Last Night's Lecture

Was............
"TWILIGHT IN THE DESERT: The Coming Saudi Oil Shock" by Matthew Simmons. It was sponsored by The Cambridge Forum. He had a very different idea about what will happen after peak oil. Most of what I have heard or read focuses on how we will rely on alternative energy sources and cars will run strange substances. Mr. Simmons however focuses on changed behavior. No more shipping fruits from South America in the winter. No more driving cross country. More telecommuting.

So apparently the Cambridge Forum people are wise to me.......while the email said 6:30, the lecture was actually at 7:30. So instead of making it in just under the wire (for the record I got there at 6:25), I was the first person there. I watched the guy from WGBH set up for recording , lol. I had a book with me, I was prepared. I quietly sent text messages and enjoyed the down time.

It was very interesting and if you catch it on the radio, listen for the little altercation at the end of the Q&A. There was a guy there from a non-profit wind energy group with several questions. People who asked questions seemed unhappy that Simmons was not focusing more on their pet project. Geothermal, wind, etc. He just said those were all interesting but he didn't know as much about it. Anyway, the guy sitting in the front row made a crack when the wind guy got up to ask his third or fourth question. The wind guy sniped back that it was an open forum. I favored the wind guy. The guy in the front row wasn't being held prisoner. Some people did leave before it was over, he could have too.

So, I leave and head back for the garage, looking for a bank machine so I could ransom my gas guzzler (not really, I get 30 mpg) and drive 35 miles home in alone. If I had a conscience........ Anyway, I was talking on the phone to a particularly recalcitrant member of the rotation, walking in the fashionable sandals Pat likes when I misjudged a high curb and BOOM! Thank goodness it was dark. My ego!

The evening wrapped up with me dining in solitary splendor at the bar in Paparazzi. They make the best medium rare filet mignon and since there was no one at the bar that late, they put on FoxNews for me.