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I clicked on one of those ads: you know "stay at home mum loses weight by using our product..."
I don't know why I did. Desperation?
Anyway, it was talking about "negative calories". The premise being that your body uses more calories to burn certain foods, than the foods themselves contain.
For only 6 easy payments of $66.60 plus p&h, and my first born daughter's soul, I could recieve an ebook listing all these wonder foods. Whatever.
I assume the first 50 food items are lettuces.

Then I started thinking, that practically anything you grow, or make can be classified as negative or nearly neutral calories. Digging a vegie patch, turning the compost, squatting down to weed the garden, all burn calories. So anything I grow, while not only being yummier, also burns more calories than are in the final product.

So if I break a sweat kneading bread, can I eat the whole loaf by myself? And since my mixer broke, any cakes, muffins or brownies I make have to be whisked by hand. Which, by the way, really kills my upper arm. Therefore, not only do they not contain nasty 200s, but they could be approaching neutral calories.

Ha Ha Ha, I'm pretty sure negative calories is hogwash. 1000 calories is 1000 calories whether its a ton of carrots or a cheeseburger.

Brisbane house are over priced

How on earth can a real estate agent advertise a AU$500 000+ home as "perfect for first home buyers"?????? (one example but there are more)

The real estate industry is so out of kilter that these agents think half a million dollars is a perfectly acceptable price to pay for a 3 bedroom weatherboard house on a postcard patch of lawn. And somehow they think that people buying their first home can afford something like that.

Let's do some sums kiddies:

"Average" wages in australia in february 2010 are about $1 200 a week.

So average annual income is approx $62 400*

Now let's assume that we have a two parent family, with a couple of kids. One parent working fulltime and one working part time**, so we have $62 400, plus about half to two thirds, or about $36000, before tax.
So total income for the family is $98 400.
minus $17 000 for tax, $81000
Lets put these figures through a mortgage calculator:
The maximum this fictional couple can borrow is $467000.
If they can comply with all the terms and conditions and come up with the deposit, which for most loans is 10%.

So if my fictional average income couple have saved up 50 grand, they can buy what the industry considers an "entry level" property. And then pay $1000 a week, which is two thirds their combined income and hope to god interest rates don't go up, ever. I hope the kids don't eat much, or wear clothes, or go to school.

I'm not really convinced that average families are earning nearly $100 000 a year. I can't find a statistic for family incomes.

Btw There are plenty of nice properties out there for less than $500 000, my problem is with real estate agents who seem to think that First Home Buyers are looking for something in that price range.

I can remember my mother buying her first house for $42000 in th 80s. Her second house was less than $100 000 in the early 90s and sold for more than double that ten years later. That's just ridiculous! The same house, rose over 100% in ten years? Wages have not risen enough to compensate... House Prices are seriously over inflated and unaffordable.
I can remember the gossip when a friend built a house in the early 90s and spent around $450k. Everyone was positive they had over capitilised. I shudder to think what that property would be worth today. I shudder mainly because the house is not my taste, actually it's a hideous cliche of a McMansion. Not to mention a vast waste of resources.

Will house prices ever deflate back to their "real" worth?
Let's say house values rose at the same (ish) rate as everything else, between about 3% and 5% a year. A particular postwar 3 Bedroom house in Brisbane, purchased in 1990, was $100 000. 10 years later that house rising in value 5% a year should have cost about $162 000. instead it sold for $50 000 more than that. 20 years later it should cost around $265 000, yet houses in that area now sell for a median price of $557k. Let's say that house is worth a lot less than it's neighbours and give it a conservative value of $440k. (it was actually advertised for this amount in 2007, lol) By my reasoning, (most likely flawed/naive) this house is over valued by nearly $200 000.

This problem will most likely not go away. The GFC (which is not over despite media consensus, schmucks), will create rises in the real cost of living, wages will stagnate, inflation will rise and even if the real estate bubble bursts, the price of houses will remain unaffordable.



*imo this amount could be skewed by including mega earners in these calculations. For example, the highest 20% of earners earn 39.4% of all income and the middle 20% earn 17.4% of all income.
**if the second earner has a casual job, which is more likely, considering the 2 kids, then the bank will not regard the income as reliable, reducing the amount the family can borrow.

Pacific Garbage Patch, Albatross Chicks

Hungry Beast: The Great Garbage Patch

"Simply allow yourself to feel whatever it is that you feel about this, without jumping to the way to solve it, because I think we really need to feel these things and if we can feel them deeply, even if the feelings aren't comfortable then those are the feelings that will turn into the fuel that can drive passionate action." -Chris Jordan

Midway: Message from the Gyre

Does anyone else freeze poppers (tetra pack, juice box) as a cheap and slightly healthier alternative to ice blocks?

I thought this was universal, until my husband said he had never had a frozen popper before. He thought I was crazy and teaching my son to be weird until he tried it. Mmmm, frozen icy goodness.

A 250mL popper which takes 2 seconds to for a hot, thirsty kid to drink, can take 15 to 20 minutes to eat.

Ask any mother how much she would pay for 15 minutes silence, on a long, hot, "Boooooring", weekend day....

Use a serrated knife, like a bread knife to score the package all around the middle, then cut the frozen popper in half. You will have to give it a bit of a whack. Give the child a teaspoon and half the popper, and tell them to go outside. It can get quite messy, little flecks of ice get flicked everywhere and melt into sticky droplets. Leave the other half in the freezer for later.

If you were a millionaire, what would be your charitable work?

i was mucking around on whohub, when i came across this question.

this was my answer:
I would buy school uniforms, shoes, school textbooks, musical instruments, computers and other learning related supplies, and pay for school camps and excursions for underprivileged children. These are the things that are hardest for kids to do without, they make them stand out as poor at school.
Teachers also misinterpret "forgetting" schoolbooks, or permission slips as laziness, when the child just doesn't want to admit that once again they can't do something, because their parents can't afford it.

I totally remember pretending to forget things, simply because i really hadn't bothered to ask my mum for it, it would just stress her out. Especially, if it was my fault and i had lost it, say my school jumper, or a text book, I would rather put up with the teacher being mad at me than my mum.

I also remember once filling out forms in the principals office which let you pay off your textbooks over time, rather than paying hundreds of dollars at the beginning of the year. When we got to the bit that asked for reasons for the extension, I said "Look we just don't have the money right now," the Principal wrote in the box, "Because I am poor." Actually, that hurts still 11 years later. AXXhole

So if i could i would make sure no kid ever feels embarrassed having to ask to borrow an eraser or a piece of paper, from a friend. Or pretend that they don't want to wear the correct uniform and are trouble makers, when the fact is they don't even own the right jumper or correct shoes. They won't get yelled at for handing in a bit of scribble on a scrap of paper, when the printer ran out of ink. And they wont have to wag wednesday afternoon sport because they havent got $3.50 for the sports money, again.

I signed up for post peak living free mini course.

there are a few courses on "Post Peak Living" but you have to pay, so i thought i'd sign up for the free newsletter first.

anyway, so far they have told me to get a 72 hour emergency kit ready.... already done that yawn...

and to start a transition initiative in my neighbourhood, quote "If a group doesn't yet exist in your area, talk to your neighbors and begin organizing."
hmmm easy as that is it?

they direct you to the transition book on amazon but not to any of the transition wikis etc online....

My own googling, i mean extensive research, has been more helpful than their nuggets of wisdom.

for Brisbane residents: http://www.transitionbrisbane.org

join the ning its like facebook/myspace for community organisations

the transition primer is here

One of the courses that I might have been interested in is about post oil jobs, but then i read the info.
This is their advice, my comments are in italics:

Skills Needed in a Post-Peak World

Here are some of the skills that will likely be needed:

• medical treatment and nursing (but we won't need dentists? Probably should brush up on herbal medicine and distilling alcohol as well, because without oil, pharmaceuticals will be few and far between. Think biting on a stick while the doc saws your leg off a la civil war. And for those who can't finish a ten year medical degree, check out Where there is no doctor/dentist/midwife etc for some basic info.)
  
• welding (uh huh, and the electricity to run the welder is coming from? Lets replace this with blacksmithing.)
  
• growing food (yep makes sense, however this should be broader food production in general, ie beekeeping, raising meat/hunting, foraging, learning about agriculture with no chemicals, permaculture etc.)
  
• plumbing (with what materials? pvc piping? I guess recycled/repurposed materials then, and when there are no parts anymore? I think running hot and cold water and indoor flush toilets could be out in a low tech post oil future. Learn how to safely build composting toilets.)
  
• carpentry and green building techniques (as long as its is traditional artisan woodworking without power saws or belt sanders or oil based varnishes and so on ad nauseum)
• sewing (with a treadle machine or hand sewing only.... and only with reused textiles, because last time i checked there werent many old fashioned looms around to produce cloth, just a few hobbyist textile artists. and there won't be any petro chemicals to fertilise cotton crops. and how exactly do you process flax to make linen again cos i forgot? Knitting might become more common, since needles are easily made from wood and some spinning wheels can be found in a few "country style" mcmansions gathering dust. Ready to shear a sheep with hand shears anyone?)
  
• converting cars to use electricity (this is about POST peak right? i'm sorry but there is NO CHEAP OIL OR GAS OR COAL... peak oil is peak fossil fuels in general so where is the electricity coming from???? solar or wind power right? and the oil based plastic parts to repair and maintain your alternative energy source and your electric car are coming from which factory?? delivered by which trucks?? How about you learn cobbling, as in making shoes from wood and leather by hand, or saddlery and horse husbandry and wagon making, because we will all be walking, and using horse power in a post fossil fuel world!)
  
• installing and repairing renewable energy systems (don't forget solar hot water) (groan, maybe in the short term, see what i have said before about repairs and maintenance, once oil, oil products, and things that are energy intensive to produce are firmly out of the affordability of the general public)
  
• installing rainwater catchment systems (using pvc again are we??)
  
• transporting goods without using fossil energy (rickshaw? horse and cart anyone? grin)
  
• installing residential and commercial backup energy systems (oh for petes sake, whatever)
  
• appliance repair (repair? and you will plug said appliance into...? knock, knock, like i said there is NO ELECTRICITY!!!!!!!!! )
  
• set up and run a food co-op (thats a nice warm and fuzzy one, just don't ask for mangoes in June, no broom broom juice means no airplanes)
  
• build and operate a community oven (baking is very energy intensive; not everyone will be able to afford to do it every day) (quite realistic, just make sure you build it right next to your sustainable coppiced woodlot, oh wait, you do have one of those right?)
  

Guess thats pretty bitchy...
I just get annoyed at people who go on about post peak oil, and then they tell you to do something like buy like kerosene lamps, as preparation. By the way, there will be no kerosene, because it is a byproduct of oil. There are people who think oil will just not be there one day, to fuel their cars, when in reality it will just become more and more expensive. This will in turn drive the cost of everything else up as well. Even completely organic fruit and veg need cold storage and transportation and then cooking, for example.

Some people won't even realise the reason why they can't get ahead in life, can't put food on the table every night, and can't keep their savings account from being eaten away, is not because they are inferior, or stupid or unlucky, its just that every ones standard of living is slipping down as oil becomes scarce and prices rise.

One day (soon) you might notice that you don't go to the movies as often as you once did, or you will put off buying a second car, because you can't afford it right now. You stop and think, and can't remember the last time you bought yourself a new handbag, or shoes. You might keep putting off trips to the hairdresser, "until next pay", and even though you used to get pedicures and waxes all the time when you were single, you haven't done that since the wedding. Or you can't afford new school shoes for the kids this term, and you'll just buff the old ones up and pray they don't have a growth spurt until "things" are less tight.
You might start finding that when you go shopping some things that used to be "needs" have turned into "wants" and less and less is making its way into the shopping trolley, but you still spend the same amount as you did 12 months ago, even three months ago.

Or if you are like me things are already like that :)

I hate to tell you, but you have probably bought your last car. Luxuries will just get even less affordable, and our definition of what we consider to be luxury (needs vs wants) will have to change. Things will not get "less tight", and things will not go back to normal, if normal means consuming more than your fair share of the planets resources.

Everything will slowly grind to a halt, industries will contract, jobs will evaporate, and people will have to shift their thinking, from consuming, and rushing, to just simply living and being.


Here is my list of jobs for the post oil economy (incomplete and in no particular order):

• Prostitution (just kidding, sort of)
• Market Gardener
• Bee Keeper
• Stock drover (no more road trains, remember)
  
• Butcher
• Baker
• Carcass renderer (where do you think soap, and glue will come from, when its not economic to make it from oil by products?)
• Tanner (as in leather, not solarium)
• Wagon maker
• Blacksmith
• Brewer/distiller
• Dentist
• Doctor
• Midwife
• Teacher
• Carpenter
• Potter
• Weaver
• Cooper (barrel maker, we'll need to replace plastic buckets, cardboard boxes and stainless steel drums with something.)
• Printer
• Musical instrument maker
• Seamstress/tailor
• Shearer
• Cobbler
• Broom maker
• Soap maker
  

Basically anything that is currently produced by energy intensive factories, or transported massive distances, will be reduced to the cottage industry level.
We could even see the rise of "piece work" the precursor to mass production. Especially for women in the cities, they will sew garments, at home with their own equipment, or make baskets, and or any other work where they can get paid by the item (no insurance, no unions, no super.)

If you feel like a beer, it won't be matter of jumping in the car and going to the bottle shop. You'll likely have to brew it yourself, but first you will have to plant a field of barley. If you want bacon and eggs for breakfast, you will have to butcher a hog, salt down and smoke the hams, collect eggs from your chook pen, chop wood for the fire and even before you do that you will have to grow feed for said chooks and hog. You see where I'm going with this?

Forget solar, hydrogen, hydroelectric and the rest. Think 1800s, preindustrialisation, "Little House on the Prairie", "My Brilliant Career". The only difference being the knowledge and scientific advances, for example, understanding germs, the need for sanitation, understanding nutrition and how to properly care for mothers and babies.

But this is countered by the knowledge we have lost since then, such as how to produce lye at home and make soap with no other chemicals. How to kill and butcher an animal. How to grow, and process textiles. How to accept mortality and live alongside death. How to work within nature without fighting and railing futilely against things you cannot control. But we will learn.