tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-64912282020-10-14T01:38:42.603-07:00Safety Neal's Fireside ChatOne man's search for the postmodernSafety Nealhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07342660829277897082noreply@blogger.comBlogger1800125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6491228.post-12675382075707077222020-02-16T00:15:00.000-08:002020-02-16T00:20:52.292-08:00Past, Present, and FutureMy grandfather Leon's funeral was yesterday. I served as a pall bearer and was glad to contribute and honor him. My father also passed away this past summer and the loss of these men has caused me to reflect on my own mortality.
I have a splendid life and I enjoy it immensely. I have a wonderful wife, two adorable dogs and a rewarding career.
But one day, I will cease to exist. So be it. I am Safety Nealhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07342660829277897082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6491228.post-32407720218793927702019-03-18T16:05:00.003-07:002019-03-18T16:05:30.485-07:00Deep Adaptation and Emergency Management?I recently listened to an interview with Jem Bendell, a professor in the United Kingdom.
Professor Bendell advocates a concept he calls Deep Adaptation. Based upon the science Professor Bendell believes that the near-term collapse of society (as we know it) is inevitable. Therefore, he lays out a new agenda of "deep adaptation" to the new climate reality that humanity will face in the near Safety Nealhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07342660829277897082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6491228.post-65046824794659093092019-02-14T15:20:00.001-08:002019-02-14T15:27:38.699-08:00President Trump's Emergency Declaration will Test the Limits of Executive Power and the Steel Seizures DoctrineAs a law librarian & disaster geek, I am fascinated by states of emergency.
In a prior work life, I taught a course called Disaster Law: Public Policy and Research Methods several times.
Thus, I am incredibly excited about Trump declaring a state of emergency at the Southern border!
The scope of executive powers in a true emergency (e.g. an earthquake, an invasion, a pandemic) would be Safety Nealhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07342660829277897082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6491228.post-85215822054687135042016-11-27T15:20:00.001-08:002016-12-14T01:37:15.555-08:00The methane monster has dragon's breath
Here's some sobering research on the topic of climate change.
Start with this Guardian article from Dec. 12, 2016 about spike in atmospheric methane and how it's so diffuse it is hard to track.
The scientists speculate that agriculture may be the main source of the additional methane that has been recorded. However, they cannot be sure of all the sources, owing to a lack of monitoring. ...Safety Nealhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07342660829277897082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6491228.post-41692080025041202792016-07-24T23:02:00.002-07:002016-07-24T23:21:12.433-07:00Brexit and the Great UnwindingThe Guardian recently had an article which sought to explain "Why untangling UK industry from Europe may be 'impossible'".
The article illustrates how cars "built in the UK" actually use materials and components sourced from all over Europe. Assembled in the UK might be a better description of how cars are built using supply chains that stretch across Europe.
The argument put forward by Safety Nealhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07342660829277897082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6491228.post-27277364026982865422013-12-24T13:44:00.000-08:002013-12-24T19:45:59.911-08:00Knots - For Fun as well as Search and RescueI really like this new website I discovered: Animated Knots by Grog.
The step-by-step directions are easy to follow.
Learning to tie a one-handed bowline knot could just safe your life someday if you ever need to be extracted from a cliff or crevasse and your other hand is injured.
OpsGear's Jager has a nice video on this topic as well.
The Alpine Butterfly loop is a knot that can be Safety Nealhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07342660829277897082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6491228.post-20082897598127596642013-08-30T20:53:00.001-07:002013-08-30T21:02:14.307-07:00Safety Neal's Bread Pudding RecipeMy wife, Sarah, accuses me of becoming a foodie. That is definitely an exaggeration, but I have done more cooking in the last year than in the previous decade.
I've been experimenting with bread pudding and found it to be an easy and cheap dessert.
I start with a loaf of crusty French or Italian bread. I cut it into finger-thick slices and leave it out overnight to get hard.
Then in a bowl I Safety Nealhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07342660829277897082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6491228.post-39356164425829040392013-06-29T14:55:00.001-07:002013-06-29T14:55:08.636-07:00Hello World! I just connected the Fireside Chat to Google Plus. This blog isn't dead, but it is pretty dormant. But this is where I will park a long thought sometimes and then link to it from Facebook, Google Plus or LinkedIn.Safety Nealhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07342660829277897082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6491228.post-43433201082932224412012-12-20T19:30:00.004-08:002015-01-15T10:15:49.835-08:00Some of my favorite tactical things My name is Neal and I am a gear geek.
.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; }
Safety Neal on
Park Patrol (2011).
These are some of my favorite things.
Tactical is a word with a variety of meanings. IMHO tactical gear is anything designed for getting shit Safety Nealhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07342660829277897082noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6491228.post-64389241582028974072012-12-11T13:36:00.001-08:002012-12-11T13:36:03.088-08:00Snowfall.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } Franconia II, originally uploaded by Anton Th. M.. Safety Nealhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07342660829277897082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6491228.post-37814423907417242272012-09-23T17:52:00.000-07:002012-10-01T14:47:57.357-07:00A modest proposal for improving our gun lawsFirst, I am a gun owner. I love my guns. I give them names like zombie killer and the holdout.
I don't have any children, which is good, because my home is littered with guns, swords, machetes, bayonets, hatchets, and batons.
I like to say that the mind is the weapon and everything else in the world is a tool. But a sword is a tool elegantly designed for the sole purposes of stabbing and Safety Nealhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07342660829277897082noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6491228.post-34480450844798152912012-07-27T15:00:00.001-07:002012-07-27T15:02:25.898-07:00Pandemic Simulation Video GameThe game Pandemic II challenges you to destroy the world. Are you up to the challenge or will you let a bunch of monkeys in lab coats defeat you?
Cross-Posted to theBellman and the Safety Neal's Zombie Defense Blog.Safety Nealhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07342660829277897082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6491228.post-85013518387248493792012-04-20T12:28:00.002-07:002012-04-20T12:28:59.198-07:00Yet another sign of the apocalypse?Safety Nealhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07342660829277897082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6491228.post-29146218219691347902012-04-16T14:15:00.001-07:002012-04-16T14:15:28.098-07:00Safety Neal's New Health Care DirectiveI just updated my health care directive. A copy is available on Google Docs and the original currently resides in the 3rd drawer of the filing cabinet of my office at William Mitchell.Safety Nealhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07342660829277897082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6491228.post-77091977938033372132012-02-28T14:42:00.004-08:002012-02-28T14:44:21.827-08:00Earth GazingTime lapse images of the Earth as seen from the International Space Station below.
This makes me wish we had a thriving low orbit manufacturing industry so I could escape the bonds of Earth...Safety Nealhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07342660829277897082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6491228.post-47738026902472833942012-02-22T18:13:00.001-08:002012-02-22T18:17:40.208-08:00Google Makes the World a Cyber PlaceGoogle apparently is well en route to marketing augmented reality glasses.
[Google's augmented reality] glasses will have a low-resolution built-in camera that will be able to monitor the world in real time and overlay information about locations, surrounding buildings and friends who might be nearby, according to the Google employees. The glasses are not designed to be worn constantly — Safety Nealhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07342660829277897082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6491228.post-5858245422198343692012-02-07T11:15:00.000-08:002012-02-12T16:14:30.575-08:00Cyborg Neal ApproachesScientific American has a short discussion of the potential of displaying information in a person's contacts or on eyeglasses.
The new system consists of advanced contact lenses working in conjunction with lightweight eyewear. Normally, the human eye is limited in its ability to focus on objects placed very near it.
The contact lenses contain optics that focus images displayed on the Safety Nealhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07342660829277897082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6491228.post-1075595831831058452011-11-29T15:24:00.001-08:002011-11-29T15:37:54.958-08:00Transhumanism - Nano-Bio-Info-Congo ConvergenceHumanity+ discusses the potential for human development based on emerging technologies of Nanotechnology, Biotechnology, Information Technology and Cognitive Neuroscience. This is simplified to Nano-Bio-Info-Congo or NBIC.
NBIC will likely be used to enhance intelligence, mobility, cognitive qualities, vision and hearing. “I think we will stop short of eugenics but proceed to offer neurological Safety Nealhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07342660829277897082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6491228.post-92161992195822156382011-09-13T12:31:00.000-07:002011-09-29T15:25:38.842-07:00The Law as Social SoftwareI recently read an op-ed by Douglas Rushkoff, Are Jobs Obsolete? . An interesting viewpoint... it strikes me as an clever new paradigm that has little to no chance of becoming widely held in the United States in the near future. (I contend because our electorate is not very clever, by and large.)
I was unfamiliar with Mr. Rushkoff, so I did some searching and discovered this short video of an Safety Nealhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07342660829277897082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6491228.post-31210451619423088172011-07-01T16:20:00.001-07:002011-07-02T10:25:06.548-07:00CONvergence.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } Zombie Killer outfit from Safety Neal's Photostream. CONvergence is an interesting event. It's like a convention of conventions: steampunk, zombies, LARP, gaming, belly dancing...Safety Nealhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07342660829277897082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6491228.post-5567470436475910102011-06-05T15:53:00.000-07:002011-06-05T16:01:53.795-07:00CDC Zombie WarningSurvival in the zombiepocalypse will require more than just luck. Of utmost importance is the survival mindset and a working knowledge of zombies.But even the most determined individual will need some supplies. The Centers for Disease Control recently released suggested survival supplies and they are great, insofar as they go.But they left out one important item: a machete..flickr-photo { border:Safety Nealhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07342660829277897082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6491228.post-18309571355729547462011-04-01T15:09:00.000-07:002011-04-02T12:13:03.674-07:00The Unintended Consequences of Abundant EnergyFrom the Archdruid Report:[T]he average European uses around a third as much energy per capita as the average American, and has a better standard [of] living by most of the usual measures. Until recently... I’d assumed that this was simply a function of waste and mismanagement on our part, and a more efficient use of limited resources on theirs. Still, I find myself wondering if there’s a direct Safety Nealhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07342660829277897082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6491228.post-44334607462767794042011-03-12T10:11:00.001-08:002011-03-12T11:16:11.106-08:00Responding to Cascading DisastersCascading disasters occur when one disaster triggers another. Japan is poised on the brink of a series of cascading disasters in Fukushima prefecture. Cascading disasters are especially challenging because they quickly reduce a country's capacity to respond. Infrastructure systems are necessarily interdependent. The earthquake and tsunami destroyed much of Japan's electrical and transportation Safety Nealhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07342660829277897082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6491228.post-14876456228355555392011-02-25T08:54:00.001-08:002011-02-25T09:09:44.947-08:00Threatcon 1: What disasters are most overhyped?New America Foundation's Michael Lind has a provocative article on Foreign Policy's website discussing bullshit concerns that animate public policy discussions and lead to apocalypse fatigue.I agree with Mr. Lind that the threat of nuclear terrorism is overblown (premise #1), that Europeans are not pacifists (#3), and that water-sharing is not a basis for the peace process (#8). But I am stronglySafety Nealhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07342660829277897082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6491228.post-79298894173603333102010-12-06T22:32:00.001-08:002010-12-06T22:32:58.681-08:00Overwatch.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } hasta la victoria..., originally uploaded by confusoefelice. Safety Nealhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07342660829277897082noreply@blogger.com0