Your judgement has proven faulty all ready as you made charges as to the nature of Selco’s post yet you can point out one of you charges in the repost of one of Selco’s exchanges I posted. You made wild and unfounded acquisitions as to the nature of Selco’s writing and yet you make no effort to back your claim. And that is the truth of our exchange.
Kart, he is a last worder. You’ll only give yourself unnecessary stress.
No, my judgement is fine, and my observation is an often repeated observation by long time preppers and survivalists.
There is no reason for it to be causing hostility.
It’s a shame to see prepper threads collapse into pointless acrimony, like this one did.
I don’t agree with the “10 Things” in the list given, but the concept of having a last minute checklist of things to do and/or get is a good one. We have one, sort of, but we need to make it better.
Kartographer, we have your book (excellent, thank you!), but it’s in a safe place right now. So I can’t check it to see if you have something in it for last minute “stuff”. At the risk of duplicating some of your excellent work, here’s a few thoughts on last minute “stuff”.
Since my wife and I are fortunate enough to be able to shelter in place, we will not be “bugging out”. These comments are most applicable to people like us. (For those who plan to “bug out”, good luck. A lot of things have to go right for that to work.)
So here’s a start on our own personal “last minute” list:
1. Contact friends and family members and tell them to get to wherever they need to be when the SHTF. Your phone call may be the nudge that gets them out the door before it’s too late. (Once it’s obvious to everyone that the “time has come”, it’s too late.)
2. If panic has not yet set in, buy last minute perishables. Since your credit cards may not be working, keep enough cash around to do this.
2a. If possible and it appears social breakdown may be near, go with two people, both armed (concealed). Have the necessary permits. This would be a terrible time to get arrested.
2b. If panic has already set in, don’t bother even trying. You should already have the essentials, and you will have lots of last minute things to do at home.
3. Store some extra water. For instance, fill the bathtubs. You probably have water taken care of already, but some last minute extra would still be nice.
4. Unplug all unnecessary electrical devices. If things break down you may have some major power surges before the GRID goes down. You might as well save your electrical “stuff” if you can.
4a. If you can keep the food in your refrigerator cold, consider even flipping off the circuit breakers connecting your home to the GRID. This solves the power surge problem, and also helps a little if (heaven forbid) we have an EMP attack lurking in our future.
5. You should already be ready for an EMP attack. Read up on it if you don’t already know what this is. It’s real. My bachelor’s degree is in electrical engineering, and I have experience with nuclear weapons in the Air Force. Even with that background, it turns out EMP is much more of a risk than I used to think.
5a. If, by some miracle, we have advance notice of a possible EMP event, unplug your microwave and put critical electronics in it ASAP. Use cardboard to keep them from touching the metal sides of the microwave. Include some batteries and LED flashlights (LED flashlights are vulnerable to EMP, as are some rechargeable batteries).
NOTE: We would most likely have enough advance notice of an EMP event caused by the sun for last minute preps to help. If an EMP is caused by an enemy attack, our own gut instincts may be the only advance warning we get. Paying attention to world affairs might help give a little advance notice, but I would not count on it.
5b. Have a way to generate at least a small amount of electrical power (recharge batteries, if nothing else). Put this in something that will increase its survivability if we are hit with an EMP. A Farady Cage is best (easy to make), but an unplugged microwave is much better than nothing. Putting things in zip lock anti-static bags inside the microwave helps even more.
6. It’s sad but true: In SHTF, if you can’t defend it, you don’t own it. Once it’s clear we’re in or headed to SHTF, you will have some last minute things to do for defensive purposes. You will most likely have some time before widespread desperation sets in, but you should have thought through what you will do in advance and already have the materials you will need.
6a. Weapons are not enough. Nor is practice. You need to be ready to fight SMART, which requires thinking things through in advance.
I suspect this thread is mostly done, and this post will only be read by you. However, you are one of the few people thinking this mess we’re in through, and perhaps you will find a use for it.