I found some maps...

[conuly]

They're not all that easy to read, but NYC seems to get fairly swamped.

Well, the beauty of New York is that now that we don't depend on the port, we're actually a pretty portable city. Unlike New Orleans, which would just fold if the need for that port vanished. (And which is probably only hanging on because of that port - otherwise, even the token help they've gotten doesn't seem likely mihi.)

At any rate, it seems to me like now is the time to move inland, or at least as soon as I can possibly manage. Preferably inland to some area without fuel reserves - I like to make my safety nets free of hidden snags. Best to get while the getting's good, I always say - move now, and avoid the rush.

So, here's my plan. Pick a spot, probably (unfortunately, due to their oil) in Canada. Move there - maybe for college. Stay there. Become a citizen, stat. Buy up lots of land, pretty far inland. Cheap land - as long as I can substinance farm, I'm good. Plant lots of fruit trees - that fights global warming and makes fruit. Build a castle to defend myself against displaced invaders. I like castles. Include many secret exits and passages, why not? Invite others to come, pool our resources. Buy more land (and fruit trees). Repeat as necessary.

It'd have to be a castle that can also withstand massive storms, no? I can do that.

Comments

[conuly]

Yeah, but castles are also really cool - and is anybody going to have artillery at the end of the world?

But fine, fine. How about an underground house, then? Those are cool too - and you can plant on top of 'em!

As for living on a boat, that's another plan (I'm thinking sub, but I don't think that's likely....) except... aren't storms likely to get worse?

[polydad.livejournal.com]

What made castles useful was ten-foot thick stone walls. What we tend to think of as "cool" are mock-castles made long after the real ones fell into disuse. They're more like Fantasyland than castles.

Underground houses are cool, and hard to attack, and can be made resistant to light artillery, which is fairly easy to make in a decent machine shop. So yes, it'll be with us after any "end of the world" scenario I can think of; it seems likely that any given weapons technology is what we'll lose *last*, regrettably.

Subs are cool, but also expensive, difficult to make, and dangerous. I'm working with a Tall Ships program right now, and a big sailing vessel looks pretty good to me. No worries about fuel, for one thing. But it's not for nothing that boats have a centuries-long reputation as "wood-lined holes in the water into which you throw money." In order to be economically feasible long-term, we'd have to develop the skills-base to repair it ourselves, and this goes way past what I learned in wood shop those many years ago.

Storms *are* likely to get worse, but at this level of discussion I'd have to know more about what kind of doomsday you're anticipating in order to be able to talk about it sensibly.

best,

Joel

[conuly]

Well, you know me... plan and fret and whine about the worst, dubiously hope for the best.

As for sensibly, all this - all of it is contingent on me having money and a job. And the ability to live and work outside of the US, which I do not currently have. Any of it. So sensible isn't at all on the list.

[polydad.livejournal.com]

Not sure where to find it, but I'd read an article a few months back written by a guy in Argentina, whose life reads very much like a lot of expressions of post-apocalyptic USA I've read. His comments were:

0. Be rich. If you didn't do this long before the excrement hit the ventilator, try anyway. Society runs to make nice on the rich, and if you're not one, it's a problem.

1. Fortify the house. Not against artillery, against anything a gang of street-thugs might grab. So, bars on windows, reinforced doors, a "safe room" inside the house.

2. Get, learn to use, and carry a handgun. Also spares, because you have to be ready to *lose* handguns on a regular basis, either to the cops, or because of them. He likes .45s, but agrees that it's personal preference; the main point is to be able to make the loud "Bang!" when you need to.

3. Have at least one strong young man in the family. Old people die a lot in troubled times.

best,

Joel. Who'd like to try *building* civilization, but that seems to be a less popular task than picking over the corpse.

[conuly]

I have no problem building the seed of a civilization - among other things, with more people I'd have a lot more money!

Get some people together, pick a place to dig in (and build from), and I'll build with you.

But you want a boat.

[polydad.livejournal.com]

>Get some people together, pick a place to
>dig in (and build from), and I'll build with you.

May I take you at your word?

One of my premises is that unified physical plant is a bad idea; makes us a Target. Distributed communities are better, though being together is necessary for linguistic reasons, "together" can mean "within reasonable walking distance" without a problem. Setting up a network of distributed communities is also a good idea; I can help you develop yours on SI while you help me develop one here in LA. Gives us each someplace to run to if we have to, though if it gets that bad we might both be running to my brother's place in Thailand.

Let me know if you want to continue with this and how far you're willing to go.

best,

Joel

[conuly]

I'm not sure building on SI is, ultimately, a great idea - but starting a community seed here anyway may still be. Ideally, though, I want to be, as I said, inland - and settled enough that I might not get shook when everybody else has the same idea.

I'm also not sure of my ability to gather resources and/or people. I get $300 a month for watching my nieces (and can't up and leave my family), and I'm not a people person. I wish I loved the human race and so on. (And I'm surrounded by people who "aren't too worried" about the situation. Gah.)

So at the moment, I'm restricted to gardening (both legit and clandestine - nobody will notice a few food plants on a nominal "park", will they?), and studying potentially useful things like "What plants around here are useful and how?"

Disaster shouldn't be that soon, right?

eeeeeee