WNTBTTA 10

WHAT NO TO BRING TO THE APOCALYPSE 10

3) wire.  Remember not too long ago when I got all excited and sang the praises of The Unnamed Yuppie Survivalist Scum Blog for having brought up another unique idea as they are wont to do about annually ( along with those such as the powdered bleach ), the inexpensive wire source in the floral section of China-Mart?  Wire to make snares or repairs or torches or whatever.  I believe that the reason I was so moved was that it hadn’t occurred to me to stockpile wire.  Well, as it turns out, if you are going to stockpile wire, that was a good cheap source.  Yet, now, shamefaced as all get out, I admit to being a dumbass.  You don’t need to stockpile wire, now do you?  I was blinded by a bargain ( granted, I spent about $2, and I habitually drop $1.60 once or twice a month on movies from Redbox that turn out to be retarded, so I call a wasted $2 prep relatively speaking less of dumb-assness than it could have been.  And speaking of Redbox, if you like Quentin Tarrentino movies, “Hateful Eight” kicks butt.  Granted, it is three hours of talking in a one room cabin, but the Q-man can pull that off like none other.  If you are a fan of his, I’d rank this as a must-see ).  Wire is everywhere, from phone lines to electrical cords to appliances to home and business wall interiors.  It would be hard to run out of wire in the immediate future.

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4) solar panels are another item I keep harping on you to get.  I mean, Come On!  At a $1.39 a watt for a 100 watt panel ( have you seen the huge solar panel mark-up at Home Depot?  Embarrassing.  Buy through my Amazon links ) you would be remiss in missing this opportunity.  Chinese trade, seemingly The New Normal after twenty years, can be shut off easily.  The end of the Petro-Dollar.  An attack on the Saudi main oil terminal.  Trade embargoes as we did with Russia and the 7.62x54R surplus ammo stopped selling cheap within days.  China could use their own trade stoppage as a military strategy ( did you ever wonder how many critical components are made over there? ).  You can’t guarantee overseas supplies won’t dry up ( look at the computer storage media supply issue after Fukishima ).  

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I still think it is a great idea to have a panel or two and a marine battery or two.  If you can keep the batteries from freezing you should easily get at least five years out of them, and with some LED bulbs you’ll always have crisp bright light during outages.  Not that I’m suggesting to spend $500 for the occasional three hour grid down.  Better to get a bunch of cheap flashlights ( LED-of course! ) and a lot of AA batteries which will probably run about $20.  But if you think we will join the ranks of Third World countries that ration their power to an hour or two a day-if that, sooner rather than later, well then a few panels and batteries are a great investment.  HOWEVER.  Just to have panels for after the collapse, just because they will be useful if not critical ( go with the LED flashlights and the rechargeable AA batteries with a solar charger unit for post-collapse light for years of electric illumination on the very cheap.  Candles SUCK ), there is little need to buy your own.  If they are not on your Absolutely Must Own list, you will probably be able to find them atop buildings at almost every population center.  Because most folks, outside very remote locations, will own solar but not a battery bank.  They just tie onto the grid to save major coin.  That is their version, along with owning a Prius, of saving Mother Earth.  You might get lucky with highway construction signs, also. 

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5) 12v LED light bulbs are a really nifty device for drastically reducing your power needs ( living with RV appliances ).  An old auto incandescent bulb uses 18 watts.  A much brighter LED auto bulb uses 4 or 5.  That difference adds up hour after hour at night, day after cloudy day.  However, if you are like most of us, you don’t live off grid with solar panels and marine batteries and 12v lighting.  So you never stock up on LED automotive bulbs.  Never fear.  They usually come in-wait for it!-cars!  Not all bulbs will be LED.  Incandescent still sell for a buck verses the LED’s $12.  But you’ll still find them easily enough-especially in commercial rather than private vehicles, as the bulbs are cheaper than getting a no-compliance ticket.  Granted, you’ll probably be finding red rather than white colored bulbs, but light is light after the apocalypse. 

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