I've read through that site before, Mara, but thanks for the refresher. It's certainly a sobering look at the oil situation (man are we off topic!).

I only take exception to this part:

The bolded part is incorrect-- there IS evidence of the possibility; the issue is one of interpretation of evidence, and acceptance.

Some of the basic evidence is:

-oil has been discovered and retrieved where it should not be according to conventional analysis

-an empty reserve off the coast of Louisiana was recently discovered to be experiencing replenishment from an unknown source... something that has surprised skeptics of renewable oil theories

I suspect it's possible we've been misled (intentionally or otherwise) on the concept of renewable oil. I suspect the process IS abiotic and constant. However, I still believe that even if that's true the REAL problem is one of recovery rates and practicality. Oil that replenishes slowly and/or is extremely difficult or noncost-effective to obtain might as well be nonexistent.

http://www.accesstoenergy.com/view/a...e/s76a2145.htm

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Oil-P...um-85267.shtml (a little more objective than the previous article)

That's the whole point: Oil is likely NEVER going to run out completely, but the speed it can be extracted/produced will be too slow to supply world demand. When that point (supply/demand) is reached, all bets are off.

Back to the original topic -- I just paid $219 for another N800 at CompUSA -- so the pricepoint is restored from the offending $159 low.

Catastrophe averted.

I don't think that we will ever run out of fuel, BTW just cheap fuel.

When gasoline was $1.00 per gallon, it was not economical to use other fuels. All of a sudden, oil from shale, from coal, etc. is competitive with more expensive oil.

It's almost as though cheap oil was dumped on the fuel market for years -- holding back the development of new fuels. Now that the prices are increasing, we should see a real solid increase in conservation and competing and renewable energy sources.

It was already possible to make cars with 80-100 mpg -- but the engineers and car companies focused on heavier and more powerful vehicles. With some improved aerodynamics, lighter materials and other technologies like hybrid engines, a lot can be done.

We bought a prius a few years ago and we were the butt of jokes -- people would ask if it did more than 50 miles per hour (i think they confused the 50 MPG!) We love the car. There are literally no compromises when compared to a 100% gas powered car.

A few years ago it seemed unreasonably expensive to adapt the hybrid to a plug-in hybrid (more batteries are added and you get close to 100 MPG when you plug in to charge at night). But with gas at $4, it would pay for itself pretty quickly.

I think that we unfortunately need these higher prices to inspire conservation and development.

For Sale: brand new N800 - only $750.

Hurry, I only have 14 at this price. They WILL sell out!

Can we haggle?

I bid $157 for 1!

This thread took a tanget; and I read it. I got thru a few of the links mentioned, the peak oil one hit...sobering type of hit. That's the kind of reading that makes me sit back a lot, evaluate everything.

No kidding!

On a positive note, though, keep an eye on IVAN stock. I recommend loading up on it while it's cheap (I have 171 shares so far and more coming). The company, Ivanhoe, has a patented process for extracting difficult crude and I have this feeling (reinforced by periodic price bumps during oli-related market panic) that it's gonna take off soon. About $2 USD per share. Cheap.

I keep jumping back and forth between speculative threads so maybe I'm confused, but is Nokia discontinuing the production of oil? Is this because the new price point of the N800 is somehow linked to the price of a barrell of crude?

One Nokia N800 = 2.25 gallons of mid-grade gasoline.