Wednesday, August 21, 2019

good time charlie


GOOD TIME CHARLIE
Subtitled, How To Giggle Like A Schoolgirl As Western Civilization Crashes And Burns To The Faint Faraway Sounds Of A Fiddle. Not a banjo-let me make that abundantly clear. In the apocalypse, as in life, you never want to get your banjo played. Far better to be the banjo player. Anyway, let's not get sidetracked there. An oft returned to subject, enjoying life now and after the collapse. I think I covered this not too long ago, but as the collapse intensifies I still find the need to return to it as a dog to his vomit.
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I'm actually starting to have a good time here. Not because I have more subjects to write about. I don't, not really. That is always a struggle, and I can't plan ahead too far because I always look at old notes and wonder why I wanted to write about THAT. My best articles are on matters I can't stop thinking about currently. And it isn't because I just spent a good amount of money. I mean, it is in that I worry about cash savings inflating to toilet paper, but it isn't in that NOT having as much savings is stressful in its own right.
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And I don't get a shoppers high from buying crap. I'm enjoying the prospects of a new project, but that is fleeting and I HATE projects that continually suck out cash. I could have written an extra article or three, all long winded, on how devoting myself to a secondary arsenal was a terrible move because of the commitment. Now I won't stop worrying until I expand on it until complete. You know, much more damn ammo ( several k more ). Mounts and scopes, pistol version, twenty round steel mags ( I like the increased robustness and ease of prone position ). Spare parts kits.
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Or, perhaps I NEED to have something to worry about. Not for dramas sake, but because I am one high strung individual and always have been, even ( or especially ) as a child, and cannot stop. I suppose that could account for some form of happiness. But I don't think it is that either. I think it is a combination of thinking I'm going to be proven correct ( oh, how I long for the day as the hue and cry across the land laments ignoring Peak Oil-not that I'm bitter I was ignored and pitied, oh no!, not that ) finally after all my efforts, and the fact that the worrying can end finally.
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Worrying about a strange lump on the side of your dingus, worrying about the in-laws visiting ( and I'm not sure which one is more worrisome ), worrying if Hilary was going to get elected-all that worrying is so much worse than the actual event. We don't like uncertainty and we can adapt to any situation ( our species is rather good at it ), so of course the wait is worse than what eventually happens. That is why we almost always pick The Devil We Know over a possible angel. Change blows. We try not to change.
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And I think perhaps therein lies the source of happiness. Far too many folks think that the collapse or the apocalypse is a change, but really if you think about it, it is a return to normalcy. The Oil Age was the change from stability. The Agricultural Age, for the little better it was and the lot worse, was still normal for ten thousand years. The Oil Age, for all its luxury, was abnormal. Even if a change is for the better, in general most folks do NOT want to change anyway.
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Just think about that old pair of shoes. There is no more tread, a toe sticks out and even the tiniest bit of fog causes your feet to become soaked. But you love your old shoes. Not because they are broken in-they are at that point merely broke. But you KNOW what the shoes delivery, how they perform. There is no stress about how a new pair will feel. They are anxiety free ( you aren't anxious over soaked feet or an awkward gait-you expect them. And hence it cannot be as stressful as the alternative ).
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Why would you want a new spouse? Well, you want a new spouse, by which you mean you want the old one to act differently according to your specs. You certainly don't want to replace the old body, just the old performance. With a new spouse, you don't know what is in store for you. With the old one, you have already written the owners manual. The whole ordeal of watching them morph from Dating Cocoon to Real Life Butterfly is always better in theory than practice.
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You certainly don't want a new dog, even if the old one is all broken down and spends all day alternating between farting and sleeping, even if a new puppy is so cute. The old one is a known quality. You know his quirks and habits. It isn't that you are lazy as much as you simply don't like change. Because back in “real times”, pre-insane energy surplus, change represented danger. That is what that quirk of evolution did for us, avoiding that danger. Right now it looks silly but back then it looked smart.
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And I think as soon as you recognize how sane our system was prior ( sane as in stable state non-changing in its fundamentals ) and how bizarre this one is, the tendency is to relish a return to it. That is why people IN the current system seemingly embrace the bizarre, the odd, the Not Normal. To them it IS normal, and as they are unaware of any problem ( having bought into the Perpetual Advancement myth that the advocates of Growth Uber Alles push ), to them they are avoiding change.
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There have recently been a few books out on the Retro Movement, the two from Greer ( one fiction, one non-fiction ) and the one by Lind. I haven't read any of them, so I don't know if I am reinventing the wheel here. It seems to me, just from having read most of Greers other prepper-ish books, they would be about cultural reversion with a cherry picking of less harmful/more sustainable technology ( I don't mean “tech” as in advancement in tools but rather as in “carbon fuel dependent” ). I think that would probably work just fine.
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People don't fear tools changing, per se. Tool advancement has always been normal. People obviously didn't fear change as far as what they ate. Just from witnessing WHAT we now eat, you know experimentation was constant. How else to explain how folks learned to leech poison from acorns, know to add bovine stomach lining to create cheese, etc.? We don't fear all change, but change that brings danger ( did they feed the acorn experiments to slaves? ) or instability. One wonders the mechanism to decide in that aspect. It only seems obvious now in retrospect.
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Perhaps that is how the Oil Age came to be so widely adapted. At first, it was JUST tool change. Look at the world expo's celebrating the new tools ( the events themselves visited by traveling in the new coal feed Iron Horse ). It was later that the social changes were shoved down our throat. That didn't start or end well ( the middle was paved over with an extra layer of energy surplus to hide the unease. For instance, look at the drive-in movie industry ), because while we can learn to use new tools, we cannot learn how to act against our human nature without severe disruption.
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Continued tomorrow.
( .Y. )
( today's related Amazon link click HERE )
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20 comments:

  1. ugh.
    and i just bought an el-cheapo baofeng before they disappear.
    my justification is backup fm radio and talking to my buddies when the telephone/internet grid goes down.

    anyways don't have a landline anymore, plus web censorship, agitprop, surveillance capitalism and whatnot.

    might get me another one as spare; two is one as they say.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Two Is One is actually one of the very few things they say where everyone ISN'T full of crap.

      Delete
    2. Ditto on the dual purpose radio. I was going to mention CB radios, since there’s a surplus of them on ebay, and they’re pretty cheap these days. And while they would be good for PA communications, an HF ham transceiver, not only gives you worldwide communications, it also provides you with a general coverage shortwave receiver. You can pick them up used at a ham swap meet, at a reasonable price.

      Of course, you should also have a dedicated shortwave receiver. Try to get a model that allows you to receive SSB or CW (Single sideband, or Morse code) as this allows you to pick up Amateur (ham) and govt broadcasts.

      Delete
    3. down the rabbit hole we go:

      https://survivalblog.com/baofeng-sales-ban-countdown-continues/

      Delete
    4. Why is it that when Rawles panics-vet antibiotics, nickels-we don't see the item disappear? I guess it's a good thing, just weird.

      Delete
    5. Oooh, oooh!! There are Amazon links embedded in his article so you can support him when you buy these!!!

      LB, here are the hyperlinks to those radios (I own a few tri-band units already purchased a while ago from Amazon so these are not a direct rip-off from the other site) in case you want to associate them to this blog for the commission:

      UV-R5 (base version two-band unit) https://www.amazon.com/BaoFeng-1800mAh-Battery-TIDRADIO-Antenna/dp/B0772FYKK8

      Tri-band with three antennas (one version of this radio): https://www.amazon.com/BaoFeng-Tri-Band-400-520Mhz-Antennas-Transmitter/dp/B07TSDLB61

      "Ruggedized" Dual Band: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00E4KLY34

      "Ruggedized" Higher Power Dual Band https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075TVQVKX

      Delete
    6. "down the rabbit hole we go:

      https://survivalblog.com/baofeng-sales-ban-countdown-continues/"

      Just read that post and, unsurprisingly, the author had to add his bit of snark about how the licensed ham radio community pushed for the regulation to protect their privilege. As a licensed ham (General Class) I'd like to point out that IMO this has nothing to do with "privilege" and everything to do with responsible operation. Remember how the CB frequencies went down the toilet when users ignored the rules and did whatever they pleased, turning it into a free-for-all? Or so many overland hunters using the Marine band? Hams are trying to prevent that sort of thing from happening to the FRS band. (Just my opinion, YMMV.)

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    7. Good point. In our rush to hedonism we forget there are other people around and it isn't all about us. Well, I mean, it is all about ME. Just not all about ya'all :) But seriously, yeah, road rules make it safer for everyone, so why can't folks see rules in other activities serve a purpose and make yours and everyone's experience better. It used to be called courtesy, but that died before CB's did.

      Delete
    8. 7:21-yeah, why not. Thanks
      https://amzn.to/31RYeFm
      The first listed link, the radio, unit, whatever it is.

      Delete
  2. Bullet points for submission:
    ^ spend cash to build up supplies or inflation deflection, not psych-ego stroking.
    ^ hold some cushion of cash, the hyper/weimer inflation may never arrive while alive.
    ^ projects that are money pits better be really darned priority, avoid fancys.
    ^ fret not about worry thoughts. Hyper vigilant for a reason, being a "Sentinel" takes dilligence.
    ^ people willingly accomodate change in tools, procedures, possessions. People despise change to thought systems, beliefs, culture customs, or any thing contrary to ingrained species programming or DNA codes.

    ^ good time Charlie drives around in a deplorable model pick up truck, blaring circus or benny hill theme music, whilst laughing loudly at the neighborhood.

    ^ good time Charlie is the private running back to the lines post mission at high port rifle with boots kicking up like a running cheerleader laughing like woody woodpecker all the way to the mess hall for lunch meal.

    Enjoy the ride, only one life ride per life coin in the pay slot.

    Stay Frosty.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Just want to remind you that the METAPHOR you used here is kinda inappropriate:

    "but as the collapse intensifies I still find the need to return to it as a dog to his vomit".

    The Biblical ADMONITION goes something like...'a fool repeats his folly as a dog returns to his vomit'.
    I don't think you meant to imply YOU are a fool repeating a folly, right?
    Thus endeth the lesson...

    As regards trading in a partner, you say..."You certainly don't want to replace the old body, just the old performance."
    Meh.....a new model year is desirable imho.
    Which would you prefer, mid 1980s "K" car design or something off the Ferrari showroom floor? C'mon, you don't even have to be a 'car guy' to get that answer right. Vroom, vroom!

    Lastly..."Because back in “real times”, pre-insane energy surplus, change represented danger".
    Gotta disagree...humans LOVE novelty, innovation, adventure & change. It's the definition of human. Yes, change often anxiety inducing or disruptive but we thrive off of it....you're a prime example. Using a computer to be a Collapsenik & doing the St. John on Patmos schtick (writing a modern version of The Apocalypse). Your reaching across vast oceans with The Good News sure beats a mimeographed newsletter, eh?

    Preach on brother.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Come on! I'm not THAT old. It was Xerox newsletters, not a mimeograph. Old dude can certainly pay to get a female Ferrari-I just wouldn't advise it. Females like that are like employing a mercenary army. They can drop you for a better deal, and cheat on you waiting for it. As for the vomit, yes, I meant what you think I didn't want to mean. I can kick myself when I'm down-meant a bit sarcastically. I got it from Kipling, though, unaware of its biblical origin.

      Delete
  4. Rawles' site is why I call it "Buyvivalism/Sellvivalism". His "writing contests" are a scam too - I got published, was supposed to get $30 out of it anyway, never got my money. Rawles probably dreams about suckin Trump's d!ck and seems to follow the same business model - why pay 'em when you can make promises and stiff 'em?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I can understand why you are bitter. I don't like his business model ( shared with Creekmore ), but it's not a secret either. There are shadier ones like gun companies bribing for reviews or mentions. But yeah, don't stiff someone a meager writing fee. Hell, Loompanics paid me better than that in the 90's.

      Delete
  5. I have around five hundred bucks worth of "Rawles" nickels stashed. They are the only cash I have reserved which I will spend for an unexpected good deal. Then they slowly start dribbling back in as pocket change.
    Also have a good stash of the fish antibiotics...
    Why not ? Even Rawles gets a lot of stuff right.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Right, the powder bleach, the type of water softener to use as salt. Plenty of good tips. Just too bad he jumped the shark.

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    2. Yes we'll , truth be told the rule of thumb says most all jump the shark, given the opportunity. Capitalistic pigs the majority are heh heh.

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    3. How does it go? Pigs get fed and hogs get slaughtered. Of course, that shares the fallacy of karma. Wishful thinking the capitalist hogs get what is coming to them ( as they float away on their gold parachute )

      Delete

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