Doomsday Preppers

Is anyone watching this show?

I find it interesting there there's seemingly no end of doomsday scenarios in which these people are "preparing" themselves. What I find most ironic this is that in the case of a complete societal meltdown, it's going to be an utter free for all and the nastiest, most violent, most willing to do whatever will likely be the one to survive.

I can't help but think that the ones that will be highest on the kill list will be the ones that have the most sh*t to take.

I think Paleo pointed out that many of these preppers forgot the #1 rule of doomsday survival: cardio.

plavonica wrote:

Don't have cable but preparing for "doomsday" also gets you prepared for natural disasters and whatnot. If I have a zombie survival panic room complete with all the goodies, I will also be prepared if a tornado or massive earthquake hits.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that one really hot chick was more 'zombie preparedness' than 'gas crisis preparedness.' Also looks like a bit of not-so-reality tv:

http://freethoughtblogs.com/rockbeyo...

plavonica wrote:

Don't have cable but preparing for "doomsday" also gets you prepared for natural disasters and whatnot. If I have a zombie survival panic room complete with all the goodies, I will also be prepared if a tornado or massive earthquake hits.

Then again there are always nutters running around preaching the end of the world and all that.

I think it's a smart idea to plan for disasters. I also think it's a bit insane to stock a years worth of food, buy 32 different firearms (with enough ammo to take over Guatemala) and stash them all over the house and buy thousands of dollars of alcohol to "barter" with.

I would like to have thousands of dollars worth of alcohol to barter with my liver.

CheezePavilion wrote:
plavonica wrote:

Don't have cable but preparing for "doomsday" also gets you prepared for natural disasters and whatnot. If I have a zombie survival panic room complete with all the goodies, I will also be prepared if a tornado or massive earthquake hits.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that one really hot chick was more 'zombie preparedness' than 'gas crisis preparedness.' Also looks like a bit of not-so-reality tv:

http://freethoughtblogs.com/rockbeyo...

Really hot chick is kind of a stretch. Maybe hot during a "doomsday" scenario.

See also; http://www.gamerswithjobs.com/node/111135

Bear wrote:

I can't help but think that the ones that will be highest on the kill list will be the ones that have the most sh*t to take.

They would certainly be obvious targets in most cases.

Nekroman wrote:
CheezePavilion wrote:
plavonica wrote:

Don't have cable but preparing for "doomsday" also gets you prepared for natural disasters and whatnot. If I have a zombie survival panic room complete with all the goodies, I will also be prepared if a tornado or massive earthquake hits.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that one really hot chick was more 'zombie preparedness' than 'gas crisis preparedness.' Also looks like a bit of not-so-reality tv:

http://freethoughtblogs.com/rockbeyo...

Really hot chick is kind of a stretch. Maybe hot during a "doomsday" scenario.

Yeah, maybe if she was the last woman on earth.

...Oh.

LobsterMobster wrote:
Nekroman wrote:
CheezePavilion wrote:
plavonica wrote:

Don't have cable but preparing for "doomsday" also gets you prepared for natural disasters and whatnot. If I have a zombie survival panic room complete with all the goodies, I will also be prepared if a tornado or massive earthquake hits.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that one really hot chick was more 'zombie preparedness' than 'gas crisis preparedness.' Also looks like a bit of not-so-reality tv:

http://freethoughtblogs.com/rockbeyo...

Really hot chick is kind of a stretch. Maybe hot during a "doomsday" scenario.

Yeah, maybe if she was the last woman on earth.

...Oh.

Semi-related - an interesting podcast about apocalypses, and some of the ones we can expect to hear about in the nearish future:
http://www.pointofinquiry.org/stuart...

Doomsday Preggers

Nekroman wrote:
CheezePavilion wrote:
plavonica wrote:

Don't have cable but preparing for "doomsday" also gets you prepared for natural disasters and whatnot. If I have a zombie survival panic room complete with all the goodies, I will also be prepared if a tornado or massive earthquake hits.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that one really hot chick was more 'zombie preparedness' than 'gas crisis preparedness.' Also looks like a bit of not-so-reality tv:

http://freethoughtblogs.com/rockbeyo...

Really hot chick is kind of a stretch. Maybe hot during a "doomsday" scenario.

She's a Hollywood 3 and a doomsday 9?

Just misread the title as 'Doomsday Peppers', and was wondering if that was the new name for the Bhut Jolokia.

TWWWEEET!
Severe repeat of posts from original thread
Penalty is 20 yards.

Funkenpants wrote:
Nekroman wrote:
CheezePavilion wrote:
plavonica wrote:

Don't have cable but preparing for "doomsday" also gets you prepared for natural disasters and whatnot. If I have a zombie survival panic room complete with all the goodies, I will also be prepared if a tornado or massive earthquake hits.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that one really hot chick was more 'zombie preparedness' than 'gas crisis preparedness.' Also looks like a bit of not-so-reality tv:

http://freethoughtblogs.com/rockbeyo...

Really hot chick is kind of a stretch. Maybe hot during a "doomsday" scenario.

She's a Hollywood 3 and a doomsday 9?

She's like a fat Juliette Lewis, complete with her annoying voice.

Ha! I didn't see the other thread. Doomsday peppers are, it would appear, a common theme.

It's part of the getting old, you don't remember conversations you had several months ago.

In my defense, I didn't remember it was a thread, I thought it was more of a side discussion.

The most ridiculous prepper I've seen so far was the guy in NYC who was preparing for the eruption Yellowstone. Months of sunlight blocked out by massive ash clouds, loss of 75% of all vegetation, and millions of deaths nationwide. Good luck with that - we're all f*cked in that scenario.

Man, you guys are harsh. I think Doomsday Girl is actually rather attractive.

93_confirmed wrote:

The most ridiculous prepper I've seen so far was the guy in NYC who was preparing for the eruption Yellowstone. Months of sunlight blocked out by massive ash clouds, loss of 75% of all vegetation, and millions of deaths nationwide. Good luck with that - we're all f*cked in that scenario.

I think your only hope is to live in Seattle. Pretty much anything East of Wyoming is going to be well screwed.

I'm still waiting for them to do one on some of the rapture preppers.

Paleocon wrote:

I'm still waiting for them to do one on some of the rapture preppers.

Here's the thing; if you believe in the Rapture, what do you need to do to prepare for it? Post-rapture pet kennels aside, that is.

Has the show caused any if you to start any type of prep? I had never given much thought to having an actual survival plan but after watching a few episodes, Im going to pick up some general supplies and put together basic "bug-in" and "bug-out" plans. I'm not concerned about any one scenario but want to have a flexible plan in place nonetheless.

I grew up in Louisiana. I learned from an early age the importance of basic emergency preparations.

I have an emergency backpack with basic survival gear, nothing too fancy but enough to get me started if needed. I also have a simple emergency kit in my car (thermal blanket, gas siphon, road flares). At home, I try to keep a modest stash of canned/dried foods on hand. I don't have any firearms, but I do have a hatchet, some small utility knives (swiss army, switchblade, that kind of stuff), and a long knife (I don't know what kind it is specifically, but it's like a short version of a machete).

The one area I'm really bad about is keeping water supplies handy. I've yet to come across any quality long-term storage method for that, what with living in an apartment.

93_confirmed wrote:

Has the show caused any if you to start any type of prep? I had never given much thought to having an actual survival plan but after watching a few episodes, Im going to pick up some general supplies and put together basic "bug-in" and "bug-out" plans. I'm not concerned about any one scenario but want to have a flexible plan in place nonetheless.

I have been stocking up on ammo for a while, I would like to have some lasting food and water supplies to go with it at the very least.

I have a Korean wife. That means we always have a 30 day supply of rice and kimchee. The propane grill in the back has two full tanks, we have an ample supply of canned and dry goods. And we probably have enough bottled water to last a week or so. I also have a backpack water filter and a bunch of iodine tabs. I have a lot of camping supplies that come in handy in regional disaster situations.

I figure the most likely situation we'll run into here is foul weather screwing with the power grid. We had that happen a couple times in the last 5 years. And the big snow we had shut us in our houses for a week.

I'm not terribly concerned with the whole breakdown of civilization thing, but if it arrives, I'm fairly well armed.

I really liked the bathtub bob thing to hold water and the zip up hammock I saw on this show and will probably get both for myself. I also like the shipping container bunkers... but they really need to coat those with something to prevent rust on the longterm scale if you bury them.

As for prep we have about 2 weeks worth of food and water and I have guns and ammo. My real concern in Alabama is another tornado like the one last year... it was more than a week before power was up and running for most of my area.

We're hikers so we have survival gear. I'm not interested in storing years worth of food in suburbia... not defensable really. Maybe if I move out to the country someday.

I'm a big fan of guns and think they're cool, but I wonder about folks who, as part of their preparations, spend scads of cash on an arsenal when they only have 2-3 folks that will actually be able to operate the 50 guns they have in the safe. Seriously. What is the point? Wouldn't that cash be better spent making home improvements or hosting weekly poker games with the neighbors?

It would seem to me that this is less about actual preparation than it is about doomsday fetishes.

Paleocon wrote:

I'm a big fan of guns and think they're cool, but I wonder about folks who, as part of their preparations, spend scads of cash on an arsenal when they only have 2-3 folks that will actually be able to operate the 50 guns they have in the safe. Seriously. What is the point? Wouldn't that cash be better spent making home improvements or hosting weekly poker games with the neighbors?

It would seem to me that this is less about actual preparation than it is about doomsday fetishes.

Obviously the volcano guy was tramatized by 9/11 so his prep is all based off of that fear. I think if you are buying guns for end of the world, get them for the most common ammo's and ease of repair or reliability. You dont need fifty, but 3 of each hand gun and rifle per person means that you can have breakdowns or swaps in a firefight (fastest reload is another gun).

Those without guns are fools and will be taken over as soon as the neighbors know what they have. But in general most of these people are slightly off kilter or their scientific resoning on the crisis is off.

Paleocon wrote:

It would seem to me that this is less about actual preparation than it is about doomsday fetishes.

It's really bizarre when you watch these shows to see what people's actual plans are. There was one group that had a couple of buses that were part of their bugout plan and they were going to meeting other preppers are some secret location. Something tells me that in a case of a nationwide disaster or something worthy of "bugging out" the last thing you're going to want to do is get on a major highway.

I also don't understand why people are so adamant about stockpiling several months worth of water. A short term supply isn't a bad idea but unless you live in the dessert it's completely unnecessary. For a couple hundred dollars you can get a couple of really high quality backpacking filtering devices and enough replacement cartridges to last you several years.

I'm also thinking that a bow and a high quality Kukri will be far more valuable long term than a gun.

manta173 wrote:

Those without guns are fools

Or operating on a limited emergency budget and can't afford yet to stock up on guns and ammo, which are quite expensive compared to basic emergency preparations.

I do actually plan to pick up a few firearms in the future at some point.

Bear wrote:

I'm also thinking that a bow and a high quality Kukri will be far more valuable long term than a gun.

I agree, but you need to be able to make bow strings and arrows to work with your bow, and have the skills to use it.

Kukri's are nice, but knives are easy to get for reasonable amounts of money. Unless you are concerned about reducing wieght in a pack I say have multiple knives for multiple uses.