During Power Outages~

Discussion in 'Urban Survival' started by Doraglier, Feb 26, 2019.

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Should the flashlight be used in this situation?

  1. Yes

    62.5%
  2. No

    37.5%
  1. Doraglier

    Doraglier Member
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    When the power goes down the streets usually get deserted and quiet, extremely dangerous. More than often I happen to be out there walking back home. Should I use my EDC flashlight to properly spot other people at a distance and try to run away or go without it to maybe go unnoticed?
     
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  2. Keith H.

    Keith H. Moderator Staff Member
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    Personally if I happened to be out during a blackout, I would not use my torch to see my way & attract attention to myself. If attacked I might shine it in their eyes, if I had to negotiate a tricky exit/entry I might use it. I might use it to check out hiding places along the street, but I would walk in the road rather than the footpath when possible. Predators are not going to be walking the streets alone shining a torch, so don't do it yourself & keep them guessing who & what you are.
    Keith.
     
  3. Morgan101

    Morgan101 Legendary Survivalist
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    I agree with Keith. I would use it very sparingly, probably only in areas where the existing light was not sufficient. Even then it would be very short term. Just enough to get my bearings, and then turn it off.
     
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  4. TMT Tactical

    TMT Tactical The Great Lizard ! Staff Member
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    Power outage, why light yourself up and limit your night vision? Stay out in the open, Be alert and LOOK ALERT. You are not walking in the woods or jungle, you really just need to let your eyes adjust and you will se every bit as well as any predators. JM2C
     
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  5. Old Geezer

    Old Geezer Legendary Survivalist
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    "... you really just need to let your eyes adjust ..."

    THE first order of business.

    God blessed me with great night vision, even now when my peepers are well past 60yr. Had cataract surgery on my shooting eye and the doc did an absolutely splendid job. She or the anesthesiologist damaged my trigeminal nerve a bit, but so what, got my eye back!

    I keep my office "dark". "Dark" by other people's standards, that is. Me, obviously this is my comfort level, so I have to take-in what they say on an intellectual level. My wife's vision is just the opposite, so we bought shooting glasses -- yellow/gold colored lenses -- so that she can better see for night driving.

    If depending on your biological capabilities -- i.e. sans any night vision equipment -- close your dominant eye when gathering environment data using a light source. This, so that when you turn the light off or leave the light, you can open/use your "good eye" again. So you're down to 2-d for a while, down to using your "weak eye", just eat it; learn to work with 2-D visual data. Your light-exposed eye will be back with you after its adaptation period anyway. Your brain will tease-out the details. When you are driving, your brain interpolates and extrapolates visual data a hundred times per second, probably does an infinite more work than we currently know about. God just gives you all this glorious sh## -- we come wired this way.

    As for hearing and blocking one ear during the bang-bang, boom-boom festivities, OK, that's controversial so let's not get into that endless discussion. My hearing was royally buggered long before I hit age 30. Bet I'm not at all alone in that situation. Buy headphones for your stereo, television, & computer so your family won't throw things at you. Crank up the volume to whatever you need/like, because your headphones better not be bothering anybody else.
     
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  6. lonewolf

    lonewolf Societal Collapse Survivalist. Staff Member
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    there is so much "light pollution" these days especially in and around the big cities, if you've ever seen a photo from space you can tell where the big cities are just by the amount of light.
    I think most people will be surprised by how dark it would be when the power goes out, I have heard people say " I cant live there-there are no street lights", but I think your eyes will adjust to the dark once you get used to it.
     
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  7. Doraglier

    Doraglier Member
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    Thanks for the feedback people. Honestly, I'd give a similar answer to this thread had I not posted it myself, but I wanted to see if someone had different opinions in mind. Looks like this time it's a one-way path only.
     
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  8. Ystranc

    Ystranc Master Survivalist
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    I can't really imagine being afraid to walk home in a blackout, in your situation I would move. Where I live in Wales there are only street lights in the town, I'm nowhere near town and live in the middle of a dark sky's reserve. I've grown comfortable with moving around in the dark, I enjoy going out into the countryside and exercising my other senses. As long as you know where you are and know your surroundings the darkness can be quite pleasant.
    I have torches, some flash or strobe, some of them were designed for ranges of +300 meters, they're quite capable of incapacitating someone if I were to shine them directly in their eyes.
    My advice would be to walk home in the dark but have the torch ready in your hand, if you have a six cell "D" Maglite you could also use it to beat the crap out of your attacker.
     
  9. Doraglier

    Doraglier Member
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    I'm always wearing all black tracksuits while walking back home since it's always late at night. When the power goes out though, I also put on black gloves and a balaclava so it becomes very hard to spot me if I stop moving - the backpack's also all black. In the left hand, I carry my EDC flashlight, powerful enough to blind for a few seconds when fully charged, and in the right hand, I carry a stun gun, which also has a less potent flashlight built in.

    I never had to use any of those, but at times I laid low in the tall grass to avoid large groups of armed fuckboys. A little bit unnerving, but it always worked out fine; they walk past screaming, firing shots at random directions and at the sky and playing their funk in shoulder boomboxes at deafening volumes. Good thing they're noisy, it's easy to spot them at a range.
     
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  10. Sonofliberty

    Sonofliberty Master Survivalist
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    Generally, I would not use a light during a blackout. If I needed light to figure something out I would use a red colored lens; definitely not a bright white light. Better to not attract undesired attention.
     
  11. Snyper

    Snyper Master Survivalist
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    If you cup your hand over the head of a small flashlight you will get enough red light to see where you're putting your feet.

    You can open your fingers slightly to allow a tiny sliver of white light if you need more.
     
  12. TexDanm

    TexDanm Shadow Dancer
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    I'm with Ystranc except I like the 4 or 5 C cell mag lights. That is kind of the walk softly and carry a big stick sort of solution. I don't really need a flashlight for walking. I see really well in the dark. I can also walk in the middle of a road or street for miles with my eyes closed. The roads are crowned so water will run off to the side. With a little practice, you can sense this and stay walking on the crown. I used to walk 5 to 10 miles a night and over time noticed this and then actually started doing it just to see how long I could do it. Usually, a car would come along and even with my eyes closed I would "see" the light and step to the side of the road.

    I never have been afraid of walking at night. Maybe because I am so big, people never have messed with me. In my bad years, I often walked the streets at night that many wouldn't walk in the day. I think that people can tell when someone is best left alone. When they looked at me they no doubt saw someone that didn't care how many there were or what weapons they had. There was no fear. There are times when some of us walk in the dark and today really would be a good day to die.
     
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  13. lonewolf

    lonewolf Societal Collapse Survivalist. Staff Member
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    I once had someone try to throw themselves through a shop glass window just to get away from me, I was walking down the street minding my own business, might give you an idea how big I am, long hair, long beard.
     
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  14. TMT Tactical

    TMT Tactical The Great Lizard ! Staff Member
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    Probably not very cute either. :D
     
  15. lonewolf

    lonewolf Societal Collapse Survivalist. Staff Member
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    a cross between Robbie Coltrane in Harry Potter and ZZ Top.
    I was often called "ZZ Top".
     
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  16. Morgan101

    Morgan101 Legendary Survivalist
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    There are four stages of life. In the first stage you believe in Santa Claus. In the second stage you don't believe in Santa Claus. In the third stage you play Santa Claus. In the fourth stage you look like Santa Claus.

    I am in the fourth stage, minus a full beard. Who is going to pick on Santa Claus?
     
  17. Oldguy

    Oldguy Master Survivalist
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    I usualy just carry a small single AAA low power torch on a chain around my neck
    low power but long lasting, in a dead black night that little torch is like a floodlight.
    Have learnt to walk and think quiet.
     
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  18. Old Geezer

    Old Geezer Legendary Survivalist
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  19. poltiregist

    poltiregist Legendary Survivalist
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    A good post Old Geezer . Something some need to face up to . An outage may not be for a few days or weeks or months but years . I encourage everyone to read this link . We are under cyber attack at this moment . Will they succeed today ?
     
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  20. lonewolf

    lonewolf Societal Collapse Survivalist. Staff Member
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    if it is for years most "normal" people wont be able to cope.
    have you ever looked around and made a list of everything that needs electricity? the list is huge.
     
  21. Old Geezer

    Old Geezer Legendary Survivalist
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    I was pleasantly surprised that the comments were for the most part pro-preparedness. Many comments on the prepare for electrical outages article supported the author's points and added examples of electrical outages happening to them and how they had prepared for the outage.

    I would say that between 20% and 30% of the responses made fun of the article and the concept that major outages were possible. Remember, the article was on Fox News and most readers are conservative people who are over 35 years of age, many older than age 50.

    Here are some of the negative comments:

    Are we back to building bomb shelters - please not again.

    It's fun laughing a doomsdayers.

    Have lived in Folsom, CA for fifteen years and never has the power gone off.

    More scaremongering from Fox.

    Or just fire up the generator? Start my car to charge things? Seriously, if Argentina can get back on in 24-48 hours do you really think we can't? Most US water heaters have anywhere from 40-50 gallons of clean water. You can go weeks without food.

    As an electrical engineer who works as a nuclear operator I'll be working to fix the problem. I doubt anything serious will ever happen though.

    Too bad guns don't help with a power outage. What are you going to do, shoot the darkness?
     
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  22. LastOutlaw

    LastOutlaw Legendary Survivalist
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    It seemed to me that the writer had viewed the video titled "Civil War 2" posted by TMT Tactical and wrote his article in response to it.
     
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  23. TexDanm

    TexDanm Shadow Dancer
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    I resemble that remark and have done it more than once. LOL. One of the nice things about being old is that when you mess up you really don't give a flying fart. LOL, you are good at it and just rock on! LOL...
     
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  24. LastOutlaw

    LastOutlaw Legendary Survivalist
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    I was speaking of the writer of this article:
    https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/doug-mackinnon-survive-coming-blackout
     
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  25. TexDanm

    TexDanm Shadow Dancer
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    I see. Brain Fart. Rock on...

    I always have a couple of flashlights on me. I carry a mini 1 aaa cell Maglite in my pocket and a tiny but very bright little 1"/2.5cm button cell Streamlite. More than anything else I carry these for my wife. She can't even see under a full moon and I can read a newspaper with that much light.
     
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  26. Old Geezer

    Old Geezer Legendary Survivalist
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    I'm a survivalist for others ... hope I can help younger people.

    Then again, maybe I'm just a spiritual tourist. Beginning to feel like it.

    Why Noah didn't just give up is beyond me. Maybe one day all these critters started showing-up in pairs. I can imagine Noah saying, "Holy sh##!" Noah looked at his barometer and the needle was pointing really, really low.

    God shrugged.
     
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