Seeing as that "Big Oil" profits go up when people panic, and bid up the price, I'd say you failure to cause alarm may represent a failure to support the business paradigm. The maintenance guys are on the way to reduce the size of your cubicle and move your parking spot another half mile from the office.

"The closure of the Red Sea and Suez Canal and Egyptian major Egyptian pipelines ... wouldn't change much how three main players, US, China, Japan get their oil."

I don't think that is even close to being the point. It is the FEAR that raises the gas prices, not the facts.

Sue

Some interesting things have happened. The Egyptian government was able to shut down internet access and most cell phone services. (I'm sure governments around the world are studying this carefully) Mubarak also withdrew all police which has led to some looting. (Its rumored he did this as payback to ordinary Egyptians) Whats interesting is that in many areas, ordinary citizens are forming their own security to guard homes and business' against potential looters with nothing more than sticks for protection. There were also reports of citizens organizing to protect the national museum until some military forces arrived. I applaud their courage. But I suppose the moral of the story is, if all hell breaks loose, you're on your own. Another good example of why knowing your neighbors and having a sense of community is very important. Too bad we tend to lose sight of that in our all too busy lives. What would you do if similar disruptions occured in your city?

From what I've been told, the U.S. is already set up for this as well. A friend of mine that was an ATF agent had a card issued with her credentials that listed a number she was to dial if the phone lines get shut down and she needs to get through.

Along the same lines, I remember during 9/11 none of our cell phones worked. Not sure if the system was just over loaded, or shut down, or what....but phones essentially became useless bricks. With that in mind, I've pretty much made the determination that I can't rely on domestic public utilities at all during a widescale emergency. This includes, phones, the internet, television, and even GPS satellites. If they work, great, if not..I should be prepared for it.

The one thing I haven't done yet though, that I want to, is go for my Amateur radio license. It seems to be the way to go when it comes to emergency communication.

There doesn't have to be anything especially sinister about this. In the Northridge quake of 1994, we lost power throughout our )for at least 24 hours. No computers, electronically involved telephones, and definitely no cell phones. One could see the transformers on the power poles pop as the shock wave rolled through...

In our office we had exactly one POTS (plain old telephone service) device that connected us with the rest of the world. Overloading the cell phone system seems to be a regular occurrence in every emergency of any size.

With Egypt, the government owns and controls the country's ISP service and this why they were able to take the country offline.

This technical article suggests that the USA government would not be able to bring down the net that easily...if at all.

I think you are right but it is interesting that so many people slide toward fear without reference to facts and context. We have been through far worse situations.

There is an entire cottage industry centered around fear-mongering and carefully cultivating, farming, fear, hysteria, outrage, and hate. Hard to make clear headed and rational decisions when a good part of the citizenry is perpetually punch drunk, and addicted to being punch drunk, from an endless series of stories, carefully crafted to cause maximum alarm, that come down to 'the sky is falling' without a whole lot of facts, backing, or context.

There are a lot of reasons people might want to spread alarm. Speculators can make huge profits off a run up in price even if it is not reality based. And when the price drops they are all over the short selling because a good speculator can make money on both sides.

There are also profits to be made becoming a fear-mongering outlet. In the present situation there seems to be no down side to spreading baseless fears. There are people who do it repeatedly and they never seem to lose any audience when the story is shown to be baseless. People seem drawn to such outlets like they are drawn to gossip and seeing the worse in people.

Evidently "just saying" and mumbled references to "the precautionary principle" are excuse enough. And on to the next dose of fear, hate, worry, and doom.

Fear and calamity are also used to groom the society and push agendas. I highly recommend "The Shock Doctrine" by Naomi Klein:

http://www.naomiklein.org/shock-doctrine

I also think people might benefit from the short piece:

http://www.raptitude.com/2011/01/how-to-make-trillions-of-dollars/

Welcome to a world where societies and attitudes aren't allowed to just happen. A place where how societies think, and think of themselves, are engineered, groomed, massaged and steered by keeping people paranoid, afraid, overstimulated, uncertain. But don't worry. They will sell you a tool, or a toy, or status symbol, or a pill that will almost make you feel good about it. LOL.

How TV ruined your Life.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxQuHocBmxw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXzMDlVcF54&NR

IF ... Pens got Hot ... an unexpected increase in pen temperature ... Disaster strikes in mid-afternoon as peoples voices start to get hot ... keyboards too ... soon there will be no way for humans to communicate at all ...

*sigh*

-Blast