If you don't know your neighbors knock on their doors tonight and invite them over for poker Saturday night. Tell them to bring the kids/spouses/grandparents and a bag of chips. You supply the beer.

When you see one pull up into their driveway stroll over and greet them before they close the garage door. Most likely they'll talk to you for a few moments. Do this often.

Always smile and wave when you see them. Chat. Borrow a cup of maple syrup, return a full bottle.

Build a phone list of your neighbors. Walk around to each house or apartment, knock on their door and tell them that you are making a phone list of the neighbors and ask if they'd like to be on it and would they like a copy? Tell them that in today's world it doesn't hurt to be prepared. Ask if anyone has any first aid training. If you or your spouse stays at home during the day offer to keep an eye out on the neighbor's place and ask for their work number in case something comes up.

Start with the people you know so that the list has some names on it already when you approach the lesser-known neighbors. Start calling your neighbors and invite them over for poker or a barbecue or a prayer circle or whatever.

Eventually your street will be filled with people watching each other's back. This is a good thing. Hell, this is a GREAT thing!

-Blast, who grew up in a small town and has made everywhere else he's lived into a small town, too. Wait, that doesn't sound quite right...

Love your tagline, sounds like me after a long day.

And I practice your proposal. Who was it here who said that survival was a team sport?

blast -- Great idea. meet everyone, collect info, keep an eye out to help. It'll made your neighborhood a better place.

TRO

Contact your local law enforcement and see if they have a Neighborhood Watch Program.

Some of us live in college towns where our neighbors change every 4-8 months.

It also depends where you are. My friend (also a paramedic) was trying to be friendly in his building and his friendliness stopped when people started knocking on his doors are 3 am asking medical advice such as "what is better contact or dayquil for my cold"... But it is a great idea if you live in the right place.

One word: Kegger!

I spent nine years in college (B.S., M.S., Ph.D.) in places ranging from South Dakota to New York and if I learned one thing it is that beer is the answer. <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

-Blast

Alcohol and cigarettes contain poisons that harm out body permanently.

Better word- keep your door open. First time (or two) I was in college, I had my door open if I wasn't busy, sleeping or out, and people stuck thier heads in. Works every time. So does selling Dew for 50 cents a can and stock up when it goes to ten bucks for four 12 packs.

Now that I'm back to upgrade and maybe get my engineer's liscence, I'm doing it, and I've been adopted as a superbrother by a bunch of the younger kids. The ones who have no clue and are dangerous to themselves just by breathing have been invited to go away. The rest... they have promise.

Speaking of promise...
Guilders UP! Any of you goobers lurking here? If so, decloak.

This is a good idea, but should I include the crack houses?

True, so does the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the food we eat. Your statement is factual; so what is your point?

"Everybody gotta die sometime, Red."(Tom Berenger as Seargent Barnes in the movie Platoon)

People die everyday from voluntary activities. Heck, my doctor refers to grapes as "little sacks of poison". What are you gonna do, stop breathing, or walk around with an air purifier on your back 24/7?

It is quite easy, sitting here in Baghdad, to make the statement that "you do what you gotta do" to get by in this life. A vast majority of the people on this planet do not have the luxury of worrying about the long term health risks of something that otherwise makes them feel a little better. You are going to have a hard time convincing me to give up my weekly beer ration when mortars are falling around me.

However, if you feel the conviction to deprive yourself of one of life's basic pleasures, by all means. That will just leave more for the rest of us, and in 80 years or so none of us will be here to know the difference, right? Who wants to live forever?

Ironraven: "Keep your door open". O.K. you keep your door open. In my town,even in the affluent neighborhoods, there are a significant number of "push-in" home invasions. Sorry guys. I say keep your door closed and locked.

Blast: I like your ideas. I live in small subdivision (around a dozen neighbors in a private cove). There were one or two who thought my preparedness ideas (conservative by this Forum's standards!!) and the fact that I have firearms (Oh My Goodness!!) indicated that I was over the top on this ETS concept. So when they were kidding me I took out a notebook and said:
"Let me make a note. You don't own/believe in firearms.. right?"
"O.K., what kind of stuff DO you have in your house right now?"

.... made a show of writing down what they keep around, and that they don't believe in guns. Then I tore off the page and gave it to my wife. "Honey, put this with the lists of where we'll go to "shop" if the SHTF for real"
...amazing how that converted the unbelievers. Now we have a real neighborhood association.

Hmmm, I am starting to like the "neighborhood arrangement I have here. 3 foot deep concrete footers, 12 foot tall reinforced concrete walls topped with razor wire, with security patrols and dogs. There could be nothing inside of the walls, but no one outside would ever know, and looking at that wall, no one is gonna be very motivated to come over and take a look anyhow.

Baghdad, the ultimate gated community.

I was thinking that in some neighborhoods, you probably want to go with someone else. Of course, decking yourself out in the necessary para-military gear might make people think you're law enforcement. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Or insane. Or both. Either one might not be bad.

I'm talking about in a college dormitory, NAro. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> It is a little different.

No formal block parties, but if I'm at the BBQ, and my neighbors are walking in/out of the house, they get offered a beer/wine/soda/juice as appropriate, and they do the same - I probably spend as much time sitting at the table in my neighbors yard watching my son and his daughter, as I do in mine. No excuse for an informal party needed other than "The weather is nice, and we are outdoors". Everyone will stop and at least wave hello

Now - here is the kicker... I live in New York City!!! No, not Manhattan, but Queens

Heh. So I'm reading about the construction thinking "Dang. Now _that's_ how you build for hurricanes." <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

PM sent.

Well, you might want to exclude the razor wire in the hurricane. I could just see someone rolling down the street tangled up in a bunch of coils like a tumbleweed, not pretty.

Funny maybe, but not pretty.

My wife became the block captain in our local Neighborhood Watch Program. It has been a great way to get acquainted with the neighbors. The program also encourages sharing of phone numbers. It has been a good experience for us.

John

Personnaly I don't use drugs or smoke but I do drink beer in moderation, beer is worlds oldest alcoholic beverage and if drunk in moderetion 2 -3 a day it's actually very good and healthy for you I rather get my B vitamins from beer then swallow some artificial pill <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Tirlet? Hey! We don't all sound like Tony Danza up here...well okay, maybe we do... <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> Now, I have to go to the drugga store to get some filum for my camera...

One of Einstein's lesser known theories is the Theory of Consonant Relativity. There are a finite number of consonants for use in the spoken English language. So every time someone in MA says they're "driving their cah" someone in TX says they're "drinking a soder".

Words, too. In many bilingual hispanic cultures, you don't get out of the car, you get off the car.

I have been living in a flat, right near Paris, for the last 16 years.
You don't see your neighbours if you don't want to !
Going to work early, coming back late, you almost never get to see them.
So I knew a few faces, not always the attached names, and anyway didn't know on which floor they lived !
3 years ago, I decided to join the national campaign "Immeubles en fête" (= buildings celebration or more exactly neighbours' celebration).
This year, we had our third "fiesta" on may, 31st, and half of the flats in my building were represented : one familly come with the main dish, another comes with wine, or dessert a.s.o. ; everyone brings something.

Now I know at least half of my neighbours and I have solved the problem I had with my cat when obliged to leave for a few days : one familly has also cats and dogs and is always happy to act as a catty sitter for my pet...

This "Neighbours' celebration" idea has been launched in 1999 by a frenchman living in Paris and sad not to have more relationship with his neighbours.
He organised a small "fiesta" within his building, next within the city block, then get in touch with municipalities and his idea gained more and more popularity.
in 2005, the idea has been promoted in a dozen european capitals and an estimated 4,000,000 people participated.

Well, there ya go.

My doctor back home enjoys fine cigars up at elk camp every year. He will have one on other special occasions too. He always shares with the rest of us, and his tastes in fine tobacco are excellent. He agreed that an occasional smoke won't do any more to you than the background pollution level will. Did I mention he's also an former Navy Seal? He's 63 and can still beat my butt going up the hills. He knows as much about taking you apart as he does about putting you together. <img src="/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" />

Anyways, I think the point is nothing in excess. A little nip on the bottle once in a while, or a good stogie, or a nice juicy steak with all the trimmings just ain't gonna make the end that much sooner or worse. It is when our indulgences become habitual and turn into vices that we start having problems, regardless what our knack may have initially been.

I quit smoking cigarettes 14 years ago. At one point I was up to three packs a day. One day my 3 year old wanted to climb up in my recliner with me and snuggle, but I was smoking a cigarette at the time and told her she couldn't. That was the last cigarette I smoked since then, although I've puffed a pipe for a few weeks here and had an occasional cigar with my pals. You can have all the fancy gimmicks and chew a bucket of gum. You won't quit smoking until you make the decision in your mind to quit, and then you won't need a crutch to do it. To this day, I crave a cigaretter as bad as the day I quit, and everytime I am around smokers I want to light up again. I don't because I made the decision that I had smoked my last cigarette habitually, and I don't have need to ever smoke another. The pipe was a pacifier test for this place. It didn't work, so I pitched it after about 4 weeks of smoking maybe a pipeful every other day (I've never been able to inhale pipe smoke, so just puffing on it didn't do anything for me).

What was the topic of this thread again? I fogot...