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When I started dating again, I stocked up on condoms, fancy soap, and wine.

Bitches love fancy soap and wine.

Kronk, truly the world's greatest romantic.

Mine likes guns and silver. I think she's a reincarnated Spanish conquistador.


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OK. Making a new topic.

 Frazzled wrote:



Automatically Appended Next Post:
OK. Making a new topic.

What b!+@#€$ like?

Thats easy. A little Sinatra on the old turntable, and some good old fashioned tapioca pudding.

I don't prep, and I don't think French people prep.
However, I've always been interested in survival, this kind of things.
Do a lot of Americans prep ?

 godardc wrote:
I don't prep, and I don't think French people prep.
However, I've always been interested in survival, this kind of things.
Do a lot of Americans prep ?

I would not say a lot of people, but the popularity is rising thanks to reality TV. I myself find it interesting, but I would have to quit buying 40k models to afford to prep, so Ill just buy my food week to week.

 godardc wrote:

Do a lot of Americans prep ?

A lot of Americans don't live in/near big cities and the corresponding gov't services associated with urban areas. Those folks tend to know what they need to get by for a few days of no power or whatever and 'prep' to make sure they are okay when that happens.

Some folks in urban areas live where things like hurricanes or snow storms can limit gov't services and/or cut power for a few days at a time. Many of those folks, especially those who have been through a big storm/outage will make sure they have a few days worth of food/water on hand (even if they are going out to get it based on a storm front moving in).

So from that perspective, a lot of Americans are 'prepped' to get by for a few days.

Some folks like to be prepared for longer periods of time or for the gak Has Gone Sideways scenarios and tend to 'prep' more extensively.

And then there are the folks with bunkers and years worth of supplies cached around the hills. Those are pretty rare.

 godardc wrote:
I don't prep, and I don't think French people prep.
However, I've always been interested in survival, this kind of things.
Do a lot of Americans prep ?

Well, it kinda depends on how you define 'prep'. On the one hand, if you consider 'I have some bottled water and a first aid kit just in case' as prepping, then I'd say a good number do. But if you mean 'I have a bunker, canned rations and 5000 rounds of ammuniton', then probably less so.

Redleger is also correct in that the more bunker-focused kind of prep got a spike in attention with some reality TV, and so that business has been thriving a bit. But I may be wrong (I certainly don't keep tabs on reality TV), but that show has been off the air for a few years as well.

In a lot of ways, the bigger scale of prep is something like a hobby, if you think about it.

Honestly, one of the biggest 'prep' things many folks disregard is knowledge (and even better, experience). It is all well and good to have 45 pounds of Super Duper survival gear loaded up in your Oh gak bag, but if you've never humped that bag a couple of days, never used and relied on the gear, never performed some of the critical tasks, you are still not prepared.

For example, had a buddy with a VERY extensive first aid kit. Had no clue how to properly use half the items in it, and didn't know basic first aid. Useless. Having 12 weeks worth of chow, and then finding out in an emergency it is all 'Must Add Water' and not having thought through your water requirements for that chow is bad. Not knowing how to set up that light portable tent and attempting to do so for the first time in the dark and under stress may be a bad thing. Having that fancy solar recharging thingy but not knowing how to set it up and never having tried to use to see how long it takes to charge up your WhatEverNeedsPower could be bad.

Use your gear. Make sure you understand it. Think of what skills you may need (first aid a MAJOR one) and get some training on those skills, then practice them once in a while.

I have read that it is estimated 22% of the population preps in some fashion (so range from basic to basically crazy).

 godardc wrote:
I don't prep, and I don't think French people prep.
However, I've always been interested in survival, this kind of things.
Do a lot of Americans prep ?

I think its far more importantly of know which of my neighbors prep.

"we need to get guns to protect ourselves from the bad guy!"
"I AM the BAD GUY."

 curran12 wrote:
I keep a go bag, which is mostly a small duffle bag with some bottled water, canned food, first aid kit and a few other odds and ends.

The thing with prepping is that I think there's kind of a line between being prepared for a disaster, and living out a disaster fantasy.

I watched a few eps of those 'prepper' shows. The pattern seemed to be that the family starts out normal enough..."it's about being prudent, that's all...we just think it's important to be prepared just in case"...etc. Then you finally heard the specific reason they're 'prepping', and suddenly the crazy comes out. Frankly, those folks just oughta refer to themselves by the old-school, baggage-heavy term 'survivalists' and call it a day.

I put a kit together for our family just in case we need to be evacuated for a few days, as our government recommended. That's it.

Where's my missile silo house!?

EDIT: here!
http://survivalcondo.com/?page_id=27

Frazzled, you are all over the place, its so hard to get a bead on you. It makes me laugh.

There is a pretty huge market for stuff that allows middle aged men to think they can become action heroes, and doomsday prepping really taps into that.

Standard disaster prep is just good sense.

I would offer them a gym membership and marksmanship lessons if they really wanted to be an action hero. lol

 CptJake wrote:
Honestly, one of the biggest 'prep' things many folks disregard is knowledge (and even better, experience). It is all well and good to have 45 pounds of Super Duper survival gear loaded up in your Oh gak bag, but if you've never humped that bag a couple of days, never used and relied on the gear, never performed some of the critical tasks, you are still not prepared.

For example, had a buddy with a VERY extensive first aid kit. Had no clue how to properly use half the items in it, and didn't know basic first aid. Useless. Having 12 weeks worth of chow, and then finding out in an emergency it is all 'Must Add Water' and not having thought through your water requirements for that chow is bad. Not knowing how to set up that light portable tent and attempting to do so for the first time in the dark and under stress may be a bad thing. Having that fancy solar recharging thingy but not knowing how to set it up and never having tried to use to see how long it takes to charge up your WhatEverNeedsPower could be bad.

Use your gear. Make sure you understand it. Think of what skills you may need (first aid a MAJOR one) and get some training on those skills, then practice them once in a while.

At the very least, keep a few books on survival, first aid, etc on hand. You might not be able to memorize everything you need to know, but at least be able to look it up.

In all honesty, I'm glad American dakka members are prepping, because you're going to need it.

If I ever find myself in a position of having 250,000 highly trained soldiers at my command, 3 or 4 armoured divisions, a modern air force, and a carrier group, plus a few North Vietnamese

I'm invading America. Why?

Because you guys invented root beer and gave us Jar Jar Binks, and that's enough to condemn you in my eyes

 redleger wrote:
Frazzled, you are all over the place, its so hard to get a bead on you. It makes me laugh.

Thats because I am the son of "rubber legs" Frazzled, dancing machine. I am a Hawaiian shirt wearing hep cat in spectator shoes baby. *


*Frazzled does not consider the 45,000 rounds he has of .22lr to be prepping, just having a plan B.

Because you guys invented root beer and gave us Jar Jar Binks, and that's enough to condemn you in my eyes

Dude you put beans on your eggs. Thats a war crime under the Hague conventions!

I live on a major fault line, in tornado alley, in the Mississippi flood plains. I just assume that no matter how much I prepare, it will not be enough.

Also, why the Root Beer hate? That stuff is magnificent.

Careful about noting how much ammo you have here, tends to get people heated for some reason.

And yes root beer is magnificent, but I prefer real beer.

I own a short sword. In urban Britain, this makes me a prospective raider chief in any post-apocalyptic/disaster scenario.


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 Frazzled wrote:

Dude you put beans on your eggs. Thats a war crime under the Hague conventions!

What? Nobody does that. A sausage gets used as a breakwater.

i'm a mild prepper, I have 3 month supply for 4 people of food and water, spare clothes (still in package socks, T-shirts, shoes, underwear, shorts, sweats and such) an emergency medical kit, candles, lighters, toilet paper (telling you man toilet paper will be worth more then gold after the apocalypse) and such, will I need it? hope not, will I be happy I have it, if I do need it? hell yes. worst situation i've seen happen, power going out around a lot of California for several hours to a few days. its better to be prepared if even a little then to be without.

We keep a food supply that could realistically feed my family of 4 for at least a month if we were to go just off that.

I don't really prep and I really should. Los Angeles is due to be hit by an Earthquake any day now and water is likely to get real scarce real quick. Our water supply is almost entirely piped in from the north and from the Colorado.

 TheCustomLime wrote:
I don't really prep and I really should. Los Angeles is due to be hit by an Earthquake any day now and water is likely to get real scarce real quick. Our water supply is almost entirely piped in from the north and from the Colorado.

if the San Andreas fault goes off LA is screwed as far as water goes and Scientists say we are over due for a big one too.

I think the LA version of 'prepping' is probably becoming VERY good friends with a Korean shop keeper and his family.

I don't prep, and I don't think anyone around here does. Prepping (especially stockpiling food) makes a lot of sense if you are in a remote area, but in densely populated areas it is not much use as aid is likely to arrive quickly if not immediately.
Here in the part of the Netherlands where I live, the only disaster that could realistically ever happen is that the dikes break and a huge part of the country gets flooded by the sea. Luckily, the town I live in just so happens to be on the edge of the "high ground" and therefore unlikely to be flooded in all but the worst-case scenarios. Even then, I have a boat so I am safe anyway
The only things I do have are a flashlight (might be useful if electricity falls out or a fire breaks out) and a longsword for when the zombie apocalypse hits

 CptJake wrote:
Honestly, one of the biggest 'prep' things many folks disregard is knowledge (and even better, experience). It is all well and good to have 45 pounds of Super Duper survival gear loaded up in your Oh gak bag, but if you've never humped that bag a couple of days, never used and relied on the gear, never performed some of the critical tasks, you are still not prepared.

For example, had a buddy with a VERY extensive first aid kit. Had no clue how to properly use half the items in it, and didn't know basic first aid. Useless. Having 12 weeks worth of chow, and then finding out in an emergency it is all 'Must Add Water' and not having thought through your water requirements for that chow is bad. Not knowing how to set up that light portable tent and attempting to do so for the first time in the dark and under stress may be a bad thing. Having that fancy solar recharging thingy but not knowing how to set it up and never having tried to use to see how long it takes to charge up your WhatEverNeedsPower could be bad.

Use your gear. Make sure you understand it. Think of what skills you may need (first aid a MAJOR one) and get some training on those skills, then practice them once in a while.

That's right on the money. Where I live, people rotate their food and medicines and do a lot of camping. This ensures they don't have nasty surprises like outdated items or suddenly discovering they don't have basic skills needed to use their kits.

 TheCustomLime wrote:
I don't really prep and I really should. Los Angeles is due to be hit by an Earthquake any day now and water is likely to get real scarce real quick. Our water supply is almost entirely piped in from the north and from the Colorado.

That's a very good point. Your local geography and sociology is crucial to working out what preparations you should make.