Inside Portland City Limits

It's a bit chilly in Portland today (hence the title), This is odd because a couple of days ago I received a text telling me of impending "bad weather doom" which, as normal, I ignored because the folks here in stumptown tend to lose their shit anytime anything other than rain occurs (an truthfully, the don't do all that well in rain either).

This comes down to the following. The boys crying wolf have taken over "news" at all levels and it seems that the only way they can establish their "market share" is to make everything frantic.

But I have become an aficionado of crisis reporting. I do pay attention to the warnings as they come in, I just don't listen to the shrieking and pearl-clutching and try to dig up the data and make my own evaluations. Bad weather happens. I remember back in 2010 when the winds coming out of the gorge were over 90MPH. I remember the Columbia well above flood stage, I remember the earth moving under my feet in Vancouver when the Seattle earthquake went off. I can see Mount Saint Helens with it's blown off lid on clear days.

The weather is never the same regardless of timescale. The weather is changing in a big way but in a time frame where folks won't see the end of it. All we can do as individuals and species is deal with it and adapt. Do you really think that you (we) are exempt for the ideas outlined in "On the origin of Species".

Current Music: Nos Qui Christi Iugum (Antiphona)

Living in The City

The gyre is widening. Most folks that I know are working quite hard to either (a) ignore that fact, or (b) trying to assign the issue to a convenient scapegoat. It is kinda sad.

Look, it ain't the end of the world. The world has every intention of continuing, but the set of rules that got us to this cul-de-sac are dissipating (I think folks should read the full text of Premier Carney's speech at Davos). The rules were always a mirage. But here in the land o' the free, we will start looking at a reversion to mean in living standards and the measures of comfort and convenience.

Now, you can get pissy all you want, but when the world changes, it really doesn't give a damn about your butthurt. Your opinion about how the world does or doesn't work means precisely zero to the world.

Current Music: Chain Potol: If I were a Rich Man

A Good Macro Lens is a Wonderful Thing

_______

I am just taking time this morning just looking at the physical characteristics of Greenland. This is not am attaboy or a condemnation, But just what is it about the place that folks have such a hard on currently.

Spend some time reading history. Granted, a lot of it is rubbish that is more akin to propaganda that a description of events, but it it better than nothing. Denmark claims that it is part of the "Kingdom" of Denmark, which makes me immediately suspicious. I have no use for Kingships. The claims go back to the viking times, and when you peel back all the romance, vikings were never anything but slavers. So that blows a lot of the authority out of the water. Then Denmark got handed the keys as part of a treaty that calved off Sweden and Norway. To me it looks like they got it because the others didn't want it.

Folk here and abroad are getting hinkey about a rock in the far North Atlantic. The total population is about the same as Pocatello, Idaho. It is about the same size as it's relatively balmy cousin Alaska. 80% of the land is covered by an ice cap which yields an ice-free coastline approximately the same size as New Mexico.

The ice cap is around 0,85 miles thick on the average. Best estimates are that even should global warming ramp up to max, the ice cap is going to be there for another thousand years (historical fact, 1,000 years ago Europe was still getting prepped for William the Bastard's conquest of England and were just starting to think about the first crusade).

Nope, The actual place isn't the story here. This is political theater.

The Railroad Trestle by my Apartment

So I have been working on important things the past little while like how to eat well using as little money and energy as possible. Like it or not, in order to do this I have had to ditch a lot of the traditions of middle America and adopt traditions that came across the ocean.

I suppose that this is easier for me than a lot of other "white boys". Growing up in a poor Italian heritage family, I learned early that polenta and pasta and garden veggies were how you are and that meat was more of a condiment than a separate course. I suppose that my latest foray into frugal living can be traced to that early training. Getting a large hunk of meat on the plate was a "first of the month" event for my family seeing as that is when the paychecks came in. The middle of the month was heavily weighted toward casseroles using lots of potatoes and pasta and the last week before payday was polenta and pasta and what we call "torte" but was actually panbread.

So today I am putting up a recipe for hummus. I think that the influx of middle eastern origin folks has done us huge favors, I can't remember seeing garbanzo's as an option before the 1990's and even then they were considered odd. Now I have become a fan. I cannot for the life of me decide which I like best, refried Mexican beans or hummus. Both cultures would probably be offended by the comparison, but both are super tasty bean sludge. I use my hummus as an ingredient in "Syrian Tacos" with corn tortillas layered with hummus, cheap meat sauted with spices, and topped with an amalgam of pickled veggies. If I am feeling especially ambitious, I will use homemade naan instead of the corn tortillas.

_______

1 cup dried garbazos cooked for 55 minutes with natural release in the magic instant pot (drained: reserve bean juice)
1 heaping teaspoon salt
1/4 cup bean juice
1/4 cup lemon juice (don't be stupid, buy the stuff in bottles)
3 teaspoons chopped garlic (again, the stuff in bottles is just dandy, thank you
1/4 cup tahini (you can use peanut putter in a pinch, it ain't bad)
1/4 cup oil (preferably olive oil, but really, it doesn't taste that different with peanut or corn oil)
1 teaspoon cayenne
1 teaspoon sumac

Now, I am not suggesting in any way that you go out and purchase something, but my experience using a wand blender to grind everything up works fine. I bought mine at Goodwill for $3.99 over ten years ago and it is still going strong (Krups makes good equipment).

Current Music: Calexico: Para

Blast from the past 2018

________

Truth be told, I am not certain whether the title of this piece is irony or a call for thinking. As I age (some folks refer to it as entering senescence) I have developed what is increasingly appearing to be a pretty out of control skepticism.

This started with the transformation of the evening news a long time ago. I had the good fortune to live in the time of Murrow and Cronkite, who paid more than lip service to accuracy. Trust began to decay with the advent of cable television and the absorption of the media by the entertainment arms of large corporations. But truthfully, I didn't really think of it at the time, absorbed as I was in the day to day vagaries of food on the table and rent payments.

Then I started to notice the death of the old magazine "Scientific American". Now dumbed down beyond all belief, but at one time, a pretty serious magazine explaining science to the upper fifty percent of the "man on the street". Then I watch the amazing proliferation of scientific journals and the corresponding drop off in their content. Just so that you guys are aware, there is a big disconnect between what is published in this plethora of venues and the actual ability to reproduce the results in other labs.

When I spent a couple of years working for various government levels and discovered there how much spin is used every day at nearly every level and just how few "civil servants" don't consider themselves "civil masters".

In a way, being old enough to be able to see/remember these trends also gives me the mental flexibility to realize that it just isn't my problem anymore. I just have to live with the consequences. I am not at all certain what these will be, but it appears that things won't be better for the "common man", because what I have come to know is that the good of common man is not the goal of the politicians. But then, even the plebs know that.

AIN'T WE GOT FUN
Music by RICHARD A. WHITING
Lyrics by GUS KAHN & RAYMOND B. EGAN
Published 1921 by Jerome H. Remick & Co., New York and Detroit

[Verse 1.]
Bill collectors gather 'Round
and rather Haunt the cottage next door.
Men the grocer and butcher sent,
Men who call for the rent

But within a happy chappy
and his bride of only a year,
Seem to be so cheerful,
Here's an earful Of the chatter you hear.

[Chorus]
Ev'ry morning, ev'ry evening,
Ain't we got fun.
Not much money Oh but honey
Ain't we got fun.

The rent's unpaid dear,
We havn't a bus,
But smiles were made dear,
For people like us.

In the winter, in the summer,
Don't we have fun.
Times are bum and getting bummer,
Still we have fun.

There's nothing surer,
The rich get rich and the poor get children,
In the meantime, In between time,
Ain't we got fun.

[Verse 2.]
Just to make their trouble Nearly double
Something happen'd last night.
To the chimney a gray bird came,
Mister Stork was his name

And I'll bet two pins,
A pair of twins
Just happen'd in with the bird.
Still they're very gay and merry,
Just at dawning I heard;

[Chorus 2]
Ev'ry morning,Ev'ry evening,
Don't we have fun.
Twins and cares dear,Come in pairs dear,
Don't we have fun.

We've only started,
As mommer and pop,
Are we downhearted,
I'll say that we're not.

Landlords mad and getting madder,
Ain't we got fun.
Times are bad and getting badder,
Still we have fun.

There's nothing surer,
The rich get rich and the poor get laid off,
In the meantime, In between time,
Ain't we got fun.

Current Music: Wayne Shorter: Black Nile

I know, I've posted this before
__________

For some reason, I have been unnecessarily fretting about who has the ability to peek in at the goings on that happen on my electronics. It isn't that I am trying to cover something up or keep the law away from my nefarious activities, but it grows from a more primal, poorly thought out old man "get off my lawn" attitude.

Most of the pictures that I take happen because I pull out my phone and take a shot. I have years and years of pictures up there and I can cut and paste easily into these rambles. Seemed like a good deal at the time. But, and again using the phrase "upon mature reflection" I am drifting away from this convenience and wondering if it is a good idea after all.

Lately I have been spending time getting arms length from the corporate playground that is the internet. I am not going to pull down my old writings, that would be silly, but I think that I am going back 20 years and revert to using a non-phone camera and keep my pictures on hardware I control.

I can't say that it make sense, especially the way the world seems to be heading, but I will see what I can do to get more distance between myself and the electronic overlords.

Current Music: George Brassens: Je m' suis fait tout petit

Sunset

Its been quite nice here lately. After I finish here, I will go out for a quick walk and then plop my ass down in my beloved Cabela's lawnchair that I use for a reading/watching seat and rot my brain watching the NFL playoff's. Life is pretty damn good. I have a couple of Ranier's in the fridge and after 13:00, I will consume them and around 16:00 I will pimp out a frozen pizza with extra topping and cheese and consume the same.

I spent this morning shamelessly playing some World of Warcraft (Classic of course) and rotting my brain while consuming coffee. I do this instead of reading the deliberately misleading lines of text that are offered to me via the news "aggregators" that I follow.

Look, this kind of thing is all that most people care about. I am at one with "most people". I have every intention of ignoring calls for justice. I have no intention to pursue any kind of activity that others have designated "meaningful". I am going to alternate between a beautiful blue sky day and watching the choreographed violence that was a part of my life for 8+ years and eat unhealthy food and drink some cheap American lager.

Fuck you if you don't like it.

Current Music: Dave Alvin: Silverlake

Just a heads up.

I don't have a clue one whether or not what is going on is a good idea or not. I am working it out. For those of you out there who feel that you have a handle on what is happening, good on you. But I have a sneaking hunch that you are going to be as surprised and confused as I will be when things start to play out.

I do strongly recommend you take the time to read this. He isn't a prophet or clairvoyant, but he has thought things out and presents a mental model that needs to be integrated into the overall picture in your brain.

The Beer I should drink

____________________

I am trying really hard not to go into TEOTWAWKI mindset. It really isn't working all that well, but I will continue the effort. I will need to work on this pretty hard, because what is happening is a pretty major change to the patterns and power centers that I swam in for the last 25-30 years.

Change is happening quickly right now. I have a sneaking hunch that this is going to accelerate. Even worse, I am not at all certain that the change will be for the "best". But I am trying to sort out how I will be effected by the changes coming to a system which I had no say whatsoever in creating. I am trying to analyze my actual ecological niche within the societal system that I inhabit and work on strengthening that niche's resources. Right now, I think that I will try and emulate those hardy desert plants that folks sneer at. They live on miniscule resources, they aren't really attractive as a food source, and they shut down to a great extent during droughts.

Looking Down

Yesterday was a pretty nice day here in riotville. I have been staying out of the city, out here in the safe and complacent suburbs where much hand wringing and pearl-clutching is in evidence, but nothing is ever done because the pursuit of the material takes precedence over the half-thought-out compromises necessary to maintain lifestyle and status.

Now, you might think that I am sneering at the sub-population that this describes, truth is, there might be something to that, but it is at best a half-hearted kind of condescension. I spent to long in that world to make any such judgement and my current attitude is that of relief that I need nothing downtown anymore. That thoughtless bourgeois attitude is a simple place to live on the edges.

The US West Coast is a strange kind of place. I ran here to get out of Utah, which is an ever stranger kind of place. West Coast is a thoroughly "blue" area and the blue is necessarily turning purple over time. The tinge is light right now, but as things get increasingly hinkey, I am noticing a drop off of the high dudgeon that usually accompanies Donnie's antics.

When I talk with my blue buddies, I am noticing a lack of heat when they talk about current events. The media still come here to document/celebrate the injustices, but the messiness is more contained and understated with the press's enthusiasm seeming pro forma. I am wondering what it is that has done this?

You might think that this is a "call to action", but nothing could possibly be further from the truth. I am thinking that maybe, just maybe, people are beginning to think about how to come to a compromise and what is actually important. I certainly hope so, because the conflict that has earmarked the last five-ten years hasn't done us a lick of good.

Current Music: Courtney Marie Andrews: May your Kindness Remain

Thistle and Bug

_________________________

In a long ago time, I was a participant in three (3) bar fights. The relationships between the Army and the Marines have always been tense when you are dealing with the testosterone driven lower ranks and this is usually played out in arenas where alcohol is served and two of the fights were in such an arena. The third was in a biker bar in Houston. The third was much more serious and cost me one of my bicuspids.

But my memory of such things is that they were desultory affairs and quite brief especially in the case of the intra-service fights, those were almost pro forma and finished quickly with participant distanced from each other and the bystanders acting as peacekeepers. The biker bar was a different story completely. My going into that bar was a serious mistake and I was quite lucky to get out of the bar with as little damage as I did.

Obviously, out buddy Donnie has never been in a bar fight, so I am watching to see the outcome. I have a feeling that he thinks the way that I thought when I was LARPing (I really like that meme) with Marines in Virginia long ago. When you fought there, you were almost certain that the contest would be over quickly and certain rules would be observed. Again the biker bar was a different story.

So which fight is Donnie in?

Current Music: Ahmad Jamal: A Gal in Calico

___________

Lately (and by lately I mean the past five years) I have become progressively less trustful of the Government of the United States. Now, this doesn't for a moment mean that I advocate any sort of regime change or general uprising, no, things are bad enough already and it is a long row before that sort of thing becomes attractive to me.

My overall way of dealing with this sort of thing is the simple expedient of just "minding my own business". This is hard to do in the good old USA because we have birthed a culture (perhaps a subculture) where we celebrate activists as defenders of the individual. But activists are one-trick ponies. I don't think that there is such a thing as a universal activist in our polity, because our polity is (or perhaps, should be) all about balancing conflicting demands. But that presupposes a institution where the deciding entities are capable of compromise. Our currently fractured view of what America is all about precludes this.

I cannot really say that there is a way around this kind of thing. Our current policy choices seems to have devolved into a "take from the rich and keep it" versus a "take from the poor and keep it" option. Granted, I think that taking from the rich is a more palatable option, but that is just a personal preference. I recognize that there hasn't been a way to reach a compromise on this without someone getting violent. The government thus far has solved the problem by trying to buy off both sides by borrowing money from the banks.

But things are going to continue for a while. I don't think that we are all that close to a workable solution so the spiral will probably steepen. In the next four or five years I think that a working majority will actually gel around one of the options. And by a working majority, I mean a majority of around 60-65%.

But the choice made will necessarily alienate a goodly portion of the population. And there doesn't seem to be a working compromise currently available because both sides distrust the other intensely. I think that figuring out the way to shade the system so that one side has a large enough majority to allow the compromise to work. There is going to be a period of time (I am guessing between five and ten years) where trust-building and education take place about the merits and consequences of each option.

It sure isn't going to be pretty.

Gonna be slow for a bit. I got enraged when I started finding out just how intrusive and sneaky the tech companies have been in placing all sorts of tracking on my shiny new computer. So I have been spending time first trying to strip out the tracking, then, after throwing my hands up because the rabbit hole keeps going down, I am re-configuring my hardware to stop this nonsense.

Just a word to the wise, the companies have come to the idea that the hardware is theirs, even if you think that buying it makes it yours. They think such thoughts are nonsense. I was told point blank that if I were to change anything that they larded onto the actual computer at the time of sale, I was effectively ending my warranty.

I am good with that. So I am stripping and re-configuring. I do so love my shiny big screen and the changes I have been making haven't really changed how I work much. But over the course of the next couple of weeks I will be spending time making sure that what I do can only be minimally monitored by unknown actors.

Tree and Sky

I have been pondering a lot lately about what constitutes a “mind” and just how such a critter can be studied or even understood. This is a fit task for a retired man. There are no real deliverables, no fact checking, no quality control, and there are an absolute plethora of ideas out there each different from its neighbor and all equally wrong/right.

What this activity offers is a difficult problem that doesn’t lend itself to testing using the simple expedient of using the scientific method. In a sense this is a relief to me. I have worshiped at this particular shrine for a long time now, and I cannot say that I am impressed by how far I rode that horse.

I am a man of my era. I grew up in warm houses (too warm actually, my mothers and sisters liked the thermostat at 80℉ and my father and I were afraid to argue) cheap gasoline to transport me to places that piqued my cupidity, and a decent educational system that provided more than a trade-school approach to education.

Now that I have been put out to pasture and have sufficient comfort and time to ponder, I can wander slowly through the landscape of philosophy and try to figure out the armature of what produces the medium-quality thought in my head.

Lately, I have been dusting off a concept that was planted decades ago in the seventies: Egregore.

How the mind works on an individual basis is difficult enough. I am fairly certain that the Phenomenologists and the Existentialists are on the right track but they seem to only analyze the individual in situ and isolated. I am of the (perhaps mistaken) impression that there is communication and transmission of emotions and beliefs that occurs when individuals communicate. Now that I am retired and a recluse, this transmission is reduced significantly. But when you try to separate the individual from the societal inputs, you actually change the experimental conditions so that what you think that you are measuring is not what happens in the real world where an individual is embedded in a society and that society has an effect on that individual's thought and actions. Whether you like it or not, there is a scene in the “Rome” series that defines the situation succinctly

I suppose that this has been a long time coming. Even more, we are looking at a set of cultures/civilizations which seem bent on conflict. We in the West, with our Imperial Roman heritage seem to be returning to form in our bid to retain primacy (after all: It is good to be King). But the descendents of the Vikings and the Mongols, the descendents of Asoka, and the descendents of Qin Shi Huang have redeveloped themselves to the awkward point that they no longer take orders.

So the next period of time seems to be intent on emulating an old American schoolyard tradition of “choosing up sides” and then another tradition of talking shit in hopes of intimidating the opponent to throw them off their game.

I am the the nerdy guy that doesn’t get chosen for either side, but the rest of the country is being prepped for a fight and they are using the images and methods honed by centuries and human nature.

Red Tips

Feeling a bit punk today. I actually cancelled a dentist appointment because I have a feeling that I am quite communicable and it is going to get worse.

More and more, I have been thinking about the antics going on in DC and their sources and possible outcomes. To put this into perspective, I am going to focus on the patron saint of Dreamwidth; JMG. The part that I specifically want to focus on is the First Frugal Friday. Not because I disapprove, but because just how it has grown and fallen away.

Here in the land o' the free, the majority (I think I could safely use the word "supermajority) of the general population see frugality as a form of failure. I would posit that this phenomenon increases as the age of the cohort decreases. The physical cost of what is considered an acceptable lifestyle has gone up well past the commensurate increase in monetary inflation. This phenomenon is twofold, the first is that the money we use has decreased significantly in value, the second is that advertisements have sold a lifestyle that is now considered adequate but certainly is not affordable.

So how does the previous paragraph tie into the one before it? Simple, frugality is something forced upon a population by circumstance. There is a subpopulation that certainly enjoys wearing their hairshirts (Truth be told, I do lean that direction) and preen with virtue, but the truth of the matter is that they are outliers.

What is happening in Washington bears on this. The last five or six administrations in DC (aided and abetted by the clowns in the judiciary and the legislative branches) have painted us into a corner. Simply put, there is no way back to the phony nirvana that the younger generations have imagined around the younger years of the boomers. What most boomers will admit if you corner them is that those years weren't all that great.

Along comes the Donald and what he does is sell images, he sells what the woefully under-informed general populace thinks are the symbols of wealth. He and the silent fools in the legislative branch have continued to follow the general principle of taking from other countries in order to keep the machinery running.

There is a reason for a 1 trillion dollar Department of War. The choice of frugality is a argument against the image that the majority of the country hold in their minds as their birthright.

From the Summer

I am not claiming it is the end of the world, but I think that the world has turned a corner and reverting to what is the historical norm. We did in fact live in the garden that Olaf Schultz described and now the weeds are a' comin'.

Now, folks who like the idea of the apocalypse and there are more than a couple of folks this flavor are squealing that the end is nigh. I guess that my feeling that we are just going to be experiencing a reversion to mean. My old buddy Ugo loves his "Seneca Curve" where things go to shit in a hurry, but I am not all that convinced of that. The downhill might well just match the uphill. But there is only one way to find out and that means living through what may be a less than perfectly pleasant process.

But, that being said, lets talk about a nasty and rude idea that Ike Newton (and (maybe?) Gottfried Leibnitz) came up with back in 1687. The idea of fluxions (Newton) and integrals (Leibnitz) set down the idea that you could calculate the are under a curve. I am not certain about the level that this applies to the way the world runs, but it makes for interesting thought experiments inside my noggin.

Folks like me want to imagine that you can plot the course of history on a cartesian coordinate system. Maybe that is true, but one also has to accept that things like discontinuity and chaotic/fractal systems have a say in the descriptions.

No one know what the future holds. Prophets aren't anything but lucky guessers. Things are changing and no one knows whether or not our history can be plotted on a cartesian plane. But I think that the area under the curve (integral/fluxion) remains pretty constant and is totally unknown.

It might be quite a ride.

Weird Stick

So, I sat down and wrote a long piece this morning about what is happening in the world. But then I thought about it for a while and decided that I was full of shit and talking out of my ass.

There is a certain habit of 90+ percent of Americans that reflects the impatience and dependence on a media more focused on entertainment than accuracy. This, coupled with a government whose adherence to the idea of presenting the whole story is at best questionable leads to a great deal of pearl clutching and histrionics.

I don't know what is going on, and the more I try to get to the heart of the matter, it just seems that the rabbit hole just keeps going down.

So, I am going to watch. I really don't know enough to make an informed decision. All I can do is keep my eye peeled and my mouth shut for now. Things aren't looking all that good and I don't know how bad it will get or if the alternatives are any better.

At the Beach

I suppose that, If I were a good person, I would be all twitterpated and offended at the antics of the Donald and his cohort of hangers-on. I realize that the American self-image is one of rugged individualism, but that is an ideal, that along with Catholic Sainthood, is a rare thing and definitely not the norm.

But, more and more, I am beginning to see my country as just another player in the world, albeit a big and strong player, but one pursuing its own best interests in a world of diminishing resources. In my personal brain, where I sort things out to figure out which way the world is going to lurch this time, I pretty much just try to pull away from my tendency toward high dudgeon and try instead to look at the actual events (as much as that kind of thing is possible).

There was a not-very-good but not-all-that-bad movie in the seventies (1975, when Jerry Ford was still president) named "Three Days of the Condor". The ending of that film might well have started me down the path to the resigned cynicism where I write from now. But then again, I suppose that perhaps my cynicism runs deeper that that.

I think that all of the folks out there who are running off their mouths without sitting down and really pondering what is happening right now might want to take a break, sit down with a cup of something, and think about it for awhile. What are the goals to all the chicanery that is happening out there in the wide world? What are the common variables between Ukraine, Iran, Venezuela? Who are the players and where do their goals conflict? What are the resources that are firmly in our grasp and what resources do we lack? Where do the differing ideologies between the parties rub against each other to produce friction?

I don't know the answers right now. These kind of things are only seen through a glass darkly and I am not at all certain that, even if I squint, that I will be able to make out even the faintest outlines.

My current working hypothesis is that of Ernest Bevin, U.K. Minister of Labour and National Service circa 1945:

“The Kingdom of Heaven runs on righteousness, but the Kingdom of Earth runs on oil".

This is but a initial hypothesis. It is so incomplete as to be laughable. There are other streams of causality that run into the main channel, but my gut tells me this one is the source. I will be pondering this while I wait for more data to come in. Because right now, I can't even be sure of who the players are.

Side Note, In my never-ending desire to try out new things because "new is better", as usual, I ran into the usual problem when one approaches problems, that to do something requires thought and effort and any attempt to decrease those two just produce a shoddier product. As always, this blanket assertion will cause screaming heebie-jeebies among many, but the exceptions to this rule that they will bring up usually are peripheral and questionable. It is an aspect of the unending desire of "more for less". In very few cases are the short-cuts adopted anything other that the "wrong way".

So here I am, typing into a strange looking, two dimensional "box" on a website which comfortably uses what everyone who doesn't have a blog here would refer to as "obsolete". But by adding a couple of minutes to my time doing this, I can format the 1's and 0"s that I am inconveniencing to show up on a screen elsewhere the way that I want them to. But the cost for this vanity means that I need to spend a couple of minutes every day moving bits around so that I can access in a way that this time-tested system allows.

I have been thinking lately about the way that empires rise and fall. Mostly I have been reading and thinking about how this kind of thing happened in the past. I am not particularly impressed by a lot of the writing done in this vein. It seems that the writing either A.) Tries to tell you that we are heading down the path of (insert currently defunct empire here) or B.) that we are different than those antiquated fools of the past. I can't say that I am particularly fond of either approach.

I'm wondering where we are headed. Things are looking dicey, but I can't say that the problems are insurmountable or that the current leadership here in the US are hopeless. The problems can't be solved by the actions and policies that got us here, and by "here" I mean the five year block (2.5 years behind, 2.5 years ahead) that is really current history.

I "feel" that we are reaching an inflection point in history. The poor dumb bastards who are in charge are as clueless as we are and are bound by their inaccurate attempts to make sense of what is happening. But, just to make certain you know where I stand, they probably know more and are more rational than the "common man" on the streets who everyone feels should be listened to.

There comes a time where the world changes directions. How we will get through is unknown. What we are experiencing right now is an extended argument concerning shares of the pie alongside building of walls to presumably guard current share. Let's see how it works.

Today, on a whim, I asked google search the following question:

WHAT IS THE RATIO OF OIL PRODUCED TO OIL CONSUMED IN THE USA?

This is what I got for an answer under the "AI Overview" that pops up unwanted when you use google to search:

The U.S. ratio of oil production to consumption is close to 1:1, with production nearly matching consumption in recent years (around 13-14 million barrels/day production vs. 20 million b/d total petroleum supply/demand, including imports), making the U.S. a total petroleum net exporter, though it still imports significant crude oil and exports refined products, meaning production covers most domestic needs but isn't 100% of the specific crude oil used by refineries.

Key Figures (Approximate, based on recent EIA data):

U.S. Crude Oil Production (2024 est.): ~13.2 - 13.4 million barrels per day (b/d).
U.S. Total Petroleum Consumption (2023): ~20.25 million b/d (includes crude oil & products).

There is something here that I currently don't understand, but those numbers sure don't add up.

Profile

Degringolade

Navigation

January 2026

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
				1	2	3
4	5	6	7	8	9	10
11	12	13	14	15	16	17
18	19	20	21	22	23	24
25	26	27	28	29	30	31

Syndicate

Page Summary

Active Entries

1: Diary: Weird Tacos
2: Diary: Being an American of a particular type
3: Diary: I'm Nervous
4: Diary: Self Image and the Mirror
5: Diary: Who effing knows.
6: Diary: Makes no sense
7: Mushrooms
8: Diary: Return from Christmas
9: Diary: Not feeling the season
10: Diary: With Apologies To Emily

Style Credit

Base style: Librarian's Dream by branchandroot
Theme: A Night In by timeasmymeasure

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags

Page generated Jan. 25th, 2026 06:30 am

Degringolade

A Sorta Public Diary and Comment

Recent Entries

Diary: 31.1

Diary: Too Much Happening

Thoughts on Greenland

Diary: Weird Tacos

Diary: Historical and Scientific Truth

Diary: Photos

Diary: Being an American of a particular type

Checking in

Diary: I'm Nervous

Diary:

Diary: Bar Fights

Diary: Trust Only Goes So Far

Diary: Slim Pickings

Diary: Hybrids

Diary: Contradictions Galore

Diary: Wondering Aloud

Diary: Truth of the Matter

Diary: Self Image and the Mirror

Diary: Who effing knows.

Diary: Makes no sense