SHTF?

[cyphr02]

you know, 100% agree with that. The day he was charged with murder there was a small riot it Oakland because that wasn't a good enough charge. what were they expecting, him to be killed on the spot? If he is found not guilt or guilt of involentary manslauter I am sure there will be another rodney king style riot.

NO KIDDING! What I love is the police cars that they distroyed... will have to be replaced, and where does that $$ come from?? The Tax Payers!!! Forget wasting time teaching kids to feel better about themselves in this great PC world we live in... lets teach critical thinking: Will these actions make anything better in your life? no? SO DON'T DO IT!!!

[cyphr02]

Never understood that... Why does anyone think the Mayans knew **** about squat? Any culture that ritualistically sacrificed other humans by cutting out their still-beating hearts, and then skinning them and having the officiating priest wear the skin around like some kind of warmup jacket, can't possible know a whole lot, much less predict the exact day of the end of the world.

Wasn't that the Aztecs?

[xrMike]

Wasn't that the Aztecs?

The Mayans did it too, although you're partially right -- the Aztecs did it on a larger scale.

[chris]

How about Feb 1st '09 when California stops paying welfare etc?

LMAO!!!!! is this state broke yet. i can't wait to hear or see on the front page of the newspaper.

California Broke Seeks FED Bailout!!!



FED Response to California no money for the state. wastefull spending caused it. cleanup your own mess.

[kajvid]

If the former BART officer is found not guilty of any of the charges the DA tries to pin on him and he walks away free...I would prepare for a little violence in the Bay Area.

+1. I live in Oakland. We have been thinking of moving to Portland. Great time to GTFO!!! This will be manslaughter at best. Acquitted could happen too. Either way, I expect nothing short of L.A. 4/29/92. We have already discussed a plan for that day that includes NOT being out and about. Break out the hi-caps and perch in the nest!!!

Earthquake is scenario #2 that we have planned out. Since the fault pretty much runs within a few hundred yards of my house we are figuring on fleeing.

[1859sharps]

I have to say... people spend way to much time worrying about the big "scary" SHTF scenarios. I suppose they are "fun" to think about in the abstract and to wonder how you will live/act if they happen.

But there are must "smaller" more common SHTF scenarios we tend to forget about.

job lose
house burns down
car stolen
medical (cancer, hart attack, stroke etc)
something preventing a self employed from working (example, broken leg/arm)

I am sure there are others. These things can and DO happen all the time. Bug out bags and arms stock piles are worthless in these everyday very real SHTF scenarios.

most of us are more then covered for the really drastic ones, collapse of government/society. But how much time have you spent thinking and preparing for life's more common SHTF? The ones that can't be solved by firepower and supply stockpiles.

I know I am no where near as prepared as I should be for these, and as age creeps up on me I think about them more.

[rayra]

I was living two blocks from the Northridge Meadows apt building when the Northridge Quake hit. I was caught wholly unprepared. No supplies to speak of, no supply of water, no gas in my vehicle. No cash on me. And on day 8 of a severed ACL.
House was shook off the foundation / cracked in half. No power for a week. No security as windows busted, doors wracked in tehir frames / locks busted. Complete crapfest.

Nowadays I have a couple months foodstuffs, a BOB kept packed. About 40gal of portable potable water and the means to obtain more. A plastic barrel out by the pool equip full of shovel, axe, crowbar, clothes, boots gloves - if I get out of my house I can tear my way back into it. Enough gas stored / rotated to fuel our vehicles sufficiently to reach our other house in the Sierras.

I expect SHTF to be, in rank order
1. another massive quake
2. food / economic riots by the mass of scum I live near
3. pandemic
4. govt authoritarianism, gun confiscations, prompting me to displace.

[MacDaddy]

D53 -- great thread!

Likely short-term SHTF - big earthquake causes something like Katrina did in either the Bay Area or LA Basin.

Likely long-term SHTF - economic collapse, poverty, famine.

Remote possibility SHTF - influenza, nuclear or biological war, Yellowstone eruption.

Not really going to happen, but I'm prepared anyway SHTF - zombie invasion, Mayan Doomsday.

Vacaville, I love your answer but would edit it slightly. Yellowstone isn't a remote possibility. It's gonna blow again. It's 40,000 years overdue. Will it blow in our lifetimes? Who knows. Maybe that's what you meant by "remote."

But the bottom line for me is that the universe is a violent, unstable, hostile, inhospitable environment. "Scrap" is constantly hitting the fan in massive ways. It's just a game of probability and statistics that keep us alive for what seems like a long time to us. At any moment, Yellowstone could blow, or a planet-killing asteroid could hit (another Chicxulub), or we could be victims of a roaming black hole, a gamma ray burst, shifting magnetic poles -- you get the idea.

I don't live life stressing about these possibilities, but should something like this occur and I'm lucky enough to survive the disaster, I also want to survive the aftermath. To me, that means keeping supplies, food, and tools. Tools would include the items necessary to protect my family and gather additional food. I'm sure you know what I mean. And it sounds to me like rayra has it right.

So I'm a when guy -- in case it wasn't obvious.

Regarding "zombies," at this point I feel compelled to recommend 28 Weeks Later. Frakkin' awesome film. Way underrated. Similar concept to I Am Legend, but MUCH better.

[BigEd925]

My definitions of SHTF include:


Canada invades

That's just about it.

We are here to take over your country, eh!