Anyone who considers, even for a moment, how interconnected and interdependent our existence has become … so full of overly-complex, over-engineered, over-automated systems driving every aspect of our increasingly fragile existence that is dependent on just-in-time inventory and shipping virtually everything we need ridiculous distances … arrives at the same inescapable conclusion: that mankind has built a house of cards.
-Murray
Would be much more interested if the worst-case scenario wasn't immediately followed by trying to sell me stuff related to the worst-case scenario. When the motivation seems to be to make money by drumming up fear in the article, it becomes hard to take it seriously.
ReplyDeleteThere is certainly a lot of "buy my book"ism in articles like that.
DeleteIt's quiet when the power is out. A man can think.
ReplyDeleteQuiet, other than the sirens, the gunshots, and, as Captain Quint put it: "ah then you hear that terrible high-pitched screamin’."
DeleteMy father-in-law was a lineman for the power and light company in a Midwestern city. Tornadoes, thunderstorms, and ice storms kept them plenty busy, but the repairs always got done in decent time, though the overtime bill was pretty big for the company. A few years back a relative who lives there mentioned how they were without power for 11 days due to an ice storm. My guess is that system reliability has deteriorated badly and manpower is lacking for some reason. Bottom line is it has gone to hell in a hand basket and probably is getting worse and not better.
ReplyDeleteYes and Yes and I'm a lineman that has worked all over this country...
DeleteI'd give it a miss as it doesn't really offer anything you can't get elsewhere for free. If everything goes to shit you won't have time to learn how to plant seeds or skin an animal, not that those skills are worth much for a society that realistically couldn't make a rapid transition to a sustainable pre-technology existence.
ReplyDeleteThe reviews all look to be the usual style - fake or no idea of the real world. The homepage text is ridiculously long which is a classic warning sign.
Amazon reviews tell the real story.
Forget it.
Having said that you'd be way better off getting books like this:
https://www.amazon.com/Modern-Survival-Manual-Surviving-Economic/dp/9870563457
First hand experience of the reality if a collapse.
Some good points, but a whole lot of scare mongering. We won't be all "road warrior" after 3 days.
ReplyDeleteIn Aug/Sep of 2008, we had tropical storm/hurricane damage. Power was out for 3 days. Then in Feb 2009, we had a major ice storm. Nearly all power was out in my county for a week. My house didn't get reconnected for 28 days. Most power lines were down either from the weight of the ice or from trees/limbs falling on them. Traveling on the roads more than a couple hundred yards required a chainsaw. Yes, that first week was rough, but stores still managed to open during daylight hours. Banks would cash checks for $100. There were lines for gas but gas was sold. We adapted and survived. Do cities become charnel houses during major emergencies, yes. So if you have any brains, you don't live in a major city.
Power generation isn't too difficult. Home standby generators are fairly cheap and common now-a-days. Now saying it wouldn't be a sh*t show for those who are unprepared as well as most businesses, but I think the stronger and more well-prepared parts of humanity would continue on through a large-scale power outage (i.e. 6 months or a year or something). When the power does come back on, there won't be a bunch of dead weight dragging the strong, skilled, and productive members of society down.
ReplyDelete"Power generation isn't too difficult." True. But when the power grid fails and you can't get gas for your emergency generator, then what? Gas stations, gas plants, they all need electricity to function. If you're by a decent-flowing river, maybe you can drive your generator with a water wheel. Or perhaps you've installed a small wind turbine spinning a generator on your country property, plus some solar cells, battery
Deletebank and inverter, plus spare parts for the inevitable failure here and there. Nobody in all our cities is prepared in any way for a power grid failure that will last months. And 99.9% of our country folks are no better off. However, Bill Gates and his ilk will be pleased, it will help our overpopulation problem.
Agreed. I'll be good for a few years. I have around 5,000 gallons of propane and only go through about 50 a month. ;)
DeleteWhen the power grids collapse - or get sabotaged - Our cities will descend into chaos. Millions are going to die and left to rot where they fall. And then there's those massive dog packs.... Millions of starving little pets that have been abandoned because they couldn't be fed. You'll be on their menu. Fun times ahead if you aren't totally prepared. And none of us are.
ReplyDeleteI tell people til I'm blue in the face if you don't have a Community of like-minded people who are prepared as well then no matter how well you are prepared, you are going to have a real hard time surviving... What do you think is going to happen when everyone around you is starving and you are looking fat and happy, you're going to be on the menu...Kenny will tell you I've been advocating to Build Communities for a long time now but it seems everyone is still to comfortable...
DeleteYessir, that you have. I've taken your advice to heart, too.
DeleteAs usual, when large parts of the country are out of power for extended periods, we see that the doom and gloom scenarios are generally overstated.
ReplyDeleteThe 1998 North American Ice storm left millions without power, some for weeks.
The December 2008 ice storm also left close to 2 million without power, again some for weeks.
In both cases the cities did not descend into an icy, snowy, cold version of Mad Max.
In the case of extended outages, real chaos may arrive. But then again, it may not. Countries have descended into civil war & lost utilities for very long periods of time, and yet have arrived at a new normal to cope in the interim and been able to rebuild afterwards.
I don't buy the fear porn myself. Not saying it will be all sweetness, light and Kumbaya, it will get difficult. The reality is no-one actually knows what will happen, until it happens.
I will keep saying this:
ReplyDeleteOne sure sign TheRulingElites are abandoning an area -- they reduce/eliminate maintenance of the infrastructure.
Roads get rutty.
Electric grid fails into brown-outs and 'rolling Black©-outs'.
Cities collapse into death-traps.
The evidence for TheRulingElites to abandon an area?
The natural resources are harder to extract (shale...) or are worsening quality ('sour' crude).
I believe the old normal is gone.
Only the adaptable can survive.
.
.
PS:
* "Avoid crowds."
I always say Avoid Useless Crowds because if you just avoid crowds then one day a crowd is going to find you and you will be alone and on the menu...
DeleteLineman,
DeleteYou are correct, and somebody as inadequate as me should always drink poison and always jump off a cliff before ever considering leaving any kind of embarrassing inadequate comment.
First Amendment to the Declaration Of Just Leave Me Alone:
* "Avoid useless crowds and cannibal slavers... unless you enjoy re-supplying, then wear gloves while foraging the stiffs."
Second Amendment:
* "Use BOLSHEVICS for practice before going after anybody serious."
Happy?
Did I say anything about you being inadequate... Everyone uses that Avoid Crowds and Remove Shirt before Ironing but if all we are doing is hiding out then we are going lose just like we are doing right now...No I'm not happy I'm tired of seeing our country go to shit because everyone just wants to be left alone so that's where they will end up alone and in a ditch somewhere...I want my kids to have a future so I'm trying to wake people up to see the need of having Community but the worse things get, the more people just want to withdraw and hunker down hoping they will get eaten last...We trying our best here in our Valley to get people organized and on the same page...
Delete