Four Commandments of Gun Safety Fail

I learned a couple of things this week.  Namely that Jose Canseco is my neighbor and that an adult who owns firearms violated every one of the four basic rules of gun safety, all in the scope of one newspaper article.

When someone blows off their fingers while cleaning a firearm, it is obvious that they disregarded one or more (more likely ALL) of the simple rules of gun safety which include:

1. Watch where the muzzle is pointed.
2. Treat every firearm as if it is loaded even if you are sure it isn't.
3. Be sure of the target and what is in front of and behind it.
4. Keep your finger outside of the trigger guard until you are ready to shoot.

I figured it would be simple to pull up a YouTube video to show you the proper way to clean a handgun but it turns out that wasn't so.  One guy was waving the pistol all over the place when he was getting started on the process, another guy had a set of pistols pointing AT HIM before he got started so that wouldn't do either.

I came across this video which was OK as it will show you how to strip and clean a pistol however there are a couple of problems I have with the video which you should keep in mind.  First, the guy is correct in keeping the firearm pointed away from himself but when you are pointing the firearm away from yourself you want to make sure of what is in front of where you are pointing the gun (you don't want to be working on your garage workbench and have the firearm pointed towards you kid's bedroom, for example.  Downward is a nice angle.).  And second, after he drops the magazine he then sticks his finger into the trigger guard before making sure that there is not a bullet chambered.  This is bad.  Drop the magazine then pull back the slide to make sure the chamber is empty before even touching the trigger.

Cleaning a firearm shouldn't be a dangerous endeavor if one simply follows a few common sense rules.

10 Things About Quarantine

First, on a side note, the CNI site has been hacked and will probably require a full rebuild so stay tuned for details.

Now to today's topic...  A forced quarantine is a PITA for everyone involved--the quarantine-ee, the public officials who have to make the decision to quarantine a person, the public officials (usually law enforcement) who have to enforce the quarantine order, and the public in general.  As we can see by this currently trending case, there are a number of issues that don't easily fall into place when it comes to setting and enforcing a quarantine.

Some years back quarantine was a pretty big issue when SARs was happening although, for all the talk at high levels about setting and enforcing quarantines, not much came of it after the disease had abated.  Now we have ebola which highlights some very important issues regarding quarantine (death within a couple of weeks after exposure will certainly bring the issue to the forefront).  In no particular order:

1. Someone has to have the last and final word on the quarantine process yet currently no one wants to do that.  One would think it would be the CDC but it looks like the decision (and the potential lawsuits) are being foisted off onto governors, mayors, and other government folks without an infectious disease degree among the lot of them.
2. The quarantine process needs to be standardized.  Either everyone is quarantined for 21 days after being in an ebola area or no one is.  Either everyone with a fever is quarantined after returning from an ebola area or no one is.  Right now it is hit or miss.
3. The quarantine process (after it is standardized) needs to be refined.  Obviously this will take time but after quarantining everyone who is returning from an ebola area for 21 days, over a period of months researchers will then need to look at the data and see if this particular quarantine process is useful and necessary or not useful and not necessary (this will change for each disease). Then refinements to the process can be made.  Right now people want to change the process every other day which is confusing and ineffective.
4. Of course you will always have people who think the quarantine rules don't apply to them.  Someone can be highly contagious (as we saw with Patient 0 in Dallas) and they still won't think that officially or unofficially quarantining themselves would be a wise idea.  There are a lot of self-entitled fools running around so this should play into your preparedness efforts in the event of a highly contagious, deadly disease outbreak.
5. With this in mind, keeping people quarantined requires a huge effort and a great deal of manpower.  Whether it is taking care of an infected person in a medical facility or ensuring that someone who is quarantined to their home actually stays there, the number of people required to take care of one person is huge (can you imagine what would happen if we have thousands and thousands of ebola patients a la Nigeria?).
6. Also from the 'people will be people' file, I imagine a vast majority of people will ignore serious warnings of a a deadly infectious disease because #1 they can't afford not to work and don't get sick leave, #2 they often let culture overcome common sense (like sneaking the bodies of ebola victims into private burial sites instead of having the bodies burned as is now being required in some areas), and #3 people aren't used to staying home for 21 days in a row.  In fact, most aren't used to staying home for three days in a row without getting cabin fever.
7. From the "am I in the Twilight Zone" file:  Every time someone says "we can't quarantine someone who is recently back from treating ebola patients because then no one will want to go help ebola patients," it makes me want to do a face palm.  Because people are good enough to volunteer to help ebola victims does it mean they should be allowed to not be quarantined and be allowed to possibly spread the disease to others?  That doesn't even make sense.
8. Does the public good trump your rights to freedom, etc?  It should.  The problem here is that there is so much confusion and misinformation on the subject of quarantining people who may have been exposed to ebola that there doesn't look like a clear public health threat so people want their freedoms. Now.
9. The nicknames that people and buildings and towns, etc pick up from being linked to a deadly disease will stick for a long time.  The ebola nurse, the ebola hospital, the ebola apartment building, the ebola flight.
10. This entire situation is a no-win for those involved.  Whether people are making quarantine decisions, enforcing quarantine decisions, or chiming in with a worthless public opinion fanned by the flames of social media, the bottom line is staying alive and not dying from a deadly disease which many people seem to forget.

And you can find more facts about ebola here, here, and here.

The Survival Mindset

There are so many disasters going on that I could write four or five blog posts a day on different survival topics and never run out of things to warn/prepare you for.  In just the last few days there has been a school shooting, an ambush shooter who is still on the run, a maniac running people off the road and beating them with a hammer, a nurse from the Ebola hot zone who doesn't want to be quarantined, a handful of law enforcement deaths, and people just being crazy for no good reason.

Kind of makes one want to fortify their homes and never leave...

In light of these and many more incidents that have the (albeit very minute) possibility of throwing you into a disaster situation not of your own making, here is an overview of the survival mindset.

The entire purpose of this blog and the CNI website is to help you develop a survival mindset.  Even though thousands of posts can be written on various survival topics and a myriad of posts can be written on survival gear, your survival mindset is of the utmost importance.

The survival mindset kicks in when you are thrust into a disaster situation and need to react quickly.  The survival mindset kicks your 'spidey-sense' up a couple of notches when you enter a situation that could go sideways in a minute.  The survival mindset helps you mitigate disasters before they even happen by being prepared for anything.  The survival mindset means you make a plan that will be useful in a variety of disaster situations.  The survival mindset means you are versatile enough in your thinking that you can use survival lessons from one situation and carry them over to a totally different situation and make them work.

In essence the survival mindset means:

• That you know most survival situations can be cured or helped along greatly with money so you live frugally and have enough financial sense to have an emergency fund, investments, material goods that can be sold or bartered, and a variety of income sources.
• Your situational awareness is top notch.  Yes you can go to a vacation destination with the family and enjoy the trip but in the back of your mind you have already figured out a half dozen escape routes from your hotel, you know where the nearest US Embassy is, you've made friends with some of the locals, and you have studied the area (and the most recent news of the area) in depth.
• You study survival like most people study NFL brackets.  Everyday you are adding to your survival knowledge by reading articles on current news, perusing survival blogs and websites for useful information, catching a couple of "how to" YouTube videos, and checking out survival forums without getting too deep in the weeds or going off the deep end.
• You buy and use gear that is equally useful for a day hike in the mountains or a TEOTWAWKI situation.  But you don't buy every new, shiny item on the market.  You buy a tool for life--whether it be a firearm or a screwdriver--and take care of it.
• You do a quick in-depth study of pertinent issues so that you have a pretty good idea of what the truth is in the midst of media-induced hysteria.  And you act accordingly.
• You aren't an armchair survivalist.  While you read a lot and make wise decisions on gear, you also exercise daily to keep yourself fit, build stuff in your workshop, backpack in the mountains, experiment when in doubt, participate in activities that increase your skills, and help others when you can.
• You use information effectively.  You can efficiently use all of the information and skills you have amassed to improvise in a variety of situations (ie: the skills you use when backpacking in the wilds for a week are the same skills that come in handy when the power goes out for a few days).
• You don't put yourself in situations that have a higher than likely chance of causing you problems.  The people you hang out with, your judgement, the activities you partake in, your impulse control...all of these have a greater impact on the possibility of finding yourself in a bad situation than the random weather disaster or the chance of being in a mass shooting incident.
• You can do anything.  "I can't" doesn't even reside in your vocabulary.  If there is something that needs to be done, you will, eventually, figure out how to do it.
• You take basic preparation efforts as naturally as breathing.  You home is well enough fortified, you carry concealed, you wear a seat belt without fail, you have a stockpile of food, water, and supplies which is automatically rotated, you know CPR, you can barter with the best of them, locking doors behind you is automatic, etc.
• You are constantly playing the "what if" game in your mind.  What if someone comes in and starts shooting this very minute?  What if the storm that is predicted for this weekend is ten times worse than what the weatherman says?  What if you are laid off from your job next month?  While it may sound like "the sky is falling" thinking, it is actually a bit of exercise for your brain to keep you sharp.

Basically the survival mindset means that no matter what happens, you will be much more prepared than the average person even if all you have are the clothes on your back and the few items in your daily carry pouch.  With the knowledge and skills you have, you will be much more likely than average to survive the disaster at hand and come out well on the other side. 

The Starter Survival Kit

aka 25 items to blow your paycheck on this weekend.  If you have nothing to see you through a survival/disaster situation, here are 25 items you should run out and buy right now:

1. A first aid kit (or you can make your own)
2. A fire extinguisher
3. A flashlight with extra batteries
4. A weather radio
5. A tent
6. A sleeping bag
7. A backpack
8. A backpacking stove and fuel
9. A good pair of hiking boots
10. A set of appropriate outdoor clothing for where you live (including outerwear)
11. Fix it stuff: rope, tarp, duct take, leather gloves, breaker bar, sewing kit
12. A good knife
13. Fire: matches, lighter, fire steel
14. Water: bottled water, water purification tabs, water containers
15. Food: a random assortment that is portable, doesn't need refrigeration, and will last for a week or so
16. Outdoor gear: compass, signal mirror, fishing kit, multi tool, magnifying glass, emergency blanket, whistle
17. A survival book (SAS, US Army Survival Manual, etc)
18. Firearm and ammo (and obviously the knowledge to use this item)
19. Spare prescription medication
20. A camp towel
21. A watch
22. A toiletry kit
23. Hygiene: toilet paper, wet wipes, hand sanitizer
24. Pen/pencil and paper
25. Stash of cash

10 Alternatives to College

It used to be a de fact path to success--graduate high school, go to college, maybe get an advanced degree, and you would be set for life.

Sadly that is not the case any more (just ask any under or unemployed college graduate with umpteen thousands of dollars in student loans to pay).  These days people need to think like a business person (kind of hard to do when you are a teenager with zero real life experience but I digress...) and craft a career path that make financial sense over the long haul.

First, if you are one of the special snowflakes who has a full ride scholarship or grandma is paying for your entire higher education, by all means grab that opportunity with both hands.  But for everyone else, consider the following alternatives:

1. Join the military.  The benefits are pretty good and you will get a good amount of college paid for through the GI Bill.
2. Consider an apprenticeship.  These usually provide on the job training and a path to good paying jobs in the trades.
3. Pick a career that requires a shorter term (and often cheaper) licensure or certification course.  Careers such as an EMT, paramedic, nursing assistant, real estate agent, massage therapist, paralegal, registered nurse, tax preparer, etc. usually require less than a college degree (however watch out for for-profit schools that will charge you an arm and a leg to get such certificates).
4. Start your own business.  Obviously you will need some sort of skill to do this (which can range from buying low and selling high to repairing motorcycles to cutting and selling fire wood to opening a bar, etc).
5. Go be what you want to be sans a college degree.  Obviously if you want to be a doctor you will need a real (and really expensive) university degree, however there are many careers that people think you need a degree for but you really don't including scientist (Jane Goodall didn't have a degree, she made her own path to being a scientist), a social worker (start your own non-profit), a writer (start writing and publish your own books), a lawyer (some states allow people to become a lawyer without a law school degree), a minister (become ordained online), etc.
6. Check out unique alternatives to college such as the Thiel Fellowship, coding boot camps, becoming a poker pro, or running for office.
7. Get an entry-level job with the possibility of upward mobility (or high pay).  Some waitresses in Las Vegas make more that $100,000 a year, good sales people who work on commission can make bank if they are in a good market and have good sales skills, etc.
8. Use what makes you unique to fashion a career.  One young woman I know is fluent in a half dozen languages.  To date she has worked as a translator, a tour guide through multiple countries, and a language teacher.  Got acting skills?  Audition for TV and plays.  One woman even made a career out of not being able to choose a career.
9. Invent something.  Or many somethings.  Such as this woman who you can hardly miss on TV these days.
10. Create multiple streams of income from a mixture of a few or all of these alternatives.  I know one guy who has literally done all of these.  He started out in construction, decided to become an EMT, joined the military which paid for his medical school, become a doctor, started a medical-related business, got paid big buck on the medical speaking circuit, and invented a couple of medical devices along the way.

5 Protection Tips for Healthcare Workers

Now that people are seeing Ebola infections everywhere they look (note that ALL reportedly infectious people, except the two nurses that provided direct care for the first person diagnosed with Ebola in the US, have been proven unfounded) it's time to take a look at some realistic steps that people who are most likely to come in contact with infectious patients can do to protect themselves.

Even though people are being told that they can catch Ebola from being on the same city bus as a potentially infected person, being on the same cruise ship as a potentially infected person, or just living in the same neighborhood as a potentially infected person, none of this is true (in the case of this particular virus.  If we are talking about smallpox or a different sort of virus, the rules, of course, change).  The fact is that the people most likely to be exposed to the Ebola virus in the US are first responders.  These are the people on the front lines who are most likely to get someone's blood, spit or vomit on them, namely doctors, nurses, EMS providers, police officers, etc.  If you are one of the people in this high-risk category, here are five tips for keep yourself safe when dealing with potentially infected people.

1. Use common sense.  When I saw medical personnel on the news in paper gowns, paper masks, and in some cases dressed head to toe in PPEs with their necks exposed, I had to wonder WTF they were thinking.  I'm guessing that it didn't dawn on people that bodily fluids can easily penetrate through a PAPER gown. Duh.
2. Always wear your PPEs.  This should be a no brainer in any medical setting but it took ages just to get providers in the habit of wearing gloves so this won't change quickly.  Gloves and protective eye wear should be mandatory and depending on the situation, a proper face mask wouldn't be too extreme either.
3. Do your research.  I realize that medical providers are busy and are used to waiting until they "get the memo" before doing whatever they are told to do in said memo, but there is no excuse for anyone who may come into contact with an infected person to not do a reasonable amount of research on the disease in question (in this case Ebola) so that they have some solid facts about the disease and aren't listening to regurgitated crap on CNN.
4. Learn from those who are well versed in the situation you may be facing.  Again, why didn't people question why it takes three people to decon a medical care provider coming out of an Ebola ward in Liberia while in Dallas, healthcare providers were told to just take of their PPEs themselves and toss them in the garbage?  The minimum level of care that providers are given in the US should be commensurate to what they would receive if they were working in a Liberian hospital and that doesn't seem to be happening yet.
5. Refuse to do something that could put your life in danger.  When the first Ebola patient in Dallas was confirmed, law enforcement officers were sent to his home, with no PPEs and with concerns for their safety yet they went anyway.  I know all about chain of command and protocols but if someone tells you to jump off a bridge...

I know that most people will do what they are told and not raise a fuss but this is a whole new scenario where people need to take responsibility for their own safety.  More info here on what is NOT working in the fight against Ebola in the US.

10 Super Easy Survival Skills to Teach Young Children

It's never too soon to learn how to be a prepper.  So with that in mind, here's some simple things to teach your children to get them started on the path to preparedness (obviously each kid is different, some will be ready for these lessons at 2 or 3 while others not until they are older so proceed accordingly).

1. How to call 911.  This includes when to call 911 as well as how to relay basic information (name, address, what the problem might be, parent's names, etc).
2. How to perform CPR and the Heimlich Maneuver (courses are available for children but due to the physical nature of these procedures you might need to wait until your child is physically big enough to perform these skills).
3. How to hide.  Hide and seek developed as a way to teach children to protect themselves since fighting or running isn't usually an option.  Hiding from an attacker or intruder may be their only option to save them self in an emergency.
4. What to do in the event of a fire.  Aside from calling 911 in the event of a fire, children should know what to do if they are on fire (stop, drop, and roll) and what to do when they hear their home smoke alarm go off (hold regular family fire drills to teach them what to do).
5. What to do in the event of a natural disaster in your area.  Disasters can range from flooding to earthquakes to hurricanes; develop procedures and teach your children how to react if they are caught in such a disaster (sheltering in place, not to play in flood washes, etc).
6. How to wash their hands, cover their coughs, and keep their hands out of their eyes, nose, and mouth.  This is the most basic way to avoid catching a cold, flu, or worse.
7. How to feed themselves.  Depending on the child's age, they should learn simple things such as how to pour cereal and milk into a bowl, how to make a sandwich, and, as they get older, how to use knifes, cook on the stove, and make more complicated meals.
8. How to camp for a weekend or a week outside.  Obviously you aren't going to send a small child to fend for themselves in the wilderness but by teaching very young kids about various camping skills (how to roll out their sleeping bag, how to roast marshmallows over a fire, etc) they will be better positioned to learn more advanced outdoor skills as they get older.
9. How to help mom and dad with basic home skills (everything from doing laundry and feeding the dog to planting and harvesting the vegetable garden and handing dad tools when he is working on a project).  These days parents tend to do everything for their kids which leaves their kids with absolutely no basic life skills when they grow up.  We don't want that to happen with your kids.
10. How to navigate between home, school, the local grocery store, grandma's house, etc.  Kids should know how to walk safely to local places, ride their bicycles safely to further places, and use city transit to get around town on an age-appropriate basis.

What Do You Do When Disaster Strikes Far Away?

With (yet another) typhoon bearing down on Japan, it got me to thinking about what people do when loved ones are in danger far away.  I have friends in Japan, from Okinawa to Tokyo, so, while I know that a typhoon isn't that big of a deal since they happen all of the time in that area, it still raises my concern a bit.  Here's what to do when loved ones are far away in a danger zone:

• Monitor the news.  Most major news stations (CNN, BBC, Al Jazeera, etc) will have relevant coverage of the disaster.
• Check out blogs.  Find blogs written by locals in the disaster area as these often provide better coverage than the major news stations as long as the blogger has internet access.
• Monitor other social media sites for the latest information (Twitter, FaceBook, Instagram, reddit, etc usually have up to the minute coverage by a multitude of people in the disaster area).
• Check out other relevant sites for info (weather websites if it is a weather event, for example).
• Ask your loved ones ahead of time about their preparedness efforts and offer support/useful information if needed.
• Provide encouragement--ahead of time--to help the person prepare for a disaster (ie: introduce them to HAM radio as a hobby, encourage them to take a CPR class and pack a Bug Out Bag, etc).
• Keep a packet of information on the person and their family which would help you identify them after a disaster (everything from photos and a physical description, photos of tattoos, etc up to a DNA sample).
• Offer your home as a place of refuge if needed (ie: if you have friends or relatives in a possible Katrina-esque scenario, offer them the opportunity ahead of time to come for a vacation until the disaster passes). 
• Offer financial support, if possible, before and after the disaster if your loved one needs it.
• If your loved one is missing after a disaster, look for them on the Red Cross Safe and Well website and/or Google Person Finder.
• Provide information as possible to your loved one after a disaster (ie: info on Red Cross or FEMA disaster services, etc).

20 Things You Need for a TEOTWAWKI Scenario

The world is going to Hell in a hand basket.  There are infectious diseases, rioting, economies on the verge of collapse, etc etc.  Of course people have been saying this since Socrates.  My grandfather said this numerous times as he moved from the beginning of the 1900s when he was born to the late 1900s when he died.  Now I am saying the same things ("kids today! arrgghh").  Perhaps I am just getting old.

Since this blog is basically about survival and how to deal with disaster situations, I will give you a task list of 20 things that you should do before the world really teeters off the coil...

1. Build a small house, with cash, on land you own, in a ruralish part of the country.
2. Make the house as off-the-grid as possible (your own well, your own septic tank, solar energy, etc).
3. Have multiple streams of income that don't require you to go to a 9-5 job (if you must go to a 9-5 job, make it temporary and as high paying as possible).
4. Learn how to do for yourself as much as possible.  Grow your own food, raise your own animals, do your own construction and plumbing work, fix your own car, mend your own clothes, build your own computer, make your own candles, etc.  The more you know how to do, the less you are dependent on the regular economy to meet your needs.
5. Know your neighbors.  Barter with them, help them out when possible, ask for help when needed.  Build a rural, neighbor-helping-neighbor network as this will be the network you will rely on when TSHTF.
6. Have multiple sources of savings.  You should have some investment in the stock market, some cash, some gold, some barterable items, some items that hold their value (like guns), etc.
7. Raise your kids right.  This is perhaps the greatest gift you can give the world.
8. Never stop changing and adapting.  Change is constant, learning how to roll with change, and perhaps, be on the leading edge of change, is useful.
9. Enjoy life.  You can enjoy life with very little money and very little in the way of consumer goods.  Always worrying about what might happen in the future is a depressing way to live on a day-to-day basis.
10. Cut down on your news and social media consumption by 75%.  Fear-mongering has turned into a national pass time.
11. Be prepared for whatever might happen.  You might not be able to get to the store for a month (stockpile food), someone might try to break into your home (know how to defend yourself and your home), you may become ill (have some medical skills and try to keep yourself as healthy as possible), etc.
12. Don't discard new things just because they are new.  Yes, life was much simpler before cell phones and apps and GPS.  That doesn't mean I don't use cell phones and apps and GPS.  I enjoy these and other new tech items because they are useful and efficient but on the flip side, if I had to throw all of these things away and live without them I would survive (not so sure about the kids and grandkids because such things are all they have ever known).  tldr; enjoy new things but don't forget about the old ways.
13. Don't be afraid to experiment.  See a video on YouTube about making a cat food can stove?  Give it a shot.  You may not now need nor ever need a cat food can stove but the usefulness is in the learning (plus it is a better time waster than reddit or Facebook).
14. When it comes right down to it, the only thing you can depend on (and it isn't gear and it isn't money) is yourself.  If you become a refugee or a disaster survivor, you may walk away with the clothes on your back and the knowledge in your head and nothing else.  Prepare accordingly.
15. Make your current situation work for now.  If you can't build your own small house in a ruralish area and are, in fact, living in the middle of a huge city, do your best to prepare for TEOTWAWKI in your current location.  Really, it is all you have to work with at the present time and doing something to prepare is better than doing nothing (plus, there will be more to scavenge after a disaster in a large city than in the rural countryside).
16. Obsess more about what works than what is considered the hottest gear on your favorite subreddit (ie: you need A FLASHLIGHT THAT WORKS, not necessarily a Surefire UBR Invictus flashlight.  You need A SHARP KNIFE, not necessarily a Rockstead Japanese fixed-blade blah blah blah).
17. Never turn down an opportunity to learn more.  This weekend you can sit on the sofa watching football or you can attend a CPR class, go on a hike with a local hiking group, take a concealed carry class, can some in-season vegetables, and watch a YouTube video on how to give your kid a haircut then practice on said child (this works better when they are younger).
18. Don't make excuses.  As soon as you hear yourself saying "I can't do such and such because...", stop and consider how you can do such and such.  Think out of the proverbial box, consider how you could make such a thing happen if someone's life actually depended on you making such and such happen.
19. Go on a microadventure.  It will do wonders to get you out of your rut and make you think (and react) out of the box.
20. Share your knowledge.  Surly there are things that you know, useful things, that you could share with others.  This will help others prepare for disaster, make "preparedness" more of a mainstream thing and not a "survivalist with many guns" thing, and possibly even increase your own knowledge on said topic with input from the hive mind.

Today's Survival Lesson

I came across a website today (thanks to the folks at r/survival).  At first I just added it to my favorites list thinking that I would add it to the main CNI page as a Daily Insight link.  But the further I got into the site, the more I thought, this is something that needs it's own blog post.

So go to this website, and read the whole thing.  Every page.  Then go to the workbook and do every page in the workbook.  That's your survival lesson for the day.

10 Survival Items from the $1 Store

Perusing the $1 store today, I noticed quite a few items that could be useful during a disaster.  Also, for those people who think they can't afford to prep, this is a super cheap way to get started.

1. Bleach.  It's the ultimate cleaner and disinfectant plus it can be use to purify water.
2. Matches.  Most people don't smoke these days and most gas stoves have automatic lighters so it is hard to find a match or lighter when you need one.  During a disaster you might need to make a fire--with matches--so pick up a big box for only $1 and keep them with your survival preps.
3. Aspirin.  Even a $1 bottle of generic aspirin can bring down a fever or thin out the blood when someone is having heart trouble.
4. Rubbing alcohol.  This is an excellent way to sanitize hands and needles and disinfect abrasions and cuts.  Not the best fuel, but this can be used with your sardine can cook stove.
5. Hammer.  An el cheapo hammer isn't a tool I would want to own, but in a disaster, any sort of hammer will do to make simple repairs, create a shelter, etc.
6. Can of sardines in oil.  This will take care of your protein and fat needs for a couple of meals.  Can use the can to make an emergency cook stove.
7. Box of granola bars.  This will take care of your carb needs for a few meals.
8. Candles.  A good source of light and can even be used to cook if necessary.
9. AM/FM radio.  These cheap radios that hardly anyone ever uses can be an excellent source of information during a disaster.
10. Gallon sized ziploc freezer bags.  Can be used for carrying water, wrapping up food, waterproofing your cell phone, and a dozen other uses.  

What to Do If You Get Sick

With sickness being so much in the news these days (Ebola, enterovirus, a mystery neurological disease, etc), the prospect of becoming ill has become a whole new level of scary (especially if you have kids).  Here's what to do if you become ill:

• Isolate yourself (call in sick to work, stay home, don't go shopping or out in public, etc).
• Monitor your symptoms (using a notebook if necessary to record dates, times, symptoms)
• Determine if you need to see a doctor or go to the emergency room (ideally your medical provider has a nurse on call where you can report your symptoms and receive medical advice).
• If you are in distress by all means go to them hospital (symptoms such as difficulty breathing, chest pain, extremely high temperature, stroke, severe bleeding, severe burns, eye injuries, broken bones, etc. mean you should go to the hospital ASAP). 
• If you have reason to suspect that you have been exposed to an infectious disease (ie: traveling from an Ebola outbreak area) call your doctor and/or 911 and explain your symptoms and the reason you think you may be contagious (this will help providers get you safely to the hospital without for example, the patient taking a bus to the hospital and possibly exposing others to the disease).
• Follow your doctor's advice for treating your illness (ie: if your doctor says you don't need antibiotics, don't demand them).
• Have the basic supplies on hand to treat your symptoms (aspirin, Tylenol, Thera-Flu, a thermometer, kleenex, decongestant, etc).
• Use some old fashioned methods to speed your healing (drink plenty of water, rest as much as possible, have some chicken soup, etc).

Quarantine

If you have been watching the news today, you may have seen that a family in Texas has been quarantined due to one of their family members having contracted Ebola.  This is a big deal.  Huge.

In-home quarantines are rare.  Although this power has always been in the legal arsenal of a community's public health officer, it isn't something that is entered into lightly.  Here are some things to consider about medical quarantine:

• Obviously if you can stay away from someone who is likely to need to be quarantined (someone with a contagious, usually deadly, disease) you will be better off, however, as you can see in this case, no one knew about the man's condition until he was quite ill so that means that all of the people on his plane, in his home, in his workplace, in his neighborhood, et al. were unknowingly exposed.
• It's one thing to quarantine people in a hospital, but when there are large groups of infected or possibly infected people, quarantining them in their home is a more viable option unless they need critical medical care.
• Being quarantined has legal repercussions. If someone in power (in this case it was probably someone from the city health department or someone from the CDC) quarantines someone and tells them where they need to stay (ie: in their home) they have the full force of the law behind them.
• People who are quarantined, on the other hand, have a penchant for trying to escape (thus the legal guard as noted in the article above).  
• It is in the best interest of everyone that people with a contagious illness (whether the flu or Ebola or any other disease) isolate themselves from the general public to avoid spreading disease.  Most people, however, don't have everyone else's best interest in mind in these situations (note how many people go to work when they are contagious during cold and flu season).

Do you have an in-home quarantine plan?  Since this sort of thing could happen to anyone at anytime, here are some preparedness tips:

• Have a month's worth of food stockpiled.
• Have a month's worth of other supplies stockpiled (toilet paper, baby diapers if you have a baby, medication, cleaning supplies, etc)
• Have a plan for your work/income (can you work from home, how will you pay your bills, how will you do banking, etc).
• Have the means to keep yourself and your family entertained (most people can't even imagine not leaving their home for an entire month).
• Have the means to take basic care of yourself and your family (ie: monitoring medical conditions, providing basic health care, etc).

More resources on isolation and quarantine:

• CDC Isolation and Quarantine laws
• CDC Isolation and Quarantine
• Tips for being quarantined at home
• NY DOH Isolation and Quarantine Agreement
• Prepping for Mandatory Quarantine