Preppers?

[mikechell 0]

WWIII ... WILL BE ... an apocalypse.  Somebody will get desperate and launch the first nuke ... then the retaliations, etc.  What will be left ... I don't think any of us will want to live in.  One of those nukes will, no doubt, will target Orlando.  We live close enough that only our ghosts will be around after.

It's somewhat fun ... masculine ... to think that prepping will allow us to live a meaningful life.  And for you, in Alaska, it might even be possible.  For those of us in the "don't-ship-to-Alaska" States ... there won't be much to make a life with left.

[Mark Knapp 0]

6 hours ago, mikechell said:

WWIII ... WILL BE ... an apocalypse.  Somebody will get desperate and launch the first nuke ... then the retaliations, etc.  What will be left ... I don't think any of us will want to live in.  One of those nukes will, no doubt, will target Orlando.  We live close enough that only our ghosts will be around after.

It's somewhat fun ... masculine ... to think that prepping will allow us to live a meaningful life.  And for you, in Alaska, it might even be possible.  For those of us in the "don't-ship-to-Alaska" States ... there won't be much to make a life with left.

As I remember, nuclear weapons have been used in war before. Now, there's nothing to show for it but some old photographs and monuments, the people there seem to be doing OK now.

I don't pretend to know to what degree nuclear weapons will be used in the future, or what our next word war will look like but, if it's anything short of what will kill me, I might need some stuff and I have no reason to believe my government or anyone else will provide it for me.

I may never need fire insurance but I have some. I may never need life insurance but I have some. If I never get to use the food I have put away, some one else will.

Catastrophes come in many shapes and sizes. Truckers and longshoremen have been known to go on strike, supply chain problems can occur and, I have a sneaky suspicion the price of gas might go up. I live in an earth quake zone. If I get sick and can't work, the money stops coming in. If I lived in tornado or hurricane ally, I'd have a bunch of ply wood stock piled so I wouldn't have to beat every one else to the lumber yard when a big one was predicted, it's the same thing really.

War does not have to include nuclear weapons, humans have survived every war so far.

Food is cheap (right now), to me, it makes sense to put some aside. You will never be able to say to me, "See, I told you, you would never need that food" and I hope I never get to say to you, "I told you, you should have put some food aside"

Go catch some fish.

[Steeldrifter 0]

Far as the "Why" for prepping, nuke war IMO is at the bottom of the list. I personally do not feel there is much of a threat of that. So many people right now worrying about that and pushing the fearmongering for that on tv, but everyone knows if anyone fires a nuke this way, then it would be returned in force. And while there are very evil people currently doing very evil things in the world at the moment, while they are evil, they are not stupid. And I doubt anyone is ready to give a launch command knowing that it would be the end of pretty much everything as we know it.

I'm far more concerned with food shortages, civil unrest, cyber attacks shutting down power grids (anyone else remember that week long outage we had back about 20 yrs ago?) Stuff like that is far more probable than a nuke war imo.

[Mark Knapp 0]

4 hours ago, Steeldrifter said:

Far as the "Why" for prepping, nuke war IMO is at the bottom of the list. I personally do not feel there is much of a threat of that. So many people right now worrying about that and pushing the fearmongering for that on tv, but everyone knows if anyone fires a nuke this way, then it would be returned in force. And while there are very evil people currently doing very evil things in the world at the moment, while they are evil, they are not stupid. And I doubt anyone is ready to give a launch command knowing that it would be the end of pretty much everything as we know it.

I'm far more concerned with food shortages, civil unrest, cyber attacks shutting down power grids (anyone else remember that week long outage we had back about 20 yrs ago?) Stuff like that is far more probable than a nuke war imo.

I agree.

[skeet3t 0]

Putin may be crazy but he's not stupid. Anyone wanting to start a nuclear war realizes there are no winners and all losers.

I recall a saying of days gone by: In case of nuclear attack, put your head between your knees and kiss your a$$ good bye.

[Mark Knapp 0]

1 hour ago, skeet3t said:

Putin may be crazy but he's not stupid. Anyone wanting to start a nuclear war realizes there are no winners and all losers.

I recall a saying of days gone by: In case of nuclear attack, put your head between your knees and kiss your a$$ good bye.

You are assuming that Putin is not out of his mind, or won't go out of his mind. I'm not prepared to make that assumption. If Hitler had had nukes, can we assume he wouldn't have used them.

Nukes do not have to be all-or-nothing, they can be specific and centralized.

Remember, we used nukes in WWII.

I'll be out of town for 11 days so I'll leave it to you guy to figure this all out.

[Steeldrifter 0]

2 hours ago, Mark Knapp said:

You are assuming that Putin is not out of his mind, or won't go out of his mind. I'm not prepared to make that assumption.

I kinda am, I may be wrong, would not be the first time, but I don't think he is at all out of his mind. Without getting political....I think he is doing what he has been wanting to do for over 20 years (bringing back the USSR) because he saw the best chance he has had in decades. Again I may be wrong, but I don't think he would use nukes for this reason, and this is just my own thoughts so view as you will...

Putin is an egomaniac and loves the former USSR, he wants to reunite it all. IF he were to use a nuke, and Nato/USA responded, that would be the end of it all, (Russia included) yet in any nuke war, where will be survivors (not Mike LOL) but they would rebuild over time, history would remain, and Putin would go down in history as the leader that destroyed Russia. And I doubt his ego would want that.

 

Again I may be wrong, not the first time, but thats how I view what is going on today

[Noahguide 0]

Kind of like going to an old timey barbershop.  Never know where you will end up in discussion.

But back to the forum, has anybody got a go to pattern for this?

[Mark Knapp 0]

2 hours ago, Steeldrifter said:

I kinda am, I may be wrong, would not be the first time, but I don't think he is at all out of his mind. Without getting political....I think he is doing what he has been wanting to do for over 20 years (bringing back the USSR) because he saw the best chance he has had in decades. Again I may be wrong, but I don't think he would use nukes for this reason, and this is just my own thoughts so view as you will...

Putin is an egomaniac and loves the former USSR, he wants to reunite it all. IF he were to use a nuke, and Nato/USA responded, that would be the end of it all, (Russia included) yet in any nuke war, where will be survivors (not Mike LOL) but they would rebuild over time, history would remain, and Putin would go down in history as the leader that destroyed Russia. And I doubt his ego would want that.

 

Again I may be wrong, not the first time, but thats how I view what is going on today

I wasn't talking to you personally, it was a general statement, more to Skeet and Mike I guess. More to my point, none of us know what will happen. The easiest thing to do is prepare for the worst and hope for the best. It's just too easy to be ready for the worst, in my mind there's really no reason not to. Food can be eaten at any time. It's not like it's costing me anything to have some around.

I'm a guy that's taking 7 fly rods and eight reels to Lake Havasu for an eight day fishing trip so there you go. I have 200 flies tied and I'm bringing a travel vise in case I don't have enough or I don't have the right pattern.

I just like to be ready.

On a serious note, being ready has saved my life on more than one occasion. I'll tell you guys about it some time.

[skeet3t 0]

Quote

If Hitler had had nukes, can we assume he wouldn't have used them.

Read Albert Speer's book, Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. Speer points out that German physicists has come within a hair's breadth of nuclear fission but hesitated because they were afraid if it started, they couldn't control it. I would venture nukes would have been used on a limited scale. It only took two for Japan to surrender. Two
English cities would have been the end with the threat of others. Second, the Germans would have won if Hitler wasn't off his rocker. They had the ME-262 jet which was 100 mph faster than any Allied aircraft. Hitler overruled the military and ordered them to bomb London in revenge for bombing German cities. Even with limited production, they would have eventually ruled the skies over Europe.

[Noahguide 0]

Harry Turtledove has made a career as an author playing the what ifs of history.  History is full of important intersections where the future is decided.

[Poopdeck 0]

 Forget nukes it’s the ongoing wussification of the country and more economic shutdowns over sniffles that will lead to further and greater supply chain breakdowns, shortages and rationing. 

[niveker 0]

Mr. Poopdeck, don't say mean things, you'll hurt someone's feelings.  

[Bryon Anderson 0]

Well this is surely an interesting conversation to follow. I agree completely with Steve's assessment that, while WW3 probably isn't imminent, it's very likely that the not--too-distant future will include civil unrest, supply chain shortages, and--let's not forget--more and more severe weather events and natural catastrophes courtesy of climate change. Right there are several excellent reasons to have a modest stockpile of non-perishables and emergency supplies and a secure place to ride out a "rough patch".

As it happens, I recently sold all but one of the guns I owned, and the one I kept is a Remington .22 rifle, so I don't know that I'm going to be able to fend off hordes of desperate starving folks with that lol. At least, living in a northern state that gets 6-9 months of winter, I can feel relatively safe from being hunted down and eaten by Mike. 😄

Would it be safe to say that we could all use a good day of fishing right about now?

[mikechell 0]

4 hours ago, Bryon Anderson said:

excellent reasons to have a modest stockpile of non-perishables

At least, living in a northern state that gets 6-9 months of winter, I can feel relatively safe from being hunted down and eaten by Mike. 😄

You're right on the first statement.  I'm going to start stockpile barbeque sauce.

On the second statement ... you're only right if barbequed "Long Pig" isn't very good.  If it IS good, I'll surely have to try some from every climate, just to see if there's a difference.