Preppers - supplying Humungus since 1981

The place to talk about personal defense, preparedness, and survival; both armed and unarmed.
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D5CAV
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Preppers - supplying Humungus since 1981

Post by D5CAV »

http://www.theprepperjournal.com/2013/1 ... your-life/

In my circle of acquaintances are those who might be classified as "preppers". They have their stockpiles of canned food and cases of toilet paper. They have a safe with gold bars and silver coins. A few of them even have (shudder!) firearms.

Invariably they have their "compound" someplace remote while they live in a McMansion in some "Burbclave" or major city. Even assuming they have the foresight or advance warning to get to their "compound" before every road looks like a highway in Los Angeles on the day before 4th of July weekend after a tractor trailer has jack-knifed, I point out that they are merely stocking a convenient supply point for "Humungus."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfL4xKQeSfo

I also try to tell them the US Army's first rule of gunfighting: 1. Bring a gun, bring all your friends of who guns, and bring all their friends who have guns.

Survival is a team sport, which is why our ancestors operated in tribes.

Stuff won't save you.

The latest M4 with NV sight won't save you.

Friends will save you. Lots of friends.

The best prepping is to be good to your friends.
None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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Jered
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Re: Preppers - supplying Humungus since 1981

Post by Jered »

Rule 1: Don't talk about it.
The avalanche has already started. It is too late for the pebbles to vote.
Aesop
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Re: Preppers - supplying Humungus since 1981

Post by Aesop »

Blah blah.

Most of the people yapping about their preps aren't that bright, but the BS Fantasy Factor goes off the scale when one hears from those alleging that come the day, they're going all WROL to go take anybody's stuff.
The dipshit from Doomsday Preppers was a felon with priors for child molestation, and was subsequently arrested and is now back in prison for some good time. If there's a collapse tomorrow, he'll be eaten by his fellow inmates, if the prison guards don't simply start solving that problem for everyone in the first place under Rule 308.

Bad people travelling in a pack are going to have a life expectancy measured in days if not hours once things get sporty, chiefly because living outside the law means living outside all law, including gaining any assistance from anyone, and getting regularly back-stabbed by your erstwhile allies 24/7/365.

Positing that suddenly there will be honor among thieves runs contrary to every experience of 6000 years of recorded human history.
It isn't going to change when TSHTF, and those planning otherwise are in for the rudest surprise of all.

Anybody prepared to hunker down for 6-12 months will face 30-70% less problems just from the die-off that would occur in a societal collapse, and there won't be any Marquis of Queensbury rules, ACLU, plea bargains, defense lawyers, lenient judges, or parole boards five minutes after things kick off for those who choose the mutant zombie biker route.
Crime will be dealt with by drumhead courts, sentences will be a rope or a bullet, about a minute after the verdict, and the crops will grow green in the spring over the graves of those who took a me-first approach to life.

People who decide to live felony stupid in or after any sort of problem have been foolishly conditioned like hothouse flowers for two generations to expect that everyone will helpfully stand around and wait for The Police and The Courts to enforce law and order while being preyed upon, when the actual reality, even right this minute in places like Detroit, is that crime will virtually disappear, because the death penalty will be back in vogue, and the waiting period will be about as long as it takes to squeeze a trigger or tie a knot. Recidivism at that point will be about as prevalent as resurrection is now: zero. The official mascot of two-time offenders will be the passenger pigeon, or perhaps the dodo.

The people on Flight 93 are a typical guide to the reaction - and the OODA loop timeframe - once the average American realizes the rules are changed.
About an hour, on average.
As the new normal is where our nation lived for nearly 300 years, it won't be a particularly difficult or strange transition to make, except for the people on the wrong side of "Let's Roll", and who are almost universally completely and utterly ignorant of both history and human nature.

Human existence, in the worst scenario, might revert to the Middle Ages.
It will not revert to Cro-magnons vs. Neanderthals, and if it does anywhere, however briefly, the Neanderthals will fare about as well in Round Two as they did in Round One.
Last I looked, my ancestors stopped operating in tribes around 1066AD at the latest, if not around 400 BC.
The people still operating tribally after those points in history were mainly sporting practice for those who didn't, as their lack of further human progress or history might helpfully portend. And the only tribes on this continent were virtually wiped out to man, except for those who could adapt to running casinos, on land so bad that nobody else wanted it. Not my idea of a successful paradigm. 8-)
"There are four types of homicide: felonious, accidental, justifiable, and praiseworthy." -Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
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skb12172
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Re: Preppers - supplying Humungus since 1981

Post by skb12172 »

Oh, I dunno. I'd take a chance at running one of those casinos. It's certainly worked out well for the remainder. :D But, I digress…

Just as you have mutant bikers, I also believe you'll have communities coming together. Whether it's the neighbors in a subdivision pulling together, a church coming together for mutual benefit and survival, or whatever. Like the Old West, the scavengers may have their little victories here and there, but they won't be living a very long or good life, just like the Outlaws in the Old West.

For the record, I don't think we'll go back as far as the Middle Ages. Maybe 1850 based on baseline knowledge and, really, it was possible to live a pretty darn good life in 1850.
There must be an end to this intimidation by those who come to this great country, but reject its culture.
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evan price
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Re: Preppers - supplying Humungus since 1981

Post by evan price »

I've never been a gold bug. Gold's biggest problem is it's worth too much. If you want a dozen eggs and some kerosene how will you get change from a gold Krugerrand? Gold's value lies entirely on scarcity and is valueless during an emergency. You can't eat it, screw it or use it to keep warm. After the emergency it will be a repository of wealth again. But not right during the emergency.

Silver has a bit more utility because it's not as valuable. I like to keep pre-64 junk silver dimes. They are a known entity and value is stable enough a handful of silver dimes will do more than a gold Eagle.

Tribalism works both ways. Everyone has to eat or sleep or poop or have sex sometimes. You can't be at Condition Red for 24-7. The old "It takes a village to raise a child" thing has merit in that the community looks after each other and the lowlifes tend to be pushed out. Roving tribes of bad guys will be dealt with by the community in a severe and permanent way, assuming the community is the typical rural folks that I'm used to living around. Now if you have a bedroom community of hippies they might have a bad day versus mutant bikers from hell. A tribe based on nothing but nomadic gang warfare has to be overwhelmingly strong or the fixed defenders will wipe them out.

I could see us falling back to a time just before rural electrification. We'll still have steel plows and decent tools. We'll have to start training draft animals while the Diesel holds out. A lot of homes and neighborhoods will have to be abandoned, there's no way to get water and fuel to them and they are not built to be energy efficient or utilize space well without electricity.

Half the battle of society was just figuring out that something is possible. Everything we know now is still known. It's the engineering that needed solved.

For example without modern mechanized herbicide farming we'll need lots of strong backs to hoe weeds and plant seeds and gather the sheaves. We'll need to haul water and boil it on the stove, no more hot water at the turn of a knob. There will be much more reliance on fixing stuff than throwing it out.
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Aesop
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Re: Preppers - supplying Humungus since 1981

Post by Aesop »

Gold is worth whatever you can trade it for with other people.
Pretty much at any given time from pre-written history to now.
Notably, an ounce of the stuff at today's prices buys pretty much exactly what an ounce of it purchased in 1900, or 1500.

But intrinsically, it's just an excellent and useful metal for coating things.
And as a store of value when fiat currencies collapse, it's way too concentrated for daily exchange unless you're buying land, or a herd of cows, etc.
"There are four types of homicide: felonious, accidental, justifiable, and praiseworthy." -Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
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Netpackrat
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Re: Preppers - supplying Humungus since 1981

Post by Netpackrat »

CByrneIV wrote:Gold is worth exactly zero in the event of a major economic collapse.

100 pounds of gold isn't worth a loaf of bread, a quart of whiskey, or a pound of coffee.
That may be so, but it would be nice to have during and after the recovery from a major economic collapse. Certainly it will be worth more than 100 pounds of stock certificates for companies that no longer exist.
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Termite
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Re: Preppers - supplying Humungus since 1981

Post by Termite »

IMHO, Niven & Pournelle wrote the very best Sci-Fi book about this type of occurrence.
evan price wrote:............ There will be much more reliance on fixing stuff than throwing it out.
Quite likely a re-birth of the skilled trades; maybe even including the traditional guilds from antiquity(apprentice/journeyman/master/grand master).
"Life is a bitch. Shit happens. Adapt, improvise, and overcome. Acknowledge it, and move on."
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Termite
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Re: Preppers - supplying Humungus since 1981

Post by Termite »

D5CAV wrote:Invariably they have their "compound" someplace remote while they live in a McMansion in some "Burbclave" or major city. Even assuming they have the foresight or advance warning to get to their "compound" before every road looks like a highway in Los Angeles on the day before 4th of July weekend after a tractor trailer has jack-knifed......
^This.^

This makes a good case for owning a pair or two of KLR-650s with all the extra load carrying accoutrements; and everyone involved knowing how to ride.

Another option is flying to your pre-stocked redoubt; assuming weather and a suitable landing area.
"Life is a bitch. Shit happens. Adapt, improvise, and overcome. Acknowledge it, and move on."
MarkD
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Re: Preppers - supplying Humungus since 1981

Post by MarkD »

CByrneIV wrote:Gold is worth exactly zero in the event of a major economic collapse.

100 pounds of gold isn't worth a loaf of bread, a quart of whiskey, or a pound of coffee.
Is gold soft enough to be made into bullets?

:D :twisted: :?: :?: :lol: :shock: :o :mrgreen:
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