From: Soren <sorens@workmail.com>
Date: Sat, 5 Dec 1998 23:25:41 +0800
To: cyphers <cypherpunks@cyberpass.net>
Subject: Re: y2k/gary north delusions
In-Reply-To: <199812050047.SAA19462@manifold.algebra.com>
Message-ID: <366958DF.FBF816FC@workmail.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



Michal Hohensee wrote:
> 
> 
> Latrines aren't sufficient to the task.  In a city like NYC, latrines
> might solve the problem for perhaps a week (assuming that we tear up all
> the roads and sidewalks --something which we cannot do in time, even if
> we wanted to), but then they'll be full, and there won't be any more
> places the latrines can be rotated to.


One obvious advantage to living in the penthouse of a highrise.  Of
course, the elevators may not be working. The elevator shaft may make an
effective latrine though.

City people may be up to their eyeballs in sh*t.  This requires the
availability of raw materiel to produce however, which is predicated on
gas pumps working to fuel transportation of foodstuffs into the hive.  I
suppose horses could make a come-back, but then we're back to piles of
sh*t again.

Current waste disposal conventions such as sewers and trash removal
don't actually magically make this stuff disappear.  In NYC it all ends
up in the Atlantic latrine, where it gets picked up by the gulf stream
and ends up being deposited on Florida beaches after a long sea journey.
There are so many plastic bags bearing logos in the sargasso sea, it
looks like it has been sold off to corporate interests for advertizing
purposes.

I went out fishing in this vicinity a few weeks ago and caught 3 sea
birds (released alive) and only one fish.  On thinking it over, it was
obvious why we caught the birds -- there aren't any fish to catch, so
the birds were hungry enough to go for a lure. Colloform counts in the
mid-Atlantic approach that of an unwashed WC.

Its no better on the other coast, in San Francisco there is an annual
paragraph in the Chron, usually buried near the last page, about (yet)
another *accidental* release of 12 million gallons of raw untreated
sewage, into the bay.  Funny how these accidents happen in december
every year.  We really are the society that believes in *out of sight,
out of mind* solutions.

There is an opportunity in this I suppose,  corner the market on
chemical toilets and reverse osmosis water makers in a big city next
year, and you're laughing. Of course your exit strategy should take into
account the possibility of being taken over in the *public good*.

Hong Kong has a good system for dealing with the flush problem.  When
the sewer system was put in (Japanese occupied, WWII period), all
buildings were double plumbed with fresh water for drinking, cooking and
washing, and sea water for flushing.  With the way most city water
tastes now, maybe the existing plumbing could be turned over to
non-potable water distribution for washing + flushing.  Distribution of
drinking water would be as it is in LA today.

That's the fun part, figuring out how it could all be made to work.

Unfortunately it's more likely that the sheeple will cry out for guvmint
intervention to continue the flow of goodies, to which the western world
has become addicted.

IMHO, the military will be brought in to dig the latrines. Hoarders will
be strung up for not redistributing their wealth in approved socialist
style. Rewards will be posted for informing on a neighbor who is (may
be) a hoarder (5% of the take?). Gas will be reclassified as a public
resource for the duration of the emergency. The military will bring in
the K rations, until it becomes obvious that relocating the
citizen-units to resettlement camps on the outskirts is easier to
manage.  Those who control the sources of food production will also be
drafted into this new(er) deal. Anyone left over from this
redistribution, will be classified as a public enemy and fair game.

This is the perfect opportunity for the state to offer more security in
exchange for reduced liberty.

Was it on this list that I saw the posting about the 300 trucks of army
rations a day being stashed in some Oklahoma(?) caves?