brian made this website

interests

music

I like all kinds of stuff, mostly metal. Some of my favorite artists:

i've been learning guitar since i was 12 (r.i.p. brent hinds)

games

i like metroidvanias, retro FPS, horror, and racing games.

some favorites:

preparedness

overarching philosophy

as we stare into the multiple gaping maws of recession, climate disaster, political regression, and unrestrained surveillance capitalism, i think things will broadly get worse for normal people before they get better. maybe i'm wrong. i'd like to be. but even if i am, i still live in louisiana, where major hurricanes are an eventuality that isn't going away.
(also, my apartment windows leak and my landlord won't do anything about it.)
to me, the game theory is focused on how much worse things might get and what that looks like, not speculating on the details of how they get that way. my point is that disaster and hardship have infinite forms, but those forms share a lot of common features, and we can plan for those.
whether you get laid off, a right-wing coup starts a civil war, or an alien laser blows up your house, your basic needs don't change.

food & water

like i mentioned earlier: i live in Louisiana, where natural disasters are just part of life. and they're only going to get worse. so: stores of food and water.

car

driving is the most dangerous thing we do on a regular basis. accidents are one of the main causes of death in the developed world, and there's a lot else that can go wrong because our lives center around cars in the US. (this is because of systemic coercion, but that's a separate discussion.) imagine: it's Monday morning and you're walking up to your car to drive to work. You unlock it and get in. You try to start it. Nothing happens.
maybe you have a jumpstarter in the trunk, get the car started, grab a new battery on the way, and change it later that day. maybe you have jumper cables - you need a kind stranger, but you can at least get on your way. maybe you have neither - i guess you're walking to the store for a new battery, or all the way to work. hopefully your boss is cool about it, but what if they aren't?
another scenario: your car suddenly has major mechanical problems. could you afford a big repair? an outright replacement? how cool is your boss going to be with you not being able to get to work?
another scenario: you're in a bad car wreck. maybe no one is hurt, but you're at fault - good luck dealing with insurance. maybe you're not at fault - still, good luck dealing with insurance. maybe your car catches fire - can you put it out? maybe you or someone else is bleeding, and badly - can you keep them alive long enough for EMTs to arrive?
one last scenario, the Paul Sheldon: you're stranded in your car. a crash or breakdown in the middle of nowhere, terrible traffic jam, whatever reason. but you're by yourself and help might not come for days.
some of these are definitely more likely than others, but they all happen. my point is: in all of these cases, a little forethought can make the difference between being fine and being absolutely fucked (or at least having a bad day).
so, here are some things i keep in my car just in case, starting with the most obvious:

medical

find a Stop The Bleed course near you for some basic training of what you need and how to use it.

firearms

current collection:

future additions: