Hello NZSanctuary,

Thxs for responding. Brace yourself: a little more historical context on my Ass-Fault Wonderland, Thermo/Gene Collision situation on my local homefront [flamefront?]....

My intro to Peakoil was Jay's Dieoff in summer '03: I went from an energy article by Jane Byrant Quinn in a paper Newsweek mag that referenced a webpage that had a weak, but intriguing expose', but my eye caught the link to Dieoff in the corner...one click later my life had irrevocably changed as I had to actually go throw-up--> my mind was pre-wired to instantly grasp all the implications upon seeing the first Dieoff graphs. In short: I had taken the Red Pill like in the Matrix film. Elasped Full Conversion Time: ETA of approx 5 minutes.

I had read Paul Ehrlich's "Population Bomb" decades earlier as a 12 year old, but my still-developing mind must have subconciously processed this info, along with other newsbits for years, while I outwardly remained in what I now call my previous day-to-day 'Happy Idiot' mode. All my subsequent Dieoff exploration was not to mentally deny anything, but to merely reinforce my earlier, but hidden mindset.

Well, when my girlfriend suddenly saw a perfectly healthy guy suddenly retching his guts out into the toilet, she glanced at Dieoff on my computer, then did a little reading on her laptop, then nearly instantly went the opposite direction into severe fear & denial. Our relationship has never been the same since that fateful day; me--red pill, her-- a reinforced blue pill.

I often go into Zombie Mode, as she calls it, when I am deep in thought on a future posting concept, and she says it scares the Hell out of her when she encounters my thousand-yard stare. If I try to discuss Peakoil with her--'Talk to the Hand' or much worse.

I asked her to sell her house back in 2005, move to Cascadia, then I would rejoin her at some future time after my frail mom finally passed [that is if my girlfriend would still have me, but I was willing to take that chance]. No dice, she is locked into the 'psychology of prior investment'.

To show how diametrically opposed we are: we currently are renovating the inside of her house--carpets, curtains, paint, laminate flooring, etc, even though I pleaded with her to spend the money instead on energy-saving dual-pane glass, insulation, pot-belly wood-stove, etc. No way, Jose'.

Other examples:

I wanted to hoard the small woodpile for when we really needed it, but she went ahead anyway, burning it for the 'ambience' in our non-optimal regular fireplace.

I wanted to stockpile the old phonebooks for future toilet paper, but she ditched them behind my back.

I offered to buy a portable camping toilet that uses blue juice; that I would empty and clean it for both of us to save massive amounts of water. No deal--she loves flush toilets, over her dead body.

I am amazed I haven't lost my sense of humor, or worse, had a nervous breakdown; it is like our ying-yang harmony or feng-shui relationship/lifestyle is wildly out-of-whack to my mindset. I guess I now must be bi-polar-wired to handle the situation; I can easily flip from red pill to blue pill, or vice versa whenever required.

Or maybe I am just a Wild & Crazy Guy!

Bob Shaw in Phx,Az Are Humans Smarter than Yeast?