My Thoughts on School Shootings

I believe the solution is simple to discover, though not for the entitled or faint of heart.

Prudent Prepping: Big Crowds, Big Problems

The dust has settled and the First 72 Hours have passed. Follow along as I build a long term plan via Prudent Prepping.     

I spent last weekend at a convention attended by 5,000 like-minded people. We all had a great time, learned some new things, and figured out how to apply what we learned to our lives and the lives of  those around us. It was wonderful... except for the other 4,985 people in the building.

I was with team members from around N. California, most of whom I've never met in real life, along with my direct contacts. I sat and met with the local team of 15 several times after the presentations to plan dinners and recap the days' events. Many of these meetings were less than 10 minutes long at the convention site, with a few lasting much longer. The off-site meetings were not a problem because they had less noise, were easier to be heard and had more room to move. Noise, hearing and space/room around me are a concern as a safety matter, not an emotional one.

My closest friends and I planned out what to do in an emergency, but the other people did not think it was necessary. We looked for emergency exits, staircases and even fire extinguishers, even if we were never going to use them. The leaders of my team were somewhat surprised when they overheard us setting up a meeting site if something happened. After a short explanation of why we were doing this, the rest of the team was called together to be told about our rally point.

When the discussion turned to why worry about meeting up, our leader explained how hard it was to get everyone in one place when 5,000 people were exiting a 3rd floor convention space, let alone if there was a panic. It turned out I was the only one carrying a real flashlight, not those midget door lock finder lights carried on a key chain. I was also the only one to stop and get a map of the building from the security office, which they gave me only after I proved to their satisfaction I was attending the event. It was a copy of the publicly available info, similar to what you could find online when planning an event, but expanded to include the (public) exits.

Just like in the pre-flight talk from your airline's flight attendant, our closest exit wasn't the obvious one. It turned out that around a corner was a set of emergency stairs leading to the loading dock. If I hadn't asked for the map, I'd have never thought to look down a corridor that would normally be for the catering staff. Access would be difficult if everyone rushed to the main exit doors, but we saw there were other doors to the side of the hall, and our plan was to stay together and stay put for a minute so as not be trampled and then  move to the side and safety. 

Like with most emergency plans or even insurance, you hope it never gets used but you should have it already!

The Takeaway

• "Plan your plan" and be prepared to change it to previously discussed alternatives.
• Get everyone on board and clear on what to do. During an emergency is not the time to discuss how to survive.
• Information is usually there, just for the asking, so ask!

The Recap 

• Nothing was purchased this week, but info was gathered for expanding my long-term food storage needs.

Just a reminder: if you plan on buying anything through Amazon, please consider using our referral link. When you do, a portion of the sale comes back here to help keep this site running!

If you have comments, suggestions or corrections, please post them so we all can learn. And remember, Some Is Always Better Than None!

NOTE: All items tested were purchased by me. No products have been loaned in exchange for a favorable review. Any items sent to me for T&E will be listed as such. Suck it Feds.

Urban Camping

The next time an earthquake hits your town, or a hurricane or wildfire hits, (or your mother in law visits -- I am in no position to judge on that one) you may find yourself without a home for a hopefully short period of time. Alternately, you may just find yourself between apartment housing contracts for two weeks.

Couch surfing may not be an option for various reasons, and you may not have the money for a hotel room or even for a traditional campground. For situations like this, I would suggest a potential option: urban camping.

What is Urban Camping?
Like the name suggests, urban camping is camping in the city or suburbs. It means a lot of different things to different people, but at the end of the day it usually comes down to a fancy way of being homeless for a bit.

Urban camping can be in a car, in a camper, or even in a tent, but I don’t really recommend that last one. The difficulty comes in three parts:

1. Where are you allowed to camp? / What do you camp in?
2. Dealing with the elements, including the human one. Make sure to obey the laws very carefully; being arrested for trespassing sucks.
3. Standard camping issues (sanitation, food, hopefully not bears…)

I want to stress something: when you are urban camping, there is a very real risk of having problems with locals. I have never had an issue, and most of the people that I know who do this on a regular basis have not, but the fact is that you are in an urban environment and if you are not careful you may have problems with law enforcement, warranted or not. Stealth is your friend in this, as is the phrase “leave no trace”.

Short Version: Be careful and you should be fine, but urban camping carries risk.

What Do I Sleep In?

Cars

These are fairly innocuous, and finding a place to park that no one minds is much easier to find than a spot for a tent or a spot for an RV.

The biggest difficulty with sleeping in a car is being able to stretch out comfortably. Sedans are typically a little cramped, but even my ‘98 Honda Civic can fit my 300 lb, 5’11” frame in it fairly comfortably with some planning. (I am assuming that you have a compact car of some sort, since it is fairly easy to stretch out in a minivan, SUV, or station wagon.)

• If you can, fold down the back seat of your car, and remove the passenger side front seat. This will give you an area to put down some sort of base for the bed, such as boxes covered by a cut sheet of plywood, or even heavy cardboard, in order to level them out. Put a sleeping bag on top of it, and you have a level, dry place to sleep.
• If you cannot remove the seat, scoot the passenger side seat as far forward as possible. Once you have done that, lean the passenger side seat as far back as you can. Put a pillow on the seat where it meets the back; that does a remarkable job of leveling it out.

Trailers
A camping trailer is awesome, but finding a place to park it and sleep in it is difficult to say the least. Finding someone who will let you  park it on their property is difficult, but not impossible.

If you can find a place to put a camping trailer or RV, you will still have all of the issues you would normally with camping, but it is a much nicer way to camp than the other options. 

Tents

A tent tends to draw a lot of attention, especially from law enforcement, and is an easy victim to vandalism. It has the advantage of allowing you to sleep stretched out, but with the preparation outlined above, you should be able to do that in another vehicle. 

If you have no other option than a tent, I recommend either a backpacking type tent (which can be packed into a small space) or a folding pop-up tent (so that you can get out of there quickly if you run into problems).

http://amzn.to/2CGMRE4

I use this pop-up tent from Zaltana. I have used it October and February in the Spokane Washington area (business conferences with all of the local hotels booked) with just my sleeping bag for insulation, and was fine. It takes me 20-30 seconds (yes, seconds) to set up, and if I decide to stake it down it takes me 2-3 minutes longer. It takes me about 30-60 seconds to put away, once my gear is out of it.




Where Can I Sleep?

First, remember to respect the laws. There are a plethora of online resources on how and where it is legal to park/sleep over night, and I could not even begin to cover every municipality in the USA, let alone other countries. Web searches are your friend.

A rule of thumb that I use is to make sure I don't make a nuisance of myself. If no one knows that you are there, they don’t hassle you. I also recommend finding somewhere out of view of the street if you can, with an easy way to leave if problems arise.

Residential areas tend to have people more willing to call police on odd looking cars, so you are taking chances with those. If you can find a secluded spot, and switch where you sleep, you may have no problems.

Parking Lots

If you are in the parking lot of a business, they are much more likely to be okay with it if you purchase something from them and if you move where you sleep at least every other night. On the occasion that I had to sleep somewhere behind a store, I have made sure to clean up after myself meticulously, and to clean up any trash etc. in the area as well. Employees are much more likely to look the other way if you are not a pest.

Walmart is almost perfect for travelers and people who are urban camping because they have food, camping supplies, and toilets. A lot of Walmarts in the midwest actually have RV parking, and don’t mind people who stay two or three nights in a row in their parking lot.

Truck Stops
I am a big fan of truck stops. They can be a little noisy, but they are right next to major roads, are open 24/7, and have rentable showers. In addition to that, a lot of them expect to have travelers occasionally sleep in their parking lots.

However, I do understand that it can stretch the definition of “Urban” to do this, and it is not always a convenient -- for example, if you have to get to a job site, the commute time can be a bit much.

On Foot/On a Bicycle

If you don't have a car, or have to travel lighter, I recommend finding somewhere on the tail end of a bus route. Heavily trafficked areas tend to be more traveled by law enforcement and by people who are permanently homeless, which can lead to friction that you will probably want to avoid. Finding somewhere at the tail end of a bus route will still get you close to public transport, and if you select carefully, can still allow access to toilets/food for purchase at odd hours.

None of These
If you have none of these as an option, find a spot away from the road a bit. Foot traffic will lead people to you, and you want to avoid that as well. Somewhere a bit darker and a bit out of the way is generally a good idea, as is being willing to move come morning. I strongly recommend somewhere with easy access to a toilet, since public urination is frowned on and can cause problems with law enforcement.

What Do I Need to Have?
I strongly recommend a tarp with some rope at the very least. Even if all you do is wrap up your stuff, it is nice to have a waterproof package, and a tarp can act as an impromptu pup tent, ground cover, bag, and light blocker. Cheaper tarps will let more light through, and are more likely to rip, but a serviceable tarp for this should not cost more than $20, and you can sometimes find them on sale in the $2-5 range.

I also recommend a sleeping bag. I like a canvas bag because if I get strange things on it I can wash and dry it fairly easily, but as long as it is warm, it works. If you can’t get a sleeping bag, a good wool blanket is actually very nice. A blanket and a bag are nice together, if budget allows. Be aware that having just a blanket can be to your advantage if you may need to get out quickly, due to problems with locals, since a blanket takes less time to disentangle yourself from than a sleeping bag.

If you are camping out of a car, I recommend a couple of sturdy cardboard boxes that have been folded to help even out the sleeping arrangements. They look fairly innocuous if they are in the back seat of the car, and can be set up quickly.

I also recommend a good pair of sleeping earplugs (if you feel comfortable blocking out some sound in your environment) and a sleeping mask. Urban camping tends to involve being around a lot more light pollution.

Also, several pairs of good socks. Sanitation is much easier if you have clean socks. Underwear dries more easily than socks do if you have to wear it while it dries.

General Tips
Avoid making a lot of light or noise. Besides being potentially attention getting, it can be just straight up rude to any potential “neighbors” you have.

A small cooler can save you a LOT on food costs. You might get tired of lunchmeat sandwiches, but it will do the job.

A national parks pass can save you a lot of hassle. If you have something nearby, it may be worth it to spend the $80 (at time of this writing) and just camp in one of those. That may not be possible, depending on time of year, but it is sure a heck of a lot cheaper than a normal campground or a hotel.


Be safe. Be aware of your environment. And good luck.

GunBlog VarietyCast #164 - Will the Junk in Sean's Trunk Crush a Crowd in a Hurricane?

Whatcha gonna do with all that junk,
All that junk inside that trunk?
I'm a get get get get a TrunkCratePro!

• Beth is on assignment and will return soon.
• The Charlotte police and fire departments have no plans to search for a Dilworth, NC carjacking suspect who may have drowned. Given what Sean found out about the suspect that they did capture, it's not surprising that no one seems to care.
• Barron is on assignment and will return soon.
• Why would anyone live in Florida when it has all those hurricanes? Miguel explains.
• Erin is back from Gun Rights Policy Conference, and she's ready to tell us all about what she learned, who she met, and how her presentation went.
• Tiffany is on assignment and will return soon.
• When you're in a crowd of 20,000 people and someone starts shooting at you, bullets are probably the only thing you're thinking about. Erin teaches us about another less-known killer: Crowd Crush.
• After the mass murder in Nevada, Jimmy Kimmel leaped onto the stage to give an anti-gun monologue. Weer’d takes it apart in his unique fashion.
• And our Plug of the Week is for the TrunkCratePro Collapsible Trunk Organizer.

Thank you for downloading, listening, and subscribing. You are subscribed, right? We are available on iTunes, Stitcher Radio, and Google Play Music!

Listen to the podcast here.

Read the show notes here.

Thanks to LuckyGunner and Remington for their sponsorship, and a special thanks to Firearms Policy Coalition for their support.

Blue Collar Prepping Transcript -

Surviving Crowd Crush

By now everyone knows about the mass murder in Las Vegas, and you’re probably expecting me to do a segment on it. 

Sean even asked me to do a segment called “Carry Medical Gear”, but the truth of the matter is that this subject has already been covered quite expertly. In Episode 160, Sean talked to paramedic Kelly Grayson on what first aid gear we preppers and gun owners should carry on a regular basis: tourniquet, hemostatic dressing, chest seal, wound care supplies like gauze, gloves and a CPR pocket mask.

If you carry an SFR Responder around your ankle like Sean does, you’re all set. Or you can carry these in a purse, backpack, or cargo pocket.

There. That’s your Every Day Carry Medical Gear. Boom, done, end of segment. Right?

... except that there’s something which has been bothering me about Vegas. The hard numbers haven’t yet crystallized, but here’s what I’ve seen:

• 59 dead, one of which may have been the shooter. I personally never count the perpetrators in the death count of any murder, because fuck those assholes, only innocent victims count. 
• 527 injured. This number keeps fluctuating; I’ve seen it as low as 515 and as high as 528, but 527 seems to pop up the most. 

What we don’t know -- what we may never know -- is how many people died as a result of the stampede to escape the gunshots vs. those who were actually shot.

This is of interest to me because there were 22,000 people at the Route 91 Harvest Festival. Past a certain density, crowds stop behaving like groups of people and begin acting like fluids. When this happens, all sorts of tragedies occur, because the mass and motion of the people at the back of the crowd can literally pick up people at the front of the crowd and move them against their will… or, worse, crush them against an obstacle.

Just six or seven adult humans pushing in the same direction can generate up to a thousand pounds of force, enough to break down gates and bend steel guardrails. If that force can bend metal, imagine what it can do to a human body!

Actually, there’s no need to imagine; it’s been documented. The proper name for this is Crowd Crush, and it kills hundreds of people a year. This is most common during the Muslim pilgrimage known as the Hajj, where large numbers of people are forced through a small area on a tight schedule. Hundreds of people die on a regular basis during the Hajj; the worst of which was the 2015 Mina Stampede, which killed over two thousand people.

The critical number for a crowd crush scenario is five people per square yard. 

• At four people per square yard, you are being touched on all four sides BUT you still have the ability to turn around through a full 360 degrees. At this point, you still have room to make decisions and you move as an individual. 
• At 5 people per, you are unable to turn around. This is the point where the crowd begins to act like a fluid, with shockwaves that ripple through it as a result of the people pushing and being pushed. You are no longer part of the crowd; you are the crowd, and you go where it goes. 
• At 6 people per, your life is in danger from two equally horrible fates: crowd collapse and crowd crush. 

Crowd Collapse is when someone in a crowd falls, and the mass and motion of the crowd forces the people behind that person forward. They trip over the fallen person, and fall down themselves, usually atop the first person. This continues as more people from the back are forced forward in a fatal dogpile. This results in broken bones and even death.

Crowd Crush is what happens when you are packed together so tightly that the weight of the person behind you crushes you against the object or person in front of you with such force that you are unable to inhale. This is called compressive asphyxia. In effect, the crowd acts like a gigantic constrictor snake, waiting for you to exhale and then pinning your chest so you cannot breathe in and you suffocate while standing up.

How do you avoid dying from crowd crush or collapse? 

Follow these simple rules.

1. If you find yourself packed so tightly that you cannot turn around, get out of the crowd. You should already know where the emergency exits are, so start moving in that direction. 
• I shall reiterate for clarity: head for the nearest emergency exit, not the main exit. 
2. Keep your arms in front of your chest in a classic boxer stance. This will protect your chest so that you have room to breathe. 
3. Lift your feet high in the air as you move - at least six inches. This will allow you to step over most obstacles that could trip you and cause a crowd collapse. 
4. Do not push against the crowd. Instead, move in a lateral direction -- to the side, or at a diagonal -- to get to the edges. Not only will this get you to the exits and safety, but pressure will be lighter the further out you go. Do this by waiting for a lull in the pushing of the crowd and move quickly.
• Again, for clarity: You are moving laterally or diagonally in relation to the crowd. Your body should be moving forward whenever possible, not side-stepping.
5. However, be aware of where you’re going. You don’t want to be at the edge of the crowd and trapped between it and a wall, because if the crowd is panicked -- such as from gunshots on the other side -- it crowd could decide that where you are is now where it wants to go and crush you against that wall. 
6. Make sure you’re headed for an exit. If necessary, make one! I recall that one of the concert goers at Route 51 kicked down a segment of fence to escape. 
7. If you can’t escape, try to find a large, immovable object -- like a car or a pillar -- behind which you can hide. Remember, the crowd is a fluid, and when fluids flow around objects, there’s a space on the side opposite the flow that the fluid avoids. Take shelter there.
8. If you do fall, get up quickly. If you can’t, curl onto your side in the fetal position, with your arms protecting your face and your knees to your elbows in order to protect your chest. Your only priority at this point is to keep breathing. I’m not going to lie; you’re going to take a beating. But broken bones heal; death, on the other hand, is forever. 

Essentially, surviving crowd crush or collapse boils down to situational awareness: know where the exits are, look for the warning signs, stay near the edges, and get out before trouble finds you.

• 2015 Mina stampede - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_Mina_stampede
• Compressive asphyxia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asphyxia#Compressive_asphyxia
• Hajj crush: how crowd disasters happen, and how they can be avoided - https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/oct/03/hajj-crush-how-crowd-disasters-happen-and-how-they-can-be-avoided

Prudent Prepping: Odds and Middles

The dust has settled and the First 72 Hours have passed. Follow along as I build a long term plan via Prudent Prepping.


The Difference Between a Riot and a Protest
I had a very nice side conversation with a more politically active friend about what I wrote in last week's post.

There was a good bit of back and forth, trying to define what was a riot, how it was separate from a demonstration or protest, and why someone might want to be involved in one or even several. We talked over the reasons for various gatherings of like-minded individuals, who might want to be in those groups, and why others might be opposed to them. While there was no disagreement on the points raised in my post, we were not able to come to a meeting of the minds on why a demonstration might turn into a riot.

In my opinion,  a protest is non-violent while a riot isn't. The rightness or wrongness of a rally, a demonstration, or a protest are are all based on your point of view,  but a riot has no shades of gray.

Leaving all politics out (which is one of the stated rules here)*, I don't plan to be near any gathering that even might become a riot. I would however like to hear from anyone who participated in any demonstrations recently, and what preparations they took to be safe.

*Along with No Politics, there are several other very important points in the pinned post at the top of the BCP Home Page. If you read and Like that post, it will give you 2 chances before getting hit with the Ban Hammer. Please, take the time to read it.

My Prepping Group
I have a small, very tight-knit group of friends whom I have decided to ask if they would like to start prepping with me -- or have all of us prep together. However it's said, I'm wanting to plan with friends. We live close by, but work can take some of us a good distance away for the day, so Get Home Bags will be our first priority. Getting my friends involved should be pretty easy, since the men (and one woman) camp and hike already, and the others know helpful skills like cooking, canning and serious sewing.

One thing I'm happy about is all of these people already know me, so I don't have to try and overcome the 'crazy prepper' image that is seen in too many cable TV shows and movies. I believe the learning curve should be pretty flat; half the group comes from places that have natural disasters, or have been through war/civil unrest, so they already have food on hand. Only one family knows about this blog and what I write, though, so the first order of business is get everyone else reading this blog.

What finally convinced me to do this was when a friend saw my GHB in my trunk and asked what it was.  Erin was able to give me a link for BCP posts on Get Home Bags, which I gave to my friend and now will pass on to my Prepping Family. Wish me luck!

The Takeaway

• Be open-minded and listen to all sides; there could be something you are missing by being in an echo chamber.
• If you have a stable group or family close by, prepping together can lower costs by buying in bulk and sharing labor.

If you plan on buying anything through Amazon, please consider using our referral link. When you do, a portion of the sale comes back here to help keep this site running!

If you have comments, suggestions or corrections, please post them so we all can learn. And remember, Some Is Always Better Than None!

NOTE: All items tested were purchased by me. No products have been loaned in exchange for a favorable review. Any items sent to me for T&E will be listed as such. Suck it Feds.

Prudent Prepping: What to Do When Things Turn Ugly

The dust has settled and the First 72 Hours have passed. Follow along as I build a long term plan via Prudent Prepping.

Given the current political climate, now seems to be a good time to do a review of what to do and how to act if I'm caught up in a 'disturbance.'

I wrote about this last November, right before the polls closed. Things have not changed enough for me to feel safe in the areas I drive, but I do have a much better feel for how I can get through the places I work and back home.

All those points still apply:

• Plan alternate routes
• Have places to stay
• Don't be afraid to turn back at the first sign of trouble. 

What still needs to be covered is...

What to Do If Accidentally Caught in a Protest

First of all, don't be where protests are planned to happen. The protests where the most damage has occurred have all had official permits, issued well in advance. The Public Notice periods usually last for weeks, so there isn't much of a surprise when and where the demonstrations start.

The Most Important Rule: Don't Get Caught In A Riot
Seriously, stay away.

When things get crazy, the police aren't going to care that you just left a birthday party or had to work late. They will have a difficult enough time picking out the rioters from the regular protesters and those who are just there by mistake, so be careful with what you do and how you act. During a riot, you are all potentially dangerous in the eyes of the police. When the the order to break it up and break heads comes, it doesn’t matter who you are or what you are doing there in the first place.

If you have not intended to participate in the riot (which I hope was the plan):

• Do not interact with anyone. 
• Don't look at anyone.
• Try not to have any physical contact with those around you while you walk out. 
• Do not become a target or get noticed.
• Just keep moving.

Getting Out
I'm old enough to have been around the riots in Berkeley and Oakland CA in the late 60's and 70's. (Yes I'm really that old.) I can say from first hand experience that old-style tear gas is no fun, and I was only getting a very diluted whiff from two blocks away from the canisters. When things go 'non-linear' it is best to be already on the way to safety. How do you do that?

• Start walking and don't stop. 
• Don't run. That will draw attention to you, both from the cops and those around you. 
• Look for the edge of the crowd and make your way there.
• If there is a store you can hide in, do that while you figure out an escape route. 
• Don't pick a high value target as your hideout! That Starbucks might seem inviting, but recent history says that is a poor choice. 
• Get to the edge of the crowd, but don't try to walk against the flow - that could get you knocked down. Travel at a diagonal to the direction the crowd is going until you get out of the main body, hopefully well away from the agitators and potential violence. 
• If the crowd is running, that is a bad sign that trouble is right behind. This is about the only time running might be advised, since you don't want to be on the tail end of the crowd and therefore the first to see what caused them to start running!
• Most importantly, stay calm and work you way out of trouble.

The Takeaway

• Plan ahead. No one wants to use their spare tire, but everyone should have one.
• Know what to do if things go bad.
• Stay calm, don't rush, and walk your way to safety.

If you plan on buying anything through Amazon, please consider using our referral link. When you do, a portion of the sale comes back here to help keep this site running!

If you have comments, suggestions or corrections, please post them so we all can learn. And remember, Some Is Always Better Than None!

NOTE: All items tested were purchased by me. No products have been loaned in exchange for a favorable review. Any items sent to me for T&E will be listed as such. Suck it Feds.

Crowds

I don’t like crowds. They make me anxious, cause headaches, and tend to make me more than a bit “on edge”. My wife has to drag me out of the house to go Christmas shopping, because I can’t stand being in crowded stores, but I usually get to quit shopping about the time I start making inappropriate remarks about mass casualty events and “thinning the herd”. Ol’ Remus has stated for years that the best advice is to “stay away from crowds”, since nothing good comes from them.

Crowds can be dangerous just because they exist and without any ulterior motive or bad intentions. Just by having large numbers of people in a small area, hazards are created. Here are a few of those hazards, along with advice on how to recognize them and how to minimize them if you’re in charge.

Density

If people are packed into an area, you need to look at how tightly packed they are. A normal human body has a “footprint” of about 2 square feet (roughly a foot deep and two feet wide), so if you have more than four people per square yard or square meter, they're going to be touching each other. That’s when the dangers start to appear, because people can’t turn or move without involving another person. This is often a precursor level to more serious densities once the doors open or someone shouts “Fire”. 

At six people per square yard, the individual can no longer move freely and the crowd will take on more fluid motions, where force at one point in such a crowd can travel like a ripple through a pond. If a person were to fall down at this density level, they’d knock down several others which would cause a domino effect (“crowd collapse” is the technical term). This is the point where managers need to start thinking about waist-high barriers to act as tidal breaks; such barriers won’t stop a crowd, but can stop the worst of the transmission of forces through it. 

At between seven and eight per square yard, you don’t have to worry about falling and being crushed because you can’t fall over. The bad news is that overheating from the bodies packed around you will cause some to faint, but the only way to get them to help is to lift them overhead and “crowd-surf” them to the edges. 

At nine people per square yard it becomes hard to breathe, since bodies are pressed tight together and the effect is like being buried in sand or grain: exhalation is easy, but once chest volume reduces it becomes a serious struggle to inhale and push against the material/bodies that have moved to fill in the space. At this point, it’s too late to do anything but get out anyway you can. Crowds at this level have lifted and crushed horses sent in to help disperse the crowd, in addition to causing thousands of deaths and injuries in a single incident. This PDF, from a company that specializes in crowd control, has an impressive list of crowd incidents.

Space
Look at the space you’re in and where the flow of people leads. Wide pathways that lead to limited entrances or exits is a bad sign.

Doorways have to open out, away from the building, according to most fire codes. This is to prevent a crowd from slamming into closed doors and being unable to open them. This works when the crowd is inside looking to get out, but if traffic is flowing the other way it could create a dam for the flood of bodies to jam up against. Doors that swing both directions and are sized for the expected crowds are becoming more common, but older buildings may not have been updated. 

Does the flow of bodies change directions? Corners and stairs are dangerous because people will find that the outside of a corner is larger than the inside, causing pressure when they hit the straight portion and have to sort out who goes where. Stairways have the potential for people falling over hand rails, since that is the only free space that they can fall into.

Dynamics
Is the crowd moving or static? 

• Static crowds are uncomfortable, and don’t normally become dangerous until they start to move.
• Moving crowds are okay if they have a short path to room to spread out.

Look at the layout of movie theaters and how they disperse people exiting a show: they tend to dump them into open areas (or outside) after a short walk. Compare that to a sports dome that has tens of thousands of people, all trying to get out at the same time through tunnels and ramps that lead to the exits. They’ve gotten better over the years, but I doubt I’ll ever step foot in a major arena during an event. There are too many bodies and too few doors for my comfort. 

Is the crowd worked up or angry? If either, get away as fast as possible. It doesn’t take a riot to get people crushed in a crowd; the annual pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia (not a poor area) has caused some of the worst crowd incidents and killing thousands. Fervor -- whether religious, political, or tribal -- can turn a peaceful assembly into a mess in a heartbeat, and once the “leaders” show up and start working the crowd, it’s time to be elsewhere. If the “vibe” is positive and folks are in a good mood it may be safe to stick to the edges, within sight of the exits. 

Once the crowd density reaches a certain point (exactly which point is in dispute), it stops being a collection of individuals and starts to behave like a simple organism. Communications between parts is vital to the organism moving well and reacting properly to forces acting on it; otherwise, it becomes a collection of smaller organisms that are working against each other.


All in all, I prefer to avoid gatherings of people if it is going to involve more than a few dozen bodies. Gun shows, small-venue concerts, and such are about my limit. Major industry conventions in the past were uncomfortable, and as much as I enjoyed Las Vegas I doubt I’d ever go back at my own expense. I live in an area renowned for its politeness and hospitality, but I’ve seen too many groups turn ugly in a short period of time for me to be totally relaxed around people I don’t know.

Gun Blog Variety Podcast #129 - Berzerkeley

Rioters and California get along like a house on fire.

• Anyone can carry a gun... but what if you want to protect yourself AND look good in your clothes? Beth tells us about the upcoming Realize Concealed Carry Fashion Show in Cleveland, Ohio. 
• Two suspects are on the run in Charlotte after stabbing a third person. Sean introduces us to the cast of characters.
• Barron is on assignment and will return soon.
• In the Main Topic, Sean and Erin think it's a "Time for Choosing." How will you help people choose sides?
• Tiffany uses Colonel Cooper's "Principles of Personal Defense" to evaluate a defensive gun use... using the robber's own gun.
• This week, Erin isn't talking to you. Instead, she has some advice for what the rioters should be prepared for.
• Last week's episode of the anti-gun "Loaded Conversations" podcast was so insane that Weer'd is still talking about it. Stand by as David Hemenway gets re-Loaded.
• And our plug of the week is St. Augustine Distillery Pot Distilled Rum. 

Thank you for downloading, listening, and subscribing. You are subscribed, right? We are available on iTunes, Stitcher Radio, and now on Google Play Music!

Listen to the podcast here.

Read the show notes here.

Thanks to LuckyGunner and Remington for their sponsorship, and a special thanks to Firearms Policy Coalition for their support.

Blue Collar Prepping Transcript:

Be Prepared for the 

Consequences of Your Actions

I’m going to be honest with everyone: what I planned to talk about today has been totally short-circuited by what happened in Berkeley last night.

I was up too late last night following the breaking news, and I’ve spent too much of my day today either aghast at what happened or irritated at the hypocrisy in display.

So I’m going to break with format here and actually deliver a prepping segment that isn’t aimed at you. It’s aimed at the people who were rioting last night. I hope the rest of you will bear with me.

Dear Berkeley rioters: last night you fired the first shots in a war. You really, really don’t want a war. I am begging you, with tears in my eyes, to please back off and think about what you’re doing. It’s not too late to stop this.

But if you and other radicals persist in doing what happened last night -- well, you’re going to need to be prepared for a few things.

Be prepared to have your tactics used against you. Last night, you demonstrated that felony violence was an acceptable method to prevent someone from speaking. You need to realize that once this genie is let from the bottle,it won’t be long until others decide that it’s equally acceptable to use force to silence you.

Be prepared for jail, injury, or death. You have raised the stakes significantly. I don’t have a problem with free speech opposing free speech, so protests are fine, but assault and arson are felonies. Committing felonies in the name of protest is a very good way to get hurt or killed,either by police or by people acting in self-defense.

Be prepared to lose. Let me tell you a story, taken from the blog “Status 451” in the post “Days of Rage”:

In 209 BC, two Qin Dynasty army officers, Chen Sheng and Wu Guang, were ordered to lead their troops on a march to provide reinforcements. Massive flooding delayed them. They couldn’t make their rendezvous time. In the Qin Dynasty, this carried the death penalty. No excuses.

“What’s the penalty for being late?” one asked.

“Death.” replied the other.

“What’s the penalty for rebellion?” asked the first.

“Death.” answered the second.

“Well — we’re late.” said the first.

And that’s the story of how the Dazexiang Uprising began.

If you are not stopped by the police or the military, eventually the civilian population which you are targeting will have enough and decide that if you’re going to riot and burn and attack regardless of whether or not they’re innocent, some are going to decide that “Hey, if I’m going to be thought of as guilty, I might as well go out and really be guilty.” And that’s when the rule of law disappears from America.

You think things are oppressive and unjust now? Wait until thing become full-on

“Might makes right” anarchy. Survival of the fittest will not be kind to you, because you are not prepared for it.

So again, I beg you: don’t continue down this road. The moment you make it acceptable to respond to words with violence, the moment it is okay to deny someone their rights because you don’t like them, you will start this country down a path that will not benefit you, and you are not equipped to live in that world.

Please: let’s all take a deep breath, back away from this precipice, and talk about this.

Thank you.

• Days of Rage - https://status451.com/2017/01/20/days-of-rage/
• Hard Hat Riot - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_Hat_Riot

The Value of Grey

Several years ago, I was introduced to the term "grey man." In essence, a grey man is someone who fades into the background. While he is in front of you, you notice him just fine, but once he's left your presence, he is entirely forgettable. The best example for readers is Tom Clancy's John Clark, contrasted against James Bond. This has some very obvious benefits for anyone in rough situations.

The grey man is an intersection of skills and oblivion. No matter what he knows or carries, he strives to be completely uninteresting, just like his namesake. He can neither give nor take offense at others while remaining grey. He cannot be flashy or overly ebullient. The goal is to simply be "some guy."

There are many places where you may be standing out right now that can be made more grey.

Wardrobe
This is one of the biggest areas of distinction. Clothing is visible to everyone who sees you. As you attempt to become more grey, consider how your clothing fits into your surroundings. The neon shirts I wear every day to work blend in perfectly on a jobsite, but stick out like a sore thumb in the grocery store. In the blue-collar area where I live, my t-shirt and jeans are almost the neighborhood uniform. Visiting my wife's office, they make me very noticeable.

As a general rule, avoid flashy jewelry and doodads. I also try to avoid shirts with printed messages or designs, unless they help me fit into an environment. At my local nerd store, I can be grey wearing any manner of geeky shirt, because everybody else wears them. At a sporting event, a shirt from the home team is ready-made mental camouflage. The running joke among my friends and family is that my "Dude uniform" is a one-color t-shirt and a pair of jeans. It's simple and effective, and goes completely unnoticed.

Vehicles
Another major identifying item is what you drive. That big bad bug-out wagon that can ford rivers and carry 3 months worth of supplies is effective, but everybody sees it coming. I love a flashy car as much as the next gearhead, but flashy stands out. At my place, our daily drivers happen to be white, domestic, very popular models. My wife's truck has no bumper stickers or other showy bits. My truck has one sticker on it from before I bought it, that I just haven't gone to the work to remove yet. Both of them are well-maintained, but outwardly appear entirely bland. If I want to make an impression, I have a flashy little sports car, but outside of that, the sports car stays in the garage in favor of the boringly effective truck.

Mannerisms
The way you move, act, and speak can very quickly make you noticeable or invisible. Acting nervous, excitable, or overly agitated will immediately mark you in the minds of people around you. Don't be overly specific about skills or other preps unless the situation specifically calls for it. Being pleasantly aloof and noncommittal will make people forget you as soon as you walk away. Be polite and pleasant and you'll fade into the fog of the hundreds of interactions humans have daily.

Body Art
Tattoos, piercings, and other body mods also stick out. If you're trying to disappear, identifiers like those are going to have to hide. They're colorful, unique, and permanent. All of this is fine, but it makes you stand out in peoples' minds. If you have body art, consider how to camouflage it if the need arises.


The moral of the grey man is "Don't advertise." Businesses advertise to get attention. Grey folks do the exact opposite to achieve the opposite result.

Lokidude

Gun Blog Variety Podcast #101 - the TIE Fighter episode

Join our ragtag group of pro-gun freedom fighters as they struggle against the evil Empire of malice, stupidity, ignorance and lack of due process or legislative oversight!

• Beth is tired of "Smart" anti-gun answers to pro-gun statements so, she answers the anti-gunners in turn.
• Sean looks at the two suspects in the murder of an elderly woman in Kinston, NC.
• "Legitimate malware?" Barron shows us how to avoid malware served up from sources you thought you could trust.
• In our main topic, Sean and Erin take a brief look at the recent decision by the Massachusetts AG to unilaterally redefine State law to ban so-called "Assault Weapons."
• Before you can go somewhere, you first need to know where you are. Erin tells you what kind of maps you need and how to get them.
• In a special double segment, Tiffany and Weer'd compare their shared history. Both started out as anti-gunners, and both have become pro-gun activists. How did that happen?
• And our plug of the week is for Merrell Jungle Moc shoes.

Thank you for downloading, listening, and subscribing. You are subscribed, right? We are available on iTunes, Stitcher Radio, and now on Google Play Music!

Listen to the podcast here.

Read the show notes here. 

Thanks also to Firearms Policy Coalition for their support. Go to www.FirearmsPolicy.org to join.

And a special thanks to our sponsor, Law of Self Defense at www.LawOfSelfDefense.com. Use discount code "Variety" at checkout for 10% off.

Upcoming Law of Self Defense seminars

• August 7 - North Carolina specific - Raleigh, NC (Sold Out! - look for another Raleigh class February 19th of 2017)
• August 13 - Oregon and Washington specific - Sherwood, OR
• August 20 - Tennessee and Kentucky specific - Nashville, TN
• September 10 - Alabama specific - Talladega, AL
• September 17 - Minnesota and Wisconsin specific - La Crosse, WI
• October 1 - Pennsylvania and New Jersey specific - Bensalem, PA
• October 15 - New York specific - Poughkeepsie, NY
• October 22 - Iowa specific - Johnston, IA

Gun Blog Variety Podcast #100 - The Scary, Evil Features of an Orange Flare Gun

It's a full century of GunBlog VarietyCasts! Come join us as we shake our moneymakers to these trendy tunes:

• Last week Beth brought us the ladies of The DC Project as they started their week on Capitol Hill; this week, she tells us how the project went. 
• What kind of reprehensible excuse for a human being person steals a puppy? Sean looks a little deeper and finds out exactly what sort of person steals a puppy. 
• It seems like everyone's playing Pokemon Go. Barron tells us about the risks that come with it. 
• In our main topic, Erin and Sean discuss that Vox article (oh Vox, you so silly) where they found that 20% of all Democrats want to ban every gun they saw... including an orange flare gun. 
• In the aftermath of Dallas, Tiffany asks each of us: Are we going to be the water? or the flame? 
• How do you deal with protests that block roads? Erin gives us some strategies to make road blocking protests less dangerous for you and your family. 
• Weer'd goes big and brings us four Patented Audio Fisks™ for the price of one. 
• And our plug of the week is for Big 3 East Training Center. 

Thank you for downloading, listening, and subscribing. You are subscribed, right? We are available on iTunes, Stitcher Radio, and now on Google Play Music!

Listen to the podcast here.

Read the show notes here. 

Thanks also to Firearms Policy Coalition for their support. Go to www.FirearmsPolicy.org to join

And a special thanks to our sponsor, Law of Self Defense at www.LawOfSelfDefense.com Use discount code "Variety" at checkout for 10% off.

Upcoming Law of Self Defense seminars:

• August 7 - North Carolina specific - Raleigh, NC (Almost Sold Out!)
• August 13 - Oregon and Washington specific - Sherwood, OR
• August 20 - Tenessee and Kentucky specific - Nashville, TN
• September 10 - Alabama specific - Talladega, AL
• September 17 - Minnesota and Wisconsin specific - La Crosse, WI
• October 1 - Pennsylvania and New Jersey specific - Bensalem, PA
• October 15 - New York specific - Poughkeepsie, NY
• October 22 - Iowa specific - Johnston, IA

Area Air Purification, Part 3: Monitoring

I've covered the basics of sealing off a “clean” room and filtering the air for it, and now comes the hard part: measuring air quality. It is a science, and the methods used vary by the pollutant that you're trying to measure. I'll try to break it down into major groups and give some simple examples of testing methods.

Oxygen Level

OSHA defines “safe” breathing air to have between 19.5 and 23.0% oxygen (O2) by volume. This band is narrow for regulatory reasons, and it can be stretched a bit lower if the gasses displacing the oxygen are not dangerous and a bit higher if you control sources of ignition.

I know all of you are trained in CPR and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Do you realize that the air you're exhaling into that unconscious person is about 16% O2? That falls below the OSHA standards, but is enough to keep a person alive. You'll likely pass out at around 10-15%, which is why I use 15% as a lower limit. Once you've passed out, you are no longer functional and are as good as dead in a crisis/emergency situation. Physical condition and various health issues are going to determine your personal threshold.

On the upper side, you can breathe 100% oxygen for short periods of time (hours) without permanent damage. The major problem with any concentration over 25% is the increased risk of fire. Oxygen itself doesn't burn, but it combines with other substances to create fire. Oxygen enriched environments require special attention to the choices of clothing, electrical equipment, and other things that may ignite or cause a spark.

So, how do you measure the oxygen level in a room? There are various detectors on the market that use electrochemical sensors to measure specific chemical concentrations in the air, but they're not cheap. A typical 4-gas detector will measure O2, Carbon Monoxide (CO), Hydrogen Sulfide (H2S), and combustible gasses, but will cost between $500-1000 and require frequent calibration. I found the test results from an experiment that gives a much cheaper method: a candle will go out if the O2 drops below about 18%.

For years, the US Coast Guard used “flame safety lamps” to check for sufficient O2 in holds and other shipboard spaces, since a flame can't be sustained with less than 16.5% O2. Miners used similar lamps when canaries got to be too expensive (just kidding, they needed a light that wouldn't cause an explosion). Simply put, if a candle won't burn, you can't breathe the air and expect to live... but remember that a flame is consuming oxygen as it burns.

Carbon Monoxide (CO)

CO is formed by the incomplete burning of organic material. CO is flammable (in the range from 12.5-74% by volume) as well as toxic (it binds to the part of your blood that normally carries oxygen, preventing your cells from getting sufficient oxygen). It is a colorless, odorless gas that will cause headaches at about 1-1.5% by volume, and death at about 4% after 30 minute's exposure. This is a nasty chemical that used to be piped into houses as “man-made gas” or “coal gas” for lighting and cooking, and was replaced by “natural gas” (methane). There are tons of battery operated CO detectors on the market, most of them are less than $30. Get one.

Carbon Dioxide (CO2)

CO2 makes up about 5% of what you exhale with each breath. It can also be formed by fire, decomposing organic material, dry ice, and leaks in food service soda machines. CO2 is heavier than air and will settle into low spaces, like basements and cellars, and displace the oxygen that was there. CO2 will cause unconsciousness and death at 10% by volume, and intoxication at 5%. The regulatory limit for exposure is 0.5%. CO2 detectors are available, but they're hard to find (search engines assume that you're an idiot and meant to type CO so they don't give proper results). They're also not cheap, running around $100-125. For local suppliers, ask around at bar and restaurant suppliers or greenhouses.

Flammable/Combustible Gasses

This is a wide category that covers everything from hydrogen (H) to volatile organic compounds (VOC). Any gas or vapor that will burn in air is a flammable or combustible gas, and is one of the main things that commercial gas monitors check for. Something as simple as an idiot getting too liberal with a spray can of penetrating oil can ruin your whole day (been there, seen that) if there is an ignition source present. If you're going to be working around or expect to see combustible gasses, get a monitor/detector. Broken gas lines after an earthquake or tornado are common, but natural gas and liquid petroleum, both colorless, odorless gasses, have an additive that stinks (methyl mercaptan) just to make them easier to notice.

Dust

Normal household dust is an annoyance, made up mostly of dirt, dead skin cells, and minerals that are not a hazard. If you live in an older building with the potential of having asbestos insulation, dust caused by a natural disaster could be a long-term health hazard. Unfortunately, there is no simple test for asbestos, so if in doubt, get out the respirator. Wood dust, concrete dust, volcanic ash, and silica (fine sand) dust all have health risks similar to asbestos and are visible in the air before they reach dangerous concentrations.

Other dusts can be an explosion hazard. Any vegetable-based dust will burn rapidly. If suspended in the air and ignited, the flame will spread (propagate) fast enough to be classified as an explosion. Visual testing is the easiest: if you can see it in the air it is too much. At your own risk, toss a handful of flour into the flames of a campfire some time for a demonstration or do a search on “Cremora pots” for some interesting videos. We're not responsible for your lack of eyebrows, arm hair, or any other injury if you try these.

Chemical Warfare Agents

There are people on this planet who have, and will use, chemical warfare. Terrorists have been known to use some of the simpler nerve agents, usually in subways or other enclosed spaces. Without the proper testing gear (which is normally only found in military units and is in the “if you have to ask you can't afford it” price range), the only method I can suggest is the miner's canary. Birds breathe differently than mammals, and are more susceptible to anything in the air. Canaries, chickens, geese, or even sky rats (commonly called pigeons) can be used as a warning method. If you're sitting inside watching the birds through the window and they start to fall over, it's time to take some action. Caged sky rats placed within sight can give a few seconds or minutes of warning, if this is a potential threat you want to prepare for.

If there are any questions or you would like me to expand on any of these, feel free to leave a comment here or on ourFaceBook page. I will try to answer as well as I can and I enjoy getting the feedback.

Area Air Purification, Part 2: Filtration

In Part 1, I explained the basics of how to seal off a room or other small area to keep contaminated air out. Before I start on Part 2, "How to Clean the Air," I need to answer a few questions that arose from Part 1. 

What kind of plastic should I use?

Any solid plastic sheeting will work; the thicker they are, the more durable they are. Plastic painter's drop cloths are cheap and don't take up much room on a shelf, but a roll of 4 or 6 mil (thousandths of an inch) “clear” plastic is easier to work with. Be aware that “clear” often means “translucent” instead of “see-through”. Black plastic may work better if you're trying to provide blackout curtains on exterior windows.

What kind of expanding foam should I use? 
Where do I find it?

I like the Great Stuff brand. It comes in two flavors, normal (for cracks under 1 inch wide) and widegap filler (for larger cracks). Most hardware and home supply stores carry it, as well as Amazon.com.

If you have a lot of cracks to seal, there are semi-pro systems out there that use a wand and a disposable cartridge.

What kind of tape do I use?

I keep blue painter's tape on hand for business reasons, and I know for a fact that it works to hold up plastic over a broken window in an Iowa Autumn. Duct tape varies in quality by brand, and I have seen some of the cheaper duct tape fall off of a vertical seam after less than a day. “Gaffer's”tape, 100mph tape, and Gorilla brand have all worked well for me in the past. Packaging tape, normally used to seal cardboard boxes, sticks to plastic very well and is easy to apply if you have a tape gun. Basically, any tape that will stick and is at around 2 inches wide is what you're looking for.

Part 2: How to Clean the Air

Once you have your area sealed off, you need to have a way to pump filtered air into it. That means you'll need an air mover and a filter.

Air Movers
I've read of hand-operated air pumps in prepper novels, but I'm not sold on them. The amount of air that you can pump through a bellows or similar system is tiny compared to a powered fan. Unless you're thinking of building a very small, totally sealed underground bunker, plan on using some form of electricity to move the air for you.

Most home heating/cooling systems use a squirrel-cage fan to move the air through the unit. They're small, quiet, and move a large volume of air at relatively low pressure. If you can access your furnace and isolate the input or return air ducts (hint: they'll be on the side with the filters) and you have a way to power the blower, you're already set. Finding a small squirrel-cage fan isn't that hard, and they aren't terribly expensive.

In-line duct fans are another option, and are easy to fit into a lot of DIY projects. I've used them to boost air flow into rooms that didn't get enough air flow when the AC was running and they last about ten years if you keep your filters and ductwork clean. Dust will kill them within a couple of years.

Whichever method you choose, you need to be able to move enough air through your filters to maintain a slightly positive pressure inside your clean space. This will force your plastic sheeting against any holes, and it will keep contaminated air out if your seams aren't perfectly taped.

You'll also need to figure out how much air you're going to need to move and size your blower accordingly. A good rule of thumb is to calculate the volume of your clean space (length x width x height) in cubic feet and expect to pump that much air at least five times every hour. You could probably get by on less, but it is going to depend on how many people you have breathing the air and how active they are. As a point of interest, when doing confined space entries we often use 20 ACH (Air Changes per Hour) when calculating air movement.

• Example 1: a small bedroom of 10 x 12 x 8 feet = 960 cubic feet (cf) of air. 5 ACH (Air Changes per Hour) would be 960 x 5 = 4800 cf per hour. 4800 cf / 60 minutes per hour = 80 cf per minute (cfm). That's not a very big blower when you look at the ratings of most fans. 
• Example 2: an enclosure around a child's playpen, roughly 4 x 4 x 3 ft = 48 cf. 5ACH x 48 cf = 240 cf per hour. 240 cf / 60 minutes per hour = 4 cfm. That's possible with a battery operated 12V fan.

Filters
Okay, you've got a sealed area and have a way to push air into it. How are you going to filter the air before you move it? I can't recommend a set of filters that will remove everything possible, but I may be able to point you towards something that will meet your needs.

• Household filters that you'll find in the hardware stores are ranked by Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value (MERV) going from 1 to 16, where the filters that stop smaller particles earn higher numbers. Follow the link for a good explanation of the different ranks and example of what they'll stop. 
• HEPA (High Efficiency Particulate Air) filters are the standard and correspond to a MERV of at least 16. A proper HEPA filter will remove at least 99.97% of all particles larger than 0.3 micron. 0.3 micron means that a HEPA filter will stop most bacteria and all pollen or dust, but won't catch all viruses or smoke. 
• Hospitals use HEPA filters backed up with strong ultraviolet (UV) light to clean the air in operating rooms and infectious disease wards. The UV lamps are placed in the ductwork and kill off viruses, molds, and yeasts that might be floating around. They are placed inside the ducts to prevent damage to human eyes, since UV light is mostly invisible and very destructive to living tissue. 
• Electrostatic filters work by passing the air through a series of electrically charged grids, something like a very fine mesh bug zapper, that causes particles and chemicals to cling to the grid due to the difference in electrical charge. They are quite efficient at removing pollutants like smoke, but needs to be cleaned , usually by running them through the dishwasher or something similar. Some of the small room “air purifiers” work on the same principle but I have no experience with them. 
• Ozone generators work by using high voltage electricity to create small amounts of ozone, a form of ionized oxygen that chemically attacks volatile pollutants and breaks them down into less dangerous compounds. Think of it as the air filtration version of using bleach to clean up water. Like bleach, ozone in large quantities is corrosive. 
• Carbon filters (activated charcoal) work to clean air the same way it does water, by trapping contamination in the microscopic pores of the carbon. Good for removing chemicals and odors. 
• Potassium permangenate is another water treatment that is used to clean air. Useful in removing hydrogen sulfide, but......
• Chemical filtration is a technical field that is beyond the scope of this humble blog. If you're expecting to be dealing with nerve agents or other airborne chemical weapons, you need to consult with experts in that field.

Putting It All Together

• I recommend placing your filters and air mover outside of your clean space. This may mean you'll have to wear a respirator while servicing it (a wise precaution anyway), but it will keep the concentrated filtrate (whatever gets caught in the filters) out of your clean space. There's no use going to all of the trouble of filtering it out of the air and then keeping it where you live. 
• Place the filters on the intake side of the blower. This will keep the blower fan cleaner, ensuring a longer life. 
• Make sure your source of air has enough oxygen in it to be worth filtering. No filter will provide more oxygen, so you need to make sure your source isn't deficient. Avoid drawing from underground spaces, since CO2 is heavier than air and will displace it in stagnant spaces.
• Keep your ductwork as straight as possible. It doesn't take many sharp turns to slow down air flow. 
• If you don't have metal ducting to connect your filter to your blower, improvise. Cardboard and duct tape with a layer of plastic over it will suffice for several days. The same goes with getting air into your clean space -- use flexible drier vent pipe or whatever else you can find to make it work.

As always, I will try to answer specific questions and help you find the information you need. Feel free to comment here or on our Facebook Page.

How to monitor for contamination is Part 3, since it gets fairly technical.

Area Air Purification, Part 1: Making a Clean Room

Since there was interest in an article covering air purification for more than just personal protection, I'll do my best to cover filtering air for a small area. This is a fairly deep subject, so I'm going to break it into at least two parts.

Filtering air isn't all that much different than filtering water. If you think of a personal respirator as analogous to a personal water filter, then it isn't too much of a stretch to think of a room air purifier as a small water filtration plant or a large water filter (like a Big Berkey).

If you have to shelter in place through a disaster, it's worth considering having to filter the air you'll breathe:

• Claustrophobia is a real issue for some folks, and a mask is just not an option for them. 
• Having a filtered enclosure that you can drop over a crib or playpen is worth looking into if you have ankle-biters crawling around. 
• Setting up filtration for small children, the elderly, and the infirm is also much easier physically and emotionally if they have space in which to move.

There are some steps to go through, I'll cover the first two in this post:

1. Identify what is in the air that needs to be filtered out (contamination).
2. Keep the contamination out of your air supply.
3. Filter the air coming in.
4. Monitor for contamination.

Identify the Contamination 
This is the step where you figure out what you need to remove from the air you want to breathe.

• If your main concern is the eruption of the super-volcano under Yellowstone National Park, the main contaminant will be fine ash or dust. 
• Forest fires a few hundred miles upwind can make life miserable for people with breathing problems; the smoke and ash in the air travel a long way. 
• If you live near a chemical plant that you fear may catch fire, the contaminants will be varied and considerably harder to remove. 
• Chemical warfare attack is the worst-case scenario, requiring filters designed to remove the specific chemicals used by the military. 
• Biohazards are another possibility that can be filtered out of the air with the right equipment. Anthrax has been used to contaminate buildings before, and may be used again. Airborne diseases are a medical research field all by themselves, but the filtration is fairly standard.

Keep the Contamination Out
Sealing a room or two is about as much as most of us will be capable of doing without spending more on filters than on the house itself.

The choice of which room to use as a "clean" space will take some thought and planning. Ideally you'll want a room with as few openings and as little exposure to the outside air as possible, like a basement room. Dirt makes a good seal against the foundation and will keep out more air than most common house walls. Basement windows are usually smaller than those above ground, and entrances often have a "mudroom" or stairway leading outside which can be turned into an "airlock" for entering and exiting the clean area. An airlock is a small sealed area with two doorways, one leading to the clean area and the other leading outside. This arrangement minimizes the loss of clean air when you have to go in and out of the clean area and also gives you a place to leave dirty or contaminated clothes before entering the clean area. The idea is to never have both doors open at the same time unless there is an emergency.

If you don't have a basement (perhaps you live in an apartment building), you'll want to pick an interior room with enough space to be comfortable in and as little contact with the outside walls as possible. Use as many existing barriers between you and the outside as you can, because each one is going to slow down or stop a portion of the contamination. Think of it as allowing that muddy water to settle out before running it through your LifeStraw.

Creating a Clean Room
Plastic sheeting and duct tape will take care of sealing up large openings like doors and windows, and expanding spray foam will work around cracks and gaps. (If you've ever winterized a house, you'll know where to start.)

1. Close the windows and place a layer of plastic over them, holding it in place with duct tape. Tape along the whole border to get a good seal around the frame.
2. Find and seal (plastic and/or duct tape) all vents coming into the room. This covers heater vents, floor drains (most of which have a P-trap to prevent sewer gasses from coming up through the pipe), drier vents, sink drains (the S-trap under the sink will stop more than a P-trap but isn't perfect), showers/tubs, and toilets. If you're in a hurry, a quick shot of expanding foam into a drain will seal it in a few minutes and the foam is easy to dissolve (acetone, gasoline, etc.) or remove later, when the crisis has passed.
3. Electrical outlets and switches on outside walls should have the covers removed and expanding foam sprayed in the cavity around the wiring box. If you don't have any foam, duct tape over the switches or outlets to seal them as much as you possibly can.
4. Doorways that are not going to be used should be sealed the same as windows. The doorways you are going to use to enter and exit the clean area (assuming you're not sealing yourself inside for the duration) will need to be closed off with overlapping sheets of plastic that will allow you to pass through without creating a 20 square-foot hole in your sealed area. 
1. In an open doorway, tape a sheet of plastic -- wide enough to cover the doorway and long enough to hang all the way to the floor -- to the top of the frame, leaving the sides free. 
2. Tape a second sheet of plastic to the top of the frame over the first one, but tape the sides of the plastic sheet to the sides of the frame and then carefully slice the second sheet from top to bottom in the center of the doorway. The idea is to make a plastic "valve" that blocks most of the airflow but will still allow a person to squeeze through. 
3. Two or more doorways like that will help keep dirty air out and clean air in. 
4. If you want to be able to close the actual door, you can nail wood to the frame of the doorway and attach the plastic sheets to that.
5. If you live in a house or apartment with unsealed wood floors (polyurethane is great), you'll need to either get underneath the floor and tape plastic to the joists, or lay plastic down on the floor of the room and cover it with rugs after taping securely. 
6. Ceilings are usually sealed better than floors, but look up and decide if there is anything that should be covered in plastic. Light fixtures and ceiling fans may need a layer of  plastic and tape if the wiring goes through to an unsealed attic or crawl space. Acoustic tiles or a drop ceiling are an indication that you'll need to get a ladder and investigate what's above your head.

Positive Pressure
Positive pressure is keeping the air pressure inside your clean room slightly higher than the pressure outside. Positive pressure systems are commonly used in hospitals for patients with failing immune systems, since they do a good job of keeping isolation rooms clean. Maintaining positive pressure will take energy to drive a blower, and sizing the blower gets difficult without knowing how well the room is sealed. More on this when I get to filters in part 2.

You don't need a lot of pressure -- typically not more than 0.05- 0.10 inches of water column*. This will force your sealing materials against any openings (providing a better seal) and prevent outside air from seeping in through cracks or openings that you may have missed.

The Next Step
Once you have a clean area established, seal up windows and other openings in the building as time and materials allow. All forms of protection are best done in layers and this is no different.

Part 2 will cover the expensive parts -- filters and monitors.


*inches of water column (iwc) is a low-pressure scale of measurement. One atmosphere of air pressure at sea level is about 14.7 pounds per square inch (psi), a common scale of measuring air pressure. 1 psi = 27.7 iwc, and 1 iwc = 0.036 psi. For reference, a 25mph wind exerts about 0.30 iwc of pressure on your skin.