Martin was busy tending to his unexpected guests when an urgent radio call came in. The railroad project needed the welding repair done immediately. Martin tried to tell Charles to get his welder up to Manchester and do the welding as he had promised, but the Hendrick brothers had gone to the coast and would not return until Friday. The welder was still at the Hendricks' farm but how could he get it up to Manchester without the truck?

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Mic, Brian and Jeff discuss one of the iconic tropes in prepperdom -- the world gone "Mad Max". Formed mostly on the basis of the first two Mad Max movies (and there have been sequels afterward), the chaotic, desolate, and violent world of Mad Max serves as a sort of worst-case archetype for a post-SHTF world.  But, how likely is the world to Mad Max? Can one prep for that? Why aren't there roving gangs of good guys? Join us for the discussion and feel free to share your thoughts too.

Links to films referred to in this episode

Things To Come (1936) Movie adaptation of H.G.Wells' novel. A world war destroys civilization, sending mankind back to the stone age. Synopsis

Captive Women (1951) Movie about post-SHTF barbarism. Synopsis

World Without End (1956) Another movie about post-SHTF barbarism, but with astronauts! Synopsis.

Mad Max: (first film: 1979) -- Wikipedia synopsis. Watch it free at archive.org.

Mad Max 2 (1981) -- Synopsis on imdb.org  Rent at Amazon Prime, YouTube subscription, etc.

Early one morning, the motion alarm that Martin installed in his bean field, goes off. He rushes out to find a mysterious silhouette at the edge. He chases and tackles the person. She turns out to be a member of a group of Feral women who had been hiding in the woods across the road.  Margaret coaxes them into cooperating and relocating to behind the Simmons' house so that they would be safe from the disgruntled townsfolk who are hunting them. The Simmons' do not have enough food for eight new mouths. What can they do?

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The US Government's EMP Commission's report stated that at E.M.P. attack could take out the nation's power grid for over a year. After a year without the grid, said the report, that 60% to 90% of Americans would be dead. None of us can prevent an EMP, a CME, or a terrorist hack, but there are steps we can take to help be in the surviving 10%. Mic, Brian, and Jeff discuss grid-down media and an EMP movie.

Links to material the boys discussed:

Grid-Down / Power-Up (2021 documentary starring Dennis Quaid)

Ted Koppel interview discussing his grid-down book: Lights Out (2015)

Ted Koppel's book, Lights Out, on Amazon (2015)

Movie, E.M.P. 333 Days (2018) free on Tubi, for rent for $2 on YouTube, Google Play, Amazon Prime.

Martin resumes his chores around the house and checks out Dustin's rabbit snares at the back bean field. He takes a break to help Andy move out to Mara's camp. Andy is thrilled to be rooming with his soul mate. Martin gets back home in time to attend a contentious Grange meeting. Members complain about the Ferals stealing food and spreading disease. A mood of vigilanteism sweeps the meeting.

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Mic gives an audio tour around the homestead as things stand at mid-summer.-- the quiet, elderberries that were only mostly-dead, what seems like slow fruiting, the chickens and the sad tale of dropping a tree on top of his low garden. Doh.

All that, and news that target shooting is, apparently, a popular spectator sport for chickens. Who knew?

To see photos that go along with this audio tour, visit my Buy Me A Coffee page and click on Posts. If you prefer Patreon, go to my Patreon page and it should be the top post. Both are available to everyone.

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The train leaves Laconia, making its way down through Tilton and Concord, on its way to Manchester. When they arrive, everyone aboard is surprised to see very little ready for them. The city is oddly open-looking. All the trees are gone. lMartin returns home to an enthusiastic welcome, but the chores he frets over were still not done.

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Is it better to prep by trying to be an off-grid homesteader, or a basement stasher of a year's worth of all your consumables? Mic, Jeff, and Brian discuss these two poles of the spectrum of prepping.  Brian goes into a couple of rants about the cons of homesteading. He is also frank about some challenges to the basement stasher.

Feel free to email Mic with your two-cents on the issues we discussed. mic (at) mic-roland (dot) com

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Martin is tasked with riding on the front of Engine #6 to inspect the rails as the train leaves Plymouth. He sees two people running on the tracks toward the train. They jump into the brush beside the rails. More people come running down the tracks and jump off at the same place. Shots ring out. Martin signals for the train to stop just before it reaches a small bridge. What he discovers under that bridge was completely unexpected.

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Mic, Brian, and Jeff all watched what might be the first realistic SHTF-Bug-Out movie: Panic In Year Zero (1962). While it is, of course, Hollywood fiction, many of the scenes are directly applicable to today. If you needed supplies, would you steal to get them? If you were confronted by someone you meant you harm, should you 'terminate' them right then? Our three movie-watchers discuss many of the scenes that raise relevant questions for today.

Panic in Year Zero Movie: (YouTube Link) Shown in 10 parts. Link is to Part 1. The subsequent parts usually follow automatically, but take note that the new part has the next part number. They don't always follow correctly. But hey, it's free. :-) Give it a try. See for yourself what we were jabbering about.

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