There is a scenario that concern me. Our infrastructure is very susceptable to attack. Case in point...
During the three-day power outage in August of 2003 there was no electricity in Cleveland (Cuyahoga County) as well as in the northeast USA. The first day was tough. Stores with generators were open BUT there was a "run" on food, candles, batteries, and water. We had enough storage (food/water) to last our family about two weeks. Since the electricity was out, there was NO CITY WATER. The pumping stations were shut down. My son and I went out the second day to see what was left in the stores. They looked like a tornado hit them. They were picked clean of all necessity items.
Also on the second day a couple of cars of "gang-types" were seen on our street cruising real slow. Never seen them around before. My son and I were packing revolvers and sat on the porch steps. We did not stare these guys down BUT we did not look away either. They did not come back. An older lady who lives two doors down said she was glad we were out there. That night a family on the next block over had a bicycle AND their propane grill stolen. These were left out in the back yard. The night was strangely quiet. No airplanes, trains, cars, busses. A police car now and then,
Third day not many folks were driving around anymore. Could not get gas since the electricity was still off. Nobody was wasting trips in the car. Saw more bicycles than ever. Neighborhood people were out visiting in the streets during the day, which was a good thing. It was HOT since it was August. No air conditioning. Many folks lived in the basement where it was a little cooler.
The power came back on over night.
A lady (member of the Church) I work with, who lives in the inner city, said that the folks that live there never put any food storage away. The talk she was hearing involved "foraging for food/supplies". She had some food storage that kept her and her daughter fed for the three days. Most folks did not.
Should this have gone a few more days I believe the situation would have become more serious. What did we learn? We believed our food storage was about a three month supply. Reality showed that it was one month AT BEST. We did have plenty of water. Our neighbors seem to pull together and not become unstable during the three days. I was glad we had our revolvers and about 500 rounds of ammunition. The potential mobilization of gangs to "forage" for supplies was very concerning. Good thing it did not last more then three days.
It doesn't take much, does it? Every now and then, some truckers threaten to go on strike for a week. It's never really caught on. I suspect because truckers still need to earn a living. But what if they did go on strike for a week? Or what if Iran decides to stop all oil shipments out of the straights of Hormuz? Without diesel for trucks, shipments of so many things would cease.
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If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animated contest of freedom, go from us in peace. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen! - Samuel Adams
Yeah, we lived through the power outage of 2003. We were very lucky that our next door neighbor had a generator and he would switch between his house and ours to keep his and our frigs cold. We just bbq'ed for 3 nights even though we have a gas cooking in house, but we didn't want to heat the up house. Food wise, we have our storage, but water we discovered we wouldn't have had enough for more than a week. We have since remedied that. I was amazed at how fast we actually went through water even though we had a 2 week supply on paper. And I learned to double my supply of paper plates, plastic forks, etc and cups so we didn't need to use water for washing dishes.
We went nearly 4 days without power. Our area (as in subdivision) was literally one of the last areas to get power back in SE Michigan.
-A hand can opener that worked (ours was in pretty sorry condition as it was). -More water. -A generator (or home teachers with one that didn't live clear across the city... we didn't see any of our frozen stuff until 4 or 5 days later). But, then a generator doesn't do much good unless you have a supply of fuel for it, and we really do not have space for anything beyond maybe 10 or 15 gallons of gas in gas cans. And if you are going to store gas, you need to know how to store it and have the additive to allow for storing it for extended periods of time... -Someway to stay cool. It was miserably hot and humid that week. Couldn't even run the hose to play in the water. Everyone was miserable, and at night time, the best it got was down to a tolerable level to where you could sleep some after midnight until the sun came up again. A cool shower after the power came back on was delightful!
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It seems to me the only thing you've learned is that Caesar is a "salad dressing dude."
Hey mirk, could ya edit yer post so it fits in a standard window? It's really annoying to have to scroll horizontally to read a post, and the following comments.
As to the can opener thing, lest anyone think we weren't prepared and dependent on electric can openers, that was not the case. We haven't used an electric can opener since our first year of marriage. The thing was here that our hand openers were worn and hard to use in the first place.
I wholely endorse the use of the side cut hand can opener. That way if the can is an anyway dented or misshapen on the lid, it will still cut the lid off. No gear type gismo to get stripped by the edge of the lids.
Side cut hand can openers 7x24x365! They may be slightly more expensive than the run of the mill hand can opener, but the 2 or 3 dollars difference in price will well be worth the hassle if you have ever had a can that ends up only opening every other inch on top...
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It seems to me the only thing you've learned is that Caesar is a "salad dressing dude."
Of course, in extremis, you can use a knife to open a can. But it's not good for the knife and it leaves some pretty sharp edges on the can. It'd be better than starving, though.
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If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animated contest of freedom, go from us in peace. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen! - Samuel Adams
Evil Walmart can openers... The Chinese have a conspiracy that consists of a kill switch in all the can openers they make and sell through Walmart. The guys at the top of the Chinese Gadianton communist industrial complex give the signal, and all the can openers cease to work... Thus, half the U.S. population will starve to death, and most of the rest will be incapacitated as they slice open their hands trying to use a knife to open the cans their now decorative paperweights which were formerly known as can openers can no longer open.
-- Edited by Cat Herder at 12:08, 2008-01-21
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It seems to me the only thing you've learned is that Caesar is a "salad dressing dude."
I used this kind of can opener on my mission in Ukraine. At least there are no moving parts to break.
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If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animated contest of freedom, go from us in peace. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen! - Samuel Adams
(we need a manly-man muscle flexing emoticon here...)
