Well, I’m a nurse, so I guess if you accept a guest, I could assist the doctors on board. I already have one son, in the 95th percentile for height and 75th for weight, so I am a producer of sturdy children. (And no pesky SO to interfere with genetic diversity) Im pretty nifty with a vegetable garden, can crochet scarves ( and not much else…) I can build shelters out of tree branches or snow blocks, and I read all the Little House on the Prairie books, so I could probably help with doing things pioneer-style.
So, can I survive? Huh, huh? Please…
Remember, Im a nurse in the under funded health care system and a single Mom. I’ve done so much with so little for so long, now I can do almost anything with nothing at all!
Guys (and gals), come back to the mother country for the climate. Twenty Fahrenheit is considered ridiculously cold, we are proverbial for our adequate rainfall, we don’t roast in summer (but can have sixteen hours of daylight), and sheep and cattle thrive here. Also we have no large carnivores and are short on horrible parasites.
In addition to my amateur teaching and brewing skills, I play a mean game of Medieval: Total War and have read Janissaries several times, so when the hi-tech weaponry all gets broken, I’ll be right there with ancient-warfare tactics to keep the barbarian hordes at bay (or pillage our neighbours and rap^H^H^Henlist their women).
If Tennessee is the site, then I recommend Chattanooga.
It has
[ul]
[li]A large TVA dam[/li][li]Active/abandoned industrial sites[/li][li]machine shops[/li][li]access to river transport[/li][li]Farmland, north of the Cumberland River[/li][li]Not too far from the ocean, if we really need to go there[/li][li]within travel range of oil/coal deposits[/li][li]A variety of defensible positions.[/li][li]Remarkable biodiversity[/li][/ul]
Look, we broke away from you once, silly limeys. Don’t think you can persuade, cajole or otherwise find a way for us to come *back * to you. Rain, cold and YUCK.
Damn Brits. grumble grumble
I’m another technical writer, and I can draw, so I can help out with the instructions.
But more importantly, I know how to build solar-heated houses that need little auxiliary heat. Their only critical material needs for building are large windows and plastic vapour barriers, although cement for concrete would be very appreciated; we can fake all the rest with rammed earth walls, straw-bale insulation, and wooden roofs.
I also have information about permaculture, though, depending on the chosen location, we’d need a lot of experimentation to get our Fruitful Designed Ecosystems up and running.
I can also do ham radio and TV.
(Glass. Cement. I think I know where all that natural gas would come in useful…)
It sounds like the overall answer is yes, as much as any group could hammer out a prosperous society, those on this board could certainly give it a good effort.
Personally I’ve been in manufacturing for about 12 years with a good bit of experience in fabrication, engineering and maintenance. Also, I have been in management for a couple of years so orginizing any of the above efforts would be no problemo.
My SO (Hi Kristi, I Love You dear!!!) and I have a grand total of 7 kids so child care is second nature to us, bring 'em on and we will make a western state a giant day-care. How about Oklahoma? Centrally located and would be one big@zz sandbox.
I do think though, that forming a stable form of government up front is essential, what ever form it may take. Without a common concent of direction our Utopia will slide into a Fruitopia pretty quick. And not one of the good flavors either.
As a special bonus for me, I’ve remembered that among my other odd skills I number gemstone prospecting. I can’t do anything with em, but when I was a child I made an absurd amount of money doing the prospecting and then flogging them off to unsuspecting tourists for approximately 600% retail.
IT Geek here. Good with all systems from Desktop through server, and network, including telephone.
I’m also good with soda machines.
I can hunt (not very good at it at the moment though, still learning), garden, fix many mechancial/electrical items (probably anything, if given enough spare parts, and manuals), brew, cook nearly anything (except any baked good but for bread).
I’d say just based on intelligence of the members, we’d make nearly anything happen.
The problem would come from the politics in a lot of cases… IMO of course…
Oh yes? What’s the winter like where you’re from? Fancy the summers without aircon? Got some objection to sitting up enjoying the summer sunshine until half-past nine?
Besides, yet another of my valuable skills would be teaching cricket to Americans.
I’m guessing that between skills possessed and the ability and desire to learn exhibited by the Doper Community, that we may be better suited than most groups of 5000 + families. I would guess that if you took a random town of 5000 to 15000 people they would probably have a smaller overall pool of skills.
I think running and maintaining a Hydro-Power plant would be the easiest way to maintain electrical power.
We should definitely want mild winters and mild summers. Tennessee may be an excellent location and still relatively easy to get additional supplies of all sorts.
We just need to make sure we build our new community on high ground.
I’m not personally familiar with India, nor much of Tennessee…
Doesn’t India have monsoons?!
Anyway, I could happily propose the Oregon Willamette Valley area as an alternate site. Very fertile, grows great wine grapes and hops (!! - needed for beer brewing, y’know), plus lots of other good crops (fruits, veggies, grain). There’s the Willamette River and the Columbia River for fishing, transportation (the Port of Portland), etc. The climate is pretty mild year-round - very rarely does it freeze or get sweltering hot, and it really doesn’t rain as much as popular myth would have it (oops, now I’m in trouble!). Lots of native game species (deer & elk, for instance), plus dairy cows near the Pacific coast, which isn’t that far away, and sheep in the valley. Don’t forget all the timber resources nearby. The Bonneville dam is not far for hydro-electric power. In fact, it has most of the assets of Tennessee, but I think maybe a few more, IMNSHO.
Just an ever-so-slightly biased suggestion.
i can repair computers, so i could pretty much extrapolate on simpler electrical devices
i grew up on a farm, so i could grow crops, i also an an outdoorsman so i could fish and hunt
i’m a decent shot, and have a very draconian view of justice, i could be in the police or millitary force
i can quote entire Monty Python sketches and Douglas Adams quotes from memory, i can compose some reasonably bad Vogon-esque poerty (good for use in that law enforcement thing… “Stop, or i’ll read one of my poems at you!”)
