Friday Night News

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My cousin, the outlaw.  A modern day Clyde Barrow.

Spanish miners, going up against police.  Note the heavy duty metal shields they are using, the burning tire barricades they have set up, their use of tree branches to block the road, and last but not least, their home-made rocket launchers.  Also note the odd gas masks, hoodies, bandannas and particle masks they use to block smoke and gas and hide their identities.  One can only guess that these tough bastards gave the authorities a run for their money.

The Earth, as seen from Space.  It's all we have, Folks!  The surface and atmosphere of this planet sustain us.  Our Mother planet floats in a sea of infinite black void which is Death to all life as we know it.  If we fuck this planet up too much, we will kill ourselves and everything else on it, and it will keep floating through the vacuum forever, with no passengers.  All of our petty human thoughts and wants and needs lose significance when we view the Earth from this vantage point.

 A vehicle comprised of a motorized push-plow and a trailer.

A quality copy of the Blade Runner pistol.

Two Wasteland Weekend off-road buggies.

  

I bought a pair of these studly shoes (below), and when I'm not bar hopping in them I'm aerating the lawn with them.  They only cost $15, with shipping.  The chief complaints against them online are that the nuts unscrew by themselves and get lost in the lawn, and the strap buckles don't work right, allowing these studly shoes to fall off your feet.  To remedy these ills I modded these green bitches by using lock nuts on the spikes, and army surplus belts with actual buckles in lieu of the chincy straps that were provided.  You can also use a bit of epoxy on each provided nut, but that seemed like a too-permanent solution.  I might want to take these emerald motherfuckers apart one day and make weapons out of them.

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Piss, Poop, Coke & New Guns

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I like simple & effective.  Always have.  Not in my women, mind you (well, effective, yes!) -- I'm talking about tools & solutions here.  No, I like my women to have cognitive capacity.  But when it comes to living in this world, why not choose the simple & effective path?  It makes the journey that much easier.

To that end:

1. Human piss is nitrogen-rich & makes a good, FREE fertilizer for plants when mixed with water.  Seriously, we flush it down the toilet every day when it could save us money, enhance our food production in the garden, & reduce all costs (environmental, fiscal & otherwise) associated with purchasing manufactured fertilizers.  Dilute it down to a 10 - 20% mixture, then water the roots of the plant, taking care not to get it on the foliage.  For more basic tips on using piss in the garden, go HERE.  Seriously.

P.S. I am told that blueberries LOVE to be fertilized with urine, & am experimenting with that now.

2. Human poop has been used for millennia to fertilize croplands & gardens.  In China it is known as "night soil".  Now, TAKE NOTE: RAW HUMAN POOP IS A HIGHLY TOXIC SUBSTANCE THAT CAN KILL YOU IF INGESTED.  And I mean kill you BADLY.  Like, if you don't die, you'll beg for an end to the pain.  BUT, if composted correctly, poop can be used effectively in the garden.

We all know about composting toilets.  I have also read stories by modern homesteaders who have experimented with reducing human poop to a usable substance.  In particular, one awesome story involved a guy pooping into a small wooden box, then adding worms & sealing the box for several months.  When he opened the box back up, he found that the worms had reduced the poop & THE TOILET PAPER to excellent castings/soil, which he used in the garden.

That is my favorite poop story.

P.S. I am not ready to experiment with raw poop.  Much too dangerous in an urban environment.  But it is a resource I can draw on if TSHTF (so-to-speak!).

3. Coca Cola has many uses, as delineated HERE.  Recently, on a whim, I poured 1/4 can down my blocked bathroom sink.  I waited 3 minutes, then flushed it with hot water...no more blocked drain.  I plan to experiment with rust removal & loosening frozen bolts next.

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But on to the fun stuff: New guns!

OK, so Stoeger is now offering an additional "Double Defense" model (HERE), this being an over-under rather than a side-by-side.  I LOVE side-by-sides, but there is a problem with them.  You see, I want a double barrel shotgun that can be outfitted with barrel inserts so that I can fire an array of ammunition ACCURATELY thru it.  The trouble with a side-by-side is that the accuracy will be highly impaired when firing pistol or rifle ammo thru it, because side-by-sides only have a single, centered bead sight.  The over-under, on the other hand, has an actual fixed sight!  Maybe not the best sight available on the free market, but certainly more effective than an off-center bead.

The new, tactical Stoeger offering is blued, with top and side rails, as pictured below.  MSRP is under $500.  Add a few choice sub-caliber barrel inserts and what you have is a very compact, simple, multi-use survival weapon that can fire an array of ammunition.  My kind of weapon.

Next up, a strange offering from Italy: The Mateba Autorevolver.  Honestly, I don't know what to make of it, but you have to give it an A for innovation.  Follow this LINK to learn the inside scoop.

Lastly, an idea from the salty depths of my own demented mind: The "ElectroVolver".  What we have here is a MetalStorm-type revolver, wherein each chamber in the cylinder is actually an independent barrel loaded with multiple, in-line rounds.  Yes, the cylinder IS the barrel -- there is no additional pistol barrel on the end of it.

Furthermore, there is a small electric motor located under the cylinder, & it drives the cylinder.  Let's say that the cylinder has 7 chamber-barrels & each chamber-barrel holds 3 rounds, giving us a total capacity of 21 rounds.  When fired in full-auto mode, the cylinder rotates like a gatling gun, releasing one round from each barrel in turn, thus nullifying the chance of overheating.  When re-loading this weapon, you pop out the entire cylinder & replace it with a pre-loaded spare.  Give this puppy voice-recognition software, a battery in the grip & a laser...& go retire some replicants with it.

 P.S. A non-motorized version of this weapon would simply fire each chamber-barrel empty, then you'd manually rotate to the next chamber-barrel & continue firing.  It would not require a motor or a powerful battery (The amount of energy required to ignite each in-line round is negligible).

Hey, enjoy the Spring weather & stay out of trouble!  This is the Hippie Survivalist, signing out.

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More Thoughts On The Collapse-Proof Housing Tract

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Variations.

I re-read the previous post and got to thinking that the layout I proposed was very large and space-intensive.  It might work in a relatively isolated area that has not previously been built up and does not have easy access to grid utilities.

In space-constricted areas, the housing could be clustered together in a more traditional tract blueprint.  Yards could be small.  The housing area could be surrounded by a wall, and fortified.  It could contain a tight micro electrical grid, a community garden, a few community buildings, perhaps a commercial area.  Farmland could be nearby, divided into personal holdings, or perhaps it could be within the compound.  The clustering of households together would allow for security and energy conservation.

Perhaps housing could even be in fortified apartment blocks, rather than houses, for added efficiency and safety.  Of course, this design would be less like a tract and more like a village or fortress town.

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The Collapse-Proof Housing Tract

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The collapse-proof housing tract would incorporate many recycle-reuse, passive and closed-system elements into the buildings, as well as innovative design ideas for the community as a whole.

The buildings would be designed to use as little energy as possible.  They would have "tight envelopes", incorporate rain water catchment into their roofs, have water tanks, re-user gray water, generate their own energy via solar and wind power as well as with bio-fuel-powered generators, utilize passive heating/cooling and lighting, be oriented South, use LED lights, etc.  Some would have steam engines, others might be built partially underground or hacienda-style with a naturally defensible courtyard.  Wells would be strongly discouraged, as they disrupt the water table.  Tree planting would be encouraged.

Each residential parcel would probably be a 1/2 acre in size, with the possibility of multiple contiguous parcels an option.  Each parcel would be large enough to have a house, outbuildings, a large garden and livestock.  In effect every parcel would be a mini-ranch.  All residential areas would also be zoned for small home/cottage businesses, thus allowing small-scale enterprises such as cafes, restaurants, dairies, cheese-making, bicycle-repair, auto-repair, bio-fuel production, etc, to flourish on a community scale

The tract would be a grid with square blocks, oriented North-South.  Asphalt paving would be discouraged at all levels.  Gravel, plastic panels, etc. would instead be used to fortify roads.  Bicycling and walking would be encouraged at all times as a primary form of transportation.  Any cul-de-sac would have a through-path for pedestrians.  Although most houses would provide their own energy, the tract as a whole would be wired to create its own micro-grid, and the central "energy park" would have a large scale wind and solar array to assist the grid.

Small commercial areas would be incorporated into the tract to provide cultural and economic focal points.  Community areas would include a swimming pond w/beach, an outdoor theater, a "great hall",  a central square with a park, a community garden, a town hall, a marketplace, a tool-lending library, etc.  There would be a basic medical facility.  Charter schools would provide local education.

Commerce would involve any one of several "currencies" - US dollars, timeshares, barter, local currency, precious metals or barter tokens.  Innovation on all levels would be encouraged, but so would simplicity, effectiveness, conservation and minimal environmental impact.

Security would be an important aspect of community life.  The tract would be surrounded by a berm, fence and concertina wire, Kibbutz-style.  Citizens would form a volunteer militia.  Crime would not be tolerated.  Friendly citizen patrols would police on "beats".  Households would be armed.  Open carry would be commonplace, as would vehicle-carry.

Any elected "tract" officials or workers would be volunteer only, serving without pay.

Each residence and business within the community would attempt to be self-sufficient, as would the community as a whole.  The tract's motto would be: "Get It Done".

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Good Stuff

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I may have found the ultimate Hippie Survivalist website at Resilient Communities by John Robb, the genius who also runs the Global Guerrillas website.  As far as I can tell, Global Guerrillas is a website in which John Robb tracks and plots the future of warfare in all and any of its manifestations.  And Resilient Communities must be his solution to the emerging chaotic world that he sees/imagines/predicts/distills.  Today's RS blog entry concerns a new portable milling machine, housed in a shipping container, which can custom manufacture an entire house on site.  Go at it!

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Another cool blog with a strong Facebook presence is Homestead Survival.  It's a bit girly, a bit cutesy, a bit on the feminine side.  They don't discuss guns.  But it is chalk-full of real-life info that will help you in all ways build a homestead.  Check it out their FB page HERE.

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If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area East Bay and want someone to build you a shed for your backyard, consider The Shed Shop.  I'm ordering a shed thru them right now and I'm impressed with their quality and professionalism.  I suggest going to their business in Fremont and looking at their model sheds, as they cover a wide range of options, sizes and styles.  I will post more when this project is complete.

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Below, more Mad Max 4: Fury Road pre-production photos I culled off the internet.  These are interesting vehicles, but I'm disappointed overall.  I don't want Mad Max manga!  I want Road Warrior realism.  We'll just see how the finished product sizes up and go from there.

 

 

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Below: A 1943 Dodge Power Wagon WC-54 Military Ambulance.  My favorite vehicle of all time?  Maybe.  Just look at those lines...  I believe they had 4 wheel drive, a 6 cylinder engine, dual batteries and could be set up with dualies in back.  What a machine!

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The Ruger 10/22 Takedown + Random Stuff

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Well, dammit, if Ruger had offered this rifle 4 years ago I surely would have bought it instead of the standard all-weather 10/22 I ended up getting.  I like the look of this piece.  I never did like the Henry floating survival rifle - it just looks too much like it's only good for plinking at birds or squirrels and nothing else.  A stainless 10/22 can at least offer some minimal defensive protection if TSHTF.  It's about time, that's all I can say.

A homemade pickup bed cover, spied in sunny CA:

The very definition of fun: Throwing the Russian (Spetsnaz) Fighting Shovel:

 iPhone photos taken during the recent solar eclipse:

A homemade motorized bicycle parked near a Farmer's Market one recent Sunday.  Note the ammo can over the rear tire and the gas tank over the front tire.  This puppy looked fun.

A genius DIY hammock:

The Truth As We Know It To Be:

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The Art of Survival

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Gettin that eclipse-y feeling again.

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Here's a good song: AWESOME.  Don't let the tinkle-bell beginning dissuade you.  This song builds and builds.  It gives me goosebumps.  The video rocks, too.  The very last words Pastor Jenkins sings are my favorite, after the song ends.  Two stanzas.

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This eclipse is awesome.  I've been staring straight at it since it started, 45 minutes ago.  It's just getting dimmer and dimmer.  Actually, it's pitch black now, and we've still got an hour to go!  I can't see a bloody thing.  I had no idea that the moon literally blocked ALL light from reaching the earth during an eclipse, and for so fucking long!

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You know that survivalist dude up in Washington who recently went batshit insane, killed his girlfriend and kid, then hid in a remote bunker for a week til the cops tracked him down and blew the lid off his hole, at which point he blew his own head off?  Yeah, that guy.  Well, I'm not going to comment on his crimes, as they are heinous and we can all see that.  He was the far end of Survivalist, taking the ethos to it's cold, creepy, (il)logical extreme.

BUT.  I liked his bunker.  Maybe he should have stocked it with better food and had a secret exit, but it was impressive.  It was a handmade labor of love, is what it was.  My point here, though, is that his bunker, like so many survivalist bunkers and vehicles and gear, was kind of grim and unsightly.  That might not sound like much to your average macho survivalist, but it strikes a chord in ME.  So, why not make your bunker look nice?  Why not lift spirits with a little creativity, some humor, some color, some brightness?  Even a small amount of artistic spirit can lift a grim edifice to a higher beauty.

That's what I mean by The Art of Survival.  Let's spread a little cheer with our survivalist lifestyles. Make someone, somewhere, crack a smile.  Wear your handmade skin jacket with pride.  Paint your rifle like the Indians did.  Add magical charms and symbols to your bandolier.  Name your BOV.  Bless your bullets.  Slap some fake bullet-holes on your front door.  Embark on some projects that are whimsical as well as "important", like sewing a Cloak of Invisibility or grinding a blade out of a railroad spike or building a 3-barrel muzzle-loading pistol shotgun with a laser sight and 2 pistol grips.

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The binoculars must have magnified the sun's laser rays. When I stared at the eclipse thru them for 2+ hours they burned rings of fire into my eyes.  All I can see is white light, and the eclipse ended hours ago.  It's nighttime.  I'm outside, I don't know where.  Crickets are chirping.  A dog barks.  How can I greet the new dawn tomorrow, when the sun is already inside my head?

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