Yet Another Reason to Prepare

As you watch the news about the wild fires that are at this minute charring much of Southern California, consider this another warning that the time to get prepared is NOW. It's easy to watch the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina or the Asian tsunami and think "that could never happen where I live." That may be true, those specific disasters may never happen where you live, but it is possible that another type of disaster (earthquake, wildfire, tornado) could have similar consequences.

There are any number of natural and man-made disasters that could force you and your family to abandon your home and evacuate at a moment's notice. Would you be prepared? Would you be able to gather everything you need to start your life over again in the event that when you returned to your home, not a single thing (house, neighborhood, landscape, infrastructure--nothing!) was left standing?

You need to have ready to "grab and go" the following things:

• People and pets and BOBs for each.
• Important documents and keepsakes (family pictures, birth/marriage/death certificates).
• Cash, financial documents/information, and more cash.
• A well-stocked, well-prepared Bug Out Vehicle.
• All insurance info (policy information, home inventory).
• Other necessities (laptops, cell phones, chargers, firearms, ammo. computer file backup, medications and prescriptions, wallet, keys)

It's also a nice idea to have a evacuation plan...know where you can go for temporary shelter and how you can get there.

Notes From A Windstorm

A windstorm rolled through here a few days ago and left most of the area without power for about 48 hours. Here is a list of random notes that I put together (by candlelight) as we waited out the storm.

• Always keep at least a half tank of gas in your car. Trees and power lines were down so in order for many to get home they had to drive way out of their way to find alternate routes around the damage; you don't want to have to do this when the gas stations don't have power and your car is running on fumes.
• Know how to drive during a power outage. With street lights out, you need to drive slower than normal. With stop lights out, you need to treat every intersection as a four way stop, however don't assume cross traffic will stop, especially on dark roads--the cars may not even know they are passing though an intersection. Watch out for downed trees and power lines as well as for people walking alongside the (very) dark roadways.
• Your car should have a sufficiently stocked BOB just in case you end up camping out at your office.
• Your car emergency bag should be stocked and ready to go any time you need it. It should also be well organized so you can dig the flashlight out of it by feel in order to light your way through the pitch dark path from your vehicle to your home.
• Know how to manually open your garage door.
• For obvious reasons (like suffocation) don't use a grill or BBQ in the house for either cooking or warmth. Anything that emits carbon monoxide needs to be used outside or in a well ventilated area (like a garage with the doors wide open).
• If power outages are one of the most common disasters you face in your area, keep a power outage box at the ready. The box (one of those big plastic tubs with a lid) should have in it: lots of candles, matches, one flashlight per person in the household, lots of spare batteries, a radio that works on batteries and with a crank charger, spare batteries for the radio, a land line phone handset (the kind that only connects to the phone jack), a manual can opener, a wind up or battery operated alarm click if necessary, and a battery operated TV (not necessary but nice to have).
• Of course you will also want to have stocked lots of bottled water and have a good-sized cache of food that doesn't need to be cooked to be edible. Remember to add some "comfort food" as well (cookies, candies, pop tarts, etc). MREs may be fine in the field but aren't tolerated very well by the family after a very short period of time.
• Make sure your alternative source of heat is ready to go. Do you have adequate wood for the fireplace or wood stove? Does the kerosene heater work properly and do you have enough kerosene (safely stored) to last for a period of time? Do you have plenty of spare matches?
• If you have a gas stove and hot water tank, you will still be able to cook and take showers. Nice.
• Keep your cell phone charged. This is often your only option for communication and internet access during a disaster.
• If you have a generator (or two--some people have a separate generator for their wells around here), use it expeditiously. If someone needs 24/7 power for medical reasons that's one thing but you don't really need to run it all night long. It keeps the neighbors awake and is a waste of fuel. Note: have the generator professionally installed and ALWAYS have it located outside so as to safely vent the exhaust.
• Have a security plan if needed. How will you get in your building if you need to swipe a card through an electronic reader to get in and there is no power? How is your neighborhood in general? Roving bands or kids or thugs may necessitate a security response--know what you would do in this situation.
• Check on elderly or infirm neighbors to make sure that they are keeping warm, hydrated, and fed.
• Be extra careful--a fall off a ladder or sliced hand in not good under normal conditions, really bad under less than optimal conditions.
• Sign up for emergency alerts. Our county DEM (Department of Emergency Management) office has an email list people can subscribe to to receive emergency notifications. Besides being all over the news, I knew a windstorm was coming about twelve hours in advance from a DEM notice sent to my email inbox.
• Keep cards and games on hand. After the initial shock of not being able to use the computer/TV/XBox/etc., the family is going to need to be able to entertain themselves--a foreign concept to be sure, but something that can be done if necessary.
• Enjoy the peace and quiet. It is actually very dark and very quiet and very peaceful at night during a power outage.

Pizza Shop Vid--Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid

This may seem way out there now but in a couple of decades it (unfortunately) probably won't be...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zh9fibMaEk

24 Tips to Increase Your Privacy

Privacy used to be a carefully guarded commodity. Years ago you would ask an old-timer a question that would infringe on their privacy and all you would get was an icy stare. These days privacy is a vague theory at best--people just assume that their almost every move is being surveilled and they also assume that they can't do anything about it. For ultimate privacy you would want to move to a different state, leave no forwarding address, ditch your phones (cell and land lines), and ditch any ties to your family, friends, work, hobbies, etc. However, if you don't want to be that extreme, here are a couple dozen tips to increase your privacy a bit:

• Take your name off of your mailbox and remove your name from the exterior of your home (this includes signs in the yard or on the front gate with your family name on it, signs on the front door with "the ___ residence" on it, etc). Leave only your house numbers visible so your home can be found in an emergency.
• Re-key all of the locks in your home and office.
• Get new (unpublished) home and cell phone numbers. Be sure to leave the generic greeting on these phone's answering systems instead of your personal message. Better yet, use a pre-paid disposable cell phone that is not attached to your name at all.
• Have all of your mail sent to a PO Box or better yet, a ghost address.
• Don't attach your name and address to anything (don't order food for delivery, don't sign up for contests/grocery store discount cards, etc.). Try to avoid filling out forms of any kind.
• Remember that almost anything you do publicly (participate in community meetings, volunteer with various organizations, attend school, publish a document, et. al.) may end up posted online. Google yourself and see what comes up.
• Take care with your online privacy. For example, don't order anything online, clear your browser cache/cookies and disconnect from the internet after each use, use only publicly available wi-fi networks as opposed to home or work internet connections, encrypt or use anonymous remailers for email, don't fill out any online forms, etc.
• Make sure all of your digital documents and computer itself are password protected with a "good" password, not the name of your first child or birth date.
• Use cash for all purchases instead of a credit or debit card.
• Work for yourself instead of for an employer.
• If you do work for an employer, be aware of how employee actions/work/online habits/personal information is tracked (ie: don't send personal email from a work computer, don't use the same passwords at work as you do for personal use, don't make personal phone calls from the office, etc.).
• Make it a habit not to give out information about yourself. Practice answering generic personal questions with a non-answer and also practice steering the conversation away from yourself.
• Consider the amount of surveillance where you live/work and choose your environment accordingly. Usually the more rural, poorer, less developed areas have much less surveillance than metropolitan areas.
• Shred all documents that have any personal information on them as soon as your are through using them.
• Close the blinds when it is dusk. It's amazing to drive through a neighborhood at night and see how many homes you can clearly see into simply because the people don't close their blinds!
• Drive a non-descript car sans stickers or other identifying marks; tint the windows; and always park your vehicle in your garage.
• Guard any document that includes your personal information (ie: show a passport instead of your driver's license if you need to show ID, refuse to allow your Social Security number to be used as an identifier such as on an insurance card or driver's license, keep personal documents in a safe when not in your immediate possession).
• Consider having medical and dental work done in a foreign country.
• Keep your DNA, fingerprints, retinas and any other traceable elements to yourself.
• If you have a bank account, make sure it is used in a quite "average" way--no large deposits or withdrawals, monthly balances should roughly match what you claim on your taxes, etc.
• Consider your options when purchasing items that are attached to your name (home, car, firearms, for example).
• Know your rights regarding privacy issues and enforce them.
• Don't give other people a reason to talk about you. Anything "flashy" from clothing to jewelry to your social life is fertile ground for gossip. Present yourself as if you are the most generic person on the plant.
• Plan for what you would do in an emergency--keep in mind that 911 calls trace back to your home or cell's location, also they are recorded from the moment you call not when the dispatcher answers; consider your right to remain silent and use it; have cash on hand to use during an emergency; consider the ramifications of drawing attention to yourself (how would your life be impacted if your sound bite made the evening news should you be on scene during a major news event).