Pete C. wrote:
These days I work from home as well, so I
figure based on my normal pantry stocking levels, I could stay isolated
a good 60 days when the bird flu pandemic blows through and still work.


I used the bird flu thing as an excuse to buy a new rifle a year-or-two
ago. I wanted the rifle anyway, just needed an excuse to finally get it. :-)

Bob

George Shirley wrote:
Blinky the Shark wrote:
George Shirley wrote:

We used to get the odd one in our garden when we lived in western Saudi
Arabia. Imagine a grasshopper four inches long that flies in large
groups and you can see how scary they would be to Westerners. We were
only 80 miles across the Red Sea from Africa so it was no big jaunt.
Particularly as the wind blew to Saudi in the morning and back to
Africa in the afternoon.

Now you've got me thinking about those damned cockroaches that are the
size of a sofa. skin crawls


Madagascar roaches, very tasty fried so I understand. I never tried eating

They're big enough to fry *us* if they ever get a handle on "fire".

any bugs but fried grasshoppers and chocolate covered ants. Doesn't
compare to a nice T-bone steak so didn't eat any more of them.

Or that package of pork I just brought home to grill later...

--
Blinky
Killing all posts from Google Groups
The Usenet Improvement Project: http://improve-usenet.org
Blinky: http://blinkynet.net

zxcvbob wrote:
Pete C. wrote:
These days I work from home as well, so I
figure based on my normal pantry stocking levels, I could stay isolated
a good 60 days when the bird flu pandemic blows through and still work.


I used the bird flu thing as an excuse to buy a new rifle a year-or-two
ago. I wanted the rifle anyway, just needed an excuse to finally get it.
:-)

Bob
See, you should have never moved away from Texas, you don't need excuses
there to get a new rifle. At least I never did.

George

George Shirley wrote:
zxcvbob wrote:
Pete C. wrote:
These days I work from home as well, so I
figure based on my normal pantry stocking levels, I could stay isolated
a good 60 days when the bird flu pandemic blows through and still work.


I used the bird flu thing as an excuse to buy a new rifle a
year-or-two ago. I wanted the rifle anyway, just needed an excuse to
finally get it. :-)

Bob
See, you should have never moved away from Texas, you don't need excuses
there to get a new rifle. At least I never did.

George


The excuse was to my cheapskate self. :-) Wife couldn't care less what
I spend on guns and beer and manly stuff like that, as long as the bills
get paid and she doesn't have to pay 'em. But I'm so cheap I make Jack
Benny look like a spendthrift. Not sure where I got that; probably
because Dad grew up during The Depression and I picked it up from him --
and exaggerated it.

(The young'uns are probably wondering what a Jack Benny is about now...)

Bob

sueb wrote:


Oh for pete's sake! There's plenty of rice in Mountain View. Maybe
you can't buy *that* brand at *that* price at *that* Costco, but
there's lots of rice at other stores. That Costco is just trying to
make sure that their preferred customers = the businesses that
steadily patronise them and buy in bulk from them = mom+pop
restaurants have access to the bulk rice.

I may be white as the driven snow but plenty of my friends are Asian
and I don't know any families who buy 50lb sacks of rice.



OTOH I do know many Asian families who do buy rice in bulk just as I
know many Hispanics and other southwesterners who buy pinto beans
in 25 or 50 pound bags.

gloria p

"Gloria P" wrote in message
. ..
sueb wrote:


Oh for pete's sake! There's plenty of rice in Mountain View. Maybe
you can't buy *that* brand at *that* price at *that* Costco, but
there's lots of rice at other stores. That Costco is just trying to
make sure that their preferred customers = the businesses that
steadily patronise them and buy in bulk from them = mom+pop
restaurants have access to the bulk rice.

I may be white as the driven snow but plenty of my friends are Asian
and I don't know any families who buy 50lb sacks of rice.



OTOH I do know many Asian families who do buy rice in bulk just as I know
many Hispanics and other southwesterners who buy pinto beans
in 25 or 50 pound bags.


I know of an Indian family that buys in 50 pound bags at a time. They eat
basmati with every meal practically.

Paul

On Tue, 22 Apr 2008 20:05:22 +0000 (UTC), wrote:

You know, I heard some sort of "public service" annoucement on the
radio a few days ago. The Department of Homeland Security was asking
if everyone had enough food and water and supplies for 3 days in case
of some unspecified emergency. They seemed to imply no power, because
refrigerated and frozen stuff was being disparaged in the spot.

So the government seems to be beating the Chicken Little drum, too.


I'm surprised it was issued by Homeland Security and not FEMA. That
was just a regular disaster preparedness precaution. Ask anyone who
lives in a zone where natural catastrophes can happen.

--
See return address to reply by email
remove the smile first

On 2008-04-22, Blinky the Shark wrote:

http://blinkynet.net/humor/psa01ct.html

*All* of them?

http://www.newsfroup.net/procurable/

Heh!

Okay......not your mom.

http://xkcd.com/366/


--
History teaches that grave threats to liberty often come in times of
urgency, when constitutional rights seem too extravagant to endure.
(Thurgood Marshall)

On 2008-04-22, zxcvbob wrote:

I had a big laugh at what one of my older sisters did prior to Y2K. Got
$20K in cash, bought a pistol (never fired one in her life), filled two
spare bedrooms with canned goods and bottled water. I think she's still
eating and drinking stuff she bought then. She was in a total panic that
she was going to starve to death.

How much toilet paper did she buy? People up here tend to panic-buy
milk, bread, and TP, I guess because they are all white (maybe it's just
a Scandinavian thing)

I blame Sears for switching to glosy paper.


--
Any employee here on the hill would run at high speed: 9600 or 19200
baud. Only someone calling through a modem would let their data
dribble out of a 1200-baud soda straw. (Stoll 1989)

George Shirley wrote:

No one here on the Gulf Coast is paying them any mind as it is business
as usual. June first begins hurricane season and we all tend to stock up
on non-perishable items just prior to the start. Those that don't stock
up are the ones under thirty years of age who think they're bullet proof
and nursing home operators.

George, this is the first time I have ever lived outside of the
hurricane zone. It is nice, not having to worry.

We are in the business of selling cruises, so in other ways, we still
have to worry about hurricanes. lol

Becca

Becca wrote:
George Shirley wrote:

No one here on the Gulf Coast is paying them any mind as it is
business as usual. June first begins hurricane season and we all tend
to stock up on non-perishable items just prior to the start. Those
that don't stock up are the ones under thirty years of age who think
they're bullet proof and nursing home operators.

George, this is the first time I have ever lived outside of the
hurricane zone. It is nice, not having to worry.

We are in the business of selling cruises, so in other ways, we still
have to worry about hurricanes. lol

Becca
Tornadoes and earthquakes scare the hell out of me, I prefer hurricanes.
At least you can run from them. BSEG

George

George Shirley wrote:

And people like that don't listen to the voice of reason. My other
sister and I just went on as normal with the one in the middle
proclaiming that we couldn't come to her house when all the
transportation systems collapsed and the ravening horde was devouring
everything in sight. Of course we don't have a lot to do with her before
or since but she is blood kin.

During the holidays one year, one of my nieces smiled and said, "Family
is nice, you get to spend time with people, who you would otherwise, not
have anything to do with."

Becca

George Shirley wrote:

I had a big laugh at what one of my older sisters did prior to Y2K. Got
$20K in cash, bought a pistol (never fired one in her life), filled two
spare bedrooms with canned goods and bottled water. I think she's still
eating and drinking stuff she bought then. She was in a total panic that
she was going to starve to death.

Aunt Jane did the same thing. She died, leaving behind bottled water
and canned foods that she purchased from Whole Foods. I just finished
the last of her tea tree shampoo (which was pretty good). She had no
children and she remembered me kindly in her will, so I hate to say
anything bad about her.

Becca

George Shirley wrote:

Rita was the first storm I ever ran from. Wife looked at me the day
before Rita hit and said "Old man, how long can you tread water?" I
realized I'm not a youngster and no longer in emergency services, what
the hell am I doing here and off we went. Came home the following
Monday, patched the holes in the roof, checked on my clients (I was
still consulting then), lit out for Tomball, TX and stayed with our
daughter until the police said it was okay to come home. Thank goodness
for the internet, we stayed in touch with officials in our area who gave
us updates on when to come home. There was no New Orleans here, no lives
were lost, property damage was in the millions but no flooding beyond
that that was on the coast and about 25 miles inland, all coastal
prairie. Yup, I'll run next time too. Nine hurricanes I rode out from
1947 until 1992, not no more the Texian said.

George

People should avoid hurricanes, whenever they can. We lived near
Tomball and we lost 2 trees from hurricane Rita. We did not have
electricity for 4-5 days, and you could not find gas anywhere in town.
We used the generator to power the refrigerator, the freezer and the
computer, so we did okay.

Becca

"Pete C." wrote in message
...

snippage

Very reasonable to be prepared to be on your own a few days, and rather
disturbing the number of people who aren't prepared for such short
duration self sufficiency. Something that should really be incorporated
into our (failing) school systems.



I remember in junior high school they had classes on Civil Defense (this was
in the 70's) and the threat of 'THE BOMB' was still bandied about. We were
taught how to purify water with a few drops of bleach and how to make a
latrine out of a 55 gallon drum if need be. On the same topic, Discovery
had a show on last night called the Alaska Experiment with people having to
fend for themselves in the Alaskan wilderness with little resources (they
gave them food stuffs and the wearwithal to catch more) and instructions on
food preservation. They were given shelter, but if additions needed to be
made they could, etc. It was interesting to see one group run in the cabin
and promptly eat everything in sight while others were attempting to fish.
I took scout leader training and wilderness camping courses and even thought
I would prefer heat, hot water and refridgeration, I don't doubt I could
make do if I had to. These people........one group is like the people
hiding in the house on Night of the Living Dead, you WANT something to eat
them, they are just that annoying!!!!


the rice. Your Asian countries (India, Pakistan, etc) have been told
they will be severely punished for hoarding rice, as it is a hot item on the
commodities market. It's price is rising as we type. Also, today on the
Bloomberg Report, it was indicated that there is a severe shortage of rye
flour and the cost of rye bread will soon be throught the roof....

Who knows what is going on.
-ginny