Monkeys and the Meaning of Life??

[PDXnative]

So, I was driving down the street today and I had an epiphany. We are monkeys!! A bunch of stupid monkeys. Look around, we really are. We are smart monkeys, as far as monkeys go, but it comes down to the fact that we are still just dumb monkeys.....

And then it hit me that we are suspended in the center of a comfortable materialistic consumerism bubble. We do not need to think, nor do anything that requires survival instincts. We just float along through life buying whatever it is we need to keep us comfortable. If we need a mode of transportation, we go buy a car. Do we know how it works? No. Do we care? No. We just want a car to get us to places in which we can consume more stuff or to work were we can earn more consumption units to maintain our comfortable bubble. We are so far removed from natural instincts that do we really know what is real anymore? What is life all about? Floating along on the comfortable technology bubble that we do not have a clue as to how it all works, we just need it because everyone has it and we need it to, just because....???

At least monkeys at the zoo desire to be back in the wild. What do we desire? 2 weeks vacation a year and a pension at retirement? ....And then we die.....

[Wyody]

I suppose this is as good a time as any to suggest fishing outriggers on your yacht. May as well drag dinner along with you.
At the very opposite end of the spectrum, PD, you will still need a pair of blue-jeans or two per year, two pair of new shoes per year, toothpaste, toothache pills, oil for your old truck and even cast-iron skillets can wear out and need replaced.
I've lived both ways. Buttons are nice.
Beware!! Beware However!! If you wake up during the ride, the rest of the ride won't be as much fun. You can't break out of the bubble PD - you will still have needs you can't fill in "the simple life".
The Simple-Life does have it's up-points though. Something to be said when one can experience absolute joy and oneness with creation along with holding a great self-image ... just because one potato fried up just right!

[PDXnative]

Society dictates that if we need to interact, we need to conform. Conformity to commodities and consumption to some degree..... That has a nice ring to it..... Can you tell that I am jonesing to cast off the dock lines and go cruising to South America, Central America, and the Caribbean and just experience nature in all its aspects?

At one time I had nothing. It was not so bad, I survived. And now I have stuff, and I yearn to be free of stuff. Or at least to live more for survival than live to conform and comsume. Of course to buy freedom, you need money, so I wait.... and jones.....

Wife just put on some Reggae.... cool.... ever been to Jamaica? Really laid back country!!! You would really like it there. We were there a few years ago and loved it!!

[the dufferz]

I work for an electric/gas utility and we participate in home shows. At least once a show I will have a "I'm going to get off the grid" person come up and tell me what they are doing to get off the grid. They will say "I am going to build a wind turbine" or such other thing. It's funny because it would cost them hundreds of thousands of dollars to get off the grid.

We are a society of dependant people. We are comfortable. Our poor by any standard of any 3rd world country would be considered rich. How awesome can that be? Go USA!

Now on the other hand if we were to be plunged into a deep depression and suddenly people could not afford to buy new or to repair, well we would be in a pretty interesting place as a country. That is where guys like me, who are handy men will come out on top.

[PDXnative]

The dollar is plunging more than any other World currency. Canada's dollar is even worth more. We are experiencing major inflation, and it is going to destroy this country. I just hope we are out cruising when this happens.

And if you want to really live off the grid, don't use electricity!!!

[the dufferz]

Originally Posted by PDXnative

And if you want to really live off the grid, don't use electricity!!!

Then how could I survive without talkstates!

Yeah, the reality is that it is very easy to get off the grid. just turn the power off!

[PDXnative]

Originally Posted by the dufferz

Then how could I survive without talkstates!

Yeah, the reality is that it is very easy to get off the grid. just turn the power off!

When we go cruising we will be off the grid and dependant on the power we can make through solar panels, wind generator, and electric generator and/or diesel engine. Of course we can still get email

[Panterro]

I really wish I knew how to be a Quaker. If a new Ice age were to hit, these people I would imagine would be one of the very few survivors. They don't use technology, ok advanced technology. They grow their own food, raise their own meat, and so on. In someways I wish I could do that too.. it would make life easier in some ways to not need electricity, or gas, or phones.. but I would have to have my lap top and some sorta power plant, like solar or wind.. to have some basic electricity for my computer. So I guess I could not go all the way like they do.. but to know how to survive and support yourself and your family like that would be awesome. I don't even think they use money do they?

[Wyoming53]

Yes, Pan, they do use money. Also, they use a lot more energy products then what one would suspect. They do have electricity. But that's about it. haha

They take a portion of their crops into town and sell at markets. This allows them to purchase necessities such as pans, jars for canning, material, etc. But the purchases are community purchases. In other words, they buy material for all to share when they get back.

[Wyody]

In 2000, I had to move to Ohio for 6 weeks to ready a band for a Nashville studio. They rented a house for me right smack-dab in an Amish town. I'd grown up fairly near there but not near Amish - they were still kind of a rarity. All I ever knew wasn't much more than the movies - you see 'em in carts wearing black & white and they're a basic, German protestant to the extreme.
Neighbor pulls up in a giant Dodge pick-up. Brand new sucker. Amish.
Says, "we're gonna be plowing today across the way and wanted to let you know first in case there's blowing dust" ... and he went over and plowed - with a giant tractor!
Now, I can't quite direct this at Quakers - I don't know what they're up to these days - but the Amish seem to have come a ways regarding their use of machinery! Got smart and religion at the same time! Another rarity!

[deeptrance]

Originally Posted by PDXnative

...We are monkeys!! A bunch of stupid monkeys. Look around, we really are. We are smart monkeys, as far as monkeys go, but it comes down to the fact that we are still just dumb monkeys.....

A disturbingly true post. I'm often amazed by my own stupidity, as well as that of my fellow hominids.

Case in point --- I have a number of physical problems that are most likely being caused by my own behavior. I use "treatments" for these problems that tend to make things worse.

The proof that I'm smarter than a monkey lies in the fact that I'm self-aware to the point that I can identify complex cause-effect relationships that are hurting me.

The proof that I'm not as smart as a monkey lies in the fact that I continue to make conscious choices that I know are harmful to me.

Sadly, most ape species are doomed to extinction outside of zoos. It's too bad because it would be nice to see some of them continue to evolve and perhaps become a smarter species than we are.

[Panterro]

Originally Posted by deeptrance

. Sadly, most ape species are doomed to extinction outside of zoos. It's too bad because it would be nice to see some of them continue to evolve and perhaps become a smarter species than we are.

Yeah what a shame.

[deeptrance]

Oh, my lord, Panterro --- I hereby retract me previous comments about other apes evolving! Not that we'd be around to see it. 3978 AD is barely enough time to get a couple minor tweaks in the genetic code of a certain cluster of people. We'd need to fast-forward a few million years to get to the situation depicted in that disturbing graphic.

You have a warped mind, don't you... must be why I like you.

[Panterro]

Ahh but Deep, it can be done quicker.. Gene splicing and editing. Or hey what about just add Radiation.. a few nukes or dirty bombs may speed up the process some.

Me warped, naw I think I see it all to clear.. everyone else is warped.. hahaha.

[deeptrance]

Originally Posted by Panterro

Me warped, naw I think I see it all to clear.. everyone else is warped.. hahaha.

Is your avatar a recent photograph of you? If so, then I think I understand.

[Panterro]

Oh what now your gonna hate me because I'm blue, and feline.. man you raciest never stop do you.. lol heh heh.

[Wyody]

Originally Posted by Panterro

Oh what now your gonna hate me because I'm blue, and feline.. man you raciest never stop do you.. lol heh heh.

Oh man, excuse me for busting in - but I have to apologize, Pan. I always thought of your avatar as Vulcan and never considered "feline" to either, the avatar or the Vulcan. Sorry.
And I'm outta here. Peace.
(oh, and I think both of you are disturbed. I, too, like that in a person).

[Panterro]

See the blue guy in the background.. he is a Thundercat. His name is Panthro.. here is the scoop on him..

Panthro — The next noble in age and experience, based on the panther, this warrior is the chief mechanic/engineer and pilot for the ThunderCats. He’s also physically the strongest and is a cunning warrior in combat. With Tygra’s help, he builds all of the vehicles the ThunderCats use on Third Earth — including the ThunderTank, the Feliner and the ThunderClaw, ThunderStrike and HoverCat. A jovial soul, he’s also quick to lose his temper and has a paralyzing fear of bats and a dislike of spiders.

He is so much like me in many ways.. my name here is a play on his name. =)

[Curious George]

Now all you need is to work out an get his muscles

[Panterro]

I used too before my back was busted by a deuce and a half. Kinda hard to work out when you have pins in your spine. OK maybe not to the level he has in the picture.. but I was rather buff.. my wife will tell ya.

[Wyody]

Pan - thanks for the story. That's interesting. Must go now - have to ask the wife what a ThunderCat is. She does the movies. I can't sit long enough to watch many. (movie?)

Uh, just wondering ... are they trying to move in too?

[Panterro]

The Thundercats Project

It will be. it was a popular cartoon of the 80's and then a popular comic book in the last few years.

[Wyody]

Originally Posted by Panterro

The Thundercats Project

It will be. it was a popular cartoon of the 80's and then a popular comic book in the last few years.

Now, that's one possible downside about being from my generation - by the time they started using creatures that appeared human-like or were intended to represent humans, my cartoon-tastes were already set. Falling Roadrunners, muttering sailors, a mouse in a cape, magpies, a dog that wore a cowboy hat and talked like a hillbilly, a horse that hit people with guitars, a bear that wore a summer-fedora and stole picnic-baskets, a whirling dustcloud called a devil, a tall rabbit with an attitude ... and Elmer Fudd.
Leaves me a little uninformed from about "Johnny Quest" on up to now ... except I did take a liking to "The Itchy and Scratchy Show".
Thanks for getting me thru another "senior moment".

[Curious George]

Originally Posted by Wyody

Pan - thanks for the story. That's interesting. Must go now - have to ask the wife what a ThunderCat is. She does the movies. I can't sit long enough to watch many. (movie?)

Uh, just wondering ... are they trying to move in too?

A thunder cat was one of artic cat’s 4 cyl snowmobile’s started in the 70’s , had a friend who owned one around about late 80’s early 90’s, 900 or 1000 cc engines had so much power kept breaking things , kinda like my old Rupp from the 70’s 800 cc 3 cyl tuned exhaust No mufflers back then, you could hear that thing 3 blocks away. Got tired of fixing it all the time so I sold it.

[Panterro]

Originally Posted by Wyody

Now, that's one possible downside about being from my generation - by the time they started using creatures that appeared human-like or were intended to represent humans, my cartoon-tastes were already set. Falling Roadrunners, muttering sailors, a mouse in a cape, magpies, a dog that wore a cowboy hat and talked like a hillbilly, a horse that hit people with guitars, a bear that wore a summer-fedora and stole picnic-baskets, a whirling dustcloud called a devil, a tall rabbit with an attitude ... and Elmer Fudd.
Leaves me a little uninformed from about "Johnny Quest" on up to now ... except I did take a liking to "The Itchy and Scratchy Show".
Thanks for getting me thru another "senior moment".

Willi E Coyote and the Roadrunner, Pop Eye, Mighty Mouse, Heckle & Jeckle, Droopy, Quick Draw McGraw, YOGI and BooBoo, My Favorite TAZ, Buggs Bunny & Elmer Fudd, and Donald Duck. I cant believe you left out Huckleberry "Huck" Hound.

Ahh yeah them were the days..

That was about the same time the Cartoon movie came out called Animal Olympics.

I also recall Grape Ape, Space Ghost, The Herculoids, and just about anything by Hannah Barbara. Like the SUPER FRIENDS..

AHH MEGATROIDS.. EXIT STAGE LEFT..

[Wyody]

Yo - I got Huck - he was the "dog that wore a cowboy hat and talked like a hillbilly" that I referred to.
Magilla Gorilla, Squiddly Diddly ... let me just take a moment here in honor of Dudley Dooright - .... (amen) ..., Here's one - "Tom Terrific and his Mighty WonderDog, Manfred" along with Tom's arch-enemy, Crabby Appleton - who was rotten to the core", Lippy the Lion and Hardy-Har-Har, Sheriff "Bing-Bing-BING!" Ricochet Rabbit ... and I also got my doses of "The Hardy Boys" and The Dead-End Gang and The Bowery Boys and The Marx Brothers (ya think?).
Yeah, growing up is sure gonna be hard.

[Emanuel labor]

As a young boy I was able to watch Rocky an Bullwinkle, that Natasha she was a babe.

[Panterro]

This was my favorite Character...