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Post by Ropegun on Apr 11, 2005 0:20:33 GMT -5
This is for discussion of survival anywhere in the world and in basically any type of situation you might imagine.
Political discussions will be at a minimum, but I will try to include the realities of politics and religion on how it relates to getting along and getting out of potentially hazardous situations.
Staying alive to create new communities and economic systems is the theme here.
Just in case anyone has other ideas, this is not about overthrowing governments or the like. It is about keeping ones self and your loved ones safe and topside after major events. This more often than not entails avoiding conflict whenever possible.
If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask away.
Peace.
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Post by karpomrx on Apr 11, 2005 2:20:05 GMT -5
While it is still practical. one should complete as much dental work as possible. If energy becomes a tightly rationed commodity, there may not be modern clinics available for any medical services we now pay through the nose for, and whatever can be done before a breakdown of the service economy will be a plus.
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Post by Moses on Apr 11, 2005 8:56:54 GMT -5
Young adult orphans:
There seem to be a growing number of young adults who have no parents (children of single parents whose mothers have died) and no means of making enough money to afford housing or to go to college.
Some have been channelled into the armed forces.
What can we do for them?
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Post by Ropegun on Apr 11, 2005 18:31:50 GMT -5
Thats a good question, Moses.
I was thinking about something similar.
I was wondering how I could help soldiers and veterans of this war avoid having to go or return to combat duty. Like a network of places and all to keep them away from those who would send them back or jail them, ya know?
Just a thought.
Peace.
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Post by camaxtle on Apr 11, 2005 20:38:16 GMT -5
That gave me the idea similar to the underground railroad that was used to help slaves make it to the north. An underground organization to help people avoid being sent to Iraq, or Iran depending on the flavor of the month.
I think in order to survive this coming nightmare, people should be stocked up and ready to do without. That is obvious. Right now, maybe just find like minded people who maybe aren't aware.
The other day I was at a birthday party and I was talking to this young guy about the coming problems, and he was totally clueless and was looking at me like I was coming from another planet. My wife gave me one of those looks like, don't waste your time.
I think it's time to get out the tinfoil hats and not be afraid to wear them in public.
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Post by Moses on Apr 12, 2005 1:11:37 GMT -5
A couple years ago I was talking to someone about the collapse of all sectors of the economy and the lack of job opportunities/careers. The guy was thirty-something, and clearly one of the pod people of the "new economy"-- he actually stated that while he agreed all economic sectors were collapsing in the US, that what was up and coming was the insurance industry and this was going to be good for humanity-- I think it had something to do w/ health insurance. I'm still not sure what he meant and the idea that we can rely solely on the insurance industry? is insane-- but he seemed to be a Friedman/Greenspan believer type and what the heck was he talking about? He seemed to be clued in to what this crowd is thinking.
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Post by Ropegun on Apr 12, 2005 11:29:42 GMT -5
How is it that insurance is the wave of the future? I don't get it.
I think, in order to survive any situation, attitude is most important. The will to survive and progress, to learn what is necessary, and to do what one must, is key.
Read any account on people coming through extremely difficult circumstances, and you will find that attitude. You'll also see that if there were others with them, and those others died, alot of times those others simply gave up. Like allowing ones self to fall asleep while in a blizzard, that type of thing. Attitude is everything, as someone once said.
Another thing those survivors had was a plan. Maybe it was'nt all inclusive, because that simply isn't posible, but they has some idea as to what they might do in a crisis. Like earthquake preparedness, or fire drills, having an idea of what to do helps keep the mind focused and in that proper attitude.
I'll get more into details in the coming days. I plan to paraphrase the S.A.S Survival Handbook a bit in here so as to give you guys an idea of what you can do for yourselves and others. But, if you can find it, buy that book. It covers alot of ground.
Peace.
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Post by Moses on Apr 12, 2005 13:06:02 GMT -5
With wages and salaries falling, while housing, food and gas have risen precipitously, it seems that particularly the young are not going to be able to afford a roof over their head, without throwing in w/ others -- and yet these others cannot be trusted often-- and anyway, they rightly feel they are too old to be sharing housing w/ peers. But the studios being built are the size of dog kennels.
I don't see how people cannot slowly become severely demoralized.
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Post by tombldr on Apr 12, 2005 17:14:42 GMT -5
How is it that insurance is the wave of the future? I don't get it. ... I'll get more into details in the coming days. I plan to paraphrase the S.A.S Survival Handbook a bit in here so as to give you guys an idea of what you can do for yourselves and others. But, if you can find it, buy that book. It covers alot of ground. Thanks for starting this thread RopeGun, very good idea, as well are your contributions so far. Re Insurance, I don't get it either, but I will say, I was reading this book in a B&N (didn't buy it), The Oil Factor: How Oil Controls the Economy and Your Financial Future and it also recommended insurance stock, as well as Berkshire Hathaway stock whose biggest holding category is insurance. I'd have to go review that book again to get the reasons for this. I searched amazon for "SAS Survival Handbook" but I didn't get a direct hit. The top find was U.S. Army Survival Handbook. Is that the one you're referring to?
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Post by tombldr on Apr 12, 2005 19:52:47 GMT -5
12/01/04 FTW ECONOMIC ALERT – AS THE WORLD BURNSthis article was FTW subscriber-only when it came out last Dec, but I guess they make most of their articles free after a few months. Still very timely... it's final words of advice: IMMEDIATE ADVICE
Take this to heart as if your welfare depended upon it. Do it as if the crisis was upon you today. These are only immediate steps. FTW is about to undergo a major reorganization so that we may bring you better real-time information and more solutions or options as they become available.
1. Curtail all unnecessary spending. 2. Reduce credit card balances. 3. Get to know and become friends with your neighbors on all sides. 4. Keep (at least) a week's worth of cash and food in your home. 5. Look at your residence and ask yourself what you could do to improve it if there were no heat and no electricity. Start preparing for both. Look at your insulation (if you own), your windows, curtains (a great source of heat loss) and roof. 6. Buy physical gold, not paper gold. I am convinced that we will see gold reach at least $600 per ounce in 2005. It's a great way to hedge against a falling dollar.
These steps may not seem like much on paper. But when the deluge comes they will give you a head start that may save your life.
More to follow…Again, I subscribe, and will send any DDers who ask via DD-mail providing an email addy, the latest FTW newsletter. Latest one came out 2 days ago, and has all the stories on the FTW mainpage between March and Apr 10, which link to "subscribers read now".
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Post by Moses on Apr 12, 2005 20:02:50 GMT -5
Where does one keep the gold?
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Post by tombldr on Apr 12, 2005 21:22:23 GMT -5
Where does one keep the gold? This is a rich question. I've seen some discussion of it here and there on goldismoney.info/forums but didn't find one quickly in looking just now. The conventional routes are, a bank box, or a home safe. Thing about the bank boxes is, in 1933, FDR prohibited gold bullion ownership, and confiscated privately owned gold stored in bank boxes. The banks were complicit in allowing no one to open their bank boxes without an IRS agent present to check for bullion. There is no guarantee that this couldn't happen again, despite that gold ownership was since made legal again, and the US Treasury has even been minting and selling Eagle gold coins to the public since the '80s. Ultimately they don't want metals competing with the Federal Reserve's (not federal, no reserves, a cartel of privately owned for-profit banks) fiat funny money notes. A one ounce American Eagle gold coin, presently worth about $428, has a face value of $50. You can take one to a bank, and they will give you $50 for it. They are marked with these absurdly low denominations relative to their market value, so that this honest-money never competes with the Fed's funny money... or so they hope. Does the Treasury sell their 1-oz gold coins to people for $50? Hardee har har. Anyways, less conventional places to store honest-money is hiding it in some manner-- ie the old burying it trick, or hiding it in your home's walls or all manner of other outlandish ideas. Basic rule of thumb is, you just don't talk about it. Running your mouth about your stash will only put you in the crosshairs of trouble if/when we have a large population of desparate people doing desparate things for survival.
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Post by Ropegun on Apr 12, 2005 22:46:56 GMT -5
A tip for caching.
Plastic coolers, like coleman or igloo, bury nicely, last a long time and keep things like water and what not away from your stuff. The USGS uses them for seismic equipment all the time, and I've personally used them for food and other sundries in the past.
Knowing where you cached is pretty important too. What I mean is, remembering where your cache is.
Learn to use a map and a lensatic compass. Spend the money on a good compass, like a military one from a surplus store. They're about 50 bucks usually, but they work well.
GPS units are cool and high-tech, but have many drawbacks, including needing batteries, the need for clear views of the sky to work correctly, and probably most importantly, thr government owns the system. A map and compass are essential and reliable in nearly any conditions.
I have both GPS and several compasses, and many topo maps of the surrounding areas. Getting lost or not finding my stashes is not an option. Ever.
Good exercise in both map and compass skills and the use of GPS is the sport of geocaching. Google "geocaching" or go to geocaching.com and you'll see what I mean.
Don't cache in your back yard, unless you have no neighbors close by.
Don't cache perishables. If you live in bear country, don't cache food at all.
Never cache all your stuff in one spot. Like eggs in many baskets.
Don't cache in high traffic areas, like near trails or where the possibility of being seen caching exist.
Cache what you need to. Don't cache what you merely think you might want.
Like Tom said, never tell anyone who does'nt need to know where your caches are. Period.
Peace
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Post by Ropegun on Apr 12, 2005 23:02:21 GMT -5
Re: Surviving the coming meltdown....... « Reply #8 on: Today at 17:14:42 » <br>on Today at 11:29:42, Ropegun wrote: How is it that insurance is the wave of the future? I don't get it. ... I'll get more into details in the coming days. I plan to paraphrase the S.A.S Survival Handbook a bit in here so as to give you guys an idea of what you can do for yourselves and others. But, if you can find it, buy that book. It covers alot of ground.
Thanks for starting this thread RopeGun, very good idea, as well are your contributions so far.
Re Insurance, I don't get it either, but I will say, I was reading this book in a B&N (didn't buy it), The Oil Factor: How Oil Controls the Economy and Your Financial Future and it also recommended insurance stock, as well as Berkshire Hathaway stock whose biggest holding category is insurance. I'd have to go review that book again to get the reasons for this.
I searched amazon for "SAS Survival Handbook" but I didn't get a direct hit. The top find was U.S. Army Survival Handbook. Is that the one you're referring to?
"SAS Survival Handbook ; How to Survive in the Wild, In Any Climate, On Land or At Sea"
By John "Lofty" Wiseman $19.95 Published by Harper Resourse
The U.S. Army Survival Handbook is pretty good too, but Wiseman's is written in easier to understand language. It explains how to do everything in the book with basically nothing more than a knife, the clothes on your back and what you can carry in one of those little Altoids tins. Pretty handy. The pages of the book are even waterproof.
Bear in mind that these books are for people who have a potential for being in a hazardous situation, and are looking to be rescued at some point. The idea is to take that knowledge and use it to survive indefinitely, purposely avoiding people if need be.
Understand that if you have the skills and tools to survive what may be coming, you will inevitably attract those that cannot survive by themselves. Whether you want to help these people or not is up to you, but there may be folks intent only on stealing what you have, or worse. Choose wisely.
Peace.
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Post by Moses on Apr 13, 2005 0:19:03 GMT -5
How do you keep warm, and what do you eat? (Don't say rats!--
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