naturharmoniestation part 2

Well, hells bells, that was easy.
When I modified the PCV CB to fit a 4" stovepipe, I totally forgot I left all the hardware for the original 2" exhaust pipe in the PVC housing.  No major surgery needed.  It was just a matter of swapping pipes and adding a PVC cap to accommodate the NHS pipe.

Looks like a shotgun with a big ass silencer.

Hopefully, it's more than just good looks.  The field generator base might add some balls to the passive orgone accumulator NHS pipe, making it better than before.  Or not.  I added this modification when the weather was picture perfect.  How can you improve on perfect?  Um... how bout continued perfect weather?  We're supposed to have a dry day for the 22nd and rain for the 23rd.  I'll let it go for a few days to see if there's any demonstrable changes.  Either way, I'll end up setting this unit in a grounded bucket of water, the way it was designed, and note the observations.

About this setup...  The NHS pipe terminates about six inches from the base of the PVC pipe by nesting in a pipe connector in a ring of medium density orgonite.  The field generator at the base is connected to a solar powered frequency generator set at 14Hz.  I removed the three foot, insulated orgonite stuffed copper pipe, used as a central core, to fit the new pipe.  Without it, there's nothing in the center of the ring generator to resonate with, and this thing has little chance to take off properly.
 
I forgot to put the core back in, ok?  We all make mistakes but the beauty of this design is any mistake can be easily corrected.  Any part on this device can be swapped out easily and even a complete breakdown and rebuild can be performed in a matter of minutes.  Also, any off-the-wall modification can be installed just as quickly.

One such modification, that comes to mind, is the addition of a water core, housed in the PVC base and connected to ground.  This can satisfy the NHS pipe requirements as well as provide a neutral core for the field generator to resonate with.  Three inch PVC pipe should do nicely for this mod.

I'll keep ya posted.  

naturharmoniestation

The Naturharmoniestation, or NHS, is a device built by a company in Germany that claims it will clear electro-smog and chemtrails from the air in a radius of 14km and an altitude as high as 17km. That means it would take three of these units to clean the air in lower Manhattan. You know I had to try and build one.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVfNLLCTdAY
The video is in German without subtitles, but the materials and methods were fairly easy to understand.  It's basically an orgone accumulator wrapped around a pipe using layers of felt and steel wool with heavy paper as a layering medium.  An orgone accumulator functions through layers of steel wool and an organic material in separate layers.  Separation of the layers is critical and even a single steel wool hair making contact with another layer can short the system and drastically reduce it's effectiveness.  By folding the steel wool and organic material in an envelope of heavy paper and wrapping it around the pipe eliminates that risk entirely.  Multiple wrappings in construction grade plastic produces a very effective three layer orgone accumulator that looks like the resonator on a car, and just as weatherproof.

The NHS website will sell you a unit, just like the pic, for about $550.  That got my attention!  I'll bet I could build one just as good for a fraction of that cost.  An online search got me all the parts I needed for less than fifty bucks but building the damn thing was a different story.  Unless you have a helper or two and a large working area, this project could get the better of you.  If you choose to do it outside, in the wind, pray you have the patience and eye-hand coordination to successfully put it together. 

I managed to build this one solo but there were times during this project I nearly lost my shit.  Building that IKEA home work station/gym is falling off a log simple, by comparison.  Working with steel wool, cutting felt to fit, and measuring and cutting paper envelopes in the wind made me wish I had three arms.  The first layer took an hour to assemble and 45min into it I was ready to throw the whole thing in the ditch. 

There's a layer of paper over the pipe, followed by felt, then a layer of steel wool, both wrapped in an envelope of brown paper exactly 60cm wide.  This is then tied up like a salami before the next set of layers.  There's three sets of layers making this a three frequency orgone accumulator.

I had to take a few liberties with the design.  Finding 2" shrink tube can only be found online and the steel pipe has a tendency to rust.  Packing tape will have to do to seal it, for now, and a coat of shellac on the exposed metal parts should retard oxidation.  This thing is designed to stand in grounded water, exposed to the elements for an extended period of time and I want this unit to last.  Since this unit is closely associated with water, I included a triskelion on the pipe before the first layer.

The method NHS uses to activate these pipes is mounted to a grounded bucket of water, which I intend to do, but I can't help wondering how this device would react with a cranked up field generator at it's base.  Like maybe as the pipe on the PVC CB or with a submerged field generator in the bucket of grounded water. 

I'll keep ya posted.


 

  

            

structured rum

I've been sitting on this rum wash for a few months and finally decided to run it.  Not so much because I needed rum or because I wanted to try out a new column but more like I wanted the fast fermenter for other projects and this stuff had to be dealt with.  Procrastination is one thing but sloth is a whole nuther level of ugly inefficiency and I ran out of excuses for not doing the distill.  That, and I wanted more rum to play with.

I'm glad I did because it turned out to be the best rum I ever made, demoting Captain Morgan to cabin boy.

I ran this batch in the usual way with a short column and thumper.  Past experience told me after the first 100ml, that I threw out, came a pint of high potency stuff with little flavor, which I set aside.  I used a gallon jar for collecting the hearts with close monitoring after the third quart.  When the tails started to make it's ugly appearance, I collected that in a separate jar, effectively segregating it from the primo stuff.  The result was short of a gallon of 150 proof rum with a clean taste and smell that's perfect for working with.

I started with a half pint and reduced the proof to 80 with reverse osmosis, magnetized vortex, structured water.  I tried samples using just the reverse osmosis water as well as well water and the difference was clear.  Where the spring water and reverse osmosis water gave the rum a decent taste, it was the structured water that gave the rum a clean, refreshing flavor without a bit of harshness.  The spring water has a total dissolved solids of 38 but the other two are chemically identical.  There should be no difference between the structured water and the unstructured... but there is.

The naturalist Viktor Schauberger called water a living organism, insisting that in its various forms, as blood, sap or biological water, it is the basis of all life.
In order to maintain its quality, water needs to behave like it does in a natural stream, dancing and cavorting in spirals and vortices, or in the ground, constantly moving sinuously in capillaries or circulating within its storage chambers. In a youthful stream, water is most active, producing vortices down the stream length, which act like the river’s immune system.

The system I used for making the structured water is similar to the vortices below the surface of any stream or river.  The only difference is the placement of four rare earth magnets where the vortex reaches the narrowest point.  I can only assume the pure, dead water structured in this way turns it into what the old moonshiners called branch water, natural stream water from the boonies, where they used to set up their operations.  I read somewhere that moonshiners insisted on branch water over any other water, including the stuff from a well, no matter how clean it was.  They knew it was the difference between so so corn liker and the real good stuff you save for company.  Now I know why.

Not terribly satisfied with making only real good rum, I decided to try some flavor to fill in the gap and make something truly dynamic.
I added orange and lime zest to a pint of rum and let it sit for a couple days and then added some almond extract.  Holy crap!  This shit is damn good but it's missing something I couldn't quite put my finger on.

As I sat on the patio in a state of rum contemplation, the Sound of Music ran through my memory banks in the form of "A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down."  That's it!  I put a teaspoon of white sugar in my mason jar of spiced rum and shook it til it dissolved and took a taste.  This is it!  A perfect balance of flavor on a pallet of deliciousness.  The orange and lime merged beautifully with the almond that complemented the delicate rum background with just enough sweet to bring it all together.

That night my neighbor came by to visit and the two of us drained a fifth, neat, one small glass at a time.  No shot shooting, no mixing with Coke.  Just sipping with the conversation revolving around how wonderful this stuff is.

To be sure, I'll be repeating this experiment in future distillations.  Do you think structured water will have a positive effect on plants or coffee?  I intend to find out.    

he broke me

some more orgone stuff

What you see to the left is part of a larger unit I'm putting together.  This is only the beginning stages and the whole project is far from total conceptualization.  What the finished project will look like is anybody's guess and what it's supposed to do is just as vague but the parts are small and easy to make, which means I can mix and pour something on my way through the garage to check on the wine I have on it's second ferment.

The bottom orb is the one I made a few weeks ago followed by two smaller orbs of a lessor density than the first.  The three smaller units are six halves from left over resin, three medium density and three high density.  The close proximity of medium and high density puts out an energy field even I can feel, which made a natural choice to mount them on top.  The whole thing is held in place with copper pipe to satisfy the principal of metal on the inside.  When the time comes I'll complete it with organic material on the outside to satisfy the other half of that rule.
This has been running on 7.83Hz since I made the first orb.   

I still have to play with the order to find out what combination works best.  At this point, there's a gentle buzz flowing through the top.  I know I can do better but like I say, it's not even a concept yet.  The thought occurred to me that I might be able to boost that ring generator by pre-forming some medium to low density tiles to fit the perimeter.  That would be quick, easy, and painless.  At this stage I can't say if I'll be using this ring or opt for something completely different.  My money's on something completely different.    

after the rum

As promised, I ran the rum and although it came out pretty good, I'm just a little more impressed with the way these greens are coming up.

Believe it or not, I've been harvesting from this system for weeks and it just keeps on growing.  Compared to the lettuce in a pot that I used as a control, these things dwarf them by 100%  I had no choice but to put the control group in the garden to share company with the ordinary plants.  I think it's time I plucked the big ones and start some new seedlings.  Hell, the season just started and I'm just now getting up to speed. 

One thing I noticed in one of the raised beds was the Jerusalem artichokes.  Bugs don't bother them, rabbits don't nibble them, and weather changes don't effect them in the least.  They just keep growing and they do it better than any other cultivated plant.  Probably because Jerusalem artichokes are used to growing in roadside ditches and places full of other weeds and really crappy soil.  Give them a decent environment and they thrive better than any "cultivated" flora.  They're weeds but they're damn tasty weeds and you can't find them in the supermarkets.  Only roadside ditches and my raised bed.   When was the last time you saw weeds with a bug problem?  They seem to repel bugs and rodents as nature's way to keep the species going.  I wish someone would teach this trick to eggplant.

hydroponic update

Update on the bucket plant.

It's been nine days since I took the first pic of the hydroponic tomato plant and it looks like we got some growth going on.

This unit is so self contained I don't have to do anything outside of look at it once a day.  Even the water is at acceptable levels.  Root growth is impressive but not excessive, which tells me the nutrient solution is perfect for this plant.  The growth has doubled since I set this up and I'm already developing blossoms.  Compared to the tomato plants I see in neighborhood gardens, this one has them beat by a few weeks.  Granted, it's been a chilly May and garden soil isn't as warm as it should be but this bucket has been outside with an ambient water temperature equivalent to the garden soil where other plants are growing at a somewhat slower pace.  I guess they're doing fine but not phenomenal, and phenomenal is what I expect from my vegetative, earth-bound friends.

The same rate of growth holds true for the PVC hydroponic system.  I've already replaced one third of the plants that were growing out of control with seedlings that quickly adapted to the new environment.  I guess plants like a lot of water.  Go figure.

All this positive reinforcement is getting me to think of building something a little bigger, maybe sixteen feet of PVC with 2" cups for the plants.  Everything else will be the same as the first PVC system.  With a little engineering I can make it fit in a 2' by 4' space that can hold 30 plants or more.

I spent enough on this for one day.  It's time to make some rum.              

it's not all bad

For many people, politics is a sport where you root for your team to win.  Democrats and Republicans are like Army and Navy football teams.  Cheer for your side and gloat when your team wins or take a spanking from the winning opposition for a year.
This last presidential election was a bit different.  Trump won and the Trump haters can't stand it and the cry babies have been bitching since November, calling for an impeachment that will never happen.

Trump ran on the foundation of draining the swamp.  In other words, destroying the established status quo that's been screwing this country and the world for 50 years.  I mean, isn't that what we all want?  Or do we want business as usual?  Make up your minds.  Police state or freedom?  The same old same old or something better?

I'm beginning to think I may be on the wrong side.  If everyone hates Trump, who am I to disagree?  Maybe the left is right or the right is left.  What part of the picture am I missing?  Maybe importing lots of Muslims is a good thing.  Maybe Sharia law is the way to go.  Maybe an open door policy for all nations is the best way for the world to come together as one nation under one flag.  As westerners, we really don't know much about Islamic culture.  Maybe Islam IS better.

I mean, check it out.  You're a guy walking down the street and you get a little horny.  Just grab a female and rape her.  You can do that and have the right because women are less than equal to men.  Her testimony won't count in court and as an Islamic guy the law will always side with you.  Your wife or girlfriend gets out of line, slap her around a bit and make her blow you.  It's cool.  You can do that if she disrespects you.  If she gets totally out of line, like not wearing a bag over her head like you order her to, you can honor kill her and replace her.  You can also have multiple wives so things never get boring.  Your wives know they're expendable so you can count on them to submit whenever you want.  Send them all to work in head to toe black polyester while you stay home and rape Christian virgins with your friends.  Infidel Christians aren't even human and have less rights than a dog.  Once Sharia is the law of the land, you can blame it on a sexual emergency and report the Christan women as infidels if they cause trouble.  The courts will even let you have conjugal visits while they languish in prison, whether they like it or not.

I'm tellin ya, this Sharia stuff is made for us guys and it will keep women obedient and submissive, like they're supposed to be.  I say, BRING IT ON!

The only problem is Trump wants to build a wall and stop Muslims from coming here to add diversity to our culture and prevent women from covering themselves with polyester to keep them from getting raped.  Polyester protects women's rights.

Write your congressman and tell him you want Sharia law and the religion of peace to show us the way.

MR. TRUMP, TEAR DOWN THAT WALL!

       

hydroponic observations

I've come to realize no matter how well something can grow in soil, it can grow much better in a hydroponic solution.

If that's true, why do people still garden in soil?  Probably for the same reason I still have raised garden beds.  Soil is still the only acceptable medium for growing fruits and vegetables, at this time.  Industry is geared up for soil gardening with cultivators, hoes, hoses, fertilizers, pesticides, and bagged soil of every kind, creating sub-industries that rely on the warmer months to keep their businesses going.  The cost to convert hundreds of acres of farmland to greenhouses is out of the reach for the small family farms and the giant corporate farms are run by ADM, Monsanto, and a few other corporations, heavily invested in GMOs and chemical farming, who aren't about to cut their own economic throats.

Not so in other parts of the world.  Ontario, Canada has massive greenhouses a mile long that can grow anything, year round, with climate controlled efficiency.  Sure, it costs millions to build one of these greenhouses but they pay for themselves in a few years.  After that, it's all net.  And they do it hydroponically.

Compare that system to earth farming that requires a million dollars worth of farming equipment before you break soil.  Not to mention dealing with Monsanto as a business partner, intensive labor, irrigation, storage, weather concerns, equipment malfunctions, and the risk that your whole crop could go bust.  Any soil agribusiness could lose it all without a hedge fund to counter potential losses, further reducing profits.  Not to mention, all that GMO food laced with glyphosate costs more, has little to no food value, and will keep you sick for the rest of your life.

In my limited experiments with hydroponics I learned a few things that could radically increase my bottom line, if I was in the food producing business.

This hydroponic system has been running a little more than a month and I began harvesting greens within a couple weeks of planting.  No weeds, insects, or rabbits.  It's all at waist level so there's no back breaking work.  Startup cost is extremely cheap and easy.  Daily maintenance takes minutes and only requires mixing a solution once a week as the major duty.  It's portable and can be run indoors.  With lights and a timer you can produce just about anything, year round.  Exposure to soil bound bacteria and parasites is a non-issue.

But what about larger plants like tomatoes and asparagus?

I'm working on it.

The five gallon bucket to the left has a nutrient solution with an air stone to oxygenate the water that feeds the tomato plant in a perforated cup filled with an inert growing medium.

Theoretically, adding a light and keeping it indoors during the colder months, this system could produce indefinitely, year after year.

And it all comes back to growing indoors for a reason.  In a SHTF scenario, there's a very real possibility that air and soil contamination could threaten the food supply.  Rather than prepping by stocking up on canned food that will be gone in a few months, why not grow your own, indefinitely?  A few solar collectors and a little technology could easily turn any system totally off-grid.  An unheated basement with a little floor space is all you'll need for perpetual, food sustainability and independence.    

Just think what you could do with cannabis.              

label contast

I know gin is supposed to be water clear.  But this is no ordinary gin.  Let me explain.

I went through my alcohols and got together all the stuff that wasn't worth drinking but not bad enough to throw away.  Stuff like heads, tails,  low wines, and other stuff that I knew had a purpose other than drain cleaner.

I got all this stuff in a five gallon bucket where it proofed out to 130.  I then added a sachet of juniper berries, coriander, lemon zest, and a few other things and let it set for 53 hours.  I then reduced the alcohol content to 60 proof and ran it through a pot still.

After bringing the proof down to 86 I gave it a taste, then another taste.    Not bad for a gin, and I hate gin.
I hated gin ever since I stole a half gallon of the stuff from my fathers liquor cabinet and slept half the afternoon off in my neighbors back yard, only to wake up half way to the hospital to get my stomach pumped.  It inebriated me to another dimension but scared the shit out of my father when the neighbor called to say I was in his back yard, not moving.

Well, all thats behind me, and outside of a few interludes with Guinevere and a few cases of frozen Doornkart, I figured it's time to make something better than average gin.

Anyway... what makes this gin so excellent is a few dashes of bitters.  That's it.  Just a few dashes turned this rather hot tasting gin into something worthy of sipping ice cold.

After sipping a small bottle of this stuff, the idea came to me to market some hip flasks to extol the virtues of imbibation.  And this is where I'm stuck.  I need a decent copy for the labels I plan on putting on these flasks I intend to market and I'm looking for some ideas.  You don't have to go all photoshop over this.  Just an outline, a pic, or a slogan will do.  I suggest you get drunk before you start and send it out before you sober up.  Even if it's a rambling email suggesting what goes where with lots of misspellings.  Trust me, that's the copy I'm looking for.  Bring out your inner drunkard and create something to be proud of. 

The first person to send me copy of a label that I use will receive a free flask with the approved label.  Not only that, but they'll receive the FIRST flask I produce.  I'll even mark it as 00001, as proof this is the first in production.  I'll even put your likeness on the label, If I really flip over it and if you're ok with your likeness on a hooch hip flask.

So, take a shot, put on your thinking caps and be famous.        

hydroponics structured water

 It's been sixteen days since my last posting of the greens.  No disappointment here.  Once I got past the learning curve, the system evened out and every plant is doing pretty good, even the weak ones.  Fact is, I can no longer tell which ones were the runts.

It took a while for the root mass to develop properly but after that, they stabilized and took off.

I've been harvesting leaves from all of these plants on a regular basis with no slow down in growth.  It seems periodical trimming only makes them grow all the more. 

It's pretty much maintenance free and my only chore is checking on them once in a while and replenishing the nutrient water supply about once a week.  That's it. 

In comparison with the raised beds, it's no contest.  The greens in the raised beds are doing ok but nothing like the hydroponics.  Don't get me going on the increased rabbit population with an appetite for swiss chard.   Rodents is one problem this system doesn't have.

All that aside, today I introduced structured water to the mix and I want a before picture to see what effect it has on the plants.  Before I provide a detailed account on how I made the structured water, I want to see if it's worth the effort.  I figure I'll do an update sixteen days from now and we'll see the changes, if any.

It was never my intention to do anything with this unit outside of growing a few greens for the summer but it'll do just as well inside during the winter months with the help of a grow light.  A unit twice this size would take up the same square footage and be able to support about thirty small plants.  Growing larger plants is just a matter of controlling the root mass and providing support.

Something to think about in a SHTF scenario. 

 


   

manifestation, one at a time

Not really impressed with the first orb, I decided to construct another with the same recipe but with a different shape and pour protocol.

Maybe I've been working with powered devices for too long but these passive devices seem feeble to me.  I suppose I should appreciate the minuscule buzz they create but they're nothing compared to the powered field generators I've been building these past years.  Just because I'm not sensitive enough to feel the subtle energy these things put out doesn't mean it's not there.   

The basic construction is copper oxide, brass chips, red iron oxide, lots of quartz sand, and just enough resin to let it pour.  The imperfect look was intentional and made possible by a heavy slopping of Vaseline on the inside of the glass mold.  Resin can't get past something as thick as Vaseline, so it cures with the release agent imperfections, making the thing look like a common rock... with hole in it.  Rather than a simple orgonite orb, the hole turns it into a toroid shaped power structure capable of some relatively awesome power.

I didn't realize how awesome it was until I jacked it up with 7.83Hz and made an intention.  Let's just say the intention was way out of the bounds of accepted reality, and even I expected the intent to swirl down the improbable pipe.  Within four hours, my intent became manifest.  I shit and fell into it upon realizing what happened.  I mean, I literally defecated in my pants and fell backward landing on my ass in total amazement.

This isn't the first time this sort of thing happened.  It seems to occur whenever I make a fairly large piece.  While it's in the final stage of cure, or shortly thereafter, is when the intention to manifest is highest.
I've noticed this time and time again, the manifestation window is greatest near the completion of the project or when freshest out of the mold, and peters off after that.

To be clear, it doesn't seem to happen with small pieces like TBs but the larger, softball sized and up pieces, have an extraordinary ability to manifest intent into reality.  But it's not a long lived intention manifestator.  It has like one big intention you can use in a rather short time frame and peters out after that.

What this tells me is I have to make another softball sized orgonite for each intention I make.  That's cool, because I need about six more for my next project.  

babble fish is here

This is so cool!  Starting price is $299 and they're taking orders.

buzzfeed is cancer

little tony

“Little Tony was sitting on a park bench munching on one candy bar after another.
After the 6th candy bar a man on the bench across from him said Son you know eating all that candy isn't good for you. It will give you acne, rot your teeth, and make you fat.
Little Tony replied My grandfather lived to be 107 years old.
The man asked, Did your grandfather eat 6 candy bars at a time?
Little Tony answered "No. He minded his own fucking business.”

― Robert Anton Wilson, Email to the Universe and Other Alterations of Consciousness

orgone field generator components

It's been known in the alt scientific community that South Africa is loaded with ancient technology that date back hundreds of thousands of years.  This technology seems to be based on geometric shapes based on a stone called hornfels, the same stone Leedskalnin used to build corral castle in Florida. 

South Africa is littered with ancient stone beads that were once considered more valuable than their weight in gold.  A rock more valuable than gold got my attention but who knows what the value of gold was a half a million years ago.  These stones look like ordinary orbs with a hole in the middle, like a donut, but the energy they emit is off the charts.  I decided to build one.

  It took a while to find the right combination of molds and building protocol and a couple more days coming up with a resin recipe that would come close to what those ancient orbs were made of. 

Since hornfels was the primary stone used in these geometric shapes, I figured that was a good place to start.

There doesn't seem to be any more than a general description of hornfels other than it's metamorphosis was the result of being baked by being a little too close to magma in the planet's early years, producing a very hard, crystalline structure.  It's primary use is a base for highways. 

Not wanting to go out of state for some free stone, I turned to some rocks I have from Herkimer, NY. that are known to contain the highly coveted Herkimer diamonds.  These stones look identical to hornfels and, apparently, that area of New York is the second most common volcanic landscape feature on Earth.  I think I might be on to something.

Building this new device would require busting up the Herkimer rocks to powder and using it as the resin base.  Before doing that, I decided on a prototype made with crushed quartz sand with a teaspoon of powdered aluminum, two teaspoons of 1mm sized brass chips, and pinch of selenite.  

There's two reasons I did it this way.  
1.  I wanted to get the shape and procedure correct.  A trial run. 
2.  I wanted a base unit to compare with the Herkimer unit.

Sanding and filing got progressively more difficult.  The longer this unit set, the harder it got.  The next morning I was barely able to scratch it.  Stone would be easier to shape.  Mental note:  Finish up before you're done for the day.

Ok, so this unit is constructed only of medium density.  The idea is to place it inside an extra high density ring with a frequency driven mobius coil to study the difference in component cascading densities and multi density units.  It's also a good way to find the perfect ratio of XHD and MHD in a unit by adjusting the mass of MHD while maintaining a consistent XHD in the form of the ring.

The shape is supposed to be toroid, like the stones found in South Africa and other parts of the world left by the ancients.  The design still needs work.  Too many edges that are impossible to grind down and it should be as tall as it is wide.  This is why I made a prototype, first.

If I'm not careful I might learn something from this.          


  

lettuce be

Has anyone noticed the prices of greens this year?  $5.00 for a head of Romaine is just a little too high, in my humble opinion.  I mean, it grows in the dirt from a seed that costs like 1/1000th of a penny.  Just add water, wait, and sell it for five bucks.  Hell, I can do that myself and eliminate all those middlemen. 

Let me make this clear.  I'm not bitching about the cost of salad greens.  I'm bitching about the price of salad greens.  There is a difference.  It takes 60 days to grow a head of lettuce from seed to head.  Labor consists of planting a seed, adding water and nutrients, and waiting 45 days.  They plant thousands of these at a time and pay some kid five bucks an hour to do it.  (part time to save the cost of benefits)   That might take a half day.  40 days later they pick em, pack em, and ship em to the store who buys them for pennies and sells them for 400% profit to pay his minimum wage part timers, with a little left over for a new car.

I know the economy is better than it's ever been.  Everyone is suddenly debt free and their mortgages are paid off.  Even burger flippers are getting 20 bucks an hour.  So why should anyone complain about four heads of lettuce costing an hours worth of labor?  Think it might have something to do with the cost of a 32 GB USB flash drive costing less than a head of lettuce?

Whatever the reason, I decided to do a cost analysis and see for myself.

I went through the garage and found just about everything I needed to build a hydroponic system.  A couple pieces of 3" PVC, some 2x4s, submersible fountain pump, 5 gallon bucket with lid, some neoprene hose, and a box of nails.  A little scrounging and Amazon and next thing ya know I'm growing greens.  I figure that's $20 worth of Romain and $15 worth of mixed lettuce at three bucks a head.  Maybe I'll set up a little stand outside the grocery store to sell my surplus.

Of course, it's my first attempt and I made plenty of mistakes like drilling the holes before cementing it together.  But a little ingenuity, a couple power tools, and a propane torch later it looks almost professional.  At least it works.  As a control, I have two Romain plants in dirt to compare growing results.

This system could equally work with aquaponics as well as multi-tiered set ups to support 100 plants in the same square footage.  I'm also working on a similar system to grow asparagus and tomatoes that would produce year round in a zone 3 climate.

Now that I don't have to waste my time pulling weeds, I can work on something really important, like my pyramid amplified field generator.

Stay tuned.    

   

what's in the bag?

I knew there was no way I could come up with a bug out bag that would last any more than a week.  Maybe city folk think they can rough it by not taking the bus or subway but here in rural America, we travel by car, not by foot.  For me to carry everything that represents me and my culture would require a bunch of guys like in the Tarzan movies crossing darkest Africa.  Aint gonna happen by foot, unless I can't find the fuel to get me to the next gas station.  And then, I'd want to hunker down with my stuff and a good place to sleep until the shit blows over.  Doin that in a tent, out in the open, is like asking for a beatin. 

I have two cars at my disposal.  One is an Expedition with all the comforts of home with really shitty gas mileage.  The other is a 95 Caravan with a 5 speed tranny with lots of new parts.  In the event that the SHTF you'll want something inconspicuous that can fly under the radar and blend.  You also want something with good gas mileage.  The Caravan is a no-brainier.  Unless the driver is a total retard, that kind of vehicle can get through any checkpoint because of it's status as a soccermom_mobile.  Put a soccer ball icon on the back window and you're in like Flynn.

As far as bugging out, I got too much stuff for one pack.  I need a car to move all my shit.  I can't get by on minuscule provisions  from a dying economy, hoofing it to a better place hoping the zombies won't get me.  The plan is to look as normal as you can and not be eaten.

And that's the schizoid mindset of most bug out preppers.  What to put in the bag that will keep you alive for the rest of your life.  What precious 21st century possessions do you have that you can't live without?  How much of the crap you own can you set fire to?  99.9% of all the stuff that fills your living space and storage bins will be put in one pile and thirty pounds left over that will fit in a backpack.  I'll bet some of that stuff you keep will be clothes, fishing hooks and line, flashlight, a cook stove, a bic lighter, and a big bag of Raman noodles.  Maybe the most important thing to leave behind is your dependence on society.  You'll never catch a fish with hooks and string and you know it.  You'll eat your Raman noodles crunchy in the dark when your flashlight and lighter quits.  May as well lose the cook stove.

Here's what ya do.  Learn how to make a fire with sticks and rocks.  Once you got that down pat, go out in the woods with just the clothes on your back and spend a day learning how to put an edge on a rock and put a point on a stick.  Learn how to build a primitive shelter using only rocks and sticks.  Build a fire and think about finding water as you gather firewood.  Look for something edible like roots and berries.  Spend the night in your shelter and wake up cold because the fire went out.  Go home hungry and think about how you can do that two nights in a row and what you would do differently.

I don't expect anyone reading this will bother to attempt making fire, let alone spending the night in the woods, with or without a phone.  Doesn't that say something about how fragile we've become due to our dependence on society?  We can't survive without it.  It's pitiful when a single match could mean the difference between life or death from exposure.  Admittedly, I never made a fire from sticks and stones but I made them from coke bottles and my friends glasses.  I'll bet I could make fire from ice, if need be.

My point is, if you or I or anyone else were to spend one night in the wild and learn to make do with nothing but our wits, I'm sure we'd know exactly what to put in that backpack.  

        

joanie loves dismemberment

Erin Moran, dead at 56.
When I think of little Joanie, I think of Galaxy of Terror.

diversity destroys social cohesion in the west

I've been saying this for years.