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Emergency Warnings: how much warning is too much warning?

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A bit over a year ago, Daily Gumboot correspondent Katie Burns wrote a great post about the rise of resilience planning in emergency management, focussing on some great work being done in Australian cities. I remember reading it and feeling pretty stoked to be part of such a forward thinking and innovative bunch of people.

For a good ten years in Victoria, Australia, there was a significant movement towards developing resilient and responsible communities that understood the dangers of where they lived, knew how to respond to an emergency and could look after one another in a crisis.

Then, exactly three years ago today, everything changed when 173 people died and 2029 homes were destroyed in the Black Saturday bushfires. A Royal Commission was launched into how and why so many people lost their lives, and the final report included 67 recommendations for how emergency preparedness, education and response could be better managed.

One of the biggest changes for Victorians was the implementation of the Emergency Alert Warning System – a phone based warning system that sends a recorded message to landline phones and a text to cell phones advising people of impending emergencies. Over the past two years, the system has been used extensively to spread messages about floods, fires, chemical spills and cyclones, and I’m fairly certain that a message for the zombie apocalypse is ready to go, and just waiting for someone to push the button.

The system is a great tool, and is undoubtedly an important part of the overall emergency warning process, but sadly, it seems to be slowly removing the resilience and sense of responsibility that used to be a characteristic of Victorian communities during emergencies.

Anecdotal evidence is starting to show that instead of using intuition and local knowledge, people are now waiting for official warnings before they decide how they will respond to an emergency situation. One quote from a Melbourne newspaper has stayed with me since the floods in Victoria early last year, when a long-term local in a flood-prone area was quoted as saying “we could see the river rising behind the house, but we never got a warning”.

Don’t get me wrong, Emergency Alert is a great system, but like all great systems, it replies on a person to operate it, and sometimes that person has far less idea of what is actually happening than the people on the ground that are living the emergency.

It’s a simple fact of emergency management that sometimes, communities know better than official sources, and if you can see, hear, smell or feel an emergency happening around you, waiting for an official warning might not be the safest thing to do.

What do you think? Is there such thing as over-warning a community of an impending emergency situation? Or is it the role and responsibility of emergency agencies to ensure that as far as possible, everyone receives a warning whenever and wherever they need it?

An Ode to the Lamrichs!

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[Editor's note: on Saturday, two of my favourite people in Vancouver the world, Kurt and Theodora Lamrich, tied the knott - at the Planetarium, and it was epic. And their reception at Main Street's Heritage Hall was equally epic and unfolded as a true representation of the couple's love and character. For example, the hashtag #TheoandKurtkiss was trending on Twitter by the end of the evening. The wedding was, like there love is, truly galactic. More importantly, it was foretold by one of William Shakespeare's little known comedic characters, Hornlet. The poem unfolds below. Enjoy!]

HORNLET: To wed, or not to wed–that is the question:

Whether ’tis proper to wait four years to marry

Finding each other, your quite good fortune

Did you take arms against a sea of troubles

And with our help, ended them. Tonight, no sleep–

No more–and when you sleep to say we end.

Marriage, tell your story together forever

That love found in you. ‘Tis a declaration

We devoutly wished. To love, to wed–

Marriage—to live your dreams: ay, there’s the rub,

For in your marriage what dreams may come

When you are nestled in your lovers’ coil,

Must give us pause. There’s the respect

To grow old together of so long life.

For you will bear the whips and scorns of time,

Th’ NPA is wrong, the Heinrich’s qualified

The pangs of bromance love, did some delay,

The insolence of Hornlet, and fiery burns

That nutted merit Lammer’s friendship makes,

When she herself might cross the hall take

View a bare bottom? What do neighbours share,

Some advice to live your married life,

Or the dread of zombies after death,

The undiscovered marriage, from you’s bourn

No traveller returns, journey you will,

And will you rather bear the love you have

And fly to places that we know not of?

This wedding does make lovers of us all (not literally, that’d be weird),

And thus the serious tone of my elocution

Is shaded o’er with a much happy thought,

Your enterprise of red hair and eyebrows

With this regard your currents intertwined

And love the name of Lamrich. — Soft you now,

The fair Theodora! — Kurt, kiss her crimsons

And we all your love remember.

- Exeunt

Octopi Ends 2 Game Losing Streak… Decisively

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It was a cool day on Wednesday out at UBC’s Thunderbird Stadium. Octopi was taking on Multiple Sportosis in its third Urban Rec soccer game this season. The stakes were high. The past two games had been crushing defeats. The first game against top-ranked Nomads FC had been a devastating 6-2 loss.

“They broke our back early on in the first half,” said striker John Horn. “After that we just didn’t have a chance.”

The next game was equally grim. Out-manned (not to mentioned out-womaned), Octopi was again able to score early on only to get out run by Turf Stains. The ol’ “no sub cause we be mad skilled strategy” the team was forced to deploy due to a shortened roster meant by the second half, many of the team were lumbering about the field like dinosaurs. The end result, a 4-1 loss, was a bitter pill to swallow for the new expansion team.

Despite two tough games, Octopi came roaring out of the gate this Wednesday displaying a mix of hard strikes and rock solid defense that the team’s manager Kurt Heinrich says he’d always expected.

“From the get go, I always new there was something special about this team. The defense is almost impossible to breach, especially when we’ve got Walters and Hogkins anchoring the line,” says Heinrich. “This is the Octopi the fans were promised and with a little luck, this is the Octopi we’ll be seeing in the future.”

The game started with a series of terrific goals from Octopi strikers Erin Loxam and John Horn. Mid fielder Kristina Pikksalu made beautiful plays happen. Keeper David Willinsky ensured nothing slipped through and into the net.

After the team identified Multiple Scorosis’ primary danger (the tall blue shirted guy), they were quickly able to neutralize the opposing side’s offense.

The end result, a 5-0 shutout for Octopi, put the team on the scoreboard and was a signal to the rest of the league that the pink shirted crew would not be fodder for an easy victory.

The next game will be Wednesday, February 8 against Totti Hots Purr.

Quebec’s political scene upside down

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Last spring, I wrote a post on the great Daily Gumboot following the federal elections, trying to explain Quebec’s unexpected vote for the NDP. I thought a conservative majority could help sovereignist parties, such as the PQ, so far it has not been the case. Since then, Quebec’s politics has continued moving quite a bit. Pools are extremely volatile, new actors are emerging; others are destroying themselves from within. As May 2th election showed, Québécois seem to look for change, but do not know where to find it.

Let’s start with the old parties. Liberals are in power since 2003, under Jean Charest. They have sunk extremely low. Charest’ government is an administrative one, stay with the flow, “do not make drastic changes and you might get re-elected” type of government. However, his government has lost most of its important ministers (one died, the other left for good private sector jobs), but most of all, it has been crippled with incompetence, bad decisions, and numerous scandals, notably his refusal for a year and half to implement a commission of inquiry on corruption in the construction sector). In the moment, Charest maintains his support only in liberal strongholds.

The Parti Québécois is also facing a storm after another. As the official opposition leader, Pauline Marois has suffered many attacks coming from inside her own party. Last June, 3 MPs left to sit as independents (Jacques Parizeau’s wife, a well-know actor and a former minister) to protest her leadership; another one left to form his own sovereignist party (Option Nationale); lately, a last one has joined the CAQ (see below). On top of this, different groups or influential personalities have called for her to renounce. In the last weeks, Gilles Duceppe has intended what has been described as a failed coup to replace Marois, without results. We have to remember that the PQ was formed as a coalition, including right and left wing nationalists. Now that a referendum seems very unlikely, even if the PQ takes power, this coalition seems to be falling apart.

While old parties are having a rough time, new ones are growing. Québec Solidaire is getting a lot of love from disillusioned left-wingers and former PQ followers. Based mostly in Montreal, it has one elected MP, Amir Kadhir who is party co-leader with well-known feminist Françoise David (yes, they have two equal leaders). Kadhir has been very effective in giving QS a great deal of visibility and raising new issues at the Assamblée Nationale. Pools are around 10% for them and are obtaining more support outside Montreal, which has always been their biggest challenge.  So much so that rumors are running the PQ is looking to make an alliance with QS in the next election. One thing is for sure, QS is stealing votes mainly to the PQ.

Another party just disappeared, the center-right ADQ (Action Démocratique du Québec) who had offered a disappointing performance as the official opposition in 2007-2008 and lost its life-long leader Mario Dumont. Their positions included usual right-wing reforms, such as limiting immigration, slash social programs, etc. After a very difficult year, the ADQ just got integrated in the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ), a recently formed political party. Former PQ minister and businessman François Legault has regrouped individuals from all political families (PQ, Liberal –both provincial and federal-, ADQ). It stands as nationalist, yet no sovereignist, and refuses labels. Journalists describe the CAQ as center-right while Legault says they are neither left nor right but pragmatic. Basically, they want to reform the state, fighting bureaucracy while using the state as an economic force. For example, Legault proposes to increase teachers’ salaries but evaluate them to be able to fire the inefficient ones. The CAQ’s program is not very clear still. Its pool numbers were very high at first, now are around 30%. In my opinion, the CAQ main problem will be similar to the PQ’s, getting individuals with different ideologies working together, in short being a coalition… For example, MP François Rebello left the PQ and joined Legault to “undertake a green Quebec” while former ADQ MPs have always been very critical of environmentalists.

Next elections could be this spring or this fall, it is very difficult to say which party will win. For now it is a tie between the CAQ (31%) and Liberals (29%), PQ (25%) being very close behind. Charest could pass trough, since all the other parties are courting francophone votes and he can almost certainly count on most Montreal West Island ridings. However, things change quickly and Québécois seem to change their political tastes even quicker.

How to NOT Look Like an Idiot

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We all have those moments where we rush into a situation too quickly or are overzealous in making a good impression. Particularly in cyberspace, ease of access has given us unprecedented opportunity to act without thinking, and bad decisions can plague us.

When you’ve made yourself look like a fool, how do you bounce back? Those of us who like a challenge know that sometimes there is a second chance to make a good impression. Jon Bon Jovi once said, “Success is falling down 9 times and getting up 10,” and people love that guy.

  1. Acknowledge that, yes, you did make a fool out of yourself. Stating that you have a problem is the first step in any good recovery. So attend some meetings.
  2. Laugh it off. Successful people can laugh at themselves. Knowing when to lighten up is an important skill. Psychologists have studied how a blunder can shape others’ perception of us and evidence suggests that a little incompetence can actually increase our likeability and trustworthiness. Of course, if people already think you’re an idiot, you will simply confirm their diagnosis.
  3. Make a good recovery. The next move you make better be a good one. There’s nothing like spilling coffee on yourself and then cracking a good one-liner. Even if it comes at the expense of someone else, it’s better to be labeled a jerk than a klutz.
  4. Get out clean. Give your quarry some breathing room. If you hang around too long, you will look desperate. Head for the hills or you will end up babbling like Ricky Gervais.
  5. If you run into this person again, repeat Step 2 frequently. You are lucky to have a story that people can tease you about as this is the foundation of all good relationships. So laugh at yourself and quietly take note of their flaws. Just find things that are fair game like having no luck with the ladies; joking about your friend’s failure to make child support payments is low.
  6. Listen to more Ray Lamontagne: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrZkaj37kA0 The guy is good.

If these steps don’t work, run like hell. There are no heroes here. Live to fight another day.

Photo courtesy of JD Hancock

The Apocalypse Project Concludes

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And now, dear readers, you can survive and thrive the apocalypse!

You’re welcome.

Over the past week, our international team of correspondents – many of whom are experts in post-apocalyptic studies (the other one is named “Martin”) – discussed how the world will probably end, what it will look like around the world, what skills you will need to survive, how you will live on anyway, and a general planning guide for the post-apocalyptic world. We wrapped up the week with a special The List and Kurt pulled himself together to complete a rousing interview with John Connor (because Kurt probably believes in Johnism).

Anyway, here is a brief and editorialized synopsis of the week’s offerings:

Day 1: The Apocalypse Project Begins!

  • Lesson learned: there is something really, really interesting happening with the planets in our solar system; this being said, the infinite John Horn’s who live in the infinite other universes don’t really think it’s that interesting. Yeah, I just blew your mind!

Day 2: The Many Horsemen of the Apocalypse

  • Lessons learned: first, thanks to Lord Hashbrown III for teaching everyone how to spell “Gumboot” in Ancient Mayan; second, while I certainly champion Kurt’s well-supported argument that computers – or, more specifically, “Google” – will rise up and destroy us, it also seems highly likely that Cobra Commander has some sort of zombie-based strategy up his sleeve; third, let’s face it, Mother Nature isn’t too pleased with us and she’s probably going to be the one who ends it all (civilization, not the Earth).

Day 3: The Global Toolkit of Skills You Will Need to Survive the Apocalypse

  • Lessons learned: I dunno…something about throwing dinner parties for Marxists?!

Day 4: An Apocalypse Planning Guide

  • Lessons learned: community asset maps and outdoor skills are essential in the post-apocalyptic world; we need to know where things are and, most likely, how to fight zombies in the woods. Oh, and cardio is really, really important, too. Because whether it’s a Terminator, a thousand zombies, or a tidal wave, when the world ends you’re going to be outrunning something.

Day 5: The ApocaList

  • Lesson learned: Michelle really doesn’t like it when I put her On Notice, even if it’s all in good fun. And, in her defense, she has since come up with a much better survival plan – we don’t want to share it, though, because then you (or worse, Google) will know.

Day 6: Interview with John Connor

  • Lesson learned: Kurt Heinrich is an intrepid interviewer who can travel in the future to conduct an interview that is published in the past because he sent his father back in time to work for The Daily Gumbo – they made how many of these movies?

Courtesy of Kookaburra2011

In conclusion, The Daily Gumboot community hopes that you this series made you laugh, made you scrunch-up your face in a quizzical manner, made you angry, and, most importantly, made you think about the end of the world. After all, it’s probably the only world we’ve got. So, before we, as a community, plan how to live once it dies, let’s think about how we can work together to keep it alive!

–

Masthead photo courtesy of Stuck in Customs

An Apocalypse Planning Guide

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According to the Mayan calendar, we have 329 days until the end of the world.  If you haven’t started planning yet (nothing like a “DEADline”), I’ve started to put together a planning guide of things to do to get ready for the impending disaster that will ensue.

Check something (if not many things off) your bucket list.
Our time on earth is limited.  We all have lots of things we would like to do someday but it is so easy to let the routine of busy schedules get in the way.  If you don’t have a bucket list of things that you want to do someday, make one, and then prioritize a couple of things that you can do this year.  It will help with the mental preparation for the end of the world if you know that you have a few less things outstanding.

Explore apocalyptic/dystopian scenarios through novels and film.
While the earlier debate in this series of computers vs. zombies may have you convinced of how the end will come, it seems to me that there are lots of other options for how the world could end.  It could be a flood, it could be a nuclear winter, it could be a plague, it could be World War III, or it could just be the end of the world as we know it with corporations, governments, the media, and/or all of humanity changing how we live in terrible, horrific ways.  Thankfully, the human imagination has explored countless scenarios already through the genre of dystopian novels and film, and even has the sub-genre specializing in apocalypse.  Wikipedia has compiled extensive summary, so check out a few to see what we might be in for.

Prepare a community asset map.
When the apocalypse comes, you will not be alone.  You need to look around you to think about how your community will cope.  And this shouldn’t be an exercise in who is the best candidate to be the “Piggy” on your island.  Instead, I would suggest that through your networks and neighbourhood there are many strengths and opportunities that you haven’t yet discovered.  You need to look around you in a positive way to maximize your chances during the apocalypse and work together to leverage the skills, knowledge and resources that are on hand or can be developed.

Develop outdoor skills.
While the world is ending, odds are food, water, energy, transportation and many of the other things that we enjoy in our everyday lives will stop being as readily available to us.  Plus zombies tend to congregate in urban centres. One of the best ways to prepare for this is to head outside and start learning skills like building fires, sleeping outside, purifying water, traveling by human power (hiking, skiing, canoeing), and protecting food stores from wildlife.

Begin a physical training program.
It might come down to survival of the fittest, so a key part of apocalypse preparation should be physical conditioning (as tempting as it might be to live on a diet of beer and cheese the last couple of months).  You might need to doing some outrunning, some climbing, or some squeezing into awkward spaces if you want to survive. So the generally recommended mix of cardio, strength and flexibility training is likely a good baseline for end of the world preparation. Zombies are slow, but persistent, so focus on endurance training.

Pack an apocalypse emergency kit.
Most of us aren’t even ready with a 72 hour emergency kit that the federal government recommends for natural disasters.  So that isn’t a bad place to start and there is already a great Gumboot post on this.  Since we don’t know how it is going to go down, it would likely pay to have the kit remain fairly light weight and portable in case you need to be on the move.  The bonus is that it shouldn’t be prohibitively expensive and if you already have camp gear most of it can play double duty. Thinks about adapting this kit to include tools practical to both dig gardens and for zombie defense.

Have a plan for December 21.
A combination apocalypse and solstice calls for special plans.  Whether it is a grand party or more low key celebration, you should do have something to do that day to keep you busy up until the end, however it might come.  It is a great chance for reflection, celebration, and exploration of the potential if tomorrow does somehow come.  And most importantly, a time to feast and share.

And in the off chance that the Mayans were wrong, by using this list you still have done something you’ve always wanted to do, explored a genre of literature and film, got to know the strengths and potential of your community, are in better shape, explored the great outdoors, have an emergency kit on hand, and had the great party.  Not a bad way to spend 2012.

Your Online Life and Offline Death in Post-Apocalyptic Times

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Three things receive unconditional respect and are regarded as
near-holy in my home: a German work ethic (Kurt, my partner, is of
German heritage), good food (preferably made with lots of butter), and
Terminators (you heard me). I like to consider the Terminator ethos and ask myself, W.W.J.C.D? In fact, it’s what came to mind after Daily Gumboot editor-and-chief John Horn asked me to contribute to the post-apocalyptic series: what would John Connor do?

As a huge Terminator fan, I can say with some certainty that in times like these, with our online lives spread across social networks, ecommerce sites and Google, John Conner would be prepared. And Sarah Connor would be proud.

More of us need to be thinking like John Connor. That’s because, in totally non-resistance fashion, there’s no universal protocol on what happens to our online life after we die.

Facebook, for example and with proper documentation, can turn your profile into an online memorial. There’s also an app that allows you to prepare a video message for your friends and family. The people in charge of releasing that message are called your “trustees” and will only allow it to be sent when you’re gone. Twitter, on the other hand, simply shuts down your account rather than hand it off to next of kin.

There will come a day when it’s left to our family and friends to manage our digital identity. Assuming that Skynet hasn’t tried to destroy the human race and the Resistance isn’t too busy fighting to worry about your digital life which would no doubt be controlled by Skynet anyways, it’s worth considering the following checklist to better help the people you love take care of your memory, both on and offline.

What To Do Online Before You Die

1. To the best of your ability (let’s face it, it’s hard to keep track of it all) list all of the online networks, communities, websites, companies and organizations you belong to that require a password login. This includes Facebook and other social network websites as well as online banks and websites you’ve bought from in the past. Keep this in a safe place somewhere on your computer and, preferably, offline. It’s likely a document you’ll want to update, annually. When the time comes your friends and family can follow your wishes.

2. Tools like 1Password will help keep all of your passwords and login information handy and in one place for your next of kin.

3. Do you host your own blog or website? Prepare all of the hosting information and keep it together in one place with instructions on how to proceed. There are also hosting solutions that, for a price, will keep your blog up and live and operating, indefinitely. Maybe even through Judgement Day.

4. There are online services that can send email messages to your contacts so long as it’s prompted by someone you’ve given control. If final farewells are important to you, this may be a service you want to consider. Personally, I would ask one of my close friends (likely a writer from the Daily Gumboot) to prepare a digital eulogy and send it out to my contacts.

5. It’s important to have a will and there are templates and online tools available to help you create a digital version of it. Keep in mind you will still need a notary to make it official.

6. Finally, think about what you want your online legacy to look like — do you want a place where people can come together to send your loved ones their deepest sympathies? Will there be a digital component to your wake? These may sound like morbid questions but I know they’re the ones my friends and family will ask when I’m gone.

I think we’re going to see a lot more activity and conversation around the topic of how we die online in the years ahead. In the meantime, prepare like you would for the Resistance and against any damage that could harm your online memory and the efforts of your loved ones. It’s certainly what John Connor would do.

Photo courtesy Maxwell Hamilton, flickr.

Have I missed anything? I’d love your feedback and advice on how to better preserve  online memory and build an online legacy. Feel free to post, below.