What am I to believe?
From every quarter I am bombarded with information
How much of this is real news (Truth)?
and how much is propaganda?
What to believe?
The numbers that are provided by the UN, NATO, the US, the UK, or any of the other sources that suggest that this or that is so!
The role of those that proclaim that their version is the "truth" whether it be from this or that source.
Unless one has traveled to the places highlighted and lived the time spans that are reported on it is difficult to accept as truth what is spoken thereof.
The only way to come to grips with this issue is either to travel to foreign lands or to accept the accounts of those who have. And what is to say that the accounts are not biased in some way or another?
This presents us with a serious dilemma in my humbol opinion, what to believe???
Do we go with the mass media story or do we look to see what is behind the mass media story?
I have been of the opinion that whatever the story presented, it is worth while to question the story presented.
To ask the questions that are conjured up in the story to begin with.
This is not always obvious but is most necessary if we are to move forward as a civilization.
What is the purpose of war?
What is the purpose of reducing populations to poverty?
What is the purpose of destroying our environment?>
These questions need to be answered by the ELITE who run the world, because if they are not then we are truly doomed!!
How long can you live in a closed room full of poisonous gas???
That is what we are doing to our planet, in the guise of economic growth!
Michael
Friday, December 2, 2011
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Life in the garage
So the way I see it is this.
There is a bad guy (country, group, movement,) that is threatening the way it is in this world, make no mistake the way it is, is the way it is, because the people who are in positions of leadership( all heads of state, and their handlers, [the corporations]) wish it to remain so.
The problem with the corporation is that it has no moral compass, in other words we have abdicated our moral compass to the corporation which does not know what a moral compass is because it is not human! and that is the crux of the matter.
Let us imagine for a moment that the planet is reduced in size to the size of your average garage in the western world , well North American western world for starters.
The garage door is shut and we have a device that can emit CO2
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_dioxide
it does not matter what the device is!
It is cold so we fire up the device The existing balance of the atmosphere in the garage lets us keep this device running for a while, it uses a very small amount of oxygen and converts it to CO2, no problem the plants in the windowsill like the CO2 and return the oxygen to the air. A very simplistic view of what is happening I will admit. But let us move beyond the simplistic a bit.
This is a big garage, and we need to get to the other side to pick up the food to keep the plants growing, so we fire up a pretty clever bit of machinery that will move across the garage to pick up the food, this machine however uses some special fuel that is stored in the corner in a limited number of tanks (barrels)they take up a bit of room in the garage but not too much room.
Unfortunately this fuel when burned in the device produces a rather obnoxious gas called Carbon monoxide CO http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_monoxide which is problematic for us in large quantities in the long run. But it is not a problem in the short term if there is enough fresh air.
Over time the fuel in the tanks is beginning to run low, but because there are no visual gauges on the tanks it is difficult to say how much is left. Also the food for the plants is beginning to show declining levels.
A side to this issue is that the people who are looking after the plants need to eat in order to keep up their energy, which they get from a different set of plants in another windowsill, this little garage is getting complicated isn’t it!
A couple of very simple questions
1 what happens when the food runs out for the plants converting the CO2?
2 What happens when the fuel that is used to move the food for the plants runs out? which means that the food for the people runs out.
Remember this is the planet reduced to the size of a large garage, This is a serious predicament because all the time this is happening the people keep multiplying, and there are no other inputs into the garage.
How do we solve this problem?
We don’t seem to be able to see that this will be very serious to our well being if we don’t recognize that we cannot grow our way out of this predicament.
Oh yes there are other garages but they are light years away!!!!
Worried about tomorrow
There is a bad guy (country, group, movement,) that is threatening the way it is in this world, make no mistake the way it is, is the way it is, because the people who are in positions of leadership( all heads of state, and their handlers, [the corporations]) wish it to remain so.
The problem with the corporation is that it has no moral compass, in other words we have abdicated our moral compass to the corporation which does not know what a moral compass is because it is not human! and that is the crux of the matter.
Let us imagine for a moment that the planet is reduced in size to the size of your average garage in the western world , well North American western world for starters.
The garage door is shut and we have a device that can emit CO2
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_dioxide
it does not matter what the device is!
It is cold so we fire up the device The existing balance of the atmosphere in the garage lets us keep this device running for a while, it uses a very small amount of oxygen and converts it to CO2, no problem the plants in the windowsill like the CO2 and return the oxygen to the air. A very simplistic view of what is happening I will admit. But let us move beyond the simplistic a bit.
This is a big garage, and we need to get to the other side to pick up the food to keep the plants growing, so we fire up a pretty clever bit of machinery that will move across the garage to pick up the food, this machine however uses some special fuel that is stored in the corner in a limited number of tanks (barrels)they take up a bit of room in the garage but not too much room.
Unfortunately this fuel when burned in the device produces a rather obnoxious gas called Carbon monoxide CO http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_monoxide which is problematic for us in large quantities in the long run. But it is not a problem in the short term if there is enough fresh air.
Over time the fuel in the tanks is beginning to run low, but because there are no visual gauges on the tanks it is difficult to say how much is left. Also the food for the plants is beginning to show declining levels.
A side to this issue is that the people who are looking after the plants need to eat in order to keep up their energy, which they get from a different set of plants in another windowsill, this little garage is getting complicated isn’t it!
A couple of very simple questions
1 what happens when the food runs out for the plants converting the CO2?
2 What happens when the fuel that is used to move the food for the plants runs out? which means that the food for the people runs out.
Remember this is the planet reduced to the size of a large garage, This is a serious predicament because all the time this is happening the people keep multiplying, and there are no other inputs into the garage.
How do we solve this problem?
We don’t seem to be able to see that this will be very serious to our well being if we don’t recognize that we cannot grow our way out of this predicament.
Oh yes there are other garages but they are light years away!!!!
Worried about tomorrow
Sunday, September 25, 2011
It seems to me that all the teeth gnashing by the financial wizards is going to be a waste of time!
For these reasons
Most of the people that are in a position to purchase something are worried that the whole house of cards is about to topple. They probably don’t even realize this as such, it is the day to day issues of making ends meet, feeding the family, paying the electricity bill, buying the needed school supplies for “Johnny” and “Shirley” or fixing the broken car that needs a brake job or a set of new tires.
These are the realities of the folk in the western world, AKA North America or Canada or the E. U.
For those folk who live in the Maldives it might be will I be able to move to higher ground as the ocean keeps inching higher and higher, and where might that be?.
For those folk that live in Somalia it might be, will I get any food tomorrow? Or will someone tell me that there is no food and to go home!
For those folk who lost their job making a useful product who were given a pink slip because the company went offshore, the financial world of stocks and bonds means little more than some talking head spouting gobbledygook.
Try telling someone who is filing for bankruptcy that the economy is recovering!
I think that the people who are in charge, the people who are making the decisions are either stupid or ignorant of the facts! The fact is that continued growth in a finite system is impossible!
I would have thought that by now the people who are in charge of the globe, these are the folk who are sometimes elected and who are sometimes there because they “were in the right place at the right time”, this doesn’t mean that they are right or worthy of being there, would have realized that doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results would have clued in that things are not working!
I keep hearing that this is a very complex problem. Bullshit!! It’s not complex at all! If you continue to spend more than you earn you WILL GO BROKE!!!
What do we all want? People I mean. From my limited experience a mere 63 years of life I suspect that most of us want to be healthy happy and able to do what we enjoy doing.
I wonder what a young child in Afghanistan thinks.
I wonder what a young child in Somalia thinks.
I wonder what a young child in Bolivia thinks.
I wonder what a young child in Fukushima thinks.
I wonder what a young child in Pakistan thinks.
I wonder what a young child in Yemen thinks.
Or what a child on the West Bank thinks?
I think that if we thought about what the children all over the world were feeling we might change our ways, and just think about doing things that would benefit them instead of us.
For these reasons
Most of the people that are in a position to purchase something are worried that the whole house of cards is about to topple. They probably don’t even realize this as such, it is the day to day issues of making ends meet, feeding the family, paying the electricity bill, buying the needed school supplies for “Johnny” and “Shirley” or fixing the broken car that needs a brake job or a set of new tires.
These are the realities of the folk in the western world, AKA North America or Canada or the E. U.
For those folk who live in the Maldives it might be will I be able to move to higher ground as the ocean keeps inching higher and higher, and where might that be?.
For those folk that live in Somalia it might be, will I get any food tomorrow? Or will someone tell me that there is no food and to go home!
For those folk who lost their job making a useful product who were given a pink slip because the company went offshore, the financial world of stocks and bonds means little more than some talking head spouting gobbledygook.
Try telling someone who is filing for bankruptcy that the economy is recovering!
I think that the people who are in charge, the people who are making the decisions are either stupid or ignorant of the facts! The fact is that continued growth in a finite system is impossible!
I would have thought that by now the people who are in charge of the globe, these are the folk who are sometimes elected and who are sometimes there because they “were in the right place at the right time”, this doesn’t mean that they are right or worthy of being there, would have realized that doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results would have clued in that things are not working!
I keep hearing that this is a very complex problem. Bullshit!! It’s not complex at all! If you continue to spend more than you earn you WILL GO BROKE!!!
What do we all want? People I mean. From my limited experience a mere 63 years of life I suspect that most of us want to be healthy happy and able to do what we enjoy doing.
I wonder what a young child in Afghanistan thinks.
I wonder what a young child in Somalia thinks.
I wonder what a young child in Bolivia thinks.
I wonder what a young child in Fukushima thinks.
I wonder what a young child in Pakistan thinks.
I wonder what a young child in Yemen thinks.
Or what a child on the West Bank thinks?
I think that if we thought about what the children all over the world were feeling we might change our ways, and just think about doing things that would benefit them instead of us.
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Traffic Lunacy
In Edmonton there are a number of massive, I mean really massive road work projects underway, these have been going on for years now it seems. When i travel into Edmonton I have to pass the junction of highway 16(Yellow head) and highway 43 which some consider to be the lowest end of the Alaska Highway, there is a single bridge on highway 16 which is a divided highway over the end of the highway 43. There are lots of big trucks and all sorts of other travellers over this intersection and I have never seen an accident there in over 40 years of passing over this bridge never mind and sort of traffic congestion or traffic jam.
Then we come to the diabolical mess that is being perpetrated on the citizens of Edmonton at the junction of the same highway 16 and the still being constructed "The Henday" This engineering "wet dream" seems to fulfil all the criteria of "milking the system" for all the money that we can possibly make. One of those "shovel ready" projects literally. The sheer volume of dirt moved would probably equal that of a small mountain, maybe a couple of great pyramids, A few thousand tons of steel for the,Ive lost count of the number of under and over bridges in this intersection, and the thousands of tons of concrete and reinforcing steel. All so that a few drivers can turn the corner or not fast. In my opinion a colossal waste of money. Ah but it employed a lot of people you say, well i can think of a few better ways of employing a lot of people,
1) How about building some greenhouses on the reclaimed land that uses the waste heat from the power generating stations at Genesee, then the citizens of Edmonton can get fresh garden vegetables year round from less than 50 miles away, instead of via the airport or the highway trucks coming up all the way from California or similar distant lands. I have a feeling that it would be a lot less expensive.
2)How about a few low footbridges over the river in the downtown area and on out to to the zoo, surely we have the technology to build some beautifully engineered suspension bridges over the river, after all the capture wires used on the Canada Arm were made right here at the International Airport in Spar Aerospace. I have a feeling that they would cost a lot less as well.
Oh but the bridges do not include the "Almighty Automobile" what a pity, then what is the point if it is only for people walking or riding bicycles or pushing baby carriages.
As the world moves closer to a serious decline in the oil production These massive traffic projects will be seen as more and more huge white elephants, and people will wonder why nobody was thinking about the real future and not the fantasy one that seems to be captivating the politicians minds.
Then we come to the diabolical mess that is being perpetrated on the citizens of Edmonton at the junction of the same highway 16 and the still being constructed "The Henday" This engineering "wet dream" seems to fulfil all the criteria of "milking the system" for all the money that we can possibly make. One of those "shovel ready" projects literally. The sheer volume of dirt moved would probably equal that of a small mountain, maybe a couple of great pyramids, A few thousand tons of steel for the,Ive lost count of the number of under and over bridges in this intersection, and the thousands of tons of concrete and reinforcing steel. All so that a few drivers can turn the corner or not fast. In my opinion a colossal waste of money. Ah but it employed a lot of people you say, well i can think of a few better ways of employing a lot of people,
1) How about building some greenhouses on the reclaimed land that uses the waste heat from the power generating stations at Genesee, then the citizens of Edmonton can get fresh garden vegetables year round from less than 50 miles away, instead of via the airport or the highway trucks coming up all the way from California or similar distant lands. I have a feeling that it would be a lot less expensive.
2)How about a few low footbridges over the river in the downtown area and on out to to the zoo, surely we have the technology to build some beautifully engineered suspension bridges over the river, after all the capture wires used on the Canada Arm were made right here at the International Airport in Spar Aerospace. I have a feeling that they would cost a lot less as well.
Oh but the bridges do not include the "Almighty Automobile" what a pity, then what is the point if it is only for people walking or riding bicycles or pushing baby carriages.
As the world moves closer to a serious decline in the oil production These massive traffic projects will be seen as more and more huge white elephants, and people will wonder why nobody was thinking about the real future and not the fantasy one that seems to be captivating the politicians minds.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Another lost opportunity
I listened to the budget speech today and I have to wonder if there is any sense in hoping that, one day our government will make the decision to take the courageous step of admitting, that continued economic growth in a finite world will not work.
We need to do things differently if we do not want to destroy our habitat. Making real changes is not easy after many years of being told that growth is good for the community, and for the country, and for the world at large. Not once during the entire speech was there a mention of the ecological costs of making the country a free tariff zone. Nature is not free, although economists seem to regard it as such.
Some years ago I read a book about finance that was quite a revelation to me, it was called “Your Money or Your Life” it was a game changer for me. I still have made plenty of mistakes regarding how I managed my finances, but the seed that the author planted hit a chord that has continued to grow louder each year. The whole concept of getting out there to spend money to help the economy “grow” strikes me as pretty absurd if I really think hard about it. I do not need any more stuff, certainly I need to buy food, and clothing when it is worn out. I have 9 bicycles that I picked up for free at the local waste transfer station (dump). I would like to see a budget that advocated repairing broken equipment, reducing the speed limits to half of what they are presently, to reducing spending on more and bigger roads, curtailing lavish subsides to resource extraction, to tax cuts to corporations. Improve transit systems, and education. Include a tax on products that travel more than a specified distance, (an idea from a good friend) that would make local products and services more favorable. I will continue to work toward reducing my own footprint on the planet and hope that one of these days the government of the day will take the leap we need to take.
We need to do things differently if we do not want to destroy our habitat. Making real changes is not easy after many years of being told that growth is good for the community, and for the country, and for the world at large. Not once during the entire speech was there a mention of the ecological costs of making the country a free tariff zone. Nature is not free, although economists seem to regard it as such.
Some years ago I read a book about finance that was quite a revelation to me, it was called “Your Money or Your Life” it was a game changer for me. I still have made plenty of mistakes regarding how I managed my finances, but the seed that the author planted hit a chord that has continued to grow louder each year. The whole concept of getting out there to spend money to help the economy “grow” strikes me as pretty absurd if I really think hard about it. I do not need any more stuff, certainly I need to buy food, and clothing when it is worn out. I have 9 bicycles that I picked up for free at the local waste transfer station (dump). I would like to see a budget that advocated repairing broken equipment, reducing the speed limits to half of what they are presently, to reducing spending on more and bigger roads, curtailing lavish subsides to resource extraction, to tax cuts to corporations. Improve transit systems, and education. Include a tax on products that travel more than a specified distance, (an idea from a good friend) that would make local products and services more favorable. I will continue to work toward reducing my own footprint on the planet and hope that one of these days the government of the day will take the leap we need to take.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
More wasted money south of the border
One of the things that I find particularly strange is the current
appliance rebates program the American government is pursuing, that is intended to improve energy efficiency and stimulate the economy. It is reported that $300 million dollars will be rebated to those buying certain new appliances.
This strikes me as another silly political maneuver calculated to lull people away from the real issues. Fraudulent banking practices, massive campaigns to prop up the "corporatization" of the planet. Where are the new appliances being manufactured? If they are being manufactured close to where they are used then there might be some validity to the program. If the majority of the new appliances are being manufactured overseas, it would seem to negate any gains over the cradle to grave life cycle of them.
Anyone who thinks that these sorts of programs that are limited to our southern neighbors will not affect us in Canada are I think dreaming.
After the American government bailed out the auto industry, Canada followed suit. And the Canadian Dollar is always compared to the American Dollar. If the American Dollar goes down the toilet guess what?
I think it would be far more prudent to begin introducing policies that seriously curbed the phenomenal wastage of petroleum products, being burned like there is no tomorrow, on the ridiculously heavy and rather over powered auto fleet.
The other question which comes to mind regarding the fate of all of the old appliances and the associated materials involved in there manufacture. How are they recycled? Where does the material go? And how much of it is simply wasted, and land filled.
appliance rebates program the American government is pursuing, that is intended to improve energy efficiency and stimulate the economy. It is reported that $300 million dollars will be rebated to those buying certain new appliances.
This strikes me as another silly political maneuver calculated to lull people away from the real issues. Fraudulent banking practices, massive campaigns to prop up the "corporatization" of the planet. Where are the new appliances being manufactured? If they are being manufactured close to where they are used then there might be some validity to the program. If the majority of the new appliances are being manufactured overseas, it would seem to negate any gains over the cradle to grave life cycle of them.
Anyone who thinks that these sorts of programs that are limited to our southern neighbors will not affect us in Canada are I think dreaming.
After the American government bailed out the auto industry, Canada followed suit. And the Canadian Dollar is always compared to the American Dollar. If the American Dollar goes down the toilet guess what?
I think it would be far more prudent to begin introducing policies that seriously curbed the phenomenal wastage of petroleum products, being burned like there is no tomorrow, on the ridiculously heavy and rather over powered auto fleet.
The other question which comes to mind regarding the fate of all of the old appliances and the associated materials involved in there manufacture. How are they recycled? Where does the material go? And how much of it is simply wasted, and land filled.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
An interesting thought
I have just been reading a blog by Scott B about limiting the speed of all vehicular traffic to 34MPH or 55KPH max speed This is a very interesting blog and I am beginning to wonder if our rush to get anywhere isn't rather short sighted.
I have already started driving at 80KPH most of the time. Most of my driving is on the highway and pretty much everybody passes me, I am not bothered by this because it saves a lot of fuel, and being on a fixed income this saving is very important for my budget.
The big question for me is what is the hurry?
I remember a friend once telling me that if you add up all of the costs that are associated with driving a car, The energy it takes to earn the money to pay all the expenses, it amounts to an average of 4MPH, if you convert all of the time taken to earn those monies into hours divided by the hours driving.
I am not sure of the math involved, but it does indeed seem like we spend a great deal of time and energy just to be able to drive 3 blocks, to pick up a cup of coffee at the local drive through.
The whole drive through issue will be the topic of another post.
I have already started driving at 80KPH most of the time. Most of my driving is on the highway and pretty much everybody passes me, I am not bothered by this because it saves a lot of fuel, and being on a fixed income this saving is very important for my budget.
The big question for me is what is the hurry?
I remember a friend once telling me that if you add up all of the costs that are associated with driving a car, The energy it takes to earn the money to pay all the expenses, it amounts to an average of 4MPH, if you convert all of the time taken to earn those monies into hours divided by the hours driving.
I am not sure of the math involved, but it does indeed seem like we spend a great deal of time and energy just to be able to drive 3 blocks, to pick up a cup of coffee at the local drive through.
The whole drive through issue will be the topic of another post.
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