When Did You Become Aware Of The Ongoing Collapse of Civilization?

[Eddie]

As the administrator of this site lies struggling for his life in the hospital today (And no, I am not exaggerating....if you want to tell him something now would be a good time to do that by Diner PM, or him drop a thank-you note.), I am just thinking back to how I came upon this site, and what kept me coming back in spite of all the "negative waves" I received from a lot of people in the beginning (including RE).

I have to give RE credit. In spite of frequent bitching by the "freedom of speech" crowd, it was the editorial policy here of "Say anything you want, but be prepared to back it up or be deluged with a boatload of truth" that attracted me in the first place and has kept me coming back. I have often heard things here from a bunch of fairly smart people that made me rethink my own preferred narratives...and believe it or not, caused me to modify my views from time to time.

Over the five years I've been checking in on most days here, a long string of preppers, survivalists, eco-terrorists-in-training, revolutionaries and malcontents have fought it out with those who wanted to come here and argue that the world was in fact NOT actually going to hell in a handbasket and everything's fine.

I don't know what happens now if RE bites the dust. I expect this site will fold, or at best become a dead site. I hope it stays up, and I will try to help with that. This site is RE's real monument, and not the fancy tombstone he's had so much fun creating (although I don't begrudge him the fun he's obviously had getting that silly thing made.)

I'm not sure what I'll do with my time. I discovered years ago that I wasn't likely to become a famous blogger (missed the time window, if nothing else) and so I found a place to write here on the forum, mostly behind the curtain. Not sure who I'll argue with now. RE is the best person I ever found to argue with. Always willing to go to the mat over just about anything, and not always right (although always certain).

That's important. Who wants to argue with somebody who's always right? Like arguing with God, it's a low-pay-off proposition, and gets old really fast. RE is wrong often enough for me to enjoy the verbal sparring and maybe win one every once in a while, and I like that.

But...what I wanted to do is take a survey, and ask for you to please vote, and more especially to comment in more detail, about when you became collapse aware. What made "the lights come on" for you? When was that? Where were you? Did it change your life at all?

I know exactly when the lights came on for me. It was when I read Ruppert's PO book at Christmas in 2010. Since then my outlook has changed radically and my way of life, if not radically, at least noticeably. I have not changed the world, nor was it ever my intention to do so. I'm primarily a selfish fuck whose interest is staying alive and maybe doing something to better the circumstances of my own somewhat spoiled (but still decent) kids and any children they might have. I came here after getting tired of the (mostly) alt.right commentariat on Jim Quinn's site The Burning Platform. It was RE's Diner proselytizing that did it. Advertising works, for better or worse.

RE has always said the lights came on for him when Lehman went belly-up in 2008.

So, when did the lights come on for you?

A lot of people read this forum who have never written a word here. I know that. (Thanks for reading, btw.) If you don't want to comment, at least vote in the poll. Your location will not be tracked (unless it already is) and nobody from here will try to sell you anything (Unless you're local and you'd like to get a great deal on a pig. In that case PM me instead of RE.)

The poll might not have every possible scenario covered. That's why the comments are important. Please take the time to comment, even if you never comment. I never conducted  a poll before, either.

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[Surly1]

As the administrator of this site lies struggling for his life in the hospital today (And no, I am not exaggerating....if you want to tell him something now would be a good time to do that by Diner PM, or him drop a thank-you note.), I am just thinking back to how I came upon this site, and what kept me coming back in spite of all the "negative waves" I received from a lot of people in the beginning (including RE).

RE is almost certainly the irreplaceable man as it refers to DD. It is difficult to imagine a Diner without him, so I choose not to do it. I sincerely hopes he outlives me. I am hoping today's exertions will oead to a new level of medical insight for him.

I don't know what happens now if RE bites the dust. I expect this site will fold, or at best become a dead site. I hope it stays up, and I will try to help with that. This site is RE's real monument, and not the fancy tombstone he's had so much fun creating (although I don't begrudge him the fun he's obviously had getting that silly thing made.)

I am certainly committed to keeping the doors open for a while as well.

But...what I wanted to do is take a survey, and ask for you to please vote, and more especially to comment in more detail, about when you became collapse aware. What made "the lights come on" for you? When was that? Where were you? Did it change your life at all?

I know exactly when the lights came on for me. It was when I read Ruppert's PO book at Christmas in 2010. Since then my outlook has changed radically and my way of life, if not radically, at least noticeably. I have not changed the world, nor was it ever my intention to do so. I'm primarily a selfish fuck whose interest is staying alive and maybe doing something to better the circumstances of my own somewhat spoiled (but still decent) kids and any children they might have. I came here after getting tired of the (mostly) alt.right commentariat on Jim Quinn's site The Burning Platform. It was RE's Diner proselytizing that did it. Advertising works, for better or worse.

RE has always said the lights came on for him when Lehman went belly-up in 2008.

So, when did the lights come on for you?

About the same as you, maybe a couple of months earlier. I started reading TBP in I think 2010, and encountered RE and his rants. We found after a while that we shared a similar POV, as those posters left of Mussolini found TBP rough sledding, between Jimbo, Llpoh and, of course, Smokey. Those who complain of "virulence" on the Diner never saw Smokey in midseason form ("...after dumping a load of baby batter into your wife...") Although a gifted writer, Jimbo is a depraved website admin, and was not above rewriting posts to make a point.

Perhaps the exact moment the light came on was when Henry Paulsen went begging for bailouts, and the Congress ignored overwhelming sentiment against such a thing and voted it anyhow. Paulson always portrays himself as a fierce champion of free markets, but has not been above defending the decision to bail out AIG and other Wall Street firms. The wrong people would have taken a haircut. It was then the outlines of the rigged casino began to take shape for me. Along with a head of steam that led to Occupy.

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[RE]

Nobody is irreplaceable.  There are times I am sure the Diner would actually do better without me around.  I am good at running off clientele as Surly has noted in the past. lol.

I am glad you guys will try to keep the Diner & SUN up and running for at least a while after I buy my ticket to the Great Beyond.  I told Brian that some of the money I leave behind should be used to pay the Diner Bills.  You guys will need to figure out how you pay ASO and the internet registrations.  It's not hard.

I don't think I will die today now that what was making me deteriorate so fast was caught, at least the symptom of severe anemia  if not what is causing it and the lack of appetite problem.  We'll see if the scope turns up anything.

LONG LIVE THE DOOMSTEAD DINER!

RE

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[Surly1]

Nobody is irreplaceable.  There are times I am sure the Diner would actually do better without me around.  I am good at running off clientele as Surly has noted in the past. lol.

I am glad you guys will try to keep the Diner & SUN up and running for at least a while after I buy my ticket to the Great Beyond.  I told Brian that some of the money I leave behind should be used to pay the Diner Bills.  You guys will need to figure out how you pay ASO and the internet registrations.  It's not hard.

I don't think I will die today now that what was making me deteriorate so fast was caught, at least the symptom of severe anemia  if not what is causing it and the lack of appetite problem.  We'll see if the scope turns up anything.

LONG LIVE THE DOOMSTEAD DINER!

RE

I was going to say, "spill your guts," but that might be bad timing and worse taste. There's got to be more. We'll wait.

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[Eddie]

If you aren't bleeding internally, then the problem is that you aren't making enough RBC's. The things that cause that kind of anemia are all bad things. I hope they find a bleed and fix it.

The alternatives comprise a short list and they mostly end in -emia. Leukemia, aplastic anemia, Oh, lymphoma. That one doesn't rhyme.
Or it happens with cancer that metastasizes to your bone marrow. That's how my father went. Once your bone marrow quits, you're a dead man walking. Just sayin'.

Leukemia should have already been diagnosed from your blood work if you had had it, which you probably don't. You could have non-Hodgkins lymphoma. Blood work wouldn't show anything. As many scans as you've had surely they would have found any tumors. The premier symptom of lymphoma is enlarged lymph nodes. Dx is by needle biopsy.

No, I don't think today is your day, but I am quite worried. A diagnosis would be helpful.

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[RE]

If you aren't bleeding internally, then the problem is that you aren't making enough RBC's. The things that cause that kind of anemia are all bad things. I hope they find a bleed and fix it.

The alternatives comprise a short list and they mostly end in -emia. Leukemia, aplastic anemia, Oh, lymphoma. That one doesn't rhyme.
Or it happens with cancer that metastasizes to your bone marrow. That's how my father went. Once your bone marrow quits, you're a dead man walking. Just sayin'.

Leukemia should have already been diagnosed from your blood work if you had had it, which you probably don't. You could have non-Hodgkins lymphoma. Blood work wouldn't show anything. As many scans as you've had surely they would have found any tumors. The premier symptom of lymphoma is enlarged lymph nodes. Dx is by needle biopsy.

No, I don't think today is your day, but I am quite worried. A diagnosis would be helpful.

I think bone marrow cancer is a good possibility.  My lymph nodes don't seem to be enlarged.

Perhaps we have colon cancer which has metasticized.

RE

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[David B.]

I put down before 1980 but I was preconditioned by a few events and where I grew up. I grew up in rural quebec in the 1970's at the tail end of the quiet revolution as we called it. Quebec underwent a rapid change from a rural agricultural roman catholic province to a more urban manufacturing based secular and independence minded hotbed. For a half English half french kid in rural quebec the world seemed to be falling apart from childhood. We had homegrown terrorists planting bombs, a crashing economy oil embargoes a country that seemed about to break apart, and for me personally a family of 9 farm kids as aunts and uncles who were indifferent to their heritage as it vanished. So by the time I discovered mother earth news then harrow smith then appropriate technology magazine then the new alchemists, the nearings  limits to growth, I was already in the right mindset.
Get as well as you can RE
Cheers, David B.

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[jdwheeler42]

If you aren't bleeding internally, then the problem is that you aren't making enough RBC's. The things that cause that kind of anemia are all bad things. I hope they find a bleed and fix it.

Meh... for as long and as little as RE has been eating, my money is on simple iron/B12 deficiency as the cause of the anemia.

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[Eddie]

I suppose that certainly could be, (and that'd be a good thing). But when you get 2-3 quarts low on the dipstick, it's serious, no matter what's causing it. If it has to do with his inability to eat, maybe a feeding tube would help. I hope you're right.

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[RE]

If you aren't bleeding internally, then the problem is that you aren't making enough RBC's. The things that cause that kind of anemia are all bad things. I hope they find a bleed and fix it.

Meh... for as long and as little as RE has been eating, my money is on simple iron/B12 deficiency as the cause of the anemia.

There is no doubt the poor nutrition  over the last year was a major factor in producing the anemia.  What remains an unanswered question is what is causing the lack of appetite and disgust with anything I actually do shove down my pie hole?  Imagine you had the prospect of having to eat shit every day for the rest of your life to stay alive.  Would you do it?   Right now I am forcing down whaever they put in front of me because I wouldn't get out of here if I don't eat.  But it all tastes like literal shit to me.

RE

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[Eddie]

No so bad if you can just load the nutritious shit into a big syringe and squirt it past the pie hole. Better than dying of malnutrition.

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[Ka]

Being in temporary non-lurker mode, I might as well give my story. Somewhere around 2005 I was participating in a forum on Robert Pirsig's metaphysics (the Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance guy), and on the forum was an Anglican priest named Sam Norton. I looked at his blog, and he had a a lot to say on Peak Oil, which introduced me to The Oil Drum, and The Automatic Earth. From TAE I followed RE, El Gallinazo and Ashvin to the Diner. Had a lot of fun arguing with Ashvin over Christian theology (to many Diners' disgust, but amazingly it was allowed -- thank you RE).

I gave up on any political hope or change when Obama appointed Tim Geithner as treasury secretary.

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[Eddie]

Thanks for voting and responding, all who took the time. I think the results are quite interesting, already, and I hope for more responses.

Admin, if you get home and read this, make the poll a sticky for a while.  I can never figure out how to do that stuff.

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[RE]

No so bad if you can just load the nutritious shit into a big syringe and squirt it past the pie hole. Better than dying of malnutrition.

If I could get one of those installed, I would.  I already asked my PCP about that some time back and she told me first off Medicare won't pay for it and second she didn't know any surgeon who would do it for me, at least here in the FSoA.  Maybe they would do it down in Panama?     The only way she said they do it up here is if you are on your death bed and basically unconscious and they have to force the food into you.

Preferable of course would be to find the cause of the problem and solve that one so I could go back to enjoying eating as much as I enjoy looking at pics of great food.

RE

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[jdwheeler42]

If you aren't bleeding internally, then the problem is that you aren't making enough RBC's. The things that cause that kind of anemia are all bad things. I hope they find a bleed and fix it.

Meh... for as long and as little as RE has been eating, my money is on simple iron/B12 deficiency as the cause of the anemia.

There is no doubt the poor nutrition  over the last year was a major factor in producing the anemia.  What remains an unanswered question is what is causing the lack of appetite and disgust with anything I actually do shove down my pie hole?  Imagine you had the prospect of having to eat shit every day for the rest of your life to stay alive.  Would you do it?   Right now I am forcing down whaever they put in front of me because I wouldn't get out of here if I don't eat.  But it all tastes like literal shit to me.

Not too hard to imagine... when I was on chemo everything had a metallic taste.  And made me sick to my stomach.  And I was losing about 5 pounds a week.  I was forcing myself to eat because they were threatening to put one of those feeding tubes in me.  My saving grace was knowing that the chemo would stop and things would eventually get better -- although I had no idea just how long it would take.  My chemo ran from end of April to beginning of June, stuff didn't start tasting good until October.  And nothing is quite the same as before.

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