Oil Exploration Update: U.S. To Play Catch-Up with Cuba

Amazingly enough, it seems as if time will come soon, when the U.S. will have to do catch-up with Cuba in oil exploration. The diminutive and communist enclaves of poverty that serves as the planting of Fidel Castro's personal cigar realizes now that he has enough oil reserves in its coastal waters to shore up his no-go economy for decades, unable to assemble the ability to the oil itself, the island nation has begun to license drilling rights to other countries, including China, the prospect that alarms us, and Spain, the idea of inviting us to think of tapas .

Beaten by his lack of wisdom in the islet of resources has also offered to license the U.S. oil companies.

Quite expectedly, the perspective of oil to Cuba to dig out from the ocean floor, while America has outlawed for decades has turned on the hot debate in Congress about the wisdom of our current self-imposed ban. The debate has quickly blossomed into a gusher in part because America still has more proven oil reserves in its coastal waters, without doubt, especially because he has even more in coastal waters.

Persuasive enough in these times of high oil prices, there seems to be enough of black gold there to meet all our energy needs for about 18 years, or long enough to all the leaders of the Middle East that we are always together in those days to go the way of leaders everywhere, we determine are hopelessly wrong.

Of course, the Conservation Society were in opposition galvanized by the mere prospect of a little 'oil chomping emerald waters of our coast with plenty of fish in search of treasure liquid below the barrier.

While the debate about the bubbles, we can only consider a worst case, best case. Worst case: we do nothing, while foreign companies that do not exactly have a reputation more awe in ecological correctness drill away and as time permits, send a slick crawl on our beaches. Best: run to catch up with Cuba and perhaps even ahead of reckless involvements that might otherwise see in detail in our hemisphere.

Since we're talking about drilling in our own backyard pond, we could, hopefully, do so in ways that are less likely to lead to ruin oil shameful that fill us with remorse and to send fish and poultry off derelictions lingering death - that strange country in a foreign country could lower labor assiduously to avoid.

In a world of vitamin supplements liquid

Every day, it seems that we live in an increasingly liquid. I'm not preaching against the evils of alcohol or a new era of prohibition that will save us from sin and politicians. After all the water is a liquid, and rarely inflicts us with either sin or politicians.

But we expect everything to be extremely easy these days, so liquid is the operating system of choice.

No time to eat? Grab a liquid breakfast and run. Why tie a knot in the umbilical cord that connects your bed to your desk? If you can find a straw long enough, just start slurping as you rise from bed, and smacked his lips to the last drop as you whiz out the door. Bye.

Remember when soap came in bars? Solid bar? Sorry, I guess I'm showing my age. Now everybody uses liquid soap. Yesterday I reached for the soap. No, wait. I reached a hand cream. Or was it the soap? But what if the hand cream? Soap or hand cream? What is that?

People used to nail siding on the exterior of their homes. Now they just spray on "liquid siding". It is available in three delicious flavors: coatings, ceramic and stucco. Yum.

And now they have taken my little vitamin supplement pills and liquefied them.

"Just wait a minute. How do you know which pills liquid vitamins?"

Who said that?

"They are vitamins naturally solid? Or are naturally liquid?"

Uh. I had to admit that probably would not recognize a vitamin, if I met on the street ... in this case I suspect it might be too big to swallow. Tell me who is this?

"Where do you think vitamins come from, anyway?"

I always thought it came from the back of the corner shop in a small town in Indiana, but on reflection, I suspect that might come from oranges, fish and milk. Who are you?

"I do not think it is rather difficult to stuff a fish into a hard, little pill?"

I suppose the article has a point.

"Drink your milk, do not you?"

Yes, but that is because it is liquid. Suddenly I remembered my dream from just last week. Cow after cow heading into a factory conveyor belt. cartons tightly sealed first I though it was the annual Cattle Family Reunion, but on the other side of the factory, riding the conveyor belt itself was of milk. Aaargh!

"Pressed. As an orange. Drink juice, is not it?"

Yes ... but squeezing a cow?

"Just what do you know about liquid?"

I thought real hard. Everything is in one of three states: gas, liquid and solid. Gas is like politicians when they speak. Liquid is like when the politicians are working to attend the cocktail. Solid is like statues of politicians (They look so comfortable!).

Everything comes in either gas, liquid or solid. This is all I remember about my high school chemistry. That, and how to explode a partially dissected frog. No, wait. This was not chemistry class. Silly me. Because we have a partially dissected frog in chemistry class. This was the class. What was his name again? Oh yes, "housekeeping".

"Did the frog contain vitamins?"

Not anymore.

"Do you think it easier to pack vitamins into a tiny hard pill or a drink?"

I suppose it all depends on what type of explosive used. I tried to imagine squeezing a fish into a box. But fish walking up a conveyor belt seemed just a bit 'radical ... and even less flavorful freshly squeezed cow.

"Liquid vitamin supplements are made with only vegetable ingredients."

That's it. Keep the cow. Keep your fish. Keep your frog ... what is left of it. I'm going to a pure liquid life.

My only question now is: What is the soap, and what is the hand cream? And what my liquid vitamin supplement? I do not want to drink the soap by mistake.

Weather and Latitude are not allies

There is a popular assumption that if you move to higher latitudes (poleward), you can escape the heat, and moving to lower latitudes (toward the equator) can escape the cold.

The equation is simple. But is it true? If not, then the most northerly capital, Reykjavík, is also the coldest ... at least until they establish a country in Antarctica. Yes, it appears that latitude is slowing down and unable to keep temperatures in line.

This was brought home to me during the preparation of a radio interview in Dublin, Ireland. February had just roiled and I sat comfortably back in my good old Ottawa, scraping ice toes. I was giddy with enthusiasm for our hot spell, which has touched a peak of less-5 (which is about 20 degrees American). I always ask questions the day before an interview, learn a bit 'of my audience, so I asked the producer: "So what is the weather forecast in Dublin?" he asked.

"Oh, it's horrible," he told me. "People are preparing for a deep winter freeze that is supposed to hit tonight. You could also get cold as minus-5!"

This blows me away, that the people of Dublin would be worried about the thermometer falls as low as our high peaks. After all, it is not Dublin about the same latitude as Ottawa?

I pulled out my atlas of confidence. We live almost exactly on the 45th parallel. If we lived exactly on it, we should share our bed with a cow and a dozen chickens across the road - which is how close we are.

I turned the pages to find Ireland. I could have been mistaken? Dublin is actually south of us? No, it turns out that Dublin is on the 53rd parallel. Hey! They should be slightly cooler weather than us. This is not right.

The time is not right. Dublin is well north of us, so why not get all the cold?

I decided to take a peak at a few other pages of my atlas. And now Venice is also the 45th parallel. Let me tell you that ever the weather forecast calls for Venice buried in snow for three or four months of the year. In fact, the average temperature in January is +1 (which is about 34 degrees American).

Hmm. I was wondering what lay along the 45th parallel. The French Riviera. Not too much ice there. Portland, Oregon. I checked the weather forecast Portland. Yup, like Venice in January. Sevastapol, Urkaine, even in January temperatures near Venice.

Indeed, no other well-populated area of the world endures so much cold (except parts of Russia, but many of those people can not afford the taxi fare to go somewhere else).

Why do so many people with so much wealth to live in an inhospitable climate? I do not know. Perhaps we are waiting for latitude to correct this anomaly shortly.

Or maybe our brains are simply frozen. Or maybe that's why so many people around here in the south to enjoy the weather Orlando.