Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

Unfortunately, after the apocalypse it seems pretty unlikely that Wal-Mart will be open.

Im picking up stories here and there about blackout conditions and experiences in NYC. Its what I expected for the most part…lotta people making the same mistakes that they didnt learn from on 9/11. I mean, really, if you lived 12 miles away from where you worked and had to walk that distance once, wouldnt you keep a mountain bike at work so next time you could get home in an hour instead of seven?

I need to work on water storage. I need to pick up about a half-dozen plastic five gallon jugs and a bottle of oxygen stabilizer (yes, I could use a bit of bleach instead, I know.) I should also pick up another couple cases of bottled water up at CostCo.

While Im at it, I also need to pick up a good antannae for the 11/10 meter radio. And a power supply.

Im guessing that in The Omega Man, our boy Chuck got most of that gear *after* everyone was dead…alot cheaper that way, isnt it?

Lotta forest fires around here. Reminds me that Rancho Ballistica is going to need to be as fireproof as possible… steel roofing, obviously….sprinkler array on the roof, some type of stucco or adobe walls, etc, etc. Theres actually a rather nice amount of home firefighting equipt. for sale on the web…expensive, but worth it, Im sure.

Unfortunately, after the apocalypse it seems pretty unlikely that Wal-Mart will be open.

Im picking up stories here and there about blackout conditions and experiences in NYC. Its what I expected for the most part…lotta people making the same mistakes that they didnt learn from on 9/11. I mean, really, if you lived 12 miles away from where you worked and had to walk that distance once, wouldnt you keep a mountain bike at work so next time you could get home in an hour instead of seven?

I need to work on water storage. I need to pick up about a half-dozen plastic five gallon jugs and a bottle of oxygen stabilizer (yes, I could use a bit of bleach instead, I know.) I should also pick up another couple cases of bottled water up at CostCo.

While Im at it, I also need to pick up a good antannae for the 11/10 meter radio. And a power supply.

Im guessing that in The Omega Man, our boy Chuck got most of that gear *after* everyone was dead…alot cheaper that way, isnt it?

Lotta forest fires around here. Reminds me that Rancho Ballistica is going to need to be as fireproof as possible… steel roofing, obviously….sprinkler array on the roof, some type of stucco or adobe walls, etc, etc. Theres actually a rather nice amount of home firefighting equipt. for sale on the web…expensive, but worth it, Im sure.

Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

Power outage in the Northeast. Hmmm.
Simple cascade failure?
Or something more nefarious?

Better play it safe and assume its not a coincidence… double-check my blackout gear when I get home.

SO what happens in a blackout? Well, obviously lights, elevators and air conditioning stops working. But, also these little necessities:
ATM cash machines will not work – so have cash to make purchases
Cash registers – some stores wont do any business unless their registers are working
Water pumps – tall buildings might have problems
Gas pumps – cant suck the gas out of the underground tanks without electricity
TV/radio stations – some will be on, some will be off
Most ISP’s – so even if youre on your laptop, you may not have access. (one of the few nice things about AOL..you can try access numbers further and further from your affected areas)
Zillions of little things you dont normally think about……

My sibling should be okay. I sent him some gear pre-Y2k and he has some preps of his own. In an urban environ like his, priority is on light, security and communications. I expect I’ll hear from him later.

Just an overloaded power grid…maybe. Or, that’ll be the ‘official’ story, anyway. Probably alot of very tense cops in NYC right now.

But *youre* ready, right? Youve got your flashlight, spare batteries, radio, and gear, right? Right?

Power outage in the Northeast. Hmmm.
Simple cascade failure?
Or something more nefarious?

Better play it safe and assume its not a coincidence… double-check my blackout gear when I get home.

SO what happens in a blackout? Well, obviously lights, elevators and air conditioning stops working. But, also these little necessities:
ATM cash machines will not work – so have cash to make purchases
Cash registers – some stores wont do any business unless their registers are working
Water pumps – tall buildings might have problems
Gas pumps – cant suck the gas out of the underground tanks without electricity
TV/radio stations – some will be on, some will be off
Most ISP’s – so even if youre on your laptop, you may not have access. (one of the few nice things about AOL..you can try access numbers further and further from your affected areas)
Zillions of little things you dont normally think about……

My sibling should be okay. I sent him some gear pre-Y2k and he has some preps of his own. In an urban environ like his, priority is on light, security and communications. I expect I’ll hear from him later.

Just an overloaded power grid…maybe. Or, that’ll be the ‘official’ story, anyway. Probably alot of very tense cops in NYC right now.

But *youre* ready, right? Youve got your flashlight, spare batteries, radio, and gear, right? Right?

Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

Sure, it has a dozen names..Rancho Ballistica, Commander Zero’s Post Nuclear Love Bunker, Area 52, etc, etc…but it all amounts to the same thing: Zero’s Dream House.

The design is completely up for grabs as long as several caveats are kept firmly in mind:
a) security
b) durability
c) efficiency
d) redundancy

Someplace with enough thermal mass to stay warm in winter, cool in summer. Completely and easily adaptable at the flip of a switch to go from grid power to self-contained power. (Not *that* big a trick…) Several layers of energy production..solar, hydro, etc. Nice big gardens, fish pond, gated driveway, enormous basement with unbelievable storage possibilities, shooting range, workshop, guest quarters, etc.

Nice thing about such a place is that the kind of land no one wants to buy is perfect for it. People want stuff close to town, close to roads, with power lines nearby, etc. Not me. I want something that you have to drive up three miles of washboard road before you even get to the (locked gate) driveway. Something that if you didnt know it was there, you’d never find. Someplace that, in winter, if you dont have seriously good four-wheel drive you will never, ever make it to.

Naturally, being the Zero, it would have thick strong walls, heavy shutters, odd markers at various distances, intrusion detection devices, area lighting, and all that goodness. But, ideally, what we’re shooting for is something that is as close to perfectly self-contained and self-sufficient as you can get. Someplace that if the power goes out you wouldnt notice it for a few months.

Whats involved? Hmmm..I think 15-20 acres abutting against national forest or timber co. land. That way you get a several million acre backyard. Build a small cabin to use as slabs and walls get poured, rafters nailed up, powers systems laid in, ponds and irrigation ditches dug, barricades poured, gardens planted, etc, etc. Wouldnt be cheap, but when it was over you’d have the perfect retreat from the world…everything you’d ever need, food, water, power, shelter, warmth, security, etc all in one place and all exactly to my specs.

And, I should point out, it wouldnt look like a missle silo. You can build some pretty darn attractive structures that dont compromise on durability and survivability. I’d love some sort of mission-style house with huge walled courtyards….

Ah well, the land will be the cheapest part. I need to get that first. Once thats under my belt, the rest can come later….

Sure, it has a dozen names..Rancho Ballistica, Commander Zero’s Post Nuclear Love Bunker, Area 52, etc, etc…but it all amounts to the same thing: Zero’s Dream House.

The design is completely up for grabs as long as several caveats are kept firmly in mind:
a) security
b) durability
c) efficiency
d) redundancy

Someplace with enough thermal mass to stay warm in winter, cool in summer. Completely and easily adaptable at the flip of a switch to go from grid power to self-contained power. (Not *that* big a trick…) Several layers of energy production..solar, hydro, etc. Nice big gardens, fish pond, gated driveway, enormous basement with unbelievable storage possibilities, shooting range, workshop, guest quarters, etc.

Nice thing about such a place is that the kind of land no one wants to buy is perfect for it. People want stuff close to town, close to roads, with power lines nearby, etc. Not me. I want something that you have to drive up three miles of washboard road before you even get to the (locked gate) driveway. Something that if you didnt know it was there, you’d never find. Someplace that, in winter, if you dont have seriously good four-wheel drive you will never, ever make it to.

Naturally, being the Zero, it would have thick strong walls, heavy shutters, odd markers at various distances, intrusion detection devices, area lighting, and all that goodness. But, ideally, what we’re shooting for is something that is as close to perfectly self-contained and self-sufficient as you can get. Someplace that if the power goes out you wouldnt notice it for a few months.

Whats involved? Hmmm..I think 15-20 acres abutting against national forest or timber co. land. That way you get a several million acre backyard. Build a small cabin to use as slabs and walls get poured, rafters nailed up, powers systems laid in, ponds and irrigation ditches dug, barricades poured, gardens planted, etc, etc. Wouldnt be cheap, but when it was over you’d have the perfect retreat from the world…everything you’d ever need, food, water, power, shelter, warmth, security, etc all in one place and all exactly to my specs.

And, I should point out, it wouldnt look like a missle silo. You can build some pretty darn attractive structures that dont compromise on durability and survivability. I’d love some sort of mission-style house with huge walled courtyards….

Ah well, the land will be the cheapest part. I need to get that first. Once thats under my belt, the rest can come later….

Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

Post-apocalyptic movies are a fave of mine (surprise!). So I finally caught 28 Days Later last night. Spoilage ahead:

Now, if you come into contact with the blood of one of these ‘infected’, you get infected. Ok, I can see that. But if thats the case wouldnt you make it a point to use weaponry that does NOT result in huge blood spatters? C’mon, a machete??? The baseball bat would have been a better choice. Personally I would have gone for a nice shotgun…kill at a distance.

Also, since you *know* that you want to keep the blood of the infected off of you, wouldnt you dress in such a manner as to cover your skin? The girls father had the right idea with his riot-police garb. The soldiers had the right idea with their MOPP gear.

Rogue soldiers!!!! I knew it! But, really, 28 days is not so long to go without women that things go to hell like they did. The soldiers had a fairly good setup but I think their security was lacking. And did you see the stuff they were hoarding? VCRs????

Pepsi and candybars are not survival food. I’d ahve grabbed every PowerBar in the supermarket. And, speaking of, dont you think that they should have left someone at the door in the supermarket to keep an eye out for trouble?

I suppose this is to be expected from Britons since theyve been so effectively emasculated as a nation.

An intense movie, much more violent and ‘real’ than any of the Romero zombie movies.

Rogue soldiers….ah, one of our contingencies that we’re still troubled about. Tough to prevail over a military unit that has decided to go into business for itself.

Post-apocalyptic movies are a fave of mine (surprise!). So I finally caught 28 Days Later last night. Spoilage ahead:

spoilage

Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

Commander Zero loves a bargain. He also likes quality. Usually, those two things are exclusive..not always, but often enough. Saving money is a big deal when youre gearing up for Ragnarok…every five bucks you save is another freeze-dried entree, another four-pack of batteries or another case of bottled water.

So, I must say, I like my local Albertsons grocery. All the way at the end of the meat displays is the ‘bargain bin’ of meat. Its usually meat that is one day away from its ‘use by’ date. Its perfectly good but you must either cook it immediately or freeze it. The savings? Well, the $1.99/# ground beef is $1.19. Thats a savings of around 40%. Bonless pork chops, normally $2.99/# are $1.99/#. You get the idea. Since I get into work at around 10am I usually head over to the grocery after checking my mail at the post office. Its early enough in the day that I can have a good selection of marked-down meats. I usually by $5 worth and put it in the fridge at work until I can take it home in the evening. From there, it gets vaccuum sealed, dated, and packed into the deep freeze in the basement. Keeps easily for over a year. Now, at this point you may say, “Zero, when the end of the world comes all that stuff is gonna spoil since your freezer will be without power.” Yes and no. For something like a two or three day power outage, it’ll be fine. I keep alot of bottled water in there for just such an event…the frozen water will help keep things cool until power is restored. But, importantly, this supply of meat isnt so much for TWOTWAWKI as it is for more mainstream emergencies…like sudden economic problems that preclude me from getting groceries. Plus, the money I save (since I do use this stuff on a day to day basis) gets put towards other preps. Say I break a leg and cant work for a few weeks, not a problem..Ive enough food and meat set back to keep me and mine fed just as well as ever.

Money, though, is a big deal when preparing for the future… theres some seriously expensive gear out there. For example, you can buy a typical made in China kerosene lamp for about $8 at any WalMart. Or you can pay $100 for an Aladdin kerosene lamp. When push comes to shove, the quality and durability of a product will usually make the cost worth it. I dont *mind* paying alot of money for something if its *worth* it. Example: motorcycle helmets. Do you really wanna skimp and go with the cheapest you can find? Same idea.

Buy quality, you pay once…buy cheap, you pay many times over. ‘Tis true.

Anyway, I’ll be sealing up some meat and tucking it away in the deep freeze tonight and then I shall sleep quite well knowing that I’ll never starve.

Commander Zero loves a bargain. He also likes quality. Usually, those two things are exclusive..not always, but often enough. Saving money is a big deal when youre gearing up for Ragnarok…every five bucks you save is another freeze-dried entree, another four-pack of batteries or another case of bottled water.

So, I must say, I like my local Albertsons grocery. All the way at the end of the meat displays is the ‘bargain bin’ of meat. Its usually meat that is one day away from its ‘use by’ date. Its perfectly good but you must either cook it immediately or freeze it. The savings? Well, the $1.99/# ground beef is $1.19. Thats a savings of around 40%. Bonless pork chops, normally $2.99/# are $1.99/#. You get the idea. Since I get into work at around 10am I usually head over to the grocery after checking my mail at the post office. Its early enough in the day that I can have a good selection of marked-down meats. I usually by $5 worth and put it in the fridge at work until I can take it home in the evening. From there, it gets vaccuum sealed, dated, and packed into the deep freeze in the basement. Keeps easily for over a year. Now, at this point you may say, “Zero, when the end of the world comes all that stuff is gonna spoil since your freezer will be without power.” Yes and no. For something like a two or three day power outage, it’ll be fine. I keep alot of bottled water in there for just such an event…the frozen water will help keep things cool until power is restored. But, importantly, this supply of meat isnt so much for TWOTWAWKI as it is for more mainstream emergencies…like sudden economic problems that preclude me from getting groceries. Plus, the money I save (since I do use this stuff on a day to day basis) gets put towards other preps. Say I break a leg and cant work for a few weeks, not a problem..Ive enough food and meat set back to keep me and mine fed just as well as ever.

Money, though, is a big deal when preparing for the future… theres some seriously expensive gear out there. For example, you can buy a typical made in China kerosene lamp for about $8 at any WalMart. Or you can pay $100 for an Aladdin kerosene lamp. When push comes to shove, the quality and durability of a product will usually make the cost worth it. I dont *mind* paying alot of money for something if its *worth* it. Example: motorcycle helmets. Do you really wanna skimp and go with the cheapest you can find? Same idea.

Buy quality, you pay once…buy cheap, you pay many times over. ‘Tis true.

Anyway, I’ll be sealing up some meat and tucking it away in the deep freeze tonight and then I shall sleep quite well knowing that I’ll never starve.