08:51 – If you believe the BBC, which is always risky, rats may have been getting a bad rap all these years. A new paper reports that rats were not the carriers of the Black Death. Instead, it was apparently gerbils who carried the plague bacterium, which I still think of as Pasteurella pestis. Just one of many Gram-negative species that has caused untold death and suffering to humanity.
Barbara drove the Trooper to work again today. The forecast calls for more winter weather coming in this evening, with anywhere from 3 to 6 inches of snow depending on who you believe. She’ll decide this afternoon whether to come straight home from work or stop at the gym. We’re under a winter weather advisory until noon today for black ice from the remnants of yesterday’s snow, with a winter weather watch starting this afternoon for the snow expected this evening.
I’ve reached the stage in the prepping book where I already have a ton of material written but it feels like I’m only about 10% done because there’s still so much left to write about. This has happened on every book I’ve ever written, but it always seems to come out okay. Right now I’m working in section I (the first month), writing the chapter on electricity, light, and communications.
14:50 – I just finished the first draft of what is tentatively designated Chapter I-8. It’s from section I (the first month), and it covers Electricity, Lighting, and Communications. If you’d like a copy of the PDF, email me at thompson (at) thehomescientist (dot) com.
I should emphasize that this is a first draft, direct from my keyboard. I haven’t done any editing or rewrite at all. There’ll be typos I’m sure. There may even be major missing sections that I somehow forgot to include. There aren’t any images yet, and I haven’t even started to format it for print. The final chapter may well look a lot different.
If you do get a copy, please keep it to yourself. Don’t post it anywhere. This really is rough, and most authors wouldn’t even consider letting anyone see their work at this early stage.