51–60 of 123 posts
The breakdown of probability regarding what actually kills people was really interesting to read. I think he is spot on about handling the mundane disasters like power outages before worrying about the end of the world. It is just good common sense to have insurance and savings.
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Do many people think that with their single assault rifle or other weap9n, that they would successfully defend against one or more truckloads of vandals looking to steal whatever they have stored up "self-sufficiently"? History seems to indicate that in the absence of law, those with the most people inside a fortified structure and position are the most likely to survive.
People stockpiling only "weap9n"s aren't going to last near as long as people stockpiling only food. In real life melee weapons are readily available and far more overpowered that you'd think, but what matters more is that robbery is risky. Winning most of the time isn't enough; you'd need to win all of the time.
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Last march i was at SxSw and the police drones over head were a first for me. I was in this large crowd of people, and thought "yeah i dont like this". How do i know they're not just some bad actors drone with red and blue lights? I think my exposure to casual discussions of how to arm drones with my Ukrainian friend, and the videos we've all seen on Reddit about drones in Ukraine, have really made their presence fee…
I think in the US legally they have to have a beacon while flying now, but my thought the other day was about them being parked/down.
For ~$200 you can build a very good FPV drone that can carry a dangerous payload and travel at highway speeds. Another ~$200 buys you the video receiver and a controller.
Drone warfare is terrifying.
Lots of good stuff in here. One thing to note about building off-grid self-sufficient abodes for "Problem space #3: The zombie apocalypse" is that the roving hordes of warlord-run gangs will consider finding those to be the ultimate booty. This point is made quite clearly in Six Minutes to Winter, the new book about nuclear war by Mark Lynas. As much as I always wanted a sweet prepper cave, the idea has now soured on…
It won't take long for it to become overtly apparent to the members of roving hordes of warlord-run gangs that befriending an off-grid self-sufficient abode is a much, much lower risk option than raiding it.
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If you have a solar panels, a battery, and generator, it would be good idea to figure out how to hook them all together. Using the generator near its full output, to charge the battery, will use far less fuel than idling it all day. Even if things are bad enough for iodine pills, they are only really needed for children. Once you hit your mid teens, your thyroid is fully developed and not pulling in enough iodine to…
I assume the iodine is about water treatment and not radiation?
The article did mention using it for treating water, but it's not very good at that, and it tastes awful. Reverse osmosis works much, much better and it doesn't need to be a large permanently installed system; portable gravity-fed versions readily available.
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People stockpiling only "weap9n"s aren't going to last near as long as people stockpiling only food. In real life melee weapons are readily available and far more overpowered that you'd think, but what matters more is that robbery is risky. Winning most of the time isn't enough; you'd need to win all of the time.
It depends on if the people with weapons can find the people with food. With no rule of law, everything is on the table. Warlords still exist in many parts of the world today
Really, modern first-world countries are just the descendants of warlordships that ran out of kingdoms to consolidate with and instead switched to taxation, either relinquishing enough power to their citizens to maintain a stable but effectively symbolic monarchy or overtaxing then losing to a rebellion.
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Well, don't leave us hanging. What did they say?
LOL sorry, here's the list: Generator 5kw - you want something with a higher duty cycle than you need so it can run for extended periods Diesel storage for back of a truck - 330 Gallon (nice to have, after a week or two supply lines got fixed) Diesel - for said tank Medical supplies - IFAK kit (NAR is a good vendor). Bleeding control & dexamethasone. Solar power - 1-5kwh. We still get 10-15 hrs a day on the grid, but…
If you’re going to do that, become proficient with said rifle.
Great time to see this here. This morning I, in Canada, reached out to a friend in Ukraine and asked "I might be over-reacting, but what do you wish you knew before the war started?" His response was "You're not over reacting, you might be under-reacting, worst case you end up with some cool new toys. Best case, you're more prepared than anyone else." So yeah, here we are. Good article to add to my research.
At any moment I could go for at least two weeks without really worrying about food or how it would even be prepared. I've got a standby generator for the house and a smaller unit just in case that one dies. There's enough fuel on site to keep my fridge running for about a month in the worst case.
You want to be the last bear to exit the cave. The longer you can hold out, the less competition you'll have to deal with. The only other option is to get out before the disaster hits. This works great for hurricanes but not so well for earthquakes.