Water in the Glass

"When all the world darkens, looking on the bright side is not a virtue but a sign of irrationality." -- Robert Jensen

It never ceases to amaze me:  the bliss of the ignorant.  Knowledge is dangerous, for multiple reasons; but not least because it can invite despair.  I do not despair, though I choose knowledge.  I am not an optimist, nor a pessimist:  I am a realist.  I cannot afford to be otherwise.

Wassail.

Photo:  B. W. Carlisle

And Today's WTI Price Is... [UPDATE]

$106.

I'm having a hard time believing the loss of control at a decades-old platform off the Louisiana coast has THAT much to do with the surge.  The WTI/Brent spread is now a little over two dollars.

(Photo:  B.W. Carlisle)

And today's WTI price is...

$103.74/barrel at the moment.

The last time WTI prices were this high?  February-April 2012.  Before that, March-May 2011.  And before that, March-September, 2008. 

(Photo:  B.W. Carlisle)

 

Cassandras Fade

Survivalblog is active again, after suffering some kind of cyberattack.  Rawles is nothing if not dogged.

In other news, the Peak Oil site The Oil Drum is shutting down, citing lack of material.  Too bad.  It gave a technical and scientific voice to an issue easily skewed by emotion.  Also, Dave Cohen of the Decline of the Empire blog is calling it quits at the end of this month.  I can hardly blame him.  Nobody wants to hear reality.  After several years of trying to bring attention to issues including ocean acidification and the inability of our current sociopolitical system to get anything done, he is tired and bitter.  I hope he can find peace, while there is time.

Collapse comes to us all, even to the lookouts.

(Photo:  B.W. Carlisle)

Spooks?

Survivalblog has been offline for a few days now.  It's happened to Rawles' site before, but usually lasts only a day or so.

I'm not his biggest fan, for a number of reasons; but the site usually has some useful information to impart on a daily basis, and I do like his monetary views.

Rawles makes no attempt to hide his contempt for TPTB.

(Photo:  B.W. Carlisle)

'Ware

Keep an eye on things.  The Dollar Index and this week's price movement in Brent and WTI crude are of particular interest (the spread between Brent and WTI is narrowing considerably).  Instability in the Middle East is, again, a powerful variable. 

(Photo:  B.W. Carlisle)

Russia Today

I am still alive, and moreover have added a link to the Russian news site (Russia Today) to the right.

I left the link to increasingly useless, Qatari-owned Al Jazeera, as it can still be relied on to provide better news coverage than CNN.  Then again, so can jeditemplearchives.com, but...

Wassail, friends.  (I mean that.)

 

Photo:  B.W. Carlisle. (Montana, of course.)

Figuratively speaking, some days are so dark that it's difficult to see my hand in front of my face.  I'm sailing blind through a foggy night on rough waters.  One thing I do know on those days:  all that is important is to keep moving.  Whether through habit, or defiance, or just some remnant of momentum... keep moving.  Otherwise, one will never get anywhere.  At the very least, the rocks will decide things for you, if such is your fate. 

Best to meet Fate head-on.