Equipped To Survive Equipped To Survive® Presents
The Survival Forum
Where do you want to go on ETS?

Topic Options
#192022 - 12/28/09 06:55 PM Episode IV - A New Hope
benjammin Offline
Rapscallion
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 02/06/04
Posts: 4020
Loc: Anchorage AK
Okay, a bit of a cryptic Subject Line, here's my point:

As we come up on the New Year, it seems we are being bombarded by an increasing amount of propaganda lately about some catastrophic calamity waiting just around the corner to pounce on us. Well, maybe something wicked is waiting for us, but I don't really see as that is any different from yesterday, or a year ago, or a decade ago. Y2K seemed just as imminent and just as gloomy, and when it came and went we still got caught off our guard a year and a half later on 911. As a society, we are still pretty low on the evolutionary scale I think. Sometimes it seems we are even moving backwards.

There remains, however diligent we may think we are, an inevitability to our existence, both individually and socially. Life is not eternal, and as much as we would like to ignore the outcome of life, sooner or later we are apt to reach the end of our rope. It is confusing to me how surprising that end seems to come for some people; as if they expected the outcome could ever be any different. In the grand scheme of things, an individual life is extremely brief, so much so that timing shouldn't be so much a consideration as we've made it out to be. Sure, we all want to live long prosperous lives, but how much difference does that really make? I've always been more inclined towards quality rather than quantity, and I think that 50 years of living a life envied by your peers has to be superior to a hundred years of frustration, fear, or just plain apathy.

If life, then, is not based so much on longevity as on content, then I would think that our efforts ought to be expended more on accomplishing great things that leave an impression as long as possible after the fact. Since we can discount the inanimate and perhaps even the non-sentient from the equation, as neither seem much interested in our doings, then I would conclude that life primarily is to be lived for the benefit of the individual to whom it is ascribed, and secondly to all those to whom they might interact positively. For it seems that positive interaction is the only form which benefits both parties in the whole, whereas negatives invariably diminish the experience for all involved.

Carpe Diem is a great concept, and each of us should make the most of the time we have as it is doled out to us, but a prepared mind will be better suited to capitalize on each opportunity as it presents itself. So it is advisable that we make good use not just of our alloted time, but also of our God given, singularly unique talent to reason a means of exploiting the one resource which we cannot ever hope to replace.

I for one elect not to sit around and worry. I will plan and conspire so that I am as reasonably well prepared as my lot will allow. I will also realize my limits and work to expand them without penetrating the net, so to speak. I will endeavor to count daily those things which are truly worthy of my time and effort, and discount the distractions heaped at me by the modern media, no matter how spectacular or terrific they may pretend at. That way, if the world for me does come to an end tomorrow, regardless the method, I will face it with the satisfaction of knowing that for every day prior, I did all I could to fill my time making the most of it.

I think that is about as much as any of us could hope for. In a couple hundred years, I don't reckon any of us here today will be of any distinct consideration to whomever may or may not be around then. So make the most of what you have. Don't waste any more time today worrying about tomorrow than is really necessary to make sure you are ready for it, if it comes. That's as much as any of us can hope for, and probably more than most of us deserve.

Happy New Year
_________________________
The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools.
-- Herbert Spencer, English Philosopher (1820-1903)

Top
#192026 - 12/28/09 08:50 PM Re: Episode IV - A New Hope [Re: benjammin]
CANOEDOGS Offline
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 02/03/07
Posts: 1853
Loc: MINNESOTA

good thinking and a fine read as the year winds down.i share your views,for the most part,i mean how many people know who Spencer even was?Happy New Year...

Top
#192067 - 12/29/09 03:49 AM Re: Episode IV - A New Hope [Re: CANOEDOGS]
Art_in_FL Offline
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 09/01/07
Posts: 2432
I have noticed a nasty habit of certain people to predict, believe predictions, sometimes even seeming to look forward to, an Apocalypse. Some of this is a result of discomfort with how things are going, it isn't what we were told to expect, the old ways don't seem to work, and there is a tendency to glorify and idealize the past. What gets missed is that the past wasn't all that great. It takes some effort to avoid such nostalgia but most of us who have passed our youth can remember places and times that were far worse.

I really think that one of the strongest and most useful of survival skills is the ability to take a deep breath, stop taking yourself so seriously, have a good laugh.

A little humor to help things along:
http://scienceblogs.com/clock/2009/12/elephants_cant_jump_video.php

Top
#192081 - 12/29/09 03:09 PM Re: Episode IV - A New Hope [Re: Art_in_FL]
Dagny Offline
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 11/25/08
Posts: 1918
Loc: Washington, DC
Indeed. For my entire life (beginning in the 1960s), there has been one grim apocalyptic vision of the future after another. Usually several running concurrently.

Some propagated by fringe groups, some not-so-fringe, some by scientists (the encroaching ice age prognostications, for starters).

In kindergarten, we learned to duck-and-cover as well as finger-paint.

In the 1970s, by many measures a putrid decade, the 80s were looking particularly grim -- by 2000 the Earth surely would be a wasteland, decimated by man-made or natural cause.

We shouldn't take the future for granted. We have to work at making it better and dealing with real threats. All the while staying hopeful, savoring today, maintaining perspective and having faith.

And keeping those bug-out bike tires inflated.


;-)




Top
#192084 - 12/29/09 03:37 PM Re: Episode IV - A New Hope [Re: Dagny]
wildman800 Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 11/09/06
Posts: 2846
Loc: La-USA
Isn't 2010 the year that a joint USA-Russian team onboard a Russian ship, is supposed to go to Jupiter to recover the Discovery, reawaken the HAL 9000 computer, and find out what went wrong with the 2001 Discovery mission to Jupiter?????

Or is that slated for 2011?????
_________________________
QMC, USCG (Ret)
The best luck is what you make yourself!

Top
#192090 - 12/29/09 03:55 PM Re: Episode IV - A New Hope [Re: wildman800]
Dagny Offline
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 11/25/08
Posts: 1918
Loc: Washington, DC
Ha.

I think in 2010 we're eating processed people:

Soylent Green.

A wickedly effective solution to overpopulation (a 70s obsession) and over-grazing. Scrutinize the hummus!

Charlton Heston figures in several apocalyptic scenarios.

Ooops: Soylent Green is based in 2022. But they'd been eating each other for awhile. Think I'm going to order the DVD -- $5.79 at Amazon!


Attachments
soylent green.jpg



Top
#192102 - 12/29/09 05:32 PM Re: Episode IV - A New Hope [Re: wildman800]
barbakane Offline
Enthusiast

Registered: 03/12/09
Posts: 205
Loc: Florida
Originally Posted By: wildman800
Isn't 2010 the year that a joint USA-Russian team onboard a Russian ship, is supposed to go to Jupiter to recover the Discovery, reawaken the HAL 9000 computer, and find out what went wrong with the 2001 Discovery mission to Jupiter?????

Or is that slated for 2011?????

Unfortunately due to budget cuts that project is on permanent standyby status....this may change in early 2013, based on the outcome of Dec 2012.
_________________________
seeking to balance risk and reward
Audaces fortuna iuvat...fortune favors the bold
Practice methodical caution...Les Stroud

Top
#192120 - 12/29/09 08:03 PM Re: Episode IV - A New Hope [Re: barbakane]
Dagny Offline
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 11/25/08
Posts: 1918
Loc: Washington, DC
The WSJ today has some amusing reminders that history shows what lousy predictors of the future we are, in terms of technology. It's also worth reading for the recounting of Arthur C. Clarke's uncanny predictions:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB30001424052748704039704574616401913653862.html

Charles Duell, commissioner for the U.S. Patent Office, said in 1899: "Everything that can be invented has already been invented."

"The world potential market for copying machines is 5,000 at most," IBM executives to the eventual founders of Xerox, 1959.

"There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home," Ken Olsen, founder of mainframe-producer Digital Equipment Corp., 1977.

"No one will need more than 637 kb of memory for a personal computer—640K ought to be enough for anybody," Bill Gates, Microsoft, 1981.

"Next Christmas the iPod will be dead, finished, gone, kaput," Sir Alan Sugar, British entrepreneur, 2005.


And here's a sharp observation from someone I've never heard of:

"The best way to predict the future is to invent it."



Top
#192121 - 12/29/09 08:06 PM Re: Episode IV - A New Hope [Re: Dagny]
Dagny Offline
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 11/25/08
Posts: 1918
Loc: Washington, DC

By the way, an online subscription to The Wall Street Journal is a tremendous bargain. About $100 a year.


Top



Moderator:  Alan_Romania, Blast, chaosmagnet, cliff 
March
Su M Tu W Th F Sa
1 2
3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16
17 18 19 20 21 22 23
24 25 26 27 28 29 30
31
Who's Online
0 registered (), 474 Guests and 15 Spiders online.
Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
Newest Members
GallenR, Jeebo, NicholasMarshall, Yadav, BenFoakes
5367 Registered Users
Newest Posts
Zippo Butane Inserts
by NAro
Today at 11:57 AM
What did you do today to prepare?
by dougwalkabout
03/27/24 11:21 PM
Question about a "Backyard Mutitool"
by Ren
03/17/24 01:00 AM
Problem in my WhatsApp configuration
by Chisel
03/09/24 01:55 PM
New Madrid Seismic Zone
by Jeanette_Isabelle
03/04/24 02:44 PM
EDC Reduction
by EchoingLaugh
03/02/24 04:12 PM
Newest Images
Tiny knife / wrench
Handmade knives
2"x2" Glass Signal Mirror, Retroreflective Mesh
Trade School Tool Kit
My Pocket Kit
Glossary
Test

WARNING & DISCLAIMER: SELECT AND USE OUTDOORS AND SURVIVAL EQUIPMENT, SUPPLIES AND TECHNIQUES AT YOUR OWN RISK. Information posted on this forum is not reviewed for accuracy and may not be reliable, use at your own risk. Please review the full WARNING & DISCLAIMER about information on this site.