Our intrepid doomer over at SHTF, Ranger Man, listed his top ten post-apocalypse books. http://www.shtfblog.com/top-ten-fiction-books-about-teotwawki/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+SHTFblog-AreYouReady+%28SHTF+blog.com+-+are+YOU+ready%3F%29
Yes, yes, of course this is subjective. You can’t exactly point a trembling finger and spray saliva as you scream at the top of your lungs that this particular individual has cranial/rectal inversion syndrome and also fecal retention disease. That being said, I wonder if Ranger Man has been smoking crack
. Because no one called me up and invited me to a weekend party where we would debate doomer topics, compare our spouses cup size and chase illicit drugs with bottles of imported lager. Why didn’t he invite me? That’s just some rude crap right there. The reason I hate it when everyone gushes over The Stand
as a post-apocalyptic
novel is that it is a quasi-religious, good verses evil conflict with an incidental background of collapse. This kind of Apocalypse is not civilization falling but End Times. At least to me, that ain’t proper post-apocalypse but just Evangelical Porn. Swan Song
has the same problem. It is a simple horror novel with the background of collapse. Devil Dude directs the final battle or some crap. I couldn’t read past the opening. Same with The Stand. They start out great, mass death and destruction. In one everyone but .00001% of the population dies and in the other after a time in fallout shelters or military bases or some such, it’s all about Beelzebub. If you watched the hideous movie with Van Dam, Cyborg
, this is what I’m talking about. It is all about chop suey fighting. The setting might be post-apocalypse, but any movie that shows swords as the only weapon and then wants us to believe there was the tech and supplies to build a robot is so far out of touch with reality that they are a discredit to the genre. Just my subjective take on the matter.*
I feared unemployment
far before the current economic meltdown. My ex-wife is as evil as they come. If I had failed to pay my child support after being laid off she would have waited exactly one paycheck period before she started calling the State for enforcement of payment, the governor to make sure the civil servants in charge were not guilty of dereliction of duty, the TV station to report that she was a starving victimized mother ( never mentioning her income three times mine in some part due to my support getting her through flight school
to be a pilot wherein she promptly left me for another student pilot, plus that of a current husband who brought a house to the deal thus mainly cushioning Herself from the cost of rent ), and for all I know a bounty hunter
to rough me up a bit. Of course, for the last sixteen years I’ve had little recourse but to pray for continued employment since there was only so much surplus I could devote to my own personal unemployment insurance. Well, not exactly the full sixteen years. Five years ago I did buy real estate so that at least I didn’t have to worry about rent. If I ever did get laid off I wouldn’t have to worry about deciding between rent or support. That was quite a relief off my mind. But that didn’t eliminate the worry, just mute it.*
Previous to moving to Elko
I had land but no land near employment. Or for that matter no land closer than several hundred miles away from a current residence. By moving here I now had rent free land and employment at the same time, a further relief. I don’t know if you’ve been following every sordid detail of my life, but I actually own two lots up here in Elko. One, I bought four years ago. But since that was too far from employment I bought one closer to town, making payments for a year and a half before paying it off with a bulk payment a year ago. I now had paid for land ten miles from town rather than 15. And yet, that still wasn’t good enough. Riding a bike
that far takes more calories than I consume. I’m wore out just getting back and forth six miles each way. So I’m making payments on a third lot. I have the fallback of the paid lot, but I’m doing all my construction projects on the third, unpaid lot. This is an expense I’ve decided to take as a better alternative ( as a bonus I’m only a mile from the river ), but it isn’t a necessary expense as far as needing to suddenly cut my expenses. *
Rent/mortgage concerns now put to rest, I still had to worry about child support. My first fallback position for unemployment is actually receiving the state sponsored insurance. In theory, their fund won’t be utterly bankrupt before I make my last support payment in a year and a half. But, being the sort that likes to worry, I wanted a private insurance packet. I just crossed the threshold of asset liquidation potential equaling my future obligations. Previously, no matter what I did I would have been screwed had I been laid off. But now, if I sell the truck ( even low balling what I could expect ) and cash in my silver coins ( thanks to its recent doubling in price ) and if necessary a few rifles and other non-essential items, I have enough to pay off the parasite. I won’t have to go to jail, and I’ll still have all essential assets ( I’m talking about selling only stores that won’t compromise my survivability come the collapse ). Now, if the Great And Friggin Wonderful State Of Florida, may all their civil servants roast in the debts of Hell for all eternity, hadn’t screwed me over by not cutting my payments in half as my daughter turned into an adult, this moment would have come sooner. But it is good enough to still enjoy. And every month cuts into my total amount to go by a nice amount. Unlike the first year long ago when I was looking at $5,000 down, only $95,000 to go. And back then to afford it I had to work as a manager. At least now minimum wage is a lot higher.
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Do you have a warm and fuzzy feeling about your preps if you are unemployed? The economic collapse comes before the catabolic collapse.
END
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, and proudly proclaim it simply can’t happen here. No, here we have the FDA holding back drugs for years or decades of testing as current victims die off. Non-violent drug users going to prison where they get 
and die in horrible pain. Hundreds of thousands of young men killed in battle as they disagreed that the federal government should have more power than the states. Or killed for the central bankers ( illegally given monopoly power over the currency ) as they desperately try to keep those in power they lent munitions money to. Or we expose unfortunate civilians downwind to cancer causing levels of radiation. Or our troops to 
or depleted uranium dust or toxic immunizations. But don’t you believe for a second our government would deliberately starve us. The same government that raises property taxes so high a lifetime house is lost. The same government that renditions our citizens for torture. I’d better stop before I get upset. 
went in a whole other direction. I never gave this a whole lot of thought before. But working where I do, and having the darling companion that I do, the lack of any discipline in people is really obvious. I guess I should be thankful as it really makes my modest efforts seem grand in comparison. Simply put, lack of discipline for children and lack of self-discipline in adults is a pretty damn bad thing. But probably the norm anymore. You all know that little crap eating curtain climber that lacks structure and feedback. I can calmly ignore most Bible quotes and feel I’m not missing much, but a few really speak 
. Like spare the rod and spoil the child. I like to add spare the rod and spoil the wife, but everyone looks at me all funny, like I farted at a cocktail party for the Governor. I try to explain that this only applies to uppity wives but they don’t buy it. Doesn’t the bible say something about how thick the rod can be and no larger? Or was that colonial law? I can’t remember. I’m not a monster, the rod would be thin enough ( I’m kidding, please don’t put on the Idiot Helmet and challenge me to battle. If you can’t control your women you should leave her- she has what you can’t cure. Let the bitch starve out in the cold [ we’re talking post-jobs here, old school no welfare times ], that is much more humane than beating her ).
. Nothing wrong with it, in moderation. But sedating kids in front of it does not help instilling proper behavior. They want instant gratification from then on. Not that TV is the only culprit. Handing discipline- and very ineffective discipline at that- over to the schools is another. And let’s face it, not beating the mini-idiots. It wasn’t like I’m a mass of scars from my childhood beatings. They were few and far apart. Because they were effective. I learned quickly to avoid pain. I know I pretend to be perfect. It amuses me ( although my hair is the pinnacle of perfection ). I make a lot of mistakes and I do occasionally give in to temptation. But 95% of the time I’m moving in a positive direction. Attempting to be perfect. But I couldn’t do that without discipline. Giving in to 
, doing what feels right, not making the hard choices, that is a self reinforcing negative loop. Pretty soon, in very short order, you are a worthless human being that is just sucking up others oxygen. You need ever more larger doses of pleasure and can tolerate less and less discomfort. 
also feeds on itself, in a positive manner. Every time you force yourself to postpone pleasure, to use it as a reward rather than a state of feeling for its own sake, you can add more and more discipline at lesser perceived effort. And the act of 
itself starts to give you pleasure, rather than the wallowing in stimuli that used to be your enjoyment. Do you think I enjoy riding a 
in winter as it is snowing and seven degrees out? Now, yes. Not because that itself is so much fun but because I am taking satisfaction from saving ten bucks in gas for one round trip to work in the truck. The same with being frugal. I enjoy the savings not buying luxuries bring. It goes to preps, a warm satisfying feeling ( we shall ignore the consumerist aspect of it for now ). Or books, which increases my knowledge which adds to my writing skills which adds to my income. I’ve mentioned previously that I discipline myself to write a minimum amount daily. That adds, at least in my mind, an added value I’m offering and can conceivable increase my writing income. But the immediate feedback to that discipline isn’t the distant intangible possible payment but the immediate feeling of accomplishment not only at what I’ve created but that I’ve forced myself to do it in the first place. Yes, I do feel superior in a lot of ways, living the way I do. Not because staying cold in winter is noble or even smart but because I can discipline myself to do it. I’ve lived both ways, a drunken wretch only out for alcohol, entertainment and sex and now moderate in all. This way is much better. You feel better, you feel like you aren’t wasting a life. Try to accomplish something before you die other than pleasuring yourself.
. Let me tell you, this is one kick ass series. It is even veering from too much militia porn to a taste of true collapse. And, yes, it’s a bit of a cross between 
( read my free on-line post apoc book reviews at 
, which while one of the best post-apocalypse novels of all time ( 
is still number one and as far as I’m concerned 
is one top sci-fi writer but he does a lot of things that irritate me. Like ignore the physical limitations of the female body to create 
legions. In AAIII there is much the same mystic underlying tone, but here is seems to make much more sense and be a lot less unbelievable ( although, to be fair, I might be letting my natural preference for old Norse religion shadow my thinking- you go, 
! ). And, as a special bonus, as if the writing itself wasn’t enough of a gift, the price on this one came back down to only $12. As I keep telling Nova the author, hurry the crap up, stop being a lazy bastard, and write faster. I’m really addicted to this series. And to be honest, looking at his picture, this dude really looks old. He could die at any time and that would really inconvenience me, wanting to read more of his books. Let me help him out. I’ll give him a subtitle to hurry things along. Insane Killer Dude Becomes Master Of The Collapse Leading Religious Fanatics. Yes, yes, you’re welcome. And remember, you can go to his blog to preview all his books to decide before you buy.
on 1-26-11 I was reading about one persons preps and the three alarm bell warning system started to make quite a racket. They had eaten up almost all their prep food supplies while paying the mortgage. By the grace of Baby Jesus they were later able to replenish it. Let me dissect this catastrophe in two parts. One, American empire is Game Friggin Over. And, two, never ever never no matter what you silly bastard dip into your storage food. Let’s take a quick stroll back through yesteryear and visit the last global empire, the British. Regardless of what went on previously to help their decline, two things that spelled their demise as a power was the use of oil over coal and the first world war, with the sterling standard as a bit player. I’ve always wanted to read two kinds of 
. One, what if the Russian meteorite landed a few hours off and hit Moscow rather than Siberia? Imagine how that would have changed history, with no Russian influence on German actions. And secondly, what would have happened if oil was never found and used as a fuel? If coal stayed king, how would that have effected the balance of power? Alas, if I’m interested in those questions any author worth his salt would know it won’t sell for crap. So If I want to explore those questions I’d have to do it myself. And that needs far more research time than I have. 
floundered, so does ours. We’ve had plenty of warning and ignored it all. And, my point? We are running down the same path that doomed others, there is no turning back and our economy is guaranteed to take a big squishy dump very soon. Trying to pay a mortgage in this environment is like arriving on the Titanic decks with a 
for a flotation device.
himself ( still one of the top non-fiction collapse manual authors-his early works ) and how he ate off his prep supplies while unemployed. As I can attest from personal experience, stupid is as stupid does. Some things should never be an option, such as cheating on the wife ( unless you get an offer from a really hot, stacked naturally redheaded virgin that gives you a written guarantee that you will receive all the sex you want and a severance package which includes the concrete fortress, its arsenal of H&K’s, all the gold Kugerands and the equivalent of three years pay in the currency of your choice ), responding to an offer for a pedophile magazine subscription ( here’s a joke- a man come home to the old wife crying and packing her bags. “What’s the matter?” he asks. She tells him her mother hates him and calls him a pedophile. “My”, he says, “That sure is a big word for a twelve year old” ) or eating out of your storage food. Three things should caution you from even thinking about it. The economy keeps getting worse ( no money for replacements ). Global grain supplies are dropping as population increases ( no supplies to buy even if you have money ). And, as oil supplies dwindle ( even if only from import decline rather than Peak Oil ) you will be faced with grain that is no longer affordable even if you have a job. It is almost guarantied that it is too late to be able to replace your food stockpile. Give up assets before food. Give up debt before food. Or give up hope really soon.
because every time the fat bitch of a wife sits there the shocks take a hell of a beating, but then you have to also think about knocking off the wife and making it look like an accident because otherwise she’ll use the kids against you in divorce court, which seems like a lot of work so instead of trading up in models you just pay $75 for the 
to service you as you wear an extra 
against disease. Because you’ve had other things on your mind, I’ve been thinking of the Chinese rare metal monopoly for you. These kinds of things are like trying to remember where you left your car keys. Don’t directly think about it, just let your subconscious do the work for you. Which is how this brilliant theory came to me, unbidden. Sure, it took awhile, but genius can’t be rushed. While most of the coal and oil runs out more and more people are going to be in a panic about keeping the lights on. The market for 
and their batteries could be huge. Perhaps far more profitable than the auto market ( since their won’t be anything other than dung fire steam engines left for locomotion soon ). And what do thin film solar panels and batteries need in their construction? Rare metals the Chinese have in abundance. Monopolize those and you monopolize the energy production that uses far less fuel to produce than traditional panels. Even gasoline refineries use the rare earth metals. 
. Not-a-gottdamn-thing. If you can’t believe that we are Peak Oil plateau after Six Friggin Years of evidence ( if oil is now almost $100 a barrel and it was even higher, and that hasn’t lead to an increase of production, then obvious to even the Pollyanna’s out there, we don’t have any extra to pump ) than I see little hope for you. Sell your prep supplies and move back to suburbia selling your soul to a corporate master. At the same time as oil production has stalled, population globally has grown 6.5%. I’m sorry, let me add a few exclamation points to underline the importance of that statement. !!!!!!!!!!!! We have 6.5% less energy to grow the food the population needs. Now add in weather damage of crops AND nearly decimated stockpiles. Which brings us to today’s article, why you can’t compare a solar civilization’s collapse to a petroleum civilizations. There is no denying the basic fact that despite a lot of differences between the two, there are also enough similarities to help confuse the issue. First, it is true that petroleum and coal are the basis for every product we have and every service we perform. 10% of global 
goes just to buying oil and the other 90% is based on using it. We literally eat our oil. But that is no different than ancient societies that had the basis of everything they did and everything they owned in the energy output of the sun. Secondly, the ancients were just as prone to ignore upcoming depletion of energy as we are. Their solar energy continued, but their soil and water issues were the same as our oil decline.
. You can postpone the inevitable, but only for so long and to such a degree. Hence, I would say that the increase in population was always in check. It went up and down. If it increased over time it was a gentle rise. Which is why 
lasted so long. They didn’t quickly wear out the soil, chop down hillside forests, silt up the fields. These were slow changes, over many centuries. You knew how many people the land could support and only slowly added more people as you gained slow incremental advantages ( even if they were unsustainable ). Destruction was slow. Probably unnoticeable a lot of the time.
, mining is wearing out the soil and moving to another piece of virgin land as was done in the South ] for a small taste of how rich opening the oil taps made us ). But mostly this is a one time deal for humans. And it isn’t just the concentration of energy but also the fact that it went global. We are not one area or one country using up our resources on the way to collapse. It is global. The entire world is dependent on oil inputs to eat, and those few areas left independent to practice traditional farming will not survive the starving hoards nearby come crunch time. Even if an African village is feeding itself just on solar power, the slum fifty miles down the road holding five million non-farmers will wipe it out immediately. When oil runs out, the food runs out and everyone goes hungry. Those areas not affected most likely will still become sterile from 
and the fallout.