168 comments on We Were Warned: The Spelling of the Word Has an Extra "u" That Many People Forget..
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168 comments on We Were Warned: The Spelling of the Word Has an Extra "u" That Many People Forget..
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Agree about the documentary. Though I think "Pablum" is the right word. It's soft, bland food for babies. When you're weaning a baby, you don't start out by serving him atomic Buffalo wings.
I liked We Were Warned because it simplifies and softens the issues. People who are not already peak oilers or leaning in that direction aren't likely to sit through two hours. One hour is a good length for a peak oil introduction. And the average American is not going to buy, say, Kunstler's warnings of pirates raiding Seattle and people who can't pay their credit card debt being forced into work camps. And their eyes will glaze over if you show them Bartlett's charts and graphs.
Kind of odd that they didn't mention "peak oil" though. Obviously, it was cut out, since it was in the preview shown Wednesday.
I wonder if the version that airs at 4am ET will be any different? It's the "classroom edition," without commercials. Will there be added material?
that doesn't make it any less possible.
debtors prisons have been, historically one of the better ways to have a return on the money the creditors lost on said people. the other way i can remember is selling the person into slavery for the rest of their life.
the piracy though, thats a little farther out there.
From Yahoo news this morning, 19 March 2006.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060319/ap_on_re_af/somalia_us_pirates
Advice to any would-be pirates out there: Do NOT pick a fight with a US Navy warship, let alone two.
-Consider this a free service to any pirate too stupid to figure this out on your own.-
Brazil was a great movie, one of the few that I don't mind seeing over and over.
It wasn't really about engineers but about totalitarianism and the incompetent bumbling of a centralized bureaucratic state. I think you're referring to the swat teams that cut a hole in the floor and swoop down to arrest the wrong person on Christmas Eve. All the trouble starts when a fly falls into this minor clerk's typewriter, jams the keys, and changes the name on the arrest warrant he's typing from Tuttle to Buttle.
Or perhaps you're thinking of the repairmen from 'Central Services' that come to fix the incredibly complex pipes and wires in the walls. I also loved the way Gilliam blends 1940s style with futuristic sci-fi style.
One of the other messages was how easy it is for people to live in a totally insane and evil society once they gradually get used to it.
I rate this one Five Stars.
The entire movie is a visually surreal. I believe there were 2 endings created for the movie...one where it is all part of a induced psychotic dream and he is left there forever and another where he is rescued...it's been years since I've seen it so I may not be totally accurate here.
Your comment about "One of the other messages was how easy it is for people to live in a totally insane and evil society once they gradually get used to it" is quite applicable in this day and age of the Boiled Frog symdrome. Little incremental changes that seem innocuous at the time but in retrospect over the large timeframe, are quite incredible.
It would be fun to list things that have changed since..say the 90's.
I of course saw the version with the real rescue, and they saw the one with the psychotic dream.
Actually we only figured that out years later. For a time they thought I had a funny idea of fun.
I never remember feeling happy, though. I remember thinking at the time that it was one of the best films I had ever seen.
Gilliam made a movie about Don Quixote. Something happened where the financiers actually seized the movie. There was a disaster during filming that screwed with the money situation. I'm pretty sure Gilliam thinks the movie is finished, though I am not sure. HBO(or some outfit, I can't remember) did a documentary on the making of the Film. Gilliam is a genius, absolutely brilliant.
So, for everyone's enjoyment --- the repost.
To the Oil CEO, which is akin, in my eyes, to calling oneself "Reichsfuhrer," is missing the point of not only the argument of the moment, but the basic underlying assumptions that undergird his techno-utopian vision. I am not saying that tomorrow we will all die, I'm not even saying that we will all die in the next twenty years. (Though obviously we all die.) I am saying that his vision of constant growth is a physically IMPOSSIBLE.
IT CANNOT BE DONE.
The true nut monkeys, or more accuarately the unwitting-dupe monkeys, are people like OilCEO who believe that we will continue to grow: that population will continue to swell, that some magical techno bullet will save all our butts from the reality of simple physics. His is the blarney we all hear from carnival barkers and patent-medicine salesman. He is the man who insists that the dot.com revolution will go on forever and the stock market will rise to ever greater heights, so buy some more dot.com stock. He is the stock brocker who famously, and fatuously, said on October 28th, 1929, the stock market will rise forever. If OilCEO had even a modicum of education he would see the irony in citing the "dark side" in his comment, but he doesn't. He is mired in profit-seeking, hip-deep in moral equivocation, up to his eyeballs in ignorance: a sad and ignorant man bereft of the knowledge that would would set him free and unable to assess that knowledge, should he deign to think critically about it.
He is a booster, he is George Babbit.
What he and his ilk say is a shuck and jive that is guaranteed to ensure the snuffing of all rational action regarding this revolutionary problem. His proffered hope that something/anything, some special technology, some special human quality, will step out of the shadows and fix everything is nonsense for one simple reason:
WE LIVE ON A SPHERE, NIMROD!!!!
Even if we work out perfect, clean, unadulterated fusion, the planet will still be doomed because of population growth, the destruction of arable farmland, the loss of fresh water, the destruction of the oceans and global warming.
The problem is not oil. Oil is only the rickety wooden framework that is holding up our improbable rollercoaster of a species. The problem is ALL the resources. The problem is species footprint.
The problem is there is only so much cheap oil, expensive oil, coal, natural gas, and what ever else you may want to throw in the mix, left to help back us down from the precipice with a minimum of pain. The time to remove the horses from the barn is before the building is engulfed in flames.
Listen to whom you will, but mark this: Nature will go its own way no matter our actions, but it is entirely possible that she will not include us.
Who is living in a fantasy world?
Maybe it was some other Saturday. Nut Monkey is one of my favorite terms. I'm sure I spout it in my sleep. Did I call you that? Where?
I've been mixing Ambien and quaaludes with TV lately, so I suppose anything is possible.
True, oil is not the only problem but is likely the most immediate limit that will f*ck our delusionary systems. I also agree the sooner the better and the less painful.
Constant growth IS impossible without unlimited resources. We ARE beginning to hit the natural limits.
If current global population lived as US americans do we would need 6 'Earths' to provide for them, if as UK, 3 'Earths'. And global population is predicted to grow by 50% in the next 50 years. Your 'sphere' point is well taken.
The truth is hidden. Most developed nations have continued to consume more energy and food per capita, most undeveloped countries have consumed less per capita. Global per capita food and energy consumption peaked over 20 years ago. Us 'richies' just didn't notice.
But read what OilCEO says more closely, he is probably less far from your perspective than you think ;)
It depends on the circumstances and what they'd be fighting with. If it's the status quo, the MBAs and politicians. But if it's a Mad Max type of scenario, the engineers would win hands down.
We we win, I wouldn't kill all the politicians right off. Åfter all we do need a protein source.
I'd just love to design and build some Mad Max weaponry and combat vehicles!
http://www.technocracy.org/
http://www.technocracy.ca/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technocracy
It exists, just few pay it any attention.
Vern 'If Superman fought Mighty Mouse, who would win?'
Gordy 'Vern! Superman's a real guy!'
- either that, or 'The Right Stuff'..
Kissinger(?); "Nonsense. OUR Chermans are better zan Sey're Chermans.."
-in other words, do you think the MBA's would side with the Pols, and vice-versa, or would everybody be out at the black-market, buying up all the engineers they could?
You can go to prison for not filing your taxes, or for filing false returns, but you can't go to prison for not paying your taxes. If you file an accurate return every year but never send a check, you won't go to prison. The IRS will garnish your wages, empty your bank account and seize all your assets, but they can't touch your body.
Oil becoming expensive will certainly not change this long-standing policy.
We need MORE pirates, not fewer. Isn't everyone else here against global warming too? http://venganza.org/
Your Quote: "I liked We Were Warned because it simplifies and softens the issues".
No doubt. But has the American psychological mindset and attention span so changed in thirty years that replaying Carter's speech would have no effect? If CNN is a TOD reader--I dare you [CNN] to hire Carter or Roscoe Bartlett, then broadcast an updated, modern version of the Sweater Speech.
Maybe the best way to accelerate Peakoil-Outreach is to start a Draft Carter or Bartlett for Prez in '08.
Bob Shaw in Phx,AZ Are Humans Smarter than Yeast?
It would have an effect. It would immediately convince half the audience that peak oil is a crazy leftwing plot to take away their SUVs.
Just as only Nixon could go to China, I think rightwing politicians have more credibility on this issue than leftwingers.
To some extent, yes..
Physical reality is a big help.
Your Quote: "It would have an effect. It would immediately convince half the audience that peak oil is a crazy leftwing plot to take away their SUVs".
Maybe, but the other half would immediately understand that it is a crazy Thermodynamic Law to take away their SUVS. See my posting having Carter or Bartlett give an updated Sweater Speech on CNN in primetime.
Does anyone know if the Constitution prevents Carter from running again? What about a write-in vote campaign: Prez Carter, Veep Bartlett in '08-- bridges both parties!
Bob Shaw in Phx,AZ Are Humans Smarter than Yeast?
Carter could run again, but I doubt he'd win. He's remembered as being incompetent, especially when it comes to international affairs. The guy who bungled the Iran hostages thing, to deal with Iran again? Not likely.
I cannot believe you said Carter was wrong! Short term, yes--long term, he was right on the money! Please reread his Sweater Speech thru the vast knowledge filter you have accumulated. Consider the weak oil data that was available in the '70s vs. what we know know thanks to ASPO, et al.
People instinctly understand Thermodynamics-- we evolved because of it!-->Daddy's car is out of gas. Mommy, I am hungry. Ah, that sunshine sure feels good warming my body.
Would you buy a vehicle that comes without a fuel indicator? ASPO and forums like this are the 'needle' screaming to the public that we are heading to the Big Empty.
Bob Shaw in Phx,AZ Are Humans Smarter than Yeast?
And IME, people do not have an instinctive understanding of thermodynamics. Quite the opposite. They think they can cool down the kitchen by leaving the refrigerator door open. They think if we really tried, we could make cars with perpetual motion machines for engines. They think we can grow enough ethanol to continue the "happy motoring" lifestyle. They think there is such a thing as a free lunch.
if they were taught that the human mind can do anything and there are no limits you get the people you are describing.
they just don't have the Neron's in their brains set up in a way to even consider that there are somethings that are not possible.
Respectfully disagree. I think you are one of the top posters on this forum--I always read as many of your messages as I can. But consider that recent poll where most realize we headed to energy problems. Or your recent post about Phx drivers following tanker-trucks at 3am. Or the sad fact of thousands of Indian farmers committing pesticide-suicide because they realize its pointless to struggle further: they came to realize on their own: 'Peak Everything' without ever learning any of the material on these forums.
All the world is lacking is an accurate detritus fuel gauge like what was repeatedly shown on the CNN show heading to the Big Empty. Simmons has repeatedly asked for total oilfield transparency towards this end.
I think everyone is subconciously aware of the rising floodwaters, but are hoping for the others to drown first: but nobody will publicly admit to their secret desire of 'Nuke their Ass--I want Gas'. This mindset pervades the entire worldwide 'humanimal ecosystem'-- the societal ERoVI scramble is on; everyone is playing as best they can their version of "King of the Detritus Mountain". Recall the recent Matt Savinar-Stuart Staniford debate where neither was willing to voluntarily cut incomes and Powerdown in the mutual agreement of 'No Thanks--I like Empty Tanks". IMO, next to Jay Hanson, these gentlemen are two of the clearest thinking Peakniks on the planet. Even they did not discuss their Detritus Delusion. Twin sons from different mothers refusing to cooperate!
Consider how the anti-war movement is lamenting how few are joining their crusade. That is because more and more people are realizing that military-induced Dieoff overseas helps prevent Dieoff at home. Until proven otherwise, I believe Americans do not have the moral backbone to stick their necks out and fully accept our rightful share of the Grim Reaper's Blade.
A truthful Powerdown means allowing the full force of Nature's feedback systems to tighten the systemic loops into a daily cycle, just as it is for every other lifeform on the planet. The Flaming Excalibur is rapidly flickering out for the defense of the Humanimal Ecosystem. We need to learn how to sing Nature's Song as we all shift to a Lifestyle laboring in the Sun. Time will tell.
Bob Shaw in Phx,AZ Are Humans Smarter than Yeast?
Consider the rest of the poll. People know there are energy problems, but they don't blame depletion or their own unsustainable lifestyles. They blame freedom-hating Arabs, evil oil corporations, treehugging environmentalists, greedy Chinese, or corrupt politicians. It's not the laws of thermodynamics that are preventing them from driving their Hummers as much as they want. It's someone else's misdeeds.
Agreed. Just more evidence that the detritus fueled humanimal ecosystem is achieving its inherent end of 'Nuke their Ass--I want Gas'. Just like my earlier mentioned movie script:
"They won't want us to ask them. They will just want us to go get the energy."
Bob Shaw in Phx,AZ Are Humans Smarter than Yeast?
Bob, this has probably already been answered -- [still trying to figure out TOD threads], but here goes. There no 22nd Amendment issue -- Carter was only elected president once.
Actually, 2-1/2 terms. If you're Vice President and the president dies, you can serve up to two years before that is considered a "term."
Hence the rightwing conspiracy theories, that claim Hillary will run as the bottom half of the 2008 ticket, then kill off whoever is at the top at the two-year point. So she can serve ten years, 2-1/2 terms.
Real action is going to take leadership, and that we ain't got in the political arena.
Blue States can only book flights M-W-F, while Red States can only book flights T-Th-Sat. Everyone stays home on Sunday.
No Postal on Sat.
Odd-even numbered plates will apply to all commercial trucks being allowed on the road.
M-W-F only last even number allowed on our roads. T-Th-Sat. odd number allowed on our roads. No commercial trucks allowed on our roads Sundays.
Hey, at least what was just mentioned is something to consider. What was aired on CNN proposed what? ((Nothing)). I seams to me that it really doesn't matter what level of awareness you may or may not be about PO, but what is amazing is that no one is starting to tell people that action must be started by March 20, 2006 or you're screwed. Face it, three generations from now they already are screwed. It can be debated forever about what MAY happen in our lives when this or that blows up or over or sorry folks (All Sold Out) signs are posted everywhere. There is nothing stopping folks from at least going to Google and typing in PO and start learning for them selves what is going on. But guess what? It ain't gonna happen because people do not want to face reality or they are so entrenched in their belief of entitlements. I loved the fact that China was once again labeled as the bad guy for causing the world ills for using so much oil. I never realized that they are now using over twenty million barrels of oil a day. Grrrrrrrrrrr, when will humanity ever learn that they are not the ones in charge?
Who should we elect?
Who should we trust? You? ..Huh? ...You?!
This is just a rant. You know this. We can use you whenever you get sick of your fifteen-year-old-girlfriends. Join up when you get tired.
The point of my post was not to start setting guide lines but simply demonstrate the fact that all the annalists and debating PO is an act of futility. I doubt that anyone can say for sure what or when something is going to happen regarding PO or supply. Will something meaningful happen that will help humanity when we do run short of energy so our lifestyles will not diminish appreciably? Don't count on it, when in the past did humanity ever do anything what was right for the well being for all of human kind? (NOT)! If you think that humanity will ever change, you have to be delusional because that pink bunny with the top hat carrying a tea pot really doesn't exists. This also applies to what we believe in. Who are we? Why are we here? What is the meaning to our existence? 99.9999999999999 of the answers will be wrong because of how humanity as a whole has been conditioned in believing things like the pink bunny or something that will come in our worst hours to save us from our own (not being responsible for our own actions).
Since I feel that very few will ever read this post because there has been so many posted under this blog, (who in the hell ever came up with that name)?
Fact! Most of humanity has to die off. (Sorry).
As long as there are religions on this planet, there will never be any world peace.
What is left after the (BIG DIE OFF) humanity will have to ask where did it first get screwed up? You have to go into the past to find these answers. I did, and I found many answers to the three (W's) listed above. There, (hopefully) will be a novel self published over six hundred pages long that will describe what needs to be done so the few that are left will have some meaning to their existence. When you hear about a novel that is very hated by religion you will know that you found the right book. All I'll say about the novel at this time is that it has the word (Truth) at the end of its title. It is an adventure novel talking about treasures of all different types. I hope only a select few will ever read it. That is why I made it so long, people just don't like to read anymore.
So, Mr. OIL CEO do I ever what to join up with the (Group)? Don't bet on it because I do not see any future in doing such a stupid act.
Let's see, I'll end this post with the word (Yeast)! For some reason that words really fits well when your talking about humanity. It's like a fungus isn't it?
How true.. I have 4 siblings, all with college degrees and every time I mention PO, they don't have the time for a discussion.. Either they are deeply afraid of what PO represents or they truely believe nothing will ever happen in their lifetime..
I cannot wait to hit them up about the natural gas situation..