newcomers: things you may take for granted . . .

1 family: explaining Sit-X reality
2 water from a tap
3 toilet paper
4 tv
5 diapers


i hope that this thread can help newcomers to survivalism

to realize that after Sit-X
your comfy-cosy world may be turned upside down
especially if you have family/children

would your family drink water from a toilet tank ?
keeping your children occupied with no tv

and so,
what else do we take for granted ?

[edit on 10/6/2007 by CANADIAN-guerilla]

Communication - batteries no longer manufactured, power lines incapacitated killing all forms of communication.

Medical assistance - hospitals/ambulance services cut, drug manufacture and distribution halted.

Food distribution - no fuel for trucks, no internet/computers for distribution systems.

Local councils/police - no fuel, no communication will hamper societal controls (ie criminal activity).

The three most important foundations of society; electricity, fuel and food are all based on the continuing functionality of the computer.

Once the power grid fails, computers can only function until available fuel for standby generators runs out. A continued failure lasting weeks will cripple a western world which has become too dependent on fallible infrastructure.

The medical problems will be the cause of a great deal of death in a Sit-X. No insulin will cause major problems for people that are right now functioning just fine.

Think of all the other medical problems that are controled by a ready supply of drugs, but which would be out of control if that supply were interupted for very long.

And a lot of those drugs need refridgeration.

The lack of electricity would cause a major population reduction in a very short while. I would guess that one third of the population of North America, or any modern industrialized nation, would die within a year of living without the spark.

One thing most people take for granted is electrisity. I just took a count of things plugged in to the mains within this room and i have 9 things. Then i looked at a few of those things and i see that not being able to use them would be a real inconveniance.

Things like TVs, computers, mobile phones and the like are non essential items. However when the power fails you quickly begin to see how much you depend on electrisity, ALL the food in your freezer is lost. Making a meal suddenly just became more than throwing a readymeal into the microwave.

Without electrisity almost everything we take for granted is lost, maybe your lucky and have a generator, but their is one thing you can be assured of - you don't have unlimited fuel for the thing.

I would also suggest that without police, fire, doctors and drugs alot more than 1/3 of the population would die out.

1. If you have any concern over your family, simply explain this ahead of time.

2. WATER PURIFICATION PILLS/SYSTEMS.

3. Not an issue, humans have wiped their asses for THOUSANDS of year with items OTHER than TP.

4. Not an issue, I don't watch tv more than 1 hour a day to begin with.

5. No kids, no worries.

Being a newcomer to ATS and just as new to the interests of survival I guess this thread addresses my concerns.

A couple of weeks ago I sat my nine year old daughter down and we had our first talk about this very subject.

Strange I figured our first serious talk would be about sex... here we are talking about the changing world and how we need to change with it.

I told her my basic concerns about the changes in the weather, how the world has people in it who want to wipe out the United States, there are new germs out in the world, all kinds of things out of our control.

I tried to introduce the concept of "What If". What if there was a disaster of some sort and we had to stay home with no lights or water?
She seems to completely understand the need to plan and set things aside for later.

It's a fine line between urgency and paranoia.
I wanted her to understand the importance of practicing these new concepts but not scare the crud out of her doing it.

As for my three year old, he understands we will practice "camping" downstairs and he's very excited. (Just wait 'til we do it without tv, then the party is over huh) I am developing a list of things to occupy them without the tv, dvds, and gameboy and all the electronic stuff we enjoy.
Wish me luck, boys; I'm goin in!

Originally posted by MichaelMyers
3. Not an issue, humans have wiped their asses for THOUSANDS of year with items OTHER than TP.

5. No kids, no worries.

3 i have no problem using " other " forms of TP

5 i don't have any kids either

but this thread really isn't about individuals

what would you do, (IF) your 13 yr old daughter,
clothed in her latest designer outfit was screaming her head off
because she absolutely " will only use scented Cottonelle " ?

Originally posted by CANADIAN-guerilla
What would you do, (IF) your 13 yr old daughter,
clothed in her latest designer outfit was screaming her head off
because she absolutely " will only use scented Cottonelle " ?

Take their favorite designer tshirt, tear it in half and wrap round a stick, and present it to them along with a jar of vinegar to wipe their butt Roman-style

Just a note to let those people in the South know that it is not wise to use hanging moss as a substitute for tp....it can be full of redbugs.

Redbugs are tiny, tiny insects akin to a tick except when they get on the skin it is usually by the hundreds and they cause an intense itching.

Fingernail polish will suffocate them but it would not be feasible to apply fingernail polish to the area where the moss was used for wiping.


Dizzie

reply to post by dizziedame

Just a note to let those people in the South know that it is not wise to use hanging moss as a substitute for tp....it can be full of redbugs.

I'm not even gonna ask how you found that out.

Watch out for poison oak too.

reply to post by dizziedame


I would love to hear more about how you came by these pearls of wisdom. But i am too much of gentleman to ask.

However, should you want to give other firsthand(?) advice, see the www website in my signature.

Dizzie could you boil that moss (to kill off the critters) and then hang it do dry (line dry, not back on the tree)? I'm wondering if moss would survive boiling... or someother such treatment.

reply to post by CANADIAN-guerilla


Stock up on extra plain white wash cloths and think of it the same way you would a baby's bottom. Wash out, sanitize and reuse.

Sewage is going to be a problem eventually, too. I'm not sure how long it would take for there to be a citywide problem once the treatment plant(s) are no longer working, but I wouldn't want to find out.

"We're in really deep .... now." will have a totally new meaning

Also, transportation. The gasoline will run out, and the buses and taxis and planes and all the rest will stop. The fastest means of travel will be a bicycle, or a horse if you have one, though if you have a horse you probably also have further to travel to get somewhere. Imagine how valuable bikes, rollerblades, and the like would become, while cars and buses and trucks will become places to sleep for the homeless as shelter from the elements.

Originally posted by DragonsDemesne
Sewage is going to be a problem eventually, too. I'm not sure how long it would take for there to be a citywide problem once the treatment plant(s) are no longer working, but I wouldn't want to find out.

"We're in really deep .... now." will have a totally new meaning

For a city as New York, Mexico City or São Paulo, it would take about 15-20 days with no maintenance for the sewage to "break" almost all of the streets and sidewalks.

With no intense maintenance of the BIG cities in the world, in a couple of months it will be impossible to live in. Most of people don't realize that living in tall buildings is something very, very fragile, and in order to keep everything running it takes a huge work by many, many workers. Bridges, roads, strests, sewage, power lines (lot of work here), water supply.

Imagine living in the 12th floor with no electricity or water (or both).


Peace.

reply to post by Sator

Most of people don't realize that living in tall buildings is something very, very fragile, and in order to keep everything running it takes a huge work by many, many workers. Bridges, roads, strests, sewage, power lines (lot of work here), water supply.

Sort of makes mass genocide trump refugee camps doesn't it?

Take for granted? You gotta start thinking worst case senario.
Every thing for granted, temperature of the earth, length of the days, no animals left to kill, sulphur poisoned rivers from volcanos, super doses of radiation from loss of our magnetic field, pretty much worst environment imaginable.
All in one day, out of the blue, effects lasting for decades.
Soon people.

Originally posted by NathanNewZealand
no animals left to kill

I have a feeling that this is one of the biggest 'taken for granteds' by our armed US members.

Taking into account that an estimated 70-80% of the 300+ million population of the US own or have access to a gun, just how long would it take before all the large/medium size game animals are shot for food and nothing larger than rodents are left?

Citizen Smith we'd be eating our pets and other critters that most Americans typically wouldn't even consider. We slaughter cats, dogs, and horses by the hundreds of thousands every year. We have plenty of rats and things, there is plenty of *food* here once we get hungry enough.
Can you imagine over dinner: "Mom, where is Fluffy?..."

a gas range whoud work TO cook your meat and heat part of your home During the ice storm last year 3 weeks without power the natural gas lines still worked we slept in the living and used the clostet bathroom and put anti freeze in the other. one. some in the bowl and some inthe tank. so the would not freeze and break the tank . when the generater game it cost 45$ a day to run it breaking us financially; as my job was with out power and u could not drive acroos town as the ice broke branches big time make all side street nearly impassalbe .my trees big trees broke brances and came down on the house breaking the window and blocking the door . my truck was covered with a branch making it inpossible to move. my car was in the garage with the garage door froze shut .with 2 generater it would cost a hundred to run a day.and this is just an ice storm .but the city was shut down forget about going to that docters appoint no school and peaple ding because they wernt prepared for anything.