TEOTWAWKI - A Kaleidoscope of Chaos

As stated in the previous post, there is no way of *knowing* if, when, or what kind of calamity will befall us and permanently alter our way of living. That uncertainty quotient is the adder's bite, it's paralyzing most people - keeping them from doing something for fear it might not be the right thing or be adequate.

Here's my take (and a fair sum of everything said so far): If something happens, anything significant, it will force people into a lifestyle that will look very similar to the Middle Ages or at least the beginnings of the Industrial Ages. I'm not talking about converting my car to burning my own poop or 90% tax rates - though neither are desirable, I imagine we could find a way to accommodate ourselves to it (and that is Obama's hope with regard to tax rates). And I'm not talking about slowly running out of oil, Coca-Cola, or other commodities upon which our current lifestyle desperately depends. I'm talking about an ice-nine event that radically and almost spontaneously alters our upward trajectory of standard-of-living.

Not being able to anticipate The Calamity (or apocalypse as I sometimes call it for dramatic effect - with apologies to John The Revelator), I have the burden to prepare "blind" (with apologies to Blind Willie Johnson who wrote and performed "John The Revelator") for a wide spectrum of calamities. I'm grateful for all the paranoids over at Survival & Self-Reliance who have assayed our risks and come up with a with some just-before-you-go-to-sleep reading under the heading TEOTWAWKI (The End of The World As We Know It) (with no apologies to R.E.M. who claim to feel peachy with not having their own Plan B).

Okay, I've got some light reading to do. Come back soon and I'll get all Black Swan on you and tell you how it ends.