Rising Radioactivity of Fukushima Seawater

According to Japan's nuclear safety agency, test performed earlier on water in one section near the Fukushima Daiichi plant's reactor 1 indicated the iodine level at 1,850 times the legal limit which is now  found at 3,355 times the legal limit.

However, an official said the iodine would have deteriorated considerably by the time it reached people. Radioactive materials are measured by scientists in half-lives, or the time it takes to halve the radiation through natural decay.

"Iodine 131 has a half-life of eight days, and even considering its concentration in marine life, it will have deteriorated considerably by the time it reaches people," Hidehiko Nishiyama, deputy director-general of Japan's nuclear safety agency told a news conference.

Half-lives range from fractions of a second to billions of years.

Iodine 131 was blamed for the high incidence of thyroid cancer among children exposed to fallout from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986.

Alongside uranium, other elements of greater concern are those with much longer half-lives. These include caesium, which is easily taken up by plants and animals and can be inhaled through dust, ruthenium, strontium and plutonium.

Workers at Japan's quake-hit nuclear plant are trying to prevent radioactive water from seeping into the sea.

Highly radioactive liquid has been found inside and outside several reactor buildings.

Small amounts of plutonium have also been detected in soil at the plant - the latest indication that one of the reactors suffered a partial meltdown.

Plant operator Tepco and the safety agency say the exact source of the radioactive leak is unknown. But, like the discovery of plutonium, the high levels of radiation found inside and outside reactor buildings are likely to have come from melted fuel rods.

Theories for the leak centre on two possibilities: steam is flowing from the core into the reactor housing and escaping through cracks, or the contaminated material is leaking from the damaged walls of the water-filled pressure control pool beneath the No 2 reactor.

The plutonium - used in the fuel mix in the No 3 reactor - is not at levels that threaten human health, officials said.

Engineers are battling to restore power and restart the cooling systems at the stricken nuclear plant.

Obama has Given Ultimatum to Gaddafi

US President Barack Obama said the terms of a UN Security Council resolution backing action to defend civilians were "not negotiable".

He has said Libyan government forces must end their offensive against rebel-held towns and pull back - or face military action.

Col Muammar Gaddafi's government has declared a unilateral ceasefire, as attack plans are drawn up against him under the UN resolution.

There are reports government offensives are continuing despite the ceasefire.

Libyan officials have dismissed these as untrue and say international observers are being invited to Libya to verify the situation.

In the rebel-held western city of Misrata, which is surrounded by government forces, residents there told Reuters news agency that there was no sign of a ceasefire and that the city continued to be pounded by bombs and artillery.

And Arabic TV station al-Jazeera reported that pro-Gaddafi forces were advancing quickly towards the eastern rebel stronghold of Benghazi on Friday evening. Its correspondent reported that loyalist forces were clashing with rebels in the towns of al-Magroun and Slouq, about 50km (30 miles) from the city.

The city of Zawiya has already fallen to pro-Gaddafi forces, while there has been fierce fighting in and around Ajdabiya in recent days.

Mr Obama said: "All attacks against civilians must stop. Gaddafi must stop his troops from advancing on Benghazi, pull them back from Ajdabiya, Misrata and Zawiya, and establish water, electricity and gas supplies to all areas.

"Humanitarian assistance must be allowed to reach the people of Libya.

"Let me be clear, these terms are not negotiable. If Gaddafi does not comply, the international community will impose consequences, and the resolution will be enforced through military action.

"Our goal is focused, our cause is just and our coalition is strong."

The US ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice, told CNN that Col Gaddafi was in violation of the UN Security Council resolution, adopted on Thursday, which called for an immediate ceasefire and banned all flights over Libya.

But Libya's Deputy Foreign Minister, Khaled Kaim, said on Friday evening that Libyan government forces had conducted no military operations since announcing the ceasefire earlier.

"We have had no bombardment of any kind since the ceasefire was declared," he told reporters when asked about reports of continued government operations in Misrata and other parts of the country.
'Actions not words'

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is travelling to Paris on Saturday to join allies in discussing the next steps in Libya.

The British and French, along with some Arab allies, are expected to play a leading role in any initial air strikes.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said everything was ready to launch military strikes in Libya.

The French ambassador to the UN, Gerard Araud, told the BBC he expected military intervention in Libya within hours of the Paris summit.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said Col Gaddafi would be judged by "actions, not his words", and that British Tornado and Typhoon aircraft were being moved to bases in the region.

The commander in charge of planning for the no-fly zone will be US Adm Samuel Locklear, the BBC's Mark Urban has learned.

The US Navy is deploying additional warships to the Mediterranean to support possible military action.

Other countries that could take part in any military action include Denmark, Canada, Spain, Belgium, Norway and Qatar. Italy has offered the use of air bases.

On Thursday, the UN Security Council voted to impose a no-fly zone, expand existing sanctions and endorse the use of force - short of an occupation of the country - to protect civilians.

The 15-member council approved the resolution on Libya late on Thursday with 10 votes in favour, none against and five abstentions.

Russia and China - which often oppose the use of force against a sovereign country as they believe it sets a dangerous precedent - abstained rather than using their power of veto as permanent members.

Col Gaddafi has ruled Libya for more than 40 years. An uprising against him began last month after long-time leaders of neighbouring Tunisia and Egypt were toppled.

Fukushima Wants Burying Like Chernobyl

The last week's huge quake and tsunami driven a nuclear crisis, which has left at least 17,000 people dead or missing. Though France's Nuclear Safety Authority, has rates the Fukushima crisis at six on the scale.(AFP) this crisis was previously rated as local problem by Japanese authority. Now Japan has raised the alert level at its quake-damaged nuclear plant (Fukushima Daiichi) from four to five on a seven-point international scale of atomic incidents.

The UN says the battle to stabilise the plant is a race against time.

Japanese nuclear officials said core damage to reactors 2 and 3 had prompted the raising of the severity grade, reports BBC.

The 1979 incident at Three Mile Island in the US was also rated at five on the scale, whereas the 1986 Chernobyl disaster was rated at seven.

Gift of Chernobyl

Gift of Chernobyl

But they still hoped to solve the crisis by fixing a power cable to two reactors by today to restart water pumps needed to cool overheating nuclear fuel rods. Workers also sprayed water on the reactor 3, the most critical of the plant's six.

It was the first time the facility operator had acknowledged burying the sprawling 40-year-old complex was possible, a sign that piecemeal actions such as dumping water from military helicopters or scrambling to restart cooling pumps may not work, Reuters reports.

Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant reactor meltdown(reactor no. 4)

"It is not impossible to encase the reactors in concrete. But our priority right now is to try and cool them down first," an official from the plant operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co, told a news conference.

That is little solace for about 300 nuclear plant workers toiling in the radioactive wreckage, wearing masks, goggles and protective suits with seams sealed off by duct tape to keep out radioactive particles. "My eyes well with tears at the thought of the work they are doing," Kazuya Aoki, a safety official at Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, told Reuters.

Even if engineers restore power at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, the pumps may be too damaged from the earthquake, tsunami or subsequent explosions to work.

The first step is to restore power to pumps for reactors 1 and 2, and possibly 4, by today, said Hidehiko Nishiyama, Japan's nuclear safety agency spokesman.

By tomorrow, the government expects to connect electricity to pumps for its badly damaged reactor 3 -- a focal point in the crisis because of its use of mixed oxides, or mox, containing both uranium and highly toxic plutonium.

Asked about burying the reactors in sand and concrete, Nishiyama said: "That solution is in the back of our minds, but we are focused on cooling the reactors down."

Burying the reactors would leave part of Japan off-limits for decades. "It's just not that easy," Murray Jennex, a San Diego State University in California professor said when asked about the so-called Chernobyl option to bury the reactors.

Cleaning operation of contaminant in Chernobyl

"They are kind of like a coffee maker. If you leave it on the heat, they boil dry and then they crack," he said. "Putting concrete on that wouldn't help keep your coffee maker safe. But eventually, yes, you could build a concrete shield and be done with it."

Enigma of Nuclear radiation of the Fukushima Daiichi plant reactors in Japan

The reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant are boiling water reactors. The reactor which saw the explosion is Fukushima Daiichi 1. It was connected to the grid in November 1970, making it about 40 years old. There are six reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi site, of which unit 1 is the oldest, according to the World Nuclear Association.

How does a nuclear reactor of this kind work?

Uranium 235 -- the fuel inside a nuclear reactor -- undergoes nuclear fission. This process emits a lot of heat energy which produces steam, and that steam turns a turbine, generating electricity.

What happened to the nuclear reactors during the quake?

Three of the six reactors at the site were in operation when the earthquake hit. The reactors are designed to shut down automatically when a quake strikes, and emergency diesel generators began the task of pumping water around the reactors to cool them down. However, these stopped about an hour later. The failure of the back-up generators has been blamed on tsunami flooding by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA.)

Sea water injection was started on Saturday, but then paused after a tsunami warning, according to the plant owners Tokyo Electric Power Company.

What could have caused the explosion at the plant?

* Nuclear Energy

The blast was not caused by damage to the nuclear reactor but by a pumping system that failed as crews tried to bring the reactor's temperature down, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said Saturday. He said the plant operator confirmed there was no damage to the steel container housing the reactor.

Malcolm Grimston, Associate Fellow for Energy, Environment and Development at London's Chatham House, said he believed the explosion had been caused by a build-up of pressure inside the inner containment of the reactor.

"Because they lost power to the water cooling system, they needed to vent the pressure that building up inside.

"My suspicion is that as the temperature inside the reactor was rising, some of the metal cans that surround the fuel may have burst and at high temperature, that fuel cladding can react with water to produce zirconium oxide and hydrogen.

"That hydrogen then will be part of the gases that need to be vented. That hydrogen then mixes with the surrounding air. Hydrogen and oxygen can then recombine explosively.

"So it seems while the explosion wasn't directly connected with the nuclear processes, it was indirectly connected, because the hydrogen was only present because of what was going on in the reactor core."

What is a meltdown, and can it be avoided here?

Japan's nuclear agency said there was a strong possibility that radioactive cesium detected at the plant after the blast was from the melting of a fuel rod.

Robert Alvarez, Senior Scholar at the U.S. Institute for Policy Studies, explained that a meltdown could happen when the water surrounding the core of the reactor boiled or leaked away, leaving the fuel rods exposed, allowing temperatures to rise to up to 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit.

"The radiation is so intense it's impossible to deal with it. The control room would be uninhabitable," he said. "Without cooling, cladding surrounding the fuel can ignite, and the fuel itself start to melt.

"Then you have a huge amount of radioactive gases and particles, and if the primary and secondary containment fails, you have a large amount of radioactive gases escaping into the environment."

Whether a meltdown happens in this case depends on whether the pumping and cooling system can be restored in time, and whether if a meltdown starts, the secondary containment is strong enough to stay intact, according to Alvarez.

"If the pumping system is down there won't be enough pressure or water inside to cool the fuel rods down," he said. (ArticlesBase SC #4396654)

The Taliban,Pakistan and USA

A recent incident which took place in Swat, Pakistan where a girl was flogged just for going some where with her Father in law ohh! what a pity!,what is happening in our dear home land the people responsible for this are world famous terrorists “The Taliban” but do we really know who are they ? does any anybody ever tried to figure out whose responsible for their birth?they are the ones who claimed responsibility of recent street firing in New york which clamied the lives of 13 people and 26 people got hurt . I know we have a habit Of forgetting the past very easily we only know what ever is happening in the present.

So let me take you a few decades back in the year of 1979 in the era when Russia was a very strong country decided to invade Afghanistan and so they did, USA which was another strong country become very worried that Afghanistan will soon be captured by USSR a land which is the key to enter a rich world of oils and different resources .

USA thought and made a strategy to use Pakistan to stop the USSR, and so Pakistan was aroused by the USA through supply of weapons, aids and all sorts of helps, in the mean while USA in Pakistan gave birth to Talibans,the Russia invasion in Afghanistan was dramatized as a holy war and Talibans being students of religious studies were aroused to go to the troubled land for the war,USA helped the Taliban grow strong by providing them strength by all means and interesting part is that Osama Bin Laden was the part of that movement and so the war began and ended in the way the USA wanted it Aghanistan was safe but not for good.

Why did USA stopped the Russains ?obviously not for the reason that the they are very peace loving country helping the poor, in this mean world who gives or helps others without any reason in my knowledge a very few and iam convinced that atleast USA is not amongst the few angles Iam talking about now I will give you few clues try to solve the puzzle and make a clear understanding of people responsible for bringing these recent  tragedies in the world since 9/11/2001.

*After the war of 1979 in Afghanistan where did the baby of USA “Taliban” go?
* Pakistan becomes nuclear power first Muslim country to hold such power.
* Pakistan alleged for nuclear proliferation which is helping other countries to develop WMD.
* USA was not happy penalized Pakistan by laying sanctions on it.
* Incident of 9/11/2001 where “Al-qaeda” was responsible, and to mention the most Osama Bin Laden is the one which Heads Al-qaeda
* Stories claming that Al-qaeda does not works alone but with Taliban
* Where are Taliban? In Pakistan
* Where are the hideouts of Al Qaeda and Taliban In Pakistan
* Stories related to Taliban are growing strong in Pakistan
* USA worried
* USA Attacks Afghanistan to kill the responsible i.e. Al-Qaeda and Taliban
* USA with Help of Pakistan captures Afghanistan
* In the mean time USA captures Iraq(which has many oil fields)
* Pakistan starts becoming target of Sucide attacks since USA captured Afghanistan
* America says that Pakistan is breeding terrorists
* USA after 7 years of capturing whole Afghanistan still unable to find “Osama Bin Ladin” and spear Head of Taliban “Bait Ullah Masuud”,according to my knowledge USA claims that they have satellites which could easily locate these people.
* Whenever any  incident happens in any part of the world these mentioned two men claims responsibility where ever it is.
* India for every incident ready to blame Pakistan though their own men are always found guilty by trying to give Pakistan a bad name
* Pakistan is doing every effort to get rid of the militants by sending their troops to the disturbed Northern portion
* USA still unsatisfied
*USA starts drones attack on Pakistan the reason is that they are targeting hideouts of militants in reality they are killing innocent people which includes women and children.
* USA expands drone attacks in one more province of Pakistan saying that Talibans are growing strong in Baluchistan.
*USA  now eager to send troops to Pakistan to control the situation.

It is always been the strategy of the USA to use the people when they need them then dispose them off when they dont.

I think now one could easily make out why did USA never wanted Russia to capture Afghanistan.

Now after few observations and gathering fruitful information from daily papers and talk shows , the actual Scenario in Pakistan regarding the suicide attacks, bombings and killings is not known to the common men, India is very much involved in Afghanistan they(Afghanistan) have turned against Pakistan, secretly Afghan forces are entering Pakistan along with the RAW (Indian Intelligence) and are responsible for all the situation of massacres,India has always been against Pakistan sine partition and now they have the support of USA ,why is that? So that Pakistan would ask help of USA to send their troops in Pakistan or USA would by itself invade Pakistan for further invasion to Iran and so on.

How is that Pakistan is doing nothing when they know everything? Its because USA controls Pakistan in every aspect governments are made by the decision of Washington, governments are just the puppets of USA helping them to enter Pakistan.

This brief information in the article may help people understand the real scenario of Pakistan and its future.

Conclusion:
The reason for sketching the Afghan war was to show that why USA invaded Afghistan and what are their targets and how they achieve them ,currently Pakistan is the target. The above information may not be comprehensive but Iam sure it may open many secret windows .(ArticlesBase SC #852777)

Gaddafi on the defensive

Libya is still in flames. A Gaddafi on the defensive tries his maximum to salvage his position. The more the protesters go on the offensive, the more he fights with his back on the wall. But going by the trends, the dictator is poised to taste defeat if not now, within one or two weeks. East Libya already under the occupation of protesters, Benqazi, next important city after Tripoli also under their occupation, their confidence too strong and are determined to fight to the hilt to force the dictator to flee the ‘throne', otherwise to kick him out. The man who well entrenched since 41 years in his saddle with nobody even to question or challenge his authority was drunk with power till recently. Because of that reason itself the first sign of resistance that too massive resistance has shaken him violently, it was something unexpected as far as he was concerned.

But his stubborn attitude of ‘not to say die' approach, his powerful militia and armory have so far helped him to launch a massive suppression - free killing almost 1000 citizens so far. Still he finds the resistance irresistible than he had expected and the thought of giving into the pressure of citizens he finds untenable. A man with king-size ego cannot even imagine in his dreams the thought of even inviting the protesters for a negotiation as he considers himself the Almighty of Libya whom nobody could even touch. It is really a dark wonder that the people of Libya were tolerating such a man, even afraid of this man who could force them dance to his tunes like puppets. But as anywhere a dictator, however powerful and iron-fisted he is will have to do a climb down in the face of massive resistance by citizens who can't any more resist the brutal ways of their ruler. Gradually step by step they group under one umbrella shedding their fears and apprehensions, go on the offensive, sometimes they might taste defeat, still not being taken aback they will group together to fight against the dictatorial menace.

We could read about several such dictatorships crumbling down under the might of collective resistance of citizens power we could witness many dictators fleeing away with their tails tucked in between their legs some even getting salvation even by angry mobs, pointing out each a difficult task as the list is endless, similarly is the fate of Muammar-al-Gaddafi like that of Tunisian dictator Zine-El-Abidine-Ben Ali, Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak, Pakistani dictator Pervez Musharaf, Nepal Monarch King Gyanendra etc etc.

With international pressure mounting on Gaddafi, his confidents are defecting one by one, army personnel too joining the protesters thus weakening Gaddafi's strangle-hold on Libya with the passing of each day. There are talks of forming a parallel administration by the defected leaders like Interior Minister and once a close confident of Gaddafi. Arab League has asked Gaddafi to stop the genocide and International Criminal Court is closely watching the situation. One day, if matters are going on like these we could very well see this man booked as a culprit by ICC. Security Council has passed a resolution asking Gaddafi to stop the brutal suppression herewith, US, Britain and France are busy mulling financial and weapons sanctions as also Germany. US President Barack Obama has asked Gaddafi several times to withdraw from the scene or to stop forthwith the killing spree of citizens. International pressure is mounting upon him and the man finds himself in a vicious circle. The thought of vacating the saddle is like conceding defeat for him and that is unimaginable with Libya in the grip of massive rebellion. International crude oil prices have jumped up reaching US $120 per barrel each day which threatens each nation. The price is likely to go up in the event of the conflict turning more bitter and violent.

Non-resident Indians as well as people from other countries in large numbers are stranded there, without finding any way out some even fleeing to other nations.

The matters are in such a fluid situation and nobody is in a position to predict how long this conundrum would last, how long this dictator would stick to his position. Before a determined resistance don't think Gaddafi can hold on to power indefinitely.

Amal Oil Field (Redevelopment), Libya, Commercial Asset Valuation and Forecast to 2017 now available at ReportsandReports

Amal Field - Block NC12 (area 90/91) is located in the eastern part of the Sirte basin and is around 50km north of the Augila oasis in Libya. The latitude and the longitude of the field are 29° 25' 0 N and 21° 10' 0 E. Amal is an onshore field that extends to more than 100,000 acres. The field includes eight different reservoirs and is at a depth ranging from 2,300 to 12,000 feet below the surface. PetroCanada (now Suncor Energy, August 2009) is the operator of the field. The field produces around one-third of Libya's total oil production.

The field is owned by Harouge Oil Operations (previously Veba Oil Operations) that is a joint venture between National Oil Corporation (NOC), Libya and Petro-Canada. Both the partners have an equal stake of 50% in the venture. Petro-Canada entered into agreement in 2007 with NOC for the redevelopment of the field that included pipeline and facility upgrades, development drilling and other expansion.

The oil produced at the field has an API ranging between 36° to 38°and has a high wax content. The sulfur content in the oil is estimated to be around 0.45%.

The field had estimated recoverable reserves of approximately 4.2 billion barrels when it was discovered in 1959. The estimated remaining reserves of the field in 2010 are estimated to be around 57.44 million barrels. The current production of oil from the field is around 9.36 million barrels. The oil production from the field is likely to decline at a natural rate of 7-8% annually.

The life of the field after redevelopment (2007) is expected to be around 10-11 years with complete abandonment by 2017. During its remaining life the field is expected to generate revenues of $4.62 billion (undiscounted, starting January 2010).

Scope

• The report provides detailed information on oil and gas production, infrastructure, reserves, geology, operator and equity partners and the latest fiscal terms applicable to the asset and provides its fair value (Remaining Net Present Value) based on remaining reserves, forecast production, capital and operational costs, fiscal regime and commodity prices.
• The report also provides additional valuation parameters like Internal Rate of Return (IRR), Profitability Index (PI), Pay Back (discounted and undiscounted), Entitlement Production (EP) and Working Interest (WI) to enhance your decision making process.
• This report provides detailed sensitivity analysis of the remaining NPV with changes in the commodity prices, discount rate, production and key fiscal terms.
• Detailed cash flows over the life of the asset are included in the report. These cash flows cover a wide range of calculations related to various payments to the government/licensing authority.
• Interactive Excel models can be used to derive custom valuations, sensitivities and cash flows based on the specific inputs by the user in the model. These custom inputs vary from production data, cost information, price information and fiscal terms information.

Reasons to buy

• Make well informed investment decisions based on detailed operational analysis and cash flow forecasts
• Estimate the fair value of your future investment under different economic and fiscal conditions
• Value a prospective investment target through a comprehensive analysis using focused forecasting and valuation methodologies.
• Supporting interactive excel model will enhance your decision making capability in a more rapid and time sensitive manner
• Evaluate how the changes in the country's fiscal policies impact the cash flows and the present value of the asset

Source: http://www.reportsandreports.com/  , Blog: http://reportsnreports.wordpress.com/   , Retrieved from "http://www .articlesbase. com/small- business- articles/ amal-oil-field- redevelopment-libya-commercial-asset-valuation-and-forecast-to-2017-now-available-at-reportsandreports-3214126.html" (ArticlesBase SC #3214126)

Geothermal Energy Facts: Geothermal Energy Pros and Cons

There is much talk about climate change, and the search for viable renewable energy sources. Everyone knows about the likes of solar, wind and wave power. But fewer have heard of geothermal, or know how does geothermal energy work. So here are some geothermal energy facts, which may help you understand the benefits and restrictions of geothermal energy.

How Does Geothermal Energy Work

The principle of this form of energy is quite simple. The ground beneath our feet gets heated by the sun on a daily basis. However, it is also a great insulator, and so retains a vast amount of this heat as stored energy. The idea is that pipes are run through a fairly large area of ground several feet down, where the temperature is more constant. Then, water is passed through the pipes, heating it.

The primary use for this type of energy is heating, as a regulated temperature can be achieved constantly with little variation dependent on time of year. It can also be used over larger areas to provide hot water, but this needs more time in the ground so more pipework and a greater area.

Geothermal Energy Pros and Cons

The advantages of geothermal energy are that once the initial investment is paid for, and energy is relatively free. And it's clean. There is little or no reliance on power from gas or electricity to provide heat, which is one of the main uses of energy in the home. The main need for electricity to run this system is for pumps to pump the water through the system. The advantages of geothermal energy are that it is cheap, once the ground works are done, and incredibly green energy. There are no emissions from the provision of heat for the home and water.

The disadvantages of geothermal energy are the initial expense and the amount of land required. It can cost thousands to dig out the land and lay the pipes. This is one of the geothermal energy problems and why it is not widely used. Another of the disadvantages about geothermal energy is that it requires a fair sized piece of land to implement. People with a fair-sized garden will be ok, but it is not possible to install in the yard of a Victorian terrace.

One possibility that some people use is a new system where pilings are drilled into the ground, with the pipe work in the foundations. Because pilings go much deeper into the ground, they gain the distance that is required underground to heat the water. This is great for new build homes, but obviously cannot be achieved in older homes.

How Many People Use Geothermal Energy

Because of the initial costs and need for space, geothermal energy is not widely used. It is becoming more popular in single builds however, and could provide an efficient method for providing heat for buildings such as apartments and new build housing estates through district heating systems or individual heating through pipes in the pilings. Because it is so expensive, it is unlikely that house building companies will install the systems in homes in the near future. But hopefully it could become the way we provide all our heat energy needs in the future.  (ArticlesBase SC #397739)

Oil Shock Is Coming 42011

So-you're paying 20 cents a gallon more for gas today than you were a week ago. And $1.70 per gallon more than you were just 26 months ago. Ouch.

Better get used to it.

Of the 89.1 million barrels of oil the world uses every day, about 35 percent come from-uh oh-North Africa and the Middle East. And as you've probably noticed, that isn't the most stable place these days. With popular revolutions suddenly threatening and toppling governments all over that region, it's an awkward time to be a filthy rich autocrat.

It's also an awkward time for the world to be so crushingly dependent on oil.

That instability has put the uninterrupted production, refinement and shipment of our most vital commodity in serious jeopardy. As a result, the first two months of this year saw the price of oil leap about $20 a barrel. That translates into 50 cents more per gallon. That increase, if it lasted all year, would cost the world over $650 billion-more than 1 percent of global gross domestic product.

Just that 20-cent jump since last week has Americans paying over $75 million more per day to fill up than seven days ago. Anxiety over energy costs sent stocks tumbling yesterday; the Dow Jones lost a migraine-inducing 168 points in a single day.

The thing is, the tumult so far-affecting mostly Tunisia, Egypt and Libya-hasn't yet deeply hurt oil supplies. Production has been cut in half within Libya, which supplies only 2 percent of the world's oil; this past weekend, Iraq's largest oil refinery was bombed. But most of the cost increase has been because of jitteriness over what might come.

The contagion of instability in the region threatens to affect more and bigger oil exporters. Oil importers are nervously watching Algeria, Kuwait, Oman, Iraq, Iran, Nigeria, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and most of all, Saudi Arabia. Even the danger of trouble in these countries threatening supplies spikes prices. An actual disruption would wreak havoc. The impact on oil prices-and the shock to the global system-is hard to overestimate.

Today's oil markets are intricately tied together worldwide. "[B]ecause oil is traded globally, the spot price of the next barrel sold is based on minute-by-minute market prices," explains msnbc's John Schoen. "As supplies tighten, a barrel of oil is worth what the latest bidder is willing to pay for it. So no matter where the oil comes from, supply shocks ripple immediately though the global market."

Given North Africa and Mideast volatility, analysts say $120-a-barrel oil for at least a few months is sickeningly plausible. Greater disruptions, and the price could shoot to $150 or more. And right now, there's no light on the horizon. "From the straight point of view of oil price stability, things will never be as good again as they have been [before Middle Eastern and North African] governments started to wobble," Carl Weinberg, an economist at High Frequency Economics in Valhalla, N.Y., told the Globe and Mail (emphasis mine).

It is estimated that a $1-per-barrel bump in oil prices adds almost 2½ cents to the cost of a gallon of gas. When fuel costs rise, everything rises: manufacturing for petroleum-based products, transportation, shipping, construction. And every extra dollar people and businesses have to spend on oil, they don't spend on other things, which stifles growth. Estimates are that a $10 oil increase, in addition to adding 25 cents per gallon, chokes global economic growth by nearly half a percentage point.

Of course, with the world's economic condition already pretty wobbly, the effects of surging oil costs are heightened. "When oil prices spiked three years ago, the economy was coming off a long period of prosperity and consumers felt relatively strong. This rise comes after three of the most challenging years in decades for the global economy," wrote the Wall Street Journal-and that was last week, way back when gas was only $3.19.

Food prices are high and rising. Unemployment is soaring. Individual and government debt are at emergency levels; inflation and rising interest rates will only compound the problem. The U.S., Europe and Japan are all particularly at risk financially.

The unrest in North Africa and the Mideast invites us to look honestly at the startling vulnerabilities inherent in our modern energy-dependent world.

Demand continues to surge for a crucial commodity in finite supply.

The world's most powerful countries are inescapably reliant on an unchanging status quo enduring within some of the world's most unpredictable regimes.

Even modest disruptions in our fuel supplies would be devastating-and yet, frankly, they are inevitable.

The gyrations in the markets, the anxiety seizing nations all over the Earth because of the potential for oil shock, are early signs of an ugly emerging reality. Mushrooming global demand is about to collide spectacularly with volatile and inadequate supply.

The nations that need to import their energy will fall into one of two categories. On one side will be those that sputter and fail because of the energy crunch. On the other will be those that prosper because they aggressively move to secure their energy with whatever means necessary.

Looking at the impending oil crisis through the lens of biblical prophecy makes this unfolding scenario far more meaningful. Scripture speaks of an all-out world war seizing the globe in this end time, savage like nothing in history.

And it explicitly describes conditions-soon to become actuality-that without question spring from a violent, desperate war over the planet's most precious resources, including energy wealth!

The average observer of this wave of revolution sweeping the oil-producing nations of North Africa and the Middle East cannot predict where or when it will stop, or what the landscape will look like when it is over. But scriptural prophecy supplies us with extraordinary insights, revealed in advance by the Creator God, who remains actively involved in shaping events to unfold according to His design just prior to the Second Coming!

Looking at the melee of that oil-rich region today, you can actually know which of these nations will turn radical, and who will align with whom. You can know which nations will languish and which will flourish amid the coming energy crunch. You can see in advance the battle lines of the coming resource war-which powers will be involved, who will fall and who will triumph!  www.thetrumpet.com   (ArticlesBase SC #4350831)

The Impossible Democracy In Libya

In those last days, some people started to repeat that a democratic reformation is coming to Libya, and there serious steps will be taking about it; we could hear that there are supervisors coming from EU to supervise the democratic electoral boxes in Libya too.

     After the independence for more than half a century*; the Libyan state had started and couldn’t be a democratic one, and when we review the Libyan political history till now, we find that there is one defect still stand to reach the point that even someone with crazy mind could say, “It’s a democratic state.” 

      We all know there are several kinds of democracy; kingdom and republic,  those can be different in their application to the democratic rule in many ways according to their distinguish conditions, but they share one consideration which is that all the members of community are the same before the law.

      Libya has fallen into ideological dilemma which made its citizen does not know until this day, what democracy really is?

      The ideological dilemma is that old Libyan thinking, which made the king ( Idris al-Sanousi ) and his family’s members and all those who pleased them, are not ordinary people like the rest members of the Libyan community, and so during the short life of Libyan kingdom, democratic ideology could not grow in Libya.

       Then came ( Alfateh ) revolution and Libya became republic which later becomes ( Jamahiriya ), and authority, army and wealth as they claim now in people’s hand; so the Libyans become very glad that its leadership is from common people not from that holly Libyan families.

        However, what really happen after the revolution and bringing down the holly royal system, itself becomes holly-revolutionary system, so colonel ( Gaddafi ), and members of his family and all the members of his tribe are holly ones not ordinary people like the others in Libyan community.

         The Libyan becomes able to criticize Allah, but not able even to dream that he wants simply to criticize ( Gaddafi ), or a member of his family or his tribe.

          So how my friends we could be able to dream that in the coming period there is a slight possibility of democratic regime in Libya, unless all the Libyan community’s members are equal before the law, and we all know, that it is impossible for ( Gaddafi) , and his family to become an ordinary people again not as now holly ones.

           Therefore, please believe that there is no democratic system in Libya and will not be any, until the disappearance of those holly Libyan characters who make the Libyan similar to idol worshiper, although he knows it does neither harm nor use.

Abdulrazig Almansori

Tobruk – Libya

November 9 , 2004

 *     1- The Libyan kingdom from December 24 , 1951 to August 31 , 1969 .

       2- The Libyan Arab Jamahiriya from September 1 , until now  .

 Note : April 14, 2008 : This article first published in Arabic at ( akhbar-libya.com ) website , and this is the first translation to English by Miss ( Zahra Ali ) .

Libyan Revolution Feb 22nd Libya Revolution News Libyan Revolution

libia wikipedia In Tripoli, the capital, residents reported seeing heavily and fighter jets and helicopter gunships rained ammunition from the skies. viale libia roma Senior Libyan officials and diplomats resigned in outrage over the attacks against civilians, maria libia bandera libia viale libia Two Libyan fighter jets landed in Malta on Monday. The pilots reported that they had been ordered to bomb Libya's second-largest city, Benghazi, the cradle of the six-day-old uprising. But the pilots chose to defect instead.

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rts that Gaddafi had fled his country grew to the point that he made a bizarre appearance on state television in the early hours of Tuesday. As rain fell in Tripoli, he appeared getting out of a car, gripping an umbrella. "I am in Tripoli, and not in Venezuela," he said during the brief appearance.

Earlier, there were street celebrations in Benghazi, where anti-government demonstrators had reportedly taken control of the city from the Libyan security forces. Even there, buildings smoldered, plumes of black smoke rising to the sky. Sirens from ambulances melded with the sound of gun battles throughout the day.

It was impossible to verify the scope or precise details of the events unfolding in Libya, an oil-rich North African nation. Foreign journalists have been denied visas, and Internet access, phone service and other forms of communications have been largely cut. But in interviews with Libyan residents, exiles, diplomats, as well as in videos posted online, a picture emerged of a nation in the throes of the bloodiest revolution to so far emerge from the populist upheavals sweeping across the Middle East and North Africa. (ArticlesBase SC #4286986)

A Brief History Of The Drill

Drills with a percussive action (such as hammer drills, jackhammers or pneumatic drills) are usually used in hard materials such as masonry or rock. The drill bit is gripped by a chuck at one end of the drill, and is pressed against the target material and rotated. The earliest drills were probably bow drills. The hammer drill is similar to a standard electric drill, with the exception that it is provided with a hammer action for drilling masonry.

Types of Drill

A drill press (also known as pedestal drill, pillar drill, or bench drill) is a fixed style of drill that may be mounted on a stand or bolted to the floor or workbench. A radial arm drill is a geared head drill that can be moved away from its column along an arm that radiates from the column. The other end of the drill bit, the shank, is described in the drill bit shank article I wrote last week. Low spiral drills are used in cutting applications where high cutting speeds are traditionally used, and where the material has a tendency to gall on the drill or otherwise clog the hole, such as aluminum or copper. The drills have an extremely fast cutting tool geometry: no point angle and a large (considering the flat cutting edge) lip angle causes the edges to take a very aggressive cut with relatively little point pressure. The flutes of the drill bit body carry away the dust.

Drilling

Slower speeds are also necessary for things such as polishing, finishing, and soft tissue drilling,so dental drills are typically equipped with secondary motors. Today's giant drilling trucks use steel cable, longsteel bits weighing up to several thousand pounds, and have rugged diesel engines which raise and lower the tools quickly andeasily--so that two men can drill hundreds of feet by themselves in a matter of days.

Tool Bits

Introduced by Unibit Corporation in the 1980s (formerly a subsidiary of Petersen Manufacturing Company and now part of Irwin Industrial Tools), step bits have been copied by other manufacturers since the patent expired. This is ideal for a bit for a hand tool. You never lose them, either - that DeWalt yellow shouts at you from across the room, across the lot or from under a pile of tools and offcuts.


Cordless Drills

For projects around my house it has plenty of power although, like every other cordless tool I have used, it needs a little more time drilling/driving through hard wood. The modern day CableTool drill uses the same technique as the percussion drill, but in much larger sizes. But the hand powered percussion drill, which was used to make the first wells in Asia, Europe, and the United States, is a time-tested tool that is easy to build and inexpensive to maintain.

Dewalt

You can see from this what DeWalt 18V drill-drivers have done and can do, and still I have not had the slightest problem, though they look pretty beat up now. The Dewalt DC925KB is a powerful 18 Volt combination power tool for heavy duty hammerdrilling and screwdriving applications. This review will help you decide which DeWalt 18volt tools to use for every situation. We deal with high-quality, popular brand names, which you've come to trust like DeWalt, Bosch, Ingersoll-Rand, and Chicago Pneumatic. The DeWalt cordless hammer drill comes in a half-inch size, offering plenty of power, an affordable price, and features worth the purchase. Well, trials showed that the DeWalt drill worked faster than Milwaukee's drills, and the battery lasted longer than other brand models. The DeWalt cordless hammer drill comes with two 36-volt batteries, a one-hour charger and a heavy-duty kit box. Now I have a whole lot of DeWalt HD 18V tools, because these two drill-drivers performed so well I was not afraid to buy into a lot of tools in the same line. (ArticlesBase SC #221172)