08:13 – Someone sent me a cartoon about Y2K prepping, so I just went back and re-read my journal entries for late December of 1999. It was as I remembered. I wasn’t really expecting any major problems, and we did nothing special other than updating our software, filling the fuel tanks in our vehicles, filling the bathtub with water, and digging the oil lamps out of storage. What I’d forgotten is that few people around here seemed very concerned. The stores were full of unsold stuff that they’d ordered in expecting a Y2K rush that never materialized.
Barbara is meeting her sister for dinner tonight for her sister’s birthday, so Colin and I are on our own for dinner. Barbara went to the gym last night, so I took the opportunity to watch Mutant World with Amber Marshall. IMDB gives it 3.6/10, which is about 3.6 too high. This is a really bad movie. Good cast, but truly dismal writing. I watched the first half hour or so, which was time enough to watch Amber go rock-and-roll with her assault rifle on a zombie. I turned it off after that, because I was afraid Amber would get eaten by a zombie.
11:55 – Which reminds me that I need to think about stocking up on zombie repellent, or at least the supplies to make it up as needed. Apparently there are many effective zombie repellents available, but one of the best is good olde napalm.
The napalm itself requires only gasoline and a gelling agent. Many different materials work as gelling agents, but the best is still polystyrene, AKA Styrofoam. So the napalm itself won’t be a problem, but I need to think about igniters.
I suppose I could go with one of the two old favorites: (a) a flaming rag stuffed in the mouth of a glass bottle that’s been scored with a diamond ring or glass cutter, or (b) a half inch of concentrated sulfuric acid in the bottom of the bottle that causes a paper soaked in potassium chlorate, dried, and wrapped around the bottle to burst into flame when the acid contacts the chlorate.
But both of those methods have problems. The obvious problem with the first method is that you have to stand up holding a bottle stuffed with a flaming rag, which tends to draw unwanted attention from every zombie nearby. Both methods have the problem that a glass bottle, even if it’s been scored with a diamond beforehand, often doesn’t actually break even when it hits concrete, let alone soil or other soft materials. And even if the napalm ignites, it usually doesn’t scatter very well.
So I think I’m going to go with 1- or 2-liter soft drink bottles, using a bursting charge with a pull igniter and a 3-second fuse. The bursting charge will include magnesium granules, which should ensure that every bit of the napalm will be ignited, contacting anything in a radius of 5 or 10 meters.