Doomsday Preppers

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.

Guns can be great fun. They're probably just toys for these guys... kind of the equivalent of video game consoles for geeks.

Malor wrote:
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.

Guns can be great fun. They're probably just toys for these guys... kind of the equivalent of video game consoles for geeks.

That's why I have half of mine... fun to shoot is as good of a reason as any to buy a gun. I have a few that are for hunting and home protection, but most are for fun. (heh... I like to shoot stuff)

manta173 wrote:
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.

Is being able to put 6 arrows into a paper plate from 40 yards sufficient?

Actually, my thought on the Kukri is that's it's a multi functional tool, moreso than a machete or a sword. I agree about the knives though. I find most people carry knives that are far too large to be practical.

Farscry wrote:

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.

Water will always be around, it just won't be clean. A good solution would be to have a couple of empty jugs, and maybe some camelbaks, and then a supply of iodine tablets or other simple water purifiers. One stash of iodine will net you a lot more water in the long run for a lot less space.

Also look in to Lifestraws. It's a charity that supplies portable single person water filter "straws", as well as family sized units. Obstensively they are made to be donated to 3rd world people with no water at all, but I'm sure you can purchase something similar for personal use.

Paleocon wrote:
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.

Seattle that's 50 miles north of Mount Rainier, which is one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the country? That Seattle?

Stengah wrote:

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

Yeah, mine was quite deliberate! It's the same thread after all.

Somebody has been taking this show a little too seriously: Wyoming legislator David Miller introduces “doomsday” bill

The doomsday bill is sure to inspire criticism and even ridicule from some corners, but Miller says his priority is Wyoming. "I don't represent people in Illinois or New Jersey," he said. "I represent people in Wyoming. And I want them to be protected from any catastrophic events that may beset the rest of the country."

Wyoming has like 12 people in it. How big a plan do you need? Just tell everyone "We'll all meet at Dave's house and decide what to do."

Quintin_Stone wrote:
Stengah wrote:

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

Yeah, mine was quite deliberate! It's the same thread after all.

I knew yours was (it was the exact same thing you posted in that thread), but not Malor's (different person making the same post). It was a toss up to between this or reposting the pepper guy KrazyTaco originally posted in response to "doomsday peppers":
IMAGE(http://thehottestpepper.com/Hottest_Pepper_Blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/jamie_hot_pepper.jpg)

It sure looks like he's working on making a chemical weapon to neutralize the zombie infection.

Hypatian wrote:

It sure looks like he's working on making a chemical weapon to neutralize the zombie infection.

You raise an interesting point. I wonder if zombies could be deterred from biting you if you shoved a ghost chili in their mouth. Dead or not those things will hurt ya.

I don't think zombies experience pain anymore.

Hypatian wrote:

It sure looks like he's working on making a chemical weapon to neutralize the zombie infection.

Minor derail, but the short story "Twisted" is well worth tracking down for a novel take on avoiding zombie attacks.

The Utah woman in last night's episode was probably the craziest of the bunch so far.

Paleocon wrote:

The Utah woman in last night's episode was probably the craziest of the bunch so far.

No doubt! She was clearly obsessed beyond evening "prepper" standards.

That missile silo condo facility was badass. I'd consider investing in a residence like that.

93_confirmed wrote:
Paleocon wrote:

The Utah woman in last night's episode was probably the craziest of the bunch so far.

No doubt! She was clearly obsessed beyond evening "prepper" standards.

That missile silo condo facility was badass. I'd consider investing in a residence like that.

Among the myriad problems with investing in a place like that, primary among them would be your likely neighbors. Imagine the type of person most likely to want a place like that and then imagine that you are stuck withing breathing distance of a whole 13 story condo complex with them for the duration of the apocalypse.

I think I'd rather pick roadkill with Grizzly Adams in Maine.

I would love to get a missile silo to live in. I would get the blast doors/alarms working and, launch model rockets out of it periodically just to mess with peoples heads.

Paleocon wrote:
93_confirmed wrote:
Paleocon wrote:

The Utah woman in last night's episode was probably the craziest of the bunch so far.

No doubt! She was clearly obsessed beyond evening "prepper" standards.

That missile silo condo facility was badass. I'd consider investing in a residence like that.

Among the myriad problems with investing in a place like that, primary among them would be your likely neighbors. Imagine the type of person most likely to want a place like that and then imagine that you are stuck withing breathing distance of a whole 13 story condo complex with them for the duration of the apocalypse.

I think I'd rather pick roadkill with Grizzly Adams in Maine.

I'd still take my chances...assuming the place had the protection and amenities that are planned. I need to have space, privacy, and the option of minimal interaction with my neighbors.

My disaster prep? Get to my parents house in whatever way possible.

They live on a farm, tons of hunting, a well about five feet from the house for water, grain bins full of corn, and a herd of cattle. Obviously protection might be kind of an issue, but that is when the guns come in.

Does it have to be a silo? Is space an issue?

Meanwhile if you live in Wyoming and yellowstone erupts?

Spoiler:

You almost certainly die in the initial event, if you don't then you'll probably wish you had.

Actually that probably applies to quite a few of these doomsday scenarios.

krev82 wrote:

Actually that probably applies to quite a few of these doomsday scenarios.

That's just it; if you have to go to ridiculous extremes to have a chance at surviving a doomsday event, well... I suspect I wouldn't actually want to survive it.

Paleocon wrote:

The Utah woman in last night's episode was probably the craziest of the bunch so far.

If y'all want a peek behind the door, the average LDS family is expected to have a year's worth of supplies in their home. There's an official supplies list. It's not officially said to be for the Apocalypse, and my own thinking is its sort of a remnant of the faith's beleaguered past, but...

93_confirmed wrote:
Paleocon wrote:

The Utah woman in last night's episode was probably the craziest of the bunch so far.

No doubt! She was clearly obsessed beyond evening "prepper" standards.

That missile silo condo facility was badass. I'd consider investing in a residence like that.

The problem with living in a missile silo is that it's unlikely IMO that Russia is keeping up to date with all of the sold and abandoned missile silos and removing those coordinates from their nuclear launch list.

Zombie attacks, economic collapse, tornadoes, it's a great place to be. All out nuclear war... not so much.

Yonder wrote:
93_confirmed wrote:
Paleocon wrote:

The Utah woman in last night's episode was probably the craziest of the bunch so far.

No doubt! She was clearly obsessed beyond evening "prepper" standards.

That missile silo condo facility was badass. I'd consider investing in a residence like that.

The problem with living in a missile silo is that it's unlikely IMO that Russia is keeping up to date with all of the sold and abandoned missile silos and removing those coordinates from their nuclear launch list.

Zombie attacks, economic collapse, tornadoes, it's a great place to be. All out nuclear war... not so much.

Because Earth will be such a livable place after that.

Tigerbill wrote:
Yonder wrote:
93_confirmed wrote:
Paleocon wrote:

The Utah woman in last night's episode was probably the craziest of the bunch so far.

No doubt! She was clearly obsessed beyond evening "prepper" standards.

That missile silo condo facility was badass. I'd consider investing in a residence like that.

The problem with living in a missile silo is that it's unlikely IMO that Russia is keeping up to date with all of the sold and abandoned missile silos and removing those coordinates from their nuclear launch list.

Zombie attacks, economic collapse, tornadoes, it's a great place to be. All out nuclear war... not so much.

Because Earth will be such a livable place after that. ;)

Says the guy with the Fallout avatar.

Yonder wrote:
93_confirmed wrote:
Paleocon wrote:

The Utah woman in last night's episode was probably the craziest of the bunch so far.

No doubt! She was clearly obsessed beyond evening "prepper" standards.

That missile silo condo facility was badass. I'd consider investing in a residence like that.

The problem with living in a missile silo is that it's unlikely IMO that Russia is keeping up to date with all of the sold and abandoned missile silos and removing those coordinates from their nuclear launch list.

Zombie attacks, economic collapse, tornadoes, it's a great place to be. All out nuclear war... not so much.

I think that risk is dependent on where the silo is located. I'd still take my chances down there with nukes going off all over the country.

93_confirmed wrote:
Yonder wrote:
93_confirmed wrote:
Paleocon wrote:

The Utah woman in last night's episode was probably the craziest of the bunch so far.

No doubt! She was clearly obsessed beyond evening "prepper" standards.

That missile silo condo facility was badass. I'd consider investing in a residence like that.

The problem with living in a missile silo is that it's unlikely IMO that Russia is keeping up to date with all of the sold and abandoned missile silos and removing those coordinates from their nuclear launch list.

Zombie attacks, economic collapse, tornadoes, it's a great place to be. All out nuclear war... not so much.

I think that risk is dependent on where the silo is located. I'd still take my chances down there with nukes going off all over the country.

You can take your orders from the Murray the Mole, I'll take mine from the Super Mutant Overlord. I'll see you in the wastelands.

Tigerbill wrote:
Yonder wrote:

All out nuclear war... not so much.

Because Earth will be such a livable place after that. ;)

The global affect of a nuclear war is overstated in popular culture. The explosions themselves are large when compared to cities, but not when compared to countries, there aren't enough of them to get the sort of blanket coverage usually envisioned, and the pure environmental damage from the fallout is also overstated. In the past 65 years humans have done around 2000 nuclear test explosions without clouds of radiation wiping out all life on Earth.

Yonder wrote:

The global affect of a nuclear war is overstated in popular culture. The explosions themselves are large when compared to cities, but not when compared to countries, there aren't enough of them to get the sort of blanket coverage usually envisioned, and the pure environmental damage from the fallout is also overstated. In the past 65 years humans have done around 2000 nuclear test explosions without clouds of radiation wiping out all life on Earth.

And for the past 49 years those tests has been done underground because everyone has acknowledged that exploding nuclear weapons above ground ain't such great idea because of all the fallout.

Even a so-called limited nuclear exchange of tens of nuclear weapons would be felt globally. Besides the trail of fallout, there'd by one heck of a global cooling caused by the vaporization of the hearts of a couple dozen cities. And we all know that unless you're writing books about Frankenstein, a year without sun isn't such a good thing.

Somewhere in my home office I have some wildly optimistic RAND studies from the early 60s confidently saying that the good ole US of A would suffer a mere 50% drop in GDP after a nuke exchange of a couple of hundred warheads with the Commies, but our factories would recover in just months. The reality is that that every major US city would be annihilated, taking out most of the population, and the only cities remaining would be the most backwater hickvilles currently known to man. The very places that don't have the resources or the knowledge to do anything more than try to grow enough food to live through the next winter.