Cheerios:

Happy Birthday, meara and Jen!

And I'm officially an Obamazon now.

Obama said in his speech that he wanted the US to be independent of MIDDLE EASTERN oil in 10 years.

That doesn't really make sense to me, oil is fungible. I suppose we could cut our oil dependency enough to make us less impacted by OPEC policy.

I suppose we could cut our oil dependency enough to make us less impacted by OPEC policy.

Well, I think that's the gist of it really. It's not that we'll stop using oil, or even that we'll stop using Middle Eastern oil. It's that, if consumption is scaled back and other fuels improved and in more use, shocks in the world oil market won't affect us as severely, OPEC production manipulation won't be such a big deal, etc. So we'll be able to a) turn to other sources if the Middle East gets untenable or b) absorb the cost impact with less pain.

All of which has the bottom line impact of making us less hostage to the politics of the region, so that we could do crazy things like acknowledge in public that the Saudis are maybe not our bestest friends forever, etc.

Not to mention just being a good thing all around on a host of other levels.

I'm hoping the candidates will address science at some point. I expect that Obama will have a better science policy, but I'd like to hear something about it. Being a bit of a high energy physics nut, I've been very dismayed at how the U.S. is totally squandering leadership in that area. We've pulled out of the ITER fusion project in France. We have nothing to compare with Japan's planned DEMO fusion reactor (an actual commercial fusion reactor albeit an experimental prototype). CERN's LHC collider has moved to focus of particle physics to Europe. The Tevatron collider is being defunded, and I believe we have pulled out of the ILC linear collider project that was going to be built here. High energy physics is now all about Europe and Japan and that is where the great scientific minds will gather and the additional technology surrounding these projects will be developed.

A bit of a pet subject of mine that is probably far off the radar of the average American I admit.

I think the key word is "independent," in that we could do without it if we need to.

I have term insurance just to make sure my family wouldn't end up out of pocket if something happened to me. Term is very cheap. It wouldn't be cheap for me now, mind you, but I got it when I was relatively healthy.

Ginger, I used to volunteer at that book festival. Always came home laden with several grocery bags stuffed full.

Well, I think that's the gist of it really. It's not that we'll stop using oil, or even that we'll stop using Middle Eastern oil. It's that, if consumption is scaled back and other fuels improved and in more use, shocks in the world oil market won't affect us as severely, OPEC production manipulation won't be such a big deal, etc. So we'll be able to a) turn to other sources if the Middle East gets untenable or b) absorb the cost impact with less pain.

Yeah, it bothers me that complex subjects are painted over with pithy, but inaccurate, statements. OTOH, being painfully accurate is a sure ticket to losing, and I suppose it really isn't that bad if you can bring the nuance when questioned about it.

This one is only in its third year. It became ginormous really fast. Sadly, there is not much in the way of free books.

I have non-work life insurance through my alumni association. By getting it when I graduated I got a really good rate, and if I find myself out of work I won't have to worry about sticking my sister with my funeral bills if I get hit by a bus.

The projected storm track for Hanna is weird, I've never seen a tropical storm take a big southerly hook like that out in the Atlantic. I would have thought it would curve up along the seaboard. It's like the Bahamas have a bit hurricane magnet turned on.