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DrumBeat: March 18, 2007
Posted by Leanan on March 18, 2007 - 9:22am
Topic: Miscellaneous
If fears of population implosion result in paid parental leave, improved childcare and more support for mothers' careers, it won't be the first time a government has done the right thing for the wrong reason. But isn't it weird to promote population growth while we wring our hands over global warming, environmental damage, species loss and suburban sprawl? The United Nations projects that in 2050 the world's population will reach 9.2 billion! When we think of overpopulation the usual image is of some teeming Third World slum, and indeed most population growth will come in the developing world. But actually it's the developed world that's doing the earth in. Every American uses as much energy as forty-eight Bangladeshis, and as many resources as an African village. Europeans and Japanese aren't far behind. What feels right for a nation or an ethnicity--we need more Russians! more Italians! more Scots!--might be wrong for the human race, to say nothing of polar bears.
Army Foresees Natural Gas Crisis
The Pentagon has been talking recently about going oil-free by 2050, a fairly radical initiative given the hidebound nature of the institution and the complexity of the technologies it employs.But oil apparently is among the least of the Army's energy problems.
According to this newly-minted memorandum , the Army's assistant chief of staff for installation management is more worried that the worldwide supply of natural gas will dry up within 25 years. Says the memo:
"Current Army assumption is that natural gas may cease to be a viable fuel for the Army within the next 25 years based on price volatility and affordable supply availability."
If the Army's assumptions are correct, the situation may "threaten the Army's ability to house, train and deploy soldiers," adds the memo.
Nigerian pipeline spill could impact U.S. gasoline supplies
A pipeline spill in the Niger Delta region has cut production by 187,000 barrels per day. There is no known cause for the leak and no timeline for repairs. This may prove important for the U.S. as Nigerian crude is light and sweet, which makes it ideal for producing gasoline. As the United States heads toward the summer driving season, these grades are more sought after.
Countries oil reserves may cause upheaval
Simmons' conclusions indicate that the Saudis are using super aggressive methods to pump more oil at a faster pace from these wells. Simmons contends that this is a system that drillers use to squeeze the last bit of oil from drying wells.Simmons adds that such expensive horizontal drilling technology used by the Saudis would not come into play if their vertical wells were producing without substantial problems.
Ambassador Denies that Brazil Has Ethanol Slaves
The ambassador of Brazil in Great Britain, José Maurício Bustani, in a letter published this Saturday in the British newspaper The Guardian, refutes a story that appeared in the publication on March 9 charging that Brazil is using slaves in its sugar cane plantations.
Oil Profiteers Will Earn Our Outrage
Washington needs to investigate speculation in crude oil to find out who is profiteering from the rise in energy prices. The oil companies, of course, are making a fortune. But they don't seem to be the catalysts in driving prices higher.
High costs put on hold new refinery projects
Refinery project cancellations have accelerated in recent weeks as escalating costs raise more questions over the future profitability of new units making key transport fuels.
Russia bolsters Gulf energy strategy
President Putin's high-profile tour to the Gulf follows on from the visit of King Abdullah, then Crown Prince, to Moscow in 2003, the highest ranking Saudi official visit to Russia since 1926. Significantly an agreement was reached to co-ordinate energy policies. A momentum now seems to be building up following this.
Political fears scare oil investors in Southern Sudan
The 2005 peace agreement, which ended two decades of civil war in Southern Sudan, not only brings the opportunity for millions of people to return home and begin new lives but also gives investors an opening in a needy country with large oil reserves.
Wall Street drools over prospect of capturing Iraq oil wealth
The Iraqi cabinet's adoption last week of a law creating the legal framework for turning over the country's oil wealth to American corporations has touched off a chorus of salutes from the Bush administration, congressional Democrats and the corporate-controlled American media.
Russian atomic energy industry to become self supporting by 2015
The Russian atomic energy industry will become self-supporting and build new units with its own funds by 2015, First Vice-Premier Sergei Ivanov said here on Friday.
Global oil glut hidden by rig dearth makes drillers good bet
The professionals most familiar with the so-called oil shortage know there is an estimated 3tn barrels under land and sea. That is why they are making their biggest bets in drilling rigs where the scarcity is no illusion.
Global warming is a 'weapon of mass destruction' - Climate experts hit back after being accused of overstating the problem
Sir John Houghton, former director-general of the Meteorological Office and chairman of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution, entered the debate over the seriousness of climate change after two meteorologists were reported as saying that "some scientists have been guilty of overplaying the available evidence". He said he agreed with the Government's chief scientist, Professor Sir David King, that it posed a greater threat than terrorism.
Arctic could have iceless summers by 2100
Climate models show a complete melting down to open ocean in warmer weather, maybe as early as 2040.
Ski industry goes green to fight warming
The ski industry is going green to help offset the pollution that feeds global warming — a phenomenon that challenges the resorts' very existence with the threat of later snowfalls and earlier snow melts.
Open Letter from Brian O'Leary to Al Gore
You have asked the public to address the important question: "How can we reverse global climate change?" I agree that taking on that task is critical for our collective survival. You have also stated that we must freeze and drastically reduce our carbon emissions. I totally agree.The most promising answer to your question is surprisingly simple and can be summed up in two words: new energy. My experience finds that serious discussion of new energy is still politically incorrect in mainstream circles, which is appalling. Delays in implementing life-saving innovation will be at our collective risk and peril. The urgency for action in these times is unprecedented in human history. Quantum leaps in energy innovation, which some of us in the scientific community are aware of, can provide the needed solution, hopefully in time to avert global disaster.
British Columbia Aligns With California to Create a Green Bloc Along Pacific
The premier of British Columbia wanted to bring coal-burning plants and offshore oil rigs to this lush province, so environmental groups were ready for a fight as he prepared his government's annual policy speech last month.They were stunned when Premier Gordon Campbell delivered a list of green promises that surpassed their most ambitious dreams.
Houston's role in energy may not end — just evolve
Halliburton's plan to move its top office to Dubai has touched a nerve in Houston.True, just one chief executive is leaving the oil-field services firm's hometown. But it raises an unsettling question: Can Houston remain a global energy hub if much of the industry's growth is taking place on the other side of the world?
Energy prices appear to have leveled off. They're likely to stay flat for a time. At least that's the prediction of Charles Ober, the prescient manager of T. Rowe Price New Era.
Troops search for kidnappers in Nigeria
Nigerian troops raided several villages on the outskirts of the country's main oil center of Port Harcourt Saturday in search of gunmen suspected in a spate of kidnappings targeting foreign oil workers, a military spokesman said.
Mitsubishi Heavy to borrow money using CO2 credits
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. plans to finance a Bulgarian wind farm by using the resulting greenhouse gas emission rights as collateral, the first such financing plan in the world, a report said Saturday.
...Photosynthesis crops used to convert solar energy into biomass is very inefficient: only a tiny fraction of the sunlight is converted to biomass. Even less can later be converted into ethanol.If farmers really want to harness sunlight for energy, the best process is not ethanol but solar electricity. Farmers should cover their fields with solar-electric panels which directly covert sunlight into electricity. In effect, farmers will farm the sun.
Thailand: Importing palm oil for bio-diesel production under consideration
The government may allow imports of palm oil to produce bio-diesel due to a shortage of palm oil in Thailand, said Energy Minister Piyasvasti Amranand.
Urenco profits soar as uranium goes nuclear
Urenco, the nuclear fuel company, is set to reveal record profits this week on the back of soaring uranium prices. The company, which enriches uranium for power stations, is expected to confirm a burgeoning order book when it announces its annual results on Tuesday.
Diet for a smaller planet - review of Bill McKibben's Deep Economy:
The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future
He begins with a short chapter reviewing the last few centuries of economic strategies that have operated under the assumption the human condition will improve by growing the pie. McKibben reminds us of growth's darker side, diminishing our well-being as economies consume unsustainable quantities of fossil fuels, minerals, water and other resources, pollute the air and transform the atmosphere to one untenable for human survival, and create more inequality than prosperity.
Six protesters die in Indian land clashes
India's attempt to imitate the Chinese economic boom by handing farmland to big business turned violent yesterday as police and villagers fought pitched battles in the paddy fields of West Bengal, leaving at least six dead and dozens injured....The state's Communist government has ordered some 22,000 acres (9,000 hectares) to be turned over to a special economic zone for an Indonesian-owned petrochemical complex.
Lester Brown: The Coming Decline of Oil
Oil has shaped our twenty-first century civilization, affecting every facet of the economy from the mechanization of agriculture to jet air travel. When production turns downward, it will be a seismic economic event, creating a world unlike any we have known during our lifetimes. Indeed, when historians write about this period in history, they may well distinguish between before peak oil (BPO) and after peak oil (APO).
India: Forest land diverted for wind energy projects
Adivasis in Dhule district, Maharashtra, are protesting the diversion of forest land for wind power projects. About 340 hectares of forest land has been diverted for wind energy projects in Sakri taluka of Dhule district, promoted by Suzlon Energy Limited.
A Realistic Path to Hydrogen and Fuel Cells
The auto industry is coming to the view that the motor vehicle, as currently configured, has a limited upside. Hiroyuki Watanabe, senior managing director of Toyota Motor Corp., has said his company hopes there will be 3.4 billion vehicles on the roads by 2050, a four- or five-fold increase, though the human population is expected to grow only by 50 percent. Restraining this market growth are smog, global warming, and fuel supply concerns. Toyota’s analysis is that hybrids and improved conventional engines will buy time, but only fuel cells will power the low-impact products that enable this market expansion.
ChevronTexaco - Hydrogen: Where Do We Go from Here?
Substantial hurdles remain before hydrogen can become a widely accepted fuel. Among the items on the industry’s to-do list: lower costs system-wide; develop rigorous codes and standards; solve storage and distribution issues; and educate consumers about the benefits and safe use of this potentially new fuel. Over the next five years, we are planning to lead a team in a U.S. Department of Energy program to gather data, demonstrate applications in real-world settings, and determine the most viable route to a hydrogen future. In this pre-commercial stage of development, public-private collaborations are key to advancing hydrogen technology.
"(The world's) peak oil production is five to eight years away," Borrello said. "Everything after that, we will produce less oil, so we've got to seriously find some alternative energy."Some scientists estimate the world's oil supply could peter out in 80 to 100 years, Borrello said, and rising gasoline prices could force consumers to revert to different energy resources even sooner than that.
Texas plant powers state's electric grid using only biodiesel
Chicken fat and a $3.5 million investment are behind a breakthrough in the way Texans heat, cool and light their homes and offices.
Edison develops wind power plan
Southern California Edison will upgrade and expand transmission lines throughout the San Gabriel Valley and Inland Empire as part of a $1.7 billion project to deliver wind power from Tehachapi, company officials said.
Sioux Falls man hoping duplex sets an example
Jon Hart says they called his plans "ridiculous" and "overkill."But there it stands anyway, his new duplex in southeast Sioux Falls. It's being built with the most energy-efficient features he could find despite discouraging words from a few contractors.
Hart - who writes poetry as well as supervises construction of his home - has an ideal in mind for his new home: "heat with a candle, cool with an ice cube, irrigate with spit, mow with scissors."
..."I think all houses that aren't built this way will be obsolete in five years," he said. "It's well worth it if they just do the math."
Oil Profiteers Will Earn Our Outrage
From that link:
So many people just don't get it. There is no shortage? Even OPEC couldn't cause a shortage? The next thing he will be telling me is about the car that runs off water that the oil companies are keeping off the market.
Yes, there is speculation. Yes, it increases volatility. But there is also a very tight supply/demand balance, especially with the OPEC cuts. In fact, if you look at inventories, the market has been undersupplied for months. That can't go on too much longer without causing some havoc.
The irony, of course, is that it's the rightwing Post. Even if it were "speculators" driving up the price...so what? Isn't that how the free market is supposed to work?
I know this may be an unpopular thought, even around here, but how can we be sure that speculators are not driving down prices instead of pushing them up?
While I am not as sophisticated as the poster SAG, the recent trends in the futures market favor selling short contracts later in the year about $7 higher than current prices. This may cause speculators to sell oil they don't own, hoping that the price of oil does not go past $65 later in the year.
Even by the optimistic standards of the EIA, and contrary to the article above stating the supply will exceed demand through 2007 and 2008, all indications are that demand is about 2 million bpd over last year and supply gains are a fraction of that. Therefore it doesn't make sense that oil prices have fallen over the last few months.
I've begun to wonder about this a little bit myself.
However, we do need to keep recent oil prices in perspective--they are close to two-thirds higher since 5/05 than in the 20 months prior to 5/05 (Brent spot price of $62 on average after 5/05 versus $38 before). I suspect that this price spike was enough to kill off a lot of demand (and some people) in poorer countries, but it was obviously not enough to kill off any meaningful demand in rapidly developing and richer countries.
But we effectively have a supply/demand imbalance in OECD countries, where demand is being met by drawing down inventories. This can't continue indefinitely.
As I have suggested several times, the next round of bidding for declining petroleum exports will be much, much tougher than the last round of bidding.
BTW, the "Export Land" model rolls on. The NYT today, in an article on Venezuela, noted that Venezuelan car sales up up about 50% year over year. In many of the exporting countries like Venezuela we are seeing a lethal (lethal for export capacity) combination of strong cash flow and subsidized petroleum prices.
Well WT... maybe the uber-rich folks who've been speculating on oil futures are the same folks who hold scads of repackaged mortgage securities.
Maybe they've figured out that candle burns poorly from both ends .
perhaps a better analogy is that a candle can't support any weight if a blowtorch is applied to the middle :)
The bank of international settlements, (BIS) shows a $5.8 trillion derivative position in oil contracts held by central banks on its books. Since they would not be necessarily trading for a profit motive, you have to allow for this in trying to understand the market movements.
It is likely in my opinion that they are shorting the market at the moment, and that they can use the SPR and other worldwide storage as collateral in case they get called to deliver. There are also hints that the Iraqi oil production has been sold forward even though it is still in the ground with uncertain prospects of coming out in volume.
Francois.
The above are some good explanations of what may be happening. I'd just like to point out that if the price of oil was being intentionally held below its market clearing value, demand will not only exceed supply but malinvestment in the energy and transportation industry will occur as businesses and individuals make incorrect decisions based on the current price.
In addition, inventories would be run down. I don't think the use of the SPR would be a viable alternative in the long run to stop the inventory decline (within the US) because the oil could not be efficiently distributed through the country in a major emergency.
Less problematic is that if speculators alone were keeping prices down, then eventually market forces over time would cause their trading positions to reverse – and the market would go back near equilibrium.
i have always assumed that "speculation" can drive the price down as well. the msm all seem to agree oil will stay in the $ 60 range and gas below $ 3 for the coming year(all the new projects coming onstream). once a story gets repeated a few times it becomes fact, not to be questioned. welcome to the world of the gannet rag.
Aren't oil companies themself saying peak oil is many decades away, and that alternatives are plentiful. Why is it so surprising many come to the conclusion there is a conspiracy to keep prices high.
Not surprising since if they started telling the truth about how much oil is out there, investors might start questioning why exactly oil executives should recieve such lavish bonuses. BP' John Browne had his cut in half over some minor issues such as oil spills and safety lapses.
If they came clean about the supply situation I imagine there would be a public demand many of them go to jail.
You would have thought that someone would have looked the mathematical models and the probability of vastly increased consumption in the exporting countries and then tried to warn us of a rapidly developing oil export crisis.
You would have thought that someone would have looked the mathematical models and the probability of vastly increased consumption in the exporting countries and then tried to warn us of a rapidly developing oil export crisis.
Well, if one of those mathematical models had been shown to work with some sort of precision, then people would have probably listened. But when you say "Saudi is peaking because the HL is where Texas was when it peaked", and then I show that this was not in fact the case, you followed up with "Regardless, Saudi is still peaking." Then you start looking for data points to try and salvage your prediction, instead of letting the model provide the prediction. You have your modeling exactly backwards in this case.
Let's review here. What about the HL suggests that Saudi has peaked? And do you believe that the HL has the ability to call a peak with less than a 5-year error range? If so, please justify that answer.
Robert most of the bottom up analysis give basically the same result. The most important number from HL is a good estimate of depletion rates I think it gives the best answer for this question. Next it gives good enough of a URR estimate to handle obvious fraud like we have in the ME.
Other information bottom up analysis current events etc can be and should be used to bracket the date of peak down to a single year. As of now I have more faith in the depletion rates from HL than any other method. Look at the slope of your lines not the URR intercept. Picking the right URR needs additional data either via carrying HL out post peak or external information. We must use all the information we have and HL provides critical pieces what I consider the best estimate for depletion rates and a choice of URR's that can be easily limited with other information.
For some reason you have decided to put on blinders.
My god the experts are claiming decades of oil is left even off by 5% its enough to show that the experts are wrong and enough to start a mitigation policy.
Finally again the depletion rate in my opinion is the hardest piece of information to figure out the fact HL provides it is very important. And I've said repeatedly that the peak year prediction is not done with HL alone WT was implicitly using external data if you read his posts I was doing the same I just did not think about it until you wrote your article. I know for a fact I was I suspect anyone that has used HL does.
HL is not sufficient for predicting the year of peak no reason to belabor the point. I'm not sure WT ever made that assertion if so then I think its obvious its wrong.
Robert most of the bottom up analysis give basically the same result.
When you write “basically the same result”, what do you mean? Peak within 10 years? Yes, I would agree with that. But we are being told, again and again, that Saudi peaked in 2005 “as predicted by the HL.” My point is that the HL can’t predict any such thing. It would have predicted a Texas peak in 1956, and you couldn’t have confidently concluded that Texas peaked until 1982 or so. A Saudi peak in 2002 would have been consistent, and a Saudi peak in 2012 would be consistent. This is important. The precision of the method has been vastly oversold.
The most important number from HL is a good estimate of depletion rates I think it gives the best answer for this question.
How so? Tell me mathematically how you pull the depletion rates out of the HL. Recognize that the slope points down even if production is constant. Complicated by that is the fact that URR is moving. So, it is not simply a matter of looking at the slope. It can be done, but I don’t think it is as straightforward as you seem to believe.
Next it gives good enough of a URR estimate to handle obvious fraud like we have in the ME.
The Texas URR has increased by 50%. In my next essay, my hypothesis is that the HL will show that Saudi’s URR is growing, and has grown at a fairly brisk pace in recent years.
For some reason you have decided to put on blinders.
I don’t believe I have any blinders on at all. I am just waiting for someone to define the parameters that are required to predict peak. The parameters at the moment are incredibly broad. So, I look to other factors. I don’t think the HL gives me any useful information at all in the case of Saudi.
HL is not sufficient for predicting the year of peak no reason to belabor the point. I'm not sure WT ever made that assertion if so then I think its obvious its wrong.
Well, I think you might be surprised about that. Even when he appeared on TV to debate the issue, he built his case around the HL. He kept saying that Saudi is right where Texas was when it peaked. So the core of his position is that the HL is the key to determining a Saudi peak. Look back at the essays he has written on it and tell me I am wrong. Show me where he is relying heavily on above-ground factors. Look at the number of times “as predicted by the HL” appears in his arguments. Then you may have a better handle on where I am coming from.
I just had an "aha" moment. I just tested a hypothesis of mine, and think you will be quite surprised at what I just uncovered. It is directly related to something I wrote in the response above, but no hints yet. I want this one to be a surprise. I will try to write this up some time this week.
Next look at Russia right now HL is off by up to 4 years on the date of peak in my opinion and its a tough problem. I think we might be able to tighten it up to the year. If not we have to wait. Right not all I want to know is if no plateau makes sense. Can we maybe maybe not. But no one else is even claiming Russia will peak in the next 4 years. If they even manage to hold production steady for 3 years that makes a big difference IMHO maybe enough to keep our undulating plateau going for a while.
Leanan...once again...great collection of articles.
Continuing a little bit from yesterday's discussion...for those looking for places to hold up PP (post peak) and have the bucks to do it, check out these prime properties:
Abandoned missile silos become safe homes
http://edition.cnn.com/2003/US/Central/08/02/silo.sweet.silo/
20th Century Castles - Unique Underground Properties
http://www.missilebases.com/
You know...ruminating on this even more...abandoned missle silos would also be much more efficient heating and cooling due to constant underground temps. Heck...throw a few large solar panels and wind generators up topside and you could be secure and grid-free.
This is sounding better all the time.
Reminds me of that "Raptorman" site. He wrote a blog about the U.S. being overrun by zombies - day by day, as if it were happening in real time. At one point, he and a few others not yet infected holed up in a missile silo.
My only problem with an old silo for a home - What if the "other guys" don't know it has been decommissioned, and still have it targetted.
A direct hit from a 1MT nuke, will not make a nice afternoon in country.
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It's all about population!
I had another thought...
Without fossil fuel support or an extremely vulnerable and expensive solar/wind system, you cannot power such a beast.
The air movement/filtration system alone must require some signifcant juice. Then you must have lights, and without an air movement system candles or lamps would be lethal.
Heating would be a real trick too. Putting in a wood stove 100m below the ground sounds interesting, and electric or FF heating would be unrealistic as well.
=======================
It's all about population!
Folks with the creativity & foresight to live in a missile silo probably don't consider being a ground-zero target a disadvantage. Au Contraire... Slowly dying of thirst, exposure & radiation poisoning over a week or 2 sounds like something to be avoided in the event of an attack on silo targets, which would not be a small exchange.
Americans (US citizens) carry their history; they seem to imbued with a sprit of independence, a possibility of going it alone, and killing aggressors to defend their homestead (Wild West and Indians...); planning and tech superiority and glorious isolation, will see them thru. The new pioneers, with solar panels, and a stock of axes! Their own wells! Generators! A friend who is a doctor... There is truth to it, in the sense that the US still has land, unoccupied places.
However these 18th cent visions are outdated, for most of the world. Neither Belgium or Bangladesh, or Denmark or Algeria (miserable as it is today), or Americans in Iraq, can contemplate that kind of individualist hubris. It is either, build or maintain a viable community, share, organise, give and help, trade reasonably, and stop war. Not through defense or killing but through compromise and negotiation.
You refer to American exceptionalism. It's outdated everywhere except in (US) America where the myth lies on.
cfm in Gray, ME
The Desmoines Register is running a series of articles on cellulose ethanol. Since a cellulose plant is being built in Iowa, the articles include a lot of real-world information about what it takes to make this work.
Message from the editor: Iowa has chance to be energy leader
From the sidebar on that article, three graphics:
* Why stover is vital for Iowa's soil
* How biodiesel is made
* How stover becomes ethanol
FWIW, Maine wants to be a world-class leader in ethanol production too. The growth-uber-alles Governor and Legislature want to chip the forest. They ignore a couple of things: 1) that the forests are owned by corporations from away and 2) they are already largely chipped for other purposes. But it sounds good and shows they know what they are talking about with respect to our energy addiction. Oh, and that's supposed to be a stepping stone to the "hydrogen economy".
cfm in Gray, ME
From the column over to the left of the article:
That is probably one of the biggest misconceptions about cellulosic ethanol - that it is new. People have been working on the problem for decades. That's why I caution people on their exuberant optimism. Some of these problems are tough nuts to crack, or they would have been cracked long ago.
As I said to a writer last week, "Think affordable manned mission to Mars, and now you start to get an idea of the challenges." This isn't like doubling the clock speed on your computer processor; just give it a couple more years and problem solved.
So noting that the Army is planning to go oil-free by 2050 and the Army fears that natural gas may cease to be viable is good news to me. That implies that alternatives will be or have been found. And if they are planning to do without oil and natural gas then we wont need to be bogged down in wars trying to get oil and natural gas. Then we can have the army re-tasked to address things like floods, hurricanes, droughts, and so on.
Great news!
I noticed that the article about the Army and the oil and natural gas links to this document. It is called Scope of Work (SPW) Performance Work Statement (PWS) The Impact on the Army from the Changes in the World Supply and Demand Situation for Natural Gas over the Next 25 Years.
It looks like an RFP (or a predecessor document to an RFP) for a study to be done on the topic listed by September 30, 2007. Does anyone know anything further about this? Was a contract signed for this study?
Whoever it was that recommended Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon
, I want to thank you. While it has taken me longer to read that book than any other book I have ever read, I finally finished it today and it was well worth the time. It kept me company during some of those cold and rainy periods in Aberdeen.
I brought a handful of books to Scotland with me, and I am trying to decide whether to read A Beautiful Mind
or Spin
next. Anyone read either one of them? I also have More Than Human
, To Say Nothing of the Dog
, and The Viking
, and then I am going to have to figure out the library system here.
Any recommendation from anyone who has read these is appreciated. I will probably get started on one of them in just a bit.
To Say Nothing of the Dog--it will keep you laughing.
'Fraid I'm not familiar with any of these books, however as a compliment to the recent mood here on Drumbeat I would like to bring to the attention of those not already aware of it, a rather interesting TV series that was aired here in the UK in the 1970's called "Survivors" which is shortly to be available in it's entirety on DVD. It was available before as separate series (there are 3 series) at a higher price. Here is a flavour of it taken from a review in DVD Times:
"The opening sequence is a carefully scripted mime - a play without words, showing a scientist's spherical flask accidentally dropped and a kind of flu-like disease carried by businessmen to the airports of the world. In a first episode which begins lightly enough, the plague gradually overwhelms the whole structure of life: schools close, hospitals are swamped, the electricity fails, the rural railway station is mournfully deserted. The last train from London has been cancelled. There is never going to be another."
http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=10567
Another link:
http://www.survivorstvseries.com/index2.htm
Link from Amazon.co.uk:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Survivors-1-3-Complete-Peter-Bowles/dp/B000NJWAM...
I found the series a riveting portrayal of a post-cataclysmic collapse, and the day-to-day struggles of those remaining to survive. It has achieved something of a cult status in the UK.
"To Say Nothing of the Dog" is very funny.
"Whoever it was that recommended Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon, I want to thank you."
My very most favorite book!
A humorous aside for Sunday…
British Prime Minister Tony Blair… took part in a comedy sketch from his Downing St office for the