Dear Reader:

I no longer have the energy I used to. Posting every third day was becoming like a job, and I’ve been retired for eight years, so I tried taking a break, with positive results. I still expect to post occasionally at NBL and a couple other sites, but I’m sorry, I’m now on extended leave from posting here.

My very best wishes to us all,

BtD

LIMERICKS OF DOOM—THE BOOK!

http://www.amazon.com/Limericks-Doom-Benjamin-The-Donkey/dp/1481279815

Frackers

Those bastards who’re spoiling the soil,

They really make my blood boil;

I’d tear out their guts

And cut off their nuts,

Except that I still want the oil. 

Heraclitus Says

The old days again might be nice,

But according to ancient advice,

For that you can’t prep,

Because no one can step

Into the same river twice.

What Should I Do Now?

Don’t follow what anyone said:

Find your own best way instead;

Above all, don’t heed

Every word that you read,
Including these words you just read.

Accepting One’s Niche More

The more alpha animals solely

Dominate the more lowly,

But humans resent

Being bowing-down bent
Unless they’re convinced they’re more holy.

We Can’t All Get Along

Simple tribes in which we used to dwell

Evolved a hate-other-tribes spell;

For a while, that worked fine,

But now races combine,
And it doesn’t work out quite as well.

Commiseration

Daniel says: “I am of the opinion that all dialog post-acceptance of NTE is manifestly commiserative.”

http://guymcpherson.com/2013/04/the-irreconcilable-acceptance-of-near-term-extinction/

I sit here and wait for the end

With no more than an ear to lend;

For what’s now in store,

We don’t need much more,
‘Cause it won’t be too long now, my friend.

Going Out

We sit around and we wait

For doom, which we know is our fate;

And since doom’s a state

Which is not really great,
Some will bail before it’s too late.

Quality of Dying

Once you’ve resolved any doubt

That extinction is here, just about,

And there’s no point in feigning,

The question remaining

Is "What’s the best way to go out?"

Part of Nature

Animals make their debut

As part of nature’s milieu,

And a terminal route

Via overshoot—

That’s part of nature too.

Karma?

Does our species deserve to elapse

For the way we’ve behaved? Perhaps;

But we’re hard at it still

So it’s certain we will

By the time we’re all done with collapse. 

Doomer’s Choice

In his epic essay at NBL, Daniel says: "NTE ends in only one of three ways for everyone: predation, starvation or suicide."

http://guymcpherson.com/2013/04/the-irreconcilable-acceptance-of-near-term-extinction/

When NTE hits planetwide,

We can run, but with nowhere to hide,

It will turn out that we

Must choose one of three:

Predation, starvation or suicide.

Suicide

As I look at my life in review,

Strong forces must make us make do:

The evidence is clear

From the fact I’m still here

After all of the shit I’ve been through. 

The Buddha says: “Life is Suffering.”

Relief

At first, our extinction motif

Is us, fighting disbelief;

But the more we watch strife

And the downside of life,

The more we view death as relief.

==

Geezers Do Doom

Doom is an old people’s game,

And dealing with death is the aim;

It won’t mess with your head

When you’re practically dead

‘Cause the issues are mostly the same.

==

Hospice

If I get a disease they can’t cure,

I’m gonna do hospice for sure;

The same goes for doom:

I’ve had enough gloom

In my life—I won’t try to endure.

==

It’s All Good

Every day, when I roll out of bed,

They’ve found something new we should dread;

It would mess with my head

But it’s O.K. instead

‘Cause I know that we’re already dead.

==

Gathering Speed

NTE is gathering speed,

So extinction is guaranteed,

But we will succeed

To be finally freed

From the misery of our breed.

Hope Springs Eternal

I’m into this doomer thing deep,

But there still are some hopes that I keep:

Like, before we all fry,

I hope that I’ll die

Quietly while I’m asleep. 

Molecules Bounce Around As They Must

On Determinism and Blame

Molecules bounce without aim,

Or socialized human head game;

Always some prior cause

Within nature’s laws

Means no one has ultimate blame.

==

Get Over It

The universe doesn’t take actions

Because of your special attractions:

Instead, I’ve a hunch

It thinks you’re a bunch

Of chemical reactions.

==

Free Will

We’re like some illogical bozo,

Not a reasoning virtuoso:

Since every event

Is of causal descent,

Nothing arises de novo.

==

Fate

Fate’s something we can’t wish away:

Atoms bounce as they must and don’t stray;

We protest or accept

While we’re getting prepped,

But we don’t get to have any say.

Post-Acceptance Rethinking

Resources we need keep on shrinking,

So hope for improvement is sinking,

Forcing all that we knew

To a new point of view

Based on post-acceptance rethinking.

Join the Army!

I want to be doing doom right,

So I’ll fight with all of my might;

I will fight to the death

With my very last breath

When I figure out whom I should fight. 

Control

No one can be in control

When they’re only a part of the whole:

Many forces conflict,

But together predict

You’re fucked, whatever your goal.

He Loved Big Brother

Sitting here watching TV,

It’s looking like TPTB

Are keeping things stable

As long as they’re able,

Which is pretty much OK with me. 

Götterdämmerung — Prologue

First Norn

We’ve been weaving the rope of Fate

Since humankind’s earliest date,

From hunter and gather

To thinking they’d rather

Be planting the stuff that they ate.

Second Norn

With resources heedlessly chucked,

Most people’s lives really sucked:

Backbreaking and numbing,

(You knew this was coming)

Until they were royally fucked.

Third Norn

Their peaks have been passed, no retakes;

They can’t reverse their mistakes—

Wait—something’s not right—

Too slack or too tight?

The rope becomes tangled! It breaks!

Second Norn

It breaks!

First Norn

It breaks!

BAU

I’m O.K. with more BAU—

It’s better than being all through;

The truth is, my friend,

I don’t want it to end,

And neither, I’m betting, do you.

We’d be smart to shut our damn yaps

And keep this doom stuff under wraps:

If we kept it hush-hush,

We might put off the rush

To inevitable collapse.

But it doesn’t take a savant

To excuse being nonchalant:

Once we admit

That we can’t change jack shit,

It doesn’t matter what we want.

H/T: Gail Zawacki 

TH_ H_RR_R TH_ H_RR_R

Ann Coulter says “The worst thing and I think the most offensive is that ‘global warming deniers,’ comes from people who are ‘Holocaust deniers.’”

http://www.salon.com/2014/05/22/ann_coulter_jumps_to_the_defense_of_pat_sajak_climate_deniers/

Collapse will surely expose

Every hatred the human heart knows

As cruelty grows

Unrestrained. So it goes—

Please give me two “E’s” and four “O’s.”

H_LY SH_T

Pat Sajak will say:

Soon nobody can deny

That everything’s going to fry,

Resulting thereby

In no food supply—

Please give me an “O” and an “I.”

J_ST K_DD_NG

Pat Sajak said. 

The help that a vowel purchase buys

Adds hope that on one of these tries

There’ll be some kind of prize

Before our demise—

Please give me a “u” and two “i’s.”

W_’R_ F_CK_D

Pat Sajak says: "I now believe global warming alarmists are unpatriotic racists knowingly misleading for their own ends."

The letters are only a few,

So the puzzle is easy to do:

No overall view

Was ever more true—

Please give me three “e’s” and a “u.”

Once In A Lifetime

You may find yourself on the run

With no escape once doom’s begun;

And one unreal day,

You may hear yourself say,

“My God!...What have I done?”

Doing Time on Death Row

Knowing our time left is waning,

We look at our lives with less feigning;

And we try to maintain,

Chasing pleasure, not pain,

To fill up the time that’s remaining. 

Science

Belief without facts for reliance

Is reality noncompliance;

But it’s hard, I assume,

To evaluate doom

Without basic knowledge of science.

9/11

People lie, but let’s be succinct:

Believing whatever is linked

To 9/11

Or God in his heaven

Doesn’t change going extinct. 

Summer 2014

Make popcorn and check out the scene:

Too much heat and diminished cuisine;

As the truth becomes known,

Many minds will be blown

In the summer of twenty fourteen. 

It’s A Good Day

It’s a good day for watching doom spread,

Working hard, and getting ahead;

For picking up clues

You can’t win, only lose—

It’s a good day for staying in bed.

It’s a good day for reading this thread,

For working to fix your doomstead,

Or to drink up your booze

On a terminal cruise—

It’s a good day for waking up dead. 

Hierarchy vs. Extinction

Why does some doom talk conflate

Social rank with extinction debate?

Inequality’s strife

Is found throughout life

And can’t change, because now it’s too late.

We might seek fairer ways to cope,

But sliding down Hubbert’s slope

Means vanishing shares

For us and our heirs:

NTE extinguishes hope.

Collapse of Industrial Civilization vs. Extinction

Collapse, optimistically read,

Once meant camping adventures ahead;

But hot dogs and Jello

Can’t maintain our mellow

Once extinction makes sure we’re all dead.

H/T: John Ludi

Why

It’s not ‘cause we’re some special brute,

Or the eating of forbidden fruit;

It’s not values we had:

Right or wrong, good or bad—

The reason is overshoot.

Scapegoat

Most humans don’t have time or skill

To grasp doom, and so they never will;

But they’ll try to hold sway

In our time-honored way:

Finding people to torture and kill. 

About Hope

Hope Stops

The humans, they had hope until

Their terminal slide downhill;

Living better somehow

Had sustained them, but now

They realize they never will.

==

Hope

I kept hoping for better: instead,

 “Just wait till you’re older,” folks said;

By now I should know

Things won’t change, although

Perhaps they’ll improve once I’m dead.

==

Hope Springs Eternal

Some advice that’s not moralistic

Nor unduly pessimistic:

As we slide down doom’s slope,

Don’t abandon all hope—

Just hope that’s unrealistic.

Sol Roth

Wouldn’t it be super keen

If the future had a routine

To finish our scene

In a way that’s serene

Like where Sol went in “Soylent Green?”

Fundamental Split

Doom changes worldview a lot

(Although, in the end, it means squat),

Dividing those who

Think we will pull through

From those who think we will not. 

More Songs (Again)

The End

“This is the end,” Jim proclaims:

“Break on through” from your usual games;

Good advice from a Door,

Since it’s not long before

The whole shithouse goes up in flames.

==

We Shall Be Released

Because we’re no smarter than yeast,

It turns out we’ll soon be deceased;

Being old makes one prepped

To more promptly accept:

Any day now, we shall be released.

==

All My Trials

Hush little baby, don’t cry,

You know mama was born to die;

Too late, humankind,

Too late, never mind:

All my trials soon be gone by.

If life were a thing you could buy,

The rich would live, poor folk would die;

But we’re all intertwined,

And all dead—never mind:

All my trials soon be gone by.
==

Staying Alive

You used to be sinful or mad

If you killed yourself ‘cause you were sad,

But life’s getting rougher:

To no longer suffer

Will turn out to be not that bad.

==

The Dream Is Over—What Can I Say?

“The dream is over

What can I say?”

    — John Lennon: "God"

Extinction’s the animal way:

Every species must reach its last day;

If you comprehend

That the dream’s at its end,

There’s not a whole lot left to say.

The End of Suffering

“I will show you suffering, and the end of suffering.”

     — Buddha

==

The End of Suffering

Our lifetimes we cannot extend,

But the upside to comprehend:

When there is no more grief,

We get final relief,

And our suffering comes to an end.

==

Runaway Train

I sit on this runaway train

Watching the passing terrain;

There’s not much I can do

But accept doom is true,

And wait for the end of the pain. 

H/T: pat @ NBL

==

The End of Suffering

It’s becoming convincingly clear

That the end of our suffering’s near:

Soon hardly a trace

Will remain of our race

‘Cause we’re leaving, and won’t reappear.

==

We Had A Dream

Our dream of justice has passed:

Life means oppression by caste;

But soon now, instead,

We’ll be equally dead—

Thank God, we’ll be free at last.

H/T: Kathy Cassandra

Point and Laugh

Don’t worry about the deniers,

Simply point and laugh at the liars;

Since doom’s underway

Whatever they say

Won’t change that our species expires.

H/T: rbrgs 

Oh, Those Wacky Deniers

Watching the Deniers

Their stridency starts to reveal

Nervousness they can’t conceal;

They say it’s a hoax

And they try to make jokes,

But they’ll freak when they find out it’s real.

==

Something To Look Forward To

Deniers try to insist

Global warming doesn’t exist;

But once they conclude

They were wrong, plus they’re screwed,

They’re going to be mightily pissed.

==

Waking Up

Though deniers may act like some creep,

Their position we might want to keep:

With the heat, they’ll reverse,

And then act so much worse,

We’ll wish they would go back to sleep.

==

Suddenly This Summer

A zero calorie diet

Plus heat will make people riot;

But it’s worse if they scope

That doom means there’s no hope—

We should have kept it more quiet.

==

Just You Wait

Deniers couldn’t be dumber

To insist warming isn’t a bummer:

They point to their snow,

But we say “Hello?

Get back to us after this summer.”

More Songs

Strange Days

Strange days have found us in gloom,

Strange days now all else subsume;

Though we won’t get away,

We run from the day

Into a strange night of doom.

==

Ball And Chain

Sitting here watching the rain,

I stare from this runaway train:

Doom came to be,

Grabbed a hold of me,

And it felt like a ball and chain.

==

Twelve Thirty

Underneath irrelevant squawking,

Doom from deep canyons comes stalking;

I can’t keep my eyes closed

To how badly we’re hosed,

And I can’t keep myself from talking.

==

Summertime

One of these mornings, we’ll fly:

Spread our wings, and take to the sky;

No more suffering harm

After buying the farm

And saying to people “Goodbye.”

==

The Great Mandala

Act your role on the great wheel of strife

With a combo of sweet smile and knife;

You don’t get to choose

If you win or you lose:

If you lose, tough shit, that’s your life.

Happier Motoring

As a kid, a clean windshield involved

Soap and scrubbing to get bugs dissolved;

Now some people say

That we need bugs, but hey—

At least we got one problem solved.

H/T: Lidia

Rich Man, Poor Man

“Lets all of us do as I choose:

We’ll lose everything if you refuse”;

“You make my life suck,

Bring it on, you fat fuck—

I ain’t got nothing to lose.” 

Extinctionology

No future means we must deal

With so many things doom will reveal,

But to buy NTE

Means you no longer flee

Or fight with accepting what’s real.

Purposelessness

Extinction’s one heck of a mess:

Swaying others makes us digress,

And why log each event?

Now our time’s better spent

Dealing with purposelessness.

H/T: Kathy Cassandra

Ukraine

They’re rioting in the Ukraine,

But we’re all going to go down the drain;

If there’s nuclear war,

We can get dead before

We suffer a whole lot more pain. 

No Point

I’ve stopped trying to let people know:

It won’t help, and just makes them feel low;

They’ll find out soon enough

When the going gets rough,

But we here said “D’oh!” long ago.

H/T: Gail @ Wit’s End