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Post by The Resister on Sept 22, 2022 3:26:46 GMT
You have a point with regards to firearms but hopefully when it's time in the thread you will revisit it. When it comes to preparedness a lot of people treat it like a religion. They think it means acquiring a lot of junk that they might not ever use. So far this topic has had a message that you carry only what you need. Quality over quantity and have a priority to your preparations. As soon as a person is prepared for three days of inconvenience and then a week they can start thinking about months down the road. Thankfully this thread is all about that. My suggestions for now is to buy one of those plastic boxes that keep your batteries separated and all in one location. We know how it really is. The remote goes out on the tv or stereo and you are searching around in drawers for the rest of that pack of batteries you bought the last time. I did it this week. That is why the suggestion. What are your thoughts about water purification? I faced a couple of angry calls about firearms. Let me make this clear: If someone has a problem with the Second Amendment, I do not want them on my property. Personally, I do not favor any form of gun control. I don't believe in gun registration, magazine bans, background checks, waiting periods, banning people from owning a firearm after they've paid their debt to society, etc. Still, in a preparedness context, you should not carry one unless you're going to put in the time to train, learn the weapon, and try to get some information on the legal aspects. If you ignore me and carry, you have every constitutional Right to do so. Maybe toward the end of this month we can do another thread on firearms. As you know the basics that we all need are food, water, shelter, clothing, medical supplies, defense, transportation, and means of communication. You cannot do without water. This week we're seeing people who are flood victims having to wait for bottled water to come in so that they have something to drink. I try not to rely on others. You should invest in a high quality water filter: waterfilterguru.com/best-water-filters/IF you really cannot afford a home unit, maybe you can afford one that is used for real life emergency situations like flood victims are facing now: www.mrwatergeek.com/berkey-water-filter/ (see the portable unit) You cannot improve on the Red Cross's advice for how to filter your water in an emergency situation: www.redcross.org/get-help/how-to-prepare-for-emergencies/types-of-emergencies/water-safety/water-treatment.htmlThis is a minimum: PRINT off a hard copy of the Red Cross link above on how to filter your water. If the power grid is down, you might not be able to get the info from a computer. Put the information in a waterproof container of some kind and put it where you can easily access it. IF you really cannot afford a home unit, get the travel size filter - somebody may treat you to a water filter for Christmas if you ask.
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Post by The Resister on Sept 23, 2022 2:59:09 GMT
Okay... No new members, a few lurkers, no new comments, but I will soldier on in the hopes that someone will find a use for this. Today I just happened to be in a place where they had a news story on tv. I wasn't intending on watching the program, but still learned a few things in just a couple of minutes. According to the person doing that piece, in the United States we throw away up to 40 percent of all the food we grow, produce, and import. That waste includes, but isn't limited to food lost during transit, food that goes bad in the stores, what is tossed by restaurants, along with what the people in general waste or throw away. I had to look up a couple of sources for this, but one article says the average household throws away $1,866 worthy of food per year: www.forbes.com/sites/lanabandoim/2020/01/26/the-shocking-amount-of-food-us-households-waste-every-year/?sh=71261b047dc8A number of other sources place the figure at $640 per person worth of food that we throw away. That's over $50 per person each month. The point of the story I was watching was not about how much food we waste, but rather how we end up tossing a lot of good food away. When you buy food at the store it may have dates on it and most of us don't read those dates closely. The first date may be an expiration date (Exp.) The other date is not an expiration date. The food may be marked Best if Used by. Best if used by simply means that somewhere near that date is when the product will taste it's optimal best. After that, the taste may degrade a bit, but it is still perfectly safe to eat. If you are contemplating getting ready for the winter months; if you're worried about the supply chain being disrupted; if you are thinking along the lines of rising food prices, shortages, etc. then maybe you would be well served to think about Stock Rotation. There is one thing that virtually ALL of us do. We go to the grocery store and when we get home, we put the new groceries right in front of what's on the shelf. A couple of months later we clean off the shelves and toss the out of date food. Stock rotation is better known as FIFO - First in, first out. It's a little bit of work, but you should put the new groceries behind the older stuff on your shelves. It's the same way grocery stores operate (at least in practice.) Rotating stock lets you know that you may be buying stuff that you don't eat very often. If that's the case, don't buy it until you feel like eating it. Use your money to buy food you do eat and stock up. And that Best if Used by date? It's going to be good for a couple of more months, at least. I'm just repeating what I heard while watching that segment. If the Best if Used by date is out of date, supposedly if you smell the food it is a good indicator of whether or not it's edible. If you rotate your food and keep the Best if Used by date relatively recent, you are going to save money on food and be able to stock up for the lean times in a shorter period than the way you've been used to. If you get more than three months worth of food in your house, you are an advanced prepper and in need of a special thread to discuss the subject.
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Post by noclevername on Sept 23, 2022 12:11:48 GMT
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Post by The Resister on Sept 24, 2022 3:24:44 GMT
Hopefully, at this stage I won't repeat where we've already been. It's getting hard to keep up with myself without reading the whole thread. A couple of things that haven't been mentioned is Home Security. "21 When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace: 22 But when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils." Luke 11:21 and 22 It's amazing that even the Bible says that if you aren't strong and armed, someone who is stronger will take your stuff. You should own a firearm IF you are willing to learn how to use it and actually, you should have firearms (plural) since different firearms are used for different purposes. But, this is about the stuff you can do before you sweat the firearm. Caveat: IF you are remotely considering a firearm in your plans, you need to start reading up on them and doing something NOW. The Democrats are working day and night to outlaw them. Now, back to the issue of Home Security. Where I live is a liberal website that services local markets. It's mostly people asking where to get jobs around the house done and reports of cars being broken into, homes burglarized, porch pirates caught on camera, scams, etc. A lot of people have cameras and even in broad daylight, their homes are being burglarized and porch pirates are still hitting them. Nobody is afraid of cameras. That's what hoodies and face masks (supposedly used to protect against Covid 19) are used for. How do you really protect your belongings? You need dead bolt locks on your doors. In addition, when you have deadbolt locks installed, unless your door frame is some form of metal, a determined kicker can bust your door down. You can slow them down with this: doorlocksdirect.com/don-jo-security-super-strike-for-deadbolts-8-h-x-1-3-8-w-steel-silver-coated-2-sds-8-sl/?msclkid=5ac1cb69ca891c6ed993a847be175583&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=ECI%20-%20Google%20Shopping%20-%20All%20Products%20(low-bid)%20(Low)&utm_term=4582145994199020&utm_content=All%20Products%20(low-bid)IF the extended super strike plate does not come with longer screws as per the next link, buy them separately: www.familyhandyman.com/project/how-to-reinforce-doors-entry-door-and-lock-reinforcements/The next point of entry are windows and or sliding glass doors. I used to cut steel rods and put them in the sliding track inside sliding glass doors. The only way a burglar could get in after that was to break the glass. Noise is a better deterrent than cameras (though if you can afford it, BOTH are a great idea.) www.amazon.com/All-new-Ring-Alarm-5-piece-kit/dp/B07ZDTXJ93/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?keywords=window+alarms&qid=1663989303&sr=8-1-spons&ufe=app_do%3Aamzn1.fos.304cacc1-b508-45fb-a37f-a2c47c48c32f&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUExOThET0ZBWkwwS1oxJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwNTk4Mzg2MlAwTlYwQTY4S0xQWiZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwNTI2MTQ1MTVUNkVSU0ZPV0paNCZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2F0ZiZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=I have some misgivings about technology that employs electronics and / or cameras. It can spy on you. That is important if you have more than a couple of week's worth of food in your house and / or you have firearms. There are few things that will give you more grief than incriminating yourself or allowing your privacy to be at risk of computer hackers or the prying eyes of Uncle Scam if they ask your security monitoring service for the pictures, videos, etc. from your system. Forewarned is forearmed. You can also do the really old school way of protecting your windows, but it isn't pet friendly or kid friendly. Stretch a line between your windows with one of these alarms at each end. The sound of a couple of 12 gauge blanks will attract the attention of the entire neighborhood: fithops.com/products/12-gauge-perimeter-alarmIf you use them, place them as high up as possible and aim for the floor. The blast can damage your ceiling. I'll do some more of this in a future posting.
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Post by The Resister on Sept 24, 2022 22:40:03 GMT
Moving right along, I visit a liberal bed wetting site that runs a brainwashing scam under the guise of a neighborhood discussion board. A quick look at their rules and that the ADL helps determine their policies told me all I wanted to know. Nonetheless, you get a feeling of what people are experiencing and that plays into this installment. Recently a lady had her home broken into and the thieves took one of those small safes that you can buy at Wallyworld to store your valuables in at the house. Bad idea. This woman left her and her family's credit card information, birth certificates, Socialist Security cards, etc. into this small safe and the thieves stole it. I saw one of those small safes being thrown down a flight of stairs and it opened on a tv show called Storage Wars (or some name close to that.) The moral is, your insurance papers, titles, deeds, identification, birth certificates, credit card information, etc. belong in a safe deposit box at a bank. My advice would be to store the originals and IF you make copies, put them inside stacks of other papers in your home. NOBODY outside of your family is going through stacks of general papers to look for your personal information. If your house burns down or is flooded, all of your original papers will be safe and ready for you in a secure location. The other alternative to this is a bit more costly, but if you really have to have that stuff at home you need a safe. That may not be enough. Check out this man's experience: www.bing.com/videos/search?q=fireproof+safes&docid=608020052223288652&mid=CD978ADFF36E372A6B8ECD978ADFF36E372A6B8E&view=detail&FORM=VIREI'm still saying that for your papers and probably valuables like gold, silver, jewelry, pictures, and other irreplaceable things - get a safe deposit box. .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................. I wanted to do another part to this installment since it's on my mind due to posts on other boards. We've talked about things like: Bug Out Bags Evacuation and Rendezvous Plans Communications Protocol General Safety All of these are good and none of that is costly in terms of dollars and cents; however, in order for any plan to be worth anything to you, it requires practice, practice, practice. In school or work you may have had fire drills. You need to do it at home too. You need to USE your Bug Out Bag. When I go out of town for a couple of days I don't pack for it. I grab my Bug Out Bag and GO. If I needed something I didn't have, I write it down for the next time. I take inventory of my Bug Out Bag after each trip and also every six months. The stuff that has a shelf life is replaced and the old stock is used within a week or so. Without practice preparation is worthless. Memorize that. Live by it.
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Post by The Resister on Sept 26, 2022 3:16:18 GMT
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Post by The Resister on Sept 27, 2022 3:47:07 GMT
More than 300 people have accessed this thread and it hasn't resulted in a single new poster and not one criticism. I have to comment on what is going on. Do you really want to be prepared? I'm not necessarily talking about the kind of family that has years worth of food and supplies squirreled away, but just general preparedness for the everyday emergencies? Do you have smoke detectors in your house? Do you have any knowledge of first aid? Do you have a first aid kit? Like everything else, being " prepared" might be anything from having the right stuff in the house to take care of minor boo boos to a functional Mobile Prepper Surgical Hospital. Just yesterday there was a news story wherein a man was being honored for saving the life of another when the victim's leg was severed. The hero of the story used a belt to make a makeshift tourniquet and save the victim from bleeding out. Having the stuff to deal with the emergency is a good thing, but nearly worthless without the skills to use the first aid supplies. Do you know what to do for a burn? Do you know whether to apply hot or cold to a sprain? Can you apply a tourniquet properly? We're talking about a skillset that could save your own life or that of a loved one in an emergency situation. This post will be more about where to get the right kind of information rather than a list of what you need. Training first, gear second. The first place I would recommend to you is the Red Cross for training. Click on this link and check them out: www.redcrosslearningcenter.org/s/Next is this site. Click on this link for valuable information: alison.com/course/first-aid-training-in-the-workplace?utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=424782657&utm_content=1356798906894344&utm_term=kwd-84800873288008:loc-190&msclkid=99819e94ea661300005afda69aa39573Finally, this link: cpraedcourse.com/?https%3A%2F%2Fcpraedcourse_com%2FIn this thread we are only covering that stuff that you need to be prepared, not necessarily a prepper. This is a subject that you should give your undivided attention to for a couple of weeks regardless of anything else you considered on this thread. I will cut any unnecessary comments short.
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Post by The Resister on Sept 28, 2022 3:06:54 GMT
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professorx
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Posts: 413
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Post by professorx on Sept 28, 2022 18:19:12 GMT
The Resister didn't want to address firearms here as it is a whole topic by itself. Just for the fun of it I would like to give it a try. I have several bug out bags. I have one for the car. It has a firearm in it. I have one so that when I have to leave in a hurry there is several days worth of goodies and then there is another more versatile bug out bag that all I have to do is drop a firearm in it and go. The differences are that the bug out bag for the car has a weapon that can left in the car. The bug out bag without a firearm is at the ready because if a trip has to be made that requires using public conveyance like hopping on the next flight out of town there is no weapon to be forgotten and then confiscated with me being hauled in to jail. The third bug out bag assumes that I will have a few minutes at the least to put in things at the last moment. The weapon can be taken from the bug out bag for the car if necessary.
Having firearms is a big responsibility and a pain. If you ever have to use a firearm there will be police and investigations. There will be questions. You may even be charged with a crime. Unless the shooting gets the attention of the police they may charge you with firing the weapon in public. The most important thing that can be said is that if you own a firearm the safety rules are the most important thing you need to know is that you never keep a loaded firearm in your house unless it is under your immediate control. Children, guests, trespassers, angry people in your house and people and situations we cannot begin to imagine may use a loaded firearm in an act of stupidity, rage, ignorance, or by accident. All those scenarios and some we cannot predetermine could change the course of your life in an instant. You should study the safety rules before buying a firearm and refresh your memory at least once a year.
Although everybody that does the obligatory firearms posts pretends that they are asked a question they are never asked I would be doing a disservice to ignore it. What kind of firearm should you buy? The standard answer is that it all depends on what you are buying it for and what you want to do with it. You are not reading posts like this to buy a sniper rifle. Besides that snipers buy their optics first based upon what they intend the optic to do and then look for a firearm that works with the optic. If you were buying a target weapon you aren't looking at survivalist and preparedness sites for advice on competitive or target shooting. You would be looking at topics like this for self defense firearms.
Rifle, pistol, or shotgun? If you're really into preparedness the answer is you have at least one of all three. If you want to have something around to deter the thugs that break in your house or vandalize your car and that sort of thing you need a 12 gauge shotgun. If you want to avoid a lot of legal liability use bean bag rounds or rubber bullets. If you want to be protected when you are mobile - that is going to stores or in public in general then you buy a handgun and if you're worried about the real threats of potential civil unrest, internal wars, serious confrontations whatever then you buy a rifle. If you want to feed yourself through hunting buy a rifle.
The .22 LR caliber is best suited for practice and taking small game like rabbits and squirrels. If you really don't know, it's about the smallest bullet you can buy without going down to pellets and BBs. Other than that, self defense rounds for the handgun that are in common use are the .38 Special / 357 Magnum, 45 ACP, 9mm, .40 S&W, and the occasional .380 caliber. If you are a lady with small hands, elderly, have weak wrists, or small you might want to get a revolver unless you can easily manipulate a semi automatic weapon. That leaves you with the 38 Special / .357 Magnum. Of those you should buy a 357 Magnum revolver. You can practice with the cheaper 38 Special and deal with less recoil while carrying .357 Magnum for everyday carry. The .357 Magnum has more knock down power than the .38 Special. A .357 Magnum revolver will handle two calibers of bullets.
Of the calibers that are most common to semi-automatic pistols the 9mm rules the roost. It is the most popular caliber so it is cheap (as far as ammunition goes), there are lots of varieties and you can carry more 9mm than .40 S & W and .45 for the same weight. That is a consideration if a handgun is your primary weapon and especially if you contemplate being up against multiple assailants. The .380 is a round that is not as popular but it doesn't have the recoil if you are sensitive to pressure you feel in your hand when you are shooting. The .40 S & W and .45 ACP are mostly combat rounds for close range. If you carry a rifle in combat and you use a back up weapon, the .40 S & W and the .45 ACP are the preferred calibers. The bullets are heavier than the 9mm and .380 so if you carry those weapons, you give up capacity (the number of bullets you can carry in the pistol.) That is your considerations. The most popular handguns are the Glock, Sig Sauer, and Smith and Wesson. There others and even better firearms (depending upon your needs) like the Walther, H&K, etc. but I'm talking about preparedness. The suggestion is to get the most common firearms and the most popular calibers so that it is easier to learn how to shoot and have available parts and ammunition for your firearm.
The same goes for rifles. The AR 15 style rifle as lamestream likes to call them are the most prevalent rifles in the United States. You can get them in all kinds of calibers from .22 LR to .50 BMG. The 5.56 is the most common and you can get any length barrel you want. If you get into short barrels you might accidentally get into short barrel rifles and that means a $200 tax stamp, registration and that means eventual confiscation. Suggestion here is to get a 16 inch or longer barrel. I think there is a thread on this board on buying AR rifles. But, that is the bare bones of the firearms post.
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Post by The Resister on Sept 29, 2022 2:16:55 GMT
For the novice we've gone about as far as we can without getting into hard core prepping. I'd like to do my top ten things you should be doing right now to be prepared without being a hard core " prepper." 1) You need a Bug Out Bag for those times when you have to go RIGHT NOW and may not come home for one to three or four days or so 2) At home you need to have some potable water put away AND at least two methods of filtration / purifying for drinking purposes. One is none. Two is one 3) Develop a Rendezvous / Evacuation Plan for exiting your home in an emergency 4) Develop a Communications Protocol for yourself and your family consisting of: A) Ways to communicate with family members, in code, for private conversations B) Alternate ways to communicate be it HAM radio, CB radio or something along those lines C) Alternate ways to get communication: Radios with shortwave capabilities, radios that work on batteries, electric, solar, and cranking for when the power grid is down 5) A good supply of food in the house for times when you may be stranded at home for several days without power 6) Get a First Aid kit and training7) Secure the home. Deadbolt locks, smoke alarms, window alarms, a home safe, security service, cameras that are not connected to the Internet or outside power source, and self defense tools (lethal and non-lethal) 8) Have flashlights, candles, lanterns (w/ extra wicks and lamp oil) and and alternate means of light and heat if the power goes out 9) Keep spare batteries and maybe chargers that are independent of the grid for recharging. You may want to purchase one of those boxes to store batteries in: www.ltdcommodities.com/product/battery-daddy-trade-storage-system/LT_92445?cid=NB_BingPLA_LTD_HD_New&creative=&device=c&matchtype=e&network=o&campaignid=415719775&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Bing_-_Shopping_-_NB_-_Home_Decor_and_Improvement_-_New&utm_content=38303423771065&msclkid=db7c57f6bfe51a004b9534c240cb31ca10) Have duct tape, roll of plastic, and plastic containers along with some tarps for storage in case of floods, tornadoes, or other extreme inclement weather. We covered all of that in this thread. If you only read one post, this is probably the best summation so far and it's the top ten things to do in order to be prepared.
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Post by The Resister on Sept 30, 2022 2:11:59 GMT
With only two more days left to discuss preparedness I thought we might talk about preparing for lean times by encouraging you to always have some gold and / or silver on hand. Money can be devalued and wars can erase your bank account. Inflation, recessions, and things I cannot even begin to fathom may take their toll on your bank account as do taxes when you try to save. One thing I learned however. Don't cash your gold or silver in with dealers. It is then reported and taxed from what I understand. I will leave you with this to think about and finish this thread off next time with my last addition to the thread unless someone wants to come along and have an actual discussion: www.gainesvillecoins.com/blog/how-to-buy-gold-and-silver#:~:text=How%20To%20Buy%20Gold%20And%20Silver%3A%205%20Easy,...%205%205.%20Pick%20a%20Storage%20Option%20
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Post by The Resister on Oct 1, 2022 3:49:41 GMT
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