Topic Tuesday #71 2013/11/26 - "I Want A New Drug"

Topic Tuesday #71 2013/11/26 - "I Want A New Drug"

Huey Lewis And The News proclaimed during the cocaine riddled 80's about "...wanting a drug, one that won't make me sick." Huey would never have dreamed that the quest for an ever cheaper and deeper high to escape reality could lead to a drug that not only killed you, but dissolved you from the inside out. Desomorphine (dihydrodesoxymorphine), or more commonly known as "Krokodil" is a heroin addicts worst nightmare. Basically, it is a freebased opiate consisting of various components, boiled down and then injected into your blood stream. If you miss the vessel, and the compound lands in your muscle tissue, it will begin to dissolve it while turning the outer flesh green and scaly, like a crocodile.

If you are familiar with meth (methamphetamine and crystal) or Breaking Bad, you know that some chemicals can be cooked up in batches with some very basic chemistry/culinary skills. Back in Russia, as early as 2002, krokodil was on the scene filling gaps where heroin was unavailable. Instead of getting heroin, unsuspecting junkies were being fed a toxic cocktail (one recipe: codeine pain pills, gasoline, paint thinner, bathroom cleaner and red phosphorous from match heads) directly to their bodies. 

Chemically the cook uses a base-alkaline reaction to create a yellowish liquid that is up to ten times stronger, but only a quarter the effective duration as morphine. It's also much more addictive. The human brain loves the stuff, and it loves to eat the brain too. Many of the street made versions eat human flesh that can eventually just make limbs fall off. Most users don't seem to mind, since they have had so many brain cells popped that they end up in a strange fugue state of retardation due to brain damage. Speech and motor control are frequent casualties from home brew batches. Other than Krokodil, being such a lovely and descriptive name, the compound is sometimes aptly referred to as "zombie in a syringe". 

It was only a matter of time before this insanely dangerous poppy derivative landed abroad. Cases of it's use, and the after math, are popping up all over. Some police forces have taken such a controversial stand on it as to warn of getting your heroin from a trusted source and to have no questions asked drop off programs. They great police, the ones that really care about human life and suffering, want the bad stuff gone, so the real issue of addiction remediation can continue, without the need to crutches or homes for the mentally damaged. The average life expectancy of an addict of krokodil is said to be as low as 2 years with high susceptibility to infections and gangrene. 

Please, if you are hooked, seek help. For your own sake, make sure you get what you ordered while you are wrestling with your demons.

(For gruesome images of the health effects of krokodil, go here.)

Topic Tuesday #27 2013/01/22 - "Dollars and $ense"

Topic Tuesday #27 2013/01/22 - "Dollars and $ense"

I remember buying my first car. I was excited as I saved up $1,500 over a summer and was going to buy it outright. It was going to be a hunk of junk, a clunker - but what does a 16 year old care really when the freedom of transportation is promised? I wrote the check... I felt sick to my stomach. I wanted to retch at the thought of the exchange... All my hard earned coin was going to be gone in an instant. I did it anyway. I got the car and had my measure of freedom and responsibility. You never forget your first time, and that was my first car and also my first big check.

In the world of finance, money has no value. Keeping this in mind may change your view of the world. Let me explain:
In the USA, we have dollars as our agreed upon currency standard. But what is a dollar? Two "sawbucks"?Four Quarters? Ten Dimes? Twenty Nickels? A hundred Pennies? Yes but not at all. A dollar is a promissory note. That's all. It's true worth is that of 'paper' (Though it's actually a complex blend of fibers more akin to fabric for durability-but I digress). We use them as a token of perceived value for the purposes of the exchange of goods and services. the currency itself has no intrinsic value at all. In the end, it's worth is a lie. But a convenient one.

I am a big fan of the barter system. I often wonder what I could gain from exchanging my skills with those around me. How much is my effort worth? I need a roasting hen for supper, so I could fix a sink, or repair a computer. Maybe saving your files from a crash would be worth a large pig or a cow, or painting my house in return, or maybe the paint. Hard to say. Very hard to say. Can we exist on it alone? No. Not really. What would the power company ask you in trade for a Kilowatt Hour to run said computer? What would the city ask in return for protection and clean water? It's a slippery slope to a feudal system. A liege lord and his castle keep taking care of the main functions of society while you pledge your loyalty to them. Or worse even... The company store, where you pay back your wage of effort to be always a little behind and become an indentured servant, slave labor, deep in a coal mine.


We do need regulation and standardization in a modern day. But let's review just 2 generations ago. Your grandmother could go down to the corner store and buy a loaf of bread for a nickel. She thought that was expensive. Today, the same loaf, though likely much worse for us, costs around $2.  Over say 75 years, the cost of a loaf of bread inflated. It's a simple task to understand the real value of a loaf of bread. It feeds you. It provides nourishment. It is sustenance. You can't fill your belly with money alone and expect to live long. We go with the perceived value of money. The perceived worth of a loaf of bread, a liter of water or gas or milk and so on.

It's troubling to know that the money in your pocket is almost meaningless. What happens when the men behind the curtain, that decide how much money is in circulation and what interest rates to lend more promissory notes out with, decide to print more money and circulate it wildly? The money in you hand loses value. If the regulators pull money from circulation, and artificially constraining the economy, they make the money a more scarce resource and raise it's value, it's buying power. Supply and demand - on demand. When the economy can be manipulated in such a way as the $10 you have in savings is only able to be exchanged for a quarter of what it used to, when you earned it and traded your skill and effort for it, it makes you wonder if this is the right system.

Can we go back to a fixed system? One backed by gold (The Gold Standard). Would we want to? Commodities such as gold and oil and nearly everything else of value, are traded wildly on the stock exchanges of the world. Their value fluctuates wildly.  Though the value of a dollar also fluctuates it does so at the pace of the Federal Reserve. They choose the base interest rates for borrowing, and decide how much money should be in circulation. They do so at regular intervals, so the cost of things like bread does not sway wildly out of control. It's not an enviable job. Someone will always tell you it's wrong. The sad thing is they are right in that it's always wrong for someone.

I could go on, but I want the conversation to carry it forward. Good or bad, the economy work this way in a far more efficient manner than a barter system alone could enjoy. I'm terrible at pricing my services, and will always be taken advantage of, or be made to feel like I am robbing someone if I price competitively. How many chickens is a computer rebuild worth?

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 #11 2012/10/02 "Oh the Humanity?"

Topic Tuesday #11 2012/10/02 "Oh the Humanity???"

In todays world we continue to push the limits of science. What tends to follow the science - is the philosophy...
Today, I want to look at what it takes to be human.

March 2011: Enter a dying man, Craig Lewis, 55, Dying from amyloidosis. Craig had 12-24 hours to live when his wife Linda okayed an experimental procedure by two innovated doctors at the Texas Heart Institute. Dr. Billy Cohn and Dr. Bud Frazier, successfully replaced his heart with a continuous flow pump. Two venturi like pump motors served as a replacement for the failed muscle. There was a catch though; Craig no longer had a pulse. EKG was flatlined. Linda Lewis said, "I listened and it was a hum, which was amazing. He didn't have a pulse." The technology passed multiple animal trials and it certainly passed this test.

I've included the short documentary on it below.

Heart Stop Beating | Jeremiah Zagar from Focus Forward Films on Vimeo
As technology changes us, as we lose those telltale markers that we are alive, how will we adapt? Our minds are a series of electrical impulses and it's a trivial jump to reason that one day we will "backup" our consciousness, and perhaps be downloaded back into a new or greatly repaired body. How will humanity deal, with immortality? Will we still be human? With no need of an afterlife, will we need religion?

Topic Tuesday #2 2012/07/31 "What do you do when the power goes out, for a LONG time?"

Topic Tuesday #2 2012/07/31


What do you do when the power goes out, for a LONG time?:


Here's a hypothetical situation to get your neurons firing. Wherever you are, the power just simply goes out. No one on the radio or TV says anything for a few hours. Your cell phone is glitchy, and calls fail almost immediately, and you don't have reliable data. Even SMS isn't always making it to your contacts. You are cut off. The power is down, inexplicably, and you have no idea when it will be restored (if it will be restored) Assume at this moment, you don't have power for the foreseeable future unless you are the source. Now (easy for hurricane veterans) consider all the items you rely on that require power. The clock starts ticking on perishables, your AC or heating doesn't work. The power backups at the utility providers (like gas stations, natural gas, water, sewer, internet, telephone) likely have 4-48 hours of reserve power. So... What do you do? What are you going to do if and when the rioting starts?

(This is an exercise to get you to plan ahead and to help others that may not have the same insight. This is NOT for fear-mongering. Those that have lived through storm events know what this is like. Share the love and lets see your plans, and maybe make a better one.) http://www.bt.cdc.gov/disasters/poweroutage/needtoknow.asp

Responses from Facebook (my wall is PUBLIC, so always remember that the world will see it.):

 

Becca Diehl Charvet move north! this state ain't fit for not having a/c ;)

July 31 at 9:26am · Like

Andy Cowen but, given the example, how would you move north? This is an immediate survival situation.

July 31 at 9:28am · Like

Becca Diehl Charvet these boots were made for walkin'... (come on! just let me be snarky!)
ok, really? I'd get my peeps circled up in one location with as much fuel as we can get, gas, propane, charcoal, wood, car batteries. Then figure out food & water sources. We happen to have some free-range chickens, so making sure those are secure is tops. Oh, & make sure the bikes are working. That's off the top of my head.

July 31 at 9:42am · Unlike · 1

Jim Mathews LOL, first thing I would do is take my trusty 5kw generator over to my friends gas station and trade him a .22 pistol and a couple hundred rounds ammo for as much gas as I can pump into my 5 20 gallon army surplus gas tanks. I won't go into further details, just know that I have thought this out and prepared......

July 31 at 9:53am · Like

Linda Mahoney Sauls bank, gasoline for vehicles and spares, LOTS of ice. fast thawing food to cooler, add ice, compact everything else from our 3 freezers into one freezer, pack with bags of ice and newspaper and foil, shut and don't open till food gone in cooler. All set for food and water, matches sterno, gallons of water prepared for hurricane each year. Do seal and fill bathtubs with water, washing machine as well. Gather neighbors and help put together plan so we all know what the others have to share if things get tough. (Andrew was a lesson well learned) Traded gas washer and dryer use for ice and food, traded our steaks for gasoline, game plan for finding water and ice, would split up as neighbors and each head for a different site and share what we got.

July 31 at 10:09am · Like

Andy Cowen In case you wonder where I get ideas like this... http://www.cnn.com/2012/

07/31/world/asia/

india-blackout/index.html

Most power restored after India hit by second, even larger outage - CNN.com

www.cnn.com

India suffered its second huge, crippling power failure in two days Tuesday, dep...See More

July 31 at 3:14pm · Like · 

Michelle Rasberry Here in Arkansas we are use to our power going out for weeks at a time, especially in the winter months. You just light the fireplace and pull out the board games for the kids and do the best you can until power is restored. If you are smart you have a gas stove and you can heat some water to take a spongebath and at least eat. But if all else fails you just put the pot in the fireplace and do the best you can.

July 31 at 4:42pm · Like

Donald Davis Lack of running water is much more scary than lack of power. There is wood to burn to cook if you have tools, etc whatever food is available, but fresh water is the real commodity.If there is no power for long periods of time, perishables can soon be forgotten about because ice only lasts for so long, same with gas once supply lines are cut and it runs out. The only real way to move forward is to learn to live without those comforts. people did it before, and survival instincts will kick back in, hopefully there will be some civility left among people if it ever does come to pass.

July 31 at 9:22pm · Like

David OConnor I figure out my survival plan based on a few things - Water: Know where and how to get fresh water every single day. Food, be aware of how much you have and where/how to get more. Multivitamins help here. Shelter - don't let your environment kill you, and is also a handy place to prepare food. Showers and defecations - have a plan to facilitate this.

How prepared should you be? Some people go to extremes in their bid to survive the worst holocaust, but that's incredibly expensive to do. If I have a knife, some rope, a tarp and a water filter I would feel pretty well prepared because the worst case scenario is the world goes to hell when you're out on vacation. Plan for that and think about what it would take to acquire the things you need to keep going. One week of food and water is pretty reasonable to have on hand - One month of food and water on hand will get you past the worst of most emergencies. For the most extreme (Look up katrina) you will have to rely on your neighbors working together to keep everyone going, which is read: alive.

July 31 at 9:38pm · Like

Becca Diehl Charvet reread Alas, Babylon :)

August 1 at 8:47am · Like · 1

Responses from Google+ (my wall is PUBLIC, so always remember that the world will see it.):

Tony SandovalJul 31, 2012

+2

part of the problem is that people panic before they think.

We are not that far removed from being the people who never had power to begin with.

My grandparents lived in one room shacks with wood stoves and outdoor toilets.  No indoor plumbing.

I spent summers on a farm that was the same until I was a teen.

 I used to "hobo" when I was a teen.  slept where I found space, camped in a tent.  ate out of cans and cooked on an open fire.  Walked or got rides however I could.

The first thing is not to panic.  The next thing is to realize we do not "need" electricity to live.

Collapse this comment

David OConnorJul 31, 2012

I figure out my survival plan based on a few things - Water: Know where and how to get fresh water every single day. Food, be aware of how much you have and where/how to get more. Multivitamins help here. Shelter - don't let your environment kill you, and is also a handy place to prepare food. Showers and defecations - have a plan to facilitate this.

How prepared should you be? Some people go to extremes in their bid to survive the worst holocaust, but that's incredibly expensive to do. If I have a knife, some rope, a tarp and a water filter I would feel pretty well prepared because the worst case scenario is the world goes to hell when you're out on vacation. Plan for that and think about what it would take to acquire the things you need to keep going. One week of food and water is pretty reasonable to have on hand - One month of food and water on hand will get you past the worst of most emergencies. For the most extreme (Look up katrina) you will have to rely on your neighbors working together to keep everyone going, which is read: alive.

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Matthew O'ConnorAug 1, 2012

Well, the first thing to keep in mind is that zombies are interested in brains, brains, brains...

Tony SandovalAug 1, 2012

That's just B grade movie zombies.

"Real" zombies just eat living flesh.  doesn't matter arms, ears, legs.  they don't care.

but, this is about a regular power outage not  a zombie apocalypse.  That would change a lot of things.

Andy CowenAug 1, 2012Edit

Zombie Apocalypse will be another Topic Tuesday down the road. :-)

Matthew O'ConnorAug 1, 2012

Very good.  In that case... I'll take a stab at what memory serves me, and hopefully I won't get too much wrong...otherwise I'll be DEAD if this ever happens!

in situations where supplies of finite quantity and there is no foreseeable resumption of basic social infrastructure, rationing is a good thing.  Food intake should be kept to a minimum where possible - humans can survive on around or less than 1000 calories per day, as I recall, though that number may be high.  If hunting for food is not a plausible activity, attempt to seek out and organize food acquisition and distribution; again, rationing here will become a necessity.  Canned goods are always a good thing.  If you're a baker, sourdoughs do not require much more than the starter, flour, and water.  Makeshift solar ovens, clay ovens, or underground fire pits can be useful for baking.

Water is a necessity, especially in hot climates.  If gas or wood fuel is available, water boiled for 15 minutes (after a full boil is reached) should kill most microorganisms.  Do not catch water out of your gutter, especially if you have an asphalt roof - set up an independent catch-water system if you intend on trying to use water from the sky.  Coffee filters may remove a good number of large impurities, but distillation is the best for removing the most.  Wells have to be used with caution, especially around urban environments - lots of pesticides, heavy metals, and other nasty things will wind up in them.  A water heater can be an invaluable source of water - the catch to having it be one is that you have to regularly flush the tank.  The tanks have ports near the bottom for this purpose.  Flushing once a month would generally be sufficient to keep sludge to a minimum and a full 40+ gallons of fresh potable water available.

Staying cool can be hard - wearing as little as possible and avoiding movement during the hottest daytime hours can help, as well as residing in the shade.  This also conserves energy and water.  Bathing may be reduced to sponge baths every couple of days, or longer if the situation becomes dire.  Wear hats to keep the sun off you, and loose breathable clothing if you must be in the sun.

The propane tanks used for gas grills can be handy to have, but you have to have at least one or two on hand because once the power goes out, those things go out of stock fast.  The downside to the gas grill is it's terribly inefficient for heating things like water - we had to use ours for a while while our kitchen was obliterated.  Making spaghetti took a looong time.  Maybe it was just our piece-o-junk grill...

Digging back to basics, if you are running out of fuel and happen to have trees available for the chopping, you can acquire two useful things: pitch and charcoal.  I don't remember the particulars about pitch and its usage (other than for making boats waterproof), but as I recall the charcoal is made by setting the chopped bits of wood on fire, then burying them to smolder and cool.  The process takes many hours.  The resultant charcoal should make excellent fuel.

If riots are really a concern, having a shotgun or two on hand should at least deter people from rioting on your property.  The goal - get them to realize that your neighbor doesn't have a shotgun and doesn't mind a riot in HIS front yard. ;-)  No need to fire unless they are intent on causing you harm, the sound of a shotgun cocking should make most people rethink their intentions.

And remember this above all else, and especially when the scoops come: Soylent Green is People.

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Andy CowenAug 1, 2012Edit

Excellent advice Matt. For calories, basic rule as I understand it, to maintain your current weight an average metabolism must consume 100 calories per pound of person. So if you are 200lbs, 2000 calories on a normal day will sustain your mass. Do more work, you need more calories and start to shrink or waste away. Do less, need less.
CDC and FDA recommend 1 gallon of fresh water per person per day. Plan accordingly.
Rain water from roofs is still invaluable. You can use it for bathing and irrigation and for washing clothes and such items that will not be ingested. Washing dishes for instance, as long as the final rinse is with clean water. 

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Matthew O'ConnorAug 1, 2012

Great info!  Enjoyed the CDC article after I got done blathering on, too.  Now about those zombies.... ;-)