Doomsday planning for less crazy folk • Hacker News Board

Re: Doomsday planning for less crazy folk

#231

Post by pdfernhout » Mon, Aug 28, 2017, 3:45 AM UTC

unlmtd1 wrote: post #196

beebmam wrote: post #162

How about we plan on not having a doomsday in the first place? Why are nuclear weapons not banned? Chemical/biological weapons are. Let's end nuclear weapons too, and take this world back from the possibility of doomsday.

Nuclear power is the root cause of nuclear weapons.

Unrecognized irony is the root cause of nuclear weapons -- since what is the point of fighting over oil fields or farmland or other resources with nuclear weapons when you have advanced materials and advanced computing and advanced energy sources that could produce abundance for everyone?

Re: Doomsday planning for less crazy folk

#232

Post by mmagin » Mon, Aug 28, 2017, 3:48 AM UTC

pbarnes_1 wrote: post #191

What's the point of living through the zombie apocalypse? I honestly don't understand any of this stuff vs the normal 3 days of water/food/etc thing. If shit's that bad, we might as well be dead. Why live for The Walking Dead?

Like most philosophical questions, there's no one easy answer. Furthermore, there are plenty of sub-zombie-apocalypse situations for which you might again get back to something resembling normal life. Consider for example any of the genocides of the past century.

Re: Doomsday planning for less crazy folk

#233

Post by cairo_x » Mon, Aug 28, 2017, 4:02 AM UTC

Get obese and buy a bunch of electrolytes and water. You'll be good for a whole year without food, provided you keep those electrolytes in check, no problem. #FACT

Re: Doomsday planning for less crazy folk

#234

Post by mmagin » Mon, Aug 28, 2017, 4:08 AM UTC

rubatuga wrote: post #60

Been looking into getting a pocket knife/ multitool, any good options?

I cannot stand having big things in my pockets, so I have a Gerber Shard on my keychain (as a bonus, airport security seems to be okay with it) and I also carry a Opinel No. 6 Carbon (because it's easy to get really sharp, unlike stainless steel.) Both are really cheap too.

Re: Doomsday planning for less crazy folk

#235

Post by qbrass » Mon, Aug 28, 2017, 4:15 AM UTC

cbr wrote: post #202

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…

its sewer connection was just the house pipe inset into the city pipe That connection isn't too bad, but I'm curious how they dealt with water supply and (if they have it) natural gas? Those are much harder to make flexible.

They make flexible lines for both.

Re: Doomsday planning for less crazy folk

#236

Post by bupku5 » Mon, Aug 28, 2017, 4:19 AM UTC

icelancer wrote: post #153

bupku5 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And I have a Glock 17 and a years' worth of ammo, so I don't need to stockpile the other stuff, you are doing it for me. (edit: hopefully it is obvious this is a play on words, speaking in the voice of a hypothetical desperate citizen. obviously I do not own a gun for the purposes of threatening others, only for self-protection) Sounds trollish but my point is that Californians in particular eventually need to square…

>>Glock 17 and a years' worth of ammo, so I don't need to stockpile the other stuff, you are doing it for me Great, you have a sidearm that presumably fires 9mm ammunition that you are qualified to shoot downrange. I stock pile not only food, water, and medical supplies, but carry a 9mm of my own and have far more useful home defense weaponry in the form of a Mossberg 500 Flex (as well as various rifles that I don't…

you are re-arguing my own point

let me restate: if there is a disaster and you are well-supplied with emergency provisions, in America you should expect to protect yourself, your family, and your provisions. in other nations it may be different, here people possess guns, and they aren't all nice

you cannot separate self-sufficiency and self-protection

it sounds like you are already following this mindset so there is no dispute. the way I originally made my point was poorly worded.

in California there is a public service campaign that tells people to be prepared to be self-sufficient for at least 72 hours...which also means by implication you should expect 911 doesn't work for 72 hours

Re: Doomsday planning for less crazy folk

#237

Post by ZenoArrow » Mon, Aug 28, 2017, 4:40 AM UTC

AndrewKemendo wrote: post #223

bitwize wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You uh... don't know too many people from New Orleans do you? Ask them to move and they will look at you as if you'd grown another head. Maybe moving elsewhere is easy for you, upper-middle-class person with marketable skills and no loyalties. But to them it's like saying "Hey, why don't you just walk away from everyone and everything, the people and sights and smells and sounds, you cherish? You won't? What are you,…

You won't find argument from me that people are irrational friend.

It's more than just irrationality. I've never been there, but from what I've seen New Orleans has a unique culture that you can't find anywhere else. It's not irrational to want to be part of that culture, even if there's the occasional risk of flooding.

Re: Doomsday planning for less crazy folk

#238

Post by a_t48 » Mon, Aug 28, 2017, 4:59 AM UTC

k_sh wrote: post #226

AndrewKemendo wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dayton tops the list for least natural disaster prone. Similar with Southern Maryland. Denver is pretty high on the list and Seattle seems pretty safe too. There are plenty of places to go. For some reason we seem to love to build massive cities on disaster areas. I'm looking at you SF, LA and NYC. But hey fuck it, lets just continue being bad at statistics and assume that because a natural disaster happened recently…

Seattle is safe? Aren't they under impending doom from the Cascade fault[1]? [1] http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/11/us/cascadia-subduction-zone-ea...

Along with the giant volcano to the East. :)

Re: Doomsday planning for less crazy folk

#239

Post by ZenoArrow » Mon, Aug 28, 2017, 4:59 AM UTC

saryant wrote: post #19

I've been in a number of major natural disasters at this point. Fukushima, Ike, Colorado's 2013 floods. I've also been in two shooting incidents (where fortunately only the shooter was hurt). My point is, I've been lucky so far because none of these posed a major problem for me. I made it out with manageable inconvenience. However, I can only get lucky like that so many times. So now I keep the following at home: * 5…

Looks like a good list. The only item I'd add to that is a LifeStraw (or something similar), but I don't know how close you live to a water source:

http://lifestraw.com/products/lifestraw-mission/

Re: Doomsday planning for less crazy folk

#240

Post by aryehof » Mon, Aug 28, 2017, 4:59 AM UTC

notadoc wrote: post #150

Is it just perception or is 'prepping' becoming mainstreamed?

It seems to be in the USA. However, I attribute that to the fear based culture prevalent here, the "winner or your a loser" mentality, that government is untrustworthy viewpoint, and the high degree of tribalism and differentiation throughout society.

Edit: language