Recent Entries
Oil Tops $123/bbl
I know this is being covered better and more succinctly on major news sites but this is getting ridiculous. From what I can gather, it sounds like the high prices are stemming from slumping value of the US dollar and speculators buying oil as a hedge.
The lowered value of the dollar seems to be attributable to interest rates being cut by the Federal Reserve bank. I understand that they are trying to prevent major financial firms from going out of business, but honestly, I feel like they deserve to go out of business. They handed money out to people to buy overvalued homes with little or no check on their financial stability. Interest only payments? No down payment? adjustable rates? You have to be kidding me. As a consumer I wouldn't want to take on a loan like that, and if I were a lender, I wouldn't lend money out to someone with no proof they could repay the debt. So what we have now is an inflationary economy, even more expensive fuel, and a recession. So instead of just the financial sector paying for their poor decision making, we all get to pay for it.
Oil speculators are also appear to be making things worse. Oil has been on a steady increase for the last 5 years. Them buying it up at increased prices drives up the price for everyone else. Now we have weak currency and high fuel prices. We have to take our lumps on this too because our civilization won't work without oil. It does everything from power our cars, providing the molecules for advanced plastics, fertilizers, pesticides, and pharmaceuticals. Even if we don't use all of these items directly, they end up being used as inputs for the products we buy.
I think what sickens me the most is how much oil we just throw away. Most of the merchandise you buy is wrapped in plastic and foam that serves no other purpose than to get it from point A to point B and then be discarded. Pallets of paper towels are wrapped in plastic shrink wrap which is tossed in the trash. Disposable cleaning wipes come in cardboard trays that are wrapped in plastic that is discarded as soon as it gets to the store. Picture frames are wrapped in bubble wrap then put into a sandwich with styrofoam bread. This is the packaging you almost never see and it is pretty much all thrown away.
Then there is the packaging you do see. Think about how ludicrously most electronics are packaged. They come in plastic blister packs that are impossible to open without scissors. The packaging can't be reused to store your gadget either. Think about everything else that comes packaged in disposable plastic. Drinks, detergent, hand soap, candy, lotions, paper goods, and even shopping bags. It all gets thrown out. My mind boggles at how many barrels worth of oil are simply thrown out every year. There was a time when oil was so plentiful and cheap that people looking for excuses to use the stuff. Now its such a crucial part of our life, we can't continue to live our lifestyle without it. Whats more valuable to you? Plastic that is used to make your eyeglasses, or the plastic used to keep your Hot Pocket sealed until you microwave it?
I think in the long term we need to ween ourselves off of oil. There are simple things you can do to reduce your oil consumption. You may not be able to buy a bag of candy without having plastic packaging, but if thats all you are buying you can tell the cashier you don't need a shopping bag for it. Instead of driving 10 MPH over the speed limit, try driving a few miles under. Walk to the corner drug store instead of driving. Instead of buying a new bottle of fabric softener every time you need it, try buying a refill carton and refilling your old bottle. These all seem like minor changes but if millions of people take similar actions, oil consumption can be reduced. If working for a large retailer has taught me anything its that small things done by a large enough group of people can turn into big things.
May 8, 2008 at 02:31 PM
Ubuntu 8.04
I just downloaded and installed the latest Ubuntu release and I am very pleased with it so far. I was a little dissapointed with a couple of things in the last distribution, but this one has corrected them. My login screen no longer goes blank at random like the previous version did. When you resume the computer from suspend, the network monitor applet still works, and the overall feel is much more polished. Compiz Fusion looks much nicer than what was offered in gutsy gibbon. Fonts also seem to render much better. My eyes would go crazy looking at the fonts used in the last release. This release is much easier to view.
Installation seemed to go much faster also. I can't believe how quickly you can go from a blank hard drive to a fully installed system. Windows takes forever to install and the process is pretty archaic. Ubuntu's live CD installer is like using one for Mac OS X. Its amazing that this can be had for free and you have to pay 150 bucks for Microsoft's dithering C- OS.
April 25, 2008 at 01:50 AM
Bowling Frustration
I went bowling with my wife and buddy last week and bowled uncharacteristically bad. I'm not an outstanding bowler, but I can usually break 150 without too much effort. My approach and release were all out of wack. I bowled 2 games under 100 and only had a couple of strikes.
I felt compelled to redeem myself by going back to the bowling center later in the day and bowling for an hour. I did much better and was able to work on cleaning up my approach and release. Unfortunately, I tore up my thumb while doing this and probably won't be able to bowl again for a couple of more days. It was just a blister, but it opened up and I got blood in my thumb hole. I think I bowled about 9 games that day. I think that was about 4 too many.