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Culture War Roundup for the week of September 23, 2024

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Okay I’ll respond here and say: my drivers license or any of my “documents” would be among the last things I would think to grab. I’d want:

  1. Kids/wife/debit card

  2. Hardware authenticators (irreplaceable)

  3. Laptop

  4. Gun

  5. “Survival” stuff like a fishing rod and a water filter and some lighters.

I realize this makes me very stupid, and this event has made me reevaluate my thoughts. For instance if I lost ALL of my “documents”, could I reconstruct them? My intuition says: yes, easily. Just “steal” my own identity. I have my DL# and SSN memorized. I know my full name, DOB, all of my addresses, employment history, etc.

What would it actually take, I wonder?

What are hardware authenticators?

It’s a hardware 2 factor authentication device.

So like when you log in to a service, instead of texting me, I have to insert/read something from a little piece of hardware.

Oh like a Digipass, gotcha.

I'd consider my credit+debit+cash to be urgent and my driver's license to be replaceable ... but in effect that means I'd definitely have ID, since it's all in the same wallet.

I feel like the "I don't know anybody voting for Nixon" lady, but I don't think I know any adult who doesn't carry ID habitually. I guess my wife sometimes leaves her ID and cards at home when I'm driving, but even then it's less often than not.

Things are probably different in cities with good mass transit, but does that describe any of the ones flooding?

I haven’t brought my drivers license with me for any reason other than flying in…years.

My car unlocks with my phone, which also has apply pay. I don’t carry a wallet with me, and I don’t carry house keys with me either. My house uses electronic locks, and I’m very competent with a lock pick (and can improvise one very quickly) in the event that that fails.

Usually when we fly finding IDs is a task on our to do list.

So hypothetically, what happens if you get stopped by Police and they ask to see your license? Or is that not a thing that they ask for where you live?

I’ve never been stopped by the police. But if I was I’d give them my DL# and they would presumably just look it up on their computer in their car.

To weigh in somewhat in between you and /u/roystgnr, I have my license with me 100% of the time when I leave the house, but also have repeatedly had a "why in the world do you not have your license?" conversation where my wife has been denied alcohol for lack of ID. So, I am well aware that this is way above lizard man constant levels, but am also absolutely baffled at what the upside is to not just having your ID in your wallet.

Realistically, I wouldn't expect even something as dire as the current North Carolina situation to happen in literally an hour. If you live in a hurricane state, you should have some sort of reasonable plan laid out and be ready to execute in the event that something happens. This is probably good advice in general but becomes more important if you're somewhere that has a non-trivial probability of your house just being destroyed. If I lived in such a state, my go bag would include a few documents - it's not like these chew up much space or weight. Currently, I just always keep my passport in the backpack that I travel with, so that would be an automatic one without needing to think about it any further than chucking a few other things in and bugging out. Otherwise, top priorities would vary based on what the situation is. Things that I would pretty much always bring:

  • Handgun and magazines
  • Passport
  • Box of Clif bars and Maurten gels (seriously, it's a shitload of calories without much weight)
  • Phone (my case has my driver's license, debit card, and credit card)
  • Wool running gear - all-purpose across weather and keeps me warm even if wet
  • Handwarmers

Imperfect, but doesn't weigh much, is enough calories to survive for a few days even with heavy movement, includes self-defense, some warmth, and includes money and ID restoration.

Not thinking to grab your social security card and birth certificate I fully understand, but how would you possibly leave behind your driver’s license? Do you not keep it in your wallet, phone case, car, or some other similar place? I honestly couldn’t tell you the last time I left home without my driver’s license, since it never leaves my wallet.