Been quiet here in the spaceship this last week, having my fortieth birthday party, which was a nice party in the garden with a man cooking a large sheep, a substantial quantity of wine and beer on offer, and a very good band that we had asked to play for the evening. All very enjoyable, and a nice way of marking the occasion.
Also been reading a lot. Bought three books on the peak oil crisis:
The Long Emergency - James Howard Kunstler. Also his blog on Clusterfuck Nation.
The Party's Over - Richard Heinberg. His website here.
Twilight in the Desert - Mathew Simmons. His organisation here.
Go read these. The West is facing dramatic, and perhaps violent change, with the unstable combination of Western expansion, Eastern expansion, and the fact that the energy reserves that both need are controlled by third parties who have little liking for either side.
And on the slightly somber subject of international relations and conflict, one of my friends bought me The Fog of War with Robert S McNamara, defence chief to Kennedy and Johnston. Beautifully put together series of close shot interviews with the 85 year old man, interspersed with Philip Glass sound-tracked news shots of the era. This description really doesn't do it justice. Watch it, and be astonished how close we came to both a full nuclear exchange in the Cuban crisis, and to avoiding American involvement in Vietnam. Stunning.
And funnily enough, what with that, and the day job, I've been kind of busy. Will have more time this week and next, and will flesh out the complex selling discussion a bit more.
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