Preparedness

When my phone woke me up at 4:55am this morning my alarm clock was blinking 12:03, telling me that the power had went been out, and only come back on a few minutes before I woke up. After I left work work my wife sent me a text message and said that the power went out completely, and it stayed out until just about 4:00pm. When I was driving in to work I hit the …

You’ve probably heard the argument that some flashlights are too bright to use indoors at night. That some lights are so bright that if you wake up from a dead sleep and turn them on they’ll blind you and cause you to not be able to see anything for a period of time. I’ve made the argument in the past that some flashlights can be too bright for certain situations, especially after shooting the Day-Night-Day …

Alright folks, it’s that time again. One of the couple times a year that we actually see winter weather in here in the south. Parts of Eastern NC are looking at a 1/4″ of ice overnight tonight, which is certain to bring some power outages, and cause chaos on the roads. So, are you ready? Do you have a safe heat source should your home lose power? It’s uncommon for homes here in the south …

In about the last 24hrs tropical storm Arthur has went from a small tropical depression off the coast of Florida to the first named tropical storm of the season. Weather headlines earlier today were saying that the storm was strengthening faster than expected, and by Thursday night it’s possible we could  have a Category 2 hurricane right here in NC. Chances are this storm will move some sand on the outer banks, and head out …

On September 16, 2013 a madman was on a murderous rampage through the Washington Navy Yard. During the shooting Navy Capt. Edward Zawislak (also an Eagle Scout and Scoutmaster) came across a woman who had been shot and he sprang into action. From the Bryan on Scouting Blog: As this Washington Post story explains, Zawislak and two co-workers carried Bennett up some stairs to the only open door they could find. It led to the building’s roof. Still unsure whether the …

Caleb Causey from Lone Star Medics just published a nice writeup over on the Personal Defense Network site about the myth that tampons are great for packing gunshot wounds. We’ve all heard people mention it whenever the topic of medical kits or gunshot wounds comes up on shooting sites or at the range. I guess I never really gave it much thought, my medical kit doesn’t contain any tampons, but being rather inexperienced when it …

I’m an EDC nerd, and I think I’ve been one since a was a little kid with a pocket knife. I’m not one of the EDC guys that carries a ton of stuff, but I like the stuff that I do carry to actually work. Unfortunately over the years I’ve collected a bunch of EDC gear that just doesn’t do it for me. Everybody who carries a gun needs to have a J-Frame S&W, right? …

I saw this on LifeHacker yesterday, and felt obligated to share. It looks like Durham, NC (along with a host of other cities) is gaining the ability to text message 911 in an emergency. The LifeHacker article talks about this being beneficial for people who are deaf and cannot make a phone call, and I agree that is a big benefit, but I think they overlooked another benefit that it allows normal citizens to silently …

1. Put a reflective vest in your car. If you have a family, put a couple reflective vests in your car. I ended up leaving work at about 6:30pm on Wednesday after the snow had arrived, and most of the roadways had cleared out in the Triangle. I found hoards of people walking down sidewalks, the shoulder of the road, or in the case of one guy, right down the middle of Glenwood Ave. in …

If you’re in Eastern NC, and you have been out in a public place in the last 14-18 hours, you’ve probably sensed the hysteria building. Here in the Triangle were expecting 3-5″ of snow, with areas closer to the coast expecting up to 12″. As a native Michigander this isn’t much, but for the southern natives who don’t have a lot of experience driving in the snow, this can prove to be treacherous when heading …