1 00:00:04,680 --> 00:00:15,000 Speaker 1: Technology text from dot com You welcome to text to 2 00:00:15,080 --> 00:00:17,400 Speaker 1: buy job in Strickland. And with me once again is 3 00:00:17,760 --> 00:00:21,439 Speaker 1: Joe McCormick. Hello everyone, Joe, you and I have had 4 00:00:22,000 --> 00:00:26,960 Speaker 1: a loue long conversation about the post apocalyptic state of 5 00:00:27,000 --> 00:00:30,600 Speaker 1: affairs and how that deals with technology. So long in fact, 6 00:00:30,720 --> 00:00:33,800 Speaker 1: that we suddenly discovered we've been walking through the desert 7 00:00:33,840 --> 00:00:37,280 Speaker 1: looking for gasoline for five hours and that horse still 8 00:00:37,320 --> 00:00:40,559 Speaker 1: has no name. So we want to go back to 9 00:00:40,600 --> 00:00:43,680 Speaker 1: where we left off with our post apocalyptic discussion. We 10 00:00:43,720 --> 00:00:46,600 Speaker 1: will conclude this episode with our talk of our favorite 11 00:00:46,600 --> 00:00:53,400 Speaker 1: post apocalyptic stories and settings, So enjoy. Okay, let's talk 12 00:00:53,400 --> 00:00:56,280 Speaker 1: about our nuclear facilities, because I know I have at 13 00:00:56,360 --> 00:01:00,520 Speaker 1: least heard or read that, like a nuke, your reactor 14 00:01:00,560 --> 00:01:03,440 Speaker 1: goes for a long time without needing refuel. Yeah, like 15 00:01:03,480 --> 00:01:05,600 Speaker 1: more than a year. Yeah. So, I mean, you've got 16 00:01:05,600 --> 00:01:08,240 Speaker 1: those rods in there, they're doing their things. You don't 17 00:01:08,240 --> 00:01:10,760 Speaker 1: need to replace them. But like the other plants, this 18 00:01:10,840 --> 00:01:14,880 Speaker 1: might just be an issue of maintenance and monitoring. Yeah. Um. 19 00:01:15,680 --> 00:01:18,800 Speaker 1: The I was reading the reports from or really the 20 00:01:18,920 --> 00:01:22,039 Speaker 1: estimations from someone who had worked in power plants, and 21 00:01:22,080 --> 00:01:25,880 Speaker 1: they had talked to various power plant engineers of different 22 00:01:25,880 --> 00:01:30,080 Speaker 1: types of plants to get their estimations. And when they said, 23 00:01:30,200 --> 00:01:32,520 Speaker 1: when I talk to the nuclear guys, they said, are 24 00:01:32,560 --> 00:01:35,640 Speaker 1: you crazy, because it was like, look, I'm just trying 25 00:01:35,680 --> 00:01:39,240 Speaker 1: to answer a question about zombie outbreaks. I'm not crazy. 26 00:01:40,080 --> 00:01:43,479 Speaker 1: And they said, well, maybe if everything went well, if 27 00:01:43,480 --> 00:01:46,960 Speaker 1: there were none of these little same thing, like, if 28 00:01:46,959 --> 00:01:48,720 Speaker 1: there were none of these alerts that pop up that 29 00:01:48,760 --> 00:01:52,800 Speaker 1: would necessitate a shutdown, you might go as long as 30 00:01:52,840 --> 00:01:55,480 Speaker 1: a week. And they're they're just looking at the probability 31 00:01:55,600 --> 00:01:58,160 Speaker 1: of one of these smaller events that would lead to 32 00:01:58,160 --> 00:02:01,920 Speaker 1: an automatic shutdown occurring. I said, you know, if a 33 00:02:02,000 --> 00:02:04,840 Speaker 1: human is there to deal with whatever the issue is, 34 00:02:05,320 --> 00:02:08,040 Speaker 1: you could go for more than a year without having 35 00:02:08,040 --> 00:02:11,120 Speaker 1: to worry about refueling. And after that it would be 36 00:02:11,240 --> 00:02:14,360 Speaker 1: tricky depending upon how many people are around, because it 37 00:02:14,400 --> 00:02:17,160 Speaker 1: requires a lot of special equipment to refuel a nuclear 38 00:02:17,200 --> 00:02:20,320 Speaker 1: power plant. But up to that point, you could supply 39 00:02:20,360 --> 00:02:21,959 Speaker 1: power for a year. But if there's no one there 40 00:02:21,960 --> 00:02:25,880 Speaker 1: to monitor it, probably maybe a week would be about 41 00:02:25,919 --> 00:02:28,880 Speaker 1: as long as you could expect before something leads to 42 00:02:28,919 --> 00:02:33,000 Speaker 1: an automatic shutdown. So the best one so far, But 43 00:02:33,080 --> 00:02:37,839 Speaker 1: then we have the the best one of all if 44 00:02:37,880 --> 00:02:42,760 Speaker 1: you are getting your power from a hydroelectric plant, assuming 45 00:02:42,800 --> 00:02:45,960 Speaker 1: nothing's gone wrong with the dam, then you are in 46 00:02:46,120 --> 00:02:51,320 Speaker 1: great shape. Fuel. Yeah, your your energy is coming from 47 00:02:51,520 --> 00:02:54,760 Speaker 1: water flowing through those turbines. As long as nothing mechanical 48 00:02:54,840 --> 00:02:58,000 Speaker 1: is going wrong with that, you could probably get power 49 00:02:58,120 --> 00:03:02,760 Speaker 1: for weeks or maybe even a month without any interruption. Yeah. Now, 50 00:03:02,800 --> 00:03:06,400 Speaker 1: when would you have to have major maintenance intervention? I 51 00:03:06,400 --> 00:03:08,919 Speaker 1: guess it would maybe if the if the water flow 52 00:03:09,040 --> 00:03:11,360 Speaker 1: changed dramatically, if there was flooding and you needed to 53 00:03:11,480 --> 00:03:13,959 Speaker 1: change the levels of the floodgates or something. There could 54 00:03:13,960 --> 00:03:16,040 Speaker 1: be that, or it could even be through the transmission 55 00:03:16,280 --> 00:03:19,400 Speaker 1: of power, not even the generation, but just the transmission lines. 56 00:03:19,480 --> 00:03:22,200 Speaker 1: Like there are a lot of different parts that are 57 00:03:22,240 --> 00:03:25,200 Speaker 1: that are involved in this and many different power plants. 58 00:03:25,240 --> 00:03:28,200 Speaker 1: Like typically they would have engineers come in and step 59 00:03:28,280 --> 00:03:30,480 Speaker 1: up or step down the amount of power being put 60 00:03:30,520 --> 00:03:34,440 Speaker 1: out due to demand, Like the grid typically is making 61 00:03:34,680 --> 00:03:38,120 Speaker 1: just as much electricity as the demand warrants, Like it's 62 00:03:38,960 --> 00:03:41,120 Speaker 1: that's it, like as much as we need, that's what 63 00:03:41,160 --> 00:03:43,920 Speaker 1: the power grid is providing. In this situation, you no 64 00:03:43,960 --> 00:03:46,720 Speaker 1: longer have someone there to make sure that that's what's happening. 65 00:03:46,800 --> 00:03:51,040 Speaker 1: So so problems could result ultimately from that. You know, 66 00:03:51,080 --> 00:03:55,000 Speaker 1: there are actually a couple of different post apocalyptic movies 67 00:03:55,040 --> 00:03:58,160 Speaker 1: and fictional scenarios I can think of where the main 68 00:03:58,400 --> 00:04:02,000 Speaker 1: goal certain characters had was getting hydroelectric plants back up 69 00:04:02,000 --> 00:04:04,920 Speaker 1: and running. Yeah, I'm not surprised. I mean that to 70 00:04:05,000 --> 00:04:08,800 Speaker 1: me would be well again, it's it's the one where 71 00:04:08,880 --> 00:04:10,960 Speaker 1: as long as you have the mechanical knowledge of how 72 00:04:11,000 --> 00:04:14,760 Speaker 1: to do repairs and maintenance on the system, and uh 73 00:04:15,000 --> 00:04:19,400 Speaker 1: just general knowledge of how the transmission system works, it's 74 00:04:19,440 --> 00:04:22,680 Speaker 1: the most reliable, right, Like it's it's more reliable than 75 00:04:22,720 --> 00:04:25,320 Speaker 1: solar or wind because the water is always going to 76 00:04:25,360 --> 00:04:31,640 Speaker 1: flow unless something really major changes the nature of the area, 77 00:04:32,000 --> 00:04:34,360 Speaker 1: in which case you probably have more things to worry 78 00:04:34,360 --> 00:04:38,920 Speaker 1: about than your electricity. Um uh. But otherwise, yeah, I 79 00:04:38,920 --> 00:04:41,880 Speaker 1: would imagine that would be a top priority. It's the 80 00:04:41,960 --> 00:04:44,200 Speaker 1: simplest of all the things because you think of things 81 00:04:44,200 --> 00:04:47,479 Speaker 1: like coal. You have to mind the coal. So even 82 00:04:47,520 --> 00:04:50,279 Speaker 1: if you even if you had people to keep moving 83 00:04:50,279 --> 00:04:54,440 Speaker 1: coal into the the power plant, most coal firing plants 84 00:04:54,440 --> 00:04:57,760 Speaker 1: have enough coal on hand for sixty to seventy days 85 00:04:57,920 --> 00:05:01,080 Speaker 1: of power. So after that sixty seventy days, even if 86 00:05:01,080 --> 00:05:03,920 Speaker 1: you had the people there to look after it. You 87 00:05:03,920 --> 00:05:05,839 Speaker 1: would have to then go and mind more coal. You 88 00:05:05,880 --> 00:05:07,400 Speaker 1: have to get your hands on more coal to keep 89 00:05:07,440 --> 00:05:10,080 Speaker 1: the coal plant going. So hydro electric makes way more 90 00:05:10,120 --> 00:05:12,479 Speaker 1: sense in that case. Yeah, I just trying to think 91 00:05:12,520 --> 00:05:16,800 Speaker 1: what different types of alternative or imagined power plants would 92 00:05:16,800 --> 00:05:20,000 Speaker 1: be the most resilient to Earth disasters, you know, whether 93 00:05:20,040 --> 00:05:26,359 Speaker 1: it's zombies, nuclear bombs, nuclear zombies, asteroid impact, cyber attacks. 94 00:05:27,520 --> 00:05:29,880 Speaker 1: And the one idea I came up with it was 95 00:05:29,920 --> 00:05:33,640 Speaker 1: most interesting to me at least, though perhaps wrong, is 96 00:05:34,040 --> 00:05:38,920 Speaker 1: orbital solar all right, so let me take a guess 97 00:05:39,160 --> 00:05:41,839 Speaker 1: what you mean. And I'm literally guessing because I have 98 00:05:41,960 --> 00:05:44,159 Speaker 1: not I have not looked at these parts of the notes. 99 00:05:44,279 --> 00:05:46,440 Speaker 1: You added this while I was recording a different episode. 100 00:05:47,240 --> 00:05:54,040 Speaker 1: So this would be a network of solar power capturing 101 00:05:54,440 --> 00:05:58,160 Speaker 1: satellites that would then use a means like a microwave 102 00:05:58,200 --> 00:06:01,760 Speaker 1: beam to beam energy down to the surface of the planet, 103 00:06:01,760 --> 00:06:04,160 Speaker 1: which then would be distributed through a power grid. That's 104 00:06:04,200 --> 00:06:07,960 Speaker 1: exactly right. So you you've got solar farms, except you're 105 00:06:08,040 --> 00:06:11,320 Speaker 1: moving the solar farm itself from the surface of the 106 00:06:11,360 --> 00:06:14,920 Speaker 1: Earth to orbit, and that has some pretty obvious advantages. 107 00:06:14,960 --> 00:06:17,520 Speaker 1: I mean Number one, you're not dealing with cloud cover 108 00:06:17,800 --> 00:06:22,359 Speaker 1: intercepting that that precious solar energy you need. The receivers 109 00:06:22,360 --> 00:06:25,240 Speaker 1: are out there in space, so they're always getting sunlight. Also, 110 00:06:25,360 --> 00:06:29,839 Speaker 1: you don't have night time because at geosynchronous orbit, these 111 00:06:29,880 --> 00:06:32,800 Speaker 1: things will almost never be blocked from the Sun. They 112 00:06:32,880 --> 00:06:34,840 Speaker 1: might pass, you know, in the shadow of the Earth 113 00:06:34,839 --> 00:06:38,000 Speaker 1: in very rare cases, they don't spend much time in it. 114 00:06:39,000 --> 00:06:42,560 Speaker 1: So these are giant solar panels in space that can 115 00:06:42,600 --> 00:06:46,479 Speaker 1: receive almost uninterrupted sunlight. They convert the sunlight into d 116 00:06:46,560 --> 00:06:50,040 Speaker 1: C electricity, which would then be converted into some type 117 00:06:50,080 --> 00:06:53,360 Speaker 1: of radiation that could be sent via a targeted beam 118 00:06:53,480 --> 00:06:56,719 Speaker 1: down to receiving stations on Earth. And the two major 119 00:06:56,800 --> 00:07:01,240 Speaker 1: candidates for the beam radiation are lasers and microwaves, and 120 00:07:01,360 --> 00:07:05,080 Speaker 1: microwaves are really where it's at today, So these solar 121 00:07:05,080 --> 00:07:10,000 Speaker 1: power satellites are usually sps s in the industry. LINGO 122 00:07:10,960 --> 00:07:14,400 Speaker 1: would be a really daunting project to create because they 123 00:07:14,440 --> 00:07:17,600 Speaker 1: have to be absolutely huge and you need a bunch 124 00:07:17,640 --> 00:07:21,480 Speaker 1: of them to really cut into Earth's energy demands. And 125 00:07:21,520 --> 00:07:25,200 Speaker 1: there was a former Department of Energy NASA joint research 126 00:07:25,200 --> 00:07:28,200 Speaker 1: project from the nineteen seventies that envisioned a fleet of 127 00:07:28,320 --> 00:07:34,000 Speaker 1: sixty satellites, each one about fifty five square kilometers in 128 00:07:34,280 --> 00:07:40,360 Speaker 1: photovoltaic surface area uh together all generating about three hundred 129 00:07:40,360 --> 00:07:45,320 Speaker 1: gigawatts of electricity okay um. So then of course there's 130 00:07:45,320 --> 00:07:48,800 Speaker 1: the question of the wireless energy transmission, which has been 131 00:07:48,800 --> 00:07:52,000 Speaker 1: a problem historically, but we're getting better at. In fact, 132 00:07:52,200 --> 00:07:54,400 Speaker 1: just in the past few years there have been some 133 00:07:54,440 --> 00:07:58,160 Speaker 1: projects that are that are making strides in this. In fact, 134 00:07:58,200 --> 00:08:00,440 Speaker 1: I just read an interesting article in the I tri 135 00:08:00,520 --> 00:08:04,160 Speaker 1: Police Spectrum from last year about Jackson that the Japanese 136 00:08:04,200 --> 00:08:09,080 Speaker 1: Space Agency's plans two possibly look into creating an orbital 137 00:08:09,080 --> 00:08:12,400 Speaker 1: solar farm, and they're doing preliminary research on that, like 138 00:08:12,520 --> 00:08:16,840 Speaker 1: on these wireless energy transmissions, and so these days it 139 00:08:16,840 --> 00:08:18,920 Speaker 1: looks like most of the people who are still interested 140 00:08:18,960 --> 00:08:23,480 Speaker 1: in sps are talking about microwaves rather than lasers. And 141 00:08:23,600 --> 00:08:27,120 Speaker 1: so this would be a microwave frequency transmission from the 142 00:08:27,160 --> 00:08:29,920 Speaker 1: satellites to the Earth, and then the receivers on the 143 00:08:29,920 --> 00:08:33,079 Speaker 1: Earth would be what things that are called rectifying antennas, 144 00:08:33,760 --> 00:08:36,840 Speaker 1: their antennas that receive the microwaves and then convert them 145 00:08:36,880 --> 00:08:41,439 Speaker 1: into electricity. The microwaves are generally considered better than lasers 146 00:08:41,480 --> 00:08:45,120 Speaker 1: for beaming the energy to Earth because lasers in the 147 00:08:45,320 --> 00:08:48,640 Speaker 1: visible spectrum or wherever they would be, are more likely 148 00:08:48,679 --> 00:08:53,240 Speaker 1: to be intercepted by cloudcover, and the microwaves are much 149 00:08:53,240 --> 00:08:57,320 Speaker 1: more resilient to penetrating the atmosphere. Apparently low frequency microwaves, 150 00:08:57,320 --> 00:09:01,520 Speaker 1: so the really long wavelengths are the best at penetrating 151 00:09:01,520 --> 00:09:03,920 Speaker 1: the atmosphere. They're they're much better, but they of course 152 00:09:03,920 --> 00:09:07,760 Speaker 1: come with the problem that you need really big antenna's. Yeah, 153 00:09:07,760 --> 00:09:12,080 Speaker 1: your antenna's size is uh is reliant upon the length 154 00:09:12,120 --> 00:09:14,760 Speaker 1: of the wave, the wavelength of whatever you're trying to 155 00:09:14,800 --> 00:09:19,440 Speaker 1: pick up. So I couldn't exactly figure out how well 156 00:09:19,559 --> 00:09:23,280 Speaker 1: the space based you know, life root of the microwave 157 00:09:23,360 --> 00:09:26,920 Speaker 1: beam would survive cloud cover that was based on particulate 158 00:09:27,000 --> 00:09:30,000 Speaker 1: matter instead of water vapor, because I was trying to imagine, Okay, 159 00:09:30,040 --> 00:09:34,000 Speaker 1: let's say there's an asteroid impact, supervolcano eruption, or nuclear 160 00:09:34,000 --> 00:09:36,720 Speaker 1: bombs create nuclear winter, whatever it is that puts ash 161 00:09:36,880 --> 00:09:40,199 Speaker 1: dust particles into the atmosphere and blocks the sun. Would 162 00:09:40,200 --> 00:09:44,040 Speaker 1: the microwaves from space be able to penetrate that any 163 00:09:44,120 --> 00:09:47,440 Speaker 1: better than the sunlight itself would just get to you know, 164 00:09:47,480 --> 00:09:50,520 Speaker 1: solar panels on your roof or in the desert, and 165 00:09:50,679 --> 00:09:52,920 Speaker 1: I don't know the answer to that. Yeah, that's one 166 00:09:52,920 --> 00:09:54,360 Speaker 1: of those things that probably doesn't come up in a 167 00:09:54,400 --> 00:09:56,840 Speaker 1: lot of the white papers on the subject. So in 168 00:09:56,880 --> 00:09:59,800 Speaker 1: the case of nuclear winter, this would still provide power. 169 00:10:01,160 --> 00:10:04,120 Speaker 1: So yeah, that's just one interesting possibility of sort of 170 00:10:04,160 --> 00:10:09,800 Speaker 1: like outsourcing our our energy production needs away from the 171 00:10:09,880 --> 00:10:13,360 Speaker 1: ground in places where an earth based catastrophe might not 172 00:10:13,440 --> 00:10:16,960 Speaker 1: touch them. Though they're like I said, some scenarios that 173 00:10:17,120 --> 00:10:20,559 Speaker 1: might interrupt power from those sources or might not. It's 174 00:10:20,600 --> 00:10:22,959 Speaker 1: hard to tell. I mean, again, it all depends upon 175 00:10:23,000 --> 00:10:25,200 Speaker 1: the nature of the disaster, right, And of course you 176 00:10:25,240 --> 00:10:28,080 Speaker 1: can still imagine that some kind of space weather event 177 00:10:28,160 --> 00:10:31,559 Speaker 1: could could very well fry those satellites. Sure, yeah, solar 178 00:10:31,600 --> 00:10:35,720 Speaker 1: flare might might end up disrupting that, or it could 179 00:10:35,760 --> 00:10:40,600 Speaker 1: be something on the ground ends up frying the transmission infrastructure, 180 00:10:40,640 --> 00:10:44,040 Speaker 1: not not necessarily the receiving antenna, but just the means 181 00:10:44,160 --> 00:10:48,640 Speaker 1: of getting electricity from the receiver site to the places 182 00:10:48,640 --> 00:10:51,280 Speaker 1: where it's needed. If that's fried, then you know, you 183 00:10:51,280 --> 00:10:53,400 Speaker 1: could still be generating electricity, but you can't get it 184 00:10:53,440 --> 00:10:54,840 Speaker 1: to where it needs to go. In other words, if 185 00:10:54,880 --> 00:10:57,520 Speaker 1: the power lines themselves are damaged as a result of 186 00:10:58,040 --> 00:11:01,400 Speaker 1: whatever the catastrophe was. Then you're really you're still stuck. 187 00:11:02,000 --> 00:11:03,800 Speaker 1: And and some of the things that would come out 188 00:11:03,800 --> 00:11:06,120 Speaker 1: of this, I mean they're really pretty grim, like even 189 00:11:06,200 --> 00:11:09,040 Speaker 1: the immediate effects. And this is the people who have 190 00:11:09,120 --> 00:11:13,520 Speaker 1: gone through blackouts, Uh can talk about the these There 191 00:11:13,600 --> 00:11:16,400 Speaker 1: was a big one in UM two thousand three that 192 00:11:16,559 --> 00:11:19,880 Speaker 1: had people trapped on subways, had people trapped in elevators. 193 00:11:20,280 --> 00:11:22,840 Speaker 1: You know, you couldn't things that relied upon electricity for 194 00:11:22,880 --> 00:11:26,560 Speaker 1: operation stopped, and then you know, you could be in 195 00:11:26,559 --> 00:11:30,480 Speaker 1: a place like an elevator where you also no longer 196 00:11:30,520 --> 00:11:33,719 Speaker 1: have climate control. Yeah, imagine getting stuck in one of 197 00:11:33,720 --> 00:11:37,800 Speaker 1: the elevators here during this month, like Atlanta has been 198 00:11:37,840 --> 00:11:40,679 Speaker 1: incredibly hot and humid this month. So you're stuck in 199 00:11:40,720 --> 00:11:42,840 Speaker 1: an elevator. Let's say there's like seven other people in 200 00:11:42,840 --> 00:11:48,000 Speaker 1: there with you. The elevator stops, climate control stops. After 201 00:11:48,080 --> 00:11:50,520 Speaker 1: an hour or two, you know, you are already with 202 00:11:50,559 --> 00:11:52,720 Speaker 1: a bunch of other people crammed in this small space 203 00:11:52,800 --> 00:11:56,719 Speaker 1: that's gonna get intolerably hot. Um. And that I mean 204 00:11:56,720 --> 00:11:58,800 Speaker 1: they can get to a point, depending upon where you are, 205 00:11:58,800 --> 00:12:00,840 Speaker 1: I could get to a you know a point that's 206 00:12:01,000 --> 00:12:04,280 Speaker 1: that's very dangerous, particularly for people who are already in 207 00:12:04,360 --> 00:12:08,480 Speaker 1: poor health. Uh, subways similar problem. You know, you don't 208 00:12:08,480 --> 00:12:11,480 Speaker 1: necessarily want to immediately evacuate the train if it's a 209 00:12:11,679 --> 00:12:15,800 Speaker 1: temporary power problem. Then once that comes back online, you've 210 00:12:15,800 --> 00:12:20,040 Speaker 1: got that third rail that would be of deadly to 211 00:12:20,080 --> 00:12:22,440 Speaker 1: come into contact with it. So it's one of those 212 00:12:22,480 --> 00:12:27,880 Speaker 1: things that you definitely need an evacuation plan. Uh. I've 213 00:12:27,960 --> 00:12:31,200 Speaker 1: read that if you had a blackout that lasted longer 214 00:12:31,200 --> 00:12:34,600 Speaker 1: than a few days, like a true blackout that lasted 215 00:12:34,720 --> 00:12:37,120 Speaker 1: longer than a few days in New York City, then 216 00:12:37,360 --> 00:12:40,679 Speaker 1: the many of the subways would end up having flooding 217 00:12:40,720 --> 00:12:43,040 Speaker 1: issues because they no longer would have some pumps that 218 00:12:43,040 --> 00:12:45,640 Speaker 1: would pump water out. Yeah, I've read the same thing. Yeah, 219 00:12:45,840 --> 00:12:48,120 Speaker 1: they have to be pumped out every single day. Yeah, 220 00:12:48,160 --> 00:12:50,440 Speaker 1: even if it's a day that's there's no rain, they 221 00:12:50,440 --> 00:12:53,000 Speaker 1: still have to be pumped out. So then you you 222 00:12:53,080 --> 00:12:56,640 Speaker 1: have infrastructure problems that once the power comes online, that 223 00:12:56,760 --> 00:12:59,640 Speaker 1: electricity going through the areas that have water that can 224 00:12:59,679 --> 00:13:02,559 Speaker 1: actually end up causing debreed to catch on fire. And 225 00:13:02,559 --> 00:13:04,120 Speaker 1: then you got fire on the tracks as well. I 226 00:13:04,120 --> 00:13:07,000 Speaker 1: mean there's lots of issues that roll out just from 227 00:13:07,080 --> 00:13:11,600 Speaker 1: losing power. That sounds like a great like folk album title, 228 00:13:12,120 --> 00:13:15,800 Speaker 1: Fire on the Tracks, Fire on the Track, it's the 229 00:13:15,880 --> 00:13:19,240 Speaker 1: lost Johnny Cash album. Uh. Also, you got you have 230 00:13:19,320 --> 00:13:22,560 Speaker 1: issues with traffic because if all the traffic signals are out, 231 00:13:22,559 --> 00:13:26,800 Speaker 1: then there's no way to regulate traffic. Yeah, Joe, I'm 232 00:13:26,840 --> 00:13:30,240 Speaker 1: sure you've driven in Atlanta after there's been power outages 233 00:13:30,280 --> 00:13:33,480 Speaker 1: where Yeah, how how lovely is it to come up 234 00:13:33,480 --> 00:13:35,760 Speaker 1: to one of those intersections? Well? Are now? Are you 235 00:13:35,840 --> 00:13:40,200 Speaker 1: talking about the intersections that have the flashing lights? Let's 236 00:13:41,840 --> 00:13:44,600 Speaker 1: or it's just blank, It's just blank. I've come on 237 00:13:44,640 --> 00:13:49,040 Speaker 1: that too. It's not fun. People are eager for their turn. Yeah, 238 00:13:49,600 --> 00:13:52,680 Speaker 1: there there are times where like it's odd. I don't 239 00:13:52,679 --> 00:13:54,840 Speaker 1: know if this is the case in lots of different cities, 240 00:13:54,880 --> 00:13:58,840 Speaker 1: but in Atlanta, Uh, people either treat everything like it's 241 00:13:58,880 --> 00:14:00,960 Speaker 1: a four way stop, even if it's a blinking yellow light, 242 00:14:01,000 --> 00:14:04,840 Speaker 1: which means proceeded with caution, not stop. Um. But people 243 00:14:04,880 --> 00:14:06,439 Speaker 1: will treat everything like it's a more y stop or 244 00:14:06,440 --> 00:14:08,400 Speaker 1: do they treat like nothing is a more rated up? 245 00:14:08,960 --> 00:14:11,840 Speaker 1: And either way it's not good. And just imagine like 246 00:14:11,880 --> 00:14:16,040 Speaker 1: this is nationwide you've got no means of regulating the traffic. 247 00:14:16,080 --> 00:14:18,320 Speaker 1: You also have no way of of being able to 248 00:14:18,440 --> 00:14:21,960 Speaker 1: have emergency responders get to where they need to go 249 00:14:22,040 --> 00:14:24,760 Speaker 1: in a in a fast way because everything's clogged up 250 00:14:24,760 --> 00:14:27,360 Speaker 1: with traffic as people are trying to get home, or 251 00:14:27,840 --> 00:14:30,840 Speaker 1: people are worried about how much fuel they have. That's 252 00:14:30,880 --> 00:14:33,960 Speaker 1: another big issue if the electricity goes out. Most fueling stations, 253 00:14:34,040 --> 00:14:37,320 Speaker 1: in fact, nearly all of them required electricity to operate, 254 00:14:38,000 --> 00:14:40,760 Speaker 1: so you can't refuel your vehicle, but you can siphon 255 00:14:40,880 --> 00:14:45,160 Speaker 1: someone else's and that might end up being an issue too. 256 00:14:45,560 --> 00:14:49,240 Speaker 1: Uh yeah, so uh, cell phone service might go out. 257 00:14:49,360 --> 00:14:51,720 Speaker 1: A lot of cell phone towers have backup generators, but 258 00:14:51,760 --> 00:14:53,480 Speaker 1: that will only last as long as the fuel does 259 00:14:54,040 --> 00:14:56,720 Speaker 1: not all cell phone towers have backup generators, so once 260 00:14:56,760 --> 00:14:59,840 Speaker 1: it goes out, there offline, which means your phone might work, 261 00:14:59,840 --> 00:15:01,480 Speaker 1: but a person you're trying to call they might not 262 00:15:01,600 --> 00:15:03,600 Speaker 1: have a working cell phone tower and range. And then, 263 00:15:03,640 --> 00:15:08,280 Speaker 1: of course, remember that in many major catastrophes and events, 264 00:15:08,280 --> 00:15:10,720 Speaker 1: you're gonna have so many people trying to access the 265 00:15:10,760 --> 00:15:16,040 Speaker 1: cellular system they're flooding it. We've seen that happen. We've 266 00:15:16,040 --> 00:15:18,720 Speaker 1: seen that have even in even a non emergency situations 267 00:15:18,720 --> 00:15:21,280 Speaker 1: when there's just a large number of people, like when 268 00:15:21,320 --> 00:15:24,000 Speaker 1: c e S happens every year or Comic Con, there's 269 00:15:24,040 --> 00:15:26,960 Speaker 1: so many people trying to connect to the local network 270 00:15:27,080 --> 00:15:30,200 Speaker 1: that it just overloads it and nothing goes out, uh, 271 00:15:30,240 --> 00:15:33,920 Speaker 1: and nothing comes in. It's like the Willy Wonka factory 272 00:15:34,000 --> 00:15:36,320 Speaker 1: before they opened it up with the golden tickets. Nobody 273 00:15:36,320 --> 00:15:38,800 Speaker 1: ever goes in and nobody ever comes out. Uh. Yeah, 274 00:15:38,840 --> 00:15:42,360 Speaker 1: so it's it's a pretty grim situation. We'll talk a 275 00:15:42,360 --> 00:15:47,160 Speaker 1: little bit more about um possible uh, the possible toll 276 00:15:47,920 --> 00:15:50,400 Speaker 1: in just a bit, But before we do that, let's 277 00:15:50,400 --> 00:15:53,840 Speaker 1: talk also about some of the other systems that because 278 00:15:53,880 --> 00:15:56,560 Speaker 1: of the power outage, would be affected. We we just 279 00:15:56,680 --> 00:16:01,920 Speaker 1: touched on one the communication system. So satellites would largely 280 00:16:01,960 --> 00:16:05,600 Speaker 1: be unaffected by any Earth based catastrophe. If it were 281 00:16:05,640 --> 00:16:08,840 Speaker 1: a solar flare, then obviously satellites would be Actually they'd 282 00:16:08,840 --> 00:16:11,320 Speaker 1: be the most vulnerable. The further out you are, the 283 00:16:11,360 --> 00:16:14,080 Speaker 1: more vulnerable you are to to like a solar flare 284 00:16:14,200 --> 00:16:18,560 Speaker 1: or coronal mass ejection. UM. Then you know you could 285 00:16:18,640 --> 00:16:22,040 Speaker 1: end up having the electronics fried on the satellites. A 286 00:16:22,080 --> 00:16:25,080 Speaker 1: lot of them are shielded pretty heavily for that sort 287 00:16:25,080 --> 00:16:27,840 Speaker 1: of stuff, because it's more likely to happen to a 288 00:16:27,880 --> 00:16:30,760 Speaker 1: satellite than it is to electronics here on Earth. But 289 00:16:30,840 --> 00:16:33,240 Speaker 1: a truly powerful one, and there have been some in 290 00:16:33,280 --> 00:16:37,960 Speaker 1: the past, could really overwhelm those satellites. Uh. Anything connected 291 00:16:37,960 --> 00:16:42,239 Speaker 1: to the power grid obviously would be it would be vulnerable. 292 00:16:42,520 --> 00:16:46,200 Speaker 1: So uh, you might be able to get radio signals 293 00:16:46,200 --> 00:16:48,480 Speaker 1: if you have a battery operated radio, which, by the way, 294 00:16:48,520 --> 00:16:53,600 Speaker 1: you should have a battery operated radio. Hand Yeah, hand 295 00:16:53,600 --> 00:16:56,880 Speaker 1: crank operated radio would be great to Uh, either of 296 00:16:56,920 --> 00:16:58,920 Speaker 1: those are both. You know, there are a lot of 297 00:16:58,960 --> 00:17:01,040 Speaker 1: combination systems up there where you can get one that 298 00:17:01,080 --> 00:17:04,320 Speaker 1: works on either battery or hand rank I recommend having 299 00:17:04,320 --> 00:17:07,640 Speaker 1: one of those. Of course, that will only last as 300 00:17:07,640 --> 00:17:12,360 Speaker 1: long as the radio broadcasting power has, you know, has 301 00:17:12,359 --> 00:17:16,120 Speaker 1: a supply of power from whatever source it's pulling it from, 302 00:17:16,119 --> 00:17:19,160 Speaker 1: like a generator, a backup generator. Once the backup generators 303 00:17:19,160 --> 00:17:22,240 Speaker 1: out of fuel, if the blackout continues, then that's going 304 00:17:22,280 --> 00:17:26,040 Speaker 1: to go dark too. So communications might last a little 305 00:17:26,080 --> 00:17:30,359 Speaker 1: longer than the power does, but not it won't be indefinite. Um. 306 00:17:30,440 --> 00:17:34,240 Speaker 1: I've also seen people recommend that you go ahead and 307 00:17:34,320 --> 00:17:39,600 Speaker 1: invest in walkie talkies because they can provide for communication 308 00:17:39,680 --> 00:17:44,280 Speaker 1: over sometimes miles of distance, uh, and could be invaluable 309 00:17:44,640 --> 00:17:48,800 Speaker 1: depending upon where you are. So uh, cell phone towers 310 00:17:48,840 --> 00:17:53,000 Speaker 1: and radio stations will all go offline eventually. Are actually 311 00:17:53,040 --> 00:17:56,320 Speaker 1: some developing nations that are making certain that their cell 312 00:17:56,320 --> 00:17:58,400 Speaker 1: phone towers are not on the power grid at all, 313 00:17:59,119 --> 00:18:01,960 Speaker 1: either because there's out of power credit in those remote 314 00:18:01,960 --> 00:18:06,199 Speaker 1: locations or it's just so unreliable that in order to 315 00:18:06,240 --> 00:18:12,479 Speaker 1: have a stable communication system power supply that a lot 316 00:18:12,520 --> 00:18:14,440 Speaker 1: of them are running on their own generators, and many 317 00:18:14,520 --> 00:18:19,200 Speaker 1: of them are using solar power as a primary means 318 00:18:19,200 --> 00:18:23,119 Speaker 1: for generating electricity for during the daylight hours. So that's 319 00:18:23,160 --> 00:18:25,959 Speaker 1: pretty interesting, and we could take a note from that, 320 00:18:26,080 --> 00:18:30,040 Speaker 1: like we could start building out infrastructure to be robust 321 00:18:30,080 --> 00:18:33,840 Speaker 1: in that same way and independent in that same way. Uh. 322 00:18:34,440 --> 00:18:37,159 Speaker 1: And you know, like I said, just because you have 323 00:18:37,240 --> 00:18:39,600 Speaker 1: access doesn't mean everybody else, you know does. It could 324 00:18:39,600 --> 00:18:41,439 Speaker 1: still end up being a big issue and you might 325 00:18:41,480 --> 00:18:43,920 Speaker 1: not be able to get in touch with anybody. So 326 00:18:44,160 --> 00:18:46,880 Speaker 1: that's power and communications, But you know, there are other 327 00:18:46,920 --> 00:18:50,640 Speaker 1: things that we rely upon that we take for granted, like, hey, 328 00:18:51,480 --> 00:18:53,760 Speaker 1: have you ever gone up to a faucet and turned 329 00:18:53,760 --> 00:18:56,560 Speaker 1: on the knob and nothing came out. I've done that 330 00:18:56,680 --> 00:19:00,800 Speaker 1: in my home before. Isn't that a terrifying experience? It's yeah, 331 00:19:00,800 --> 00:19:03,520 Speaker 1: it's It's especially bad when it's like your mouth is 332 00:19:03,560 --> 00:19:07,399 Speaker 1: full of toothpaste. Yes, that's not that's not good. Yeah. Um. 333 00:19:07,560 --> 00:19:09,440 Speaker 1: Running water is one of those things that we often 334 00:19:09,480 --> 00:19:12,919 Speaker 1: take for granted, and uh uh. If the paragrine system 335 00:19:12,960 --> 00:19:16,320 Speaker 1: is down, running water will follow. Maybe not immediately. You 336 00:19:16,400 --> 00:19:19,440 Speaker 1: might actually be able to have running water for a day, 337 00:19:19,960 --> 00:19:21,959 Speaker 1: maybe a little bit longer. If you happen to live 338 00:19:21,960 --> 00:19:24,159 Speaker 1: in a place that has a lot of water in 339 00:19:24,160 --> 00:19:27,120 Speaker 1: its pipes like New York City, actually could potentially hold 340 00:19:27,119 --> 00:19:30,320 Speaker 1: a couple of days worth of water in their pipes. Um, 341 00:19:30,359 --> 00:19:32,800 Speaker 1: just because that the water pressure that's built up and 342 00:19:32,840 --> 00:19:36,760 Speaker 1: the water supplies are enough to go for another couple 343 00:19:36,800 --> 00:19:40,680 Speaker 1: of days, assuming that everyone's not immediately thinking oh, humanities, 344 00:19:41,119 --> 00:19:44,720 Speaker 1: every container in the house, yeah, or which I mean, honestly, 345 00:19:44,760 --> 00:19:47,920 Speaker 1: if I thought if I thought that the apocalypse was happening, 346 00:19:47,960 --> 00:19:50,600 Speaker 1: the first thing I would do is fill up every 347 00:19:50,600 --> 00:19:53,720 Speaker 1: container in the house with water. Yeah, me too. Also, 348 00:19:53,880 --> 00:19:56,119 Speaker 1: I'd want to run the washing machine to clean on 349 00:19:56,160 --> 00:19:59,360 Speaker 1: my underwear because I'm sure that it was very recently soiled. 350 00:20:01,000 --> 00:20:02,679 Speaker 1: That's all scared I would be. I would soil not 351 00:20:02,760 --> 00:20:04,840 Speaker 1: just the under where I was wearing, but every pair 352 00:20:04,880 --> 00:20:09,640 Speaker 1: I own. Um. But no, you would you would think 353 00:20:09,680 --> 00:20:13,800 Speaker 1: that that would very quickly eliminate the supplied water. In 354 00:20:13,840 --> 00:20:17,560 Speaker 1: the United States, we mostly are creating our water pressure 355 00:20:17,560 --> 00:20:21,879 Speaker 1: through water tanks. The water tanks are elevated. Um. It's funny. 356 00:20:21,920 --> 00:20:26,840 Speaker 1: There's actually a very specific formula. Every every foot of 357 00:20:26,920 --> 00:20:30,040 Speaker 1: height provides point four three one pounds per square inch 358 00:20:30,080 --> 00:20:32,359 Speaker 1: of pressure. So if we want to convert that to 359 00:20:32,400 --> 00:20:36,160 Speaker 1: the metric system, for every thirty point four eight centimeters 360 00:20:36,160 --> 00:20:41,359 Speaker 1: you get two point nine seven two kilo pascals of pressure. Uh, 361 00:20:41,600 --> 00:20:42,879 Speaker 1: that means nothing to me. I have to do the 362 00:20:42,920 --> 00:20:46,080 Speaker 1: pownds of the pressure that the per square inch of pressure. 363 00:20:46,440 --> 00:20:48,680 Speaker 1: But a municipal water supplies run between fifty and a 364 00:20:49,119 --> 00:20:52,399 Speaker 1: p s i or three five to six nine kilo pascals, 365 00:20:53,480 --> 00:20:56,679 Speaker 1: and most water towers contain enough water to supply the 366 00:20:56,720 --> 00:21:02,320 Speaker 1: surrounding community for a day, assuming normal use, not that 367 00:21:02,400 --> 00:21:07,800 Speaker 1: everybody is trying to. Yeah. So the problem is that 368 00:21:08,119 --> 00:21:10,720 Speaker 1: to refill those water tanks, you have to pump water 369 00:21:11,640 --> 00:21:16,240 Speaker 1: up to those and yeah, those pumps maybe running on electricity, 370 00:21:16,280 --> 00:21:19,160 Speaker 1: So if they're not running on electricity, they're running on fuel. 371 00:21:19,359 --> 00:21:22,600 Speaker 1: So either they're running on electricity and therefore you can't 372 00:21:23,080 --> 00:21:26,280 Speaker 1: use them anymore because the grid is offline. So once 373 00:21:26,320 --> 00:21:28,800 Speaker 1: the water's gone, it's gone, or they're running on fuel. 374 00:21:29,040 --> 00:21:32,000 Speaker 1: And then once your fuel runs out because you aren't 375 00:21:32,040 --> 00:21:37,040 Speaker 1: able to transport or refine more of it, or or 376 00:21:37,119 --> 00:21:40,400 Speaker 1: get your hands on more of it, the water runs out. 377 00:21:40,440 --> 00:21:42,280 Speaker 1: Either way, the water runs out. It's just a question 378 00:21:42,280 --> 00:21:46,160 Speaker 1: of time. So that's a huge issue. So it would 379 00:21:46,200 --> 00:21:49,160 Speaker 1: really make you wish that you had access to clean 380 00:21:49,200 --> 00:21:51,560 Speaker 1: well water, and you might depending on where you are, 381 00:21:51,680 --> 00:21:54,720 Speaker 1: Like we live in an urban environment. We don't have 382 00:21:54,800 --> 00:21:57,240 Speaker 1: access to clean well water. I think. I don't know. 383 00:21:57,320 --> 00:21:58,879 Speaker 1: You don't have a well in your backyard, do you 384 00:21:59,720 --> 00:22:02,159 Speaker 1: If that I do have one, I don't know about it, 385 00:22:02,200 --> 00:22:05,240 Speaker 1: but I don't know. There's some weird stuff buried back there. Yeah, 386 00:22:05,320 --> 00:22:07,080 Speaker 1: it all depends on how often you do yard work, 387 00:22:07,119 --> 00:22:09,680 Speaker 1: you know, like, yeah, I don't know what's back underneath 388 00:22:09,680 --> 00:22:14,399 Speaker 1: that mass. Sometimes ghostly creatures come crawling out of my backyard. 389 00:22:14,480 --> 00:22:19,160 Speaker 1: So oldridge horrors are not necessarily an indication that there 390 00:22:19,200 --> 00:22:23,040 Speaker 1: is a well in the nearby area. It's a common misconception. 391 00:22:23,640 --> 00:22:26,960 Speaker 1: Uh yeah, So unless you have access to clean water, 392 00:22:27,800 --> 00:22:31,040 Speaker 1: that's gonna be a huge, huge problem. And for much 393 00:22:31,160 --> 00:22:33,239 Speaker 1: of the population in the United States, that is in 394 00:22:33,280 --> 00:22:36,960 Speaker 1: fact a huge problem that you don't you know, you 395 00:22:36,960 --> 00:22:39,919 Speaker 1: don't necessarily live near a place where you can reliably 396 00:22:39,960 --> 00:22:45,040 Speaker 1: get potable water. Uh. Even bigger problem in other parts 397 00:22:45,040 --> 00:22:49,000 Speaker 1: of the world, obviously, So that's another issue. Then we 398 00:22:49,080 --> 00:22:52,920 Speaker 1: have the cars and fuel. So your car, let's say 399 00:22:52,920 --> 00:22:56,719 Speaker 1: it's an electromagnetic pulse, some of your car systems might 400 00:22:56,720 --> 00:22:59,000 Speaker 1: get fried. But in general, you know, we're talking about 401 00:22:59,000 --> 00:23:03,480 Speaker 1: good old internal bustion that's not affected by electromagnet neetic pulses. 402 00:23:03,520 --> 00:23:06,760 Speaker 1: That's not an issue. It's a mechanical system. Not well, 403 00:23:06,800 --> 00:23:08,800 Speaker 1: I understand it is largely I mean, wouldn't there be 404 00:23:08,840 --> 00:23:17,200 Speaker 1: electronical electronic Um Uh yeah, it is, of course largely mechanicals, 405 00:23:17,520 --> 00:23:20,359 Speaker 1: you know, combustion. But I wonder about the electronic components, 406 00:23:20,440 --> 00:23:22,879 Speaker 1: especially if you have one of these newer cars that's 407 00:23:23,200 --> 00:23:26,199 Speaker 1: all computer brains. The newer, the newer your vehicle, the 408 00:23:26,240 --> 00:23:29,480 Speaker 1: more prone it would be to a real issue with 409 00:23:29,560 --> 00:23:33,639 Speaker 1: an e MP or solar flare. Uh. The older your vehicle, 410 00:23:33,720 --> 00:23:36,720 Speaker 1: the more reliable it would be in those conditions, assuming 411 00:23:36,720 --> 00:23:40,200 Speaker 1: that everything is in good working order obviously, but even so, 412 00:23:40,680 --> 00:23:42,359 Speaker 1: you can't get to the gas. If it's a gas 413 00:23:42,359 --> 00:23:45,719 Speaker 1: powered car, then you are You've got as much as 414 00:23:45,760 --> 00:23:47,760 Speaker 1: you have in your tank, and that's pretty much gonna 415 00:23:47,800 --> 00:23:50,399 Speaker 1: be it. Right. You can't go cut down some gas 416 00:23:50,520 --> 00:23:53,480 Speaker 1: from the forest next door. Gas has to be refined 417 00:23:53,600 --> 00:23:56,399 Speaker 1: from oil, yeah, and so the refineries are going to 418 00:23:56,440 --> 00:24:00,000 Speaker 1: be offline. The even if even if they weren't offline, 419 00:24:00,320 --> 00:24:02,520 Speaker 1: do you still have to have transportation, like you have 420 00:24:02,560 --> 00:24:06,639 Speaker 1: to transport the fuel to the different fueling stations. Fueling 421 00:24:06,680 --> 00:24:09,480 Speaker 1: stations will be offline because they need electricity to run. 422 00:24:09,560 --> 00:24:12,760 Speaker 1: So it's a big, big problem. Right, You would have 423 00:24:12,840 --> 00:24:16,600 Speaker 1: enough gas to get you wherever, you know, however far 424 00:24:16,720 --> 00:24:19,159 Speaker 1: your tank of gas will take you, assuming you've got 425 00:24:19,160 --> 00:24:21,720 Speaker 1: a full tank. Uh, And that would be it. Once 426 00:24:21,760 --> 00:24:23,840 Speaker 1: you ran out, you'd be pretty much stuck unless you 427 00:24:23,880 --> 00:24:26,080 Speaker 1: were able to again siphon gas out of some other 428 00:24:26,160 --> 00:24:29,719 Speaker 1: vehicle of Max's car, but be careful because it's booby trapped. 429 00:24:30,359 --> 00:24:33,800 Speaker 1: You're talking about Mr mad Max. So then if we're 430 00:24:34,280 --> 00:24:37,720 Speaker 1: looking at diesel engines. That's a little different, right, Some 431 00:24:37,800 --> 00:24:41,240 Speaker 1: diesel engines can run on bio diesel, which is some 432 00:24:41,359 --> 00:24:44,359 Speaker 1: of them can actually run on vegetable oil. You know, 433 00:24:44,400 --> 00:24:47,120 Speaker 1: I would say that's an ideal scenario, but then I'm like, well, 434 00:24:47,320 --> 00:24:51,440 Speaker 1: you don't encounter vegetable oil anymore commonly in nature than 435 00:24:51,440 --> 00:24:55,639 Speaker 1: you do. That's also something that is has to be 436 00:24:55,680 --> 00:24:59,040 Speaker 1: expressed in an industrial process. Yes, yeah, you could. You 437 00:24:59,119 --> 00:25:01,320 Speaker 1: could run out and buy as much as you could 438 00:25:01,400 --> 00:25:04,560 Speaker 1: from assuming that you have some way of buying. I mean, 439 00:25:04,600 --> 00:25:06,520 Speaker 1: I don't care you that much cash on me on 440 00:25:06,560 --> 00:25:09,760 Speaker 1: any given day. So maybe, like in your imagining in 441 00:25:09,800 --> 00:25:13,359 Speaker 1: the early days of the apocalyptic scenario, there is less 442 00:25:13,400 --> 00:25:17,119 Speaker 1: price gouging on vegetable oil than there is on gasoline, 443 00:25:17,119 --> 00:25:20,359 Speaker 1: and probably water would be the biggest one actually that 444 00:25:20,720 --> 00:25:23,760 Speaker 1: I would guess water would be chief. But yes, I 445 00:25:23,800 --> 00:25:27,040 Speaker 1: do think that, um, at least initially, so you would 446 00:25:27,080 --> 00:25:30,440 Speaker 1: have to, you know, somehow have a means of purchasing 447 00:25:30,440 --> 00:25:33,240 Speaker 1: this stuff, assuming that people have faith in the currency. 448 00:25:33,520 --> 00:25:37,080 Speaker 1: It all depends on what the nature of the catastrophe was, obviously, 449 00:25:37,720 --> 00:25:40,160 Speaker 1: but um, you would also have to have currency if 450 00:25:40,160 --> 00:25:42,080 Speaker 1: you don't If you don't have cash on you, you're 451 00:25:42,080 --> 00:25:46,159 Speaker 1: probably stuck. Uh but yeah you could. You could presumably 452 00:25:46,240 --> 00:25:48,560 Speaker 1: use vegetable oil or some other means of oil to 453 00:25:48,560 --> 00:25:51,720 Speaker 1: to fuel your vehicle at least in the short term. 454 00:25:51,720 --> 00:25:53,880 Speaker 1: But then once you once those supplies are out, then 455 00:25:53,920 --> 00:25:57,080 Speaker 1: you're just as stuck as everybody else. Uh So, Yeah, 456 00:25:57,560 --> 00:26:00,520 Speaker 1: the Mad Max future where people are fighting over water 457 00:26:00,640 --> 00:26:04,560 Speaker 1: and they have cars that magically are fueled by means 458 00:26:04,600 --> 00:26:08,080 Speaker 1: that I don't know like how that works. I don't 459 00:26:08,080 --> 00:26:11,760 Speaker 1: know how they're able to keep a system in place 460 00:26:11,800 --> 00:26:19,440 Speaker 1: to capture and refine fuel and then distribute fuel. But 461 00:26:19,520 --> 00:26:22,639 Speaker 1: apart from Bartertown, which is run on methane. Yeah, that 462 00:26:22,840 --> 00:26:26,119 Speaker 1: is also in the second movie, The Road Warrior. Isn't 463 00:26:26,200 --> 00:26:30,640 Speaker 1: the little settlement that the raiders are attacking. They're there 464 00:26:30,680 --> 00:26:33,200 Speaker 1: like extracting oil from the ground and refining it. Aren't 465 00:26:33,200 --> 00:26:35,560 Speaker 1: they like set up their own refinery. Yeah, it just 466 00:26:35,600 --> 00:26:37,280 Speaker 1: it makes me wonder like, if you can set your 467 00:26:37,280 --> 00:26:42,000 Speaker 1: own refinery, couldn't you set up a desalination facility, because 468 00:26:42,000 --> 00:26:44,240 Speaker 1: the big issue is water in the Mad Max world. 469 00:26:44,240 --> 00:26:47,200 Speaker 1: That's the huge water and gasoline. I mean, yeah, it 470 00:26:47,200 --> 00:26:49,280 Speaker 1: seems like they're both pretty but I mean, if you're 471 00:26:49,320 --> 00:26:51,000 Speaker 1: if you're able to get your if you're able to 472 00:26:51,040 --> 00:26:55,720 Speaker 1: set up a refinery after this whatever the apocalyptic event is, uh, 473 00:26:55,800 --> 00:26:58,680 Speaker 1: then you probably also could create a desalination plant, which would, 474 00:26:59,400 --> 00:27:02,320 Speaker 1: assuming are anywhere close to the ocean, would solve a 475 00:27:02,320 --> 00:27:04,120 Speaker 1: lot of your water issues, or at least at least 476 00:27:04,200 --> 00:27:10,320 Speaker 1: diminish them. Um So, then getting the cars all the way, 477 00:27:10,359 --> 00:27:13,160 Speaker 1: assuming that we haven't reached this mad Max magical world 478 00:27:13,440 --> 00:27:15,680 Speaker 1: where we can still operate a refinery but everything else 479 00:27:15,760 --> 00:27:22,800 Speaker 1: is gone completely bonkers. What about personal electronics there? Yeah, 480 00:27:22,960 --> 00:27:25,520 Speaker 1: I mean what are you going to do with them? Yeah, 481 00:27:25,840 --> 00:27:28,439 Speaker 1: they might have a battery that'll work as long as 482 00:27:28,480 --> 00:27:31,239 Speaker 1: the batteries charge, or you need to plug them in 483 00:27:31,320 --> 00:27:33,919 Speaker 1: somewhere and that'll work as long as you have access 484 00:27:33,960 --> 00:27:35,800 Speaker 1: to power. But if you do, why are we talking 485 00:27:35,840 --> 00:27:38,880 Speaker 1: about this? You could you could potentially have solar panels 486 00:27:38,880 --> 00:27:40,840 Speaker 1: to recharge electronics, Like, there are a lot of things 487 00:27:40,840 --> 00:27:43,520 Speaker 1: to do that. But so again we sort of said 488 00:27:43,520 --> 00:27:46,439 Speaker 1: at the beginning, like if you've got off the grid power, 489 00:27:46,680 --> 00:27:49,160 Speaker 1: you're in a whole different situation. Then mainly you got 490 00:27:49,160 --> 00:27:51,520 Speaker 1: to worry about who's coming to get your goods. Well, 491 00:27:51,520 --> 00:27:53,920 Speaker 1: I'm just thinking back to when I got a house 492 00:27:53,960 --> 00:27:57,200 Speaker 1: stuff works backpack that had a solar panel built into 493 00:27:57,200 --> 00:28:00,359 Speaker 1: it where I could charge of it. That came up 494 00:28:00,359 --> 00:28:03,840 Speaker 1: with so much power twelve hours of having it sit 495 00:28:03,960 --> 00:28:07,000 Speaker 1: in the sun would charge it would charge your phone. 496 00:28:07,160 --> 00:28:11,040 Speaker 1: But that's twelve hours of direct sunlight on that panel. 497 00:28:11,160 --> 00:28:13,720 Speaker 1: By the way, sun does not stay still for twelve hours, 498 00:28:13,720 --> 00:28:16,959 Speaker 1: so you gotta like you would have to continuously position 499 00:28:17,080 --> 00:28:19,600 Speaker 1: the backpack to have an ideal amount of sunlight in 500 00:28:19,720 --> 00:28:24,119 Speaker 1: order to generate the electricity necessary just to recharge a phone. 501 00:28:24,480 --> 00:28:27,879 Speaker 1: Uh so, yeah, you could potentially have some electronics last 502 00:28:27,880 --> 00:28:30,639 Speaker 1: a fairly long time with rechargeable batteries with solar power, 503 00:28:30,720 --> 00:28:34,720 Speaker 1: it would be sporadic, and also the underlying infrastructure that 504 00:28:34,760 --> 00:28:37,000 Speaker 1: supported them is no longer there, so you're not getting 505 00:28:37,000 --> 00:28:39,280 Speaker 1: a lot of use out of it unless you're just like, well, 506 00:28:39,280 --> 00:28:43,560 Speaker 1: it's the am I downloaded all these episodes of I 507 00:28:43,560 --> 00:28:47,040 Speaker 1: don't know whatever I was just thinking. I was just thinking, 508 00:28:47,080 --> 00:28:49,680 Speaker 1: like about the apocalypse and everything's gone to hell. But 509 00:28:49,800 --> 00:28:56,840 Speaker 1: at least I can still play Angry Birds, you know. Yeah, yeah, 510 00:28:56,920 --> 00:29:01,000 Speaker 1: so it's um Lord Humongus will kill you for that ip, right, So, 511 00:29:01,000 --> 00:29:05,479 Speaker 1: so the the electronics problem also non trivial. All right, 512 00:29:05,560 --> 00:29:08,680 Speaker 1: so let's talk a little bit about what would happen 513 00:29:09,400 --> 00:29:12,600 Speaker 1: during one of these blackouts. Actually, uh, you linked to 514 00:29:13,040 --> 00:29:16,520 Speaker 1: a an article that was part of a National Geographic 515 00:29:16,560 --> 00:29:19,760 Speaker 1: special about this. Yeah. It was written by Patrick Jake Tiger, 516 00:29:19,800 --> 00:29:22,160 Speaker 1: who writes for house Stuff Works. Yeah, so one of 517 00:29:22,200 --> 00:29:24,000 Speaker 1: our one of the members of the family, he wrote 518 00:29:24,000 --> 00:29:25,800 Speaker 1: this thing and and it was a really good article. 519 00:29:25,840 --> 00:29:29,600 Speaker 1: And it also linked to an interactive page that was 520 00:29:29,680 --> 00:29:34,080 Speaker 1: all part of this package National Geographic put out depressing 521 00:29:34,120 --> 00:29:38,960 Speaker 1: but very interesting called American Blackout. And uh, the page 522 00:29:39,000 --> 00:29:41,560 Speaker 1: that was interactive was really cool. It was it was 523 00:29:41,600 --> 00:29:45,960 Speaker 1: telling you how a nationwide blackout in America might unfold 524 00:29:46,000 --> 00:29:48,640 Speaker 1: over the course of ten days. They assumed that after 525 00:29:48,720 --> 00:29:52,960 Speaker 1: ten days, whatever the issue was has been resolved and 526 00:29:53,200 --> 00:29:55,840 Speaker 1: power can be restored. But within that ten days an 527 00:29:55,840 --> 00:30:01,120 Speaker 1: amazing amount of catastrophe and chaos would occur. Um and 528 00:30:01,160 --> 00:30:05,680 Speaker 1: they looked at, uh, the potential death count of a 529 00:30:05,680 --> 00:30:08,840 Speaker 1: ten day blackout, nationwide black blackout. Keeping in mind, this 530 00:30:08,920 --> 00:30:11,840 Speaker 1: also affects things like hospitals, So people who would be 531 00:30:12,000 --> 00:30:16,840 Speaker 1: reliant upon medical facilities to keep them in and keep 532 00:30:16,880 --> 00:30:19,800 Speaker 1: them alive, they would be at most at risk obviously, 533 00:30:20,600 --> 00:30:23,920 Speaker 1: and they figured that it would have a death count 534 00:30:23,960 --> 00:30:29,160 Speaker 1: of around three thousand thirteen people after ten days. That's 535 00:30:29,160 --> 00:30:32,719 Speaker 1: a that's without factoring in whatever it was that caused 536 00:30:32,720 --> 00:30:34,800 Speaker 1: the blackout in the first place, of course, right, So 537 00:30:34,840 --> 00:30:37,560 Speaker 1: if there was some other catastrophic event that happened first, 538 00:30:37,560 --> 00:30:41,760 Speaker 1: obviously that death toll would be in addition to this number. Uh, 539 00:30:41,800 --> 00:30:45,600 Speaker 1: and the numbers would be much higher depending upon whatever 540 00:30:45,680 --> 00:30:50,280 Speaker 1: catastrophe it was, zombie apocalypse through the roof um. So 541 00:30:50,320 --> 00:30:53,120 Speaker 1: then you've got the financial impact. So assuming that it's 542 00:30:53,120 --> 00:30:56,520 Speaker 1: something that we could recover from where it doesn't stay 543 00:30:56,560 --> 00:30:59,560 Speaker 1: post apocalyptic for very long, like whatever the issue issue is, 544 00:30:59,560 --> 00:31:02,760 Speaker 1: we resolve of it. Uh, after ten days, it would 545 00:31:02,760 --> 00:31:06,200 Speaker 1: be a cost of one point to trillion dollars of 546 00:31:06,400 --> 00:31:09,200 Speaker 1: lost productivity, of damages, of all those things kind of 547 00:31:09,280 --> 00:31:11,280 Speaker 1: lumped in together. Yeah, but just think about all that 548 00:31:11,320 --> 00:31:14,720 Speaker 1: pent up demand. It sounds like a great time to 549 00:31:14,760 --> 00:31:17,040 Speaker 1: start a business. Think of how much you would save 550 00:31:17,080 --> 00:31:19,160 Speaker 1: on your electricity bill because you haven't been able to 551 00:31:19,240 --> 00:31:23,640 Speaker 1: use it for ten days. So then we will have 552 00:31:23,680 --> 00:31:25,760 Speaker 1: a real brief section here just to talk about what 553 00:31:25,840 --> 00:31:28,239 Speaker 1: you what you might want to consider to have as 554 00:31:28,320 --> 00:31:31,240 Speaker 1: kind of a preparedness kit. Yeah, these are your five tips, 555 00:31:32,000 --> 00:31:34,640 Speaker 1: and this is in case of you know, these these 556 00:31:34,680 --> 00:31:38,440 Speaker 1: blackout situations which could happen for lots of different reasons. Yeah, 557 00:31:38,480 --> 00:31:40,560 Speaker 1: you want to stock enough food and water and any 558 00:31:40,560 --> 00:31:43,240 Speaker 1: medical supplies you might need for everyone in your family 559 00:31:43,360 --> 00:31:46,120 Speaker 1: to last for seventy two hours. Now, obviously this is 560 00:31:46,160 --> 00:31:48,800 Speaker 1: referring to food that would not need to be refrigerated. 561 00:31:51,440 --> 00:31:54,320 Speaker 1: Hours worth of mayonnaise has to be like canned goods, 562 00:31:54,440 --> 00:31:56,920 Speaker 1: that sort of stuff. And uh, you know, you might 563 00:31:56,960 --> 00:31:59,480 Speaker 1: also want to go ahead and invest in some means 564 00:31:59,520 --> 00:32:03,200 Speaker 1: of like like like some non electronic means of heating 565 00:32:03,240 --> 00:32:06,320 Speaker 1: said food if you want to have it cooked. And 566 00:32:06,400 --> 00:32:08,960 Speaker 1: of course, as Harlan Ellison would remind us, you need 567 00:32:09,000 --> 00:32:11,719 Speaker 1: a can opener. Yes, a can opener would Yes, a 568 00:32:11,760 --> 00:32:16,000 Speaker 1: manual can opener would be very important. Uh. You also 569 00:32:16,040 --> 00:32:17,920 Speaker 1: want to make sure you have a stocked first aid kit, 570 00:32:18,120 --> 00:32:22,000 Speaker 1: which makes sense. Uh. Flashlights and a battery powered radio 571 00:32:22,080 --> 00:32:24,720 Speaker 1: plus batteries doesn't do much good if you don't have 572 00:32:24,760 --> 00:32:29,680 Speaker 1: any good, reliable batteries to use. Candles and matches, perferably 573 00:32:29,760 --> 00:32:32,880 Speaker 1: waterproof matches also a really good idea. And if you 574 00:32:32,880 --> 00:32:35,160 Speaker 1: have a car, make it a habit to avoid dipping 575 00:32:35,160 --> 00:32:38,680 Speaker 1: below half full on the gas tank, because if one 576 00:32:38,720 --> 00:32:40,720 Speaker 1: of these events happens, you want to have enough fuel 577 00:32:40,800 --> 00:32:43,720 Speaker 1: for you to be able to get home or get 578 00:32:43,760 --> 00:32:47,640 Speaker 1: away from whatever the incident is, if it happens to 579 00:32:47,640 --> 00:32:50,960 Speaker 1: be localized to your area. Yeah. Now, obviously we've said 580 00:32:51,000 --> 00:32:54,120 Speaker 1: several times now your your best case scenario is to 581 00:32:54,160 --> 00:32:57,240 Speaker 1: be energy and dependent, Like if you actually had a 582 00:32:57,240 --> 00:32:59,680 Speaker 1: bunch of solar panels or some kind of way of 583 00:32:59,720 --> 00:33:02,480 Speaker 1: general rating power in your home, that's not going to 584 00:33:02,600 --> 00:33:05,360 Speaker 1: run out there. You go, yeah, I've actually seen I 585 00:33:05,440 --> 00:33:08,440 Speaker 1: was looking into this. Tree Hugger did a article about 586 00:33:08,480 --> 00:33:10,920 Speaker 1: the various types of power generation you could do. Our 587 00:33:10,920 --> 00:33:14,320 Speaker 1: electricity generation you could do at home, and solar power 588 00:33:14,440 --> 00:33:17,760 Speaker 1: is good, except, of course, if it is super volcanic 589 00:33:18,000 --> 00:33:21,080 Speaker 1: canoe or dust or whatever. There's if there's something that's 590 00:33:21,120 --> 00:33:24,640 Speaker 1: blocking the sunlight from getting to the earth, that's not 591 00:33:24,680 --> 00:33:27,320 Speaker 1: gonna help you too much, right so, um, but then 592 00:33:27,360 --> 00:33:30,320 Speaker 1: you would also have much more serious problems than not 593 00:33:30,360 --> 00:33:32,520 Speaker 1: being able to charge your eye pass such as like 594 00:33:32,600 --> 00:33:36,120 Speaker 1: crops won't grow we're breathing. That could also be a problem. 595 00:33:36,720 --> 00:33:41,240 Speaker 1: Wind turbines also are a possibility, possibility depending upon where 596 00:33:41,240 --> 00:33:45,800 Speaker 1: you live and the regulations there. Personal wind turbine would 597 00:33:45,800 --> 00:33:50,240 Speaker 1: a generate I mean like a like a reasonably sized 598 00:33:50,280 --> 00:33:52,360 Speaker 1: one that you could build on your own property. Would 599 00:33:52,400 --> 00:33:55,520 Speaker 1: that get enough energy? Wind turbine with a four foot 600 00:33:55,880 --> 00:34:00,760 Speaker 1: diameter of blade diameter would be enough to power a 601 00:34:00,760 --> 00:34:04,600 Speaker 1: an average home without running all your major appliances. Like 602 00:34:04,600 --> 00:34:06,360 Speaker 1: you're like, you wouldn't be able to run the dryer 603 00:34:06,680 --> 00:34:08,799 Speaker 1: on that. You do not need a one with a 604 00:34:08,920 --> 00:34:11,839 Speaker 1: nine ft diameter to generate enough electricity to do that, 605 00:34:11,960 --> 00:34:15,839 Speaker 1: assuming that you're getting reliable amount of wind where you live. 606 00:34:16,440 --> 00:34:19,279 Speaker 1: And obviously this would be more for people who are 607 00:34:19,320 --> 00:34:22,600 Speaker 1: not in a denserving environment. So if you have to 608 00:34:22,640 --> 00:34:24,680 Speaker 1: live out in a rural area where you could build 609 00:34:24,719 --> 00:34:27,640 Speaker 1: such a structure, um, that would be a possibility. I've 610 00:34:27,640 --> 00:34:32,080 Speaker 1: also seen even micro hydro electric power where if you 611 00:34:32,160 --> 00:34:37,080 Speaker 1: live near a running stream that's running with enough force, 612 00:34:37,200 --> 00:34:41,680 Speaker 1: you could have a micro hydro electric power generation. I've 613 00:34:41,680 --> 00:34:45,160 Speaker 1: heard of this. It's a great idea because again, like 614 00:34:45,280 --> 00:34:49,040 Speaker 1: just like with the major hydraulic systems or hydraulic system 615 00:34:49,080 --> 00:34:51,839 Speaker 1: hydro powered systems, you don't have to worry about running 616 00:34:51,840 --> 00:34:56,360 Speaker 1: out of fuel. So great if you have the accessibility 617 00:34:56,400 --> 00:34:58,920 Speaker 1: to that sort of thing. So let's conclude this by 618 00:34:58,920 --> 00:35:02,640 Speaker 1: talking about some of our favorite post apocalyptic stories. And 619 00:35:03,120 --> 00:35:06,239 Speaker 1: you know this, this isn't so much on the technology 620 00:35:06,280 --> 00:35:08,840 Speaker 1: side as as just the the worlds that have been 621 00:35:08,880 --> 00:35:12,880 Speaker 1: imagined by various people that take place in in you know, 622 00:35:13,360 --> 00:35:15,680 Speaker 1: on on Earth where something like this has happened, like 623 00:35:15,760 --> 00:35:18,880 Speaker 1: some some catastrophic event has happened. Sure well, these tend 624 00:35:18,920 --> 00:35:22,799 Speaker 1: to divide between like the very serious and then the 625 00:35:22,920 --> 00:35:26,200 Speaker 1: less serious. I would say so, so both of us, 626 00:35:26,200 --> 00:35:28,960 Speaker 1: it's hard to compare The Road and Mad Max. Yes, 627 00:35:29,480 --> 00:35:32,000 Speaker 1: both of us really like The Road. That is one 628 00:35:32,040 --> 00:35:33,799 Speaker 1: of my favorite books of all time. It is a 629 00:35:33,960 --> 00:35:38,080 Speaker 1: very sad, very disturbing book. But it's also very moving. 630 00:35:38,239 --> 00:35:42,919 Speaker 1: It has a very uplifting ending. Uh Some might say 631 00:35:42,920 --> 00:35:47,200 Speaker 1: that it's at least it ends on a at least 632 00:35:47,239 --> 00:35:51,080 Speaker 1: an but from my reading depends on an optimistic note. 633 00:35:50,440 --> 00:35:54,239 Speaker 1: I would yeah, so it's but it is it's a 634 00:35:54,400 --> 00:35:59,520 Speaker 1: hard read, guys, I mean it's not it's not uh pleasant. Yeah, yeah, 635 00:35:59,600 --> 00:36:04,640 Speaker 1: it is imagining sort of the last gasp of humanity. 636 00:36:04,719 --> 00:36:06,600 Speaker 1: So it's not one of these where you know that 637 00:36:07,280 --> 00:36:11,399 Speaker 1: we've we've just had the the apocalyptic event. It's it's 638 00:36:11,440 --> 00:36:14,440 Speaker 1: one of these where there aren't many people at all left. 639 00:36:14,520 --> 00:36:17,319 Speaker 1: And the really cool thing, or one of the really 640 00:36:17,320 --> 00:36:19,920 Speaker 1: cool things about the book is it never explains what 641 00:36:19,960 --> 00:36:23,600 Speaker 1: the event was. Yeah, so it describes lots of things 642 00:36:23,680 --> 00:36:27,719 Speaker 1: like their earthquakes. Um, the sky is constantly gray and 643 00:36:27,760 --> 00:36:31,200 Speaker 1: all of the plant life is dead, presumably because the 644 00:36:31,239 --> 00:36:34,120 Speaker 1: sunlight has been blocked by the cloud cover in the skies. 645 00:36:34,680 --> 00:36:37,600 Speaker 1: And when I first read it, I assumed, well, I 646 00:36:37,640 --> 00:36:40,959 Speaker 1: think it's probably talking about nuclear war or something like that. 647 00:36:41,320 --> 00:36:43,680 Speaker 1: But then I read and I wish I could find this. 648 00:36:43,760 --> 00:36:45,600 Speaker 1: I tried to go back and find it and couldn't. 649 00:36:45,640 --> 00:36:48,360 Speaker 1: I read a blog post years ago on the Internet 650 00:36:48,440 --> 00:36:51,920 Speaker 1: somebody had put together explaining their theory of why they 651 00:36:52,000 --> 00:36:55,799 Speaker 1: thought the the event, imagined by the author Cormick McCarthy, 652 00:36:55,960 --> 00:36:59,600 Speaker 1: was a super volcano eruption, and I remember thinking that 653 00:36:59,640 --> 00:37:01,640 Speaker 1: they made a really good case, but then I couldn't 654 00:37:01,640 --> 00:37:03,920 Speaker 1: find what they wrote. Yeah. I think the best argument 655 00:37:03,960 --> 00:37:06,600 Speaker 1: for that is I don't recall anything in there about 656 00:37:07,880 --> 00:37:12,320 Speaker 1: a fear of radiation. Yeah, whereas a super volcano could 657 00:37:12,360 --> 00:37:15,640 Speaker 1: cause many of the same features as a nuclear winter, 658 00:37:16,719 --> 00:37:20,520 Speaker 1: but without the nuclear fallout. Um. Yeah, that's a that's 659 00:37:20,520 --> 00:37:23,799 Speaker 1: a great it's a great story. It's again tough read, 660 00:37:23,880 --> 00:37:27,760 Speaker 1: but a great worthwhile Along the same lines, I guess 661 00:37:27,760 --> 00:37:30,839 Speaker 1: some people might consider this lower form of art, but 662 00:37:31,000 --> 00:37:33,960 Speaker 1: I was actually really impressed by the story in the 663 00:37:34,080 --> 00:37:37,120 Speaker 1: video game The Last of Us. I'd say that definitely, 664 00:37:37,160 --> 00:37:39,799 Speaker 1: hands down had the best writing of any video game 665 00:37:39,840 --> 00:37:42,360 Speaker 1: I've ever played, and in the world they imagined was 666 00:37:42,960 --> 00:37:45,840 Speaker 1: kind of sad and beautiful and and it was a 667 00:37:45,920 --> 00:37:50,280 Speaker 1: post apocalyptic scenario caused by a fungal infection that created 668 00:37:50,320 --> 00:37:53,280 Speaker 1: a zombie like stage. Yeah, it's a it's essentially another 669 00:37:53,360 --> 00:37:57,440 Speaker 1: zombie outbreak story, but without it being uh yeah, without 670 00:37:57,440 --> 00:38:00,600 Speaker 1: it being magical zombies. It's it's based more on on 671 00:38:01,160 --> 00:38:03,640 Speaker 1: things that we have actually observed in nature, though not 672 00:38:03,760 --> 00:38:06,480 Speaker 1: with humans but with other life forms. Right, Yeah, it's 673 00:38:06,480 --> 00:38:10,840 Speaker 1: based on the fungus that infects ants and changes their behavior, 674 00:38:10,960 --> 00:38:13,120 Speaker 1: gets into their brains. It's just kind of like, well, 675 00:38:13,120 --> 00:38:15,000 Speaker 1: what if a fungus could get into your brain and 676 00:38:15,040 --> 00:38:18,080 Speaker 1: make you want to bite people? So that is that 677 00:38:18,200 --> 00:38:20,640 Speaker 1: is another good one. I also enjoyed World War Z, 678 00:38:21,080 --> 00:38:24,120 Speaker 1: which I would argue still falls on the serious side. 679 00:38:24,320 --> 00:38:26,680 Speaker 1: I haven't read the novel I saw the movie and 680 00:38:26,840 --> 00:38:30,600 Speaker 1: was not very The novel is entirely different from Yeah, 681 00:38:30,600 --> 00:38:33,240 Speaker 1: I've heard that I heard the novel was in fact 682 00:38:33,280 --> 00:38:37,160 Speaker 1: and just like completely different in format and approach. There 683 00:38:37,280 --> 00:38:40,480 Speaker 1: there are tiny elements that happened in the novel that 684 00:38:40,560 --> 00:38:43,719 Speaker 1: are touched upon in the film, but they are not 685 00:38:44,400 --> 00:38:47,399 Speaker 1: at all related otherwise. It's the novel is really more 686 00:38:47,520 --> 00:38:52,080 Speaker 1: of a collection of uh stories. It's it's told as 687 00:38:52,360 --> 00:38:55,920 Speaker 1: there's a journalist, not well journalist who's working essentially for 688 00:38:55,960 --> 00:39:00,440 Speaker 1: the u N collecting the stories from survivors. This this 689 00:39:00,480 --> 00:39:04,319 Speaker 1: is post zombie outbreak, post war with the zombies. The 690 00:39:04,440 --> 00:39:09,600 Speaker 1: humans have won the war. Zombie Outbreak has been largely defeated. 691 00:39:09,840 --> 00:39:11,640 Speaker 1: There's still some zombies in the world, but they are 692 00:39:11,680 --> 00:39:14,880 Speaker 1: few and far between and are are often you know, 693 00:39:14,960 --> 00:39:18,000 Speaker 1: rounded up and killed off. So humanity is on the 694 00:39:18,040 --> 00:39:21,360 Speaker 1: rebound now, and it's more of a discussion about what 695 00:39:21,560 --> 00:39:26,279 Speaker 1: happened leading up to and throughout this zombie war, whether 696 00:39:26,400 --> 00:39:28,160 Speaker 1: and I. And it's told in a way where you 697 00:39:28,239 --> 00:39:34,160 Speaker 1: don't really know what the actual precipitating event was um, 698 00:39:34,200 --> 00:39:36,600 Speaker 1: which is very realistic. I think, you know, like as 699 00:39:36,719 --> 00:39:38,440 Speaker 1: as someone who wants to hear a story you kind 700 00:39:38,440 --> 00:39:39,920 Speaker 1: of want to know all the details, but if you 701 00:39:39,960 --> 00:39:43,120 Speaker 1: were actually a person there, you wouldn't necessarily have all 702 00:39:43,120 --> 00:39:45,480 Speaker 1: the information available to you, especially when you consider that 703 00:39:45,520 --> 00:39:47,239 Speaker 1: a lot of the people who might have been responsible 704 00:39:47,239 --> 00:39:50,120 Speaker 1: in some way or another or had observed what happened 705 00:39:50,440 --> 00:39:53,320 Speaker 1: are no longer around because they've been turned into zombies 706 00:39:53,400 --> 00:39:58,920 Speaker 1: or killed in some other way. UM. Very powerful story though, 707 00:39:58,960 --> 00:40:02,440 Speaker 1: and also very interesting to hear kind of the human 708 00:40:02,520 --> 00:40:06,120 Speaker 1: psychology that might be involved in something like that. Yeah, 709 00:40:06,120 --> 00:40:08,040 Speaker 1: so in both of the ones I mentioned so far, 710 00:40:08,120 --> 00:40:12,279 Speaker 1: there was a pretty much a total breakdown of of 711 00:40:12,440 --> 00:40:17,439 Speaker 1: the larger function of technological society. Though in the last 712 00:40:17,520 --> 00:40:19,160 Speaker 1: of us there there, you know, there are still people 713 00:40:19,200 --> 00:40:22,280 Speaker 1: who get some power from generators and stuff. It seems 714 00:40:22,320 --> 00:40:26,480 Speaker 1: like somebody is still locating gasoline somehow. But also that's 715 00:40:26,520 --> 00:40:28,759 Speaker 1: one of the examples I was mentioning. Another one would 716 00:40:28,760 --> 00:40:31,040 Speaker 1: be Dawn to the Planet of the Apes, where people 717 00:40:31,080 --> 00:40:34,600 Speaker 1: are trying to get hydroelectric plants back online, because that, 718 00:40:34,719 --> 00:40:36,640 Speaker 1: as we mentioned, that does seem like a really good 719 00:40:36,680 --> 00:40:40,640 Speaker 1: bet for trying to revive at least a local power 720 00:40:40,680 --> 00:40:44,320 Speaker 1: grid in a post apocalyptic scenario. And in that world, 721 00:40:44,440 --> 00:40:47,560 Speaker 1: I mean, it's only like a tiny bit of San Francisco. 722 00:40:47,600 --> 00:40:51,399 Speaker 1: I think that's still alive or is the concentrating you mean? 723 00:40:51,400 --> 00:40:53,600 Speaker 1: And Dawn to the Planet of the Apes, not the 724 00:40:53,640 --> 00:40:55,960 Speaker 1: last none, last us, last of Us. It's all spread 725 00:40:55,960 --> 00:40:58,840 Speaker 1: out all over the place. Yeah. Uh so, here's another 726 00:40:58,880 --> 00:41:02,000 Speaker 1: one along a maybe sillier line. I love Dawn of 727 00:41:02,080 --> 00:41:04,680 Speaker 1: the Dead. I like the way things are progressing there. 728 00:41:04,719 --> 00:41:08,000 Speaker 1: I like watching they're the scenes that depicted the breakdown 729 00:41:08,040 --> 00:41:11,840 Speaker 1: of discipline in the media, like the TV stations that 730 00:41:11,880 --> 00:41:14,640 Speaker 1: are still trying to broadcast but people are sort of 731 00:41:14,640 --> 00:41:17,720 Speaker 1: losing focus. I assume you are talking about the original 732 00:41:17,880 --> 00:41:20,600 Speaker 1: don yes, not the remake. Yes, the one that was 733 00:41:20,640 --> 00:41:26,720 Speaker 1: also a commentary on consumerism. It's a great movie for 734 00:41:26,719 --> 00:41:28,880 Speaker 1: for me. One of the big ones. The Fallout series 735 00:41:28,880 --> 00:41:36,640 Speaker 1: of games. Fantastic weird tone mishmash of comedic and tragic 736 00:41:36,840 --> 00:41:39,640 Speaker 1: in those games, but I think it works. Yeah, there's 737 00:41:39,640 --> 00:41:46,200 Speaker 1: this this kind of almost almost manic optimism that is 738 00:41:46,600 --> 00:41:50,680 Speaker 1: being portrayed in a lot of the stuff you come 739 00:41:50,719 --> 00:41:56,080 Speaker 1: across as a character in those games, despite the overwhelmingly 740 00:41:56,160 --> 00:42:01,440 Speaker 1: awfulness of the world. Yeah, it's the gallows hum. It's 741 00:42:01,440 --> 00:42:06,240 Speaker 1: that nineteen fifties style of you could do it, but meanwhile, 742 00:42:06,360 --> 00:42:10,600 Speaker 1: like everything's on fire and everyone's terrible, right. Yeah. Also, 743 00:42:10,680 --> 00:42:13,480 Speaker 1: another way that it sort of has a mash up 744 00:42:13,600 --> 00:42:16,520 Speaker 1: is it's very high tech low tech mash up. So 745 00:42:16,680 --> 00:42:21,960 Speaker 1: it has you know, lasers and exoskeleton power suits and robots, 746 00:42:22,080 --> 00:42:25,839 Speaker 1: but also you know extremely you know, bow and arrow 747 00:42:25,920 --> 00:42:28,480 Speaker 1: kind of logs, and the aesthetic tends to be the 748 00:42:28,560 --> 00:42:31,960 Speaker 1: nineteen fifties style of our vision of the future, not 749 00:42:32,040 --> 00:42:34,560 Speaker 1: how things actually turned out. So it's a really it's 750 00:42:34,719 --> 00:42:41,520 Speaker 1: it's an alternate past leading to a an alternate, bizarre future. Um, 751 00:42:41,560 --> 00:42:43,080 Speaker 1: and you've got some other ones on here. In fact, 752 00:42:43,120 --> 00:42:46,239 Speaker 1: these are also some of my favorites. Well, yeah, a 753 00:42:46,280 --> 00:42:49,000 Speaker 1: couple of the Mad Max movies. Of course, you I 754 00:42:49,280 --> 00:42:52,560 Speaker 1: could not neglect Mad Max. I have to confess I've 755 00:42:52,600 --> 00:42:55,960 Speaker 1: never actually seen the first one all the way through. Yeah, 756 00:42:56,160 --> 00:42:59,399 Speaker 1: the Road Warrior is is a more entertaining film. Oh yeah, 757 00:42:59,440 --> 00:43:01,759 Speaker 1: so you start with the second one. I love The 758 00:43:01,840 --> 00:43:05,040 Speaker 1: Road Warrior. Can't get enough beyond Thunderdome. I know a 759 00:43:05,080 --> 00:43:06,920 Speaker 1: lot of people think it's bad. Maybe it is kind 760 00:43:06,920 --> 00:43:09,080 Speaker 1: of bad, but I still love it. It's it's definitely 761 00:43:09,120 --> 00:43:13,319 Speaker 1: more campy. Yeah. And then so folks when I saw 762 00:43:13,440 --> 00:43:17,480 Speaker 1: Mad Max Fury Road. It's not necessarily that it's the 763 00:43:17,520 --> 00:43:20,840 Speaker 1: best movie I've ever seen in my life. It's that 764 00:43:21,080 --> 00:43:23,279 Speaker 1: once I walked out of the theater, it was the 765 00:43:23,360 --> 00:43:27,520 Speaker 1: only movie I had ever seen in h I love 766 00:43:27,640 --> 00:43:30,759 Speaker 1: that movie so much. It just it hit all of 767 00:43:30,800 --> 00:43:33,320 Speaker 1: the happy places in my body and in my brain. 768 00:43:33,400 --> 00:43:36,600 Speaker 1: It's also funny that on forward thinking, somehow we managed 769 00:43:36,640 --> 00:43:39,560 Speaker 1: to bring it back to the doufwagon every few episodes. 770 00:43:39,960 --> 00:43:45,280 Speaker 1: That was just such an amazing, amazing reality that they created. 771 00:43:45,440 --> 00:43:47,359 Speaker 1: I think what I told Rachel when we walked out 772 00:43:47,440 --> 00:43:49,600 Speaker 1: of the theater was I feel like I could rip 773 00:43:49,640 --> 00:43:53,279 Speaker 1: Australia in half with my hands. All right, now, you've 774 00:43:53,280 --> 00:43:57,320 Speaker 1: got to tell everybody what Zardaz is because unless they are, 775 00:43:57,360 --> 00:44:02,400 Speaker 1: you know, a fan of being movie schlock science fiction, 776 00:44:02,440 --> 00:44:05,719 Speaker 1: they probably have no clue. Well, Zardas actually touches on 777 00:44:05,800 --> 00:44:09,040 Speaker 1: something kind of interesting, despite the fact that it's a 778 00:44:09,200 --> 00:44:15,000 Speaker 1: very weird and very intensely bad movie. Yeah. So it's 779 00:44:15,040 --> 00:44:19,360 Speaker 1: got Sean Connery wearing this like red diaper and carrying 780 00:44:19,360 --> 00:44:21,839 Speaker 1: a gun, and he plays some kind of I don't know, 781 00:44:22,000 --> 00:44:28,320 Speaker 1: future post apocalyptic wasteland policeman who mostly just murders people 782 00:44:28,440 --> 00:44:30,480 Speaker 1: from what you can tell, and then he gets sucked 783 00:44:30,480 --> 00:44:34,120 Speaker 1: into a giant head that's actually a spaceship and taken 784 00:44:34,160 --> 00:44:38,600 Speaker 1: to a strange sort of commune of immortal psychic people. 785 00:44:39,239 --> 00:44:42,200 Speaker 1: It's very hard to describe the plot of Zardas, but 786 00:44:42,280 --> 00:44:45,319 Speaker 1: done a pretty good job considering it's one of the 787 00:44:45,400 --> 00:44:47,960 Speaker 1: weirdest movies I've ever seen, and for that reason it's 788 00:44:48,000 --> 00:44:50,640 Speaker 1: actually worth seeing despite the fact that it is. It 789 00:44:50,760 --> 00:44:53,759 Speaker 1: utterly fails to be good, but it is never for 790 00:44:53,800 --> 00:44:58,719 Speaker 1: a second boring. Yeah. Anyway, but I mentioned that it 791 00:44:58,760 --> 00:45:02,839 Speaker 1: touches on something interest. It actually does the idea that 792 00:45:03,239 --> 00:45:08,319 Speaker 1: past technologies, through a sort of like dark age imposed 793 00:45:08,480 --> 00:45:11,120 Speaker 1: by I don't know, catastrophe of one kind or another, 794 00:45:11,640 --> 00:45:15,359 Speaker 1: could be rediscovered, but we wouldn't remember how to use 795 00:45:15,440 --> 00:45:18,920 Speaker 1: them or how to maintain them. I mean, it's possible 796 00:45:19,000 --> 00:45:21,880 Speaker 1: for dark ages to happen and then to re emerge 797 00:45:21,920 --> 00:45:25,200 Speaker 1: from them and to rediscover all of the scientific and 798 00:45:25,200 --> 00:45:29,320 Speaker 1: technological sophistication of an earlier age that that's actually happened 799 00:45:29,320 --> 00:45:32,040 Speaker 1: on Earth at times. You know, you had the Bronze 800 00:45:32,040 --> 00:45:35,600 Speaker 1: Age collapse, you had the you had what are sometimes 801 00:45:35,640 --> 00:45:37,560 Speaker 1: called the Dark Ages in Europe. Now a lot of 802 00:45:37,600 --> 00:45:39,840 Speaker 1: historians look back and say, well, that's maybe not the 803 00:45:39,880 --> 00:45:43,040 Speaker 1: most accurate way to describe that age in Europe. But 804 00:45:43,080 --> 00:45:46,040 Speaker 1: at least then you had times when a lot of 805 00:45:46,080 --> 00:45:49,719 Speaker 1: the technological progress that had been achieved during say the 806 00:45:49,840 --> 00:45:52,440 Speaker 1: Roman Empire, suddenly people didn't know how to do this 807 00:45:52,480 --> 00:45:56,240 Speaker 1: stuff anymore. Yeah, not until the Renaissance, where they began 808 00:45:56,320 --> 00:46:00,520 Speaker 1: to rediscover and build upon those those advanced is from 809 00:46:00,680 --> 00:46:03,319 Speaker 1: ancient times. Yes, so Zardas kind of touches on that. 810 00:46:03,360 --> 00:46:05,720 Speaker 1: It's got all these people who are in some ways 811 00:46:05,719 --> 00:46:09,359 Speaker 1: sort of interacting with high technology, but they don't understand it. 812 00:46:09,719 --> 00:46:12,879 Speaker 1: So I recommend if you've never seen Zardas, you don't 813 00:46:12,880 --> 00:46:16,400 Speaker 1: need to seize Ardas necessarily, but definitely seek out the trailer, 814 00:46:16,480 --> 00:46:20,640 Speaker 1: which is on YouTube and is amazing. Yeah, especially if 815 00:46:20,640 --> 00:46:22,880 Speaker 1: you love the names Zardas, because you're gonna hear that 816 00:46:22,920 --> 00:46:25,279 Speaker 1: a lot. Yeah, you're gonna hear Sean Connery say it 817 00:46:25,320 --> 00:46:29,359 Speaker 1: in his accent over and over. And then the last 818 00:46:29,360 --> 00:46:33,360 Speaker 1: one you have on here, Robot Monster. Well this really 819 00:46:33,400 --> 00:46:36,880 Speaker 1: belonging post apocalyptic? Yes it does, because the premise of 820 00:46:36,960 --> 00:46:41,680 Speaker 1: Robot Monster is that this race of aliens, who the 821 00:46:41,719 --> 00:46:44,960 Speaker 1: main one we meet is the robot monster named Roman, 822 00:46:45,200 --> 00:46:48,680 Speaker 1: I believe, and he is a guy in some kind 823 00:46:48,719 --> 00:46:51,279 Speaker 1: of ape suit. It's like a gorilla suit with a 824 00:46:51,880 --> 00:46:55,319 Speaker 1: it's like a gumball machine on his head, and that's 825 00:46:55,360 --> 00:46:59,760 Speaker 1: his costume. And he represents this species of aliens who 826 00:46:59,800 --> 00:47:02,160 Speaker 1: I think comes and conquers Earth. I don't remember all 827 00:47:02,160 --> 00:47:05,160 Speaker 1: the details, but suddenly they're just like five people left 828 00:47:05,200 --> 00:47:09,360 Speaker 1: on Earth. But Roman has an extremely difficult time conquering 829 00:47:09,400 --> 00:47:11,680 Speaker 1: these five people who seem to be about a mile 830 00:47:11,800 --> 00:47:15,040 Speaker 1: away from him. Yeah, I uh, I think of that 831 00:47:15,080 --> 00:47:17,719 Speaker 1: as a movie where the audience feels as if they've 832 00:47:17,719 --> 00:47:22,439 Speaker 1: been through a post apocalyptic event. Uh, not necessarily the 833 00:47:22,480 --> 00:47:24,480 Speaker 1: film itself. Well, I think that was on an episode 834 00:47:24,480 --> 00:47:27,239 Speaker 1: of Mystery Science Theater, wasn't it. You know. I want 835 00:47:27,280 --> 00:47:29,680 Speaker 1: to say I know that. Well, they've done so many, 836 00:47:29,760 --> 00:47:31,320 Speaker 1: but I want to say that that was one of 837 00:47:31,360 --> 00:47:35,359 Speaker 1: the ones they've done. Um, they certainly have alluded to 838 00:47:35,400 --> 00:47:38,560 Speaker 1: it before. Well, Joe, thank you so much for coming 839 00:47:38,600 --> 00:47:41,760 Speaker 1: on here and doing these these pair of episodes about 840 00:47:41,840 --> 00:47:45,640 Speaker 1: post apocalyptic technology. Well, thank you for inviting me. It 841 00:47:45,680 --> 00:47:49,120 Speaker 1: has been a whole barrel of fun. Yeah. I enjoyed 842 00:47:49,160 --> 00:47:52,320 Speaker 1: pulling that tune out of the basket. It also, like, 843 00:47:52,320 --> 00:47:54,799 Speaker 1: like I said with the Manhattan Project episodes with Ben, 844 00:47:54,840 --> 00:47:56,560 Speaker 1: I was like, it's kind of like, you know, the 845 00:47:56,600 --> 00:47:58,160 Speaker 1: stuff they don't want you to know is I think 846 00:47:58,160 --> 00:48:00,759 Speaker 1: of that as the other side of the coin of 847 00:48:00,840 --> 00:48:04,560 Speaker 1: forward thinking, Like that's those are two. Forward thinking is 848 00:48:04,560 --> 00:48:07,600 Speaker 1: the big, optimistic side typically and stuff they don't want 849 00:48:07,600 --> 00:48:13,040 Speaker 1: you to know is like the dark, cynical side. Yeah, 850 00:48:13,120 --> 00:48:15,200 Speaker 1: And in a way, this is also kind of like 851 00:48:15,239 --> 00:48:17,439 Speaker 1: the other side of the forward thinking coin. It's very 852 00:48:17,440 --> 00:48:19,440 Speaker 1: different from the stuff we do over it forward thinking. 853 00:48:19,920 --> 00:48:22,600 Speaker 1: We wouldn't normally explore this kind of topic over there, 854 00:48:22,640 --> 00:48:24,440 Speaker 1: but it was fun to be able to explore it 855 00:48:24,440 --> 00:48:27,759 Speaker 1: here on text stuff um and and talk about some 856 00:48:27,800 --> 00:48:30,520 Speaker 1: of our favorite post apocalyptic stories as well as the 857 00:48:30,600 --> 00:48:34,600 Speaker 1: actual things that we would expect in those kind of scenarios. 858 00:48:34,880 --> 00:48:37,960 Speaker 1: I hope that largely, really, I hope that does one 859 00:48:37,960 --> 00:48:41,080 Speaker 1: of two things. One, it convinces people that, yeah, it's 860 00:48:41,080 --> 00:48:44,080 Speaker 1: important for us to think about ways to make our 861 00:48:44,160 --> 00:48:48,400 Speaker 1: various infrastructures more robust so that in the case of 862 00:48:48,480 --> 00:48:51,319 Speaker 1: something catastrophic happening, we can localize it. We can we 863 00:48:51,360 --> 00:48:54,040 Speaker 1: can separate it from everything else, and we can deal 864 00:48:54,120 --> 00:48:57,880 Speaker 1: with it. So that it doesn't become a wider problem, 865 00:48:57,920 --> 00:48:59,719 Speaker 1: and too that it alerts them that there are things 866 00:48:59,760 --> 00:49:03,839 Speaker 1: that we as citizens can do to protect ourselves, so 867 00:49:03,880 --> 00:49:06,520 Speaker 1: that you know, if something like this happens, or when 868 00:49:06,680 --> 00:49:08,600 Speaker 1: something like this happens, if you're looking at along the 869 00:49:08,719 --> 00:49:12,640 Speaker 1: time scale, we get through it with the minimum amount 870 00:49:12,760 --> 00:49:16,840 Speaker 1: of problem, knowing that you know, it's not going to 871 00:49:16,920 --> 00:49:19,719 Speaker 1: be necessarily fun or easy. Easy to get through it, 872 00:49:19,800 --> 00:49:23,160 Speaker 1: but there are things we can do that will make 873 00:49:23,200 --> 00:49:28,239 Speaker 1: it less traumatic, and that's important. So I think those 874 00:49:28,280 --> 00:49:30,719 Speaker 1: are the messages to go home with. Not not that 875 00:49:30,760 --> 00:49:32,960 Speaker 1: you know, I'm not trying to scare anyone. I'm more like, 876 00:49:33,080 --> 00:49:36,200 Speaker 1: just be aware. It's it's good to know that way 877 00:49:36,280 --> 00:49:39,120 Speaker 1: at least, at least if something like that happens, it's 878 00:49:39,160 --> 00:49:43,560 Speaker 1: not a total surprise. Uh. But you can find Joe's 879 00:49:43,560 --> 00:49:45,880 Speaker 1: work over and forward thinking. You can also find his 880 00:49:45,960 --> 00:49:48,200 Speaker 1: work on lots of different stuff. You were your fun 881 00:49:48,280 --> 00:49:50,439 Speaker 1: Stuff to Blow your Mind. I've had a busy week. Yeah, 882 00:49:50,440 --> 00:49:52,399 Speaker 1: So I am now one of the hosts of Step 883 00:49:52,440 --> 00:49:55,240 Speaker 1: to Blow Your Mind along with Robert Lamb and Christian Seger, 884 00:49:55,800 --> 00:49:59,480 Speaker 1: and recently I just appeared on a video and podcast 885 00:49:59,560 --> 00:50:01,520 Speaker 1: with stuff they don't want you to know about paid 886 00:50:01,560 --> 00:50:05,080 Speaker 1: online manipulators, so jumps all over the place. You can 887 00:50:05,160 --> 00:50:07,480 Speaker 1: check out his work there. And of course, if you 888 00:50:07,520 --> 00:50:10,160 Speaker 1: have any suggestions for future episodes of text Stuff or 889 00:50:10,920 --> 00:50:13,200 Speaker 1: future guests I could have on the show, you can 890 00:50:13,200 --> 00:50:16,000 Speaker 1: write me. Let me know the madresses tex Stuff at 891 00:50:16,040 --> 00:50:19,320 Speaker 1: Houston works dot com, draw me a line on Facebook, 892 00:50:19,520 --> 00:50:22,560 Speaker 1: Twitter or Tumbler. They handled all three US tex Stuff phs, 893 00:50:22,719 --> 00:50:31,800 Speaker 1: W and I'll talk to you again. Really sick for 894 00:50:31,960 --> 00:50:34,319 Speaker 1: more on this and bathands of other topics because it 895 00:50:34,360 --> 00:50:44,360 Speaker 1: has to have works dot com