“Look, I’m not rushing out and declaring that the end of the world is near, but what I am saying is that it is, logically rational to talk about the fragility of these digital and electrical systems, which are really second nature and largely unexamined as we go about our daily lives.”
The article goes on to describe the “Survival Condo Project, a 20-unit, luxury underground apartment complex north of Wichita, Kan,” a facility which is “designed to be self-sustaining, with hydroponic vegetables, its own fish farm and renewable energy sources.”
So many of these rich people’s lives are built around utilization of the worker and servant classes. So it’s millions of dollars to get a spot, but who will maintain the hydroponic tanks, gather seeds/replant, and maintain the battery banks on the energy systems?
Seems like a tough gig for your average tech exec who’s closest moment to working on a mechanical or electrical system is when he hands his keys to the Service Department manager at the Tesla dealership . . .
I am excited to see a little sanity here, especially since the aforementioned knife may not be legal (but quite practical) in some of the urban environs where one would be reading this article.
Every good survivalist plans for the time when he’ll have to pack arms, kit, friends and family and head to the proverbial hills.
We like to think this will come about because of alien invasion, zombies, UN take-over, or worse, but often the real day-to-day reasons that may arise to force one to bug out aren’t always considered. Excepting of course those who live in areas prone to tornadoes, earthquakes, or let’s say . . . floods.
In the spring of 2013, my house flooded and we had to bug-out.
Time to split
Nothing quite as un-fun or un-romantic as waking up in the morning to a houseful of water – unless of course you were my 6 y/o and 3 y/o, who had a heck of a time running up and down the river that was my hallway the night before. For the momma and baby – not so much.
So the big question was of course, what did I grab? At first, in the throes of shock and panic, I grabbed three quick things – throwing them on the bed out the water, and then quickly depositing them in the back of the family car:
Bug-out bag (of course)
Shotgun
A lot of socks
Looking back on it, I am not sure why I grabbed a lot of socks, but it seemed like a good idea at the time.
As the morning went out, I got the woman and the kid shipped out to the in-laws for safe keeping and went about the business of getting the water out of my house. After some ridiculousness with a Shop Vac and every towel I owned, I quickly realized that this was totally and completely out of my hands. By then, a few friends had come by to help rip carpet and get furniture on blocks, and one of them had the fine suggestion to call a water remediation company. I believe the exact words were,
“Bro, you’d better hurry up and call [Serve-Pro] before everyone else around here gets out of shock and calls them first…”
I won’t get into details on the water remediation, the insane bills, the rebuilding, the madness, but suffice to say, as the day went on, a few more things found themselves added to the bug-out assortment in the back of the car:
Substantial first aid kit
Hiking/Day pack (Maxpedition Falcon II)
AR-7 survival rifle
Knife roll
EDC box
Laptop computer and case
Back-up drive
At no surprise to my friends, most of these items ended up being OD green and found themselves in some extra storage space at the relatives house that ended up being our temporary home, while ours was rebuilt.
Borrowing storage
Ultimately, I ended up with the things I felt I would need to sustain in a non-life threatening situation, with a minimum of kit that wouldn’t unduly impose on relatives, or be more than could pack into a car trunk, in the event we had to move again. Most of our stuff ended up in storage, so it was quite inconvenient to get to anything for the duration of the incident.
If worse came to worse – i.e. our storage unit was robed while we were away in exile, I still had the basic things I needed to camp, hike, hunt, or defend my family.
