Are there books, web sites, magazines, etc. that would help someone. ..
Thousands of 'em. That's the problem.
. . . get up to speed rapidly?
No. Problem is I'd have to write a small book to explain these unhelpful answers and I'm running out of time to pay attention to this. Everything I've seen in print requires fairly informed critical analysis to seperate the valuable information from the crap, so it becomes an issue of having to bootstrap yourself up to speed to be able to use them in the first place.
And the magazines are really trying to sell you gear, not provide you with information. Websites are better at telling how to avoid buying gear, which is one of the most valuable things to know.
Think about the way things are in the computer/programming field. It's all very like that really.
The best web sites are those that focus on a specific technical issue, like knot tying or firestarting, but knowing a technical skill is a very different affair than knowing when and how to apply it.
What knowledge do you believe is most valuable?
Ah, well, I'm going to go all cryptic on you here. The most valuable thing you can know is that your perceptions become your reality; and your perceptions deceive you. As a crude example if you look at a window don't see a knife you're behind the game already. Maybe you look at sand and see sand. Maybe you're perspicacious enough to see sandpaper. I see a drill that will pierce a block of granite, and faster than you might think. Maybe you wish to get to the rancid food in a dumpster, but are repulsed by the rats after the same. Maybe I see the rancid food as bait and the rats as fresh food. If there's trouble brewing and you don't perceive it, you're in trouble. If there is no trouble brewing, but you percieve it, you're in trouble. If you don't know how to tell the difference between the two, you're in trouble.
Now, take your basic emergency blanket. I suppose I'd have to write a small volume just explaining what to do with this single, simple item. It's a blanket, it's a tarp (and a tarp is itself more than one thing, which is the beauty of them), it's a food attractor, it's a sun reflector to keep you cool, it's a sun reflector to keep you warm, it's an aircraft signaling device, it's a water distiller, it's a bucket, it's even, with a few other odds and ends, a small boat.
Odds are you'll never actually have to make a boat from an emergency blanket, but it's important that you see the boat in the emergency blanket and understand the principle.
There are websites on tarp craft. There are websites on distilling water. There are websites on attracting food. These are the individual technical skills, but you also have to know that what all of these websites are telling you is how to use your emergency blanket and some of them don't know that.
Nor can all of the uses be enmurated. The rules are always changing on you and you have to see the properties and metaproperties of your tools and adapt them to new uses in new situations. This is the way I like to do things. It's all rather like admining a *nix network.
Most people take the Windows approach. They buy a bit of commericial gear to perform a distinct function. To perform some other function they have to buy another bit of gear. If a bit of gear isn't available to perform a certain function they "have to do without."
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenence deals with this issue. If you haven't read it I guess you should. Worst comes to worst you'l have read a good book.
I suppose going camping would probably be a reasonable and fun way to get some experience with it as well?
Yeah, it's a way to get started and to start learning, but remember camping in a camp ground is not camping on a hiking trail is not camping in Manhatten, another valuable skill. Bicycle touring is both none of these and requires elements of all of them. How
I haven't a clue why and I would certainly never characterize myself in those terms, especially at that point in time. "Dork" and "wuss" come to mind though. It was something any other 6 year old dorky wuss could do.
. ..what kind of parent takes their 6 year old up a mountain in a gale?
The kind whose kid got lucky with parents, at least in that respect. I am not cool, but it was cool. It was my first time above the timberline.The following day was even cooler. It was dead calm and there was a really cool fog over the mountains as we followed the ridge trail over Jefferson and Monroe. It was like being in a fairy story. I'll never forget it. Then we spent a couple of days at a Dartmouth Outing Club (we were members) cabin on some lake whose name I can't remember, but I remember the canoeing. The whole thing was a "peak" experience, as it were and it taught me things.
It would be reasonable to interpret that as "nobody."
2. How much of your limited time is available to share?
I've tried to make today 48 hours long, but it turns out that just blows two days. Go figure. Makes my time even tighter and I'm going to have to blow some time on sleep sooner or later. In the other window I've been designing a 20' sailboat to cruise to Ireland and Scotland in. There's a young lady who's been bugging me for the latest plans and models. I'm beginning to think she has intentions of coming along for the ride and I told her it was a solo voyage when the subject first came up. Either that or she's anxious to be rid of me. She's a lovely young lady, so either way I don't want to disappoint her.
Mike
And I notice your name is not one that would normally be considered feminine.
Weakens too much when wet and has a low coefficient of friction. If you don't belt or tie your silk sarong it'll fall right off rather quickly. With cotton or wool I can make a pure wrap wear it all day, sleep in it all night, then wear all the next day and never have to rewrap it if I don't want to. Silk's low bulk does mean it self ties neater though. My vegan tendencies make me unhappy about it too. Yeah, they're only caterpillars and all, but I don't need to boil all those caterpillars to death for a piece of cloth.
Yes, I'm aware of the realities of wool production. I see the lamb chops in the backroom freezer when I visit the sheep farm I buy wool from. I said I had vegan tendencies.
Sorry, but I'm a different sort of geek. I know and can apply technolgies, not just current technolgies. I will suit the technology to my situation.
. ..an advanced civilization leaves behind things that can be used or reused if you can get them. ..
I'll likely find some of these things if I wander into the woods. Civilization then is not always where civilization is now. If I don't find them I'll just make what I need from scratch. Stone age doesn't mean you can't get shit done, especially if you can back it up with modern knowledge. Stone age them then didn't know how to knit. "Stone age" me now does. In any case, the axiom was running away from the stuff breaking toward where it isn't, so that one might live to come back and fix it later when things have cooled down a bit.
. ..perfect if you plan to skip past the stone age and into the industrial age.
Where you find recently broken and abandoned equipment needing fixing you will also find the abandoned tools to fix them with, like in that garage over there, or you could just go to Sears.
For money I'd recommend 1/10th oz gold pieces and silver.
Useless in a vending machine or supermarket, which is where you'll need the money. Paper currency still works fine, and everyone locked into the City Center wouldn't have been there in the first place if they'd had a wad of hundreds, but your credit cards may be useless until you get out of the disaster zone. People locked in the Superdome wouldn't have been there if they had credit.
I've assumed an NO type disaster, not the apocolypse. You're in a big city that's about to go belly up big time, but the other cities will be there.
If we're talking about the total collapse of civilization as we know it, yeah, then I'm with you and have posted that elswhere.
You could skip the size and weight of the wool blanket. ..
I didn't say anything about a blanket. I said "cloth." Heavier than shirtweight, in large part for the mechanical strength, plus, yeah, being warmer. But it's still clothing weight.
. .."space blanket" it is blue or black on one side, and silver on the other.
An emergency blanket is the lightweight, disposable version of this. It's just a mylar film. You can put it in your pocket. A space blanket cannot be put to all of the uses of the wool cloth. If you discard the cloth, you'll just need to replace it with the same weight of clothing and other fabric items anyway.
Also, it can be used in water collection and sterilization techniques like a tarp or polyurethane sheet. Whatever emergency supplies you have should be able to fit in a back-pack and be carried with you -- so think light. Also, it can be used with a piece of rope to make a tent. So for the weight and space -- it does triple duty and is a better insulator.
Exactly what you've got the emergency blanket for, and why you will find pebbles useful.
Forget the yards of cotton. There will probably be clothing everywhere and this won't do if you are getting cold.
I'm not sure you understand it's uses. It has no purpose in keeping you warm. That's what the wool, emergency blanket and shell are for. Think of it as a bit of rope that can double as a turban, shoulderbag, bandage if you like. Yes, I agree there will be clothing everywhere. I never stake my life on that, But except in the wilderness there is always clothing, sometimes free, never expensive. My pack is a "grubstake" to be built on, not the only stuff you will ever be able to use in your life from here on out. I also presume you won't be leaving home naked.
Add Lard and Salt.
No thank you. No use for 'em.
. ..in reality, you are going to more likely be around houses. ..
And stores.
Oh, and make sure you have some effective mosquito repellant. ..
Yes. A true major oversight on my list. My property had to be pumped out after the spring flood as a potential mosquito health hazard. Yes, I live on a river flood plain. On the high ground, thank you very much.
Did anyone mention good wool socks?
Yes, I did, but did not deal with other foot wear because I only talked about what to put in the pack, not what to wear and carry in your pockets.
Chlorine and filters will get you water faster.
The filter was on my list.
I don't recommend heading for the woods.
The woods does not necessarily mean the wilderness, although it could. It means the boonies, hicksville, maybe a campground, someplace with trees and streams that isn't going to be invaded by 10,000 evacuees, but might have a Piggly-Wiggley within an hours walk or so. Yes, stay away from the bloody survialists. They're nutso.
Get someone on a radio . ..
I neglected a pocket radio from my list.
You will probably have to mail order these from Canada because your insurance only parcels things out in 1 month increments.
It may not taste great, but it is edible without cooking or rehydration.
True. Food palatibilty is often a survival issue though.
Buttons, snaps, elastic and other materials in tailored clothes can be cannibalized for other uses.
An incomplete view. Offhand I can't even think of a use for these things that I can't otherwise accomplish quite easily and the cloths don't need to be harmed to be put to myriad uses, most of which can't be accomplished at all with tailored clothing even if you completely dismantle them, which destroys them, so then you don't even have them anymore, but you seem to be neglecting the fact that in my "system" you have a full suit of tailored clothing as well as the cloth.
Actually, I've heard that the ultimate fiber is Dog Hair.
I spin, knit and weave. Very useful life skills to have and not hard to pick up. I've worked with dog and cat underhair (you don't use the visible guard hairs). Acquiring enough of it is problematic.
Acquiring enough polar bear hair is even more problematic, but it is the ultimate animal fiber.
Sweaters are wonderful garments, but you don't want to carry one around in your pack. Great to have on a boat (they were invented by North Atlantic fishermen) or at a base camp.
. ..you can pack actuall clothes in it instead of raw fabric. ..
The fabric is not to save space. It is because it is more useful than tailored clothing and it is "actuall clothes." I wear them every day.
antibacterial gel. ..tape. ..antihystimines. ..
On the list.
. ..buy some freezedried foods in bulk and vacuum pack them yourself. Per unit energy it will weigh far less than the gorp, and it will keep forever.
You don't need it to keep forever. Once a year or so buy new gorp and eat the old. Freeze dried food requires cooking which uses water and fuel which should be conserved jealously. You can't do it on the go. There are many places where you won't be allowed to do it at all. What you save in weight of food you add in weight of fuel and at times at least, water. Substitue Power Bars for gorp if you wish.
Get a good hand gun. Spend time on the range with it. Learn to be proficient. Pack a like model with a few hundred rounds of ammo.
Dead weight and the first thing you're going to have to ditch anyway, especially if things go well. In fact, if things go well this is going to the be the instrument for blowing it all to hell needlessly. It's only real value is in being a visible threat, even to your potential friends.
If you're not going to run, but stay and guard the old homestead, then a gun could come in handy. Get a rifle.
A small field guide identifying edible plants and mushrooms in your geographic area.
You already know this. You've even eatin them all before you leave home. You also know enough to know that eating mushrooms is both risky and pointless, as their actual nutritional value is nil.
A decent rifle with plenty of ammo would be indispensable and worth more than all the gold in the world.
I know that; and you know that, but you'd have to be an idiot to explain it to the guy who's willing to give you ammo and food for gold, now wouldn't you?
The stuff doesn't have any real value now, except for that fact that some people think it does. Read Thoreau's "Life Without Principle." He deals with this very issue in it.
Then it really sucks to be you. That's ok, I'm intolerant to most "food" and when other people are sitting down to a hot meal I'm sometimes off scrounging for edible weeds or something, so I know what sucking to be is like. Go with one of the polyester microfibers if you really have to, in a weave, not a knit. The structure of a weave is important. They're sold under various trade names, like CoolMax. Maybe the larger piece in a water repelant Supplex nylon. When I'm not traveling ultralight I often add this to the list anyway. Staying warm when you're wet is good. Staying dry in the first place is better and the Supplex is a sturdier tarp and more pleasant to wrap in than the emergency blanket.
There are also "technical" wool fabrics available now. Waterproof, windproof, breathable. Some people who have problems with wool don't seem to have a problem with this stuff, some do. I've fondled some samples. It's amazing stuff. It's also godawful expensive and I don't know how well it holds up to abuse. I can't afford to find out empirically.
I wish there were some true substitute for wool. It requires more care than synthetics, doesn't last as long, it's expensive (the good stuff will run you about $20/yd. for shirtweight. Get the good stuff. It's worth it. Pendelton is one of the few brand names left on Earth that is still what it purports to be, as good as you can get) and I have vegan tendencies. Any of the synthetics do something much better than wool. Cotton is lovely for warm, dry weather and when I absolutely know it's going to be warm and dry what I almost always turn to. None of them do everything put together as well as wool though, which is why when you have to chose one it's the one to choose. When I'm traveling strictly urban I'll carry the two smaller pieces in cotton and only the larger in wool.
Come to think of it, I'm dressed in those two pieces of cotton right now. This stuff isn't just camping/emergency gear for me. I use it all the time and almost never wear "normal" street clothes around the house or hotel room. Once you get used to wearing wraps and drapes you'll start to wonder why people ever adopted tailored clothing in the first place. In some places they still haven't.
Don't you even think about taking away my trenchcoat though. Yeah, it's cotton, but the lining is wool.
Aaaaaanyway, like my issues with food ya gotta do what ya gotta do and live with it. If I have to eat weeds while everyone else is eating lasagna, it's better than dying. If you can't use wool, don't use it.
Oh, by the way, the antihistimes on the list are for allergic reactions, not colds. I should have mentioned that.
What are some of your favorite books or links regarding being prepared?
I was afraid someone would ask that. I really don't have any. That's why I simply said "poke around" instead of posting some links. Yeah, I've done that poking around myself, but I haven't made any particular note of any particular sites. I read them with a critical eye, pick up a clue here and there, bang my head against the keyboard at others and absorb into my brain, not my link collection, since none of it is entirely new material to me and much of it is intended to sell you something that's really just a manufactured version of what you can obtain for free as you need it (like pebbles).
Search on firestarting, Greek clothing, Egyptian clothing, Indian clothing, draped clothing, sarong (you need to completely rethink clothing, starting with realizing the word simply means "cloth," "clothes" is simply the plural of cloth, not something from the Gap), soda can stove (there's a Wikipedia article on these), tarp craft, twisting cordage and knot craft. That'll get you started. Most of the stuff on food is, unfortunately, pitifully simplistic ( "Here's a pen and ink drawing of a burdock. Its root is edible") or completely ridiculous ("How to prepare freeze dried Nouvelle Cuisine in the woods"). I don't r
I still haven't figured out how the honey would be dangerous. ..
It's a vector of sticky.:)
Yes, the penny whistle has me guessing as well. ..
Never underestimate the value of being able to make friends by being able to play an instrument, particularly when the shit hits the fan. The friends might well have food. Eat theirs when you can instead of your own. The pennywhistle is inexpensive (duh), easy to get started on, nearly indestructable, versatile, but particularly good at playing "happy" music.
Never underestimate the power of happy music to turn misery into a party. In the last big blackout nobody in my neighborhood has anything but happy memories of the experience. I had an impromptu music festival going within an hour of the lights going out and kept it going until they came back on. It wasn't a blackout, it was a block party (of course nobody's homes were blowing away or under water either).
A foot long metal tube can also be a suprisingly useful thing to have around. When you're packing light and moving in a hurry you have to learn to see things for what they actually are, and not for what they are labeled. Duct tape, for instance is a strip of rubberized cloth with some adhesive on one side of it. Thus it's repair tape, bandages, moleskin, a bit of rope, etc. Corn starch is soup thickener, foot powder, dry lubricant, etc.
A foot long metal tube likewise has a variety of utilitarian uses. In this case signal whistle is the most obvious. You really should carry a signal whistle. Why shouldn't it also be a musical one? (my 6'x 3/4" PVC hiking staff is a suprisingly loud herald's trumpet, even though it lacks a bell and you should see the look on a Coast Guard officer's face when you demonstrate that you do have the required signal horn on board by blowing out his eardrums with your "boathook")
Actually, my own choice is 3/4" PVC pipe quena (an end blown flute). People don't even realize it's a bo until it hits them. There is value in other people seeing what a thing is labeled as, as opposed to what it really is. Someone who will take away your knife will leave you your flute/thumper/cheaterbar/bo.
. ..this catastrophic fantasy you dream of nightly.
I can't help it. I have to go into Manhatten now and again. It's a musician thang. The catastrophe of the place is no fantasy. I've seen it with my own eyes. Yes, I have the odd night where I toss and turn over it.
It does, however, stand as a momument to humanity's ability to adapt and survive in even the most inhospitable of environments.
If I'm full of shit it's because I know my shit, not because I'm bullshitting.
. ..or this is the best slashdot comment. Ever.
A bit slipshod stream of conciousness really. I left out the "Shake & Bake" flashlight, which is important, the cornstarch, which isn't, but it's nice to have a bit around. Didn't go into sewing kits and why you should make up your own instead of purchasing one from a camping store, the Therma-Rest pad, which could be important, even lifesaving under certain conditions, or even that you get all this stuff from Wal-Mart or something, not a camping store (except maybe the Therma-Rest). There are also any number of small items that can disappear in the bottom of a side pocket that can make life easier (like the G.I. can opener), but I've learned to live without them and take life as it was before such manufactured items were available. Many people on this earth do so as part of their everyday lives. I know. I've seen them do it.
It wasn't part of the subject, so I didn't even touch on how you either get out of or into a disater area safely. That's a bit of a longer subject then a short, slipshod post. I'm not even sure I could write it. I think I'd have to show you. Bicycles are often better than cars though. A guy I know bicycled from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego with his wife. It took a whole team of pros from Land Rover to accomplish the same thing with motor vehicles.
I was born in Manhatten, but grew up in large part in the Vermont woods, climbed Mt. Washington in a minor gale (by Mt. Washington standards) when I was only 6, been from the subartic to the tropical rainforest, city to wilderness, land to sea, often with nothing more than I could carry, my stepfather is a travel journalist who ghost authored a best selling camping book (no, I won't say which one. There are these things called lawyers. I like to avoid them when I can) and been in, into and out of disaster areas for various reasons. I sorta grew up knowing how to get by with only what you could stuff in a daypack just so long as the conditions were actually survivable without heavy gear. I've never checked luggage on an airline. Everything I need goes carryon.
This all writes much more impressive than it really is. I'm just another dork like anybody else and my day to day life is just as humdrum and unexceptional at any given moment as anybody else's. I just occasionally have these "episodes" where it looks like things should have been exciting, but they're not at all like Indiana Jones has. Pulling people from their homes in a rowboat is really a rather mundane affair. Crawling through the priest tunnel of a Zapotec pyramid is too.
No Nazis, face melting or anything. Just dirt and deadly snakes.
I'm not saying it's foolish to be prepared, but one has to wonder if spending so much time on something so improbable (yes, even after Katrina) is really worth it. ..
It actually doesn't take very long, and it's interesting besides. The gear, knowledge and ablities are useful to have even if you never leave Manhatten. In fact, I generally carry a certain number of the items on the list when I'm going into Manhatten for a day or three.
If you really want safety, move to a location where there's less chance for natural disaster.
Less chance doesn't mean little chance. I live in upstate NY, one of the safer places all told, and we still manage to have community sized disasters on a reasonably regular basis. The world was not designed for safty. We were only designed so that enough of us live to child bearing age to continue the survival of the species.
In any case preparedness is an axiom of the article.
How the F*** are you supposed to pack all this into one tiny backpack?
This is specifically the list for a tiny backpack or bike messanger bag, or even the larger camper's fanny packs that are now available. I can get a lot of it in my guitar gig bag (and do, I hit the road with a minimum of individual things to carry), with the guitar in it. I don't carry alcohol or a stove then and maybe only three pounds of gorp. I'm only traveling then, not running. If I need a stove for some reason I'll find a soda can and make one on the spot. The knife is the only tool you need. The stove, by the way, is only about an inch thick. You could put it in your pants pocket and hardly even notice it.
No tent, no sleeping bag, etc. If you saw the average camper's gear spread out on the floor you'd swear it would take a U-Haul trailer to hold it all, but it goes into a pack just fine.
The fluids and the cloth are the bulkiest items. How much bulk is represented by the fluids depends on how you decide to carry. A Camelback(tm) resevoir packs better than a bottle. The cloth masses the same as a change of tailored clothing, but folds far more compactly.
The gorp takes up very little space per pound. You don't carry it in a box. That's what the Ziploc(tm) Baggies(tm) are for (among other things. The cloth goes in 'em too), which also travel in a Ziploc(tm) Baggie(tm).
By the way, if you have everything on this list you don't even need the backpack to carry it. I often choose to do without. Carrying cloth instead of clothing (you have the tailored clothing you were wearing when you left home); and knowing what to do with it, is a key issue.
It's killing me to know why the honey is the most dangerous thing in the pack. ..
I take it you've never read the short story about the guy who answers the phone while putting honey on his toast, and how the little bit of honey that gets transfered to the handset transports itself all over the house.
It takes an ungodly amount of effort to make sure the honey doesn't make everything in your pack (and you) sticky. Bloody shame really, because it's otherwise the most amazing stuff.
By the way, you obtain the container for the honey at a bicycle shop that caters to the racing crowd. I suppose the running shops have them too, but I don't frequent those.
Cleaning up after honey (or anything else) should be done with care. An awful lot of people fall prey to bad water who think they're being careful, because they take great care to only drink good water. Be careful about what you put on your hands. Your hands tend to go places afterward.
It's a topical antibacterial. Even when push comes to shove I don't recommend eating Neosporin. When you have a choice between packing something you can eat and something you can't, go with the thing you can eat. Native Americans didn't typically use chemical tanning, not because they didn't know how. They did. They also knew that tanning meant you couldn't eat your clothing or horse tack when times got sticky.
Clean a wound with alcohol. Seal the wound with honey. If corn starch is available dust the honey with it (You're carrying cornstarch because you can eat it. You can't eat talcum powder). Seal the honey with duct tape.
It is entirely focused on records. This is the information age, right? So we need our personal information to survive, right? As I've already posted the information might well turn out to be important, and you should make sure you have it, but if Katrina taught anybody anything it's that papers don't insure your survival. You can't eat your papers (although when things get really, really sticky you might be able to trade them for food).
What you really need in that pack:
A good, sturdy pocket knife. Not a Swiss Army jobber. A single blade, like are sold to hunters. Metal, not ceramic.
A metal spoon.
Cheap chopsticks.
Do not, literally upon pain of death, use any other utensils than these to prepare or eat your food if you can at all avoid it. Make it a religion to keep them clean and sanitary.
Strike anywhere matches in a waterproof safe.
A firestarting piston. Use this before you resort to using your matches. Learn how to use it before you leave home.
A personal water filter.
A bottle of alcohol. 190 proof vodka is 190% better than the stuff from the drugstore. Make it yourself if you have to. Learn about cold distilling if you want to take the long, but easy way.
A few ounces of honey is nice to have along, but this is the most dangerous stuff in the pack. Think hard about it before including it. You can eat it if you have to, but that's not what it's here for.
Aspirin.
Antihistimines.
Any other drugs you personally need to stay alive. If you really need Prozac or Valium to stay alive, plan on dying.
A homemade soda can stove.
A mini roll of duct tape.
5 pounds of gorp. If tightly rationed this well feed you for a week.
An "Emergency Blanket."
Ziploc Baggies (These last two items are the only survival gear of note invented in the 20th century).
A camelback water resevior recently filled with known good water.
100 feet of parachute cord. Learn how to tie knots before you need to.
Wool cloth. Two shirtweight peices 45"X 72". One heavier weight 60"X108". These are your clothes, your hammok, your chair, your carryall, your. . .
Learn how to use them as such before you need to. Do not be tempted to substitute cotton for wool to save money. The savings could kill you. Not in a pleasant way either.
Two pair of wool socks.
Three yards of 36" wide cotton could come in hand as well. This is your hat, your belt, your shoulder bag, your sling, your . . .
A waterproof, windproof shell. Yes, even if you're in a tropical zone.
A pennywhistle. Yes, I'm dead serious about that one. Learn how to play it a bit before you leave home. Even better, also learn how to make a pennywhistle out of any tubular thing you can find, before you need to.
If you expect to stay "civilized". ..money. If you don't, more gorp. When push comes to shove people will trade you nearly anthing for food. Money weighs less than gorp though. If you have your choice don't stay civilized. Head for the woods. Cities are a barren desert when it comes to survival. The woods have everything you need to survive (these days even including manufactured items, more's the pity). Cities often do not. Cities are also full people. Being full of people stretches resources so they don't have things in 'em anymore. People are also nasty sumbitches who will hit you over the head and take your precious personal information, encrypted or not (they don't find out how well you encrypted your information until after they have hit you on the head).
Two weeks with me showing you how to combine all this stuff with stuff you can find anywhere (like pebbles), especially in a disaster zone, otherwise you're just going to be in deep shit within an hour anyway.
Time with me is limited. Start poking around the internet for this information now. For God's sake, learn to take care of yourself. Any baby cockroach can do it. Your brain is bigger. Learn to use it for somthing other than tracking your stock portfolio.
Slashdot Mirror
Are there books, web sites, magazines, etc. that would help someone. . .
Thousands of 'em. That's the problem.
. . . get up to speed rapidly?
No. Problem is I'd have to write a small book to explain these unhelpful answers and I'm running out of time to pay attention to this. Everything I've seen in print requires fairly informed critical analysis to seperate the valuable information from the crap, so it becomes an issue of having to bootstrap yourself up to speed to be able to use them in the first place.
And the magazines are really trying to sell you gear, not provide you with information. Websites are better at telling how to avoid buying gear, which is one of the most valuable things to know.
Think about the way things are in the computer/programming field. It's all very like that really.
The best web sites are those that focus on a specific technical issue, like knot tying or firestarting, but knowing a technical skill is a very different affair than knowing when and how to apply it.
What knowledge do you believe is most valuable?
Ah, well, I'm going to go all cryptic on you here. The most valuable thing you can know is that your perceptions become your reality; and your perceptions deceive you. As a crude example if you look at a window don't see a knife you're behind the game already. Maybe you look at sand and see sand. Maybe you're perspicacious enough to see sandpaper. I see a drill that will pierce a block of granite, and faster than you might think. Maybe you wish to get to the rancid food in a dumpster, but are repulsed by the rats after the same. Maybe I see the rancid food as bait and the rats as fresh food. If there's trouble brewing and you don't perceive it, you're in trouble. If there is no trouble brewing, but you percieve it, you're in trouble. If you don't know how to tell the difference between the two, you're in trouble.
Now, take your basic emergency blanket. I suppose I'd have to write a small volume just explaining what to do with this single, simple item. It's a blanket, it's a tarp (and a tarp is itself more than one thing, which is the beauty of them), it's a food attractor, it's a sun reflector to keep you cool, it's a sun reflector to keep you warm, it's an aircraft signaling device, it's a water distiller, it's a bucket, it's even, with a few other odds and ends, a small boat.
Odds are you'll never actually have to make a boat from an emergency blanket, but it's important that you see the boat in the emergency blanket and understand the principle.
There are websites on tarp craft. There are websites on distilling water. There are websites on attracting food. These are the individual technical skills, but you also have to know that what all of these websites are telling you is how to use your emergency blanket and some of them don't know that.
Nor can all of the uses be enmurated. The rules are always changing on you and you have to see the properties and metaproperties of your tools and adapt them to new uses in new situations. This is the way I like to do things. It's all rather like admining a *nix network.
Most people take the Windows approach. They buy a bit of commericial gear to perform a distinct function. To perform some other function they have to buy another bit of gear. If a bit of gear isn't available to perform a certain function they "have to do without."
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenence deals with this issue. If you haven't read it I guess you should. Worst comes to worst you'l have read a good book.
I suppose going camping would probably be a reasonable and fun way to get some experience with it as well?
Yeah, it's a way to get started and to start learning, but remember camping in a camp ground is not camping on a hiking trail is not camping in Manhatten, another valuable skill. Bicycle touring is both none of these and requires elements of all of them. How
Is checking luggage a bad thing?
.
.what kind of parent takes their 6 year old up a mountain in a gale?
Depends on whose luggage it is.
While that makes you sound cool and tough. .
I haven't a clue why and I would certainly never characterize myself in those terms, especially at that point in time. "Dork" and "wuss" come to mind though. It was something any other 6 year old dorky wuss could do.
. .
The kind whose kid got lucky with parents, at least in that respect. I am not cool, but it was cool. It was my first time above the timberline.The following day was even cooler. It was dead calm and there was a really cool fog over the mountains as we followed the ridge trail over Jefferson and Monroe. It was like being in a fairy story. I'll never forget it. Then we spent a couple of days at a Dartmouth Outing Club (we were members) cabin on some lake whose name I can't remember, but I remember the canoeing. The whole thing was a "peak" experience, as it were and it taught me things.
Thanks mom and dad.
KFG
1. Who are you?
:)
KFG. D'oh!
It would be reasonable to interpret that as "nobody."
2. How much of your limited time is available to share?
I've tried to make today 48 hours long, but it turns out that just blows two days. Go figure. Makes my time even tighter and I'm going to have to blow some time on sleep sooner or later. In the other window I've been designing a 20' sailboat to cruise to Ireland and Scotland in. There's a young lady who's been bugging me for the latest plans and models. I'm beginning to think she has intentions of coming along for the ride and I told her it was a solo voyage when the subject first came up. Either that or she's anxious to be rid of me. She's a lovely young lady, so either way I don't want to disappoint her.
Mike
And I notice your name is not one that would normally be considered feminine.
KFG
Silk works nicely as well.
Weakens too much when wet and has a low coefficient of friction. If you don't belt or tie your silk sarong it'll fall right off rather quickly. With cotton or wool I can make a pure wrap wear it all day, sleep in it all night, then wear all the next day and never have to rewrap it if I don't want to. Silk's low bulk does mean it self ties neater though. My vegan tendencies make me unhappy about it too. Yeah, they're only caterpillars and all, but I don't need to boil all those caterpillars to death for a piece of cloth.
Yes, I'm aware of the realities of wool production. I see the lamb chops in the backroom freezer when I visit the sheep farm I buy wool from. I said I had vegan tendencies.
KFG
. . .it's also prepped in case you need to hide it quickly.
Oh, hey. That's one I hadn't thought of. Go figure.
KFG
I'll have to ask you to turn in your geek card.
.an advanced civilization leaves behind things that can be used or reused if you can get them. . .
.perfect if you plan to skip past the stone age and into the industrial age.
Sorry, but I'm a different sort of geek. I know and can apply technolgies, not just current technolgies. I will suit the technology to my situation.
. .
I'll likely find some of these things if I wander into the woods. Civilization then is not always where civilization is now. If I don't find them I'll just make what I need from scratch. Stone age doesn't mean you can't get shit done, especially if you can back it up with modern knowledge. Stone age them then didn't know how to knit. "Stone age" me now does. In any case, the axiom was running away from the stuff breaking toward where it isn't, so that one might live to come back and fix it later when things have cooled down a bit.
. .
Where you find recently broken and abandoned equipment needing fixing you will also find the abandoned tools to fix them with, like in that garage over there, or you could just go to Sears.
KFG
For money I'd recommend 1/10th oz gold pieces and silver.
.
."space blanket" it is blue or black on one side, and silver on the other.
.in reality, you are going to more likely be around houses. . .
.
.
Useless in a vending machine or supermarket, which is where you'll need the money. Paper currency still works fine, and everyone locked into the City Center wouldn't have been there in the first place if they'd had a wad of hundreds, but your credit cards may be useless until you get out of the disaster zone. People locked in the Superdome wouldn't have been there if they had credit.
I've assumed an NO type disaster, not the apocolypse. You're in a big city that's about to go belly up big time, but the other cities will be there.
If we're talking about the total collapse of civilization as we know it, yeah, then I'm with you and have posted that elswhere.
You could skip the size and weight of the wool blanket. .
I didn't say anything about a blanket. I said "cloth." Heavier than shirtweight, in large part for the mechanical strength, plus, yeah, being warmer. But it's still clothing weight.
. .
An emergency blanket is the lightweight, disposable version of this. It's just a mylar film. You can put it in your pocket. A space blanket cannot be put to all of the uses of the wool cloth. If you discard the cloth, you'll just need to replace it with the same weight of clothing and other fabric items anyway.
Also, it can be used in water collection and sterilization techniques like a tarp or polyurethane sheet. Whatever emergency supplies you have should be able to fit in a back-pack and be carried with you -- so think light. Also, it can be used with a piece of rope to make a tent. So for the weight and space -- it does triple duty and is a better insulator.
Exactly what you've got the emergency blanket for, and why you will find pebbles useful.
Forget the yards of cotton. There will probably be clothing everywhere and this won't do if you are getting cold.
I'm not sure you understand it's uses. It has no purpose in keeping you warm. That's what the wool, emergency blanket and shell are for. Think of it as a bit of rope that can double as a turban, shoulderbag, bandage if you like. Yes, I agree there will be clothing everywhere. I never stake my life on that, But except in the wilderness there is always clothing, sometimes free, never expensive. My pack is a "grubstake" to be built on, not the only stuff you will ever be able to use in your life from here on out. I also presume you won't be leaving home naked.
Add Lard and Salt.
No thank you. No use for 'em.
. .
And stores.
Oh, and make sure you have some effective mosquito repellant. .
Yes. A true major oversight on my list. My property had to be pumped out after the spring flood as a potential mosquito health hazard. Yes, I live on a river flood plain. On the high ground, thank you very much.
Did anyone mention good wool socks?
Yes, I did, but did not deal with other foot wear because I only talked about what to put in the pack, not what to wear and carry in your pockets.
Chlorine and filters will get you water faster.
The filter was on my list.
I don't recommend heading for the woods.
The woods does not necessarily mean the wilderness, although it could. It means the boonies, hicksville, maybe a campground, someplace with trees and streams that isn't going to be invaded by 10,000 evacuees, but might have a Piggly-Wiggley within an hours walk or so. Yes, stay away from the bloody survialists. They're nutso.
Get someone on a radio . .
I neglected a pocket radio from my list.
You will probably have to mail order these from Canada because your insurance only parcels things out in 1 month increments.
It may not taste great, but it is edible without cooking or rehydration.
True. Food palatibilty is often a survival issue though.
Buttons, snaps, elastic and other materials in tailored clothes can be cannibalized for other uses.
An incomplete view. Offhand I can't even think of a use for these things that I can't otherwise accomplish quite easily and the cloths don't need to be harmed to be put to myriad uses, most of which can't be accomplished at all with tailored clothing even if you completely dismantle them, which destroys them, so then you don't even have them anymore, but you seem to be neglecting the fact that in my "system" you have a full suit of tailored clothing as well as the cloth.
KFG
There's no explaining pure city folk.
KFG
Actually, I've heard that the ultimate fiber is Dog Hair.
I spin, knit and weave. Very useful life skills to have and not hard to pick up. I've worked with dog and cat underhair (you don't use the visible guard hairs). Acquiring enough of it is problematic.
Acquiring enough polar bear hair is even more problematic, but it is the ultimate animal fiber.
Sweaters are wonderful garments, but you don't want to carry one around in your pack. Great to have on a boat (they were invented by North Atlantic fishermen) or at a base camp.
KFG
KFG
. . .you can pack actuall clothes in it instead of raw fabric. . .
.tape. . .antihystimines. . .
.buy some freezedried foods in bulk and vacuum pack them yourself. Per unit energy it will weigh far less than the gorp, and it will keep forever.
The fabric is not to save space. It is because it is more useful than tailored clothing and it is "actuall clothes." I wear them every day.
antibacterial gel. .
On the list.
. .
You don't need it to keep forever. Once a year or so buy new gorp and eat the old. Freeze dried food requires cooking which uses water and fuel which should be conserved jealously. You can't do it on the go. There are many places where you won't be allowed to do it at all. What you save in weight of food you add in weight of fuel and at times at least, water. Substitue Power Bars for gorp if you wish.
Get a good hand gun. Spend time on the range with it. Learn to be proficient. Pack a like model with a few hundred rounds of ammo.
Dead weight and the first thing you're going to have to ditch anyway, especially if things go well. In fact, if things go well this is going to the be the instrument for blowing it all to hell needlessly. It's only real value is in being a visible threat, even to your potential friends.
If you're not going to run, but stay and guard the old homestead, then a gun could come in handy. Get a rifle.
A small field guide identifying edible plants and mushrooms in your geographic area.
You already know this. You've even eatin them all before you leave home. You also know enough to know that eating mushrooms is both risky and pointless, as their actual nutritional value is nil.
KFG
A decent rifle with plenty of ammo would be indispensable and worth more than all the gold in the world.
I know that; and you know that, but you'd have to be an idiot to explain it to the guy who's willing to give you ammo and food for gold, now wouldn't you?
The stuff doesn't have any real value now, except for that fact that some people think it does. Read Thoreau's "Life Without Principle." He deals with this very issue in it.
KFG
What if you are allergic to wool?
Then it really sucks to be you. That's ok, I'm intolerant to most "food" and when other people are sitting down to a hot meal I'm sometimes off scrounging for edible weeds or something, so I know what sucking to be is like. Go with one of the polyester microfibers if you really have to, in a weave, not a knit. The structure of a weave is important. They're sold under various trade names, like CoolMax. Maybe the larger piece in a water repelant Supplex nylon. When I'm not traveling ultralight I often add this to the list anyway. Staying warm when you're wet is good. Staying dry in the first place is better and the Supplex is a sturdier tarp and more pleasant to wrap in than the emergency blanket.
There are also "technical" wool fabrics available now. Waterproof, windproof, breathable. Some people who have problems with wool don't seem to have a problem with this stuff, some do. I've fondled some samples. It's amazing stuff. It's also godawful expensive and I don't know how well it holds up to abuse. I can't afford to find out empirically.
I wish there were some true substitute for wool. It requires more care than synthetics, doesn't last as long, it's expensive (the good stuff will run you about $20/yd. for shirtweight. Get the good stuff. It's worth it. Pendelton is one of the few brand names left on Earth that is still what it purports to be, as good as you can get) and I have vegan tendencies. Any of the synthetics do something much better than wool. Cotton is lovely for warm, dry weather and when I absolutely know it's going to be warm and dry what I almost always turn to. None of them do everything put together as well as wool though, which is why when you have to chose one it's the one to choose. When I'm traveling strictly urban I'll carry the two smaller pieces in cotton and only the larger in wool.
Come to think of it, I'm dressed in those two pieces of cotton right now. This stuff isn't just camping/emergency gear for me. I use it all the time and almost never wear "normal" street clothes around the house or hotel room. Once you get used to wearing wraps and drapes you'll start to wonder why people ever adopted tailored clothing in the first place. In some places they still haven't.
Don't you even think about taking away my trenchcoat though. Yeah, it's cotton, but the lining is wool.
Aaaaaanyway, like my issues with food ya gotta do what ya gotta do and live with it. If I have to eat weeds while everyone else is eating lasagna, it's better than dying. If you can't use wool, don't use it.
Oh, by the way, the antihistimes on the list are for allergic reactions, not colds. I should have mentioned that.
What are some of your favorite books or links regarding being prepared?
I was afraid someone would ask that. I really don't have any. That's why I simply said "poke around" instead of posting some links. Yeah, I've done that poking around myself, but I haven't made any particular note of any particular sites. I read them with a critical eye, pick up a clue here and there, bang my head against the keyboard at others and absorb into my brain, not my link collection, since none of it is entirely new material to me and much of it is intended to sell you something that's really just a manufactured version of what you can obtain for free as you need it (like pebbles).
Search on firestarting, Greek clothing, Egyptian clothing, Indian clothing, draped clothing, sarong (you need to completely rethink clothing, starting with realizing the word simply means "cloth," "clothes" is simply the plural of cloth, not something from the Gap), soda can stove (there's a Wikipedia article on these), tarp craft, twisting cordage and knot craft. That'll get you started. Most of the stuff on food is, unfortunately, pitifully simplistic ( "Here's a pen and ink drawing of a burdock. Its root is edible") or completely ridiculous ("How to prepare freeze dried Nouvelle Cuisine in the woods"). I don't r
The very first response to my post posed the same question. I answered it there.
KF
Although in the post-apocalyptic world, ohmu shell is the material of choice.
Don't be daft man. It's Chevy leaf spring.
Not dollars, though.
Gold, just as always.
KFG
I still haven't figured out how the honey would be dangerous. . .
:)
.
It's a vector of sticky.
Yes, the penny whistle has me guessing as well. .
Never underestimate the value of being able to make friends by being able to play an instrument, particularly when the shit hits the fan. The friends might well have food. Eat theirs when you can instead of your own. The pennywhistle is inexpensive (duh), easy to get started on, nearly indestructable, versatile, but particularly good at playing "happy" music.
Never underestimate the power of happy music to turn misery into a party. In the last big blackout nobody in my neighborhood has anything but happy memories of the experience. I had an impromptu music festival going within an hour of the lights going out and kept it going until they came back on. It wasn't a blackout, it was a block party (of course nobody's homes were blowing away or under water either).
A foot long metal tube can also be a suprisingly useful thing to have around. When you're packing light and moving in a hurry you have to learn to see things for what they actually are, and not for what they are labeled. Duct tape, for instance is a strip of rubberized cloth with some adhesive on one side of it. Thus it's repair tape, bandages, moleskin, a bit of rope, etc. Corn starch is soup thickener, foot powder, dry lubricant, etc.
A foot long metal tube likewise has a variety of utilitarian uses. In this case signal whistle is the most obvious. You really should carry a signal whistle. Why shouldn't it also be a musical one? (my 6'x 3/4" PVC hiking staff is a suprisingly loud herald's trumpet, even though it lacks a bell and you should see the look on a Coast Guard officer's face when you demonstrate that you do have the required signal horn on board by blowing out his eardrums with your "boathook")
Actually, my own choice is 3/4" PVC pipe quena (an end blown flute). People don't even realize it's a bo until it hits them. There is value in other people seeing what a thing is labeled as, as opposed to what it really is. Someone who will take away your knife will leave you your flute/thumper/cheaterbar/bo.
. . .this catastrophic fantasy you dream of nightly.
I can't help it. I have to go into Manhatten now and again. It's a musician thang. The catastrophe of the place is no fantasy. I've seen it with my own eyes. Yes, I have the odd night where I toss and turn over it.
It does, however, stand as a momument to humanity's ability to adapt and survive in even the most inhospitable of environments.
KFG
Everyone's going on about the honey. I honestly thought it was going to be the pennywhistle that got people going.
KFG
Ah, yes. I haven't dealt with that issue personally, so I neglected it. I've known people who have though.
KFG
Either you are completely full of it. . .
.or this is the best slashdot comment. Ever.
If I'm full of shit it's because I know my shit, not because I'm bullshitting.
. .
A bit slipshod stream of conciousness really. I left out the "Shake & Bake" flashlight, which is important, the cornstarch, which isn't, but it's nice to have a bit around. Didn't go into sewing kits and why you should make up your own instead of purchasing one from a camping store, the Therma-Rest pad, which could be important, even lifesaving under certain conditions, or even that you get all this stuff from Wal-Mart or something, not a camping store (except maybe the Therma-Rest). There are also any number of small items that can disappear in the bottom of a side pocket that can make life easier (like the G.I. can opener), but I've learned to live without them and take life as it was before such manufactured items were available. Many people on this earth do so as part of their everyday lives. I know. I've seen them do it.
It wasn't part of the subject, so I didn't even touch on how you either get out of or into a disater area safely. That's a bit of a longer subject then a short, slipshod post. I'm not even sure I could write it. I think I'd have to show you. Bicycles are often better than cars though. A guy I know bicycled from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego with his wife. It took a whole team of pros from Land Rover to accomplish the same thing with motor vehicles.
I was born in Manhatten, but grew up in large part in the Vermont woods, climbed Mt. Washington in a minor gale (by Mt. Washington standards) when I was only 6, been from the subartic to the tropical rainforest, city to wilderness, land to sea, often with nothing more than I could carry, my stepfather is a travel journalist who ghost authored a best selling camping book (no, I won't say which one. There are these things called lawyers. I like to avoid them when I can) and been in, into and out of disaster areas for various reasons. I sorta grew up knowing how to get by with only what you could stuff in a daypack just so long as the conditions were actually survivable without heavy gear. I've never checked luggage on an airline. Everything I need goes carryon.
This all writes much more impressive than it really is. I'm just another dork like anybody else and my day to day life is just as humdrum and unexceptional at any given moment as anybody else's. I just occasionally have these "episodes" where it looks like things should have been exciting, but they're not at all like Indiana Jones has. Pulling people from their homes in a rowboat is really a rather mundane affair. Crawling through the priest tunnel of a Zapotec pyramid is too.
No Nazis, face melting or anything. Just dirt and deadly snakes.
Snakes, why does it always have to be snakes?
KFG
I'm not saying it's foolish to be prepared, but one has to wonder if spending so much time on something so improbable (yes, even after Katrina) is really worth it. . .
It actually doesn't take very long, and it's interesting besides. The gear, knowledge and ablities are useful to have even if you never leave Manhatten. In fact, I generally carry a certain number of the items on the list when I'm going into Manhatten for a day or three.
If you really want safety, move to a location where there's less chance for natural disaster.
Less chance doesn't mean little chance. I live in upstate NY, one of the safer places all told, and we still manage to have community sized disasters on a reasonably regular basis. The world was not designed for safty. We were only designed so that enough of us live to child bearing age to continue the survival of the species.
In any case preparedness is an axiom of the article.
KFG
How the F*** are you supposed to pack all this into one tiny backpack?
This is specifically the list for a tiny backpack or bike messanger bag, or even the larger camper's fanny packs that are now available. I can get a lot of it in my guitar gig bag (and do, I hit the road with a minimum of individual things to carry), with the guitar in it. I don't carry alcohol or a stove then and maybe only three pounds of gorp. I'm only traveling then, not running. If I need a stove for some reason I'll find a soda can and make one on the spot. The knife is the only tool you need. The stove, by the way, is only about an inch thick. You could put it in your pants pocket and hardly even notice it.
No tent, no sleeping bag, etc. If you saw the average camper's gear spread out on the floor you'd swear it would take a U-Haul trailer to hold it all, but it goes into a pack just fine.
The fluids and the cloth are the bulkiest items. How much bulk is represented by the fluids depends on how you decide to carry. A Camelback(tm) resevoir packs better than a bottle. The cloth masses the same as a change of tailored clothing, but folds far more compactly.
The gorp takes up very little space per pound. You don't carry it in a box. That's what the Ziploc(tm) Baggies(tm) are for (among other things. The cloth goes in 'em too), which also travel in a Ziploc(tm) Baggie(tm).
By the way, if you have everything on this list you don't even need the backpack to carry it. I often choose to do without. Carrying cloth instead of clothing (you have the tailored clothing you were wearing when you left home); and knowing what to do with it, is a key issue.
KFG
It's killing me to know why the honey is the most dangerous thing in the pack. . .
.
I take it you've never read the short story about the guy who answers the phone while putting honey on his toast, and how the little bit of honey that gets transfered to the handset transports itself all over the house.
It takes an ungodly amount of effort to make sure the honey doesn't make everything in your pack (and you) sticky. Bloody shame really, because it's otherwise the most amazing stuff.
By the way, you obtain the container for the honey at a bicycle shop that caters to the racing crowd. I suppose the running shops have them too, but I don't frequent those.
Cleaning up after honey (or anything else) should be done with care. An awful lot of people fall prey to bad water who think they're being careful, because they take great care to only drink good water. Be careful about what you put on your hands. Your hands tend to go places afterward.
. . what it's really in the pack for. .
See the post above.
KFG
. . .what's the honey for?
It's a topical antibacterial. Even when push comes to shove I don't recommend eating Neosporin. When you have a choice between packing something you can eat and something you can't, go with the thing you can eat. Native Americans didn't typically use chemical tanning, not because they didn't know how. They did. They also knew that tanning meant you couldn't eat your clothing or horse tack when times got sticky.
Clean a wound with alcohol. Seal the wound with honey. If corn starch is available dust the honey with it (You're carrying cornstarch because you can eat it. You can't eat talcum powder). Seal the honey with duct tape.
KFG
It is entirely focused on records. This is the information age, right? So we need our personal information to survive, right? As I've already posted the information might well turn out to be important, and you should make sure you have it, but if Katrina taught anybody anything it's that papers don't insure your survival. You can't eat your papers (although when things get really, really sticky you might be able to trade them for food).
.money. If you don't, more gorp. When push comes to shove people will trade you nearly anthing for food. Money weighs less than gorp though. If you have your choice don't stay civilized. Head for the woods. Cities are a barren desert when it comes to survival. The woods have everything you need to survive (these days even including manufactured items, more's the pity). Cities often do not. Cities are also full people. Being full of people stretches resources so they don't have things in 'em anymore. People are also nasty sumbitches who will hit you over the head and take your precious personal information, encrypted or not (they don't find out how well you encrypted your information until after they have hit you on the head).
What you really need in that pack:
A good, sturdy pocket knife. Not a Swiss Army jobber. A single blade, like are sold to hunters. Metal, not ceramic.
A metal spoon.
Cheap chopsticks.
Do not, literally upon pain of death, use any other utensils than these to prepare or eat your food if you can at all avoid it. Make it a religion to keep them clean and sanitary.
Strike anywhere matches in a waterproof safe.
A firestarting piston. Use this before you resort to using your matches. Learn how to use it before you leave home.
A personal water filter.
A bottle of alcohol. 190 proof vodka is 190% better than the stuff from the drugstore. Make it yourself if you have to. Learn about cold distilling if you want to take the long, but easy way.
A few ounces of honey is nice to have along, but this is the most dangerous stuff in the pack. Think hard about it before including it. You can eat it if you have to, but that's not what it's here for.
Aspirin.
Antihistimines.
Any other drugs you personally need to stay alive. If you really need Prozac or Valium to stay alive, plan on dying.
A homemade soda can stove.
A mini roll of duct tape.
5 pounds of gorp. If tightly rationed this well feed you for a week.
An "Emergency Blanket."
Ziploc Baggies (These last two items are the only survival gear of note invented in the 20th century).
A camelback water resevior recently filled with known good water.
100 feet of parachute cord. Learn how to tie knots before you need to.
Wool cloth. Two shirtweight peices 45"X 72". One heavier weight 60"X108". These are your clothes, your hammok, your chair, your carryall, your. . .
Learn how to use them as such before you need to. Do not be tempted to substitute cotton for wool to save money. The savings could kill you. Not in a pleasant way either.
Two pair of wool socks.
Three yards of 36" wide cotton could come in hand as well. This is your hat, your belt, your shoulder bag, your sling, your . . .
A waterproof, windproof shell. Yes, even if you're in a tropical zone.
A pennywhistle. Yes, I'm dead serious about that one. Learn how to play it a bit before you leave home. Even better, also learn how to make a pennywhistle out of any tubular thing you can find, before you need to.
If you expect to stay "civilized". .
Two weeks with me showing you how to combine all this stuff with stuff you can find anywhere (like pebbles), especially in a disaster zone, otherwise you're just going to be in deep shit within an hour anyway.
Time with me is limited. Start poking around the internet for this information now. For God's sake, learn to take care of yourself. Any baby cockroach can do it. Your brain is bigger. Learn to use it for somthing other than tracking your stock portfolio.
KFG