Potential disaster

Well, now that the oil leak in the gulf has been capped, the big worry is whether there are other leaks underground, out of sight. If the cap is kept on, the leaks could get larger and unstoppable. British Petroleum appears not to care. They want the cap left on for public image reasons. The government wants the cap off so as to avoid a (potentially) much bigger disaster. Who will prevail?
Ahora que el derrame de aceite en el golfo esta tapado, la preocupacion es que tal vez haya mas derrames invisibles bajo el subsuelo. Si la tapa se queda puesta, los derrames podrian hacerse mas grandes y sin solucion. British Petroleum quiere dejar la tapa por razones de imagen publica. El gobierno quiere quitarla para evitar una catastrofe mayor. Quien dominara?

Global warming again

It seems that with all the snow and low temperatures we've been having lately people are beginning to doubt the battle cry of global warming that so many have been cackling about. Even I am beginning to doubt. The warm scientists are, OF COURSE, saying that the snow was caused by the global warming!!!! No wonder we are so confused. Did anyone feel warm snow? Did it feel warm anywhere? I certainly did not and neither did this topless woman.

Cars burning up

Who cares about climate change??? Nobody. It looks like people who were celebrating the new year on new year's eve burned a total of 1137 cars in France. That created a lot of smoke, of course - polluting smoke. There were 45,000 police out on patrol but they could not stop the burning. The revelers caused an estimated $8,000,000 in damage. I'm assuming all the cars were insured, no??? This topless woman does not know anything - she wasn't even there.

Melting ice so what

Well - Al Gore and a few other people are saying that there might be no ice on the Arctic pole (in the summers) as soon as 2014. I told them this was bound to happen given the number of autos and factories spewing heat into the atmosphere. Did they listen to me? No. However, what do we want ice for anyway? Would it not be nice if the entire Earth were tropical year-round???? Let Nature take its course please. This topless woman knows better than to express an opinion on the matter. I think she likes warm temperatures.

Sorry Tuvalu

It seems that Tuvalu, an island nobody knows (it is not too far from Australia) will have to find other digs for its inhabitants. The people meeting in Copenhagen over the turmoil regarding global warming ignored its pleas to make the global warming agenda more restrictive. It seems that if things continue as they are, the little island will be covered by water in the near future. After all, the oceans' water level is rising and, for them, there is nowhere to run except to one of the continents. They do not want to have to relocate. Things are pleasant there. Sorry, but Saudi Arabia said no, we cannot be too restrictive because then we won't sell as much oil as we do now and then what??? We have to be serious about climate change but too much. This topless woman is not concerned - she does not live in Tuvalu.

Global warming not

There is a very simple explanation for this: “WASHINGTON – Americans seem to be cooling toward global warming. Just 57 percent think there is solid evidence the world is getting warmer, down 20 points in just three years, a new poll says. Only about a third, or 36 percent of the respondents, feel that human activities — such as pollution from power plants, factories and automobiles — are behind a temperature increase. That's down from 47 percent from 2006 through last year's poll. "The priority that people give to pollution and environmental concerns and a whole host of other issues is down because of the economy and because of the focus on other things," suggested Andrew Kohut, the director of the research center, which conducted the poll from Sept. 30 to Oct. 4.” As you know, people are motivated by two things: pain and pleasure (or the fear of pain and the desire for pleasure, no?) That’s pretty normal. As long as global warming causes no pain or exudes no pleasure, people will simply not give a hoot. Maybe when the sidewalk gets hot enough to burn through our shoes – maybe then we’ll care. This topless woman does not care either.

Wind Turbines Are Beautiful

From another popular news site: “Paris – Wind is the fastest growing renewable energy in Europe – making up a third of new energy here, with 20 turbines added every working day in 2008, according to EU statistics. What the European wind energy industry now wants is to expand – offshore. Ocean winds are a stronger and more predictable form of energy than the ones on land, and the industry is pushing a $57 billion investment to allow broad-winged turbines to spin at sea. Offshore turbines are also seen as a solution to complaints from Europeans who do not want the gargantuan turbines in their backyards. Complaints that the turbines ruin ocean views have slowed US efforts to get a project started off the coast of Massachusetts. The US has virtually no offshore wind energy, though the Obama administration has started to work on the issue.” My own opinion is that turbines actually decorate the ocean. I think they look cool coming out of the water. Just be careful that you don’t smack your boat against one of the pylons.

Global Governance

From a recent news update: “Former Vice President Al Gore declared that the Congressional climate bill will help bring about global governance. “I bring you good news from the U.S.,” Gore said on July 7, 2009 in Oxford at the Smith School World Forum on Enterprise and the Environment, sponsored by UK Times. “Just two weeks ago, the House of Representatives passed the Waxman-Markey climate bill,” Gore said, noting it was “very much a step in the right direction.” President Obama has pushed for the passage of the bill in the Senate and attended a G8 summit this week where he agreed to attempt to keep the earth’s temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius. Gore touted the Congressional climate bill, claiming it “will dramatically increase the prospects for success” in combating what he sees as the “crisis” of man-made global warming.”
I believe this is a classic “Tiger by the Tail” story. Gore has now got this beast by the tail - when it turns around, it will scare him to death, for sure. Global Governance – what is that about?? Ask Katie Couric. Maybe she knows. Please.

Do as I say, not as I do

From a story on the internet: “Al Gore’s house burns carbon like you wouldn't believe. Nashville Electric Service records show that Gore Hall consumes more electricity every month than the average American household uses in an entire year. To be specific: the Department of Energy says the average American consumes 10,656 kilowatt-hours per year. In 2006, Gore consumed some 221,000 kilowatts hours. That's more than 20 times the national average. Of course, in his Academy Award-winning film, Mr. Global Warming told Americans to cut down on their consumption of electricity. So when some folks found him in that enormous house, they thought they detected hypocrisy.” This should not surprise anybody – he is a politician after all. He will NEVER lead by example. What does the young woman on the left have to do with any of this? Absolutely nothing.

Dangerous neighborhood

From a Yahoo! News story: “WASHINGTON – Space shuttle Atlantis is now in a rough orbital neighborhood — a place littered with thousands of pieces of space junk zipping around the Earth at nearly 20,000 mph. There are more pieces of shattered satellites and used-up rockets in this region than astronauts have ever encountered. As soon as the job is complete, the shuttle will scamper to safety - all those tiny projectiles raise the constant threat of a potentially fatal collision. NASA now puts the risk for a catastrophic collision with junk during the mission at 1 in 229 — greater than typical flights to the space station but lower than the agency's initial estimates. The Air Force is tracking more than 19,000 objects in all sorts of orbits — most of it junk. The dirtiest spots are at 525 miles up where a Chinese satellite was destroyed and 490 miles, where an Russian-American satellite collision occurred. And the higher the space junk orbits, the longer it stays aloft because there's even less drag from the ultra-thin atmosphere pulling stuff down. For example, a 4-inch object 490 miles up will stay in orbit for more than a century, Johnson said. Objects between one-tenth of an inch and 4 inches are dangerous enough to cause major and even fatal damage, but cannot be specifically tracked.” So, why are all the green revolution people not saying anything about this? And, we want to travel to Mars? What for? To pollute it? Please.

Fairness and Kindness

From a Yahoo! News story: “STAR CITY, Russia – Russian and American astronauts on Friday downplayed suggestions of disputes on the international space station over access to food and equipment. On Friday, Fincke, Lonchakov and Simonyi said that if there were disputes, they were only on the ground, not in space — and not among the space travelers. "Please don't make a mistake. This is the best partnership that human beings have ever had. We're building the best space station that's ever been built. We're going to the stars together," Fincke told reporters at Russia's cosmonaut training center outside of Moscow. "So let's not let these little small things stop us from realizing this partnership we have together." "It's called an international space station because people from different nationalities work there," Lonchakov added. "In space there are no politics," he said. "What's decided on Earth is decided on Earth. What we are working in space is completely different, we work things out differently." Sure, of course. Humans behave well in space, no matter how they act down here. Sure. How dumb can anybody be? And, these guys are scientists. What a farce. If you wait long enough, someone will be the first victim of murder (or at least the first bloody nose) in space – probably over a low supply of oxygen. Who knows?

AN IDEA

From a Yahoo! News story: “WASHINGTON – Tinkering with Earth's climate to chill runaway global warming — a radical idea once dismissed out of hand — is being discussed by the White House as a potential emergency option, the president's new science adviser said Wednesday. That's because global warming is happening so rapidly, John Holdren told The Associated Press in his first interview since being confirmed last month. The concept of using technology to purposely cool the climate is called geoengineering. One option raised by Holdren and proposed by a Nobel Prize-winning scientist includes shooting pollution particles into the upper atmosphere to reflect the sun's rays.” Why not just use mirrors to shoot some rays back at the sun? Let me see, I’m sure we can come up with many other ways of cooling the climate down. How about manufacturing a giant refrigerated air unit and pointing it straight at the bad guy – the sun? Put the thing in Siberia where everything is colder. How about shooting ice cubes at the sun? How about wearing more layers of clothing so that your body heat stays with you and is not let off into the atmosphere? Is that feasible? Sure. How about capturing heat in small boxes during the day and closing the lids? Could someone invent a heat trap – like a mouse trap except for heat? Has anyone asked why it is we are trying to save the Earth anyway? Is it worth all the trouble? PLEASE.

Global what?

From a Yahoo! News story: “PARIS – A massive ice shelf anchored to the Antarctic coast by a narrow and quickly deteriorating ice bridge could break away soon, the European Space Agency warned Friday. The Paris-based agency said satellite images show the bridge that connects the Wilkins Ice Shelf to Charcot and Latady Islands "looks set to collapse." "The beginning of what appears to be the demise of the ice bridge began this week when new rifts" appeared and a large block of ice broke away, it said.” I don’t worry about these things at all – I prefer tropical weather and I think the entire world should be tropical. The sooner the ice melts the better.

Global warming hehe

From a Yahoo! News story: "SYDNEY – The floodlit cream shells of the famed Opera House dimmed Saturday as Sydney became the world's first major city to plunge itself into darkness for the second worldwide Earth Hour, a global campaign to highlight the threat of climate change." And you think this will help? This is something sponsored by the Wildlife Fund, an organization headed by very wealthy people whose lights in their own mansions never go out. Please!!! What a hypocritical exercise this is. Just to be somewhat contrarian, all the lights in my house will be on - all 100 of them.

Climate change

This is from a recent news story on Yahoo! "If the world's nations act responsibly, Stern said, they will achieve "zero-carbon" electricity production and zero-carbon road transport by 2050 — by replacing coal power plants with wind, solar or other energy sources that emit no carbon dioxide, and fossil fuel-burning vehicles with cars running on electric or other "clean" energy. Then warming could be contained to a 2-degree-Celsius (3.4-degree-Fahrenheit) rise this century, he said. But if negotiators falter, if emissions reductions are not made soon and deep, the severe climate shifts and sea-level rises projected by scientists would be "disastrous." It would "transform where people can live," Stern said. "People would move on a massive scale. Hundreds of millions, probably billions of people would have to move if you talk about 4-, 5-, 6-degree increases" — 7 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit. And that would mean extended global conflict, "because there's no way the world can handle that kind of population move in the time period in which it would take place." Maybe we should have known this fifty years ago???

Chasing Windmills

From an investor newsletter: By Porter Stansberry: “I'm facing a lot of skeptics who believe what Al Gore has told them about solar energy. But once you know the only real buyers of solar panels are governments (through subsidies and large direct purchases), you should immediately suspect the promise of solar power isn't what it's cracked up to be. If everyone could power their homes by putting solar panels on the roof, everyone would want to do it. We wouldn't need tax incentives. Instead, the cost to install and maintain a solar system far exceeds the economic value of what it provides. And the reason is basic physics, specifically the Second Law of Thermodynamics. This is nature's version of "there's no such thing as a free lunch." The Second Law says energy moves from more useful forms to less useful forms, from more concentrated and powerful forms to more disparate and less powerful forms. In short, machines that promise to bring us the power of the sun by harnessing its rays won't work because by the time the sun's rays reach the Earth, not much useful energy is left. That energy won't return to a more concentrated form without the input of just as much additional power. I'm not the only person who has doubted the functional utility of solar power. Another skeptic is Warren Meyer, who frequently blogs about free market economics, climate nonsense, and solar power, among other topics. Meyer is a Princeton and Harvard Business School graduate, but even those institutions didn't ruin his brain, which tells me he's a very smart guy indeed. Al Gore has claimed, repeatedly, that if we were to build a 90-mile by 90-mile solar-panel facility in the Southwest desert, we would have enough electricity to power the entire United States. The claim is fantastic. If only we cared enough about the environment to build enough solar panels, then the world would be saved and power would be free! Al Gore is a masterful politician, which is to say he is a complete liar.” According to Mr. Stanberry, the cost to build this energy machine would be 21 trillion dollars. He didn’t mention the issue of fossil fuels’ contribution toward global warming. I think I like windmills a lot better already.

Hank Paulson interview

Before we start, I must give you a little background (what little I know) about Hank Paulson. He socializes very little, he is an environment enthusiast, he has many, many, many friends in high places in China, and he is obsessed with snakes. The lady in the red wig has nothing to do with Paulson, I just put her there because I wanted to. She looks as if she has no clue where she's going but I bet she does. The wig is probably from the dollar store. As always, any similarity between the person being interviewed and/or any current events is strictly coincidental.

TR: Good afternoon. Are you Hank Paulson?
HP: Yes sir, and you must be Mr. Quan?
TR: No, I’m with the Coffee Club Newsletter.
HP: Where’s Mr. Quan?
TR: I don’t know.
HP: So, why are you here in his place?
TR: I’m not taking his place – I’m here to do an interview with you.
HP: Oh, you’re that other guy. Do you care at all about global warming?
TR: May I come in?
HP: Only if you promise we’ll discuss climate change and the environment.
TR: We can discuss whatever you want to discuss.
HP: Step right this way.
TR: Wow, this looks like a greenhouse.
HP: It is.
TR: I’ve never seen so many indoor plants before.
HP: Wait ‘til you see the snakes.
TR: Snakes? How many snakes?
HP: Twenty six, but they are not all here – some we keep in the bedrooms.
TR: Oh.
HP: I know them all by name.
TR: One for each letter of the alphabet.
HP: How did you guess?
TR: I’m just good at guessing. How do you tell them apart?
HP: They’ve been in the family a number of years – after a while you just recognize them. It’s like telling your dollar bills apart. They’re all the same but they’re all different. There comes Chrimata now from under that fern.
TR: Chrimata?
HP: It’s the Greek word for “money.”
TR: I should have guessed.
HP: And Fiduciary is right behind her. Isn’t he cute?
TR: To me, they’re just snakes.
HP: You have a lot to learn. Let’s sit down in my study.
TR: Can I have a Corona Light?
HP: Sure. That’s my favorite beer - another lucky guess?
TR: No. I just like the way it tastes. I’m glad you have it in the house – even Buckingham Palace doesn’t stock it.
HP: You’ve been there?
TR: I interviewed the Queen.
HP: Sure you did.
TR: I don’t tell lies.
HP: You must be the only one on the planet.
TR: No, my father too.
HP: Really? And where might he be from?
TR: Austria, but he’s in the Himalayas right now.
HP: …doing?
TR: Collecting bark from an old tree.
HP: Is he a researcher, an environmental scientist?
TR: No, he needs it to stay alive.
HP: Is he ill?
TR: Not at all. He’s just really old. He will soon be 2000.
HP: 2000 years old?
TR: Yes.
HP: You know, I’ve been around a lot of bankers and finance people and business people almost all my life…
TR: Yes, I know.
HP: …I have learned to read them pretty well – perfectly, in fact. Even by the slightest inflection in their speech – I can tell when they’re trying to sell me the Brooklyn Bridge. Your story sounds very convincing – you’re either the world’s best liar or you’re telling me the absolute truth.
TR: Well, to me, it doesn’t matter at all what you think about me.
HP: You must not need any tips on the stock market.
TR: I just do interviews and take pictures whenever my camera is working.
HP: I can see you’re a simple man. You’re good for the environment.
TR: May I ask you about the financial collapse?
HP: Being that you’re a true environmentalist, you may ask me whatever you like.
TR: Thank you. My readers would like to know if the bailout money will really work to turn the economy around.
HP: No, of course it won’t. I had to find a way to protect my Asian friends from any defaults. That’s what that was about, not anything else. I know I’ve been criticized for being close to Wall Street, but everyone is close to something, no?
TR: Weren’t you partly responsible for the elimination of the net capital rule in 2004 - the thing that led to the credit crisis?
HP: Sure, sure, but let me tell you what that was about. When I was in the private sector, I lobbied hard against being overly regulated by the government. That’s all true. My mistake was in thinking that everybody in the investment business, when granted more freedom by the Feds, would act responsibly. Instead, they acted like thugs. They really let me down. I was in charge at Goldman Sachs and we stayed clear of the greediness and all those sham securities. That’s why it’s the only firm that survived. All those people who are now criticizing me don’t have a clue.
TR: May I print that?
HP: No, not all of it.
TR: Ok. What about John Ehrlichman?
HP: Who is he?
TR: He used to be your boss under Nixon?
HP: Oh, yes, I forgot. Some things just never go away, do they?
TR: You were almost caught up in Watergate.
HP: That was in 1972 – almost four decades ago. I was just a kid. John Dean cautioned me to keep away from the whole mess and I resented him for it because I wanted to get in on the action. He was a real snake.
TR: But, he saved your reputation.
HP: Without meaning to.
TR: Didn’t you later give him a job as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs?
HP: No. I simply suggested to him that he go into banking – it was a perfect fit. The industry is full of weasels and snitches, you know.
TR: Maybe you’ve had too much beer?
HP: Don’t you want another Corona?
TR: I’m beginning to hear noises in my ears.
HP: Oh, don’t worry. They’re coming from my playroom next door. I have a collection of over a hundred ticker tape machines in there – the kind that every stock broker used to have. At precisely the same time every day, they start whirring away. I love those old machines. They were the internet of the old, old days.
TR: I remember them, of course. You know them all by name?
HP: No.
TR: When did you become concerned about the environment?
HP: When I learned that we were about to run out of oil. The next big money makers will be wind power generation and solar energy.
TR: What do you think is the ultimate power source?
HP: Washington politics.
TR: What about the people?
HP: If I’ve learned anything in the last fifty years, it’s that if you give people something to eat and something to talk about, they’re happy. 98 percent of them don’t even know who I am.
TR: But what about unemployment?
HP: Well, that won’t really become a problem unless it hits 50 percent. We may see a couple of riots here and there but I have set aside 997 billion for that worst-case scenario. Be that as it may, my private jet is on standby to take me and my family to Brazil on a moment’s notice.
TR: Do you have another residence there?
HP: Well, I really doubt that the Coffee Club would be interested in that but, for the record; we’ll just be doing a little environmental research near Rio. Maybe I’ll get lucky and find a new species. I’m going to grab another beer and lie down, if you don’t mind.
TR: Thank you Mr. Paulson.
HP: Thank you, Mr. Quan.

Wind Farms

It's Saturday but, so what. We can still talk on a Saturday and we can most certainly write also. Just to give you an example of the energy behind numbers. Take NCEN (Nacel Energy Corp), for example. This is a company that deals in harnessing wind power, like National Wind (boy, what a name!!!!) The stock was at $4.60 back in May. Then it took a steep dive (actually, more of a roller coaster ride) down to fifty cents in August. Now it's at $1.37, as of Friday. Had I purchased 50,000 shares sometime in August, I would have profited about $40,000 as of Monday morning. However, that's the trouble with penny stocks - very high volatility because of investors wanting to make a quick profit. Be careful where you park your money. Be conservative, unless you're the type that can take a hit and move on. I'm not. By the way, that's Hans Rosenfeld on the left, with one of his robots. I think it's battery powered.

Environmental Me

I'm not a green person - not even close. I waste water, electricity, gasoline, and natural gas. I don't recyle. I litter the streets with gum wrappers. I don't care about endangered species. I never discuss the environment with anyone. However, there is this company called National Wind, LLC (don't laugh, it's true), that generates power using huge windmills. I think this may be the answer to the energy shortage and our dangerous dependence on foreign oil. I just wish they had come up with a more serious-sounding name. That's not a wind farm to the left - but it could be.