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144 comments on Friday Open Thread

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Leanan on April 28, 2006 - 10:53am Permalink | Subthread | Comments top
On top of their deals with Nigeria:

Energy-hungry China clinches oil exploration pacts with Kenya

China inked oil exploration deals with Kenya as visiting President
Hu Jintao continued his African quest to quench China's near-insatiable demand for energy to fuel its booming economy.

Meanwhile:

Sky-high oil prices fuel ethanol mania in China

HONG KONG/BEIJING (Reuters) - Record crude oil prices are fuelling ethanol fever in China, the world's second-largest oil consumer, despite Beijing's reservations in allowing more food grains to be used to run cars.

Beijing is reluctant to expand ethanol production from food grains as China will face a shortage of grains like corn or wheat possibly as early as next year, due to rising domestic demand brought on by higher affluence.

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odograph on April 28, 2006 - 11:41am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
I saw the Chinese President on tv with Fidel Castro ... which made an interesting image.  On a practical basis, it's too bad we didn't give a congressional OK to XOM going down there to talk to him first.
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perdition79 on April 28, 2006 - 9:29pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
China's ethanol boom, and the resultant grain shortage will be great news for me and my industry, the fertilizer industry!  More grain demand means more fertilizer, which means job security for me.
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Twilight on April 29, 2006 - 11:40am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
What do you make the fertilizer from?
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odograph on April 29, 2006 - 12:28pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
I guy I used to work with told a funny story about growing up in China.  In his school one of the chores for students was to take the poop from the outhouses (in a bucket, on a pole, between the shoulders of two students) to fields.  Being teenagers, and not liking the chore, one of them said "let's ditch it here" and they dumped it into a public outhouse.  Except one of the teachers was in the next stall, and got splashed.  They got in trouble.

Picture a communist Chinese episode of "leave it to beaver" with an environmental message ;-)

Anyway, in China ... I think I know where fertilizer comes from.

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144 comments on Friday Open Thread

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