Active New Top (30 days) Compact Card Diet of meat needed for hunter-gather societies Bob - December 4, 2021 https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/11/211108162208.htm Good morning, This link proved interesting, at least to me. It says hunter gatherer societies were smaller than the others. Read More 7 5 MetaNews Going Off-Road, money does not equate to common sense Bill Masen - November 16, 2021 A good example of ” All The Gear, But No Idea” Big expensive truck based overland 4×4 expedition vehicle, and they chose to go cross country in the rainy season. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-59301237 Read More 5 2 MetaNews “Listening to Katrina” website: Bugging out is a tool to escape danger and then find home RS - October 27, 2021 The recent discussions about Hurricane Ida reminded me of a website I had skimmed years before called “Listening to Katrina” (see here: http://www.theplacewithnoname.com/blogs/klessons/ ). I re-read the website in full, and think it has a key idea that people here may appreciate thinking and talking about, so I made this new thread. (I did a quick search, and didn’t see too many official The Prepared contributor articles on the recovery process, aside from making sure that important documents are in the Priority #1 bag for bugging out.) The “Listening to Katrina” website is an extended read about the author’s personal experience with evacuating for Hurricane Katrina, starting the recovery process for his family, and a lot of discussion of what he learned about general emergency preparation from his experiences, listening to the experiences of others and combing through additional information available. It’s mostly the view of one person, so in addition to the news and historical records he draws from, it’s replete with anecdotes, opinions and personal color. I don’t anticipate readers here will agree with everything on the site. Instead, I want to point out the part of his discussion that struck me the most: his philosophy about the ultimate goals of preparing (especially bugging out, but also bugging in). If you would like to read it in his words, that specific page is here: http://www.theplacewithnoname.com/blogs/klessons/p/0025.html Here’s my summary of that page: the point of bugging out (and bugging in) is to… First, Safeguard your health and wealth by letting you escape from/avoid danger Second, Help you “Go Home” Third, Help you profit by using “the rebuilding as an opportunity to grow wealth” The second point is what made the biggest impression on me when I reread the website (years after first encountering it and not remembering much beyond “put information about insurance and identification into your bug out bag”). A lot of discussions around bugging out and bugging in rightly emphasize how this lets you avoid/reduce danger. But equally important is to emphasize how bugging out/in is a tool to facilitate your recovery process. Whether Getting Home is returning to your previous home, or finding/building a completely new home, the goal of bugging out/in isn’t to be bugged out/in forever, it’s a stepping stone. It’s a tool you use to safeguard your health and wealth, and to create the launching platform for Finding Home, wherever that may be. So, planning to bug out/in shouldn’t be divorced from planning to recover/Find Home. Connecting the two addresses the question “after you’ve successfully evacuated to ____/after The Event has passed, then what?” I’m adding this philosophy to the toolbox I use for evaluating my personal preparations — specifically, asking the question “will this prep also help me Get Home, wherever that may be?” Hopefully that is useful food for thought. Read More 10 6 AdviceMeta Do you practice what you prep? pint of beer - October 11, 2021 You have the gear, but do you know how to use it? Running mock disasters or using your supplies is sometimes the only way to know what you are lacking or missing. For example, can you cook that spaghetti that you have been preparing and buying extra of? You have the pasta, sauce, water, and even can cook it without electricity out on your bbq, but did you remember some spices or cheese? You may not know about it until you do it. This weekend, try out one of your preps and see what you are lacking or what you can do to make things easier on yourself. Read More 6 9 Meta Is the blog being retired? Stephen Besch - September 26, 2021 Does anyone know if the Blog portion of this site is being retired? There were 2-3 entries per week before, but nothing has been posted there for almost 2 weeks now. Hopefully it’s just the staff taking vacation time over the holidays, because the Blog was the main way I connected with and used the site. Hope everyone is staying healthy and safe. Read More 20 33 Meta Do you fish? Josh CentersContributor - August 21, 2021 We just published a guide to fishing. Do you fish? Have any tips or experiences you’d like to share? Read More 7 8 MetaSkills CNN airing short film that’s partly about TP and this community John AdamaStaff - August 12, 2021 Just wrote up details on the blog, but wanted to share here too. Premiers on CNN’s TV channel this Saturday Aug 7th. First airing at 9pm ET, second at 9pm PT. We were excited to participate in this — we got multiple of our families together and spent many days with the crew — because it was pitched as a serious look at how rational people from all walks of life are taking steps to be more self reliant. Tune in… at worst, you’ll have plenty of ways to make fun of me and others on the team 🙂 Edit: I just saw the film and it’s much better than the crappy marketing made it seem. I hate that it’s anchored around bunkers. But it starts off focusing on the “community” part of a bunker community. Then I/TP come in to say that bunkers are way down the priority list, how the community is growing and diverse, there are sane steps everyone can take without moving to a rural bunker, etc. I think CNN’s marketing dept (separate from the actual filmmakers) have this idea that they’ll hook in people with the “bunker porn” and then by the end of the show they’ve expanded their horizons. Not the approach I would take — especially anchoring the narrative around bunkers — but it’s one of the better attempts at this that I’ve seen on mainstream media. Read More 15 34 MetaNews Clarkson’s Farm, a TV show about a man learning how to start a farm Josh CentersContributor - July 23, 2021 I’m wondering if any other The Prepared readers have watched Clarkson’s Farm on Amazon Prime? If you haven’t, it’s a great show. Jeremy Clarkson, mostly known in the UK for Top Gear and other car shows, has owned a farm for years and recently decided to farm it himself. While it’s not strictly a prepping show, it touches on a lot of things of interest to preppers, like growing grain crops, raising livestock, and permaculture. Even if you can’t usually stand Clarkson, he’s in very different form here and undergoes something of a personal transformation. Read More 9 8 Meta Report from the front lines of the heatwave apocalypse matthew.Contributor - July 10, 2021 Greetings from eastern Washington state, where each of the past three days have broken all previous heat records (and it’s still June!). Today will hopefully be the first day in nearly a week where the high will not reach triple digits, but the forecast predicts high temps in the upper 90s/100s for at least the next 10 days, so we have a ways to go. We’ve had several days where the temps have reached 110+, and have seen widespread planned and unplanned blackouts. I’m sure you’ve all seen the headlines, but know the heatwave we’ve been experiencing throughout the Pacific Northwest is unprecedented. I’ll add that there is another looming disaster that I fear might push things over the edge; there is a nation-wide chlorine shortage that is hitting the west coast particularly hard. I wouldn’t be shocked if boil notices were issued soon. It’s easy to imagine how a boil notice during 110 degree weather with rolling blackouts, along with the forest-fire smoke we all know is coming, will create a downright dangerous situation. I, like many in this region, don’t have air conditioning. I’ve lived in the PNW for several decades, and other than a week or so each summer, AC simply isn’t needed and has not been a part of building plans. Our usual high temps for this time of year are in the upper 70s, so right now we’re running about 40 degrees hot. I’ve taken measures to insulate and make my 100+ year old house as efficient as possible, and when the temperature is “normal” we do quite well. We have storm windows, efficient siding, an attic fan, energy-efficient curtains and shades, etc. We have done the eco-friendly responsible thing, but it is clear that that approach is no longer sustainable if this weather persists. We really have done everything right, which is why this is so frustrating and humbling. Perhaps the biggest challenge has come from the fact that our “low” temperatures each night are only getting down to the high 70s. This all but makes the “open up and cool your house down at night” approach futile. Each day I’ve watched the interior temperature in my home rise: at 5am we’re lucky if the interior temperature is lower than 85. By 5pm the interior temperature has been reaching the upper 90s. The house is simply cooking, you can feel the heat in the floor as you walk barefoot, or in a plate that you pull from the cabinet. The house, and everything in it, is heating up and retaining that heat. Our front door has become so warped that it is nearly impossible to close and lock. The siding on a neighbors house is literally peeling off. The room temperature in our kitchen is so high that the refrigerator is running non-stop, pushing its motor harder than was ever intended. Our attic temperature is so high I’m terrified of fire. On a wider social/infrastructure scale, the electrical grid is not at all equipped to deal with the combination of heat and electrical use (hence the planned and unplanned blackouts), asphalt roads are literally cracking and buckling, and tap water is running warm and tastes terrible. My preps have helped a bit: I’m double-filtering our water and have plenty of water stored, so we should be okay on that front for a bit. I’ve covered the south and west facing windows with cheap mylar emergency blankets. It’s made the house look like a baked potato wrapped in tinfoil, but has likely kept the interior temps down a bit. We have very strategically placed fans all over the house, and have been doing all the recommended things to keep cool. We have a generator to power things if the rolling blackouts turn to days-long blackouts. But that all said, if the weather were to stay like this for several more days I suspect we’d soon have interior temps over 100, and perhaps eventually reach temps hotter than the exterior highs. It’s become very clear that air conditioning, along with an independent means to power it in case of grid failure, is a vital prep for this new world we live in. Read More 15 34 Meta A question for Californians with electric stoves/ranges Jonnie PekelnyContributor - June 18, 2021 This is another version of my question from last year (?) about cooking in a disaster scenario, but now the scenario I have in mind is much more frequently occurring. I’m currently shopping for a new (to me) gas range, or oven, whatever you call those things that have burners on top and an oven underneath. I love having a gas stove, but I know that they will be being phased out in the next few years. Here in California and probably in some other parts of the West, it’s pretty common now during fire season for the electricity to be turned off to prevent fires. This is also exactly the time when we are supposed to avoid generating sparks outside, so it’s not safe to cook on the porch with your camping stove. This has been occurring so frequently lately that it’s hardly even a disaster scenario. I’m usually unaffected by this problem because I can always light my gas range manually. (Plus I like the control a gas range gives me much more than electric). But if we are all going to be using electric ranges soon, how are we supposed to cook during fire season electrical outages? Many of you no doubt already face this problem. Would you share how you’ve dealt with it? Read More 11 12 GearMetaScenarios TP team on break the rest of June John AdamaStaff - June 10, 2021 Just letting ya’ll know that a few babies are being born over the next few weeks, so our small team is taking the rest of June off to spend time with family after this insane last year and a half. So there won’t be many new articles until July. But the twice-weekly news roundups will continue as normal, and forum moderators are still on duty. Hope you’re enjoying the start of your summer! 🙂 – John, Tom, Gideon, Carlotta, and Josh Read More 16 4 Meta How to synthesize/prioritize preparing for scenarios based on likelihood, severity, and other factors? Lowell - April 18, 2021 Some scenarios must happen, in general, more often than others. I imagine people use CPR more often than they evacuate their home and survive out of their GB/BOB. I imagine people restart their car battery more often than they use a firearm. Does anyone know of a ranking of preparedness scenarios, ordered by how statistically likely they are to happen? An additional level would be to factor in eventuality and severity. For example, saving enough funds for when you can no longer work for pay is important, but the “average” person has several years to work towards this. Being able to stop severe bleeding is something you may never need, but is extremely important if you do need it, and doesn’t take as much time or money to prepare for as other things. And of course there’s the community aspect as well. If I’m built out enough to survive a multi year emergency, but all of my neighbors are food insecure week-to-week and I don’t even have their phone numbers, that seems like a bad prep. Read More 9 15 AdviceMetaScenarios An introduction to threat modeling Matt Black - February 24, 2021 Preface This isn’t an ‘ultimate guide’ -not by any stretch of the imagination. It is a work in progress and, as I see it, the concept of threat modeling underpins all we discuss here on The Prepared’s forums. I welcome any and all comments and constructive criticisms. Okay, here we go. Here’s my conversation starter about threat modeling. An Introduction to Threat Modeling Although it has its roots in IT security, threat modeling is, at its core, the foundation for the mindset that you and I call prepping. The purpose of a threat model is to examine your preparedness by identifying assets, threats, defenses, and vulnerabilities. In short, the process answers the questions, “What am I preparing for?”, “What do I have?”, “How can I protect it? “, “What could go wrong?”, and “What am I missing, overlooking, or not seeing?”. As we identify the various aspects of threat modeling -this way of thinking and prepping- use this opportunity to re-examine your planned scenario and responses. Take this opportunity to correct any potential issues, shortcomings, or vulnerabilities. Identifying Assets Assets are people, places, property, equipment, skills, and other resources you have access to or at your disposal. An asset might the med kit you have in your GO bag; it could be the pistol you keep at your side; an asset can be a person with a specialized set of skills (eg., medical training, combat experience -who can be a member of your team or can train you); an asset could also be place such as a bug-out location, a series of fallback positions; egress routes and transportation; or assets can be your significant stockpile of rations, water, weapons, ammunition, skills; or, items for trade and barter. Identifying Threats Threats are people, places, events, or conditions that have the very real potential to impact, disrupt, obstruct, impede, undermine, injure, maim, damage, or destroy assets and objectives. Below are some sample categories and their corresponding threats, which I’ve drawn from a few of my personal models. By specifically identifying threats, we can better bolster our defenses while help us to prepare smarter, not harder. Natural: earthquakes, tsunamis, tornadoes, fire, flooding, landslide, blizzard, stellar flare, etc. Biological: injury, illness, disease, outbreak, pandemic, abuse, rape, murder Environmental: polluted resources, water scarcity, breathable air Infrastructure: electricity, water, gas, cellular communications, gps Chemical: pollution from manufacturing, plant accident/failure Socio-Economic: financial collapse, civil unrest, theft Radiological: fallout, power plant accident/failure Political: discrimination, inequity, inequality, polarization, radicalized ideologies Wartime/Insurrection: biological, chemical, & nuclear weapons, munitions, artillery, unexploded ordinance, terrorism, dirty bombs Threats EVERYWHERE Thinking about threats can be especially easy if you have a low threshold for what you might consider a threat. It can also be downright daunting -almost to the point of paralysis- if you’re not careful. Threats can be found everywhere, if you look hard enough. The trick, as it were, is to abide by the sane prepper mantra and be sane and rational. Prioritizing is additional way to mitigate a runaway list of threats. Prioritizing Threats Probably the simplest way to keep yourself sane and from being overwhelmed by all these threats is to put them into one of two basic categories: low-risk or high-risk. Some of you may decide to go with risk levels that resemble something like our current Terror Threat Levels. How you prioritize is ultimately up to you, just do it. Doing so will force you to closely examine situational reality versus possibility and probability. For example, those living on the west coast of the US (or along the ring of fire) are right to consider earthquakes, tsunami, or volcanic activity (along with the threats to life, safety, and infrastructure that come with those events) high risk threats. Although it’s not out of the realm of possibility, someone living in the middle of the US (for example) might not consider these high-risk threats. Instead, they’d likely list tornadoes. By prioritizing threats you can prioritize your preparedness and, when that threat appears, you can prioritize your response(s). What does a threat model look like? A threat model can be as simple as simple as a Word document, as complex as spreadsheet, or as visual as an illustration. In creating an actual model, not only do you get it out of your head, but you can share this information with members of your household, trusted team, or community. Below are a few examples of threat models to help familiarize you with the concept of threat modeling: [See? Even Batman has a threat model. Classic IT security threat modeling. A sample of my consolidated threat modeling spreadsheet (a perpetual work-in-progress).] That’s All I’ve Got The time you invest in developing, understanding, and evaluating your threat model(s) is time you’re investing in your own preparedness and, ultimately, your success. Read More 27 19 AdviceGearMetaScenariosSkills Community rules, moderation policies, and FAQ The Prepared - February 7, 2021 This forum is a place for anyone to talk about prepping — not for preppers to talk about anything. This forum is heavily moderated. We wish that wasn’t necessary and we’ve fought to protect free speech. But the internet can be an unkind place, especially when dealing with topics that touch survival, politics, firearms, and so on. To create the best space for the most people, we actively enforce these policies and ask for your help in creating a place you’re proud to be a part of — because everyone benefits from stronger, more prepared communities. Community rules: Be civil and kind. Follow the Golden Rule or think about “would this get me fired from my job?” Content must be directly related to preparedness. Everyone is welcome here regardless of color, orientation, nationality, and so on. That means no bigotry or other slang used to divide people. Avoid topics like politics and religion that just tend to cause worthless bickering and flame wars. No unfounded conspiracy theories or fake news. Debate is encouraged, but do it constructively, cite your facts, and debate ideas, not people. No sales or links to sales of legally-controlled items (eg. firearms). Do not advocate violence. Discussing self defense is fine. Do not out other people, post other’s private information, doxx, etc. No copyright violations, blog spam, no-value self promotion, etc. Please don’t make these kinds of repetitive posts: “I’m new here, what do I do?” “Thanks for the add!” “Are there any preppers in [state]?” “What are you prepping for?” Personal introductions without value to the community / teaching No politics Most people understand the goal: There’s plenty of other places to argue about stuff like politics, and it just distracts from why we’re all here, so let’s avoid it. But the details get tricky. Many of the risks in our world are in some way related to politics, so it’s hard to talk about preparedness without in some way referencing government and laws. For example, some local laws don’t allow people to collect rain water on their property. That’s directly related to prepping and worth talking about in the right way. Let’s look at some examples: “The US federal government didn’t handle COVID as well as other developed countries.” That’s fine because it’s factually correct and isn’t worded in a way to attack someone or their supporters. And it ties to preparedness because knowing what our government can or can’t do in an emergency is relevant. “tRrump made COVID worse.” That’s not okay. It’s a worthy debate to have in the public arena — in the way holding all of our leaders is appropriate — but it’s too subjective, likely to cause bickering, and will just distract from the prepping conversation. And leave the silly names like “Nobama” and “tRump” at the door. “I think California made a lot of bad decisions over the last decades when it comes to mitigating wildfires.” That’s fine. Even though it’s an opinion, it would ideally have some supporting evidence for the claim, and it’s worded in a way that can allow a civil debate. “Those Commiefornian libtards need to go rake some more forests if they want to have fewer wildfires.” Not okay, and would likely result in a ban. Avoiding fake news, conspiracies, and other disinformation There’s plenty of actual problems in the world — we don’t need to make it worse by adding unfounded or fake problems on top. And we certainly don’t want to aid our enemies who try to pour fuel on these fires to create even more problems within our society. We’re just as distrustful of institutions like the media and government as you are. But that doesn’t mean the tin-foil-hat person yelling in a Youtube video is correct. Sandy Hook was real. 9/11 was not an inside job. Fluoride in water is not used for mind control. FEMA is not tapping your computer to find out what supplies you have. And the Illuminati have your best interests in mind — they promise! 😉 The more outlandish a claim, the more we’ll judge if there is any dependable evidence for it. For example: “The Chinese engineered COVID-19 in a lab with strains of HIV so they could attack the West.” Maybe that’s true. We don’t know and neither do you. But we do know there is a lot of evidence against that being true, and vice versa, no real evidence supporting it is true. So until there is credible evidence — at which point we would stand alongside you and say “we should talk about this” — that’s not okay to say here. Remember folks: “Science” is not an opinion or point of view that somehow conflicts with your world-view. Science is just the search for verifiable truth. We won’t always get it right — but we will always try Feel free to ask questions or give feedback below about these policies and how we can make them better over time. Read More 30 27 Meta Prepping organization (diary / journals / to-do / lists / etc) 10 Canadian Winters - January 4, 2021 I’m fairly new to prepping though I’ve been looking at The Prepared for a while now. There’s a lot going on and a lot of data to take in, and I’m feeling a little bit overwhelmed about how to organize all of it; how to prioritize all of it. What are your ways to organize all your preps? So far I have some food and water, half constructed bug out bags, some car safety stuff. Not much for winter yet. Different things are stored in different parts of the house. My skills are also a little bit over the place. Last night I thought about some sort of Prepping Journal, something similar to Gardening Journals, but specifically for prepping. I found a website which recommended making a bullet journal, but otherwise there really isn’t much out there. I do feel like getting a hold of the organization will help me know where to focus and how to prioritize. I’m happy to hear how everyone organizes all of it. Read More 12 10 AdviceMeta Feedback and feature updates for this forum John AdamaStaff - December 20, 2020 In this thread we’ll share updates we’re making to the forum (in comments below) + it’s a good place for you to share any feedback about how we can make things better. Read More 19 18 Meta The point I wanted to make (but was cut) on this recent BBC podcast about prepping going mainstream John AdamaStaff - December 10, 2020 It’s a nice segment that went out to their worldwide audience. About 18 mins long: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3csz799, my part’s around 3:00. Another TP community member, Julie Fredrickson, also joined. EDIT to add: The podcast was popular, so they did a follow-up article with Julie and I https://www.bbc.com/news/business-55249590 There was a part of the interview that was cut for time. It wasn’t hugely insightful, but wanted to ramble the point here since it keeps getting cut from these interviews: When someone like Bill Gates says “we have major SHTF risks around disease/bioweapons and it’s important to prepare now,” we need to do a better job of listening and taking those people seriously. In that example, Gates has spent more money on trying to solve medical problems than any other individual in history. He’s abundantly qualified to make that statement. And he’s certainly smart, known to be rational, and has a track record of being right about these kinds of problems / solutions / the future. Yet people will hear someone like Gates say these warnings and dismiss it with a “hmph, so you’re a crazy prepper!” Crying wolf is a good way to lose credibility. But there’s a difference between people like Gates and someone like an actress who spouts anti-vaxxer stuff. But what’s happening is people hear one person cry wolf too many false times, then when another person cries wolf, they dismiss it and ignore who the new person is. “The last times we heard someone talk about a wolf, it wasn’t true.” Well yeah, but this is a different person, and in fact this new person crying wolf is a trusted wolf expert! A non-prepping example of this problem where people won’t let credentials override stereotypes: When Michael Phelps was “caught” smoking marijuana, people reacted with statements like “oh thats so horrible, how could he do that!” … well, maybe if the greatest athlete of all time is smoking marijuana, your stereotypes about cannabis were wrong? The evidence that the stigma was wrong is right in front of you. Dismissing the best people in society because what they say/do sounds similar to what the worst of society say/do is a recipe for disaster. This societal problem, a twist on the No True Scotsman problem, is one of the biggest meta reasons I’m pessimistic about the future — we can’t avoid massive problems if we keep ignoring the people best qualified to lead us away from / out of those problems! Another bit that was cut from the BBC interview perfectly demonstrates why people would rather put their head in the sand than face an inconvenient truth: Me: “We’re not talking about some theoretical alien invasion. These problems like worsening natural disasters and late-stage capitalism are happening right now.” BBC: “Here in the UK, someone is likely to say to you ‘cheer up love, it’ll be fine!’ A keep calm and carry on sort of thing.” Me: “That’s part of the problem!” Read More 14 8 Meta Situational awareness (digital, near real time?) Rich DCContributor - November 30, 2020 This is equal parts suggestion, question, and brainstorming – I’m looking for ideas for gathering [near real time] situational awareness. As I’ve read this site and others I get the impression that different parts of the country are experiencing things in very different ways. I see people sharing images of empty shelves in a store on the other side of the country but down the street things seem “normal.” I realize a lot of online content is more anecdote and less data but I also figure that with a lot of anecdotes you might be able to tease out some data/trends. One idea (not my favorite) is twitter, there are some interesting advanced searches. For instance if I want to see tweets within 50 miles of Washington DC, this search term seems to work: near:”38.901862736383556,-77.0102291245727″ within:50.07mi https://twitter.com/search?q=near%3A%2238.901862736383556%2C-77.0102291245727%22%20within%3A50.07mi&src=typed_query likewise if I want to search for recent tweets about “groceries” or “grocery store” this seems to work (and would perhaps work through the end of the year?) this search string appears to work: (groceries OR grocery store) until:2020-12-31 since:2020-11-15 -filter:replies https://twitter.com/search?q=(groceries%20OR%20grocery%20store)%20until%3A2020-12-31%20since%3A2020-11-15%20-filter%3Areplies&src=typed_query It seems I can combine these manually, too: (groceries OR grocery store) until:2020-12-31 since:2020-11-15 -filter:replies near:”38.901862736383556,-77.0102291245727″ within:50.07mi https://twitter.com/search?q=(groceries%20OR%20grocery%20store)%20until%3A2020-12-31%20since%3A2020-11-15%20-filter%3Areplies%20near%3A%2238.901862736383556%2C-77.0102291245727%22%20within%3A50.07mi&src=typed_query I feel like with a few saved search strings you could search your area for recent activity at various distances. You still have to sift through random people on twitter but maybe there are more filters/tips I’m not aware of that others could share. My only other thoughts on “real time awareness” are things like crime maps, however these often lack context (trends over time, comparisons, etc) so its hard to know what a “normal” amount of crime looks like. These also tend to be specific to certain areas and each area may have different reporting parameters making it hard to gauge changes between jurisdictions. https://www.crimemapping.com Not sure how many tech/code savvy people are on here, but this was inspired by a surge in ‘bots’ to scrape retail websites for available stock of PC video cards. I thought it would be neat to scrape data from retailers by store for stock of things like toilet paper or other “in demand” items to get a sense of where demand was spiking, but thats probably a bit niche and beyond my coding skills. Any other ideas, either different resources or tips for refining twitter searches? Read More 16 6 AdviceMeta Submissions from The Firearm Blog’s “Build of the Week” contest using TP’s kit builder Tom RaderStaff - October 23, 2020 I used to work over at The Firearm Blog, which focuses on “firearms not politics.” They just relaunched a popular contest where people submit builds related to firearms using TP’s kit builder https://theprepared.com/kits/ There’s a submission published on a weekly basis (when there is a set of four queued up), and eventually those submissions will compete to crown an overall winner. I’ll share the submissions here in case anyone’s interested! Contest info if you want to enter: https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2020/09/18/build-of-the-week/ Read More 15 4 Meta Forum discount code for our new video course on blade/knife sharpening John AdamaStaff - October 12, 2020 To say thanks for being in the forum, use code FORUM33 before October 16th 2020 to get 33% off the first video course: https://theprepared.com/courses That’s only $10 for 5 hours of content, lifetime access, and free course upgrades. The course is equivalent to what you’d get at an in-person weekend course, but specifically geared towards modern preppers. Trailer, lesson plan, and instructor info on the course details page: https://theprepared.com/courses/knife-sharpening-maintenance/ Read More 12 1 Meta Changelog/recent updates section Mar Tam - September 3, 2020 Hi folks, Quick question: is there anything along the lines of a “most recently updated” list on this wonderful site? I’d really love a way to quickly check which new articles have been posted and which old articles have been updated, especially as it’s unlikely I’ll dive into deeper rereads of gear reviews for stuff I’ve already purchased/practiced using. I’m not sure if this is a very technically challenging thing to accomplish (or if it already exists and I just can’t find it!) but I’d really love to see it. If an example is helpful, I’ll see if I can link one from a site that already has something like that. It’d just be very helpful in terms of keeping up-to-date! I do already receive the newsletter, though that isn’t quite what I’m looking for. Thanks! Read More 20 3 Meta Where is the hurricane/fire coverage? hbic - August 10, 2020 I’ve been kind of surprised to not see even mentions of recent natural disasters on the blog or the forum. There are millions without power due to Tropical Storm Isaias right now and thousands were evacuated from the Apple Fire this weekend, and both of those seasons are just starting. Would love to see some new content geared towards preparing for hurricanes & wildfires, particularly with COVID potentially complicating evacuation plans. Thoughts? Read More 11 3 Meta Pop culture prepping (not the crazy kind) North Coast - August 8, 2020 Any sane prepper-oriented podcasts/books/other media people have found useful and entertainig? Not so much subject matter how-to guides, I’m thinking more conceptual, scenario-driven or narrative-driven fiction (or nonfiction). I know the site did a round up of movies a while back. I found a couple new ones that way (and saw a couple I absolutely could not make it through–I’m not in it for the apocolypse long haul!) A few other things that come to mind are: -The Big One podcast from KPCC. https://www.npr.org/podcasts/674580962/the-big-one-your-survival-guide This actually is sort of a how-to guide, but interspersed with a speculative scenario and interviews with scientists and experts. I don’t live anywhere near earthquake territory, but I thought it was really interesting! -My Side of the Mountain book by Elizabeth Criaghead George. I loved this book as a kid and I recently read it with my first grader, and now he is very into learning how to make fire, live in the wilderness, etc. Get em while they’re young, right? -Pagami Creek Fire Entrapments — Facilitated Learning Analysis, published by the US Forest Service after a 2011 forest fire in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb5371477.pdf&nbsp; I have spent a lot of time paddling and camping in the Boundary Waters and I found this report fascinating. It’s mostly a tick tock of the Forest Service’s emergency-response actions, but it is really well written. As part of that response involved interacting with campers near the impacted area it really got me thinking about how I would react in that situation. There’s also a 30 minute documentary with interviews with the rangers you can find on Youtube (search Pagami Fire from user WildlandFireLLC). I haven’t looked but I bet similar reports exist for other fires in other regions. Outside Magazine also had a really incredible piece about this fire from the perspective of campers https://www.outsideonline.com/1914461/sky-burning-caught-pagami-creek-fire?page=all Any other suggestions? Read More 18 10 MetaScenarios What do you think about “news” roundups on the TP blog? Jon StokesStaff - July 18, 2020 I’m Jon, editor of the TP blog. We try to keep general news off of The Prepared. But there were times, like with COVID (where we were one of the first in the West to ring the alarm bells about it), where it seems worthy to talk about news in a prepping context. We’re trying to figure out where the balance is. How much “news” do you want? We’re planning to reduce the COVID “Key Developments” posts to about twice a week, but I wanted to take the forum’s temperature on this. We don’t (yet) have polling support in here, but if we did I’d post a poll with the following options: Reduce COVID key developments posts to twice a week Eliminate these link-dump posts altogether Turn Key Developments into a generic prepping link-dump post that includes non-COVID news, interesting gear finds, etc. Thoughts or feedback? Other alternatives? Read More 17 13 Meta < Prev 1 2 3 Next > Recently Active Fifth National Climate Assessment and Being Prepared - November 20, 2023Framework for Prepping - October 3, 2023Prepper Chat Night – Friday March 17 - April 2, 2023How to donate to The Prepared? and Happy New Year!!! - February 25, 2023What was the catalyst that compelled you to begin prepping? - December 12, 2022 RULES This forum is heavily moderated to keep things valuable to as many people as possible. Full community policies are here. The basics: 1. Be nice to each other. 2. Stay focused on prepping. 3. Avoid politics, religion, and other arguments. 4. No unfounded conspiracies, fake news, etc. 5. Debate ideas, not people. FILTER Show all Advice Gear Meta News Scenarios Skills

Diet of meat needed for hunter-gather societies

Bob - December 4, 2021

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/11/211108162208.htm

Good morning,

This link proved interesting, at least to me.

It says hunter gatherer societies were smaller than the others.

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Going Off-Road, money does not equate to common sense

Bill Masen - November 16, 2021

A good example of ” All The Gear, But No Idea”   Big expensive truck based overland 4×4 expedition vehicle, and they chose to go cross country in the rainy season.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-59301237

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“Listening to Katrina” website: Bugging out is a tool to escape danger and then find home

RS - October 27, 2021

The recent discussions about Hurricane Ida reminded me of a website I had skimmed years before called “Listening to Katrina” (see here: http://www.theplacewithnoname.com/blogs/klessons/ ). I re-read the website in full, and think it has a key idea that people here may appreciate thinking and talking about, so I made this new thread.

(I did a quick search, and didn’t see too many official The Prepared contributor articles on the recovery process, aside from making sure that important documents are in the Priority #1 bag for bugging out.)

The “Listening to Katrina” website is an extended read about the author’s personal experience with evacuating for Hurricane Katrina, starting the recovery process for his family, and a lot of discussion of what he learned about general emergency preparation from his experiences, listening to the experiences of others and combing through additional information available. It’s mostly the view of one person, so in addition to the news and historical records he draws from, it’s replete with anecdotes, opinions and personal color. I don’t anticipate readers here will agree with everything on the site.

Instead, I want to point out the part of his discussion that struck me the most: his philosophy about the ultimate goals of preparing (especially bugging out, but also bugging in). If you would like to read it in his words, that specific page is here: http://www.theplacewithnoname.com/blogs/klessons/p/0025.html 

Here’s my summary of that page: the point of bugging out (and bugging in) is to…

First, Safeguard your health and wealth by letting you escape from/avoid danger

Second, Help you “Go Home”

Third, Help you profit by using “the rebuilding as an opportunity to grow wealth”

The second point is what made the biggest impression on me when I reread the website (years after first encountering it and not remembering much beyond “put information about insurance and identification into your bug out bag”). A lot of discussions around bugging out and bugging in rightly emphasize how this lets you avoid/reduce danger. But equally important is to emphasize how bugging out/in is a tool to facilitate your recovery process.

Whether Getting Home is returning to your previous home, or finding/building a completely new home, the goal of bugging out/in isn’t to be bugged out/in forever, it’s a stepping stone. It’s a tool you use to safeguard your health and wealth, and to create the launching platform for Finding Home, wherever that may be. So, planning to bug out/in shouldn’t be divorced from planning to recover/Find Home. Connecting the two addresses the question “after you’ve successfully evacuated to ____/after The Event has passed, then what?”

I’m adding this philosophy to the toolbox I use for evaluating my personal preparations — specifically, asking the question “will this prep also help me Get Home, wherever that may be?” Hopefully that is useful food for thought.

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Do you practice what you prep?

pint of beer - October 11, 2021

You have the gear, but do you know how to use it? Running mock disasters or using your supplies is sometimes the only way to know what you are lacking or missing.

For example, can you cook that spaghetti that you have been preparing and buying extra of? You have the pasta, sauce, water, and even can cook it without electricity out on your bbq, but did you remember some spices or cheese? You may not know about it until you do it.

This weekend, try out one of your preps and see what you are lacking or what you can do to make things easier on yourself. 

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Is the blog being retired?

Stephen Besch - September 26, 2021

Does anyone know if the Blog portion of this site is being retired?  There were 2-3 entries per week before, but nothing has been posted there for almost 2 weeks now.  Hopefully it’s just the staff taking vacation time over the holidays, because the Blog was the main way I connected with and used the site.  Hope everyone is staying healthy and safe.

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Do you fish?

Josh CentersContributor - August 21, 2021

We just published a guide to fishing.

Do you fish? Have any tips or experiences you’d like to share?

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CNN airing short film that’s partly about TP and this community

John AdamaStaff - August 12, 2021

Just wrote up details on the blog, but wanted to share here too. Premiers on CNN’s TV channel this Saturday Aug 7th. First airing at 9pm ET, second at 9pm PT.

We were excited to participate in this — we got multiple of our families together and spent many days with the crew — because it was pitched as a serious look at how rational people from all walks of life are taking steps to be more self reliant. 

Tune in… at worst, you’ll have plenty of ways to make fun of me and others on the team 🙂

Edit: I just saw the film and it’s much better than the crappy marketing made it seem. I hate that it’s anchored around bunkers. But it starts off focusing on the “community” part of a bunker community. Then I/TP come in to say that bunkers are way down the priority list, how the community is growing and diverse, there are sane steps everyone can take without moving to a rural bunker, etc.

I think CNN’s marketing dept (separate from the actual filmmakers) have this idea that they’ll hook in people with the “bunker porn” and then by the end of the show they’ve expanded their horizons. Not the approach I would take — especially anchoring the narrative around bunkers — but it’s one of the better attempts at this that I’ve seen on mainstream media.

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Clarkson’s Farm, a TV show about a man learning how to start a farm

Josh CentersContributor - July 23, 2021

I’m wondering if any other The Prepared readers have watched Clarkson’s Farm on Amazon Prime? If you haven’t, it’s a great show. Jeremy Clarkson, mostly known in the UK for Top Gear and other car shows, has owned a farm for years and recently decided to farm it himself.

While it’s not strictly a prepping show, it touches on a lot of things of interest to preppers, like growing grain crops, raising livestock, and permaculture. Even if you can’t usually stand Clarkson, he’s in very different form here and undergoes something of a personal transformation.

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Report from the front lines of the heatwave apocalypse

matthew.Contributor - July 10, 2021

Greetings from eastern Washington state, where each of the past three days have broken all previous heat records (and it’s still June!).  Today will hopefully be the first day in nearly a week where the high will not reach triple digits, but the forecast predicts high temps in the upper 90s/100s for at least the next 10 days, so we have a ways to go.  We’ve had several days where the temps have reached 110+, and have seen widespread planned and unplanned blackouts.  I’m sure you’ve all seen the headlines, but know the heatwave we’ve been experiencing throughout the Pacific Northwest is unprecedented.  I’ll add that there is another looming disaster that I fear might push things over the edge; there is a nation-wide chlorine shortage that is hitting the west coast particularly hard.  I wouldn’t be shocked if boil notices were issued soon.  It’s easy to imagine how a boil notice during 110 degree weather with rolling blackouts, along with the forest-fire smoke we all know is coming, will create a downright dangerous situation.

I, like many in this region, don’t have air conditioning.  I’ve lived in the PNW for several decades, and other than a week or so each summer, AC simply isn’t needed and has not been a part of building plans.  Our usual high temps for this time of year are in the upper 70s, so right now we’re running about 40 degrees hot.  I’ve taken measures to insulate and make my 100+ year old house as efficient as possible, and when the temperature is “normal” we do quite well.  We have storm windows, efficient siding, an attic fan, energy-efficient curtains and shades, etc.  We have done the eco-friendly responsible thing, but it is clear that that approach is no longer sustainable if this weather persists.  We really have done everything right, which is why this is so frustrating and humbling.

Perhaps the biggest challenge has come from the fact that our “low” temperatures each night are only getting down to the high 70s.  This all but makes the “open up and cool your house down at night” approach futile.  Each day I’ve watched the interior temperature in my home rise: at 5am we’re lucky if the interior temperature is lower than 85.  By 5pm the interior temperature has been reaching the upper 90s.  The house is simply cooking, you can feel the heat in the floor as you walk barefoot, or in a plate that you pull from the cabinet.  The house, and everything in it, is heating up and retaining that heat. Our front door has become so warped that it is nearly impossible to close and lock.  The siding on a neighbors house is literally peeling off.  The room temperature in our kitchen is so high that the refrigerator is running non-stop, pushing its motor harder than was ever intended. Our attic temperature is so high I’m terrified of fire.  On a wider social/infrastructure scale, the electrical grid is not at all equipped to deal with the combination of heat and electrical use (hence the planned and unplanned blackouts), asphalt roads are literally cracking and buckling, and tap water is running warm and tastes terrible.

My preps have helped a bit: I’m double-filtering our water and have plenty of water stored, so we should be okay on that front for a bit.  I’ve covered the south and west facing windows with cheap mylar emergency blankets.  It’s made the house look like a baked potato wrapped in tinfoil, but has likely kept the interior temps down a bit.  We have very strategically placed fans all over the house, and have been doing all the recommended things to keep cool.  We have a generator to power things if the rolling blackouts turn to days-long blackouts.  But that all said, if the weather were to stay like this for several more days I suspect we’d soon have interior temps over 100, and perhaps eventually reach temps hotter than the exterior highs.  It’s become very clear that air conditioning, along with an independent means to power it in case of grid failure, is a vital prep for this new world we live in.

 

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A question for Californians with electric stoves/ranges

Jonnie PekelnyContributor - June 18, 2021

This is another version of my question from last year (?) about cooking in a disaster scenario, but now the scenario I have in mind is much more frequently occurring. I’m currently shopping for a new (to me) gas range, or oven, whatever you call those things that have burners on top and an oven underneath. I love having a gas stove, but I know that they will be being phased out in the next few years. Here in California and probably in some other parts of the West, it’s pretty common now during fire season for the electricity to be turned off to prevent fires. This is also exactly the time when we are supposed to avoid generating sparks outside, so it’s not safe to cook on the porch with your camping stove. 

This has been occurring so frequently lately that it’s hardly even a disaster scenario. I’m usually unaffected by this problem because I can always light my gas range manually. (Plus I like the control a gas range gives me much more than electric). But if we are all going to be using electric ranges soon, how are we supposed to cook during fire season electrical outages? Many of you no doubt already face this problem. Would you share how you’ve dealt with it?

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TP team on break the rest of June

John AdamaStaff - June 10, 2021

Just letting ya’ll know that a few babies are being born over the next few weeks, so our small team is taking the rest of June off to spend time with family after this insane last year and a half.

So there won’t be many new articles until July.

But the twice-weekly news roundups will continue as normal, and forum moderators are still on duty.

Hope you’re enjoying the start of your summer! 🙂

– John, Tom, Gideon, Carlotta, and Josh

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How to synthesize/prioritize preparing for scenarios based on likelihood, severity, and other factors?

Lowell - April 18, 2021

Some scenarios must happen, in general, more often than others. I imagine people use CPR more often than they evacuate their home and survive out of their GB/BOB. I imagine people restart their car battery more often than they use a firearm.

Does anyone know of a ranking of preparedness scenarios, ordered by how statistically likely they are to happen?

An additional level would be to factor in eventuality and severity. For example, saving enough funds for when you can no longer work for pay is important, but the “average” person has several years to work towards this. Being able to stop severe bleeding is something you may never need, but is extremely important if you do need it, and doesn’t take as much time or money to prepare for as other things.

And of course there’s the community aspect as well. If I’m built out enough to survive a multi year emergency, but all of my neighbors are food insecure week-to-week and I don’t even have their phone numbers, that seems like a bad prep. 

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An introduction to threat modeling

Matt Black - February 24, 2021

Preface

This isn’t an ‘ultimate guide’ -not by any stretch of the imagination. It is a work in progress and, as I see it, the concept of threat modeling underpins all we discuss here on The Prepared’s forums. I welcome any and all comments and constructive criticisms. Okay, here we go. Here’s my conversation starter about threat modeling.

An Introduction to Threat Modeling

Although it has its roots in IT security, threat modeling is, at its core, the foundation for the mindset that you and I call prepping.

The purpose of a threat model is to examine your preparedness by identifying assets, threats, defenses, and vulnerabilities. In short, the process answers the questions, “What am I preparing for?”, “What do I have?”, “How can I protect it? “, “What could go wrong?”, and “What am I missing, overlooking, or not seeing?”.

As we identify the various aspects of threat modeling -this way of thinking and prepping- use this opportunity to re-examine your planned scenario and responses. Take this opportunity to correct any potential issues, shortcomings, or vulnerabilities.

Identifying Assets

Assets are people, places, property, equipment, skills, and other resources you have access to or at your disposal. An asset might the med kit you have in your GO bag; it could be the pistol you keep at your side; an asset can be a person with a specialized set of skills (eg., medical training, combat experience -who can be a member of your team or can train you); an asset could also be place such as a bug-out location, a series of fallback positions; egress routes and transportation; or assets can be your significant stockpile of rations, water, weapons, ammunition, skills; or, items for trade and barter.

Identifying Threats

Threats are people, places, events, or conditions that have the very real potential to impact, disrupt, obstruct, impede, undermine, injure, maim, damage, or destroy assets and objectives. Below are some sample categories and their corresponding threats, which I’ve drawn from a few of my personal models. By specifically identifying threats, we can better bolster our defenses while help us to prepare smarter, not harder.

Natural: earthquakes, tsunamis, tornadoes, fire, flooding, landslide, blizzard, stellar flare, etc. Biological: injury, illness, disease, outbreak, pandemic, abuse, rape, murder Environmental: polluted resources, water scarcity, breathable air Infrastructure: electricity, water, gas, cellular communications, gps Chemical: pollution from manufacturing, plant accident/failure Socio-Economic: financial collapse, civil unrest, theft Radiological: fallout, power plant accident/failure Political: discrimination, inequity, inequality, polarization, radicalized ideologies Wartime/Insurrection: biological, chemical, & nuclear weapons, munitions, artillery, unexploded ordinance, terrorism, dirty bombs

Threats EVERYWHERE

Thinking about threats can be especially easy if you have a low threshold for what you might consider a threat. It can also be downright daunting -almost to the point of paralysis- if you’re not careful. Threats can be found everywhere, if you look hard enough. The trick, as it were, is to abide by the sane prepper mantra and be sane and rational. Prioritizing is additional way to mitigate a runaway list of threats.

Prioritizing Threats

Probably the simplest way to keep yourself sane and from being overwhelmed by all these threats is to put them into one of two basic categories: low-risk or high-risk. Some of you may decide to go with risk levels that resemble something like our current Terror Threat Levels. How you prioritize is ultimately up to you, just do it. Doing so will force you to closely examine situational reality versus possibility and probability.

For example, those living on the west coast of the US (or along the ring of fire) are right to consider earthquakes, tsunami, or volcanic activity (along with the threats to life, safety, and infrastructure that come with those events) high risk threats. Although it’s not out of the realm of possibility, someone living in the middle of the US (for example) might not consider these high-risk threats. Instead, they’d likely list tornadoes.

By prioritizing threats you can prioritize your preparedness and, when that threat appears, you can prioritize your response(s).

What does a threat model look like?

A threat model can be as simple as simple as a Word document, as complex as spreadsheet, or as visual as an illustration. In creating an actual model, not only do you get it out of your head, but you can share this information with members of your household, trusted team, or community.

Below are a few examples of threat models to help familiarize you with the concept of threat modeling:

[See? Even Batman has a threat model. Classic IT security threat modeling. A sample of my consolidated threat modeling spreadsheet (a perpetual work-in-progress).]

That’s All I’ve Got

The time you invest in developing, understanding, and evaluating your threat model(s) is time you’re investing in your own preparedness and, ultimately, your success.

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Community rules, moderation policies, and FAQ

The Prepared - February 7, 2021

This forum is a place for anyone to talk about prepping — not for preppers to talk about anything.

This forum is heavily moderated. We wish that wasn’t necessary and we’ve fought to protect free speech. But the internet can be an unkind place, especially when dealing with topics that touch survival, politics, firearms, and so on.

To create the best space for the most people, we actively enforce these policies and ask for your help in creating a place you’re proud to be a part of — because everyone benefits from stronger, more prepared communities.

Community rules:

Be civil and kind. Follow the Golden Rule or think about “would this get me fired from my job?” Content must be directly related to preparedness. Everyone is welcome here regardless of color, orientation, nationality, and so on. That means no bigotry or other slang used to divide people. Avoid topics like politics and religion that just tend to cause worthless bickering and flame wars. No unfounded conspiracy theories or fake news. Debate is encouraged, but do it constructively, cite your facts, and debate ideas, not people. No sales or links to sales of legally-controlled items (eg. firearms). Do not advocate violence. Discussing self defense is fine. Do not out other people, post other’s private information, doxx, etc. No copyright violations, blog spam, no-value self promotion, etc.

Please don’t make these kinds of repetitive posts:

“I’m new here, what do I do?” “Thanks for the add!” “Are there any preppers in [state]?” “What are you prepping for?” Personal introductions without value to the community / teaching

No politics

Most people understand the goal: There’s plenty of other places to argue about stuff like politics, and it just distracts from why we’re all here, so let’s avoid it.

But the details get tricky. Many of the risks in our world are in some way related to politics, so it’s hard to talk about preparedness without in some way referencing government and laws.

For example, some local laws don’t allow people to collect rain water on their property. That’s directly related to prepping and worth talking about in the right way.

Let’s look at some examples:

“The US federal government didn’t handle COVID as well as other developed countries.”

That’s fine because it’s factually correct and isn’t worded in a way to attack someone or their supporters. And it ties to preparedness because knowing what our government can or can’t do in an emergency is relevant.

“tRrump made COVID worse.”

That’s not okay. It’s a worthy debate to have in the public arena — in the way holding all of our leaders is appropriate — but it’s too subjective, likely to cause bickering, and will just distract from the prepping conversation. And leave the silly names like “Nobama” and “tRump” at the door.

“I think California made a lot of bad decisions over the last decades when it comes to mitigating wildfires.”

That’s fine. Even though it’s an opinion, it would ideally have some supporting evidence for the claim, and it’s worded in a way that can allow a civil debate.

“Those Commiefornian libtards need to go rake some more forests if they want to have fewer wildfires.” 

Not okay, and would likely result in a ban.

Avoiding fake news, conspiracies, and other disinformation

There’s plenty of actual problems in the world — we don’t need to make it worse by adding unfounded or fake problems on top. And we certainly don’t want to aid our enemies who try to pour fuel on these fires to create even more problems within our society.

We’re just as distrustful of institutions like the media and government as you are. But that doesn’t mean the tin-foil-hat person yelling in a Youtube video is correct.

Sandy Hook was real. 9/11 was not an inside job. Fluoride in water is not used for mind control. FEMA is not tapping your computer to find out what supplies you have. And the Illuminati have your best interests in mind — they promise! 😉

The more outlandish a claim, the more we’ll judge if there is any dependable evidence for it. For example:

“The Chinese engineered COVID-19 in a lab with strains of HIV so they could attack the West.”

Maybe that’s true. We don’t know and neither do you. But we do know there is a lot of evidence against that being true, and vice versa, no real evidence supporting it is true. So until there is credible evidence — at which point we would stand alongside you and say “we should talk about this” — that’s not okay to say here.

Remember folks: “Science” is not an opinion or point of view that somehow conflicts with your world-view. Science is just the search for verifiable truth.

We won’t always get it right — but we will always try

Feel free to ask questions or give feedback below about these policies and how we can make them better over time.

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Prepping organization (diary / journals / to-do / lists / etc)

10 Canadian Winters - January 4, 2021

I’m fairly new to prepping though I’ve been looking at The Prepared for a while now. There’s a lot going on and a lot of data to take in, and I’m feeling a little bit overwhelmed about how to organize all of it; how to prioritize all of it.

What are your ways to organize all your preps? So far I have some food and water, half constructed bug out bags, some car safety stuff. Not much for winter yet. Different things are stored in different parts of the house. My skills are also a little bit over the place.

Last night I thought about some sort of Prepping Journal, something similar to Gardening Journals, but specifically for prepping. I found a website which recommended making a bullet journal, but otherwise there really isn’t much out there.

I do feel like getting a hold of the organization will help me know where to focus and how to prioritize. I’m happy to hear how everyone organizes all of it.

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Feedback and feature updates for this forum

John AdamaStaff - December 20, 2020

In this thread we’ll share updates we’re making to the forum (in comments below) + it’s a good place for you to share any feedback about how we can make things better.

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The point I wanted to make (but was cut) on this recent BBC podcast about prepping going mainstream

John AdamaStaff - December 10, 2020

It’s a nice segment that went out to their worldwide audience. About 18 mins long: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3csz799, my part’s around 3:00. Another TP community member, Julie Fredrickson, also joined.

EDIT to add: The podcast was popular, so they did a follow-up article with Julie and I https://www.bbc.com/news/business-55249590

There was a part of the interview that was cut for time. It wasn’t hugely insightful, but wanted to ramble the point here since it keeps getting cut from these interviews: 

When someone like Bill Gates says “we have major SHTF risks around disease/bioweapons and it’s important to prepare now,” we need to do a better job of listening and taking those people seriously.

In that example, Gates has spent more money on trying to solve medical problems than any other individual in history. He’s abundantly qualified to make that statement. And he’s certainly smart, known to be rational, and has a track record of being right about these kinds of problems / solutions / the future. 

Yet people will hear someone like Gates say these warnings and dismiss it with a “hmph, so you’re a crazy prepper!”

Crying wolf is a good way to lose credibility. But there’s a difference between people like Gates and someone like an actress who spouts anti-vaxxer stuff. But what’s happening is people hear one person cry wolf too many false times, then when another person cries wolf, they dismiss it and ignore who the new person is. “The last times we heard someone talk about a wolf, it wasn’t true.” Well yeah, but this is a different person, and in fact this new person crying wolf is a trusted wolf expert!

A non-prepping example of this problem where people won’t let credentials override stereotypes: When Michael Phelps was “caught” smoking marijuana, people reacted with statements like “oh thats so horrible, how could he do that!” 

… well, maybe if the greatest athlete of all time is smoking marijuana, your stereotypes about cannabis were wrong? The evidence that the stigma was wrong is right in front of you.

Dismissing the best people in society because what they say/do sounds similar to what the worst of society say/do is a recipe for disaster. 

This societal problem, a twist on the No True Scotsman problem, is one of the biggest meta reasons I’m pessimistic about the future — we can’t avoid massive problems if we keep ignoring the people best qualified to lead us away from / out of those problems! 

Another bit that was cut from the BBC interview perfectly demonstrates why people would rather put their head in the sand than face an inconvenient truth:

Me: “We’re not talking about some theoretical alien invasion. These problems like worsening natural disasters and late-stage capitalism are happening right now.”

BBC: “Here in the UK, someone is likely to say to you ‘cheer up love, it’ll be fine!’ A keep calm and carry on sort of thing.”

Me: “That’s part of the problem!”

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Situational awareness (digital, near real time?)

Rich DCContributor - November 30, 2020

This is equal parts suggestion, question, and brainstorming – I’m looking for ideas for gathering [near real time] situational awareness.

As I’ve read this site and others I get the impression that different parts of the country are experiencing things in very different ways.  I see people sharing images of empty shelves in a store on the other side of the country but down the street things seem “normal.”  I realize a lot of online content is more anecdote and less data but I also figure that with a lot of anecdotes you might be able to tease out some data/trends.

One idea (not my favorite) is twitter, there are some interesting advanced searches.  

For instance if I want to see tweets within 50 miles of Washington DC, this search term seems to work:

near:”38.901862736383556,-77.0102291245727″ within:50.07mi

https://twitter.com/search?q=near%3A%2238.901862736383556%2C-77.0102291245727%22%20within%3A50.07mi&src=typed_query

likewise if I want to search for recent tweets about “groceries” or “grocery store” this seems to work (and would perhaps work through the end of the year?) this search string appears to work:

(groceries OR grocery store) until:2020-12-31 since:2020-11-15 -filter:replies

https://twitter.com/search?q=(groceries%20OR%20grocery%20store)%20until%3A2020-12-31%20since%3A2020-11-15%20-filter%3Areplies&src=typed_query

It seems I can combine these manually, too:

(groceries OR grocery store) until:2020-12-31 since:2020-11-15 -filter:replies near:”38.901862736383556,-77.0102291245727″ within:50.07mi

https://twitter.com/search?q=(groceries%20OR%20grocery%20store)%20until%3A2020-12-31%20since%3A2020-11-15%20-filter%3Areplies%20near%3A%2238.901862736383556%2C-77.0102291245727%22%20within%3A50.07mi&src=typed_query

I feel like with a few saved search strings you could search your area for recent activity at various distances.  You still have to sift through random people on twitter but maybe there are more filters/tips I’m not aware of that others could share.

My only other thoughts on “real time awareness” are things like crime maps, however these often lack context (trends over time, comparisons, etc) so its hard to know what a “normal” amount of crime looks like.  These also tend to be specific to certain areas and each area may have different reporting parameters making it hard to gauge changes between jurisdictions.

https://www.crimemapping.com

Not sure how many tech/code savvy people are on here, but this was inspired by a surge in ‘bots’ to scrape retail websites for available stock of PC video cards.  I thought it would be neat to scrape data from retailers by store for stock of things like toilet paper or other “in demand” items to get a sense of where demand was spiking, but thats probably a bit niche and beyond my coding skills.

Any other ideas, either different resources or tips for refining twitter searches?

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Submissions from The Firearm Blog’s “Build of the Week” contest using TP’s kit builder

Tom RaderStaff - October 23, 2020

I used to work over at The Firearm Blog, which focuses on “firearms not politics.” They just relaunched a popular contest where people submit builds related to firearms using TP’s kit builder https://theprepared.com/kits/

There’s a submission published on a weekly basis (when there is a set of four queued up), and eventually those submissions will compete to crown an overall winner.  I’ll share the submissions here in case anyone’s interested!

Contest info if you want to enter: https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2020/09/18/build-of-the-week/

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Forum discount code for our new video course on blade/knife sharpening

John AdamaStaff - October 12, 2020

To say thanks for being in the forum, use code FORUM33 before October 16th 2020 to get 33% off the first video course: https://theprepared.com/courses

That’s only $10 for 5 hours of content, lifetime access, and free course upgrades. The course is equivalent to what you’d get at an in-person weekend course, but specifically geared towards modern preppers. 

Trailer, lesson plan, and instructor info on the course details page: https://theprepared.com/courses/knife-sharpening-maintenance/

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Changelog/recent updates section

Mar Tam - September 3, 2020

Hi folks,

Quick question: is there anything along the lines of a “most recently updated” list on this wonderful site? I’d really love a way to quickly check which new articles have been posted and which old articles have been updated, especially as it’s unlikely I’ll dive into deeper rereads of gear reviews for stuff I’ve already purchased/practiced using. I’m not sure if this is a very technically challenging thing to accomplish (or if it already exists and I just can’t find it!) but I’d really love to see it. If an example is helpful, I’ll see if I can link one from a site that already has something like that. It’d just be very helpful in terms of keeping up-to-date! I do already receive the newsletter, though that isn’t quite what I’m looking for.

Thanks!

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Where is the hurricane/fire coverage?

hbic - August 10, 2020

I’ve been kind of surprised to not see even mentions of recent natural disasters on the blog or the forum. There are millions without power due to Tropical Storm Isaias right now and  thousands were evacuated from the Apple Fire this weekend, and both of those seasons are just starting. Would love to see some new content geared towards preparing for hurricanes & wildfires, particularly with COVID potentially complicating evacuation plans. Thoughts?

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Pop culture prepping (not the crazy kind)

North Coast - August 8, 2020

Any sane prepper-oriented podcasts/books/other media people have found useful and entertainig? Not so much subject matter how-to guides, I’m thinking more conceptual, scenario-driven or narrative-driven fiction (or nonfiction). I know the site did a round up of movies a while back. I found a couple new ones that way (and saw a couple I absolutely could not make it through–I’m not in it for the apocolypse long haul!) A few other things that come to mind are:

-The Big One podcast from KPCC. https://www.npr.org/podcasts/674580962/the-big-one-your-survival-guide This actually is sort of a how-to guide, but interspersed with a speculative scenario and interviews with scientists and experts. I don’t live anywhere near earthquake territory, but I thought it was really interesting!

-My Side of the Mountain book by Elizabeth Criaghead George. I loved this book as a kid and I recently read it with my first grader, and now he is very into learning how to make fire, live in the wilderness, etc. Get em while they’re young, right?

-Pagami Creek Fire Entrapments — Facilitated Learning Analysis, published by the US Forest Service after a 2011 forest fire in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb5371477.pdf&nbsp; I have spent a lot of time paddling and camping in the Boundary Waters and I found this report fascinating. It’s mostly a tick tock of the Forest Service’s emergency-response actions, but it is really well written. As part of that response involved interacting with campers near the impacted area it really got me thinking about how I would react in that situation. There’s also a 30 minute documentary with interviews with the rangers you can find on Youtube (search Pagami Fire from user WildlandFireLLC). I haven’t looked but I bet similar reports exist for other fires in other regions. Outside Magazine also had a really incredible piece about this fire from the perspective of campers https://www.outsideonline.com/1914461/sky-burning-caught-pagami-creek-fire?page=all

Any other suggestions?

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What do you think about “news” roundups on the TP blog?

Jon StokesStaff - July 18, 2020

I’m Jon, editor of the TP blog. We try to keep general news off of The Prepared. But there were times, like with COVID (where we were one of the first in the West to ring the alarm bells about it), where it seems worthy to talk about news in a prepping context.

We’re trying to figure out where the balance is. How much “news” do you want?

We’re planning to reduce the COVID “Key Developments” posts to about twice a week, but I wanted to take the forum’s temperature on this. We don’t (yet) have polling support in here, but if we did I’d post a poll with the following options:

Reduce COVID key developments posts to twice a week Eliminate these link-dump posts altogether Turn Key Developments into a generic prepping link-dump post that includes non-COVID news, interesting gear finds, etc.

Thoughts or feedback? Other alternatives?

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