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Doo-do-do-do, feeling Gloomy

July 26, 2008 in Energy Crisis by Ben

The state of the world is never far from my mind, not because I, personally, can do a whole lot about it, but because, well, it sucks eggs a lot of times.

I ran across an excellent comment at The Oil Drum the other day, and asked Joe if I could quote him. If you want to read the whole thing you’ll want to click here. It’s a bit long so I’ll put it below the fold.

As I’ve said before, I’m trying my best not to dwell on the energy crisis; but as I watched gas prices drop all the way to $3.95 this week I’m hearing people say that everything will be OK. I don’t think it will. Think back twenty years, and think about how much has changed. I keep trying to imagine ten or twenty years from now, what will our world be like?

On August 14, 1969 my uncle, Rod Davis, was in the Air Force stationed at Biloxi, Miss. This is his recollection of events:

There was a Hurricane named Camille headed their way.

Read the rest of this entry »

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So, whatcha been doin?

June 16, 2008 in Fat Guy, Personal by Some Guy | 1 comment

I’m sorry, internets. I’m not neglecting you on purpose.

I’d love to pretend that I’ve been so busy being a Rock Star that I haven’t had time to blog. I’ve had time. It’s not me, it’s me. I just don’t feel like oversharing as much as I used to.

Here’s a little snippet of what’s been going on:

We sold my wife’s mom’s house. Yay! We have that behind us, after six months of fretting and working on things. We’ve learned some stuff. We hate the housing market right now (there are so many foreclosures and people trying to sell that – hell, just read a paper. It sucks) Still, it’s done.

We closed on it, and it took maybe ten minutes. There was also a four hour drive (each way) to make this happen. But the kids saw their grandparents (it’s been too long) and Dad (that would be me) tried hard not to piss everyone off (it sorta worked, for a while).

Father’s Day was low key; the way I like it. We had cupcakes, everyone went swimming, we watched geeky science shows on TV, my family cooked me a steak dinner. Pretty awesome, yes?

I’m still running; I have 23 miles so far in June, including three four mile runs. The heat is kicking my ass. Actually, it’s not the heat, it’s the humidity. It was 77 this morning with a dew point of
76 or so. Yeah. But get this – I think I saw a fox this morning. Ran across the road about twenty yards in front of me, and it was pretty light out. Very slender, dog shaped, but with a bushy tail
that was almost as long as it’s body, very fast.

(disclaimer: this was toward the end of my run, so a pink girraffe on a cell phone wouldn’t have surprsised me at this point)

I’m alarmed by oil prices as much as anyone, I guess, but there isn’t a damn thing I can do about it, so I’m trying not to lose any sleep. Just watch with me while our economy follows our environment right into the crapper. Sorry, kids, we enjoyed fucking your planet up for you, maybe some of you are smart enough to recover from our mistakes.

Whew, I’m such a happy little bastard! Sorry about that. (I keep saying “sorry” and can’t seem to quit, and I think it’s driving my wife nuts, because she comments on it. Not sure what to do about it,
though. Oh, another thing that drives her nuts? That I’m ‘addicted to movies.’ Another thing I can’t seem to get out of my system. It could be whores and drugs, though, so maybe it’s not such a bad vice? And what’s with the parenthesis? Dayum.)

This is going downhill, fast, so I better just quit. Have a nice one.

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Oily residue

April 28, 2008 in Energy Crisis by Ben

Just a little something to think about this election season.

It’s always there, but I think the time has come for decisions to be made and action to be taken, instead of just wishing it will all go away.

I’m talking about energy, I’m talking about what the hell America plans to do about it.

Consider this for a moment: when George Bush the Second (aka “Shrub”) took office, do you know how much a barrel of oil cost? In January, 2001, a barrel of West Texas Crude was $29.58. By the next year, yes after 9/11, it had dropped to $19.67. Which is about the price it was when Clinton the First took office.

It closed on Friday just shy of $120.

If we want to assume that the price will drop back to $25 a barrel? We’d be fucking nuts. No such thing will happen.

No, instead, demand worldwide will continue to increase, and this will pressure the price of oil. This is supply and demand. This is not Exxon making a profit, because Exxon – as big as they are – is just one company, and there are many, many others out there. Since oil is oil, we could buy it from Chevron instead. “Oh, but they’re in on it, too!” says the conspiracy. I don’t think so, Tim.

No, this is not a parlor trick on behalf of the oil industry. It is not because of 9/11. It is not because terrorists are keeping us from opening the vast Iraqi oil fields, nor is it because of a hurricane. This is simply demand – worldwide – outgrowing supply.

Consider this: the world’s population is expected to increase by another 50% by mid century. The number of cars and trucks on the road, driven (ha) by developing nations, will double in about thirty years. If there is enough demand already, today, to drive oil to over $100 a barrel for months, imagine when there are twice as many people in line at the gas station.

Turning corn into ethanol, to supplement our gasoline, has turned into a fiasco as half the world faces food shortages. Suspending state taxes on gasoline sales, which fund little things like the highways we like to drive, won’t help provide more oil to turn into precious gasoline, instead it will increase demand when there is already a lack of supply, while simultaneously forcing states to tax other things to keep the highways maintained (there won’t be enough money to build new ones, just try and keep the existing roads from falling apart).

So think about this, as you watch the pundits and stump speeches: who is going to help us navigate this mess?

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scary stuff

February 25, 2007 in Energy Crisis, Political Crap by Ben | 1 comment

This is too important not to share. I’ve been reading this guy for about five years; he knows what he’s talking about (look up “Matt Simmons” if you like) and he makes a lot of sense in this video clip.

YouTube Preview Image

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