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An economist says that U.S. policy in the Middle East is driven by baseless fears that an “oil weapon” can cut off our fuel supply.

Roger J. Stern argues that the decades-old belief that petroleum-rich Persian Gulf nations must be appeased to keep oil flowing is imaginary and the threat of deployment of an “oil weapon” is bogus. He contends that untapped oil supplies are abundant, not scarce.

The real security problem, according to Stern, comes from market power. Persian Gulf oil producers collude to command artificially high prices that could never exist in a competitive market, producing excessive OPEC profits.
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Two computer scientists say they have developed a system for predicting the box office success of movies before they hit the theatres that could revolutionize the industry, but Hollywood has responded with a yawn, despite the fact that ticket sales are down for the second year in a row.
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About a year ago, we reported on mysterious booms in North Carolina. Now they’re back.

In early January, a huge boom actually shook houses and rattled windows along the Carolina coast. Local TV channel WECT and sound technician Alex Markowski, who teaches at the University of North Carolina recorded the boom on tape. Markowski picked up the low frequency sounds on his special recording equipment.
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The absence of snow on the top of picturesque Mount Fuji inJapan was earlier attributed to global warming, but nowseismologists think it may be because the volcano is heatingup and may be getting ready toerupt.

The famous snow-capped mountain currently has no snow ontop, despite record snowfalls in the region. Seismologiststhink it could erupt at any moment. Mount Fuji erupts aboutonce every 300 years and it’s been about that long since itslast eruption.

Fuji is only 60 miles from Tokyo and when it last erupted,in 1707, tons of ash rained down on the city. Tokyo was amuch smaller city in those days, but now it containsmillions of people who might have to be evacuated if Fujierupts again.
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