OK, so that did not go over too well.

I was kicking back up something an old professor told me... about people's primary motivations being fear and greed.

Marketing will either play to your fear ( especially insurance companies, and religions selling "fire insurance" ) or greed ( especially investment advisors and real estate brokers ) .

I indicated it was in me too. Yes, I invested a lot of my resources in oil a couple of years ago, as I was convinced "peak oil" was here, and I thought few other people were aware of it. I felt with my understanding of M. King Hubbert's work with the Logistic equation and the stints I served in the oil patch where I had observed depleting oilfields first hand, I felt I had a better understanding of the gravity of the situation. I am very aware of the Logistic Equation and its implications. The exponential rate of our reproduction... 6.5 billion of us now... and energy demand now exceeding 500 exajoules/year , most coming from ancient sunlight stored in fossil fuels.

I honestly thought there was hell to pay. Soon. and I would be able to profit from it.

That's not what happened. I lost my investments in solar power and alternative energy research. Now the talking heads are saying we have more oil than we know what to do with, we are going to become a net exporter, go buy your big car, and the party is going to go on. While everything inside of me says this is just marketing lies similar to those in the oilpatch by some to sell a well which struck a gas pocket to ignorant investors.

Meanwhile, I have family back in farming areas who tell me their wells no longer give good water. They tell me their water reeks of oil.

Now, in my limited knowledge of subsurface structures, I can just imagine fracturing the barriers that have been in place for eons separating water and oil-bearing strata. I can see some getting rich. Others having their water messed up.

How many drops of oil in the water tank make the whole tank undrinkable?

We studied this phenomena in economics..... its called "Tragedy of the Commons".

I was watching this in action last weekend as the local education board was meeting again trying to get more taxes passed as the ruptured economy caused by Bernake's hiking the federal funds rate after the government had put all sorts of incentives in place for poor people to invest their life savings in debt ( aka "Community Reinvestment Act - which forced banks to make subprime loans - then allowed banks to pawn off these toxic financial instruments onto investors ).

They just haven't got the message yet. A lot of us are losing their homes. A lot of us can no longer afford restaurant meals. A lot of us can no longer afford people in the school system which are not actively teaching a class. We can't solve this with yet more taxes. Yet, I see these people given their government-given power to lay and collect tax insulating them from the burden their wastefulness places on everyone else.

I wish we were all innocent artists - like the children the Bible refers to. But it doesn't quite work that way. Many make a fine living from gaming the system. And others work very hard to survive.

I did not think the Fed would hike rates after "helping" all those low income people get into homes with subprime adjustable rate mortgages, making all those people they had "helped" lose not only their homes, their life savings, and what little credit rating they had. They did.

I am watching the way this whole affair plays out and it makes me sick.

Stanley Milgrim: "Obedience to Authority".

Let me throw this into the "drone shooting" ring.

For years, police have been trying to trace indiscriminate firearms discharge in populated areas, Like around New Year's day.

They have sensors.

The "if you have nothing to hide, why do you care" line of reasoning, is the primary tool of tyrants

But they sure want their secrets kept secret, no?

Nah, we are not stupid.

We are greedy. Pure and simple, selfish greedy.

The ones in control are happy as long as they can privatize the gains and socialize the loss.

A handsome profit, and a mess, is made in the fracking process.

One wants the profit, but wants to leave the mess to the other.

The four boxes of liberty are dusted off for use.

Nah, not stupidity. Greed.

Its been going on longer than we have recorded history.

Its in our nature.

The Bible is full of it.

I am not proud of it. But its in all of us. Me included.

Well, maybe a little modest.

It has had two complete brake re-do's, that is complete changeout of the entire braking system.

It needs a re-upholstery job bad. I have been making do with seat covers for years, but you really hope never to see what's under them.

Two paint jobs and ready for the third.

Two water pumps, an alternator, and a radiator - and I could consider all of them kinda minor repairs the way this car is made. Not much more problem than changing a headlight.

Oh yes, a dozen or so light bulbs, batteries, occasional points, spark plugs, and tire changes because the old ones rotted... the car is not heavy so I really have to work on it to wear a tire out.

All in all, I really like that old car. It shows beautiful quality of design.

I just ( this year ) bought several VISIO 22" TV's to replace the old NEC Multisync VGA monitors I have had in use for 20 years.

The Multisyncs still work. But they are not nearly as sharp, nor would they work as a TV, and a heckuva lot heaver. I am still wondering what to do with the multisyncs.. I will probably take them apart for their high-voltage video and deflection transistors, as well as a handful of high voltage diodes, capacitors, and various magnetics. Their 20 year old CRT's are all suffering from cathode emission degradation, subsequently can no longer give as sharp of image as they once did. My hat is off to the engineering team who designed these things. They have done their job very well.

It looks like my old LaserJet 2 will go when its toner runs out. Its plastics are getting quite brittle after 20 years exposure to ozone. It prints graphics at a glacial pace compared to my later machines. It has been a good machine. I doubt its replacement will last as long, but then, neither will I.

Top of the list goes to Toyota, who made me a car some 35 years ago, that has hauled me half a million miles with little more than oil changes and brake pads. The car shows the wear of old age which I attempt to disguise with new paint. The key is so worn it barely stays in the lock, but the car runs like a top. Its a simple little car: carburetor, points, manual transmission. I figure that car will be like the grandfather clock in the song that runs till the old man dies - in this case... me.

At the bottom of my list is the clowns who designed the valving for my kitchen sink. They did a great job concealing the leakage from a failing seal so it would drip somewhere I would not see it. I smelled it one day, when I had growths of mold and mildew all over where the water had puddled for years under the kitchen sink. Neatly hidden under a shelf. Major pain in the arse to fix.

Clowns of like ilk designed the shower valving in the shower, so leakage would be directed back through a little decorative tube into the wall where I would not see it. I did a little pre-emptive hacking with some putty and dammed up the little tube so that any leakage would be forced to drip out at the handle harmlessly falling down to the shower drain.

Just a little foresight in the design phase can sure save a heckuva lot of frustration for everyone else.

I always have crocodile clips in my computer bag. If nothing else to get POTS dialup from third rate hotels. However, they can just as easily be used on electric cords.

I can already see lamp cords with compromised insulation wreaking all sorts of havoc with the fire inspector weeks after your visit..

Very likely, a lot of people will do this.

The hotels may be setting themselves up for vandalism, much like pay toilets set the janitorial staff up for messes that belong in the toilet.

Which will be less expensive, putting up with the "theft" of power for a laptop, hair dryer, toothbrush, whatever, or discovering and fixing the damage done by patrons driven to vandalism trying to satisfy their needs?

Not to say its right to damage stuff, but its kinda like having a vending machine in the alley where homeless people are camped. You better watch it closely, or you will find its window smashed, all the product gone, and no money in the coin-box.

( Gee, that's my second toilet post today )

So they took all the toilet paper instead.

Ah, Mr. Sandman, bring me a dream....

That would be very welcome...

Boy does that old music ever bring back some happy times in my life.

I thought it would be soooo cool for us old fogies to queue up our favorites at the table while dining, or even bring in our favorites being the place was already licensed anyway, and would not face the wrath of the mafiaa.