I am now dumber for having read this.

Wow.  Thanks, Fox News for not only uneducating sheeple on how to prepare for a storm, but to make a backhanded comment towards those who do.  I guess I'm not a survivalist without my bunker and iodine tablets.

Here are the 4 "gadgets":

1st.  You mentioned a crank radio, then complained that it wouldn't completely charge your iPhone.  It would have been nice to mention that the crank radio is usually used for the radio.  Just saying.

2nd.  You mention an LED flashlight.  Please complain about the price.  Since you mentioned the above radio has a built-in LED flashlight, couldn't you use the radio for looking for stuff too?  And my flashlight that lights up Chicago used 2 AA batteries and I used it for a month before changing batteries, so why are they plugging a model that uses 8 AAA batteries and is good for 24 hours?

3rd.  A lantern.  A rechargeable, electric lantern.  How freaking dark does it get?  All they mentioned so far is stuff to light up the night.  Here's an idea:  use the crank radio (you need it to hear the news) and some of those solar outdoor lights.  I got 20 of them lining my driveway.  If I need to, I can leave them out during the day to charge and bring them in to use each night for houselight.  And it is cheaper than all this garbage.  And maybe a oil lamp and/or homemade candles.  But then again, I'm not trying to be a yuppie.

4th.  A solar charger.  Good, because the iPhone battery might go dead and then noone gets to play Angry Birds on the phone.  Really people?

You got 3 gadgets for lighting up a house.  And 2 that can charge your iPhone.  Seriously, when I was out of power for 2 weeks for Hurricane Gustav in 2008, we got a small generator for the fridge, on demand hot water heater, and some A/C.  If you wanted to charge your phone, you plugged it into the car.  Cars still work in a power outage.  Just run the engine for a few minutes to charge the car battery, then let the phone charge for an hour.

Good to see that none of the "gadgets" included a non-electric can opener, a gas BBQ grill for cooking, or a Steripen for water sterilization.  But I guess as long as you can see, and use your iPhone, then everything will be OK, because food and water aren't important if you are trendy.

Sheeple.


Fox News Article.