HIGH PRIORITY PREPPING PRIORITIES....????

[UrbanHunter]

Time has a way of teaching people what they need to prepare for. But humans often have very short memories (in the range of 5 or 10 years), but by the time people have enough experience to know what to prepare for, it is almost too late. Young people often do not respect the experience of "old folks" until after they have had to opportunity to learn from experience...

The other thing that people do not think about is that geology and weather are always changing, major storms, drought, flooding, coastal erosion, soil subsidence, and changing sea levels are always going to be with us, so we should prepare for them when we are making decisions with long term commitments.

As far a prepping, well that's just protecting yourself from the most likely threats that you see on your horizon. In business they do SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analyses to try to anticipate changing conditions. As intelligent beings we should conduct something similar for our families and our environment on a regular basis (maybe spring and fall?).

 

[Caribou]

I'm sure there are numerous reasons that people don't prep. I can most knowledgeably speak about my wife. She fears it. She fights my prepping at every turn. The thought that I might be right is so fearful she can't deal with it. Fear pretty much rules her life. We have Costco jars of peanut butter sitting on the shelf, that are going to kill her, while she buys tiny jars to eat from. My being gone, taking care of Mom, has given her a chance to really damage our preps.

 

[Tommyice]

Our families can be our own worst enemies @Caribou . My dad frequently talks about how they survived during the depression and WWII. His family wasn't as fortunate as my Mom's. Her dad was a butcher and mother ran the small grocery store with the butcher shop. Dad's family moved around a lot and went from farm to farm to work. He's more or less on board with my preparedness activity but then sometimes not. I think the fear for him is that his children will have to finish their lives like how his began.

 

[Aerindel]

The other thing that people do not think about is that geology and weather are always changing, major storms, drought, flooding, coastal erosion, soil subsidence, and changing sea levels are always going to be with us, so we should prepare for them when we are making decisions with long term commitments.

Indeed. I'm working on a large essay on....all this....but one thing that I realized this summer was that my forest was going to need to transition to dry land, semi-arid conditions over my lifespan and I need to come up with a plan for that to be a 'soft landing' rather than conflagration.

 

[Aerindel]

However, a 4-liter V6 is pretty thirsty, so Dawn got a new Outback for shopping trips and when we go to visit friends in Boise or SLC.

Could be worse...you could have a 4.7 liter v8......sure its got 330K on it and runs perfectly, but 13 MPG or 7.5 towing.....does not make a commuter vehicle.

I do have four Outbacks for everything else however. But my lifestyle would collapse in a few months without the Tundra.

 

[Hardcalibres]

Could be worse...you could have a 4.7 liter v8......sure its got 330K on it and runs perfectly, but 13 MPG or 7.5 towing.....does not make a commuter vehicle.

I do have four Outbacks for everything else however. But my lifestyle would collapse in a few months without the Tundra.

There are quite a few big players/commentators of the auto industry that assess that the next year or so will be the end of an era for the affordable, simple and user-repairable automobile.

We will have to wait and see what comes after that era........

You are doing the right thing by having a lifetimes supply of repairable 4x4/off and on-road vehicles. I have the same.

 

[HippoTwilight]

My 70+ yr old parents with diabetes and kidney disease are going to have vastly different needs and definition of SHTF than my immediate household.

Usable knowledge and resources is my highest priority prep. I’m not a walking encyclopedia so I need reference resources. I wasn’t born knowing everything, and I don’t know what I don’t know, so I need to learn everything. Reading how to butcher a deer is knowledge. Reading how then practicing butchering a deer is usable knowledge. If the knowledge isn’t usable, it’s worthless when you need it.

Close to 10 years ago I bought a prepping book that I now consider more of a “common sense guide to not being helpless.” That’s mostly due to my opinion about basic self-reliance evolving as I learn more. I actually have 3 copies: print edition I bought first, ebook, then I manually formatted the ebook to print well and saved that as a pdf for reprinting. Yes it has lists of stuff to buy and have on hand, but 99% of the book is framed similarly to this thread; what’s important and why. It’s an educational tool meant to make you think about your own situation. It has 12+ chapters dedicated to focused topics such has food, water, shelter, comms, security. I reread it periodically and relearn something every time. A notable section for me is food stores. It’s probably the biggest chapter and the volume of information is overwhelming. The author includes tables with USDA data regarding food safety such as preservation techniques, shelf lives, cooking practices, and info about food-borne bacteria/illnesses that’ll make your life suck if you screw up.

 

[UrbanHunter]

I liked your opening line @HippoTwilight, the thing to remember is that in 20 years you will be your parents! If you are young, you should look at your parents and grand parents, examine their medical issues and their lifestyles critically (just not in their face)... Then look at your lifestyle, are there things you can do to avoid their medical issues or improve the physical condition that you find yourself in when you reach their stage of life?

Everyone in my family smoked save myself, they all died at 55 (including younger sibling). I have type II diabetics that I could have avoided if I had just had a little more self-discipline, I have spent decades with hyper-tension that could have been avoided too. The simple truth is that I have chosen all my medical issues through my life choices.

At some point I should have asked myself, if I'm only going to live to be 55 why prep? On the other-hand, if I could live to be 85 or 90 what are the things I need to be prepared for? and what can I do now to be better prepared?

 

[HippoTwilight]

I liked your opening line @HippoTwilight, the thing to remember is that in 20 years you will be your parents! If you are young, you should look at your parents and grand parents, examine their medical issues and their lifestyles critically (just not in their face)... Then look at your lifestyle, are there things you can do to avoid their medical issues or improve the physical condition that you find yourself in when you reach their stage of life?

Everyone in my family smoked save myself, they all died at 55 (including younger sibling). I have type II diabetics that I could have avoided if I had just had a little more self-discipline, I have spent decades with hyper-tension that could have been avoided too. The simple truth is that I have chosen all my medical issues through my life choices.

At some point I should have asked myself, if I'm only going to live to be 55 why prep? On the other-hand, if I could live to be 85 or 90 what are the things I need to be prepared for? and what can I do now to be better prepared?

I get your point, but I was adopted at birth "by strangers". I have zero biological connection to my family. I have found out the hard way I have genetic high cholesterol (~300 without medication). Went 90% vegan for 3 months and it had zero impact on my numbers, so I'm going to be on medication for the rest of my life.

 

[Alaskajohn]

Could be worse...you could have a 4.7 liter v8......sure its got 330K on it and runs perfectly, but 13 MPG or 7.5 towing.....does not make a commuter vehicle.

I do have four Outbacks for everything else however. But my lifestyle would collapse in a few months without the Tundra.

I regret not getting a Tundra as the Tacoma limits what I can tow. I keep thinking that I will get a Tundra when my Taco bites the dust but that will be a long time from now as it only has 130k miles on it and I tend to put only 7k on it annually.

Gotta love the Subaru’s particularly for their winter driving ability and reliability. I have two Foresters. Great vehicles.

 

[elkhound]

they need to make the geo/chevy tracker again in a mini pick-up version along the lines of the old subaru brat. i had one and was plenty roomy for a big guy and it was 4x4 and got 37mpg.

the old small scount2 from 60's and 70's with pick up bed with something like vw little diesel engine in it that gets 55mpg would sell like hot cakes.

keeping it small for older adults to give easy of driving and parking in town and ability to be a woodrunner economical for being a woodsbum.

just enough bed to haul deer/elk,little bit of firewood each time you go to forest,camping gear etc.

 

[Old Whatshisname]

I regret not getting a Tundra as the Tacoma limits what I can tow. I keep thinking that I will get a Tundra when my Taco bites the dust but that will be a long time from now as it only has 130k miles on it and I tend to put only 7k on it annually.

Gotta love the Subaru’s particularly for their winter driving ability and reliability. I have two Foresters. Great vehicles.

When I was a callow youth, I worked at Subaru in Utsunomia, about 100 km north of Tokyo. They made trucks and AH-64D Apache helicopters (!) under license from my company, and I was really impressed by their kaizen quality approach and the smarts of their engineers. Dawn's Outback is an excellent highway vehicle; its 4WD, ground clearance, and pretty good mileage rating make a good fit.

My Xterra can pull 5000 pounds, which is enough for our little travel trailer, but it's getting old and feeble -- sort of like its owner! With a 6500-pound tow rating, the newer Taco will pull what I need, and an acceptable gasoline economy. Unfortunately, its USD 40,000 cost is gonna keep the ol' XTerra in my driveway for quite a while now, alas.

 

[sonya123]

I have noticed that since the scamdemic a lot of public vid sources are changing their approach on their dissemination of info cause of censorship concerns.
They are sidestepping some of the A I's trigger words.

want to hear something incredible but scary? I had a texting conversation with my uncle in Germany yesterday ( in German ) , my 47 year old cousin had a stroke last month ( she is mostly ok now but in rehab and can't drive a car at this time ) for no appearent reason. She is not overweight, does not eat a ton of junk ( she is very particular about food since she has a PHD in biology from all things) , no diabetes nothing. So I asked him how many vid vaccinations she had. His answer : all of them
There is your answer....

BUT here is the real thing: not 1 minute after this conversation I get a phone call from Atlanta. I ignored it, don't know anyone there. They left a voice mail
" this is the CDC doing a survey, we would like to ask you some questions about your experience with the covid vaccine" or something close to it.
WOW!!!! They are indeed listening to everything anyone says, and reading all the texts! Even in other languages.

So my earlier comment about you can't do anything if their drones want to drop something on you is correct.

 

[Old Whatshisname]

want to hear something incredible but scary? I had a texting conversation with my uncle in Germany yesterday ( in German ) , my 47 year old cousin had a stroke last month ( she is mostly ok now but in rehab and can't drive a car at this time ) for no appearent reason. She is not overweight, does not eat a ton of junk ( she is very particular about food since she has a PHD in biology from all things) , no diabetes nothing. So I asked him how many vid vaccinations she had. His answer : all of them
There is your answer....[/quote

I disagree. I have taken all of my Covid shots, including all the boosters (as well as influenza, pneumonia, and even singles), as has Dawn. Neither of us (ages 78 and 66) has ever had a stroke, or even heart palpitations.

But, since 2018, I have been losing my hair; now I look like a medieval monk. That balding head is NOT evidence for Covid vaccinations causality; neither is an isolated report of a stroke...

... any more than my expanding waistline is caused by Dawn's getting that KitchenAid lift-bowl mixer for her pie-crusts LOL!

 

[sonya123]

I disagree. I have taken all of my Covid shots, including all the boosters (as well as influenza, pneumonia, and even singles), as has Dawn. Neither of us (ages 78 and 66) has ever had a stroke, or even heart palpitations.

Obviously not everyone that got a covid shot or more had a stroke , but many young healthy people did. They even took some of the vaccines off the market after this happened. My 84 year old dad had all the shots also and is still alive. I think probably older people don't have strokes from it as much because most of them are already on heart medication or blood thinners. Are you? ( just curious, I am not a doctor so just guessing)

 

[Caribou]

I disagree. I have taken all of my Covid shots, including all the boosters (as well as influenza, pneumonia, and even singles), as has Dawn. Neither of us (ages 78 and 66) has ever had a stroke, or even heart palpitations.

But, since 2018, I have been losing my hair; now I look like a medieval monk. That balding head is NOT evidence for Covid vaccinations causality; neither is an isolated report of a stroke...

... any more than my expanding waistline is caused by Dawn's getting that KitchenAid lift-bowl mixer for her pie-crusts.

A single incident of injury, or lack thereof, is not proof of anything. Thousands of deaths and injury in only the vaccinated is proof. Strange white blood clots discovered by morticians, only after the jab was introduced is proof. These strange clots are only found in the vaccinated and those that they can't confirm one way or the other. They are never found in those confirmed as unvaccinated.

My wife has had three jabs. She claims to never be injured but the circulation in her left leg was horrible for months. It's better now but it isn't a subject that either of us bring up so I can't tell you how improved it is. Not everyone is going to have either good or bad results from any injection. If you're happy I'm happy for you. May the lord protect you, and all here.

 

[Aerindel]

A single incident of injury, or lack thereof, is not proof of anything. Thousands of deaths and injury in only the vaccinated is proof. Strange white blood clots discovered by morticians, only after the jab was introduced is proof. These strange clots are only found in the vaccinated and those that they can't confirm one way or the other. They are never found in those confirmed as unvaccinated.

My wife has had three jabs. She claims to never be injured but the circulation in her left leg was horrible for months. It's better now but it isn't a subject that either of us bring up so I can't tell you how improved it is. Not everyone is going to have either good or bad results from any injection. If you're happy I'm happy for you. May the lord protect you, and all here.

I feel like I've said this a thousand times.....

But yes. Duh.

Every effective vaccine, is effective because it mimics the virus its a vaccine against.

Covid is known to cause clots, and heart problems. If the vaccine DIDN'T cause any of those problems, it probably wouldn't be a vaccine at all.

Clotting problems and heart problems are not some deep insight or conspiracy theory, they are an expected side effect.

It causes them at about 1000 times less severity than the virus itself. Given that only a handful of us where prepared to avoid getting the virus, this means a big reduction in bad effects for the vaccinated vs the vaccinated.

It does not mean a complete reduction, and it means that some people, will die from the vaccine. Its a roll of the dice.....they are heavily weighted in your favor.....but its still a roll of the dice.

And given that people in general are horrible at risk assessment math, covid was almost a perfect virus to 'break' the minds of most people, with the result of human health and mortality being set back 20 years.

Which I think of as the most interesting way to think about it....what covid did, was 'reset' mortality rates, to what they where in the distant dark ages of 2000 A.D.

 

[Bacpacker]

I'm still amazed at the level of complete lack of acceptance at the damage the vaccines have caused

 

[Aerindel]

There are quite a few big players/commentators of the auto industry that assess that the next year or so will be the end of an era for the affordable, simple and user-repairable automobile.

We will have to wait and see what comes after that era........

You are doing the right thing by having a lifetimes supply of repairable 4x4/off and on-road vehicles. I have the same.

Indeed. Its one of those issues that really concerns me.

I got into a heated campfire argument with an old friend last month about this. He is heavily in favor of EV's because you can charge them at home.

I, of course, am very against them because of the extreme cost and difficulty of repairing them, or even basic maintenance.

My friend (who is an avionics engineer I may add), is unconcerned. He contends that EV's will simply be hackable and the aftermarket will take care of it. That the tools, cheap parts, etc, will materialize, in the same way they have for old cars, etc. and they will be even easier to keep running than our current old vehicles.

I am not convinced, but I admit, we may be in the worst dark age of repairability right now, with cars at peak complexity. Its hard to imagine it getting any worse, and still being possible to even have a car at all.

My fear, is that the elimination of civilian personal vehicles, is the whole point.

 

[Bacpacker]

I think stopping free movement is the key reason behind it. Most folks realize the power just isn't available to charge those things on a mass scale. And they are closing power plants at a rapid pace with nothing to replace them with

 

[Aerindel]

I think stopping free movement is the key reason behind it. Most folks realize the power just isn't available to charge those things on a mass scale. And they are closing power plants at a rapid pace with nothing to replace them with

Its either that.....

Or they really do believe that magical new technologies will just appear and solve the power problem.

The #1 thing they are always saying is "Sure, EV's are too expensive and hard to charge right NOW, but in (insert arbitrary number of years, usually 2-5) that problem will be solved because of the incentives to do it"

I do think some of these people really do think they can pull new technology out of their asses just by dictating it.

What really scares me are the people who are starting to say...."well, if we stop trying to match ICE performance, EV's can be so cheap they are almost disposable."

 

[Bacpacker]

The only option to power as many EV's as they plan is to build a large chain of nuc plants across the country. 2 big things hinder doing that. 1) the left is dead set on nuc power, too dirty, too dangerous, not eviromentally friendly. 2) the red tape to start a single nuc plant causes at least 10 years to build and license one.

 

[Hardcalibres]

Its either that.....

Or they really do believe that magical new technologies will just appear and solve the power problem.

The #1 thing they are always saying is "Sure, EV's are too expensive and hard to charge right NOW, but in (insert arbitrary number of years, usually 2-5) that problem will be solved because of the incentives to do it"

I do think some of these people really do think they can pull new technology out of their asses just by dictating it.

What really scares me are the people who are starting to say...."well, if we stop trying to match ICE performance, EV's can be so cheap they are almost disposable."

As politicians become older and older, the distance the can needs to be kicked down the road (and still be not their problem) becomes shorter.

 

[Caribou]

Indeed. Its one of those issues that really concerns me.

I got into a heated campfire argument with an old friend last month about this. He is heavily in favor of EV's because you can charge them at home.

I, of course, am very against them because of the extreme cost and difficulty of repairing them, or even basic maintenance.

My friend (who is an avionics engineer I may add), is unconcerned. He contends that EV's will simply be hackable and the aftermarket will take care of it. That the tools, cheap parts, etc, will materialize, in the same way they have for old cars, etc. and they will be even easier to keep running than our current old vehicles.

I am not convinced, but I admit, we may be in the worst dark age of repairability right now, with cars at peak complexity. Its hard to imagine it getting any worse, and still being possible to even have a car at all.

My fear, is that the elimination of civilian personal vehicles, is the whole point.

A friend of mine just bought a Tesla. All that you mentioned is true. I worry that he is going to burn down his home. An electric car just caught fire while being shipped to America. It was at sea so it was neither charging nor being operated. The ship had to be abandoned while crossing the ocean. If my dinosaur fuelled car gives up the ghost it just sits in my yard and aggravates the neighbours. If an EV dies it burns itself up and anything around it leaving toxic smoke and a hazmat wreck that nobody wants to recycle.

 

[elkhound]

look at this little ride..it was made from jeep renegade. this would be perfect i think.

https://www.motorauthority.com/news...p-echoes-comanche-of-yore-and-it-can-be-yours

 

[elkhound]

this may be the way to go but gas mileage would be my concern as many jeeps i seen get crappy mpg.

 

[UrbanHunter]

The only option to power as many EV's as they plan is to build a large chain of nuc plants across the country. 2 big things hinder doing that. 1) the left is dead set on nuc power, too dirty, too dangerous, not eviromentally friendly. 2) the red tape to start a single nuc plant causes at least 10 years to build and license one.

Okay, 20 years ago a guy I knew showed me a graph of how much gasoline the US burns each year, to switch all that "oil" to clean electricity you would need to build 100 nuc plants per year for decades. The idea of using solar panels is a nice dream, but to have enough power from them you would need to cover twice the space of the rooftops of every house in the US and you would need a similar number (10s or 100s of 1000s) of Natural Gas turbines to cover the shortfalls at night... All of these Utopian ideas from the greenies can work on a small scale as long as there are hidden stable resources shoring them up, but to scale them up to cover everything is beyond anything they can imagine. It is easier for them to preach the Green Religion than it is for them to acknowledge that there are problems with their plans..... Until you acknowledge a problem you cannot solve it.

The car industry is investing billions on EV plants, they are selling them at a loss (even with Govt supports), and they are trying to make it up with volume, what could possibly go wrong?

 

[sonya123]

I feel like I've said this a thousand times.....

But yes. Duh.

Every effective vaccine, is effective because it mimics the virus its a vaccine against.

Covid is known to cause clots, and heart problems. If the vaccine DIDN'T cause any of those problems, it probably wouldn't be a vaccine at all.

That makes a certain amount of sense but if that is the case they should have put everyone on blood thinners ( or prescribed aspirin) for at least a short amount of time after taking the vaccine. Plus didn't lung problems kill most people from covid? It would be interesting to know if my cousin would also have had a stroke if she had not had the vaccine and gotten covid. To me it seems like younger people should not have gotten the vaccine period. After all mostly ( percentage wise) old people in nursing homes died from the actual covid.

 

[Aerindel]

It is easier for them to preach the Green Religion than it is for them to acknowledge that there are problems with their plans.

The real question is, are they stupid? or evil?

Because I think they do actually know the problems....these people are high educated. They have done the math. I think they know full well its impossible to scale up. I think the real plan is just to scale down everything else.

Which I admit, may be inevitable anyway just from simple laws of thermodynamics, but of course, if everyone sees it coming at the same time, It's us that have the advantage, rather than them.

 

[sonya123]

The real question is, are they stupid? or evil?

Because I think they do actually know the problems....these people are high educated. They have done the math. I think they know full well its impossible to scale up. I think the real plan is just to scale down everything else.

I think they just want to kick the can down the road as long as they can get away with it, hoping "something" new will magically happen to produce energy