Paging Participants: Thoughts On Run-Up To Rollover and Mission

greenspun.com : LUSENET : TimeBomb 2000 (Y2000) Preparation Forum : One Thread

I'm preparing a forum "mission statement" over the next few days, anticipating the possibility that we will be joined by a variety of newbies over the next month -- perhaps by many newbies over the next six months (assuming the Net stays up and, if it wobbles, we'll supplement with ham and other comms).

In general, I see this forum as a non-politicized "stay calm" arena for helping each other and our communities recover from Y2K. We are not here to demonize .gov, .mil or ordinary Americans troubled about their country. We're here for the old-fashioned purpose of helping one another -- talking over the cracker barrel in front of the General Store. Not to mention: this forum is read worldwide, not just by Americans.

While a real bad situation might see nerves on the part of .gov about Y2K activism, online and offline, cool heads there will be glad to have voluntary, positive efforts for individual and community "help" readily available.

For another metaphor, we might well see ourselves as "virtual" volunteers signed-up for the "virtual" hurricane that might soon strike. None of this detracts from preparing for ourselves and our families, but rather strengthens it, IMO. Most of you have long since chosen to combine personal preps with help to your community.

While I have ZERO personal agenda for this forum, I have the conviction that development of a more robust infrastructure will become a more acceptable and even a nationally recognized security strategy after rollover. In a world where the bad guys can take out key parts of U.S. infrastructure through well-timed cyberterrorism, "prepped communities" might just become a national asset. If the .gov good guys aren't thinking along these lines, they darn well should be.

Bottom line: some of your "throw-away" threads on "how to do 'x'" may someday be more valuable than you thought.

Ideas? Thoughts? Ways to phrase our mission, without making something as simple and mundane as this forum sound unbearably grandiose .... ;-) ?

-- BigDog (BigDog@duffer.com), December 10, 1999

Answers

BigDog, ya big lunk, I think ya just wrote it. A bit of formalizing and looks like you've got it, providing you keep it somewhat flexible, because nobody knows how this thing will pan out. (However, furriners won't understand the cracker barrel-General Store metaphor--sitting around over a cup of tea or coffee might do better, locale left to the imagination.)

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), December 10, 1999.

BD,

For just this once I'll try to make some comments without my alleged humor(?).

I think you are right on track here. I've thought from the start that the information on this board is FAR more important than TB2000.

While all the politics and speculation may be fun, here on the Prep board is where the "rubber meets the road".

Knowledge and Heart are what will get us throgh rough times, whatever and whenever they occur.

As a individual caring person YOU have saved lives here. Period.

As long as this board stays available, it will continue to save lives.

.

A possibility for a mission statement:

To share and discuss information which assists people to feed, clothe, and shelter themselves in circumstances where conventional methods are not available or will not work (for whatever reason).

.

To add to the last point, the information here is NOT just Y2K related. It is extreemly valuable no matter the cause of the circumstance in which one cannot use conventional methods.

-Greybear....BD, you done good.

-- Got Ideas?

-- Greybear (greybear@home.com), December 10, 1999.


>In general, I see this forum as a non-politicized "stay calm" arena >for helping each other and our communities recover from Y2K. We are >not here to demonize .gov, .mil or ordinary Americans troubled about >their country.

A very strong YES to this. No politics - just discussions, questions and comments on anything pertaining to survival. I would not necessarily limit it to just Y2K. Most preps will apply equally well to a wide variety of scenarios.

Damn good forum, glad to see it's going to stay around.

............Alan.

The Prudent Food Storage FAQ, v3.5

http://www.providenceco-op.com

-- A.T. Hagan (athagan@sprintmail.com), December 10, 1999.


GB, OG and Alan, thanks for kinds words and ideas. Encouragement very welcome AND hoping folks will continue to work hard with me here and add more ideas, thoughts, questions, etc. on the topic.

-- BigDog (BigDog@duffer.com), December 10, 1999.

The Resilient Communities project is a start. I favor using the word "resilient" to mean exactly that - something which can absorb and withstand impact. But to many in the Resilient Communities orbit, it also means rejecting many parts of modern life by making a value judgment about them, and crafting a new community structure that reflects the values they DO support. (The rejection is fine with me, the new communities are fine, but this overlays too much on the word "resilient".)

We are all, I think, hoping that our civilization is resilient enough to handle what is coming at us. Your basic suggestion involves finding that resilience when needed, and fostering it where we might be too brittle. Sounds like what my wife and I have been working toward for the last two years.

-- bw (home@puget.sound), December 10, 1999.



Somewhere along the road a lot of useful knowledge was lost, or forgotten, and every now and then for whatever reason people rediscover that knowledge, adding to it a new twist or turn. You have seen this happen years ago in books like "Foxfire". It is a shame that something like Y2K makes you take stock of what is really important in life. To have the gift of canning or laying a fire right, is a gift that we gave up for an easier way. When we gave up how to build that log house, or grow a field of wheat because we did not have the time, we gave up something special. If Y2K is bad, than the good we get out of it will be knowledge, and knowledge is never wasted. Survival is a good motivation, but the pride that goes along with learning how to survive like our great grandparents goes a long way too. There are a lot of people out there who have never made a pot of coffee, unless in an electric drip pot, but they have learned. I for one am looking at Y2K as a learning experience. This forum has collected a lot of experiences that we can pass on. These experiences may have been lost to our families and us if not for the sharing and dedication of its members. I have only been here for the past few months, but have learned so much from everyone. Maybe some kind of newsletter could be formed, and mailed or emailed to people each month. People could write or email in, and all as a group could answer questions. Don't let the knowledge die out with the New Year. It is too important to keep it alive. Thank you all for all the help.

Beth

-- Beth (craig@icu2.net), December 10, 1999.


I am not trying to put the damper on this thread/idea as there are many who have contributed a lot to make this forum a worth while project for all. But I do have to say this....there is a book available for $26 that has 99.9% of the info on this forum already printed plus tons and tons more. Thats Carla Emerey's book, The Encyclopedia of Country Living. If you really believe that you need to have knowledge and skills for surviving AND LIVING, then you must buy this book. I am one of the fortunate that has a copy of her original. We paid the subscription and then she sent us the pages as she wrote them. She is one hell of a gal and I recently bought her current edition so that I wouldn't continue to dogear the pages of the first edition. Having said that, count me in on this project, Big Dog. I hope that I can contribute something worth while to it.

Taz

-- Taz (Tassi123@aol.com), December 10, 1999.


BD. YES! human exchange with tons of respect without rancor and or political agenda. Friend to friend, neighbor to neighbor. Carla's book is just great, I agree. There may be other creative ideas perking from those who are learning the satisfaction and exhaustion of doing it from scratch. Also there may be folks who don't have a way to get to other resources. A good living library. yep.

-- catherine plamondon (Whatagreatidea@BD.com), December 10, 1999.

Carla's book is excellent. We have it and often refer to it.

But no one book can substitute for the "collaborative" help which a group of people give by sharing with each other -- even when some of their advice is wrong ;-) ! And Carla doesn't "know it all." Like all of us, she is coming from a particular angle.

Also, the dynamism of the Net enables us to share links to OTHER resources (web sites, books, publications, etc) as well as put it all in "context" (for now, the context is Y2K). This includes specific types of encouragement and advice.

Finally, while Y2K preps have obviously anticipated problems WITH technology, the use of technology in creative, intentional ways (renewable energy sources are only one example) is something we have scarcely explored.

This said, I'm still focused on the next month, let along the next six months or beyond! No cosmic future agenda is in view .....

-- BigDog (BigDog@duffer.com), December 10, 1999.


Taz, I hadn't even heard of Carla Emory until A Certain Person Who Shall remain Nameless kept insisting my posts were a poor version of her book! And I won't buy it because I don't live in the country and never will, plus my husband, much as I adore him, isn't at all practical and asks for the instructions if requested to change a light bulb! Granted, I'm sure many of her philosophies and suggestions would work here in town but I have enough to do already. So my posts are mostly what work for me--and, I hope, thousands like me who are townies, urbanites, call us what you will.

This week's budget suggestion is to wrap your pink flamingoes in Christmas greenery, just the head peeking out, slap a gaudy bow on each and stick them in the front yard. I was going to wrap a string of lights around mine but the one I had in mind is kaput--however, I think I can splurge on another $3 string. (Even without lights, they've brought smiles to a lot of people including us!) If you don't have any flamingoes, Christmas white ones can be found in some catalogues--gardenerssupply.com is one, I think.

Ya know, if everything is pretty much okay next year, I think I'll buy some new pink flamingoes for the warm season and spray paint the old ones gold for Christmas!

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), December 11, 1999.



All right, that does it!

I'm Leaving.

I want NOTING to do with any place in the world where some...person can get away scott-free with posting the abomination about spray painting pink flamingos gold.

Oh the horror, the humanity of it ! ! ! !

I will not tolerate this. I'm leaving now.

Besides, everyone on the other board decided to ignore my witty reply to some place getting hit with with frozen sewage. I thought "You mean they were hit with an ICBM?" was as least as funny as anything else posted there.

Pout mode ON

-Greybear

-- Greybear (greybear@home.com), December 11, 1999.


Pout mode OFF for a moment and Serious mode ON.

So why are you posting this stuff to a "Mission" thread?

For those of you new to the board: Cause it's part of my mision to try to ocassionally make some one laugh, or at least chuckle, or at least smile in the midst of the mess the world is in.

And, of course, every one-in-a-while to say something usefull.

-Greybear

Pout mode [back] ON

-- Greybear (greybear@home.om), December 11, 1999.


I like the focus of preparation regardless. I have learned a lot from this forum (Just wrote down the Emerey book and will order). It is important to keep things low key, fairly non political, and above all practical. Funny is ok too. I often come here after I am almost ready to throttle some of the crazies on the other forum.

The afterlife of this forum could well segue into real three day storm ideas. With any kind of luck, the good kind of Y2K fall out will be people taking more responsibility for their personal well being and building resiliency and sustainability into their daily lives.

Never again will I be without a garden, firewood, lamp oil, sleeping bag, stored water, and at least a couple weeks of canned food. This is a way of life.

Thanks all

-- Nancy (wellsnl@hotmail.com), December 12, 1999.


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