Vic Socotra

29 September 2009

Limited Time Offer

(The Shelf Reliance One Year Food Supply)

Many reputable authors disagree about what humankind should expect on Dec. 21, 2012, when the Maya's "Long Count" calendar runs out, marking the end of a 5,126-year era.

Some are predicting widespread catastrophe. There is a movie about 2012 that will debut in November- you can remember the title since it is the same as the year. This could be as exciting as the build up to Comet Kohoutek, or the dread of Y2K.

In any event, people made a lot of money on both of those events, and there is every reason to believe that they will make a lot of money on 2012. The print media is not going to be outdone by Hollywood. There are several new books touting the idea that humanity is creating its own ecological disasters, and propose some desperately needed ancient indigenous wisdom.

There are some excellent proposals; it is hard to pick which one is more fun.

One roadmap to doom is contained in “2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl,” by Dan Pinchback, who is doing quite well (40,000 copies in print) anticipating a "change in the nature of consciousness," assisted by indigenous insights and psychedelic drug use.

Spiritual healer Andrew Smith is predicting a restoration of a "true balance between Divine Feminine and Masculine" aspects of our species.

That sounds like something that might fit well with a Halloween costume motif. So there is a lot to look forward to.

I don’t know if it is all true, but it certainly matches the deep and semi-mystical hysteria about Peak Oil and Global Warming and Carbon Emissions.

What is useful about the notion of 2012 is that it brings the coming catastrophe much closer than some tired old glacier melting away in the middle the coming century.

There is an immediacy to 2012 that makes me want to get ready now for The End of the World as We Know It, or in shorthand, TEOTWAWKI. That is one of the reasons I bought the farm, upwind from the capital and well outside the immediate blast pattern.

Still, sitting on the back deck is going to get old pretty fast once the power goes out.

Thankfully, Costco is here to help.

I saw it this morning and had to go find my wallet for credit card information. "While supplies last," the e-mail read, I have the opportunity to "save two hundred bucks off the regular, low-low Online Price of $999.99, and get a year’s supply of healthy food for only $799.99."

But wait, I thought. There's more!

“Shelf Reliance is your premier source for food storage and emergency preparedness planning. Because nothing is more important than the health and safety of your family, they provide only top-of-the-line products...they are also designed to be added to your long term food storage.”

Naturally, I was interested. What a great product, I thought. The Shelf Reliance system comes complete with 78 Number 10 cans (one gallon) covering all 5 food groups: “grains, fruits, veggies, meats & beans and dairy.”

I thought they missed the two critical groups- ice and vodka- but heck, this is a good start and with a shelf life of up to twenty years, this is just as good as burying paper money in the back yard to see if it will rot.

Of course, it is complicated. If it is just me easting, the Shelf Reliance System would last for a year. If there are four people, it would only last three months, and so on. If the whole battalion is in the field, it would probably be necessary to march over to the store almost immediately.

Still, with over 4,700 servings, the Costco folks have brought us a solution that gives a lot of nutrition and peace of mind. When you are confronting TEOTWAWKI, that is a real comfort. I was thinking about what I would do with a freshing opened one gallon can of potato chunks.

Of course it is a limited time offer, but that only makes sense. Time is limited.

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