rule number one DON'T PANIC

phaster · Heavy Crude Joined: Jul 15, 2007 Posts: 147

Just thought I'd state the most important rule one should remember when faced with a difficult or unexpected situation such as peak oil. Basically if you panic, you die! So DON'T PANIC!

The DON'T PANIC rule was one of most important things I remember being taught by a flight instructor who had a more than a few exciting moments over the sky back in Viet Nam. The same DON'T PANIC rule was also taught to me when I took a basic wildnerness survival course.

Yeah I know it sounds kinda trite, to say "don't panic" but if you panic you're more apt to do dumb things.

The second rule after "don't panic" is assess your current situation and be honest with yourself, in other words try and really understand the problem you face. Only when you fully understand the problem can you figure out a solution.

I know I mentioned this in another thread in this section, but realize that in the grand scheme of things anyone who has access to the world wide web is pretty darn lucky and rich when ya compare yourself to some really poor person in some third world slum than has to live on only a few bucks at most a day. You have to realize that most people in the world don't own a car, or have running water in their homes or reliable electricity for a TV or fridge. Basically if you own a car, have indoor plumbing, and reliable electricity, you're better off than 5/6 of humanity.

Please, don't bitch about the slight increase in the cost of gas, its a minor problem in the grand scheme of things. For example here in the USA we only pay about 15% of income on food, and 2/3 of the american population would be considered fat! Yet in many parts of the third world people pay upwards of 50% of incomes and still starve. And I just read in last week financial times that the average american only spends about 6% on gas

one last thought about gas prices, the following quote is something I saved from an article a few years ago, but it should give ya a general idea about gas prices not being your biggest expense.

Runzheimer International, a specialized consulting firm which does research to determining costs, broke down, by percentage, the costs of operating an automobile. Their findings, gasoline is NOT your biggest expense! The following breakdown is a general case summary of "Automobile Driving Costs," which assumes ownership of 5 years or 75,000 miles before replacement.

Depreciation and interest 55.7%
Gasoline 16.5%
Insurance 15.1%
Maintenance 6.8%
Tires 2.6%

“American drivers often seem fixated on prices at the pump because it is such a visible portion of the total car expense,” said Larry Snyder, a VP at the consulting firm, Runzheimer International. “Depreciation and financing are a much larger expense, and insurance now consumes nearly the same amount of your automotive dollar as gas.”

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Narz · Posted: Sat May 24, 2008 3:09 am Post subject: Re: rule number one DON'T PANIC

Thanks for the reminder. Almost always good advice!
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Evltre · Posted: Sat May 24, 2008 4:17 am Post subject: Re: rule number one DON'T PANIC

I'm not panicking.... I'm doing what I always do under stress....

KNITTING Wink

Good thing it's the start of winter here... I feel a few pairs of socks coming on....

MacG · Light Sweet Crude Joined: Jun 04, 2005 Posts: 1169

Tell that to a rabbit caught in headlights. Said rabbit would improve his situation considerably by simply panicking and getting the h*ll out of the place asap.

oxj · Posted: Sat May 24, 2008 6:34 am Post subject: Re: rule number one DON'T PANIC

That article downplays the relative cost of gasoline for us po' folx. For instance, I have a used car my mother gave me. The tires are bald and need to be replaced, I bought them 50k miles ago for $400.00, 5 years ago, for a cost of $7/month. I spend about $200 on gas a month. Minimum liability insurance is about $500 per year, for a cost of $40 per month. I don't maintain the car well- none of the windows roll down, and pretty much just change the oil, spark plugs, and transmission fluid every 50000 miles, by myself, at a cost of $4 per month. This totals about $251/month...

Depreciation and interest 0%
Gasoline $200/$251 = 79%
Insurance $40/$251 = 16%
Maintenance $4/$251 = 2%
Tires $7/$251 = 3%

So, gasoline is really the greatest cost in many folks' budget.
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bonjaski · Heavy Crude Joined: Feb 07, 2006 Posts: 135

i even don't panic
everything of my car (with ~30.000km included) costs me in north italy 5800 euro, of which 2300 is fuelcost;

and i don't how it is in USA but here in europe there is also a lot of spending to improve public transportation,
we had a very shitty trains, now with the new trains we cut travel time by 10-15% and improve the quality, cutting also cost of maintance by 30%

and i lived also in munich, a city with very good public transportations and a lot friends there don't even use the car !

they just don't need it, for short travel they use the bike or UBahn, and for long travels trains or airplane ...

FoolYap · Posted: Sat May 24, 2008 6:40 am Post subject: Re: rule number one DON'T PANIC

Fishman · Posted: Sat May 24, 2008 7:45 am Post subject: Re: rule number one DON'T PANIC

Don't panic, but after careful analysis, if there is no hope, kiss your butt goodbye.

Mettezz · Tar Sands Joined: May 05, 2008 Posts: 48

smallpoxgirl · Moderator Joined: Nov 08, 2004 Posts: 5164

Hermes · Posted: Tue May 27, 2008 1:30 am Post subject: Re: rule number one DON'T PANIC

... but if you find yourself panicking and frankly can't get un-stuck from panic-mode ...

At least do your best to take no important ACTIONS while panicked. I agree with Phaster that they will probably be dumb actions.

Just take care of your day-to-day issues, focus on relaxing, taking it easy, giving yourself time to digest the information ... and then return to making large decisions when you're back to a more relaxed state.

I just really wanted to say this because I think that if someone gets PO then they probably WILL panic. There are a bunch of new people currently arriving at the site, and quite probably in panic-mode. I'd rather not compound their issue by telling them not to panic, and that they're going to die because they're panicking.

I spent many weeks in a panic after I found out about PO years ago ... and I'm not dead yet. I do cringe thinking about the types of things I was considering doing whilst in a panic. The crazy bugout plans I had, and the desperate things I was prepared to do with my family's future ... but I think it's a completely understandable and acceptable first reaction to learning about PO.
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phaster · Heavy Crude Joined: Jul 15, 2007 Posts: 147

AgentR · Posted: Tue May 27, 2008 10:20 am Post subject: Re: rule number one DON'T PANIC