Zero-Sum

Zero-Sum appears to be the equation of Energy vs. Water as depicted by an excellent article in Scientific American.

Water and energy are the two most fundamental ingredients of modern civilization. Without water, people die. Without energy, we cannot grow food, run computers, or power homes, schools or offices. As the world’s population grows in number and affluence, the demands for both resources are increasing faster than ever.

Woefully underappreciated, however, is the reality that each of these precious commodities might soon cripple our use of the other. We consume massive quantities of water to generate energy, and we consume massive quantities of energy to deliver clean water. Many people are concerned about the perils of peak oil—running out of cheap oil. A few are voicing concerns about peak water. But almost no one is addressing the tension between the two: water restrictions are hampering solutions for generating more energy, and energy problems, particularly rising prices, are curtailing efforts to supply more clean water.

To compound the felony is the fact water will become another driving engine of conflict as seen by Water Wars, a devastating account of what happens when privatization, pollution and profit impact the availability of this most precious resource.


Shiva believes strongly in the sacred nature of water. She argues that while some may call for the commodification of water, the Oxford English Dictionary defines value as “that amount of some commodity, medium of exchange etc, which is considered to be an equivalent for something else; a fair or adequate equivalent or return” (Shiva 2002). There is no equivalent for water; there is no substitute. All life on this planet is dependant upon water.

It's time for man to get his act together before it's too late because the question to ask ourselves now is, What is the survivability rate or our civilization? A more than viable place to look is the New Civilization Game, an astute analysis by Bill Robinson on what it will take for man to succeed as we move further into the 21st century.

Propogation

I can't help it. The slow motion economic death of America pulls me in as I try to see just how bad it's going to get but then again, a guy like James Kunstler might have this bad boy covered and then some...

"To switch metaphors, let's say that we are witnessing the two stages of a tsunami. The current disappearance of wealth in the form of debts repudiated, bets welshed on, contracts canceled, and Lehman Brothers-style sob stories played out is like the withdrawal of the sea. The poor curious little monkey-humans stand on the beach transfixed by the strangeness of the event as the water recedes and the sea floor is exposed and all kinds of exotic creatures are seen thrashing in the mud, while the skeletons of historic wrecks are exposed to view, and a great stench of organic decay wafts toward the strand. Then comes the second stage, the tidal wave itself -- which in this case will be horrific monetary inflation -- roaring back over the mud flats toward the land mass, crashing over the beach, and ripping apart all the hotels and houses and infrastructure there while it drowns the poor curious monkey-humans who were too enthralled by the weird spectacle to make for higher ground. The killer tidal wave washes away all the things they have labored to build for decades, all their poignant little effects and chattels, and the survivors are left keening amidst the wreckage as the sea once again returns to normal in its eternal cradle."

No doubt we are like Ulysses trying to stay clear of the two horrors of Scylla & Charybdis as we move into uncharted waters as mysterious and foreboding as the impenetrable jungle in Heart of Darkness. The only difference is we know how Conrad's masterpiece ends but with us, the journey is just beginning.

Road Noise

Question: Why didn't the grizzly bear cross the road?
Answer: Interstate 90. To arrive from the north, a bear would have to climb over a nearly three-foot high concrete Jersey barrier, cross two lanes of road, braving 75- to 80-mile-an hour traffic, climb a higher Jersey barrier, cross two more lanes of traffic and climb yet another barrier.

Some experts believe that habitat fragmentation, the slicing and dicing of large landscapes into small pieces with roads, homes and other development, is the biggest of all environmental problems.

Hidden in plain sight, 20% of the US lies under asphalt.

Road Ecology: Science & Solutions

Click here to see another take on the impact of roads on wildlife.

To roll your own impact of roads on society, Sim City is the way to go, especially with the upcoming edition allowing for curved roads.

Too bad Robert Moses didn't have this app when doing the work for New York City.

Perhaps his perception of roads and the impact they would have on neighborhoods would have changed his design set for the better but no one knows, do one?

Dollars & (Non)sense

Let me get this straight...The current share price for AIG is $2.33 (10/11/08). The number of AIG shares outstanding, as per the same 10/11 date, totals 2.69 billion.

Doing the math, the approximate worth of AIG comes to $6.2 billion as of 10/11/08 ($2.33 X 2.69 billion shares = $6.2 billion)

Question: Why is the Fed/government giving the company another $37.7 billion on top of the original $85 billion when the company can be bought outright for less than $7 billion?

Answer: To help pay for their $440,000 party.

Oct. 9--Here's the tab: $139,375.30 for rooms. $147, 301.71 for "banquets." $1,488 for the Vogue Salon, which features manicures, pedicures and hairstyling. $6,939.09 on golf. $2,949 for tips. $5,016.32 at the Stonehill Tavern. $3,064.71 for in-room dining and the lobby lounge. That's part of the $440,000 bill from a recent weekend bash that an American International Group Inc. subsidiary threw for its top performers at the posh St. Regis resort, on a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Sounds like they had fun.

Their timing was exquisite. The AIG folks and their guests hit the spa just days after the insurance behemoth grabbed an $85 billion bailout package from U.S. taxpayers. They needed it because AIG piled up net losses of $18.5 billion in the past three quarters on write-downs tied to the collapse of the U.S. subprime mortgage market.

"Carl Fox: I came into Egypt a Pharoah who did not know.
Gordon Gekko: I beg your pardon, is that a proverb?
Carl Fox: No, a prophecy. The rich been doing it to the poor since the beginning of time. The only difference between the Pyramids and the Empire State Building is the Egyptians didn't allow unions."

Crowd Control

If you see one of these, step away or experience a sonic barrage that blows away anything Megadeth can deliver even on a "good" night.

In military parlance (Language purposely designed to remove any sense of what weapons of any persuasion actually do when used against anyone unlucky enough to be in their path.)...

"The system focuses a beam of millimeter waves occurring at this 94 GHz frequency. The effect is a rapid heating of the human target's (adversary's) skin that is extremely uncomfortable and ultimately prompts the individual to flee the beam. "

To see what this puppy can do, click here. (Clip 18 in Future Weapons, Season 2)

The real fun is seeing the guys who develop this stuff.
Dr. Strangelove anyone?

Religulous

Do not see this movie if 1. You believe in god, whatever he, she, it or they may be or 2. You have a lousy sense of humor because if you don't, this flick will make you laugh and cry at the same time.

"Maher, reacting to a smooth-talking black preacher's boast that he got a great deal on his $2,000 suits, drolly observes, "I find it interesting that you're a Christian, you used to be a Muslim but you buy all your clothes like a Jew."

On why George Carlin was right about politics.

On his encounter with Arkansas Sen. Mark Pryor, who tells Maher he believes the biblical account that Earth was created 5,200 years ago: "He's not going to be happy with this movie. I suspect he's going to say that the editing is not favorable to him [laughs]. And he's not completely wrong about that. But we didn't make anything up. When I told him I was worried about people [with such literal interpretations of the Bible] running the country, he's the one who says, 'Well, you don't have to pass an IQ test to be in the Senate.' "



Another gem from Religulous was the fact the Egyptian deity Horus (2000BC+) shared many similarities with Christ including the following:

virgin birth,
son of god
Foster father
Foster father of royal decent
Born in a cave or stable
Annunciation from an angel etc., etc. etc.

Additionally, this info was very popular

"Stories from the life of Horus had been circulating for centuries before Jesus birth (circa 4 - 7 BCE). If any copying occurred by the writers of the Egyptian or Christian religions, it was the followers of Jesus who incorporated into his biography the myths and legends of Horus, not vie-versa."

Question: In the Nicene Creed, did Constantine use the Horus myth to deify Christ to encourage Romans to buy into the fact Christianity was just as valid as the Roman Gods in order to get much needed money for the cash strapped Roman Empire?

Question: Why do believers get so upset about questions about their faith? If they truly believe, then why the violence?

50 people died when (relatively innocent) cartoons depicting Muhammad were printed in Danish newspapers.

If nothing else, people are now starting to question faith because after all, 16% of all Americans either are Atheists or Agnostic, not bad for a minority that's finally coming out of the closet.

Sweetner

In order to get the senate to buy into the bailout, a 120 billion dollar sweetner was added to the pot. Not bad for a day's work if you ask me.

On Capitol Hill, they call it "sweetening the pot." Out in the real world, it's called bribery.

Whatever you call it, proponents of the $700 billion bailout of Wall Street, banks and the financial industry are loading up the legislation with pork, inducements and favors for members of Congress in exchange for the votes needed to pass the bill when it hits the floor of the House of Representative on Friday.

At last count, the bribes will add at least $120 billion to the cost of the bailout.

This says it all.

Imagine the random fun an army of accountants could have with a $700 billion portfolio of this stuff? I can’t wait for the Fed itself to dispense with fair value accounting…

Just to add insult to injury, the senate managed to sneak into the bailout all sorts of random and insulting things...

The people get SHAFTED. AGAIN.

Not to add insult to injury but we also have a 650 billion dollar defense bill to deal with.

Question: What does the Bailout accomplish?
Answer: It rescues the guilty. - Paul Craig Roberts

Hey brother, can you spare me a dime?