Pig Feces?
Friday, December 14, 2012 at 3:00AM I think a lot of people are convinced our future is like a movie script from the Mad Max series.
Wikipedia describes Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome:
The film opens as Max (Mel Gibson) is riding a camel-drawn wagon across the Australian desert when he is attacked by a pilot flying a Transavia PL-12 Airtruk, who steals his belongings and vehicle. Max continues on foot and stumbles upon the only nearby human outpost in the wasteland—the seedy community of Bartertown, founded and run by the ruthless Aunty Entity (Tina Turner). In Bartertown, electricity, vehicles, functioning technology are made possible by a crude methane refinery, fueled by pigs' feces.
Or maybe it is the Panic in the Year Zero movie they have in mind. Also from Wikipedia:
Soon after Harry Baldwin (Ray Milland), his wife Ann (Jean Hagen), their son Rick (Frankie Avalon), and daughter Karen (Mary Mitchell) leave suburban Los Angeles on a camping trip, the Baldwins note unusually bright light flashes coming from a great distance. Sporadic news reports on CONELRAD broadcasts hint at the start of a World War - which is confirmed as the Baldwins see a large mushroom cloud over what was Los Angeles. The family initially attempts to return to rescue Ann's mother near Los Angeles, but soon abandons these plans as panicked refugees from Los Angeles climb over one another to escape the fallout from the multiple nuclear explosions. Witnessing the very threads of society breaking down in front of them, Harry makes the decision that the family must make it to their secluded vacation spot in search of an isolated refuge. Along the way, they stop off to buy supplies — or, in the case of hardware store owner Ed Johnson (Richard Garland), take them by force when he won't accept a check — and extra gasoline. They also encounter three threatening young hoodlums, Carl (Richard Bakalyan), Mickey (Rex Holman), and Andy (Neil Nephew), on the road, but manage to drive them off.
You may remember Ray Milland from the campy cult classic The Man with the X-Ray Eyes. At the end of that movie Ray ripped out his eyes because he saw a great evil light years away. After reading a lot of these apocalyptic types and their "financial" newsletters, I can sympathize with the Milland character. I do not want to see anymore. Do not misunderstand, these kinds of scenarios are not impossible. The destruction of Atlanta by Sherman in 1865, or the announcement by the governor general of New Orleans in that same year that rapists would not be punished, are examples of deep troubles right here is America. Yes it can happen here. But how can one prepare for this possibility? If a good man like the Ray Milland character in Year Zero is willing to steal from the hardware store owner to help his family, how much worse would the three hoodlums from that movie act? As a hardware store owner, I do not approve of the stealing shown in the movie.
Why did I move from relatively "safe" Missouri to near Los Angeles? If things get that bad it is not going to matter where you live. There is no place in Missouri that is not one gas tank away from large cities with millions of potential Ray Millands. While you might fight off the first attackers, what about the second, the third, and so on. If there is a trouble you cannot plan for, do not plan for it. If things are going to get that bad, you need to immigrate. (And there are financial newsletters advocating that too.)
Here in California I am a part of a small community in the mountains. I have a small business my family has owned since the 60's. I am becoming a part of the community. We sponsor a local baseball and volleyball team. If the troubling times I am expecting to occur happen, there are few better places for me and my family.
But will armed citizens break in and loot my hardware store? Will we power our vehicles with pig feces? I do not think so.
Survival 
Reader Comments (2)
Have you got a community militia for mutual defense? Because I think the National Guard will be busy elsewhere if the SHTF.
Iowans are really super-nice people. I'm sure they would say "thank you very much" after they looted your hardware store.
No, but I know all the appropriate rednecks. Really a modest disruption we all could handle. A big one is not.