Zeitgeist Zephyr

During the New Hampshire primaries yesterday, something rather unusual happened. For the first time during this election, the polls leading up to primary day were off. Not just a little bit, but by a significant margin. Many polls had Obama leading Clinton by as many as 12 points. While I wasn’t surprised that Hillary won, I wasn’t expecting her to win, nor was I expecting Obama to lose by 3 percentage points.

It’s an issue that is going to be tackled, and needs to be tackled before we get much deeper into the elections. Many are suspecting that it was late deciders that caused the influx of Clinton votes, but this is an issue that warrants investigation. I think it is imperative, not just for the Democrats, but for the Republicans as well.

The Story:
Drudge’s Pick

While asteroid WD5- 2007 is still a few weeks out from any potential impact with Mars, scientists back on Terra Firma are drooling over the prospects of a Mars asteroid hit. The scientific data from such a strike would be enormous, providing information about asteroid and comet impacts that up till now has existed in the realm of pure speculation.

The odds of impact have decreased to 3.6% chance of an impact, down from 3.9% a few days ago. To the outside observer, these odds are very small, but as far as asteroid impacts go, this far surpasses anything that has been detected previously. Experts expect that the odds will decrease to a zero percent probability of an impact.

I, like many other science minded folks out there, am hoping for an impact. Not only would it provide data on an asteroid impact itself, it also has the chance to expose evidence of biological material on Mars that would normally be sealed underground. A true cornucopia of scientific data!

SPACE.com Blog
SPACE.com Story

Well, it finally happened. Today, oil reached the infamous $100 a barrel mark. Other than representing an increased dependence on oil in unstable regions of the world, this is also a stark reminder of the growing scarcity of oil in the resivours that are currently being tapped. While some large oil fields have yet to be tapped in regions like Siberia and Alaska, this does represent a major milestone in modern man’s relationship with “black gold.”

What does this mean for us? Well, obiviously gas prices will go up. The cost of airline tickets will be next, almost as immediate as prices at the pump. Heating bills will likely go up for those who heat their homes with oil. The larger picture, as with any “normal” increase in oil prices will be an increase in the cost of shipping goods, which will likely translate to higher prices for everyday products.

Of course, while talking about oil prices, one is bound to talk about our addiction to oil and other non-renewables. The most obvious solution is to go renewable. Using existing technology, bio fuels represent the next major step in humanity’s never ending quest of finding resources. However, since most bio fuels come from products that we use as food, corn and soy aren’t permanent solutions, and must be used responsibly. Hydrogen would be the holy grail of fuel for our cars, and is coming closer to reality with each passing year.

Other technologies for other energy issues, primarily powering the home lie in wind power, nuclear power, and solar power. A whole new frontier exists in the latter two, with nuclear fusion providing an even safer method than the current reactors using nuclear fission. Solar power will find it’s greatest use in solar power platforms in space that beam back power to the earth, but lets not get ahead of ourselves!

Here are some news stories specific to $100 barrels of oil.
CNN
Drudge’s Pick*

*Story linked directly from The Drudge Report