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Old 02-07-12, 08:36 AM   #1
Xringer
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Default Doomsday Preppers?

New prepper TV Show: “Doomsday Prepper” | ModernSurvivalOnline.com


Is it my imagination? Or does it seem like there's a lot more interest
in Doomsday Prepping during the last 2 or 3 years??

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Old 02-07-12, 01:39 PM   #2
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I always make sure to have a 3-month stash of candy in the house. Then I eat it all and go stock up again
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Old 02-07-12, 02:42 PM   #3
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I do the same thing after Halloween and Christmas..

I am a chocoholic.. I was at my worse during a Norwegian cruise line trip.
One night they had a late night Chocolate Feast..
It was kinda like this:


They prepared about a ton of Chocolate items for us.

After that, I couldn't even look at candy for a whole week!!
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Old 02-07-12, 05:14 PM   #4
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I think that there has been an upswing in prepping interest and that it's due to two interrelated phenomenon. The first is that the webs of society, the things that work that make progress possible and lift our standard of living are becoming less resilient, that is, of late the gains are coming from a Just-In-Time type of efficiency, meaning that there is less slack in many systems. When a JIT supply chain hiccups the effects ripple downstream and because there is no slack in the system, the effects are amplified. People are seeing some of these effects and taking measures to insulate themselves as best they can.

The second effect is hardship created by tough economic times. The rise of home canning, coupon shopping, debt repayment, less consumption. Those who are forced into living with less really have no choice but their struggles become known by their social circles and those people have their eyes opened. I think some of these people migrate to prepping simply as a precautionary measure - stockpiling food and consumables makes them sleep a bit easier because they're buying cheap insurance against hardship created by loss of income. Many of these people, I think, are oblivious to the fragility of the systems upon which they depend. They believe that the monetary system will never reach hyperinflationary levels, they believe that there will always be a rock-steady natural gas distribution network ready to service them, etc.

The victory gardens of WWII and the consumption habits of the Depression-era folks were induced by external stimuli and were slow to change after the stimuli was ended. I think that external stimuli induced behavior is playing a big part in the rise of prepping. I'm not so sure that there is a wide-spread belief that civilization is right on the brink of the cliff though - prepping, in my mind, can mean preparing for doomsday and preparing your own safety net.
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Old 02-07-12, 05:56 PM   #5
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Hi Alan,
You are dead on with that JIT ripple. Where we live, almost our total food supply
is dependent on long-distance trucking.
It really makes me wonder what would happen if truckers went on strike,
or some other event kept them off the highways for 5 or 6 weeks.


I was born in 1946, so I was subjected to a lot of leftover Depression-era stimuli.
It's not something that's easy to shrug off. My wife and I both look at every
luxury item purchase, and wonder if, there will come a day when we will starving or cold,
because we were too extravagant today.

A couple of those 'Doomsday Prepper' shows will be on tonight.
I'll have to check them out..
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Old 02-07-12, 07:16 PM   #6
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Always be prepared?
I grew up with what comes out to 6 months or so worth of food stocked up and I currently keep at least a few months worth of food around the house, it's just cheaper and I like not having to worry about not having a food that you tend to eat.
Same goes for most other things, keep gas cans full, parts that wear out on tools, spark plugs for vehicles, lumber for projects.
Only thing that I'm behind on is fuel and electricity, sure my back up power supply can run my fridge for a day or two and I can get my hands on solar panels but nothing is set up and ready to use at least not at my house, my back up plan of course is head over to my parents house when the Apocalypse happens.
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Old 02-08-12, 09:10 AM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ryland View Post
my back up plan of course is head over to my parents house when the Apocalypse happens.
WHAT?!?!?! Well dang there goes my plan of driving down to your house when the Apocalypse hits...

I think we'd be screwed for everything but money. I have tools and some lumber in the house, but we haven't done a lot of jarred stuff or extra food in the fridge. We have some canned and dry food, but nothing that would last us more then a few days...maybe a couple of weeks if we stretched it. Don't even have a backup power supply in the house. Maybe i should get something but I'm not sure what. And my jerrican is usually about half full with gas...but it's a small one.

Guess we're not really that prepared for anything.
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Old 02-08-12, 09:45 AM   #8
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I watched and was disappointed with the show.
They just skimmed over things. Not enough detail at all.
The people that impressed me the most were the ones here in Texas.
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Old 02-08-12, 10:13 AM   #9
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I thought that the guy with piles and piles of buckets of food was kind of weird, he reminded me of someone who would stock up on flashlight batteries so they are never left in the dark where the other guy was growing his own food, he's the guy who skips the flash light batteries and gets a hand crank flashlight.
The thing that worries me most about my current house is that we don't have solar panels installed yet and our main source of heat is natural gas.
I never understood people who don't keep at least a few weeks worth of food on hand, I don't like to go shopping, so when I do I buy a handful of each of the things I need and use, more if it's on sale, because of this I am able to buy 70% of the food I buy while it's onsale.

When Y2K was the next big thing people where talking about how if things go bad they would learn to garden or start a garden... why not start one now? don't wait to learn to can food you grow, grow it and can it now.
I'm not sure if I would bike pedal grind all of my flour every day right now, but I do know that the hand crank flour mill works and works well but the electric flour mill is easier to use.
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Old 02-08-12, 11:44 AM   #10
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Here's an eye-opener...


-AC_Hacker

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