Total shutdown.

[gozpel]

Say IF there was a crazy solarstorm and it shut down everything on earth, by electro-magnetic flares. It will last for at least a week, we can't repair anything until the storm is over.

How would you survive?

I wouldn't survive, in the long run. I think I can handle slaughtering squirrels and rats, but beef comes in a packet, provided by Safeway!!! I can't kill animals for fun, so I'm in a tough situation here. Better learn quick and raid some farmers, but too late. They're already raided by the guys with the guns.

I have no idea. I probably try to kill something, but fishing is still there, so I get my food from there.

 

[Deaths Advocate]

Ooh, this is cool. I have enough food in the cupboards for a few weeks.

Why not revise your idea to a MONTH. That's when stuff gets serious!

 

[Borachio]

I'll go to my next door neighbour. She'll know what to do.

Plus I have dried food in the cupboard. And artichokes, and spinach in the garden. And I can make a dead-fall for catching small critters. And I have a water-butt.

 

[Luckymoose]

I load my guns, and then go on a systematic annexing spree of neighboring properties.

 

[Peck of Arabia]

It's worrying about situations like this that make me want to start hoarding gold ingots.

In the long run I wouldn't survive- physically or psychologically. My mind and body are pretty much set up now to survive in modern society. I couldn't fight off hordes off looters, or hunt for food- and I don't really have any skills that would help rebuild society afterwards- A degree in History and Political Science doesn't really go far in a post-apocalyptic world...

 

[The_J]

1 week is not a problem at all. There are enough supplies here.
Okay, it's winter, heating is a problem.

 

[Catharsis]

In the long run I wouldn't survive- physically or psychologically. My mind and body are pretty much set up now to survive in modern society. I couldn't fight off hordes off looters, or hunt for food- and I don't really have any skills that would help rebuild society afterwards- A degree in History and Political Science doesn't really go far in a post-apocalyptic world...

In most apocalyptic situations that would require the rebuilding of society, to be honest, I don't really want to survive.

One week without technology due to solarstorms, I can probably stomach. Nuclear winter? Drop the bomb on my head please.

 

[kochman]

I predict half of this forum would not survive a week long shut down.

 

[Borachio]

Nonsense. You can survive a month without any food easily enough, provided you don't do much and stay in bed most of the time. And have access to some water. Other things being equal, like not being an actual child, or some other weakened state of being.

But do you mean that without internet access itself, the forum members wouldn't survive?

 

[bugwar]

I predict half of this forum would not survive a week long shut down.

Well, unless they are too fat to fit through a doorway, most should do fine.

You can last a week without food, and people can get water from puddles, toilet bowls, and the like.

People might be bored for a bit, but then they get hungry and that becomes a major urban sport. Bonus points for finding a Twinkie stash.

For those few who don't make it a week, congratulations on your Darwin award.
It took you all your life to gain it, and I think I speak for the rest of us in saying that it was well earned.

 

[Borachio]

Well, unless they are too fat to fit through a doorway, most should do fine.

I predict survival of the fattest and shortest.

The fattest because their reserves are larger. And the shortest because their requirements are smaller.

 

[JohannaK]

I'd walk to my grandfather's and learn to use his guns. There are enough supplies there to survive a couple of weeks, and then you can always pillage the neighbours by threatening them with that lethal-looking shotgun.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

I would be very worried about the hordes of people who will be killed when the airplanes drop from the sky, the streetlights go out in the middle of rushour and the trains that will be derailed around the globe.

I don't think many people would starve to death in the aftermath of a solar storm, but there probably would be much looting everywhere except Japan (totally serious) and it would take a loooong time to get all the infrastructure back up.

In the end though, I think the storm recovery and rebuilding would actually cause a huge boost to global GDP and would leave us with much more robust and up-to-date infrastructure.

 

[Borachio]

Nah. No use coming round to my house, Mr J. I shall be hiding underneath the floor boards, together with all my food, before you get near the front door.

 

[Zelig]

I'd stock up on beer.

 

[madviking]

It wouldn't be bad at all cuz my apartment just bought $50 in soda, hot pockets, chips, and pretzels.

 

[kochman]

It wouldn't be bad at all cuz my apartment just bought $50 in soda, hot pockets, chips, and pretzels.

Exactly one of the people I was talking about!

No one could survive a week eating hot pockets...

 

[madviking]

Exactly one of the people I was talking about!

No one could survive a week eating hot pockets...

Why not? As mentioned earlier, you can theoretically get by with very little food if it was only a week. It's not like hot pockets have negative food value.

 

[warpus]

I week should be easy enough. I'd buy a bunch of those freeze-dried food pouches, some canned goods, and I'd cook all my food outside over a camping stove (I already have the fuel, but I'd buy backups)..

For warmth I have a lot of layer-based warm clothing specifically designed to keep me warm while I hike in cold/windy climates, so I should be able to easily fall asleep each night being quite warm and cozy, even if the heat is off and it's -20C outside.

I'd spend this week with a certain friend who owns firearms and a zombie apocalypse "just in case" kit, which includes all sorts of gear, guns, knives, a first aid kit, etc. He's also got a gun license and is well versed in that stuff, so I'd hang by his side, either at his place or mine.

 

[JohannaK]

Who needs clothes when your house is thermically isolated?