Preparing for Uncertainty and Self Reliance

[Penner]

Lincoln had no school growing up. He learned to read using the only book in the cabin: The Bible.

He was probably the most gifted rhetor to become President.

I guess Penner thinks those pioneers arrived on the frontier and found a bunch of school houses waiting for them, with teachers and all.

Well, once they had their basic needs met they all wanted to build schools and to send their kids to get at least an education.

[Okeefenokee]

Penner's really trying to get out of field work.

[Speaker to Animals]

Lincoln had no school growing up. He learned to read using the only book in the cabin: The Bible.

He was probably the most gifted rhetor to become President.

I guess Penner thinks those pioneers arrived on the frontier and found a bunch of school houses waiting for them, with teachers and all.

Well, once they had their basic needs met they all wanted to build schools and to send their kids to get at least an education.

You are assuming everybody was like the Puritans. Honestly, the devotion to education and the insitutionalization of schools was one of the Yankee's stronger points.

That wasn't something shared by all. Deep southern aristocracy followed the classical model with tutors. Appalachians just did it at home, like the Lincolns. Non-aristocratic southerners probably educated their own children as well.


Though, I do know the deep south had quite a lot of military academies for young boys. I suppose parents of means sent their boys there to become good soldiers. There was even a battle where the school mustered the students and sent them out to get slaughtered by federal troops.

[Penner]

I guess Penner thinks those pioneers arrived on the frontier and found a bunch of school houses waiting for them, with teachers and all.

Well, once they had their basic needs met they all wanted to build schools and to send their kids to get at least an education.

You are assuming everybody was like the Puritans. Honestly, the devotion to education and the insitutionalization of schools was one of the Yankee's stronger points.

That wasn't something shared by all. Deep southern aristocracy followed the classical model with tutors. Appalachians just did it at home, like the Lincolns. Non-aristocratic southerners probably educated their own children as well.


Though, I do know the deep south had quite a lot of military academies for young boys. I suppose parents of means sent their boys there to become good soldiers. There was even a battle where the school mustered the students and sent them out to get slaughtered by federal troops.

It's all about meeting basic human needs first. If you are hungry and dying of thirst you are not going to learn and/or want to do anything else but survive. Same thing with security. You have to feel safe and/or feel that your love ones are also safe and their needs are also met. Either way, education in some form is probably going to happen in one way or the other once civilization 2.0 comes around. I mean without it then you won't get civilization 2.0.

[Okeefenokee]

There's a period of uncertainty and self-reliance that comes between civ 1.0 and 2.0. I think there's a thread around here somewhere where we were talking about preparing for that period.

[Speaker to Animals]

Well, once they had their basic needs met they all wanted to build schools and to send their kids to get at least an education.

You are assuming everybody was like the Puritans. Honestly, the devotion to education and the insitutionalization of schools was one of the Yankee's stronger points.

That wasn't something shared by all. Deep southern aristocracy followed the classical model with tutors. Appalachians just did it at home, like the Lincolns. Non-aristocratic southerners probably educated their own children as well.


Though, I do know the deep south had quite a lot of military academies for young boys. I suppose parents of means sent their boys there to become good soldiers. There was even a battle where the school mustered the students and sent them out to get slaughtered by federal troops.

It's all about meeting basic human needs first. If you are hungry and dying of thirst you are not going to learn and/or want to do anything else but survive. Same thing with security. You have to feel safe and/or feel that your love ones are also safe and their needs are also met. Either way, education in some form is probably going to happen in one way or the other once civilization 2.0 comes around. I mean without it then you won't get civilization 2.0.

All that stuff comes after a point where the real world application of prepping no longer remains in effect. At some point, you will want those things. But that point is beyond the scope of prepping. Prepping is about getting from the beginning of the calamity to a point where you can think about schools and picnics again.

[C-Mag]

I'm not saying they will last forever but it's still a commendable idea. If nothing else it will help a community survive long enough to pass on what they learned. Just learning the fauna and basic medical stuff would transmit for ages.

Also many people that are off the grid know about EMP's. I'm sure some of them have built basic faraday cages.

Ever seen a Conex shipping container, an all steel sided and roofed shop or industrial building, or a filing cabinet. All will function as a Faraday Cage. I'm in a metal shop right now, that's where my office is. I have 4 computers in hear. Just using one. But the old ones are set aside.

I believe in the case of an EMP tons of computers would survive. The problem with an EMP is that it's highly likely that enough public utilities computer systems would not survive and take down the electrical grid and associated systems. However, IMO, Americans could bounce back fairly quickly getting those systems up and running again especially at the especially at Hydro Electric source production. Bringing the entire country back to the 21st C would be a long proposition though.

[MilSpecs]

The problem with an EMP is that it's highly likely that enough public utilities computer systems would not survive and take down the electrical grid and associated systems. However, IMO, Americans could bounce back fairly quickly getting those systems up and running again especially at the especially at Hydro Electric source production. Bringing the entire country back to the 21st C would be a long proposition though.

The logistics may be insurmountable. They're going to have to find every retired field engineer and shop technician (the people with the knowledge predating modern systems), and get them all into facilities and shops that are likely very far from where they live now. It's not like they're all going to walk to their plants and shops, and a lot of those facilities are located in what are often heavily populated areas, and after a disaster may be zones ruled by warlords.

[C-Mag]

The problem with an EMP is that it's highly likely that enough public utilities computer systems would not survive and take down the electrical grid and associated systems. However, IMO, Americans could bounce back fairly quickly getting those systems up and running again especially at the especially at Hydro Electric source production. Bringing the entire country back to the 21st C would be a long proposition though.

The logistics may be insurmountable. They're going to have to find every retired field engineer and shop technician (the people with the knowledge predating modern systems), and get them all into facilities and shops that are likely very far from where they live now. It's not like they're all going to walk to their plants and shops, and a lot of those facilities are located in what are often heavily populated areas, and after a disaster may be zones ruled by warlords.

I think it would be hit an miss on War Lords and Fiefdoms. Some states like Illinois, California and Florida don't have a chance, but other states might very well keep their state governments functioning. Population density is probably the biggest factor.

[Speaker to Animals]

I have a feeling the military brass and feds would want to come out here to western North Carolina mountains to build their Valhalla Sector.