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

Being Black in Video Games

Being Black in real life isn’t super easy. Sure you always have company whenever you go shopping, even if you started alone. You’re more likely to have a living will or healthcare proxy (at least you should). Because Black folks are dropping dead like it’s Jim Crow again.

South Park’s new game recently introduced a slider that was labeled “Difficulty” and changed the character’s race. The darker you are the “harder” the difficulty. It’s funny because it’s true.

At least Fractured But Whole lets you be a person of color if you really want to. Or if you just really want to see a person of color as a hero in a video game. Continue reading “Being Black in Video Games”

Into the Archives: SOLARIS (2002)

SOLARIS is a 2002 movie about…. Space? Love? Time? Truth or Consequences?

SOLARIS is the kind of movie that means different things to different people. It might be a horror movie if you identify with Dr. Gordon. It could be a Love story if you relate more to Dr. Kelvin. Finally, if you relate to Dr. Snow, it’s a kind of existential introspection.

There is a beautiful planet called Solaris that demands to be explored.

As with many beautiful things, the planet may be dangerous. Is it’s bright and beautiful display a beacon or a warning?

This ambiguity is what drives the ground crew behind the mission to Solaris to send a security team when they lose contact with the original team. The security team didn’t make it. No one really knows where they went or seems to care. Whatever. Apparently, the next step it to send a psychologist… He also happens to be friends with one of the doctors on the mission… and a qualified astronaut.

Continue reading “Into the Archives: SOLARIS (2002)”

What's the first thing you wash in the shower?

One of the many frivolous things I wonder about when I’m wondering about post-apocalyptic life is hygiene. I’ve gone on at length about my lady parts, their mechanics, and how I plan to keep them baby free and satisfied. But recently I’ve been thinking about cleanliness.

Well, recently is a lie. I think about cleanliness daily and lady-specific cleanliness almost every time I see women surviving the end of the world alongside men. The Monthly Mess is one thing and The Daily Funk is another.

“The daily what now?” you may wonder. The running and sweating and wearing the same clothes day in and day out and not having toilet paper all add up to The Daily Funk.

Continue reading “What's the first thing you wash in the shower?”

5 Burning Pre-Apocalypse Questions

In Case of Survival is all about answering the tough questions you may never have had. In case you haven’t noticed, the blog is extremely speculative when it comes to giving advice. We have to be because there hasn’t been an apocalypse to test any methods out yet.

Some major questions I have about the apocalypse I don’t think we need to wait for the apocalypse to answer:

1. Will you get sick from eating city pigeons?

They’re everywhere in every city and we eat foul all the time but pigeons are more like sky rats and I’d be hard pressed to eat a rat.

All the pigeons in my city are kind of deformed and hobbled so I’m not even sure if they’re even fit to live much less if whatever is wasting away their brains will be contracted after they’re cooked and ingested.

2. Will you go insane if you never go out during the day?

I know we need vitamin D, but we can get it from other sources like how sailors got their C from citrus fruits to avoid scurvy. But if there’s some compelling reason to avoid the daylight forever, will we go mad or die?

In my mind, it seem like we would but I can’t rationalize why.

3. Will cannibalism really make people crazy?

We’ve seen a number of examples where people start to go a bit mad from eating other people because they think it’s a easy food source but is there any evidence to support that? Are cannibalistic tribesmen loony?

Sure the cows went mad but those are cows and hardly the same as people, right? Right?

4. Do predatory viruses go after the weakest or the strongest?

I’m not going to carry you up a hill if you can’t leg it yourself, but I’m also not going to worry too much about your zombified Gran chasing me. Sweet, power walking. Maybe even throw down a few chairs for her to traverse. But will a virus, or other organism that is designed to spread and multiply, target the strongest or the weakest?

It would make sense to target the strongest because you spread better and last longer but it’s easier to infiltrate the weakest…

5. Does the government really have a plan for SHTF-level emergencies?

If I show up at my local rally point will I be greeted by a bunch of volunteers who never thought this would happen or by people who have matching binders with plans outlined for what to do in case something like this happened?

Will this rally point be defensible or just big enough to hold people. Will there be quarantine locations and rape prevention strategies[1. rape in “safe camps” is always an issue. I mean you can’t just be thankful you’re alive, you gotta go ruining everything for everyone. Personally, If you’re caught raping in my safe camp you’ll be strung up and castrated with no medical attention after the fact. If you bleed out or get infected, Whatever.] and 17 levels of team leaders?

I’m not saying I need the government, but I need order and without it I’d rather be on my own.

 

If you have any answers to these questions, please share!

 

Bonus Question:

When’s it okay to start looting?

Ask all the questions, avoid all the chaos

Chaotic situations are rooted in no one knowing the answers they need to to stay calm, stand still, and think about basic shit like being quite while decisions are made. To survive after the apocalypse you’ll need to limit your social chaos. How? By asking the right questions —and then having the answers and making people listen.

I’m not typically one for too much pre-planning or excessive deliberation–I’ll take as long as you give me to think about something but then end up making a spur of the moment decision anyway. However, even I realize that the simple exercise of developing a problem solving mindset that includes quickly asking the right questions and processing their answers can drastically affect the survivability of a situation.

The most basic question is usually, “What are we doing?!” or “What’s happening?!” These are valid questions that having answers to would help clam the situation down.

People might shout out other things like, “We NEED to hide!” That’s a suggestion, and a damn good one, recognize it.

Someone else might say, “We’re all gonna Diiiiie!” That’s not helpful. Shut them down quickly and with authority. They don’t deserve to talk.

With almost all situations there’s an easy way to bring order to chaos: QUESTIONS.

Continue reading “Ask all the questions, avoid all the chaos”