Outstanding post, and you really brought with the Toyota car carrier story. I have had similar youthful near-death experiences, you never forget them and they become building blocks for your life.
One "prepper avenue" that is rarely mentioned is living on a boat. Sure, it's not for everybody, but in an era of unaffordable housing it's a viable option for those who are sufficiently fit and agile. The average home down payment is now $30K, for this you can buy an older but perfectly sound 30 foot sailboat that can cross oceans. Even a small older houseboat can move by water from Maryland to Texas and hide out in a million acres of coastal wilderness.
The flexibility of a moveable house is a significant advantage over being tied to one permanent "bug-in" location. When every highway is in permanent gridlock, boats will still give a prepper a lot of options. Diesel fuel lasts for years compared to gasoline. A 500 mile (plus or minus) motoring range plus virtually limitless sailing range puts small sailboats in a unique category. I wrote this up a decade or so under the title "Get Yourself a Thirty Footer and Go." Here's one link, or search around for others.
Thanks Matt. Are you Matt Bracken, the author of the Enemies trilogy? I didn't know you were on Substack. Great advice on the sailboat option, one of the most underrated it seems. I wrote about it briefly last summer after a two year search for a new home, which sadly is still ongoing and coming to an end finally this spring.
All the advantages of being global and mobile mitigate the many risks of being tied to one government and its changing laws, and its fickle people. Seventy-one percent of the earth is covered by water. There’s almost no place that can’t be traveled via the high seas. With the cost of automatic water makers coming down significantly, nature's energy in wind and solar the possibilities are endless. I've spent hours on Yacht World looking at 35-38 foot sloops. My only problem is a big one. I'd have to start with "Sailing For Dummies."
Imagine trying to explain riding a bike to an adult who had never seen one or heard of them. It would sound daunting. It's not. Take lessons on dinghies, it's the same principle from small to large.
A great weekly resource for me as well. And with the best memes. Concerned American was around here briefly last year in the comments. I'll give the cruising life a closer look again. Had been zeroing in on Finland after recent elections there. Very low cost of real estate, lakeside with hectares, reasonable gun culture for Europe,100k fresh water lakes, gov that supports hunting, fishing, farming, and fixed foreigner tax rate much lower than the crazy local 51%. Not without plenty of cons; most cashless society, most trusting in their gov; digitized everything; hellish winters; recent NATO membership achieved by their former PM WEF disco bunny etc.
"Courage is mankind’s finest possession because it enables us to do the right thing, to face danger, and to enjoy life. People who live in fear are miserable."
"What we pay attention to, believe, and use as valid information to guide us in our major decision-making processes can often be to our detriment, and lead us down the wrong path."
Oh ain't that the truth.
We're all transforming in this time of great transition. I'm not the same person I was 3 or just 2 years ago. Good. (She bought a lot of food, long past it's 'use-by' date. )
Yes, it is crazy to spend all your time focused on survival and miss out on living in the process. Too many good things to pay attention to for that.
A few bits of metal, maybe a little bitcoin, some food and water - sure. Then let it go. Most of what's happening is just going to happen.
I'm done with waiting for the next crises. Appreciate the post and wisdom therein. Best.
Yes, no more waiting and watching and hoping. Good advice, and another Rambo quote. "Let it go. Let it go." For all the cheese of the sequels, the first one has so many metaphors for the world we're living in now. Alone and adrift, traumatized, abused by TPTB, friends gone, authorities won't even let him have a bite to eat, then want him imprisoned or dead. All he wanted was a meal.
This made me laugh. Hubby went a bit nuts on the ‘ashopalypso’ as we called it, in 2020/21. Eventually I put my foot down and said, no more. By that time we had enough flour to last a lifetime (and we don’t even eat much bread). When we moved house late last year, we carted crates and crates of tins and dry goods with us. I rolled my eyes at him. Slowly, over the past year, we’ve eaten our way through most of it (not the flour tho’). Recently, when hubby went to get some mayo from the supplies, he discovered that all six of the massive jars had gone off haha. I rolled my eyes again. And he’s definitely now cured 😉
Dec 1, 2023·edited Dec 1, 2023Liked by Good Citizen
I think the expression goes; "I don't have to be faster than the bear. I just have to be faster than you."
I am reminded of this during my morning runs when I am privy to the empty pizza boxes and Costco-sized soft drink containers and seed oil snack packs overflowing the recycling bins at the ends of my neighbors' driveways on trash day. That and the odds that 90% of them are on their 7th booster gives me hope that there will be more bacon for the rest of us once the smoke clears.
Dec 1, 2023·edited Dec 1, 2023Liked by Good Citizen
None of my neighbors grow food, or have a source of fresh water. A few have back-up generators that rely on gas from the grid. They get everything from Whole Foods (or COSTCO) despite having access to Amish farmers—one of whom delivers to our house (he has a driver). The bigger issue is that they've been fooled by the privileged world in which they live and believe that same privilege will insulate them from what's to come.
Being near Amish country definitely has its advantages. I can't even believe Whole Paycheck still exists. Amazon turning them into biometric hell for food with their palm print scanner check out process is one of the reasons I say, "Get away from these people." It seems the normies can't wait for their pods in 15 minute cities.
They are slowly rolling out the biometric grid for travel it seems. I picked someone up from the airport a few months ago. The person told me there is no longer the option for paper tickets. The QR code must be scanned on a phone.
Do you know which airline? I think they'll print a paper ticket if you say you don't have a phone , but most people are too embarrassed to say that now. Delta started face scans two years ago and I've been telling them to fuck off in no uncertain terms. In May they finally told me I couldn't board the flight without using their facial recognition boarding process. Using up all my miles over the coming months and switching to whomever isn't part of the prison planet. I have a feeling my options will be few.
It was from a large airport to a small town airport. The main flights from the city to where I picked the person up are either Delta or Alaska. It was probably Delta. This seems to be the direction things are slowly heading.
Absobloodywunnerful word wankery. Dear Good Netizen, you are truly blessed with a sharp eye, mind and pencil. Just one teeny tiny thingy i'd add though. And it's something that i constantly encounter in my dealings with humanity at large (and small), and that is... FFS, escape already. Escape the prison of your personal preoccupation; the black hole of self-obsession. Because sure as hell, ain't nobody else can set you free but you. So, it's time-out: take / make the time to reach out with open heart-hand-mind to your fellow travellers. Forget about personal survival or salvation - focus on being an agent of change; a catalyst for the personal evolution of others. Saving yourself is a walk in the park: saving people from themselves ain't.
Thanks WTF. Sound advice that I'll definitely take to heart, with one exception in the last part that is probably beyond my depth. I'd always assumed that some of these posts were in part an attempt to reach out to others who were still reachable in whatever topics they covered. While not my primary mission here, perhaps as a tertiary goal if I have failed it might be because I have lost faith in large swathes of my fellow humans while still cheering for team humanity. But in my defense on the lost faith it's certainly not for a lack of evidence. I've never been an activist at heart. I've never marched with others, or chanted slogans. I've never joined a club much less organized one. On the last part of your comment...even if I were capable, which I doubt, I don't think I could assume the burden of saving others from themselves when it is so often the case that we are our own worst enemies, and have to undergo the journey of getting out of our own way alone. A journey that lasts a lifetime for most. There's that sermon at the end of A River Runs Through It about the struggle of simply helping those we love, that I included in the first paragraphs of a piece last year.
Wow. You're not just a bright spark - you're quite the illuminated soul shining a spotlight into some dark recesses of the human psyche. And i love your honesty. Delighted to meet & greet you - even if only in the digital domain. A brief intro into what (and how) i do is probably in order: energy is my medium & modus operandi in working with / for / on people. My catch-call is "take care of the energy, and the energy will take care of you". If you'ree curious check out my site for a clue or two - www.kinergy.life.
Somewhat belated thanks for taking the time to read and reply to my comments. I'm still kinda surprised when some soul does - i got used to talking to the wall working as a DJ on radio. Hell, my craziness was fuelled when the walls started talking back. And no, i don't live in an echo chamber.
I agree with you as to where hoi polloi is at (and going), bit regardless work with & for people (clients or otherwise) to evolve. Nowadays though, my focus is taking care of the caretakers. It's the application of the physical principle of leverage, but relevant to the dimensions of health, sanity, and social wellbeing.
And yeah, i know, a fool and his folly are not easily parted (that's me in a nutshell, i guess).
Dec 1, 2023·edited Dec 1, 2023Liked by Good Citizen
Superb! Thank you! So many gems in this one.
This: "What kind of man fears death so much, that they’re willing to exist in hell to prolong life?" I say, hey, wanna live in your own hell? Scared shitless. Have at it, but I will be G-damned if you will drag me with you. As Elon Musk just said out loud, "Fuck you." Cool as a cucumber.
Excellent piece GC. Your list of "prepper" categories seems to be pretty complete, and I must admit I probable exhibit parts of all of them. Freeze dried food ? check. Arms and ammo? check? A few acres in rural America? Check. A stash of precious metals? check. Livestock and garden? check. An easy chair perched on top of the highest near by point where I can sit and watch the nuclear Armageddon go down in comfort?? Check.
All those prepping activities just seemed appropriate years ago when I knew it was time to leave the craziness of the Austin area, and spend my twilight years in a calmer, more peaceful, redder environment. But I am under no illusions as to what I am capable of still doing (that becomes less with each passing day) and most of the stuff will likely be used in barter situations rather than in the fight against the forces of evil.
I was born in 1946, and the way I burned the old candle at both ends for much of my youth and young adulthood, I never expected to see 40. Wasn't a recreational drug I didn't like, and not near enough beer and whisky. Surprise, surprise when I woke up having become the age we would never trust anyone older than, and I started rethinking my priorities. Many of my peers never did--to bad for them. Then thanks to a very personal "burning bush" experience in my early 40's everything changed, My mind became clear, and now I cherish each morning I get to put my feet on the floor and go about whatever the day puts in front of me.
The only real prepping any of us can really do is to realize the official narrative is by and large a lie, that the government does not have the welfare of the people any where near the top of it's agenda, that true evil does exist in this old world, and to keep all of that in mind while going about the daily chore of living. Each of us can make life worse or better for all those around us by how we live each and every day. It's a choice we make. End of sermon
You've come a long way JVC. The trials of our past forge the path of our future. Some people never stop burning the candle. We always have agency to make choices.
I forgot to add the porch and rocking chair to the list. Thank you for reminding me to just stop and observe and take it all in, no matter the view...
"An easy chair perched on top of the highest near by point where I can sit and watch the nuclear Armageddon go down in comfort?? Check."
I want to be at Ground Zero when the nukuler shit goes down.
Besides, the most dangerous animal on earth is a man with nothing to lose but his pride.
We are kinda sorta 90-day preppers. 13,000 gallons in the cisterns, and another 12,000 gallons in the pool. And there is something to be said for those MyPatriotSupply rations. I bought several, enough fort quite a while and easy to store. They came with a "trial pack", a 3-day supply "free." We checked it out. Not bad, for survival I suppose.
I concur coach. I'm hopping in my ride and racing toward the nearest strategic target, maybe blast ACDC, swig some whiskey and sing loud on the way toward that face ripping shockwave. How'd the season go? My friend at Tualatin made it to the finals, losing to central catholic. They were winning near half when his D1 QB/Safety and TE/LB went down within a three play series and that was the end.
Bureaucracy ended my coach's season. He ran afoul of entrenched bureaucrats for raising money through a "Touchdown Club" approved by the county, but not approved by the school bureaucrats. They did not like that kids loved him, more than they loved the administration. So they "reassigned" him to the county edumacation building in week 7, so he did not finish the season. I also left, but continued my side-gig of game planning and self-scouting for the Catholic School I worked with last season.
Public school finished 2-5 while we were there (last season was 0-10), and ended 2-8. But as Elon Musk says, "GFY." I hate to say it, but the kids packed it in after the coach they loved got the shaft, and there is a parents uprising over the farce that even made the local papers and TV.
Good news in the Catholic school is in the semis tonight with a shot at state. I will be there next season, for sure, signed, sealed and delivered when I left the public school, and I am pretty sure my HC will be their OC next season...along with 3-4 excellent kids who will follow him to the private school, with financial aid.
What I learned from my experience in the public education sector just reaffirms my suspicions about how bad things are for our yout'. I implore anyone with school-age kids: please, please get your kids out of public schools, even if it is a hardship.
I would not suggest going into debt for a college edumacation, but WOULD suggest it for young kids in K-12, because *those* years are vastly more important than current college indoctrination.
Man, even Florida is not immune to the PS BS. Bureaucracy is a cancer worse than some cancers. Great advice on paying for K-12 rather than University. Those important years matter most.
The sad thing about college and sports is how social media is driving some kids with delusions of a pro career to buy snake oil some college scouts and pimps are selling.
Oh, I truly get wanting to play more ball, the forever fall team love. It is addictive, and hard to give up.
Back when I was a young 'un, there were 1/3 the college programs. If you were "good enough" your coach would make calls and you'd get a letter of interest in the mail with a bright logo from an athletic department. Maybe you got a grant-in-aid...if you were lucky and really good.
Today seems every podunk come lately program has a foosball team? Why? It attracts alumni to donate cheese, that's why. Not the engineering dept., accounting dept., edumacation dept., or gender studies dept. It is Football, and occasionally roundball, that attracts money.
So now a huge % of kids grossly overestimate their skill think they will get "recruited" and there is a social capital to garner with "offers" they can post on X, even if from a crap school in a crap conference and crap edumacational possibilities.
But what many end up with is paying some podunk $100k to play...all debt...at some school that offers nothing but vaporware promises and shit schooling.
I try to counsel caution the marginal kids, but most won't listen. They have been seduced by college "agents" (really! There are college agents!) and semi-peers on X.
Except for five-star recruits, colleges don't really recruit any more in the old sense. They have auditions. They have "scout days" where a gaggle of scouts run a gaggle of dreamers through drills and paces, pitting kid-on-kid, like an athletic Hunger Game, to see who wants it badly.
Yeah, I'm cynical.
See, I'm an old white guy, and even though I know my little area of foosball, clearly I don't know what I'm talking about when it comes to college counseling, and promoting the idea you'd be better off walking on to a college you really like and betting on yourself, than going to some shithole South North West Eastern Podunk A&M because some coach blew what you wanted to hear in your ear, and finding out you've made the mistake of your life.
I could go on and on regarding modern college athletics and the corrosive effect it has on young skulls full of mush and hopes and dreams...
Back in the day I read "Meat on the Hoof" (by Gary Shaw) and "Out of their League" (by Dave Meggyesy) while early in college. Both influenced my young life, and even as a pro I didn't fall for "the man's" bullshit like hundreds of guys I knew did. I gotta say I did not endear coaches with my lack of locker room rah-rah. But at least I was honest with myself.
Very true. There was no app or youtube to hustle scouts and self promote. I see these kids, maybe the number 88 ranked slot receiver in the country holding a press conference to announce that they chose a full ride from Northwestern over Indiana, and it makes the home page of ESPN. It's so idiotic and what it does to their psyche must be terrible. All it takes is one wrong play and their knee blows out, or one bad choice on campus on a friday night and all that rah rah is gone, instantly. Happened to me, slowly over two years with bad choices, and without all the rah rah narcissistic social media b.s. and if there was a ESPN 100 back then I would have been a top 5 PK. Nobody gives a shit and nobody is there to guide these young kids and temper their egos down to earth.
I concur with coach, as a Floridian, the public schools in my county are trash. My kids are both done, but if I were starting over today it would be homeschool at least thru middle school, then a private school if not homeschool all the way thru. Both mine played hs sports, the only reason to even attend high school imo. If they hadn’t I would’ve let both quit and get a GED.
The Catholic HS where I've coached is very worthy of a patent's attention, for sure. It costs around $11,500 a year, but they produce intelligent, edumacated, curious, respectful kids who still have a hard time not calling me "sir" whenever we meet.
Academics are top-notch, as are the athletic teams.
We lost the state championship 31-27 in a very close, well-played game.
My guy kicked a 49yd. FG with :53 remaining to go up 27-24. He went in cool, kept his head down, followed-through, and nailed it.
The opposing team had a 3rd and 18 on their 35. Threw deep, incomplete, but our #1 CB (D1 commit) got a serious cramp, left the game, and we were flagged for roughing. Nexy play, with :32 on the clock, we broke down in coverage, the replacement CB missed his assignment, and their all-state WR scored wide-ass open on a bomb. I would have gone after a 10th grader noob, too.
Damn. It was there one second until it wasn't. That's what makes the game so exciting. Did you have a TO to call for CB to recover from the cramp? Good effort Coach.
Ever since my days as an Admin at the Doomstead Diner, I have been skeptical about "prepping." I often said to the guys there, stocking up on all that gold, guns and food makes you a target. Too much stuff in such a circumstance can weigh you down. Besides, I don't really believe in apocalypse, the world as we know it coming to an end tomorrow. I expect something more like a gradual civilization decline for the rest of my life and well beyond.
My prep has been about skills and knowledge. I could set up a bug-out bag in less than an hour, but I don't have one ready, and again, in a theoretical apocalypse, going it alone isn't anywhere near as important as what and who you know. I know about hunting, fishing, building houses, wild plant cures, growing food, and lately the guitar. I don't need a doomstead. More like, I would go find the local warlord and be in service to him, rebuilding.
I read, with great interest, the entire excellent article only to laugh out loud at all the payment options at the end. Perhaps it was a brilliantly embedded device to prove some of the points?
After I loaded all my gold, silver, guns, ammo, food, water, prepper books, and solar panels onto my boat, it sank. What did I do wrong? Now the underwater society for the preservation of sunken things has declared my boat a national disaster and is not to be touched. My best bet might be to fly to Russia where I hear they are overflowing with bomb shelters and see if I can rent one of those babies on the cheap using air-bnb.
"As I relived those fifteen minutes in the following days, I began to realize that panicking and cursing each other did us no favors, and we would have been much better off if we remained calm and used our brains first, to work through our options to find the most practical solution."
Here's the problem. About half of the population* is emotions based. Most women/ gay men. No matter what anyone does, they're going to be panicking and cursing. Not sure how we work around that.
Interesting. Kids definitely are, though I wonder if it's not higher given the reactions of people to propaganda with irrational decisions and propensity for herd behavior, feelings of belonging, safety in numbers, convenient lies over truth etc.
Quite, excellent, GC. Some thoughts: Those that hoard gold & silver coins to buy necessities when paper currencies become worthless are delusional. You can't eat coins. The crazed, starving mobs will literally rip them to pieces as they come to whatever markets are left to purchase sustenance. Home generators for a power grid collapse will be worthless as well. They run on fuel and all gas stations will be shut down with malfunctioning pumps. Those generators will be worthless hunks of metal. It's all relative, but there is no longer any place on earth that is pollution free just like no location is exempt from the evil geoengineering of weather. As for the super rich and their underground sanctuaries they intend to survive in while we surface dwellers perish in agony because of their machinations, I'm no bible thumper but here's a scriptural quote I like: "I will flush you from the bowels of the earth." This rapacious, capitalist society, dependent on infinite resources from a finite planet, has only existed for the blink of a geological eye and already its catastrophic demise is on the visible horizon. The very real, imminent disasters we all face are greatly exacerbated by the paralysis inducing fear porn of the Cryptocracy. During a total collapse and implosion, unless they are hidden or in an inaccessible locale, any survivalist group will be easily overwhelmed and destroyed by the teeming millions of crazed and murderous refugees pouring out of the devastated urban areas. The survivalists would have to possess over several hundred well armed men with copious amounts of ammunition, drilled in defending a strong, secure position to have even a chinaman's chance of repelling the onslaught. Great wisdom there from the 5 Rings author. One of my favorite martial arts adages is, "Flow like water, react like a mirror." Though none of us want to depart this world in protracted pain and suffering, there are many fates far worse than death. Akin with the Norse fatalism, the Arabs say, "Any day is a good day to die." Our Aryan ancestors said that at the moment of passing, one should tell a joke. I intend to laugh in the Grim Reaper's face. What's he going to do about it? Kill me again?
Dec 2, 2023·edited Dec 2, 2023Liked by Good Citizen
My preparation I think is not excessive but if I do no preparation at all I think that would be irresponsible.
I have gamed this a lot and I think the most probably scenario in a total SHTF event, the initial chaos would burn itself out within a few weeks.
The immigrants and inner city welfare parasites will find their government debit cards will fail and come after us who do have backup. I doubt the majority would make it out of the cities. If they do then I have the necessary resources to keep them away.
But within a season or so things will settle down. I am one who doesn't think society will destroy itself without government. In fact I expect things to be much better without it.
Sooner or later the farmers will want to move products, factories and refineries will not stay idle forever. There are plenty of people with the skills to help rebuild. We mostly have gray hair but still can function.
I am actually optimistic for the medium-long term future.
My silver coins will help jump start commerce and civilization.
Most calamities never happen, and certainly not over vast areas of the world, earth, plane, whatever it is. If one does, what's the point of surviving it anyway?
We do have enough short term (hours, days, and once in a great while, weeks) of natural disasters that keep one reliant on what is stored, and I have that amount of necessities stockpiled. Beyond that, I can live, especially in the spring/summer/early fall, on what grows here and natural water. Nothing else to worry about. It's a pity that so many are so fearful and spend so much time, of which there is precious little, focused on the yet-to-happen scenarios. I think in some regards advanced age helps clarify what's important in this area, like so many others.
I wanted to create, record and publish my own "Costco Index" but gave that up a while back. After all - why focus on costs of goods at the big box stores when your fellow man is injecting his kids with pharma poison (and purchases his next vacation using MasterCard)?
To me, an important part of prepping is knowing who are your local fellow Mountain Toppers. Playing FallOut was always more fun online anyway and just a handful of like-minded local family will have a much better chance than your ultimate prepper - and even if they don't, at least they get to enjoy their own little version of Burning Man while trying minus the traveling.
Lastly, I would like to share with the Flock an excellent clip produced by a Montreal studio in 2012 while I continue pilling up Fish Antibiotics, #10 cans and of course rabbits (but this is a story about goats):
Thanks Largo. Shadow stats is the place to go. Says 8% but when I was there over the summer, the real "Wallet Pinching Number" felt like 3x the regime's figure, and at least +5-10% more that even shadow states. The basket of items they use for the official regime CPI figure changes all the time so they can fudge it downward as selection year nears. Great advice. Going it alone in all this will be rough. There's power in numbers. If I could just follow that sensible advice myself I wouldn't be such a hypocrite. Lone wolfs don't make it far.
Not only are they lying about inflation, they're lying about the jobs numbers. Most jobs are listings with no intent on hiring. But we're not supposed to know that.
Outstanding post, and you really brought with the Toyota car carrier story. I have had similar youthful near-death experiences, you never forget them and they become building blocks for your life.
One "prepper avenue" that is rarely mentioned is living on a boat. Sure, it's not for everybody, but in an era of unaffordable housing it's a viable option for those who are sufficiently fit and agile. The average home down payment is now $30K, for this you can buy an older but perfectly sound 30 foot sailboat that can cross oceans. Even a small older houseboat can move by water from Maryland to Texas and hide out in a million acres of coastal wilderness.
The flexibility of a moveable house is a significant advantage over being tied to one permanent "bug-in" location. When every highway is in permanent gridlock, boats will still give a prepper a lot of options. Diesel fuel lasts for years compared to gasoline. A 500 mile (plus or minus) motoring range plus virtually limitless sailing range puts small sailboats in a unique category. I wrote this up a decade or so under the title "Get Yourself a Thirty Footer and Go." Here's one link, or search around for others.
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/3095240/posts
Thanks Matt. Are you Matt Bracken, the author of the Enemies trilogy? I didn't know you were on Substack. Great advice on the sailboat option, one of the most underrated it seems. I wrote about it briefly last summer after a two year search for a new home, which sadly is still ongoing and coming to an end finally this spring.
https://thegoodcitizen.live/p/where-in-the-world
All the advantages of being global and mobile mitigate the many risks of being tied to one government and its changing laws, and its fickle people. Seventy-one percent of the earth is covered by water. There’s almost no place that can’t be traveled via the high seas. With the cost of automatic water makers coming down significantly, nature's energy in wind and solar the possibilities are endless. I've spent hours on Yacht World looking at 35-38 foot sloops. My only problem is a big one. I'd have to start with "Sailing For Dummies."
Yes, it's me. I saw the link on WesternRifleShooters.us , one of my daily must-read sites.
Imagine trying to explain riding a bike to an adult who had never seen one or heard of them. It would sound daunting. It's not. Take lessons on dinghies, it's the same principle from small to large.
A great weekly resource for me as well. And with the best memes. Concerned American was around here briefly last year in the comments. I'll give the cruising life a closer look again. Had been zeroing in on Finland after recent elections there. Very low cost of real estate, lakeside with hectares, reasonable gun culture for Europe,100k fresh water lakes, gov that supports hunting, fishing, farming, and fixed foreigner tax rate much lower than the crazy local 51%. Not without plenty of cons; most cashless society, most trusting in their gov; digitized everything; hellish winters; recent NATO membership achieved by their former PM WEF disco bunny etc.
This fella is in Finland … his attitude to life fits in well with the theme of your article
https://youtube.com/@nigelwatson2750?si=Q4-h725lnZ0eOpKY
“ Castigates Cay “ should be compulsory reading
"The flexibility of a moveable house" native Indians from North America used to have those!
"Courage is mankind’s finest possession because it enables us to do the right thing, to face danger, and to enjoy life. People who live in fear are miserable."
Spartan poet Tyrtaeus
Wonderful quote! Thank you for sharing. I will keep that one.
A different view on courage and the purpose of life:
https://www.rintrah.nl/how-life-is-supposed-to-be/
We are supposed to do things, not sit in front of a tv or behind a desk.
Excellent post.
"What we pay attention to, believe, and use as valid information to guide us in our major decision-making processes can often be to our detriment, and lead us down the wrong path."
Oh ain't that the truth.
We're all transforming in this time of great transition. I'm not the same person I was 3 or just 2 years ago. Good. (She bought a lot of food, long past it's 'use-by' date. )
Yes, it is crazy to spend all your time focused on survival and miss out on living in the process. Too many good things to pay attention to for that.
A few bits of metal, maybe a little bitcoin, some food and water - sure. Then let it go. Most of what's happening is just going to happen.
I'm done with waiting for the next crises. Appreciate the post and wisdom therein. Best.
Yes, no more waiting and watching and hoping. Good advice, and another Rambo quote. "Let it go. Let it go." For all the cheese of the sequels, the first one has so many metaphors for the world we're living in now. Alone and adrift, traumatized, abused by TPTB, friends gone, authorities won't even let him have a bite to eat, then want him imprisoned or dead. All he wanted was a meal.
This made me laugh. Hubby went a bit nuts on the ‘ashopalypso’ as we called it, in 2020/21. Eventually I put my foot down and said, no more. By that time we had enough flour to last a lifetime (and we don’t even eat much bread). When we moved house late last year, we carted crates and crates of tins and dry goods with us. I rolled my eyes at him. Slowly, over the past year, we’ve eaten our way through most of it (not the flour tho’). Recently, when hubby went to get some mayo from the supplies, he discovered that all six of the massive jars had gone off haha. I rolled my eyes again. And he’s definitely now cured 😉
I think the expression goes; "I don't have to be faster than the bear. I just have to be faster than you."
I am reminded of this during my morning runs when I am privy to the empty pizza boxes and Costco-sized soft drink containers and seed oil snack packs overflowing the recycling bins at the ends of my neighbors' driveways on trash day. That and the odds that 90% of them are on their 7th booster gives me hope that there will be more bacon for the rest of us once the smoke clears.
Great, insightful piece, GS!
Hahaa. Well said Frank.
None of my neighbors grow food, or have a source of fresh water. A few have back-up generators that rely on gas from the grid. They get everything from Whole Foods (or COSTCO) despite having access to Amish farmers—one of whom delivers to our house (he has a driver). The bigger issue is that they've been fooled by the privileged world in which they live and believe that same privilege will insulate them from what's to come.
Being near Amish country definitely has its advantages. I can't even believe Whole Paycheck still exists. Amazon turning them into biometric hell for food with their palm print scanner check out process is one of the reasons I say, "Get away from these people." It seems the normies can't wait for their pods in 15 minute cities.
They are slowly rolling out the biometric grid for travel it seems. I picked someone up from the airport a few months ago. The person told me there is no longer the option for paper tickets. The QR code must be scanned on a phone.
Do you know which airline? I think they'll print a paper ticket if you say you don't have a phone , but most people are too embarrassed to say that now. Delta started face scans two years ago and I've been telling them to fuck off in no uncertain terms. In May they finally told me I couldn't board the flight without using their facial recognition boarding process. Using up all my miles over the coming months and switching to whomever isn't part of the prison planet. I have a feeling my options will be few.
It was from a large airport to a small town airport. The main flights from the city to where I picked the person up are either Delta or Alaska. It was probably Delta. This seems to be the direction things are slowly heading.
Absobloodywunnerful word wankery. Dear Good Netizen, you are truly blessed with a sharp eye, mind and pencil. Just one teeny tiny thingy i'd add though. And it's something that i constantly encounter in my dealings with humanity at large (and small), and that is... FFS, escape already. Escape the prison of your personal preoccupation; the black hole of self-obsession. Because sure as hell, ain't nobody else can set you free but you. So, it's time-out: take / make the time to reach out with open heart-hand-mind to your fellow travellers. Forget about personal survival or salvation - focus on being an agent of change; a catalyst for the personal evolution of others. Saving yourself is a walk in the park: saving people from themselves ain't.
Thanks WTF. Sound advice that I'll definitely take to heart, with one exception in the last part that is probably beyond my depth. I'd always assumed that some of these posts were in part an attempt to reach out to others who were still reachable in whatever topics they covered. While not my primary mission here, perhaps as a tertiary goal if I have failed it might be because I have lost faith in large swathes of my fellow humans while still cheering for team humanity. But in my defense on the lost faith it's certainly not for a lack of evidence. I've never been an activist at heart. I've never marched with others, or chanted slogans. I've never joined a club much less organized one. On the last part of your comment...even if I were capable, which I doubt, I don't think I could assume the burden of saving others from themselves when it is so often the case that we are our own worst enemies, and have to undergo the journey of getting out of our own way alone. A journey that lasts a lifetime for most. There's that sermon at the end of A River Runs Through It about the struggle of simply helping those we love, that I included in the first paragraphs of a piece last year.
𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘰 𝘥𝘢𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘯𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘪𝘥, 𝘯𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘧𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘬𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘪𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘶𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴? 𝘐𝘯 𝘈 𝘙𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘙𝘶𝘯𝘴 𝘛𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘐𝘵, 𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘳 𝘕𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘔𝘢𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘗𝘢𝘶𝘭’𝘴 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧-𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘨𝘢𝘮𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘦𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘱𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘰𝘯 𝘢 𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩. 𝘏𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘮𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘦𝘭𝘶𝘥𝘦 𝘶𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘸𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘩𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦.
https://thegoodcitizen.live/p/when-will-mexico-build-a-wall
Wow. You're not just a bright spark - you're quite the illuminated soul shining a spotlight into some dark recesses of the human psyche. And i love your honesty. Delighted to meet & greet you - even if only in the digital domain. A brief intro into what (and how) i do is probably in order: energy is my medium & modus operandi in working with / for / on people. My catch-call is "take care of the energy, and the energy will take care of you". If you'ree curious check out my site for a clue or two - www.kinergy.life.
Interesting timing. I just picked up books on human aura and electroherbalism. Thanks for that, I'll check it out.
This is why i subscribe to the man, the myth, the ronin of subcrack, Mister Good Citizen! 👍
He really is isn't he?
Somewhat belated thanks for taking the time to read and reply to my comments. I'm still kinda surprised when some soul does - i got used to talking to the wall working as a DJ on radio. Hell, my craziness was fuelled when the walls started talking back. And no, i don't live in an echo chamber.
I agree with you as to where hoi polloi is at (and going), bit regardless work with & for people (clients or otherwise) to evolve. Nowadays though, my focus is taking care of the caretakers. It's the application of the physical principle of leverage, but relevant to the dimensions of health, sanity, and social wellbeing.
And yeah, i know, a fool and his folly are not easily parted (that's me in a nutshell, i guess).
Superb! Thank you! So many gems in this one.
This: "What kind of man fears death so much, that they’re willing to exist in hell to prolong life?" I say, hey, wanna live in your own hell? Scared shitless. Have at it, but I will be G-damned if you will drag me with you. As Elon Musk just said out loud, "Fuck you." Cool as a cucumber.
Thank you, Good Citizen.
Excellent piece GC. Your list of "prepper" categories seems to be pretty complete, and I must admit I probable exhibit parts of all of them. Freeze dried food ? check. Arms and ammo? check? A few acres in rural America? Check. A stash of precious metals? check. Livestock and garden? check. An easy chair perched on top of the highest near by point where I can sit and watch the nuclear Armageddon go down in comfort?? Check.
All those prepping activities just seemed appropriate years ago when I knew it was time to leave the craziness of the Austin area, and spend my twilight years in a calmer, more peaceful, redder environment. But I am under no illusions as to what I am capable of still doing (that becomes less with each passing day) and most of the stuff will likely be used in barter situations rather than in the fight against the forces of evil.
I was born in 1946, and the way I burned the old candle at both ends for much of my youth and young adulthood, I never expected to see 40. Wasn't a recreational drug I didn't like, and not near enough beer and whisky. Surprise, surprise when I woke up having become the age we would never trust anyone older than, and I started rethinking my priorities. Many of my peers never did--to bad for them. Then thanks to a very personal "burning bush" experience in my early 40's everything changed, My mind became clear, and now I cherish each morning I get to put my feet on the floor and go about whatever the day puts in front of me.
The only real prepping any of us can really do is to realize the official narrative is by and large a lie, that the government does not have the welfare of the people any where near the top of it's agenda, that true evil does exist in this old world, and to keep all of that in mind while going about the daily chore of living. Each of us can make life worse or better for all those around us by how we live each and every day. It's a choice we make. End of sermon
You've come a long way JVC. The trials of our past forge the path of our future. Some people never stop burning the candle. We always have agency to make choices.
I forgot to add the porch and rocking chair to the list. Thank you for reminding me to just stop and observe and take it all in, no matter the view...
"An easy chair perched on top of the highest near by point where I can sit and watch the nuclear Armageddon go down in comfort?? Check."
Thank you for that GC
I want to be at Ground Zero when the nukuler shit goes down.
Besides, the most dangerous animal on earth is a man with nothing to lose but his pride.
We are kinda sorta 90-day preppers. 13,000 gallons in the cisterns, and another 12,000 gallons in the pool. And there is something to be said for those MyPatriotSupply rations. I bought several, enough fort quite a while and easy to store. They came with a "trial pack", a 3-day supply "free." We checked it out. Not bad, for survival I suppose.
Times like these make me glad I am old.
I concur coach. I'm hopping in my ride and racing toward the nearest strategic target, maybe blast ACDC, swig some whiskey and sing loud on the way toward that face ripping shockwave. How'd the season go? My friend at Tualatin made it to the finals, losing to central catholic. They were winning near half when his D1 QB/Safety and TE/LB went down within a three play series and that was the end.
Bureaucracy ended my coach's season. He ran afoul of entrenched bureaucrats for raising money through a "Touchdown Club" approved by the county, but not approved by the school bureaucrats. They did not like that kids loved him, more than they loved the administration. So they "reassigned" him to the county edumacation building in week 7, so he did not finish the season. I also left, but continued my side-gig of game planning and self-scouting for the Catholic School I worked with last season.
Public school finished 2-5 while we were there (last season was 0-10), and ended 2-8. But as Elon Musk says, "GFY." I hate to say it, but the kids packed it in after the coach they loved got the shaft, and there is a parents uprising over the farce that even made the local papers and TV.
Good news in the Catholic school is in the semis tonight with a shot at state. I will be there next season, for sure, signed, sealed and delivered when I left the public school, and I am pretty sure my HC will be their OC next season...along with 3-4 excellent kids who will follow him to the private school, with financial aid.
What I learned from my experience in the public education sector just reaffirms my suspicions about how bad things are for our yout'. I implore anyone with school-age kids: please, please get your kids out of public schools, even if it is a hardship.
I would not suggest going into debt for a college edumacation, but WOULD suggest it for young kids in K-12, because *those* years are vastly more important than current college indoctrination.
Man, even Florida is not immune to the PS BS. Bureaucracy is a cancer worse than some cancers. Great advice on paying for K-12 rather than University. Those important years matter most.
The sad thing about college and sports is how social media is driving some kids with delusions of a pro career to buy snake oil some college scouts and pimps are selling.
Oh, I truly get wanting to play more ball, the forever fall team love. It is addictive, and hard to give up.
Back when I was a young 'un, there were 1/3 the college programs. If you were "good enough" your coach would make calls and you'd get a letter of interest in the mail with a bright logo from an athletic department. Maybe you got a grant-in-aid...if you were lucky and really good.
Today seems every podunk come lately program has a foosball team? Why? It attracts alumni to donate cheese, that's why. Not the engineering dept., accounting dept., edumacation dept., or gender studies dept. It is Football, and occasionally roundball, that attracts money.
So now a huge % of kids grossly overestimate their skill think they will get "recruited" and there is a social capital to garner with "offers" they can post on X, even if from a crap school in a crap conference and crap edumacational possibilities.
But what many end up with is paying some podunk $100k to play...all debt...at some school that offers nothing but vaporware promises and shit schooling.
I try to counsel caution the marginal kids, but most won't listen. They have been seduced by college "agents" (really! There are college agents!) and semi-peers on X.
Except for five-star recruits, colleges don't really recruit any more in the old sense. They have auditions. They have "scout days" where a gaggle of scouts run a gaggle of dreamers through drills and paces, pitting kid-on-kid, like an athletic Hunger Game, to see who wants it badly.
Yeah, I'm cynical.
See, I'm an old white guy, and even though I know my little area of foosball, clearly I don't know what I'm talking about when it comes to college counseling, and promoting the idea you'd be better off walking on to a college you really like and betting on yourself, than going to some shithole South North West Eastern Podunk A&M because some coach blew what you wanted to hear in your ear, and finding out you've made the mistake of your life.
I could go on and on regarding modern college athletics and the corrosive effect it has on young skulls full of mush and hopes and dreams...
Back in the day I read "Meat on the Hoof" (by Gary Shaw) and "Out of their League" (by Dave Meggyesy) while early in college. Both influenced my young life, and even as a pro I didn't fall for "the man's" bullshit like hundreds of guys I knew did. I gotta say I did not endear coaches with my lack of locker room rah-rah. But at least I was honest with myself.
Very true. There was no app or youtube to hustle scouts and self promote. I see these kids, maybe the number 88 ranked slot receiver in the country holding a press conference to announce that they chose a full ride from Northwestern over Indiana, and it makes the home page of ESPN. It's so idiotic and what it does to their psyche must be terrible. All it takes is one wrong play and their knee blows out, or one bad choice on campus on a friday night and all that rah rah is gone, instantly. Happened to me, slowly over two years with bad choices, and without all the rah rah narcissistic social media b.s. and if there was a ESPN 100 back then I would have been a top 5 PK. Nobody gives a shit and nobody is there to guide these young kids and temper their egos down to earth.
I concur with coach, as a Floridian, the public schools in my county are trash. My kids are both done, but if I were starting over today it would be homeschool at least thru middle school, then a private school if not homeschool all the way thru. Both mine played hs sports, the only reason to even attend high school imo. If they hadn’t I would’ve let both quit and get a GED.
The Catholic HS where I've coached is very worthy of a patent's attention, for sure. It costs around $11,500 a year, but they produce intelligent, edumacated, curious, respectful kids who still have a hard time not calling me "sir" whenever we meet.
Academics are top-notch, as are the athletic teams.
Good news: The Catholic HS team I work with won last night 51-36 and go onto the state championship.
They played the team that beat them in the state championship last season.
Congrats coach!
We lost the state championship 31-27 in a very close, well-played game.
My guy kicked a 49yd. FG with :53 remaining to go up 27-24. He went in cool, kept his head down, followed-through, and nailed it.
The opposing team had a 3rd and 18 on their 35. Threw deep, incomplete, but our #1 CB (D1 commit) got a serious cramp, left the game, and we were flagged for roughing. Nexy play, with :32 on the clock, we broke down in coverage, the replacement CB missed his assignment, and their all-state WR scored wide-ass open on a bomb. I would have gone after a 10th grader noob, too.
Good game, nothing to hang heads over.
On to next season.
Damn. It was there one second until it wasn't. That's what makes the game so exciting. Did you have a TO to call for CB to recover from the cramp? Good effort Coach.
Rules state if a player has to be helped from the field, he has to sit out at least one play, like the NFL.
"It ain't over 'til it's over."
"a calm, steady, and unflappable mind."
Ever since my days as an Admin at the Doomstead Diner, I have been skeptical about "prepping." I often said to the guys there, stocking up on all that gold, guns and food makes you a target. Too much stuff in such a circumstance can weigh you down. Besides, I don't really believe in apocalypse, the world as we know it coming to an end tomorrow. I expect something more like a gradual civilization decline for the rest of my life and well beyond.
My prep has been about skills and knowledge. I could set up a bug-out bag in less than an hour, but I don't have one ready, and again, in a theoretical apocalypse, going it alone isn't anywhere near as important as what and who you know. I know about hunting, fishing, building houses, wild plant cures, growing food, and lately the guitar. I don't need a doomstead. More like, I would go find the local warlord and be in service to him, rebuilding.
also, Musashi : https://williamhunterduncan.substack.com/p/the-warrior-archetype
I read, with great interest, the entire excellent article only to laugh out loud at all the payment options at the end. Perhaps it was a brilliantly embedded device to prove some of the points?
After I loaded all my gold, silver, guns, ammo, food, water, prepper books, and solar panels onto my boat, it sank. What did I do wrong? Now the underwater society for the preservation of sunken things has declared my boat a national disaster and is not to be touched. My best bet might be to fly to Russia where I hear they are overflowing with bomb shelters and see if I can rent one of those babies on the cheap using air-bnb.
Great post. As for this:
"As I relived those fifteen minutes in the following days, I began to realize that panicking and cursing each other did us no favors, and we would have been much better off if we remained calm and used our brains first, to work through our options to find the most practical solution."
Here's the problem. About half of the population* is emotions based. Most women/ gay men. No matter what anyone does, they're going to be panicking and cursing. Not sure how we work around that.
*according to Myers Briggs personality theory
Interesting. Kids definitely are, though I wonder if it's not higher given the reactions of people to propaganda with irrational decisions and propensity for herd behavior, feelings of belonging, safety in numbers, convenient lies over truth etc.
Quite, excellent, GC. Some thoughts: Those that hoard gold & silver coins to buy necessities when paper currencies become worthless are delusional. You can't eat coins. The crazed, starving mobs will literally rip them to pieces as they come to whatever markets are left to purchase sustenance. Home generators for a power grid collapse will be worthless as well. They run on fuel and all gas stations will be shut down with malfunctioning pumps. Those generators will be worthless hunks of metal. It's all relative, but there is no longer any place on earth that is pollution free just like no location is exempt from the evil geoengineering of weather. As for the super rich and their underground sanctuaries they intend to survive in while we surface dwellers perish in agony because of their machinations, I'm no bible thumper but here's a scriptural quote I like: "I will flush you from the bowels of the earth." This rapacious, capitalist society, dependent on infinite resources from a finite planet, has only existed for the blink of a geological eye and already its catastrophic demise is on the visible horizon. The very real, imminent disasters we all face are greatly exacerbated by the paralysis inducing fear porn of the Cryptocracy. During a total collapse and implosion, unless they are hidden or in an inaccessible locale, any survivalist group will be easily overwhelmed and destroyed by the teeming millions of crazed and murderous refugees pouring out of the devastated urban areas. The survivalists would have to possess over several hundred well armed men with copious amounts of ammunition, drilled in defending a strong, secure position to have even a chinaman's chance of repelling the onslaught. Great wisdom there from the 5 Rings author. One of my favorite martial arts adages is, "Flow like water, react like a mirror." Though none of us want to depart this world in protracted pain and suffering, there are many fates far worse than death. Akin with the Norse fatalism, the Arabs say, "Any day is a good day to die." Our Aryan ancestors said that at the moment of passing, one should tell a joke. I intend to laugh in the Grim Reaper's face. What's he going to do about it? Kill me again?
My preparation I think is not excessive but if I do no preparation at all I think that would be irresponsible.
I have gamed this a lot and I think the most probably scenario in a total SHTF event, the initial chaos would burn itself out within a few weeks.
The immigrants and inner city welfare parasites will find their government debit cards will fail and come after us who do have backup. I doubt the majority would make it out of the cities. If they do then I have the necessary resources to keep them away.
But within a season or so things will settle down. I am one who doesn't think society will destroy itself without government. In fact I expect things to be much better without it.
Sooner or later the farmers will want to move products, factories and refineries will not stay idle forever. There are plenty of people with the skills to help rebuild. We mostly have gray hair but still can function.
I am actually optimistic for the medium-long term future.
My silver coins will help jump start commerce and civilization.
Most calamities never happen, and certainly not over vast areas of the world, earth, plane, whatever it is. If one does, what's the point of surviving it anyway?
We do have enough short term (hours, days, and once in a great while, weeks) of natural disasters that keep one reliant on what is stored, and I have that amount of necessities stockpiled. Beyond that, I can live, especially in the spring/summer/early fall, on what grows here and natural water. Nothing else to worry about. It's a pity that so many are so fearful and spend so much time, of which there is precious little, focused on the yet-to-happen scenarios. I think in some regards advanced age helps clarify what's important in this area, like so many others.
There is a calming and clarity that only comes with the wisdom of having lived.
What a nail biting story!
Thank you TGC. The humor alone in your writings is worth a re-read regardless of the topic:
Not that it matters much, but inflation is still double-digits in most North American cities:
https://chapwoodindex.com/
http://www.shadowstats.com/alternate_data/inflation-charts
I wanted to create, record and publish my own "Costco Index" but gave that up a while back. After all - why focus on costs of goods at the big box stores when your fellow man is injecting his kids with pharma poison (and purchases his next vacation using MasterCard)?
To me, an important part of prepping is knowing who are your local fellow Mountain Toppers. Playing FallOut was always more fun online anyway and just a handful of like-minded local family will have a much better chance than your ultimate prepper - and even if they don't, at least they get to enjoy their own little version of Burning Man while trying minus the traveling.
Lastly, I would like to share with the Flock an excellent clip produced by a Montreal studio in 2012 while I continue pilling up Fish Antibiotics, #10 cans and of course rabbits (but this is a story about goats):
https://rumble.com/v2fh12m-i-pet-goat-ii-original-hd.html
-LW
Thanks Largo. Shadow stats is the place to go. Says 8% but when I was there over the summer, the real "Wallet Pinching Number" felt like 3x the regime's figure, and at least +5-10% more that even shadow states. The basket of items they use for the official regime CPI figure changes all the time so they can fudge it downward as selection year nears. Great advice. Going it alone in all this will be rough. There's power in numbers. If I could just follow that sensible advice myself I wouldn't be such a hypocrite. Lone wolfs don't make it far.
Not only are they lying about inflation, they're lying about the jobs numbers. Most jobs are listings with no intent on hiring. But we're not supposed to know that.