Now That the Debt Crisis is (Supposedly) Averted, Should You Relax?

The short answer is Hell no.  While the political powers-that-be have supposedly averted total economic collapse (after acting like complete morons, but that is beside the point), people will think all is well with the economy and revert back to their usual ways with the (totally unsubstantiated) idea that once again the government has come to the rescue and they can happily go back to business as usual.  So, should you relax now and go back to spending more time worrying about who in America has the most talent or which Kardashian is getting the most buzz on any given day?
Of course not.  Mainly because nothing has actually been done to fix the economy.  Absolutely nothing has changed and the numbers that have been presupposed to (somehow, don't ask me how) fix the debt problems of the United States make no sense at all.  Pushing up the limit of how much the US can borrow does nothing to bring in more money to cover the current debt and cutting expenditures does nothing to increase the ability of people to spend and/or give them the impetus to create businesses that make money which will in turn create more money in taxes to go to the US Treasury.  So what does this mean to you?  At the risk of sounding like a broken record, it means the same thing after the debt deal is signed as it meant to you last week when the news programs and financial markets were in a tizzy...

• You need to be out of debt. Now.
• You need multiple sources of income (a job is nice, a government job is nice too--but no more secure than a private sector job when it comes down to it, your own business or two or three is even better).
• You need to reduce your expenses AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE.  If you can live on $1000 or $2000 or $5000 a month (depending on your circumstances) then you can always scale up to get some of the nicer things in life (after you have saved the cash for the item of course).  Much harder is to have a $15,000 per month lifestyle and have to massively scale down with only 30 to 60 days notice.
• You need an escape plan.  The US is, in my opinion, the best place to live in the world, all things considered, however that doesn't mean I don't have a plan to leave the country in a hurry in case of emergency.
• You need multiple sources of cold, hard cash.  I never recommend having ALL American dollars, ALL of your resources in gold, or ALL of your money locked into firearms or any other commodity.  What I do recommend is having a wide assortment of valuable items for use during an emergency (dollars, yen, euros, gold, other metals, firearms, tools, etc).
• You need to be able to shelter yourself in the event of a major economic storm.  Can you survive in your home for six months?  This means you have the food stocked to see you through this time period, you have at least six month's worth of living expenses on hand, you (preferably) have your house paid off so even if you lose your income, debt collectors won't be immediately at your door trying to evict you, you have a way to protect and defend your home, you have the skills to do all sorts of things (from foraging for wild food to growing a garden to taking care of minor medical problems to organizing your family and possibly neighbors into a team to get things accomplished to...the list is endless).
• You need to be flexible about many things.  Lose your job? Know where to earn income from other sources.  Government doesn't send your check? Again, know where you can access other sources of funds either from savings, selling items, picking up odd jobs, etc  Thinking 'my life has always been the American Dream' or whatever?  Quickly get a grip on the idea that things are changing rapidly and you may never see the traditional "American Dream" as was sold to a gullible American public over the past 50 or so years.
• You need to rely on yourself as much as possible.  Your health is YOUR responsibility, not the responsibility of Medicare or the free clinic (ie: if you think that you can live a completely unhealthy lifestyle and Medicare will shell out for the boatload of pills you need each day, think again).  The food you eat is YOUR responsibility (ie: in a crisis do what you need to do to eat such as going to a food bank, getting food stamps, or heading to a soup kitchen.  If you are continually in crisis and relying on these iffy sources of sustenance then you need to make some serious changes). 

The bottom line is that we have been pretty spoiled by our government but eventually the gravy train will end  (probably sooner rather than later at the rate we are going).  You absolutely must do what you can do now, at this very moment, to make yourself as self-sufficient as possible.  The "survivalist" mentality has been greatly exploited in the press in order to identify people who live "on the edge" as all kinds of crazy but I would rather be a skilled dumpster diver than be waiting in vain in my government paid for apartment when crisis strikes.
In other words, don't relax.  Don't think things will continue on as usual.  Be radical and be "on the edge" and be the person who will take tumultuous economic or political situations as something that is happening to others not something that will stop everything about your life on a dime because you have already set yourself up to survive any sort of catastrophe with a minimum of effort (ie: when other are out begging for food from the government, you will have your garden growing, plenty of food in storage, and the skills to both keep these sources of food secure and to stretch these sources as much as necessary).  Prepare now.

Headlines, Commentary, and a Quick Update

I've been rather busy the past couple of weeks.  I will be heading to Asia for a month or so in a few weeks (no doubt some interesting posts will be generated by this trip), I just bought a house in Las Vegas (also a future post but suffice it to say that paying cash for a home base was an opportunity I didn't want to pass up...we'll see how this works out), and I am wrapping up some business things in Seattle for the time being.
I have not, however, missed out on the news.  Here's some commentary...

• The heatwave.  I didn't write a post about this because each summer there have been a couple of posts on this topic posted in the blog.  The summery: keeping cool is the name of the game.  Being able to do this with or without power is a skill that everyone should learn.
• The Norway shooting.  Tragic, of course.  It was interesting how everyone immediately thought 'Islamic terrorists!' when this happened.  Noting that the bombing and shooting targeted one specific political party made me think otherwise.  And while I haven't been meticulous in the study of the details, why an outdoor camp had no firearms (for protection against wildlife if nothing else) is beyond me.  Shootings can happen anywhere and the only effective response is an armed response.
• The debt ceiling crisis.  What a circus.  The summary: you never want to be at the mercy of the government.  If your only income is Social Security or a military pension or a welfare check or eventually, even a government job...well let's hope you have some sort of side business going so you can at least afford some food while the political powers that be play ping pong with the national economy.
• And some other random headlines: Amy Winehouse (sad; this is what years of drugging will do to a body), 3700 post offices closing (it's about time; a private business with a business model such as the USPS would have went under years ago), Happy Meals get a healthier makeover (meh; you shouldn't feed your kid garbage on a regular basis anyway), mother not sent to prison over son being killed while jaywalking (what a waste of taxpayer money to even bring this to trial).
• Funniest headline on reddit in the past few days: this (every once in a while a headline will remind me that Darwin was right).

Disaster...Slightly Averted

This is what happened over the past week...lessons learned included...

We got back to the Seattle area a week and a half ago.  I went to a couple of my regular haunts to say hi to everyone, everyone said hi to me, all was well.  Then a couple of days later a guy I knew called me up and asked if I could check on Gus (name changed, of course). 
I knew Gus vaguely as he was always hanging out at the same place with the same group of guys literally every single day, so for him to be gone without a word, even for a couple of days, was odd and his old buddies were getting worried about him. 
I got his name and the type of car he drove but no other information as they tend to hang out and BS but not socialize at each other's homes.  So I hop on Google with the guy's name and city and up comes his address, phone number, and age which pretty much identified him as the person I was looking for. 
First I try giving him a call but no one answered so I left a message.  Next, I go over to his apartment and take a look around.  I found his car and note the things that were in it (a half empty cup of coffee and some mail dated a couple of days ago), then I go and knock on his door but don't get an answer.  I talk to the apartment manager and ask about the possibility of them doing a welfare check, just to make sure the guy wasn't passed out in his apartment or something.  They declined saying it would be illegal for them to do this. 
Seeing that his car was parked, no one was answering the door or phone, and that he was not the type to head off walking, I head back to our temporary home and debate calling the police for a welfare check.  Due to his age, the fact that his habit of being at a certain place on a daily basis had suddenly changed, and that his car was home but he didn't seem to be, I called 911 and requested a welfare check.  I seriously hate to do this as privacy is important to me and I would hope it would be important to others as well but the "this doesn't seem right" feeling was kind of the clincher. 
So law enforcement got the key from the manager and checked on the guy then gave me a call and said the guy was home but asleep and said he was feeling a little under the weather but was otherwise fine.  I figured this was a good thing and relayed the message to his friend. 
However, four days later, Gus still hadn't shown up or contacted anyone, I go the call from his friend again, and I basically did the same thing--go to his place, knock on the door, call his number, check his car (it hadn't moved since before), and pondered all the way home about what I should do.  Again I call law enforcement.  Again they check on him and call me and say he was talking to the officer and said he was fine.  Again, circumstances just seemed off and I asked a bunch of other questions of the officer--could he get out of bed and walk you to the door? what did his breathing sound like?  was he alert and oriented or a bit off?  The officer basically said no, don't know and meh... so then I asked if he could get a medical evaluation since the whole situation just seemed weird. 
Turns out the guy was not fine and was rushed to the hospital after medics evaluated him.  His leg was amputated because of a massive infection and he is now being pumped full of antibiotics to try to get rid of the infection that would have killed him sooner rather than later. 
Now that he is coherent, he doesn't remember the second officer at all, vaguely recalls talking to the first officer, and noted that he knew his leg was infected but since he hadn't seen a doctor since 1968(!) he figured he would be fine since he had always been in pretty good health. 
p.s. He repeated thanked us for invading his privacy and eventually getting him to the doctor.
p.s.s. Needless to say all of his old buddies are pretty shaken up by this turn of events.

Here's some lessons learned:

• The elderly and the ill (and especially the ill elderly) need to be looked in on regularly.
• When someone alters their usual behaviour drastically, something is probably wrong.
• You don't have to break down someone's door to check on them, the police regularly do welfare checks.
• Just because the police do a welfare check, doesn't mean all is well.  Ideally, the person who is concerned should go with the police, as they are more aware of the person's usual mental status (I am guessing Gus' friend would have seen that he was talking but not as sharply aware as he usually was).
• I talked to the police chief and suggested some changes to their welfare check policy. Namely, if the person you are checking on can't get out of bed to walk the officer to the door, there might be a problem.  Also, although law enforcement gets limited medical training, some things need to be reiterated (namely, that people in diabetic shock, the elderly with medical issues and a boatload of medications, and people in many other situations can talk but that doesn't mean they are well--similar to LE pulling over someone who appears to be driving drunk when they are really having a diabetic shock episode).
• As people get older (and people rarely notice when they become "elderly") a doctor's appointment once every year or two is probably a good idea to make sure many of the chronic problems that can cause bigger problems (diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, etc) are screened for and kept in check.
• People, especially those who live alone, need to be proactive about taking care of their health, taking care that they have a safety net of sorts in case they get in trouble, and taking care that their information is easy to find (the ER doc asked me who his next of kin was, what his health history was, what medications he was taking, etc.  Of course since I barely knew the guy, I had no idea.  It took a couple of days to locate his next of kin).

Obviously this situation could have ended better (he could have been medically evaluated sooner) but it could have ended worse too (dead is worse).  Next time I will not hesitate to make sure the situation is taken care of instead of being leery of getting into someone else's business.

Possibly the 5 Best Sentences You Will Read About the Economy

Thanks to K.S. for this list that made me say yep, these are all so true...

"These are possibly the 5 best sentences you'll ever read:

1. You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity, by legislating the wealth
out of prosperity.

2. What one person receives without working for, another person must work
for without receiving.

3. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does
not first take from somebody else.

4. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it.

5. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work
because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other
half gets the idea that it does no good to work, because somebody else is
going to get what they work for, that is the beginning of the end of any nation.
Can you think of a reason for not sharing this? Neither could I......"

Economic Panic is Just Around the Corner...And 10 Ways to Get Ready

How's your financial life these days?  If you are like many people, it was a Hell of a lot better five years ago.  So while the economy teeters on collapse (or should I say upheaval?), have you put yourself in a position to survive the coming turmoil? 
Nearly eight months ago, we embarked on a grand experiment.  The idea was to sell the house, sell basically everything we owned, "retire" so to speak, and travel.  From this we have learned a number of lessons:

• We were fortunate to sell our house while the equity was still there.  Since we sold it, the value has dropped another $20,000. Yikes.
• We are debt free.  I can't stress this enough--if you have absolutely zero debt you can survive just about anything.  If you are saddled with tens of thousands of dollars of debt you will be in a poor position to ride out any sort of economic storm.
• We don't own a home.  So besides being debt free, we have no other bills either (no water bill, cable bill, electric bill, etc).  Our only bills at this point is for a small storage shed for the things we kept, an annual health insurance premium, and monthly pre-paid cell phones.
• We have money in savings.  We occasionally dip into savings for some things but we never let our emergency fund dip below a certain amount.  In other words, our spending habits have totally changed and we no longer look at spending as something we can do without thought. 
• Traveling is one way to limit what you buy.  Since we only buy what we can add to our backpacks, the number of things we buy is severely limited.  Basically this reduces our shopping to food and the occasional coffee shop visit.
• Traveling also cuts down on many other expenses: since we don't go to work, there is no need for a work wardrobe, since we aren't around our social group there is no peer pressure to but the latest designer items or a boat to keep up with our friends.  We no longer eat out daily, there are no gift pools to contribute to, our taxes will be so low this year we will probably be audited because it is so drastically lower than any year in the previous few decades, and our gas expense are significantly reduced as well (the people we have stayed with have all had extra cars for us to borrow but we still pay for gas).
• As we have been traveling, we have been staying with friends and relatives.  Fortunately that means our expenses for lodging have been zero (for nearly eight months!).  We buy food, we offer our services to the people we stay with in a variety of ways (the spouse usually cooks every day which really helps out people who would otherwise eat out like we used to do when we had busy working lives and I've done taxes, home repairs, computer repair, and other odd jobs to help out the people we have been staying with) and we have otherwise been pleasant house guests.
• We have learned a lot doing this: communal living is a great way to share expenses (communal living can also be pleasant or horrible depending on your temperment and the temperment of the people you are staying with so a good fit is necessary).  Sharing cooking, food, and housework is also a great way to save expenses and the amount of work you have to do by yourself.  
• Our experiment has had the unintended side affect of causing nearly everyone we have stayed with to reevaluate their financial position, if not their entire lifestyle.  Most have decided that downsizing significantly in the near future is now in their plans.

So...the ten rules for surviving financial disaster are:

1. BE DEBT FREE!!!
2. Have an emergency fund.
3. Stop spending!  Always look for free ways to get what you need.  If something you need can't be found for free consider Dollar Stores, thrift stores, CraigsList, garage sales, and generic store brands.  I haven't paid retail in ages and hope never to do so again. 
4. Reduce your living expenses to the bare minimum.  Obviously most families can't simply sell their house and move in with relatives but many people can downsize considerably.  One lady we stayed with had a 5000 square foot house, three cars, and over five hundred pairs of shoes, all for one person!  NOBODY needs that much stuff!!!  I would rather own a travel trailer on 1/5th of an acre than have a huge house with a huge mortgage and giant bills each month for water/sewer/garbage/heating/air conditioning/etc.
5. Have multiple sources of income.  As the debt ceiling talks continue, I could have been in a very precarious position of relying on a military pension and Social Security.  Fortunately I have a half dozen other sources of income as well (all small but steady income streams) which, due to the fact that our living expenses are so extremely low, that should my main sources of income stop, we won't end up truly destitute (but I will certainly miss being able to bank all of that extra cash!).
6. Have a stockpile of critical items that could come in handy in the future.  Gold is nice to have, firearms and ammo are also good to have.  If you have a family, a fairly good stockpile of food is important, tools can also be useful to you and can be used for barter items as well.
7. Learn all you can.  Some people lose their job, sit home, get depressed, and stare at the TV or computer all day.  What a waste of time.  The person who will survive an economic or social catastrophe is the person who has the widest range of skills.  Your spare time, aside for hustling for work, should be spent learning.  The library and internet are excellent sources of free information and can be used to teach you everything from how to glean wild edibles to how to snare, dress out, and cook a rabbit--skills which will make it so you won't starve if worse comes to worst.
8. Make radical changes.  At the end of last year, my largest client went under.  Now I could have panicked, started searching for other clients to make up the short fall, or otherwise kept going on with my cushy life until things totally fell apart or I could make a radical change.  Radical change is scary.  It is also socially weird to all of your friends and family.  Fortunately, having been inspired by other people who had also made radical changes in their lives (one family sold everything and biked from the North Pole to the southern-most tip of South America, another man sold everything, moved across the country with $3000 in his pocket, and started an online business from scratch which now nets him thousands a month) we decided to be radical and give it a shot (the spouse at first though I had lost my mind but is now rather taken with our new lifestyle).
9. An attitude change is required as well.  Even though money and emotional problems are what most people cite as being the result of our current economic situation, the largest problem standing in your way in changing circumstance is often your attitude.  The attitude of "I hate this because this is different/worse than what I am used to" or the attitude of "I used to be a six figure earner and now I can't even get an interview so I am worthless" are a waste of time.  As my grandmother (who weathered everything from the Depression to the sudden death of her husband when she was 17 years old and had a newborn baby) used to say, "this is the situation you have to work with, stop thinking about what you had before and stop feeling sorry for yourself. Now get out there and get busy!"  Needless to say, if we ever told grandma that we were bored, pitiful, or otherwise unhappy, her cure was work..it usually involved a hoe or an ax or a lawnmower.
10. Finally, know that this too will pass.  The Revolutionary War was a dark time for our country but we rebounded, the Civil War was similarly horrible depending on where you were, the Depression was certainly challenging for most, and World War II was no picnic either but after each of these challenges came renewal and better days.    

News Round-up...With Commentary Of Course

Some recent news links...and of course I can't help but offer some commentary...

• Pediatricians Turn Away Unvaccinated Kids (don't be an idiot, get your kids vaccinated! Duh).
• Obama's Plan to Scare the Hell Out of the Elderly and Vets (nice way to pay back the people who have funded Social Security and/or defended out country. Appalling).
• Man Shoots Self...On "Training" Video (someone get this man a gun safety class. STAT).
• Warrior Dash (now this sounds like fun!)
• Man Makes City His Gym (now THIS is genius)
• $185,000 for a Bachelor's Degree (now THIS is stupid! Someone get this kid a math class. STAT)

20 Things to Do This Week

In order to improve your life and survive-ability.  In no particular order:

1. Sell something on eBay or CraigsList and add the money you make to your emergency fund.
2. Take a thirty minute walk every day either before work, during lunch, or after work.
3. Get a copy of your three credit reports and make sure the information is correct.
4. Obtain and preserve food.  It can be as simple as drying apples in the oven or as interesting as making homemade canned salsa or spaghetti sauce.
5. Check your vital stats (weight, blood pressure, blood sugar level, and if possible, cholesterol numbers).
6. Can you get out to the shooting range this week?  It would be a good idea if you can (you can never have too much practice).
7. Try bartering for something.
8. Schedule a garage sale for next weekend and use this week to prepare for it.  This is the quickest way to declutter your home and make some money at the same time.
9. Plan a camping trip for sometime this month or next.  Better yet, take only your BOB on the trip and see how well you can survive out of only what is packed in it.
10. On that note, dump out your BOB and make sure everything is in good working order/rotated.
11. Study something.  Exercising your brain is just as important as exercising your body.  Even checking out a book from the library on preserving food can add valuable knowledge and give you something interesting to read.  Or you may want to check out the MIT Open Courseware astrophysics course...
12. Have you been fishing lately.  There is no better way to relax after work IMHO...
13. Clean out your car--inside and outside--and make sure it is in good working order, any problems are repaired, and your car emergency supplies/car BOB are in order.
14. What can you make?  Unfortunately recent generations are sadly lacking in the skills to actually make something with their own two hands.  Making something as simple as a rucksack on the sewing machine or a basic bookshelf are good skill builders and shouldn't take longer than an afternoon.
15. Teach someone something.  Candidates can include you kid, grandkid, or spouse.  As with many of these tasks it isn't the actual task (teaching a skill for example) that is the goal but rather the leadership and process skills that such a task develops.
16. Find out what is going on in your community and make plans to participate at a future date (I'm fond of Volksmarching, shooting sports, and HAM radio but you might like theater, boating, or politics better).  This is a great way to be active in and make connections in your community with like minded people while also having the opportunity to learn something new.
17. Write out your list of goals.  Oddly enough nearly every one of my goals that I write down comes true.  A few years ago my goals were to sell the house, sell everything we own, and travel the world.  At the time there was no way in Hell that kind of thing could have happened (due to job and family responsibilities) however at the end of last year it all of the sudden just happened and we are now in the midst of at least a year's travel.  In other words, writing down your goals is the first step to making them come true (cue spiritual wu-wu music).
18. Get outside and enjoy: walking barefoot, listening to the birds, cooking on the grill or firepit, breathing deeply, etc.  In other words, we often spend way too much time indoors and not nearly enough time outdoors.
19. Look at your home or work environment and do one thing to make it safer/more ready for a disaster (could be as simple as checking the batteries in the smoke detector to making and placing a BOB in your office).
20. Change your attitude 180 degrees when you encounter a difficult situation.  There are lots of annoyances in everyday life from an annoying teenager to an annoying boss to a rude driver that makes you daydream about cruising over top of them in a Humvee, but I digress...  Just for amusement's sake (and an interesting way to practice rapid attitude adjustment), when you feel like flying off the handle, do exactly the opposite.  If your teenager is giving you grief and you would ordinarily react in a somewhat hostile manner, grab them in a bear hug and tell them how awesome they are.  I would suggest something similar in response to an annoying boss (sans the bear hug). 

Long Term Storage Tips

How's you long term storage of food, water, and other survival items going?  Generally we don't give much thought to storage until we get to extremes in weather--either super hot or super cold--and then we start to worry about whether all of the items we spent our hard-earned money on will last for as long a term as we had planned.  Throwing things into a storage shed will work but for how long?  Light, heat, cold, humidity, and bugs/animals affect not only the storage of fine wine and cigars but also the storage of packaged food and water too.  Ideally you would be able to store your year's worth of food and month's worth of water in a secure, dark storage area kept at optimum levels of temperature and humidity.  For most, people, however, this isn't the case.  We toss our stuff into the garage or storage shed and hope for the best.  Here's some ideas for keeping your goods stored for the long term:

• Find a storage place that is as dark as possible (ie: the back corner of the basement is better than in the spare room which allows to sun to shine on your stored items).
• Find a place that is as close to a median temperature as possible (ie: a dry basement is a better choice than a roasting hot/freezing cold attic).
• Humidity varies with your environment so if the place you are storing your goods is too humid or not humid enough, you may need to place a humidifier/dehumidifier into the storage area.
• Pick a place that is least likely to be affected by natural disasters.  While a cool, dry basement is often optimal, if you live in an area that regularly floods, you will want to choose a better long-term storage location.
• Security is also very important, especially if you are storing high-value items such as firearms and ammunition.  I'm always appalled/amazed that people will spend thousands of dollars on their preparedness gear yet lock it away with a $5 padlock.
• Bug/animal/rodent activity.  There's nothing worse than going out to rotate your food stock and finding that rodents and bugs have already beaten you to your stash.  For firearms and durable goods, this isn't as much of a concern but for food, be sure to store your items in a way that bugs and animals can't access it (ie: in tightly lidded, sturdy plastic or glass containers).
• Rotate your food and water stock often.  Not only does this help cut down on the possible loss of the food due to pests or spoilage, it can be a good way to host a family reunion dinner or church potluck on the cheap.
• Check out the packaging that the items you are storing comes in.  Often times, something as simple as cheap or improper packaging can lead to loss of your stored food.  Did you know that water has a much longer shelf life than the plastic bottles it comes in!  Also, I generally take grains out of the paper/plastic bags they come in and store them in tough, food-grade plastic containers to help prolong the life of the food.  Ditto for using commercial quality "seal a meal" systems to package everything from dried food items to ammunition.  Also, Mormon canneries are popular because they allow people to literally can (in large #10 cans) any type of items they like in order to help prolong the shelf life of the item.
• Read up on some tricks of the trade for long term food storage.  For example, freezing grains for a week or so before storing them will kill the pests (weevils, etc) that are often present in the grains that you buy at the store.  You can also put a bit of dry ice in with your stored grains which will, in essence, fumigate your container of grain and kill any pests that may be present.  Nitrogen can be used in a similar way to preserve stored foods. 

For more information on long term food storage, check out this site.

10 Tips for Dealing With Crowds

I have spent the last couple of weeks wading through tens of thousands of people in Las Vegas.  Not only are they a large, undulating mass at the Rio Convention Center where the World Series of Poker is being held, but all of the tourist areas of the city are covered with...well...tourists.  And lots of them.  Here's ten tips for dealing with large crowds:

1. Assess the crowd.  You want to quickly assess the mood and the purpose of the crowd you are dealing with.  In the case of the poker tournament, you have ten thousand people who are focused on poker.  They aren't drunk, they aren't belligerent, but they are putting many thousands of dollars into a game they seriously want to win and are focusing on.  In a word, this crowd is probably at the low end of the threat level.  On the other end of the spectrum is a large crowd at a political event, a sporting event, or other emotionally charged event where they can, and most often do, pose a threat to others in the crowd.  This is a crowd you want to stay away from.
2. Find the exits.  Right after figuring out what kind of crowd I am dealing with, I look for the exits.  Even in the most nonthreatening of crowds, an emergency can happen where you may want to exit the situation quickly.  Knowing where the exits are ahead of time will save you precious minutes and aid in your escape.
3. Stay on the outskirts of the crowd.  Again, a crowd can initially pose very little threat, but things can change fast.  Being in the middle of a crush of people is the last place you want to be.  By staying on the edge of the crowd you have more options for protecting your safety (ie: being able to exit quickly, or just being able to avoid being crushed by a surging crowd).
4. Observe physical barriers that could impede your safety.  Surging crowds are dangerous for many reasons, one of the most common ways to be injured or killed in a crowd is being unable to protect yourself due to physical barriers that prevent you from exiting the fray in a hurry.  Doors that are barred can keep you from escaping a fire, for example, and barricades are a crush hazard should the crowd all start surging in the same direction.  People can also become trampled by a crowd due to their own physical barriers--they are smaller, slower, and weaker than others in the area and can fall causing them to be trampled over by the crowd.
5. A stampeding crowd is one of your biggest threats in a crowd situation.  Again, barring a major incident (shooting, earthquake) the crowd at the poker tournament isn't going anywhere as they are all seated and concentrating on the game.  In the case of sold out concerts, crazy Black Friday sales at Walmart, and contentious World Cup soccer games, however, stampedes can happen at the drop of a hat and you don't want to find yourself in the middle of this type of situation. 
6. Keep an eye on the crowd.  Even though you can't see everything that is happening, you can usually tell if there are problems in the crowd by the overall pattern of the crowd's movement.  When there is a threat or a disruptive event, you will see the crowd either circling around the action and/or fleeing the threat.  This should be your cue to move away from the disruptive event as quickly as possible.
7. Check out security that is in place to control the crowd.  At large, planned events, there is generally a lot of security that you see and a lot of security you don't see; this is a good thing.  On the other hand, poorly planned events, quickly gathering mobs, and events that get out of hand either size-wise or violence-wise, are a bad place to be and I suggest leaving as quickly as possible. 
8. Run through some scenarios of how you would protect yourself if all Hell breaks lose.  As you are enjoying the event you are attending, take a minute to consider what you would do RIGHT NOW if the crowd decides to suddenly become a threat.  How would you escape?  What barriers could you use to protect yourself?  What barriers would impeded your escape?  From what direction might a threat come?  What is the most logical type of threat you may encounter in this particular situation?  You don't need to do a thorough analysis but stopping every once in a while to consider these things is a good way to raise your safety awareness level.
9. Don't add to the problems that could arise in a crowd situation.  The way you act in a crowd may need to be much different than how you would act in any other situation.  In a crowd you want to be as non-threatening and as quick to diffuse a situation as possible.  A crowd situation it is not the place to become belligerent or rowdy, engage in a fight due to a perceived slight by someone in the crowd, or pull a weapon for either threat or self defense purposes.  It only takes one person to cause a melee to break out and you don't want to be this person.
10. As a final option, you can choose not to deal with crowds.  This is usually my default as I am not a fan of crowds to begin with and find that being hyper alert in such situations generally takes the fun out of whatever I happen to be there for.  My general thoughts when viewing a large crowd is first, what a good place to let loose a chemical/biological agent, second, how quickly could this crowd situation devolve into a chaotic mess, and third, if I have to pull my firearm for self defense, how many people could I hit (answer, too many, which is why the use of a firearm in a crowd is a critically bad idea).

Sometimes you just can't avoid crowds but with a bit of planning and awareness, you can at least have a better than average chance of protecting yourself in such a situation.