the way of things to come

barkingburro · Thu Sep 01, 2005 5:06 pm

so who has thoughts on the path of things? new orleans is basically gone, for anyone not in the know. oil is quickly becoming a commodity to anyone east of the disaster. 85% of the local producers of ---- have come to a grinding halt and the mexican organized operations have consolidated and filled in the gaps. with that comes the now soaring costs of transport, and one has to wonder what sort of impact this is going to have on our segment of the world in general. the price for everything in this country is about to go up, and go up drastically. huge corporations that rely on cheap fuel are about to wither. fedex, ups, walmart, target, greyhound... all of these compaines are so reliant on the ability to quickly and cheaply transport goods, or people that the question arises, what happens to them when gas is 5$ a gallon. thats a 150% increase the over last year. swim recently went on an 865 mile road trip. it would have been cheaper to fly. and that was at 2.75$ a gallon.
how does the US manage when everything east of the mason dixon line relys so heavily on the car for transportation? there is hardley any rail based mass transit anymore in the west, no high speed train lines between major cities to replace companies and individuals lack of an ability to buy gas at an ever increasing price. perhaps thousands have died in new orleans, and those that died were the ones that already couldnt afford a lifestyle that included a car. had there been some sort of rail infrastructure then perhaps these people wouldnt have been killed. what does this spell out for the drug culture? swim's rather reliant on above mentioned companies for many reasons, and im sure swim isnt alone in this. is pricing and availability expected to reflect these sorts of changes? just a few thoughts from swim...

zub · Thu Sep 01, 2005 9:17 pm

none of this really snuk up on us. new orleans was a disaster waiting to happen; europeans have been paying this much for gas all along; warm ocean water spawns big hurricanes; even katrina came with a few days of warning.
its all very disturbing, yet it may well bring a healthy renewal of priorities.
the global ecology could be the new terrorist, and efforts towards a sane relationship with it could be the new weapon.
let the good times roll!
carpooling; hitchiking; bicycles!

oh boy!
the end of the s.u.v. era!

barkingburro · Thu Sep 01, 2005 9:37 pm

i completely agree with the fact that the US as a nation knew or atleast should have known this was coming, and while europe is used to paying for these kinds of gas prices the US is not. an overwhelming amount of the US economy is tied into cheap energy, and thats quickly becoming a thing of the past. europe is better equiped to handle this sort of thing, they have a multitude of rail lines, they are closer geographically. they are already used to living in more cramped conditions in cities. the us is not at all set up like that.

lemuralia · Fri Sep 02, 2005 12:48 am

All S.U.V users should be insodomated with large,prize-winning leeks........

If you think gasoline prices gonne be high in the US, come over to the UK!

methyl_ethyl · Riedel De Haen

History/Geography, Money/Markets Lesson # 451119

01Sep05

oil is quickly becoming a commodity to anyone east of the disaster

Oil trades as a commodity, everywhere in the world, and has for a very long time.

how does the US manage when everything east of the mason dixon line relys so heavily on the car for transportation?

he he....

You know I am jist playin wit ya' Barkingburro.....

Zibberman my starchy friend,

I too await the end of the S.U.V. error, ERRR, Era...

much_love

methyl_ethyl

biobrew · Fri Sep 02, 2005 8:32 am

I think every MoFo with an SUV should take their ford expedition, full of national gaurd troops, down to the south and stop all the raping and pilaging. It's one thing to steal to survive, but where the fuck are all these people stashing their loot, in a boat....come on. I used to think that disasters brought out the best in americans...........

zub · Fri Sep 02, 2005 10:25 am

gosh.

anytime m.e. responds to me, i go all squishy inside. whatever "it" is, i love it.
is methyl ethyl a configuration of electrons somehow magicly stored in an understandable way in my telephone line/computor-thingy?

or is she the 7th dimensional expression of clusters of sub-atomic expressions i once felt, during a particularly intense delusion? one that was perpetrated thru the avenue
of quirky particles that most likely made up myself as well as her?

well, here's my poem to all that:

americans are famous for their extraodinary needs, as well as the extraordinary ability to generate needs and expensive fullfillments of those needs.... you smell bad; we got the shit that will make you smell good; go into debt for my vision, if you have to...

what do people want?
if you analyse this with a modicum of affection for the scientific method, well...

people want to bee entertained.
so does god, far as i'm concerned.

people that pray to "GOD" for various solutions to their emotional problems eventuallly come up against the "biggie"

we are dead meat.

most of us are festering and rotting. some of us (kids) still; have a park of energy.

zub · Fri Sep 02, 2005 11:14 am

imagine all the junkies in new orleans.

and drunks...

can't get their fix.

who needs that?

relief efforts shouldn't exclude illegal drugs and legal ethanol, as per need.

its not like the smack junkie didn't also lose evrything, like the good christian victoms of god's wrath.

fuck.

is dr. john o.k.?

barkingburro · Fri Sep 02, 2005 8:08 pm

opps, (yes i know that one is spelled wrong) that should have read WEST of the mason dixon line and not EAST. as for the commidity remark.... ptphphtpphphptpptpptpptppp...

so there.

for real though. its bad down there, real bad. i have a few friends that are still missing. im sure that they are ok, but still it worries me a bit. im also afraid that this sort of pandemonium is only going to get worse... now the refugees are flooding into several major texas cities. granted an extra 30-40 thousand people arent all that much when compared to the millions that live in dallas and houston, but unemployement is rather high in both cities and these people are going to be there for quite some time. the good news however is that there are an over abundant supply of available homes in both urban areas.

my question is this though.... there are 1.3 million people displaced from new orleans alone. the majority of these people are currently staying with friends, in hotels, or with family... what happens in 3 weeks when these people are out of money for these hotels? there is basically no economy and no habitable areas in NOLA and there isnt likely to be any for quite some time. before they were blacked out swim was able to get satellite photos of NOLA from NASA's aqua and terra satelittes. its mind boggling how much of the coast is gone there. one could only guess as to what the state of the port and ship yards is. by the looks from the sat photos, its just not there. that being the case, where are these people going to work and make a living? they cant stay where they are for the course of the rebuilding phase which according to many will takes months if not years. are the displaced people going to destabilize the citys that the refugees have gone to?
is this the start of something much more? low approval for the president. discontent at home already due to the lengthy invovlement of US troops in iraq, a major disaster affecting a major US city, an oil shortage and fuel prices that will begin to bring the US to its knees. add all of this to the existing malcontent over the loss of civil rights and swim is beginning to think things may be about to get much much much worse.

Stinging_Nettle · Fri Sep 02, 2005 9:19 pm

It is important that everything to do with electricity should be switched to nuclear power ASAP. More needs to be done to make nuclear technology cheaper and more efficient and less dangerous. We know that it can be at least done in theory. Also alot of the protesters to nuclear fuel just like to create public disorder and are not even scientists.

The other options eg burning plant oil, alcohol, windfarms hydrogen battery etc are not bad idea but will only account for a small percentage of total energy consumption.

Well, hydrogen battery IS a device of the future but is not currently getting a huge amount of public acceptance.

zub · Sat Sep 03, 2005 6:35 am

first,
please excuse my drunken outburst of last evening.
next,

why is it that nobody seems to want to focus on the appliances as the culprits in our energy problems?

the rennisance is to bee found there, me thinks...in ultra-efficient tools...including car-like devices and housing-like thingies that don't require vast gobs of fuel input.
this, we know how to do, and have for decades.
but we choose to bee fucking neandertals, en masse', without signing on any dotted lines.
its all taken care of for us.

the energy crisis is almost like a spiritual crisis; a mass hypnotic spell , weaved by madison avenue execs and hollywood hoes

the u.s. could cut its energy consumption in half by fucking tommorrow, without decreasing anyone's standard of living.
with an act of collective willingness, it could be cut 90% in 10 years.

b.s.?

no