I just received an email from T. Boone Pickens’ email subscriptions… The subject line read: “URGENT: OPEC is tightening the noose around our neck”

From the desk of T. Boone Pickens

Hey Army,

I’ve told you this all along — our addiction to foreign oil could bring us to our knees, and there wouldn’t be a damn thing we could do about it. Now take a look at today’s headlines. OPEC just announced it’s cutting production by 2.2 million barrels. Remember – this is on top of the 2 million barrels in cuts they’ve already made since this summer! These guys are serious about getting the price of oil back up right where they like it: $75 a barrel, $100 a barrel, $150 a barrel.

This is exactly why now is the time to pull together and Push the Pickens Plan. Every time the price of oil drops, America falls asleep. The Saudis don’t. The Iranians don’t. The Venezuelans don’t. But we do.

President-elect Obama said it best a few weeks ago on 60 Minutes. “Oil prices go up, gas prices at the pump go up, everybody goes into a flurry of activity. And then the prices go back down and suddenly we act like it’s not important, and we start, you know, filling up our SUVs again. And, as a consequence, we never make any progress. It’s part of the addiction, all right. That has to be broken. Now is the time to break it.”

I couldn’t agree more. We’ve got to break that addiction now. Before it breaks us.

Click here to join your Pickens Plan District Group. Better yet, sign up to be the leader if there isn’t one already so you can help bring in 500 more members to the New Energy Army in your Congressional District before Inauguration Day. Those first 100 days are right around the corner, and the way OPEC is playing we’re going to have to move fast.

-Boone

The sad thing is, everything in this email happens in real life.  Now that gas prices are down again… people are happy.  They’ve already forgotten  how bad it felt to pay $4.00 per gallon. As a matter of fact, gas prices are so low, they’re as low as they were in the early 2000’s.  However, people should really be upset because we’ve had to go into a recession to witness gas prices this low. Did we forget that part of the equation?  Shouldn’t we be more upset over recession/depression than we were over $4.00 gas prices?  Why do we experience a level of satisfication with ourselves as a nation when gas prices go down?  The situation at hand today is even worse because we’re actually stepping back in time to 2002 or so where gas was as cheap as it is in the 4th quarter of 2008.  We’ve seen a decline never seen before.  We should ask “why did this happen?”  Instead, we say “well, its really cheap, let’s go on another vacation” which yields more and more consumption.  Over time, when we start demanding more gas, the prices will skyrocket since the supplies are at reduced levels.

In summary:

We’ve cut our consumption as a result of $4.00 gasoline.  We’ve seen the prices fall through teh floor.  We’ve realized how bad it is because we’re now acknowledging that we’re in a recession, but we’re not maintaining our consumption, in terms of gasoline.  OPEC is cutting production at record rates. We’re likely going to increase consumption of gasoline because of the return of the lowest levels of gas prices in the last decade.  Thusly, gas prices will skyrocket once again.  And this time, we’re in a recession.  Keep that in mind people.

Reduce! Reuse! Recycle!

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Today the first Google Android powered device was announced. It’s an HTC G1 on the T-Mobile network. It will be released sometime in October. While I was watching this video, something struck me that I’ve never really wanted to think about. I knew it, but didn’t want to pay attention to it. Google’s reach is constantly expanding and consumers blindly buy into it. They offer an abundance of free, very useful applications that increase the productivity of daily life. Throughout the video, all the features/applications are synchronized with your Google account. With a Google account you can do a lot, from Gmail to purchasing things with Checkout, from YouTube to productivity suites with Documents, Reader and Calendar.

I’ve always been a fan of Google since they offer many free applications/services that their competitors don’t or aren’t even interested in offering. What we consumers have to keep in mind is that these free offerings are totally available for the sole reason of driving advertising revenue. After all, how would Google still exist without any income?

Back in college when Google’s stock was about $350 per share, I did an extensive report from an ethical point of view. Based on the company’s ethics, I recommended to my peers to buy their stock. After all, Google’s motto is “Don’t be evil”.

Since then many new applications have been released. Their reach has grown far beyond what it was in the Spring of 2006. Back to the video. They’re highlighting that you have access to all your Google apps right from your handheld Android powered phone. This is really great, but again, we need to remember that they’re trying to drive ad revenue.

Suppose that they’re motto is a fluke and they somehow were subpoenaed to turn over all their user data to courts to allow prosecution of their customers, for example? How evil would that be? A company like Google has so much user data in their databases that if it were hacked or otherwise compromised by a court of law, for example, their customers would be wide open to attack.

Imagine if you use Google Documents and Calendar on a daily basis for work related activities. Is it right for Google to turn over potential trade secrets to a court of law or prosecuting entity? Is it right for Google to track each user that watches given videos on YouTube and turn that information over to Viacom, for instance, so that they can be prosecuted if the content that the user accessed was copyrighted?

Advances in technology provides us with tough questions. I’m not so sure that we should be so tightly integrated with one company’s services that they’re linked to your mobile phone and go with you wherever you go. You’ll never be disconnected from Google’s database if you opt to use their very convenient, useful, and free services.

Just a thought to keep in mind… think about it.

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Many, many people are against the new Facebook design. I’ve read about it in my local newspaper, the Pottstown Mercury. I decided to see for myself if I like the new design.

Honestly, I don’t see anything wrong with it at all. It takes a little time (no more than 10 minutes) to get used to. Frankly, if you can’t get used to it in 10 minutes or less, you might be Petarded. You should welcome change, not be averse to it. I never understood why many people my age are so critical of their parents for being totally against change but end up possessing the same trait.

Anyway, when I use the new Facebook, I feel like my focus is trained a bit more. There are separate tabs for Info, Wall, Pictures, etc. If you want to visit a different section of someones profile, you aren’t distracted by the other sections.

Also, since I’m not a big fan of Facebook apps, this separation of Profile subsections is great. I can view a person’s profile without being bombarded by all their pointless apps that they’ve added. Apps usually fall under the Boxes tab or a completely separate tab to themselves.

In conclusion, I don’t see the need to create a group called ‘1,000,000 AGAINST THE NEW FACEBOOK LAYOUT!’ It just shows that you’re supporting the ideals of your parents (or preceding generations) blind conservatism and changeless outlook to the future. After all, we’re the technology generation and I’d say that Facebook is heavily technology oriented. Did you think it’d stay the same for long?

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I really like Costco. From my personal experience, you can get a 3 month supply of the basics (toilet paper, soap, etc) for 3 people for about $90. They have a virtually unlimited return policy that really can’t be beat anywhere else. They have a very helpful staff. Best of all the Costco perks, are the free samples that they distribute every day during lunch time.

When Sarah and I were on the way back from our vacation in Delaware yesterday, the traffic was so bad near Christiana mall that we decided to stop in to a few stores, one being Costco. It was so busy. The isles were packed, and Costco’s isles are very, very wide. There were samples being given out at the end of nearly every other isle.

Pretty much the only thing I hate about Costco (and this has nothing really to do with Costco) is the huge amount of fat people swarming around the free samples. Free samples are no joke to them. The is a unspoken line very similar to like when you’re at the deli at a regular food store. However, these fat people do not have any regard for this unspoken queue. They will jump in front of you, take multiple of the same sample, and look at you as if you’re wrong for waiting in line like everyone else. Perhaps this is just how people are in Delaware? I don’t think so. This is how the people that flock to Costco for the sole reason of exploiting the free samples. This is madness! No, This is Costco!!

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When you do not know a thing, to allow that you do not know it–this is knowledge. ~Confucius

I read this quote and thought about my outlook on life. Basically, people should be more humble than they are on a daily basis. Everyone should take some time to sit back and consider that they’re wrong. When you can finally realize that you’re wrong, that’s real power. At that point, you can make strides in a positive direction to learn a thing or two which will inevitably make you a better person. Moral of this blog: don’t act like you know it all, something will always teach you that you’re wrong in one way or another.

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I’m sitting here typing this blog from my new Nokia n810 internet tablet device. It’s a really cool little gadget. In my opinion, I think it could rival the Iphone (that is, if the Iphone didn’t have a cell phone built into it). The n810 does web navigation, IM, VOIP, Bluetooth, and GPS very well out of the box. It runs on a customized version of Debian (a Linux distribution). Everything ‘just works’. It isn’t very often that you can say that about a device but the hardware and software combination is just great. Search youtube for n810 to see some cool videos of this device. I picked it up for $299 but the retail price is normally $399.

/End of sales pitch/

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