The c-word

I heard a CNBC anchor speak in hushed-terms of the 'collapse of capitalism', showing some concern.  

For a frightening look at how societies collapse, see Jared Diamond's Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed.   Here are two thought-provoking paragraphs from that book:

last tree and globalization

How much choice we have in the matter, I think, is debatable.  

NPR's latest

'Peak Oil Theory' Demands Energy Alternatives

So many folks lament about the dismal (even dire) state of the economy, but few suggest it has anything to do with peak oil.  

Physicist to head Energy Department

Fancy that, a physicist in charge of the Department of Energy.  Nobel prize winning physicist, Stephen Chu, is nominated as incoming Secretary of said department.  PBS re-airs its piece: Physicist Searches for Alternative Fuel Technologies.  Tad Patzek, also a professor at Berkeley, questions Mr. Chu's position.

A Gift from God

CBS' 60 Minutes presents an inside look at the Saudi oil infrastructure.