Posted: 5/3/2012 9:07:08 PM EDT
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Almost done reading it, and all I can say is.
shit. How do you plan for this. |
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Almost done reading it, and all I can say is. shit. How do you plan for this. http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_10_17/656344_EMP_protection_Faraday_cage.html&page=3#i11209075 ar-jedi |
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Almost done reading it, and all I can say is. shit. How do you plan for this. http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_10_17/656344_EMP_protection_Faraday_cage.html&page=3#i11209075 ar-jedi Well I was meaning more about the general issues that could be caused via something other than an event as severe as an EMP in the book. Such as food shortages which could be caused via something like a gas crisis around the country. Wide spread disease that is not stopped because of localized shortages of medications. Large waves of refuges. The list goes on. |
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I'm afraid that would be a hard thing to prepare well for. There are probably more pressing concerns like hurricane, tornado, civil unrest, unemployment and other finacial issues that have a higher chance of impacting you.
Use OODA(observe, orient, decide, and act) as your prepping tool. BK |
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A book like that gives you an ultimate scenairio. Not only do you need enough food and water, et all, but you also need a way to be sustainable over the long term using old world technology.
You do NOT start out prepping for that situation. Make a list of realistic SHTF stuff and go from there. A small fire in the house, have extinguishers? Eventually build up to longer and longer food reserves, and all the other gear and consumables you need. Have a plan, understand priorities, and pace yourself. The hole is almost bottomless. |
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Preparing for fiction is impossible. How do you prepare for a fire breathing dragon? How do you prepare for brain-hungry zombies? Eactly, what I found the most interesting though is how people reacted in the small scale of that mountain town. Looting, running out of wildlife to hunt near the end, how people think things are better in the hills. Sure it was a huge compounded problem, but it's rare to read about these issues in a first hand perspective. Usually its all just technical speak and numbers and past examples eluding to what could happen. |
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I just finished reading it as well, and really liked it. While the emp thing was what the book focused on as the cause for the various issues throughout the story, I think the overall lessons are what need to be focused on.
Lots of things can bring on food shortages, lack of clean water, medicine shortages, civil skirmishes... I think the book was valuable to me, as it jump started my "what if?" Thought process. Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile |
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I just read it too. Being from a less densely populated area is a big bonus. The thing that seems to elude most readers is that the east coast (and by implication the west coast) were hardest hit while the middle of the country had more abundant resources. While a major event would be hard on everyone, the population density would be the major factor in survivability. I was concerned about where to procure food in a major breakdown, then I realized I live in an area where agriculture is big business. The problem is I live within two hours of two major population centers.
I will still need to store some food and start growing my own, but I think we will do ok. Our biggest concern would be medical. Small towns can't afford a full time medical professionals. |
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Preparing for fiction is impossible. How do you prepare for a fire breathing dragon? How do you prepare for brain-hungry zombies? Eactly, what I found the most interesting though is how people reacted in the small scale of that mountain town. Looting, running out of wildlife to hunt near the end, how people think things are better in the hills. Sure it was a huge compounded problem, but it's rare to read about these issues in a first hand perspective. Usually its all just technical speak and numbers and past examples eluding to what could happen. Yes, but it does get people to think about how prepared they are - or not. Yes, its fiction, but so is every other survival book out there. How do you prepare for "fiction"? Everything we prepare for is basically fictional, and exists in our heads. |
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The lessons about EMP are secondary. The book was useful to me because it contrasted Patriots. Patriots spelled out a bug out scenario while One Second after spelled out a stay and dig in. Some of the lessons learned from One Second After was the disease effect, the way population would suffer in stages. Some ways to try and maintain law and order. Prioritizing, taking note and what you can do and what you cant, who can save and who you cant.
While these lessons appear obvious when talking about it, some of it just didn't register with me. |
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The lessons about EMP are secondary. The book was useful to me because it contrasted Patriots. Patriots spelled out a bug out scenario while One Second after spelled out a stay and dig in. Some of the lessons learned from One Second After was the disease effect, the way population would suffer in stages. Some ways to try and maintain law and order. Prioritizing, taking note and what you can do and what you cant, who can save and who you cant. While these lessons appear obvious when talking about it, some of it just didn't register with me. ^ This what I would have liked to say. ^ It was a good book and it was fiction. Like I have written before; the nursing home scene was unbelievably scary and it caught me by surprise. The army veteran that had his wits and memory but not strength or ability to take care of himself, for example. This book stimulates thinking about treating water, a food supply, a way to cook it, a way to preserve food, light, keeping peace in your community, the need for medical attention, a comm procedure, protection, and etc. These things are discussed here frequently. To me, how IT happens is only a small part of the story. I thought the author did a good job with the characters and where it took place. It is probably my favorite book in this genre. |
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I've read it too, along with the others mentioned here.
I think it was an excellent, "make you think" chunk of fiction. Fiction based on an event that could happen, and a reaction to said event that is plausible. It and "lights Out" are my two favorite of the modern books, with Pat Franks' "Alas, Babylon" being the first of the best. They all make me think. The best make me evaluate my own situation, and help me see possibilities that I hadn't seen, or hadn't considered in a certain way, and I respond by making adjustments. That, in my mind, is a good thing. |
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Yea, that book really gets you thinking. One second after was the first survival type book I read, and got hooked. Since reading it I have read Lights Out, Patriots, and Survivors. They are great books and make you look at things in a completely different way. You might also like some of the older post apocalyptic books also: In no particular order Pulling Through Alas Babylon (my favorite it was my first such book) Lucifers Hammer Wolf and Iron A Gift Upon the Shore Most of these can be found on Amazon. |
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I'm surprised that no one has made "One Second After" into a movie yet. Me too. Quite puzzling really, considering how many other pieces of shit someone else has made into a movie. With this line of reasoning, its possible that turd of a book, Patriots, will most-likely become a movie before One Second After. Hell, it'll probably even have John Cusack in it.   
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The main thing I took from the book was that no matter what the circumstances,(EMP,financial collapse,solar flares,zombies) that our society cannot support the population it has now without the tech we take for granted everyday.
We do NOT know how to live if the technological clock gets turned back 150,100, years. How many people do you know have any valuable skills in that scenario? Not many I would venture to guess. The more urban and populated,the lmore this holds true. Sad but true. |
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Yea, that book really gets you thinking. One second after was the first survival type book I read, and got hooked. Since reading it I have read Lights Out, Patriots, and Survivors. They are great books and make you look at things in a completely different way. You might also like some of the older post apocalyptic books also: In no particular order Pulling Through Alas Babylon (my favorite it was my first such book) Lucifers Hammer Wolf and Iron A Gift Upon the Shore Most of these can be found on Amazon. More to look for A Canticle for Leibowitz Walter M. Miller, Jr Farnham’s Freehold Robert A. Heinlein The Last Ship William Brinkley The Long Tomorrow Leigh Brackett Lucifers Hammer Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle Malevil Robert Merle Nature’s End Whitley Strieber, james Kunetka On the Beach Nevil Shute Plague War Jeff Carlson Plague Year Jeff Carlson The Postman David Brin The Road Cormac McCarthy Survival 2000 series:James McPhee Thunder of Time James F. David Time Storm Gordon R. Dickson War Day Whitley Strieber, James Kunetka The Wild Shore Kim Stanley Robinson |
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I would say the best think you can do if anything, is get familiar with really basic skills. Can you:
make a fire without a lighter/match? grow/maintain a garden? Harvest seeds? Hunt, fish, track? titrate medicines, know local herbal medicines? perform basic first aid, advanced medical skills? use/have basic wood working tools? metal working (forge) skills? can/prepare for storage meets fruits, vegetables? I feel that I cannot and will never be able to stock pile everything I could want or think I would need. There are both space and financial limitations. I can however learn skills and use skills that will help me in such a scenario or a variety of them. |
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http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x297/ofcparis/2012-05-05_10-49-42_288.jpgFunny thing is I'm sitting in the audience listening to him talk about the book right now. Pics to follow... We were sitting over to your left next to the wall, LOL His talk was very good and a wake up call for some. |
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The one key lesson I take away from the book was: Don't just expect to live on a stockpile and have a SAMs club in your basement. Learn the skills your great great great grandfather had when there was no food supply, Learn how to substance farm. Learn how to properly utilize all things living and your environment. AND Live the closest you can to that life style NOW. Don't wait till SHTF to figure out how to grow and can your yearly consumption of food. GET off grid on as much modern systems as you can. If your planning on living off what you have stored and have no other plans of how to Do for yourself your gonna ultimately die from clinging to the Old modern systems. Forget running a generator, think Past that.
We have to accept the fact that some diseases are only kept at bay by modern medicine and in a total 100 year wipe of technology capability, you will loose a lot of lives to this fact. the population cut in the book seems realistic to me. My grandfather talks all the time about during the Great Depression, how half the road he lived on moved into a house together and how he didn't see a deer till he was in his 20's. And there is no animal he will not eat. still practices with horses to plow his field, in case he doesn't have fuel. true prepper. |
| The one thing I was wondering about the whole time was, is it difficult to stockpile insulin? I understand that the main character basically had nothing stockpiled. But for someone on here that has diabetes or has a loved one that has it, can you and do you stockpile insulin? |
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Was at that convention. Only got a second to come in and see a few minutes of the speakers though.
On the One Second After/Patriots comparison- keep in mind Patriots was supposed to be about people prepared AHEAD of time. One Cigarette After was about NO ONE prepared ahead of time and how they tried to hold a small town together. Was it "Phil's BBQ" that was the super awesome BBQ place he talks about in the book? Ate there Friday, very overrated if it was the one mentioned LOL. |
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Quoted: Preparing for fiction is impossible. How do you prepare for a fire breathing dragon? How do you prepare for brain-hungry zombies? .50 cal. would fix them both.  Point taken though. I found that book utterly depressing, and it seemed to never let up. Which is to say it could come down like that. Kind of like watching "The Road". Sad, through and through. For a good read, I still like "Lights Out". Made me feel better about things. That sticking together could produce better results. |
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I'm fairly certain that the point was: You can't. With all the preps in the world: How was he going to be able to produce fresh insulin for his daughter? Sheep if available, sheeple if not
I remember reading about that in Lucifer's Hammer...but I could never find any information on the actual process. Are you aware of it? |
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The one thing I was wondering about the whole time was, is it difficult to stockpile insulin? I understand that the main character basically had nothing stockpiled. But for someone on here that has diabetes or has a loved one that has it, can you and do you stockpile insulin? It is something I've been thinking about. My mother is diabetic, and my father in law. I've been thinking about a DC powered freezer, powered by solar cells/storage batteries. Wouldn't help during a bug out, but it might have given his daughter an edge. |
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Quoted: Quoted: The one thing I was wondering about the whole time was, is it difficult to stockpile insulin? I understand that the main character basically had nothing stockpiled. But for someone on here that has diabetes or has a loved one that has it, can you and do you stockpile insulin? It is something I've been thinking about. My mother is diabetic, and my father in law. I've been thinking about a DC powered freezer, powered by solar cells/storage batteries. Wouldn't help during a bug out, but it might have given his daughter an edge. Prior to the synthization of insulin the source was purified animal-sourced insulin extracted from cattle pancreases. If you found Dr. Fredrick Benting's paper on it (fronm around 1921-ish) it would describe the process. This is not ancient tech. It was done this way until the 1980s. http://www.madehow.com/Volume-7/Insulin.html ETA: Also found this: http://onlinediabetespillsreviews.com/insulin-extraction-from-pancreas.htm Insulin is an anabolic hormone which is secreted by the beta cells of the pancreatic gland. The extracted insulin helps in maintaining the elevated blood sugar levels when injected in sub-cutaneous route. They can be manufactured with zinc metal for better bioavailability. The amount of insulin extracted from pigs’ pancreas; is relatively lesser than that of fetal beef pancreas. Pregnant cows will have the best secretion amount of insulin. Source:
Method of Extraction: The extraction of insulin from the pancreas involves one kilogram of fresh ox pancreas, or pancreas of pigs. It is minced into 1000ml of 95% of ethylaclohol, it is stirred well. This mixture is allowed to stand for 2-3 hours at room temperature. Filtered and squeezed into a cloth, the filtrate is neutralized and filtrated with glacial acetic acid and the mixture is heated on water bath. Then the preparation is homogenized using a homogenizer. Incubated at -20 degree; and centrifuged at 2000 rpm. Assay is carried out for the extracted insulin; Bradford assay. Storage: Keep away from heat and light as it may undergo oxidation and protein damage. Dosing: As directed by the medical practitioner, dose-dependent. |
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I would say the best think you can do if anything, is get familiar with really basic skills. Can you: make a fire without a lighter/match? grow/maintain a garden? Harvest seeds? Hunt, fish, track? titrate medicines, know local herbal medicines? perform basic first aid, advanced medical skills? use/have basic wood working tools? metal working (forge) skills? can/prepare for storage meets fruits, vegetables? I feel that I cannot and will never be able to stock pile everything I could want or think I would need. There are both space and financial limitations. I can however learn skills and use skills that will help me in such a scenario or a variety of them. Allot of this, I laugh when people say they have a two or three plus year supply of food. While my food storage isnt the best, my overall plan always has, and always will be have about 9 months max, we grow a huge garden, and cows for our own beef. If shtf, say in the winter or early fall, all I need is enough to supliment what I have not put up, my thoughts on 9 months is, if things went sideways before I had a chance to get a harvest in, or early spring, I would be fine, untill the season is upon me. |
| One thing this book touched on and Jericho did to an extent was the lack of game animals (deer, squirrels, rabbits, etc) due to over hunting. Many places in the US are over-populated with deer but that is due to management and seasons. In a SHTF scenario, it is very likely that many of these animals may be hunted to near extinction. This goes to show you that you may not be able to rely on hunting during a massive breakdown for food. |
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Yeah, as I agree with DarkNite that you can’t prepare for a fiction; however, the story does pain a pretty drab picture and that even moderate planning can help. The medication/life-support issue is one issue that is hard to really prepare for. My daughter has a hypothalroid condition and requires daily medication. About the best we’re trying to do is get a 6-month supply build up and pray that within 6 months of a major SHTF scenario that some medical supplies will be back available.
I’m just guessing, but if an EMP situation like this occurred, I would hazard half our population would be dead in 30-60 days and we would lose up to 80-90% if that situation continued without major support for six months. A large percentage would be gone due to lack of life-supporting medication followed by lack of food follow by poor sanitation/potable water and associated diseases. ROCK6 |