There has been plenty of commentary on Edward Snowden (Nexon, Toobin, Roger Simon, interesting counterpoint from Jack Shafer here), but I’m a little bit amazed that important government secrets are entrusted to a 29 year old high school dropout who unilaterally gets the chance to decide what’s in the national interest. I respect the idea of whistleblowers, but something about the tone of interviews with this guy struck me as dime store political philosophy from the Wachowski brothers.

To the business at hand: here is your Thursday morning linkage! On the lighter side, cheetahs are effective hunters because of their capacity to turn. They can run up to 60 mph so let’s protect those big cats alive and in the wild.

In other news:

• US-China summit yields agreement on effort to tackle potent greenhouse gas HFCs
• Giving high risk people AIDS drugs — PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) — gets further support as a HIV prevention tool with drug addicts
• Scary story on Indian generic firm Ranbaxy and fraud in its drug production
• Europe leaving itself open to fringe movements through austerity programs
• The North Korean regime through the Japanese sushi chef who worked for Kim Jong-Il
• Edward Carr knocks Bill Gates for setting up a straw man of aid/development critics – Dambisa Moyo is too easy a foil

Here is a new album that you should definitely consider listening to from the National and their Tiny Desk Concert: