[PenultimateManStanding]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Laughs_Last', ' ')This year things are blooming and fruiting.

[anneliese-nyc]

I am sure that Laurasia is aware of the uncertainty of our future everyday as I am........but , we need to forget that at times .

I did have an interesting day today . I was standing in front of the bldg where I (kinda sorta) work and two police cars pull up .Then another. Then three police on motorcycles pulled up and parked. Then corporate security arrived. So I asked the bldg mgr what was up and she said there was going to be a protest against the company. (telecommunications) I then said was it because of slower than others DSL or dropped calls ? She did not have a sense of humor.

So...all these police and the building is "secured" by security and the news crews show up..............and only ONE protester showed up.

That was it for my day...except for that heavy feeling of doom I get when I surf the web .I alleviated it by going to youtube.com and watching "crazy dog" and the scene from "bruce Almighty" with the rival newscaster.

Springtime will lift spirits...all that almost fluorescent green and masses of flowers .The warm sun on your face ..and the songs of the birds at dawn .It is good to be alive..

[Grifter]

Thats very interesting.

That sounds like a lot of preparation for a single protester, do you know what he was protesting yet? I'd like to protest about our works telecoms company sometimes, but I would be on my own.

Actually, I'd like to protest about our company window cleaner, he is a massive brute of a man, hairy and everything, I want him to clean the windows less often but I think he'll rip my head off. Really, I'm not usually averse to confontation but he's unstable.

Perhaps I should try and discuss the exponential function with him.

[anneliese-nyc]

Today there were newscasters broadcasting at the train station .
Subject was yesterday's power outage of the NE Amtrak's electrical system .Seemed boring and trite when Peak Oil , amnesty for millions of illegals and global warming are all on a crash course to Hell at the same time.

Then I thought of how power outages may be fairly common in the future. My 20 minute commute may take hours .
Then I thought of how the illegals will recreate Mexico here in enclaves and how angry they may be when the jobs dry up.
And how it will be a downward spiral the more the the price goes up for oil and the reserves go down.
The weather system is still fairly normal. Rainfall is normal here for now. We just had a thunderstorm and now it is balmy and warm...which I like. Planes that land miles away at Newark International sound like they are going to land on the roof because of the clouds. My heart still pounds from the sound of a loud and close plane after witnessing 9/11 . I guess it always will . Coupled with my new found knowledge of Peak Oil, I would say I am morphing into someone different. My priorities are changing. What I used to think what was important is not worth any thought. Most of my friends sound so trivial and the people I tell just do not get it.
A stranger in a strange new world. An Auschlander.
Could be a challenge, could be fun .Play with the universe.We really do not know how much time we have before tshtf .

[PenultimateManStanding]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('anneliese-nyc', 'M')y priorities are changing. What I used to think what was important is not worth any thought. Most of my friends sound so trivial and the people I tell just do not get it.
.

[Madpaddy]

LateStarter wrote,
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I')'m planning on spending the entire weekend in the forest (without any supplies or gear) as soon as I get a weather forecast that includes some rain. I'll let you know how it goes....

[PenultimateManStanding]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Madpaddy', '
')You won't need to, when some hiker comes across your rotted corpse we will see it on CNN

[Madpaddy]

PMS wrote,
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'Y')es, that's all the social club needs, a disgusting mick to drop a turd in the punch bowl! (pretty good, eh?)

[anneliese-nyc]

How are you going to survive ?
That is for you and all of us to figure out .....and we may not in time .

"Power rests on the kind of knowledge that one holds. What is the sense of knowing things that are useless ? They will not prepare us for unavoidable encounter with the unknown "

Carlos Castaneda ~~The Teachings of Don Juan ~~

[Zardoz]

My wife and I went to a pool party tonight. I got to see an example of the maxed-out, ultra-high-consumption American lifestyle at its worst.

The couple (she's a business associate of my wife) live in Redondo Beach in a giant McMansion they built four years ago. The place has it all: Three stories, four-car garage, titanic mega-kitchen (with four sinks, about 40 feet of granite counters, SubZero appliances, an Italian institutional-grade coffee grinder/maker, etc.) five bedrooms, four baths, cathedral ceilings, multiple huge flat-screen TVs, pool, hot tub, patio gas fire pit, basketball court, massive barbecue grill, patio refrigerator, patio kegerator, etc., etc.

Two drivers in the family, but three new vehicles: A Bimmer 550i, a Toyota Highlander, and a Denali with 22-inch wheels.

They've had four kids in seven years. They have two nannies to take care of them while they work. They've got a big aquarium in the family room and they just bought a Great Dane pup that already weighs 85 pounds at five months.

At the pool party they brought in two people to run a taco bar, a drink waitress, gas outdoor heaters, and a mariachi band.

These people don't fool around. They've pulled out all the stops. They've bought into the Lunatic American Dream with a vengeance.

If the worst-case PO scenarios come to pass, are these people going to be in for it, or what?

[PenultimateManStanding]

So, did you mention our little detritivore problem while soaking in the hot tub?

[Madpaddy]

Zardoz wrote;
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')hey've had four kids in seven years. They have two nannies to take care of them while they work. They've got a big aquarium in the family room and they just bought a Great Dane pup that already weighs 85 pounds at five months.

[PenultimateManStanding]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Madpaddy', 'Z')ardoz wrote;
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')hey've had four kids in seven years. They have two nannies to take care of them while they work. They've got a big aquarium in the family room and they just bought a Great Dane pup that already weighs 85 pounds at five months.

[anneliese-nyc]

If the worst case PO scenario comes to pass they may continue their lifestyle if they had the foresight to keep their wealth .They may even continue accumulating wealth depending on how they acquire it. Their party may go on behind a newly built security system . Happens in Third World countries all the time. They just ignore the masses.

Maybe they will train the dog to kill so they can continue using that BBQ pit .

I hope you enjoyed the pool party .That may be a rare occasion in the future .

[Zardoz]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('anneliese-nyc', 'I') hope you enjoyed the pool party. That may be a rare occasion in the future .

[PenultimateManStanding]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Zardoz', '
')(BTW, he's a partner in one of the biggest accounting firms in the nation. They'll probably be doing fine, post-Peak.)

[anneliese-nyc]

Unless they ALSO know about peak oil .........
Maybe they won't lose it all .
Take Rainmaker for instance .He is making adjustments to his fortune .

[PenultimateManStanding]

I think it will go down like on Easter Island: it won't matter what rung of society you live on when the whole thing crashes. Not that there won't be wealth issues after the crash, but wealth will have a new basis and old wealth will be no more.

[anneliese-nyc]

Zardoz ,

Those three storey McMansions seem to be a plague. Bucks County PA where I visited this weekend seems to be infected .
Where there used to be rolling hills and lush forests there were swarms of McMansions .

I found them to be an ugly assault on my senses .Unnatural . So large and cookie cutter with either nothing (I mean NOTHING...not even a few trees) around them OR small yards where the house was as big as the land it was built on. Postage stamp yards . And I did not see one single person in their yard .

But that is not unusual I find in "neighborhoods" as those . I was in the general vicinity Of Loyola Marymount in LA a great while back and decided to take a walk .( I know ...I know ...people may jog , people may run , people may bike ..but they do NOT " take a walk " in LA ) Now as I walked , I went from a quarter mil neighborhood to a half mil neighborhood ...and then found myself in a mil neighborhood .

What I realized was in the least value neighborhood there were kids playing in the street , music playing in a backyard and activity .
People actually walked to the main st to the stores . The middle value was more sedate ...but if you ran into a person they would also greet you with a smile . In the mil (5 Mil now ? Soon to take a nosedive ?) neighborhood it was silent . No people OR kids to be seen .Seemed like an unused movie set . It was the silence that I remember .

I do not know if you saw a lot more people on the street because the houses were a lot smaller or if the fact that someone had a humongous house they never had to leave the interior because they had more than enough space .

But I do find the nouveau rich a lot more snobbish and arrogant than say 10-20 years ago .

Whatever happened to understated wealth and class ?
It is still there with some but rare .

Otherwise it was a pleasant trip to the country . My hosts love to drive.all over , so I let them . Beautiful beautiful old architecture and countryside other than those " ugly wounds" upon the land .
We watched people in a field set up a hot air balloon and stayed until it was aloft . Sat by the Delaware and walked along the canals .

It is good to get away but it is always good to go home .

[PenultimateManStanding]

anneliese, I think you understand some of the subtle aspects of this form of communication. just wanted you to know I appreciate it. I think you understand, also, why I would post all these thousands of posts.