U.S. set for fracking bonanza — Zillions of barrels of oil, Bazillions of cubic feet of natural gas. The U.S. could pass Saudi Arabia in petroleum production.

Good for the U.S. economy. Good for national security. Good for the Earth? Is two out of three good enough?

Scientists ‘undiscover’ South Pacific island — “An international scientific expedition has revealed a South Pacific island roughly the size of Manhattan and clearly marked on online maps and marine charts does not, in fact, exist. The ‘undiscovery’ of the island — which until now was midway between Australia and New Caledonia — highlights how much there still is to learn about the oceans, scientists say.”

Here it is on ONC P-15, a U.S. military aeronautical Operational Navigation Chart:

Back in the old days of manual cartography, I would have said it was easier to change the Earth than to fix the map.

Marco Rubio and the Age of the Earth — A Republican senator from Florida gives a very political answer to a reporter’s question on the age of the Earth: “I’m not a scientist, man. I can tell you what recorded history says, I can tell you what the Bible says, but I think that’s a dispute amongst theologians and I think it has nothing to do with the gross domestic product or economic growth of the United States. I think the age of the universe has zero to do with how our economy is going to grow.”

This N.Y. Times article had a link to The GeoChristian (the long quote from St. Augustine), which caused my readership to double for a few days.