# How dead most people are



## Willdabeast (Mar 10, 2014)

So I live in the UK and I was thinking, just how bad it would be for practically everyone else in our town, my parents dont know I've prepped haha but the whole town would go to hell in a day or two maybe? Why can't people see more than two feet in front of their faces ?


Sent from my iPod touch using Survival Forum


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## Dakine (Sep 4, 2012)

Willdabeast said:


> So I live in the UK and I was thinking, just how bad it would be for practically everyone else in our town, my parents dont know I've prepped haha but the whole town would go to hell in a day or two maybe? Why can't people see more than two feet in front of their faces ?
> 
> Sent from my iPod touch using Survival Forum


80 years from the last depression
70 years from the last WW

the HUGE majority of everyone who lived through events is dead. They have nothing to pass on, as a warning.

The people that have grown up in the generations since then, have no idea what it means going to a well to pump water, crapping outside, having a garden, slaughtering their own meat, raising laying hens... I'd put it 5 of 100 and I think I'm being generous. We're talking about a generation that is now legal to vote that has never touched a cassette tape or the recorder, or even know what they are, they've probably never seen a dial telephone, they dont understand the concept of a party line, so for them, anything that isn't INSTANT gratification is a bummer...

I'm pretty sure the new kids on the block are in for a rude awakening, and they are going to want answers!!!! why did my technology fail me? why did my .gov fail me???

sucks to be them. 

You're either ready or you're not.

Now before anyone gets their britches in a wad... I really do not care about your garden that produces a few carrots, a couple heads of cauliflower and some whatever... are you going to eat that all year? Can you water it to produce the partial year crop you really want it to produce?

Gardening is a GREAT skill, it's not exercised to the extent that most people would need to sustain their house so if you are one of the few that can your extras and you can reach into your pantry for a year or so... MY BAD, you're not the one's I was referring to!


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## TheLazyL (Jun 5, 2012)

Denial.

Some folks face up to adversity and deal with it. 

Others can't deal with adversity so mentally they pretend it doesn't exists. How can there be a problem when the problem doesn't exists?

I think I am invisible therefore I am. :nuts:


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## LincTex (Apr 1, 2011)

TheLazyL said:


> Denial.


and complacency...

and "Normalcy Bias"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normalcy_bias


> The normalcy bias, or normality bias, refers to a mental state people enter when facing a disaster. It causes people to underestimate both the possibility of a disaster occurring and its possible effects. This often results in situations where people fail to adequately prepare for a disaster, and on a larger scale, the failure of governments to include the populace in its disaster preparations. The assumption that is made in the case of the normalcy bias is that since a disaster never has occurred then it never will occur. It also results in the inability of people to cope with a disaster once it occurs. People with a normalcy bias have difficulties reacting to something they have not experienced before. People also tend to interpret warnings in the most optimistic way possible, seizing on any ambiguities to infer a less serious situation.


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## BillS (May 30, 2011)

Most people are ignorant about economics. I see a lot of stuff on Facebook about Obama but absolutely nothing on Bernanke or the Federal Reserve. At least 90% of people are completely ignorant about the Federal Reserve destroying the dollar.


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## Sentry18 (Aug 5, 2012)

The same reason that Miley Cyrus is a millionaire, that Obama is never held accountable and that people think food from Subway is "healthy"; blissfull and purposeful ignorance. Many people work really hard to maintain their ignorance, other people come by it naturally and some are so daft that they could not identify common sense if it came with a flashing sign that pointed at it.


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## CrackbottomLouis (May 20, 2012)

Just following historical precedent. A nation starts off with strong morals, work ethic, and ingenuity. Slowly over time the positive results of those get passed down to further generations who then don't find those things as necessary because they don't have to work as hard and they are farther removed from negative consequences. That eventually turns into the expectation of privilege and moral wiggle room. Then the slide to the edge of the social and economic cliff until one day........bam! ......free fall. It has happened before, is happening now, and will happen throughout our future. It's not shocking, surprising, or unexpected.


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## hiwall (Jun 15, 2012)

That is why when the gov did a study on how many would die in a total extended grid down situation in the USA they expect 80 to 90% will die.


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## goshengirl (Dec 18, 2010)

Dakine said:


> 80 years from the last depression
> 70 years from the last WW


My parents lived through both of those, and they had it pretty rough. My mom can see what I'm doing and she 'gets' it. She remembers being hungry. My dad, on the other hand, is part of the 'this is America, that wouldn't happen here' crowd - even though he lived through it happening here. I've never understood that.


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## LincTex (Apr 1, 2011)

hiwall said:


> That is why when the gov did a study on how many would die in a total extended grid down situation in the USA they expect 80 to 90% will die.


Trying to find that FERC report... 
I am not a _Wall Street Journal_ subscriber

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304020104579433670284061220

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way...l-scale-attacks-could-cause-national-blackout

http://spectrum.ieee.org/energywise...k-on-nine-substations-could-take-down-us-grid

http://www.shtfplan.com/headline-ne...wer-grid-could-be-down-for-18-months_03192014

.
.
.

http://www.ferc.gov/media/news-releases/2014/2014-1/03-07-14.asp#.Uyw_v2GQHYZ


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## TheLazyL (Jun 5, 2012)

> This often results in situations where people fail to adequately prepare for a disaster


Like when the scaffolding was too tall to wheel under the low end of a slope ceiling. Just lean a extension ladder against the scaffolding and climb up to quickly change that bulb.

Somewhere between unscrewing the light bulb and the concrete floor I figured out I should have set the brakes on the scaffolding.

Back in those days I bounced better then I do (don't) today.


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## cowboyhermit (Nov 10, 2012)

goshengirl said:


> even though he lived through it happening here. I've never understood that.


I have seen that sentiment by otherwise intelligent and rational people so many times, it boggles the mind. In everything from relationships to business to preparedness it seems so simple that one should learn from the experience but for whatever reasons people sometimes refuse to accept or prepare for it happening again:dunno:


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## Geek999 (Jul 9, 2013)

People react differently to experiences and the experiences were not all the same. My father grew up in the Depression and has been frugal his entire life as a result. During WWII he was just out of training when the bomb was dropped, so he never left the US. He would look at the money spent by most preppers, including me, as a waste.

To date that approach has worked for him. His worst disaster experience has been a mandatory evacuation for a Hurricane and he was back in his house in a few days.

While most of us on this forum are trying to prepare for ever more serious breakdowns, until SHTF happens, I am not going to criticize someone for not having bought in to a decidedly minority view.


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## BillM (Dec 29, 2010)

*1929 vs 2014*

In 1929 when the great depression occurred, it was world wide.

There were two billion people in the world.

Today in 2014 there are seven billion people in the world.

In 1929 ,83% of the people in the USA worked in agriculture.

They already grew their own food. while some people in the cities went hungry, most Americans still had food to eat, they just had no money.

Today only 2 % of the American public work in agriculture and they depend on the use of mechanized farming equipment,(unlike the farming public in 1929 who still used animals to power their farming enterprises.)

In a grid down situation , I could readily picture a 90 % die off of the world population.

We are just not prepared to survive without the grid.


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## cowboyhermit (Nov 10, 2012)

Geek999, that is a bit different from what I was referring to, it sounds like you are talking about someone who has experienced hard times financially and is now frugal. For an example of what I was thinking about, I have seen people who have been hungry, in the past they have seen people starving and malnourished around them but yet they refuse to keep any food on hand. There seem to be quite a variety of reasons why this is but a major one is that to do so would be to admit that such a thing could happen again in their current situation and they refuse to accept that.


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## Geek999 (Jul 9, 2013)

cowboyhermit said:


> Geek999, that is a bit different from what I was referring to, it sounds like you are talking about someone who has experienced hard times financially and is now frugal. For an example of what I was thinking about, I have seen people who have been hungry, in the past they have seen people starving and malnourished around them but yet they refuse to keep any food on hand. There seem to be quite a variety of reasons why this is but a major one is that to do so would be to admit that such a thing could happen again in their current situation and they refuse to accept that.


My point is that those of us who are prepping for a significant breakdown are a small minority, probably no more than 2% of the population. Who is to say that we're right?

BTW: My father went to work at age 8. I wouldn't downplay his experience.


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## cowboyhermit (Nov 10, 2012)

Geek999 said:


> My point is that those of us who are prepping for a significant breakdown are a small minority, probably no more than 2% of the population. Who is to say that we're right?
> 
> BTW: My father went to work at age 8. I wouldn't downplay his experience.


Not sure what is meant by your last comment but I should say that I consider frugal a wholly positive term, I forget sometimes that there are other interpretations. I wouldn't downplay his experience either. 
All I was trying to point out is that your dad seems to behave in a rational way in regards to his experience while some people for one reason or another appear to pretend it can never happen again.


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## goshengirl (Dec 18, 2010)

cowboyhermit said:


> while some people for one reason or another appear to pretend it can never happen again.


Yeah, that's what I mean about my dad. It's not even a prepping issue - I don't even talk about that stuff with him. It's his idea that 'things like that don't happen in America' - things like a depression or a world war - and yet he lived through a depression and a world war. He didn't have it as bad as my mom did, but in a way, I think the rose colored glasses he wears now are just decades of a coping mechanism.


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## Geek999 (Jul 9, 2013)

cowboyhermit said:


> Not sure what is meant by your last comment but I should say that I consider frugal a wholly positive term, I forget sometimes that there are other interpretations. I wouldn't downplay his experience either.
> All I was trying to point out is that your dad seems to behave in a rational way in regards to his experience while some people for one reason or another appear to pretend it can never happen again.


My point was that he did suffer during the Depression and it wasn't merely a financial hardship. I agree that he has responded to his experiences in a rational way. While I appreciate the point about people who "pretend it can never happen again", I think that for most people there is nothing in their experience to cause them to prep and for those we might think should prep based on their experiences, they may have a perfectly logical reason for dealing with life in their own fashion.

We need to remember that we are in the minority and thinking all the non-preppers are nuts may be part of why they think we are nuts.


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## Willdabeast (Mar 10, 2014)

The thing that amazes me is that even when someone tells them how monumentally [email protected]£:!d they would be if anything went wrong, and they still do nothing. I don't know if you all remember when you first started but I was genuinely scared at the reality of the situation !


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## forluvofsmoke (Jan 27, 2012)

BillM said:


> In 1929 when the great depression occurred, it was world wide.
> 
> There were two billion people in the world.
> 
> ...


...because we, as a society, have relied on it, along with mechanization, since shortly after the dawn of the industrial age. Everything that goes with daily life now days only happens because of the grid and every other part of our infrastructure. Take away any crital part of the infrastucture and this country (as well as any other industrialized nation) comes to a screeching halt...the grid being the most critical, bar none. For anyone not already living sustainably, off-grid and isolated from population centers, grid-down is inevitably a death sentence.

All the more reason why I don't plan on retiring from work, but going off-grid beforehand, instead.


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## Viking (Mar 16, 2009)

Geek999 said:


> My point is that those of us who are prepping for a significant breakdown are a small minority, probably no more than 2% of the population. Who is to say that we're right?
> 
> BTW: My father went to work at age 8. I wouldn't downplay his experience.


I'd rather be doing than to get caught with my proverbial pants down. I'm 71 and at this time I'm in excellent health and can do things that many younger than I can't do but at some time, hopefully many years from now, I will have to pass things on to my son. The troubles may not come in my years but I have to say, a nation that has built up such unsustainable debt as this nation has will fail and as the saying goes,"All the kings horses and all the kings men can't put Humpty-Dumpty back together again." All it will probably take for things to come unglued is some small insignificant trigger and the house of cards will fall. I'm usually generous, I throw out a figure of 5%, but realize you're probably closer to the figure. I always figured that even those that believed in what the founding fathers were doing was an extremely low percentage. Most of the population at that time wanted to stick with the king, some even probably said, " As for me give me peace in my time, not considering their children's or grand-children's freedom and sovereignty.


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## forluvofsmoke (Jan 27, 2012)

Willdabeast said:


> The thing that amazes me is that even when someone tells them how monumentally [email protected]£:!d they would be if anything went wrong, and they still do nothing. *I don't know if you all remember when you first started but I was genuinely scared at the reality of the situation !*
> 
> Sent from my iPod touch using Survival Forum


Oh, I vaguely remember when I started preparing, but that was years ago. What kicked me into a higher gear and made me realize that things beyond anyone's control can change your life for the worse...like tornadoes...and the looming economic/currency disasters...in recent years, yeah, it does at times scare the CRAP out me, because I'm not ready for it. August 2005's near-miss with an F-2 got my attention. I knew I needed to get more supplies/food stored...didn't know exactly what or how, but knew it needed to done. Then, I slacked-off for a few years after putting together some basic supplies/equipment...then I stumbled into PSF by sheer chance...now I know much more about what I need to do for what I'm preparing for, and I'm continuously planning and gathering goods, and knowledge...keeping in mind that I can't make it happen overnight. Until I can go off-grid (the sooner the better) and live a sustainable lifestyle, what I'm currently planning for will have to do.

As for others who do nothing to prepare, who have little more than 2-3 days worth of food in their home, no back-up electrical power, maybe one flashlight (with dead batteries and no spares), who don't even fill their car with gas until it's empty, there's not a helluva lot you can do to convince them that they are in the cross-hairs, and fate is slowly squeezing the trigger. These are my neighbors I speak of, BTW, many of which have lived through the same disasters I have...and they don't think there's a threat of it, or something worse, happening again...yet it happens nearly every winter with power outages and loss of home heating. Power outages in the summer due to severe thunder storms...these are common, although mini, SHTF, yet they don't even prepare for that, let alone have the notion that they'll be on their own when (not if) a major crisis lasting for months, possibly years, should slap them in the face. I can't help but think that the Gene Pool will be cleansing itself, as a result.


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## Viking (Mar 16, 2009)

I've got to say,thank God for the neighbors we have on either side of us, because they understand and are prepping. We talk frequently on supporting each other when things get bad. We help with building things, planting trees, repairing things, firewood gathering and share produce when it's abundant. We have a few other friend that are just beginning to prep and here and there I run across others, but it's an exception as most people we talk to don't have a clue. I know a teacher who is now retired, he has a grid tie system and NO battery bank. One would think he'd have some interest in what's going on but he's told me outright that he doesn't want to hear about it, even economics. He told me there's nothing he could do about it and he didn't want to hear anything further.:scratch Rather sad as I considered him a friend.


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## tc556guy (Apr 28, 2011)

Willdabeast said:


> Why can't people see more than two feet in front of their faces ?


People have immediate concerns. They worry about paying the bills today instead of preparing for something that may or may not ever happen. Some of them buy into the idea that the gov't will be there for them in a time of need so no need to make a personal effort to prepare.


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## BillS (May 30, 2011)

BillM said:


> In 1929 when the great depression occurred, it was world wide.
> 
> There were two billion people in the world.
> 
> ...


Back then most people had an outdoor toilet, their own well, and they burned wood for heating their home and cooking their food.


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## BillS (May 30, 2011)

Geek999 said:


> My point is that those of us who are prepping for a significant breakdown are a small minority, probably no more than 2% of the population. *Who is to say that we're right?*
> 
> BTW: My father went to work at age 8. I wouldn't downplay his experience.


*We're right because we see an economic collapse coming and the other people don't. *Most people are ignorant when it comes to economics and that's why they didn't panic when the Fed started printing money out of thin air. A lot of them believe whatever the lamestream media tells them and a lot of them are lifelong Democrats. And a lot of them believe what they want to believe, regardless of the facts. My dad, for example, refuses to believe that Social Security is in trouble.


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## Geek999 (Jul 9, 2013)

BillS said:


> *We're right because we see an economic collapse coming and the other people don't. *Most people are ignorant when it comes to economics and that's why they didn't panic when the Fed started printing money out of thin air. A lot of them believe whatever the lamestream media tells them and a lot of them are lifelong Democrats. And a lot of them believe what they want to believe, regardless of the facts. My dad, for example, refuses to believe that Social Security is in trouble.


Actually, I think we already had the economic collapse, so maybe I just don't get it. We aren't all preparing for the same thing anyhow. There is nuclear war, pandemic, and other motivators that are considerations. I have no idea what will go wrong, though I suspect something will. I think I am right, and other than money spent there is no harm if I am wrong.

Other folks who think things will be okay may turn out to be correct for the foreseeable future.

If there is one thing being in the WTC taught me, it is that I have no idea what will go wrong or when it will happen. I sure didn't expect anyone to fly a jet through the window.


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## Avalona22 (Mar 22, 2014)

*Blindness on several degrees*

People are blind to varying degrees and that all depends on each person's connection with God... the farther you are from God, the blinder your sight to reality. And what keeps us from God? Our own selfishness and self-will, hence our modern-day matrix of a system. I always bring morality into this because immorality and selfishness is what caused our system to be like it is, non-sustainable.

Anyway, Jesus told us to have faith, and to worry not about what we should eat, drink, wear... it's ironic to bring this up in a survival forum but the point I'm trying to make is to be prepared inside too, get your affairs in order within. Have any of you heard of Gabriel of Urantia? He's a modern day activist who started an intentional community and ecovillage. I checked them out and they mix being prepared within as well as being prepared in the material... check them out, good ideas and his book Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf - A Handbook on How To Defeat The 1% taught me so much about survival and being prepared, what choices we should make in these times.


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## Outpost (Nov 26, 2012)

This comes to mind.



> "There was once a wise king who ruled over a vast city. He was feared for his might and loved for his wisdom. Now in the heart of the city, there was a well whose waters were pure and crystalline from which the king and all the inhabitants drank. When all were asleep, an enemy entered the city and poured seven drops of a strange liquid into the well. And he said that henceforth all who drink this water shall become mad.
> 
> All the people drank of the water, but not the king. And the people began to say, "The king is mad and has lost his reason. Look how strangely he behaves. We cannot be ruled by a madman, so he must be dethroned."
> 
> ...


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## VoorTrekker (Oct 7, 2012)

Avalona22 said:


> ...Have any of you heard of Gabriel of Urantia? He's a modern day activist who started an intentional community and ecovillage. I checked them out and they mix being prepared within as well as being prepared in the material...


Oh, great! He's backed by every anti-American communist organization whom hates America. It's good to be endorsed by one's enemies (?)
ACLU, SPLC (racist commie thugs)
Sierra Club (environmental terrorists)
Amnesty International (slavery and human trafficking)

If he has any good qualities they will be overlooked because of his "supporters." Kind of like us being endorsed by the KKK or WAR, ABH etc.


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## Mase92 (Feb 4, 2013)

Interesting thread. I guess it depends on which kind of calamity we face; is it a total grid down and the world without ROL any longer or is it a shorter term (2-3 month) thing?

If it the former, we are in big trouble. I can see the 75%+ number being real. I think the real damage would be done in the first month of any event. 

I don't like to say or think I'm preparing for doomsday day, it seems far fetched things could go massively that bad for a country or world this big that fast. After the work I've put into my preps, they tell me otherwise. By that I mean my plans (long and short term) my stockpiling and my security concerns.

Moral of the story, I hope I'm not one of the dead people...it's why I prepare!


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## Viking (Mar 16, 2009)

I keep saying that even we who know the things that are going on will probably grasp at just how bad it will be. Most people that live in a technological society that relies so intently on electricity, cell phones, computers and other electronics will, in a large proportion, be totally lost if it all went away. With solar activity as it has been going on lately could have what I call a "Russian Roulette Situation", an X level CME aimed directly at the earth. Many powerful CME's have fired off that weren't even close but how many times will it take before we get blasted with the one that triggers all kinds of chaos that could change everything we consider normal.


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## Foreverautumn (Oct 25, 2010)

My take on it all this is that it strongly depends on just the event is and how severe it is. If it's just a water supply disruption for about a month or so, yes, it'll be very unpleasant for most people, but survivable. If, on the other hand, it's a global thermonuclear war or a massive asteroid strike, I think even most of us PREPPERS won't survive that.

I myself am mostly prepping for an economic collapse or a job loss. But there are EASILY 101 things that can happen that I can't even anticipate, let alone adequately prepare for. Those things I trust in God for. I see it as a partnership: I cannot do it without God, and God WILL NOT do it without me. I also see it as a journey, rather than a destination; I'll never be as prepared as I'd LIKE to be (who is?), and there will always be others who will be more prepared than I am, just like there will always be those who are less prepared. Then again, part of my prepping philosophy is like the two campers running from a bear; I don't necessarily have to the fastest runner, I just have to be faster than the slowest runner.


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## hiwall (Jun 15, 2012)

Obviously it is a great idea to prep for whatever as it should increase your odds of survival. But if there is a situation where 50% or more die you can very safely say that many of those that die will be preppers. Some fail to realize that prepping does not make you immortal, it only gives you an edge.


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## GrinnanBarrett (Aug 31, 2012)

In the UK you face unique challenges in that most people have a mind set that the government will take care of me. We had a British Civil Servant stay with us for a week a few months back. She was appalled that we had guns in our home. She was even more appalled that we did not buy into every government program. In her eyes and mind the UK was there to take care of her from cradle to grave. 

I know a lot of guys from the UK who served in the military and were stationed near us for several years (both RAF and Royal Marines). Some of them came back later since their kids got a taste of freedom here in Texas. The kids learned to shoot and hunt and fish and just have fun. We found the Royal Marines a lot of fun to be with. 

Overcoming a mind set like your neighbors have is really tough. I encourage you to find other real preppers to at least have a chance. If the government knows you have preps you can bet they will come knocking on your door when something comes down. Even here in the USA we have had this happen. We had a warehouse on the Mississippi Gulf Coast during Hurricane Katrina. Our facility was high up so we did not have much damage. We had put in large diesel tanks to run our generators to get our facility back up in an emergency. We also had planned to bring in trailers for our employees and their families to set up on company parking lots. 

We were up and running in a matter of hours after the storm. In a matter of a day the state of Mississippi came in and confiscated our diesel tanks and all plus we were told the trailers had to go since we did not have a permit to run a trailer park. Lesson learned. 

I really wish you well. Just be careful who you trust. GB


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## Geek999 (Jul 9, 2013)

GrinnanBarrett said:


> In the UK you face unique challenges in that most people have a mind set that the government will take care of me. We had a British Civil Servant stay with us for a week a few months back. She was appalled that we had guns in our home. She was even more appalled that we did not buy into every government program. In her eyes and mind the UK was there to take care of her from cradle to grave.
> 
> I know a lot of guys from the UK who served in the military and were stationed near us for several years (both RAF and Royal Marines). Some of them came back later since their kids got a taste of freedom here in Texas. The kids learned to shoot and hunt and fish and just have fun. We found the Royal Marines a lot of fun to be with.
> 
> ...


Were you ever repaid for the diesel tanks? What legal authority was claimed for the confiscation?


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## LincTex (Apr 1, 2011)

GrinnanBarrett said:


> In a matter of a day the state of Mississippi came in and confiscated our diesel tanks and all plus we were told the trailers had to go since we did not have a permit to run a trailer park. Lesson learned.


Wow, what a crappy experience!

I hope you sent them a big, fat bill for "services and materials rendered"


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## tc556guy (Apr 28, 2011)

GrinnanBarrett said:


> We had a warehouse on the Mississippi Gulf Coast during Hurricane Katrina. Our facility was high up so we did not have much damage. We had put in large diesel tanks to run our generators to get our facility back up in an emergency. We also had planned to bring in trailers for our employees and their families to set up on company parking lots.
> 
> We were up and running in a matter of hours after the storm. In a matter of a day the state of Mississippi came in and confiscated our diesel tanks and all plus we were told the trailers had to go since we did not have a permit to run a trailer park. Lesson learned.


I would say its not a trailer park, its a parking lot that happens to have trailers on it that are there temporarily to assist displaced employees to maintain corporate operability.
Curious to hear the story about compensation for the tanks.
I know various state and Federal entities will have authority to seize any number of things in the name of emergency operations.


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## partdeux (Aug 3, 2011)

It's time for the 4th Turning to begin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strauss–Howe_generational_theory

The author believes Obama election was the trigger. I didn't agree, but with all that's happening overseas, beginning to wonder.


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## PurpleHeartJarhead (Mar 23, 2014)

Dakine said:


> I'm pretty sure the new kids on the block are in for a rude awakening, and they are going to want answers!!!! why did my technology fail me? why did my .gov fail me???
> 
> sucks to be them.
> 
> You're either ready or you're not.


By "them" do you mean everyone born after the last world war? The Boomers? Or is it the ones after? I'm just curious where you think the line is drawn is all.

My experience, on the streets of Baghdad, Fallujah, Ramadi, An Bar Province in general, says to not underestimate the older 20 somethings and up. The military is very nearly, per capita speaking, just like society at large, minus the male to female ratio. I would say they are a lot more resourceful and intelligent than they are given credit for.

Their problem is in not knowing. They need teachers, they don't respond well to "preachers" and are starved for real, fundamentally sound leadership. Remember, most have been indoctrinated into the liberal agenda through public education.

The weakest group, in my opinion, is my generation. Those of the generation which immediately followed the Boomers, 1965 and younger, to the millenials. Most of my generation knew a cassette player and an 8 track. But they are, again, in my opinion, the most needy, whiny, what's-in-it-for-me, selfish generation in America.

But, that said, it is the Boomers who gave us the state of our country now.

Before anyone of this generation clicks off safe, I'd just like to point out that what I mean by the comment pertains to the liberal movement the exploded during the Viet Nam era and that many of those are the people who are now at the top positions through out our government at all levels.


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## Dakine (Sep 4, 2012)

PurpleHeartJarhead said:


> By "them" do you mean everyone born after the last world war? The Boomers? Or is it the ones after? I'm just curious where you think the line is drawn is all.
> 
> My experience, on the streets of Baghdad, Fallujah, Ramadi, An Bar Province in general, says to not underestimate the older 20 somethings and up. The military is very nearly, per capita speaking, just like society at large, minus the male to female ratio. I would say they are a lot more resourceful and intelligent than they are given credit for.
> 
> ...


You and I are the same generation and share the exact same view of our generation!

It's complicated... but most directly what I was referring to was the newest of generations that likely have missed the chance to talk to previous generations, the grandparents and great-grandparents that lived through the "great depression". Hearing those stories first hand, not the "you have it so easy, when I was your age I walked up uphill in the snow to school... both ways!" from our dads  but really hearing about missing meals, people that hunted and fished for food or else the table was empty, and I also keep in mind that this was during a time when much of the American populace was a rural based society as opposed to apartment dwellers in the big city.

Can big city dwellers in an apartment have a garden? yes, they often have balconies or maybe they can setup a co-op on the roof, etc...it's "possible" but NOT "probable" that they do it. It's never a bad idea, even if it's just a micro crop because someone likes organic spices and herbs or maybe they just want to enjoy it on what limited basis their space affords them.

So I think "sucks to be them" is really going to rattle them (the youngest folks) more, they basically know ONE way of life, I turn a faucet, and clean water comes out, I turn the other one and HOT clean water comes out. I hit a switch and there is light, it's never failed me. Although maybe a couple times there was a power outage, ohmigawd!!!! what a bummer!!! and I missed Glee!

finding out that our economic world is a fragile little eggshell riding the waves of a very dangerous international sea of markets... they will not comprehend that until the collapse is the ONLY thing staring them in the face.

On a greater, more general scale, I mean that it "sucks to be them" for everyone that does not prepare to take care of themselves and their family when there is no grid, and for a minimum, a short duration of WROL... I would say that generations ours and above are more accountable since we at least should have seen this coming, but the people voted for bread and circus... that's why we borrow more than 40% of every dollar we spend as a nation, and it's a new tipping point that more than 50% of people are now on some .gov program of one type or another.

It's just basic math... we can't continue down this path, it's unsustainable, and the point of NO turning back is either so close or already passed, and even if we could do something I do not think that we would.

For example: I can foods. I do it because it's a good part of a prep strategy, but I also enjoy knowing I can have my own homemade soups and stews and chili and jams and everything else, whenever I want, I know exactly what went into those jars.

I know exactly one other person that does anything similar (apart from this forum, I mean in my life away from the internet) and he does not do what I do, he's a micro crafter of various chutneys and relishes and stuff like that. A very cool hobby, and he enjoys it a lot, that's super cool, but it's not going to feed a family!

when "supply on demand" is the way grocery stores operate, and grocery stores operate on the assumption that "the grid" and to a greater extent "affordable fuel" for trucks is part of the norm... everything is fine... it's when there's a hiccup that we see hoarding, panic and, sometimes even worse, most usually during regional storms like Katrina, Sandy, or the tornadoes.

when it's not a hiccup, it sucks to be everyone, but it will suck a LOT more to be those that never had the chance to understand the fuller bigger picture, because their parents just voted to kick an economic time bomb further down the road. Someone has to pay...

In my opinion we've fought a war of independence over it once already. In that case, it was "taxation without representation" for the colonists who were simply taxed and ignored. Today it's "Happy birthday brand new baby, your share of the national debt is $42,000 and the interest is ticking, and the principal is stacking up too..." I consider that to be taxation without representation as well. I think it's obscene to pass luxury spent from our generation as a debt owed to be paid to our kids and grandkids.

Anyway, to your other question, to me, there is no linear time or generational line drawn, it's really a circle... you're either part of the liberal movement, running up bills that cant be paid, or you're not. You're either standing inside the circle or you're not. You're either part of the problem, or you're part of the solution.

As a nation in extreme distress with our economy, we can only stay "a little bit pregnant" for so long, and at some point, that baby will be born...


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## PurpleHeartJarhead (Mar 23, 2014)

Dakine said:


> You and I are the same generation and share the exact same view of our generation!
> 
> It's complicated... but most directly what I was referring to was the newest of generations that likely have missed the chance to talk to previous generations, the grandparents and great-grandparents that lived through the "great depression". Hearing those stories first hand, not the "you have it so easy, when I was your age I walked up uphill in the snow to school... both ways!" from our dads  but really hearing about missing meals, people that hunted and fished for food or else the table was empty, and I also keep in mind that this was during a time when much of the American populace was a rural based society as opposed to apartment dwellers in the big city.
> 
> ...


Stellar, absolutely stellar response.


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## Mase92 (Feb 4, 2013)

Dakine said:


> You and I are the same generation and share the exact same view of our generation!
> 
> It's complicated... but<snipped>


Amazing. Best post I've seen for a long time. Well put Dakine!:congrat:


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## Sybil6 (Jan 28, 2013)

Let me tell you, teenagers won't make it far. I'm surrounded by the arrogant sort that believe that the national guard/army/marine corps will swoop in and save the day. I honestly think some of them would die as soon as their cellphones stopped working.


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## Geek999 (Jul 9, 2013)

Sybil6 said:


> Let me tell you, teenagers won't make it far. I'm surrounded by the arrogant sort that believe that the national guard/army/marine corps will swoop in and save the day. I honestly think some of them would die as soon as their cellphones stopped working.


The Boy Scouts will do okay. The rest you may be right.


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## Dakine (Sep 4, 2012)

PurpleHeartJarhead said:


> Stellar, absolutely stellar response.





Mase92 said:


> Amazing. Best post I've seen for a long time. Well put Dakine!:congrat:


Thank you guys, I appreciate that!


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## partdeux (Aug 3, 2011)

Read up on the 4th Turning

It really highlights and identifies the generational ebb and tide.


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## PurpleHeartJarhead (Mar 23, 2014)

partdeux said:


> Read up on the 4th Turning
> 
> It really highlights and identifies the generational ebb and tide.


Thanks for the book lead. Another to add to the list.


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