Tag Archives: survival

Anti-materialism

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The Cunning Realist notes that one effect of an economic downturn can be to turn people away from shallow materialism toward the values that matter and reward, like family, saving, and performing your own home activities.

During the Bush years, I often wondered how many on the Religious Right understood the irony in supporting an administration that unabashedly promoted an almost demonic obsession with the material world (Bush: “Go shopping”). Gerson embraces the effects of natural downturns in the economic cycle: cultural renewal, thrift, family commitment, savings, morality, frugality, and prudence. It appears some — and I don’t mean Gerson necessarily — are rediscovering the importance of those things, and justifiably objecting to Washington’s extraordinary economic measures as symbols of opposite values.

Fires in Australia

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The fires in Australia have been deadly, and not just for humans. But here is a lovely rescue of a wounded koala by a fire-fighter.

Here is a still photo of the rescue.

koala

Stunning pictures of the devastation are available on The Big Picture. What a disaster.

Bird strikes

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Non-pilots are becoming familiar with the term “bird strike” since the crash in the Hudson. Take a look at real world examples.

A successful return to airport…

A fighter jet ejection caused by strike…

And finally, Eddy Izzard on bird strikes.

Paranoia or prudence

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Some of the Wall Street types closest to the financial breakdown are scared. Very, very scared. An article in New York magazine, takes a look. Excerpt:

During the final months of 2008, as the financial markets imploded, talk on trading desks turned to food and water stockpiles, generators, guns, and high-speed inflatable boats. “The system really was about six hours from failing,” says Gene Lange, a manager at a midtown hedge fund, referring to the week in September when Lehman went bust and AIG had to be bailed out. “When you think about how close we were to the precipice, I don’t think it necessarily makes a guy crazy to prepare for the potential worst-case scenario.”

Preparations, in Lange’s case, include a storeroom in his basement in New Jersey stacked high with enough food, water, diapers, and other necessities to last his family six months; a biometric safe to hold his guns; and a 1985 ex-military Chevy K5 Blazer that runs on diesel and is currently being retrofitted for off-road travel. He has also entertained the idea of putting an inflatable speedboat in a storage unit on the West Side, so he could get off the island quickly, and is currently considering purchasing a remote farm where he could hunker down. “If there’s a financial-system breakdown, it could take a year to reset the system, and in that time, what’s going to happen?” asks Lange. If New York turns into a scene out of I Am Legend, he wants to be ready.

I think it is true that most people do not realize what a thin veneer “civilized behavior” really is.  I lived in Los Angeles during the Rodney King riots and the experience left me with no doubt that rules we take for granted are easily (and quickly) set aside when humans get excited in groups.