LOL. I get it. I didn't see that you were looking for book suggestions. The crowbar remains a good all-purpose apocalypse suggestion though . . .
I no longer remember what restriction on suggestions I had made back then, but most likely literature seeing as it's all books I wrote in that post. Crowbars are great indeed, but a nuclear powered pipe wrench is also great during the apocalypse.
Crowbars are great indeed, but a nuclear powered pipe wrench is also great during the apocalypse.All I'll need is my mohawk, my crossbow, and my football pads.
Crowbars are great indeed, but a nuclear powered pipe wrench is also great during the apocalypse.
All I'll need is my mohawk, my crossbow, and my football pads.
That's all? I'd watch out for me, mate, there sits in my garage a 1978 ford falcon XB GT coupe, supercharged, the last of the V-8 interceptors. It's the Duck's guts, mate.
If an Apocalypse like that of "when sysadmins ruled the earth" happened, I, too, would be among those trying to restore the internet. Failing that, I think that as long as I was in an urban environment, or at least suburbia, I would be able to survive easily. Ham radio would become a hobby of mine, I'm sure. And if I get bored, I would get a boat and go tour the world. I would get a chance to do everything I've always wanted to do, but couldn't due to financial restraints.
Funny how an apocalypse would be the most liberating thing that could happen to me. Heh.
Driving is probably my best apocalypse skill. Roads will be un-maintained. There will be lots of obstacles, and lots of people trying to stop and/or harm your vehicle. Vehicles that go will be rare and precious, so you can't take a lot of risks if you've got one that works. Granted, I'm no F1 driver, but I doubt there will be lots of F1 cars to drive. Give me just about any consumer vehicle, and I'll plow right on through to where we need to be just as long as Hokuto no Ken doesn't stop me.
I'm watching The Colony right now. It doesn't seem trashy or exploitative, which is a plus over other reality shows. It sounds interesting enough so far. The only problem is the fact that each volunteer knows that they are in a controlled experiment. They won't have the "we're doomed!" mentality that may drastically affect their psyche.
It's interesting how they hired volunteers with very specific sets of skills and abilities. Makes me wonder how we'd fare if all of us forumites were stuck in an apocalyptic situation together.
I think we'd fare very well if it was all of us. We have Microbiologists, Physisists, artists, Technology specialists, farmers, lawyers, and lots of people to divide work amongst.
My watch tells me it's not yet the apocalypse. Thus, prepare! Helpful texts: - Local boyscout manual containing information ranging from how to tie your shoes to how to make a deadly trap with nothing but wood, your bare hands, and teeth.
Boy Scout handbooks sadly no longer carry that type of information.
I however have some first aid training and am an NRA expert with a pistol (a lot of good that does for hunting, huh?). Also I know how to make gunpowder and have more than a little camping and survival equipment.
. If an Apocalypse like that of "when sysadmins ruled the earth" happened, I, too, would be among those trying to restore the internet.
That new book One Second After posits an intentional EMP event that takes out the electrical grid. I saw an interview with the author of that book in which he said that solar flares could trigger an EMP event as well. What would you do if there was no electricity?
Also, how would you get out of a major city? If there was an EMP event, very few people would have an operable car. If it was some other crisis, the roads would be pretty much useless to anyone with sub-Scott driving skills. Do you think you could hike out? Would that be an acceptable risk? Could you get out through the sewer system? What about putting out to sea if your city is near the ocean? Could you steal a boat and manage to navigate out if you didn't have any prior boating experience? I guess if there was no electricity it would have to be a sailboat or a rowboat.
Once you were out of the city, would you stay on the coast or head in-country?
Could society recover from an EMP event? Would it be possible to build a new electric grid after the EMP? If so, would you have to wait for the EMP effect to dissipate or "wear off"? What do you think would happen if the EMP was triggered in the U.S. with the intent of only harming the U.S.? Would that be possible, or would the EMP affect electricity in the rest of the world as well? Even if the rest of the world did have electricity, how would they be affected by a crippled U.S.?
Granted, I'm no F1 driver, but I doubt there will be lots of F1 cars to drive. Give me just about any consumer vehicle, and I'll plow right on through to where we need to be just as long as Hokuto no Ken doesn't stop me.
I share that same advantage, though I guess I have the added benefit of having quite a bit of off-road driving experience, as well as trick-street-drifting experience. There's a lot to consider when trying to keep a consumer vehicle stable through rough or unusual terrain, and a lot of people generally take that for granted. Being able to drift, turn quickly without flipping the car, and break whilst considering momentum are some necessary skills that not just any typical driver can harbor.
@Sail - If there was an apocalypse in which there was no electricity (such as in an EMP event), and a fellow lived near a harbor and was able to "acquire" a sailboat, but knew nothing about sailing, would it be possible to fake it enough to get out of the harbor and sail up or down the coast to the point where things were rural enough that he could avoid the wholescale slaughter/panic occurring in the cities?
@Sail - If there was an apocalypse in which there was no electricity (such as in an EMP event), and a fellow lived near a harbor and was able to "acquire" a sailboat, but knew nothing about sailing, would it be possible to fake it enough to get out of the harbor and sail up or down the coast to the point where things were rural enough that he could avoid the wholescale slaughter/panic occurring in the cities?
Sailing, Propably not - however, if you didn't raise the Sail, it would be reasonable possible to either motor or row along - knowing nothing about sailing, if you raised the sail, you'd have a chance of making it out of the harbor, but you'd be more likely to just capsize.
Capsizing isn't the problem. Pretty much anything over 18 feet is going to have a keel that weighs enough that, even if the boat went on it's side, the boat would spin up into the wind and right itself. The problems would arise from maneuvering. While sailing perpendicular to the wind is a breeze(no pun intended), sailing upwind has the biggest learning curve of any basic sailing skill. Also, if you were to sail downwind you would be likely to hurt yourself if you accidentally jibed. In short, you could probably sail yourself a short length well enough but, if you needed to sail any decent distance such as up the coast to another harbor, you would be in hot water.(pun intended)
Capsizing isn't the problem. Pretty much anything over 18 feet is going to have a keel that weighs enough that, even if the boat went on it's side, the boat would spin up into the wind and right itself. The problems would arise from maneuvering. While sailing perpendicular to the wind is a breeze(no pun intended), sailing upwind has the biggest learning curve of any basic sailing skill. Also, if you were to sail downwind you would be likely to hurt yourself if you accidentally jibed. In short, you could probably sail yourself a short length well enough but, if you needed to sail any decent distance such as up the coast to another harbor, you would be in hot water.(pun intended)
That's a fair call, I was admittedly thinking smaller boats and Cats - I know that my mate's 16 foot cat(the green machine) capsizes at the drop of a hat, and most catamarans under 20-25 feet don't have keels nor will they self-right.
Yeah, cats flip constantly. I mostly talked about bigger boats because, if one needed to "escape", it would be tougher to wait and survive offshore until the danger passes in a dinghy.
Yeah, cats flip constantly. I mostly talked about bigger boats because, if one needed to "escape", it would be tougher to wait and survive offshore until the danger passes in a dinghy.
Good point, however, it's a situation where you'll take what you can get, really - a bigger boat is good, but not always available, as you probably knew already. If you had a larger boat, that's good, but even if you do have a smaller boat, the only real change is more frequent trips in land, and that you might need to start caching equipment on land, near the shore. It really depends on how many people are with you, because if you're alone, you might want something you can actually launch yourself, because that makes it a hell of a lot easier if you can beach it, and then load it on the beach before launching again, as opposed to trying to swim back and fourth if your boat is too big to re-launch without assistance.
Churba, your point about running the boat on a motor is good . . . if the motor doesn't have an electric starter. I don't know whether the motors that would be on modern sailboats would have a "ripcord" or an electric starter. If there was an EMP event, any motor with an electric starter would be useless, wouldn't it? That's why the fellow choosing from all the boats in the harbor is going to be attracted to the sailboats.
I'm beginning to think that a "Learn to Sail" class might be a good investment and that sailing would be an excellent apocalypse skill.
In this scenario, you won't be the only person with a boat. Piracy will become a tremendous problem. And geek physique will put most of us at a disadvantage in a pirate fight. So staying in sight of the coastline will make you easy pickings for the pirates trolling up and down, or you can take to the open water without the benefit of a GPS. I hope you learned something about astral navigation from Prince Phillip.
Good point about the existence of pirates, but I'm talking about the immediate aftermath, as in, "OMG, there has been a nucular esplosion. Oh shits, now there's no electricity. Hmmm . . . I believe it's time to walk to the harbor and gets meself a boat."
My point being that, although I agree that there will certainly eventually be coastal pirates making coastal sea travel hazardous, I think that, in the first day or so, everyone will be too busy freaking out for pirate bands to form. I wouldn't advocate living on a boat forever, but I think it would be a good alternative way to get the hell out of Dodge in order to avoid harm arising from the initial freakout.
The "pirates" would be smart enough to start pirating -- on land. If a band of people all of a sudden realized that they should start stealing shit, they would start in their immediate vicinity. Only afterwards would they take to the seas.
Comments
If an Apocalypse like that of "when sysadmins ruled the earth" happened, I, too, would be among those trying to restore the internet.
Failing that, I think that as long as I was in an urban environment, or at least suburbia, I would be able to survive easily. Ham radio would become a hobby of mine, I'm sure. And if I get bored, I would get a boat and go tour the world. I would get a chance to do everything I've always wanted to do, but couldn't due to financial restraints.
Funny how an apocalypse would be the most liberating thing that could happen to me. Heh.
"ATATATATATATTATAT!!!"
It's interesting how they hired volunteers with very specific sets of skills and abilities. Makes me wonder how we'd fare if all of us forumites were stuck in an apocalyptic situation together.
I however have some first aid training and am an NRA expert with a pistol (a lot of good that does for hunting, huh?). Also I know how to make gunpowder and have more than a little camping and survival equipment.
Also, how would you get out of a major city? If there was an EMP event, very few people would have an operable car. If it was some other crisis, the roads would be pretty much useless to anyone with sub-Scott driving skills. Do you think you could hike out? Would that be an acceptable risk? Could you get out through the sewer system? What about putting out to sea if your city is near the ocean? Could you steal a boat and manage to navigate out if you didn't have any prior boating experience? I guess if there was no electricity it would have to be a sailboat or a rowboat.
Once you were out of the city, would you stay on the coast or head in-country?
Could society recover from an EMP event? Would it be possible to build a new electric grid after the EMP? If so, would you have to wait for the EMP effect to dissipate or "wear off"? What do you think would happen if the EMP was triggered in the U.S. with the intent of only harming the U.S.? Would that be possible, or would the EMP affect electricity in the rest of the world as well? Even if the rest of the world did have electricity, how would they be affected by a crippled U.S.?
I'm beginning to think that a "Learn to Sail" class might be a good investment and that sailing would be an excellent apocalypse skill.
My point being that, although I agree that there will certainly eventually be coastal pirates making coastal sea travel hazardous, I think that, in the first day or so, everyone will be too busy freaking out for pirate bands to form. I wouldn't advocate living on a boat forever, but I think it would be a good alternative way to get the hell out of Dodge in order to avoid harm arising from the initial freakout.