GIP Emergency Preparedness Thread: The Safe Space for Half-Life War Boys

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Internet VFW > GIP Emergency Preparedness Thread: The Safe Space for Half-Life War Boys

Nitrousoxide: May 30, 2011; do not buy a oneplus phone

Something I don't see a ton of people talk about when they're prepping is planning ahead for cold weather sleep. In a situation where you don't have access to clean water you are almost certainly not going to have access to heat your house which means you need to be prepared for temperatures that would be as low as would be feasible in your area.

A good cold weather sleeping bag or camping down quilt can ensure that you can not freeze to death. It's a useful purchase even if you don't hike or plan on camping out.

You can almost certainly make do with a sufficient number of blankets piled on top of each other but keep in mind that if you personally require four or five blankets to not freeze to death in sub-zero temperatures without any heating that everyone else in your family will also require a similar number of blankets. You may not have enough for everyone in your family.

# ¿ Sep 21, 2020 21:51

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# ¿ Apr 27, 2024 02:09

Nitrousoxide: May 30, 2011; do not buy a oneplus phone

Steezo posted:

I've been building up a personal first aid bag for a little bit now. I put this in it . Never thought to make a thread about it.

Good info in the OP btw. Especially the focus on likely local event rather than RED SCARE MISSILE GAP COMMIES GONNA GET YA GET TO DA BUNKAH poo poo I get from people I know military side. The one guy I know who's actually prepared for everything has a plan in place to expand his garden into a small farm if shits real bad.

Before I scatterbrains derail any worse there was a point I made in another thread but wanted to expound upon, as someone else here said once, it's a CAT brand tourniquet. Be wary of cheap knockoffs, they'll break when you tighten the windlass and then whoever you're trying to aid will bleed out. Oh and whatever equipment you have you should know how to use, maybe practice one a month, inspect it, make sure it works, except for opening the sterile bandages and such. Make sure whoever is likely to be using the kit knows how to use its parts especially if it has those weird semi rigid foam splints or something else that can be easily mistaken for something else or used wrong.

With tourniquets, which are mostly for piercing, puncturing wounds with profuse bleeding, up high, well above joints and never on the joint. As high as you can get it on the affected limb, like way the gently caress up there. Bright lights and sharp knives, as they say, will save them, your job at that point is getting them to the surgeon.

Not trying to step on any toes, considering how many have probably gotten the CLS stuff repeatedly, but it has more uses than just after a firefight. Hiking and someone falls, car wrecks, catastrophic construction fuckups, power tool fuckery, have to think about your most likely danger, rather than "oh poo poo ivan sent the big one".

Not sure if this is a de-rail or re-rail at this point but lets run a train like its a barracks party.

I'm pretty sure you don't actually want to put the tourniquet as high as you can. The only reason that's given as an instruction for soldiers is because oftentimes the wound will not be obvious given the clothing they tend to wear and the nature of bullets being very small. If you can identify where the bleeding is happening you should only put the tourniquet one or two inches above there provided that it wouldn't be on a joint.

# ¿ Sep 24, 2020 15:27

Nitrousoxide: May 30, 2011; do not buy a oneplus phone

There's also the deployed medicine app which is a really useful resource.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.allogy.deployedmedicine

# ¿ Sep 24, 2020 18:37

Nitrousoxide: May 30, 2011; do not buy a oneplus phone

Cugel the Clever posted:

Thanks for the thread, OP. I'm easing my election anxiety with some emergency-preparedness buys. It's all stuff that would be good to have in any emergency, so I won't regret the purchases even if the chuds don't try to start poo poo in the next six months. I'm in an apartment in an urban core, which is a context I haven't often seen specifically addressed. My building was built in this century, so is likely relatively earthquake-resilient and the shear population density of the area means it'll likely receive rapid federal relief efforts, barring a scenario where Trump refuses to accept defeat and chaos ensues.

Still, I'd prefer to be prepared to shelter in place as much as possible should power or water be knocked out in order to allow relief efforts to focus on the people who need it. I'm good on food and water, but am missing some essentials:

Cooking
Though a lot of the emergency food requires no cooking, none of it is going to be particularly pleasant at room temperature. If my electric stove is out of commission, I'd love to have an indoor fallback that isn't going to murder me. Does anyone have recommendations? It looks like the majority of camp stoves are an absolute no-go as propane and butane are killers without very good ventilation. Alcohol stoves apparently are less risky, but I'm not immediately finding one that's targeted at this use case. The MREs come with their own heaters, of course, but for canned goods and boiling water, I'd like to have something. I'd rather not be hiking up and down the stairs and cooking on the sidewalk if I can help it...

poo poo
The Luggable Loo in the OP looks like what I should just go with, but I'm still looking for alternatives because it strikes me as something likely to raise a "this person is crazy" red flag to anyone who spotted it sitting in my quite limited storage space. Since I'm looking to shelter in place, maybe just getting the bags and using them with my actual toilet would be the best way to go? I'm curious how cities have dealt with this in the past during emergencies.

Worst comes to worst and my home is outright gone, I'm curious if there's much written on how to make-do as an internally displaced person. I'm pretty new to my city and, between starting a new job, covid, and being a horrible, horrible introvert, I haven't had much opportunity to build the kind of connections that are really important. In a typical disaster scenario, the best bet would probably be to seek out local relief efforts. If SHTF, I'm either stuck finding some good folks and sticking with them or attempting to travel cross-country to people I know. I'm car-free, so that would mean either hitching or cycling a couple thousand miles through areas that would likely view strangers with, at best, skepticism.

Lastly, one thing that should be added to the OP is the importance of having some form of entertainment on-hand in the aftermath of an emergency. Having something entertaining to keep you occupied fights both boredom and anxiety, even if ultimately offering only escapism from the awful poo poo that's happening to you. An e-reader loaded with a bunch of books is a fantastic option and adds minimal weight to your pack. Other forms of entertainment like games have the added benefit of strengthening bonds between participants (so long as nobody is a giant dick). A deck of playing cards or a playing card game is another light addition to your gear that'll keep you and others occupied while building community.

An induction cooktop:
https://www.amazon.com/Duxtop-8100M...ps%2C143&sr=8-4

And generator will work. Also useful to keep your fridge running as well.

Gas generators will probably be the only ones that can output the power you'd need to supply your fridge and cooktop in the space you have. If you have a balcony you can pop it out there so you don't kill yourself with carbon monoxide.

If you live in the countryside you could go with solar, batteries, and an inverter to have an effectively infinite supply of power.

# ¿ Oct 18, 2020 23:12

Nitrousoxide: May 30, 2011; do not buy a oneplus phone

Baofengs tend to skimp on a lot of hardware that reduces splatter and harmonics in its transmissions.

This results in a lot of wasted power going into transmissions outside of where your recipient is receiving you thus making an 8 w portable effectively like a six watt portable. It also means that you aren't a good curator for the ham bands since you are spitting out a bunch of garbage that can interfere with other ham operators.. If you are near the edge of the hambands you could also potentially be transmitting outside of them.

That said, these radios are better than no radio. And if you can't afford a better one then go for it.

# ¿ Nov 16, 2020 15:17

Nitrousoxide: May 30, 2011; do not buy a oneplus phone

I have a feeling this can't be right, otherwise pretty much every pond or puddle would be safe to drink out of

# ¿ Feb 22, 2021 22:15

Nitrousoxide: May 30, 2011; do not buy a oneplus phone

If you do any hiking, keeping your hiking gear stored near your bed can allow it to do double duty of being a portable short term survival gear bag that's more or less ready to go without having to spend any extra money.

# ¿ Feb 23, 2021 20:50

Nitrousoxide: May 30, 2011; do not buy a oneplus phone

A wood pellet stove may be another option for emergency heating for your house. They only require direct venting to outside so a small hole right next to them instead of requiring a chimney. They do require a small amount of power to run a fan and a small hopper, usually about 100 Watts or something but you would require quite a bit of energy to heat a significant portion of your house with a generator through an electric resistance heater.

If you get one properly sized for your house then it will allow you to protect all of your pipes from bursting in a freeze which would save you a lot of money in repairs.

Wood pellets also don't go bad unlike gasoline for a gas generator. So you can combine that with a propane-powered generator and you have your heat and electricity fuel sources that won't need to be constantly cycled out.

# ¿ Feb 24, 2021 14:27

Nitrousoxide: May 30, 2011; do not buy a oneplus phone

I mean, keep in mind that solar is not an ideal power source for the thing you're trying to solve. You're trying to power a heater in the middle of a snowstorm, the time you're likely to get the least amount of sun and when your panels will keep getting covered with snow.

# ¿ Feb 24, 2021 17:06

Nitrousoxide: May 30, 2011; do not buy a oneplus phone

Guest2553 posted:

The gold plated solution is something like the LifeSaver jerry can which is good for 10 or 20k liters and removed microbiological contamination but costs a few hundred. It won't get the salt out of seawater but it can treat piss.

At long last I can have the stillsuit I always wanted.

# ¿ Feb 24, 2021 18:06

Nitrousoxide: May 30, 2011; do not buy a oneplus phone

Not sure how good all these books are, humble bundle is running a "Home and Hobby DIY" book thing, and a lot of these are relevant for emergency preparedness as resources to have on hand in the event of a grid down situation.

https://www.humblebundle.com/books/diy-home-hobby-wiley-books

# ¿ Mar 8, 2021 21:12

Nitrousoxide: May 30, 2011; do not buy a oneplus phone

AreWeDrunkYet posted:

That's a good point. Digital books on emergency preparation are good for advance reading, but pretty useless as reference material once the power is out.

There was an amusing Twitter thread during the TX blackouts that got to a similar point - for the love of god make sure you have a non-electric can opener to get into your emergency food.

https://twitter.com/torriangray/status/1361778280521605122

I'm personally fine with them, just make sure part of your emergency prep includes a power source like solar/battery.

You're going to want one anyway for your phone/radio/lights. Being able to power an iPad or e-reader with all of the reference materials you'd need in a nice compact package is a useful addition.

It also lets you download and navigate using OSM maps off the grid as well.

# ¿ Mar 9, 2021 17:25

Nitrousoxide: May 30, 2011; do not buy a oneplus phone

Is there a recommended dual fuel generator to power a fridge and maybe a window air conditioner during a power outage?

# ¿ May 26, 2021 12:49

Nitrousoxide: May 30, 2011; do not buy a oneplus phone

Don�t fridges use something like 300-500 watts an hour, meaning that you need 3-5kw of usable capacity to just make it through the night, plus a good amount of solar capacity, to fully recharge with less than ideal conditions like you are likely to see during a power outage, since they usually accompany storms rather than nice sunny weather? Isn�t that in the thousands of dollars for a system that can do that, compared to 500 to 800 dollars for a dual fuel gen plus LP needed to run 3-6 days?

# ¿ May 26, 2021 17:43

Nitrousoxide: May 30, 2011; do not buy a oneplus phone

Teach your kids to gamble for their rations.

# ¿ Jan 7, 2022 16:03

Nitrousoxide: May 30, 2011; do not buy a oneplus phone

You can download more than just wikipedia with Kiwix. You can also download more in-depth sites using it to self-host. Of course, this still relies on you having power and a working server and networking in your home, which may or may not be the case.

Here's how you can setup a server in docker:
https://thehomelab.wiki/books/docker/page/setup-and-install-kiwix-serve-on-debian-systems

For the .zims, they've already prepared them here:
https://download.kiwix.org/zim/

Nitrousoxide fucked around with this message at 20:34 on May 8, 2022

# ¿ May 8, 2022 20:32

Nitrousoxide: May 30, 2011; do not buy a oneplus phone

The Voice of Labor posted:

ummm... do you know what a book is? like if you're talking about a future where an offline copy of wikipedia is reference, you're not going to be able to have everyone radio/satellite ftp in and d/l whatever pdfs are hosted on your mud server.

books are, outside of having knowledgeable people, the only way info is going to get shared around

Pretty much everyone will have phones and you can share .epubs, website backups, and other things over bluetooth or wifi hotspots (even without internet access) to create a LAN.

All you really need are the files, a local operational server to host this stuff, and power.

# ¿ May 8, 2022 22:23

Nitrousoxide: May 30, 2011; do not buy a oneplus phone

Nystral posted:

Because it assumes that you a source of electricity to keep the things powered, they still work, the free time to devote to setting it up, and the know how to configure it in the given environment. The equipment necessary to run it is usually highly inefficient use of limited electricity, relatively fragile, and over a long enough timeline you�re likely to run into a situation where the battery has failed and you�re unable to find / make a replacement battery that works with what you have.

Compared to a book which just needs a person who can read and a light source of some kind.

Edit:

This. I think people would prepare for different kinds of emergencies. Like in FL after a hurricane you�re looking at being without power for a week or so tops. Very different from say a nuclear exchange which has a recovery timeline on the scale of years / never.

Friendo, you can host a local copy of wikipedia on a raspberry pi. It doesn't need to be a power-hungry beast.

Also, no one is saying that you build up a local hosted copy of a bunch of internet sites and that is your only source of information in the event of an emergency. it's a low cost, low effort way to DRASTICALLY increase the information available to you.

# ¿ May 9, 2022 02:11

Nitrousoxide: May 30, 2011; do not buy a oneplus phone

Bored As gently caress posted:

Also some people solar panels and solar batteries that will provide charges for whatever phone or tablet they have the books or Wikipedia on. Even the sub $200 portable solar chargers will charge a phone in a day or less.

Yeah, and considering that Kiwix has Android and iOS apps where you can download wikipedia and a bunch of other free and open source info for literally ZERO MONEY, I don't see the harm in chucking a few gigs of additional info on your phone and leaving it there.

# ¿ May 9, 2022 02:32

Nitrousoxide: May 30, 2011; do not buy a oneplus phone

Guest2553 posted:

Personal acceptance of solitude varies, but having a buddy definitely makes things safer. My idea of camping is too spartan for most people so I only ever really go alone anymore. I always make sure somebody knows where I'm going, the general route I'm taking, and when I'll be back so they can send help/find the body.

Just grab a garmin inreach or something like it. You'll be able to communicate almost anywhere in the world with it.

I take it even out on my day hikes in case I fall off the trail into a ravine or whatever. I've added my family to my account so they can see where I'm at when it's on and tracking and let them know when I'm going out and when I'm back.

# ¿ May 31, 2022 14:24

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# ¿ Apr 27, 2024 02:09

Nitrousoxide: May 30, 2011; do not buy a oneplus phone

Filters won't protect you against water polluted with any human waste. Human viruses love to use that as a vector. You'll need chemical or heat disinfecting to purify that (though the filter can still be useful to remove particulates from the water)

North America doesn't really have water sources with human waste pollution so you generally don't need anything more than a filter for camping/hiking, but in a breakdown of society situation I wouldn't assume that would hold true necessarily. You may need secondary treatment for water even when hiking/camping in other parts of the world

# ¿ Dec 16, 2022 21:38

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