on WHY ARE WE RE-OPENING ALREADY? We’re re-opening?! Hooray! It’s all over! Wait…Didn’t the experts (and Globally Heated) say we would need to do the stay-at-home thing for months? And limit certain activities for a year or more? And what about cases going up? Is it safe out there or not? Across the country, states and… Continue Reading The Psychology of COVID-19 Denial
on Placing blame is a pretty natural reaction. If something goes wrong, we can’t fix anything or make it better if we don’t know what caused things to go wrong in the first place. But, if we place that blame on the wrong person, the wrong activity, the wrong variable, it ends up being an exercise… Continue Reading Whose Fault Is It Anyway?
on Having what you need on hand before a disaster strikes can be easier than you think—but why do so many of us mess it up? (The answer is a level of surprising worthy of a clickbait title…) Bottled water? One of those hand-crank radio-flashlight combinations? Six months’ worth of military surplus MREs? A flamethrower? Picking… Continue Reading The Supplies Surprise
on I walked past the authorities in hazmat suits and masks, only to be motioned to proceed down a short hall to be screened again, this time in a small cubicle. After handing over bags and passport, explaining my entire situation over again—with liberal use of hand gestures and several attempts at finding a phrasing that… Continue Reading Disaster Planning: Escape from Shanghai!
on If there is anything that is permeating the national conversation wholly and completely as of late, it’s a bunch of numbers and percentages tossed like spaghetti at a wall hoping something might stick. And a lot of those same numbers and percentages are freaking a lot of people out. So let’s get into what all… Continue Reading Numbers are hard, yo
on Who wants to listen to news anchors spout off a bunch of percentages and rates of change without any context? No one. No one wants that. Communication about numbers has been a struggle during this crisis, and it has not exactly gotten better over time. If there are any cardinal rules in communicating during a… Continue Reading Panic & Percentages
on Disaster declaration, state of emergency, public health crisis. It’s a big ol’ mess. Between all the legal acts, the paperwork, the bureaucracy, it’s tough to unravel how exactly US disaster response works. Government officials and public personalities are talking about declarations and executive orders and the like as if everyone is supposed to actually know… Continue Reading Disasters, Emergencies, Public Health, Oh My!
on Alex and I have been embroiled in the disaster field for over a decade now. Between volunteering, training, work, and education, we have dedicated a lot of time and effort to the subject of disaster preparedness. We honestly thought we were prepared to deal with pretty much anything. Both of us struggle with just how… Continue Reading Beginning to Live That COVID-19 Life
on For months Alex and I had been going back and forth on this absurd idea. We should start a podcast. It was an empty refrain for a while, an idea without substance or direction, barely an idea if we’re being totally honest. Dude, we should definitely start a podcast. It became more solid. A messy,… Continue Reading HOLY BANANAS, WE’RE WRITING A BLOG