Exchange rate
Jan 23rd 2009, 7:03 pm
#1921
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Apr 2008
Location: Barrie
Posts: 349
Re: Exchange rate
The UK does have a great pharma industry, and our biotech development is second to none...we are way ahead of the yanks because of Bush and his embrio stuff. But these are not labour intensive, and manufacturing is not what it used to be.
One of the problems the future world faces is that as Oil runs out, and our lack of a viable alternative becomes obvious, the cost of everything will go up as everything requires Oil in some point of the process. As has been said many times, countries that are energy rich, will for a while at least, be rich in every way. Then, once we meet the demand left by diminshing Oil supplies with stuff such as Algal Oil, these economies will fall into decline. There will IMO be a 10-15 year period where Canada will be one of the richest countries, then, unless it invests the proceeds wisely, instead of pissing it up the wall like we have here, it will fall behind again. That may be the time to move back here and change your loonies into pounds
One of the problems the future world faces is that as Oil runs out, and our lack of a viable alternative becomes obvious, the cost of everything will go up as everything requires Oil in some point of the process. As has been said many times, countries that are energy rich, will for a while at least, be rich in every way. Then, once we meet the demand left by diminshing Oil supplies with stuff such as Algal Oil, these economies will fall into decline. There will IMO be a 10-15 year period where Canada will be one of the richest countries, then, unless it invests the proceeds wisely, instead of pissing it up the wall like we have here, it will fall behind again. That may be the time to move back here and change your loonies into pounds
Jan 23rd 2009, 7:46 pm
#1922
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 14,227
Re: Exchange rate
The UK does have a great pharma industry, and our biotech development is second to none...we are way ahead of the yanks because of Bush and his embrio stuff. But these are not labour intensive, and manufacturing is not what it used to be.
One of the problems the future world faces is that as Oil runs out, and our lack of a viable alternative becomes obvious, the cost of everything will go up as everything requires Oil in some point of the process. As has been said many times, countries that are energy rich, will for a while at least, be rich in every way. Then, once we meet the demand left by diminshing Oil supplies with stuff such as Algal Oil, these economies will fall into decline. There will IMO be a 10-15 year period where Canada will be one of the richest countries, then, unless it invests the proceeds wisely, instead of pissing it up the wall like we have here, it will fall behind again. That may be the time to move back here and change your loonies into pounds
One of the problems the future world faces is that as Oil runs out, and our lack of a viable alternative becomes obvious, the cost of everything will go up as everything requires Oil in some point of the process. As has been said many times, countries that are energy rich, will for a while at least, be rich in every way. Then, once we meet the demand left by diminshing Oil supplies with stuff such as Algal Oil, these economies will fall into decline. There will IMO be a 10-15 year period where Canada will be one of the richest countries, then, unless it invests the proceeds wisely, instead of pissing it up the wall like we have here, it will fall behind again. That may be the time to move back here and change your loonies into pounds
Jan 24th 2009, 8:43 am
#1923
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 308
Re: Exchange rate
Wow, 1.67 today. It was just touching 2.4 when we first started our SW application. Admittedly it was 4 years ago now. 31% down on when we started. And house prices have fallen around 15% from their ridiculous highs. Add it all together and were approaching a halving in value. It puts a whole new perspective on moving now.
Jan 24th 2009, 8:46 am
#1924
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Apr 2008
Location: Barrie
Posts: 349
Re: Exchange rate
Yes - energy is going to be everything. Slight OT, but in my more depressed moments I expect that the last 10 years are as good as it gets and that we will see a major conflict over resources in our lifetimes without some big technology breakthrough (renewables are great, but so far their isn't one that has a fast enough energy conversion rate to be replace oil on the scale that it's used)
I do agree that the past couple of decades have been the best we have had so far, and maybe for the next couple of decades we will look back and think that they were the best ever...but there is a time coming when we will have solved our energy problems once and for all and have learned to use the sun's energy, either directly through solar etc, or indirectly through algae etc to meet all our energy needs without damaging our environment. We will also have made medical advances that make current therapies look very primitive. I believe that in the next 4-5 decades we will find ways to significantly slow the ageing process, and that humans, who can afford it, will have life expectancies well into the hundreds, with a high quality of life...provided that various mentally ill groups of people, for example Muslims who imitate Mohamad, learn that they must share this world with everyone else, not convert it, and that we have imposed strict allowances on offspring. Then life will be truly amazing, perhaps the way it was meant to be. I believe some of us alive now will see these days, and enjoy them long past the point that we ever expected to.
Jan 24th 2009, 11:22 am
#1925
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 476
Re: Exchange rate
Algal Oil is the replacement. It is virtually carbon neutral. It doesn't require using vast tracts of arable land, all you need is some land (can be grown vertically in sheets in a car park!)), water, and sunshine (and of course CO2, which we have plenty of!). The conversion rate is 10-50 times better than other biofuels. The product is chemically identical to light sweet crude and can be converted into diesel or kerosene. Scale up will happen quickly, but maybe not quickly enough. The speed at which this and other technologies are scaled up, and problems with diseases etc are overcome, will determine the extent of decline in our living standards/number of people starving in subsistance communities.
I do agree that the past couple of decades have been the best we have had so far, and maybe for the next couple of decades we will look back and think that they were the best ever...but there is a time coming when we will have solved our energy problems once and for all and have learned to use the sun's energy, either directly through solar etc, or indirectly through algae etc to meet all our energy needs without damaging our environment. We will also have made medical advances that make current therapies look very primitive. I believe that in the next 4-5 decades we will find ways to significantly slow the ageing process, and that humans, who can afford it, will have life expectancies well into the hundreds, with a high quality of life...provided that various mentally ill groups of people, for example Muslims who imitate Mohamad, learn that they must share this world with everyone else, not convert it, and that we have imposed strict allowances on offspring. Then life will be truly amazing, perhaps the way it was meant to be. I believe some of us alive now will see these days, and enjoy them long past the point that we ever expected to.
I do agree that the past couple of decades have been the best we have had so far, and maybe for the next couple of decades we will look back and think that they were the best ever...but there is a time coming when we will have solved our energy problems once and for all and have learned to use the sun's energy, either directly through solar etc, or indirectly through algae etc to meet all our energy needs without damaging our environment. We will also have made medical advances that make current therapies look very primitive. I believe that in the next 4-5 decades we will find ways to significantly slow the ageing process, and that humans, who can afford it, will have life expectancies well into the hundreds, with a high quality of life...provided that various mentally ill groups of people, for example Muslims who imitate Mohamad, learn that they must share this world with everyone else, not convert it, and that we have imposed strict allowances on offspring. Then life will be truly amazing, perhaps the way it was meant to be. I believe some of us alive now will see these days, and enjoy them long past the point that we ever expected to.
Thanks
Jan 24th 2009, 3:26 pm
#1926
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 14,227
Re: Exchange rate
Algal Oil is the replacement. It is virtually carbon neutral. It doesn't require using vast tracts of arable land, all you need is some land (can be grown vertically in sheets in a car park!)), water, and sunshine (and of course CO2, which we have plenty of!). The conversion rate is 10-50 times better than other biofuels. The product is chemically identical to light sweet crude and can be converted into diesel or kerosene. Scale up will happen quickly, but maybe not quickly enough. The speed at which this and other technologies are scaled up, and problems with diseases etc are overcome, will determine the extent of decline in our living standards/number of people starving in subsistance communities.
I do agree that the past couple of decades have been the best we have had so far, and maybe for the next couple of decades we will look back and think that they were the best ever...but there is a time coming when we will have solved our energy problems once and for all and have learned to use the sun's energy, either directly through solar etc, or indirectly through algae etc to meet all our energy needs without damaging our environment. We will also have made medical advances that make current therapies look very primitive. I believe that in the next 4-5 decades we will find ways to significantly slow the ageing process, and that humans, who can afford it, will have life expectancies well into the hundreds, with a high quality of life...provided that various mentally ill groups of people, for example Muslims who imitate Mohamad, learn that they must share this world with everyone else, not convert it, and that we have imposed strict allowances on offspring. Then life will be truly amazing, perhaps the way it was meant to be. I believe some of us alive now will see these days, and enjoy them long past the point that we ever expected to.
I do agree that the past couple of decades have been the best we have had so far, and maybe for the next couple of decades we will look back and think that they were the best ever...but there is a time coming when we will have solved our energy problems once and for all and have learned to use the sun's energy, either directly through solar etc, or indirectly through algae etc to meet all our energy needs without damaging our environment. We will also have made medical advances that make current therapies look very primitive. I believe that in the next 4-5 decades we will find ways to significantly slow the ageing process, and that humans, who can afford it, will have life expectancies well into the hundreds, with a high quality of life...provided that various mentally ill groups of people, for example Muslims who imitate Mohamad, learn that they must share this world with everyone else, not convert it, and that we have imposed strict allowances on offspring. Then life will be truly amazing, perhaps the way it was meant to be. I believe some of us alive now will see these days, and enjoy them long past the point that we ever expected to.
I do take issue with you calling all religious people mentally ill - that just isn't the case. Some of them are just liars
Jan 24th 2009, 4:14 pm
#1927
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Nov 2007
Location: Kamloops from London via New York
Posts: 456
Re: Exchange rate
Algal Oil is the replacement. It is virtually carbon neutral. It doesn't require using vast tracts of arable land, all you need is some land (can be grown vertically in sheets in a car park!)), water, and sunshine (and of course CO2, which we have plenty of!). The conversion rate is 10-50 times better than other biofuels. The product is chemically identical to light sweet crude and can be converted into diesel or kerosene. Scale up will happen quickly, but maybe not quickly enough. The speed at which this and other technologies are scaled up, and problems with diseases etc are overcome, will determine the extent of decline in our living standards/number of people starving in subsistance communities.
I do agree that the past couple of decades have been the best we have had so far, and maybe for the next couple of decades we will look back and think that they were the best ever...but there is a time coming when we will have solved our energy problems once and for all and have learned to use the sun's energy, either directly through solar etc, or indirectly through algae etc to meet all our energy needs without damaging our environment. We will also have made medical advances that make current therapies look very primitive. I believe that in the next 4-5 decades we will find ways to significantly slow the ageing process, and that humans, who can afford it, will have life expectancies well into the hundreds, with a high quality of life...provided that various mentally ill groups of people, for example Muslims who imitate Mohamad, learn that they must share this world with everyone else, not convert it, and that we have imposed strict allowances on offspring. Then life will be truly amazing, perhaps the way it was meant to be. I believe some of us alive now will see these days, and enjoy them long past the point that we ever expected to.
I do agree that the past couple of decades have been the best we have had so far, and maybe for the next couple of decades we will look back and think that they were the best ever...but there is a time coming when we will have solved our energy problems once and for all and have learned to use the sun's energy, either directly through solar etc, or indirectly through algae etc to meet all our energy needs without damaging our environment. We will also have made medical advances that make current therapies look very primitive. I believe that in the next 4-5 decades we will find ways to significantly slow the ageing process, and that humans, who can afford it, will have life expectancies well into the hundreds, with a high quality of life...provided that various mentally ill groups of people, for example Muslims who imitate Mohamad, learn that they must share this world with everyone else, not convert it, and that we have imposed strict allowances on offspring. Then life will be truly amazing, perhaps the way it was meant to be. I believe some of us alive now will see these days, and enjoy them long past the point that we ever expected to.
Jan 24th 2009, 4:19 pm
#1928
Tea Drinker
Thread Starter
Joined: Nov 2006
Location: Kamloops, BC
Posts: 5,387
Jan 24th 2009, 4:59 pm
#1929
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Apr 2008
Location: Barrie
Posts: 349
Re: Exchange rate
I am a bigot (someone intolerant of other people's opinions) when it comes to groups of people who believe that it is OK to kill people who don't convert to their beliefs. This is how Mohamad behaved (he personally murdered a thousand Jews and Christians in his own life), and this is how some of his current day followers choose to behave (not just terrorists, but vast numbers of his followers in Africa and Asia). I think it is a perfectly acceptable thing to say that the world will be a better place if these people learn that they need to share this planet with others from different belief systems. I am extremely tolerant of all peaceful beliefs, but I oppose those that would subdue and suffocate freedom. It is unfortunate that you and people like you feel it necessary to stifle all reasonable debate about this very dangerous topic by calling those who choose to see and speak about the full truth rude and insulting names. I suggest therefore that it is you who is the bigot as you are intolerant of my perfectly reasonable and well founded opinion.
Jan 24th 2009, 5:00 pm
#1930
half a century
Joined: Mar 2008
Location: Sarf Lundun to East Van :)
Posts: 10,222
Re: Exchange rate
I am a bigot (someone intolerant of other people's opinions) when it comes to groups of people who believe that it is OK to kill people who don't convert to their beliefs. This is how Mohamad behaved (he personally murdered a thousand Jews and Christians in his own life), and this is how some of his current day followers choose to behave (not just terrorists, but vast numbers of his followers in Africa and Asia). I think it is a perfectly acceptable thing to say that the world will be a better place if these people learn that they need to share this planet with others from different belief systems. I am extremely tolerant of all peaceful beliefs, but I oppose those that would subdue and suffocate freedom. It is unfortunate that you and people like you feel it necessary to stifle all reasonable debate about this very dangerous topic by calling those who choose to see and speak about the full truth rude and insulting names. I suggest therefore that it is you who is the bigot as you are intolerant of my perfectly reasonable and well founded opinion.
Jan 24th 2009, 5:09 pm
#1931
Joined: Nov 2008
Posts: 411
Re: Exchange rate
Last edited by seaham gal; Jan 24th 2009 at 6:24 pm. Reason: link not working
Jan 24th 2009, 5:20 pm
#1933
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Nov 2007
Location: Kamloops from London via New York
Posts: 456
Re: Exchange rate
I am a bigot (someone intolerant of other people's opinions) when it comes to groups of people who believe that it is OK to kill people who don't convert to their beliefs. This is how Mohamad behaved (he personally murdered a thousand Jews and Christians in his own life), and this is how some of his current day followers choose to behave (not just terrorists, but vast numbers of his followers in Africa and Asia). I think it is a perfectly acceptable thing to say that the world will be a better place if these people learn that they need to share this planet with others from different belief systems. I am extremely tolerant of all peaceful beliefs, but I oppose those that would subdue and suffocate freedom. It is unfortunate that you and people like you feel it necessary to stifle all reasonable debate about this very dangerous topic by calling those who choose to see and speak about the full truth rude and insulting names. I suggest therefore that it is you who is the bigot as you are intolerant of my perfectly reasonable and well founded opinion.
Jan 24th 2009, 5:30 pm
#1934
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Jul 2008
Location: My Utopia Nova Scotia!
Posts: 1,368
Re: Exchange rate
http://www.xe.com/ucc/convert.cgi
$1.67
We're really in trouble as our pensions are paid in UK pounds!
$1.67
We're really in trouble as our pensions are paid in UK pounds!
urry up chc so we can work 
Jan 24th 2009, 5:56 pm
#1935
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 14,227
Re: Exchange rate
TheBear is right, he is wrong to single out islam tho. Religion is a crutch to help those that need the threat of punishment by a higher being to justify their own morality. That makes them just a tiny bit mad in my opinion - but you don't care about my opinion anyway so it doesn't matter too much. What matters is when you (not you personally
) try to convert others via force (as Islam appears from the outside to do) or brainwashing (as all religions do to their kids)Oh well - it's been an interesting thread.