I’d urge you to read our piece on the protests over a U.S. pipeline to transport the product of Canada oil sands to the Gulf coast in conjunction with Kevin Drum’s piece on our oil-constrained future.

Kevin’s piece is on the economic effects of maxing out worldwide oil production. Our piece is implicitly about the environmental effects. As demand for oil exceeds supply, the quest for more sources of oil becomes more expensive and more environmentally damaging. It’s all related.

Chuck Norris, action hero and international arms treaty expert. OK, not so much on that second one.

Pandora in the second quarter streamed 1.8 million hours of music and had revenue of $67 million but still hasn’t turned a profit.

Take away the far-right Republican field he’s most often compared to and Jon Huntsman hardly looks like a moderate.

As we wait for the ominous hurricane Irene to come ashore (a truly frightening prospect for people almost across the entire East Coast) we’re biding our time over at Twitter trying to work up a treatment for a screenplay with the newly-discovered all diamond planet and Newt Gingrich.

So far I think the best entry we have is from @szorowitz who proposes …

@joshtpm Diamond planet threatens Earth market. Africa sends astronaut (call him Omaba) to destroy planet. US drafts Newt to stop him 1/2

@joshtpm Newt wins battle, claims planet for US, marries Diamond Planet Queen after fiance back on Earth succumbs to planted Ebola virus 2/2

That’s a pretty good plot treatment piled into two tweets. Have to imagine Willis or Affleck get cast in some role. But maybe it lags a little toward the end. Anyway, you got any good ideas? Join us here. And let us know your idea.

Late Update: @mseyfang dubs inhabitants “Blingons”.