http://jsomers.net/blog/things-fall-apart the jsomers.net blog Fri, 11 May 2012 05:02:12 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 http://jsomers.net/blog/things-fall-apart/comment-page-1#comment-3542 Closer To The Ideal » Blog Archive » Things evolve Mon, 08 Mar 2010 00:41:40 +0000 http://jsomers.net/blog/?p=520#comment-3542 <p>[...] It is interesting that 2 people can look at the same thing and see such different things: I don’t think it’s an accident that 7NC Luxury Cruises appeal mostly to older people. I don’t mean decrepitly old, but like fiftyish people for whom their own mortality is something more than an abstraction. Most of the exposed bodies to be seen all over the daytime Nadir were in various stages of disintegration. And the ocean itself turns out to be one enormous engine of decay. Seawater corrodes vessels with amazing speed—rusts them, exfoliates paint, strips varnish, dulls shine, coats ships’ hulls with barnacles and kelp and a vague and ubiquitous nautical snot that seems like death incarnate. We saw some real horrors in port, local boats that looked as if they had been dipped in a mixture of acid and shit, scabbed with rust and goo, ravaged by what they float in…. [...]</p> [...] It is interesting that 2 people can look at the same thing and see such different things: I don’t think it’s an accident that 7NC Luxury Cruises appeal mostly to older people. I don’t mean decrepitly old, but like fiftyish people for whom their own mortality is something more than an abstraction. Most of the exposed bodies to be seen all over the daytime Nadir were in various stages of disintegration. And the ocean itself turns out to be one enormous engine of decay. Seawater corrodes vessels with amazing speed—rusts them, exfoliates paint, strips varnish, dulls shine, coats ships’ hulls with barnacles and kelp and a vague and ubiquitous nautical snot that seems like death incarnate. We saw some real horrors in port, local boats that looked as if they had been dipped in a mixture of acid and shit, scabbed with rust and goo, ravaged by what they float in…. [...]

]]> http://jsomers.net/blog/things-fall-apart/comment-page-1#comment-3538 Mel Kirkpatrick Sun, 07 Mar 2010 18:20:46 +0000 http://jsomers.net/blog/?p=520#comment-3538 <p>Interesting contemplation. It is amazing what we take for granted. If all society were to fall apart, how would the average person even make clothes or furniture, or grow food? Most basic life skills are limited to a handful of craftspeople now, while the rest of us only know how to buy what we need and limit our skills to the more abstract.</p> Interesting contemplation. It is amazing what we take for granted. If all society were to fall apart, how would the average person even make clothes or furniture, or grow food? Most basic life skills are limited to a handful of craftspeople now, while the rest of us only know how to buy what we need and limit our skills to the more abstract.

]]> http://jsomers.net/blog/things-fall-apart/comment-page-1#comment-3530 Barry Kelly Sat, 06 Mar 2010 01:18:33 +0000 http://jsomers.net/blog/?p=520#comment-3530 <p>Re the Turkish collapse: why this is clearly nonsense! Anybody who's ever taken Chicago Economics 101 knows that once the civil authorities are removed, an invisible hand will provide law and order, clean water and safe streets. It is truly only heaven on earth when the government has been done away with...</p> Re the Turkish collapse: why this is clearly nonsense! Anybody who’s ever taken Chicago Economics 101 knows that once the civil authorities are removed, an invisible hand will provide law and order, clean water and safe streets. It is truly only heaven on earth when the government has been done away with…

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