China vs. Russia?

If you're a peak oil enthusiast and a geo-politics spectator, then the following article is highly recommended bathroom reading. The basic gyst is that in 30 years or less when oil becomes a crisis, since we've got bases everywhere that protect our oil needs (at current consumption rates), the new uber-user of oil, China, will need to get theirs from somewhere. And there's really only one big producer of oil that we're not defending -- the great bear of the north. And here's where my favorite hobby-horse, the petrodollar overvaluation of USD comes in. In order to succeed, the Chinese dump our currency, thereby putting us in a deep recession or worse just when Russia needs the help (the great irony being that the petrodollar was why we won the cold war in the first place).

Yup, excellent bathroom reading.


(ps. yes, I know the site is run by moonbats -- it's still interesting reading)

Fascinating article on biology

If the folks who've discovered the mimivirus are correct, virii aren't just predators of life, but in fact are the agents and building blocks of everything we call life. This would mean that most of our "junk" DNA are actually harmless viruses! Elegant -- absolutely elegant!