You may have noticed more epidemics lately. This is because we can expect more epidemics due to climate change. We may as well get used to it. Even if we were able to get to zero greenhouse emissions worldwide overnight, climate change would still get worse for the lifetimes of everyone on earth.
One of the things we can do to be safer during this epidemic is wash our hands a lot. We can use sanitizers to do it, but the antibacterial ones may be making more resistant bacteria. Soap and water and a good and thorough scrubbing may take a little longer, but it works. Health experts recommend that you do not touch your face or mouth, in order to protect yourself from contagious diseases. Wearing a face mask makes this easier. It lowers the numbers of bacteria and viruses that get into your respiratory system.
Another thing that you can do to lower bacteria and virueses in your respiratory system is sea salt nasal irrigation. Neti pots are the traditional way to do nasal irrigation. I use a turkey baster. One can also use an eyedropper, although most are so small it could take a while. It is also possible to simply place your saltwater solution in the palm of your hand and snort your nasal solution. I have done it this way when somebody sneezed or coughed on or near me before. People look at you strangely when you do this in a public restroom. As epidemics become more common, there will probably be a line of people at the sink waiting to do their own nasal irrigation.
Another help to avoid illness is herbs. I like Yarrow. It grows in most of the world. It is a very tough plant and easy to grow. It is especially good for respiratory problems. Whenever I show any symptoms of respiratory problems, I drink a cup of Yarrow tea. If my symptoms do not disappear after one cup, I drink more. It takes care of allergies as well as germs. The relief for allergies can be only temporary, but it still makes them better. It often stops me from getting flu or colds when I get them early enough. If I am kind of slow on dealing with a flu or cold, my Yarrow tea will still relieve the symptoms and shorten the illness.
I listened to some men on the internet talking about false information about the epidemic that included onions as a cure for the coronavirus. I do not like giving that idea no credit, because at least garlic, in the Allium family, actually does help fight off disease. I think people can overdo it, however. A few cloves of roasted garlic could be helpful, but raw garlic juice sounds like too much. A World War II veteran told me that they used to call garlic, "Russian Penicillin" because they used it for medicine so much during the war. Folk medicine often has some truth in it.
It bothers me to see Chinese people suffering so much, especially in Wuhan, and the vicinity. I am working on making medical face masks out of cotton, that can be washed and reused. I want some for myself and others close to me. I hope to make extra so I can send them to China. They need them very badly. Not having enough face masks is likely to cause more people to die. I would like to encourage others to do this also.
I do not know if this is possible, but I wonder if some of the people being frightened and bored in their homes in areas under quarantine, could sew medical equipment? Masks and hats would be easy enough even for newbies.
The hard part would be getting fabric and sewing supplies to them. They are getting food, somehow. At least I hope so. If that is the case, then it might be possible to get them materials to make medical supplies and pick them up when finished. They could be washed and taken to hospitals. That way less people especially medical teams, might not die.
In case anyone else wants to make medical masks for their own use, or to help others, here is information to help you:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SB2xyo-uSSU.
This is a flat pleated mask.
https://www.craftpassion.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/face ask-pattern.pd
This is a smaller fitted mask.
I think there are some mask patterns and instructions written in Chinese and other languages.
We need to face it. We will have more epidemics and we need to get used to them, and how to handle them. We also need to learn to help each other. Climate change emergency will last a while. We have a lot of hard work to do to fix the mess we have made of the Earth and it's systems, but we can do it.
Wednesday, February 5, 2020
Friday, June 17, 2016
Escaping Destruction By Being the Solution
Someone told me that they want to go to Mars so they can survive when people finish wrecking the Earth.
I was surprised by that, but probably shouldn't have been. People always like to avoid bad stuff instead of facing up to it. That seems to be normal.
Going to Mars is a nice idea and I like that, but thinking of it as a solution to the environmental train wreck that the human race has made of the Earth, is not at all nice. It won't even work.
If we can't make a go of it on our home planet, why should we be able to manage on a new planet that will take a huge effort to make it even livable? If we don't figure out how to repair the Earth and carry out the plan for repair, then we will only wreck Mars or wherever else we go.
It reminds me of a 9-year-old girl I met on a plane trip. Said, "Wherever you go, there you are." She meant that you can't get away from your problems if you are the problem.
Going to Mars is a good idea if we just want to do it, not if we are going there to escape the consequences of humans destroying the Earth and not bothering to fix the damage in time.
We are perfectly capable of undoing the terrible harm we have done to our wonderful home, the Earth. We don't have a lot longer to start, or it will be too late and our end on our Earthly home will be certain, although not a quick end.
Avoiding a lingering and awful end of human life on Earth, will not be easy. We have waited so long to start working on it, that our chance for an easy way to fix our mess is gone. We chose the hard way by our inaction.
We really need to get started on this right away.
I was surprised by that, but probably shouldn't have been. People always like to avoid bad stuff instead of facing up to it. That seems to be normal.
Going to Mars is a nice idea and I like that, but thinking of it as a solution to the environmental train wreck that the human race has made of the Earth, is not at all nice. It won't even work.
If we can't make a go of it on our home planet, why should we be able to manage on a new planet that will take a huge effort to make it even livable? If we don't figure out how to repair the Earth and carry out the plan for repair, then we will only wreck Mars or wherever else we go.
It reminds me of a 9-year-old girl I met on a plane trip. Said, "Wherever you go, there you are." She meant that you can't get away from your problems if you are the problem.
Going to Mars is a good idea if we just want to do it, not if we are going there to escape the consequences of humans destroying the Earth and not bothering to fix the damage in time.
We are perfectly capable of undoing the terrible harm we have done to our wonderful home, the Earth. We don't have a lot longer to start, or it will be too late and our end on our Earthly home will be certain, although not a quick end.
Avoiding a lingering and awful end of human life on Earth, will not be easy. We have waited so long to start working on it, that our chance for an easy way to fix our mess is gone. We chose the hard way by our inaction.
We really need to get started on this right away.
Monday, January 18, 2016
Cold Weather - Walking Safely On Snow And Ice
This post is for people who are not used to dealing with cold weather, and are getting lots of it due to climate change. They may not know how to deal with cold weather safety issues.
Even if you live in a desert area, you need to know some basics, because our weather is going to be less dependable and predictable from now on.
When I moved to Alaska and lived in snow, I fell down a lot. I knew an Alaskan Native elder, so I asked her how to walk safely on slippery ice and packed snow.
Alaskan Natives are descended from many generations of people who lived through a lot of slippery conditions, so they are real experts.
She told me that her elders told her to take baby steps, and, "Don't pick up your feet", shuffle, in other words.
I tried it immediately and it does work well. It works even better if you make sure your footwear has some traction.
The common way of getting traction on your footwear is to use, "ice cleats". There are other terms for them, but you are stuck with the one I use for now. If you want to look up, "ice cleats", the internet will give you other words for them.
There are different kinds of ice cleats that you can buy. The main types are something rubbery, chain types and spike types. There are variations on these that don't precisely fit these categories, but here is a link making comparisons to give you an idea:
http://www.bestcovery.com/best-ice-cleats
The ones in the above link are mostly intended for winter athletes or climbers. They are often used by people who only want to get down the street safely.
The rubbery type are made of heavy stretchy rubber that you pull on to slip over the soles of your footwear. I hate pulling them over my footwear, because you have to use a lot of strength to get them on and off and they also slip off too easily and you then have an ice cleat instead of cleatS. This is better than nothing, but not great. Then you get to go buy another pair.
The Yaktrax are sort of like walking on little springs. I don't like putting those on and taking them off either and they cost more to replace than the rubbery ones. They also make a lot of noise when you walk.
It is a lot cheaper to make your own ice cleats and you can get them the way they suit you. You can also use what you have around and don't have to try to get safely to a store to buy them.
This link is on a site called, "Instructables". I like it very much because it tells you step-by-step how to do lots of very useful things. There are other Instructables on how to make other types of ice cleats. One of them uses stuff like tape and staples, so you don't need a lot of tools or know-how to make most of them.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Ice-Fishing-Cleats/
Once you look at a few Instructables on how to make your own ice cleats, you might be inspired to do it another way. If you do that, you can then make your own Instructable. They do have lots of contests on the site for submitting your Instructable to. You then have a chance to win great prizes.
Youtube also has how to make ice cleats. I don't like this as much as Instructables because lots of youtube posters do not have supplies and tools lists and you have to keep running the video back and forth to get them all down.
Many ice cleats are not compatible with flooring. If you survive the slippery ice because of your ice cleats, you risk getting killed by a store manager or homeowner if you wear the ice cleats on their floor.
That means wearing ice cleats makes life much easier if the ice cleats are easy to get on and off quickly. Velcro closures for the ice cleats are good for this purpose.
There are a lot more things to know about ice cleats and dealing with cold weather. You can find some of them in my blog posts. Be safe and try to stay warm and comfy.
Even if you live in a desert area, you need to know some basics, because our weather is going to be less dependable and predictable from now on.
When I moved to Alaska and lived in snow, I fell down a lot. I knew an Alaskan Native elder, so I asked her how to walk safely on slippery ice and packed snow.
Alaskan Natives are descended from many generations of people who lived through a lot of slippery conditions, so they are real experts.
She told me that her elders told her to take baby steps, and, "Don't pick up your feet", shuffle, in other words.
I tried it immediately and it does work well. It works even better if you make sure your footwear has some traction.
The common way of getting traction on your footwear is to use, "ice cleats". There are other terms for them, but you are stuck with the one I use for now. If you want to look up, "ice cleats", the internet will give you other words for them.
There are different kinds of ice cleats that you can buy. The main types are something rubbery, chain types and spike types. There are variations on these that don't precisely fit these categories, but here is a link making comparisons to give you an idea:
http://www.bestcovery.com/best-ice-cleats
The ones in the above link are mostly intended for winter athletes or climbers. They are often used by people who only want to get down the street safely.
The rubbery type are made of heavy stretchy rubber that you pull on to slip over the soles of your footwear. I hate pulling them over my footwear, because you have to use a lot of strength to get them on and off and they also slip off too easily and you then have an ice cleat instead of cleatS. This is better than nothing, but not great. Then you get to go buy another pair.
The Yaktrax are sort of like walking on little springs. I don't like putting those on and taking them off either and they cost more to replace than the rubbery ones. They also make a lot of noise when you walk.
It is a lot cheaper to make your own ice cleats and you can get them the way they suit you. You can also use what you have around and don't have to try to get safely to a store to buy them.
This link is on a site called, "Instructables". I like it very much because it tells you step-by-step how to do lots of very useful things. There are other Instructables on how to make other types of ice cleats. One of them uses stuff like tape and staples, so you don't need a lot of tools or know-how to make most of them.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Ice-Fishing-Cleats/
Once you look at a few Instructables on how to make your own ice cleats, you might be inspired to do it another way. If you do that, you can then make your own Instructable. They do have lots of contests on the site for submitting your Instructable to. You then have a chance to win great prizes.
Youtube also has how to make ice cleats. I don't like this as much as Instructables because lots of youtube posters do not have supplies and tools lists and you have to keep running the video back and forth to get them all down.
Many ice cleats are not compatible with flooring. If you survive the slippery ice because of your ice cleats, you risk getting killed by a store manager or homeowner if you wear the ice cleats on their floor.
That means wearing ice cleats makes life much easier if the ice cleats are easy to get on and off quickly. Velcro closures for the ice cleats are good for this purpose.
There are a lot more things to know about ice cleats and dealing with cold weather. You can find some of them in my blog posts. Be safe and try to stay warm and comfy.
Monday, November 23, 2015
Cold Weather Clothing Links
http://emergency.cdc.gov/disasters/winter/pdf/extreme-cold-guide.pdf
http://emergency.cdc.gov/disasters/winter/staysafe/index.asp
http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/fitness/in-depth/fitness/art-20045626?pg=2 recognize frostbite and hypothermia and avoid them
http://www.nbcwashington.com/weather/stories/20-Cold-Weather-Tips-to-Keep-You-Safe-and-Toasty-287810431.html
https://www.osha.gov/dts/weather/winter_weather/beprepared.html
http://www.getprepared.gc.ca/cnt/rsrcs/sfttps/tp201101-en.aspx
http://www.rei.com/learn/expert-advice/layering-basics.html
http://www.rei.com/learn/expert-advice/underwear.html
http://cat-and-dragon.com/stef/fat/super.html
http://www.petiteresource.com/petite-plus-clothing/merchants/page-1
http://www.yelp.com/topic/san-francisco-where-are-the-clothes-for-men-with-small-slim-build
https://www.1starmy.com/c-extreme-cold-weather-clothing-systems-e-c-w-c-s-11993
http://travelfashiongirl.com/arctic-clothing-extreme-cold-weather-gear-for-women/
http://emergency.cdc.gov/disasters/winter/staysafe/index.asp
http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/fitness/in-depth/fitness/art-20045626?pg=2 recognize frostbite and hypothermia and avoid them
http://www.nbcwashington.com/weather/stories/20-Cold-Weather-Tips-to-Keep-You-Safe-and-Toasty-287810431.html
https://www.osha.gov/dts/weather/winter_weather/beprepared.html
http://www.getprepared.gc.ca/cnt/rsrcs/sfttps/tp201101-en.aspx
http://www.rei.com/learn/expert-advice/layering-basics.html
http://www.rei.com/learn/expert-advice/underwear.html
http://cat-and-dragon.com/stef/fat/super.html
http://www.petiteresource.com/petite-plus-clothing/merchants/page-1
http://www.yelp.com/topic/san-francisco-where-are-the-clothes-for-men-with-small-slim-build
https://www.1starmy.com/c-extreme-cold-weather-clothing-systems-e-c-w-c-s-11993
http://travelfashiongirl.com/arctic-clothing-extreme-cold-weather-gear-for-women/
Wednesday, October 14, 2015
The Universe As A Beta Test
Hello dere. Sorry for not posting in a while. The vicissitudes of life and all that.
It doesn't ordinarily do to admit that one ponders on the fate of the human race and of the universe, but I do.
Lately, I have been doing this pondering on the fate of the aforementioned more than usual. This is because I believe we are not that far from reaching an irrevocable point, that has not been exactly well-thought-out.
My view of the universe is unconventional as far as I can tell. I can probably tell pretty far, since I have taken at least a cursory look at a lot of religions, philosophies, sciences and other ways of thinking about the nature of the universe and the place of the human race and of individuals within the universe.
I don't expect anybody else to necessarily agree with me on my take on the universe and the human race and of individuals, but I plan to give a thumbnail of it just for the sake of making things a bit easier to talk about.
Somebody wrote about the idea of the universe as being a giant hologram. That idea seemed like a good one to me. I digested it and put it into my own ideas.
Another idea that seemed to fit in with that, is the idea of the universe as being a sort of giant computer program. The idea of this computer program generating the hologram of the universe seems good to me.
People who think of the above ideas are mostly agnostics or atheists. I am not one of those, although I was an agnostic for a period. After working through a lot of stuff, I concluded that a single being, that I refer to personally, as Gd, short for the usual three letter spelling, exists.
I believe that Gd predated the existence of the universe and created it. The mechanism that I believe created the universe was a computer program, or something similar, within the mind of Gd, which generated the hologram that comprises the universe.
I believe that this hologram is something equivalent to a beta test of the universe, along with the various parts that make up the universe, including the human race and the individuals that make up the human race.
I believe that if the human race and the universe that we inhabit, have a successful beta test, we will become real. I believe our program will be permanently deleted if we do not have a good beta test.
I believe that we are very close to failing our beta test and being deleted forever. I believe there will be a period before the final deletion, that will comprise many religions' ideas of hell.
I believe that a successful completion of the beta test will cause the human race, the individuals that make up the human race, and the universe, to become real and consequently experience something comparable to concepts of heaven.
I believe that we are unlikely to experience a successful beta test and heaven unless we, as individuals, and members of the human race, make drastic changes in our behavior(s).
I was raised as a member of the Roman Catholic Church, which I still regard somewhat fondly, but cautiously and from a distance. I have attended a wide range of religions and read about and studied a great many more. I used to consider myself a Christian, and am not necessarily averse to this identification, but think it is somewhat limiting, compared to my beliefs.
I don't think any particular religion is '
"wrong" or "right". I think Gd and our universe are entirely too complex and immense for finite human beings to even begin to comprehend.
I believe this complexity of Gd and the universe result in all religions being inevitably incomplete. I think each religion has a piece of the concept of what Gd and the universe is like and it requires the plurality of different ways of looking at the universe, including science and agnostics and atheists, to even begin to cover the complexity and immensity of Gd and the universe. I believe all this diversity of beliefs and bits of understanding, is not an accident. I believe that Gd has some sort of enjoyment, as individual humans do, of being understood. I think it is a mistake to argue or quarrel about different concepts of Gd and the universe, since all these concepts are necessary, even though we may perceive them as being conflicting.
I am not attached to anyone else agreeing with any of the aforementioned. It is simply what I have thought about to explain things to myself and use as a way to think about things some more. I don't consider this as even my personal, final conclusion about things. It is just a way to be able to do some more thinking.
I don't think it is humanly possible to ever have a final conclusion about Gd and the universe, since we all have finite minds and are, inadequate to the job of coming to any valid conclusions about much of anything.
None of that stops me from continuing to try to understand more about Gd and the universe, however. I actually enjoy trying a lot.
I consider myself to be very much in love with Gd and believe this is inevitable, if one thinks about Gd much at all. I don't feel a need to reach conclusions about how other people feel on this subject or what this says about them or not.
Since I love Gd very much, this causes me to behave in certain ways. I believe that if one truly loves another individual, or Gd, one will automatically want to know and understand the object of one's love.
I believe that the attempt to understand the object on one's love, either Gd or another individual, will cause one to wish to know what the other individual or Gd wants and will make them happy. I believe that this will cause attempts to change one's behavior to bring happiness to the other individual or Gd.
I do not believe that Gd will be happy if the individuals that make up the human race, the human race as a group, or the universe, fail the beta test we are undergoing now.
I do not believe that individuals who make the human race, the human race as a whole, or the universe will be at our best or happy, if we fail our beta test.
I believe that we individuals who make up the human race, the human race as a whole, and the universe have the option of choosing to succeed at our beta test or not.
I believe that not choosing to succeed at our beta test, or doing nothing, is a failure of our beta test.
I believe that destroying the planet we have been given to live on, the Earth, will be a failure of our beta test.
I believe that many or perhaps, most of the the individuals who make up the human race are choosing through actions or inaction, to destroy the Earth.
I do not believe that it is necessary for all individuals who make up the human race to pass the beta test in order for the beta test to be successful.
I believe that even if a comparatively small part of the individuals who make up the human race make choices and act on them, that will cause them to pass the beta test, that it will be enough to allow for a successful beta test.
I do not know what will happen to individuals who do not make the choices and actions necessary to pass the beta test, but doubt it will be good. I do not consider this to be much of my business.
I am interested in people who wish to make choices to pass their beta test and who are willing to act on those choices and therefore, pass their beta test.
I believe that every individual who makes up part of the human race, has been given a particular spiritual gift or set of them to help them to pass their beta test. I believe it is difficult or impossible to pass one's beta test without the use of one's spiritual gifts.
I believe that the majority of the individuals who comprise the human race never have an idea of what their own spiritual gift, or set of spiritual gifts are, let alone learn to use them.
I believe that some individuals have a glimmering of their personal spiritual gift, or set of them and are making some use of it, or them, and are happier than others who do not do this. I believe that those who partly use their spiritual gift or set of them, are more likely to pass their beta test than those who do not have this, but do not have as good a chance as possible.
I believe that one must become very familiar with one's spiritual gift or set of them and use them as fully as possible, to have the best chance of passing their beta test, and be happy.
I believe that I have been given a complete set of spiritual gifts and that this is unique.
I believe that the purpose of my having a complete set of spiritual gifts (all of them that anyone has,) is for the purpose of being able to tell what spiritual gifts that other individuals have and develop them so that they may eventually make full use of them and pass their beta test and be happy.
I believe that once an individual begins to discover their own personal spiritual gift or set of them, they will begin to have a drive to continue learning about their spiritual gift(s) and develop it more and be happy, and incidentally pass their beta test.
I believe we are sort of hard wired for wanting to find out about and use our spiritual gift(s) once we begin to awaken our spiritual gift(s).
I think our relation to our spiritual gifts happens regardless of our religion, or philosophy or lack of it.
I believe that an individual can develop their spiritual gift(s) regardless of their religion or philosophy or lack of it.
I believe that an individual can develop and use their spiritual gift(s) and pass their beta test regardless of their religion or philosophy or lack of it.
I believe that many individuals have a main spiritual gift and one or more subordinate spiritual gift(s).
I believe that my main spiritual gift is to help others find and develop their spiritual gift(s) and pass their beta test and be happy.
I would like to help more people to find and develop their spiritual gift(s), pass their beta test, and be happy.
That is why I am writing this post. I think that writing this post is exposing myself to problems that I would rather not experience, but I am doing it anyway.
I do not believe that the universe will continue to exist much longer unless enough people pass their beta test. I do not think we have much longer for enough people to prepare themselves to pass their beta test, for the human race, and the universe to be able to pass our beta test and continue to exist.
I find it distressing to think of how Gd will feel if we do not pass our beta test. I dislike the idea of how Gd will feel if we do not pass our beta test.
This idea is one of the conclusions I have reached about what I can do to help Gd to be happy.
Since I love Gd I wish Gd to be happy and therefore want to do what I can to contribute to Gd being happy.
I have written this blog up to this point because I concluded that individuals have no chance to pass their beta tests if they do not survive. I hoped that the information in my blog would help more people survive and therefore have a chance to pass their beta test.
I have concluded since starting my blog, that simple survival is inadequate for passing one's beta test, and finding and using one's spiritual gift(s) is also necessary.
I have already posted a bit about spiritual gifts on this blog, but feel that my efforts in that department are inadequate.
I believe this is especially so, considering how little time is left for us to pass our beta test. I think that if we as individuals and a group, are to pass our beta test(s), we really have to get moving on it. I mean we need to hurry, in other words.
I have over 500 posts on this blog, although some have not been published. It has come to my notice that the number of posts and the information they cover, can be overwhelming to some people.
I am afraid that information about spiritual gifts could easily be blocked by the amount of information on this blog on other subjects.
I feel reluctant to start another blog, but think it is necessary. I am gathering my resources to do so anyway, since I consider it very important. I believe this will probably please Gd. I intend to pray about this, which is one of my personal methods for making decisions that are important. I would appreciate prayers from readers on the matter also.
Thank you to anyone who read this.
It doesn't ordinarily do to admit that one ponders on the fate of the human race and of the universe, but I do.
Lately, I have been doing this pondering on the fate of the aforementioned more than usual. This is because I believe we are not that far from reaching an irrevocable point, that has not been exactly well-thought-out.
My view of the universe is unconventional as far as I can tell. I can probably tell pretty far, since I have taken at least a cursory look at a lot of religions, philosophies, sciences and other ways of thinking about the nature of the universe and the place of the human race and of individuals within the universe.
I don't expect anybody else to necessarily agree with me on my take on the universe and the human race and of individuals, but I plan to give a thumbnail of it just for the sake of making things a bit easier to talk about.
Somebody wrote about the idea of the universe as being a giant hologram. That idea seemed like a good one to me. I digested it and put it into my own ideas.
Another idea that seemed to fit in with that, is the idea of the universe as being a sort of giant computer program. The idea of this computer program generating the hologram of the universe seems good to me.
People who think of the above ideas are mostly agnostics or atheists. I am not one of those, although I was an agnostic for a period. After working through a lot of stuff, I concluded that a single being, that I refer to personally, as Gd, short for the usual three letter spelling, exists.
I believe that Gd predated the existence of the universe and created it. The mechanism that I believe created the universe was a computer program, or something similar, within the mind of Gd, which generated the hologram that comprises the universe.
I believe that this hologram is something equivalent to a beta test of the universe, along with the various parts that make up the universe, including the human race and the individuals that make up the human race.
I believe that if the human race and the universe that we inhabit, have a successful beta test, we will become real. I believe our program will be permanently deleted if we do not have a good beta test.
I believe that we are very close to failing our beta test and being deleted forever. I believe there will be a period before the final deletion, that will comprise many religions' ideas of hell.
I believe that a successful completion of the beta test will cause the human race, the individuals that make up the human race, and the universe, to become real and consequently experience something comparable to concepts of heaven.
I believe that we are unlikely to experience a successful beta test and heaven unless we, as individuals, and members of the human race, make drastic changes in our behavior(s).
I was raised as a member of the Roman Catholic Church, which I still regard somewhat fondly, but cautiously and from a distance. I have attended a wide range of religions and read about and studied a great many more. I used to consider myself a Christian, and am not necessarily averse to this identification, but think it is somewhat limiting, compared to my beliefs.
I don't think any particular religion is '
"wrong" or "right". I think Gd and our universe are entirely too complex and immense for finite human beings to even begin to comprehend.
I believe this complexity of Gd and the universe result in all religions being inevitably incomplete. I think each religion has a piece of the concept of what Gd and the universe is like and it requires the plurality of different ways of looking at the universe, including science and agnostics and atheists, to even begin to cover the complexity and immensity of Gd and the universe. I believe all this diversity of beliefs and bits of understanding, is not an accident. I believe that Gd has some sort of enjoyment, as individual humans do, of being understood. I think it is a mistake to argue or quarrel about different concepts of Gd and the universe, since all these concepts are necessary, even though we may perceive them as being conflicting.
I am not attached to anyone else agreeing with any of the aforementioned. It is simply what I have thought about to explain things to myself and use as a way to think about things some more. I don't consider this as even my personal, final conclusion about things. It is just a way to be able to do some more thinking.
I don't think it is humanly possible to ever have a final conclusion about Gd and the universe, since we all have finite minds and are, inadequate to the job of coming to any valid conclusions about much of anything.
None of that stops me from continuing to try to understand more about Gd and the universe, however. I actually enjoy trying a lot.
I consider myself to be very much in love with Gd and believe this is inevitable, if one thinks about Gd much at all. I don't feel a need to reach conclusions about how other people feel on this subject or what this says about them or not.
Since I love Gd very much, this causes me to behave in certain ways. I believe that if one truly loves another individual, or Gd, one will automatically want to know and understand the object of one's love.
I believe that the attempt to understand the object on one's love, either Gd or another individual, will cause one to wish to know what the other individual or Gd wants and will make them happy. I believe that this will cause attempts to change one's behavior to bring happiness to the other individual or Gd.
I do not believe that Gd will be happy if the individuals that make up the human race, the human race as a group, or the universe, fail the beta test we are undergoing now.
I do not believe that individuals who make the human race, the human race as a whole, or the universe will be at our best or happy, if we fail our beta test.
I believe that we individuals who make up the human race, the human race as a whole, and the universe have the option of choosing to succeed at our beta test or not.
I believe that not choosing to succeed at our beta test, or doing nothing, is a failure of our beta test.
I believe that destroying the planet we have been given to live on, the Earth, will be a failure of our beta test.
I believe that many or perhaps, most of the the individuals who make up the human race are choosing through actions or inaction, to destroy the Earth.
I do not believe that it is necessary for all individuals who make up the human race to pass the beta test in order for the beta test to be successful.
I believe that even if a comparatively small part of the individuals who make up the human race make choices and act on them, that will cause them to pass the beta test, that it will be enough to allow for a successful beta test.
I do not know what will happen to individuals who do not make the choices and actions necessary to pass the beta test, but doubt it will be good. I do not consider this to be much of my business.
I am interested in people who wish to make choices to pass their beta test and who are willing to act on those choices and therefore, pass their beta test.
I believe that every individual who makes up part of the human race, has been given a particular spiritual gift or set of them to help them to pass their beta test. I believe it is difficult or impossible to pass one's beta test without the use of one's spiritual gifts.
I believe that the majority of the individuals who comprise the human race never have an idea of what their own spiritual gift, or set of spiritual gifts are, let alone learn to use them.
I believe that some individuals have a glimmering of their personal spiritual gift, or set of them and are making some use of it, or them, and are happier than others who do not do this. I believe that those who partly use their spiritual gift or set of them, are more likely to pass their beta test than those who do not have this, but do not have as good a chance as possible.
I believe that one must become very familiar with one's spiritual gift or set of them and use them as fully as possible, to have the best chance of passing their beta test, and be happy.
I believe that I have been given a complete set of spiritual gifts and that this is unique.
I believe that the purpose of my having a complete set of spiritual gifts (all of them that anyone has,) is for the purpose of being able to tell what spiritual gifts that other individuals have and develop them so that they may eventually make full use of them and pass their beta test and be happy.
I believe that once an individual begins to discover their own personal spiritual gift or set of them, they will begin to have a drive to continue learning about their spiritual gift(s) and develop it more and be happy, and incidentally pass their beta test.
I believe we are sort of hard wired for wanting to find out about and use our spiritual gift(s) once we begin to awaken our spiritual gift(s).
I think our relation to our spiritual gifts happens regardless of our religion, or philosophy or lack of it.
I believe that an individual can develop their spiritual gift(s) regardless of their religion or philosophy or lack of it.
I believe that an individual can develop and use their spiritual gift(s) and pass their beta test regardless of their religion or philosophy or lack of it.
I believe that many individuals have a main spiritual gift and one or more subordinate spiritual gift(s).
I believe that my main spiritual gift is to help others find and develop their spiritual gift(s) and pass their beta test and be happy.
I would like to help more people to find and develop their spiritual gift(s), pass their beta test, and be happy.
That is why I am writing this post. I think that writing this post is exposing myself to problems that I would rather not experience, but I am doing it anyway.
I do not believe that the universe will continue to exist much longer unless enough people pass their beta test. I do not think we have much longer for enough people to prepare themselves to pass their beta test, for the human race, and the universe to be able to pass our beta test and continue to exist.
I find it distressing to think of how Gd will feel if we do not pass our beta test. I dislike the idea of how Gd will feel if we do not pass our beta test.
This idea is one of the conclusions I have reached about what I can do to help Gd to be happy.
Since I love Gd I wish Gd to be happy and therefore want to do what I can to contribute to Gd being happy.
I have written this blog up to this point because I concluded that individuals have no chance to pass their beta tests if they do not survive. I hoped that the information in my blog would help more people survive and therefore have a chance to pass their beta test.
I have concluded since starting my blog, that simple survival is inadequate for passing one's beta test, and finding and using one's spiritual gift(s) is also necessary.
I have already posted a bit about spiritual gifts on this blog, but feel that my efforts in that department are inadequate.
I believe this is especially so, considering how little time is left for us to pass our beta test. I think that if we as individuals and a group, are to pass our beta test(s), we really have to get moving on it. I mean we need to hurry, in other words.
I have over 500 posts on this blog, although some have not been published. It has come to my notice that the number of posts and the information they cover, can be overwhelming to some people.
I am afraid that information about spiritual gifts could easily be blocked by the amount of information on this blog on other subjects.
I feel reluctant to start another blog, but think it is necessary. I am gathering my resources to do so anyway, since I consider it very important. I believe this will probably please Gd. I intend to pray about this, which is one of my personal methods for making decisions that are important. I would appreciate prayers from readers on the matter also.
Thank you to anyone who read this.
Monday, June 29, 2015
Nuke Yourself Out
We are at severe risk of having World War III right now. The United States is busy provoking Russia to push their nuclear buttons. I do not like this and thought other people might not either. I don't know that you will have a chance to see this, but I will post it and take a shot that you will anyway.
The United States signed a treaty a few years back that agreed that a country owns the area where their continental shelf extends.
Russia did a geological survey that shows their continental shelf extends past the North Pole. They planted a titanium flag on the sea floor below the North Pole and filed a claim with the United Nations for ownership.
The North Pole area is claimed by several other nations, including, Canada, the United States, and Russia.
Vladimir Putin was quoted in Pravda as saying that he thinks WWIII will begin over the oil and minerals in the North Pole area.
Shell Oil company has two oil drilling rigs chugging their way toward the area right now. One left Port of Seattle area a while ago. The other has not reached it yet as far as I know.
A diagram of the drilling plan showed the oil rigs in American coastal waters inside an Alaskan wildlife reserve. The pipelines from the rigs will reach out at an angle and start sucking up oil from disputed waters, even though they are sited in American waters.
I believe that signing the permit to allow Shell Oil to do this is a betrayal of the American people as well as a betrayal of the entire human race.
People have been hung or shot for lesser acts.
Here is a link to a site that shows the thermal effects of various weaponry. All you have to do is enter the name of your city or a likely nearby target, choose a weapon and hit, "nuke it".
The United States signed a treaty a few years back that agreed that a country owns the area where their continental shelf extends.
Russia did a geological survey that shows their continental shelf extends past the North Pole. They planted a titanium flag on the sea floor below the North Pole and filed a claim with the United Nations for ownership.
The North Pole area is claimed by several other nations, including, Canada, the United States, and Russia.
Vladimir Putin was quoted in Pravda as saying that he thinks WWIII will begin over the oil and minerals in the North Pole area.
Shell Oil company has two oil drilling rigs chugging their way toward the area right now. One left Port of Seattle area a while ago. The other has not reached it yet as far as I know.
A diagram of the drilling plan showed the oil rigs in American coastal waters inside an Alaskan wildlife reserve. The pipelines from the rigs will reach out at an angle and start sucking up oil from disputed waters, even though they are sited in American waters.
I believe that signing the permit to allow Shell Oil to do this is a betrayal of the American people as well as a betrayal of the entire human race.
People have been hung or shot for lesser acts.
Here is a link to a site that shows the thermal effects of various weaponry. All you have to do is enter the name of your city or a likely nearby target, choose a weapon and hit, "nuke it".
Friday, June 5, 2015
Are You Important?
I met an important man last night. He knows how things work in the government and systems that support or connect with it so well that he spoke truthfully when he said, " I know how to get things started and I can stop them too."
He was talking about building projects. He does great big ones like enormous housing projects and malls that incorporate businesses with residences.
A question that occurred to me when this important man said that he can start and stop things, was, "Yes, but do you know what to start and stop?"
That question cut into my sleep and woke me up early. I think the answer to it is, "No. He does not know what to start and stop."
I am a rather unimportant person and can barely manage to start and stop myself. I am not sure I know what to start and stop either, but boy am I good at asking questions!
Once upon a time a long time ago, I took a test for a job with my government. The test also happened to be used by the government to find people who have high IQs. I was one of those high IQs they found that way.
My government was rather irate that I had escaped their notice so long with my valuable high IQ. This was because they like to catch people with very high IQs and put them to work with important stuff like blowing stuff up and calculating how to blow things up, or programming computers to do that.
I was young, naive, and therefore decided to work for the government sort of as a volunteer. The job that taking that test got me was as a postal clerk. I would be paid as a postal clerk, and still do other things for the government.
I thought that what I was doing for my government would make the world better and help lots of people. That is why I did not ask for lots of money for using my high IQ for the government.
Government people did try to talk me into helping them do important work like blowing stuff up, but it was kind of late for me to do that. I already really hated math so much that I didn't find blowing stuff up or programming computers to blow stuff up, very appealing.
The government decided that they would use me in other ways, that might not be as useful to them as blowing stuff up and programming computers to blow stuff up. They had me doing all sorts of things. Many of them involved thinking and being a sort of mobile computer.
They mentioned that I was especially useful with information that was difficult to quantify so that it could be put into a computer.
Apparently I was very useful them in this way. They decided that I was so good at it that they would sort of loan me out to different government departments and even big semi-government corporations.
I was somewhat bemused by all of this. They considered what I was doing so important that they gave me body guards. Lots of body guards. I am not sure they even thought that I actually needed that many body guards.
It was just that we had that many government departments; it was about 15 at the time. Those different government departments didn't trust each other, so each one wanted one of their guys around me to watch out for the others and be able to influence me for their own purposes.
It was also a pain. They never left me alone, even at home. They didn't go right into the toilet with me, but they hid microphones in there.
The thing I seemed to be best at was asking questions. Lots of questions.
It escaped me then, why that was so useful. I can't say I really grok that now either, but it sure seemed to make people happy.
They would bring some important person with a problem to me. I would ask the person questions about their problem and the important person would suddenly seem to have a solution to it.
They would then bring the next important person with a problem and we would do it again.
It didn't seem to me that I was really doing anything, but everybody seemed to think I was really good at it.
They wanted me to do more of this. They started scheduling me with one important-person-with-a-problem, after another, all day long. There got to be so many people waiting to have me ask them questions and help them solve their problems, that they ran out of my time and got a backlog. I was scheduled for years ahead and there was still not enough time to go around.
I found out after a while of doing this, that I did not like some of the stuff that I was helping with.
Blowing people up and finding other ways to kill them was not something I liked helping with. Doing other nasty stuff to people was not pleasant to me either.
I didn't want to keep helping the government people do things that I considered wrong. I quit working for them.
They were mad at me for that. They took away my body guards. I wasn't sure that was bad.
All kinds of things happened to me that showed me things that I had not known while I was still working for the government.
One of these things I had not known, was that the bodyguards were not just there for the reasons I knew about, like protecting me from bad guys who might hurt me, or from being influenced by the other body guards. They were there to keep me from being useful to other people, especially people from other governments.
They would rather have me dead, than working to help other governments. I was almost killed lots of times since I quit working for the government.
I have been learning lots of stuff since I worked for the government. I think my questions are much better than they used to be.
One of those better questions is, "Why shouldn't I get to ask questions that help more people?"
Another question is, "Why should I have to die instead of getting to help people who are not part of the government of my country?"
There doesn't seem to be a shortage of problems in the world. These problems are real humdingers compared to the ones I ran across when I used to be working for my government.
Some of these problems involve climate change and other effects of environmental system trashing that the human race has been doing. I have lots of very good questions about this sort of thing. One good question is, "Why don't more people understand that the future of the human race is in danger unless we make big changes in how we live?
It seems to me that people who have most of the power and money do not want our problems solved. They do not seem to even want the rest of us to know much about those problems or think about them and work on them.
I think the rest of us can solve our problems and make things better for all of us even if the rich and powerful don't want us to do that. I think we should do that and start now.
Be important. Pay attention to what is going on and do your little bit to make it better. Do it now.
He was talking about building projects. He does great big ones like enormous housing projects and malls that incorporate businesses with residences.
A question that occurred to me when this important man said that he can start and stop things, was, "Yes, but do you know what to start and stop?"
That question cut into my sleep and woke me up early. I think the answer to it is, "No. He does not know what to start and stop."
I am a rather unimportant person and can barely manage to start and stop myself. I am not sure I know what to start and stop either, but boy am I good at asking questions!
Once upon a time a long time ago, I took a test for a job with my government. The test also happened to be used by the government to find people who have high IQs. I was one of those high IQs they found that way.
My government was rather irate that I had escaped their notice so long with my valuable high IQ. This was because they like to catch people with very high IQs and put them to work with important stuff like blowing stuff up and calculating how to blow things up, or programming computers to do that.
I was young, naive, and therefore decided to work for the government sort of as a volunteer. The job that taking that test got me was as a postal clerk. I would be paid as a postal clerk, and still do other things for the government.
I thought that what I was doing for my government would make the world better and help lots of people. That is why I did not ask for lots of money for using my high IQ for the government.
Government people did try to talk me into helping them do important work like blowing stuff up, but it was kind of late for me to do that. I already really hated math so much that I didn't find blowing stuff up or programming computers to blow stuff up, very appealing.
The government decided that they would use me in other ways, that might not be as useful to them as blowing stuff up and programming computers to blow stuff up. They had me doing all sorts of things. Many of them involved thinking and being a sort of mobile computer.
They mentioned that I was especially useful with information that was difficult to quantify so that it could be put into a computer.
Apparently I was very useful them in this way. They decided that I was so good at it that they would sort of loan me out to different government departments and even big semi-government corporations.
I was somewhat bemused by all of this. They considered what I was doing so important that they gave me body guards. Lots of body guards. I am not sure they even thought that I actually needed that many body guards.
It was just that we had that many government departments; it was about 15 at the time. Those different government departments didn't trust each other, so each one wanted one of their guys around me to watch out for the others and be able to influence me for their own purposes.
It was also a pain. They never left me alone, even at home. They didn't go right into the toilet with me, but they hid microphones in there.
The thing I seemed to be best at was asking questions. Lots of questions.
It escaped me then, why that was so useful. I can't say I really grok that now either, but it sure seemed to make people happy.
They would bring some important person with a problem to me. I would ask the person questions about their problem and the important person would suddenly seem to have a solution to it.
They would then bring the next important person with a problem and we would do it again.
It didn't seem to me that I was really doing anything, but everybody seemed to think I was really good at it.
They wanted me to do more of this. They started scheduling me with one important-person-with-a-problem, after another, all day long. There got to be so many people waiting to have me ask them questions and help them solve their problems, that they ran out of my time and got a backlog. I was scheduled for years ahead and there was still not enough time to go around.
I found out after a while of doing this, that I did not like some of the stuff that I was helping with.
Blowing people up and finding other ways to kill them was not something I liked helping with. Doing other nasty stuff to people was not pleasant to me either.
I didn't want to keep helping the government people do things that I considered wrong. I quit working for them.
They were mad at me for that. They took away my body guards. I wasn't sure that was bad.
All kinds of things happened to me that showed me things that I had not known while I was still working for the government.
One of these things I had not known, was that the bodyguards were not just there for the reasons I knew about, like protecting me from bad guys who might hurt me, or from being influenced by the other body guards. They were there to keep me from being useful to other people, especially people from other governments.
They would rather have me dead, than working to help other governments. I was almost killed lots of times since I quit working for the government.
I have been learning lots of stuff since I worked for the government. I think my questions are much better than they used to be.
One of those better questions is, "Why shouldn't I get to ask questions that help more people?"
Another question is, "Why should I have to die instead of getting to help people who are not part of the government of my country?"
There doesn't seem to be a shortage of problems in the world. These problems are real humdingers compared to the ones I ran across when I used to be working for my government.
Some of these problems involve climate change and other effects of environmental system trashing that the human race has been doing. I have lots of very good questions about this sort of thing. One good question is, "Why don't more people understand that the future of the human race is in danger unless we make big changes in how we live?
It seems to me that people who have most of the power and money do not want our problems solved. They do not seem to even want the rest of us to know much about those problems or think about them and work on them.
I think the rest of us can solve our problems and make things better for all of us even if the rich and powerful don't want us to do that. I think we should do that and start now.
Be important. Pay attention to what is going on and do your little bit to make it better. Do it now.
Monday, May 4, 2015
Basic Preparedness Information
Basic Preparedness Information to Share:
http://www.rocketstove.org/
http://undergroundhousing.com/
http://www.treehugger.com/green-architecture/build-underground-greenhouse-garden-year-round.html
http://lifehacker.com/build-your-own-bicycle-powered-battery-for-emergency-po-1456439155
http://www.pegasuslighting.com/battery-operated-lights.html
http://www.diffen.com/difference/Converter_vs_Inverter
http://www.instructables.com/id/Home-Made-Vertical-Hydroponic-System-1/
http://www.diyfactory.org/A46IhHoWn7B5Yt/The-Rain-Tower-Modifications-Tips-And-Ocean-Solution-Fertilizer-Review.html
http://www.treehugger.com/cars/how-to-save-fuel-costs-with-a-wood-powered-pickup-truck.html
http://www.richsoil.com/sepp-holzer/sepp-holzer-permaculture.jsp
http://permaculturenews.org/resources_files/farmers_handbook/volume_4/3_no_till.pdf
http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Pot-in-a-Pot-Refrigerator
http://yvonnessilverlinings.blogspot.com/2012/04/nuclear-bomb-explosion-effects-with.html
http://www.amazon.com/Caframo-Ecofan-Alcona-Black-Powered/dp/B00GXHUCQQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1430767724&sr=8-1&keywords=heat+powered+stove+fan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqD4QhGZ7XA&feature=youtube_gdata John Kohler Juicers Growing Your Greens
Monday, December 15, 2014
Taking Care of Your Health Keeps You Ready For Emergencies
No matter what kind of emergency comes your way, you will handle it better if you are healthy.
That is why I write so much about health.
Staying healthy is much harder to do if you don't pay attention to what you put in your body. That is much like trying to run a jet on car fuel or vice versa.
You need to know what the beautiful and complex machine that is your body, needs to keep it working well. That will not happen by accident, so you might as well take a little time to learn what your body needs you to eat to make it work well.
I have posts on this blog about nutrition including basic nutrition charts. You can print the nutrition charts out and post them where you can see them while you plan and make meals. Once you learn the basics you can start on more complex information about nutrition and work your way up to phytonutrients and herbs, etc.
Google spiders have industriously indexed the spit out of this blog, so you can use a Google search to find whatever you want on here. I used key words when I wrote these posts, but the industrious Google spiders went way beyond that, so that makes it easier for you to use this site.
Just to get you started with this, "food", "survival food", "nutrition", and "health" are some of the key words for this blog. If you put in even part of the name of this blog with a search term, Google will give you lots of my posts about that subject. There are over 500 posts on this site, so it might keep you busy a while.
I intend to write about how to decide what to eat and when. I think of this as a sort of, "Order Of Operations", or O.O.O. for short.
I consider this sort of thinking most relevant for a morning meal, or breakfast, if you prefer that word.
I like to do my oil pulling before I even drink a sip of water. The oil pulling works better if you have not eaten or drank anything for a while. The best is after you have been asleep a while. I then brush my teeth, the roof of my mouth, gums and tongue, etc. I concentrate most on skin areas instead of teeth.
Oil pulling seems to have the greatest effect for improving blood circulation and general health of my mouth when I do that. My face and eyes even seem to do better.
I often do basic exercises right after this. Some exercises work much better on an empty stomach.
When I finish my basic exercises, I like to drink water and then juice, preferably fresh. I don't always get that, though.
Juice loses much of its health value within a very short while after you make the juice, so it is best to drink it as fast as you can manage it. If I can't manage to do that, the next best is to put the juice in a nice mason jar that is closed tight, in the fridge. That is my second choice for healthy juice. It is not even close to as healthy for you as fresh juice, but sometimes we don't have the time for that.
Choco D, or my diatomaceous earth drink recipe that I have on this site, is my next choice for order of operations.
The reason for what I pick to go in me is that your food needs water to carry your nutrients throughout your body. Juice is really healthy basic nutrition that goes quite directly to your body where it will do the most good. Juice makes you healthy much faster than anything you eat, including something that is semi-liquid, like a smoothie. Juice is a form of nutrients that is much easier for your body to take in and make use of.
Choco D is next because the minerals in it, and the microscopic "lawnmower" blades that chop potential parasites up into bits too small for them to reproduce from, work best on a comparatively empty stomach.
I have posts with links to other blogs that explain a lot more about how this stuff works, if you want to find out about it more.
I mostly drink a smoothie or eat the muesli that I also have recipes for on this blog, next. You want to use the enzymes from your juice to be able to make use of some very good nutrition.
A healthy smoothie or muesli are some of that very good nutrition. These are not your only choices, but you need to make sure you pick something very healthy.
I usually drink green tea next. Green tea has excellent antioxidents in it. People who drink a little green tea regularly, have longer lives than most people who don't.
I keep drinking more water throughout the time that I am eating and drinking all of the aforementioned. Water, and plenty of it, has amazing benefits for our health. A good rule of thumb to figure out how much water you need daily is:
Check what your body weight is and think of half of that amount in ounces. Drink that much, or more of water a day. If you use a metric system to measure water, you can google something, like, "convert ounces to metric". There are lots of these online and some will offer charts as well.
By the time I get all the aforementioned into me, I am usually too full to eat anything bad for me. This is generally a pretty good thing.
I hope this, O. O. O., helps you to work out a plan for what fuel to put in your body so you can stay very healthy.
Saturday, August 23, 2014
Stay Healthy For Preparedness With Your Weight
It occurred to me that readers might not be aware that calculators are available on the internet to help you know if your weight is right for your height and age. I just checked my own and I liked the one on the Center for Disease Control (CDC). They tell you whether you are in the normal, overweight or obese weight range and what your BMI or Body Mass Index is. Your BMI is an estimate of the ratio of fat to muscle in your body.
You can not be well prepared for a disaster unless you do your best to maintain good health. If you are sick, you will not be able to cope as well with a disaster situation, as you would if you are in good condition.
It is not possible to even know what your physical condition is for weight, unless you know if you are normal or weigh too much. Nice online calculators are a tool to help you figure out how you are doing in the weight area.
There is a great deal of variation in what online calculators tell you about your weight. Several of them informed me that I am underweight, which is pretty funny, since I just managed to lose enough weight to get to the top of my normal range, according to the CDC calculator. I think that one seems to be closer to accuracy than most of the others for me.
Part of the way that you can tell which online calculator to believe is what your eyes tell you when you look in the mirror. Do you have a roll or several of them around your middle? Even if an online calculator tells you that your weight is normal or below, having too much fat around your middle, means that you are at greater risk for having health problems like heart attacks.
The CDC BMI calculator is linked below. It will give you an idea of how you are doing with your weight.
http://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/assessing/bmi/adult_bmi/english_bmi_calculator/bmi_calculator.html
If you put "weight chart age height" into a search engine you should get plenty of other sites to help you check your weight in relation to your age and height. Some of them will probably tell you how to calculate your BMI as well, but I prefer to have the site calculate it for me.
Other sites wanted me to do arcane math contortions to figure it out myself. The CDC is not only closer to what I think is actually happening with my weight, they are nice enough to set up their site to calculate my BMI for me and for readers who might like to have it do the same for them.
Please check on how you are doing in the weight area so that you will know what to do to keep yourself healthy. If you find that you, like many others around the world, need to lose weight and eat better, then you can use my blog to help you with that. Use Google search engine to look up which of my blog posts are about healthy diets and nutrition.
I now use allrecipes.com to find healthy recipes. The site will give you recipes for special diets, or to use a certain ingredient, or several ingredients. I like the idea that you can look in your fridge and see what you have, then look at allrecipes, to see what you can make with your fridge contents.
May you stay healthy and happy, and therefore ready for any emergencies that may come into your life.
You can not be well prepared for a disaster unless you do your best to maintain good health. If you are sick, you will not be able to cope as well with a disaster situation, as you would if you are in good condition.
It is not possible to even know what your physical condition is for weight, unless you know if you are normal or weigh too much. Nice online calculators are a tool to help you figure out how you are doing in the weight area.
There is a great deal of variation in what online calculators tell you about your weight. Several of them informed me that I am underweight, which is pretty funny, since I just managed to lose enough weight to get to the top of my normal range, according to the CDC calculator. I think that one seems to be closer to accuracy than most of the others for me.
Part of the way that you can tell which online calculator to believe is what your eyes tell you when you look in the mirror. Do you have a roll or several of them around your middle? Even if an online calculator tells you that your weight is normal or below, having too much fat around your middle, means that you are at greater risk for having health problems like heart attacks.
The CDC BMI calculator is linked below. It will give you an idea of how you are doing with your weight.
http://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/assessing/bmi/adult_bmi/english_bmi_calculator/bmi_calculator.html
If you put "weight chart age height" into a search engine you should get plenty of other sites to help you check your weight in relation to your age and height. Some of them will probably tell you how to calculate your BMI as well, but I prefer to have the site calculate it for me.
Other sites wanted me to do arcane math contortions to figure it out myself. The CDC is not only closer to what I think is actually happening with my weight, they are nice enough to set up their site to calculate my BMI for me and for readers who might like to have it do the same for them.
Please check on how you are doing in the weight area so that you will know what to do to keep yourself healthy. If you find that you, like many others around the world, need to lose weight and eat better, then you can use my blog to help you with that. Use Google search engine to look up which of my blog posts are about healthy diets and nutrition.
I now use allrecipes.com to find healthy recipes. The site will give you recipes for special diets, or to use a certain ingredient, or several ingredients. I like the idea that you can look in your fridge and see what you have, then look at allrecipes, to see what you can make with your fridge contents.
May you stay healthy and happy, and therefore ready for any emergencies that may come into your life.
Saturday, August 9, 2014
Crock Pot Dangers
Readers who are familiar with this blog know that I think preparedness is not very useful, unless you do your best to be healthy enough to survive, before any particular disaster strikes.
This post is part of my ongoing effort to help readers stay healthy enough to survive disasters. The specific subject is dangers to your health from crock pots.
Some crock pots contain lead in their glazes and it leaches out into the food that you cook in your crock pot. Eating lead is definitely bad for your health. Even very small doses of lead is bad for your health, because it builds up in your body over time and it is very hard to get out.
I became aware of this problem from reading a review on crock pots on the Amazon site. I like to use this site to do research even on things I don't want to buy from them, because the reviews and comments are so often very helpful.
The reviewer that I read, on Amazon, is a chemical engineer and he tested his own crock pot and threw it out after he got the dreadful results. I am very glad I read his helpful review before I bought a crock pot.
I hope you will be able to use the information I got from him and others to help you make a choice of crock pot that will help you and your family stay healthy.
Some crock pots cite FDA guidelines as to safe amounts of lead to have leaching out of their crock pots into your food. I don't think ANY lead amount is safe to have leaching into my food. I have therefore decided to include crock pots here that are not supposed to have lead in their glazes, in their liners, or the crock pots without liners.
Bear in mind that no matter how lead-free the glaze on your liner is, it can still leach lead into your food if it becomes damaged. You need to get rid of your crock pot or liner, if you see chips, tiny cracks, or a hazy look to the glaze that probably indicates that the glaze has become dangerously thin for some reason. The hazy look may mean that your crock pot is now leaching lead into your food, even without any cracks.
Essenergy (VitaClay) brand does not leach any lead, but comments made me fear that it is a fire risk, so I don't want one of those.
Procter Silex does not have lead in their glaze.
Kitchen Aid does not have lead in their crock pot glazes.
Miriams Earthen Cookware (liners and cookware only) is lead free.
West Bend has lead free glazes on their crock pots.
Hamilton Beach also does not have lead in their crock pot or liner glazes.
Cuisine Art was also mentioned as safe and one or more of their pots even has a probe that can be placed in meat to maintain or reach a specific temperature. This sounds extra safe for meat eaters, to me.
There may be other brands that are safe. I don't care to list the ones that are definitely not safe. The above were good enough for me to do further looking.
Before you rush out and buy one of the aforementioned brands of cookware, I think you might want to go to the company site and look at their materials and the mandatory statements they have about them. Things can change very fast and you need to keep checking to stay safe.
I wish to make my own herbal supplements, etc. in a crock pot, so I not only want a lead-free crock pot, I need one that will not scorch precious herbs with long cooking times at low temperatures. That was what I was looking for when I found the alarming news that many crock pots are leaching lead into our food that we cook in them.
I am off to find the elusive safe crock pot that will not burn the herbal stuff I want to cook in it. Best wishes for your own good health.
This post is part of my ongoing effort to help readers stay healthy enough to survive disasters. The specific subject is dangers to your health from crock pots.
Some crock pots contain lead in their glazes and it leaches out into the food that you cook in your crock pot. Eating lead is definitely bad for your health. Even very small doses of lead is bad for your health, because it builds up in your body over time and it is very hard to get out.
I became aware of this problem from reading a review on crock pots on the Amazon site. I like to use this site to do research even on things I don't want to buy from them, because the reviews and comments are so often very helpful.
The reviewer that I read, on Amazon, is a chemical engineer and he tested his own crock pot and threw it out after he got the dreadful results. I am very glad I read his helpful review before I bought a crock pot.
I hope you will be able to use the information I got from him and others to help you make a choice of crock pot that will help you and your family stay healthy.
Some crock pots cite FDA guidelines as to safe amounts of lead to have leaching out of their crock pots into your food. I don't think ANY lead amount is safe to have leaching into my food. I have therefore decided to include crock pots here that are not supposed to have lead in their glazes, in their liners, or the crock pots without liners.
Bear in mind that no matter how lead-free the glaze on your liner is, it can still leach lead into your food if it becomes damaged. You need to get rid of your crock pot or liner, if you see chips, tiny cracks, or a hazy look to the glaze that probably indicates that the glaze has become dangerously thin for some reason. The hazy look may mean that your crock pot is now leaching lead into your food, even without any cracks.
Essenergy (VitaClay) brand does not leach any lead, but comments made me fear that it is a fire risk, so I don't want one of those.
Procter Silex does not have lead in their glaze.
Kitchen Aid does not have lead in their crock pot glazes.
Miriams Earthen Cookware (liners and cookware only) is lead free.
West Bend has lead free glazes on their crock pots.
Hamilton Beach also does not have lead in their crock pot or liner glazes.
Cuisine Art was also mentioned as safe and one or more of their pots even has a probe that can be placed in meat to maintain or reach a specific temperature. This sounds extra safe for meat eaters, to me.
There may be other brands that are safe. I don't care to list the ones that are definitely not safe. The above were good enough for me to do further looking.
Before you rush out and buy one of the aforementioned brands of cookware, I think you might want to go to the company site and look at their materials and the mandatory statements they have about them. Things can change very fast and you need to keep checking to stay safe.
I wish to make my own herbal supplements, etc. in a crock pot, so I not only want a lead-free crock pot, I need one that will not scorch precious herbs with long cooking times at low temperatures. That was what I was looking for when I found the alarming news that many crock pots are leaching lead into our food that we cook in them.
I am off to find the elusive safe crock pot that will not burn the herbal stuff I want to cook in it. Best wishes for your own good health.
Friday, August 1, 2014
Update On Water-efficient Food Growing
This summer has taken a lot of my time for food growing. I have spent most of it on a self watering system. This is because I hate wasting water even though I live in a place that has plenty of water and does not seem in danger of having water shortages soon.
It is distressing to see water problems getting worse in so much of the world. Places that already had difficulties with enough clean water to keep people healthy, are getting worse due to climate change. Places that never had water problems are now getting them due to climate change. It is obvious that these water problems will only worsen as climate change becomes worse.
My neighborhood is taking some steps to prevent future water problems. I am very proud that my neighborhood has people in it who are so aware and interested in taking care of our future and that of people who will live here after us.
One of these steps to prevent future water problems is the planning and installation of a system to melt snow and return it to our groundwater.
The normal method of handling snow is to scoop it up with heavy machinery, load it into lots of big trucks and haul it outside the city and dump it there.
A big advantage of the new snow melting in place system is that it will help to prevent saltwater intrusion into fresh water aquafers beneath us. We are very close to the ocean, so this could easily become a problem some day.
Not only does the snow melting system prevent saltwater intrusion into our fresh water, but it also saves a great deal on fuel for all of the snow hauling that now takes place.
They plan to dig a large hole under our recreation center parking lot and install a heater there. This system was planned by students at our local college. They did it free of charge. This is good for us because we get a system that we can more easily afford and it is good for the students, because they are gaining valuable experience that will give them jobs in the future. I expect they will get the first of those jobs designing more of these systems for the rest of the city.
My small contribution to water efficiency with my self-watering garden is not nearly as impressive as the snow melting. I hope that more people will learn a little bit from mine and increase the good effect, however.
The self-watering system that I used outside uses rain gutters to hold water with a float valve to control the amount of water that goes to the plants.
A man from the eastern part of the USA, named Larry Hall is the one who invented this rain gutter watering system. Thousands of people are already using his system and they are very generous in sharing their experiences and the modifications and improvements they make as well. He is on facebook and on youtube as well. Here are links to get you started with his system:
http://containergardening.wordpress.com/2011/12/04/self-watering-rain-gutter-grow-system-larry-hall/
https://www.youtube.com/user/larrylhall
The bottom one is for his channel on youtube. He has links to lots of videos about his system to show what he and others have done with it.
There is nothing like letting plants take whatever water they need, as they need it to make them healthy and beautiful. They make you the same when you eat them. YUM!
A local hydroponics store gave me a free system that I plan to keep inside. They told me that it is a $500.00 system. That is certainly a lot more than I planned to spend right off. I have not used it yet, but it is high on my list. I have to do a bit more with the Larry Hall rain gutter system first. It will be winter all too soon, so that will stop what I can do outside for a while, so I have to make use of outdoor growing while I still can for this year.
I also have plans to make several hydroponics tower systems. I have most of the supplies for some of those, but not the pumps. Those are the most expensive part of that system. Those have free plans and materials lists to make them. I already posted links for those, but will do it again, to make it easier for others to make those as well. Here is a link to that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTc6Sv2Gi3o
http://www.tomorrowsgarden.net/
This last one is a link to the plans to make your own rain tower hydroponics system. He even includes templates for cutting out parts for it.
The original inventor of those used a 5 gallon bucket as the base for his towers. This means that it will not take much more room in your home than a potted plant. You can get as many as 28 plants in one tower. You replace the plants as you use them, so this will make a big dent in your food budget. You will be much healthier as well, when you eat the food that you grow in your Rain Tower hydroponics system.
The knowledge that you are making the world a better place in many ways, should make you feel even better than the personal benefits to you, when you use your Rain Tower hydroponics system.
I hope that you will go make a rain gutter self watering system or a Rain Tower hydroponics system and benefit yourself and the world by doing so.
It is distressing to see water problems getting worse in so much of the world. Places that already had difficulties with enough clean water to keep people healthy, are getting worse due to climate change. Places that never had water problems are now getting them due to climate change. It is obvious that these water problems will only worsen as climate change becomes worse.
My neighborhood is taking some steps to prevent future water problems. I am very proud that my neighborhood has people in it who are so aware and interested in taking care of our future and that of people who will live here after us.
One of these steps to prevent future water problems is the planning and installation of a system to melt snow and return it to our groundwater.
The normal method of handling snow is to scoop it up with heavy machinery, load it into lots of big trucks and haul it outside the city and dump it there.
A big advantage of the new snow melting in place system is that it will help to prevent saltwater intrusion into fresh water aquafers beneath us. We are very close to the ocean, so this could easily become a problem some day.
Not only does the snow melting system prevent saltwater intrusion into our fresh water, but it also saves a great deal on fuel for all of the snow hauling that now takes place.
They plan to dig a large hole under our recreation center parking lot and install a heater there. This system was planned by students at our local college. They did it free of charge. This is good for us because we get a system that we can more easily afford and it is good for the students, because they are gaining valuable experience that will give them jobs in the future. I expect they will get the first of those jobs designing more of these systems for the rest of the city.
My small contribution to water efficiency with my self-watering garden is not nearly as impressive as the snow melting. I hope that more people will learn a little bit from mine and increase the good effect, however.
The self-watering system that I used outside uses rain gutters to hold water with a float valve to control the amount of water that goes to the plants.
A man from the eastern part of the USA, named Larry Hall is the one who invented this rain gutter watering system. Thousands of people are already using his system and they are very generous in sharing their experiences and the modifications and improvements they make as well. He is on facebook and on youtube as well. Here are links to get you started with his system:
http://containergardening.wordpress.com/2011/12/04/self-watering-rain-gutter-grow-system-larry-hall/
https://www.youtube.com/user/larrylhall
The bottom one is for his channel on youtube. He has links to lots of videos about his system to show what he and others have done with it.
There is nothing like letting plants take whatever water they need, as they need it to make them healthy and beautiful. They make you the same when you eat them. YUM!
A local hydroponics store gave me a free system that I plan to keep inside. They told me that it is a $500.00 system. That is certainly a lot more than I planned to spend right off. I have not used it yet, but it is high on my list. I have to do a bit more with the Larry Hall rain gutter system first. It will be winter all too soon, so that will stop what I can do outside for a while, so I have to make use of outdoor growing while I still can for this year.
I also have plans to make several hydroponics tower systems. I have most of the supplies for some of those, but not the pumps. Those are the most expensive part of that system. Those have free plans and materials lists to make them. I already posted links for those, but will do it again, to make it easier for others to make those as well. Here is a link to that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTc6Sv2Gi3o
http://www.tomorrowsgarden.net/
This last one is a link to the plans to make your own rain tower hydroponics system. He even includes templates for cutting out parts for it.
The original inventor of those used a 5 gallon bucket as the base for his towers. This means that it will not take much more room in your home than a potted plant. You can get as many as 28 plants in one tower. You replace the plants as you use them, so this will make a big dent in your food budget. You will be much healthier as well, when you eat the food that you grow in your Rain Tower hydroponics system.
The knowledge that you are making the world a better place in many ways, should make you feel even better than the personal benefits to you, when you use your Rain Tower hydroponics system.
I hope that you will go make a rain gutter self watering system or a Rain Tower hydroponics system and benefit yourself and the world by doing so.
Thursday, July 3, 2014
A Tree That Might Save Your Life - Maringa Oleifera, or Moringa Oleifera
One of the solutions to many disaster problems may be a tree called a Moringa or a Maringa tree. You can eat most of the tree, either fresh or dried. The leaves are higher protein than milk and they have more vitamins than most vegetables.
The seeds can be ground up and used to clean dirty water. Not having clean drinking water can cause more deaths than a disaster itself, so Maringa tree seeds can save lives in a disaster.
There is more than one type of Maringa tree. I am aware of at least three types. Only one will clean water. That kind is a Moringa Oleifera.
Many countries now grow Moringa trees. These trees have already saved countless lives during disasters and in everyday living for poor people.
Moringa trees come from Africa and are a hot weather tree. They are quite hardy and will live in varied climates.
In colder climates, Moringa trees do not make it through the winter outside. They can be treated as an annual and replanted from seed every year or potted and moved inside.
The problem with potting a Moringa tree is that they grow very fast and very tall. They can grow 15 to 20 feet tall in a year.
A man on youtube was kind enough to demonstrate how to deal with a potted Moringa tree. He cut his off down to the hard, stiff, woody part and then had two trees. The rooted bottom part of the Moringa tree will grow another top and you can take the cut off top and grow roots on it. He chose to shorten the cut off top part of his tree since the cut off part was long and spindly, before he potted it. He had staked it for support, before he cut it off originally.
You can dwarf your Moringa tree so that you can leave it inside all the time. Here is a link to an article about dwarfing fruit trees:
http://homeguides.sfgate.com/create-dwarf-tree-orchard-23420.html
Be sure to look at the links in the above article. It has a lot of links to universities that teach agriculture.
I have just received my first Maringa seeds from an online order. I got a lot of them and hope to harvest and eat leaves and other parts of the trees. I intend to dwarf my trees and grow them mostly indoors, since they prefer warmth. Since I live in a cold climate, I may take some trees outside during the summer to give them a boost with more sunlight.
According to the people I got my Maringa oleifera seeds from, once the trees get a woody base on their trunk, they become more hardy and can tolerate some cold. I gather that a hard freeze will kill them, however.
Making powder of the Maringa leaves sounds like a good idea for emergency use. It also sounds like a good idea to keep plenty of Maringa oleifera seeds on hand for emergencies, because of their ability to clean dirty, contaminated water.
You may become healthier if you include Moringa leaves and other parts of the Moringa tree in your diet. They seem fairly easy to grow, so you may enjoy growing them for your own use.
The seeds can be ground up and used to clean dirty water. Not having clean drinking water can cause more deaths than a disaster itself, so Maringa tree seeds can save lives in a disaster.
There is more than one type of Maringa tree. I am aware of at least three types. Only one will clean water. That kind is a Moringa Oleifera.
Many countries now grow Moringa trees. These trees have already saved countless lives during disasters and in everyday living for poor people.
Moringa trees come from Africa and are a hot weather tree. They are quite hardy and will live in varied climates.
In colder climates, Moringa trees do not make it through the winter outside. They can be treated as an annual and replanted from seed every year or potted and moved inside.
The problem with potting a Moringa tree is that they grow very fast and very tall. They can grow 15 to 20 feet tall in a year.
A man on youtube was kind enough to demonstrate how to deal with a potted Moringa tree. He cut his off down to the hard, stiff, woody part and then had two trees. The rooted bottom part of the Moringa tree will grow another top and you can take the cut off top and grow roots on it. He chose to shorten the cut off top part of his tree since the cut off part was long and spindly, before he potted it. He had staked it for support, before he cut it off originally.
You can dwarf your Moringa tree so that you can leave it inside all the time. Here is a link to an article about dwarfing fruit trees:
http://homeguides.sfgate.com/create-dwarf-tree-orchard-23420.html
Be sure to look at the links in the above article. It has a lot of links to universities that teach agriculture.
I have just received my first Maringa seeds from an online order. I got a lot of them and hope to harvest and eat leaves and other parts of the trees. I intend to dwarf my trees and grow them mostly indoors, since they prefer warmth. Since I live in a cold climate, I may take some trees outside during the summer to give them a boost with more sunlight.
According to the people I got my Maringa oleifera seeds from, once the trees get a woody base on their trunk, they become more hardy and can tolerate some cold. I gather that a hard freeze will kill them, however.
Making powder of the Maringa leaves sounds like a good idea for emergency use. It also sounds like a good idea to keep plenty of Maringa oleifera seeds on hand for emergencies, because of their ability to clean dirty, contaminated water.
You may become healthier if you include Moringa leaves and other parts of the Moringa tree in your diet. They seem fairly easy to grow, so you may enjoy growing them for your own use.
A Threat To Your Health In Your Drinking Water That You Can Fix
Most people assume that since their cities put chlorine in their drinking water that it must be good for their health to drink it all the time, or at least safe to drink.
The reason for having chlorine in your drinking water is that if it is not in there you will have a chance of dying soon of disease from bacterial contamination in your water. It has to be in there to keep you alive for right now.
There is a problem with the chlorine staying in your water after it protects you from disease. That chlorine that just protected you, will now start causing you problems. Just because the chlorine does not kill you as fast as the disease germs do, does not mean that it won't kill you or hurt you eventually.
Here is a link to a report to thoracic, or chest doctors about the dangers of chlorine: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3136961/
Here is another article that is easier to read and understand: http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/news/2011/chlorine-accidents/
Here is a link about what to do if you are exposed to a lot of chlorine on the Center for Disease Control site from the USA:
http://www.bt.cdc.gov/agent/chlorine/basics/facts.asp
It is not very nice to tell you about problems without giving you a solution, besides first aid and medical care afterwards. Prevention is good.
Therefore, try not to drink water with chlorine in it. Reverse osmosis is a pretty expensive way to get chlorine out of your water. If you have the money and want to use it to clean up your water, go for it.
There are cheaper ways to get chlorine out of your water. Less expensive than reverse osmosis, are various methods of filtering out the chlorine. They have filters that can be put on the water line into your home and will remove chlorine from the water as it enters your home. Unless you are especially handy, this will require a plumber or other specialist.
You can buy a filter that fits on the end of your kitchen tap that filters the water as it comes out. They also have some filters that will fit on the faucet in your bath or shower. I read that you are exposed to more chlorine than you drink, by a shower or bath.
There are other filters that can be pumped manually to force water through them. Those kind are often used by disaster workers or missionaries who go to remote areas.
Other filters work by gravity. You pour water into them and catch the clean water as it drips into another container. Brita makes these and they can often be found in department stores, including Wal Mart and the like.
I believe that one of the best kinds of filters for people of fairly modest means is Berkey. They are made in Texas in the USA. These are often used by preppers and stored away waiting for a disaster to strike.
Berkey filters remove 99.99% of chlorine from your water and you can buy an additional filter to remove fluoride, which is not good to swallow either.
Katadyne is the name of a brand of filters that disaster workers and missionaries often use. They make a big filter that can be pumped in order to filter large amounts of water as may be required for an entire village.
Here are sites to look at filters:
http://berkeywater.com/start.main.html
https://www.brita.com/?locale=us&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=Purification%2520System&utm_campaign=BFR_Product_General+Filter_Broad
http://www.katadyn.com/usen/
These are reverse osmosis systems: http://www.kinetico.com/water-system-quick-quote/
http://www.aquatechnology.net/homeusero.html
In case you can not afford any of the systems mentioned above, you can get a lot of chlorine out of your water by just letting it sit exposed to air for a while. It is a good idea to put something that will let the chlorine escape on the top of the container and still keep out dust and bugs. A piece of cloth, with a rubber band or cord or piece of yarn or string around the top of your container, will work.
Chlorine is quite volatile, so you can boil your water to encourage it to evaporate from your water.
There is yet another cheaper way to get bad stuff, including chlorine out of your water. It is by using the ground up seeds of a tree called a Maringa Oleifera. There are other kinds of Maringa trees besides Oleifera, but Oleifera is the only type that I am sure will clean water. I already wrote about this tree on my blog. You can do a Google search with the name of my blog and Maringa and my blog post about Maringa trees will pop up. It tells you more about how to use the tree to purify water and the nutritional benefits of Maringa trees. They are amazingly good for you when you eat most parts of the tree.
It will help you to live longer and stay healthy longer if you get chlorine out of your diet and drinking water. If you have to use it to purify water during an emergency, it is still a good idea to find a way to get the chlorine out of your water before you drink it. If you want to avoid drinking chlorine during a disaster, it is best to plan something like a filter or boiling, to have on hand.
I hope you will take care of yourself and your family by finding a way to keep chlorine out of your body and those of your family.
The reason for having chlorine in your drinking water is that if it is not in there you will have a chance of dying soon of disease from bacterial contamination in your water. It has to be in there to keep you alive for right now.
There is a problem with the chlorine staying in your water after it protects you from disease. That chlorine that just protected you, will now start causing you problems. Just because the chlorine does not kill you as fast as the disease germs do, does not mean that it won't kill you or hurt you eventually.
Here is a link to a report to thoracic, or chest doctors about the dangers of chlorine: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3136961/
Here is another article that is easier to read and understand: http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/news/2011/chlorine-accidents/
Here is a link about what to do if you are exposed to a lot of chlorine on the Center for Disease Control site from the USA:
http://www.bt.cdc.gov/agent/chlorine/basics/facts.asp
It is not very nice to tell you about problems without giving you a solution, besides first aid and medical care afterwards. Prevention is good.
Therefore, try not to drink water with chlorine in it. Reverse osmosis is a pretty expensive way to get chlorine out of your water. If you have the money and want to use it to clean up your water, go for it.
There are cheaper ways to get chlorine out of your water. Less expensive than reverse osmosis, are various methods of filtering out the chlorine. They have filters that can be put on the water line into your home and will remove chlorine from the water as it enters your home. Unless you are especially handy, this will require a plumber or other specialist.
You can buy a filter that fits on the end of your kitchen tap that filters the water as it comes out. They also have some filters that will fit on the faucet in your bath or shower. I read that you are exposed to more chlorine than you drink, by a shower or bath.
There are other filters that can be pumped manually to force water through them. Those kind are often used by disaster workers or missionaries who go to remote areas.
Other filters work by gravity. You pour water into them and catch the clean water as it drips into another container. Brita makes these and they can often be found in department stores, including Wal Mart and the like.
I believe that one of the best kinds of filters for people of fairly modest means is Berkey. They are made in Texas in the USA. These are often used by preppers and stored away waiting for a disaster to strike.
Berkey filters remove 99.99% of chlorine from your water and you can buy an additional filter to remove fluoride, which is not good to swallow either.
Katadyne is the name of a brand of filters that disaster workers and missionaries often use. They make a big filter that can be pumped in order to filter large amounts of water as may be required for an entire village.
Here are sites to look at filters:
http://berkeywater.com/start.main.html
https://www.brita.com/?locale=us&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=Purification%2520System&utm_campaign=BFR_Product_General+Filter_Broad
http://www.katadyn.com/usen/
These are reverse osmosis systems: http://www.kinetico.com/water-system-quick-quote/
http://www.aquatechnology.net/homeusero.html
In case you can not afford any of the systems mentioned above, you can get a lot of chlorine out of your water by just letting it sit exposed to air for a while. It is a good idea to put something that will let the chlorine escape on the top of the container and still keep out dust and bugs. A piece of cloth, with a rubber band or cord or piece of yarn or string around the top of your container, will work.
Chlorine is quite volatile, so you can boil your water to encourage it to evaporate from your water.
There is yet another cheaper way to get bad stuff, including chlorine out of your water. It is by using the ground up seeds of a tree called a Maringa Oleifera. There are other kinds of Maringa trees besides Oleifera, but Oleifera is the only type that I am sure will clean water. I already wrote about this tree on my blog. You can do a Google search with the name of my blog and Maringa and my blog post about Maringa trees will pop up. It tells you more about how to use the tree to purify water and the nutritional benefits of Maringa trees. They are amazingly good for you when you eat most parts of the tree.
It will help you to live longer and stay healthy longer if you get chlorine out of your diet and drinking water. If you have to use it to purify water during an emergency, it is still a good idea to find a way to get the chlorine out of your water before you drink it. If you want to avoid drinking chlorine during a disaster, it is best to plan something like a filter or boiling, to have on hand.
I hope you will take care of yourself and your family by finding a way to keep chlorine out of your body and those of your family.
Thursday, June 5, 2014
A Chance To Help Save The World
If you are not hibernating, you have probably noticed that we have a problem with climate change already. This problem will get much worse. It will make it harder and harder for people to just stay alive as it gets worse.
Nothing much is being done about this problem and it is getting so much worse that we don't have much time to get to work on it before it is too late.
What is too late? We are constantly being bombarded with things that tell us we have to hurry before it is "too late". A lot of these are advertisements wanting us to buy something. This "too late" is different.
This "too late" could even mean that the human race will be wiped out in a few generations because the Earth will be changed too much for us to live on it any more. Those changes on the Earth because of climate change, are things like not having enough oxygen, or clean air to support us any more. They can also be huge natural disasters that are much bigger than the biggest record-setting tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, and forest fires, etc. than anything we have seen on earth so far.
The United Nations is having a summit on Climate Change in New York City this September from the 20-21. There is a march being organized by a lot of people ranging from locals to international NGOs. It is called the People's Climate March. If you want to join something that already exists, this might suit you. Here is a link to a site to help you sign up or find out more about it:
http://peoplesclimatemarch.org/
If it is possible for you to participate in this march or do other helpful activities connected with the UN Summit on Climate Change in New York in September 2014, please do what you can to help save the world. We only have one and need to take care of it. It would be pretty hard to replace it if we wreck this one.
Nothing much is being done about this problem and it is getting so much worse that we don't have much time to get to work on it before it is too late.
What is too late? We are constantly being bombarded with things that tell us we have to hurry before it is "too late". A lot of these are advertisements wanting us to buy something. This "too late" is different.
This "too late" could even mean that the human race will be wiped out in a few generations because the Earth will be changed too much for us to live on it any more. Those changes on the Earth because of climate change, are things like not having enough oxygen, or clean air to support us any more. They can also be huge natural disasters that are much bigger than the biggest record-setting tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, and forest fires, etc. than anything we have seen on earth so far.
The United Nations is having a summit on Climate Change in New York City this September from the 20-21. There is a march being organized by a lot of people ranging from locals to international NGOs. It is called the People's Climate March. If you want to join something that already exists, this might suit you. Here is a link to a site to help you sign up or find out more about it:
http://peoplesclimatemarch.org/
If it is possible for you to participate in this march or do other helpful activities connected with the UN Summit on Climate Change in New York in September 2014, please do what you can to help save the world. We only have one and need to take care of it. It would be pretty hard to replace it if we wreck this one.
Tuesday, May 6, 2014
More About USA Financial Situation
Here s a link to Capital Controls information:
http://www.picassodreams.com/picasso_dreams/2010/03/hr-2487-capital-control-act-read-subtitle-aforeign-account-tax-compliance.html
This next one is more alarming, but he is trying to sell stuff.
http://sprottmoneyblog.com/capital-controls-coming-to-the-united-states/#
There is another law that was just passed, but it takes a really long time to load onto my computer. That probably means it is incredibly long. I don't know that I can possibly manage to read something like that all the way through right now.
I am not entirely sure that we only have to the end of this year or earlier before we get a USA economic collapse. I don't think that we won't get it that soon either. It does seem that we do not have long for this to happen, however.
Regular natural disasters or even smaller man-made ones are more limited in the area and number of people they affect. They usually have a fairly short time before the worst effects are over.
When you get something like an economic giant like the USA going into financial collapse we don't get the limits that come with natural disasters and many man-made disasters. This could affect most of the world to some extent. It could also last much longer.
This does mean you have more to think about for prepping for a USA financial collapse disaster. Other countries that have had these things happen usually have many of their services like police, fire, and medical stop working. This is because people stop working when they don't get paid. Not all of them even want to, but they have trouble taking care of their families and even getting to their jobs.
I have posts on this blog about dealing with big, widespread disaster situations like a financial collapse in a formerly wealthy country. You can use Google to search for the subjects that you want to look at. Just put in the name of this blog, yvonnessilverlinings and the subject you want to look at. This won't work as well on other search engines and you will have to type in the whole blog address:
yvonnessilverlinings.blogspot.com
I use labels in this blog to make it easier for readers to search for different subjects. A label that will work for the subjects I just mentioned is: TEOTAWKI. You will find out what it means when you look it up.
I write this blog so that more people have a chance to survive disasters and the human race has a chance to survive when more people do. I hope you will use this so that you and your loved ones can be part of this.
http://www.picassodreams.com/picasso_dreams/2010/03/hr-2487-capital-control-act-read-subtitle-aforeign-account-tax-compliance.html
This next one is more alarming, but he is trying to sell stuff.
http://sprottmoneyblog.com/capital-controls-coming-to-the-united-states/#
There is another law that was just passed, but it takes a really long time to load onto my computer. That probably means it is incredibly long. I don't know that I can possibly manage to read something like that all the way through right now.
I am not entirely sure that we only have to the end of this year or earlier before we get a USA economic collapse. I don't think that we won't get it that soon either. It does seem that we do not have long for this to happen, however.
Regular natural disasters or even smaller man-made ones are more limited in the area and number of people they affect. They usually have a fairly short time before the worst effects are over.
When you get something like an economic giant like the USA going into financial collapse we don't get the limits that come with natural disasters and many man-made disasters. This could affect most of the world to some extent. It could also last much longer.
This does mean you have more to think about for prepping for a USA financial collapse disaster. Other countries that have had these things happen usually have many of their services like police, fire, and medical stop working. This is because people stop working when they don't get paid. Not all of them even want to, but they have trouble taking care of their families and even getting to their jobs.
I have posts on this blog about dealing with big, widespread disaster situations like a financial collapse in a formerly wealthy country. You can use Google to search for the subjects that you want to look at. Just put in the name of this blog, yvonnessilverlinings and the subject you want to look at. This won't work as well on other search engines and you will have to type in the whole blog address:
yvonnessilverlinings.blogspot.com
I use labels in this blog to make it easier for readers to search for different subjects. A label that will work for the subjects I just mentioned is: TEOTAWKI. You will find out what it means when you look it up.
I write this blog so that more people have a chance to survive disasters and the human race has a chance to survive when more people do. I hope you will use this so that you and your loved ones can be part of this.
Sunday, May 4, 2014
USA Financial Collapse
Financial experts have been warning about the financial collapse of the USA since last year. They say this is because last year the interest on the national debt of the USA rose higher than the GPA, or the amount the entire country makes in a year.
The collapse is considered even more likely to happen by the financial experts before the end of this year, because of a law that was passed. The law goes into effect this July. The law tells you what you can not do with your money. Some of these things are: you have to not take it out of the country; and you have to leave a lot of it in the bank.
Countries that have governments pass laws like our law that goes into effect in July, are expecting a financial collapse and want to try to slow it down by using the money of its citizens to do it.
If our financial experts are right, and they probably are, then we have a disaster coming in the United States. This probably also means that a lot of other countries will have problems as well.
A financial disaster is not necessarily that much different than other kinds of disasters. You can get ready for a financial collapse disaster also. Please read more of my blog or other ones that are about emergency preparedness and do what you can to make yourself ready to get through it.
I will post more about this as soon as possible.
The collapse is considered even more likely to happen by the financial experts before the end of this year, because of a law that was passed. The law goes into effect this July. The law tells you what you can not do with your money. Some of these things are: you have to not take it out of the country; and you have to leave a lot of it in the bank.
Countries that have governments pass laws like our law that goes into effect in July, are expecting a financial collapse and want to try to slow it down by using the money of its citizens to do it.
If our financial experts are right, and they probably are, then we have a disaster coming in the United States. This probably also means that a lot of other countries will have problems as well.
A financial disaster is not necessarily that much different than other kinds of disasters. You can get ready for a financial collapse disaster also. Please read more of my blog or other ones that are about emergency preparedness and do what you can to make yourself ready to get through it.
I will post more about this as soon as possible.
Wednesday, April 30, 2014
Preparedness Through Good Health - Juicing
I have only been juicing for 2-3 months, but the results have been amazing. This decided me to share the health benefits with my readers.
You may already know that I believe that one of the basics of emergency preparedness is staying in good health. This is because medical providers are usually overwhelmed during an emergency. This is the last time you want to have a non-emergency health problem.
The line at the emergency room door will probably go around the block at least once, and you will have a long wait behind the people who are bleeding a lot and screaming in pain.
You may also be aware that I think staying healthy through good nutrition is the best way. One of the ways to do this is through making and drinking your own fresh juice.
If you get your juice from a bottle in the store it will not be very fresh. After the juice in your bottle left the farm it went through an assembly line full of people. You have no way of knowing whether each one of those people washed up after using the toilet or how many scratched themselves, etc.
If you make your own juice you know exactly what happened to that juice after you washed the fruits and veggies that made it. It is also very fresh.
Fresh is good. According to experts on juicing, you will get the most benefit from juice if you drink it within 30 minutes of when it is squeezed. Part of the reason for this is that the natural enzymes in the juice start to become inactive after 30 minutes.
Other people tell me that they do not get as much of a boost in energy from juicing as I do, but I drink juice almost every day. Most of them do not drink fresh juice that often.
I have health problems that make me tired a lot. Drinking fresh juice has made me so much more energetic that I am now able to get a lot more done each day. It is possible that you can have this happen to you also.
Naturally, I put a lot of my extra energy into working on emergency preparedness. You could do the same if you get more energy from juicing.
I have found two juicing experts that I like quite a bit. One of them sells juicers, the other one does not, but she has ads for them.
I bought my first juicer from Wal Mart. It was on sale. It has a wide mouth so you are not supposed to have to cut up your produce as much before you put it in the juicer. Hah! Sure my carrots will go into the juicer in big pieces, but that doesn't mean they won't get stuck in there.
That means that the juicer makes a horrible noise and no juice comes out. I shut it down and take it apart and put the veggie back in the juicer and try again.
I am working out the optimum size for getting everything to go through the juicer without jamming and still big enough to get ground up before getting shot into the pulp catcher.
The Hamilton Beach Wide Mouth is the brand I have been talking about. I can't say I really recommend it. I think I will get my next juicer from the juice expert that I mentioned before. His name is John Kohler. He sells juicers on the internet and his online store is Discount Juicers. Here is a link to his site:
http://www.discountjuicers.com/bestjuicer.html
He is pretty up front about his products and makes nice comparisons between different juicers. He has lots of videos explaining the differences between juicers and how to use them.
He also makes hundreds of videos about how to grow your own food to put in those juicers. It is a wonderful public service.
I am busy now working on making a hydroponics set-up to grow my own food and herbs. I plan to share information on how that goes, when I get that far.
Here is a link to Food Babe:
http://foodbabe.com/
She has some especially good posts about why juicing is good for you and recipes to get you started.
Most people do better when they start juicing by having mostly fruit in their juice. It is better for you to have mostly vegetables in your juice, though. I find the vegetables give me more steady energy for a longer time than when I have more fruit in my juice. Beets and ginger roots seem to give me the best energy boost when I include them in my juice.
If you decide to use beets in your juice you might want to start out with only 1/4 of a beet, or less, for a glass of juice. It may take a bit to get used to the taste and get to like it. I am happy to put a whole beet in my juice now. Yum.
I gather that greens like chard and kale give you the most benefit when you juice them. They are pretty expensive and you can go through a lot of greens very fast when you juice. That is one of the reasons why I am getting ready to grow stuff with hydroponics. I want more greens to make my juice with.
I wish lots of readers will start juicing and get healthy and ready for whatever emergencies come your way.
You may already know that I believe that one of the basics of emergency preparedness is staying in good health. This is because medical providers are usually overwhelmed during an emergency. This is the last time you want to have a non-emergency health problem.
The line at the emergency room door will probably go around the block at least once, and you will have a long wait behind the people who are bleeding a lot and screaming in pain.
You may also be aware that I think staying healthy through good nutrition is the best way. One of the ways to do this is through making and drinking your own fresh juice.
If you get your juice from a bottle in the store it will not be very fresh. After the juice in your bottle left the farm it went through an assembly line full of people. You have no way of knowing whether each one of those people washed up after using the toilet or how many scratched themselves, etc.
If you make your own juice you know exactly what happened to that juice after you washed the fruits and veggies that made it. It is also very fresh.
Fresh is good. According to experts on juicing, you will get the most benefit from juice if you drink it within 30 minutes of when it is squeezed. Part of the reason for this is that the natural enzymes in the juice start to become inactive after 30 minutes.
Other people tell me that they do not get as much of a boost in energy from juicing as I do, but I drink juice almost every day. Most of them do not drink fresh juice that often.
I have health problems that make me tired a lot. Drinking fresh juice has made me so much more energetic that I am now able to get a lot more done each day. It is possible that you can have this happen to you also.
Naturally, I put a lot of my extra energy into working on emergency preparedness. You could do the same if you get more energy from juicing.
I have found two juicing experts that I like quite a bit. One of them sells juicers, the other one does not, but she has ads for them.
I bought my first juicer from Wal Mart. It was on sale. It has a wide mouth so you are not supposed to have to cut up your produce as much before you put it in the juicer. Hah! Sure my carrots will go into the juicer in big pieces, but that doesn't mean they won't get stuck in there.
That means that the juicer makes a horrible noise and no juice comes out. I shut it down and take it apart and put the veggie back in the juicer and try again.
I am working out the optimum size for getting everything to go through the juicer without jamming and still big enough to get ground up before getting shot into the pulp catcher.
The Hamilton Beach Wide Mouth is the brand I have been talking about. I can't say I really recommend it. I think I will get my next juicer from the juice expert that I mentioned before. His name is John Kohler. He sells juicers on the internet and his online store is Discount Juicers. Here is a link to his site:
http://www.discountjuicers.com/bestjuicer.html
He is pretty up front about his products and makes nice comparisons between different juicers. He has lots of videos explaining the differences between juicers and how to use them.
He also makes hundreds of videos about how to grow your own food to put in those juicers. It is a wonderful public service.
I am busy now working on making a hydroponics set-up to grow my own food and herbs. I plan to share information on how that goes, when I get that far.
Here is a link to Food Babe:
http://foodbabe.com/
She has some especially good posts about why juicing is good for you and recipes to get you started.
Most people do better when they start juicing by having mostly fruit in their juice. It is better for you to have mostly vegetables in your juice, though. I find the vegetables give me more steady energy for a longer time than when I have more fruit in my juice. Beets and ginger roots seem to give me the best energy boost when I include them in my juice.
If you decide to use beets in your juice you might want to start out with only 1/4 of a beet, or less, for a glass of juice. It may take a bit to get used to the taste and get to like it. I am happy to put a whole beet in my juice now. Yum.
I gather that greens like chard and kale give you the most benefit when you juice them. They are pretty expensive and you can go through a lot of greens very fast when you juice. That is one of the reasons why I am getting ready to grow stuff with hydroponics. I want more greens to make my juice with.
I wish lots of readers will start juicing and get healthy and ready for whatever emergencies come your way.
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