Mass arrests of proHamas demonstrators -is this the right action ?
— Concerned Canadian (@Concern70732755) June 1, 2025
Do you support this !
pic.twitter.com/6VcOVvJm7m
Paris is gone.pic.twitter.com/UTgSEkKOpT
— Vivid.🇮🇱 (@VividProwess) May 31, 2025
President Donald Trump’s full remarks to a joint session of Congress
— America (@america) March 5, 2025
pic.twitter.com/UmGhPrnclS
It's solar or bust for the human race.
It's true, when the infrastructure falls into place, and you're at a latitude advantageous for production of solar electricity.
Equally, the invention of batteries, and the evolution of solar energy gathering technology, it may only take minutes a day in cloudy conditions to create the kind of power we use daily in our industrial and domestic lives.
You could probably expect a paint on an automobile to turn both sun and warmth into electrical energy to power the car and store in batteries. Batteries will evolve into something beyond recognition. The whole world could be done over, and will be. Because you're right. The power of the sun makes oil look like a fart in the wind.
It's important to recognize limits on petroleum energy, because it may indeed be a supply that could go on forever, who knows?
The problem is basic. It takes a large concentration of energy simply to distribute petroleum, and if the demand for this form of energy is increasing, the infrastructure also needs to expand, which means the tankers need to be bigger, and sail more frequently, and the storage facilities need to be larger, and the pipelines need to expand, and the gas lines to the houses, and the gas stations for the increasing number of cars, and trucks, and trains.
In short, it becomes ungainly to deliver this form of energy, to be honest, plus, you build it, then, run out of oil. What a mess that's going to be. And you haven't replaced it. Which was supposed to happen in about 1975.
The actual projections for running out of oil stands at 50 years from now. That's also a blink and you're there.
Check out our latest pod with @JessePeltan, which is just 3 hrs straight of him dropping bangers like the one below pic.twitter.com/y6BbDykKXe
— DER Task Force (@DER_Task_Force) May 6, 2025
15 web pages produced by Grok in less time than it takes to make a cuppa tea.
I said, to Grok, "The oils sands of Alberta are projected to contain reserves of oil enough to serve demand for 200 years. Does this sound accurate?"
The claim that Alberta’s oil sands contain reserves sufficient to meet demand for 200 years requires careful scrutiny, as it depends on multiple variables including reserve estimates, extraction methods, global oil demand, and economic viability. Let’s break it down based on available data and critical analysis.
Reserve Estimates
Alberta’s oil sands are among the largest oil reserves globally, with proven reserves estimated at approximately 158.9 to 167 billion barrels of recoverable bitumen, according to sources like the Alberta government, the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP), and McDaniel & Associates. Total bitumen-in-place is much higher, estimated at 1.7 to 2.5 trillion barrels, but only about 10% is economically recoverable with current technology.
Current Production and Demand Context
In 2024, Alberta’s oil sands produced about 3.4 to 3.5 million barrels per day (bpd), accounting for roughly 75% of Canada’s total oil production. Global oil demand in 2024 was approximately 100 million bpd, with projections suggesting demand may peak around 2030–2035 before declining due to energy transitions (e.g., electrification, renewable energy).
To evaluate the 200-year claim, let’s assume Alberta’s oil sands were to supply a significant portion of global demand:
At 3.4 million bpd, annual production is roughly 1.24 billion barrels per year (3.4 million × 365 days).
Dividing the proven reserves (167 billion barrels) by this production rate yields approximately 135 years of supply if Alberta’s oil sands were the sole source at current production levels (167 billion ÷ 1.24 billion ≈ 135).
However, global demand far exceeds Alberta’s production capacity, as the oil sands contribute only about 3–4% of global supply. If we consider Alberta supplying a fraction of global demand (e.g., 3.4 million bpd out of 100 million bpd), the reserves would last much longer, but the 200-year claim assumes sustained demand and no significant technological or economic disruptions.
Factors Affecting the 200-Year Claim
Demand Projections: The claim assumes constant or slowly declining oil demand over 200 years. However, the Canadian Energy Regulator predicts a potential 75% drop in Canadian crude production by 2050 in a global net-zero scenario due to reduced fossil fuel demand. Countries like China, the UK, and France are planning to phase out internal combustion engines by 2040, which could significantly reduce oil demand.
Economic Viability: Oil sands extraction is energy-intensive and costly, requiring high oil prices (e.g., $60–$70 per barrel or more) to remain profitable. Fluctuating oil prices, competition from cheaper sources (e.g., U.S. shale), and increasing carbon taxes could limit long-term production.
Technological Advances: Innovations like steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) have increased recoverable reserves, but only 10% of bitumen-in-place is currently economical. Future technologies could increase this percentage, potentially extending the reserve lifespan, but this is speculative.
Environmental and Policy Constraints: Oil sands are criticized for high carbon emissions, water usage, and land disturbance. Stricter regulations, carbon pricing, or global climate commitments (e.g., Paris Agreement) could curtail production. For instance, emissions from oil sands were 84 megatonnes of CO2 equivalent in 2019, about 15% of Canada’s total emissions.
Global Competition: Other oil-producing regions (e.g., Venezuela, Saudi Arabia) have larger or cheaper reserves. Venezuela’s heavy oil deposits are estimated at 1,200 billion barrels in-place, though recovery rates are lower. U.S. shale oil, with lower breakeven costs, could outcompete oil sands in certain markets.
Critical Analysis of the 200-Year Claim
The 200-year estimate likely originates from optimistic projections, such as those cited in a 2017 CBC article quoting an oil sands executive claiming operations could last “100 or 200 years.” Similarly, a 2009 NASA Earth Observatory report suggested the oil sands could produce 2.5 million bpd for 186 years, based on 174.5 billion barrels of reserves. However, these projections often assume:
Constant production rates without accounting for demand declines.
No significant policy shifts toward decarbonization. Continued economic viability despite high extraction costs and environmental liabilities, estimated at $60–$260 billion for cleanup.
Skeptically, the 200-year figure seems overly optimistic. A more realistic estimate, based on current reserves and production rates, suggests 100–150 years if Alberta’s oil sands were a primary global supplier, but this ignores declining demand and external pressures. Posts on X, such as one claiming Alberta has “1 trillion barrels” (likely referring to bitumen-in-place, not recoverable reserves), exaggerate the usable supply.
Conclusion
The claim that Alberta’s oil sands can meet demand for 200 years is not entirely accurate under realistic scenarios. At current production rates and proven reserves, the supply could theoretically last 100–150 years if used exclusively, but global demand trends, economic challenges, and environmental policies make this unlikely. A more conservative estimate suggests 20–50 years of significant production before demand declines or costs render large-scale extraction uneconomical, though technological breakthroughs could extend this. For a definitive answer, global oil demand forecasts and future extraction technologies would need closer examination.
May 20, 2025
To: Federal and Provincial Ministers of Agriculture and Fisheries
Dear Ministers:
On behalf of Canada’s seafood farming community, we thank you for your work and your commitment to your provinces and to Canada. As leaders in the aquaculture sector, we commit ourselves to working with you to create lasting value and flourishing communities through our sector across Canada.
The future of seafood development in Canada and across the world is dependent on human ingenuity to find new ways to responsibly create value from our oceans, to innovate to produce more, secure and affordable seafood to support Canadians and the world.
We have a special responsibility in Canada with some of the greatest biophysical capacity on the planet. With highly skilled people, and many coastal communities waiting for new opportunities and renewal, precision farming of our waters is a unique blessing for Canada.
It is time to move beyond Canada’s mediocre performance. For over twenty years Canada has Flatlined in aquaculture production growth while using only a small fragment of our potential. We need a new vision and government leadership to support us to the next level of production and excellence in aquaculture production. You are the leaders that can and must be bold to achieve this.
We ask you to undertake a pathway that allows for a new approach to aquaculture development in Canada. We propose the following areas of action to you as the foundations for a new springtime in seafood development and coastal community revitalization.
1) Science Must Be the Foundation
Science must be re-established as foundational for aquaculture development. A re-commitment to objective scientific advice as the foundation for policy decisions is necessary. All human activity has some degree of environmental risk, and there is no such thing as zero risk. Putting off economic development risks the health of people, families and communities. Governments must be clear on acceptable levels of environmental risk to make predictable and reasonable decisions for project development.
2) The BC “Open Net Pen” Ban Must Be Removed
The 2024 federal decision to ban salmon farming net pens by 2029 is scientifically, economically and technologically irresponsible. It has cast an investment chill on all of Canada and we are seeing its negative influence around the world. As salmon farming investment decisions in BC for 2029 are approaching quickly, the ban must be removed urgently in favour of a clear performance-based pathway that establishes stabilization, future growth and attracts investment in innovation and new technologies.
3) Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) Must be the Federal Aquaculture Champion
DFO is a regulator and habitat protector. It is not equipped to support a modern, growth-oriented farming sector. It is time for a change. AAFC must be named the lead federal department for sector development, while DFO and CFIA continue to be regulators of the sector. Aquaculture must finally be included in federal legislation as a farming activity consistent with international definitions.
4) Modernize Shellfish Sector Management and Risk Supports
The shellfish aquaculture sector holds significant economic, environmental, and food security potential across Canada. However, its growth is constrained by outdated federal oversight, particularly under the Canadian Shellfish Sanitation Program (CSSP), and by the sector’s exclusion from essential risk management tools available to other forms of food production. A modernized approach is needed — one that ensures effective, coordinated delivery of public health protections while also enabling access to government-industry programs that provide stability and resilience for producers.
To move this forward, we request federal support for a pilot crop insurance program for shellfish aquaculture in Prince Edward Island, with the goal of informing a national approach to business risk management program access for shellfish farmers in all producing provinces.
We ask you: provide a positive signal that aquaculture is an important part of Canada’s future and together begin building a united vision for this future.
For our part, we will increase our efforts to build public trust and constantly improve our practices. We can together build a sector that leads the world with job creation, skilled workers, Indigenous economic and reconciliation opportunities, low-carbon, healthy and affordable home-grown protein production, and renewed coastal communities
This is an exciting time and challenge. The time is now for positive and lasting change to benefit your provinces and all of Canada.
Sincerely,
You know the human race is in deep trouble when the species is locked down for two years, not allowed out, no place to go.
And no baby boom results.
That spells the end of the race.
If ever there was a test of the human condition, the lockdown was it. There should be massive numbers of children in the world from 2020, 2021.
Believe it or not, birth rates DECLINED.
That tells you, three generations from now, humanity will be fighting for survival with no breeding taking place whatsoever.
Breeding new humans is passe. Nobody will do it anymore.
That's the end, people. That is the end of the race.
People don't want to do it anymore. So we're done.
Mark Slapinski, who I follow on X.COM, @mark_slapinski, asks, "Just for fun: Do you think Alberta should become its own country? A - Yes B - No"
This got me thinking, and talking:
Technically, Alberta is a sovereignty.
It has a democratic government that taxes and builds infrastructure within borders, and it has authority over police, courts, schools, roads, and it has a government with departments covering all aspects of life, including international relations.
The idea that separation would be difficult is absurd. It would be liberating. The federal government has fallen to corruption. It's really non-essential to begin with. Think about it. British Columbia was a separate colony and thriving, as were all the separate entities, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick Quebec Ontario. Even Manitoba was forming a nation. The notion the federal government is anything but power for power's sake is idiocy perpetrated by satraps and mugwumps in Ottawa.
NEWFOUNDLAND WAS ITS OWN DOMINION (nation) UNTIL THE GOVERNMENT run by NFLD Liberals BANKRUPTED THE DOMINION. Then they held a referendum to join another country, Canada, and a promise of Family Allowance cheques bought NFLD. Sad, because Newfoundland alone today would be one of the richest countries on earth. Instead, it's Newfoundland, Canada's hind end. That's on Liberals.
I would hardly speak for separation, except the federal government is criminal, or at the very least criminally negligent in running this country.
If another generation comes along and ferrets out the criminality which has infested the federal Liberal syndicate, and smashes the phony artifice pretending to politics when all they intend is to rob the taxpayer blind, I would suggest staying in Canada.
But. No. I hope the next generation will crush the criminal syndicate growing like weeds in the Liberal apparatus. The Boomers, sad to say, figured out, the best way to steal is to control the government.
🚨MAJOR BREAKING
— Tablesalt 🇨🇦 (@Tablesalt13) May 12, 2025
ALBERTA REFUSES TO ENACT CARNEY'S FEDERAL INDUSTRIAL CARBON PRICING INCREASES
The Republic of Alberta is in open revolt!
Buckle up. pic.twitter.com/P28OLjipVf
💞Trina LaGüerita🇨🇦🇲🇽 @LivinTheFringe said, on X.com, "No transfer payments? Thank you. We’re tired of supporting you welfare jackasses. We’re first and foremost Albertans and the idea of not being associated with idiots who repeatedly vote for corruption, crime, drugs, inflation, wasteful spending, against free speech, net zero climate scams, and unacceptable immigration is quite appealing, actually. We don’t need O&G subsidies, we need to work without the Government’s lead food on our necks. Our passports will be one of the most sought-after in the world, because we’re not freedom-hating, prosperity-rejecting Liberals."
Which got me thinking, and talking:
Not to mention persecution of Western Canadians and Albertans like Tamara Lich @LichTamara for protesting illegal shutdowns by unrepresentative government.
The Liberal Crime Syndicate has infiltrated to the core of society. Best to leave them to their ways, and form a new country. They are beyond redemption and any association with bad people is bad association.
There is practically nothing to be said for the federal government that isn't invasive and obstructionist to western Canadian values, those of people who want to raise families in homes in stable communities.
The provinces are in charge of these matters, literally constructing and sustaining ALL the elements of civil society, from democratically represented government, to grassroots communities sustaining first rate schools, all the way to universities, graduating doctors and lawyers, and engineers and scientists.
The entire apparatus of a well-governed society in Alberta is grown from the grass roots.
Forming a nation in western Canada is practically the easiest thing in the world. Put up a fence at Manitoba and start charging a fee to come in.
I mean this sincerely. I take provincial elections seriously, far more seriously than federal elections involving cheating, conniving bastards who want to strip the nation of it's power. SO fuck you. You had your shot. You missed. Western Canadians are running their own game from now on.
Here's a question that I asked Grok but which is easy to answer. How much does Alberta spend on Healthcare for its citizens?
{ANSWER
In 2024, the Alberta government's health care operating budget was $26.2 billion, a 4.4% increase from the previous year. This includes $475 million for primary care, $4.4 billion for acute care, and $1.13 billion for mental health and addictions. Total health spending, including public and private sectors, reached $45 billion, or $9,370 per person. For 2025, Budget 2025 allocates $28 billion in operating expenses for health care, up $1.4 billion or 5.4%, with $22.1 billion aimed at improving access to quality health services and $644 million for primary care.}
I ask you, why do Alberta citizens pay $13 billion a year to Quebec. Albertans have their own bills to pay.
Why doesn't Quebec stay in its lane?
More to the point: Does Quebec really need to take $13 billion a year from Alberta's children and Seniors?
Then reply to our faces, "You cultureless Albertans stink of oil," which in fact they steal from Alberta as well. So really, and seriously, western separation is becoming imperative. Westerners are being shoved out of the country.
There was a special chair for Stanley Knowles in the House of Commons. Perhaps the NDP would settle for one of those special chairs, because nobody wants them to have any power. By nobody, I mean nobody who walks into a poll to cast a ballot.
— Citizen X (@MackMcColl222) May 10, 2025
NDP's zealous embrace of Liberal…