Socks

I'll bet you don't have as many socks in your bug out bag as Oregon Mike has in his backpack.  He uses socks as little mini pack bags in his backpack for camping, and so forth.  I think that in addition to extra socks for wearing, if worse comes to worse, you could have lots of extra socks to spare if you follow his fine example.  Hope his fiancee doesn't do him an injury for absconding with hers.

Keeping Children Entertained When Surviving in Place

As I was reading Digg this morning, a lot of folks had dug an article about remembering the taste of Play-Doh.  The things people reminisce about!  However, it reminded me of the many times in my childhood when we were snowed in, and mom made homemade playdough, and it was perfectly safe to eat, although I recall it was very salty.

One of the commenters mentioned edible playdough as well, and provided a link to a page all about, yes, edible playdough.  There are more links below to other recipes.  There are two types, ones made with peanut butter, and ones made with flour.  A properly stocked prepper's pantry should have all the ingredients needed to keep small children entertained fairly quietly. 

I recall that mom actually had a book with the recipe, and other fun, quiet activities.  That book is probably no longer in print, but if you have children, a similar book would probably be a good idea:

Airport Security

Read an interesting article this morning, courtesy of Digg, about how Isreal handles airport security.  Considering that they've been dealing with terrorists for a lot longer than any other country in the world, I think having a look at their security measures is a good idea.  Check out this article from the Star.  Despite facing dozens of potential threats each day, the security set-up at Israel's largest hub, Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport, has not been breached since 2002, when a passenger mistakenly carried a handgun onto a flight. How do they manage that?

Behavioural profiling.  Ignoring the politification (is that a word?) of the word profiling, it is a reality that people, regardless of race, gender, religious beliefs or age, who are planning to do something that people will want them to not do and flies in the face of their own instincts,  will exhibit certain behaviours unconsciously, and these behaviours can be observed by someone who has been properly trained.  Many layers of well-trained eyes protect travelers without invading their privacy.

This is a concept that has been around for a long time.  Indeed, some researchers believe that intuition is an unconscious form of behavioural profiling.