Just Because You're Paranoid

Not that long ago, I had a dangerous job which lasted just over three years. The first three years were typically 100+ hour weeks and the risks didn’t bother me. The last month my workload was cut down to a forty-hour week and I got a chance to think about what we were doing. I was glad to leave at the end of that month.

A similar thing may be happening now. I sold a business around two years ago, which had had me working 100-hr weeks, and now I’m at a fraction of that. Maybe that is why the world looks so much more dangerous to me now than it did a few years ago. Or perhaps I’m paranoid.

In either case, somebody had shared either my situational awareness, or paranoia, or both, and asked about what a person should have in their house in case things go bad. It got me to thinking and here’s what I came up with:

Drinking Water
A squirrel knocked out the northeastern power grid. In a military strike, the first question is ‘how long do we want to take the electrical grid down for?’ It’s easy to take it down for a long time, taking it down for a short time requires creativity. If a terrorist cell was to hit the grid, they would not be creative. No electricity-no running water.

Food
If the grid goes down, so would the food distribution system. You can buy two months’ worth of Rice for around $12. I’d spend $50 and keep the pantry stocked. The stuff seems to last forever. Same with lentels, beans, split peas, peanuts.

Weapons
If the food distribution system goes down for any length of time, social order would break down in densely-populated areas. Dollar-for-dollar, you can’t beat an AK-47 knockoff for family security. If you can afford $500 for a decent pistol, that same money buys you a Yugoslavian AK-47 with folding stock (recommended). A Romanian one goes for $350.

Radio
Batteries
Generator
Gas
Fishing Gear
Garden
Cash
Gold

Two things are certain to happen in the next twenty years:
(1) the Israel-Iran issue is going to come to a head, probably with wide-reaching consequences; and
(2) Our social safety net will fail

Either could change reality as we know it today. I sleep better being prepared.