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The part of the country I live has no safer place (not unless you count the crying room in the local high school). Even if able to depart a day before, I don't think I would be able to make it to my perception of a safer place (my brother's). Due to the population density, I don't think I'd make it past the cities I currently pass to get there--there are too many of them. Then there's all the rural areas I would need to traverse.

Another question in my blonde mind is someplace may be safe now in actuality or perception. However, that might not be a safer place after the balloon goes up. How do you ascertain that?
 
One of the key benefits of mobility is flexibility..............flexibility to match the best location to the parameters of the scenario.

The military prioritizes mobility.....because it allows them to adapt to the changing environment and respond to threats.

About the worst thing that any military force can do is to allow the threats to restrict their mobility and lock them up in bases.

Survivalists should learn that lesson........even if they don't intend to confront the threats.......but are more planning to evade and avoid threats.
 
I will let others argue what a prepper is or isn't.

I prefer pragmatist.

Chances are I will expire before my food preps. Ensuring The Princess will not have to find a job in her 80s or 90s is a higher concern than purchasing a steam boiler.

I also agree with the prayer;


God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
the courage to change the things I can,
and the wisdom to know the difference

Do something today to make someone elses tomorrow better.

Ben
 
..........

Another question in my blonde mind is someplace may be safe now in actuality or perception. However, that might not be a safer place after the balloon goes up. How do you ascertain that?
You need to have reliable information gathering networks.....and good logic to interpret that.

Some of those will be applied before any crisis.....by researching places and indeed conducting reconnaissance.

Some will be applied during/after a crisis to assess how things may have changed.

Some will be analytical......ie based upon the fundamentals of an area/location that don't change even during a crisis.

As I mentioned, real time intel gathering can include drones....but it can also include human intel networks, ham radio, media (with filtering of misinformation), recon and again analysis to turn data into information.

Some 'hobby" drones can check out locations further away than most people would guess......some can detect human activity anywhere near your path.
 
As I mentioned, real time intel gathering can include drones
I think drones would be a great option for scouting, and also for surveillance of your current location. I don't have one myself to say from experience, but I imagine their batteries are small enough that it would be feasible to charge them using reasonably sized solar panels - making them continuously useful once you are off grid (either by choice, or by unfolding circumstances). If you were keeping an eye on something suspicious, it would be neat if a multi-drone application had a "locate and take over for previous drone" function so you could cycle the drones with uninterrupted surveillance when one had to come back home for a battery replacement.
 
I think drones would be a great option for scouting, and also for surveillance of your current location. I don't have one myself to say from experience, but I imagine their batteries are small enough that it would be feasible to charge them using reasonably sized solar panels - making them continuously useful once you are off grid (either by choice, or by unfolding circumstances).
Yes. My drones can be charged using 30-60W portable panels......I use Powerfilm Solar foldable panels.

I have enough batteries and panels to keep pace with how fast the aircraft is burning through batteries.

If you were keeping an eye on something suspicious, it would be neat if a multi-drone application had a "locate and take over for previous drone" function so you could cycle the drones with uninterrupted surveillance when one had to come back home for a battery replacement.
Tag teaming drones to keep one "on station" continuously is a thing.

Drone software includes "orbit" functions. If the radius of that orbit exceeds about 150 yards, then the drone is inaudible to the subject. Many drones now have enough zoom to get "facial recognition" much further than 150 yards.
 
Would it be rude to ask how much you had to pay for a drone with these type of capabilities? Are they super expensive? It appears drones have well surpassed the capabilities that I thought they had (I figured military drones might be like this, but not ones available to civilians).
 
Would it be rude to ask how much you had to pay for a drone with these type of capabilities? Are they super expensive? It appears drones have well surpassed the capabilities that I thought they had (I figured military drones might be like this, but not ones available to civilians).
Prepper capability drones start at about $1K and go up to about $5K.

For about $5K you get a "Search and Rescue Drone" that has three cameras (Two visible spectrum and one thermal), about 50 minute endurance and about 20 miles flight range.

That same drone will get facial recognition at about 500 yards in daylight.

It is quite hard to hide from the thermal camera.
 
Also many folks today cannot deal with stress so it begs the question: how many would commit suicide?
that is a very valid point, the video that Ben posted, showing the interconnection of most everything , and it is far worse now than when it was filmed, show probably how little people know how bad the grid down would effect them, if it were the emergency.
 
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Prepper capability drones start at about $1K and go up to about $5K.

For about $5K you get a "Search and Rescue Drone" that has three cameras (Two visible spectrum and one thermal), about 50 minute endurance and about 20 miles flight range.

That same drone will get facial recognition at about 500 yards in daylight.

It is quite hard to hide from the thermal camera.
i just cant spend that type money on a maybe kinda sorta thing... you could say whats your life worth too..but a person has limits..we all do be it money or physical ability....so it falls back to do the best you can with what you got where you are at..or migrate too.

wanting to build a new much better survivable home for growing older and much more is priority one for me...plus i am remote already...not as much as a few but way more than majority.

i mean majority of folks are struggling with daily survival now...they going to have t put in real effort to prep and they are going to do some hard scrabble survival in a shtf deal.....i know of a couple situations right now i wish i could share..but i wont/cant....lets just say theres desperate people out there trying to keep a roof over their heads.
 
Also many folks today cannot deal with stress so it begs the question: how many would commit suicide?
A tremendous amount. As soon as the "NO HOPE", and accepting that no one is coming to save them, fully sets in. Maybe in four or five days with no water.
 
how little people know how bad the grid down would effect them
Very true. When we just had our mini power outage a few days ago (an hour or two at most), I was wandering around the house trying to figure out what I should do. Not that I need power to do many of the things I do, but when that power is gone, my mind gravitates to this silly question "What do I do now?!"

FWIW, I went and took a shower. The water still worked.
 
A tremendous amount. As soon as the "NO HOPE", and accepting that no one is coming to save them, fully sets in. Maybe in four or five days with no water.
recent events in real life a person had to do something they laughed at in past due to extreme thirst...thirst humbled them i tell ya..
 
Very true. When we just had our mini power outage a few days ago (an hour or two at most), I was wandering around the house trying to figure out what I should do. Not that I need power to do many of the things I do, but when that power is gone, my mind gravitates to this silly question "What do I do now?!"

FWIW, I went an took a shower. The water still worked.
you must be on municipal water. most systems have fair sized natural gas or diesel powered backup pumps for hydrant pressure, and a lot just provide mains pressure while the electric pumps are down
 
A tremendous amount. As soon as the "NO HOPE", and accepting that no one is coming to save them, fully sets in. Maybe in four or five days with no water.
one time i left truck with a pack on and dogs after a big mean bear. i stayed with him and dogs all day in cliffs and laurel thickets till everyone was beat to a pulp including me..i was out of water and been drinking in every creek and spring i could...at that point i had dogs on lead on old skid road and was so thirsty i laid down and drank water from a skidder rut because i had 9 miles to go back to truck. we were a sad lot when we got back to the truck !
 
you must be on municipal water. most systems have fair sized natural gas or diesel powered backup pumps for hydrant pressure, and a lot just provide mains pressure while the electric pumps are down
As I understand it in my area, power is used to pump water uphill to the two million-gallon-each water tanks that share the same hill I do. Then gravity feeds the water down to us customers. So during a power outage I guess they can't fill the water tanks (excepting for diesel backup pumps that they probably have), but we can still get water out of the tanks with simply gravity. Maybe they have auxiliary pumps to increase water pressure coming out of the tanks as well - I don't know. Water pressure is not an issue at my house. In fact, we have a pressure reducer on our water line. Even with that, sometimes lawn sprinkler heads unscrew themselves and pop off under pressure and leave us with geysers in our yard. That seems to have trailed off a bit over the last few years though - I imagine the number of customers is expanding and the greater demand for water has lowered the water pressure. We haven't noticed a pressure drop, but that may be because while lower, it is still above the point our reducer limits it to. But the sprinkler heads seem to stay in place better now (maybe I just tightened them super tight last time!)
 
Things are so intertwined these days - building off of each other - A depends on B, which depends on C, all of which will be gone in the post-apocalypse - that to go off thinking you can fend for yourself all alone is just a false dream. Sure, you can live for a while. A very short while.

What evidence can you present to support the inferred universality of this claim?

To counter- Not everyone lives a lifestyle of dependence on the scaffolding of society. Some are capable of utilizing such to increase their quality of life while also being to walk away from it without starving. It requires a different mentality and approach- but when the harshest constraints are overcome the most capable systems emerge.
 
As I understand it in my area, power is used to pump water uphill to the two million-gallon-each water tanks that share the same hill I do. Then gravity feeds the water down to us customers. So during a power outage I guess they can't fill the water tanks (excepting for diesel backup pumps that they probably have), but we can still get water out of the tanks with simply gravity. Maybe they have auxiliary pumps to increase water pressure coming out of the tanks as well - I don't know. Water pressure is not an issue at my house. In fact, we have a pressure reducer on our water line. Even with that, sometimes lawn sprinkler heads unscrew themselves and pop off under pressure and leave us with geysers in our yard. That seems to have trailed off a bit over the last few years though - I imagine the number of customers is expanding and the greater demand for water has lowered the water pressure. We haven't noticed a pressure drop, but that may be because while lower, it is still above the point our reducer limits it to. But the sprinkler heads seem to stay in place better now (maybe I just tightened them super tight last time!)
The TEOTWAWKI people refuse to acknowledge that those exist, and yes they work great.
Here's ours:
e9767568b25a8d4195c5574e8f4ee64f.jpg

The power can be out everywhere and we still have 50psi water. That's why it is as tall as it is.
"You will have no power and water because we said so !!"gaah
 
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The TEOTWAWKI people refuse to acknowledge that those exist, and yes they work great.
Here's ours:
e9767568b25a8d4195c5574e8f4ee64f.jpg

The power can be out everywhere and we still have 50psi water. That's why it is as tall as it is.
Maybe...

Typically, a water tower's tank is sized to hold about a day's worth of water for the community served by the tower. If the pumps fail (for example, during a power failure), the water tower holds enough water to keep things flowing for about a day. The problem is, you're not the only getting water from that tower. Maybe if no one fills their bathtub and every available container out of fear of running out, then that tower might last a couple of days? It all depends on if people panic or not. You could maybe wait a few days to fill your containers if the power goes out, and hope that maybe the water will just keep working?
 
Maybe...

Typically, a water tower's tank is sized to hold about a day's worth of water for the community served by the tower. If the pumps fail (for example, during a power failure), the water tower holds enough water to keep things flowing for about a day. The problem is, you're not the only getting water from that tower. Maybe if no one fills their bathtub and every available container out of fear of running out, then that tower might last a couple of days? It all depends on if people panic or not. You could maybe wait a few days to fill your containers if the power goes out, and hope that maybe the water will just keep working?
Yep.

A couple of million gallons sounds like a lot.....until you split it among 5000 houses......then it is not enough.

.....and absent of the ROL, either someone decides to take control of the water....to control those dependent upon the water......and/or the damage people do to buildings will mean a lot of open valves.
 
....and telling someone they have normalcy bias can't really be an insult. ...Where is the offense?

Aye - Like my old quip:

Guy pulls alongside another driver (who's about to get on the Freeway / be driving at high-speeds) and motions to roll down the window, and hollars:

'Hey Buddy! Yer right passenger tire is almost dead-flat!'...

...And the flat-tire guy yells back, 'Oh yeah?? Well what's wrong with YER Car, azzole??!!'... 🤓:rolleyes: Deserves whatever outcome he reaps.

PS - Funny that the Last time I conjured that up / posted it.. Was in 'defense' of Sir Sourdough (aka 6.8, over yonder..) https://www.survivalistboards.com/t....988998/page-4?post_id=21537366#post-21537366 :) Lol...

Our Family 'paradigm' has always been designed around 'Mobility' (even while (essentially) 'trapped in place' in the N Lost Angeles-area.. Yah, regardless of Any planning / 'math' on that situ - there's just gonna be NO 'bugging out' whence STrulyHTF out there.. Recent Example.. o_O SO glad we made it Outta that Deth Trap, but..

..Even so, I decided that it would be the Wisest to simply concentrate a 1 year (Min) 'Super Pack' that Could (with Roof-Rack, etc) all fit, entirely, in our 'War Wagon', ie:

Used-2015-Mercedes-Benz-SPRINTER-CARGO-VAN-4x4-3500-170-EXT-30L-V6-TURBO-DIESEL-5-SPD-AUTO-REARVIEW.jpg


(..Very-similar, but Older.. Purposely got a pre-2005, as those are Much easier engines to work on / 'hack' what few Electronic-controls there are, etc, etc..)

Point being: If it Fits - and it's 1st-Year Critical - It Ships. If it Don't - it needs to be Seriously evaluated for 'value vs space-taken'. 'Why not a Trailer'? Because, at the time - whence planning the several Routes up to our BOL / Land (now, there's 'Other Plans', but same principles apply..) - I concluded that a Trailer might end up Hindering progress - vs - the 'value of the Extra "stuff" carried' (ie: Mountain-passes / overland sections, etc..)

..Better to have some of the 'Valuable but not First-year Essential' stuff up in a cache / two - Which is what we have / still maintain. Of course, 'TBD' if we'll be Able to ever Get that stuff (fires / war-like conditions / martial-law - Who knows, but.. At least it's 'there' / not 'taxing the Wagon'..

Now, though, that we're even Further away from our "BOL", well.. The 'Super Pack' / War Wagon model still seems the most practical, 'sustainable', and (probably) successful, even if we end up worming into 'Plans B, C and D'.. (some of which, actually, are possibly More 'valid', as they contain elements of 'Strategic Alliances' / MAGs, if you will, that Could prove symbiotic, but..

Regardless, given that we're Not yet established in our 'Ultimate Stand-Our-Ground Spot' (ie: a certain Member who lives in a certain strategically-excellent 'Tower' :cool: or, yanno.. 'Outstandingly-Insulated, Alaska', for example.. ;) it seems the wisest paradigm to maintain the 'War Wagon model', and Keep it mobile.

Yeah, sure - 'All Eggs in One Basket', but.. That certainly seems to apply to Most people / fams, even those In their 'Ultimate BOLs' / Castles, etc.

.02
jd
 
Maybe...

Typically, a water tower's tank is sized to hold about a day's worth of water for the community served by the tower. If the pumps fail (for example, during a power failure), the water tower holds enough water to keep things flowing for about a day. The problem is, you're not the only getting water from that tower. Maybe if no one fills their bathtub and every available container out of fear of running out, then that tower might last a couple of days? It all depends on if people panic or not. You could maybe wait a few days to fill your containers if the power goes out, and hope that maybe the water will just keep working?
We are fortunate that we are surrounded by natural-gas wells that can supply endless fuel to the backup generators.:) We will have water.
The other thing that the apocalypse people miss is, there are millions of people that go to work every day, whose job it is to fix stuff and make stuff.
They are very good at what they do, and they won't all vanish overnight. So no, we are not 'doomed to go back to the stone age' for 50 years. 🙄
 
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Until somebody blows it up.

Or, well.. Maybe not 'blow it up' (Warlords aren't usually that 'self-defeating'.. ;) but, rather / more likely.. Take it Over / set up Fortified / Defended perimeters / access-control, etc, and make it 'Pay-Per-Sip', ie:


MADMAX2BLU4.jpg


..'Ahhh, so ya want a "drink", do ya? Very well... An Hour with Your Daughter for a Litre of Water, m8!' :oops: o_O

Yah, 'fictional', but.. I'm Certain very-similar scenarios Have occurred - More times than we'd all Think - under despotic, lawless 'regimes' of yore, ie: Venezuela, Haiti, many Countries in Africa - heck, even in This Country's history.. Rather 'dark' at times...

..and it Sure Seems like we're heading for a 'US of Wasteland' in the not-too-distant.. o_O

jd
 
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the water tower holds enough water to keep things flowing for about a day. The problem is, you're not the only getting water from that tower.
I was only commenting that the power went out and I didn't know what to do with myself, in support of @Tiredirons's post about people not realizing how the loss of power might affect them. Then we got off on the tangent of how the water can still work and maintain pressure when we don't have power. I wasn't trying to make any point about how long the water would last.
 
The TEOTWAWKI people refuse to acknowledge that those exist, and yes they work great.
Here's ours:
e9767568b25a8d4195c5574e8f4ee64f.jpg

The power can be out everywhere and we still have 50psi water. That's why it is as tall as it is.
"You will have no power and water because we said so !!"gaah
the water tower concept is great as long as there is a way to refill the tank . water column is a beautiful thing
 
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