I certainly wouldn't want to see anyone's freedom of speech get trampled, but when people start going off the deep end it gets a little hard to keep straight face. My kill file for misc.survivalism got so long it was ridiculous.

That said, I think there is some value to contemplating TEOTWAWKI. I've just finished reading "The Long Emergency" by James Howard Kunstler, and there is a lot in that book that is difficult to ignore. As an example, one of the topics that has always fascinated me is the subject of investment with societal breakdown in mind. For instance, precious metals, aside from their intrinsic aesthetic and electrical properties, only carry monetary value because complex societies tend to agree that these substances are good media of exchange.

I'm really not interested in hearing the nutcases proselatize (sp?) on whom we can blame all the ills of our modern life, whether it be "Big Business", "Those Damn Liberals", illegal immigrants, gun control advocates, The Project for a New American Century, the Illuminati, or what have you. What I am interested in is what can we do to preserve humankind in the event of a pervasive disaster.