Prepared In Every Way

Archive for April, 2010

I know it’s April and the lucky ones are already into spring, but this is an EXCELLENT article on why it’s important to be prepared when traveling by air or car.

I hope you’ll subscribe to this blog.  I’ve found it to be very helpful in my own preparedness. 

http://totallyready.com/content/view/26/26/

Joyce

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Wasp spray is more effective than pepper spray and will stop, or at least slow down your attacker, from a greater distance. Not that you want to carry it in your purse, but good idea to keep it on your desk or in your home. Watch video here.

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On Friday, about noon, while my friend Lisa was at work, a man and woman drove their car into her driveway, walked around the back of the house, kicked the door in, and stole everything of value.

Lisa had just moved into the house about two months ago and hadn’t met many of her neighbors.  As the burglars got out of the car, one neighbor was suspicious and watched from his car for a few minutes, but when they waved at him, like they belonged there, the neighbor drove away.

Once inside the house, the burglars opened the garage door, pulled the car in, and started loading it up.  They stole two computers, a printer, scanner, cameras, a brand new flat screen tv, a box of bank checks,  and her late husband’s social security card and coin collection.  They went through the house and emptied drawers, exposing anything she might have hidden.  They dumped the jewelry box and took the contents.  Some of it was costume jewelry, and some of it can be replaced, but not the wedding ring given to her by her late husband.  The one she was saving for her daughter.

When the burglars had loaded all they could into the car, they left.  And then they returned for a second load.  These people were professionals who knew that she wouldn’t be home until after work.

Lisa got home about 4:30 to find the garage door open.  At first, she thought her teenage daughter had left it open when she went to school that day, but when she got inside the garage and saw things out of order, she had the sinking feeling that someone else had been inside her house.

Lisa was very grateful that her daughter had gone on a band trip that weekend.  Otherwise, she might have walked in on the thieves when she got home from school that day.

She called the police and they dusted for fingerprints.   They found some prints that didn’t look quite human, and then realized the print was that of rubber dishwashing gloves.   There was a cigarette butt in her backyard, but that’s all the evidence they could find.  There was another burglary in the neighborhood that day, and the police did find a fingerprint on a window.  Hopefully they’ll be able to match that print to the DNA on the cigarette and connect the cries.

Overwhelmed with what had happened, Lisa called a friend and he came over to board up her back door.  The door jamb was split from the illegal entry and the door wouldn’t close.   Not wanting to stay there alone, she packed a bag and went to a hotel for the weekend.

Now it’s time to clean up the mess.

1. Lisa has insurance, but now she’s going to have to find receipts to prove ownership.  Fortunately, she keeps all of her important paperwork at work.  The police told her that was one of the smartest things she could have done, because these two crooks would have found them.   Then she would have had no receipts to prove ownership, and she might even be dealing with identity theft.

2. Hopefully, the receipts for the electronics will contain the serial numbers.  She has started calling pawn shops in the area and checking www.craigslist.org to see if any of her items are being listed.

3. It’s a good idea to keep receipts for the seven years required by the IRS, but before throwing any records out, go through and make sure you keep anything of importance.  Unfortunately, most electronics don’t have much value after seven years, but if you have serial numbers and can identify the item, you might help put those crooks in jail.

4. Lisa’s home had been wired for a security system, but she just hadn’t had the system hooked up yet.   With an alarm system, the police might not have gotten there in time to catch them, but it might have scared off the burglars earlier, or might have alerted neighbors who could have been more helpful.

5. Actually cleaning up the mess!  Her house is covered with black, powdery ink from the fingerprint dusting and everything she owns has been thrown on the floor.  I brought her a bottle of some magic stuff I use for removing ink and permanent marker, and it did the trick.  www.familyfirst.fourpointwellness.com   

Unfortunately, there’s not much we can do to prevent a burglary, but there are some steps we can take to be prepared.

1.         Meet your neighbors!   Let them know a little bit about you.  Exchange phone numbers.   Agree to watch out for each other.  If her neighbor had known more about her, he might have been more suspicious when these two people pulled into her driveway.  He might have written down the license plate, or even taken a picture of them with his cell phone.

2.         Get a security system.   Some of them have alarms that go off outside, but sometimes the crooks can’t hear it.   Other companies believe it’s more effective if the alarm goes off inside because it scares the intruders.    Either way, the police have been notified and they’re on their way.   If the neighbors hear anything, you know they’ll be peeking out their windows to see what’s going on.  That’s what you want.

3.         Have a system for keeping receipts.   When I purchase anything, I record it on my computer in MS Money.   If I spend $100 at Wal-Mart, and $10 of it is for a shirt, I will itemize it to say “red shirt” or something that will trigger my memory.  The reason for this is that if my house should burn down, I will at least be able to recreate a list of what I’ve purchased for my home – including my clothes.   An even better idea is to also videotape or take a photo with a digital camera of your home frequently.  Open all doors and drawers to get a photo of the contents.   When purchasing electronics, or items that have serial numbers, make sure the serial number is on that receipt.  If it’s not included, then this is a good time to write it down yourself.

4.         If you’re like me and your entire life is documented on your computer, be sure you have a backup, and then keep it in another location.    Fortunately, Lisa had taken her laptop to work with her that day, and her records were all in her desk at work.  If you keep the backup on your desk, it’ll get stolen along with the computer.

5.         Teach your children what to do if they come home and see something suspicious.  If Lisa’s daughter had come home that day and seen an unfamiliar car in their garage, she would have known to go to a neighbor’s house and call the police. 

6.         Have enough insurance.  If you have valuables like a coin collection or jewelry, you will only get replacement value for it unless you have a floater policy.  Lisa’s old wedding ring, given to her by her husband twenty years ago, might only have a replacement value of $200.  But Lisa could have had it insured for any amount she wanted on a floater – providing she was willing to pay the premium on that amount.  We all know that there are just some things that mean so much that they can never be replaced.

7.         Get a safe deposit box.  If Lisa would have put the heirloom ring and coin collection in a safe deposit box, she wouldn’t have needed to have insurance on either of them.   If you have anything in a safe deposit box that could be damaged by water (papers, or even watches) put them in a waterproof bag.  This can be something as simple as a Ziploc bag.   Years ago, my bank was flooded and one man lost a valuable baseball card collection he had stored in his safe deposit box.

Most burglaries take place during the day when the homeowners are at work.    You can’t possibly know if you’re being targeted for a burglary, but if you are prepared, it will be much easier to deal with the police and the insurance company to either recover or replace your property.

Copyright 2008.  Joyce Moseley Pierce.  Joyce is the owner of Emerson Publications and creator of All They’ll Need to Know.  She’s a freelance author and has been published in the Chicken Soup for the Soul series.

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EXTRACT FROM DOUG COPP’S ARTICLE ON THE: ‘TRIANGLE OF LIFE’ earthquake. are crushed to death. People who get under objects, like desks or cars, are crushed. instinct. You can survive in a smaller void. Get next to an object, next to a sofa, next to a large bulky object that will compress slightly but leave a void next to it. sign on The back of the door of every room telling occupants to lie down on the floor, next to the bottom of the bed during an earthquake. you will be cut in half by the doorway. In either case, you will be killed! collapse, showed there would have been zero percent survival for those doing duck and cover.

My name is Doug Copp. I am the Rescue Chief and Disaster Manager of the American Rescue Team International (ARTI), the world’s most experienced rescue team. The information in this article will save lives in an

I have crawled inside 875 collapsed buildings, worked with rescue teams from 60 countries, founded rescue teams in several countries, and I am a member of many rescue teams from many countries..

I was the United Nations expert in Disaster Mitigation for two years. I have worked at every major disaster in the world since 1985, except for simultaneous disasters.

The first building I ever crawled inside of was a school in Mexico City during the 1985 earthquake. Every child was under its desk. Every child was crushed to the thickness of their bones . They could have survived by lying down next to their desks in the aisles. It was obscene, unnecessary and I wondered why the children were not in the aisles. I didn’t at the time know that the children were told to hide under something.

Simply stated, when buildings collapse, the weight of the ceilings falling upon the objects or furniture inside crushes these objects, leaving a space or void next to them. This space is what I call the ‘triangle of life’. The larger the object, the stronger, the less it will compact. The less the object compacts, the larger the void, the greater the probability that the person who is using this void for safety will not be injured. The next time you watch collapsed buildings, on television, count the ‘triangles’ you see formed. They are everywhere. It is the most common shape, you will see, in a collapsed building.

TIPS FOR EARTHQUAKE SAFETY

1) Most everyone who simply ‘ducks and covers’ WHEN B UILDINGS COLLAPSE

2) Cats, dogs and babies often naturally curl up in the fetal position. You should too in an earthquake.. It is a natural safety/survival

3) Wooden buildings are the safest type of construction to be in during an earthquake. Wood is flexible and moves with the force of the earthquake.  If the wooden building does collapse, large survival voids are created.  Also, the wooden building has less concentrated, crushing weight. Brick buildings will break into individual bricks. Bricks will cause many injuries but less squashed bodies than concrete slabs.

4) If you are in bed during the night and an earthquake occurs, simply roll off the bed. A safe void will exist around the bed. Hotels can achieve a much greater survival rate in earthquakes, simply by posting a

5) If an earthquake happens and you cannot easily escape by getting out the door or window, then lie down and curl up in the fetal position next to a sofa, or large chair.

6) Most everyone who gets under a doorway when buildings collapse is killed. How? If you stand under a doorway and the doorjamb falls forward or backward you will be crushed by the ceiling above. If the door jam falls sideways

7) Never go to the stairs. The stairs have a different ‘moment of frequency’ (they swing separately from the main part of the building).
The stairs and remainder of the building continuously bump into each other until structural failure of the stairs takes place. The people who get on stairs before they fail are chopped up by the stair treads – horribly mutilated. Even if the building doesn’t collapse, stay away from the stairs. The stairs are a likely part of the building to be damaged. Even if the stairs are not collapsed by the earthquake, they may collapse later when overloaded by fleeing people. They should always be checked for safety, even when the rest of the building is not damaged.

Get Near the Outer Walls Of Buildings Or Outside Of Them If Possible – It is much better to be near the outside of the building rather than the interior. The farther inside you are from the outside perimeter of the building the greater the probability that your escape route will be blocked.

9) People inside of their vehicles are crushed when the road above falls in an earthquake and crushes their vehicles; which is exactly what happened with the slabs between the decks of the Nimitz Freeway.. The victims of the San Francisco earthquake all stayed inside of their vehicles. They were all killed. They could have easily survived by getting out and sitting or lying next to their vehicles. Everyone killed would have survived if they had been able to get out of their cars and sit or lie next to them. All the crushed cars had voids 3 feet high next to them, except for the cars that had columns fall directly across them.

10) I discovered, while crawling inside of collapsed newspaper offices and other offices with a lot of paper, that paper does not compact. Large voids are found surrounding stacks of paper.

Spread the word and save someone’s life… The Entire world is experiencing natural calamities so be prepared!

‘We are but angels with one wing, it takes two to fly’

In 1996 we made a film, which proved my survival methodology to be correct. The Turkish Federal Government, City of Istanbul , University of Istanbul Case Productions and ARTI cooperated to film this practical, scientific test. We collapsed a school and a home with 20 mannequins inside. Ten mannequins did ‘duck and cover,’ and ten mannequins I used in my ‘triangle of life’ survival method. After the simulated earthquake collapse we crawled through the rubble and entered the building to film and document the
results. The film, in which I practiced my survival techniques under directly observable, scientific conditions , relevant to building

There would likely have been 100 percent survivability for people using my method of the ‘triangle of life.’ This film has been seen by millions of viewers on television in Turkey and the rest of Europe , and it was seen in the USA , Canada and Latin America on the TV program Real TV.

 

EXTRACT FROM DOUG COPP’S ARTICLE ON THE: ‘TRIANGLE OF LIFE’ earthquake. are crushed to death. People who get under objects, like desks or cars, are crushed. instinct. You can survive in a smaller void. Get next to an object, next to a sofa, next to a large bulky object that will compress slightly but leave a void next to it. sign on The back of the door of every room telling occupants to lie down on the floor, next to the bottom of the bed during an earthquake. you will be cut in half by the doorway. In either case, you will be killed! collapse, showed there would have been zero percent survival for those doing duck and cover.

My name is Doug Copp. I am the Rescue Chief and Disaster Manager of the American Rescue Team International (ARTI), the world’s most experienced rescue team. The information in this article will save lives in an

I have crawled inside 875 collapsed buildings, worked with rescue teams from 60 countries, founded rescue teams in several countries, and I am a member of many rescue teams from many countries..

I was the United Nations expert in Disaster Mitigation for two years. I have worked at every major disaster in the world since 1985, except for simultaneous disasters.

The first building I ever crawled inside of was a school in Mexico City during the 1985 earthquake. Every child was under its desk. Every child was crushed to the thickness of their bones . They could have survived by lying down next to their desks in the aisles. It was obscene, unnecessary and I wondered why the children were not in the aisles. I didn’t at the time know that the children were told to hide under something.

Simply stated, when buildings collapse, the weight of the ceilings falling upon the objects or furniture inside crushes these objects, leaving a space or void next to them. This space is what I call the ‘triangle of life’. The larger the object, the stronger, the less it will compact. The less the object compacts, the larger the void, the greater the probability that the person who is using this void for safety will not be injured. The next time you watch collapsed buildings, on television, count the ‘triangles’ you see formed. They are everywhere. It is the most common shape, you will see, in a collapsed building.

TIPS FOR EARTHQUAKE SAFETY

1) Most everyone who simply ‘ducks and covers’ WHEN B UILDINGS COLLAPSE

2) Cats, dogs and babies often naturally curl up in the fetal position. You should too in an earthquake.. It is a natural safety/survival

3) Wooden buildings are the safest type of construction to be in during an earthquake. Wood is flexible and moves with the force of the earthquake.  If the wooden building does collapse, large survival voids are created.  Also, the wooden building has less concentrated, crushing weight. Brick buildings will break into individual bricks. Bricks will cause many injuries but less squashed bodies than concrete slabs.

4) If you are in bed during the night and an earthquake occurs, simply roll off the bed. A safe void will exist around the bed. Hotels can achieve a much greater survival rate in earthquakes, simply by posting a

5) If an earthquake happens and you cannot easily escape by getting out the door or window, then lie down and curl up in the fetal position next to a sofa, or large chair.

6) Most everyone who gets under a doorway when buildings collapse is killed. How? If you stand under a doorway and the doorjamb falls forward or backward you will be crushed by the ceiling above. If the door jam falls sideways

7) Never go to the stairs. The stairs have a different ‘moment of frequency’ (they swing separately from the main part of the building).
The stairs and remainder of the building continuously bump into each other until structural failure of the stairs takes place. The people who get on stairs before they fail are chopped up by the stair treads – horribly mutilated. Even if the building doesn’t collapse, stay away from the stairs. The stairs are a likely part of the building to be damaged. Even if the stairs are not collapsed by the earthquake, they may collapse later when overloaded by fleeing people. They should always be checked for safety, even when the rest of the building is not damaged.

Get Near the Outer Walls Of Buildings Or Outside Of Them If Possible – It is much better to be near the outside of the building rather than the interior. The farther inside you are from the outside perimeter of the building the greater the probability that your escape route will be blocked.

9) People inside of their vehicles are crushed when the road above falls in an earthquake and crushes their vehicles; which is exactly what happened with the slabs between the decks of the Nimitz Freeway.. The victims of the San Francisco earthquake all stayed inside of their vehicles. They were all killed. They could have easily survived by getting out and sitting or lying next to their vehicles. Everyone killed would have survived if they had been able to get out of their cars and sit or lie next to them. All the crushed cars had voids 3 feet high next to them, except for the cars that had columns fall directly across them.

10) I discovered, while crawling inside of collapsed newspaper offices and other offices with a lot of paper, that paper does not compact. Large voids are found surrounding stacks of paper.

Spread the word and save someone’s life… The Entire world is experiencing natural calamities so be prepared!

‘We are but angels with one wing, it takes two to fly’

In 1996 we made a film, which proved my survival methodology to be correct. The Turkish Federal Government, City of Istanbul , University of Istanbul Case Productions and ARTI cooperated to film this practical, scientific test. We collapsed a school and a home with 20 mannequins inside. Ten mannequins did ‘duck and cover,’ and ten mannequins I used in my ‘triangle of life’ survival method. After the simulated earthquake collapse we crawled through the rubble and entered the building to film and document the
results. The film, in which I practiced my survival techniques under directly observable, scientific conditions , relevant to building

There would likely have been 100 percent survivability for people using my method of the ‘triangle of life.’ This film has been seen by millions of viewers on television in Turkey and the rest of Europe , and it was seen in the USA , Canada and Latin America on the TV program Real TV.

EXTRACT FROM DOUG COPP’S ARTICLE ON THE: ‘TRIANGLE OF LIFE’ earthquake. are crushed to death. People who get under objects, like desks or cars, are crushed. instinct. You can survive in a smaller void. Get next to an object, next to a sofa, next to a large bulky object that will compress slightly but leave a void next to it. sign on The back of the door of every room telling occupants to lie down on the floor, next to the bottom of the bed during an earthquake. you will be cut in half by the doorway. In either case, you will be killed! collapse, showed there would have been zero percent survival for those doing duck and cover.

My name is Doug Copp. I am the Rescue Chief and Disaster Manager of the American Rescue Team International (ARTI), the world’s most experienced rescue team. The information in this article will save lives in an

I have crawled inside 875 collapsed buildings, worked with rescue teams from 60 countries, founded rescue teams in several countries, and I am a member of many rescue teams from many countries..

I was the United Nations expert in Disaster Mitigation for two years. I have worked at every major disaster in the world since 1985, except for simultaneous disasters.

The first building I ever crawled inside of was a school in Mexico City during the 1985 earthquake. Every child was under its desk. Every child was crushed to the thickness of their bones . They could have survived by lying down next to their desks in the aisles. It was obscene, unnecessary and I wondered why the children were not in the aisles. I didn’t at the time know that the children were told to hide under something.

Simply stated, when buildings collapse, the weight of the ceilings falling upon the objects or furniture inside crushes these objects, leaving a space or void next to them. This space is what I call the ‘triangle of life’. The larger the object, the stronger, the less it will compact. The less the object compacts, the larger the void, the greater the probability that the person who is using this void for safety will not be injured. The next time you watch collapsed buildings, on television, count the ‘triangles’ you see formed. They are everywhere. It is the most common shape, you will see, in a collapsed building.

TIPS FOR EARTHQUAKE SAFETY

1) Most everyone who simply ‘ducks and covers’ WHEN B UILDINGS COLLAPSE

2) Cats, dogs and babies often naturally curl up in the fetal position. You should too in an earthquake.. It is a natural safety/survival

3) Wooden buildings are the safest type of construction to be in during an earthquake. Wood is flexible and moves with the force of the earthquake.  If the wooden building does collapse, large survival voids are created.  Also, the wooden building has less concentrated, crushing weight. Brick buildings will break into individual bricks. Bricks will cause many injuries but less squashed bodies than concrete slabs.

4) If you are in bed during the night and an earthquake occurs, simply roll off the bed. A safe void will exist around the bed. Hotels can achieve a much greater survival rate in earthquakes, simply by posting a

5) If an earthquake happens and you cannot easily escape by getting out the door or window, then lie down and curl up in the fetal position next to a sofa, or large chair.

6) Most everyone who gets under a doorway when buildings collapse is killed. How? If you stand under a doorway and the doorjamb falls forward or backward you will be crushed by the ceiling above. If the door jam falls sideways

7) Never go to the stairs. The stairs have a different ‘moment of frequency’ (they swing separately from the main part of the building).
The stairs and remainder of the building continuously bump into each other until structural failure of the stairs takes place. The people who get on stairs before they fail are chopped up by the stair treads – horribly mutilated. Even if the building doesn’t collapse, stay away from the stairs. The stairs are a likely part of the building to be damaged. Even if the stairs are not collapsed by the earthquake, they may collapse later when overloaded by fleeing people. They should always be checked for safety, even when the rest of the building is not damaged.

Get Near the Outer Walls Of Buildings Or Outside Of Them If Possible – It is much better to be near the outside of the building rather than the interior. The farther inside you are from the outside perimeter of the building the greater the probability that your escape route will be blocked.

9) People inside of their vehicles are crushed when the road above falls in an earthquake and crushes their vehicles; which is exactly what happened with the slabs between the decks of the Nimitz Freeway.. The victims of the San Francisco earthquake all stayed inside of their vehicles. They were all killed. They could have easily survived by getting out and sitting or lying next to their vehicles. Everyone killed would have survived if they had been able to get out of their cars and sit or lie next to them. All the crushed cars had voids 3 feet high next to them, except for the cars that had columns fall directly across them.

10) I discovered, while crawling inside of collapsed newspaper offices and other offices with a lot of paper, that paper does not compact. Large voids are found surrounding stacks of paper.

Spread the word and save someone’s life… The Entire world is experiencing natural calamities so be prepared!

‘We are but angels with one wing, it takes two to fly’

In 1996 we made a film, which proved my survival methodology to be correct. The Turkish Federal Government, City of Istanbul , University of Istanbul Case Productions and ARTI cooperated to film this practical, scientific test. We collapsed a school and a home with 20 mannequins inside. Ten mannequins did ‘duck and cover,’ and ten mannequins I used in my ‘triangle of life’ survival method. After the simulated earthquake collapse we crawled through the rubble and entered the building to film and document the
results. The film, in which I practiced my survival techniques under directly observable, scientific conditions , relevant to building

There would likely have been 100 percent survivability for people using my method of the ‘triangle of life.’ This film has been seen by millions of viewers on television in Turkey and the rest of Europe , and it was seen in the USA , Canada and Latin America on the TV program Real TV.

 

Here are just a few sites we’ve found commenting on this type of survival.  Decide for yourself.

http://www.amerrescue.org/triangleoflife.htm

http://www2.bpaonline.org/Emergencyprep/arc-on-doug-copp.html

http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/household/triangle.asp

http://www.pep-c.org/triangleoflife/

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If you’ve ever seen the comedy television show, “Psych,” you know the main character’s father is a police officer who wants his son to be prepared for anything. He does some pretty crazy things in this comedy police show to teach young Shawn what to do when someone tries to harm him. It’s not about “if,” but “when.” In one episode, he tells him how to get help when he’s kidnapped and thrown into someone’s trunk. He tells him to kick the tail lights out, look through the hole to see if he can identify surroundings, and use his shirt or another piece of fabric as a flag to attract attention. As a kid, Shawn thinks his dad is a little crazy, but before the episode is over, he is glad his father taught him because it helps save his life.

I’ll have to admit that I’ve learned a thing or two from this show myself, and it just reinforces my belief that parents should always be teaching their children.

Here’s a great example. Two little girls were saved from being kidnapped in Houston recently because their mothers had taught them what to do if they were approached by a stranger. One little girl was taking the trash to a dumpster when she was approached by a man asking for directions. He motioned for her to come close to her car, but she refused and ran the other way. Another little girl in the same apartment complex was walking to the bus stop when the same man approached her. Fortunately, her mother had coached her, too, on what to do if a stranger approached. The statement made on the news was this: The story could have had a much different ending if these little girls had not been taught by their mothers.

Don’t wait to have a weekly coaching session. Make everything a teaching moment. As you see things happening for yourself, or watch it on the news, use that opportunity to ask your kids, “What will you do when …”

Joyce Moseley Pierce

http://www.emersonpublications.com

http://www.preparedineveryway.com

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