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DrumBeat: August 30, 2006
Posted by threadbot on August 30, 2006 - 9:11am
Kurt Vonnegut Says This Is the End of the World
"I'm Jeremiah, and I'm not talking about God being mad at us," novelist Kurt Vonnegut says with a straight face, gazing out the parlor windows of his Manhattan brownstone. "I'm talking about us killing the planet as a life-support system with gasoline. What's going to happen is, very soon, we're going to run out of petroleum, and everything depends on petroleum. And there go the school buses. There go the fire engines. The food trucks will come to a halt. This is the end of the world. We've become far too dependent on hydrocarbons, and it's going to suddenly dry up. You talk about the gluttonous Roaring Twenties. That was nothing. We're crazy, going crazy, about petroleum. It's a drug like crack cocaine. Of course, the lunatic fringe of Christianity is welcoming the end of the world as the rapture. So I'm Jeremiah. It's going to have to stop. I'm sorry."[editor's note, by Prof. Goose] Also today is an interesting catch by Mike over at Green Car Congress on Dick Lugar:
In the keynote address to the Richard G. Lugar-Purdue University Summit on Energy Security, at Purdue University, US Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Dick Lugar (R-IN) called for a set of immediate action to address US transportation energy vulnerability, including flex-fuel capability in all new light-duty vehicles, accelerated investment in cellulosic ethanol and the institution of more aggressive fuel economy standards. Lugar asserted that none of the major stakeholders—the oil companies, the car companies, the Federal government, and US consumers—are taking the necessary, substantive actions to address what he calls a national security emergency.
Current oil price satisfactory - OPEC president
Gasoline prices could keep falling
Gasoline prices are falling fast and could keep dropping for months."The only place they have to go is down," says Fred Rozell, gasoline analyst at the Oil Price Information Service (OPIS). "We'll be closer to $2 than $3 come Thanksgiving."
Oil, Oil everywhere! How consumers are being duped
If our legislators really want to help "WE THE PEOPLE" they would mandate the construction of two new refineries in America and when completed we would see gas below $1 a gallon very quickly. But really, what oil company wants to make less money than more?
Peak Oil and the Fall of the Soviet Union
Californians weigh a new tax on oil companies
STUDIO CITY, CALIF. – As Los Angeles motorist Jill Cantrell removes the pump nozzle from her Honda Civic gas tank, she spouts out two figures: "$56 for a gas tank for me and $78 billion in profits last year for the oil companies," she says. "I'm livid."
BP's reputation as one of Britain's biggest corporate success stories took a fresh battering yesterday after the oil giant confirmed that it is being investigated in the US for possible manipulation of the crude oil and petrol markets.
U.K.: Energy protesters blockade nuclear power station
Iraq’s parties reach deal on oil-sharing
Petronas disputes Chad expulsion order
China says Japan 'generating new conflicts' over gas field dispute
Aussie brothels offer discounts on gas bills
[Update by Leanan on 08/30/06 at 10:23 AM EDT]
Good article. Just about everyone who's anyone in the peak oil community is mentioned. Hirsch, Simmons, Lynch, Kunstler, Pfeiffer, Yergin, Diamond.
Global demand for oil will one day overtake our ability to produce it cheaply, and prices will skyrocket as half the world's easily extractable oil is gone. But when? A growing number think soon - if it hasn't already happened.
[Update by Leanan on 08/30/06 at 10:46 AM EDT]
Weekly Petroleum Data for the Week Ending August 25, 2006: Oil and gasoline inventories higher than expected, sending crude prices lower.
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"....and that is as much as we dare say on this subject at present"
They know PO, that's for sure
Also, try Bukowski.
BTW, I didn't know the NY Times had dubbed Vonnegut the "laughing prophet of doom". He would fit right in on many of these peak oil sites with that handle.
The world of Boxing will probably make a comeback as well.
Well with less oil there will be a lot less policing by the government. At least at the federal level.
There's all kinds of stuff going on, ways of life, etc that are hidden from the owning and chattering classes but are part of reality for the dreaded underclass. Growing up, I sometimes wondered if we'd landed in the 1970s or the 1930s.
I know cock fighting happens. I just meant that we would be watching cock fights in people's front yards instead of in the basement of some tenament building in Tijuana.
Excellent Point!
I don't have satellite radio like Sirius, so I don't know if they already have a "Peak Channel". But they ought to have one while they still can.
Is there an WWWeb radio station that specializes in the "Songs & Poetry of Doom"? I think a economically viable market for this exists--might be a good way to hammer into the reptilian-brain level of those who are text-averse to actually studying Peak Everything. Could help many to conserve and push for political reform.
The revenue would come from advertisers like booze, guns & ammo, painkiller & sleeping pills, bicycle mfg, etc. The playlist could be interspersed with snippets of dire news, or interviews with experts to help further juice the advertisers' sales. The playlist would feature the songs and the audible reading of poetry that is often posted here on TOD.
Bob Shaw in Phx,Az Are Humans Smarter than Yeast?
Catch 22
God Knows
"Now I'm forced to suffer leaders with names like Bush and Dick and, up until recently, 'Colon.'"....
That'll get a laugh from me every time.
Shampoo Planet kinda cops out at the end, Microserfs too .... a job/jobs appear(s) and all ends well.....
As we all know we're going to run into a famine in the near term.
http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=reutersEdge&storyID=2006-08-30T091750Z_01_SP 21186_RTRUKOC_0_US-MARKETS-GLOBAL-GRAINS.xml
I think I might be stocking up on some cereal now.
For those finance/econ people who want to read a little about the Bonds that are rebuilding New Orleans.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&refer=columnist_mysak&sid=ajAj5ZDjO8b4
More Detroit news ony this time they are reducing retail outlets. Well everyone BUT GM. They must know something no one else does.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2006-08-29-dealers-usat_x.htm
The article talks about how they don't have enough corn for the 2007 Corn Palace. When I visited the Corn Palace on a cross-country road trip in 1991, I wondered what they would do if, as predicted, climate change made it impossible to grow corn in the Corn Belt. I guess that we're about to find out.
Wanted to recommend a little light reading (took me 2 days to finish) if you need a new doomer fix, but are a little tired of PO. It's Dark Ages America, The Final Phase of Empire by Morris Berman. For those of us who tend to think that Americans lack something in their psychological makeup to deal with the serious issues that are looming, this is one speculation. It's not perfect, the collapse thesis could be more fleshed out, but the historical perspectives on the "American character" and the tit-for-tat history of our involvement in other countries for our own interests is very good.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0393058662/102-2176903-3940106?v=glance&n=283155
Jane Jacobs -- just recently deceased at about 89 years old. Famous activist and author of incisive deconstruction of modern consumer society-- "The Death and Life of Great American Cities" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Jacobs#The_Death_and_Life_of_Great_American_Cities
Prophesying collapse is not new. And collapse has occurred many times in the past.
The interesting question is "what shall we save?"
Indeed. That is the most important question around, as Lovelock and others have said also. Yet here we (rhetorical "we") are willy-nilly trying to save the Titanic.
I keep waiting for someone to say "screw this" and start doing something about "what shall we save?"
Instead of trying to save a doomed ship, its now time to say screw it, grab what we can, and make for the lifeboats.
Where do you see lifeboats?
Lifeboats are not going to materialize out of the thin air through the power of prayer, nor will they be provided free of charge by the Titanic's crew. We have to build them in our local communities using whatever skills and resources we have at our disposal, now. Here is one of the lifeboats I've been working on in my community:
www.edibleplantproject.com
So far, we have distributed several thousands of edible fruit trees, and planted a bunch throughout town. We are focusing on low-maintenance edible perennials in order to maximize local food production with minimum inputs. There are loquats, figs and mulberries growing around town with no care at all, producing thousands of pounds of fresh fruit. I would love to have this model replicated across the country.
All of our labor is volunteer labor, with most of the work done on weekends, and the land for our nursery is 'leased' for free from a local organic farm, which is conveniently located within the city limits, 20 minute bike ride from my house. Our next step is to plant a lot of edible perennials in the city parks in partnership with the city's parks department.
Local activists here managed to stop the city-owned utility from building a new coal power plant, and are pushing the city commission to construct a smaller biomass plant that would use locally available waste wood (which is currently burned or dumped in the landfill) instead. Tomorrow night, we are having a workshop with the city and county commissioners on building a better bicycle network.
If we are going to make it through peak oil and the aftermath (OK, it is a bis IF), we will have to work real hard on the very local, low-tech, low-energy mitigation solutions. Moping and lamenting the lack of lifeboats will not do us any good.
I agree 100%. Everyone should consider their personal situation and work to mitigate the effects of peak oil for themselves and their loved ones. There is no 1 size fits all answer. But everyone needs to prepare as they see fit.
Prepare on the individual, family and community level as much as possible.
Though this seems the "most reasonable" thing to do it is EXACTLY what will bring the collapse (EVERYBODY is doing that already, Peak Oil aware or not).
We should think "out of the box", that is, out of the The Prisoners' Dilemma and out of Zero sum games.
See GliderGuiders' opinion in another thread which I fully endorse.
I never said they were all ready there. Sometimes you have to jury rig something out of 'floatable' materials...
http://tinyurl.com/p3dao
It matters ESPECIALLY if we keep adding millions of people to the planet. I imagine that's part of his point. Or would you prefer we keep our 22 mpg status quo?
You evidently disagree with his suggestions; perhaps you can recommend alternatives?
Um, a massive Great Depression-style public works project to build out rail based trasportation systems in and between American cities;
OR a massive public works project to build nuclear generators, windfarms and solar farms, going hand in hand with a mandated switch-over to electric cars;
OR a rapidly rising energy consumption tax along with massive tax credits for alternative transportation, and making homes extremely energy efficient;
Now none of those are politically feasible right now. But talk to me in 3 yrs...
The fact is that our quaint little notions about economic freedoms are going to disappear so enough. Better to start now and actually get something useful done.
It's also my belief that with the massive dislocations in store for us from energy shortages and resultant economic turmoil, our belief in America an open society and democracy is probably not going to exist in a decade. Hope I'm wrong about that. But societies under severe strain are rarely open. Britain during WW2 is one positive example we might look to though.
Electric cars en mass, ain't gonna happen. I can see electrifying rails and the first part of your second choice, just not the cars.
All the rest is sad, but true.
It's a question of priorities.
If we instituted a command-economy imperative to spend $400b shoring up our grid and another $400b constructing plants, it could work. Override local rights to sue, environmental regulations, immediate emminent domain, institute a TVA-style workforce of a million or more... that would all be required.
But again, we're absolutely running out of time, even for measures like this. Which seem "extreme" while we are all still watching SUV ads every 5 minutes on TV, but retrospectively might seem pretty agreeable in ten years compared to the fix we'll be in.
<<Lugar asserted that none of the major stakeholders--the oil companies, the car companies, the Federal government, and US consumers--are taking the necessary, substantive actions to address what he calls a national security emergency.>>
This is a Republican senator talking for god's sake. It's just a very slight acknowledgement of the tip of the iceberg.
Our society and the particular breed of free market economy we have is failing catastrophically to deal with these problems. That needs to be recognized immediately and we need to put aside all the various objections and deal with the situation as we have in the past when faced with emergencies like WW2 and the Civil War. In essence, becoming more of a command economy.
Yesterday I posted a long dense paper (pdf, 42 pages) on the U Boat blocade of Britain. I will post it here again.
http://www.jmss.org/2003/spring-summer/documents/rev-weir-cdfai2.pdf#search=%22uk%20imports%20during %20the%20u%20boat%20blockade%22
Why do I think this paper is important?
- UK Access to imported calories after peak oil will become progressively like the U Boat blockade.
- The UK immediately developed command economy which started in 1939 and really kicked off after the fall of France in May 1940.
- The government was able to take over all aspects of of life: re-directing industry, agriculture, supply, rationing, clothing, alcohol , you name it (Even to an ordinance limiting the level of Bathwater in your bath to a height of 4 inches). You can see how this worked from many of the tables in the paper.
- It happend with the full support of the UK population
(A well armed bunch of professional soldiers across the channel tends to wake up the brits...eventually). Everybody 'did their bit'. Some examples were a little bit daft: Collecting Aluminium pots and pans to melt down 'to make Spitfires' - more about morale than turning out 'Spits'.5) Many minor entitlements and rights were suspended for the duration. But overall, civil law remained in place throughout (very important to keep the civilised and civilising rule of law if you are fighting to keep the flame of democracy lit...eh Rumsfeld?).
It was total war.
Peak Oil, ultimately will require the same level of application and approach. It cannot be any other way.
A free-wheeling market economy in the face of ever reducing resources, food, economic activity is not up to providing the basic needs of a population under such duress. Either you all 'hang together' or all hang separately, or even the poor hang the rich.
Trouble with PO is that it is not a tangible enemy. It is invisible, it manifests itself at the pump or in higher bread prices. It has detractors and many appear persuasive. It cannot be easily displayed , like shot down Luftwaffe fighter aircraft in Trafalgar Square...
There is therefore no apparent sense of urgency that can galvanise a population.
Thank you for re-posting that -- I missed it the first time. Excellent stuff.
But yes, yes, yes. Britain in WW2 should be our civilizational model right now. Moving into command economy mode is the only legit response available.
Of course, the fact that our political leadership is dangerous, corrupt and deluded right now is not a cause for hope.
And it is not just PO. It is PO combined with accelerating climate change. It is far and away the greatest threat humanity has ever faced, and if we don't acknowledge it and begin acting immediately.
And what a terrible sham that the human mind, collectively at least, cannot respond the same way to abstract threat as a physical enemy.
That's kind of dodging the point.
Are you suggesting that British society in WW2 could have been as successful if the "invisible hand" were guiding all actions?
And did Britain emerge a free society after that centrally planned war effort?
Could the US space program have blossomed without central planning?
There's this dogmatism (probably the result of corporatist propaganda) that central planning of any economic enterprise is dangerous.
But who has the power (in the US anyway) now?
An incredibly corrupt set of private, corporate interest that is functionally bent on destroying our civilization and our planet.
In the USA anyway, we have a coopted and corrupted "free market". I think where we stand is extremely dangerous.
I am well aware of the potential abuses of centralized economic planning. But at least there is a hope of success that way -- a proven track record of getting things done on a huge scale in a very short period of time addressing a very specific "enemy". That is our current fix.
If it were business as usual, fine.
The point is: we are in a very tight fix and if to improve our civilizational and societal odds of getting through this intact we need to get a lot very quickly.
My educated opinion is that centralization is the only way to do this.
Free market economies have gotten a lot done in times when existence itself is not on the line. But when things are bad (thus the relevance of the WW2 Britain example) the fear tends to override the greed and investment capital becomes scarce, etc. For whatever reason, the system is just not able to function as effectively -- to achieve as much, as quickly, and with as much social unity.
When it is pretty clear what you need to do (as in this case: put together an energy infrastructure for a post-PO world where climate change is threatening to spin out of control, so its gotta be carbon neutral) and the stakes are life or death, planned and/or command systems have a good track record. Free markets do not. (Though I'd be interested in any examples to show otherwise.)
I like the idea of electric cars and I'm sure we'll have some, just not the mass produced everyone's got one era. Sadly we know this isn't going to happen anyway.
I just got some cells, super score, .10 a cell. Now, 24 of them will give me about 12 volts at about 500mA. That adds up to $2.40 my cost, divide that by 6 and I get .40 a watt. But! I got a screamin' deal, one wayyyy out of proportion to the present cost of cells. These cells are worth more like $1 each, $2 each built into ready to plug in assemblies, that means $4 a wall.
So, how do we get from 50 cents a watt from $4 a watt, when the cost of processing semiconductors is rising fast due to the massive energy inputs required?
Main trick is : no silicon.
It's thin-film printed semiconductor (nanotech Copper-Indium-Gallium-Diselenide) on a low-cost flexible substrate.
I hope they've got options on the raw materials they need.
I'd like to buy shares in all three... one of them will probably corner the market, if they have different technologies.
The grid isn't at capacity, or even close to it, at night.
Electric cars (even if augmented by small IC engines) will work. The changeover won't be as fast and the grid can be upgraded. There will be will to do this once gasoline hits $10-$12 and the electric cars---presumably from toyota first---are a real option.
Upgrading the grid doesn't violate any laws of physics, unlike trying to replace all our petroleum consumption with biofuels.
Of course if you run the numbers, the cost for lots of new nuclear plants and electric grid upgrades is huge. But then again, so it the size of the oil industry. Once you consider that alternate energy will be an industry as large as the current oil industry (as it has to be) the ability will be there.
Naturally it will be tight and expensive but people will do it.
Cheers,
--Mort.
Think about who pushed for war in the ME.
BushDick.
BushDick thinks we need oil to "provide for the common defence (how else do we power our war machines to protect our homeland?), promote the general Welfare (without oil our economy would tank), and secure the Blessings of Liberty" (actually I'm not sure BushDick cares about this one).
So BushDick is doing everything in his power to uphold the consitution. Right?
TAB
--Mort.
When you get down to it, it's still not efficient at all to have 100M or 200M electric cars. Cars are the most wasteful forms of transportation and where does the electricity come from?
NG - we know better. Coal - Maybe, but I don't think everyone is gonna want to deal with the health issues, but I'm sure I could be wrong. How else does this electricity get generated? Wind - THe most promising alternative won't scale enough to keep cars on the road, let alone the homes heated and/or cooled. Hydro - mostly tapped, not to mention GW. Solar - another promosing venture with little hard evidence that it can scale across the country, only limited to areas with lots of sun.
You also left fission off the list. People don't like it, but we may have little choice.
Really? The problem with trains is that they don't go where almost everybody needs to go. Working class people need to go to work, university, grocery store, etc. In 98% of the nation, there isn't remotely enough rail.
What is the cost of laying huge amounts of new rail, buying up the right of ways and upgrading the rail grid?
It's much more difficult than converting to electric cars and upgrading the existing electricity grid which does go where it needs to go.
I think it's more likely that working class people will be riding scooters, economy motorcycles, and jitneys as is common today in the 3rd world. They are already priced out of ubiquitous petroleum consumption.
You'll see electric or hydraulic-hybrid private jitneys making neighborhood rounds. More practical than trains for most in the real world.
Look at the 19th century---even where there were train lines people were still extremely dependent on personal transportation for everyday needs: the horse.
Trains may replace much medium-distance air travel.
When you get down to it, it's still not efficient at all to have 100M or 200M electric cars. Cars are the most wasteful forms of transportation and where does the electricity come from?
Coal, hydro, nuclear, and a little wind. The midwest USA will have lots of wind, but there isn't much potential in other places because of climate. Only offshore in the coasts is there enough wind.
West coast is impossible because the continental shelf drops off very fast and the ocean is much too deep to put a wind farm. On the South East, there's this little problem called "hurricanes" which are guaranteed to wreck your spindly little windfarms. That leaves only the northeast. And that's Nimbyville. See "Cape Wind", which is probably geographically as good as it gets for offshore wind in USA combined with need.
They'll be building many nuclear plants in the Southeast.
Again, at the risk of sounding like a whackjob (at least to people who are a bit fuzzy on the nature of the threats we're facing), those questions of NIMBY and eminent domain and all the other hurdles to doing much-needed work to build out rail infrastructure, shore up the grid, and build a hell of a lot of nuke plants and wind farms, simply needed to be neutralized.
We need to start thinking of war-time modes with a much more powerful and active government.
Expanding coal use would be a disaster. It'll probably happen anyway, because it's such low-hanging fruit (even if poisonous).
This takes energy, of course; extra fuel would have to come from somewhere. One simple source is the oil saved by conversion to electric vehicles. Instead of converting it to gasoline (~83% efficiency) for Otto-cycle powertrains (14.9%, net 12.4%) we could just de-sulfurize it (maybe 93%?) and burn it in combined-cycle turbines (55% or better, net 51%). You'd have some losses in transmission and whatnot, but you'd get at least a 2/3 reduction - AND you could substitute coal, landfill gas, wind, solar or cogeneration.
If we have 7 billion people now driving 22 MPG cars and oil is has plateaued (assume not peak for simplicity), we need to do something because population is increasing.
If we incrementally increase fuel mileage to 44 MPG, we would have the same situation at 14 billion people. Is that a better situation? Then maybe we could increase fuel mileage to 88 mpg and 28 billion people I suppose.
It seems at some point, we either can't increase mileage further or we all start to die from pollution, famine or pestulence, although on the bright side we get to continue to do our long commutes to work/school/shopping every day.
I thought that was what he was talking about.
My prefered 'solution' is to reduce the mandatory transportation that we seem to have in our everyday lives by planning and building settlements that are compact, walkable and mixed-use and that have daily needs within walking distance. Connecting these settlements with rail is then feasible and efficient since once you get from one settlement (sometimes known as villages, towns or cities) to another you can get around easily.
This is a slow process (creating/retrofitting settlements like this), but it is happening in many places across the US.
Now, IF you could increase mileage and use the reduced pressure on energy prices that would result to plow into fixing our setlement patterns then yes it is a good idea. However, it seems that unless there is some other public policy changes at the same time it will just perpetuate system with no future.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/2006-08-29-gas-price-usat_x.htm
It's funny that demand is "sluggish" when it is GROWING 1% over last year. Consumption IS NOT DOWN, it' still UP a measly 1% from last year. I lvoe how they frame this stuff to read.
This doesnt make sense. If we are in a WORLD oil market then the spot price of oil is the same throughout, it is denominated in dollars after all. If we outbid "poorer" countries than we would not be paying lower prices, they would be higher since we had to bid higher than these "poor" countries.
Since we consume nearly 25% of this WORLD total, I would surmise we make a hellava lot more difference in total consumption than these "poor" countries anyway.
The point was that MSM says "sluggish demand" yet it's still growing. It's a bit backwards.
There is no adding to supply b/c one country can't pay for the gas. Maybe you should attempt a read at a freshman econ text that explains S&D.
World aggregate demand is composed of demand from all of the countries of the world. If demand declines in one country, that is, not instantaneous demand but longer-term demand, then it would indeed either provide more for other countries or lower prices. No increase in world supply is needed for apparent supply to increase in a given country because another is using less.
Look at it this way, if the crashing US housing bubble puts us suddenly in a nasty recession next year, our demand for oil may also fall. Probably not quickly, but over a short period. Assuming that other countries don't also fall into recession (probably a bad assumption, but bear with me for arguments sake), the supply we didn't use is now available for others. That unused supply floating around the world oil markets should cause prices to fall.
If we're ever going to get to $40 a barrel again, this is how it's likely to happen. Significant recession somewhere, either in the guzzling US or in lots of less-guzzling countries, reduction in local demand resulting in a large enough reduction in aggregate demand to lower prices. The other option is a sudden increase in supply, which doesn't appear to be on the horizon.
I merely pointed out the fallacy in claiming sluggish demand (USA) even though it's GROWING. Demand isn't sluggish when it's growing. That's all I was pointing out.
Now of course consumption is going to be down in select countries(micro). The truth is world demand (consumption) has done nothing but increase YoY. How are there going to be lower prices when the supply remains relatively fixed and demand is growing? This is what I'm trying to get at. When the supply isn't changing but the US wants to consume 1% more than last year, we are going to pay higher prices, not lower as sunspot said in his response. We are taking supply from these poorer countries by outbidding them for the oil.
This would be a whole lot easier with some nice graphs or a data table.
Not true. Not growing as fast as expected is sluggish.
The population is growing. If demand is not growing as fast as the population, then yes, demand can be sluggish, even when it's growing.
Never mind the can of worms that our growth-based economy opens up. Where increasing sales by "only" 1% disappoints investors and causes your stock to tank.
In other words, demand isn't sluggish at all in the First World. The growth just appears sluggish because some of the poorer regions have dropped out of the tussle, thus negating some of the increases.
But when growth is the norm, sluggish can stand alone and still mean sluggish growth. Soaring, increasing, sluggish, flat, falling, crashing. Watch for them. They are the usual modifiers and this is the order in which movement in demand is normally depicted.
Speaking of language (uhch-umm), as a long time advocate for rail, I note with pleasure that the press makes little or no use of the term 'rail buff' anylonger. Legitimacy, at last. And an indication, that the main challenge we face is mental.
it is totally stupid, and insane use of words, but that is what media are about.
yes it's misleading, and it's propaganda of the US copyright Adolf kind, but still:
sluggish growth IS possible, it's not an oxymoron
It's amazing how much goes down the memory hole. I've taken to File->Print->File for every important article and archive them all as pdf. It takes a bit of time, but I have my references and can search that. Saves me time compared to google.
cfm in Gray, ME
Who controls the present controls the past.
Who controls the past, controls the future.
The Memory Hole simply drove Winston Smith mad -- but the nightmare went on.
BTW, I too, have my Winston Smith file. But I rarely look at it. It makes me cry for all the missed opportunities
With the river this low, the size of barges is limited, reducing the amount of grain and other products that can be shipped down the Mississippi.
The conflicts among these different uses are already getting heated. I could see water wars in the west again.
When people envision a nuclear power plant, it's often the cooling towers they think of. But it's not just nuclear plants that use them.
What happens when that river floods?
http://science.howstuffworks.com/nuclear-power.htm
It's part of how they work.
Welcome to the laws of thermodynamics.
(BTW, before you go all super genius on us, yes engineers have figured out that they can use the waste heat for co-generation purposes)
On the other hand, I haven't seen it, but I hear that the manatees love to play in the nice warm water that comes out of various powerplants here in Fla.
Another significant issue with power plants is that they will evaporate a significant amount of water. During drought conditions, this will reduce the amount of flow in the river, and raise the dissolved solids levels in the river.
Good question.
The turbines of a generator plant spin because there is a pressure differential between the hot-steam side and a cool condensed side of the water/H2O flow. The "condenser" of an electrical plant is just as important as the boiler in creating that difference in pressure (P2-P1).
In fact, when people learn that James Watt invented the "steam engine" they are being misinformed. Watt came up with the idea of including a "condenser" in the steam path. When steam hits the condenser, it rapidly cools and shrinks in volume, thuse creating a low pressure zone that opposes the high pressure zone created at the boiler head.
The cooling towers are there to rapidly remove heat energy from the condensers so that low pressure can be maintained on the condenser side of the rotating turbines.
Aren't you glad you asked?
Jim Esche, the Democrat candidate standing against Lee Terry in Omaha says:
"I think we can do whatever we want with energy. If we want to come up with brand new forms of energy, I'm pretty confident we can do that too."
You've just got love politicians... who needs the Laws of Physics...??
The common folk demand Candy (Happy News) for their Brains and the Politicians eagerly deliver.
Vote for me and ye shall get everything for free.
The Candy Man
http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_pg=1638&u_sid=2225205
Here are some of the pertinent quotes:
Lake McConaughy is on the Platte River, and is the lifeblood of much of the farmland of central Nebraska. This is mostly corn and soybean country.
1) closing power generation facilities that use cooling towers, leading to brownouts and blackouts.
2) substantial reduction of grain harvests, mainly corn, wheat, soy beans and rice.
3) many small and medium-sized producers bankrupted by inability to irrigate.
4) reduced grain exports to sensitive populations.
5) shortages and inflation at grocery counter.
6) lowering water tables with dry wells for personal and small town water systems.
7) add your own concerns.
Insofar as there is risk of any of these happening, a lesson should be drawn that access to food and water is more important to survival than access to alternative fuels and such luxuries as air conditioning.
Think of the 1930s dust bowl years as a trial run.
Cheers,
--Mort.
Marginal land which was not meant to grow corn and soybeans, I might add. Nebraska has not set limits on irrigation, so more wells have been sunk every year. Irrigators dependent upon Lake McConaughy use a canal system for irrigation. There has been competition between pivot irrigators (causing lower levels in the Ogallala aquifer) and surface irrigators. Western Nebraska city wells have had problems because of these lower aquifer levels, as well. The increased demand and price for corn because of the ethanol plants springing up everywhere have increased the incentive for this irrigation, but it has happened in a time period of drought, so that irrigation is becoming more expensive and less available. From a recreationists standpoint, this is really sad because the Lake is a real jewel. It had over 100 miles of shoreline, much of that shoreline wide sand beaches, since its located in the Sandhills. Wonderful for sailing, Don. The irrigation district owns 100% of the lake, so recreational use is not its priority.
Investor touts E85, flex-fuel cars
Personally, I'd really like to see this guy expand his vocabulary.
It seems like he didn't listen to TOD'ers and RR's arguments too well, or else they didn't influence him, except for an afterthought in the article's last sentence.
Wherever they are grown, crops to be processed into biofuels also require water. The energy used to produce and deliver that water should be part of the EROEI equation.
Cheers,
--Mort.
Baby steps.
I am going out to Palo Alto in a couple of weeks. Maybe I will look Mr. Khosla up and see if he wants to chat over lunch.
Nah, trajectory !
The Tenn-Tom allows a full draft alternative at times like this. Narrower strings, locks slow things down on that waterway.
This happens every few years.
Of course things could get worse; OR a nice, wet hurricane could dump massive amounts of rain on the Ohio River Valley.
The Washington Post reports that Jimmy Cartet will engage in talks with former Iranian President Khatami.
Can anyone find out if it is reported what will be discussed?
Two-fold question, I suppose:
1/ How do we rhyme this huge expansion with dwindling supplies? Naturally, there'll be a shift towards heavy crude refining, but still, we're talking mass migration here,
2/ Effects on US. Moving refining capacity out of North America will have impacts. What will they be? Let's address energy security, shall we? US refineries will close, one would guess. How much money and employment can we expect to see leave the US economy?
It would be useful to have more information on all the refineries now in the planning stages. Do we have that information available somewhere?
To use the crude it has to be refined and we did it, but now that they need it locally, they will have to refine it locally.
I suppose the answer would be in where those refineries are located.
Some degree of hoarding seems to be going on. That doesn't necessarily mean that supplies are rising. In fact, it's frequent both a symptom of and a contributor to scarcity.
to, oh say, the November elections?
;-)
==AC
Whaduya think, AC, do we have a movie here?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7a9Syi12RJo
Everyone is so Bush laughing at his borderline retarded son they can't even feel the rope tighten around their neck. Cheers to Daddy Bush and his son!! Checkmate!!
Call Michael Moore
==AC
"The trouble with most folks isn't so much their ignorance, as knowing so many things that ain't so."
~Josh Billings
"The trouble with most folks isn't so much their ignorance, as knowing so many things that ain't so."
~Josh Billings
Don't know Billings, but he stole a Mark Twain line.
Here come Kuwait anouncing the coming online of more light sweet earlier than planned:
http://www.rigzone.com/news/article.asp?a_id=35687
Since then there have been other demands for clarity in reserves:
But since the newely elected opposition party has stated they would do this, there has been nothing but silence from them. Days have turnet to in almost a month and one half.
Now you know that if they actually found that they really had 100 billion barrels of reserves, thay would have announced it immediately. But I suspect they have found that the truth is that less than half that amount actually exists. And of course they are having second thoughts about revealing the truth.
Perhaps I'm giving the government too much credit for being able to manipulate the market, but it seems to me when they put their heads together with the banks and the oil execs they could do whatever they pleased right up to the end. (Of civilization.)
But I have to wonder -does the author of that article really believe what he's saying?
"Hope lies in the smoldering rubble of empires"
Testify
The movie ran through me
The glamour subdue me
The tabloid untie me
I'm empty please fill me
Mister anchor assure me
That Baghdad is burning
Your voice it is so soothing
That cunning mantra of killing
I need you my witness
To dress this up so bloodless
To numb me and purge me now
Of thoughts of blaming you
Yes the car is our wheelchair
My witness your coughing
Oily silence mocks the legless
Ones who travel now in coffins
On the corner
The jury's sleepless
We found your weakness
And it's right outside our door
Now testify
Now testify
It's right outside our door
Now testify
Yes testify
It's right outside our door
With precision you feed me
My witness I'm hungry
Your temple it calms me
So I can carry on
My slaving sweating the skin right off my bones
On a bed of fire I'm choking on the smoke that fills my home
The wrecking ball rushing
Witness you're blushing
The pipeline is gushing
While here we lie in tombs
While on the corner
The jury's sleepless
We found your weakness
And it's right outside your door
Now testify
Yeah testify
It's right outside our door
Now testify
Now testify
It's right outside our door
Mass graves for the pump and the price is set
Mass graves for the pump and the price is set
Mass graves for the pump and the price is set
Mass graves for the pump and the price is set
Who controls the past now controls the future
Who controls the present now controls the past
Who controls the past now controls the future
Who controls the present now?
Now testify
Testify
It's right outside our door
Now testify
Testify
It's right outside our door
- Zach de la Rocha, 1999
They were an amazing band. Yet so overlooked in America. Sadly, so many people just listened to the burning guitar riffs and pumping bass lines but ignored the lyrics. Perfect example: their track "No Shelter" was released on the the Godzilla soundtrack. The entire song is about how American entertainment is a complete distraction from the real killer--consumerism and the oppresion that supports it. One of the lines:
"And Godzilla pure muthafuckin filler
To keep ya eyes off the real killer "
And it's on the soundtrack to the very same movie.
But these are bands that were, from their inception, part of the broader consumerist oriented culture. The global capital regime is capable of coopting far greater counter-cultural movements than individual bands. Consider the corporatization of reggae music. Admittedly its connections to the Rastafarian movement was strained from the beginning as it was part of the local "star" system, but look at the way rastafarianism has been pigeon holed and reduced to a genre. And we're not talking about some would be anti-globalization protestor from the suburbs, we're talking about people who really did set up a way of living outside the "global capitalist system" (even gamed it for awhile through promotion of cannabis and the early cultural counter penetration of some of those very same "stars" who converted.
Agree that it's a good peak oil primer.
Hope you like the fact that TOD has made it to the mainstream on the data miners.
Yeah Yeah I am am the long lost son of some guy name james and I am his only hier in the universe. Oh wait I did write this story a few decades ago, Oh never mind. Just a long lost billion.
Dan Ur, aka Someone Your Daughter knows.
HON Patrick IJELE (MR)
BASSOLE CHAMBERS OFJUSTICE
AVOCATS ET AVOCATS-CONSEILS
LOT, 2743 ,COCODY
ABIDJAN,COTE D' IVOIRE
Dear Respectful One
I have access to some legal and confidential information concerning a late Mr.James. T. Ur a resident investor here who recently passed away. I handled some legal briefs for him concerning a deposit of valuables and cash he made with a deposit company here. Owing to the demise of my client and by virtue of my relationship with him, I have decided to use all the resources within my power to retrieve the deposit,
since my client died intestate . Until this time I, the solicitors, have been trying to determine the whereabouts of any of the relatives who will assume the responsibility of safe guarding the estate of the deceased.
It is not my will to see the above matter treated that way hence I conducted a search that will assist me in first and foremost fighting for the safety of the consignment and all that is contained therein.I am very much aware of my client's last dealings with the deposit firm and I have the singular privilege of being in possession of some of the signed agreement papers. I have contacted you to assist in repatriating the money and property left behind by my client because If a relative is not found within six weeks then the Public Trustee will seize the entire estate of my late client, a substantial windfall for both the government and the deposit company.
I look forward to your cooperation and your extreme discretion in this matter. Until such time as this matter is settled, I will continue to work with you to see that the deposit is retrieved and forwarded in your name as a bona fide proxy to my late client. We shall within the course of the next few days plan and execute how best to pursue this mutual matter with a view to cost effectiveness, I have all the necessary legal documents that will be used to back up any claim we may make. All I require is your honest cooperation to enable us see this deal through. I guarantee that this will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of law. Please get in touch with me by email to enable us discuss further.
Yours sincerely
Hon Patrick Ijele Esq
I am getting around 10 of these a day now. Fortunately, Gmail sends them right to my Spam folder.
I recently read an account of a guy who ran a reverse scam on these scammers. He set up a meeting where there was an outdoor webcam, and got these guys to show up on 2 different occasions. He had carried on a long correspondence with them prior to setting up the meeting.
I marked it and all others as spam. I really don't have the time to figure out ways to pull the wool over their eyes.
Thanks for the laugh though.
Charles, aka Dan Ur.
http://www.419eater.com/
http://www.rabble.ca/columnists_full.shtml?x=52087
It is said that TOD is not the place for politics -- just facts. However, they often intertwine.
America was built on a foundation of chattel slavery, where certain human beings (of African ancestry) were counted as 3/5 of a white person, and certain other human beings (the folks who were here when the Europeans arrived) weren't counted at all-- in fact, they were expected, and strongly encouraged to at least become invisible if they didn't have the grace to die.
Hydrocarbon energy replaced human slavery for a time-- it was much cheaper, and then no one knew what to do with the ex-slaves and the remnant Native Americans, so they were just left to the tender mercies of the Free Market. Then Katrina showed that the Free Market has to enlarge past the fantasies of the World Bank, and include such inconvenient things as Nature -- which is, after all, the ultimate Free Market.
We know all this, of course. Eloquently detailed in Ecclesiastes and Job, among other mythic sources. We just forget from time to time...
Ok, wait 1 second. I just bought a new Honda Civic. Those cars are nice little cars that have a gigantic 13.2 gallon tank. Where in the world is she paying $4.30 a gallon?
Since the 1970's, 8.6% of US GDP has shifted from workers' wages to corporate profits. In 2006 terms, this represents 1.135 trillion dollars. Assuming there are 200 million "workers" in the US, each and every one of them has been tricked out of $5500 this year alone, or $11.000 for a lot of families, many of whom will soon see the value of their homes dive off a very steep clifff, while at the same time, how ironic, their mortgage payments soar.
How to survive in Kansas on a Bangladeshi salary. They call it poverty, we call it globalization.
Mud volcanos are apparently common in the area, and some have been spewing mud and fumes for hundreds of years. They are often associated with petroleum deposits.
The drilling company was at fault. They were reminded that they should use a casing, for safety's sake. A casing would allow them to seal up the well in case something like this happened. But they did not use a casing, despite the warning. As a result, when they poured concrete into the hole to try and plug it, the mud just went around it, carving out the sides of the well.
It was when this info surfaced that the company agreed to compensate the victims.
Since you are the surfing expert-- could you please find, then post a link to a video of this mudflow [assuming it exists on the WWWeb]? If 314,500 barrels/day are actually flowing out-- it should be dramatic video-- if not censored by the authorities in charge, like the welfare minister.
Bob Shaw in Phx,Az Are Humans Smarter than Yeast?
Natural Gas is odorless. My guess is it's sulphur.
H2S is supposed to be more toxic than HCN (Hydrogencyanide), but because of the odor, people tend to avoid it.
NG containing H2S is called sour, like sour oil.
Porsena, I am sure you are correct here, after all where else could the mud come from. But I simply cannot imagine how mud could be subducted. I would think as the hard plate being subducted scraped against the plate sitting above it, the soft mud would simply be scraped off. After all, the plate above would put millions of pounds of pressure per square foot on the plate being subducted. Yet the mud was subducted also????
This is the crazyest thing I have ever heard of.
Great post! I hope the irony is not lost to any readers:
------------
"The drilling company is PT Lapindo Brantas, which is controlled by the family of Indonesia's powerful senior welfare minister, Aburizal Bakrie."
---------------
Obviously a huge conflict of interest! Will they attempt to financially shield themselves, or is their primary concern to compensate the mud flow victims?
Bob Shaw in Phx,Az Are Humans Smarter than Yeast?
This would have been a tremendous oilfield, if they had found oil -- instead of toxic mud. IF 50,000 cubic meters per day is the actual outflow:
- 42 gallons [US] or 1 barrel = 0.15898729 cubic meter
- 50,000 x 0.158987 = 7,949 barrels/day
If this exceeds the capacity of the original borehole, then we must assume this hole will get ever larger due to erosion, and the ejected mudflow will continue to increase until the underground pressure is equalized at the surface.Pretty ugly in terms of total environmental degradation unless they can get this stoppered up! Will the toxic chemicals prevent the concrete from setting up and gaining strength to be effective? Any chem experts out there to respond?
Bob Shaw in Phx,Az Are Humans Smarter than Yeast?
Sorry, math mistake due to units confusion! Should be 50,000 cubic meters/day multiplied by 6.29 barrels/cubic meter = 314,500 barrels/day --- a world class record if they had found oil.
1 cubic meter = 264.17205 gallons [US]
264 gallons divided by 42 gallon/barrel = 6.29 barrels/cubic meter
Bob Shaw in Phx,Az Are Humans Smarter than Yeast?
I'm not a chem expert but I'm an engineer. It seems to me that trying to get concrete to harden in a continuously flowing mud volcano is next to impossible, especially when, as you say, the hole will continue to get larger. Imagine trying to pour the concrete to build the Hoover Dam without diverting the Colorado River first. Pretty much impossible, and that seems to be what they're proposing to do here to plug the hole. Concrete needs to sit in one place undisturbed before it can harden.
I believe the claims of attempting to stop this mud volcano by pouring concrete in it are either from politicians who don't know better or are an effort to convince people that they're trying everything possible (in vain).
Yikes! Thxs for your reply-- looks like this area is toast-- I feel bad for the villagers. Amazing the drill boss didn't insist on casing the original borehole.
Well I guess they aren't gonna find any oil then huh?
TAB
A few months ago I heard of problems at the Netherlands end... can we in the UK expect to see this new gas before the end of the year?
http://www.bblcompany.com/
Michael Lynch has been repeating that same line for about two and one half years now. In March of 04 when oil was trading at around $35 a barrel, Lynch said, in the Detroit Free Press, that oil would soon move back down to $25 a barrel. He said then that the "funds" and speculators were responsible for the high price of oil. But this is classic Lynch, from the above Cosmos article:
Of course, of course, all we must do is demand more and God will put more oil in the ground.
Ron Patterson
Now, I don't believe we are going below $50 a barrel, but I think we could see $60 between now and year end. I will be very surprised if oil is able to consistently stay above $70 in the next 3-4 months. I also think gasoline will continue to slide. Rack prices have gone down (at least in my area) far more than street prices have fallen. So, if you can delay that fill-up for a few more days, it might be a good idea.
However, if a hurricane shows up in the Gulf, or we slap serious sanctions on Iran, all bets are off.
Where are inventories full, and where is marginal demand?
Any chance they're filled with heavy crude for which there is no refining capacity available?
This is precisely the reason for resistance to the concept of Peak Oil: it strikes at the very core of the religion known as Capitalism. Some 18th century preacher would have invoked the phrase "God will provide" in times of want; today, the sentiment "the Invisible Hand of the Market will provide" is what predominates, at least among those with access to the corridors of power.
If we have a striking example where the laws of economics are trumped by the laws of physics, as with Peak Oil, then perhaps the Market isn't the omnipotent God our society has made it.
This might be my favorite quote in the whole PO issue (though Deffeyes' comment about waving money at the ground won't put more oil in it is pretty good too). It also reminds me that I will never, ever truly understand economics, or at least economists.
When your only tool is an S&D graph, all solutions lie at the intersection.
The average daily commute to work has shrunk from 25.5 minutes in 2000 to 25.1 minutes last year
Other points noted in that report:
The share of people driving alone to work increased from 75.7 percent in 2000 to 77 percent last year.
The share of people carpooling to work dropped from 12.2 percent in 2000 to 10.7 percent last year.
The share of people using mass transit stayed the same at 4.7 percent.
The share of people walking to work dropped from 2.9 percent in 2000 to 2.5 percent last year.
The share of people working at home increased from 3.3 percent in 2000 to 3.6 percent last year.
Are events in Mexico increasingly pointing to rising conflict?
----------------
"With that in mind, it's been rumored that a contingent of US Special Forces has been sent to help the Mexican military guard the country's oil fields in case of trouble. Mexico's Pemex state oil company produces about 3 million barrels of oil a day and ships about half of it to the US, thus making Mexico one of this country's leading oil suppliers."
-----------------
This hispanic website does not paint a pretty picture either:
-----------------
"It is uncertain where things will go from here, but one thing is for certain - political tensions continue to grip Mexico and some are beginning to worry this might spark into a mini civil war."
----------------
Negotiations have not been fruitful so far for those in Oaxaca. In Chiapas, tensions are rising as the election commission will have to oversee a challenge to the recent election.
Bob Shaw in Phx,Az Are Humans Smarter than Yeast?
thank gawd I live in northern Cali instead of southern :P
Wake Island may soon be gone because of Typhoon Ioke. It is expected to totally submerge the island under storm surge and battering winds & waves. Everyone has been evacuated already.
Bob Shaw in Phx,Az Are Humans Smarter than Yeast?
------------------
"The typhoon is expected to reach Wake Island at 1100 GMT Thursday with winds of up to 161 mph and gusts of up to 195 mph. Ioke will likely pound Wake Island with powerful winds and rain for about 10 to 12 hours if the storm continues to move forward at current speeds, Powell said."
--------------------
To get an idea of what 195mph winds are capable of:
Hurricane Andrew photo: 2 x 4 driven through palm tree.
Hurricane Andrew photo: sheet of plywood driven through a palm tree.
Better yet, watch the astounding 120-160mph windtunnel promotional video at Skyventure. My guess is a 195 mph windblast with flying debris would quickly turn a human into 'tenderized' hamburger.
Bob Shaw in Phx,Az Are Humans Smarter than Yeast?
Much more likely than the "spear" model, and unfortunately can't be confirmed or denied without much more detailed observation.
GREAT !
You never balk at the most outlandish deceitful distortions.
Fantasizing about MUCH MORE implausible explanations, which fortunately "can't be confirmed or denied".
That tells A LOT about all other arguments you make.
Thanks for the exhibit.
As for the rest of what you say, I'm happy to have your distortions and lack of critical thinking on-record.
For the OTHER photo I guess your explanation is that it's a fraud and the 2 x 4 has just been nailed onto the hidden side of the palm tree?
As for my "lack of critical thinking" I am not too sure everybody will agree.
The reader who still cares can ask why someone of such self-proclaimed critical thinking abilities didn't come up with these himself, and pre-empt me by posting first.
Because I have NO doubts about the reality of poles punched thru trees AND other wooden objects by hurricanes.
This without the need for fantasized explanations, it is hard to figure which point you are trying to make with this.
Not only are there many other photos of this kind around but I did see one family photo dating the 1928 cyclone in Madagascar taken by a direct eye witness, while your "arguments" are only hypothetical gibberish.
So far you are just confirming your penchant for outlandish deceitful distortions, a moron with gusto (or yet another psychotic TOD poster?).
You know, standard forensic stuff.
Damn, my irony meter just blew out from the overload.Does anyone have any idea of the size of a 500 million ton mountain would be? The proposal includes increasing unit train size to *150* cars. UNREAL! I can tell you that the disruption to towns along the route is enormous now. Just wait!
As for the coalbed methane up in the Powder River Basin, it's going hell bent for leather. One of the proposed solutions for the production water is to pipe the water, sweet to highly sodic, to the North Platte River, some 120+ miles away and dump it in. The North Platte is suffering just as much here in central WY as down in central NE. We actually had decent snows up in the headwaters this past year, good enough,in fact that the state didn't put a call on the water in April in Casper as it has done the last few years. Of course we turned hot and dry in April, the snow melted two months early and there was no sustained summer runoff to keep the highly managed North Platte River system full. All of the reserviors in central and eastern WY (Seminoe, Pathfinder, Glendo and Guernsey) are near alltime lows like McConaughey. The drought is threatening the very life blood of hundreds of thousands of people throughout the North Platte Valley. What global climate change? Heck, PO may not be near the issue around here as much as finding enough water to sustain our towns, let alone the farms.
Greenland feels effects of Global Warming.
-----------------
Global warming has changed the climate in Greenland to such an extent, it is now possible to raise cattle on the island for the first time in centuries.
-----------------
Bob Shaw in Phx,Az Are Humans Smarter than Yeast?
You may recall my recent email asking the Red Cross on how they intend to prepare for Peakoil and Global Warming.
Well, I got a reply from the Red Cross today:
----------------------------------
Thank you for contacting the American Red Cross. We regret that we are unable to assist you.
The mission of the American Red Cross is to provide relief for victims of disaster and to help people prevent, prepare for, and respond to emergencies. Accordingly, the American Red Cross cannot support such requests outside of its mission.
Please contact an appropriate organization to assist you.
------------------------------------
So it looks like we cannot count on the Red Cross to be prepared WTSHTF.
Bob Shaw in Phx,Az Are Humans Smarter than Yeast?
Thxs for responding. Actually the Red Cross's official policy is to join up with Walmart: [Credit to Savinar's LATOC]
Excerpts:
---------------------
Pay To Be Saved: The Future of Disaster Response
The Red Cross has just announced a new disaster-response partnership with Wal-Mart. When the next hurricane hits, it will be a co-production of Big Aid and Big Box.
This, apparently, is the lesson learned from the government's calamitous response to Hurricane Katrina: Businesses do disaster better.
"It's all going to be private enterprise before it's over," Billy Wagner, emergency management chief for the Florida Keys, currently under hurricane watch for Tropical Storm Ernesto, said in April. "They've got the expertise. They've got the resources."
But before this new consensus goes any further, perhaps it's time to take a look at where the privatization of disaster began, and where it will inevitably lead.
Here's a snapshot of what could be in store in the not-too-distant future: helicopter rides off of rooftops in flooded cities ($5,000 a pop, $7,000 for families, pets included), bottled water and "meals ready to eat" ($50 per person, steep, but that's supply and demand) and a cot in a shelter with a portable shower (show us your biometric ID -- developed on a lucrative Homeland Security contract -- and we'll track you down later with the bill. Don't worry, we have ways: spying has been outsourced too).
Unless a radical change of course is demanded, New Orleans will prove to be a glimpse of a dystopic future, a future of disaster apartheid in which the wealthy are saved and everyone else is left behind.
-----------------------------
Oh, Joy! =[ I hope all TODers read this article.
Bob Shaw in Phx,Az Are Humans Smarter than Yeast?
That is off-the-charts hilarity!!! Pick a free book off my site and I'll it send it to you, it's a shame this post is buried so far down the thread. =(
Thxs, but no book is necessary. But I will forward you a copy of my original message & Red Cross reply so you can verify it yourself. Feel free to publish on LATOC if you wish [after removing email addy, etc].
We regret that we are unable to assist you.--makes one wonder how many millions of Americans will get this message as we go postPeak. Yikes!
Bob Shaw in Phx,Az Are Humans Smarter than Yeast?
They use two different sets of names--one for the Pacific, and one for the Atlantic. The eastern Pacific is just ahead of the Atlantic at this time. The hurricanes across the International Dateline are called typhoons.
Bob Shaw in Phx,Az Are Humans Smarter than Yeast?
Gas prices are indeed down, here in the Bay Area you can get gas for just under $3, I doubt that will last though.
Some kind of summer (autumn?) cold going around, cough.
What do y'all think?
Yeah! Do not tap your head, do not tap your dashboard, do not tap your penis, do not tap your __ ..... not here, anywhere but here!
Kinda like the ads for the financial service ING, where they have someone/something blocking the area before the letters ING...... makes the viewer think, Feeding? Fighting? Fucking? Ing ..... something Ing........