Thanks Steve for allowing a little variety in the editorial section. We ll need a change of pace sometimes. Also, some very interesting links.

Based on what I've seen in the past, I'm guessing that you'll see some colorful replies.

I'll have to log on suggesting that although I love technology, and although I'd love to see us (the US) be less dependent on foreign oil, I'm not so sure that we're going to come up with any really economical alternatives to oil in the near future. When we let ourselves get frightened by all of the global warming hype, we wind up making corn into ethanol and starting riots in the third world countries where people have the silly notion that corn should be eaten and not burned. Electric? If you recall, we had a major power outage a few years back that knocked out a lot of the northeastern US and some of Canada. Reason? Our power grid system was (and still is) deficient. We're pulling the system down with our air conditioners - Do you know what would happen if we plugged in a few million electric cars? We could solve the problem by building more nuclear plants like France has. That would give us both the power for electric cars and hydrogen for fuel cells (a good use of nuclear stations during non-peak hours would be producing hydrogen). Unfortunately, we then get a whole new group of frightened activists. I'm afraid that oil is going to be around for a while. Conserve? Sure. Invest in alternatives? Sure. But let's still keep an open mind about drilling for our own oil and using proven technologies like nuclear before selling the farm over unproven future tech.