Comment Re:its not fracking or the market, its superfund. (Score 1) 270
I'm surprised there are so many people who modded up a fundamentally wrong post.
Which website did you think this was?
I'm surprised there are so many people who modded up a fundamentally wrong post.
Which website did you think this was?
As crazy and wrong as this guy is, his claim isn't completely out of left field.
Wrong. His claim is completely out of left field because he just made this shit up. It's not without precedent, but that is a very different thing, not least because the assertion is that all automobiles will damage all ovaries.
We can already make Butanol, a 1:1 replacement for gasoline, via the ABE process. The feedstock is any organic material. But we can't actually buy any, because Gevo and Butamax (a holding company owned by BP and Dupont) are fighting over the patents — which should have failed the test for obviousness.
Why would this process wind up any different?
I like the idea, but the only batteries that have seriously long lives also are heavy and have slow charge/discharge. I don't think you could get very good performance out of a rig like that. It might be a nifty use of a microbus, though you'd have to upgrade the suspension and tires.
Although the Unimog is a nice utility vehicle you would want an older one with fully mechanical fuel injection and plenty of spare parts such as brake components, suspension parts and driveline parts if you are in North America.
You're going to want all of that for any vehicle anyway. After a few years of sitting in junkyards or on the side of the road, most of that is useless anyway due to rusting. And yeah, I'm not talking about fancy pants new 'mogs, I'm talking about classics like the 404.
If you really want bulletproof get an old Dodge Ram diesel. The older 6BT series Cummins had fully mechanical injection which means even if the battery is dead and the alternator doesn't work, the engine will still happily keep running. Mechanical injection also means if you have a dead battery you can pull or push start the engine.
Ah, but only the (IIRC) 1994-1998 (might be off a year on one or both ends) has a decent injection pump with one pump per cylinder. That's another advantage of the particular bosch jetronic system used on the OM617; it's not unique but it is unusual because it makes for an expensive injection pump and expensive rebuilds. The OM617 has only five cylinders, so it was less additional expense. If you've got an IP with two pumps and a rotor that's more or less three cylinders already, why not get rid of that rotor and add a couple more pumps?
IPs with less than one pump per cylinder wear out faster. And in particular, the diesel chevys and early diesel fords use the Stanadyne DB-2, which is crap. Pretty much guaranteed to go out around 200k on modern fuel, probably faster on WMO or WVO.
Manual vs automatic transmission is debatable depending on the engine fuel type and years made.
Not really. I like driving automatics just fine, but they are more prone to failure, period the end. In particular, they will not work in the event of complete electrical failure, which again is a non-negotiable point. Even if you have a gasser, you still want to be able to bump start for those times when your battery won't run the starter but will run the ignition.
If you are looking for an apocalypse ready vehicle you are better off building your own.
At least with a 'mog you have a chance of locating a donor vehicle.
Everything sold today is so full of electronic junk and emissions systems that they are unreliable without a tow truck and garage on hand.
And that's why the proper vehicle is something very old. I've fantasized about putting my OM617 into an old F100 and putting a duramax or TDI into my 300SD. Then I could get rid of my F250 with its ridiculous 7.3. I just don't need this much engine, though it's fun to be able to pass the land rover that's been fucking with me uphill on the right while hauling a load of firewood, it's not necessary.
OK, who gave Chevrolet modpoints?
no that's bullshit, in the 'enlightened society' everybody is a mindless drone
You're a mindless drone. All you've done is utilize pieces of other people's comments.
the gpl is proof of this,
Oh, this is an anti-GPL rant. I was wondering.
if it were a fully free license people would be able to do whatever they like with it
If you were smarter you would know that this is about freedom for users from tyranny of developers, not for developers to extend tyranny.
but because they know that different people have different viewpoints on such matters and that not everybody feels the same way they know they needed to make it a restrictive license
The GPL is the opposite of a restrictive license. It is a forcibly open license. Default copyright is a restrictive license. The GPL uses copyright to fight copyright.
until such time as everybody thinks alike and nobody would dare to think otherwise
Until nobody is dumb enough to think otherwise, actually. Because the people who think a license which permits abuse increases freedom are dumb.
you cannot give absolute freedom until everybody turns into an unthinking stupid drone without differences of opinion.
That's not freedom. And nobody is forcing you to use the GPL. You can write the software yourself. Oh, you can't? And you're just upset that you can't go against the wishes of the people who can? Nobody cares. Stop crying.
We are also talking about boats with a useful drug carrying capacity.
If they're cheap, then each one doesn't have to hold much. You clearly have no idea what these economies look like.
Ford tried some cars with Capstone turbines in 'em, but I haven't heard anything about that in a while. Problem is, turbine engines are delicate and finicky, not the kind of thing you want to be relying upon in the post-apocalypse.
I live in California, so I am more concerned with a major earthquake than zombies. I am also concerned about a major contagious disease outbreak, or a weather anomaly that causes major crop failures (this happened in 535-536, 1315-1317, and in 1815). So I have about a year's worth of food for my family, basic tools and survival equipment, and (since I am an American) an assault rifle.
I live in California as well, so I only have a battle rifle. (No, really; it's a sporterized, meaning scope-and-red-dot-added, peruvian mauser.) Is your rifle grandfathered, or are you using hyperbole and describing a semi-automatic weapon as an assault rifle?
I'm with you on all of this other stuff, though. Of course, by posting about food stockpiles online, you've guaranteed that the government knows whose door to knock on when the SHTF.
Don't forget backup water filters. I have lifestraws and katadyns... California's water is going to shit like everyone else's.
A better way to be prepared would be to own and be able to ride a horse.
Sadly, the truth is that you'd need to own several horses, and you'd also need grazing land for them. Most of the objections have been made already in this thread but the remedy hasn't even been discussed. It all highlights the fact that barring massive amounts of capital to work with, the only reasonable defense against zombies is a defense in depth involving an entire community. In a full community model, a stable makes sense.
The problem with the Unimog is that any non paraplegic zombie can outrun one and, if something does break, you'll never find the parts. It's basically a tractor with four wheels.
A 'mog with fast axles will do 55 or maybe even 60. That's faster than you are going to want to do over broken terrain. You're right about parts availability. A more logical choice might be a F150 or the chevy equivalent (K1500? not sure what it's called, last I cared Chevys had names like C-10) with the OM617 swapped in. You can get them from cars as cheap as $1500 but you'll probably need to rebuild those. You can get a kit to mate them to a five speed, nv2500? nv3500? I forget what the number was. Then you'll need a divorced transfer case, and to mate it all up. And if any of the specialized parts go, you're screwed. But you're going to want a diesel.
In theory you could use a points system, and just keep spare coils and points. Then you could run a gasser. But you're still going to run into those fuel problems I mentioned. You can run the OM617 on pure veg oil with the right goodies. Tricky to do it without electrical, but I figure that's part of the requirements. You can get a diesel-fired coolant heater...
Unless it's got a fully manual transmission and an engine that can run on when the electrical system goes away, it's crap. And guess what? This vehicle has neither. It's got a six-speed automatic and it's got a gasoline engine with full electronic control. Gasoline spoils rapidly and it's nontrivial to make more. Not impossible — you can use the ABE process, which is not exactly a new thing, to make Butanol. That's a 1:1 replacement.
If you would like an actual apocalypsemobile, that's a Unimog (to get the seating capacity of this Silverado, a Doka) with an OM617.951 upgrade. It will cost you a pretty penny for a nice one with amenities like a heater, but it will go places that would make the Silverado weep and you can get one with hydraulics which can be used to run a winch that you would be hard-pressed to damage without ripping it out of the front of the truck. It will also continue running in the event of complete electrical failure, including your hydraulic winch.
Anything against freedom is temporary at best because it is the natural state of the living to seek it.
Thus, a society must be created with maximum freedom. This can only be done by creating a more involved, intelligent, and educated citizen.
Such a person is very difficult to control, which is why once someone becomes a Power that Is, they tend to try to keep people uninvolved, stupid, and ignorant.
The police have been doing with people who have been arrested. The NSA is doing it on everyone.
The police have been doing it with people who have been arrested and their known associates. Without breaking the law they can use any legal means to gather information on anyone (same as the rest of us) and then possibly get a warrant on the strength of this information and their known association to a known criminal, or to a suspect in a criminal investigation.
No directory.
