Catch-Up Mash Up

Hello playmates.

BBQ

We have attended a BBQ a day late. We have visited a British Wildlife themed park that was particularly light on British Wildlife. We visited an ancient castle that was decidedly modern.

BANS

Eduardo has been banned for two games - which is a crock of shit. Expect me to rant about any act of 'deception' I perceive between now and the end of the season.

While milling around the news stand of the supermarket, waiting for Mrs NoozeHound and NoozeHoundette to pick their sandwiches I was reading the top inches of the papers, mostly the broadsheets but not exclusively. I read enough to make me wish I was on here with you rather than on a jolly outing.

BLACK-OUTS

I've webbed-up and read what there was on the (frankly disturbing) articles I read. Those deluded souls amongst you that have been here before may remember my alarm at discovering the concept of Peak Oil. One of the theorized repercussions of this were power cuts as a result of lack of expenditure on the maintenance and renewal of the energy infrastructure.

The article I read that rang the alarm bells first was in the Torygraph. On the web version it is little more than a warning from the government that the UK could see power cuts within a decade and a list of the power stations that are approaching their end of life. Yeah, stuff has a finite life expectancy. But this was explicitly one of the scenarios mentioned and this is less than a month later. Read it here.

BLUE DIAMONDS

The other news item I read was from The Grauniad and was equally chilling. Governments, as proved by the recent financial disasters among other things, are not really all that great at working with figures. Their predictions for sea-level rise are based on data from between two and four years ago. This would be fine were it not for the fact that the dynamic acceleration of glacial decline is increasing almost exponentially. So much so that some predictions put a 1 metre seal-level rise within 20 years. 2030.

If you read my shrieking at Peak Oil theory you may recall that 2030 is loosely the predicted time we collectively begin to career down the energy cliff.

So, from the article, 600 million people live in low-lying (read totally screwed by) sea-level flood risk areas. If these incidents start to occur, they will simply wipe out those populations. How will administrations with insufficient resources to feed, clothe, warm and illuminate themselves be able to mount co-ordinated rescue and relief operations for their own or even less likely their former friends homeless, tsunami, flood, famine, typhoid or any other disaster-hit peoples. I don't think they will.

Read this article, but click on the links to other supporting articles. The blue icebergs are beautiful, but I can't help thinking of them as harbingers of doom.

GREEN MACS

I read that Mac Dee's will never truly be able to claim green credentials. Having read in a real book the effects of Maconomics, I think it would probably be best if Ronald MacDonald stayed well away from organic farmers. If they source all their fruit and veg organically it will just screw it up for everyone else and squeeze the farmers 'til they go bust.

BEST OF APOCALYPSE

I Stumbled this.

The plot synopses are probably sufficient to give you nightmares. It is an excellent list, I intend to read them all. Then possibly top myself. I can't help thinking that I know where the unnamed world changing events are going to come from.

Welcome to the disappointment.