CRAZY PREPARED

[Richter]

fictional manifestation of humanity's self loathing. 

also isnt there a trick to get fresh water by using a plastic tarp/tent
(was it macguyver or mr wizard that i remember this from)

water purification tablets worth it or just collect rain in barrels?

If the cloth you're using has a fine enough weave and folded many times, you can filter out copepods (little planktonic animals) that may carry nasty things like cholera or guinea worms.

Of course, this only reduces the amount of contaminants, and thoroughly boiling water before you drink it is your safest option.

Bleach or iodine work too.  I prefer the bleach, since you can disinfect the water, and then remove some of it by airation or letting the water stand uncovered for a bit, minimizing the funny taste.  (Just don't leave it uncovered so long that it all evaporates.) 

[Richter]

fictional manifestation of humanity's self loathing. 

NO.    U.

[Triple Zero]

In the interest of one upping Iason, I found this:

http://isohunt.com/torrent_details/59301233/field+manual?tab=summary

Which should have all the field manuals Cain mentioned, and then some.  It's 2.5 gigabytes, so finding a torrent client that lets you pick and choose files might be a good idea (I have no idea what this would be in the windows world).

utorrent from utorrent.com lets you pick the files and has the pleasant feature that it's a small download and doesnt use a lot of memory or processing power.

[Richter]

Reading through the army survival field manual.  It has one specifically good tip I feel the need to share, on the making of survival kits.

3-6. In preparing your survival kit, select items that are
multipurpose, compact, lightweight, durable, and most
importantly, functional. An item is not good if it looks great but
doesn't do what it was designed for. Items should complement
each other from layer to layer. A signal mirror in your pocket can
be backed up by pen flares in your LBE and a signal panel in your
rucksack. A lighter in your uniform can be augmented by a
magnesium bar in your LBE and additional dry tinder in your
rucksack.

The specifics may not be the best option, but its encouraged me to compliment the lighter I carry with me with a spare bottle of lighter fluid in my car.

A flamable lubricant like WD-40 could work too.  I've lit many a campfire with that stuff.  Odd that we'd worry about this while riding in vehicles powered by flammable liquid 

[East Coast Hustle]

There's this fellow who goes by the name of FerFAL that is a survivalist type down in Argentina.  He's been able to put his hobby to use and see what works and what doesn't in that particular economic meltdown....
here's his blag, 'Surviving Argentina':
ferfal.blogspot.com
there's a bunch of info by him scattered around the survivalist type websites, too.
interesting reading, the little bit that i've done....

thanks for that link. his blog is pretty interesting (and sobering) reading.

[Cainad (dec.)]

I can't Torrent from my school. This means they do not want me to be CRAZY PREPARED and thus intend to use me as slave labor/food in the aftermath.

[East Coast Hustle]

It's all great, but.....

For those who don't live where they can plant a garden, my first piece of advice would be to move to where you can.  A place where you can not only plant, but protect what you are growing.  Living in an apartment in the city with no visible grass, it's gonna be hard to grow enough food to survive in pots in your bathroom!

Otherwise, Nigel's list is a really good one.  Another suggestion in addition to basic medical skills, are basic butchering skills as well.  It's all well and good to catch, grow or kill your own meat, but you have to know what to do with it afterwards.  Besides cook it.

the assumption that if TSHTF everyone will run to the countryside and be OK by growing their own food is laughable.

when it's not being taken seriously by people I like.

Growing your own food is HARD PHYSICAL WORK, people. Work which you will have to do in addition to all the other tasks you will suddenly be responsible for like building and/or maintaining a shelter, maintaining physical security, procuring non-growable supplies (unless you plan on growing a new plow blade when yours breaks), etc. Unless you get it exactly right the first time and every single time thereafter (imagine how devastating even ONE crop failure would be), you're probably looking at a net energy loss in that situation. In laymen's terms, that means you starve to death.

Remember, the "zombie apocalypse" isn't going to be just that. It's going to be a slow, downward grind until everyone that's not insanely rich is going to be dirt poor. It's going to resemble neo-feudalism more than anything else. And just like they were then and are now, towns and cities are going to be important nexus points for commerce and trade. You will still have an easier time buying/bartering for food with more easily obtained commodities than you will growing enough to feed you and your dependents. And let's not forget that while cities and towns will come with a pervasive and permanent lol-level lack of physical security, in the countryside you are much more vulnerable to more sustained and more brutal encounters, less frequent though they may be. In the city, bad people will rob your house and maybe even kill you and/or your family, but they'll do it quickly. There are things worse than dying and watching your family being raped/beaten/tortured for several days before you die because none of your neighbors are close enough to hear you screaming is one of them.

[East Coast Hustle]

a pervasive and permanent lol-level lack of security

at first I thought this was a typo, then I decided that it wasn't.

[Richter]

It's all great, but.....

For those who don't live where they can plant a garden, my first piece of advice would be to move to where you can.  A place where you can not only plant, but protect what you are growing.  Living in an apartment in the city with no visible grass, it's gonna be hard to grow enough food to survive in pots in your bathroom!

Otherwise, Nigel's list is a really good one.  Another suggestion in addition to basic medical skills, are basic butchering skills as well.  It's all well and good to catch, grow or kill your own meat, but you have to know what to do with it afterwards.  Besides cook it.

the assumption that if TSHTF everyone will run to the countryside and be OK by growing their own food is laughable.

when it's not being taken seriously by people I like.

Growing your own food is HARD PHYSICAL WORK, people. Work which you will have to do in addition to all the other tasks you will suddenly be responsible for like building and/or maintaining a shelter, maintaining physical security, procuring non-growable supplies (unless you plan on growing a new plow blade when yours breaks), etc. Unless you get it exactly right the first time and every single time thereafter (imagine how devastating even ONE crop failure would be), you're probably looking at a net energy loss in that situation. In laymen's terms, that means you starve to death.

Remember, the "zombie apocalypse" isn't going to be just that. It's going to be a slow, downward grind until everyone that's not insanely rich is going to be dirt poor. It's going to resemble neo-feudalism more than anything else. And just like they were then and are now, towns and cities are going to be important nexus points for commerce and trade. You will still have an easier time buying/bartering for food with more easily obtained commodities than you will growing enough to feed you and your dependents. And let's not forget that while cities and towns will come with a pervasive and permanent lol-level lack of physical security, in the countryside you are much more vulnerable to more sustained and more brutal encounters, less frequent though they may be. In the city, bad people will rob your house and maybe even kill you and/or your family, but they'll do it quickly. There are things worse than dying and watching your family being raped/beaten/tortured for several days before you die because none of your neighbors are close enough to hear you screaming is one of them.

..and THAT folks, is the stark horrible truth of it all.

[Cainad (dec.)]

We used to live very close to a Mohawk Indian reservation in upstate New York, when I was very little.

My mom was working on a small garden in our yard and when a Mohawk guy she knew to be a good gardener (many of them were, iirc), she apologetically dismissed it as a hobby attempt. He laughed and said there was nothing to be ashamed of, because "the time to learn to garden is not when you're hungry."

[the last yatto]

also isnt there a trick to get fresh water by using a plastic tarp/tent
(was it macguyver or mr wizard that i remember this from)

water purification tablets worth it or just collect rain in barrels?

If the cloth you're using has a fine enough weave and folded many times, you can filter out copepods (little planktonic animals) that may carry nasty things like cholera or guinea worms.

Of course, this only reduces the amount of contaminants, and thoroughly boiling water before you drink it is your safest option.

i was thinking methods of collecting water condensation or rain water to avoid having to stock pile it

removing salt would be a plus

[Requia ☣]

also isnt there a trick to get fresh water by using a plastic tarp/tent
(was it macguyver or mr wizard that i remember this from)

water purification tablets worth it or just collect rain in barrels?

If the cloth you're using has a fine enough weave and folded many times, you can filter out copepods (little planktonic animals) that may carry nasty things like cholera or guinea worms.

Of course, this only reduces the amount of contaminants, and thoroughly boiling water before you drink it is your safest option.

i was thinking methods of collecting water condensation or rain water to avoid having to stock pile it

removing salt would be a plus

I think the trick your thinking of is to lay a tarp out, then fold it up and collect condensation in the early morning.

Unfortunately, this is completely useless in the desert.*  Tabs are good for emergencies, but boiling + filtration (for chemicals) is still best.


*Incidentally, stay the fuck out of deserts.  An expert survivalist wouldn't last a week in some of them.

[Cain]

Some more torrents

http://www.demonoid.com/files/details/1777589/?show_files=1&page=1&ref=1233181348#file_list

[Cain]

There's this fellow who goes by the name of FerFAL that is a survivalist type down in Argentina.  He's been able to put his hobby to use and see what works and what doesn't in that particular economic meltdown....
here's his blag, 'Surviving Argentina':
ferfal.blogspot.com
there's a bunch of info by him scattered around the survivalist type websites, too.
interesting reading, the little bit that i've done....

thanks for that link. his blog is pretty interesting (and sobering) reading.

I still haven't read that, but since he's in Argentina, its probably a good read.  They got an early start on economic meltdowns.

[Elder Iptuous]

I think the trick your thinking of is to lay a tarp out, then fold it up and collect condensation in the early morning.

Unfortunately, this is completely useless in the desert.*  Tabs are good for emergencies, but boiling + filtration (for chemicals) is still best.


*Incidentally, stay the fuck out of deserts.  An expert survivalist wouldn't last a week in some of them.

Or, perhaps he was thinking about the water container with a transparent tarp sealed around the top with the middle weighted down by a stone and an empty container in the middle allowing for the evaporated water that condenses on the tarp (or saran wrap) to drip into the empty container....
this seems like a more Mr.Wizardly type thing...