Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.
This, if accurate, is a fascinating account of what happens in a damaged nuclear reactor like the ones in Japan and explains that all is not as bad as it may first appear. Its a very lengthy blog post..pick it up at “What happened at Fukushima”.
Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.
Polite and courteous to the end…
The word ‘civilization’ is usually prefaced with the words ‘thin veneer of’, but if anyone is going to have a polite and orderly apocalypse it would be the Japanese. Contrast this with stories from Haiti, Katrina, and a few other places.
Will it be all smiles and polite ‘thank you’s? Of course not, but I would bet that as far as nation-changing disasters go this will be the least riotous and most orderly. At least, until the reactors explode and everyone realizes its every salaryman for himself.
Im reading as much as I can on the responses and mobilizations of emergency services over there and it is indeed a fascinating thing to watch. Lessons to be learned? Absolutely. But I want to wait some more and see how things shake out before addressing that topic. However, it appears the biggest thing to take away is that in a nation as amazingly high-tech as Japan they are still suffering a tremendous communications problem. This is one of those textbook situations that give ham radio guys wood.
Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.
As I tool around the interweb looking for information about the aftermath of the earthquake/tsunami/Godzilla attack in Japan I keep seeing posts urging people to pray for the people in Japan. Pray to whom? The same god that sent the earthquake and tsunami? Thank you sir, may I have another?
The Japanese are a completely different culture from ours. Their mainstreamed interest in tentacle porn, dressing 40-year-old moms in sailor/schoolgirl outfits, and institutionalized xenophobia and sexism pretty much underscore that. But everyone pretty much agrees that, by and large, the national character of the Japanese, at least as it is portrayed to us Westerners, is that they are, above all, conformists. Part of the hive. “The nail that sticks up gets hammered down” as they like to say.
Will we see the classic post-disaster looting and violence that happens when a disaster strikes elsewhere in the world? I doubt it. Oh, sure…there’ll be some action here and there but by and large I’d imagine that its going to be a rather orderly and professional relief effort. Although the pictures of the damage are compelling, Im more interested in pictures and stories detailing the rescues and relief operations. These people have been expecting this sort of thing for quite some time, Im curious to see how their national preparedness pays off.
Then theres the little matter of that nuclear reactor that may or may not be melting down. Bad luck to get nuked by an enemy in a war…twice, really rotten luck to wind up doing it to yourself. I would think that the Chernobyl episode gave them a little bit of insight into how to manage a crisis like this.
Anyway, it should be interesting to see how things develop over the next few days. Already the interweb is abuzz with predictions that the increased frequency and intensity of earthquakes these days is proof that the end of the word is right around the corner…like, oh, 2012 or so. Still not buying it. Geological processes happen regardless of the calendar. All those Pacific locations are sitting on ticking time bombs and sometimes one of ‘em just goes blooey. No sinister, mystical or religious influence necessary.
Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.
Yeah, the Japanese took one in the shorts today. Pretty resilient people, though. They got nuked twice and in the span of forty years they were a global economic giant. And they make awesome consumer electronics. Contrast with, say, Haiti where a year later it still looks like Mad Max.
What you might not know is that underneath that pacifistic exterior, the Japanese actually have quite the civil defense program. Not too surprising since a) North Korea is just a short missile ride away and b) the whole country is sitting on terrestrial Jell-O. I was pretty sure Ive posted this video before but I couldnt find it anywhere so Im posting it again. Its a tour of one of several secret underground stocked emergency warehouses for use in disaster. I wont go into the wisdom of putting your supplies 20 meters underground when you live in a place where tsunamis are a problem. Awesome little bunker they’ve got there. I wonder if they cracked ‘em open for this recent geological rollercoaster ride.
Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.
I cannot possibly know what to make of this:
‘Awesome, it’s the end of the world’: Doomsday campers travel the country preaching the Apocalypse…on May 21
According to the Church’s website, there are two ‘proofs’ that May 21 2011 is the judgement day.
According to them, Noah’s great flood occurred in the year 4990 B.C., ‘exactly’ 7000 years ago.
At the time, God said to Noah he had seven days before the flood would begin.
Taking a passage from 2 Peter 3:8, in which it is said a day for God is like a thousand human years, the church reasoned that seven ‘days’ equals 7000 human years from the time of the flood,making 2011 the year of the apocalypse.
In its second ‘proof’ the exact date is revealed by working forward from the exact date of the of the crucifixion – April 1, 33 AD.
According to their reasoning, there are exactly 722,500 days from April 1, 33 A.D. until May 21, 2011 – the alleged day of judgement.
This number can be represented as follows: 5 x 10 x 17 x 5 x 10 x 17 = 722,500.
The church then argues that numbers in the bible have special meanings, with the number 5 signifying atonement or redemption, the number 10 signifying ‘completeness’ and the number 17 equalling heaven.
Seriously? Given the whole bizarre numerology angle you could infer pretty much anything you wanted. I’d love to meet one of these nutjobs and ask them, if they truly believe what they are saying then sign over their house to me since it won’t be doing them any good after next year. See how strong their convictions are then.
That reminds me of the guy selling Rapture insurance for pets. When your invisible man in the sky summons you ‘home’ and you leave this world behind, for a nominal fee this fella will look after your pets. Hey, if you really believe the world is gonna end on a particular date…..
This 2012 stuff is absurd. The notion that because the Mayan calendar ends in 2012 the world will end makes no logical sense. I have a Dilbert calendar that ended on 12/31/2010, by the same logic the world should have ended the day after that.
Someday the word is going to end, but these clowns arent in on any inside secret about when its going to happen.
Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.
Someone asked in comments how to keep water from freezing in BOBs in this cold climate. Valid question. I’ll expand on it a bit further.
Obviously, if youre going to leave a pack in the truck when the outside temperature is below freezing whatever is in that pack is going to freeze. Since water is a staple emergency item to keep in the truck, it stands to reason that youre going to have some problems when the temperature gets below zero.
Normally, I keep a five-gallon jerry can of water in the back of the truck. In winter it freezes into a solid block of ice, which makes it fairly useless. The solution to the problem of water freezing is not in how to avoid the situation, because you really efficiently cannot, but how to deal with the situation. The simple answer is: you thaw your frozen water. Obviously the smaller the frozen water supply, the faster it will thaw. Lets say you have a liter bottle of ice, and you have a bunch of ice cubes that, when melted, equal one liter. Spread your ice cubes out, and lay your frozen one liter water bottle next to them. Which one is going to melt first? The smaller ice cubes, of course. The smaller the package of water the faster it will freeze, but it will also thaw faster.
In the winter, I like the foil pouches of emergency drinking water. They’re compact, easy to distribute in a full pack, and if you stick one in a pocket it will thaw very, very quickly. Each one is around 4 oz. so a dozen or so scattered amongst your gear gives you a good supply of water and if they freeze you’re not going to have any trouble at all thawing them in a hurry with anything other than simple body heat.
Plastic bottles seem to hold up very well to repeated freezing/thawing cycles. Several brands of bottled water are available in ‘hand grenade sized’ bottles that should thaw significantly faster than a 20 oz. bottle. To play it safe, I usually keep the water bottles in a ziploc bag or two just in case things do explode from the cold. As long as a Nalgene bottle is not filled to the brim, it seems impervious to freeze/thaw cycles.
When out in the field I usually use a CamelBack-type hydration system. I carry the water reservoir inside my pack, closest to my back. Freezing is never an issue, the body heat transmits through the pack into the Camelback and keeps things warm enough, along with the constant motion, to keep things from freezing. What about the water in the drinking tube? Easy – when youre done drinking, blow into the tube and force the water back into the reservoir so there is nothing but air in the tube. No problem.
Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.
For the last week or two, I’ve been playing around with the insulated poncho that I got from Wiggy’s. I had a post about it all written up and ready to go but I kept changing because rather than judging the product on its own merits, I compared it to its next closest competitor, the Kifaru Woobie. As I thought about it, I came to think that although a comparison is inevitable and worthwhile at some point, the initial impression of the Wiggy’s product should be on its own merits, not compared to something else.
First impression opening the box was that they had sent me two by mistake. Nope, it was one…its just bulky. Im hoping that translates into warmth. Compressing it into the smallest possible package is going to be interesting. I have a compression sack from Kifaru that does an excellent job on other gear, and stuffing the Wiggys product into it and cinching it down reduced the size of the poncho considerably.
The Wiggys poncho came in a woodland marpat pattern on one side and a greyish/silver on the other. The edges were hemmed with a strip of black fabric and there were snaps along the edges. At the four corners were sewn-in loops. There were no grommets. The hood, which seemed more generously insulated than the rest of the liner, has a drawstring for cinching the hood down. The snaps along the edges allow you to snap the sides of the poncho shut as you wear it, but the snaps will not work if you fold the Wiggys poncho in half to use it as an impromptu sleeping bag.
I tried the Wiggys product using a current issue USGI nylon poncho, an older rubberized USGI poncho, a West German rubberized poncho (my favorite), and a nylon flecktar poncho. The Wiggys poncho was several inches longer than all of these ponchos and thus only two corners could be tied into the military poncho. So, the idea of attaching the two garments together an wearing them as one is right out of the question. You can, however, wear the Wiggys poncho and simply pull your other poncho over it and wear them that way. This made me read the description of the product on the Wiggy’s website a bit more carefully. It is described as an insulated poncho, not as an insulated poncho liner. Big difference.
How is it for warmth? Well, its definitely warmer than the issue poncho liners. Its at least as warm as the Kifaru Woobie. Theres enough room to wrap yourself up in it and have some extra to fold under your feet to keep them warm. For what it is, an insulated poncho (basically a zarape) its pretty good. As an insulated poncho liner, not so much since it wont actually tie into any poncho I had available. But, as I said, there is nothing to keep you from wearing both items on top of each other without tying them into each other. As an emergency blanket it would seem to be an excellent product. It’s plenty big to wrap yourself up and have extra material to wrap up your feet and head, although, really, you should just wear it as intended rather than as a blanket.
MSRP is $95…worth it? Probably. Quality is good, and although the design is lacking in its shortage of snap/tie options it’s still just the ticket for huddling under a tree on a frosty day.
Now, the inevitable comparison against the Kifaru Woobie.
The Kifaru Woobie, which I give two thumbs up to, is a great piece of kit. It does compress pretty small but still does an excellent job at keeping you warm. The drawback is that its use in conjunction with a poncho puts you right back at the use-it-as-a-blanket-you-cant-wear-it situation.
How does it compare to the Woobie? This is a good question, I think, because both of these products are designed to fill a particular roll – tucked into your pack, unobtrusively, just in case you need protection from the elements.
The Wiggys has a hood, the Kifaru does not. Thats the biggest difference.
The Kifaru has no snaps, but has more sewn in loops for attachment than the Wiggys.
The Wiggys was not compatible in terms of attachment to any of the ponchos I had, the Woobie is.
The Woobie ‘drapes’ a bit better than the Wiggys and isnt as stiff a material.
Both products compress to acceptably small packages, but the Woobie compresses smallest. When compressed to its smalles size, the Wiggy’s poncho was the same size as the uncompressed Woobie. The Compressed Woobie was much smaller than the Wiggy’s.
The Wiggys biggest selling point is the hood and opening for your head. The ability to wear this as a poncho is the main attraction for this product. However, lets say that it didnt have a hood and hole for your head, it was just a tie-in blanket like the Kifaru Woobie…then Id take the Kifaru. However, if Kifaru offered their Woobie with that kind of feature, and retained their other current features, I would go with the Kifaru with no reservations.
What would I change about the Wiggy product? You know, its just a couple simple things and I’d be their biggest fan. Sew in some tie-in strips at the proper places to mate up with the grommets on the GI poncho. Use a more windproof/water resistant fabric like they use on their jackets and vests. Add a few more sets of snaps to allow configuring it as a sleeping bag.
Short version: between the two which would I take with me in the field? Im leaning towards the Kifaru. The larger size, compressability, additional loops, and weather resistant material mean more to me than being able to wear it in conjunction with a poncho. Yes its more expensive than the Wiggys, I think its worth the difference. The Wiggys product is great, no two ways about it…and I love that its a response to customer input…but for my particular needs and anticipated uses, I think the Woobie comes out on top.
Compare apples to apples – If both products did not have openings for your head and a hood, and were meant to be worn blanket style, which would I go with? The Kifaru Woobie. If both products did have openings for your head and a hood, which would I go with? The Kifaru Woobie. The Wiggys is a good product and a good idea, make no mistake, but it isnt as versatile as the Woobie.
Most of the things I thought were lacking in the Wiggys product all relate to its ability to function in conjunction with a military poncho. Theres enough material around the edges of the poncho that you could have someone bartack some loops of paracord, or small grommets, in the proper positions to work ties into your favorite poncho. A simple task, I would imagine, for any sewing shop or talented amateur, that would carry the Wiggy’s poncho right into the lead position.
Full disclosure: I emailed the folks at Wiggy’s and politely asked them if they’d give me a discount on their product so I could review it. They did offer a discount and I purchased the poncho for a good bit off MSRP.
Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.
From the I-Am-Not-Surprised-At-All-Department:
Financial terrorism suspected in 2008 economic crash
Evidence outlined in a Pentagon contractor report suggests that financial subversion carried out by unknown parties, such as terrorists or hostile nations, contributed to the 2008 economic crash by covertly using vulnerabilities in the U.S. financial system.
This is a surprise to who, exactly? This sort of thing would be the ultimate in asymmetrical warfare. The US, naturally, has its own history of trying this sort of thing…pretty much every major world power at some point has counterfeited currency, started rumours, engaged in a little industrial espionage and generally done some Nasty Things to sink the economy of an enemy. Heck, we’re doing it now by freezing Libyan money.
Certainly the financial fubarfest of the last couple of years had its roots directly in our own missteps, but it’s entirely reasonable to believe that there were some subtle and not-so-subtle nudges along the way.
Right after September 11 I thought that there was more to things than a buncha guys flying planes into a pair of skyscrapers. There was an economic component that, at the time, I dont think anyone really paid much attention to. You cant really bring down a country like the US through force. Can’t happen. What you can do, however, is get it to destroy itself from the inside. Anyone remember the atrociously hysterical “Invasion USA” with Chuck Norris? (The man whose tears can cure cancer but, unfortunately, he never cries.) The bad guys simply fomented unrest within the US and let the US tear itself up so they didnt have to. In this manner they effected more damage than their small numbers would allow them to inflict directly.
Who benefits? Well, the list of folks that would be happy to see the US drop to a level of global economic/political irrelevance rivaling Canada is pretty long. Im sure theres a big country over on the Asian continent that is quite actively working towards this sort of thing.
Just grist for the mill…the notion that maybe it isnt all Bush’s fault is going to sit poorly with some but the notion that our economy hasnt been tarfetted by unfriendly interests is just nuts. Moral of the story: being prepared includes being prepared for an economic Pearl Harbor.
