08:06 – Friday the 13th falls on a Friday this month.
I got another email from the woman I mentioned yesterday. With the news yesterday about two cops being shot in Ferguson, she and her husband decided not to wait until the weekend to start stocking up. So she visited the Sam’s Club website yesterday and ordered a bunch of food and other supplies through their pickup service. Her husband is borrowing a trailer from a friend and the two of them will meet at Sam’s Club this afternoon to pick up their stuff and haul it home. They plan to do one or two more runs over the weekend, while they still have the trailer.
She said they’re using the list I sent her as a starting point, but they intend to buy a lot more than I suggested because they want to have enough extra to be able to help friends and neighbors if bad comes to worse. On my recommendation, she also ordered a supply of foil-laminate Mylar gallon bags and oxygen absorbers from the LDS on-line store. After those arrive, they plan to have a repackaging party to transfer 3,000 pounds or so of dry staples into the 500 one-gallon bags.
Good for her. This reminds me of a question I’ve been meaning to ask – will your preparedness book be suitable (in terms of sources and resources) for those outside North America? We cannot all simply drive to sam’s Club or the LDS warehouse to get supplies. I rate the chances of the situation generally going to pot as significantly higher outside the US and/or Canada. The population density in western Europe (where I live) is a preparedness problem all by itself, for example…
Most of it will be generally applicable for those outside the US, but I focus on US sources like Costco and Sam’s Club for bulk goods like foods. I have to. I’ve never even been in a Tesco’s or Sainsbury’s or Carrefour.
I agree that Europe is at much greater threat than the US or Canada. As I’ve said before in a different context, it’s the English-speaking democracies that drive everything. If the US goes down, the world goes down. But at least we don’t have the cancer of a large muslim population, as Europe does.
If I were you, I’d be seriously looking into emigrating to the US or Canada or Australia.
Prepping in the UK: For the most part, the only people with guns are criminals or the government. You’re fucked.
I really feel bad for the like-minded friends we have in Europe ’cause they’re likely to end up in yet another world of hurt long before we do, and it’s gonna be mainly because their right to self-defense has been taken away. I second Dr. Bob’s suggestion to attempt emigration to North Murka or Oz if possible. We’d be ecstatic to have you here, that’s for sure.
Here’s a link from Cool Tools to The Manual for Civilization. I haven’t gone through it all, but it is a good resource with links to amazon.com for books that interest you.
And just as rain follows sunshine or the reverse, a typical libturd denizen pipes up with:
“While this is a laudable and interesting addition to the Long Now canon I hope you are careful to consult long and wide, especially for the cultural strand, to ensure that it isn’t Anglocentric. I’m also a little dubious how voting by a populous that will inevitably skew rich, English-speaking, white and male will be able to make those sorts of value judgements between books. ”
O horror! “Anglocentric!” God forbid.
Naturally said libturd is himself an English-speaking white male and probably rich by most of the world’s standards but is ever eager, as he’s been brainwashed to think, to disavow his own heritage and culture in favor of alien inferiority. (not to say everything outside our horrible and terrible and evil Anglocentric world is inferior by any means but these clowns go to the other extreme.)
I also read that comment. Yes, typical libturd. Let’s not use what works and dominates culture, but embrace Amazonian pygmies as the leaders of the world. Or how about letting Boko Haram lead the free world. As long as he can sit in his ivory tower immune to all others and pontificate on how the world *should* work.
That’s just it; they’re consumed with hatred and loathing for the culture that they came from and would like the rest of us white, English-speaking males to either knuckle under completely to the New Socialist Vision they’ve had since the Glorious Sixties, or have the civil decency to die off.
My response to them is “You first, asshole.”
I thought I’d have a look at the LDS store. Interestingly, the very first popup lets me choose the country, and they say they are happy with Switzerland. However, even if I choose the US, there are very few products visible – they are peeking at my IP address. It’s a rather odd selection of products they offer me; more likely errors in data entry than any sort of intentional selection.
No big deal; when it becomes important (and for things like the oxygen absorbers there is likely no better source), I can order indirectly through a re-shipping service.
Still no sign of Chuck – hope he’s ok…
LDS store is the best source I’ve found for both bags and oxygen absorbers. Their bags are 7-mil, which is twice or more the thickness of most bags sold for long-term food storage.
As to the odd selection, is it legal to store food in Switzerland? There are many countries where it’s illegal to store more than a specified small amount, sometimes only a one- or two-week supply.
“There are many countries where it’s illegal to store more than a specified small amount, sometimes only a one- or two-week supply.”
Just as a short exercise in boffo laffs, just what would be the official State justification for imposing mandatory limits in those countries on food storage?
I’m on the second volume of the Matt Bracken trilogy and it’s not only been a kick, what with clearly recognizable political figures as characters, but also not a bad little treasure trove of useful info. I could see in such a scenario that the State would impose those limits here and charge people with hoarding and then take them out and hang them accordingly. After all, the State provides food rations (just gotta work yourself to death on “reconstruction,” (Arbeit Mach Frei and all that)) and nice warm showers, you know, those showers were a hundred folks walk in and no one comes out?
Still no sign of Chuck
He is still in mourning over Rush Limbaugh still being on the air in 2015 …
We should all be in mourning that that gasbag is still on the air pretending to be some kind of “conservative;” he was entry-level for those wavering from libturd ranks over two decades ago. But hell, there’s a whole dang krew of gasbags on AM radio and the tee-vee and innernet pretending to be right-wingers and they’re all pretty much full of you-know-what. Given the power finally, they would be largely indistinguishable from the RINO’s, Pee Party geeks and the usual Dem suspects.
I’m hoping Chuck is just busy and raking in the dough.
The justification is usually “hoarding” laws, some of which have been in effect since WWI or earlier.
Hoarding will be punished by confiscation of hoarded goods and all other property of the guilty party/parties immediately, followed by public flogging in the pillory and assignment to punitive hard labor details.
Shoot to kill looters.
Those who deny the divinity of Dear Leader will be hanged.
You’re repeating yourself.
I caught that, too, but didn’t wanna increase my bad rep for being a ‘saucy, pendantic wretch’ and hyper-literate.
It’s becoming fairly obvious by now, one might think, that it’s dawning on more peeps that gummint, no matter where, is a criminal enterprise by and large.
I tend more and more to the anarchy-capitalism as the months roll by, after decades as a paleo-conservative. But I of course still cling to my guns and religion.
Libertarians are pro-gun, big-time. Religion, not so much.
How to distinguish between “libertarian” and “anarcho-capitalist?”
And I note that several major libertarian sites give plenty of space to religious articles, mostly from the Roman Catholic perspective.
Then there’s this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distributism
And this:
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/distributism-isnt-outdated/
I love Drudge’s front page. Carly vs. HILLARY! Is it possible Cankles is to old and decrepit to get through a campaign? She looks hideous and run-down in some of those interviews.
It’s becoming fairly obvious by now, one might think, that it’s dawning on more peeps that gummint, no matter where, is a criminal enterprise by and large.
A number such as 5%, doubling to 10%, is still statistically insignificant. 90% of the peeps in the USA still want large government. And, 55% of the peeps would vote for Obola again today.
A tiny handful of buggers threw the Mensheviks out in Moscow and took over one of the largest national landmasses in the world over a hundred years ago. A slightly larger Irish contingent forced the Brits to a virtual standstill more than once and at least got the country divvied up, also nearly a century ago. The German brownshirts were also a very small minority at one time.
Remember also that only about a half to two-thirds of the eligible voters even bother anymore, so those percentages matter even less.
Good point, though; majority of derps in either half of the War Party, libturd or RINOrat, adore big gummint and the bennies. Take it away and they’ll die off like flies at the first autumn frost. Good riddance.
sniff I love a story with a happy ending.
Info for SSD users
We aim to please, all the time, with posts that are always on-target and quite frankly, a blast to write.
So we can thus conclude that SSD’s are still OK to buy and use, for the most paht, eh?
What’s the accepted practice, anyway; a relatively small SSD for the o.s. and spinning HD’s for the data and apps?
http://techreport.com/review/27909/the-ssd-endurance-experiment-theyre-all-dead
Hey, I just posted that into comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage.
Why did the Intel 335 brick itself? That says to me that they do not have confidence in their checksums. Or, they are afraid of a cascade failure (I’ve had several drives do that to me over the years).
What’s the accepted practice, anyway; a relatively small SSD for the o.s. and spinning HD’s for the data and apps?
Depends on the size of your data. A 480 GB Intel 530 is only $244.
http://www.amazon.com/Intel-480gb-2-5-Inch-Reseller-SSDSC2BW480A4K5/dp/B00GV7V6EA/
I would put everything on the SSD that I could get on it. Really big SSD drives are coming soon with the new 3D transistors. The drives will be jumping to several terabytes.
Speaking hypothetically here, as all of my drives are spinning metal, but I’d probably put in a SSD as my main drive, for OS and apps at least and probably data, but I’d definitely back up even more regularly.
I’m already good with backups. I’ve lost data before. It won’t happen again on more than a trivial level.
Good point, though; majority of derps in either half of the War Party, libturd or RINOrat, adore big gummint and the bennies. Take it away and they’ll die off like flies at the first autumn frost.
I figure somewhere between 50% and 60% of the peeps are getting stuff from the feddies nowadays. Bringing that to a crashing halt will cause severe problems. That is the main difference between a current financial failure of the USA government and previous financial failures. Previously, the man on the street just ignored it. Today, a financial crash will be devastating to a significant percentage of the population.
Switzerland is a nation of preppers. Really.
We had a Swiss exchange student at my high school in 1971. He was going back for one more year of high school, then national military service for a year, then to University. He had been taught that the Swiss had “enemies out there” that required all the military preparations – bases inside mountains, roads ready to be used as airbases, able bodied men having their weapons at home, all houses with bomb shelters, etc. No idea who the enemies were, just that they were out there.
I saw that as of 2007, they no longer have ammo at home for their weapons.
I’m already good with backups. I’ve lost data before. It won’t happen again on more than a trivial level.
Yup. Yup. Oh my goodness, I used to think that.
I find new depths to fail at all the time.
I’d have guessed closer to 80%.
OFD wrote:
“What’s the accepted practice, anyway; a relatively small SSD for the o.s. and spinning HD’s for the data and apps?”
That’s what I do.
As to the article, doesn’t anyone write executive summaries any more?
The Bracken books are full of useful stuff, that is their stated purpose. The second and third are pretty good books all on their own, too. His essays and shorts are good too. Nothing really wrong with his fourth, but he wrote it specifically to be an adventure novel, and not a handbook for surviving the collapse. It still has some interesting things like how to sneak back into the country, and some other tidbits. He’s just not as focused or interesting without the overall political motivation.
–break–
The only problem I can see with doing mass purchases is properly breaking down the bulk for storage, buying things you don’t normally eat, and having everything “expire” at the same time. (Expire in quotes ‘cuz I’m fully aware the food is still good to eat if stored properly.) That is also the problem I have with #10 cans. It’s hard to rotate your storage with such large amounts that need eating right away (which can be mitigated by preserving the remainder of the can.) I prefer flats of smaller cans, even if the unit cost is higher. Easier to use routinely, fewer leftovers.
nick
I’d have guessed closer to 80%.
It may be that high. I hope not as that hastens the day that everything fails. My estimate of the failure point is when the federal debt hits 45 trillion dollars and everyone realizes that the t-bills are no good anymore. Or will be paid off at a penny on the dollar.
The federal intrusion into the school system from pre-kindergarten to colleges and universities has a much further reach than I would have guessed recently. As usual, they are throwing significant dollars at problems that are minutia. The level of student debt is an impending sign of failure of the system. The same with the health care system.
Everywhere I turn, the feddies seem to be involved. Reminds me of the war effort in WWII but, there is no survival mode war effort needful today. I see their command and control tentacles everywhere, especially in the engineering industries.
Unless there is an unannounced ELE (extinction level event) coming that only the feddies know about.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_Impact_%28film%29
BTW, one of my doctors just semi-retired and cut himself back to one day per week. He no longer takes private insurance but he does still take Medicare. No medicaid either. I had to pay $80 to see him the other day. Another sign of impending failure of the system as more and more doctors opt out of the system.
All this failure you speak of is largely the result of a combination of stupidity and malice aforethough, and the more I see and hear, the more I believe it’s the latter. Remember that page from the Mr. SteveF playbook? Paraphrased very loosely:
If a ruling cabal of wealthy and powerful people intended to destroy an entire nation, by way of its economy, educational system, military readiness, borders/sovereignty, media, and infrastructure, not to mention foreign relations and wars, how exactly would they go about it differently? And where mass die-off would evidently be perfectly acceptable to them…
she also ordered a supply of foil-laminate Mylar gallon bags
Are these rat proof? Having killed three roof rats in my house in the last year, I would be very careful of my storage methodology. They are very destructive, even eating through the power cable to the speakers on my computer desk.
We will not talk about the so called killer Siamese cat, he is just an ankle biter.
If a ruling cabal of wealthy and powerful people intended to destroy an entire nation, by way of its economy, educational system, military readiness, borders/sovereignty, media, and infrastructure, not to mention foreign relations and wars, how exactly would they go about it differently? And where mass die-off would evidently be perfectly acceptable to them…
I prefer that famous misquote of Napoleon, “Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence.”
Or even that Pournelle’s Iron Law of Bureaucracy is going to get us.
http://www.jerrypournelle.com/reports/jerryp/iron.html
If this is a conspiracy then it is one the highest achievements in history. Just like the take down of the Roman empire.
It’s not so much a “conspiracy,” per se, as it is a long-standard-now way of conducting the nation’s political and economic affairs; parts of the program date back to various historical events, several of them, in chronological order:
The betrayal and stillbirth of the Republic that occurred during the secret proceedings at the Convention in Philadelphia in 1787.
Hamilton’s rise to power and his various machinations of the country’s financial system, and, of course, his repression of the Whiskey Rebellion folks, not long after the similar repression of the farmers in central and western Maffachufetts during Shays’s Rebellion.
The arch-war criminal Lincoln’s rise to power likewise, and his unholy rush to war against our Southern brothers, sisters and cousins, and the establishment of the North’s utter hegemony thereafter.
The choice for Empire during the Spanish-American War and our eventual embroilment in the Great War despite the promises of Princeton Professor Wilson and HIS lovely wife.
The betrayal of Pearl Harbor and Pharaoh Roosevelt II’s unholy rush to embroil us in the Good War, along all his New Deal novelties and innovations.
Followed by the creation of the National Security State in 1947 by former haberdasher and artillery captain Truman and Dulles.
Ratcheted up quite a bit by Bush Junior shortly after 9/11 and since then doubled down on by Obummer and his handlers.
A great deal of this ongoing operation is done in collusion with certain European partners and of course the Israelis.
Sure, there is incompetence and stupidity, writ large, but the evidence increasingly points to a long-term, active engagement, run by succeeding cabals, really a small number of guys, as time goes by. One quick example: there are about six men right now who control the entire money situation globally; it’s amazing to think of.
Breaking down dry staples isn’t a problem. You can repackage 50-pound bags of rice, sugar, flour, beans, etc. into gallon Mylar bags or 2-liter bottles. As to #10 cans, they’re not really a problem for routine use, either. You can simply refrigerate what’s left over.
For example, we go through a fair number of standard 16.5-ounce cans of Bush’s Best Baked Beans, which currently cost about $1.1075 each. The last time I checked, we had something like 120 cans in stock. But I’ve started buying the #10 cans, which have 117 ounces each and currently sell for $5.78 each. So the #10 can has the equivalent of about 7.1 small cans at only about 5.2 times the price.
Either can retains essentially all of its nutrition and taste for (very conservatively) at least 20 or 30 years. As long as things remain normal, we can simply store the leftovers from the large cans in the refrigerator. If things go downhill badly, I know we’re going to end up feeding more people than just the two of us, so leftovers aren’t going to be an issue.
As to buying stuff you don’t normally eat, yes that’s a big mistake. But we don’t do that, and I warned Jen specifically against doing that. That’s why, for example, we don’t store #10 cans of wheat berries.
Not even slightly. Rats can gnaw through foil-laminate Mylar bags or 2-liter soda bottles as if they weren’t there. I’ve even heard that rats can gnaw through #10 cans, although that may be myth. But if there’s any possibility of rodents getting to your food supply, store the bags in steel garbage cans.
RBT, what are you recommending to prepare the flour and rice specifically for storage?
It’s my understanding that the flour all has bugs in it that will eventually ruin it, same for rice, unless treated. The most often recommended treatment is a week in the freezer prior to the mylar bag or bucket with oxy absorber. I’ve seen what happens to old flour in the cupboard. I don’t store or eat beans, so I have no long term personal experience.
You also read about the flour eventually rotting, hence the recommendation to store whole wheat berries and grind as needed.
“You can simply refrigerate what’s left over. ” With this you tell me a few things about yourself 🙂 Even with sudden illness or loss of job being the most common personal SHTF moment, I’d bet most of us still think of our preps for those times when there ISN’T any electricity for the fridge and would not normally use #10 cans in our daily lives. In SHTF, anything that is not eaten quickly will probably spoil. It also tells me something that you’ve mentioned previously–you have a very high tolerance for eating the same thing over and over. If I tried serving my family beans at 3 or 4 meals in the same week, there would be a revolt. During the later parts of SHTF, this isn’t an issue as any food is better than none, but in the spirit of storing what you eat, and USING your preps, this is problematical.
“I know we’re going to end up feeding more people than just the two of us,” this scares me. Several survival novels try to address this, exploring the different strategies. I guess it comes down to the particular SHTF, but I think that becoming known as someone who has extra food is a short route to a painful end. If you are PLANNING on specific extra people, then the food isn’t EXTRA it is budgeted for Jane, Mary and Bob.
My disaster planning horizon has been extended relatively recently, so my plans are changing. When I was prepping for a local or regional disaster, I only stored bulk food as part of my “stone soup” strategy. The vast majority of my prepping effort went toward my immediate family, but I had put some extra up to contribute to a charity effort or local soup kitchen type arrangement. Now that I’m planning for a ’30’s style depression, or a long decline and slow recovery, possibly to a lower tech level, I’m storing a much different mix of food, and my ability and willingness to participate in charity are much decreased. The biggest problem with sharing is that once you start, it will be VERY difficult to stop before it’s ALL gone.
Ferfal and others have given the advice, in a long term event, if there are food distribution points, and everyone is standing in line there, you probably should too. You DON’T want people wondering why you don’t have to. (Short term or regional, don’t worry so much about it, but long term? People WILL notice and then, Oh boy.)
A certain amount of selfishness is a survival trait when things get really rough.
nick
Not at all.
I was talking about refrigerating during normal times, not during an emergency. As I’ve said, during a real emergency you’ll need at least a dozen shooters to defend a fixed site, and a couple dozen would be better. Feeding those numbers, multiple #10 cans of most items will be needed for just one meal.
I regard selfishness as a virtue. Planning to feed a bunch of family and friends is not generosity, it’s self-interest. I need their skills, and I need them as shooters. I’ve thought all this through. What I plan to do isn’t perfect and it’s no guarantee, but it is optimum given my assumptions.
A great deal of this ongoing operation is done in collusion with certain European partners and of course the Israelis.
Since everyone conspires with someone else, can I pick Israel over ISIS? Just about everything Israel does is logical. ISIS just wants to create a new Caliphate in the middle East and Europe and kill all the non-Muslims.
Obola and his willing cronies seems to have picked ISIS. Not good for the lot of us. Israel is a great trading partner and enhances many American products for the benefit of the both of us. Just ask Boeing, Caterpillar, and Intel who does their final engineering and special add-on packages nowadays.
That’s what is known as a “Hobson’s Choice,” and not realistic at all. Of course ISIS is a bunch of subhuman butchers with access to social media and apparently no shortage of recruits to its mayhem and cruelty. But they don’t run our foreign policy and demand military assistance from us in money and weapons systems every year. Let the Saudis and Turks and Jordanians dispose of them, Arab boots on the ground, not ours anymore.
Israel has inordinately influenced our foreign policies since it became a sovereign state and has its own record, as do we, of savagery and brutality, and it currently runs a variant of the old South African system of apartheid, just like ol’ Jimmuh Carter said; hey, even a stopped clock is right twice a day.
They can certainly defend themselves and don’t need our assistance, military or otherwise. But it’s time we shut them off, eliminated their espionage ops here in the U.S., and told their ‘amen corner in the U.S. Congress’ to beat feet, and good riddance.
Equal footing as a trading partner, fine. But the current political and military relationship, mostly one-sided, has to be drastically changed or gotten rid of ASAP. Time to stop kow-towing to them and fretting over Holocaust guilt, for a tiny minority of our population.
We should have zero foreign giveaways. And let our friends and enemies fight it out. We might have to resupply our friends occasionally though.
Israel has inordinately influenced our foreign policies since it became a sovereign state
Not really. Only since it became a nuclear power in the late 1950s with massive aid from the French. We, the USA, used to ignore its presence until then.
and has its own record, as do we, of savagery and brutality,
Is there any nation that does not have a history of savagery and brutality?
Switzerland? Andorra? San Marino? Finland? Nepal?
Seems to be a function of large nation-states; seems that we might have learned by now that cities and nations can be too big to control or handle humanely. Plato at least had that right.
We probably gots to disagree on Israel; and I’m long since cut off from most of my former “conservative” friends and allies on this issue; it’s like absolute support for Israel forever can not be questioned; such a discussion is forever off the table. And I note that large elements of that “conservative” support for Israel are from the fundamentalist Protestant denominations, who have a whole Last Days scenario already written out, with the Conversion of the Jews, Armageddon, the One-Thousand Days of Tribulation, etc., etc.
Quite frankly I’d rather we’d be friends with the Russians and the Persians.
The Persians have their own apocalypse cult centered around the resurrection of the 12th Imam. I do not understand it whatsoever.
http://www.christianpost.com/news/iranian-president-ahmadinejad-tells-un-jesus-christ-and-ultimate-savior-are-coming-82336/
Actually, I am wondering if it is too late to rein in the giveaway beast. The feddies have borrowed so much and created so many dependents on welfare that the point of no return may have passed already. When the interest rate shoe falls, the cost of borrowing the federal deficit will rise so rapidly that the federal deficit increases may be in the range of 2 to 3 trillion dollars per year. In other words, it does not matter how much they give away because the federal financial Armageddon is unavoidable. The only question is when?
BTW, the amount of new construction is Fort Bend County is simply amazing. Drove 30 miles to a friend’s house for lunch after church. We saw well over ten commercial buildings going up and at least 40 or 50 homes under construction. Several of the homes will be priced at a million or more. What recession?
“The Persians have their own apocalypse cult centered around the resurrection of the 12th Imam. I do not understand it whatsoever.”
Not only that, they are not reproducing themselves; at the current rate of non-reproduction, their demographics portray a slow national suicide akin to Japan’s and large parts of Europe.
“…the point of no return may have passed already.”
As indeed it has.
“…the federal financial Armageddon is unavoidable. The only question is when?”
There it is.
Like some of us have been saying for a while now. Sure, they can keep printing fiat currency, but eventually that dawg won’t hunt. Default. New historical territory. When? Maybe not the full monty this summuh but sumthin’s up.
Like some of us have been saying for a while now. Sure, they can keep printing fiat currency, but eventually that dawg won’t hunt. Default. New historical territory. When? Maybe not the full monty this summuh but sumthin’s up.
That dawg at the Fed can hunt. The Fed can buy t-bills until the dollar is just a shadow of itself. Desperate people do desperate things. Then we get new problems such as a loaf of bread for $20. They will burn that bridge when we get to it though.
That’s what I hope I’d implied; the $20 or $100 loaf of bread or gallon of gas. Like my middle skool history teachers told us about the situation in Germany and Austria between the world wars, with folks trundling wheelbarrows full of banknotes to buy bread.
But that’s old-timey chit now; the latest great example of this was the inflation in Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia, when it was run by those evil white men). Maybe we’ll see some new wrinkles with Greece and the southern Med tier this coming year. Or even some funny chit in this country by summuh.
“The checks will eventually bounce. The Federal Government has unfunded liabilities of $210 trillion. There will be a Great Default.”
https://www.lewrockwell.com/2015/03/gary-north/americans-dont-trust-washington/
Sorry, I missed that. To me, financial Armageddon is a loaf of bread for a cool million dollars. I can afford a $20 loaf of bread (but it would hurt real bad). I can’t afford a million dollar loaf of bread.
So why not stock up a bunch of shelf-stable food? And don’t say you don’t have anywhere to store it. You can fit a two person-year supply of food into a space about 2X4 feet and 8 feet high.
“If I were you, I’d be seriously looking into emigrating to the US or Canada or Australia.”
Well, NZ would get my personal nod, and it might yet, if the signs of the Apocalypse get too obvious around here. I gave it serious thought some years ago.
“Prepping in [Europe]: For the most part, the only people with guns are criminals or the government. You’re fucked.”
Mwhahaha. I’m not even slightly worried on that score, but thanks for your concern! As I often tell my students – I am proficient in the use of firearms. I fear only gun-grabbing politicians and rust.
New Zealand is also good, but I’d give preference to the US or Canada. As I’ve said before, Australia and New Zealand are too lightly populated, too isolated, and too near China. The US and Canada are resource-rich and capable of producing everything they need. And despite the best efforts of the government over decades, there remains a strong tradition of free enterprise and self-reliance, particularly in the US but also in Canada.
“…Australia and New Zealand are too lightly populated, too isolated, and too near China…”
My own assessment is that the Chinese are currently (i.e. in my lifetime) far more interested in taking over sub-Saharan Africa as a resource than in fighting the Kiwis or Aussies for their islands. That is already happening quietly and effectively; the merchant and middle classes of much of Africa are now immigrant Chinese. The Middle Kingdom strategists are playing the long game there.
If it did really come to that, my preference would be to help the Antipodeans rather than withdraw to North America. Were the geopolitical situation truly that bad, NA would have enough on its plate deling with the influx of central and south Americans.
If things got really bad, an influx of Central and South Americans wouldn’t be that much of a problem, other than perhaps in Atzlan.
If I could choose anywhere in the world to live, I’d pick the Montana/Alberta border area, which scores very highly on just about every measure. Barbara was originally willing to consider relocating there, but she decided she doesn’t want to move more than 2,000 miles away from where we are now. So we compromised on the area northwest of Winston-Salem, which is actually a pretty good place on most measures.
“… I’d pick the Montana/Alberta border area, which scores very highly on just about every measure.”
I reckon it probably does, but we rarely see any mention of the cultural shock that would occur when folks who’ve spent their entire lives in one region suddenly move lock, stock and barrel into a whole new place. Especially at our age.
If I was thirty or forty years younger, I’d certainly seriously consider and probably go ahead with such a move, but now? Not so much. Rural small-town northern New England is a bit different than the country out in Montana and Alberta. And we’ve lived here for the past nearly 20 years, and prior to that, our whole lives in north-country New York or Maffachufetts, with ancestry in my case going back to Plimoth Plantation and Jamestown.
What culture shock? The people who live there tend to be independent, self-reliant, and distrustful of government. What’s not to like? The winters, perhaps, but -40 doesn’t faze me if I don’t need to go outside. Cabin fever? I’ve heard of it.
Well, YMMV, but I’d maintain that someone who grew up in Pennsylvania and then spent the last decades in a North Carolina suburb is gonna have some surprises and some things to get used to in a hurry out there. My siblings and I probably share many of the same political and social viewpoints as folks of similar ethnic/religious backgrounds in the Deep South or West but we wouldn’t exactly “fit in” in either region.
And while YOU may be completely OK with how the folks out there think and live their lives, THEY may not be entirely comfortable with you, and in a small town that can take lifetimes/generations.