. . .
6 “We as humans need heat measured in calories inside us and heat measured in British Thermal Units outside us to survive. We have two external skins – our clothes and our shelter – to retain some of the outside heat. In hot climates, we transfer heat from us back to the environment.”
9 “My food comes from the grocery shelf and heats me from the inside. My electricity comes from the wall and heats me on the outside. Bingo.”
. . .
3 “There seems to be this notion that Collapse is a binary concept – it either is or is not here. On the domestic front, if one looks at Katrina, Ferguson, the failed ‘just-us’ legal system, the health care-less system, a fraudulent financial system, a kleptocracy not a democracy, etc., we have ‘Rolling Collapse’ or ‘Cascading Collapse.’ And the international arena is a string of wars, wars, wars and wars. And currency wars. And commodity wars. And resource wars. And wars.”
6 “Keep the apocalypticlit in perspective. We need to keep one foot in each world and both eyes on all the possibilities. Follow the Golden Rule, move money from a bank to a credit union, don’t touch plastic in any form and do reduce, reuse, recycle and compost. Hope instead of fear. Trust instead of terror. Mudita instead of schadenfreude. We cannot continue on the path we are on, so we must find a path to the middle way.”
9 “The Golden Rule. He who has the gold makes the rules. I am getting the gold.”
. . .
9 “I can get on the Internet, order it in any size or color from anywhere and get it delivered to my front door the next day. Monogrammed, if I want. And pay with plastic rather than gold. Nearly immediate gratification with delayed satisfaction of the bill. Immediate gratification if I want to drive to the store. Everything is sweet.”
3 “What happens when the Internet becomes the Inter-mittent-net or the phones don’t connect or the planes don’t fly or the truck doesn’t truck?”
9 “Not in my lifetime.”
3 “The monogram machine breaks?”
9 “Not on my watch.”
. . .
3 “Select your century or be defaulted to the Fifteenth Century. If you want to slow your descent at the Eighteenth Century, acquire a manual tool to replace every tool motivated by a motor or an engine. Acquire a treadle sewing machine to replace the electric variety and a bow saw to replace your chain saw.”
9 “I am the Twenty-First Century.”
6 “A hand grinder for coffee beans is percolating up the wish list.”
9 “Except for my autoloaders, all my iron is handheld, manual and wireless. I’m prepared.”
6 “Music is our escape and our salvation. An old hand–crank gramophone to listen to Liszt may need to move up the list.”
. . .
6 “You know what they say: ‘God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.’ I may need to acquire manual do-it-yourself versions of all three virtues to get through the day.”
3 “Try yard sales. Or estate sales.”
. . .
[See the e-commentary at We Ain’t Ants; We Are Grasshoppers (April 9, 2012) and at Fukushima Daiichied (March 12, 2012).]
Bumper stickers of the week:
Collapse: Coming to a planet near you?
Give bees a chance
We seek stasis, we get entropy
“A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.” Robert A. Heinlein
A half dozen six-word memoirs constitute an “e-poem” titled “Take only pictures; Leave only footprints.”
Many live humans; Few dead dinosaurs.
Disregard the e-con-omists; Regard the physicists.*
Change your attitude; Range the latitudes.
Pay old bills**; Develop new skills.
Consume less junk; Savor more beauty.
So many challenges; So little time.
* And the eco-nomists.
** Craft your own financial game plan. With hyperinflation on the way, purposefully delaying the payment of bills allows one to pay obligations with significantly devalued dollars. That is one of the strategies being pursued by the governments.
e-commentary 