Yeah, the crutch of it for me is the UBI moniker.

What you describe at the end of your post, minimum income, is really just a rewording of the existing social security and welfare systems across the western world. I know they look different in each, but here in Canada what you describe is more or less our already existing system's design goal. Welfare money exists for those that straight up can not work, and an employment insurance system exists to protect those inbetween jobs, meanwhile other multiple programs are aimed at distributing financial assistance to the lower income groups.

Despite all of that already existing, UBI is still being heralded up here in trials as well as a replacement. The problem being that for the needy the UBI pitches are generally a step backwards.

Eg. $500/month is the UBI pitch, and they say it'll be great because everyone gets it no matter what so it's simple and fair and nobody is left behind. The trouble though is that the reality is the truly in need people were already benefitting more than the $500/month under the existing systems, and the cost was much less because it was targeted.

I here UBI and get very worried about folks just selling snake oil 'solutions' that in the end are just a demand to adopt their own particular flavor of wealth redistribution.

I Remember .

They are going up a lot. Not due to global warming .


Rates most likely going up due to dollar losing 50+% of value since 2000.



from the Herald Tribune
https://www.heraldtribune.com/story/business/2021/01/04/florida-homeowners-face-higher-rates-property-insurance-2021/4038548001/

"Property owners throughout Florida are seeing their insurance rates soar, as companies had rate increases approved ranging from from 12% to 31%. Insurers point to high rates for reinsurance, which is basically insurance to back up insurers, and claims for water damage from leaks that are not hurricane-related.

Another factor cited was that claims still were rolling in from Hurricane Irma in 2017 and Michael in 2018. Policy holders have a three-year window to submit wind damage claims. Insured losses from Irma totaled $17.44 billion while Category 5 Michael generated $7.9 billion in claims for insured losses, according to FOIR."



https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/pastdec.shtml
NOAA data goes up 2004.
Hurricane rated not more no less over last 100+ years.

Yah, I started out thinking OK this goes in the EIA channel but after reading the daily herald article I realized that I love this guy. After realizing he wasn't going to make it to the basement or wherever his wife was (just as well) he proceeds to video the event. And he didn't vertical video it. This really brings home for me the actual experience of living through a tornado and how every survivor you ever hear compares the sound to a locomotive.

And your first paragraph pretty much spells out why solar PV is a dud investment for small plant/home plant if it were completely unsupported by a plethora of mechanisms designed to make it viable financially (and that's before even considering whether the energy cost is significantly offset by the energy produced), not to mention trying to make time to do things when your PV production is high so that you're not wasting it.

I try to load shift as much as possible, even went so far as to have most of the array facing the west where we'll scrape out some extra power when we're actually going to use it (eg. in the afternoon, particularly for running air conditioners in summer), but without feed in tariffs that are 1:1 with energy purchase prices and government subsidies on the installation of the system, the sums (at least in Australia) just do not ever come close to making sense.

But as I said in the first paragraph, that is all financial dickering, it has nothing to do with actual energy used vs energy generated. There is no free energy, you have to spend energy to make energy. You have to buil a PV array, pay for the wages of the people who install it, transport costs etc etc. They all drain energy out of the system. And most people in places where feed in tariffs are either on parity with the cost of purchasing energy when your PV isn't producing align their solar arrays with the ideal direction for greatest generation of energy that they can get the best profit for, not for generation of energy when energy demands spike.

The consequences of this are that at midday, energy is coursing in to the grid and unless your electricity provider has some capacity for extended storage and load shifting (eg. pumped hydro, large scale battery arrays), it's underutilised. Come peak time in the afternoon when people get home, switch on cooling/heating, start cooking etc when PV's production is very low, the electricity company still has to cycle up gas turbines to provide the extra power to get over that peak demand, and solar does little to offset that.

So carbon still get's pissed away every day, but as long as PV owners get a cheaper bill, it's all seen to be working like a charm... ; )

The energy current efficiency panels return is only on an order of 2-3x the energy input, which is barely enough energy returned to support a subsistence agrarian lifestyle (forget education, art, industrialisation). There's a reason that far better utilisation of coal and oil via steam heralded the massive breakthrough of industrialisation, it's because coal has close to a 30 to 1 return on energy invested. Same with petrochemicals, incredibly high return on energy.

The biggest advances in human civilisation came with the ability to harness energy more effectively, or finding new energy sources which gave high amounts of energy in return for the effort of obtaining them and utilising them. Fire, water (eg. mills etc), carbon sources, nuclear and so on. Even if you manage to get 95% efficiency on the panels for 100% of their lifetime (currently incredibly unlikely), you're only turning that number in to 8-12x the energy invested compared to 25-30x for coal/petro, 50x+ for hydro and 75-100+x for gen IV nuke reactors.

And he was heralded amongst portly Caucasian men everywhere as the dance messiah..

Eärendil was a mariner
that tarried in Arvernien;
he built a boat of timber felled
in Nimbrethil to journey in;
her sails he wove of silver fair,
of silver were her lanterns made,
her prow was fashioned like a swan,
and light upon her banners laid.

In panoply of ancient kings,
in chainéd rings he armoured him;
his shining shield was scored with runes
to ward all wounds and harm from him;
his bow was made of dragon-horn,
his arrows shorn of ebony,
of silver was his habergeon,
his scabbard of chalcedony;
his sword of steel was valiant,
of adamant his helmet tall,
an eagle-plume upon his crest,
upon his breast an emerald.

Beneath the Moon and under star
he wandered far from northern strands,
bewildered on enchanted ways
beyond the days of mortal lands.
From gnashing of the Narrow Ice
where shadow lies on frozen hills,
from nether heats and burning waste
he turned in haste, and roving still
on starless waters far astray
at last he came to Night of Naught,
and passed, and never sight he saw
of shining shore nor light he sought.
The winds of wrath came driving him,
and blindly in the foam he fled
from west to east and errandless,
unheralded he homeward sped.

There flying Elwing came to him,
and flame was in the darkness lit;
more bright than light of diamond
the fire upon her carcanet.
The Silmaril she bound on him
and crowned him with the living light
and dauntless then with burning brow
he turned his prow; and in the night
from Otherworld beyond the Sea
there strong and free a storm arose,
a wind of power in Tarmenel;
by paths that seldom mortal goes
his boat it bore with biting breath
as might of death across the grey
and long-forsaken seas distressed:
from east to west he passed away.

Through Evernight he back was borne
on black and roaring waves that ran
o'er leagues unlit and foundered shores
that drowned before the Days began,
until he heard on strands of pearl
where ends the world the music long,
where ever-foaming billows roll
the yellow gold and jewels wan.
He saw the Mountain silent rise
where twilight lies upon the knees
of Valinor, and Eldamar
beheld afar beyond the seas.
A wanderer escaped from night
to haven white he came at last,
to Elvenhome the green and fair
where keen the air, where pale as glass
beneath the Hill of Ilmarin
a-glimmer in a valley sheer
the lamplit towers of Tirion
are mirrored on the Shadowmere.

He tarried there from errantry,
and melodies they taught to him,
and sages old him marvels told,
and harps of gold they brought to him.
They clothed him then in elven-white,
and seven lights before him sent,
as through the Calacirian
to hidden land forlorn he went.
He came unto the timeless halls
where shining fall the countless years,
and endless reigns the Elder King
in Ilmarin on Mountain sheer;
and words unheard were spoken then
of folk of Men and Elven-kin,
beyond the world were visions showed
forbid to those that dwell therein.

A ship then new they built for him
of mithril and of elven-glass
with shining prow; no shaven oar
nor sail she bore on silver mast:
the Silmaril as lantern light
and banner bright with living flame
to gleam thereon by Elbereth
herself was set, who thither came
and wings immortal made for him,
and laid on him undying doom,
to sail the shoreless skies and come
behind the Sun and light of Moon.

From Evereven's lofty hills
where softly silver fountains fall
his wings him bore, a wandering light,
beyond the mighty Mountain Wall.
From World's End then he turned away,
and yearned again to find afar
his home through shadow journeying,
and burning as an island star
on high above the mists he came,
a distant flame before the Sun,
a wonder ere the waking dawn
where grey the Norland waters run.

And over Middle-earth he passed
and heard at last the weeping sore
of women and of elven-maids
in Elder Days, in years of yore.
But on him mighty doom was laid,
till Moon should fade, an orbéd star
to pass, and tarry never more
on Hither Shores where mortals are;
for ever still a herald on
an errand that should never rest
to bear his shining lamp afar,
the Flammifer of Westernesse.

The wail of the redheaded sea banshee is considered by many sailors to be the herald of unspeakable doom.

99.9% of the knuckleheads commenting here negatively about Israel have never read, let alone heard of, books like Andrew Bostom's Legacy of Jihad and Legacy of Islamic Antisemitism. Or From Time Immemorial by Joan Peters. Or a book I just started, A Lethal Obsession by Robert Wistrich. Thing is I'm one of these "hope springs eternal" guys because I keep thinking people are like me who was once about as close to being a card carrying member of the KKK as you can be without actually being one. Until I read some books like Malcolm X. Black Like Me and others. While I was in Jr. High getting jumped by black kids trying to punch and stomp my guts out. The useful idiots limit this "conflict" to simply Muslims against Jews yet its a lot more profound than that:

Supplemental Article “The First and Last Enemy: Jew Hatred in Islam.” by Bostom (Frontpage Magazine archive)
http://archive.frontpagemag.com/readArticle.aspx?ARTID=28549

People just refuse to acknowledge the Jew-Hatred that is part of a Muslims DNA. Don't believe what those Interfaith frauds tell you. "Moderate" or not; if you don't hate Jews you're not a true Muslim. If you don't believe that please explain the hatred that is like a disease in Gaza. And if you have half a brain you know it's been there LONG before Israel won its Independence.

The Depravity of the Homicide Bomber’s Recruiters (Frontpage Magazine)
http://www.frontpagemag.com/2011/david-meir-levi/the-depravity-of-the-homicide-bomber%E2%80%99s-recruiters/

Female Homicide Bomber (suicide) You Tube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22XEkJY62VA

Failed Suicide Bomber Hopes for Another Chance to Kill (You Tube)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpXm9hvXroc

Jihad & Terrorism Studies Project September 26, 2002 Special Report No.10 Fiday Sermons in Saudi Mosques: Review and Analysis (MEMRI)
(This is from Saudi Arabia. Same with an article on Islam Sheikh bin Humaid that I read and am submitting below.)
http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/736.htm

Islam's Hatred of the Non-Muslim by David Bukay (Middle East Forum)
http://www.meforum.org/3545/islam-hatred-non-muslim

Guest Column: Palestinian TV Teaches Kids The Way to 'Jihad Street' by Abigail R. Esman (Investigative Project)
http://www.investigativeproject.org/4394/guest-column-palestinian-tv-teaches-kids-the-way

Hamas to kids: Shoot all the Jews (Jihad Watch)
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2014/05/hamas-to-kids-shoot-all-the-jews

Farfour "martyred" by Israelis in final episode (You Tube video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrieBhaGgHM

MEMRI Transcript: Farfour, Hamas' Mickey Mouse Character, Is 'Martyred' in the Final Episode of the "Pioneers of Tomorrow" Children's Show on Hamas Al-Aqsa TV
http://www.memri.org/report/en/print2274.htm

Children as combatants: Motivating children to seek Shahada
http://www.palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=846

Camp Jihad UN/US Palestine Probaganda and brainwashing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbrafPTe_LQ#at=211

Hamas Summer Camps: Fun, Sun and Guns by Aryeh Savir 7-13-14 (Breaking Israel News)
http://www.breakingisraelnews.com/17721/hamas-summer-camps-fun-sun-guns-photos/#t18RPE7WusjewHqd.97

Michael Coren & David Harris - Palestinian terrorist training camps for kids
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtsZXCLD1Lc

“She's Buried Chest High” (You Tube video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXdy5Fwwfzg

The "Right of Return" Is Suicide for Israel by Jonathan Schanzer (MEF)
http://www.meforum.org/334/the-right-of-return-is-suicide-for-israel

The History of the Middle East Conflict in 11 Minutes (You Tube)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZY8m0cm1oY

“Letter to the Editor” International Herald Tribune, July 1, 2003 by Giulia Boukhobza (Also in Bostom's “Legacy of Islamic Antisemitism” book: Chapter 68, page 677: "A Libyan Jew Breaks Her Silence 36 yrs after surviving the 67 Tripolitan Pogrom")
Congressional Record
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CREC-2003-09-04/pdf/CREC-2003-09-04-pt1-PgE1682-2.pdf#page=1

No dude, you're just getting started being called to the mat and you slinkety-slink the fuck away??? You orchestrated your own demise on this one, Sir Done.

-Callin' real-time-jewels of Papier-mâché on a comment as flaccid as the sack there sagging and displaying their feather-like weight....Faced with truth, the sophist...(deliberately obtuse at times and otherwise generally hostile) has but the tinny-sounding bell-tinkle heralding a hasty departure, as a familiar a fanfare as a copper's si-reen :0

dOUCHE + a bag = a lady's freshen-up.
Please....Show all the ladies how it's done again??

I took the heralded "third toke" and let me tell you from first hand experience smoking as much of 40mg as quickly and stoically as my Ego would allow: HOLY SHIT!!!!! OH MY FUCKING GOD!! That was what I was screaming in my head as I closed my eyes and I started flying through what seemed like outerspace, for real, at the speed of light. The "carrier wave" came in and tore my entire soul apart (something I did not even believe in). It was the loudest thing I could ever have imagined, it sounded like an electronic torpedo of frequency starting low bending to the highest frequency possible that it just blew everything I was apart. I swore I either died, or I was coming out of this completely fucked up. Retarded. Seeing fractals and unable to speak.

To this day, as someone who is much more on the side of science and discovery, that seemed absolutely real, just on a level that humanity will not understand for a long while.

And last but not least, DMT is AMAZING taken in smaller more manageable doses. I've smoked out many people and everyone has been astonished by what happens. Taking just 10-15mg is brilliant, even that will be the most amazing, orgasmic, alien experience and will come back amazed at the Universe, your own life and feel just very happy to be apart of it all. Even though, what you just witnessed - is some sort of parallel dimension, alien, Gnostic, Kabbalah reality that exists in some 9th dimension. Even if it were your mind, if you have taken it you will wonder, why and how is this possible? It obliterates all status quo conceptions that have occurred for the last 1,000 years+ as it is completely unlanguagable/uneglishable.

Only take that 3rd hit if you want to see how far your brain can propel you into some sort of wormhole into some other dimension of reality that humans may never understand. It changed my life for the better but I thought it was quite terrifying and I have had many DMT sub-breakthroughs... nothing can prepare anyone mere flesh being for a breakthrough; because, at least to me and many other intrepid folks, it proves we are not JUST flesh beings and that the nature of existence is far more mysterious than most of us Westerners and cultures influenced by ages of oppression, could ever have supposed.

Thanks for posting this, the world has a right to know that this exists and to have a "first hand" experience with "it".

I am the herald of the end of all. Now go find your mentor because shit is fuuuuuuuucked.

I still like Lance Armstrong. Cheating in a sport isn't a big deal to me, especially if it's cheating that maybe 90% of the serious contestants do. Those that don't should be heralded for their ability not to take drugs, but Lance won so fuck'em.

People who actually study things, read thousands of pages a week, and do real intellectual work should be heralded. Chingalera should be thrown down a well.

Vincent Laforet
"In 2008, Laforet directed "Reverie", the first widely available short film shot with the Canon 5D Mark II camera. The video has been cited by proposers of the use of DSLR cameras in digital cinematography[3] and has been heralded as one of the films that launched the HDSLR movement "

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_Laforet

From Calgary Herald:
Call it a tragic turn of events or a bald-faced lie. Rumours began circulating Thursday afternoon that Canadian pop star Justin Bieber had been diagnosed with cancer, prompting an outpouring of support from avid Beliebers – many of whom went as far as shaving their heads.

The gossip mill initially began spinning out of control thanks to a tweet from Entertainment Tonight’s official Twitter account (@ETonlineAlert) that stated:

“Pop star Justin Bieber was diagnosed with cancer earlier this morning. Bieber fans are shaving their heads to show support.”

The tweet was quickly deleted, but not before #BaldForBieber began trending.

No official comment regarding the rumours has surfaced from the 18-year-old star, however, his bodyguard Kenny Hamilton took to his Twitter account (@KennyHamilton) to deny the cancer diagnosis.

Read more: http://www.dose.ca/Justin+Bieber+falls+down+goes+boom+video/7416083/story.html#ixzz2AWGw1NmE