I think the problem is that we have the ablity to make the transaction from oil to smooth or rough. and With the current way we tend to think - it looks realy rough. There isn' a lot of recognition that oil is a finite source. ( when doesn't really matter) And it isn't just fuel - we use a lot of petrolum based products - such as plastics - that are part of our every day life. Current technologies for solar/wind/ even clean coal could be made less expensive over time - with money put into to it. 200$ a barrel might happen - but we can prevent it from being a major deal.

I delight in reading articles about people who drive their cars on corn oil.

Biodiesel is a big thing here in Illinois (what with all the corn/soy farmers), so I wouldn't be surprised if this expands across the midwest, and not just to governmental vehicles, but to retrofitted personal cars, as well.

I'm toying with the idea of getting a pay-as-you-go phone/plan from T-Mobile. Anyone have any experience they want to share, or an alternate recommendation that I could get up and running by Thursday morning?

Oh. My.

Focus on the pretty. The NOLA stuff is making my throat tight (which isn't me bitching -- I understand that the sharing is very therapeutic), so I'm skimming and thinking of other things.

The EU has a target of 12% of energy from renewable sources by 2010, but it's not going to happen. 2015 looks like a better estimate. Which is something. And where Europe leads, other nations avert their eyes and pretend they can't hear.

Thanks, y'all. Stepping away from the scary book.

That's gonna be the interesting part. I mean, if we get individual solar/wind/snarkonium generators to create electricity for our houses and use that to charge up our electric cars (or create the hydrogen for our H2 powered cars) where will Big Power (oil/coal/nukes) get their cut?

From making the parts that go into solar generators. If oil becomes too expensive to sell, they'll evolve or perish. Their interest is in making money, and they'll go where demand goes. No one's complaining about how Big Typewriter nearly pushed IBM out of existence. Because Selectrics turned into PCs.

And where Europe leads, other nations avert their eyes and pretend they can't hear.

Perhaps the U.S. will get a little more forward thinking when/if the government is run by a bunch of big oil people.

There are a bunch of articles on alternative energy developments here: [link]

Biodiesel is a big thing here in Illinois (what with all the corn/soy farmers), so I wouldn't be surprised if this expands across the midwest, and not just to governmental vehicles, but to retrofitted personal cars, as well.

I believe in 2007 there will be some tighter limits on sulfer in diesel fuel which will help diesel engines meet emissions regulations. I'll bet combined with higher gas prices, that this will bring a lot more diesel cars to the market in the U.S.