Tuesday, October 28, 2008

TRICK OR TREAT

From Murph

TODAYS HORROR STORY;

or, what’s the new crap this week.,

Or, Scotty, beam me up and hurry,

Or WTF?

I simply cannot believe what every new week brings up in new revelations about what our government is doing. Every damned week it’s something new. Which doesn’t beat out the daily revelations, but … all I want to do is curse today.

Over the weekend, we learn that the government wants a bunch of these “Big Dog” robots, equipped with munitions capability and discernments to be able to restrain “uncooperative humans”. They want packs of these things. Geez, wonder when the hot heads will start laying traps for them. You know, land mines, big bore rifles and such to knock them over. Hey Hank, see that critter over there? Let’ use it for target practice for the 50 cal. Geez Bob, that’s over a mile away. That’s ok Hank, give it a shot. Meanwhile Pete is laying land mines around his place and making plans to lure them in. he he he.

The pentagon also ordered a bunch of the “pain rays” for crowd control. You know, the ones that operate on microwave bands and can cook a person from the inside out. I guess that gives a new meaning to ‘block parties’? Oh ymmmy, please pass the thigh of that homeless person that they cooked up for us. The pecks were too thin from not eating enough and got over cooked. Or, please pass the… oh hell, I digress.

The last bit of news is that FEMA wants a 100 mile band on 100% of our boarders that is ‘constitution free zones’ where you can be stopped for any reason, or no reason at all, searched, detained on suspicion, or god knows what. Of course that band contains a little over 2/3 of our population. YouTube has some interesting short films by people that encountered homeland security road blocks and check points 60 miles or so from the Mexican boarder. Hey Hank, got your pistol ready? There’s gonna be a bunch of em at the next check point. Better hope they didn’t bring tanks. And no Hank, they aren’t for taking home as trophies. Watch the dogs though, don’t want them getting a stray shot in em, it’ll spoil the coon hunt.

I don’t believe this shit.

Remember the movie “Signs”? A friend of ours that came from Detroit saw it after we told him it was a neat movie. We asked him what he thought of it. He said he didn’t like it. We were a bit taken back until he explained. He said not one person in the movie was armed, first off, and he also opined that if they had landed in Detroit the street gangs would have the ship stripped out in half an hour and be selling ray guns on the street the next day. He thought it was very unrealistic. Sigh. Fantasy meets up with reality.

So where is the resistance to the alien takeover right now? I just gotta classify these people working for FEMA and Homeland security as aliens. Not sure of the scales, never seen one nakid yet. But ya never know. Maybe we should be searching the ground for shed scales or skins wherever they have been. At least we could confirm it then.

Oh my god, what have I just said. Oh man, of course it is for our own good. Got to keep all them terrorists on edge and marginalized you know. Plus, if all them good quality folks doing the enforcement of the rules out there weren’t working, we’d then have another 30 million people out of work, can’t have that. The government and its agencies employ over 50% of working people today. By god,we are gonna beat this economic downturn by hiring more security people, for our own good now, let’s not forget that part. Got a feeling there is going to be a hiring surge in prison guards pretty soon. Although in “Cool Hand Luke” they seemed to live pretty good. But I digress again.

Considering that the human slave trade has been growing lately, and the predominance of it is for sexual slavery, I guess we all can plan on not having to worry about worn out clothes after a while.

We just got through watching the old movie “The Hustler”. Haven’t seen it for a very long time. Made me think that is what has been happening to us as citizens of the country, we’ve been hustled. When will we all learn that there is more to life than making money.

I have been seeing more articles lately talking about class warfare. The two I have seen lately that are well done is on Cyernals Journal and Thomas Pains corner. On Pains site the article (Spreading the Wealth: The politics of class warfare. http://www.bestcyrano.org/thomaspaine/

On Cyerno’s Journal, http://www.bestcyrano.org/ the lead article on the Bourgeoisie is worth reading.

Yup, we are and have ever been, in a class warfare with some bunch at the top of the social and economic ladder. We have revolutions that attempt to equalize things a bit for the working class. The great American experiment was intended to make things a bit more spread out, but the adulteration we are experiencing today is the greatest concentrating of wealth to the elites and bourgeoisie the world has ever seen. Those that do the actual producing of wealth benefit the least. I wonder if that will ever change.

I just don’t know folks. Tonight I am slightly speechless. So, a short post. Murph

This addendum is from Freeacre on the subject.

Just to throw in my two cents here, I want to add a few other aspects that are leading to nosebleed level stress moments right now.

The marathon election process is coming to a head in a week. Good God, what an exercise that showed just about everything that is sick and wrong about our political arena. Billions of dollars spent on it, for openers. The divisiveness in our culture is just so depressing. Can’t seem to get any groups to agree on much of anything. Petty, mean-spirited control freaks running most of the campaigns. Ron Paul and other alternative thinkers shut out altogether by the media. Important subjects totally taboo. It just makes me sick. And, now we have to worry whether the neocons are going to try something outrageous to suspend the elections altogether between now and election day. Or, if the election will be stolen again by Diebold election machines that flip the vote or by the voter purges that have been engineered by the suspiciously silent Carl Rove over the past year or so.

The potential stock market crash and the trillions of dollars the bailout has added to our national debt is like watching a horror movie in slow motion. Trillions of dollars are evaporating out of the budgets of states, cities and counties, 401Ks and now pensions. I expect the dollar to die just about the time I am to collect my first social security check in February. So it goes…

On All Hallows Eve, I think I may be found self-medicating with the Halloween candy. I may just be sitting there with the porch light off and eating Snickers bars and peanut butter cups from the bowl in my lap. This year “Trick or Treat” has taken on a whole new meaning…

I must remember to leave the mental door open for the “treat” part. Maybe something good will happen out of all this mess.


55 comments:

RAS said...

LOL. Good post, Murph, fa. I disliked the movie Signs for the same reason as your friend, btw. Let the little green men land in some of the neighborhoods I lived in while growing up, and there wouldn't be enough of them left to identify by the time the sun rose if they started any crap. The same goes for Homeland Security agents, btw. ;-)

The arts center I hang out at runs a haunted house this time of the year. Do you know what some of the artist painted on the walls? FEMA signs. Awful, I know, but almost everyone has gotten a good, gallows-humor kind of laugh out of it.

As much as I would like to believe the men doing this crap are aliens, I can't. This is what happens when humans sink to almost the lowest possible point. We are given the choice between good and evil, and some of us choose the wrong one.

Not to nitpick, but I saw the title of the post before last and I just wanted to point out that there are thirteen moons in a year. ;-)

Anonymous said...

Yeah! -What you said!!!

Can't wait till this election nightmare is over with. I'm so frigg'in stress out! It seems like every few minutes, I type again -EVERY FEW MINUTES, there's something on the web about votes being flipped, not counted or thousands of voters purged from the rosters, political hate e-mail to EVERYONE with an e-mail account, socialism this, Muslim that and terrorists around every frigg'in corner! And then I wonder what's gonna happen when they DO steal the election. Riot police and Blackwater muthafuckers everywhere wasting people who protest in the "Constitution Free Zones?"

And then I read that Obama didn't really go to Hawaii to see his ailing Grandmother, but instead sat down with a bunch of high ranking military types to work out an angle to stop WWIII that the DICK! Cheney is instigating via Syria.

Jeeebus H!!! I feel like getting a 24-hour vodka or beer IV drip in my arm for the next seven days!!!

Doubt if they'd let me be hooked-up to it at work, though.

Shit. We're doomed, I tell you -DOOMED!!!

Later -

Dude

Anonymous said...

Jeez, ras, you're right! Thirteen moons! Shoulda known that! Thanks.

Hang in there, Dude!

Anonymous said...

awww crap,

You would think I didn't have enough coffee this morning. Misspelled Cyrano twice. sigh.
ras,

FEMA signs on the walls!! That's a hoot. Your area actually doesn't think much of the Homeland Security dedicated people who are protecting you all from them terrible terrorists? Geez, what's the country coming to?

I reckon one definition of an alien is; any being that thinks outside of the value system that is good for the humans?

13 moons in the year. drat. I was living in the cowboy and Indian movies I guess. In actuality Freeacre wanted that title against my most strenuous and vocal objections. She threatened me with the garage if I didn't. What's a guy gonna do? sigh.

Dude,

We all need to chill out a bit I guess. Maybe the final plot line is to get us all so stressed out we die of heart attacks. I do think the suckers are setting us up for extreme oppression. Just waiting for Americans to really protest what they are doing, then the hammer comes down. But got to keep in mind, it's for our own good. AHHHHHHHH. You are right, we are doomed no matter what we do.

Anonymous said...

Oldensoul and I
are just returned from a short trip
up north to find this outwelling
of support and praise
embarassing and humbling
and sustaining as well.

Thank you, all,
with hands pressed together
and head bowed
in your four directions.

Especially,
a round of applause,
for Freeacre and the Murphinator!
without whom
this little blaze
might not crackle.
We applaud your vision,
your courage,
and your conviction
to push forward, tremulous,
into that 'unmooned dark',
resisting fear,
singing to each of us
the song of resisting fear,
teaching us all, the song lives here, in our own good hearts.

Hey Ya Way Ah Hey Ya Hey!
Hey Ya Way Ah Hey Ya Hey!
Hey Ya Hey Ya Hey Ya Hey!

We are honored to sit
with you all, brothers and sisters,
and count you family.

aho

-rockpicker and oldensoul.

Jacques de Beaufort said...

speaking of hate:
"he's a nigger" shouted at a Palin rally and she didn't even blink:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9T0FI2axbU

I wonder what kind of entertainment options will be available under Marshall Law?

At least in a command economy things are more stable.

I can't wait to see the big car's go finally. All the motherfuckers with their F150's and Yukon's will be hoofing it. And they will be some angry hateful bastards.

Oswald Spengler makes a good case for "Caesarism" as an alternative for civilizations in decline. What we have now is really a Plutocracy masquerading as a Democracy. At least in an Autocratic regime everyone knows what's going on.

I really don't see an alternative to this. Revolutionary movements don't stand a chance until Industrial decline is much further on.

The sex trade is coming back in a BIG way here in urban Los Angeles. Mostly human trafficking from SE Asia and Mexico.

I predict that slavery proper will return before my life ends. Probably in the form of agricultural gulag's similar to the DPK (North Korea).

I wan't to get on a raft and go to Cuba, they won't really be hurting when Peak Oil hit's, they are way ahead of the curve in organic urban gardening and other alternative agriculture.

Jacques de Beaufort said...

I mean't to say "Martial Law"

Jacques de Beaufort said...

just stumbled across these AMAZING pics of hyperinflated currency in Zimbabwe:
http://humorland.wordmess.net/20081025/what-the-real-crisis-is-like/

also see this vid on foreclosures in SC:
http://jacquesdebeaufort.blogspot.com/2008/10/trash-out.html

Anonymous said...

Yeah, and they have free health care, too. And, they found a huge oil deposit just off their coast. HA! The worm turns...

Anonymous said...

From Truthseeker

The world (or at least the humans that think they run it) is just going completly mad at the moment. It is hard to know what is really going on. How do we discern truth from misinformation and disinformation?

I have been following the new Project Avalon forum over the past month or so. This relates to the Project Camelot website and videos that others have referred to here. I think I am more confused than ever now. There is some good stuff there, but it is all mixed up with everything from nasty negativity to dreamy gullibility and plain stupidity.

Discernment is the key. I think this will have to be my word for the month, or is that moonth?

Freeacre, Murph and Ras,

With regard to the number of moonths there are in a year. Well that depends on how you measure a moonth.

If you are measuring from new moon to new moon (or full moon to full moon), which is what most folk generally deem to be the lunar cycle (actually it is a soli-lunar cycle, meaning the period between two Moon-Sun alignments), then you are looking at an average cycle of 29.53 Days. 29.53 x 12 = 354.36 Days (rounded down to 354), which is just 11 days short of a year (12
days for a leap year, as is this one). 29.53 x 13 = 383.89 Days (rounded up to 384), which is 19 days beyond a year (18 days in a leap year).

Alternatively, if you are looking at the lunar cycle from the perspective of its return to the same location in the zodiac, then you are looking at a month that averages out at 27.32 Days. 12 x 27.32 = 327.84 Days, which is 37 days short of a year (38 in a leap year). 13 x 27.32 = 355.16 Days, which is just 10 days short of a year (11 in a leap year).

So, Freeacre and Ras, you are both approximately right, as their are 12 soli-lunar cycles, plus 11 days each year, and 13 lunar returns, plus 10 days in a year. So, despair not Freeacre, you were not entirely wrong. Ras, your version (13 lunar returns)is the closer of the two by about a day.

Best Wishes

Truthseeker (Andrew)

Anonymous said...

boy i'm with ya on this one murph, and freeacre,

I must remember to leave the mental door open for the “treat” part. Maybe something good will happen out of all this mess.

gee i'm fractured, you got us!!
aho (-;)
mf

mrs p said...

Ah yes a new meaning in the trick or treat. And America has been greatly tricked. As for the 31st, some of the little terrorists, (trick-or-treaters) give me stress. I will most certainly need some kind of nerve calming agent these next few days...perhaps a little fermented cactus & pineapple juice over ice. It will take my strong will to avoid devouring the candy too. So funny freeacre in a trance on the porch with the candy! I could see myself in that. Too funny.

And I'm waiting for our politics to rise to some other level...but the MSM (moronic society messengers) refuse to pull out of the slime fest they're enjoying so well. Shame none of the other candidates are mentioned, you'd think they'd at least have them on CNN to talk instead of those other pundit boneheads who get paid for the lowest driveling caca. We voted weeks ago and can't wait for it to be over. We've been on an emotional roller coaster for 8 years. 8 years of sinister, impish, 3rd grader, nanner, nanner dictatorial, torturing, murdering, stealing-swindling, lying stinking mockery of justice. If there are aliens about or near by, you'd think they'd step in soon at some point. Maybe they'll come to my door on Friday night. And I'll say "it's about time you got here!...have some chocolate?

Anonymous said...

i would like to think that i am a simple person but as luck would have it it;s untrue,
and i think it might be about over for the time of man.
signed ,
chief tomahawk. whom is furry, four legged and lives in a cage with an exercise
wheel and waits for the day the door is accidentally left open and freedom is let loose.
he will change his name to avenger and seek out the cage builders and remove them
from their motion.
the exercise wheel makers will be given a special place at the fire for having engraved
into the wheel the wisdom that has been lost to mankind , this wisdom is starved for
attention and the hungry can feast at the trough of life and leave with fat bellies.
we are aged and decriped she says , i agree i says, but that is only the first-last step in
the evolution of the mind of man and the light shines good on the mind of man,
can we play she says? i think so said the old man, pass me a leg and let down your hair,
and we can sprinkle stars upon the contents of our union, ok she says, and reaches for
the bucket where the stars are kept.

the dawn is breaking and the wilderness of the night crawls back into the most holy of places,
the place where creation is formulated at light speed and then slowly dripped into the minds and
ears of those that can hear and into the eyes that can see and then into the hearts of those that
can feel one another. whoa! this is great said raptor the only one i know whose scales flaked off
after eating a mcdonald's bugger and decided right then and there that he was going to save the
world. good luck said his sidekick , a purple mushroom that followed him around like a starved
puppy and they were the best of companions, chasing the dreams of what might have been if only
the ending could of been the beginning, ..dang she said after hearing that the truth is actually a lie
in disguise, hummm/
where will it all begin, not when, when is a lie too , raptor said, a convenience for a lazy mind that
has not seen the exercise wheel yet.
tobecontinued.
peace and love
aho
mf&bug

Anonymous said...

Well, Jacque, if Obama wins and the economy falls apart, I hope that Obama's community organizing skills will come in handy to get people motivated to help each other. We can't rely on the government to help much because they have already spent the money on banks and the military and the paramilitary to "control" us. Too bad they've never figured out that if they helped to feed us and house us, we wouldn't have to be controlled. The dumb fucks. Of course, Wall Street can't make money on soup kitchens and community gardens. Maybe they'll figure out a way to sell stock in prison camps.
But, I digress... If the dollar dies and the lights start to flicker, and people can't make it to the store or to the doctor and are starting to get hungry, we are going to have to organize our neighborhoods. Get everybody's names and numbers, see who has what as a resource, who needs what. Who can car pool or take people to the doctor or pick up firewood, etc. If communities get organized, they will be much more secure and hopefully not panic. Even homelessness could be substantially mitigated if all those who could would rent out or gift an extra bedroom. When I lived in Tahoe I had a homeless man sleeping in a tent in my backyard. He was a big help keeping an eye on my mom who was very old and getting demented while I was at work.
First aide supplies, and remedies are a good thing to stock up on now before you can't get them. We are treating our dog right now with garlic oil and echanasia oil in the ear for an ear infection. Seems to be working very well.
We have an opportunity to learn ways to help each other in ways that will allow us to be empowered rather than go all Mad Max.
And whatever it is that Montana is having, I'd like some of that, too...lol.

Palooka's Revenge said...

me too fa. and make it a double. and hurry up!

i'll tell ya what, brilliant as the archives of mankind's literature is, its wanton for the words of our pals. where else can you go and get this treated... p

RAS said...

Good to see you again, rp and mrsp. Whatever mf is having, it must be really good. ;-)
I don't think the industrial, predatory capitalist system will ever come down on its own, at least not until far into the future. It will have to be taken down, kicking and screaming, when the people have had enough.

Is anybody else worried about the backlash in this country after the election next week? I'm worried about it both ways -if Obama wins the KKK and its ilk are going to be energized like they haven't been in a generation. And if Obama doesn't win, well -ALL the polls show he has it, and pretty safely. Some of them are using the phrase 'democratic landslide' as more than a minor possibility. So, if he loses and there is even a hint of irregularity, I think the backlash might be something this country hasn't seen since the 60s.

As for me, I'm going to vote early in the day (we don't have early voting here) and then that evening I am going to have a beer. Or two. Or three. Depends on the results. ;-)

Here is the scariest article I've seen in a long time: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aox4ZwDlWkvQ&refer=home
Can anyone spell famine? F-A-M-I-N-E. There is going to be famine all ready because we didn't have record harvests this year, so add this in? Mass starvation becomes very, very likely. More than likely. Damn near inevitable.
Is 7 am too early for a drink?

Anonymous said...

Food shortages? It's all part of "culling the heard" ras. Or, what the Rockafuckers and the Rothchilds like to call "eugenics."

Dude

Anonymous said...

Well, no food shortage here today. I'm going to make the Murphinator a nice big birthday cake. He's 68 today, although you wouldn't know it by looking at him. He's out tarping the nine cords of wood he's cut and stacked by himself over the last couple of years as we speak...

Anonymous said...

Murph,

A very Happy Birthday from us all.... And a poem to celebrate the years!

MEN IMPROVE WITH THE YEARS

by: W. B. Yeats (1865-1939)

AM worn out with dreams;
A weather-worn, marble triton
Among the streams;
And all day long I look
Upon this lady's beauty
As though I had found in a book
A pictured beauty,
Pleased to have filled the eyes
Or the discerning ears,
Delighted to be but wise,
For men improve with the years;
And yet, and yet,
Is this my dream, or the truth?
O would that we had met
When I had my burning youth!
But I grow old among dreams,
A weather-worn, marble triton
Among the streams.


oldensoul and rockpicker

Anonymous said...

Happy B-day, Murph. Have a good one and have a few brewskis, eh?

Dude

Anonymous said...

Thanks to all for the birthday wishes.

I tend not to think too much on holidays and birthdays and such. Caused much consternation with the women in my life. sigh.

Guess I'm old enough now to be 'an old fart'. One known advantage of getting old is that all the shit you pulled when younger and for which you got much shit for in return is now just considered eccentric. Still like to play bridge though. lol

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
RAS said...

Happy Birthday, Murph! (belatedly, by now, I suppose).

Happy Halloween/Hallowmas/Samhain/New Year to all!

Traditionally, the Veil Between the Worlds is supposedly at its thinnest on this day and night, and this is a good time to ask questions of whatever powers might be and seek guidance for the future. This is also the time to let go of the past and embrace the future, and to say goodbye to departed loved ones.
Those were the traditional meanings of Halloween, before they co-opted by the Chriistian and then the commercial bullshit.
aho.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...

Damn murph!!,seems like you just had a birthday, is this part of the Mayan calendar where the days are weeks kind of shit?
got to study up on that some more i guess, but then again maybe its just an elder thing, im about your age and am building a 10x16 ft. storage shed by myself except for passing up the 5/8's sheeting for the roof and lifting up the walls. we will accumulate years but we will not accumulate bullshit!!
Power to the people!!!
it is said that the mind does not age if certain aspects of a person's life are kept in order and i know its true because i have seen it.

o that? welllllllll, its seed from Humbolt and via Amsterdam and hatched in the back yard, cured in the Bus and smoked in the Den of iniquity with Langosta setting on the edge of the monitor screen antennas waving hellos to all the passing hallucinations that have dropped in to chew on the vivid vapors of freedom and courage,and to issue forth a complimentary vote of help yer self, its harvest time and the winters supply has been put up to bring an organic opening to the neither world of wonder and delight. no im not talking about that,,but, since ya mention it.......

its 10/31 08 and the little gobblers will be out in force tonight and i'm wondering what i can do to scare the shit out of a few of them,,,,, this little village which is a safe haven for youngsters, except for the school which consists of a bunch of retarded cocksuckers hanging on every word of conformity and twittness and ''no child left behind'' mentality, god i would love to see that plastic dick sucking bunch of scaly assholes burned at the stake.
the kids enter full of wonder and leave wondering what happened without a clue about their true nature. true nature you ask? ok, its sitting in a tree sharing a dubbie with a friend and watching the clouds become cloud people, or rescuing a cat from that same tree and not having it for dinner that same day,, and speaking of cats this village is being overrun with those critters, i mean they are multiplying like crazy and guess what,? the coyotes are coming in closer and closer as well as more hugh hawks circling, i mean big ones!! soooo, i guess its ''el gato almuerzo'' baby. never liked those damn things but then again they don't like me either; i try not to run over them but ,,, o well.

man i went to the post office yesterday and the box was so full of multi-colored beggings for votes it was unbelievable, the place was littered with them and i thought of all the trees that were sacrificed to persuade folks to vote for the right asshole to make more laws to protect you from me and visa-versa, god what a fucked up society we have created for ourselfs and are leaving for the cute little babies that are going to grow up in this hell hole of insanity.
i am with Dude on this one '' we are doomed'' to what its to early to say but you can bet yur ass it will be one hell of a ride.
am putting the final touches on my bug out pack which will be stashed and grabbed on the way out the door if necessary.
no the computer is not in there, but a multi-channel radio is. don't need a GPS device as i can still see the sun and the stars, do have a compass, but thats mostly for show and precision, i would advise getting one of those if you haven't already, having one and not having one is one hell of a difference i can tell you that for sure, little things can make a big difference in the position of the minds attitude when it comes to crunch time.
raw survival, learn it while its still easy to acquire, you will not regret it and the life you save will probably be yours, or a fellow human or whatever. its getting way to serious to dilly-dally at this point in time. so being an addition instead of a liability is good for ya and everyone else too.
don't know what i'm saying probably everyone here is in better shape then i am. o well.ole fucks just got to flap about somethin.
aho
mf
ps
."Murph, loved the link,http://www.bestcyrano.org/

Anonymous said...

We have been in a class war for decades. The only trouble is that the victims still don't recognize it!

Moreover, the elites who are perpetrating this class war have successfully recruited government on their behalf, the world over.

Maybe someday the "masses" will wake up and smell the coffee.

Just the other day someone close to me said they thought the "recession" would be over in the spring. I felt so sorry for that person's naivete that I kept my mouth shut. Today I went out and bought a few dozen more cans of beans and tomatoes.

We're on totally different wavelengths: I see the world as it is and will be; my loved one sees it as it was.

Dave
http://daveeriqat.wordpress.com/

Anonymous said...

Yeah, I have an older brother who thinks the stock market is going to go way up in the next month or two so he's buying more mutual fund crap and then I have a younger brother who thinks Jesus H is coming back to Earth to bring all of the good Jeebus lovers to heaven and to hell with the rest of us.

And WDF (Whatdafuck?) is with the stock market anyway? Up? Down? Sideways? What?! Wish it would make up it's mind already. Geez!

Dude

Anonymous said...

Dude,

The stock market figures are supposed to reflect relative value of companies. Obviously, the company values do not go up one day and down the next, and do that cycle for a month.

I have been reading all kinds of analysis's on why this is happening. Almost every one of them agrees on one thing, the markets are being manipulated. Most assert that this is a pump and dump scene that takes more and more equity and money out of the market into just a few hands.

I read one (just one) analysis that asserted that this is normal corrections and when the huge ratio of leveraging finally stops, come spring or summer, everything will return to normal.

It is obvious that this is happening on the gold futures market. The COMEX paper gold futures (no physical gold bought and sold) shows what is supposed to be the melt price of physical gold, and has been used for years for that pricing. But, try and buy gold for anywhere near that price. It isn't out there. In other words, what the COMEX is saying is the price of gold is a pure fabrication. Normal spread between melt and buy/sell pricing is around 5-10%. Example, if melt is $750/oz, then your buy price should be between $787-$810/oz. Try and find anyone selling for that. For a good view of this pricing disparity, go look on ebay for gold or silver bullion.

I would be interested if you can find anyone selling for less than $950/oz. Especially if it can be delivered in less than 60 days. I went to a variety of gold retail bullion sites. They all list the COMEX price, and some of them show 5% over melt. But, they make no statement on delivery time. They would have to be called to find that out.

So, I just don't know. I know local dealers are out, or have just a couple of coins available. Silver bullion is easier to find but I found the spread was unacceptable.

Most forecasts are for hyperinflation coming at us. Soon, because of the tremendous amounts of dollars that are being pumped into the system for liquidity for the loaning of money.

Doesn't look good Dude, we are doomed.

Anonymous said...

I hope that people remember that there is more on the ballot than the Presidential office. There are all those congressmen and women who voted FOR THE BAILOUT of the banks, insurance companies, now the auto companies and even foreign national banks... basically taking our money and giving it to them with no rules in place that keeps our money from paying for their condos in Dubai or spa treatments at Club Med or millions of dollars in bonuses... while our social security and pensions are looted and we can wave good-by to any chance of health care. Now they are talking about the government "helping" people who are upside down on their mortgages by refinancing. Oh, joy. They will refinance with a loan of no recourse, which means there is no way to get out from under it if you lose your job and can't pay it. You won't even be able to declare bankruptcy. You will have your wages garnished forever to pay for it whether you live in it or not. This whole thing is stacked against people who make their living by producing actual goods or performing real services. It's only in the interests of the finance miscreants who make money from electric zeros somewhere.

If they get away with this when we have the opportunity to vote them out of office, then we the people are just cretins who probably almost deserve what we get.

Anonymous said...

You know FA, I don't think much of anything will change with this election...

I predict that those that voted for the bailout, the socialism for the financial elite as it were, if these cretins are running again in this election will once again be there to preside and decide over more of the same criminal activity in the very near future.

Those that voted in favor of this theft, against all the the voices of opposition from the people, against all the expert financial people independent of the govt hacks will get back in for the most part..

I say this with knowledge and reinforcement of the on the street interviews I catch every now and again by various news media, and it still amazes me at how utterly stupid Jane and Joe(the plumber included) Average American really are. It is depressing as all get out.... basic is that philosophy that I am Republican or I am Democrat and therefore I will follow blindly their lead, but say, Is that the edge of the cliff I see??? Heck of a view ain't it just keep following and pass the beer and Doritos won't yaaaaaa..... just passed a lemming!!!

No, nothing of any significance will change, regardless of who gets to sit in the oval office. Sad that in my mind the choice is pure evil or the lesser of pure evil...

Could the crisis hinted at in the next few months be another JFK moment?

Time will tell but I have to say that McCain / Palin have sure energized the white supremest crowd.

Nuff said for now....

Ely

Anonymous said...

On a lighter note, just for laughs, you may enjoy this link to this goofy couple singing this song about if Palin becomes the VP...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
7DIc8jdra0o

Ha! It's a hoot.

Anonymous said...

Truthseeker,
I'm just getting back to you regarding your comment concerning Project Avalon. I admit that I find much of the topics of interest, but many of the interviews are very frustrating as well.
The Archdruid has a good post up right now that somewhat applies. Here's a partial quote:

".... Each of them is what the old logicians used to call argumentia ad ignorantem, arguments from ignorance. They insist on the presence of a factor that isn't actually present for examination and can’t be proved or disproved – a technological advance that hasn’t happened yet, an imminent spiritual transformation that has to be taken on blind faith, or a conspiracy so secret and pervasive that it can manipulate everything we think we know about the world ..."
Who knows whether there is truth or not to many of these fabulous claims? Do I trust a man who says he has messages from outer space higher beings who simultaneously is hawking books on septic systems and recipes on his website, for instance? Humm...
Once again, we are in the position of not being able to disprove it, so it MIGHT be so. At this point, it's more entertainment than information to me. But, in case the aliens do appear, it might help me to not embarrass myself altogether by peeing my pants or some such lame thing if I have had this heads up ...
I have to admit that I've been looking upward since I was a little kid looking for aliens and space ships to appear in much the same way that fundamentalists look for the Second Coming. I'd like to be saved by something spectacular rather than prepare and plan for resource depletion and economic contraction day in and day out. So, I'll keep my "late night" file and my eyes wide open for Ninjas, space ships, crop circles, black ops, asteroids, magnetic pole shifts, or whatever might come along to distract from the grind or perhaps even help out. "Discernment" - I think you are right.
Oh, and thank you for the definitive word on the moonths!

RAS said...

Murph, the automatic earth has done a lot of good anaylsis on what's been going on in the stock market lately. Like VW's stock went up so much because people were covering their shorts.

Well, the big day is tomorrow. Does anyone think anything is going to change, regardless of the outcome? Hmm...

SNL is doing a special show on NBC tonight. The Presidential bash, they're calling it. I'll be tuning in. Tomorrow night I'll get a free dinner courtesy of the local democratic office and then I'll come home and have a beer and watch the returns.

Then I'm going to thank whatever spirits that may be that this mess is over. ;-)

Truthseeker, thanks for the information on the moons.

Anonymous said...

Finally, this election poop is almost over! I can't wait! But then again, what will the MSM tell the 'Murikan sheeple what they should be concerned about? Paris, perhaps? Britany? Survivor? Idol? CSI? -or all of the above?! As Mr. Bill would say, "OOHHH NOOOOOOO!!!!!" Maybe....maybe they'll start the 2012 campaign on.....on Wednesday!

I guess I'll go vote. It'll get me outta work a little early. Hopefully it won't take very long for my vote to be switched or cancelled. 5 minutes would be nice. I'll probably vote for Obama although I'd like to vote for Nader or McKinney, but I think my wife would be a little peeved at me. She still has some faith in the system. I have zippitydooda. The only bumper sticker left on my car says, "I'm feeling much better since I gave up all hope" which pretty much sums it up for me. I'm thinking about pressing the "write-in option" and pressing the F U C K Y O U keys just to be a dick. The lemmings here in Mormon Mecca make me want to hurl.

Speaking of spew, I carved me a puking pumpkin for display outside our door for Halloween. It's probably why we only got a handful of brats at our door begging for a sugar high. Oh well, more candy for ME then!

Later-

Dude

Jacques de Beaufort said...

Open Random Question for the TCC...

You guys,John Michael Greer, Kunstler and Heinberg included, always advocate a return to small towns in the face of industrial decline as the best personal strategy for facing the onrushing wave of change.

Lately I've been reading a series of articles about small towns in the now de-industrial North Korea. It seems as if these areas are much worse off and poverty stricken than the urban areas, where an elite has concentrated to live in relative comfort.

In the command economy that is sure to replace the casino style hallucination of our modern-banking fiasco, I think it's probably likely that this type of scenario could emerge...elites camped out in a cloistered urban control center while vast agricultural gulags work with little comfort or freedom. In this case, a re-localization effort is sort of besides the point. One is more likely to end up endlessly toiling in a field than in some sort of Kunstlerian Utopia of streetcars and public squares full of permacultured organic garden terraces and New-Urban Victorian style storefronts.

Of course it may be difficult for the USA to remain sovereign, in which case regional republics could emerge with their own styles of governance. Regardless, elites will always gravitate to urban areas, and a move to a small town doesn't necessarily guarantee a better life.

Anonymous said...

Jacques,

The debate between urban and non urban living for a crash scenario is debated some.

I suspect in your scenario of the urban fife of the elites will feed you better if you are willing to wipe the ass of the elites. In any kind of grouping with an already big shot rich sucker in charge his toleration for your not being subservient I would expect to be pretty slim. At a somewhat lower level, to just keep a job today is much the same thing.

While the observations about N. Korea may be true, I suspect there are other factors at play. And, being poor in terms of money isn't in itself a devastating thing. There are many small societies that operate quite well without money. However, if the land is so poor that you cannot supply basic food, or the government forces periodically rob you of what you do have, yup, that is damned hard living.

As a personal choice, I want to be as far away as I can get from any large cities, especially if they are controlled by some rich sucker. They do and will expect more servitude than I am willing to give.

Anonymous said...

I dunno, Jacques. But, if the electrical grid flickers on and off, I'd sure hate to be lugging my groceries up ten flights of stairs (or more) to get up to my apartment. And, where are those groceries going to come from when there's no place to grow them that doesn't require lots of gas to get them there?
You can grow a hell of a lot of food and raise some rabbits in a regular yard. And being only a mile or two from a small downtown to get to a hardware store or the doctor would be good. Small towns and rural areas could organize car pools and trading posts and farmers markets for locally produced food and crafts and homemade products.
Big commercial gulags are not going to be sustainable when there are no affordable petrol-based fertilizers and pesticides. Composting and manure to enrich the soil works better on small, localized farms and gardens. I think working out of your home or close to it and growing your own food sounds the best to me. Have you read Cryptogon today? California farmers are only going to get a fraction of the water they are used to getting. Where's the food going to come from for L.A.? Yikes!

RAS said...

There are a lot of reasons I don't want to be in a city as collapse truly closes in. For starters, where does the food and water come from? Then, you have the issue of control by the PTB. You can it will be very authoritarian. Let's not forget the issue of public health as fossil-fueled systems start to break down. Massive numbers of people plus bad public health measures are a recipe for epidemics.

Rural areas will be the first to lose electricity and 'amenities' but urban areas will be the first to lose food and water. Guess which I'll choose if given the choice...

Anonymous said...

Hey Murph, you're correct -and here's an addition to the stock market stuff. Wonder how long till the smoke and mirrors are abandonded and the market TOTALLY crashes. A few days/weeks after the 4th or after January 20th?

http://www.webofdebt.com/articles/stepfordville.php

Dude

Jacques de Beaufort said...

Thanks for all your thoughts guys !

All those points make a lot of sense..


Murph, I suspect there are more opportunities for freedom and self-sustained living at least in the short term in the country life. I imagine that many isolated self-sustained communitites will do just fine in the next 10 years or so. In my vision, however, democracy gives way to some sort of totalitarian state in order to maintain order. In this case, they will surely attempt to exert their control into all population centers, isolated or not.

Freeacre-
I'll check that blog out..
I know that North Korean's use human waste as a fertilizer and employ a number of organic techniques, but they also face a very difficult environmental pressures.

As for Los Angeles, I agree it will fare very badly. I expect to be out of here mid-2009. Besides the water problem, it is unsistaineable in many other ways and beyond any retrofitting effort. New York seems similarly doomed.

Ras-
Good point about public health...


One of the things that is really an unklnown is how American leaders and people will respond. It really determines many of the open questions in making this decision. In a disorderly transition cities are virtual death traps. In an orderly transition, there will be a possibility to be part of a still surviving institutional structure.

So if you think humans are good, the city works, but if one is more pessimistic, head for the hills !!

My solution for now is a middle-ground...moving to a smaller mid-western city and getting out of the LA megalopolis.

It really sucks here, I'm so sick of it. I can't wait until all these huge trucks rolling around get repossessed !!!

Anonymous said...

I concur with Murph's observation that small towns offer a superior quality of life, including access to food, fuel, water and shelter than do urban areas reeling under similar life-threatening stresses.

This is not a philosophical debate. Look around you. Do you know your neighbors? Can they be organized quickly to come to grips with a common threat? Can they be counted on to work together for the common good, even if it means some personal sacrifice?

I have deer in my yard every night. There is a stream less than 100 yards from my front door. I have a gravity filtration system that makes 2 gallons per hour potable drinking water from stagnant pond water. I probably need more filters, but at least I have access to water.

Lots of urban areas are totally dependent on the electrical grid, not just for water, but also for sewage, heating, lighting and cooking. How will the typical urban-dweller deal with "no power?"

Like Murph and Freeacre, Oldensoul and I are still putting up our gardens and cutting firewood against what we see as possibly one of the hardest winters we've ever experienced. How does an urbanite prepare for rolling blackouts and lay-offs? Are those perma-cultural terrace gardens real, or do they only exist in some eco-utopian future fantasy where strangers actually replace ego-centric concerns with earnest social responsibility?

Autonomy is another issue. Areas of high human density will be the first to be surrounded and secured. Access in and out will be managed.
The rural areas will be left to their own devices for a long while, if for no other reason than simple logistics. The government hasn't got enough manpower to lock down the entire country, and there aren't enough people out here to worry about, besides. But LA, that's a different story.

LATOC carried and interesting item today about how Ca. has announced an 85% reduction in how much water would be provided for agriculture to the farmers of that state next year. The potential significance of this, if it's true, bodes ill for the entire country. But, especially, for you, Jacques, and all your urban compatriots. What effect will this type of water reduction have on you? Something to consider, while there is still sand in the upper chamber.

-rockpicker

Jacques de Beaufort said...

hi Rockpicker
Thanks for your thoughts, some very salient points.

To you have a link to that article on water supply ?

Anonymous said...

Here's the link from LATOC on the water in California:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081031/
ap_on_re_us/california_water#full

Anonymous said...

Freeacre;

I read Greer's piece, and I was not too impressed. For a spiritual guide and someone purportedly interested in raising consciousness, his pontifications sound deflated and prosaic.

I take acception to his put-down of those who hold out for 'free energy' as being ignorant dupes.

He might better do a little investigation, rather than simple take the easy path of dismissing, out of hand, new and unpopular ideas.

Tom Bearden is not ignorant. In fact, he IS a rocket scientist. And what he says very succinctly is that it's the configuration of the electrical circuits themselves that
are at fault. He demonstrates on paper how the circuits developed over the last hundred years interfere with our making use of abundant electrical energy from the vacuum. He compares over unity electrical production to the way a heat pump works. And, he's basing his theories on the work of quantum physicists.

My question is, why do we find the scoffer who refuses to do the experiment more believable than the guy with the new idea?

-rp

Anonymous said...

Jeez, Rockpicker, I didn't think he was even referring to Bearden. I thought he was thinking about "free energy" as the type of petroleum based energy that we are used to. From your perspective, I can see that he would be annoying. In fact, I could see where I would be annoying.

On another note, regarding city vs. rural life: since we can't all live in the country, I give a shout out to Singapore Guy. What are your thoughts on how to prepare while living in the city? (Singapore Guy is the most well-prepared city dweller of all time.)

aho

Anonymous said...

Freeacre;
If I missed something here, I'm sorry, but the only free energy I've read about has to do with various forms of over-unity energy production.

I thought the questions Greer quoted delt directly with this outlandish suggestion that humankind might be on the verge of "getting something for nothing."

Use of such hyperbole is a favored way of killing the argument, while at the same time casting doubt on the relative coherence of those making such suggestions.

Fact of the matter is, several innovative devices and ideas have been demontrated over the past few years that would seem to offer cheap, efficient solutions to our energy needs, and he didn't bother to mention any of them.

The water hammer, that turns water to steam in seconds using a small electrical motor, and the dissociation of oxygen and hydrogen from salt water using radio waves are two of my favorites. YouTube has videos demonstrating both systems.

Allow me to quote Greer. "Now it’s possible to dispute each of these claims on their own terms, and I’ve done that more than once on this blog and elsewhere, but there’s a very real extent to which this is a waste of breath. Each of them is what the old logicians used to call argumentia ad ignorantem, arguments from ignorance. They insist on the presence of a factor that isn't actually present for examination and can’t be proved or disproved – a technological advance that hasn’t happened yet, an imminent spiritual transformation that has to be taken on blind faith, or a conspiracy so secret and pervasive that it can manipulate everything we think we know about the world – to insist that we don’t actually have to do anything about peak oil."

I call bullshit. The three merely suggested that new technology, and new awareness of our world and how things work, might help us get through our peak oil moment.

From what I've read, many inventors and innovators of new technologies have been roughed-up, bought-off and killed by those who wish to keep us dependent on fossil fuels.
Car companies have been doing the same thing for years.

Maybe it's not a conspiracy. Maybe it's just "good business." Who cares what you call it? It's not good for us. But we know it goes on.

An important point Bearden makes over and over is that the electrical engineering schools are not on the same page as the particle physicists. And it goes back to the mathematical equations worked out by Maxwell. Much of his original work was simplified and ignored. Subsequently, much potential has been wasted.

We're not talking magic here. We're talking about real, honest to god observation of our real environment, and seeing what is really going on, the way Tesla saw it.

-rp

Anonymous said...

From Truthseeker.

Hi folks,

Freeacre, I am afraid I gave up reading Michael Greer’ blog some six or more months ago. You may remember my critique of him and his blog in the comments of the Trout Clan’s first ever post on 24th October 2007, just over a year ago. In the light of Rockpicker’s criticism of Greer in this post, my two comments (rather extended I am afraid) in that first Clan post might be worth a re-read (or a first read for those newer to this site). My two posts were written on the 26th and 27th October 2007 respectively (sorry, not sure how to do a link to them, but they are still in the Trout Clan archive).

Anyway, despite my criticism of Greer, I did continue to read his blog for some months more, well into 2008. However, despite the good stuff on sustainable living and resource depletion, I just got fed up with his arrogant and dismissive attitude toward anyone who disagrees with him. So his attitude toward sites like Project Camelot and Avalon is as I would expect it to be. I elaborate on this greatly in the two comments just mentioned, especially toward his attitude toward the UFO/ET phenomenon, so I will not repeat myself here The same applies to his attitude on conspiracy theory and free energy. He simply refuses to entertain the possibilities of such in anything but a very superficial manner.

So, yes I am becoming increasingly discerning of both the Project Camelot interviews and the Project Avalon forum material. I was less than impressed by Bill Deagle’s almost biblical doom and gloom scenario for the near future and was disappointed by Bob Dean’s apparently uncritical acceptance of the arrival of ‘Planet X’ into our planetary system within the next decade or so. The latter, is I believe, sheer disinformation, though I do think Dean is sincere in his belief of such. However, I do not feel that the dismissive, debunking and ridiculing tone taken by Greer is either acceptable or helpful to the debate. This is the very same attitude that I expect from academia and mainstream materialistic science toward all subjects outside their framework (e.g. UFO’s, parapsychology, astrology, free energy and conspiracy theories). Thus, I have little time for such an approach, which at best is misinformed and at worst spreads blatant disinformation about such subject matter.

One final note about Greer’s site. I believe it is first and foremost a Peak Oil site. A year ago I was convinced that the peak oil theory is the truth. However, it was after reading a post by Murph here on this blog, that I first began to have some doubt about the accuracy of this theory. The post I refer to was written by Murph on 20th May 2008. It was entitled “Peak Oil Revisited”. I watched the video by Lindsey Williams claiming that there is a huge oil field off Gull Island, Alaska. At first I was very sceptical of this claim and even now I am not convinced. I was initially surprised at Stoney totally buying into what Williams stated. Though I now wonder if he is right?

Anyway, it all got me wondering whether all is not as it appears and that Peak Oil is, as Lindsay Williams and others claim, a theory that is being fuelled by the PTB to justify their own intervention when everything appears to collapse. Many conspiracy theorists believe that peak oil, global warming and the current financial collapse have been engineered by the PTB. Now I am far from convinced of all of this, though I can believe that the PTB will utilise any and all of these crises to further their global agenda.

For me climate change is definitely a reality, whether that be global warming or cooling. However, I am not convinced humanity is the primary cause of climate change. There is good evidence that the entire solar system is in a state of transition, with many of the other planets getting brighter for example. This is not to let humanity off the hook, of course. We have so depleted this planet with deforestation, pollution, and overpopulation, that we have made it (and ourselves) much more vulnerable to any kind of climate change that does occur, whether natural or humanly created.

With regard to peak oil, I would like to think such is occurring, as it pushes us toward finding alternatives. However, if Williams and others are correct, peak oil is a myth. The onus is thus on us to seek out alternatives rather than keep on using oil. In Russia, apparently, the abiotic oil theory is the mainstream view, just as peak oil is now beginning to become the mainstream view in the West. What is the truth? I am no longer sure. Finally, is the current financial crash engineered by the PTB or is it a result of the short-sighted greed of same, which is now coming back to haunt them and us all? I do not have definite answers to these questions. However, I am far less convinced now than I was a year ago, that peak oil, climate change and financial collapse are simply the result of the senseless greed of us all (particularly the PTB) and now really wonder if they are in fact part of a well crafted and engineered scenario (created by the PTB) to instil fear in the masses so we will willingly turn to them an their global agenda when the present themselves as our saviours.

On the other hand, maybe I am just plain paranoid and I have lost the plot? Greer, of course, would dismiss all the above as groundless speculation and paranoia. He may in part be right, of course. However, to my mind there is no smoke without fire. Greer’s dismissal and debunking of such ideas does nothing to aid us in finding the truth.

Best Wishes

Truthseeker (Andrew)

RAS said...

Jacques, I want to add some more comments on the city-vs-rural thing. There can be some downsides to living in the country, depending on the location. For instance, I'm a pagan lesbian, so you can imagine how some of the people down here react to that. ;-)

I'm going out to vote shortly. Wish me luck. The nice thing about Alabama is that we are so old-fashioned we still use paper ballots. Gasp! So, if there is any problem with the results, unless the ballots have been tossed in the river (and most of the old women who run the thing are so upright about making sure everything is kosher they'd beat the snot out of anyone who tried) you can go back and count them again. Imagine that!

RAS said...

Greer's stance is that is we were given a source of virtually free energy (oil) and we wasted it, like a bunch of frat boys going on a three-day bender with daddy's credit card. Sure, the party's nice while it lasts, but then what?

Take a look at the implications of truly finding a source of free energy -we'd destroy the entire planet. And probably whatever/wherever the energy came from as well. (Nothing, after all, is truly free and it would have to come from somewhere -everything is interconnected after all.)

Anonymous said...

Ras;

What does sunlight cost you?

Thanks to the cosmos, we are awash in a sea of free energy. It's everywhere. All we're talking about is understanding how to tape into it.

As for the ethical questions involved , those are challenges we must confront sometime in our evolution, don't you think?

-rp

RAS said...

RP, you're asking the wrong question. It is not what sunlight costs me, but what does it cost, period? So I may not have to foot the bill personally, but someone or something does.
Let's look at sunlight for a moment. It comes from the sun and seems to be free. Leastwise, you and I don't have to pay a bill for it and the government hasn't (yet) figured out how to tax it. But it does have a cost. Sunlight is produced by the fusion of hydrogen atoms into helium. For every bit of sunlight we get, some hydrogen is destroyed. That is the cost. Eventually, the sun will use up the hydrogen and start converting helium into the next highest element and so on until it reaches the mass limit (carbon I think) and then it will swell to a red giant and go nova.

So, sunlight isn't free. It does have a cost -we just aren't the one paying it. Now what about these other 'free energy' sources? Where is the energy coming from? Zero point energy is a good example. That energy would be taken from somewhere. What if that energy would come from our sun? Or a sun? Or somewhere else in the universe? We could even cause a star to go nova with our 'free energy'.

Nothing is free. Everything is paid for, by something, somewhere. This is one of the fundamental prinicples of ecology. Everything is connected and when you tug on one string, you tug on them all. For everything that lives, something must die. For all that dies, something will live.

As for the ethical questions, I would argue that we have been confronting them for the past 100 years or so -and failing the test miserably.

Anonymous said...

I love it when a conversation comes together.

Adding to the positive possibilities list, have you seen the story of the newly discovered fungus that lives in trees in Patagonia and produces diesel fuel? Here's a link:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment
/2008/nov/04/biofuel-plants-
biochemistry-science

I came across it on Whatreallyhappened.com.

I gotta a feeling this is going to be one nerve-wracking day. Voting irregularities galore already. It ain't pretty out there.

Anonymous said...

Ras;

First, thank you for describing conventional solar mechanics so succinctly. (It sounds very much like what is being attempted by our maniacal resident geniuses at CERN.)

As an aside to consider, if hydrogen protons slamming together in the presence of extreme pressure truly are fusing into helium atoms and giving off heat in the process, (driving our sun,)
then why is the sun's surface temperature (6,000 degrees C) so low in comparison to coronal temperatures routinely measured in the millions of degrees C? How does this work?

Getting back to your suggestion that human use of solar energy might somehow speed up or contribute to the sun's natural demise brings to mind the old question of the tree falling in the forest. I don't quite see how our use of free, abundant cosmic energy, exuded by celestial bodies in the natural course of things, can possibly jeopardize the astronomical balance. Could you further elucidate?

freeacre;

election? what election?

-rp

-rp

Anonymous said...

From Belgium,

Hi guys,

First Rock picker, ditto for all that was said over the last post, excellent insightful stuff.

Personally I have been through the wars lately, firstly I got infected with a three week lay you low and won’t go away bug. Then being the generous sharing person I am, I passed it on to Chris. It is the first time I have ever seen her walking around handing me a medicine bottle to take the cap off. Then to top it all, the computer got infected. What was worse than all the infections was that I caught Microsoft’s Antivirus 2009 and their system cleaner. It put up loads of fake Trojans even disconnected my anti malware program from the server. This is a real hair puller out if you have ever experienced it, but I refused to be blackmailed and stuck it out until I found a program that got rid of it all for me. Phew – all done now, I hope!

Murph, you are really getting into the swing of this tongue in cheek, ironical cynicism kick, good work– keep it up.

Jacques, TV will be the last form of entertainment to go in the constitutional free zones and being constitutionally free, subliminal messages will be encouraged for all those who need help in working out what is going on around them.

Only another couple of days to go and all those on the upper floors of the White House can put back in the crypt. Strangely, no one is talking about Iran any more but the game is not over until everyone has shown their hand.

Two small things to report from Europeside. Earlier this week somebody broke into a bank safety deposit box and nicked 44 kilos of gold bullion, inside job or what?

The other is a conversation I overheard on the bus last week (I don’t let my spare room out any more – tried that one, but I do move around with other people). It was between two young girls, when I say young I mean about 20, both of whom spoke with American accents and the one who was doing most of the talking was telling the other about the causes and development of the international banking crisis. I know I shouldn’t but I couldn’t help from tuning in. It was in simple terms but I really was surprised with how much this girl knew. The only point where she came adrift was that she paralled the causes with that of 1929. But hey, this was impressive stuff; I take back what I have said about American youth. Of course I was too polite to point out her error. Instead I gave my wry inscrutable smile.

I know anything with an electrical plug on the end is not ultimately sustainable but I bought a bread making machine this week. It is a lot of fun and cuts out one link in the chain and you know that what you are getting is healthy.

Aho

Anonymous said...

From Belgium,

Freeacre said,

Getting back to your suggestion that human use of solar energy might somehow speed up or contribute to the sun's natural demise brings to mind the old question of the tree falling in the forest. I don't quite see how our use of free, abundant cosmic energy, exuded by celestial bodies in the natural course of things, can possibly jeopardize the astronomical balance. Could you further elucidate?

You are right Freeacre, it won’t. Once the Sun has given the energy out it is lost to the sun and so can’t affect it further. Energy cannot be created nor destroyed but merely changed from one form to another with a corresponding increase in entropy (please don’t ask me to explain entropy). The overall energy of the universe will remain constant but the energy used up making the (useful) change can never be reused for a similar purpose. Does that make sense to you? In other words, anything we do ultimately lowers the overall useful energy of the universe.

On a slightly different tack, I once saw the Sale of Goods Act angled at engineers. Can’t remember it all now but one item said “It is predicted that at some future point the universe will collapse into a single point from which a new universe will emerge. The integrity of this product cannot be guaranteed in any future universe”.

Anonymous said...

Belgium;

Thanks. That was funny.

-rp


ps word verification letters are f r i g h t