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Technology Stocks : LAST MILE TECHNOLOGIES - Let's Discuss Them Here -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: axial who wrote (10089)	1/7/2001 11:46:32 PM
From: Solid	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 12823

In the spirit of that observation, I'd like to offer the thought that the OPEC nations, in slowly jacking up the price of fossil fuels, are actually doing the world a favor. I no longer follow the oil sector as I use to, nor am I currently invested there. From my study a few years back and with enough understanding to have a relatively informed understanding of biosystems, economics and politics, I couldn't agree with you more. And when someone tells you the oil resource is limited to several decades at best, save your breath and find another ear. Based upon price of 'cheap' oil there is finite capacity. Forget the stuff extracted with pressure and high technology; give them that too under short term. Oil shale is what I refer to. There is literally hundreds of years worth of oil bound there. Cost is the issue, aside from legitimate environmental concerns based upon current technology. And I believe we have mountains of the stuff in the states primarily out west. Regarding present real oil and gas reserves our own exploration and capacity is hamstrung by the cyclical pricing of oil. The last few years saw increased capacity for drilling rigs in the states [huge dollars to build transport, man and maintain and huge time lag to plan and build these monsters] go down the crapper. The reason, as it appears you know, is that exploration/extraction costs for many US based companies is much higher then the cost/ barrel of oil from existing older cheaper huge foreign fields. As for alternatives, where is the incentive to innovate, which has always been an American Ace in the hole, when your ideas cost the equivalent of $40-50/barrel oil to manifest and be financially practical? On a side note [but pertinent in that those in the arena see the fiscal responsibility that comes with running any company in contrast to 'the perception by some others' that 'they' should force 'them to cut prices’ thinking] Jessie Ventura had a great observation in his book, Do I Stand Alone. He said have you ever noticed how many young adults start out very liberal in their thinking, pro government intervention and anti business. They have often just completed the period of being supported by Mom and Pop while being relatively free of responsibility to provide for the support they have depended upon and usually flourished with. He further observes that many become more conservative as they forge a path through the hard knocks of earning a living. Just tonight a friend told me of a recent business contact, 27, who was floored to realize he will pay more in taxes this year then he earned in any year previous to his being out of school. That is part of the relative truth of a system having a close encounter with ones projection. <g> Let's say that someone, somewhere, proposed a megafarm of servers, fuelled by nuclear power, in a remote and undesirable place. It would be linked by a humungous fiberoptic connection, and its independent existence would rob no one of power: sort of an IT Industrial Park. How long do you think it will be, until we see something like it? Ask the people of California whether they'd like that: especially if the nuclear power was "somewhere else". The moment it becomes cost effective for such an arrangement to exist, it most likely will. Until then, it will remain a hypothetical question. I have not looked, are the power demands of the server farms and other aspects that enable BB delivery very power hungry?

To: axial who wrote (10089)	1/14/2001 10:48:18 PM
From: Solid	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 12823

Hi Jim, Came across this very literate and remarkable presentation which seemed to tie in nicely to both energy and issues of technology. Looks at atmospheric gases from ice core samples to illustrate CO2 production from fossil fuels, among other things. Our earlier discussion made me think to post it here for any interested. Nanotechnology is here. This article predates some of the recent announcements of current breakthroughs. Highlights and argues for technology to solve the problems discussed. Well worth the read. cnst.rice.edu Tight lines, Solid