Internal Mono(b)log

Ok enough doom and gloom and instead a solution, or at least the thought behind a solution.

Many people in North America have seen images of fields of wind turbines spinning silently and generating power to heat and light our homes, power our computers, etc.. Unfortunately there are very few of us who have actually, in person, seen such a “field of green (power)”. Realestate prices being what they are, this isn’t really too much of a surprise. Here, in Southern Ontario, to find a site that would be appropriate for wind generation that isn’t already over built and heavily populated would be challenging at best.

Everyone agrees that Green Power^TM is going to be a necessity going forward, so here’s a solution:

Put arrays of wind turbines on platforms in the middle of Lake Ontario and Lake Erie.

You could build them onto similar structures as oil drilling platforms that sit off the coasts in oceanic waters and probably put 4-9 turbines per platform. There are no buildings, trees, hills, or other obstacles to interfere with the wind out there. You won’t have to deal with people complaining about the noise, lost realestate or threats to birds. These stations could run, mostly unattended and be serviced by helicopter when required.

Ok, sure, I don’t have the hundreds of millions of dollars required to do this, but there must be corporations out there who do. As prices for nuke, coal, natural gas, hydro based electricity get higher and higher, this *has* to start looking attractive.

We live, day to day, in a very fragile ecosystem of rules and agreements. For the most part, we agree to believe that a solid white line on the road means “Do not change lanes”. We agree to pay for items from stores with locally accepted currency. We agree to respect the sanctity of each others homes and space. For the most part this is all true.

When individuals step outside the agreed upon “norms” the police step in and “restore order”. If larger groups step outside the norm, there’s the military. I propose, however, that, especially in larger centres like Toronto, that any major challenge to the status quo would quickly result in chaos as large quantities of people abandoned our shared agreements to provide for themselves.

For example, lets look at the big power outage that whiped out the Eastern Seaboard. Sure there were individual hardships, but in general people helped each other out. There were many stories of grocers giving away icecream rather than have it spoil in the (now defunct) freezers. There were even humourous stories of people seeing the Northern Lights for the 1st time and thinking it was some kind of strange gas leak. But let’s imagine that this poweroutage was days or weeks long, rather than hours.

After about 24 hours the produce in grocery stores would be getting pretty nasty, as would most of the dairy and meat products. Water pressure would be pretty much gone and so people would be dependent on bottled water from wherever it can be found. People would start to realize that food and water are going to become a scarce commodity. More and more cars would be abandonded where they ran out of fuel. Bank machines and banks would be closed so money is also scarce. We’re only 24 hours into “the crisis” and people will already be starting to get nervous.

I expect that by the end of 48 hours, chaos will start to assert itself. People’s good spirits and neighbourly approach to the problem will be replaced with a “fend for yourself” attitude. People who live in apartment buildings will be looking for alternate accomodations. Water, sewage, food, fuel, etc. are all things that people are very worried about and are now figuring out how to cope with much less than they’re used to having. I expect that by the end of 48 hours rioting and looting have escalated beyond the ability of the police or military to keep control of it.

Outside of the big centres people maybe a little more fortunate. People in the country frequently have more food on hand, more fuel in their gas tanks, and are typically able to handle power outages (as they happen more frequently). People in the country also typically know each other more than urbanites and so barter or promisary notes may be more readily accepted.

_They_ say that another big power outage is coming. That the grid isn’t able to keep up with the demands that are being placed upon it. That power isn’t being generated in the quantities sufficient to keep up with demand. Have you thought about how you’ll cope if the next outage is a week long rather than a 1/2 day? Should you?

From RollingStone magazine, March 2005:

These are daunting and even dreadful prospects. The Long Emergency is going
to be a tremendous trauma for the human race. We will not believe that this
is happening to us, that 200 years of modernity can be brought to its knees
by a world-wide power shortage. The survivors will have to cultivate a
religion of hope — that is, a deep and comprehensive belief that humanity
is worth carrying on. If there is any positive side to stark changes coming
our way, it may be in the benefits of close communal relations, of having to
really work intimately (and physically) with our neighbors, to be part of an
enterprise that really matters and to be fully engaged in meaningful social
enactments instead of being merely entertained to avoid boredom. Years from
now, when we hear singing at all, we will hear ours! elves, and we will sing
with our whole hearts.

The story on The Long Emergency

Have you ever thought what it would mean if the energy/petroleum crisis actually happens? It’s not so much about the lack of fuel for the cars, planes, trains. It’s more pervasive than that. Think about it.

Plastic comes from petroleum. Computers are made from plastics, circuit boards are made from plastics, food is stored and shipped and packaged in plastics, the wires in your house, your toys, your electronics are all insulated with plastics. Cars, planes, trains, toys, sheds, tools, are made from plastics.

Many lubricants come from petroleum. Lubricants are needed in all internal combustion engines. Lubricants are needed in most manufacturing processes. Lubricants are required to keep printing presses moving.

Petroleum and its byproducts are fully integrated in the world’s products. What happens when it’s gone, or perhaps not gone, but just not available because of cost?

Now go to the next step.

Now it costs too much to move food around in trucks. It costs too much money to keep fridges cold and freezers frozen. It costs too much to commute to work assuming you can afford the plastics in the vehicle or the fuel for the tank.

Society is going to need to change. It won’t be a change “overnight”. Fuel prices will soar, alternatives to petroleum fuels will start to get more expensive as the demand for them increases. Then the byproducts from petroleum will start to become more scarse and manditory recycling of plastics and other byproducts will be put in place. It’ll look like inflation, but there will be no respite in sight. Eventually people may clue in that dramatic and long-lasting changes are coming. Unfortunately, by the time it’s obvious to most, it’ll also be too late for most.

The disparity between the “haves” and the “have nots” will grow. The _haves_ may have full-time electricity and the ability to use vehicles that use fuels. The _have nots_ will be lucky to have rotating electricity and will most likely be back to horses and carriages.

I’m not usually a Dooms-Day-type guy, but this one I think has teeth. I know society isn’t ready. Society is in denial.

Are you in denial or are you thinking about how to get ready?

Yesterday in the car on the way into The City, we were talking about the concept of “The Chip” – a human-computer interface consisting of a chip installed in the brain that is always connected to the ‘net and has at its disposal all the computational and search power that exists there.

At first, it sounds like an interesting idea. Hook into all that information, the ultimate “always on” experience. Then we started looking at the downsides. Can you imagine how bad it’d be if some hacker breeched the firewall on the chip. People’s brains would start getting spammed, or used by hackers that need space to store files, or worst be the subject of denial of service attacks…

Maybe “the chip” isn’t such a good idea afterall 🙂

Today we had 4 prospective buyers through our home. One couple who are back for the 2nd time, and 3 couples who were here for the 1st time. Last Sunday, we had one repeat viewer back for the *4th* viewing. Everyone *loves* the house, but people aren’t putting there money where their love is.

It makes me wonder: What motivates the buying decision?

When Kim and I bought this place 5 years ago we fell in love on the first viewing and placed an offer right then and there. 6 weeks later, we were living here and enjoying all that nature has to offer. Our decision to buy was as much emotional reaction to the house and land as it was financial and logical.

When it comes to realestate, I tend to believe that people aren’t shopping for their Soul Mate properties, but rather something they like and can afford. I assume that because they’re here they can afford it, and their comments and return visits imply that they like it. So what’s up?!

Come on folks… I’m tired of living in flux. Put it up and stop wasting my time!

I’ve been a MT user since I started blogging just over a year ago. I like MT, the interface is clean and authoring, administering, managing is pretty quick and easy.

I decided to try WordPress for this blog and I have to say… WOW! The install literally took less than *5 minutes* and was so simple that I think that anyone could manage it. The theme management puts MT to shame and thankfully there is built in comment spam protection.

It’s going to take me a bit to customize my templates to my liking, but generally, wordpress seems to be “the cat’s meow”™.

In conversation around my dining room table the other night, the concept of the internal monolog was bantered around following an uncomfortable moment of “hoof in mouth”. I couldn’t resist the urge to see if internalmonoblog.com was registered. If it had been, the universe would have gone on mostly unchanged.

But alas, such is my destiny to change the world of those around me. Internalmonoblog.com was available. I’ve bought the domain and in the coming days, weeks and hopefully years, you’ll find my rantings and ravings chronicled here.

Enjoy.

To Whatever Energy is Tuned to This Frequency:

ENOUGH ALREADY!

Just because I take my Anubis masks out of the closet and wander around in them for 10 minutes and because Kim brings her Ganesh shrine from out of her closet and *temporarily* puts it on the mantel, does not mean that the Yazwinski University of Pagan Studies (YUPS) is open for business and taking students.

Really! It doesn’t!
Read more… »

I’m *SO* glad that finally we’ll get to stop hearing about how hard done by the hockey players are and how greedy the owners are (or vise-versa). The season’s officially dead! Thank the Gods!

A couple of things that really struck me today:

* the press was calling the strike a “labour action”. Lets get this straight. These guys *play* hockey for a living. It’s a *game*. It may be their jobs but I can tell you that the Jr. teams would have *played* in their place for *significantly* less money.
* someone interviewed on the radio today asked if hockey had been a habit or a passion for themselves and had concluded that it was a habit that they didn’t miss now that it was gone.
* movie stars make a lot of money to star in a movie, but, the movie also makes a lot of money with theatre runs, dvd cuttings, etc. Unlike hockey, movies are run as businesses. Who’d have thunk?

It’s time for the NHL to smarten up. Bring up the Jr teams and fire the current “professional” teams. Pay the Jr players a reasonable salary and drop the prices to attend the events. The events will be well attended because they’ll be affordable. Those who make money from the services at the events will be better off. Everybody (except the babies who currently staff the NHL teams) wins!

It’s nice to harken back to a simpler time, when things were clearly defined.

Lol!