I saw a post where someone mentioned "they had access to a TV but barely turned in on" and it made me think if we had a meltdown and TEOTWAWKI arrived, what modern thing(s) would you miss the most or the least after the dust begins to settles down.

For me the least is my TV. No offense but who ever called it the "idiot box" must have seen some of our current programming options.

It is a tie for items I would miss the most if they stopped working. My laptop, with all the information and entertain value it holds. Games, music, movies on DVD, books in PDF format, recipes and survival notes.

Almost as important to me is my truck. Being able to move over large sections of land quickly with all my stuff in the back instead of on my back.

Putting survival concerns aside, I think I would most miss having easy access to the wealth of information on the internet.

Yes, it is a double edged sword, but the computer would be the one techno thing in my life that has the greatest present impact on me, and the one thing I would be happiest to be rid of.

I'm in agreement with Grouch, I would miss the access to information!!

Electricity, and all the goodness it brings: the interweb, television, radio, refrigeration, running water, clean and safe lights....

I'm gonna have to say the interweb too... I'd miss it, big time.

Ditto to losing the internet.

When we were out of power for a number of days, I hated not being able to access information.

The internet is what I was thinking at first, but after a moment. Probably grocery stores and refrigeration. I could learn to live with public libraries again. I spent a large portion of my childhood at the public library. But I eat things from all over the world right now. It would be nice to go back to fresher, probably healthier foods. But I would miss a lot of common things that would become exotic.

You could look at pictures of exotic food on the internet while gnawing on a chunk of SPAM!

Electricity.
But also the easy access to information I enjoy now.

Not having access to the electronic media and internet is like a curtain coming down. Presently I can in a short time determine where disease outbreaks, carrier battle groups, economic disruptions are happening in near-real time.

If I lose the electronic media and internet I'm only aware of what is directly in front of me. My horizons close in around me.

Sounds like a true computer Geek. Almost every programmer/IT Person I know is addicted to this box, and they all say "I hate computers"

Yep.

Speaking as a geek/nerd, from my stand point this is true ;-)

Clean water pouring from the faucet and maybe flash/bang grenades.

-Blast

Blast want loud boom.

"Booms" actually. Plural.

-Blast

In addition to the Infobahn, I'd miss clean running water and functioning sanitary sewers, as well as air conditioning here in the deep South.

Jeff

Cheap blow and hookers.

Ah, flash bangs. If I'd had those in college I'd have slept so much sounder, or in a jail cell.

So, the perfect survival retreat would be one that sported a drilled well that served up equal quantities of fresh water and natural gas? Acetylene might be too much to hope for...

Oh man, that would save me so much time!

-Blast

I would seriously miss fresh bananas, cheeseburgers with everything + (large order of steak fries) from the burger joint down the street, ETS forum.

I'd probably miss my mind the most...

I think what I would miss the most would be my civil rights which are sure to be taken away if we have a meltdown and TEOTWAWKI arrived.

If things dropped all the way down to mere survival I think I'd miss sleeping soundly the most. Under those conditions, there would be no sound sleep. Too much to be worried about (security, fire, heat, zombies....)

For me missing a good night's sleep on a continuous basis is a recipe for some bad attitude and bad times.

Y'know, I believe there's a growning number of us on this forum that secretly would actually like to have an outbreak of zombies, just so they/we could tell everyone else "I told you so" followed by breaking out the anti-zombie gear.

As we used to say in our D&D games, nothing like a good zombie campaign to raise the levels.

I just found a reliable source for bulk flouride as well. Now I can start my plans for my zombie mist-melter machine.

Any chance you have a reliable vender of 40% KF in water? I need one for work, my previouse one flaked out and left me hanging.

Seriously, PM me if you do.

-Blast

Modern transportation. Planes, trains and automobiles. My siblings and children are spreadout from Alaska to Alabama, still other relatives live across the pond. To be separated by that much space and distance knowing that I might never see or hear from them again would be the most depressing aspect of such a scenario. Other than I would get along fine. Born in the fifties I would willing go back to those times even though technology fills my life (I'm a geek thru and thru) and makes my livelihood. Heck, if the Amish can live without modern technology I guess I could too.

The most dramatic part of a good western, for me, is when someone leaves for a far off place with the certain knowledge he would never be back. Gets me everytime...

Mine is not a vendor source, sorry to say. I just happen to know where the county keeps theirs for water treatment purposes. Couldn't tell you where to find any KF, I think ours is CaF.

Like I said above - my brain - which recently has gone missing for large periods of time - too much work, not enough sleep, cranky cats (Blast - don't adopt 2 adult cats when you have 2 elderly cats - my wife has made TWO trips to the ER in 3 weeks - but we had to adopt them - previous owner died), cranky kids - gahhhh

Ben - why do you want the bulk flouride? How does that melt zombies?

Definitely modern medicine. Our forefathers managed to get by pretty well without most of the items mentioned here, but medicine in the old days was often worse than the affliction, not to mention the constant ravages of smallpox and all of the various fevers that killed so many so young.

Greg

Without TV and the internet I'd have no social life.

Milk, and hence coffee. It's not something that can be effectively stockpiled, either.

Sure you can stockpile milk - just keep it in those big black and white fleshy containers until you need it.

If you don't mind sugar with your milk, milk is easy to stock pile. Just buy sweetened condensed milk. Its canned and not acidic so its about as bomb proof as a food can get.

Also, sweetened condensed milk is an all around good survival food. High in calories, about 1200 per a 14 ounce can. Its also dense in nutrition vitamins A and B, carbohydrates, protein and fat. Its also easier to digest then uncondensed milk.

Actually, coffee is relatively easy and cheap to stockpile. The trick is buying green coffee beans which will stay good for many years if stored properly. You can even buy canned (green) coffee beans if you don't want to deal with the hastle of vacuum sealing, etc. You just have to roast (popcorn maker, stovetop, etc.) and grind the beans before brewing a cup. But come to think of it, even normal canned (ground) coffee has a two year (unopened) shelf life. I'm also pretty sure packaged dry milk has a long shelf life and can be had just about anywhere. Nestle evaporated (not condensed) milk works well and has a good shelf life too. Evaporated milk is just milk with some of the water taken out. Being a big coffee drinker, having my daily black gold w/cream is a suvival necessity.

Actually, powdered milk is what we have on hand. As long as you have some water to go with it.

Thanks for the suggestions. The instant coffee itself isn't a problem for the timescales I plan for, but I've never found a powdered or tinned milk that tastes close enough to fresh milk. Since it's primarily a comfort food, taste is important.

My current approach is instant cappuccino sachets. It's not quite as good as fresh, but it's good enough that I put off buying milk knowing I've got something to drink. It's relatively expensive, though, and its shelf life is 6-12 months which is too short for me to consume a large stockpile normally. I keep a few week's supply anyway.

Most missed, coke classic, internet communication and the info available on it. As a side note on coffee, my dad is not a big coffee drinker but I am. On one of our get togethers in 2005 he offered to make coffee. He pulled a metal one pound can out of the cupboard, and proceeded to make one of the strongest pots of coffee I've ever tasted. The next morning I made coffee and found in the can a coupon for 50 cents off your next purchase of another one pound can. It had an expiration date of dec 31 1989! Ok, the taste wasn't great, but it WAS drinkable and ok. Not bad for being old enough to have it's drivers license LOL.

You might want to try shelf-stable milk (or cream) that comes in the 1/4 and 1L cartons. The brand I use (the only one I can find here in the US anyway) tastes about the same as refrigerated milk to me but of course YMMV. The only issue is that the shelf life is under 1 year I think.

http://www.shoporganic.com/product/organic_valley_whole_milk_uht/milk_products

I'd miss the internet, air conditioning, and toilet paper, not necessarily in that order.