energy to burn

So there's more bad news.

Someone who's fairly intelligent and well-read told me this past weekend (when I was mentioning to him Randy L's comments in my previous post here regarding peak oil, etc) that there really is no energy shortage; that what we have is an idea shortage. There's enough energy to go around. We just need to come up with economical ways to harness it. I suppose some will say there are none.

To that Randy L responds with:
That would seem to be the real problem. I'm no expert that's for sure, but from the studies I've been reading, the problem we're facing is a transition from an energy source that has the highest ERoEI (Energy Returned on EnergyInvested) quotient than any other substance discovered yet.

And the problem is two-fold: 1) None of the options (except hydrogen, but we are nowhere near being able to harness its potential, see next point) can come close to matching oil's ERoEI. In fact as oil becomes more difficult and expensive to find and extract, even its ERoEI will cancel itself out, so that some oil will necessarily be left in the ground. And 2) Retrofitting our industrial economy and society to run on other forms of energy will take several decades, as well as a cohesive and concerted effort on the part of EVERYBODY in order to pull it off in the short period of time we have before oil becomes prohibitively expensive and scarce. And there is the crunch. That's what some folks are trying to say.

Oil doesn't need to run out before the demand for it drives its cost into the stratosphere. And the technology and infrastructure we need to make a smooth transition to these other, more renewable, sources is simply not in place. And regardless, these latter sources will necessitate consuming less energy because they can only produce so much.

Do you hear any of the current candidates for the presidential office even hinting at any of this? It seems that only a World War can usually convince ordinary businesses and citizens to voluntarily cut back and make the sacrifices necessary for such a transition. Maybe that's what we're tryingto do in the Middle East. Cause once China wakes up to peak oil and realizes its dreams of joining the industrial utopia party are going to be severely curtailed, who knows what might go down?

In any case, our economic model for the last hundred and fifty years has been one of infinite growth and wealth on a finite planet, and the sheer number of human beings that this industrial oil bubble has allowed to exist will not be possible to sustain once we head down the other side of that bell curve. And that is a sobering thought.

As this whole thing unfolds, our lives will become more intensely and profoundly local.

long may you rust

So we’ve got a big problem.

We were reading about Neil’s latest project called Linc-Volt. He's currently having the engine in his '59 Lincoln Mark IV converted to bio-diesel and electric and he's documenting it all on film:

"The car, which will boast 100 mpg plus with diesel fuel, will utilize an electric engine and cross the country on less than 2 fill-ups. Linc Volt will also be a V2G (vehicle to grid) plug-in car that allows an easy commute to work and back without the need for any diesel fuel at all. Road tests begin in December.

"The vehicle will not have to stop to recharge on long journeys, said Shakey Pictures' Bernard Shakey. CNN is releasing an interview with Johnathan Goodwin and Neil Young, documenting the historic removal of the huge car's internal combustion engine. This is the first stage in the re-powering of the American dream, according to the interview."

Then Randy L. explained to us:
"I hate to break Neil's bubble but the days of "Happy Motoring" (J.H.Kunstler's phrase) are fading quickly and will soon be gone. There will be no way to "grow" enough fuel or to charge enough batteries to keep this nation's fleet of cars happy and on the road. Plus the car is mostly responsible for the suburban sprawl that has paved over so much farmland, created the trashy landscape of strip malls and Jiffy Lubes, and destroyed the heart of so many small towns across the country.

"All the cool rock and roll car songs notwithstanding, the sooner we wean ourselves off of them, the better. Automobiles will once again be the toys of the very wealthy, as will any airplane travel. This land's vast and extensive network of asphalt and concrete will be too expensive to repair and maintain.

"Trains, on the other hand, can run on just about anything and they can carry a few more folks per trip than a car. I'm not sure why Neil's pouring so much of his time and money into a dying horse(-less carriage) when he already has a fond spot in his heart for the very mode of transportation we desperately need to be working as a society to reclaim.

"[…] go pick up a copy of Kunstler's "The Long Emergency" or "The Party's Over" by Richard Heinberg, or visit Life After the Oil Crash if you want to get serious about what's about to go down."

I responded:
And then we can watch their entire related infrastructure go to ruin. We won't be able to reverse all it's done and bring back the small town and farmland though, will we?

What then?

To which Randy replied:
"sigh.

"Wondering how the cheap-energy-less future unfolds has got me all tied up in emotional knots too. Especially for our kids. The basic scenario that there will be less oil to meet an ever-growing demand, and that we missed the curve for developing other sources of energy so that we might make a smooth transition while we wean ourselves off cheap oil, well, it strikes me as being pretty realistic and inevitable now.

"All of the suggestions for preparing for what will now be a fairly rough and traumatic transition focus on returning to as locally-centered way of life as possible, which of course is what we should never have let get away from us, but hopefully isn't so far from our grasp as to be impossible to recover. I'm doubtful that we'll have the necessary fuel to run the big machines to break up the parking lots and the big box stores and return the land to fertility. I wonder how long it will take Mother Earth to do that work for us? It's crazy just thinking about it.

"When you think about the era in which we have lived as an "anomaly" in human history, a bubble in which we were allowed to let ourselves go wild with no thought of consequences, it is really sobering. Makes the wisdom of the First Americans rich and deep indeed. Of course, if the Christians who emigrated from Europe had been listening to their Lord and Savior a little more closely and faithfully, a different history may have been written. Alas, it was not to be.

"All right. Enough sermonizing. I have a "real" one to go preach now!! 8>) Thanks for listening."

I can only add:
Thank you, Randy, for your wisdom.

All things are connected. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the children of the earth. --chief seattle

it's better to burn out than it is to run

So the price of gas continues to climb.

I despise what our society has evolved into. It's created a people full of stress, addictions, and unhappiness. Our family structure has all but disintegrated. I believe we were meant to live in groups of extended families or communes.

Is the automobile the cause of all this?

I believe the answer is yes.

bh

turn off the lights

So Neil may be everywhere but he doesn't know everything.

It was posted on Rust that this happened at a recent concert:
"Also, a few songs later [neil] went into a rambling discourse about the power grid, and how we have the power in the US, and the best power grid out there, and the electricity is always flowing, except in a brown out. He was saying that when you turn off the light, you aren't saving power because it's still there being generated. I'm not sure what Neil meant here, but this simply isn't true.

"Turning off lights and other load will cause generation to be backed off on the other side--generation and load must match at all times. The Eastern Interconnect--North America's grid east of the Rockies--is one of the largest machines in the world. Consuming less energy/power is the single most effective "demand / response" action anyone can do.

"Every time you turn on the lights, something dies."

- written by indydave

down here below

So this is the time of year when birds descend en masse to our part of the country. Migration is upon us. At times there are so many that they darken the sky.

This is the only time of year that we may have robin red breasts around. I say "may" because I haven't seen them every single year; at least not in my neighborhood. I don't even think they stay here for any extended period but, rather, just pass through on their journey further south. That's my theory anyway. I've never researched it though.

The peregrine falcon migrates in, too, and it has arrived. Just look at its beauty.

Peregrines are the world's fastest birds. They can tuck their wings and dive at speeds of about 200 mph. You cannot even believe the speed, the accuracy and the beauty of these birds in flight.

Once on the endangered list, they have recovered and continue to thrive. They are monogamous raptors at the top of their food chain and have adapted well to urban living. The city's structures are preferred haunts for hunting, flying and diving because they simulate canyon walls and mountain ranges. They've also adapted well to nesting in the sky scrapers.

This is great news for their survival but I find it so sad. Very disturbing.

Another hawk that does well in the urban environment is the Red-tailed hawk. The non-fiction book, Red-Tails in Love: A Wildlife Drama in Central Park (by Marie Winn) made Pale Male, a Red-tailed Hawk in New York, famous.

Now Steve Earle raises his infamy to a whole 'nother level by having a song about him entitled Down Here Below on his latest release, Washington Square Serenade:

Pale male, the famous redtail hawk, performs wingstands high above midtown Manhattan
Circles around for one last pass over the park
Got his eye on a fat squirrel down there and a couple of pigeons
They got no place to run, they got no place to hide

But pale male he’s cool, see ‘cause his breakfast ain’t goin’ nowhere
So he does a loop t loop for the tourists and the six o’clock news
Got him a penthouse view from the tip-top of the food chain, boys
He looks up and down on Fifth Avenue and says,
“God, I love this town.”

the gift

So I awarded the giver a shiny gold star for unearthing such a treasure.

For my birthday last month I received the best t-shirt. I'm not a t-shirt kinda girl (except for maybe the occasional More Barn) but I was ecstatic when I laid my eyes on it. This is the coolest t-shirt I've seen since I found my Geronimo one.

Homeland Security ~ Fighting Terrorism Since 1492

poetress lucinda

So there I was; pulling out Lucinda Williams' latest release again for a spin. West, is one of those albums that I will be digging out and playing forever into the future. Phenomenal songwriting. A lot of cool, clever lyrics. For example, the tune Come On is the best "tell off" song since Dylan's Positively 4th St. said,"I wish that for just one time you could stand inside my shoes; You'd know what a drag it is to see you."

Here are some bites of it:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
from: Mama You Sweet

With an ocean in my spirit
And cracks on my lips
And scars in my heart
And this burden on my hips

Ocean becomes heavy
And tries to push its way out
Through these ancient eyes
And the memories in my mouth

Ocean becomes tears
That ebb and flow
Over the lines in my face
And the pain in my soul

(Click here for the rest of the story.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
from: Unsuffer Me

unlock my love and set me free
come fill me up with ecstasy
surround my heartbeat with your fingertips
unbound my feet, untie my wrists
come in to my world of loneliness
and wickedness and bitterness
unlock my love
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
from: What If

If children grew up happier
And they could run with the wolves
And they never felt trapped
Or hungry or unloved

If cats walked on water
And birds had bank accounts
And we loved one another
In equal amounts
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
from: Wrap My Head Around That

I know what I think I saw
And what I thought I’d seen
And what was coming and what was going
And everything in between

And what I thought I heard you say
And what you really said
And what I thought you thought I thought
Was actually in your head

And what you meant to tell me
And what I meant to say
And what I said you said I said
And what went the other way

I know what you did to me
And I know what we did
And who did what to who
And who the hell were you trying to kid
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

smoking can kill you? how about War Can Kill You.

So here I am, pumping gas, and another vehicle pulls up on the other side of the pump.

Out gets this man who takes a mere couple of steps away from the pumps and a final drag on his cigarette. He throws it to the ground and steps on it. During those brief seconds, I recall what I was taught back in the days when everybody smoked (including me):
"DO NOT HAVE A LIT CIGARETTE IN A GAS STATION. DO NOT THROW IT ON THE GROUND. YOU WILL EXPLODE."

I think to myself, "What an asshole!"

Then he moves directly on the opposite side of the pump from me to begin his transaction. I could only see the top of his head.....his aged eyes and the cap he was wearing. It wasn't a baseball cap but a little similar and it was a shade of brown. Embroidered across the top it read "Vietnam Veteran," one word under the other and it had some bars, three of them, between the two words; medals he had earned.

I finish pumping my 3.169/gallon obnoxious supreme.

Later on this evening I was ironing and watching one of the two TV shows I try to catch weekly. Every Sunday night I iron and watch this show. Near the end of it they've got a preview of the upcoming nightly news and I see this piece on veterans.

Then it hit me.

Today was Veterans' Day.

Tears welled up in my eyes. I should have thanked that man I had seen in the gas station.

I'm the asshole.

bh

He fought for you, he fought for me

Across the land and on the sea

But now he's just a memory.

-n young

where my parents reside: http://www.cem.va.gov/CEM/cems/nchp/longisland.asp

no longer a boise virgin

So I don't get to see this latest tour of Neil's.

I received two cds documenting for partial eternity his opening night in Boise last month on Oct 18th. My ears just finished attending the show......cyber-like.

Well. Neil really knows how to kick off a tour, doesn't he? The first song of the tour. He starts and stops. And then starts singing it just when you think he's gonna throw it away. Oh yeah. You gotta love him. Nevermind, you do what you want. *I* gotta love him.

Pissin' in the wind. He sings it; some in the audience laugh. You can tell by this that they've never heard the song before. They've got that 'initial response' going there. I've been listening to that song for decades. I was in high school when it was released. Why I think that EVERYONE should know OTB (Neil's On the Beach album) frontwards and backwards is beyond me. No, wait, it's logical. Isn't it?

Ok, now I know why he threw Ambulance Blues into this tour. Because he's got the Riverboat rockin' in the rain on his brain from his snapshot teasers of three songs randomly marketed with Chrome Dreams II. My amazon copy didn't include one. I can wait for the whole show on the Archives release now slated for right after Valentine's Day '08. (Should we laugh in unison?) Since the archives will include the Performance Series shows he's already released individually (and I've purchased), it will be nice to get at least one complete new show outta the deal. I'm getting tired of the diehard fan rape that's been going on. On the other hand, as someone once told me, "The willing can't be raped."

Calling out. Rusties always complain about others calling out song titles. Just because we know (except the opening night, of course), for the most part, what he's going to play next, and that, yes, he follows a setlist (sorta) and that, no, he doesn't take requests....well, we think that they're rude for doing that. Just listening to the show at home I didn't think they were rude but I must admit that I cringe when they do it at shows just wonderin' how neil will react....and hoping he won't pull another tension-filled Last Trip to Vegas. egads. So as of this moment I *don't* think it's rude of them. I bet at some point he was flattered when it happened. Yeah, ok, that was thirty years ago maybe. I don't think he took requests then either.

Has he ever responded to an audience member with, "Great idea!" and then played it? Tom, do you know of any time he's done that?

Which reminds me....who is that asking for Coupe de Ville? ;-)

And who was he calling a party pooper at this show?

Are Winterlong and Bad Fog becoming the staples of a tour with BenK?

He says, "I can't tune any more" and calls for Larry. Could he ever tune? What year was that?

You know, it's one thing to read a setlist and quite another to hear it played. I've been painting again nights in my studio after a hiatus of years. That's when I played the cds and it was a beautiful thing. Highly inspirational.

Last time he had played Harvest I was there. (His one-off performance on the closing night of the '99 solo tour in Houston that made me fall out of my seat. He also threw a White Line at us; a song that he'd only played live three times previously 23 years earlier. We Rusties live for those moments.)

Boy, I'd like to see him play that one again. And A Man Needs A Maid. Oh, Lonesome Me. They sounded magnificent.

You guys at this show must've been slapping each other silly as song recognition kicked in for each one.

I enjoyed listening to each song TREMENDOUSLY tonight. Even The Believer sounded ok. (Don't get excited. Just ok.)

He's over-charging us but he's also treating us good.

xo

bh

secret society of the (twisted) sisterhood

So I anticipated the days for weeks.

I couldn't believe they were all actually coming to see me and be a part of the 2nd Annual Witches' Ball. Two flying in from Long Island and one from Denver. I don't know exactly when the four of us were last assembled together in one place. If ever.

It was two decades since I saw them regularly albeit separately. Even for my 30th surprise party I don't think we were all together. Pigness was missing.

I decorated, cleaned, primped, and cooked for two weeks. And I was late picking them up at the airport spending the morning doing last minute things.

Time would have been better spent with them.

hole, bh, brach, pigness... and the girl