This could be the big one. SE US, prepare for the worst.

Poor Easterners, I pity you. <img src=smilies/icon_smile_sad.gif width=15 height=15 border=0 align=middle> Out here in the desert, I´ll bet we don´t get a drop of rain. What´s new? <img src=smilies/icon_smile_tongue.gif width=15 height=15 border=0 align=middle> Well, if what Killa says is true, then this hurricane could potentially alter the world in a major way. Let´s all hope for the safety of those in the SE US, and hope that those oil refineries stay safe.

Well, it looks to be a cold winter... Although we might be able toheat our house enough to keep it warm. At least we don´t have REALLY cold winters up here. I feel sorry for all those who must suffer <img src=smilies/icon_smile_wink.gif width=15 height=15 border=0 align=middle> Lets pray to god that we find another energy source. Electric furnaces, anyone?

Yeah, i´ve been hearing/reading quite about this hurricane. Sounds nasty. As for your apocolyptic prediction I´m not so sure it would go that far, but hey, it could happen, I´m no economist. Yeah, people will die. But people die everyday in other countries, by the hundreds. I´m not saying I don´t care if people die by Katrina, just that death is a daily happening. Sorry if this comes out as being critical, I´m tired, and didn´t want to beat around the bush <img src=smilies/icon_smile_tongue.gif width=15 height=15 border=0 align=middle> No hard feelings intended <img src=smilies/icon_smile.gif width=15 height=15 border=0 align=middle> P.S. If we do get an energy crisis, I´ll just use my generator powered by my own thoughts of self-satisfaction <img src=smilies/icon_smile_big.gif width=15 height=15 border=0 align=middle> Edited by - Sylverfysh on 8/28/2005 10:37:24 PM

That´s why it pays to live in the northwest. Only earthquakes and volcanos to worry about. This will be a nasty storm. Our thoughts and prayers are with the folks riding it out.

i´m not looking forward to getting the tail end of katrina, probably be here in about a week O_&lt;

US$70 by Monday is what I heard if production is disrupted. oh it just did.. 70.8 this morning. 200s rather apocalyptic though, US oil procurement is highly diversified despite there being not much left on the surplus market anymore. I´m sure a deal will be done with various sources to make up the shortfall. You could start being nicer to the Venezualans! wonder what the wave height will be? out at sea I imagine they´ll be 100´ plus. if you think it´s bad on land, God help <i>anyone </i> caught in it out at sea. waves that height will snap a ship in two. shame about New Orleans, its a great place, one of my favourite American cities. However as the years roll on, more and more low-lying coastal areas will be in danger and will disappear - Bangladesh will be to all intents and purposes gone in a few years, as will parts of coastal China. While specific locations can be defended against the encroaching sea (but only for so long) all that does is move the problem somewhere else. Years ago I worked for a firm that did sea-defence (although i was doing something else, I found out a lot about the subject) and you can´t build a wall round the entire landmass! long-term (very!) the solution is to radically change the way we live and to arrest and reverse the environmental damage. however the economic cost of doing this and the social changes it will demand are more than certain countries are prepared to bear, so until that happens, you´re going to see an <i>awful </i> lot more of this sort of thing. The environmental movement warned about this 20, 30 years ago and more. No-one did a dam´ thing. Now the price is being paid. Edited by - Tawakalna (Reloaded) on 8/29/2005 2:52:57 AM

Thats because politics involves stupid people. And people calling people stupid people. And most of it is just stupid people calling the other guy stupid without ever really doing anything.

does that include you, blackhole? &quot;On this ship you are to refer to me as Idiot, not you Captain. I mean... you know what I mean.&quot;

The warming of the Earth is a natural process, which we didn´t catalyse (we may have marginally increased it´s rate however). And the damage reports don´t look that bad (wasn´t it predicted that the entire city would be submerged). And you can build a wall around a city, though it would probably be economically unviable or wasteful, and only semi-effective.

yuo can indeed build a wall round a city, and horrendously expensive as it would be, it would work as far as storm surges and encroaching sea levels were concerned. but you´d have to accept that coastal cities would then become low-lying islands, and still vulnerable to freak conditions and terrible storms. and the rest of the coastline would still be as badly affected so even though the city itself would be safe(r) it would be cut off and isolated, increasingly so. in fact to wall off a city would in the long term be just as dangerous as not doing anything as the detritmental effects on the hinterland would be exaggerated. this has already been demonstrated on the NE coast of England where in the 70s and 80s sea-defences made of gabions (welded-mesh boxes filled with large stones and set with concrete, youll see em where theres landslips etc. - the firm i worked for amde them amongst many other things) were used to protect vulnerable inhabited coastlines. while it worked as far as the immediate object was concerned, it just deflected the sea to the flanks and increased coastal erosion and ultimately the whole lot fell into the North Sea anyway.

remember, I said about the oil and gas getting that high was in the WORST CASE SENERIO. Now that it´s over Louisiana right now, it doesn´t quite seem to match the hype, but it´s still one bad ass storm. My area of Georgia, just SE of Atlanta has been getting some tornado watches, and all I thought we would get out of the deal was to get rained on. But from what I have heard, about fifteen buildings have toppled over due to the 150mph winds and the flooding is horrindus. A portion of the Super Dome´s roof was blown off, and that is where they were giving people shelter for those who couldn´t leave. There was a reporter there that said the roof wasen´t leaking, that there was more of a waterfall. They only had a couple of minutes before the whole floor and bottom sections were flooded. And from what I hear, people were worried that the whole thing would collapse.

Funny thing...Here in Montana, all our oil is either from within Montana or Wyoming (and the bigger oil refineries are located near my town) but we still get screwed over for prices when, basically, we dig this crap up from our own backyards... Edited by - Wolf_Demon on 8/29/2005 7:37:47 PM

Killa, how south east of Atlanta area you? We may be closer than you think <img src=smilies/icon_smile_wink.gif width=15 height=15 border=0 align=middle> Newnan, where I work, get hit with hard rains as it is, like today. Flash flood and the rain is coming down in sheets, gutters overflowing and all. An hour later, its gone. OPEC for what ever reasons, controls prices, though I heard a bad rumor, that is also like a commodity, or stock that is causing price variations. there is no reason for that. At 1.5 million barrels a day, even at $50 a barrel, they still make a killing, as a lot of it is automated. One &quot;prince&quot; was seen driving a Audi A8 that was real silver, not painted, but the real thing. Nice to have a little pocket change, ehh? Edited by - Finalday on 8/29/2005 8:01:51 PM

When I was watching the news, the highlight was &quot; OMG SUPERDOME IS LEAKING&quot; wtf? I think they haeve larger problems like say bodies floating if the levees break(no song ref intended). I´m in north texas, so I´ll be ok, dunno about them.

¬_¬ its not silver, its painted chrome: http://www.snopes.com/photos/automobiles/silveraudi.asp

OPEc aren´t what they were. some major producers aren´t even in OPEC. and the high prices are as much to do with what the distributors can get away with as what the producers charge. although to be honest, its an unholy alliance between the two. Between them they are robbing everyone. some OPEC countries like Indonesia are now net <i>importers </i> of oil - would you beleive it? and OPEC are extracting at full capacity to make up the growing demand from the US, China and India. Don´t beleieve a word that OPEC say about fresh supplies or extra reserves, theyre pumping water into existing fields to get every last drop out, a sure sign that the fields are nearing the end of their useful lives. Major banks and economists dont beleive OPEC, why should you? I wouldn´t moan too much, youre still paying far less than anyone in Europe does. We pay just under £5 a gallon, thats over US$8. wouldnt like that hitting your wallet would you? why do you think I drive a diesel that does 60mpg? Still, Pres Chavez of Venezuala has offered to sell fuel and heating oil to the US population directly at a huge discount, bypassing the major distribution chains by using Citgo, which is Venezualan owned. Petrol in Venezuala is about $2 a tankful, it´s cheaper than mineral water. If you guys dont want it, we´ll have it! a pound for a tankful, I´d bite his hand off for it.

Its official ladies and genteman, the storm is one of the worse ever. 80% of New Orleans is flooded. they are wanting total evacuation of the city. Flooding in areas as deep as 20 feet. <img src=´http://www.11alive.com/assetpo…0583175941_Untitled-1.jpg ´> More news on it <A href=´http://www.11alive.com/news/usnews_article.aspx?storyid=68568´ Target=_Blank>here</a>

i thought they were saying the levees were holding and it was only 20% flooding? &lt;sigh&gt; you can´t beleive anything on the news these days, can you? it does look pretty grim. imagine how all those people who went to the Superdome are feeling, it lost power didn´t it? and then there´s the problem with disease afterwards, animal carcasses in the water putrefying in the sun. this is a taste of what its like in places like Bangladesh, except they have it year in year out. whats the death toll? 200+ i heard. take it thats going to have to go up. hmmm, I wonder if, faced with such a situation, i´d evacuate? doubt it. Id get he wife and kids to safety but I dont think i could ever leave my home until id seen it destroyed. even then id stay to rebuild, if i could. most particularly id be bothered about looters. Edited by - Tawakalna (Reloaded) on 8/31/2005 5:50:02 AM

Beautiful isn´t it? Hundreds at least, perhaps thousands dead, millions of people without homes, people still needing rescue, and what are people doing? Looting every single store they can get into. J-H-C. <img src=´http://images.ctv.ca/archives/…0/160_looters3_050830.jpg ´> &quot;Crap it´s a cop! Cheese it!&quot; <img src=´http://images.ctv.ca/archives/…0/160_looters1_050830.jpg ´> Two women to the left: &quot;I can´t believe you got all the size 8´s!&quot; In a larger version of this photo on msn.com, you can see that those two women are smiling - SMILING!? Yes, be very proud that you´ve just commited a crime and got away with it on the suffering of others. <img src=smilies/icon_smile_angry.gif width=15 height=15 border=0 align=middle> <img src=´http://images.ctv.ca/archives/…0/160_looters2_050830.jpg ´> &quot;Now I can stash all of this stuff I stole in my hou-...oh wait...it´s GONE.&quot; *Clap, Clap, Clap* <img src=smilies/icon_smile_disapprove.gif width=15 height=15 border=0 align=middle> I really hate humans sometimes. EDIT: BTW, <A href=´http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20050830_hurricane_katrina_050830/?hub=World´ Target=_Blank>here´s</a> the article I got these pictures from if you want to read it. Edited by - Sylverfysh on 8/31/2005 1:37:21 PM