[evilmonkeyspanker]

stupid babelfish always making me look dumb

[aldente]

[OneLoneClone]

Hi,

I'm a closet "PeakOiler". Nobody wants to hear about it, so I shutup.

I didn't think things were going to get bad until after end of my lifetime (born 1969), but now it is apparent to me that things could get bad a lot sooner. Increasingly it seems like I might have to actually LIVE THROUGH this sh*tstorm.

My grandmother live thru the Depression. I remember her pantry & cellar, and the vast quantity of dried and canned food she always kept on hand. I remember her saving rubber bands, plastic bags. I remember her being furious if I threw something our that could be mended or repaired. She loved to grow food in her garden, and you could taste the love when she cooked.

All of these things that made her seem a little crazy to a child of the Disposable Society (myself). Now I see that they were virtuous survival skills. I wish she were alive so I could ask her for advice on how to get through hard times, mentally and physically. So many skills have been lost in just two generations.

I do not want to be a crazy survivalist.
The survivalist mindset is addictive and compelling, satisfying deep primal urges, but is ultimately unhealthy. Too much financial and emotional investment in the end of the world is bad for you. You end up all crazy and sociopathic like Linda Hamilton's character Sarah "You're all already dead!" Connor in Terminator 2: Electric Boogaloo. The survivalist mindset is bad for you.

I do not want to be a fatalist.
Skate-punk god Duane Peters stupidly believed the Sex Pistols when Johnny Rotten screamed "No Future! No Future for you!"
Duane threw it all away, partied and shot up, became homeless. Later he cleaned up and sang in his own punk band

"while other kids went about their future,
I thought there was none"
- Duane Peters with the US Bombs

Betting on the end of the world seems to be a suckers bet, usually. The sick, sad world keeps spinning faster, getting sicker and sadder just when you thought it couldn't get any worse.

I am an apartment dweller in San Francisco, so most of my plans involve mobility towards greener pastures. So far I've only purchased ruggedized flexible solar panels and fine bourbons, scotches and whiskeys.

Whiskey, Scotch and Bourbon. There is no better bribe for a border guard than quality booze. Think Johnny Walker Black. I traveled through some hairy areas of Eastern Europe in the early nineties (Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Turkey, Hunagry) and NOTHING will get you thru a border faster than a bribe of quality booze and/or cigs.

So I've got booze for the borders and general bribes; lots of solar panels and engineering skills to buy entree into a viable smaller community when urban living becomes difficult.

And if you guys wont let me in I'll just smash the solar panels and drink myself to death while puking on your gates. Kidding. Maybe. Nice to meet you all.

[Aaron]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I') do not want to be a crazy survivalist.
The survivalist mindset is addictive and compelling, satisfying deep primal urges, but is ultimately unhealthy. Too much financial and emotional investment in the end of the world is bad for you. You end up all crazy and sociopathic like Linda Hamilton's character Sarah "You're all already dead!" Connor in Terminator 2: Electric Boogaloo. The survivalist mindset is bad for you.

[OneLoneClone]

Touche.

OK, but at least I'll have all that fine booze to numb myself with...

I'm stoked I found this forum. I work with SUV driving yuppies who commute 50+ miles per day, and they sure dont want to hear about this topic.

Nice to have a place to talk about this, even if half the people here ARE crazy.

-OneLoneClone

"All the world is crazy except for me and thee, and I've been wondering about thee lately."

[jato]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I') do not want to be a crazy survivalist.
The survivalist mindset is addictive and compelling, satisfying deep primal urges, but is ultimately unhealthy. Too much financial and emotional investment in the end of the world is bad for you. You end up all crazy and sociopathic like Linda Hamilton's character Sarah "You're all already dead!" Connor in Terminator 2: Electric Boogaloo. The survivalist mindset is bad for you.

[uNkNowN ElEmEnt]

Welcome to the board... and the insanity.

[turmoil]

You guys ever read/seen the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy?

[DoctorDoom]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('OneLoneClone', '
') I remember her saving rubber bands, plastic bags. I remember her being furious if I threw something our that could be mended or repaired.

[aflurry]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('OneLoneClone', 'I')ncreasingly it seems like I might have to actually LIVE THROUGH this sh*tstorm.
...
I am an apartment dweller in San Francisco, so most of my plans involve mobility towards greener pastures.

[Vexed]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'N')ice to have a place to talk about this, even if half the people here ARE crazy.

[FireJack]

As far as I'm concerned if can get to the point where I can grow all of my own food it doesn't really matter what happens. The only really big problems with this could be:

1. The government turns into a dictatorship. This could mean government troops could come and kill me and take everything on a whim and there would be nothing I could do.

2. Things turn bad so quickly that there are large groups of people looking for food. The group could be friendly or evil, either way they are a danger.

3. The most likely scenerio, people start using coal and trees to substitude the energy loss of oil. The sky's blacken and the landscape is laid bare, the world will become a giant easter island. It would take millions of years for the earth to get back to where it was, and I imagine humans will be long extict by then.


My best bet it to have a farm far away from anything, where no one really knows where you are. You could go to the nearest town/city for supplies every once in a while and if things turn bad you'll have the best kind of protection, annominity.

[Dukat_Reloaded]

If your thinking of investing in booze, it might be an ok idea, but if you were to do that, buy a home still and make the booze yourself, much cheaper than buying from the shops, and booze has a long shelf life. Growing and curing your own tobacco might be a good idea as well.

[unseen]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('auctionmonster', 's')tupid babelfish always making me look dumb

[OneLoneClone]

Hmmm...a still sounds like a blast. I used to brew beer.

Not sure there's much room in my apartment for a still, tho, unless I kick the wife out.

She thinks I'm half crazy already.

At least cause we live in San Francisco I can explain away many peak oil preparations as "earthquake prep".

Anyways, nice ot meet you all

-OneLoneClone

[OneLoneClone]

Dr Doom,

I've been buying Brunton Solarrolls, which pack really small and can be daisy chained together for more output in low light situations. One size of the Solarrolls is perfect for attaching to the back of your backpack (they even have grommets built in).

I am a backpacker and the solar rolls are usefull for charging video-cameras and GPS units in the backcountry. And they are pretty much waterproof so I can take them on canoe/kayak trips, too.

Plus if rolling blackouts hit San Francisco again I can use them to charge my laptop (my apartment gets tons of sun) so I can keep working and getting paid and all that.

- OneLoneClone

[NugBlazer]

I found out about Peak Oil a couple years ago. Ever since, I've been researching it and planning fo the future. I've always been a huge environmentalist and conservationist. I've been lurking at this site for about 6 months, and decided it was time to finally register.

It sure is nice to have a place where people aren't deluded ostriches!

I find it absolutely AMAZING how people, even normally-intelligent and reasonable people, just don't want to hear about and try to debunk Peak Oil when I introduce it to them. They always have the same cliched answers. "Solar/wind energy will save us!" "Market forces will save us!" "I'll just drive less, then!" "Well, then we just need to drill for more oil!" ad nausea. All I can do about it anymore is shake my head and laugh.

Anywhoo, just wanted so say "Hi", and I look forward to becoming a part of this community.

[NeoPeasant]

Welcome.

Nice avatar.

[bobcousins]

I guess when people learn about a major problem like PO they naturally want to do something right away. Given there are 6 billion people causing the problem, there is not a lot you can do, but the least you can do is solve 1/6 billionth.

Also, this is not something that is going to take place overnight. Civilisation does not collapse in the space of a few years. People think of Rome, Easter Island, the Maya etc, as disappearing in a few years but it actually took more like hundreds. To a historian "sudden collapse" means 300 years. A slow fade is more like 1000 years. We will feel some of the effects of PO during our lifetime, that is certain. Our children will feel it more. It will be like a stranglehold slowly choking economic activity.

I should qualify that with "probably", as in the 90% case. There is a 5% chance of a new Great Depression, but the world has changed a lot since then. If such a depression does occur, it is likely to be global. If you accept that possibility, you must accept the 5% chance that collapse will be averted, by switching to new energy sources, and society changes to a more sustainable form.

[ubercynicmeister]

YEAH, I like the pic...so, when will ole Donny be "coming out" as a Sith Lord?