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Hang on a sec while I don my REALITY flame-resitant Nomex long-johns. Just when you think life's going to be filled with PS3s and XBoxes, iMacs, 52 inch TVs, speedy Honda Civics and Subaru Outbacks, 1200 Watt microwaves, ice-making stainless steel refrigerators and other prizes the end of the world as you know it articles make you bolt up-right.

It's always interesting to read these discussions and see how quickly they usually devolve into three areas; guns and ammo, wood cutting or living in a remote hillside cabin surrounded by rocks and trees.

I seem to recall these discussions in the 50's, 60's and 70's with bomb-shelters. And then again in the late 90's with Y2K.

It's somewhat disconcerting that so many nervous trigger-ichy 20-30-40 somethings might either shoot themselves or end-up shooting close family members when they imagine their niece, uncle or grandmother is after their mounds of supplies piled in the basement.

Not too many will relish cutting wood for cooking, hauling and hand-pumping water to drink and washing with or prepping and eating entire meals without much seasoning, day-after-day and week-after-week and month-after-month. Huddling for warmth around an open flame that others can spot from great distances and when its available, is not so much fun after the coziness wears off.

The stench of dead people stacked up like cord-wood will turn the stomach. Trust me, multiple dead and decaying human beings don't smell very nice. Abandoned cars and trucks on most roads and highways will block the egress from almost all towns and cities. And if one lives in even the smallest of towns, tame pooches with wagging tails will turn into packs of roaming wild-dogs and they will be scavenging for food and will be quite ready to rip you and your six year old daughter to shreds. And speaking of wild-packs, those gangs of thugs will be openly hunting you, your family members and those mounds of supplies by spotting those warm cozy fires you light for warmth.

The fantasy that most males would magically turn into some sort of a Mel Gibson Road Warrior character is just that, a fantasy. Since all the Mel wannabes are in tip-top physical condition and can run, not walk, five miles in even 40 minutes, then the rest of your family should also be able to keep up with you. Those of us over 40 and kids under 12 might have a bit of a problem keeping up that pace but, n'er mind, we're expendible.

Very few people know and practice how to actually communicate with others at distance and without a cell-phone or email. Even fewer know how to use or create implements needed to feed themselves and family and even fewer people than that are truly capable of the living and thriving on the subsistence farming that would be needed to survive in a return to a agrarian and barter economy.

Don't believe me ? Try living exactly the same way you envision for ten days. Even ten (10) days of no electricity, no radio, no cell-phones, no modern conveniences, no seasoned meals, no fires that could be spotted by others and no water from the tap, for almost all of us will be close to being unbearable. Now include your entire family in this fantasy. Then after that exercise, seriously, and I mean very seriously think about what things would really be like for two months or eight months or two years or 10 years or more. Its not so much fun now, is it.