Tag Archives: city emergency

Hurricane Katrina Blogs

by SurvivalGuy Posted on August 15, 2011

I came across two excellent accounts of first hand experiences during the Hurricane Katrina disaster in 2005.

This one is an audio blog by Melissa Phillip and you can check it out here.

And the second one is a very extensive written blog accessible here.  Shane the writer of the Listening to Katrina blog has gone above and beyond addressing the realities of survival and has created an extensive collection of workbooks that anyone can use to setup their own survival plan. I highly recommend visiting his website.

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Keep Your Wits About You – The Little Black Book of Violence

by SurvivalGuy Posted on April 21, 2011

My daily travels take me through a variety of neighborhoods and I come across a wide range of people. 99 percent of the people I encounter are completely reasonable. About 1% are not. They are the few who make others lives miserable and they are best avoided. Depending on your state of awareness or disposition towards other people you might not notice them until it’s too late.

Having common sense and street smarts is a big part of living in a city. I take both of these for granted and it’s hard to instill this knowledge into friends and family who do not live in the city. I have a completely different mental perspective when I walk out my door than someone in the suburbs or the country. You always have to be on point and be careful.

I have a couple of nephews that are growing up in the city and  I am concerned about them and the mistakes they may make to learn what they have to before becoming responsible adults. When they get a little bit older I’m putting this book in their hands. The Little Black Book of Violence: What Every Young Man Needs to Know About Fighting.

It would seem that I was lucky growing up in the city and God was watching over my shoulder when I was doing stupid kid stuff. Hopefully this book could prevent my nephews from learning some of these lessons the hard way.

The Little Black Book of Violence: What Every Young Man Needs to Know About Fighting

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Normalcy Bias

by SurvivalGuy Posted on April 18, 2011

The normalcy bias refers to a mental state people enter when facing a disaster. It causes people to underestimate both the possibility of a disaster occurring and its possible effects. This often results in situations where people fail to adequately prepare for a disaster, and on a larger scale, the failure of the government to include the populace in its disaster preparations.

The assumption that is made in the case of the normalcy bias is that since a disaster never has occurred that it never will occur. It also results in the inability of people to cope with a disaster once it occurs. People with a normalcy bias have difficulties reacting to something they have not experienced before. People also tend to interpret warnings in the most optimistic way possible, seizing on any ambiguities to infer a less serious situation.

The rest of the article is here…

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OODA loop (for observe, orient, decide, and act)

by SurvivalGuy Posted on April 4, 2011

The OODA loop (for observe, orient, decide, and act) is a concept originally applied to the combat operations process, often at the strategic level in both the military operations. It is now also often applied to understand commercial operations and learning processes. The concept was developed by military strategist and USAF Colonel John Boyd.

My buddy came across this article on wikipedia and I thought it would be worthwhile to share with everyone. The full article is here.

OODA loop (for observe, orient, decide, and act)

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Japanese Nuclear Disaster + Potassium Iodide Tablets

by SurvivalGuy Posted on March 17, 2011

The potential for nuclear radiation poisoning from the nuclear power plants failing are Japan is very high. My friend who lives on the West Coast was expressing his concern yesterday and I e-mailed him some links to products on Amazon.com. Last night the products were available. Tonight the products are back ordered and not available for several months.

Last year I had the foresight to buy several packs of iodide pills just in case something happened on the East Coast. I have a lot to be concerned about because there is a high concentration of nuclear power plants here. I hate to think that my life would be dependent on the governments foresight to protect me and my family. They can’t even get pot holes filled around where I live so I don’t give them too much credit.

I bought the Iosat Iodide tablets below. If anyone is concerned about radioactive poisoning now is the time to get some of these pills before the world supply is depleted for the next several months.

Iosat Potassium Iodide

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5th Amendment or Why You Should Not Speak to the Police

by SurvivalGuy Posted on March 7, 2011

5th Amendment

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

I would like to point everyone to these two videos on You Tube. There are two parts. The first half is from the perspective of a defense attorney and the second half is from the point of view of a prosecutor.

Defense Attorney’s Take on Not Speaking To Police

Prosecutions  Take on Not Speaking To Police

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American Jiu Jitsu

by SurvivalGuy Posted on February 24, 2011

On a whim I decided to try American Jiu Jitsu two weeks ago. I’ve taken Brazilian Jiu Jitsu classes in the past and I liked them a great deal. The difference with American Jiu Jitsu is that it is geared towards self defense and the classes I have attended do not have sparring. I was told the reason they don’t spar is because the moves are dangerous and can hurt or kill someone.

Since I  always liked the tactile feed back of sparring with a partner I miss that aspect of it. The sparring gave me an idea of how different body types and weight classes would handle themselves in a real life situation. So far I have done a lot of pad work which is some what satisfying but a little boring. I have a tendency to compare these classes with ones I’ve taken in the past but I’m going to give it a try and report back in several weeks. My friend told me to keep an open mind and see what I learn. I’m going to take his advice and post an update in a few weeks.

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ASE30 Safe Escape Fire and Smoke Hood

by SurvivalGuy Posted on February 21, 2011

My work place just bought a dozen of these just in case we have a fire and we’re walking down a million flights of stairs. At first look the picture on the case made me laugh. After making several jokes with my coworkers the reality of a potential fire situation in a high rise sobered me up. Hopefully I won’t get back to anyone about the fire and escape hood and if I do then hopefully it works really well.

ASE30 Safe Escape Fire and Smoke Hood w/Soft Case - Qty 1

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Mapping America: Every City, Every Block

by SurvivalGuy Posted on December 17, 2010

I came across this very informative overlay map on the New York Times website. You can put in your zip code and see a breakdown of people around where you live. This is very useful depending where you live because you can see the types of neighborhoods you have to go through when you’re bugging out. Check this website out and come to your own conclusions.

http://projects.nytimes.com/census/2010/explorer

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The Grasshopper and The Ant

by SurvivalGuy Posted on December 2, 2010

I’m going to take a quick break from posting about the range and get on my soap box and preach a bit. Today’s bit of wisdom is having the basic necessities at home and on your person. Those of us who are mindful and prepare for a time when there might be trouble take this very seriously. I’m sure everyone has friends who do not have any supplies whatsoever. The people who do not think about having their  shit together live their lives day to day never thinking about tomorrow like the fable The Grasshopper and the Ant. If you have ever spoken to your friends and family about getting ready for hard times and they laughed at you and then said that if things go wrong they will show up at your place then you know how upsetting it is. That kind of talk is proof that they do not care and they will be looking for handouts in case something happens.

It doesn’t take much to have some backup food and water. I pick up a few extras of my favorites and put it off to the side. I think the most important thing is to get water and food that you are familiar with. One of the best investments that I have ever made and had a chance to use in the NYC blackout was the Sterno Stove. I bought the folding stove and some Sterno for a camping trip I never went to years ago. The great thing about this setup is that it’s portable and it doesn’t take up a lot of room.

Sterno Stove

Sterno

This little stove let me boil water and heat up my food so I didn’t have to eat it cold. The blackout was only for a day so I wasn’t exactly suffering but it was good to have. I’ll get back to posts about firearms shortly.

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