Preparedness for when

Perplexed_Pineapple

Evening all. fuddle, much though I love my maglites for their offensive/defensive weapon potential, I wouldn't buy a small one now, they are OS for sure but there are much better LED torches available for not much moola. Like this one possibly: https://www.amazon.co.uk/FordEx-Group-300lm-Flashlight-Adjustable/dp/B006E0QAFY - that's not a personal recommendation because I don't actually have a torch that titchy, just an example of the type of thing I mean...while I'm generally quite OS in most things and certainly not one for the latest i-wotsit there are some actually really quite good new tech things around and LED torches are one of them.
GQ, thanks for the link to that IMF paper, looks very interesting, a little light evening reading

GreyQueen

herbily wrote: »

GQ, does that mean if I'm overdrawn I get 10% debt relief? (Hah, just kidding - I already know the answer, and it's something along the lines of "I should cocoa, sunshine".) If it's any comfort, I think the govt has already gone down the route of inflating its way out of debt - the rate prices are going up, the national debt will be worth about 37p in old terms. You may get to see the equivalent of your Zimbabwe (was it?) squillion dollar note with the Bank of England's name on, the rate we're going... wait, I'm sure one of my resolutions for this year was to be cheerful... busted already!

I expect they would let you pay them later, once you were back in the black, subject to an additional 10% punitative surcharge for being inconsiderately insolvent when they came for your goods.

Me muvver is currently pulling about 1.5k out of an underperforming savings account whose provider has unwisely drawn her attn by putting in an onerous restriction to the operation of said account. So it's being closed. Bad move on the bank's side, wouldn't you think?

I think she should invest it in tangibles or stash it under the mattress (Wild Thing and The Queen would guard it for her ) but I expect she will put it into another account.

Tell ya, if the financial merde does hit the fan, she'll be sorry she didn't listen to her bossy eldest spawnling.:rotfl:

ETA PP, only on this thread would an IMF document be classified as "light" LMAO. If you find any more horriblenesses, pls report back. I've been up since 5am and had very little sleep so won't be ploughing through that tonight.

nuatha

GreyQueen wrote: »

:eek: Hey, check this out, the IMF has been discussing confiscation of 10% of people's net wealth in this document from Autumn 2013.

http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fm/2013/02/pdf/fm1302.pdf

See page 49.

Hmm, that's gonna be about £26.90 from me, then.

Thank you, informative reading though some of the source material is seriously out of date (it has the UK raising top rate income tax).
I'd worry less about the box out on 49 which is almost an aside, and be more concerned about the arguments for a unified VAT rate (and raising it further) though I did find the the information on corporate tax avoidance interesting though the proposals for tackling it seemed thin to me - there again this is still being discussed at G20 level, so presumably there'll be more on this over the next few decades (I don't expect early action from Governments, not even when it will make a huge dent in the national debt).

zee_2

Perplexed Pineapple

have bought 6 of the torches in picture for myself and friends THEY ARE GREAT use only 1 AA battery high power spot and good flood light I bought mine from other dealer in Amazon at £2.42 each free delivery ..ok takes upto 3 weeks but well worth the price ukversion of CREE torch and just as good.

nuatha

Bedsit_Bob wrote: »

I've heard soldiers say, they long for the chance to be tested in combat.

I'm wondering if any of the "survival troops" on this thread, long for the chance to be tested in a SHTF situation?

If yes, I'm thinking it'll be some of the younger ones, rather than the old hands, who were blooded back in the 60s and 70s.

The current SHTF situation is 16 months old and isn't really showing signs of improvement. Without being fairly hard core preppers we'd have lost the house and a fair bit more by now. As it is, we're barely afloat, but we are afloat and we'll continue to do our best to stay that way.

I've never longed to be tested, just very pleased to have been in the situation that I've had preps in place when various things have come my way. As a winter hillwalker I used to carry 7lbs of kit that I was always happy never to use, nor did I moan about the extra weight and I was never tempted to not pack it, it was there in case it was needed (and a few times it was, usually to help other groups) and that's pretty much how I see prepping. It allows me to carry on living my life the way I want to in relative comfort no matter what life happens to be throwing in my direction (though I'd never planned for quite such a long term situation)

There again I've never heard any service personnel say they "long for the test of real combat" possibly because it was a far too realistic chance when I used to associate with servicemen more regularly.

westcoastscot

BB no plans to fabricate a shtf situation here - have lived like this all my life, and imo it's getting tougher both generally and personally. I've always been resilient but life is really piling on the do-do at the minute - it's one thing after another and I have a real feeling that the worst is yet to come - and i'm an optimist!!

We're expecting bad weather again tomorrow - the boat is tied up again - cannot recall a year where the fishing has been so affected by the weather.

WCS

jk0

I think most of us are tested from time to time anyway, whether it's ill health, accidents or infrastructure failings.

I have been doing some calculations today regarding those ice packs I ordered for my fridge freezer. I came across this Yahoo Answers page which helped with my calculations:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090115202712AACRJWC

The interesting thing to note is that the energy expended by the ice going from -50 to 0 is a small fraction of the energy required to actually turn it back into a liquid. I believe someone was concerned that her fridge only took two hours to go from -18 to -5. Therefore, it will still take maybe 24 hours to actually melt.

Those 400ml Amazon ice packs cooled to -18, will each take 150 kJ (41 Watt hours) to melt. Thus the fourteen I have ordered will store 574 Watt hours, which is about 50% more energy than my booster pack.

GreyQueen

nuatha wrote: »

The current SHTF situation is 16 months old and isn't really showing signs of improvement. Without being fairly hard core preppers we'd have lost the house and a fair bit more by now. As it is, we're barely afloat, but we are afloat and we'll continue to do our best to stay that way.

I've never longed to be tested, just very pleased to have been in the situation that I've had preps in place when various things have come my way. As a winter hillwalker I used to carry 7lbs of kit that I was always happy never to use, nor did I moan about the extra weight and I was never tempted to not pack it, it was there in case it was needed (and a few times it was, usually to help other groups) and that's pretty much how I see prepping. It allows me to carry on living my life the way I want to in relative comfort no matter what life happens to be throwing in my direction (though I'd never planned for quite such a long term situation)

There again I've never heard any service personnel say they "long for the test of real combat" possibly because it was a far too realistic chance when I used to associate with servicemen more regularly.

I'm sorry to hear that things haven't turned the corner for you and Herself yet, nuatha, and will send you both such positive vibes as I can.

I do worry that a lot of people have no sense of danger, even if the danger is fairly predictable, such as a spell of unemployment. Through friends, I encounter some high-earning professionals in the private sector.

I do find quite a few of them arrogant, and unchartitable in some of the things they come out with about those less fortunate. I guess if you've consistantly been employed at a multiple of x 4 or above the national average wage, it's easy to assume that this will always be the case and that poverty is something which happens to others. Others who are probably thick and lazy and somehow "deserve" it.

I do encounter some utterly bewildered people through my work, people who are my peers (as in joining the labour market at the very beginning of the 1980s) who haven't had a day's unemployment in their lives and now find themselves chucked into the labour market and struggling to find work for month after month after month. Most of our age cohort has had a pretty rocky employment history, but there are some who have been spared, and they're lost souls.

I won't forget a few encounters, and find myself wondering how things have gone for a particular lady customer, and a particular gentleman. I hope that this Christmas found them more secure and prosperous than when they spoke to me earlier in 2013.

I don't particularly long to be tested. I've faced down the Grim Reaper already nearly 20 years ago and have precarious health. Was being instructed on the use of an injectable form of my medication yesterday afternoon, because a vomiting episode which means I cannot ingest my tablets is life-threatening. Things like that concentrate the mind wonderfully.

I do find myself wishing that there might be a small shot across the bows, as it were, which would alert those I love as family and friends to be more prepared. I'd rest easier if I knew they could look after themselves better. As it is, I do worry about my family and about one friend in particular, who I can see losing job and home quite easily.

Can see on the news that there are warnings that some people may need to evacuate their homes and they are being advised to have a bag packed. The BugOut Bag goes mainstream, whodathunkit?

craigyw, if you're reading, pet, check in with us, please. I hear it's expected to be bad in your neck of the woods.

It's chucking it down here atm and still nearly dark, so will be paddling up to the office and no doubt there will be trouble with fences and trees and tiles off roofs across the city. All hands to the pumps.

pineapple

GreyQueen wrote: »

Can see on the news that there are warnings that some people may need to evacuate their homes and they are being advised to have a bag packed. The BugOut Bag goes mainstream, whodathunkit?

Just what I thought. They'll be advising people to stock up next.
What is the world coming to?

GreyQueen

pineapple wrote: »

Just what I thought. They'll be advising people to stock up next.
What is the world coming to?

There'll be a run on tinned sardines, I reckon. Of course, some of us are ahead of the game......you mean not everyone uses the shallow drawers under their sofa to store tinned sardines?!