History channel shows and the like give preppers a bad name, but prepping, as highlighted in this article, doesn't need to involve guns and bunkers. In fact, your own government probably wants you to be prepping (at least the US does):
If you find yourself worrying about things like earthquakes and fires, there's an extra benefit to prepping: you can rest easy knowing you've done what you can.
If you live in (most parts of) California, you should be prepared for an earthquake, including a few days without water, at minimum. Wildfires and power outages are another risk that it is absolutely rational to prepare for, in many locations.
When we moved into our house, we put together a little box of canned good, a sterno stove, small medical kit, etc. We rediscovered it this year, and I ended up eating a bunch of 3-year-expired canned goods :D
(We did re-stock it. Never having to use it is a good thing.)
"prepping" is a specific term for preparing for the collapse of society, it is not a generic term for preparation. Preparing for a natural disaster is not prepping.
Years ago, I lived outside a metro area deep in the woods, and the metro response team told us we would be low-priority in the event of a natural disaster. Makes sense: why burn resources to help a few thousand people when a few hundred thousand are suffering. The metro response team told us to prepare for 30 days without support, especially electricity (we were ALL on well water) or accessible roads.
We formed a dozen smaller neighborhood teams that met regularly to identify elderly people who would need check-ins, medical needs, resources people were willing to share. This was in addition to family prep: water, first aid, food, batteries, etc. We even did an emergency rations taste-off (they all suck, btw) and bought a community cargo container that we filled with community supplies (I had left the hood by that point).
It was surprising that about 10% of the people in each area refused to participate. Most were pissed that we even had their names on a spreadsheet, even though they were older and might need assistance. They felt we were intruding on their privacy and they didn't need our help. However, we included them in the calculations for emergency resources in case they decided to come around after a disaster happened.
TL;DR: city recommended rural folks be prepared for a max 30 days on your own.
People are expected to be able to manage on their own for at least 72 hours in case of systemic/societal disruptions. It's quite sane advice really, even though a lot of people actually seem opposed to the idea for some reason.
I live in Northern California for the past 25 years (that's a quarter of a century). In that entire time, I have not seen a single earthquake that required me to be prepared for (I still do have an emergency kit and we're all prepared). In fact earthquakes of similar sizes happen all over the US.
Instead, the following things have far more direct impact on me and my family: driving in traffic, walking on the street, electronics fires in my garage, the food I eat, the amount of exercise I get. I'm sure there will be a Big One at some point in the next 30 years, but in terms of risk, the basic prepping procedures handle a wider range of common problems than earthquakes.
Sweden wants you to prep, they sent a letter to every household in the country.
I prepped for Covid in late February or early March, I was pessimistic in my assumptions, but not by much.
Prepping is important, but you also have to be reasonable when you plan, and you have to be aware of what you can't adapt for (e.g I realized that I had to assume water would still be available, because I couldn't store 14+ days of water in my apartment).
Most of the people who are normally labeled preppers don't have a reasonable assumption of what they prep for. So they try to prepare for the end of the world, not because it is realistically going to happen, but because they need to control things.
There's very little wrong with prepping guns. The details are sensitive and debatable, but a "well-regulated Militia" is in the Constitution. The fear of guns that "responsible people" increasingly have means that irresponsible people are becoming a larger share of gun owners. A "prep" that has guns and separately locked ammo in a locked safe is a responsible prep.
Actually it does need to involve guns, or else everything you’ve spent all that time prepping will be stolen from you in the event of a major catastrophe.
Take this with a grain of salt, as there’s no way to verify it’s real, but supposedly someone who lived through the Bosnian War posted about their experiences on a prepping forum, and the stories are pretty disturbing: https://prephole.com/surviving-a-year-of-shtf-in-90s-bosnia-...
Also check if your city has a CERT (or in SF, NERT) organization! It's a citizen-trained response team initiative that usually falls under law enforcement. The idea is in an earthquake you can have a couple thousand purpose-trained citizens running around shutting off gas valves, checking on neighbors, assisting emergency services with communication (through HAM radio for example), and doing other basic tasks that let the fire department focus on cutting people out of collapsed buildings or putting out fires.
By the way, regarding "gun and bunker" preppers, this is a sharp divide in the prepper community. Practically every thread in /r/preppers and similar forums and subreddits eventually devolves into what essentially amounts to an ideological battle between communists and libertarians, or, "we believe people are inherently good" vs "we believe people are inherently evil" to take a non-political-compass take. FWIW, the "inherently good" people have more evidence on their side, based on how communities have responded to disaster in the pass. A great book on the subject is "A Paradise Built in Hell" by Rebecca Solnit[1]. She takes a look at primary sources from a set of disasters throughout history, and how people helped eachother with no expectation of reward. She also turns up some cases of totally selfless ultimate sacrifices for strangers. It's really interesting.
EDIT: A great fictional illustration of this rift in the prepper community is 'The Masque of the Red Death', a short story in the book "Radicalized" by Cory Doctorow. It follows the story of the ultimate prepper fantasy, a rich options trader who builds a "Fort Doom" in scrubland, equipped with a year or so of food, water, purification equipment, sanitation equipment, and of course a veritable armory. It compares this character against the general community of IIRC Portland, who are reacting to a government-ending pandemic through mutual aide instead. A really fun exploratory take.
Maybe that was called prepping back the day. Nowadays, prepping was pretty much taken over by guns and bunker types. Which is bad, because general readiness is a good thing. German authorities certainly recommend a very level of stuff like food and medicine to be kept at home.
The "prepping" in the article isn't "being prepared", which is what ready.gov suggests, it's dumping massive resources into paranoid fantasies of surviving alone for a few months.
There is disaster preparedness and then there is prepping, the two don't match each other. Most self-proclaimed preppers advocate atrocious "us or them" social darwinist ideologies and have policies that could get them and others killed. For example, many of them think it's a good idea to go camping in the woods in case of a natural disaster, which almost never makes any sense. They also frequently talk about shooting strangers instead of helping them and stockpile ammunition instead of antibiotics. They also should worry more about dental care and less about other people.
I'm sure there are exceptions, but as rule of thumb I'd stay away from any US prepper as far as I could in case of a genuine emergency like a Yellowstone outbreak or a worldwide pandemic.
If I had a dollar for every disaster prepper I've seen in the USA that has many thousands of rounds of ammunition, and none of the following:
a) water purification equipment with supplies/filter changes good for 6+ months of continuous use
b) a stockpile of the most common antibiotics and medical supplies (essentially what you could get spending $700 on a comprehensive first aid kit plus $300-400 of drugs that will require periodic replacement as they expire).
c) knowledge or tools and supplies related to implementing off grid photovoltaic or wind power systems, but lots of gasoline or diesel generators.
d) $400 goose down sleeping bags, 4-season camping equipment, but they do have lots of tactical clothing and accessories, plate carriers, dropleg holsters and such
In the US at least, stockpiling antibiotics is a little tricky - kind of hard to find a doctor who will just write you a prescription for cipro "just in case."
A lot depends on what failure modes you're preparing for and protecting against.
At the time of the original virus shutdown in the US, I saw a ton of essentially panic buying of things (like canned goods and rice) and bottled water that seemed to be aimed at a complete infrastructure breakdown. Yet, I'm guessing that most of the people preparing to hole up for months lacked many of the other things they'd need if they actually lost electricity and water for an expended period of time.
While of course they would need many other things as well, if you actually believe that there's going to be widespread societal breakdown, you probably do want a gun and ammo in addition to food, large quantities of water, and so forth.
They're prepping for different disasters than you want them to prep for.
When there's a disaster and there's no police to call having guns and ammo you can trade off is likely far better than gold bars, solar panels, etc because everyone without guns and ammo is gonna be wanting enough to keep themselves safe.
True "prepping" (beyond the basics for realistic disasters like utility outages and hurricanes) has always seemed to me like a deeply depressing obsession. Spending so much of your real-world time and money grimly preparing for a far-flung end-of-the-world scenario so that, in the very best case, you can... what, eke out a survival for a little while longer? In terms of maximizing the amount of happiness in one's life, it feels like a terrible waste of resources and energy. If you actually want to increase your number of years on this planet, go on a diet. Go to the gym.
Now: I think (looking at this from the outside) that for some people it's really just a hobby. They may not admit it as such, but I think some people just truly enjoy running through scenarios and stocking things up for the sake of the process. If so, I can't judge them for that. I spend plenty of money on useless things at renaissance fairs because I enjoy the roleplaying aspect. If prepping is just someone's preferred flavor of expensive roleplaying, then have at it. But for people who genuinely spend all waking hours trying to guard against a single, narrowly unlikely catastrophe, I have nothing but pity.
I once read in recent German pamphlet "If every German is prepared, Germany is prepared" and it stuck with me.
Even if you don't see basic prepping as necessity, it's way better when after disaster firest responders can care for elderly and disabled, not for you.
There’s a great article that popped up years ago on here, something like “the realistic survivalist guide”.
The main take away was “enough cash in the bank to survive no job for a year because that’s the most likely disaster you’ll face” after that I think it was water, always half a tank of gas, and everything else a distant runner up.
I’m remembering from years ago so may have butchered it.
Honestly, I still thought it sounded far fetched until people at the start of lockdown bought a years supply of toilet paper at a time. At which point I resolved to (responsibly) ensure we have a reasonable supply of staples at home.
We've been hit by half a dozen hurricanes over the past two decades where we lost power for 5+ days. These were relatively minor storms compared to what could happen in a worst case scenario.
The focus of my preparations are around providing for my family if we had a severe hurricane hit. This involves making sure we have enough food, water, and fuel to be self sufficient for a few weeks. It involves being able to charge devices and have light without power. Sadly, it also involves having at least some ability to defend ourselves as that is the world we live in.
It is a fun hobby to have. While some people go overboard, I think we'd be better off if more people prepared for real scenarios like this as it takes some of the burden off the system and leaves capacity for those who couldn't or didn't prepare enough.
I'd be happy for there to be a nationwide government-promoted disaster-preparedness initiative, especially if that included not building susceptible homes areas prone to flooding or forest fires.
Considering some of the major events that we've had. I would hardly call this prepping. We've had major fires, lots of civil unrest (2 major riots in Chicago and some minor conflicts), and the pandemic (which might I add is still going on) which has stressed supply chains. (Minor news articles are saying that we're starting to see limits and stresses on retail.. Christmas is going to be insane)
Prepping is a good idea imo and it doesn't mean crazy gun hoarding or racism it just means trying to be as self sufficient and robust as possible imo. And sharing info so others can do likewise
Even the CDC recommends you keep an emergency go bag with some food, water, important documents and other basics. You should also keep your home stocked with a few days of food and water, decent medical supplies you are able to use, and whatever else you need for your situation.
Zombies is unlikely, bad weather or a forest fire however...
I had a family member who was within 2 miles of forest fire - no ready bag, no extra supplies, nothing. "Well, I can just stop by the store if I need to evacuate right?"
I shot two big game animals in the past month and went to buy an upright freezer. The normal/large sizes, such as 13-21 cubic feet, are all sold out and backordered for several months. I have some chest freezers so it's not an issue, but I want the organization friendly upright style. It seems like americans are stocking up on meat as well as part of their prepping activities.
I'd think a contributing factor is production delays due to Coronavirus related supply-chain impacts and that it isn't just limited to freezers. Anecdotally, a HomeDepot sales person told me recently that Bosch dishwashers are backordered until February due to a interruption in bolt manufacturing.
I don't think prepping is silly, but I can't understand why this pandemic would increase people's perceived value of prepping. The whole world shut down, and there were basically no serious shortages.
How does that constitute evidence that serious shortages couldn't happen?
The whole world did not shut down. It voluntarily reduced non-essential in-person activities as a preemptive measure. It was the easiest possible test, and the shelves were still empty of toilet paper and grains for a month.
The whole world didn't really shut down but there were (and are) signs that significant disruptions can occur. The grocery shortages were one sign but also think about the people who work at utilities and are responsible for keeping power/water going.
Those companies typically have done some serious preparation such as segregating workers into different shifts or even having them live on site but the pandemic reminded (some) people that our modern living standards are held up by millions of people working for utilities, farms, waste disposal companies, etc. If a significant number of those people are unable to work you do need to be prepared to survive without power, running water, and fresh produce for a good amount of time. Typically middle/upper class Americans haven't had to contend with that fact but the pandemic has made it more clear that they won't always be able to just pop down to the store for whatever they need at a whim.
Honestly waste disposal is one of the more frightening ones. I shudder at the thought of my area if the waste disposal companies stopped for any length of time. Those people who are willing to work in that job should be treated as heroes and paid much better than those of us who sit in front of computers typing relatively useless code all day.
There were some local shortage of some things, and long lines to get into grocery stores in some cities. I've made a point to keep some extra dry goods and oil on hand just in case we couldn't get to the grocery store. It's been pretty helpful twice already. I'm not doing anything more serious than that though.
Except for toilet paper, one of the most basic products out there. That definitely made people realize that yes, even in modern civilization, it can happen.
When I went to stores over the past 6 weeks, there were several times where whole sections were missing. I recall one trip where the only chicken products available was party wings. Other times, other staples were missing. There were always substitute goods available (other than TP, I think bidets sold out, too), but with a little imagination, it could have been a lot worse.
I imagine people who experinced delays in their staple foods (or TP) that impacted them negatively are going to build a larger buffer for the future.
I've always wondered how many of these "luxury prepper communities" would wind up with the hired security taking the place for themselves in a genuine catastrophe.
The day before my tech company called WFH we had a happy hour, this was first week in march. I was already pissed about coming into work but this was a going away for someone and it was still pretty contained in SEA (maybe), but we were also outside.
We had one table of the younger devs and one of the mangers / olds. The older table was just all talking about essentially getting ready for being quarantined in your house for up to 3 months. Two folks from the younger table sauntered over. Mainly just talking about having the backpacking supplies version of prepping.
I remember mentioning that the idea of what defines a crazy prepper was probbably going to change in the next 6 months.
I live in North Dakota, and call it winter preparation. Given the possibility of storms and power outages, anything less than seven days of prep is ill advised. I used to do three days, but that went out the window a couple of winters ago.
I’m late to this thread and it makes me sad because this is such a fun subject. People stockpile weapons but rarely stockpile knowledge for these situations. For example, can you propagate food bearing plants without seeds (they’re mostly hybrids now)? How about basic water sanitation and waterborne illness treatment? A little bit of knowledge is vastly superior to stockpiles of weapons.
True, but I suspect the stereotypical image of a prepper holedup in a bunker surrounded by guns and ammo is more myth than representative of people with a preparedness mindset. If they exist outside of caricature, they are a fringe minority element at best.
A lot of people use prepping to gain a sense of control overy life's uncertainty. Knowing you've laid in provisions for unlikely-but-possible (by your own determination) events can quiet much anxiety.
Ironically the myth of preppers all being paranoid grey beards holed up in bunkers exists for exactly the same purpose, just lazier. Just convince yourself that prepping is the realm of crazies and any anxiety you might have about uncertainties in life can be comfortably locked away with those crazy people in your head. For added effect share a laugh about it with other sane people around you, and you can all rest easy in the knowledge that nothing bad is ever going to happen and there's no need to worry.
As is often the case, somewhere in the middle lies truth.
I am planning on a proper ‘Show HN’, but I’ve been working on something for quite a time that has prepper use-cases.
Most people have phones. Technically, they don’t need a third party to talk to each other. It seemed like there should be a communication option that took advantage of that.
In short, TC is a one-to-many messaging app that has no central service. Proximate phones use BLE to sync.
My mom is headed to high ground in FL atm due to Eta.. I think it’d be useful if phones could all do this natively.
FWIW, I just got it on iOS, and updates like replies are forthcoming. But feedback is appreciated if you try it out. I’ll do a show HN once a few features are completed and bugs squashed.
The one thing I miss the most about living in America is the existence of warehouse stores like Costco and Sam's Club. It's a lot harder to prep in Europe since you're not getting any bulk discount. Even if someone gets the urge, the logistics just aren't there.
[+] [-] nxc18|5 years ago|reply
https://www.ready.gov/
If you find yourself worrying about things like earthquakes and fires, there's an extra benefit to prepping: you can rest easy knowing you've done what you can.
If you live in (most parts of) California, you should be prepared for an earthquake, including a few days without water, at minimum. Wildfires and power outages are another risk that it is absolutely rational to prepare for, in many locations.
[+] [-] arethuza|5 years ago|reply
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/preparing-for-eme...
As does the Scottish Government:
https://ready.scot/how-scotland-prepares
And that's not even covering the Covid-19 pandemic where there was a lot of community based help groups checking that older people were OK etc.
Edit: Mind you some UK gov self help schemes were less well received:
https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1500124311
[+] [-] coldpie|5 years ago|reply
(We did re-stock it. Never having to use it is a good thing.)
[+] [-] cortesoft|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] SoSoRoCoCo|5 years ago|reply
We formed a dozen smaller neighborhood teams that met regularly to identify elderly people who would need check-ins, medical needs, resources people were willing to share. This was in addition to family prep: water, first aid, food, batteries, etc. We even did an emergency rations taste-off (they all suck, btw) and bought a community cargo container that we filled with community supplies (I had left the hood by that point).
It was surprising that about 10% of the people in each area refused to participate. Most were pissed that we even had their names on a spreadsheet, even though they were older and might need assistance. They felt we were intruding on their privacy and they didn't need our help. However, we included them in the calculations for emergency resources in case they decided to come around after a disaster happened.
TL;DR: city recommended rural folks be prepared for a max 30 days on your own.
[+] [-] fogihujy|5 years ago|reply
People are expected to be able to manage on their own for at least 72 hours in case of systemic/societal disruptions. It's quite sane advice really, even though a lot of people actually seem opposed to the idea for some reason.
[+] [-] dekhn|5 years ago|reply
Instead, the following things have far more direct impact on me and my family: driving in traffic, walking on the street, electronics fires in my garage, the food I eat, the amount of exercise I get. I'm sure there will be a Big One at some point in the next 30 years, but in terms of risk, the basic prepping procedures handle a wider range of common problems than earthquakes.
[+] [-] tomjen3|5 years ago|reply
I prepped for Covid in late February or early March, I was pessimistic in my assumptions, but not by much.
Prepping is important, but you also have to be reasonable when you plan, and you have to be aware of what you can't adapt for (e.g I realized that I had to assume water would still be available, because I couldn't store 14+ days of water in my apartment).
Most of the people who are normally labeled preppers don't have a reasonable assumption of what they prep for. So they try to prepare for the end of the world, not because it is realistically going to happen, but because they need to control things.
[+] [-] rutledge87|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gowld|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] symlinkk|5 years ago|reply
Take this with a grain of salt, as there’s no way to verify it’s real, but supposedly someone who lived through the Bosnian War posted about their experiences on a prepping forum, and the stories are pretty disturbing: https://prephole.com/surviving-a-year-of-shtf-in-90s-bosnia-...
[+] [-] komali2|5 years ago|reply
By the way, regarding "gun and bunker" preppers, this is a sharp divide in the prepper community. Practically every thread in /r/preppers and similar forums and subreddits eventually devolves into what essentially amounts to an ideological battle between communists and libertarians, or, "we believe people are inherently good" vs "we believe people are inherently evil" to take a non-political-compass take. FWIW, the "inherently good" people have more evidence on their side, based on how communities have responded to disaster in the pass. A great book on the subject is "A Paradise Built in Hell" by Rebecca Solnit[1]. She takes a look at primary sources from a set of disasters throughout history, and how people helped eachother with no expectation of reward. She also turns up some cases of totally selfless ultimate sacrifices for strangers. It's really interesting.
EDIT: A great fictional illustration of this rift in the prepper community is 'The Masque of the Red Death', a short story in the book "Radicalized" by Cory Doctorow. It follows the story of the ultimate prepper fantasy, a rich options trader who builds a "Fort Doom" in scrubland, equipped with a year or so of food, water, purification equipment, sanitation equipment, and of course a veritable armory. It compares this character against the general community of IIRC Portland, who are reacting to a government-ending pandemic through mutual aide instead. A really fun exploratory take.
[1] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6444492-a-paradise-built... S
[+] [-] hef19898|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] maxerickson|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] 13415|5 years ago|reply
I'm sure there are exceptions, but as rule of thumb I'd stay away from any US prepper as far as I could in case of a genuine emergency like a Yellowstone outbreak or a worldwide pandemic.
[+] [-] walrus01|5 years ago|reply
a) water purification equipment with supplies/filter changes good for 6+ months of continuous use
b) a stockpile of the most common antibiotics and medical supplies (essentially what you could get spending $700 on a comprehensive first aid kit plus $300-400 of drugs that will require periodic replacement as they expire).
c) knowledge or tools and supplies related to implementing off grid photovoltaic or wind power systems, but lots of gasoline or diesel generators.
d) $400 goose down sleeping bags, 4-season camping equipment, but they do have lots of tactical clothing and accessories, plate carriers, dropleg holsters and such
[+] [-] hguant|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ghaff|5 years ago|reply
At the time of the original virus shutdown in the US, I saw a ton of essentially panic buying of things (like canned goods and rice) and bottled water that seemed to be aimed at a complete infrastructure breakdown. Yet, I'm guessing that most of the people preparing to hole up for months lacked many of the other things they'd need if they actually lost electricity and water for an expended period of time.
While of course they would need many other things as well, if you actually believe that there's going to be widespread societal breakdown, you probably do want a gun and ammo in addition to food, large quantities of water, and so forth.
[+] [-] throwaway0a5e|5 years ago|reply
When there's a disaster and there's no police to call having guns and ammo you can trade off is likely far better than gold bars, solar panels, etc because everyone without guns and ammo is gonna be wanting enough to keep themselves safe.
[+] [-] renewiltord|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] brundolf|5 years ago|reply
Now: I think (looking at this from the outside) that for some people it's really just a hobby. They may not admit it as such, but I think some people just truly enjoy running through scenarios and stocking things up for the sake of the process. If so, I can't judge them for that. I spend plenty of money on useless things at renaissance fairs because I enjoy the roleplaying aspect. If prepping is just someone's preferred flavor of expensive roleplaying, then have at it. But for people who genuinely spend all waking hours trying to guard against a single, narrowly unlikely catastrophe, I have nothing but pity.
[+] [-] czechdeveloper|5 years ago|reply
Even if you don't see basic prepping as necessity, it's way better when after disaster firest responders can care for elderly and disabled, not for you.
[+] [-] simonbarker87|5 years ago|reply
The main take away was “enough cash in the bank to survive no job for a year because that’s the most likely disaster you’ll face” after that I think it was water, always half a tank of gas, and everything else a distant runner up.
I’m remembering from years ago so may have butchered it.
[+] [-] VBprogrammer|5 years ago|reply
Honestly, I still thought it sounded far fetched until people at the start of lockdown bought a years supply of toilet paper at a time. At which point I resolved to (responsibly) ensure we have a reasonable supply of staples at home.
[+] [-] time0ut|5 years ago|reply
The focus of my preparations are around providing for my family if we had a severe hurricane hit. This involves making sure we have enough food, water, and fuel to be self sufficient for a few weeks. It involves being able to charge devices and have light without power. Sadly, it also involves having at least some ability to defend ourselves as that is the world we live in.
It is a fun hobby to have. While some people go overboard, I think we'd be better off if more people prepared for real scenarios like this as it takes some of the burden off the system and leaves capacity for those who couldn't or didn't prepare enough.
[+] [-] unknown|5 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] xnx|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] monksy|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] darepublic|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] vorpalhex|5 years ago|reply
Zombies is unlikely, bad weather or a forest fire however...
I had a family member who was within 2 miles of forest fire - no ready bag, no extra supplies, nothing. "Well, I can just stop by the store if I need to evacuate right?"
[+] [-] jonnycoder|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] MattGaiser|5 years ago|reply
https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2020/10/10/appliance-cri...
[+] [-] chpwssn|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ppod|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jjoonathan|5 years ago|reply
The whole world did not shut down. It voluntarily reduced non-essential in-person activities as a preemptive measure. It was the easiest possible test, and the shelves were still empty of toilet paper and grains for a month.
[+] [-] war1025|5 years ago|reply
White collar work shut down.
All the people that actually make the supply chain function got labeled "essential" and got to go to work anyway.
[+] [-] dopylitty|5 years ago|reply
Those companies typically have done some serious preparation such as segregating workers into different shifts or even having them live on site but the pandemic reminded (some) people that our modern living standards are held up by millions of people working for utilities, farms, waste disposal companies, etc. If a significant number of those people are unable to work you do need to be prepared to survive without power, running water, and fresh produce for a good amount of time. Typically middle/upper class Americans haven't had to contend with that fact but the pandemic has made it more clear that they won't always be able to just pop down to the store for whatever they need at a whim.
Honestly waste disposal is one of the more frightening ones. I shudder at the thought of my area if the waste disposal companies stopped for any length of time. Those people who are willing to work in that job should be treated as heroes and paid much better than those of us who sit in front of computers typing relatively useless code all day.
[+] [-] ch4s3|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] disown|5 years ago|reply
It didn't. The essential people/work still had to show up for work. Butchers, farmers, supermarket workers, truckers, cops, medical workers, etc.
The less essential workers either had to close shop ( barbers, restaurants, etc ) or WFM ( software developers, sales people, etc ).
> and there were basically no serious shortages.
Because the whole world didn't shut down. Just the non-essential stuff were shut down.
[+] [-] Izkata|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] toast0|5 years ago|reply
I imagine people who experinced delays in their staple foods (or TP) that impacted them negatively are going to build a larger buffer for the future.
[+] [-] ericmay|5 years ago|reply
I actually think this showed a robustness to our system overall.
Most people could benefit from basic disaster preparation. This could be some extra food/fuel, to having a bag in case you need to evacuate, etc.
[+] [-] ceejayoz|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] grogenaut|5 years ago|reply
We had one table of the younger devs and one of the mangers / olds. The older table was just all talking about essentially getting ready for being quarantined in your house for up to 3 months. Two folks from the younger table sauntered over. Mainly just talking about having the backpacking supplies version of prepping.
I remember mentioning that the idea of what defines a crazy prepper was probbably going to change in the next 6 months.
[+] [-] protomyth|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ed25519FUUU|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] FooHentai|5 years ago|reply
A lot of people use prepping to gain a sense of control overy life's uncertainty. Knowing you've laid in provisions for unlikely-but-possible (by your own determination) events can quiet much anxiety.
Ironically the myth of preppers all being paranoid grey beards holed up in bunkers exists for exactly the same purpose, just lazier. Just convince yourself that prepping is the realm of crazies and any anxiety you might have about uncertainties in life can be comfortably locked away with those crazy people in your head. For added effect share a laugh about it with other sane people around you, and you can all rest easy in the knowledge that nothing bad is ever going to happen and there's no need to worry.
As is often the case, somewhere in the middle lies truth.
[+] [-] markkat|5 years ago|reply
Most people have phones. Technically, they don’t need a third party to talk to each other. It seemed like there should be a communication option that took advantage of that.
Thus, Tin-Can: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/tin-can/id1435356247
In short, TC is a one-to-many messaging app that has no central service. Proximate phones use BLE to sync.
My mom is headed to high ground in FL atm due to Eta.. I think it’d be useful if phones could all do this natively.
FWIW, I just got it on iOS, and updates like replies are forthcoming. But feedback is appreciated if you try it out. I’ll do a show HN once a few features are completed and bugs squashed.
[+] [-] swebs|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jonah|5 years ago|reply
http://bereadyutah.gov
https://twitter.com/BeReadyUtah
I wonder how much the focus preparedness in that state is due to the Mormon majority and their emphasis of the topic.
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-topi...