What items do you keep on your bedside table for convenience or emergencies?

Next to my digital clock, I keep a bottle of water or a sports drink, ChapStick, a D-Cell MAG-LITE, and a glow stick ready to open, break, and shake as a backup for the flashlight.

Missing hiker found after surviving more than a month in Canada’s wilderness

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/nov/28/lost-canadian-hiker-found

Just had our first case of chronic wasting disease come to Washington State. The Fish and Wildlife want deer, elk and moose tested, but it takes 6 weeks to get results.

From what I read...So far humans aren't effected, but hamsters, and ferrets are? It is spread by saliva, urine, poop. Remains in the soil for 15 to 30 years. Is taken up by plants such as wheat and thus can be transported in food crops. Isn't destroyed by cooking. Chorine is effective only on hard surfaces and maybe not that well. Scavengers like crows spread the prions. Nationally 10% of deer have it. Scandinavia has a different version in the moose population.

They don't recommend eating infected meat, but if you don't have results for 6 weeks, what are hunters doing with the meat that have been dealing with this for several years? Process it then toss it if it is infected. Do you put Mr Yuck stickers on the butcher paper and if alerted to infection take it to the special county dump to prevent more spread? Are farmers preparing anything to deal with it in crops? If Trump gets in and reduces the CDC back to just malaria control, will CWD get ignored?

Here are some things I've learned owning generators and running generators that do and do not belong to me. Improvements and additions are more than welcome.

Before you buy a generator:

• Understand the wattage of the things you want to power with your generator
• Understand starting watts (often called surge watts) versus running watts for your generator, and don't plan on using more than the running watts for more than brief periods
• Understand starting versus running watts for the things you want to power -- things like power tools, pumps, air conditioners, fridges, and freezers use up to three times their normal watts during startup
• Figure out a good place to operate the generator, outdoors, away from flammable materials, and away from windows that might open, and hopefully out of the rain
• Decide if you're going to use a transfer switch to power your whole house, parts of your house, or if you're going to use extension cords to power specific devices
• Invest in high-quality extension cords if you'll use them with a generator, and no longer than they need to be

After you buy a generator:

• Never, under any circumstances, backflow power into your house without a transfer switch -- this can be deadly
• Never, under any circumstances, operate a generator indoors, near a window that might open, or anywhere other than outside in fresh air -- this can be deadly
• Don't operate a generator anyplace near flammable materials
• Have a plan to operate your generator in the rain without it getting wet, if it isn't designed for that; I use a sheet of plywood but almost anything will do as long as airflow isn't badly impeded
• Ground your generator if you're doing anything other powering specific devices with extension cords (and it isn't a bad idea to ground it anyway)
• Read the manual that came with your generator
• An aftermarket magnetic dipstick can help you see and remove metal particulates in the oil, which can significantly lengthen the life of the engine
• Break in your generator as described in the manual -- but don't hesitate to change the oil more often than suggested -- my Champion generator manual states to break it in at no more than 75% load and change the oil at 30 hours, but the condition of the oil resulted in my changing the oil at 5 hours and again at 15 hours during break-in
• Always use stabilized fuel
• Have tools, oil and spare parts on hand -- I've obtained duplicates of certain tools to keep in the generator-specific toolbox

I'll post about the tools and parts I keep around later on.

And one more time: NEVER backflow power from a generator into your house wiring without a transfer switch! Do not ever even possess a "suicide" cord -- they're named that for a reason.

A fellow floating on a cooler gets rescued. Looks like a fairly sizeable cooler, and he was wearing a life jacket. Not certain if the emergency beacon mentioned was his personal item, or one that came with the boat. Regardless, a lucky fellow.

https://www.zerohedge.com/weather/coast-guard-rescues-man-floating-cooler-30-miles-florida-coast