The robots are coming. Part 2

I am not talking about the Terminator Robots rising up and exterminating humanity. That's a long way off and probably not hard to prevent. What I am talking about is the fundamental changes that robots will bring to the way our society functions. For thousands of years humans have had a very simple yet effective way of doing things. We trade for goods and services. I do something for you and you give me something in return. Its a simple and effective system. But robots could bring it all crashing down around us.

It is perhaps a sad fact but most humans are employed doing what can only be described as drudgery. Sure lots of people are brain surgeons or rocket scientists but they are the exception not the rule. Most of us spend our days toiling at jobs that really don't require a great deal of brain power. And it is just such jobs that the robots are going to take from us first.

Lets take a look at just a few of the jobs that are going to disappear in the next 10 to 30 years.

Taxi Driver - 300,000
Truck Driver - 3.5 Million
Infantry Soldier - 500,000
Bus Driver - 500,000
Factory Line Worker - 10 Million
Fast Food Workers - 3.5 Million
Grocery Store Workers - 1.3 Million
Bank Tellers - 600,000

Add in all the other jobs that Robots can do like cutting your grass and washing your floor and you may have 50 Million jobs lost in North America in the next 50 years. Some experts believe within 100 years we could have nearly 100% unemployment. How we deal with this change will be a huge challenge. If we handle it right it could be a golden moment for Humanity. We will be free of drudgery and danger in the workplace. We will be free to be artists and philosophers. Or if we mess up the transition it could bring massive unemployment, starvation and death. Time will tell.

Prepping: A Tip For Storing Water

Remember Hurricane Sandy and Frankenstorm?  I hope you were all prepared with a minimum 72 hours of food and water and that your car was gassed and ready to go.

White Orange Juice Containers of Water

Here's a little tip for those who don't have much room to store food, water and other supplies. Fill some jugs HALF-FULL with water  (I use a 2 L pop bottle and 4 L empty orange juice containers) Put those jugs of water in your freezer, filling up all the empty space. Use 500 ml empty water bottles if you can't fit a big jug or bottle in.

When the water is frozen, put them in your refrigerator. Put MORE in the freezer and when those are frozen, leave them there.

If your power goes out the jugs and bottles of water will help keep your food cold and thus be available to eat. If you run out of water you can defrost the frozen jugs and bottles and bingo, there's fresh clean water for drinking.

And if you happen to have empty space in your freezer, keep some jugs or bottles of water in there all the time, don't wait for a storm warning. This will not only provide you with instant water and a method of keeping food cold, it also saves energy because a full freezer doesn't have to work as hard.

Three Category 4 Hurricanes in the Pacific Ocean. This is a bad sign.

This is a first time in recorded history event

In what many are saying is yet another sign of climate change an extremely rare weather event occurred Saturday when three Category 4 hurricanes were ongoing simultaneously in the Pacific Ocean.
This is the first recorded occurrence of three Category 4 hurricanes in the Pacific at the same time. Experts are saying the Pacific storms can be attributed, in part, to unusually warm ocean water. 

Are you ready for climate change?

Prepping on a Budget - Buy Food on Sale

When you see stuff on sale. Its a great idea to stock up.

I was at the store the other day and I found a great deal on crackers. Things like crackers will last for decades if you keep them cool and dry. They may go a tad stale but you can still eat them. So if the price is right I say grab them. You may be glad you did.

Storing Dry Foods for Emergencies

Empty Wine Pails make great storage containers. We fill ours with pasta, rice, Kraft Dinner, Corn, wheat, sugar, salt and other dry foods.

Some, like pasta, we leave in the original packaging and pack them into the pails.

Others, like corn, wheat and rice, we open and dump into the clean pails. You must clean and dry  the pails thoroughly before using of course.

Once we have about 25 pails filled, we open our oxygen absorbers and drop those inside then we seal the lid tightly.

We label all the pails with the date, what food is in each and how much is there, plus the name of the person in our community who contributed the specific food item. We do this in case plans change and a member wants to go elsewhere. We can then fairly easily give them whatever food they have contributed to the group.

Then we store the foods in various spots - some get the spare room in the basement but it has a woodstove so it gets really hot in the winter. Some foods can't be stored there. Others go out to one of our storage sheds. The outdoor sheds are only for foods that can withstand extremes of temperature.

The nice thing about the pails is how they stack. The drawback is that they are cylindrical in shape. We could stack better if they were square or rectangular. We do have rectangular pails but they are smaller so we use those for other food items such as our saved Chinese food condiment packages (Soy sauce and plum sauce) and our saved McDonald's condiment packages (vinegar, ketchup, salt and pepper)

It Can Happen Anywhere - Are YOU Prepared?

A telecommunications failure in the Yukon  pushed many communications services in the territory right off the grid. It started with a power outage in Whitehorse.

When the lights came back on about four hours later, telecommunication circuits began to crumble, cutting off phone, cellular phone, Internet and other services within Whitehorse and as far away as Yellowknife, NWT, and Fort Nelson, B.C.

Because 911 service is unavailable in Whitehorse, additional officers have been put on the streets so citizens can flag them down to report problems.

Yes it's the Yukon but don't think for a moment this can't happen to you. Are you prepared?

Do you have food and water stored? Medicines? Do you have a plan - either bug-out or bug-in? Does everyone in your family know what to do in an emergency situation? Take a look at the blog topics on the right and start reading if you want to be prepared for any crisis situation

The Robots Are Coming Part 1

Robots will change everything

When we think of Prepping we tend to think of disasters like floods or pandemics, however another part of prepping we often overlook is what I call societal changes. Societal changes are unexpected events or developments that fundamentally change the way humans do things. A few examples from history would include the invention of writing. The use of fire. The invention of farming. The industrial revolution. The list goes on....

Now you are probably saying to yourself that the events I have listed are positive things and you would probably be right. However big changes, even positive changes, often bring great pain in the short term. I am not old enough to remember the discovery of fire but human nature being what it is you can bet the people that had fire used it to gain advantage over those who did not. Any history book will tell you of the pain the industrial revolution brought to millions who had to adjust to life in a new world.

So why the history lesson?? Many experts beleve that humanity is right on the edge of a big change. A change that will rank with the big events of human history. An event that is going to change the very nature of how we live our lives and run our civilization. The robots are coming.

Actually the Robots are already here. As I sit here writing this Blog post my robot vacuum is happily scooting around my feet as it cleans the dirt from my floor. Soon my floor washing robot will start up and do the kitchen floor.  And right now an engineer is riding his self driving car as he weaves in and out of highway traffic.

So what does it all mean? And why as a prepper should I care? Stay tuned for part 2.

Preparing For an EMP with a Homemade Faraday Cage

An EMP is an electromagnetic pulse. If one occurs, it could knock out power grids for as long as one year.

That means your vehicle won't work. Your walkie talkies won't work. You get the picture.

To protect your electronic devices you need a Faraday cage.  But you can also make one. Here are some suggestions for a homemade Faraday cage

1. Buy a metal garbage can and store the devices in it. It should protect from the EMP surge.

2. Line a shopping bag or backpack with multiple layers of aluminum foil.

Thousands Flee California Fires.......ARE YOU READY?

In what was perhaps one of California’s fastest-burning wildfires in decades several Northern California towns were practically destroyed. More than 180 homes burned sending panicked residents fleeing on highways lined with buildings, guardrails and cars in flames.

Wild fires are perhaps one of the hardest things to prep for but fortunately you can do a few things to mitigate the risk. Here are just a few suggestions to help you deal with this growing threat.

1. Watch the news and be informed. Many people are simply caught off guard. Knowing the fire is coming can save your life.

2. Have your Go Bag ready. You may only have seconds to run so have everything you need ready at all times.

3. Keep your car fueled up. No time to stop for gas when you are running for your life.

4. Keep your yard as clear as possible. Get rid of junk like wood and brush. Keep trees and other flammable vegetation away from your house. 

5. Try to avoid houses that are close together. Fire can jump from house to house so when choosing a house look for one with a minimum of 50ft separating it from your neighbours.

6. Less flammable housing. If you can choose a house made of cement of brick with a steel or tile roof. Many houses burn as a result of just a few hot embers floating on the wind.

7. Build a fire shelter. As a last resort if you just can not outrun the fire a fire shelter can save your life. Many designs are possible but basically a fire shelter is usually a structure separate from your dwelling that is made from a non flammable material like cement. Often they are buried or partially buried to take advantage of the insulating properties of the soil. 

And of course remember all the basic prepping survival tips like keeping your cell charged. Have the local emergency responders numbers programed into your phone. Have alternate escape routs planed for both your car and on foot. Know the location of possible shelters. 

With a little thought and effort you can do a lot to keep yourself and your family safe from wild fires. 

The Pandemic Perfect Storm

WHO (World Health Organization) tell it like it is 

"Emerging and re-emerging epidemic diseases pose an on-going threat to global health security." 

Here's the list of diseases they are watching and diseases that should concern us all

• Avian influenza

• Cholera

Emerging diseases (e.g. nodding disease)

• Hendra virus infection

Influenza (seasonal, pandemic)

• Leptospirosis

• Meningitis

• Nipah virus infection

• Plague

• Rift Valley fever

SARS and coronavirus infections

Smallpox and human monkeypox

• Tularaemia

Viral haemorrhagic fevers (Ebola, Marburg, Lassa, Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever, etc.)

• Yellow fever

One pandemic would be bad. Two pandemics at the same time could be devastating.  Are you prepared? 

Photo by tiverylucky on FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Planning Meals During an Emergency Survival Situation

So you've started stockpiling food - grains, beans, water, salt and other items. But have you planned meals? It doesn't do much good to simply store foods when you don't have a plan for cooking and eating.

What if I store lots of flour but then realized that I haven't thought much about what to do with that flour. I've got beans but nothing to put with them. Or I've got a food item that I could cook with electricity but it never occurred to me to figure out how or if I could cook it during a crisis when power may be out. What if I want to make tortillas and suddenly realize I haven't got an ingredient I need.

That's why we have a meal plan. My wife has planned meals for every day of the aftermath of any catastrophic incident (flood, earthquake, viral outbreak, EMP, tornado, ice storms, economic collapse, etc)

Planning what we will eat every day for breakfast, lunch, supper and snacks allows us to buy exactly what we need to prepare those meals. Here is my wife's plan, but the quantities will vary depending how many of our community make it to our agreed-on safety place, and how much food we have managed to store there ahead of time.

The list below has quantities for one adult assuming we are rationing food, and that most of our canned goods are gone. It is our basic meal plan which we hope to supplement either with larger quantities or other nutritious foods:

Our Basic Weekly Meals

Basic Food Needs

Breakfast: 1 c. oatmeal, 1/2 tsp. honey, 1 slice irish soda bread, 1 cup of tea or coffee
Snack: 1 c. corn mush, 1/2 tsp. honey
Lunch: 1 cup soup broth with pasta and some dehydrated vegetables or fresh vegetables if available, 1 cornmeal dumpling
Snack: 1 c. corn mush, 1/2 tsp honey, 1 cup pine needle tea
Supper: 1 c. beans, 1 c. rice, 3 tortillas

This provides approximately 2300 calories per person per day. My wife is in charge of making sure we all purchase enough of each ingredient to make these foods.

Pine Needle tea will be available throughout each day in unlimited quantities as it prevents scurvy and is an excellent source of Vitamin C.

We also have planned special meals and treats. This will provide some variety in tastes and also be a small morale booster. It is important to plan and store such food items.

Basic with Kraft Dinner added 

Lots of extras added here! Canned peaches, carrots, and more

Our Special Meals:
1 night each week will be Kraft Dinner. We buy it on sale when it's 33cents per box.
1 night each month will be tuna with pasta for a tuna casserole (while our cans of tuna last)
1 night each month will be rice cooked in broth (a flavoured bouillon cube) with some of the dried vegetables my wife has been making with her dehydrator
1 night each week there will be a dessert of some kind

Friday night special: this will be a shot of liquor for each adult and chocolate milk for the children (using powdered milk)

Sunday afternoon will incorporate a short break time with one candy per person and some games or reading time.

Depending on the time of year we hope to be able to add apples from trees, rhubarb, fruit from wild bushes and vegetables from the gardens to supplement our diet.

We will also add foods found in the wild and any animals we can hunt or fish we can catch. And of course we have to have a method of cooking these foods for a large group. I'll talk more about that in another blog post.

Water Water Everywhere...

Water Water everywhere and not a drop to drink? Hopefully you've planned your water storage for emergency situations. An adult requires 1 to 3 litres of water daily so for one month you need 30 to 90 litres! That's for ONE ADULT. Phew. That's a lot of water.

This past weekend I purchased several rain barrels. They hold 200 litres of water so a full one is good for my wife and I for at least one month, perhaps longer. I set one up yesterday on the deck and added a spigot so I can have a tap and a hose to drain the water out. I'll use it for watering my herbs grown in window boxes on the deck. And it will be one of three that we're going to set up around our house and outbuildings.

We have a small garden shed which only needs a bit of eaves troughing and bingo we can set up another rain barrel. We have another larger shed which can be set up easily too. That gives us 3 200-litre rain barrels, enough water to last the two of us for 3 months or more.

Rain barrels plus large containers of water stored in your basement or closet are a good way to be sure you have enough water on hand for any crisis or emergency situation. 

Scientists to revive 30,000-year-old giant virus. Is it dangerous?

30,000 year old virus

Scientists with the French National Centre for Scientific Research have discovered a new giant virus. 

The virus was trapped in the frozen ground of Siberia for 30,000 years.

The new virus is the fourth in a series of recently discovered prehistoric viruses, which began in 2003.The first discovery was the Mimivirus, followed by two Pandoraviruses.

Though the other ancient viruses discovered in the ice have proven harmless to humans and animals, some scientists say there is a small possibility that other dangerous viruses could be uncovered as the ground melts due to climate change.

Zombie Apocalypse Survival Quiz No. 2 Answer

Answer: #3.

Why? Because a snowshoe hare will run in a circle IF being chased. He will come back to his "home" or spot where he was hiding as long as he can't stop and hide somewhere else.

 So if one of you chases him, he'll run in a circle and come right back to where he was first seen. That's when the second person can be successful and bring back meat for supper. Snowshoe hares have very small and precise territories so it wouldn't take that rabbit long to return

Zombie Apocalypse Survival Quiz #2

It's the Zombie Apocalypse. Everyone in your group is hungry. You and a friend are out in the woods hoping to find game. You scare up a Snowshoe Rabbit and it runs off. He's running too fast to shoot with any guarantee of making the shot

Question: What should you and your buddy do? (i.e, what's the best way to get that rabbit)

1. Both of you should run after it
2. One should stay where you are, and one should run after it
3. Both should stay where you are and hope the rabbit returns

Picking some wild grapes

Wild Grapes

Its wild grape season in this part of Ontario so I went and picked a few to have on my cereal in the morning. Now we have not had a frost yet and they are a little better after a frost but I still enjoy them.

You can do a lot with wild grapes. Jams, jellies, grape juice, wine. You can even eat the leaves in a salad or cooked.

I have added a link to a short Periscope video of my grape picking activities.

Picking Wild Grapes

Vinegar, The Magic Food, Medicine and Cleanser for Survival

Vinegar, the magical food item. That's what I call it. It's something you should have on hand for long-term food storage.
What can you do with vinegar? Vinegar can be used as a disinfectant. Put it on wounds, or with your laundry, or dilute it and wash floors and bedding with it.

Vinegar has medicinal properties and is useful for treating bedding in a sick room. In the 19th century vinegar was an important item for ships' surgeons to have on board. Entire ships were disinfected using vinegar and water to wash floors and bedding and clothing.

Vinegar was in use as a healing medicine and antibiotic in ancient Greece and during the Civil War.

You can also make a salad dressing with vinegar, oil and sugar.

Indigestion can be treated with a dink of vinegar and baking soda.& Yes the old "Make a volcano for science fair" trick. But if you drink a bit, it helps a burp and thus relieves the indigestion. It works better if you use apple cider vinegar.

My father used to drink a small glass of vinegar after every meal. He claimed it helped him digest his food! And my grandmother swore that a tiny glass of vinegar daily helped thin the blood. Who knows, maybe there's some truth in these old home remedies!

More Floods In Japan Show Us We Must Be Ready

Are You Ready For A Flood?

In yet the latest disaster to hit Japan rescue teams in Osaki City are struggling to help residents after a section of a levee on the Shibui River broke early Friday morning. Approximately 100 buildings in the city have been flooded, prompting calls from residents to the city government and emergency services for aid. This is just the the latest area to suffer from extreme flooding caused by a longer than usual rainy season and made worse by a tropical storm. 

Several experts and environmental groups have called this yet another example of the effects of Global Warming. Whatever the reason for this latest round of flooding its a reminder to all of us that we need to be ready for such disasters. If you live in an area that is near water (rivers, lakes, ocean) you must have a flood survival and evacuation plan. 

A Flood Survival Plan can be as simple or as complicated as you want to make it but at a minimum you must have at least two parts. A shelter in place plan and an evacuation plan. Floods can happen without warning so your shelter in place plan involves getting to the highest point in or on top of the building you live in. You may only have seconds to react so you must have every thing you need set aside and ready to go. 

Your evacuation plan involves getting yourself away from the flood waters and to high ground or a high structure. Again you may only have seconds to react so you must have your plan and everything you need ready to go before the flood hits. It will be too late if you wait until the water is at your door.

Stay tuned for more on how to prepare your flood plans in another post.

Image courtesy of khunaspix at Free Digital Photos.net 

Emergency Food Supplies for a Family of Four

We have a lot of food stored for an emergency. We watch the grocery store flyers carefully so that we can stock up on needed food items when they are on sale. Every family should have at least 3 months of food on hand in case of a disaster or emergency situation.

Sometimes families want to start stockpiling food but they are overwhelmed by the challenge and don't know what to get and how to store it. We aren't experts but we've done a lot of research and a lot of trial and error so we have a pretty good idea of what nutritional value is in certain foods, which foods have the longest shelf life and which are best value for the money (in terms of shelf life, ability to extend the ration, variety of meals possible, and cost)

I've already given you the list of 7 basic essential foods which will keep you alive. I explained how much of each you need for one adult for one week. I know you can do the math but let's look at how much of these basic essential foods an average family of 4 needs for 3 months.

It is going to shock you. But it's doable! An important fact to remember is that any child over the age of 7 is considered a adult in terms of food storage.

I am using mostly metric measurements but you can convert for a fairly accurate measurement by using the following:

1 liter = 0.26 US gallons

1 kg = 2.2 pounds

1 US cup = 236.6 ml but you can convert using 250ml=1cup and remember that 1,000 ml or 4 cups is pretty close to 1 L

ITEM	1 ADULT 1 WEEK	4 ADULTS 3 MOS	SHELF LIFE
Grains	3.5kg	168kg	20-30yrs
Legumes	1/2kg	24kg	20-30yrs
Oils	3/4 cup	36c (9L)	5 years if vegetable oil
Salt	2/3 c	32 c (8 L)	forever
Water	7-21L	336-1008L	forever
Sugar	1/2kg	24kg	forever
Milk	1c	48c	20yrs if powder

Prepping on a budget.

Over the years I have had many people say to me how much they would like to Prep but they just don't have the money, the space or the time. So here is the first of several Periscope videos on how to Prep without breaking the bank or having to fill your house with supplies.

So take a look at my video
Prepping on a budget

Answer to Zombie Apocalypse Survival Quiz No. 1

Answer to  Zombie Apocalypse Survival Quiz No. 1:

Reload and wait. Because ducks pair bond for life  duck # 2 will do a circle as he/she flies off and will immediately return to his/her mate. 

If you take the dead duck away, the second duck won't come back because she will see you. Yes there is a slight danger that someone or something else will grab the carcass before duck #2 gets back but it should only take him/her about 2 minutes to return.

Zombie Apocalypse Survival Quiz No. 1

It's the zombie apocalypse. We're low on food. I have a single shot shotgun with me. I see 2 ducks so I aim and shoot one. Duck #2 flies off. 

Question - do I reload then wait to see if duck #2 comes back? Or do I reload then walk over and get the duck I shot and then wait to see if # 2 comes back?

Stay tuned for the answer later today or early tomorrow morning

Live on Periscope. Found a giant puffball.

@IndianaMagnum: LIVE on #Periscope: Found a  Giant Puffball. Good eating.  Available for the next 24 hours then it's gone https://t.co/RGeVd0gKFj

Prepping: Heat Your House For Free

Free Heat. Tossing a hunk of pallet on the fire.

Ok so nothing in life is free. But some things are so low cost its almost like free. So how do I heat my house for free? Well I simply went back to the tech our ancestors used for thousands of years. Wood. Think wood is not free. Well it can be if you are willing to work for it. And if you live in the right area.

I burn shipping pallets or skids as we call them around here. Yep shipping pallets are free for the taking at most factories and stores. One skid will heat my house for 6hrs so that would be 4 a day. However I let the fire go out when I am sleeping ( That's what blankets are for ) so its only about 2 skids to keep me nice and toasty for the day.

Now to be honest I do burn a little bit of wood that is grown right here on my farm but not much. Skids are thin cut wood and that burns fast. So when a break is needed from filling the stove I will toss a log on. I don't like to get up from the table when eating just to keep the fire going.

Getting ready to cut up my skids for today.

Now I realize this only works for some people. You must have a wood stove or fire place. You must have a truck, van or trailer to haul the skids home. And you must live close to the factories or stores that have the skids. Now gas is expensive so you don't want to make special trips to get your skids. I know each place in my town that has them so on a trip to the coffee shop I can grab the skids from the places that are along the way. When I go to the bank I know the hardware store around the corner will have some. I burn almost no extra gas to get them. You get the idea.

This will not work for everyone but it works for me and it reminds us that to survive we need to use what we can find around us. WASTE NOTHING.

Smith & Wesson Mod 1913

The first semi-automatic Smith & Wesson

Just did a live video on Periscope: Smith & Wesson Mod 1913. You can see it live for the next 24 hours. (It's 9:07 p.m Eastern)

Iver Johnson Safety Automatic Hammer in .38 S&W Video

Hi All. My video of the Iver Johnson Safety Automatic Hammer 3rd Model in .38 S&W is now on my Indiana Magnum YouTube Channel. So click on the link below to have a look.

Iver Johnson Safety Automatic Hammer

Iver Johnson Safety Automatic Hammer 3rd Model in .38 S&W

Winter Car Survival Kit

The last few years have seen winter storms in North America trap thousands of motorists in their vehicles for hours if not days. Make sure you have your Car Survival Kit with you. You never know when you may need it.

What you put in your kit is up to you. Some ideas are.........

Water.
Snacks.
Warm hat gloves socks and jacket.
Blanket.
Candles and candle holder.
Flashlight.

I put this kit together in 5min.

Can or other small container for melting water.

You should plan to be able to spend at least 48hrs stuck in your car in sub zero temperatures without a working engine. You can not count on your engine in a survival situation as it may not work for a number of reasons. If you do have a working engine that's a fantastic bonus but be careful. Many people have died from carbon monoxide poisoning while sleeping in a car. Never sleep with the car running. Just turn it on to warm up then shut it off. 

Make sure the exhaust pipe is clear. Snow or other debris can build up around your vehicle trapping the exhaust fumes. Don't let drifting snow trap you. While snow is a great insulator and actually will make your vehicle warmer you don't want to be trapped. So open a door every hr or so and clear the snow away. 

And be careful with your candles. Don't sleep with your candle burning. Cars have lots of flammable fabric and plastic and can go up like a torch if you knock over your candle.

The few ideas I have discussed here are just a start. I recommend you have a much better kit than the one on this page. But anything is better than nothing.

11 Uses for a Smart Phone in an Emergency Situation!

Use your cellphone camera to look around
objects without exposing yourself.

I was sitting looking at my smart phone and thinking about what good will it be when the world falls apart. I came up with a few ideas. I am sure there are more.

Flashlight. Makes a good flash light. Some even have a flash light App.

Memorization Tool. Camera still works and that could be handy for taking photos of things you need to remember. Like landmarks for navigating or things you are taking apart that you need to put back together.

Periscope. Camera makes a good periscope. You can use it for looking around corners with out sticking your head out.

Morale Booster. If it has music or games on it that could be a fantastic morale booster.

Compass. The compass on mine appears to work with out the Internet.

Fire starter. You can short out the battery to start a fire.

Stop Watch. Not sure what you would use this for but something may come up.

GPS Locators. The satellites that send out the GPS signals may still be working. So with a GPS App you can get your location.

Phone Calls. It may still work for a short time after the land lines go down. May not but you may need to contact family members or friends

Calculator. The calculator still works without the Internet and may be handy for the math impaired among us. Math is far more important than you may think for navigating, food rationing etc.

Secret Communications. You can password protect your phone and leave it for another person who knows your password to pick up. Then they can read or listen to your message. Could be handy.

If you are wondering how to keep your phone charged after the end of the world it may not be too hard. You can get a solar charger or charge it from a car battery. A car battery will charge it quite a few times before the car battery will need charging.   

Could you survive an asteroid impact?

In February 2013 a once in a lifetime surprise meteor flashed across the sky and exploded in a fireball above Russia, causing a shock wave that shattered windows and injured over 1000 people. At the same time asteroid DA14 went flying past the Earth at a record-breaking distance of about 17,000 miles from the surface.

The Earth gets hit every day but now and again we get hit by a big one. Could we survive a hit like the one that killed off the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. Some say we could not survive such a hit but I say we can.

We don't really know the effects of a big hit. But if we are to believe what some Scientists tell us then we can assume that the surface of the Earth will be almost completely sterilized by the fires that will consume every thing that will burn. The air will become super heated to perhaps 800 degrees. Earthquakes will rock the planet and giant waves will flood the coasts. Then the planet will freeze for several years due to lack of sunlight. But people can survive all that. They just need to be underground.

Every day all around the world thousands of people are underground at any given moment. Thousands of people work in mines and underground government bunkers. Many thousands more are riding in subways or train or road tunnels. Several hundred or perhaps even a few thousand peppers have underground bunkers they can access.  And don't forget the hundreds of men who are deep under the ocean in nuclear subs all the time. So we can expect many thousands of people to survive the blast and the heat. Now we just need to feed them. So how do we feed people when the earth is one big sterilized cold dark rock? We will eat things that most people would not consider eating now.

We know that many lifeforms survived the event that killed the dinosaurs. Animals that lived under ground and under water were protected from the heat and the blast. And the same kind of animals can survive the next big hit, Animals like mice and rats and earth worms would survive and they may in fact be quite plentiful as the disaster may provide them with lots of dead cooked stuff to eat. The impact will also kill all the larger animals that would normally prey on them. I know it may sound unpleasant but rats, mice, and worms are really nutritious and they don't taste bad if you can get past the idea of eating them.  Think alternate food sources!! Survivors would also be able to find insects and a few species of animals that live in the water such as Fish, crocodiles, turtles, frogs and many more.

Human beings are not designed to live on a diet of meat only so any survivors would also need to find a source of plant matter. Finding the necessary plants on a world that has been scorched may seem impossible but it may in fact not be. The roots of many plants are edible and may survive the initial high temperatures.Water plants may survive for some time until the coming cold temperatures and lack of sunlight kill them off.

Long term survival in such a hostile environment will be difficult. It could be many years before sunlight returns to levels sufficient for agriculture. However humans are amazingly adaptable creatures and our ability to use whatever we can find to our advantage should serve us well. For example our ability to scrounge things like glass from the wreckage of civilization and build greenhouses to grow plants sooner than nature would otherwise allow.

So with a little luck and ingenuity humanity might just survive an asteroid impact.

Credits: Image by idea go at freedigitalphotos.net

Bond Arms Snake Slayer or Perhaps Zombie Slayer

I just picked up my new Bond Arms Snake Slayer (Well ok its my Wife's) I wont go into too much detail as you can find plenty of info and reviews on line and I see no point in repeating all that. So I will just concentrate on the anti Zombie potential of Snake Slayer.
 
In brief the Snake Slayer is a cool little .410 shotshell/.45Colt pistol. It looks like an old fashioned Derringer but its made to modern standards and is bigger than the original Derringers.  I should also say that you can get it in many other calibers just by swapping out the barrels but its the .410 shotshell/.45Colt that we are talking about as that's what I have.

As an anti Zombie weapon the Snake slayer has a few problems. I will get them out of the way first so we can talk about all the good features of this gun.

CONS AS A ZOMBIE KILLER GUN

1) Limited to 2 shots. Because its in the style of a Derringer it only holds 2 rounds and reloading is quite slow. The best reload time I can get is about 10 seconds. Someone younger and faster could probably do a little better but its still slow. When surrounded by hoards of the undead 10 seconds is an eternity.

2) Single action. As the Snake Slayer is single action you need to manually cook the hammer for each shot and that will also slow your rate of fire down a tad.

3) Bad sights. The sights on this little gun are just not that great. The rear sight is small and as the gun is all one colour (stainless steel) I find it quite hard to get a quick sight picture. However to be fair the gun is intended to be used at extremely close range so the sights are just a guide.

PROS AS A ZOMBIE KILLER GUN

Now for the good stuff.

1) Quality. The Snake Slayer is well made. It's a solid hunk of stainless steel that just looks really good. It feels like with a little care it would last a lifetime.

2) Reliability. I have found it quite reliable. I have had no issues with any brand of ammo that I have used. In fact I have had no misfires or any failures at all. I should say however that the gun has only had 250 rounds through it so something may crop up yet.

3) Its versatile. This gun is really a little tiny shot gun and as such its very versatile. With a simple change of shells you can go from shooting small animals like snakes or small birds to defending yourself from larger attackers like dogs or Zombies. A blast of .410 buckshot is devastating at close range. And with slugs or .45 Colt you can extend your range out to a considerable distance. I found it easy to ring a 12 inch steel gong at 60 yards from a seated position. I was able to hit it a few times from a standing position as well but I found it difficult. I should also mention that after about 5 shots it started to get a little hard on the hand. The recoil with slugs is managable but some may find it a bit much.

4) Easy to use. Its a really simple gun to use. Push the safety. Cock the hammer. Pull the trigger.

5) Safe. Because its so simple to use I believe it would be a gun that lends itself to safe use. The safety is large and simple and easy to use. Its a single action so one must cock the hammer before you can shoot it. It also has a rather stiff trigger pull that makes it hard for someone who is in a stressful situation to have an accidental discharge. You have to pull the trigger hard to make this gun go bang.

6) Easy to carry. At about 22 oz it's a nice easy gun to carry around. Yes you can find lighter guns but when you combine the light weight with the firepower of .410 buckshot its a nice carry gun.

So to sum it all up the Snake Slayer may not be the best Zombie gun but in my opinion its a handy little gun that would make a great back up gun or a good carry gun for most self defence situations. Just not hordes of the UnDead.