Speaking of cars...
While we are on the subject, here's a fascinating bit of
crazy artistry that I came across today - a Honda
commercial which is a Rube Goldberg parody of an
automobile assembly line - it is silly, but worth a look....
This link was sent via What Matters an interesting e-newsletter I subscribe to...my friend Boudewijn Wegerif says this advertisement doesn't *matter* at all - it is flawless, yet inane....
See for yourself! BTW, it cost six million dollars to make this commercial,
and it took three months, 605 takes, to get it right!
Yes, isn't it great, when things *just work* ....
The What Matters e-letter posted with this commercial also has a fascinating discussion by Alan Lewis on"cheap oil" - Think about it!
“Cheap oil is the mote that obscures clear vision; it is the ground condition from which an entire unreal world is built. It gives us bad information, terribly bad information, about the implications of what we are doing. As a result it is as though we literally ‘cannot see’ what we are doing.
”Without high-quality information, people will not, and in the most realistic terms ‘cannot’, make good decisions, because they cannot ‘see’.
”True cost pricing of oil acts to let the price of a key commodity convey QUALITY information, information that reflects economic and geologic limitations and realities, and actual outlays. At present, gas at $1.50/gallon is not quality information; it is misinformation. Hence, millions of people, businesses and municipalities, acting on misinformation, do all kinds of silly things, like buy SUVs, pave the planet, develop sprawling slurbs, and generally arrange things in a manner that assumes plenty of cheap oil – which is running out. And of course the burning of oil causes environmental problems even if it were NOT running out.
”Further, to raise fuel prices, past a point . . . is not just to raise fuel prices, but to precipitate a reorganization of society. As oil prices increment to multiples of current prices, the entire context changes and it is no longer simply a matter of modest alteration of one's familiar daily decisions and habits. Rather, a radical restructuring of the entire existing order becomes necessary: a retreat from what I call ‘auto-centrism’ and the myriad assumptions and habits that are rooted in cheap oil.
”’Auto-centrism’ denotes the elaborate social, cultural, political, legal, medical, actuarial, economic, financial and physical infrastructural complex, all centered around the automobile, that has been constructed over the past 5-6 decades. The costs of this enormously expensive, wasteful and environmentally-disastrous enterprise are not reflected in current oil/gas pricing. Without the negative feedback of true cost pricing, the monster of auto-centrism continues to grow and devour everything in its path. Auto-centrism is the vampire; true cost pricing is the golden bullet.”
**********
Oil is not so cheap, when people are dying for it.
As former secretary of state Madeleine Albright said, regarding
the five hundred thousand innocent Iraqui children dead because
of US sanctions, "We think the price is worth it." Is the price
still "worth it" now that many many more are dead, and the
cost keeps rising?
While we are on the subject, here's a fascinating bit of
crazy artistry that I came across today - a Honda
commercial which is a Rube Goldberg parody of an
automobile assembly line - it is silly, but worth a look....
This link was sent via What Matters an interesting e-newsletter I subscribe to...my friend Boudewijn Wegerif says this advertisement doesn't *matter* at all - it is flawless, yet inane....
See for yourself! BTW, it cost six million dollars to make this commercial,
and it took three months, 605 takes, to get it right!
Yes, isn't it great, when things *just work* ....
The What Matters e-letter posted with this commercial also has a fascinating discussion by Alan Lewis on"cheap oil" - Think about it!
“Cheap oil is the mote that obscures clear vision; it is the ground condition from which an entire unreal world is built. It gives us bad information, terribly bad information, about the implications of what we are doing. As a result it is as though we literally ‘cannot see’ what we are doing.
”Without high-quality information, people will not, and in the most realistic terms ‘cannot’, make good decisions, because they cannot ‘see’.
”True cost pricing of oil acts to let the price of a key commodity convey QUALITY information, information that reflects economic and geologic limitations and realities, and actual outlays. At present, gas at $1.50/gallon is not quality information; it is misinformation. Hence, millions of people, businesses and municipalities, acting on misinformation, do all kinds of silly things, like buy SUVs, pave the planet, develop sprawling slurbs, and generally arrange things in a manner that assumes plenty of cheap oil – which is running out. And of course the burning of oil causes environmental problems even if it were NOT running out.
”Further, to raise fuel prices, past a point . . . is not just to raise fuel prices, but to precipitate a reorganization of society. As oil prices increment to multiples of current prices, the entire context changes and it is no longer simply a matter of modest alteration of one's familiar daily decisions and habits. Rather, a radical restructuring of the entire existing order becomes necessary: a retreat from what I call ‘auto-centrism’ and the myriad assumptions and habits that are rooted in cheap oil.
”’Auto-centrism’ denotes the elaborate social, cultural, political, legal, medical, actuarial, economic, financial and physical infrastructural complex, all centered around the automobile, that has been constructed over the past 5-6 decades. The costs of this enormously expensive, wasteful and environmentally-disastrous enterprise are not reflected in current oil/gas pricing. Without the negative feedback of true cost pricing, the monster of auto-centrism continues to grow and devour everything in its path. Auto-centrism is the vampire; true cost pricing is the golden bullet.”
**********
Oil is not so cheap, when people are dying for it.
As former secretary of state Madeleine Albright said, regarding
the five hundred thousand innocent Iraqui children dead because
of US sanctions, "We think the price is worth it." Is the price
still "worth it" now that many many more are dead, and the
cost keeps rising?
