Sunday, August 23, 2009

The Amount of Water in a Cotton Shirt

From Jenna Orkin:

Collapse
Coming Soon: Banking Crisis of Historic Proportions
Rep. Bachus: "Social Security Could Face Default Within Two Years"
Commentary: Getting ready for the dollar’s fall
Prime Mortgages Are Also Going Sour
Hidden Backlog of Foreclosures
Big banks still hold FDIC captive
FDIC May Add Special Fees on Banks as Mounting Failures Drain Deposit Fund
Manhattan Commercial Real Estate Office Sales Plunge 91%
Pensions' Private-Equity Cash Reduced 59% as Profits Shrink
U.S. Initial Jobless Claims Unexpectedly Rise as Companies Seek Cost Cuts
U.S. postal service could run out of money next month (from Rice Farmer)
Last Week's Insiders Transactions: 10 Buys For $60 Million, 136 Sells For Over $1.15 Billion (from Sebastian Ronin)
Swiss to reveal UBS accounts to settle U.S. tax fight Full Article
UBS to disclose details of 4,450 accounts in US tax evasion case
Swiss Banks Turn to Emerging Markets, Shun Americans as UBS Erodes Secrecy
Guard Troops May Be Needed in Troubled Alabama County (Aug. 4)
Unlike AmEx, Capital One's Defaults Worsening
Bank Lending Standards Tighter, Fed Says
Banks' Problem Loans Keep Growing
Credit Card Defaults Down, But Not All Reasons Are Positive
Crunch victims use anti-stalking laws to challenge 'greedy' banks
One city, 15,000 homeless veterans
Putpockets Give Extra Cash
One way to beef up the tourism industry.
China Launches Defense Website in Transparency Bid
PetroChina in Huge Australia Deal
Japan Youth Fuel Pension Bomb by Shunning Politics Aimed at Old

US troops and drones to deploy to Colombia (from Rice Farmer)
Nigeria Threatens Largest Debtors

Buffett Gets Busy
Buffett says unchecked U.S. debt threatens economy: report
The Greenback Effect, by Warren Buffett
Buffett's Latest: Inflation Forecast
Buffett on the Dollar's Destiny
Buffett: Debt Mountain Could Turn America into a Banana Republic

Tom Ridge: I Was Pressured to Raise Terror Alert to Help Bush Win

From PostCarbon.org:

Got Sustainable Solutions? We Want to Publish Your Story.

As you may know, our Senior Fellow, Richard Heinberg, is widely recognized as one of the world’s foremost educators on the perils of a global oil economy. Right now, Richard is starting his next book about how individuals and communities can build resilience in the face of uncertainty and rapid change caused by economic collapse, peak oil, climate change, and other crises.

In short, this book is about you. So, you see, Richard wants to hear your stories; the stories of what individuals, families and communities are doing to transition to a post-carbon world. Please contact us with your stories. Tell us about your inspirational efforts, or maybe about those of someone you know. Are there any businesses, communities, or families who inspire you? Not only is Richard looking to illuminate these efforts in his new book, but we’d love to feature them on our soon-to-launch, brand spanking new website.While we hate deadlines, publishers seem to derive great joy in imposing them. Meaning we have to your stories by September 18, 2009.e-mail us at: stories@postcarbon.org

Science/Environment
The End of Cheap Water?

...to make a 1 tonne passenger car takes more than 100,000 gallons of water. Just to make a cotton shirt takes over 1,000 gallons of water.
Leaders In Alternative Energy: Germany Turns On World's Biggest Solar Power Project
WHO casts doubt on Tamiflu use
UK Anti-Terror Technology: 007 or 1984? (from Rice Farmer)
Driverless vehicles 'could be on Britain's roads within 10 years'
Rotten algae plagues French coast
Environment Agency launches investigation as algae problem spreads

And...
Russian Gov't Looks To Buy Golden Bed

25 comments:

OregonSurvivor said...

Peak Oil Is Wrong according to Peter Schwartz. Rebuttals?

http://cleantech.com/news/4545/schwartz-peak-oil

Paul said...

RanD and Businessman:

“Over the past umpteen thousand years we've been wending our way(s) into the future on training wheels. From here on our training wheels are coming off -- so we can be who WE are and be about doing what WE need to be doing. It's time for it.”

I had to chuckle - I took the training wheels (stabilisers here in the UK) off my 4 year old daughter’s bike for the first time this week. In three days she was riding just fine on two wheels! She did fall off once - and has the scars to prove it - and she had some tears along the way. But she - and her parents - are very proud of her new found skills. As a keen cyclist myself - it is heartwarming to see her develop. Cycling opens up a whole new world of freedoms. (And in a world without oil will be increasingly important - as long as bicycles are available that is).

I take your point about evolution vs revolution. I hope the human race evolves as quickly and with as few mishaps as my daughter has this week. I know it is a step change many orders of magnitude larger than my daughter’s - but the principle is much the same I guess! The scars and tears may be much more severe though, I fear.

As for revolution/evolution here in the UK - I see very little evidence of it. The media also has everything tied down tight - they define what we are allowed to think. Most people have just got their heads down and are waiting for things to improve - like a wet summer, hoping that next year will be sunnier.

Namaste

Anonymous said...

Sorry to all if I came off as overly-critical a few weeks ago. I still feel we should be spreading the word as much as possible about upcoming events.

Thank you Paul for the link to theflucase.com. Good to read all that is offered there. I don't know about anyone else, but I find this information more disturbing than just about anything I have encountered so far in my life, to the extent it is effecting my daily life. I just asked my son to not return to college based on its reputation for strict vaccination requirements for its students. Thank God he is understanding.

Links and videos on the upcoming vaccination program:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEzj2CATQ1o

http://www.c-spanarchives.org/library/index.php?main_page=product_video_info&tID=5&src=atom&atom=todays_events.xml&products_id=288456-1

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=14705

Baxter Pharmaceutical:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDR-UJYms6w

Former 60 Minutes spot on 1976 vaccination program:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qePstRnLhRs

sensato said...

"Peak Oil Is Wrong according to Peter Schwartz. Rebuttals?"

His definition of peak oil is wrong. He thinks it's "running out".

Anonymous said...

Now I can go back to sleep after viewing that clip, Oregon. If words are delivered with authority, by an expert, they are to be believed.

We can all rejoice now that Peak Oil has been debunked, and the recession is over.

(as I go screaming, insane...well, not much any more. outrage outrage has finally given way to outrage fatigue...)

sunrnr said...

Paul:

Unfortunately, here in the US, the public expects and the Government tries to provide more and bigger training wheels. They'll come off only when they eventually fall off.

Many of us expect this to happen soon with disastrous results.

namaste

RanD said...

Paul... in response to your delightful response re evolution & training wheels:

The principle underpinning a necessary casting off of training wheels I'd say exactly reflects evolution's principle of necessarily casting off those eventually stifling developmental artifacts of a once-upon-a-time necessary earlier-stage developmental condition. 'Process' is a self-evincing definitive feature of life, itself.

As for whether those "scars and tears" of learning how to advance ourselves into grander and better experiences are more or less "severe" for 4 yr olds freeing themselves from training wheels or for everyone learning to live without... well... money-that-still-works, for instance, I suspect depends entirely on how attitudinally up-and-ready everyone is for entering such a very possible future.

namaste

BJ said...

Oregonsurvivor: He didn't say Peak Oil is wrong. Well, more precisely, he did say that Peak Oil is wrong, but then he went on and sounded exactly like a proponent of the theory. He argues:
1- we don't know how much oil is out there, estimates vary widely.
2- technology can help us recover more oil.

However, (and here's where he sounds exactly like a Peak Oil theorist) the era of cheap oil is over. QED, that's peak oil, in a nutshell.

Unknown said...

CJ

Why not just produce some paperwork claiming authoritatively that he has been jabbed?

We're gonna have to do that eventually anyway.

As a vegetarian, I must say it seems more wholesome than painting sheep's blood on the door posts.

Wink and good cheer.

sunrnr said...

For whatever reason, I woke up this morning in a really "fatalistic" mood.

I'm to the point of wishing for it to end in a terrifying instant for those of us on the North American continent as eluded to from this link off George Ure's (http://www.urbansurvival.com/lastweek.htm.) post last week.

http://www.cheniere.org/correspondence/021109.htm

Zero point energy ... coulda, shoulda, woulda been human kinds' salvation. Now it appears to have been co-opted into the instantaneous demise of selected humans, if you believe in such things?

MCR said some time ago the TPTB's plans were spiraling out of control. after eading Jenna's and others' excellent web mining results, I'd have to agree that we seem to be in a rapidly decreasing radii death spiral.

Back to bed or more coffee? Decisions, decisions ...

ya'll have a nice day now ya hear!

namaste

Anonymous said...

Eyeballs: They may make the participants wear metal wristbands with chips in them or be microchipped. Can't fake that. Where are all the sheep when you need them?

Sunrnr: Boy, that last link you posted really cheered me up! That can't be for real, can it? Where will the Cabal be when all of this takes place? I want to go there too. Anyone up for setting up a commune in Chile?

OregonSurvivor said...

@ Sue, glad I could brighten someone's day with conclusive proof that the future is secure...

And now a bit more humor; if you would like to escape the prying eyes of Google, you may choose to opt out:
http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/685.html

Anonymous said...

With regards to concerns on water usage, I'll refer everyone to lower school/elementary school science classes. To steal a word from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, it's "Elementary!"

http://www.fwee.org/hlogic.html

Knowing that water is constantly recycled (and cleansed), the biggest concerns aren't the use of water - it's the mis-use and restriction of water.

Unknown said...

CJ:

"They may make the participants wear metal wristbands with chips in them or be microchipped."

Sheesh... that really is a bit extreme. A particularly strange university or a general trend in higher education? I'd think enrollment at such a school would be way down, leading to abandonment of the noxious proposal, but then, that would be reasonable.

Wooo boy....

Jeff said...

Bloomberg won the case!!!
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=av_bCYnKeIUk
this is huge.

Peter J. Nickitas said...

Jenna:

A story on the Fed that Mike covered last fall:

http://www.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idUSTRE57O03P20090825?feedType=RSS&feedName=businessNews

This should fuel support for H.R. 1207, Rep. Ron Paul's transparency in the Fed bill, and the American Monetary Act, a bill by Rep. Dennis Kucinich to make the Fed an agency of the Treasury Department and to print real greenbacks again.

OrwellianUK said...

'Peak Oil is wrong', yet Saudi Arabia wants to build a Nuclear power plant Link

sunrnr said...

Here's one that pretty much sums it all up in a bit of a satirical manner.

http://smokingmirrors.blogspot.com/2009/08/dog-poets-broadcasting-from-sirius.html

What's that saying ... "The truth is often said in jest."

namaste

Anonymous said...

Orwellian - when one of your neighbors has nukes and walks around beating on the other neighbors, the best unfortunate recourse is to be prepared to fight fire with fire. Strategic security requirements will often trump energy concerns.

Do you really think that the royals in SA are building a nuclear plant as part of it's energy sustainability? Energy is just a convenient side effect of the process that they're seeking to implement.

Anonymous said...

Eyeballs:

I wasn't clear about the wristbands or microchips. What I should have written was that people may get them once they have been jabbed for proof and to determine where they are in the vaccination process. The Univ claims they have no intention to make them mandatory, but the head of student life (the dorms) is ex-military. I think once the hysteria reaches a certain level, they may come out with a new policy. Watch the following from today's Yahoo news:

http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?cl=15217123

Interesting that all the "experts" are unidentified military and some man in a white lab coat. They may have a lot of kids reporting to the infirmary, but how many of them are seriously ill or have bona fide cases of swine flu? Where are they getting their numbers for projected cases? Where is there evidence there are going to be tens of thousands dead, unless their lab experiments on animals with stored samples is showing them something they aren't sharing with us. Did you see the 1976 interview video I posted yesterday? Even back then they had no justification/deaths or even confirmed cases, yet they launched their dangerous vaccination program with thousands ending up with Guillame Barre syndrome. I guess they think we must all have really short memories.

Shorebreak:

Why not just get a Berkey water purification system (I prefer the one with the black filters) and some bleach? Treat water first with a few drops of bleach. Wait a few minutes, then pour water into Berkey and out comes totally chlorine/germ free, uncontaminated drinking water. Missionaries and those doing work in remote locations use them with good results. They last for years unless you are providing water to large groups (in which case you get a larger unit or more filters). A couple of hundred bucks for clean water is good insurance. No, I don't sell them.

agape wins said...

RanD,

I guess the post under "Courtney" (my granddaughter) was directed to, not at you; I have read all of your posts, & the Links you included some time back.
I EVEN watched the Zeitgeist movie, which to me was about like
Unified field theory- but that is just me!
"In German, the word has more layers of meaning than the English translation; included in common understanding of the term is the allegation that Zeitgeist may only be observed for past events."

I get something constructive from even the grosses fiction.
I seldom read Fiction, written as fiction but I made an exception last week, I'll explain later.

An interview is another Creature, the show in question involved 2 "Guests", Jordan Maxwell, talked about money, the symbolism on our dollar & how Money works. both, as he sees it. Nassim Haramein go's on about his childhood, & Other things not found in print, the interchange with George is interesting, at times laughable.
The call in "dance routine", in both case's, was enlightening.
I have been trying to get them to discuss Quantum Physics, now I know where they stand!

If we could have a Face to face it would be more enlightening, and enjoyable to/for both of us, than these disjointed posts.

Original post:

Agape Wins.
Added:
(We each of us should be openminded!)
I just watched this show, anyone with a love of science, thinking, where we are, and where we are going should invest some thought here.

Amae!

http://www.coasttocoastam.com/show/2009/08/18

10:12 PM

RanD:

"-- http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=10783 --

provides refreshingly more comprehensive & useful info on the nature & history of 'climate dynamics' rather than the decidedly simplistic & misleading catch-term 'global warming' that we've ALL been inculcated with. Ciao"

"Global Research does not necessarily endorse the proposition of "Global Cooling", nor does it accept at face value the Consensus on Global Warming. Our purpose is to encourage a more balanced debate on the topic of global climate change."

Interesting, but we are alive today not 30 years in the future, we have to live through the next 10 years!
More on this later also!!

Think about why the old Wagons/Cars had tall narrow wheels, why tanks did so poorly in WWI yet well in WWII-- we have to solve the near term is get to the future of our Grandchildren!!

I find thought progressing well from/about everyone here.
How can I pick one personality that is still Posting here, when each post is an improvement over the last!
We would soon sound like a Coast To Coast program; it is positive that we have some new voices being heard, their posts can only improve the dialog as they expose their thoughts!

Agape.

agape wins said...

Shorebreak said...

With regards to concerns on water usage, I'll refer everyone to lower school/elementary school science classes. To steal a word from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, it's "Elementary!"

Please listen to what Nassim Haramein thinks about water, space,
& our future. He seems to think
our is/has to be SOON.
Just another piece of the puzzle!

http://www.coasttocoastam.com/show/2009/08/18

OrwellianUK said...

Shorebreak,

Yeah, I'm aware of the Israeli Nukes naturally, and of course the likelihood that getting a nuclear weapon has the effect of making your enemies think twice, but I feel that building nuclear plants is also a stop-gap to allow Saudi-Arabia to keep exporting its oil for longer by reducing its internal demand.

Don't forget that as net production falls and internal demand rises, that it brings the day a country can no longer export oil nearer. Mexico is a good example of this soon to be fulfilled phenomenon. Saudi Arabia on the other hand no doubt hopes to carry on supplying 12% of the worlds oil for as long as possible.

The fact that solving this problem with Nuclear Power might be merely wishful thinking will not necessarily affect the decision to build. We only have to look at Canada's intention to build Nuclear Plants to provide the steam for its Tar Sands processes to realise that logic (and the arithmetic of Net Energy) does not always prevail.

sensato said...

Shorebreak said...

With regards to concerns on water usage, I'll refer everyone to lower school/elementary school science classes. To steal a word from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, it's "Elementary!"

http://www.fwee.org/hlogic.html


Not so elementary: not all water is "renewable", ie. that from fossil aquifers.

http://www.eoearth.org/article/Aquifer_depletion

Odd that aquifers don't even get a mention at fwee.org

Anonymous said...

Sensato - there's a few influential people who agree with you. Dig around and see if you can find out who's buying up land over aquifers in South America.