American Blackout

[Sgt Nambu]

Well, I took the bait. I can't believe I wasted two hours of my life on that trash.

I also thought that making the only prepper in the show nasty and shrill showed the bias to be expected from NatGeo.

Exactly! Not only nasty and shrill but basically incompetent! He would have certainly died had the power not miraculously come back on. See people, preppers are both nasty and stupid!
Still I enjoyed it for the same reason I like Rockey Horror Picture Show and Godzilla movies, goofy fun!

 

[CoastRange57]

I watched the total of 2 minutes. That was all it took for me to call it complete bull shot and not worth my time.

 

[Sabertooth]

10 days with out power in rural America sounds like a who cares thing. If you live in a city, maybe time to rethink about how and where you live.
Anyone out there make enough money to be able to afford 100,000 or more on a bug shelter or convert your home into a fort??

 

[Sabertooth]

Well, I took the bait. I can't believe I wasted two hours of my life on that trash.

I also thought that making the only prepper in the show nasty and shrill showed the bias to be expected from NatGeo.

Did you learn anything form the trash??

 

[GOG]

Did you learn anything form the trash??

Actually, the idea of "decoy food" is a good one and one I'd never thought of before.

I kinda' figured the show would be slanted against preppers. One look at "Doomsday Preppers" shows it pretty well; portraying preppers as mostly tinfoil hat wearing whackjobs.

 

[Sodbuster]

Actually, the idea of "decoy food" is a good one and one I'd never though of before.

I kinda' figured the show would be slanted against preppers. One look at "Doomsday Preppers" shows it pretty well; portraying preppers as mostly tinfoil hat wearing whackjobs.

There were a few things we can learn from the show (don't get caught on a college campus at any time : don't be pregnant during a major blackout event : don't go into the stair well from a penthouse apartment). More along the lines of what not to do.

But I do agree the bogus food/arms/stash is a good one. The portrayals on the show were pretty bad.

 

[erudne]

I learned that the only PPL I need fear are FOWGs and YAWKs w/guns
Also Obama will beg for help, from the UN, feeding 350 million helpless sheeple within 5 days of a BO.
Colorado Crackers, living in the middle of no where, do not have more than 3 days worth of food and when it runs out do not know how to forage or hunt, let alone form a Tribe!

 

[U201491]

I learned that the only PPL I need fear are FOWGs and YAWKs w/guns
Also Obama will beg for help, from the UN, feeding 350 million helpless sheeple within 5 days of a BO.
Colorado Crackers, living in the middle of no where, do not have more than 3 days worth of food and when it runs out do not know how to forage or hunt, let alone form a Tribe!

Yep, many people will get desperate and mean for lack of knowledge and become takers. Then there are the predators. The 2 legged kind. They will cull themselves out in time. Stay invisible and observant get the hell away from urban areas for a while.
And dont forget an ARD on the scopes. Non reflective or nylons on the glasses. Learn to love the night. Things will settle down in time. Then you can gradually connect with the savy folks.

 

[lucifermonkey]

I learned that I need to get another generator for my caviar and champagne!

I thought it was ok for what it was.
Preppers will agree that it was terrible, but people not familiar with prepping might realize that they should be doing more.

 

[AMProducts]

I watched the total of 2 minutes. That was all it took for me to call it complete bull shot and not worth my time.

Thankfully I had something better to do, so I DVR'ed it... got home turned it on, watched the first five minutes started skipping through, and eventually came to the conclusion that there was absolutely nothing in this show of value. It was like the blair witch project met idiocracy, with the same inevitability of titanic; impossibly close camera views, disjointed stories loosely tied together with a theme impaired indifference. It seems show was edited by a 12 year old boy, who weeks after puberty started had been locked in a dingy room with flickering lights and fed a steady diet of energy drinks, yellow jackets, and model glue, to build his shattered psyche into a towering rage where complex abstract thoughts can only be conveyed in short 5-30 second clips of jittery video and distorted audio.

I have to admit, I really don't have a vocabulary for describing just how awful this show was.

 

[SOG165]

The whole thing struck me as a steaming pile of organic equestrian Frisbees.....

SOG

 

[simon99]

I wasn't able to watch the show, but as someone with an engineering background and that has friends and family that work in the utility industry I have a few comments that I think warrant consideration.
Could an EMP actually happen? yes, I think it could and it would prove catastrophic to our electrical grid.
However, it could be brought down a lot easier using much more basic technology. Despite the reassurances by utility providers, the systems in place are not that secure to outside computer hackers. All the systems in place run on a basic set of computer logic parameters that are common among differing manufacturers. Some manufacturers are better than others but like any government, city, county project it usually is awarded to the lowest bidder. The engineers who run these systems are not prepared for an all-out full scale cyber attack.
This is the same type of attack that Iran used to bring down a US drone and how the Israelis penetrated Iran's power systems. The same type of technology could easily be applied to attacking a local power grid....

 

[AMProducts]

As someone with 10+ years experience in IT security, including NERC/CIP I have way more fear of ineptness than I do of a cyber attack. Further, I worry more about low tech attacks on the power grid, a few dozen guys with a few dozen trucks and some cables could pull down enough high tension wires to really inconvenience a lot of people, it requires nearly zero skill and a shoestring budget. Our security is an illusion created by a lack of vision.

I could never imagine something like 9/11 happening, no one else did either. However, the idea that something that is on the radar (cyber attack) generally means it's not a threat.

 

[erudne]

The Mock-U-mentary was dull and vastly under thought, word is it was a copy of BBCs Blackout 2013
there was a lot of Propaganda in it:
All the BGs were white
White male Teens are clueless, inept, dangerous to their mothers.
White female teens are passive and clueless whiners
everyone who had a firearm was an idiot
the prepper was a bombastic idiot who existed only to paint white males as a danger to their familys
Obama is a passive idiot who sells the US to the UN after 5 days, who (apparently) rescue the US
In other words, the show was decidedly racist