Wall Street indicates peanut butter producers set to raise prices.

Wholesale prices for big-selling Jif are going up 30% starting in November, while Peter Pan will raise prices as much as 24% in a couple weeks…Skippy [prices] are 30% to 35% higher than a year ago. Kraft Foods Inc., which launched Planters peanut butter in June, is raising prices 40% on Oct. 31

Find some coupons, go shopping, and depend on the stock already available in stores. Read the labels and look for low salt and low sugar content when possible. Peanut butter is valued for readily available protein, but is high in fat content and additives can further reduce the healthy value.

Did 9/11 change us a country? Yes. Did it make us more prepared as a county, not really. But, I do believe many individuals have changed their outlook or habits to become more self-sufficient and understand that all we take for granted can change in a single morning.

Take care of your family, enjoy your life, and honour those who have gone before.

At the time, Brilliant said: “My dream for InSTEDD (a name that plays off the TED conference) is to fulfill the much-needed role of an independent agent bringing the technological, medical, and organizational skills necessary to help the humanitarian aid community accomplish (early detection of public health threats and disasters), and ultimately help them to make the world a safer place.”

InSTEDD is receiving funds from a Google.org charitable foundation donation. One of several grants from the foundation to help fund research on communication and health disaster management and disease surveillance. Identifying early threats and sharing information to help manage “hot spots.”

Part of the research includes building a communication based tool on a Twitter-bot framework to send SMS messages from remote areas or in an overloaded network. Social media that we use everyday, making changes in communication. Awesome.

Original article at http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9852369-7.html

http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1684910,00.html

This article about Twitter and disaster communications among social media is worth a read to see how information is being shared in an immediate fashion.

Actually, we have been having general discussions about emergency response and disaster preparedness as an underlying theme for some time now. CAP is just one way of communicating in a emergency situation. In an emergency, a message sent using the Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) can mean the difference between your warning being delivered with the needed information or getting lost. Think about past experiences where cell phones, internet and more modern means of communication have crumbled under the extreme load. But often, text messaging and radio were still effective due to the small packet size and simple delivery methods. If you work with a first responder organization, or have a need to implement a warning system that is compatible with other emergency systems, the protocols for the EDXL – Emergency Data Exchange Language are worth investigating.

No, it is not the answer for all time yet. But, it is worth discussing to enhance and push the development.

There is advance progress. I say advance, but isn’t this kind of long overdue? CAP integrates completely with pre-existing warning systems, including:

• NOAA Weather Radio
• Specific Area Message Encoding (SAME)
• Emergency Alert System

The major fault I see with most emergency responder systems is not the technical aspects, but the lack of everyday usage. BrandtoBeDetermined has a great post about pop-up readiness. His understanding. It doesn’t work. The question becomes how to build something that can be utilized as part of every day scenarios. There must be a system enough people use consistently and on a near daily basis to be effective during a more chaotic time. We don’t have all the answers, but a step closer each day and thinking about the safety of others will get us there.

If you or your organization are researching and working with response systems, let us know what you are working on.

1. Don’t believe everything you read. Check that at the door. 90% of the information you read is good but every once in a while something goes around that is just complete fanaticism or unresearched rumour and if you apply any of the information you could get into serious trouble or unintentionally cause harm.

2. Be frugal or conservative in your spending. If you don’t have a need for an expensive item or any knowledge how to use that fancy piece of gear, then you don’t need it. There will always be something better that you could use that will cost a lot less and may be easier to use. Do you need the latest roof-top car rack for driving in inclement weather or will an inexpensive set of straps and water-proof garbage bags inside old duffel bags work in a pinch? If you HAD to make do, would you figure something out or leave it behind? I imagine most of us would figure something out. So, buy when it is necessary, not just cool.

3. Start small and work up to the large scale planning. As you gather some stuff and knowledge, you will know what you need and what you don’t. Start with an easy walk out the door backpack or basic supplies if the power went out for a day. The initial cost to your budget is minimal. I managed this in an easy weekend and rummaging through my house and garage for most of it. Once this was done I had the minimum of what was needed. Then you can start on items for a longer period of time.

4. Make all of your plans work for you and your family. If your spouse and children are not 100% on board than you may have to think of their needs and prepare for them. Not fun. Especially if it involves children in a stressed situation. Try to engage them by making preparations fun. The first time you have a major power outage or severe storm and everyone is in a panic, calmly break out some of your basic convenience items and assure everyone it will be okay and to stop worrying. You will have quietly won the battle for future steps.

5. Make friends. You can’t do it alone no matter how prepared you think you are. Knowing who you can count on will be worth their weight in gold. Know your neighbors and take the time now to introduce yourself and learn their habits. Can they be trusted to return a shovel on a regular weekend? Can you trust them when the power has been out for three days to work side-by-side to clear the street of fallen trees after a storm? Knowing ahead of time will make it easier on all involved.

Local businesses are also valuable allies when crunch time comes. This can make the difference when it comes to getting that needed item that you neglected to get when things were good. Be generous with the shop owner and render any help he or she may need. Never ask for anything in return for your help. People who are grateful will thank you and will remember you. A lasting impression goes along way when the time comes when you may need the help.

6. Lists, lists, and more lists. You will go insane trying to keep track of everything without a list. If you are an electronic list maker, print that stuff out! If the power goes out or the hard drive gets damaged, it won’t do much good. Label boxes with what is in them by tools, first aid or such. Not everyone knows what’s in a bag or box if they didn’t help pack the bags or boxes.

7. Assemble a good Library. One of he best places to find what you need is all of those used book stores. Don’t be snubbing old books because of the print date. Some of the classic books teach proven principles on repairing homes, plumbing, basic first aid, basic gardening, etc. Some ideas don’t really change.

8. Check your RSS feed daily. I can’t say enough about this one. Just trust me on this one, it is a must. You can’t visit every site to see what is updated every day. Stay on top of information or it will control you. Even missing it a couple of days and you will be sitting in front of your computer for a few hours trying to catch up on your reading. This will cost you time when you could be doing other things.

9. Take each day and read, study and apply your practical and planning knowledge. Read a book on any subject that can help you to survive or learn more. Learn a skill and perfect it, so you can use this skill. Learn things for practical everyday living, not just how to start a web 2.0 business.

10. Learn what you need and use what you learn. Practice, practice, practice makes perfect. Go camping for a weekend in your own house. What is it like to live without electricity for a weekend? What did you need that your forgot? What did you think would be a life saver and you never unpacked it? You won’t know until you put yourself and family through the pace. Practice.

There is more and other lists. As mentioned, there are even more lists and guides on this site. This is just a basic approach to thinking about planning. Follow it, apply it or change it and make it work for you and yours.

The writers even include several printout guides and gear comparisons that are simple starter documents for protecting home and family. Those more experienced in reading and setting best practices for continuity will appreciate the refresher course. Well worth a visit to the site.

We have been waiting for the gas prices to, well… not exactly drop, but not be at the top end of the scale. Gas prices in Texas are down a bit, so we emptied gas containers into all the vehicles and refilled the containers yesterday. We immediately treated the gas with a fuel stabilzer to protect it from gumming up. We use Sta-bil, but there are several good brands available. Check your local auto-parts store and follow the directions on the label.