Only a couple more days until The Dark Knight is released.

July 18 is the official release date for The Dark Knight...but some folks are seeing it early. In fact, a few have been lucky enough to have already seen it. First, some theaters are adding more show times, including ones in the wee hours of Friday morning, just because the regular times have sold out. Second - WB launched a final "viral game" that resulted in many lucky winners getting free IMAX tickets to an early show! Everyone who's seen it that I've talked to said it's stunning, so for me the next two days are going to be rather long. (We're seeing it Saturday). I will post a spoiler free review Saturday night (I hope).

Parents! It is rated PG-13...and they mean it. Even Director Chris Nolan said it is too intense for young children, so be aware.


Side note: I'm planning on writing a review for every Batman film since 1989. Some I liked, some I hated. :)

Also: After the film has been released, I plan on doing little bios of characters that I would like to see in future Batman films.


Rant Time:

So crude oil has fallen about $10 a barrel in the last couple of days. That's nice. Are we going to see a big difference at the pump? So far, not in my area. Other areas across the nation have seen a $0.01 drop. Wow. Maybe in the next couple of days we'll see a difference. I guarantee it will drop right after I fill my tank. That always seems to happen.

So why is gas so high? Peak oil? Maybe. Apparently the worlds oil resources have met their peak. There isn't going to be much more oil coming out of the ground, but demand is still climbing. Well I beg to differ. The reason why oil prices have dropped lately is because of larger than predicted stockpiles. People are not buying as much gas...in America at least. I figured this would happen, but I doubt there will be a significant drop at the pump.

You see, there currently is no shortage, and there never was. It is a perceived shortage. Industry traders are trading "futures" of oil. Essentially, they are saying "this is how much oil would be if there was another war, another terrorist attack, etc - so lets trade at that price anyway just to be sure." Speculators - they are called. If there really was a shortage, we would not be able get gas. It wouldn't be available. Oil will eventually run out, and we need to be more eco-friendly, but we also don't need to be ripped off.

However, there is light at the end of the tunnel. This is a Discovery article about a guy who has found a way to make crude oil from...anything. Slaughterhouse byproducts (all the guts and stuff they can't use), plastic containers, tires, and even....poo. This isn't a joke. Pretty much anything that's organic can be made into oil if there is enough heat and pressure. This basically mimics what the Earth does in thousands or millions of years. There are already facilities that are producing the oil. It's light weight and yellowish - rather like cooking oil, so it requires less refining than heavier crude oil. It comes from renewable sources - trash and slaughter house waste.

Think about it. This could solve three major problems in modern society: how to get fuel, what to do with trash, and what to do with sewage. Each city could produce its own fuel. That is something to get excited about.

There are some drawbacks: It's new and difficult to implement. It's expensive, but still cheaper than the oil wet get from OPEC. The process is also rather smelly. It seems all of these problems can be addressed with time, though.

Now - don't think that I'm apathetic about global climate change. I really care about it, but I would rather not see the U.S. fall into another Depression in order to be "green". Not to mention the fact that the Earth has periodically warmed in the past...well before the industrial age, and that the other planets are also getting warmer (though not as much). I think it's a natural process - but we are adding to the changes. The polar ice caps are melting, and as far as we know, that hasn't happened in millions of years, if ever. We need to find better energy sources, but we need to be smart about it.

By the way, here is a nice web site that can help you find cheaper gas.


Rant Over!




Astronomy Bit:

Check out the Moon. It's "full" and that bright "star" next to it is Jupiter!