As far as I can tell, the KPFK streaming server has been down for most of the morning, and shows no signs of returning. So bummer. No whore-talk today. :(

Lyrics to ponder.

Oliver Stone's (or rather, Trent Reznor's) choice to use that song on the end credits of Natural Born Killers was nothing short of genius. But anyway...

One of the reader comments on Rigorous Intuition today has me thinking about survival.

I am in a profession where I interact at times w/extremely wealthy/intelligent folks. You would not believe the number of them independently of each other who have set up escape routes/homes in New Zealand due to the fact there is a very good water supply and local food source. They all know what is coming.

As with any anonymous comment posted to a website, it must be taken with a grain of salt. But even a grain of salt, when combined with thousands of other grains being blown up by the wind, can become a sandstorm. Day to day, what does your own intuition tell you?

I am reminded of a deconsumption post from a few months ago (thank you google for helping me find it)....

"Choquosh recently was summoned by a prestigious group of Hopi elders (she's not Hopi, but some other tribe). They told her they have a message for her to share. They said, "You've been telling people the 11th hour is approaching. Tell them it is here, and there are things to be considered." They gave her a 10-point Hopi Checklist to consider:"

1. Where do you live (not just geographically)?
2. What is it that you do?
3. How are your relationships?
4. Are you in right relation with the Earth?
5. Where is your water? [emphasis mine --B]
6. Know your garden (and nature around you).
7. Speak your truth; it is time now.
8. Be good to each other.
9. Don't look outside yourself for the leader.
10. This could be a good time.

Where is your water? This is the point that has been bugging me ever since I first read that. If and when the crash kicks into high gear, what happens when plumbing lines and water filtration systems start to break down? (Or, at a higher level, the world's ever-shrinking clean water reserves are depleted?)

American streams are polluted, unsafe. (Or so we are told, and I'm sure it is true of many of them. A few moons ago, during my semi-suicidally experimental phase, I tried drinking small amounts from a few Rocky Mountain streams that ran next to hiking trails, and experienced no ill effects.)

If the water stopped coming out of all the faucets tomorrow, would would I do? What would the people next door do? These are sobering questions, and I have nothing to say in answer.

I have made peace with the possibility that I may very well be one of the ones to die. If the world's population is already several times higher than the earth can sustainably support (a debatable assumption, but a likely one), then some of us have to. Maybe it will be me, maybe it won't. I'll do what I can to survive, though sometimes it may seem so utterly overwhelming as to be hopeless.

What I haven't quite made peace with is what happens between now and death. That's the truly tricky part.

It's a good thing I'm going out to volunteer today. Maybe that will help bring brighter thoughts. I think I'll start riding early.

If life is short, then let's live it to the fullest. That's the philosophy I aspire to.