Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone!

Prepper Websites

We have had the luxury of a reasonably slow gate as of late so I have been able to spend quite a bit of time "cruising" the web.  I have been reading a few of the "prepper" sites and have come to a few conclusions.

My first is that some of these sites seem only to exist to stir the pot, they only seem to offer little valuable information, instead relying on "hit" stories to inflame and excite readership.  A good example of this type of blog/website is Mac Slavo's www.shtfplan.com ,I have yet to see a positive story on this site that was not contained within the readers comments section.  However, most of the readership does seem to be the "keyboard commando" type that when confronted with an intelligent argument immediately descends into name calling and derogatory comments, from which no one learns anything. There are a few bright points though, some of the  best information for resources comes from a few of the contributors, and some of the conversations are quite enjoyable. 

My second is that there are some truly informative sites out there. An example would be Ken Jorgunsen's http://modernsurvivalblog.com/ . Ken offers many tips and tricks on survival and sustainable living.  I thoroughly enjoy many of the subjects contained on this site and Ken is very interactive with his readers, oftentimes altering an article with updated information offered to him in the comments section.

For those individuals interested in the American Redoubt. James Rawles' http://www.survivalblog.com/ offers a wealth of information submitted by readers in the form of independent articles. There is no comment section and feedback for subject matter is done through email and then posted if relevant to the subject matter

While not a prepper site per se, low tech magazine's website http://www.lowtechmagazine.com/ has an abundance of info low tech solutions, most of which are easily recreated.

Kicking the can..

I called it. The last minute passing of a resolution to keep the gubbment from so called defaulting.

http://www.thedailybell.com/news-analysis/34676/Shutdown-Ending-but-Larger-Difficulties-Remain/

What some of the rest of the world thinks.

I found this to be of some interest.

"Because Republicans and Democrats, House and Senate, Congress and president could not agree on a stop-gap budget, hundreds of thousands of federal employees were sent on involuntary leave and many agencies were forced to shut down," continues the editorial. "The main actors in this dispute, which brings together many factors, both ideological and political, took a huge risk and, unhindered, proceeded to validate everyone who ever accused the political establishment in Washington of being rotten to the core -- by driving the world power into a budgetary state of emergency. The public is left wondering how things could have been allowed to get to this point and why there is so much poison in the system."

Read the rest of the article here.

17 Years

17 years is what the talking head said this morning about the "partial" governmental shutdown, 17 years since the last time it happened. Roughly 2 weeks are all that remain until the debt ceiling is either raised or We the People, default.

Today the national park system is closed, the E.P.A is shut down and various other federal agencies are locked up tight.  There is politicians blaming politicians for a problem that the politicians themselves created.

It will all come down to the last minute deal.

Isn't 17 years also the life cycle of a cicada?

On a different note, I need to find my small detail brush, the one with nylon bristles that sort of resembles a toothbrush on steroids. The reason I need to find this particular piece of hardware is that the other day it started raining.... inside the rv. After a summer of running pretty much non-stop 24/7, the coils have become coated with a film of caliche dust, pet and human dander and a curious amount of Styrofoam insulation which caused an ice-up situation. Luckily I can see the evaporator from inside, so cleaning it shouldn't be too difficult.

I also have a "lint lizard" attachment for the sweeper to remove debris from some of the harder to reach places.

As a wise man said; "Thats all I have to say about that."