I caught this last night on FOX News. Its a 9 minute segment on how the survivalist mentality has infiltrated the urban consciousness.

I think a....fair piece. I did feel a like the people they focused on were a bit too energetic to want something to happen in order to test their preparation.

Neal Strauss is one of the people interviewed but also the NY director for the Office of Emergency Management.

FOX News segment video

I think it's horrifying that the only times I hear about citizen preparedness in the media is when a right wing lunatic caters to his target audience.

P.S. Why is 0bama filtered to PHRASECENSOREDPOSTERSHOULDKNOWBETTER., but Sean Hannity is not?

P.P.S. No offense to you personally, I watched the show myself.

I also watch the show, I thought that it schould have been on a lower starter level than what was being taught concidering the type of people and the area. I also noticed when they said the guys bob was 100lbs. the pack he was carring could not hve weighted over 20lbs. All in all I liked the show as it was on a station that has a lot of viewers and I hope it will start people thinking of taking care of there own problems and not trust in FEMA or any outher outfit to pull there fat out of the fire.

One news network in the business that isn't left wing and you slam them for talking about preparedness? Come on, give me a break and go back to watching Keith Olbermann.

1. Sorry for bringing politics into this.

2. Good for Hannity. It doesn't matter where you learn, so long as you do.

3. I do watch Keith Olbermann and he's awesome.

It just goes to show that even young attractive female television news reporters who aren't prepared could, in an emergency situation, end up at Mr Hannity's house and end up sharing his stash.

Another gem of information from this short news special is never, never ever ask any attractive female news reporters (or any other profession for that matter) to accompany you to your home or apartment so that you can show them your BOB.

The one glaring problem was the "1 gallon of water per day" myth spouted by someone on there. I also, did notice that the guy's "100 lb bag" looked remarkably empty. I wasn't sure if they were trying to point out his EDC of his BOB. I am not too sure I know of anyone in an urban environment who could carry such a large bag everywhere all day.

Has anyone read that guy Strauss' book?

I just finished it about 4 days ago.

He basically went around and took a little training with Tom Brown, Kevin "Mad Dog" McCLung, met Kurt Saxon and a few others, and then proceeded to write a book making fun of them and anyone else that prepares for anything.

80% of the book is taken up with his obsession to get a second citizenship so he can flee the USA in a disaster, while constantly blaming George W. Bush and anyone religious, for all the ills of the world, and gushing with praise for how much SomePolitician PHRASECENSOREDPOSTERSHOULDKNOWBETTER. will save us.

The rest is his attempts to get prepared and practice his newly learned skills, with some funny results.

In the end, he does obtain training and become an EMT and that gives him a whole new outlook and he does somewhat come around to the preparedness mindset.

If you looking for a book with advice about stuff, this one is not it, there is virtually no "how to" in it.

It is well written, I had trouble putting it down overall, but for anyone that is already into emergency preparedness, there isn't a lot there.


EDIT: Why is the forum software automatically changing the name of the current President to "Politician"???

Would you say that 1 gal per day per person is too much or not enough?

I would say it is evasive to check the "water" column of preparedness with "1 gallon per day". See, no normal person is going to stockpile dozens of gallons of water around the house + purifiers + filtration systems. So they just wave it off with the magic formula...

" no normal person is going to stockpile dozens of gallons of water around the house + purifiers + filtration systems."

Oh Really?

So Cal. is earthquake country and nearly all its freshwater supply is brought in via pipeline or aqueduct which cross major fault lines.

What will your "normal" people do without water if/when the "Big One" hits?

I would say that amount is at least two gallons shy; possibly up to four. I figure a good rule of thumb is one cubic foot of water storage per person per day. While a cubic foot of water is a touch over seven gallons, the inefficiency of storage methods will drop it some.

2 cents

They'll come looking for ours, naturally .

The point is, you're either giving too low of an estimate and that's just bad advice, or you're giving the truth and look like a crazyman to your audience.

I would rather be prepared and have it at home than venture on to the streets and in to stores looking for non existent supplies. Those who expect "Change" will be angered when they realize the empty promises. I think the troubles of the past will pale in comparison.

As for dozens of gallons of water, I think hundreds of gallons makes more sense.

Far be it from me to discourage anyone from storing lots and lots of water, but lets keep some perspective here.

Judging from the water bill, we'd be hard pressed to use more than 15 gallons per person on a normal day. That includes cooking, washing clothes and dishes, watering the garden and topping off the kiddie pool.

When it comes down to it, you really need water for drinking and everything else is optional. Unless you're emergency food supply is nothing but pasta and rice.

We just ordered one of these


http://www.yourwaterstorage.com/

We ordered the 250 "Super Tanker"

Since I live close I am going down to Provo to pick it up next week.

Mike

Let's not forget sanitation. It won't take long to foul your nest without it.

i watched it and thought it was a good piece. anyone think that emergency book they mentioned is a worthwhile read?

I dont know if you guys have heard of the British Berkfeld but it does a DAMN fine job of filtering. It can give you a clean supply of water

British Berkefeld North America

+1 on Big Berkey. I picked up the big, stainless steel one after Hurricane Ike rendered out tap water unsafe (had to be boiled) for two weeks.

-Blast

Hey, those are pretty cool! Expensive, but they can fit through a standard doorway...

-Blast

Just last week I was trying to decide which size Berkey to order. I like the option to add more filters/cartridges to increase filtering speed so I'll likely get one that will handle 4-6 filters.

Thanks for the informed review.

It has always been my understanding that 1 gallon of water per person, per day, is the bottom line MINIMUM.