[quote]harrypotter wrote:
Ha you Americans and your guns. We dont have shit over here in England unless you’re lucky and come across a dead gangster, soldier or armed police officer. For that to happen you need to be in dodge and I aint going near those places at rush hour let alone when something bad happens.
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Wow, I’m not even English and got a UK shotgun certificate in about two weeks in Knightsbridge, which is not exactly rural BFE.
I think it was about $100 at the time. I joined a skeet club, filled our the form, checked “shooting sports,” put in a gun cabinet, an off-duty cop came, looked at my cabinet, drank a pint with me, made sure I was not a drooling idiot, and handed me my license. I used the local Rabbi and his wife as my referrals.
[quote]FightinIrish26 wrote:
hahaha see, Quasi is bordering on the slightly insane here… a currency collapse is far from “likely” to happen, but even if it did, that’s not a situation where you’re “bugging out to the wilderness” to avoid roving bands of rapists.
Kinda rolling my eyes here.[/quote]
I think it would depend on where you live and how scarce food became. I definitely think societal breakdown could cause that sort of situation. Panic and fear make people do crazy things and make sick people go nuts. I don’t see why it is considered crazy to have a safe location to get to just in case. If you don’t believe in it that is fine or choose not to, but why so much venom and animosity for people who do? They aren’t bothering you and are productive citizens of society you will never have to worry about. [/quote]
Mostly because their vote counts the same as mine does.
Which is kind of disappointing.
This is the kind of slide into lunacy that I’m talking about amongst “preppers,” and it’s just a pain in the ass to wade through all the crazy when you just want good or interesting information on how to be a little more self-reliant, and a little more off the grid.
That’s all. [/quote]
Every sect of everything has its crazies. Part of life is wading through the BS and lunacy in anything you do.
[quote]comus3 wrote:
I don’t think my first reaction in an “apocalypse” situation would be “where are the women and children for me to rape”. I don’t think I’m that much different from the average person, self interested but not sociopathic. I lean towards the thought that, contrary to TV scenarios and deep conspiracy/paranoia, in the real world (see civil wars, economic collapse in Argentina, Great Depression, Katrina, Sandy, etc) people just try struggle on like they would have anyway.
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Correct me if I’m wrong but I remember stories of murder and rape in the Superdome during Katrina. I think you over estimate humanity…[/quote]
Maybe, Maybe not. Just my sense of my motivations and the people I’ve met in life.
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At the very least the fact that people came out of the Superdome with these stories should tell you they were thinking about it. People may just have been scared but who wants to go into a situation scared and at the mercy of others.
Talking about how people are inherently good isn’t bullet proof vest when bad people decide to do bad things.
Here is a single contaner with windows added. Less secure but I wonder how much it would cost to get a container dropped off if you set up the foundation before hand?
Once you have it where you want it windows and doors would be easy. Then install a pitched roof to collect rain water.
[quote]FightinIrish26 wrote:
Good suggestions, especially the sledge. If a tree falls on your house (or a neighbor’s), you never quite know when you’re going to need those sort of tools… [/quote]
A good chainsaw is a must in that regard. I have a husqvarna, but really like stihl too. I’d consider both about even performance and reliability wise. A couple of 11mm, 50’ continuous pieces of good arborist rope would be awful handy in most scenarios too.
Best tool is know how though. Many a people have fatally injured themselves messing around with those items. Minus emergency trauma medicine there would be a hell of a lot more too.
[quote]FightinIrish26 wrote:
Good suggestions, especially the sledge. If a tree falls on your house (or a neighbor’s), you never quite know when you’re going to need those sort of tools… [/quote]
A good chainsaw is a must in that regard. I have a husqvarna, but really like stihl too. I’d consider both about even performance and reliability wise. A couple of 11mm, 50’ continuous pieces of good arborist rope would be awful handy in most scenarios too.
Best tool is know how though. Many a people have fatally injured themselves messing around with those items. Minus emergency trauma medicine there would be a hell of a lot more too.
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There is a group of Amish folk in Kentucky who fabricate horse powered saw mills… Would be badass in a low tech environment to have.
[quote]FightinIrish26 wrote:
Good suggestions, especially the sledge. If a tree falls on your house (or a neighbor’s), you never quite know when you’re going to need those sort of tools… [/quote]
A good chainsaw is a must in that regard. I have a husqvarna, but really like stihl too. I’d consider both about even performance and reliability wise. A couple of 11mm, 50’ continuous pieces of good arborist rope would be awful handy in most scenarios too.
Best tool is know how though. Many a people have fatally injured themselves messing around with those items. Minus emergency trauma medicine there would be a hell of a lot more too.
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I agree. I’m very experienced with a chainsaw, so they don’t really worry me, but even if you’re good with them all it takes is hitting some fuckin railroad spike in a piece of wood or hitting the cement to send the chain wild.
This what I would actually like to live in, if I can’t manage to get my log cabin in the woods dream.
I hopped on the prepper bandwagon a long time ago but after alot of thought decided that storing up things wouldn’t do - it can all be taken from you. I narrowed it down to what I can carry on my body. Instead I’ve focused my time and money on learning skills and gaining knowledge that will help me survive and take care of my family. I am working my way through the belt levels of Krav Maga plus I keep myself in top physical condition functional to survival ( the reason why I climb, hike, camp in the winter, sprint, and lift heavy shit). I know how to find food year round in the wilderness. I have the guns i need for defense and hunting but no more than what I can carry - plus two left behind with family. My Dad won’t touch a gun, instead relying on God to protect him. My mom however is much more practical - I taught her to shoot and she is deadly with the pistol. I started my daughter out with archery and she is getting pretty good with a composite. Another reason I chose to switch from communications to nursing - all the skills I learn in nursing school will help me. Besides that I can barter any of my skills for something I might need. I’ve raised my daughter with this awareness.
If you say to her “If you want peace, prepare for war”, she will recite it back to you in latin. If shit hits the fan, I’m going to practice survival wherever I am. I’m not going to run. And I’m not going to get crazy about survivalism - I focus on situational awareness.
I’d be interested to know what everyone thinks will happen that will cause such break down in society?
I can understand having natural disaster kits under your stairs or something similar but not devoting large amounts of time and money to something that I just dont see how it could happen.
[quote]furo wrote:
Pet hyenas and baboons?! That is ridiculously awesome.
[quote]Chris Colucci wrote:
[quote]LoRez wrote:
Or just hyenas.[/quote]
WTF? Forget the hyenas, I’d rather hang with those other dudes keeping the baboons. Much more versatile pets.
Once in a while, I’ll watch “Doomsday Preppers” on NatGeo. Funny stuff how overboard these people are. There was a guy who owned a mini golf course and had it “secretly” outfitted to serve as his post-apocalypse fort. He was talking about how he designed one hole on the course to be the designated sniping area, with good cover and clear lines of sight to pick off potential looters.
Then there are the superfat folks talking about how they’ll live on nothing but freeze-dried corn and dehydrated turkey once the electricity fails. Okee doke.[/quote]
Yeah I actually just watched one episode of “Doomsday Preppers”, it did seem pretty ridiculous haha! It had a large focus on crazy conspiracy theories, which I’m really not into. And yeah - loads of people buying all kinds of crazy gadgets while ignoring the fact that they’re obese. I’d wager that one of the most important things you could do to prepare yourself for an “apocalyptic” scenario would be to get yourself into good physical shape.[/quote]
You know, I’m not entirely sure about that. With a sedentary lifestyle (not burning a lot of calories in the first place) and a bunch of bodyfat (lots of fuel to burn), they might actually be on the right track… assuming they live in secured and armed fortress. Obviously wouldn’t be so great if they have to be mobile.
Eh, I made myself a bedroll system last year from some plans I found in camping and military manuals 100+ years old. It’s a portable sleeping system, and don’t even need a tent because it can handle the weather and keep you warm and dry inside.
It’s basically equivalent to a sleeping pad + sleeping bag, but more breathable and in an all-in-one package. Mine’s made of a canvas shell, thick wool blankets with an aluminized foam sleeping pad built in. The whole thing rolls up and is held together with nylon straps. It’s fairly heavy (wool + canvas).
I’ve tested it in light rain (the canvas got somewhat wet, but I didn’t), as well as in snowy weather in the mid 20s fahrenheit. With some decent cold-weather clothing, like polypro[pylene] shirt and pants, and some wool socks, it’s kept me warm and dry.
I keep it in my car.
I’ve also built a portable rocket stove, as a nice, efficient cheap wood-burning stove for cooking. Not good for warmth, but great for cooking.
I’m also about 90% done with a canvas lean-to, again, based on a very old design. It’s designed to work as a great reflector for a fire outside, to keep you warm, give you a good view, and make sure there’s plenty of fresh air. For whatever reason, I just never quite finished making this.
Um…
I also made a roorkhee chair, designed back during the British Empire’s conquests of Africa and India, as an officers chair. Comfortable and completely breaks down to be portable.
What else…
I’ve taught myself some basic stonemasonry and have the chisels and hammers to do that. Mostly just played around with it, but I think I know enough to actually build something if I needed to.
Food-wise, I’ve tried to make bread from scratch, using wild-yeasts, but I never really got too far with that. The whole point with that is all you would need the flour (which, if you had the mill, you could grind yourself), and be able to live on bread for awhile.
A lot of this is just curiosity though.
All of these people have this idea that if society collapses, they’re going to live in this perpetual “survivalist” mode.
Personally, if society collapses, I’m more interested in rebuilding civilization as quickly as possible.
Which means… 1) being able to survive with a mobile lifestyle – cooking, shelter, recreation; 2) being able to move to an agricultural lifestyle – so, being able to make bread and other grain-based stuff; 3) being able to actually settle roots – so, use the stonework to build an oven, to make bricks, then use the brick to build; and use that to be doing some ironwork and work with metal… salvaging scrap metal should be fairly easy
So I just sort of focused on it from that standpoint.
But I seriously don’t think any of that is necessary. It’s just a neat way to explore a lot of history, traditions, and ideas. Taps into my history and engineering/science interests.[/quote]
Mobile lifestyle and agricultural lifestyle don’t work together, at least not if you want to grow grains and legumes (vegetables and fruits, yes).
[quote]Swolegasm wrote:
I’d be interested to know what everyone thinks will happen that will cause such break down in society?
I can understand having natural disaster kits under your stairs or something similar but not devoting large amounts of time and money to something that I just dont see how it could happen.[/quote]
Well. That is sort of the divide that I’m talking about.
There are those that truly believe an economic collapse is coming… it’s kind of like this generation’s “nuclear war.” Some folks just have to be terrified of something.
[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]
Yeah, I was going to point out that a lot of these Preppers are fundamentalist Christians prepping for the Great Tribulation and Rapture. In my mind doesn’t make sense, because they believe that Jesus is going to take them up to Heaven (so are they prepping not to be saved?). It makes more sense for Catholics to be Preppers since we believe that the elect will be on earth after Jesus “raptures” the non-elect. But, alas no big Catholic movement in the Prepper community.
But to the OP, yes I have stuff in my basement for a natural disaster (mostly tornados and floods). This is boy scout level stuff, not really doomsday level at all.
[quote]theBeth wrote:
my log cabin in the woods dream.
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I have two cabins in the woods, one is log (A frame) the other is a more modern but is a second story so is great for when there is a lot of snow on the ground (you’re not snowed in). Plenty of bears that roam near by for food if you don’t want to go to the grocery store.
[quote]Swolegasm wrote:
I’d be interested to know what everyone thinks will happen that will cause such break down in society?
I can understand having natural disaster kits under your stairs or something similar but not devoting large amounts of time and money to something that I just dont see how it could happen.[/quote]
Well. That is sort of the divide that I’m talking about.
There are those that truly believe an economic collapse is coming… it’s kind of like this generation’s “nuclear war.” Some folks just have to be terrified of something.[/quote]
I see preparedness on a much more functional level, not from a cataclysmic context.
I am much more concerned with ice and snow storms, disruptions in the food supply, power outages etc.
I heard in a pinch that fish tank antibiotics could be used to treat infections in humans. I think some of it is just penicillin.
I also had a co-worker who worked overseas a lot, go to his Dr. and tell him he was going to overseas without access to medical care for awhile. His Dr. gave him a care package with a bunch of stuff like antibiotics, painkillers, and anti-anxiety meds. This would be something I would like to have in a bug out pack. Talking to your Dr. about getting a kit like this, especially if you live in a disaster prone area, may be a good idea.
[quote]Swolegasm wrote:
I’d be interested to know what everyone thinks will happen that will cause such break down in society?
I can understand having natural disaster kits under your stairs or something similar but not devoting large amounts of time and money to something that I just dont see how it could happen.[/quote]
Well. That is sort of the divide that I’m talking about.
There are those that truly believe an economic collapse is coming… it’s kind of like this generation’s “nuclear war.” Some folks just have to be terrified of something.[/quote]
I see preparedness on a much more functional level, not from a cataclysmic context.
I am much more concerned with ice and snow storms, disruptions in the food supply, power outages etc.
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Agreed. Having been through two massive hurricanes in the last three years - one of which left us with no power for two weeks, a brutal gasoline shortage, and widespread, outright destruction, that’s how I see it as well.
