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May 2008 - I'm going to make time to revise this thing REAL SOON NOW.

A lot of this stuff is dated and needs to be relinked to versions still archived on the Wayback Machine if available, some needs to be tossed. However, I think much of what's here is still useful, just remember if a link is broken, use the browser Copy Link command, go to The Archive Project (aka The WayBack Machine) and find it there.

The latest bad news? The US government food reserve cupboard is bare. They have enough wheat stored to make 1/2 loaf of bread for every American. No stored milk, cheese, butter.

Breaking News:

This is against a background of prompt Federal disaster relief mobilization of the sort that's happened in every major US disaster within living memory.

Up to now. The evidence is obvious that FEMA's been gutted, that it's headed by an incompetent and unqualified crony of President Bush (URL later) and what's left of it is now being disastrously mismanaged for political reasons. Prediction (9/5/2005): The FEMA director is going to be the sacrifical goat on this one.

In the event of a major regional disaster, whether natural or man-made, better figure you're on your own.

I am not sure what this means yet, but I'd suggest turning that "three days" of disaster supplies into at least 2 weeks (perhaps 4) and figure out your own evacuation plan now, if your place is blown down or flooded out, your supplies may be inaccessible to you until after you dig out afterwards, assuming you can. Don't assume that there will be evacuation assistance if a major storm event is on the way. Do this now, don't wait until a disaster alert followed by everyone hitting the grocery and department stores with the same idea in mind.

Do you live in the part of the USA affected by hurricanes? The NWS has predicted (URL later) the biggest hurricane season in history. Yes, that was supposed to be last year. Wild weather is getting more and more common. I predict that this will continue for the next two or three generations. The obvious candidate as to why is global climate change. Ever seen a Category Six hurricane? I think we'll be seeing them within a generation, perhaps within a decade. Like to see one close up? My recommendation to those of you who live in hurricane country is to MOVE SOMEWHERE ELSE.

Put together a "bugout" kit, not only containing short-term supplies, but copies of your most important paper documents and computer data... a hard drive mirror is nice, but bulky and fairly fragile, my archives are on DVD-Rs as well. DVDs rarely break when dropped. You can find how-to articles on Windows and Linux backup to mirror hard drives and DVD here. Mac users probably can use the Linux procedures in the list of articles this URL will pull up, though you may have to find Mac OSX versions of dar and rsync. Note: Linux users should check the above link anyway even if disaster doesn't worry you, there's a stack of practical Linux how-to articles written for newbies at that link.

Well, it looks like America's long term energy plan is going to be to postpone the consequences of "peak oil" long enough to get energy via a long cycle of military intervention in foriegn countries, mostly in the Third World, and that global climate change is going to be ignored. Until we run out.

The news has been bad enough for long enough that it's time to think individual preparation about widescale disaster again. That's what this page is about.

There's enough interesting disaster potential here that I probably should revise some page content... I may be restoring some of the old Y2K content for people to think about in terms of long-term planning for less-energy intensive long-term lifestyle change. Read The Long Emergency? It's a relatively optimistic description of the "if current energy utilization trends continue" scenario.

Bowever, while some of the global warming problems (weather is going to get wilder and weirder every year) are now inevitable, the worst of the economic and climate effects of current trends may be avoidable if we think outside the box with respect to replacing fossil fuel energy.

I'd rather do something about the problem than simply resolve to live with the consequences. The great majority of us won't like them.

In my opinion, THIS is what we ought to be doing instead of a society-wide lemming imitation or alternately, follow the "conventional" wisdom about lower energy lifestyle.

My real problem with the "conventional wisdom" approach is I believe that this will merely postpone disaster at a very high cost, not prevent it.

Worse, I believe that our pursuing the "conventional wisdom" will waste resources which are desperately needed to solve the real problem, replacing fossil fuel with cheap, abundant, and safe energy. Yes, I said cheap, and I have reason to believe this possible. I believe that we need start converting our energy infrastructure to use the most feasible alternatives NOW while we can do this by spending dollars, not lives.

While the survival and disaster stuff needs upgrading, I am concentrating on getting the word about alternatives to our current disastrous course of action about energy, discouraging stupid energy (there are still people trying to sell us hydrogen energy) ideas... and working on new alternative energy technologies which might make a marketplace solution to the problem available. So that (and of course, the search for R&D funding) is what I'm putting my time in on right now and into the indefinite future.

However, even the content that's here should provide you with plenty of starting points with respect to individual survival and disaster planning.

If anyone would like to work with me to develop content, catch me in e-mail. What I'm looking for is expertise in relevant areas, writing skill (professionally published preferred), and a minimum of html skill... i.e. simple html markup in a text editor.

The probability of massive Y2K trouble is safely passed. The worst problem I had was a massive hangover. This page in its original form has served its purpose. I'm retaining the page content here which appears to me to have use for the future. Content solely relating to Y2K has or will be deleted sooner or later. This page is going to have a chopped-up look for a while. [several months later] The page still needs more revision, sorry I haven't had time yet.

However, if you want to protect yourself against the latest round of terrorist threats, this should be a good starting point. If biowar or a natural epidemic gets serious, having a few weeks of food stashed in the pantry so you don't have to worry about meeting your infected fellow citizens at the grocery store might be a good idea.

[written in Feb 2003] As I write this, anti-aircraft guns are in the streets of Washington, DC , the nation's "terrorist alert" status is either orange or red, and FEMA is telling people to go forth and buy duct tape and plastic sheeting to defend against biological and chemical agents. You may find information on disaster prep that's a bit more useful here.

The original Y2K information that was on this page has been moved here. I'm keeping it up for archival / historical purposes, that page will not be updated. Anyone who still needs computer Y2K remediation information, or who is wondering what kind of advice was given to people and organizations before the rollover should go to that page. No guarantee that any of the links will be intact, of course. You might be able to find some of them via the archive site at http://web.archive.org/

The final comment about Y2K is Y2K hubbub forgotten, but lessons remain from CNN.

What's here is survival and preparation information.

Table of Contents

I had a worrisome conversation the other day with a former administration official about homeland security. My complaint was that things remain futile and stupid, with airport security checks confiscating tweezers and engaging in other pointless but inconvenient measures, while real antiterrorism efforts remain weak. He agreed, but said that there was another problem. So much effort is being put into anti-terrorism efforts (futile or not) that the United States is now less prepared for major natural disasters than it was a few years ago. If we face a major natural disaster this year, he said, it's likely to turn out badly.

By the way, according to FEMA, anyone requiring any type of life support that uses electricity should register with your local Emergency Management office -- regardless of possible circumstances, presumably to make your power the first priority for restoration in case of a power outage. If it were my life, I'd arrange for a solar panel and/or generator and/or large battery pack, "first priority" might mean a few days in a hard-hit area. Or, your registration might be on a computer that got wiped out when the power went down.

The kind of disaster situation I think most people should prepare for is a few days of power outage, possibly taking down the water supply, and phones followed by months of occasional brownouts and blackouts. In general, I suggest you prepare for a 1-2 month camping trip in an area where power probably won't be available. If you've got an RV, you've probably got everything or just about everything I'm suggesting except food and extra water.

Some of the following is based on experience, the stuff I either had access to or wished I had access to when I got to experience a major earthquake a few years ago.

Also, whatever you get, get spare parts whenever you can. Remember that the whole point of disaster preparation is to be ready in case you can't get it at a store. A word to the wise should be sufficient. (spark plugs, fan belts, fuses, radiator hoses, a tire or two, bulbs, batteries... whatever is most likely to fail on whatever you depend on)

• Get at least one or two months non-perishable food in just in case. Three or more is better. I recommend getting things your family will eat regardless of whether there is an emergency or not. Canned food does have a limited shelf life, the best way to keep a fresh stock is to rotate it; keep track of when you bought it (hint: felt-tipped pen) and use the oldest stock first. Remember that you don't have to buy things labeled "camp food" or "survival food", things like canned foods, dehydrated foods like macaroni and cheese, and many other non-perishable foods are available at any grocery store. Smart shopping (buy cases of tuna and macaroni and cheese on sale, 20 lb and larger bags of rice, beans, etc.) might keep your outlay under $200 for a family of 4 for a month. Unless you try buying at the last minute. If your food supply is largely dehydrated, remember that it takes water to reconstitute them, plan for that when you store water and in general, the food will probably have to be at least heated. NOW is a good time to start. Get some cheap multivitamins (the one a day type RDA packages, at least) to make up for any deficiencies in your meal planning.

  Unless you have reason to believe that a disaster is on the way, you don't have to do all your preparation immediately. A painless way to start doing this is to buy a few extra cans or packages of non-perishable food every time you go shopping, put them in a box labeled "emergency supplies", and keep doing this. Sooner or later, you'll want to take stock of what you've got against what you'll need for a full (x) months of food. Other information here or linked to this page will help you figure out what you need.

  The other reason why having a food supply may be helpful is that if you get downsized or there's a big downturn in the economy and your job disappears, having a month or more of food in place will reduce financial stress on you quite a bit. For more information on food, go here. You'll want to be able to spend money on things other than food if you're without a job for a while.

• Water stored in food grade 55 gallon drums, with a food grade drum type hand pump is one answer. Remember that a 55 gallon drum weighs 440 pounds (200 kg) when full, so this is a solution that probably isn't practical for an apartment, the floor under it might collapse. BTW, a gallon of water a day per person is recommended. (for drinking) Portable tanks, some of which can be collapsed for storage are available at WaterTanks. Another option is using 5 gallon food-grade plastic buckets. I can't recommend 1 gallon plastic jugs or 5 gallon camp type disposable water containers except as a last resort, I don't see them as stacking well. Storing more than a month or two of water for 2 people is probably not practical in an upper floor apartment, and even that might be pushing your luck. (of course, if you've got ground level storage. . .) Remember to store more ` than you think you need if you possibly can, you might want to wash dishes or yourself. You might want to flush toilets once in a while... and/or use your non-potable water supply, e.g. a water bed, swimming pool, etc.) to flush. Remember if you don't have water pressure, simply pouring a gallon or two of water into the toilet bowl will flush it. Of course, with an extended blackout (days), areas whose sewage is handled by pumps instead of straight gravity feed may wind up with sewage backing up. These areas will have a certain air about them. The other problem with this is that you are going to want to have enough water to be able to both drink and flush. So store more than you think you'll need. Also remember that there are probably non-potable water sources that don't rely on electricity somewhere around where you live. (streams, creeks, rivers, lakes, etc.) So get water purification tablets (or use bleach containing sodium hypochlorite ONLY, no fabric softeners or whiteners) and filters from your local camping supply place and remember that you don't have to purify water you'll be using to flush with. If you live in a detached house, 55 gallon drums at ground level, or even water tanks ranging from a few hundred gallons to thousands might be practical. You know your space. It was suggested to me that plastic water tanks designed for the farm might be an economical alternative to much of what's recommended.
• a camp stove (preferably dual fuel - kerosene / propane) and a few gallons of fuel. Heating oil full size cooking stoves are available for areas where heating oil is common, the Grainger business supply catalog sells them. This might even be a cost-effective alternative for non-Y2K situations, depends on relative energy costs where you live.
• Coleman type lanterns (GET EXTRA MANTLES, preferably heavy-duty) as well as flashlights and lots of extra batteries. Hurricane lanterns / oil lamps are also a good source of heat, get a gallon or two of oil to go with them. Also remember the battery lanterns (I recommend the fluorescent types, more efficient use of battery power) sold by various vendors. The advantages of this type are that you can use various kinds of solar cell packages (e.g. solar C-D-etc. battery chargers) to keep them going. Get extra bulbs / tubes as well. If you can find good plans within your capabilities (can you solder?) for converting flashlights and battery powered lanterns to LEDs (white is best, but you should find high-efficiency yellow and red quite useful) take the time, LEDs give far more light for the same amount of battery power than incandescent bulbs and even fluorescent lanterns do, and they also last far longer. I'll link to plans if I find one I like or I'll write a plan when I've finally gotten around to converting one myself.
• Buy some ordinary chlorine bleach. It's good for decontamination and can be used to disinfect water for drinking. At this page, I found:

  Recommended procedure for disinfection of small quantities of drinking water - chlorination or boiling

  Adequate disinfection requires a certain chlorine dosage for a minimum contact time. We recommend 50 parts per million for eight hours or overnight. The tables that follow are based on the overnight contact time. We also recommend using household bleach for the disinfectant. Household bleach is a 5.25% hypochlorite solution commonly sold under brand names such as "Hilex", "Clorox" or "Purex." These products are available at all grocery stores and most discount marts.

  There are many occasions where you may want to disinfect a small quantity of water. This discussion is for those times you wish to disinfect less than 5 gallons. The water must not be cloudy or dirty, the chlorine must be mixed thoroughly with the water, at least 30 minutes of contact time must be provided and the treated water must be protected from further contamination.

  To decontaminate the drinking water, place it in a clean container. Add 3 drops of chlorine (bleach) for each gallon. If you have one gallon of water to be disinfected, you would add 3 drops. If you have four gallons of water, add 12 drops. After the chlorine is added, mix thoroughly. Cover or cap the container and allow to sit undisturbed for 30 minutes. A slight odor and taste will be apparent but are entirely harmless to humans and will disappear with time.

  This water should not be used by pregnant women and mothers that are either nursing or mixing formula, unless the nitrate level has been determined.

• Add a catalytic heater to this. Rechargeable battery poweredcarbon monoxide and fire detectors are a very good thing to go with this. I'm assuming you ordinarily use electric or natural gas heat. If you use fuel oil, just top off the tank and make sure that at least some portion of your house heat isn't dependent on local electric power. (e.g. run it with a generator, there may be other solutions involving lead-acid batteries and alternative 12 volt fan arrangements, if this works, could someone who's tried it catch me in e-mail?) You are not only going to feel cold, but stupid if your fuel oil tank is full and you can't run your heater without electric power. Another alternative is a portabie oil heater that appears to require NO AC power, check the Grainger business supply catalog. Natural gas is not a good choice for a Y2K heat source, the gas supply may fail. Moreover, if you're using a forced air gas central heater, you'll need AC power or alternative arrangements. A gravity type gas heater might be a good candidate for a propane conversion, the difference between a natural gas and propane heater is fairly minor. (different jet size, but this is best done with expert advice or help) Don't figure on your fireplace as a good source of heat unless you've already done the wood stove conversion. (the heavy iron / glass door in front of the flame setups) With a conventional fireplace, 80-90% of the heat produced goes straight up the chimney. If you want to use a fireplace for heat, spend a few hundred dollars and convert it to a wood stove. Making sure your place stays warm may be the most important part of staying comfortable during a prolonged power outage . Warning, if you're planning to buy a pellet stove for emergency use, you'll need some sort of non-utility electric power to make it work. It may be possible to retrofit one for 12 volt power (see fuel oil above) but I can't guarantee it, if you already have one, try it and let me know. If you're rural and don't have a wood stove, portable wood stoves are available for cooking, at this point I don't know who's got them for sale who can deliver in a reasonable length of time. Get a chimney cleaning cleaning service to clean out your chimney some time soon.
• If you're using propane, get the adaptor kit that'll allow you to use both small bottles and 5 or larger gallon propane bottles, preferably the one with multiple taps so you can run a heater and/or stove and/or lantern at the same time. For liquid fuel, make sure you've got a few gallons of kerosene. Preferably quite a few. Safe storage means outside (e.g. apartment balcony) or well ventilated shed, don't store indoors unless there's no other choice. (there might not be)
• For gasoline to propane conversion kits, click here.
• One thing which will cut your need for heating energy quite a bit. The obvious: dress warmly during the day, and at night, a good sleeping bag can make very cold indoor temperaturs very comfortable, especially since wind isn't generally a problem indoors.
• Battery powered radios and perhaps a 12 volt TV. Believe it or not, you're still going to want to be entertained, and more importantly, you're going to want to hear any announcement about the situation (e.g. there's a major fire coming your way and it's time to evacuate) the authorities want to tell you. If you want world news, consider getting a short wave receiver. Expect to hear bad news from outside the US. Also, lay in a stock of those good books you always intended to read and never got around to. If it takes a few days to get power back on, you aren't going to be doing business in the meantime. For TV, you're better off with an LCD type with respect to battery consumption, though the screens are really small. The battery power types with a picture tube eat batteries really fast, you want a solar panel or other alternative energy system to keep one running. The cheapest low-power electric solution is rechargable batteries and a solar cell battery charger. You can get these and other things you may find useful for Y2K and other uses at CC Crane.
• If you're running 12 volt battery power stuff, one possibility is to get an extra auto battery, put it in a well ventilated place where sparks and flames are unlikely and use it to power your battery powered stuff. One fully charged 12 volt battery is much more cost-effective than hundreds of C and D cells, and you can use your car to recharge it. However, if you're planning much more than running a battery TV (Battery powered TVs of reasonable size eat batteries quickly!) look into gel cells which will last far longer in this kind of service. With a 12 volt battery, you can get an inverter to run 110 v AC items. If you buy an extra battery for that specific purpose, get deep-cycle batteries. (Check with your local golf cart or other electric vehicle or RV dealer or for prices.) They were made for this kind of service (drain until power almost gone and recharge), ordinary auto batteries will die quickly if used that way. However, you're best off drawing a portion of the battery charge even from the deep cycle units before recharge.
• Solar cells can be an excellent way to keep things like 12 volt and smaller batteries charged. There are any number of places to get panels designed to charge 12 volt batteries. (RV catalogs, electronics parts catalogs (you can find good prices on solar in the "surplus" catalogs IF you know what you're buying.) are the first things that occur to me.) Figure $10-20 a watt or so, remember that you probably aren't going to need a whole lot of watts for this class of service.
• In a rural area, a backup generator may make sense, especially if you've got a farm. If you buy before the herd thinks of it, you might get a good deal on a used unit in time to do whatever repair / maintenance make sure it's 100% functional whenever you need one. What's wrong with a generator is that it rather advertises that you've got electrical power and are probably otherwise in better shape than most people are during the emergency in progress. . . those things are incredibly noisy. Worse, you have to be able to get fuel for them as soon as you're out of whatever you've managed to store. These are best used as a supplement to other alternative sources of power. Other practical rural options include windmills and even small-scale hydroelectric if you've got the right conditions to make this reasonable. Here is a neat 400 watt hydro setup that might work even on a small creek, and looks relatively cheap and easy. Larger systems are shown on other sites. In some areas, you might be able to sell subsidized power to your local power company instead of just buying from them if you produce more than you need, often in a way that's good for the environment as compared to conventional power generation. (See the windmill link.) If you've got access to lots of wood, steam might be a good choice, but I have yet to find a reasonably priced steam engine / generator set for in the 1-2 KW range and below. If you find one, please let me know.
• If you've got real money, enough solar cells so you don't need the power grid at all is a wonderful thing. (Figure about $8/watt if you're a smart shopper for cells, how much the required battery backups and inverters depend on what you'll be running with it. If you're planning to run air conditioners and electric dryers, you're probably looking at $100K or so in cost.)
• If you're running alternative power, you need to consider a battery backup system which will be the main source of power, so you can use your generator / solar cell / hydro system only when it is needed to recharge the batteries, and size your generation system for an average load instead of a peak one. This also means less wear on the generator and reduced maintenance, as well as the obvious savings in fuel if your generator requires it.
• Jade Mountain seems to carry the full spectrum of alternative energy products, wind turbines, solar cells (lowest price I've ever seen!), conventional gas / propane / steam generators, hydroelectric, deep cycle batteries, inverters, etc. They also plan to carry a 27 pound 5 KW thermoelectric generator under development when it becomes available.
• If you run a generator to power your home / business, have an electrician install a double pole - double throw (DPDT) switch at the main breaker panel; if your generator is powering your house via backfeeding through "suicide plug" (male to male plug, one end in generator outlet and the other end in a home AC outlet) and the utilities restore power, your generator is likely to explode and at best, what's plugged into it is likely to be severely damaged. Also, if you put your generator indoors, run the exhaust outside, the same kind of metal stove pipe and insulation one uses with a stove might work. (exhaust from an internal combustion engine gets rather hot)
• This is a survivalist oriented site that has, among many other useful things, actual test reviews of the exact kind of products you're going to want to have around when 2000 hits. I expect to be spending a lot of time here. You may find the politics a bit right-wing for you, but the survival info is the kind of solid stuff that may keep you alive in 2000.
• Here are the Usenet newsgroups that deal with alternate energy:
  alt.energy
  alt.energy.homepower
  alt.energy.renewable
  sci.energy
• Check out Home Power Magazine for good info on renewable / alternate energy technology ideas done from a do-it-yourself nuts and bolts perspective.
• Mother Earth News is a consistently good source of information on home-built energy, rural lifestyles, food storage, and in general, how-to information we might need to know if we lose a good chunk of our infrastructure for a while.
• Surge protection for computers and anything else that's sensitive (your home entertainment electronics?) is a good thing. If your computer equipment isn't already connected to a surge protected power strip or UPS (uninterruptable power supply) with built in power conditioning, you probably should close down your computer, go out and buy one, and return to this page after doing that. Year 2000 related computer problems isn't the only reason for power surges. Lightning strikes, and even metallized mylar kites shorting power lines to each other have resulted in thousands of volts coming out of your nominal 110 volt AC power line. If you're running off a generator, power surges are common. A surge-protected power strip once saved my own computer which was running off one and died in the process.

  If you're seriously paranoid, either unplug that evening or consider adding a cheap surge protector between your good one and the wall so if a power surge hits as a sacrifice to protect the more expensive one. By the way, the ones with MOV varistors wear out from normal use every couple or three years. After that, they retain their use as power strips, but don't protect anymore. Most low - medium cost surge-protected power strips use them. If you're buying, make sure yours has UL1449 compliance, and has three protected lines. (ground-hot, ground-neutral, hot-neutral) You might as well get surge protection for your incoming phone line(s) as well. Some power surge boxes have it built-in (the ones with 2 phone jacks), or you can get separate boxes.

  The ZeroSurge surge protectors were recommended by a reader as being the ultimate surge protectors, they're marketed to farmers for protecting electronics gear under the worst possible conditions. I'd say worth looking into.

  For business use, a UPS (uninterruptable power supply) is a good thing to have at any time. This can not only damage your computer, but eat your last several hours of work. A small one can give you time to save all your work and shut down cleanly, a big one can keep you working. For larger power problems (like an office with quite a few machines) a backup generator system is the way to go to keep critical functions up. Note that with a generator, you need surge protection (or better, UPS systems) to provide safe power for computer systems, and unless your UPS is specifically rated for them in writing, DO NOT CONNECT LASER PRINTERS TO A UPS!!!

• Make sure you've got at least one POTS ("plain old telephone service") phone that does NOT require electrical power at your home and business and make sure that it works.
• A cellular phone might be a good thing. The cell phone system occassionally stays up even when parts of the landline system goes down. CB radios are good to have, or better, ham radios if you've got the tech expertise. Learn more about ham radio from the ARRL Since the packet radio system is attached to the Internet, you might be able to go online that way, though if so, keep your traffic to what's necessary, as ham radio is traditionally used as backup emergency communications during disasters. The ARRL Handbook is also a very good reference on basic electronics. Family band short range (under a mile) walkie talkies are good for commuication within a family, especially if you're on a farm or ranch or working with a neighborhood patrol in the event that police services become unavailable.
• If you already know something about electronics hardware (advanced student / hobbyist / electronics professional) you might find the electronics hardware section of my home page useful. From there you can find links to places where you can get component sources besides Radio Shack willing to deal with individuals / low volume customers, free databooks (usually CDROM) , electronics related software, connector pinouts, other things a person trying to find out how to do practical things with electronics needs to know and can't get out of textbooks. This should be very helpful in your Y2K preparation once you've got food / heat / cooking out of the way.
• If you're a woman or doing the preparations for a household which has one or more women, don't forget one or more large boxes of tampons or sanitary napkins. If you're preparing for a long term scenario, I've seen ads for reusable washable sponges for this, but can't provide you with a link for the vendor at this time. Go here for more information and discussion of menstrual needs under Y2K conditions.
• Remember birth control supplies of whatever type of birth control you customarily use. Sex is another form of entertainment that doesn't require a working technological infrastructure. However, if access to medical services (including abortion) is reduced or eliminated, pregnancy might not be such a good idea. Also note that condoms, etc. might make good trade goods. Go here for more information and discussion of birth control under severe conditions.
• Did you remember toilet paper? (like a month or two supply). If your sewage system goes down, you may have a big problem regardless of what happens. If you've got a septic tank, get it pumped out in November 1999. There is safe human waste disposal information available on many of the preparation-oriented sites linked to this page. One product that is claimed to reduce human waste to a bacteriologically safe powder can be found When Nature Calls site. More useful information can be found at this location, not only on alternative methods of sanitary human waste disposal, but on several other topics.
• Get a manually operated can opener. If your power goes down, your electric can opener won't be opening your cans. Get a spare. Ever lose a can opener on a camping trip? While Swiss Army type knives and multifunction tools also have can openers, you probably don't want to have to use one on a daily basis, particularly if you're cooking for a family.
• Throw in a good, complete (try $50, not $10) first aid kit and get extra stocks of any prescription medicines you must have. (say, for as long a period as you're buying food to cover) Some require refrigeration. Figure out what you'll be doing about this. There are some low-power 12 volt refrigerators which might be workable with solar panels/batteries. If you believe in long term Y2K preparation, look into books like When There Is No Doctor, the Merck Manual, and other texts intended for self-help and medical professionals. (I'll try to add the book links later when time allows, but all you have to do to get to the Amazon Books search engine is click here. Use the BACK button on your browser to get back here. The Grainger business supply catalog has a range of first aid kits and supplies including ones intended for industrial shops and unbundled packages of various supplies.
• A tool kit with basic household essentials, hammer, screwdriver set, wrenches, pliers, drill, a plunger etc. might save you a lot of trouble. If the phones go down, you won't be calling a plumber or whatever.
• Get a fire extinguisher if you don't already have one, you'll be running more flame in the house than usual and your fire department may not be able to respond to your 911 call. Make sure your smoke detectors are working. If they're AC (yes, people have done this) replace with the battery powered type. If your propane or kerosene heater sets your place on fire, you want to be able to put it out immediately if possible.
• Make sure your car is functional and has a full tank of gas in it, and you might as well have a tent just in case your area becomes uninhabitable for whatever reason. And keep a survival kit in it. (blankets and/or sleeping bags, first aid kit, a good hunting knife, a set of tools, a couple of weeks worth of food, water), an extra 5 gallon gas can. There's always the chance you might have to leave too quickly to make major packing possible. Also, if power goes down, so does most gas stations. On current generations of electronically controlled gas pumps, there is no backup method of getting gasoline out of the tank. The removable crank handles some of you older folk may remember are things of the distant past. And don't forget to take a can opener.
• A suggestion from docdwarf@clark.net: Consider a moped as backup transportation. A vehicle good for 100 miles per gallon might be very useful under circumstances where gasoline is expensive and mostly unavailable.
• There is of course, the bicycle, zero fuel consumption. However, I recommend getting into good physical condition if you plan to use it as a primary mode of transportation post Y2K.
• If you own a gas station or a grocery store, consider a backup generator big enough to run at least minimum functions and enough fuel for a few days. (That's all you'll need, if you can't get more fuel, you also won't be able to restock.)
• Do you smoke? If there are problems with transporting goods to market, there's a good chance that the government will dictate priorities for what gets shipped and that only "essential" goods will be shipped. Guess for yourself the chances that tobacco will be considered essential in the current political climate. A few cartons of cigarettes might be good to have around. While this could be considered a good time to stop smoking, stress situations are not the best ones to stop smoking in. If you do plan to stop, between now and spring 1999 would be a good time, while you can get things like Zyban and nicotine patches. If things get seriously bad around you, a few cartons of cigarettes might be a good thing to have even for non-smokers. . . as trade goods. If you wind up in need of a generator or some sort of help a few days after cigarettes become unavailable, you might be able to make a very good deal in exchange for a pack or carton of cigarettes. (or other 'luxury items' that aren't available due to transportation problems)
• In general, if there's anything consumable you use on a regular basis that's really important to you and you think that the government will consider it "non-essential", you probably should get a month or more extra supply of it just in case. Note: for users of illegal drugs, yes, they will probably be available. The bad news is that the prices will be amazing. Or you might be able to trade for scarce goods you thought to buy before things hit the fan, e.g. pot for cigarettes. . . or penicillin. This is intended as a quick lesson in "black market" economics, not an endorsement of illegal drug use.
• Inflation or even short-term hyper-inflation is one of the possible outcomes of Y2K season. There are also other circumstances where "hard money" might come in handy. (e.g. if things get worse than I expect.) If you'd like to keep some silver around in a spendable form, check out the price of bags of "junk silver" here. Not a recommendation, I saw the site mentioned on the Y2K newsgroup I read as having good prices. The advantage of silver coin is that at worst, you'll be able to spend it at face value, but it's unlikely the price will drop that far regardless of circumstances, silver is an important industrial metal. Here's a pointer that strongly suggests a Y2K inflationary scenario starting in late 1999 (and the first things to go up in price are likely to be survival-oriented supplies, buy early). Hint: The article mentions that a credible source is mentioning the possibility of bank runs and that the Treasury is printing extra money. Silver, after Y2K supplies have been purchased might be a good thing to have. Don't worry about destabilizing the economy even if you clean out your bank account to buy Y2K supplies. If you buy things, including silver and gold from businesses, all that happens is that the money goes from your bank account into your vendors, net effect is zero. If you do this, you won't need that much paper money. (PAPER money in mattresses does destabilise the banks, but this isn't the place for a discussion of fractional reserve banking, this page is quite long enough.)
• I'll add at least one gun and preferably more, ammo (1,000 rounds per gun is a good start) and a few hours of rifle range time and firearm safety instruction to this. Police may be one of the other emergency services which might be temporarily unavailable, and civil disorder is not only possible, I expect it in some areas. (Mainly urban core, but panic is something that works perfectly well regardless of race, religion, creed, or income level.) For more specific recommendations, start here. Note that pepper spray and/or Mace (CN gas) or best, the combination of pepper spray pressurized by Mace in jurisdictions that allow it is a good thing to carry outside your home even now. If you carry it, don't hesitate too long about using it. Based on experience. People generally live through getting sprayed. People often don't live through what criminals have in mind.

  If you plan to buy firearms for self-defense for Y2K, BUY GUNS RIGHT NOW!!!. New gun control legislation was passed in a couple of states within a few days of the Littleton, CO massacre by people who are perfectly aware that those laws would not have saved any lives in Colorado and won't save any children's lives in the future. There has been a movement in the US to ban private possession of firearms for years. The anti-gun hysteria which is being deliberately fomented by politicians and mass media will result in more anti-gun legislation which will make it harder for you, the law-abiding citizen to purchase the most powerful tool for self-defense available in current technology. If 911 is totally down in your area and you become the target of a home invasion robbery, not having a gun in the house probably means no recourse against the intruder, particularly if you are a single woman with kids. Since my opinions with respect to Littleton have other than that they will make guns harder to buy (already happened) are not relevant to a Y2K page, you can find them on my Gun Control, Censorship, and Littleton page.

• Here is the closest thing I've found to an online unarmed self-defense course. Looks good, at least at first glance. Good things to know right now, even without a disaster in the future. The physical and mental conditioning is a good thing to have in any emergency situation. (One of my readers found an archived version of my previous link.. and has my thanks)
• If you have topics you'd like to discuss CONFIDENTIALLY, be warned that your e-mail is NOT private, that your system administrators or crimimal, government, or corporate hackers can read it at any time, you can get the PGP privacy protection program freeware for DOS,linux,Win 95,Win NT,Mac Sys 7.5+ at these sites:
  PGP freeware for US Citizens ONLY
  PGP freeware for anyone OUTSIDE the US

  You can also get a phone security program will make your phone calls or Internet voice conferences (Net phone) at the freeware sites as well.

  Get the commercial version (about $100, worth it) at the PGP Inc. site. If you're planning to use it for business applications, this is the one you should get. It will work with the freeware versions.

  You can get my current PGP key here. If and only if you have my old PGP key, get the key revocation certificate for that key here.

• This is intended as an overview, not a shopping list. For a much more detailed list, go to INDIVIDUAL PREPARATION FOR Y2K at The Cassandra Project site. (this is an archived version) This foresees the kind of scenario I do. Good common sense stuff, though I disagree with them with respect to guns, they don't recommend them, I say get one (see above) While this is a Y2K site, good disaster preparation information is where you find it.
• Here's another list intended for a worse scenario than this site is intended to deal with. I think it's interesting reading, it should give you some helpful preparation ideas.
• Mother Earth News is one of the most important resources on self-reliance, alternative energy resources, information on how things were done before modern technology. While there are a few things of interest on the site, there doesn't seem to be the article database in place needed to make the best use of a magazine site. Buy a copy off a newsstand and see what you think.
• "To Build A Fire": Your comfort and perhaps your life may depend on being able to build a fire. Get plenty of strike-anywhere kitchen matches. A Zippo lighter is a good investment, they are reliable. If you get one, get plenty of flints and a few large cans of lighter fluid. And get a spare, while the manufacturer gives it a lifetime guarantee, it takes time you may not have to get it to the factory and back. There's also always a chance you might lose it. Note that if you have any Bic type lighters, the flints in them can be recycled into Zippo type lighters, the diameter is the same, but Bic flints are longer, they're brittle and can be trimmed to avoid damage to the lighter spring with the cutting edge of a small pair of pliers. If fluid is gone or you have a Bic type lighter, it may be possible to use one with the cover removed as an ignitor for dry tinder. The Bic lighter spring might be adaptable to the Zippo, possibly the wheel as well, though you'll need a pop-riveter to mount it properly. Bic lighters would make good trade goods in a severe Y2K situation. Magnifying glasses work well when the sun is out, though whether they will work for you in the winter depends on where you are and local weather conditions and fuel availability. The "To Build a Fire" quote is from a short story by Jack London about a person who hadn't prepared adequately whose life depended on building a fire. I recommend the story.
• Here's a Emergency prep information site
• If it has to do with emergency/disaster preparation and if you can't find it anywhere else, check Ellen's Y2K links. There is a certain amount of overlap between her links and mine, her page is more personal preparation oriented than mine is.
• Also note that even in the absence of any sort of disaster, if you hit a general economic downturn or merely get downsized out of a job, a few weeks of food is a very good thing to have as you're waiting for unemployment benefits to kick in.