Less than two weeks ago, Ryan Giroux went on a rampage in Mesa. His actions killed one person and wounded five others in a spree that shut down parts of the city. What is even more frightening about his actions is that they took place in a part of town that I regularly traverse. The locations of the shootings, the cross streets, and local landmarks are well known to me.
Lately there have been some rumblings about how well-run (or not) the Red Cross is. Hotair ran a good piece on the subject last year which brought up some concerns about how the Red Cross does business. Make no mistake about it either, they are a business. It seems that this iconic organization isn’t really that well-organized and wastes a lot of resources every year due to inefficiency. While the organizational structure of a large company like the Red Cross is outside the scope of this blog, it does bring up a few important points that are worth remembering. Nobody and no organization should ever be beyond question. Accountability, especially for organizations like the Red Cross, is often overlooked because they ostensibly do good. This should not be the case, any company, government, school, non-profit, or other organization must be able to stand up to independent scrutiny. The other point is that instead of looking for large monoliths to come in and save the day, why not focus on local organizations and neighborhoods as the primary sources of disaster relief? That may be something to keep in mind the next time somebody asks for a donation…
A while back a friend of mine wrote a thought-provoking article on playing the odds. The essence of the article is that most people don’t think twice about preventing residential fires, but the debate changes entirely when it comes to firearms ownership. There is no stigma attached with buying fire extinguishers, smoke alarms, and emergency lights to deal with fires. Nor should there be, after all household fires still happen regularly.
The other day, I mentioned how probability is important in making and prioritizing preparation activities. Today, I’m going to discuss one event that has about a 3% probability of happening to you if you live in the United States. Its something you need to be prepared for because it can happen right in front of you, or to you, anytime you get behind the wheel.
A couple of recent experiences prompted me to write about probability and how it should affect one’s preparations. Prepping for Doomsday, SHTF, TEOTWAWKI, or other calamities might get a lot of attention but these events are all unlikely. It makes a lot more sense to prepare for likely events like the common cold instead.
I decided to upgrade my safe room door a while back and was finally able to do so. After all, I have several items in that rooms that I want to protect and adding a stronger door would help accomplish this goal. So here is what I did to make my safe room more secure.
One recurring theme at Smart Suburban Survival is the importance of personal responsibility and taking greater ownership of your life. There will be times when you will be your own first responder or otherwise be caught up in an unpredictable situation. Relying on others during an emergency, especially on incompetent and corrupt governments, is outsourcing your safety and placing your life at risk.
You could say I have been gearing up over the past few weeks. Here is a picture of some of the new acquisitions for my various kits.
Recent Purchases
Electronic devices like computers, monitors, routers, and modems need a supply of electrons (aka “electricity”) to operate. Power outages, brown-outs, spikes, surges, and the like can take place anytime but are most likely during a disaster. So having a battery backup like an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) makes a lot of sense.
APC Back UPS Pro 1300
September is National Preparedness Month, so we will feature additional resources every day to help you become better-prepared.
Many of the resources and links will be familiar to regular readers but good information is worth repeating. I will also include information from other sources that may be useful. Stay tuned…