For portable (in my camper) small solar set up I have a goal zero. It does just fine. I have whole home solar so would only use it at home if things went really wrong.
Welcome!
I got a Jackery about a year ago. I wanted something just in case but aside from the one time, hmm how does it work and a couple cycle the battery for maintenance events I haven’t done much with it. I like that it is pretty self explanatory and contained.
The other one everyone seems to mention is Bluetti.
I suspect you could get more bang for your buck building your own system. Mots is the guy that will have those answers. If he chimes in, listen.
Kathy
3 Likes
I live in Phx At and I’m taking things seriously. We live in a rural area on a well so if we lose power, we lose water. In the last month I have installed a 6000 gallon water tank, bought a propane generator and several large tanks, a water pump, a 20 cf foot freezer and just put a deposit on a full beef. I also have a garden and mini chicken hatchery running at full tilt. Husband thinks I have lost my mind…
21 Likes
Thanks for the post regarding diesel tank and misc equipment…price/size/store information would greatly be appreciated!
1 Like
The Establishment Is Hiding Mass Resistance To Vaccine Mandates With The “Striketober” Farce
“These high profile strikes and walkouts are starting to eclipse media coverage of the true culprits behind the labor crisis – Namely the Biden Administration and blue state governments enacting global mandates, vaccine controls and covid stimulus.
The source of worker shortages, supply chain bottlenecks and a lot of our stagflationary issues can be traced directly back to the government’s covid restrictions and the covid welfare programs. Get rid of the restrictions, the mandates and the covid checks and over time the crisis will disappear. It really is that simple. However, the establishment does not want you to see it that way.
Marxist/Socialist groups are working feverishly to make hay with the covid protests and employee strikes in an attempt to attribute them to “worker discontent” over low wages and “mistreatment” rather than the covid mandates. This is nonsense.
First and foremost, wages have been rising exponentially in the past year for what I would call “zero skill workers” in the retail and service industries. When a potential employee with no valuable skills can walk into almost any chain restaurant or retail outlet and get $15 or more an hour on top of a signing bonus of hundreds of dollars just for showing up on the first day, there is no unfair disparity for the working class.
When the average minimum wage across the states is around $9 and most service workers are making nearly double that, there is no legitimate problem for Marxists to complain about. So, they have to make things up. To be sure, $15 an hour is not enough to buy a home or start a family on a single income, but people aren’t automatically entitled to home ownership and no intelligent person expects to launch a career in food service or retail. That’s why decades ago these jobs were filled by teenagers, not people in their 20s or older. Doubling the minimum wage only accomplished one thing int he long run: Much higher prices for everyone.
Workers might feel like they are being abused, but it’s not their paychecks under attack or their managers making sexual advances. These are petty concerns compared to the bigger issue at hand – Their individual civil liberties.
As noted, there are two major factors in worker shortages: The Biden vaccine mandates and state and federal covid stimulus programs which pay people more to stay at home than they would make on the job. THESE are the reasons for worker shortages and anyone that claims otherwise is ignorant or has an agenda.
Federal covid checks are not done yet. Contrary to popular belief the cash is still flowing through various programs including child credit programs. Also, most states continue to pump out covid financial aid on top of existing unemployment benefits. This is essentially Universal Basic Income and it’s not over by a long shot. Businesses cannot find enough labor because the government has bribed millions of workers to stay home. The socialists don’t like to address this problem because it conflicts with their Striketober fantasy, so they deny it exists.
The establishment is well aware that these actions are destabilizing the labor market and I believe the goal is to destroy the small business sector specifically. Small businesses cannot compete with corporations backed by trillions in central bank stimulus. They don’t have the resources to double wage rates for zero-skill workers or to offer large signing bonuses. They also don’t have the resources to police their own employees and customers to ensure these people are complying with vaccine passports and booster shots. Within a year the solid small business foundation of the US will be a hollow shell.
With the death of small businesses, all that will remain are international conglomerates that WILL enforce the mandates and threaten people with poverty and starvation if they refuse the vax. All other legal alternatives will be removed and that is exactly what the elites want. Without defiant small businesses there’s nowhere left for you to work or shop without the vax passport. Corporate monopolies are the tool governments are using to circumvent constitutional protections for individuals.
But as this process plays out the resistance grows. And, as they say, the resistance will not be televised.
The entire premise of Striketober and the rise of the “oppressed proletariat” is a farce, but there is a different kind of revolution brewing. The latest narrative does at least represent something new in the agenda to derail the US economy. For the most part we have been dealing with astroturf protests from Cultural Marxists in the form of crazed social justice warriors funded by globalist foundations. The focus is usually on exploiting cultural taboos or non-existent racism or sexism. The Striketober development is a much more classic rendition of old school Marxist sabotage, and it appears that it was slapped together haphazardly by establishment elites in order to diminish the VERY REAL conservative worker walkouts.
That is to say, from now on expect that if you walk out of a job or get fired from a job for non-compliance on the experimental covid vax you might be lumped in with a fake leftist movement and no one will mention the real reasons for your sacrifice. But what is the point of this psy-op? Don’t the globalists want to identify and demonize the millions of conservatives refusing the vax?
I am reminded of a story I read when I was a child about a conversation between an ancient Roman General and a Roman Senator. The senator tells the general that something needed to be done about separating and delineating the slave class from the free Roman citizens because often they all looked alike and were sometimes dressed alike. The senator suggested that the slaves be forced to wear black arm bands so they could be easily identified. The general disagreed, pointing out that if the slaves were given the arm bands they would finally see how many of them there were, and realizing the sheer size of their population the slaves might then be encouraged to revolt against the empire.”
14 Likes
I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about the needs and sustainability of our family. We have six young children, our oldest just turned 12 and our youngest just turned 3 months old. I love the considerations that the article had above and thought I would add a few things that I have considered for our situation. My husband is the bread winner in our home, and I stay at home /homeschool our children. We have always tried to be thrifty and have had seasons that we needed to do without or be creative. I think that part of the preparation that we have been doing for what is coming has been to start using the new systems and recipes. I have been thinking about how it is important for kids to have a gradual transition into change. We have homeschooled from the time our first child was in kindergarten. I have talked to several moms that began homeschooling when covid hit and were thrown into the deep-end almost overnight. They have expressed how overwhelming that was both for them and their children. Anyway, I think a big part of being resilient with a family, is to start implementing these changes in the home and taking notice of how everyone is handling the changes. Finding out what is going to work long term, what more might be needed or changed, in order for your family to thrive. While also giving your kids a chance to adjust more slowly, and not be thrown into everything at once.
So for our family here are some things that we have been changing or have always done that will help us moving forward…
- We have switched back to using cloth diapers/ wipes. We have a supply of laundry detergent that we buy in bulk that works for our diapers and general wash. In the past I have also made homemade laundry detergent.
- Making baby food has always been a good way to save money and know exactly what is going into our babies.
- I cut all our kids hair and my husbands. Thankfully, we have done this for over 10 years now, so I'm confident in how to do it. I did replace our whal clippers recently, as they were getting fairly worn.
- Instead of buying paper towels we are using old burp clothes/ rags.
- For cleaning we invested in a steam mop, norwex products, and basic items that we have used in the past that can be used to clean with, such as hydrogen peroxide, borax, bon-ami, baking soda, lemon juice, ammonia, Clorox, and vinegar.
- My husband and oldest son hunt. We generally harvest elk, deer, and antelope. We process and vacuum seal our game for the freezer. The last few years we have used some of the ground meat to make our own sausage. Last year my son (11 years old) made elk jerky as well. We make our own dog food out of meat that has been in the freezer over a year.
- I have stocked up on extra things like rennet, citirc acid, cheese salt, and cultures that we can use to make homemade yogurt, cheese, sour cream, and riccotta. We are learning how to make these. We are hoping to eventually buy a cheese press and learn to do hard cheeses.
- I am thinking about containers. In the past we would keep containers from the store and reuse them. My grandparents are farmers that grew up in the great depression and they always keep jars and containers that they could reuse. They reuse and repurpose everything. I've learned so much from them.
- I went through our canning items and ordered reusable lids and pectin. We have canned in the past, so I made sure the equipment is all together. Canning jars are expensive now, but I am finding them second hand.
- During the end of season sales I almost always buy what will be needed the next year for my kids and put it up in the bin for that size. So this fall I bought all of next years summer clothes. I go through each bin when I'm putting kids clothes away at the end of the season and figure out what needs replaced, inevitably there are worn out shoes or holes in the knees on pants. If my kids grow faster than expected than I just look for thrift store/ online market place to get what they need. It if fun though to open a bin up and find a winter coat that was purchased last spring during a big sale or hiking boots that we purchased 75% off that finally fit.
- We always stock up on all the office and school supplies during back to school sales. This way we have full tub of glue, markers, crayons, construction paper, expo markers, tape, folders, notebooks, pencils, etc. Each year I take inventory of what is needed and restock those specific items. We don't need to get backpacks or the list of supplies that most students need to get to go back to school, so this works well for us. We also purchased extra ink for our printer.
- We stopped buying cereal and snack foods during covid. Now I make homemade granola and homemade quick oats. The kids are used to having homemade snacks and things that I can make from the pantry.
- We started a cellar for long term food storage. My pantry has always been well stocked with bulk items, but we decided to go a littler deeper with our stores.
- My husband and I used to brew beer regularly until we felt like we didn't have extra time. We have what we need to start brewing again.
- We have a garden and have went ahead and purchased the seeds and equipment that we will need for next year all ready. We also have decided to keep an indoor compost.
- I am thinking about what we will use in future years in our homeschool and have tried to purchase books and curriculum that we are going to be using in future at book sales and such. The last couple of years I have been trying to get some of the consumable workbooks on pdf, so I can print the items for my children as they need the material.
- My husband is a carpenter, so he has been replacing any tools that are ready to be replaced. Making sure that he has extra blades for saws and things like that.
- I am sending my sewing machine to get a repair that I have been deferring. I took inventory of fabric, pins, zippers, thread, buttons, and patterns. I also ordered a couple extra iron on patches.
- We are introducing recipes that would be used in really thin times. Things with beans and rice. Also, we are honing in our cooking skills for things like homemade bread, pizza, biscuits, and tortillas. We have even made homemade noodles.
- We put up extra fire wood this year and are looking at solar power generators.
- I am planning to grab some extra bike inner-tubes and things that we generally have to replace regularly on our bikes. It is becoming extremely expensive to fill up our gas tank, so by spring we maybe doing a lot more biking as a family.
- We are trying to become more resourceful in our neighborhood, developing relationships with our neighbors. One neighbor down the street sells eggs, another has goat milk. We have some shared land. We found wild rubarb this summer, an apple tree, and my oldest son spent the summer learning how to fish in the river on that land.
36 Likes
I am thinking about containers. In the past we would keep containers from the store and reuse them. My grandparents are farmers that grew up in the great depression and they always keep jars and containers that they could reuse. They reuse and repurpose everything.I buy 'chock-full-of nuts' coffee for one main reason; They are about the only coffee company left that uses the old fashioned metal coffee can. I save those and use them for just about everything.
8 Likes
Does anyone know how to search for nonjab jobs? Facing termination. I know of at least two very large multi-national private companies whom the federal government has threatened to put all federal contracts unless they have all US employees vaccinated. This is even if the employees work from home full-time and do not work on federal. Employees have been given a month to get this done or face termination. Any ideas? Job ads are not mentioning this. Can't search by it.I am employed by a company that relies on federal funding. We were provided 2 options to avoid the jab: health exemption and/or religious exemption. I put together a religious exemption and had my pastor wordsmith it. Yesterday it was officially accepted. Although I was ready to walk (I'm old enough to retire), I want to leave on my terms. Here is some insight from Armstrong:
Leaked White House audio shows that the Department of Justice (DoJ) understands that religious Americans may feel morally opposed to the vaccine as it contains or was tested on aborted fetal tissue. Furthermore, the DoJ acknowledged that those people are religiously exempt by law from taking the vaccine. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was designed to protect workers from religious discrimination if they have a “sincerely held belief.” However, some employers are requesting that employees admit whether they use common medicine such as Tums, Motrin, Tylenol, Benadryl, Claritin, and Aspirin among others as they were also developed using fetal cells. In the leaked audio, a lawyer from the DoJ states employees can honestly say they did not know that those medications were tested on fetal cells and will discontinue their use. Lawmakers are claiming that since religious leaders are backing the vaccine mandate, then their constituents are obligated to abide, which is simply not true. Epotch TV reporter Roman Balmakov spoke with an attorney who stated that it is completely illegal for employers to dissect someone’s religious beliefs, as that is discrimination, and Americans are allowed to hold different beliefs than their religious leaders. First Amendment: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/international-news/ethics/leaked-audio-the-doj-knows-it-must-acknowledge-religious-exemptions/
7 Likes
Wow! Excellent post, Holly. Thanks!
7 Likes
Your assessment of this country’s labor problems is all wrong. As soon as a distinction was made during the pandemic as to what constituted “essential” versus “non-essential” workers “human-beings” woke-up. Being labeled as either an “essential” or “non-essential” worker is a judgement. This has been going on for as long as western civilization has existed. It makes poverty a disease, in the same way our government is a cancer. It’s a cultural judgement, in the same way our society is a constructed against human-beings. Where poverty is a disease and there is no vaccine against it.
2 Likes
Every time I hear from a doctor or health care professional, they indicate that virtually all people requiring Covid care are unvaccinated. Maybe it’s just me, but that is inconsistent with vaccines not working.
Where I live, most of the anger is coming from the unvaccinated crowd.
As for me, I simply avoid unvaccinated people to the extent possible. For now, I don’t donate blood. I have a new hairstylist. Only vaccinated people are invited into my house. I only visit people who are vaccinated.
I went to my first post Covid concert in Madison a couple days ago. Proof of vaccine was required. I was thoroughly surprised. Virtually everyone in the crowd kept their mask on when not enjoying a beverage.
There are ways to respect other peoples health during this pandemic.
6 Likes
Surprised this one isn’t on the list - but to prepare we want to transfer some of our cash assets into a more stable asset. Should we transfer it into physical gold - or physical silver? Please share your reasoning. Thanks!
4 Likes
We purchased a used electric golf cart 3 yrs ago, and had it outfitted with a 24V solar panel for the roof. We haul vegetables, water buckets for 600+ chickens in the summer, and more. We chose EV over a gas-powered ATV, and while an ATV might have more power, the EZ-Go has knobby tires and enough power for most things, and we haven’t spent a dime on gasoline. When TSHTF for real, we will use the golf cart to transport our vegetables 15 blocks to the local farmers market (which we currently do by truck). We discuss what may happen when replacement batteries are no longer available, but for the short term we are happy with the solar-powered “ATV”. And it resembles the Fred Flintstone car!
11 Likes
Every time I hear from a doctor or health care professional, they indicate that virtually all people requiring Covid care are unvaccinated. Maybe it’s just me, but that is inconsistent with vaccines not working. Where I live, most of the anger is coming from the unvaccinated crowd. As for me, I simply avoid unvaccinated people to the extent possible. For now, I don’t donate blood. I have a new hairstylist. Only vaccinated people are invited into my house. I only visit people who are vaccinated. I went to my first post Covid concert in Madison a couple days ago. Proof of vaccine was required. I was thoroughly surprised. Virtually everyone in the crowd kept their mask on when not enjoying a beverage. There are ways to respect other peoples health during this pandemic
17 Likes
USA is in 16th place, behind only low population countries, with 2,290 deaths per 1M. Israel is in 84th place, with 836 deaths per 1M.
USA has 2.7 times Israel’s death rate.
1 Like
USA is in 16th place, behind only low population countries, with 2,290 deaths per 1M. Israel is in 84th place, with 836 deaths per 1M. USA has 2.7 times Israel’s death rate.
13 Likes
Short answer: Yes.
Longer, more nuanced answer: They each have different properties and uses. Gold is more compact and, at a current 75:1 price per ounce ratio, a given amount of wealth is more easily moved or hidden. If you’re trying to (to take a favorite movie reference) hop a flight out of Casablanca, it’s going to be a lot easier with a pound of gold hidden in the lining of your suitcase than with a 75 lb roll-around.
On the other hand, silver has two obvious advantages. It’s easier to have small(er) denominations of it to, say, buy a week’s groceries at your local post-collapse farmer’s market. One-ounce gold coins are just too big for that. The other advantage is that the current 75:1 ratio of silver to gold is way off from the historical 40:1 average. This means that either gold is seriously over-valued (I doubt it) or that silver is presently seriously under-priced. Because of this, silver may be the long-term speculative investment winner.
They both have their upsides and downsides, and there are probably a lot of them I didn’t mention above (and I’d appreciate any additional ideas people have on this, post’em below). The real answer is going to depend a lot upon your circumstances.
8 Likes
Les stop posting crap, get back to me after you break that down by before and after vaccinating. Also please offer alternative countries case/M as comparison. Also please break it down by age.
There is no doubt , the US has mismanaged the disease. or counting there of. We have used faulty tests, we have people dying with covid vs of covid. ( all admitted )
If you are going to state stats, do you have point and argument? and how does this relate to back up your convictions?
Hey also , you know you can mix and match vaccines too… why dont you give pfizer a try and j&j too. You should have plenty of chances. I mean you dont eat the same thing every day , so why not…
6 Likes
You wont get an answer, he’s trolling. This is what he does. He posts inflammatory shit and then runs away. Doesnt bother discussing or learning from anything anyone says. Also the fact that he posts this on a thread about preparing for winter and coming challenges shows you his mind set. He’s just trying to get people angry, he’s a troll, nothing more.
18 Likes
First what you got right with a few caveats: Unvaccinated individuals are at much greater risk of hospitalization and death than individuals who are within about 6 months of their second dose or their booster dose (although it is unknown how long the booster will remain effective). However, this is only true if they do not proactively attend to their own health by: maintaining or aiming for a healthy weight, exercising, ensuring adequate blood levels of vitamin D, taking a whole range of other supplements (vitamin C, zinc, quercetin, NAC, etc.).
And another caveat: It also assumes we ignore early treatments and that individuals do not make every effort to start on one or more of them upon known exposure or early symptoms.
I would bet that the vast majority of those unvaccinated individuals who require covid care are doing little if any of what is available to them to minimize their risk.
And a third caveat: you also ignore vaccine injuries and the real downside they create for vaccination. This is where the data is hardest to track down, but there is certainly some out there. A prior post of mine aggregates several of them here. And then there’s personal experience: 11 known or strongly suspected long-term vaccine injuries and counting. I observed 5 in the hospital and know of 6 in my circle.
Second, how are you so sure that all of those unvaccinated individuals present substantially greater risk of transmitting covid to you. More and more data including this one discussed by sand_kitty as well as the UK NHS weekly vaccine effectiveness reports suggest that it not at all true and that as the months go by, the vaccinated are at higher risk of a mild or asymptomatic infection than the unvaccinated. This is just the kind of infection that can be passed on due to overconfidence in the vaccines and lack of precautions.
Here’s some data for you. Charts I prepared using data from the UK NHS weekly reports.
Note how the vaccines seem to offer negative protection against infection and protection against hospitalization and death is waning. Since UK is about half vaccinated with the less effective Astra Zeneca vaccine, it’s probably not quite that bad here in the USA.
Finally, find me some good research that shows cloth and surgical masks actually work in preventing transmission. I haven’t seen any.
If you’re going to reply with any claims not supported by real data, don’t bother. Show me you’re perspective is correct. Show me good data that presents a case that the unvaccinated are a risk to the vaccinated. You’ll need good data. The separation and othering your personal choices promote have serious long-term consequences for social stability and therefore need some seriously good justification.
12 Likes