27 May 2012

A DAY TO HONOR THE MEN AND WOMEN SERVING IN OUR MILITARY

Happy Memorial Day.
     And to all those men and women that are serving or have served in our armed forces, and especially to those thousands that made the ultimate sacrifice and gave their lives for their...and our country:

THANK YOU

Last year at this time, I wrote a memorial day posting and recieved the following message from a gentleman(???):

From: Walt ...........@#$%.net (I won't invite reprisals from any patriots by publishing any identifiable information about him)



To: Me
Please remove my name from this list I do not want your CRAP

     We removed his name from our mailing list and sent this reply to him.

To: Walt
I'm sorry that you don't appreciate our great country, the troops that defend it and your freedoms and privileges that you enjoy by being an American. Your name has been removed from our list and you will receive no more mailings from us.

      For me, that says it all. We are free only because we; Americans, are willing to fight and die to keep the freedoms and liberty that comes with living in this great country of ours.
     No! America is not perfect. After all, it's full of people and people aren't perfect. We make mistakes. Sometimes we do the wrong thing for the right reason. There is, however no other country in the world that has the smooth transition of government, personal freedoms and the benifits of citizenship that we Americans enjoy.
   So - on this Memorial Day, fire up the bar-b-que, pour a glass of your favorite beverage, tell your friends and family how much you appreciate them and all of you give a toast to the United States of America.

God bless our men and women in uniform and
God bless the
 United States of America

05 May 2012

WE DODGED THE BULLET THIS TIME


but will we be as lucky next time?

 

       More importantly, will we be prepared? On March 8th of this year, The 

 

largest solar storm since 2007 sent electronic destruction showering down 

 

upon all of us mere mortals at over 2 million miles an hour. According to 

 

NASA, in the worst-case scenario, this solar storm could: ” disrupt power 

 

grids, radio communications, and GPS as well as spark dazzling 

 

auroras.1 ” Fortunately, it didn't. A little over 150 years ago, a similar-but 

 

much more powerful storm hit earth. If that same storm happened today, 

 

modern life could come to a standstill 1 ” During the 1859 flare “...U.S. 

 

telegraph operators reported sparks leaping from their equipment—some bad 

 

enough to set fires, said Ed Cliver, a space physicist at the U.S. Air Force 

 

Research Laboratory in Bedford, Massachusetts.



















A visually spectacular flare being thrown out on April 16, 2012.
 
      Think about it. In the year 2012, how much of our life is totally dependent 

on satellites and microchips? Without them, your cell phone would be 

worthless. Cable TV would be history. Our military would be back to 

WWII-type fighting. Although some small, older airplanes will still get off the 

ground most of our modern aircraft couldn't fly. Absolutely nothing with 

modern avionics would be working. Your microwave oven and maybe even 

your coffee pot wouldn't work.

      Do your coffee pot and microwave depend on a satellite? No, but they  

ARE run by microchips. Anything that depends on computers or anything 

else built with microchips could cease to function. And a solar flare isn't the 

only culprit capable of sending us back to the dark ages. Let a large EMP (see 

below) fire over north America and my 39 year-old truck would coast to a 

stand-still because the electronic ignition would be fried. Our water, 

electricity, natural gas and even our sewers are completely or primarily 

computer controlled. You couldn't even flush your toilet twice.

      An EMP (electromagnetic pulse2) from even a small nuclear explosion 
could, in the words of the Office of Radiation Protection3destroy most of the 
electronics that were not protected in the entire Continental United States. 

     After this effect was discovered by accident, governments all over the 
world began figure out how to “harden3” critical infrastructures against an 
EMP. That was a major push behind the development of the internet4

Various institutions around the country wanted to be able to communicate 

even if a few cities were already nuked.

       So what can we do to protect ourselves? Are there any measures that we 

can take to make sure that our families and ourselves will make it through a 

large solar flare or EMP?

      Let's face it; the government is going to do or not do whatever they feel 

like. And they're probably not going to tell us no matter what they do. For 

our personal protection, we're on our own and, although nowhere near 

impossible, it's going to be a bit more difficult than you might think. These 

days, almost everything is digital and that means microchips.

      Let's start with just day-to-day living. We need a roof over our head, food, 

water, heat and sanitation. The house is simple, but you need to heat and/or 

cool it. You need to store and cook food. You need to wash clothes...and 

yourself. And you need to use the camode on a regular basis.

      You may already have a wood stove and if you're out in the country you 

might have a well and even an old outhouse. If you live in the 'burbs, you're 

dependent on city water and sewer. Even in the country, without electricity 

your well isn't going to work unless you put in a hand pump. The fan for your 

furnace or wood stove won't blow any air and you can forget about the air 

conditioner.

      To prepare for a 2 to 4 week total power outage, you'll need to get some 

water stored; about 1 to 2 gallons per person per day or about 200 to 250 

gallons for a family of 4 5. More is better. Any large bucket or basin will 

work for personal washing and you can do laundry by hand in the bathtub. 

Yes! I know. It sounds hillbilly, but it can be done. I've done it.

      Believe it or not, everything you need to survive with no power grid is 

readily available close to home and fairly affordable. You can pick up a 

porta-potty for camping at the local sporting goods store or even at K-Mart or 

Wal Mart. They come with disposable bags which you tie up and store; 

preferably a long way from where you sleep and eat. A Coleman stove and a 

few tanks of fuel will set you back about $75 and you're set for cooking.

      For electrical conveniences you can't beat a 12 volt system. At the local 

travel trailer outlet, you can get all kinds of lights, fans and even a small 

refrigerator or cooler that run on 12 volts. Marine outlets also have pretty 

much anything you'll need as many pleasure boats are totally on a 12V 

system. Truck stops carry an amazing array of 12V goodies, too. A couple of 

car batteries, a few cans of gas and a small generator to charge the batteries 

and you're at least able to make life bearable. Don't try to use the generator 

to run any of your regular, 120 volt household appliances. Most wont run 

anyway and the ones that do will use up your precious fuel at a ridiculous 

rate. Just do the minimum to get by until the infrastructure is back up and 

running. Of course, all of this is easier if you live in the country with ample 

storage room but no matter where you live; even a small apartment, you can 

make some affordable and relatively simple preparations. You don't need a 

tinfoil hat. And if nothing happens, you're all set for your next camping trip.

      A word about safety. Under no conditions should you run a propane, gas 

or diesel space heater indoors. You'll kill yourself. If you don't have a wood 

stove install one, move to a warmer climate or stock up on blankets. In an 

emergency, you can start a small campfire in the garage on the concrete 

floor. Just make sure you open the door and a window enough to ventilate the 

smoke. It ain't purty but it'll keep you and the wife and kids from freezing to 

death.

      Communication and transportation are a completely different set of 

challenges. With no Cell phones or satellites and the phone grid down, you're 

not going to call, email, Skype or text anyone. They couldn't answer, anyway. 

I hate to say it, but communications will be back to early 1800s level. At least 

for awhile. Yo can get some walkie-talkies for short-range communication 

and protect them from an EMP6. Just make sure you can recharge them with 

your generator. Local telegraphs will probably get set up in a couple of weeks 

for law enforcement and military use but as for you and I, we'll be limited 

talking to people we see on the street. Deal with it.

      Transportation is a bit easier. There's always that old stand-by - the 

bicycle for short runs and visiting the neighbors. Just think of all the 

exercise you'll be getting. Work off those love handles. For longer trips or to 

carry more stuff, you'll have to put some gasoline off to the side and have a 

vehicle that doesn't use a computer or electronic ignition. Most scooters and 

older motorcycles will fit the bill. If you need a car or truck, you'll either have 

to buy a pre-70s model or do a conversion on your current ride. For a lot of 

newer cars, that will be somewhere between prohibitive and impossible. 

Sorry!

      Oh yeah. Use up your emergency gas and re-fill the supply every couple 

of weeks to keep it fresh. Gas gets stale after about 90 days. There are 

additives you can buy that will stretch it, but fresher is better.

      Our government as well as quite a few private concerns are actually 
putting a lot of thought into preparations for a solar flare7, and during the 

cold war we (the USA) and other countries put a lot of critical equipment 

underground to protect it from EMPs and radiation. Most of it is very 

hush-hush but they are at least thinking about it.

      If you've watched all the post-apocalypse movies like I have, you could get 

really discouraged about the possibilities of rebuilding our society after a 

major flare or nuclear war. The war would bring a whole new set of problems 

but in the case of a massive flare or for the survivors of a nuclear conflict, I 

don't personally believe that the future would be all that bleak. Humans are 

resilient and resourceful We will band together to make it through the initial 

shock and rebuild our society fairly quickly. It won't take anywhere as long 

as it took us the first time to get where we are now. We've already developed 

all the know how. We just have to put it to work.

      Like the Boy Scout motto tells us to do: Be Prepared!!! Better to have it 

and not need it than need it and not have it.

And for the hats, I hear that tinfoil is on sale at the local supermarket.

At least, that's my opinion. What's yours?.

For more information on setting up a home for 12 volts and other preparations, here are some sites and books to get you going.
Books
12-volt guide book by TECHSTAR
Living on 12 Volts with Ample Power by David Smead & Ruth Ishiarn

12 Volt Solar Power by Michel Daniek



Sites









Citations



If you wish to unsubscribe from this blog, please send an email to pyrate02@gmail.com with the word “UNSUBSCRIBE”in the subject line.