Here are some simple facts:
1. We have reached peak oil production. In spite of the price of oil climbing drastically over the last several years, production remains flat. We can expect to spend more money on oil in the future while production will begin to decline.
2. Demand for energy is going to continue to grow. Currently our biggest energy source by far is petroleum.
3. This will create an increasingly large gap between production and demand, creating shortages and panic.
Those are not opinions. Those are facts. Now the opinion:
4. If we do not do something drastic about the above facts, the resulting panic will be worldwide and catastrophic to every aspect of a modern lifestyle. The resulting catastrophe will be like nothing ever seen by man before. The death toll will make the Holocaust look like a traffic accident.
5. And thus, we MUST use every dollar we can beg, borrow, or steal from any and all other programs to replace petroleum with another energy source. We must start 10 years ago. It is absolutely critical to modern life. We have no choice.
6. Nuclear reactors aren't the solution. They could buy us time, but we're already running out of Uranium.
While resolving the rising costs of health care may be important, this issue is absolutely critical. We do not have a choice. We need to be spending 10s or 100s of billions of dollars annually to replace our petroleum-based infrastructure and we need to do it while we still have the oil to power the replacement.
xkcd.com is a geeky online comic strip. Sometimes it's way out there, sometimes it really hits close to home. Here are a few of my favorites:
Natural Parenting (674):
Unreal Tournament and Nachos (654):
Maybe This Would Work For Me (628):
Too Bad No One Who Needs It Would Understand (627):
Icarus (620):
\Adventure (308):
I thought I'd share some of my favorite YouTube videos:
The Eagles:
Phantom of the Opera:
Freddy Mercury's greatest performance:
End of the World:
These ladies do more for classical instruments than anyone:
Although these two do okay too:
And then we have one of the top guitarists ever:
10,000 Maniacs:
My favorite Cyndi Lauper song:
For a good case of giggles:
Nina Conti.
And finally, Achmed, the Dead Terrorist!
