"Alas, Brave New Babylon" new fiction by Matt Bracken

Western Rifle Shooters Association ^ | August 26, 2013 | Matthew Bracken

[little jeremiah]

How would you manage water in a townhouse? Did you drill a well in your back yard or have catchment?

[Marcella]

“How would you manage water in a townhouse?”

24 gallons stored in Ozarka jugs that stack.
100 gallons in WaterBob (fits in bathtub) filled before water goes out.
Diverter insert in downspout to divert rainwater to water barrel.
Plastic kiddie pools so sit on deck to catch rainwater.
17,000 gallon swimming pool.
Berkey purifier to purify the water (WaterBob water doesn’t need purifying and neither does Ozarka)

[Titan Magroyne]

RE: It might come down to consuming that crop to stay alive. I hope not, but starving people will eat grass, tree bark and old shoe leather. Then they start looking at each other.

I know. I’ve noticed no deer damage to the sunchokes I’ve got - not that one could tell.

I do envy you the handpump water access. My thumb is about as brown - or black! - as yours, LOL.

[GeronL]

bump

[PA Engineer]

The problem is indeed not unique to the US. A good investigation is the Auckland CBD power failure. Human behavior was shocking, but not surprising. What stood out was the behavior of peoples in their homes and particularly apartments.

Water was lost when power stopped to the pump stations and apartment lift pumps. People continued to defecate in their toilets until they were full. They proceeded to fill their bathtubs and then the sinks. Finally, they started to defecate in the hallways until the buildings were no longer habitable.

Something worth investigating.

Great read and I appreciated the utopian arrogance described.

I don't think we are going to get out of this. In every engineering failure there are numerous points along the way that the problem can be avoided. There is never one failure, but an accumulation of errors.

There is one consistency in all my professional investigations, and that was what I like to call the culture of failure. In a macro sense that is western civilization today.

[tarawa]

I like it. Good stuff.

[no-to-illegals]

Bookmark.

[Travis McGee]

What you wrote reminded me of “Outlook Express” email. It is really nice, works very well, until it’s full and then it just stops dead and you can’t do much about it.

Apartments and high rises have a lot of advantages during times of peace and plenty. Look at pictures of the fighting in Syria and imagine what “apartment living” is like in the Damascus suburbs now. Hell on earth doesn’t come close. Water and “sanitation” are just two of their many problems. They also become sniper roosts and artillery shell magnets.

[antisocial]

Thanks, this looks to be a great read!

[Travis McGee]

I hope so.

[citizen]

Thanks, Matt!

I’m reading Domestic Enemies, the Reconquista, athe moment via Kindle on my phone.

[Travis McGee]

I can’t read those tiny screens...how far are you into DE?

[CPT Clay]

Bump

[citizen]

36% Ramos and Falcon Battalion are about to overrun this big ranch.

I generally read it when I’m stuck somewhere waiting around so it’s good to have it on my phone. The “pages” do turn pretty quickly, though!

[The FIGHTIN Illini]

Well done once again Mr. Bracken. I can only hope your writing strategy works and ‘lures’ in some other readers that just might open their eyes after reading the last third. I gave a copy to one of my Thursday morning breakfast club members and I’m sure he’ll pass it on to others in his social circle. Keep up the good fight!

Regards.

[Travis McGee]

Plenty go go. Ramos is one of my favorite villains.

[Travis McGee]

I will print up some “Bracken Anthologies” in a few months, which will also be helpful for passing around. My quarter-million page novels are pretty daunting to all but rabid readers.

[dcwusmc]

You got a way with words, bro. I wish you lived closer to me; I’d bug ya to help me put MY book on paper!

[Travis McGee]

It’s all about having time to write. Books take a LOT of time.

[dennisw]

bookmark