A Day in the life of Diogenes.

I ended up working all weekend due to a back injury(not mine thank God). A little background first: I drive for an auto parts place that I will leave un-named. I don't drive to the shops but as internal logistics between stores. The beauty of this arrangement is I work alone after the initial loading of the van in the morning. All of our routes are fixed and all are considered one way. IE; Your last stop is as far out as you go and you have the whole trip back to do as you please. In my case, I have about 175 miles to think, and think, then sing off key with enthusiasm, then think some more. Especially on the weekends when Talk Radio is typically non-political.

SO,,, Here is how my thoughts went today.

I was thinking about a situation with one of my cousins lately. The saying “Give a man a fish and he eats for a day, teach him to fish and he eats for a lifetime.” was playing in the background of my thoughts about this. He is an ungrateful wretch with an addiction and while he seems respectful and grateful on the surface; I always get the impression there is a knife somewhere behind his back.

I find that to be a trait in many people. While you may help them out, there is always that “what else can I get for free?” air about them. Teach them how to do for themselves and walk away, chances are, they will be back to their old ways pretty quickly. Respect isn't in their nature, nor in their vocabulary. The closest thing these people have ever had to a Muse was either in a drug or in between the sheets.(don't get me wrong, I like the Mixed Couples sheet romps as well. I am not a prude. I just don't let it control my thoughts like I did when I was a 'young, dumb and full-o-cum') It seems that people like this are a dime a dozen now-days. Rather than attempt to come up with solutions, these people revolve around some central distraction their entire lives, never really seeing the world around them. Never attempting to 'look over the horizon' and see if, maybe, just maybe, there is something bigger, better or just different.
Now, that thought was buzzing around when somehow the Tater harvest came to mind and the two thoughts tumbled around for a bit and took on a new shape.

And just to show how bizarre I truly am; it became Allergies.
I remember growing up as a kid and never even hearing about allergies with the exception of Poison Ivy, or bees. Seemed that there was at least one kid that could run into a patch of poison ivy without repercussions (ME!) and there were some that couldn't even get within 20' of the stuff without breaking into hives.
Yet it seems that over the last decade or two, Allergies have become, not only common, but lethal. You see allergy warnings on nearly every food item. We have developed specialized filters to combat allergens. Commercials abound for allergy treatments(and I won't even get started on the rest of the Pusher commercials on the Toob).

Why?

I have a theory on it. Fair warning, I am not a scientist, or doctor. I don't have a Piled Higher and Deeper sheepskin anywhere in my possession or resume. I do know how to make observations and I have enough gray matter to put some intuitive processes together. The following is strictly empirical thought.
Global Economies and agriculture. Ever since we stopped depending upon local foods, there has been a rise in Food based allergies. There may have been the occasional baby that had milk allergies, but not to the extent that most do now. And we are even seeing it in Adults. They call it lactose intolerance. I call it a homogenized mess. Most of our food is imported from areas of the country AND THE WORLD. Very little is actually produced locally unless you live in the areas where it is produced. Strangely enough, there are instances where that doesn't apply. Where its cheaper for a grocer to purchase an import over a local product(more often due to FDA legislation). Another aspect is all of the Convenience crap that is made for purchase. Does anyone truly know what is in that stuff? I know it makes it easier to prepare a meal if all you have to do is heat up a couple of bags of 'stuff', but is it 'Good'? Are the ingredients even real, like real meat, not some processed vegetable protein?
This practice is, in my opinion, leading to food intolerances across the spectrum that are being equated to allergies. I am not belittling the Doc's on this one, I just think the problem is much bigger than a localized event in one person. I think that we will continue to see issues arise while we maintain this practice. You can even throw in the insecticides and fertilizers and Modified Seeds, hormone and steroid use in livestock etc etc. It all adds up to one thing. We are feeding ourselves to death.
Local farmers have the right idea. If you are growing your own, Kudos. I am starting out now that I have been able to make my move as I have posted about. The advantages are glaringly obvious. There are some that aren't so obvious. My sinusitis is virtually gone and I attribute that to my diet. I still smoke and that was what my Doctor always blamed for it. Getting out and working in mountain air may have had something to do with it too. Dunno fersure; I claim the food.

So those thoughts were running around when suddenly a dollar sign jumped into the fray and basically got tossed on its ass by the other two. Yet that started a different line of thought.

Local Economies. I know that this gets touched on all over the place and there are much better writers than I on it. Much better informed on the details. There is a point where we all need to consider just where we sit locally in our areas. Do we know the people down the street(or next door)? Do we know who has ability and who has the monkey attitude? These are all questions we need to answer if things go south. I agree with some about the loner survivor thing. I personally am not a leader, but I sure as hell don't want to give up my hardwork to some charismatic or psychotic jerk when things get tight(and I won't, gotta kill me first) I don't entirely trust the thought of 'group decisions' since that got us here to begin with. That leaves me with the Loner policy. Captain of my own ship L.S. Diogenes.(libertarian ship) in a sea of other free ships. We can work together but when it comes to shove, family first, all others take hind.

And that led to

Tidal power capture. How to capture the energy in the tides. Don't ask me how I jumped from agrarian middle America to some coast line (I blame Mayberry :P) I don't think linearly, never have, never will. Logic plays no mind to me while intuition does, and with a vengeance.

This is actually an extension of some ideas I have had on Micro Hydro electric. Sadly I won't be able to incorporate these ideas into my current housing build since there isn't enough stream head in the creeks. I do have the Cumberland River nearby but I don't think the local Government (or local utilities or my neighbors for that matter) would take kindly to my damming it to make a turbine generator. I think the EPA may even get involved if I did that. Time enough after the collapse when the neighbors(and family) will want to keep the lights on. And the Refrigerators running.
But back to the tidal capture. I was thinking of the issues that arise from such a cyclic event. Reciprocating motion is one issue of such, the other being inconsistent outputs(an extension of the cyclic nature) There are several different routes to go on this one and the one that came to mind for me was a modification of the Hall effect generators, like the ones in those little battery-less flashlights that are so hard to find now. Feasible, but the actual diode bank would be horrendous to build when materials get tight. There would need to be several different layers of power conditioning to keep from burning up battery cells also. More thoughts into the pot for later contemplation. May never need it but its there in the memory banks if I do.
Then I sang for a bit. Lots of off key wailing that sounds better to a dog than a human(my dogs actually taught me to sing if that helps any. LOL). I only sing while driving alone and I know I suck even though I have a lot of fun doing it.
Of course there was a media break at one point and I caught some news. Something about the President saying he shouldn't have to plaster his Birth Certificate to his forehead. No, on that note he is right. But I run into a problem here. I have been working since I was 15 and EVERY SINGLE EMPLOYER has asked me for proof of citizenship. NO exceptions. The crap that was exposed over the web and whatnot doesn't even come close to the hoops I have had to jump through to prove me being American born and bred and I don't even look foreign. Typical American white guy without a trace of accent from some other country. While O looks like an American, talks with an American accent and no trace of foreign accent, his actual birthplace has been in question since day one. But that really isn't the issue, is it?
The real issue is his attitude (and the attitude of most 'elected'). He acts as though he is the boss. Here we have an elected official, a representative of the American people that acts as though he is completely in charge. REPRESENTATIVE doesn't imply LEADER, yet that is where our elected persons seem to think 'winning an election' gets them. Leadership is earned, not installed. Installed leaders are KINGS, QUEENS or DICTATORS. Sometimes all of the above. The only way I get to choose my boss is by finding a different job. I also don't get to vote myself a raise at whim, like our congress seems to do on yearly basis. I also don't get to take 9 or 10 vacations a year on someone elses dime. If I did, I surely wouldn't have that job long. Call it a working vacation if you want, but that doesn't change the fact that it was a vacation. Send the wife and kids to wherever you wish, but do it out of your own pocket. You make 10 times more than the average Joe on the street: I am sure you can afford it more than we can.(and that salary is there for what reason, if you use every dime of someone else's money for your day to day living?) That doesn't include your personal investments or other income through what ever means you have. Get off our dime and use your money for your vacations for chrisakes.
I had to go back to the internal thoughts at this point. I can only handle so much angry for so long. It's not like my wee voice is going to make a difference in the bigger storm we have going on. There is a perfect storm of collapse coming, it just hasn't broken yet. I don't worry to much about it any longer. I know where the monkeys are and from which direction they will come in when things get tight. That is enough for my comfort at this point.

At about that thought, I came to the end of my trip. I am sure that there were more corollaries to these but these were the ones that gelled enough to float to the surface. I hope you enjoyed looking into the convoluted mess I call my mind. Onward with the post.

Facts are, I really don't care any longer what those jackasses do in the District of Criminals. There are more important and pressing issues at hand that I can affect while what they do is completely out of my hands. My vote is a fart in a hurricane of insanity so is completely meaningless. Besides, voting is such an incredulous act of submission anymore, I don't want to partake of it any longer. Compliance is not in my nature and I won't allow my voice to be taken as consent when what I had to say was 180 degrees counter to the end result. Mayberry recently posted about Disobedience. I have to say 1) he is absolutely correct in his post and 2) He completely missed that our laws are written with that 'Rush' in mind. They expect people to go rebel. How else can they generate fear and raise taxes? Once that little factor of disobedience can be harnessed, they start the road to enslavement. We are those slaves. Even now, when I am trying to come up with floor plans for my house, I find myself falling prey to 'the rules' and trying to design to codes that don't apply to this area or my life. Old habits are hard to break. Break them I will do; I suggest the same to others, we will have to adapt to survive the future.

Why is the 'Free-est nation' in the world also the one with the highest percentage of incarcerated population? Even though most of those are doing time for non-violent offenses or victim-less crimes? (now there is term I find completely vulgar. Victim-less crime? How is that a crime then?) Freedom is relative to perspective as is shown in another of Mayberry's posts. The more I learn, the more I find how much of a slave to the system I am. The more I learn, the more I want to learn of other things, so that I won't be hindered later down the road when I make my break with the so called "free world". Freedom is subjective, but true freedom is hard work. That is why there are so many willing to forget about it to the detriment of all of us. "Those that would sacrifice freedom for safety and security, deserve neither."

So it was a meandering rant but my boat has ran out of steam today. More to come. Stay tuned.

Addendum 8/31: The pull down of troops from Iraq was in the news this morning. I overheard something about O saying it was to help rebuild here at home. Seems to me that there are going to be more than a few soldiers that are going to be getting out upon return to find a serious lack of work in the private sector. Then again, maybe the Anointed one has a plan to add to the Militaristic backbone in the Law enforcement agencies. Every day, I see more and more things that bode ill for this country. TPTB know that we are on the rocks. TPTB know that there is a growing amount of dissent. TPTB know that there isn't any more money to be had from the slaves. Not without taxing them at even higher rates.

We know they know it.

I guess I will be patient and see what the next move is. There isn't a danged thing I could do to stop it. I can only protect to my best ability that which is mine and that of my family. Outside of that, make do as best I can.