Are you preparing and how.

[PKCSPT]

12-21-12 is the Doomsday I am waiting for. Also my oldests 30th Bday.

But Seriously,,, no I have nothing planned, water stored or food stockpiled. If the day comes - when they day comes I will pray to God and go down with the ship.

[Shadow Catcher]

Dale you forgot Fermi 1, Three Mile Island, and the first one I know of was an experimental pile that ran wild under the stadium in Chicago (check The day they almost lost Chicago) close call Near us Davis Besie (boric acid ate hole in containment lid), In nuke plant they were checking for air leaks using a candle and set the control wire run on fire (don’t remember which plant). How about the plants built near/on faults, San Onofre…
That is off the top of my head with out looking it up.
Life expectancy of a nuke plant was 20 years and radiation does very strange things to metal and concrete and power companies will do only what they have to, to make a profit.

[caseydog]

The nearest nuclear plant to me is almost 100 miles from me. And, like the plants in Japan, the cores are contained. I also do not live on a major fault line.

Not to get political, but I am fine with nuclear energy being PART of a mix of a diversified energy portfolio.

There is no way I'd want to see one along the fault lines of the West coast, but there are places where they make sense as a clean energy source.

Even if they experience full meltdown in one or more of the reactors in Japan, the US is not likely to be in danger from radiation.

The people I worry about are the workers in Japan fighting to contain these reactor cores. They are being exposed to dangerous levels of radiation. Some of them are going to die before their time.

CD

[caseydog]

Pardon this threadjack, but I just saw Planovet's signature...

"Did you hear about the agnostic, dyslexic insomniac? He would lay awake all night wondering if there was a Dog..."

Oh yes, there is a Dog, and he will have his day.

CD

[Engineer Guy]

I moved from listening to the World as a Kid on a Vacuum Tube Shortwave Radio to listening via the 'Net on demand. TVs have on/off switches. We skip the fear-mongering pandered by the bloated Millionaire 'pundits' claiming to output 'factual' News.

NHK Japan

Swiss Radio International

BBC

Commentator-Free Pictures

I ran down this story after seeing the Snow around us turn a very weird color easily seen by the naked eye. In one case, it was dust from AZ. In another instance, it was dust from Mongolia. The Sky changed color; Sunsets were really bizarre. It was right out of Oklahoma Dust Bowl stories of old. So, particle size irrelevant for debate, particles make it to the U.S. on the Jet Stream under certain conditions. The Science in the Article below is sound despite the Website some cynics might not like. Seen it 1st person, the early basis for all Science [1st person observation].

When Farmers don't have Water on historical schedule, and Town Water Supplies run off un-stored - due to the higher melt rate - this is not an Academic issue. For us, at least, it's very real and all around us occasionally.

CO Snow Dust

The Continents slide on Earth's molten Core. It's as fundamental an explanation as that. Proof is available on the Big Island of Hawaii by watching Volcanoes 1st person.

[JuneBug]

Pardon this threadjack, but I just saw Planovet's signature...
"Did you hear about the agnostic, dyslexic insomniac? He would lay awake all night wondering if there was a Dog..."

I'm still laughing at the current avatar: "If you don't talk to your cat about catnip, who will?"

[Noob]

I'm more worried about the super colider ...

[john]

The greatest danger to Americans will be to the Oregon beach comers tripping over the debris that will begin to float ashore a few months from now.

At least , that's my take.

[Shadow Catcher]

One of the best disaster preparidness pieces I have seen was republished on the DailyKoss written after Katrina. It is if put into Word 75 pages long and starts out with

Something bad is going to happen, and there's nothing you can do to stop it.
Preparing to deal with a disaster is like going off of a ski jump. If you put off your planning until things start happening, it's far too late to make much of a difference. Once you're headed down that ski jump, the time for planning and preparation is over.
On the other hand, being prepared for disaster does not have to be time-consuming or expensive.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/03/1 ... blished%29

I now have this as a word document and plan on keeping it. A number of the items I have already implemented i.e. having First Need water filters.
I do not feel we are in imminent danger but being prepared to bug out is a perennial topic here and probably deserves its own sticky. Teardrops are uniquely suitable for this, whether it is for Hurricane or after an earthquake or just during a sustained power outage.

[48Rob]

I think that we are "educated" about impending doom and "problems" by the media.
This from science, television news, documentaries, and for profit television shows.
If you are in need of something in which to believe, there are many choices, plenty of diverse fears to go around.

It appears the basis for these fears runs from completely factual, to very difficult for the average person to believe.

An earthquake in an earthquake prone area, a menacing volcano rumbling for months, extra ordinary rainfall in a flood prone area, all these are realistic dangers, and should be considered.

Perhaps alien invasions, 2012 doomsday predictions, and the like are major exaggerations of common fears, but nonetheless, no matter what you believe, or don't believe, simple preparedness and self sufficiency should not be laughed off as "crazy" or irrational thinking.

How many of us have the basics, the ordinary everyday supplies that we must have to not die?

Water, shelter/warmth/food.

The first images we see on TV after a disaster are the people reaching out, begging, for a drink of water, a blanket to stay warm, and food to feed their starving children.

To simply have enough water, food, and general supplies to supply your family for a few days, or even weeks is looked upon as; crazy, dumb, irrational, etc.

Our grandparents did this; were they crazy?
Of course not.
The supply chain that restocks the local grocery's shelves every day was not as fine tuned as it is today, if it existed at all.
They did not go "shopping" every few days, or every weekend to refill the cupboards and fridge.
They bought 6 months or more supplies at a time, because to have any less on hand was too risky.
But this is 2011 you might say...no need to worry.
You would be correct, as long as the trucks, trains, and ships can continue to make daily deliveries to keep the stores stocked.
But if that chain is broken, the supply lasts only a few days.
Most people have a week or two worth of food in the fridge and cupboards, and maybe a couple days worth of water.
If it takes 4 weeks to restore the chain, how many days will your children be thirsty, hungry, and cold?

Where will you get water and food if you run out?

What will you say to your children?

What will you say to yourself...

It is not difficult, or expensive to put a little extra food and water away.
Something I’ll bet that survivors of recent disasters have put at the top of their most important things list…

Rob

[bobhenry]

Was watching the news last night and almost died laughing after thinking about the hat thing on this post.

Anyone else see the civilians in the street with their giant foil covered cardboard carton headgear!

I know it's a sad situation but the aluminum hat thing just bumped my funnybone

[Mike B]

There are more important things to worry about. Like the eventual extinction of our sun, or the heat death of the universe.

[Dale M.]

There are more important things to worry about. Like the eventual extinction of our sun, or the heat death of the universe.

If it happens there is not much to worry about... We will be either a lump of charcoal or completely frozen ice ball....

IF one has the will and supplies to survive two weeks (think of it as isolated camping) of a more conventional disaster on their own, they will survive....

Dale

[JuneBug]

Latest on weather pattern in Japan:

Favorable winds over Japan carrying radioactivity out to sea
(click on link to see graphics)
By Dr. Jeff Masters
Published: 2:30 PM GMT on March 16, 2011
If there is going to be a major nuclear disaster with massive release of radioactivity into the atmosphere from Japan's stricken Fukushima nuclear plant, today would be the best day meteorologically for this to occur. The low pressure system that brought rain and several inches of snow to Japan yesterday has moved northeastwards out to sea, and high pressure is building in. The clockwise flow of air around the high pressure system approaching Japan from the southwest is driving strong northwesterly winds of 10 - 20 mph over the region. These winds will continue through Thursday, and will take radiation particles emitted by the stricken reactors immediately out to sea, without lingering over Japan. Since high pressure systems are regions of sinking air, the radiation will stay close to the ocean surface as the air spirals clockwise over the Pacific. The contaminated air will remain over the ocean for at least five days, which is plenty of time for the radiation to settle out to the surface.

[Woodstramp]

48Rob,

Good post.

We talked about this preparedness thing at work one time after Katrina.

One of my coworkers mentioned his SHTF solution....."I don't store any extra food or water....My plan is to raid Amish and Mennonite farms.....they won't fight you for it."

Mormans are also supposed to store a year of food, but he said they will shoot you.