Random Notes  

The Oil Drum has turned 3 - happy birthday guys (which includes me now I guess).

I've missed my friend MonkeyGrinder's posts at the northern outpost of Peak Energy (the original collection of peak oil bloggers that spontaneously arose 3+ years ago is now much reduced unfortunately - both in number and volume of posts), so I was glad to see he's emerged from retirement to bewail the disappearance of the salmon. Also at Peak Energy (US) - a speech from 1989 by Isaac Asimov on threats to humanity, particularly global warming. Asimov's solution - space based solar power stations beaming energy by microwave down to the surface - an idea which still pops up from time to time - run by a "stable world order" that distributes energy equally to all (black helicopter types can freak out at this point). MonkeyGrinder also has a review of James Howard Kunstler's book "World Made By Hand".

Speaking of the old school PO bloggers, I wonder whatever became of the Flying Talking Donkey (last seen at Tim Of Suburbia), who seemed to be the catalyst that networked many of us together. I have a half formed (and half baked) conspiracy theory that he was actually an emissary of The Arlington Institute performing some emergent information architecture.

On the subject of TAI, a new Future Edition is out, with the usual collection of articles that mirror many of my standard threads (veering towards those of Cryptogon, but without the NWO related comments and exclamation marks). One item in there I hadn't picked up was this article in "Next Energy News" claiming there is 200 billion barrels of oil in the Bakken Formation in North Dakota, increasing US reserves by a factor of 10. Anyone know if this is real or fantasy ? Apparently a "Binary 'Deathstar' has Earth in its Sights" as well, which sounds ominous.

TAI's closing quotes for the latest FE were from Arthur C Clarke (RIP) :

If an elderly but distinguished scientist says that something is possible, he is almost certainly right; but if he says that it is impossible, he is very probably wrong. – Arthur C. Clarke

I don't pretend we have all the answers. But the questions are certainly worth thinking about. – Arthur C. Clarke

TAI's Jon L Petersen will be doing a talk in a few weeks on "The Next Four Years: Unprecedented Change" (also featuring Daniel Pinchbeck amongst others, so presumably there will be a heavy 2012 vibe going on). Hopefully the "Unprecedented Change" isn't too similar to "Childhood's End" (extra bonus points awarded to anyone who gets the Clarke and RI references), though I can think of some changes I'd like to see occur.

Kurt Cobb of Resource Insights has a thoughtful post asking "Do we have too much energy?". I'm glad to see that the idea of unavoidable "energy descent" is starting to disappear from the minds of all but the most hardened of doomers. Kurt instead looks at the environmental problems caused by abundant energy - which is something to be more concerned about. Kurt says "Our biggest challenge is to understand our relationship with energy and to recast it so that we may live more harmoniously with the world around us".

Mobjectivst has a post on the founder of the Trek bike company.

Bike Hugger has an interesting review of a new gearing system called the "Mondo Nuvinci" - a "Continuously Variable Transmission hub" which allows riders to change the gear ratio throughout the range without being limited to specific gear increments.



Past Peak recommends watching this TED talk by talk by neuroanatomist Jill Bolte Taylor.

Jeff Vail has a look at The Economist's section on "The New Colonialists" - "China's Thirst For Resources" - and compares the emerging Chinese mercantilism to that of The West.



Bill Totten points to an article from The New Statesman on "The Real Lesson of Easter Island". Apparently the Rapa Nui'ians didn't chop down all their trees and thus (really) become the poster children of ecological collapse - instead rats were to blame. Hopefully the collapse meme doesn't mutate into a xenophobic fable which tells people to beware of foreigners and their filthy vermin, lest all their food be eaten and they starve to death...

Geoffrey Styles at Energy Outlook has a post on our "Complex Energy Crisis".

Richard Heinberg has a column combining the credit crisis with Colin Campbell's peak oil induced "second great depression" - "Making the most of a global depression".

Energy Bulletin has an article by Paul Rogers on "A global threat multiplier", taking a look at the unfortunate trend for elite states to view climate change as a security problem.

Dave Roberts at Grist has a follow up to last week's post at the WSJ's Environmental Capital blog about Wal*Mart admitting "we are not green" - apparently Lee Scott Jr wasn't saying they don't want to be green, just that they have "an extraordinary distance to go" (in the hope of not being tagged as garden variety greenwashers). Dave reports: "Another bit I found gratifyingly frank was when Scott was asked when the company would reach its ambitious goals of zero waste and 100 percent renewable energy. Said Scott: "Oh, I don't know. I have no idea when that will be." Instead of hard targets, he said, it's meant to be a statement: it's possible. "Let's go for it."

I like that attitude - its a shame more people don't have it.

Dave also has a follow up on the WSJ's ECO:nomics conference, noting the assembled climate skeptics were treated by the attending CFO's (including Lee Scott) like a gang of "crazy uncles", escaped from the attic to the embarrassment of all (except themselves of course).

PhysOrg has an article on the next generation of high-efficiency plastic solar cells, using alkanedithiols to increase cell efficiency.



BusinessWeek has an article on the growth of cleantech - "Clean Energy: It's Getting Affordable" - "The argument that we can't afford renewable sources of energy falls flat when considering the growth in solar, wind, biofuels, and fuel cells".

The Long Now points to an interesting animation of "Journey of Mankind".

Dvice has a look at the winner of a competition to envision San Francisco 100 years from now - "a city run by geothermal power and tapping water from the city’s ubiquitous fog".



CNet's Green tech blog has a post on a Japanese idea to decrease friction by blowing bubbles underneath a ship, thus increasing fuel efficiency.

The Guardian has a column on the credit crunch, looking back at recent years and declaring "America was conned - who will pay?" - "the South Sea Bubble ended in riots as trust was lost" - and talking about a "new 'new deal'".

Hale Stewart at The Huffington Post has a look at "An Empire of Debt -- Collapsing Under Its Own Weight".

Glenn Greenwald reports that John "Bomb bomb Iran" McCain has developed a habit of incorrectly linking Iran to Al Qaeda - according to his staff, this is just a case of recurring "brain flatulence", rather than deliberately spreading false information. Salon has a copy of McCain's speech backing the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Bill Maher thinks that by McCain and Cheney's standards a 100 year war in Iraq is the definition of success - as the military industrial complex will prosper (even if the rest of the economy is sucked dry).

Tom Dispatch has an article by Nick Turse on "The Golden Age of the Military-Entertainment Complex", looking at the Pentagon-Hollywood axis.

Bruce Schneier reports that the Bomb Squad Has Defused A Turnip" - "A raw turnip was at the root of a bomb scare that last for hours at a law office".

Cryptogon has a post on the use of portable Biomass Refineries - "Army to Turn Trash Into Power in Iraq".

And to close, some politically incorrect humour from The Onion - "Black Guy Asks Nation For Change". Remember - its satire...