[SD_Scott]

They had this program on called doomsday tech. They were discussing nuclear weapons in thhe wrong hands, etc, etc. Then they moved on to global warming from fossil fuels. In my mind, I'm thinking, wow you guys have really missed the boat. Then a few seconds later, bam, they started talking about peak oil. They really stated the issue clearly.

Good on the History channel.

[jato]

SD_Scott, check your PM.

[jesus_of_suburbia_old]

I watched both parts of the programs. I guess Peak Oil isn't the worst thing that can happen.

[Terran]

I was about to watch it, I can't believe I totally forgot to watch it.

[jesus_of_suburbia_old]

They'll replay it in the wee hours of the morning. I caught the re-run at 1:00am Central. According to my extensive calculations, you'll be able to catch it again at approx. 1:00am Pacific. It had some pretty freaky, but cool stuff. The only problem is the extensive blowjob they give to alternative energy after they describe the post-peak scenario.

[pilferage]

Thanks for the heads up jrob8503, I'll be watching in ~40 min!

[SilverHair]

I enjoyed watching an interesting documentary on the History Channel which will again be run Jan 22 in the evening, concerning the French Revolution.

My view has been for some time that the USA is headed toward a civil war or revolution, which conflict will be spawned by the shrinking economic pie resulting from declining oil production. Perhaps it will take another fifteen years to get to the flash point.

This History Channel program may give insight into the horror and insanity in these type political upheavals.

[BabyPeanut]

http://www.oilcrisis.com/whatToDo/DeindustrialAge.htm
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'J')ohn Kenneth Galbraith has written a brilliant, mordant book, The Culture of Contentment, about the reasons why America is incapable of constructive change. He compares today's American political class (those people who vote and involve themselves in politics) to the French aristocracy before the Revolution. Everybody knew that the situation was insupportable, and that eventually there would be an explosion, but the immediate costs of doing something about it were so unpalatable that everyone decided to do nothing and hope that things would somehow work out. We're in exactly the same situation here and now.

[PenultimateManStanding]

The French Revolution! get real people, as Heraclites said, "you cannot step into the same river twice!

[TrueKaiser]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PenultimateManStanding', '[')i]The French Revolution! get real people, as Heraclites said, "you cannot step into the same river twice!

[PenultimateManStanding]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('TrueKaiser', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PenultimateManStanding', '[')i]The French Revolution! get real people, as Heraclites said, "you cannot step into the same river twice!

[BabyPeanut]

Talking about history repeats:
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'E')ven rich countries can be rocked by a run on their currencies. It happened to Britain in the 1970s. Several times in the early 1990s, Canada's dollar came under pressure because of big current-account and budget deficits. The central bank raised interest rates in response, but that worsened the budget deficit by adding to interest on the public debt. Don Drummond, a top finance-ministry official at the time, remembers being bombarded by reporters' questions the day Standard & Poor's reduced the credit rating on Canada's foreign-currency debt. They thought "we were bankrupt internationally. It was a real blow to the Canadian pride."

Mr. Drummond, now chief economist at TD Bank Financial Group in Toronto, says the Canadian government used the crisis atmosphere to muster support for sweeping tax measures and spending cuts that eventually produced budget and current-account surpluses. The U.S. today "spookily" parallels Canada of 10 years ago, he says, with both current-account and budget deficits about the same size relative to GDP.

Canada never faced a single "crisis" moment at which investors balked at buying Canadian bonds, and even the S&P downgrade had negligible financial impact. The lesson for the U.S. is not to expect a "catalytic" event, Mr. Drummond says. "It's more of a drift where you pay more and more of a cost. Nothing changes dramatically in one day."

[PenultimateManStanding]

BP, I tried to study financial history a time or two but always felt in over my head. But, boy, I could talk about art history 'till the cows come home! By the way, what's that avatar of yours? Mine is Goya's painting of Saturn devouring his children which is exactly what humanity, it now turns out, has done.

[BabyPeanut]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PenultimateManStanding', 'B')P, I tried to study financial history a time or two but always felt in over my head. But, boy, I could talk about art history 'till the cows come home! By the way, what's that avatar of yours? Mine is Goya's painting of Saturn devouring his children which is exactly what humanity, it now turns out, has done.

[larrydallas]

I also think we are headed for some sort of rebellion and chaos breaking out but I doubt anything will occur until the basic needs of food and water are denied to people. In the over 2 million jobs lost over the past 5 years there have been people displaced from homes, living at lower standard of life, and having lost things they cared about yet no major event occured because the collective population has been dumbed down on distractions like sports, "spreading freedom to the world", and general entertainment.

Once food and water disruptiions occur (and they will once oil prices jump like crazy for whatever reason) all best will be off.

Money will likely become worthless because no one will accept it as a form of payment for anything. Credit cards and checks will be of no use for sure.

I speculate that the poorest classes of people will fare the best because they are used to not having much already so they will have only the food and water problem to contend with. Mega buck people who have servants wait on them hand and foot will be helpless when no one is cooking meals (if you can get food), tending to mundane chores, and such. Just think about climate control in homes. No heat or a/c for someone used to a nice warm or cool and dehumidified home will be so dumbfounded and freaking out when that is no longer possible. Meanwhile, that person's poor counterpart will not have power shortage bother them.

The working classes will probably do what they did in France. But the end result will likely be failure for them as well becasue in France there was no external problem (a diminished resource pool) in the revolution.

[MonteQuest]

Has anybody else noticed that the History Channel, primarily Modern Marvels, has been laying the groundwork for peak fossil fuels? Yesterday, they had on Doomsday Tech on the need to come up with technologies to combat our finite fossil fuels deleption.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '[')b]Doomsday Tech 1. Aired Friday, Jul 8 at 7:00pm ET:
Doomsday threats range from very real (nuclear arsenals) to controversial (global warming) to futuristic (nanotechnology, cyborgs, and robots). Despite the Cold War's end, we live under the shadow of nuclear weapons, arms races, and accidental launches. Next, we stir up a hotter topic--the connection between global warming and fossil fuels--and ask if they're cooking up a sudden, new Ice Age. And we examine 21st-century technologies that typify the dual-edged sword of Doomsday Tech with massive potential for both creation and destruction--nanotechnology (engineering on a tiny scale), robotics, and cybernetics. We witness amazing applications in the works, wonder at the limitless promise, and hear warnings of a possible nano-doomsday, with tiny, out-of-control machines devouring everything around them. TVPG

[MD]

I caught the oil pipeline show. What struck me was the annual maintenance requirements for the Alaskan pipeline. It initially was designed for a 20 year life. Thirty years later it takes millions of dollars annually to keep it alive. If ANWAR doesn't open, they will have to shut it down.

Unfortunately I missed th eother show, I would have liked to have seen it.

[BabyPeanut]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MonteQuest', 'H')as anybody else noticed that the History Channel, primarily Modern Marvels, has been laying the groundwork for peak fossil fuels?

[MonteQuest]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MD', 'I') caught the oil pipeline show. What struck me was the annual maintenance requirements for the Alaskan pipeline. It initially was designed for a 20 year life. Thirty years later it takes millions of dollars annually to keep it alive. If ANWAR doesn't open, they will have to shut it down.
Unfortunately I missed the other show, I would have liked to have seen it.

[shakespear1]

On BBC I have noticed commercials from ESSO entitled ENERGY FACTS. They give a brief look at energy use in countries where I believe they have operations. The one I caught was for China. No sure what the motive is here except perhaps to raise awareness.