08:05 – Email from Jen. A couple months ago, she said she and her family intended to run another readiness exercise later in the year, when the weather was colder. Well, it’s later in the year, the weather is turning colder, and they’ve decided on a rather ambitious plan. They’re going to hold a four-day readiness exercise over the Thanksgiving weekend. Jen and her husband will participate, along with Jen’s brother and his family, for a total of six people. Prepper friends of Jen’s family that live about 30 miles from Jen will also participate: the husband and wife, their three young-adult sons, and their daughter-in-law, bringing the total to twelve people. They plan to do Thanksgiving dinner completely off-grid, using only their stored supplies and equipment. What could go wrong? They’ll find out, and Jen promises to report to me on the results. It sounds to me as though they’re planning the private equivalent of Operation Overlord.
It won’t be just a holiday get-together minus central heat, electric power, and other utilities. They’re going to simulate a serious disaster. The second family and Jen’s extended family have agreed to be evacuation destinations for each other, and they’re going to run it as a simulated evacuation, with the second family bugging out in multiple vehicles, carrying as much of their emergency supplies and kit as possible. The bell rings at 6:00 p.m. on that Wednesday evening. Until then, the second family will just be doing what they usually do on a normal day. At the stroke of six, the emergency evacuation commences, with hurried packing up of their vehicles and a convoy to Jen’s place. Bridges will be down and roads blocked (virtually speaking, of course), so the other family will have to use alternative routes. (They won’t know about what specific travel problems they’ll encounter until they’re actually on the road.) Once they arrive and unload, there will be various scenarios, including a medical emergency and an attack by ravening hordes of zombies. They’ll maintain a round-the-clock watch to spot any zombies before they attack, as well as a 24-hour radio watch. It all sounds like great fun, and I wish we were participating. I suspect they’ll all learn a lot.
As indeed they expect to. Jen says they’ll be taking copious notes on what goes right and, more importantly, what goes wrong. Once they’ve thought it through and talked it out, they intend to run another long-weekend readiness exercise, but this time with Jen and her extended family evacuating and the other family playing host.
Wow, that’s ambitious, and awesome.
I’m sure there will be valuable lessons learned.
I’m a little bit jealous of the support.
nick
You’re jealous of the support? Even though my father in law has 3+ shotguns, my wife is a hoplophobe, and I still don’t have a shotgun of my own.
Yeah, I’m not sure if Jen fully appreciates just how lucky she is that her entire family and some of their friends are on-board. The family that lives next-door to Jen are also preppers. They’d have liked to participate in the exercise, but they’re going to be away from home visiting family over Thanksgiving.
Well, there are degrees in everything.
And we get real life opportunities to practice our “normal” disaster preps at least every other year.
She sees the changing demographics around us. She sees the reasons I carry, but is fighting decades of conditioning against guns.
She is generally supportive of anything that can be covered as storm prep, camping, safety, but not really things that go beyond that like long term grid down, or collapse. I have no idea what she truly thought of my Ebola preps. We’re only a short drive from ACTUAL in the wild cases after all and those first weeks were pretty intense around here.
She has been reading the Little House books with the kids and said she was struck by their constant food insecurity. I answered that that is why we have a pile of stored food, because in ’29 no one saw what ’30 would look like. That got a considered look at least, and not the eye roll.
The question of carrying on vacation came up, and I responded that another 9-11 event could happen while we were away, and having the hardware would be a good thing. When I say things like that, I get the skeptical look, not quite an eye roll. But it’s true that people WERE on vacation on 9-11, and they were forced to make changes and accommodations to the new reality. Heck, I was 5 miles from ground zero, and 2000 miles from home when that happened. Getting home was a challenge, with some very surreal moments.
I guess if I had something to share from all that, it’s that attitudes change. Suddenly is rare, gradually is much more common. Anyone that is willing to take an honest look around, and has access to alternative media sources (or even the low key, CYA reporting the MSM sneaks in around the edges), will see that things in the world are changing, and NOT for the better. If, by your example, your preps allow you to easily/smoothly/seamlessly meet some of those changes and challenges, it will get you some support where there wasn’t any before. I just want MORE, and some more active participation. I dread what would have to happen to make her change to that degree though.
nick
Two tiny examples.
Medical preps.
Whenever I’m with the kids, I have AT MINIMUM, my altoids tin based ‘boo boo’ kit. It has basic first aid stuff, bandaids, ointment, alcohol swabs, hand cleaner towelettes, crazy glue, etc. I’m constantly amazed that other parents DON’T have anything like this, not even having a bandaid in their purse or diaper bag. In the beginning, my wife thought it was paranoid overkill to carry first aid, after all, no one else does! But, over time, as I have shown time and again, whipping out the kit, cleaning the scrape, a little cream and a bandaid, a kiss and hug, stops the pain. It reassures the kid, comforts them, and turns a potential screamfest into a short non-event. Very quickly everyone is back to normal. Contrast that to everyone else! Screaming, crying, hurting kid, find some help, or simple get none, disruption of everyone’s activity, lots of unhappiness all around.
That demonstration of the usefulness of being prepared in every day life has shifted her “normal” toward prepping. She no longer has any negative or skeptical reaction to me putting the ‘trauma’ bag in the car when we travel. No more raised eyebrows when my ‘blow out kit’ moves from my range bag to my airplane carryon. Not even a blink when my IFAK shows up in my checked bag for vacation.
Food.
With the time demands of small kids, and work, and daily life, the convenience of “shopping from your storage” demonstrates quite quickly the value of prepping with food. Can’t get to the store and out of milk? Get the UHT off the shelf. Run out of cereal? Reach for the backup in the garage. Just don’t feel like cooking? Grab a box meal off the shelf. Having food available, outside of your normal pantry, quickly proves its worth and convenience.
[ok a third example]
EDC.
She’s seen the usefulness of having a flashlight and knife as part of my EDC. This isn’t a surprise, as we both have a work background that had a flashlight, knife, and multitool as EDC. People who don’t regularly carry a knife or flashlight though are amazed when you take one out and solve a problem without effort, muss or fuss.
I’m leaving off the big example of the value of “prepping” in general, as she has lived in earthquake zones, and a now hurricane zone, and we have lots of first hand examples of that, and a great deal of societal support for “storm preparation.” Every major event (or even minor) reinforces the value of being prepped up, and helps me move our preps even further along the spectrum toward long term self-sufficiency.
So yeah, I’m jealous of active support, even though I have a ton of passive support and even some willing participation. I’d love to do a tactical class together, or get her into a self defense class, or get her CHL or ham ticket for example.
The truth is, we’ve both come a long way, and she’s come even farther. It can feel like there is a long way still to go, though.
nick
I get email frequently from the prepping half of a couple, which seems to split evenly between men and women, telling me about a sudden pro-prepping change in the non-prepping spouse. It’s usually motivated by some outrage in the news, sometimes national-level like the Ferguson/Baltimore riots, but more often by smaller-scale local events like a rash of home invasions a few blocks away in what used to be a “safe” area.
But you’re right that it’s usually gradually, like water dripping on stone. Ferguson, drip. Baltimore, drip. Local home invasions, drip. Drip, drip, drip. It’s like the definition of a conservative as a liberal who got mugged.
I’m really looking forward to hearing Jen’s results. My guess is that it’ll be mostly minor stuff, like last time. Particularly hygiene/sanitation issues. Women in particular really, really like running water in the bathroom, and find it difficult to cope without it. Not their fault; their different plumbing and decades of advertising propaganda explains it.
As we say here in New England, that’s wicked pissah! What a great caper to do over the holiday weekend! I’m kinda jealous, too. Wife here is only just starting to come around on all this stuff; I suspect at least one neighbor might be doing things. Looking forward to the debriefing.
“I’d love to do a tactical class together, or get her into a self defense class, or get her CHL or ham ticket for example.”
Ditto here. I can at least get her up to the range, just three miles up the road; and she’ll see me working on and getting the ham tickets and building radios and antennas and see them working (hopefully).
Tactical classes: Ya know, I’d like to go down to several of those myself and catch up on what improvements, if any, and methods, since forty-plus years ago. I was not a day to day infantry grunt, however, back then; military police and then as a sort of “capstone” experience, six months in special operations as enlisted air crew gunner. The tactical training I’ve looked at, which appears to be excellent, is geared to squad-level maneuvers on varied terrain and covers a lot of material, most or all of it, live-fire.
Here’s my thing: what earthly good does it do for me to take any of that stuff and then come back here and do nothing with it. It’s all predicated on operating in squad-level teams. I am very far from having a potential team of infantry operators up here, very far indeed. And this is the kind of stuff that if you don’t use it, you lose it; regular training and practice is called for, just as in the active military.
Meatspace is the coming thing, however, so I’m slowly getting into moving around in various social venues here, like the parish, the gun range/club, the Legion post, and going to meetings at the town hall. I hope to get to know and suss out potential fellow preppers, at least, and maybe, eventually, think about putting together a ‘neighborhood watch’ thing, at least. Running armed exercises across the farm field landscape and humping full rucks is a long way off yet, and probably not an option for most of the peeps in my age group. But we have a LOT of veterans in this region and I’m looking at other ways to ID potential preppers and get them on board; none of us is gonna come outta a major shit-storm all by our lone ranger self.
Which is why it’s so cool that Mrs. Jen and the families down there are on-board to do this kind of operation. Really outstanding! Hats off from Retroville North!
I never said Jen was down here, although if you really want to locate her I don’t think she’d be too upset if I reveal that she’s somewhere within 200 miles of us. You’ll find her somewhere in that 125,000+ square miles.
OFD wrote:
“And this is the kind of stuff that if you don’t use it, you lose it; regular training and practice is called for, just as in the active military.”
Okay, since you won’t vote the buggers in Mordor out of office why not imitate John Clark?
My other guess is that they’ll be unpleasantly surprised at just how inadequate their group of 12 adults is, given all that they need to do. And, other than the 8:4 male:female ratio, their mix is about as close to perfect as anyone could expect. Jen and her husband are in their 30’s. Her brother and his wife are a few years older, and their two sons are highschool/college age. The other family’s parents are in their early 50’s, with two college-age sons and one married son and his wife who’re a few years older.
I think they’re going to find that they need at least twice as many people, and ideally three times or more as many just to cover everything that needs to be covered. I think Jen is aware of that. They’ve already had a meet-and-get-to-know get-together with the all three of the families, and I suspect Jen is trolling their other friends and neighbors for LMI’s.
“I never said Jen was down here, although if you really want to locate her…”
Nope. OPSEC. It’s not a great stretch for me, being that we are nearly as fah northeast as we can be, that most folks are “down there” or “over there.” The only “up there” here would be Quebec and northeast Maine. I dunno if you have any other readers or correspondents up that way but so far have seen no indication of it.
” They’ve already had a meet-and-get-to-know get-together with the all three of the families, and I suspect Jen is trolling their other friends and neighbors for LMI’s.”
Again, outstanding. They’re WAY ahead of most of the rest of us here, I’m guessing.
Contrast that to everyone else!
And those on the public, welfare queens, who will call 911, demand an ambulance, and a rush trip to the ER. All paid by the taxpayers of course.
I know one lady who goes the ER 5 or 6 times a month with a child that has the sniffles, a small rash, a 100 fever, a mild cough, whatever. It does not matter. The claims a problem, boom, off to the ER. Have to use the ER as local doctors will take her and her kids as patients. Of course she is on welfare, pays nothing for medical, and bitches about a $2 copay for her $400 medicine. Says the medicine should be free.
Technology can be a force multiplier, if you can keep it running. Cameras, motion detectors, radios, all help. There are 12v options for all that, and solar.
The biggest problem with that is having somewhere to set it all up and LEAVE IT up. If you have a retreat location, you can build up the defenses, and bolster the off grid capabilities. If you can’t keep adding to it, you are kind of stuck with what you can carry. If your retreat is someone else’s full time living location, it’s gonna be a lot harder to locate and build all those very specific and very space consuming things needed for full off grid, or post collapse things.
Things like a forge, summer kitchen, slaughtering area, smokehouse, spring house, laundry, barracks…
Not to say that one should be setting up for post collapse as opposed to a temporary disaster, but that would be the long term goal for a group, wouldn’t it?
Rambling anyway, back to work…
nick
Jen is extraordinarily smart and decisive. Earlier this year, she had some vague concerns, but I think Ferguson was what kicked her into high gear. They’ve gone from zero to 60 quicker than anyone else I know, and at this point they’re better-prepared than about 99.999% of the population.
That’s what happens when the whole family is on the same page and has the determination and the financial resources to do something about it. And Jen was the sparkplug. Initially, even her husband was luke-warm about prepping, although he was obviously willing to be convinced. Same with Jim and Claire. Now, none of them even slightly begrudge all of the time, effort, and money they’ve spent. The downside of not doing what they can is too horrible to contemplate.
We should all just relocate next to each other and start our own country. We’ll call it Bobsville.
Well, if I judged based on the number of PA fiction titles set in various places, the five hotbeds of prepping would (in no particular order) seem to be the western NC mountains, rural Idaho/Montana, Washington state, Texas, and Florida.
This is an excellent idea. Only by running a DR (Disaster Response) exercise can you find the little (or maybe big) things you missed in your plan. As an IT Security professional I have designed and run many DR exercises. However the one point that is hardest to quantify (and get agreement on) is WHEN to declare a Disaster and initiate the plan. In IT we argue that just because we lost power to site #1, it might come back in a couple of hours so no reason to call a DR incident. But what if it takes 8 or 24 hours? You have lost critical time. Families need to agree on what actually constitutes an “emergency” that needs a bug-out response. Given that most people have a very high normalcy bias, the expectation that things will soon return to normal, and that government agencies reinforce this to try and prevent panic, deciding what conditions require a bug-out (DR) response needs to be thought through and agreed on in advance.
H. Combs,
You are right. It’s my observation that by the time you decide to do something, it’s too late. Whether it’s stocking up, fueling, or leaving, hurricane experiences here on the Gulf Coast are that 90% or more will wait just a bit too long.
We had a very specific trigger for leaving vs staying during Ike (our last big one.) As it happened, we didn’t hit the trigger and we stayed.
Since that is our most likely risk, we have some steps along the path…
WRT planning exercises, this month there is a big EX of the MARS/CAP radio freqs and disaster comms scheduled. The presumed disaster is a CME. Any ham operator is welcome to participate.
There have been a bunch of lessons learned from some other recent disasters with some very basic stuff brought to the fore. What I remember off the top of my head, from Katrina, Sandy, and the Colorado fires-
-if your area can flood, don’t put emergency generators, fuel tanks, or switchgear in the basement
-when driving in a hurricane or other high wind zone, you need
–a set of mounted spare tires
–tire plug kit and compressor
–good jack
–(roofing nails are everywhere, and make great caltrops)
–chainsaw and fuel, with PPEs
–tow rope/chain/strap
If you are building or equipping an EOC, you should
-stock food and water as well as fuel
-have showers and laundry facilities
–this will be critical after a few days!
Some modern vehicle computers WON’T LET THEM START if the air is full of smoke
–this is for your protection, ’cause some faceless engineer knows better than you whether you need to drive your car or truck
Generators have VERY short maintenance intervals
-you need WAY more oil and filters than you think
–(that said, I’ve run mine long past the intervals, but if it can’t be easily replaced, maintaining it is critical)
High wind events will blow your antennas down
-have a way to get back up and running
Seems pretty common sense for most of them, and yet some were a big surprise to EM pros.
nick
Bingo. Another thing I think Jen and her crew will end up rethinking. As things stand, her brother and his family intend to gather at Jen’s place if things get bad. They’re suburban/exurban (albeit from a pretty small town), while Jen is rural (albeit only a 20 or 30 minute drive from Jim and Claire). The second family group is 30 miles from Jen’s house, and more rural still. My guess is that they’ll settle on Jen’s place as their preferred location unless something makes evacuation from Jen’s mandatory. It’s not as rural, but she has some good neighbor families, at least one of whom are preppers themselves. From what she’s said, I think Jen’s place is the best choice.
As of now, I don’t believe they’ve set any formal triggers. If things start to look really threatening, they’ll simply talk to each other and decide if/where to gather. The only sure thing is that Jim and Claire’s family will head for Jen’s place, where they’ve been told they’re welcome any time on no notice and for as long as they want to stay.
As a side note, if you look at the pager traffic in NYC on 9-11 (wikileaks) you will see several companies activate emergency plans as the morning progresses. Some VERY soon after the first plane hit, and well before it became obvious that a major event was underway.
nick
BTW, I found it extremely difficult to read thru the messages. It was like watching an explosion in slow motion. It is very interesting and compelling, but I can’t recommend doing so unless you want to spend a couple of days filled with rage and grief.
https://911.wikileaks.org/files/index.html
never forget, never forgive
snip
2001-09-11 10:55:00 Arch [1029811] A ALPHA (6)From:Oksanna Kozyra/IIG/Prudential@PRUDENTIAL Body:Please meet in Rich’s office ASAP.
2001-09-11 10:55:00 Arch [0871596] D ALPHA (30)03: DISRUPTION OF ALL C OMMUNICATIONS IN NEW YORK CITY.
2001-09-11 10:55:00 Arch [0552861] D ALPHA (20)09:ABS: EMMC UPDATE: THE NCC IN KANSAS CITY HAS ADVISED THAT THE SWITCH COMPLEX AT 60 HUDSON ST. IN NEW YORK CITY HAS BEEN EVACUATED DUE TO DESTRUCTION OF THE WORLD TRADE CENTER TOWERS IN MANHATTAN. NEWS AFFILIATES ARE REPORTING WIDE-SPREAD
2001-09-11 10:55:00 Arch [0861595] C ALPHA (14)NCC Opening: 9/11 8:00 AM CDT New York, NY 60 Hudson Switch Complex has evacuated because of possible terrorists act on the New York trade center. TEAMS tkt# 2041237
2001-09-11 10:55:01 Metrocall [1225318] B ALPHA 310…911…571-220-0031
2001-09-11 10:55:01 Metrocall [1543522] A ALPHA ERT
2001-09-11 10:55:01 Metrocall [002334392] C ALPHA wards the pentagon. cs
2001-09-11 10:55:01 Metrocall [1407415] B ALPHA Pittsburgh,PA: Its now reported a commercial airliner has crashed near Pitts. NFI (001)
2001-09-11 10:55:01 Skytel [005223280] A ALPHA UND LENNA IS ON HER WAY TO CARLSBAD. Goff.Corinna@broadband.att.com||There is no service affecting rebuild today. There is a CRITICIAL NATIONAL TELEPHONY CONFERENCE CALL 877-807-5706 bridg
2001-09-11 10:55:01 Skytel [003252857] C ALPHA LOCAL HOSPITALS ACTIVETING FOR EMERGENCY CALL ME. RICK
2001-09-11 10:55:01 Skytel [005480437] B ST NUM 865-974-0649
2001-09-11 10:55:01 Skytel [002368115] A ALPHA TIFIED Cathie 202-646-2482 (13
2001-09-11 10:55:01 Skytel [002361863] B ALPHA PAGEING,1,Application DPIP Informational 4 0 4096 07:52 09/11/01
2001-09-11 10:55:01 Skytel [005523333] B ALPHA pls call my office 404 715 1727 to confirm you have a person stationed at the op
2001-09-11 10:55:01 Skytel [005347706] C ALPHA FWD from S.Diederich: stay home due to terrorist attacks around our country – Do not go to downtown until further notic
2001-09-11 10:55:02 Arch [0552861] D ALPHA (21)09: DISRUPTION OF ALL C OMMUNICATIONS IN NEW YORK CITY.
2001-09-11 10:55:02 Arch [0769321] C ALPHA SHAWN @ CAL PARISH CALLED THEY ARE CANCELLING TRIP
2001-09-11 10:55:03 Metrocall [0923520] A ALPHA PLEASE CALL SAM OR BRANDI AT OFFICE. 759-9971
2001-09-11 10:55:03 Metrocall [0073761] A ALPHA CALL KIMBERLY ON HER CELL PHONE
2001-09-11 10:55:03 Metrocall [0000329] C ALPHA THIS IS A TEST PERIODIC PAGE SEQUENTIAL NUMBER 2357
2001-09-11 10:55:03 Metrocall [0644919] B ALPHA Frm: Director, Secretary Sub: Txt: Baity can be reached in the SCIF.
2001-09-11 10:55:03 Skytel [005062791] B ALPHA er number participation number 437973.
2001-09-11 10:55:03 Skytel [002815646] D ALPHA 602-597-2199 INCR = 1697040 Sev1 model bank , tuscon. All other queue’s are clear as well as Bankcard and collier.
2001-09-11 10:55:03 Skytel [005062802] A ALPHA Goff.Corinna@broadband.att.com||There is no service affecting rebuild today. T
2001-09-11 10:55:03 Skytel [005347706] C ALPHA e. S.Diederich
2001-09-11 10:55:03 Skytel [004696984] C ALPHA HD: CORRECTION; JOIN BRIDGE 630 693 2233 PASSCODE # 7806097…RE: NATIONAL DISASTER
2001-09-11 10:55:04 Arch [0895403] C ALPHA THIS IS A TEST PERIODIC PAGE SEQUENTIAL NUMBER 7184
2001-09-11 10:55:05 Metrocall [0476499] A ALPHA THIS IS A TEST PERIODIC PAGE SEQUENTIAL NUMBER 2357
2001-09-11 10:55:05 Metrocall [0135252] B ALPHA PLEASE CALL THE SHOP IF YOU ARE A MILITARY VETERAN THANKS
2001-09-11 10:55:05 Metrocall [1652298] C ALPHA CALL WRO ASAP 251 6483 WAYNE
2001-09-11 10:55:05 Metrocall [002461030] B ALPHA Call Kathy RUssell at your phone
Goff.Corinna@broadband.att.com||There is no service affecting rebuild today. There is a CRITICIAL NATIONAL TELEPHONY CONFERENCE CALL 877-807-5706 bridger number participation number 437973.
2001-09-11 10:55:05 Skytel [002737447] B ST NUM 1-661-255-1119
2001-09-11 10:55:05 Skytel [005062802] A ALPHA here is a CRITICIAL NATIONAL TELEPHONY CONFERENCE CALL 877-807-5706 bridger number participation number 437973.
2001-09-11 10:55:05 Skytel [005257125] B ALPHA are you ok Aundrea Foster
2001-09-11 10:55:05 Skytel [004437785] C SH/TONE 1003
2001-09-11 10:55:05 Skytel [007100329] C SH/TONE 99999
2001-09-11 10:55:05 Skytel [005327402] C ST NUM 712-720-4777
2001-09-11 10:55:06 Arch [0906075] C ALPHA ISHD1378435 – CTI-InternetSuite – SITMAN PAGE-Users continue to not receive screen pops. eMail resubmit 60% complete. Next status 10:30am cdt. – 990099 – 1.800.808.1058 options 2,1,1
2001-09-11 10:55:06 Arch [1145829] B ALPHA Mike-Van Pool ready to leave,
2001-09-11 10:55:06 Arch [1146801] A ALPHA I am now calculating how much mo
2001-09-11 10:55:07 Metrocall [1412858] C ALPHA Frm: Drew.Debruhl@wachovia.com Txt: Calvin, could you go to Winterville before coming here? Thank you drew
2001-09-11 10:55:07 Metrocall [0310072] C ALPHA 2001-09-11 09:36:42 \NASS1TA.$S7R1C SSERIES.SSCPC08.D40 008071 Message discarded inbound, Virtual PC SSN unavailable. DPC = 2-13-12 OPC = 1-131-13 SSN = 0 See detailed text.
2001-09-11 10:55:08 Arch [1145829] B ALPHA per orders from base, call Ned Shaw @ 7-4012 ASAP Thanks Brad Green/Bill Naughton []
2001-09-11 10:55:08 Arch [0553715] A ALPHA (17)MSG0200S: Batch Processing Halted due to large volume 106,340,597 of User: USG1319
2001-09-11 10:55:08 Arch [0721627] C ALPHA NCC Opening: 9/11 8:00 AM CDT New York, NY 60 Hudson Switch Complex has evacuated because of possible terrorists act on the New York trade center. TEAMS tkt# 2041237
2001-09-11 10:55:08 Arch [0927157] B ALPHA 233dl0111 cl 2nd lvl esc. loaded to seymor dd0815– thx sherr
2001-09-11 10:55:08 Arch [1146801] A ALPHA ney I am going to collect from your life insurance policies because..if you don’t call me now!! to tell me you’re not dead, I am going to kill you! []
2001-09-11 10:55:08 Arch [0622104] C ALPHA (17)NCC Opening: 9/11 8:00 AM CDT New York, NY 60 Hudson Switch Complex
2001-09-11 10:55:08 Arch [1008406] B ALPHA (28)NCC Opening: 9/11 8:00 AM CDT New York, NY 60 Hudson Switch Complex has evacuated because of possible terrorists act on the New York trade center. TEAMS tkt# 2041237
2001-09-11 10:55:08 Skytel {1067280} 3 1200 908-369-5638
2001-09-11 10:55:09 Metrocall [1831917] D ALPHA 11-Sep-2001/10:34:23/TRES/10740 COVERSTONE DR ,PWC (SEVEN 11 COVERSTONE)/A15/1420A 1425A /BM WHI T SHIRT SHORTS/MNGR WAS ADV TO CALL PD WHEN HE WAS THERE/UNK WHY /COMPL DOES NOT SU
2001-09-11 10:55:09 Metrocall [002272800] A ALPHA + PLEASE EVERYONE USE CAUTION AND YOUR GOOD JUDGMENT WHEN SERVICING THE AIRPORT AND GOVERMENT FACILITIES. IF YOU FEEL IT IS UNSAFE
snip
Good point (above) on monitoring emergency freqs.
All big (and some not-so-big) corporations will have a Security officer who will be monitoring physical security conditions for the offices & employees. The Corp. will disseminate physical security info by SMS, Email and Phone. Remember they are ONLY interested in the security of the corp. offices and critical workers. But this is one data point that can help determine if YOU and YOUR AREA are at risk even though the news may say otherwise. My firm has excellent security coverage in Asia and our people are warned when demonstrations may turn violent or typhoons disrupt utilities. As Nick noted, don’t wait till the news tells you to run because that is far too late. The roads will be clogged, gasoline gone, and panic has already set in. Try to err on the side of caution. It’s easier to return feeling a little foolish than to be stranded in a traffic jam unable to do anything.
I hate California. We’ve been doing business there for over 10 years as a corporation. Schools, Uni, prison system. Now we have a gig with the State of California. They won’t recognize our corporation unless we register with the state – that will take a month and the gig is in a week. They will accept MrsAtoz, her social, as a sole prop. Now I have to deal with that tax fuckup next year.
Bizarro day. I just got a cell call with the caller ID “Russia” and a weird number. Never had that happen before. The phone probably would have exploded it I answered.
You go Detroit! The first PRC in the USA.
(CNSNews.com) – In the Detroit public school district, 96 percent of eighth graders are not proficient in mathematics and 93 percent are not proficient in reading.
That is according to the results of the 2015 National Assessment of Educational Progress tests published by the Department of Education’s National Center for Educational Statistics.
I thought the things I heard about Chicago Public Schools were bad, and they were. Detroit appears to be even worse.
Things like this make be glad that the closest large midwestern city is not Chicago or Detroit.
What’s worse is that the bars school systems set for “proficient” are pathetically low.
In their defense, one can’t make bricks without straw, and their student populations are pretty much strawless. Of course, governments’ answer for their failures is always More Government.
(CNSNews.com) – In the Detroit public school district, 96 percent of eighth graders are not proficient in mathematics and 93 percent are not proficient in reading.
That is according to the results of the 2015 National Assessment of Educational Progress tests published by the Department of Education’s National Center for Educational Statistics.
I can fix this problem. Unless they are absolutely too stupid to learn anything which I highly doubt.
One of my great-grandfathers taught school in Pottsboro, Texas, a farm town, back in 1920s and 30s. Two rooms, 80 kids, one teacher. If you acted up in his classroom, he whipped you right at your desk, according to my grandmother who saw him do it many times. He had the older kids teaching the younger kids to read and write, etc. He was an absolute authority and did not allow any talk back whatsoever.
“Unless they are absolutely too stupid to learn anything which I highly doubt.”
Why would you doubt that? A huge percentage of that population comes from multiple generations of poor stock. They have stupid parents, stupid grandparents, stupid great-grandparents, and on and on. Why would they be anything other than stupid?
Now we have a gig with the State of California. They won’t recognize our corporation unless we register with the state – that will take a month and the gig is in a week. They will accept MrsAtoz, her social, as a sole prop. Now I have to deal with that tax ****** next year.
I used to do business with the state of Kalifornia. One day, some moron barges in our front door here in the Land of Sugar, Texas. He demanded to audit our books for compliance and he just knew that we had an employee in Kalifornia, which would mean that we had to file a income tax for Kalifornia. I heard him talking loudly with my office manager and left my office to investigate.
The moron was actually threatening my office manager so I walked up to him, face to face, and got into his personal space. He then whips out his wallet and shows me his Kalifornia tax office id card, which, I could care less. I then told him he was not auditing anyone and demanded he leave my office. He raises his voice and demands to audit our books again. I then instructed my office manager to call the police and I reached around him to open the office front door for him to leave. The moron actually put his hand on my arm and tried to push me back. I almost punched him and told the guy “get your hand off me”. At that point he got scared and left after we exchanged a few more choice words.
We got dunning notices from Kalifornia for several years after that but I have always instructed my accountant to trash them.
So, good luck with that.
Desperate progs call for desperate measures.
IIRC Cali claims taxes due on your retirement income, no matter your state of residence if you EARNED said retirement in Cali…
They have to feed the beast, and prop 13 limits how much they can raise property taxes.
They are super fast when it comes to getting a tax lien and garnishing your wages too.
Much faster than the IRS.
nick
I see these incidents and events on the part of State “authorities” robbing us all the time with impunity as a direct devolution from medieval fable bridge trolls. Ugly and mean little bastards that deserved a good bashing with your cudgel or if truly a PITA, shot through with crossbow bolts and hung up as a warning to other trolls.
Why not implement this procedure here?
As for bailing, I don’t see us doing it up this way unless there’s a really horrific train derailment three miles from us, a plane crashes into the village, or the warmists are right after all and sea levels rise drastically and suddenly and the Saint Lawrence Seaway and the Hudson back up into Lake Champlain.
We’ll hunker down here and go out feet-first when our time comes. At least that’s our plan.
Back from the group meeting at the VA, all is well, most everybody in pretty good shape this week and thankful for our luck in still being above ground and functional, for the most part. More tales, however, of young guys back from the Suck who are EXTREMELY angry and want no part of any group yak-fest, VA treatment, or anything else. And this is in northern rural Vermont. The point was made that there are over a million vets in Florida, where some of our snowbird vets go every winter. With more millions across the country. Chop down to ten percent of that, and those are the people who’ve been in combat of one sort or another and may have “issues.” Chop down to another ten percent and you got folks who mos def have issues and some of them are fucking powder kegs.
Figure also, on a goodly number of LEO types who are combat vets and who not only dig the continuing adrenaline rush (like OFD long ago), but they also are struggling with some shit going on in their heads. Now they have a badge and a gun and gee, why not use some of the same procedures and methods that worked great in the Suck?
Temp hit the high 60s today and nearly 70 in some places; now the wind has kicked up hard again, with scattered rain squalls. Should be back to “normal” by tomorrow night.
A rapper and an IS moron killed.
Two for the price of one…
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-10-30/german-is-rapper-killed-in-air-strike-in-syria/6900466
Lynn wrote:
‘The moron actually put his hand on my arm and tried to push me back. I almost punched him and told the guy “get your hand off me”. At that point he got scared and left after we exchanged a few more choice words.’
You didn’t smack him in the face? Your getting wimpish in your old age.
Dave, did you live in NH before the current place in Vt?
I’m more charitable than our host. The kids in Detroit absolutely are capable of learning stuff, at least to an eighth grade level. After that, even with an IQ of 80 or so, they could still learn useful trades and make a perfectly decent living.
The thing is: they don’t want to. The inner city culture is so screwed up that education is seen as a bad thing. Holding a regular job isn’t a concept they are familiar with. If you asked most of them “What use are you, what do you contribute to society?” they not only couldn’t answer, but wouldn’t even understand why that should be a problem.
As long as they can get their free Obama phone and the EBT card keeps putting out, why should they change?
As I’ve been saying for years, the problem is that jobs that require a human will always select for intelligence. A smart person will do them better and faster than someone of lower intelligence. There are no longer many jobs that someone with an 85 IQ can do that can’t be done faster and cheaper by a machine. In fact there aren’t many jobs left that someone with a 100 IQ can do that a machine can’t do better and cheaper. In fact, right now computers are better diagnosticians than most human doctors, and computers have become a real threat to attorneys.
Long-term, the only jobs that humans will continue to do are in the realm of scientists and engineers, and there’s simply no way to turn someone with an IQ of 85 or even 100 into a scientist or engineer.
The trite comment about average or below IQ being good tradesmen is trash. Good laborers or helpers maybe. All the best carpenters, plumbers, electrician et al, are above average, by far. My grandfather was a mason by trade, an Italian immigrant that came here and was an independent contractor. In reality he was an artisan that could make anything out of brick and cement. Finding these guys is in itself a real art.
Yep, the only jobs left that a non-bright person can do well are manual labor, and Americans however stupid aren’t willing to do those. So we import Mexicans to weed and pick crops, do construction labor, and so on.
The last thing I want is a stupid person working on my vehicles, plumbing, electricity, gas, and so on. Fortunately, there aren’t many stupid people doing any of those jobs. They’re not smart enough.
“Dave, did you live in NH before the current place in Vt?”
Nope; Maffachufetts, but I’ve been up here now for nearly twenty years. Born and raised down there, though.
Lynn wrote:
‘The moron actually put his hand on my arm and tried to push me back. I almost punched him and told the guy “get your hand off me”. At that point he got scared and left after we exchanged a few more choice words.’
You didn’t smack him in the face? Your getting wimpish in your old age.
This was over ten years ago. I’ve always been a wimp. The dude was 6 inches shorter and 100 lbs less. If I had hit him, he might have died.
I don’t hit women, unless they deserve it (i.e. actually trying to harm me or, formerly, in martial arts) but any guy who gets in my face is fair game.
but any guy who gets in my face is fair game.
Yes, but one needs to pick ones battles in today’s SJW culture. If I had punched the guy then I would have been charged as the aggressor even though he was trespassing and had been asked to leave.
In Texas?
I’d have thought that him initiating physical contact would suffice to convince the cops not even to arrest you, let alone charge you.
In Texas?
I’d have thought that him initiating physical contact would suffice to convince the cops not even to arrest you, let alone charge you.
At home? Yes. At the office? No way. Plus the size differential is bad news. I would have been arrested for sure had I punched him.
Yeah, the way that works once it gets to court is that big bad Mr. Lynn or Mr. Bob or Mr. OFD show up, and then the jerk comes in, hair neatly combed, suit and tie, butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth. The judge and/or jury is likely to favor the poor little vic instead of the towering Visigoth.
Hey, just call the cops and hope they send a typical 5’5″ copchick out to the scene. Much frivolity may ensue.
They sent a male cop to the office. I declined to press charges since the moron had left. I should have since the moron continued to send us irritating and threatening letters for several years.
California tax collector. Doesn’t Tejas have a varmint bounty?
Entertainers of various stripes: athletes, singers, artists. From my admittedly limited experience, intelligence is an asset to a musician or artist, but not a requirement.