Don't just call me a pessimist, try and read between the lines

[DoctaD]

Ok, what are we seeing here? I don't mean this very minute, although to an extent, I do.

Natural disasters, man-made disasters, wars for any little reason... the world is ending guys. Sure, we may be five years away from curing cancer but that's not going to do much when we're all killed by looting mobs who are pissed because their electricity went out during the game.

With the state of the planet at present, we're gonna be lucky to get another century out of it. Is this really the state of affairs we want to be bringing another generation into??

I remember back 4 years ago now, getting a phone call one day where I was told to turn on the TV immediately. A plane had crashed into a sky scraper!! As I watched live, another followed and in total shock, i witnessed thousands of lives end in a horrific manner...

...and we all know what happened after that. Or do we? I'm not honestly sure. I remember watching the news, Bush was going to get bin Laden at all costs! Then it's a war on terror, and Saddam has nukes so lets carpet bomb somewhere! The whole time I'm sitting in front of Sky News thinking "What the fuck?!"

A tsunami kills hundreds of thousands of people... is a higher power somewhere getting pissed off?
"Yeah, feel my wrath, Earth. You want to kill each other, wait and see what I can do!"
But then a little realisation
"Shit, the asians weren't really causing any trouble. I missed!"

Obviously people aren't going to think their God, or whatever idea they have of a mystical or spiritual creator or whatever, is going to hurt them, to kill them! No way, in church we learn to love and fear God like a parent, not like a kidnapper.

Yet still, people blow themselves up... Spain, London, all over Iraq and Iran and places like that. What are you doing? Blowing up innocent people? It's America thats causing shit, not us Europeans!

So God's sitting up there, watching in disgust as his creations feed on the hate and corruption which has been force fed. Race, religion, age, sex... how many of us can truely say that they are free from any kind of bigotry? Well he's watching this and thinking "Enough! This time, my aim will be a little better" and America gets struck with the latest natural disaster. It doesn't take long, though, for the people to turn it right around. It was a natural disaster, but the pain and suffering and damage and theft caused by the yanks in New Orleans has overtaken the damage done by the storm ten fold.

Maybe this is just a sample of things to come. Maybe we have treated this planet we're on like shit for too long, and now we're going to pay.

My prediction, the world will be over by 2100... and I have absolutely no regrets in the fact that I won't be here to see it.
-DD

[Adrian_Faythe]

I agree wholeheartedly, and I speak from the vantage point of an American citizen. History's repeating itself, again and again. This is similar, to an uncanny degree, to what happened with Rome. The imperialistic attitude, the widening gap between rich and poor, and the oppressed masses rising up to overthrow the totalitarian state. While some of you (or perhaps none...) may argue "BUT WTF THERES A DEMOCRACY HERE LOL!!!1" a democracy with a leader that states "There ought to be limits to freedom" is hardly a democracy at all. Stories too numerous to mention are flooded about the internet (and whether they're true or not, you decide).

And you'll all call me crazy, but as for this "gas crisis," here's my theory. They'll drive prices up to around $3.50 or so per gallon, then claim that they're out of gas. Only for a day or two, just to scare people shitless. Then they re-introduce gas into their lines at $5.00 per gallon or something equally outrageous. Citizens think, "Holy shit, gas is back!" and buy the fuck out of it. Eventually, they'll drop prices back to $3.50, and they'll think "Oh, $1.50 cheaper! Sweet, this is much better!" And nobody is upset, except for me, who's raving and swinging a stick at this point....

There's more, but I'm just too pissed to think straight at the moment.

[madscientist]

They'll drive prices up to around $3.50 or so per gallon, then claim that they're out of gas. Only for a day or two, just to scare people shitless. Then they re-introduce gas into their lines at $5.00 per gallon or something equally outrageous. Citizens think, "Holy shit, gas is back!" and buy the fuck out of it. Eventually, they'll drop prices back to $3.50, and they'll think "Oh, $1.50 cheaper! Sweet, this is much better!" And nobody is upset, except for me, who's raving and swinging a stick at this point....

That's exactly how everything is done. Look at the PATRIOT Act, for example. Now that portions of it are being repealed, everyone's excited and happy, even though we're still worse off than we were before.

[Adrian_Faythe]

I give them points for ripping off Hitchcock's technique.

[KaRMa]

Prices have already gone above 6 dollars per gallon in places in GA. Here in CA ive seen the gas top 3 dollars.

[DoctaD]

Isn't there a temporary bump in prices for the Labour Day weekend every year?
-DD

[madscientist]

The spike in gas prices is almost entirely due to price gouging.

[Adrian_Faythe]

Yeah. Regardless of the cause, it's bullshit. I really need something else to drive...Explorers are definitely not known for their finesse in excellent gas mileage....

[THErAPIST]

modify it to run on natural gas. you may think that it's expenmsive, but in the short run it'd save you money. in the long run it'll save you more. I really am looking into exactly what I'd have to do to modify my car to run on both gas and natural gas depending on which one of the two I want to use at the moment.

[duiker]

Originally Posted by DoctaD

Ok, what are we seeing here? I don't mean this very minute, although to an extent, I do...



...-DD

Cause and Effect.

Originally Posted by THErAPIST

modify it to run on natural gas. you may think that it's expenmsive, but in the short run it'd save you money. in the long run it'll save you more. I really am looking into exactly what I'd have to do to modify my car to run on both gas and natural gas depending on which one of the two I want to use at the moment.

Some people around here run their diesel's on old chip-shop oil. It's illegal and I'm not sure how it works, but they say that when they drive past, it smells like hot chips.

[DoctaD]

When I started driving, less than two years ago, petrol cost me 79.9 per litre and it's gonna hit 100.00 per litre soon, if it hasnt already. The rise in price would make little difference to me anyway, though, as my tank could only hold a gallon or two.
-DD

[madscientist]

I don't know how the public transportation system is in Canada, but here, the only "public" transportation that exists is catching a ride from a friend.

Americans get fucked hard by high gas prices - much more than any other part of the world that I know of.

[DoctaD]

Americans deserve to pay more for everything... For example, what is the need for everyday cars with huge engines? If it wasn't for America, there would be a lot less poverty in the world.
-DD

[Stone]

A couple of months back it was 88c (euro) a litre, now it's roughly 1.25euro and rising fast (only broke the euro barrier last week!)

[Stone]

A couple of months back it was 88c (euro) a litre, now it's roughly 1.25euro and rising fast (only broke the euro barrier last week!) It's always been more expensive here than the US, but now it's just gone crazy... Although I have to say, it is more expensive in Britain where they have broken the ?1pl mark, that's 1.50euro...

[madscientist]

I don't know anyone with a car with a big engine. It's mostly the rich suburbanites and crazy hicks that have that shit. :P