Sunday, August 13, 2006

oil

interesting article on nationalized oil companies (via the economist):

Yet Big Oil is pretty small next to the industry's true giants: the national oil companies (NOCs) owned or controlled by the governments of oil-rich countries, which manage over 90% of the world's oil, depending on how you count. Of the 20 biggest oil firms, in terms of reserves of oil and gas, 16 are NOCs. Saudi Aramco, the biggest, has more than ten times the reserves that Exxon does.
[...]
Saudi Aramco's proved reserves alone could keep the world supplied for several decades. But it is only exploiting ten of its 80 or so fields, so will be able to pump at the present rate for about 70 years even if it never discovers another drop of oil.

Friday, August 11, 2006

big wheels keep on turning

summer is almost over and i don't know what the fuck i've done with my time.

actually, i know precisely what i've done: gone to the sbarro's in pittsburgh international to the sbarro's in o'hare. way too much travelling this summer: grenada to pit, pit to philly, pit to bangalore, various useless trips within india, and then -- shockingly -- pit to alabama (birmingham).

at the outset of the summer, i was dreading that voyage to the dirty dirty: last thing i needed was to return from the developing world only to spend time in the 3rd world. but it turned out well...submitted a shitload of papers for publication, people were nice, girls dropped it like it was hot, and surprisingly, they had electricity.

no mosquitos. a ridiculous amount of cockroaches.

didn't get a chance to go to the civil rights institute (which i hear is fantastic). spent what little free time i had hustling people at air hockey. i made 500 dollars, unfortunately, all in confederate scrip. the 5 points south area was good dumb fratty fun (they got a ruby tuesday's y'all!!!), and i even drove by talladega.

on the way home, i sat in the back of the 737 despite possessing the coveted 'A' southwest boarding pass just to show my solidarity w/ rosa parks. made a quick stop in kentucky on the way back, and let me tell you, it looks like it sucks.

regards,
a cheese-biscut engorged jhc.