Asteroid IMPACT, a WHAT IF thread

They are only scientific up to a certain point.

I think we're all gonna be pretty stinky by the time we make land...Didn't our host say that's mostly the bucks? You keep them at the back of the boat. I watched a pygmy goat give birth once on TV, good lord, by the sounds coming out of her, no wonder they've been associated with the devil.

Pound for pound, aren't goats more useful than cattle?

For that matter, if smell was going to be such an issue, couldn't the musk glands be removed?

And what about the sugar question, sugar?

That's right See Tee.

What about it then?

well, we must feed the hummingbirds and the bees.

hmmmm...that's true....are hummingbirds going to be on board?

Bees, they need to be chilled or smoked or whatever to be put into hibernation.



I'm thinking of a big bucket of goat musk glands. Perhaps they could be frozen for something useful later....like a secret weapon when the Idaho people try to infiltrate.

I have to say, you can come up wiith some vile **** lady.. Bees will be needed as pollinators. Their almost a co-dependent of flowering plants. They ride up with the captain.
By the way, as probably the most sea faring person on A2k , I will accept the boat captaincy. Ill get us through unscathed.

Well, I might not be some scientist or anything....I'm just trying to contribute to the world being saved.

Don't you think someone like me, who can think outside the musk gland bucket, will be needed?

When everyone else is using their high intelligence, someone like me will be messing around, trying to find a use for all the disgusting bits no one appreciates the foulness of.

If you want a peaceful new world, ya gotta get rid of the riff raff.

I'd be a regular Genghis Kahn when it came to overpowering the Idahodians.

Waste, that's what the enemy wants.

Tell me again what your gonna do with the goat parts, that went right over my head. PS, thge musk glands are right up their asses and on their ankles. You remove the goat glands, you have a bucket of goat spare parts, and a bunch of dead goats. Whats the point?

So, you can't remove the glands without killing the goats?

People have things removed from up their asses and ankles all the time.




What would I DO with the goat musk glands?! Ever hear of a trebuchet?

Those Idahodians would think twice about infilltrating once they get a taste of THAT!


Seriously, if we have 6 months to prepare, and one animal has the advantage of being smaller and easier to keep, why wouldn't you just remove the offensive part? Once people are settled in after the impact, they'll be reproducing their young with the glands intact.

One more thing....Birth control devices....will enough be brought along? I'm not sure you want babies right away.

now we are catapulting goat parts into Idaho. Did I miss a lecture somewhere?

farmerman - now you are just being silly.....I really think you ought to get back on track.


Actually, I have a very good issue to bring up...I'll be back as soon as I have my cup of coffee.

IM being silly?

You want to lob goat around like missiles and Im being silly. Ok , lets visit the world of chai tea and see where thee goat bombs will take us.

Also, cant we just leave Idaho alone. They have a big enough self esteem problem out there. They have an entire state shaped like a beer bottle, they have no beaches, and theres no discernable "Idaho cuisine" worth mentioning. Lets just leave em be. When we get the world back on track, we can run a cable wire to em and theycan find out what happened.

Was thinking about this last night.



Are all these preparations going to be going on in secret?

Even if they are, I see a big issue - religion.

Even if the work was being done confidentially, this is going to come up.
In a book, I can see this as a big conflict issue.

Some will say bringing various ministers and authorities on various faiths would be essential. Others would say not.

Even among major groups such as Islam, Judaism, Christianity, there are so many different levels. And what of smaller groups? Are their religions any less deserving of attention?

Some would say (including me) that this event would be the perfect opportunity to wipe the slate clean, and start anew. Let religions develope or not as they may amongst the survivors.

Others of course, would be horrified at this suggestion.

Any thoughts on this?

Ok, laying the dead goats aside or a moment and standing down our plans to invade Idaho, Ill offer this observation of religion. Early sttlements used to split themselves up according to religions. Wars were not uncommon and it took a stronger central government to prevail(not to mention the fortuitous occurence of common enemies)

Malevolent Leadership arising from among some speciic religious sects may prove a problem, as would a zealous "militia". All good subjects for a nice read about a post apocalyptic world.

So how would it decided who gets to go on the ark, as far as religion?

Will it be a combo Baptist preacher/geologist? (shudder) or some neo paganists?

As much as logic would dictate not bringing them aboard unless they could serve some other immediate need, you know there's gonna be trouble.

That could mess up the whole 6 months timing thing...unless everything was kept secret.

I wonder what P. has thought about this?

The goat-gland trebuchet thing inevitably brought up mental images of that great work of comic art (that must certainly be part of the archive aboard the ark:

(I hope this pic works) One might differ about the suitability of different ruminants as missiles.

I saw the Japanese animation, which was very nicely done, but the meteor depicted in that film is 10 or 20 times bigger than the one I had in mind. In that scenario there is no survival possible (unless we can start colonies on other planets).

Sugar has a very high energy to weight ratio and is therefore good to keep as emergency ration, apart from it serving as food for numerous insects as mentioned by Farmerman. Excess sugar can be turned into alcohol for fuel.

In the case of the ark scenario, the crew will for a large part be selected on their suitability for the trip. I think it will be inevitable that some of the crew are religious, but I would never choose some fanatic. I guess they would not want to come along either, since they probably will be trekking to a mountain top to happily await Armageddon (or use the breakdown of law and order to start bashing the brains out of infidels).

I do consider it quite likely that some people will turn to religion in the face of the hardships of survival (in times of war and catastrophe the churches are full). But aboard the ship we will not encourage religious fomenting and uphold the Western lay law that religion is personal and none of the public services (like education) will support any particular faith.

For the duration of the voyage and the early parts of the building of the colony, I would expect that the battle against the odds of chaos and barbary will be the uniting force that will hold the people together, but perhaps once a certain level of security and opulence has been reached, religious factionism could rear its head. On the whole however, I expect within the limits of the story to deal only with individual elements that might frustrate the survival effort (as in "one man's evil becomes the curse of all").

Theres about 12 different processes to make alcohols, and fermentation and distillation of carbohydrates is but one (and its one of the more wasteful means).
I ws thinking about the availability of a task force of naval vessels. This, of course would require some sort of a national effort and the compounding of wasteful individuals like poilticians who , by their nature, would consider themselves indespensible.

Ive missed out and Ill have to go back, but how did you decide on the selection and makeup of the "colony" , I mean , by what authority and means of selection were we to go by.?

Good deal....

Just make sure you don't include anyone who lives in the Bible Belt in the US then.


(glad you appreciated my trebuchet humor)

The first and foremost selection criterion would be skills (a geologist is more useful in terms of survival than a fashion model, when we go by their profession) other important considerations are age and health. In third line would be ethnicity (genetic diversity will increase the viability of the colony).

The matter of anti-conception has been on my mind too, Chai. Not just for the practical side to it, but also for the control it gives women over their sexuality, which is an important element in modern civilisation.

I have no idea how difficult it would be to manufacture anti-conception pills, but I guess that a combination of traditionally used herbs (like fenugreek) and rubbers (latex is not too difficult to come by provided our rubber trees thrive) would be sufficiently effective in most cases.

It is with great comfort I read this thread. The world is in capable hands.
I am already on the mountain (200 acres Australian bush) living like a hermit without the modern comforts. I post from elsewhere. However in such a place every day is met as if the disaster has taken place. In time you find the list is never long enough and most of what you though was required is little more than useless. After the dust settles look me up I doubt if anything will change I am just a survivor before the event.
Excellent thread the depth of thought is very comforting. Keep up the good work.
alex