laughingwolf_qh33q8 – Page 78

Nuclear 201: Fair Question

I think today will wrap up the Nuclear 201 series. I think I’m going to be concentrating more on coverage of current events and preparedness in the coming days. For today, I think I will address a valid and fair question: What are you going to do if things go nuclear?

My honest answer: it depends. Most of it depends on time, and exactly what happens. It may be that the use of chemical or nuclear weapons does not tip over to strategic, though I’m sure not going to bet that way. Pray for it, yes. Count on it, no.

If at all possible, I’m going to do the bugout boogie. If there is time I will have a trailer hitch put on my car, buy/rent/other a trailer, load up with essentials and gear, and head out. Heck, if worse comes to worse, I will infantry engineer a hitch and get a trailer. If things work out really well, I’m headed to visit a friend well out of blast range who lives in the country. If things are tight, I’m going to be just headed out and trying to clear various zones and potential areas of fallout. The further I can get past 465 the better. Planning to take back roads/alleys/yards as main streets/highways are likely to be gridlocked.

If for some reason I can’t do the bugout boogie, I’m going to dig in. If there is time, I’m getting sandbags from the local home & garden store and covering the basement windows all around. If not, try to improvise. If things get grim, I’m cutting off the main power breaker and all other breakers, unplugging all electronics/appliances, dropping my essential electronics in a special container in the basement (and if possible covering it with sandbags/other), and doing anything else I can to mitigate EMP damage. Transmission wires are great for picking up EMP, so by popping your main and breakers, then unplugging things, you may get lucky and minimize damage.

The special container may or may not work to shield, but is worth a try. In it will be my laptop, cell phone, and the multi-power multi-band emergency radio at a minimum. Do I wish I had the super radio with short wave as well? Yep, and if anyone wants to buy it for me and ship it, sing out. 🙂 Things may go down here, but they may bounce back and other areas could get lucky. Have the electronics for when you can use them (and recharge them). If I had a geiger counter and such, they would be in there as well, save for one dosimeter on me. Again, hit the tip jar or sing out if you’d like me to get that gear. 🙂

Then, if time allows, I’m kitting up and armoring up as best I can. If not, headed into things as is. There’s a couple of places where I can get that should stay reasonably protected if the house comes down. Of equal importance, if it does, I’ve got a good chance (and tools already laid in) to try to get out before the fires come. Where I am is (hopefully) well outside the main blast radius but is within the zone for potential fires/firestorm. Again, why I want to be on the other side of 465. Get into the zone, hunker down, and hope the light show is cancelled.

If not and I get to experience a different version of God’s own flashbulb (the lightning hit counts as one type of flash bulb as well as a stun gun in my book), it depend on how bad things get. Best case is that we have broken windows upstairs, some damage to the house and roof but nothing too extensive and the fires don’t reach us. In that case, plastic, tarp, tape, nail, etc. and try to check on radiation/fallout. Get a safe room/area set up and prepare to hunker down for a couple of weeks.

If the fires head our way, see if any car works, get one or more going, load up with gear and supplies, and try to get beyond 465 and to a relatively safe area. If not, ruck up, start walking, and try to clear 465 as fast as possible and look for travel options other than shank’s mare. Since I’ve got a good idea of local winds and when fallout will start to get bad, you can bet I’m headed away from the anticipated worst and keeping an eye out for a good safe place where I/we can hunker down at need.

If this were not a target area, my preference would be to stay despite a not-good security situation (no town/city, esp. larger city, is going to be a good security situation). I’m close to a major hospital and there are other resources nearby. Plus, here I have access to food, water, and the other joys of preparedness. Any form of bugout drops the amount of resources available (hence trailer if possible). That said, if it comes down to survival opportunities versus dying, life wins. Keep that in mind and we do need to talk staging soon. Also, the advantage to having friends along the way.

That’s the short and sweet for today. Good question, and the best answer I can give under the circumstances. We are going to talk preparedness soon, and as with all of it, hope we never truly need it.

*****

SOME PREVIOUS POSTS:

Nuclear 201 Posts In Order

Nuclear 201: Some History

Nuclear 201: Will You Be My PAL?

Nuclear 201: A Bit More C&C

Nuclear 201: Additional Thoughts On Coms

Nuclear 201: Targeting, Take 2

Nuclear 201: Scenarios

Nuclear 201: Policy, SIOP, and Escalation

Nuclear 201: Effects

Nuclear 201: Radiation

Nuclear 201: Preparedness

Nuclear 201: Fallout

Nuclear 101 Posts In Order:

Nuclear What?

Nuclear 101: Weapons

Nuclear 101: Delivery

Nuclear 101: Now What?

Nuclear 101: Targeting

Nuclear 101: Scenarios

Nuclear 101: Survival

Some Quick Thoughts

*****

If you would like to help me in my recovery efforts, feel free to hit the tip jar in the upper right or the fundraiser at A New Life on GiveSendGo. Getting hit by lightning is not fun, and it is thanks to your gifts and prayers that I am still going. Thank you.

Initial Review Of Nexcess

Things have moved fast since all of you helped make it possible to switch hosting providers last week. As I may have mentioned previously, I had actually decided to go with a different provider, but was reminded of why I left them before (major attitude/snottiness and slow/poor service). Instead, there were a number of recommendations for Nexcess that seemed to check out. So, I decided to give them a try.

First up, I will state up front they are pricey. In fact, their basic package was not only higher than the similar package at the people who talked themselves out of my business, but significantly more than similar packages at other peers. That said, more than one review pointed out the amazing service you got from them for that fee. So, I decided to go over-budget and give them a try after talking with them.

The migration from Dreamhost went fairly well overall. For most things, I don’t think I spent more than ten minutes per issue (and there were very few issues) as we moved the site over. The responses were fast, professional, and the net result was that we had a functional site up and running very quickly. Admittedly at one point there was an issue on some WP/database files that took far longer than I expected to resolve as over the weekend the great support went away for a time and I didn’t hear back from them until Monday not near the start of the day. That was disappointing. Before that, my largest complaint was that I wasn’t getting enough feedback on what, if anything, I needed to be doing to help the migration and get things set-up. As it was, the missing files created a behind-the-scenes/under-the-hood issue that in no way impacted the public viewing of the site. On the migration overall: A-.

Steady traffic seems to be handled well. Pretty much as expected from any decent provider. Spike traffic is the issue for me, and one reason I went with them was a guarantee they have regarding resources to handle spikes. Yesterday put that to the test as I got an Instalanche (augmented by a link at Victory Girls and a Twitter link from Leslie Eastman of Legal Insurrection) sooner than anticipated.

Okay, the site did slow down and was down for a minute or two a couple of times in the next few hours. I did not open a trouble ticket immediately as Nexcess seemed to be handling a good bit automatically and I wanted to see how they did. I did eventually open a ticket and this time we were open well beyond ten minutes as they worked to handle the traffic. In fact, there was a pretty good silent gap at one point. I will add this: even when the traffic was handled, they were not happy with the slowness and worked to mitigate it.

Net result: the site was down for a minute or less twice that I know of; the site did bog down badly a couple of times, but bounced back; and, when slowness was detected, Nexcess worked to speed it back up. As a result, more people got through in the first 30 minutes than got through in 24-hours (on average) under Dreamhost. To top it off, a new traffic record was set with app. 3,700 visitors coming in from the referring sites and some 4,300 page views. I’m going to give the response a solid B. It would be a B+ but for one thing and that goes beyond just this incident.

Holy cow these people are into upselling. Anything and everything gets an upsale pitch. I got my first upsale pitches when talking to them about their service and my needs. I’ve gotten upsale pitches pretty much every flippin time I’ve talked to them about anything for any reason. Wondering if it is new because it is NOT mentioned in any of the major reviews (almost all of which seem to be a year or more old at this point, and prices have gone up quite a bit). Given that their prices are already significantly higher than their peers, this is not a good thing from my point of view. In point of fact, it already has me looking around for other options for either now (30-day money back) or when my paid-for year is up.

If it were not for that, I would probably be giving them a solid A at this point instead of a B+/A–. Initial contact and migration, with the one period of silence, was good and fast overall. The response to the link from Insty was solid, and so much better than Dreamhost (which took literally days to resolve tickets) it was/is not funny. Instead of being down hours, the site was down around two minutes total all day.

Oh, a note on Dreamhost: when I told them I would not be renewing my account was terminated immediately, not on the date I was paid to. Nor did they offer to refund any difference. To my mind, once they knew I would not be continuing, I got the big FU. Not that their service was that good to start with, to be polite. Put them on my highly NOT recommended list.

If it weren’t for the upsale, upsale, upsale routine, I would be extremely happy with Nexcess. As it is, if it weren’t for the upsale, upsale, upsale routine I would be giving more consideration to a possible upgrade as I can see some benefits. Just a hint to them, whoever decided that high pressure was the way to go is an idiot and a long-term detriment to the company. It may work in the short term, but it never works out well long-term.

All that said, solid. A huge improvement over Dreamhost. If you decide you are interested in trying them, let me know. Other than the upsale, upsale, upsale thing it’s been a pretty good experience so far. We will see how it goes.

*****

Nuclear 201: Fallout

There is fallout, and then there is FALLOUT. Thing is, you can have fallout without nukes going off. You not only have dirty bombs, but you can have incidents at places with nuclear materials — including nuclear power plants.

In light of Vladimir’s speech last night/this morning, and a very clear threat to ALL nuclear reactors in the Ukraine, it is time to talk of cabbages who want to be kings, and fallout and other things. Make no mistake, while Vladimir was careful to discuss it as if the Ukrainians or others shelled the reactor/reactors and to say it was a threat against Russia, it was a threat to the Ukraine and the West. If Vladimir can’t have what he wants, no one will have it. Message received loud and clear Vladimir.

So, be it a bomb, a dirty bomb, an accident at a facility with nuclear materials, or an “accident” at a facility with nuclear materials, fallout can be a nasty thing. Honestly, in some respects, you are better off with a nuclear bomb exploding. Yes, it can and will produce fallout; however, a fair bit of that fallout is going to be short-lived. When you have a dirty bomb, it depends on what material the terrorists (and if they are using a dirty bomb, they are, IMO a terrorist even if in uniform or service to a government) can get their hands on but odds are it’s going to be around a while.

Then you have nuclear power reactors, most of which are first generation tech at heart (really may need to do a post on nuclear power reactors and what can be done with second- and third-generation tech and the much improved safety they offer). To be honest, to have an accident even with first-gen tech takes some effort. If you look at Chernobyl and other incidents, most of them took some effort. In fact, people had to fuck up not only by the numbers, but work hard at it. Fukushima took an earthquake, tsunami, and some bad decisions/actions along the way, and even then wasn’t all that bad. Could have been a LOT worse if not for things done right from the start. If you can find it, Subsunk and I did a series of posts on Fukushima at Blackfive that I sadly can’t find a link to right now. Short version: nuclear power is one of the safest and most efficient options out there, and it’s greener than green. Suck it up, deal with it, and let’s get new advanced design plants built.

Deliberately targeting a nuclear power plant with artillery, bombs, etc. counts in my book as working at it. While I’m sure a direct hit on a reactor that spreads stuff around would be touted as a victory, the odds are that what they would like to do is take out the cooling system so that you have a meltdown situation, which would send lots of interesting stuff into the air and be hard to moderate and/or contain.

And, therein, lies the fun joys of fallout. If it all stayed in place, you could contain and deal with it. Yes, there are ways to deal with it including chemical reactions that can take at least some nasty elements and greatly reduce the half life (see Prussian Blue and caesium-137). But, by terrorism or other, the problem with fallout is that it becomes airborne. Depending on circumstances, it can rise high into the atmosphere and literally travel around the world and over time it falls out, down, and mostly adds a miniscule amount to the local background count.

We’ve already talked a bit about dealing with fallout from a nuclear blast, but some of it needs to be repeated.

The best way to deal with fallout is to avoid it. If you can, leave and make sure you are headed away from the prevailing winds. Part of your basic preparedness should include a knowledge of both the prevailing local winds year round (comes in handy for tree management as well as people doing stupid things) and potential sources of fallout, chemicals, smoke, etc. As you are leaving, even if things seem clear, cover, cover, cover. Wear a mask, wear layers, and make the outer waterproof if possible as it makes decon easier.

Departure not an option for whatever reason? Be prepared. If you have a fireplace and chimney, you need to be prepared to drop something over the top of the chimney that will come down a bit so as to prevent fallout (or chemicals, smoke, etc.) from coming inside. Need to be prepared to do that with any open vents or other delights. Heard tell of a person who had some very large tarps, lots of tape, and a plan to cover his house with the tarps like a huge tent to help send any fallout away from the house and foundations. If you have enough time, it’s an idea.

Rolls of plastic come in handy at a time like this, as you can cover the ceiling, walls, or even floor to help prevent anything that does get in from getting to you. Pick an interior room or rooms, cover, tape, leave a means of getting filtered air in so you don’t suffocate, and you are good. If you hang sheets on top of the plastic, it adds a filter layer that may help. Also, remember the discussion about books and bookcases, other uses for pallets, and everything you can to isolate.

The trick is, you want to do all you can to keep fallout (or other) not only away from you, but out of you. While certain forms will go in and pass through the body, other’s wont. Particles can get into your lungs and stay. Some can chemically bind with you. In which case, you have ionizing radiation from which you can’t get away. It’s why potassium iodide pills are not a bad thing to keep around (sadly, I’m allergic to iodine) as it can prevent radioactive iodine from building up in the body. While there are treatments for many of the things that can get into your body, the most effective treatment is to avoid needing treatment to start with.

This is one of the few times I would recommend having a good gas mask. If you don’t have one, get a respirator at the hardware store. Can’t go that route? A standard N-95 mask will work, but you are going to be better off going for an R-95 (or 99) mask and/or a -95/99 mask with activated carbon in it. In an emergency, two layers of good t-shirt is better than nothing. Throw in a broad floppy hat (with clear plastic hanging down all around past your chin), rain gear with a hood under the hat and over layers of clothing, and you are set to do the bugout boogie. The key is to keep particles from getting into your nose, eyes, or mouth.

Then, stay high if at all possible. Fallout falls, and once it hits the ground it is likely to flow with any water and make it’s way into low-lying areas. This is where geiger counters and dosimeters come in handy. Again, I don’t recommend a lot of specialty equipment be bought as a part of preparedness, but I do recommend a gas mask or industrial respirator, R/N-95/99 masks, and a geiger counter — especially with the world situation as it is today. Stuff happens, and most of this gear can do for a variety of situations besides nuclear.

If you live in the Ukraine and/or are near or downwind of a Ukrainian nuclear plant, my advice is to be prepared to cover up and do the bugout boogie. Have your essential documents, cash, etc. ready to go. Forget things, most of them can be replaced.

If you are not immediately downwind, shelter and filter. Keep an eye on the local levels and hope you have honest types in emergency management who will give you good info and do right by you. Be prepared to boogie if the situation changes.

If you are in central or northern Europe and/or Scandinavia, shelter and filter as needed. With luck, the impact could be low outside of the immediate area(s). Outside of dealing with airborne particles, real key is going to be any tendency for fallout to collect and create a hotspot or two. Yes, it is going to get into the environment and to some extent into the food chain (see Chernobyl, and also keep in mind the worst predictions about all the fallout from that did not come true).

Outside those areas, yes the radiation is going to be detectable but it is not likely to present any real hazard. If Vladimir carries through on his threat — and make no mistake that is exactly what it was — may the worst of it blow into the Rodina and be the gift that keeps on giving to those who created the situation.

*****

SOME PREVIOUS POSTS:

Nuclear 201 Posts In Order

Nuclear 201: Some History

Nuclear 201: Will You Be My PAL?

Nuclear 201: A Bit More C&C

Nuclear 201: Additional Thoughts On Coms

Nuclear 201: Targeting, Take 2

Nuclear 201: Scenarios

Nuclear 201: Policy, SIOP, and Escalation

Nuclear 201: Effects

Nuclear 201: Radiation

Nuclear 201: Preparedness

Nuclear 101 Posts In Order:

Nuclear What?

Nuclear 101: Weapons

Nuclear 101: Delivery

Nuclear 101: Now What?

Nuclear 101: Targeting

Nuclear 101: Scenarios

Nuclear 101: Survival

Some Quick Thoughts

*****

Quick Initial Thoughts On Vladimir’s Speech

I may do a longer take later, but for now, some quick thoughts on Vladimir’s mobilization speech.

First, the delay of the speech is weird and a story unto itself. Speaks to a number of things going on internally.

Second, keep in mind that most of the speech was for internal consumption, which tends to confuse Western media and lead to some rather interesting takes.

It was a chance to lay out what and why to the public. You had the standard threats to the sacred soil of Mother Russia, you had the justifications of the special military operation in context of Russkiy Mir and more, and how the West is being mean and threatening Russia. How dare the Ukraine and the West fight back!

There was, of course, the announcement of a military mobilization, that any threat to the soil of Russia would be met with force and in context of that the idea of the use of special weapons was raised as was the specific use of nuclear weapons given Western threats to nuke Moscow. Vladimir also stated that referendums to join Russia by the occupied territories (and boy did he make a huge grab attempt on what he considers occupied!) would be honored.

Some quick take-aways. Any real impact of the 300,000 called up is at least six months to a year off. It’s going to take that long (or longer given how the system is busted and basic supplies appear to be short) to get them into the system and up to a useful standard — provided they aren’t treated like the conscripts from the occupied areas and tossed into the fray with little/no training or supplies. Unconfirmed reports that flights out of Russia are full with sudden reservations by males of an age to be called up.

Take by some here that they will use this to pull in experienced NCOs ignores the fact that they have none by our standards. Russia follows the Soviet model, where enlisted were short-termers who may not have really wanted to be there and were treated as scum and idiots by many. Officers were in for longer, presumed to be more educated, and frankly did the tasks NCOs would do in our system. Keep in mind LTs pull maintenance with enlisted (mostly) providing muscle at need.

I strongly suspect most of the 300k will come from east of the Urals. For a number of reasons, Vladimir and company do not want to stir things up around Moscow or St. Petersburg. They also don’t want any large masses of troops, particularly those called up or conscripted, anywhere near Moscow for obvious reasons.

More interesting in the order itself are the penalties on businesses that refuse defense contracts or to produce defense materials on demand. You can refuse once, but not twice. Penalties not directly specified but implied draconian for the business and those running it.

Also, keep an eye on the discussions that have been/are being held in Moscow with Belarus. Vladimir desperately needs Belarus troops as well as Russian to attack the Ukraine from Belarus. Even the threat of such would hold back troops that otherwise could be used in any upcoming offensives in the East/South by the Ukraine.

The emphasis on the Motherland and what I term sacred soil was very interesting especially in light of the discussion on special, not just nuclear, weapons. Some of the threats of nuclear were expected and frankly a yawn as it was a predictable attempt to bully the West into accepting Russia trying to claim a huge chunk of the Ukraine (apparently including “occupied” territory it no longer occupies). However, mixed in that was a very clear thread of any attack on or over Russian territory could/would result in the use of special weapons and all possible force.

That may be pure bluff or it may not. It is clearly intended to prevent the Ukraine from cutting across Russian territory to cut off and retake parts of the East and South. As well as to stop shelling and other attacks on bases, depots, etc. within Russia. Those clearly have hurt, and it showed in the speech.

One thing I’m finding interesting is that it is still a special military operation, and Vladimir is making no effort to use strategic bombing or even fully use the Air Force, which says some very interesting things. Part is internal politics and part is clearly something else. Just what that is, is the question of the moment.

There’s more, but maybe later. The final thing I will suggest is to look at the speech on its own, without newsies yammering or translators translating. Things are off. Delivery, phraseology, and even how he holds himself. Watch at least the critical portions closely and several times, and focus on different areas each time. This should have been a canned, perfect speech. It isn’t. Not sure what that means, but it is interesting to note. I could nit-pick the staging, but those are mostly cultural issues and it was tuned to an internal, not external, audience.

Hang on, things could get very interesting here soon in a variety of ways.

SOME PREVIOUS POSTS:

Vladimir And The Ukraine

Answers, Ramblings, And A Bit More On Vladimir And The Ukraine

Your Must Read For The Day On Russia

The Puzzles In Play, And The Missing Pieces

Quick Thoughts On Ukraine/Putin

The Thing Behind The Curtain

Missing Pieces And Surprise Pieces

Accuracy, Reliability, And More

Putin, Trump, And The Coming Storm

Three Futures For Russia

Quick Thoughts

Saturday Update

Mismatched Locomotives

War, Ag, Demographics, And The Worst Is Yet To Come

Past, Present, And A Hungry Future

Huge Grain Of Salt

The Moskva

Retribution Inbound

Uncertainty And Preparation

Honest Question

Monday Morning Quick Brief

War Of The Memes

A Little Free Ice Cream

Rumors Of War

Three Times Is…

If It’s Wednesday, This Must Be Moldova

Going Nuclear

How To Spy On The Russians

Here’s Hoping I’m Wrong

Pins And Needles Time

Mock Away

Intel Wars

The Revenge Of HUMINT

A Funny Thing Happened

Rumors of Rumors

Ukraine, Uvalde, Oh My

Very Interesting

A Quick Russia/Ukraine Update

Russia/Ukraine/Lithuania

Hmmmm

Hmmmm Follow-Up

Ukraine/Russia Tidbit

If You Think

Couple Of Quick Thoughts

Uh Oh

Into The Light: Mikhail Gorbachev

*****

You Can’t Take

The Sky From Me

“May have been the losing side. Still not convinced it was the wrong one.”

Kroger Fuel & I Are Done

It was nice to have some funds this morning to do a little shopping after the wonderful joys of two different fasting blood draws to start the day. Nothing huge, but some things I’ve been needing to pick up like coffee for next week and other bits and pieces.

After having a wonderful breakfast (more on that in a separate post), I hit Kroger as my first stop and on the way out I decided to get fuel, as I’ve done for years. I got my $8.32 worth of gas, and went on my way. Yes, keeping the car as full as I can while I can.

Now, normally on an errand day I’m checking my online banking before and after each stop. It lets me make sure things have been correctly charged, keep up with my balance, and make sure nothing has gone awry. Today, I didn’t do that and it bit me.

I stopped at Fresh Thyme to pick up a couple of things, and when I got to the checkout, my debit card was declined. Given my balance at the start of the morning, and that I hadn’t spent all that much at Kroger, I was on the phone to the bank rather quickly, fearing that someone had somehow gained access to my card. Someone indeed had. Kroger.

In all the years I’ve shopped there, much less bought fuel, I’ve never been hit with a hold that showed up online. As noted, I tend to check as I shop, and I’ve NEVER, let me repeat, NEVER seen a hold from them. Is it possible one has hit? Sure. But, again, never seen one for fuel. In this case, per Kroger policy (as stated by them) they are now putting a $150 hold on all debit card purchases at the pump.

So, I found myself dead in the water as they had taken an additional $150.50 above what I had already legally paid, and had not returned it. Kroger blamed my bank and/or Visa for that. The bank and/or Visa said it was on Kroger. To a certain extent, I don’t care. Since I had paid for the gas I bought, and verified Kroger indeed had the money (which they agreed that the did indeed have that whole whopping $8.32), I wanted my $150.50 back.

An extremely verbose internet rando on Twitter explained at length, then condescendingly and smarmily continued to expound at length on how it was just business and I peasant should just deal (until I muted the mouthy thing who doesn’t apparently do well on social skills since even my “I don’t care” went over his head). He may be right, but again I’ve never had this done before. Yes, some other gas stations have put a $1 hold at the start, but I have never had one, esp. Kroger where I’ve been a regular customer for years, put a $150.50 hold on me before.

And, they are never going to do it again. Done. Don’t care how things are done, supposed to be done, or are done on the fly by the Queen of the May. I’m not going to do business with someone who takes my money even after I’ve paid my just debt, and then doesn’t return it immediately. Again, don’t care if it was Kroger, who cheerfully notes that holds can last 24 hours (so be glad if it gets back sooner peasant), and then blames all holds on the banks and/or Visa. I don’t care if it is the banks and/or Visa at fault, because they didn’t demand $150.50 for the hold, that’s on Kroger; and, they say the hold length is on Kroger. A pox on them both is my response.

And, yes, I know that they will give it back, for all that I am reminded of the bully who steals from you and then eventually gives it back because the teacher or someone bigger than them found out and made them give it back. Has that feel to it, you know? They will give you your ball, cash, lunch, whatever back when they are done with it. So deal.

Nor do I care if it is legal, done legally or otherwise within the way the banking system works in real life, or whatever. Fact is, taking someone’s money to which you are NOT entitled and then not giving it back immediately is wrong. Period fucking dot.

For now, the one place I know who is doing the $150 per go is Kroger. So, I’m not going there anymore and want you to be aware of what they are doing. Up to you if you want to deal with this or not. Yes, if I jumped through some hoops I might could shop there without getting hit with a $150.50 hold every time, but I’m also tired of all the people who want to see how many hoops they can make you jump through, as well as those who are good with it. Both groups do not have individual liberty, liberty, or your best interests at heart. Again, period fucking dot.

So, I’m shopping elsewhere for fuel. If this becomes a problem elsewhere, there are other options. There are options that may become much better given the way cards and such can be tracked — and fucked with officially and unofficially. Yeah, I’m one of those who is laughing at the idea of a federal crypto, and noting the move towards Chinese-style control over funds and more. Only idiots think that’s a good idea. Hoping Zelazny was right about what happens when cash is banned.

Also, I’m going to be taking as much of my business as I can for groceries elsewhere. Nice thing is, there is some good competition here. Which is nice, as I don’t like to reward what I consider bad behavior. Don’t care what Kroger or anyone else calls it, I see this as very bad behavior.

Sorry to be wordy and even a bit preachy, but I am more than a bit pissed. I did finally get my money back after multiple calls with Kroger, my bank, and others. Actually toying with the idea of a small-claim court filing as this wasted several hours of my time, deprived me of my funds for a period of time, created the potential for damage to my reputation, and a few other things. We will see.

For now, I’m going to raise a proper toast to Sunny, and try to relax a bit. Meantime, caveat emptor, esp. with Kroger fuel.

*****

Thank You, More Soon

I am behind on thank you’s and will be working on them as quickly as I can. While there are still some issues “under the hood” I am — unlike Dreamhost — getting rapid assistance, good help, and more. I hope you are seeing some of the speed and reliability improvements I’m seeing.

Tomorrow may be a very lite day. I have the fun joys of multiple fasting blood draws in the morning, which has a tendency to mess up my day. At least the locations are not too far from each other…

I also have to admit that waking up to news of Sunny’s death was a heck of a kick Saturday morning. I was afraid it was coming, but you still hope…

More soon, and thank you all again so much.

UPDATE: Looks like the “under the hood” issues are fixed and I’m getting all the data I’m supposed to. Feels almost like one of those moments on Star Trek where the mains and everything else come back on line at the crucial moment. 🙂 Again, thank you all so much for making this happen!! That said, if you see a problem, let me know so we can get it fixed.

*****

Into The Light: Sunny Cone

This weekend, my friend and brother from another mother, John Leonard (Sunny) Cone, Jr. passed away. For all that I had hoped there would be more time, it was not unexpected. Sunny knew his time was likely short, but swore those that knew to secrecy as he didn’t want people to worry.

That, and a dedication to helping his friends, were Sunny in a nutshell. We first met in kindergarten, then came together again in grade school and high school. He was everything this introvert was not: outgoing, sociable, mischievous, with a ready wit. Even then, he looked after his friends and those he “adopted” for lack of a better word. He was a preacher’s son, but his wild was tempered and any shenanigans he or any of us together may have gotten up to were never harmful.

To this day I still laugh every time I think about him serenading our 8th grade biology teacher (and the class) with the tune ‘I believe in sphericals’ sung to the tune of “I believe in miracles (you sexy thing you).” His humor, and he himself, were delightfully irrepressible. At least to us, his classmates. I’m not prepared to swear the teachers always agreed with that.

He also never hesitated to, metaphorically at least, kick our ass if he felt we needed it. Get up, get going, the future is up to you and glorious if you move, move, move. Pretty good about taking it too, when needed.

Life put us on different paths, but brought us back together every now and then. In recent times, we both had some changes in fortune and health. Sunny, sadly, lost his first wife unexpectedly. He was then blessed to meet Monica and marry her, and she was by his side high or low until the end. Like me, he had some memory issues though his were caused by some falls. He had other things crop up, and we encouraged each other and did what we could for each other.

Typical Sunny, even as things were grim he was looking for ways not just to get back on his feet, but to help take others along as well. He thought he had an angle I could do even with my memory issues. Sadly, it was not to be as he recently took a turn for the worse then passed. There will be a celebration of life in November, and I’m going to do what I can to be there. Meantime, one of his college friends has started a GoFundMe to help Monica with medical and other expenses.

Godspeed my friend. May God wrap you in his light and love brother. May your light and love join with his and shine down on Monica and those you leave behind.

I would end by saying ‘until Valhalla’ but if I did, Sunny would find a way to greet me on the other side wearing a cheesy Viking horn hat playing a kazoo instead of blowing a horn. Guaranteed.

Tap, Tap

Okay, maybe this time we are on. 🙂

First up, thank you all! Your kind gifts have just made some really great things happen.

Yes, the monthly bills are covered. Even better, we now have a new host, Nexcess (part of Liquid Web), and so far I am extremely pleased with them. I had actually been looking at a different hosting provider who talked themselves out of the gig. I had used them once before, and was reminded why I left them (snotty responses and slow service). So far, I’ve had extremely good and fast customer service, issues are resolved while I am on with them, and I think the most we have spent working any issue was less than ten minutes. If they can handle the traffic, all is good.

While it ended up costing more, it’s been worth it for the service and the huge increase in speed I’m seeing. I did go over the budget I set, but again appears to be worth it, and I’m paid up for a full year. They have a 30-day guarantee, so let me know of any issues you see, and hopefully we will get an Instalanche in that time to truly test the system.

I’ve put the focus on the blog, and dropped hosting for my photography/professional site. Which has also dropped an e-mail addy, possibly two. Not too worried about that for now, site needed to be re-done anyway. 🙂

I also, thanks to your help, do have the new shoes I so desperately needed. I am walking for exercise and more, and while I hit a personal best of 7.48 miles the other day (best since being hit by lightning), I also had problems of which blisters were the least. So, I went shopping for new shoes. I hit the running store, the zebra store, and more. The running store used the super-scanner and every effort to get e-mail, upgrade, upsell, etc. The zebra store ignored me, and when queried said they didn’t have my brand in stock despite their own site saying they did. The other stores, well, they had limited stock and proud-of-this prices.

Something told me to check out Stout’s southside location (oldest shoe store in America according to them). Walked in, Ally (sp?) looked at my shoes, recognized the model, recognized that there have apparently been some significant upgrades in the four years (I think) since I bought them, asked me about use and other factors, discussed budget, and then measured both feet mechanically. A few moments later, two sets of shoes (one my brand one another) were out, we tried, I stayed with my brand, and stayed within the budget I had set. The difference in the skill level, customer service, and product knowledge was amazing. Highly recommend them. Oh, and if we do need to do extra orthotics to handle where the lightning exited my body through the ball of my foot, they can handle that in several ways, including 3-D printing. Nice. Feels weird having all the support…

And, that is true here too. Thank you so much! You have kept me going in this crazy year plus since getting hit by lightning. Your gifts have kept me afloat financially and are letting me work on trying to get moved. Your prayers have sustained me. Your kind comments and interesting responses have added to the food for thought here nicely. I can’t say thank you enough, and right now pushing to get some cushion to put towards moving. The problem is just getting enough at one time and in one place to get me out there. Working on it, and looking at ways to get creative so as to sidestep some issues and get on with it.

Thank you so much! Sound off if you see any hosting issues, and do sound off if you see speed and other improvements. Good with the bad. Now, to write something worthy of a link at Instapundit and see how they handle that. 🙂

Onwards!

*****

Nuclear 201: Preparedness

Nuclear war! Invasion! Tornados! Earthquakes! Floods! One of Vladimir’s farts being mistaken as the start of a chemical warfare attack!

Honestly, it really doesn’t matter. The number of disasters that can befall us is an infinity-minus-one situation. There are that many potential disasters out there, though since SMOD has repeatedly failed of it’s campaign promises I’m starting to rule it out (infinity-minus-two?).

What matters is that no matter the cause, there are only three things that can be harmed: people, places, and things. Within that, there are basically only three types of damage to each. The only thing that a nuclear attack does is add radiation to the mix even though it increases blast damage, risk of catastrophic fires, etc. Guess what, you are going to have the latter part in conventional operations (Dresden anyone?).

Heck, come to think of it, it doesn’t have to be an exchange of atomic weapons that creates the problems. Let’s say that instead of any sort of leader who wants to put his country ahead, Vladimir truly is the pissy little bitch his enemies claim he is. In which case he engineers the worst possible “melt down” at the largest nuclear plant in Europe just because he suffered a military defeat.

In a nuclear event, you are going to have the same decision matrices: stay/go, go/where, how/why. The complicating factor will be the ionizing radiation.

This is one of the few times where I think purchasing specialized gear is warranted. In fact, what I would regard as basics are some form of geiger counter and some dosimeters. If you have them, it’s going to make a lot of decisions easier, and possibly smarter (i.e. move away from the worst of the fallout, not accidentally into it). It’s also when full-face respirators or gas masks are going to come in handy.

The initial burst of radiation from the bomb? Best bet is to be below ground. Fact is, even in those zones of total de-struc-tion that people cry about, you are going to have survivors. Those below ground, in vaults, or just in well-built structures that provide protection. Long-term survival depends on being able to get out, and not having gotten what’s called an LD50 dose of ionizing radiation from the bomb, or pick up same from the fallout. Worse yet, you don’t want to breathe in that dust, as then it’s inside you emitting.

Push comes to shove, even a couple of layers of good t-shirt are better than nothing. Cover your mouth and nose, then work to get out. If you can get layers on, do so and cover as much of your body as you can in multiple layers. Remember, alpha and beta are stopped/reduced by those layers. Also, more importantly, that dust and other particles that land on you, you can get rid of up to 90 percent of it simply by taking off the outer layer later. Layer up, get out, and head away from whichever way the wind is blowing, as where it is blowing is going to be hot. If you can find shelter in a safe location, do so.

If you are outside of the impact zone, what you do is going to be based on a number of factors. If the structure you are in is not damaged, or not heavily damaged, unless you are directly under the path of the fallout, stay put may be the best option. Even if under, you may well be safer staying and waiting a few days. Again, stay/go is going to depend on the levels of radiation; your ability to shield against it and to filter out the fallout so that it doesn’t get in, and worse yet, into you. It’s going to depend on planning, luck, and a bit more.

If you have to go, the questions then become where, why, and how. In the 101-course, I talked a bit about options for staying, and for going. Maybe tomorrow we will get a bit deeper into that, but today I’m not feeling great and am going to call this a bit sooner than planned.

Oh, if the nuclear plant does melt down, the largest impacts will be on the Ukraine, Europe/Scandinavia, and Russia itself. The impact to the rest of the world will be measurable but despite a lot of fear-mongering to come, negligible.

Oh, and if anyone wants to buy me a geiger counter and some dosimeters, drop me a line. I don’t do Amazon for anything anymore, but might make an exception in this case.

*****

SOME PREVIOUS POSTS:

Nuclear 201 Posts In Order

Nuclear 201: Some History

Nuclear 201: Will You Be My PAL?

Nuclear 201: A Bit More C&C

Nuclear 201: Additional Thoughts On Coms

Nuclear 201: Targeting, Take 2

Nuclear 201: Scenarios

Nuclear 201: Policy, SIOP, and Escalation

Nuclear 201: Effects

Nuclear 201: Radiation