‘When The **** Hits The Fan’: The Eccentrics of Doomsday Preppers
Remember the frenzy surrounding Y2K?
In the years and months leading up to the new millennium, IT organizations spent billions patching systems and replacing software that had infamously been designed to support only a two-digit year — a problem dubbed the Year 2000 bug, the Millennium bug, or simply Y2K.
While the world pondered dire predictions of massive global infrastructure failures — everything from elevators to air traffic control systems were rumored to be vulnerable — the specter of a total paralysis of business operations resulting from cascading Y2K failures galvanized organizations into a frenzy of activity.
The Y2K problem threatened to tear our modern world apart — at least that was what some people thought. I’ll never forget friends stockpiling food and water in preparation for the certain collapse of our system of commerce. I actually heard grown men arguing like children over whose Y2K stash was larger. It seemed like, everywhere I went, people were obsessed with being prepared.
And then it was over. On Dec. 31, 1999, the world held its breath — and nothing happened. Jan. 1, 2000, came in just like any other day. There were no major failures to report anywhere.
In the aftermath, or non-aftermath, some pundits said all the preparation had been overkill.
I’ll admit it: there’s nothing wrong with being prepared for emergencies. In fact, FoxNews.com ran a helpful article just the other week about preparation. But the other side of the coin is that some people become obsessed with preparing for one implausible catastrophe or another — these folks have become the inspiration for National Geographic’s perversely fascinating documentary series Doomsday Preppers.
Doomsday Preppers has a simple premise: preppers share how they are gearing up to survive the event or condition they fear will take place. After the preppers demonstrate their plans, a group of consultants from the organization Practical Preppers rates the preparations and offers suggestions on how to improve their plans. The show briefly revisits each prepper after they have made some changes based on the suggestions.
I enjoyed the shows. And while some of the folks may be going off the deep end, some preparation is smart. It’d be scary if there was another New Madrid earthquake.
If people said that they were building fancy “storm shelters” would they receive as much attention? Frankly, if I ever had the money to build a large bunker, I would tell people that it was just a very large tornado shelter and then point out how much damage has been done in Alabama alone. With a shelter and generator in place, I’d be better able to keep an eye on my property and to lend aid to my neighbors.
Y2K didn’t cause any problems because corporations spent enormous resources making sure their systems wouldn’t fall over due to this bug. I know because I was part of it. Some companies even tried to lure my dad out of retirement to look at their aging mainframes because he had some COBOL expertise in his background.
In other words, sometimes prepping is worth it. Certainly in the case of Y2K, it kept a lot of critical infrastructure from falling over. But whether it would have been The End Of Everything if that prepping hadn’t occurred is an unanswerable question.
It is also true that no matter where you live, you need to do a realistic threat assessment and then make your plans for what could happen to you and your local area. Most places have some sort of environmental threats: hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, blizzards, etc. So prepping for a a limited time without power, water and emergency services isn’t out of the question. Thought should also be given to when it is appropriate to “bug out” and when you should “bug in.” But that all comes down to the realistic threats in your area, as well as your realistic chances of bugging out should those threats become real. As an example, if you live in a place that can experience hurricanes, you should decide in advance under what conditions (weather forecasts) it is time to head inland. You should also know how long you can wait until traffic will get so bad that you might as well hunker down at home.
On the other hand, people who are truly trying to prep for the fall of western civilization are, IMO, simply giving their lives over to the futile pursuit of an obsession. Even if you could accurately predict the fall of western civilization, I don’t think you can predict what will cause it. Or, if you could know in advance the cause of all the destruction, I fail to see how all those plans and supplies, no matter how elaborate, can realistically be expected to carry you through. The fall of civilization represents a highly chaotic event. The best laid plans, no matter how well prepared, are unlikely to carry you through. Better, I think, to be on really good terms with your neighbors, keep yourself in the best shape possible, and be prepared to think and act on your feet.
Inland flooding from hurricanes can cause as much hardship as the wind and the storm surge on the coast. I live hundreds of miles from the ocean. In 2004 people near me were cut off when 7 inches of rain from Jeanne washed out dozens of one lane private bridges connecting homes to the state maintained roads. The creeks those bridges spanned were usually only inches deep.
Last year New England was hammered by the aftermath of Irene. Many people in Vermont lived in valleys that had but a single road in. When those roads were washed away they were unprepared.
“Y2K didn’t cause any problems because corporations spent enormous resources making sure their systems wouldn’t fall over due to this bug. I know because I was part of it. Some companies even tried to lure my dad out of retirement to look at their aging mainframes because he had some COBOL expertise in his background.”
I don’t necessarily disagree with you but I want to point out that there was a definite element of inappropriate panic over Y2K as well. I still remember seeing one segment on a newsmagazine show where the host had two Y2K consultants explain the need for Y2K precautions. These guests combined a couple of legitimate facts in a massively illegitimate way to create a ridiculous level of anxiety about the consequences of not preparing for Y2K. They argued that:
1. Lots of aircraft, especially large commercial aircraft, used software very heavily to control the operation of the aircraft. I believe that it true.
2. They pointed out that division by zero is “undefined” (in mathematical terms). I know this to be true.
3. They pointed out that if a year was expressed only with the last two digits of the year, e.g. 12 for 2012, that 2000 would be represented by 00. This is also true.
4. They pointed out that if an airplane’s software happened to do a calculation based on the date and that date was in the denominator of the calculation and that date were 0, it would cause an undefined result. That is also true.
However, what they didn’t point out is that it makes NO SENSE WHATSOEVER for anyone to divide anything by a date!! At least I’ve never EVER had occasion to divide ANYTHING by a date, regardless of whether it was zero or some non-zero value. Now, I’m an IT professional and not a mathematician or an engineer but I have never seen, nor can I conceive, of a calculation where someone would divide by a date. I can think of cases where you would divide by a number of days – for instance, if you had eaten 27 twinkies over 3 days, you could divide the total number of twinkies eaten by the number of days and get an average number of twinkies consumed per day. But I can’t think of any situation where I would divide by a date. What would 27 divided by today’s date MEAN??
In my opinion, these so-called “consultants” were little better than snake-oil salesmen, at least in their appearance on this newsmagazine.
This is not to say that the whole Y2K issue was all a hoax. Not at all. Much of the work done was necessary and worthwhile. But justifying it on the basis of calculations that would never be done is sheer nonsense.
One other point. When I entered the IT industry in the early 80s, my fellow IT folks were already talking about the need to eventually do something about the millenium. It was already more than obvious that there would be problems when the millenium changed. So what did they do about it at the time? Absolutely nothing. Most of the senior people figured it would get done when it needed to be done, often after their retirement, and they made no effort do anything any sooner. At least, that’s the case where I worked. I can’t speak for anyone else.
There are TONS of calculations that are time (and th4erefore DATE) based. This is true in almost any field. It’s MASSIVELY true in banking.
The number of places where time-based calculations unexpectedly show up is astounding.
There was a power plant that, when they did a simulation run of their Y2K prep, shut down because they had missed a micro-controller in a sensor located on a smokestack.
The city of Van Nuys, California, dumped a few thousand gallons of sewage into the storm drain system because they missed a single line of code in their waste management plant. Good thing it was a controlled test.
No date calculations? I can tell you’re not a programmer.
Y2K was not overblown. It was a massive remediation program that was an astounding success, only because it was taken very seriously.
“Y2K didn’t cause any problems because corporations spent enormous resources making sure their systems wouldn’t fall over due to this bug. I know because I was part of it.”
Me too. While the company’s programers worked to change the coding in our many systems I advised management on how to keep running if we did lose our mainframe.
You ever get the feeling that some of these people wake up every day disappointed to see that they still live in this world? Most of humanity struggles to eat and live in peace. Americans make a sport and a hobby out of the horrible life the rest of the world would give anything to avoid.
There’s nothing wrong with being prepared for emergencies, but when you start to wish that the big nasty disaster really would happen, that’s when you’ve waded out into the deep end of the pool. Anyone who thinks that life after “the big event” would be fun needs to take suppository and go lie down for awhile. There’s nothing like spending some time living in the third world to cure any nostalgia you might have about life a post apocalyptic world.
You ever get the feeling that some of these people wake up every day disappointed to see that they still live in this world? Most of humanity struggles to eat and live in peace. Americans make a sport and a hobby out of the horrible life the rest of the world would give anything to avoid.
Are you talking about preppers, or the envirocult with their “Earth Hour”?
Though I’ve never watched the show I have heard of it. I am mystified why anyone would be willing to go on the show in the first place. I’d say the first rule of operational security would be that NO ONE is aware of your stockpile.
Precisely, Rubicon.
I do maintain the best hedge is to stockpile precious metals (they come in fractional sizes and can get you the pretty stuff if necessary), have a place to store grow food, shelter and a water source. Gold and silver are denominated in what? $’s. If dollars have no value what is the value of gold or silver? It is pretty to look at. Period.
Zombies are what will come out of the cities should infrastructure fail. They are the unskilled and hungry. IOW, they could become dangerous or slave stock for the evil or food for the same evil or desperate.
Read “One Second After” not because EMP is something to be feared but because it paints an accurate picture of what happens to civil society if infrastructure fails. Society becomes quite uncivil.
Precisely what I though upon reading this. I’ve followed the prepper movement for a number of years and one of the principles espoused by almost all of them is that you keep your preparations a secret. It’s called OpSec, or operational security. The idea is as follows:
If the event that you’re preparing for comes to pass, your supplies will become a target for the unprepared. Rather than risk being overrun by a hungry mob, most preppers hide their supplies and make no mention of them to anyone who is not part of their group. Some even have plans for eliminating light, sound and smell signatures so as not to attract undue attention in a post-apocalyptic world.
Given the importance of opsec within the prepper community, those who choose to openly display their supplies and plans on TV come across more as attention hogs than as serious preppers.
Yep.
I’ve been in the occasional newspaper story myself. They’ve only once gotten things right. And that was in a medium that traditionally tries to inform. Anybody who goes on a TV program, which tries to entertain (and too often does it by pointing fingers and managing a silent guffaw at the geeks they lured onto the show)is foolish.
The preppers show is nat geo’s #1 show…
The people that are showing what they are doing to prep.. might be a little smarter this time around and get some editing rights..
there are half a dozen or so scenarios in history that point to our time as being dangerous, in one way or another. we have a crazy unbalanced commie in the white house that dumps new laws and regulations on us every friday that make it easier for him to declare martial law. what the he!! is that all about? we have an obvious rise in multiple types of natural disasters happening all around us. we also have more people and less resources all the time, the traditional cause of wars.
if the bottom does fall out, and if we do survive, it will be the very folks laughing at the survivalists who will be trying to take somebody else’s stuff because they were not prepared. for me, some limited insurance is money well spent.
We’re moving out of state soon, and one of the criteria for our new place is that it would have enough of the right amount of space for us to be able to provide ourselves with a good portion of our food. Looking at the economy and the government’s response to it, I think it will be a very good idea in the next few years for people to produce as much of their food as they can. The best-case scenario I can see is that inflation causes food and everything else to become very expensive over the next few years. We are seeing quite a few houses with “storm shelters”. Dunno if this is a euphemism for “armageddon bunker”.
food prices have alredy begus to rise..and with the drought in China things will get tighter here..
Wheat, rice, and corn are UP….best to learn to sprout or immediate greens..spelt etc..
1 years supply food..even if the economic bottom doesn’t fall out, the list is endless of what you can use..
Moving out of the inner city is the most important thing in my book…if you do have to hunker down where you are..do it discretely.
The people on the Prepper show did not have say-so in the final editing and some of them look just flat out nuts!..in all actuality, they’re not.
,..One of them however, makes her family living off of prepping and teaching others what and how to..from canning , to buying, couponing, stocking, etc..she makes money from this and does a really good job of helping many people with her ideas and insites into many things we would like to learn to do. For the everyday good stuff she charges no one..
ANyway..when the STHTF …and it will soon folks..I hope you are at least as prepared as we are.
S
I’m only slightly prepared for the least critical doomsday–the blocking of the Hormuz Strait by Iran. Store shelves may be empty for a week or two. I have enough dry goods stashed to get by, though I do need some more Earl Grey and honey. I’m getting prepared for a major market crash now that the Fed has cut off the QE Methedrine to the big banks and the true state off the economy has become more apparent. Next week I’m selling all my equities except shorts on financials. Taking a big loss on miners but I want cash for gold mining shares when that deep bottom forms. I’m also drawing some extra cash in case ATMs and debit cards aren’t working for a while. Once I have some profits I’ll buy real gold in preparation for the global economic collapse brought on by massive defaults. This nut would like more time to get ready. I suspect the geniuses at Nat’l Geo aren’t ready for anything.
“geniuses at Nat’l Geo aren’t ready for anything”…well..in all actuality..they alllll appear to be more prepared than you. I don’t mean to sound rude..just realistic Gary.
You can’t eat gold…so go buy yourself a years supply of food and water..and be happy your will be better off than most of the world..put your let over gold un your safe buried int he ground or what ever..
Here’s hoping nothing happens, economically or otherwise to warrant the use of our stores.
Too clever by half, anne. You can eat gold and Federal Reserve Notes. One will always be money and the other will be better than fire starter, but who knows by how much. If you don’t like gold, pick up some cheap silver right after the massive market crash, then watch it shhoot the moon. Or pay your bills with rice and beans. Good luck with that.
Further further research has persuaded me that Europe will crash in a month or two so I will be selling off to cash. Be prepared by cutting down you margin exposure.
“Better to be ten years to early than 10 minutes too late”. That said, most of these people on the show seem a bit nutsos, if for no other reason than actually advertizing what they have as a comment above read. I have a grand supply of guns and ammo (since I love guns and ammo) and could eat for a few months. Since every trend in our country is down that should be up and vica versa, who could but conclude that ultimately and probably in our lifetimes we are doomed for massive disruptive changes in the world around us.
99.9 percent of people have a “normalcy bias” but any thinking conservative shouldn’t. The United States and what it represents is just a blip on the historical radar screen and there is no guarantee that we will surive. Look what infests Washington now. Why doesn’t Obama have a 10 percent approval rating? Because America seems intent on committing national and cultural suicide. When its every man for himself, it will be literally every man for himself.
Read a great profound statement the other day, “you can ignore reality but you can’t ignore the consequences of ignoring reality”.
You can ignore reality but reality will NOT ignore you.
Amen. Well said.
Further research has persuaded me the great stock market crash will be postponed as euros flee to the US, giving the Fed a chance to save QE3 pumping for use closer to Nov. 6. Ben and Barry are dangerously co-dependent.
Ignore above optimism.
What I’ve noticed so many people missing, including the producers of the show, is that if you are preparing for any of these events you are far better off should ANY event happen. I lost my job a few years ago. My food storage kept me going until I found another job. Now I am replacing what I used. Food that is nearing its expiration date is donated to the food pantry. No harm, no foul. I view prepping as insurance. I would prefer to not have to face the risks that come with social unrest? To quote Queen Elizabeth I, “I do not like wars. Their outcomes are never certain.” But if a crisis does happen, would you rather have the supplies and not need them; or need the supplies and not have them.
As an aside, those of you who don’t follow the people in the show should know that there is quite a bit of questionable editing to make some them look crazier than they are. If you can’t trust the mainstream news to tell the truth, why would you think a Nat. Geo. show wouldn’t spin things to make them “sell better.”
There’s another way to look at the food storage. If you buy in bulk because you are a cheapskate, you automatically have at least a few months food stashed. And you save money.
There may be people who take it to extremes, but the principle of at least basic disaster preparedness seems worthwhile. As the ratings appear to indicate, a sizable portion of America agrees.
Yep, nothing here to worry about!
Exposed: Inside the NSA’s Largest and Most Expansive Secret Domestic Spy Center in Bluffdale, Utah
http://www.democracynow.org/2012/3/21/exposed_inside_the_nsas_largest_and
MARCH 21, 2012 Exposed: Inside the NSA’s Largest and Most Expansive Secret Domestic Spy Center in Bluffdale, Utah
http://www.democracynow.org/2012/3/21/exposed_inside_the_nsas_largest_and
March 22, 2012 New rules allow US to store personal data longer.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57402933/new-rules-allow-us-to-store-personal-data-longer/
Innocents Betrayed The True Story of Gun Control
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1nz0rPIU_w
I won’t be Bugging Out as I’m already as far out as I can get. But, I’ve picked up some good tips from that show. Being prepared is easy for me. You have to be when you live over 100 miles from a city.
1) Although I suspect the Y2K claims were grossly over hyped, the usual arguement (“nothing happened”) is ridiculous.
I had a hole in my roof. “Hmmm, better patch it before the rains come.” Patched it, and the roof did not leak.
That proves the roof did not need patching?
2) “Doomsday preps”? We are much more likely to face a “doomsday” that affects only us, individually, than see one that hits a whole town, much less a nation. The whole world? Hah.
Still, better to prep for bad stuff to happen. Most of the preps are going to be the same, no matter what.
I have watched all of the episodes of prepper. I don’t agree with everthing on the show but I have picked up some good tips. I have noticed an increase in economic instability and the potential of an economic failure. Most of ths is being brought about by the obama administration creating US and worldwide uncertenty because of his inexperience and radical ideaolgy. I DO prep. I have been putting stuff aside ever since obama said ” fundamentaly change America”. I’m not into conspiracy theories but just looking around I don’t like what I see. Besides, given the cost of fuel driving the cost of everything up buying cheap makes sense.
It’s National Geographic, for crying out loud! What do you expect? This is the media outfit that’s been showing Americans the “interesting” folks around the world for over a century. Very often, “interesting” is simply the polite euphemism for “freak show”. Whether its headhunters in Borneo, “lost tribes” in the Amazon, or American preppers, “freak” is the attraction. The only difference is what sort of elitism drives the editing.
There is prepping and then there is PREPPING!!!!!!!!! .
The question begged is where are you? On a scale of 10. 10 being government/corporate ” GreenBrier” and 1 being you have half the Subway footlong you bought yesterday at lunch in you fridg.
On that scale.. where are you?
A very good friend to me said, the other day, that we are 7 meals from anarchy. The point being, that Wall Mart will be empty after two days… 6 meals,after any disruption in distribution. Then the killing for the last loaf of bread would begin.
That is 1.. the opposite of GreenBrier.
Me, I give myself a 4 on that scale. I live away from any significant urban garbage. BIG plus.. .
But mainly after that I buy in bulk that which I am going to use. Water… 60 cases, use 15-20 cases a month… got it. Canned vegetables.. they last two years, what I use I buy on sale and have two years on hand.
Lead.. plenty( with my people) to deal with the starving urban garbage which drifts out of the sewer(cities). When the inevitable happens.
Oh and I have a garden too.
Lots of game too. And if push comes to shove…… urban roast will be the menu.
Google Ferfal. He was a student living in Argentina after their 2001 economic collapse into anarchy. His insights are truly eye-opening.
Got his book, it seems more a survival guide for living in a inner city on the edge of collapse but not quite got there yet, still got water, still got electricty… so probably more useful for ghetto surviving than anything… different if its all gone as in Katrina, then its dog eat dog… amazingly most folks during Katrina where still somewhat civilized, of course you had the scourge performing their criminal acts… but suprisingly most folks banded together and tried to make it to safety…. they were lucky that they only had to survive for max 10 days..
Different story if it had have stretched beyond that…
Doc Out:
Seems like the first things to go would be the already-made food, and ingredients later. People who have no clue how to make food and cook it without a microwave are common enough that the herd would be thinned pretty quickly. I see flour being tough for me to come up with on my own, but green onions, potatoes, garlic are plantable. The Marine promises to teach me to shoot next weekend.
Fascinating show.
The one thing that amazes me is every one of these preppers has their own theory about how the world is going to end. No two are exactly alike.
What you do not realize is that the producers of the show Require each prepper to pick one and only one scenario for which they are prepping. The wackier, the better according to three people who were actually on the show who wrote in some blog or another. They also selectively edit segments to show things out of context from what the prepper meant. The whole thing is a whitewash.
Also, the producers offered one lady $1000 to shoot her cat, which she dearly loves, while filming it for the shows episode she was taping… Is it true? I dunno. Why would she lie about a thing like that?
Lastly, Their “Expert Prepper” who evaluates the preps and possible calamities the preppers choose, is not going to say on National TWee that the chances of an economic collapse are actually about 40% or better if the EU goes in the toilet, which is circling the drain now. lol.
Personally, I wish the show had never aired but for my own selfish reasons. More preppers means more idiots around after SHTF who were idiots before the event. There just well stocked idiots later. Also, more buyers makes the stuff I need more expensive and less plentiful. I was hoping the whole show would be a bust. lol
Hows that “Hope and Change” working for ya?
I was in Russia when it defaulted on its debt. I saw hyper inflation first hand. It is not something you would want to live through unprepared. Will it happen here? I don’t know, but I do know there is a very realistic risk of it happening. To avoid it would take a radical change in the way the Federal Government is being managed. It would require grownups taking over. Tell me how likely that is of happening.
So does taking some precautions make sense? Hell, yes, red flags are all over the place.
Having a year’s supply of food is pretty cheap insurance. In fact, if you store what you eat and eat what you store, it does not cost anything. In fact, it done intelligently, it saves money.
“In practically every case, the odds are infinitesimal. Much like the people who freaked out over Y2K, these preppers expend untold amounts of time and energy getting ready for events that are highly unlikely to actually take place.”
Depends on the event, alien invasion by the creatures out of Skyline or Independance Day not so much. Total sociatal breakdown due to hyperinflationary collapse bought about by Obama’s print and spend to infinity and beyond economic policies, an almost certainty sometime within his second term.
Look at what happened when Argentina imploded in 2001, now multiply that by the number of armed citizens, military/police forces and foreign operatives (Iran, Muslim Brotherhood, Islamic Jihad…) that already exist in the country and the fact there are only 3 DAYS worth of food in stores at any one time.
It will get VERY UGLY, VERY FAST…
When the dust settles, the “Hunger Games” may become a documentary not just a warning of what is to come.
Look at what PIMCO, the federal reserves funds transfers to the Eurozone and the longer term trends in the PM’s are indicating, it paints a very ugly picture.
PM’s, ammo and at least 6 months worth of food. Or take your chances when the implosion hits…
I wonder what the author is thinking about these comments and if they’re surprised. Perhaps that it wouldn’t hurt to at least stock up on food?
Keep it up. Somewhere on this continuum you will come face to face with Al Gore and the Sierra Club.
Definitely recommend reading Farfal’s website as to a realistic assessment of what happens to the suburbs when government loses its mind (i.e. printing to infinity to pay off debts). His rules mainly revolve around being prepared without looking like you are.
At the very least these shows help to demonstrate how utterly helpless and dependent on JIT inventory and municipal systems most of us are. During a “sudden stop” event most people would be out of food in a couple of weeks with little to no cash on hand. Almost none would have PMs to barter with. Sewage and water systems may even become unreliable or dangerous. Major cities would become free-fire zones within days…the last place you want to be if the SHTF.
Me, I’ve enjoyed teaching myself about gardening and we enjoy the fresh eggs from our three chickens (which are just about enough to provide a family of three one meal a day). I keep a safe with my shotgun, ammo, some Morgan dollars for barter, and a few hundred in cash. Ultimately it’s a small investment for a still unlikely but not impossible scenario.
Ferfal’s got “lived-it” experience. By all accounts, he is still living it.
There is als oa guy named Selco who lived through the Siege of Sarajevo (1992-1995). No small achievement, that. Go to http://shtfschool.com where he discusses in non-nonsense fashion what it was like to live through that situation.
One thing I haven’t heard mentioned much is rain barrels. I bought an expensive one online, then made two more from plastic garbage cans, for about $35 each. If you have a garden, you can attach a hose to use the water to get you through a dry period.(Having a sloped yard will help, but you can also rest the barrel on a couple layers of brick for drainage.)
If worse comes to worst and you need the water for drinking or cooking, you’ll need a means of purification. I have a rather expensive ceramic micro-filter which is alleged to remove almost all microbial life forms. As a backup I also have several jugs of bleach, and a Brita water filter with activated charcoal filters to remove the bleach. And if you’re going to be off the grid for awhile,you’ll also need a means to cook up that yummee freeze-dried food. I have a propane stove, with several tanks of propane,and a Coleman gas stove as a backup.
I find the idea of living through the next Dark Age a truly Hellish idea, but what if were just talking about a hurricane, a tornado, a prolonged drought, a blizzard,”civil unrest”, or a middle-east war that cuts off our supply of oil for a few weeks? Those things I can handle.
Our grandparents used to can goods just in case things got a little bit rough. Did that make them “Preppers”?
Yes. It did.
Dear Patriots, Where else in the world could this happen?
http://www.nagr.org/NAGRVideo-AntiTank.aspx?pid=1
Well, there’s one cataclysm that no longer looks nearly so likely: the melting of the ice caps. The chief climate alarmist in Canada, Dr. David Suzuki, has apparently called an emergency meeting of his group of environmentalists to try to come up with some kind of explanation for why there are record HIGH numbers of polar bears when he had predicted record LOW numbers. Here’s the story:
http://www.torontosun.com/2012/04/08/unbearable-news-for-doomsayers
Please go back and re-read the article Henry. It said “It would come as no surprise if David Suzuki called an emergency meeting”, not that he did.
Take hurricanes, some folks prep by having all the stuff on hand for a “hurricane party” and others prep by having somewhere to go IN ADVANCE, have a means to secure their property and possessions, include in their planning for their pets, and oh yea… executed their plans for a storm like, Katrina and came out of it with most assets intact, or at worse, everyone and the pets survived without injuries.
Prepping is just common sense. Have a plan. Yes the odds anything specific will happen to require it is very small. However the odds of something bad occuring is much greater. Why leave your families survival up to chance or beg the government for assistance?
It is pretty obvious that the show is intended to embarrass the Prepper community, rather than provide basic, objective knowledge – the people featured are delusional, paranoid, and naive – most of them have no idea what they are doing, and are fixated to the point of having nothing more than obsessive-compulsive personalities.
The show has little to no educational value to anyone serious about Prepping…which is dangerous.
If you have ever been through a devasting natural disaster prepping makes total sense. Lets be honest, floods, hurricanes, wildfires, snow storms etcetera…
Now the degree to which you prep can determine what sort of ‘freak’ you are… personally as a former military medic with two long tours in Iraq I have seen what happens when the shtf, so I have 4 large Alice packs with 5 days food,medical kit,2 days change of clothing, water (The most important believe item it or not), 4 X M4′ with 500 rounds of ammo per weapon, 4 X 9mm with 200 rounds of ammo per weapon,4 handheld radio’s with a 35 mile range, 2 veh/house base stations, 2 crossbows with 25 bolts each, a pre-packed trailer with fuel, water, 3 months MRE’s (High caloric intake) Seeds, 2 X Pop up tents, small porta potty and collapsable shower stall… I have of course a pre determined location off the grid to bug out to, predetermined rv points enroute, maps, preloaded gps, with two single wides connected with a nice deck and a roof over all of it, a decent size pond and arable land…I have used it twice because of hurricanes, for me its all about being a responsible father and husband, to provide and protect my family, friends and neighbors… Additionally my bug location is a great place to spend the weekends.
For barter I have lots of 5.56, 9mm, 308 and 306 as ammo will be worth more than gold..you can barter for chickens, goats, pigs, seeds,. Now am I a lunatic for preparing, I don’t think so, what most folks don’t understand is when things go sideways it happens fast, very fast, as some folks said better to be prepared and not need it than not prepared and need it… at the end of the day I’ll eventually move there anyway… so its a good investment, I can always use everything I have, now whats not to like about that…
Doc Out:
Its going to be people like the author who will be begging for food and water when it all collapses. It would be one thing if you did not have Greece along with other European countries falling apart not to mention the Middle East being taken over by Radial Islam but we do. So go ahead and leave your head in the sand while the rest of us “crazy” people prepare for worst while hoping and praying for the best.
The ‘Doomsday shelter’ being built below Kansas prairie where millionaires will be able to sit out the Apocalypse in style Four buyers have already invested in condos below the ground Fears range from pandemics, terrorism and solar flares Indoor farm to provide fish and veg for 70 people for as long as necessary
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2127759/Apocalypse-Doomsday-shelter-built-Kansas-prairie.html#ixzz1rqIOznCc
First of all, I’m a regular watcher of the show and have read the survivalist’s bible: Rawles’ How to survive TEOTWAWKI.
Contrary to the idea that the show these people in a bad light, most of these preppers have acquired quite impressive skills which are in-arguably useful, and you will learn interesting ideas from them. Yes, they are outliers and they have eccentricities, and several of them believe in scenarios that are utter nonsense, but they will also be better off than you will be if any sort of natural disaster happens.
As for the OpSec nonsense quoted above, that’s Lone Wolf thinking, aka, how to survive TEOTWAWKI if you happen to have unlimited resources and/or are a multimillionaire. A Lone Wolf variant are those prepared to make live as a hermit and weave their own underwear. (There are a few of those on the show, and if your willing to do that, well, then yes, you’re probably going to be just fine even though your kids will be warped forever).
The people that are consistently the best prepared (as Practical Preppers agrees, btw) in every case are the ones who have gone out their way to organize their communities by teaching classes, recruiting neighbors, getting their city to invest in some backup systems, etc.
So it’s the OpSec, Rawlesian types that come off looking like nuts. Running off to some bugout location that in all probability will be utterly unreachable.
Examples from the show include: A man who thinks he’s going to get his family in a fully loaded suburban through a 12 hour journey that terminates several miles up an un-plowed mountain road that is impassible for much of the year. And a guy who thinks he’s going to get his family to a sailboat (that’s somehow waiting untouched for him). Of course Rawles has a simple solution: Just live there, which of course means you’ll have to live off the grid because you probably can’t earn a living from your wilderness outpost.
These people, (like those who claim that they will be able to shave off some gold or silver to buy whatever if the SHTF) seem very unrealistic. Most of the preppers’ which are profiled do not come off that way.
I’m loving all the greens here! And I love that this dish is so easy to make.