Survival Skills Checklist: First Aid and CPR [Certified CHECK]

Can't Live Without [July '17]

Crayon Shin-chan

Starting the day with the news is horribly depressing. Instead, I watch cartoons. Specifically, this summer, I’ve been all about watching Shin-chan on Hulu.

When I get up and start my putzing about, I put on the Chromecast and stream Shin-chan.

Completely vulgar, inappropriate, and satirical, this show has it all. Ass dance? Got it. Joking about things that are no laughing matter? Yup. Parents regretting all their choices and just trying not to get sued? All day? Teachers, who only teach because it’s the job they happen to have? Check.

Crayon Shin-chan is a wonderfully cynical and sunny way to kick off the day. Continue reading “Can't Live Without [July '17]”

LOVE, a movie about isolation

The movie cover for LOVE caught my attention more than the description. Most of the space is space and down there in the bottom corner is an astronaut just siting like he’s waiting for a bus. This is actually a pretty accurate summary of what happens in the bulk of the film.

Stranded alone aboard the International Space Station, astronaut Lee Miller fights to survive the stress of isolation and stay alive. But everything changes when he discovers something unexpected that allows him to travel through space and time.

That synopsis isn’t quite right. It’s more like 2001 a Space Odyssey than any actually time travel movie. Meaning, the character starts to go a little mental and the audience get to go with them.

Lee is a dedicated and diligent astronaut on a mission to hang out on a space station and relay data back and forth between him and Earth. His station is about thirteen feet by four feet with about four feet of clearance. His mission starts out well and he even gets a video message from his brother about a new baby. Unfortunately, it’s not long before contact lessens and stops completely.

A year and a half stretches on-and-on and we watch Lee deteriorate from patient to… well I’m not quite sure what happened. Scenes of Lee on the station are spliced together with scenes of another Lee who lived during the Civil War and  individuals being interviewed about what’s important to them for what seems like an end of the world video journal compilation.

This is one of those movies where you may or may not get it. Not to say I think it’s over some people’s heads but that it’s ambiguous. Maybe he dies or maybe he’s greeted by aliens. Maybe he died before Earth stopped talking to him or maybe he’s both Lee of the future and Lee of the past.

It’s all very strange but also peaceful and unsettling. Personally, I found it hopeful.

[rating: 3/5]

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Stress: It'll kill ya.

Stress. Our bodies natural response to emotional experiences. Stress can be good or bad, but most people agree that when the bodies natural fight-or-flight response is prevented, it can cause some problems – including but not limited to: headaches, heart attacks, strokes, IBS, stomach ulcers and over-eating. It’s important to remember that the Human Being is still an animal – a clever, emotional, complex animal yes, but most of our responses are still rooted in the animal.

You’d think that post apocalypse this animal reaction to stress would be great, right? Fight or flight? You’re going to be doing that a lot, and surely the nasty sides of stress won’t be such an issue any more.

Well, read on, my minions. Read on.

The problem with that theory is that while we are still animals, we are also still thinking human beings. Stress and trauma can be longer lasting for us, for a start. Even if the horrific expereinces don’t seem to have made a mark on your friend yet, that’s no guarantee they won’t be curled up, catatonic, in the fetal position in the next hour, week, month, year or decade. Add our huge, complex brains to the post-apocalyptic stress equation, and you have some serious problems.

And obviously, those more immediate problems come to mind – such as the heart attacks and strokes – after all, if one of your top fighters suddenly conks out in training, you’ve lost a great resource as well as a much loved member of your team. But it’s the more subtle stress problems that could be tearing your group apart from the inside. Thing like:

 

Emotional instability: which could lead to infighting, irrational thinking and even murders or suicides

Lack of sleep: Which could lead to guard missing something vital

‘Foggy thinking’ : which could lead to injury or death of the suffererand any people relying on them.

 

So, what it there to do? After all, you’re going to be extrememly lucky to have a trained therapist in your team, and the other options to deal with stress (yoga, healthy diets, etc) are going to be seriously premium.

Well, I suggest violence. Allow the stressed people to BEAT things and drink too much. It worked for the middle ages – and it’s not as if they were a time period where whole continents were ripped apart by civil and religious war while battling city states slaughtered men, women, and children… oh.

 

Well, just do the best you can.

 

I can't wait to loot your house.

So, one of the most exciting aspects of a possible apocalypse is the exodus/migration/mass death and subsequent stuff left behind. Fuck all your base; all your shoes, chairs, scarves, medications, and fine dinnerware are belong to us!

When team morale is at its lowest and people are feeling all sorts of shitty and defeated. I’m going to lead them to your McMansion neighborhood and right up to your front door. We’ll take turns guarding the opening of the cul-de-sac your house is on, blocking the entrance with two Jeeps we stole from your local dealership. Snipers will take up post in your kid’s tree-house and that gazebo in your back yard. I’ll line my sad sack, rag tag team up on your front lawn and give them each a fist-sized rock from your decorative walkway. Then, on the count of three, they’ll hurl the rocks through your picturesque bay window like a bunch of drunken middle schoolers. Oh, the joy smashing through your pristine abode will bring us.

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Continue reading “I can't wait to loot your house.”

Quick Survival Tip: Avoid Stress

English: Effects of stress on the body.
English: Effects of stress on the body. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Stress can have extremely damaging effects on the body if not properly managed or avoided. Survival situations are hard enough without adding the chaos caused by stress.

According to the American Institute of Stress (AIS) some of the more dangerous symptoms include: Difficulty concentrating, racing thoughts, Difficulty in making decisions, Feeling overloaded or overwhelmed, Feelings of loneliness or worthlessness, Overreaction to petty annoyances, Excessive defensiveness or suspiciousness, Increased anger, frustration, hostility.

If you know what causes you stress, plan for or avoid it. Some people need to feel that they are supported, in control, have something to look forward to, or just that they know what to do next.

Continue reading “Quick Survival Tip: Avoid Stress”