New Guns Part II

The Stoeger Double Defense: A tactical coach gun with top & bottom rails & a black finish. This appeals to me immensely because I like the simplicity & power of coach guns but would prefer something more tactical than a shiny cowboy firearm.

The Rossi/Taurus Circuit Judge: A rifle version of the well-received Judge .410/.45 revolver. Not quite my cup of tea, this, but KUDOS to Rossi for producing a unique firearm that probably performs well as both a varmint gun and a home security weapon.

The Springfield XDM Compact: A single pistol that performs as both a concealable backup weapon and a full-size combat handgun. The secret is in the grip, which can take either a short 13-round magazine or an extended 16-round magazine. A truly innovative design for a proven world-class firearm. Saves us all from having to buy 2 pistols.

Locomotive with a FUCK YOU bumper

U can C how this bumper sticks out the front of my locomotive, but can U hear what it's saying? Listen carefully. Hear that? It's whispering, "FUCK YOU." Cuz it's a solid steel motherfucker. Now plz, stay out my way.

New Guns

OK, this Chiappa Firearms Rhino is a .357 Magnum revolver with some odd characteristics: The barrel is aligned with the lower cylinder, which lessens the recoil and allows for greater accuracy. The reduced recoil inherent in the design allowed for significantly lighter overall weight. Also, the cylinder is flat-sided rather than round, giving the pistol a flatter profile and making it very concealable. I think it looks cool.

What we have here is a Kel Tec PMR-30, which holds THIRTY .22 Magnum rounds in its magazine. Which is fucking astounding. Seriously. That is a LOT of fucking firepower.

Here is a high-end, rifled replica of the (in)famous FP-45 Liberator. It's expensive and not quite able to fire as sold, but I always liked this puppy cuz it's so effin simple and useless. It's single-shot and you have to pry the fired casing out of the chamber to reload. The handle is hollow and holds extra ammo. This gun was designed to allow French Partisans to obtain better weapons by killing enemy soldiers. They originally cost US$2.10 each.

Mind Game

If you had to arm a 50-man local or retreat militia (5 10-man squads), what weapons would you choose, and how would you allocate them?

My answers:

Super Low Budget: Moisin Nagants (or Lee Enfields) for everyone! Bayonets, slings & cleaning kits included. Redundancy, redundancy, redundancy. Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity. A couple of surplus stainless steel .357 police revolvers thrown in if the budget allowed.

Low Budget: I'd probably go for the Chinese SKS (7.63 mm x 39 mm w/fixed magazine & integral bayonet) as the main armament, as I admire it for its durability, quality and low price. Russian ammo is plentiful and cheap, as are stripper clips and Chinese ammo pouches. Plus, the fixed magazine, with its 10-round capacity, favors methodical shooting over rapid fire. Every tenth man would carry a 12 gauge Remington 870 pump (20-inch barrel), and a 9mm Glock, instead. I don't particularly like Glocks, but who can argue with their price and performance, and the ubiquity of the 9mm round?

Medium Budget: I'd probably go with the best AK-47 I could find, 40 rifles all told, all AKs would be of identical make/national origin for purposes of redundancy. Half the rifles would have fixed wooden stocks while half would have metal folding stocks. Bayonets all the way around. Every tenth man would carry a pump 12 gauge Mossberg 590A1 (20-inch barrel), and one out of ten men would carry a scoped AR-15. One AK per squad would be converted to full auto come the Apocalypse. One or two 9mm Glocks per squad.

High Budget: Each 10-man squad would be armed with 5 M-4s, 2 7.62mm Galils, 2 Springfield M1A1s & 1 Mossberg 12 gauge pump 590A1 (20-inch barrel), plus a couple of Model 1911 .45s. The fifth 10-man squad would also be armed with several Stoeger 12 gauge tactical double barrel shotguns, which would be cut down come the Apocalypse.

OK, enough of that, now I gotta go clear my mind.

Zoom Update

Had an ARB bumper and a winch installed on Zoom. Feels like I'm driving a freight train - the truck's heavier, and that bumper could punch a hole thru a brick wall. At some point I'll lift him an inch or two and have larger tires put on - nothing too drastic, just to raise him a little and bring the front end back up. Also, one day he'll get heavy duty ignition wires and high end spark plugs, and maybe at some point a canvas shell on the bed.

DIY Snow Tires for Your Bike

Monowalker Hiking Trailer for Hikers

Sorry for the cut-and-paste links below, but (as usual) they are the best I can do:

http://www.monowalker.com/ENG-index.html

http://winarco.com/monowalker-hiking-trailer-for-hikers/

http://www.trailspace.com/blog/2010/05/18/monowalker.html

This thing is a hippie survivalist's wet dream. It is a finely crafted hiking trailer with a disc brake. It can be converted into a bicycle trailer or a backpack. Amazing!

The Survival Bike

Here's a cool idea! Take a rugged, lightweight mountain bike, give it front & rear racks, panniers & a trailer. The trailer has one wheel. Two handles can be easily attached to the trailer when it is removed from the bike, making it easily pullable by a single person. Or, if need be, the trailer can be pushed, like a wheelbarrow. There are modular attachments for the trailer, such as a plastic water tank, a seat, a metal fuel tank, a waterproof duffel, a tool box, battery packs, a cargo net, a solar panel, etc.

There is a simple PTO on the back of the bicycle, running up thru the rear center rack. A variety of tools or appliances can be attached to this PTO, and when the bicycle is placed on an integral stand, pedaling powers them directly, via the back wheel. A blender, a dentist's drill, a grain grinder, a food processor, a circle or band saw, a drill press, God knows what else.

There is also an optional battery pack that can be charged by the bicycle. It has an integral solar panel, but it can be attached to the bike to charge via a small pedal-powered generator. The battery can in turn charge USB devices, laptops, LEDs & cell phones. For that matter, the bicycle can be used as a stationary generator to power any batteries, or to run some electric appliances directly.

An electric motor can be attached to the bike, to assist with heavy loads or long uphills. It can be powered by multiple batteries on the trailer, if necessary.

A small gas engine can be attached to the bike, to provide long-distance propulsion. The engine comes in gasoline or propane versions. The propane version can run on small propane bottles, which screw in directly, or on a larger canister that is attached to the trailer.

A person has all these options to choose from - they can customize the bike any way they want, to create the BOV that they need.

This Future

I am a man out of time. The world I am meant to live in has not yet arrived. It is, however, drawing closer. The world I am waiting for has technology even more magnificent than what we now see, and it is caught in the grip of chaos so extreme that the institutions which govern our world are crumbling away one by one. Governments, cultures, economies, laws, traditions, rules, nations, cities - all are crashing down, collapsing in the face of endemic warfare, civil strife, natural calamity, starvation, economic collapse, resource shortages, etc.

It is the good side of this future that I look forward to - that is, the freedom that will arise as the old institutions disappear. Freedom to live in new, better ways, to form new societies, new economies, new technologies, freedom from the restriction of archaic, burdensome, ineffective rules that no longer benefit people in any significant ways. Somehow, when this world arrives, I'm going to be right there in the middle of it, thriving, helping to set up new systems & identifying solutions to the problems we face.

Can't wait!

Odds & Ends

*Getting an ARB winch bumper installed on my truck next week, including an 8,000 lb winch w/synthetic line (FYI: Synthetic line weighs 1/7th that of steel cable).
*More reasons the Expedition Range Camp (mentioned in the previous post) appeals to me: It has a lantern hook inside, it has gas lamps, the wagon-wheel configuration means that you can unhook your truck from the trailer and the trailer remains fully level/functional without the need for jacks, and the Dutch door gives the trailer interior a bunkhouse feel.
*The LATOC (Life After the Oil Crash) website, run by Matt Savinar, has officially ceased to provide its daily news service, which is a bummer.
*The post-holiday blues have hit me early this year. Eek!

Expedition Range Camps, LLC

Here is something that appeals highly to the Hippie Survivalist (sorry for the usual pain-in-the-ass cut-and-paste format):

http://www.expeditionrangecamps.com/products/

Note the rugged wood stove/hardwood floor/bunkhouse elements to these trailers. Note that while they are tow-able, they are designed more for living in and less for driving about than your usual RV. Note, too, the high clearance and the fact that they are designed for remote living, as opposed to the usual RV which is designed for plug-in camping. I have nothing against propane and electricity, but would rather not rely on them solely. This is one of the very few RV/portable homes that appeals to me, because it is designed for homesteading rather than vacationing.

Grinches

Took out a Grinch last night, the fucker came at me like a hippo in the fog. I was walking my cat -- Shadow -- up by the abandoned school when he ran out of the shadows and blindsided me. Luckily I was armed to the teeth and I plugged the fat green buck with 2 .308 rounds. Got him in the stomach both times and he went down like a sack of steaming wet shit, neighing. Shadow tore off a good-sized chunk of his arm before I got her muzzled and sacked and out of the way. I cut his horns off and pulled his teeth and rolled him into the weeds for the school kids to skin at recess today. When I got home I let Shadow loose and gave her those cracked green teeth to play with. The horns are mine, though -- they're going over the mantlepiece. I went by the schoolyard today and there was nothing left but a pile of smoking, black bones, and next to them a note that said THANKS in kid's writing. Made me feel mushy all over.

Shields & Other Shite

Major Surplus & Survival is my favorite online surplus store...AND it just so happens that right now they are selling Chinese riot shields for $49.95.

Sportsmansguide was selling British riot shields 2 weeks ago, but they are sold out. The Brit shields were round, clear plexiglass, more police than military, probably superior in every way to these green thingamjigs.

Anyway, I am a major proponent of hand-held defensive weapons and riot gear for those of us who live in urban environments. I'm talking push spears, tomahawks, armor, baseball bats, shields, helmets, the works.

But what I really want to say today is that my main interest these days is in promoting self-sufficiency. To this end I am continuing to plant fruit, nut and olive trees on "friendly" land. I continue to spread the hippie survivalist doctrine in whatever form I can to those around me, though interest remains fairly minimal. As we all know, the world doesn't give a shit about survivalism, because survivalism is a buzzkill.

I tell you though, you can still find people with the most unlikely skill sets. I have one friend who has lived below the poverty line for many years, and knows how to survive on very little money. She buys everything secondhand or gets it for free, dumpster dives, buys discount food, improvises, recycles, reuses, much as I imagine our grandparents did during World War II. Though she is a die-hard, old-school pacifist, I find her lifestyle rare and inspiring. She has never owned a credit card, has no debt. If we all lived the way she did, the world wouldn't have half the problems it now does. And she is pretty much impervious to economic hardship, because she has adapted to it over the last 20+ years.

One last thing: Silver has gone from roughly 10 to 28 dollars an ounce in the last 3 years. They call it poor man's gold.

It's raining. Good night!

ROBES by Penny Kelly

I have recommended this book before, and I will recommend it again. If you are a survivalist, if you are a futurist, if you are worried about the state of the world and are trying to anticipate where the human race is headed, then read ROBES by Penny Kelly. It details a long series of very precise visions that Penny Kelly had in 1979 and 1980. These visions describe certain aspects of the fate of the human race in the 21st century and early 22nd century. Don't be put off by the New Age aspects of this book - it contains vast amounts of crucial information. Many of Penny's visions have come to pass, or have started to happen. One of Penny's central themes is that we are entering an era in which modern nation states and governments are fracturing and collapsing. This trend will gain momentum until governments ultimately fail completely.

We are entering an era of real hardship, wherein the greatest wealth we can possess is self-sufficiency - the ability to grow our own food, the ability to form alliances and communities with other people who can augment our skill sets, and the ability to run home businesses. This is serious shit! Open your eyes and look around, read the headlines. Food prices are already skyrocketing globally, as predicted. We face a catastrophic health crisis brought about by eating synthetic garbage, as predicted. The Western world is bankrupt, as predicted. Corporations are gaining ever more power as they merge through endless acquisitions, as predicted. Governments are stalling, and failing to provide for their people, as predicted.

We are heading into very dire times. Times of extreme chaos, in which societies will rupture and explode, warfare of all types will break out, resources will run low, pollution will make areas of the earth unlivable, governments will be unable to provide for their people, economies will tank, multinationals will seize power, terrorists will run rampant, global conflicts will go nuclear, billions will starve, and disease will kill many.

How are you going to face this future?

I will end this diatribe by quoting Penny Kelly directly: "Prepare for some amount of chaos, then go build the best possible world."

Amen.

Me, I'm off to buy more ammo and plant the fucking potatoes.

Survival Cache & Minor Notes

*This is a great website with a very useful and informative weekly newsletter: http://survivalcache.com/

*Someone mentioned in passing that permafrost holds mountains together...I wonder if they will start falling apart as the planet heats up? Sounds exciting to me!

*Been working on my All-Weather 10/22, trying to build the most useful squirrel gun I can. So far: a Hogue rubber overmolded stock w/QB sling swivels and a sling, an extended magazine release button, an extended bolt handle and an after-market bolt release catch. I like it, but am considering switching out the stock barrel for a heavy-wall, brushed stainless barrel. Also, I removed the scope for the time being. I'd rather learn to shoot on iron sights. The 10/22 gunsmithing DVD I purchased is excellent, if overpriced at $39.99.

*Grinch guns - we all need them this time of year. What's your ideal platform? Methinks the AK-47 is the bomb.

*Uh, been a long time since I updated this blog. Went to Australia a few months ago, came back with a different view on things. Less paranoid these days.

*Remember that we are designed to eat whole, unprocessed, living foods. Eating McDonalds hamburgers and white flour and pasteurized/homogenized milk is a bad idea. Did you know that raw cows' milk does not cause problems associated with lactose intolerance, because it still contains the enzymes we need to break down the lactose? Did you know that raw cows' milk is alive and is better for you the sourer it gets? Did you know that grass-fed beef contains Omega-3s? The processed food we eat is very, very bad for us - it is responsible for a great many of the health problems that constitute the health crisis we are experiencing today. Taking responsibility for your health is something every hippie survivalist should do.

*Israeli “Auto Kill Zone” Towers Locked and Loaded:
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2008/12/israeli-auto-ki/

The Gulf Oil Spill

This is my take on the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico: We are all to blame. Yes, BP is the devil incarnate -- all oil companies are. And BP needs to be held fully accountable for its actions. But none of the oil companies would exist without a consumer base. Let me repeat that statement: British Petroleum would not exist without a consumer base. Therefore, all oil-consumers are to blame for this disaster. That means all of us. Everyone. Everything each of us purchases on a day-to-day basis is to some degree reliant on oil, whether it's gasoline at the pump, a bed that has been transported to the store, vegetables that were grown with fertilizers, or anything made of rubber or plastic. There are degrees of guilt, to be sure. But to focus on BP as the sole cause of this problem is to reduce this situation to an oversimplified farce. This is what the Age of Machines comes down to: In the end, WE, the consumers and peoples of the world, must realize that WE are responsible for the degradation of the planet. WE could put all evil corporations out of business today, if WE stopped playing the consumer game. The oil companies are proxies for our own greed and ignorance.

Let me add that industrial disasters of this magnitude are logically bound to happen, and statistically probable, with the amount of oil drilling going on in the world today. We all know this. Unfortunately, we pretend that they are unexpected and unlikely occurrences, because we get away with industrial murder day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, without suffering the true consequences. Time to wake up.

The Hopi prophesies contain a vision in which the oceans turn black and some kind of death - a virus? - emerges from them. I can't help but wonder if this disaster portends their vision.

Eek.

Back to the garden!

Local Motors - The Rally Fighter

One bad-ass desert racer BOV. Completely custom designed. Powered by a 3 liter diesel. Price tag: About $50,000. Check it out at: http://www.local-motors.com/rallyFighter.php

Three Ways to Fight A Cold

Am told that you can fight a cold by:

1. drinking lemon water,
2. eating raw garlic and/or onions, and/or
3. eating raw ginger

Wonder if it's true?

Aloe Vera

Got a sunburn on Sunday, out at Bolinas. Came home, cut two pieces off the Aloe plant a few doors down, sliced one piece open and rubbed the gel liquid into my arms, face and neck. Instant, cooling refreshment. By the next morning the burn had turned into a tan. Repeated the process with piece number two, for the hell of it. Today is Tuesday, no sign of any sunburn.

Works every time.

Am told that the slime from any green plant has a similar healing effect.

True Story

For years I would dream about a little, tiny, baby bird. The bird was sick and it was so small that it just wasn't going to make it. It would fall over and lay there on the ground and I'd try to keep it alive but I didn't know how to. I hated that dream. And when I awoke from it, I always knew that the bird symbolized some part of me. It was a helpless feeling, one that weighed heavily on me.

About two years ago I was walking up a hill near my house when I heard a car's brakes screech, followed by a thump, up around the corner. A moment later I rounded the corner to find a bird laying in the street. It looked dead. I walked up to it and peered down. It blinked back. I wondered if it had broken its back when it was struck. Was it paralyzed? I spoke gently to it, and after a minute one of its wings flapped feebly. So it wasn't paralyzed, but merely stunned.

Another car drove up, slowed, and gently cruised around us as I waved it by.

Minutes went by. Then, the bird suddenly flapped one wing very hard and skidded across the pavement. I followed. Now it was in the middle of the street. Another car drove up, stopped, then slowly cruised around us. I continued to talk to the bird, trying to soothe it. More minutes went by. Then, the bird flapped both its wings frenetically, and it slid farther long the pavement, into the gutter opposite where it had been hit. It was regaining its bearings.

Yet another car drove up, and I waved it around.

A woman walked up and asked me what I was doing. I explained. Together we watched the bird, and after some back and forth, she decided she'd pick it up and bring it home. But when she reached down to pick the bird up, it stood up and flew away, landing on a wall a few feet away.

"That was very kind of you, to watch over that bird," she said.

I wanted to say to her, "Believe me, I had no choice. That bird was ME. I HAD to save it!" But instead, I said nothing.

As I walked home, I kept thinking about what had just happened. I'd saved the bird. I'd saved the bird! It had all happened so perfectly. I'd arrived at the scene of the accident just at the right moment, and then protected the bird from getting run over. And then the bird had regained its senses and flown away - free, and whole, at last!

I have not dreamed about the baby bird since.

The State of US

What gets me riled up is what we, the United States public, invested our wealth in during those heady years when we reigned supreme on the world stage. We built a suburban infrastructure that relied heavily -- even exclusively -- on cheap, stolen oil. We went to Hawaii, we bought expensive cars, we added marble counter tops to our kitchens, we went out to dinner, we bought clothes, we did vast quantities of recreational drugs, and in the process we lost any semblance of self-sufficiency and sustainability that we once had. We lost the family farm, we went into debt, we stopped saving money, we forgot how to put up food, we had lots of children because we were told we were supposed to, we forgot how to garden, how to be thrifty, how to hunt, how to make do with less or little, how to re-use and repair, how to change our own oil, how to knit, how to be happy, how to eat well, how to be healthy, how to get real exercise, how to accept hardship, how to be civil to one another, how to give, how to be kind and thankful. We shitted away a King's ransom. And for what? What do we have to show for it? A nation full of crumbling, world-class freeways and houses. 50 million garages that are stuffed full of forgotten excess. Tens of millions of suburban consumers who have no real value, no real skills, no real savings, no real worth, no real clue, who have jello for brains. We have degenerated to a level where we know how to honk at each other, how to consume, how to sue one another, how to blame others for our own problems, and how to take as much as we can from the state and from the natural environment.

What is my point, you ask? I will get to that in a few moments. But first let me say that my point is critical, it must be acted upon, it is based on many years of studying world history and current affairs and the future. My point is this: Humanity now faces a multitude of looming problems that are global and epic and unprecedented in scale. These imminent crises include rapid climate change and accompanying rising sea levels, the increasing scarcity of resources and fresh water across the globe, widespread environmental degradation and possible systemic collapse, overpopulation, global economic collapse, and pandemics. The way to address this alarming state of affairs is to START INVESTING IN SUSTAINABILITY NOW, while you have an income, while the world economy still functions, while the vast multitudes sleep, while there is still time. This is it, our last chance. Work on the homestead, improve your relationships, get the ranch up-and-running, learn how to grow food, how to get by on less, how to love and live again.

Buy a quality rifle and pistol, and ammunition. This is no time to moralize. Your rifle and pistol may serve you, your children, and their children in a world that is far less civilized and prosperous than ours, a world in which the thin veneer of civilization was, indeed, quickly wiped away.

Buy a solid, functional mountain bike. Buy 2 sets of extra tubes for it, as well as a basket or rack, and learn how to repair and maintain it.

Set aside a minimum of 3 months worth of food, for long-term storage.

Learn the fundamentals of First Aid.

Plant a garden, and learn how to grow food. Better yet, plant a food forest or an orchard.

Learn how to raise animals, how to gather their eggs and milk and fur and poop, even how to slaughter, butcher and cook these critters.

Learn how to grow and use medicinal herbs.

Secure trusted friendships that will survive the coming storms.

Learn how to eat well and stay healthy.

Learn a skill that can serve as a cottage industry -- bicycle repair, ammo reloading, brewing or distilling, gardening, a healing art, soldiering, plumbing, auto repair, etc.

Increase your skill set across the board by learning functional homemaking fundamentals such as general home repair, cheese making, canning, cooking from scratch, baking, knitting, sewing, hide tanning, defensive shooting, etc.

Save money. Pay off your debt. Buy a house or land. Hedge against both deflation and hyperinflation, by investing some of your money in precious metals and/or STRIPS and/or TIPS and/or commodities.

Try to secure a job that can withstand rising oil shortages and social unrest and continued state financial bankruptcy/insolvency.

Consider where you live, and its advantages and disadvantages. Move to a more secure location if you must.

Stay abreast of world affairs, and act accordingly.

To those of you who are already on the bandwagon -- thank goodness! To those of you who are still in the dark -- this is your clarion call, these words are the light bulb that just flickered and got your attention. YOU'VE BEEN ALERTED. NOW YOU MUST MAKE GOOD.


And what of me, what purpose do I serve? If I am here for anything, it is to sound the alarm. People like me MUST exist in this world, people who see and imagine what lies down the road, and shout the warning to those around them. And it is imperative that we alarmists NEVER, EVER come to believe that Industrial society will do anything but fail completely. I don't know why this is true, I only know that it is. So, follow our advice, and hope we are wrong. The best future is the one in which we are wrong. But we can never know what the future will actually bring, so why not improve your life anyway, just in case? Start now. It's win-win, no matter what the outcome.

Holy Moly: Aquaponics

My God this is cool. And ingenious. In a nutshell, fishes poop in water, the water is cycled thru a gravel bed that acts as a growing medium for plants, the plants suck up the nutrience from the water, and then the clean water goes back into the fish tank. Ideally, you eat the plants and the fish, and the whole system uses only 10% of the H20 that a regular garden uses. You can operate these systems under grow lights, meaning you could use them indoors, in bunkers, in caves, in boats...

Check it out: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/03/21/HO3Q1CGSL1.DTL&sfgabt=ttmabtc#ixzz0ixht3aGI

Where to buy pre-made aquaponic systems:

-- Kijiji Grows, Oakland: (877) 865-2055 www.kijijigrows.com

-- Inka Biospheric Systems, San Francisco: (650) 619-2241 www.inka.fm

-- Home Depot: www.homedepot.com

The Mountain Bike

Have an aluminum mountain bike -- large frame, disc brakes, 24 gears. Added a rear rack last night, along with a clip-on bag/backpack. For short trips to the neighborhood stores this summer. Am going to look into a front rack, and am always looking for a used trailer. Nothing more useful than a bike in a grid-down situation. You can always push the mofo on flats/uphills, and coast downhill, if it's too overloaded to actually pedal. Always thought thorn-proof tires sounded good, too. Have to look into that.

CVS

Here's a deal: I went to CVS and bought 2 8-packs of Scott towels and 1 12-pack of Scott toilet paper and 4 cans of propane. Used store coupons and a freebie 5 dollar rewards coupon. Total cost: $28.44. Savings: $28.02. Now I've got a few months of paper products and a summer's worth of propane for LittleFoot (would have bought all of it at some point anyway).

The Survivalist Tribes

I want to found one of the survivalist tribes. I want to do it soon, long before the landslide starts, so that we are up and running and relatively unscathed by the escalating demise of the industrial world (whenever that should occur).

Here's what my survivalist tribe is gonna be and do:

*We're gonna be debt-free
*We're gonna build a village (literally)
*We're gonna create our own local, silver-backed currency
*We're gonna also barter and use time credits
*We're gonna be a community of minutemen, and we're gonna have our own security force
*We're gonna get our shit together inside and out so that we are pragmatic and have our feet on the ground and are aligned with our Higher Nature
*We're gonna live simply and use a lot of low-tech equipment and some high-tech equipment
*We're gonna grow all of our own food, and be largely self-sufficient
*We're gonna train ourselves in many different skill sets, so that together we can perform a wide array of tasks
*We're gonna operate our own businesses
*We're gonna eschew the political/economic system, and find outside solutions
*We're gonna network with other survivalist tribes
*We're gonna help the local community to be more self-sufficient
*We're gonna continually improve our own systems, so that they function effectively, and
*We're gonna promote the lifestyle, thru books and online media

I've been waiting all my life to do this. I can hardly stand the wait!

Collapse Occurs Unevenly, and Has Already Begun

Cut'n'paste this puppy, which reaffirms Penny Kelly's national collapse-assertions in ROBES:

http://resourceinsights.blogspot.com/2010/02/uneven-collapse-hint-its-already.html

Really quite interesting, and precisely what I believe. The modern nation states are already in decline, and some have begun to collapse.

The Big Berkey

My Big Berkey just arrived, and it's filtering H2O as I write this. Getting it was no mean feat, seeing as Berkefeld's can't be sold in California because they do not meet California filtration standards. Californians cannot even buy them via the internet! Which is ridiculous, seeing as Berkeys are the world standard for gravity-fed water purification systems, AND there is no other equivalent! So anyway, I sent the money to someone out of state, and they purchased it and sent it to me. And, so far, I'm impressed. I've been using a Brita filter for years, and let's face it, Britas are not really filters. I'm not sure what they actually do, besides condition the water so it tastes better, and make us feel like we are being healthy. The Berkey has some heavy duty silver-impregnated ceramic/charcoal filter elements that last 10 years. They cost about $50 each, and my setup has 2, though up to 4 can be used. The system consists of 2 stainless steel pots, one of which sits on top of the other. The filter elements fit into the top pot, where the water goes, and clean water gravity-feeds into the lower pot. It's a simple, clean set-up, and the water tastes really good. I'm stoked, and plan to use this system for many years. It ain't cheap, but then again, it ain't plastic. You know the score: After TSHTF and no one has any potable water, all the girls are invited to my love shack. But if you are a dude, be sure to wear a bulletproof vest if you come a'knocking.

Preserving Plastics and Synthetic Materials

Sunlight destroys most things, given enough time, and plastics and nylons are no exception. So the key to getting long life out of things like tents and plastic planting pots is, don't leave them in the sun when A) they are not being used, or B) for extended periods of time. When growing season is over, I empty my window planters and earth boxes out and store them inside for 6 months. They still show signs of degradation, but they will last twice as long as they would if I left them out all year. As for tents, I don't need them long term, as I only go camping for a few days a year. But I have seen tents that have been left out in the sun long-term, and they were in bad shape, bleached out with degraded netting. So, if I were to live in a tent long-term, I would set it up in shade or under cover. Tarps, too, degrade BADLY in the sun. Enough said.

Re-use and Conservation

It is important to develop a mindset of re-using materials to the greatest extent possible, and of curbing our overall use of materials, so that we use as little as possible. I'm no saint in this regard, and I don't intend to preach, but these are pragmatic skills, skills that every survivalist should have. The truth is that the days of plenty are now over, for the human race is so overextended that we are in danger of running out of many metals and minerals -- and water! -- in the coming decades. Learn to make do with less now, so that you don't hurt so bad when you no longer have the choice. You might trying cleaning out old peanut butter jars to store grains in, or using old wine bottles as water bottles, shopping at yard sales for utensils and dishes and tools and old electronics. Every item you buy used saves a tremendous amount of time, energy and materials that would have otherwise been used to manufacture that item. WE MUST DE-PROGRAM OURSELVES FROM THE CONSUMER MENTALITY. When you do buy things new, you may wish to make sure that certain items (like jackets or boots or a grain grinder or solar panels or a car) are high-quality, so that they last either for a long time, or forever. It goes without saying that you will also need to properly maintain these items. Other items (like dishes) might be just as functional when of lower quality.

Imagine II

Can you imagine what life will be like when the governments finally fail, and corporations assume control of the world? There will be no basic human rights, no law enforcement, no guarantees of personal sanctity or freedom, no enforcement of environmentally-sound business practices or sanitation, no curbs on pollution, no limits on resource depletion, no social welfare or medicine, no regulations on food ingredients, no upkeep of public institutions or utilities. There WILL be unbridled capitalism, untamed greed, unrestricted environmental degradation.... Everything will be privatized: road repair, garbage collection, incarceration, slavery, prostitution, security, intelligence, surveillance, utilities, public works, drug cartels, hit men, disaster relief, all media everywhere, weapons manufacturing, currency, citizenship, the space race, the list goes on. The proverbial dollar will reign supreme at all times.

Everyone will be armed with the best weapon they can get their hands on. The utilities in your house will not function, because the central water system and electrical grid decayed years ago. You will drive a smoke-belching wreck that is cobbled together from a dozen different cars and has steel security plates welded over the windows. The roads will be cracked, covered in debris, sprouting weeds. Trash, raw sewage and corpses will litter the urban landscape. Smog will choke the air. The vast majority of impoverished people will walk or ride bicycles. There will be no public transportation. You will collect rainwater from your roof in the winter, and fill water containers from a water truck in the summer. The water cartel will demand hard cash for their polluted, undrinkable water. You will grow what food you can, eat rodents and pets, accept virtually inedible corporate welfare handouts, and slowly starve. The corporations will provide unsafe industrial jobs for lousy food and low wages. There will be incessant crime -- burglaries, rapes, muggings, gangs, assassinations, extortion, shootouts, hold-ups, corporate/cartel clashes, terrorist attacks, random bombings.

Out of this chaotic, violent and unjust world will emerge the eco-terrorists and the survivalist tribes.

Making Plants and Banks Work for You

*It's called transpiration. It's the process by which plants emit water vapor thru their skin. And it can work for YOU, Dawg! You take plastic bags and tie them around tree branches and plant limbs, and the bags will hold the transpired water. At the end of the day you have some H20. It's the kind of thing you should know, in case you are ever in a situation where water is more precious than...extra plastic bags.
*Right now at least two major banks are offering free money to people who open a checking account with them. One bank is offering $50 for free with an initial $100 deposit. They will place the money in your account within 45 days, and then it's yours. The other bank is offering $100 free with an initial $100 deposit. The free $100 is yours to keep after 6 months. What I'm saying is, take up offers like this and cash the accounts out as soon as the cash is all yours, free and clear. Then take that money and buy something with lasting value, like ammo or silver. Sometimes you have to go into the bank and set the account up in person. Other times you can set it up online. But no matter how you slice it, Homecake, the process of opening and then closing a single bank account will take 1.5 hours max (probably more like 45-60 minutes), and thus you make $25 - $75 an hour when all is said and done. Now THAT's vodka money!
*If you are disciplined with credit cards and finances, then accept 0% credit card offers. Make a single large purchase with each card, ie: that thing you've needed/wanted to buy for some time, like a shed, or new truck tires, or a new hunting rifle, or a cow. Then destroy the credit cards. Pay the monthly minimums on them until your 0% offers end. Pay the rest of the balances off at the last possible moment, just before you start to owe finance charges. This is perfectly legal, and works. It can affect your credit rating slightly, but if you don't need a loan, it's not an issue. I've done it, to great effect. If you are really smooth, you can wait til one card is about to start accruing finance charges, and flip that balance onto a brand new 0% card. Never make more than one purchase on each card. Never have more than one balance on each card. It is possible to string a balance along for several years using this method. I've done it. I know someone who bought a car this way and took 6 years to pay it off. The thing about this little secret is...it smells good. Don't it?
*I just read that ING Direct (an internet bank) has a very high credit rating (meaning it's financially sound). But don't take my word for it, go to bankrate.com and check for yourself. Anyhoo, ING Direct has traditionally offered savings accounts with higher-than-average interest rates, and no fees, and a $25 bonus for opening an account, and a $10 bonus for referring someone else who opens a new account. Right now they are offering a $20 referral bonus. I've had an account with ING Direct for some time, and let me just say that it's nice not to be nickel-and-dimed to death. Some will argue that the dollar amounts I just mentioned are so trivial as to be unimportant, but I disagree. It's the difference between having a savings account and watching fees and shitty interest rates chip away at it month by month, or having a savings account that GIVES ME FREE MONEY so that every month I always have more in it than the previous month, whether or not I myself add money to it...you dig?
*One last thing. In my experience, small banks treat their customers well. For instance, I belong to a small regional bank that has less than 20 branches. And because of this, they automatically refund all ATM charges. Again, avoiding banking fees rocks.
*One FINAL last thing. Check out bank ratings on bankrate.com. Then go with a secure bank, one that has a very high credit rating. It's your choice. Why not use that freedom to your advantage?

Imagine

I imagine that the day will come, after the global governments have fallen, when Corporations will rule the world. Having no authority to answer to but their own, they will employ insidious methods of maintaining control. They will utilize armies of mercenary commandos to kidnap and kill their enemies. They will fight their wars with AC-130 gunships, UAVs, Big Dogs, spy satellites, cruise missiles, biological weapons and EMP devices. Sometimes the Corporations will work with each other to wipe out an "Eco-terrorist" cell, or in the name of common business interests. Other times they will fight each other hand-over-fist for market share, resources or raw materials, killing many innocents in the process. They will raze whole neighborhoods in their zealous pursuit of their enemies. Their thugs will rape, torture, kill children, kill witnesses - not always, but it will happen. And always the Corporate PR smokescreen will be churning out disinformation, whitewashing the abominable truth.

The Eco-terrorists will wage their war with far fewer resources, but they will be formidable opponents, and in the end they will give as good as they get. In their pursuit of destroying the Corporations they will employ suicide bombers, remote control bombs, sabotage of every conceivable kind, and massively effective media exposes on Corporate evils. Perhaps their greatest weapon will be corporate turncoats who will perform subterfuge from within, causing untold damage. Assassinations will be the order of the day, and no corporate employee will ever rest fully, as they watch the endless Eco-terrorist bombings take their toll.

Spring

When Spring arrives each year, I feel it inside me, and it is the most glorious feeling. It is as if I feel a spark, the First Spark, in my chest, and the light from that Spark illuminates my whole body. Every cell inside me sings. The whole world is alive, but it is not just Life, it is Birth, the first moment, coming-into-being, regeneration, Bliss, a blast, the Beginning, the Moment of Creation, ecstasy, that bright and powerful instant of magical clarity when all is happening and all is possible. When things are starting. I look forward to Spring every year. There is no brighter feeling I know. It lays the darkness of Winter to rest, it speaks of new beginnings and possibilities without end. Spring is like a golden bow that fires me - an arrow of intent - forth, thru the rest of the year, in a progression from dawn to night, from light to darkness.

It keeps me going.

Rule of 3s

Ragnar Benson, the author of some of my favorite survival books, says that survivalist preparations must abide by the Rule of 3s if they are to be viable. The Rule of 3s states that you must have 3 separate and distinct sources for each thing that you deem absolutely necessary to support human life. At this time, on this planet, in this neck of California, I deem water, food, shelter and fuel to be necessary for sustaining life. How will I find three sources for each of these things at my homestead?

My current plan for LittleFoot is not complete, but here goes:

*Water requirements will be met by 1 2,500 gallon truck-filled water tank, 1 500-gallon rainwater-filled water tank, and, eventually, a well. The tanks and rooftop water catchment system will be installed this Spring.

There is a lot of rain and snow at LittleFoot in the winter, and many months of extreme, dry, waterless heat in the Spring and Summer. The key is to capture water while it is available. I will be experimenting with digging/building a small reservoir in the gully this summer, and measuring the results next Fall/Winter/Spring.

*Food requirements will be met by a 3+ month supply of Mountain House freeze dried food and bulk grains and legumes, and, eventually, a garden and fruit trees. The freeze dried food has been purchased. The bulk grains have not. The garden is a work-in-progress, to be further developed this Spring and Summer. I am told that certain stone fruits will be able to weather the winters up there, and plan to plant apple trees in the coming years. I will also eventually plant Oak trees, and continue to cultivate the Oak trees that already exist, as acorns could prove to be a windfall source of calories in hard times.

Hunting/trapping does not seem to be an option at LittleFoot - I have seen almost no wildlife up there.

*Shelter requirements will be met with the LittleFoot Motel (already established), a treehouse, and a portable tent/dome shelter. The treehouse is just a dream at this time, though the portable shelter could be purchased cheaply, or built from scratch, at any time.

*Fuel requirements will be met with abundant wood from the forest, a solar sizzler parabolic cooker (purchased), propane canisters (purchased), a portable photovoltaic system (purchased) and eventually some stored gasoline for a generator (not yet purchased).

Furthermore, a cast iron wood-burning stove has been purchased for the LittleFoot Motel. Once installed it will provide crucial winter heat, and a cooking surface. The obvious benefit of the solar sizzler is that it runs on sunshine. A propane catalytic heater and stove are already in place. A barbecue and fire pit are used for outdoor cooking. The PV system will eventually power a simple string of LED lights. When the generator is purchased, it will allow me to use power tools & appliances, and charge batteries.

LitteFoot is located at 3,750 feet. It has a tough climate, and a long dry spell each year, with 4 distinct seasons and 3-season access. Turning it into a viable bugout retreat poses distinct challenges. But the solutions are all there if I work with the forest and the land.

The Ultimate Survival Gun

I have heard it said that the ultimate survival gun is a flintlock rifle, because both powder and bullets can be fashioned from primitive materials. While there is truth in that, a better solution may exist.

IMHO, the ultimate multi-purpose firearm would be a 4-barrel combination gun with two rifle barrels mounted over two shotgun barrels. This arrangement would allow for accurate rifle sights and/or a scope. The calibers would be 7.62mm over 12 gauge. By using subcaliber barrel inserts, it would be possible to fire a large number of different calibers, including .223, 9mm, .22 LR, 20 gauge and .410. Such a gun would have a break-barrel action, and be virtually weather-proof with blued stainless steel barrels and polymer furniture. It would break down into two sections and fit into a small, waterproof backpack. The barrels would be of medium length - say, 20 or 22 inches. With the break-barrel action, the weapon would be quite small and compact. It could be used for hunting, or for defensive/offensive purposes. It would have a bayonet lug, as well as a top rail and a sling assembly. The stock would be hollow and contain a cleaning kit and a survival kit. A removable shell/bullet rack would clip to the outside of the stock.

We can go one step farther, and create a hi-tech, rapid-fire version of this weapon. Using MetalStorm in-line ballistics technology, each barrel could be loaded with stacked, caseless projectiles. Say, 8 7.62mm rounds in each rifle barrel, and 5 12 gauge caseless shells in each shotgun barrel. This would load the weapon with 26 rounds, which could be fired at any desired rate, in any desired order. Reloading would be done by breaking the barrels open, removing the spent cartridge casings (one per barrel) and inserting new multi-shot cartridges into each barrel. Furthermore, different types of ammunition could be loaded into each barrel, ie: armor-piercing 7.62mm rounds in one rifle barrel, hollow point 7.62mm rounds in the second rifle barrel, 00 buckshot rounds in one shotgun barrel, and nonlethal bean bag rounds in the second shotgun barrel. The multi-shot cartridge inserts could also double as subcaliber inserts, ie: a cartridge loaded with 22 LR ammo could be seamlessly loaded into a 7.62mm barrel. Such a weapon would be suitable for combat and, having no moving parts, would not malfunction.

Perhaps one day.

Knots & Pimps & Squirrels & Stuff

*Am learning basic knots with an iPhone App called ProKnot: the Double Fisherman's, the Sheet Bend, the Square, the Tautline Hitch, the Trucker's Hitch, the Butterfly, the Figure Eight. Amazingly useful and simple.
*Transplanted a Mandarin Orange tree into a bigger pot at my parents' place today, and found a sunny, fenced location for it. Also began terracing the hillside above the barn. Pops goes in for radiation treatment tomorrow.
*Sepp Holzer. This old man in Austria. Practices permaculture on his farm in the mountains. Turned his patch of Pine forest into an a series of terraced gardens and fish ponds. Actually grows warm weather vegetables at 4,000 feet, because he created his own microclimates. Dude's a wizard, inspires me, reminds me that imagination makes the impossible happen. Check Old Man Mountain out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzRzJRiUylg
*Got bitched out at 9:30 AM today by a ball-breaker I'm not even f*cking. How's that for a Sunday morning? I busted her balls right back. Wanna wake me up on my day off, after another exhausting week? Then be nice, or f*ck off.
*Found this book in a free bag down the street while walking to get coffee: The Pimp's Rap, A True Story by The Master Pimp ISBN:0-9647298-8-1. Wow. It's like I found the great Manual of Perfect Living or something. Jeez, how'd I make it this far without this knowledge? I'll tell you what: I barely made it, that's what. I crawled the whole 41 years, that's what. But today it all changes, bitch. Soon I will command respect with my velvet attire and the exotic, hairless mynx that never leaves my side.
*Conversed with a squirrel this morning. In the secret forest down the street. The forest where I've also seen a 4-point buck and a wild turkey. The forest that measure 15 x 80 feet, that's sandwiched between a one-lane residential street and a 4-lane thoroughfare. I stepped under the Pine tree and the squirrel ran across a branch above me. I stopped and looked up. There he was, looking down at me. So close. All was quiet under the Pine canopy. He cleaned himself while he watched me. I spoke to him quietly, asked him his name, told him he was cute. He crawled closer, then closer still, til he was right above me, leaning down. His tummy was brown. I was afraid he was going to jump on me. I told him to move farther back, he was too close. He climbed straight up, then stopped and looked back at me. The experience was quiet, direct, real. I've seen that little guy before, scampering around the trees. Maybe now we are friends.

Time to sign out. Made it thru another day. Amen. No, wait, sorry: Awomen. Ah, sh*t, no, how about: Awymyn. There, everyone's happy. The whole world shakes in its shoes. The clouds smile with knowing joy. The stars glitter like nipples in the long night. Moonlight rains down like splooge.

If We Do It Right

Pablo, this is for you (and me). Two lines from ROBES, p.56:

"...if you prepare properly, you can transform yourselves and all of the ways you organize your lives and your time without undue suffering. We consider undue suffering to include being hungry, cold, sick, or under attack."

Those lines give me hope.

Orchardness & Sepp Holzer

*Over the last two weekends my bro-in-law and I planted 4 fruit trees: an apple, an apricot, a fig and a lime-loquat hybrid called a limequat. Digging the holes in clay mud is effing exhausting, then we have to cut and form cages out of gopher wire, plant the trees in them, and add wire cages above ground to keep out the deer. But the first 2 trees appear to have taken, and we're keeping our eyes on the second 2. I'm planning on also planting: 2 hazelnuts, 3 avocados, some olives and a walnut tree. It may take a couple-few years to plant them all, but that's OK.

*Holy Sh*t! Check out this video of Sepp Holzer, an Austrian farmer with a different view of gardening:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzRzJRiUylg

This guy is amazing! You may notice that this is the first of 4 in-series videos - I urge you to watch the other 3 videos. I find Sepp's methods, insights and beliefs deeply inspiring, and am now envisioning forming terraces and gardens around the orchard at my parent's house. This guy is nothing short of a magician.

Space Blankets & Bottle Deposits

*Do mylar space blankets really work? They are probably not quite the "survival" blankets they are touted to be. The one person I know who truly needed one once because he was trapped high on a cold mountain in a life-threatening situation, said that when he opened the package, the mylar blanket turned to dust. Evidently its expiration date had come and gone. I myself have used one on at least one occasion to supplement a warm weather sleeping bag, and it didn't feel like it kept me any warmer than the sleeping bag itself. And I once opened one I'd had for years, just for the hell of it, and it disintegrated in my hands. So, they most definitely do not last forever.

However, space blankets do have uses. They are water and wind-proof, and they do reflect sunlight and heat (to some degree). They probably do keep you warmer than if you are not using one. They can be strung up to provide shade, water catchment, and relief from intense sunlight. They can also be used to line emergency shelters, for both heat retention and waterproofing.

My inexpert advice: Carry several space blankets in your emergency kits, and replace them every 2 or so years.

*There is money to be made in recycling. Here in California we pay a deposit on every plastic and metal beverage container we purchase, and if we don't go redeem those containers ourselves at a recycling center, we lose that deposit. It's a bit of a pain in the a$$ to get to the recycling center while it's open, wait in line, and then go redeem your payment receipt for cash at Safeway... but, it's worth it. Every time I do so, I figure out how many gallons of gasoline I just bought/offset. Today's haul was very small: 28 aluminum cans for a total of $1.40. It took about 10 minutes of my time. That paid for .4 gallons of gasoline, which offset my costs for driving to the shopping center in the first place, to buy phone cards at CVS.

Recommendations

My Favorite Survival Books (Green means my MOSTEST favoritest):

Robes: A Book of Coming Changes by Penny Kelly ISBN 0963293427
Ragnar's Urban Survival: A Hard-Times Guide to Staying Alive in the City by Ragnar Benson ISBN 1581600593
Live Off the Land In the City and Country by Ragnar Benson ISBN ? OP
Reinventing Collapse by Dmitri Orlov ISBN 9780865716063

Surviving the Economic Collapse by Fernando "FerFAL" Aguirre ISBN ?
The Survival Retreat: A Total Plan for Retreat Defense by Ragnar Benson ISBN 0873642759
The Coming Economic Collapse: How You Can Thrive When Oil Costs $200 a Barrel by Dr Stephen Leeb ISBN 0446699004
Game Over: How You Can Prosper in a Shattered Economy by Dr Stephen Leeb ISBN 0446544817
The Backyard Homestead edited by Carleen Madigan ISBN 9781603421386

Tools:

Special Forces Fighting Shovel by Cold Steel
Clipper 860MG (or the High Carbon Steel equivalent) by Mora of Sweden
Leatherman (whatever model floats your boat)

Gas Mileage

I am tracking my gas mileage in Zoom via an iPhone App. So far I have managed to increase my around-town mileage from 14.1 mpg to 15.25 mpg by going really easy on the accelerator. REALLY easy. I'm not sure what kind of a percent increase that is. However, it is an increase of 1.15 mpg. If I divide 15.25 by 14.1, I get 1.0816 ... I think I am correct in saying that this is an 8.16% increase in gas mileage. Small but noticeable. Honestly, I should be able to do better. Driving at 60 on the highway, in overdrive on autopilot, I averaged 17.97 mpg. Again, I should be able to do better.

My Nose

Tired of having a low-level, long-term sinus infection? Sick of having blocked nasal passages? Try using a neti pot. I did. It's quite the sensation. Like getting salt water up your nose. Which is precisely what it does. You fill the neti pot with warm salt water, stick the spout of the neti pot in one nostril, tilt your head, and feel the saline water run thru your nasal passage and out the other nostril. It's like drowning, but no water enters your windpipe. That's all. Now that I did it twice, I can breathe thru my nose again. Just wanted the world to know.

Wild West Redux

Midnight, 02.04.2017. Saddled up Shadz & crossed the asphalt plain to Broadway. Bought 13 kilos of dried beans & a steak. Shadz threw a shoe in the Piggly Wiggly parking lot. We limped back to the 'stead in the 580 bike lane, dodgin' beer cans all the way. Well now, she's been rode hard & put up wet, but I swear Shadz is the most gallant Wild West floofer I ever did saw!

Zoom

Zoom is my truck, and I love him dearly. He's a 2003 Nissan Frontier SC 4x4, with a 3.4 liter 6-cylinder supercharged engine that has been upgraded with a high-end K&N air filter and a cat-back exhaust system. The only drawback to Zoom is his gas mileage. Currently I am getting 14.5 mpg city and 18 highway. I am going to increase that however, by laying off the gas. Slower acceleration is the key.

I have spent a lot of time researching additional upgrades for Zoom, including a flatbed, run-flat tires, a front winch-mount bumper, safety film for the windows, and a canvas shell for the bed. In the end though, I figure that the current configuration is the lightest, cheapest, and thus will deliver the best mpg. And unless I win the lottery, I can spend the money on better things. The important thing is to keep him in fine running condition by having his fluids changed regularly.

Food for thought: A pickup with a Cummins turbo-diesel would have gotten MUCH better gas mileage...

Advice from the Future

I just read about this dude who started posting on the web in 2000, claiming to be from the future. His moniker was John Titor. Titor's story was a lot like that of John Connor's (in Terminator): He was a soldier from the future who survived a nuclear war and returned to the past to pick up an archaic piece of technology that was needed in his world. It's great theater, check him out on the web. Titor left this list of things to do to prepare for the future:

1. Do not eat or use products from any animal that is fed and eats parts of its own dead.

2. Do not kiss or have intimate relations with anyone you do not know.

3. Learn basic sanitation and water purification.

4. Be comfortable around firearms. Learn to shoot and clean a gun.

5. Get a good first aid kit and learn to use it.

6. Find 5 people within 100 miles that you trust with your life and stay in contact with them.

7. Get a copy of the US Constitution and read it.

8. Eat less.

9. Get a bicycle and two sets of spare tires. Ride it 10 miles a week.

10. Consider what you would bring with you if you had to leave your home in 10 min. and never return.

Pragmatism and Apocalypse

Am reading Apocalypse 2012: An Investigation Into Civilization's End by Lawrence E Joseph (ISBN: 978-0-7679-2448-1). It's an impressive book: Funny, inciteful, intelligent and well-researched. The best thing about it, though, is that Lawrence Joseph presents both the scientific AND the philosophical/spiritual arguments for cataclysm in 2012. In a word, his writing is pragmatic. Only six months ago I pooh-poohed the 2012 scare as just that - another scare. But now the fever grips me and I am...concerned. Fear is growing inside me.

We have three years til 12/21/12. That gives me three years to get my house in order. A goodly amount of time! Time to get in sound physical shape, to perfect my diet, to become a capable gardener, to get LittleFoot up and running, to gain additional rural/urban homesteading skills, to get my financial house in order, and to learn a skill that will allow me to make a living in the post-industrial world.

I'm already addressing several of these aspects, with more plans on the drawing board.

The iPhone

I bought my first cell phone (ever!) 3 weeks ago, and it has revolutionized my life. It is capable of doing so many things that it is best described as providing "All information at all times." It functions as a phone, camera, movie camera, scanner, GPS, video game console, level, flashlight, ruler, TV/movie monitor, Kindle ebook reader, MP3 player, internet browser, email interface, fuel economy gauge, currency converter, calculator, compass...the list goes on and on. It has voice recognition for Google internet searches. It turns spoken word into text. It scans barcodes and does automatic price comparisons. It provides directions and maps at the touch of a button. It tracks me live on maps as I drive around. I can send and receive text messages and voice messages with it. It is now one of my most prized survivalist tools. I predict that in a few more years, tiny cell phone-based notebook computers will replace laptop computers. I can't wait!