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Bio-Weapons That Eat Ammunition and Fuel
1gor writes: "This article in The Observer mentions Pentagon's plans to use genetically modified bugs that 'eat' the enemy's fuel and ammunition supplies without harming humans (they also want to to pacify the enemy by spraying Valium). Imagine an escaped virus destroying the Earth's oil reserves and its whole industrial potential? Curiously, the military may implement the environmentalists' ultimate dream!"
"A supertanker has crashed off the shores of San Francisco, producing the largest oil spill in history. Desperate to avert an ecological--and public relations--disaster, a multinational oil company releases an untested virus designed to break up the spill. A virus that spreads like wildfire on the wind, destroying anything made of petroleum-destroying gasoline in automobile tanks, plastic, nylon, the very fabric of modern civilization itself."
-Summary of Ill Wind, by Kevin J Anderson.
One of my favorite post apocalyptic science fiction novels. Awesome read. Coolest part is that most guns can now fire exactly once, if they were already loaded, because the lubricant inside has turned to glue.
Austin is more fun than Dallas.
Valium is pretty expensive to produce let alone spray over large areas ..
.. they are easily and cheaply produced .. since it is a weed it spreads very quickly - grows well in tropical climates .. and has muliple uses ..
..
I would suggest dropping massive amounts of Cannabis sativa seeds
In fact there is a very real possibility that this approach could turn the enemy into a bunch of friendly peaceful pot smoking farmers
This is, of course, how Michael Crichton's original bestseller The Andromeda Strain ended when it was written almost a quarter century ago. As this review so aptly notes, TAS is still ahead of its time. Perhaps it's worth a quick (re)read?
Although I'm sure I'll get flamed for this. There have been quite a few proposed solutions to problems like the power problem that may not have gotten quite the attention they deserved due to reasons quite different from their viability. Some of these have included Viktor Schauberger (web resources on him aren't nearly as good as the print books available, check amazon.com), and although a bit cliche, Nicola Tesla.
Anyway, empires have crashed before, sudden catastrophic change has much historical president. I'm not worried about the power going out. We'll survive.
Cheers, Joshua
When in danger or in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout!
The unfortunate problem is that there is no current alternative to oil. If you look at the raw number of BTUs being consumed, there is nothing that will even come close. This is going to be a big issue for people to deal with. The alternative to oil currently isn't clean. It's coal. There's lots, and lots, and LOTS of coal. Coal, unfortunately, is nasty stuff, containing trace elements of just about everything.
Take a look around sometime, and just try an imagine the sheer volume of oil and the amount of energy it represents. The processing of energy drives our entire civilization, and in it's current form, that means the processing of oil.
The only other (currently) possible alternatives are nuclear technologies, be they fission, hot, or cold fusion. This is possibly the saviour of the planet, but the environmentalists are hell-bent to stop nuclear research and testing at all costs. Solar, wind, and wave power can make contributions but the infrastructure and maintenance required make these unrealistic alternatives.
Thermodynamics is harsh stuff.
..don't panic
Nazi research on the Jews, specificly research pretaining to the effects of low presures and temperatures on the human body was the foundation of our space program (and our ability to develop the a space suit).
Japanese research into the effects of various viruses/bacterium on the human body in unit 731 (frequently considred a great deal more vicious than the Nazi research) yeilded results which the US would keep secret until the 1980s for use in our own biowarfare programs. (Hypotheticly ending in 1972).
This is to say nothing of more engineering related research done by the Nazis such as balistic rocketry (space program), jet engines, and hydrogen based power plants for submarines (precurser to the modern fuel cell? I'm not sure on that one).
Killfile(TGK)
No trees were killed in the creation of this post. However, many electrons were inconvenienced.
i said "no affect on the enviornment" because 1) in all urban areas wires are in place and panels are installed on roofs. and 2) in nature the only places panels are installed are in deserts because of the high amount of light there, so there is no very large impact by installation.
Also, its not about having 1 giant streak, its about massive decentralization in places were it wouldn't have a large affect.
Only dead fish swim with the stream...