Survival misinformation: Is NES just better informed?

[bfm]

There is a great analogy between prepping and most sports( and someone already mentioned this, too): yes, you could buy those $200 sneakers that weigh 6 ounces and will give you a 0:02/minute improvement on your pace, or you could lose 5 pounds and get a 0:10 second improvement, feel better, and be able to run longer. Works for almost any activity where they are selling gear to compensate for laziness.

I had a friend a few years ago who was always souping up his truck. When he told me he was looking at carbon fiber hoods to save weight, I gave him a save your money, in fact, save more money, cut you food intake and lose 200 pounds (guy was over 400) and be ahead of both games.

 

[weekendracer]

I was discussing how I would deal with a SHTF scenario with 3 kids and where I wanted to end up with a co-worker. He was flabergasted when I mentioned having to leave a couple thousand rounds behind to make the trip. He never thought I'd be walking to Texas. I wonder how many 'preppers' have thought about the difference between a slow slide into anarchy vs. wake up with no lights. I think the two would be dramatically different depending on how soon you noticed the decline.

I've enjoyed the fiction I've read about a 'sudden' descent into 'darkness'. Reading it as an insight into another person brainstorming how things would be is interesting. The last book gave me some ideas to get me thinking on how to avoid that certain types of situations. Most 'TV' shows are too much about drama and less practical brainstorming.

 

[garandman]

My personal favorite are the mall ninjas who think, at the first sign of trouble, they are going to take a backpack full of mil surp and camping gear, along with a couple twinkies, and run off into this magical place called "the woods" and live there indefinitely, living off the land, untouched by whatever misery is being suffered "in the city." All they need is 7 knives and 15 different ways to make a fire.

I am going to run off to a magical place called the "Conley Container Terminal" with a pair of bolt cutters.

Yo, NSA dudes - just kidding!

 

[fubar]

My crazy prepper friends are pretty much planning to bug out to " the Woods."

Where we are building houses , with like , friends. And showers , and stuff.

 

[Twigg]

Sooooo, prepping is the new "winter tires" meme ?


Here's something all the m*******s can relate to(apoligies to Aesop):

The ant works hard, in the withering heat, all summer long.
He builds his house and stores supplies for the winter.

The grasshopper thinks that the ant is a fool.
He laughs, dances and plays the summer away, preparing nothing for the coming winter.

Winter comes, the ant is safe and warm.
The shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and fed, while others are cold and starving!

CBS, NBC, ABC & CNN show up to provide pictures of shivering grasshoppers, next to a video of an ant
in his comfortable home, with a table filled with food.

America is stunned by the sharp contrast! How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor
grasshopper is allowed to suffer this way?

Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah, with the grasshopper.
Everyone cries when they sing "It's Not Easy Being Green".

Jesse Jackson stages a demonstration in front of the ant's house, where the news stations film the group
singing "We Shall Overcome".
Jesse then has the group pray for the grasshopper's sake, and reminds the group to contribute to his group, so that he can "continue the fight" for grasshoppers, everywhere!

Ted Kennedy & John Kerry exclaim, in an interview with Tom Brokaw, that the ant has gotten rich, off
the back of the poor grasshopper!
Both call for an immediate tax hike, to make the ant pay "his fair share"!

Finally, the EEOC drafts the "Economic Equity For Grasshoppers Act", retroactive to the beginning of the
summer.

The ant is fined for failing to hire the proportionate number of green bugs and, having nothing left to
pay his retroactive taxes, his house is confiscated by the government.

Hillary Clinton gets her old law firm to represent the grasshopper, in a defamation suit against the ant.
The case is tried in federal court, with a jury comprised of unemployed welfare recipients.

Surprise! The ant loses the case!

The story ends, as we see the grasshopper finishing up the last bits of the ant's food, while the government house he lives in (which happens to be the ant's old house) crumbles around him,
due to lack of maintenance!

The ant has disappeared in the snow.
The grasshopper is found, dead, in a drug-related incident.
The house, now abandoned, is taken over by a gang of spiders, who terrorize this once-peaceful neighborhood.

The moral of this version? Don't vote for Democrats or liberals.

NES for reloading information ? Yes.
Prepping ? notsomuch.

 

[JayMcB]

There is a great analogy between prepping and most sports( and someone already mentioned this, too): yes, you could buy those $200 sneakers that weigh 6 ounces and will give you a 0:02/minute improvement on your pace, or you could lose 5 pounds and get a 0:10 second improvement, feel better, and be able to run longer. Works for almost any activity where they are selling gear to compensate for laziness.

THIS x about 10,000.

I just get out for a walk with the dog. Day, night, snow, rain, cold. It's the best prepping you can do. And I carry a backpack.

I think there is a ton of value in emergency and disaster preparation. Over the years our society has lost an incredibly amount of self sufficiency - I certainly recognize it in my own family. So there is some valuable information being passed around on these websites. You just have to sort through the mountains of BS to find it.

That being said, the "prepper" movement is by and large ridiculous. You've got people who've stockpiled enough guns and ammo to fight a 10 year guerrilla campaign for when the Russians invade, but they don't have a dime of savings and their credit cards are all maxed out. Or the people who've filled an underground bunker with backpacking food they're never going to voluntarily eat, that is likely going to be flooded the next time there's a heavy rainfall.

My personal favorite are the mall ninjas who think, at the first sign of trouble, they are going to take a backpack full of mil surp and camping gear, along with a couple twinkies, and run off into this magical place called "the woods" and live there indefinitely, living off the land, untouched by whatever misery is being suffered "in the city." All they need is 7 knives and 15 different ways to make a fire.

I've asked what people what they will do in the 73rd hour, and what/whose woods they go to in SHTF. The cognitive dissonance is breath taking.

My hope is that I can get to our woods if something bad happens.

Plans evolve, but at least have one.

 

[carbuncle]

A buddy and I used to talk shit about survivalism and how people who get lost on day hikes and curl up and die are idiots, so we decided test our own survival skills. We went out in the Cascades in WA, on the east side, with a fanny pack of typical hiking junk and my Dan Wesson .357 and lost ourselves up a nameless hill.

Lesson number one: magnesium firestarters will often just burn the moisture off the outside of wet wood, leaving steaming wet wood.

Lesson number two: after burning everything in my wallet to get the tinder started, I found that Clif Bar wrappers burn like napalm. I always carry Clif Bars in my emergency kits now.

Lesson number 3: even with a good fire, Space blankets will do no more than keep you alive. If you want anything approaching rest, prepare accordingly.

Lesson number 4: if you plan to hunt for food, make an appropriate tool part of your kit. An associated sublesson: hunting when you're hungry is a hard go. Hunting with the wrong tools when you're hungry is not only difficult but extremely discouraging at a time when you don't need to be discouraged.

Lesson number 5: be aware of your surroundings. We followed the path of least resistance up said nameless hill, only to find a group of elk bedding down around us for the night after dark. Having seen the bull with his harem earlier, this was not an encouraging development armed only with a 6" .357. The path of least resistance in rough country is that way because something or someone made it that way, this observation could work for or against you depending on circumstances.

Lesson 6: have a compass, know how to use it and then trust your orienteering skills over your gut instinct. On the way out we backtracked using the compass, then got turned around because something didn't look right. We ended up on a 4-mile logging road hike: 2 the wrong way, 2 back to where we thought we knew better than the compass.




Posted from my car phone.

 

[carbuncle]

Takeaway: great experience, never want to do it electively again but do have a better idea of what to expect if caught out unexpectedly and have used that to build my emergency kits accordingly.

Posted from my car phone.

 

[AlwaysBeClosing]

Ugh...this guy. All I could think was "...hope he's not on NES"

My wife is from Europe and she was horrified by this episode. He's a good reality check for the over-enthusiastic.

Not that Columbia is a cake-walk, but I'd bet an MRE she filed for divorce the day after their DHS interviews.

 

[glockstones]

So I was trolling around over on survivalistboards. I rarely post anything on there, just read for entertainment value. When a gent asked a question about reloading 5.56/.223, I answered and was promptly corrected by a forum know it all who was grossly misinformed. This seems to be a common thread over there and can be quite laughable to read sometimes. In this case, I just worry that some poor schmuck is going to destroy is AR after taking some bad advice. AKA, any powder charge from a 5.56 will work just fine in .223; as if it that simple.

What are some of the survival "bad advice" bits you have heard?

"shelter in place". one I have heard people correct others on is that all medications just get weaker over time and wont hurt you if they are old which is way not true for some of them.

 

[01bmf]

"shelter in place". one I have heard people correct others on is that all medications just get weaker over time and wont hurt you if they are old which is way not true for some of them.

So true. Meds is something you need to have thorough understanding and knowledge of before deciding to use or not use. While some could be just fine past expiration, others could become toxic and potentially deadly.

 

[lafataa]

What are some of the survival "bad advice" bits you have heard?

That your kit has/should have everything to get you out of every possible situation known to man and it's a bad kit if it doesn't make you prepared for anything. There are some things you can probably go without and aren't a 100% necessity.

Like this:

 

[Another_David]

So true. Meds is something you need to have thorough understanding and knowledge of before deciding to use or not use. While some could be just fine past expiration, others could become toxic and potentially deadly.

good to know. I don't suppose there's a list or something? I actually have some meds right now I'm taking that are past their date. I've just been lazy to go back to my dr and get a new prescription and I only take them when needed so they last. it's an anti inflammatory for gout.

 

[Another_David]

The nice thing about those jet lighters is that it's possible to get fire to tinder from a lot more angles than with a bic.

I find that not having to build your tinder/kindling pile around lighting it with a bic makes for much better fires.

very true. I was at the range with a buddy and lit the wood stove in the warmup hut with my lighter after carefully making a little kindling pile. he complemented me on the quick lighting fire and recounted how his son-in-law made a fire over the holidays in the fireplace and it went out--three times. we laughed about that. A couple weeks later we are at the range again and he says he'll light the fire. He pulls out his propane auto light torch and fires up a log. lol, works great if you got it!

Which the point I was trying to make before is all these bushcraft skills are great to try and read about and impress your friends but when you need a fire there's no shame is using a propane torch.

 

[lancecolonel]

good to know. I don't suppose there's a list or something? I actually have some meds right now I'm taking that are past their date. I've just been lazy to go back to my dr and get a new prescription and I only take them when needed so they last. it's an anti inflammatory for gout.

not sure about anti inflammatory but can say anything in the tetracycline family is a no go after the expiration date. search patriot nurse on you tube, she has at least 1 video talking about meds/expiration dates. all the YMMV, IANAL, IANAD apply......

 

[josh2600]

My personal favorite are the mall ninjas who think, at the first sign of trouble, they are going to take a backpack full of mil surp and camping gear, along with a couple twinkies, and run off into this magical place called "the woods" and live there indefinitely, living off the land, untouched by whatever misery is being suffered "in the city." All they need is 7 knives and 15 different ways to make a fire.

It's a lot more people than just your typical mall ninja that has this "the woods" delusion... I've heard "the mountains" come out of people's mouths as well. First couple people that come to mind are both police officers in fact.


Either is great if you have some property somewhere in either location, but this is all coming from people I know damn well don't own any property elsewhere.

 

[Haoleb]

I have to agree with most of these comments, I enjoy watching doomsday preppers and would consider myself a bit of a prepper. I do have a backpack in my jeep filled with just about anything I could need away from home or if I had to leave the vehicle. I also carry a full tool set and spare serpentine belt, good 12v compressor. Tire patch kit, fire extinguisher, recovery equipment such as chain, straps, d-rings.... etc..

Anyway, I am getting side tracked.. Some of those folks on that tv show are truly morons. Good example mentioned the guy making body armor out of ceramic tiles and o'henry.. Really? Or the guy who feared a solar flare/EMP and to test his faraday cage (metal trash can) he hooks a car battery to it to see if his walkie talkie inside the trash can still worked afterwards. (wow.. clearly not understanding the concept of an EMP or faraday cage)

One note on firestarters though, I do have a few types, I have a couple magnesium starters, windproof lighter, fire steel and stormproof matches, One thing that is very lightweight I also carry are home made fire starters made out of cotton balls soaked in petroleum jelly and also balls that were soaked in paraffin wax. The petroleum jelly balls ignite amazingly easily with just a quick spark from the fire steel, Burns for a pretty decent time. But the wax balls, while impossible to light with the magnesium or fire steel will easily light with a flame and burn much much longer... A matter of minutes per ball. They work excellent for getting a fire started. Also. Waterproof. Cheap.

For something as essential as fire I would prefer not to rely primarily on something like my lighter which is why I carry more than just it. A lighter can break. Run out of gas... get lost... etc. Always good to have a backup.

For me prepping is enjoyable. I enjoy scouring surplus stores and amazon for stuff I can use and stuff I have on hand I will probably never use but I would rather be prepared than not. Physical fitness is something I think most overlook. Myself included, I know if I were in top shape it would help me in day to day or SHTF situations. Practicing how to use the gear is also important. You can buy the best gear out but wont do any good if you do not know how to use it.

 

[Another_David]

I'm happy to report I survived getting stuck in the snow on thur when it was blizzard like conditions. My prepper training kicked in and I used my survival shovel to dig out around the tires and gained traction by deploying the survival sand. I keep all this stuff in my survival trunk along with my survival lighter, first aid survival kit, an extra survival hat, and survival work gloves. But I got so warm just shoveling I had to take off my survival jacket and didn't need to make a survival fire.

Once I got unstuck I managed to navigate the vehicle the remainder of the driveway and into my survival garage. I went inside and changed into my survival sweat pants and survival slippers and made a full recovery. Since then my survival plow guy has had to plow my survival driveway twice so I think I'll be good to go next time.

Right now I'm drinking my survival coffee while watching my survival cable tv but might venture out again soon. Will report back as to what happens if the SHTF again.

 

[mark056]

Guns, gold, silver, ammunition and alcohol top the list, and knowing how to use the gun proficiently and ruthlessly to get the other things you need to survive. It's Darwinism plain and simple. Gold and liquor to barter, but if I have a mall ninja neighbor who has all the survival crap and lacks the will to do what is necessary to keep it, guess what? His stuff is mine, one way or the other.

This isn't keyboard commando talk either. I'm old and I got this way because I have survived the last half of the 20th Century and the first decade plus of the 21st. Along the way I've learned one or two things. Old men are treacherous and ruthless and perhaps driven to extreme behavior if pushed. Weaker than the young physically but as the saying goes: "no matter what your strength or size, Col Colt will equalize"

 

[Archilochus]

but if I have a mall ninja neighbor who has all the survival crap and lacks the will to do what is necessary to keep it, guess what? His stuff is mine, one way or the other.

Do us a favor, please. Name, address, pics too.
Thanks

 

[01bmf]

Guns, gold, silver, ammunition and alcohol top the list, and knowing how to use the gun proficiently and ruthlessly to get the other things you need to survive. It's Darwinism plain and simple. Gold and liquor to barter, but if I have a mall ninja neighbor who has all the survival crap and lacks the will to do what is necessary to keep it, guess what? His stuff is mine, one way or the other.

This isn't keyboard commando talk either. I'm old and I got this way because I have survived the last half of the 20th Century and the first decade plus of the 21st. Along the way I've learned one or two things. Old men are treacherous and ruthless and perhaps driven to extreme behavior if pushed. Weaker than the young physically but as the saying goes: "no matter what your strength or size, Col Colt will equalize"

One of my fathers favorite sayings to me: "Age and treachery will always overcome youth and enthusiasm."

 

[coastie]

not sure about anti inflammatory but can say anything in the tetracycline family is a no go after the expiration date. search patriot nurse on you tube, she has at least 1 video talking about meds/expiration dates. all the YMMV, IANAL, IANAD apply......

This is based on a single study from 1963 about expired tetracycline causing kidney damage. This study has been debated and questioned several times. Recent govt service extension studies have found no toxicity in expired tetracycline. Look up the FDA and US militaries service life extension program.

 

[gene]

when i saw a genius on preppers make his own armor out of kitchen tile and let his buddy shoot him is when i realized these are the people who are on these survival forums. he did live, but i was kinda hoping he learned a lesson out of it. but apparently not.

ceramic plates , ceramic tile? who would have guessed

 

[MisterHappy]

Practicing is the part of prepping that gets left out, I think.

The time to figure out what you need to deal with [insert event here] is not when it's happening.

Want to see how you're set for a three-day power loss in winter? Pull the main breaker today, and check back here on Wednesday.

Want to see how well you bug-out-bag works. Go use it.

The snow is on the ground. Go light a fire, and make a pot of tea.

 

[JayMcB]

Guns, gold, silver, ammunition and alcohol top the list, and knowing how to use the gun proficiently and ruthlessly to get the other things you need to survive. It's Darwinism plain and simple. Gold and liquor to barter, but if I have a mall ninja neighbor who has all the survival crap and lacks the will to do what is necessary to keep it, guess what? His stuff is mine, one way or the other.

This isn't keyboard commando talk either. I'm old and I got this way because I have survived the last half of the 20th Century and the first decade plus of the 21st. Along the way I've learned one or two things. Old men are treacherous and ruthless and perhaps driven to extreme behavior if pushed. Weaker than the young physically but as the saying goes: "no matter what your strength or size, Col Colt will equalize"

This is why I have canine perimeter warning, large caliber scoped rifles - zeroed for the bottom of my driveway, and protected benchrest place to shoot them from. Like you, I also have the ruthlessness to use them. Molon Labe can have universal application.

After tax time, there will be NV? FLIR? added for additional 'visibility'.

 

[atmay]

Practicing is the part of prepping that gets left out, I think.

The time to figure out what you need to deal with [insert event here] is not when it's happening.

Want to see how you're set for a three-day power loss in winter? Pull the main breaker today, and check back here on Wednesday.

Want to see how well you bug-out-bag works. Go use it.

The snow is on the ground. Go light a fire, and make a pot of tea.

Nah, man. It's fine. I've read about this on the interwebs like a million times, and I have a huge $20 knife with saw teeth cut into the back. And a hollow handle full of something. IDK what.

If the S ever HTF, I'ma grab my BOB, my rifle, put on my cammies (ATACS, the best), and go to The Mountains (tm), where I will Live Off The Land for the rest of my life.

I've never actually carried that bag, or shot that rifle (other than off the benchrest), or hunted, or lit a fire in the rain, but I know I'll survive and the rest of you won't. Cuz 'murica.

 

[carbuncle]

Practicing is the part of prepping that gets left out, I think.

The time to figure out what you need to deal with [insert event here] is not when it's happening.

Want to see how you're set for a three-day power loss in winter? Pull the main breaker today, and check back here on Wednesday.

Want to see how well you bug-out-bag works. Go use it.

The snow is on the ground. Go light a fire, and make a pot of tea.

There's a huge value in this: when I was a kid on the Cape a buddy and I built a lean-to in the woods (now McMansions for washashores) behind his neighborhood and slept out a couple of nights in it. In January. There is no substitute for doing, for knowing what these experiences are like even in a controlled or semi-controlled environment.

Posted from my car phone.

 

[Rider]

Nah, man. It's fine. I've read about this on the interwebs like a million times...

plus i saw that episode of Doomsday Preppers where th guy was taking knife fighting lessons from an ex-Mossad guy on the roof, so I'm like an expert on that too now.

 

[PATRON]

I love the use of the word bug out bag,and I am going to head out to the woods and live off the land.Do you have a place in the woods that is all set up with supplies?Do you have the man power to keep people away.Your not the only one with the mind set to run to the woods you think finding game is going to be easy.How are you going to get thier when all the roads are f^#ked up.

 

[lafataa]

I'd rather spend the money on learning new things than on buying new things to lug around. Things can happen to your stuff but knowledge can never be taken away nor lost. Skill beats more stuff any day.


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