Topic Tuesday #61 2013/09/17 - "Babies Birthday - Or - An Excuse To Eat Sweets"

Topic Tuesday #61 2013/09/17 - "Babies Birthday - Or - An Excuse To Eat Sweets"

Tomorrow is a special occasion. Well it is for my family, and since I'm writing I get to say what's important!
Anyway, tomorrow is my eldest daughters 6th birthday! It's not a big deal but I do get to be a supportive parent and provide sugar to her kindergarten class in the form of cupcakes. Birthdays are only as special as we make them. Inviting friend and family to celebrate with you makes the moment memorable (sometimes in unique and embarrassing ways). As we get older, some birthdays pass by without any notice, save the license and registration renewals (you remembered right?). I know that on more than one occasion I have had to do the math to even remember how old I was turning that year. Some years we are surrounded with only family; other years only friends. On off years you may find a birthday with no one but yourself remembering, or only your electronically prompted Facebook friends (I honestly don't care what reminds you, if you say something, you remember, and that is what matters). Whatever the birthday brings, be it yours or someone else, live it up! Light the candles, sing happy birthday in the loudest most obnoxious way possible, drink, eat, be merry and be the joy of the moment! Don't look for gifts, but look for the memory; the faces, the smells, the lights, the hugs, the kisses, the rainbows, the rain, the cries, the emptiness and the fullness. It all matters and makes the day special.
And eat cake.
Lots. Of. Cake.
Maybe some ice cream too.

So this year for my daughters birthday, I'm going to fill some balloons, inhale some helium, sing happy birthday like a chipmunk and generally live vicariously thought her, making her day awesome.
If today is your birthday, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Love, puffy hearts, googly eyes, and kisses to all.

Topic Tuesday #52 2013/07/16 - "Comfort Food"

Topic Tuesday #52 2013/07/16 - "Comfort Food"

Today was a hectic kind of day. Lots of travel with lots of complicated things to do. Pretty stressful. Then I get a phone call, the type of call you do not want to get. My significant other is on the way to the ER.
So that's lovely right? OK, now what? Well I don't want to tell you another tragedy (especially since they're home and all is well), rather I want to talk about something to take our minds off of such hardships. Comfort Food.
We all have them. For me, delicious fried chicken, is just about unbeatable. However a big smoked turkey leg, can turn the worst outing at a theme park into... a walk in the park!
Tonight to take our minds off the malaise of impending batteries of tests to fully grasp the situation, I went old school. Thanksgiving dinner.  Green Bean Cassarole (just how mom made it, from the can), cranberry jelly sauce substance (the kids favorite), stuffing, steamed veggies, and reheated leftover grilled chicken. (Totally didn't have time to roast a bird, or thaw one out...)
It was good, and everyone is feeling a little less stressed out.

I would say more, but... I have to take a nap. I'm sure you understand.

What are your favorite comfort foods? Something that just makes the world a happier place.

Topic Tuesday #45 2013/05/28 - "Family Matters"

Topic Tuesday #45 2013/05/28 - "Family Matters"

"...And then the roof collapsed..."
Things you don't want to hear, or say, usually start with issues involving parts of your home caving in around you. Of course our friends out in Oklahoma and the rest of the midwest have this trumped, and rightly so, but when a family member calls you up to tell you of a disaster that has befallen them, you do what you can. At least, that is what we have done. Currently my happy home has swelled with my displaced in-laws, their 2 pugs, and a cat. So far so good. The worst is just their stress over their living situation.  This post is about family, and keeping your family ties strong and being able to rely on the safety net that is afforded by them. I am proud that I am in a position that I can return the favor, and take care of our elders for once.  So often, in our interesting times, children are being forced to return to base, failing to launch. The safety net is critical for all of us.
I am writing this on Memorial Day here in the US. It is fitting to be focused on our families and the freedoms that we do enjoy that, despite whatever politics you follow, are paid for in the blood of our families and friends. Frankly, anyone that is willing to go out on the job and get shot at, they have my heartfelt appreciation.
That said, those that are not concerned with matters of that roof collapsing, can move on.
Still with me?
OK, the roof.
The in-laws live in a 4 unit townhome condo arrangement, that was built popularly in the 1980's. They have had some difficulty with leaks and had recently put a new roof on their unit. Here is where it gets complicated. That is only 1/4 of the area that keeps the building secure. One of the units next to them had what can only be called a series of unfortunate events befall its inhabitant and in turn the structure.
The veteran that lived there, had fallen on hard times. The economy had seen fit to remove him from gainful employment, and this in turn caused a relapse of some mental baggage he carried home with him from his service. He went a little nuts. He did what he could, but it seems more than 3 years ago, his own roof collapsed, and he did not have any money to repair the damage. He had been living in squaller by the time the bank decided that they were going to foreclose on him and kick him out, in spite of his trying to get payments arranged to be put on the end of the mortgage and get current. The bank in an effort to unload the property, had the audacity to request of a roofer to "tarp it and seal it over", which is illegal and unethical by any measure. So as they are repairing that unit, the long term damage that has been seeping through the shared beams and insulation, caused the ceiling above their stairwell, to collapse. This has revealed the nature and only pointed to the extent of the damage. Mold. Lots of mold. Enough mold that, myself as an asthmatic, I could not spend more than 15 minutes in the building BEFORE it was out of the walls. It is bad. So now, I have house guests while the insurance companies duke it out (which is days late due to the holiday weekend).
Family to the rescue! It's always good to know you have options in a situation like this. I hope all of you do.

Topic Tuesday #36 2013/03/26 - "Love And Marriage"

Topic Tuesday #36 2013/03/26 - "Love And Marriage"

It's a banner week for the Supreme Court in the USA. Today they begin reviewing 2 same sex marriage cases involving California Proposition 8 (whether gays and lesbians have a constitutional right to marry in a California.) and this will carry through Wednesday, 3/27/2013, as the high bench will be reviewing DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act) as well. The cases presented:

Tuesday, March 26: Prop 8, Hollingsworth v. Perry, 60 minutes

Wednesday, March 27: DOMA, United States v. Windsor, 110 minutes

There are some interesting things happening on the periphery of these cases as they come to trial. I can best sum it up, with no malice intended, as rats fleeing the sinking ship.  California Governor Jerry Brown and Attorney General Kamala Harris have declined to defend Prop 8, leaving only it's staunch conservative backer Dennis Hollingsworth, the case's namesake defendant, of ProtectMarriage.com, to carry the ball. In 2011 many key legistaltors and the Obama administration turned on DOMA, as far as determining that section 3 was unconstitutional and the DOJ would not defend it. In its place the House General Counsel under directive from the Republican congressional leadership would defend the law. Senators. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., John “Jay” Rockefeller, D-W.V., and Mark Warner, D-Va., said 3/24 and 3/35 that they no longer support a federal law banning gay marriage.

PROP 8: If the court does not side with Hollingsworth, the ruling reverts to an earlier decision which struck down Prop 8. The case originated with Kristin Perry, who was denied a marriage license in Berkeley. Kristin and her partner, Sandra Stier, are mothers of 4 children. Perry has an interesting legal team, Theodore Olson and David Boies, who have a history of going at each other in high profile cases.
On the against side: Olson has 20 minutes to state his. They'll focus on arguing that "marriage is a fundamental right that has nothing to do with having children. … Because marriage is such a fundamental right, and gays and lesbians have traditionally been victims of discrimination, the challengers continue, the Court should apply a more demanding test – known as 'heightened scrutiny' – to determine whether Proposition 8 is constitutional.".  Then Solicitor General Donald Verrilli Jr. will then have 10 minutes to explain why the Obama administration believes Prop 8 should go away. From the Times:

"The government will argue on grounds referred to as the "eight-state solution," which would apply only to states where gay marriage is banned, but same-sex civil unions are allowed (California, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, and Rhode Island). Verrilli will argue that this violates the equal-protection clause of the Constitution. That case has been called "quite modest," while others have argued, "If the Court takes the President's argument seriously, the justices need not stop at just 8 states. The President's theory could invalidate all marriage discrimination against gays."

On the pro–Prop 8 side: Hollingsworth will have 30 minutes to make his case. If found to have standing, they will argue that "traditional" marriage should be preserved so that children "will be born and raised in stable and enduring family units by their own mothers and fathers."

Verdicts of this could be very little to very dramatic, if the court upholds the defeat of Prop 8, all bans on same sex marriage could be constitutionally challenged, or it could be that a narrow ruling that "once a right is given it cannot be taken away by the state." It bears remarking, "There is no possibility that the court would ban same-sex marriage in places that choose to permit it."

DOMA, enacted September 21, 1996 defines marriage as the legal union of one man and one woman for federal and inter-state recognition purposes.
Section 3 of DOMA has been found unconstitutional (as it violates the equal-protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment) in eight federal courts, including the First and Second Circuit Court of Appeals, on over 1,000 right issues that married couples enjoy. Such as bankruptcy, public employee benefits, estate taxes, and immigration. 

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal in one of those cases, United States v. Windsor, and scheduled oral arguments for March 27, 2013. Edith Windsor was forced to pay $363,053 in estate taxes after her partner of more than 40 years died.
From the Times:"If the court is to establish a constitutional right to same-sex marriage, it will be in [the Prop 8 case] and not in a narrower one to be argued on Wednesday about the federal Defense of Marriage Act,"

Likely outcomes will be for DOMA to fall and Prop 8 to be more narrowly refined and not completely thrown out.
The judges have their work cut out for them and a nation of of men and women who love each other and want the natural right to express their love for whomever they want, will be watching and waiting. Final decisions are expected to be revealed in June.

Topic Tuesday #22 2012/12/18 - "The End of the World..?"

Topic Tuesday #22 2012/12/18 - "The End of the World..?"

Yes, I had to jump on the bandwagon. How often do you get to live through an 'Apocalypse' complete with dooms day scenarios and movies?  Well... Quite a few times as it turns out.

Apocalypse/Dooms Day/End of Days predictions and cults that we didn't die from.

1) If you read this on or later than the 21st of December, 2012 - You have survived the end of the Mayan Calendar cycle. NASA put together a very nice treatise as to why we will still be here Saturday morning and beyond. http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/2012.html

Harold Camping

2) Harold Camping (born July 19, 1921) of Family Radio predicted the world was going to end in 2011 using numerology in his interpretations of Bible passages. Camping predicted that Jesus Christ would return to Earth on May 21, 2011, whereupon the righteous would fly up to heaven, and that there would follow five months of fire, brimstone and plagues on Earth, with millions of people dying each day, culminating on October 21, 2011, with the final destruction of the world. He had previously predicted that Judgment Day would occur on or about September 6, 1994. Mr. Camping had a stroke after the failed 2011 predition, apologized, and retired as president of Family Radio.

3) In the days leading up to September 9, 2009, fans of Armageddon insisted that the world would end - 9/9/9 being the emergency services phone number in the UK and also the number of the Devil - albeit upside down. Surprisingly there wasn't the same hyperbole on June 6, 2006.

4) Heaven’s Gate (March 26, 1997) followers believed in UFOs and impending doom, for which the only escape was to voluntarily “turn against the next level” by committing suicide. The leaders of the group, Marshall Applewhite and Bonnie Nettles, convinced members that their “evacuation” plan would be a fast-approaching UFO which would act as their mode of transport to beyond. 

5) Waco, TX Branch Davidians a deeply religious cult that originated in 1955 from a schism in the Davidian Seventh Day Adventists("Davidians"), a reform movement that began within the Seventh-day Adventist Church ("Adventists") around 1930. The 1993 actions of this religious sect were predicated on the notion that they lived in the final times according to the Book of Revelation. Vernon Howell (who changed his name to David Koresh in 1990) claimed himself their final prophet. The Davidian movement went up in flames during the 55 day "Waco Siege" (February 28 - April 19, 1993)

6) “Aum” was a Japanese religious movement founded by Shoko Asahara. His 1984 doomsday prophecy described a final conflict culminating in a nuclear "Armageddon", borrowing again the term from the Book of Revelation. According to Robert Jay Lifton, author of “Destroying the World to Save It: Aum Shinrikyo, Apocalyptic Violence, and the New Global Terrorism,” Asahara predicted Armageddon would occur in 1997, and that humanity would end, except (surprise!) for the elite few who joined Aum. Shoko Asahara was convicted of masterminding the 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway and several other crimes, for which he was sentenced to death in 2004. In June 2012, his execution has been postponed due to further arrests of Aum Shinrikyo members.

7) Edgar Whisenant wrote a bestselling book called “88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Be in 1988.”  and the following year he published “The Final Shout: Rapture Report 1989,” and continued selling millions of these books with the same title and a revised year through 1993.

8) 50 members of a group called the Assembly of Yahweh (less familiarly known as Messianic, as well as Spiritual Israelites) gathered at Coney Island, New York, in white robes, awaiting their 'rapture' from a world about to be destroyed on May 25, 1981

9) The “mad messiah,” James Warren "Jim" Jones (1931 – November 18, 1978) was founder and leader of the “People’s Temple.” In 1965, Jones claimed that the world would be engulfed in a nuclear war on July 15, 1967. When that didn't happen, Jones went about establishing his communist commune in “Jonestown” in Guyana. The events of November 18, 1978, in Guyana, in which 920 people died at the Peoples Temple Agricultural Project (informally, and now commonly, called "Jonestown") and nearby airstrip at Port Kaituma, and Georgetown in an organized mass suicide/killing. The mass suicide and killings at Jonestown resulted in the greatest single loss of American civilian life in a non-natural non-accidental disaster prior to the events of September 11, 2001. Casualties at the airstrip included, among others, Congressman Leo Ryan. On the evening of November 18, in Jonestown, Jones ordered his congregation to drink a concoction of cyanide-laced, grape-flavored Flavor Aid. Parents were instructed to inject their children with the same drink should they be under a certain age. (This is also a plausible origin of the phrase, "drinking the cool-aid.")

10) Sir Isaac Newton (1642 – 1727) In one account is said to have foretold the end in 1948, but in a manuscript he wrote in 1704 (in which he describes his attempts to extract scientific information from the Bible), he estimated that the world would end no earlier than 2060. In predicting this he said, "This I mention not to assert when the time of the end shall be, but to put a stop to the rash conjectures of fanciful men who are frequently predicting the time of the end, and by doing so bring the sacred prophesies into discredit as often as their predictions fail."

11) Protestant reformer Martin Luther (1483 - 1546) proclaimed that 'the kingdom of abominations shall be overthrown' within 300 years. Anywhere from (1546 - 1846)

William Miller

12) William Miller (1782 – 1849) American Baptist preacher. Among his direct spiritual heirs are several major religious denominations, including Seventh-day Adventists and Advent Christians. Later movements found inspiration in Miller's emphasis on biblical prophecy. His own followers are known as Millerites. Miller prophesied The End in 1844, based on Bible passage Daniel 8:14: "Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed." 

13) John Napier (1550 – 1617) though best known as the discoverer of logarithms, predicted the world would end either in  1688 or 1700 in "A Plaine Discovery of the Whole Revelation of St. John" (1593). He also dated the seventh trumpet to 1541.

14) Christopher Columbus (1451 – 1506) predicted the world would end in 1656 in one of his books, a "Book of Prophecies" (1505).

Nostradamus

15) Michael Stifel (1487 - 1567) a German monk, proselytized that the end of the world would come on Oct. 3, 1533, at precisely eight o’clock in the morning. When the hour came and went, he was then summarily ejected from his ecclesiastical quarters and flogged in the streets.

16) Nostradamus (1503 – 1566) in his book "Les Propheties", published in 1555, had this quatrain that still befuddles people into thinking the end is near: Century I Quatrain 46

“Very near Auch, Lectoure and Mirande a great fire will fall from the sky for three nights. (Anytime now...)

Topic Tuesday #21 2012/12/11 - "The Shopping Apocalypse"

Topic Tuesday #21 2012/12/11 - "The Shopping Apocalypse"

It's that time of year. The scent of artificial pine is in the air and random Santa's in the park give away candy canes. (they were safe and individually wrapped, not creepy, and quite nice.)
It has occurred to me, and many others, that the Christmas Season is starting to cannibalize other holidays!
Once upon a time, the church only advocated celebrating the day of death. Easter is still more important to Christianity than Christmas because of the death and rebirth of the Christ. Time marched on and birthdays became special anniversaries. The obvious thing that was needed was a birthday for Jesus. It's not in any of the 4 gospels about Jesus's life. The various ecumenical councils came up with borrowing, or consolidating, holidays from the pagans they were bent on converting. They took on the winter solstice, Saturnalia, Yule, and many others that were all celebrated in mid to late December and declared it was Jesus's birthday. 

Centuries pass and the celebrating could not be contained; it expanded to Christmas Eve to have more time to share the love and giving. Then the 12 days of Christmas, which starts on the 25th and runs through January, in some strange competition with Hanukkah, I suspect. Then the real commercialism started in. Decorations started going up earlier and earlier. Now we have ended up with Black Friday and Cyber Monday. And now... there are stores open on Thanksgiving! This year I was able to shop for Christmas decorations at the same time I could buy candy corn and slasher masks on Halloween. 

What's my point? Stop bashing Christmas? I'm not bashing anything except blatant commercialism. I should not have a mix station with the "Monster Mash" and "Away in a Manger" or "Tubular Bells" and the "Little Drummer Boy"... Shouldn't we give proper respect to our holiday traditions? What's the point in having them if all they do is blend? Christmas now contains, itself, New Years, Thanksgiving and now Halloween. It's the unstoppable juggernaut holiday. 

But there is some solace to be found in the shopping apocalypse that has befallen us. Eggnog is available earlier. That make me very happy. 

Happy Holiday Season(s)!

Topic Tuesday #15 2012/10/30 "All Hallows Eve"

Topic Tuesday #15 2012/10/30 "All Hallows Eve"

Where did the holiday Halloween come from? Many people fantasize wildly on the topic and many popular beliefs label it a satanic and pagan ritual. Well, they have part of it right. Let's take a stroll through history.

Peter Tokofsky, an assistant professor in the department of folklore and mythology at UCLA states, "The earliest trace (of Halloween) is the Celtic festival, Samhain, which was the Celtic New Year. It was the day of the dead, and they believed the souls of the deceased would be available"  Samhain (pronounced sah-win or sow-in) means "summer's end" by the Celts.

This day marked the end of summer (and the harvest) and the beginning of the dark, cold winter; a time of year that was often associated with human death. For this reason Druids (Celtic pagans) believed that the spirits of those who died the preceding year roamed the earth the night of Samhain.
The Druids celebrated with a great fire festival (to encourage the dimming Sun not to vanish) and danced round bonfires to keep evil spirits away. With all that they would leave their doors open in hopes that benevolent spirits of loved ones might join them around their hearths. Divination was thought to be more effective during this time, so methods were derived to ascertain who might marry, what great person might be born, who might rise to prominence, or who might die. The Celts would also wear costumes, typically consisting of animal heads and skins, and attempted to tell each other's fortunes. Crops were burned (to prepare the fields for the next planting) and animals were sacrificed (and eaten by the villages as part of the festival, with plenty of ritual too). The spirits were believed to be either "entertained by the living", or to "find a body to possess for the incoming year". This all gives reason as to why "dressing up like witches, ghosts and goblins, villagers could avoid being possessed".

By 43 AD, Romans occupied the majority of Celtic territory. Over the 400 years of occupation, two Roman festivals were melded within the culture:
First, a celebration for Pomona (the Roman goddess of plenty or "she who cares for fruits") which followed the August fruit and nut storage with a opening of those stores near November first. Bobbing for apples if most often attributed to Pomona's role.
Second, Feralia, celebrating the Manes (Roman spirits of the dead, particularly the souls of deceased individuals). Faralia, while practiced later, in February, may have also been subjugated in the land of Celts during this time due to climate and local traditions.

Fast forwarding to the Middle Ages, Pope Gregory IV wanted to substitute Samhain with All Saints' Day in 835, but All Souls' Day (Nov. 2nd) which is closer in resemblance to Samhain and Halloween today was instituted in a French Monastery in 998 and spread throughout Europe. In the 16th century, Christian village children celebrated the vigil of All Saints' by doing the "Danse Macabre". The Seven Brethren whose grisly death is described in the seventh chapter of the deuterocanonical book of Second Maccabees is also said to have resulted in children dressing up in grizzly costumes to signify these deaths. Also During this time the belief developed that witches traveled on broomsticks to the black Sabbaths to worship demonic forces and devils. It is said that, witches were guided by spirits in the form of black cats. Lending credence to this were the old Druid traditions of "revering or worshiping" cats, believing them to be reincarnated souls.

All Saints Day became All Hallows Day. Hallow means holy or sacred. October 31 is the evening before All Hallows Day and came to be called in the western world all hallows evening and then all hallows een. Een is an abbreviation for evening. Finally, the word was reduced to the way we have it today, Halloween.
Halloween came to the United States when European immigrants brought their varied Halloween customs with them. In the second half of the nineteenth century, America was flooded with new immigrants including the Irish fleeing from the potato famine in Ireland in 1846. By combining Irish (Celtic) and English (Roman Catholic/Anglican) traditions, Americans began the "trick-or-treat" tradition. In the later 1800's the holiday became more centered on community and in the 1920's and 1930's Halloween became a secular, but community-centered holiday. In the 1950's leaders changed Halloween as a holiday aimed at the young to limit vandalism. This all led to what Halloween actually is like today. There continues to be controversy over the implications of the holiday among the very pious, considering the entire thing to be sinful and direct devil worship. In my neck of the woods, it's a harvest festival that was twisted through the years with superstition and has become a fun holiday to celebrate the things that go bump in the night so we don't have to be afraid, all the time, just on halloween, and because we like to be scared...Well a little.

Special thanks to the following sources:
The Origins of Halloween
http://www.albany.edu/~dp1252/isp523/halloween.html
A Reminder of Death. Navarro, Michelle. Oct. 1997. UCLA. 12 Oct. 2002. http://www.dailybruin.ucla.edu/DB/issues/97/10.31/news.halloween.html
Halloween FAQ. Thomas, Patrick. 4 Nov. 1993. Rutgers University. 12 Oct. 2002. http://www.cs.rutgers.edu/pub/soc.religion.christian/faq/halloween
History Channel Exhibits: The History of Halloween. 2002. The History Channel. 12. Oct. 2002. http://www.historychannel.com/exhibits/halloween/hallowmas.html
History of Halloween 29 Feb. 2001. Indiana University. 12 Oct. 2002.
http://www.iun.edu/~preprofn/Histroy%20of%20Halloween.htm
MSN Learning & Research- Halloween. MSN Encarta. 12. Oct. 2002. http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/refpages/RefArticle.aspx?refid=761572079
The Origin of Halloween Comes Out of the Sky. Chamberlain, Von Del. State University of Utah. 12. Oct. 2002. http://www.utah.edu/planetarium/CQHalloween.html
Halloween Traditions around the World. Flowers, MaDonna. 28. June. 2011. Halloween Costumes Blog. http://www.halloweencostumes.com/blog/post/2011/06/28/halloween-traditions-around-the-world.aspx
http://lindy-halloween.blogspot.com/2010/10/pomona.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feralia
An evangelical site dedicated to stamping out Halloween as Satanic (turn your speakers off...)
http://www.demonbuster.com/halloween.html

Topic Tuesday #10 2012/09/25 "Water World - Part 2"

Topic Tuesday #10 2012/09/25 "Water World - Part 2"

We need quite a bit of water to survive on. It needs to be clean...
Last week I discussed the requirements of how much water we need to survive. Today, how do we make it safe?

I am going to quickly give some ways to clean up water so you don't die. 

There are 4 categories; Separation, Chemical, Filtration, Oxidation.

SEPARATION: (HEAT, LIGHT & GRAVITY)

• SEDIMENTATION gravitationally settles heavy suspended material. 
• BOILING WATER for 15 to 20 minutes kills 99.9% of all living things and vaporizes most chemicals.  Minerals, metals, solids and the contamination from the cooking container become more concentrated. 
• DISTILLATION boils and re-condenses the water, but many chemicals vaporize and recondense in concentration in the output water. It is also expensive to boil & cool water. 
• ULTRAVIOLET LIGHT is a good bactericide, but has no residual kill, and works only in clearly filtered water. Still in its infancy stage is a new technology involving super white light.

CHEMICALS

• CHLORINE is common, cheap, but extremely toxic. It does not decrease physical or chemical contamination, it does increase colesterol formations, is a carcinogen, amd causes heart disease. 
• IODINE is not practical, and is mostly used by campers. 
• HYDROGEN PEROXIDE kills bacteria with oxygen, is chemically made and is very toxic. It is used in emergencies. 
• COAGULATION-FLOCCULATION adds chemicals which lump together suspended particles for filtration or separation. 
• ION EXCHANGE exchanges sodium from salt for calcium or magnesium, using either glauconite (greensand), precipitated synthetic organic resins, or gel zeolite, thus softening the water. Minerals, metals, chemicals or odors are not affected, and the water is salty to drink. 

FILTRATION

• SLOW SAND of 1 cubic meter passes about 2 liters/min, and does a limited bacteria removal. 
• HIGH PRESSURE/RAPID SAND of 1 cubic meter passes about 40gpm and must be backwashed daily. 
• DIATOMACEOUS EARTH removes small suspended particles at high flow rates, must be back-washed daily and is expensive.
• PAPER or CLOTH filters are disposable and filter to one micron, but do not have much capacity. 
• CHARCOAL: 
• -COMPRESSED CHARCOAL/CARBON BLOCK is the best type of charcoal filter, can remove chemicals and lead, but is easily clogged, so should be used with a sediment prefilter. 
• -GRANULAR CHARCOAL is cheaper, but water can flow around the granules without being treated. 
• -POWDERED CHARCOAL is a very fine dust useful for spot cleaning larger bodies of water, but is messy and can pass through some filters and be consumed. 
• REVERSE OSMOSIS uses a membrane with microscopic holes that require 4 to 8 times the volume of water processed to wash it in order to remove minerals and salt, but not necessarily chemicals and bacteria.

OXIDATION - These are most often used in big water treatment facilities. These techniques attempt to mimic what mother nature does with rivers. See THE SELF-PURIFICATION OF RIVERS AND STREAMS, from 1919. You can read a great deal about it to understand how it is supposed to work.

• AERATION sprays water into the air to raise the oxygen content, to break down odors, and to balance the dissolved gases. However, it takes space, is expensive, and picks up contaminants from the air. 
• OZONE is a very good bactericide, using highly charged oxygen molecules to kill microorganisms on contact, and to flocculate iron and manganese for post filtration and backwashing. 
• ELECTRONIC PURIFICATION and DISSOLVED OXYGEN GENERATION creates super oxygenated water in a dissolved state that lowers the surface tension of the water and effectively treats all three types of contamination: physical, chemical and biological.

The easiest for you and me to go through is likely to be the separation method. An issue to remember here, and one that has caught entire villages with a bad case of the runs, is proper storage of the water once you have sterilized it. There are many methods to do that, but that will be another topic. Look for "Food Safety" later on.

Now for your consideration: 

1. What are your plans on keeping a supply of available, CLEAN, water on hand? 
2. What would be the best method for scaling up for family clusters, to villages, to towns, etc? 
3. Are you going to try any of these methods?

Topic Tuesday #9 2012/09/18 "Water World - Part 1"

Topic Tuesday #9 2012/09/18 "Water World - Part 1"

© hdptcar

Day after day, day after day,

We stuck, nor breath nor motion;

As idle as a painted ship

Upon a painted ocean.

Water, water, every where,

And all the boards did shrink;

Water, water, every where,

Nor any drop to drink.

- The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

And you thought I was going to mention a certain movie where someone pees into a Mr. Coffee and gets Tasters Choice... Well you were right. Love it or hate it, Water World with Kevin Costner, presents some interesting scenarios. The only one I am concerned about is potable water. Clean water, that won't kill you. Pretty important stuff. You can live for about 72 Hours without proper hydration. Food is not without moisture but in the strictest terms, you will die from dehydration long before starvation. Now I could go on and on and on about conservation and the importance of water, but that will be for another topic. Today lets talk about solely about how much water we need and where we can get it. 

In a survival situation, water quite often is a life and death factor. If you are in your fortress of solitude, you may have a cache of water. The numbers on what is recommended you consume depends on the individual, environmental factors and labor exerted. The Institute of Medicine determined that an adequate intake (AI) for men is roughly 3 liters (about 13 cups) of total beverages a day. The AI for women is 2.2 liters (about 9 cups) of total beverages a day, for an average, healthy adult in a temperate climate. What you eat also provides a significant portion, an average of 20 percent of total water intake. Given that we are in the context of a survival situation, we will forego chat about excessive water consumption, hyponatremia. The above information was from the Mayo Clinic and the numbers SEEM high for consumption (given that FEMA recommends 1 gallon or 3.78 liters for drinking and sanitation). We will look at one more metric to determine our hydration needs: Urine.
"Generally if you drink enough fluid so that you rarely feel thirsty and produce 1.5 liters (6.3 cups) or more of colorless or light yellow urine a day, your fluid intake is probably adequate."[Mayo Clinic] This also may seem high but to avoid illnesses and allow your body to properly dispose of waste, it is a vital number. Personally, I have worked long and hard and knew I needed to drink more as I hadn't had to pee for over 8 hours. That was with what I thought was large consumption of fluid. It wasn't enough; so watch yourselves and those in your care.

Now for your consideration: Recap: We need quite a bit of water to survive on. It needs to be clean, BUT given that is a HUGE topic on it's own, I'm breaking that out into part 2 for next week.
Where do we find our water? This is assuming the municipality stopped working or you are making a sequel to Swiss Family Robinson. Brain Storm with me and share your favorite methods to collect water.

Topic Tuesday #5 2012/08/21 "The Family Village"

Topic Tuesday #5 2012/08/21 "The Family Village"

My Grandfather  and I, just after his 95th Birthday

It is said that it takes a village to raise a child. I always felt that was true, but I come from a standard model "Nuclear Family" with 2 children and a few pets somewhere in suburban America. Here in the "developed world" we have baby sitters and public education systems and all sorts of helping aids that make it possible to go 'alone' in parenting. I was fortunate and always had enough of whatever I needed. My sister is 10 years older than I am; I'm sure that made some things easier on my parents in some ways and of harder in others. I remember spending time with my grand-parents, aunts, uncles and cousins but I know that these were pretty few and,  sometimes, far in between. I remember so well because they were special, not because they were plentiful. I suppose then that my village was not a large one. As I have grown older and been exposed to the world and had children of my own, the concept of the "the Family Village" has taken on a new importance to me. I have seen how developing nations and undeveloped third world cultures, nurture children among large groups and everyone is essentially a family; protected and cared for. My wife and I decided that raising children in an urban center an hour away from a family support structure was a mistake. We have since uprooted ourselves and moved closer to my family. Over the past few years, we have experienced an inward migration and now my sister lives just a mile from us, and my parents are in between us at only half a mile. Our Family Village is set and we see each other much more often and it gives my two girls a second and third place to call home and be safe. We have a safety net, and that is simply invaluable.

Now for the topic of conversation: What place does a Family Village serve in your lives? How have you gone about creating it or coping without it? Are your close friends an extension of your Village? I sure hope so. Tell us about it.

From Facebook

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  Jim Mathews Family was the original village, ties of heredity that are impossible to break and last from birth till death. It's also as old as man himself..... You are geek, hear you roar??

  August 21 at 12:08pm · Like
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  Jon Jimenez When I lived in Venezuela, we had my grandparents, me and my sister, my aunt, and my aunt, uncle, and cousin living in one 3.5 bedroom apartment. This went on for many years. When me, mom and sis moved to the US, we moved in with my other aunt, uncle and cousins. Now that I've been here for a long while, I live an hour away from my family. I get the urge to move farther but I know that they are my strongest form of support and the people I love the most. I see them mostly only on holidays and bdays.
  Although ive made good friends and created momentarily extended families, I have a hard time keeping people close to me. I don't know why.
  So to me, family is the most important thing. It's a base and what keeps me grounded. It's what I search for when looking for new friends, and what I like to call people whenever I feel like I fit in. Unfortunately, like I said, I'm still kind of a loaner most times. Don't know how to change it.

  August 21 at 1:30pm via mobile · Like
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  Andy Cowen Jon, you just haven't found what you need yet. Keep looking, but don't forget the things you learn along the way.
  Jim, ROAR. Not sure why I roared... But it is cathartic. Everyone should roar and howl from time to time.

  August 21 at 1:58pm · Like · 3
• 

  Jim Mathews I'm always here for you buddy.....

  August 21 at 2:01pm · Unlike · 1

From Google +

Tony SandovalAug 21, 2012 (edited)

I grew up in South Omaha.  Still live here.  back then I had relatives who lived scattered about up to a mile away but always nearby.

If  I was to be walking up the block to visit a friend of mine,  I was guaranteed to pass at least 2 relatives and several long time neighbors

If I happened to be getting myself into trouble out and about, those same folks would scold and kick my butt all the way home where I would REALLY get the meaning of the words "in trouble".

To me, that's what is meant by "A village to raise a child".

Having those people living in proximity to you to reinforce family values and expectations, etc...

Now, for my kids, a lot of family members have moved away and my kids don't have the same family /neighborhood like that.

to make up somewhat for that, in my opinion anyway, being a part of a church/school community allows for somewhat of the interaction of kids being able to interact with  trusted and known adults who see kids and one kid is the same as the other , they look out for them all.

it's not quite the same as being able to wander the neighborhood like I used to do, but by making an effort to participate in activities and events gives as much similar as possible.