Survival of the Smartest: Chocofishie

I am happy to have a guest blogger today. You all know her as Chocofishie although her name is Janine.

I think she's done a great job with her article and I appreciate it. Maybe she'll come back again soon.



Survival of the Smartest

With the increasing urbanism prevalent in today's society in terms of
survival in the face of disaster most of us are screwed. Don't believe
me?
Recent large examples on our planet prove otherwise, think Hurricane
Katrina (2005) and the Asian Tsunami (2004).

Many more disasters happen on a daily basis, from flooding and
earthquakes, to tornadoes and the follies of man. Today it's not survival of the fittest; it's the smartest that will prevail.

Most of us live our lives in a just-in-time state. We never believe we
will have to prepare for disaster; it's something that happens to other
people but not to us.

So what's just-it-time? It's the reliance on the resources provided
centrally that we utilise on a daily basis. This includes power, water,
sewage, roads, stores, hospitals and everything else you see as being
staples of your daily existence.

Look around your home and ask yourself these questions. Do you have
enough food to last your family a month if suddenly there were no stores? Have you enough clean and safe drinking water to keep everyone alive? How would you cook? What would you do for heating? What if you got sick? How would you protect those you love from others? And in this urban world we live in, can you depend on your neighbours to help you?

If you don't know the answers to these questions, how do you think you
would survive? There are many sites on the internet telling you what you need to do to prepare, I suggest you do a search and look into it now.

So that prepares you for disasters your area may be prone to, but are
you prepared for the unexpected disaster?

In this day and age we expect certain natural disasters will occur, they
shock us and remind us of our humanity. But it's the unexpected which
is really what frightens us. And that means terrorism, in its many shapes and forms. It's the threat of the unexpected which we don't and often don't know how to prepare for.

Until 9/11 the threat of terrorism was mainly for those countries where
it was traditionally seen as a problem. There have always been factions
around the globe who are at war with each other or their government. It just wasn't something that happened to people we knew. And the threat hasn't gone away.

What scares me the most is the threat of nuclear terrorism. With over
27,000 nuclear warheads worldwide it's not so much if it will happen but when. So how do you prepare for something like that?

It's like any other disaster, if you are in the centre of things it
doesn't matter how prepared you are the survival is minimal. However if you are in a fallout zone you are able to survive if you are smart.

From my beloved internet I have found two interesting guides. They are
probably the smartest and easiest guide I could find.
http://www.nukalert.se/resources/guide.pdf and
http://www.slate.com/id/2148772/entry/2148774.

So you prepare but what about your neighbours, family and friends? Will you band together to face disaster, or will you disintegrate into war?

I would like to think we would all be like the fictional people of the
TVtown of Jericho . We would overcome
personality differences and allow our humanity to shine through so we can survive to build a better world.

However if upon reading this you think disaster will never happen to you in your lifetime, I hope you're right. But just in case ask yourself this
*
are you smart enough to survive?

A Monster Fan Interview: Platpat

Platpat is a Jericho fan with a sense of humor. Her story involves Need2No and Mary Bailey's Virtual Bar. I'll let her tell you all about that.



1. Why are you a Jericho fan?

Last September, I was just looking for some good TV. Something that was not another clone nor an unReality show! The only show that I cared if it returned was Lost; so that was all that I had on my schedule, and whatever was opposite that -- lost (pardon the pun). I had seen some advertisements for Jericho and thought it might be interesting. I decided to give it a try. It was clever how they had Jake telling different lies to make you want to come back and learn more, but it was the "Cloud" that got me. I was there; I was driving down the road and saw IT in the distance. I forgot to breathe. Of course, I had to have more. What happened? Who dropped the bomb? What do you do? What do I do?
I immediately went back in time to 9/11. I was in my office and Joe ran in and said, "Someone just flew a plane into the World Trade Center!" My reaction was "How can you not see the World Trade Center?" My brain refused to take in the reality. Same thing with the cloud. You know what it is; you know what it means, but your brain will not let you go there.

On 9/11, I was working in a major teaching hospital in Philadelphia. I am not a healthcare worker. I worked in the CEO's office. We immediately set up the command center; discharged patients; canceled elective surgeries; people who were off that day were called to work; the helicopters were dispatched to New York and then we waited. Finally, we got the word -- No patients were coming; there were NO patients coming. The brain had to chew on that for awhile before comprehension set in. That's reality. The Cloud took me right back there.

The months that followed brought us the SARS epidemic too and slowly we, the country, were forced to realize that we were sorely unprepared for catastrophes of any sort. The plans started. We had surveys and city-wide drills and kept learning that we can't handle it. There was not enough emergency personnel; not enough equipment; not enough beds; the nursing shortage was looming; the infrastructure was sadly in need of repair (can you say bridge collapse?). Even the supply chain was a problem. No one kept great amounts of anything stored on site any more -- it was about cost control. Then Katrina. How many messages does the Universe have to send us before we get the message? Either prepare NOW or find out how to stop it from happening -- better yet, prepare for the worst and pray for the best!

So I wanted to see how this show was going to be handled. Would it be for real or would it be another piece of fluff. That's how it started; you know the rest.


2. Tell everyone about Bailey's Virtual Bar at CBS? What do you do there?

Need2No is Persona Non Grata at BaileysVirtualBar. Mary Bailey is the Proprietor and she has hired bartenders to run the place because she is such a STAR now! Mary tolerates Need2No -- in her words "That Whacko who runs around asking people to sign a Petition to save a TV show about Little House on the Prairie Goody2Shoe farmers running around with guns and bombs or some such nonsense -- like who would watch that?" So I have very little to do with Baileys and have to sneak in when Mary is not there. From what I can tell, BaileysVirtualBar is just like any bar in real life -- a place to drop in after a hard day to hang out with your buddies and unwind, play games, sing songs and drink Baileys Finest VirtualVodka except the cost is 2 grains of salt.


3. What's in the back room?

I have never been allowed back there, but I believe it is where Mary keeps her GreatGrandDaddy's still and the recipe for Baileys Finest VirtualVodka. She also seems to have a store of virtually anything you could ask for.



4. Who is your favorite character and why?

This is the hardest question because they all appeal to me for different reasons. Jake because he is lost and finding himself; Hawkins because he is lost and finding himself after sacrificing himself for his country (if he is finally telling the truth!); Stanley because he is so loving and it hurts to see him have to face this reality "I don't want to die today." Gray because he is finding out that Johnston made being Mayor look easy, but it's not. Dale the new "Donald" because he has been presented with such awful choices; Eric because he, too, tried so hard to have his father's approval and he is now finding out that Jake is who everyone turns too, even him. Heather because she stepped up. Emily because she takes a gun and joins the fight on the front lines. Darcy because she wants to, but knows she has to be a mother and because she can forgive and love Robert. And Jimmy whose job just became so different than what he signed on for, but he asks the hard questions. Mimi because she's representing us city folk and is out of her element and totally at the mercy of strangers. And on and on it goes. Maybe I should say the Town of Jericho is my favorite character.


5. What are you most looking forward to in Season 2?

What is happening with the country. Are we the Divided States of America? How do those places that were hit fare.


6. Jake and Emily? or Jake and Heather?

This interview is forcing me to seriously consider this question. After a lot of thought, I think that Heather would be good for Jake, but that Jake would break her heart. Jake and Emily have an extremely strong bond and Heather deserves someone that feels that strongly about her. It's because I LOVE Heather that I want the best for her. (Read this: Don't hate me because I don't agree with you!) We'll just have to see who the army brings to town!


7. What character would you like to see on screen more?

For one, Darcy -- I want to see her partner with Hawkins. Heather, Mimi & Emily -- I want more woman leaders in non-traditional roles. Can't you just see Mimi with a rifle "Don't you mess with MY farm! And of course Mary Bailey should get more to do than serve up the hootch err VirtualVodka!


Comments...

I want to thank CynCity for taking me kicking and screaming from virtual anonymity
-- as I do my digging and commenting under other "identities" -- to being a published author. Also, I merely executed CynCity's idea of BaileysVirtualBar. And there are so many other new friends that if I try to name them all, I will for sure leave someone out . . . To all of you -- The drinks are on Mary! Just don't tell her that Need2No sent you.