A testbed, a collection, a lifestyle

Welcome to Apocalypse Equipped! 

This is a place for me to write about one of my passions: acquiring, using and carrying hardy and rugged gear that I feel will keep me prepared for disaster, if and when it strikes. 

What kinds of disaster? 

There are many tropes in the media which come to mind when we mention "apocalypse" and "disaster". I'm not going to go into the whys and wherefores of what constitutes a disaster, or apocalypse, except to say that there are many possible sources of disaster that we will be exposed to in our lifetimes that we could well stand to prepare for: fire, famine, flood, earthquake, all manner of storms, crashes and explosions, toxic spills, war, terrorism and plagues. 

These are every-day occurrences that we see on the news, or experience in some way, all the time. I'm going to take the next step and expand these, in the case of an "apocalypse" to be simply orders of magnitude larger, longer, more widespread or severe. 

World-changing, Hollywood-blockbuster events like super-volcanos, zombie plagues, astronomical-body impacts, alien invasions, thermonuclear war, divine-intervention, axial-shift, rapid Ice-Age, super-viruses or whatever. We all know the tropes. The concept is this: Everything is broken. Society as we knew it is gone. Nations have collapsed. Governments have failed. Global connectedness is over. Near-extinction population loss. Realistically, it seems very unlikely that we will -ever- experience an apocalypse in any form. It's an academic and intellectual exercise. Probably.  I want to be equipped. 

Disasters, we're far more likely to encounter. I want to be ready. 

A little about me: 

I've personally witnessed and been affected by: grassfires, bushfires, hurricanes, blizzards, flooding, toxic spills, hospital-wide power loss, car crashes, blackouts, natural gas supply cuts, a couple of little earthquakes, to name a few. None really had too much of an impact on my life, baring inconvenience. I've had peripheral exposure to warfare, epidemics, civil unrest and lived in or visited some pretty marginal places in the world. Again, nothing that has really directly affected me. 

I live in Melbourne, Australia. It's a pretty safe and stable place, socially and geographically. It gets hot, it gets dry. There are big rains. There are poisonous snakes and spiders. Sometimes there are bushfires. Crime is mild compared to the US (homicide rates of 1.2/100,000 to 5.2/100,000 in 2008 ). Gun ownership is uncommon in urban environments and is heavily regulated. 

I'm not a soldier, LEO, extreme sports enthusiast (much), or dyed-in-the-wool survivalist. I've never had the need to defend my life against hostiles, man the lifeboats or rebuild a town wiped out by a tornado. 

I am however, passionate about being -ready- in case i do need to, in case its up to me. I live an adventurous life, enjoy camping, live-action-roleplay, growing and storing some of my own food, DIY crafting and of course, enjoying disaster/apocalypse media! 

I like having gear on and around me that is tough, functional, and convenient to carry around wherever i go. 

This blog will be me exploring and reviewing the kit and gear that i have already accumulated, and expanding on what i see available, useful and desirable to the urban Apocalypse Equipped. 

"A man should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects." Lazarus Long Time Enough For Love - Robert A. Heinlein