If the World Ends, Do You have Any Useful Skills?

[Darwins_Folly]

I have my own construction company, I build houses for a living. That would be pretty handy.

I can kill and prepare my own food.

I have a university level knowledge of chemistry, biology, and a few other things less useful for survival.

And I'd be happy to help in the re-population of humanity.

 

[OctoH]

I am a gun nut. I also know my way around a blade, and close-quarters combat in general, as well as the maintenance of said things. Courtesy of 4th Company.

Should computers work, I am also in IT, so maybe my experience there might be applicable. And should anyone for some odd reason decide the end of the world is a good time to take dance lessons, I do teach swing, hiphop, and contemporary (with a little bit of Latin).

 

[Drakmorg]

I have decent leadership skills. Which essentially means that I'm able to appear as if I know what I'm talking about.

I think a leadership position suits me perfectly, since I have no other marketable skills besides telling people what they should be doing.

 

[bushwhacker2k]

...I stood on an orange once.

Does that help?

It does in that it brings up the fact that practical experiences can count in addition to skills

Yeah, 'world ending' is pretty vague, considering the question implies I'm alive.

I know martial arts, I seem to be fairly intelligent (everyone keeps telling me that, anyway, I still don't buy it) but overall I don't have experience living without electricity much or hunting/farming/cooking/etc.

 

[Kaine Wolf]

i very lucky when it comes to surviving and the skills i don't have i'll learn. just so long as it isn't an insect or >arachnid< apocalypse i'm golden if its an arachnid apocalypse i'm dead all they'll have to do is look at me and ill die from sheer fright.

 

[martin's a madman]

I'm pretty strong, I have a calm temperament, I'd like to think I'm fairly charasmatic.

Any technical skills I have would be in math and science, but these are things like theory. So


I'm not sure how useful they would be in a disaster situation.

I've spent two months working in a Canadian Space Agency research lab focused on growing food in controlled environment systems for space travel, so... yeah, I think so. I mean I hope to be even more useful when I more thoroughly build up my skills as a scientist, but I'd at least have some basic ideas of how to grow things if the world ended and we could no longer grow crops in the traditional way.

Awesome, I'm studying to be a physicist but I'm not sure how useful it will be during an apocalypse.

If you don't mind my asking, did you go to a Canadian university? And if so, which one?

 

[Brownie101]

I'm charasmatic. That's about it.

 

[FernandoV]

Not really but I can folow a cockroach and see what they get up to .... them buggers will survive anything.

Cockroaches die at a certain rad output that nuclear arms can achieve and in most western countries they can only survive based on indoor temperature control supplied by modern technology.

 

[Tucker154]

I'm really good at sleeping. So, basically, the only thing I would be good at during after a apocalypse dieing and cracking jokes.

 

[William Ossiss]

i can hunt, track, forage. i spent a lot of time in the woods as a child. it was my wonderland, so to speak. i can fashion staffs, i know what plants are good, which ones are bad. i know to hang food in a tree so as to not attract bears or other wild animals.

 

[Composer]

survival skills?
no
people skills
sure

 

[Cpu46]

Above average survival skills and knowledge of animal and plant life
knowledge on how to make several basic and advanced machines and weapons
basic firearm marksmanship along with firearm safety
an overwhelming amount of Common Sense

 

[juy56]

i can make a fishing pole from scratch, build shelter, identify edible plants, survive for weeks in the woods, i'm good at looting places, i'm a fair boater, and i can swordfight.

 

[Jodah]

I have good outdoors knowledge. I hunt and hike so I can survive in a pinch. I also have lots and lots of tools for just such an occasion. I have some basic animal knowledge too, living on a farm and all that so I would be able to help manage livestock. I also have a strong ability to control my emotions and not let them dictate decisions.

 

[loc978]

Ayep.
I'm not really the hardcore survivalist I like to think I am, but I can hunt, fish, butcher meat, tend a vegetable garden (and fruit trees... and berry bushes), build solid shelter from anything rigid, fix basic to intermediate mechanical problems in most cars built before 1995, build and maintain basic electronics, safely operate and maintain many and various firearms, properly maintain good tempered steel (including blades), practice swordsmanship well enough to easily slaughter unarmed peasants (I'm perhaps an average duelist, though... among trained folks, anyway)... I'm also excellent at controlling vehicles, on-road or off.
I do have a physical infirmity or two, though. I have a bad leg, so I can't run terribly fast or far (give me a bike and I'm good, though). I also have a bad back... it likes to act up unpredictably (the docs at the VA seem stumped by it... my chiropractor says I most likely have a hairline fracture in my L4 vertebrae from running with a heavy rucksack. X-rays are inconclusive). Either of those could easily get me killed in an emergency...

 

[easternflame]

I am a natural leader. I know my way around a gun. I have an excelent hand to hand skill. I have ok outdoor skills, I think I'll survive, although if I don't adapt quickly, I could die.

 

[Jake0fTrades]

I'm an amateur actor, so....

target practice?

 

[uzo]

I'm one of those nut-job survivalists, so yep.

Got supplies to last me + family (wife and son) a good month or so 'out of the can', and much longer than that assuming we have access to fuel for cooking and cooking is a feasible thing (large stocks of salt, honey, water, flour, and rice; medical supplies covering everything from high-end painkillers to anti-diarrhoea medications - and let's face it, you're more likely to die from the shits than being shot). Spare gas stocked as well.

In Australia so no firearms unfortunately, although I have (limited) experience with them (beyond Counterstrike, I mean). Armed to the teeth in other regards - long time martial arts practitioner, packing weapon-blacked carbon steel ninja-to + shuriken, European hand-and-a-half sword, naginata, two spears, and a variety of knives/daggers, machetes and hatchets. Good recurve bow (composites are great but you want reliability not 'wow'). Have a variety of other frankly shady things. No details for you there. Also pretty handy with obscure skills (hobby is fashioning functional chainmail, tailoring tough leather, etc).

Familiar with ropes and use of knots (vastly under-rated skill!), range of outdoor survival skills (thanks to my youth being spent roaming the mountains), good physical condition (I do weights/push ups/skipping at work ALL DAY to pass the time - pfft IT is goddamn boring usually).

BOB (Bug Out Bag) is ready, GOOD (Get Out Of Dodge) plan in place; shit hits the fan and my wife and son and I can be ready to move, fully stocked, within 10 minutes, evac location already sorted (parents in rural area, like minded nut-job survivalists with own water supply - never run low in 25 years, so pretty damned reliable considering the country).

EDIT: I have a horrible feeling I'll end up like Mad Max, and I can't shake it ... scares the shit out of me because we all remember that bit in the first movie with the baby shoe.

 

[InfectedStar]

I'm good at cooking, bartering, jury rigging, scavenging, some shooting & melee, I have a very rough crash course of first aid, and I'm an extremly lucky person.

 

[Sacman]

I'm skittish, paranoid and good at getting the hell out of there if shit get's real...