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12/28/2006 - Strategic Thinking and Strategic Planning
Greg’s Note: Our favorite non-resident historian and roaming Peak Oil correspondent, Byron King, received some mail from Iraq this week. In this article Byron replies to the sender, and wraps up the year by addressing the difference between strategic thinking and strategic planning. And check out the link at the end, as Byron signs off. 12/19/2006 - A Chain of Linked Engagements
Greg's Note: Our servers here at Agora Financial spewed fire last week, dear readers, with all the e-mail that you sent to me in response to the article entitled "Never Call Retreat?" by our Peak Oil correspondent Byron King. We forwarded the e-mail to Byron, who has more to say on the subjects of Clausewitz, Napoleon, and retreat. 12/12/2006 - Never Call Retreat?
Greg's Note: In this article, our Peak Oil correspondent Byron King looks at the concept of retreat. Byron starts with Clausewitz and Napoleon, but rapidly brings us up to the present time. 12/05/2006 - A Murder Most Foul; the World Set on Fire
Greg's Note: At Agora Financial, our beat is money and investments. Yes, we call Byron King our "Peak Oil correspondent" because he writes often (and well, according to a good portion of you ) on the subject of Peak Oil. And our subscribers have made a lot of money in investments related to Peak Oil. But Byron also offers a different set of perspectives on many other things that interest us, sort of his own historical view from a peak. 11/27/2006 - A New National Standard for Automotive Fuel
Greg's Note: We at Whiskey & Gunpowder hope that all of you had a good Thanksgiving holiday. But while Americans were eating the traditional turkey and stuffing, the rest of the world was hard at work. So in this article, our Peak Oil correspondent Byron King reports on a recent announcement of what is rapidly developing into the world's largest synthetic fuels program. 11/16/2006 - Association for the Debunking of Peak Oil & Gas, Part II
Greg's Note: In this second of a two-part set of articles, our Peak Oil correspondent Byron King discusses the arguments of one of the more vocal, institutional critics of Peak Oil theory, Cambridge Energy Research Associates Inc. (CERA). CERA has been speaking out against the merits of the Peak Oil concept. So we asked our own oilman to take a look at what CERA is saying and report back. 11/15/2006 - Association for the Debunking of Peak Oil & Gas, Part I
Greg's Note: In this first of a two-part set of articles, our Peak Oil correspondent Byron King discusses the arguments of one of the more vocal, institutional critics of Peak Oil theory, Cambridge Energy Research Associates, Inc. (CERA). For several years, CERA has been speaking out against the merits of the Peak Oil concept. So we asked our own oilman to take a look at what CERA is saying and report back. 11/13/2006 - 2006 Boston ASPO: The Canadian Tar Sands
Greg's Note: We are pleased to present another article on the subject of Peak Oil by our Peak Oil correspondent, Byron King. As frequent readers know by now, Byron traveled to Boston to attend the annual meeting of the U.S. Association for the Study of Peak Oil & Gas (ASPO-USA). This is another in Byron's series of articles about what went on at the conference that was held at Boston University. 11/08/2006 - 2006 Boston ASPO: Peak Oil
Greg's Note: Today we present an article on the subject of Peak Oil by none other than our Peak Oil correspondent, Byron King. Byron recently traveled to Boston to attend the annual meeting of the U.S. Association for the Study of Peak Oil & Gas (ASPO-USA). If you could not attend the meeting, please take a look at Byron's series of articles about what went on at the conference in Beantown. 11/07/2006 - Letters to the Editor: Global Warming
Greg's Note: Last week, we published an article on global warming by our favorite Peak Oil correspondent Byron King. The next morning, our server frothed with e-mail from the readers. Dutifully, we forwarded your comments to Byron, and, dutifully, he read them. We now yield the floor to you, dear readers, with a sampling of your letters and Byron's thoughts. 11/01/2006 - 2006 Boston ASPO: Renewable Energy Sources
Greg's Note: Here is the next in a series of articles by our Peak Oil correspondent Byron King, who recently traveled to Boston to attend the annual meeting of the U.S. Association for the Study of Peak Oil & Gas (ASPO-USA). We at Agora Financial are pleased that we could be part of this important gathering. So if you could not attend the meeting, please take a look at what Byron has to say about what went on last week in the Bay State. 10/30/2006 - 2006 Boston ASPO: Global Warming
Greg's Note: Last week, our Peak Oil correspondent Byron King traveled to Boston, where he attended the annual meeting of the U.S. Association for the Study of Peak Oil & Gas (ASPO-USA). If ever there was a man and a moment coming together, this was it. We at Agora Financial are pleased that we could support and participate in this important gathering. So for now, pleas relax and read Byron's series of reports. 10/24/2006 - Russia's Strategic Direction
Greg's Note: In this article, our resident Peak Oil man, Byron King, picks up where he left off in discussing the Russian strategy for remaining a great power in a dangerous and increasingly atomizing world. Previously, Byron reviewed the past 12 years of Russia's war in Chechnya. Here, Byron looks into Russian views of where things stand in the larger world, and where things might be headed in the future. 10/23/2006 - Lessons from Chechnya
Greg's Note: Our resident Peak Oil man Byron King has in the past given us some good articles on Russian history. For example, Byron has written about the territorial expansion of the czars in the 19th century, the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905, the relations of the Soviet Union with Japan in the 1930s, and Soviet nuclear submarines in the 1960s. In this article, Byron is reviewing Russia's recent war-fighting past in Chechnya and looking to the future. 10/17/2006 - Litigate or Liquidate
Greg's Note: In this article, our resident Peak Oil man, Byron King, takes a look at the negative business climates in some parts of the world. What is going on, and what does it bode for the future of industrial and economic development? 10/12/2006 - Hubbert's Defense Department
Greg's Note: Would we at Agora Financial assign someone to cover a baseball game who does not understand the game of baseball? No, and besides, we don't cover baseball. What we do cover are investment themes, and in doing so we look at money and history and science and many other human motivations. Thus, when we wanted someone to write an article about the U.S. Department of Defense and the future of energy supplies, we assigned the job to our favorite Peak Oil man, Byron King. 10/05/2006 - The Echoes of Peace
Greg's Note: Our Peak Oil correspondent Byron King is back to being our favorite historian. In this second installment of a two-part discussion, Byron revisits a topic that he reviewed over a year ago, the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905. I asked Byron why he looks at a subject such as this, with which most people are unfamiliar. Byron replied, "It is the same thing as when I look at Col. Drake and Titusville. If we are coming to the end of something, I want to go back to the beginning and look for perspective on how it all started." So we go back to Tsushima. 10/04/2006 - The Echoes of War
Greg's Note: Our Peak Oil correspondent Byron King is back to being our favorite historian. In this two-part article, Byron revisits a topic that he discussed over a year ago, the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905. I asked Byron why he looks at a subject such as this, with which most people are unfamiliar. Byron replied, "It is the same thing as when I look at Col. Drake and Titusville. If we are coming to the end of something, I want to go back to the beginning and look for perspective on how it all started." So we go back to Tsushima. 09/28/2006 - Flyboys: A Movie Review
Greg's Note: When I received this article from our Peak Oil correspondent Byron King, I had to call him on the telephone and say, "You wrote a movie review? I thought you were writing about oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico." Byron explained to me that the article is a review of a movie about events that took place in France, during World War I. "Doesn't Bill Bonner live in France?" asked Byron. "And doesn't Bill write quite a bit about the First World War?" Ummm...Yes, but I was still kind of confused. Then again, Byron has logged more aircraft carrier landings than this humble editor. Heck, Byron has logged a lot more carrier landings than the president of the United States. 09/21/2006 - Peak Oil Theory of Value
Greg's Note: The other day, we received news of an intriguing comment by the chief executive officer of ExxonMobil Australia. In an interview, the Exxon man used the term "Peak Oil theory of value." We were not quite sure what this is, so we asked our Peak Oil correspondent Byron to look into it and report back. 09/19/2006 - It's a Dogma-Eat-Dogma World
Greg's Note: We opened our copy of The Wall Street Journal on Sept. 14, 2006 and saw a headline on Page 2, upon which the Journal often hides important news: "Producers Move to Debunk Gloomy 'Peak Oil' Forecasts." Gloomy peak oil forecasts? This has our name written all over it. We knew instantly that this was a topic to assign to our Peak Oil correspondent Byron King. 09/13/2006 - There's a Hole at the Bottom of the Sea
Greg's Note: In this series of articles, our Peak Oil correspondent Byron King continues his discussion of the recent announcement by Chevron Corp. that it and its partners Statoil ASA and Devon Energy Corp. have confirmed a major oil discovery in the Gulf of Mexico. What are the implications? Here is more of Byron's geological take on the matter. 09/12/2006 - Chevron Conquers the Rock
Greg's Note: In this article, our Peak Oil correspondent Byron King discusses the recent announcement by Chevron Corp. that it, and its partners Statoil ASA and Devon Energy Corp., have confirmed a major oil discovery in the Gulf of Mexico. What are the implications? Here is Byron's historical and geological take on the matter. 09/07/2006 - History of Financial Disasters 1763-1995 (Book Review)
Greg's Note: In this article, our favorite historian of the oil patch, Byron King, reviews a remarkable new study of the major financial disasters of the past 240 years. When we brought Byron onboard at Agora Financial a couple of years ago, we thought he was just your basic, run-of-the-mill lawyer, geologist, and Peak Oil guy. But take a look at Byron's discussion of financial disasters. 09/06/2006 - A Suggestion of Bankruptcy, Part II
Greg's Note: This is Part II of a continuing series on the subject of money, debt, and bankruptcy in the United States, written by our favorite nonresident historian and Peak Oil correspondent Byron King. Many readers have written to ask if Byron would amplify some earlier comments he made about bankruptcy. Byron is happy to oblige. This seems to us to be a timely topic, because the U.S. is the most indebted nation not just in the world, but in the long history of the world. 08/31/2006 - A Suggestion of Bankrupcy, Part I
Greg's Note: In response to a recent article that we published entitled "National Bankruptcy," many readers wrote and asked if our favorite strategist, historian and Peak Oil correspondent Byron King, would write more about the subject. We appreciate your readership and want to be responsive to your wishes. When I asked him about it, Byron was happy to oblige. 08/25/2006 - Peak Oil and Bakhtiari's 4 Phases of Transition
Greg's Note: In this article, our intrepid correspondent Byron King presents some heretofore unpublished comments by one of the world's foremost experts on Peak Oil, Dr. Ali Morteza Samsam Bakhtiari. Dr. Bakhtiari is recently retired as a director of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC). This, in and of itself, makes his viewpoint important to the world's energy industry. We at Agora Financial and Whiskey & Gunpowder are pleased and privileged to be able to present this important and newsworthy report. 08/18/2006 - John D. Rockefeller and the Age of Oil
Greg’s Note: In this article, our intrepid correspondent Byron King returns to the oil patch of the 1860s and reviews the founding of the world’s petroleum industry. In particular, Byron is addressing the role of a certain John D. Rockefeller. 08/16/2006 - Col. Drake and the Age of Oil
Greg's Note: Our intrepid correspondent Byron King recently made another of his frequent treks to Titusville, Pa., and had an unexpected encounter with a man of some fame and no little note. Here is Byron's account of the meeting and some related thoughts. 08/11/2006 - Nothing Like Business as Usual
Greg's Note: In this article, our intrepid correspondent Byron King reviews some recent comments by one of the world's foremost experts on Peak Oil. The fact that this particular expert works for the National Iranian Oil Co. makes his viewpoint even more important. 08/08/2006 - Anything But Time
Greg's Note: In this article, our intrepid correspondent Byron King comments on the recent announcement by BP that it is shutting down the huge Prudhoe Bay oil field in northern Alaska. Let's see what Byron has to say. 08/03/2006 - Good as Gold
Greg's Note: All of us at Agora Financial had a wonderful time in Vancouver last week. We thank every one of our readers who made the trip to the Agora Financial Wealth Symposium. We appreciate that you took the time and made the effort to attend our conference, and we hope to see you again at future events. 08/01/2006 - Money, Mines and Nickel
Greg's Note: In this article, our intrepid correspondent Byron King reviews one of the largest takeover deals in the history of the mining business. Put on your boots and hardhat, because we are going down to the inner workings of big money and big mines. 07/26/2006 - National Bankruptcy
Greg's Note: Most of our extended Agora family is in Vancouver this week attending the annual Agora Wealth Symposium. The theme of the symposium is "Investing in the Age of Empire." Our intrepid correspondent Byron King is here as well, and the first thing he did when I saw him was hand me a floppy disk with an article on it. "What is the article about?" I asked. 07/25/2006 - The Old Man and the Oil
Greg's Note: The founder of Agora Financial, Bill Bonner, sent out a note asking for some comments on warfare and the need for oil. Bill came to the right place. In this article, our intrepid correspondent Byron King discusses old men, war, and oil. 07/13/2006 - All Dreams at Break of Day
Greg’s Note: In this article, our intrepid correspondent Byron King starts with classic English literature and then takes to the skies to discuss the future of aviation in a post-Peak Oil world. Byron is writing about the latest product from Boeing, the revolutionary B-787 Dreamliner. “This,” states Byron, “is where advanced technology confronts Peak Oil.” 07/11/2006 - When Fuel is the Price of Champagne
Greg's Note: In this article, our intrepid correspondent Byron King takes to the skies, discussing the future of aviation in a world of ever-increasing costs for fuel. Byron is not only a geologist by training, but he also used to fly big gray jets in the U.S. Navy. So who better to comment on both finding oil and burning it up in the combustion chamber of an aircraft engine? 07/04/2006 - Still on Patrol
Greg's Note: We at Agora Financial and Whiskey & Gunpowder hope that all of our readers have an enjoyable 4th of July holiday. Even if you are not in the U.S., or a citizen of the U.S., we hope that you might reflect on the American revolutionary spirit of 1776. Out intrepid correspondent Byron King will use the occasion of the 4th of July to reflect as well, prompted by the recent reports of a lost submarine that is now found. 06/27/2006 - Big Money and Mother Nature
Greg's Note: If you follow natural resource issues, you have probably heard about the Anadarko deal. It is big. And if you follow natural resource issues, you have probably heard about the Phelps Dodge deal. It is even bigger. Here is what our intrepid correspondent Byron King has to say about these two deals. 06/23/2006 - Letters to the Editor: Full Spectrum Dominance
Greg's Note: Our recent article entitled "Full Spectrum Dominance" by our intrepid correspondent Byron King generated quite a bit of e-mail in response. As is the custom at Whiskey & Gunpowder, Byron is turning the floor over to the readers in order to share a selection of your comments with the rest of our subscriber base. 06/22/2006 - A Torrent of Darkness
Greg's Note: In this article, our intrepid correspondent Byron King discusses coal, air pollution, global warming, and wind power. Byron will be discussing these subjects in more detail at the Agora Financial Wealth Symposium, in Vancouver. 06/16/2006 - Full Spectrum Dominance
Greg's Note: After almost two years of writing for Whiskey & Gunpowder, we thought that we knew what our intrepid correspondent Byron King liked to discuss. Byron has written about geology, about the oil business, about Peak Oil, about history, and about strategy and policy. In this article, Byron is writing about a concept called "full spectrum dominance," and introducing it with a discussion of Harold Pinter's 2005 acceptance speech for the Nobel Prize in literature. 06/12/2006 - Al-Zarqawi and the Price of Oil
Greg's Note: On Wednesday night, June 7, 2006, U.S. forces killed the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Our intrepid correspondent Byron King has some timely thoughts on the matter, and in this article relates Zarqawi's abrupt passing to the price of an important industrial and energy commodity. 06/07/2006 - Columbia, the Gem of the Oil Patch
Greg's Note: Here is more of the Saga of Oil by our intrepid correspondent Byron King. In this article Byron revisits the booming oil patch of Titusville, Pa., during the years of the American Civil War in the early 1860s. Byron introduces us to one of the world's first oilmen, a certain Andrew Carnegie. Byron looks back at a key time in the life story of one of history's richest men, illuminates the source of one of the world's greatest fortunes, and comments on the nature of wealth. 05/24/2006 - Truth and Strategy, Part II: Port Arthur
Greg’s Note: Our intrepid correspondent Byron King is back to discussing history, in the context of strategy and policy. In an article entitled “Truth and Strategy, Part I,” Byron discussed Japanese Adm. Isoroku Yamamoto speaking truth to power in the days leading up to the Japanese war with the United States. In this essay, Part II, Byron again discusses more detail of the history behind the war in the Pacific, starting long ago in a distant place called Port Arthur. 05/15/2006 - Rocks, Rock Oil and Peak Oil
Greg’s Note: A few weeks ago, our intrepid correspondent Byron King received a request from the editor of a newspaper in a major American city to write a summary of the concept of Peak Oil. Byron wrote the following article and submitted it. But then the newspaper editorial board decided not to run the article. So we will run it here. For those of you who have followed Byron’s writings on Peak Oil, much of this will be familiar. But if you are still trying to wrap your brain around the concept, this is as good a summary as you will see anywhere else. Probably better, in our opinion. 05/14/2006 - Letters to the Editor: The Readers Write in Again...
Greg's Note: When I opened my e-mail the day after we published the latest article by our intrepid correspondent Byron King, I was inundated with your replies. You all fried my circuits. So I fried Byron's circuits and sent him your notes. Here is some more of your reader mail and Byron's commentary. 05/02/2006 - Letters to the Editor: the Readers Write Some More
Greg's Note: Your e-mails have poured in, responding to the recent series of articles on energy policy by our intrepid correspondent Byron King. So we will continue to share with you some of what your fellow readers are saying. If you have more to say, say it to me here: greg@whiskeyandgunpowder.com 04/26/2006 - Letters to the Editor: Planning, Policy, Strategy and Energy
Greg's Note: W&G recently published a three-part series of articles by our intrepid and Clausewitz-quoting correspondent Byron King entitled "Planning, Policy, Strategy, and Energy." And in response, many of you sent in comments. I forwarded the e-mails to Byron, and in this article, he shares with you some of what your fellow readers have to say. 04/12/2006 - Planning, Policy, Strategy and Energy, Part III
Greg's Note: In Parts I and II of this article, our intrepid correspondent Byron King provided an extensive discussion of planning, policy, strategy, and energy. To amplify and illustrate these ideas, Byron made quite a bit of reference to the ideas of Karl von Clausewitz and his 1832 book On War. In Part III of this article, Byron continues along these analytical pathways. 04/10/2006 - Planning, Policy, Strategy and Energy, Part II
Greg's Note: In Part I of this article, we told you that our intrepid correspondent Byron King would be writing a two-part discussion of planning, policy, strategy, and energy. It turns out that Byron had more to say than we could fit into our standard e-mail package. So this is the second installment of a three-part article. So let's get back to the subject matter of the title, with more reference to Karl von Clausewitz. 04/07/2006 - Planning, Policy, Strategy and Energy, Part I
Greg's Note: Our intrepid correspondent Byron King is taking a break from the themes of his recent articles that discussed the idea of strategy in the context of World War II. But Byron is still discussing strategy. In this three-part article, Byron comments on the ideas of planning, policy, strategy, and energy. 03/29/2006 - Truth and Strategy, Part I
Greg's Note: In this article, our intrepid correspondent Byron King shares more thoughts on strategy. Byron looks back to the origins of the Second World War, and discusses some elements of its strategic origins in the plains of Mongolia. This is relatively unknown, so here is some fascinating history about strategic events. 03/22/2006 - Strategic Ladder
Greg's Note: In this article, our intrepid correspondent Byron King shares some thoughts on strategy, and illustrates his points with a discussion of what led up to one of the key battles in the Pacific theater in World War II. So enjoy the history lesson, but keep thinking in terms of strategy. In the end, as Byron points out, if you want something, you had better have a strategy. And strategy is all about being informed and making choices, and ofttimes making hard decisions. If you want to share some strategic thoughts on the subject, please share them with your editor: greg@whiskeyandgunpowder.com 03/08/2006 - Peak Oil and Deep Oil, Part II
Greg's Note: Our articles on Peak Oil have been generating a lot of responses. Last week, our intrepid correspondent Byron King discussed the "abiotic theory" of oil formation. This week, in Part II of his replies to your e-mails, Byron picks up where he left off. And if you want to sound off on anything, please feel free to send your comments to your very much "biotic" editor: greg@whiskeyandgunpowder.com 03/01/2006 - Peak Oil, Deep Oil and Son of the Evening Star -- Part I
Greg's Note: We received a lot of feedback from you, dear readers, concerning our recent Whiskey & Gunpowder articles on the subject of Peak Oil. Dutifully, we forwarded the e-mails to our intrepid correspondent Byron King and asked him to reply to your comments. 02/27/2006 - When Johnny Comes Marching Home
Greg's Note: One important theme that we have been developing at Agora Financial in the past couple of years concerns viewing the United States as a modern form of "empire." First and foremost, we note that empires are expensive. When a nation pursues imperial ambitions and carries the burden of empire for too long a time, the commitment will break the nation's bank. If you have any comments about Byron's article and what he has to say, please send them to your azure managing editor here: greg@whiskeyandgunpowder.com 02/14/2006 - Letters to the Editor: Peak Oil
Greg's Note: We've asked for your comments, and you've sent them to us. In this edition of Whiskey & Gunpowder, our intrepid correspondent Byron King reprints and replies to some of your e-mails about his articles on (what else?) Peak Oil. If you have more to say, just lay it on your re-patrioted editor: greg@whiskeyandgunpowder.com 02/08/2006 - Read My Lips: No New Energy Strategy
Greg's Note: Where were you on the evening of Jan. 31, 2006? Were you sitting in front of a television set, watching President Bush deliver his State of the Union speech? Or were you busy doing something else? It is OK if you missed the speech, because our intrepid correspondent was assigned to watch it and comment on behalf of Whiskey & Gunpowder. (Actually, Byron pulled the short straw and had to watch the speech. The rest of us went to a nice restaurant and had a great dinner.) When His Excellency the Chief Executive was finished, we hit speed dial to ask out intrepid correspondent Byron King what he thought of the president's speech, if not the pageantry of the spectacle. Byron comments below. And if you care to comment, send your very best thoughts to your favorite Whiskey & Gunpowder editor, greg@whiskeyandgunpowder.com 02/03/2006 - Oil Reserves and Peak Oil
Greg's Note: Our recent article on Kuwaiti oil reserves ("Things Just Got Worse") prompted a lot of commentary from our readers. We received e-mail from both the Whiskey & Gunpowder cohorts and from readers of other Web sites that picked up our article. In this continuation of the discussion, our intrepid correspondent Byron King revisits the broader issue of oil reserves. And if you want to continue the discussion on this topic, or on any other issue that suits your fancy, please feel free to layeth the smacketh down upon the head of your humble editor, greg@whiskeyandgunpowder.com 01/30/2006 - Red Star Rogue: Letters to the Editor
Greg's Note: Our recent two-part article on the book Red Star Rogue generated quite a bit of email, all of which I dutifully passed along to our intrepid correspondent, Byron King. I guess there is nothing like the threat of nuclear war to capture the interest of a group of intelligent readers. Byron reviewed all of your mail, and has provided us with a sampling for your interest, as well as some more of his thoughts. If you have any more comments on this, or on anything else that we publish, I urge you to lay it on me, at greg@whiskeyandgunpowder.com 01/25/2006 - Things Just Got Worse
Greg's Note: After coming up for air from his recent and well-received book review of Red Star Rogue, our intrepid correspondent Byron King goes back to the oil patch. Or maybe we should say the Big Oil patch. This time around, and far removed from the stripper wells of Titusville, Byron comments on a recent, disturbing report concerning the oil reserves of Kuwait. The title of Byron's article says it all. And if you have something to say and want to lay it all upon the shoulders of your bleary-eyed, unseasonally-tanned and world-traveling editor (who has just returned from hard labor in the surf and sand of Nicaragua), please address your comments to greg@whiskeyandgunpowder.com 01/24/2006 - Red Star Rogue, Part II (Book Review)
Greg's Note: In Part I, our intrepid correspondent Byron King told the story of Soviet submarine K-129, which surfaced, exploded, and sank in the Pacific Ocean on March 8, 1968. Byron detailed some of the evidence indicating that the ship was in the process of firing a nuclear missile at the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor. In Part II of his article, Byron continues with his review of a recently published book that details these events. If you have any comments, please address them to your workaholic editor: greg@whiskeyandgunpowder.com 01/19/2006 - Red Star Rogue, Part I (Book Review)
Greg's Note: Here, Byron reviews a recently published book about an event that occurred in March 1968, and a Soviet submarine that went to the bottom of the sea. But not, it appears, forever. If you have any comments, please address them to your tireless editor: greg@whiskeyandgunpowder.com 01/14/2006 - War and Empire
Greg's Note: The U.S. just suffered its 2000th combat fatality in Iraq. That tarnished milestone made Byron King and I wonder how nations win wars...In this article, Byron reaches back to ancient times, to the war between the Greek states of Athens and Sparta. Byron focuses his observations on the tale of one of the most disastrous military expeditions ever recorded in history, the Athenian effort to invade Sicily. As Byron says in this article, "The first rule of winning a war is to avoid defeating yourself." Please send any response to your Hellenic managing editor: greg@whiskeyandgunpowder.com 01/10/2006 - When Innovation was Rampant
Greg's Note: Our intrepid correspondent Byron King comments below on the award of a significant prize to two retired gentlemen who changed the world. In the process, Byron takes a look at the world that was changed. In what follows, Byron reflects on a time… 01/02/2006 - The Arrows of Fate, Part II
Greg's Note: In Part I, our intrepid correspondent Byron King introduced us to none other than John Wilkes Booth, the man who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln. We left Part I with Booth "uttering disagreeable threats" and pointing his finger at Lincoln during a performance at Ford's Theater on November 9, 1863. 12/29/2005 - The Arrows of Fate, Part I
Greg's Note: In a previous article entitled "A Hole In The Ground," published March 29, 2005, our intrepid correspondent Byron King informed us that none other than John Wilkes Booth, the man who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln, had spent time in the oil fields of Titusville, PA back in the 1860s. In this article, Byron revisits Titusville, Mr. Booth, the American Civil War, and the events surrounding the assassination of the 16th President of the United States. As Byron quotes the Chinese proverb, "There Is No Armor Against... 12/8/2005 - Bad Money Drives Out Good Science
Greg's Note: Our Intrepid correspondent Byron King writes about Forbes Magazine and how recently they published an article by columnist Peter Huber on the subject of Peak Oil. Not only did Forbes and Huber actually mention the Peak Oil concept in those exact words, but the Huber article also went into some of the background work on the subject that was pioneered by the late M. King Hubbert (1903-1989). 11/18/2005 - Fire In The Hole
Greg's Note: Byron is an old oil field hand, been there - done that. But the rest of us wanted to see the Pennsylvania oil patch from the ground up. And did we ever! We were out in the wild woods, home to black bear and brown bobcat, stomping our way from one old oil well to another. What a trip! 11/05/2005 - Crash Protection
Greg's Note: Almost daily, we receive e-mails from readers who criticize us for our gloomy views of the world. Our response is usually along the lines of "Bring it on!" You're darn right. We are gloomy. In all candor, we prefer the term "doom-and-gloom." But gloomy is OK for our shorthand purposes. Peak Oil? Monetary crash? Housing crash? Stock market crash? Insurrection, revolution, and war? End of the world as we know it? 11/02/2005 - Mussolini
Greg's Note: There is so much going on in this world of ours that sometimes we do not know where to begin editing our articles for Whiskey & Gunpowder. We cover energy. We cover economics. We cover broad social issues and cultural movements. But in today's edition of the newsletter, our intrepid correspondent Byron King takes us on another staff ride through history. This time, Byron discusses Italy, and a man the Italians called Il Duce. We give you... 09/26/2005 - Depletion
Greg's Note: Our intrepid correspondent Byron King sent us some thoughts on a recent article in The Rude Awakening by our colleague Eric Fry. And in the process, Byron shares with us some of what geologist M. King Hubbert told him many years ago. Can you spell "depletion?" 09/09/2005 - One Last Oil Boom...
Greg's Note: Our intrepid correspondent Byron King has paid another visit to Titusville, Pa., the birthplace of the world's oil patch. Inspired by the Ghost of Col. Edwin Drake, Byron reflects on booms and busts as the world bumps up against the absolute geological limits of the "Peak Oil" phenomenon. 09/08/2005 - In Re: John Roberts, Part III
Greg's Note: This is the week when Judge John Roberts was supposed to go before the Senate Judiciary Committee for his confirmation hearing on his nomination to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court. This has changed with the death over this past weekend of Chief Justice William Rehnquist. Now Judge Roberts has been nominated to the position of chief justice of the United States Supreme Court. Our intrepid correspondent Byron King has a few more thoughts on the subject. 08/26/2005 - Letters to the Editor: Harvard and Empire
Greg's Note: Some of Byron's recent articles have generated a lot of mail. Byron reads what you send me to send to him. He thinks about what you have to say, and in this article, he replies and comments. 08/22/2005 - History and its Footnotes
Greg's Note: What do the history of salt, the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918, and Tsar Alexander II of Russia have to do with a bereaved mom down in Texas protesting the war in Iraq? Byron shares his thoughts on all of the foregoing, and more. 08/15/2005 - In Re: John Roberts, Part II
Greg's Note: In a previous article in Whiskey & Gunpowder, we told you that our intrepid correspondent Byron King was a Harvard classmate of Judge John G. Roberts, the man recently nominated by President George W. Bush to be a justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. Here, he continues with his story. 08/04/2005 - In Re: John Roberts, Part I | 
