Oh, pathetic.

Not to sound like a "god helps people who help themselves" anti-government freak, but this post on HuffPo is just really pathetic. This woman's power went out, and she's at a total fucking loss:

Meanwhile in my suburban reality we lost the power.

One of my kids ran to me and said, “The lights are out…” (They were) A while later another asked “ Man, does that mean the Internet’s down too??” (It was). It gradually became colder and colder (no heat). Floor to ceiling windows (perfect for this former-summer home) meant that the heat plummeted from 67 degrees to 47 in a matter of hours. We couldn’t cook (we have a gas burner, but we don’t smoke, so no matches). We couldn’t shower, well; we had no water at all (the pump needs electricity) so that meant one toilet flush only (quickly wasted) and no phone (we have the kind that require power). I went to the basement to check on something (the bunny rabbit actually) where, despite the darkness, I saw we now had a large wading pool 5 inches deep where were had once had a laundry and rec. room.

Cold, hungry and dying for a pee, we decided to leave, but, due to an uncharacteristic burst of efficiency a few days earlier, we could not open our brand new mechanized garage door. Luckily, our fantasy of a deer proof fence and electric gates (to protect our foliage) had not materialized. Cold, dirty and discouraged the six of us plus our dogs traipsed out on foot, leaving the bunny, the fish and the cat to guard our home.

One of the kids moaned “I feel like a refugee”. I thought well not really dear and then, well yes, sort of, after all, our town had just opened a shelter for the first time ever.

How could you possibly have a household without MATCHES?! How could you not have at least one phone in the house that didn't need electricity to work? Are you aware that you can actually pee in the toilet even if you can't flush it? Or that you can pee in a pot and throw it out the back door? That if your water supply runs on an electric pump, you should really be sure to have extra water available, and maybe a generator? That you could tack blankets over your floor-to-ceiling windows to conserve heat? Or have you not got any spare blankets?

I suppose this poor woman will happen upon this post via Technorati and feel miserable and attacked, but my god -- four kids and no idea about how to deal with a power outage? May I suggest she do some reading at FEMA's website, which, despite Brownie, is still chock-full of important information on dealing with emergencies?