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Welcome
Dec 15, 2011 20:37:01 GMT -5
Post by campbeji on Dec 15, 2011 20:37:01 GMT -5
I had a read at that post, it is pretty scary. It reminds me of the situation 12 years ago when we were all expecting society to collapse on new years eve with the millenium bug :-) The one thing that wasn't mentioned in the post was protection, I'd say for every family that is prepared to last for a month there will be 1000+ families that wouldn't be prepared for a week. There would be huge civil unrest, riots, looting etc, if the mob saw that you had provisions then you'd be attacked. If I had the money I'd move to a big house in the country, a house designed like a castle or fort, with a big compound. It kinda worries me the way I think sometimes, I have visions of automatic gun emplacements running through my head now
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Welcome
Dec 16, 2011 16:38:59 GMT -5
Post by cye on Dec 16, 2011 16:38:59 GMT -5
hi jim well i wasn't really suggesting we prepare for armageddon, i more had in mind that lists of this type could be useful to start conversation and fire imaginations about what we really need to get by, and that perhaps getting into the way of having focus on the bare essentials could have all sorts of benefits. E.g., if one is considering the idea of holding a stock of general stuff to stave off inflation it's good to think about what we' might need to have a stock of in the first place. Some of the non-foodstuff items could be a good form of education/entertainment for the kids and could help teach them how to fix-and-make-do like most people did before this throw-away consumer society. E.g., we may be more inclined to try and fix/mend stuff when something breaks or tears if we had the basic repair gear about the place. Another possible benefit of having just about everything you need about the place, or even just thinking about what you need in advance, could be that there'd be less dashing out to shops and wasted car journeys. My own family certainly never plan a week's meals in advance with the consequence that the car is used almost every day for otherwise avoidable trips to the shop. So there could be benefits to the pocket too, and more time to spend on what we like doing rather than on shopping trips!
what things on the list do you think would be good to have generally and what things on the list are less useful and more 'armageddony'?
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Welcome
Dec 16, 2011 18:49:05 GMT -5
Post by campbeji on Dec 16, 2011 18:49:05 GMT -5
Hi Cye, Sorry, I know you didn't think we were heading for the end of the world , but you have to remember that I have a bit of a strange sense of humor and I probably watch to much TV so its a small jump (at least in my head) from buying extra beans to living in a stockade with gun turrets ;D In case any one is interested the list we are talking about is reproduced below; Bear in mind I copied and pasted this so the formating is probably weird
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Welcome
Dec 16, 2011 19:18:41 GMT -5
Post by campbeji on Dec 16, 2011 19:18:41 GMT -5
I love your word 'armageddony', it's such a funny word/concept to be using in a thread about shopping Its funny the way forum threads can go sometimes. OK the things on the list that I think are excessivley armageddony; - Seeds – to grow your own food. Purchase organic seeds which allows for you to save your own seed the following year.
- Livestock with adequate feed
- Gallon water per person per day, Bleach – plain unscented. 8 drops per gallon of water
- Sub zero sleeping bags for added warmth
- Shelter
- Keep all clothing and start collecting up sizes for your children from family, friends and charity shops
- Soda, vinegar, natural hygiene and sterilising plant products
- Dog and adequate supply of dog food
- Solid bicycle tyres
I'm really suprised that out of that long list there is such a short armageddony list. There was a few other things that I was going to put in but I then remembered the winters we have been having recently and the fact that the water and electricity supply have been so bad at times, it then makes sense to have thermal sleeping bags and water containers. We live in a residential area with decent roads etc, but this evening driving homa at about 8:30 the hill up to our house was icy and the temp is supposed to be down to about -4 degC. All it needs now is for it to fall another degree or two and a bit of snow and the roads in the estate would be impassable to all but 4wd vehicles, and God forbid that there is a problem with the electric, we would have no heat and no water. It wouldn't be too hard on us in the short term as we are all fairly robust, but we live across from a sheltered dwelling, they would be dropping like flies.
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Welcome
Dec 16, 2011 20:31:22 GMT -5
Post by cye on Dec 16, 2011 20:31:22 GMT -5
I love your word 'armageddony', it's such a funny word/concept to be using in a thread about shopping Its funny the way forum threads can go sometimes. OK the things on the list that I think are excessivley armageddony; - Seeds – to grow your own food. Purchase organic seeds which allows for you to save your own seed the following year.
- Livestock with adequate feed
- Gallon water per person per day, Bleach – plain unscented. 8 drops per gallon of water
- Sub zero sleeping bags for added warmth
- Shelter
- Keep all clothing and start collecting up sizes for your children from family, friends and charity shops
- Soda, vinegar, natural hygiene and sterilising plant products
- Dog and adequate supply of dog food
- Solid bicycle tyres
I'm really suprised that out of that long list there is such a short armageddony list. There was a few other things that I was going to put in but I then remembered the winters we have been having recently and the fact that the water and electricity supply have been so bad at times, it then makes sense to have thermal sleeping bags and water containers. We live in a residential area with decent roads etc, but this evening driving homa at about 8:30 the hill up to our house was icy and the temp is supposed to be down to about -4 degC. All it needs now is for it to fall another degree or two and a bit of snow and the roads in the estate would be impassable to all but 4wd vehicles, and God forbid that there is a problem with the electric, we would have no heat and no water. It wouldn't be too hard on us in the short term as we are all fairly robust, but we live across from a sheltered dwelling, they would be dropping like flies. jim thanks for this. the 'mad' or 'armageddony' list is not too big really. for my list i might take a few off yours and add a few others of my own on. E.g., some seeds i would like to see people sharing about and maybe keeping a few at the back of a drawer. E.g., i'm really impressed with the 'james grieve' apple, one of 3 types of young apple tree i have. it's a dwarf, about 5 years old and not as many feet high, yet yielded 2 dozen apples this year. and here's the best bit, the apples are still on the tree keeping themselves fresh at midwinter. the other wee apple trees i have are totally useless in comparison. now solid bicycle tyres i would agree are 'armageddony', and not only that, impracticable & probably unobtainable too. go for puncture proof quality pneumatic tyres any day, even if the end was nigh, as even the best bikes can be boneshakers on bad terrain. dunlop, a local pharmacist, invented the pneu here in belfast's may street, and we should wholeheartedly support his brainchild. i would add a big lorry battery to the non armageddony list. caveman could explain better how it works, but i think this would allow for DC stick welding, which means one could fix pretty much any steelwork without needing expensive welding kit. now what else...........?
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Welcome
Dec 19, 2011 14:44:10 GMT -5
Post by campbeji on Dec 19, 2011 14:44:10 GMT -5
Hi Cye,
I thought when I started to write out the list of exceptions that it would be a big list, however I was suprised to find that it was so short. I kinda used the criteria 'If I lived out in the country and had to deal with a bad winter, possibly with the water supply and electric supply being interupted for two or three weeks' I think if something happened that caused things to be down for more than three weeks your getting into the end of civilisation territory.
Now the list of exceptions has a few items in it which I classed as unecessary, but only on the basis that I was thinking about preparing for the worst. The thing is that some of those items are good ideas for other reasons. For example the organic seeds, I don't know a lot about horticulture yet so maybe there is a good reason for non reproducing seeds, but i'll bet a large part of it is to do with the seed companies wanting to make more money. For many people having a dog is a good idea, but I'm not a doggie type, but living on a farm or small holding I can see how a dog, either guard or working, could be an advantage.
Using my 'criteria' above I'm not sure that the ability to weld things would be very far up my list, but I can see how having this sort of tool in normal circumstances would be usefull.
I guess the thing I am trying to get at is what do you need for your 'lifestyle choiles' and for the 'worst case', for me and the choices I would like to make the worst that I would expect would be a hard winter with all services interupted, the worst case would be where society has collapsed to some degree, either due to political/economic or natural disaster.
So is there anything else you'd put on your list of non 'armageddony' stuff? Heres a few;
Entertainment - Books, cd/dvd, audio books etc Educational courses - If you decided to start foraging for food I don't think that learning to do it while you are starving would be a good idea Shotgun, Bow & Arrow, Fishing & Trapping skills - legally held of course, again you don't want to learn how to hunt when your starving.
Any ideas?
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