3 Thursday Readings - The Best of Politics, Economics, & Ideas

Every week at least twice I publish lists of interesting reads under the title, The Best of Politics,
Economics, & Ideas.  

Today, I am sharing just three articles; I am sure they will make for some
really interesting readings.

At CIA, a convert to Islam leads the terrorism hunt

Colleagues describe
Roger as a collection of contradictions. A chain-smoker who spends countless hours on a treadmill. Notoriously
surly yet able to win over enough support from subordinates and bosses to hold
on to his job. He presides over a campaign that has killed thousands of
Islamist militants and angered millions of Muslims, but he is himself a convert
to Islam. Read the complete article on the
Washington Post Web site. 

Global warming close to becoming
irreversible

The world is close to
reaching tipping points that will make it irreversibly hotter,
making this decade critical in efforts to contain global warming,
scientists warned... As emissions grow, scientists say the world is close
to reaching thresholds beyond which the effects on the global climate will be
irreversible, such as the melting of polar ice sheets and loss of rainforests.
Read the complete
article on the Scientific
American Web site.

Want
to know your history of activity on Google products?

Google has
announced an interesting feature called Account Activity recently. It sums up
what you have been doing with Google products each month, including whom you
have mailed most or which places you have visited etc. Check out how to
find out your Google activity on the NDTV Gadget site.

Deve Gowda is in news, for all the wrong reasons, like always. When I was in college (yes, I did go to college!), I once participated in a 'Sell This To' contest. I was asked to sell 'sleeping pills to Deve Gowda'. How tough it is? Well, selling a refrigerator to an Eskimo is easier. Check out this twitpic which I found here.