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Doomsday planning for less crazy folk

lcamtuf.coredump.cx

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Re: Doomsday planning for less crazy folk

#171

Post by [deleted] »

Waterluvian wrote: post #17
thomas_howland wrote: post #4

A 10 AM Bay Area earthquake is the highest plausibility * severity event you're likely to experience around here on a day to day basis - leaving some people with a 25 mile commute back to a structure that might or might not be standing, intermittent at best communications, and potentially impassible roads. IMO if you don't have a case of water, a road map, and a change of walking-around clothes in your car around her…

Your comment got me thinking about some form of volunteer force of medics. Imagine if every 20th car that drove by had a government issued medical bag in the trunk and a driver guaranteed to have recent first aid and emergency training. And in return the driver gets some sort of tax break, or an HOV lane free pass, or whatever the appropriate incentive is. Surely some country has tried this out.

[deleted]

Re: Doomsday planning for less crazy folk

#172

Post by uabstraction »

webnrrd2k wrote: post #93
the_prepared wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We like the Beofeng 8 watt https://goo.gl/q8nSvA It's only about $60 and there are some nice accessories like better antennas and batteries.

I could be wrong, but I thought that you needed a license only to broadcast, and you could own a ham radio and listen without a license. You can certainly buy all sorts or radio gear without a license.

This is correct. You do not need a license to possess any ham equipment - including equipment that is capable of transmitting. All ham communications are explicitly public, and there is nothing wrong with listening in.

You only need a license to transmit.

Re: Doomsday planning for less crazy folk

#173

Post by nl »

viraptor wrote: post #149
fweespeech wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

Central/eastern Europe is pretty good as far as disasters go.

Natural disasters, perhaps.

That region doesn't have a great record in terms of political stability, and often has the bad luck of being in the middle of a warzone though.

Re: Doomsday planning for less crazy folk

#174

Post by quickthrower2 »

yourapostasy wrote: post #168
AndrewKemendo wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I dunno, I re-read the beginning and I didn't see anything about the points I raised. I think your point that overzealous people who as you put it: begin by shopping for ballistic vests and night vision goggles; they would be better served by grabbing a fire extinguisher, some bottled water, and then putting the rest of their money in a rainy-day fund. is right on point, but IMO that just says - hey don't be insane.…

> Literally right now, my good friends are being rescued from a rooftop in Houston. No number of bottles of water in their basement or generators are going to help them. Some of this outcome is a direct result of conforming to commercially-fabricated social pressure. In this particular case, floodplain maps are publicly and freely available, so anyone can build structures that rise well above the highest-projected fl…

The classic Queenslander house is built up high so it can stay cool and probably also good for a flooding scenario.

Re: Doomsday planning for less crazy folk

#175

Post by quickthrower2 »

AndrewKemendo wrote: post #118
ChuckMcM wrote: post #114

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.

Makes sense not to move if you own a home. Property will be hardest to sell right after disaster.

Let alone moving means you need to convince your Family and their other family and their other family's family to move etc. Or go it alone but ties like that are strong.

Is everyone on HN moving to their optimal place regardless of friends or family considerations?

Re: Doomsday planning for less crazy folk

#176

Post by rev_bird »

rodgerd wrote: post #145
stutterSpeaker wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

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

I don't see why this is the case -- saying "doing X is going to be the least of your worries" seems to imply that there are going to be other priorities and "X" will be ignored -- i.e. "charging your phone is going to be the least of your worries." But food... you _need_ food, even if there are other crazy things happening all around you. If that's the case, I can't help thinking it would be better to do the things you CAN do to prepare. One less thing, etc.

Re: Doomsday planning for less crazy folk

#177

Post by smhinsey »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #114
AndrewKemendo wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I dunno, I re-read the beginning and I didn't see anything about the points I raised. I think your point that overzealous people who as you put it: begin by shopping for ballistic vests and night vision goggles; they would be better served by grabbing a fire extinguisher, some bottled water, and then putting the rest of their money in a rainy-day fund. is right on point, but IMO that just says - hey don't be insane.…

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 is a really interesting episode of the UK show Grand Designs that follows someone in a flood prone area who built a house that essentially rests within its own drydock structure. Worth a watch if you find this sort of thing interesting and the show is fascinating in general. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16scx81p2w4

Re: Doomsday planning for less crazy folk

#178

Post by fapjacks »

vvanders wrote: post #70
knz wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there a 2m radio model that you would recommend?

It somewhat depends on what you're looking for. For the cheapest, almost "disposable" radio it's hard to beat the Baofeng UV-5R[1] at $30. However they aren't the most reliable and they tend to be pretty spotty in terms of how clean they are(broadcasting on frequencies other than you're transmitting). They're also a total PITA to program, but for emergencies you can put them on 146.520(national calling frequency) and…

Baofengs are not actually cheap. They inexpensive af, but they are not "cheap" in that sense of the word. They're actually $200 radios being subsidized by the Chinese government to compete directly with the Japanese electronics industry. I've got like seven of those things. Those, and Morakniv knives.

Re: Doomsday planning for less crazy folk

#179

Post by JoshMnem »

AndrewKemendo wrote: post #56

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…

Here is one place to obtain some mental toughness and survival skills at the same time: https://www.boss-inc.com/

Re: Doomsday planning for less crazy folk

#180

Post by tzs »

AndrewKemendo wrote: post #104
f- wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[Author here] The mindset is actually a large component of this guide, and it intentionally delays any discussion of "prepper gear" until it gets through a long laundry list of lifestyle tips and discussing the need to plan ahead, figure out what is likely, what can go wrong, what the decisions points may be, etc. In contrast to most other prepping docs, weapons are literally the last thing discussed, and only in a p…

I dunno, I re-read the beginning and I didn't see anything about the points I raised. I think your point that overzealous people who as you put it: begin by shopping for ballistic vests and night vision goggles; they would be better served by grabbing a fire extinguisher, some bottled water, and then putting the rest of their money in a rainy-day fund. is right on point, but IMO that just says - hey don't be insane.…

> What they should have done is learned when to move or when to stay by: 1. Not buying a house in Houston and then 2. Gotten out well before it was imminent.

The reports I've seen are describing the Houston situation as a 1 in a 1000 year flood. Does it really make sense to avoid a place based on the possibility of such rare events?

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