Just in case

[suityou01]

things are going to go nutty in the middle east, what should I be stockpiling in my shed? Gerry cans of diesel? Freeze dried food? Long life first aid kits?

Should I be reading books on which mushrooms indigenous to our fair lands are edible? Ray Mears books?

Christmas is coming and I need to write a list.

[HairyArsedBloke]

Bullets
Krugerrands
Bullets
Guns
Bullets
Bottled Water
Bullets
and more bullets

[suityou01]

Bullets
Krugerrands
Bullets
Guns
Bullets
Bottled Water
Bullets
and more bullets

A decisive answer, I like that. Evian or volvic?

[Zippy]

WHABS plus
Knives
Tins of beans
Toilet rols
Iodine tablets (helps with mild cases of radiation poisoning, I think)
Change of underwear
200 fags
Case of beer
Peanuts (salted)

[suityou01]

WHABS plus
Knives
Tins of beans
Toilet rols
Iodine tablets (helps with mild cases of radiation poisoning, I think)
Change of underwear
200 fags
Case of beer
Peanuts (salted)

darn it, google says it's only good if treating exposure to radioactive iodine.
Whereas salted peanuts and beer and fags can cure all ills so I am told.

[NickFitz]

Gerry cans

Jerrycans

Should I be reading books on which mushrooms indigenous to our fair lands are edible?

Psilocybe semilanceata is both indigenous and edible. It has the additional benefit of leading your mind to the contemplation of more interesting matters than the decline of consumerist society

[NickFitz]

darn it, google says it's only good if treating exposure to radioactive iodine.

Iodine happens to be one of the elements that the kind of stuff that comes from exploding nuclear devices or power stations turns into an isotope of during the process of radioactive decay. The iodine isotope also comes along very early in the process.

If you absorb a quantity of fallout from such a catastrophe, much of it will turn into radioactive iodine in a very short space of time and be taken up by your thyroid gland, which loves the stuff and can't distinguish between isotopes. Those atoms will then decay further into isotopes of elements such as uranium (which is probably what it started as), but the real problem is that those atoms are now concentrated in your thyroid gland. As a result, the radiation they emit in the process of decaying through the various isotopes they form before finally becoming inert will all be concentrated in that tiny area of the body, leading to a greatly increased risk of cancer-causing mutation occurring there.

The purpose of taking the stable form of iodine is to saturate the thyroid therewith, such that when the atoms from the fallout that are circulating through your system happen to decay into an isotope of iodine, the thyroid won't take them up because it's full. As those atoms are surplus to requirements, they will instead be eliminated from the body by the normal processes of excretion. This happens naturally to the other elements whose isotopes are formed during radioactive decay of stuff from such sources, as the body has no use for them; iodine is the one such element our bodies do use, so that's where preventing uptake is necessary.

Although increasing one's iodine intake cannot guarantee immunity from atoms that happen to go through the stage of becoming an isotope of iodine on their way to becoming an isotope of something else, it greatly reduces the risk by preventing most of them from being absorbed and concentrated in one area of the body. As having more iodine than necessary in your system for a little while won't do you any harm, you're better off with it than without it when something nuclear goes "Boom" and there's a chance you might be contaminated.

[mudskipper]

WHABS plus
Knives
Tins of beans
Toilet rols
Iodine tablets (helps with mild cases of radiation poisoning, I think)
Change of underwear
200 fags
Case of beer
Peanuts (salted)

WZS plus

A spoon (you can't eat beans with a knife)
A bottle of vodka
String
Condoms
A goat
A set of Allan keys
A groundsheet
Prunes

[SofaKingdom]

WZS plus


Condoms
A goat

Suity, do I need to call the RSPCA?

[ctdctd]

None of you have mentioned a tin opener.

Or an iPhone