squidvicious - Member - The Prepared

Reply to: Prepping for the End of the World (as we knew it) Posted May 20, 2022

Yah, Mother Earth News… the classics : ) I think it’s been one of the bigger revelations for me (and surely others) over the last 2-3 years: the world simply may not be what I thought it was. Though, I don’t think I was willfully ignorant… perhaps, a mix of embarassingly naive and misplaced hopefulness.

Reply to: Prepping for the End of the World (as we knew it) Posted May 20, 2022

Good points. And, I believe at least part of what you’re saying is, “enjoy what you have while you have it”. True!

Reply to: Prepping for the End of the World (as we knew it) Posted May 20, 2022

Yes, thank you. “now” buying farms : /

Prepping for the End of the World (as we knew it)

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Posted May 19, 2022

Reply to: (Official Discussion) Gold, silver, and other precious metals for sane preppers Posted March 6, 2022

Good points. I’ve “done my own research” on this and Crypto recently (actually, been privy to other smarter people talking about the latter) and here’s a couple observations: 1. Crypto (any one of them) has been described as a decent place to store value. Like gold, people have decided it HAS value, so it could be a good store. Unlike gold, there are like a million crypto varieties and many last just long enough for the creator to get rich and disappear. Gold is harder to keep of course…it’s heavy and not very portable. 2. I saw one tech-bro/crypto pumper say Crypto was better than land as a store of value. Mostly, because, in his words, Crypto was more flexible (portable, could be easily broken into smaller portions for trade, etc.). However, land actually has several advantages. It also can be broken down into smaller portions for trade/sale. But, perhaps most importantly, land has value even if nobody else wants it! Even with all the restrictions on land use, you can harvest timber, grow food, build a house, etc. Will share one final tidbit, was watching a webcast recently with our financial brokerage service. The head economist was asked about crypto. He made the following points… 1. rolled his eyes 2. composed himself and admitted that the technology has great potential for payment systems, etc. 3. admitted it could be good store of value, except for the fact that there are lots of them so picking the “right one” could be challenging. 4. the risk is that eventually Central Banks will get involved. What happens to Dogecoin once the US fed establishes its own digital currency? This theory is already being tested in some countries (Japan, Cambodia, China — which backs theirs at 1:1!) Yes, it goes against the decentralized nature of crypto, BUT… it does start to reign in the security of it too (less laundering, fewer scams, etc.). With the current Ru/Uk conflict raising more awareness of shady deals, it seems only a matter of time before regulation.

Governments starting to ban/control/curtail exports…

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Posted March 6, 2022

Reply to: “Reasonable” preparations for a nuclear conflict—picking a place to live… Posted March 5, 2022

It has been suggested that Putin may be performing a bit of the “Madman Theory”… maybe, maybe not. but it has all of us talking! MSN.com compiled thoughts on nukes from Warren Buffet… some of them go back decades. seems the smartest guy(s) in the room think it’s inevitable…even if not right now. Be prepared! warren-buffett-says-nuclear-weapons-pose-the-ultimate-threat-to-humanity-here-are-his-7-gravest-warnings-about-them

Reply to: News roundup for Fri, Mar 4, 2022 Posted March 5, 2022

You know, I don’t know what I don’t know. But I am always impressed at the authors’ ability to curate news. I don’t find it to be overly heavy in one area, nor does it seem to complete miss something. Frankly, there is an abundance of people/sites that do this sort of thing wrong. I like the fact that you don’t avoid the very obvious stories, including ones from MSM. I think it’s a decent service to make sure the simple things are covered and highlighted. Pluse, I’ve found many things interspersed in the updates that I was not aware of. Bottom line, I appreciate it being general [enough] while finding some other things I was not aware of. Really… good job.

Reply to: “Reasonable” preparations for a nuclear conflict—picking a place to live… Posted March 4, 2022

Case in point, I believe it was the Deputy Mayor of the city of Mariupol was on BBC saying they had no power, no heat, no water, no wastewater treatment… the city is reportedly surrounded and now w/o those services. Semi-relatedly, I saw reports that the nuclear power facility that had been taken over (?) by Ru forces is now indicating higher than normal radiation levels. Facing either of those scenarios (failing infrastructure, nuclear power facility on the fritz) is probably more likely than all out nuclear war… it’s just that the stakes are higher if the latter occurs : /

Reply to: News roundup for Fri, Mar 4, 2022 Posted March 4, 2022

Agreed. Small description with link to source. Always appreciate the time it take to compile. Thank you!

Reply to: “Reasonable” preparations for a nuclear conflict—picking a place to live… Posted March 3, 2022

Hi. Folks make a choice about where to live based on many things (proximity to work, warm weather, water, mountains, cities, farms, blah blah blah). If you have the luxury of living anywhere, there are certainly other situations to consider (e.g. coastal flooding, wildfires, tornadoes, hurricanes, etc.) Seems nuclear attack would be pretty far down the list of reasons to move away from a place. Still, as a bit of a sidebar, I can report that a couple weeks ago I started checking my first aid kits and went on Amazon to get some ThyroSafe potassium iodide tablets. They were not then but are currently sold out and the ThyroSafe website posted this “UPDATE AS OF MARCH 2, 2022: We are currently experiencing high order volumes of Thyrosafe. Delivery of your order may be delayed. At this time, we are not taking new orders. Please check back on March 9, 2022 to check on the status to place an order.” This tells me the herd is afraid. And, you know what? The herd may be right! But, I want to make sure I don’t let the frenzy dictate my actions. If you have the means and desire and capacity to move, you should certainly do what you think is best for you and yours. I’m just saying, moving is pretty disruptive (assuming there isn’t an imminent nuclear attack), so you may want to consider the long list of other things you can do.

Reply to: Best survival and prepper books Posted February 3, 2022

Hi, Mrs. G! I have been traveling and away (from everywhere, inc this site) for quite a while. But, having just watched the HBO series ‘Station Eleven’, I came back here b/c I recalled mentioning the book and… well, read your glowing review of it also. I loved that book. It was one of the more interesting, different, and beautiful books I’ve read – of any genre. As I said, I just finished watching the series and, while it diverges quite a bit, it is equally beautiful and stunning. It is simply a fantastic story, well done by the creators and the cast. Seriously… I cannot stop thinking about it and will likely watch again. I simply cannot praise it enough. If you liked the book, I think you’ll enjoy the show. Just know, the whole series is sort of a slow burn and the first two episodes are set up, so… even slower! But the payoff is there for sure. Hope you’re well and enjoy!

Reply to: Getting started in gardening Posted July 27, 2020

Great primer for the [new] home gardener. The basics are enough to get started. And, perhaps what many people fear is failure. Gardening is a lot of trial and error… you’ve provided a nice list of tips to allay some of those fears.

Reply to: Possible food/supply shortages… Posted July 27, 2020

Excellent idea, hadn’t thought of the seasonal aspect : / thinking about non-staples for the holidays, etc., by the time you realize you don’t hvae canned pumpkin, it’ll be too late.

Reply to: Possible food/supply shortages… Posted July 24, 2020

@ Baltimore area… shortages seem to be fluid, sometimes see 2 item limits on odd things (e.g. box cereal?). Consistently, I’ve seen shortages on flour and basic cleaning products, including liquid hand soap, wipes, bleach, etc. Freezer bags (foor storage generally) also in short supply, but they typically don’t carry a ton of those, so unsurprising. Meat and dairy supplies have stabalized, at higher price. I have to say too that a store <4 miles away might be fully stocked (e.g. our Wegman’s is popular and thus, has limits…. the Food Lion? Not so popular so might have more basics) the ebb/flow seems to also be coorelated with the news being good/bad. For many weeks, most things were in stock. As the summer has progressed and news worsened, I assume folks reacted quicker and bought out a lot of staples [again]. Assuming we’re 12 months (at best?) away from normalcy, and recognizing there will be longer term affects, curious what more can/should do to ready for fall/winter.

Reply to: State of the Pandemic, June 2020, Part III: Current events and the future Posted July 1, 2020

Sharing this observation to simply note how easily it was for someone (me!) to become… complacent? In March, before there were even 5,000 *total cases* in the US, I recall prompting friends, relatives, etc. to pay attention b/c it was going to get a lot worse. It did. And then there was a momentary pause (so it seemed). But then, in the past few days/weeks it seemed like things were getting worse. Though, I hadn’t really paid a lot of attention to the numbers. So, I can’t help but feel a bit concerned that as we race past 40,000 cases *per day* that there doesn’t seem to be a lot of reaction, or worry on the part of… well, nearly anyone. This is all purely anecdotal and based on no data or information. I had sort of assumed that, of course, the virus was still out there and cases were continuing to pile up. But, wow! Considering how freaked everyone was when there were only a few thousand cases total… I mean, I feel like Jon Lovitz in League of Their Own: [Lovitz]: You’re up to 40,000 cases each day. Kit Keller : We only had 500 new daily cases in March! [Lovitz]: Well then, this would be more, wouldn’t it? I know. We went from 500 to 5,000 daily cases in a week back then. Still… 40,000 daily seems like it could get out of hand.

Reply to: Hobby farm or homestead? Posted June 22, 2020

Appreciate the feedback. Lived in NE for several years — that was 20+ years ago — so, we are targeting that region. Good point re: taking over land that’s been worked and, also, managing expectations. Not trying to be fully self-sufficient, or even approach homesteading “purity”; this is less about survival or prepping, more about a cliched mid-life change : )

Reply to: What do you think about “news” roundups on the TP blog? Posted June 19, 2020

2x a week seems about right for now. I’ve found the curated summary quite useful; staff have uncovered several articles and/or perspectives I hadn’t seen. The updates also seem appropriate where they are on the site. If some other major global event were to occur, that would be the place to communicate about it. If/when things evolve to where you need to post more frequently, you can.

Reply to: Booby trap laws: Is it illegal to go the full “Home Alone” to stop bad guys? Posted June 17, 2020

Is this the sane prepping I heard about? You know, if the Briney house were truly abandoned, and not just a place to store antique fruit jars, they could’ve demo’d the whole thing for a couple grand.

Reply to: COVID-19: key developments for Wednesday, June 10, 2020 Posted June 11, 2020

Thank you. As always, appreciate the updates. On the mask-wearing…I don’t want to dump on them or get too out of my depth, but wtf was up with CDC and WHO not suggesting masks sooner?? If 50% of the people wearing masks reduces the R < 1, that alone seems like it would’ve been a significant enough benefit to at least not discourage it. Feels like ages ago, but early April, the CDC guidance seemed to come after people were already wearing masks voluntarily.