I am addressing SAGE today and want to keep focused on that. I promise I will make up for it tomorrow. But I will leave you with a song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yERTIErjTE4&feature=g-vrec&context=G2532f8dRVAAAAAAAACA
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Much more tomorrow.
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This Blog on frugality is pretty funny and maybe not for the Joe Sixpack crowd. Things like Retiring In Panama may miss them. But the post about living on food stamps was pretty informative and funny.
http://www.debtfreebythirty.net/2012/02/festival-of-frugality-superheroes-are.html
I am a sucker for a theme for my festivals or carnivals and while I was tempted to do a leap year facts edition it just wasn’t exciting enough for my blood. So superheroes it is. Because what’s more exciting than superheroes? It also occurred to me that superheroes are quite frugal and who hasn’t sometimes thought that superpowers are needed to stay on the path of frugality.
Editor’s Super Picks
Smart Family Finance has pretty convincing financial reasons to get rid of your junk. There are so may reasons to get rid of your “junk”. It’s nice to have one that will put cash in your wallet too.
Annabelle from Shopping Detox gives her city a frugal audit. This really has me thinking about my own town.
A. Blinkin from Funancials entertains us as usual with how do you judge value?
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Go there and read about Wolverine and Batman at least. More next week.
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Like I said in the beginning there are many types of people that want to be off the grid. The rich do it because they can. Many people do it to save money. Some people, like Thoreau, like the solitude or are paranoid. Then there are the survivalists. I do not agree with their theories or their ideology, but they are a part of the mix and this site is pretty explicit.
http://offgridsurvival.com/preppingfriendsandfamil/
A number of readers have emailed me lately asking how they can convince their friends and family to start prepping.
To be honest this is a touchy subject, one that can often make even hardcore preppers feel a bit uncomfortable.
For some, the thought of talking to anyone about prepping fills them with feelings of anxiety. Just the thought of others knowing what preps you have is enough to fill anyone with a sense of paranoia . And who can blame them, lately it seems like every time we turn on the news another government agency is warning people about those dangerous preppers.
For those that do try to talk about the subject, trying to get their family and friends on board can be a headache to say the least.
From friends and family members that truly believe the government will save them in a time of crisis, to those that have been brainwashed by the media to believe that preppers are all tinfoil hat wearing nutjobs, prepping can often be a touchy or even taboo subject to talk about. While we have touched on the subject in the past, I thought it was important to take another look at how we can help those we care about prepare for an uncertain future.
Dealing with those who believe the Government will help them in a time of crisis.
As a reader who recently wrote to me pointed out, 50 years of being programmed to believe that the government can help is hard to undo. We live in a society that is becoming increasingly reliant on the government to help them in every aspect of their lives. In fact over 67 million Americans now rely on government aid to pay for either housing, food, health care or education. That’s 1 in 5 Americans!
Most people simply don’t realize or believe that they are in any kind of danger. Most Americans live under the belief that the government will be there to help them in a time of crisis. So what can you do to change this mindset and protect those that you care about?
Use the Governments own advice.
Even the government advises people to be prepared. They will be the first to admit that during a time of crisis it’s highly unlikely that they’ll be able to respond in under 72 hours.
At the very least your friends and family should be prepared to survive at home without power, water and utilities for a minimum of 72 hours. While most of the governments advice is rather simplistic, it may help you introduce the subject to those who depend on the government for everything.
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It is a huge site. Go there and read. More Tomorrow.
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This blog for this store has one chunk dated January 25th of 2012 and the first post listed as January 13. There is nothing more. So I do not know much about the store or the guy claiming to be Darin. It hasn’t been open long. According to a phto shoot caption they opened in early December 2011. I never endorse anything I have not actually tried and I have never ordered anything from this site. So buyer bewarier. As a man with a new business I am sure that he is too busy to blog and I disagree with his probable ideology as well. However new small businesses are very hard to keep alive so here he is, the Off The Grid Kid.
http://offthegriddotcom.wordpress.com/
Posted: January 13, 2012 in General
Tags: Brick and mortar business, camping, Darin, Mainstream media, New York Times, Off the grid, outdoors, Patriot, politics, survival supplies, United States, Warfare and Conflict, Washington Post
The first post is always the hardest post to write on a blog. It’s like introducing yourself to a bunch of people and you can’t look them in the eye. I’m an eye contact person as I believe one on one communication is something this world could use a lot more of. If people talked, they might be able to understand each other better instead of making blanket judgements based on assumptions.
I’ll give it my best shot. My name is Darin and I’m the Owner of OffTheGrid.com. I’m a 40 year old guy with 3 little ones, grew up in the woods of Northern Arizona. Caught my first fish before I could tie my shoes and tell my boy hunting stories instead of bedtime stories. I’m a Patriot and believe that the United States is the greatest nation on earth but I don’t think we’re perfect. I know we have a great foundation for this country (the constitution) but I’m afraid of what country my children will inherit if we continue down the road we are currently on. I hope our country gets back on track and focuses on the principles of what makes us great.
I’m a former radio talk show host from Phoenix, Arizona. In my previous career, I spent most waking hours following the news, watching what was happening and then talking about it to a large audience. As I researched topics I was going cover on my show, I noticed that many times the mainstream media left out crucial details and portrayed the story in a way that wasn’t entirely accurate by my standards. Eventually I became aware that in order to get the real story, it was important to look at all angles and formulate my own opinion versus just taking what I was seeing/hearing/reading as fact.
My “awakening” has led me to this adventure. I hope the preparations I am taking will never be used in an emergency situation. I hope the food, tools and other equipment I have accumulated will only need to be used when I am enjoying the great outdoors on my own terms. But, my first priority is my family and I feel it is my responsibility to make sure my wife and kids are in the best possible position should a disaster strike. They are relying on me and I will not let them down.
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Go there and read. More tomorrow.
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I am not as funny as Ray Lytle but the Springfield City Council was on a roll with CWLP last night when they tried to ask for a WHOPPING 9.3% increase in the rates they charge their electric customers. First they blamed the spot market, then they blamed the EPA’s new regulations, then they blamed the increase in the price of coal and finally they blamed the bond markets. They never explained why they borrowed 6,000,000 $$$ from the water fund.
http://www.sj-r.com/top-stories/x715338997/Council-rebuffs-CWLP-rate-hike-seeks-alternatives?zc_p=0
Springfield aldermen Tuesday rejected the idea of a 9.5 percent electric rate increase and directed City Water, Light and Power officials to come up with alternative plans.
Eric Hobbie, the utility’s chief engineer, told reporters after the meeting that the possibilities are limited and might mean “substantial changes to the way we do business.” He declined to elaborate on what those changes could be.
CWLP officials and Mayor Mike Houston have said a rate increase is needed to give CWLP a sufficient revenue cushion to repay its bonds and maintain the utility’s bond rating.
The immediate rate hike would raise $19.1 million annually, Additional, smaller rate hikes also are being sought in future years.
However, no city council member even moved Tuesday to put the matter on next week’s city council debate agenda.
Several aldermen said they are concerned about hiking electric rates.
“We can’t do that to the citizens today,” Ward 1 Ald. Frank Edwards said. “We need to find some different means, some different alternative. … There’s a lot of people really hurting out there.”
Ward 3 Ald. Doris Turner agreed.
“I just cannot in clear conscience vote for a 10 percent increase,” she said. “I just think that is just too much to put on the ratepayers.”
“There’s got to be a better way,” Ward 4 Ald. Frank Lesko said.
Utility officials say CWLP’s revenue problems began in the fall of 2008, when the economy collapsed and energy prices dropped. Prices for power CWLP sells on the wholesale market have continued to decline ever since, and the utility’s wholesale revenues are $20.5 million below budget, officials say.
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Really funny guys. Go there and read the rest. More tomorrow.
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That’s right the OIL SPILL in the Gulf of Mexico was not their fault. You know what? Between the remediation they have done and a court of law they maybe right. Which is maybe more disgusting. The well was theirs, there is no doubt about that but with the blowpout preventer being bad, the cementing company’s cement job being bad, and the drilling platform operator being bad to dangerous, by the time they get to court (think 20 years if the Exxon Valdez is any gauge) and all three companies may actually end up owing BP money. They sure are trying to put a shiny happy face on it though.
NEW ORLEANS — Nearly 20 months after its massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill — and just as Americans focus on New Orleans, host of the college football championship game — BP is pushing a slick nationwide public relations campaign to persuade Americans that the Gulf region has recovered.
BP PLC’s rosy picture of the Gulf, complete with sparkling beaches, booming businesses, smiling fishermen and waters bursting with seafood, seems a bit too rosy to many people who live there. Even if the British oil giant’s campaign helps promote the Gulf as a place where Americans should have no fear to visit and spend their money, some dismiss it as “BP propaganda.”
The PR blitz is part of the company’s multibillion dollar response to the Gulf oil spill that started after the BP-leased Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded off the coast of Louisiana on April 20, 2010, killing 11 workers and leading to the release of more than 200 million gallons (760 million liters) of oil. As engineers struggled to cap the out-of-control well, it turned into the largest offshore oil spill in U.S. history.
Now, BP is touting evidence that the Gulf’s ecology has not been severely damaged by the spill and highlighting improving economic signs.
“I’m glad to report that all beaches and waters are open for everyone to enjoy!” BP representative Iris Cross says in one TV spot to an upbeat soundtrack. “And the economy is showing progress, with many areas on the Gulf Coast having their best tourism season in years.”
The campaign, launched just before Christmas, has ramped up for the two-week period around the Sugar Bowl and Bowl Championship Series title game to be played on Monday between Louisiana State University and Alabama.
The company is paying chefs Emeril Lagasse and John Besh to promote Gulf seafood, it’s hired two seafood trucks to hand out fish tacos and seafood-filled jambalaya to the hundreds of thousands of tourists and fans pouring into the city for the football games and it’s spreading its messages at galas, pre-game parties and vacation giveaways.
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More tomorrow.
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The South Africans keep running these marvelous print pieces. So for now I will put off the rant for another day.
Monday 12 December 2011 18:20
A touch of South African magic rescued the faltering climate talks in Durban. This is according to President Jacob Zuma who spoke on a state visit to Benin.
Zuma says the country defused tensions between parties and prevented its collapse. “It was South African magic that actually helped and finally we emerged with the results that surprised everyone that Durban emerged with the process. We, as South Africans, should be very proud.”
An estimated 15 000 delegates attended the conference.
Earlier today, Environmental Affairs Minister has likened COP 17 to the historic Kyoto conference in 1997. The Two-week climate talks were aimed at discussing the future of the planet.
The conference moves to Qatar next year
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Go there and read. More tomorrow.
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It’s true. I shopped until late so no post today. You know the economy comes first.
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More tomorrow I promise.
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I know I posted pretty much the same thing last week. Guess what I could pretty much post the same thing next week; and the week after that, and on and on. Still, the Gulf is in trouble and no one is offering answers.
Willie Seaman of Irvington, AL, lays carpet and floors for a living. But last summer, as the BP well gushed thousands of barrels of oil daily into the Gulf, Seaman signed up with the BP cleanup program, working on a shrimp boat several miles off shore.
It was brutally hot and the smell of oil was putrid, Seaman remembers. His job was to use a net to try to pull in the thick, reddish BP crude that he says was up to a foot thick in places. Problem was, the white protective suits didn’t do much to keep the oil off, Willie recalls. Instead, he says they acted like absorbent pads, soaking up the oil that would rub against his skin.
Seaman says before long he started breaking out in blistery red hives on his hands and feet. The itching was so bad a coworker said Seaman would scrub his feet with a wire brush until his skin sloughed off like scales of a fish. Despite shots of steroids and numerous doctor visits, Seaman endured countless bouts of painful hives; and he still gets them, he says, especially after eating seafood from the Gulf. He also says he knows others who have broken out in hives after eating seafood.
“They took advantage of everyone down here because we were all poor and broke,” he says. “They told us in hazwhoper class that we didn’t have to worry about the toxins because the oil was weathered and there were no fumes. We’ll it was so bad my eyes were on fire and I had tears running down my throat.”
Seaman reports he got $12,000 from BP last year for lost wages and then took a $5,000 quick claim buyout from BP claims administer Ken Feinberg. “I needed the money, but now I can’t sue because I took the money,” he says.
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Go there and read more. You do not have to worry about the toxins. How sad. More tomorrow.
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I subscribe to New Energy Times and I have talked to people about fusion before. I even met a gentleman on a train whose dad is working on the joint Spanish-French very hot plasma fusion project and we talked quite a bit about it. I have always had huge doubts about either cold or hot fusion because the cold versions have been obvious frauds and the hot versions are extremely expensive and dangerous. Still this is interesting and time will tell.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/markgibbs/2011/10/30/believing-in-cold-fusion-and-the-e-cat/
Mark Gibbs, Contributor
As I discussed in that posting, an inventor by the name of Andrea Rossi has developed what he claims to be a simple system for generating what would be, essentially, endless and incredibly cheap energy.
On October 28th the biggest test of Rossi’s system, which is called the E-Cat, was conducted in Italy and some results were made public which I’ll discuss in a moment.
Before that I do, let me give you a quick refresh: The E-Cat, which is short for “Energy Catalyzer”, is claimed to produce a “Low Energy Nuclear Reaction” or LENR. LENR is another name for “cold fusion” or CF (LENR is considered a more acceptable term than CF which was discredited after two world-class researchers, Martin Fleischmann and Stanley Pons, announced that they had a working cold fusion system but which, alas, no one could duplicate).
Allow me to digress for a moment to ask all of you who sent me messages in tones ranging from polite through to downright rude asserting that cold fusion has actually been successfully duplicated: If an experiment that demonstrates cold fusion has really been replicated in the real world by real scientists then why would the scientific community ignore something so profound? Everyone agrees that cold fusion would be a game changer and in itself would be a hugely important scientific discovery so why would anyone in the scientific community ignore an important, successful, and replicable experiment?
Rossi’s E-Cat is claimed to use a secret catalyst to react hydrogen with nickel and, in the process, transmute the nickel into copper producing considerable heat. Whether this reaction works or not and if it does, exactly how it works, has been enormously contentious and the subject of numerous learned and amateur debates
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I skipped his humorous lead and you can go to the site to read the rest. Point is no one knows right now but remember Ponzi was from Italy too. More tomorrow.
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