#cushing

[unteriors]

W 9th St, Cushing, Oklahoma.

[tomorrowusa]

The tanks in Cushing, Oklahoma, are hitting bottom. The oil market is about to hit a tipping point | CNN Business

Cushing, Oklahoma, dubs itself the pipeline crossroads of the world. The tagline is emblazoned on a giant roadside sign fashioned out of pip

People are understandably paying attention to the price of gas. But a figure that's even more concerning is the dwindling supply of oil. What's going on in Cushing, Oklahoma is a warning of things to come.

Cushing, Oklahoma, dubs itself the pipeline crossroads of the world. The tagline is emblazoned on a giant roadside sign fashioned out of pipes on the corner of Main Street and South Stiles Road. It has a valve and everything. [ ... ] Cushing is the hub of America’s energy market. It literally provides the oil plumbing for the United States. It’s where America’s benchmark West Texas Intermediate oil is priced and warehoused. From there, it’s piped to refineries around the country. In normal times, Cushing stores around 40 million barrels of oil with capacity of up to 75 million. These are not normal times. Cushing’s current inventory is 21.6 million barrels, according to the US Energy Information Administration. That’s dangerously close to operational stress levels, the tipping point at which Cushing struggles to supply all of its customers with the oil they demand. When Cushing’s reserves get below 20 million, they effectively hit empty, scraping the bottom of the barrel of what is largely unusable sludge.

So the US is just 1.61 million barrels from being down to "unusable sludge".

The New York Times published a chart showing the rapidly dwindling global supply of oil.

This is the most rapid drop of the past seven years. The supply got lower for a while in 2023 due to the effects of sanctions on Russia for its illegal invasion of Ukraine. But the decline was slower and markets eventually adjusted. With Trump's Iran war, there's no end in sight and much more oil passes through the Strait of Hormuz than is exported by Russia.

So what is Trump doing about all this? Every week, sometimes more than once a week, he oscillates from threatening to destroy Iranian civilization to proclaiming a new peace deal. While I've not been counting, it seems like there's been close to three dozen such abrupt shifts.

As for energy sources, Trump is again championing the moribund coal industry. He's putting a QAnon conspiracy nut in charge of a new coal project.

‘This is not normal’: Trump leans on MAGA organizer to revive coal

Even if something miraculously came of this (SPOILER: it won't), it would be way too late to help with the current crisis.

Trump created this mess and refuses to clean it up properly.

[sidgwicks]

“Be Like Sherlock Holmes! Smoke a Pipe and See The Hound of the Baskervilles at Your Local Cinema”, London: Briar Pipe Trade Association, 1959.

[nixmori]

Ever since Emmrich’s writer named Peter Cushing as his primary influence, I haven’t been able to get this image of them together with this quote out of my head.

The quote is from Hound of the Baskervilles ‘59, which starred Cushing in the role of Sherlock Holmes. But I chose to draw Cushing in his outfit from the Horror of Dracula where he played Van Helsing.

I absolutely adore Peter Cushing and I have so many thoughts on the implications of his influence on Emmrich.

Cushing was, himself, a gentle man and a gentleman of big emotions. His wife was the love of his life, and in his autobiography, he stated that his life as he loved it ended with her passing. He didn’t believe in ending one’s life intentionally, and lived out his remaining decades waiting to see her again in the afterlife.

He also had a deep-seated fear of death, instilled in him by his mother, who would feign her own death when he’d been naughty as a child.

His friendships were also deep and lasting, with Christopher Lee (Dracula in he Hammer films, Saruman) saying upon his passing “At some point of your lives, every one of you will notice that you have in your life one person, one friend whom you love and care for very much. That person is so close to you that you are able to share some things only with him. For example, you can call that friend, and from the very first maniacal laugh or some other joke you will know who is at the other end of that line. We used to do that with him so often. And then when that person is gone, there will be nothing like that in your life ever again”

I think of these things and how they influence the lens through which I see Emmrich. His desire for that “one true love,” as Cushing had with Helen. How deeply he cares for his friends. How kind and compassionate he is.

I have many more thoughts and could likely write essays on this. But I shall restrain myself.

Also… the font is in Baskerville because I couldn’t help myself.

[holmesoldfellow]

December 1987 edition of the Radio Times commemorating 100 years of Sherlock Holmes

[semioticapocalypse]

Alfred Eisenstaedt. Andrew Wyeth's bedroom, Cushing, Maine. 1965

Follow my new AI-related project «Collective memories»

[detournementsmineurs]

Peter Cushing dans “Le Chien de Baskerville” de Terence Fisher (1958) - d'après le roman éponyme de Sir Arthur Conan Doyle dans la série des “Sherlock Holmes” (1901-02) - novembre 2024.