PowerSwitch

A BRITISH family are gearing up to survive a global disaster they believe is imminent and will plunge civilization into a lawless new dark age....

How many preppers on here these days?

Wot a larf. "A huge solar flare will bring the end of the world in months... and we are ready for it"

followed by a picture of a child and her overweight dad with guns. And a barbecue. Ermmm....

Maybe by 'solar flares' he means a comeback of 1970s fashion?

Once he opens his computer repair shop, Larry spends three hours checking for solar flare updates, looks on YouTube for new conspiracy theory videos and catches up with preppers from across the world.

emordnilap wrote:Maybe by 'solar flares' he means a comeback of 1970s fashion?

Isn't that apocalyptic enough?? Peak Taste, anyone?

Actually a lot of what they're doing seems perfectly sensible: stored water and food, plus veggie garden, chickens and the means to get meat from the wild, would be useful in any type of disruption, permanent or temporary. The chap's a bit podgy but that's not the same as unfit, and the article says he's working on that.

Going to the newspapers with it, though, isn't very bright...

emordnilap wrote:Maybe by 'solar flares' he means a comeback of 1970s fashion?[

What a loon!

Aurora wrote:

emordnilap wrote:Maybe by 'solar flares' he means a comeback of 1970s fashion?[

What a loon!

Yeah, I gusset's true.

To be fair to the guy, this is an article in the Sun, so i'd suspect at most, 10% of it was accurate and 90% made up by the hack.

emordnilap wrote:

Aurora wrote:

emordnilap wrote:Maybe by 'solar flares' he means a comeback of 1970s fashion?[

What a loon!

Yeah, I gusset's true.

What a turn-up for the books!

woodpecker wrote:

emordnilap wrote:

Aurora wrote: What a loon!

Yeah, I gusset's true.

What a turn-up for the books!

Brace yourself: that creased me (even though it was pants).

emordnilap wrote:

woodpecker wrote:

emordnilap wrote: Yeah, I gusset's true.

What a turn-up for the books!

Brace yourself: that creased me (even though it was pants).

Oh, zip it, you lot. Could a moderator tie-dye up this thread, please? People might feel hemmed in to continuing this sort of nonsense, which flies in the face of what PowerSwitch is supposed to be about.

Oh, come on chaps.

Belt up, you lot.

To return to the point, a solar flare bad enough to cause TEOTWAWKI is very unlikely, BUT it could happen.
Not perhaps a true black swan event, but certainly a dark gray swan !

There would be minimum direct effect on human life, this being limited to an increase in natural radiation levels.

The indirect effects could be very severe indeed and lead to a great die off.
No grid power for years, and perhaps never again.
No modern communications for years, and perhaps never again.

Small scale local electrical facilities that are not grid connected should be fine.
Diesel generators would work for example, but only whilst fuel was obtainable
Small or stand alone renewable electricity sources should be fine, until you need spare or replacement parts that are no longer available.

Whilst a a really severe solar flare is a low probability event, preps are still very worth while, since they are effectively preps for grid failure, whether caused by solar flare, EMP event, terrorism, war, or simply running out of money to maintain such large and costly infrastructure.

Maybe this is what happens when you respond to a TV company who, hving not got enough for a series pass details on to friends in other media?

As adam2 says there is a reasonable chance that a severe flare could put us out of the electrical age. An extreme solar flare is a gamma ray burst fortunately our sun can't do those. Also fortunately other stars can but, as they hit at nearly the speed of light, and are unsurvivable there's no point in worrying about them.

That video suggests I'd better get my health and fitness back onto a good track

Got me a new BOL, yup, and a purty lil' maid. [/Deliverance]

---> <--- [serious face].

adam2 wrote:.. very unlikely, BUT it could happen...

I find it interesting how we humans deal with assessing 'risk', in particular, the cognitive biases at play when prioritising our responses to the wide range of risks we encounter every day.

If this chap had spent his time looking at, say, the statistics regarding the new risks of one of his kids ending up dead as a result of his bringing firearms into the house, or the risks involved in driving his 4x4, rather than stuff on youtube about 'solar flares', would he act differently?

Mrs. Prepper wrote:"We both care about our family and that's the bottom line for us."

Here's a TED talk from Bruce Schneier (security guru) that discusses how we perceive risk: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGd_M_CpeDI

SleeperService wrote:Maybe this is what happens when you respond to a TV company who, hving not got enough for a series pass details on to friends in other media?

Yep, I was wondering how they got hold of this story in the first place. I assume he responded to a 'Naomi Banat' type request somewhere along the way. I wonder if/how much he regrets it now.

The whole point of the article seems to be to paint him as a nutter, an object of ridicule. That last line (the one that always sticks):

The Sun wrote:...pure fantasy in the minds of conspiracy theorists.

.. is designed to subtly create in the mind of the casual reader the idea that 'prepping' = 'conspiracy nutter'.

(well, maybe not so subtly).