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Post by Nighthawk on Feb 4, 2015 8:40:00 GMT 10
At this rate we'll all be heading to Chris' place if the SHTF
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Post by Nighthawk on Feb 2, 2015 23:40:19 GMT 10
South Africa is pretty high on my list of places I would not want to be even when things are 'good'. I have quite a large number of friends from SA and almost all of them have come over to Australia specifically to escape the decline of their home nation as they didn't feel safe over there any more.
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Post by Nighthawk on Feb 2, 2015 22:02:49 GMT 10
www.fin24.com/Economy/Eskom-lifts-veil-on-doom-at-cabinet-briefing-20150201Johannesburg - Cabinet has been briefed by Eskom about the risk of a total national electricity blackout – and the US embassy in Pretoria has drawn up an evacuation plan partly designed to get its staff out safely if the lights go off in South Africa once and for all, reported Fin24's sister publication City Press on Sunday. Senior government sources told City Press that Eskom late last year presented a bleak picture of what would happen if load shedding failed and the system shut down completely. “It’s a fact. They said we needed to do maintenance because the system was unreliable and would shut down,” said a senior government official. Eskom warned government that, if the system crashed, it would take at least two weeks to reboot. A second official privy to the information presented to cabinet said the “two-week warning” was based on what had happened in California when its electricity system shut down in 2011. “When your car battery is flat, you need additional capacity to be able to boost it. This is how our system works. California had to buy an amount of power equal to their total capacity to be able to reboot their system,” the second official said. “We don’t want to go there, because all our neighbours are buying from us. No one in Africa has 42 000 MW of power.” The insider said Eskom had warned government it had no option but to continue load shedding, despite senior ANC and government officials being unhappy about the ongoing power cuts. “We can’t afford a total blackout. We don’t have that luxury,” the second official said. Reuters reported on Friday that in the event of a national blackout, President Jacob Zuma and his cabinet would be taken to a secret location and soldiers would be deployed at national key points, such as the SA Reserve Bank and the SABC’s head office in Auckland Park, Johannesburg. Eskom this week refused to be drawn on the chances of a large-scale blackout happening and merely said it would continue to implement load shedding to protect the grid, as this is the best way to protect South Africa’s power system. US embassy staff are now taking a hard look at South Africa’s power situation on a daily basis. US Embassy spokesperson Jack Hillmeyer confirmed the embassy has a plan, but said it was “standard procedure”. “The safety and security of our American and local staff and facilities is a top priority,” he said. “As we do in our locations throughout the world, we plan and prepare for possible emergency situations we may face. Our planning in South Africa is similar to what we do in all countries.” Hillmeyer said he could not discuss specifics about safety and security planning for “obvious reasons”. Eskom sources have told City Press a national blackout was a “very significant possibility for the foreseeable future”. Two sources told City Press the situation has become even worse over the past month. Eskom should be able to generate 43 300 MW of power on a 24-hour basis. However, on a good day, the power utility only produces 71% of its generation capacity owing to faults at its power stations – and the need for maintenance is critical. Lately, according to the utility’s own graphs, they have been operating at 65% on most days. Two weeks ago, Eskom CEO Tshediso Matona told a closed meeting of 100 of South Africa’s top business leaders that his senior management “prays every day” that nothing unforeseen happened to collapse the national grid infrastructure, causing a potentially catastrophic nationwide blackout. A CEO in the telecommunications industry, who did not attend the meeting but was informed of Matona’s message, told City Press companies not drawing up plans for a worst-case scenario are being “daft”. “We certainly have had meetings on the issue and God help us all if it does happen, but we can’t sit around doing nothing if the Eskom head himself has warned us,” he said. He did not want to elaborate on his company’s plans to survive a national blackout.
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Post by Nighthawk on Jan 31, 2015 7:19:26 GMT 10
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Post by Nighthawk on Jan 31, 2015 6:49:01 GMT 10
I remember that coverage and was similarly impressed with both of them. As with you, I'm no Labour voter (despite growing up in Bob Hawke's electorate) and have always had respect for Smith since. I agree, Bishop has class.
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Post by Nighthawk on Jan 29, 2015 23:28:28 GMT 10
OK I'm in for a small day pack, a set of mess tins, water canteen, hexi stove and fuel tabs, KFS set, a couple of FREDs, and some paracord. Might find some other odds and ends to throw in as well.
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Post by Nighthawk on Jan 29, 2015 22:14:15 GMT 10
One of our members here - chris14 - had all his bug-out/prepping gear stolen recently by his sister's ex. A few of us have offered to help out with replacing the stuff. chris14, could you please let us know what was taken and maybe folks who would like to help can post here what they are sending so you don't wind up with ten can openers but no torches (or whatever)? Thanks to everyone who has already offered to help out in the Shoutbox. (please be aware that Chris is under the age of 18, so no knives etc thanks)
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Post by Nighthawk on Jan 29, 2015 13:28:53 GMT 10
For the sort of money he wants for those 'Rambo' style knives, I'd spend an extra $10 and get a machete. Still intimidating if needed, and very practical should you actually need to use it.
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Post by Nighthawk on Jan 29, 2015 8:49:55 GMT 10
I don't know what it is, is it like VOIP for gaming? Yeah, pretty much.
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Post by Nighthawk on Jan 29, 2015 7:51:20 GMT 10
The knives are just for 'looks' in case of being 'approached' so don't have to last or serve any other purpose. If this is a genuine BOB (ie. the S has HTF) what will you do when you do actually need the knife to serve a real purpose? Check out any article or blog post on BOBs etc, and you'll find a quality full tang knife at just about the top of every list. In Dave Canterbury's 'Five C's of Survival' it's the first thing listed.
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Post by Nighthawk on Jan 28, 2015 21:21:54 GMT 10
I'm the same with the knives. Other than the Gerbers that he has, I wouldn't touch any of them.
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Post by Nighthawk on Jan 28, 2015 16:52:01 GMT 10
What are you looking at getting from them?
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Post by Nighthawk on Jan 24, 2015 18:43:01 GMT 10
4 x Lifestraws Couple of hundred purification tablets, good for 1 litre each 2 x army water filters
Definitely an area I want to expand on in the near future.
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Post by Nighthawk on Jan 10, 2015 21:38:45 GMT 10
Just picked up my new .243 today. If I was closer I'd come and put in a shift with you VegHead.
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Post by Nighthawk on Jan 10, 2015 8:41:07 GMT 10
Showed Mrs NH last night, and she was very keen to find out more. Great work GN
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Post by Nighthawk on Jan 8, 2015 21:52:49 GMT 10
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Post by Nighthawk on Jan 8, 2015 21:46:53 GMT 10
Does someone require my PO box details? No I just need to get my butt into gear.
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Post by Nighthawk on Jan 7, 2015 15:41:17 GMT 10
1) Yes. Our ISP had a major outage last year because of a fault in the undersea cable between Perth and Singapore
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Post by Nighthawk on Jan 6, 2015 17:33:54 GMT 10
Would a good old fashioned hexi stove work? I have a bunch at my work. PM me if you're interested.
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Post by Nighthawk on Jan 6, 2015 15:32:19 GMT 10
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