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2007, August 30, Thursday. |
Another classic 70s kids TV show from the UK: The Wombles.
So much for "500 years of coal" baloney: Peak Coal is Sooner Than You Think
Here's some shale oil crapulence: Oil Shale to the Rescue? written by a venture capitalist (do they still have those?) NOWHERE in the piece does he mention the terms "EROEI" or "Energy Density" - pretty basic stuff when it comes to evaluating the viability of a fuel source. Neither is he aware that a PHONE BOOK contains 3 times as much energy as Shale Oil Rock. Sad, sad stuff.
To visualise the energy density of oil, try the cubic mile.
Don't be put off by the title: The end of civilization and the extinction of humanity is a surprisingly cheery (and long) speech about the approaching doom. Here are few bits that hit me:
I turn to Aristotle for my favorite definition of friendship: a relationship between people working together on a project for the common good. Without the common good, we might as well restrict friendship to drinking buddies. The distinction is as clear as that between being a citizen and being a consumer. Sadly, I suspect most Americans don't know the difference....
...In One with Nineveh, the ecologists Paul and Anne Ehrlich describe the American
social system as, "capitalism for the poor, socialism for the rich." Our socioeconomic system is designed to subsidize the wealthy and pulverize the downtrodden. And, of course, to pulverize our precious resources...
...Mind you, hope is not simply wishful thinking. And that's a problem, considering we're immersed in the ultimate "wishful thinking, something-for-nothing" culture. How else to explain books such as The Secret, which proclaims that happy thoughts will generate happy results, including personal wealth? How else to explain the prevalence of, and widespread acceptance of, casinos? And it's not just acceptance: it's adoration, if the boob tube and the local movie theater are to be believed. Not so long ago, gambling was frowned upon because, instead of adhering to a culture of an honest day's pay for an honest day's work, it reflects the expectation that a person can get something for nothing. No, hope is not wishful thinking...
...Will to live is no solution: It's a problem, as Schopenhauer himself admitted when he proclaimed, "to desire immortality is to desire the eternal perpetuation of a great mistake."
Our will to live – rooted in the evolutionary drive to survive – makes us shortsighted and self-motivated (or, in the case of many of us, self-absorbed).
We are inherently incapable of considering, much less empathizing with, our
grandchildren's grandchildren. That's why we are willing to bake the planet beyond the point of habitability within a very few generations.
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2007, August 29, Wednesday. |
It's a complete coincidence that the greatest kids' TV shows of all time were the ones that aired when I was a kid. There has to have been a "Golden Age", and I just happened to have been a child during it. Lucky me. Try Bagpuss out on your three year old, if you have one lying around the place.
Irish prisoners have taken out a contract on a drug sniffing dog.
More magic from Ireland: Luke Kelly singing On Raglan Road. Goosepimples, man.
A pal of mine from L.A. reviews "The 11th Hour" and "What a Way to Go".
More Bertrand Russell quotes on the forum.
Interesting potential for this new Tar Sands Mining Technique. Although, if I had a barrel of oil for every "new wondersolutionforthenergycrisis"...
I just finished reading an annoying "how to improve your blog" essay. One of the pieces of advice was "never link to the same site twice in the same week". With that in mind, here's my umpteenth link to survivalacres: Collapse Survival On A Budget - Part II. It's a grim 'un.
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2007, August 28, Tuesday. |
I have nothing but admiration for the American media. When a cooling tower on a nuclear tower in Vermont collapses, they don't hype it, as that might panic the little people. We wouldn't want to do anything to annoy our corporate overlords, would we boys and girls?
Officials are baffled by cooling tower collapse
Vermont Yankee Cooling Tower Structure Collapses (with photos).
Congressional delegation calls investigation into Yankee mishap
Maybe if Paris Hilton or Britney Spears had caused the collapse, we'd see it on the news 24/7?
Kunstler's lovin' the woes of Wall Street: Reality is About to Bite Hard
CNN thinks that it might be a bad idea to use your house to fund more borrowing. That's the kind of insightful perceptive advice that might have been useful, oh, SEVEN YEARS AGO.
British retreate in chaos.
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Iraqi police reportedly left when the Shia fighters arrived and began emptying the facility. According to witnesses, they made off with generators, computers, furniture and even cars, saying it was war booty - and were still in the centre yesterday evening. |
Sounds like they have the makings of a half decent internet cafe. Nice work if you can get it.
Spooky: Bertrand Russell and The End of Everything (1903)
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"Such in outline, but even more purposeless, more void of meaning, is the world which Science presents for our belief. Amid such a world, if anywhere, our ideals henceforward must find a home. That Man is the product of causes which had no prevision of the end they were achieving; that his origin, his growth, his hopes and fears, his loves and his beliefs, are but the outcome of accidental collocations of atoms; that no fire, no heroism, no intensity of thought and feeling, can preserve an individual life beyond the grave; that all the labours of the ages, all the devotion, all the inspiration, all the noonday brightness of human genius, are destined to extinction in the vast death of the solar system, and that the whole temple of Man's achievement must inevitably be buried beneath the débris of a universe in ruins-all these things, if not quite beyond dispute, are yet so nearly certain, that no philosophy which rejects them can hope to stand. Only within the scaffolding of these truths, only on the firm foundation of unyielding despair, can the soul's habitation henceforth be safely built."
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2007, August 27, Monday. |
Well, well. A Peak Oil wargame hits the shelves. Game site here.
The Times: Goodbye, beautiful Britain. The British landscape, as Freeman Dyson noted, is a manmade artifact - an argument he made in favour of human stewardship over the planet. By the sound of this article, by the time this century is done, humans will undo all the good.
Vast fields of identical crops will fill the gaps between identical suburbs of identical brick-box housing. The part of the aural spectrum normally occupied by insects, birds and animals will be silent or filled with the drone of traffic.
Cows and sheep will be as rare as corncrakes, their former pastures switched to bio-fuel, and the price of food will make us wince. Farmers in the future may have to make a long journey to the bank, but they will be smiling all the way.
Welcome to drive-thru, wipe-clean, prairie Britain.
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The banks continue to creak.
Beautiful slideshot of Manhattan decaying into ruins.
Two ordinary guys send balloon to outer space.
You can imagine what I think of this: Sprawl exceeds reach of hydrants (via latoc).
Clunky-looking, but funny: Disney shooter game.
Beware the Wrath of the Secretons.
Britain is also up to its eyes in debt. Airstrip One is in trouble.
I don't know if I like this or hate it: Perennial Wheat. Who am I kidding? I HATE IT.
This raises an interesting question: In order to perform a correct install of Windows XP or Vista, you must have an internet connection to Microsoft to activate it. So what happens when Microsoft's servers are offline? And what would happen in the future if there was a long-term/permanent interruption with the internet?
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2007, August 24, Friday. |
OK, I'll try to end the week on less of a doomerish note. (Good luck, says you).
This would be funny, if half a million people hadn't died: The Vanishing Coalition.
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General Keane accused the British of being guilty of "general disengagement from the key issues around Basra". He continued: "The Brits have never had enough troops to truly protect the population." |
Kool Aid, glug glug glug...delicious, nutricious, oh, I feel dizzy. Sleepy time now.
An ingenious pedal powered washing machine.
How to clean clothes without chemicals. (Slaps self on back of head).
Ugandan farmers use human urine as fertiliser. What's great is that they're usign SMS to spread the - er ... word.
Dear reader, join hands with me and pray that this Brazilian fashion never reaches the Northern hemisphere. Oh baby jebus, look down on your suffering servants, and take pity. I can't even beigin to imagine the horror. It might drive me to join the US Army - at least the women in Iran won't be wearing these things. MEN-DO-ZA!!!
Fancy some hepatitis flavoured Kung Pao chicken?
Sweet piece of writing by one of the do-ers: Toyr 'R not us.
Ha - stupidity explained: Price Rises of different items (via survivalacres.com).
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2007, August 23, Thursday. |
Even Lego fans are getting into the collapse meme: Apocalego.
Here's the damage to the shuttle, before and after landing. I'm no engineer, but that looks scary. Clearly, the tiles were eroded by re-entry.
Hey everyone - I've just had a great idea!!! Let's TORTURE RETARDED KIDS! Next: apply for a job with the Bush administration...
Joe Bageant is a stud. Here's his account of going through Hurricane Dean, among the natives.
I'd shut this down if I could: Erasing long term memories in rats. Oh, Big Brother, will you never learn?
Wells Fargo: WTF?
Immunize yourself from Future Hype. The gist: demand for growth is exponential, but progress is linear. "There may be trouble ahead..."
Some hilights from Bertrand Russell's 1932 essay, In Praise of Idleness:
One of the commonest things to do with savings is to lend them to some Government. In view of the fact that the bulk of the public expenditure of most civilised Governments consists in payment for past wars or preparation for future wars, the man who lends his money to a Government is in the same position as the bad men in Shakespeare who hire murderers. The net result of the man's economical habits is to increase the armed forces of the State to which he lends his savings. Obviously it would be better if he spent the money, even if he spent it in drink or gambling...
...I want to say, in all seriousness, that a great deal of harm is being done in the modern world by belief in the virtuousness of work, and that the road to happiness and prosperity lies in an organised diminution of work.
First of all: what is work? Work is of two kinds: first, altering the position of matter at or near the earth's surface relatively to other such matter; second, telling other people to do so. The first kind is unpleasant and ill paid; the second is pleasant and highly paid. The second kind is capable of indefinite extension: there are not only those who give orders, but those who give advice as to what orders should be given. Usually two opposite kinds of advice are given simultaneously by two organised bodies of men; this is called politics. The skill required for this kind of work is not knowledge of the subjects as to which advice is given, but knowledge of the art of persuasive speaking and writing, i.e. of advertising.
...Modern technique has made it possible to diminish enormously the amount of labour required to secure the necessaries of life for everyone. This was made obvious during the war. At that time all the men in the armed forces, and all the men and women engaged in the production of munitions, all the men and women engaged in spying, war propaganda, or Government offices connected with the war, were withdrawn from productive occupations. In spite of this, the general level of well-being among unskilled wage-earners on the side of the Allies was higher than before or since. The significance of this fact was concealed by finance: borrowing made it appear as if the future was nourishing the present. But that, of course, would have been impossible; a man cannot eat a loaf of bread that does not yet exist. The war showed conclusively that, by the scientific organisation of production, it is possible to keep modern populations in fair comfort on a small part of the working capacity of the modern world. If, at the end of the war, the scientific organisation, which had been created in order to liberate men for fighting and munition work, had been preserved, and the hours of the week had been cut down to four, all would have been well. Instead of that the old chaos was restored, those whose work was demanded were made to work long hours, and the rest were left to starve as unemployed.Because work is a duty, and a man should not receive wages in proportion to what he has produced, but in proportion to his virtue as exemplified by his industry...
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And should people be freed from debt slavery, and allowed to meet their material needs in 4 hours of work of a day:
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...there will be happiness and joy of life, instead of frayed nerves, weariness, and dyspepsia. The work exacted will be enough to make leisure delightful, but not enough to produce exhaustion. Since men will not be tired in their spare time, they will not demand only such amusements as are passive and vapid. At least one per cent will probably devote the time not spent in professional work to pursuits of some public importance, and, since they will not depend upon these pursuits for their livelihood, their originality will be unhampered, and there will be no need to conform to the standards set by elderly pundits. But it is not only in these exceptional cases that the advantages of leisure will appear. Ordinary men and women, having the opportunity of a happy life, will become more kindly and less persecuting and less inclined to view others with suspicion. The taste for war will die out, partly for this reason, and partly because it will involve long and severe work for all. Good nature is, of all moral qualities, the one that the world needs most, and good nature is the result of ease and security, not of a life of arduous struggle. Modern methods of production have given us the possibility of ease and security for all; we have chosen, instead, to have overwork for some and starvation for others. Hitherto we have continued to be as energetic as we were before there were machines; in this we have been foolish, but there is no reason to go on being foolish forever.
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2007, August 20, Monday. |
Loneliness
by John Betjeman
The last year's leaves are on the beech:
The twigs are black; the cold is dry;
To deeps beyond the deepest reach
The Easter bells enlarge the sky.
O ordered metal clatter-clang!
Is yours the song the angels sang?
You fill my heart with joy and grief -
Belief! Belief! And unbelief...
And, though you tell me I shall die,
You say not how or when or why.
Indifferent the finches sing,
Unheeding roll the lorries past:
What misery will this year bring
Now spring is in the air at last?
For, sure as blackthorn bursts to snow,
Cancer in some of us will grow,
The tasteful crematorium door
Shuts out for some the furnace roar;
But church-bells open on the blast
Our loneliness, so long and vast.
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2007, August 19, Sunday. |
Is Tom Friedman a bad person? Read Friedman's semi coherent babbling, and marvel at his reputation as a sage of Globalisation and American might. He needs to cut back on the Tuna melts.
Little boxes of Levittown. Levittown was the first post war suburb - an archetypal template that the rest of America would follow for the coming decades. This is an interesting video clip showing how the place has weathered - or eroded might be more appropriate. Welcome to the future.
US still mulling aid for North Korea. So, we give aid to some nations that have WMDs, but threaten war with others that we suspect of having plans to develop a program with the intention of having them in a point in the indeterminate future?
6,000 year old Iranian site destroyed. If Bush, Cheney and their hideous supporters have their way, it won't be the last one.
Iran faces an energy catastrophe, according to the sacked oil minister. Note: Iranian oil production peaked ~1973. They've still got lots, but their best days are well gone.
Afghanistan is bleak and ferocious. No change in 5,000 years, then. Pity the poor British soldiers in this piece - they've been dealt a bad hand by their former Prime Minister...
Military commanders tell Brown to withdraw from Iraq. Is Gordon a poodle, a bulldog, or a West Highland Terrier? Soon, we'll know.
Brown may call an early election. I'm always ready for a tory electoral meltdown. Bring it on!
Today in human degradation. Some people need killing.
Girls at risk in India. Some areas have 798 girls under 6 for every 1,000 boys. This raises interesting questions: if the trend continues, and I see no reason why it won't, at some point you'd approach a birth rate of 99% males. It would be amusing (hahahaaaa) twenty years hence to see how the parents of these boys account for the absence of grandchildren...
Claymation Satan and I would laugh, heartily.
My Pet Goat, the moments after.
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2007, August 17, Friday. |
Folks, at the risk of being accused of shouting "the sky is falling", there is a chance that the global economy will implode over the next few weeks. When I hear stories about banks being in trouble, it's time to have a clean pair of underpants on hand, just in case. Only you can know what's the right course of action for you. Me, I'm going to move some money around tomorrow, if you know what I mean. Better safe than sorry.
Systemic breakdown crisis
In recent days, reality has filtered through, even on CNBC. Commentators have warned of “systemic risk if a big bank blows,” “the end of the world,” “depression,” “Armageddon,” “panic,” “the Hindenburg” (the dirigible, not the signal), “a return to 1990” (when Citibank was bankrupt and secretly seized by the Controller of the Currency), the crash of 1987, the hedge fund crisis of 1998, and a “credit crunch.” “Bond traders are afraid.” “Wall Street is afraid.” Led by Jim Cramer with his celebrated on-air psychotic episode on the afternoon of Friday, August 3, Wall Street has been heaping insults on Helicopter Ben and demanding that he open the cash spigots, cut the fed funds and discount rates drastically and quickly, and reassure the stockjobbers that backdoor crony bailouts will be available for all, starting with the too big to fail, like JP Morgan Chase and Citibank.
The tip of the iceberg: Financial institutions in trouble
3 Bear Stearns hedge funds
3 BNP Parisbas funds
3 Goldman Sachs funds: Global Alpha, North American Equity Opportunities, North American Equity Opportunities
Sowood hedge fund -- absorbed by Citadel to mask impact
Bowa Commercial Bank, Taiwan -- seized by regulators
Renaissance (quant)
Luminent
Westdeutsche Landesbank hedge fund
IKB Industriebank, Germany
Deutsche Bank ABS hedge fund
AQR Capital Management (quant)
Washington Mutual - [MY BANK, GREAT!]
Countrywide
American Home Mortgage
Basis Capital
Absolute Capital
Macquarie Bank of Australia
Homebanc
Man Group (UK) |
The article goes downhill from there.
Under normal circumstances I'd shrug, and expect them to muddle through; they've come close before, and it all worked out. There's one big difference this time though: look at the evil scumbags in the Whitehouse - do you want to trust them with your cash?
No, I didn't think so. I wouldn't trust them with a six year old's birthday party.
Anyhow, let's chat about this in the forum. I know that one of the regulars knows a hell of a lot more about Wall Street than I do.
Well, everything does fall to bits, it won't be the first time: Map reveals ancient urban sprawl
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2007, August 16, Thursday. |
Ooh, I found five sweeties on youtube!
Cartoon version of Mormon theology. Do watch! Or else - you DIE.
Mormons visit granny.
South Park goes to Hell.
Claymation Satan. Terrific, and disturbing. As always, avoid reading the comments following the clip. It's just distressing to see the results of lead and mercury poisoning.
School Room Rock. This aired, amazingly, on NBC...ONCE.
A grim rundown on the prospects for war with Iran: The Worsening Nightmare
Russian bombers stage exercises over North Pole.
Russia plans Arctic national park.
For Russia, an end to growth in sight.
Want a kid? That'll be ~$300,000, sucker.
Via boingboing.net, a great article by renowned phsysicist Freeman Dyson, in which he argues that the effects of global warming are over-rated: Heretical Thoughts. Dyson's an interesting man, and a free thinker. If you get the chance, pick up some of his books . His predictions offer an interesting counterpoint to the grim future that seems to be barreling down on us.
Naturalists believe that nature knows best. For them the highest value is to respect the natural order of things. Any gross human disruption of the natural environment is evil. Excessive burning of fossil fuels is evil. Changing nature’s desert, either the Sahara desert or the ocean desert, into a managed ecosystem where giraffes or tunafish may flourish, is likewise evil. Nature knows best, and anything we do to improve upon Nature will only bring trouble.
The humanist ethic begins with the belief that humans are an essential part of nature. Through human minds the biosphere has acquired the capacity to steer its own evolution, and now we are in charge. Humans have the right and the duty to reconstruct nature so that humans and biosphere can both survive and prosper. For humanists, the highest value is harmonious coexistence between humans and nature. The greatest evils are poverty, underdevelopment, unemployment, disease and hunger, all the conditions that deprive people of opportunities and limit their freedoms. The humanist ethic accepts an increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere as a small price to pay, if world-wide industrial development can alleviate the miseries of the poorer half of humanity. The humanist ethic accepts our responsibility to guide the evolution of the planet. |
Those two paragraphs describe my internal debate. I tend to oscillate from naturalist to humanist, and back again. Maybe I'll settle on one permantently. Fewer dizzy spells would be nice.
Here's the reply by Alun Anderson, which I found disappointing: A Response to Freeman Dyson's "Heretical Thoughts"
Storing Power in a Sheet of Paper. Cool, and sinister.
Happy tale of co-operation from Iraq. I've got that warm fuzzy feeling...
A Peak Oil smack-down by David Strahan.
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2007, August 15, Wednesday. |
I have almost completed the first sequence of my animated cartoon - 5 and a half minutes of fairly intricate work. It's an introduction to Peak Oil and associated mayhem. I'll upload some teaser scenes over the next couple of weeks.
It is, by far, the best work I've ever done. Not that I'm the grand old man of animation, but it is looking like a most polished piece of work (and it hasn't had a beauty pass by my After Effects wizard yet, which will add a lot of patina).
I only began full production in mid-March; as I have to work ~40 hours a week on my day job, as well as update idleworm and draw the occasional Worst Wing cartoon, it's been a busy five months. It doesn't exactly leave much time for a social life. I've been sufficiently motivated by the work to not bother too much, however.
You've probably seen the previews already. If not, take a peek.
The next step is to script out another six sequences, one each to deal with energy, growth, food, population, money, and "solutions". By my rough estimates, the final run-time will be around 15 to 20 minutes. At my current rate, I averaged one minute per month; that means I'd need another 15 months to complete it. This is too long. There are two ways to reduce this: keep run-time closer to 15 minutes, and work on the film full-time (no more day job). That will double the production speed, bringing completion closer to six months hence - sometime around next March or April, give or take a couple of months. Sooner would be better than later, for obvious reasons.
Ya know, we're gonna miss Dubya .No, I'm not kidding.
Yeah, let's laugh at the 1950s fallout shelters. Wish I had one.
Chernobyl "not a wildlife haven".
Which is scarier? Wall St. or Pakistan?
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2007, August 14, Tuesday. |
Let's start with a happy story - two people who appear to have escaped from their pods, leaving the vile Matrix behind in a cloud of toxic dust:
How we Downsized from $42,000 to $6,500 p.a.
On the same topic: Economic Survival in Hard Times. (via lifeaftertheoilcrash.net)
A two minute video showing mind control on mallrats.
And now, the horror. I first heard about HAARP about ten or eleven years ago. My response was to stick my fingers in my ears and shout "I CAN'T HEAR YOU! NYA NYA NYA NYA NYA ..." until the chap I was talking to (a navy vet from GW1) ran out of breath. Well, here's Nick Begich, son of a former Alaska congressman, interviewed about HAARP.
In the second part of the interview, he goes on to talk about cel phones. Crikey.
As the subject matter is so interesting/extreme, I've started a thread on the forum.
Portland's "urban scout": Wheat is Murder.
Nasa astrobiologist predicts a climate changed driven stone age. I hope everyone will shed a few pounds to fit into their loincloths.
Arctic sea ice lowest in recorded history.
Great find from cryptogon: a simple solar still.
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2007, August 13, Monday. |
Monday - oh, we'll have fun on Wall Street this week, won't we kiddies? It couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of planet-gougers. As long as there are tall buildings in New York with windows that still open, the boys will have an escape route: forty floors down to the pavement: SPLAT!
Jan Lundberg: The Extractors and climatocide. Jan follows the process of environmental destruction coldly and inexorably to its logical conclusion, unlike 90% of the folk who consider themselves green - addicted to consumption, feebly believing in a free-market "technofix".
"Sooner or later, everyone sits down to a banquet of consequences."
Robert Louis Stevenson.
Video: Cheney explains the risks of invading Iraq (GW1). I like this Dick Cheney more than the new one. Of course, something happened between 1990 and 2001 (not 911, you boob...I mean the Energy Task Force). The near term peaking of world oil supply necessitated the terrible price that Cheney knew was inevitable. You gotta love realpolitik. Maw, Paw and their 2.1 kids need their freedom fries and grease-burgers, dammit.
I nominate Chris Rock for President. Seriously.
1984, Chinese style...coming soon to a western 'democracy' near you. Coming tomorrow - my post on Why I Love The Illuminati and will be happy to serve Them.
Chris Floyd: Goading Xerxes. Bomb Iran. What's could go wrong?
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A smaller-scale "punitive" raid on Quds bases in Iran would almost certainly be acceptable to the American public. After all, the United States has launched such raids repeatedly over the years, all over the world, under Democrats and Republicans, with widespread public support. From Reagan's bold strike on Moamar Gadafy's two-year-old daughter to Bill Clinton's brave destruction of a pharmaceutical factory in Sudan (not to mention his continual bombardment of Iraq throughout his term) to Bush's noble bombing of refugees in Somalia this year, the American people have always stood ready to applaud (or ignore) quick punches at countries with which they are not at war.
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Climbing off the real estate grid
If you paid attention, you noticed that the developments were new 'planned communities,' on small lots coming complete with Homeowners Associations with "Restrictive Covenants" whose rules, restrictions and bylaws make the contract you signed to buy the house look like a parole agreement instead of a general warranty deed. If you perused those restrictions, you might have discovered that your 'ownership' includes big fines if you try to do things like change the color of the paint, grow vegetables, put up an antenna, or alter the appearance of your home in any way. If you are like most new homeowners you did not bother to check before signing on the dotted line. They are planned all right, behind the closed door of the FED.
Those new homes look good – but they are covered with petroleum based vinyl siding that will literally be falling off the building after the Polyvinylchloride is decayed from ultraviolet exposure in 10 to 20 years. Then consider that owners will not be able to afford to re-side their homes, and most importantly the warranty will just have run out. ... As for growing a garden to feed your family in an economic crisis, well you can kiss that goodbye, because it violates the covenants as well.
Ask yourself, is this how we should be living? What else is wrong with this picture?
Welcome to the non-ownership homeowner club. In this world, the New World Order, so carefully planned for you, we call it the New Serfdom.
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This article fails to mention the roofs of said houses - most of which are made from asphalt shingles (a petroleum based product). Design life ~ 20 years. I wonder what a barrel of oil will cost in 2027? Any takers? If it costs ~$10,000 to reroof a house in 2007, I wonder what the cost will be two decades from now (after Saudi Arabia's oil has entered terminal delcine...
Nothing has changed, nobody is angry. (A letter to Joe Bageant).
Ah, Mitt Romney - Mormon candidate for the Whitehouse: a 'man' who strapped a terrified dog to the roof of his van and drove on the highway for hours until the poor beast defecated, and then bragged about it, a 'man' who believes that atheists shouldn't run for office, yet who affects outrage when his religious beliefs are held against him. In other words, he's just another lump of malodorous waste floating in the American political sewer:
The Fighting Romneys.
[Mitt Romney, Republican douchebag candidate for the Presidency] was asked whether any of his five sons had served in the military or were planning on enlisting to fight the "war on terror." His response was that his sons had “decided” not to because they had other career priorities (rather like Dick Cheney’s response to why he didn't serve in Vietnam)...
...But Romney did not stop there.
He continued: “...[O]ne of the ways my sons are showing support for our nation is helping to get me elected, because they think I’d be a great president. My son, Josh, bought the family Winnebago and has visited 99 counties [in Iowa], most of them with his three kids and his wife.” |
Way to go, Josh! Get that young man a medal! I wish I could have served my country, getting my father into high office...
Did Romney Spend over $1000 a vote to win it?
When the Republican candidates get down to huckstering to the right wing hordes, you get to see the real right winger in them. It can be ugly and it can be funny. Tommy Thompson, Tom Tancredo-- they were a laugh, parrotting the old Republican talking points almost verbatim, as though that made them special. "I support the right to bear arms." "Tighten up them borders." Pitiful!!...
The worst? Tancredo is a nutcase. Of course he's probably desperate to get attention. He's a national embarassment-- talking about blowing up Mecca.
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I don't watch TV any more, so I don't have to listen to these soulless shape-shifters. This three minute clip is as much as I can stomach in any four year period.
Modern life = cancer.
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2007, August 12, Sunday. |
Long before I got hooked on Peak Oil and Climate Change, I became somewhat obsessed with the Derivatives Bubble (which still exists, as of Saturday, 11.50pm). This was 1996, when the Derivatives game was far smaller than it is today - and it was titanic even then. Hundred of trillions of dollars in hallucinated paper wealth, on a scale that dwarfs the real estate swindle. I read some pretty scary things about it - and waited for it to come crashing down every day. "Any minute now, the bugger's gonna blow!" I'd say to myself...and it never did - not yet anyway. I guess that's why I tend to be a bit too easy-going about the economy; the damned thing should have come crashing down long since, and still the fiendish ghoul lives.
Will the current fiasco be the killing blow? I know not. I'm not in too bad a situation compared to some folk, but from a totally selfish perspective it would be nice to have another couple of years to get terra firma under my feet. I ain't quite there yet.
On the other hand, it would be dandy to see George W. Bush holding the quivering entrails of the disembowelled free-market in his outstretched trembling paws.
Monday cometh.
And I wish that I were not part of [this] generation of men,
but had died before it came, or been born afterward.
For here now is the age of iron.
Never by daytime will there be an end to hard work and pain,
nor in the night to weariness, when the gods will send anxieties to trouble us.
Yet here also there shall be some good things mixed with the evils.
But Zeus will destroy this generation of mortals also,
in the time when children, as they are born,
grow gray on the temples,
when the father no longer agrees with the children,
nor children with their father,
when guest is no longer at one with host,
nor companion to companion,
when your brother is no longer your friend,
as he was in the old days.
Men will deprive their parents of all rights,
as they grow old,
and people will mock them too, babbling bitter words against them, harshly, and without shame in the sight of the gods;
not even to their aging parents will they give back what once was given.
Strong of hand, one man shall seek the city of another.
There will be no favor for the man who keeps his oath,
for the righteous and the good man,
rather men shall give their praise to violence and the doer of evil.
Right will be in the arm.
Shame will not be.
The vile man will crowd his better out,
and attack him with twisted accusations and swear an oath to his story.
The spirit of Envy, with grim face and screaming voice, who delights in evil, will be the constant companion of wretched humanity,
and at last Nemesis and Aidos, Decency and Respect,
shrouding their bright forms in pale mantles, shall go from the wide-wayed earth back on their way to Olympos,
forsaking the whole race of mortal men,
and all that will be left by them to mankind will be wretched pain.
And there shall be no defense against evil.
HESIOD, "Works and Days", ~700 B.C.
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ECONOMY:
The Grim Reaper pays a visit to Wall Street. Will this be the week that sees a systemic financial meltdown? We could be living through the last few blissful happy days. We'll know soon...
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As the banks tighten up their lending standards; the number of business deals will drop accordingly and the economy will slow to a crawl. This process is already underway. A few “Up Days” in the stock market mean nothing. This is a Force-5 hurricane headed for a trailer park. Nothing will slow it down. The problems are too deeply rooted---the infection too far along. The huge, overleveraged bets will progressively unravel and the economy will go into freefall. It’s always painful when fundamentals re-emerge and economic gravity takes hold. |
A lifetime of saving evaporates with bank's collapse. This poor guy does everything right - works hard, saves everything, puts his money in a bank, and loses most of it when the bank goes bust. He'll probably have a nervous breakdown if the guvmint bails out the indebted home-owners in the real-estate meltdown. Ha. Welcome to the New World, my friend.
China's "nuclear option" is real. If our Red pals flood the market with US dollars, get ready for a new brand of Toilet Paper - Greenbacks will be brownbacks, if ye get my drift.
Credit markets: 'Don't panic', they beg
ENVIRONMENT:
Global warming denial fun (on the idleworm forum).
A bar made of ice in Dubai. No comment needed.
'Worrisome signs' for global rice crop
Spectre of hunger looms over flood-hit India
Plastic bags are devouring the planet.
Disposable chopsticks = 25 million trees a year.
ENERGY:
Updated World Oil Forecasts, including Saudi Arabia. Grim news from the energy front. Pray he's wrong...else we're totally
Papercraft Stirling Engine.
Peak Oil meets the Third World.
WAR:
Canada to build first Arctic deep-water port.
Iraqi translators working for the US and UK are left to die.
Musharraf's woes spark fears of state of emergency in Pakistan.
U.S. assessing Pakistan nukes if Musharraf falls.
POLITICS & THE RISE OF CORPORATE FASCISM:
Texas really doomed. Yup, the world's only 6,000 years old: it's official.
We need another 911, says Bush-lovin' right wing nut. (It's real).
Bush is being treated for Lyme Disease. Symptoms include: panic attacks, anxiety, depression, short-term memory loss, hallucinations, depersonalization, neurocognitive impairment (brain fog), psychosis (rare) including diagnosis of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
Immigrating to Canada. Think about it, won't you?
SPACE/TECH:
Could alien life exist in the form of DNA-shaped dust?
HUMOUR/FREAKY:
Gigantic Mystery Legoman. He has come to take the true believers away!
My Life as a Hot Woman
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2007, August 10, Friday. |
As shocking a possibility as one could imagine for Iraq - the collapse of the Mosul Dam (aka the "Saddam Dam"), as reported by Patrick Cockburn:
"It could go at any minute," says a senior aid worker who has knowledge of the struggle by US and Iraqi engineers to save the dam. "The potential for disaster is very great."
If the dam does fail, a wall of water will sweep into Mosul, Iraq's third largest city with a population of 1.7 million, 20 miles to the south. Experts say the flood waters could destroy 70 per cent of Mosul and inflict heavy damage 190 miles downstream along the Tigris. |
Given the scale of the potential disaster, I thought it wise to find out more. For "balance", here are more reports (from official and other sources):
Iraqi Dam Has Experts On Edge Until Inspection Eases Fears (from 2003).
Mosul Dam repairs progress with safety, electricity, irrigation... (from 2005).
Mosul Dam Repairs Benefit Tigris Basins (DOD article from 2005).
WIRTH Universal-type Drill Rigs for Iraq (from 2007).
Not that Cockburn's wrong. For all I know it'll blow in the morning.
The greatest radio call-sign ever: K U N and T. How does this get past the F.C.C.?
Via lifeaftertheoilcrash.net, an amazing ancient ruin in Siberia.
Russian bombers fly to Guam to exchange smiles with the americans. I'm feeling like some mushrooms, how 'bout you?
Paul Craig Roberts: US Hegemony Spawns Russian-Chinese Military Alliance.
Watch out Brits: Here comes your I.D. cards. Surrender or die.
A slightly more upbeat take on the future of cities from The Archdruid (a nice contrast to survival acres, while avoiding the pitfall to naive optimism).
Violent Acres: College Will Kill Your Entrepreneurial Spirit While Simultaneously Turning You into a Worker Bee. God, that woman had a mother worthy of an eternity in hell.
Good Ol' Bill, The Liberal Hero
In 1993, he pursued George H W Bush's invasion of Somalia. He invaded Haiti in 1994. He bombed Bosnia in 1995 and Serbia in 1999. In 1998, he bombed Afghanistan; and, at the height of his Monica Lewinsky troubles, he momentarily diverted the headline writers to a major "terrorist target" in Sudan that he ordered destroyed with an onslaught of missiles. It turned out to be sub-Saharan Africa's largest pharmaceutical plant, the only source of chloroquine, the treatment for malaria, and other drugs that were lifelines to hundreds of thousands. As a result, wrote Jonathan Belke, then of the Near East Foundation, "tens of thousands of people – many of them children – have suffered and died from malaria, tuberculosis and other treatable diseases".
Long before Shock and Awe, Clinton was destroying and killing in Iraq. Under the lawless pretence of a "no-fly zone", he oversaw the longest allied aerial bombardment since the Second World War. This was hardly reported. At the same time, he imposed and tightened a Washington-led economic siege estimated to have killed a million civilians. "We think the price is worth it," said his secretary of state, Madeleine Albright, in an exquisite moment of honesty. |
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2007, August 9, Thursday. |
A few days ago I posted info on Venezuelan oil exports falling to zero in 2008. This news item has "done the rounds" on several sites. A reader (thanks SG) sent a clarification:
I just wanted to correct a mistake regarding venezuelan exports that I've also seen on survivalacres.
The article from el Universal you were providing a few days ago was discussing fuel, that is refinery products, not crude oil.
Venezuela is refining much less oil than it produces. While the production of crude oil in Venezuela is declining at the same time that internal consumption is increasing, it will still export nearly 2 millions barrels/day in 2008, of which the biggest chunk will go to the USA.
The situation is increasingly similar to that of Iran, which, while a net exporter of oil, needs to import gasoline to meet its internal demand.
In the end, oil exports from Venezuela will continue to drop, but Venezuela will not be a net importer of oil in 2008 or 2009.
It is however entirely possible that it will be a net importer of refined products in 2008. |
Uncle Sam, Your Banker Will See You Now
Early this morning China let the idiots in Washington, and on Wall Street, know that it has them by the short hairs. Two senior spokesmen for the Chinese government observed that China’s considerable holdings of US dollars and Treasury bonds “contributes a great deal to maintaining the position of the dollar as a reserve currency.”
Should the US proceed with sanctions intended to cause the Chinese currency to appreciate, “the Chinese central bank will be forced to sell dollars, which might lead to a mass depreciation of the dollar.”
If Western financial markets are sufficiently intelligent to comprehend the message, US interest rates will rise regardless of any further action by China. At this point, China does not need to sell a single bond. In an instant, China has made it clear that US interest rates depend on China, not on the Federal Reserve. |
Iran's Azarakhsh fighter jet successfully tested
Are we heading for another Great Depression?
Europe lends money for more than 5% interest. So does the USA now although the financiers are getting worried about this and are egging on the Fed to lower rates back down to 1%. This is pure insanity. Japan has near zero inflation because they have decided to utterly destroy the purchasing power of the people in Japan who are living worse and worse off if they are below the top 20%. Many are now homeless. It is pathetic.
The world's #2 economic power that holds the world's #2 FOREX reserves can't give pay raises to anyone earning below $10 an hour because this will 'cause inflation' and so they get to live on the street and starve. Great. Anyone can eliminate inflation by enslaving the workers. Then they get cut out of the profits entirely and can't buy things and thus, can't cause inflation!
This is the plan being readied for us! We get to live in shanties while the rich live in palaces. And we won't buy anything while they have a zillion servants earning practically nothing. Sort of like England, circa 1914. |
Wild Weather a Taste of Things to Come
Martian skies are clearing slightly. Hope springs for the Mars Rovers.
Inspiration + Innovation + Discovery = Future. Back to the moon my arse.
Thanks Scott, for this information:
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Hey, I'm at Applebee's and tried to access your website and this is what I got! You're being censored man! |
Blocked at last - I've finally arrived in the big leagues! Strange how idleworm is still available in Communist China, but not in The People's Democratic Republic of Applebee's.
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2007, August 8, Wednesday. |
What a piece of work is man!
How noble in reason!
how infinite in faculties!
in form and moving, how express and admirable!
in action how like an angel!
in apprehension, how like a god!
the beauty of the world!
the paragon of animals!
And yet, to me,
what is this quintessence of dust?
Man delights not me;
no, nor woman neither,
though by your smiling you seem to say so.
-- From Hamlet (Act II, Scene ii) by William Shakespeare
ENVIRONMENT:
Rare river dolphin now extinct. Final confirmation of a previous story. Maybe the free market will find a cheaper alternative to replace it? Substitutability rules, eh?
8 Million year old bacteria re-activated. This can't possibly go wrong.
ENERGY:
Updated World Oil Forecasts, including Saudi Arabia. Grim news from the energy front. Pray he's wrong...else we're totally fuxored.
Electic Politics interviews David Strahan. About 70 minutes, excellent stuff.
GPM interviews David Strahan. Another goodie.
Mythbusters: Ethanol. God help the poor zombies waiting for cornahol to save their hides.
Peak Oil Review - August 6, 2007. Funny, or tragic?
| The House did not...allow a vote on an amendment requiring cars and light trucks to achieve a fleet average of 35 miles per gallon by 2019. The measure, similar to one the Senate passed in June, drew fierce opposition from automakers, the United Automobile Workers and, crucially, John D. Dingell. As chairman of the Energy Committee, Dingell says he wants to deal with fuel standards in global warming legislation later this year. |
How to find Oil. Nifty graphical guide that I stumbled across while researching.
HUMOUR/FREAKY:
The Great ivy league nude posture photo scandal. Do you want pictures of Hilary Clinton and George Bush, naked, with metal clamps on their backs? We're through the looking glass here, people...
WAR:
Generation Chickenhawk. (Video).
Iraq is about to become a lot worse. No surprise there, then.
SCO - NATO's rival - coming to a war theater near you - as soon as the Russians can get the baby machine working!
Iraq power grid near collapse.
| "We no longer need television documentaries about the Stone Age. We are actually living in it. We are in constant danger because of the filthy water and rotten food we are having," said Hazim Obeid, who sells clothing at a stall in the Karbala market. |
US uneasy as Britain plans for early Iraq withdrawal. Oh, if only nice Mr. Blair would come back. He was so much more ... eager to please.
POLITICS & THE RISE OF CORPORATE FASCISM:
Republican Bob Allen in oral sex arrest. Another hypocrite caught with his pants down.
Five year old British schoolkids to be fingerprinted. They'll love Big Brother - and I don't mean the TV show.
When Collapse is No Longer Science Fiction.
ECONOMY:
Cramer goes nuts on live TV. You've got to watch this...you'll thank me later.
The Open Ocean. Having watched the Cramer clip, you'll understand this piece better.
Abandoned Homes Taken Over by Weeds, Swimming Pools Breed Mosquitoes. OK, so it's a charming four-bedroom fixer uppper in a quiet (VERY QUIET) residential neighbourhood.
China threatens 'nuclear option' of dollar sales. Time to bend over and grab ankles...
MEDICINE/HEALTH/FOOD:
China drinks its milk. Hormones, breast cancer and man boobs for all!
Study: Food in McDonald’s Wrapper Tastes Better to Kids. Poor, brainwashed botlings. What chance do they have?
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2007, August 7, Tuesday. |
For the detail oriented: Updated World Oil Forecasts, including Saudi Arabia
Survivalacres gets harassed when trying to buy a box of matches. Matches = TERRORISM.
Heh heh. Dennis Perrin (no lover of the Democratic Party, he) gives a detailed and amusing account of his attendance at the Democrat KOS convention in Chicago (dailykos.com being one of the most prominent liberal sites):
Manan Ahmed got the party started with a direct, detailed critique of Barack Obama's statements about bombing Pakistan. Manan gave a meticulous power point presentation illustrating just how craven and idiotic Obama's remarks were. Unlike the fantasy Pakistan that Obama depicted, where President Pervez Musharraf is dragging his heels on fighting extremism, and it might take US air strikes to focus his attention, the Pakistani army is currently battling extremists in the North Waziristan region, fighting that is comparable to what's happening in Iraq. Also, US has already hit Pakistan, on November 10, 2006, shelling a madrassa in Bajaur which resulted in zero al-Qaeda dead, but did manage to kill some of the seminary's children.
Manan's presentation made those wearing Obama buttons shift a bit in their seats and look down to the floor. I thought there might be some audible disagreement from them, given that we were on Dem party turf, and Obama love was all over the Kos convention. But they said nothing. Not a murmur that I could hear, anyway. Manan so thoroughly dismantled Obama's speech that his supporters had no real come back to it. I doubt they know much more about Pakistan than does their hero, but after Manan's talk, they should have a better idea now. Sometimes, learning can be a painful experience, but in the end, we're all winners.
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Holy Jebus - someone bought the Adobe Creative Suite through the idleworm amazon referral link. (approx $1,500 - which nets me $62!) Thanks anonymous friend - you made my day! Thanks to all the people who're using it - everything helps.
Holy Jebus - someone bought the Adobe Creative Suite through the idleworm amazon referral link. (approx $1,500 - which nets me $62!) Thanks anonymous friend - you made my day!
Broom Broom! Look at me Daddy! I'm the Presnit!
Australian school makes sunglasses compulsory.
More space-meat:
   
Hypothetical questions for the candidates.
Gross - a campaign to convince Russians to pop out brats. Let's see - this boom will be born in 2008, and come of age around 2026 - mark your calendar for World War 4.
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2007, August 6, Monday. |
This looks like a piece from The Onion, but it's real: Democratic Party is growing more liberal. Apparently, almost 40% of Democrat supporters now classify themselves as "liberal". Can a five cent per-hour increase in the minimum wage be far behind??? Your correspondant awaits with baited breath.
One looks forward to The New Age under Hilary/Barack:
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First it was Barack Obama's talk of dialogue with dictators and invading Pakistan to kill Islamist militants, then it was Hillary Rodham Clinton refusing to rule out the use of nuclear weapons to that end. Now, the Democratic front-runners have been joined by radical Republican Rep. Tom Tancredo, who threatened to bomb Muslim holy sites to stop terror attacks.
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Nice one guys. You're so nuts, you make Bush & Pals appear sane. Keep watching "24".
Some space-meat:
   
Ah, rats: Slim chance of tuning into alien TV. I wanted to catch up on the latest shows from my homeworld. My wifelings better remember to record them on infra-tape, or I'll kerfangle them.
Carry On Up The Khyber: Afghan victory 'could take 38 years'
I save the oil-doom for last: Interview with Jean Laherrère.
Survivalacres: Peak Doom:
Venezuela = 0 exports in 2008 - currently US 10% supply - or more (SEE NOTE BELOW)
Indonesian = exports to near zero now, no more in future
Nigeria = all production off-line indefinitely
Mexico = zero exports within 4 years, probably much sooner
Iraq = can’t even fuel their own vehicles now
Iran = selling in Euro and/or Yen to Asia increasingly exclusively
Alaska = north slope fields in 12% / year decline
OPEC = fairy tale reserve (URR) claims, massive water cuts, increasingly sour, domestic and international political chaos approaching
North Sea = in permanent decline (UK already importing oil)
Deep-water - not found or tapped
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NOTE: I received a clarification on the Venezuela stats from a reader:
I just wanted to correct a mistake regarding venezuelan exports that I've also seen on survivalacres.
The article from el Universal you were providing a few days ago was discussing fuel, that is refinery products, not crude oil.
Venezuela is refining much less oil than it produces.
While the production of crude oil in Venezuela is declining at the same time that internal consumption is increasing, it will still export nearly 2 millions barrels/day in 2008, of which the biggest chunk will go to the USA.
The situation is increasingly similar to that of Iran, which, while a net exporter of oil, needs to import gasoline to meet its internal demand.
In the end, oil exports from Venezuela will continue to drop, but Venezuela will not be a net importer of oil in 2008 or 2009.
It is however entirely possible that it will be a net importer of refined products in 2008. |
In case you missed this oil production forecast from a few days ago. Overall, supplies look OK for 2008, with a decline thereon. Make of it what you will.
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2007, August 4, Saturay. |
Happy days are here again
The skies above are clear again
So let's sing a song of cheer again
Happy days are here again.
The free market will fix 'em: 77,000 bridges in US need repair.
If a bridge collapses, and no white people are killed, does it make a sound?
Our crumbling America. You can defy the Laws of your country, you can defy the Laws of other countries, but you can't defy the Laws of Thermodynamics.
No Venezualan oil exports in '08. Note: the US gets ~10% of its oil from Venezuala.
The US presidential candidate who wants to nuke Mecca.
You have nothing to fear but climate change, pandemic disease, famine, war, terrorism, creeping fascism, resource depletion, and a systemic global economic meltdown: Bear Stearns triggers Dow crash
The 1984 power-grab continues, now with FISA. When phoning or emailing abroad, be sure to say nice things. Think nice thoughts. Don't anger the boy.
If the President of Iran is the next Hitler, he's not doing a good job of it:
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As Ciamak Moresadegh, an Iranian Jewish leader, observed: “If you think Judaism and Zionism are one, it is like thinking Islam and the Taliban are the same, and they are not.” Iran’s leaders denounce Zionism, which they blame for fueling discrimination against the Palestinians, but they have also repeatedly avowed that they have no problem with Jews, Judaism or even the state of Israel. Ahmadinejad, caricatured as a merchant of genocide, has in fact called for ‘regime change’ -- and then only in the sense that he believes a referendum should be held of all inhabitants of Israel and the occupied territories, including refugees from war, on the nature of the government.
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It would seem that Gordon Brown has ushered in a happy new era of floods, terror attacks and more foot and mouth. Note to Brits: start building a 6 month food and fuel reserve for you and your families. I kid you not. Although I'm a bit fond of wee-Gordon, I can't shake the feeling that the man is ill-starred. Ye won't have Tony's smile and sparkling cyclopean eye to keep you warm if the winter's foul.
The 10 best SF movies never made.
Another great post from survival acres:
Humans once lived more wholesome, quality lives then what we have today. Today, we only have a former shadow of ourselves, a shallow, hollow existence of meaning, purpose and direction. Basically, we don’t know what the hell we are doing and have fallen for a host of media lies and corporate brainwashing. We have allowed greedy men to dictate to us every waking (and sleeping) moment of our lives so that they, and they alone can benefit from our existence.
Our dependence upon these plantation owners is now evident everywhere and cannot be mistaken for anything else. We have become slaves to the corporations, minions and serfs destined to toil all the day long for our daily bread. This is an outrage, a crying shame of an incredible magnitude and sorrow and we should be in tears every day of our lives at our own willing subjection to this self-imposed and corporate-dictated slavery.
Men (and woman) did not use to live like this. They did not use to depend on so many others for so many things, and so many things that aren’t even necessary. Their lives were freer then we can hardly imagine and when this is presented to people today, they recoil in horror at such concepts of real autonomy and true independence. This only reveals how ignorant we really are when we speak of freedom, independence and individuality. We are neither free nor independent, we have been reduced to slaves, the status of which is lower then human slaves of the past.
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2007, August 3, Friday. |
Interesting: "Paleolithic" diet fights diabetes:
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Of 29 men with heart disease and diabetic conditions, 14 showed blood sugar returning to normal after restricting themselves to lean meat, fish, fruits, root vegetables, eggs, and nuts. What's more, their glucose tolerance improved by 26%, as shown when glucose levels were tested after they ate sugars. But the 15 men on the Mediterranean diet, whose intake included grains and dairy products, showed only a 7% improvement in glucose tolerance, according to Lund University physician Staffan Lindeberg, whose study was published online this month in Diabetologia. Lindeberg says the study was inspired when he learned in the 1990s that Papua New Guinea's Trobriand islanders, who live on a "preagricultural" diet, had no heart disease or diabetes. |
It's not exactly astonishing that a human body which evolved over millions of years would have trouble adapting to grains and diary products that have only been consumed for the last 10,000. (Above link via path to freedom.
This Chinese computer game looks like - fun? - The Incorruptible Warrior
The game’s hero is an “honest and upright official” whose goal is to kill corrupt officials, along with their children and mistresses.
So Chinese gamers with a hankering to go after corruption can use weapons, magic and torture to snuff out the bad guys.
You’d think the ruling Communist Party might be sensitive to this. After all, corruption is an Achilles heel for the party. But you’d be partly wrong. The financial sponsor of the game is the Communist Party Disciplinary Committee of the Haishu district in Ningbo city, southeast of Shanghai.
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Ah, thermodynamics: Let the Sun Shine In:
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Even the most advanced photovoltaic solar panels convert just 20% of the available sunlight to electricity. The resulting direct current (DC) then must undergo conversion to alternating current (AC), losing another 20%. If that AC goes on to light an incandescent bulb, which is only 5% efficient, you end up using a fraction of 1% of the original sunlight as room light. (Even switching to compact florescent bulbs, which are 15% efficient, makes little difference in overall energy efficiency.) But if you were to simply leave sunlight as light—via proper skylights, window orientation, and louvers—nearly 80% of the light ends up as illumination.
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2007, August 2, Thursday. |
Clay Bennett cartoon: U.S. Troops.
Another great electric politics interview, this time with Ray McGovern, former CIA analyst. (Runtime ~1 hour, 30 minutes).
4 years of President G.H.W. Bush, followed by 8 years of Bill Clinton, followed by 8 years of George W. Bush, apparently to be followed by 4 to 8 years of President Hilary Clinton. What a wonderful nation, where anyone can grow up to be President!
The clock is ticking on Bush. If he's serious about starting World War 3, he only has a few precious months left to do so. Short of a war with Iran, the best way to get there is the destabilisation of Pakistan - with it's arsenal of 50 - 100 nuclear warheads. God Speed, mister President!
Gen Musharraf is also under fierce pressure from the White House, where some officials seem to think they invaded the wrong country after 9/11. The US has given Gen Musharraf's government $10bn (£4.9bn) in aid. But now, frustrated with Pakistan's slippery approach, policymakers feel they have been short-changed. Last week the US Congress passed a law aggressively linking aid to progress in the "war on terror".
Hawkish officials suggested that unilateral strikes on al-Qaida bases in Waziristan might be the only way to prevent a fresh attack on the US. "We must be clear with Gen Musharraf that if Pakistan won't take out al-Qaida, the United States will," Lee Hamilton, a member of President George Bush's homeland security advisory council, wrote on Monday.
The Pakistani government is angered and alarmed. "Irresponsible ... counterproductive," thundered the foreign minister, Khurshid Kasuri, last week. "This may be election season in the United States but it should not be at our expense," he said. |
Spare a thought for the last Jews of Baghdad. Only eight left - and it seems they're trapped.
Via lifeaftertheoilcrash.net: Why you should avoid Teflon.
Tom Toles: Cartoon.
Survival Acres: Where to live post-collapse.
We need more women like this: Vegansexuals.
Mars Rovers barely alive now...
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