What’s In Your Local Market?
http://rense.com/general71/100.htm
A good list of stuff, and barter is all about stuff and the arbitrary stuff it’s worth… until the Hardhold gains a reputable barter economy (i.e. a large bustling market) the is little stability to rely on… but without a stabilized and regulated barter economy not even a small market will be very bustling.
Keep in mind that barter economics can be regulated and taxed. They won’t stabilize if they are not regulated, they can’t grow if they don’t stabilize, and they can’t be taxed (benignly) if they don’t grow.
Related: What’s in the Hardhold’s junk stores?
http://buccaneersguild.com/one-hundred-random-post-apocalyptic-junk-items/
Could be in a trash heap, a secure junk pit, or that Hoarder’s spillover… or might be just loose items left lying around the ruins?
A primer, with a list, from the perspective of a survivalist’s preparation checklist.
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=79008441
What a Hardhold is really about, and why the status-quo will always be inevitable — if communal survival is ever going to be an option for longer than a single season.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barter
another related aside:
Big man, Rich man, Poor man, Thief;
Raider, Trader, Artisan, Chief…
We know who these are, mostly… but, I say…
Who are those other poor pitiful souls, anyway?
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tinker,_Tailor
A few other extremely important factors.
A lethal gene in both parents would have an expectation of a 25% mortality rate in the first generation. The expectation in the second generation would be about 17%
The above would be for a 100% lethal recessive.
Notable Small Population Survivals:
• Tristan da Cunha (current population 264) was populated from eight men and seven women.
• Pitcairn (current population 50 after extensive emmigration) did the same with 15 men and 12 women.
Both islands are extremely isolated and survived for 200 years. Only Tristan da Cunha had problems with inbreeding that are thus far relatively mild. The genetic “abnormality” on Tristan da Cunha is asthma. Three of the original settlers had it.
Incest is only significantly harmful if both parents have the same harmful recessives.
Cleopatra was the result of several (perhaps 4-6) generations of brother/sister marriages. The royal family of Egypt at that time did not consider anybody worthy of marrying into the family.
It depends on who the original people are – how genetically fit. More importantly, it depends on how much they are supported by the environment they live in, and what level of industry they can maintain. If the environment is salubrious and industrial, then quite sickly people can survive, but so can genetic deformities. If it is a rough and incep environment, then the unfit are removed quite rapidly.
In theory, one man and one woman could repopulate the Earth, under the right conditions. There would be horrendous mortality in the first few generations, should significant portions of those offspring from brother/sister matings come up defective. However, the silver lining is that defective genes would be removed from the population very quickly also. The resulting human population would be extremely susceptible to contagions due to extremely limited genetic diversity, but humans have not relied on that for survival for a long time. We adapt our culture and technology to survive – not our genes… at least, not on the timescale pertinent to this discourse.
A genetic mix of 600 to 2000 souls is generally enough to overcome mutations and ensure an indefinite specie. Minimum Viable Population over 200 to 1000 years — but with significant risks of harmful recessives — can be as low as a one quarter the souls with relative benignity, but with the risks of environmental dangers and disease carriers between settlements in a post apocalypse, fewer will become exponentially more risky. The lower the population, the more adaptations will become transitions into culture and custom alien in comparison to civilizations previously known to humanity, or anything immediatly recognizable as inherited from the local civilization before… even though genetic heritage may remain physically obvious in the descendants.
The moral is — The post apocalypse belongs entirely to the survivors that thrive, and the founders of the first 600 years; humanity as known before can make no claims or stakes, nor expect to be mourned.
Our understanding of customary ethics, and indoctrinations of morality… or versa visa… will have no comparison to After, and those founders that ensure survival of their camps will owe nothing of respect or acknowledgement to any of us that came Before.
Of course weird physics can produce weird results, but significant weirdness would provide a significantly larger maelstrom of alien cultures and customs to develop anyway — increasing the divide between Before and After dramatically in xenoform manifestation.
http://www.eoearth.org/article/Minimum_viable_population_size?topic=58074