Don’t wait to go to the woods to grow a beard. Maybe just growing one may make someone realize you are serious and not just having a rant. Besides most guys look good with one. BTW, leaders usually don’t get to choose exactly who follows. Facebook dropouts are good people. I know quite few.
are welcome here. Please learn the preservation and milling of grain or tanning and mfg. of leather for harness, I have the black smithing.
are welcome here. Please learn the preservation and milling of grain or tanning and mfg. of leather for harness, I have the black smithing.
They can always eat cake if times get tough.
Snydeman…
Man does this resonate. Chris and those of us on here who have TRIED, over and over, to get people to wake up and Take Action!..Well, we have been slammed down by Normalcy Bias and the common human traits…WE are uncommon, and it is painful.
And that, for me, has meant I have lost respect for my own family. I literally avoid seeing them or talking with them anymore (although wife and kids are close and onboard, for the most part). But knowledge can be a terrible burden, especially when mixed with the emotional cost of detaching your own mother, father, siblings and very long time old friends…
But when the epic reversion comes, and they all get slammed on the side of the head with a 2x4, lose all ability to act in time, and then begin “calling” - THAT is going to be a very difficult challenge for all of us.
I think I want to be at my foreign bolt-hole, off grid, hunting in a flourishing natural environment I took years to create and fund, with a nice long beard. And good local friends guarding the perimeter, so that our production flows out to the community, not them trying to flood in.
But reconciling the fact that loved ones were fools, well that is going to be a difficult one.
robie robinson wrote:
re. Please learn the preservation and milling of grain or tanning and mfg. of leather for harness, I have the black smithing.
Agent700 wrote:
But reconciling the fact that loved ones were fools, well that is going to be a difficult one.
to fail to plan for the needs of the unprepared is, in itself, a plan to fail. After all: it's a grasshopper nation, and we ants are too few.
Yep. That old Twilight Zone video brought it home, back in June when you published it…
People who have the vision, and the determination, to get ready - well they just might be overrun.
A key reason some of us have headed outside the country or to very lowly populated areas. If deaf and denying loved ones can’t make it there in time, even with outstretched hands and extraordinary efforts by us, well that is the reconciliation dilemma I fear. Survivors may never get over that sort of…What, regret?
Few then really know rural 'merica. ALL my neighbors own 5-5000acres,garden, can and freeze meat and produce, heavily armed, and practiced, is an understatement. distrustful of strangers too is putting it lightly. were anyone new to move in, it would be years before they were in the “membership”.
we know we aren’t alone, and have seen ourselves as ants in a grasshopper world for generations.
we do loveallyawl
Adam- I followed the Grasshopper link (as well as links in that article) and discovered that – ostensibly due to copyright issues – many of the video links are no longer available.
The very important video by physics teacher David Chandler titled “The Pile Driver That Wasn’t” has been removed from Youtube also. Again, ostensibly for copyright issues. This 10 minute video contained a compilation of publicly aired news videos and his lectures.
I believe that this is the next phase of controlling the discourse. Factual data that counteracts the desired story is removed. Not by “government,” but by private corporations working in concert.
Diagram of the proposed “pile-driver” mechanism:
The Pile-Drive Mechanism is the purported mechanism whereby jet fuel could be inserted into a few floors 2/3 of the way up the building and then the ENTIRE building could fly apart into pieces. Including the floors above the kerosene fires and those below.
David Chandler showed videos of the building destruction showing no sign of the top maintaining its integrity as a single massive “pile driver” crushing the lower building. Observational evidence contradicts the theoretical explanation. There was No Pile Driver.
With the removal of this excellent educational video, it is much more difficult to discuss and educate friends.
Matt -
Yes, television videos on YT often get deleted. Here’s another (still working) link to the same episode (click on the image below to launch it):
Snydeman, I have had the exact same experience. May I suggest an alternative approach? Next time maybe lead with something like this:
10 ways the apocalypse can help you shed lbs and loose belly fat
or…
5 reasons you won’t be able to netflix binge in the next 5 years
or…
Why are your favorite celebrities storing food, water and emergency rations
or…
Putin wants to end the American way of life…are you going to let him
…know your audience.
… get a doomsday bunker apartment to ride out the apocalypse built in this old missile silo!
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/inside-secret-doomsday-bunker-mi…
(I am only joking)
The entrance doesn’t look like much, but it is hardened to withstand a nuclear blast, which could be a big plus.
Inside, though, luxury!!
I decide it’s time to speak my piece, and not be silent/deferential about energy, economy, and the environment. Three instances in the last two weeks:
- On a conference call with a client, I was asked about a new CERCLA 108b requirement for 200 years of water monitoring after the mine closes. My first response was, “Industrial civilization will collapse in 200 years, or a lot sooner than that.” The environmental manager and mining engineer laughed. But perhaps I made a point?
- At our Rotary Club meeting last week, I put a dollar in the “Happy Bucks” jar calling it Sad Bucks on behalf of the Rusty Patched Bumble Bee. Some people nodded, some were surprised and interested. A lawyer even asked me why, and blinked when I explained that the US Fish & Wildlife Service won’t say that it’s neonicitinoids but it’s very likely. Then several people actually researched the bumblebee online during the week.
- However, at this week’s Rotary Club meeting, the director of the local tourism association talked about all of the undeniable “progress” they’ve made in bringing tourists in for hiking, mountain biking, fishing, and skiing. One of the challenges, he reported, was getting consistent reliable air service to our small community. After everyone discussed the challenges, I spoke up as the polite contrarian. I pointed out that flying has the highest carbon footprint of any mode of travel. 2016 was the warmest year on record. Second warmest year was 2015. Third warmest year was 2014. If we really care about the length of our ski season, the habit of our forests, the CO2 in the atmosphere and it’s affect on ocean ecosystems which are on the brink of collapse, then we should consider eliminating air travel. We should consider the climate in all of our decision making.
A lo-o-o-ong pause. No one spoke. (My spouse tells me I “peed in the punch bowl”.) Then everyone tried to come up with a solution, most of which centered around combining flights, increasing the percentage of full seats so as to decrease the number of flights while bringing in the same (or more) number of people. One of my fellow Rotarians said, “If we sell it as reducing the number of flights, maybe that will make the eco-nuts happy.” Everyone was trying to find a way to feel good in the face of some undeniably real concerns, and to justify continuing with business as usual.
And yes, she called me an eco-nut. I shrugged that off, and smiled, and continued to talk to this room full of people that I know very well and care deeply about. But when, when will we wake up?
I guess my point is, no matter what they call us, no matter how they defend business-as-usual, it’s really time for me to speak up. I don’t think it’s too late. I hope I’m not alone.
This article commenting on the New Yorker story is worth reading as it reinforces the lessons from Peak Prosperity. Namely, that skills are better than bunkers. A taste:
Know what will be in demand when society crumbles? It won’t be people who are really good at making money on the Internet. It will be people who can help rebuild it.
https://www.outsideonline.com/2152476/everything-thats-wrong-billionaire…
Love your Mother,nobody else gives a s#!T.
My draft filly responds by instinct, I trust instinct not people.
I had almost the same response from a group of “agriculturalists” (sometimes known as farmers) when I brought the subject up in regards to our counties practice of spraying the ditches and headlands for “noxious weeds”. Citing the redundancy of spraying these areas when just about every farmer in the county is already spraying a cocktail of 2,4,D, roundup, etc. on the croplands, I suggested that no wonder bumblebees and other pollinators were disappearing. As we continue to eliminate flowering plants that used to provide a varied and abundant source of nectar (how much clover, milk weed, goldenrod, dandelion etc. do you see around anymore ) we are seeing it tougher for our insect friends to earn a living off of the very small non-sprayed areas. Most of the responses referred me to the abundance of corn, soybeans, canola that they grow which should provide ample sources of nectar. I suppose if I relegated myself to eating at Mc Donald’s 24/7, I might be able to survive, but flourish - I doubt it. And yes, the word “Eco-nut” came up in the discussion.
I praise your tenacity, man, and the courage to speak up. We all have these opportunities and should chide ourselves when we don’t avail ourselves of them. This forum is a great resource on these topics, but we must not allow ourselves to “preach the the converted” when so many still need to see the light. Your an example of what we all should be doing when the opportunities present themselves. Hang in there and keep up the fight!
Don’t they know that corn is a grass? It’s wind pollinated. It doesn’t produce nectar!
Soybeans bloom briefly and I’m sure are not attractive to all pollinators. I’m not sure about canola.
Don’t they get that the pollinators need a wide variety of plants so that there are always a few that are in their bloom season?
They don’t seem to have even the most basic understanding of the ecology of pollination and pollinators. So they certainly don’t understand the following points:
Members of the mint and carrot family are ideal for predatory wasps and other insects that are not specialist pollinators.
Native plants like goldenrods, milkweeds, etc. are also important for native pollinators partly because they’ve evolved to be pollinated by specific insects and to bloom at specific times when as few other plants as possible are blooming to avoid competition for pollinators.
Trying to convince people of impending collapse seems to do that. It is sooooo frustrating talking about this stuff w people, especially friends and family. That you are trying to do so for their own good makes it extra frustrating. I find it so hard not to speak out, but I’m learning it isn’t worth it. Alienation and isolation aren’t worth being right and prophetic. Since we are not going to resolve the major predicaments (too much resistance from the masses and it’s too late anyway), maybe it’s better to bite your tongue and remain on good terms w people, especially those you care about.
People just don’t like pessimists or pessimistic views. They’d rather be in the dark, unenlightened and unprepared, than aware of anything that might be a buzz kill.
All that being said, no way I’ll be able to bite my tongue 100% of the time. Sure appreciate how this is one place we can discuss collapse without being rejected, outcast and disdained.