Blow Morpheus Blow

With the Sun whipping up a seemingly endless supply of major storms and earthquakes around the world, this seems like as good a time as any to revisit one of our favorite topics: prepping.

A few people may remember the the very old school fable of Aesop fame - the Ant and the Grasshopper.  As you (gods forbid) read or (even worse) watch TeeVee, anyone you see panicking is a "grasshopper."  Anyone you see sitting on their porch with a shotgun is an "ant."

In Aesop's fable, the ants worked all summer to stock up for the coming winter, while the grasshoppers played in the sun and mocked the industrious ants.  Come winter, the grasshoppers were freezing to death with no food, while the ants were safely underground with their stores, riding out the deadly cold.  In some versions, the grasshoppers even mount a war against the ants to take the supplies by force.  This latter group is what we call "government."

One thing that is highlighted by Harvey, Irma, Katia, and the Mexico earthquake is how one preps.  Most people will think of grizzly, bearded wildmen burrowing in the desert floor and piling up boxes of dried food, water and LPG gas tanks.  While effective in some cases, the recent tragedies worldwide show the ultimate futility of this kind of prepping.

Some people spend inordinate amounts of money stocking up on these kinds of things only to find they can be lost, abandoned or stolen when it comes to the nut cutting.  Ask the people in the wakes of Harvey or Irma how effective their caches were in the wake of the storm.  Ask the folks in Mexico whose houses collapsed how well their supplies helped them.  Ask the folks in the Caribbean how useful their food and water stores were after their houses vanished in the storm.

Yes, I agree that having stored food, water, a genset, gas stove, guns, ammo, and some basic tools are essential for any well-prepped individual.  I have personally enjoyed myself with power, a decent meal, fresh cup of coffee and a loaded shotgun, while everyone around me sat in the dark unable to cook or even see at night.

But putting all your effort into supplies that cannot be easily carried, and are just as easily stolen or lost, means that you are only partially prepped.  None of it makes a good goddam when your house is underwater, or surrounded by a hungry mob, or simply gone.

The well-prepped individual can be dropped in the middle of any situation with nothing but a knife and within 24 hours, he can have shelter, food and fresh water.  He can also navigate to (or away from) the nearest outpost of civilization.

Real prepping takes place in the mind.  It is a set of skills and mental preparedness that allows one to take advantage of whatever comes to hand, and the mental capacity to remain calm and rational while everyone else panics and the world turns to chaos.

Skills and mental discipline are highly portable.  They require no packaging, weigh nothing and cannot be stolen.  The only physical items a well-prepped human needs is a good, sharp knife.

When all else fails, the abilities to hunt/trap and fish, build a lean-to, forage for fruits and vegetables, and determine location and direction from the Sun and stars is all one needs to survive the worst disasters.  Along with a good knife and a calm, rational mind, one can manage in even the worst situations.  Even better, one doesn't have to watch year's worth of work and thousands of dollars invested vanish or fall into the hands of ill-prepped mobs.

It is rather difficult for rampaging mobs to see, much less steal your skills.  You appear to have nothing worth stealing if your entire survival investment is tucked neatly in your brain and strapped to your leg.  Even if someone commandeers your shelter and food, you can easily move on and acquire all it again in a safer location, using your navigation skills.  You also have nothing to carry to weigh you down or that requires constant guard.

An additional benefit is that you will require absolutely nothing from government "officials."  If the recent disasters have proved anything, it is that all government assistance comes with enough strings attached to hang a hundred men.  When your hand is out to anyone, much less a government goon, they have all the power and can make you do anything they want to get your treats.

Most people will argue that they are too busy to practice these skills.  Maybe they prefer a vacation in Cabo San Lucas to a week of wandering naked in the desert trying to survive on wits.  Maybe they are too pacifist to become handy with weapons.  Keep in mind these are the people who will become the rampaging looters and mobs when the world ends - and the world ends at least once in everyone's lifetime.

Here's some simple tests of your preparedness.  Go outside at night and see if you can determine where north is and your approximate lattitude by looking at the stars.  Walk around your neighborhood and see how much edible food you can find in an hour (hint - there's a lot).  How much water can you collect overnight using nothing but found items (leaves, sticks, etc.)?

If you are truly prepped, you should be able to figure the cardinal directions in 30 seconds, and your approximate latitude in an hour.  You should be able to make a decent salad out of found food within 100 meters of your house.  You should be able to collect one cup of water in most locations overnight.

That's prepping.

Water stores are good when the public supply is contaminated, as it usually is after major storms.  What will you do if your supply runs short?

Food stores are great when stores are shut and roads are blocked, but what to do when your rations don't stretch far enough?

A house and a genset are wonderful when the power is out and the rain is pouring down, but gensets need fuel and houses can be destroyed.

Take your prepping to the next level.  Buy a high-quality hunting knife and learn some useful skills in your spare time.  Remember, the time to learn these skills is NOT when you need them.  Teach yourself how to build water purifiers out of found items.  Don't rely on having stores for emergencies.  Not only might you have to abandon them, but they make your a prime target of the masses who didn't do anything to prepare.

Most importantly, discipline your mind so as not to panic.  The worst thing anyone can do for their survival is panic.  Once one stops thinking clearly and rationally, the rest of the fight is over.

If you are lucky enough to have avoided all the recent disasters around the world, count your blessings and start some real prep.  Two things we can always count on: disaster will strike at some point, and government never helps anyone but itself.

Yet Another Flood Of A Lifetime

I

f you are one of those people who likes to stand in front of a bus and complain when you get run over, then you won't like what I am about to say.

I am a native Houstonian and a transplant Jakartan.  Both cities are now and have always been prone to floods.  The cities are built on river deltas, which attracted people because the soil was so rich and fertile from...get this...the flooding.  In the 40-odd years I lived in Houston, I saw five "floods of a lifetime."  In the ten years I have lived in Jakarta, I have seen three epic floods.

In a nutshell, if you live in one of these cities and complain about flooding, then you are an idiot.  Sorry to be so blunt, but it is a fact of life that has never and will never change.

When I lived in Houston, I always lived in areas that never flooded.  They were the highest points in the city and everyone who had lived in Houston for any length of time know which areas are prone to flooding and which aren't.  Same with Jakarta.

I chose the area of Jakarta, where I live now, based in part on topographical maps, and part on local wisdom.  This area is often surrounded by flooding, making it difficult to get in or out, but my house is always high and dry.  The same can be said of the neighborhoods that I lived in, in Houston.

Last night, I was watching various coverage of the Houston mess and heard on man being interviewed on a local "news" cast.  "This is the third time my house has been flooded and I think it's time to do something about it," he declared emphatically.

Hey, stupid idiot, I found myself thinking, move somewhere else, preferably out of the flood plain.

I lived in Houston during Carla, Alicia, Allen, Allison, two back-to-back storms in 1973 whose names I don't remember, and others that had no names.  Every single one of them caused the "flood of a lifetime."  Every single one of them caused flooding in the same areas of the city - primarily east and south of the city, which amazingly is where most of the flooding is right now.

Much has been made of TeeVee station KHOU coverage, where they had to move the broadcasts upstairs due to the lower floor being flooded.  This is the fourth time I distinctly remember that happening.  The station's offices are on the banks of Buffalo Bayou, which floods every time someone flushes a toilet.  It is surrounded with flood gates.  It has had an emergency studio upstairs for decades for just this reason.

The real tragedy here is not the flooding.  That has been going on long before any of us can remember, and will continue long into the future.  The tragedy is the sheer number of people standing in front of a bus complaining about being run over.

While I don't take the loss of life lightly, nor the personal loss experienced by many people who belongings are floating in a swamp right now, I have to reiterate the statement by the man on TeeVee.
"This is the third time..."

I have seen well over a dozen major floods, in Houston, Jakarta, New Orleans, and along the Gulf Coast and across Indonesia.  In every case, the floods occur in places where flooding is common and expected.  In every case, people move into the areas because, gee-shucks, it hasn't flooded in a long time there...maybe even a lifetime.

The upshot is, if you live in a flood-prone area, build to reflect that obvious fact.  If you live in an earthquake-prone area, build to reflect that obvious fact.  If you live next to a volcano, don't come bitching to me because there's lava in your living room.  And for God's sake, stop asking taxpayers to bail you out every time your lack of forethought gets you in trouble.

While I mourn the loss of life and feel a sense of loss for those who have lost property, I hardly find it a tragedy.  The tragedy is that humans apparently refuse to learn from history, geography and meteorology.

I'm sure the residents of Pompeii and Herculaneum were shocked by the devastation wrong by Mount Vesuvius, but which of us hasn't thought that they were idiots for living on the flank of an active volcano?

I suppose that if Americans are willing to bail out college-educated banksters who took excessive risks and lost, then they are willing to bail out folks who live in a swamp in a hurricane-prone area.  It doesn't change the fact that at some point, people need to take personal responsibility for their actions and choices.

If I can move to flood-prone Jakarta, a city I had never been to before living here, and be able (with a little research and forethough) find a section of town to live in that doesn't flood, I know everyone else can do it, too.

Yes, we call it Common Sense, but it is far from common.

Shake, Rattle and Roll

Hoarding Food, Water, Supplies
People Without Basic Necessities
People Wish They Had Prepared Iodine Supply At Home

Honshu, Japan got hit with a whopper last night.  An 8.9 nerve-wrecker woke the residents up, then proceeded to flatten the area, followed by a tsunami to finish off whatever was left.  The wave was 33 feet high, according to reports.

I have experienced precisely ONE earthquake in my life.  As if happens, it was here in Jakarta on 2 September 2009, at 3pm round-abouts.  I was sitting on the couch in my apartment on the 23rd floor, watching TV, when I got the strangest feeling in my gut.  It was kind of like butterflies, but was centered in the pelvic girdle.  Within seconds, the world began to bounce up and down rhythmically with a period of about half a second.  That lasted for less than a minute and subsided to be immediately followed by lurching side-to-side for a full two minutes.

There was no way I could walk safely down 23 flights of stairs, so I simply stood helplessly in the bedroom doorway, holding on to the door posts and trembling like a Chihuahua on speed.  The coffee table was sliding back and forth across the room, along with the chairs.  Pictures were flapping on the walls and glasses were clanking in the cabinet.

I was a completely helpless feeling.  There was nowhere to run and no shelter.  There was only one choice and that was to ride it out.  It's a very strange feeling when a large, concrete building begins to shake as if a large child were grabbing it by the top and shaking it back and forth.

I have been through eight major hurricanes, a couple of dozen tornadoes, blizzards, floods, fires, and insect swarms.  For the most part, they are predictable and can be fought in a way to minimize damage.  It's not easy and preparation for them takes a lot of work, but you can at least get your mind set for them.

Not so earthquakes.  They happen with no warning.  You can't tune in the news and get moment-by-moment reports on the location and strength of an earthquake.  They defy preparation and in fact, the more rigid a building is, the more likely it is to experience damage.  Even fires are somewhat more controllable.  You can buy document safes, install sprinklers, set up exits, and distribute extinguishers.

But how to prepare for the world suddenly going soft under your feet?

Following my experience with a 7.4, I moved to a house.  I figured it was far better to be able to run out into the street naked than to try to surf slabs of concrete to the ground as a building collapsed.  Having the house also meant having the room to set up water storage on every level, with a resulting total of about 400 gallons divided between three floors.  I then bought a small generator that is enough to power a refrigerator or TV or phone charger.  Finally, I bought 7 hectare of land in the mountains as an escape hatch.

However, the problem with earthquakes is they can strike any time of the day or night.  You never know how strong they will be until they are done.  They can hit a hundred kilometers away or beneath and still destroy your house.  And counting after-shocks and tsunamis, they can have recurring attacks for up to several days.

Even volcanoes are nicer than that.

I'm sure there is a place in the world that is statistically the safest place to stand, and I am equally sure it is in the center of the Gobi desert.  The rest is all preparation.

Being prepared has nothing to do with surviving an event, like an earthquake.  That part is pretty much chance.  Take a look at tornado damage.  Those boogers can rip a house to shreds while leaving the neighbor ten feet away completely in tact.  Preparation is all about what happens if you live through it.  If you're dead, there's not much else to worry about, but if you're the poor sot that makes it through, then you're faced with not enough of at least a few things.

Thus, I have about a month's worth of severely rationed water and a Berkey filter, a month's worth of rice and other staples, an indoor garden, self-defense tools, and limited electrical generating capability, so long as the gasoline lasts.  That's enough to do one of two things, restore some normalcy or bug out.  It also let's me wait out the panic that invariably follows something that momentous.

The thing about preparation is that you never need it until you need it.  It's not all that complex.  You figure out what you need to survive, buy enough and rotate stock as you go to keep it fresh.  You would not walk into my house and think, "Oh my God, he's one of those people."  Other than a few supplies, preparedness is a mental process.

Looking at the rather horrific pictures coming out of Japan, I recall my limited experience with earthquakes.  The Richter scale is a logarithmic progression.  A 7.4 is significally less powerful than an 8.9.  I can only imagine the terror and adrenaline rush those poor folks are going through.  For the ones who've lost everything, no amount of preparedness can help them, other than the preparedness of the mind.

If one has thought out various options, explored escape routes, made mental notes about what to do in the event of certain variables, at least you have something to occupy your mind in the aftermath, other than shock at the horror in front of you.

At moments like those, people go into a kind of autopilot.  Those who are not prepared simply perish as they stumble blindly through the rubble begging for a glass of water.  Those who are prepared drop into whatever mode they hae mentally rehearsed and proceed to think their way forward until the shock wears off.

No matter what I've done, I have never managed to defeat the shock of the moment, but I have learned how to shift into a productive form of autopilot.  There are far too many changes to daily life for the mind to process, so giving it a routine of some sort is the best way to deal with the situation.

Ultimately, it comes down to: what will you do if you live?  Trying to live is pointless.  If the Universe has your number, there's not much choice in the matter.  But how will you live afterwards?  That's the question.  Will you wait for the Red Cross truck to drive through the rubble and toss a few boxes to hundreds of starving people who will fight to the death to get at them?  Or will you hunker down with your supplies and wait until sanity returns?

Hoping and praying you'll never have to face a disaster is not a rational course.  At some point, most of us face at least one.  Being physically and mentally prepared to face a disaster pays dividends beyond just survival.  It preserves dignity and hope, the two greatest civilizing forces.  Keeping both in the face of complete destruction pays a dividend that can not be measured.

Fate favors the prepared mind.  I figure it's always better to have Fate on my side in any case.

私達の祈りは悲しさの時の支えるように努める。