Archive through February 19, 2026
Star Fleet Universe Discussion Board: Non-Game Discussions: Disasters (Current News):
Archive through February 19, 2026
Jessica
Thanks
In the UK, most petrol is a blend, 90% Petrol and 10% Ethanol (is labeled E10!) and 'Premium Petrol' is 95/5 (and labeled E5).
I wonder if there is any neutral research on what is best 'for the planet', taking into account the production of the various elements.
If Petrol has a "damaging value" of 100 per litre... and Ethanol Blend only 80 per litre...., their isn't much gain if Petrol gives you 36 mpg and an Ethanol Blend only 30 mpg... yet one is advertised as being massively better for the planet etc!
Ethanol isn't better for anything but farmers (higher corn prices) and politicians (Iowa caucus voters).
Pretty much every time I've heard someone has say that a particular government activity is a fosil fuel subsidy, it has been blatant nonsense. It's just a vague "they get subsidies too" with no actual backing.
If they do say what the subsidy is, it's stuff like depreciation being allowed, or roads (which are paid for with fosil fuel energy taxes to the extent that states are running into trouble with the current more efficient/electric vehicles reducing that income, so currently fosil fuels are paying for roads for their competitors and it's still being called a subsidy for fosil fuel), or claims that US government foriegn policy is a fosil fuel subsidy.
The only actual subsidy that I'm aware of was that for decades the US government paid oil and natural gas drilling companies for Helium. Which was the world's major source of Helium. They've stopped doing that, and part of the result was a Helium shortage (and increased prices, I assume people have resumed extracting, but the web still has lots of articles on there being a massive shortage).
Douglas: Among other things, subsidies include the tax credit for oil and natural gas extracted from marginal wells and the treatment of coal royalties as long-term capital gains that benefit from lower tax rates.
I agree 100% with Steve and Mike that all subsidies for all forms of energy production should be removed.
Ethanol is also great for auto mechanics.
One of the issues of ethanol is its effect on plastics.
Older model cars using ethanol gasoline mix some of the time had various parts fail… the ethanol dissolved the plastic parts, not to mention the occasional “O” ring.
Apparently (this has been reported) automobiles and Electric hybrid vehicles manufactured in China sometimes included substandard parts made with plastic vulnerable to alcohol, resulting in breakdowns.
Let the buyer beware…
On the extraction side there are significant tax incentives, at least for oil and gas. Just google something like "oil well investment tax deduction" and you'll get a host of information. Some of that is investment incentive to get people to back drilling, but its tax breaks for drilling at the end of the day.
Texas has announced plans to issue its own silver coins. Technically these are “round ingots” or simply “rounds” as they do not have dollar values printed on the coin. For silver stackers (people who invest in silver) these are just “bouillon coins” like eagles or buffalos. The Texas coins are sold as either proofs or brilliant uncirculated coins meaning they will cost a bit more than the metal value. For example, silver eagles (issued by the US government) in brilliant uncirculated, proof, or mint condition cost $3 to $5 more than silver buffalo coins issued by private mints, which sell for $1 or $2 more than the silver spot price. Sometimes a coin dealer will have scratched eagles for the buffalo price. I expect the same thing here. Wyoming and Idaho are rumored to be considering their own coins. Texas has its own stock exchange now trying to get Texans to keep their wealth inside the state just in case we ever wanted to, oh say, secede. More seriously, this is creating a new kind of investment coin, one issued by a government just not a sovereign nation government. I think there might be some European provinces that already did this but I can’t be sure.
Been seeing ads for rolls of 2025 Pennies....
Company is charging $19.95 a roll, don't know if it includes shipping....
That makes sense on the pennies, last runs on coin designs are often valuable down the road, particularly since they no longer make pennies at all.
NANCY GUTHRIE CASE
I doubt we can solve it, but many of us find this interesting, and perhaps it will give us something to discuss without rancor. While not a "disaster" this seems to be the only topic that fits.
To me, nothing about this case makes sense.
There are two working theories, and both of them have problems and ways around the problems. What do YOU think?
THEORY ONE: BURGLARY GONE WRONG
A burglar entered the house (supported by the doorbell camera which showed only one criminal, a kidnap attempt would seem to have needed two or three to be sure they could subdue and transport her.)
Problem is the "backpack which was full" but I think that is explained by the idea he had a cardboard box inside the backpack to hold it open while he gathered things to steal. A floppy empty backpack takes two hands, one to hold it open and the other to drop in the loot. The cardboard box means he can set the pack on a chair and easily drop items into it.
Problem, this guy was an idiot who never expected a doorbell camera which is fairly common. Okay, some crooks aren't that bright.
Nancy woke up and rather than reach for the phone went to see "what that noise was?" The burglar tries to keep her quiet and accidentally kills her. In a panic, he takes her body (theorizing that without a body no one will know what happened and he would gain time and confuse the investigation) and hides it somewhere.
Problem: nothing was missing/stolen. Perhaps because of the panic he didn't stay that long.
The ransom demands were fake by people who had nothing to do with it (supported by the lack of "proof of life").
THEORY NUMBER TWO
This was a targeted kidnapping of an old lady known to have serious family wealth. (Note, I had never heard of her before this happened but what do I know?)
Problem, this guy was an idiot who never expected a doorbell camera which is fairly common. Okay, some crooks aren't that bright.
Problem, a kidnapping would seem to need at least two people if not three to carry off. Perhaps they stayed out of sight until the door was open? Perhaps he thought he could handle a little old lady?
Problem, no ransom demand from the real crooks. Perhaps the fake demands were not fake but Nancy died and they could not provide proof of life and don't want to send the sheriff to the body as it would be evidence of murder. I hope she is alive but cannot understand why she would not have been released.
I suppose there could be other theories including Nancy playing a dirty trick on her kids, but I don't think so.
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
As is the case in many of these matters, I believe ultimately it will come to light that a family member is involved.
--Mike
Well, As of yesterday morning, Law Enforcement announced that all of the siblings were cleared of any suspicion on this.
As for SVC's theories, I'm going with number one. except that crooks who are not that bright, are normally also notoriously lazy. So If she had been killed in the heat of the burglary (say by a blow to the head as there is no publicly released evidence of death/physical violence), I think the burgler/s would have more likely hauled off with whatever things they could grab in a jiffy and been outta there while leaving her body at the scene.
Maybe it is indeed not an immediate family member... hmmm
No evidence, but a WAG.
It is also a WAG that probably violates the "No Politics" standard for The Boards. However, it is recognized that it is permitted in limited manner.
Webmom? If, in your opinion, I go too far, I apologize and ask for this post to be deleted.
Disclaimer handled? I hope so. Now, on to my WAG...
Southern Arizona. Tucson area. Pretty close to the Border...
Was she kidnapped specifically BECAUSE of her celebrity daughter? Keep the story in the news?
Use it to send a message?
Was she kidnapped by Narcoterrorists? They have a LOT of experience kidnapping people, often out of their homes. They also frequently do it to show the authorities how powerless they are to prevent it.
Given the escalation against them by the current administration, I honestly think this may be them escalating their war against US law enforcement.
Thoughts on Ms Guthrie, some sort of abduction seems most likely, and I agree she is now likely dead, with no proof of life, heart attack, accident, maybe a snake bite.
I would agree with Rusman that a burglary gone wrong seems unlikely, set the house on fire to destroy evidence is a lot faster, and easier, than dragging a body with you.
On Narco-Terroists, these guys are business men, sending a swarm of drones to an airport is unlikely to be something they do first, and more likely something they do after an attack by US forces.
Right now an attack on the drug cartels is a threat that may, or may not not happen. If they do a swarm attack on US soil, it will happen, and will be bad for business.
Kidnapping Ms Guthrie, Seems less likely, as far as I am aware, she does not wield any power over US politics, and her daughter is not that big a news personality. To send a message like this, you would likely want a news anchor from FOX news, for this presidential administration.
If the Narcos did it, I would think they would have gone for the mother of Ms Noem or Ms Levitt. Still, Mexico is only 60 miles away and some connection there cannot be discounted.
Logic is sound, but newspeople are still newspeople, and the story IS getting coverage.
Respectfully, specifically targeting the parent of a government official will get stronger response, but less coverage, and it's the coverage that is (to my mind) the goal; the coverage of someone "Non-partisan and beloved by (almost) all" will serve to panic the US populace more than would the coverage of someone affiliated with an administration that is so strongly hated by so many.
Again, though, this is just a WAG (and is probably wrong 
).
Like I'm sure all of you feel, I hope (perhaps futilely) that Nancy IS found, alive and well.
Agatha Christie, famous mystery novelist, spoke of “the X factor.”
An unknown fact, person or event, not known to the investigators, but relevant to those persons involved.
Could be anything, revenge, accident (meaning they grabbed the wrong person, say.)unanticipated consequences of a decision (oh, lets say the son of a powerful family wants to marry the poor working girl from the other side of the rail road tracks, not knowing she is the illegitimate daughter of his father, born out of wedlock…) and the mother was the only person still alive who knows the truth…
Could even be unpaid gambling debts and the bookies thugs grabbed the mother not realizing who her daughter is.
There is also the factor that what makes sense in cold logic is not what a given criminal or other person would do in a given moment.
"Logically, a criminal would do X."
This breaks down on two points,
1. Not everyone is logical, at least not every time.
2. There are almost certainly factors entering the decision process which we do not know about.
Wow, that was fast.
Fox news just reported that the FBI will use “Genetic Genealogy” to map family genetic relationships.
Can we say Looking for the “unknown factors.”?
They are scanning the databases of people who sent in family tree genetic requests to see if they can find the brother/sister of the DNA found in the house and glove. Personally I don't think the glove has anything to do with it.
Prob correct. This is all related to an Epstein cover-up if you believe conspiracy theories
Dunno about that.
Seems like an equal probability that the faction that has more to hide would want ANY distraction to take attention away from revelations concerning anything related to Epstein.
Generally, the MSM carries the water for liberals, and it would explain the hyper attention to a story that hasn’t had any new revelations in seventeen days.
I might thing differently, if there had been anything relevant published, but there hasn’t been.
Its a classic “Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!” Smoke screen.
Let's stay away from Epstein, okay? (Sigh, no chance)
Prince Andrew has been arrested for misconduct in public office. While a trade representative, he allegedly gave secret business information to that guy who owned a party island, who used the information to make millions. (Technically Andrew is Former Prince Andrew.) The charges could bring a life prison sentence. Search warrant have been issued (royal property is being searched even now) which will certainly produce more evidence about the island guy. The fallout could, due to connections I won’t waste time on, mean a new Prime Minister within three months. This mess threatens the entire royal family as they could lose the trust of the people. You all know that I have noble relatives in the UK and descend from King John, making me 1,216,564th in line for the throne. My family have been supporters and fans of the royal family since before I was born. What a mess.