Chapter 13: In Which Shantzy Pantz Predicts that an Overhaul of American Energy Usage Will Begin to Revive the Economy

During my recent reading on the economy (Paul Krugman, also NYTimes) I've come to the conclusion that this recession is based on the fact that we've come to the end of the fossil fuel road and will need to transition to a fundamentally different energy economy. I'm convinced of this because our energy usage is the basis of our economy and the ways in which we've used fossil fuels over the last century are nearing the end of their sustainability.

We've only used about half the oil in the world, but the second half will be exponentially harder to procure since:

1- We'll be fighting for it with an ever-more-powerful China
2- Its physically more difficult to extract. We've been picking the "low hanging fruit" since the beginning.
3- We'll begin to experience exponentially more severe climate consequences and even -I'll do my best to be diplomatic here- "those who dispute human responsibility for climate change" will have to admit that they would rather not have more tornadoes, drought/famine, global unrest, etc.

Basically the very thing that underpinned our economic growth over the last century is now becoming dead weight and will have to be jettisoned. Let China fight dirty with someone else over the last drops. Lets be the smart ones.

Its really a grand opportunity to cement America's world leadership role. You think we got kudos for electing a Black president? People will really stop hating us if we stop pumping CO2 into the atmosphere and propping up their dictators with bribes (from Harper's magazine, March 2009, Invisible Hands, bottom-left paragraph on p. 61) and oil profits.

Chapter 12: In Which Shantzy Pantz Waxes on About the Virtues of Neti Pots

In order to maintain a sufficient level of randomness in this blog I'm going to switch from current events to the millenia-old Indian medicinal tradition of Ayurveda. In this case the ancient practice of squirting salt water into one nostril until it comes out the other, mmm.

I promise I'm not writing this as an excuse to talk about snot. I really think Neti Pots are a great help in keeping healthy through the winter and I want to tell y'all about it. They pretty much solve the twin problems of mucus build-up and nasal dryness without side effects or any chemicals.

I stumbled across a Neti Pot a few winters ago at a CVS when I was looking for something to help with my sinus -lets say- situation. I'm kind of easily amused so I thought I would give it a shot. The first one I bought looked like a plant-watering pitcher/tea pot. I read the directions and mixed a packet on salt and baking soda into warm water, put the spout in my nose, leaned forward, turned my head sideways and tried to hold still while the saline solution washed all the buggers out of my nose and nasal sinuses. Mmmm.

Anyway, I've become a big believer. The saline solution basically replaces all the undesirable junk in that area -as well as the upper throat- with moisture. Not a bad trade. Our bodies use mucus to catch germs before they get into our lungs or tissue but if the mucus just sits there so do the germs. If we wash all that away it would seem we're better off. Thats my highly educated opinion.

Cheers

Chapter 11: In which Shantzy Pants Urges Parents to vaccinate their kids

The anti-vaccination movement has come to my attention recently. I listened to an episode of This American Life - called Ruining it for the Rest of Us- which gave a great look at the issue. There were also major court decisions this week that ruled against a group of families seeking compensation for their children's autism which they believe to have been caused by vaccinations their children received. Of particular concern is the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine.

Its been widely reported -NPR News, NY Times, This American Life- that scientific evidence concludes overwhelmingly that their is no link between vaccinations and autism. That said, I'm most interested in the emotional issues which would lead parents to choose whether or not to vaccinate their kids. The main point made by the This American Life story was that people will never make a choice like this based on "the public good" when they perceive a threat to their kids. This is completely understandable but I wonder why they would perceive the threat to their kids from a vaccine is greater than the threat from the actual disease.

Certainly we can't force people to vaccinate but I believe those who choose not to should pay a fee every year that would go towards bolstering all the aspects of the public health system that would need to respond to an outbreak of the related diseases. I believe the fee should be substantial since the possible consequences of an outbreak of a disease like measles, for example -such an outbreak occurred recently in California and was detailed in Ruining It for the Rest of Us- are huge.

Chapter 10: In which Shantzy Pants -long returned from India- begins blogging about various other things

Hey! You thought you got rid of me Ha! Well I back baby and ready to blog blog blog! I'd long considered some sort of idea-presenting-thought-exporting blog so here it is.

I'm planning on heading back to India in January 2010 so until then I'll amuse myself -probably not anyone else really, but at least myself- by commenting on things such as the news of the day, or random semi-useful insights I might stumble across from time to time.

First comment:

Stocks Tank after Secretary Geithner Describes New Bank Bailout

I've decided that this doesn't mean anything. The market goes up, it goes down, it goes up again, then down, then down more, then up, then...all with no baring on the future. These days the market is like a bunch of ten-year-olds scaring themselves with horror movies at a sleep-over. The cat farts and everyone screams and runs out of the room. Anyone trying to predict anything about anything these days had better be smarter than me since I have no clue what to expect from our economy or Washington.

Well there you go y'all the Shantz has spoken, and you'll never be able to get that minute-and-a-half back.

Toodles