DrumBeat: September 16, 2006

[Update by Leanan on 09/16/06 at 10:25 AM EDT]

Roberto has done some DrumBeat datamining: the number of posts per DrumBeat, number of posters, and how many posts has everyone contributed to DrumBeat.

(Click for larger versions)

The number of posts and the number of posters are increasing. And I would guess, from the second graph, that the 80-20 rule applies: 80% of the posts come from 20% of the visitors (though of course, Roberto had no way of knowing how many lurkers there were).


"Peak Oil" or Lots More Oil?


As prices tumble, doomsayers hold fast to prophecy

OTTAWA -- It's been a tough week for peak-oil theorists -- those limits-to-growth doomsayers who argue the world's crude oil supply has begun an inexorable decline that will force prices ever higher.


Peak Oil Preparations: Money And Labor


The Most Important Resource

Uh-oh, more bad news for peak-oil proponents: After a big Gulf of Mexico find that may top even Prudhoe Bay, a Saudi oilman says we're just beginning to tap the world's crude.


'Plundered Petroleum'? Someone's Stealing, But Not the U.S.


Get ready for price rationing, oil guru says

Groppe foresees new oil era of high prices, limited supply, new consumption patterns

...What this means is that investors and consumers shouldn't read too much into the recent 17-per-cent drop in crude prices from their August peaks, a move he dismissed as a typical seasonal dip.


Chile to be independent of Argentine gas by 2008


Bolivia's hydrocarbons minister resigns

The minister leading Bolivia's efforts to nationalize Bolivia's oil and gas operations resigned Friday after his government backed down in a dispute with Brazil's state-run energy company, the industry's biggest investor.


China Has Sophisticated Energy Strategy for Africa


U.S. presses China on energy prices


Interior Near 2 New Pacts in Oil Leases

The Interior Department, struggling to prevent the government from losing billions of dollars in royalties for oil and gas produced in publicly owned waters, said Thursday that it was close to agreement with 2 of the 56 companies that hold lucrative drilling leases in the Gulf of Mexico.


Air Force to Try Out a New Kind of Jet Fuel


Conference touts alternatives to oil


BP under pressure to boost capital spending


[Update by Leanan on 09/16/06 at 9:20 AM EDT]

Peak Science? In the September issue of Discover, Paul Horgan argues that we are reaching the limits of knowledge.

The greatest barrier to future progress in science is its past success. Scientific discovery resembles the exploration of the Earth. The more we know about our planet, the less there is to explore. We have mapped out all the continents, oceans, mountain ranges, and rivers. Every now and then we stumble upon a new species of lemur in an obscure jungle or an exotic bacterium in a deep-sea vent, but at this point we are unlikely to discover something truly astonishing, like dinosaurs dwelling in a secluded cavern. In the same way, scientists are unlikely to discover anything surpassing the Big Bang, quantum mechanics, relativity, natural selection, or genetics.

Just over a century ago, the American historian Henry Adams observed that science accelerates through a positive feedback effect: Knowledge begets more knowledge. This acceleration principle has an intriguing corollary. If science has limits, then it might be moving at maximum speed just before it hits the wall.