Preppers/Survivalists

Off Topic
21

[quote]FightinIrish26 wrote:
That whole “prepper” thing is a real double-edged sword.

On the one hand, they promote self reliance - real self-reliance, like growing your own food, keeping out of debt, and having skillsets that can get you through some lean times (appropriate what with our Great Recession) - and they generally have some pretty cool or interesting ideas on a wide variety of subjects. Kind of like “pioneer skills,” you might say.

On the other hand, many of them are absolutely fucking insane. Like, CRAZY, CRAZY, CRAZY insane.

One time, I was reading a post on Survivalblog.com (check it out, interesting stuff), and one guy wrote in to talk about what kind of tools and such he kept in his car, just in case he couldn’t get home and a disaster struck. Well, fair enough, I thought - lots of people live in wide-open areas, and might be pretty far from home if something bad happens. Plus, I’ve gone through Hurricane Irene and Superstorm Sandy and I know that this shit really does happen.

So I read further, and the guy lists the events that might happen that he’s most concerned about being caught away from home during. The first was a blizzard/snowstorm, the next was a hurricane, the last one was… the rapture.

Yep. The fucking RAPTURE. Right up there with hurricanes and blizzards as “Things I Might Realistically Get Caught Outside In.” It was not tongue-in-cheek either, this hillbilly was dead serious.

So those websites and message boards involve that kind of tradeoff. There’s definitely useful info in there, but it’s hidden among crazy talk about “The end of the world as we know it” and “societal collapse.” And these are typically fat, which is hilarious to me.

One site that I try to read is this one: http://ferfal.blogspot.com. The dude has basically survived during the worst of the collapse of the Argentine economy, and has a lot of USEFUL info about dodging mobs, dealing with home intrusions and high crime areas, etc. etc. He kind of laughs at the assholes that write on things like Survivalblog because they’re… well, waiting for the fuckin rapture. This guy is much more realistic and way more worth your time.[/quote]

Haha that is hilarious about the rapture! Yeah it seems a lot of these people have crossed the line into plain crazy. It also seems to me like a lot of them are hoping for, and fantasising about, apocalyptic situations rather than simply preparing for a worst case scenario if you see what I mean. A lot of it is just quite strange.

That blog that you mentioned at the end sounds really interesting, but for some reason the link didn’t work for me. What should I search on google to find it? I really like finding out about things like that.

22

[quote]furo wrote:
That blog that you mentioned at the end sounds really interesting, but for some reason the link didn’t work for me. What should I search on google to find it? I really like finding out about things like that. [/quote]

Just remove the period at the end.

23

Thanks LoRez! That rocket stove looks virtually identical to my kelly kettle apart from the fact that the kettle has water where the stove has insulation.

24

I’ve noticed that a lot of these “preppers” are completely out of shape. They have such a dependency on their tools that I think they’d probably realistically get fucked within a matter of days.

25

‘When all Hell breaks loose’ by Cody Lundin, “Be prepared, not scared.”

Aimed at disruption of electricity, loss of water, breakdown of food delivery, etc for up to a few months, not Apocalypse.
Topics include maintaining body temp, getting water, crapping in a hole, getting calories, staying clean, primitive medical and the like.

Full on Road Warrior scenario would be the ultimate lottery for 99.9%.
Don’t agree? - Go until this Sat with no food, water, shelter, communication, transportation, or toilet. If you are freaky enough, spend the time in your worst part of town for the duration. You are allowed to use a 2x4 for protection, if you would like.

26

Everyone should have an emergency preparedness plan. However, some of those people are kooks.

27

As some folks are saying and have said, there are a lot of nutty/conspiracy theory preppers out there. Doomsday Preppers is the extreme/exaggeration of that group. It makes ratings, they don’t want to show average preppers.

I get all of my news stuff from a survival forum I frequent, I don’t bother watching the news. That’s also where I get good useful information. Learning again to separate the useful from the clutter is important.

The theory of having a bug out location for the end of the world is probably a bit ecentric. But having a “bug out bag” or some items saved up in case you need to leave in an emergency - oh like say you live in a flood plain, or if there’s a fire in your house, or some other catastrophe. Being proactive instead of reactive is always beneficial.

How about stocking up on some extra food items during winter BEFORE the big storm hits. We all know in snow season when the Weather Channel calls for a big storm, store shelves are empty. Why not beat that and just keep a couple things in case. Having extra batteries for a power outage. These are all examples of prepping and being responsible, not being psycho.

Hell, reading the website, I’m starting to take interest in making a garden, seems like a great side activity, and I can get fresh/un treated produce when in season.

28

[quote]furo wrote:
Haha that is hilarious about the rapture! Yeah it seems a lot of these people have crossed the line into plain crazy. It also seems to me like a lot of them are hoping for, and fantasising about, apocalyptic situations rather than simply preparing for a worst case scenario if you see what I mean. A lot of it is just quite strange.

That blog that you mentioned at the end sounds really interesting, but for some reason the link didn’t work for me. What should I search on google to find it? I really like finding out about things like that. [/quote]

That’s the thing - they almost WANT it to happen. Like another poster said, having a bug-out bag is understandable, especially during weather events. Having a whole “retreat” planned, where you’ve dug a well and have a bomb shelter filled with canned beans… c’mon son.

They end up spending their entire lives - and quite a bit of money - “preparing” to survive… instead of actually living the life they have. Ridiculous.

And the blog is ferfal.blogspot.com

He’s awesome. Little right wing for me, but still awesome.

29

[quote]FightinIrish26 wrote:

[quote]furo wrote:
Haha that is hilarious about the rapture! Yeah it seems a lot of these people have crossed the line into plain crazy. It also seems to me like a lot of them are hoping for, and fantasising about, apocalyptic situations rather than simply preparing for a worst case scenario if you see what I mean. A lot of it is just quite strange.

That blog that you mentioned at the end sounds really interesting, but for some reason the link didn’t work for me. What should I search on google to find it? I really like finding out about things like that. [/quote]

That’s the thing - they almost WANT it to happen. Like another poster said, having a bug-out bag is understandable, especially during weather events. Having a whole “retreat” planned, where you’ve dug a well and have a bomb shelter filled with canned beans… c’mon son.

They end up spending their entire lives - and quite a bit of money - “preparing” to survive… instead of actually living the life they have. Ridiculous.

And the blog is ferfal.blogspot.com

He’s awesome. Little right wing for me, but still awesome.[/quote]

I’ve watched about a dozen episodes of that show “Doomsday Preppers” and I agree…not that deep down they want an apocalypse.
I can see why they would… if there’s an apocalypse life turns back into Stone Age type of stuff. Your physical strength and ability to endure harsh conditions is now the number one factor. It’s about food, knives, family and not about car insurance, stupid TV shows and pop music and world issues.

The worst, stupidest and even most dangerous thing about that show is where at the end they analyze these peoples’ preparedness on a scale of 1 to 100 and they will say things like “You have a good bug-out location but you only have two ways to get there, in the event of a catastrophe you may need another way…also you only have enough food for 8 months…that may not be enough” and such stupid shit like that. These fuckers are paranoid enough already.

Also many of them seem to have lost friends with their ranting about whatever they think will end the world. They all have the same stupid circular answer: “Well, when they world collapses and I’m safe in my retreat I’ll be laughing and you’ll all be dead.”
I’d like to say to them that I’ll be cosy 6 feet under and you’ll be eating your own filth as you fight off other fucking nutbars with no teeth.

30

Nards your point is sound and is basically my conclusion. If the world ever reaches that point, its not coming back. Good people will suffer and bad people will capitalize. Who wants to live in such a world? Is it really living? Eventually someone will come along and want what you have bad enough to do whatever it takes to get it. I would not want to subject my family to that.

31

[quote]Quasi-Tech wrote:
Nards your point is sound and is basically my conclusion. If the world ever reaches that point, its not coming back. Good people will suffer and bad people will capitalize. Who wants to live in such a world? Is it really living? Eventually someone will come along and want what you have bad enough to do whatever it takes to get it. I would not want to subject my family to that.

[/quote]

I’m not sure I agree. Life would definitely get much, much more difficult, but humanity achieved civilisation from a very rough starting point, and I don’t see why it couldn’t do so again. If neolithic man shared your viewpoint that life wasn’t worth living because it was so hard, humanity wouldn’t be in a very good position right now.

I think that the basic ingredients for an enjoyable and fulfilling life would still be present - family, love/companionship, exercise/movement, food etc. You’d just have to fight that much harder for them.

Don’t get me wrong, I definitely don’t think it would good, but I think it would be much better than death.

32

Living just outside of Washington DC, I felt it prudent to be prepared for a terrorist attack against our infrastructure or simply to be ready to do without power/food at the store for a while. I also feel very uneasy about the direction our fiscal policy is heading and the value of our fiat currency. An economic collapse (or even an event that interrupts the supply chain for more than a few days) would have many of the same consequences as a terrorist attack. People gotta eat, and they will rationalize some pretty hard core shit to feed their families. That would include trying to loot their neighbors. I have no sympathy for a looter in an emergency situation. If they try to loot from me, I will kill them and put their corpse on display for the next guy who thinks about it.

With my situation and the ages of my children, the only real strategy for me is to “shelter in place”. I’m not taking my five year old out into the woods to survive on a long term basis. So I have food, water, a generator, fuel, and some other basic necessities. Not multiple years worth or anything, but enough to where I can be relatively independent for a few months. I have a safe with some precious metals in it as an inflation hedge. I have the means to protect my family if necessary buried in a waterproof cashe close to my property.

One of my co workers is a hardcore prepper. He actually spends a large part of his workday making “survival bracelets” out of paracord. According to him, he sells the shit out of them on sites like survivalboards.com. He is a bit of a nut, not in a religious way, just in general. We’ve had some interesting exchanges of ideas. Having useful skillsets is just as important as having a bunch of shit stowed away “just in case”.

Personally, I feel SOME degree of preparation and self sufficiency is just part of being a responsible adult. Even more so if you have a family that depends on you…

33

[quote]angry chicken wrote:
Living just outside of Washington DC, I felt it prudent to be prepared for a terrorist attack against our infrastructure or simply to be ready to do without power/food at the store for a while. I also feel very uneasy about the direction our fiscal policy is heading and the value of our fiat currency. An economic collapse (or even an event that interrupts the supply chain for more than a few days) would have many of the same consequences as a terrorist attack. People gotta eat, and they will rationalize some pretty hard core shit to feed their families. That would include trying to loot their neighbors. I have no sympathy for a looter in an emergency situation. If they try to loot from me, I will kill them and put their corpse on display for the next guy who thinks about it.

With my situation and the ages of my children, the only real strategy for me is to “shelter in place”. I’m not taking my five year old out into the woods to survive on a long term basis. So I have food, water, a generator, fuel, and some other basic necessities. Not multiple years worth or anything, but enough to where I can be relatively independent for a few months. I have a safe with some precious metals in it as an inflation hedge. I have the means to protect my family if necessary buried in a waterproof cashe close to my property.

One of my co workers is a hardcore prepper. He actually spends a large part of his workday making “survival bracelets” out of paracord. According to him, he sells the shit out of them on sites like survivalboards.com. He is a bit of a nut, not in a religious way, just in general. We’ve had some interesting exchanges of ideas. Having useful skillsets is just as important as having a bunch of shit stowed away “just in case”.

Personally, I feel SOME degree of preparation and self sufficiency is just part of being a responsible adult. Even more so if you have a family that depends on you…

[/quote]

I can go along with “shelter in place” too. I got enough survival gear, sleeping bags, camping equipment if I need it. It may make living in a freezing house possible. I always have 3 months of non-perishable food on hand, a swimming pool with water that can come in very handy.

Past a few months, the whole human race might just be fucked. I saw how many people freaked out with a week of gas shortage with hurricane Sandy last year. Pretty eye opening.

Rob

34

Hey I’m not gonna lie I can see the appeal of an apocalypse too. Suddenly money and status (of which I have little being that I am a young man) mean nothing, but physical strength and health mean everything (of which I have lots). Reversal of power and all that. I’m envisioning a dystopian future in which me and my Mad Max biker gang and our pet hyenas boldly ride across the country owning the shit out of everyone.

35

We got our asses kicked during Sandy. No power for a full week and we have an electric stove but thankfully I had enough propane for the BBQ grill, which also has a stove-top burner. Getting gas was impossible for about 3 days, and then once they were open there was at least a two-hour wait. Eventually it was even-odd days, but it still took about an hour. We also had a boil-water order, which doesn’t make it taste all that great.

We keep about two weeks worth of dry and canned food in our pantry. Mostly it is beans, pasta, sauce, canned tuna/chicken, rice and cliff bars…some chorizo and salami keeps fresh without the fridge for a short time, which is great. I also have a couple of water bricks that each store 3-gallons. Several headlamps, and a stash of batteries. I was able to charge my phone with a backpacking solar panel and used an emergency crank radio to get the news and music. Lots of candles too.

So yeah, I “prep” but it’s maybe $50 once or twice a year to rotate out the food stock and batteries. Pretty much focused on being able to hold it down during a power loss caused by a hurricane or blizzard.

All that mad-max, world war z, walking dead if fun to imagine or talk about. But considering most people shit their pants without their cell phones I don’t imagine all these would-be survivilists making it very far just because they got a couple months worth of MRE’s and a few thousand rounds of ammo.

36

When things go down the shitter, nobody is prepared because it has never happened.

There are 200+ million people in the USA, not sure about the European state as a whole but similar numbers.

Things such as food, water, medicine, safety, weapons, location are all paramount concerns and the kicker here is, tens of millions of people will be doing the same thing to varying degrees of lunacy, desperation and murderous intent.

Look at sales on a given bank holiday or when the weather is bad. Human nature makes plans go out the window. It is like planning your fight plan, all of it goes out the window when you get punched hard in the face.

37

[quote]angry chicken wrote:
Living just outside of Washington DC, I felt it prudent to be prepared for a terrorist attack against our infrastructure or simply to be ready to do without power/food at the store for a while. I also feel very uneasy about the direction our fiscal policy is heading and the value of our fiat currency. An economic collapse (or even an event that interrupts the supply chain for more than a few days) would have many of the same consequences as a terrorist attack. People gotta eat, and they will rationalize some pretty hard core shit to feed their families. That would include trying to loot their neighbors. I have no sympathy for a looter in an emergency situation. If they try to loot from me, I will kill them and put their corpse on display for the next guy who thinks about it.

With my situation and the ages of my children, the only real strategy for me is to “shelter in place”. I’m not taking my five year old out into the woods to survive on a long term basis. So I have food, water, a generator, fuel, and some other basic necessities. Not multiple years worth or anything, but enough to where I can be relatively independent for a few months. I have a safe with some precious metals in it as an inflation hedge. I have the means to protect my family if necessary buried in a waterproof cashe close to my property.

One of my co workers is a hardcore prepper. He actually spends a large part of his workday making “survival bracelets” out of paracord. According to him, he sells the shit out of them on sites like survivalboards.com. He is a bit of a nut, not in a religious way, just in general. We’ve had some interesting exchanges of ideas. Having useful skillsets is just as important as having a bunch of shit stowed away “just in case”.

Personally, I feel SOME degree of preparation and self sufficiency is just part of being a responsible adult. Even more so if you have a family that depends on you…

[/quote]

More important imo.
A guy that can live ‘roughing’ it - purify water, grow food or eat rats, operate a knife will have a better chance than thinking one could stockpile / protect years of toilet paper, twinkies and gasoline. But necessities like water and dry grub for several weeks/months is smart.

I owned a hardware store during Y2K. Should have seen how many electric water pumps (hehe), single bottles of propane, gas heaters, and 4" pvc pipe (to bury guns, etc) we sold. No one was buying axes, fire starters, chlorine tablets, or water jugs. People are damn ignorant.

38

[quote]Nards wrote:

Also many of them seem to have lost friends with their ranting about whatever they think will end the world. They all have the same stupid circular answer: “Well, when they world collapses and I’m safe in my retreat I’ll be laughing and you’ll all be dead.”
I’d like to say to them that I’ll be cosy 6 feet under and you’ll be eating your own filth as you fight off other fucking nutbars with no teeth.[/quote]

Agreed. What good is “prepping to survive” if the life you have now is shit? And these people are never like well-off, or very educated. They’re always broke ass rednecks blowing all the money they don’t have on planning a “survival retreat.”

Which in reality isn’t going to mean much, because if something serious went down, bad people like me WILL take what we need. These guys are easy pickins.

39

[quote]anothrjrzmike wrote:
We got our asses kicked during Sandy. No power for a full week and we have an electric stove but thankfully I had enough propane for the BBQ grill, which also has a stove-top burner. Getting gas was impossible for about 3 days, and then once they were open there was at least a two-hour wait. Eventually it was even-odd days, but it still took about an hour. We also had a boil-water order, which doesn’t make it taste all that great.

We keep about two weeks worth of dry and canned food in our pantry. Mostly it is beans, pasta, sauce, canned tuna/chicken, rice and cliff bars…some chorizo and salami keeps fresh without the fridge for a short time, which is great. I also have a couple of water bricks that each store 3-gallons. Several headlamps, and a stash of batteries. I was able to charge my phone with a backpacking solar panel and used an emergency crank radio to get the news and music. Lots of candles too.

So yeah, I “prep” but it’s maybe $50 once or twice a year to rotate out the food stock and batteries. Pretty much focused on being able to hold it down during a power loss caused by a hurricane or blizzard.

All that mad-max, world war z, walking dead if fun to imagine or talk about. But considering most people shit their pants without their cell phones I don’t imagine all these would-be survivilists making it very far just because they got a couple months worth of MRE’s and a few thousand rounds of ammo. [/quote]

So true.

And as another guy who had to go through Sandy’s 14-day power loss, hours-long gas waits, and overall wreckage, I can say for a fact that everyone in my area would have traded their whole cache of survival weaponry for a couple extra gas tanks and a generator.

40

[quote]Captnoblivious wrote:
Everyone should have an emergency preparedness plan. However, some of those people are kooks.

[/quote]

Concur.

These people are going off the deep end, but a couple weeks of food, water, medicine, etc. can be bought in ready-made packages and don’t take up much space. Bottom of the hall closet kind of thing. And, yes, a weapon for each able-bodied member of the household.

The odds of a one-off or limited nuclear attack or equivalent occuring in our lifetime is rapidly hitting “more likely than not” so some basic prep would be the difference between life and death.

Oddly enough, I think the reason zombie movies are so popular is people knows this in their mind and zombies are a good way of thinking about it without really thinking about it.

I live in the boonies (as in, my property backs up to the Lincoln National Forest) and I’ve been stuck on a mountain for two weeks due to snow and floods that washed out the bridge before — finally hiked it out because I ran out of wine — so I’ve kind of always done this.

But city folk, in particular, need some bug-out plans and some shelter-in-place plans.