stop it media!
Wow, people are really letting the media drive them into a panic over this stuff. Here is some of what I've seen just in the short time I've been out this morning...
I was out at 8 this morning because I had to go to the doctor's office. I've been having some congestion and a sore throat lately. Despite having no health insurance, it has gotten bad enough that I decided to go to the doctor anyway. So, I went and paid $70 for someone to tell me "Yep, that's a throat infection all right." (Duh) The doc wrote me a perscpription and I headed over to Walgreens.
In Walgreens, at 9 o'clock in th morning, people were already buying "essentials" like D-batteries and duct tape (what are all these people going to tape??). So, I give them my perscription and they tell me that it's going to be a while before they can fill it. Probably 30 minutes or so since they're having a rush. Okay, I'll come back. I kind of wanted to see what all those people in the parking lot of Academy (already full at this time) were buying anyway.
So, I head over to Academy and it's full of people. I've never even seen that many people there even during the Christmas rush. There are people buying all kinds of things. The most popular item seemed to be flashlights (WHO IN THE HELL DOESN'T OWN A FLASHLIGHT??!?) and ice chests. Now, I can see how a few people might not own ice chests. Maybe not everyone is a camper. But it seemed everyone in the store was buying an ice chest. It's like people saw other people carrying them and thought, "Hey, that's a good idea. Give me one of those $30 ice chests that I'll never use again too." You know, people lived without ice until the very recent past. The majority of the world still lives without refridgeration. Your drinks do not have to be cold to drink them. And you shouldn't be buying food right now that is perishable anyhow. So why the ice chests?? Because people are stupid.
But it gets better...
I stroll over into the firearms section to see several people eyeing firearm purchases. I can gaurantee you that >95% of them had no idea what they were looking for or even how to use what they might be buying. As if that wasn't scarey enough, this conversation begins:
stranger> Hey, do you guys have any 12 gauge slugs?
clerk> No, we've been out of that since last night. There is plenty of buckshot though.
stranger> What is buckshot?
clerk> It's what people use to shoot deer. It would work against people too.
stranger> Do you sell it by the case? (that's 100 rounds)
clerk> Sure, bottom shelf.
Unable to contain myself any longer, I feel I have to interject
me> A whole case huh? That's a lot of ammo.
stranger> Yeah, want to be prepared.
me> Yeah, but 100 rds of buckshot? That's some serious shooting.
stranger> Well, I don't live in the suburbs. I live closer to the city.
me> ...
stranger> Not far from my house there are some areas that are not very nice.
me> I see. Maybe you should think about moving after this over.
stranger> ...
me> Sorry. Have a nice day.
What is this guy doing with a whole case of buckshot? This is Houston, not Mogadishu. How many people can you shoot? Honestly, the frustration of it overwhelms me.
But I won't just be negative. In the off chance that one of these panic stricken morons is reading this and wondering what they should have, let me run down a very basic list from the perspective of someone who knows what is out there and has thought about this in a sense beyond "AGH! Emergency! Buy what the TV tells me!"
WATER
This is really the only essential. You cannot live without it. If you are debating between buying something else and buying more water, buy more water. If you would have prepared ahead you would have water purifier tablets so that you could purify water in large amounts. You would probably always have at least 2 or 3 extra cases on hand at all times of the year. You didn't. Go get in line with the other sheep to buy water and shut up.
FOOD
First of all, food is not a necessity. I've fasted for three days with no serious ill-effects. Stop being a fat American. Buy some non-perishables if, for some reason, you don't already have a ton of canned food in your pantry like most of America does. I would be very surprised if most people didn't have more than enough to survive for a week already in their house. You could easily live for a week on less than 500 calories a day. The average American is probably eating 2800-3500 PER DAY. In other words, one small meal a day will be enough to keep you going. Hell, you could survive for a week off a single-box of pop-tarts if you had to.
WEAPONS
Simple rule: If you don't own any, you don't need to buy any. You're not going to acquire new skills suddenly just because it's an emergency. No good will come of this except me and my gun buddies getting excellent deals on "used" firearms once this panic is over. If you do already own a gun and don't have ammunition laying around for it already--shame on you! If you absolutely must have a firearm, about the cheapest thing you can get with the least amount of skill would be a shotgun, but be sensible about your ammo purchases. 10 rounds should be more than enough. How many people do you really think you would have to shoot before people stopped messing with you? This is not Night of The Living Dead. But, I say again, even as an NRA member and firearms advocate, if you don't have a firearm you do not need to buy one now. It may be something to look into afterwards, but it's probably just going to end up doing more harm than good if you have one. Or, more likely, it will do nothing at all and you will have wasted your money.
FIRST AID
Medical help may not be readily available depending on your location. Short of applying band-aids, there's not much you can do without specialized training. You don't have it? So sorry. You are not self-reliant. Hope nothing happens to you.
COMMUNICATION
Your cell phone will probably not work in most disaster areas. A battery operated radio is about all that is useful here. Even there, you're probably not going to hear much that's useful to your survival unless they are listing some pick up points for rescue (and we saw how safe those places were in New Orleans).
POWER
The absense of power is not the end of the world. The majority of "civilized" man's history was before the advent of electricity. Have some flashlights handy. A little word about flashlights... Every major store in the country sells alkaline powered flashlights with incandescent bulbs. By and large these are pretty unreliable and even the best ones will not run more than 2 hours. On the other hand, if you are lucky enough to be prepared with LED flashlights and lithium batteries, you can expect 20-40 hour run times (depending on the light). Don't keep your light on at night just because you're afraid of the dark (and boy will it be dark!), but conserve your light if you have it. When it's night time you'll have to do like they did in the olden days and go to sleep. Candles are also useful and is what people used most often before electricty, but I don't recommend them only because if you are an idiot and set your house on fire you've sort of defeated the purpose...
MISC
Things that people buy that have no practical purpose: DUCT TAPE! What are all these people taping?? More useful items would include, but are not limited to, insect repellent, a good book ('cause there won't be much TV) and MORE WATER. Trashbags are also a good idea (though most people have these in their home already). The best purpose for a trashbag is to stick a set of clothes and extra set of shoes in. If you have to cross any water, you'll want dry clothes on the other side.
Okay, so that's it. Some food and some water. It would be helpful to have some other things, but unless you have the skill set to use them, there's not much you can do except sit and wait until someone shows up to help you. If you're not self-reliant and capable of living without power and 24/7 access to 911, then you should probably get the heck out of town. If you decide to stay, just make smart choices. Survival is more about mindset than anything you could buy anyway. Good luck everybody. For all you people leaving town, you will probably be to Dallas or further before you find a hotel room. Send me a postcard. :-)
I was out at 8 this morning because I had to go to the doctor's office. I've been having some congestion and a sore throat lately. Despite having no health insurance, it has gotten bad enough that I decided to go to the doctor anyway. So, I went and paid $70 for someone to tell me "Yep, that's a throat infection all right." (Duh) The doc wrote me a perscpription and I headed over to Walgreens.
In Walgreens, at 9 o'clock in th morning, people were already buying "essentials" like D-batteries and duct tape (what are all these people going to tape??). So, I give them my perscription and they tell me that it's going to be a while before they can fill it. Probably 30 minutes or so since they're having a rush. Okay, I'll come back. I kind of wanted to see what all those people in the parking lot of Academy (already full at this time) were buying anyway.
So, I head over to Academy and it's full of people. I've never even seen that many people there even during the Christmas rush. There are people buying all kinds of things. The most popular item seemed to be flashlights (WHO IN THE HELL DOESN'T OWN A FLASHLIGHT??!?) and ice chests. Now, I can see how a few people might not own ice chests. Maybe not everyone is a camper. But it seemed everyone in the store was buying an ice chest. It's like people saw other people carrying them and thought, "Hey, that's a good idea. Give me one of those $30 ice chests that I'll never use again too." You know, people lived without ice until the very recent past. The majority of the world still lives without refridgeration. Your drinks do not have to be cold to drink them. And you shouldn't be buying food right now that is perishable anyhow. So why the ice chests?? Because people are stupid.
But it gets better...
I stroll over into the firearms section to see several people eyeing firearm purchases. I can gaurantee you that >95% of them had no idea what they were looking for or even how to use what they might be buying. As if that wasn't scarey enough, this conversation begins:
stranger> Hey, do you guys have any 12 gauge slugs?
clerk> No, we've been out of that since last night. There is plenty of buckshot though.
stranger> What is buckshot?
clerk> It's what people use to shoot deer. It would work against people too.
stranger> Do you sell it by the case? (that's 100 rounds)
clerk> Sure, bottom shelf.
Unable to contain myself any longer, I feel I have to interject
me> A whole case huh? That's a lot of ammo.
stranger> Yeah, want to be prepared.
me> Yeah, but 100 rds of buckshot? That's some serious shooting.
stranger> Well, I don't live in the suburbs. I live closer to the city.
me> ...
stranger> Not far from my house there are some areas that are not very nice.
me> I see. Maybe you should think about moving after this over.
stranger> ...
me> Sorry. Have a nice day.
What is this guy doing with a whole case of buckshot? This is Houston, not Mogadishu. How many people can you shoot? Honestly, the frustration of it overwhelms me.
But I won't just be negative. In the off chance that one of these panic stricken morons is reading this and wondering what they should have, let me run down a very basic list from the perspective of someone who knows what is out there and has thought about this in a sense beyond "AGH! Emergency! Buy what the TV tells me!"
WATER
This is really the only essential. You cannot live without it. If you are debating between buying something else and buying more water, buy more water. If you would have prepared ahead you would have water purifier tablets so that you could purify water in large amounts. You would probably always have at least 2 or 3 extra cases on hand at all times of the year. You didn't. Go get in line with the other sheep to buy water and shut up.
FOOD
First of all, food is not a necessity. I've fasted for three days with no serious ill-effects. Stop being a fat American. Buy some non-perishables if, for some reason, you don't already have a ton of canned food in your pantry like most of America does. I would be very surprised if most people didn't have more than enough to survive for a week already in their house. You could easily live for a week on less than 500 calories a day. The average American is probably eating 2800-3500 PER DAY. In other words, one small meal a day will be enough to keep you going. Hell, you could survive for a week off a single-box of pop-tarts if you had to.
WEAPONS
Simple rule: If you don't own any, you don't need to buy any. You're not going to acquire new skills suddenly just because it's an emergency. No good will come of this except me and my gun buddies getting excellent deals on "used" firearms once this panic is over. If you do already own a gun and don't have ammunition laying around for it already--shame on you! If you absolutely must have a firearm, about the cheapest thing you can get with the least amount of skill would be a shotgun, but be sensible about your ammo purchases. 10 rounds should be more than enough. How many people do you really think you would have to shoot before people stopped messing with you? This is not Night of The Living Dead. But, I say again, even as an NRA member and firearms advocate, if you don't have a firearm you do not need to buy one now. It may be something to look into afterwards, but it's probably just going to end up doing more harm than good if you have one. Or, more likely, it will do nothing at all and you will have wasted your money.
FIRST AID
Medical help may not be readily available depending on your location. Short of applying band-aids, there's not much you can do without specialized training. You don't have it? So sorry. You are not self-reliant. Hope nothing happens to you.
COMMUNICATION
Your cell phone will probably not work in most disaster areas. A battery operated radio is about all that is useful here. Even there, you're probably not going to hear much that's useful to your survival unless they are listing some pick up points for rescue (and we saw how safe those places were in New Orleans).
POWER
The absense of power is not the end of the world. The majority of "civilized" man's history was before the advent of electricity. Have some flashlights handy. A little word about flashlights... Every major store in the country sells alkaline powered flashlights with incandescent bulbs. By and large these are pretty unreliable and even the best ones will not run more than 2 hours. On the other hand, if you are lucky enough to be prepared with LED flashlights and lithium batteries, you can expect 20-40 hour run times (depending on the light). Don't keep your light on at night just because you're afraid of the dark (and boy will it be dark!), but conserve your light if you have it. When it's night time you'll have to do like they did in the olden days and go to sleep. Candles are also useful and is what people used most often before electricty, but I don't recommend them only because if you are an idiot and set your house on fire you've sort of defeated the purpose...
MISC
Things that people buy that have no practical purpose: DUCT TAPE! What are all these people taping?? More useful items would include, but are not limited to, insect repellent, a good book ('cause there won't be much TV) and MORE WATER. Trashbags are also a good idea (though most people have these in their home already). The best purpose for a trashbag is to stick a set of clothes and extra set of shoes in. If you have to cross any water, you'll want dry clothes on the other side.
Okay, so that's it. Some food and some water. It would be helpful to have some other things, but unless you have the skill set to use them, there's not much you can do except sit and wait until someone shows up to help you. If you're not self-reliant and capable of living without power and 24/7 access to 911, then you should probably get the heck out of town. If you decide to stay, just make smart choices. Survival is more about mindset than anything you could buy anyway. Good luck everybody. For all you people leaving town, you will probably be to Dallas or further before you find a hotel room. Send me a postcard. :-)