I imagine there are a number of gear junkies here. I made my first alcohol stove from a soda/pop can (7-Up as I recall) and it worked fine considering the price. There are lots of options. One stove that I bought on a whim and haven't yet used is a Vargo Hexagon Wood Stove. There are places I have hiked (but not in a while) where the small branches from trees are readily available on the ground and will provide a near endless supply of fuel. Otherwise, for SOCAL, there are a number of backpacking stoves which use white gas, kerosene or iso-butane fuel, but for my counter-top the Gas One stove seems an ideal back-up.

Haven't watched the video yet, but Lily seems to be targeting a wider viewership, those that perhaps aren't as familiar as we are with gear and it's use as we are. Many of them aren't outdoors people and would not be inclined to buy higher priced items for "What if?" use. An alcohol stove fits this niche nicely. They're cheap and easy to DIY with common household items. They're simple to use and don't rely on unfamiliar fuel sources.

I totally agree about home lighting. Get something bigger and brighter, why not, as long as you have the space?

I am inclined to alcohol or gas stoves because of the weather we are experiencing right now in SoCal - wet and windy. I hiked for years, building campfires only, but the occasional brushes with sloppy conditions inclined me more and more towards some kind of stove which did not depend on dry wood

Gear Freaks?? Here? No Way!!!

That may be the answer -- a kit for non-outdoor types that does not take a large investment and is easy to use. For a home use alcohol stove though I really like the Vargo Decagon alcohol stove . The wide base gives it good stability so you don't end up with alcohol spillage.

OT: from the weather map it looks like there's HEAVY rain over LA right now. Time for Hikermor to break out the gear.

It is raining like the cows are doing their traditional thing on a flat rock, as the saying goes. The lights are still on, however, and my gear is poised and ready to go.

Rain just started here. This system is moving very slowly. I don't anticipate a power outage, but if so, we'll be fine.

How do you prepare for a nuclear war? Dig an underground bunker, stock it with tons of supplies, and plan to live underground for a couple of decades? I'm not entirely sure I'd want to live through the aftermath of a nuclear war anyway. I highly doubt hunkering down for decades would be as fun as it's presented to be in "Blast From The Past".

Unlike gold and silver and other useless things that some people stock up on, firearms and ammo have very good uses - food procurement, self defense, bartering and trading to name a few.


If you are prepared for zombies, you are prepared for a lot of what would happen in a non-pretend scenario too. So talk about zombies and have tongue-in-cheek fun with that, but you're actually preparing for real problems at the same time.

If you read Max Brooks book "The Zombie Survival Guide", you will often times find yourself immersed in basic survival strategies and totally forget that the premise of the book is a zombie apocalypse. It's an entertaining and fun read, and believe it or not, you can actually learn some useful stuff from it.

Even during a nuclear war there will be countries unaffected. What I want to know is how do we get there when the world goes to hell in a hand basket.

Jeanette Isabelle

Remember "Duck and Cover"? Fallout shelters, various versions, were all the rage in the 60s, perhaps peaking around the Cuban Missile Crisis. My father installed an underground shelter on the 80 acres outside of town that was his weekend getaway for rabbit hunting and fishing. Two weeks worth of popcorn,peanuts,and water (no TV) and you could emerge to face the Brave new World. Dad never realized it, but he developed a perfect BOL,in today's parlance.

Firearms certainly belong in any normal, moderately well equipped household, but lots of survivalist types place way too much emphasis on weapons, and clearly anticipate way too much full scale combat...

You don't want to survive a nuclear war? One could say the same about anything that requires using up a massive stockpile of ammo to defend yourself.

On the other hand, if you still plan on shooting USPSA, IDPA, whatever, after the apocalypse, you should definitively stock up as much as you can. Why should we stop having fun just because the world ended?