Some thoughts on what I would call ‘modern warfare’ for citizen preppers. Some of this experience may pertain to urban areas, some perhaps pertinent overall.
Dimitri’s wife is grabbing her purse to go to the grocery store, when he casually says “it’s 5:45.” She just as ordinarily replies, “I’ve got cash.” Dimitri sees the slightly puzzled look on my face and flippantly notes, “they turn off the internet at six thirty now,” shrugs, and goes back to reading his paper.
Perhaps similar to London life during the blitz. Various municipal govts coordinated the shut down of lights and people wait. Others got about doing what they needed to do, sirens notwithstanding.
There is a familiar life amid modern drone warfare, and with the similar control of electricity comes the need to add internet.
When the drones are coming they turn off the internet.
As I contemplate the contrasts in social resilience, my most familiar reference point is life after a hurricane. In Florida when we are dealing with the aftermath of a hurricane, no power, no water, no internet, etc., you adapt to life without modern technological conveniences.
If you’ve ever lived amid the aftermath of natural disasters, you understand the need for a plan and quick adaptation. Do it a few times and adaption becomes ordinary. Horrible in ways, yes; awkward, certainly. But you take things in stride; overcome, figure out the optimal solution and keep moving. However, not everyone is prepared to consider a disruption an ‘inconvenience’ and many people who need consistency to retain stability end up in panic. I think long term readers well understand the reference.
As Dimitri goes back to the paper my mind shifts to stuff I’ve heard in bits and pieces but never given context before.
I think about this U.S. ‘Space Force’ thing, and now realize there are people who have gamed out modern warfare more than we discuss as a western technological society.
My mind also thinks about those reports I read a few years ago about various western govt offices concerned about the ability of Russia to target U.S. satellites. Suddenly I realize cell phone and telecommunication is not their concern.
There’s no internet; the problem is bigger than a temporary outage of Uber. I wonder how the commercial air traffic between Kazan, Moscow and St Petersburg is not disrupted. Old school stuff applies. Meanwhile, the kids, lots of them are playing outside as kids do – apparently life amid modern drone warfare is resilient. No one is staring at the sky.
It is very odd to see how quickly a non-technology driven society can adapt to no electricity and no internet as an ordinary part of daily life. An entire nation just figures out the optimal solution, in part because their time between analog and digital has been short. Russians have a totally different context of dependency.
I’m also starting to realize how the flexibility within a non-technological society is an asset in modern warfare. Turn off the internet in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles or any major metropolitan area – how would life be impacted?
I can only imagine the reactions from a generation who has never known life without wi-fi.
It would be a very good intellectual exercise to think carefully about what your life would be like without cell phone coverage or internet services. There are more than a few people who have never learned to read a clock with hands.
In Russia when the drones are coming they turn off the internet and sometimes the electricity. Stores stay open; people do the ordinary things people do, the trains still run, the busses stay on schedule and you can still get a hot coffee and a sandwich just about anywhere, albeit sans Starbucks. Private taxis, Uber equivalents, switch seamlessly to line up at pick-up points without issue. Try to duplicate that rapid on/off precision in Boston, Miami or St Louis… see my point?
Then extend those thoughts to Paris, Frankfurt, Warsaw or Helsinki. Dimitri is thinking about ordering a pizza, while I’m starting to realize why NATO countries are going bananas.
Can Russia beat Europe in modern warfare?
Well, turn off the electricity, turn off the internet and see what happens to social society in Prague, Rome or any region in Europe when the sirens start. Yeah, NATO is going bananas as Putin’s best non-discussed weapon just looms quietly.
Putin’s strongest weapon is essentially a social infrastructure akin to a nation full of people who can live in the aftermath of a hurricane without needing a digital screen to provide directions to the next six hours of their life.
Again, somewhere, in some office complex deep in the bowels of some agency or bureaucracy, someone has ran models of this and yet I cannot find a reference anywhere to ordinary people talking about it.
In the glovebox of every taxi in Russia you will find a paper map; when was the last time you saw one in the USA?
When the drones come, they always turn off the internet and sometimes the electricity.
How would we deal with that…
Think about it.
Sundance,
That sounds like a game of Natural Selection.
We’ve been prepared for it since the so-called “2020 Summer of Love”.
Let’s get THAT PARTY STARTED.
Culling the Hurd or at least reeling in the Lunatics would serve all of Humanity and God’s Children well.
🙌🏼 We Are In 🙌🏼
🇺🇸 1st Every Day and Twice on Sundays 🙏🏼
I’ve been prepping for such eventuality for more than forty years.
Lots of us out here in the boonies, far away from the cities.
Florida and Texas, etc. have hurricanes, the northern tier states have blizzards, lots of places have flooding, the west coast has earthquakes.
Every place in the USA has been blessed with some sort of prospect for natural disasters.
I say ‘blessed’ because the possibility of bad times keeps us on our toes.
Life is hard.
Life without electricity is harder, but our ancestors managed to survive it, else we wouldn’t be here.
We can do the same.
Don’t figure that ‘the Authorities’ will be riding to the rescue.
Chances are, they might be a cause of the problem.
Think about your life, what you actually need to survive.
Do without the extras, stock up on what is needful.
LEARN SKILLS.
Network with trustworthy folks.
BE a trustworthy person yourself.
PRAY!
Trust God, fear not.
He has placed you where you are, for such a time as this.
Yes, earthquakes…and wildfires. And avalanches. California has world-class snow skiing, with avalanches.
Also volcanoes, tsunamis and Democrats.
Democrats ARE a natural disaster!🤨
The ones with blue hair and/or renovated genitalia are UNNATURAL disasters!
For us, running water is the most important. Went without electricity and running water for quite sometime. Carried LOTS of water!
Often each day Thank GOD for the BLESSING of running water.
Any thoughts on short wave?
Indeed, in my rural home there is no water without electricity to pump it from the storage tank. The only safe natural water source is miles away. We store water for emergencies, but 60 gallons doesn’t last long for a family of four. We need a generator, and a pond, too. We are not prepared.
Don’t forget the water in your water heater. Another good potable water source.
You may want to look into a hand pump for your well.
There are several companies that make a pump for emergency use that may be able to slide into an existing well head.
Look online for “emergency water well pump,” and check Lehman’s hardware, to get started.
Also look into water barrels, water catchment methods and water purification systems.
I have a hand pump and rain barrels for the garden. All great in event of hurricane.
I have a friend with a farm In Kentucky. They are way up on a mountain. I asked about wells. They say they don’t have a well cause it would cost a fortune to get down to the water table. They have cisterns. Big ones. A water truck comes about every 4 months to fill it. They have a pump that runs water thru the house. You can also have a 12 volt pump that runs off a car battery if no electricity. I think that is a great solution to water and hope to be able to set up at my place.
Look online to find a local ham radio club.
Most ” hams” love to find new folks to get involved in their hobby.
Thank You, Val!
Company has come and gone…time to look for responses, and You are right here!
BLESSINGS
Trust God….and Be Prepared.
I’m old enough to remember life without internet and cell phones and cable tv and remote controls. It was a good life. I didn’t miss what I didn’t have. I could go back to that easily if needed. I also lived a few years off grid. No running water or electricity. It’s a different kind of life but a very satisfying one. Self sufficiency is a great character builder.
i was very impressed with Russians after reading about Russian dacha gardens. A university student did a study about them. They are simple gardens maintained with hand tools and without chemical fertilizers or spending money. The plots were given to people by the Soviet Union and their lifestyle was to work in the cities during fall and winter and live on their dacha plots in the growing season. They also probably saved a lot of people with healthy food and exercise. They were also very social as families shared food with each other and their children played with each other during the growing season. The study showed that these gardens saved a lot of Russians from food shortages during break up of the Soviet Union. Even today they provide a good portion of Russia’s food supply.
a simple life is the best life. It’s also the healthiest and the happiest in my opinion.
http://naturalhomes.org/naturalliving/russian-dacha.htm
I am so old that I remember when we finally got a TV, we kids were the ‘remote control!’
Yeap, my parents had 5 of them!
Haha. Our first tv was a Philco with a 7″ round screen. We were on the cutting edge at that time.
I was a military brat and every single overseas tour was to countries where we had no phone or tv.
Morocco. Turkey.
In Turkey I was a teenager. Managed to survive without a home phone or a tv. Oh, and our apartment was on the top (5th) floor and NO ELEVATOR in our building!
Tough life. I survived.
Did you have a pet money on a leash in Turkey? I went to Turkey in the 80’s and I’ll be damned if the monkey-on-a-leash stereotype wasn’t true.
Black and white TV was great! Beat the radio. Then Color TV!! That dominated for the next 35 or 40 years.
Ditto
3 stations — such a luxury!
I remember the rabbit ears antenna.
We have come a long way, Baby!
However, much was lost.
Hilarious, Val. And quite true.
Remember when we were freed from TV channel changing duties when the first “clicker ” was available?
Yep.
And us kids got a bit less exercise!
🎯💯
A short time without power in most major American cities and you will have tribal/ Mad Max warfare and predation on an industrial scale.
In Russia they have a cohesive society that looks out for their own for the most part. We no longer have a high trust society. We have an extremely low trust society.
The EU-NATO-IMF/WEF etc are the real enemy for our European brothers and sisters, not Russia
The EU Nazis are setting up their countries for the Purge with thousands/millions of Muslims & Africans really coming from destabilized nations (Libya kept the African hordes at bay before it was Clean Broken) from the 7 Nations in 5 Years war plans. Their EU is trying to genocide their people. Ireland still has a chance because their Purge EU invaders are still small in number and its relatively recent. I would much rather live in Orthodox Christian Russia than the EU. The Nazis won WWII
Irish Nationalists BLOCK Islamic Parade in Dublin.
You have to wonder what their plans are for the future. I expect all those millions of muslims will be breeding like rabbits. They will eliminate one society to only be replaced by a much more prolific one. What do they hope to accomplish?
I believe Matthew Bracken has it right. When their is enough of the invaders from the Neocon targeted nations in the ME and Africa, they will be given guns and a signal and like in the movie The Purge the war Pike laid out will begin.
It is quite possible PDJT & Putin thwart their plans, or at least disrupt them enough.
Take a look at this, Colkitto…
“Irish people” they say. No need for to speak English required.
It’s impossible to stress how the UK ruling class is now fully on board with wiping out its own.
The EU and the UK are perhaps more evil than Nazi Germany which was not defeated but survived through the machinations of people on other countries which were just as evil as they were.
I understand in Wals, they discouraged “immigrants” by requiring all to speak Welsh. Ireland and Scotland could do the same using Gaelic.
England and now Ireland are learning their lesson of open borders Hopefully its not to late for America.
I lived in NYC and went through 2 complete black outs over those years. The people were transformed into openly caring and engaging with each other – helping each other. Sheltering in place on the streets and creating community and music to get through the night.
I would in no way count on that now. NYC has been conquered and has become a foreign outpost in these once United States.
and if the trucks to restock grocery shelves stop running, they will be bare in less than 3 days. Then the Toyota P/U with shooters in the back will roam the neighborhoods.
For my money, the BEST PREPPING is some Jersey Cows and pasture. They turn grass in to fats and protein.
My family has dairy farmers going back forever. They could trade milk, butter, and meat for anything. -especially during the world wars and depression.
I own a modern business, everyone chuckles at me for having 125 acres and 7 cows.
In times past, a pig was an important part of the village. The villagers would feed waste food to their pig and the pig would supply the village with meat to live on; truly an ancient recycle operation.
Pigs can forage in woodlands where there are nut trees, too.
Chickens are good to have, as well, and even meat rabbits can be a good protein source, as well as being easy to raise and rather cheap to feed. Also are very quiet and can be raised in a stealthy way.
Raise your own alfalfa for feed!
The first thought that came to mind is how in the world do they think they can mandate a digital currency when we would not have the internet?
I’ve slowly been stocking up and prepping. My husband kind of thinks I am nuts but that is okay.
I would love to be wrong.
It will be mandated so as to facilitate the deaths of those dependent upon it.
Look at the actual motive, not the stated motive, when you are confronted with what seems to be an illogical mandate.
We spent summers at my Grandmother’s house down here in the south. My Great Aunt lived there with her. Both were born in the 1800s out in the country. My Great Aunt used to drive a buckboard wagon. Fortunately, I was taught many old, old school ways. I can cook outside (without a BBQ grill), wash clothes outside and hang them to dry.
I wish I could find some coal oil. They kept a can of coal oil on the back porch. It was good for everything from a wasp sting to a puncture wound!
My family and I have always loved to play cards and board games.
I think we could make a go of no internet and/or no electricity for a while. I was an adult before I got internet. We would sure try. I guess I’m a magnolia made from steel!
P.S. I keep a Rand McNally Road Atlas in my car! Also, Sundance, I love you and the Treehouse! Feel blessed to have found this place in 2015. Didn’t need to comment for years because between you and the Treepers, y’all said everything that I would want to say! Thank you so much for all you do and for teaching us things!
My great gramma taught me all of the old eay, would be tough but I would survive
The problem is all those skills needed for survival have been lost. I doubt if the younger generation even knows that beef comes from cows, much less how to butcher one lol.
I agree. I grew up watching my dad butcher deer and my friends dad butcher pigs on their farm. Almost everyone had a backyard vegetable garden and fruit trees in their yards. We walked and biked and went swimming on our own at local lakes. I watched my grandma butcher chickens and carry her pan of dishwater out to water her flowers. Many families did a lot of home canning and preserving. One of my grandma’s still used an outhouse and a wood cook stove and had a hand pump in the kitchen for water in the 70s and she lived in a city. The other grandma had no pump and still drew her water from a well with a bucket.
I learned a lot just being around these things. I never thought there was anything strange about it at the time. But just seeing it had an impact on me.
We made our own soap and washed clothes with the washboard and 2 tubs.
When us kids got into trouble we were set down with cream in a quart jar and had to shake it until it turned to butter.
Hopefully I’ll do ok but don’t have the advantage of the farm these days. Darn it.
Check out Backwoods Home magazine and Self Reliance magazine.
Lots of ‘how to’ articles written by modern day homesteaders.
Also check out a blog by Jackie Clay.
She writes for both those magazines and has been living off grid for decades.
Very good; I had a subscription for many years.
Coal Tar is used to treat different kinds of skin issues. Maybe Coal Tar is what used to be called Coal Oil?
I have bought coal tar shampoo (albeit 30 years ago) to treat dandruff. Stinky stuff! But it might be prudent to shop for some now. I still make black walnut tincture each fall, when the walnut trees in Michigan drop those green balls. Break the balls apart, soak in vodka for a few weeks, and voila! Walnut tincture has many uses. Use Mr. Duck Duck Go to find the lists.
Coal oil is basically kerocene.
I thought so, too, but coal oil is derived from coal and kerosene is a petroleum derivative.
When I was small my job was cleaning the oil lamp chimneys with my tiny hands.
I’ve helped put iron tires on wagon wheels.
Shuck corn and bring in the cobs for summer fires in Grandma’s kitchen range. I’d prefer not to think about below freezing trips to the outhouse.
Can’t get Monkey Wards catalogs nowadays.
I’ll survive.
Monkey Wards. Spiegels. JCPenney.
Good times.
As long as you weren’t the first one out in the morning in January or February and had to melt that 1″ of frost that outlined the hole that you were going to sit on.
Usually I wasn’t the first. Sometimes I was.
I spent a winter at Lake Tahoe. Tom and I worked for Henry Butler who had driven an old Ford from SF to Tahoe in 1935. He never left. In exchange for our work Mr. Butler supplied us a tiny cabin with bunkbeds and a wood burning stove . The outhouse was 50 to 60 yards away in the snowy woods which seemed a long walk early on a frosty Tahoe morning; each step a dreary contemplation of the frozen outhouse seat. Sometimes it took several practice runs before courage or immediacy produced actual contact.
I still cherish the memory of those weeks of simple living.
Nowadays folks cut a seat out of Styrofoam and bring it into the house to stay warm, taking it with them when they visited the little house out back.
Me too…. northern Minnesota! My grandma cooked on a wood stove her entire life. Raised 11 kids and several of us grandkids.
Look for those plastic squeeze bottles with a screw on cap that will let you squeeze out water.
You can clean out and reuse a dish soap bottle or buy a couple of plastic bottles from the thrift store.
Fill it with warm water and use it as a portable ‘bidet.’
Saves a lot of TP.
💕😍
Coal oil = Kerosene
Not quite.
Coal oil is derived from coal.
Kerosene is a petroleum product.
“someone has rUn models” lol
This article reminded me of the first episode of the original “Connections” by James Burke. In it he postulates what people would have to do to survive if our modern world went away — although he was mostly talking about the loss of electrical power, and used the 1968 blackout in NYC as an example. The series went on to develop his thesis of the “Technology Trap” that we have built around ourselves.
I’ve got that series on DVD — might need to re-watch it.
Is this the series you’re mentioning: https://archive.org/details/ConnectionsByJamesBurke
If so, one can view it online for free.
It is also on YouTube.
Excellent. WillRoll.
I download audiobooks from Archive.org
What a great resource. until the power goes out… 😁
If you don’t already go car camping, start.
Do so at a campground without electricity and without cell coverage. It’s practice car based bug out that the family thinks is fun. You’re turning them into preppers and they don’t even know it.
Bugging in, that is, staying home when SHTF, with the electricity out and the internet out, is nothing more than car camping in a hard sided, immovable tent, your home. If you can car camp in a tent, you can bug in. Heat out? Get the sleeping bag. Need to heat some food? Get the 2 burner camping propane stove.
Learn how to land navigate with map and compass. Not only will they turn off the internet and electricity, but the GPS as well. Check out your local orienteering club for family fun with a dose of skills building. Again, prepping without it being prepping.
Once you’ve mastered car camping, take up backpacking. If you can do a 3-5 day backpack trip well, congratulations, you have mastered the skills necessary for a foot borne bugout (say your vehicle was EMP-ed into non-functioning oblivion).
Maps are great, if you don’t have one though just remember this basic rule
Odd numbered roads run north/south…..even numbered run east/west.
That is such a good idea! Expose your kids to self sufficiency and camping. Kids love it and the lessons stay with them for a life time.
“Learn how to land navigate with map and compass.” To get to water, fish, firewood. In addition to Food Lion on the road.
hurricane Gloria, 1985, rural Rhode Island.
two weeks with only a roof overhead – and grateful for that.
no phone
no electricity:
no tv
no gas stove (electric start)
no oven
no refrigeration, no freezer
no garbage disposal
no microwave
no dishwasher
no lights
no heat (or A/C if it had been hotter)
no fan
no toilet flush – had to pour a gallon of water down every time
to get a flush
no washer/dryer
no fireplace where i was living
no grocery stores open within 30 miles –
and if you could find one, pretty much dry mixes or canned soup (they didn’t have electricity, either)
oh, and no internet (wasn’t invented yet 😂)
had a battery operated transistor radio and a penlight,
one large candle, and some gallon jugs of bottled water, most thankfully
(couldn’t boil water as advised because no stove).
you adapt.
you find ways.
you do the best you can, and then you do better than that for your animals.
you get used to reading by candlelight.
wouldn’t want to repeat the experience, but not afraid if i have to do it again.
having said all that, i interpreted the article to mean that Russia would be eminently more survivable
than Europe (or LA) if “the drones come”.
The Russians were selectively shutting down Internet services because some of the over-the-air components operate in the same frequency spectra as EW systems they employ. EW systems, obviously, operate at higher power levels.
understood.
i took the phrase “when the drones come” as a broader euphemism for cataclysmic events of any kind,
and noted with interest the difference in survivability between Russian society, EU dependency,
and the chaos of a big blue U.S. city.
but in specificity, you’re right, too!😁
Welllll…….before I was allowed to join the aviator club, I had to endure 1 week of desert survival training and then a week of evasion/survival training in the mountains, during the winter, that culminated with 3 days in a simulated pow camp.
None of it was appealing. Useful lessons learned but……
decided after the fact that I rather like the appurtenances and conveniences of modern living.
My problem is with the ideologues who want to take it away in the name of climate change or whatever cover story is current at the moment.
There’s self/group self sufficiency for days to a month or more following a natural disaster where preparedness matters. The rest? I’ll skip it. Better to join the fight to ensure it never happens.
I washed clothes by hand for a few years and often still do.
Gas stoves can be lit with a match–even those with electric start.
There is what I think is a great book “Lights Out” by David Crawford… lots of good ideas to deal with your scenario… should it happen.
I just searched my library for that title and author. Scores of books titled “Lights Out” but nothing by David Crawford. Darn.
https://www.giltweasel.com/stuff/LightsOut-Current.pdf
Good questions.
I’ve tried to get a few friends to simply leave their cell phones home when they run out to the grocery store or some other short errand.
They look at me like I’ve just asked them to leave the house without any legs. There is a momentary look of fear in their eyes as they contemplate leaving their house without those things and then look at me as if that’s the stupidest thing they’ve ever heard.
Ask someone to read a long article, without taking a break, is also a near impossible task – the constant distractions of screen time, whether internet, phones or television with 5 second ads thrown in, people are being trained to lose their ability to focus, to listen to their inner voice or gut instinct.
Half expecting to see the new fad for monastic vacations so that people can be reminded of what the basics of being human is all about. At the least, survival schools and camps should make it a mandatory practice of no electronic devices that use AI, internet or cell phones for one week before attending. Of course, most people would likely bow out and say no thanks.
Come to think of it, if I wasn’t reading this forum, I could be doing something really useful. Just kidding!
well Since my grocery list is on my phone it comes with me. Plus I always think what if my car breaks down or something. Plus I listen to podcasts while driving. But I could give it up fairly easily if needed.
My Grandfather, Oliver O. Moore, opened the first dealership for automobiles in Trenton, N.J. in 1907. It was for Buicks. He said that the competitors all said that “when their buggies broke down, at least you could ride the horse home.” Of course there where no shops to fix your autos then.
Would ask – test yourself. Use an old fashioned piece of paper or post-it-note for the shopping list; leave the phone at home and notice the internal emotions, is there angst, fearful ‘what if’ questions running in the background of the mind, spidey-senses on overdrive because of wondering what is going on that you’re not hearing about (such as emergency alerts, or other dramas the tv’s constantly spew).
If no heightened worries or concerns, excellent!
It’s those little doubt thoughts that creep in while walking out the door without the device that indicates a mental crutch has been created. No different than alcohol or opiates, that ‘I need that thing” to get through the moment, day, life thought.
I’ve never used my phone for lists; of any sort; Always write them down.
There is something very satisfying about physically crossing things off a hand written list. Yes; I’m old.
I do the same and have an old school flip phone for emergencies.
Great advice. I’m not much for social media. I like the internet for all the information it gives me. Texting instead of calling is so much better. Google maps. Where is the nearest restaurant. Is that store still open. And it gives me something to read when I have to sit and wait for things. I would miss that but it’s not as if there are no alternatives
Someone should ask the Amish what they think/would do about this… /
They’d just smile, pray and help their neighbor.
Just getting over this “exercise” in WNC mountains…our community came together for months on end. I know we can make it through.
A mindset of endurance, good health and humor all come in very handy!
Tons and tons of money and time being spent on developing hi-tech/artificial intelligence, etc.
Ya’ can’t fix stupid, and common since is free, but in low quantities.
I look at some people and say a little prayer for them.
In the glovebox of every taxi in Russia you will find a paper map; when was the last time you saw one in the USA?
Today, in my car, in my house, and in my mind. Big paper maps give you a much better perspective of where you are when you can see the big picture. Sure you can zoom in on digital but that isolates you.
I believe life is the same way. If you only look at what is close in front of you you lose what’s happening all around.
If the internet went out I’d have to go to the library more and if electricity went out I would keep the fridge closed and read a book with my battery powered lights.
Get some solar lights.
Safer than candles, but have those, too.
And make Bright Betties. They are candle you make with liquid parafin that have been shown are very safe to use. Someone on youtube shows you have to make them and then shows how it is difficult to start a fire even by tipping them over.
I just pulled out a paper map today to track our daughter’s family’s vacation route from Maine to Montreal to Toronto!
Here in So Cal, earthquakes are the biggest natural disaster we face. I’m relatively prepared for that. Back up power, batteries food water cooking supplies ammo etc.
it’s the comms piece that I need to tackle. I have a daughter in Texas I need to be able to communicate with.
Might want to look into ham radio and a way to power it.
Get your daughter to do the same.
At the very least, each of you should check out local ham radio clubs and bring cookies to their meetings!
Thanks Val, I’m going to be looking into that and a couple solar panels and batteries. Our grid is on the brink and won’t take much to be out of power. I’ve got a generator and lots of propane to run it but it’s noisy and that attracts attention. In a longer term disaster I think you want to lay low. I think my neighbor is the type that would rally together but you never know.
During WW II and the Korean war, they used a sort of machine that looks like a pedal machine (not a stationary bike, just the pedal part) that was run by human power, to charge the battery for communication radios used by the military.
You can see this in some old movies.
I think it is used in They Were Expendable, with the Duke.
Might be able to jerry rig something similar today, to use with a car battery.
Check out Rapid Radio.
.
What a fabulous article; thank you Sundance!
In 1992, Hurricane Andrew wreaked devastation a relative few miles away, and then a direct hit 2005, Hurricane Wilma, no electricity for 4 weeks.
Save for interruptions where poles went completely went down, the landline telephones worked without interruption! Sadly, they wouldn’t anymore. The TV on antenna still worked after Wilma once it was put back up. Of course, the AM and FM radios did too. The battery-operated analog kitchen clock still worked. Ditto the old wind-up watch. Ditto the gas stove. Barrels full and chlorine tablets meant water was never a concern. Neither was food, although by week 4 we were getting a little tired of spaghetti and canned stuff. (After a week or so, the Marines distributed ice and MREs which was a fun change.) The courts were closed, but the US Postal Service still came through.
Rand-McNally road maps are still published — do you have one?
.
“In the glovebox of every taxi in Russia you will find a paper map; when was the last time you saw one in the USA?…”
We have ’em, and an atlas of the US on the back seat to boot – won’t leave home without them.
I’ve got a whole box of them.
I was born in the 50’s. My Dad raised us to know vegetable gardening and how to survive. If some of the younger folks today lost WiFi or ability to be on their Facebook acct, my guess is they would jump off a cliff.
Belief in God, Common sense, determination and ability to adjust will get one further than a smart phone.
I remember a 17 year old me staring out the window of a mud brick house at the vastness of the Central African savanna and realizing I was cut off from the world as I had known it.
I might as well have been on another planet.
It was both terrifying and exhilarating.
It was liberating.
This technological system we now rely on has made life easier, but at what price?
I miss the days of reading books during rainy days
Nothing stopping anyone from continuing that great old tradition!
True Val, but temptations and obligations get in the way. I did just finished the fantastic “Untenable” and starting a book about the Celts wars against Rome in Iberia.
Found some old books yesterday and actually sat down and read one. Hank the Cowdog – Head of Ranch Security. Used to read them to the kids.
Old is gold. I read some of the Horse pony roundup books when I was a Wee lad. Misty of Chincoteague they made into a movie. Its solid Heritage American movie good for the family. Ty for your post friend
When, why, where and who’s drones are coming?
Whose, not who’s.
Thank you.
Don’t think it matters, if they aren’t ours.
Might not matter even if they are ours.
Three years ago last month was when that massive ice storm pretty much sunk/melted on/ and broke much of Oregon, including almost all of my big, beautiful trees.
It was interesting (and obvious) to notice the difference in responses of neighbors, as one day without electricity stretched into two days, then four, then ten,….and counting, as outdoor temps never got out of the low 30s and indoor temps never got above the low 40s, even with the fireplace.
Those who had lived without electricity (or without dependable electricity/water/etc) in earlier life didn’t do much standing around talking with neighbors or belly-aching about why it was taking so long. They were busy, either using the resources they already had on hand or figuring out how to do something they hadn’t thought about ahead of time. They weren’t freaking out or blaming. Help is not coming.
They began formatting their day differently. Returned to taking a bath using a pan and a washcloth. Set the camp toilet up in the garage. Make a note of how long to prestart the charcoal so that it’s at optimum HOT for heating a bit of soup when you need it….and have manual can-openers on hand. Always.
I had water in a 35 gallon barrel for washing and cooking. That barrel gets emptied every spring and refilled with fresh.
I had several large bags of charcoal on hand as well as a certain amount of cash and bills in smal denominations, since the stores only take cash.
Disconnected the automatic garage door so it could be managed manually, very simple to do and very necessary.
I know I can’t handle everything indefinitely, but I was encouraged to note that I managed. My son and his wife live 35 miles away but that didn’t matter at that point, because the roads were all blocked by broken trees, etc. Nobody could go anywhere for several days. So we camped at home.
It’s a lot of work. It’s not very convenient at all. I doubt that I could sustain life indefinitely in pre-electricity conditions.
I can’t sustain life indefinitely in electric conditions either!!!
Reality.
Oh – forgot to mention: everything in the freezer thawed out and I couldn’t keep up with the eating of it fast enough, or sharing with neighbors. That left me feeling kind of hapless….a learning area….
Being without electric for six weeks in 2004 was not that bad because I had grown up in the Ozarks without electricity prior to 1950 and without water in the house until I was long gone on my own. In fact Mom had water installed in house when I was bringing my future DH to visit. they sold some acres across the road and installed a bathroom and laundry room. After the hurricane I hand washed clothes and laid them to dry on the pool furniture. Had gas grill for heating water, etc. I remember going into a Publix grocery in Port Charlotte with no electric. Dark, people sitting outside in chairs keep to not more than six in the store at a time, and only purchases were boxed or canned items and payment was cash.
After Helene, there was so much work to do. We saved physical energy by positioning at least one light source in every room, avoiding the “good Lord where did I leave the flashlight” routine. Once a day we pre-positioned the buckets of water needed for the next 24 hours in the rooms where needed. That way we could use the generator to draw all the well water needed for one day, all at one time.
Those simple steps saved so many footsteps and energy, making it possible to get other work done outdoors..
In retrospect, we are re-thinking freezing a lot of food for storage, and are now leaning more towards canning and free-drying for longer-term reliable storage.
We still have trees falling in the woods as a result of that storm. Cleanup will probably take a couple more years, as time permits.
This is such a great group, thank you so much Sundance and everyone.
When Abraham took Isaac up the Mountain he knew what needed to be done. Find Jesus Christ and you will not ever need to fear again. No Internet no power take everything I have. I will start over for the God is good and if the day comes that I have to sacrifice I will. For my Lord and Savior gives me eternal life.
Jesus Christ found me a long time ago. Knowing Christ does not replace the need to be prepared when the power goes out in terms of caring either for ourselves or for family members. Walt, you probably know that….just dropping the thought in.
Not all preparation is a symptom of fear. Much preparation is simply pragmatic, like filling the gas tank on your car when it has fallen below a quarter tank and the place where you’re going tomorrow is 200 miles away. When you fill the tank this afternoon, it’s most likely not because you’re afraid.
We did it for about a month. no internet no power Hurricane Helene was practice. the biggest lesson we learned was if you can can food, you should. no refrigeration needed.
Reading through the comments ,Hank Jr popped in my head “country folks can survive”
” There’s no internet; the problem is bigger than a temporary outage of Uber. I wonder how the commercial air traffic between Kazan, Moscow and St Petersburg is not disrupted. Old school stuff applies. ”
i WAS Upset with the Local Aviation Club BECAUSE they were RELYING on using their ” iPad “s as Their GO TO NAVIGATION Source.
LOSING Their Skill Sets to use OLD SCHOOL – DEAD RECKONING and PAPER CHART Reading along with VOR/NDB Navigation Instruments.
i Was Told that the FAA INITIATIVE was to REMOVE the VORTAC and the ILS Systems –
TOTALLY RELYING on the GPS Approaches.
” NUKE ” the U.S. Satellites and WE Will ALL Be Back to the 1920s – Navigating by Lighting Fires on the ground for Night Navigation and Daytime Flying in Good Weather.
TIME for SECRETARY DUFFY To ADDRESS THIS MISGUIDED Initiative – IF TRUE
( my 2 cents from an Enlisted Navigator that Learned using an E6B -> 1980 – 2000 )
For anyone who’d like to watch an interesting and really good movie about living life when the power goes out, watch ‘Survival Family.’ The movie was made in 2016 in Japan and is called a “road drama comedy.”
The movie has no cussing and no doom and gloom zombie type stuff, and deals with many of the prepping realities we’ve been talking about today.
Excellent points.. thank you, Sundance.
The new Hillsdale curriculum high school my group is starting will have no cell phone usage 8a-3p with the phones locked up. It will be interesting to see how the 15-18 year olds handle having no screen time. I think the internet has become a giant psychological problem. Yes, I’m addicted.
i’LL MISS My Extended Family from the Tree and the WIDE VARIATION of NEWS SOURCES the internet allows.
BUT
i’LL FOCUS MORE on ” my ‘ Chores when the SYSTEM COLLAPSES.
I’m up to date – 6 days no power from Helene, 5 days no power a few months later after a siege of freezing rain took down a lot of trees.
Well. All things considered I think it would be a good thing for us as human beings. To have real community again. To be out in the real world. Sometimes I feel addicted to the devices – and I don’t like how my brain feels. I think there are quite a few of us. The young ones, well, they are resilient and they will adapt too.
I spent the first 8 months of Biden’s presidency planning for every possible timeline I could imagine. A lot of them overlapped, some I modified over time.
Everything is where I stored it ready to go.
Practice your skills, too.
Live near or in a big city, then pick your
movie.
So many to choose from.
My area code might fall into the World War Z category. FL – turn pike probably backed up and abandoned cars like Deep Impact. Head down the the keys and might get some Road Warrior after it thins out. I can hope maybe turns into The Post Man.
Then the Hunger Games begin.
Haha I can do this all day. I’m prepped . Just live in the wrong place if it falls apart.
There was a tv series on for a couple yrs in 2012 called Revolution. It is about the grid going down everywhere. Depending on location, you see different reactions. In the cities it’s all Mad Max and in the rural areas it’s community pulling together. Really good series.
I read the book “One Second After” which speculated what would most likely happen following a major EMP event in the U.S. Pretty scary scenario, especially in highly populated areas with a preponderance of elderly people, like FL and the East Coast. Americans are very, very vulnerable should they be forced to be self-reliant, even for a short period of time. I would imagine chaos would quickly lead to some form of anarchy.
I believe during the cold war all the maps in Russia were deliberately printed incorrectly.
60++ years ago – I was a “Boy Scout” – our motto was “Be Prepared!”
And living through the Cuban Missile Crisis … added to that.
My wife looks at me strangely – but when we run out of “just about anything” …
she goes out the the garage and grabs it!
Be Prepared!
The most important thing in paper map reading is to have a paper map.
I consider a compass essential as well.
Learn to use both.
Someone told me this evening that many years ago (WW2 ?), some military had specific maps printed on cloth, so they didn’t get ruined in bad conditions.
There is a company now that will print/laminate maps to order. I don’t recall the name at the moment; just saw their stuff on a different site. Certainly they can be searched. I have the topographic quadrangles from National Geodesic for my local area and am currently filling in the missing road names.
Encapsulated nicely here: “Putin’s strongest weapon is essentially a social infrastructure akin to a nation full of people who can live in the aftermath of a hurricane without needing a digital screen to provide directions to the next six hours of their life.”
Bravo, SD.
Until they run out of vodka….then all bets are off. lol.
Everyone has their soft spot….no one is invincible.
I have my own still too!
Plus a small “Solar System” that backs up 4 x 12V 120 Amp Hour caravan (deep cycle) batteries.
Plus spare MPPT units – 6 MW inverter.
Learn how to “can” your meat & vegies!
“How would we deal with that…”
It kinda depends on the sort of drone you’re talking about:
Out of curiosity, what is the annual household income per capita in Russia?
Putin doesn’t need to bomb anyone. He can blowup every gas pipeline in Europe and every underwater fiber cable and then sit back and wait. He can have drone-trucks ready to go to take out every airforce while the planes are on the ground. All timed down to the second.
Well, after Nordstream BOOM. Maybe learning how to save stuff might work better for Putin. He has been fighting Ukraine for how long? Afghans…. Looks like he has his fair share of useless, bloody wars and financial mistakes.
At the end of the day Russia’s fearless leader is just a man. One that is still upset that Russia is no longer the Soviet Union…. Putin is old, he doesn’t have enough time to achieve his dream. By the time he gets Ukraine (the apple of his eye) back it will be a total crap hole. Nothing left.
After all these years it is obvious that Putin’s moral compass doesn’t point North. All the propaganda in the world can’t fix all his failures.
Just like our fabulous leaders Bush (both), Cheney, Clinton, Gore, Obama, and Biden. Death and destruction, nothing to show for it. Just lies and the abject suffering of a once great society. America is no better off than Russia.
The only leader that America has that isn’t a loser is President Trump. The leadership in this country has been trying to destroy and kill him for 10 years.
When President Trump was shot all I heard was a whimper.
Losing electricity is the least of our problems.
I would love a big shut down, maybe they would have to open up the mental hospitals again to treat all the phone-worshipers who cannot live without one. lol
There are always map & compass in my truck. And I have never and will never own a “smart” phone or a touch screen phone. I do have a small flip-phone I keep in a Faraday bag and have used it for emergencies. Not putting anybody down for using one, just not going down that road.
Been ready all my life for some kind of disaster or civil chaos. Only thing I would miss is daily reading at Conservative Treehouse, I can live without all the other chaff.
Fresh water is key to survival. Learn how to make your own cylindrical well bucket out of PVC. You can lower the well bucket by rope and it will fill with water. As you pull it up, a one-way valve is closed by the weight of the water. This is a handy device in use in Africa and other undeveloped nations.
I am an amateur radio operator. I have the capability to talk to the world with my solar/battery powered transceiver and homemade antenna.
We have a wood stove and enough firewood cut and split to last TWO long, cold winters.
We have non-perishable food.
We have key barter items to trade for things we might not have.
We have one restored, older vehicle that has no electronic ignition and no computer chips. It has a carburetor and a manual transmission with an all-new clutch assembly.
Nobody can be completely prepared but we have enough to get by for some time.
I do not buy into the ‘Russia is our pal’ club. But it seems that this is a common theme for some folks. Mistake.
… and he is reading a paper…. A daily paper, I will assume. That in itself is a reassuring item
keep them printers printing!
then again, when’s the last time you read a paper… all the way thru? At one time it was a privilege and ritual, as well as entertainment. There was a morning and evening newspaper… a massive double daily dose of information, right at your doorstep.
I imagine that skill is close to extinction as cursive writing…
I’m old enough to remember life long before the internet. In the 50s we had fans and garden hoses to cope with summer heat. All us kids drank from those hoses too since nobody ever heard of putting water in a bottle…who would do that? When Dad finally got a TV there were only a few hours of programs each day and the rest of the time we watched the Indian Head test pattern.
I spent hours in the barber shop, reading comics and pretending to need a haircut because our local barber had a window air conditioner. Nobody drove their kids to school and most of us walked to save the dime bus fare and spend it on candy.
We old folks can do just fine without the internet…but no electricity? I dunno about that!
Let’s hope that something major does happen to our now vulnerable electricity grid… I don’t think it is as secure as every one thinks it is…
There are some who’ve been tracking this weird phenomenon of flashing lights on buildings, random street lights, in homes, & even cars… It’s occurring worldwide daily. Countless have been helping to document by filming locations.
It’s strange bc it’s sporadic & never the entire circuit. Various theories as to why, but nothing conclusive. The only agreement– perhaps it’s some type of warning.
(MrMbb333 has been compiling evidence sent to him almost daily. Video is from a few weeks ago, but gives some good examples in it.)
*start at 03:15
“Again, somewhere, in some office complex deep in the bowels of some agency or bureaucracy, someone has ran models of this and yet I cannot find a reference anywhere to ordinary people talking about it.”
Funny how removing one single letter changes the meaning of that sentence.
It is called operational blindness from staring at the Sun with that letter removed.
Well, having arrived at the biggest challenge to our modern world. Yes, people adapt, I have lived through more than enough hurricanes to yes see first hand how people react.
And, sure who wants to step back to the stone age. I kind of like my refrigerator.
So the issue is about space weather. And the one thing totally out of ours hands. And, it’s called CMEs by the way.
Nevermind drones, Bob’s out there, waiting to apply that firmware update LOL