It's a phrase that is commonly used to describe a stubborn reluctance to seriously explore alternatives.  There are many arguments, mostly economic, as to why this should be, but mostly it's due to the fact that there is too much money being made from oil.

One of the ironies of the recent oil spill was in watching the president of a Lousiana Parrish talking about how Obama's moratorium on deep water drilling would decimate the local economy.  This said in the same breath with how the Obama Administration would help those fisherman whose livelihoods have been compromised.

Sometimes I find an article that is supposed to be about science or technology and I can't help but wonder what the point of bringing up the subject was.  A recent LiveScience article entitled "Rising Fuel Costs Could Help Make Electric Planes A Reality" is just such a piece.

Within the first three sentences the following statement is presented,

"...for the most part the idea of an electric airliner is regarded as fantasy in aviation since batteries are so heavy..."

In a recent LiveScience article entitled "Why Can't We All Just Get Along?", the topic of liberal and conservative differences was highlighted.  There were clearly numerous factors that affected how these two groups interpreted things ranging from the reinforcing influence of biased media outlets to fundamental differences in their perception of morality.

A recent LiveScience article entitled "Ancestry Search Can Annoy Living Relatives" expressed the point that all the interest displayed in researching one's family tree could annoy relatives.  Personally I thought the use of the word "living" was a bit redundant in the title, but presumably it makes the point.

Of course, another obvious point in this study is that almost anything can be made to annoy relatives if it involves something no one wants to discuss.  So, it seems pretty clear that if your family history hasn't been openly discussed, it isn't likely that it's because no one knows it.

Today computer science research has crossed a major threshold in producing a system that can be considered to display true intelligence. The system is purported to possess the ability to engage in conversations and even invoke creative use of language to express new and novel ideas. The system utilizes about 20 quad-core processors for processing speed while linking together several terrabytes of memory to maintain an active working set of functions. There is no appreciable delay in responses, and unlike systems of the past, this system displays a behavior that can only be considered "self-motivating" in initiating actions.