George Monbiot managed to get this recently out of Fatih Birol, the Chief Economist at the International Energy Agency:

“In terms of non-OPEC [countries outside the big oil producers’ cartel]”, he replied, “we are expecting that in three, four years’ time the production of conventional oil will come to a plateau, and start to decline. In terms of ( Read more... )

"Suppose, if you will, that I am part of a silent Martian invasion and that my intention is slowly to destroy the whole culture of the human race. Where would I start ( Read more... )

My winter delivery of Wood Pellets for our Pellet Boiler came today and so I got my bi-annual "move-a-tonne-of-pellets-into-the-shed" outing today. At least it wasn't pissing down with rain like it usually does when we have a pellet delivery. And respect for the delivery guy. He piloted his huge lorry down our very steep, ungritted and rather icy ( Read more... )

I was driving around today with idle thoughts rattling around my head like loose change when it occurred to me that the Gaviscon firemen have a terrible destiny.

The only way out is down that woman's poop chute the following morning...

The Beeb is reporting on the incident which killed 20 when an Freon fire suppression system was activated accidentally on a Russian sub.

"The gas removes oxygen from the air - to put out the fire - but if anyone is still trapped inside that area, they could suffocate."Arts graddy doing science alert: Freon does not remove Oxygen from the air. It ( Read more... )

Isn't it good to know that we are friends and allies of a nation that values freedom and justice so highly....

As part of our week off* we went to Hereford for the day. I did much book searching at Oxfam and Chapters Charity Bookshop in Union Street before ending up for lunch at Cafe GreenI can't praise this place highly enough. We've been several times and it's always incredibly nice both to eat there and to experience the ambience. There aren't many ( Read more... )

Went to Hay-on-Wye today on a belated birthday bash and spent much of the afternoon in Booth's, my favourite bookshop ( Read more... )

I'm 50 today ( Read more... )

The shit I predicted back in March has finally hit the fan. Tonight the Dow finished down nearly 7% on news that the bail out plan was rejected by Congress. Today was a bad day but it's going to be a picnic compared with tomorrow when the Asian markets wake up and react ( Read more... )