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General interest discussions, not necessarily related to depletion.

Re: Kurt Vonnegut died just now

Postby Eli » Thu 12 Apr 2007, 00:49:56

Man that really sucks to hear :cry:

That song Smells like teen spirit was awesome.

on a side note why hasn't Nirvana come out with a new cd lately.
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Re: Kurt Vonnegut died just now

Postby dinopello » Thu 12 Apr 2007, 03:30:56

He was a genuinely interesting person. Obviously an understatement.

Here's an excerpt from the Rolling Stone

Kurt Vonnegut Says This is the End of the World

Having a guy like Vonnegut at your side at the end of the world would be my wish - so at least you would go out laughing.
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Re: Kurt Vonnegut died just now

Postby TheDude » Thu 12 Apr 2007, 03:53:27

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')hose who believe in telekinetics, raise my hand


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84 is a venerable age, especially after 76 years of smoking unfiltered Pall Malls, "a really classy way to commit suicide."
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Re: Kurt Vonnegut died just now

Postby I_Like_Plants » Thu 12 Apr 2007, 04:00:23

Kurt Vonnegut was one of my heroes too. I discovered his stuff on my own, of course - his stuff is not taught in US schools except maybe some elite ones.

Anyone savvy enough to be here reading about Peak Oil owes it to themselves to read all of Vonnegut's stuff, look up all his books and read 'em in order. Great stuff! You can tell he's wrestling with the same questions we are, and he gets closer and closer to the only suitable conclusion - that people are happy in primitive socities and being able to swim like dolphins would probably be about the coolest.
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Re: Kurt Vonnegut died just now

Postby killJOY » Thu 12 Apr 2007, 07:20:57

"And so it goes."
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Re: Kurt Vonnegut died just now

Postby django » Thu 12 Apr 2007, 13:03:38

Beyond his musings on Peak Oil, Vonnegut was a prolific and hysterically funny writer. Read Slaughter-house Five before you die.

I'm going to miss him.

As he would say,

"So it goes."
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Re: Kurt Vonnegut died just now

Postby PrairieMule » Thu 12 Apr 2007, 13:24:02

I can't say I was a Vonnegut scholar, but "Hocus Pocus" packed some whipsmart satire.
If you give a man a fish you will have kept him from hunger for a day. If you teach a man to fish he will sit in a boat and drink beer all day.
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Re: Kurt Vonnegut died just now

Postby Free » Thu 12 Apr 2007, 14:43:35

A truly great man. Sad news.
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Re: Kurt Vonnegut died just now

Postby NEOPO » Thu 12 Apr 2007, 15:39:14

Just by watching one interview I feel I knew this man and what was in his heart.
I hear alittle more, read alittle more and it seems only to confirm my thoughts.
Not sure if I need to read any of his books in part or in their entirety as I feel those who understand were always of one universal consciousness yet many are only now realizing it.

Many of us speak of doom and feel strongly about what we are saying yet ultimately it is just a warning.
A simple "hey brothers and sisters, do you see what we are doing to this world and of course ourselves?"
Hey world do you see what must now be done?

We must now heal ourselves and the planet which in a sense is the same thing.
All is an illusion but it can be a beautiful illusion and not like this.

What I know of Kurts philosophy aligns closely with my recently deceased brother and I have little doubt that they are together somewhere sharing thoughts as they wait for their next ride wether it be back to the source or returning unto this world once again like Dalai Lama's only wishing to help us see.

You know that stare, that "look" of confident compassion, the posture of the humble yet proud.....yes
All is for something and all is not lost yet in this dark age it takes a braveheart to realize it, promote it and follow the path.

Free your heart and have the courage to follow it as only it knows the way.
Loose yourself from the chains and weights that hold us down and join us on "the path" toward the only goal there ever was, Unity.
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Re: Kurt Vonnegut died just now

Postby sparkylab » Thu 12 Apr 2007, 16:02:54

Thinking a lot about Cats Cradle this morning. A very important book for me. Interestingly - this popped into my head.

In a sense - Ice-Nine is Peak Oil.

Ice-Nine basically affects eveything.

"It is supposed to be a special allotrope of ice that, when it comes into contact with liquid water, acts as a crystal "seed", and will catalyze the solidification (freezing) of any normal water at ambient temperatures—thus being capable of destroying the world as we know it" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice-nine

Its not too much of a jump (at least in my addled doomer brain) to connect this with the wider implications of Peak Oil. If you remove petroleum/hydrcarbons from the modern-world equation, at least on the short term - it will "destroy the world as we know it".

Maybe I just had too much coffee this morning.

I'll end on one of my favourite Vonnegut quotes.....mentioned in the BBC obit this morning:

Vonnegut said he was often surprised to have lived for so long, having been a heavy smoker. He once joked: "I'm suing a cigarette company because on the package they promised to kill me, and yet here I am."

RIP Kurt.
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Re: Kurt Vonnegut died just now

Postby julianj » Thu 12 Apr 2007, 16:32:53

Oh dear, a bit of a sad shock. Rest in Peace on Tralfamadore, Kurt, or wherever it is you are now.

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Re: Kurt Vonnegut died just now

Postby oowolf » Thu 12 Apr 2007, 16:54:39

Bummer. One of my very few heroes. A warp-speed bullshit detector. The world suddenly feels a little more lonely.
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Re: Kurt Vonnegut died just now

Postby NEOPO » Thu 12 Apr 2007, 21:43:52

It is easier to enslave a people that wish to remain free then it is to free a people who wish to remain enslaved.
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Re: Kurt Vonnegut died just now

Postby Newsseeker » Fri 13 Apr 2007, 10:54:38

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('dinopello', 'H')e was a genuinely interesting person. Obviously an understatement.

Here's an excerpt from the Rolling Stone

Kurt Vonnegut Says This is the End of the World

Having a guy like Vonnegut at your side at the end of the world would be my wish - so at least you would go out laughing.


I read that article and it made me happy because I realized that there are different levels of doomers. Vonnegut was a Defcon-5 doomer and very pessimistic.
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Re: Kurt Vonnegut died just now

Postby I_Like_Plants » Fri 13 Apr 2007, 15:29:38

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Newsseeker', ' ')Vonnegut was a Defcon-5 doomer and very pessimistic.


Kurt was one of those that make the title for those who fought in WWII, "The Greatest Generation", fitting. He was a kid during the Depression and if you read his autobio was not really affected by it, his family was upper middle class, where that used to mean really comfortable. WWII was a real wake-up call for him. I can't imagine the shock he went through in the Dresden firebombing, especially to a nice comfortable middle-class kid - remember his alter-ego in Slaughterhouse Five is a "coke bottle shaped" kid named Billy Pilgrim - innocent and soft and flabby. Vonnegut went on after the war to get the kind of college opportunities that seem unreal and miraculous to use X'ers, could pretty much "write his own ticket" as they used to say and did. Essentially except for that little unpleasantness with the Germans, went through life with that proverbial silver spoon in his mouth.

Except.

Someone that comfortable, going through something like Dresden, talk about survivor's guilt. Surviving it in a nice cool meat locker when all those German people got turned into crispy critters. I think that made the guy live the rest of his life with a huge case of survivor's guilt, the kind we'd all like to see the Boomers have, and it made him look at things very deeply. If you read his novels in order, you go along with him deeper and deeper. You finally end up with Bokonon and Deadeye Dick and in the end, the evolved humans in Galapagos, where it's shown that intelligence itself is probably a big mistake.

The guy's the doomer we'd all be if we were more awake.
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Re: Kurt Vonnegut died just now

Postby NEOPO » Fri 13 Apr 2007, 19:10:12

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Raphael', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('oowolf', 'B')ummer. One of my very few heroes. A warp-speed bullshit detector. The world suddenly feels a little more lonely.


That means fellas belonging to the SS, the JC SuperStars will have a huge void, Kurts passing, to fill.

Who is up to the task, to help fill Kurt's smelly boots and become beacons of truth?
Raise your left hand in defence of the silenced voices and swear after me...

I will never raise my right hand to swear on the Bible nor will I raise it against my fellow man ever again.

8O

namaste

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The greatest battles are being fought in and for our minds.

<raises his left hand> I swear I will never raise my right hand to swear upon any bible or in anger against my fellow man unless he puts me in an impossible situation and in that case I will use the power of Qi to overwhelm and subdue him until a time when he/she regains their senses 8)

Thats the best I can do man! :)
It took me almost 36 years to get to this point so can I have like an honorary deputies badge er somethin'? :roll:
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Re: Kurt Vonnegut died just now

Postby mercurygirl » Sat 14 Apr 2007, 02:08:37

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '"')Maturity is a bitter disappointment for which no remedy exists, unless laughter can be said to remedy anything."
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Re: Kurt Vonnegut died just now

Postby NEOPO » Sat 14 Apr 2007, 05:45:27

Yes I finally have a badge and stuff! :)
I will wear this with honor! <immediately wounds self while trying to attach badge to chest>

Okay so you mean I can be a brave and powerful warrior and still be a holy monk as well?
Well Shazam!!! I like this Spiritualism stuff :-D

Can I still bitch slap these weak minded PO ho's with my overpowering gold fish shoe intellect without conflicting with my need for a teeny tiny almost non existant self serving ego? :lol:
I mean, like the Lorax, someone must speak with confidence for the screaming tree's right?

They are all worried about the lights going out and how to keep them from doing so while the real deal is that people are dying just to keep the ones lit currently.

Kurt knew the sad realization yet not what to do about it neccessarily and heck who can blame him as we are all addicts here.

We need a PO 12 step program dont we? muahahah
Thats one of those things I would have predicted in the past that I would have never said in the future...whoa :lol:

I keep laughing but I havent a freakin clue what MG is talking about 8)
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