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Video – How long could you survive in a supermarket

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If you remember the fast-zombie movie, 28 Days Later, there was a scene where the survivors find a supermarket and load up. One of the interesting things in the scene was that the irradiated produce held up much better than the non-irradiated. On a side note, irradiated produce is far more common in Europe than it is in the US because, it seems, we in the US have a knee-jerk reaction to the word ‘irradiated’. If you knew how much stuff in this country is sterilized through irradiation (esp. in the medical industry) I think you’dbe quite surprised.

Anyway, its a trope of apocalypse fiction that survivors either a) find supermarkets that are looted and beyond salvage or b) spared from looting and are treasure trove of unimaginable stores. Which raises an interesting question: if you had a supermarket all to yourself, how long would you be able to survive? Well, someone did the math:

I very much like the fact that they address the issue of food spoilage for the dairy and deli counters. But I think that if you hit the home canning aisle, and then the housewares aisle, you could at least get enough gear to water-bath can some of the produce. If they had a pressure canner on the rack in the home canning aisle you’d be freakin’ golden.

Realistically, I doubt getting locked inside a supermarket is an actual apocalypse thing. Even in post-apocalyptic fiction you’d have to do some pretty deus ex machina to contrive a logical reason for people to be locked in a supermarket (Stephen King’s “The Mist” not withstanding). More likely, you’d have survivors ‘own’ the supermarket and guard it as an extremely high-value resource…assuming they don’t start methodically taking the contents back to their stronghold.

But, if you were forced to stay in a supermarket, how long would you be able to keep from starving? TL;DR = 63 years.

I can’t think of any disaster that would preclude me from being able to otherwise source food for 63 years but…good to know that if I hit the local Safeway as the sole survivor of..whatever…I can cross ‘food’ off my list for the rest of my life.

Article – Want to Get Out Alive? Follow the Ants

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Here’s an interesting question for you. Imagine you have a room full of people. In the middle of the length of one wall there is an emergency exit. Call an emergency and have everyone try to leave as quickly as possible through the exit. Time/count the amount of people that make it through the exit. Now repeat the same experiment, but put an obstruction in front of the emergency exit..like a stanchion or room divider. Do you wind up with more or less people exiting quickly? Surprisingly…more.

Shiwakoti experimented with different exit scenarios using square petri dishes that had exits located in the middle of a side and in the corner. Shiwakoti found that an exit located in the middle of the wall with no obstacles in front of it was the least efficient set up. He measured the efficiency of an exit by the amount of time it took the ants to get through it. On average, it took 50 ants 18 seconds to get through an unobstructed mid-side exit. Adding a column in front of the mid-side exit reduced that time to 14 seconds. A corner exit with a column in front had an escape time of less than 11 seconds. But the best escape time was achieved with a corner exit without a column in front—less than 9.5 seconds.

A very interesting article. TL;DR version…if you ‘obstruct’ the exit somehow, you reduce the number of avenues of approach which reduces congestion at the exit. You ‘funnel’ traffic more effectively.

I bring this up because, first of all it is fascinatingly counterintuitive, but also because I was thinking about the little habits we get into as survivalists (or, arguably, the little habits we should get into) and the one that I was reminded of was that whenever you enter any space (a building, a fenced area, a room, a theater, a mall, a bus, etc) one of the first things you should do is look for the alternate ways to get out of there other than the way you just came in. Most people do not do this. This means that when someone yells ‘fire’ in that crowded theater, 99% of the people are gonna run to where they came in….you, on the other hand, will head to the exit that is being virtually ignored. Which brought me to another interesting bit of data about emergency exits. Quick: what color is the exit sign? Red, right? Thats what we usually see. But in virtually everywhere else but North America exit signs are green. Why? Because almost universally red means ‘stop’ or ‘danger’, and green means ‘safe’ or ‘go’. So when you are engaged in looking for the exit sign, you have to be cognizant of the fact the exit could be green or red.

Another little known fact, but one that makes epic sense if you think about it: emergency doors must open outwards…and any entrance/exit that uses a revolving door must be flanked by conventional doors. Think about it…a crowd of panicked people surging against an exit door means if you had to pull it open, you’d die. And a revolving door is 50/50 even when there isn’t a panic. Where did these rules come from? Bad times in history.

A fascinating little rabbit hole I wound up in today as I was thinking about remembering to be more diligent about checking out where the exits are.

Capitol Friend/Foe firearm recognition

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On closer inspection, a number of those pistols have reflective red-and-white striped tape on the sides of their slides. There is an established practice of marking guns in similar ways to help members of security forces quickly identify each other and prevent friendly fire incidents in a chaotic situation, especially when there might be one or more active shooters present brandishing their own weapons.

Interesting. Apparently there’s more to federal ‘same team’ identifiers than just the lapel pins. I would think it’s safe to assume that they have changed the color or pattern of those markings by now.

I recall one large metropolitan police force used to prohibit officers from carrying stainless/nickel guns off duty. The reasoning was that if you came across a situation you could be sure that the guy was not a cop if he was waving a ‘silver’ handgun around. And if you were an offduty cop who had his gun in hand when the uniformed officers arrived, you were less likely (though not certainly guaranteed) to be shot as a bad guy before you had time to scream “I’m on your side!”.

If you really want to hone your your super secret squirrel skills, next time you’re in an environment where theres a lot of ‘presence’, check for people that all seem to have something in common…. pins, buttons, armbands, particlar shoe colors, etc…might just be a unified group subtly showing recognition signs so that others of their like can identify them.

Anyway, an interesting little piece about last weeks excitement. Interesting read.

Article – The American Government’s Secret Plan for Surviving the End of the World

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This led to a key recommendation: five 50-person “interagency cadres” that would be pre-positioned or pre-deployed during emergencies to support would-be presidential successors. These “presidential successor support teams,” codenamed TREETOP cadres by the Pentagon, would deploy randomly to any one of “several hundred sites, perhaps 2-3 thousand, that would be pre-selected,” allowing for a relocation of institutional knowledge that was “highly flexible and adaptive.”

A fascinating little piece about a government-continuity program that came out from, of all things, the Carter administration. Presidential successor support teams? Secret hideouts spread across the land? Agencies tasked with teams to transport and protect possible Presidential successors? For those of you who remember your apocalypse fiction, this seems mildly reminiscent to the old ‘Guardians’ pulp novels from back in the day.

Make no mistake, there’s probably some sort of “Crystal Peak”-type facility out there that we don’t know about (as opposed to the ones we do know about, like the Greenbrier.) Are there special ‘cadres’ of .gov out there whose sole purpose is to navigate political VIPs through the imagined chaos to concrete-reinforced safety? Maybe. It’s certainly an interesting thing to think about. I want to say I recall reading somewhere that there were elite military units that were trained and tasked with just that sort of duty but I can’t recall where.

A quick search on Google for “Treetop” and “Continuity of government” turned up a few more results, but this one was interesting.: It mentions “… supplemented by more than 100 other bunkers, sprinkled around the country, as well as numerous mobile units, that have included two ships”

Interestingly, there was a recent article I read about how during World War Two the Brits had a special plan, team, and real estate specifically for hauling the monarchy to safety in the event of German invasion. And, buildingo n that, a Cold War evacuation plan as well.

Interesting article, though, and it raises interesting questions. To me, that  made it worth the short read and inclusion here. Who knows what sort of poured concrete palaces hide ‘neath the deserts and prairies?

 

 

Article – Americans Are Frantically Buying Military Gear Before the Election

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Conflict is on America’s streets in 2020, and “tactical apparel” has become a lifestyle industry serving militarized law-enforcement agents and the freelance gunmen who emulate them. Less than two weeks before Election Day, orders are rolling in. Since last year, online purchases have driven a 20-fold jump in sales of goods like the $220 CM-6M gas mask — resistant to bean-bag rounds — for Mira Safety of Austin, Texas. “It doesn’t matter who gets elected,” founder Roman Zrazhevskiy said of his new customers. “They think that no matter who wins, Biden or Trump, there are going to be people who are upset about the result.” Not long ago — perhaps a generation — dressing like you’re going to war was for the veteran who never quite made it back from Vietnam or the angry young men who obsessed over gas masks and combat boots at the military surplus store. (Every American town seemed to have one, and only one.)

I have to snicker because there really should be a distinction here and it is completely missed in the article – people buying the gear now are interesting, but not as interesting as the ones who already bought it long before this happened.

Rioting? Sure. In places like NY, California, Chicago, various parts of the south. But a nationwide blood-in-the-streets uprising like you see in the Middle East everytime some dictator gets out-dictated? ‘Technical’ pickup trucks? No..not a chance.
I suspect that with all these articles about ‘Americans preparing for anarchy’ might morph into a self-licking ice cream cone. Really, such a circumstance is the sort of thing media types salivate over so it seems it wouldbe in their interest to instigate/foster/encourage such chaos.
I think that in three weeks we’re gonna see that this whole thing, no matter who wins, was not the ‘Purge’-like event that people were forecasting.

Article – U.S. gun sales soar amid pandemic, social unrest, election fears

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Oct 15 (Reuters) – Andreyah Garland, a 44-year-old single mother of three daughters, bought a shotgun in May for protection in the quaint middle-class town of Fishkill, New York. She joined a new and fast-growing local gun club to learn how to shoot.

She has since applied for a pistol permit and constantly hunts for increasingly scarce ammunition – making three trips weekly to a local Walmart. “They’re always out,” she said.

Like legions of other first-time buyers who are contributing to record sales for the U.S. gun industry this year, Garland’s decision to take up arms is driven in part by disturbing news about the coronavirus pandemic, social unrest over police killings of Black people and a potentially contested election that many fear could spark violence.

“With everything going on around us,” she said, “you see a need.”

Don’t kid yourself….the need has always been there.

When Y2K fizzled into a nothingburger there was speculation that yard sales that spring would be a treasure trove of NIB generators, storage food, etc. Personally, I never saw it (at least not until years later) but it seems likely.

I wonder if in a year or two we’ll see a surge of pumpguns and 9mm pistols on the market as people get rid of that thing they bought in 2020, never used, and ‘just want it out of the house’. Buying opportunities may be coming.

Personally, I’m at the stage where an unfortunate rifle squad that lost their gear in a boating accident could completely re-arm themselves from me.

Article – Why so many Americans are buying up personal bunkers

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Tom Soulsby, 69, and his wife, Mary, were one of the first to buy a bunker at Vivos xPoint — the self-proclaimed “largest survival community on Earth” — near the South Dakota town of Edgemont. In 2017, he made a $25,000 down payment and signed a 99-year land lease (with fees of $1,000 per year) to occupy an elliptical-shaped, 2,200 square-foot underground concrete bunker once used as a military fortress during World War II to store weapons and ammunition.

Dude..who wouldn’t want to buy a bunker?

Someday I’ll have that nice little concrete cabin in the middle of nowhere. Just hoping it happens while Im still young enough to enjoy it.

Article – How long you can take medications like ibuprofen and aspirin after opening them

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One of the things on the Preponomicon that I am trying to get into the green is some OTC medications. Presumably, these things are going to sit on a shelf for, at least, several years. Does aspirin turn into some sort of toxic acid a few years after its ‘Best By’ date?

Just like food, medication is required by law to have an expiration date on its packaging. But how long past that date can you keep using your over-the-counter and prescription drugs? And is it safe to take expired medicine?

INSIDER talked to medical experts to find out how long you can keep using some common medications after opening them.

The answer, it seems, is ” a usefully long time”. But, honestly, this is one of those times where I’m probably going to disregard the common advice, as well as the small financial hit, and simply throw out and replace my 500-tablet bottle of ibuprofin every five years.

Hunter S. Thompson’s Continental breakfast

However, up until a few years ago I was still using a gigantic bottle of Advil that I’d bought at CostCo with an ‘Expiration date’ in 1997. Made my headaches go away just fine.

TL,DR: your Tylenol, Advil, and aspirin are GTG for about 5 years.

 

ETA: I was sent this in email:

The military did a study back in the 80’s examining the bioactivity of stored drugs…  And found that almost all of them were good to go years after their expiration dates. These are drugs that were stored in climate controlled warehouses, in original factory packaging.

ProTip:  Don’t buy one big bottle of a drug, buy lots of little ones… Drugs are hermetically sealed at the factory, and once  you open them and start shaking things out, moisture gets in and starts degrading the drug.  Not to mention whatever you may introduce with your finger..

For drug storage, put the unopened drugs in a refrigerator – don’t freeze them.  Why keep them cool?  In general (rule of thumb time) for every 10-degree C reduction in temperature a chemical process (like a drug, degrading) experiences, the rate of the process reduces by 1/2.  So, your drugs will last about 4 times longer in the refrigerator at 2-c, then at room temperature at 22-c.

Why not freeze them?  Because they may degrade (especially liquid or ointment products) and separate (the various components freeze at different temperatures).  When they thaw, they melt at different temps too, and don’t reconstitute.  This is ESPECIALLY important for drugs like insulin, a protein: Freezing the protein breaks it apart, and then it is done.  No longer useful…   So, cold:  Not frozen.

The military did a study back in the 80’s examining the bioactivity of stored drugs…  And found that almost all of them were good to go years after their expiration dates. These are drugs that were stored in climate controlled warehouses, in original factory packaging.

Disclaimer:  I am a physician. I am NOT your physician.  This is not medical advice.

https://www.propublica.org/article/the-myth-of-drug-expiration-dates

https://www.fda.gov/emergency-preparedness-and-response/mcm-legal-regulatory-and-policy-framework/expiration-dating-extension

Article – Armed Neighborhood Groups Form In The Absence Of Police Protection

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Somebody was nice enough to send me an email with a link to this article. Much thanks.

Cesia Baires knocks on the three apartment doors above her restaurant and a neighboring taqueria just before curfew.

A woman opens the door. Her two young children are inside.

“Remember,” she says to them in Spanish. “Same thing as yesterday. I’m going to come check on you. If there’s anything you guys need, give us a call right away.”

Meanwhile, a few men climb through the window and on to the roof to set up semi-automatic weapons as the curfew begins in Minneapolis. It’s something Baires never thought she would have to do as a small-business owner, but then she found out these apartments were occupied.

“Material things we can replace, that’s true,” she says. “But there are families up here. These aren’t empty buildings.”

I’m a little annoyed at the use of the term ‘vigilante’. which is clearly not what is going on here. But…its NPR so thats about par for the course.

Article – America’s meat shortage is more serious than your missing hamburgers

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If you go to Wendy’s this week, there’s a good chance you won’t be able to get a hamburger. Go to the supermarket and you’ll probably see some empty shelves in the meat section. You may also be restricted to buying one or two packs of whatever’s available. Try not to look at the prices. They’re almost definitely higher than what you’re used to.

This is the new reality: an America where beef, chicken, and pork are not quite as abundant or affordable as they were even a month ago.

One of the far-downstream  consequences of the Current Situation that probably not too many people thought about when this started. My habit of cruising the remaindered meat aisle and freezing any good deals I find should serve me well. But, honestly, if meat costs a little more…so what? It’s not a problem for me. And, really, this is true of everything. No matter what it is…from caviar to plutonium to machine guns…it’s always available, it’s just expensive. If beef jumps a dollar a pound..:::shrug::: I can deal with it.

Of course, prices go up when supply is low. I can adjust. It’s when the product is completely unavailable…thats the problem. I’ve got a pretty goodly supply of animal flesh sitting in the freezer but thats very much an ‘eggs in one basket’ kind of thing. That freezer craps out on me, I lose a good 85% or so of mt supply of meat. Oh, I have the resources on hand to can it all if something like that happened, but I think that perhaps having more than one freezer should be the way to go. I’ve the generator to run them in case of a power failure, and should the power failure last longer than my generator can support, that still buys me time to can it all.

I’d been picking up more canned meats from CostCo these last two months….chicken and beef mostly. I’ve talked about the CostCo canned roast beef before and I highly recommend it. Canned chicken is canned chicken…it’s all pretty much the same. In addition to the canned meats I’ve a couple cases of Mountain House freeze dried pork chops, diced chicken, diced beef, and ground beef. And, yes, I am aware of canned bacon but I’m just not a huge bacon guy…I like bacon, but I can live without it.

Being the jaded survivalist, I wonder how much of this meat panic is genuine and how much of it is a self-fulfilling prophecy brought about by the media. Thus far, for me, in my locale, I haven’t seen any real change in pricing or availability but then again perhaps it takes a while for these effects to trickle down to flyover country. I’ll continue to buy my meat trays once a week and just keep working the vacuum sealer. A full freezer is never a bad idea, really, anyway.