People have probably heard of the Cola wars between Coke and Pepsi but have you ever heard of how Pepsi got started and survived two bankruptcies to become one of the largest conglomerates in the world ? Pepsi's formula was initially brought together as a more healthy product without the habit forming harmful ingredients in their syrup that Coke was known for..

The following video traces Pepsi's history from before 1898 until today. I did not think I would be all that interested in the history of Pepsi but alas I was surprised.

I'm posting this because, honestly, I find that question so often met with blank stares by even the most self proclaimed "conspiracy theorists".

His political slant aside, he's dredged through all the classic topics for decades, been there/done that and written the books to show for it.

I can't, for the life of me, think that he hasn't at some point in every conspiracy theorists trek through knowledge been atleast somewhere with regard to their exposure.

So, not so much a reference to his political sided videos, but what, if anything, has he been apart of in your journey. Secrets societies, aliens, government programs/coverups. etc.

He seems like at the end of the day, no matter how many books he sells, how many views he gets, he'll keep hammering away at what so many self proclaimed "truth seekers" shy away from in order to keep their money flowing.

A doctored photo of The Pentagon blowing up on a fake Bloomberg Twitter account sent the stock markets plunging until they figured out it was all fake !! ROFLOL

The DOW suicided itself by about 800 points and other markets tumbled as well ROFLOL

Bet this was staged to draw attention to the new Bill in Congress to "Police" "fake news" !!  




BREAKING: STOCK MARKET Takes Brief Tumble After Fake AI-Generated Photo on Fake Bloomberg Twitter Account Shows Explosion at Pentagon This Morning

Quote:A fake (verified blue check-mark) Bloomberg Twitter account posted an apparently AI-generated photo of an explosion at the Pentagon this morning, and the stock market reacted.


100 Percent Fed Up reports – The reportedly AI-generated image showed a fake explosion at the Pentagon this morning that spread like wildfire across social media platforms, causing a brief selloff on the US Stock market this morning. According to the Kobeissi Letter, there was a $500 billion market cap swing and a drop of 500 points on the S&P in a 30 minute span, as a result of the fake AI image.

Quote:Huge Shipment of Explosive Chemicals Disappears In Mojave Desert, Investigation Underway (May 19, 2023)

30 tons of ammonium nitrate was reported missing from a train car after it stopped in the Mojave Desert.

California officials are investigating the disappearance of 30 tons (61,000 pounds) of ammonium nitrate from a railcar crossing the Midwest. Ammonium nitrate, which is used as fertilizer, can also be used to create explosives and was a key component in the homemade bomb used in the 1995 attack on the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.

The chemical was shipped by train from Cheyenne, Wyoming last month but when it arrived in the Mojave Desert two weeks later, its holding car was empty and the nitrate was gone. Dyno Nobel, the company responsible for shipping the ammonium nitrate is a leader in commercial explosives and filed a report with the federal National Response Center (NRC) on May 10 and an investigation is currently underway.

The Federal Railroad Administration, the California Public Utilities Commission, Union Pacific, and Dyno Nobel are looking into the disappearance, and the railcar is being transported back to Wyoming to undergo a thorough inspection.

It is unclear how or when the chemical disappeared during transit, but Dyno Nobel told KQED News, “The railcar was sealed when it left the Cheyenne facility, and the seals were still intact when it arrived in Saltdale. The initial assessment is that a leak through the bottom gate on the railcar may have developed in transit.”

Given that the chemical can be used to make highly explosive bombs, the loss of such an enormous amount of explosive material is highly concerning, and Stan Blake, a former Wyoming lawmaker and retired train conductor told Cowboy State Daily News it wouldn’t have been difficult to drain the train car of the material. Blake told the outlet that each car has two or three sections with a gate at the bottom, and said, “You can use up a big bar and open that gate and it’ll pour out.”

Dyno Nobel did not immediately respond to Gizmodo’s request for comment but said in a statement to Cowboy State Daily News that the railcar had made multiple stops on its journey and that there is a team working to investigate how the supposed leak occurred. “We take this matter seriously and will work to understand how it happened and how it can be prevented from occurring again,” the spokesperson said.

A Union Pacific spokesperson told Cowboy State Daily News that the loss of the ammonium nitrate is not something to be overly concerned about. “Assuming the loss occurred during transport, the release of the fertilizer to the ground beneath railroad tracks should pose no risk to public health or the environment.”

David King, a Campbell County emergency management coordinator, told the outlet that it isn’t likely the chemical was stolen and said he doesn’t believe it was gathered to be used to create illegal explosives. “If I was going to make an IED [improvised explosive device], ammonia nitrate wouldn’t be my choice of explosive,” he told the outlet, adding, “It’s not a ‘set your hair on fire’ situation.”

All for reducing carbon emissions while eliminating fertilizer and just letting the land go idle .

All states in America seem to have some rumors and stories of some type of Crypto Creature.

https://lists.youmaker.com/links/1sn6LoX.../mWPcGdQPL
Why am I not surprised by this article ? I do believe ventilators killed more than they saved as most came down with bacterial pneumonia after staying on the ventilators for a short time. However a patient who was placed on a ventilator the hospital was awarded big bucks by the government so there was certainly $$$ motivation to place people on the machines. 

We have all heard stories about people using all kinds of medicines to treat COVID successfully as we have all heard of bad side effects coming from other treatments. Aspirin has been around since ancient people were chewing tree bark for the effect.

Quote:Joseph Mercola
May 16 2023
biggersmaller

(JF4/Shutterstock)

0:0020:46






I suspect this popular medicine has been the target of a discrediting campaign for the simple reason it competes with newer, far more expensive blood thinners and pain relievers that cost much more.

STORY AT-A-GLANCE

• There was a massive discrediting propaganda campaign hurled at aspirin by Big Pharma fifty years ago when it came out with expensive and dangerous non-steroidal anti-inflammatories (NSAIDs).
  
• Aspirin is a staple medicine that is frequently recommended as a remedy to control inflammation and prevent blood clots. It could have helped limit the pandemic death toll, had it not been downplayed and ignored.
  
• According to research published in April 2021, aspirin reduced COVID-19 patients’ need for mechanical ventilation by 44 percent, ICU admission by 43 percent, and mortality by 47 percent.
  
• Proteolytic enzymes like lumbrokinase, serrapeptase, and nattokinase are safer and perhaps even superior choices to aspirin for their anti-clot properties. These enzymes, when taken on an empty stomach, act as natural anticoagulants by breaking down fibrin.
  
• Proteolytic enzymes may also be helpful for long-COVID. Researchers have found that people who die from COVID-19 have extensive lung damage caused by persistent virus-infected cells that cause scar formation. Proteolytic enzymes can help dissolve this scar tissue, as fibrin is a primary component.
  

Aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid) was introduced in 1899 as an alternative to sodium salicylate,1 a pain reliever and anti-inflammatory known for its unpleasant side effects such as stomach cramps, heartburn, nausea, and vomiting. It’s been a staple medicine in most households ever since and is frequently recommended as a remedy to control inflammation and prevent blood clots that can lead to stroke and heart attack.
Aspirin also has other health benefits. It helps increase the oxidation of glucose as fuel for your body while inhibiting the release of fatty acids from your fat cells, specifically linoleic acid (LA), an omega-6 fat which I suspect is a primary driver of chronic disease.
This is important because nearly everyone in the United States has excessive LA in their tissues, as it takes seven years of a low LA diet to get it down to healthy levels. So, the last thing you want to do is increase the release of LA into your body from fat stores. It is far better to release LA slowly and allow your liver to process it. It is water soluble, so you can urinate it out without it being metabolized into inflammatory prostaglandins.
Importantly, aspirin will also lower your baseline cortisol—indirectly by lowering inflammation, and directly by inhibiting the enzyme 11-beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase Type 1. This enzyme synthesizes active cortisol from the inactive precursor cortisone.
Aspirin lowers the production of stressed induced aldosterone, which can help to lower blood pressure. Aspirin increases your levels of carbon dioxide and progesterone while inhibiting the major inflammatory pathway, NF kappa-B, which will help your body naturally increase the synthesis of two powerfully important hormones that your body needs, testosterone, and progesterone.
Aspirin also uncouples mitochondria. Uncoupling of mitochondrial oxidative metabolism from ATP [adenosine triphosphate] production can help to increase your metabolic rate and help you lose weight. Dinitrophenol is a drug that, like aspirin, uncouples mitochondrial metabolism and produces incredible weight loss. Sadly, it has a very low therapeutic index, so its effective dose is close to its toxic dose and is widely considered too dangerous for clinical use and is no longer available in the United States.
Aspirin Reduced COVID-19-Related Hospital Deaths by 47 Percent
Aspirin could also have helped limit the pandemic death toll, had it not been downplayed and overlooked. Many news outlets and COVID-19-specific websites warned against the use of aspirin for COVID-19 infection, saying it could cause serious bleeding.
While bleeding is a potential side effect, aspirin is no riskier than other anticoagulants, such as heparin,2,3,4 which was recommended by the National Institutes of Health.5
According to research6 published in April 2021, aspirin significantly reduced COVID-19 patients’ need for mechanical ventilation, ICU admission, and subsequent mortality. The retrospective, observational cohort study included patients admitted for COVID-19 infection at multiple hospitals across the United States between March and July 2020. As reported by General Surgery News:7

Quote:“The study’s principal investigator, Jonathan Chow, M.D., an assistant professor of anesthesiology and critical care medicine at George Washington University, in Washington, D.C., said:

Quote:“‘At the beginning of the pandemic, in March and April of 2020, my colleagues and I observed that all these COVID patients in the intensive care unit began to develop excess clot formation and complications related to blood clots and microclot formation throughout the body.’

Quote:“Numerous autopsy studies from last spring showed these patients had activation of platelets throughout the body and an excessive number of precursors to platelets, according to Dr. Chow.

Quote:“‘That got us thinking, ‘Why don’t we start using an anti-platelet medication, such as aspirin, to treat these patients?’ he said. ‘Aspirin has been studied extensively in cardiovascular disease to prevent clot formation, and it is widely available and inexpensive.’”

Chow and his team reviewed the charts of 412 patients, 23.7 percent of whom had either received aspirin within 24 hours of admission, or had taken aspirin for at least seven days prior to admission, and 76.3 percent who did not.
Based on this research, it appears COVID-19-related hospital deaths could have been cut nearly in half, had aspirin been routinely used.

After adjusting for several confounding variables, including comorbidities, aspirin was independently associated with a:

• 44 percent decreased risk for mechanical ventilation.
  
• 43 percent reduced risk for ICU admission.
  
• 47 percent decrease in hospital mortality.
  

Based on this research, it appears COVID-19-related hospital deaths could have been cut nearly in half, had aspirin been routinely used. Chow commented on the results:8

Quote:“The results of the study do not really surprise us because we know that COVID causes excess clot formation and we know that aspirin is a very potent blood thinner. So, when you have a disease that causes clots and a medication that thins your blood, that may lead to the protective effects that we found.”

Aberrant Coagulation in Severe Influenza Pneumonia
As in COVID-19, pneumonia caused by influenza also involves microclotting in the lungs. According to research published in 2016, aberrant coagulation is what causes a hyperinflammatory response in severe influenza pneumonia:9

Quote:“Dysfunctional coagulation is a common complication in pathogenic influenza, manifested by lung endothelial activation, vascular leak, disseminated intravascular coagulation, and pulmonary microembolism.

Quote:“Importantly, emerging evidence shows that an uncontrolled coagulation system, including both the cellular (endothelial cells and platelets) and protein (coagulation factors, anticoagulants, and fibrinolysis proteases) components, contributes to the pathogenesis of influenza by augmenting viral replication and immune pathogenesis.”

This paper also highlighted the benefits of aspirin, noting it:10

• Protects mice from lethal influenza virus infection.
  
• Acts as an anti-influenza virus agent in vitro by inhibiting pro-inflammatory NF-κB activity.
  
• Improves influenza outcomes.
  
• Potentially inhibits platelet activation.
  

Fibrinolytics May Be the Key
According to the 2016 paper above, “Fibrinolysis is involved in both lung inflammation and the influenza A virus life cycle.” Fibrinolysis is a process that prevents blood clots from forming and growing. This is part of your body’s normal processes, but sometimes the clotting becomes too excessive, requiring a fibrinolytic to help break down the clots that have already formed.
Fibrin is the material that blood clots are made of, and while aspirin can help break them down, I believe proteolytic enzymes like lumbrokinase, serrapeptase, and nattokinase are superior choices.
These enzymes, when taken on an empty stomach, away from food, act as natural anticoagulants by breaking down fibrin. They must be taken at least one hour before or two hours after meals containing protein, though. Otherwise, they’ll be wasted in the digestion of the protein in your food and won’t be able to activate their fibrinolytic properties.
Fibrinolytic Enzymes for COVID-19
Another paper11 published in July 2020—this one a case series—also hints at the usefulness of fibrinolytic enzymes for COVID-19. It presented three case studies of patients with severe COVID‐19 respiratory failure who were treated with tissue plasminogen activator (TPA), a serine protease enzyme found on endothelial cells that is involved in the breakdown of blood clots.12
All three patients benefited from the treatment, with partial pressure of oxygen/FiO2 ratios, a measure of lung function, improving from 38 percent to 100 percent.
Other research13 has shown that the thrombolytic activity of equivalent amounts of nattokinase and TPA are identical, so nattokinase could be a useful alternative. The benefit of nattokinase is that you can take it at home, without a prescription, while TPA is an emergency stroke treatment that is only given intravenously to patients suspected of having an ischemic stroke.
Considering fibrinolytic enzymes are thrombolytics comparable to both aspirin14 and TPA, it seems reasonable to conclude that they can be helpful in the treatment of COVID-19.
Fibrinolytic Enzymes May Be Useful in Long-COVID as Well
Another paper15 published in November 2020 highlighted that people who died from COVID-19 had extensive lung damage, including clotting and long-term persistence of virus cells in pneumocytes and endothelial cells.
The findings indicate that virus-infected cells may persist for long periods inside the lungs, contributing to scar tissue. In an interview with Reuters,16 study co-author Mauro Giacca, a professor at King’s College London, described “really vast destruction of the architecture of the lungs,” with healthy tissue “almost completely substituted by scar tissue.”
This scar tissue, Giacca said, may be responsible for so-called “long COVID,” in which symptoms persist for months after the infection has cleared up. “It could very well be envisaged that one of the reasons why there are cases of long COVID is because there is vast destruction of lung (tissue),” he told Reuters. “Even if someone recovers from COVID, the damage that is done could be massive.”
The good news is that proteolytic enzymes can help dissolve scar tissue as well, as fibrin is a primary component. I would alternate between lumbrokinase and serrapeptase, as you’ll need to take it for about three months and sensitivity can develop over time if you use any one of them daily without interruption.
A Breakdown of the Top Three Fibrinolytics
While lumbrokinase, nattokinase, and serrapeptase are all effective thrombolytics, lumbrokinase is by far the most potent, which is why it’s my personal favorite. Lumbrokinase is 30 times more potent than nattokinase and 300 times more potent than serrapeptase.17,18,19
This means you need much higher doses if you’re taking nattokinase or serrapeptase, compared to lumbrokinase. That said, as just mentioned, if you intend to take a fibrinolytic enzyme daily, I recommend alternating them to prevent a sensitivity or allergy from developing. Also, remember that they must be taken on an empty stomach.
Aside from potency, each enzyme also has its own set of benefits that might make one preferable over another:
1. Lumbrokinase: A highly effective anti-thrombotic agent that reduces blood viscosity and platelet aggregation20 while also degrading fibrin, which is a key factor in clot formation.
I recommend that everyone keep some high-quality lumbrokinase in your emergency kit. A while back I developed a significant bruise from a weight training injury. I took a high dose of lumbrokinase for a week, which cleared it up.
I also took lumbrokinase after being stung by three wasps on my forehead right before bed. The stings swelled to nearly the size of half a tennis ball. Wasp venom contains proteins that fibrinolytic enzymes can break down, so I took half a dozen pills and went to sleep.
The next morning, the swelling was nearly gone. If you are going to try this, the sooner you take it after you’re stung, the better it will likely work as it denatures the venom proteins before they inflict their damage.
2. Serrapeptase: Research has shown serrapeptase can help patients with chronic airway disease, lessening the viscosity of sputum and reducing coughing.21 Serrapeptase also breaks down fibrin and helps dissolve dead or damaged tissue without harming healthy tissue.22
3. Nattokinase: Nattokinase has been shown to break down blood clots and reduce the risk of serious clotting23 by dissolving excess fibrin in your blood vessels,24 improving circulation, and decreasing blood viscosity.
Aspirin Has Benefits Similar to Fasting
I have long been a fan of fasting for many reasons, but primarily because it has been known to lower biomarkers of inflammation as well as increase autophagy. Interestingly, there was a study done that suggests that aspirin also does precisely this. The study was in mice and used 8 mg/kg which is the equivalent of about two 5-grain (325 mg) tablets a day.25
The study showed that aspirin, or its active metabolite salicylate, caused autophagy by inhibiting the acetyltransferase activity of EP300 which is a specific gene, also known as p300, which codes for proteins that regulate the activity of many genes in tissues throughout your body. It plays an essential role in controlling cell growth and division, prompting cells to mature and take on specialized functions.
Purchasing Guidelines for Aspirin
Getting back to aspirin, if you do decide to use aspirin, be sure to avoid coated extended-release aspirin. It’s not recommended due to the additives they put in it. Immediate-release aspirin is the preferred version and can be found on Amazon.
Look carefully at the list of inactive ingredients. The only one should be corn starch. I looked long and hard and found one that meets all those criteria. The recommended dose is one 325 milligram tablet per day with your largest meal.
Earlier this year I became convinced of the prophylactic value of aspirin, and I now take 325 mg per day. But I use a version that is not a tablet and is 99 percent pure USP aspirin. I find its prometabolic, anti-lipolytic, anti-inflammatory, anti-cortisol, and antiestrogen effects very appealing, and its safety is well-established.
It is important to understand that there was a massive discrediting propaganda campaign hurled at it by Big Pharma when it came out with its panoply of expensive and dangerous non-steroidal anti-inflammatories (NSAIDs) fifty years ago. Many may not recall that I was the first person on the internet to warn of the dangers of one of these NSAIDs—Vioxx—a year before it was released into the market and killed around 100,000 people.
If you are sensitive to aspirin, it would be best to use a salicylic acid or willow bark supplement. When you consume aspirin, the acetylsalicylic acid is metabolized in your body into salicylic acid, which is the compound responsible for the anti-inflammatory, pain-relieving, and antithrombotic effects of aspirin. This can be found in willow bark.
To learn more about the risks and benefits of aspirin, and how it compares to fibrinolytic enzymes, see “Daily Aspirin—Healthy or Harmful?”

Quote:Space Cadets

Nobody is entirely sure why the US Space Force — the youngest, smallest, and weirdest branch of the Pentagon — exists.

Strikingly, that seems to include the service's top general, Politico reports. In an email sent out to all Guardians — the unfortunate name given to personnel — chief of space operations Chance Saltzman voiced his confusion.
"I have some concerns with our current mission statement," he wrote, as quoted by Politico. "My biggest concern is that the mission statement does not reflect why the Nation has a Space Force and the vital functions Guardians perform."

The memo goes to show that there's still plenty of disagreement over the military branch's purpose, which doesn't bode well, considering the Biden administration is requesting a 2024 budget of $30 billion to fund the whole mess.

Guardians of the Galaxy

The Space Force, established by the Trump administration three years ago, has already struggled with maintaining its image and being taken seriously, especially in light of a Netflix-produced comedy TV show of the same name.

According to its current mission statement, which was established in December 2019, the Space Force is "responsible for organizing, training, and equipping Guardians to conduct global space operations that enhance the way our joint and coalition forces fight, while also offering decision makers military options to achieve national objectives."

But Saltzman found the statement was lacking and didn't fully represent the responsibilities of Guardians.

"Guardians deliver capability," he wrote in the memo. "Guardians operate some of the most technologically advanced systems in the world. In doing so, they deter aggression and, should deterrence fail, protect US interests with military force."

"Additionally, our current mission statement is long and cumbersome," he added. "We can do better."
Worst of all, Saltzman's solution to the pesky problem was to crowdsource a new mission statement from Guardians — Spacey McSpace Force, anybody?

Overall, the general's memo seems to demonstrate that the Space Force is still struggling to come up with answers to some very basic questions. And that doesn't bode well considering the sheer amount of resources needed to keep it running.

Futurism - The Byte

The NAACP has issued a mass travel warning against Florida!!

All People of Color are to stay away!!

The claim is because of hostile policies by Governor DeSantis !!!

I think FL is about 50/50 with Whites/People of Color especially Hispanics like DeSantis.

So it must be an anti-MAGA thing  

NAACP advises against visiting Florida over ‘hostile’ DeSantis polices, gov slams move as ‘stunt’

Quote:The NAACP issued a travel advisory discouraging tourists from visiting Florida to protest Gov. Ron DeSantis’ policies, which the civil rights group claim are “hostile to black Americans” — just days before he’s expected to announce his candidacy for president.

“On a seeming quest to silence African-American voices, the Governor and the State of Florida have shown that African Americans are not welcome in the State of Florida,” the stunning travel advisory released Saturday said.

“Due to this sustained, blatant, relentless and systemic attack on democracy and civil rights, the NAACP hereby issues a travel advisory to African Americans, and other people of color regarding the hostility towards African Americans in Florida,” the group added.

I always like these "Essential Survival Lessons" articles. Thought I would share.

Migrating information 

https://www.theorganicprepper.com/san-an...the-movie/

https://members.preppersuniversity.com/s...the-movie/

Quote:Here are 12 things that interested me, as a prepper, about San Andreas. I’ll try really hard to be vague enough that I don’t spoil the movie.

1. [b]People panic and behave badly.  [/b]In every disaster movie, there’s always someone more concerned with his or her own skin than the skin of a loved one, and this is no exception. Life-threatening terror brings out the worst in many people.  As shown in the movie, some first responders will bail to take care of their own families. The bottom line is, you can’t rely on others to save you. Also, it helps to have some knowledge of engineering and basic physics, too.
   
2. [b]People panic and behave stupidly.  [/b]During the panic of the aftermath of The Big One, people do the dumbest things.  This is true of real life too, and part of the reason for this is cognitive dissonance. People are so complacent about the stability of their everyday lives that it is difficult for them to function when something horrible and out of the ordinary occurs.  Having a mindset that plays through potential disasters ahead of time makes it far easier to accept it when something terrible happens, which in turn, makes it easier to make a viable plan and then act on it in a manner that will aid in survival instead of running around like a chicken without a head.
   
3. [b]Drop, cover, and hold on[/b]. The seismologist guy repeated the same information over and over, but most of the time, people failed to listen. When huge chunks of cement are flying at you, running down the road is not always the best course of action.  The very best thing you can do is get down under something big and stable and hold on tightly.  According to the US Department of Labor, the quake itself doesn’t cause injuries, the aftermath of structural damage causes injuries: “Most earthquake-related injuries result from collapsing walls, flying glass, and falling objects as a result of the ground shaking, or people trying to move more than a few feet during the shaking.” Structural damage to buildings would be vast in a quake like the one depicted. (Here’s more information on potential structural damage.) PS:  Your car is not a big, stable place to go to for cover. (source) Knowing what to expect in the event of an earthquake is very important.
   
4. [b]The ability to communicate is vital[/b].  In the aftermath of a major disaster, your cell phone is very unlikely to work. Partly because everyone else will be trying to use their phones at the same time, and partly because local towers may also have been affected by the disaster. If you live in (or are visiting) an earthquake prone area, a secondary communications device is essential.  This article about an earthquake preparedness kit has some excellent suggestions. Remember that landlines often work when the internet and cell phones do not.
   
5. [b]Also vital: basic first aid skills. [/b] Remember above, where I quoted how must injuries come about from the destruction of buildings?  After the earthquake in Haiti, the CDC reported that the most common injuries were fractures/dislocations, wound infections, and head, face, and brain injuries. Doctors performed wound debridements, amputations, and treatment for orthopedic trauma from crushing injuries. You need to know how to remove debris that might cause further damage, immobilize an injured limb, stop bleeding, apply a tourniquet, and clean a wound at the very least. It also helps if you have some supplies on hand or know where to find them.
   
6. [b]You should always have a plan for the family to meet.[/b]  In the movie, the family has a meeting place planned. This is not something that should be left for the day of a horrible event. You should always have a plan for your family in the event that you can’t communicate.  It helps if you can fly (and steal) a helicopter like The Rock, but since most of us don’t have access to that resource, we have to make other plans. My family always sets up meeting places in case we get separated and my kids know to go there and wait. Actually, we did this from the time they were little and my oldest daughter got in the middle of a clothing rack to “surprise mommy” and I couldn’t find her.
   
7. [b]You always need a backup plan.[/b] In the event that Plan A isn’t going to work, you need to have a Plan B. (And C and D and so on.) It’s really helpful if your family knows what Plan B is so that you are able to meet up and not hope to just randomly find one another. Again, this goes to thinking things through BEFORE a disaster occurs.   You MUST be adaptable to survive.
   
8. [b]When one disaster happens, others soon follow[/b].  This is a frequent truth of disasters.  When one thing goes wrong, some other horrible event is often triggered by that. This was true in the movie, with things like looters, instability of structures which collapsed later, rifts in the roads, and oh yeah, a tsunami.
   
9. [b]Don’t forget tsunamis.[/b] For the love of all things cute and fluffy, if you are anywhere near the coast and an earthquake happens, GO UP. Do not wait until you see the ocean draw outward or you see the gigantic wave approaching. You aren’t going to be able to outrun it, no matter how fit you are. Immediately seek the highest point around if an earthquake occurs when you are near the coast.  We take this a step further when we visit the coast and map out the high points beforehand.  I was gratified that my two San Francisco high points were the ones noted in the movie. There is also some good advice if you just happen to be out boating when a tsunami is approaching.
   
10. [b]Don’t take the closest evacuation route, take the safest evacuation route.[/b]  Because San Francisco is the point of a peninsula, it’s most directly connected to the rest of the state by long bridges. I’ve always thought it would be a terrible idea to attempt to evacuate over those bridges in the aftermath of a disaster, since a) everyone else will be doing the same thing, resulting in gridlock and b) the structure of the bridges is likely to be weakened or damaged by a huge quake and c) a tsunami coming into the bay would sweep vehicle right off the bridge even if it held up.  Oh – and d – there are sharks in the water below – lots of them, which is why Alcatraz is in the middle of the bay. I’m sure they’d just love an all-you-can-eat bridge collapse buffet. But I digress – my personal evacuation route out of the city is south, to where the peninsula joins the mainland. On foot, in a car, doesn’t matter – that is the safest route, although quite a bit further. Anytime we go to San Francisco, I set up a rally point south of the city for a friend to come and pick us up should such an event occur.
    
11. [b]Bring sensible shoes.[/b]  Ladies, no matter how nice we look in heels, fleeing for your life in them doesn’t sound like much fun to me. In the movie, my daughter and I both cringed thinking about how awful it would be to have to climb out of debris in general and how doubly awful it would be to have to do it in non-sensible footwear. If you have to wear heels, at least have something sensible in your bag.
    
12. [b]Gather supplies whenever you see them[/b]. While everyone else is panicking, if you have your wits about you, you’ll be able to gather up supplies that will help you survive. Look for things like bottled water, communication devices, first aid supplies, tools, knives, lighters, and food.