Thread: Interesting video

Originally Posted by Scrum

Contrary to popular belief - The futures are what is driving the oil prices up so much during this time. With so many people unsure about the economy and what to invest in they are pulling money away from other investments to bet on the price of oil.

I said F.U.D. was suprised no one asked what that meant, then I assumed that current thread notwithstanding, that we really do have a bunch of brainiacs around here that already knew that acronym.

nope, wasn't a shot at all wasn't meant to be at least

No headphones here at work, if I'm still interested in this thread when I get home tonight, I'll listen to it then.

Originally Posted by CanadianPersian

uninformed? all i do is follow politics. just because i don't have the same fucking opinion as everyone else doesn't mean i don't know what i'm talking about. i didn't throw insults around like the majority of you did, which was childish so say the least. you demand proof of my accusations?

http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/iraqwar.html - Illegal War

Hmmm... show me a website that isn't dripping with bias and actually tries to check it's facts.

You know like CNN, AP, the BBC or even the CBC...

Ok, now that I told that Canadian Persian (by the way, SCREW YOU) what I thought of him, I can now move on to the discussion.

Solution to fuel independence, without starving or sucking the balls of your neighbors
Step 1: Fuck the hippies and begin drilling in and around the US. Estimates show that we may have as much oil as Saudi Arabia squirrelled away underneath South Dakota and the surrounding states. We also know that we have oil underneath the Anwar Wildlife Refuge that can be tapped without too much ecological damage (honestly, with every agency and private organization looking over their backs, do you think that the oil companies would screw that up?). There is also oil off the coast of California and off the coast of Florida. Hippies, I am sorry, but screw you, I'm going to the oil. The Cubans and Chinese are already drilling off the coast of Florida, so why not let American oil companies (which by the way, run the cleanest oil operations in the world) drill and bring oil back to the US? Do you honestly think that all those people in Florida and California haven't already polluted the water? Drilling for oil locally (meaning around the US) would increase the supply of oil, while the demand would remain constant. According to the Law of Supply and Demand, the price must come down.

Step 2: Ban the export of oil drilled within the United States, allow the construction of new refineries, and do not pass any laws that increase the tax rate on oil companies. By banning the export of domestic oil, it would increase the supply available inside the US and reduce the prices. Constructing new refineries simply increases the supply of gasoline available. Refusing to increase the tax rate on oil companies is just a matter of history: In the early 1980s, the tax rate on oil companies was increased. This resulted in an approximately 3-5% decrease in domestic oil production and an increase in our intake of foreign oil by more than 10%. Taxing the oil companies was one of the things that got us into this mess of relying on foreign oil. On top of this, the oil industry already pays $2 in taxes for every $1 that it takes as profit, so it's not like they aren't helping to pay for our massively bloated government.

Step 3: The above two steps are mainly to alleviate the current problems, this step, and those following, deal with the future. The US should immediately begin a massive construction initiative to build new nuclear reactors. Although the word "nuclear" immediately sends hippies running to get their protest posters and picket-buddies, lets try and look towards the actual reality of nuclear power today. Most of the reactors in the US are old, outdated pieces of shit. We need to build new reactors that are technologically superior and inherently safer. Modern reactors have been engineered to be "melt-down proof." First, they are engineered with new cooling systems (generally using helium) that will not break down like the old water cooling systems (cough, Three Mile Island). Second, they are made to be reaction controlled- meaning that the operator can walk away from the controls (or hell, everyone can even drop dead) and the reactor will keep on running by itself without any risk of melting down. How is this possible? New fuel rods (usually in the shape of small pebbles) expand when heated. This spreads out the atoms when the temperature increases (around 1600 degrees Celsius) and slows down the reaction, causing the temperature to fall. With modern technology, we can make nuclear power safe.

Step 4: Allow the construction of nuclear waste recycling reactors. Once again, modern technology comes to the rescue. It is possible (and has been possible for 30 years) to recycle nuclear waste into a form that can once again be used in nuclear reactors. And it produces waste that is much less toxic and harmful. With all this technology, why aren't we using it? Because President Carter was a pussy and wanted to stop the spread of nuclear weapons (he thought that everything that was recycled was going to be thrown into a nuclear bomb, not a reactor). So lets move away from the hippie, and move into the future with lots and lots of safe nuclear power plants.

Step 5: Upgrade current power infrastructure. Our current power grid is based off of technology that was around at the beginning of last century. We need to upgrade the entire system nation wide in order to promote efficiency and make the dream of common electric cars a reality. Currently, that would be impossible because the grid is not designed (or able) to handle 300 million cars being plugged into it. However, with modern technology, that dream could become reality (Although we would really like to avoid nationwide California blackouts).

Step 6: Begin to invest heavily in new solar technology and hydrogen technology. Everyone knows that oil isn't going to last forever. So we need to invest in something that will. Solar technology is advancing at a very rapid pace. There are even "solar paints" that could be painted onto houses, cars, or the road and absorb the sun's energy. Even cloudy places with shitty weather like Germany are beginning to obtain a growing portion of their power from the sun. By placing solar pannels on places such as the roof of Wal-Mart or the Seven-Eleven, we can reduce our power consumption. And as the price on installing solar powered technology decreases and efficiency increases, it is becoming an ever more attractive option. Next, we should invest heavily in hydrogen technology. Although it isn't a big factor for me, hippies care about pollution and there is none with hydrogen power. All you have to do is hook up a nuclear power plant to produce the hydrogen and there you go: An unlimited supply of clean fuel. This could help to supplement power in electric cars, which are unable to go for long distances due to battery life.

Step 7: Fuck any form of power derived from corn, rice, wheat, or any other edible substance. Hippies and liberals are always shitting themselves over those "starving people in China" or those "deprived people in Africa," yet they continue to literally put food in the tank of their gas tank and burn it up. This is followed by complaints about increasing food costs. Simply put, using food for fuel is not a viable option. It still produces pollution (Oh my God, can't have that, can we), costs a nutload, and raises the price of my damn rice. It would literally take every square inch of cultivatable land in this country being planted with corn to provied enough corn for fuel and food. And even then we would in all likelihood be starving to death.

By implementing all of the above steps, we can 1) reduce our current dependence on foreign oil, 2) temporarily reduce oil-based fuel costs, 3) provide a future, sustainable source of power, and 4) not starve to death or pay $50 dollars for a bowl of rice at the City Wok.

Originally Posted by CanadianPersian

uninformed? all i do is follow politics. just because i don't have the same fucking opinion as everyone else doesn't mean i don't know what i'm talking about.

Actually, i don't care that you have a different opinion. I care more that (at least from the 1st post) it isn't grounded in anything remotely like reality. The world isn't a utopian place. Sucks, but, it just ain't.

In this day and age that the Internet (and every other form of electronic communication) it would be impossible to keep a conspiracy that large a secret. How many times have you read 'unnamed sources' or 'people speaking on the condition of anonymity since they were not authorized to speak' or other vague references. All it would take is for something as simple as a secretary being denied a raise and the story is out. A conspiracy that large would be impossible to keep secret. Heck, how often does your own family gossip about other family members about things that should have been left unsaid. Extrapolate that up to a national level.

Canada, Venezuela and Mexico are much closer to us than the Middle East, shipping costs are kind of exorbitant to be bringing product over here for processing into other forms. Running a supertanker is an expensive undertaking on a DAILY basis. High seas piracy is still a reality, going around Africa is still dangerous, going through the middle east is still dicey and you STILL have an ocean and a half to cross just to get the oil here. Bringing stuff up through SE Asia has even more pirates and coming across the Pacific is even a bigger ocean. All that is money.

If we are "stealing" oil and shit...

WHY IN THE FUCK AM I PAYING $4/GALLON!

Where is this so called, "stolen oil"... cause I want some of that shit.

BTW, The U.S. only gets 3% of its oil from the Middle East. The rest comes from South America, Canada, The Gulf, Offshore of Alaska, and other places. If you want to argue about that, bring it girly-man.. My dad is a Geophysicist and the Head of all the offshore drilling for his company. Schlumberger - Western Geco... Look 'em up.