Risk assessment I’m not a methodical person. My own best decisions have always been made by gut, and my best actions taken on “informed instinct.” Of course, not everyone works that way. And when facing a bewildering variety of unknowns, even “gut” people need tools to help them sort through the alternatives. Fortunately, some blog readers are experienced professionals in fields like security and emergency management. Today, I’m turning the blog over to one of those, MJR. Here’s his take on how to assess risks and decide which ones we should act on. —– MJR writes: One of the little…
Category: Preparedness
This one’s sort of a rant. Don’t be a Flutterbudget. In L. Frank Baum’s novel, The Emerald City of Oz, Dorothy Gale and some of her friends are touring the hinterlands of Oz. They visit various villages whose inhabitants are distinctive, to say the least. As they approach one community, a woman rushes at them, screaming in panic, “Save my baby! Please, please save my baby!” Since the party can see that the baby is safely tucked into Mother’s arms, they’re befuddled. When they point out that her child seems to be just fine, the distraught woman cries (I’m going…
The Rule of Threes and why your rules might be different. I’ll apologize in advance to regular readers. For a lot of people what follows is way too basic. I had more specifics in this post, but that meant it became too long and rambling. So I took them out to use later. —- Everybody has heard the “Rule of Threes,” though somehow nobody says it quite the same: You can live three minutes without air, three hours without shelter (in extreme conditions), three days without water, and three weeks without food. Nice meme. And it’s one that lots and…
We should just forget about TSHTF. Just plain forget about it. Yesterday I mentioned survival gurus who make our heads spin with elaborate, daunting, expensive advice. Newbies — and too many non-newbies — read this stuff and simply freeze: “If preparedness is that hard, I can’t do it!” But the head spinning isn’t all the gurus’ doing. Watch: Any discussion of preparedness among ordinary, aware people is likely to leap rapidly to this assumption (I exaggerate only slightly): “The S hits the F. The zombies attack. If you don’t have your own private Maginot Line, you die. If you survive…
Recently, one of the big preparedness gurus suggested that his readers plan to re-roof their houses with metal to make it safer to collect rain runoff. He didn’t say we should consider it if our house needs a new roof, anyhow. He didn’t say we should consider it if we have all our other preps in order and have $10-20,000 burning a hole in our pockets. He just said it. Not only did he say it; he said it in an article directed at preparedness for newbies! —– I recently read a book by a survival consultant. It was filled…
Once we got to talking about it the other day, a slightly shocking number of us agreed that we (and in some cases even our otherwise oblivious relatives) are feeling more apprehensive than usual about the coming winter. And it has nothing to do with the weather. Might mean nothing, of course. A poll taken of this crowd any month of the year would probably not reveal boundless optimism for the future of the economy or, for that matter, the Great American Experiment. Still … I just checked my Amazon associates stats for the last few weeks and discovered the…
A few weeks ago A.G. told me the Dollar Tree had emergency candles, six for a buck. He noted, though, that a certain survival guru warned that some companies misrepresent the burn times on their candles. And, “He’s the type who would actually time such a thing.” I’m not usually the type who would. But what the heck. I bought a packet and set a candle on fire. The package said each candle was good for 5 hours and 30 minutes. I set the oven timer for 2 hours and 45 minutes. When I came back … … sure enough.…
Obama staffer: vote early and often. (H/T O) Those prescription drugs in your emergency kit might last longer than you think. Maybe decades longer. (I’d be cautious, though, especially with antibiotics.) Why is the Taliban so scared of little girls? And why are Muslim leaders always so quiet about monstrous acts like this? So, Barack, you wanna debate civil liberties? Why do Ashkenazi Jews tend to have such high IQs? Interesting speculations. I’ve been having trouble getting around to several things, including a review of Wendy McElroy’s new book, The Art of Living Free. So just let me say a…
Harvested the mystery-apple tree over the last three days! About 90 pounds of fruit. I have no idea whether that’s great or mediocre as apple trees go, but it’s fabulous for a tree that produced only one apple in the last two years. I got a fat lip when a rogue apple crashed down on my face. And there are still a few left at the top of the tree or in difficult-to-reach spots. But I’m pretty happy about this. Now what to do with all this bounty? Some I’ll store in boxes in the basement. Some I’ve promised to…