Good source for beginner disaster preparedness

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

Several folks have started asking me for advice on disaster preparedness.  Perhaps I should wonder why they're all pegging me as the expert on Armageddon preparations, but that's besides the point.

Problem is I don't know of any sound, sensible, non-kookish sources of info to direct them to.  Googling turns up lots and lots of information, most of it completely worthless.   Amazon has several books on the subject, but I've no way of knowing if the info they contain is more helpful than harmful.

So, anyone know of any books or websites that would be good to give to the SHTF noobs to get them started out right in disaster prep?

[AZRedhawk44]

ready.gov is a good start, except they are hoplophobic.  Still, it focuses on 3 days at least.  That's a start.

Neardeathexperiments.com is a pretty decent site.  Despite its name, its founder and head admin (NineseveN) is extremely level headed in a multifaceted approach to disaster preparedness.  I consider it a religion-free version of Frugal Squirrels.

Frugal Squirrels is then another good site.  A bit preachy, but good.

Best general advice I've been given and that I parrot back to folks that ask me, is think of preparations ("preps") as a function of time.  What do you need to survive for 3 days?  A week?  3 weeks?  3 months?  a year?  Indefinitely?

10,000 bullets don't do much good for a guy that only has 2 gallons of water, six cans of chili and a bottle of mustard in the cupboard.  Gotta layer those preps and intersperse the "buying" of things with the acquisition of skills that help you if you're self sufficient.

My next "prep" skill is some sort of EMT or Wilderness first responder training.

[RevDisk]

Anything by FerFAL

http://www.amazon.com/dp/9870563457?tag=surviinargen-20&camp=14573&creative=327641&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=9870563457&adid=0YS947GSKAMG2T1ARMC6&

http://www.ferfal.blogspot.com/

Primarily because he's living it.  He was hit by the Argentine economic implosion.


Edit:  For gear review, http://www.equipped.com/

Absolutely best kit reviews I've seen around.  Not so much "survialist" oriented, but the real "survival" equipment in daily usage.  Site has tons and tons of information, and is my first choice to look for vendors of a particular product I'm looking for.

[Balog]

I'll second FerFal. He's btdt.

It's mild to middlin' out there, but www.survivalblog.com. A ton of good info going back years.

[Fjolnirsson]

A second for NEar Death Experiments, and to a lesser extent, Frugals and Survival Blog. As AZ said, preachy. Frugals also has a high number of armchair warriors, but if you stick to the articles posted by senior folks, you'll do fine. Just keep a low profile and ignore idiots.
Also worth reading through is the public section at Alpha Disaster Contingencies. Lots of great info there.

[SADShooter]

I bought and recently finished John Wesley Rawles' (of survivalblog) 'How to Survive TEOTWAWKI" and it is a concise, thought-provoking read.

I also really enjoyed Cody Lundin's "When all Hell Breaks Loose". His approach is very zen-hippie, but also down to earth and not gear-centric. Emphasis on common household products and recycling. He really stresses working within your practical limitations.

SADShooter

[Gowen]

My experience with Frugal Squirrel is that many of these people can't wait for TEOTWAWKI (the end of the world as we know it, for those that don't know).  They are looking forward to setting up their own fiefdom.  They are very clicky, us 4 and no more.  Don't expect an answer to a post till you have 10,000 posts under your belt.  I don't know what is meant about religious.  Unless it is the religion of TEOTWAWKI.  I have seen them as anti-Christian to the extreme.

[Jamisjockey]

NDE is a good forum.  I should probably start posting there again, I've been absent a few years.

[mtnbkr]

The Survival Podcast.

Goes into lifestyle changes that make you less reliant on external systems (even talks about retirement via this method).  Not kookish and goes well beyond natural/manmade disasters (how about simple unemployment as a problem to deal with?).

Chris

[doczinn]

http://www.google.com/reader/bundle/user%2F15790189256077409788%2Fbundle%2FPreparedness

[GAGGER]

http://www.backwoodshome.com/

Backwoods Home has great info, good articles and the forum is good too.

[brimic]

http://www.google.com/reader/bundle/user%2F15790189256077409788%2Fbundle%2FPreparedness

That article on using a knife for a defensive weapon is a breath of fresh air and common sense. I get really annoyed with some echo-chamber threads (cough *THR* cough) where claims are made that you need to have 15th degree blackbelts in 4 different secret martial arts to use a knife without having it taken it away from you and being raped with it, while three other threads describe you as good as dead if you let an emaciated street bum get within 10 step of you with a butterknife.

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

Eh, it's not that hard to learn a few simple techniques for disarming someone with a knife.  As such, I figure it's fairly likely that the badguy you intend to use your knife on knows how to take it away from you.


Anyway...

[doczinn]

BTW, click on my link and click on "Feeds" to see the list, and "subscribe" lets you add them to your reader. Anyone not know about RSS?

[Balog]

Ah yes, the infamous ninja bad guys who'll easily take your gun/knife/baton away from you and use it against you. 

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

If I can learn some simple tricks, just think what a ninja could do...

[Balog]

Ever tried those simple tricks in FoF training with knives that give tactile feedback? Be interesting to see how well they actually work.

[brimic]

Anyone not know about RSS?

Me.

[doczinn]

http://reader.google.com

That one's my favorite, but there are tons of 'em. You add an RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed from a blog and it aggregates the daily posts for you, so you don't have to go from site to site for your daily reading. As you read each post you can mark it read, email it, leave it unread, or do a few other things with it. If there are too many (as usually happens in my news folder) you can mark them all read without reading them. I have mine set to display only unread posts.

Try it out, it will change the way you see the internet.

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

Ever tried those simple tricks in FoF training with knives that give tactile feedback? Be interesting to see how well they actually work.

I have.  That's why I believe it's entirely feasible to take a knife from someone.

Obviously training ain't the same as the real thing, but it should be indicative of what's possible.

[Seenterman]

www.zombiehunters.org

Yea I know .  .  .
If you can get past the zombie metaphor they have some really good collective knowledge about putting together bug out bags, first aid kits, and other various knowledge for everyday use.  Like reviews on tents, sleeping bags and what not. Plus they have a firearm section.

[Viking]

Ever tried those simple tricks in FoF training with knives that give tactile feedback? Be interesting to see how well they actually work.

FoF?

[makattak]

FoF?

Force on Force

[Balog]

I have.  That's why I believe it's entirely feasible to take a knife from someone.

Obviously training ain't the same as the real thing, but it should be indicative of what's possible.

If we presume there are such simple tricks to disarm a person with a knife without getting cut, would there not also be equally simple and easy to learn ways to avoid being disarmed?

[Nitrogen]

There were a great set of articles written by someone who survived Katrina, but i can't find them, maybe someone else can chime in with them?

EDIT: Found it:
http://www.theplacewithnoname.com/blogs/klessons/