I use Linux for my daily driver. It has really come a long way even in the last five years, but especially compared to 10-15 years ago. For the most part, stuff just works out of the box.

My ONLY beef is that many of the games I play (Civ 5, Banished, Sins of a Solar Empire, Frostpunk) are not stable and/or have performance issues under Linux, so I occasionally need to boot into Windows. For example Civ 5 works great until around 20 turns in when the lag between turns grows unbearable. That really sucks in multiplayer.

I see a lot of people saying “but that’s how creators get paid”.

Listen: I didn’t put ads on my video. YouTube did. I can’t take them off and I don’t see a cent from them. Block away.

Good points all around. The EU thing specifically is big. Our geography here in the US means just about everyone has somewhere to evacuate to without too much hassle, at least in terms of location. Whether they’d have a place to stay there is another matter.

For the binder, my thought is that it’s good to think about these things ahead of time. When we’re in the heat of the moment, dealing with the stress of whatever is going on, we may not always be thinking clearly. Taking the time to think about your plans today when things are calm gives you a running start tomorrow when they aren’t.

That said, remember the old saying: “no good plan survives first contact with the enemy”. The binder should be thought of as a guideline rather than a rigid set of instructions. Always make adjustments based on your own individual situations and risk tolerance.

To give a real-world example, I live near a nuclear plant. Whatever your thoughts on nuclear power, there’s a nonzero chance that I may need to evacuate someday. So here’s a slightly redacted example from my emergency binder:

In case of an emergency at the nuclear plant, local sirens will sound a steady tone for 3-5 minutes. Phone alerts may or may not go off. All local radio and TV stations should break in with news, but the following are part of the actual emergency plan:

• TV station #1
• Local radio station #1
• A few other radio stations serving the major metro areas within 100 miles

SPECIAL NOTE: If grid power has been down for at least ten days AND a plant emergency occurs, proceed to evacuation. The plant has at least two weeks of diesel on site for their backup generators but if this can not be replenished (severe weather, severe civil unrest, sabotage, etc), the plant’s safety systems will lose power. Catastrophic events will follow.

Follow instructions provided by civil authorities. Begin calmly and discreetly preparing for evacuation:

1. Evaluate situation. If appropriate, invite (elderly relatives) to our place to prepare for evacuation. 1a) If inviting (elderly relatives), advise them to bring their bug-out bags. 1b) If weather is inclement, we may need to go pick them up. Do not leave the house unattended; only one adult should leave the home.
2. Discuss with kids. Keep them calm. Offer to allow them to participate with step #s 4-7 and #9.
3. Fill both vehicles’ gas tanks, one at a time. Park both vehicles in garage upon return.
4. Fill water bottles with filtered potable water.
5. Close blinds in library (our library is a small room off our foyer). Use this as staging location for supplies.
6. Pull both pet carriers and pet bug-out bag. Stage in library.
7. Pull all four bug-out bags. Stage in library.
8. Continually monitor news for updates. Bias towards evacuation; it’s easier to come home after an unnecessary evacuation than to evacuate once the roads are gridlocked.
9. Calmly and discreetly load change of clothes, laundry detergent, (my + kids’) bugout bags, and four freeze-dried food tubs in the SUV. Load (wife’s + pets’) bugout bags, one freeze-dried food tub in sedan. Load pets in SUV or sedan based on whether we’re hauling (elderly relatives)
10. If the situation deteriorates or authorities advise, evacuate using the routes listed below. In all cases, evacuate at least 100 miles to the north or west.

Preferred evacuation route: Take I-1234 north 45 miles to I-5678 west. Take I-5678 west 15 miles to US-2345 north. Take US-2345 north for 70 miles to the town of Sometown.

Alternate evacuation route: (similar instructions in another direction)

The Internet was originally designed to fail gracefully. As routes and servers fail, the Internet was designed to work without them (to a point). Sadly the proliferation of giants like Google, Amazon, and Microsoft has put most of the Internet in the hands of a few companies.

You can technically use the Internet with every Google service blocked and all AWS / Microsoft IP ranges null routed, but it’s going to be very different and most major sites simply will not work.

Make sure you’re also blocking all other outbound DNS at your firewall. Many “smart” devices (and presumably some apps, though I have no way to check this) are hard coded to use 8.8.8.8 regardless of what DCHP says to use.