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Doomsday planning for less crazy folk

lcamtuf.coredump.cx

141–150 of 340 posts

Re: Doomsday planning for less crazy folk

#141
post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

StutterSpeaker, your comment is dead. I don't think it ought to be, might want to check with the mods.

If you click on the timestamp and go to the comment page you can "vouch" for such comments, undeading them.

Oh, thank you! I will try that next time.

Re: Doomsday planning for less crazy folk

#142
To me, the #1 marker of "crazy" in disaster preparation is a focus on violence against your fellow civilians, and I'm glad that this guide pushes that out into the far end of unlikely and extreme end of scenarios.

For what this scenario actually looks like, a post on Metafilter about Sarajevo: http://www.metafilter.com/78669/What-if-things-just-keep-get...

Re: Doomsday planning for less crazy folk

#143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there a middle ground? My kids went as part of a team to help people rebuild after Katrina and one of the folks they met was rebuilding their house but building it as a boat. They had re-done the foundation so that the house rested on it, and its sewer connection was just the house pipe inset into the city pipe (so it could easily lift out). That, 15' of chain to allow the house to float above the foundation and c…

There certainly is a middle ground - however why stay in the same place and expect a different future? New Orleans isn't that much more prepared for another flood. Houston re-did the entire bayou system about 5 years ago and yet here we are. People's aversion to moving, especially after a major disaster, boggles my mind.

> People's aversion to moving, especially after a major disaster, boggles my mind.

There was a period where the banking regulator for New Zealand was going to force all the major banks to move their IT shops from Wellington to Christchurch because Wellington was at too high a risk of a natural disaster.

A couple of years later, an earthquake on a hitherto-unknown fault flattened Christchurch.

Re: Doomsday planning for less crazy folk

#144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you thinking more self defense or utility? Makes a big difference. For example, we love folding Karambits for self defense everyday carry.

What've you got for everyday self defense

In terms of pocket knives, I personally use the Fox Emerson Wave folding karambit https://theprepared.com/pick/fox-479-emerson-wave-folding-ka...

Re: Doomsday planning for less crazy folk

#145

The major thing overlooked here is mindset. After 14 years in the military and experience with several armed conflicts and humanitarian disasters, I have seen that pretty much all your plans and preparation will go out the window, so you need to learn to move adapt and improvise. If you're going to survive any contingency scenario you need to be resilient, excruciatingly innovative and mentally tough. Think more like…

Surely being economically prepared as well would be useful. Having the gear both for bug out scenarios and bug in scenarios. I know it's fun to rag on preppers, but in what way is keeping a year of food stocked and rotated through a bad idea? How is having solar panels a bad idea?

Food for a week? Good sense, although plenty of people in supposedly rich first-world nations struggle to have enough food for now, never mind a week spare.

Food for a month? Maybe if you live in a region that could easily be cut off in the event of disasters.

Food for a year? Listen, if things turn so badly to shit you need a year of food, food is going to be the least of your worries.

Re: Doomsday planning for less crazy folk

#148
post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Possibly, but if that's what you need to do to survive you will. Finding and maintaining access to (aka defending) a water source is one of the most challenging parts of survival. Primarily because it locks you into a location if you let it and a quality source is a huge draw for populations - obviously. In scenarios where you're out of municipal water a few days like is happening right now in Houston (Myself and my…

I've got 40 gallons of potable water in the garage that I can tap into in an emergency. In fact, most of us do...

I have an artesian well, solar, wind, and hunt/fush/grow most of my food. The neighbor has a small farm. I'm also very remotely located.

It really isn't a prepper mentality. It's just how I prefer to live. Quite a bit could happen and my life would remain fairly unchanged.

I don't have these things so much for what people picture as emergencies. I have them because they are pretty necessary to live here. We have fairly high winds and blizzards that mean mains power is not very reliable. We have ice storms that shut things down for a while.

It's a bit of work, but it is enjoyable labor.

Re: Doomsday planning for less crazy folk

#149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There certainly is a middle ground - however why stay in the same place and expect a different future? New Orleans isn't that much more prepared for another flood. Houston re-did the entire bayou system about 5 years ago and yet here we are. People's aversion to moving, especially after a major disaster, boggles my mind.

> People's aversion to moving, especially after a major disaster, boggles my mind. Social connections, networks that enable employment, and a lack of serious financial reserves (which will always be true for ~50% of people) are the main reasons. And no area is immune to disaster and lacks challenges. The "low natural disaster" areas have a total lack of warning before disaster strikes, heavy snowfall that can cripple…

Central/eastern Europe is pretty good as far as disasters go. The most likely thing to happen is flooding from the local river and majority of them have designated flood areas. After that it's just heat waves and occasional freezing days. (Mostly affects elderly) No wildlife to worry about. Snow is common enough that a lot of people know to switch to winter tyres and roads are salted and cleared.
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