Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

As Scotty remarked in Star Trek, the more complicated the plumbing the easier it is to clog up the pipes.

I like my privacy. I also like my anonymity. This isnt just because I don't want junk mail. Given todays political clime, you can get a 'friendly visit' from all sorts of badge-wearing goons just for having a last name that sounds funny or for reading the 'wrong books'. So, for me privacy is important…not because Im doing anything wrong, but because nowadays not doing anything wrong is no guarantee that 'the powers that be' will leave me the hell alone.

So….

The internet is useful. It allows me to communicate ideas and messages to and from LMI. It also gives me access to huge amonts of knowledge. So far, accessing the internet anonymously is fairly easy…I can use a library computer, go to Kinkos and use theirs, or even slip into a WiFi hotspot somehwere with a laptop. no muss, no fuss. I can even walk into some mom and pop ISP and plunk down $200 for a year of access and not have to show ID. Getting websites and ordering things online, thats a different story. See, credit cards are the preferred medium on the internet. Makes sense, trouble is that it isnt nearly as easy to scam your way into a credit card as it used to be. Hypothetical – lets say you want to register www.leavemealoneplease.com . Youre going to use this website to spout off about how displeased you are with the .gov and maybe even communicate with like minded individuals through it. So far so good. Now, because you dont want to get painted with the 'possible terrorist' brush and maybe be 'temporarily detained' without a trial you want to get this domain name anonymously. No prob, you can lie on those little questionaires from the online register/hosting sites (like Yahoo! for example). Trouble is, how do you pay for it? Yahoo! doesnt take cash. You certainly dont want to use your credit card, which has your name and other data attached to it. Hmmmm.

Once you have that means of communicating taken care of, how do you stay in touch by phone with your new friends (and safely in touch with old enemies)? You would never use the phone in your house. Payphones are okay if you dont use the same one too often but it makes getting calls tough. Voice mail services are okay, but what about just getting a cell phone? When ive had them in the past, they never ask for ID but they sure want a credit card to make sure they get paid.

Technology to the rescue.

Im in Albertsons today and they have a little rip-off coin counting kiosk. This kiosk, for a whopping 9%, will convert your mason jar full of change into 'real money'. Ok, if youre too lazy to count out and roll coins I suppose its worth it. But here's where it gets interesting. It also sells prepaid Mastercards. Dwell on this. You use it like a credit card, right? Accepted wherever Mastercard is accepted, right? Simply dump $110 in quarters into this thing and have it give you a $100 prepaid Mastercard.

Thus the scenario to get perfectly anonymous website and email:
Go to local mom and pop ISP. Hi, Im moving here in a month or so and need to arrange to have a local dialup account. I dont have a local address yet but heres the startup cost and a years service up front. You now have local ISP and an email account. Maybe even some storage space. Log into Yahoo! or similar service and get an email account. Go to their domain registry service. Register your domain, pay for it and its monthly fees using your prepaid card. Recharge the card at the kiosk every so often to keep up on payments on webservices. Yahoo! sends the confirmation message to your new email account at the mom-n-pop ISP. You reply and confirm and now have your Yahoo! email. The need for the mom-n-pop ISP is pretty much gone. Yahoo! sends the confirmation of your new domain to your Yahoo! email. So, now you have email that you can access from anywhere and a domain that has absolutely no way to be connected to you. I suppose the powers that be could go to mom-n-pop ISP and what would they say? A pysical description? Like they remember every face they see. And since you access from Kinko's or the library or the computer lab or any of a dozen other places that don't really ask for ID they'd have to sit a guy there all day waiting for you to show up and get fingered. Use WiFi hot spots and you'd be pretty much uncatchable.

But you still wanna call your buddies rather than email, right? No problem. Prepaid phone cards were the old way. Prepaid cellphones are the new. Theyre all over the place and with your completely-untraceable-to-you prepaid cashcard you can pay for the service online, using your totally anonymous email and internet access, or at any of the handy kiosks in WalMart. Just make sure no cameras get a good look at your face and you'd be home free.

I think this would work. I know the part with the mom-n-pop ISP would work. I did it last year and simply paid the startup and the first months fee and did what I needed and let it lapse.
Interesting possibilities.

As Scotty remarked in Star Trek, the more complicated the plumbing the easier it is to clog up the pipes.

I like my privacy. I also like my anonymity. This isnt just because I don’t want junk mail. Given todays political clime, you can get a ‘friendly visit’ from all sorts of badge-wearing goons just for having a last name that sounds funny or for reading the ‘wrong books’. So, for me privacy is important…not because Im doing anything wrong, but because nowadays not doing anything wrong is no guarantee that ‘the powers that be’ will leave me the hell alone.

So….

The internet is useful. It allows me to communicate ideas and messages to and from LMI. It also gives me access to huge amonts of knowledge. So far, accessing the internet anonymously is fairly easy…I can use a library computer, go to Kinkos and use theirs, or even slip into a WiFi hotspot somehwere with a laptop. no muss, no fuss. I can even walk into some mom and pop ISP and plunk down $200 for a year of access and not have to show ID. Getting websites and ordering things online, thats a different story. See, credit cards are the preferred medium on the internet. Makes sense, trouble is that it isnt nearly as easy to scam your way into a credit card as it used to be. Hypothetical – lets say you want to register www.leavemealoneplease.com . Youre going to use this website to spout off about how displeased you are with the .gov and maybe even communicate with like minded individuals through it. So far so good. Now, because you dont want to get painted with the ‘possible terrorist’ brush and maybe be ‘temporarily detained’ without a trial you want to get this domain name anonymously. No prob, you can lie on those little questionaires from the online register/hosting sites (like Yahoo! for example). Trouble is, how do you pay for it? Yahoo! doesnt take cash. You certainly dont want to use your credit card, which has your name and other data attached to it. Hmmmm.

Once you have that means of communicating taken care of, how do you stay in touch by phone with your new friends (and safely in touch with old enemies)? You would never use the phone in your house. Payphones are okay if you dont use the same one too often but it makes getting calls tough. Voice mail services are okay, but what about just getting a cell phone? When ive had them in the past, they never ask for ID but they sure want a credit card to make sure they get paid.

Technology to the rescue.

Im in Albertsons today and they have a little rip-off coin counting kiosk. This kiosk, for a whopping 9%, will convert your mason jar full of change into ‘real money’. Ok, if youre too lazy to count out and roll coins I suppose its worth it. But here’s where it gets interesting. It also sells prepaid Mastercards. Dwell on this. You use it like a credit card, right? Accepted wherever Mastercard is accepted, right? Simply dump $110 in quarters into this thing and have it give you a $100 prepaid Mastercard.

Thus the scenario to get perfectly anonymous website and email:
Go to local mom and pop ISP. Hi, Im moving here in a month or so and need to arrange to have a local dialup account. I dont have a local address yet but heres the startup cost and a years service up front. You now have local ISP and an email account. Maybe even some storage space. Log into Yahoo! or similar service and get an email account. Go to their domain registry service. Register your domain, pay for it and its monthly fees using your prepaid card. Recharge the card at the kiosk every so often to keep up on payments on webservices. Yahoo! sends the confirmation message to your new email account at the mom-n-pop ISP. You reply and confirm and now have your Yahoo! email. The need for the mom-n-pop ISP is pretty much gone. Yahoo! sends the confirmation of your new domain to your Yahoo! email. So, now you have email that you can access from anywhere and a domain that has absolutely no way to be connected to you. I suppose the powers that be could go to mom-n-pop ISP and what would they say? A pysical description? Like they remember every face they see. And since you access from Kinko’s or the library or the computer lab or any of a dozen other places that don’t really ask for ID they’d have to sit a guy there all day waiting for you to show up and get fingered. Use WiFi hot spots and you’d be pretty much uncatchable.

But you still wanna call your buddies rather than email, right? No problem. Prepaid phone cards were the old way. Prepaid cellphones are the new. Theyre all over the place and with your completely-untraceable-to-you prepaid cashcard you can pay for the service online, using your totally anonymous email and internet access, or at any of the handy kiosks in WalMart. Just make sure no cameras get a good look at your face and you’d be home free.

I think this would work. I know the part with the mom-n-pop ISP would work. I did it last year and simply paid the startup and the first months fee and did what I needed and let it lapse.
Interesting possibilities.

Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

Every time I clean the AK, I wonder why I clean the AK. A drunken monkey could field strip it and you can make almost every part using hand tools. Not that great past a couple hundred yards but if I was running around an urban environ (like or his brothers I'd want one. I'd put its reliability right up there with my Glock.
=====
The girlfriend is out of town for a few days so Im using the time to straighten up the bunker. Most notably, I also need to refill the several 15-gallon water drums ('blue barrels'). When filled theyre about 120# each. For quick reference: a cubic foot of water weighs approx. 32#, one gallon of water weighs approx. 8#. So a 15 gallon barrel is gonna weigh about 120#. Anyone wanna guess why i dont have a 55-gallon drum of water? You..in the back..yes, thats correct. Because at over 400# it has gone beyond man-portable. Do I treat the water before storage? Sometimes. Here's why…according to sources, if your water is treated by your minicipality its already got enough chlorine and other goodies in it that it can be stored as is. I like to play it safe and go ahead and add some oxy stabilizer but if I'm in a hurry or am running out of the stuff, I dont give it a second thought.
=====
Im wanting to buy a new Volcano stove. I originally bought the small one since it was just me I need to cook for. Now that Ive the girlfriend and her attendant need for hot water, Im thinking about the bigger one. Best of all, and this really is cool, the newer ones can also run on propane! Yes, the magical fuel that makes preparedness oh-so-easy. So this bad boy will burn charcoal, wood, paper, etc, AND if circumstances permit I can just hook up a 1# bottle of propane. Thus, I could use it indoors with proper ventialtion. Must. Get.
=====
As Ive said before, I think that when you stop focussing on guns and focus more on food, fuel and everything else you've pretty much passed a benchmark as a 'survivalist'. Yeah the guns are important but so is all the other stuff like…oh..food, cookware, hygiene, storage, tools, fuel, lubricants, spare parts, maps, compasses, batteries, flashlights, candles, matches, first aid gear, flares, backpacks, webbing, sleeping bags, tents, writing utensils, boots, clothes, spare eyeglasses, medication, toilet paper, toilet paper, toilet paper, radio gear, etc, etc, etc.
=====
I've a couple reference projects sitting on the back burner. Things I've been meaning to do for the website. One of which is a photo list of various ammo cans and theyre external AND internal (usable) dimensions along with their common names (.30 cal can, .50 cal, 60mm, etc). A little something to make storage planning easier.
=====
Mmmmm…maybe do some inventory while Im puttering around. I need to update my magazine status.

Every time I clean the AK, I wonder why I clean the AK. A drunken monkey could field strip it and you can make almost every part using hand tools. Not that great past a couple hundred yards but if I was running around an urban environ (like knosos or his brothers I’d want one. I’d put its reliability right up there with my Glock.
=====
The girlfriend is out of town for a few days so Im using the time to straighten up the bunker. Most notably, I also need to refill the several 15-gallon water drums (‘blue barrels’). When filled theyre about 120# each. For quick reference: a cubic foot of water weighs approx. 32#, one gallon of water weighs approx. 8#. So a 15 gallon barrel is gonna weigh about 120#. Anyone wanna guess why i dont have a 55-gallon drum of water? You..in the back..yes, thats correct. Because at over 400# it has gone beyond man-portable. Do I treat the water before storage? Sometimes. Here’s why…according to sources, if your water is treated by your minicipality its already got enough chlorine and other goodies in it that it can be stored as is. I like to play it safe and go ahead and add some oxy stabilizer but if I’m in a hurry or am running out of the stuff, I dont give it a second thought.
=====
Im wanting to buy a new Volcano stove. I originally bought the small one since it was just me I need to cook for. Now that Ive the girlfriend and her attendant need for hot water, Im thinking about the bigger one. Best of all, and this really is cool, the newer ones can also run on propane! Yes, the magical fuel that makes preparedness oh-so-easy. So this bad boy will burn charcoal, wood, paper, etc, AND if circumstances permit I can just hook up a 1# bottle of propane. Thus, I could use it indoors with proper ventialtion. Must. Get.
=====
As Ive said before, I think that when you stop focussing on guns and focus more on food, fuel and everything else you’ve pretty much passed a benchmark as a ‘survivalist’. Yeah the guns are important but so is all the other stuff like…oh..food, cookware, hygiene, storage, tools, fuel, lubricants, spare parts, maps, compasses, batteries, flashlights, candles, matches, first aid gear, flares, backpacks, webbing, sleeping bags, tents, writing utensils, boots, clothes, spare eyeglasses, medication, toilet paper, toilet paper, toilet paper, radio gear, etc, etc, etc.
=====
I’ve a couple reference projects sitting on the back burner. Things I’ve been meaning to do for the website. One of which is a photo list of various ammo cans and theyre external AND internal (usable) dimensions along with their common names (.30 cal can, .50 cal, 60mm, etc). A little something to make storage planning easier.
=====
Mmmmm…maybe do some inventory while Im puttering around. I need to update my magazine status.

Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

'Wargame' simulation of major oil crisis.

Simulated oil meltdown shows U.S. economy's vulnerability

By Kevin G. Hall
Knight Ridder Newspapers

WASHINGTON – Former CIA Director Robert Gates sighs deeply as he pores over reports of growing unrest in Nigeria. Many Americans can't find the African nation on a map, but Gates knows that it's America's fifth-largest oil supplier and one that provides the light, sweet crude that U.S. refiners prefer.

It's 11 days before Christmas 2005, and the turmoil is preventing about 600,000 barrels of oil per day from reaching the world oil market, which was already drum-tight. Gates, functioning as the top national security adviser to the president, convenes the Cabinet to discuss the implications of Nigeria's spreading religious and ethnic unrest for America's economy.

Should U.S. troops be sent to restore order? Should America draw down its strategic oil reserves to stabilize soaring gasoline prices? Cabinet officials agree that drawing down the reserves might signal weakness. They recommend that the president simply announce his willingness to do so if necessary.

The economic effects of unrest in faraway Nigeria are immediate. Crude oil prices soar above $80 a barrel. June's then-record $60 a barrel is a distant memory. A gallon of unleaded gas now costs $3.31. Americans shell out $75 to fill a midsized SUV.

If all this sounds like a Hollywood drama, it's not. These scenarios unfolded in a simulated oil shock wave held Thursday in Washington. Two former CIA directors and several other former top policy-makers participated to draw attention to America's need to reduce its dependence on oil, especially foreign oil.

Fast-forward to Jan. 19, 2006. A blast rips through Saudi Arabia's Haradh natural-gas plant. Simultaneously, al Qaida terrorists seize a tanker at Alaska's Port of Valdez and crash it, igniting a massive fire that sweeps across oil terminals. Crude oil spikes to $120 a barrel, and the U.S. economy reels. Gasoline prices hit $4.74 a gallon.

Gates convenes the Cabinet again. Members still disagree on whether America should draw down its strategic oil reserves. Homeland Security chief James Woolsey, who ran the CIA from 1993 to 1995, argues that a special energy czar is needed with broad powers to bypass the bureaucracy and impose offshore oil drilling and construction of refineries.

That won't help now, though, or resolve any short-term issues, counters Gene Sperling, who was President Clinton's national economic adviser.

The energy secretary suggests that relaxing clean-air standards could help refiners squeeze out every last drop of gas. That makes the interior secretary, former Clinton Environmental Protection Agency chief Carol Browner, bristle. She blames Detroit for the mess because automakers failed to develop hybrids and other fuel-efficient cars.

The Cabinet can't agree on even the simplest short-term solutions. There aren't many options beyond encouraging car pools and lowering thermostats. There's no infrastructure in place to deliver alternative fuels such as ethanol or diesel made from soybeans or waste products.

Fast-forward again, to June 23, 2006. Emboldened Saudi insurgents attack foreign oil workers, killing hundreds. A mass evacuation follows from the world's pivotal oil producer, the one country that could be counted on to boost production during shortages in global supplies.

A take-charge guy with a Texas accent who led the CIA from 1991 to 1993, Gates calls yet another war-room meeting. Global recession looms. The world economy turns on cheap oil. Without foreign oil workers, how will Saudi Arabia meet its production targets and quench the oil thirst of America, China and India?

Oil prices have reached an unthinkable $150 a barrel. In Philadelphia, Miami and Kansas City, Mo., gas prices reach $5.74 a gallon. Now it takes $121 to fill that midsized SUV.

You get the picture. The scenario is intended to show how vulnerable the U.S. and world economies are because of dependence on oil from places where political instability threatens orderly production and distribution.

This year the world is consuming about 84 million barrels of oil a day. America alone guzzles about 20.8 million barrels a day. Experts think oil-producing nations have only 1.5 million barrels a day or less of unused production capacity right now. A disruption anywhere could cause market panic and spiking prices. That's largely why oil and gasoline prices are so high right now.

Saudi Arabia and other countries are trying to increase production, but that won't help much before next year at the earliest. Meanwhile, any hiccup in production, delivery or refining could cause disaster.

“A million or a million and a half barrels of oil a day off the market is a very realistic kind of scenario. You can think of a dozen different countries around the world … where you can see that happening. Or even a natural disaster could do that,” Gates said in an interview.

Former CIA chief Woolsey described as “relatively mild” the scenarios that the National Commission on Energy Policy and the advocacy group Securing America's Future Energy simulated. Both groups are pushing for reduced dependence on conventional oil.

“It was striking that by taking such small amounts off the market, you could have such dramatic impact” on world oil prices, said Robbie Diamond, the president of Securing America's Future Energy.

Richard Haass was a top adviser to former Secretary of State Colin Powell until 2003. The simulation taught him how little influence policy-makers would have in reversing an oil shock wave.

“I think where most of the work has to happen now, both intellectually and politically, is on demand” reduction, Haass said. “I think where most of the work has to happen now, both intellectually and politically, is on demand” reduction, Haass said.
=====
Interesting premise.

Nigeria????????
Yet another country to keep an eye on.

‘Wargame’ simulation of major oil crisis.

article copied here in case link moves

Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

Lotsa sunshine but no stun grenades today.

Oil topped $60 a barrel the other day. On some of the various boards I frequent theres a panic about “What will you do when gas is $10 a gallon?!”. I'll tell you exactly what I'll do – nothing. Wanna know why? Because if gas gets to $10 a gallon youre gonna see a huge quantum leap in non-gasoline energy/motive production. If the worlds supply of oil mysteriously disappeared overnight you know what would happen? We'd spend ten years in utter chaos and the years after that we wouldnt miss it at all because in those ten years we'd develop engines that run on water and lubricants made out something else. So, long before gas hits $10 a gallon we won't even be using it anymore.

I remember in 6th grade my science teacher showing what was, I believe, called a Hoffman apparatus. Run some electricity through this thing and its seperated water into its two constituent components – oxygen, which we all know and love, and hydrogen which is going to be the fuel of the future. From water. Using electricity. For some reason, despite my terrible memoery and general disdain of school, Ive always remembered that.

Now, Im not one of these people that thinks solar power is the answer to the energy problem ( it is, however, certainly a contributing factor to it). After all, it gets dark at times and clouds do show up from time to time. But if you can get electrical power from the sun, crack water for hydrogen, and store the hydrogen (since you cant store sunlight) it seems youve gone a heck of a long way to removing the need for as much petrofuel as you need now.

Of course, I was 11 in sixth grade so Im probably greatly oversimplifying things. In the perfect world that I never seem to inhabit I'd have my happy little bunkerhome running on propane and mini-hydro with some solar and wind thrown in for good measure. Lotta DC in that place.

Lotsa sunshine but no stun grenades today.

Oil topped $60 a barrel the other day. On some of the various boards I frequent theres a panic about “What will you do when gas is $10 a gallon?!”. I’ll tell you exactly what I’ll do – nothing. Wanna know why? Because if gas gets to $10 a gallon youre gonna see a huge quantum leap in non-gasoline energy/motive production. If the worlds supply of oil mysteriously disappeared overnight you know what would happen? We’d spend ten years in utter chaos and the years after that we wouldnt miss it at all because in those ten years we’d develop engines that run on water and lubricants made out something else. So, long before gas hits $10 a gallon we won’t even be using it anymore.

I remember in 6th grade my science teacher showing what was, I believe, called a Hoffman apparatus. Run some electricity through this thing and its seperated water into its two constituent components – oxygen, which we all know and love, and hydrogen which is going to be the fuel of the future. From water. Using electricity. For some reason, despite my terrible memoery and general disdain of school, Ive always remembered that.

Now, Im not one of these people that thinks solar power is the answer to the energy problem ( it is, however, certainly a contributing factor to it). After all, it gets dark at times and clouds do show up from time to time. But if you can get electrical power from the sun, crack water for hydrogen, and store the hydrogen (since you cant store sunlight) it seems youve gone a heck of a long way to removing the need for as much petrofuel as you need now.

Of course, I was 11 in sixth grade so Im probably greatly oversimplifying things. In the perfect world that I never seem to inhabit I’d have my happy little bunkerhome running on propane and mini-hydro with some solar and wind thrown in for good measure. Lotta DC in that place.

Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

Minor ( to me) power outage yesterday, I was in the shop minding my own business when *pop* everything died. No prob..I grabbed the big MagLite from its rack and started out the door to see if my neighbors, who have a cabinet factory in an underground garage, needed some illumination to get out of their dark little cave. As I walked out the door the lights came back on. Total downtime? 30 seconds, tops. Called the girlfriend to see if it affected her side of town. Turns out that the power was off on her side of town alot longer earlier in the day. Rumour was that a car accident involving a power pole/line was the culprit. Her building lost partial power. They still had some lights but elevators were offline. The stairwell, apparently, kept its lights. (When she started working there one of the first things I did was ask her to accompany me on locating the stairwell and walking it to familiarize ourselves with it…just in case.) She's got a handful of lightsticks and a Streamlight LED flashlight that I gave her that she keeps in her desk for just such emergencies but as it turns out it was unneeded.

For me, the power going out is always big excitement. Not necessarily because of the event itself, but rather because I wonder why it happened. Someone nuke something? Terrorist attack? That sort of thing. My first response is to look around and see , if I can, how widespread the outage is. Sometimes I can look down the street and see traffic lights and whatnot are unaffected..then I know its localized to just a few blocks – no sweat. Sometimes everything everywhere is dark…more dramatic.

What was it? Two years ago NYC went dark for a few days…I bet that was big excitement.

Back at Casa Zero we are quite prepared for emergency illumination. We've got Aladdin lamps, propane lanterns, Coleman lanterns, MagLites, Baygen lights and the ubiquitous chemlights. The chemlights are for immediate use…like finding your way to a flashlight or to the bunker. On the top ledge of each bedroom doorway, closet doorway, and basement doorway theres a lightstick in its foil wrapper. This way, in the dark all you have to do is find a doorway, reach up, and youre good to go. Lightsticks get changed out every year around Halloween when they go on sale. The old ones are rotated into 'secondary' status or used for testing, etc, etc.

I also keep A Streamlight LED flashlight, a lightstick and a Photon LED light in my Tactical Tailor bag which accompanies me to most places.

Summertime has its own risks of blackout…mostly from overtaxed power grids and forest fires eating the lines. Winter has ice on the lines and that sort of thing. So theres always the risk of a prolonged power outage around here. And then, theres the totally unpredictable person-in-a-car-hitting-a-power-pole event.

Moral: it can happen anytime, anywhere – be prepared.
Especially. At. Work.

Minor ( to me) power outage yesterday, I was in the shop minding my own business when *pop* everything died. No prob..I grabbed the big MagLite from its rack and started out the door to see if my neighbors, who have a cabinet factory in an underground garage, needed some illumination to get out of their dark little cave. As I walked out the door the lights came back on. Total downtime? 30 seconds, tops. Called the girlfriend to see if it affected her side of town. Turns out that the power was off on her side of town alot longer earlier in the day. Rumour was that a car accident involving a power pole/line was the culprit. Her building lost partial power. They still had some lights but elevators were offline. The stairwell, apparently, kept its lights. (When she started working there one of the first things I did was ask her to accompany me on locating the stairwell and walking it to familiarize ourselves with it…just in case.) She’s got a handful of lightsticks and a Streamlight LED flashlight that I gave her that she keeps in her desk for just such emergencies but as it turns out it was unneeded.

For me, the power going out is always big excitement. Not necessarily because of the event itself, but rather because I wonder why it happened. Someone nuke something? Terrorist attack? That sort of thing. My first response is to look around and see , if I can, how widespread the outage is. Sometimes I can look down the street and see traffic lights and whatnot are unaffected..then I know its localized to just a few blocks – no sweat. Sometimes everything everywhere is dark…more dramatic.

What was it? Two years ago NYC went dark for a few days…I bet that was big excitement.

Back at Casa Zero we are quite prepared for emergency illumination. We’ve got Aladdin lamps, propane lanterns, Coleman lanterns, MagLites, Baygen lights and the ubiquitous chemlights. The chemlights are for immediate use…like finding your way to a flashlight or to the bunker. On the top ledge of each bedroom doorway, closet doorway, and basement doorway theres a lightstick in its foil wrapper. This way, in the dark all you have to do is find a doorway, reach up, and youre good to go. Lightsticks get changed out every year around Halloween when they go on sale. The old ones are rotated into ‘secondary’ status or used for testing, etc, etc.

I also keep A Streamlight LED flashlight, a lightstick and a Photon LED light in my Tactical Tailor bag which accompanies me to most places.

Summertime has its own risks of blackout…mostly from overtaxed power grids and forest fires eating the lines. Winter has ice on the lines and that sort of thing. So theres always the risk of a prolonged power outage around here. And then, theres the totally unpredictable person-in-a-car-hitting-a-power-pole event.

Moral: it can happen anytime, anywhere – be prepared.
Especially. At. Work.