Lithium and Submarines

 "The final hour when we cease to exist does not itself bring death; it merely of itself completes the death-process.  We reach death at that moment, but we have been a long time on the way." - Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Gloomy outlook for the economy

 "There is no genius without a touch of madness." - Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Diesel and Modern Society - a brief update

 Back in March, I discussed heavy crude oil, its relationship to diesel, and the importance of diesel in modern industrial society.  There is a great write up on OilPrice.Com about a widespread shortage of diesel at the current time.  

Have you had your colonoscopy recently?

"The real hopeless victims of mental illness are to be found among those who appear to be most normal.  Many of them are so normal because they are so well adjusted to our mode of existence, because their human voice has been silenced so early in their lives that they do not even struggle or suffer or develop symptoms as the neurotic does.  They are normal not in what may be called the absolute sense of the word; they are normal only in relation to a profoundly abnormal society." - Aldous Huxley

"You've Got This!"

 Do you really?

This disturbing Public Service Announcement was put out by the New York City's Emergency Management Department.  It ends with the cliche "You've Got This."  I'm pretty sure that most civilians don't 'got this' for more than a day or two.

And... Wait for further instructions.  LOL. 

"We aren't smart enough to avoid a nuclear war.  But we are smart enough to reassure you about radioactive fallout."  There will be hardship, famine and disease shortly after the event, and this calm-sounding lady will no longer be there to reassure you.

Good luck, everyone.  Hopefully someone takes an off-ramp from the highway to hell.

A New Radiation Detector

"Most of what passes for legitimate entertainment is inferior or foolish and only caters to or exploits people's weaknesses.

Avoid being one of the mob who indulges in such pastimes.  Your life is too short and you have important things to do.  Be discriminating about what images and ideas you permit into your mind.

If you yourself don't don't choose what thoughts and images you expose yourself to, someone else will, and their motives may not be the highest.

It is the easiest thing in the world to slide imperceptibly into vulgarity.

But there is no need for that to happen if you determine not to waste your time and attention on mindless pap." - Marcus Aurelius

Eyes on the German Economy

 "A time is coming when men will go mad, and when they see someone who is not mad, they will attack him, saying "You are mad; you are not like us." - Saint Anthony the Great

Weekend update

 "He who eats my bread does my will." - Marcus Aurelius

A trip to Tacoma

 "Kindness is unconquerable, so long as it is without flattery or hypocrisy.  For what can the most insolent man do to you, if you contrive to be kind to him, and if you have the chance gently advise and calmly show him what is right... and point out tactfully and from a universal perspective.  But you must not do this with sarcasm or reproach, but without anger in your soul." - Marcus Aurelius

The Beatles, then and now

"To do evil a human being must first of all believe that what he's doing is good... Ideology - that is what gives evildoing its long-sought justification and gives the evildoer the necessary steadfastness and determination.

That is the social theory which helps to make his acts seem good instead of bad in his own and others' eyes, so that he won't hear reproaches and curses but will receive praise and honors." - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn