"Such is the difference in expectations"

We will all be practising this from here on out...matching our great expectations with...how things turn out.

clipped from www.nytimes.com OMAHA — What a contrast. Michael Phelps won his third event of the United States Olympic trials Wednesday night — the 200-meter butterfly, which he has dominated since 2001. But he fell short of the world record and acted almost as if he had lost. Such is the difference in expectations. Then there was the runner-up, Gil Stovall. Thrilled about making his first Olympic team, Stovall pumped his fist after seeing the results on the scoreboard.

Airbus And Boeing Face A Dark And Painful Future

When you google 'Airbus Boeing Peak Oil', the top result is this article [Why Airbus and Boeing will soon go bust] that Kristen Lagadec wrote in the summer of 2006.

clipped from globalpublicmedia.com Hard times for airlines First an important premise: there are no serious alternatives to jet fuel for airliners. And even if there were, they could never be cheap in a world of expensive energy. The problem is not that oil is scarce: the productionhas never been this high -- that's why we call it Peak Oil. The problem is that energy supply is not meeting global demand: until demand abates, any type of energy will end up costing the same, be it classical kerosene, gas-to-liquid synthetic jet fuel, or biodiesel.

Mozilla or Nothin'

clipped from news.yahoo.com Mozilla claims Guinness Record for downloads Thu Jul 3, 3:19 AM ET (Reuters) - Mozilla, developer of open-source Web browser Firefox, said on Wednesday it set a new Guinness World Record for the largest number of software downloads in 24 hours. ADVERTISEMENT Over 8 million people downloaded Firefox 3 in the period following its official launch, the company said in a statement.

Doommedia

What's worse than warning the world about bad news like this? Talking up a good situation and then having to report - after the fact, when it is too self evident to do any freaking thing about it - on a new reality that falls pretty freakin' short of all that 'optimistic and uncritical' speculation.

clipped from www.businessday.co.za A global sell-off pushes world stocks to five-month low  Reuters E-Mail article Print-Friendly LONDON - A global sell-off knocked world shares to a five-month low today as surging oil fanned concerns about inflation and slowing growth, ahead of an expected euro zone interest rate hike and a key US jobs report. The gloom was all-pervasive, with Tokyo stocks setting their longest losing streak in more than half a century while the dollar hit a two-month low against the euro.

A Pandemic Is Inevitable

"The threat may be theoretical at present - but all of the infectious disease experts I have spoken to over recent years agree that it is not a matter of if but of when the next flu pandemic will occur.

H5N1 might not eventually be the virus responsible but the pandemic will almost certainly start in animals and then mutate into an infectious human disease. "

clipped from news.bbc.co.uk

Bird flu 'still a major threat'

By Fergus Walsh Medical correspondent, BBC News The trials will help doctors prepare for a pandemic The world is still at risk from a new pandemic strain of flu according to leading scientists. The H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus has been out of the headlines for some time but experts say it still poses a potential threat.

While we look the other way, there's also H5N1, and whacky weather waiting in the wings

This is really gearing up to be a shitstorm.

clipped from www.reuters.com The discovery in June of birds infected with the H5N1 avian influenza virus in four wet markets across Hong Kong led to the culling of thousands of fowl at all retail markets. A 21-day ban on live poultry sales and imports was then imposed.

Oil: Why We're in Trouble

Today we are in the same position we were in 1980, except there are no major fields left to be brought on-line.

clipped from uk.reuters.com Dow's bear market run spells trouble for Wall St. Wed Jul 2, 2008 11:49pm BST   Email | Print | Share | Single Page| Recommend (0) [-] Text [+] 1 of 1Full Size By Ellis Mnyandu NEW YORK (Reuters) - With the Dow sliding into a bear market on Wednesday, the dark days on Wall Street are far from over, amid record oil prices, struggling consumers and the never-ending credit crisis.