Muggle Liaison

4 Comments

    • The Case for Not Drilling ANWR [view article]
      Nice to see an article along these lines...also pretty much agree with EcoEcoMind's sentiments.

      Political leaders may be able to see the writing on the wall (although some may be incapable of reading it). However, they are much more interested in votes today than what's good for their country tomorrow. They don't have the guts to tell us we need to use less, because they know we don't want to hear it...that might mean we have to make changes, like giving up our Hummers, Escalades, F350s, etc.

      Also, politicians have subsidized the futile and economically destructive production of ethanol from corn to gain favor (i.e. votes) with midwestern farmers and give the public a (false) sense of impending energy security. Better to make ethanol from stuff people don't eat (waste wood chips etc)...or you could buy sugarcane-based ethanol from Brazil cheaper, but then again Brazilian farmers don't vote in the US.

      Anwar's oil reserve capacity has been estimated at about 15.5 billion barrels. Sounds like a lot, but this is wouldn't even feed the US oil habit for 2 years. The sun will be around longer than that, and the winds will keep blowing...so those sources may provide better planks for a sound long-term energy policy.

      Something most people don't realize is that Canada is the largest supplier of foreign oil to the United States. Thanks to NAFTA, you might say that the "real" US oil reserves are the (estimated)1.7 Trillion barrels of tar sands oil in Canada. The US also has tar sands resources which haven't been tapped (for the time being, it's easier to destroy the environment in Northern Alberta and pipe the oil south than to wreak the same kind of environmental havoc in the good ol' USA).

      Oh well, end of energy rant. Just my $0.02.
      May 25 05:44 PM
    • Thursday Outlook: Crude Awakening [view article]
      All these posts make good points, but I think conservation is the single most important element in short-term and long-term solutions to North America's energy problems. But of course politicians lack the courage to tell us what the great majority of us don't want to hear and wouldn't want to admit...that we want, use, have, and waste too much of just about everything.
      One scary side effect of our chronic over-consumption is that China (our trusty supplier of manufactured goods) is developing an even greater appetite for energy, food and water.
      Hmmm...in an analogy with Wells' novel "The Time Machine", if we're going to continue behaving like the Eloi, I sure hope the Chinese don't turn out to be like the Morlocks.       May 22 05:43 PM
    • Peak Oil, Gold and the U.S. Dollar [view article]
      I completely agree with you - keep up the good work. And hey, the back yard thing may not be that farfetched. ;-)
      A couple of key bullets for your energy policy...
      1. Conserve (boy, do politicians hate to talk about this)
      2. Look up...take solar energy VERY seriously (wind too)
      Apr 03 10:19 AM
    • Oracle and BEA: Getting Uglier By The Minute [view article]
      I believe an Oracle acquisition of BEA has made sense for quite some time. Oracle has the fastest-growing line of middleware products and has systematically strengthened them over the past few years through both internal innovation and acquisition of technology to broaden their capabilities. Competition from BEA has become much less threatening than it was 5 years ago. This acquisition appears to be more about increasing market share than it is about elimiinating competition (BEA has been doing a good job of eliminating itself without help from Oracle). Also, Oracle's concern about 'shifting value to BEA's management team' is right on target...they don't want this to be an opportunity for BEA executives to line their pockets at shareholder expense. Oct 14 01:11 PM
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