Random Thought Thread

Nathan the Machinist said:
It's a bad feeling when you don't have power. But it's a very bad feeling when you're on a well and you don't have water.

I just heard that interstate 40 between North Carolina and Tennessee is washed out.

I don't mean there's damage to the road from the erosion, I mean the road is fucking gone.
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Someone pointed out that a lot of folks are going to find out just how shitty things can get, when they learn what happens when the pumping stations can't pump the sewage from 1 million people without power. 😬
 
It still amazes me that us humans choose to live in locations that are susceptible to major natural disasters.
You East Coasters get some of the nastiest storms on this continent, the Midwest gets flooding and tornadoes, the West get flooding, snowstorms and infested by yuppies, and us idiots on the West Coast build our homes on fault lines that are surrounded by tinderboxes and feces. I know that no plot of land is truly safe, but damn, we make some goofy decisions.
I guess our own perception of paradise is worth the risk.
 
Standard78 said:
It still amazes me that us humans choose to live in locations that are susceptible to major natural disasters.
You East Coasters get some of the nastiest storms on this continent, the Midwest gets flooding and tornadoes, the West get flooding, snowstorms and infested by yuppies, and us idiots on the West Coast build our homes on fault lines that are surrounded by tinderboxes and feces. I know that no plot of land is truly safe, but damn, we make some goofy decisions.
I guess our own perception of paradise is worth the risk.
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Can’t remember which comedian had a skit about, “Yer livin in a part of the country called Tornado Alley…”.

*** What surprises me, is the number of people who choose to move to FL after retiring. “Hmmm… I’m old, not particularly mobile, and this place seems to have a fair chance of getting hit by a hurricane every single year. Yep, let’s move there”.
 
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SharpBits said:
I hate to say it, but we been warned about our neglected infrastructure in the country for decades. Very little has been done.
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Neglected infrastructure is one thing, but there’s no good way to harden the infrastructure to withstand acts of nature of this magnitude (short of Miyagi-do, “Best defense; no be there”).
 
Standard78 said:
It still amazes me that us humans choose to live in locations that are susceptible to major natural disasters.
You East Coasters get some of the nastiest storms on this continent, the Midwest gets flooding and tornadoes, the West get flooding, snowstorms and infested by yuppies, and us idiots on the West Coast build our homes on fault lines that are surrounded by tinderboxes and feces. I know that no plot of land is truly safe, but damn, we make some goofy decisions.
I guess our own perception of paradise is worth the risk.
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That's why the northeast ain't too bad in that respect. Get all 4 seasons, and mother nature isn't trying to kill you most of the time.
 
We get lots of tornadoes in our state. I was volunteering with the Red Cross back in 2011, when that tornado literally picked up mobile homes and dropped them into the river a few miles away. WHOLE mobile homes. It’s heart breaking to see firsthand what these natural disasters can do. Lives lost and many people forever changed. Be a good neighbor and help those out that didn’t fare the storm so well.
 
bluemax_1 said:
Someone pointed out that a lot of folks are going to find out just how shitty things can get, when they learn what happens when the pumping stations can't pump the sewage from 1 million people without power. 😬
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The vast majority of people living in this country cannot comprehend how thin the veneer of civilization really is. It could fall apart at any time almost instantly, and that is not hyperbole.

More than 50% of the population is no more than a month away from starving at any given time and they are blissfully unaware.

I've said this before but I'll say it again

Go to Costco or wherever and buy 50 pounds of rice and a big jug of vegetable oil and you can have a food source for months, just add boiling water. Salted oily rice with a little bit of whatever protein you can find can keep a person alive for a long time for a trivial amount of money. Wrap it in plastic, seal it up tight to reduce air exchange, keep it cool and dry and that's a very valuable resource that you will almost certainly throw away that keeps for years. The odds of needing it are very low but the cost is also very low and if you actually needed it, the value is very high.

Also, a .22 rifle and a thousand rounds of .22 ammo costs almost nothing, and a .22 round is worth several bites of meat.

All birds are edible.

Squirrels and rabbits are actually delicious.

One need look no farther back than the Great depression to see what hard times actually look like in this country. It would be insane to think that was a one time event, especially considering the end of American hegemony.

This country has enemies that can turn the lights out. The colonial pipeline hack was a wake up call for me. That wasn't even an act of war, those were amateurs just looking for a little ransom.

Just because preppers are probably going to be proven wrong, doesn't make them wrong. A simple failure modes and effects analysis of the world's current geopolitical situation shows that something that has a low but real chance of happening that would have catastrophic consequences should be planned for, or at least pick the low hanging fruit.

A few years ago I would have given the odds of a nuclear exchange with Russia at a million to one. I think most knowledgeable people would now put it at worse than a hundred to one now. This is Russia we are talking about. I figure maybe half of their missiles might actually work. And half of those might actually reach their target. And half of those might actually explode. But it (or something like it) could put the civilization that we enjoy and take for granted on hold for a while, and these power outages due to hurricanes give you a little taste of what's actually possible. COVID-19 too. The odds of something like this being a real issue are very low, but the consequences could be pretty high, I think it makes sense to put some minimal effort into making some preparations. Maybe go buy some rice and or beans and some vegetable oil and stick it in a closet and throw it away in a few years and replace it. It won't break the bank. Have a plan for some clean water etc. There are people who go overboard with some of this stuff, but the 80-20 rule applies. You can get an awful lot of benefit from a minimal amount of effort if you just scratch the surface and cover some of your bases.
 
jlauffer said:
That's why the northeast ain't too bad in that respect. Get all 4 seasons, and mother nature isn't trying to kill you most of the time.
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Oh that’s been on my mind a lot more these last few years.
Idaho, Utah and parts of Arizona in the 4,000+ elevations are on my radar.
Even though their seasons mostly consist of winter, spring, road construction and fall, it sure beats the shit out of SoCal.
 
Nathan the Machinist said:
The vast majority of people living in this country cannot comprehend how thin the veneer of civilization really is. It could fall apart at any time almost instantly, and that is not hyperbole.

More than 50% of the population is no more than a month away from starving at any given time and they are blissfully unaware.

I've said this before but I'll say it again

Go to Costco or wherever and buy 50 pounds of rice and a big jug of vegetable oil and you can have a food source for months, just add boiling water. Salted oily rice with a little bit of whatever protein you can find can keep a person alive for a long time for a trivial amount of money. Wrap it in plastic, seal it up tight to reduce air exchange, keep it cool and dry and that's a very valuable resource that you will almost certainly throw away that keeps for years. The odds of needing it are very low but the cost is also very low and if you actually needed it, the value is very high.

Also, a .22 rifle and a thousand rounds of .22 ammo costs almost nothing, and a .22 round is worth several bites of meat.

All birds are edible.

Squirrels and rabbits are actually delicious.

One need look no farther back than the Great depression to see what hard times actually look like in this country. It would be insane to think that was a one time event, especially considering the end of American hegemony.

This country has enemies that can turn the lights out. The colonial pipeline hack was a wake up call for me. That wasn't even an act of war, those were amateurs just looking for a little ransom.

Just because preppers are probably going to be proven wrong, doesn't make them wrong. A simple failure modes and effects analysis of the world's current geopolitical situation shows that something that has a low but real chance of happening that would have catastrophic consequences should be planned for, or at least pick the low hanging fruit.

A few years ago I would have given the odds of a nuclear exchange with Russia at a million to one. I think most knowledgeable people would now put it at worse than a hundred to one now. This is Russia we are talking about. I figure maybe half of their missiles might actually work. And half of those might actually reach their target. And half of those might actually explode. But it (or something like it) could put the civilization that we enjoy and take for granted on hold for a while, and these power outages due to hurricanes give you a little taste of what's actually possible. COVID-19 too. The odds of something like this being a real issue are very low, but the consequences could be pretty high, I think it makes sense to put some minimal effort into making some preparations. Maybe go buy some rice and or beans and some vegetable oil and stick it in a closet and throw it away in a few years and replace it. It won't break the bank. Have a plan for some clean water etc. There are people who go overboard with some of this stuff, but the 80-20 rule applies. You can get an awful lot of benefit from a minimal amount of effort if you just scratch the surface and cover some of your bases.
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I am always telling people I know, don’t get caught with just the food in your pantry. The same could be said for water, meds, hygiene, security, comms and your network of people. We are teetering on the edge of chaos and many don’t realize it.
 
91bravo said:
I am always telling people I know, don’t get caught with just the food in your pantry. The same could be said for water, meds, hygiene, security, comms and your network of people. We are teetering on the edge of chaos and many don’t realize it.
Click to expand...

And even if we weren't teetering on some edge of chaos, there is always the "Black swan" event no one thought of, that is always appearing throughout history, with regularity. A comfortable person who is not living hand-to-mouth should make an effort to cover their bases. It's really not that complicated, folks just don't think about it. It's unglamorous and it's an expenditure that will probably give no return. And, like airing up your spare tire, most people neglect it. And the neglect usually has no consequences. But that doesn't make it the right choice.
 
And another update from the mountains ….

IMG_1534-X2.jpg


You guys in the East stay safe ….
 
Nathan the Machinist said:
The vast majority of people living in this country cannot comprehend how thin the veneer of civilization really is. It could fall apart at any time almost instantly, and that is not hyperbole.

More than 50% of the population is no more than a month away from starving at any given time and they are blissfully unaware.

I've said this before but I'll say it again

Go to Costco or wherever and buy 50 pounds of rice and a big jug of vegetable oil and you can have a food source for months, just add boiling water. Salted oily rice with a little bit of whatever protein you can find can keep a person alive for a long time for a trivial amount of money. Wrap it in plastic, seal it up tight to reduce air exchange, keep it cool and dry and that's a very valuable resource that you will almost certainly throw away that keeps for years. The odds of needing it are very low but the cost is also very low and if you actually needed it, the value is very high.

Also, a .22 rifle and a thousand rounds of .22 ammo costs almost nothing, and a .22 round is worth several bites of meat.

All birds are edible.

Squirrels and rabbits are actually delicious.

One need look no farther back than the Great depression to see what hard times actually look like in this country. It would be insane to think that was a one time event, especially considering the end of American hegemony.

This country has enemies that can turn the lights out. The colonial pipeline hack was a wake up call for me. That wasn't even an act of war, those were amateurs just looking for a little ransom.

Just because preppers are probably going to be proven wrong, doesn't make them wrong. A simple failure modes and effects analysis of the world's current geopolitical situation shows that something that has a low but real chance of happening that would have catastrophic consequences should be planned for, or at least pick the low hanging fruit.

A few years ago I would have given the odds of a nuclear exchange with Russia at a million to one. I think most knowledgeable people would now put it at worse than a hundred to one now. This is Russia we are talking about. I figure maybe half of their missiles might actually work. And half of those might actually reach their target. And half of those might actually explode. But it (or something like it) could put the civilization that we enjoy and take for granted on hold for a while, and these power outages due to hurricanes give you a little taste of what's actually possible. COVID-19 too. The odds of something like this being a real issue are very low, but the consequences could be pretty high, I think it makes sense to put some minimal effort into making some preparations. Maybe go buy some rice and or beans and some vegetable oil and stick it in a closet and throw it away in a few years and replace it. It won't break the bank. Have a plan for some clean water etc. There are people who go overboard with some of this stuff, but the 80-20 rule applies. You can get an awful lot of benefit from a minimal amount of effort if you just scratch the surface and cover some of your bases.
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So much right with this post!!! 😍 Well said, Nathan!!
 
Nathan the Machinist said:
The vast majority of people living in this country cannot comprehend how thin the veneer of civilization really is. It could fall apart at any time almost instantly, and that is not hyperbole.

More than 50% of the population is no more than a month away from starving at any given time and they are blissfully unaware.

I've said this before but I'll say it again

Go to Costco or wherever and buy 50 pounds of rice and a big jug of vegetable oil and you can have a food source for months, just add boiling water. Salted oily rice with a little bit of whatever protein you can find can keep a person alive for a long time for a trivial amount of money. Wrap it in plastic, seal it up tight to reduce air exchange, keep it cool and dry and that's a very valuable resource that you will almost certainly throw away that keeps for years. The odds of needing it are very low but the cost is also very low and if you actually needed it, the value is very high.

Also, a .22 rifle and a thousand rounds of .22 ammo costs almost nothing, and a .22 round is worth several bites of meat.

All birds are edible.

Squirrels and rabbits are actually delicious.

One need look no farther back than the Great depression to see what hard times actually look like in this country. It would be insane to think that was a one time event, especially considering the end of American hegemony.

This country has enemies that can turn the lights out. The colonial pipeline hack was a wake up call for me. That wasn't even an act of war, those were amateurs just looking for a little ransom.

Just because preppers are probably going to be proven wrong, doesn't make them wrong. A simple failure modes and effects analysis of the world's current geopolitical situation shows that something that has a low but real chance of happening that would have catastrophic consequences should be planned for, or at least pick the low hanging fruit.

A few years ago I would have given the odds of a nuclear exchange with Russia at a million to one. I think most knowledgeable people would now put it at worse than a hundred to one now. This is Russia we are talking about. I figure maybe half of their missiles might actually work. And half of those might actually reach their target. And half of those might actually explode. But it (or something like it) could put the civilization that we enjoy and take for granted on hold for a while, and these power outages due to hurricanes give you a little taste of what's actually possible. COVID-19 too. The odds of something like this being a real issue are very low, but the consequences could be pretty high, I think it makes sense to put some minimal effort into making some preparations. Maybe go buy some rice and or beans and some vegetable oil and stick it in a closet and throw it away in a few years and replace it. It won't break the bank. Have a plan for some clean water etc. There are people who go overboard with some of this stuff, but the 80-20 rule applies. You can get an awful lot of benefit from a minimal amount of effort if you just scratch the surface and cover some of your bases.
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With the upcoming port strike, we could be in this position in a couple weeks.
 
Nathan the Machinist said:
The vast majority of people living in this country cannot comprehend how thin the veneer of civilization really is. It could fall apart at any time almost instantly, and that is not hyperbole.

More than 50% of the population is no more than a month away from starving at any given time and they are blissfully unaware.

I've said this before but I'll say it again

Go to Costco or wherever and buy 50 pounds of rice and a big jug of vegetable oil and you can have a food source for months, just add boiling water. Salted oily rice with a little bit of whatever protein you can find can keep a person alive for a long time for a trivial amount of money. Wrap it in plastic, seal it up tight to reduce air exchange, keep it cool and dry and that's a very valuable resource that you will almost certainly throw away that keeps for years. The odds of needing it are very low but the cost is also very low and if you actually needed it, the value is very high.

Also, a .22 rifle and a thousand rounds of .22 ammo costs almost nothing, and a .22 round is worth several bites of meat.

All birds are edible.

Squirrels and rabbits are actually delicious.

One need look no farther back than the Great depression to see what hard times actually look like in this country. It would be insane to think that was a one time event, especially considering the end of American hegemony.

This country has enemies that can turn the lights out. The colonial pipeline hack was a wake up call for me. That wasn't even an act of war, those were amateurs just looking for a little ransom.

Just because preppers are probably going to be proven wrong, doesn't make them wrong. A simple failure modes and effects analysis of the world's current geopolitical situation shows that something that has a low but real chance of happening that would have catastrophic consequences should be planned for, or at least pick the low hanging fruit.

A few years ago I would have given the odds of a nuclear exchange with Russia at a million to one. I think most knowledgeable people would now put it at worse than a hundred to one now. This is Russia we are talking about. I figure maybe half of their missiles might actually work. And half of those might actually reach their target. And half of those might actually explode. But it (or something like it) could put the civilization that we enjoy and take for granted on hold for a while, and these power outages due to hurricanes give you a little taste of what's actually possible. COVID-19 too. The odds of something like this being a real issue are very low, but the consequences could be pretty high, I think it makes sense to put some minimal effort into making some preparations. Maybe go buy some rice and or beans and some vegetable oil and stick it in a closet and throw it away in a few years and replace it. It won't break the bank. Have a plan for some clean water etc. There are people who go overboard with some of this stuff, but the 80-20 rule applies. You can get an awful lot of benefit from a minimal amount of effort if you just scratch the surface and cover some of your bases.
Click to expand...

Good stuff. Water is critical. You can buy used > 50 gallon plastic barrels from restaurants (Craigslist), clean them out with water and bleach or chlorine and fill up with water. At least 1 gallon drinking water per person per day. And water to cook, etc.

Keep the trailer fresh water tank and gas bottles full.

Pasta holds forever, too.

When the SHTF, the biggest threat might be your neighbor. Just saying.
 
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