Sunday, February 20, 2005

Russia is the world's #1 energy giant (if you include natural gas in the totals).  Its reliance on large amounts of international capital to develop these vast reserves makes the country vulnerable to manipulation by global guerrilla. Recent restrictions on foreign ownership of oil/gas ventures add substantially to that vulnerability. 7:11:37 PM

Reuters.  Of course, if Bush lied about this as part of a basic security clearance process, he would lose his clearance. 5:15:33 PM

AJ.  One major reason for Iran's push into the nuclear world.  Their oil production is on a downward slope.  Matthew Simmons:  "Iran has certainly peaked, there is no way on Earth they can ever get back to their production of six million barrels per day (mbpd)." NOTE.  Of course, the production pinch we see today has created the conditions for the development of a shadow OPEC.  Five years ago, the loss of 2 million barrels a day of production due to efforts of guerrillas would have been replaced by idle production capacity quickly brought online.  Today, that isn't possible. 4:03:58 PM

Sounds like Jeff Reynar is making a career of pushing the companies he works for into hot water.  First with Microsoft's browser-based "smart tags" and now with Google's toolbar-based "ad tags."  Does Penn offer PhDs in invasive marketing? 9:52:15 AM

Isn't Bush's push to eliminate class action suits a move to stop this type of action: The Economist.  SEVERAL of the corporate scandals that took place in the early years of this decade are currently being replayed in courtrooms from New York to Alabama. The trials of top executives at HealthSouth, Tyco International and WorldCom are reminding the public how unethical was the behaviour of some of the nation's top managers only a few short years ago. 9:46:29 AM

NYT.  A fluffy but interesting interview with George Colony at Forrester.  When I joined the company in 1995 it was a struggling business with less than 100 people.  Through a fortuitous series of events and the support of George, I became the company's first Internet analyst.  The response to my research was dramatic.  My new Internet focused service sold so quickly that it grew the company's revenues by 25% in the first year.  That rapid growth allowed Forrester to go public later that year.  It also provided the company with the foundation of big ideas and service model that nearly made George a billionaire.  Congrats to George for getting the pic in the NYTimes he so desired.  ;-> 9:40:44 AM