I found this in my mailbox this morning. Scary days ahead ? Free refill !!!Where's the Back Door Please?Is there another way out of this place? I see angry creatures with torches outside the front - yelling for blood - they wanna hang someone, and they don't care who - then they will set fire to the building just to make sure it doesn't happen again.As I have been saying for a couple years now, things will begin heating up significantly by 2008. And sure enough. Of course, there exists no incredible insight into the future on my part, no clairvoyance - it's simply keeping up with the news, doing lots of research and drawing the logical conclusions. Food prices, as predicted when oil and mineral and water supplies got tight, will first experience rapid increases. Those in the developing countries will be affected most because they are poorer. The G8 countries will suffer least in this scenario because let's face it, food represents only about 10-15% of our earnings (today). We can afford some pretty hefty price rises before we really start hurting. No, it's not prices we in the West have to worry about - it's the supply itself - real shortages. That's next. You might begin to see supermarkets limit the sales of basic commodities off the shelf like flour and rice. At some point the shelf will see periods of emptiness as shipments can't get through, or goods simply are no longer available from the producers. People will start hoarding. Governments will start limiting exports to protect their own people. People will hoard more.If all that weren't enough, you will begin to see (actually already seeing) oil prices continue to rise. A lot of things will be blamed for that - poor planning, insufficient investment in drilling and exploration, rising demand in the East, rising demand in the oil exporting countries themselves, distribution problems, refining problems, commodity futures speculation. Al those are true. But they are in fact true because the reason for them happening is clearly seen - we can't produce enough oil any more. Saudi Arabia has announced it hopes to increase production over the next five years by something like 5 million barrels per day. But read to the finish please - it will do so after it invests something like £160 billion to produce new wells, increase refinery capacity, etc. What they aren't telling you is that the increase, if it is indeed real, won't even compensate for the continuing decrease in production levels over that period of time and the continuing increases in demand. Oil producers will have to run just to stay in place. And they can't stay in place forever.I wish I could say that all we have to face is an increase in oil prices, but alas, like the food situation, the oil one will prove to be every bit as bad. First the prices, then shortages. It is now predicted that by the end of 2008 oil demand will reach 89 million barrels per day. But we won't be able to meet that as supply will only reach 87 million barrels per day. It's bad enough to arrive at the petrol station and empty your wallet for the attendant - it's even worse to arrive only to find that there isn't any petrol to purchase anyway. But that's not the worst of it either. Think of the further effect this will have upon food production and the distribution system - in the sky, on the land and on the seas. When lorry operators, air transport, and shipping lines have to pay too much or they can't get what they need, they go out of business. When they go out of business we go out of business.This is all happening now folks. This is not a temporary cycle. What you see happening today is permanent. The days of cheap and available food are gone forever. The days of cheap and available energy is gone forever. No time for alternative energy. No time for infrastructure changes to accommodate alternative energy. We should have been planning for this 30 years ago, but we didn't - consciously, we didn't - intentionally we didn't. It would hurt the economy. And politicians, as today, were too gutless to stand up and tell us what we needed to hear and drive us to where we needed to be driven as a society. And so here we are today, starting our slippery slide into hell, and still we as a society, as a civilisation, are not even recognising that it is happening.So what are we going to do about it? Quickly develop new land to grow food? No time. Change global protectionism? No time. Create a world government to solve all of mankind's problems? No time. Place into service thousands of wind turbines, solar power generators, nuclear facilities? No time. Implement new aggressive government initiatives? No time.There is no way out. There is no time left for this civilisation. The best we can hope for is to plan for survival. And even time for that is slipping away. We can just go on, I suppose, and ignore what is happening as we are today, or discuss unceasingly new ideas for holding on to the life we have - possible new ways of farming, new energy sources, new monetary structures, change our light bulbs, reduce our consumption, etc. We can go on believing that the Tesco store will always be there, or the water will always come out of the tap, or the lights will always come on, or the phone will always work, or the Internet will always be there. We can do that. That's easy. Foolish, but easy. Or we can get so frightened that we either panic, or freeze like deer in headlights, no longer able to function rationally. Or we can face reality and begin the very involved process of planning for the limited future we might be able to salvage from all this.No time, folks. We ran out of time years back. We just didn't see it. We refused to see it. Even today we refuse to see it. The free market would save us then, and will save us yet. Technology would save us then and will save us yet. Genetically modified seeds will save us. The government will at last wake up and drive us forward out of this mess. The Greens will win. The Democrats will win. The pendulum will swing. As Bush says - this is simply a slowdown. We'll be back. Not to worry. Maybe...So much better than spam...Just takes a little longer to read. To quote somebody else :The sun is shining, summer's on the way, the roads are full of busy people. These are the good old days.Of course, it couldn't end like that. As contents of mailboxes are being more and more scrutinised, I was kindly suggested to follow a so-called related link. Here follows what I read :Feel the freedom of total wealth.Simply sign up to receive the §§§§§, a free daily e-letter and we’ll immediately e-mail you this latest research report... Absolutely FREEHow to Profit from the Rice Shortage of 2008Most stocks have dealt a bitter return to investors...But ONE MARKET has been bucking the trend in a big way: rice.Today I'd like to show you a simple way to invest in the global rice boom.There's no need to tear up your back yard and plant crops - and no reason to take on risky "futures" or "options" plays.In fact, there's a much easier way to profit from ag-flation - a way that could reward forward-thinking investors with returns of 61% or more.Look - since late December, rice traders have watched the value of this "white gold" commodity rise by 75.8%...But this historic rally has only just begun!The truth is, this powerful commodity is still well below its inflation-adjusted highs.And it's not alone. Other soft commodities, like corn, soy beans and wheat are poised for a break-out year.That's why I'd like to send you a FREE report from our acclaimed Investment Director, Eric §§§. In his latest report, Eric reveals why soft commodities, including rice, are in the early stages of a massive rally - and how you can easily capitalize on this trend.This report has a retail value of $49. It will only be available for a limited time. To receive your copy, simply sign up for our FREE daily e-letter by entering your email address below.We value your privacy.You'll receive The §§§§§ via e-mail. Each day we’ll help you take advantage of the best investment opportunities throughout the world and help you protecting your assets and your privacy.All of this is yours free. Simply fill out you name and email address in the box below. It’s completely FREE and you may unsubscribe at any time. Your free gift is yours to keep.Irony, anyone ?Read more…
Over the course of five years, I must have created about 11 different blogs (okay, well some were various reincarnations of the other). Of those 11, I only keep one active now - but for my own selfish use; it's really nothing, and does not even deal with the news or the music that brings us here today. I remember I was 14 when I started my first blog, it was one of those stupid egocentric blogs (oh yes, the irony) that dealt with me, myself, and the random ramblings of I. When I first found out that one of my friends had discovered it I was almost traumatized. Apparently I hadn't realized that this wasn't your own private piece of space, at least not totally. So. That was something new.I also started my own music blogs, which were pathetic little efforts of taking news from other sources (albeit crediting them), and because I was still new to the world of mp3-dom I only provided links to various sites that streamed those songs. It took a lot of Google-researching and metafilters to find some links, but I wouldn't stop until I found them. Yes, I was partially dedicated to this scavenger hunt, it was pretty rewarding.It's almost hard to think of, but there was a time when there was no YouTube. Do you guys remember this? What a trip. I was functioning in a non-YouTube world back then, and music videos were just spread out onto a bunch of different websites, real expansive like. Not that they still don't have that now, but it's no doubt that YouTube is the largest collection of all of these videos at one source. I gave up on music blogging when they were just about to start up. And they made everything so much easier.Other failed ideas:The Vault - Scannings of old grade school notes that were passed around in class. Involved secrets, and "scandals". I got too lazy to scan them all.iDEABLOG - Numerical posts of different ideas/potential inventions I have. By the time I got around to, I'd forget about the ideas.brighthobo - Based on me and my friends' ideas about how to potentially survive if we ever had to live off the streets. Involved ideas about showering at the local fountain, how to bum off leftover food at restaurants, and makeshift desserts (packets of golden sugar). Totally insensitive, and possibly offensive. Decided to never publish those posts.So, that's it. This'll be the only blog post I'll have on here, on this Radiohead-approved version of social networking sites that we have come to love. I've been griping so much I've made everything seem bitter and sour at the same time, like a dark chocolate lemon. Hopefully you're all not as jaded as me. And then it stops --
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