mikey mikey wrote:
Yes you did, but they didn't correlate, so one of us is stoned, or even better, both............

So what is the attraction of doomsday for all these apocalypse aficionados?

Perhaps the chance to have the chance to create their perfect communities free of all those undesirables,

Perhaps the chance to shoot er...zombies that come for help..er I mean their brains.

jhado wrote:
Sadly no. But that would have been nice.

Here's to the both of us

angelchemuel wrote:
Well?
Where is the realism in any of these survivalists posts either here or on DIF?
Where is the realistic appraisal of the situation we are in, with real evidence showing any real catastrophic doom on the horizon?
Its as simple as this, there isn't any and there never will be. There are just crazy predictions with little in the way of solid evidence to back it up.

For example, 'overpopulation'. www.overpopulationisamyth.com < Game over. Tons of solid scientific evidence showing long term DEpopulation, which was ofc the intent all along.

Power- www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/7970...ash-for-thorium.html

www.utpb.edu/research-grants/ht3r/

So that kinda puts a blinker on all that bollocks doesn't it?

That leaves nuclear war as a possibility but you can hardly survive that by staying in one place if the bomb drops nearby...ofc if its big enough and in all the 'wrong' locations so to speak then you can kiss your tail goodbye anyway.

scare some chavs off your lawn at least

Have you made any of those?

There must be elements of survivalism that could be useful to know, regardless of whether you'd hope to make it alone or as part of a community. Plus none of us knows what's round the corner, and you might be faced with a local or national situation, as opposed to global, where having certain knowledge / skills might save lives. As such, I'd like to encourage the survivalism talk, in the hope of learning something useful.

wake_up_bomb wrote:
True, but when has Mike ever managed more than a couple of posts before being recognised?

morning all!! I see some people think I am someone called Mike, well sorry to disappoint, I just used a stock avatar as my computer skills are very basic to say the least. maybe that one was used by someone else before? i'll change it if you wish to avoid further confusion. of course I could just bugger off but reading all last nights posts there are at least a couple of people who seem interested in the subject of survival.

Gilly wrote: By far the best writing on this subject that I've come across, which I think was posted by Jane originally, is here:

ferfal.blogspot.co.uk/

This guy wrote this book. I'm not really into the more extreme stuff, and I have to say from a personal point-of-view, I wouldn't want to live without electricity. I'm a pretty simple person, but if I can't have at least a bedsit with a cooker and electricity then you can shoot me as far as I'm concerned. But there's lots of useful stuff on that website from someone who has actually lived through a genuine economic collapse, this one:

lonewolf wrote: I'm more than willing to accept that I might very well have been wrong about that, so I apologise.

lonewolf wrote: I for one am interested. To my mind it's a subject that is closely linked to what I said about sustainable living. I don't subscribe to the notion that it's all going tits up anytime soon but that doesn't mean I don't see worth in the skills and knowledge that survivalism entails.
+ you just never know...
So I made a prediction last night LW. Have you seen it? Is it true?
Another question, please don't take it the wrong way. Are you interested in subjects other than survival?

Gilly wrote:
I agree. Absolutely. That's why I began my last few posts with this,..
mikey mikey wrote:
Being prepared in case of emergency is just good common sense. As is keeping a decent food supply, light source, emergency clean water, a gas stove etc

That is a far cry from the Doomporn and wingnuttey being promoted by Lone Wolf here.

As you widely put it, Gilly. Nobody knows what's round the corner. But we can learn from the past. And that teaches us that The End doom dates are spun by false prophets, cult leaders and snake oil salesmen. These "self help" books are almost invariably helping the author make a fast buck. In this case, helping him build his private secluded ranch.

right, first off can I apologise if I have offended with some of my more extreme views ?, wife says I tend to go a bit overboard when I'm on a roll so to speak! right lets start at the beginning, first thing is to obtain a supply of food and water, start off with 3 days worth that's usually what most people have already, expand that to 1 week, then a fortnight then a month...if you wish STOP THERE, that will cover MOST normal events(forget "the end of the world" for now we are talking power cuts, no petrol, strikes and civil unrest) now every time you go shopping buy 2 or 3 EXTRA cans of what you already buy could be baked beans, corned beef, stewed steak you get the drift, now the rule is, STORE WHAT YOU EAT,EAT WHAT YOU STORE...don't buy something just cos its on offer if you don't normally eat it, it'll just get left at the back of the cupboard. next is water, you need a MINIMUM of 2.5 litres per person PER DAY in case the main supply is cut off again try to store enough for 2-4 weeks that should cover most events. if like me your food is your general store cupboard and its being used daily ROTATE,Rotate,Rotate...put the new stuff at the back, bring the newer stuff forward and use that FIRST.

All good advice and as you say, suitable for a short term power cut scenario for example.
Tbf though, I bet the majority have a weeks worth of food in the cupboard anyway (cue tales of hand to mouth living caused by this and that), I'd be interested in expanding the discussion out from there.
In the longer term for example, water is likely to be a big issue. It will likely be around but not necessarily in a drinkable condition. I've used gravel and moss filters before. They work but only to a certain extent. As in if that water is seriously contaminated with pathogens, they won't clear them. What thoughts do you have on long term water supply, LW?

knobmeup wrote: the next thing after food and water to consider is Heating, Lighting and Cooking, you need to obtain an ALTERNATIVE supply of these if you are say all electric, in a power cut even gas dosent work as the majority of the control are electrically fired. cooking: you need a camping stove and a few spare containers of gas WARNING be careful using these indoors-you need to open a window for ventilation or else you could get monoxide poisoning, lighting: candles, torches and lanterns both battery powered and wind up, I prefer wind up ones as I don't then have to stock loads of batteries as well, now Heating: the most obvious is a mobile gas heater(we call them bombers cos of the noise they make) you can get these quite cheap on Ebay or look for one on Freecycle, and you need a couple of spare cylinders, I found in my bedsit days that if you use it on 1 element instead of all 3 then a cylinder will last nearly a month. if you are lucky enough to live in an old house and have a working chimney then you can cover heating and cooking in one stroke, remember to get the chimney swept!!!

knobmeup wrote: in a short term you can probably store enough water for 2 weeks or so, water butts are a good source of storing water, they hold about 45 gallons each but unless they are covered with a lid can become contaminated themselves, there are several water filters on the market from the personal LIFESTRAW type used by campers/bushcrafters to the LIFESAVER bottle which can filter 1000-2000 litres to the BERKELEY home filter which is VERY expensive, of course you could just get a whole load of water purifying tablets online also on Ebay, just boiling water will kill a lot of the bugs but it wont remove any of the chemical crap you need to purify the water for those, either with a filter or the tablets.

At the risk of being ridiculed (if you fuckers dare! ) does anyone know if there's any truth in the tale of colloidal silver being added to water actually purifying it? Or is it nonsense?

I have heard that said but have never gone very deeply into that subject so I don't know.

lonewolf wrote: The issue with that approach is that it isn't sustainable. Sooner or later your filters will fail and your tablets will be gone. The contaminated water on the other hand, may well persist.
What technological approach could be taken that would provide a continual, sustainable water supply?

knobmeup wrote: all the time you are using your filters you should also be looking for a permanent supply of uncontaminated water, not ALL water will be contaminated, if however you cannot find such a thing then you will have to make a DIY filter for yourself. eventually of course in a long term event EVERYTHING would run out not just filters.