Who do you talk to?

[oliver.rochford]

I think one thing to keep in mind is that alot of the energy we use, is no _nescessary_

As in, you do not need a T.V to survive.

I think the future once the dust settles will be a low-key mix of alternative fuels, conservational methods and going back to opening cans by hand

I also think the age of sail will be with us again

Ollie

[Chip Haynes]

Ollie-

   You'd split your sides laughing at how many new Floridians buy electric can openers to be ready for hurricanes that cut their power. Not to mention electric chain saws, so I won't.
   Serious: Most folks here in the US take electricity for granted. They couldn't get out of their garage without an automatic door opener.

[Nicole]

Ollie-

   You'd split your sides laughing at how many new Floridians buy electric can openers to be ready for hurricanes that cut their power. Not to mention electric chain saws, so I won't.
   Serious: Most folks here in the US take electricity for granted. They couldn't get out of their garage without an automatic door opener.

See, Chip, you are just not inventive enough.  Here in So Cal, they install garage door openers with battery backups. 

[Chip Haynes]

Yeah, well, here they just keep pushing the button and staring at the door.

It's Florida, the I.Q. optional state.

[Nicole]

Yeah, well, here they just keep pushing the button and staring at the door.

It's Florida, the I.Q. optional state.

[Chip Haynes]

Thank you, thank you- I'll be here 'til Friday, be sure and tip your server.

   Seriously, very few people in Florida are actually FROM Florida. (My wife being a rare exception.) We get a steady flood of retirees, immigrants, refugees and people fleeing issues up north- divorce, unemployement, arrest warrants, whatever. My family came here for the warm, moist weather, and it's not so bad, but it is a state full of loonies. (Ever read any Carl Hiassen? The man speaks the truth. We're all nuts down here.)
   The thing is, the same sort of lack of knowledge and preparation that these mental midgets put in to their hurricane prep is going to go into their peak oil response. Plus, we're going to get a whole lot more people down here as the Great White North becomes uninhabitable due to the increasing loss of electrical power, natural gas and heating oil. (Honestly, I don't know why anyone would live north of I-10 as it is.) I expect half of Canada to end up here permanently, as they do every winter anyway. (The other half will go to Arizona.)
   But you know, in spite of the traffic and overcrowding, we've got one thing going for us (two, counting the 12 month bikini season): We never fail to be amusing. It's a laugh a minute here in Paradise.

And in the coming oil crash, with all of its seriousness, that has to count for something.
   

[Nicole]

I always hear that FL is worse than CA.  Which is saying a lot when you hear it from disaffected Californians who moved to Florida to get away from here!  Like FL, CA has some really great amenities, but it's like having a nice condo... behind barbed wire and built next to a paper plant.

Earthquake prep tends to be non-existant.  Despite the numerous medium quakes and dearth of big ones, people just assume in a quake they will die, or else everything will be fine.  Um, okay.  You die, I'm grabbing the backpack and hiking to the nearest source of clean water.  The biggest, baddest most secure data center on the west coast lies smack dab on the Newport-Inglewood fault line -- a little known but nasty fault that hasn't let off steam since it flattened Long Beach in the 30's.  Due to it's location under a massively populated area and the local geology, it's probably the most dangerous fault in the country even in the event of a smallish earthquake (7.0).  And no one pays it any attention except some very harassed emergency planners who've been screaming aboutit for 20 years.

Tons of transplants here, many clueless.  The natives have been moving out in a steady stream for about 5-10 years now; immigrants and the starry-eyed celebrity seekers moving in.  There's nothing wrong with immigrants -- in some ways I think they are the strongest hold the US still has on freedoms and democracy, and if there's ever a revolution because of a tyrannical government, it will be immigrants leading the charge.  (Especially the southeast Asians.)  But it does make for a strange urban landscape when you can identify where you are by the mix of languages on the signs for shops and restaurants.  Hmmmm... 80% Vietnamese signs... must be in Garden Grove.

[Chip Haynes]

Nicole- you bring up the Paradise Zen Question: Which do you prefer- hurricanes or earthquakes? Oddly enough, we had a quake HERE a few weeks ago. So now we have it all. How nice.

I've also heard we have the nut quotient we do because anyone with money and brains made it to California.  Not sure what that says about me, but after growing up as an Army brat and living a bunch of places, this is pretty good living- even with the ocassional hurricane and/or earthquake. At least we don't have to put up with the celbrities.

No wait, O.J. moved here, didn't he?

Oh, crap.

[Nicole]

I don't know if it's a question of brains, but rather of productivity.  We have our fair share of idiots. 

The young, the ambitious and the pre-selected for gumption (immigrants) come to CA to "make it."  They may end up waiting tables and cleaning toilets, but they are at least productive and working for the most part.  Florida attracts the retired and indolent, where they expect the younger population (also usually immigrants) to be productive for them.  But the time they get to Florida, they've mentally shut down.  It's like expecting to meet a rocket scientist on a cruise.

But it is true that CA folks tend to be more educated, I think.  Community colleges here are GOOD and practically free -- anyone who actually wants to learn something can usually swing $39 for a 3 credit college class, and there's a community college almost on every corner.  It almost makes up for the generally shameful condition of our high schools, but any high school kid that wants to learn can also take those college classes, usually for high school credit.

The real question is, what the hell went wrong with Texas?

[Chip Haynes]

The oil peaked in Texas in 1970.

Next question.

[kaykay]

What happened to Texas is easy....the Shrub lives there.
Nicole, Chip, it's funny reading your conversation.....I can totally relate...born in Ca, was an Air Force Brat...spent 13 years in Florida (we were there before Mickey was!)  and you are both right on about all of it.  (I spent 7 years in Texas and actually liked parts of it.)  I loved Fla, you couldn't pay me to live in Ca. Most of Ca is moving to AZ where I currently am.  Time to move again.  I think I'm running out of places.

[Chip Haynes]

Do keep in mind that all three states (CA, FL, TX) are REALLY big, and they vary wildly from one end to the other. There's a lot to like- and dislike- in each one.

Me? I like it here.

[Michelle in Ga]

I like semi-rural Ga. Not the 100 mile long city of Atlanta.
Eight lanes of gridlock traffic. No thanks.

[Chip Haynes]

Florida is surprisingly sparse, once you get away from the population centers. I've long refered to the center of the state, south of I-4, as the "Florida Outback". Mighty lot of nothin' out there. North of about State Road 50 (Brooksville) it starts to look more like The Deep South, with huge old oak trees draped in Spanish moss and rolling hills. Very nice. The population contrast can be startling, though: We have about 3500 people per square mile here in Pinellas County. Liberty County has 6 people per square mile.

Not a bad place to be, all things considered.

[suburban_junkscape]

About the original question of who you can talk to, I've been lucky in that I've found a couple of people, one 8 years younger than me and one 17 years older who really take this stuff seriously. That, plus 20mg of celexa a day, and a good dose of tv sports and I'm sufficiently content enough to continue my suburban existence until the whole thing collapses.