MikeNZ - Member - The Prepared

Kits (1)

Work kit

Work kit

Stuff I have with me at work, includes everyday carry items. Main purpose is to be able to get home (a 40 minute walk) so we can assess the situation as a family and decide on appropriate next steps. Concerns for our region (New Zealand) are: earthquake, tsunami, fire, storm/flood, power/phone outage, maybe civil disruption. It is illegal to carry weapons here.

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Discussions

Reply to: News roundup for Fri, Aug 20, 2021 Posted August 20, 2021

Hi Stephanie, I love these news updates, thanks for all your work in compiling them. Just a comment as a Kiwi, our government may be criticised by some as ‘heavy-handed’, but most of us here in NZ are thankful for not having to live with anxiety over catching COVID and we have lived completely normal lives for the past year as the rest of the world has lived a horror story. Some of this has been sheer luck, but the ‘zero tolerance’ approach our country has opted for has paid off massively in terms of lives saved and even in economic terms, so we are happy.

Reply to: Do latex gloves expire? What is the shelf life of medical gloves? Posted April 15, 2021

As a lab technician I have found over the years that while latex or nitrile gloves don’t ‘expire’ as such they do have an increasing failure rate as time goes by. Every now and again we come across a box of gloves that has an unusually high rate of gloves ripping or disintegrating as you put them on, typically this turns out to be an older batch or a box that was at the back of the shelf and sat there for years unopened. This is not a big problem but does get annoying. However, because so many gloves out of a dud box tear, that box gets used up fast and then the problem goes away!

Reply to: Is the blog being retired? Posted January 15, 2021

I also have missed the ‘Key Developments’ posts over the last week or so. I read a wide variety of news sources yet have frequently been tipped off on a significant news item by one of these posts. The rational summary of the state of the world is much appreciated and these very up-to-date posts make a nice balance to the ‘evergreen’ foundation articles on the site. Given the blissful lack of advertising on this site I’d support a Patreon subscription or email newsletter.

Reply to: US capitol protests, what can we learn? Posted January 8, 2021

I work in a laboratory building so we have fire evacuations several times a year and must admit that even as a fire warden I also go against policy and grab my keys and wallet before clearing the building. As mentioned below by someone, keeping keys, wallet and a jacket handy is a sort of ‘situational preparedness’ and I can generally grab them within seconds, certainly during that ten seconds when everyone hears the alarm and pauses to decide if it is the real deal.

Reply to: Dress like a prepper: the wonders of wool/nylon blends Posted July 26, 2020

Hi John, Great article, I have worn merino top layers for 20+ years and they are fantastic. My favourite brand is Icebreaker (https://www.icebreaker.com/) and I have T-shirts that are a decade old and still use as a base layer. Comfy, warm in cold weather, cool in summer and don’t stink even after 5 days bush-bashing in the New Zealand widerness. The fire/heat resistance is a big plus, I’ve had polypropylene long johns vanish in seconds by standing too close to a campfie, whereas merino just gets the odd hole from errant sparks but doesn’t even fray much. Cheers, Mike

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Reply to: News roundup for Fri, Aug 20, 2021 Posted August 20, 2021

Hi Stephanie, I love these news updates, thanks for all your work in compiling them. Just a comment as a Kiwi, our government may be criticised by some as ‘heavy-handed’, but most of us here in NZ are thankful for not having to live with anxiety over catching COVID and we have lived completely normal lives for the past year as the rest of the world has lived a horror story. Some of this has been sheer luck, but the ‘zero tolerance’ approach our country has opted for has paid off massively in terms of lives saved and even in economic terms, so we are happy.

Reply to: Do latex gloves expire? What is the shelf life of medical gloves? Posted April 15, 2021

As a lab technician I have found over the years that while latex or nitrile gloves don’t ‘expire’ as such they do have an increasing failure rate as time goes by. Every now and again we come across a box of gloves that has an unusually high rate of gloves ripping or disintegrating as you put them on, typically this turns out to be an older batch or a box that was at the back of the shelf and sat there for years unopened. This is not a big problem but does get annoying. However, because so many gloves out of a dud box tear, that box gets used up fast and then the problem goes away!

Reply to: Is the blog being retired? Posted January 15, 2021

I also have missed the ‘Key Developments’ posts over the last week or so. I read a wide variety of news sources yet have frequently been tipped off on a significant news item by one of these posts. The rational summary of the state of the world is much appreciated and these very up-to-date posts make a nice balance to the ‘evergreen’ foundation articles on the site. Given the blissful lack of advertising on this site I’d support a Patreon subscription or email newsletter.

Reply to: US capitol protests, what can we learn? Posted January 8, 2021

I work in a laboratory building so we have fire evacuations several times a year and must admit that even as a fire warden I also go against policy and grab my keys and wallet before clearing the building. As mentioned below by someone, keeping keys, wallet and a jacket handy is a sort of ‘situational preparedness’ and I can generally grab them within seconds, certainly during that ten seconds when everyone hears the alarm and pauses to decide if it is the real deal.

Reply to: Dress like a prepper: the wonders of wool/nylon blends Posted July 26, 2020

Hi John, Great article, I have worn merino top layers for 20+ years and they are fantastic. My favourite brand is Icebreaker (https://www.icebreaker.com/) and I have T-shirts that are a decade old and still use as a base layer. Comfy, warm in cold weather, cool in summer and don’t stink even after 5 days bush-bashing in the New Zealand widerness. The fire/heat resistance is a big plus, I’ve had polypropylene long johns vanish in seconds by standing too close to a campfie, whereas merino just gets the odd hole from errant sparks but doesn’t even fray much. Cheers, Mike