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I’ve been on vacation! I didn’t want to put up a “back in a few days” message because that seemed to tempt fate. I guess I’m that superstitious. Anyway, 2500 miles with my nephew and my mom, some hikes, some bikes, met some nice folks. All good.

(For the pedantic Prius owners, 47.7 mpg … assuming I was ripped off for 2 gallons by that one station.)

I don’t think I’ll post details, but hello to all, and sorry about shotgunning the incoming queue, but that seemed the only (lazy) way.

I’m putting the site on hold for a while, and halting comment review. 700+ spams a day is too much. Best wishes, maybe more later …

I rode my bike to India yesterday. Well OK, only Little India but with the weather, and the headwinds coming home, it felt like an epic journey. It was a 50 mile round trip from where I live in Orange County. I headed up the coast and then turned up the San Gabriel River Trail. South Street (second exit before the 91 Fwy underpass) is a good exit, take it right to Pioneer. The block north of there is Little India.

I ate at Ambala Dhaba, where they promised “home style Indian food.” It was great, and rich with spices. At $8 for a lunch special it wasn’t an inexpensive lunch, but it rocked. Speaking of rock, the flat panel displays were playing Indian dance videos. Fun.

Ambala Dhaba is pictured here. It has a nice tree out front for locking bikes. Next time I might check out a more “express” place and see how the food stacks up.

Update: Actually the place I went didn’t exactly look like that. Either they’ve moved or had a facelift. Checking the google map for 17631 Pioneer Blvd., it looks like the same place.

Borrowing from one of the excellent Energy Bulletin digests:

Extract:

Peak Oil Theory
In 1956, the geophysicist Marion King Hubbert correctly predicted that American oil production would peak sometime between 1966 and 1972. He made his bold prediction by analyzing the quantity of oil in existing reserves, the number and size of new discoveries, and knowledge of production profiles of producing oil wells.

Conducting similar analyses on the world oil supply, individuals such as investment banker and presidential adviser Matthew Simmons predicted that the global “Hubbert’s Peak” would occur in 2005, followed by a precipitous fall.285 By 2025, global oil production is expected to have declined 43% to 48 million bpd. This projected shortfall of almost 70 million bpd prompted several analysts, including Goldman Sachs researcher Arjun Murti and CIBC Chief Economist Jeff Rubin, to predict a “super spike” in oil prices of up to $100-$120 per barrel in the next few years.

According to Eric Sprott of Sprott Asset Management, “demand for oil is so inelastic that its rising price has done nothing to slow demand in the last two years. There are simply no alternatives to energy.”

It should be noted, however, that there are many who disagree with the Peak Oil Theory, pointing to the untapped energy sources on the east and west coasts of North America, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in northeast Alaska and the Canadian oil sands. Much of the uncertainty exists due to the opaque and unreliable information on oil production and supplies in Saudi Arabia and other OPEC countries. The G8 has identified this problem in the past and encourages increased market transparency and standardized reporting between oil producers, oil consumers and oil companies.

The whole digest is here

I missed the show but found a positive review at Energy Outlook:

A couple of months ago, in a posting on the release of the film “An Inconvenient Truth,” I questioned whether Al Gore was the best person to convince climate skeptics of the reasons for concern and prompt action. At the time, I couldn’t come up with an alternative who would be credible to those not already disposed to believe. In retrospect, I’m surprised I didn’t consider Tom Brokaw, who hosted Sunday night’s Discovery Channel special, “Global Warming – What You Need To Know.” His down-to-earth charm and low-key delivery worked well in a two-hour program that combined ominous predictions with striking visuals. If I weren’t already convinced, would this show have changed my mind? Quite possibly.

- more here

A very interesting paper is on-line, it has a lot of solid data for energy and environment discussions in California:

WATER-ENERGY RELATIONSHIP, by the California Energy Commission

Here’s one worth going back to The Most Efficient Modern House?

It looks good to me.

I’ve been a poor blog gardener. Daily weeding of spams and sorting of new comments is essential … but when you let it go … you get 1025 comments in your queue and no way to sort them out. So I deleted them in mass.

This happens now and then I’m afraid. If you are real person with a real comment please re-submit and I’ll do a more careful review later today.

Other than that … the world seems to be bouncing along the same path: higher gas prices, more bombs, and other interrelated inconveniences and/or tragedies. I thought about posting a few news items and then said to heck with it. I’ll start with a mental clean slate instead, and share a few of the blogs I’m following myself:

California Energy Blog
E&ETV OnPoint
Energy Outlook
Green Car Congress
Gristmill
The Housing Bubble Blog
The Mess That Greenspan Made
and The Oil Drum

… enjoy reading.

And this historic event has been recognized as DANIEL YERGIN DAY, JULY 13, 2006

Gentle reader, did you know that, in April, President Bush went to Stanford University to speak to the Hoover Institution fellows at the invitation of former Secretary of State George Shultz but was not allowed on campus? The Stanford students got wind of it and blocked Bush’s access to the campus. The Hoover fellows had to go to Shultz’s home to hear Bush’s pitch for war and more war.

A person might think that it would be national news that Stanford University students would not allow the President of the U.S. on campus. It happened to be a day when hundreds of prospective freshmen were on campus with their parents, many of whom joined the demonstration against Bush. I did not hear or read a word about it. Did you? I learned of it from faculty friends in June when I attended Stanford’s graduation to witness a relative receive her degree. The June 16 edition of The Stanford Daily reprinted its April 24 report of the episode.

- more here

(It’s not a big story, but it does seem strange to not report it. Years ago I happened to be on the Berkley campus when the mere UC Regents were bared by protesters (something about weapons testing), and that made the national news.)