Israel Notes

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In Israel there are very few police. The police cars do not have sirens, and their roof lights are always on. You can see them coming from a mile away. Without cops, people drive however they want. It is a freeing feeling...but there are accidents and a lot of bad driving.

There are armed soldiers all over the place, and there are armed security guards for some tour groups. The soldiers carry M-4s or Tavors, some with grenade launcher attachments. The private security personnel dress as civilians and carry M1s or pistols. If I was Israeli, I would have worked in private security after my mandatory armed forces stint.

At no time in Israel did I ever feel remotely unsafe. It is fair to say that from a crime perspective, Oakland is far more dangerous than the entire country of Israel. In fact, Oakland is an insane nightmare in comparison.

I am told that every house in Israel has a bomb shelter. The private homes I stayed in were more secure than stateside homes, with 3-bolt locks on the front doors and steel window shutters on all windows and sliding glass doors.

Above, high quality windows with outer steel shutters, a pull-down screen, and locking inner steel-framed window. Many windows have steel security shutters that are electrically raised and lowered.

Israeli plumbing: Cheap and innovative. Typical plastic, bendable S-bend and pipe. Why don't we do that in the US? It's effective and no plumber is needed to unclog the S-bend.

Above and below, mandatory solar water heaters on the roofs of houses. Very simple setups with small water tanks and small black solar heating units, no electricity required, no expensive photovoltaics needed.

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Japan Slippage Hearkens Immense Earth changes

There is a newspaper article making the rounds today, and it is both frightening and illuminating. I quote directly:

The March 11 earthquake that hit eastern Japan was so powerful it pulled the entire country out and down into the sea. The mostly devastated coastal communities now face regular flooding, because of their lower elevation and damage to sea walls from the massive tsunamis triggered by the quake.

Some areas in Ishinomaki moved southeast 17 feet (5.3 meters) and sank 4 feet (1.2 meters) lower.

"We thought this slippage would happen gradually, bit by bit. We didn't expect it to happen all at once," says Testuro Imakiire, a researcher at Japan's Geospatial Information Authority, the government body in charge of mapping and surveys.

Imakiire says the quake was powerful enough to move the entire country, the first time this has been recorded since measurements began in the late 19th century. In Tokyo, 210 miles (340 kilometers) from Ishinomaki, parts of the city moved 9 inches (24 centimeters) seaward.

Many predictions -- actually, virtually all the predictions -- concerning the Age of Transition that we live in mention immense earth changes, including massive earthquakes that transform coastlines and landscapes around the world. Penny Kelly mentions such changes in ROBES, and Edgar Cayce mentioned such changes in his predictions of the 21st Century. Until now, such catastrophic predictions have seemed impossible and outlandish. And yet, with the Japanese quake, we see what is truly possible when the earth decides to shift. And I pose the question, Is this just the tip of the iceberg? If we have just now witnessed the earth shift 17 feet sideways and 4 feet down, isn't it possible that the earth is capable of far greater shifts? For we are in for stormy weather, and the storm is just beginning.

GAH-dening, DAH-ling. GAH-dening!

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Tis the season to garden, & patio gardening we are. Planted: 5 varied tomato plants in earth boxes, 6 arugulas, 6 dinosaur kales, 2 chives, 16 strawberries, 6 potatoes. The peach tree which grew from a seed I threw in the garden & which I transplanted into a wine barrel 7 months ago has finally come out of dormancy & is now covered in buds which are doubling in size every day. There are still a few onions from last year. The aloe plant is doing well & I used a piece of it yesterday to treat sunburn. It worked wonderfully. Aloe is an incredible plant, one we should truly be thankful for!

Why should we all be gardening right now? Because in today's world, food is becoming more expensive, & the economy & the oil-dependent food infrastructure of the United States are in ever-increasing danger of catastrophic failure. Gardening takes time to learn. You need to start yesterday so that when TSHTF you are at least partly self-sufficient. It's either that, or risk starvation at a later date. Also, home-grown food is good for you, unlike much of the processed crap we buy at the store.

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Two forms of probable post-Peak Oil transport:

The Eastern European-ish "stripped wreck"-type vehicle that -SURPRISE!- still runs. Why not, I say? It weighs a hell of a lot less than a regular car and it's a great use of material that has already been thru the industrial process. Use it or lose it. Keep it running til it just don't run no more. Then, cut it in half and...

...create a single-horse cart with rubber tires & steel springs out of it. Can't wait to see these puppies come back, actually. A much saner form of transport than automobiles. More relaxing, less dangerous, less energy-intensive. And, horses eat grass, not oil.

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The neighbors had chickens for 2 years but now their chickens are gone, along with the fencing & the coop. Why'd they gave it up?

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Self-sufficiency is the goal for Hippie Survivalists, don't let anyone convince you otherwise. Inter-dependence is a great & trendy New Age concept, but it might not feed you after TSHTF, you dig? Even Penny Kelly, who is damn New Age-y, promotes self-sufficiency in both her lifestyle on Lilly Hill Farm & her book ROBES. Community is great, but the goal is to make your community self-sufficient. And as for sustainability, I'm all for it. I believe that self-sufficiency must incorporate sustainability. But never forget...your focus should always remain nothing less than total self-sufficiency, or your Lifeboat might not make it thru the coming storm, Brethren. ONWARD! Amen.

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