Archive for the ‘We’re All Gonna Die’ Category
Business Owners: What To Do In A Crisis
Monday, December 1st, 2008Hey all, this isn’t a huge post. I’m just linking you through to Hugh Hewitt who has the whole thing, but I thought this was worthwhile enough to pass along. Having been through a couple Hurricanes, now, here is what I’ve discovered: The thing that is most needed is communication. The thing that goes out first is communication. If you can have back-up modes of communication, you can handle just about anything.
Here’s a sample from the list:
2. Start a Log, capturing time lines, significant events, persons, and exterior contacts and players.
I would also note that this step is important for families. You WILL forget what happened later. Our sense of time warps during stressful situations. A log helps. My log through the hurricane was my blog. Well, it was. And when I went back through and read it, I was shocked. Had I not keep track of the details, there is no way I’d remember it now. The only way to correct errors later is to remember events as they actually happened.
Cross-posted at RightWingNews and the Houston Chronicle.
What Would Happen If A Mumbai Attack Happened Here?
Thursday, November 27th, 2008Watching the spectacular horror continuing in Mumbai, my thoughts turn to American cities. Could this happen here and what elements would have to be in place for it to happen?
1. Terrorists like drama and dense populations. So, that would favor a city. Some cities are more suitable–Chicago, DC and New York come to mind. Los Angeles and Houston are spread out. So is Miami. Tight quarters are target rich.
2. So let’s a assume a city. Terrorists like unarmed inhabitants. Well, criminals everywhere are armed, of course. But New York, DC and Chicago all have unfriendly gun laws. Perfect! I was thinking about this sort of thing happening in Houston. It wouldn’t last long. I don’t know the number of people with CHLs (concealed carry handgun licenses), but the number is high. That tends to make the populace less willing to comply.
3. Terrorists like symbolism. The Twin Towers were symbolic of our economic and infrastructure strength. Like two ugly (to design gurus eyes) beacons, they represented towering power. The Taj, likewise, symbolizes wealth and the new India:
To have pictures of burning Taj Hotel broadcast around the world will have a deeper impact than even perhaps the terrorists intended, striking a blow against a symbol of Indian wealth and progress and sending shivers down the spine of some of the richest and most powerful people on the planet.
When I watch the police response in Mumbai, it’s wholly inadequate. This is not to cast aspersions. I remember being outraged at the impotence of the police during the Virginia Tech attack and in Columbine. In both cases, there were just one or two culprits, and by the Mumbai standards, they weren’t heavily armed, but the police were held at bay. Their rules of engagement would not allow them to burst in to rescue anyone–booby-traps and whatnot. But saving police officer’s lives superseded saving unarmed civilians and that seemed wrong to me. Watching the police surrounding a building while hearing people being executed: not acceptable.
The terrorist operations are more like guerrilla combat. High school kids weaned on video games and armed to the teeth might have a better chance against such a well-trained enemy. I mention this because American police forces simply aren’t prepared to deal with street warfare, unless there have been massive training exercises I’m not aware of. (A very good possibility, and I welcome any and all input, since I’m neither a soldier nor a law enforcement officer.) One thing that is heartening: Hopefully Iraq and Afghanistan vets are taking jobs within police forces. They’d have the sort of combat training needed.
And the thing is, with the element of surprise and the energy of fear, terrorists can do significant damage even if law enforcement is prompt and perfectly competent. The only chance people have is to be armed.
But who is armed? Even in Texas there are laws against bringing guns into hospitals. So hospitals make very soft targets. The security guards don’t exactly inspire confidence. I’ve spent plenty of time at hospitals, too much, and during my stay a woman was raped in the hallways. Not exactly a safe environment.
In Mumbai, people were attacked in a hospital, hotel, a synagogue, and by a marauding hi-jacked police van. How could this attack be stopped here? Armed individuals. That’s it. That’s all I can come up with. Anything less and intervention is too delayed, too impotent.
An armed populace trained to fight back would go a long way to increasing security. The old fashioned notion of militias sprang to my mind just now. Maybe that’s the answer: civilians who band together and train for these situations.
Thoughts?
P.S. The power of individuals defines this new age. Twitter has (unconfirmed) non-stop information streaming from Mumbai. Since the new organizations have been slow on the uptake and confusion has reigned, Google Maps, Flickr and Twitter have become the vehicles to carry data–including naming terror suspects. This is a new world. Law enforcement will need to adjust and use the cutting-edge technology to their advantage. Currently, they are asking for a stop to Tweets–a potential rumor, still unsubstantiated (depends on the news source you believe). Can they use them beneficially, instead?
Also, from Pajamas, Bridget Johnson explains the threat Pakistan poses to the world. She brings up an excellent point: Americans, Brits and Jews were specially sought out. That is Islamic terrorism and an act of war–not a criminal act. One of the commenters, CoolCzech over at Right Wing News said:
I wonder if the Daily Koz tells the Indians that this is “just the politics of fear,” and insist that no matter, the armed assault teams must be tried in civil court?
I wonder what their reaction will be if such teams come ashore in lower Manhattan one of these days??
More here on whodunnit.
Global Cooling Phase: Oh! THAT’S Why It’s Called “Climate Change” Now
Saturday, October 4th, 2008One of these days, the prophets of doom and gloom will be right, but they’ll be dead right, so who cares? That’s why I have a “We’re All Gonna Die” category. Between Y2K, the economic meltdown ushering in the Next Great Depression (Dems and the Press hope, hope! HOPE!!!), and Global Warming, the world is going to end as we know it. The only problem: we feel fine.
The danger of screeching ala Chicken Little is that no one will pay attention when the poop really does hit the wind farm. Now, about that cooling phase:
Since just January 2007, the world has cooled so much that ALL the global warming over the past three decades has disappeared! This is confirmed by a plot of actual global average temperatures from the best available source, weather satellite data that shows there has been NO net global warming since the satellites were first launched in 1979.
Since there was global cooling from ~1940 to ~1979, this means there has been no net warming since ~1940, in spite of an ~800% increase in human emissions of carbon dioxide. This indicates that the recent warming trend was natural, and CO2 is an insignificant driver of global warming.
And it would be so awesome if the world ended–for the Moonbats, anyway.
Post-Hurricane Ike Correction Of Errors–UPDATED
Monday, September 22nd, 2008Businesses, and I’m assuming the military too, assesses actions and decisions post-consequences to correct any errors. Last night, while I couldn’t sleep (damn caffeine–I had rehooked myself through the long road trips and travel–if it seems like I’m grumpy for the next couple of days, that’s why) my thoughts turned to our experience and what I plan to do differently next time we endure some sort of crisis (could be weather, pay attention to Kyle, could be terrorism, you just never know). I also assessed what worked.
First the gaps:
A back-up generator is not a luxury. When figuring a cost-benefit analysis, the food lost alone (we had a side of beef in a deep freezer), a generator pays for itself after one power outage. So, we need to get a generator. In addition, relief organizations won’t get into the area with ice for at least three days, maybe four. By that time, food is wasted.
We didn’t have enough batteries. I waited until too late to check on how many I had. By the time I figured out we needed more, they were sold out at the store.
Guns and gun training are a must. The police simply cannot be everywhere, but criminals are remarkably effective at being where the cops are not. So, we need to get both.
Don’t let someone borrow tools without supervision. Our chainsaw got damaged. A chainsaw is a precious commodity post-storm.
I ran out of bleach. Again, it was something I thought of too late. Bleach cleans. It kills germs. It’s necessary in large quantities for many reasons.
We needed a good light besides a flashlight for at night. Since we’re not campers, we don’t have a camp light, but we need one.
What we did right:
Plenty of food. We could have gone for a week, probably two with our dry-goods.
Plenty of water. We were okay with that too.
Gas stove. This was unintentional smartness. We do have a gas grill out back fueled by propane and we had extra tanks for back-up, but we used the stove. Here’s the thing though: there’s no ventilation so be careful cooking burgers. Your house will smell for quite some time. Ditto, bacon.
Hand-crank radio. I bought one from Amazon. In fact, after Hurricane Rita, I used Amazon for everything–saw, water purification tablets, bowie knife, etc.
Full tanks of gas. This is a no-brainer but I was surprised how many people were desperate for gas right after everything hit. Lack of preparation has consequences. We needed the gas because we decided to leave The Woodlands. We were at least 100 miles or so out of the area before there were working gas stations. An empty tank would have left us stuck. Also, I was using the car to charge my cell phone every night. The car is an excellent generator. I’m thinking about electric cars too. Wouldn’t get too far with one of them, would you? Trucks are mighty nice in this situation. Our Suburban could be filled to the gills with kids, dogs and stuff and had a nice big (albeit guzzling) gas tank.
Landline, AT&T and Sprint telephone carriers. At one time or another at least one was working–mostly. That was a relief. Its one thing to be without internet (and at my level of addiction that’s painful), it’s another to be without a way to communicate period.
As I think of more, I’ll update.
I’d also like to take a moment to thank the thousands of electrical, tree-cutting, and every other sort of service worker who came to Houston as soon as possible (the tree guy is from Maryland) to help. You cannot imagine the relief and excitement to see caravans of energy trucks pouring into the city.
Updated:
Reader Rorschach adds this in the comment section and I’m adding it in its entirety because it’s valuable. Also, I want to add this before I quote him. My iPhone was invaluable. I had email, text, internet access, WordPress mobile so I could blog, etc. In short, I could stay connected through this one small device. It earned it’s steep price, I assure you.
To the advice:
An addendum if you don’t mind. Not only are chain saws a necessity, but a chain saw that WORKS is a necessity. There are a number of cheap Poulan made ones (craftsman ones are Poulan ones.) that are absolute junk and will run for about an hour or two and then you’ll have to fight with them to get them started and keep them running. Repairing them costs more than a new saw. do yourself a favor and get a good commercial grade Stihl or Echo one. Make sure you store it properly and drain the fuel out of it, or you’ll be sorry.
Generators are a necessity as well. but gasoline powered ones have one major drawback: gasoline. You can’t buy it for the first 3-4 days after a storm. and you are constantly having to go out and refill the tank. You have Natural Gas. go and get yourself a NG fired permenantly installed backup genset. Northern Tool sells several in the 11KW and up range for under 3 grand delivered. The additional advantage is that NG fired engines don’t put out much CO so you should not have an issue of carbon monoxide poisoning.
LED lanterns are great and last a really long time on a charge, but the problem is that the color put out by them is in a range that the human eye is not terribly sensitive to. It is too blue. Fluorescent lanterns are less efficient, but you’ll at least be able to read by them. Don’t get a propane or camp fuel one, they give of CO. You can’t use them inside, and you can’t use them to light the generator while you are filling it with gas either.
Guns: Get yourself a 12 Gauge shotgun with an 18 inch barrel and load it with 00 buckshot. Best home defense weapon ever conceived, bar none. It will not over-penetrate walls and endanger your neighbors. Is somewhat immune to aiming error. (you still need to aim, but with a shot pattern 3″ across, you’re more likely to hit something than a pattern that is 1/3 of an inch across.) They are impossible to conceal, but for home defense, concealment is not really an issue. Here is a blog with a lot of good info on that score:
http://xavierthoughts.blogspot.com/search?q=home+defense+shotgun
Handguns are ideal for protection when you are mobile, but they should be thought of as a bridge to get you to a long gun of some sort, not as a end-all be-all defense weapon.
The concept of being self sufficient for 72 hours is bogus. I don’t know where that number came from but they didn’t even bother wiping the fecal matter off of it when they pulled it out of their butt. 72 hours is at BEST a minimum number, it should really be a week to 10 days.
Abandoning Land Lines For Cell Phones–A Lesson From Ike
Sunday, September 21st, 2008Many people give up land lines in favor of cell phones. I have friends who have done just that. They’re in their twenties, though. And even though they’ve settled down with a house and a kid, they still have no land line. Well. I haven’t spoken with them about their decision since the hurricane, but Ike confirmed one thing for me: it’s good to have a land line.
Cell towers, I found out, lose power too. When that happens communications come to a screeching halt. For a couple days, the only communication came via a land line. To me, it’s just a good security back-up and important in emergencies.
Our next door neighbors got stuck because they only have digital cord-less phones. Guess what happened when the power was gone? My husband laughs at me, but I keep two boring old phones around that require no batteries for just this purpose–one for upstairs and one for downstairs. And every time we’ve lost power, we’ve used them. In this case, we could let our neighbors borrow a phone.
Conclusion: Yes to land lines. Yes to old phones. It’s just good back up.
Hurricane Ike In Pictures
Friday, September 19th, 2008It is difficult to comprehend the devastation. Even seeing the aftermath, it is so overwhelming to take it all in. Boston.com has some pictures that might help you at least get a feel for it. Amazing, really.
My Latest Pajamas Media Article: Yes, You Can Be Fit And Fat
Wednesday, September 17th, 2008Here’s a snippet:
The definition of “healthy” has serious ramifications both medically and economically. People may or may not change their lifestyles based on bad information when they should be taking a different course.
Read the whole thing here.
Hurricane Ike: The Woodlands, Texas, Power Returning–Updated
Wednesday, September 17th, 2008Just wanted to let readers know that power is returning to parts of The Woodlands and should be up most places there by Friday. Landlines for phone and DSL are still out and cellular service is still spotty. No reports of injuries or deaths, though. Please share your information here.
Other posts about Ike here:
Hurricane Ike, Woodlands, Texas Frustration Edition
Hurricane Ike: Woodlands Evacuee Edition
Live Blogging Hurricane Ike from The Woodlands, Texas
Also note, I’m blogging about other stuff too.
Updated:
People around the Houston area suffer worse. More here:
Residents again waited in line for hours Tuesday at the nearly two dozen supply distribution centers set up in Houston to hand out food, water and ice. Mayor Bill White complained the Federal Emergency Management Agency wasn’t bringing in the supplies fast enough, and Harris County Judge Ed Emmett had personally taken over coordination of efforts to hand out relief supplies.
A note about FEMA and relief supplies to the area. The government is not known for responsiveness, are they? Think DMV. So, relying on them for help seems misguided. That doesn’t excuse FEMA, though. The problem is the “assessment” stage. That takes a couple days. Well by Day 3 post storm, ice is a necessity to save the food a person does have.
I’m not going to say “I told you so”, but man. The problem isn’t often the storm. It’s the lack of power, water and communication after the storm. I could not understand why more people weren’t evacuated–especially those fragile and needing physical help. With families spread out, people are often alone and without support. Also, I know the elderly don’t like to leave home, but if family is offering help, it is wise to take up the offer and go.
UPDATED AGAIN:
I’ve been out of sorts being out of town and out of my schedule. Just noticed that Glenn Reynolds linked again. Thanks! He asks:
Why do hurricanes that hit Texas get so much less attention than hurricanes that hit New Orleans?
UPDATE: Another reader emails: ‘If you want to discuss lack of coverage, wasn’t the hurricane that hit New Orleans the same hurricane that nearly wiped the Mississippi gulf coast off the map?” Yes. Why did New Orleans get so much more attention? Is it because the media wanted to paint the Bush Administration as racially insensitive, or is New Orleans just the only place they could find on a map?
Well, there’s definitely that. New Orleans is an old liberal city. The left loves it because it’s the “most European” city in America. It has history and culture. It has jazz and gumbo. It also has crime and poverty and corruption. It has haves and have-nots. In short, it’s the perfect Leftist city.
In contrast, while Houston has millions more people. It has the oil business and nasty refineries. (It also has more shows than Broadway, but don’t tell liberals.) Basically, Houston just isn’t sexy. But it has jobs and a thriving economy. I guess that’s boring–a basically functional, working city.
Hurricane Ike: The Woodlands, Texas Frustration Edition–UPDATED
Tuesday, September 16th, 2008Hi all. I write you from Hattisburg, Mississippi. We’re heading toward Florida to be with family there and maybe go to Disney World. We have unused passes and might be able to get free passes in any event, so we’ll make this hurricane a time to remember. Better than sitting around and sweating.
If you’re keeping up with the comments, there are some panicky messages. One thing I forgot to tell you people, mostly because I didn’t know then, but my husband told me (who heard it from some guy), is that FEMA was blocking cell and phone line transmissiom from The Woodlands in order to keep government lines open. I’ve tried to find solid information about this because it sounded like some conspiracy theory. However, my cellular service went dead at the same time as my landlines and both are AT&T. My husbands, which is Sprint, did not. In fact, one thing we’ve learned through this is that it’s good to have two types of service because at one time or another they’ve been on and off. They both went off at the same time on Sunday, but his came back around. Our own experience would seem to indicate that the FEMA rumor is not true.
IF FEMA does, in fact, dedicate all transmission lines to free them for emergency personnel and maintenance, etc., then there has got to be a better way to deal with things. Or another way must be found.
Only three things that really matter during the peak of a crisis:
1. Water–you need enough water to drink to survive. You can survive without food for a couple days if you have to.
2. Communications–you need to be able to get information. It is the water of life. If you can’t communicate with someone, you can’t tell them what you need and you can’t help someone in need. It is impossible, for example, for people who have information to share it with people in The Woodlands because they may have no way to receive it.
3. Fuel–People caught without fuel are in dire straits. If the crisis is bad enough, fleeing is the only sensible answer. Your mother’s antique china be damned.
So, a woman in the comments got her boyfriend a ticket out, but has no way to communicate to him and he has no way to get to the airport. I can assure you, people are getting very protective about the fuel they do have, at this point. Gas stations need power to pump gas out, so if they don’t have power, they can’t sell gas. See the problem? So, in The Woodlands, there might even be gas, but it’s going to be stuck underground until the stations get generators.
In anticipation of the storm, HEB brought in massive generators before it hit. This was a risk, of course, because the storm could have destroyed the generator. Turns out, it was a good risk. Mind you, though, if a person doesn’t have enough gas to get to the store, it doesn’t matter. And HEB didn’t have ice when I went. And at that point, I didn’t need food as I had plenty. I needed ice.
This brings me back around to communications. You know a good way to freak people out? Cut off communication, they have no ability to find out where to find resources. So, by rumor mill, I heard that there was ice at the Shenendoah municipal building, but that had changed to The Woodlands High School football stadium. Guess what? That’s wasting a hell of a lot of gas on a rumor that may or may not be true, and what if there is no ice once making the trek there? Communication is essential.
Last night, we made the decision to leave. Our neighbors, who we’ve had intermittent contact with (again undermining the FEMA rumor, but I’ve look for the facts on this) are staying. By all accounts, things are safe and sound, but people are staying to protect property, essentially. Without food and water, though, this proposition gets wearisome, if not impossible.
Part of it, at this point, is no routine has been established. People are ever hopeful that the power will be on quickly. It would be good if people knew if there was going to be a set time–three weeks.
It also seems to me that a 50′s era community nuclear fallout plan should be in place. Remember when schools and communities had the sirens and the running into the basement? Well, disasters can happen. Obviously, they do happen. Shouldn’t every neighborhood, every village, every community have a set plan in place? And I don’t think it should be a FEMA run deal. Because of the damage assessments that they and the power companies do, people are ON THEIR OWN for at least three days, I’d say closer to a week, really. And really, who wants their life to be in the hand of the government except when we’re at war or something? So, communities need plans–to gather information, share resources and not duplicate efforts. How many people in my neighborhood wasted gas by driving all over looking for, ironically, gas? I’d bet lots of people.
So, from what I hear, this is how things are: food and water are running low unless someone is very well provisioned, gas is still scarce, ice is difficult to come by, and people are just staying to protect hearth and home and doing so without clean water, land lines, and electricity. Neighborhoods are coming together. Neighbors are looking out for each other.
Entergy–Energy status for The Woodlands
Food/ice/water–It looks like Magnolia and Tomball are more up and running. Chik-Fil-A in Magnolia folks. Hey, it’s something.
Also this: Fellowship of The Woodlands will have MRE’s and Ice.
Huntsville seemed to be “open”. So if someone wants to make a drive for food, it might be worth it. Of course, beware of fuel usage.
More at KHOU.
On the way out of Texas, we saw huge convoys of Army guys, electric company trucks, etc. Resources are coming, but where are they going? Galveston was pretty nearly devastated. So, I’m guessing resources go there first. I don’t know.
FEMA’s phone number: 1-800-621-3362 If they’re like any other gov’t entity, knock early, knock often. And be prepared to wait in line and fill out lots of paperwork.
Montgomery County damage reports here (by residents).
Houston Chronicle here. Judging by their coverage, it’s all Galveston all the time. It’s a mess down there. Many people, including a blog friend’s (Robbie Cooper of UrbanGrounds) brother and in laws lost homes. We met a lady at the hotel who had “nothing to go home to”. What a horrible thing to contemplate.
I won’t be some place permanent until tomorrow night. In the meantime, keep checking my tweets.
UPDATED:
Power restored throughout parts of The Woodlands. My neighborhood came on line tonight. Got a call from my lovely next door neighbor.
Hurricane Ike: The Woodlands Evacuee Edition
Monday, September 15th, 2008Hi all, I regret to tell you that I am not in The Woodlands right now, so I cannot go and check on your friends and relatives. I’m hoping that other people who read my blog and have a generator in The Woodlands will comment on their neighborhoods. I will take comments out of moderation, so people can write back and forth and share what they know. I will be on the road for the day and can update about my situation and will talk to friends and neighbors back home and update you that way. Sorry I can’t be of more help.
A word about why we left: Certain gas stations and the HEBs around town were getting food and gas, but the lines were long and not indicative of how they would get as people (including my family) ran out of food. We would have been fine for about a week, but we would need ice for perishables. As it is, we’ve lost a side of beef and the contents of our fridge. We gave away what we could to neighbors. It’s a shame to have it go to waste, but neighbors don’t have power or ice either.
Conroe Independent School District has a policy of only giving two-day cancellation notices. This is wholly irresponsible. I actually talked to people who were concerned about that and waiting to decide what to do. This is, of course, illogical. Without power, the schools won’t be going either. People should be making decisions, at this point, that will help them survive. Education is not even a third order priority at this point.
The difficult part of the decision to leave is that much of Houston, ironically, does have power. So, people are worried about being expected to work. But without power which means no air conditioning, and more importantly at a certain point, no washer and dryer, there is no way to stay sanitary. Also, this makes me think of trash and waste removal. Our garbage can was full when we left. I can’t imagine that we were the only ones in that situation.
My neighbors worry about leaving because of looting. That is a real concern considering that Houston does have power and so, the people in the outlying areas like the Woodlands are literally sitting ducks. Crime is not a problem in The Woodlands. Well, not a huge one. This is, however, Texas, and nearly everyone is armed, so there’s that.
Businesses, banks, medical buildings, imagine every small business you can think of, are without power. So a person might have food, but no work. The population of The Woodlands and Conroe area is very dense and I have to tell you that driving out of there yesterday, going up I-45 and not seeing one light until we reached Huntsville was bizarre.
From commenters reports and those of friends and family, The Woodlands area hasn’t been mentioned on the national news. That is unsurprising to me. I remember the Katrina coverage and it was like New Orleans was the city where Christ Himself was returning, probably to the roof of the Superdome. Galveston is the big news now. And it is big news, the area and surrounding areas are a catastrophe. Up here in The Woodlands, the loss is less severe in terms of homes and flooding. But there is still loss and significant loss. And the difficulty will be chronic and build as people run out of food and fuel and sit in their baking homes.
This picture sounds bleak, I suppose. Besides a boy dying after a tree fell on him, I have not heard of any loss of life in The Woodlands area. People are helping one another. Things are being cleaned up. Houses repaired. It could be worse. There are trees through peoples homes all over. And I imagine that with the attention the rest of the city is getting, The Woodlands residents will be a low priority. I don’t know.
Please feel free to exchange information here. Truly, I wish I could check on your family members. Thank you all for your well wishes.
Oh! When we left yesterday, we had no phone service from land lines, no power, and cell service was spotty. So, just because you don’t hear from family and friends doesn’t mean something is wrong. If they were like me, they took their frustration out on tree limbs in the yard yesterday. Everyone is okay, they just seem to be waiting to decide what to do.
