Thursday, December 28, 2017

prepper tiers 1 of 4


PREPPER TIERS

A shout out, propeller beanie hat tip and all around adulation to JJ Grey for fleshing out my original concept of Tiers Of Preppers.  From the worthless posers to the excessive over the top coo-coo for coco-puffs hermits able to live outside society for the next thirty years.  The problem was that when you said “prepper” or even tried to substitute that with “survivalists”, it was akin to trying to explain to people that “liberal” used to mean “libertarian”.  They might intellectually grasp what you are saying, but the word really retains the new meaning with all its connotations.

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“Prepper” never should have been a label, not really.  If you were preparing for a collapse of society, you were a survivalist.  Anything else, like prepping for a hurricane, was just common friggin sense and was what everyone should do and it wasn’t a lifestyle choice and it wasn’t a hobby.  The problem is that an activity was commoditized that really shouldn’t have been.  For instance, if I put a bunch of tools in the car in case it breaks down, how does that make me a prepper?  It makes me a motor vehicle driver.

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But by reading the lowest common denominator advertisement laden pap that passes for prepper publications today ( which would be one of the only good results of the death of Net Neutrality, if a lot of these turds hogging bandwidth went out of business ), if you carry a spare tire in your trunk and have a fireplace along with a central air heater, you are a prepper.  BAH!  If you don’t have a six months supply of calories, you ain’t even in the club, as far as I’m concerned.  And that amount only starts you out as a novice.  I apologize if my standards are too high.  You’ll thank me shortly.  Yes, I know I don’t help the whole labeling problem, with my blog and web name.  In a moment of amusement I tried to keep my name similar to its previous “bison press”.

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If someone comes up to you and says, “hi!, my name is Billy Doucheface and I’m a prepper!  Would you like to come out and play?”, I would strongly advise you to ascertain Billy’s actual rating according to the following tiers before committing.  If you are stockpiled with five years of food and all accessories and he has a weeks worth of freeze dried food and an AR with thirty-two magazines with more Mollie gear than a platoon, the odds are you’ll end up feeding Billy really soon or he’ll kill you, which are both suboptimal results.

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And before I get to the tiers ( yes, you caught me, I’m trying to stretch this out to more than one days worth of articles ),  I don’t know how much of this I was subconsciously pilfering when I made my original comment.  It seems there was another article written elsewhere by another about the different types of preppers.  Alas, I read so much and category none that these small details elude me when needed.  Yet I still believe, to the best of my recollections, that JJ’s concept that the different types be based on “duration” is still unique.  I had merely broached the idea, he fleshed it out.  Any similar article elsewhere seem to be more coincidence.

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Your placement is based on duration of the emergency, or more factually on the duration of disruption.  How long you see the emergency lasting determines your standing in the prepper labeling.  So, let me just make the list and then we’ll discuss them individually.

1) none

2) several hours

3) overnight

4) weekend

5) week long

6) season long

7) year long

8) decade long

9) generation long

10) centuries long

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1) None.  There is zero duration of significance.  For instance, there is a short black out and you are in a store and since you had a back-up of cash on hand you were able to complete the transaction.  This could also have happened if there was a interruption in the credit approval process, or you were mistakenly placed on a “do not approve” list.  While we are all very happy for you that you could complete your purchase of a Beanie Baby Collectors Edition, I don’t think distrusting banks or your credit card company makes you a prepper.  This is in line with the automobile parts example.  Being able to arrive on time driving, or being a successful shopper ( you could also call the cash in your wallet a “rare sale fund” ) should not make you a prepper.

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The problem being here on this level is that just having a slight situational awareness, even better than the average “sheeple” that has none,  really doesn’t translate into Big Picture awareness.  There are many and varied other reasons that you could have arrived at similar conclusions as far more prepped individuals.  For instance, once before you were stranded on the side of the road and were hot and stressed.  By now carrying spare parts, that doesn’t mean you are ready for a bug-out or an EMP, it just means you won’t be as stressed the next time your car breaks down. 

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Just because you carry cash in your wallet doesn’t mean you know anything about the Federal Reserve system, fiat money, the vulnerability of our banking system to other nation state hacking, or anything similar.  And you aren’t preparing for anything life threatening.  You are merely reducing your inconvenience duration in a fully functioning system which had an otherwise uncharacteristic hiccup.  No one is saying these preps are a bad idea.  They just don’t make you a prepper for anything important. 

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And yes, I understand that due to the longevity of the preparedness industry since the 1960’s or at most the 50’s if you include the fallout shelter construction companies, along with the sheer number of scribblers on the subject, added to the financial pressures inherent in earning a living in the industry while off-grid, after all is said and done of course all these inconsequential subject matters are going to be given a far greater importance than is warranted.  That still doesn’t make you much of a prepper at Tier One.

Continued Tomorrow.

END ( today's related link http://amzn.to/2C1MmYg )
 
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31 comments:

  1. Great article so far. Not just the subject matter but the way you are presenting it. Can't wait for part two.

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  2. Way to many labels.
    weekend should be bare minimum to even qualify.
    one month
    one year
    one decade
    one generation.
    that looks about right.
    You set an example and any longer than a generation somebody better be taking over the reins.

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    Replies
    1. I was trying for an even ten. Not that all were necessary. Hey, you are welcome! I hurried up and crammed the last into one article instead of making this into a booklet :)

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    2. Sorry, I forgot,your hair looks wonderful today.

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    3. Was that so hard? Lack of decorum excused. Big hugs.

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  3. It would be difficult to label me.
    I consider my life goal is ,to be totally self sufficient in all areas humanly possible.
    Not practical but hey, it was my ancestors way of life. Being prepared for tomorrow is the province of the wise in my mind.
    Ain't no label for that, other than an being an honest man whom is not a leach on others.
    Survivor's prepare and live. Losers don't, and die.

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    Replies
    1. We could label you but it would be rude :) Kidding, the labels are more an intellectual exercise and filler for more articles. Hopefully it imparts a point or two. Not just that most of us are probably at the lowest tiers in many areas and barely adequate in a few. Still kidding!

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  4. ‘From the worthless posers, to the excessive over the top coo-coo for coco-puffs hermits able to live outside society for the next thirty years.”


    Yeah, but I get the impression that the coo-coo for coco-puffs hermits are going to stand a better chance then most. I personally feel that survivalist communities won’t fare as well as many think. They will all get on each others nerves really soon into the collapse, and probably shoot each other dead within the year. Hell, even the peace and love hippy dipshits couldn’t make a go of it in their communes, the average lifespan being less than a year, and they were high all the time!

    I’d place better odds of survival to the type of dudes such as the one in the link below. A shithouse rat is more sane this dude, but I say that he has the mojo to make a go of it :D (I’m making light of it here, but I am somewhat serious about that).

    My life as a Mojave Desert hermit (7 minutes)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxpUc8lj-CY&feature=youtu.be

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    1. He seemed perfectly fine to me. If he really was crazy he would have stayed there.

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    2. I don’t know if you watched the entire video or not Jim, but there’s a lesson to be learned there. This dude did something that 99.999% survivalists have probably never done, which to me, is all telling about the survivability of most survivalists post collapse. A few good tips as well. Note the part where he mentions that he never gathered firewood close to where he stayed, so that in the event of an emergency, he would have firewood close by. He also used plastic sheeting and a bucket as a solar still to purify the water that he found. At the end, he mentions that he would do it again, but next time he would want a trailer to do it with instead. So basically, a trailer would be like a luxury item to this dude, comparatively speaking. The video actually ends at about the 4:40 mark, and the rest is just music and a photo slide show.

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    3. I did watch the whole thing. I didn't really note the importance of what he said ( I was focusing on his mental state ) until you mentioned it. I had similar thoughts with my nearby wood, but I was thinking more along the lines of fire breaks. A lot of desert has very sparse brush-here in our valley it is rather high and close together. I guess we are wetter than most.

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    4. Speaking of firewood. Had to drop an old, old oak tree in the backyard this week.
      All the prime wood got stacked up in my wood pile.
      Probably like three cords of white oak.
      My other Floriduh friends think me nuts for having such a huge pile of firewood....
      Not for heating so much as future cooking ! Idiots will all be eating their long pork raw I guess lol.

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    5. How can you be the last one in the stewpot if you haven't any wood?! ( how can you have your pudding if you don't eat your meat?! )

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    6. You keep making more meat, and eat it raw raw raw !

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  5. Cont. (For the sake of keeping comments short)

    Good point about the distinction between libertarians and liberals. Referring to modern liberals as liberals is really a misnomer, as they would be more accurately referred to as leftists. Funny how such words take on entirely different meanings over the course of time. When I was a kid, being gay meant something entirely different than today :D

    Here in the rural US, carrying cash is standard. While it doesn’t happen a lot, occasionally the card readers go down, or just malfunction, and won’t read your card. Then you face the pleasant task of having to return all of your groceries.

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    Replies
    1. I don't know the last time I used a debit card for shopping. Twelve years ago? Perhaps not that long, but that was how long ago I used them regularly.

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    2. Back in the early nineties , a friend and I were on a motorcycle cruising/ camping trip. We we're deep in the central Idaho mountains, following the Salmon river. Met another guy on a bike at a scenic pit stop. He came walking up, asked where the nearest ATM was...both of us potato boys asked, what the eff is an ATM ? He explains...we both laughed and said that the nearest one of them type city boy thangs was at least a couple hundred miles away...

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    3. I loved when the ATM's were out the early 80's ( I don't have to see people to get my money ). I loved when I got my first computer ( I can't write productively on paper ). I loved the Internet and Amazon ( buying new and exciting books in the boonies ). The last one, alas, was a bridge too far. Not the book part, but the whole Internet. What have we wrought?

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    4. Only the greatest communication means ever devised for distance operations. Also the means to end it all at the speed of light...
      Good points are that it has brought together minds, which normally are segregated in meat space, due to their personalities ?
      Bad point is that it also brought together the mindless masses which continually foam at the mouth.
      The truth is out there, for the first time available to all...just gotta pick the wheat from the chaff

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    5. Alas, picking the one kernel of wheat in a literal square mile pile of chaff takes so much of your life it is beyond bad as a return on investment :)

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  6. LB you said in a recent post that you are feeling your age. Do you get enough sleep?

    https://www.anabolicmen.com/sleep-testosterone/

    research sleep and testosterone levels

    take good care of your hair

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Never fear, the hair is still perfect. I'd say, enough sleep. I'm still not sure if I kept working too long and did damage or I didn't stay working longer and am weakening myself through that. Not that I think I'd be able to go back to work and put up with super dumb assness again.

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    2. I tried it, going to work for someone else, about 7 years ago. Couldn't take it, lasted just a couple months. The boredom was overwhelming. A normal work day seemed like 3 days. And the assholes. I'll tell you....I almost killed 4 or 5 people. Every day.

      If I'm ever forced to associate with others in the future I will end up in jail or the morgue. Only "I" get to choose whom I associate with and what I do. Otherwise people die. I can't go back, even if I wanted to.

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    3. I don't think people are the problem per se. It is the skewed relationship when money becomes involved, as if they either own you or are renting you. Of course, yes, people are still arseholes all day long, but money makes them worse. Well, no worries, soon to be returning to the tribal patriarchy.

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  7. sounds like an awesome series.

    Someone left a mean comment on Green survivor blog

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  8. Right on Spud. I pattern my activities in pursuit of the unobtainable yet noble goal of all around self sufficiency, and try to be an honest non-leach (I hate to ask anyone for something or a favor). So, well put.
    James, I agree that grain (especially wheat varieties) is the champion for long term storage and calories per dollar. You have mentioned various preparation techniques aside from grinding into flour, such as sprouting and the bulgur your mother prepared when you were young.
    I am mentioning another variation on preparing grain that may be useful to 1. People with grain allergies or who have difficulty digesting whole grains, and 2. People who eat whole grains daily as a major potion of their caloric intake (such as living primarily off of your food storage).
    There is a line of thought with some science behind it, that grains (and legumes) should be prepared by either 1. Soaking 12-24 hours with yogurt, whey, or a few other things, 2. Fermenting, or 3. Sprouting.
    Each of these deactivate Phytic acid found in grains and legumes that can reduce mineral absorption during digestion and cause other problems. Supposedly overall nutrion is also boosted with these processes.
    This is a short description. Anyone interested could find more searching: soaking grains or sprouting grains for flour.
    I've experimented with the soaking and the sprouting.
    The sprouting is allowing the grain to grow just to the point of opening and just developing the white nub of a root. At this stage the sprouts are dried in the sun, a food dehydrator or at a low temp in an oven. Once dry, they are ground into flour.
    One book source for this info and plenty of other interesting stuff is: Nurturing Traditions by Sally Fallon.

    Thanks, Steve in Fla.

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    Replies
    1. I have the "traditions" book-I guess I really need to find and read it.

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  9. Boston T. Party had a rating of survivalists in his book about Y2K.

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    Replies
    1. Hmmm, don't remember that one. But I read it like ten years ago or something close.

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