# The Walking Dead; 7.11 "Hostiles and Calamities" (open spoilers) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 27, 2017, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-7-11-hostiles-and-calamities-open-spoilers/780907 "2017-02-27T01:17:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![CannyDan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cannydan/32/548_2.png) [@CannyDan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CannyDan)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2017, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-7-11-hostiles-and-calamities-open-spoilers/780907/21 "2017-02-27T21:18:47Z")
So this week a scrounger excavates inside a Kroger store and discovers half a case of canned creamed corn. Yum! Lots of robust meal opportunities there! Sautéed creamed corn. Steamed creamed corn. Pan fried creamed corn. Creamed corn with creamed corn. Oh, it’s gonna be a good week! Next week though, when the scroungers only come up with a few bottles of cider vinegar, promises to be somewhat – eh – different. Almost as uncomfortable as the week the toilet tissue searchers could only find a big box of steel wool. Somehow, supplying that large a community by forced tribute alone strikes me as less than sustainable. _Somebody_ is going to need to do some dirt farming, and soon. ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2017, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-7-11-hostiles-and-calamities-open-spoilers/780907/22 "2017-02-27T21:40:41Z")
Speaking as someone who reloads his own ammo, it would be _very_ easy for Eugene to wreak havoc with Negan’s armory/ammo stash and it’d be very hard to place blame on him He could; 1; deliberately under-charge the powder load, causing a squib shot that blocks the barrel, if the barrel is not cleared of the squib and the gun is fired again, it could damage the barrel, possibly even causing the gun to energetically self-disassemble 2; deliberately overcharge the round and/or use the wrong powder, causing the gun to kaboom 3; set the bullet far back in the casing, causing an unpredictable pressure spike 4; crimp the bullet so tightly into the case that the pressure spikes and blows the case 5; use black powder instead of smokeless and wait for corrosion to damage internal components Or any combination of these, sprinkle the sabotaged rounds randomly throughout the guns, that way the failures appear random and difficult to trace Find some way to get Negan’s handgun and slip two sabotaged rounds into the middle of the mag, one squib, one overcharged, if he’s firing rapidly, the squib round will block his barrel and the overcharged round will destroy the gun, injuring him badly in the process ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2017, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-7-11-hostiles-and-calamities-open-spoilers/780907/23 "2017-02-27T23:13:48Z")
Whatever Eugene’s other talents may be, he is mainly a bull shit artist. Neegan will figure this out real soon. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2017, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-7-11-hostiles-and-calamities-open-spoilers/780907/24 "2017-02-27T23:37:52Z")
> [@CannyDan](#): > > S > Somehow, supplying that large a community by forced tribute alone strikes me as less than sustainable. _Somebody_ is going to need to do some dirt farming, and soon. Don’t the hilltop and the kingdom both farm? Alexandria was at least in the planning stages for farming before Negan showed up. ---
**Author:** ![BeepKillBeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9e8a1a/32.png) [@BeepKillBeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeepKillBeep)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2017, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-7-11-hostiles-and-calamities-open-spoilers/780907/25 "2017-02-27T23:56:52Z")
> [@MacTech](#): > > Speaking as someone who reloads his own ammo, it would be _very_ easy for Eugene to wreak havoc with Negan’s armory/ammo stash and it’d be very hard to place blame on him > > He could; > 1; deliberately under-charge the powder load, causing a squib shot that blocks the barrel, if the barrel is not cleared of the squib and the gun is fired again, it could damage the barrel, possibly even causing the gun to energetically self-disassemble > > 2; deliberately overcharge the round and/or use the wrong powder, causing the gun to kaboom > > 3; set the bullet far back in the casing, causing an unpredictable pressure spike > > 4; crimp the bullet so tightly into the case that the pressure spikes and blows the case > > 5; use black powder instead of smokeless and wait for corrosion to damage internal components > > Or any combination of these, sprinkle the sabotaged rounds randomly throughout the guns, that way the failures appear random and difficult to trace > > Find some way to get Negan’s handgun and slip two sabotaged rounds into the middle of the mag, one squib, one overcharged, if he’s firing rapidly, the squib round will block his barrel and the overcharged round will destroy the gun, injuring him badly in the process The only flaw with this otherwise cunning plan, mi’lord, is that Negan does not seem to be the type to assign blame based on logic and proof but rather on whatever whim strikes him. So methinks it would be more like: Goon #1: “Negan, our ammo is failing.” Negan: “Dwight, go get the iron ready and somebody go get our ‘Chief Engineer’” ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2017, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-7-11-hostiles-and-calamities-open-spoilers/780907/26 "2017-02-28T00:26:19Z")
Seemed like the entire episode was just to setup the final scene where Eugene jumps the gun and says “I’m Negan”. A long way to go for a meh joke. ---
**Author:** ![CannyDan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cannydan/32/548_2.png) [@CannyDan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CannyDan)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2017, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-7-11-hostiles-and-calamities-open-spoilers/780907/27 "2017-02-28T00:29:32Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > Don’t the hilltop and the kingdom both farm? Alexandria was at least in the planning stages for farming before Negan showed up. I think that’s correct. I’ll add another complication, although I recognize that it would be unfair to require a TV script to indulge this much detail. That’s the matter of dealing with your crops once you’ve grown them. Real farmers and anyone who’s ever planted a home vegetable garden will tell you that when the zucchini is ripe you’ll be buried in squash up to your eyeballs. You’ll be so sick of eating it that you’ll get the heaves just looking at the color green. You’ll be creating a squash landfill. Zucchini mulch will dominate your flower beds. But two weeks later you’ll be out of food and wishing you had the wasted ones back. Just sayin’, our latter day pioneers need to spend at least as much time and effort figuring out storage systems as they do on acquisition. Otherwise a bountiful harvest will be followed by crushing starvation once the preserved leftovers of civilization run out. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2017, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-7-11-hostiles-and-calamities-open-spoilers/780907/28 "2017-02-28T00:35:32Z")
Canning. MIL v.1.0 and Mrs. Plant (v.1.0) worked a great deal at it with tomatoes. Mason jars, rims and lids. I would imagine that most of the blood thirsty groups haven’t looted Mason jars. ---
**Author:** ![CannyDan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cannydan/32/548_2.png) [@CannyDan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CannyDan)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2017, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-7-11-hostiles-and-calamities-open-spoilers/780907/29 "2017-02-28T01:03:29Z")
My thoughts exactly. I’m sure there are plenty of Mason jars and pressure cookers remaining in the malls. ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2017, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-7-11-hostiles-and-calamities-open-spoilers/780907/30 "2017-02-28T01:32:44Z")
> [@BeepKillBeep](#): > > The only flaw with this otherwise cunning plan, mi’lord, is that Negan does not seem to be the type to assign blame based on logic and proof but rather on whatever whim strikes him. So methinks it would be more like: > > Goon #1: “Negan, our ammo is failing.” > Negan: “Dwight, go get the iron ready and somebody go get our ‘Chief Engineer’” That’s why you use a kinetic hammer bullet puller to sabotage the _commercial_ ammo, done correctly, the sabotage would be undetectable, having the bad ammo come from a “commercial” box of Gold Dot, or Hornady or Federal or Remington would keep the suspicion off Eugene. Besides, a conscientious and careful reloader (which Eugene most likely _is_) will turn out far better and safer ammo than mass produced commercial ammo, plus, at this point in the zompocalypse, commercial ammo should be getting rare and hand loaded ammo the norm once the primers are all used up, they’ll be back to black powder weapons, once percussion caps are gone, it’ll be flintlock and matchlock ---
**Author:** ![BeepKillBeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9e8a1a/32.png) [@BeepKillBeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeepKillBeep)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2017, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-7-11-hostiles-and-calamities-open-spoilers/780907/31 "2017-02-28T01:52:07Z")
> [@MacTech](#): > > That’s why you use a kinetic hammer bullet puller to sabotage the _commercial_ ammo, done correctly, the sabotage would be undetectable, having the bad ammo come from a “commercial” box of Gold Dot, or Hornady or Federal or Remington would keep the suspicion off Eugene. > > Besides, a conscientious and careful reloader (which Eugene most likely _is_) will turn out far better and safer ammo than mass produced commercial ammo, plus, at this point in the zompocalypse, commercial ammo should be getting rare and hand loaded ammo the norm > > once the primers are all used up, they’ll be back to black powder weapons, once percussion caps are gone, it’ll be flintlock and matchlock I really don’t think Negan would think about it that carefully. Ammo fail would equal ammo maker fail. Far too risky for the extremely risk adverse Eugene in any case. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2017, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-7-11-hostiles-and-calamities-open-spoilers/780907/32 "2017-02-28T02:41:34Z")
> [@BeepKillBeep](#): > > I think Eugene is being Eugene.\ True enough. Eugene will very much do what he needs to do to stay alive. Does it even matter if he’s all Neganed up or not? He’ll act like he is until [Rick and his bunch roll back in.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ) > [@DigitalC](#): > > I thought Negan buying the ridiculous story Dwight came up with was pretty silly. It didn’t make sense on any level. I don’t see how Dwight is more important than a doctor, and Negan believing that lame story was very odd. > [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Canning. MIL v.1.0 and Mrs. Plant (v.1.0) worked a great deal at it with tomatoes. > Mason jars, rims and lids. I would imagine that most of the blood thirsty groups haven’t looted Mason jars. Yup. They’d be canning and preserving and drying and salting their asses off. Or having their thralls doing it. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2017, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-7-11-hostiles-and-calamities-open-spoilers/780907/33 "2017-02-28T03:28:54Z")
> [@BeepKillBeep](#): > > I really don’t think Negan would think about it that carefully. Ammo fail would equal ammo maker fail. Far too risky for the extremely risk adverse Eugene in any case. I agree. Has Eugene found a way to make igniters? Is that feasible with a machine shop? ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2017, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-7-11-hostiles-and-calamities-open-spoilers/780907/34 "2017-02-28T03:29:37Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > It didn’t make sense on any level. I don’t see how Dwight is more important than a doctor, and Negan believing that lame story was very odd. While I don’t disagree, the point was to show that Negan is on a hair trigger when it comes to his wives. Any suggestion of hanky-panky and he’s not thinking straight at all. ---
**Author:** ![rainy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c2a13f/32.png) [@rainy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rainy)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2017, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-7-11-hostiles-and-calamities-open-spoilers/780907/35 "2017-02-28T03:48:31Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > They collect tribute. They don’t need to farm or do anything. Whatever they need, they get their vassals to scrounge for them. They’ve done a piss poor job of making that work on screen. From what we’ve seen the number of predators, the Saviors, numbers in the hundreds. We’ve seen like maybe 50 or 60 folks between Hilltop and Alexandria combined. Heck, it was practically man to man coverage when they showed up at Alexandria for tribute. Kingdom seems to have several, but from the cafeteria scene, maybe 100. You can’t have that many lions feeding on such a small herd of antelope. Negan’s group would have to be farming to continue to eat. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2017, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-7-11-hostiles-and-calamities-open-spoilers/780907/36 "2017-02-28T04:11:00Z")
> [@Shakester](#): > > While I don’t disagree, the point was to show that Negan is on a hair trigger when it comes to his wives. Any suggestion of hanky-panky and he’s not thinking straight at all. Ah, I did not get that. It’s a little surprising that he keeps Dwight around at all, knowing that Sherry was Dwight’s wife. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2017, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-7-11-hostiles-and-calamities-open-spoilers/780907/37 "2017-02-28T04:53:34Z")
> [@rainy](#): > > They’ve done a piss poor job of making that work on screen. From what we’ve seen the number of predators, the Saviors, numbers in the hundreds. We’ve seen like maybe 50 or 60 folks between Hilltop and Alexandria combined. Heck, it was practically man to man coverage when they showed up at Alexandria for tribute. Kingdom seems to have several, but from the cafeteria scene, maybe 100. You can’t have that many lions feeding on such a small herd of antelope. Negan’s group would have to be farming to continue to eat. It’s a comic book. ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2017, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-7-11-hostiles-and-calamities-open-spoilers/780907/38 "2017-02-28T05:01:54Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > Ah, I did not get that. It’s a little surprising that he keeps Dwight around at all, knowing that Sherry was Dwight’s wife. That’s _why_ he keeps Dwight around; power. Negan loves the power he has over Dwight, and the way he’s turned Dwight into his accomplice. Negan is all about dominance, any other feelings he may once have had are long gone. ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2017, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-7-11-hostiles-and-calamities-open-spoilers/780907/39 "2017-02-28T12:54:12Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I agree. > Has Eugene found a way to make igniters? Is that feasible with a machine shop? If you mean primers, yes, they can be homemade, but its labor intensive and they are far less reliable than commercial primers The primer has three basic parts, the cup, the anvil, and the priming compound… Bear in mind that priming compound is an _impact sensitive_ explosive and can be difficult/ dangerous to work with You can take a fired primer, remove the anvil, iron out the firing pin strike from the cup, refill the cup with priming compound, and replace the anvil ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2017, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-7-11-hostiles-and-calamities-open-spoilers/780907/40 "2017-02-28T13:27:53Z")
> [@MacTech](#): > > You can take a fired primer, remove the anvil, iron out the firing pin strike from the cup, refill the cup with priming compound, and replace the anvil Thanks. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-7-11-hostiles-and-calamities-open-spoilers/780907.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-7-11-hostiles-and-calamities-open-spoilers/780907.md?page=3)