Active Member
Yes, i realize this show is a very.... extreme and selective view of Preppers, but I have to admit that the shit is hilarious. Most of you haven't seen this stuff so let me share:
Idiot literally shoots his thumb off (calls it a malfunction) in front of his kids while doing prepping exercises.
Active Member
Guy starts crying and throwing up after his friend fires a gun inside a hunting shed
Active Member
I think that is very dependent on the situation and timing. There are a lot of reasons you would want to keep your distance.Originally Posted by botley
As someone who lives on a fault line, my primary concern after a large quake (after the initial 24-48hrs) is the people. Less than 40% of people around me have the FEMA recommended minimum for an earth quake kit. Back during the 1906 quake, they had to call in the Army to deal with the rioting and looting. People back then were more self-reliant and didn't have such short supplies of necessities at home. The culture was also a lot more "neighborly" back then too. I can only imagine how much uglier things would be if that quake hit today.
Bite me
We kind of learned a little of what living "off the grid" (and its horrors) might be like during the Northeast Coast Blackout of 2003. We were in Detroit for the Stooges reunion homecoming show when it happened. We didn't realize that all gas stations stop working, toilets stop flushing, most water filtration plants stop pumping water, your cell phone may charge up in your car but the cell network is so overloaded you can't get ahold of anybody, and you'd better hope your car is full of gas to keep that cell charger going because, as I said, the gas stations can't pump gas. People were selling little bottles of water on the street for a buck each, because capitalism goes into overdrive. Everything starts to smell. We were staying at a big hotel in Troy, and the elevators didn't work and our room had no A/C of course and the hotel was giving away food because it would go bad, anyway. The Stooges show at the DTE got canceled. We opted to risk it and make our way to my mom's place near Royal Oak on the little gas we had left in the car, since she at least had working toilets (they eventually stopped working, too). We made it. It was the annual Dream Cruise weekend and the show went on, and they served warm beer and grilled hot dogs at Como's on Woodward. Somehow, Detroit tenacity made it okay, but when it was all over, when we got home to Chicago, we immediately stored gallons of water and put gas in the generator and got a lot more car chargers and realized we'd probably die in a week in the event of a true catastrophe cause we're wimps, and I vowed to someday put solar panels on our roof.
Last edited by allegro; 09-03-2014 at 05:38 PM.
Active Member
Man, I remember that. NatGeo actually created a movie and corresponding website that attempted to model how a 10 day national blackout would be.
http://www.survivetheblackout.com/
It's low budget and cheesy, but the data is interesting. For example, the little graph showing the daily climb in fatalities and financial impact. Many people reflexively said this would only be absolute worst case, but they actually modeled toward most likely.
People should just try camping for a week. Try to see how long you can survive without opening any food or hygiene products you brought with.
Bite me
The food and hygiene we do okay with when we go out on the boat or whatever but the funny thing is when we "unplug" -- we can go a little while with just real books (no Kindle) and magazines but eventually we're jonesing for our smartphones or iPads or whatever. It's nuts. That's why we bought the multiple chargers. In 2003, we only had flip phones. Now, G and I have 2 smartphones, 4 iPads, a Kindle, and we walk around with these like fucking LIFE SUPPORT UNITS.
Active Member
I think I'd take a flushing toilet and occasional hot shower in place of the internet. But basic entertainment type stuff is a pretty important part of any emergency kit. Cards, dice, pencil and paper, low power music devices (solar/hand crank) etc. You actually just reminded me that I need to update some of that. My kid no longer needs a pacifier or any of that kind of stuff in the bags. I probably need to swap that out for some coloring pages and misc activity books.
Do you find yourself trying to hit up information on the smartphones or just pass time? I actually have a stack of books that will provide any information I may need in a long-lasting emergency situation. I have a decent amount of it stored in my head. My most lacking is probably medical based... Having both parents in medicine meant they always did that kind of thing for me.
It's awesome discussing this with sane people. I usually get the people who think any sort of emergency prepping is paranoid, or the individuals who are straight out of that Doomsday Preppers tv show.
Active Member
As for those device chargers, i have a ton of those. Portable fold-out solar panels, hand crank, various power converter (various AC and DC sources) that all can pipe into various battery packs. Some are lithium blocks with outputs for both USB and a charger for Macbooks, some run off 4x AA sets that output USB. Most of that started with my need to be constantly connected and powered on for work, but it grew into the emergency bag a bit
Bite me
We go to our boat to deliberately get out of the city and get out into nature, it's like roughing it in a camper except it's floating, we have cable t.v. with about 10 channels and a DVD player (HDTV) and a microwave, a one-burner electric stove, a little dorm-sized fridge and tiny freezer, so it kind of forces us to "relax." We TRY to get off the grid, but IT'S REALLY HARD. I bring my Kindle, but I try to bring actual books with me, my journal, G brings magazines and books, we try to actually just hang out, G cleans a lot (boats require a lot of cleaning, bugs, algae, whatever). We do tend to mostly just look up information when we do break our no-internet rules. Luckily, the cell and internet coverage up there sucks, so i can't work very much and we can't spend all day up there dicking around on our smartphones or iPads. So it forces us to be off the Internet. But I've gotten bored and sat there watching about 2 hours of Seinfeld re-runs on one of the 10 TV channels. Honest. wtf. But we have had to learn how to live on food that stores on a boat, that requires no refrigeration in very little space, or can be cooked on a tiny cooktop etc. It's taught us how to rough it in interesting ways. And we've had power outages here in our house, and our ejector pumps went out so we bought battery backups and gas generators, and you can get these cool whole-house natural gas generators. It's not just doom-and-gloom, it's knowing that our current grid is total shit. And that we really rely way too much on all of this stuff and we all need to learn how to "unplug" once in a while. You go to restaurants and look around and see whole tables of families staring at smartphones, not even talking to each other. G and I vow not to do that unless we're looking something up to discuss. It's certainly convenient for parents to put an iPad in a toddler's hand to keep them quiet in a restaurant, but what if we had no electricity? You see those videos where the toddler doesn't know what to do with a magazine, wants to know how to operate it like an iPad. Even my mom's CAT is addicted to my smartphone.
Oh, that reminds me, we do actually have boxes of games like Yahtzee and we have Chess, and I have these cool battery-powered lanterns that we use all the time, Colemans that are fucking AWESOME, everyone should have them.
http://www.amazon.com/Coleman-Rugged...oleman+lantern
The WORST thing about these power outages, really, was no sanitation. No toilets was starting to get gross. I don't know what would happen after 10 days. No electricity at night was scary, too, because of the total darkness, no security, and potential looting; the cities were able to hold it off for the relatively short amount of time this happened in the very hot summer with no A/C but if it went on much longer, you'd definitely have a huge spike in crime.
Last edited by allegro; 09-03-2014 at 07:34 PM.
Active Member
Hell yes @allegro ! Very cool!
I'm totally with you about how attached people are these days. People always say "it's those damn kids" but EVERYONE is like that now. Many people have no idea how to keep their kids busy without an ipad. I can only imagine the hell of a 1 week power outage for them.
My gear is much more about being light and compact, in addition to shelf life. I want everything to be as mobile as possible. So, I have lots of gear you would find for backpacking. A little 5oz fold up stove that is hyper efficient with fuel - you can cook a full meal with twigs. The only ridiculous thing I have is a machete that they used a lot in The Walking Dead. It's completely useless for any real work, but makes a great conversation starter with friends who want to know more about my "Zombie Apocalypse Kit." That's lead to a lot of people realizing how easy, yet important, it is to have some essentials when living on a fault line.
You are really making me want to move out somewhere that has more open space and affordable land. We have great camping opportunities and my wife's parents just bought a sail boat (ocean travel on your own is frightening). It's just such a heavy disconnect from nature outside of those opportunities.
It's funny up how this went from discussing how hard it would be if the grid dies, to enjoying when we leave the grid. I guess that's the difference between losing something entirely vs simply stepping away for a bit.
Bite me
Our grid has died so many times in this area, we've seen the damage it does and what we need to live without it; so maybe we're unlucky (and the electric companies are greedy bastards), but maybe we're lucky.
You quickly learn what works and what doesn't. No electricity means no heat or AC or fans (furnaces need electricity); if it's winter and you have a fireplace or 2, you're ahead. If not, maybe you have a gas oven. If not, you're screwed and have zero heat, and if the outdoor temps are subzero, you start counting down to when your pipes are going to burst and flood your house. My friends in Mi just lost power for the 2nd time this summer, for 2 days; the deep freezer was full of meat for the big family bbq. Hopefully their homeowner's insurance will cover the loss but they don't know, yet. She's looking into a natural gas generator. We have a gas range, but it has an electric starter so that's out. But we have a super awesome gas grill so that works for cooking and baking.
The terrorists can't be any worse than the damage these greedy bastards at the electric company cause all the time.
Last edited by allegro; 09-03-2014 at 11:46 PM.
tempus est umbra in mente
this thread has taken my favorite (and most random) detour ever on this board.
Bite me
Hey, here's a survival tip I saw on The Soup on E! from the Wendy Williams show: she took a Slim Jim and lit the end of it with a Bic lighter, like a hillbilly BBQ. Heh.
Active Member
Throbbing Member
Funny how the feeble attempt to tack on an Iraq response was recognized as well. NATO: Getting Ready To Fight Everybody
Active Member
They kinda needed to show some form of support for their allies in the region.
Obama did the same in Estonia a couple days ago.
Russian needs to know that they cannot even try to poke NATO allies.
**
Looks like Putin is poking the bear
Estonia says security officer abducted and taken to Russia.
Last edited by Deepvoid; 09-05-2014 at 02:21 PM.
I was nobody. Nothing.
we have a bomb shelter under our house...not a fallout shelter, but it's got six foot thick concrete walls.
The problem is, it's full of bullshit! It's also where the cat boxes are.
We live in the texas panhandle, which is a very tornado prone area. We had one twelve miles out of town and had friends show up wanting to go in our basement. I was so embarassed.
When i get home, i'm going to clean and organize that shit.
And i'm not going to doomsday prep it, but i'm thinking of doing 2 weeks to a month of food and water, flashlights/lanterns and lots of batteries, weather radio, regular radio, first aid kits, bedclothes for the set of bunkbeds down there, etc.
i want it prepped MOSTLY for a tornado that swept the house away...to have enough supplies to be semi-comfortable until rescue. The great high plains, (i live fifteen miles south of OK in the texas panhandle,) see so many fucking tornadoes that having one hit the place where we live seems pretty damn possible.
The lights went out during that storm and i was thinking how fucked up it would be to even have to wait out the storm down there...tripping over boxes, stepping in catshit, etc. We have something REALLY nice, something that people show up beating on our door wanting to use, and it is a disgusting, unprepared wreck. My grandfather had that shit built during the cuban missile crisis, and i strongly doubt he intended it to be all fucked off the way it is now.
on another note, fuck yes! they are playing Never Let Me Down Again over the speakers at the hotel!
edit: hot damn now they are playing Head Over Heels!
Last edited by elevenism; 09-06-2014 at 12:40 PM.
Active Member
^ For water, get yourself a bunch of water-tight 5gal buckets. You can usually find them around the paint section of hardware stores (check the plastic type, ensure it is food grade). They will make decent chairs for your shelter too! Water needs to be replaced yearly, unless you add a disinfectant (like bleach) to get a 3-5 year shelf life. Don't buy prebottled stuff from a store that goes bad in 6-12mo. A few of those 4oz bags of "emergency water" are good to have on hand though, and are super cheap from amazon.
And always remember to loot your water heater and top of toilet tank for fresh water
Active Member
You guys might need those shelters after all.
I don't know if this is a reliable source.
Two Russian strategic bombers conducted practice nuclear-armed cruise missile attacks on US.
Last edited by Deepvoid; 09-08-2014 at 12:13 PM.
Quiet Member
The idea of Russia preemptively nuking cities in the US is about the herpest derpest thing I've ever heard. Have they ever heard of mutual assured destruction?
Active Member
For the record, I know it would never happen. Just posted the article because it falls in the line of signals sent by Putin, flexing his muscles in response to economic sanctions being thrown at it
I was nobody. Nothing.
nice story...TELL IT TO READERS DIGEST!
sorry, couldn't help it...middleschool megadeth flashback.
JESUS christ, i hope to god there isnt a nuclear strike on american soil in our lifetimes.
it sounds morbidly interesting...it would definitely be exciting in a way....back to the primative and whatnot for the regions not immediately affected.
but good god, as far as i can tell, and from what i know of all the cautionary documentaries i've seen, lighting on of those fucking bombs off would just flat out be the end of the world.
didn't Openheimer quote the Bahagvad Gita when we dropped the first one?
i'm on this hotel computer with limited internet, so i'm paraphrasing, but i think he said "i am become death...the destroyer of worlds.
i'm glad i live in a fairly remote region. the texas panhandle is pretty goddamn desolate...BUT...we have Pantex in amarillo where we assemble our nukes...fucking hell...that's definitely a potential target.
my wife wants to put a steel door on our shelter...i hope we don't need it. i'm rambling.
i shut up now.
Quiet Member
A steel door would be great to keep people out of your shelter.....Wouldn't be much help if Russia and the US start lobbing nukes at each other. Most of the people on the planet would be dead from the blasts or the radiation....or the Nuclear winter that follows.
Active Member
You'll never see an ICBM exchange between America and Russia or between either of those states and anyone else, don't worry!
It could feasibly happen in Asia/Middle East, but again... probably not. People are insane but they aren't totally stupid, the winner of such a confrontation gets to be king of a silent oven of radioactive death, woohoo
The two most likely scenarios are a limited exchange in the middle east and a backpack/dirty bomb
I was nobody. Nothing.
i can feel you. but the scary part is that we have nearly started flinging nukes several times.
you should watch Trinity and Beyond: The Atomic Bomb Movie.
Active Member
Yep Cuban crisis and Able archer are pretty chilling! But again, it's a matter of perspective, the Cuban crisis is often cited as proof it could happen someday, when afaic it shows that when nuclear powers actually go toe to toe, they end up backing down.
Able Archer is scarier because the run-down soviet equipment mistook a flash from a flock of birds or a satellite for a launch, and because of the insane launch-on-warning system, it nearly kicked off. The only reason it didn't is because the operator transgressed protocol and cancelled the launch - and got put in a traitor's prison city for his troubles!
There was similar incident in 94 or 95 but luckily Yeltsin wasn't too drunk that night.
I think Putin knows that in the slim event that global civilisation survives an escalation, moscow would basically be carved up like Berlin in 1945 by the international community.
My biggest fear is a backpack bomb - clandestine material is out there, some Eastern European industrialists were busted a couple of years ago trying to sell Uranium in lead lined cigarette packets. Even more scary is the fact they were apolitical and just out to make a profit - how cold is that. Then there's Dr Khan from Pakistan selling his knowledge on... twats every last one of them.
Pie in the sky perhaps but I think maybe we need an international Uranium bank... mine every last drop and let the bank/UN control any suspected source sites
Active Member
It appears Russian troops are withdrawing from Ukraine.
Gotta admit this was a master plan by Putin. By time people realized what was going on in Crimea, people were already voting to separate from Ukraine.
To shift the focus away from Crimea, Putin put on a show for several months in Eastern Ukraine.
Fast forward to September 2014. Cease-fire is signed, troops are withdrawing, the West will slowly but surely lift sanctions as the withdrawals continue and Ukraine will concede Crimea to avoid restarting the conflict in Eastern Ukraine.
/end of story.
Active Member
North Korea allegedly tested an H-Bomb. Experts aren't so sure if it's really an H-bomb or just a simple nuke.
Either way, they tested some shit.
Active Member
A reminder of the aftermath of war.
I was nobody. Nothing.
Okay, i feel like it's time to bump this thread.
We are damn near fighting a aproxy war against Russia in Syria.
The policy and millitary decisions made in the next year will require briksmanship.
This is fucking scary.
Likes: 
Faceplams: 
Reply With Quote
