How long could you . . .

[ichi]

live without power, tap water, phone service

What would happen to you if your society could no longer provide you (or those around you) with the suppor infrastructure all good civilized people come to depend upon?

Whether its a natural or civil disaster (think earthquake or plague or economic collapse), if tomorrow you had no power from the grid, no fresh food from the grocer, no water fromn the tap (and all those around you suffered similarly)

how long would you last?

[Don Corleone]

It would really depend on where I was. I'm an Eagle Scout, and actually, I have this crazy romantic fanstasy about quitting my job, buying 100 acres up in very northern Maine and living the Jeremiah Johnson life (I love that movie) only, w/out the Pawnee raid at the end. I'd be sure to keep my ass out of their burial grounds.

Anyway, to your original question, as long as clean water and decent soil, hopefully some game were around, I think I'd be okay. Access to gunpowder would be good, but not necessary. How catastrophic are we talking? Nuclear winter?

[ichi]

How catastrophic are we talking? Nuclear winter?

Not necessarily nuclear winter, just imagine there was no power or water or food being delivered to the local grocer

ichi

[Don Corleone]

But clean water supplies, fertile soil and relatively available amounts of game nearby?

[Don Corleone]

You should have made the poll responses viewable. When I say I'd form a new community, perhaps I should say I'd go pioneer style. My family would be rather clannish, but the one thing this patriarch would institute would be 'get your women from the other side of the mountain, bring your sister along to trade, not use'.

[Gawain of Orkeny]

Damn ther aint much game to hunt around here. Well there is now but not if we all started hunting. Im still a good shot and nothing makes me quit , just incase you hadnt noticed ,Im a suvivior. I really hate eating gross food though. Thats the only thing I fear on Fear Factor yuk!!!!!

[Beirut]

Water- Gah! I lived without running water for five years. There was a natural spring about 200' back of the house and the water was very good. In the winter it could be a bit of a drag to walk through the snow, crawl into the oversized doghouse that covered the spring and then chip through a foot of ice to get to the water, but you got used to it. Always, always terrible to have not saved enough water from the day before to make your morning coffee. Waking up at sunrise and having to trudge out there at -20 just to get enough to have coffee and make breakfast is horrid. Doing it when you have the flu is right up there with sticking your head in a blender.

Phone - Off and on for years. It can be a drag. You get used to it though. Makes for a very quiet house when you live alone.

Electricity - Close to a year. (No water or phone either.) You get used to no electricity very quickly. You cook outdoors in the summer or on a propane stove inside. You keep your food fresh in a cooler that you fill with cold water from the spring everyday. You put your food in bowls that float in the cold water. In the winter the house did get dark fast, but you had your propane lamps and you read a lot. The wood stove was a lifesaver. Breakfast on the wood stove is beyond comparison. Hint: cook potatos inside the wood stove, not on top. Put the pot right into the stove on the coals and close the doors most of the way. You get a mean boil very quickly.

Also, one gallon of boiling or very hot mixed with two gallons of ice water water makes for three gallons of water that is hot enough to wash with and enjoy.

Once you get the hang of it, living without the "essentials" is a breeze. Mind you, after five years with no running water, when I moved into a house that had it, I took three hot showers a day, every day, wether I needed it or not.

[PanzerJaeger]

I could last a long time. Ive got some gas saved up and plenty of bullets so I would take my Rover and get the hell out of this city.

What really scares me is the type of thing that happened in War of the Worlds. Mobs should be avoided at all cost in such a situation.

[Don Corleone]

Just out of curiosity, Ichi, are you asking this cause of War of the Worlds, or are you contemplating making your Utah existance a little tougher?

I find it interesting we're all assuming 'pioneer' style, not truly w/out contact. Beirut's coffee, Panzer's non-reloadable shells (unless you're planning on taking enough gunpowder & lead to reload all your brass), and such. What are you contemplating, Ichi-san?

[Big_John]

i voted "Many years- I'd team up with my neighbors and start fresh"

but what i really mean is "i would become local warlord, propelled to power by my impressive size and strength, keen intellect, and uncommonly brutal demeanor". assuming i have at least average stock in my area, i think i would establish a fairly strong dynasty.

[Ironside]

Hard to say, plenty of parameters. Many survivors? Join or start up a local community. Very few survivors? Alot of looting to begin with.

Plaugue and avoid getting sick?
Hardest scenario as I would have to avoid looting, so I describe that. Although I haven't hunted I know enough eatable plants and stuff to survive until I've gotten some hunting skills and I know how to grow food, so the big problem would be the winter and how close I would be to it when this starts. Unprepared equals dead within weeks, but prepared possible survival.

Voted several months, but as described, much parameters to consider.

[Al Khalifah]

I could probably survive for months eating all the random tinned horrors that have accumilated in the cupboards of my house.

[Samurai Waki]

one word. Cannabalism. No one would be safe around me.

[Sigurd]

Let the dawn of the new Viking age begin!!! Who shall we raid first?