Brad’s Take

I read Lucifer’s Hammer. And Heinlein’s Farnham’s Freehold. And E.E. “Doc” Smith’s Lensman series.

I watched Gilligan’s Island.

And Leo Frankowski’s imaginative alternate-history retelling of Mark Twain’s classic “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court” – “Cross Time Engineer”, “High Tech Knight”, “Radiant Warrior”, “Flying Warlord”, “Lord Conrad’s Lady”. Frankowski’s story is set in 13th century Polan, beginning 12 years before the Huns overrun Asia and Eastern Europe. Conrad, an American schooled 20th century Polish engineer stumbles into a time portal. He invents, in that time, a bunny club, capitalism, and modern compassion.

Then I stumbled onto Casaubon’s Book (http://www.sharonastyk.com/) and Sharon’s introduction to Peak Oil. And it makes sense, in it’s way.

My science fiction reading has covered disasters and recovery, making the most of the after-the-apocalypse world. Oh, I forgot Gordan R. Dickson’s “Wolf and Iron”, and David Brin’s “Postman” (much better book than the movie). Sharon focuses on the home, and projecting what it may mean to fall off the utility companies’ power grid.

I grew up in NW Iowa, on a hog farm. Dad raised some good hogs – pastured them except during the winter, kept back his own sows, turned the sows before they hit full growth (about three, three and half). Never a wealthy family, we got by.

Some of the things we did to stretch the dollars make sense today, as the recent gas price increases continue to ripple through transport costs, manufacturing costs, and retail prices. I expect that in today’s ‘just in time’ manufacturing and labor unions, that it may take six (6) to twelve (12) months for a fuel price increase to ripple all the way through the economy. A drop in fuel price would likely take three (3) to five (5) years. So we will continue to see all prices increase for some time. Note than when President Ronald Reagan broke the back of the inflation cycle Pres. Jimmy Carter and his Democratic Congress initiated, it took a couple-three years for the ‘fixes’ to take hold and stop, then reduce inflation rates.

So I can understand that we are seeing some fundamental shifts in the economy.

Sharon Astyk (Casaubon’s Book) is but one voice in and entire community of people concerned and preparing for America to slide into the Peak Oil scenario. But Sharon is the one I follow most closely.

And here I write about ways to live off-grid, simplify life, and maybe even work in a draft horse thought or two.