Here is a list of so-called green initiatives that I will not get involved in.
1) Carbon credits
The business as usual mentality. Carry on as before and dump your problems elsewhere. The west continues to over-consume and over-pollute whilst preventing poorer nations from developing. Poorer nations are duped into thinking they can make easy money by taking the developed world's pollution in cash whilst their own populace live in the stone age. We know what happens in the developing world, the dictators get rich and their people starve.
2) Carbon offsetting
Use carbon now, pay later. Jump on an aeroplane or into a 4-litre Range Rover but don't forget to plant a tree. All carbon offsetting does is dump your problem on someone else's shoulders. Be more responsible and emit less carbon yourself. Don't expect others to do it for you. The world has more than enough of "I will if you will" people going nowhere fast.
3) Bio-fuels
Unlike bio-mass, bio-fuels need food grade farmland because bio-fuels are food. Bio-fuels gobble up yet more land from the other species we share this planet with. Bio-fuels are foodstuffs that create competition for food between the food and fuel processors. This competition forces up the price of food. Higher food prices deny the poor of their daily sustenance.
4) Green gadgets
You've seen those websites, the ones in pastel shades and have green in their title. Pushing gadgets that permit you to continue living your unsustainable lifestyle whilst saving the planet at the same time. Lumps of plastic junk that fall apart after minimal use and end up in a landfill.
5) The Severn Barrage
A plan to restrain the high-tide and let it out gradually through turbines to generate electricity. A megalomaniac's idea that will damage wetlands and ecosystems along hundreds of miles of coastline. There are far better ways of using the tide.
Global warming means less food not more
The ill-informed think that global warming will change their temperate climate into a tropical paradise. They will step out of their houses every morning into blue skies, warm sunshine and bountiful exotic crops.
The truth is somewhat different. Global warming will lead to extreme weather conditions. Harsh winters that kill off wintering crops. Cloudy summers that halt the ripening process. Long periods of rainfall that force the failures of other crops.
China is currently suffering freezing temperatures that are killing off thousands of aces of wheat and vegetable crops. We can expect yet more increases in the price of our wheat based produce this year as China competes on the wheat exchanges to feed its vast population.
Reuters - China's crops badly damaged by icy storms: AgMin
Guardian - China suffers food shortages as snowfall continues
BBC - Climate 'could devastate crops'
The truth is somewhat different. Global warming will lead to extreme weather conditions. Harsh winters that kill off wintering crops. Cloudy summers that halt the ripening process. Long periods of rainfall that force the failures of other crops.
China is currently suffering freezing temperatures that are killing off thousands of aces of wheat and vegetable crops. We can expect yet more increases in the price of our wheat based produce this year as China competes on the wheat exchanges to feed its vast population.
Reuters - China's crops badly damaged by icy storms: AgMin
Guardian - China suffers food shortages as snowfall continues
BBC - Climate 'could devastate crops'
Not such a grumpy old man
If I am then it is because today's youth are equally so. A survey of university applicants for the 2007-08 Future Leaders Survey gives a bleak outlook for the future.
Social and environmental degradation. The disappearance of the Amazon rainforest. A plague of environmental disasters. Oil too expensive for use by ordinary people. Still no agreement on emission cuts.
With 78% of students believing that a serious change of lifestyle is required for humanity to save itself, I know that my beliefs are vindicated and there will be people in the future to continue the work that some have already started.
Telegraph - It's a bleak future for Britain's future leaders
Social and environmental degradation. The disappearance of the Amazon rainforest. A plague of environmental disasters. Oil too expensive for use by ordinary people. Still no agreement on emission cuts.
With 78% of students believing that a serious change of lifestyle is required for humanity to save itself, I know that my beliefs are vindicated and there will be people in the future to continue the work that some have already started.
Telegraph - It's a bleak future for Britain's future leaders
DIY Skype handset
If there is one thing I hate then it is something that falls apart after a few months use. Audio headsets are a fine example. Wires work themselves loose, plastic snaps, ear pieces fall out or the microphone ceases to operate.Nothing beats the gold old-fashioned telephone handset. I noticed one in the garage and decided to convert it for Skype use.
A telephone cord has four wires. The green and yellow ones are for the speaker. The black and yellow ones are for the microphone.
To connect the wires to your computer you need two 3.5mm stereo jack plugs or (as I have used) one mono and one stereo. The microphone needs a stereo plug even though you will short the two channels into one.
The green and yellow wires from my handset were soldered to the tags on a mono 3.5mm jack plug. It doesn't matter which wire goes on which tag.
The black and yellow microphone wires are more choosy. You need to experiment with the wires and the stereo jack plug to see which wires goes where. The jack plug will have three tags, one long and two short ones. One of the wires needs to be soldered to the two short tags and the other to the long tag.
Use the Microsoft Sound Recorder application to record whilst talking into the handset and experimenting with wiring. Once you have determined which wire goes where then they can be soldered.
My current set up looks rather Heath Robinson but it works.
When I get time I will integrate the whole phone. The handset can then rest back on the telephone "thingy" (what is the other half of the phone called?). I will put two jack sockets on the phone thingy so that my PC can be connected to the telephone with stereo leads. The jack sockets will then have wires connecting them to the telephone circuit board. This will allow the phone to take land line calls as well as being used for Skype calls.
There is no low inflation economy for the average person
After the Countryfile programme (see previous post), we now have The Politics Show on the BBC. Prime Minister Gordon Brown is at the Davos World Economic Forum and is being questioned about the economy.
Food prices are up 7%, fuel and heating bills are up 20%. However, when asked about inflation, the Prime Minister answered by saying it is remarkable that inflation is still so low. Remarkable? More like a downright lie.
The government measures inflation with the Consumer Price Index. A basket of goods and services. A basket that includes clothes, holidays and other items that poor people cannot afford.
CPI Constituents
Food
Eating Out
Alcohol
Tobacco
Housing
Fuel and Lighting
Household Goods
Household Services
Clothing and Footwear
Personal Goods and Services
Motoring
Public Travel Fares
Leisure Goods
Leisure Services
The poor can barely afford food, fuel and lighting, and public transport. All of which have increased a lot more than the CPI index as a whole. Only the well off can afford the rest of the goods and services in the CPI, which have increased less than the average CPI or have fallen.
Whilst the poor are struggling to pay for food and fuel bills, which have rocketed in price, the High Street shops have had to reduce prices to tempt more consumers who can't afford luxury items.
The fact is that fewer people can afford to buy those highly priced goods in the CPI basket, which have had their prices reduced. This creates an illusion of a low inflation thrusting economy. Information about the economy is heavily distorted. Gordon Brown says he is a man of the people. He is lying. He is a man of the middle classes and bases his economic data on what middle class people can afford and not what the poor struggle to buy.
Ordinary people realise that they have less money in their pockets after paying their bills. This is a consequence of a globalised economy where everyone in the world has been commoditised and sold to the lowest corporate bidder. Linking wage increases to the middle class CPI keeps poor people in poverty.
Only through greater self-reliance can you reduce your exposure to corporate greed. Producing as much of your own food as you can. Freecycling in preference to buying second-hand, where possible. Avoidance of buying anything new.
Office of National Statistics - Information on UK CPI data
Food prices are up 7%, fuel and heating bills are up 20%. However, when asked about inflation, the Prime Minister answered by saying it is remarkable that inflation is still so low. Remarkable? More like a downright lie.
The government measures inflation with the Consumer Price Index. A basket of goods and services. A basket that includes clothes, holidays and other items that poor people cannot afford.
CPI Constituents
Food
Eating Out
Alcohol
Tobacco
Housing
Fuel and Lighting
Household Goods
Household Services
Clothing and Footwear
Personal Goods and Services
Motoring
Public Travel Fares
Leisure Goods
Leisure Services
The poor can barely afford food, fuel and lighting, and public transport. All of which have increased a lot more than the CPI index as a whole. Only the well off can afford the rest of the goods and services in the CPI, which have increased less than the average CPI or have fallen.
Whilst the poor are struggling to pay for food and fuel bills, which have rocketed in price, the High Street shops have had to reduce prices to tempt more consumers who can't afford luxury items.
The fact is that fewer people can afford to buy those highly priced goods in the CPI basket, which have had their prices reduced. This creates an illusion of a low inflation thrusting economy. Information about the economy is heavily distorted. Gordon Brown says he is a man of the people. He is lying. He is a man of the middle classes and bases his economic data on what middle class people can afford and not what the poor struggle to buy.
Ordinary people realise that they have less money in their pockets after paying their bills. This is a consequence of a globalised economy where everyone in the world has been commoditised and sold to the lowest corporate bidder. Linking wage increases to the middle class CPI keeps poor people in poverty.
Only through greater self-reliance can you reduce your exposure to corporate greed. Producing as much of your own food as you can. Freecycling in preference to buying second-hand, where possible. Avoidance of buying anything new.
Office of National Statistics - Information on UK CPI data
Bio-fuels are not sustainable
I am watching Countryfile, a BBC television environmental news programme. One of today's stories is on bio-fuels. As I have said in previous posts, I do not believe that bio-fuels are sustainable.
Some statistics from Countryfile that will make you realise that bio-fuels are not the answer. It takes four football fields of vegetable oil crops to fuel an average diesel car. One football field sized area of rainforest, with its valuable life sustaining ecosystems, is lost every 12 seconds. The wheat to fuel a petrol driven car for one year can sustain the life of one person for one year.
The future will see either a drastic reduction in the human population so that there are fewer mouths to feed. Otherwise, there will have to be far fewer cars. However, Europe and North America are doing all in their power to avoid changing western lifestyles. It would that Europe and North America is intent on genocide.
The only alternatives to bio-fuels are hydrogen and/or electricity. The technology for hydrogen as a fuel is not yet ready. It will require the generation of hydrogen with minimal fossil fuel use. At present, a lot of hydrogen is created from natural gas. A renewable means, such as solar or wind powered electrolysis, will be required.
An all electric economy requires an increase in power stations. For motor vehicles a storage system for electricity (be it hydrogen fuel cells or batteries) will be required. How much of this technology can be created without a significant oil input from the manufacturing process?
It would appear that hanging onto the western lifestyle could destroy this planet. Turning over every available piece of uninhabited land to fuel and food production will destroy valuable ecosystems. A world monoculture of man, his pets and food animals will ensue.
Future technologies that are renewable, and are not dependent on using all uninhabited land, may not provide all the fuel that is needed. It would appear that we are intent on ignoring the problems ahead. We are content with just waiting to see what happens, before we enact disaster recovery rather than implementing disaster avoidance now.
Some statistics from Countryfile that will make you realise that bio-fuels are not the answer. It takes four football fields of vegetable oil crops to fuel an average diesel car. One football field sized area of rainforest, with its valuable life sustaining ecosystems, is lost every 12 seconds. The wheat to fuel a petrol driven car for one year can sustain the life of one person for one year.
The future will see either a drastic reduction in the human population so that there are fewer mouths to feed. Otherwise, there will have to be far fewer cars. However, Europe and North America are doing all in their power to avoid changing western lifestyles. It would that Europe and North America is intent on genocide.
The only alternatives to bio-fuels are hydrogen and/or electricity. The technology for hydrogen as a fuel is not yet ready. It will require the generation of hydrogen with minimal fossil fuel use. At present, a lot of hydrogen is created from natural gas. A renewable means, such as solar or wind powered electrolysis, will be required.
An all electric economy requires an increase in power stations. For motor vehicles a storage system for electricity (be it hydrogen fuel cells or batteries) will be required. How much of this technology can be created without a significant oil input from the manufacturing process?
It would appear that hanging onto the western lifestyle could destroy this planet. Turning over every available piece of uninhabited land to fuel and food production will destroy valuable ecosystems. A world monoculture of man, his pets and food animals will ensue.
Future technologies that are renewable, and are not dependent on using all uninhabited land, may not provide all the fuel that is needed. It would appear that we are intent on ignoring the problems ahead. We are content with just waiting to see what happens, before we enact disaster recovery rather than implementing disaster avoidance now.
Tap water is good enough for me
I have never bought bottled water and never will. However, the rest of the country sees fit to spend £2billion on what nature gives us for nothing.The usual excuse is, "It doesn't taste right." Well, considering that bottled water has been mineralised then it is not surprising that tap water doesn't have a taste but then it's not meant to. I think too many people have gotten used to the fad of buying water that they are too used to drinking the stuff.
If you think there is something wrong with your water then complain to OfWat or whoever your water regulator is. Just be grateful that you are not drinking water in the third world.
The main consideration is that corporations are profiteering from a basic human resource. You can go without food for days but stop ingesting water and death is not too far away. Do not buy water out of principle. Demand adequate water quality if you need to. However, I have never been in a part of the UK or Ireland (with the temporary exception of Galway City) where the water has been undrinkable.
Guardian - Corinne Bailey Rae: 'It's mad we think tap water isn't good enough for us'
Getting rewarded for blogging with Pay Per Post
Living a self-reliant lifestyle in this world I find myself in is not at all easy. I have not had regular income since taking voluntary redundancy and leaving the business world in 2002. Getting by is a matter of living off my wits and investments., neither of which are that great.
To make ends meet, I design and build websites, fix computers, do a little tutoring of maths and IT to tide me over. Often, I write articles on my blogs to share ideas about frugal living, green and environmental issues with others so that we can all work together to make money less of an issue. A penny saved is a penny made.
To aid myself further I have joined Pay Per Post, a website that rewards people who write good articles on their blogs. For far too long, bloggers have been recommending websites, products and services without reward. Pay Per Post brings advertisers and bloggers together so that good blogs are rewarded for connecting their readers with the right advertisers.
Often, when a blogger tries to monetise their blog through an online advertiser, they are lumbered with inappropriate so-called "contextual" adverts. Through Pay Per Post the blog writer can choose their advertiser before writing an article, thus ensuring the appropriateness of the advert before the blogger recommends it.
It is great to be paid for something I enjoy doing. I look forward to working with Pay Per Post and continuing to write quality articles that I know you all enjoy reading.
blog advertising
To make ends meet, I design and build websites, fix computers, do a little tutoring of maths and IT to tide me over. Often, I write articles on my blogs to share ideas about frugal living, green and environmental issues with others so that we can all work together to make money less of an issue. A penny saved is a penny made.
To aid myself further I have joined Pay Per Post, a website that rewards people who write good articles on their blogs. For far too long, bloggers have been recommending websites, products and services without reward. Pay Per Post brings advertisers and bloggers together so that good blogs are rewarded for connecting their readers with the right advertisers.
Often, when a blogger tries to monetise their blog through an online advertiser, they are lumbered with inappropriate so-called "contextual" adverts. Through Pay Per Post the blog writer can choose their advertiser before writing an article, thus ensuring the appropriateness of the advert before the blogger recommends it.
It is great to be paid for something I enjoy doing. I look forward to working with Pay Per Post and continuing to write quality articles that I know you all enjoy reading.
blog advertising
A grand day out
I drove north today, to pick up a blower for up-coming wood gasification work. The blower was 'won' in an eBay auction and to save myself the postage I took the 30 mile drive.
The owner of the blower is a builder of model and half-size steam and internal combustion engines. I could have stayed there all day, looking at the machines. There was a fully equipped metal working shop for the construction of engines. I was jealous but with patience I will have the same.
We talked about steam and gasification, and could have done so all day but we both had other things to do. I have my blower now and shall spend the weekend deciding how best to connect it to a new automotive gasifier I am building.
The journey itself was interesting. Watching other peoples' driving styles, you would think they had money to burn. Foot to the floor when lights turn green, late breaking and inconsistent acceleration that will add a lot of money to the yearly fuel bill.
The owner of the blower is a builder of model and half-size steam and internal combustion engines. I could have stayed there all day, looking at the machines. There was a fully equipped metal working shop for the construction of engines. I was jealous but with patience I will have the same.
We talked about steam and gasification, and could have done so all day but we both had other things to do. I have my blower now and shall spend the weekend deciding how best to connect it to a new automotive gasifier I am building.
The journey itself was interesting. Watching other peoples' driving styles, you would think they had money to burn. Foot to the floor when lights turn green, late breaking and inconsistent acceleration that will add a lot of money to the yearly fuel bill.
Even George Soros says our way of life is unsustainable
Commenting on the current woes in the stock markets and the Federal Reserve's 0.75% interest rate cut he said, "the US, which is consuming more than it is producing, cannot continue."
"It is a significant shift of power and influence towards the developing world and China in particular," he said. Something that is inevitable if the US constantly prints money to get out of jail and then buys Arab oil and Chinese products with it all.
The dollar is the sole representative of US wealth, since the end of the gold standard. By printing money the US dilutes its wealth in the hope that it can expand its economy to fill the void. That is becoming more difficult as other economies grow to fill global demand.
Regardless of what politicians say, there are not enough resources to go round and this sets a limit to economic growth. Today we see Arab and Chinese institutions using their dollars to buy US companies and influence. The US has had its time, a new era has begun.
BBC - Soros says US recession is likely
"It is a significant shift of power and influence towards the developing world and China in particular," he said. Something that is inevitable if the US constantly prints money to get out of jail and then buys Arab oil and Chinese products with it all.
The dollar is the sole representative of US wealth, since the end of the gold standard. By printing money the US dilutes its wealth in the hope that it can expand its economy to fill the void. That is becoming more difficult as other economies grow to fill global demand.
Regardless of what politicians say, there are not enough resources to go round and this sets a limit to economic growth. Today we see Arab and Chinese institutions using their dollars to buy US companies and influence. The US has had its time, a new era has begun.
BBC - Soros says US recession is likely
Where real power lies
Power does not lie in the hands of suited politicians. It lies in the hands of the faceless suits, the corporate suits. In two articles today we see them flex their muscles. In Europe we have businesses complaining to EU commissioners that climate change laws are bad for business.In the US, politicians are chanting a similar mantra given to them by their corporate masters. US trade representative Susan Schwab tries to paint climate change laws as protectionist. US corporations don't like laws that get in their way so they lean on their politicians.
Lap dog politicians claim that they can cure the world's environmental, energy and food problems whilst sitting in the pockets of the corporations. If we don't look after the environment then there will be no world fit for a marketplace. Why can't corporations see that?
Is it possible for politicians to please corporations with limitless economic growth whilst pontificating about planet saving laws that will hinder corporations from doing business? Of course not. Politicians need the votes of the people but they need the funds of the corporations to survive. You cannot call a political system a democracy that depends on a minority of the population.
Democracy is a Greek word from demos (people) and kratos (strength). We have a weak and ineffectual political system that cannot implement the necessary laws because of a corrupt minority.
BBC - Barroso faces business backlash
BBC - US warns EU against protectionism
Are greens and politicians the same?
Reading an article in the Observer over the weekend had me thinking. It is good to see an article that agrees with me on overpopulation and it made me think about the direction we are going in.
When I see Prime Minister Gordon Brown travelling the world, racking up the air miles and pumping out more carbon dioxide than I will in a lifetime, I wonder what is going on in his mind. Does he have a shred of intelligence?
I see him on the television telling us how he is going to cure the world of poverty. I see him travelling to poor countries or to conferences on world poverty, where he tells us all that the poor of the world are his prime concern.
Then he comes home and tells us that there are no limits to economic grown. How can he say that? He has just told the world that he is going to drag everyone up by the boot straps, to the same standard of living as those of us in the west. He is going to make western consumers out of 6.5 billion people now and 9 billion in the years to come.
Gordon then tells us that he has green initiatives. So long as we have nuclear power stations, wind turbines and bio-fuelled cars then we can just carry on as we are. Whilst doing this we will spread our knowledge and wealth across the globe. In the years to come there will 9 billion people. Each with a bio-fueled car, a television powered by wind and enough food to get fat on.
Then we have those greens who want to fill the world with wind turbines when they probably can't provide for all our electricity needs. The greens want us all to eat organic food. The problem with that is that it needs more land to produce the same amount of food as intensively farmed land. We will need to put even more land under the plough, regardless of other animal species, to feed the world.
However, Gordon and the greens share one thing in common. The inability to say the 'O' word. Gordon doesn't want to be branded a eugenicist Nazi and be voted out of power. Though he may as well wear a Swastika because his incompetent self will surely lose the next general election. The greens won't mention the 'O' word either whilst strumming their guitars and singing, "Everyone is beautiful. In their own way..."
The word is overpopulation. Nine billion people cannot live like the average reader of this blog. Nor can 6.5 billion. And the world is struggling to cope with the 1.5 billion that do live like us. When Gordon and the greens come to the same realisation that I and others have, then we can live in a world of 1 billion. We can then consume contented that Mother Earth can replenish what we reap.
Observer - Only science can save us from climate catastrophe
When I see Prime Minister Gordon Brown travelling the world, racking up the air miles and pumping out more carbon dioxide than I will in a lifetime, I wonder what is going on in his mind. Does he have a shred of intelligence?
I see him on the television telling us how he is going to cure the world of poverty. I see him travelling to poor countries or to conferences on world poverty, where he tells us all that the poor of the world are his prime concern.
Then he comes home and tells us that there are no limits to economic grown. How can he say that? He has just told the world that he is going to drag everyone up by the boot straps, to the same standard of living as those of us in the west. He is going to make western consumers out of 6.5 billion people now and 9 billion in the years to come.
Gordon then tells us that he has green initiatives. So long as we have nuclear power stations, wind turbines and bio-fuelled cars then we can just carry on as we are. Whilst doing this we will spread our knowledge and wealth across the globe. In the years to come there will 9 billion people. Each with a bio-fueled car, a television powered by wind and enough food to get fat on.
Then we have those greens who want to fill the world with wind turbines when they probably can't provide for all our electricity needs. The greens want us all to eat organic food. The problem with that is that it needs more land to produce the same amount of food as intensively farmed land. We will need to put even more land under the plough, regardless of other animal species, to feed the world.
However, Gordon and the greens share one thing in common. The inability to say the 'O' word. Gordon doesn't want to be branded a eugenicist Nazi and be voted out of power. Though he may as well wear a Swastika because his incompetent self will surely lose the next general election. The greens won't mention the 'O' word either whilst strumming their guitars and singing, "Everyone is beautiful. In their own way..."
The word is overpopulation. Nine billion people cannot live like the average reader of this blog. Nor can 6.5 billion. And the world is struggling to cope with the 1.5 billion that do live like us. When Gordon and the greens come to the same realisation that I and others have, then we can live in a world of 1 billion. We can then consume contented that Mother Earth can replenish what we reap.
Observer - Only science can save us from climate catastrophe
Bio-fuels more harm than good
A committee of UK MPs has called for an end to producing bio-petrol and bio-diesel because it does more harm to the planet than good. Subsidies to promote bio-fuels result in the destruction of rainforests to make way for bio-fuel plantations. Also, existing farmland is converted from food to fuel crops causing food price rises. Another problem is the resultant monoculture as natural habitats are destroyed.
The committee recommends that bio-mass be grown in more natural surrounding, such as between fields and other non-crop land. The bio-mass can then be used for combined heat and power projects to reduce the use of oil. The waste from bio-mass can also be used for producing fuels without the need for specialised crops that take land away from food crops.
Telegraph - Biofuels will harm the planet, MPs warn
The committee recommends that bio-mass be grown in more natural surrounding, such as between fields and other non-crop land. The bio-mass can then be used for combined heat and power projects to reduce the use of oil. The waste from bio-mass can also be used for producing fuels without the need for specialised crops that take land away from food crops.
Telegraph - Biofuels will harm the planet, MPs warn
Goodbye to cheap food
Middle-class shoppers may not notice it yet, as they buy their choice cuts of meat or their favourite Colombian coffee beans for their grinder. However, for increasing numbers of less well-off people are heading to cheaper supermarkets like Lidl and Aldi.Depending on your diet, you might have seen a 25% increase on your food bill. If you eat too much processed or ready meals then the higher price of oil will have filtered through all the processes that put your food on the table. The less wealthy off are cutting costs with less eating out and more eating of simple foods.
In other countries there have been food riots caused by the competition for food staples like wheat, maize and soya between food and fuel companies. Not all wheat goes to bread manufacture. Increasingly, wheat is used as a feedstock for the production of ethanol, which is used as an additive to petrol because of a desire to use less Arab oil.
As the growing population of people in developing countries become more affluent they eat more meat. That puts pressure on meat production. Increased demand for meat means more oil to produce meat and so increased demand for oil increases the price of oil. Cows need 8kg of wheat for each kilo of meat produced. Increasing oil and wheat prices force the price of meat up. On the other hand, less meat means competition for the meat and so the price of meat still goes up.
Personally, I have been cutting down. I eat a lot less meat. Not for any bleeding heart anti-meat or vegetarian reason. Simply because it is a waste of resources. So much energy is put into processing meat than I ever get in calories from eating it. The price too is off-putting.
A few slices of cured meat, a little chicken meat, a lot more local vegetables, some locally produced bread. Fizzy drinks and coffee I gave up for health reasons. Having flushed caffeine and the desire for it from my system means I don't buy buckets of paracetamol for headaches anymore. Chocolate is a thing of the past. My sweet tooth is now satisfied with fruit yoghurt, home-made scones and cakes made with cocoa powder.
People get used to routines. However, when a way of life changes those who adapt quickly are more likely to change their routine. People who continue to eat out more often than cooking their own simple meals. Those who drive their cars with lead feet. Wasting energy in the home. People who refuse to adapt to the obvious changes happening around them may find themselves unable to cope in this new world of rising costs and decreasing choices.
Observer - Is this the end of cheap food?
Gadget rich, fuel poor
Whilst most people have a mobile phone, one in six households are fuel poor by spending more than 10% of income on fuel. 4.4 million homes in the UK are in such a situation. Circumstances will only get worse due to the recent double digit percentage increases by gas utilities.
Guardian - Fury as fuel poverty soars close to a 10-year record
Guardian - Fury as fuel poverty soars close to a 10-year record
Many urbanites are disconnected from nature
Further to my previous article about hunting, a study shows in detail how disconnected urbanites are from the natural world.
- Two million people in the UK have never seen the countryside.
- 10% of 16-24 year olds have never seen the countryside.
- 17% of urbanites only visit the countryside once a year.
It is no wonder that these people have strange ideas about the countryside, food production and the natural world. Ideas that lead to distortions of the mind about hunting and the eating of meat.
An animal for many urbanites is a dog or cat that naturally they would never consider eating. For those without pets their only contact with the "animal world" was an anthropomorphised soft toy animal as a child, with which they had played and conversed with. Hardly the sort of thing that generates understanding of the natural world.
There should be more done to integrate urbanites with the natural world. However, getting them to visit and play in the countryside is not the answer. Be it boating on lakes and canals or driving 4x4s and trials bikes off-road is hardly going to extend their knowledge of ecosystems and food production. Children need to grow up seeing and understanding the animals they eat. Such knowledge will give them a better understanding of local food and the importance of farming.
Telegraph - Urbanites can't tell a lark from a sparrow
- Two million people in the UK have never seen the countryside.
- 10% of 16-24 year olds have never seen the countryside.
- 17% of urbanites only visit the countryside once a year.
It is no wonder that these people have strange ideas about the countryside, food production and the natural world. Ideas that lead to distortions of the mind about hunting and the eating of meat.
An animal for many urbanites is a dog or cat that naturally they would never consider eating. For those without pets their only contact with the "animal world" was an anthropomorphised soft toy animal as a child, with which they had played and conversed with. Hardly the sort of thing that generates understanding of the natural world.
There should be more done to integrate urbanites with the natural world. However, getting them to visit and play in the countryside is not the answer. Be it boating on lakes and canals or driving 4x4s and trials bikes off-road is hardly going to extend their knowledge of ecosystems and food production. Children need to grow up seeing and understanding the animals they eat. Such knowledge will give them a better understanding of local food and the importance of farming.
Telegraph - Urbanites can't tell a lark from a sparrow
Extinction of UK bee population
By 2018 all UK honey bees could die out because of diseases, such as Colony Collapse Disorder, and Varroa destructor parasites.Many crops in the UK depend upon bees for pollination and contribute about £1 billion to the economy.
Daily Telegraph - Honeybees may be wiped out in 10 years
Was that the winter then?
I suppose there might be a cold snap in February or March but winters are not what they used to be. As a child I remember walking waist deep through snow drifts. Frozen and snow bound from November to March. Summers too are equally brief. Warmer but wetter.
Of course, the scientist in me says that this period of my lifetime does not make a geological epoch. Variations do happen but trends do point to average temperatures increasing and not varying around some immovable mean.
With this mild weather, I could be outside preparing my parents' garden for growing vegetables. However, I won't. From experience I know I can't force people to do the things I do. My former home in Kerry is grown over. Vegetables won't be growing there until there is another change of ownership.
Yesterday I remembered that the apple trees would need pruning in a couple of weeks. That won't happen now. The last time I was there, to pick up some remaining items, the compost heap had grassed over.
I am itching to start growing, building and living The Good Life again. With the way the world is going, I need to start sooner rather than later.
Of course, the scientist in me says that this period of my lifetime does not make a geological epoch. Variations do happen but trends do point to average temperatures increasing and not varying around some immovable mean.
With this mild weather, I could be outside preparing my parents' garden for growing vegetables. However, I won't. From experience I know I can't force people to do the things I do. My former home in Kerry is grown over. Vegetables won't be growing there until there is another change of ownership.
Yesterday I remembered that the apple trees would need pruning in a couple of weeks. That won't happen now. The last time I was there, to pick up some remaining items, the compost heap had grassed over.
I am itching to start growing, building and living The Good Life again. With the way the world is going, I need to start sooner rather than later.
What townies don't understand about hunting
Hunting is perfectly natural. Look around you. Birds of prey hunting small birds. Birds hunting small mammals and insects. Insects hunting smaller insects. Foxes hunting rabbits. Man shooting, fishing, coursing and hunting foxes with hounds.Hunting foxes with hounds mimics a wolf pack hunting its prey. All townies see is themselves as foxes being torn apart by dogs. Well, we are not foxes. It is insane to imagine yourself as another animal. What purpose does it serve?
Nature finds a balance. There are hunters and there are prey. Some hunters are prey to other hunters. That is nature's way. When man sticks his nose in where nature doesn't want it then there are imbalances.
We already see climate, energy, human population, food production imbalance because of unchecked human activity. When urban populations foist their silly sensibilities upon the rural world yet more imbalances occur. Unchecked populations of foxes.
Having worked in London I know there are huge populations of foxes in inner cities. If townies want to feed foxes with the contents of their bins strewn around their rat filled streets then that is fine. Townies telling rural people not to cull the rural fox population with whatever means is none of their business.
I have always regarded the urban distaste for hunting and their love of vegetarianism as mental malfunctions brought on by the total removal from a rural past. Yes, there are vegetarians in rural areas but a much smaller percentage than in urban areas. In any case many vegetarians in rural areas were born in cities. Having spent an entire life buying supermarket food and having never seen a farm is bound to distort the mind.
Telegraph - Hunting with hounds 'mimics nature'
Telegraph - Killer dolphins baffle marine experts
Waste mismanagement Irish style
Cork County Council must be very pleased with its new creation. Called "Waste Matchers" it is a brand new, never thought of method for matching people who want to throw something away with people who might want it.Funny, I thought that was called Freecycle.
I won't advertise the Cork "initiative". I just ask anyone in Ireland to try freecycling first. If there isn't a Freecycle group in your area then set one up. I will even advertise it here for you.
Freecycle - http://www.freecycle.org
Freecycle Ireland - http://www.freecycle.org/groups/ireland
Freecycle UK - http://www.freecycle.org/groups/unitedkingdom
Thousands more wind turbines needed by UK
The UK government signed an EU agreement stating that the nation would use 14% of renewable energy by 2020 for all energy requirements. That means six times more wind turbines on land and 50 times more on sea than are presently in place.It is impossible that the target, along with all other environmental targets, will be met. As long as coal, gas and nuclear are cheaper then there is no incentive to accelerate the use of wind turbines.
After all, the government has not signed up to any ethical agreements and still sticks to the infinite economic growth mantra. One thing the government can do is allow people to micro-generate so that less power stations are required.
There could be a return to the days when a town had its own power station. Instead of burning coal the power stations would burn bio-mass from local wood sources and incinerate town waste. It is high time that urban areas accounted for their own waste rather than dumping it on others.
Telegraph - Fifty times more wind turbines by 2020
Why are there people who deny our environmental problems?
You know the type, they deny the existence of global warming and jump on any crackpot study that supports their view, "solar variation being an example". There are those who consume as though there is no tomorrow and poke fun at your "hippy ways".Then there are those just look at you quizzically with the "what planet are you from?" look. Forget talking to them about saving energy or growing your own vegetables to save money. They are used to spending money for everything and are not about to change.
All these people are deniers for one simple reason. To accept our point of view means the end of their way of life. If we are right then their way of life will cease to exist. It is only natural that they cling on to their beliefs.
Here is an analogy. A number of years ago, people living along a river that had a hydro-electric dam were asked how afraid they were if the dam was to burst. Those living where the river met the sea were not too worried. Rightly so as they were far enough not to suffer much flooding. Those closer to the dam were worried that the dam might burst, cause flooding and damage their homes.
However, those living under the shadow of the dam did not worry about their fate should the dam burst. Indeed, the thought of the dam bursting had never entered their minds and they believed the dam would never burst. The reason being that their lives depended on the dam never bursting. For if the damn did burst then their houses, not to mention, their lives would be swept away. Acceptance of the possibility of a dam burst meant the end of their way of life. They had no option but to deny the possibility of a dam burst.
Today's deniers of global warming, peak oil, overpopulation etc. are in the same boat as those living under a dam. They have to live in denial because the thought of their lifestyle changing is a fate worse than death.
More franken-food
Scientists in the US are jumping up and down with glee. They have created a "super carrot" that provides more calcium than an ordinary carrot.Why not eat more ordinary carrots?
BBC - Scientists unveil 'supercarrot'
UK food prices accelerating faster than ever
Food prices have increased by an average of 7.4% in the past year. That's three times higher than headline inflation, the value employers look at before deciding on the size of pay-rise to give you.
Food bills, along with energy bills, will now form a larger proportion of monthly spending.
High food prices are here to stay. We are used to cheap oil making our lives look easy and affordable. Now, we are no better off than people in developing countries.
It is a good time to cut down on eating out, eating ready meals and processed food. Reduce those food miles and eat local food. Eat less meat because of the amount of high-priced oil that is used in its production.
Even if you only have a few square meters of garden space, you can grow many fast growing salad vegetables.
The UK's reliance on imported food is not sustainable because of high energy prices. Only food that is locally sourced will be affordable in the long-term. Couple that with greater respect for farmland, those who farm it, and the realisation that the UK is overpopulated and cannot expect to sustain itself in the future.
Telegraph - Food cost increase adds £750 to annual bill
US food imperialism
"Take our franken-food or else!"The US Government reserves the right to impose sanctions on all of us nasty Europeans for not munching on genetically modified food.
Roll on the end of oil. Invading another continent is rather difficult without the black stuff.
BBC - US holds fire on EU GM food ban
True but futile - Intensive farming saves lives
An article in the observer states that intensive farming is a necessity as it saves the lives of the poor. Everyday, the television is full of programmes extolling middle-class cooking, with its expensive cuts of meat and fresh organic ingredients. The programmes make pointless viewing for poor viewers who get hungry and waddle off to the kitchen for a cheap ready meal.Modern industrial farming produces affordable food for the poor. Unfortunately, intensively farmed food is unsustainable. In effect the poor are eating oil, the oil that goes into growing, manufacturing, processing and transporting food across the globe.
The competition for oil raises the price of oil and thence food so the poor struggle to pay for it. Eventually, the petrochemical industry will run out of feedstock and then we will all be food poor. Local food will become the norm. It will have to be organic for lack of fertiliser and pesticide. Crop yields won't be great so if there isn't enough to go round then some people will have to starve. Oil allows us to farm intensively and feed more people than we can without it.
Observer - Sure, it might be cruel, but intensive farming saves lives
UK in energy crisis
Liberalised markets and globalisation have left the UK with an energy gap. Whilst other European countries only semi-liberalised their energy regulation, Britain sold everything to the highest bidder.
North Sea oil and gas supplies are dwindling requiring expensive imports. Heating and electricity bills are increasing by as much as 25%. Foreign companies own many UK energy utilities. More often than not they buy North Sea oil and gas, store it on the continent and sell it back to consumers at inflated prices.
You would think that the government would put energy security high on its list of priorities. Instead, it wanted to provide employment for the needy traders in the stockmarket and sold everything for a pitance.
Guardian - Pincer movement has Britain in grip of an energy crisis
North Sea oil and gas supplies are dwindling requiring expensive imports. Heating and electricity bills are increasing by as much as 25%. Foreign companies own many UK energy utilities. More often than not they buy North Sea oil and gas, store it on the continent and sell it back to consumers at inflated prices.
You would think that the government would put energy security high on its list of priorities. Instead, it wanted to provide employment for the needy traders in the stockmarket and sold everything for a pitance.
Guardian - Pincer movement has Britain in grip of an energy crisis
The end of the credit line?
With so many people in debt, now is a good time to stop consuming. Pay off your debt, tighten your belt and be more self-reliant. The debt to disposable income ratio is close to the historic high and the savings ratio is close to the historic low.You are going to need cash for the important things in life so start saving now. Mortgage, fuel, utility and food payments are the important things. Everything else is unimportant.
Be more self-reliant when travelling, on foot or with a bike, whenever possible. Reduce reliance on your utilities. Insulate the home, lower the thermostat on your heating, reduce water, gas and electricity usage.
Change your eating habits. Less processed food, ready meals and eating out. Processing and pre-cooking adds to the cost. Grow your own food where possible. You can eat at home for a week on the price of a restaurant meal.
It's going to be a tough year and the years ahead could be even tougher. Banks are unlikely to be as eager to give credit from now on. You must value your wealth by what you have and not what you can borrow. Be in the habit of tightening your belt now otherwise you might find it a lot harder in the future. Changing gradually is a lot easier than sudden change from a future shock.
Guardian - Is it the end for shopping fever?
A warm welcome for one million more "language students"
If there is no better reason to learn self-reliance, not to be dependent on the government and to prepare for less of everything then this article in the Guardian is it.
Remember that this is a Guardian article and not the goose-stepping Daily Mail.
Guardian - Million Africans mass in Libya for trip to UK
Remember that this is a Guardian article and not the goose-stepping Daily Mail.
Guardian - Million Africans mass in Libya for trip to UK
More on the nukes
On the BBC's Look East news programme for the UK's eastern counties, the people of Bradwell were interviewed about the possibility of a new nuclear power station being built next to their town.
Bradwell currently has a closed nuclear reactor in the process of decommissioning. At the same time another company wishes to build 10 wind turbines. The population of Bradwell are currently petitioning against the wind turbines but are welcoming a new nuclear power station.
One interviewee said she thought the nuclear power station would create more power than 10 turbines. Also, it would provide more work for the many inhabitants, in her town, who were laid off after the closing of the original power station.
And that's what the general public care about most. Not the wind turbines built in Germany, erected in a day and serviced by two men in a white van. They want a big project that is going to keep tens of thousands of people, gainfully employed, for fifty years.
Guardian - Little common ground as debate warms up
Bradwell currently has a closed nuclear reactor in the process of decommissioning. At the same time another company wishes to build 10 wind turbines. The population of Bradwell are currently petitioning against the wind turbines but are welcoming a new nuclear power station.
One interviewee said she thought the nuclear power station would create more power than 10 turbines. Also, it would provide more work for the many inhabitants, in her town, who were laid off after the closing of the original power station.
And that's what the general public care about most. Not the wind turbines built in Germany, erected in a day and serviced by two men in a white van. They want a big project that is going to keep tens of thousands of people, gainfully employed, for fifty years.
Guardian - Little common ground as debate warms up
Nuclear it is
The government announced today that new nuclear power stations are to be built. Of course, this has nothing to do with the fact that Gordon Brown's brother works for EDF Energy, the UK subsidiary of EDF, which operates nuclear power stations in France. EDF's design for its power stations is one of the designs under consideration for the UK's future programme.People will protest against new nuclear power stations. However, nobody has any answers to the UK's future energy gap. There is a year on year increase in demand for electricity. Add to that a rising population creating yet more demand.
Old nuclear and power stations being decommissioned will need replacements, regardless of the disdain for coal and nuclear. Going 100% for renewable energy is impossible and would more than treble everyone's electricity bills.
Telegraph - Earthlog
Bird flu in Dorset mute swans
Bird flu (H5N1) has been found in three dead mute swans on the UK coast, in Dorset.
BBC - Bird flu discovered in mute swans
BBC - Bird flu discovered in mute swans
Meanwhile, back in County Kerry
I am glad to see that the madness that is holiday home construction in Kenmare has been halted, if only temporarily. An Bord Pleanála (Irish Planning Board) has halted a 14 house development because Kenmare lacks adequate water and sewerage infrastructure. I remember the big stink of 2006.However, as soon as Kerry County Council spend 12 million on upgrading Kenmare's water system then we will no doubt see business as usual. Hundreds more shoddy and empty buildings being "thrown up" as the local builders like to say.
Why is it that the tax payers have to pay for all of this? If they didn't pay it then there would be no expansion of the town into an even bigger ghost town than it is. If anyone should pay then it is the property speculators. They are speculating on a population increase in the town so they should speculate on an increase in sh*t too. After all, they produce plenty of the verbal variety.
Irish Examiner - Water scheme crisis halts development in Kenmare
Inequality bleeds Africa dry
Whilst Liberal Globalists jump up and down with glee, and tell us all "they are only here to do the jobs we don't want to do" the truth is somewhat different.
Global capital demands that jobs be moved to where labour is cheapest. If the job cannot be moved then move the labour. This results in millions of Africans being uprooted from their homes.
The result is chronic labour shortages in Africa for the important jobs that need to be done to improve Africa's infrastructure. The next time you are treated by an African doctor, think of the Africans who go untreated in his homeland.
It is a madness that we lure away African doctors from their homeland with money and are then made to feel guilty and send volunteer white doctors to help out in an Africa stripped of a vital resource, namely its educated workforce.
We in the west have not changed our ways. In the 18th century we stripped Africa of anything on two legs. In the 19th century we stripped Africa of its mineral resources. Now we strip it of oil and educated humans. We in the west must improve life for Africans in Africa instead of performing our quick-fix chuck a lifeboat in the water act.
BBC - Africa 'being drained of doctors'
Global capital demands that jobs be moved to where labour is cheapest. If the job cannot be moved then move the labour. This results in millions of Africans being uprooted from their homes.
The result is chronic labour shortages in Africa for the important jobs that need to be done to improve Africa's infrastructure. The next time you are treated by an African doctor, think of the Africans who go untreated in his homeland.
It is a madness that we lure away African doctors from their homeland with money and are then made to feel guilty and send volunteer white doctors to help out in an Africa stripped of a vital resource, namely its educated workforce.
We in the west have not changed our ways. In the 18th century we stripped Africa of anything on two legs. In the 19th century we stripped Africa of its mineral resources. Now we strip it of oil and educated humans. We in the west must improve life for Africans in Africa instead of performing our quick-fix chuck a lifeboat in the water act.
BBC - Africa 'being drained of doctors'
A new car for £1277 unveiled
Made by Tata Motors of India, the Nano comes with a 624cc engine but no air conditioning, electric windows or power steering, those come on the "deluxe models".Designed as a replacement for families that own motor scooters, it may see a quadrupling of car sales in India. Not to mention export sales around the globe.
Whilst we talk about (and are yet to enact upon) carbon emissions, the 1 billion people of India will more than make up in emission increases.
Everyone wants to be like a westerner, which is bad news for the planet.
BBC - Tata Motors unveils cheapest car
UK government to introduce Star Trek replicators for food production
"Replicator, I want pate de foie gras, a glass of champagne and today's issue of Socialist Worker."Amazing at it may seem, DEFRA (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) has been discussing whether or not the UK actually needs any farms. BSE, foot and mouth, bird flu, blue tongue disease, EU regulations and supermarket slave traders have all conspired to make farming not worth the bother. Many farmers would desperately love to continue farming, it is their way of life. They have no option but to cease operating because life is made impossible for them.
Imagine moving the UK to the middle of the Pacific Ocean and being in the same circumstances as say the Pitcairn Islands. Only with one million times the population. Being 100% dependent on imported food and, in the not too distant future, 100% dependent on fuel imports is not ideal for such a large population.
The future may see a world with bio-fuels competing with food for land, many more billions of mouths to feed. If anyone in the Labour government is entertaining the thought of doing away with farms altogether then they have only added to the long list of reasons to mistrust them. Unless, of course, they really do have a replicator up their sleeves.
Telegraph - Defra vision of a farm-less Britain?
Switch grass bio-ethanol 'cuts CO2 by 94%'
A team of scientists have produced bio-ethanol from switch grass that produces 540% of the energy put into the manufacture of the bio-fuel. Of course, a field of switch grass is one less field of food. We could farm a lot more land to make up for the deficit but that would leave a mono-culture planet. Doom all the same.BBC - Grass biofuels 'cut CO2 by 94%'
Add another 14 years to your life
A study reveals that by not smoking, taking exercise, drinking in moderation and eating five servings of fruit and vegetables a day will increase your lifespan by up to 14 years. Also, that social class or body mass index (BMI) has no effect on life expectancy.With spring on the way you should be in the garden growing lots of vegetables. Reduce your meat intake but by no means become a vegetarian. The exercise from gardening, avoidance of smoking, and sensible drinking will all add up to another 14 years of life.
- Smokers were 77% more likely to have died during the study.
- Eating plenty of fruit and vegetables, with high vitamin C levels, gave people a 44% better chance of being alive by the end of the study.
- A low alcohol intake improved people's chance of survival by 26%
- Being physically active increased people's chance of survival by 24%.
Guardian - Academics find formula for 14 extra years of life
Oil at $200 by year end?
No, I'm not marking up my list of 2008 predictions. The news from the oil options market is that traders are buying December '08 contracts at $200 a barrel. Time to learn eco-driving and/or get those walking legs out?The buying of options at $200 a barrel does not mean that people are actually paying $200 per barrel today. An options contract is a special financial instrument called a derivative, which means that it is derived from an underlying asset, that asset being oil.
You may wish to buy an options contract for a variety of reasons. It maybe just a simple bet. For others, if oil is part of your business, you may want to protect yourself against future price rises in that commodity. For example, an oil refinery owner might sign a contract to provide petrol, to pumping stations, at a certain price in December. You agree a price for the sale of the petrol by factoring in the current price for oil.
However, you are not going to buy the oil for cracking into petrol, to satisfy that contract, until later in the year, when the price of oil could be considerably higher. You certainly wouldn't buy the oil now and leave it sitting in a corner somewhere. First, you have current deliveries to process. Secondly, if the price of oil drops then you will have wasted a lot of money. Thirdly you have to spend a lot money on infrastructure to contain all that oil until it is needed.
In today's "just in time" world, you buy the oil only when you intend cracking it. That means you have to buy it at whatever the current delivery price is. If you have agreed to supply petrol when oil was at $97 a barrel when it is now at $150 a barrel then obviously you are going to make a loss on the sale of your petrol.
To protect yourself against future oil price increases you buy an options contract. Such a contract is an option to buy oil at an agreed price today sometime in the future. A December '08 contract is a promise to buy oil in December 2008 at a price agreed in today's commodities exchange, be it the IPE or NYMEX.
To buy an options contract you pay a premium of say £10 per contract, where each contract is a promise to buy so many barrels of oil. If the price of oil rises before December then the value of your contract increases too.
You have insured yourself against a rise in the price of oil by the rise in price of your option. You can satisfy your contract to deliver petrol at whatever price oil goes to and sell your option to cover any loss. Assuming you sell the option before expiry.
Of course, as you would expect, it's a lot more complex than this. Options contracts, whilst reflecting the value of their underlying asset, also reflect the time to expiry. A time value reduces the price of your option as you get closer to expiry.
You can also buy two different kinds of options, "calls" and "puts". With a call option you expect the price of the underlying asset to increase and with a put option you expect the price to fall. It gets more complex in that you can go "long" or "short" (buy or sell (underwrite) these options).
There will probably be some gamblers on the exchange executing "strangles". Simultaneously buying a call at $200 and a put at $250 and hoping that oil goes up but not too far so that the strangle can collect money on both bets. Yes, you will find derivatives traders betting on horses or playing poker too.
So what does this all mean? The buying of options to buy petrol at $200 a barrel does not mean that oil will be at that price at the end of the year. People are just protecting themselves against possible price rises with a very effective financial instrument or having a gamble. Still, it wouldn't hurt to drive less, would it?
Bloomberg - Oil $200 Options Rise 10-Fold in Bet on Higher Crude (Update1)
Wikipedia - Options trading
Wikipedia - IPE (International Petroleum Exchange)
Wikipedia - NYMEX (New York Mercantile Exchange)
Carp and chips please
With workers from eastern Europe has come their taste in food. A visit to the supermarket more often than not sees food packaged with odd looking Slavic script that gives no clue as to what is in it. Well, carp could be one of the ingredients, a fish long eaten by eastern Europeans and regarded as a delicacy.In medieval times, this country's monks and lords of the manor often had carp ponds for breeding fish fit for the dinner table. It has long been thought that their bottom feeding habits makes their flesh rather muddy in taste. By keeping them in a clean pool (devoid of mud) just prior to cooking, the mud can be flushed from them.
With stocks of sea fish dwindling, UK fish eaters might be returning to this old denizen of the deep.
Closing the NHS will make people healthier
On the one hand this is supposed to be a caring, sharing blog but on the other it advocates self-reliance. The NHS (the UK's National Health Service) tests my powers of objectivity but I usually fail. Prime Minister Gordon Brown wants to save 200,000 extra lives. Ahhhh, see how his heart bleeds. The way the population is going, he should be looking to bump off 200,000 not save them.
The NHS is a lumbering dinosaur. Inefficient. Treats too many that can pay for their own medicine. Has too many non-medical staff doing jobs that don't improve the health of the nation.
However, it was created by a socialist so arch-socialist Gordon Brown is going to throw money at it to keep it going. At the same time the government gets less money in dwindling oil tax revenue to pay for it, so it has to import more migrant tax payers, which increases the population, so we need a bigger NHS.
See where this is going?
For a start stop treating people with self-inflicted illnesses. The over-weight, smokers, alcoholics, drug abusers, S&M-ers etc. I like a good beating on the botty but if someone draws blood I have no right to go to the clinic for a tetanus jab.
If anyone can afford health insurance then they should be denied NHS treatment. Whoever is left is to be given regular exercise. Failure to do so... sorry, no exercise, no treatment. The country is full of indolent, something for nothing types. No more!
When dentists started charging for treatment, I started brushing my teeth three times a day. The result being that I now rarely need dental treatment. Be self-reliant. You never know what the future has in store for you, so you might be grateful for a little practice at standing on your own two feet.
Guardian - NHS screening programme takes centre stage in Brown fightback
The NHS is a lumbering dinosaur. Inefficient. Treats too many that can pay for their own medicine. Has too many non-medical staff doing jobs that don't improve the health of the nation.
However, it was created by a socialist so arch-socialist Gordon Brown is going to throw money at it to keep it going. At the same time the government gets less money in dwindling oil tax revenue to pay for it, so it has to import more migrant tax payers, which increases the population, so we need a bigger NHS.
See where this is going?
For a start stop treating people with self-inflicted illnesses. The over-weight, smokers, alcoholics, drug abusers, S&M-ers etc. I like a good beating on the botty but if someone draws blood I have no right to go to the clinic for a tetanus jab.
If anyone can afford health insurance then they should be denied NHS treatment. Whoever is left is to be given regular exercise. Failure to do so... sorry, no exercise, no treatment. The country is full of indolent, something for nothing types. No more!
When dentists started charging for treatment, I started brushing my teeth three times a day. The result being that I now rarely need dental treatment. Be self-reliant. You never know what the future has in store for you, so you might be grateful for a little practice at standing on your own two feet.
Guardian - NHS screening programme takes centre stage in Brown fightback
The hidden costs of nuclear power
With nuclear power you pay twice for your electricity, one payment to the utility that provides your electricity and another payment to the government to clean up when the power station is decommissioned.Up to ten new nuclear power stations could be built, if the government gives the go-ahead. Alternatively, you can stop buying gadgets for Christmas and having them constantly plugged into the wall, recharging.
Guardian - Consumers may foot nuclear bill
A noble cause worth joining
I have been asked to join a protest against the Beijing Olympic games on account of the Chinese government's lack of respect for human rights. From my perspective such a lack of respect extends into the environment and unbridled economic growth.Without respect for humans, other animals and the environment China is fast becoming the number one polluter of the planet, waster of resources and corrupter of sustainable living. Of course, it has a way to go before it catches up with the US but the day that it does overtake the US is not too far away.
Please feel free to link to the graphic above and put it on your website.
And, read an article on the reasons behind its creation.
Other protesters Faithmouse, SFO Mom, Blogs4Brownback, 50 Days After, Kaj
Firewood everywhere
I went for a walk today, in a nearby pine forest. Plenty of dead wood everywhere. My parents are of an age where purchasing a wood burning stove is a backwards step. I remember a coal fired boiler in the kitchen, as a young child. It was gleefully disposed of, by my parents, when the brave new world of North Sea gas began in the late sixties. That means I won't be collecting wood and installing a stove for them. It will be the first thing I install in my new home.
If ever there was a reason why increasing human lifespan is a bad idea then my parents' resistance to the future is it. Old people get stuck in their ways and are incapable of accepting new ideas. My mother flushes more times than a nun in a brothel and my father chucks all the rubbish into the recycle bin.
Old age and death are nature's ways of clearing out old ideas. For example, it took the death of old astronomers for a sun centred solar system and the inflationary theory for the universe to be accepted. Imagine a world where nobody dies. We would still be in the stone age, with the eldest people resisting any use of metals.
Anyway, to give me something to do over the winter I might get a little firewood for myself, shred it and do some more work on my wood gasifier. Maybe remove some of the dull shrubbery in the garden and plant some vegetables for my parents too. Their vegetable intake is virtually zero. Bad for their health, good for my inheritance. I'll flip a coin tomorrow. Maybe the Good Lord will take the decision out of my hands during the night. Only joking.
Or am I?
If ever there was a reason why increasing human lifespan is a bad idea then my parents' resistance to the future is it. Old people get stuck in their ways and are incapable of accepting new ideas. My mother flushes more times than a nun in a brothel and my father chucks all the rubbish into the recycle bin.
Old age and death are nature's ways of clearing out old ideas. For example, it took the death of old astronomers for a sun centred solar system and the inflationary theory for the universe to be accepted. Imagine a world where nobody dies. We would still be in the stone age, with the eldest people resisting any use of metals.
Anyway, to give me something to do over the winter I might get a little firewood for myself, shred it and do some more work on my wood gasifier. Maybe remove some of the dull shrubbery in the garden and plant some vegetables for my parents too. Their vegetable intake is virtually zero. Bad for their health, good for my inheritance. I'll flip a coin tomorrow. Maybe the Good Lord will take the decision out of my hands during the night. Only joking.
Or am I?
Another danger from CFLs
Someone really has it in for CFLs on the BBC this week. I bet a BBC reporter is getting it in the ear from his wife because she just heard about the government phasing out incandescent light bulbs.
Today's new danger is one that does concern me. It's the fact that a small amount of mercury is used in the manufacture of the lights. Not enough to kill you but if it is allowed to accumulate then prolonged exposure to mercury is dangerous.
The problem is we are about to increase the use of CFLs massively, over the next few years. As far as I can see from my visits to the various recycling dumps around here, there is no safe way of recycling these lights, at present.
Most people will have no idea that CFLs are not disposed of in the same way that their old incandescents were. They will just throw them in the bin, as they did with their previous lights. The CFLs will get crushed in the bin and mercury will be released.
We had a similar problem with batteries and the cadmium used in their manufacture. At the recycle dumps there are special bins for batteries. However, with AA and AAA batteries being tiny little things I think that only a fraction of batteries are disposed of properly and many are still going into landfills. The same will probably happen to CFLs.
It's a case of bring on the LED lights as quickly as possible.
BBC - Low-energy bulb disposal warning
Today's new danger is one that does concern me. It's the fact that a small amount of mercury is used in the manufacture of the lights. Not enough to kill you but if it is allowed to accumulate then prolonged exposure to mercury is dangerous.
The problem is we are about to increase the use of CFLs massively, over the next few years. As far as I can see from my visits to the various recycling dumps around here, there is no safe way of recycling these lights, at present.
Most people will have no idea that CFLs are not disposed of in the same way that their old incandescents were. They will just throw them in the bin, as they did with their previous lights. The CFLs will get crushed in the bin and mercury will be released.
We had a similar problem with batteries and the cadmium used in their manufacture. At the recycle dumps there are special bins for batteries. However, with AA and AAA batteries being tiny little things I think that only a fraction of batteries are disposed of properly and many are still going into landfills. The same will probably happen to CFLs.
It's a case of bring on the LED lights as quickly as possible.
BBC - Low-energy bulb disposal warning
CFLs are bad for you
Last week's excuse for not buying CFLs to replace your incandescent lights was that they might cause migraines. Today's excuse, CFLs might cause a rash.The only thing that gives me a migraine is listening to "sticks in the mud" resisting change. At least Darwin will wave his magic wand and remove those with CFL hating genes from the gene pool with a rash of cancers or exploding heads.
Thankfully, for the bleeding hearts amongst you, I can say, "No problem, LED lights are on the way."
BBC - Low-energy bulbs 'cause migraine'
BBC - Low-energy bulbs 'worsen rashes'
UK economy between a rock and a hard place
Last week, the streets were packed with shoppers but not enough of them were spending. Higher mortgages, debt, fuel and food price inflation meant that money was tight for the UK's increasingly 3rd world working people. And because of that, high street shops are feeling the pinch too.
Working peoples' jobs are exported to where labour is cheapest. Any jobs remaining in the country have cheap migrant labour to do them. All this drives down wages. Capital has no interest in nations and borders, only profit.
The losing finalist in the recent PDC World Darts Championship was only a part-time player. His day job is as a sheet metal worker and his salary, if you can call it that, is £8000 per annum. I earned that much as a mini-computer operator 20 years ago. How can anyone today pay a mortgage, utility, food and fuel bills with £8000 a year and be expected to act like a drone at Christmas time?
To stimulate the economy businesses want interest rates lowered to entice people back onto the high streets. Mortgage lenders and house builders want interest rates lowered to make house purchasing affordable. At the same time, the price of oil is inflating the price of everything. Price inflation calls for interest rate increases.
If workers can't afford to buy anything then they will strike (if there are any union members left) for more pay. Pay deal percentages greater than the inflation rate just feeds the inflation rate. A real mess.
The end of western style economies? Here's hoping!
Guardian - High Street starts to feel the pinch after shoppers cut back on festive spending
Guardian - Householders face double digit rises in gas and electricity
Guardian - The heavy price of $100 a barrel
Working peoples' jobs are exported to where labour is cheapest. Any jobs remaining in the country have cheap migrant labour to do them. All this drives down wages. Capital has no interest in nations and borders, only profit.
The losing finalist in the recent PDC World Darts Championship was only a part-time player. His day job is as a sheet metal worker and his salary, if you can call it that, is £8000 per annum. I earned that much as a mini-computer operator 20 years ago. How can anyone today pay a mortgage, utility, food and fuel bills with £8000 a year and be expected to act like a drone at Christmas time?
To stimulate the economy businesses want interest rates lowered to entice people back onto the high streets. Mortgage lenders and house builders want interest rates lowered to make house purchasing affordable. At the same time, the price of oil is inflating the price of everything. Price inflation calls for interest rate increases.
If workers can't afford to buy anything then they will strike (if there are any union members left) for more pay. Pay deal percentages greater than the inflation rate just feeds the inflation rate. A real mess.
The end of western style economies? Here's hoping!
Guardian - High Street starts to feel the pinch after shoppers cut back on festive spending
Guardian - Householders face double digit rises in gas and electricity
Guardian - The heavy price of $100 a barrel
Clean coal for Kent
Kent County Council have approved the building of a clean coal powered electricity generating station. This is despite objections from Greenpeace.
Until Greenpeace can tell us how it can provide all our electricity needs with renewable energy, replace everything that dwindling oil does for us, feed a world that also wants to feed its cars with bio-fuel and cope with overpopulation then clean coal it is.
A good mix of renewable energy, nuclear, coal and oil powered electricity stations will be required until the world gets to grips with the underlying problem. Too many people.
Guardian - Council approves plans for Kent coal power station
Until Greenpeace can tell us how it can provide all our electricity needs with renewable energy, replace everything that dwindling oil does for us, feed a world that also wants to feed its cars with bio-fuel and cope with overpopulation then clean coal it is.
A good mix of renewable energy, nuclear, coal and oil powered electricity stations will be required until the world gets to grips with the underlying problem. Too many people.
Guardian - Council approves plans for Kent coal power station
The devils in the high street
I was in Asda supermarket (the UK branch of Wal-Mart) this evening, looking for yoghurt. The slaves... sorry, underpaid staff were removing Christmas stuff from the shelves and replacing it with exercise machines. How thoughtful of them. Unlike Wal-Mart, which sells everything under the sun, Asda only sells food, so selling exercise machines is just crass opportunism.
What is Asda saying? You were gullible enough to fill your fat faces for the past week. You can eat no more but we still want your money. We own your soul. We tell you when to eat and how much. We can make you feel guilty and tell you when to exercise. One way or another, we are taking all your money.
Sometimes, I feel as though I'm in the film Invasion of the Body Snatchers. I am the last human left amongst a new race of simpletons programmed to consume without thought. The devils in the high street poke them in their behinds with a red hot poker and off they go to slavishly buy whatever they are told they must have.
These people are ill. Buy now, pay later. Sailing into oblivion on a sea of borrowed money. Maybe this year the house of credit cards will finally fall. I don't wish hardship on people but hardship it will be this year whether I want it or not.
Banks have been giving money away for far too long. They may actually have learnt their lesson this time and will shut the door on people looking to live a lifestyle without consequence. It's about time people lived responsibly.
Guardian - Selfish capitalism is bad for our mental health
What is Asda saying? You were gullible enough to fill your fat faces for the past week. You can eat no more but we still want your money. We own your soul. We tell you when to eat and how much. We can make you feel guilty and tell you when to exercise. One way or another, we are taking all your money.
Sometimes, I feel as though I'm in the film Invasion of the Body Snatchers. I am the last human left amongst a new race of simpletons programmed to consume without thought. The devils in the high street poke them in their behinds with a red hot poker and off they go to slavishly buy whatever they are told they must have.
These people are ill. Buy now, pay later. Sailing into oblivion on a sea of borrowed money. Maybe this year the house of credit cards will finally fall. I don't wish hardship on people but hardship it will be this year whether I want it or not.
Banks have been giving money away for far too long. They may actually have learnt their lesson this time and will shut the door on people looking to live a lifestyle without consequence. It's about time people lived responsibly.
Guardian - Selfish capitalism is bad for our mental health
First gloat of the year - oil and gold up
In my 2008 predictions I predicted that oil would break the $100 level. Probably the easiest prediction to make. Some were talking down the price of oil but at only 2 days into the year, who knows where the price may go.Gold has surged higher as people ditch shares and dollars. I wish it wouldn't as I would like to buy some.
I mentioned also that the destabilisation of Pakistan was paramount for Al Qaeda and last week, it did just that.
Gold Investments - Latest gold price
BBC - Oil price at record $100 a barrel
BBC - Gold surges to new record highs
Broke Britain
There's no better time to be self-reliant. With 9 million people in the UK struggling to pay off credit cards and mortgages, make your New Year's resolution one to tighten that belt.
Make do, mend, freecycle, grow your own, share rides, stop buying junk, wake up to a diseased over-consuming lifestyle. Anything but give your hard-earned to the money men.
Independent - Broke Britain: millions face struggle to stay afloat as financial crisis hits home
Make do, mend, freecycle, grow your own, share rides, stop buying junk, wake up to a diseased over-consuming lifestyle. Anything but give your hard-earned to the money men.
Independent - Broke Britain: millions face struggle to stay afloat as financial crisis hits home
Homo Urbanis - a wasteful species
Most humans now live in urban areas. Cities account for 80% of the world's carbon emissions. Overcoming climate change will require us to overcome the problems of city living. Urban sprawl resulting in inefficient use of living space and transportation.
Some cities are a massive drain on resources. For example, London requires 125 times its own area in resources. That's more land space than the UK as a whole. Put simply, London is not sustainable and will come to an abrupt end, sometime in the future. At the moment, London gets away with draining the rest of the world for resources. That cannot go on.
The world's population is predicted to rise to 9 billion. Another 2.5 billion people to compete with London for resources. An energy crunch caused by too many chasing too little oil being produced will make it harder for cities like London to avoid blackouts. Can nuclear and renewable energy, GM food and a lack of population control keep cities like London from the abyss?
CNN - All About: Cities and energy consumption
Some cities are a massive drain on resources. For example, London requires 125 times its own area in resources. That's more land space than the UK as a whole. Put simply, London is not sustainable and will come to an abrupt end, sometime in the future. At the moment, London gets away with draining the rest of the world for resources. That cannot go on.
The world's population is predicted to rise to 9 billion. Another 2.5 billion people to compete with London for resources. An energy crunch caused by too many chasing too little oil being produced will make it harder for cities like London to avoid blackouts. Can nuclear and renewable energy, GM food and a lack of population control keep cities like London from the abyss?
CNN - All About: Cities and energy consumption
Entrecard credits for sale
I am selling excess credits at $2.60 for 1000.
Please leave a message in the comments below, giving the amount required, your Entrecard account address and an e-mail address for a PayPal invoice.
Payment only through PayPal.
Your message will not be displayed here thus ensuring your anonymity from others.
I have sold over 30,000 credits with no problems.
Please leave a message in the comments below, giving the amount required, your Entrecard account address and an e-mail address for a PayPal invoice.
Payment only through PayPal.
Your message will not be displayed here thus ensuring your anonymity from others.
I have sold over 30,000 credits with no problems.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)