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       Stardate: 20190202.11h27  
       Location: Guest room in cybah lawn chair
       Input Device: Cybah Rig attached to AlphaSmart dana.wireless
       Audio: Heavy rain hitting the roof.
       Visual: Shell, nano.
       Energy: 90% 
       Mental: 90%
       Emotional: Calm, relaxed
       
       
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       Last entry I had mentioned that I had finished 
       listening to an audio book and reading an analog 
       book.  I only had a chance to write about the audio 
       book.  The analog book that I finished was called 
       _One Second After_, by WIlliam Forstchen.   It's a  
       story about the a small town in North Carolina and 
       how they try to survive after the United States is 
       attacked by an Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP.)  I 
       really enjoyed reading the book, even though the 
       subject is scary.  It reminded me of the book, 
       _Alas, Babylon_, by Pat Frank, which I read a long 
       time ago.  I enjoyed that book as well and both 
       are very similar.  It is about people trying to 
       survive in a small town in Florida after a nuclear 
       attack on the US.  I'm not sure why, but I keep 
       getting drawn to this genre of distopian, 
       post-apocolypitic stories.  Not just books, but 
       movies, video games, etc.
       
       The book got me thinking about how things would 
       change in my life and in my world if something like 
       an EMP were to go off close enough where my area 
       was affected.  All of the stuff with circuit boards 
       would be fried.  My family's cars would not run.  
       Water and food supplies would be limited.  There 
       would probably be a lot of looting and I'd have to 
       defend my family.  Lots of scary things to think 
       about.  I'm not sure how long we would be able to 
       survive.  How would you even prepare for such an 
       event?  My family keeps some emergency supplies, 
       but it's definitely not enough.  Speaking of which, 
       I need to revisit my disaster plan and supplies.
       
       When I read this type of story and try to see it in 
       the context of my own life, it makes me really 
       scared.  Most of my skills are related to 
       technology which would all be fried with an EMP.  
       The limited survival skills that I do have would 
       probably not be adequate, especially in the long 
       term.  I do enjoy camping and have some of those 
       skills, but I ask my self would it be enough for 
       the survival of myself and my family?
       
       A couple years ago, I thought about signing up for 
       one of the community disaster training programs.  
       Since then, I have not made the time to sign up and 
       learn.  Most of my learning has been in books and 
       not much applied learning.  Perhaps now is the time 
       to revisit this...at least revisit my disaster plan 
       and supplies.  
       
       I just checked the gopherpedia [1] and there is a 
       sequel as well as a third book in this series.  I 
       think I will pick those up when I have a chance.
       
       So if you are interested in stories on surviving 
       post-apocolyptic events and disaster planning, I 
       would recommend this book. 
       
       [1] gopher://gopherpedia.com/0/One%20Second%20After
       
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