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We all have some ideas in our heads of what teotwawki we are prepping for. Some people expect economic collapse, others see an invasion as likely. Nuclear war was and is a popular scenario to prep for, and a few people are stockpiling anti-zombie ammunition. So what scenarios do you prepare for? And what scenario scared you enough to start prepping?

Personally, I fall into the "zombie hunter" camp. Well, not anymore but its how I got started. It all began with a junior year high school drafting project. We had to design a house of some sort. Other kids did condos, two stories, and a few apartment complexes. That seemed boring to me.

So I designed a Bunker.

This Bunker had all the features of a nice house, was environmentally friendly, and had a 2 ton door rated to stop a near hit from a 500lb bomb.

My teacher, a former engineer in the Marines in Vietnam, decided to teach me something about actual preparing. A few years later, here I am. I prepare mainly for an economic collapse, but also keep ready for basic societal breakdown.

And yes, I'm still ready for zombies.
 
Wow, that's a really cool story, thanks for sharing! To be honest, I'm not really prepared for anything, though I think about it all the time. I need to work on that...
 
Over the years, I don't really know that there is a single thing I could point to that drove me towards being a "prepper" (I hate that word), except that I always had a fundamental distrust in the reliability of technology and I always saw over-reliance on technology as a huge flaw in the way societies are constructed. As it stands now, if there was a major disruption in any of our major life-support systems, it would cause a cascade failure of all the other systems. For example, an interruption of the electrical grid caused by lack of maintenance, could cascade across the southwest disrupting water pumps that supply the LA area with drinking water, even if we had local sources, we have no way to pump it through treatment plants, and into existing water supply infrastructure. The same thing applies to pumping water out of the system (sewage). Without electricity, computer ordering systems would cease to function, so it would be impossible to order new parts, order more food, and tracking systems would go dark. Furthermore, existing electronic payment systems would make it impossible to pay for more supplies, replacement parts, and it would be impossible to pump/pay for gasoline if you wanted to bug out.

The funny thing about this is it pretty much happens every summer in los angeles when the grid starts to dim because too many people are running air conditioners and the infrastructure starts to explode and catch fire because of excessive load. So far the only thing we have working in our favor is that once the demand drops, the system starts to recover. A major disruption like an errant box truck driving into the DC intertie would make a trivial situation a life or death one.

LA isn't like everywhere, in fact it's dramatically outside the norm of everywhere else, it's a massive megacity that challenges every single idea put forward in Darwin's "Origin of Species". While on the one hand, that could be the punchline for a joke, instead it's where I live.

An interesting read came out recently talking about the LA riots, I found it quite interesting:
<removed broken link>
 
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Over the years, I don't really know that there is a single thing I could point to that drove me towards being a "prepper" (I hate that word), except that I always had a fundamental distrust in the reliability of technology and I always saw over-reliance on technology as a huge flaw in the way societies are constructed. As it stands now, if there was a major disruption in any of our major life-support systems, it would cause a cascade failure of all the other systems. For example, an interruption of the electrical grid caused by lack of maintenance, could cascade across the southwest disrupting water pumps that supply the LA area with drinking water, even if we had local sources, we have no way to pump it through treatment plants, and into existing water supply infrastructure. The same thing applies to pumping water out of the system (sewage). Without electricity, computer ordering systems would cease to function, so it would be impossible to order new parts, order more food, and tracking systems would go dark. Furthermore, existing electronic payment systems would make it impossible to pay for more supplies, replacement parts, and it would be impossible to pump/pay for gasoline if you wanted to bug out.

The funny thing about this is it pretty much happens every summer in los angeles when the grid starts to dim because too many people are running air conditioners and the infrastructure starts to explode and catch fire because of excessive load. So far the only thing we have working in our favor is that once the demand drops, the system starts to recover. A major disruption like an errant box truck driving into the DC intertie would make a trivial situation a life or death one.

LA isn't like everywhere, in fact it's dramatically outside the norm of everywhere else, it's a massive megacity that challenges every single idea put forward in Darwin's "Origin of Species". While on the one hand, that could be the punchline for a joke, instead it's where I live.

An interesting read came out recently talking about the LA riots, I found it quite interesting:
<removed broken link>

When I was stationed at Camp Pendelton in the 60's LA Was like a different planet. You could go a hundred miles and not run out of buildings. At home it took a hundred miles through mountains to get to the coast or the high desert.
LA to me wasnt even of earth.
I cannot even imagine carrying enough ammo to get out of that place in a shtf situation. What a nightmare scenario.
I can disappear here in 15 min. and not be seen unless its my choice.
I have tried to think about what someone there would do and can't even wrap my head around it.
God help anyone there in that scenario.
 
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Pretty isolated here on the coast, but there are thousands or residents who would be hungry in three days and looking for food. I don't plan on bugging out, so I buy ammunition, food, personal hygiene supplies, and weapons when I can. I brew beer so I have decided to bottle sterile water in 750 ml bottles, and collect as much malted grain as I can store without spoilage. I'm one step from digging a big hole in the ground for food storage, but every one of my neighbors would know about it.
 
Pretty isolated here on the coast, but there are thousands or residents who would be hungry in three days and looking for food. I don't plan on bugging out, so I buy ammunition, food, personal hygiene supplies, and weapons when I can. I brew beer so I have decided to bottle sterile water in 750 ml bottles, and collect as much malted grain as I can store without spoilage. I'm one step from digging a big hole in the ground for food storage, but every one of my neighbors would know about it.

A good beer will probably sound pretty good about that time :D
AN underground cellar pretty much stays around 40 degrees year around.
Those ice caves over in central oregon would make great food storage, but too many people know about them. The ice never melts in them.
 
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I lived in LA for about 18 years I left back in the 70's and NEVER looked back! LA is HUGE and there are two ways out:
By sea and over the mountains into the desert. Now even the desert has been turned into mini barrios so you have to be prepared to stick to the scrub and avoid roads even there. To get out quads and dirt bikes could be driven in the numerous concrete flood drainage systems and into the hills where secondary roads could get you to a safer area with water which is always the threat, either too little or too much. If I were near the coast I would grab a boat and head to one of the islands off shore, maybe sail north to OR. and start a freighter business
 

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