demand will probably see the destruction of ‘the vast majority of the rainforests and savannah grasslands in Latin America and central Africa, which harbour a large portion of the Earth’s biological diversity.’”

Sarah Michelle Gellar will be on Buffy next season. (Scroll down)

How Okinawans live to 100.

I am THE TICK!

The Date My Sister Project

Feed (Magazine) on Craig Mundie and Open Source
“This is the ultimate flaw in Mundie’s argument. If creative destruction is a hallmark of the new new economy, if we’re fated to live through increasingly turbulent economic times, then open source software isn’t one of the causes behind that volatility. It’s an antidote.”

Feed the world’s hungry while protecting wildlife
“Based on current trends, the World Conservation Union says, the world will lose half its existing wildlife species by 2050. Wildlife preserves comprise 10 percent of the earth’s land area, but they’re too small and scattered. Their wild species, lacking opportunities for migration and cross-fertilization with outlying populations, are becoming ‘islands of dying biodiversity.’ The World Conservation Union wants farmers to create wildlife habitats on or near their farms, and link those habitats with existing wildlife preserves.”

Lancet editor rips into FDA
“‘The FDA is not only compromised because it receives so much funding from industry, but because it comes under incredible congressional pressure to be favorable to industry. That has led to deaths.’”

It isn’t as good as an 18-mile high statue but Arthur Dent is now an asteroid.

Zoning crowds out the starter home
“For cities, a large, expensive home also translates into more property-tax revenue. At the same time, estate-type homes are generally purchased by older couples with fewer children living at home, which means fewer expensive public services like schools.” That’s a depressing sentiment.

I’ve recently added two sites to my daily rotation: Meatfilter and Nanodot. They deal with topics near and dear to my heart: vegetarianism and nanotech.

Some of the people who knew Douglas Adams have written insightful things about him. There is Neil Gaiman’s May 12th entry and Richard Dawkins’ lament.

Harvard investing in alternative medicine programs.

Today’s pic: beautiful, undeveloped Cape Cod.

More Forbes.com: Alternatives to Microsoft Office.