Collection of things posted elsewhere
LCC
9/11 attacks. He could not do so without money and political backing.
Somebody had to make a profit (return on investment) to motivate them
to back Al Queda on the one hand and the war on terror response to the
attacks on the other. The total investment per year is about 150
billion dollars. The return on investment is about $40 per barrel of
oil increase times 80 million barrels per day, or 1168 billion per
year. So for oil company investors in the opec nations stockholders
can make a profit by donating to OBL while in the western world
stockholders make a profit by donating to politicians who expedite the
war on terror. Both sides are dependent on the perception of oil as a
scarce commodity with limited supply and unlimited demand. In reality
nobody is pumping as much oil as they could profitably market at $25
per barrel. Neither side has any interest in reducing tensions and
ending the violence. If anything we can expect it to escalate until
the price of oil significantly hurts the global economy, with
invasions of Iran and Syria. The cost in human life is mainly suffered
by the terrorists and innocent civilians caught in the crossfire.
Total military casualties from five years of war are less than died
near the beaches of Normandy in WW2. The 9/11 casualties are a drop in
the bucket compared to German and Japanese civilians killed in WW2.
Even Iraq military casualties were less than in the 1992 desert storm
response to the invasion of Kuwait. The big wealthy loser so far was
Saddam Hussein who had lost popularity with his fellow opec nation
comrades, and just looked confused when he was forced to pay with his
life for his crimes.
Follow the money and stop the flow of support to the terrorists and it
will be possible to end the war. Imprison or kill anybody who chooses
the way of violence, or supports those who do. It is worthy of note
that even with a reward of millions of dollars on his head, OBL is
still free to mastermind Al Queda. Money alone or cutting off the flow
of money may not be sufficient to stop the violence. We need to change
the perceptions of the western world held by Islamic nations. Even
more urgently we need to avoid antagonizing them by forcing western
culture and beliefs on them. If their way of life is backward and
stupid (my personal opinion) then they will be unable to compete and
will eventually be forced by their own people to change from within.
Actually their resorting to terrorism is a symptom of their inability
to cope without violence. The western world's response to terrorism
needs to be practical, violent where necessary, but focused more on
the causes of the problem rather than the symptoms. The root cause of
all the conflict is that it is a profitable way to raise the price of
oil.
This post is my honest opinion and based on my viewing of the news,
internet reading, and judgment of human nature and economics. You may
disagree (hopefully not violently) and should feel free to bring up
any objections you may have to my logic in this thread.
Lonnie Courtney Clay
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On Apr 18, 9:45 am, "Mich" <c...@videotron.com> wrote:
> I keep kill-filling you idiots and you still manage to show up by changing
> your id's ...
http://www.thedebate.org/
DID OIL OR MONEY INFLUENCE AMERICA'S PLANS FOR WAR WITH IRAQ AND
AFGHANISTAN?
18 Apr 2007
So it is not just my crackpot personal theory.
Lonnie Courtney Clay
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On Apr 18, 7:06 pm, "pullo" <pullo...@yahoo.com> wrote:
- Hide quoted text -
- Show quoted text -
> Leave aside the potential bars to _getting_ there. Assume humans have made
> the journey to other star systems.
> How probable or not does it seem that we would find any planets even as
> remotely habitable as the one we evolved on for millions of years? Yes there
> are a mucking huge number of star systems and probably and equally similar
> number of planets and even 'terrestrial' planets so as to make even a tiny
> proportion not so unlikely.
> [Terrestrial is defined here as of the solid core Mercury/Venus/Earth/Mars
> type rather than gas giant or ice ball]
> But even given that; [1] they are likely to be spread far and wide and thus
> not locally available except by a massive case of happenstance. And [2] Even
> given finding the 'terrestrial' planets it still seems unlikely [m]any will
> be suitable for colonization as is. 'Suitable' here defined as being
> marginally able to support what we recognize as 'life' and supply the
> materials/food life requires.
> Ergo, what we have to develop is the ability to massively terraform -
> possibly almost to the point of planet _building_ - any potentially
> colonisable 'terrestrial' planet.
> Granted by the time that leap to other stars is made the technology to
> construct self-contained habitats so that colonizing another star system
> would be more akin to colonizing our own asteroid belt, frex.
> But that still leaves the question: Wither the colonization of _planets_?
> How much terraforming will be required?
> Alternatively might we instead adapt our own selves to suit the vastly
> different planetary environments?
So glad you asked. For a view of our universe from 12ly zooming out to
14 billion light years, see
http://www.anzwers.org/free/universe/12lys.html
For a glimpse of what we do not yet know about physics see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burkhard_Heim
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_unification_theory
If Heim is right, our universe is just a small part of a much more
complex multidimensional continuum, possibly only one of an infinite
number of universes.
There are two inverse square distance fields known to physics, charge
and mass.
We have made good progress in utilizing the property of "charge" in
the past 50 years, going from vacuum tubes to 600 GHz transistors and
280 teraflop computers, see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_charge
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7253
http://www.livescience.com/technology/ap_051114_fastest_computer.html
Our utilization of "mass" is contemptible, stuck at Isaac Newton's
apple falling from the sky due to gravity and his law of motion for
inertia, plus a little bit of 20th century progress see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass
Once again if Heim is right then there may exist a method using charge
to control the effects of mass, giving gravity control and freedom to
move easily about the solar system. As our knowledge of physics
improves we may discover "warp drive" a la star trek. For longer
distances we would need transport such as star gates a la Stargate
SG1.
For this we would need energy in wholesale lots, in the near term from
fusion see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fusion_power
Later on we might use manipulation of Heim's higher dimensions to
extract zero point energy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero-point_energy
We have a 40-50 year supply of oil left, see
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0872964.html
In that time we must discover fusion power or better and deal with
global warming
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_warming
If we piss away the time fighting instead of studying, then
civilization will collapse, later generations will curse us for fools,
and we may go extinct from asteroid/comet collisions a la Lucifer's
Hammer.
http://www.pibburns.com/catastro/impacts.htm
What is needed is Heinlein's Long Range Foundation or government
funded prizes (like $100 billion) to get research going into high
gear. The story of Heim is one of pain, poverty, neglect, and
indifference by his worldwide peers and is more typical than the story
of Einstein, who was idolized.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein
With the future of earth and mankind at stake, the advancement of
physics and technology should be our number one priority, well worth
5% of gross world product $65 trillion which would be $3.25 trillion
per year. The actual total is $680 billion for all types of research
combined. see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_economy
http://www.ppionline.org/ppi_ci.cfm?knlgAreaID=108&subsecID=900003&co...
As to your teraforming question, later generations should find it no
problem compared to just getting off earth. See L. Neil Smith's -The
Venus Belt- and Vernor Vinge's -Marooned in Real Time-.
Modifying our own biology to adapt is like creating a new alien
species. As we explore the universe it seems likely to me that we will
encounter some alien species see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermi_paradox
Why not share territories with them and everybody colonize worlds to
which they are suited ?
Maybe we will have no choice, see
http://astronomy.com/asy/default.aspx?c=a&id=5372
Well that was a mouthful ! Have fun exploring the links.....
Lonnie Courtney Clay
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On Apr 19, 3:19 am, Sound of Trumpet <sound_of_trum...@warpmail.net>
wrote:
> It hasn't turned out that way, of course. First, the modern obsession
> with conquering human suffering has made Western man pathologically
> soft and sensitive, discombobulated by daily irritants our
> grandfathers would have simply ignored. Second -- confirming the
> Christian hypothesis of original sin -- the expansion of man's power
> over nature has meant (as others observed) the expansion of some men's
> power over other men. Given today's malignant public administration,
> economic interdependency and mass media, almost no one now pretends to
> be the master of his own house.
master of his own house. ? see
http://www.lneilsmith.org/
http://www.mazepath.com/uncleal/
Genius is not knowing everything. Genius is knowing where to find it.
- Uncle Al.
At this point in time and to the extent that my income is limited to a
VA disability pension, I am master of this computer keyboard and a
bedroom in my brother's house. Is that good enough ?
On the other hand you have a point, baby boomers are less masters of
our own houses than our parents, and trends suggest that generations
after ours may be even less masters under the burden of oppressive
government. See
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G.I._Generation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_Jones
The population of older people will steadily increase as a percentage
of the total (barring catastrophe).
http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/ageing/agewpop1.htm
> the expansion of man's power
> over nature has meant (as others observed) the expansion of some men's
> power over other men.
The rich are getting richer, the poor are increasing as a percentage
of population, and big government has grown huge see :
http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2008/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distribution_of_wealth
http://www.lcurve.org/
http://www.cooperativeindividualism.org/wealth_distribution1999.html
http://www.urban.org/economy/income.cfm
http://sociology.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/wealth.html
My thoughts in 1997 on what to do about it, see
http://groups.google.com/group/misc.invest.marketplace/browse_thread/...
That is playing with fire!
Lonnie Courtney Clay
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On Apr 19, 11:47 pm, infop...@tigerden.com (Dave Farrance) wrote:
> Archive-name: furry/novels
> Posting-Frequency: Posted on the 3rd and 20th of each month.
> Please-Note: Comments on the contents should go to <infopage>.
> Comments on the header should go to <infop...@furry.fan.org>,
> which provides automatic posting services for the maintainer.
> URL:http://www.anvil.demon.co.uk/furry-novels.txt
> *************************************************************
> * * FURRY NOVEL LIST - Version 2.0 - 20-Jun-2001 * *
This guy posts twice a month and receives no criticism. Yet when I
post my lists, I get criticized. Why ? See
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.sf.written/browse_thread/thre...
and
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.sf.written/browse_thread/thre...
Lonnie Courtney Clay
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On Apr 18, 6:38 pm, Nospam <nos...@example.com> wrote:
- Hide quoted text -
- Show quoted text -
> Harry Dope wrote:
> > Never been better folks................
> The same they been said in 1928 too.
> -------------------
> What does it mean all this? From the economic output a larger share went to
> rich capital owners and a smaller share to labor.
> The rich guys already are able to afford to consume whatever they need so
> the increase into their share is unlikely to substantially increase the
> demand for goods but they got more money to bet on stock market. An
> increase of demand onto the stock market drive prices up.
> In the same time, the poor spend most of their income on goods get a smaller
> share. For now, the poor kept using home equity and card debt to compensate
> for smaller income but this is not going to last forever, if you take from
> a bag more than you put in, it will eventually become empty.
> However, the investors that put money into the stock eventually will expect
> a return of investment. However, once the credit bag reach the bottom, the
> demand for the goods will drop. As of that moment the investors will be
> disappointed and the market is going to crash.
> Bottom line: The growth we see right now it is just a new stock bubble in
> the making. A bubble that will pop due to a lack of consumer disposable
> income, may trigger a depression not only a recession.
> Brace up for the unavoidable disaster generated as result of the idiotic
> "supply side" aka "RIP & RUN" economics.
Not necessarily. If people sell bonds and use the proceeds to buy
stocks the stock markets may rise substantially. On the other hand if
the federal government, bankers, and their tools panic the public,
there may be a repeat of the 2000 crashes. Put it all together using
links below.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stock_market_index
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dow_Jones_Industrial_Average
Budget of the United States Government, FY 2008
http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2008/
http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/h15/data/Monthly/H15_FF_O.txt
TYX Stock Quote - CBOE 30-Year Treasury Yield Index Stock Quote - TYX
Quote - TYX Stock Price
http://www.marketwatch.com/quotes/?sid=11421
Prime Rate - Rate, Definition & Historical Graph
http://www.moneycafe.com/library/prime.htm
http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/
WorldNetDaily: True deficit: $3.5 <i>trillion</i>
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=53366
On Oct 28 1997 I was upset by the stock market DJIA crash of 1997
http://members.aol.com/Mallard/crashes.html
that I posted a protesting note on the internet giving what I
suspected was the cause :
http://groups.google.com/group/misc.invest.marketplace/browse_thread/...
Oct 31 I followed up with suggestions for a solution :
http://groups.google.com/group/misc.invest.marketplace/browse_thread/...
Nov 1 Followed up on that with a discussion of the global financial
market crises and bankers :
http://groups.google.com/group/misc.invest.marketplace/browse_thread/...
About this time I started suffering from sleep deprivation psychosis
and later trollish posts can be found by doing a search in
misc.invest.marketplace on tc5...@aol.com
I already posted some comments regarding the situation on another
newsgroup :
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.sf.written/browse_thread/thre...
>From rec.arts.sf.written I repost it here, having already struck a
match, I maybe light a fire!
On Apr 19, 3:19 am, Sound of Trumpet <sound_of_trum...@warpmail.net>
wrote:
> It hasn't turned out that way, of course. First, the modern obsession
> with conquering human suffering has made Western man pathologically
> soft and sensitive, discombobulated by daily irritants our
> grandfathers would have simply ignored. Second -- confirming the
> Christian hypothesis of original sin -- the expansion of man's power
> over nature has meant (as others observed) the expansion of some men's
> power over other men. Given today's malignant public administration,
> economic interdependency and mass media, almost no one now pretends to
> be the master of his own house.
master of his own house. ? see
http://www.lneilsmith.org/
http://www.mazepath.com/uncleal/
Genius is not knowing everything. Genius is knowing where to find it.
- Uncle Al.
At this point in time and to the extent that my income is limited to a
VA disability pension, I am master of this computer keyboard and a
bedroom in my brother's house. Is that good enough ?
On the other hand you have a point, baby boomers are less masters of
our own houses than our parents, and trends suggest that generations
after ours may be even less masters under the burden of oppressive
government. See
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G.I._Generation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_Jones
The population of older people will steadily increase as a percentage
of the total (barring catastrophe).
http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/ageing/agewpop1.htm
> the expansion of man's power
> over nature has meant (as others observed) the expansion of some men's
> power over other men.
The rich are getting richer, the poor are increasing as a percentage
of population, and big government has grown huge see :
http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2008/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distribution_of_wealth
http://www.lcurve.org/
http://www.cooperativeindividualism.org/wealth_distribution1999.html
http://www.urban.org/economy/income.cfm
http://sociology.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/wealth.html
My thoughts in 1997 on what to do about it, see
http://groups.google.com/group/misc.invest.marketplace/browse_thread/...
That is playing with fire!
Lonnie Courtney Clay
P.S.
I just got up from 12 hours sleep, so I do not have the excuse of SDP
for my conspiracy theory. I think it is economics in action, a symptom
of the insatiable appetite of the US federal government for money. As
I said in 1997, the federal government faces bankruptcy and will have
no choice but to monetize or repudiate the federal debt once people
realize that bonds are not a good investment.
Lonnie Courtney Clay
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Also see a thread I started.
Lonnie Courtney Clay