A study in the journal Geoarchaeology that is reported upon by LiveScience reports that ten of twelve major cities that were the core of ancient civilizations were built on major fault lines. The ancient capitals, it is thought, were cities that were occasionally destroyed by earthquakes which allowed major progress to occur in the rebuilding of those cities. Thus, earthquakes allowed the cultures to move forward in great leaps and bounds. What do you think?

A New York Times blog post on design called What Will Save the Suburbs? about the problems of the suburbs is itself good reading but I want to point out that it garnered a response from 325 readers before it was closed for comments. So, read the post, some of the comments, and share your thoughts here...

The Sacramento Bee has a special website devoted to global warming and its impact on the Sierra Nevada Mountains. In-depth reporting by the Bee discusses the meting of Sierra glaciers, the impacts on the forests (including fires), and the shortening of the snow season. There's also a blog devoted to the topic.

The Czech Republic, this year's acting president of the European Union, commissioned a piece of art from one of their most controversial artists and the result was, not surprisingly, controversial. The artist, David Cerny, was commissioned to bring together 27 artists from each of the EU member countries for the project. Instead, Cerny invented artists and created stereotypical images of each of the member countries that bordered on the offensive. For example, Germany is represented by autobahns that somewhat resemble a swastika, Sweden is represented by an IKEA package, Bulgaria is represented by squat toilets, and Romania is represented by a Dracula-style theme park. The art was placed on display at the EU headquarters in Brussels and its installation angered many. The New York Times has video and a slide show and FP Passport also has a story.