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Survivalism
Survivalism is a social movement of individuals or groups (called survivalists, doomsday preppers or preppers) who proactively prepare for emergencies, such as natural disasters, and other disasters causing disruption to social order (that is, civil disorder) caused by political or economic crises. Preparations may anticipate short-term scenarios or long-term, on scales ranging from personal adversity, to local disruption of services, to international or global catastrophe. There is no bright line dividing general emergency preparedness from in the form of survivalism (these concepts are a spectrum), but a qualitative distinction is often recognized whereby preppers/survivalists prepare especially extensively because they have higher estimations of the risk of catastrophes happening. Nonetheless, prepping can be as limited as preparing for a personal emergency (such as losing one's job, storm damage to one's home, or getting lost in wooded terrain), or it can be as extensive ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Retreat (survivalism)
In the survivalist subculture or movement, a retreat is a place of refuge. Sometimes their retreats are called a bug-out location (BOL), a bunker, or a bolt hole. Survivalist retreats are intended to be self-sufficient and easily defended. Generally, they are located in sparsely populated outback rural areas. History While fallout shelters have been advocated since the 1950s, dedicated self-sufficient survivalist retreats have been advocated only since the mid-1970s. The survival retreat concept has been touted by a number of influential survivalist writers including Ragnar Benson, Robert K. Brown, Barton Biggs, Bruce D. Clayton, Jeff Cooper, Cresson Kearny, James Wesley Rawles, Howard Ruff, Kurt Saxon, Joel Skousen, Don Stephens, Mel Tappan, and Nancy Tappan. Survivalists or "preppers" build these survivalist retreats to help them survive in the event of a disaster or simply "disappear," hence, the need for self-sufficiency. 1960s With the increasing inflation of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Global Catastrophic Risk
A global catastrophic risk or a doomsday scenario is a hypothetical event that could damage human well-being on a global scale, endangering or even destroying modern civilization. Existential risk is a related term limited to events that could cause full-blown human extinction or permanently and drastically curtail humanity's existence or potential. In the 21st century, a number of academic and non-profit organizations have been established to research global catastrophic and existential risks, formulate potential mitigation measures, and either advocate for or implement these measures. Definition and classification Defining global catastrophic risks The term global catastrophic risk "lacks a sharp definition", and generally refers (loosely) to a risk that could inflict "serious damage to human well-being on a global scale". Humanity has suffered large catastrophes before. Some of these have caused serious damage but were only local in scope—e.g. the Black Death ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Civil Defense
Civil defense or civil protection is an effort to protect the citizens of a state (generally non-combatants) from human-made and natural disasters. It uses the principles of emergency management: Risk management, prevention, mitigation, preparation, response, or emergency evacuation and recovery. Programs of this sort were initially discussed at least as early as the 1920s and were implemented in some countries during the 1930s as the threat of war and strategic bombing, aerial bombardment grew. Civil-defense structures became widespread after authorities recognised the threats posed by nuclear weapons. Since the end of the Cold War, the focus of civil defense has largely shifted from responding to military attack to dealing with emergencies and disasters in general. The new concept is characterised by a number of terms, each of which has its own specific shade of meaning, such as ''crisis management'', ''emergency management'', ''emergency preparedness'', ''Contingency plan, co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Apocalyptic And Post-apocalyptic Fiction
Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction are genres of speculative fiction in which the Earth's (or another planet's) civilization is collapsing or has collapsed. The apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change; astronomical, an impact event; destructive, nuclear holocaust or resource depletion; medical, a pandemic, whether natural or human-caused; end time, such as the Last Judgment, Second Coming or Ragnarök; or any other scenario in which the outcome is apocalyptic, such as a zombie apocalypse, AI takeover, technological singularity, dysgenics or alien invasion. The story may involve attempts to prevent an apocalypse event, deal with the impact and consequences of the event itself, or it may be post-apocalyptic, set after the event. The time may be directly after the catastrophe, focusing on the psychology of survivors, the way to keep the human race alive and together as one, or considerably later, often including that the existence of pre- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Economic Collapse
Economic collapse, also called economic meltdown, is any of a broad range of poor economic conditions, ranging from a severe, prolonged depression with high bankruptcy rates and high unemployment (such as the Great Depression of the 1930s), to a breakdown in normal commerce caused by hyperinflation (such as in Weimar Germany in the 1920s), or even an economically caused sharp rise in the death rate and perhaps even a decline in population (such as in countries of the former USSR in the 1990s). Often economic collapse is accompanied by social chaos, civil unrest and a breakdown of law and order. Cases There are few well documented cases of economic collapse. One of the best documented cases of collapse or near collapse is the Great Depression, the causes of which are still being debated. "To understand the Great Depression is the Holy Grail of macroeconomics." — Ben Bernanke (1995) Bernanke's comment addresses the difficulty of identifying specific causes when many facto ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Survival Kit
A survival kit is a package of basic tools and supplies prepared as an aid to survival skills, survival in an emergency. Civil and military aircraft, lifeboat (shipboard), lifeboats, and spacecraft are equipped with survival kits. Survival kits, in a variety of sizes, contain supplies and tools to provide a survivor with basic shelter against the elements, help them to keep warm, meet basic health and first aid needs, provide food and water, signal to rescuers, and assist in finding the way back to help. Supplies in a survival kit normally include a knife (often a Swiss army knife or a multi-tool), matches, tinder, first aid kit, bandana, fish hooks, Sewing, sewing kit, and a flashlight. Civilians such as forestry workers, surveyors, or Bush flying, bush pilots, who work in remote locations or in regions with extreme climate conditions, may also be equipped with survival kits. Disaster supplies are also kept on hand by those who live in areas prone to earthquakes or other natu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Improvised Weapon
An improvised weapon is an object that was not designed to be used as a weapon but can be put to that use. They are generally used for self-defence or if the person is otherwise unarmed. In some cases, improvised weapons are commonly used by attackers in street fights, muggings, murders, gang warfare, during riots, or even during insurgencies, usually when conventional weapons such as firearms are unavailable or inappropriate. Improvised weapons are common everyday objects that can be used in a variety of defensive applications. The objects are generally used in their normal state; they are not physically altered in any way to make them more functional as weapons. Examples Other than items designed as weapons, any object that can be used to cause bodily harm can be considered an improvised weapon. Examples of items that have been used as improvised weapons include: *Sports equipment, such as baseball bats, golf clubs, cricket bats, hockey sticks, dumbbells, and cue sticks ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cold War
The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. The term ''Cold war (term), cold war'' is used because there was no direct fighting between the two superpowers, though each supported opposing sides in regional conflicts known as proxy wars. In addition to the struggle for ideological and economic influence and an arms race in both conventional and Nuclear arms race, nuclear weapons, the Cold War was expressed through technological rivalries such as the Space Race, espionage, propaganda campaigns, Economic sanctions, embargoes, and sports diplomacy. After the end of World War II in 1945, during which the US and USSR had been allies, the USSR installed satellite state, satellite governments in its occupied territories in Eastern Europe and N ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nuclear Warfare
Nuclear warfare, also known as atomic warfare, is a War, military conflict or prepared Policy, political strategy that deploys nuclear weaponry. Nuclear weapons are Weapon of mass destruction, weapons of mass destruction; in contrast to conventional warfare, nuclear warfare can produce destruction in a much shorter time and can have a long-lasting radiological warfare, radiological result. A major nuclear exchange would likely have long-term effects, primarily from the Nuclear fallout, fallout released, and could also lead to secondary effects, such as "nuclear winter", nuclear famine, and societal collapse. A global thermonuclear war with Cold War-era stockpiles, or even with the current smaller stockpiles, may lead to various scenarios including human extinction. To date, the only use of nuclear weapons in armed conflict occurred in 1945 with the American atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. On August 6, 1945, a uranium Nuclear weapon design, gun-type device (code name ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Catastrophic Failure
A catastrophic failure is a sudden and total failure from which recovery is impossible. Catastrophic failures often lead to cascading systems failure. The term is most commonly used for structural failures, but has often been extended to many other disciplines in which total and irrecoverable loss occurs, such as a head crash occurrence on a hard disk drive. For example, catastrophic failure can be observed in steam turbine rotor failure, which can occur due to peak stress on the rotor; stress concentration increases up to a point at which it is excessive, leading ultimately to the failure of the disc. In firearms, catastrophic failure usually refers to a rupture or disintegration of the barrel or receiver of the gun when firing it. Some possible causes of this are an out-of-battery gun, an inadequate headspace, the use of incorrect ammunition, the use of ammunition with an incorrect propellant charge, a partially or fully obstructed barrel, or weakened metal in the barrel o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fortified House
A fortified house or fortified mansion is a type of building which developed in Europe during the Middle Ages, generally with significant fortifications added. During the earlier Roman Empire, Roman period it was common for wealthy landowners to construct unfortified villa, villas on their lands. After the fall of Rome, increased social instability and military conflict necessitated more austere, defensible types of structures. United States In the United States, historically a fortified house was often called a Fortification, fort or Station (frontier defensive structure), station depending on the region. This was a building built for defense against primarily Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indian attacks in frontier areas. While some fortified houses were sometimes used by militias, state and federal military units, their primary purpose was for private or civilian defense. Sometimes a stockade would surround the building(s). Examples of historic private or civilian f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
