The Slow Apocalypse (cost of living, population, school, housing)

[TRex2]

Originally Posted by YorktownGal

Our days are numbered.
...
Poland's one request was for Ukrainian not to ship its grain into Poland. Flooding Poland with grain would have lowered Poland's grain prices and bankrupted its farmers. And, Ukraine's Zelensky gave Poland the equivalent of the middle finger and sued Poland. It's never a good idea to bite the hand that feeds you.

Well, that was a mistake on Pres Z's part. He should have negotiated for the grain to travel through Romania and into the Baltics, or something like that. The need for grain is in NE Africa, not Europe.

Originally Posted by terracore

Nikita Khrushchev, Leonid Brezhnev, Konstantin Chernenko, and a bunch of others were all born in what is now considered Ukraine. There are people in Poland who consider some of those Ukrainian refuges and immigrants as ethnic Russians and that they should go back to Russia.

More than half of everyone who was West of the Dnipro River before Jan 2022 is Ethnic Russian, and should be expelled. Especially since the Ethnic Russians have been aiding the invading forces. Any Ethnic Russians found in Poland (and several other countries) should be expelled.

[YorktownGal]

Originally Posted by TRex2

Well, that was a mistake on Pres Z's part. He should have negotiated for the grain to travel through Romania and into the Baltics, or something like that. The need for grain is in NE Africa, not Europe.

More than half of everyone who was West of the Dnipro River before Jan 2022 is Ethnic Russian, and should be expelled. Especially since the Ethnic Russians have been aiding the invading forces. Any Ethnic Russians found in Poland (and several other countries) should be expelled.

I agree! Now if we could only expelled our illegal invaders!

[TRex2]

Originally Posted by YorktownGal

I agree! Now if we could only expelled our illegal invaders!

Had to Rep you on that one.

Careful though, someone will take offense, and the one taking offense probably won't be a legal immigrant from Central America (or their children or grandchildren).

[Tronas]

Originally Posted by TRex2

OK, I guess you have told us all we need to know about yourself.

Now say Bye Bye.

Sit on it.

[stephenMM]

I haven't seen any apocalypse. Is it not on the internet or cable? Nothing outside going on, looks OK to me. It's difficult to prepare for something that there is no indication of happening, and just exactly how does one prepare for an apocalypse? This thread reminds me of the guy in the comics who was always carrying a sign that said "THE END IS NEAR". But there he was every week, carrying that sign. Maybe its just about this:

A local priest and pastor stood by the side of the road holding up a sign that said, "The End is Near! Turn yourself around now before it's too late!"

"Leave us alone, you religious nuts!" yelled the first driver as he sped by. From around the curve they heard a big splash.

"Do you think," said one clergy to the other, "we should just put up a sign that says 'bridge out' instead?"

[TRex2]

Apocalypse is Greek for "revelation."

So, how to prepare would depend on what is revealed

And in this case, it will be revealed, slowly.

[msgsing]

It’s been building for years and at some unpredictable time there will be a flash point when civilization disintegrates. It’s all just a guessing game. All the fuel is there for the collapse. Will we be lucky and exist before the end times? Roll the dice and take your chances.

[TRex2]

Originally Posted by msgsing

It’s been building for years and at some unpredictable time there will be a flash point when civilization disintegrates. It’s all just a guessing game. All the fuel is there for the collapse. Will we be lucky and exist before the end times? Roll the dice and take your chances.

Personally, I think the US will balkanize, even more than it has, then, with a few skirmishes along the way, and a massive debt overload, will undergo massive stagflation (combination of economic slowdown, with high inflation) until it devolves into some kind of pseudo marxist quagmire, where the aristocracy will still live in luxury, but the rest of us will find life harder and harder.

Oh, wait, that is what is already happening. Slowly.

[onenewman]

Originally Posted by roadrat

Rural property is definably a good start, A very good start.
but what about all the other things that go with the modern world? many rural areas are seeing hospitals close, or become severely understaffed, pharmacy's closed or running out of meds.
What happens when you get an infection, or break something and the ER is 60 miles away, with a few hundred people waiting already?
What if the ambulance just doesn't show up after calling them? This is happening already happening in some places.



These are the questions I'm trying to sort out.

Infection you heal it with a spiders web, you set bones with a stick you pick up from your bushes.
The point is you aim at self sufficiency. You cannot rely on hospitals. Last year my friend waited for 18 hours in pain at a Toronto ER. He almost died.

[jetgraphics]

Originally Posted by roadrat

Rural property is definably a good start, A very good start.
but what about all the other things that go with the modern world? many rural areas are seeing hospitals close, or become severely understaffed, pharmacy's closed or running out of meds.
What happens when you get an infection, or break something and the ER is 60 miles away, with a few hundred people waiting already?
What if the ambulance just doesn't show up after calling them? This is happening already happening in some places.
These are the questions I'm trying to sort out.

One remedy is to form a cooperative community, pooling resources to acquire a chunk of "rural property." Upon that property establish / construct a fortified village, utilizing modern techniques to boost autonomy, resilience and disaster resistance.

Within that village, establish businesses, enterprises and vocations that provide needed services, etc, etc.

My favorite design is the dual ring village. Imagine an 1890s urban neighborhood - a line of connected buildings, with businesses on the ground floor, and apartments above. Wrap into a ring. Repeat. Resulting in a central park, an inner ring building, a ring street (main street?), and the outer ring building. Fortify the external wall of the outer ring building, and add a gateway with a water tight door system.

The Chinese Hakka Tulou (in Fujian) used similar principles in their Earthen Fortresses (clan homes).
Their external walls were often plain rammed earth (dirt cheap) 2 meters (6 ft) thick and 3 to 5 stories tall.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fujian_tulou

Another inspiration are the Israeli Kibbutzim, a cooperatively owned community.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kibbutz


DRV

Each dual ring village provides a complex of environments : urban, rural, and agricultural. Every apartment is in close proximity to an expansive park in the courtyard. Rooftop gardens, planters on balconies and the central park are verdant greenspaces. Enterprises and on-site services are conveniently located around the ring, providing access to jobs as well as enhanced delivery modes. Apartments can be linked to an on-site polyclinic providing advanced medical monitoring for inexpensive healthcare (“hospital bed at home”). Physicians can do “rounds” in the round, visiting patients at their homes. Amenities and options can elevate the quality of life for minimal cost in resources, time, and distance.

Apartments can be engineered to minimize nuisances (sight, sound, smell). The village is family friendly, with plenty of space for children to play.

DISASTER RESISTANCE
The curved walls are further braced by partition walls to provide exemplary strength to minimize damage from natural disasters. Each apartment has at most only 2 exposed sides, reducing thermal transfer for greater energy efficiency.

What about :
__ Hurricanes, with storm surge, flying debris;
__ Tornadoes, high wind and flying debris;
__ Flooding, ice dams, rainfall, tsunamis;
__ Mudslides; avalanches
__ Blizzards, snowstorms, with high drifts;
__ Ash fall (from volcanic eruptions);
__ Forest fires, grass fires;
__ Earthquake, meteor shockwave;
__ Vermin, insects, mold, mildew, pests, pestilence;
__ Weather extremes (extreme heat; bitter cold).

[] Flood protection - assuming that the DRV is built with very thick exterior
barrier walls (2 meters), 5 stories high (15 meters) and has a watertight
double gateway. In the event of a flood, each DRV would become an
island of safety... a double island (two rings).
[] Wind protection - barrier walls reduce risk from flying debris. The curved
wall spills wind, too. Trees are protected from high winds, reducing risk from knock down.
[] Vermin protection - by not using wood in construction.
[] Fire protection - non-flammable construction materials reduce risk from fire.
[] Earthquake protection - cylindrical walls are resistant to side forces - and
storm surges.
[] Climate extremes - the DRV reduces the surface area exposed to climate
extremes and maintains comfort with less fuel / energy.

The downside - you can't build it piecemeal. A partial arc of a DRV is useless. You have to have enough charter subscribers to build the whole thing. Expansion is also problematic. Constructing new ring villages is the simplest way to expand. The question is : what is the best spacing and layout for a city made of dual ring villages? 90 degree grid ? Or a hexagonal array ?