Category Archives: 3) Fast Crash

The case for a fast, rather than a slow one. Most societies crashed in 20 years or less. There has never been or will be again a crash like ours, where the world of 7 billion people became utterly dependent on a non-renewable source of energy — fossil fuels.

Book review of “The Power Worshippers. Inside the dangerous rise of religious nationalism”

Posted on September 24, 2024 by

Preface.  One of the many items I found of interest in this book “The Power Worshippers” was that it wasn’t until 1979, six years after Roe v Wade, that conservative activists seized on abortion not for moral reasons, but as … Continue reading →

Posted in Birth Control, Politics, Religion | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Fox news estranges millions of families and instills hate and fear in its cult members

Posted on September 22, 2024 by

Preface.  This is a book review that has key excerpts of “Foxocracy”, by Tobin Smith, who worked at Fox for 14 years and was friends with Roger Ailes as well as the staff that decided what the propaganda of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Critical Thinking, Political Books, Politics | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Book review of “Deer Hunting with Jesus” Best book on why people vote for Trump

Posted on September 18, 2024 by

Preface. This is a book review of Joe Bageant’s 2008 Deer Hunting with Jesus: Dispatches from America’s Class War. Joe Bageant grew up in poor, conservative Winchester Virginia, which is like tens of thousands of other small towns in America. … Continue reading →

Posted in Critical Thinking and Scientific Literacy, Human Nature, Politics, Religion | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Climate Change crisis caused by Population growth – duh

Posted on September 15, 2024 by

Preface.  Duh!  This is a no brainer. The 140 million people born every year will all want a car, house, TV, refrigerator, travel abroad, stove, air conditioning, bicycle, tools, and more. Meanwhile businesses and governments build every more roads, skyscrapers, … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate Change, David Korowicz, Overpopulation, Population | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Book review of “Democracy in Chains”, the history of how extremist Republicans stealthily stole our Democracy

Posted on September 9, 2024 by

Preface.  I can’t do justice to this book in a book review (so buy it), especially the history of how the right-wing libertarians came to be so powerful, their huge influence on congress, the judiciary, and laws enacted, and how … Continue reading →

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Net Energy Cliff & the Collapse of Civilization

Posted on September 6, 2024 by

The remaining oil is poor quality, and the energy to get this often remote oil so great that more and more energy (blue) goes into oil production itself, leaving far less — the grey area — available to fuel the … Continue reading →

Posted in 2) Collapse, 3) Fast Crash, An Overview, Energy, EROEI Energy Returned on Energy Invested, Net Energy Cliff, Stages of | Tagged , , , , , , | 11 Comments

Giant oil field decline rates, peak oil, & reserves

Posted on August 30, 2024 by

Preface. Of the roughly 47,500 oil fields in the world, 507 of them, about 1%, are giant oil fields holding nearly two-thirds of all the oil that has ever been, or ever will be produced, with the largest 100 giants, … Continue reading →

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How Christians were manipulated by Pat Robertson into becoming right-wing Republicans

Posted on August 20, 2024 by

This is a book review is of “The Gospel of self: How Jesus Joined the GOP.” It was written by an evangelical Christian for evangelical Christians to show them how he, as the senior producer of Pat Robertson’s “The 700 … Continue reading →

Posted in Critical Thinking, Critical Thinking and Scientific Literacy, Human Nature, Pat Robertson, Politics | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Hydrogen: The dumbest & most impossible renewable

Posted on August 16, 2024 by

Preface. This post originally appeared in Skeptic Magazine in 2008 as “The Hydrogen Economy. Savior of Humanity or an Economic Black Hole?” I’ve updated it quite a bit since then. Hydrogen is the dumbest, most ridiculous energy alternative. It is … Continue reading →

Posted in Alternative Energy, Electric & Hydrogen trucks impossible, Energy, Hydrogen, Pipeline, Ships and Barges, Trucks | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

Why large projects fail. Especially Renewable Energy

Posted on August 9, 2024 by

Megaprojects over $1 billion in order of likelihood to go over budget and timeline Preface.  This is a book review of Flyvbjerg et al “How Big Things Get Done: The Surprising Factors That Determine the Fate of Every Project, from … Continue reading →

Posted in An Index of Best Energyskeptic Posts, Infrastructure & Fast Crash, Infrastructure Books, Interdependencies, Supply Chains | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Why large projects fail. Especially Renewable Energy