Urban Farming

[Legbreaker]

Given combat had only been happening for 7-8 months before nukes were used, would that really be likely on a wide scale?
Also, up until the first nukes were fired, Nato was holding the upper hand and actually winning!

[mikeo80]

Originally Posted by Legbreaker

Given combat had only been happening for 7-8 months before nukes were used, would that really be likely on a wide scale?
Also, up until the first nukes were fired, Nato was holding the upper hand and actually winning!

I agree with Leg. In both v1 and v2.2, NATO had pushed the Soviet armies to the Polish - Soviet border.

I also think that once the first nuke went off, there would be utter panic here in the USA. Absolute chaos as there would be a run on the banks, then the supermarkets, then the gun stores, then the hardware stores, then the gas stations. Or some variation. This might not be the EXACT order...but I think you get my drift.

The highways out of the major cities would shut down after about 15 - 20 minutes of panic exodus. There would have to be martial law almost immediately after the first announcement of the nukes going "BANG".

The riots for food, guns, medicine, etc would probably be about an hour or so after the first BANG. Once the general populace realizes that there is NO way out of the cities, the gloves come off. Civil order would probably colapse with in an hour of the start of the riots as the police, national guard, and etc. would be overwhelmed VERY quickly. I think that the civilian authorities would HAVE to use deadly force just to try and save a few. (Read themselves. IMHO, the average politician has the survival instinct of a rat leaving a sinking ship.)

Against the backdrop of utter insanity, the few of us who prepaired would be doing our best to "get down and stay down". And we would be praying that whatever we had done to get ready for the nightmare is enough.

Enough of my sunshine and pleasant thoughts for today. I will get down off of the soapbox.

My $0.02

Mike

[WallShadow]

Considering the descriptions of the exploding populations of pigeons, rats, and roaches in the depopulated (by humans, that is) city, it is time to examine methods of harvesting these bounties.

First, pigeons.
Canon has it that huge flocks of hundreds, even thousands of pigeons have flocked together and often find nesting areas in the large empty galleries whose windows have been blown out. These flocks are described as darkening the skies when they are startled into flight.
Solution: scout out the roosting places. Construct large strong nets to be suspended over the openings to the roosting areas--fishing line, nylon cording, anything that is nearly invisible but strong. After the nets are quietly rigged and the roost has accumulated a large population, throw in a couple of firecrackers or their homemade equivalent to spook the birds into fleeing their shelter--right into the dropped netting, which captures large numbers of them with minimal damage. At this phase the decision becomes, "How many to eat, how many to smoke/preserve, how many to keep for breeding/eggs, and how many to trade?" The Duke might send mating pairs as gifts to entice independent (but hungry) enclaves into joining him. Oh, yeah--pigeon manure is among the most nutrient-rich manures available. So the the Duke, trying to wring out every calorie from his intensive gardening efforts, will have working crews scraping up and saving every jot and tittle of pigeon poop, then wetting the floors with clean water and sopping up the dissolved nutrients ("pigeon tea") to add to the soil. Imagine the rumors _that_ will generate about the mental state of the Downtown ruler. And don't forget the feathers and down for pillows or insulating clothing or quilts

Next, rats. One of the narrative bits has a chilling encounter with swarming, chittering, squealing masses of rats in a sewer. Another passage describes rats en masse trying to escape a flooding tunnel. Well, if they are so eager to run through small passages and pipes, why not build some diversion ductwork to pipe off a stream of eager-to-escape rats, with the outflow end depositing the rodents into a gnaw-proof container? Think a 3-dimensional fish seine. Again, a push at the far end of things will motivate the rats into fleeing down the wide end of the funnel(s) that will bring them to the harvesters. And the meat isn't the only benefit from the wee beasties-- you get furs, small though they be, and bones, which can be dried and ground up for soil amendments.

Last,Roaches. Even fried in olive oil with garlic, roaches would not be the first choice in protein sources. In fact, they approach infinity minus 1 in numerical order of what I'd choose. (I can just see Jay Leno with a bag of crispy-fried roaches in Nacho Cheese flavor--"Crunch all you want--we'll breed more!") However they ARE full of protein, so why waste them? Just feed them to your pigeons, chickens, rats, or other insectivore food sources.

[Webstral]

Originally Posted by mikeo80

I also think that once the first nuke went off, there would be utter panic here in the USA. Absolute chaos as there would be a run on the banks, then the supermarkets, then the gun stores, then the hardware stores, then the gas stations. Or some variation. This might not be the EXACT order...but I think you get my drift.

Several years ago, I drafted a piece on the effects of the various nuclear scares on the United States. I never finished it for lack of time. Essentially, I looked at the various scares and their effects on public order, etc. I started with the outbreak of the Sino-Soviet War and built from there through every juncture at which nukes might have been used. The most significant of these, which occurs on 09 JUL 97, I call the Alarm. Basically, this is a dress rehearsal for the effects of the Thanksgiving Day Massacre (which we know actually lasts a week or so). [Actually, Howling Wilderness calls this event the Thanksgiving Massacre, not the Thanksgiving Day Massacre.]

The good news about these scares is that they give the forces of law and order a chance to see how things might go in the real event. They also lead to a United States that is somewhat better prepared than Howling Wilderness would have us believe. Some folks are determined to pretend all is well, to be sure. The future Shogun in Nevada is in Las Vegas when the Exchange catches up with CONUS. But the effects of the Alarm in July would be absolutely unavoidable. The first use of nuclear weapons, followed by a general Sino-Soviet exchange, would see an unprecedented breakdown of law and order in the US. Rioting and crime of every description, along with mass flight from the cities and all the horrors entailed by having millions of motorists jammed onto the highways leading out of the major cities, could not help but wake the US out of the most determined torpor. Contingency planning would go into high gear. Even soccer moms might get sensible once they got the idea that their kids really were at risk.

[Targan]

Originally Posted by Webstral

Several years ago, I drafted a piece on the effects of the various nuclear scares on the United States. I never finished it for lack of time.

I'm pretty sure you posted some of that on this forum. It's certainly ringing some bells for me.

[Legbreaker]

The major problem with cockroaches is the MASSIVE amount of bacteria and other nasties they carry about on their exoskeleton. Internally they're fine to eat, but they'd have to be intensively cleaned and treated before they could be considered even partially safe to feed to the starving masses (probably dried and ground down into meal and turned into a sort of porridge first though to hide what it really is).

[mikeo80]

Originally Posted by Targan

I'm pretty sure you posted some of that on this forum. It's certainly ringing some bells for me.

I, for one, would like to read your thoughts. You stated the same ideas that I put down. Although I am sure that your ideas are better stated and logically developed. Mine are thoughts that have developed over the years as I watch and try to learn.

My $0.02

Mike