OPEC’s World Oil Outlook 2008 is a realistic but very worrying analysis of the global energy picture. It discusses the recent gyrations of the price of oil and its underlying drivers, in particular the growth of speculation, and outlines demand and supply parameters. While it projects a sufficient supply for the coming decades, whether or …
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Author:astraea
Humanity pushes another mammal off the planet.
Last year it was the baiji dolphin of China which became extinct – the first mammal for 50 years to do so. Now it seems that another dolphin is being pushed off the planet by humans – the Mekong Irrawaddy dolphin, principally found in Cambodia. This may seem to be far from you, but the …
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Its time for direct democracy.
The recent kerfuffle over the Lisbon Treaty aka the EU constitution demands a rethink of political process in sophisticated societies. Switzerland has been an example of direct democracy for over 150 years, and it works. It is ludicrous to call a system of electing individuals for periods of 4-7 years to make local decisions on …
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Is Thailand beginning to set a good example?
Thaksin Shinawatra is going on trial. And it seems that judicial process might be getting institutional and popular backing. That would be a very positive sign that Thailand is maturing into a sophisticated society and economy. My experience with the judicial process a decade ago was not encouraging. And I doubt we’ll see a conviction. …
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G8 co2 goals – a lot of hot air?
So the G8 is talking about the cost of food and oil. And they’ve proclaimed that they will cut carbon emissions in half. This is a good start and if nothing else the propaganda will encourage people, businesses and politics to accelerate conversion to low energy-high value technology. Its good to see the US beginning …
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9/11 World Trade Centre controlled demolition evidence
The mystery of why “Tower 7” collapsed hours after the twin towers, and with no plane having crashed in to it, is expected to be “solved”. Investigators are planning to say it was caused by fire. But this is just a cover-up, as this news report shows. The evidence that it was a controlled demolition …
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California burning
Fire season in California is of to a hot start. Since June 20 over half a million acres have been consumed. The news hasn’t been as prevalent as last year because residential areas have not been so affected … yet – though 40 residences have been destroyed already. It is still early in the season …
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Why BBC news is best
These journalism guidelines from the BBC speak for themselves. While news media must try to entertain in order to get an audience, it is important to report facts and not be judgemental. The BBC manages to do that well, while covering events globally and across many sectors and interests. For example, have a look at …
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Opensuse 11.0 x64 – flying made easy
Loaded oss 11.0 a week or so ago on this dual x64 machine and everything is flying! OK, you probably want to do an online update and then do it again with appropriate community repositories installed. Install extra bits if your machine is more than standard, as mine is, but with little tweaking everything is …
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BT Notes – It’s summer!?!
Its summer! Though some days it seems more like monsoon season. At least it’s not too cold. Though warm humid weather can be very bad for potatoes – July and August is when blight risk is high. I’ve got my fingers crossed since the potatoes look pretty good at the moment. In fact the garden …
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