Monday, January 11, 2010

Social Collapse Best Practices



Via Roberta X and Joe Huffman I came upon this 90-minute lecture by Dmitry Orlov. It's from last February. The video can be found here. He is a wonderful speaker with a wry sense of humor. He is simultaneously disturbing and hilarious. Examples:

...the government’s actions continue to disappoint. Instead of trying to solve problems, they would rather continue to create boondoggles. The latest one is the idea of subsidizing the sales of new cars. The idea of making cars more efficient by making more efficient cars is sheer folly. I can take any pick-up truck and increase its fuel efficiency one or two thousand percent just by breaking a few laws. First, you pack about a dozen people into the bed, standing shoulder to shoulder like sardines. Second, you drive about 25 mph, down the highway, because going any faster would waste fuel and wouldn’t be safe with so many people in the back. And there you are, per passenger fuel efficiency increased by a factor of 20 or so. I believe the Mexicans have done extensive research in this area, with excellent results.

One final transportation idea: start breeding donkeys. Horses are finicky and expensive, but donkeys can be very cost-effective and make good pack animals. My grandfather had a donkey while he was living in Tashkent in Central Asia during World War II. There was nothing much for the donkey to eat, but, as a member of the Communist Party, my grandfather had a subscription to Pravda, the Communist Party newspaper, and so that’s what the donkey ate. Apparently, donkeys can digest any kind of cellulose, even when it’s loaded with communist propaganda. If I had a donkey, I would feed it the Wall Street Journal.

Right now the Washington economic stimulus team is putting on their Scuba gear and diving down to the engine room to try to invent a way to get a diesel engine to run on seawater. They spoke of change, but in reality they are terrified of change and want to cling with all their might to the status quo. But this game will soon be over, and they don’t have any idea what to do next.

Black humor has always been one of Russia’s main psychological coping mechanisms. A man walks into a food store, goes to the meat counter, and he sees that it is completely empty. So he asks the butcher: “Don’t you have any fish?” And the butcher answers: “No, here is where we don’t have any meat. Fish is what they don’t have over at the seafood counter.”

For communications after the collapse, he recommends Fido-Net, an email system using ham radios and relatively rudimentary computers.

Orlov also has a blog.

9 comments:

Crucis said...

The old Ham packet system is mostly defunct in many areas. The internet killed it. There used to be a number of on-air BBS and other mail forwarding systems but few now exist.

That said, I still have my MFJ packet controller. I could be on the air in about 30 minutes HF and VHF if necessary.

Turk Turon said...

I still have my old interface, too. That, a transceiver and an old PC, and I'm good to go.

Old NFO said...

Actually Hams are making a comeback... That 'may' be our best guess...

Crucis said...

Although the FCC prohibits its use, PGP works over packet too.

Turk Turon said...

Although, if it ever becomes necessary to use PGP, there probably won't be an FCC to worry about.

drjim said...

Still have my Kantronics KPC3+. My Kenwood TM-D710 with keyboard adapter can do direct messaging without needing a PC. My two 100 Watt solar panels and deep cycle SLA batteries should be able to keep me on the air for quite some time.

Turk Turon said...

Dr. Jim, you are WAY ahead of me! I do have plenty of 12-volt batteries for the FT-857, and a single 40-watt "backpacker's" solar panel. Works, too! I tested it on a camping trip and found that the battery voltage was increasing during the QSO, as the panel charged the battery.

drjim said...

Well, the VHF/UHF stuff is for local comms. I also have an Elecraft K2 and Buddipole for HF operation. I just finished building the 100 Watt amp for the K2, as the 10~15 Watts the K2 puts out just doesn't cut it sometimes. I probably won't run it at the full 100 Watts when I use it, but having the capability to go from 10 Watts to 75 or so under bad band conditions can really help. The Optima deep cycle SLA batteries are in marine battery boxes, and have a solar charge regulator and "RigRunner" power panel attached to the side of each. I can load up the car, get to where I have to go, and be on the air 15 minutes after I get there.
Or just hang out in the back yard on a nice day and get practice setting things up, and keeping the batteries charged.

Crucis said...

I'm usually on HF using digital modes with my Kenwood TS-570. I run it at about 40watts and it stay cool at that level. I used to have a kilowatt amp but got rid of it. I was tired of the lights dimming every time I keyed the '570.

Nothing wrong with car batteries. I have a solar powered recharger in the garage left over from when I was in ARES.

What ever method works.