These Daze And Times
I’m still here, but my physical embodiment is somewhat questionable these daze.
Lonewolf sent me this, he’s obviously got more time then I have:
15 minutes in the barbers chair – aka ‘take a little off-the-tip-of-
me-head’Or, why I’m a consummate doomer (and irreconcilable cynic) – albeit
‘not exactly’ newzThe 4 horsemen of the Apocalypse (in not particular order) are:
climate (> food production)
energy (> food production, processing and distribution)
ecology (> food production, life support)
population (e.g. food and energy per capita) – in fact, excessive
population is the cause of everything that now is and/or soon will be)Climate (selected observations)
coal (et al) use up, esp. China and US – CO2 emissions way up (only
way to interrupt reaching 450+ ppm is a fast/hard crash)
jet streams /weather patterns shifting globally
polar ice vanishing (albedo effects rise) – feedback loop engaged/
multiple thresholds breached
land/mountain glaciers vanishing (human and ecologic water deficits
mount)
Greenland melt off accelerating rapidly – exponentially so
Antarctic ice shelves disintegrating (and onshore glaciers speed up)
methane hydrate release from sea-floor escalating – looming “methane
catastrophe”
methane release of tundra-based carbon loads – massive global
‘warming’ (climate chaos)
deforestation rampant/escalating
acidified oceans killing marine ecosystems
sea level rise in process – perhaps MANY meters in near future,
flooding 1/3 of humanity (inundating the remainder)
Global potable water deficit/depletion/destruction ( aka chaos)Energy (selected observations)
peak oil happened in 2005 – price doubles in past year (food also) –
AKA “Peak Was”
No ‘meaningful’ new hydrocarbon resources being found/developed (and
shouldn’t be if they were found- IMO)
no ‘serious’ alternative E sources – all nonviable and/or not
remotely possible – e.g. wind E is a overt fraud/lie, ntm Hydrogen Hoax
plant fertilizers limits exceeded (source resources and extraction/
production/application energy)
metal (resource) limits exceeded (Cu, Pb, Pl, Pt, Zn, Ni, Co, etc
“American ‘way-of-life’ is non-negotiable” is ‘plain’ fact – hence
permanent global resource wars – aka Armageddon ASAP
AKA Peak Everything Happened – aka Was – including you, me, and
99.9999% of ‘humanity’Ecology
widespread prolonged droughts (globally chronic water and food
deficits)
cumulative and escalating pollution of atmosphere, land, freshwater
and oceans
mass extinctions ongoing and accelerating (several species per
minute) – progressive collapse of life-sustaining ecosystems
massive soil erosion/degradation (notably asia, central europe,
north america, oceania)
massive desertification (esp. africa and central/east asia)
massive forrest (tree) deaths (insects and disease and pollution and
consumption, and drought and clearing for biofuel crops)
Massive ongoing bee die-off
Massive ongoing bat- die-off (‘and who knows what else)
Massive amphibian extinctions (perhaps the entire Kingdom)
Disease migration and mutations (hundreds if not thousands)
Humans are stupid, ignorant, arrogant, greedy, scary, dangerous
buffoons (can/will NOT act rationally – guaranteed)
Humans have not evolved one iota since we lived in trees and caves –
actually be devolved into mass-extinction machinesPopulation
carrying capacity exceed at least a century ago – perhaps a millennium
current human load is several orders of magnitude to high (99 out of
100 alive ‘need’ die-off – and will)
much of world pop. is already malnourished (2007) either of
insufficient calories or excess crap.
vast majority couldn’t produce food even if they had all the
resources to do so (which is impossible anyway)
vast majority live in regions already (if not long ago) devastated
by human activity (aka stupidity)NTM the so-called Economy (now headed for the cesspool as the handle
has already been pulled and the turds swirl around the bowl)
Michelle sent this: Across the Globe, Empty Bellies Bring Rising Anger
Vaughn sent this: Meltdown of U.S. Dollar Underway as China Dumps the Currency
Asking (googling) the question “how many humans have ever lived?”, consensus seems to be approx. 100 billion since 50,000 BC (range 60 to 110 B including those alive today)
IF generation time is 20 years (probably less in history)
52,000 years/20 = 2600 generations
2600 x 40 million = 104B
So over history (including modern history and alive today), mean generation size approx 40M
Assume avg of 3 generations alive at once
mean human population over the past 52 millennia is 120 million (at most)
Historically, generation time is closer to 15 years, which = 3467 generations of 30.6 million
If 2.5 generations on average alive at one time, historic mean pop. of approx. 76.5 million
Today’s population of approx 6.5 B or 85 is times higher than the long term average.
Throughout biology, when populations crash, they usually fall well (far) below the prior mean population, often to 10% or less.
10% of the human long-term mean (per above) is under 8 million.
8 million is 0.123% of the current population
odds: 813 : 1 against
In US at least 1000:1 against (but 10-fold worse odds in cities)
Whew, I had thot it was far worse than that. Feeling better now.
First, total population (July 2008 est) 6.677 billion. Total arrable land available 19.868 million sq km. That means 336 people per sq km. There are 251 acres per sq km so we are looking at a little less than 3/4 acre of arrable land for every man, woman and child on the planet.
Second, world wide per capita annual Gross Domestic Product is $10,000.
Third, 10 items make up 77.9% of exports. Electrical machinery 14.8%, mineral fuels 14.4%, nuclear reactors, boilers etc 14.2%, cars, trucks and buses 8.9%, scientific and precision instruments 3.5%, plastics 3.4%, iron and steel 2.7%, organic chemicals 2.6%, pharmaceutical products 2.6%, diamonds, pearls and precicious stones 1.9%. Note that food doesn’t make the list.
Fourth, oil production is listed as 78.9 million barrels per day. Oil consumption is listed as 80.29 million barrels per day (both numbers 2005 estimates).
So, it seems clear to me that the world, even at its current bloated population, could feed itself if we didnt’ expend so much energy pursuing activities superfluous to that simple basic requirement. The fact that oil consumption exceeds production tells me we are living well beyond our means. The average per capita GDP tells me that wealth is distributed unequally (Luxemborg has the highest per capita GDP at $80,800 while Democratic Republic of the Congo has the lowest at $300) and is created using non-essential industries. Why or how trade in precious stones should exceed the value of food traded is beyond me! What we see is industry for industry’s sake (ie to make little money for the people on the bottom of the pyramid and a whole lot of money for people at the top) with banking and oil being the two biggest money makers.
We could be so much more than we are!
Bush the “Global Warming” pabulum, we’re talking planetary full-immersion turkey deep fat fryer. Got stuffing?
Now, I am among the LEAST handy of people. Therefore, I’m calling this more rocket stove ver .95 than ver 1.0, there are things I should have done better and will do better on the next iteration. That said, I didn’t cut myself with the tin snips or on any burrs, and ….
It works! I made a pot of rice. The stove is not really meant to make something that ‘simmers’, it’s more to get things to boil then put it in a hay oven to finish, or to stir fry or sear things in a pan over. But the cooler I figure to make into an insulated oven is off at college with my son, so I simmered as best I could. It worked.
Changes for the next iteration: the can I cut for the ‘shelf’ that holds the wood is too short. That should be fixed tomorrow, as my son brought a tall can of soup to school for lunch, and I told him to bring the dang can home rather than recycle it there. Second, the chimney pipe is too short. Maybe the internal pipes settled a bit, maybe I measured wrong. Finally, I need more ashes inside insulating it. I had less ash than I thought I did in the ash can. I might just buy some perlite or vermiculite and use that.
Still, with the already identified goof ups, and me not being handy, it’s functional, uses little fuel, releases little smoke (even tho’ some of the fuel was damn from three days of rain). Maybe we’ll stir-fry dinner over it tonight and see how that works.
by Paul Roberts
OR, “Why there is no crack in the pipe to smoke”
juneauempire.com/powerline on the blog but not sure where until I saw Fernwise comments on the rocket stove, anyway have you seen this stuff about Juneau Alaska. An avalanche(April 16th) taking out a mile and a half of there hydro power lines that provide 85% of there power, it took down 4 or 5 towers could be 2 to 6 weeks before they can start repairs (the pads are under 10 feet of snow and they just got another 2 feet the other day) and 2 to 3 months to complete them. I am sure they don’t have extra towers lying around and everything comes in on barge.
They are on diesel generators using 50 to 80 thousand gallons per day now and I am not sure what there stock is of fuel. AEL&P a private power company which raised rates by 100% last fall ( people said some of there bills went from 128 per month to 300) and now they will raise rates by 500% to cover there “costs”.
Reading the comments at the end of the articles the capitol of Alaska is collapsing and as soon as the bills start arriving (most expect bills of over 1K) I read that people will start leaving.
Did some quick math 60,000 gallons per day is over a quarter mill in dollars per day for about 30,000 people and around 12,000 house holds and I am not sure how many businesses. The increases there talking about don’t add up if you do the division say at 5 bucks a gallon for diesel. But it dose not matter these people got hit head on and they are dazed and it is only going to get worse fast, there downward spiral has begun. They could use some rocket stoves and hay boxes about now.