Your Ideal Doomsday Survival Situation/Prepper Thread

[mapuc]

< If you can't get hold of what Skybird have shown us then maybe this could be of use.

https://quickparts.dk/gnist-gastaender/311544/

Markus

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by Rockstar

I found theses little round 100% cotton facial pads make a for very good fire starter when used with one those strikers. They come in plastic ziplock bags so always stay dry, very convenient. All it takes one little spark and they catch fire.

The textile flakes everybody has in the pockets of his trousers or pullovers. Some vaseline on the fingertip, take the flakes and rub the vasline in, add some crispy, dry, fibre-like other material. The flakes you can comb out of a carpet, too, especially if cotton, natural fibre, or a fur. Sheep fur that you occasionally comb to make the hairs nice again also produces good stuff, but always add some small quantity of vaseline. Create a reservoir of small fibre-vaseline balls that way. Very handy. And kind of water-proof, which might be useful if you really are outdoors, then there must be sufficient vaseline being used, of course.

Dont try to use toilet paper to light a fire, cleenex and such. Does not work, it only glows, but does not burn, does not feed a flame.

So much to be found in nature works, beginners in fire-making however often make the mistake that they want to light the "final" fire immediately, the wood they plan to use. But one has to make a small fire nest first, from light, lose dry stuff, and even dry straw or whatever should be rubbed until the fibres are loose and soft and good air circulation is possible, then it works easy.

If using a lens and sunlight: it works, but is more difficult. Burn the material first to blacken it, make sort of charcoal of it, move the focus of the sunölight and lenbse over the surface like a laser. And that "charcoal" area you then try to light with a lense and sunlight in the second working step. I found this to be the only way working on wood. To just focus sunlight via lense on a piece of wood never did the trick for me, never, it smoldered, but never started to form flames. I needed to turn bigger parts of it into charcoal first, the blakc parts then catches and feeds fire, and form that the fire then sporeads to the full piec eof wood.

Best solution: have a lighter with you. Just no gasoline Zippo, they are always empty when you need them, the vapors escape way to fast for these things being useful.

[Rockstar]

I just find them convenient when using with a flint starter, they catch fire really quick. Packing only a dozen or so in a ziplock when I go out keeps them dry and relatively clean and can be used to help stop bleeding on minor boo-boos too.

[mapuc]

Originally Posted by ET2SN

Something I've been kicking around for this thread is the concept of Leadership, what it really is, and how to use it.

In the military, a good and effective leader knows how to follow orders. They also have the experience and training to make them good at it. Many sailors know how to move the boat but there can be only one Captain, right?

Well, maybe not. I guess the point of this post is what if that natural leader ain't you? Having a big ego can be helpful but it can also guarantee that you'll starve alone and cold.

Let's say you're part of a group that includes a little old lady who grew up on a farm before she had to move to the city. Guess who sits on top of the leader board for your group?

A little off topic imaginary stories based on the quoted

I get this picture.

It has been a major disaster, people are without electricity, electronic and water.

Those who has survived have agreed on a meeting to discuss further plans a.s.o.

Here a huge discussion on which politician(There will be some who survived)shall be the leader.

Even after some major disaster, People will discuss heavily on who should be the leader.
The surviving humans want their survived politician to be the leader of this little society.

Now enough of this lets go back to discuss survival situation/Preppers

End of an off topic...

Markus

[Skybird]

For those who can understand German.

This is an official report commissioned by the German Bundestag in 2011, describing the scenarios that could be expected in the event of a prolonged nationwide power outage lasting from several hours to several days. The reading is somewhat sobering and should thoroughly disillusion any optimist who imagines that this is an unusual but easily manageable event with the charm of a camping vacation and campfire romance. The cascading effects and consequences are already after a short time for the state and its organs and services as well as the supply structures no longer controllable, the long-term consequences after elimination of the blackout absolutely catastrophic and future-changing. Supply and security for the population are to be regarded as total failures - already after a discouragingly short time.

https://dserver.bundestag.de/btd/17/056/1705672.pdf

I expect that this winter there will be at least announced, intentional intermittent power shutdowns of a few hours a day in at least some regions.

A private broadcaster's news this evening also reported that shorter local blackouts in the power grids of smaller towns and communities have been clustering in Germany in recent months. I have posted many times that the number of severe near-disasters at the continental power grid level, which could only be averted at the last moment, has increased significantly from year to year for about a decade or more. The federal government is bitterly silent on this issue and refuses to provide any information. Only the dumbing down propaganda, with tips on the level of weekly magazines for the dementia-stricken Aunt Frieda, is running like clockwork and has been expanded further and further..Alles klar auf der Andrea Doria!

The responsible ministry, already under Merkel, planned already early, with the creation of the technical conditions for that electric cars can be abused at charging stations remotely controlled as intermediate power storages and feed their power from their batteries back into the public net, if need exists, where as the now responsible secretary of state in the economics ministry pleased the scientists with the revelation that politics now succeeded, finally, to declare the concept of base load security in the power supply as obsolete, and to secure as a substitute the future power supply of Germany by the mere fact that the current political leadership of new, future-oriented people is mastering the problem by their "new and superior mindset" (original quote), by which probably - at least this would be to be hoped - the electrification of the brain owners who are spouting this stupid nonsense is meant. For winning electricity from burning stupid brains, Germany has a very huge supply, we could easily live over the winter, and then for years to come.

Wanted or unwanted, shorter or longer blackouts in Germany are a very plausible and realistic scenario now. Add to it the chance that Russia is cyberattacking Germany's critical infrastructure, too. They do it sionce many years already, to test our vulnerabilities. Absolutely possible that now they attack to strike and cause damage, to destabilise the country and the public mood.


Prepare yourself. Winter is coming - and this time this is no quote from a TV series, but a real threat. If things go badly this winter, things really could become extremely nasty over here. Thanks to El Nina, they predict this winter to be unusually cold. Lets hope they are wrong. But El Nina is known to do this to Europe: colder than usual winters. And then, the Russians.

[ET2SN]

Continuing with the thought experiment- You and your group of survivors are trekking through the woods to find some civilization. You come to a clearing in the woods and find a cow chewing on grass. You're all hungry. There is also no such thing as a "right" answer.

Which is better? Steaks sizzling over the fire pit or a self-sustaining source of milk and high quality fertilizer?

[Skybird]

It depends on whether one plans to stay i n that place and make a home there, or move on. Also, a cow produces milk only when she calves/ is being pregnant/has a calf, and every pregnancy sooner or later comes to a natural end. Or to be preicse: a cow produces milk for the calf she has, even during the follow-on pregnancy. No calf - no milk anymore .

Finally it depends on whether you are a vegan, a vegetarian, or a monster.

[August]

Originally Posted by ET2SN

Continuing with the thought experiment- You and your group of survivors are trekking through the woods to find some civilization. You come to a clearing in the woods and find a cow chewing on grass. You're all hungry. There is also no such thing as a "right" answer.

Which is better? Steaks sizzling over the fire pit or a self-sustaining source of milk and high quality fertilizer?

If you're gonna steal someones cow then you might as well kill and eat it then move on before he comes to retrieve his property or you might get hurt.

[ET2SN]

So, a quick update to the Zippo insert test. I filled mine in early September, stuck the lighter on the shelf, and left it alone. Six weeks later I tested it and the tank had gone dry. I think a regular Zippo will hold fuel longer than the flipping insert.

Don't bother with this "upgrade".

Oh, for the "cow scenario" Option Charlie (do nothing and keep walking) is always in effect. The problem is that you're in a group and you're all hungry. Not everyone is going to see it the same way.

Like I said, there's no "right" answer. Just try to figure out all the angles.

Originally Posted by ET2SN

One of the items you always want for a bail-out bag or kit is a dependable source for making a fire.

Probably the best tool for this job is a standard Zippo lighter with the original wet tank and flint insert. These "wet" type lighters will run on anything from lighter fuel to gasoline and even diesel fuel in a pinch. They are basically indestructible and simple to operate and also don't require a lot of room (you can easily pack two lighters, just in case).

The only real downside to the basic Zippo is that they will leak fuel in the case of long-term storage.

Here's a cool video I found. Pay attention to the Number 2 and Number 1 inserts.



These "Zorro" inserts have nifty shields for the bottom of the fuel tank and the wick. This will make your lighter(s) a lot more leak and evaporation proof. BTW, make sure to store some extra flints under the fill cap.

[Rockstar]

Originally Posted by ET2SN

So, a quick update to the Zippo insert test. I filled mine in early September, stuck the lighter on the shelf, and left it alone. Six weeks later I tested it and the tank had gone dry. I think a regular Zippo will hold fuel longer than the flipping insert.

Don't bother with this "upgrade".

Oh, for the "cow scenario" Option Charlie (do nothing and keep walking) is always in effect. The problem is that you're in a group and you're all hungry. Not everyone is going to see it the same way.

Like I said, there's no "right" answer. Just try to figure out all the angles.

Option Charlie seems like the wrong approach I don’t believe anyone in the group would agree doing it that way.

[August]

Well whichever choice one makes one had better be prepared to defend it. Cows have owners who may not take kindly to the appropriation of such valuable property. Turning a cow into delicious steaks requires a fire, pretty much immediately after slaughter as there won't be any refrigeration to keep it from rotting and managing to put it on a leash and leading it away is going to leave a fairly easy trail to follow.

[mapuc]

More on this group of survives and leadership.

Democracy is no more some may say after a major disaster or collapse of our society.

I say it's still there and should be used in this surviving group. Furthermore I would use the best knowledge each and one of them may have..

One is an old farmer-S/he can be used for farming works and will be the boss in this area(We will all help, but it's up this boss to decide what to do)
One could be an electrician-It gives itself what her or his job would be.
One may be a mechanic.

A.s.o.

Make everyone in this group count make them feel important for the others. Let everyone know that no one is better than the others.

But that's how I see it...I know it you going to tell me I'm thinking wrong.

Markus

[ET2SN]

Originally Posted by mapuc

But that's how I see it...I know it you going to tell me I'm thinking wrong.

Markus

Markus, its a thought experiment. I mentioned a couple of times that there's no "right" answer.



For what its worth, I see the little old lady who grew up on a farm as the best candidate to be the group's over-all leader. She (probably) has the experience to know when (and where) to plant crops and how to live off the land in general. Once the group transitions from "day to day" and gets into long-term survival, she will become a lot more important. It will be up to the rest of the group to learn from her.

One thing we need to consider is first aid and medicine. I'm not sure if its better to have one or two members of the group become specialists or to make sure everyone gets the same training. Having a first aid book is important but its also really important to have hand's on knowledge and experience.

"It says here to palpate their what???? What does this palpate thing look like?"


...and you thought the "cow scenario" was tough.

One more thing to consider. What the heck happened, anyway? Why are we all looking for plants and roots to eat? Where did the electricity go? Are we dealing with nuclear fallout or chem/bio warfare? Why is everyone dropping like flies? Figuring that one out is important. How are you going to do it?

[em2nought]

Originally Posted by ET2SN

So, a quick update to the Zippo insert test. I filled mine in early September, stuck the lighter on the shelf, and left it alone. Six weeks later I tested it and the tank had gone dry.

Certainly makes one wonder about indoor air quality.

[Rockstar]

I have the right answer and I think yours was wrong