Martin, with any (bad) luck, these hostile space aliens that the eminent Dr. Stephen Hawking was interviewed about the other day will land smack dab outside your office, cutting off any chance of escaping or even getting any take out food.

I have to wonder where some of us draw the line between preparedness and simply doing something like a hobby--because it's interesting to us? Do I really need a dozen different types of firearms to have a complete range of weapons in case of...well, heck, not sure, but in case of something. Or to be honest, just simply because you really like guns?! Or building an underground shelter and stocking it with all the attendant gadgets? Or buckets of junk silver and handfuls of gold coins? Like Phaedrus was pointing out, do these folks really want to survive whatever worst case calamity they are ostensibly preparing for? Or is it just fun to prepare for such situations?

Personally, I think most worst case scenario types are more like hobbyists, although I certainly don't want to leave out the True Believers either. Certain traumatic events can certainly turn people into True Believers, at least temporarily. And there are also the easily swayed masses, but I don't think they tend to spend as much time and money on exotic preps as the hobbyists and True Believers.

OK, back to reality. Gosh darn it...where did I leave my nerve gas antidote self-injector? It was right here this morning!