Drumbeat April 1, 2011
Posted by nate hagens on April 1, 2011 - 9:59am
( Leanan will return with her regular Saturday Drumbeat of energy and related news tomorrow morning.)
FED to add gasoline and oil to balance sheet in QE3
In a news conference Friday morning, Janet Yellen, Vice Chair of the Federal Reserve stated: "We are pleased with the impact of QE1 and QE2 on the economy. But high oil prices remain a problem. As we transition to QE3 beginning July 3, 2011, the Federal Reserve will begin to add unleaded gasoline, distillate, crude oil, and some propane to its balance sheet. It has become obvious that energy underpins our economy and in order to facilitate growth the Fed has to become more accomodative with energy products. We have staff researching whether future quantitative easing should involve other natural resources such as soil and water, though at this point we think that premature and likely unneccesary".
Alaskan Senators want more energy specifics
Obama used the speech to lay out a four-part energy security policy with the ambitious goal of cutting U.S. imports of oil by one-third over the next decade. He called for increasing domestic production including the nation's natural gas reserves, developing low carbon-emission technologies such as nuclear energy, and promoting more energy efficiency.
Alaskans were crestfallen the state was mentioned just once as a domestic energy source.
FEMA announces new Emergency Measures dealing with ‘Currency and Energy’ risks
Heywood Jelppus of FEMA announced a major new initiative for the government emergency management arm yesterday. “We have plans to deal with terrorist attacks, floods, hurricanes and even asteroids. It never occurred to us until we read the tea leaves of QE3 at the same time of seeing supply chain disruptions from the Japanese tsunami that we need economic/trade collapse insurance. FEMA will be helping civic leaders create emergency blueprints for local and regionally sourced basic needs.”
Tainter's Law - Where is the Physics?
Some consequences of the model are obvious. It tells us that as long as we base our existence on non-renewable resources, we must eventually run out of them. But it gives us also some non-obvious hint on the path we are going to follow in this cycle. In particular, the model tells us that we will likely keep increasing the size and complexity of our society even with a diminishing flux of resources into the economy. In this sense, it confirms Tainter's intuition, but it tells us something more; that is it extends Tainter's curve beyond the limit of the plot shown in his 1996 paper. It says that after the phase of increasing complexity and reduced returns, the curve will loop back and, eventually, both complexity and production will go to zero as is the economy completes its cycle based on non-renewable resources.
Peak oil guru Matt Savinar offers an in-depth analysis of Libya situation
In a new report former lawyer-cum-energy activist Matt Savinar outlines what to expect with regards to Libya including timelines and event predictions on the evolving situation.
No wait, that's "Libra". Nevermind.
U.S. consumers face "serious" inflation warns CEO of WalMart
The world's largest retailer is working with suppliers to minimize the effect of cost increases and believes its low-cost business model will position it better than its competitors. Still, inflation is "going to be serious," Wal-Mart U.S. CEO Bill Simon said. Simon declined to comment on the rumours that WalMart would be adding silver and gold eagles to its product list
Worlds largest money manager: United States will default on its debt
The PIMCO chief investment officer says the US has a total debt burden of $75 trillion if entitlements such as those for medical care and social security are included. In his latest Investment Outlook, Gross writes that unless large cuts are made to entitlements, the only way the government can afford this amount of debt is to default.
Corporations fail self-awareness test. Gain status as "special" persons.
As reported in the April 10 issue of Science, a team of ethologists at Purdue University has demonstrated that corporations do not recognize themselves in a mirror, and so do not meet the crucial cognitive benchmark shared by humans, chimps, gorillas, and dolphins. "All we see is social and confrontive behaviors, the figurative presenting of teeth and baring of hindquarters," said Dr. Ian Larkey, co-author of the study. "They don't use the mirror for self-examination; which is to say that their response is more like that of a parakeet than a chimp." Asked whether it is a good thing that the course of our civilization being largely directed by gigantic immortal, belligerent, unsleeping multiheaded tax-avoiding parakeets whose unnatural lusts can never be sated, Dr. Larkey declined to comment, noting that "corporations have the rights of personhood in this country" and that is not my place to criticize the law". In a related study last year, the same researchers did find that nearly 5% of nonprofit corporations tested could distinguish shinola from various other substances, showing "evidence for basic pattern-matching" which was suggestive of some level of rudimentary awareness.
Old Hippy smugness index rises on Japan, Mideast, Debt woes
(FORBES) The smugness of old hippies rose nearly 21% for the month of March as compared to the same month last year, report the managers of Vanguard's signature indexed fund (HIPY). "We speculate that it's some combined effect of delayed confirmation bias and schadenfreude" said Milt K. Weinman, Sr. VP of the fund, "but there's no doubting the effect is real. Old Hippies are measurably more smug than they were a year ago, even factoring in the diabetes numbers". The fund seeks to track the investing decisions of 1000 old hippies, and has been "a real market-mover", in the words of Sam Prechter, one of the few old hippies still in the stock market
Wisconsin manure digester ready to provide electricity
WAUNAKEE - Sure, the cows on the farm run by Chuck Ripp and his brothers near here generate a lot of manure — about 7 million gallons a year. But now they will generate electricity. When it is in full operation, the digester plant with its three huge tanks will process manure from three adjacent farms and a total of 2,500 cows. It will remove about 60 percent of weed-growing phosphorus from the manure. The digester will produce methane and that methane will be used to power generators that will churn out $2 million a year in electricity, enough to allow Alliant Energy to power 2,500 homes.
It was not known how much electricity could be created by throwing both the grass and the cows themselves into the digester directly
Obama initiates "War on entropy"
In a bold initiative in response to polls showing lukewarm support for a "limp-wristed" leadership style (The Gallup Organization), President Obama today declared a "war on entropy". "For too long, Americans have generously supported the intrusive disorganization and inefficiency of an increase in entropy, and that must come to an end." said the President, speaking from the congressional floor. The move is widely seen as a shrewd political move to get in front an expected ruling of the Supreme Court, which is considering the constitutionality of the second law of thermodynamics and widely expected to strike it down later this month. "While Americans can tolerate and even welcome a certain amount of disorder, the long-term trend for the nation and the universe is both clear and sobering. The sooner we start the war on entropy, the sooner we can win" stated Obama.
MIT Energy guru plans to bring power to 3 billion people with 1 bottle of human waste water
Tata’s hope is that Nocera’s “personalized energy” can produce a stand-alone, mini-power plant, perhaps a refrigerator-sized box, that could reinvent rural electricity supply and bring power to about three billion people worldwide who don’t have it.
Nocera said MIT’s technique has seen more than a year of preliminary research and hopes to produce enough electricity from a bottle-and-half of water, however dirty, to power a small home.
A Tata spokesperson was unconcerned that 'No cera' means 'it won't be' in spanish.
Primate Scream: Bonobos make most noise when mating with highest ranking partners
The new study by researchers at the University of St Andrews suggests that females produce copulation calls as a way of showing off high powered relationships during sexual interactions. The researcher concluded, “Our results highlight the social significance of sex in this species and suggest that copulation calls in bonobos have undergone an evolutionary transition from a purely reproductive function to a more general social function.
“Like humans, sex among bonobos is not only used for reproduction, but it is also important in friendships and bonding, and keeping close to those in power.”
Creationist Paleontologists Discover Dinosaur Saddle
Mud Flaps, Arizona, March 29, 2011 -- A team of creationist paleontologists from the Discovery Institute's main field research arm announced today that they had discovered the remains of a large manmade object confirmed to be an ancient dinosaur saddle.
"We were going on the assumption that evidence of man's domestication of certain dinosaurs would have called for large fences, supports for the dinosaur corrals, so that's what we started looking for," said Dr. Booble. "We found a number of poles buried in several feet of sand almost immediately with the help of infrared satellite photos of the area. Then we just started digging, and boom, there it was."
Canadian Defense Minister - "We can get energy using technology from aliens"
"Hellyer insists he has seen UFOs. In his book, "Light at the End of the Tunnel," he said he also believes that the U.S. has a "shadow government" that has black ops installations that have already created new forms of energy using extra-terrestrial technology.
"I do not have proof of that," he told AOL News. "But I believe that they have developed energy sources, and publicly I'm saying that if they do not exist in commercial form, that extraterrestrials would certainly give us that information if we would ask them for it and stop shooting at them."
Group Warns EPA to massivley increase 'safe' amounts of radiation
Drinking water, for example, would have a huge increase in allowable public exposure to radioactivity, the group says, that would include:
A nearly 1000-fold increase in strontium-90
A 3000 to 100,000-fold hike for iodine-131
An almost 25,000 rise for nickel-63The new radiation guidance would also allow long-term cleanup standards thousands of times more lax than anything EPA has ever before accepted, permitting doses to the public that EPA itself estimates would cause a cancer in as much as every fourth person exposed, the group says.
Hominid species found that lacked ambition - didn’t want 'more'
In the latest in a series of new hominid species discoveries, scientists have found remains of what appears to be a new cousin to modern humans. The tentative name for the sub-species was homo-pacificus, due to the fact that there was no evidence of aggression or competition found in the primitive remains. “Its very fascinating - everything we have found showed a total lack of individuality, aggression, violence, and ambition. It was as if the least capable in each generation had offspring. With mutations like that they obviously died out. Duh.”, stated lead study author Homer Nunculuss of UC San Diego.
Obama Cabinet members agree on Value system change for America
Cabinet members agreed Thursday that the USA needs a new value system and that the pursuit of paper profits as a 'marker' for success had become outdated given the global situation. However, the group of senior politicians was divided on what should replace our current value system and voted to defer the debate until after the quarterly earnings season.
Natural Gas Evangelist Gains convert in Obama
T. Boone Pickens, 82, a Texas hedge fund manager and former corporate raider who made his billions in the U.S. oil patch, is now a leading evangelist for U.S. natural gas.
He claims the Pickens Plan, a lavishly marketed campaign launched in 2008, which earlier failed to gain support in Washington, would cut 2.5 million barrels a day from U.S. oil imports by converting the country's heavy vehicle fleet from diesel to natural gas.
Ongoing battle to determine who is 'cleverest' in the energy industry
In a vitriolic debate that has now escalated to the highest courts in the nation, representatives from the renewable energy industry continued to clash Thursday with the fossil/nuclear fuel industry regarding who is cleverer. Spokeswoman Jewel Gainer from the Renewable Energy Alliance said ‘It’s pretty obvious that we are cleverer as we are starting from scratch. How clever do you need to go in and harness 300 million year old plankton”? Representatives from the fossil fuel industry rebutted loudly saying that their seismologists and reservoir engineers were far more clever and probably better at Scrabble as well.
New pro-austerity riots - thousands clamor to sacrifice living standards
In an accelerating trend intended as an antidote to the recent riots against austerity, organizers around the country expect millions to riot for sacrifice this weekend. “We have essentially been spoon fed for a generation and have therefore have completely unrealistic expectations about our future. Whats happening to Americ isn’t anyones fault. So we need to stop complaining about reduced salaries and living standards due to energy limits and credit overshoot and start to actively embrace sacrifice –for the greater good. Stated Melody Harmonie, Chairwoman of Sacrifice Through Future Underconsumption – STFU. “By the way”, she added, “Those people rioting against austerity measures are pussies.”
EROEI advocates "just plain lazy", say economists.
In a rebuke to theorists attempting to popularize a somewhat confusing energy-analysis concept, the National Association of Independent Economists announced today that its proponents are "slackers", that EROEI is "laziness by another name" and "is basically un-American".
This resonated strongly with Montana rancher and home-school science teacher Ferd Hastings, who was interviewed while holding his pig into an apple tree to graze. "Them EE-roy boys are so lazy and introspective they prob'ly don't scratch their hineys without a government grant, peer-reviewed study and clear tenure track", said Hastings. Asked why he was holding a pig into the air for the duration of the interview, Hastings quipped "What's time to a pig?"
New post of "Wisdom czar" created in Washington
In response to growing recognition that government policies are aimlessly and increasingly ineffective at addressing societies complex problems, White House officials are reportedly to create a new Cabinet position of ‘Wisdom’. Press Secretary Carney explains ‘ The government of this great nation has enormous intellectual assets. We have of late recognized however, a lack of cohesive strategy amongst the various experts. Towards that end, next week the President will appoint a new ‘Wisdom Czar” in charge of making sense of the bigger picture. The only details I can give you at this point is that the appointee will likely be trained in systems thinking, and have experience in humility. I can say that no one is excluded being appointed other than Lawrence Summers, obviously.”
Majority of Americans believe God is in control of our future
Even more white evangelicals, 59%, believe that natural disasters are a sign from God, while only about one-third of Catholics and white mainline Protestants share that view.
Two thirds of white evangelicals also believe that natural disasters are evidence of the "end times," according to the survey. At the same time, most Americans believe God is responsible for everything that happens in the world, according to the survey, which was released Thursday.
Turning in land, gold, energy and stuff for cash
In a reversal of the trend of the past few years, sources at several banks assert that people are selling land, gold and physical property in return for cash in record amounts. Says Phil Moneytree ‘I don’t know what happened, but all of a sudden people want cash. They are selling anything and everything to get as much cash as they can. Obviously they know money doesn’t grow on trees and are trying to save as much as possible in order to get through the tough periods ahead.
Mayan forecast pushed back to 2014-5 due to austerity measures
The Mayan prophecy of ‘end of times’ in 2012 is being pushed back at least until 2014 due to government cutbacks and initiation of austerity measures, stated, Dewey Kallaps, a linguist at the State University of New York. “It seems that due to an unforeseen lack of credit, the Mayan calendar end date will probably be postponed a few years, which is of course good news for most people”.
9.1 Quake hits Alaska. Satan emerges from fissure. Markets rally.
In a continuing string of geopolitical and natural disasters, another major earthquake struck at 11pm local time Thursday just south of Anchorage AK.. Apparently Satan came out of a crack in the earth saying ‘I am here to take over the world”. The Nikkei, initially retreated after the news but ended in positive territory. S&P Futures are up 17.90 to 1,342.60 before the April employment report to be released at 8:30am EDT
US Treasury Secretary admits America needs a new direction – claims not his responsibility.
Geithner, from Thursday speech at Georgetown University: “Look – we hominids follow environmental cues on what to compete for in order to obtain status. Right now the cues are for more money. It’s my job to get people more money, not to choose the cues so get off my back. Also, if the readhead in the 2nd row has a moment to talk with me after this speech, Ill be in my limo.” His comments angered the business school students as well as the top 1% of the assembled audience.
Wall St oil expert predicts new higher global capacity figures
Hugh G. Quornucopean in a new report for Goldman Sachs writes “If you ignore the fact that new oil requires $80-$90 futures strip to be profitable, leave out the external costs of extraction in environmentally sensitive areas, and set aside potential limiters of non-energy inputs – like water, set aside unrest in the middle east, forget about massive OECD insolvency issues, and ignore human behavior, then we believe the oil capacity picture looks outright bullish”
Quaddafis gas stations pose dilemma for europe
An Associated Press investigation has found that several European countries have accepted assurances from Libya's Tamoil petroleum company that none of its profits reach Tripoli. In return, Tamoil has been allowed to continue operating unchecked, despite the fact its parent company is on a United Nations sanctions list.
Hawking: Future doesn't exist. Short-term thinking, selfishness dramatically vindicated.
Speaking from a London press conference with his signature synthesized voice, a smiling Stephen Hawking yesterday stunned the world by publishing a mathematical proof that the future does not, in fact, exist... and never has. The announcement has provocative implications, both economic and existential.
"It is now conclusive," said Hawking "that the hypothetical quantum domain we refer to as 'The Future' does not exist in the traditionally-applied sense. We are trapped in static block time, and the entire temporal extent of the universe is somewhere between 13 hours and two weeks. Indeed, my proof itself was created along with this wheelchair and computer out of a seething quantum froth less than twelve minutes ago along with the rest of the visible universe, and our heads full of memories." Stock markets cheered this revelation with significant rallies both on domestic and international bourses...
Saudi Arabia upgrades proven chutzpah reserves. "More where that came from" says Prince.
Responding to an article in NewScientist calling reported Saudi reserves of chutzpah "inflated", Interior Minister Saud al ibn Farouk today published revised chutzpah reserve numbers showing that proven reserves have increased by 3% over the last-reported estimates 6 months ago. "Oh, we've got it" said Farouk. Speculation has risen recently that the nation cannot maintain the existing chutzpah flow rate which supports both its economy and underpins the economic rationale of allies including the USA.
Obama to alter closing address to include other countries being blessed by God
In response to increasing questions about the implications of Obamas usual closing statement of "May God Bless you and may God Bless America", White House Press Secretary today confirmed that starting next week President Obama will make explicit what many have long suspected was implicit - that the American president does not want God to favor other countries unless they are close trading partners. Beginning with speeches on Monday Apr 4, Obama will close his talks with “May God Bless You, and God Bless America, friends of America, and those species we derive benefit from. Also may God give a mini-blessing to France”
Koch Brothers/Fox News Joint Venture Buy Out Popular Energy Portal TheOilDrum.com
REUTERS: The Institute for the Study of Energy and Our Future, producer of The Oil Drum energy blog, has been purchased by Koch Industries/FOX for $8.6 million. A spokesman for the Koch brothers said they anticipate some changes to the content mix, and are considering a name change for the popular website. One possibility mentioned is "The Coal Bin", but the spokesman would not confirm this. The new name for the umbrella organization is tentatively "The Institute for the Selling of Energy and Our Future".
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Commodities Gain for Third Quarter, Led by Oil, as Earthquake Saps Stocks
Oh, it certainly might (quite possibly even substantially lower). But the cause for that, if it happens, won't be what these self-appointed 'experts' appear to have in mind.
Link up top: Koch Brothers/Fox News Joint Venture Buy Out Popular Energy Portal TheOilDrum.com
The Koch Brothers buy the Oil Drum. Rename it "The Coal Bin" and they are going to get rid of all that "unsubstantiated scaremongering". And they are going to start charging a subscription fee.
I look forward to subscribing to "The Coal Bin" and as long the subscription fee is not above $100 a month I will be a happy camper. ;-)
Ron P.
Hey, tell the Koch guys that I'm still waiting for payment for all those pro Peak Oil shill posts I've put up on the Oil Drum. Please remind them that they are behind about $100k. You have my e-mail, so send the e-check to me thru PayPal. If they don't come thru, I just might start believing all those doomers that say the game is over! You can be sure that I will act like any responsible thug and won't tell the IRS about your payments. Thanks for your support...
E. Swanson
These guys are smart, smarter than you may think. The plan is to wait until they've cornered the market, then turn TODers loose to create panic buying, but we will discover that they are holding all available reserves hostage; a petroleum coup d'état. It won't be long now; they've already headed to their bunker:
God! I hate being used........
Well, I for one welcome our new corporatist overlords!
They got me on this one really bad. If this is an April Fool's joke, I am going to be far more critical of Nate and Leanan's posts from now on! I got stuck on this hook, line, and sinker! I was so mad that I took the Oil Drum link out of my favorites, and was spitting and sputtering all around the house for an hour. I owe you for this, nate, big time. :)
If I'da known they were coming, I'dve baked a Yellow-Cake..
-but really, who better to guard the Hen House?
Sieg Bile!
So they see coal (with CTL) as the solution. I think it's a 1 april joke.
Re: Alaskan Senators want more energy specifics
I'm sure that many Alaskans are concerned that their cash cow is drying up. Many settlements and towns there exist only as a result of their oil allotment. No oil, no money to buy that new snowmobile (or anything else) :-0
I guess so. Times are getting tough all over.
It is getting 'heated' in Juneau too.
Since Alaska really isn't part of the US (jeez, the natives don't even look like Americans) the plan is to give it back to Russia. It'll be 'dead weight' soon anyway.
Russia Wants Alaska Back!
I also think we should dump Hawaii on the Japanese, as a love gift. Time for Corporation America to downsize, y' know?
Dump it?! Perhaps we could sell it at
a fairan exorbitant price to all, the soon to be displaced Tokyoians...Ahem, Ghung. And just what do we look like?
The sad thing is, I can't tell which of Nate's stories are jokes--we are that far into Tomorrowland. I sure was hoping that I had been taken in by the EPA raising limits link, and that it was an early Fools joke. No such luck. And I also wasn't sure about the Alaskan representatives link--even on a good day they're a joke. And if Satan were going to emerge from a crack, it would certainly happen near Anchorage. Wasilla maybe? Truth is stranger than fiction these days.
in frankness, thats why i did it this way. Originally i was just going to do a few funny juxtapositions, but as I was searching for some real news it struck me that the line between the absurd and reality was smaller than I realized -we have been baby stepped to death by small changes in our culture/realities that make todays melange of news seem normal, when if todays news was shown on any day prior to 10 or 15 years ago it would have seemed right out of Twilight Zone.
I have high hopes things will work out better than than many fear - I think rather than an energy shortage we have a longage of expectations - i.e the real battles are going to be on the social science side: pyschology/sociology etc. But yes - truth stranger than fiction...
Thanks for the chuckles, Nate, and for all the other fish.
As Tiny Tim sort of said,
"God Help us, Every one!"
And, of course Iaato, I was being absurd. My apologies if you took offense, though I am offended by a daily barrage of absurdity, which seems to be increasing exponentially as of late. A 'traditional' seal hunt from a snowmobile, fueled with gas flown in from 150 miles away, all paid for with monies from oil, is about the same as driving 20 miles round trip for a pizza.
Peace.
Are you kidding, Ghung? I'm always looking for the humor in a situation, even if it has to be black humor. I'm still waiting for your description of our physical characteristics. I was hoping for Sarah Palin, but I'm thinking more like Don Young.
There's a place in Nome called Airport Pizza that has the best food in town. They give a whole new meaning to the offer of "free delivery," with delivery service to 32 villages in western Alaska via Bering Air. We're a bunch of motorheads up here--as close as we can get to the the teat. What is the next generation going to think about us?
Heard on local radio this morning : "Massive power outage shuts down Chicago CTA. No trains are running this morning."
It didn't seem like an anomaly to me...
Re: Majority of Americans believe God is in control of our future
Yup, tha's wha dis poll says. We don't need no librul science...
E. Swanson
"God is in control of our future"
Since we, humans, certainly aren't, somebody must be.....right?
I wish God would take a driving test.
Tough to say for sure whether God is -- but the 2nd Law of Thermo DEFINITELY seems to be running things.
Entropy, ho!!
The Second Law IS God... it's just that most people haven't figured that one out yet.
Somewhat disappointingly, Hawking does not make this clear.
Frustratingly for Jahweh, ("Don't CALL me that! That name no longer has any meaning for me! I've rebranded!") .. None of the other Gods has apparently bothered to respond to his(?) friend requests on FB.. creating a bit of a PR paradox for the increasingly isolated 'One, True Lord'..
Evidently things have gotten too overwhelming to think we can overcome our problems ourselves or to take responsibility for whatever outcome may occur as a result of our collective willingness to ignore limits, and thus the sheeple have adopted a stance worthy of that position - let a higher authority take responsibility.
This is just another way of stating, "**** happens." It's the human way to look for patterns, to look at the night sky and connect the dots, but it comes down to, What happens, happens. Life goes on, until it doesn't.
Re: FED to add gasoline and oil to balance sheet in QE3
Nice one :-)
Yeh, but how exactly is this going to work? You gotta give credit where credit is due.
Drinking water, for example, would have a huge increase in allowable public exposure to radioactivity, the group says, that would include:
A nearly 1000-fold increase in strontium-90
A 3000 to 100,000-fold hike for iodine-131
An almost 25,000 rise for nickel-63
I look forward to the spirited defense of this move by the pro-nukers as vindication of their position that there is nothing wrong with Radiation and how the Government was raising this as a reflection of how safe additional radiation is.
(I was waiting to see who'd post it 1st for the last 3 days - for some reason the pro nukers didn't post it that I saw.)
That particular bottleneck has been dealt with.
RA
First I've seen of it.
Since the old standard was basically "just above detectable" there was room for increase, I'd have to see the science to know whether multi-thousand-fold increases are justifiable.
I'd have to see the science to know whether multi-thousand-fold increases are justifiable.
The "science" smacks of "oh, look at what we have, best call that legal!" Kind of how like, when one would directly handle fission fuel the acceptable radiation level is higher than when you don't have to handle it directly.
And from http://blog.alexanderhiggins.com/2011/04/01/breaking-radiation-san-franc...
And elsewhere in the "you've been Fooled" that low level radiation is "safe"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6N7jg4n5dCM
I am singularly unimpressed by this comment.
Like I said, the limits are set to just above detectable levels. Also, WTF are you doing drinking the rainwater in any big city anyway? There are major pollutants and carcinogens in there beyond the EPA limits for drinking water on a good day.
I would comment on the youtube link, but since I have been shown youtube videos "proving" that perpetual motion devices work I don't even bother looking anymore.
I am singularly unimpressed by this comment.
Well, it doesn't support your pro-nuke position.
But hey, you should be happy! The odds are back in favor of Fission power. Because with 3 of 4 reactors in meltdown that just means the rest are safer.
What are the chances of a nuclear accident? Here's what the NRC said in 1984:
"The most complete and recent probabilistic risk assessments suggest core-melt frequencies in the range of 10-3 [one in one thousand] per reactor year to 10-4 [one in ten thousand] per reactor year. A typical value is 3x10-4 [three in ten thousand]. Were this the industry average, then in a population of 100 reactors operating over a period of 20 years, the crude cumulative probability of [a severe core melt] accident would be 45 percent." - Nuclear Regulatory Commission. "Delayed Access to Safety-Related Areas and Equipment During Plant Emergencies" (Information Notice No. 86-55). 10 July 1986.
"A typical value is 3x10-4 [three in ten thousand]."
That's a pretty good estimate considering how little data they had. If the number I saw on TOD was correct and there have been 15,000 reactor years of of operation, and this is the third meltdown, that is one per 5,000 reactor years.
Now I am taking Fukushima as one meltdown because they had a common mode of failure, were the same design, at the same site, etc. If you take it as three meltdowns, then you get 5 total is 15,000 Rx-years, or one per 3,000.
Your reference, "Delayed Access to Safety-Related Areas and Equipment During Plant Emergencies", does not address the statistics of nuclear plant safety. Although the note is interesting (the comments give more evidence of "Normal Accidents" in the nuclear industry), the correct reference would may also be important...
E. Swanson
I'll send your comments to the original source web page where I took it from. (And thank you for finding a copy online of the 1986 source document.)
Oh and in other "How desperate are you to pimp Fission?" department:
http://gizmodo.com/#!5786469/the-good-nukes #7
http://gizmodo.com/#!5786468/nuclear-gallery/gallery/7
Yup - so willing to try and put "Nuclear" in a "good" light - Point out a chemical reaction which, if implemented, would spread a known heavy metal mutagen/cancer causing agent all around. I guess we're right back to "the solution to pollution is dilution"
I saw that article and thought "Haha, good one Nate! April fools!" Then I thought "Crap, what if it's true?" And sure enough, it is. Thanks EPA! You are truly the best regulatory agency corporate money can buy!
The same numbers were posted on Michael Ruppert's collapsenet.com web site in a free article titled "FALLOUT":
http://www.collapsenet.com/free-resources/collapsenet-public-access/item...
The thousands-fold hikes in allowable radioactivity were first reported on January 21, 2009 by PEER (Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility):
http://www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=1151
http://www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=1273
Here is a detailed report on the new allowable increases:
http://www.committeetobridgethegap.org/pdf/PAGreport102208.pdf
Amazing drumbeat. Very creative. I had to read most of the posts very carefully given how absolutely insane things are in America these days. Almost anything is believable. For example, did u know that all Republican politicians don't believe in global warming? And that Michelle Bachmann introduced a bill to increase energy usage by repealing the act to phase out incandescents? Nitpick. Gibbs is no longer press secretary.
The air and water are too damn clean. Must abolish the EPA.
Not before healthcare,Planned Parenthood and NPR...
http://thehill.com/homenews/news/153097-tea-party-demonstrators-call-for...
Talk about fiddling while Rome burns...
You cannot argue with their logic:
My bolding. This is not an April Fools comment (I think).
Now what is our children's future? Petrodollar debt or accelerated plundering of natural resources?
Tough call.
"We are the Borg Collective, Bargaining is futile!"
Sick and tired of socialist, communist America?
Come to Somalia, Libertarian Paradise!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/06/somalia-libertarian-parad_n_197...
Name: Brent Blend
Last known price(Today, 2011): 118.27
4 Weeks ago: 116.27
1 year ago: 82.14
3 years ago(This same day, 2008): 98.79
All this date is according to Upstream Online.
So, in 2008, we were almost 20 dollars below where we are now in Brent prices.
And since Brent's the global benchmark for 75 % of all countries, it's what matters. WTI is fairly insignificant. Not least because the West and South coast of America has far higher crude prices than WTI.
So we got to roughly 145-147 dollars a barrel for both WTI and Brent in July 2008. In 2008 we had a price for brent which was 20 dollars lower on this very day, 3 years ago.
So, my question is then, given how far ahead we already are in comparison with 2008 and with Libya gone, coupled with the recent news that Saudi Arabia failed to completely cover Libya's loss of exports according to Bloomberg a few days ago, when will we hit 140+ this yer?
(Remember how boastful the Saudis were that it was 'no problem' to cover the Libyan loss just a few weeks ago?)
Edit:
Brent's now almost 120 dollars according to Upstream Online.
It fluctuates around 119.35.
I have no idea when we'll hit 140, but it sounds like a do-over, but not the kind anyone wants to experience again. I'm figuring a pall will fall over us by July 4th. The big question is how does the US and the rest of the world respond to a 2nd major step down resulting from another huge spike in oil prices? Borrowing trillions is probably no longer possible, so what then? The big slide? _____________
Yes. I think the 'big slide' has already begun, only so far not too many of us are screaming.
We can't borrow more, we can't pay back what we have borrowed, we can't afford to buy the goods that might crank up the factories, and we can't afford to make things at mass affordable prices anyway.
I reckon the stock market is just reaching that point in "Titanic" when the ship broke her back and the stern section just sat motionless in the water. There followed a thrilling few moments while the bow section sank and the stern heaved upwards to stand motionless and bolt upright - before plunging into the abyss.
Yes: we are sliding.
Agreed on your post and in particular;
How people can be fully vested in the stock market at this point in time is a state of mind I'd prefer not to understand. You just know its going down, like you say plunging into the abyss - which can't be far off. But MSM will act surprised like who could have seen that coming? How could a person see we were in the same pattern as 08 with spiking oil prices? duh!
From the briefing room link:
And to do my part:
Take out the green hunk of paper from your money holding thinggie that says at the bottom "One Dollar". Look at the top. See the 3 words "Federal Reserve Note"?
note Law Definition
Do "note" on the "note" the lack of offer to pay on demand or a pay-by-date.
Here's and older note:
http://www.ronscurrency.com/notes/large/frn/5_14bf.jpg vi http://www.ronscurrency.com/rcollfrn.htm
These articles are insane today. It is as if they world is upside down. The radiation must be getting to all of us.
You are perfectly safe. Don't be concerned.
R.
Hi Roger, where's Rupert? Is he finally dead so you can take complete control?
And where's your clown, Glenn?
Hope you're well,
// A fan.
Don't mess with that guy. He is like Jabba the Hut.
you may want to check the date on your calender today...
Rgds
WeekendPeak
HA HA. I was just playing the role of the fool.
You're just holding your computer wrong..
My daughter (7) had a good one this morning, and put 'Do Not Enter' signs on all the doors in the house. She might be good at this game.. me, I'm still stuck in the office.
My son (12) put post-it notes on the sensors of every optical mouse in the house, making the computers seem to freeze on startup. Got both me and my wife.
Lloyd
Worlds largest money manager: United States will default on its debt
That's not funny. Doesn't he know it's April First???
E. Swanson
April Fools! Here's your horoscope for today: NO MORE OIL. Tee hee.
BEST.... DRUMBEAT.... EVER!
Denninger would vote for Donald Trump for president: Oh My: Donald Trump On O'Reilly
In the second segment he, Trump, explains why he is a birther. Says Obama's birth announcements in two Hawaiian newspapers could have been planted there at a later date.
In the third segment he says he would force China to stop manipulating China by threatening to put a 25% tariff on Chinese goods. Says he would force OPEC to lower their oil prices by threatening them. He doesn't say what kind of threat that would be however.
In the fourth segment he says we should not pull out of Iraq because Iran would come in as soon as we leave. He says we should stay and protect the oil, give them what they need and take what we need from them and pay ourselves back 1.5 trillion dollars. And we should take what Britain needs to repay them for their help and we take care of anyone else that helped us. He says we should stay there and take over their oil fields.
And Denninger says he is spot on and that he will win!
My comment? No comment! ;-)
Ron P.
Trump/Palin 2012
So the Mayans were right .....
I don't think he's really going to run (though if he did, he'd probably have a good chance, if only because people know him from The Apprentice).
But I think he's going to chicken out when faced with filling out the financial disclosure form.
Also, he would have to reveal his hairline. Seriously, does he really think that a comb over is attractive?
I thought you were having the day off!
Or faced with Marla and Ivana. The financial disclosure form might look inviting by comparison.
All he'd have to do is actually do what he said he'd do, no matter how wrong it really was, to get a large part of the vote.
I believe this is one of the better set of comments on Trump
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-march-22-2011/back-in-black---trum...
Interesting article in Business Week today on Georgia Power's plan to build two new reactors. Seems the state PSC is balking at the utility's plan to place almost all the risk of cost overruns onto the ratepayers.
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9MA6FF80.htm
Seems the last two Georgia Power reactors, which came on line in 1987 and 1989, were budgeted at $660 million. Final cost: $9 billion.
Yeah,,,,so? Somebody got that money. It creates jobs. I did some work on Vogtle years ago. Paid for my bass boat.
BTW: Great fishing in its pumped storage system. Gotta be worth something ;-)
Er...
Heywood Jahelppus? Really? For FEMA?
I haven't clicked on the link but the odds of this being for real are slim to none.
Was there ever a real Heywood Jablowme?
OK - April Fools - rights?
I didn't think TOD had sense of humor!
UN clears Kenya nuclear energy project
It's April Fools, right?
Yea, it's April 1.
April fools ..(edit) doug fir beat me to it. But the joke was visible throughout the entire article.
Both Paal Myrtevedt and I replied to this article, both seem lost now.
I thought the article was serious, and highlighted parts.
Paal seemed to it was truly a joke. So which is it?
Has to be a joke. 35GW? 50km shaft to dispose of waste in? Yeah, it's April 1.
With a 50 km shaft geothermal would have a higher EROI than nuclear I think. But I have not run the numbers yet.
One of the top links for the Kenya nuclear article is about the high proportion of unassisted births in the slums, their term. Of a child born without a left hand. Are they reading about the nuclear plant?
The almost cavalier method of reporting in the article, the blind faith of technology providing a method of waste management shortly when it has failed in the west for all this time, the free for industry (easily read as western investors) electricity as a sort of honored gift, really gets me. I guess it is cultural on my part.
Denys Finch-Hatton must be rolling in his grave, even if the reactor won't be atop it, which it might be.
Kenya lies on the east African rift valley and is volcanically active. I'd be very concerned that with a shaft this deep, it could trigger a new eruption spreading waste over the Serengeti. You'd think after Fukushima that engineers would have learned some lessons and be more alert to the dangers of natural disasters.
The earth is only 25,000 miles in diameter or 40075.16 km.
But in Africa the Earth's crust is only 30-40 km thick.
Guess they want to chuck the waste into the upper mantle.
Should work in theory. Forget the practicality of this venture. DO IT!
25,000 miles ..... would that be circumference?
LOL. YUP. My bad
They're gonna be drilling straight into partially melted lherzolite - not good!
Maybe someone could site a nuclear power plant at Oklo in Gabon, so if there was a meltdown they could say it was natural, it's the only know place where fission occurred spontaneously, ...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_nuclear_fission_reactor
hmmm... how about nukleáris föld, Fred.
See http://nuclearplanet.com/Teaching%20Earth%20Dynamics.html
I believe that the consensus on TOD was that all the U235 was oxidized early on, and the oxides are light enough to escape being pulled into the Earth's core. Herndon still believes to the contrary, though, and frankly I have not done the research myself. Nor do I have the facilities to follow up on this.
It is an interesting theory, however. Not yet, to my mind, untenable.
Craig
be interesting to hear what some of the geologists around here think of this theory.
Here's a link to currently accepted evidence for plate tectonics:
http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/earth/evidence.html
Good spot; lots of cooling water...
?????
Well, maybe the Koch Brothers and God can chew on this for a while;
The Solution to Peak Oil in Form
Presentation of an idea and a request for assistance. Assistance is sought particularly from those with backgrounds in Psychology or Theology.
There are two aspects to the problem, a technical aspect and a mental aspect. The technical side gets discussed here in detail and the mental side, not so much.
First, let's spend a moment on the technical side. Energy is ubiquitous and present in a myriad of forms. Thus, there is no one solution to the technical side of the peak oil problem. There will never be full agreement at any moment on what to do. However, if we consider the constellation of ideas already available, it may be that the technical issue is already solved, or nearly so. For example, suppose there was a magical way to start dealing with it now in a real way. We could begin with immediate steps for population control, energy rationing including gasoline rationing and "patriotic" rolling blackouts, speed limit reductions, a crash mass transit program, not just compelling but irresistible media hype, compulsory telecommuting to the extent feasible, school bus redeployment for local transit runs after hours and on weekends, etc., etc. and proceeding down that path until most of the ideas we can readily agree upon on are underway. Results would be startling and swift, eh?
Well, why can't we start today? Greed, heralded by the lock that the elites have on life. So, how do we change that? Impossible? The elite have god-like powers and can do whatever. Going against them is hopeless, won't work. Rather than fighting this aspect aspect of humanity, maybe we should just accept it as a given and "work" with it.
How do we do it? The best we can do, actually the only thing we can do - the point of this essay - is to try to get them to change their heart on things. Don't laugh too hard, its the only shot we've got.
At the moment, the only examples I can give of this happening in history are Ivan the Terrible, who repented late in life, and Malcolm X after Mecca. Warren Buffet has said a few things that makes me feel like he is coming around. Whatever preceded these changes in people is what I would like to explore - why is it that some people have a change in heart and is there anything we can do to push this process? Research it? Do we shame them? Admire them? Educate them? Appeal to their spirituality? Make them stand on their heads and eat tuna fish sandwiches? Get 'em drunk? Awards/public recognition of the positive sort? Good grief, don't these people realize that they are setting us ALL up for disaster on a horrific scale? If you have any ideas on this please post.
I might not know the solution to peak oil, but I know the form the solution will have if there is one. If there is no solution, then the outcome is certain. No one will be spared. And no preparations will be enough.
As an aside, I believe in preparations but only to the extent that they will make life a little better, not a little longer. If the Titanic is going down I'll see you at the dessert tray or the bar! If I am in neither place then I am doing something else and don’t bother knocking, hehe.
God help us all.
Best hopes for changing minds, and have a great April Fools' Day!
Barry
Geez, I think my carriage returns are messed up. I don't post very often obviously. If you know how to fix these let me know. Thanks!
You can edit your post as long as no one has replied to it.
Use the preview function. It works! How it looks in preview is how it will look when it's posted.
I knew it.
I knew "Leanan has the day off" was an April Fools Joke.
Well played, TOD, Well played...
You should run posts thru Preview before posting. Then, you can remove any extra CR's at the end of the lines. Best to use none at all and let the browser space things in the frame...
E. Swanson
Thanks to you and Leanan. I think its all fixed up now.
Never use carriage returns except at the end of paragraphs. Then use two to make a paragraph separation. The software will wrap automatically at the proper place.
Japan's new vehicle sales plunge 37% in March
I guess I have been wrong about the whole issue of net energy and the economy all along. Also wrong about the role of technology. This is by way of an apology: Our Wishes Are Going to Come True!
Gosh, George, I think you're a bit premature. We don't know if it's scalable yet. Besides, I happen to know you built it in your basement. What happened to full disclosure?
It's not his invention.
John Galt designed and built it!
http://www.atlasshruggedpart1.com/atlas-shrugged-movie-trailer
The housing is made out of seamless Reardon Steel! It don't get better than that.
Oscar material, that.
To paraphrase another commenter on another forum...
A movie about steel mills and new railroads in the USA? It must be science fiction.
Still, anything that might make the the GOP and Teaparty think that rail is a good idea is a good thing™.
I watched the trailer...I guess this is not an April Fools joke...
So...in this capitalist techno fantasy, before the evil senator slapped punitive taxes on Reardon steel, was the state of play in international affairs such that the U.S. had imposed stiff duties on foreign-made steel?
And wha-whaaaa....advocating a choo choo train to carry people instead of coal unit trains? or was this that well-known money-maker, high-speed freight?
Ahhh...if only giant U.S. corporations could escape from paying any corporate taxes....wait, doesn't GE Bring Good Things to Life (tm)?
ΔS_system + ΔS_surroundings < 0 !
Now here's a claim (loaded with some VERY hard slant/emotive words)
http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/TPV3/Voices.php/2011/03/31/how-and-why-th...
500 oz of Silver? To me, that seems like a lot. I'd have to do some electronics/weight calcs to see if that is in line with "industry standards" for PC Boards.....(anyone else wanna do the math instead?)
Why? Copper has 95% of the elect conductivity and 93% of the thermal conductivity of silver.
Maybe for some other function.
Here is one possible advantage. Flex circuit printing technology. Copper printing is more toxic.
http://www.infoneedle.com/posting/24667
http://www.printedelectronicsworld.com/articles/replacing_printed_silver...
Silver may not only be in the circuit boards. Explosives and propellants may contain:
Silver acetylide.
Silver azide.
Silver fulminate.
Silver oxalate explosive mixtures.
Silver styphnate.
Silver tartrate explosive mixtures.
Silver tetrazene.
Silver Batteries also - just remembered them.
I do like your answer.
Copper printing is more toxic.
Gotta ponder about the concern over Toxic Copper when the whole purpose of the 1+ million dollar flying boom-stick is to be, err, deadly.
But it's the 21st century, not medieval times - so you're supposed to be deadly in an environmentally friendly way!
If its a Silver explosive/propellant - what an expression of entropy...taking a concentrated material and making it dispersed.
And as I'm seeing great feedback in this Drumbeat to posts/questions:
Has anyone bothered to calculate the Nitrogen fertilizer equivalent for all the explosives/gunpowder being used by the militaries of the world? AKA - how much food could have been grown?
Sadly, no. I've designed flex circuits with .075 mm trace/space, and that was for a low cost flex in product that shipped in million unit quantities.
Brent Blend to be traded in units of decadollars starting next month.
New currency defined for oil trading
Brent now at 11.808 decadollars.
President Barack Obama finally and quietly accepted his “transparency” award from the open government community this week — in a closed, undisclosed meeting at the White House on Monday.
http://www.politico.com/politico44/perm/0311/not_a_secret_anymore_a00ccd...
We are not in a war in Libya, it is a kinetic military action.
The most surreal aspect of the "april fools' day" topics in today's Drumbeat is how many of 'em are real. By all means click through and check.
I was just about to say the same thing, but was going to state "the scariest aspect...
I think the scary thing is, when all these news stories go back to "normal" tomorrow, will they make any more sense? We may be better off in an April 1 world.
Yes because the stupid/dangerous stuff can't be blamed on the date.
Reminds me of the "Not my job" segment on Wait, Wait, Don't tell me.
Re: Worlds largest money manager: United States will default on its debt, up top:
Default is unconstitutional.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0311/52235.html
The default issue is nothing but a government manufactured crisis.
It is insane to give out tax cuts, start wars, bail out banks and auto companies and then complain that there is not enough revenue to pay the national debt.
If "default" is done through inflation, then it will be much harder to import oil and other things which create trade deficits.
I do not believe other countries will allow it. Japan is in a state of panic when ever the yen rises a smidgen. Same for China and the yuan. As for the Euro and Europe, they can kiss auto and other exports good bye if the dollar falls too much.
It is a curse as well as a blessing to have a reserve currency. It enables the U.S. to live in a fantasy world where tough decisions are rarely if ever made.
And perpetual war for oil can always be financed no matter the debt situation.
The cuts then are suppose to be made to social programs to pay the war debt. No matter that social programs like social security and medicare were largely prepaid by recipients of the benefits.
How many wars and tax cuts are prepaid? I don't know of any.
It depends on your perspective. From that of the majority of the people, its crazy. For the top 1%, its simply smart politics serving their best interests. I think they call this strategy Starve the Beasttm, where the government is deliberately driven into financial crisis, a situation that is then used as pretext to gut programs that serve the poor and middle class so more of the national income can stay in the hands of the investor-class, titans of Wall St., Corporate Overlords, or whatever you want to call the top 0.1% (in terms of annual take). A more extreme example of this goes under the name The Shock Doctrine, where extreme measures are used to "shock" an entire society into accepting a new order that would otherwise be repellent and unenforceable, usually to the benefit of Big Money (Wall St. / Goldman Sachs, huge military contractors, mercenary firms, etc).
IMHO, the systemic stresses brought on by peak oil are laying bare the multiple frauds being perpetrated against The People by extremely wealthy and very powerful interests. A metaphorical pulling-back-of-the-curtain. People are going to be asking a lot more questions as promises of better tomorrows evaporate. The questions will focus more on who gets what of the shrinking pie and why. The implications for political stability will reverberate here and around the world for many, many years to come.
So, instead of US Treasuries, he holds US Cash? Or is he betting on the Eurozone? Surely this is an April Fool post.
Craig
its not an an april fools post - though we have no idea what he 'really thinks' as this is just what he wrote publicly. he still doesnt get it though - he has put together many of the pieces but still (apparently) operating on an 'investment' paradigm (I guess he should be - its his job). But if some of the events he predicts come to pass we'll have alot more to worry about than the market or interest rates going up or down - in the scenarios he paints we'll witness breakdown in international exchange and trade -the real underpinner of current living standards -and with it the just in time efficiency/supply chain pockets of fragility. I doubt thats in PIMCO models (though I could be wrong)
It's baloney from another hedge fund guy.
PIMCO just got out of Treasuries and now starts screaming about the US default.
He's been wrong for 2 years about inflation and
recommends the UK austerity to fix the US economy.
Once Congress extends the debt ceiling nobody will listen to PIMCO.
Does anybody here really believe that the US is going to default in the next two years?
well to be fair Joe - he said default by 'unconventional means'. 2 years? no. 10 years yes. (and probably 5 and it won't be just the US)
I cannot disagree with you, Nate. And, with the news on inflation today, especially the quote coming from WalMart, maybe 2 years is not out of the question, eh?
(above the line at U.S. consumers face "serious" inflation warns CEO of WalMart)
Craig
Am I naive to think that these are also convenient excuses to austerity to then allow richer folks to consume more fossil fuel stuff than poorer folks.
Also austerity would not curb fossil fuel use at all. The same amount would be used but more so by wealthier folks.
In any case, no way austerity could prime the economy. That is crazy to imagine. What is the mechanism? Starve the beast to make it beastier.
Reminds me of blood letting to cure disease.
I love that analogy! It truly captures the moment.
Craig
Wisconsin governor now wants Federal funds for high speed rail line...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/30/walker-rejected-12-millio_n_842...
They flip-flop so fast it makes one's head spin...
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21028063.300-wind-and-wave-energie...
Rgds
WeekendPeak
Interesting thesis and I imagine that it is not a terribly complex problem to prove or disprove, IMO. I took a quick look at the paper and I don't see anything fancy in the math. The problem is that unless we get some people that are interested in debating this at the mathematical physics level, i.e, discussing free energy and entropy, we won't get any traction here on TOD. Maybe the http://AzimuthProject.org will take it up.
I think it is potentially significant way of looking at the side-effects of alternatives. (I hate the name "alternatives" but will use it anyway).
Btw, I have your PDF on my desktop, but I get stuck on the math and think that if you were to have a primer integrated it would greatly increase the accessibility of your paper. I’ve read a good chunk of it but keep running into the math.I’ve worked through all of it during my education but it has become so foggy that without some step by step instructions, and explicit labeling of the variables it gets lost.
Sometimes being understood means that you have to slow down.
Rgds
WeekendPeak
Funny that you should mention that because the the Azimuth Project is going through some of the math primers you are describing. See http://johncarlosbaez.wordpress.com/2011/04/03/network-theory-part-3/
James Cameron (director of Avatar) was on MSNBC just now. The Dylan Ratigan show. He mentioned peak oil.
I saw that. I also watched their town hall last night.
Nobody asked Mr Cameron to elaborate on Peak Oil, though. These segments are way too short. They are on a continual time crunch, and never really get into any depth.
How many segments can be crammed between commercial breaks ?
Edit : he (Ratigan) really shredded the guy who filmed "Gasland". I guess Natural Gas is going to save us.
La mezcla (the mix) of stories here is great because it reveals "The Onion" effect: the spread between reality and some of Nate's concoctions is not as wide as one might have guessed. Perhaps the FED should indeed add some Oil and Gas to their balance sheet. I'd suggest an array of options on the Futures. :-)
Eric Janszen (ASPO Denver) also wrote a good piece today: Robert Prechter’s prediction for a massive decline in gold prices comes true.
G
Ha! I sold my gold back in 2012 and bought Thin Mints and bar soap. They always hold their value. (New American Dollars...NADs, funny!)
Worlds energy problems solved
Free Energy breakthrough
Cracking Up on Floor and Wagging My Inborn Tail Too
Oh Dogbert, you've done it again.
It really is hard to tell what is real and what is an April Fools joke:
http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2011/04/01/bush-afghanistan-women/
And now we have added Libya to our glorious actions in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and other places in the wide wonderful World.
http://www.alternet.org/world/150458/beware%3A_widespread_mission_creep_...
Aha, Fooled by the randomness yet again Mr. McGoo!
The fact that it is April 1 has little to do with all of us acting the fool once in a while.
Tom-foolery happens.
April happens.
Shee-8 happens.
It's all random.
After all, would you expect intelligent cause and effect in noises made by the yeast of an over-shot Petri dish?
Whatever our travails,thank goodness that we have the possibility of these two running for high office...maybe they could be President and Vice President...I would prefer MB/SP in that order (P/VP).
http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/03/bachmann-palin-2012-candidate
Maybe after that election result the government could open euthanasia centers, a la Soylent Green.
Want to get rich?
Kill your employees... get a bonus! WSJ.com - Transocean Cites Safety in Bonuses http://on.wsj.com/eetkqX
If Bono Vox can get forgiveness, maybe we should send Justin Beber to Beijing? They can keep him and the Chinese can send a Yao Ming replacement on a warranty claim. Seriously though, I know a few countries and the money barons hold the debt, no? How about amnesty for all "illegals" or Mexican Nationals living in the USA. Give them full benefits and worker rights. Bill the Mexican Government and they pay us in oil. The USA makes sure the Mexican nationals are very well paid (our minimum plus non citizen surcharges) and they pay all their USA and Mexican taxes. Mexico makes more than they would have selling the oil. We bring in the Mexicans back into the term 'American' and then open borders from Mexico to Canada. Canada is in too, they can make money on the deal too. The workers get health care and benefits and Mexico can build up savings for them too. Eventually the Mexican guests can even buy citizenship, and USA citizens can buy Mexican citizenship too without renunciation. We return to the true America.
From George Mobus:
Our Wishes are Going to Come True (in the spirit of April 1)
And Happy April Fool's day to you too :)
Interview with Dmitri Orlov. (Not an April Fool.)
http://cluborlov.blogspot.com/2011/03/interview-on-keiser-report.html
Same interview here:
http://rt.com/programs/keiser-report/billionaire-wealth-orlov-economic-c...