The Petrodollar

There are many who think that the geographic state of the United States attacked Iraq because Saddam Hussein's real weapon of mass destruction was his move to accepting Euros instead of Dollars for his oil payments.

It is odd that the single most traded commodity on earth is traded only in dollars.

Such a policy provides unique benefits to the country that can maintain such hegemony. And, a move away from the dollar in oil markets would have serious implications on the value of the dollar.

Now Iran is setting up its own Bourse to trade oil.

Note this article in the Guardian.

William Clark, in an article published by the Centre for Research on Globalisation notes:

"In 2005-2006 the Tehran government has a developed plan to begin competing with the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) and London's International Petroleum Exchange (IPE) with respect to international oil trades — using a euro-denominated international trading mechanism". (It should be noted that both the IPE and NYMEX are owned by US corporations).

The oil and gas trade is the biggest market in the world and the establishment of an Iranian oil and gas trading centre "means that without some form of US intervention, the euro is going to establish a firm foothold in the international oil trade."

It is now obvious that the invasion of Iraq had less to do with any threat from Saddam's long-gone weapons of mass destruction program and certainly less to do with fighting international terrorism than it has to do with gaining control over Iraq's hydrocarbon reserves and, in doing so, maintaining the US dollar as the monopoly currency for the critical international oil market", writes Clark.

In speculating on what the US leadership might do in the situation, Clark writes:

"Pentagon sources confirm the Bush administration could undertake a desperate military strategy to thwart Iran's nuclear ambitions while simultaneously attempting to prevent the Iranian oil Bourse from initiating a euro-based system for oil trades. The latter would require forced 'regime change' and the US occupation of Iran ... Objectively speaking, the post-war debacle in Iraq has clearly shows that such Imperial policies will be a catastrophic failure.

"Unlike Iraq, Iran has a robust military capability. A repeat of any 'shock and awe' tactics is not advisable given that Iran has installed sophisticated anti-ship missiles on the Island of Abu Musa and therefore controls the critical Strait of Hormuz. In the case of a US attack, a shut down of the Strait of Hormuz — where all of the Persian Gulf bound oil tankers must pass — could easily trigger a market panic with oil prices skyrocketing to $100 per barrel or more."

There are some people in Washington

Who think the US can win this war,

just like we did 60 years ago.

But 60 years ago, it was the other guy

who was telling his people that they were not safe,

and that they needed to defend themselves

by attacking.

I'm still hoping that the President will Speak.

And lay down the Sword.

And become a Hero.



.

Dollars vs Euros 

War of the Worlds

These new pictures from the Europeans are truly remarkable.

Yes, that is ice.

Next thing you know,

Somebody is going to tell us that they have found life.

As of last week, two NASA scientist think they have.

At least they have found the signature of life.

This is not the bacteria story that broke last summer.

This is something a little more exciting.

The Europeans want to send a mission to the Red Planet.

There was also this tidbit.

The findings on Mars, one year after a European launch started an orbit around the planet, also serve as a stark warning to earthlings – Mars has no protective ozone layer and the surface is blasted by solar storms and ultraviolet light.

Water vapour destroyed ozone on Mars and a recent increase of water vapour in Earth's stratosphere could be a potential threat to this planet's protective ozone layer that is probably linked to global warming, said scientist Jean-Loup Bertaux.

Everett Gibson, from NASA's Johnson Space Center, said he had held a poll among the 250 scientists at the conference.

On the question whether they thought there had been life on Mars, 75 per cent replied in the affirmative. Asked whether they believed there to be life now, 25 per cent said "yes."

I guess the next question is,

Is it Intelligent?

The Martians are probably wondering the same thing about

the Earthians.



.

Selling War

I think it was Lord of the Rings that finally did it for me.

There was just one battle after another, after another, and then another.

Then, at the end, there was Peace.

There we were, teaching young people,

that if you just war enough,

You will have Peace.

War does not bring Peace.

Peace brings Peace.

War brings more War.

This documentary shows the connection between

our myth makers and our war machine.

Be sure to right click on the screen

and watch it in real player.


And here is our president getting some laughs.

And here is another republican president telling us the truth.



.

The Plug In Hybrid

I am just now finishing a large document on Plug In Hybrids.

Here is a sneak peak at a very small part of the report.

The idea of a plug-in hybrid is rather new, even though the concept is rather old. From one perspective, a plug in hybrid is just an all electric car with a small on board generator to keep the batteries charged. In this sense, the engine is a range extender.

An example of this kind of plug-in is found in the Renault Kangoo Elect’road. It is a small electric van with a range extender. It uses a nickel –cadmium traction battery that provides a 60 mile all electric range. A 15 kW engine, fed by a two-gallon gasoline tank, drives two alternators to recharge the battery. With the engine running, the range is extended to over 125 miles. Renault views the extender as a stress reducer as much as anything.

But the plug-in hybrid that has captured the imagination of policy makers, utility planners, and energy planners is a much more sophisticated device.

Take this definition from the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security:

“Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) are hybrid cars with an added battery. As the term suggests, plug-in hybrids - which look and perform much like "regular" cars - can be plugged in to a 120-volt outlet (for instance each night at home, or during the workday at a parking garage) and charged. Plug-ins run on the stored energy for much of a typical day's driving - depending on the size of the battery up to 60 miles per charge, far beyond the commute of an average American - and when the charge is used up, automatically keep running on the fuel in the fuel tank. A person who drives every day a distance shorter than the car's electric range would never have to dip into the fuel tank.”

Thus in the minds of many, Plug-in hybrids have thus become the ideal transportation appliance for unifying the electric sector with the transportation sector.

Much of the plug-in research in this country has occurred at the University of California.

Since mid 90s, the Mechanical Engineering department has pretty much lead the way in developing plug in hybrids. They have found that the plug-in parallel hybrid strategy maximizes energy efficiency and brings air emissions to the lowest levels.

The department has demonstrated its conversions on the Ford Taurus, the Mercury Sable, a Chevy Suburban, and a Ford Explorer. The Suburban had a 60 mile all electric range.

The engines can also run on ethanol based fuels.

The Ford Explorer, which has a 45 mile all-electric range is estimated to be able to handle more than 50% of the miles driven by the standard SUV driver. Perhaps more importantly, the vehicle is more powerful than a standard Explorer. Its acceleration time for 0 to 60 is 2/3s of that of a conventional Ford Explorer. This comes from the 325 HP available from the combined power of the 200 HP electric motor and the engine.

Another utility working on transportation unification appliances is Hydro–Quebec. HQ is developing, through its subsidiaries, a parallel drive train, a battery, and it has even signed an agreement with a French airplane design firm to develop a body for a future plug-in hybrid vehicle.

Some groups are already converting existing hybrids into plug-ins. These groups are changing out the battery and they are hacking into the control system. They have been able to create a plug-in hybrid that drives like a standard hybrid, but because of the greater battery capacity, is capable of extending the gas mileage of the car to almost 100 mpg.

It is important to note that these vehicles use the electrical energy purchased from the utility as a fuel extender. This is almost precisely the opposite idea from the all- electric car with a gasoline engine range extender. However, it is an important development.

Plug-in hybrids do not need to alter the way a standard hybrid performs as they increase the mileage efficiency of the already efficient hybrid.

Plug-in hybrid vehicles avoid two of the biggest problems with all electric standard electric vehicles. One, they are not limited by range. And two, there is no charge time when the car cannot be driven.

Plug–in hybrids can in fact be more convenient by allowing for convenient home refueling at night.

Sometimes, really good ideas emerge and everyone in the field suddenly realizes that it is an idea that has more than merit; it may be an idea whose time has come.

We need to unify the transportation sector

with the electric sector

Plugins look like the answer.



.

The Wirelessness

There is only the Wirelessness.

I love my wireless tablet computer.

I can post from the coffee shop

at the Bookstore.

I can post from the Haunted Hotel

on the Beach in P A.

I can post from my bed.

I can post from the car as I drive down the street

and find a wireless signal.

I can post in the Library.

I can post in the park.

I can post.

I can take a picture of the sea,

with my cell phone,

send it to my e mail,

receive it on my tablet,

and post it to the world

in about 3 minutes.

The other night, I ran into some friends

who left this country.

He has a Vonage phone.

I can call him as if he is next door.

There is a new virtual Vonage that loads onto your notebook.

That's almost what the Earthfamily needs.

in the Wirelessness.




.

The Oneness

There is only the Oneness.

For the Oneness reveals itself always.

Therefore the Observer is the Observed.

And the Creator is the Creation.

You cannot divide the Sea.

And you cannot divide the Oneness.

And when you divide the Oneness,

There is only the Oneness.

What you see is what you are.

What you are is what you see.

And what you see is the Oneness.

THE PRACTICE

Imagine your world as Holy.

Imagine everything in your day Holy.

Salute the morning with reverence and joy.

Greet your first light with the knowledge of your being.

Watch everything as if it is a Holy message from the Holy Field.

Walk with your knowledge, seeing all, and knowing all.

Chat with flowers.

Say hello to the dogs.

Listen to the birds gossip.

Pamper that great agave on the corner of your street.

Look into the Oneness through the gate of consciousness.

Stand in the halls of men with the Truth of your knowing.

Speak to the Oneness.

And the Oneness will speak to you.

Laugh at your foolishness.

And cry with those who suffer.

Comfort those who hunger.

And heal those sick that are well.

Make every moment your best.

And every day your first.

Be who you are.

Be wise.

Be understanding.

Be strong.

Be courteous to all.

Open your eyes to creation

And to the Holy Field.

Open your thoughts to the majesty of the mystery.

And to the Sea of our meaning.

FINALE

In the distance I hear drums.

And I hear the footsteps of horses.

And the growlings of men.

They too are of the Oneness.

For there is only the Oneness.

.

The Solar Hydrogen Economy

Despite what you may hear or read, humankind is very close to developing the technologies we need to run our homes, our offices, our transportation devices, and our industries sustainably and without pollution.

It's the people with the pollution and the depletion who would tell you otherwise.

In my lectures, I used to talk about the big lie. The big lie was this idea that in order to have economic development, you must suffer a little pollution, and a little bit of depletion of your resources. In fact, this is true for a carbon economy. And it is certainly true of nuclear technology.

But it is not true in a Solar Hydrogen Economy.

And when I say solar, I mean wind, and other advanced renewable energies.

With existing technology in windpower, we can create usable electrical energy at prices slightly above 2 cents /Kwh. This is remarkable and a significant achievement.

If I use wind energy to create hydrogen from water with existing off-the-shelf equipment, I can produce high quality hydrogen fuel for cars, boilers, and stove tops. At 2 cents/ Kwh, that hydrogen fuel, once I have amortized my cost of electrolyzers, is the energy equivalent of 12-15 dollar natural gas. Wholesale natural gas is around $6.00 and retail is almost double that.

But the price of gasoline is a different matter.

Since a gallon of gasoline has about 140,000 BTUs and a natural gas equivalent MCF of hydrogen is a million BTUs, hydrogen from 2 cent windpower is $1.75 to $2.00 gasoline.

Let me say that one more time.

Hydrogen from 2 cent windpower is equal to $2.00 gasoline at the pump.

Of course the gasoline at the pump has about 50 or so cents worth of taxes.

But at least when you burn the hydrogen, you get water.

And this hydrogen can be burned in the engine of your car, in your furnace at home, or on your stove top. We don't need fuel cells to use hydrogen.

We need vision.

So, right now, if we really wanted to, we could provide a clean renewable fuel for industry, utilities, homes, and cars from windpower...if we wanted to.

There is an idea out there right now to do just that.

Its called the Phoenix Project.

We could begin to do this now.

In the meantime, we need to get the price of solar into the 2 to 5 cent range, and we need transportation appliances that can be unified with the electric grid.

I mentioned Power Paints in a previous post.

Power Paints could very possibly change everything. With these nanodots in regular solvents, every man-made surface that sees solar energy could become a transducer of photons to electrons. Those electrons would be gridded off and moved to the electric grid, consumed on site, or sent back to the power plant to be stored as hydrogen.

But here is another solar technology that has developed at Boston College.

It converts sunlight to electricity using nanoantennas. These rectanae receive light like the old TV antenna on your house did. And just like your old antenna received the radio waves, the light antenna receives the light waves. This would be a true show stopper for coalies and nukers.

Either of these technologies could get us to 2 cent solar electricity. And remember, you probably pay 10 cents/Kwh for your electricity right now.

Add to this, the development of plug in hybrids that allow you to use either liquid or electric fuel, and you have a unified energy system that pretty much allows for as much development as you want.

And we can do it without poisoning the air, scraping the earth, changing the climate, or creating dangerous man made elements that remain toxic for centuries.

All we need now is a solid state continuous laser from silicon and our computers will be able to run on light at the speed of light.

And as of last week.

Here it is.

.

We don't have an energy crisis

We have a crises where greed

meets intelligence

It's a crises of consciousness.



.

The Pentagon Plan

For those of you who don't know or might wonder, I am a senior long term planner for a major billion dollar organization.

Just a year ago, many of us who scour the news and research sites for developments in Climate Change, Peak Oil, and advanced technological developments were impressed by an apparently leaked plan out of the Pentagon. I got a copy of the report and I was impressed mostly with the realization that the U S government did have a climate change plan in place.

And it is not mitigation.

Mitigation means you sign climate treaties and you cooperate with the other nations to try to keep the suffering and destruction to a minimum.

It is not adaptation,

at least not in the standard use of the term.

Adaptation would mean air conditioning programs, and efficiency programs, and strategies to deal with reduced water tables, and reduced water in rivers and lakes, and studies to suggest where to move food and grain producers.

No, the U S response is different.

It is a military response.

Commissioned by highly respected Defense Department planner Andrew Marshall, the Pentagon study raised the possibility that global warming could prove a greater risk to the world than terrorism. Marshall is known in Pentagon circles as Yoda, because he is so highly regarded.

He is listened to.

The study's principal authors were Peter Schwartz, former head of planning for Shell Oil, and Doug Randall of the Global Business Network, a California think tank.

When the Guardian broke the story, they were, well, less guarded:

Climate change over the next 20 years could result in a global catastrophe costing millions of lives in wars and natural disasters..

A secret report, suppressed by US defence chiefs and obtained by The Observer, warns that major European cities will be sunk beneath rising seas as Britain is plunged into a 'Siberian' climate by 2020. Nuclear conflict, mega-droughts, famine and widespread rioting will erupt across the world.

The document predicts that abrupt climate change could bring the planet to the edge of anarchy as countries develop a nuclear threat to defend and secure dwindling food, water and energy supplies. The threat to global stability vastly eclipses that of terrorism, say the few experts privy to its contents.

An imminent scenario of catastrophic climate change is 'plausible and would challenge United States national security in ways that should be considered immediately', they conclude. As early as next year widespread flooding by a rise in sea levels will create major upheaval for millions.

A major story followed in Fortune where they got right to the point:

The threat that has riveted their attention is this: Global warming, rather than causing gradual, centuries-spanning change, may be pushing the climate to a tipping point. Growing evidence suggests the ocean-atmosphere system that controls the world's climate can lurch from one state to another in less than a decade—like a canoe that's gradually tilted until suddenly it flips over. Scientists don't know how close the system is to a critical threshold.

But abrupt climate change may well occur in the not-too-distant future. If it does, the need to rapidly adapt may overwhelm many societies—thereby upsetting the geopolitical balance of power.

And there was a good story in Grist.

So, are you getting the point yet?

This adminstration definitely believes in Global Warming.

And they believe in Peak Oil.

And their response, according to this report.

Is more military might.

In fairness, the Pentagon planners are just doing their job.

We either look out for ourselves.

Or we look out for the Earthfamily.

Do you have a Plan?

The Pentagon does.

.

Sunday Brunch

For your viewing pleasure.

Remember to right Click and watch in Real Time.

Ellsberg and Zinn.

And here is dessert.

Bill Mayer on Jeff Gannon.

And here is the spot

you wish you would See on TV.

The Arms of God

Twenty five years ago, I was building a Passive Solar House for a client in the countryside. My lead carpenter on the project was a part time preacher in one of those new full gospel Christian churches. This is the fundamentalist group that has to some degree, with the help of the Corporatist, taken over the government of the geographic state of the United States.

Since it was 1979, and the mid-east was in another turmoil spike,we were visiting about War and the role of the Church. He was a red neck, and I was a maturing hippie intellectual. I said that it is the role of the United States, during these times, to protect itself-not with the arms of war, but with the arms of positive contribution toward the betterment of humankind.

I argued that, because of our great weapons of destruction, we had come to a time in the history of humankind in which this great people would have the opportunity to truly make a difference in the destiny of humankind. I argued that when this time came, that this Nation should, in fact, lay down its arms of war, and instead defend itself by providing the advanced technologies needed for a growing World. I offered that a proper national defense in these times would not be bullets, but butter, that Food, Energy, and Inspiration would be the weapons systems that would rule a soon to be unrulable World.

I even cited scripture reminding him that the Lord admonished us from the Mount to Resist Not Evil.

This fire and brimstone preacher would have nothing to do it. He argued that we must defend Israel, that we must fight the godless communist, that we must defend liberty and democracy, and then suddenly, as if a light switch was turned on, he stopped.

"Yes, Lord," he said.

"What was that about," I asked.

The Lord just told me that these ideas are not his.

And, he told me that this nation should embrace Peace not War.

A bright stillness fell into the cab of the car.

My spine tingled.

There was a twinkling.

And for a brief moment.

An overweight undereducated sometimes brilliant Lover of God.

Knew that the arms of Man.

Were not the Arms of God.

.



Yesterday, the Scripps Institute released their study on Climate Change.

Friday, February 18, 2005

Ocean study points to climate change,
Solution is needed now

By BOB KEEFE COX NEWS SERVICE

SAN DIEGO -- Scientists at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography said yesterday that they have discovered the first clear evidence of human-produced warming in the world's oceans, a finding they say leaves little doubt that man-made "greenhouse gases" are the main cause of global climate change.

Even if environmental changes are made immediately, researchers said, some parts of the world -- including the western United States, South America and China -- won't be able to stop dramatic water shortages, melting glaciers and ice packs, and other crises in the next 20 years.

"The implications are huge ... and in the short term, we're sort of screwed," said Tim Barnett, a marine physicist at Scripps, part of the University of California-San Diego.

Barnett said the findings were so significant that the Bush administration should immediately convene research for solutions on the level of the Manhattan Project, the World War II research operation that quickly developed the atomic bomb.

A Bush administration spokesman greeted news of the study with indifference

It is clear.

Our enemy is not another religion.

Our enemy is not a technique of resistance.

Our enemy is not a dead communal political idea,

Our enemy is not some foreign geographic state.

Our enemy is, as Pogo says,

Our own unenlightened selves.

And like that day 25 years ago,

We might soon realize that man's old ideas,

may not be God's ideas.

And we will lay down the arms of man

and pick up the Arms of God.

And win the Peace.

For the Earthfamily.



.

The Energy Crisis

redirect to new page

The President Speaks

redirect to new page

Masters of War

Come you masters of war
You that build all the guns
You that build the death planes
You that build the big bombs
You that hide behind walls
You that hide behind desks
I just want you to know
I can see through your masks

You that never done nothin'
But build to destroy
You play with my world
Like it's your little toy
You put a gun in my hand
And you hide from my eyes
And you turn and run farther
When the fast bullets fly

Like Judas of old
You lie and deceive
A world war can be won
You want me to believe
But I see through your eyes
And I see through your brain
Like I see through the water
That runs down my drain

You fasten the triggers
For the others to fire
Then you set back and watch
When the death count gets higher
You hide in your mansion
As young people's blood
Flows out of their bodies
And is buried in the mud

You've thrown the worst fear
That can ever be hurled
Fear to bring children
Into the world
For threatening my baby
Unborn and unnamed
You ain't worth the blood
That runs in your veins

How much do I know
To talk out of turn
You might say that I'm young
You might say I'm unlearned
But there's one thing I know
Though I'm younger than you
Even Jesus would never
Forgive what you do

Let me ask you one question
Is your money that good
Will it buy you forgiveness
Do you think that it could
I think you will find
When your death takes its toll
All the money you made
Will never buy back your soul

And I hope that you die
And your death'll come soon
I will follow your casket
In the pale afternoon
And I'll watch while you're lowered
Down to your deathbed
And I'll stand o'er your grave'
Til I'm sure that you're dead

I've been humming it all day.

Thanks Mr. Zimmerman.

Would it be great?

If Bob Dylan,

and Willie Nelson,

and Sting,

and Jimmie Dale Gilmore

and all the other great song writer poets,

came together.

And let the kids know.

That this War Shit Sucks.

Imagine the impact.






.

Tin Soldiers

Tin Soldiers and Nixon's coming.

We're finally on our own.

This summer I hear the drumming

four dead in Ohio

Gotta get down to it

soldiers are gunning us down

should of been done long ago

what if you knew her and found her dead on the ground

how can you run when you know?

We all know the words of this

Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young tune.

but I never really knew why the soldiers were tin.

Now I do.

If this story in today's New York Times

doesn't scare the hairy Beejeesus out of you,

You need a transfusion.

The robot soldier is coming.

A New Model Army Soldier Rolls Closer to Battle
By TIM WEINER
Published: February 16, 2005

The American military is working on a new generation of soldiers, far different from the army it has.

"They don't get hungry," said Gordon Johnson of the Joint Forces Command at the Pentagon.

"They're not afraid.

They don't forget their orders.

They don't care if the guy next to them has just been shot.

Will they do a better job than humans?

Yes."

The Pentagon predicts that robots will be a major fighting force in the American military in less than a decade, hunting and killing enemies in combat. Robots are a crucial part of the Army's effort to rebuild itself as a 21st-century fighting force, and a $127 billion project called Future Combat Systems is the biggest military contract in American history.

The military plans to invest tens of billions of dollars in automated armed forces. The costs of that transformation will help drive the Defense Department's budget up almost 20 percent, from a requested $419.3 billion for next year to $502.3 billion in 2010, excluding the costs of war. The annual costs of buying new weapons is scheduled to rise 52 percent, from $78 billion to $118.6 billion.

First of all, if we spent this money on developing advanced technologies

that enrich all of our lives, like on power paints or windpower,

We wouldn't have to defend those finite resources we're fighting for.

But get a grip,

spending this kind of money on War

is immoral.

Remember, this is supposed to be the Defense Department.

Not the Offense Department.

And spare me the sports metaphors.

The US could better defend itself

by making itself essential to the well being of Earth.

Now, before you think that sparing the blood of our own is a good thing,

Remember, that the thing that generally stops war

is blood.

When war is so costly, and so ruinous, and so full of death,

the War generally stops.

And Kaisers and Kings start talking instead.

World War I is a good example.

If the Empire can strike without risking the blood of its citizens.

Its leaders become drunk with power, and

It becomes an evil empire.

I saw the Movie.




.

EFA Media

I mentioned in a recent post that you should not watch TV.

Ever.

It is way too full of bad stuff for your head.

I do watch a lot of good stuff though.

And this one is good.

You will need Real Player.

And about an hour.

When it comes up,

right click and play it in the full program.

That way you can stop it

And advance it and even save it.

When you finish,

go here,

And see what they are saying in the Mid East.

This is called Mosaic.

You will need Quick Time for this.

If you must have news,

go to Reuters and watch their coverage.

Go to the left and click on Television

I know, I know.

Life is a paradox.

Watch the raw footage.

Why does the Battleship Maine

come to my mind?

Welcome to Earthfamilyalpha Media.




.

The Conservative Case

The Kyoto Treaty will become International law on the 16th.

The geographic state of the United States will not be part of it.

All over the world, there will be ceremonies marking the date when a large part of humankind decided to do something about the growing concern over climate. Even if it is not enough.

See if you can find the announcements and stories in the media you use.

Last week, when all the new reports of climate change came out, I e-mailed the articles to certain individuals who I know are conservative, and who I know just can't seem to get with the program.

They always seem to think that this is a religion not science.

The responded to my e mail politely but cutely.

If their house was on fire and their wife and kids were inside,

I doubt if they would have been so cavalier, or cute.

But now, I have the proof.

They do think it is religion.

At least Tom DeWeese of the Conservative Voice thinks so.

The UN finally got what it wanted. The Kyoto Climate Change treaty becomes international law this month on Wednesday. The treaty went into full effect with the approval by the Russian Federation, even without the support of the United States. Time will tell if and when the treaty will begin to affect the U.S. economy. What is certain is that truth and reason had no part in the process.

Global warming has become a new religion. No one is supposed to question whether it is a fact.

Global Warming has become a religion that the faithful have vowed to follow no matter what the true facts may show. Global Warming is a theory, nothing more, and large numbers of scientists around the world are beginning to question its validity. There is no consensus of support.The fact is the Kyoto Protocol will have absolutely no effect on climate change, but the faithful demand that it be implemented anyway, because “we have to do something.”

Global Warming is nothing more than a euphemism for redistribution of wealth from the rich, development nations to jealous dictatorships who refuse to allow their citizens the right to gain their own wealth through free markets.

It’s about political redistribution from strong, independent sovereign nations into the hands of a power-hungry global elite cowering in the United Nations. These are the same cowardly scoundrels who used to try to rule the world through global communism. Today they pretend that the same lies have something to do with protecting the environment.

The truth is there is no man-made global warming.

There’s only the scam of an empty global religion designed to condemn human progress and sucker the feeble minded into worldwide human misery. I rest my case. Amen.

Sounds like Tom is the one with the religion.

I bet he thinks the world is 6000 years old too.

I rest my case. Amen.



.

Beauty

I had one of those days that you remember.

I have the flu, but it was a weird kind that started off normal, up high in the nose and throat, and then, on the fourth day, it went to the stomache instead of the lungs. I woke up with cramps that would make your mother pay attention.

And later in the morning, I almost passed out in the bathroom.

I don't mean I got a little light headed, I mean, I barely kept from being found like they found the King. (Elvis)

My friend wanted to take me to the hospital, but I'm too hard headed.

But days like this do serve their purpose. For one, you remember to not take your good health for granted.

And you are greatful for all the things that are good and beautiful in your life.

I had another post up earlier and I was about to push publish and whammo, the screen goes black, and then nothing but a little tiny red light shows in the bottom right hand corner of my new Sony flat monitor. It has happened before. And like before, the work was lost.

The lost post was more "seriousness" of course.

And these are certainly serious times.

But when I am not serious, I play.

I play piano, I write poetry, and I talk to the birds who bathe in the pool I keep for them. I watch the flowers, and the clouds, and often marvel at the beauty of the creation we walk through.

In Mexico, I have even been able to see the beauty of the plastic sacks that stick on the cactus, and thus have managed to see beauty in man's trash in the pristine wilderness. This one took some work.

I doubt if anyone who saw the movie American Beauty can forget the grace and magic of that plastic sack floating and swirling against that brick wall.

But Lester Burnham's last lines in the movie are good too.

LESTER: They say your entire life flashes in front of your eyes when you die. It's not really your entire life... It's just the moments that stood out... And they're not the ones you'd expect, either...

The moments you remember are tiny ones, some you haven't thought of in years... If you've thought of them at all... But in the last second of your life, you remember them with astonishing clarity... Because they're just so... beautiful... that they must have been imprinted, on like a cellular level...

For me it was, lying on my back at Boy Scout camp, watching falling stars...

And yellow leaves from the ginkgo trees that lined our street...

Or my grandmother's hands, and the way her skin seemed like paper...

And the first time I saw my cousin Tony's brand new GTO...

And the way I felt when Angela first smiled at me...

I guess I could be pretty pissed about what happened to me... but it's hard to stay mad, when there's so much beauty in the world. Sometimes I feel like I'm seeing it all at once, and it's too much, my heart fills up like a balloon that's about to burst...

And then I remember to relax, and stop trying to hold on to it, and then it flows through me like rain and I can't feel anything but gratitude for every single moment of my stupid little life...

You have no idea what I'm talking about, I'm sure...

but don't worry...

You will someday.

.

The Solar Age

There used to be a magazine called Solar Age.

It was the official publication of the American Solar Energy Society, which is still very much around. The new magazine is called Solar Today.

I think the first person to divide human history into a Stone Age, a Bronze Age, and an Iron Age was Titus Lucretius Carus , a Roman philosopher and poet just before the time of Caesar about 95-55 BC.

Since then, we have refined that a little so that the general outline of human progress looks more like this.

We have the Stone Age: A period from two million years ago until 4,000 BC in Europe, the earliest of the three periods when stone tools and and stone weapons were used.

Some divide the Stone Age into sements.

There is the Old Stone Age: (2,000,000 - 13,000 BC). Here, chipped stone tools were first used, and hunting and gathering were common. This was the era of Cro-Magnon man in France, and the time of many wall paintings.

The Middle Stone Age (13,000 BC - 8,000BC) came about when the weather got better and food became more readily available. Here, the first agricultural villages developed.

The New Stone Age ( 6,000 BC - 3,000 BC) in Europe and western Asia represents the time when stone and horn tools were refined by grinding and polishing. During this period there was also the beginning of pottery and some use of copper. Man also first tamed wild animals, used the wheel, weaved, and cultivated crops.

The Bronze Age started in about 1500 BC in Europe when most tools and weapons were made of bronze, succeeding the earlier stone or copper implements. During this time, agricultural villages evolved into townships. Animals were used for riding and for pulling wheeled vehicles, and trading and shipping began. The plough was developed, as was writing and arithmetic, and men became specialized in their jobs.

Most historians start the Iron Age at Around 1000 BC in southern Europe, and later in northern Europe. This marked the beginning of the forging of tools, and the crafting of all kinds of pots and weapons.

It should be noted that this classification is somewhat blind of Egyptian, Chinese, Persian, and Indian cultures.

It is, in short, a very Eurocentric version of history and the development of humankind.

Surprisingly, most anthropologist still consider this culture to be in the end of the Iron Age. I guess when you think about it, it is not that surprising. Our great buildings are made of iron and steel, we still use steel in our cars, in our railroad tracks, and in our concrete. Even the wires in our computers are alloys of various metals.

We think of the Industrial Age starting in the mid 1750s with the invention of the Steam Engine by James Watt, a Scottish inventor and mechanical engineer.

In 1765, Watt was assigned the task of repairing a Newcomen engine, which was deemed inefficient but the best steam engine of its time. Most notable was Watt's 1769 patent for a separate condenser connected to a cylinder by a valve. Unlike Newcomen's engine, Watt's design had a condenser that could be cool while the cylinder was hot. Watt's engine soon became the standard for all modern steam engines and helped bring about the Industrial Revolution.

And, he even got a unit of power named after him. The Watt

The Modern Age started after World War II. This was the beginning of the Consumer Society.

But just like some parts of the World were significantly ahead during the Stone Age, some parts of the world are signficantly behind others in development in this age.

This modern age has at least two sub-ages, the Nuclear Age and the Information Age

And, according to anthropologist, there are still a few pockets of Stone Age civilization on the Planet today.

So, it should be no surprise that we may see a New Age start before an old one ends.

After all these are not really Ages,

these are words.

I would even call this age the Carbon Age.

And someday soon, if not already, it will turn into the Solar Age.

Yesterday, I saw a report from the Photovoltaic Industry Insider.

It said that in 2004, there will have been 1200 MWs of Photovoltaics

produced and installed.

That is one giant Nuclear Plant every year.

Three years ago, we humans only produced 400 MWs a year.

Most PV is manufactured and installed

in Germany and Japan.

Not bad for the guys who lost the War.

And, there are exciting new technologies for sell now,

and revolutionary power paints in the labs.

So the Solar Age is here.

Its just not here.

We're still stuck in the latter part of the Iron Age.




.

Peak Oil

Even though I have mentioned Peak Oil as part of the Perfect Storm, and in other posts, I have not really given it the attention that it deserves.

Peak Oil has become the most popular phrase to describe the intersection of supply and oil demand curves in the world economy. Its premise states that most of the World's large oil fields have been discovered and that many are now in decline. This is certainly true for Texas, the US, the North Sea, and Russia according to these numbers from the Association for the Study of Peak Oil. This European group even shows the Mid East production to be flat at 20 million barrels a day until 2020 when, it too, begins to decline.

According to these figures and many more, Peak Oil, or the time in which demand will outstrip the ability to supply, will occur around 2007. There are some who say it happened in 2004. Others say this year. Even the Oil Industry says 2017, so that tells you something.

The data show that the average delivery for 2004 was 82 million.

The number is closer to 84 million as of last month.

As the economies of China and India continue to grow, their demand places stress on the oil infrastructure. Yet, according to these projections, supply will be less in 2010 at 80 million per day, and only 70 million barrels a day in 2020. By 2050, as the barrel truly begins to empty, the industry will only provide 35 million barrels a day. Under normal growth, the World would need 160 million a day.

The shortfall is nothing short of staggering.

It is instructive to note that at the beginning of the 90s during the Clinton administration, oil demand was 62 million barrels a day.

A simple google search reveals an enormous growth of sites dealing with the issue.

One of the leaders in the Peak Oil movement has been Colin Campbell. He was a follower of the now famous M King Hubbert, the geologist that developed the famous curve named after him.

Hubbert predicted that the American oil fields would decline in the early 1970s and everyone laughed.

They are not laughing now.

When I wrote a book 3 years ago for the Department of Energy, I brought the Peak Oil issue up. At that time it was outside of the bell curve of acceptable thought. Today, it is totally inside. And even though the Energy Information administration does not publish it, that certainly doesn't mean that they have plausible alternatives. Most Oil analyst point to deep oil, polar oil, and heavy oil as replacements for the existing fields.

Ironically enough, polar oil becomes more and more realistic as the the polar ice cap grows thinner and thinner from climate change.

Large oil deposits in the tar sands of Alberta have been suggested as replacements, but they require large amounts of free natural gas to separate the tar from the sand. They have been around for a long time. And 2 million barrels a day would double their present contribution.

Some oil folks simply discount the facts and proudly exclaim that there is no shortage of oil at all. The facts they often discount is the energy requirements in separating shale oil or tar sands. The above story leans heavily on USGS figures, which are unfortunately, politically biased.

This leads me to the discussion of oil reserves in general.

There are two types of estimates of reserves on Oil.

One is technical, the other is political.

When OPEC changed its quota system to a percent of reserves, reserves in OPEC doubled in two years. Those estimates are therefore political estimations.

For tax reasons, some reserves are often underestimated. In these cases, you have so called reserve growth, because the reserves were underestimated to begin with.

So, reserves, actual technical reserves, are often held very close and are most often confidential. This is not good news for planners. Planners need real data, not political data.

So what does this mean?

It means that the World does not really know how much oil there is.

But if you look at the discovery curve versus the production curve, you see that most of the oil was discovered in four peaks during the 30s, late 40s, early 60s, and late 70s.

No one, no where, has made giant discoveries in the last 20 years.

It is this discovery production curve intersection which should give anyone cause for concern.

That is why we need to unify the electric system with the transportation system.

Then, we can power our transportation appliances, be they plug in hybrids, Segways, or all- electric lithium ion vehicles with wind power and solar power.

Peak Oil will lead to the Solar/Hydrogen Age.

One way or another.

I prefer another.



.

Mind Wash

I had lunch last Friday with a really smart guy

from a really successful, large high tech company.

After we finished, he mentioned something about the Super Bowl.

I was embarassed to admit that I didn't know who was playing.

So, I watched it.

It seemed harmless enough.

But I was wrong.

There is way too much bad progamming in those sights and sounds.

I feel like I have a really bad hangover.

In case you did the same thing,

here are some recommendations.

Don't jump out of plane without a parachute for beer.

In fact, don't jump out of plane at all.

Don't honor war and killing.

It has a really bad track record for leading to peace.

Don't buy a car unless it is a plug in hybrid.

Don't buy into a culture that glorifies material possessions.

Don't buy into a way of thinking

that keeps you from thinking.

Don't buy into the "we bring good things" corporate myth.

Don't buy into the myth of the hegemony of competition.

Everyone in the whole performance was cooperating.

The teams, the fans, the announcers, and advertisers,

and they were all connected.

They were cooperating together,

because like Howard Beale says,

Together, they are in the boredom killing business.

In fact, dump everthing that came your into eyes and ears,

and into your brain,

and realize that it was chalked full of really bad metaprogramming.

You are not a car, a camera, a beer brand, a flag,

or an aging rock n roll star.

You are you.

So don't watch TV anymore, ever.

Don't read any newspapers again, at least for while.

Forget the Republicans,

Let them do what they are going to do.

Go walk in the mountains for days and days.

And kill your boredom on your own.

After a while, you will realize,

who you are.

And you will come back

to Earth.

Earthfamilyalpha

The thesis of this blog is this.

Nation states should be more accurately called geographic states.

The state, although important, should not be the focus of our lives.

I live in a nice city, but I don't fret or get all misty eyed about it.

It provides electricity and water and sewer most of the time.

I live in a decent enough county which I am pleased to pay taxes to,

so they can build roads and bridges and jails.

I live in a school district that takes a piece of those taxes

and operates schools that hopefully educate.

And they seem to operate in a more or less satisfactory way.

I also live within a hospital district and a transportation authority.

The hopital is well run and the buses are clean.

I live in a state that has a mascot and a pretty state flower

and some football teams.

It has a legislature that is run by the lobby,

and lots of prisons and a governor with good hair.

It has some universities too.

And I live in a geographic nation state,

that has super super highways

and a military budget bigger than the next 20.

And I hope it will protect us and keep us free.

With that protection and that freedom,

I choose to identify with my spaceship.

For I am a Citizen of the Earth.

We don't have a flag.

We don't even have a capitol.

We are not taxed.

And we don't have an army,

or a King,

or a mascot,

or even an earth flower.

Who knows?

Maybe we are the flower.

I choose to be a Citizen of the Earth.

And I want a family.

an Earthfamily.

This is the basis.

of Earthfamilyalpha

The Matrix

In case you missed it.

The Matrix, the original, is a pretty good story.

And a really good movie.

Here is the story line:

Computer hacker Thomas Anderson AKA Neo has lived a relatively ordinary life--in what he thinks is the year 1999--until he is contacted by the enigmatic Morpheus who leads him into the real world. In reality, it is 200 years later, and the world has been laid waste and taken over by advanced artificial intelligence machines. The computers have created a false version of 20th-century life--the "Matrix"--to keep the human slaves satisfied, while the AI machines draw power from the humans. Anderson, pursued constantly by "Agents" (computers who take on human form and infiltrate the Matrix), is hailed as "The One" who will lead the humans to overthrow the machines and reclaim the Earth.

The cult that exists around this movie is pretty impressive.

The idea that we live our realities in a Matrix has Buddhist as well as Brujo basis. It also harkens back to Plato and the cave.

“What you know you can't explain, but you feel it. You've felt it your entire life, that there's something wrong with the world. You don't know what it is, but it's there, like a splinter in your mind, driving you mad.”-- Morpheus to Neo

Mr. Smith, the best of the morphing agents that take over the matrix humans as they need to, is a truly wonderful bad guy.

He has some great lines.

“I'd like to share a revelation that I've had during my time here. It came to me when I tried to classify your species. I realized that you're not actually mammals. Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment, but you humans do not. You move to an area, and you multiply, and multiply, until every natural resource is consumed. The only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. A virus. Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet, you are a plague, and we are the cure.”

And he continues his verbal onslaught as he tries to get the secret codes out of Morpheus

“Did you know that the first Matrix was designed to be a perfect human world? Where none suffered, where everyone would be happy. It was a disaster. No one would accept the program. Entire crops were lost. Some believed we lacked the programming language to describe your perfect world. But I believe that, as a species, human beings define their reality through suffering and misery. The perfect world was a dream that your primitive cerebrum kept trying to wake up from. Which is why the Matrix was redesigned to this: the peak of your civilization.”-
Agent Smith to Morpheus

“Have you ever had a dream, Neo, that you were so sure was real? What if you were unable to wake from that dream? How would you know the difference between the dream world and the real world?” -- Morpheus to Neo

The movie is full of easy to understand symbols.

Neo is Jesus Christ, the savior of a human kind that doesn't even know it is in bondage.

Morpheus is John the Baptist, who is the one who recognizes the One.

Cypher is Judas, the one who must betray his friends,

yet like the real Judas, he moves the story forward.

And Trinity supplies the Love

and gives the kiss that brings

Neo back from death.

In the Resurrected body,

he is capable of not only dodging bullets,

he can stop them in their tracks.

He can enter the very body of the truly bad guys

and explode them into oblivion.

The movie ends with these words from Neo,

who is now the One.

“I know you're out there. I can feel you now. I know that you're afraid... afraid of us. You're afraid of change. I don't know the future. I didn't come here to tell you how this is going to end. I came here to tell how it's going to begin. I'm going to hang up this phone, and then show these people what you don't want them to see. I'm going to show them a world without you. A world without rules or controls, borders or boundaries. A world where anything is possible. Where we go from there is a choice I leave to you.”-- The One



Reality is a rather persistent illusion.

And the Matrix may be a better model than we imagine.

Apocalypse Now

I sent an e mail out a minute ago.

It said.

"I don't know what is worse or happening faster"

Climate Change or Peak Oil

The Kyoto Treaty will go into effect on the 16th of Feb.

That is the good news.

The bad news is

it's not nearly enough.

Today's story in the Independent says it pretty well.

Apocalypse Now: how mankind is sleepwalking to the end of the Earth

Floods, storms and droughts. Melting Arctic ice, shrinking glaciers, oceans turning to acid. The world's top scientists warned last week that dangerous climate change is taking place today, not the day after tomorrow. You don't believe it? Then, says Geoffrey Lean, read this:

06 February 2005

Future historians, looking back from a much hotter and less hospitable world, are likely to play special attention to the first few weeks of 2005. As they puzzle over how a whole generation could have sleepwalked into disaster - destroying the climate that has allowed human civilisation to flourish over the past 11,000 years - they may well identify the past weeks as the time when the last alarms sounded.

Last week, 200 of the world's leading climate scientists - meeting at Tony Blair's request at the Met Office's new headquarters at Exeter - issued the most urgent warning to date that dangerous climate change is taking place, and that time is running out.

The alarms have been going off since the beginning of one of the warmest Januaries on record.

First, Dr Rajendra Pachauri - chairman of the official Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) - told a UN conference in Mauritius that the pollution which causes global warming has reached "dangerous" levels.

Then the biggest-ever study of climate change, based at Oxford University, reported that it could prove to be twice as catastrophic as the IPCC's worst predictions. And an international task force - also reporting to Tony Blair, and co-chaired by his close ally, Stephen Byers - concluded that we could reach "the point of no return" in a decade

This is like one of those stupid disaster movies.

Christ! There is one.

It's called the Day after Tomorrow.

You know the basic story,

The hero can't get anyone to listen until it is too late.

Then the bad guys try to marginalize him.

Then things start to happen.

And the hero becomes the "go to guy".

But we don't have one disaster movie.

We have two.

Last week, James Woolsey, former CIA director and other neo con type groups had a teleconference:

NRDC and national security policy groups agree to join forces
January 27, 2005

EV World was invited to participate in a telephone press conference sponsored by the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security (IAGS), Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), Center for Security Policy (CSP), Hudson Institute, National Defense Council Foundation (NDCF), and the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE).

The purpose of the conference was to announce the Natural Resources Defense Council's participation in an initiative by national security policy "Hawks" that calls on Congress to provide national leadership in reducing the nation's demand for oil by unleashing technology and innovation in the auto sector.

The security groups' plan, "Set America Free" , cites a "perfect storm" of geopolitical, economic, and environmental problems with continued high U.S. oil consumption, and recommends rapid development of hybrids and other available technologies, new fuels, and cars that can use them. The groups will put pressure on Congress to turn the plan into legislation.

Somebody else sees a Perfect Storm too.

Peak Oil is now everywhere.

And what is on the News?

We are talking Social Security because it will have shortfalls.

In 2042.

We are talking Super Bowl.

It was 24-21.

We are talking Iraq,

We're ahead 100,000 to 10,000.

but we are not talking about why we are there.

We are talking bad about Iran.

They have oil too.

Like most disaster movies,

this one will end with uplifting music,

and a bright clearing sky,

and a significantly reduced cast.

The King

Queen Elizabeth II became Queen of England on this day 53 years ago.

The Queen was born in London on April, 21 1926 as the first child of the Duke and Duchess of York, who later became King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. She became Queen when her father died from cancer at the age of 56.

George VI, who was then known as Albert, became King following the unusual abdication of his brother, King Edward VIII, in 1936.

His brother, Prince Edward, who had already had a number of affairs, met and fell in love with a married American actress, Mrs Wallis Simpson. Eventually Edward realised he had to choose between the Crown and Mrs Simpson who, as a twice-divorced woman, would not have been acceptable as Queen. After just 11 months as King, Edward VIII executed an Instrument of Abdication. Edward was then created Duke of Windsor and he married Wallis Simpson.

His younger brother Albert stuttered and perhaps was a little slow. George was a sickly child and was often ill. In 1909 he was sent to Osborne as a naval cadet but passed at the bottom of his class. After attending Dartmouth he joined the Royal Navy as a midshipman, but suffering bouts of acute gastritis, did not see action in theFirst World War until serving on HMS Collingwood at the Battle of Jutland.

The War created problems for the royal family because of its German background. Owing to strong anti-German feeling in Britain, it was decided to change the name of the royal family from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor.

Here is one of his letters to Chamberlain:

16th September, 1938

I am sending this letter to meet you on your return, as I had no opportunity of telling you before you left how much I admired your courage and wisdom in going to see Hitler in person. You must have been pleased by the universal approval with which your action was received. I am naturally very anxious to hear the result of your talk, and to be assured that there is a prospect of a peaceful solution on terms which admit of general acceptance. I realize how fatigued you must be after these two very strenuous days, but if it is possible for you to come and see me either this evening or tomorrow morning, at any time convenient to yourself, I need hardly say that I shall greatly welcome the opportunity of hearing your news.

And here is his letter to Queen Mary

27th September, 1938

The latest news is this: the Prime Minister has just sent a telegram to Hitler and Benes suggesting that they should get into touch with each other and to propose that Hitler should occupy Asch and Egerland on October 1st. That an International Commission should than arrange for the rest to be handed over peacefully by October 10th. Benes has been told, as he well knows, that this country will be overwhelmed anyhow, and that it would be wise for him to take this course. If Hitler refuses to do this then we shall know once and for all that he is a madman. It is all so worrying this awful waiting for the worst to happen.

And then another to Chamberlain

18th March, 1939

I feel I must send you one line to say how well I can appreciate your feelings about the recent behaviour of the German Government. Although this blow to your courageous efforts on behalf of peace and understanding in Europe must, I am afraid, cause you deep distress, I am sure that your labours have been anything but wasted, for they can have left no doubt in the minds of ordinary people all over the world of our love of peace and our readiness to discuss with any nation whatever grievances they think they have.

And then there is this radio address

24th May, 1940

The decisive struggle is now upon us. I am going to speak plainly to you in this hour of trial I know you would not have me do otherwise. Let no one be mistaken. It is no mere territorial conquest that our enemies are seeing. It is the overthrow, complete and final of this Empire and of everything for which is stands: and after that the conquest of the world. And if their will prevails they will bring to its accomplishment all the hatred and cruelty which they have already displayed. It was not easy for us to believe that designs no evil could find a place in the human mind. But the time for doubt is long past. To all of us in this Empire, to all men of wisdom and goodwill throughout the world, the issue is now plain.

It is life or death for all.

Albert saw it all.

He saw his older brother give it all away for love.

Or so that is the way the story goes.

He watched as Hilter double crossed his prime minister.

He was King during the horrible air raids on London.

and he watched as the British Empire

became the American Empire.

And his little girl has been Queen

to this day.

Its hard to imagine that there are still

Kings or Queens,

but there are.

And they are there.

And we are here.

It all seems a little out of date.

And it is.