Messages

31

The Kitchen Sink / Re: What you should not say in public...

« on: March 01, 2017, 01:41:22 PM »

The thing is if there was no births for a period of 30 years then the population in society would age very rapidly. This ageing would be particularly problematic as most advanced economies already face issues with an ageing population.

The bottom line is that if you want to deal with the population problem you need to deal with both sides of the demographic tail and keep overall birth rates low but at the same time ensure that over time the elderly population goes more in line with historic norms.   

This is definitely a serious consideration.  If your only breeders are at least thirty years old, you've got a problem: women over thirty tend to have a harder time with childbirth and rates of birth defects rise.  Hmmm...

The one child policy coupled with the rather brutal triage you suggest would see a more gradual but perhaps more sensible rate of population reduction.  Good thought there, Monsta.

Personally, I'm convinced that the depletion of fossil energy will necessarily shrink the Agricultural Industrial Complex resulting in a fair amount of slow mass starvation whether we like it or not.  At some point in the collapse process, population reduction will take care of itself without any outside help.  Many regions of the USA grow very little of their own food within the distance that a horse drawn wagon can carry it.  I know for certain that you absolutely could not maintain the population of my county if you had to grow all of its food here.
--Greg

32

The Kitchen Sink / Re: What you should not say in public...

« on: March 01, 2017, 01:00:29 PM »

Brazos, Sir, Brazos!
No wait, I meant Bravo, Sir, Bravo!

This may well be the most concise summation of the global predicament that I've ever encountered.
The proposed solutions, though unfortunately not practical, largely spell out a very well reasoned mitigation pathway.
Dr. Chia has obviously thought this through very thoroughly.  Again, Bravo!

I only have one minor quibble:

Reduce meat and seafood consumption by more than 90%. Food security to be achieved by the establishment of hundreds of millions of local permaculture smallholdings providing a plant based diet with abundant protein from peas, beans and nuts and supplementary protein from eggs, dairy products, aquaponics and even farmed insects.

Amen... with a question mark on the meat consumption component; re: seafood, by all means let's let the fish stocks recover.  Raising meat, however, can and should be done utilizing the holistic grazing methods demonstrated by Joel Salatin and Allan Savory which require no fossil energy and have proven to grow topsoil at ten times the natural rate.  This is far and above our best natural method of sequestering carbon and reversing desertification, but it requires the action of well managed herbivores.  As the permies can tell us, growing annual crops destroys topsoil by re-volitolizing soil carbon back into the atmosphere; perennial polyculture pasture does the opposite.

Furthermore, humans can not and do not thrive on plant-based diets -- just take a hard look at those that try: 'vegetarian syndrome' (basically a form of anorexia) among affluent westerners, small stature and bone structure along with short life span and high infant mortality among vegetarian cultures.  Our bodies need the concentrated lipids and amino acids from animal foods; our digestive tract is not suitable for processing plant tissues into those nutrients the way an herbivore's is.

Those "hundreds of millions of local permaculture smallholdings" need to include pastured animals for meat, milk, eggs and the many other byproducts from shoes and clothing to fertilizer and construction materials.  Ask any Biodynamic farmer and they will tell you that you simply cannot maintain a healthy farm ecosystem without the inclusion of livestock.  Incidentally, to those who would miss eating salmon for its healthy oils: grass-fed beef fat rivals salmon for omega-3 fatty acid content.

Please consider this an amendment and endorsement to Dr. Chia's fine essay, not a criticism.

33

Cyber Security / Re: Massive Internet Outage - East Coast/Chaos into Canada!

« on: February 28, 2017, 03:30:35 PM »

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/s9nWeQkaTqs&fs=1" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/s9nWeQkaTqs&fs=1</a>

From Wired Magazine: Update at 5:30pm ET on 2/28/2017: Amazon says the problem was resolved at around 5:10pm ET today. The problem lasted for at least four hours.

https://www.wired.com/2017/02/happens-one-site-hosts-entire-internet/

34

Geopolitics / Re: SG: "Than" vs "Then"

« on: February 28, 2017, 10:28:55 AM »

Isn't there a time aspect to "then" as well.  As in "and then I went over there with my big penis."

Essentially it's the same usage.  It's about movement in time where there is a comparison involved: "and then I went" says that you did it AFTER something.

If my Penis is bigger than yours, THEN women will be more attracted to me.

says that women will be more attracted AFTER they discover the if...  (and it's a big IF where you-know-who is involved)

This is the logic of If-Then.  'Then' happens AFTER the 'If' is fulfilled, even if the 'If' is only implied.
Capiche?  (Which means "So then, do you get it?")

35

The Kitchen Sink / Re: Boats 'N Hoes

« on: February 27, 2017, 06:09:43 PM »

Ain't shit goin' down today...so I figured why not? 

Umm, 'scuse me there pardner, but don't y'all mean "Ain't NO shit goin' down today..."? 

36

FAQs / Re: Spelling & Grammar Gestapo Errata

« on: February 27, 2017, 12:02:17 PM »

...Typographical Errors.  This is partly my fault, sometimes I hit one letter in a word before another so they get reversed, but you also will find missing letters in a word periodically.  That is not my fault (other than not proofreading), it's the fault of the fucking keyboard I currently am using, which has all sorts of problems...
RE

I struggle with the same problem, a keyboard that never fully recovered from a coffee spill.  Took it apart and cleaned it out, but now some buttons never work, others when they feel like it.  The worst one is the left-side shift button, so I have to always use the right-side shift key which is awkward.

I find the whole SG business to be all in fun, an opportunity to razz other Diners (and to get razzed).  Only when someone is being picked on or seems defensive does it become inappropriate.

As for you, RE, you're a friggin' typing machine.  Typos are inevitable when your fingers are bloody stumps.

37

SUN ☼ / Re: Diner-SUN☼ Possibilists

« on: February 26, 2017, 12:32:15 PM »

I'm not sure I agree that the Diner is a waste of time (or the internet).  Although I understand your sentiment.  In the end you are sitting on your ass staring at a computer screen doing next to nothing. 

Exactly.  I would be ashamed to have you visit my farm for all the messes and unfinished projects, but here I sit cuz' it's cold and windy out there.  Though I am also putzing around the house and organizing my growing library of awesome how-to books.  I like books.  They don't need power to exist or be read.

2 + 2 =  That's you!  I've checked out your blog before -- that's you.  Nice writing.  Do more.

I just hope to make it through life without being physically tortured at the Ministry of Health.     

That line right there is why you should write more.  Classic!

38

SUN ☼ / Re: Diner-SUN☼ Possibilists

« on: February 26, 2017, 11:43:34 AM »

Ughh! Sorry to hear about your tongue. Are you having to get cancer treatment, JD?

Got a PET scan Friday, seeing about a course of treatment Monday the 6th.

Scary. Keep us posted. You will be in my thoughts and prayers.

Ditto that here.

39

SUN ☼ / Re: Diner-SUN☼ Possibilists

« on: February 26, 2017, 11:40:25 AM »

It's a tough medium overall.  Because it is mostly anonymous and there are no real consequences for being an asshole (other than eventually getting banned), people feel free to vent their spleen at each other and arguments get much more vehement than they usually do IRL.  IRL, you get into the kind of arguments we periodically get into here, and somebody throws a punch.  You can't do that over the internet, the closest you come is to put up a ridiculing pic or vid.
RE

I certainly can appreciate all that.  I do not, however, have to like it, or put up with it if I don't feel like it.
On the whole, time spent on the 'net is major fucking waste of precious time.  It's an amusement, and that's all.  IMHO, no one is going to have their life changed beyond what their own efforts to self-educate will accomplish.   They don't need to hang out in a virtual space getting harassed to become a productive Collapsiterian.
I sure as hell didn't.  I'll bet LD didn't either.

40

SUN ☼ / Re: Diner-SUN☼ Possibilists

« on: February 26, 2017, 11:24:26 AM »

In my defense, the rules of English are complicated, and the only way to master them are via route memorization.

Oh dear gods I (almost) hate to do this to you LD, but I just can't resist: It's 'rote' not 'route'...
--Radio, self-appointed junior SG cadet

See...I can't help but fuck it up.  Too bad I can't blame it on neurology.  Feel free to point out my mistakes.  I'm not going to take offense.  I guess I'm the village spelling idiot.  So be it!

If I even suspected that you'd take offense I would back off.  I'm glad you're a good sport.
I have a couple of potential advantages in this area:
1. I served six years at a Catholic parochial school -- that should be explanation enough -- under the tutelage of a 300 to 400 pound nun (hard to tell under big black habit (gown)) we called Wart Hog behind her back.  She called us "impudent ill-bred little fools" to our faces.  She was the school's English teacher. We. Learned. English.

2.  I have a natural knack for the language; I'm wired for it.  Learned to read really young and have read voraciously ever since.  That helps a lot.

3.  I cheat.  My posts are double and triple checked, edited, corrected, and sometimes even moved into a word processor temporarily to make sure everything checks out okay.  I keep Dictionary.com on speed dial.  It's part of why I'm so damn slow at responding.

Don't sweat it, it's fun calling out the booboos.  Ironically, I find that the local SG is one of the worst offenders, no doubt because he's a friggin' text machine.  I bet his fingers bleed at times.
--Greg
p.s.  This post has been edited even after posting...

41

SUN ☼ / Re: Diner-SUN☼ Possibilists

« on: February 26, 2017, 11:09:20 AM »

Actually, fellas, I'm not coming back for more in the future, and this is almost certainly my last post here.
I'm done.

Well, I for one will miss you if you are gone for good.
RE

Only been hanging around in the Diner for a couple weeks, but there seems to be a pattern emerging here.
In that time I have witnessed the apparent departure of two members (haven't seen anything from Golden Oxen since the brouhaha a week ago or so) after a lot of insult and torment over what looked to me like trivial issues, or a failure to try to understand someone's position.  Again, I haven't been watching long enough to know all that's transpired.  I know that I definitely dislike some of the tone here.  People's minds are rarely if ever changed by insult and harassment, but by friendly engagement and well crafted persuasion.

Admittedly, this is somebody else's sandbox, and if any of us don't like how its owner treats us, we can take our toys and go home.  But how many neighbor kids can you alienate before you're left all alone?  Looking at this site's stats indicate that it has been a much busier place in the past, apparently peaking some years ago.  For all it has to offer, it appears that there are actually only a few people that frequent the Diner.  Where are all the other Kollapsniks that we know are out there?  Hell, I know a couple dozen right here in my community.

Gonna have a tough time attracting people to intentional real world communities if you can't even get along in cyberspace.

Respectfully,
Greg

42

SUN ☼ / Re: Diner-SUN☼ Possibilists

« on: February 26, 2017, 10:45:52 AM »

In my defense, the rules of English are complicated, and the only way to master them are via route memorization.

Oh dear gods I (almost) hate to do this to you LD, but I just can't resist: It's 'rote' not 'route'...
--Radio, self-appointed junior SG cadet

43

SUN ☼ / Re: Diner-SUN☼ Possibilists

« on: February 25, 2017, 08:21:27 PM »

GNYQ!

My turn! WTF is GNYQ? 

44

SUN ☼ / Re: Diner-SUN☼ Possibilists

« on: February 25, 2017, 08:14:11 PM »

What's the MIC again? Sheesh.

Undoubtedly it's "Military Industrial Complex".

45

SUN ☼ / Re: Diner-SUN☼ Possibilists

« on: February 25, 2017, 08:05:05 PM »

Deck chairs on the Titanic.

Well, if they're wooden chairs, and you tie enough of them together...

Then you sprinkle on Pixie Dust, Pray for a Miracle and have the Band play Kumbaya.

RE

No pixie dust, RE.
My point is that rather than scurrying around like an idiot (re-arranging the chairs) do something useful, prepare for the inevitable using what you have available -- you might just have a chance at saving your fat sorry ass.