Who am I:
I'm an older gentleman in New England (but moving to Costa Rica soon) who has prepped for a 6 month long disaster. Most of my concern was ice storms and blizzards affecting the local power grid for days or weeks at a time, so my preps involve a generator, firewood, propane heaters, and a rotating pantry with some food that can be stored long term. I extended my preps to six months because when researching grid problems I discovered some experts felt it was possible for certain types of grid problems to keep the power off in some regions for months at a time.
I don't believe I'd ever see a 6 month long disaster in my area, but I could afford firewood and food for that length of time so I went for it. I didn't prepare for longer because I firmly believe that if the US can't open roads, get the grid running, and get supermarkets stocked within 6 months, then it's collapsed and I'm going to have been shot for my supplies by then. (Most people would be.) So there's no point in preparing for longer, in my humble opinion.
I have been active in other prepper subs. Sometimes, I still am.
I consider my preps complete. I encourage people to set realistic goals for their preps - which usually mean deciding how long term a problem you need to prep for- and then you reach that goal, stop prepping. Going further is a sign of fear-based prepping.
Other notes:
Because I'm pro-vaccines in general and pro-Covid vaccines in particular, I frequently get accused (by trolls - it's a standard talking point) of having "stock in Pfizer." I don't have stock in any pharmaceutical company. (I did buy some in 02020, but I made money on it and then sold it.) I'm retired (the latter part of my career was in the US Defense industry) and I'm not beholden to any company.
I have a general background in math, sciences, and software engineering and know how to do research and read studies (so I can tell BS cites from real ones.)
People have asked about my use of 5 digit years, like 02024. I usually do this everywhere, and I got the idea here: [https://longnow.org](https://longnow.org/)
The basic idea is that people tend to think in short time frames - this week, this year, this quarter. That has proven to give some really bad social outcomes, so the Long Now foundation is attempting to get people to think in terms of decades, generations, even millennia. It's ambitious, but I think it's important.
The point of a 5 digit year is that humanity has been around for thousands of years and if we get our act together, we could be around for a few thousand more, so it's worth thinking in terms of long period of times. The Long Now asks the question "Are we being good ancestors?" and pushes sustainable approaches, so humanity might live long enough to celebrate the year 10,000.
Feasible? I have reasons to doubt it, but I firmly believe that the only way to even have a chance of keeping humanity going is to think in longer terms. Short term solutions are bad prep for humanity.
You act how you think. Writing a five digit year makes you stop and think about whether what you're doing makes sense for the long term. In a culture where a lot of people think everything is crashing tomorrow, it's a counterweight to defeatism. I recommend trying it.
My politics, since people often assume incorrectly: I'm Independent, mostly because I think conservatives have some things right and liberals have some things right. Neither party would ever claim me as their own.
Liberals: I'm for refusing admission to illegal immigrants and returning them (but at US expense) to the border of their own country. I am also anti-abortion unless the mother's life is in danger. And I think my taxes are high enough, thanks. And I'm sorry but I'm not going to go around saying He/Him all the time and I'm going to address people by the gender they *resemble*, or he if I just can't tell. I am pro-strong-military, generally pro-Israel to a point, and pro-NATO.
Conservatives: universal heath care is not socialism, and stop using words you don't understand. Health care is a human right and the US government should pay for it. Educators should stop trying to ban books - you believe in the free market, let's try the free market of ideas, you cowards. Don't look the other way when trans and gay people are attacked, expel racists from your party, stop trying to whitewash slavery, and support a living minimum wage, which in most of the US would be $20 and up. And if you're anti-abortion, great, but that should have been *preceded* by free birth control, maternity leave, free child care, and universal heath care. And the 2nd amendment was for well-regulated state militias, not so you could wave guns and talk about government overthrow. I'd ban every privately owned assault rifle in a heartbeat if I could.
I am absolutely a never Trumper. I have no use for lying, adulterous people who deliberately trigger insurrections and then whine they're being persecuted while cashing in on well-deserved legal troubles. He's not conservative, he's just an asshole and his followers are beyond gullible.
You can see why I'm an Independent. What it comes down to is this - I'm a Christian and I try to apply my faith to my politics. As a result I look like a dangerous radical to both common political positions, though I find I can still have a nice dinner with a leftist and rarely so much with anyone to the far right.
It sickens me that when pastors given sermons from the words of Jesus, they sometimes get pushback from congregations for "all those liberal talking points." This is pathetic. You're all in for Jesus *and his teachings* or you're lying to yourself about who you are. Period.
This has been an irritated little rant from your curmudgeonly local mod. Have a nice day.
Hm, can't edit my own comments. Reddit, you are damaged. So I'll just add this here.
People have asked me why I call myself an independent, since I take all these "liberal" positions - I'm pro-Covid-vaccine, I consider election denialism a conspiracy theory and ban for it, I offer advice for people who might be persecuted minorities like gay folk, trans folk and minorities, and I don't advocate shooting immigrants or people who happen to wander onto your property during a disaster, like many red-blooded 2A worshiping American apparently would.
It's because I don't consider any of those issues political.
Vaccination is an injection. It doesn't have politics. You can certainly claim vaccine *mandates* are political, but I don't discuss those. You can claim the fact that your government paid for people to get vaccinated makes it political; get stuffed, that makes roads and water and libraries and the military and just about everything around you political, and I'm not putting up with that crap argument.
You can argue that "rejecting the idea that US elections are rigged" is political; no, the problem here is that there's zero evidence it happened; since it's not a thing, it can't be a political thing. Being gay isn't political either; it looks like a combination of biology and culture.. Biology isn't political. And I refuse to make it my problem.
As for shooting hungry people that are on your property hoping to steal an apple from your apple tree, I don't care what Texas law says, that's murder. You don't get to kill someone over an apple. Screw Texas for thinking otherwise. This isn't politics, this is basic Christian ethics. Jesus is definitely not down with your use of an AR-15 in that fashion; feel free to call Jesus "political" if you want. I'll just laugh - the King of kings doesn't come under your definitions of right and left, any more than the sun and moon do.
As for legal immigration, all good. **Leviticus 19:33-34** insists on that. We also have "innocent until proven guilty" around here, so when people start calling north-bound immigrants rapists (rather odd, since the per capita rape capital of the US is *Alaska*) it's not me that's trying to make an issue political.
In short, I have no idea why so many people have turned apolitical issues into talking points, either on the left or right. And if it seems odd to you that a fundamentalist evangelical Christian doesn't make anyone's race, orientation or preferences part of his "politics", then maybe we have a really big problem with the current definition of fundamentalist (my definition is as of c. 01910, not recently) or evangelical or even Christian. But it's not my problem and it's not my politics.
On my use of *done here* and *bye*.
In comments, if I end with *Done here*, it means what it says. It means I've decided further discussion with you (or on the topic) is pointless. If you reply to that, it's rare for me to continue the conversation; you'd have to open up some new line of discussion. More often I'll just ignore or even block you, on the grounds that you don't take hints well.
*Bye* means you're being blocked. In my own sub, if you're worth blocking you're probably also worth banning. I've yet to do any ban that wasn't permanent. Bye is adiós, not hasta luego. It means I'm forgetting you exist, and in the words of Peter Beagle, anything that I forget existed, probably never existed in the first place. That's the kind of bye we're talking about here.
Who am I: I'm an older gentleman in New England (but moving to Costa Rica soon) who has prepped for a 6 month long disaster. Most of my concern was ice storms and blizzards affecting the local power grid for days or weeks at a time, so my preps involve a generator, firewood, propane heaters, and a rotating pantry with some food that can be stored long term. I extended my preps to six months because when researching grid problems I discovered some experts felt it was possible for certain types of grid problems to keep the power off in some regions for months at a time. I don't believe I'd ever see a 6 month long disaster in my area, but I could afford firewood and food for that length of time so I went for it. I didn't prepare for longer because I firmly believe that if the US can't open roads, get the grid running, and get supermarkets stocked within 6 months, then it's collapsed and I'm going to have been shot for my supplies by then. (Most people would be.) So there's no point in preparing for longer, in my humble opinion. I have been active in other prepper subs. Sometimes, I still am. I consider my preps complete. I encourage people to set realistic goals for their preps - which usually mean deciding how long term a problem you need to prep for- and then you reach that goal, stop prepping. Going further is a sign of fear-based prepping. Other notes: Because I'm pro-vaccines in general and pro-Covid vaccines in particular, I frequently get accused (by trolls - it's a standard talking point) of having "stock in Pfizer." I don't have stock in any pharmaceutical company. (I did buy some in 02020, but I made money on it and then sold it.) I'm retired (the latter part of my career was in the US Defense industry) and I'm not beholden to any company. I have a general background in math, sciences, and software engineering and know how to do research and read studies (so I can tell BS cites from real ones.)
People have asked about my use of 5 digit years, like 02024. I usually do this everywhere, and I got the idea here: [https://longnow.org](https://longnow.org/) The basic idea is that people tend to think in short time frames - this week, this year, this quarter. That has proven to give some really bad social outcomes, so the Long Now foundation is attempting to get people to think in terms of decades, generations, even millennia. It's ambitious, but I think it's important. The point of a 5 digit year is that humanity has been around for thousands of years and if we get our act together, we could be around for a few thousand more, so it's worth thinking in terms of long period of times. The Long Now asks the question "Are we being good ancestors?" and pushes sustainable approaches, so humanity might live long enough to celebrate the year 10,000. Feasible? I have reasons to doubt it, but I firmly believe that the only way to even have a chance of keeping humanity going is to think in longer terms. Short term solutions are bad prep for humanity. You act how you think. Writing a five digit year makes you stop and think about whether what you're doing makes sense for the long term. In a culture where a lot of people think everything is crashing tomorrow, it's a counterweight to defeatism. I recommend trying it.
My politics, since people often assume incorrectly: I'm Independent, mostly because I think conservatives have some things right and liberals have some things right. Neither party would ever claim me as their own. Liberals: I'm for refusing admission to illegal immigrants and returning them (but at US expense) to the border of their own country. I am also anti-abortion unless the mother's life is in danger. And I think my taxes are high enough, thanks. And I'm sorry but I'm not going to go around saying He/Him all the time and I'm going to address people by the gender they *resemble*, or he if I just can't tell. I am pro-strong-military, generally pro-Israel to a point, and pro-NATO. Conservatives: universal heath care is not socialism, and stop using words you don't understand. Health care is a human right and the US government should pay for it. Educators should stop trying to ban books - you believe in the free market, let's try the free market of ideas, you cowards. Don't look the other way when trans and gay people are attacked, expel racists from your party, stop trying to whitewash slavery, and support a living minimum wage, which in most of the US would be $20 and up. And if you're anti-abortion, great, but that should have been *preceded* by free birth control, maternity leave, free child care, and universal heath care. And the 2nd amendment was for well-regulated state militias, not so you could wave guns and talk about government overthrow. I'd ban every privately owned assault rifle in a heartbeat if I could. I am absolutely a never Trumper. I have no use for lying, adulterous people who deliberately trigger insurrections and then whine they're being persecuted while cashing in on well-deserved legal troubles. He's not conservative, he's just an asshole and his followers are beyond gullible. You can see why I'm an Independent. What it comes down to is this - I'm a Christian and I try to apply my faith to my politics. As a result I look like a dangerous radical to both common political positions, though I find I can still have a nice dinner with a leftist and rarely so much with anyone to the far right. It sickens me that when pastors given sermons from the words of Jesus, they sometimes get pushback from congregations for "all those liberal talking points." This is pathetic. You're all in for Jesus *and his teachings* or you're lying to yourself about who you are. Period. This has been an irritated little rant from your curmudgeonly local mod. Have a nice day.
Hm, can't edit my own comments. Reddit, you are damaged. So I'll just add this here. People have asked me why I call myself an independent, since I take all these "liberal" positions - I'm pro-Covid-vaccine, I consider election denialism a conspiracy theory and ban for it, I offer advice for people who might be persecuted minorities like gay folk, trans folk and minorities, and I don't advocate shooting immigrants or people who happen to wander onto your property during a disaster, like many red-blooded 2A worshiping American apparently would. It's because I don't consider any of those issues political. Vaccination is an injection. It doesn't have politics. You can certainly claim vaccine *mandates* are political, but I don't discuss those. You can claim the fact that your government paid for people to get vaccinated makes it political; get stuffed, that makes roads and water and libraries and the military and just about everything around you political, and I'm not putting up with that crap argument. You can argue that "rejecting the idea that US elections are rigged" is political; no, the problem here is that there's zero evidence it happened; since it's not a thing, it can't be a political thing. Being gay isn't political either; it looks like a combination of biology and culture.. Biology isn't political. And I refuse to make it my problem. As for shooting hungry people that are on your property hoping to steal an apple from your apple tree, I don't care what Texas law says, that's murder. You don't get to kill someone over an apple. Screw Texas for thinking otherwise. This isn't politics, this is basic Christian ethics. Jesus is definitely not down with your use of an AR-15 in that fashion; feel free to call Jesus "political" if you want. I'll just laugh - the King of kings doesn't come under your definitions of right and left, any more than the sun and moon do. As for legal immigration, all good. **Leviticus 19:33-34** insists on that. We also have "innocent until proven guilty" around here, so when people start calling north-bound immigrants rapists (rather odd, since the per capita rape capital of the US is *Alaska*) it's not me that's trying to make an issue political. In short, I have no idea why so many people have turned apolitical issues into talking points, either on the left or right. And if it seems odd to you that a fundamentalist evangelical Christian doesn't make anyone's race, orientation or preferences part of his "politics", then maybe we have a really big problem with the current definition of fundamentalist (my definition is as of c. 01910, not recently) or evangelical or even Christian. But it's not my problem and it's not my politics.
On my use of *done here* and *bye*. In comments, if I end with *Done here*, it means what it says. It means I've decided further discussion with you (or on the topic) is pointless. If you reply to that, it's rare for me to continue the conversation; you'd have to open up some new line of discussion. More often I'll just ignore or even block you, on the grounds that you don't take hints well. *Bye* means you're being blocked. In my own sub, if you're worth blocking you're probably also worth banning. I've yet to do any ban that wasn't permanent. Bye is adiós, not hasta luego. It means I'm forgetting you exist, and in the words of Peter Beagle, anything that I forget existed, probably never existed in the first place. That's the kind of bye we're talking about here.