Cool ...

Just WATCH WHERE YOU PUT YOUR HANDS!

Here's this year's #1 election issue

Ok, everyone and their dog has asked me about the price of gasoline. Knowing that I'm in oil and gas they assume that I have the inside scoop on what's happening. I always tell them "It's going to go up." It's not news that anyone wants to hear but it's the truth. It's a limited resource, we get from other people and more people are using it. It's the classical case of supply and demand. No matter what else is said, that's the long and short of it. Worse yet, our country hasn't had a comprehensive plan for dealing with energy. For lack of a better point, we simply haven't had leadership that was willing to make a stance when things were stable. It's only when there is a problem that the government was willing to react, prior to that they followed the government plan of throwing money at it in the hopes that it will fall of the public radar. Well, the problem is here now and on the public radar in a big way. Both McCain and Obama are way off base when they present the options that America has. I don't fault them for it because neither has experience with energy. However, someone who has a lot of experience has stepped up and drawn out a pretty good plan. This morning T Boone Pickens was on Squawk Box touting his energy plan. He's rolled out a national effort, he's funding by himself, to encourage the government to change the way we use our energy. Best of all, the plan makes a lot of sense, it's better for the enviroment, it keeps more money in the US, it uses American fuel to create American jobs, it encourages clean energy research and it's bipartisan. The link for his website is www.pickensplan.com. or you can follow the button. Critically speaking, I see no downside to this and we've got to get off our tail and do something.

Sunday funnies ...

If one were to ask me...

If someone was to ask me "So, what were you up to this morning" I could honestly tell them the following: 1. I got coffee from Starbucks. A venti mocha with 3 raw sugars, to be exact. 2. I helped my wife take my #2 son to pre-school where he will be delivering lines in his Christmas program. 3. I was bombarded by roughly 10 mSv of radiation, three times the amount of the typical annual background radiation absorbed by a human, from the area between my navel and my nuts. In short, I had a CT scan. The specialist I'm seeing about my kidney stones thought it would be best to know whether or not I have any chestnuts stored in my kidney's for that next kidney stone rainy day. Another positive side effect is he can get an easy look-see if I have any cancerous activity in the old prostate, since my dad is a prostate cancer survivor, without having to expose me to the eternally dreaded finger-in-the-butt prostate exam. I think most guys, if asked, would pick radiation over the finger in the butt. The process of getting the CT scan was over in no time and the only thing remarkable that happened was a discussion I had with the radiologist. Here's how it went: Him: So do you have any concerns before we start? Me: Not really, but I do have a question? Him: And what would that be? Me: Could you turn the thing up to, like, 11 or something so that when I get an erection it transforms like the incredible Hulk? Him: (laughter) Sorry, it doesn't quite work that way. Me: Damn. I should get the results from the doctor around the 10th of January and that's fine with me because it's not like the kidney stones are hiding or anything. Until then, I'll keep you updated if I have any new superpowers. With my luck, I'll end up with a magnetic colon or something lame like that.

Up is Down. Black is White. Dogs and Cats are living togather. Mass Hysteria.

Brace yourself. OK. "Former Vice President Al Gore and the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for their work to raise awareness about global warming. " WTF!? I mean, really, let's just say it. What the Fuck is that?! You get a Nobel Prize for raising awareness?" Fine...... Here.... Here's some awareness: Global temperature is cyclical. Where's my prize? Oh, I forgot. My "awareness" doesn't have the political clout with the international community because it doesn't say that everything is "America's fault." Well, let let it be said that I'm a poor loser in my race to raise awareness. So let me take a moment to address Al Gore and his buds at the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change directly: "Good Luck" on stopping the earth from changing. I mean it's not like it had a history of doing that before "man" evolved, right? Click the picture and notice something, that global image isn't rotating and no one was burning any fossil fuels some I think some set of scientist are pretty much full of shit when they say that global warming is anthropomorphic. Remember something: When a person that supports abortion tells you that we have to do something "for the children" you can pretty much know that it's not for the children, it's about power. Well the same thing applies here, when someone who uses private jets to fly all over the place and has a house that uses 5 times the energy the average US citizen does comes to you and says that we have to change "for the good of the planet", it's about power. The Nobel Prize became worthless when Arafat won it, Al Gore can barely add to that tarnish. Update: Great! Now he's gonna make a sequel! I found the poster art for it.

The eternal debate

Because you "can" do something, does it mean that you "should" do something? Consider that question as you look at this. A scientist who built a synthetic chromosome from laboratory chemicals is expected to announce the creation of a new species, the first new artificial life form on Earth, British newspaper The Guardian reported Sunday. The new species is a form of bacteria, and the announcement, which could come as early as Monday, is expected to provoke a substantial ethical debate about the manufacturing of life forms in a test tube, as well the dangers posed by introducing a new species, The Guardian reported. Craig Venter, the genetics specialist who spearheaded the landmark breakthrough and heads the J. Craig Venter Institute in Rockville, Md., where the research was conducted, said the new species could lead to new energy sources and new methods for combatting global warming. "We are going from reading our genetic code to the ability to write it," Venter told The Guardian. "That gives us the hypothetical ability to do things never contemplated before," he said. For example, the bacteria could be capable of absorbing carbon monoxide, a possible solution to global warming, Venter said. While I understand the desire for science to advance it's understanding of life and the genetic chemical engineering of life, let's look at one thing. If you make a bacteria that eats carbon monoxide and it works and the planet cools that's just spiffy. However, if you make a bacteria that eats carbon monoxide and it mutates, as bacteria often do, and it begins to eat CO2, just one oxygen more, then plants die follwed by us dying. That would be not so good. If you make a bacteria that mutates and begins to eat just Ozone, or just "O", we loose our UV protection and get cancer and die. If you make a bacteria that mutates and eats carbon, we die. Ect, ect, ect.... Get the point? Nature doesn't exactly treat us with kid gloves now, but do we really need to aid her in wiping us out?

Work...!!!

I just got out of a meeting, checked out my email, shoved a sandwich down my throat and went into another meeting. In the mix of all of that I wondered "If Genghis Khan had to consider the insurance implications of mobilization and demobilization costs, infrastructure fabrication costs and projected contingency overruns do you think he would have just stayed home and gone fishing?" I bet so. I know that the guy raped and pillaged his way across the ancient world but I could totally kick his ass before he even started with one good meeting and a few Excel spreadsheets. By the time I was done, he'd be so bummed out that he'd dump his loot in a IRA and decide that his purpose in life was to make pottery in Santa Fe. Genghis Khan is my bitch.

Global Warming: Today's fear mongering moment

Today, the San Francisco Chronicle had a spiffy editorial about how global warming needs to be the political priority of this next election candidates. In that article, they had sweet nuggets of wisdom like "If unchecked, it (global warming) will threaten our national security, stress our economy and degrade our quality of life in so many ways." They also conclude that "Our willingness to confront this unprecedented heating of the planet is a test of our moral obligation to our children and their children." Of course, it's not "unprecedented" but why quibble. Let's carry on. So all of those running for office need to be enviro-warriors because "The world effectively lost eight years in the effort to apply a brake to climate change while the Bush administration slowly evolved from denial to foot dragging in response to a strong scientific consensus that human activity - namely, the consumption of fossil fuels - was putting life on Earth on a collision course with disaster." That's right. I am, to some degree according to the editorial, the reason that we are all going to die. See, not only do I burn fossil fuels in my car but I work for an oil and gas company that finds the fossil fuels to burn in your cars. All of this is because I am failing to fulfill my "moral obligation to our children and their children." Really, we're all little thugish eco-nazis with suvs. After all there is consensus. The scientist have consensus. WTF is our problem? Look at this. Lonnie Thompson, geology professor from Ohio State, showed measurements and photos of shrinking glaciers around the globe to underscore the damage from greenhouse gases. The thawing that has exposed plants and an "iceman" carcass for the first time in 5,200 years is a clear indication that something is terribly amiss, he suggested. Ben Santer, a physicist and atmospheric science at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, was ostracized by some members of Congress a decade ago for daring to contribute to the International Panel on Climate Change finding that human activity was probably an influence on global warming. Ten years later, a growing body of evidence has vindicated Santer, and he speaks without fear of political retribution. "We are," he told the editors, "irrevocably changing the climate." The debate is no longer about whether the Earth is warming at a disturbing rate, but by how much. "We're spinning the wheel," Santer said. By 2100, the "most likely scenario" - a 1 in 4 chance - is that planet temperatures would increase by 2 to 2.5 degrees centigrade, he said. Terry Root, a biologist at the Woods Institute for the Environment, said the planet already is "right at the edge of a mass extinction event." There is ample evidence of species changing migration habits and otherwise seeking new habitat because of climate change. If temperatures were to rise more than 4 degrees centigrade by century's end, she said, 40 percent of known species in the world would become extinct. You know, I think at this point we just need to panic and thrash about. I'll lead. "AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" OK... I feel better now. Lets continue. So why shouldn't we all go jump off a cliff? Seriously, let's just go get our kids toss them off high buildings and then jump right after them, right? Well, I guess it's because in global warming they typically forget to tell the whole story. Half the story can be fun, don't get me wrong. In fact, in some Hollywood movies it might be preferable, but sometimes it helps to see the whole story. Sometimes. For example, that "sea levels rising" thing... Yeah that happens. Look at earth history for a sec. It's called Transgression and Regression. Of course, it's not like the earth doesn't change anyway. Click on the picture and look at this. It's a image of the planet of the last couple plus billion years. Take a good look and notice how much it's changed. Notice that there were times with glaciers and without glaciers. There were times with nearly no exposed land and times with a lot of exposed land. then think about this: ALL OF THAT HAPPENED WITHOUT ANY HUMAN INTERFERENCE. I know, freaky isn't it. It's like the planet has systems that function independent of us. It also shows us that just like we weren't in control back then, we aren't in control now and we probably won't be in control any time in the future. Also, there is the fact that humans have been kicking around as homo sapiens for about 10,000 years. That's not a really long track record compared to something like the shark which has been around for about 360 million years. Likewise, scientists normally don't give you the info that 99% of all the species that have ever existed are now extinct. For perspective, let's play a game. I'm going to give you a list: cats, dogs, pigs, chickens, cows, donkeys, spotted owls, whales, bald eagles, otters iguanas, spiders, roaches, ants, carp, geckos, dolphins, meerkats, turtles, hamsters canaries, wolves, salmon, seals, sea lions, manatees, falcons, sparrows, doves, mice sharks, armadillos, geese, ducks, horses, beetles, snakes, worms, termites, rats parrots, quail, humans, grasshoppers, caribou, lice, ticks, mites, crabs, scorpions Ok, there is a list of fifty animals. Pick one type and imagine that all the other ones die. Over time, that's pretty much what happens. Either a life form evolves or it dies. Actually, I doubled the odds of survivorship because I got lazy and only listed 50 but The same thing goes for us. Hey, I'm a giver. Still, either we'll evolve or we'll die out. I know that the whole story isn't as "sexy" and it won't get you on the news as often but these scientist should already know this. However, it's politically, egotistically and financially expedient to omit the whole story and the balance that it provides because it doesn't fit the politics of what the politicians want you to hear. The message they are playing is the same "Pick me because your too stupid to stop this but we can by making rules for you, the stupid people." That might be the case, if what they were saying was totally true. However, it's not. What's worse is that there are hundreds of other things that could wipe out life on this planet in a matter or days, but they don't platform on those because that would cause hysteria. Instead, we'll scare you about a process that takes hundreds of years to raise the ocean leve 7 inches in order to control your life today. A process that we can't stop and don't understand but will tell you that we can prevent despite the fact that stopping the process is totally physically, energetically, biologically, geologically and chemically impossible to control. Pardon me, if I don't drink the kool aide on that one. (BTW, for the creationist: Genesis 9:8-11 "8 Then God told Noah and his sons, 9 “I hereby confirm my covenant with you and your descendants, 10 and with all the animals that were on the boat with you—the birds, the livestock, and all the wild animals—every living creature on earth. 11 Yes, I am confirming my covenant with you. Never again will floodwaters kill all living creatures; never again will a flood destroy the earth.”) So what to do? Here's what you do: Accept that your going to die. No really. I mean it. I can say for a fact that ALL OF YOU WILL DIE with 100% scientific accuracy. Now decide how you want to try to live? If you want to live trying to hold on to the current climate, scared of change, bound in fear then by all means vote for these fear mongers. It won't work but maybe it will make you feel better. I doubt it but who knows. It's like putting a paper bag over your head, it might help. Of course, the other option is to see that the things that we build and the stuff that we learn will probably be our best bet at an answer for how humans can take on the changes of a world that will change anyway and allow us to adapt. In that, we're better off if we understand that the car of today is the horse of yesterday and will probably become a novelty to whatever we develop tomorrow. Or, there's always panic!!!!

Ouch....That's Gotta Burn

iPhone early adapters everywhere have experienced a first rule of the mobile phone; new technologies are costly until the manufacturing company decides it isn't going to reach a particular sales goal. Analysts said quick discounts are typical for the cell-phone industry, if not the computer industry. The world's best-selling cell phone, the Motorola Razr, for instance, debuted at $499 but now can be had for less than $100. "This is about Apple learning how to become a cell-phone retailer," said Jeff Kagan, an independent telecommunications industry analyst based in Atlanta. "All of a sudden it's in the cell-phone business, and everyone is trying to figure out how to measure it, and we don't know yet." Anyone buying the iPhone that didn't expect to see the price come down quickly is a bit on the daft side. Only last year, when I bought my Motorola RAZR v3i the cost was about $399 for an unlocked version. Today the same phone sells for all of $100 on Amazon.com. What has to burn the most though, and I mean burn, is that the new iPod Touch looks just like the iPhone, so the posers can have their cake and eat it too. So much for the tech uniqueness of the iPhone, and so much for the romance. Apple announced that the iPod is the golden child, not the iPhone. A big "f-you" to the fan boys from Steve Jobs.