Restocking

July 23rd, 2020
food, preparedness
The pandemic has illustrated the resiliency benefits of keeping extras on hand. During the grocery panic, when everyone was trying to stock up on weeks' worth of groceries at the same time, people who had extra set aside didn't need to go out to a potentially dangerous environment. Similarly, by avoiding shopping at this time when there was sudden massive demand, these people were able to help blunt the shock.

It's far from over, but at least around here the supply chain seems to mostly have recovered. You still can't get N95 masks, but there's no trouble getting flour, rice, beans, toilet paper, etc. If you've let your supply run down over the last few months, or didn't have extra set aside to begin with, now would be a good time to think about fixing that. Not only could the pandemic get worse in a way that starts to threaten the supply chain again, but many more conventional disasters, like earthquakes or hurricanes, could be much worse with the pandemic as a background.

As I wrote just before the pandemic, it's worth putting time into thinking about potential disasters and getting at least somewhat prepared for them. Lots of links in that post if you're looking for advice on how to approach this.

Comment via: facebook, lesswrong, substack

Recent posts on blogs I like:

Real stages of childhood

I find unenlightening the conventional names for the stages children go through.

via Thing of Things April 28, 2026

You should try contra dancing

a story of middle school Ben • a not-very-illuminating description of the mechanics • flow, joy, and community • the antidote to the rest of life • how to try contra

via benkuhn.net April 24, 2026

On AI writing in 2026

I use AI to write a little bit: I ask it for high level feedback on blog post drafts, make mechanical edits, and sometimes use it to brainstorm options for wording at a paragraph level. It’s unusual that I accept its wording or changes without modificatio…

via Home April 16, 2026

more     (via openring)