[Ayoob_Reloaded]

There are so many major information sources spouting off about PO, so much more activity on this board about PO, lots of related questions on lots of other boards.... I guess the cat's out of the bag.

Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan, Exxon, these are heavy hitters and they're owning up to the problems we face. How about that.

How does it feel, guys? I'm almost excited that people are waking up to the global energy crisis coming our way, and of course truly unhappy about the fact that life is going to change for all of us in a pretty big way, fairly soon.

So, I guess I'm wondering which way the Powers that Be will decide to arrange the chess pieces. How will the US use its military? How will Russia/China respond? How long will the House of Saud stand? How long until the Coalition of the Willing consists of the US, Micronesia, and Poland against the rest of the EU, Russian and China? AND.... will your AR-15 keep the Chinese onslaught away from your three-room cabin with the solar panel and the little kale garden?

I'd rather we didn't have anything to talk about on this board and that the 20 billion tons of Chinese crude were ready to pump right now.

[skateari]

All are questions we can only wait to find out about. The world is in a truely dire situation. Lots of people have nothing to loose in the game for resources. Lots of people will be desprite enough and feel they have enough power to win the endgame. A lot of people are greedy and will do all the wrong things when dealing with the largest problem humanity has ever faced. All we are left to do is prepare in any way that we can, to hope for the future, and to try to spread the knowledge and the truth. Life poses many problems ahead, how we will react to them is unknown. All we do know is that the life we are living in today, may not be there tommorow. Live it up, love life, and prepare for the gloomy days ahead, for theres really not much we can do but prepare for whats comming our way. Depressing, yes. Hopeful? Not really. Loving my video games and driving my car... every second of it.

[Ayoob_Reloaded]

Me too.

Sometimes, while driving in the rain, I turn off the radio and set the wipers to intermittent and just appreciate the fact that I'm skimming the smooth, wet pavement at the rate of 60 miles every hour, just from the effort of positioning my foot above a pedal just so and making slight adjustments to my steering wheel. I don't get wet at all, exert almost no effort whatsoever, and cover a really enormous amount of ground. It's just incredible, and I'm going to miss it. Today, I'm going to drive ten miles to go to the gym. I'm laughing even as I type. Can this be for real? Like I couldn't just do pushups/crunches/dips between a couple chairs in the living room. For some reason, though, I feel like I have to go to a gym to do it. A couple years from now, it might be a real treat to take a car somewhere. I decided to keep my motorcycle since it gets about 50-55MPG, and I can use it for at least a couple months out of the year. I wonder if I can get a nice big fairing made for it.

At the same time, I've made some major changes that should hopefully put me in a good place once the slide begins. I'm not going to worry as much as I might have if I didn't do anything to prepare. Among other things, I don't really care so much about electronic entertainment as I did. It used to be so important to me, and now I don't care so much.

I like message boards though, and hope I can continue to use them for many years. I think I'll be able to. If I get my hooks into a decent laptop with a low-power processor and a well-made screen I should be fine for years.

[PenultimateManStanding]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ayoob_Reloaded', '
') just appreciate the fact that I'm skimming the smooth, wet pavement at the rate of 60 miles every hour, just from the effort of positioning my foot above a pedal just so and making slight adjustments to my steering wheel. I don't get wet at all, exert almost no effort whatsoever, and cover a really enormous amount of ground. It's just incredible, and I'm going to miss it.

[PenultimateManStanding]

I'll tell you whose really gonna be bummed out: the kids who see the gas get too expensive and the cars too so they see their dreams of being MOBILE disappear.

[Ayoob_Reloaded]

Dude.

I should have my bike working in another 3-4 days. Oh I can't wait. It's the closest thing there is to flying, you know? There's nothing in your face but wind. You go under a tree, you feel the shade. You come out from under and feel the sun on your face again. Sooner or later, the actual physical operation of the bike becomes totally unconscious, and it's just an extension of your mind. You lean, you roll it on, you slow it down, you split the lane between two cars, everything's just perfect.

Driving a car is like watching TV after that.

[Ayoob_Reloaded]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PenultimateManStanding', 'I')'ll tell you whose really gonna be bummed out: the kids who see the gas get too expensive and the cars too so they see their dreams of being MOBILE disappear.

[mgibbons19]

Thing is though. It only looks like a lot of awareness because we're so used to hearing nothing. Swing by the local WalMart and look at those folks. They don't know or believe yet. Or the local middle class suburb.

I don't really trust Bush et al. to do the right thing here. We live in a world where a small economic slowdown is a disaster. And for those who are unemployed, or cannot buy the thing they want (man am I lusting after this sweet road bike a friend wants to sell me used), it does suck. However, compared to the deprivations of real war, and real hard times, nothing in recent memory compares.

Sometimes I think we truly are heading into a brick wall and just hoping that picking up the pieces after won't be so bad. We can't slow down because the throttle's stuck or something. We can't. Then I ponder the economics of growth, and realize we are accellerating into the wall. So try to position yourself in the backseat, near an airbag, and belt in good.

[PenultimateManStanding]

Yeah, I know, but I'm trying to be optimistic. Last big bike trip I took was from San Diego to Tecate and back. Many years ago. Played havoc with my knees. Now I stay in my car and watch out for assholes on bikes splittin' lanes