If you knew power was going to go down and you knew you had a choice between having all your preps confiscated while you were herded into a govt. shelter or heading for the hills to live on tree bark. What would you choose?

-- R (riversoma@aol.com), May 10, 1999

Answers

Easy! The hills are alive! Hills, hands down.

But why be herded because power goes down? Can live, not comfortably, but live, without power. Apt shelter still intact.

Just have to worry about the other humanimals rampaging.
What would you choose, riversoma?

xxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxx

-- Leska (allaha@earthlink.net), May 10, 1999.

Leska, Just because the power went down doesn't mean people would herded into shelters but those are the conditions I wanted people to consider and respond to. Either no power - no preps - no privacy or freedom in the hills with no illusions of security.

The choice for me is simple. I have always loved the mountains and am definitely happier surrounded by fresh air than stale body odors.

-- R (riversoma@aol.com), May 10, 1999.

The Hills. And while you can't live on tree bark, the inner layer (forget what its called) of many pine trees is edible.

But if you follwed Infomagics advice, you would have several small hidden stashes to fall back on. Which reminds me ...........

-- Jon Johnson (narnia4@usa.net), May 10, 1999.

What's with this mad obsession about being herded into government shelters? It's becoming almost laughable........The governments are by and large, broke........no money........don't have the resources to shelter millions of people........

What's in it for them anyway? WHY??? What's you picture look like.........the guvmint will suddenly build detention camps large enough to house all 270 million Americans while all their houses are left vacant.....where will all the food come from? ......who will supply the water........the clothing........

Methinks that the imagination is running a bit too wildly here........

The spoon is displeased with your paranoia.........the spoon knows all.....Become one with the spoon and heal thyself........

-- Craig (craig@ccinet.ab.ca), May 10, 1999.

riversoma (with that name, of course the hills ;-) -- odors rampant! Eeek. I'm sorta a neatnik & hermit; shelters do NOT sound good. No way. Bugging out is now a lifetime goal. Just don't think the lifetime will last that long, and ain't comin back for a re-do!

Why anyone would feel secure enough existing nowadays without preps is beyond me. History + news headlines = preparation. Wish we could do it as in depth as Milne & Yourdon but we didn't GI long enough ago -- major duh duh dope-slap.

Only our own idiocy to blame -- we knew better but didn't give enough moxie, credence, oomph, and effort to materialize very good advice. Weird thing is we know 1000s of others who have the same advice and ridicule it. Groan. A buncha morons, only a few breaking away and tunneling away from the herd.

xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx

-- Leska (allaha@earthlink.net), May 10, 1999.

There it is again - booga - booga, "herded into Guv'ment shelters". Who makes this stuff up?

-- Y2K Pro (2@641.com), May 10, 1999.

Craig and Y2kpro,

There is a difference between saying something IS going to happen and asking people what they would do IF something happened. I am interested in gauging how people feel and how they would react in a given situation. I am wondering how many people are independent and self-reliant enough to feel they can fend for themselves. I am wondering which kinds of people would head for the hills. At this point it appears to be the intelligent and respectful ones. I am not asking for opinions on the odds of such an occurance. I am guessing you guys would prefer the shelters. Which then makes my hypothetical choice even easier.

-- R (riversoma@aol.com), May 10, 1999.

Oh, I see..........a hypothetical question........well in all fairness, let me add an additional rider question which is equally as 'hypothetical'........

What if gray aliens with really sharp proboscis asked you whether you would prefer if they stuck their pointy things up your left nostril or up your bum.........What would you choose? NOTE: The said aliens are likely part of the NWO that many here seem obsessed with......

Ah.......the spoon like satire.........are you one with the spoon?

-- Craig (craig@ccinet.ab.ca), May 10, 1999.

The spoon wishes to tell a joke.........

What do you call 4 2X4 studs with an old sheet of wood balanced on top of it, and it only cost 300 million dollars?

ANSWER: A government shelter.

The spoon is amused..........the spoon is wise........will the spoon bend for you............long live the spoon!

-- Craig (craig@ccinet.ab.ca), May 10, 1999.

Wow Craig, You win the prize for the wierdest things anyone has ever said to me. This is no small feat since I grew up in Hollywood. Congrats - and careful with that spoon.

-- R (riversoma@aol.com), May 10, 1999.

Spoon dude.

This is the recommendation from Quebec in regards to power outages. I would say a difinitive resource refferance if there was one.

I here in Calgary Alberta they are having power problems and it isn't Y2K yet! and Calgary is one of the warmer towns in Canada.

And where are you get the spoon thing from? Seens odd from good old red neck Alberta EH?

Hopefully you don't walk in some of the bars and start with the spoon bending thing. You would be quickly "evacuated"
 

A MINI-GUIDE FOR DEALING WITH
  WINTER POWER OUTAGES

This information was prepared by:

Organisation de la sécurité civile du Qu& eacute;bec

Safe Guard - Hydro-Québec

When cooler heads prevail: evacuate!

In very cold weather, the temperature of a house will drop
about 1 degree Celsius per hour. If the blackout is long, and
you have no safe way of keeping warm, it is better to leave.
Avoid the risk of hypothermia! If a person exposed to cold
starts to shiver violently and then becomes sleepy and
lethargic, call for help right away. They may be suffering
from hypothermia. While waiting for help, cover the person
with blankets or a sleeping bag. If they are sufficiently
awake, encourage them to drink a warm, sweet
non-alcoholic drink, if possible.
 
 

What if you have to leave your home but have no relatives
or friends to stay with? Contact the emergency services
department of your municipality, to find out what has been
organized in your area for such situations. If you have to go
to a shelter, see if you can assist an elderly or handicapped
person in leaving their home. Being a good neighbor can
save lives and protect property. Remember to take with you
what you need to be as self-reliant as possible (see The
Survival Kit). And lock your door! If you have pets, make
a list ahead of time of people who might be able to look
after them in an emergency. Then, if you should have to
evacuate, you will already know where to bring them.

-- Brian (imager@home.com), May 10, 1999.

bold off

-- Brian (imager@home.com), May 10, 1999.

.

-- just helpin' (allittakesisonelittlespace@outof.place), May 10, 1999.

Dont think it will happen in most places, in the U.S., but could happen in some, outside major population centers ... depending.

Hills ... first choice. And camping.

What current examples do we have of people being herded into camps -- for their own good -- while their lives are put on hold in a crisis situation and while everything is handled by outside government forces and relief groups?

Think ... Kosovo ... et. al.

Id prefer the *very* high hills, myself.

Second choice ... being part of the relief groups.

It all depends ... on relative circumstances.

Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), May 10, 1999.

Re: being herded into shelters

When I finally got to talk to THE santitation engineer from the health department of our city of over 500K and begged him to tell me what to tell people about handling their waste materials he said it wouldn't be a problem. That they would pull up tractor trailers that have showers/toilets to schools around the areas for those sheltered to use.

When I told him I didn't know anyone who was going to leave their property unattended to live in a shelter merely because there was no water or toilets and that they'd start sh**ing in the back yard instead his reply was "Oh, God no!" He decided that he needed to get some sort of answer from the disaster committee before he could call me back. He hasn't called in the two months since.

THAT'S where I get the notion that the government thinks it will shelter us instead of give us the information to do the job safely ourselves.

-- Kay (jkbrooks@bellsouth.net), May 10, 1999.

hills. definitely, definitely hills. yeah. hills.

-- sarah (qubr@aol.com), May 10, 1999.

Kay,

That's an interesting response from your city government type. I just wonder from what magical source those tractor trailers with toilets and showers in the trailers would get their water, power for heating the water and how they would dispose of the waste?

My answer, now even more so after reading about that civil servant's halucinations is not to run to the hills. Hills hell! Run to the MOUNTAINS!

WW

-- Wildweasel (vtmldm@epix.net), May 10, 1999.

That santitation engineer was convinced that nothing would happen in the first place. I had to push a bit to get him to think in the "what ifs". Then he suggested that MAYBE some isolated outages could occur. He mentioned bringing in generators to run those trailers. I don't know where he thought he would get them. Thankfully it was a phone conversation and I could roll my eyes privately.

The water representative was flat blunt and honest. "No electricity=no water. I'm storing some at home."

-- Kay (jkbrooks@bellsouth.net), May 10, 1999.

What current examples do we have of people being herded into camps -- for their own good -- while their lives are put on hold in a crisis situation and while everything is handled by outside government forces and relief groups?

Here in the good ol' U.S. of A.? Can you say Japanese-American Internment Camps?

-- Dian (bdp@accessunited.com), May 11, 1999.

Hills. Preferrably near one or two JOBoxes, or perhaps a couple open top 55 gal drums (with lids re-applied), or a couple 5 gal pails, that just HAPPEN to be chained to a tree or burried under that rock over there......

Summer time is time to camp. Take more than you need and do some gardening while you enjoy.

chuck

-- chuck, a Night Driver (rienzoo@en.com), May 11, 1999.

Craig,

time to remove spoon from your ass and do a LITTLE thinking.

What would HORUS say?

You are a marked man.

-- Andy (2000EOD@prodigy.net), May 11, 1999.

trouble is here in the UK, we don't have the "luxury" of hills (ie wilderness) to flee to,

it would be very difficult to hide in the North and South Downs round here

you could never "hide" anywhere in the UK, you'd be found immediately

but yes flee to the hills (prepared as you will be)

-- dick o' the dale (rdale@coynet.com), May 11, 1999.

Uh oh......Andy needs some lessons too.....stayed tuned to the continuing saga of Andy and the Spoon....

-- Craig (craig@ccinet.ab.ca), May 11, 1999.

dick o' the dale,

Try North Wales. Some nice little "hills" around the Betsy-coed (-10 spelling) area.

Lots of water too. Even though it's brown. (Sort'a like Scotland).

You have more alternatives than you think.

Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), May 11, 1999.

Store your goods in a rental storage area and rent a RV to live in. Don't go in the hills unless you have a place to actually go in the hills.

-- Brian (imager@home.com), May 11, 1999.

Brian gives good advice. A lot of people who own the property in the hills and mountains are rednecks who have guns and ammunition and know how to use them. Start wandering around out there in those pine trees and you may get more than nuts and berries.

-- Sharon L (sharonl@volcano.net), May 12, 1999.

If people get hearded into shelters, that would be because things have been poorly thought through, indeed. This is not to say that it wouldn't happen. If as few people prepare as it appears will do so, after a few weeks, there doesn't seem to be much reason to expect that the government would have any easier time of scrounging up food, water & medical supplies, than folks could do on their own. On the contrary, government may feel a sudden humanitarian need to put lots of folks out of the government's misery. That would certainly be easier if they were all gathered up. (Am I being taped?)

-- Dancr (minddancr@aol.com), June 22, 1999.

They would have to kill me first! I'm not leaving my home. Unless it's on fire! And then, I'll camp in my van. God you people scare me. The hills, in the cold weather, no water, no food? I guess I'm doom....I put my faith in God, and wait to see what will happen...

-- Patricia (earth-angel@hotbot.com), December 17, 1999.

Gawd, now it's Craig and some spoon crapola....

Is it my imagination, or are pollies starting to implode on an almost daily basis? You would think that time is getting short and they are starting to get nervous, or something.

-- King of Spain (madrid@aol.cum), December 17, 1999.

KOS:

Um...did you check the date on the post to which you refer?

-- Anita (notgiving@anymore.com), December 18, 1999.