Thursday, August 31, 2017

a decade of phantsies

As of sometime in the next few days it will be ten years since we began blogging here. Many things have changed, including the fact that a number of friends who had blogs of their own then no longer do. Some things haven't changed as much as we'd prefer as shown in this post by Crow in August of 2009 called 'big plans, no clue'.

 



Crow here. susan used to tell people she didn't like wearing glasses so had the windshield of her car ground to her current prescription. A few of them believed it too. It's funny what you can get folks to take seriously, isn't it? Imagine convincing a good part of the population that Medicare for everybody is a bad idea but it's a really good idea to have their tax money go directly to the richest 1% of the citizenry.





The picture above is an artist's rendering of one of the big geo-engineering ideas for cooling off our overheated planet. Just imagine what could happen if the big optometrist grinding that thing got the specs wrong and corrected for far sighted rather than near. Ooops. You think we've got global warming now?



Then there's this one - ships spraying sea water to create clouds that shield much of the Earth from sunlight and so would lower global temperatures. How about the fact Bill Gates has patented the idea to halt hurricanes by decreasing the surface temperature of the ocean? Does that make you a bit nervous? The patent calls for a large fleet of specially equipped ships which would mix warm water from the ocean surface with colder water down below which could then reduce the heat-driven condensation hurricanes feed upon. The scheme is reminiscent of something Mr. Burns might have concocted in 'The Simpsons' - if he hadn't already blown his master plan on blocking out the sun.

I don't know. It just seems to me people have to change their way of thinking but I've been around long enough to not be entirely hopeful for the intelligence of your species at large. Global warming has so many separate causes and accelerating factors that it's already beyond political control. Every piece of metal sticking out of the ground is a heat coil. The crisis needs an unconscious shift at the same level as the primordial production of oxygen by bacteria at the dawn of life. Long ago a sudden fluctuation triggered a burst of molecular intelligence and a world that began under a canopy of volcanic ash exhaled into a blue sky.

Lizards crawled. Crows flew. Eventually, people dreamed and maybe it's enough to dream of a better world. The Golden Rule has always been a good place to start. Now it's time for me to climb on my perch and put my head where it belongs - under my right wing. Good night and sweet dreams.
Here are a few of our favourite comments left that day:

Seraphine:

i think the idea of putting a giant glass lens between us and the sun is stupid. for one thing, if you think sun spots are bad now, wait until something gets on the giant lens. a piece of dust, a fingerprint, a smudge of grease- it could cause entire nations to go crazy. would there be a lens cloth big enough to clean it?
and two, why take the risk that, with the proper lens correction, the sun could be able to see us clearly? there are some things about human-kind that the sun is better off not knowing.

Lindsay:

I note to date there are no geo engineering projects of any scale ever tried and I doubt if their effect could ever be measured or known, particularly in relation to the complexity of climate systems – which is still not thoroughly understood. But recent studies over here indicate the possibility of an abundant renewable energy supply just below our feet, in the form of hot rocks.

You’re familiar, of course, with molten rock breaking through the earth’s crust to spew lava into the atmosphere but in such a state it is far too hot and difficult to harness as a viable energy source. However just below the earth’s surface in Australia lays an abundance of hot granite rocks with enough heat to drive steam turbines and generate electricity.

How does the idea work?

Water is injected into a borehole and circulated through a "heat exchanger" to hot cracked rocks several kilometers below the surface. The water is heated through contact with the rocks and is then returned to the surface through another borehole where it is used to generate electricity. The water is then re-injected into the first borehole to be reheated and used again. The heat used in this hot rock energy process is eventually replaced by the Earth; it can be classified as renewable energy. It could, potentially provide all of our energy needs in perpetuity.

Spartacus:

Crow.. I love that you're seeking new and inventive ways to save the Earth's environment from impending doom. But I have one question for you regarding Bill Gates's patent: Can it core an apple?

Randal Graves:

Since the dawn of time man has yearned to destroy the sun and get patents on everything helpful. This is why I'm glad a British dude invented HTML and not an American. We'd be paying coke money to surf for porn.

*Spadoman:

I've hovered around this post for a few days before commenting. Sort of hoping it would change so i wouldn't have to deal with my shame from my own wastefulness. Frankly, I'm embarrassed to respond to you Crow, I know I am part of the problem.

Sure, I've done some changes. We recycle and compost and try to buy everything we buy NOT wrapped in some sort of plastic, but I fail miserably at the "so much more I can do", we can do, to help slow down and end the global problems we, as dumb humans, are putting the physical earth through right now.

Wholesale changes must be made by all people all over the world to end the cycle, but it may already be too late. Maybe this generation or even the next won't live to see the Sacred Earth Mother die, but as we keep up our wasteful killing ways, it is inevitable that she will die. There are some dead spots already, like cancerous sores, on Mother Earth. We move on, and do what we did to make the sore, somewhere else.

I am ashamed of myself. Believe me Crow, I think of this every time I turn on a water faucet in my home. Yet I am not yet willing to get rid of the faucet and running water.
Thanks for reminding me that I am wasteful and motivate me to change even more.

Peace above all.

*Joe Spadoman died in December of 2013 and his wife not long after. Their memorial service was held one beautiful day in June on the shore of Lake Superior attended by their many friends. He was an amazing and very generous man who worked hard to make the world a better place.

Peace be upon him and us all. 

(^^)


18 comments:

  1. And I am one of those who decided to stop blogging. However, as long as you continue [many happy returns of your blogday] to write, I will continue to read and, I expect, to enjoy.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ten years?! Congratulations on keeping up your wonderful blog. Like Tom, I seem to have quit early this year, after 12 years. I do keep thinking of getting back to it, but thoughts have not yet produced action. How about a kick from Crow?

    Great post here, thanks Crow and Susan! Must keep up hope though it seems all our petitions and marches against evil forces are not working as well as we'd like. We have stopped air travel and we try not to be wasteful and harmful to our environment. Sigh.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hah, Marja-Leena, I remember you celebrated your own tenth when mine still had two years to go. It seemed a long time, but now here we are and the pace, while less intense than in years past, is no less demanding. I made a promise to myself at the beginning of the year to make at least one post a week. So far so good. I miss the elegant pieces of artwork and homelife you so generously shared for so long.

      Jer and I haven't traveled by air since we held my mother's memorial service in Toronto in 2003 and our last major road journey was the trip we made to get here. What little we do or don't do may not change the direction our culture has taken, but we can at least dig in our heels a bit along the way, can't we?

      Crow once said the one thing he has great faith in is the resilience of Earth. I think we can agree with him about that.

      Delete
  3. I guess congratulations, at least for persistence. Plus the obvious that your blog is the, or one of the, best out there. Your art work is unparalleled. Your insights also. I've changed my blog obviously, from mostly political rants to a pretty unstructured format. Some of that is health, some from what I've said what I have to say.
    I will read as long as I'm here and you continue.
    Yours,
    Mike

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It was easier a few years ago when there were many more of us contributing our creative efforts for one another's mutual entertainment. I like your blog as it is, Mike, even though neither Crow nor I have ever bothered with the political. It's far too fungible, whereas the baseline greedy and destructive forces are easy to criticize in general.

      I'm glad you like this place and I hope we know one another for a long time to come.

      Delete
  4. i blog sporadically now. as the main idea of it was to log the growth of my lovely garden..
    but life got in the way of that.. what did I expect ten years ago.. what do I have now.
    glad you're still blogging, talented painter and writer, its a pleasure to drop in for moments.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. and it's always a delight to see you, Claire. We all got here for a reason. :)

      Delete
  5. Congratulations Susan and onward to the next decade of wonderful creative arts and insights. I can enlarge your pics and see the finer detail if I view your Blog using the iPad theses days which I couuld't 10 years ago.
    Best wishes

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Lindsay, I never expected phantysthat tobe here so long and still going - albeit at a slower pace. It's been good to know you almost all those years.
      All the best

      Delete
  6. September 6, 2007 - September 6, 2017: Congratulations, loveliest of all Susans. :)
    And for the sun-orbits to come: Lots of health, love, joy, inspiration and serenity.
    Oh, of course! And may Crow and you never lack of Remy and fruit-cake.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm so very glad we met, dearest Sean. Crow sends
      you his most fond regards with his first sip of
      the day's Remy. I've toasted you with a bit of
      dried fruit. :)

      Delete
    2. Here's to us and those [who] like us. :)

      Delete
    3. and to them that don't may the Lord change their hearts :)

      Delete
    4. Just a few minutes before falling into the feathers, mellowed by tiredness I tend to add: and to them who are doing their best to not deserve your kindness.

      Delete
    5. They may be doing their best of the worst but the company of good friends allows us to remain patient and brave.. while enjoying a drink. :)

      Delete