15 Comments

The Red Cross has quite a bit of information regarding disaster prep. Many people on social media also have their recommendations. For example, RoseRed Homestead has quite an extensive collection of off grid prep information on yt. The yt bot will direct you to more, obviously. Choose what suits your needs, focus on your weakest link first. The frustration with the current situation (combined with the threat of ever present and ever changing climate related disasters) is this is essentially new territory for most of us. It's hard to plan without knowing exactly what problems will come up, and for how long. All part of their tactics, obviously. Being prepared is good way to defeat them. Having peace of mind that you are well prepared is a good defense tactic. Alas, we can no longer count on our traditional sources of disaster relief to come to our rescue. The more self-sufficient we are, the better. And joining with members of our immediate community goes hand-in-hand with that. Our recent pandemics have given us some practical training, too. We don't have the robust medical community to prevent and control disease outbreaks like we used to, but there is an "alt" community forming. Know where to find reliable information. It sure ain't the government anymore.

Expand full comment

Thank you for alerting me to RoseRed Homestead, I will check them out.

Cyber defense is a new space for most so in that regard I am hoping to fill a knowledge gap.

I have a long post I'm going to publish this evening with follow up tactics on how to be an unreachable target for DOGE. Hope it helps others and maneuvers American households into a position to force a negotiation on terms for an SLA (service level agreement) with the new DOGE federal systems.

We also need to take steps preemptively to avoid outages caused by DOGE that have potential to explode downstream systems people rely on to keep their households operational.

We need critical mass in order to have that kind of leverage so the more households opting-out of DOGE compliance the better our chances.

Thank you for helping get the word out!

Expand full comment

Search state tourism departments for free paper maps of their state. I was able to receive free old school road maps for my state and its surrounding states by ordering them online.

Expand full comment

This is an excellent tip, thank you!

Expand full comment

I still have a AAA membership. I'm going to re-stock my paper maps of various states. I currently have paper maps of all lower 48 states but some of them are probably older. Those were our backups for road trips. Time to get the box out again. 🤔

Expand full comment

Please consider a generator that is powered by solar energy or getting solar panels installed. A lot of these recommendations are also apt for climate disasters which will also becoming more frequent for all of us

Expand full comment

Any chance you can make this post listenable? This feature on Substack has made my access to news and information massively more accessible as a neurodivergent/disabled person and I know others in my community would appreciate more newsletters ensuring that this accessible feature be activated. Additionally, it’s always disappointing when that feature is “for paid subscribers only” on free posts.

Expand full comment

Hi Nova,

I have never done that before but I will try it tonight. I've been using the listenable feature on Substack and agree it is great to have that option. Thanks for the suggestion.

To your other point, I'm planning to keep all of my content free and accessible. I'm lucky to be employed in Big Tech and have enough money to keep my household running. If I get laid off with the next round of cuts I'll reconsider but for now I want this information to be as accessible as possible.

I've been told we won't have another layoff round for 6mos so until then this content will be free to all.

Expand full comment

Thank you!

Expand full comment

Loved your suggestion about downloading maps but a small map of my area (~40 sq miles) is 354M — ouch! Can't image how much space would be needed for an entire State map.

Expand full comment

Am glad the suggestion worked for you! It is a large file, the state of GA is 3.06G. 😯 Last weekend I looked for a car GPS device to buy but they’re not sold in the stores around here. Alternatively if you have an old iPhone that could be used as a dedicated GPS maybe best to download there to save space on your primary phone.

Expand full comment

Thanks.

Expand full comment

State run rest stops on interstates usually have state maps.

Expand full comment

I have a question about how to back up data. I currently use DropBox and would like your thoughts on it in the current environment. I have been advised that hard drives aren't that reliable and there is the issue of them being up to date. Thank you

Expand full comment

Thanks for the tip about offline maps with Apple!!! Didn't know that. 💙🩵💙

Expand full comment