In '98, I was a 14-year old in Rhode Island with four younger siblings. I guess the only way things end well for us is if we can hike to the marina and take our sailboat out - assuming its hasn't already been stolen or it was already in the water that March - both rather unlikely I imagine.
Your region in Dies the Fire?
- Thread starter Umbral
- Start date
joatsimeon@aol.com
Banned
It's a book called Dies the Fire, where all technology instantly breaks down. All technology. As a Kiwi, this should be normal to you, right?
-- to be technical, only high-energy-density technologies. Heat engines and electricity in metal wires.
joatsimeon@aol.com
Banned
-- you could hop a bicycle and try for Anglesy, or possibly the isles of northern/western Scotland... but watch out for the Netherfield Avengers!
.(Yes, even after the Change, Milton Keynes has a _very_ bad reputation.)
joatsimeon@aol.com
Banned
-- and blued and tatooed, I'm afraid, unless you manage to get over the Sierras, or north to somewhere fairly close to the Oregon border.
joatsimeon@aol.com
Banned
-- well, there's a Republic of New Deseret. OTOH, its capital is in Twin Falls, Idaho.
I wonder how many people would just die due to lack of medicine.
How many diabetic's are there? (and people with other medically controlled diseases) - For me, trying to find a place to live would not be of vital concern - without medication I would be in deep trouble.
If survival was necessary - I would find an Amish community. They were already living a life that would be reasonable uneffected in DTF.
Too many of us are used to urban life, with limited survival skills and no knowledge that would be of great use. While urban adults might not have a high survival rate, it might be possible for the children to live on (you would have gangs of 'ferral' children)
In Southern California (where I live) how long would it take to develop sufficient, local, farming sufficient for regional survival? I doubt it would be practical, giving the large concentration of people.
For many of use, a DTF world would not be a pleasant place to wake up to.
How many diabetic's are there? (and people with other medically controlled diseases) - For me, trying to find a place to live would not be of vital concern - without medication I would be in deep trouble.
If survival was necessary - I would find an Amish community. They were already living a life that would be reasonable uneffected in DTF.
Too many of us are used to urban life, with limited survival skills and no knowledge that would be of great use. While urban adults might not have a high survival rate, it might be possible for the children to live on (you would have gangs of 'ferral' children)
In Southern California (where I live) how long would it take to develop sufficient, local, farming sufficient for regional survival? I doubt it would be practical, giving the large concentration of people.
For many of use, a DTF world would not be a pleasant place to wake up to.
As a fellow Californian (although I live in the relatively water rich North) I can tell you for certain that we are toast. Good news (?) is that you will not starve. SoCal will die of thirst way before you run out of food.
In 1998 I was an 11 year old lazy suburb kid living in metro Miami, Florida. About the only thing in my favor would be a lack of cold winters. Florida is a crowded peninsula; there are a lot of farms but there is also a huge population (luckily, many are old and sick and won't be able to go far). Also, the hot and muggy and mosquito-ridden summer would be disease heaven: if I don't starve or get eaten by cannibals (or gators), I could well find myself done in by malaria. The good news? If I somehow survive the year, Florida is probably not the worst place to be.
Deep South.....
Some areas in the Southern United States could be OK, away from the major cities, but without modern seeds/machines and meds, there would be real problems quick. Breakdown in Transportation, food stuffs wouldn't be the problems, growing food without seeds, most modern seed can't reproduce themselves to the same quality type plants over a period of time. Pest Control for some type plants. Cattle and horses wouldn't be a problem, except need larger cities. Storage wouldn't be a problem, most people still put up food in Jar's, also dried food is easlier than you think. Still all those people coming out of big Cities, Atlanta/Jackson/New Orleans/Moblie and Jacksonville would be bad. The more advanced/rich you were the harder life would be..Life along the coast would be almost impossible, lack of clean water, epidemics, flies/bug and the soil is very poor in most places.
Interesting topic....
Orion
Some areas in the Southern United States could be OK, away from the major cities, but without modern seeds/machines and meds, there would be real problems quick. Breakdown in Transportation, food stuffs wouldn't be the problems, growing food without seeds, most modern seed can't reproduce themselves to the same quality type plants over a period of time. Pest Control for some type plants. Cattle and horses wouldn't be a problem, except need larger cities. Storage wouldn't be a problem, most people still put up food in Jar's, also dried food is easlier than you think. Still all those people coming out of big Cities, Atlanta/Jackson/New Orleans/Moblie and Jacksonville would be bad. The more advanced/rich you were the harder life would be..Life along the coast would be almost impossible, lack of clean water, epidemics, flies/bug and the soil is very poor in most places.
Interesting topic....
Orion
-- you could hop a bicycle and try for Anglesy, or possibly the isles of northern/western Scotland... but watch out for the Netherfield Avengers!
(Yes, even after the Change, Milton Keynes has a _very_ bad reputation.)
Heading out Anglesey way, I'd probably be supper for the cannibal hordes of Oxford or Birmingham. North of the River is uncivilized enough as is without the absence of hi-tec stuff.
But, I have a plan. Empty the kitchen cupboards of all the tins and pouches of food and load them onto the bike. Persuade wife that we should go camping for a bit. Get her ex-army gear - sleeping bags etc from the loft. Remember to pack the books on self-sufficiency and old time crafts that I just (honest, I do) happen to have, then head off to the country. Stop off at a hospital I work at and "borrow" most of the antibiotics and nutritional supplements. Then get up into the Downs and hide for 3-4 weeks. Then hope like hell.
outside of the Twin cities i doubt you'd have many problems (outside of the oblivious from the book) besides the cold....
anyway... Mr. Stirling, one thing that always bothers me in these situations is how would the survivors keep their grains growing after the first year? especially in the quantiles that would be needed for even the groups the size of the Mackenzies or the Bearkillers?
First most grain seed is Hybrid, and has to be shipped in from companies because they don't reproduce like it would naturally, this is one reason why countries in Africa (wither they are right or wrong is not the issue) wont take American seed corn.
Second the only kinds that would are Heirloom and are not readily available in large amounts in farming areas, though i know with the Mackenize, that Chuck and his wife had a store that they kept those kinds of things around, but the barley that they found and what the local farmers had would not have been heirloom, but hybrids
Don't get me wrong I throughly enjoyed the first book and plan on getting and reading the rest, but it's just something that nags at me
If you look at the Settlement of Utah one of two things were there, the first being more important, Water and minerials. Now many of those minerial towns are ghost towns, however a good deal of the population lives on water brought down from the mountains. We often have had drought problems. But with the purification plants not working and likely the resoviors have trouble a good portion would die.
Furthermore, are you sure a New Deseret would appear? Many of the mormons out here aren't of the same caliber of the pioneers and those that are happen to be Jack Mormons that think hunting and skiing are more important than their churchlives. And ontop of that, me not being a Mormon want to bludgeon people everytime a Deseret gets formed after the Utah War....
..and though Idaho has a high mormon population they tend to be more religiously diverse than Utah, though towns of Twin Falls size are usually catholic..
I suspect that rural areas, even in the Uk and continental Europe would do mcuch better than suggested in the book.
Most of the city dwelling hordes will probably die in those cities, about a quarter because they are old and helpless, others from disease, others from killing each other and others because they are too dim to run. Many will try and fight other people for food, but after losing the early "food fights" will basically be helpless as they grow ever weaker.
Natural selection will prevent a vast number of people actually fleeing into the countryside.
Those that do will either find their niche or quickly lose in fights with some still well fed farming communities.
I suspect that you will find that a shockingly large number of city dwellers simply do not have the fitness to walk 50 miles.
Most of the city dwelling hordes will probably die in those cities, about a quarter because they are old and helpless, others from disease, others from killing each other and others because they are too dim to run. Many will try and fight other people for food, but after losing the early "food fights" will basically be helpless as they grow ever weaker.
Natural selection will prevent a vast number of people actually fleeing into the countryside.
Those that do will either find their niche or quickly lose in fights with some still well fed farming communities.
I suspect that you will find that a shockingly large number of city dwellers simply do not have the fitness to walk 50 miles.
Well, I would've been living in Eastern St. Paul around that time so unless my family leaves for our cabin up north, I'm not sure we'd make it.
um....i guess you are sol then...LOL...as i think about where Eau Clair is in relation to the Twin Cities, they may end up having a huge refugee problem...
Thank you, I have been thinking on something like what you've stated for a while now.
Though I think that some of what Mr. Stirling was thinking about was that the city dwellers would move out and devistate the immediate area around them, and then the original folks in that area would move further out, and so forth. And he is probably right to a certain extent. Yes, in the most densly populated areas, there would be "devistation," but in a fair amount of the US (even east of the Mississippi) there are large enough distances between population centers so that there would be less effect on the surrounding countryside. Not no effect but perhaps not as bad as he is stating on this board. (What he has said in the books is fine since that is generally for the characters point of view and includes lots of rumor.) For instance, I think that the SE US would be more populated that he seems to think, but it would probably be in smaller groups and clusters that shown for the Williamette or Iowa. Probably much more of family (and I use the term family very loosely) and extended family groups than the larger "clans" in the West. Most communities would be very small in compairison.
I currently live about 100 yards from a major river. So I won’t have to worry about water (just have to boil it first). I am not far away from a bike store (and I have my own) so I could get transportation. I know I wouldn’t have to travel more then a few hours to get bows and hunting/camping gear. The problem is food. The supplies in stores will run out fast, and I have no idea were the warehouses are. I don’t know how to hunt, but I can fish. So I might travel upstream and fish for my food until I found a place that was defendable. Maybe get some people together and form a sort of clan. Will have to learn how to make swords (but materials will be at hand with all the cars on the road). I will also have to pick up some horses or oxen so I can plow a field. There is a lot of good farming land around here.
Who is willing to join my clan?
Who is willing to join my clan?
joatsimeon@aol.com
Banned
-- well, that would be the least of SoCal's problems. The water would stop coming out of the taps within about an hour...