I Love Andy for A Laugh In Time

http://www.borowitzreport.com/ has some hilarious stuff. When the country is in such a mess, its good to run over to Andy's page and have a good laugh.

If a person didn't know better, they would think some of these headlines are actually true:

Obama Says We're Not Deserting Afghanistan, We Promise to Follow on Twitter

70% of Existing Marriages May Already Be Gay

I watch the news and wonder about these nuclear plants in eminent danger. Our officials are telling us not to worry. Interviews with the general public show they're not buying it, however.
As the mandatory evacuation is underway in New Mexico, lines of cars backed up as the people leave their homes, I can only wonder what happens if there is no gas left to leave? What if you're on empty?

What if you're one of the those who are waiting for a paycheck to buy gas, food, or put some cash in your pocket? How do you evacuate then?
Of course, they say this plastic dome protecting the nuclear waste is not in danger of failure.
Haven't we heard this kind of stuff before?
Did they tell New Orleans the levy wouldn't break? With a hurricane bearing down, and plenty of notice, yet it seems that town was caught with it's pants down.

Then, evacuation to the sports center. Those who remember those dark days say they'd never go to a facility like that, never.
Personally, I'd live in the woods, in a tent.

We saw the Japanese refugees from the horrific earthquake-tsunami disaster dividing the space with cardboard and boxes. Everyone needs respect and space, a semblance of order, of personal control even in small measures.

Look online and see if you can find news on Japan's ongoing crisis. I read the fish is being given in foreign aid, the people are recording 3 millisiervents in the their urine. This is scary stuff.
http://www.newsonjapan.com/

I started to wonder  how close I live to a nuclear plant. What possible natural disaster could bring disaster to my doorstep? Would I be ready to participate in a mandatory evacuation? Do I keep my tank full, cash in my pocket, the car loaded with survival stuff like food, clothing, a shelter?

Some would say a gun, water, and money is the most important stuff for evacuation.
Question: if they evacuate a huge city, might refugees come looking in my neck of the woods for a safe haven?

Time and again we see that governments can not save the people in danger. They issue warnings, chase looters, punish the corporations whose inadequate safe guards have brought us to loss of life, economics and home.

Japan's nuclear disaster began with two natural disasters. It can happen anywhere, anytime, to anyone. The fatal flaw is always underestimating nature, and over estimating our own abilities to handle it.

Is Reducing Our Carbon Foot Print Rediculous?

I wanted to talk about the first R in Five Survival Strategies today: reuse. The photo below was taken yesterday. You can see a variety of containers that I bought food in. After using up the food, they were washed, and continue to be used. Glass jars, large plastic jugs, soda bottles (excellent water bottles and ice packs for the cooler), and stackable cocoa powder containers are all sturdy and saveable.



Seems sort of pointless to do this to "save the planet". This morning I read an article about

Japan Upgrades Nuclear Disaster to Chernobyl
and I'm scared, pissed and discouraged.

Not that we didn't know they were spoon feeding us information all along. With so many world wide crisis,its easy to loose interest, get distracted, and forget the monster across the ocean.

Forgetting there are many of these here in America.
Forgetting there is a nuclear reactor sitting on the coast in California, earthquake belt, tsunami in waiting.

But, here I am recycling, reusing containers to limit my carbon footprint cause I love the earth. I love the green forests, the clear running streams, the living breathing planet.

I'll keep on reusing stuff cause I can't help it. I'll reuse zip lock bags, aluminum foil, candle stubs to make fuel sticks, wash clothes instead of one use disposable "Handi Wipes".

Leonardo daVinci wrote in 1452, Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.

That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. I think that qualifies for sustainable survival skills.

What Will the Future Look Like?

I have been reading several survival web blogs and web sites lately.

We seem to have various views of what our future, as a world, a country, a communtiy, an indivigual may be.

The acronym : TEOTWAWKI is fun to pronounce. Try it Tee-oh-Twaw-Key. Thats how I'm saying it.
I found it at : http://thesurvivalistblog.net/

He's got some great links, too, and the Winterizing a Travel Trailer was a good read. This couple went up to Stevens County in Washington State, lived in a modified 18 foot travel trailer with temps getting down to minus 3. Thats serious stuff.

Anyways, in a discourse on future urban survival, the scenario mentions eating cats and dogs.
The End of The World As We Know It (Teotwawki) will bring out all our survival instincts, and its uncertain what humans will resort to.

In the book and movie by the same title, The Road, Cormac MaCarthy shows the cannibalism and farming of human which includes maintaining life while slowing harvesting food. Pretty gross, but profound thoughts here.

We all know about the Donner's Pass Party, and reduction to cannibalism. This is not unusual historically. And if we can eat humans, we can sure eat cats, dogs, rats, insects.
Its a disasociation, I believe, that evolution has allowed for us to move forward as a species.

If I am ever reduced to eating non typical food sources, the first step is bringing that item into a generic form: killing, skinning, and cutting into pieces of standard shapes. I don't want to spend any time looking at eyes and taste buds, at fingers or fur.
Thats just me, from a point of plenty, without necessity or hunger.

Watching the distruction in Japan, first massive earthquakes and after shocks, then devastating tsunami, and worst of all nuclear disaster with long term impact, we're prompted to ask ourselves questions on survival.
How secure is my water? How are my adapting skills being developed? How long will civility hold out while people are living in cramped conditions?

I noticed families building cardboard homes inside the building for mass housing. I loved it. They found ways to feel privacy, create polite boundaries, re establish family life.

What will our future look like? Will we be able to recognize ourselves?
Interestingly, on the survivalistblog website, the question is constantly posed: What did you do to prepare today?

Interesting food for thought.

Life Post Japan-Get Ready

We're still testing gear here. I did an initial review of the

Eureka Woman's Casper Sleeping Bag at http://brawnyview.blogspot.com/

Plan to take it this weekend for a trail- real trip event.Then we'll post photos here.

I'm all about hands on testing. Just thinking about stuff, reading, and book knowledge works for starters. Then, a person has to get out and try it. Like my hobo stove, hobo lamp, survival shelters, acorn and wild food experiments.

The horrible catastrophe which befell Japan, starting with the massive 9.0 earthquake and subsequent tsunami is causing some people to look at survivalism again.

Who knew iodine tablets taken just before exposure could assist in preventing radiation poisoning?
Not like "they" are giving us real numbers. Sorta like getting your complete cholesterol profile done only to have the doctor say, "its fine, let us worry about the actual numbers". Anybody knows that's dangerous ground. A lipid profile can vary so much, the HDL and triglycerides telling much more than a LDL reading alone.

So, I went searching for real numbers.
http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=400+milliseverts+per+hour+Japan+radiation&ei=utf-8&fr=b1ie7

by putting 400 millisivents per hour Japan radiation into the yahoo search engine.
I had heard yesterday the term "400 millisievents" which put me onto real information. According to experts, the sun gives us just 3 millisivents Per Year. If we get a cat scan we get 8. I've been reading warnings about that, so the number 400 sure caught my attention.

Some experts claim we lay people can't understand the "numbers". We are computer literate. I take exception to that theory.

Not to be a fear monger here. Just wondering why we are told such pacifying things when in reality we should be thinking about our own survival kits at home. Our skills in water management, food storage while people in Japan go hungry for days on end should be sending us messages about preparedness.

Japan is the third largest economy in the world, an industrialized nation. A natural disaster has brought untold suffering. Time to look at our own readiness. If they are going hungry, it could happen here as well.