For a minute there I thought I had to get off my couch, when all the while the fact is we don't have to do anything much but keep things afloat for just a few decades more! In fact, we'd best shut up about PO, because if our offspring finds out we knew about it all along, they'll turn and wring our necks come 2036!
Joined: Aug 14, 2005 Posts: 367 Location: Mississippi Delta
Posted: Wed Oct 19, 2005 5:28 pm Post subject: Greeting from Mississippi Gulf Coast
Hi, all. I registered a short while before Katrina hit us here and didn't get around to introducing myself. It looks like my net connection might be back and reliable, so here I am.
I chose my name because it looked like a lot of people here have very niave ideas about post-catastrophe survival, reminding me of the Eddie Albert character in the old sit-com. Of course, most Americans are more like the Eva Gabor character, so I guess it's a bit of a leg-up, anyway.
My experience here since the disaster has convinced me more than ever that we are really not ready for a post-cheap oil future. The relief afforts focused almost entirely in bringing in massive amounts of supplies on big rigs, gas-powered generators running ice makers and A/C units, bottled water, MRE's, etc. Do a cursory energy audit and you quickly see that this only works because petroleum is still very cheap.
It now looks like the recovery phase will be more of the same. A fleet of heavy equipment is at work picking up and hauling all of the debris to landfills. Every day I see good oak and yellow pine being hauled off to be burned, little effort is being made to capture the steel and other metals as well as the other recyclables. Meanwhile, megatons of plastic garbage are being generated.
Any Gulf Coasters out there? What are your thoughts?
Joined: Oct 19, 2005 Posts: 58 Location: Toronto, Canada
Posted: Thu Oct 20, 2005 5:27 pm Post subject: Re: Greeting from Mississippi Gulf Coast
Not a Gulf-Coaster but welcome! I'm fairly new here as well, and I'm super interested in where we go after the collapse. Do you think that there will be enough time/will power to organize a collective response or do you think it will be dog eat dog? _________________ Take aim at Democracy - > check out the demosphere.net discussion forums <-
Joined: Apr 03, 2004 Posts: 6374 Location: My Grandkids' Farm
Posted: Thu Oct 20, 2005 7:50 pm Post subject: Re: Greeting from Mississippi Gulf Coast
green_achers wrote:
I chose my name because it looked like a lot of people here have very niave ideas about post-catastrophe survival, reminding me of the Eddie Albert character in the old sit-com.
And too many can’t equate bacon with Arnold.
Welcome, hope all is well. _________________ Make a plan and work it:
Joined: Aug 14, 2005 Posts: 367 Location: Mississippi Delta
Posted: Sun Oct 23, 2005 11:39 am Post subject: Re: Greeting from Mississippi Gulf Coast
Oops, I guess I was premature thinking I had a reliable net connection.
Quote:
Do you think that there will be enough time/will power to organize a collective response or do you think it will be dog eat dog?
They say the best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The next best time is right now. I don't know if there is time to avert a very major disruption. OTOH, I don't see a crash over the cliff in the next 20 years, either, so there is time to take some steps to secure a space for those you care about, if I'm right. That's what I'm about these days.
I just don't agree with a lot of folks that think the answer is to retreat to a few acres at the end of a dirt road. Government doesn't collapse easily, and history shows that farmers suffer worse than anyone. Remember the great depression and Stalin's programs. Leaders will starve the country to feed the masses in the cities. Just my depressing observation. I think the best place would have enough acres to sustain a good chunk of your needs, but close enough to a medium-sized city to afford some security. I'm looking at the Mississippi Delta.
(Kunstler if full of crap about the South, BTW, but that's a subject for another thread.)
Joined: Oct 19, 2005 Posts: 58 Location: Toronto, Canada
Posted: Sun Oct 23, 2005 7:40 pm Post subject: Re: Greeting from Mississippi Gulf Coast
I like that quote. "They say the best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago, the second best being right now."
Depending on the severity of the crash, I think it's likely that people will be leaving cities in droves to work on farms where they can have a secure source of food and labour... wether or not it's sanctioned by the government. _________________ Take aim at Democracy - > check out the demosphere.net discussion forums <-
Joined: Apr 28, 2005 Posts: 3431 Location: West shore Lake Eire, MI, USA
Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2006 6:23 am Post subject: THE State of Mississippi Thread
jmacdaddio wrote:
Holy crap, it seems that the effort to rebuild Mississippi after Katrina could incorporate New Urbanist ideas. The plan is not without detractors, and I'm sure the Feds will kill it once it becomes clear that Big Oil might sell fewer gallons of gasoline if people use streetcars. My favorite line in this article: The lifestyle of the American middle class poses the greatest environmental threat (or something like that). USA Today
With a little luck maybe a few of these plans will actually be enacted. Nice catch though, I wasn't aware that anyone was even thinking of using common sense in the rebuilding plans. _________________ Oxygen: - An intensely habit-forming accumulative toxic substance. As little
as one breath is known to produce a life-long addiction to the gas, which addiction invariably ends in death.--Isaac Asimov
Joined: Aug 19, 2004 Posts: 1677 Location: Republic of Texas
Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2006 8:30 am Post subject: Re: Rebuilding Mississippi, New Urbanism Style
How utterly stupid.
The economy of coastal Mississippi is based on servicing oil rigs and casino gambling. The residents are blue-collar oil industry workers and low-wage service workers like bartenders, waitresses, maids, and tradesmen.
Nobody wants to ride around on a trolley with those hillbillies. Retirees want to zoom straight from Biloxi to their hotel rooms with as little exposure to service workers and humid Gulf Coast HEAT as possible.
The idea that anyone in coastal Mississippi would voluntarily walk around in that humidity and sit next to service workers on a trolley is utterly foolish.
I can see why New Urbanists use idealized paintings on old postcards to promote their agendas. That's the only place it ever worked. _________________ Conform . Consume . Obey .
Joined: Sep 29, 2004 Posts: 2330 Location: Pennsylvania, USA
Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2006 9:10 am Post subject: Re: Rebuilding Mississippi, New Urbanism Style
The only thing I don't like about a lot of this new urbanism is that it tends to center around turning cities into tourist destinations. Baltimore's Inner Harbor comes to mind. Fels Point is much more original. Culture is culture, it can't be manufactured at will. You can plant seeds though. Plant a couple liberal arts colleges downtown with some public transit and culture will grow from the ground up. Otherwise you end up with a bunch of tourist traps.
What was wrong with the old New Orleans? A whorehouse and Jazz club on every corner.
Joined: Aug 19, 2004 Posts: 1677 Location: Republic of Texas
Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2006 10:42 am Post subject: Re: Rebuilding Mississippi, New Urbanism Style
Kingcoal wrote:
What was wrong with the old New Orleans? A whorehouse and Jazz club on every corner.
HA! Well said. We've seen what happens when a city culture built on those industries is put under stress.
In New Urbanist artists' renderings I always look for the house where the sewage plant muckraker lives. I never see it.
Reality trumps theory. _________________ Conform . Consume . Obey .
Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2006 10:44 am Post subject: Re: Rebuilding Mississippi, New Urbanism Style
TommyJefferson wrote:
In New Ubanist artist renderings I always look for the house where the sewage plant muckraker lives. I never see it.
Reality trumps theory.
Funny, in America I always wonder how the sewage plant muckraker can afford a detached single-family home to begin with. Must be funny money.
Government trumps reality. _________________ "It's called the American Dream because you'd have to be asleep to believe it."
Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2006 10:55 am Post subject: Re: Rebuilding Mississippi, New Urbanism Style
TommyJefferson wrote:
How utterly stupid.
The economy of coastal Mississippi is based on servicing oil rigs and casino gambling. The residents are blue-collar oil industry workers and low-wage service workers like bartenders, waitresses, maids, and tradesmen.
Nobody wants to ride around on a trolley with those hillbillies. Retirees want to zoom straight from Biloxi to their hotel rooms with as little exposure to service workers and humid Gulf Coast HEAT as possible.
The idea that anyone in coastal Mississippi would voluntarily walk around in that humidity and sit next to service workers on a trolley is utterly foolish.
I can see why New Urbanists use idealized paintings on old postcards to promote their agendas. That's the only place it ever worked.
Was any of this post based on fact, or is it just uninformed conjecture?
*edit* Wow, your second sentence was actually factual... My apologies.
Take a hard look at your small town Main Streets - that's urbanism. It's not undesirable, it's just illegal to build now. "Gulf coast heat" is just a cheap cop-out for spoiled, lazy asses not to do anything about their entropic environment. Tell that to the people in Provence, southern Italy or the French Riviera, areas with like climates. _________________ "It's called the American Dream because you'd have to be asleep to believe it."
Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2006 11:20 am Post subject: Re: Rebuilding Mississippi, New Urbanism Style
Call it new urbanism or old urbanism or call it Frank. Who cares? Any alternative to the homogenized, strip-mall Chochkies Walmart bullshit is fine. Hello? Why do people flock to Bourbon Street? Hello? Because it doesn't look like a Costco-Borders-Bed Bath and Beyond-Bookstore. We want authenticity but are unable to create it. Imagine the frustration? _________________ ree rah rip ram. sunofabitch godamn. hidey didey christ almighty. rah rah crap
Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2006 12:28 pm Post subject: Mississippi outlaws sex toys
Nope, I'm not kidding. MSNBC
Yet another battle brewing over how much legislation should be allowed into your bedroom.
Anybody think that this kind of legislation is constitutional? What compelling societal interest is served with such legislation? Are sex toys even "immoral"? If this law stands (and I'm not even sure it's challenged yet), what other kinds of governmental intrusion will it invite?
And boys, this one is for you...
Quote:
And men are not permitted to be aroused in public.
Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2006 12:40 pm Post subject: Re: Mississippi outlaws sex toys
The law is described as:
Quote: A person commits the offense of distributing unlawful sexual devices when he knowingly sells, advertises, publishes or exhibits to any person any three-dimensional device designed or marketed as useful primarily for the stimulation of human genital organs or offers to do so or possesses such devices with the intent to do so.
My favorite findings of this law:
Law: "or possesses such devices with the intent to do so"
Meaning: You can have a dildo, as long as you don't ever think about actually using it. Sounds like thought crime to me. 1984 anyone?
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ree rah rip ram. sunofabitch godamn. hidey didey christ almighty. rah rah crap 
