and I am listening to New Yorkers whine over gasoline and food. To me it is seriously something to laugh over.
For the people that had their homes torn up and are out on the street you have my compassion. You have likely lost what little you had in preperations. I do feel sorry for you. I'd like to help.
For the rest of the idiots out there that are scraping around in in dumpsters because they were either too stupid or too cheap to salt something away, I have no sympathy for whatsoever.
You knew it was coming and had options and didn't take advantage of them.
You could have coughed up a couple bucks for something to eat while the rest of the city struggled back to some semblence of normalcy. It didn't have to be a whole lot, just a few cans of beans or something along those lines. Ramadan soup is cheap and can take you through a couple of tough days. I've lived on that stuff for a week at a time in my younger years and I suppose I could easily do a week on it now. In fact, it might just do me good.
There is a reason my preperations for Sandy consisted entirely of the purchase of a bottle of bourbon and that is because I am generally ready. I always have about a week's worth of canned goods kicking around and there is generally a spare 20 gallons of gas stashed and rotated regularly in a safe place. I had filled up my tank a day or two earlier.
For those in the city that have cars, it likely never occurred to you to gas up before the storm hit and limiting your driving afterwards. It probably also never occurred to you to maybe stick a spare can or two somewhere you could get to after the storm had passed.
It doesn't take much.
Then again, the pictures of people eating out of dumpsters make me wonder. Most likely they are just the usual group of derelicts making their usual rounds and some photographers took their pictures and played them up as victims of Sandy.
I remember seeing a reporter in a canoe during Katrina telling everyone how deep the water was as in the background of the film there were firemen wading through the mid-calf water.
While Katrina was a disaister of epic proportions, this footage shows you how the media works so the dumpster pictures make me wonder.
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The above subject has been discussed among a lot of seamen out here and for the most part they agree with what I have said. It is not like this happened overnight and came in out of nowhere. The weather people had this one predicted and were announcing it for about a week.
Then again, seamen learn to take precautions as a way of life. An awful lot of landsmen don't. They expect the government to step in and take charge. When you are at sea you don't expect ANYONE to step in and take charge. Out here you live by your wits.
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I have gotten a couple of back-channels emails messages regarding the theft of generators. Someone came up with a good idea for where he lives. Much like Pennsylvania there is a castle doctrine in his state. His is mounted inside his attached garage with the exhaust plumbed outside. He also installed a pair of redundant carbon monoxide detectors for safety's sake.
The beauty of this system is unlike leaving it on an outside porch, this is inside and therefore he can use deadly force to protect it. People that get sucking chest wounds while attempting to steal things seldom return to try to steal again for some odd reason. Dead people NEVER attemt to commit a crime like that again.
Hell, leave a couple, maybe three or four stiffs piled up in the garage and you can probably leave the damned garage door open and the generator running unattended. One look at three of four failed thieves laying there stiffening up with holes in their foreheads will likely make the most hardened thief turn and run.
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I have seen several New Yorkers with brand new gas cans getting gas. I would bet that at least 85% of them are going to spill an awful lot of their precious gasoline because of the stupid government mandated safety spouts that do not work worth sour apples. Better to get three feet of clear plastic hose and syphon it into your tank. You'll spill a whole lot less. Either that or buy a good funnel somewhere.
Remember to place the gas can HIGHER than the gas tank filler cap as you cannot syphon uphill. There is alway some dumbass that will put the can on the ground and try it that way. All he is likely to get is a mouthful of gasoline for his stupidity. Gravity makes things flow downhill, in case you didn't know.
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Another thing I DO feel compassion for New Yorkers about is the lack of leadership and stupidity on the part of leadership there. I have heard that some relief workers have been sent home because they are not members of the various unions. We're talking linemen here, guys. People that know how to restore power.
The mayor, Michael Bloomberg has refused the service of the NY National Guard because they carry guns. Guardsmen are trained for things like this disaister. I don't care if they carry bazookas, they are a very useful asset and generally have the kind of training to get things done.
He also wanted to let a marathon be run. This would have tied up an awful lot of useful resources best used elsewhere. Public outcry managed to get the race postponed.
Actually, the New Yorkers I do feel compassion for are the ones that didn't vote for boobs like Bloomberg.
The rest of them got what they voted for.
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Another thing worth mentioning here is that anyone that depends on the government to take care of them is a fool. One of the things I have done is nurture good relationships with my neighbors.
While I am not stupid enough to think that doing that will solve all of my problems, I have learned to find win/win solutions to an awful lot of things and I'd bet you that in time of trouble I would be paid back in spades.
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One of the things I saw heading north into New York from Philly is a massive number of people in line for gas in the southbound lanes. A lot of them looked like they left the city looking for gas and heading south in quest of it and it struck me as stupid.
What were these people thinking?
The damage was worse south of New York. Jersey got plastered.
Albany got off light. Anyone with a lick of sense would have headed north towards Albany and likely could have gotten as much gas as they wanted inside of a shorter drive and faced much shorter lines.
Heading south looking for anthing but devastation scenery made about as much sense as heading to Hiroshima looking for a place to stay on August 7th, 1945.
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On the other hand, maybe Bloomberg did the National Guardsman a favor by not accepting their help. There are a number of Louisiana Guardsmen and active GIs that were given a medal of some sort for their relief work after Katrina and some of them refuse to wear them because they're so disgusted with the people they had to deal with.
I remember hearing a woman refuse an MRE, telling some reporter, '"That's just cold army food".
What did she expect? A steak dinner in a candlelit restaurant? Besides, most MREs come with heaters so you can heat the meal up. Then again, she likely didn't know how to read. Or was too lazy to learn to use the heater.
While I am no fan of Hollywood, I will admit that there was some celebrity caught in NOLA that was handed an MRE and was damned grateful. He also knew how to read and used the heater and managed to make himself a fairly civilized meal, much to his credit.
Incidentally, speaking of MREs I have seen pictures of Prince Harry eating them. If they are good enough for Prince Harry I do not see why they are not good enough for some fat lady that didn't earn her keep.
The picture I saw of Prince Harry was taken while serving overseas in a line unit. At least he earned his MRE.
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A number of business owners that got hit are griping that they have been offered loans to help them recover. Are they not insured? If so, let the insurance cover it and if they are not they must be self-insured.
It seems that loans are not good enough for these people. They want grants.
The taxpayer will likely wind up footing the bill. Wait and see.
I wonder if they would take the grants if they were given with the stipulation that every taxpayer that walks into the joint gets their money repaid in the form of a free meal or free merchandise. I sorta doubt it.
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Kudos to the people that maintain the NJ Turnpike. They had it up and running very quickly. I saw the piles of flotsam just off of the breakdown lane. They were massive and while there is a lot of cleanup left, they were operational and did a good job fast.
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my other blog is: http://officerpiccolo.blogspot.com/ http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
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