Posted on 11/22/2013 5:53:31 PM PST by Kartographer
Last night I was able to sit down and watch the National Geographic channel's "American Blackout" show on YouTube.com (without family interruption!) I would like to offer an unbiased critique of the show.
The message of the show was very simple - to reach out to the average non-prepping American and illustrate how unprepared the general population is. The producers of the show used very generic stereotypical characters in order to relate to the widest possible audience. Every "type" of victim portrayed made simple but life threatening mistakes that were clearly illustrated to make a point about the importance of being prepared.
(Excerpt) Read more at survivalblog.com ...
Preppers’ PING!!
Please consider this our weekly Preppers’ Thread to post progress, good buys, DIY projects, questions, ...
I can’t give the show an objective analysis. After it showed Obama talking, the show was ruined for me.
Good article.
I’m already doing my pre-winter stocking up.
The long range forecast looks unappealing. Cold and snowy/icy. Who needs to be dragging supplies in through the slop?
And it’s not like nor’easters sneak up on anyone, although by the way the stores are rushed, you’d think all these native NYers had never seen snow before or didn’t know what a weather forecast was.
When you grow up in Tornado Alley, with frequent electrical outages, you just naturally tend to have some supplies on hand for alternate ways of going about your daily business. With grandparents and parents that survived the great depression, Wars, and confiscation of gold - it was just natural.
I thought everyone lived that way, and never really was acquainted with anyone who didn't. Some more so than others. At the least, stocking up when stuff goes on sale at the most, being almost totally self sufficient to the extent of weaving and making your families clothes, food, and other necessities of life.
I have spent this week planning the needs for the river crossing to get home to dog and long term supplies.
I realized I had to plan that the dog might be with me and he needs life jacket and floatation device as well.
Next week making plans for launch and landing sites will be my goal.
Water straws on order...
Beyond the usual grocery specials, I haven't bought anything. I have been visiting websites and making some wish lists. In the old days, it would have been called window shopping.
I'll be comparing the various rocket stoves, adding to rechargeable battery stock (I really like the ones Marcella told me about), and maybe even a portable gas BBQ Grill, if they have a clearance somewhere.
Our home is all electric. We have 2 generators and several electric heaters, 2 fireplaces, and some kerosene heaters. Sterno Stoves, and Coleman camping stoves, but I am thinking that a gas grill could be used outdoors for canning if need be, and would give another option for cooking.
If anyone has a rocket stove they particularly like that is not overly expensive, I would really like to hear about them. We have built one from a coffee can. Hubby thought it was neat, and talked about making a really sturdy one using brick for outdoors. That talk could last for a few years, hence I would like to move forward and have something a little sooner.
Marcella, I meant to ping you to my post #7.
in older times if you didn’t have awell-stocked pantry, root cellar and home garden people thought you were lazy and nuts.
The learning point that I got out of the show is that I am so screwed.
Yep, and you also were likely to be pretty darned hungry as that predated the great society and war on poverty. I never heard the word food stamps or welfare when I was a kid. Not sure whether that was because there was none, or just that everyone wanted to be independent of government hand outs.
Churches sometimes had food drives etc. When I was a teenager, the government had some “commodities” that the low income people could get. The schools also got them for lunches. The best thing was the “government cheese”. I don’t know what company made it, but it was good.
One lady read about my rocket stove on Survival Podcast and she bought one because she lives in Florida in a high rise and has a fireplace but that's it. She said she had twigs available outside the high rise and no problem getting them. I studied that chimney possibility, and found they do fine in a fireplace as long as the vent is open but they also produce very little smoke. I also saw a very large one that had a line from the stove to send the smoke into the chimney and it was used to heat the whole room as well as use for cooking - it was really large.
Let me find that link to the one I got.
Surely you can work toward getting unscrewed. The apocalypse might not start for a couple months. :)
Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!
Thanks for the link. It looks good and the price is right. I’ll have to compare it to a couple of others that I printed off. I like the one shown here with 2 doors, and I like their mission.
Haven’t finished reading it all yet. Do you know if they are made in the USA?
The learning point that I got out of the show is that I am so screwed.
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You post this a lot. I have a question. Are you bragging or complaining?
Thermal Cooker. I also got a thermal cooker with the two inner pots. I haven’t tried mine, either but know how it works, so I figure it will do its thing.
I also have a propane indoor approved heater, uses small canisters of propane. It measures oxygen and if oxygen begins to go down, it turns itself off. If power was off, I would use that to cut through really cold air in one room, then turn it off. I have sleeping bags good down to 0 so I’d put myself in one of those if it was really cold in the room and also sleep in it on the bed. We don’t have cold weather like in the northern states.
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