I find if you watch the yellow vests, turn off the sound and listen to Tchaikovsky’s 1812 you feel a small sense of someone doing something about stuff.
God bless the French…
My opinion, which only binds me.
the excesses of taxes by our policies,
the distance that keeps growing between the political and the low of the people that produces a misunderstanding,
the lack of transparency of the tax allocation.
the one who works in France, must work, for the unemployed person, the pensioner, the student, the civil servant, ect … Result, a huge national debt.
In France 70 million inhabitants, and only 6 million profit generating assets,
in short, we are the oldest communist country that our planet has had since Colbert.
So I’m not traveling to Argos, and I can not be present, I have to work well for …
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That is an almost universal feeling across what used to be called the free world. ( not free anymore or even remotely affordable )
Antonio Negri said something to the effect that the Neo capitalist system has lost the ability to pay a man the value of his labour.
That has brought the people into the streets.
I am reminded of the Summer of 68 and I am not at all surprised it started in France.
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Francois, So sorry you can not come.
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I started Tchaikovsky right after the news report and the music represented the video very well. LMAO
The reporters image came on and the bells were playing…lol
The cops went rushing up through the crowd and the music got fast.
I died laughing.
Of course it’s not funny. People everywhere are taxed to death to support the lazy and the ones with their hand out.
The government provides nothing for free, its paid for by our taxes.
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I think think the police charge to protect the people that do not pay taxes. ( and who are they, that is the question of the age are they the rich or the useless eaters ? are they you or me ? )
This is a typically french reaction to the statement let them eat cake.
The tug of war left and right are the last shots in the battle for public opinion.
The people however know they are not being served by governments that do not have the interest of the general population in mind.
Will they turn left or right?
…
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False consciousness
“A way of thinking that prevents a person from perceiving the true nature of their social or economic situation. ( Engels )”
At what point do we become conscious of the madness around?
Structuralism:
“The process within Capitalist economies the ruling classes us to create social norms, value systems, and social stigmas to create a culture by which their continued dominance is considered beneficial.”
The extensionalist crises:
When you finally start to see your ideology for what it is. (or think you see at any rate )
"While the predominant value of existentialist thought is commonly acknowledged to be freedom, its primary virtue is authenticity. In the view of the existentialist, the individual’s starting point is characterized by what has been called “the existential attitude”, or a sense of disorientation, confusion, or dread in the face of an apparently meaningless or absurd world "
ANd some avaunt guard music to consider these things before you put your yellow vest on.
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“Those who CAN and WILL;
must always do for those who Cannot or Willnot”
A university degreed professional bureaucrat will not raise chickens and therefore will never produce their own breakfast eggs.
The unemployed, the pensioner, the homeless, usually ask for little, and so are a low-drag load on the CAN&WILL’s.
The students became life-long professional Artists/Entertainers, professional Bureaucrats/politicians/lawyers do ask for much to hold their “earned” status places into their class systems.
The high-line Audi/BMW/Lexis/Lincoln/Tesla’s will cost the CAN&WILL’s a lot more to support the WillNot intelligentsia’s will demand; than their own perfectly usable low-line used Renault, Fiat, VW’s, Fords and Chevy.
The same for personal housing. The same for personal consumed foods and beverages.
Then . . . the public subsidized higher educations for the assumed better classes to carry on another cycle of drag-makers.
Here USofA a growing sub-set of the now choose to be Homeless; were once CAN&WILL’s who are refusing anymore to recorded works/taxes feed the expanding bases of Can Nots and Willnots.
At it’s core all civilizations actually fail when it’s productive contributing members give up. Quit. No longer see a benefit of working, producing, contributing for themselves.
S.U.
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I will do for those who cannot with my dying breath but I refuse to do for those that will not.
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Holly cow!!! I don’t know if it is legal in Wi. yet, but I have got to find me some of that funny tobaky or what ever you guys are on. This conversation sounds like people talking about something that they know nothing about but think they would say if they knew something about something.
This is as close as you come to talking about “wood gas” mentioning Audi/Bmw/////Fords and Chevy.
Lets get back and stay with the subject of this sight. Thank you. TomC
( Sorry Chris, I’ll put my guns away or what ever you usually tell me. It is just sometimes I see things that disturb me and I HAVE to speak up. So now I will turn the moderating back to you)
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We all want to help one another human beings are like that.
We want to live by each others happiness and not live off the misery of others.
We all just need to lighten up a little sometimes.
A little bit of Alexei Sayle should straighten us right up
Because its a funny old world for sure…
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Meh…
I’d call it fair game, "man does not live by woodgas alone ", or something like that… 
Plus, it’s labeled “off topic”.
Members think about many different things than strictly mechanics, it’s all good as long as it remains respectful, IMHO.
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how so little words can say so much…
To hold and enjoy a big apple a person needs 2 hands… now, which of my brain halves thinks “to share or not to share…”
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Interesting question:
From an evolutionary standpoint you would expect our genes would compel us to be selfish above all else.
Interesting thing is to watch our primate relatives we see both our selfish traits and our generous sharing traits.
Maybe it is in our personal best interest to be a social animal we must work in groups to survive…
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When I speak of these things it is always about real-to-me, having to experiences specific people.
Blood family.
Real named face-to-faced acquaintances.
Real have to live with actual neighbors.
Never actual acknowledged friends. Mine/our friends are those we choose to associate with. The real, practical folks.
I do NOT take a world view save-all approach. To me Top-Down is the problem. Has always been the problem. Will always be the problem.
These others, real, with names . . . .not a whole lot of choice on my involvements with them. Unles I too would want to go no-taxes paying homeless.
So still having to $'s/sweat support their esoteric dreams and desires. Versus the actual needs of the needing.
So from those we as a blood family have time&$'s sponsored into BA degrees. Taxes supported then later into Masters Degrees. And some even later up to teaching, PHD’s.
How many follow my example and use wood-for-heat?
How many follow my example and pursue use wood-for-power?
None. Not a one.
How many do say that I am stupid to turn away from the easy low hanging fruits of pump fuels, supplied “natural” gas, Grid supplied “clean energy” big wind farms, and state and federal subsidized PV?
All of them.
Their public made degreed demanding designer/manger jobs are all dependent on big-investor projects; rah-rah, supported by easy duped, bought off voters.
Actually work-sweat for your personal use power?, they say. How very 19th century quaint and choosing to be 3rd world stupid simple you are Steve Unruh.
Yeah. Yeah. Stupid simple enough to maintain a body-mass-index they all envy.
Have a vascular circulatory system of one half my age.
Ha! Ha! Even my orthopedic issues: the Doc’s all say, how do you do this? How do you contentiously live in a pain-scale of 5-6? (shhh. by telling yourself it is always just a manageable 3-4! that the pain is the daily reminder that you are still alive, kicking, and well.)
Where I do vary from the majority expressed on this topic.
You cannot convince the generations of now tiered ed-u-ma-cated; and the do-easy-way cultural bought-in’s to ever change their ways. NOT until the made-easy-use-gas; the other made-easy-use-for-them-ways are all used-up, and expended out.
You/we CAN leave make-energy patterns and examples for that time-will-come. This ~2000-to-present decaying-interest “reawakening” of woodgas knowledge/use/possibility is really the 5th wave of re-interest in woodgas historically. The only one with really any traction in the WWII needs-must era. thrown away when better-days (easier-use) returned.
You/we can examples-sets, use-now patterns-leave for those who will see the sense of sweating-a-bit for their energy. Actually living-it, applying in this order:
REDUCE-USE. Makes everything then doable, personal scale possible.
REUSE. Meaning use all self-made energy heats re-utilized again and again until decayed back to ambient. And doing this small scale for-real personal.
RECYCLE. All making-energy by-products; and end of use products get put to use to on a small scale personal basis too. Mineral ash to soils. Condensate as bug suppressants. Tars as sealers and structural wood preservatives.
The end resulting carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere to grow more trees. CO2 is not the bad evil planet killing Devil to be stomped back into the earth locked-up. CO2 is the savior energy vehicle to make it all possible.
But jabber on dudes.
I will always be looking for your actual real self-use results beyond the words.
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Being at least a little younger then the norm of this site and still in the working phase of my life while trying to bring it towards the sites goals I view it all through an energy lens. I don’t see the total amount of societal output being consumed by those at the top as being significantly different then it has been in the past. The problem is that the overall cost of energy has dramatically shot up. The west put up all its big public works energy projects (transportation,buildings, dams, distribution) at a time of low energy costs and high economic growth. Its all wearing out at the same time when our growth has flatlined, raw materials are expensive, labour is expensive and our societies are much older. The consuming class lives off of a surplus and that surplus has been squeezed to keep up with rising costs. The yellow vest protests I think are a reflection of people who know they are being squeezed out of existence. Now they would not cease to exist just have to live a much more bare bones existence but the reality is that is what most of the western world will have to come to terms with in coming decades. Its almost a return to Pre WW2 levels of services and energy usage. I believe those of us on this site are well ahead of the curve towards understanding a world with limits… And on that cheery note!
Cheers, David
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Hi Tom, I understand your frustration. This topic is not breaking the rules however, and this is exactly what “off topic” is for.
I wrote this earlier, it might help:
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I expect, worst case scenario, the helpless consumer class will just die in a crisis. Those who gladly give up all the skills and means for the necessities of life are fools. The time of contraction will deal with them very harshly.
I include in that group virtually all city people. It’s the greatest lifestyle ever contrived, while all the support systems work. Take away a cheap food surplus, or energy, and it will be a disaster.
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I do not like this statement really I think their are options beyond fossil fuels.
Technology trap I think I posted this once before.
Of course we know how to make that tractor work.
So could a lot of people with some help so I am not so sure the technology trap is real.
Something I can not understand is how Youtube seems to have an endless amount of content and filters to throw stuff at me that sticks in the moment.
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I believe what Gary is refering to is that the consumer class dont know how to do the things that Survival will take.
They just go to work, tap on their keyboard and buy everything they need.
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