subspecies

Here's some to get you started ....

You'll almost certainly think I'm making this up but I promise I'm not!

This appears on a christian's blog in the Third World hell hole that is christian USA.

Brothers and Sisters , I have been seriously considering forming a ( christian ) grassroots type of organization to be named “The christian National Registry of Atheists” or something similar . I mean , think about it . There are already National Registrys for convicted sex offenders , ex-convicts , terrorist cells , hate groups like the KKK , skinheads , radical Islamists , etc..

This type of “National Registry” would merely be for information purposes . To inform the public of KNOWN ( i.e., self-admitted) atheists . For example , let’s say you live in Colorado Springs , Colorado , you could simply scroll down ( from the I-Net site /Blog ) I would have , to the State of Colorado , and then when you see “Colorado Springs” , you will see the names of all the self-admitted atheist(s) who live there ( e.g., if an atheist’s name happened to be “Phil Small” ) . The individual’s physical address , and other known personal information would NOT be disclosed ( though , perhaps a photo could be ) .

Now , many (especially the atheists ) , may ask “Why do this , what’s the purpose ?” Duhhh , Mr. Atheist , for the same purpose many States put the names and photos of convicted sex offenders and other ex-felons on the I-Net – to INFORM the public ! I mean , in the City of Miramar , Florida , where I live , the population is approx. 109,000 . My family and I would sure like to know how many of those 109,000 are ADMITTED atheists ! Perhaps we may actually know some . In which case we could begin to witness to them and warn them of the dangers of atheism . Or perhaps they are radical atheists , whose hearts are as hard as Pharaoh’s , in that case , if they are business owners , we would encourage all our christian friends , as well as the various churches and their congregations NOT to patronize them as we would only be “feeding” Satan .

Frankly , I don’t see why anyone would oppose this idea – including the atheists themselves ( unless of course , they’re actually ashamed of their atheist religion , and would prefer to stay in the ‘closet.’ ) .

Why exactly does this moron think athiests are something to do with that perverse and exclusively christian god Satan?? Ignorant as well as mad! And athiesm is NOT a religion, buffoon.

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I'm sick of hearing politicians and even economists (who should know better) that the cure for our economic woes is - GROWTH!

Ladies and gentlemen - you are being prize twats. Growth has gone, never to return. The important thing now is managing decline. The last two hundred years have seen relentless growth. Why? Because we used our ingenuity to create technologies that would utilise the Earth's resources. But those resources are now in terminal decline, especially oil.

The future will be about realisation, adjustment, and very very slowly creating new technologies, based on renewable resources (principally wood and sunlight). Population will plummet from the current ridiculous levels to hundreds of millions. Eventually the Earth will be in balance again.

So what's our future, the next three or four generations? Probably one of great difficulty mixed with big helpings of calm. It's going to be an incredibly interesting time. There will be great opportunity for creativity. There'll be loads of wars, fought with ever decreasing technology. For a generation or two we'll see a return of conflict, heroism and excitement.

The crap we're surrounded with from the celebrity culture, socialism, nine to five misery, motorways, traffic jams, shit architecture, the elevation of stupidity will die, and far more quickly that most of us expect.

So do you still think there's room for growth you twats in 'power'??

wake up call?

It looks like Hurricane Irene may not be quite as devastating as initially expected BUT surely it's time for the US to start taking Global Warming seriously (as if Katrina wasn't enough!)

The general concensus is that this hurricane has taken this more northerly path because the sea temperatures are unusually high along the NE coast - 1 to 3 degrees F.

Hurricanes have of course taken similar routes before, in 1938 for example. But that hurricane took that course because of the way pressure systems were aligned, it had nothing to do with sea water temperatures.

Of course if this temperature anomaly is to become a regular feature then the NE will need to prepare for more hurricanes. If anything the sea temperatures will continue to rise. In fact it's this particular signal - sea temperature rise - that is the clearest and least ambiguous marker of clear global warming. Sea temperature rise is of course the least complex indicator of global warming and has been on the rise (in both senses of the word!) for decades.

And the most disturbing thing I've seen so far in relation to this? An MCNBC reporter standing in front of a fifty storey skyscraper - on a Sunday morning - with ALL the lights on!!! Why? Do people work in every one of these offices at 4am on a Sunday morning? Highly unlikely. It seems the US still doesn't get what's happening, or make the links. WAKE UP!!

I predict a lot of bullshit

Riots. Typical English recreational activity. And lots and lots of hand wringing and soul searching from people that really can NEVER understand what motivates people to do this because, let's face it, their backgrounds are as different from those of these kids as possible.

Rioting's wrong. Attacking shops and, even worse, individuals', homes is disgraceful. To be fair no-one is justifying this part of it. It did get rather out of hand ...

Of course a lot of it was opportunism from organised gangs. And have pundits made any real attempt to work out why kids join gangs? Of course not.

I was in a gang in my twenties. I absolutely loved it. I loved the power we had and the fear from 'straight's when we were around. We didn't ever start any trouble, and we were rather tinged with intellectualism and irony, but we did some pretty terrible stuff, far worse than a bit of rioting!

My other little bit of personal experience is that I actually live on one of the estates where rioters generally originate from. This time we had no trouble, but we certainly have had in the past. In fact the whole of Hartcliffe's pretty proud that the kids here didn't get involved. This estate does have a very strong sense of community which I'm sure helps.

So what really is behind all this? I reckon three things. Peak Oil and the end of growth, consumerism and crap communities.

Peak Oil effects seem to be affecting the whole world, principally by wiping out growth (from the 'credit crunch' onwards), which leaves almost all of us on the edge finacially.

Consumerism is a really sad substitute for real life. I hate it. I couldn't care less what things are or what they cost. It's pathetic.

Crap communities? Caused mainly by the idiot freak Thatcher and stupid rags like the Daily Mail, which seek to frighten people, setting different sections of society against each other.

It also didn't help that Thatcher, probably the most moronic prime minister we've ever suffered, created this dependency culture that led to the rise (in numbers) of the underclass. Whilst there was a chance of growth I suppose everyone had a chance, but those days are clearly over. When the Fed announces that interest rates in the US will remain 'extremely low' for at least two years you know the game's up. We need massive hikes in interest rates to bring the real message home, that the days of waste, credit and badly directed resources have to end. The government is still sending out mixed and pointless messages.

They've been stirring this pot for years and now it's boiling.

will the chickens be coming home tomorrow?

This was going to be a post on stupidity based around formula one, but today's market developments mean I really do need to allude to them as well! So I'm going to try to struggle through the anaemia and diabetes and hay fever and attempt to blend the two. Don't judge me harshly ...

This appeared on Facebook the other day -

Please vote, we don't want another sport on Sky

Keep F1 coverage on the BBC for ALL races from 2012

Oh dear! I thought it was 2011, not 1961!  

So I responded - very meekly for me!

I love the idea that there's a whole alternative world out there where oil isn't running out, where there will be constant economic growth and where something as unimportant worries people! The idea that there will be anything resembling car racing in ten or twenty years' time is hilarious!

Amazingly this came back to me -

Clearly you know absolutely nothing about the sport, which for a non-fan is to be expected. If you took all the fuel from the cars for the year, and stuck it into a jumbo jet, you wouldn't reach New York with it. The FIA perform a series of initatives to try and keep the sport sustainable, balancing out the carbon effects. Additionally, road cars are now significantly safer today because of past developments through the sport - the energy recovery used in F1 today could have significant benefits for our road cars in the near future. Indeed, London Transport are in discussions with Williams GP regarding their fly-wheel energy recovery.

I suppose you'd have us all passing our free-time by knitting wooly jumpers, and watching cookery programs? I could only suggest that you report back immediately to the drugs company, that the trial batch they sent you last week has caused your brain to malfunction.

Oh dear - I appear to have rattled a hippy's cage!!

Let's analyse this.

Clearly you know absolutely nothing about the sport, which for a non-fan is to be expected. If you took all the fuel from the cars for the year, and stuck it into a jumbo jet, you wouldn't reach New York with it.

Really? I did ask for a source for this amazing claim, but obviously none was forthcoming.

Well I checked and here goes - A fully loaded 747 carries a maximum of 63,705 U.S. gal which is sufficient for an almost 8,000 mile range. Shorter trips or less cargo and it would carry less fuel.

So let's be unscientific and say that it's 4000 miles (discounting the lower fuel weight resulting in even better fuel efficiency) so say 32,000 US gallons.

The average F1 car has an 80 litre tank.

32,000 US gallons is 121,000 litres. This allows 1500 trips full tank to empty tank.  There are an average of 17 F1 races a year. So this will allow 88 trips each race. So I reckon he could be right - but I'd love to see his original source.

However of course the actual fuel used during a race is a tiny proportion of the fuel used to keep the whole show going ie transport from track to track, support vehicles and, most importantly, the fuel used to get punters to the racetrack! This is why EVERYBODY should be taught basic economics at school!

The FIA perform a series of initatives to try and keep the sport sustainable, balancing out the carbon effects. Additionally, road cars are now significantly safer today because of past developments through the sport - the energy recovery used in F1 today could have significant benefits for our road cars in the near future. Indeed, London Transport are in discussions with Williams GP regarding their fly-wheel energy recovery.

This looks like classic Greenwash to me. Amusing that this most unsustainable of 'sports' has to resort to it, but none of this is 'sustainable'. The end of cheap fuel and the eventual end of all fuel (for cars) will see to that. Our poster totally misses the point, then really descends into one ... and I love the idea that he thinks there will be road cars in the future!! Someone clearly hasn't had their Peak Oil moment yet - what a shock he's going to have!

I suppose you'd have us all passing our free-time by knitting wooly jumpers, and watching cookery programs? I could only suggest that you report back immediately to the drugs company, that the trial batch they sent you last week has caused your brain to malfunction.

Oh dear, here we go! What the fuck is going on in his head here? I think that because I've gently pointed out a few inevitabilities that he thinks there's some agenda here! There obviously isn't, he's probably confusing Peak Oil proponents with those scummy environmentalists. The last sentence is pure stupidity, and although he doesn't know me I suspect he'd want to retract that if he was aware that I need to take around 30 pills a day just to stay alive. Hippy moron!

So from the ridiculous to the sublime let's look at some of the events that have happened in the real world.

A week or so ago those bloated oddballs that run the EU, together with the dipsticks that run Greece, came up with a plan to keep the Greeks in luxury and indolence. 'Kicking the can down the road' is the phrase most commentators have employed to describe this money juggling.

But even I didn't expect it to blow up so quickly. The contagion has moved to Italy and probably Spain. This will pull the Euro apart and push the world back into recession. But what did we expect? Permanent recession now seems to be the only way forward, until we finally all realise that growth has finished, not for good but probably for at least a thousand years. We've obviously reached Peak Oil and those idiots and hippies in power haven't allowed for it. Some of them still talk about growth as if it's an option. It isn't. Once energy and commodity inputs start to level off and then fall all those caught with debt are NEVER going to clear it. That applies to individuals, families, companies and countries.

So we need a radical reappraisal NOW, not this constant nostalgic fiddling with a system that has died. How long will the politicians take to realise it? I don't know but those who understand it the quickest have the best chance of surviving this and taking their countries with it. There's not one British politician who gets it yet, at least the US has Ron Paul!

So, what next? The same advice as always - clear your debts, buy seeds, hand tools, gold, silver and land. Learn real skills and crafts that don't need energy inputs (other than elbow grease) and start putting down deep roots in your community.