Survival-list

2011-06-14T18:56:00.000-07:00

http://www.energybulletin.net/stories/2011-06-06/pedal-powered-farms-and-factories-forgotten-future-stationary-bicycle

If you go to this site it will show you how to use human power in a well thought out way. Have fun.

2011-03-21T10:39:00.000-07:00

Politics is hell! Here is a bit I just wrote. If you can see how important freedom is to being able to survive, you have to get involved in politics. I hope Canadians get the analogy...
I suddenly had a vision that explains Harper's style of government. He is a hockey coach and the goal is for his team to win the Stanley Cup ( a majority). He has bullhorn Baird as his Domi, the guy you send in to scrap and take penalties when needed. He has certain team players that are his stars and he has the farm team in the backbenchers, replacing hurt players(all the scandels have taken out Day and others permanently, so you know harper is a hard coach). If this was the NHL it would be like Harper is the coach of the Leafs while at the same time CEO of the NHL so he can manipulate things so his team wins. The problem is , just like the Leafs, they choke every season and are let off early to get their golf game up. Kind of like when Harper prorogued government twice! Don't get me wrong, I am a leafs fan, but over the decades of them ALMOST getting in and losing at the last second has made me a numb (dumb?) fan. That is kind of how I see the CON's. I was a person who would have voted for Mike Harris (I was managing a resturant at the time and had no one to take over so I could vote) based on all the promises and good ideas he had. I am so glad today to say I did not vote for him because his slash and burn style hurt everyone including the environment. Harper has tried every trick in the book and have come up with new ones; now he has Senators and Cabinet Ministers in the penalty box and it is getting full with more waiting to join them. Just like a coach who has come close to the end of the game, has pulled out his goalie and is hoping for a last minute miracle while being wide open. The problem is(if I push this analogy a little further) Harper as CEO has been using the league's money to tell everyone how great the Leafs are while trying to chop all the other team's budgets. Even the Leaf fans can not stomach some of the things that the coach did , through his players and his tactics and many of them are asking that the coach retire. All the other fans on all the other teams also want him to retire or get forced to be managed by a group of the others teams(forced on them just to keep the sanctity of the good name of the NHL). As CEO he has made up rules and then turned around and broke them when it was to his advantage and his team's advantage. The Ref- Speaker of the House, has called penalties on Harper, after much arguing back and forth. That is the point we are at today. This NHL has gone downhill in the last 5 years and the other teams are doing everything they can to keep the good name of the NHL intact. The scandels will see some fans come out, but many fans have given up on the game as a huge farce. Can you imagine what it would be like if everyone who really loved the game came out in such great support for the other teams that, inspite of all the power trips and manipulations, the Leafs would have to disband and get renamed? As far as Harper is concerned the game is not over till it is over. Soon it will all be in the hands of the fans!

2010-10-17T22:30:00.000-07:00

Toronto's 'Officer Bubbles' sues YouTube over G20 videos. That is the title of the article. I saw that video along with maybe a million other people. This police officer fully abused his position of power to traumatize a little girl. He should be ridiculed for being such an ass. Now he is the one crying foul. This is what happens to abusive bullies when things have been turned on them--- they go crying... He should be stripped of his job, he does not deserve it. I do not agree with death threats on anybody. Those idiots that did the swat team raid on the home that was taped and the family dog was shot several times before it died and the little corgi got hit too, plus the ass of a cop who told the small traumatized child that he was ok. To then go out of his way to charge the parents with endangering the child is abuse hurled on top of abuse. Those cops got a lot of death threats, mostly because killing the dog and injuring a small corgi was like having your child slautered before your eyes, to animal lovers.

In order to get this systemic abuse and corruption out of our policing systems is not going to be easy, but one weapon we have is ridicule. I hope that Toronto cop spends a ton of money to fight this and then lose. If I where him, I would just leave the country and go somewhere where there is no internet, then he may find some peace (not that he deserves any- abuse of power is not going to be tolerated). There is another video on youtube that Marc Emery supporters took when Jacob was assaulted by an Ontario cop and Jacob was formally charged with assaulting an officer. I have to look up what the outcome of that was. The good thing is the Marc Emery supporters had an app on their camera/phone that allows realtime uploading of video, streaming live that took everything in. The cops hate that! they can plull all the crap they want to, but they will then be forced to deal with that crap later, either losing their job or being ridiculed mercilessly and always being seen as that abusive asshole. They will never live it down. Poor officer bubbles, my heart bleeds for you.

What has this to do with survival you ask? Simple- this is showing that continued publc taping of police officers will have to be stepped up and the government hounded till we get answers to why the horrible abuse of power. Ridicule and public opinion will change these jerks. They will be forced to take sensitivity classes and clean up their act. I look forward to the day when I can look a cop in the eye and not fear him automatically. I want to respect the law, but when the law does not respect us, then we have no choice but to fight back with ALL tools at our disposal.

Keep up the good work of keeping these public servants on task. Thanks to everyone who shot video at the G-20. It was sickening to watch, but needed. One of the scarier videos was the one shot from above when the cops trampled peaceful protesters right after they sang the national anthem. That was chilling. Good luck and know that change is coming. Peace. Free Marc Emery!

2010-06-07T11:42:00.000-07:00

What are you surviving from? I have had Cancer and it is now gone. Will there be a fear in the back of my head that it can come back? Sure, but that fear is now groundless. Let me explain. We have a retired fellow from Canada by the name of Rick Simpson who discovered a method of extracting the oils from the cannabis plant. Using this discovery has led him to cure cancer on himself and many others. Some on their deathbeds have came back and had some form of recovery. Once cannabis is back in it's rightful place in our medical practices (IE: Legalized!)(it is just a matter of time) we will have in our hands a wonderful, safe medicine that you can grow in your back yard! How cool is that!

To the folks that are afraid of even mentioning cannabis or having anything to do with it, I have this thought to send to you. First off, who is in control of your body? Most people would say that they are in control of their body but that answer is wrong (insert annoying buzzer sound!) As long as the government can control what you can and can not put into your body, then you are not in control of your body. I love freedom and I want freedom for everyone with the provision of do as you will; harm none. Governments do not want you to have your freedom since that makes their job much harder. Cannabis is NON-TOXIC (that means it can not kill you), it is not a gateway to harder drugs, it is in fact a terminus for most people. All that means is that most people stop at pot and do not go on to do anything harder. The ONLY reason it could even be considered a gateway is due to the prohibition in place forces most users to get their supply from a street dealer who is more than willing to sell you higher priced stuff. Legalizing it will make it harder for young teens to get it when it is regulated like alcohol. I know teens will still do what they can to get it, but it be better quality with no added things to make the stuff stronger or add weight to the packaging. At the very least it will be safer Cannabis. Since you can not die from it, it is not at the same level of concern for myself as a parent of a Teen. Alcohol is all too easy to die from. Everyone I know knows someone who has died directly due to alcohol. You can not name one death by Cannabis.

Getting back to the main topic, What you are prepping for? What ever is at the top of your list, Cannabis can only help once it is legal again.

2010-05-29T18:03:00.000-07:00

I am long overdue for a post here. The problem is I have too many causes to deal with and the possibility of a Canadian federal election hovering around every corner. I am involved with the Free Marc Emery movement and keep on top of all things cannabis. I that light I do want to send a thought out.

When I had done most of my research for my book around peak oil and the Hydrogen economy (or actually the lack of it) I looked at the possibility of society crashing down around me. I did some serious thinking and asked some basic questions. Can I support myself (and then maybe my family and others) on the land I own right now. The answer would be yes, if and only if, I grew medical cannabis and sold it. I have just under a 1/4th of an acre. The normal answer is no, I would not be able to support myself. My conclusion is I have to find some more land. When I do I will be growing Medical cannabis as well as Hemp. I have the licence for the medicine and I should not have a problem getting a permit to grow hemp. The reason why I would grow these 2 crops is between the 2 of them, they have almost all my needs taken care of. I could live off the seeds and make milk and a form of tofu out of the hemp milk. Hemp is also a great bait for fishing, farm animals can eat the seed cake and I can make fuel out of the hurds and clothing out of the fibres. Since this is the Swiss Army Knife of the plant world, it would be the first crop I would put in. Any thing I plant with that in mind. It has to be low on water and low on fertilizers and chemicals to keep it going. Hemp does not need anything but some soil, water and sun. If you plant it close enough together, you will not get weeds, the Cannabis plant takes all the available sunlight, choking off other weeds. From a survival point of view, everyone who is serious, needs to grow hemp. As far as the medicine is concerned, the oil extracted from cannabis has be shown to kill cancer cells. It is also a great pain medicine and the fact that it is completely safe( new studies have shown that it DOES NOT cause an increase in skitzoid responses) with the only safety issues being the prohibition of the plant and the possible legal ramifications. The worst it can do is cause a bad cough. Even the minor harms that can be found can be elliminated if you just eat it rather than smoke it. It is so useful, you will not know who you got by without it.

We are still in a big mess. Good luck and let me know what you have planned.

2009-11-29T16:57:00.000-08:00

Hemp and our future.

The governments of the world are gathering to talk about serious ways of cutting greenhouse gas emissions and dealing with climate change in general. Any time a carbon tax comes up, somebody veto's it because it is not set up fairly. Once they do(if they ever do) set some plan up. I would be the first in line with a proposal of hiring unemployed people to work and live on large farms that grow tons of hemp. So many acres of hemp growing = $ in credits. The land could be bought by large oil companies and large energy interests, which would not have to make any money for them, which could be a write off, but it could also morph into the way the big businesses will get in to biomass fuels. Hemp is by far the best plant to absorb co2 and then turn the plant in to 1001 things, fuel being one of them. The potential is huge. The obstacles are still huge but crumbling.

2009-10-29T20:57:00.000-07:00

Dealing with Fear.

I have some novel ideas as to why our society is so crazy. Part of the reason is we have been born into an environment of fear and corruption that has spread around most of the world. The reason for this environment of fear is due to the prohibition of Cannabis in all it's forms. Some reckless people have even tried to irradicate the plant from ever existing! Hemp was never talked about in my school. The only "information" we ever got was mis-information from the reefer mad.

From a survival viewpoint, knowing how you got into a situation may provide clues on how to get yourself out. Ending the "War on Drugs" and using that money to save and educate lives rather than just lock them up, sounds like a good first plan.

If we are busy finding out what the plant can do for us rather than what we can do against it, we just may find out that our survival chances as a species just went up.

2009-06-04T03:27:00.000-07:00

Hi folks.

I have just finished a small experiment with a new alcohol stove. I was not

measuring, just looking by eye and I would say that I used about 150-200 ml

of Methyl alcohol. The fuel is the blue stuff you get for fondues. Since it does

not say what the percentage of the fuel is alcohol, I have no way of knowing if

it lasts as long as the 99% Iso alcohol so I may set up a more measured

experiment. I have one of the windows open just a bit and I have a CO2

monitor operating. For safey sake I put the stove on top of my regular stove.If

you are going to use this method often I would suggest having a cookie sheet

or a pie pan under the stove. Since the fuel is a dangerous poison, you do not

want to spill it or use the pans for food use. Even a tinfoil pie plate or a bit of

tinfoil would be better than risking a spill on your stove. The amount I put in is

not the most I could get into the body of the stove, but it was close. If I forced

it, I think I could put 250 ml into the stove. I will have to test that. his was just a

test o see how well it burned. I did a small trial putting a few caps in first and it

is designed to get flame off of the fumes for the most efficient use of the fuel.

It ran for about an hour and a half. I may find that if I am not cooking or heating

a lot I could put in just enough to get the water boiling. If the water is unsafe, it

is good to get it to boiling for a few minutes. Some books suggest about 10

minutes.

Considering the cost for running a stove. I got the fondue fuel at the dollar

store so I was paying $2.28 a litre for the fuel. I am not sure what it would cost

if I bought it at a store like Canadian Tire? Buying the 99% Iso cost about

10.00 a litre if you buy it at the drug store in small amounts. The fondue fuel is

much cheaper by a factor of 4 or so. The Iso Alcohol is a better one to store

for medicine gear, since it does so many other things. It is also a good fuel. if

you have room to store both, than get both, but if you have room for only one

you will have to decide if you want fuel or medical gear. Everybodies needs

are different. The stove put out a good amount of heat. I did this while we are

have a few cool days here in Canada, so when the sun went down the temp

did too. I could feel the extra heat heat in my kitchen since I have the heater

turned off already.

If you do not have an alcohol stove, you can very easily make one out of a

pop can. Just look online for pepsi stove, penny stove and alcohol stove. You

will find many sites that give you the details on how to make your own. Another

site that may have that information is Instructables. Look them up too.

I hope you got some good information and go out and learn even more.
That is it for tonight.

Michael J. Kaer , Author of "What Money Can't Buy" part 1&2

2009-05-27T00:58:00.000-07:00

Hi folks.

Some people know me as a Hemp advocate, others as "That Worm Guy", talking about organic gardening, not needing any chemiKills in my food. Some people know me as a professional Psychic and others as a Drummer or maybe as "Magicfingers" Mike ( I am a Reflexologist). Considering some of the things I do, many people are surprized when I talk about being a survivalist. Many of the things I now do do not have a high viability and high priority in the future. Yes there is always a need for music but in the future I will not expect to get paid money to perform, most likely a meal may be my fee. One day Hemp and Cannabis will be free to grow anywhere anytime and it will be cheap, but we are not there yet so I will continue my work there till things change. Because of the economic downturn, that may actually speed up the changes.There is no pay in being an advocate. I have to do something to make money while is has some worth. I read Tarot Cards. It is a gift I have that runs in my family. If/when the internet goes down I will have to go back to face to face readings. There is not a lot of call for a Tarot reading when all hell is breaking loose. Oddly enough people will still go to a psychic if the matter is important enough. Massage and Reflexology will also not be high on the list. It is a good skill if you want to trade favours and such. I can help out as a medic's assistant because I know my way around a body better than the average joe and I am comfortable touching people. I have helped perpare a friend of mine's body for burial. They will need people who can handle dead bodies in the future. Not many people know I practice Tai Chi. That is one of the things that will be very needed in the future. Not many know I am a bicycle mechanic. I could (if I had to) take a bicycle apart down to the bearings and put it back together again. I have most of the common tools I have need of; only 2 special ones that I have not got yet. I am working on that this summer. I also went to George Brown in Toronto and got my C.E.T. so I know electronics too. I know there will be a need for guys like me. The next trade I want to tackle is blacksmith. If I can make my own forge, I would be able to make my own tools and repair other tools. I would be able to make replacement parts for bikes.

I did not want to turn this into a long brag session, sorry about that. I am just good at a lot of thngs. My point is 85% of the people who still have jobs right now will have to learn completely new skills in order to still gain employment. The many who are out of work right this moment, think of this time as a time that you can work on new skills. I love camping. Some people hate it. I say to those who hate it, at the very least gain a couple of the basic skills of camping. We dod not know what is before us. There may be a time when you will be very glad you decided to learn some of the basics. If you had to "Bug - Out" and live in a tent for a month, could you? How about 3 months? Still with me, ok 1/2 a year in a tent- can you do it? Still with me? good How a bout a year? Do you know all that you need to know to survive in a tent in all four seasons? It would be a lot easier if that tent was off some white beach at Manuel Antonio in Costa Rica. Your diet would have a lot of fish and peepa's in it. I would pay to do something like that down then, but then again I have a thing for fresh mangoes--- mmmmmmmmmmm. Sorry food took my off topic. Actually food can get me right back on topic. Does one of your skillsets include the ability to grow a garden with out any chemiKills? if it does not, I would hop on that as my main priority. The only way to have food security is if everyone grows something. Even the First Lady down in the States is growing an organic garden. Good for her.

I want you to do your homework and look in to the recent past to see how things where done with a lot less machines to do the work, because that is where we are going back to. I am now going to wash up before going to bed. All I have to do is turn a tap and like magic, hot clean water will come out. think of how many hours you would have to gather wood,make a fire, haul water and get it up to hot.

I want you to really think about that!

Michael J. Kaer, author of "What Money Can't Buy" part 1 & 2

2009-05-15T23:46:00.000-07:00

Hi folks.

You can now go to a group I joined to see the photos of my first 4X4. The site is at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=72414842758 . My friend Lance started this one. He helps out with the local community gardens project here in Chatham. The wood and the panel sides I got from my neighbour's garbage (with her permission). I like the fact that it is all recycled stuff and I did not have to pay anything for it. My biggest cost was for seed. I had spent a few bucks on a type of peatmoss substitute, but that was an experiment, so I do not add that to the costs here. I also paid for some of those small peat moss pellets. They did not work with what I was trying to grow so they got tossed in. Again I am not adding the cost of the pellets because that is not a real cost. I want to look at when I buy a few bags of soil and add those costs down the road. Down the road even farther I will not be able to get soil( assumming most of the stores have shut down). On a side note, I think stores like Canadian Tire will continue on but a much subdued store with less gadgets and more "real" tools. As the cheap imports turn into expensive imports our exports will have to increase. At somepoint all trade is going to come to a standstill and then a slow but steady trickle will start up from that point. The time could be coming soon where our money is not going to be worth toilet paper( not soft enough) and the only things that will have value is seeds, produce and fresh fish, tools, guns and ammo, bows and arrows, books, toilet paper,knives,needles and pins, sturdy and longlasting cookware (cast iron)... anything that has real value. A rookie card in any sport, even if it is signed by the player, is not worth anything intrinsically. It is only worth something in exchange for something else. Something "Priceless" could also be "Worthless" if no one is willing to trade you for it. Go around your house and see if there are any "Priceless" gems you are willing to let go of. I have a few trinkets that do not have value outside of certain circles. If I sold them, that money could get me some more batteries or a solar panel or several bike tire tubes. It could even buy one of those expense bicycle tools that helps you take off the gears from the back tire. There are a few special tools need, but I have most of the tools I need for right now. I can not buy those tools or special items when everything is shut down, so now is the time to get them. We can prosper our way out of this mess , but it will take time and a change in many thoughts. Good luck

2009-04-12T18:22:00.000-07:00

Hello folks.

This is the time of year where seeds should be germinated to get seedlings to be planted sometime in May (in my neck of the woods many do it on the May 24 weekend.) and there are things to be done to the soil before planting. I have already applied organic fertilizer to the soil. Since I am expanding my garden to some 4x4's in the front yard, I am going to be setting them up. I have been saving my newspapers to be used as a weed barrier and mulch. I will be grabbing a few bags of soil to make it a lot easier to start the new plots. I have compost that will be good to use in another year; I could use it this year but I may get too many weeds to deal with.

If you have been paying attention to the news from around the world, you know this is affecting everywhere. After all the suicides in India from farmers who went in to debt that they could not pay off to companies that lied to them about the terminator seeds they sold them, Many farmers are going back to the old ways of doing things. Saving seed from one year to the next makes sense; creating a franken-food that does not allow you to save seed from year to year does not make sense. Only in a boardroom, divorced from the farmers who grow our food, could some idiot come up with the idea to force the farmer to buy new seed each year. Let me put a what if out to the world. What if something happened to mutate the seeds that have been tampered with? I know this is a wild long shot, but what happened if all seed got infected with the terminator "gene". We would die and become extinct. My question is Why even take the chance? For a few extra pennies for your seed and the power of control over everyone, that is the only reason to dream up this abomination. Playing god can come back to bite you in the backside. Speaking of control, the NAZI-like stance Monsanto takes against individual farmers is sickening. This same company and others like it are pouring money into the pockets of politicians so they can outlaw organic small farms. once the pesky small farmers are out of the way, it will only be large scale food factories that will be feeding everyone, you can't call the farms anymore. They don't care that the food they produce has little life or nutrients in them. They only care about how much more money they are going to make this year over the year before.

I would rather grow my own food and give it away than be forced to live off the crap monsanto is trying to sell me. I see growing my own food as a political act as much as an act of love for myself and the people I share my food with. It is a relaxing activity that many more people will be forced into this year and the years to come. In ten years we will have some great crops going. It is going to take 10 years to make many mistakes and learn from them. The next 10 years will be very hard on many. I hope you are not in that group. Good luck.

Michael J. Kaer, Author of "What Money Can't Buy"

2009-03-16T17:19:00.000-07:00

I created a new blog. It is called Mike's Bikes and Trikes. I wanted to call it Mike's Bikes but that name was already taken. In that first blog post I talked about the value of a Trike. Mine is even more powerful due to it's unique modifications. It had a plate welded on to the back part of the frame to host a tow able trailer. I will include the first post here and you can read about it yourself. How this relates to survival s I did something that most people would never even attempt without a car. That is a lot of food to haul. The types of food should also get your attention. Have fun.

Why I love my Trike!

Hi folks.

If you have seen any of my other blogs, you would know I am a man of many talents and interests.
I have been reading articles and watching stuff on YouTube about the coming money collapse. Where I live, in my end of the city there are no grocery stores in walking distance. The one I like going to is about 10 blocks or more away, so I take my bike or my trike. I took a shopping cart in and got a lot of the basics and it ended up being close to $120.00 (Canadian). Lucky for me I know how to pack things in boxes and bags and I arranged all of it on my trike. It was touch and go and I though I may have to give away some of my food. I also had a couple of bungee cords that came in handy. It was so over loaded I thought I would have to walk all the way home pushing the trike, but I decided to give it a shot and see if I could ride it. I went very slowly but it got me and all my stuff home. After I took all the boxes inside, I was curious to see just how much weight it had just carried. I weigh about 175 pounds give or take and I did a calculation of the food. It came to at least 60 kilos ( since everything here in Canada is metric) which equals at least 132 pounds with me on the bike that means the trike was carrying over 300 pounds. I ave a modified frame that has a plate welded on the back to tow a heavy duty trailer. I have seen it at work towing a a huge load when the last owner used to transport recycled metals in the trailer. He was the one who modified it. That is one hell of a good transport system . The food, if you are interested , was mostly rice and beans and some canned goods as well as some cooking oil. The cashier was very curious as to why I got what I got and made the comment "you are going to be busy" a couple of times. She also wondered what I was going to do with all that rice.

First off I like rice, but it also happens to store extremely well if it is properly packed. The beans and chick peas means I will be able to make a lot of chillies and hummus and other good stuff. Beans and rice together is almost all you need to live off of. Lucky for me again, I will be expanding my garden once more. I have more than tripled it's size in the last few years and I am growing more herbs than I can now consume in a year. I hope my potatoes do well this year. The other great thing about the Trike is the fact that I am able to load a few bags of soil on it with no problem. That helps a lot when buying extra soil. Last but not least I got a very good work out in the process of getting a couple of months worth of groceries. As a basic out lay( not including stuff like milk and eggs) $60.00 a month for food is a great deal.

Have fun, stay safe and use your bikes and trikes well this year.
Michael J. Kaer, author of "What Money Can't Buy" part 1 & 2

2009-02-26T10:09:00.000-08:00

Hi folks.

I just got a notice in my inbox about spring break specials. That got me thinking. The airlines and the resorts are going to be pulling out all the stops this year with all kinds of deals for the regular spring break crowd. The usual crowds are not going to come and it is going to make a big slump in the tourist industries. Many hotels, motels and the cafes and shops that are supported by the huge crowds will go out of business or lose money. The tough ones will be able to just break even. Many dreams will be squashed. I predict more violence in higher learning schools due to the fact that many of the students( already under a huge amount of pressure) will not be able to afford spring break. That will be good news to local places where the kids can go to blow off steam but that will also be a hassle for police and local hospitals.

To put this in survival terms, be careful around the students that do not have the means to go as they will be on a hair trigger as it is. Everything we take for granted is going to change and change means stress (even when the stressor is a good stress-like getting married). In times of stress we need to find healthy ways to relax. I sometimes use Tai Chi and a good hot bath to relax my body which relaxes my mind. That is the secret, relax the body and the mind will follow. I hope this helps.

Michael J. Kaer, Author of "What Money Can't Buy" part 1 & 2

2009-02-24T23:21:00.000-08:00

This is my latest entry on my blog http://moneyhowtogetsome.blogspot.com .

For people who are getting laid off and they do not know how to make money outside of going to a job and collecting a paycheque, many will turn to Internet Marketing as a way of getting some money into their households. I write these for two reasons A) they can help other people and B) if a couple sign up under me, that helps me out too. I want to be up front an honest about my motives. Judge for yourself if the information is good or not. Here it is:

Hi folks.

I am going to be going through a few ways I get traffic to my sites. Today's lesson is on Squeeze pages.

What's a Squeeze page?

It is like a a teaser ad that gets the potential customer/client/contact to do something to get more
information. A good page peaks a person's interest enough for them to either click on a link to the sales page or write in their name and email address for you to follow up with. Here is one of my pages for a service called The List Auction.

http://thelistauction.com/content/promo.tools.squeeze.pages.php?page=8&id=18930 . You will notice that it is a long and ugly link with my personal referral id out in the open for all to see. If I wanted it to look nicer and not have that information hanging out, I would put the link through a cloak like TinyURL . There is also a way to mask the link by redirecting it from a nicer looking site. I can mask it by setting up a sub domain on one of my websites. That can be a whole subject for another day. To make sure it was a live link you would enclose it with an anchor in HTML on a website like this The List Auction and on the page all you would see is The List Auction in a different colour as a clickable link.

Getting back to the page, click on it and you will see that the action the page wants from you is to enter our email address. The other type of Squeeze page would look like this; http://thelistauction.com/content/promo.tools.squeeze.pages.php?page=7&id=18930 . Click on this one and you will see that the action is to go directly to the sales page.

That is the end of the lesson on Squeeze pages. If you find it helpful or have other questions, you can get in touch with me directly at michaelkaer@yahoo.ca . If you find the list auction site to be of use to you, please feel free to sign up under me(ugly links and all).

Michael J. Kaer, Author of "What Money Can't Buy" part 1 & 2

2009-02-17T10:00:00.000-08:00

Hi folks.

I found this site by accident (I love when that happens!).
Here is the code it generated.

My site is worth $18023.7.
How much is yours worth?

The site's name is http://www.websiteoutlook.com .
The site is was talking about is my Home Income Portal.
http://homeincomeportal.com/mibmy137 .

How does this relate to survival? You need some money to get the supplies you need and the other prep items. It is easier to make the money online ,letting the power of the Internet do all the work while it frees up your time to go plant garden or a tree or practise your camping skills.

My question for you is how are you making your money and is there an easier, faster way that frees you up to do the things that are important?

Michael J. Kaer, Author of "What Money Can't Buy" part 1& 2

2009-02-05T16:28:00.000-08:00

Some of you may not know this, but I am a professional Psychic amongst my many talents. I have been reading Tarot for nearly 30 years and teaching it for about 15 or more years. I have been doing it on line for just over a year now. My experience up till then was face to face readings. Most of the clients I have had in the past wanted to know something to do with their relationships. I have had many other questions, but up till recently the majority has been relationships. Since the major downturn in the world economy I have been getting more and more clients that want readings on their carreers, or choices to take in schooling for a job.

In a broad sense I know that health care will always need people since there are more people getting older that will need caring for. The other big industry that will need new people is the "Alternative" "Green" energy sector. Just for the sake of keeping things simple I would include any home renovations like replacing windows and adding extra insulation or replacing energy hog appliances with more up-to-date ones in to that general catagory. A subset of that would be all the new upstart cars that will be intergrated into a new, smart metered system where solar panels on cars can generate extra electricity to put back into the grid when they have topped off their batteries.

A third big sector that will be the driving edge of the economy will be farming and local community gardens. Farmers are about to go through a major change. In the third world countries where farmers grow on small plots of land, they have been using GMO seeds and buying the fertilizers and other chemicals to get a crop that does not meet up with the claims the seed companies gave. The terminator seeds have been modified so they will be sterile. That means the farmers are forced to buy seeds every year.The result is farmers going so far in debt that they can never repay the seed companies like monsanto have committed suicide. That has gotten many farmers to switch back to the old ways of farming using organic methods and saving seeds that have not been modified. One problem here is now that the GMO seeds have been out there for a few years, there have mixed their genes with the local varieties, with usually strange results. At some point the entire world is going to rebel against the GMO companies and simply not buy their death-dealling seeds and the chemicals that are neded to support them. They will become unsustainable plain and simple. The entire food industry will be forced to go organic since that is the only sustainable practice we have. That means that when the oil prices go through the roof the big machines will sit idle(unless the have been modified to run on diesel or ethanol)(engine modifications will be a big business in the future) and the humble ox and horse will make a comeback. The big factory farms that are mono-cropped will be a thing of the past. Since globalization will be limited by fuel restaints, growing a crop for shippment will dwindle down to a trickle. The only crops that may have a future are coffee, sugar and spices, with the rare shippment of fruit(like oranges at christmas was in the past). Hardy dried fruit like dates, figs and olives will still be traded as well as various nuts. Cheap rice will be a thing of the past. The new/old food that will make a huge comeback will be Hemp seed and all the things that can be made from hemp. Hemp seed at one time was so cheap it was fed to the birds or made into a gruel for poor people to eat . Currently the price is around $10.00 a kilo, depending here you can get it, if you can get it. In order for that price to drop, Hemp will have to be grown everywhere. The US is in crisis mode and if Obama was smart he would make Hemp legal to grow this year. The farmers down there are demanding the right to grow it and they have proven that they can have a strain that has almost no THC in it, just like the industrial hemp we grow here in Canada.

At some point the US will be forced to grow hemp again. They do not have a choice. It would be in their own best interest to get the farmers going NOW!

So those are my big three areas for employment in the future. I welcome any comments you may have.

Michael J. Kaer , Author of "What Money Can't Buy"

2008-11-09T20:09:00.000-08:00

Winter Prep

I do not have to tell you how busy I am when the harvest season is in full swing. It is getting much colder out and we had hail on Friday. It is raining, but that rain will turn to snow soon enough. Other places already have lots of snow, meanwhile last blast hurricanes are hitting Cuba.This is the time of year to make sure everything is up to standard for the winter. My pears finally started to ripen and fall. I am in the middle of making them into pear sauce and canning them. I have done most of the stuff I need to do for my gardens , I just have some garlic to dig up and coneflower roots to dig as well. My herbs did well this year.

Ok here are some of the items you need to have on hand for the winter months. Stock up on hot Chocolate, get rock salt, make sure your snow shovel is in good condition. For the car, an oil change, new wiperbades, a scraper, a broom, a small shovel, snow tires or chains or studed tires depending on where you live and an emergency kit for in the car. I create something I call a Huri-Can (tm) Candle. What it consists of is a coffee can that has hole drilled into it near the top and it is filled about 3/4's of the way up with wax. I have 3 large wicks in it that are equidistant to take avantage of the most surface area. Inside I have some items that I can add as a kit. In the kit is a space blanket, a small multitool, some tinfoil,a lighter and a flat can that holds some hard candy a bit of sugar and creme powder and a couple of tea bags. There is also some clotheshanger wire in it to make a handle for the can or to lay across the flames like a grill. The multitool has a mini flashlight as part of the set up. If you scoop up some snow or ice you can melt it and make a cup of tea. You may want to add a couple powerbars and a small deck of cards or a small book in it to past the time if you have to wait. With this in the car you can safely stay warm for a day or too. It takes a long time to melt that much wax. I would caution the stuck people to crack a window open every once in a while to keep the air fresh.

Good luck with your winter preps.

Michael J. Kaer, Author of "What Money Can't Buy"

2008-09-29T23:32:00.000-07:00

Yes, Yes - I know; I have not been around to write anything for a while. Here's why. Recently I learned how to make soap. I also have the rest of my garden to harvest and can. On top of all this my daughter and her mom moved in next door and I have split up with my long term girlfriend of 4 years AND I still have all the other things I have on the go still up in the air. I added new gutters to the front of the house and added a second rain barrel. We finished harvesting and leaning the sundried Tarragon from the back garden and I still have the herb garden in front to deal with. My sunflowers have to be fully harvested and I have been seed saving for everthing that has come in my house. I am starting a seed exchange next year. I still have a few tomatoes to harvest and I am getting the worms ready for winter. My pears are getting big. I have a new student for my Tarot class and I have other commitments that just started. Am I forgiven yet?

Now on to the topic of the day the non bail out down in the US and how the other markets are tumbling and how people are dealing with it. Many of my fellow prepers are getting as much last minute stuff as they can afford. Some have already moved to their retreats to ride out the coming storm. The problem with this storm is you do not know how long it is going to last. I am getting ready for winter and I am not looking foreward to the cold nights. I will be putting off as long as I can turning on the furnace. I am seeing my doc tomorrow and getting the usual done. I have a debate going on in my head. Do I plunk down money on much more food or do I spend it on other things I also need? That is always a dilema.

I would like to know what you folks are doing and how you see things going. Good luck.

2008-07-08T16:18:00.000-07:00

Spiritfest

I attended the Spirits of the Earth Festival that went from the 1st to the 6th. It is now July 8th and I am just starting to recover. I did 5 workshops (4 of mine and I helped Tovah do the Massage for couples workshop). The 4 I did was Introduction to Tai Chi,solar collectors and solar arrays, worm composting and organic gardening and I did one on juggling just for fun. I learned a lot there ( aside from learning how to belly dance) about how a group of people can come together to do something great. I had so many different conversations on such a diverse set of topics I don't even know where to begin. I got a small taste of what it would be like to live out of a trailer that had no electricity hook up. The owner of the trailer did have a couple solar panels and a battery and inverter set up so we could have some music and a couple of other things but that was just the icing on the cake and was not really needed. if we had no fuel for the fridge, things may have been a little different, but not much. The one problem with using this as a sample of what it could be like off grid was the fact that people would run into town for a timmie's run or just to grab a pack of smokes or what not. The fact that there is still gas flowing and a town still operating close by meant the psychological impact was lacking. For me, I just pretended we where cut off. Any chance I get to practice any prep work I will take. Leave a comment and tell me what you have been up to in your preps.
Michael

2008-06-24T22:43:00.000-07:00

Don't Try This at Home!

I had something left over from my Y2K preps, a 1-liter(33.8 fl oz for you other folks) soya bean drink made by Yeo's. It was a cholesterol and lactose free milk substitute. It was a good product and I plan on getting more of them if I can find them again and I will tell you why. The product was sterilized for freshness and sealed. The stamp said -best before 05 nov 2002. I cracked it open, broke the seal and took a sip of it yesterday. I had no ill effects that I can tell from that sip and the drink still tasted sweet. I could see that some solids had settled to the bottom when I took another sip today. I decided to pour it down the drain rather than take a chance on it being bad. Aside from the settling, I think it would have continued to be viable as long as the seal was intact and I kept it stored in the fridge. If I was in a survival situation and found this intact and in a cool place for years, I would have drank the whole thing I am sure.

Just one more small service to my loyal readers. I test things out now while we still can.
Any thoughts or comments, or perhaps suggestions of items to test, I would be happy to try to test them. I have tried 5 year old MREs that where donated to me for a taste test for the same meal only a year old. There was no practical difference between the two. I will take all donations of equipment for testing on the condition that I get to keep them. That is a small price to pay for a researcher and writer to review your product. The things I suggest in my books like " What Money Can't Buy" I have tried myself or have done a massive amount of research. Doing gives you a much better perspective. All donations would also be appreciated. All donated money will go to getting more prep items. You can give to my paypal account through my other email address b4kaerbear@hotmail.com. Good luck and tell my what you are doing to insurec your survival. Till next time- good luck and good night.
Michael.

2008-05-25T18:07:00.000-07:00

Glimpses of the Future

It is ironic that I am using this language since I am a professional Psychic Tarot Reader online and off. I look into the future on a retail,personal level rather than the larger,wholesale trends I will be discussing.

My girlfriend's furnace quit on her after about 30 years of work. It only needs a thermocouple to get it to work again, but she refuses to buy one since she is taking the entire furnace out and replacing it with a newer,high efficient one. The furnace quit while we had a warm period in the spring and the temperature has not gone below freezing, but we had a cold snap and the house was cold (and still is as we speak). She dealt with this by wearing more clothes indoors and she spent more time at friend's houses that had heat and would use my little electric heater in the bathroom when she wanted to take a bath or shower. She has several blankets on her bed and uses an electric blanket to warm it up before she goes to sleep. She is saving some money on her gas bill but she also says she does not want to do anything around the house since it is so cold. She has been doing a lot of baking to heat up the house. This week it is supposed to be getting warmer, so it will not be as much of an issue.

That got me thinking about what we will be doing this winter or next when we can not afford the gas to heat our homes. My main concern is to make sure my pipes do not freeze. I have heating strips plugged in to help and I did not have a problem this year. I am building a candle driven heater using stacked ceramic pots, small to large to sit suspended above the candle and radiate the heat outward. I have created Huri-Can Candles that can be lit and provide emergency heat and light. These are only short term solutions but they are better than nothing. My personal long term solution is to move to a farm in less than 5 years. The farm I want will have some wooded area and I will also be growing hemp. Hemp hurds make excellent fuel in corn stoves. The other change I will make is to have composting toilets so that will cut down on the amount of water being consumed. Less pipes means less worries of burst pipes.

If I need to build the house from scratch it will be a passive solar and be fairly small. I will have a large building that will house some animals a forge/workshop an area for canning and dealing with the harvest and an area just for bikes and bike parts. The entire site will be off grid and as self supporting as possible.

That is a longer glimpse into my future. What will be happening in the short term? My guess is that many people will be found dead due to doing something stupid like using a BBQ in the house and not let any air in to try and heat the house. Others may burn the house down doing something stupid trying to keep warm. Many will ruin their stove by turning it on and leaving the oven door open. The thermostat will not work properly after that kind of abuse. Other will end up with huge electric bills since the only form of heat for them will be electric. That will put pressure on the grid in 2 ways. If these people have these huge bills they can not pay,they will end up defaulting and the other users will have to pay the price. That is one of the main reasons why I want to get off grid. Then there will be the people found dead due to freezing. Another aspect of this is friends will be moving in with other friends to cut expenses or family moving back together. Abuse, Incest, Malnutrition and rage murders will go up. On the positive side families, neighbours and communities will learn to live together again. Many people will be forced to walk or ride bikes that will do them some good. For others who are not in any shape will not be able to get around. Again many will die of over exertion. Crime will increase due to desperation.

Am I painting a bleak picture. Yes! I am sugar coating what I am really seeing. I am purposely minimizing how bad it is going to be since panic and fear are not going to help the situation. You need to be warned but also you need to prepare NOW!

Let me know what you are doing to prep, short term and long term.

mikesworms.com, mjk-private-income.com, myhemp.blogspot.com

and survival-list.blogspot.com

2008-05-07T18:54:00.000-07:00

More about Pop Bottles

I did an experiment to see if I could make a solar still from a clear bottle with 1/2 covered in the back with mylar and a hole in the cap and a tube running to a new bottle the is shaded. I was hoping the mylar would act like a concentrator and heat the water enough to get it to evapourate and the shaded bottle would be cool enough to catch the drops. My experiment is a partial failure. I did not get it to do what I wanted it to do, but I may still be able to use the bottle( at least 1/2 of it) to see if the mylar can produce a concentration of the sun to heat something up. The shape of the bottle is round, so if I cut it in half I should have 2 areas where the sun is concentratedabove them or in front of them, depending on the angle of the sun. Another idea is to use it to heat copper tubes by cutting a hole in the bottom and placing a string of them on the tube and connecting the tubes to produce heated air. If the tube fits the hole enough to seal (almost) you should get a build up of hot air in the bottle (like a greenhouse) that should heat up the tube and heat the air in the tube. Those are two experiments that I can do very cheaply. The bottles are free for the most part and the shiny mylar was from a pack of cookies. A bit of tape to keep it in place and I was done. The copper tubeing will not be cheap, but I have a few bits and pieces laying around, big enough to do this experiment. I will let you know how it goes.

Michael J. Kaer, copyright 2008

2008-04-08T00:34:00.000-07:00

Pop Bottles

What do you see when you look at a pop Bottle?

I am specially referring to the plastic ones not glass. Most people see a thin wall of plastic that holds some carbonated sugar water and the container is just junk.

I see possibilities!

I see a certain amount of design and energy being put into a one time use container which can be recycled. I also see it as a container to sprout seeds in, an airtight container to store dried herbs and meats in and an airtight container for things like sugar or salt and harvested seeds. With the carbonated water still in it it can be made into a fountain if you add mentos to it. If it is clear and uncoloured , I see it being a simple way of making water safe if the water is left in the sun for a day or two. If one is painted black and water is put in it and a hose is attached to the screw on cap, it could be a simple still to evaporate water in the sun and the vapor is drawn to another one that is shaded or covered in tinfoil to make it cooler. With the use of a knife, I cut the top off of one and inverted it into the bottom part, taped it in place and put some vinegar in it to become a fruitfly trap. It can also be a wasp trap if sugar water is put in it. Different parts of the bottle can be used in gardening. For deep root watering, dig down by the roots and stick the bottle top side down in the soil and cut the bottom off to form a funnel. The bottom part can be used as a tray for seeds or to be placed under a pot to keep water in. The midsection could be cut out and used as glass for a green house. These bottles could also be filled with packing “Peanuts”, sealed up and combined together to make and unsinkable raft. For larger pontoons the same idea could be done to the one time use water bottles that hold about 5 gallons at a time. If there are partly filled with water and the cap left off, you can freeze water in them to be used camping or on picnics(just save the caps to put on later).

I know there are hundreds of other uses for these wonderful containers but the point I am trying to make is instead of looking at an item(any item) as a piece of trash or to be recycled, why not take that next step and by pass the whole system buy reusing it.

My girlfriend is always bugging me about holding on to everything. I would be caught under a pile of trash if I saved every last scrap, but I do try my best to reuse things as often as I can. So can you. What are your ideas on this?

2008-04-03T21:19:00.000-07:00

Goats

If I had to pick one animal that would get me through a tough time, it would be goats. The goat herder in biblical times was able to survive on little more than goats. Goats can eat just about anything. I have seen one eat tarpaper off the side of our house when dad was fixing the house out on the farm. Goats do not like to be fenced in so the solution is either make a goat proof fence or let then roam around free. A few herd dogs could keep them together, but I would not bet on it. I plan on getting goats as soon as I move to the farm, that and some chickens. You can train the goats to haul small loads. You can use the milk to make cheese and eat the meat and use the skins for drums. All in all, they are the best bang for your limited buck in hard times. Grow enough of them and you can buy a horse or two. If you have land that is only good for pasture, goats are a natural choice. They also get along with horses just fine. The sooner I get my goats the sooner I have a source of milk,cheese,meat and skins for the cost of some time and effort and some scrub land.

What are your plans?

2008-03-12T14:30:00.000-07:00

I just added a new post on the myhemp.blogspot.com blog. In it I mention a new friend by the name of Hugh Simpson and a blog he runs on survival. Go there to grab the link.

Every Tuesday night at my house I have a few friends over to discuss Prosperity and to share what we have done, prosperity-wise that week. Last night we got into discussing peak oil and what we can do to get through it and survive, maybe even prosper. It was not you normal prosperity talk. I proposed that after the meltdown of the global economy, there would be a lot of bartering system in place and after that we would need a new form of money and a new way of dealing with it. my suggestion is we base it on Hemp. A bale of raw hemp = x hempen dollars. Since hemp can be grown just about anywhere man does, it would make sense to use it as a basis for wealth. The economy can grow only as much as the global crop of hemp can grow in that year. That would give the regions that have 2 growing seasons an unfair advantage, but that too is fair since certain regions will produce other crops and items for trade that those regions cannot and we could charge what we want for our scarce goods.

Global trade would be very slow since we would be going back to old ways of shipping and transporting and regional trade would go on much more than distant trade. Spices and tea and coffee will always be traded so some trade will continue. With that in mind, if you are looking for practical things that can be stored for later trade, I would get spices and raw coffee beans and tea plants and hope you can grow a local variety in a green house or other micro climate. the other practical things I plan on getting is copper and aluminum. With those two metals I can create batteries and other useful projects. Next on my list is hand tools and knifes. Next would be things I can't make for myself like sewing machine needles and fishing line. In that list I would include as many solar panels as I can possibly get. Last on my list would be spare parts and extra media for storing all my electronic data as long as I have the spare parts, I can hobble together a working computer. My skills and knowledge be mostly what I will be bartering and if I am the last person in my region with a working computer, that makes my knowledge very much worthwhile. Other skills I have and most of the tools I need I already have to fix and maintain bicycles , plant a food garden with worm compost and a massage chair and table to do healing on.

With the skills I already have I should be able to do well, but I have a large collection of books that will also come in handy when the time comes. Books, tools, knives, knowledge and skills I hope to past on to my family and friends. If I can do that , I will indeed be rich.

Michael J. Kaer

2008-02-13T19:15:00.000-08:00

The Long Emergency

I am reading the book "The Long Emergency" by James Howard Kunstler.
I have not finished it so I can't give you a good review of it here( I will later when I am done).
I have been reading a huge bunch of other material along the same vein. most of them say the same thing-downsize now, get out of debt, make the changes while you can, invest in physical assets... You get the general drift.

One thing I am doing to get the money together to get out of debt is own a http://homeincomeportal.com/mibmy137 portal and advertize it and use sites like http://ujoinfree.com/?id=2372 that links up with the portal and I get adsense money from the sites I put the adsense code. I also use www.Godaddy.com to host my own websites like www.mikesworms.com amd www.mjk-private-income.com . On the worms site I talk about worm compost and organic gardening and even show you how to make your own worm bins. On the www.mjk-private-income.com site I have books for sale I created ( like how to make bee's wax candles) and other subjects. The other thing that is really bringing in the money on a regular basis is www.psychicweb.com and www.psychicaccess.com .

I have been reading Tarot for over 25 years and teaching it for about the last 15.
My goal is to make enough to pay off my credit cards and my mortgage in a year. I am working 6 days a week toward that goal. Breakthroughs are happening and I am gaining new friends and clients everywhere. So far this year I have made more than 50% more in a month than I did last year and I want to soon double and then triple and then 10x my income. When times are going bad, people turn to people like me for guidence. I try and guide them as best I can. the fact that they are helping me get out of debt is a nice payback.

Ok what list will I be asking of you, my loyal readers? 1), list your debts and your income. if you have to take a little notepad everywhere you go and write down every purchase, than do it. It will be worth it. The next list would be list all the things you can do to raise your income to pay down your debts and the final list is to list the areas you can cut back on.

When you do get out of debt you will be able to make major purchases of "survival" goods and not have to worry about collectors coming around and taking all your stuff. Since the money system is going through a major upheaval I would also suggest getting some of those supplies now while you still can. Remember to focus on what you do want, not on what you don't want or have. Breathe. Survival is FUN.

Michael J. Kaer

2008-01-18T11:24:00.000-08:00

Hi Folks.
A friend of mine came to visit from Toronto. He just retired and on his way to visit other friends. Hetold me he lost more than what I make in a year on the stock market and that was in just the last few days. My friend does not want to even look at her portfolio. She is afraid to. I hate being right, but I have been suggesting for a while now to get your money out of the market and into real things like land or physical assets. I was not listened to. How long this will go on is anyone's guess, but I see a year or more before a recovery if ever. All we need right now is a pan-epidemic to wipe out a huge chunk of the population and the economy may never recover.I hate being right!

Michael

2007-11-15T00:07:00.000-08:00

Paracord, MRE's, Knives and Hurricane Candles

Hi folks.
Once again I am drawn to doing more research on survival topics and that research takes me to eBay all too often. I may be the owner of a couple decks of survival cards and a set of 10 "Survival Knives". The cards are something I wanted for a while. The set of knives will be sold as part of a set of 10 Hurri-Can(TM) candles I am making. I have a roll of paracord that will be in the set. I am looking for 10 "army " cups that used to fit over canteens or substitute an empty(and cleaned) corned beef tin for it. In the tin or the cup I would cram some soup cubes, salt, pepper, tea,sugar, some hard candy and a few matches in zip-lock baggies. Space inside the can will be at a premium. About 2/3rds of the coffee can will be full of wax with 3 large wicks in it,spaced equidistant. a knife, the paracord and a bit of tinfoil, some clothes hanger wire, a space blanket, a micro LED flashlight and the "Cup" will be sealed inside. Did I tell you I also have 10 Space blankets coming? Holes are drilled near the top to allow air flow if a pot is set on the candle to boil water. The holes will be sealed with simple tape.I will have instructions taped to the outside. This could save a person or persons lives by providing most of what everyone needs. They need light and warmth, a way to disinfect water and some energy food to keep their spirits up. A nice cup of tea helps. If you car or truck is stuck in a ditch or snowbank and you do not want to leave the safely of the car, then heat and light are taken care of with the candle. If you had to move, you can take the candle with you by making a carrying handle out of the hanger wire. I will be pricing all the items and see what the bottom line is for this efficient "Kit-in-a-Can" (TM). Some people may be smart enough to store the can inside a slightly larger pot with a handle and store more food bars or tea or soup or instant coffee in between the two. If you are home and the power is cut off, you still have a way of cooking food and boiling water. It will keep you alive, but it will not heat your house. I think this is a good solution(not a perfect one, but what is?) to having a good kit you can just grab. I mentioned MRE's in the title because I have been looking for a cheaper Canadian supplier. I see alot of good prices down in the states and the price almost doubles when it crosses the border. That is not right. I can find and/or make my own substitutes for MRE's but that would be a big hassle and I know mine would probably not last as long as the real deal.

I got an email from a person who was looking into flashlights and came across a reference to an earlier entry I made when I studied a few different types and put a review of them up. I am glad that my hard work and the money I have spent in research has helped some people. If you have any feedback for me, that would be great. Any questions?

Michael J. Kaer

2007-10-24T23:21:00.000-07:00

Blame Yuwie

Hi folks.
I have been busy(don't I start my blogs often that way?)with the past election here in Ontario. The green Party Has doubled once again what vote we got from last time. I know my friend voted green and I know my Mom voted Green and My Dad may have voted green.Those are important votes as far as I am concerned. Since about half the voters turned out to vote that would mean our votes count as double. The people who did not vote have no right to complain. Me, I have bitchin rights. The green party is NOT the marijuana party, but it would be the first to legalize pot and therefore get rid of all red tape surrounding the growing of hemp.We feel it is a waste of taxpayer's money to fund "The war on drugs". It has been proven it does not work and inflating the "Take" from every pot bust(IE: every plant is worth $1000.00 each,maybe if every little bit is sold by the joint...get real)only gets people in poverty to do something illegal in order to earn a living. I am not saying pot is harmless, I am only saying it SHOULD be in the same class as alcohol and sold as such.

Another thing I have been busy with is downloading all kinds of books and information on survival, popular mechanics, popular science and a few other tidbits. It takes a long time to read through some of this material,Time I could be spending on making money online to afford all the stuff I want for my retreat centre.

On another note I have also been busy on myspace, facebook and now Yuwie. The thing about Yuwie that keeps me going back and doing social stuff there is the fact that they PAY me to do what I was already doing on myspace and facebook. It is a no-brainer. If you have missed my famous rants-blame Yuwie.

Thats my story and I am sticking to it.

Michael J. Kaer
http://www.gomoreinfo.com/SIM/8402264
http://homeincomeportal.com/mibmy137/homeincome.htm
http://thesgrprogram.com/special.php?a_aid=14794
http://r.yuwie.com/michaelkaer

2007-09-05T15:44:00.000-07:00

Hi folks.

Today in southern Ontario, it was what I call an M.C. day. That stands for minimal clothing. I have been running around mostly in a pair of baggy shorts. I did some garden work and fed the worms and pulled some weeds. I worked untill the mosquitoes came after me. that means I did all that in about an hour. The rest of the day I have been inside or out riding my bike on some chores. I was lucky some of the stores I had to go to had air conditioning. When I was next door at my Mom and Dad's house I looked at the outdoor thermometer. It read 100 degrees F. On top of that it has been very humid. We are expecting thunder storms in the next few days. How do I survive days like this? I eat very little and I do eat icecream, drink lots of juice and flavoured water and stay out of the sun as much as possible. I just took a hot bath, which helps me on days like this. I leave the bath water in the tub(I was only rinsing my body, not using any soap) so I feel ok with just letting it cool and jumping into it later tonight to cool down my body before bedtime. Right after I am done this, the fan is coming on. I want to know how you deal with days like this.
Ok. I am done, the fan can come on. HMMMMM!

Michael J. Kaer

2007-08-18T07:06:00.001-07:00

Hi folks.We need to talk to the folks in power. We have a situation on this planet where a single plant could help save us, and the people in power would rather put more polution in the air and force global warming further than to sit down and rationally think this through. No amount of money (extreme though they may be) will gain them anything if they do not have a place to spend it. We only have this one planet(so far)(Mars will be exploited next) in which to live. If hemp was grown as a fuel crop and food crop and fibre crop all at the same time, we could feed everyone, clothe everyone and keep everyone warm AT A PROFIT!!!. There is a ton of money waiting to be made that will also help reduce the damage we have already made. Lets get this show on the road.Michael J. Kaer, Author of several small books on the topics of prosperity, health and what to use your money for.michaelkaer@yahoo.ca , www.mikesworms.com ,www.mjk-private-income.com, http://thesgrprogram.com/special.php?a_id=14794

2007-06-15T00:12:00.000-07:00

Getting out of Dodge

I do have a bug-out kit. I no longer really have a place to bug-out to. Mom and Dad are selling the farm and moving in next door to me. I have been thinking about where I would go if I was forced to move. One part of me would say up a little further north or east where they have hills and the land is not so flat. Another thought came to me, what about living on the water? Live off a 30 ( or so) foot sailboat that you can eat, cook, sleep and has a head for washing and toilet. I further thought I would have to make a living( if money is no good, than trade for what I need). It would have to be skills I have that would be the best since the boat I would want would not be too big and would not have tons of cargo space. It would have to have some room for cargo or else I would not be able to get everything I wanted. I would consider this my plan "b". Any and all thoughts or comments on this idea would be gratefully received.

Michael J. Kaer
author of "What Money Can't Buy" available at www.mjk-private-income.com

2007-03-13T22:45:00.000-07:00

The more I read the more I get ____________ ( fill in the blank)

Hi Folks.

Right now thee are so many different things going on, some good, some not good and some really bad when it comes to Global Warming, Peak Oil and war in general.Some are talking about all the other peaks we have to face, like peak water, peak soil, peak sustainable housing and others. The wars of the future will be over food , land and water( which by the way has been the basis for most wars in the past) only this time they will effect everybody. The whole planet. Everyone. Add in the plants and all the animals too. This is THE major time to get prepared. We have grown soft here in the west. Our lifes of luxury fed by the power of slaves in the form of oil and electric power have made us weak. We depend on them too much. We like our luxury. Heads up folks, enjoy it while you can. It is all going Bye Bye.

Every small act of conservation by someone in North America would be the same as about 25 people (more or less) conserving in poorer countries. Think about that. Think also that we may not stop global warming but we can slow it down or speed it up with what we do now ( that is assuming you believe as most scientists believe that humans are having an effect on the planet). Conserve now and often. That may give us some time to find new ways of living that will not kill most of the population off. We also need the time to learn new skills, and to adjust to these changes. Good luck.

Michael J. Kaer, author of "What Money Can't Buy" and other books.

2007-02-28T17:34:00.000-08:00

Low - Tech

Low-tech items will be the wave of the future after a money and oil crash. Low-tech items are things you can make yourself or can make at the level of say, a blacksmith. They will be "Cottage Industry" items like food preserves, Bee's Wax candles, hand-woven cloth, butter and cheese, soap, apple cider, alcohol and other crafts. Some medium-tech items like Bicycle and hand-blown glass take more resources to produce and usually more than one person to make, so they will be worth alot more than the stuff you can make yourself. Higher-tech items will be interspersed with the low and medium-tech things. Things like PV panels and batteries and generators will have a still higher value, but will need a crew for maintainance/scrounging for parts/manufacturing parts. If you are an electrician or electronic technician, you will be a busy person. Learning to troubleshoot and fix simple electronic circuits or hook up PV panels correctly may be the only "Job" you do. Most others will be in the fields, tending animals and growing food. A good cook is worth alot, but keeping a few servers up and running on only power you can produce, will enable the survivors of a crash to store huge amounts of information. Getting that information onto paper will be a huge chore but well worth it.

Right now it would take weeks of constant printing on a printer to reproduce what I have on just my small desktop. Where and how would you store it after it is printed is a whole other issue.

I am trying to get out of debt and make part of this dream ( getting the servers) a reality while we still have the ability to ship things. I am working on my portal at Maximum Heavy Traffic to get the money together for this dream of mine. Anyone have a spare server laying around? Actually I am willing to take any and all PV panels and anything to do with solar power ( working or not) and use it to further this dream. I would even accept Bicycle generators. If you want to contribute in any way send me a shout by replying to this post.
Thanks.

Michael J. Kaer, author of "What Money Can't Buy"

2007-02-22T14:18:00.000-08:00

What is important?

The basics are food, shelter, air, water and security. If I was a nomad I would be able to forage for all the food I need, the parts for a shelter, fuel for the fire, skins and fibres for clothes and boots and maybe make a knive out of a sharp rock or a fire-hardened stick. I am not a nomad. I have a house in a small city that needs to be fed fuel to keep me warm, electricty to communicate and provide me with water and other bills that must be paid. That requires money. I get money in several ways. I have some pension money coming in, I make a few bucks doing odd jobs and I make some money online.

click here for The Most Trusted Name in Home Income
I also get a cheque every month from SFI at Secrets of Internet Millionaires

All this gives me the freedom to do what I want when I want and still provide for bills. Without that freedom I would not be able to prepare myself for the future.
Good luck

Michael J. Kaer, Author of "What Money Can't Buy" at MJK - Private Income

2007-01-31T17:50:00.000-08:00

My Space, My Lot and My Portal

I use Traffic exchanges like

TrafficSwarm
and
WebDawg to get people to come to this blog and to get to my Portal
Here
Or Here .

On my portal I have a store page made by Amazon that sells survival items.
Survival Stuff

I have a blog in My Space and I talk alot in My Lot. They get to hear what I am all about and the sometimes decide to see my blogs. I like the feeling of Community. Some of the questions people pose are silly, but some are deep. I enjoy a good laugh and those sites gave me that as well.

I would like to know who is reading this blog and my other blogs, so if it is not too inconvienient, could you drop a comment or send me an email? Thanks.

Michael J. Kaer, author of "What Money Can't Buy" at One of my sites

2007-01-22T23:26:00.000-08:00

If I could believe the guys on the Agenda tonight, we are swimming in oil. I listened carefully when Peak Oil was mentioned and only one person really mentioned something close to truthfull ( as far as I know). They also squirmed a bit when the subject of climate change came up. It pays to be slippery.

Michael J. Kaer
http://maximumheavytraffic.com/mibmy137

2006-12-31T11:46:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday to me!

Last post for 2006

This has been a very scary ride this year. Normally I love rollarcoasters partially because I know I can get off at the end of the ride. This is one rollarcoaster we are all on and can't get off.

I have been building up my personal library and working on getting my house in order. I still have too high a debt load, but that is coming down slowly.
I am interested in what other people are doing. Please send me an email or leave a comment.

Happy New Year!

Michael J. Kaer
Author of "What Money Can't Buy"

2006-11-27T10:58:00.000-08:00

The Power of Community
The CKOAP ( Chatham-Kent Oil Age Planning) group will be showing the film "the Power of Community at the Cultural Centre ,75 William st., Chatham,thursday nov. 30th at 7pm. The film is about Cuba and how they pulled together after all their oil supplies ran dry when the USSR fell apart. The Cuban people are a shining example of how we can all work together to survive.

I hope to see you there. I'm making the popcorn. Admission is free but we do take donations to help pay for the space.

Michael J. Kaer, author of "What Money Can't Buy"

2006-10-22T04:02:00.000-07:00

Doom and Gloom

On the peak oil boards I contribute to often, a discussion has been going back and forth about Doom and Gloomers. Y2K was presented as a negative example of doom and gloom, since many people went overboard about that situation. The extremists took the general premise and ran with it. I think the problem was blown up out of proportion. Yes, there was valid concerns, but I see it as a non-event simply because a ton of money and manpower was thrown at the problem. It was a problem that had a solution; all it needed was the will to get it done.

A whole slew of companies started up to sell emergency equipment and supplies to the frightened masses. I am sure sales went sky high every time a news article about the problem was put out to the mass media. Bad news sells papers and TV timeslots. Many a geek made big bucks for not a lot of work by fixing the bugs.

Peak Oil is a whole different ball of wax. It is a problem that happens to coincide with global climate change and overpopulation issues. There are no easy solutions but there are some bugs that can be fixed. Everyone knows that a CF bulb uses less power to run than an incandescent bulb. Many people have switched out the old bulbs with new ones as the old bulbs burn out. That is one small step forward. Conservation is the obvious first step to the problem.

The problem is many people do not want to change their lifestyle. It is not in the best interest of big business (in the short term) to support lifestyle changes of less consumption. The economy shrinks and a smaller economy mean smaller profits or no profits. The problem is also that a lot of big corporations are under a lot of pressure to continue creating huge profits, so they make many (in my opinion) bad short term decisions that will maximize profits at the expense of the environment and people (and animals and plants).

Big business has raped and pillaged the earth of its raw resources for so long, they feel they have the right to continue. Even Governments seem powerless to stop the pillage since a business simply will pull up stakes after it has drained one area and move to another area or country where they can not be touched. They have a group of lawyers and bookkeepers whose job it is to keep people and governments from stopping their business. They have the money to bribe or manipulate suppliers, officials and law enforcement people to get their way. No government can stand against that. The current U.S. government actually seems to be in the pocket of big business and they are the ones muzzling the scientists who are trying to show their evidence. Since they are only concerned with short-term gain, they are not willing to look at the damage they are causing and in many cases actively stop others from pointing out the damage. Since they can not see past the next shareholders meeting they are blind. The whole economy is going to fall apart from within once the energy is no longer there to keep it going.

There is the crux of the problem – Energy! The economy needs lots of cheap energy to keep it rolling. We no longer have that cheap energy so no matter what the economy does it can not create a cheap energy source that matches the energy output of oil. I think the best we can do is to create as much renewable energy sources (wind and solar generators, geo-thermal, wave…) as possible as well as educate people about solar heaters and cookers and “Hay box” cookers. To stop a wide spread die off due to famine, also educate and encourage everyone to form community gardens and private gardens to supplement what the local farmers can provide.

The people who happen to point out the obvious conclusions of a possible mass scale die off are called Doomers and Gloomers. I guess I would be called one in that case. I am optimistic that we can avert a lot of the damage, but that would mean major voluntary changes from everyone. I do not see that happening in the west, in fact I see the opposite happening. There is still a ton of money to be made selling emergency supplies and I think everyone should have some extra supplies on hand for emergencies. Creating an atmosphere of fear will spur sales of such items and that is what I think happened with Y2K. Commonsense says you should be prepared for power outages, water contamination and food shortages. Insulating your home make sense so you and your stuff stays warmer I winter and cooler in summer, so you will not need as much energy to cool off or heat up. That will save you lots of money. The most efficient means of travel is the bicycle. It is even more efficient than walking. That is something that needs to be promoted in a large way. It also happens to be healthy and fun.

So what is going to happen when the economy tanks? Massive layoffs, massive hunger and money (fiat currency) will not be worth the paper it is printed on; those are the immediate outcomes of a market crash. Doom and Gloom -hell no- that is just reality. Learning skills to deal with barter in a no-money local economy is going to be a major mind shift for many. Instead of a dozen eggs = $2.19 it will
now be a dozen eggs = a bee’s wax candle or a couple of sewing needles or a bottle of apple juice…, a real market will be set up.

Are you able to feed and clothe and shelter yourselves right now? I could for the short term, but it would be difficult during the winter. I am not even close to self-supporting. I have a certain amount of supplies that I could stretch with forage from the countryside and fishing and the amount of clothes I have could last me several years. I just fixed up my house so it should be good for a while. I want more solar panels and I plan on building some solar heaters and cookers. The less fuel I use to heat my place the better. The less fuel I use to cook my food the better. The less fuel I use to get my food the better. I am counting on my many skills to barter with others for the things I will need to survive. Many things could be done at the government level to help me be more self-supporting. If they de-regulated the hemp industry, I could survive that much easier. Do I expect that to happen? No. Does that make me a doomer? No, It just means I have a realistic outlook as far as what I see governments willing to do. Governments do not like giving up power. What they want is more power.

Where does that leave us? In quite a pickle. We are going to have to grow down before we grow back up.

Michael J. Kaer
Author of "What Money Can't Buy"

2006-09-02T03:38:00.000-07:00

Hi folks.

I have been so busy on the running on empty boards or ROE for short to get much writing done here. I am on ROE2, ROE3, ROEca and OWL ( old ways living) as well as others dedicated to alternative energy sources. Here is an update of what has been going on.
1) My house is nearly done. All they have left to do is put in the new furnace. Then the work of re-painting and getting rid of stuff and adding stuff begins. I had planned on doing something with my garage, but that did not happen.
2) My girlfriend's patio is now done along painting the front porch, fixing the front room and painting the bedroom door.
3) The CKOAP (Chatham-Kent Oil Age Planning) group is meeting on a regular basis and we just finished a SWOT of Chatham.
4) I have been buying supplies and so has my girlfriend. We have about 6 months worth of food. I have more months of liguid vitamins( I am aiming at having a year stocked up).
5) My Portal site is up and running. One of the gateway pages is http://maximumheavytraffic.com/mibmy137 . I am focussing on that site in my traffic exchanges that I am still using. The best one still is one of the older ones at http://www.trafficswarm.com/go.cgi?120579
6) 2 of my books are for sale online at http://www.mjk-private-income.com . Both are Peak Oil related, One directly and the other is a "How to" book on making Candles,Firestarters and Hobostove fuel cells.

I guess that is all for now.

Michael J. Kaer
Author of "What Money Can't Buy"

2006-08-02T12:36:00.000-07:00

This is important stuff so I have put this rant in several places. Here it is.
Hi folks.
I just saw an older film, made in the 90's called "The Hemp Revolution"
Some of the claims made by the hemp activists are a little over the top, but I write that off as passion for their cause. They made many valid points, namely that Marijuana is still illegal even after many studies showing it should not be, because the drug enforcement crowd and the government( as well as banks and organized crime) make a ton of money on it. They also pointed out the reason is was made illegal in first place was because DuPont saw hemp as a threat to their new processes based on oil and coal. Farmers used to grow all fibre, food , medicine and fuel over a hundred years ago. The Big Oil boys have taken over everything to do with the farm and "Farmed " it out to the Pharm-a-cyst and factories, including food. Once Oil is not to be had, we will be forced to go back to the old ways. Hemp was a major player back then and it will be once more. Hemp has been written out of the history books the same way Tesla was. At the Smithsonian
Institute, all mention of hemp has been removed. The reason given was (maybe not exact quotes)" The children do not need to know about hemp; it will just confuse them" . That is just sick. How stupid do these people think our kids are? Sounds very "1984ish". Big Brother knows what is good for you and you can't argue against it if you do not know an alternative exists

That is my rant for today. Thanks for letting me get that off my chest.

Michael J. Kaer in Canada
Author of "What Money Can't Buy" available at www.mjk-private-income.com and writer of myhemp.blogspot.com

2006-07-12T05:46:00.000-07:00

Hi Folks.

I have come to the conclusion that I am a whimp. If I get a stuffy nose or sore throut that is enough to throw my whole day off. Yesterday we ( my girlfriend and I) visited a friend who just got out of the hospital. All the people in that household smoke. I have quit for a while so I got watery eyes and a stuffy nose and a sore throut this morning. I am waiting for the tea to steep and a Hall's type candy to sooth my throut. We are lucky that we have the stores and the infrastructure for me to have my petty sniffles easily taken care of. No one would question some thing as simple as a Hall's type candy (or even tea for that matter)not to be available when we demand it. After the big crash, there are going to times when those will not be available and someone will be making a substitute that will not taste as good or work as well. Tea and honey helps. In the future tea will be a luxury item and so will honey. Honey stores very well. Even if it crystalizes, it is still good. Tea does store but not near as well as honey. Most things do not store as well as honey! Stocking up on honey now while you can still get it in the stores would be a wise thing. I also plan on getting a large batch of tea bags and putting them in vacuum packed plastic. I have one of those foodsavers. They are highly recommended by the do-it-yourself homefood storage crowd. Vacuum sealing will keep the tea fresher longer. It also allows you to store more in a smaller space since you have taken all the air out. Instant coffee in the jar will last for years. Glass jars would be better than plastic, but you have to protect them. If you bought a case of them, leave them in the case. Sugar also stores well if it is sealed completely. These items are cheap in most cases, if bought in bulk. The one food item you must stock up on is salt.It is very cheap but you must have it in your diet.If you want spices, buy them whole and grind them as you use them. Herbs you can grow every year. Spices from distant places will be very expensive once again.

We are off to see Al Gore's movie tonight. I will tell you how it went in another post.
All for now.
Michael J. Kaer, Author of "What money Can't Buy"

2006-06-29T21:38:00.000-07:00

Hi folks.
Yah, I know;I have not been around for a while. Summer gets like that. Here is a couple of update and then I think you may forgive me for not being around. 1) my house. My house is getting torn apart and put back together again. They have finished the bathroom and kitchen for the most part. They started on the roof today. I have new steel doors and a new electical system put in. They still have all the windows to do and the furnace.My house will be much safer and warmer, at the same time costing me less. I took my own advice about getting my house in order. 2) The CKOAP group is going to be showing a short movie about sustainable communities. 3) I have been very active on the Running on Empty yahoo groups. I have been both teaching and learning alot.

That is my excuse and I am sticking to it.
Michael J. Kaer - http://www.mikesworms.com amd http://www.mjk-private-income.com

2006-05-25T14:13:00.000-07:00

Hi Folks.
Just a quick update for those who may be in the Chatham-Kent, Ontario area ( close to the Windsor/Detroit border and between them and London Ontario). We will be showing "The End Of Suburbia" at the local library on Queen street, Wed. May 31 at 7:00. The showing is free and we accept donations to further our work of getting the message out to more people. Thank you.

Michael J. Kaer, Owner of www.2bitpixel.com and www.mikesworms.com

2006-05-21T07:46:00.000-07:00

P.O.P.

Peak Oil Plans

What are you going to do when your money cannot buy anything? You need a new M.O.E. (Medium Of Exchange). The problem is where do you start? You could start as small as trading a safety pin for a Band-Aid. You need an exchange to happen in order to get what you need. That is how we survive right now. A problem that could arise is in a society that just collapsed it’s economy, there will be some who decide to take what you have, using a gun or other means. First, you need a safe environment in order to have a true exchange. I plan on holing up as long as I can, not trading with others till I have too and then only with neighbours I trust.

A government person may declare that all the food and goods I worked hard to gather is now to be part of the collective, with no receipts for what is taken (stolen) and could turn around and accuse me of hoarding (It may be a capitol crime at that time). The best way to keep anything away from those who would steal them is to hide it. Caching, it is called. Usually burying something is involved. Another part to a cache is knowing how to protect the item in order to get it ready to be buried.

A good place to do bartering would be a central place that is open to all, like an open field or a park that has a centre stage to do the bartering from. A small fee from all the bartering parties in the form of food or other goods may be paid to personal police. Also a form of looking after the waste left over from the crowd would need to be picked up. A small fee for the use of the washroom may take care of waste management. If not, disease will break out quicker. People kicked out of their homes would be forced into tents and shacks. The barter spots would be the only place they could trade their skills or goods. How do you keep your stuff save if you are moving around? You can do like the gypsy’s and travel in a small wagon. Make sure the wagons can be locked well. In my case it may be riding my bike to the park with a trailer and a tent to set up a booth. I would avoid the use of the washroom, by urinating in a container and hauling the urine back with me to be used as fertilizer on my gardens. As far as solid waste, I would be working on a way to compost it to send it back to the soil. The air quality is not going to be great, but with no cars, it will be tolerable.

Many things will be shut down. Get that through your heads. Houses are going to be on fire because people will be doing stupid things to stay warm and there will be no firefighters. Neighbours will be forced to get along; or they are going to die. When I go to the marketplace I will want to bring one or more people with me to help out and watch my back. I would also like to have someone at my house to protect it. A time of lawlessness is going to be starting the second you can’t pay your police force. What are they going to do with people in jail? If I had the money now, I would sell all my useless toys and stock up on everything I need for a couple of years. I would then find a hiding place, maybe on an island, and just stay there for 2 or more years, till the worse of it was over. Right this second I do not have that option, so I am stuck where I am. I am praying we hold things together till this fall. I will have my house finished and that will give me time to find as much money as possible and stock up as much as I can. Good luck.
Michael J. Kaer, Owner of http://ww.2bitpixel.com and http://www.mikesworms.com

2006-05-11T15:15:00.000-07:00

Hi folks.
First f2f meeting of the CKOAP group
At the first meeting we had a diverse lot of talents in only 5 members who could show up . I (Michael) was made acting Secretary since I brought my pad with me. Some of the resources between us where a farm and a bookstore and some of the talents included a Paramedic, a Grant and Propossal Writer, A Reflexologist, A Vegitarian, a Macrobiotic cook, a Medical Supply person, a worm farmer, a writer and a person who is going to get the Permaculture training. Not bad for such a small group. We tried to figure out what our best purpose was and we decided we wehere to be a practical think tank. Some one commented that was an oxymoron. Lance handed out alot of printed matter paid for out of his pocket, so if we get any donations or raise funds somehow, I will be the first one to vote he gets fully re-imbursed. Thanks goes out to The boxing club that lent use the space to hold the meeting. We decided we would aim for a monthly meeting and we could stay in touch by email. Some of the topics we kicked around was living off grid,organic food co-ops, seedbanking, finding out who the organic farmers are locally,hemp,the Chatham-Kent Community Strategic Plan, where to get face masks cheaply,a list of some of my blogs, and a little about my book, "What Money Can't Buy" and 2 other websites at http://livingeconomies.org and http://countmeout.ca . The meeting ran about an hour or so. The final word was about the movie "The End of Suburbia" showing at the library Wed. May 31 at 7:00 at 120 Queen Street, Chatham. Free addmission, donations accepted.

I am not sure if I posted this here, but someone on one of the groups asked me for some of the sources I use in my replys. Here is my reply
Hello Anyone reading this.

First off I have my own blogs at http://survival-list.blogspot.com, http://myhemp.blogspot.com and http://kaerpackage.blogspot.com . I also wrote several small books, two of them available online at http://www.mjk-private-income.com One is on Peak oil and the Chaos it causes and the other is a "How To" book on making Bee's wax candles, firestarters and hobostove fuelcells. I also have tons of downloads on a couple of disks and on my laptop to read through.

Here is a partial list of books I have on hand starting with shelter and energy

1)Earth Water Wind and Sun by D.S. Halacy,Jr.
2)Low-Cost,Energy-Efficient Shelter for the owner and builder edited by Eugene Eccli
3)The Harrowsmith Reader edited by James Lawrence
4)The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Capentry & Woodworking tools,terms & materials by Stanley Schuler
5)A popular science book- Formulas, methods, tips and data for home and workshop by Kenneth M. Swezey
6)Make and do the woodcraft way by J.G.Cone ( a scouting book)
7)Roughing It Easy- A unique ideabook for camping and cooking by Dian Thomas

Food
8)Grow It Indoors by Richard W. Langer
9)The nutribase Guide to Carbohydrates, Calories & Fat by Dr. Art Ulene
10)Encyclopedia od Organic Gardening by J.I. Rodale and Staff
11)The Hunter's Field Guide to the game birds animals of North America by Robert Elman

Medical
12)The A.M.A. Family Medical Guide - Random house
13)What Your Doctor Won't Tell You ( all about alternative medicine) by Jane Heimlich ( yes-wife to inventor of the Heimlich Maneuver)
14)How To Be Your Own Doctor (Sometimes) by Keith W. Sehnert,M.D. and Howard Eisenberg
15)Camping & Wilderness Survival by Paul Tawrell

Other
16)Home Gunsmithing Digest by Tommy L. Bish , edited by Jack Lewis
I hope that helps.
Michael J. Kaer, owner of www.2bitpixel.com and www.mikesworms.com

2006-05-05T00:13:00.000-07:00

Hi Folks.

I have been very busy posting at sites like running on empty3 and running on empty . ca and I part of a local group called CKOAP which is part of a larger organization postcarbon.org. I highly recommend visiting the sites and joining up if you have some wisdom to share or questions to ask. There are people from all over that are freely sharing what they know and if the do not know it, they have good suggestions on where to look. No one person can have all skills and know everything. We need to be part of a larger whole in order to survive.My predictions are an Economic crash will happen as a result of A) Avian Flu or some other Pandemic and/or B) E.W.E.'s (Extreme Weather Events) battering down North America too fast, too often for it to recover quickly and/or C)the war for oil will get too expensive and someone is going to call the States in to cash in their chips. On top of this you have peak oil with the highest prices for oil ever driving everything up. All it takes is one push from the wrong direction and WHOOSH! the whole house comes down like a pack of cards.

Others are calling for a more moderate view of the situation. The debates are civil, no one is flaming me because of my opinions on the situation. There is disagreement, as there should be when diverse minds get together to try and find a solution to the chaos caused by Peak Oil. Some hope that it will happen gradually. We all seem to agree that a collapse of society will happen, it is just a matter of when, how and for how long. There are good suggestion there and good people. Stop reading this and go to those sites!

Michael J. Kaer

2006-04-24T21:38:00.000-07:00

M.R.E. part one & two
I am experimenting on an empty stomach. When I opened the package I noticed the inside was lined. I am assuming that it is to hold water to put one of those chemical heaters in, but the package does not tell you this. There is an assumption also that you have water and a cup for the juice, coffee and hot chocolate as well as a bowl for oatmeal. I guess you could eat it right out of the package, if you had to. If that is the case, I would use the bread pouch to pour the oatmeal in. There is enough coffee for two cups. This is a breakfast and lunch set (what is a soldier supposed to do with his lunch while eating breakfast?)

The oatmeal is not bad-very rich. I made it with hot water.
The coffee is not great, but what do you expect with instant? I am spoiled with fresh brewed Tim Horton coffee. The whitener needed to be stirred twice before it would settle in. Jim said his cup was ok. He said you could tell it was instant, but if you were on the front lines and needed your fix, it would punch the ticket.
He bread turns out to be a mini flat loaf and the bread is a sweetbread. I don’t like marmalade but the two packets where plenty (a little on the runny side) and it was a different taste. The hot chocolate is rich and hits the spot. Not bad for instant chocolate. I am starting to feel almost full. I don’t know if this is meant to be eaten in one sitting or two. I still have the main course to go and a cup of “juice” some gum and a candy.

If I was in a survival situation I may have burned up a lot of calories building a shelter or gathering wood or hauling water. Since I am not, I do not need as many calories. Since I am doing this research for my book as well as my blogs I get to write this off as a tax deduction (I am doing this during tax season!). If I was in a group of others and we all have these meals I would save some of the goodies for trade or as something to play cards for. Another reason why I am doing this research is to figure out the best way to keep me fed during the flu pandemic. My girlfriend works for Public health so she will be on the front lines working if and when it happens (most likely when and the answer to when could be as soon as this fall)(I will be holing up in my house for about 3 months when the first wave hits. I don’t know what I will do if a second wave or a third wave comes). The problem will not be so much as so many people dead, but the massive amount that will be sick and the rest of use trying to tend to them. That is what is going to make the economy come to a standstill.

As a side note, Jim just said the coffee must be high test because he feels he has more energy, like when he drinks too much coffee. That is good if you need to stay awake.

I can eat a lot. When I am by myself I can get by on very little. I think I could get by on just this one package of food for one day if I was stuck inside the house and could not go anywhere.

They thought of everything! I did not notice till I looked in the bottom and found a toothpick. The inside of the bag has a reflective surface. If you opened it up completely and had bright sunshine, you would have yourself a little solar stove. If you had several of them taped together, you would have a bigger solar stove.

I just cooked up the beans and wieners. I would suggest having a knife ready to cut the pouch. It is HOT! I used about half the salt and pepper. Again since I was thinking in survival mode, I licked the plate and the inside of the pouch. I would hoard the salt and pepper for when I am making soup or some other dish. If I were in full survival mode I would have carefully cut the pouches so I could use the reflective surfaces for solar heating. Some of the beans could have been made into a paste to act like glue till something better came along. The raspberry drink crystals are sweet. It is better than just plain water and I am sure there must be extra vitamins in the mix. It reminds me of using Jello to make a drink when a person is sick. Now comes dessert. The pineapple I found to be very sweet. It was nice to have "fresh” fruit with the meal and it would add needed bulk to a well-rounded meal. The gum is still fresh. It is a nice way to get saliva going in the mouth if you are low on water. It is also a way of brushing your teeth with out brushing your teeth. I was disappointed that the hand wipe lost most of its moisture. The matches still work.

Part two.

Happy Earthday! It is the 22nd and I started my day helping with the cleanup effort on the banks of the Thames River. I had Breakfast and a snack so I am not starting on an empty stomach, but this time I did a few hours of labour.

So far the matches still work in this pack, the coffee is the same as the fresher one but the whitener has clumped up a bit and then went to normal. I have not detected any difference between the 2005 and 2002. The drink crystals are pear flavoured. The small candy is different and it is raspberry jam this time. I am about to try the cereal. It is more of a crunchie Granola with coconut If I knew what it was, I would have eaten it plain or mixed with the pineapple bits. I read somewhere on the net that there is a recipe book of ways to use MRE’s in a more mixed fashion. I could have hoarded my extra whitener and sugar but I am adding it to the hot chocolate. I did save half my salt and pepper from yesterday so I have a complete serving of salt and pepper that could be used in some other food. It is amazing how just a little salt and pepper can change a bland meal into something great to eat. Imagine eating a potatoe without salt or pepper. See what I mean? The hot chocolate had to be stirred more than the fresher one yesterday. It still tastes great. I noticed a different company made the main course. I saw more pieces of meat in smaller cuts. I think I like the taste of this batch more than I did the fresher batch. Did the people making the packs charge more and the government switched to save money? Who knows? One other note- the spoon is smaller than I use at home. I am forced to take smaller bites and chew my food more. You get fuller faster that way. The bread feels, looks and tastes the same. How they do it is beyond me. Jam I can see lasting for decades if it was properly sealed. Same with powdered coffee and chocolate.
I have a hard time understanding that the bread I am eating was made over 4 years ago. Simply amazing! All I have left to consume is the candy, the gum, the pineapple and the drink. The pineapple does not look or taste as fresh as yesterday’s batch, but another company made it so that may explain the different taste. If some wise guy managed to get access to a lot of these fruit pouches, I think he could easily get them to ferment and make alcohol. Cards anyone? Want to bet your fruit pouch? The hand wipe was fine in this pack. The candy tastes good (butterscotch-yum). The gum is still good and the pear drink-well… not so great, but better than plain water.

My conclusions:
1) Survival in a cooped place would lead to boredom and there would come a time where you just would not feel like eating anything. Voila- get an MRE to get you through that time.
2) I feel full and I feel fine. I can not see much if any difference between an MRE made last year and one made 4 years ago. That proves they have this system down pat.
3) I like the variety an MRE gives. I also think I could stretch one meal out to an entire day if I had too.
4) If you where with others I think they would barter the candies and gum or maybe other parts of the meal or use it like money to bet with.
5) With two of the packs open I now have 2 long spoons I could use like drumsticks. I told you boredom would take over.
6) Reusing the packaging to make solar stoves keeps you busy doing something and it will save you fuel.
7) MRE’s have a small place in any survival strategy but they are extremely expensive. I would be better off getting canned goods and reusing the cans.
8) I believe the claims I have heard of MRE’s being eaten after ten years with little loss of flavour and nutrient value.

Michael J. Kaer, Owner of www.2bitpixel.com and www.mikesworms.com

2006-04-13T01:04:00.000-07:00

The Perfect Storm

Some people saw the movie about a captain taking his boat out in weather that turns hellish quickly due to several factors reinforcing each other to make the perfect storm. I can relate the premise of that movie to what is happening now in and in the near future.

Back in 1995 and even earlier, people were talking about Y2K. A lot of money was thrown at the problem and a lot of hard work went into making it a non-event. Remember in 1998-99 companies sprang up, ready to supply you with MRE's and emergency power equipment plus an assortment of dry and canned foods + water. The people buying that stuff considered the price paid to be a form of insurance, one you could resell or at least eat. Earlier than that, in the 70's, it was gas shortages. We have survived plagues and pandemics in the past and we will do so again. We got a nasty shock with 9-11. We got a wake-up call when we had the major power black out. Next was E.W.E.'s (Extreme Weather Events)during christmas holidays and hurricanes like Katrina wiping out New Orleans, not to mention the year of Peak OIL (2005). Lets add to this mix scientific evidence, the poles are melting and the global warming is getting hotter and the hole in the ozone is getting larger.

Can you see the "Perfect Storm" brewing? The U.S. is overspending on the war in Iraq to the point some people think the States are bankrupt. There has been a major world shift from U.S. dollars to Euro's. What does that mean? Lets say a small terrorist attack on certain Oil producing countries makes Gas prices go up even higher. Add to that limited production means limited supplies = Crime waves. Add a record number of extreme floods, hurricanes, tornados and fires. Now add a possible outbreak of a deadly strain of flu = people not going anywhere and barricadeing themselves in = a stalled U.S. economy. If the U.S. dollar falls, so does the loonie and since the entire world is in each other's back pockets, a possible world economy colapse. The deadly flu does not even have to hit for this scene to play out.

A lot of good starts on alternative fuel sources and hybrid cars will be scrapped, with no one to buy the product. In some cases the rich will be getting richer and the poor will be busy getting dead. By rich , I mean actual goods, animals or land. Money will not be worth anything untill a new money system restarts. What happens when you can't pay police and firefighters and other emergency people? They quit or you work out a deal to provide food and shelter to the workers and their families in exchange for their services. The barter system will be the only way of getting goods untill money is UNIVERSALLY introduced. Can you say "One world currency"? Personally I would put forth the idea of a money system based on hemp since it is a plant that grows everywhere mankind can survive(except maybe the extreme north, but with the poles melting, who knows)

I have thought this out many different ways and most of them are bad. Some are worse than others. The smallest of things could spark it. When that happens the U.S. will officially or unofficially try to invade Canada. Either gangs of roving thugs looking for food will force themselves across our border or The U.S. will try a land grab. That could mean the end of Canada as we know it or we could throw some nukes at them and get pummeled back. They can distroy a lot of land and the people on it with conventional weapons. They need our land and minerals and water, and may use that time period of chaos to grab (steal) it. That is one of the bad scenarios. There are worse. The pandemic could hit while all this other stuff is happening and catch everyone with their pants down. That means a lot of dead people. I don't have to like it, but that is some interpretations I have of current affairs under the shrub, I mean Bush administration. The ball is in his court and George and Dick are fumbling it.

Please don't flame me too hard, I am only the messenger, telling the possible truth as I see it. Michael J. Kaer

2006-04-10T15:48:00.000-07:00

I am putting this on all my blogs at once since this information is so important. Look at the Archives for the rest of the information I was referring to.

Why be prepared?

My girlfriend is getting fed up with me talking

about ways in which our society as we know it

could (rapidly) change. In my last post I talked

about E.W.E.'s (Extreme Weather Events). In past

posts on this and my other blogs (myhemp,

survival-list, moneyhowtogetsome, moneythebook,

xchangesnumber1 - all blogspot.com like this

one)I have talked about how peak oil is going to

drive gas prices too far up and more wars will be

faught over this resource. One thing I have not

addressed to well(so far) is the next pandemic. At

first people think-Avian Flu and they could possibly

be correct. It does not have to be Avian Flu, it

could be another type of flu. History has shown that

the entire regions where decimated by waves of

flu and plague with a certain regular cycle to them.

According to those cycles we should have had a

bad one last year or maybe this year. Now that

world-wide travel is easier to do, the spread will

be world-wide. Someone is going to hop a plane

to get out of a region that is struck by it, to get

away and in the meantime infects half the

passengers and crew. The crew and the other

passengers do not know they have it till they report

to work that they are ill in a few days. All those

people have spread to other points of the country

spreading the illness as they go. Since some

percentage of the population will be immune, they

may be carriers. If the United States or Canada

decided to close their border and patrol it A) the

cost would be huge, B) they would still not be able

to keep everyone out. We are simply too wide

open. This region of Ontario where I live has alot

of farms that import hired hands to pick crops and

such. One of the migrant workers may bring it in.

They are a multitude of ways for a flu bug to

spread.

So what do you do? Prepare as best you can!.

The Mormans have a standing policy of having a

year or more supply of everything they need. If they

shut themselves in for the few months to 18

months a bad pandemic could last, they would be

one group who would survive. The rest of us will be

lucky if we have more than a week's worth of food

and maybe a couple of bottles of water. EEEENK

( insert sound of buzzer), Guess what- you are out

of the game. In all the research I did for my book,

everyone said you need a gallon( 4 litres) of water

a day to drink, cook food, wash etc. That is per

person and more if you have babies or pregnent

mothers to look after. If you stayed indoors for 3

months or so, say 100 days that equals 100

gallons per person or 400 litres if I filled up every

jug and the tub and sink, I think I could just barely

make it.I would still need 3 months supply of meds,

vitimins and food. I have a 3 month supply of

vitamins and about that much or more in food, but

my prescription meds I can only get a month at a

time. Ok lets say you have 100 days worth of

water, food and what not, what are you going to do

with yourself for 3 months indoors? I will not be

anywhere close to my girlfriend since she will be a

frontline worker, if and when it breaks ( she works

for public health). I have a large library of tapes

and dvds I could go through. Lots of music

besides. I have music instruments to play, a

sewing machine to work on, silver wire and hemp

twine to make jewelry with, about 50 pounds of

bee's wax to make candles with and lots of books

and magazines as well as the internet and TV to

watch. I can do Tai Chi exersises to keep fit.

Great. Now what happens if the electricity or gas

shuts off because too many people running them

get too sick to work? Right now I have a couple of

small solar panels that could charge a battery long

enough to charge my laptop. I may still be able to

get online even if the power goes off, but it will not

be for long periods. I have enough propane to last

a few days if I used the grill in the garage to cook

my meals and heat water for coffee and tea. I

would use up any fuel for my camp stove, but I

could not be able to heat my house. It would mean

a cold winter covered in blankets and heavy

clothes. It would mean not being able to wash my

clothes. It would mean no shaving, who cares I am

not going outside anyway. It would mean I would

survive but just barely. I would have to have

enough cash in the house to pay for my meds and

phone them up to deliver them, putting the money

in my mailbox and getting them to put the package

in the mailbox also. I would have to get it with

gloves on and a face mask and spray the bag with

a bleach/water solution as well as the actual

bottles. Garbage would have to be stored

somehow. It is do-able for 3 months, but right now

it is not do-able for any longer time period.

Can you see why my girlfriend is calling me Mr.

Joyfull and Mr. Happy? This is enough to depress

almost anyone. Don't shoot the messenger,

instead plow that emotion into saving your own

butt. The Government at all levels will be too

overwhelmed all at once to help much. You must

help yourself. I hope you pass this on to a friend or

even an enemy ( if they work for public works or

the gas company) the more you do now , the

better off you will be later. Buy my book and read

it. Go to www.mjk.private-income.com

and get the book, "What Money Can't Buy". After

you do that and pass to all your list of people, then

do some of your own looking around on the net.

There are too many sites for me to list but they are

out they. Jusy google "prepared" or "avian flu" ,

something good will show up. Sorry this is so long,

but the information is good. USE IT!
Michael J. Kaer, owner of www.2bitpixel.com

2006-04-01T23:37:00.000-08:00

I am busy writing a book about money and I am writing notes on the side for volume 2 of "What Money Can't Buy". The subtitle will be something like "What'cha goin ta do about it". This will be the positive side after all the negatives I laid out in the first book. I may go into a little more detail about what the negatives are just before I address them because some people may have not read the first book(what are you waiting for, go to www.mjk-private-income.com and get it now!)

I recently ordered some samples of MRE's and rations and such to test and put in the book as well as post the results here. I would like to know what experiences you have had with MRE's, Ration Bars and freeze dried foods or even companies that sell these items.

You can leave a comment to this blog that you are sure I will read.

Michael J. Kaer,owner of www.2bitpixel.com

2006-03-30T14:25:00.000-08:00

It's all in the book

I have been answering a lot of questions on Yahoo and some of them are coming from the research I did to write "What Money Can't Buy". Take the price of gasoline or what the next big stock is going to be. I have educated guesses as to what those are and where they are going. The book looks like it is going to be an ongoing project. I got so involved in the work, it is hard to turn to other things. I was following Bucky Fuller's ideas at the start about the promise of hydrogen, only to see massive breakthroughs and changes in that one area alone. Solar panels and wind generators have also undergone a huge leap forward. Nanotech is finally getting past being wet behind the ears. Alternative sources like geo-thermal as being seriously looked into. This is an exciting time folks

Exciting times does not come without a price. The price I see we will all have to pay is a total money system colapse. In the end the world currency maybe Hong Kong $'s or Yen or Euros. As I am typing this I am praying that I am wrong. The timelines are skewed and the data coming in says we are screwed and governments all over the world can't even get together to do the minimal least( The Kyoto accord). The stupidity and greed I have read about during this grueling timeperiod, forces me into a survivalist mode of thinking. My girlfriend called me "Mr. Happy" or "Mr. Joyfull" when I was discussing these things with her. Yes, they are depressing, but that is not my fault. Don't shoot the messenger.

The good news is there are several things you can do to stop my future from happening. I am writing a book about money and at the same time making notes for a second volume to go with "What Money Can't Buy". The good news is we can pull our butts out of the deep hole we have dug and get healthier while we are doing it. The good news is that it does not have to be as bad as I see it to be. I have hope. After going through thousands of pages online, I see individual states picking up the ball the feds dropped. Here in Canada I see individual provinces doing their best to meet and surpass Kyoto protocals. I see inventers freely giving their work away so it can not be squashed but big business interests. There is hope.

Another reason to see hope is in groups like freecycle. I belong to chathamkentfreecycle. It is a moderated group through Yahoo and it is for giving things to your community or receiving things from your community. No money is exchanged. But the item on the board once or twice and if it does not go, give it to Goodwill. This keeps items out of landfills and helps everyone's karma. Locally.

There is hope for us yet. The hint of how to survive a major trauma like a power failure or money failure is in the local community. Make your links with people now. Swap stuff or give it away, downsize, do more with less. How can someone steal from you if you are willing to give it to them? Think about that.

Michael J. Kaer, owner of www.2bitpixel.com

2006-03-22T11:53:00.000-08:00

Battery-Free Flashlight

Here is a picture of the box and the flashlight I bought recently. I have been seeing these advertized all over the net and on Ebay. Being the type of person who A) loves gadgets and B) is an Electronic Technician and C) concerned with the environment, so any item that would cut down on throw away batteries is O.K. in my book and D) has lived through one of the worst power outages in North American History (so far!) and E) am a Survivalist Equipment Tester, I would like to give you my thoughts on this product so far.

It claims to float and be waterproof. I have not tested that as yet. It does claim to not need batteries to run. That is not strictly true, it does have a couple of small batteries to hold a charge that the system generates. To be truely Battery-Free, you would need a capacitor setup to store the charge or some other way of storing the charge. The light given off is bluish due to the type of LED ( Light Emmiting Diode) being used as the light source. You can read by it. It does get pretty strong for a small flashlight. I like another feature they do not show or talk about. When you charge it up and turn it on then set it on a flat surface(light beam down) it acts like a lantern since the cover is clear plastic.

I am torture-testing that feature as I type. I charged it up and turned it on face down. It has contnued to give light over 24 hours. I am trying to completely discharge the batteries to test the exact number of shakes needed for good light. This could take a while since most LED’s use very little power, a fraction of a volt, usually.

There is one caution I must give you about this type of lightsource. Since it uses a strong magnet and a coil to take advantage of Faraday’s law, it is strong enough to wipe out credit cards, debit cards, laptops, ipods..., take my word for it and keep it away from electronics and your wallet.

My conclusion so far- even with the limitations ( store it in a pouch or hang it from your neck) of keeping it away from electronic devices or credit cards, this is one item I plan on adding to my permanent equipment. It is not very expensive and the fact that you will not have to buy batteries for it, makes it a great bargain.

Michael J. Kaer, owner of www.2BitPixel.com
Ps. After I finshed this little article, I tested if it does indeed float and if it is waterproof. Yes it does float. I do not know how far down you can go diving with it, but it is waterproof. I forgot to tell you that it has a built in ring at the end to put a line through so you can easily wear it around your neck.
PPs.To make sure it is completely waterproof, I would take it apart and seal the lens on with silicone and silicone the on/off switch to the on position from the inside and add more to the outside of the switch. Then I would feel safe taking it diving.

2006-03-20T10:01:00.000-08:00

I wrote this for my blog about money at http://moneythebook.blogspot.com and since it pertains to this blog, I thought I would a post it here too. That doubles my chance that someone reads it (which is the whole point of running a blog).

A worth of a thing...

Upon further research into this subject of money, I have come across different stories. Wait a minute; I was researching survival sites and this topic came up in a story. Now that I think about it money and survival have been linked often. I will not quote the story but it went something like this.
The man was talking about barter items and he asked what a box of nails was worth. In certain circumstances that box of nails would be worth their weight in gold , since gold would not be worth much, neither would silver. Maybe a trade for a bottle of alcohol or 2 cigarettes or some fresh fish. In a barter trade it depends on what the other person is holding, how badly you need (want) it and what you are willing to give up. If society broke down to the point of no transport trucks were transporting goods and a smoker had no access to nicotine, they may very well trade the box of nails for the a couple of smokes. A person brewing and distilling their own hooch, would gladly trade a bottle of the stuff if they had a leaky roof that needed fixing. I person who caught a whole mess of fish would be willing to part with a couple and the holder of the box of nails could be starving. Does this mean that a bottle of booze = a couple of smokes = a couple of fish? No! Yet under the right circumstances they very well could be. This story illustrates that in a trade or exchange the worth of the item depends on the needs of the two parties trading, therefore the worth of an item is flexible. Money is the same way. Since it is a token of worth and it has no intrinsic value (except as a piece of paper or a bit of metal) it flexes from day to day depending on what millions of transactions say it is worth. That is the simplified version anyway.

Right now I am willing to trade several months of research and hundreds of hours of writing in the form of two books for what? One of my needs are arrows or crossbow bolts and BB's. Well, with the money/credit system in place and still functional, I can have my books available 24 hours a day at www.mjk-private-income.com. A person wanting that valuable information can trade money in the form of digital bits directly into my paypal account. I can turn around and use those bits to ask someone who makes arrows or BB's to send me some and I will transfer some of those bits into their account. Everybody ends up happy.

Till next time...

Michael J. Kaer

2006-03-15T10:16:00.000-08:00

I just re-read R.A.H.'s "Tunnel in the sky", one of his juvi's about a survival course for highschool kids gone very wrong. What was to be a 10 day outing at the most turned into a 2 year ordeal. Very interesting stuff. Robert is often quoted in many of the survival sites I go to. Speaking through his character Lazarus Long he says "A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts,build a wall,set a bone,comfort the dying, take orders, give orders,cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects." (page 248-Time Enough For Love). Speaking of Survival sites, I downloaded the the survival bible #2, which is just a .pdf file with a few articles and hundreds of links to survival sites. Alot of the sites are no longer up and running, but a bunch of the die-hard sites are still in operation. Some of them have been going for 10 years, so they must be doing something right.

I was wondering why such a large amount of sites listed where not there. I know people get tired of running a site and just close it down if it is not making any money or giving any satifaction.In some cases I think many people have "bugged out" to their retreats after 9-11 and just stayed there. I have a 5 year plan in place to start the move. I am fixing up my house and plan on selling it in about 5 year's time. I life in a small city where I can't have an open fire (other than a BBQ) and there are a lot of restrictions on other activities I would like to do. I can't raise rabbits or chickens without the city raising a squack. I can't shoot an arrow or a BB gun for practice without attracting undue attention. I live in Canada, so gun ownership is frowned upon. I have a nice assortment of knives and practice with them indoors, while doing Tai Chi. I have a throwing knive I whould like to get provicient with that is in the same boat as the arrows and BB's. I need more land!

Here's my wish list of what I think I need. I can live on 5-20 acres if I have a bit of bush and a pond and some fruit trees on it. It would need to have well water and be located near a hill. It would need a small barn/workshop. I could live in a trailer for all I really care. My 17 footer would not be big enough. My main two crops would be sunflowers and hemp. I of course would put in a huge garden. I would like the hill to not be seen from the road because I would like to put one or more wind generators. If there is no hill I would set up a tower. The barn and the trailer would have as many solar panels on it as I can afford I would heat the barn and the trailer with a safe woodstove that can divert it's smoke to a smoke house next to it. Water pipes around the woodstove, then buried in the ground leading to the trailer and barn would bring heated water. I could tap some for hot water and the rest would heat the floors. With that much space I could have goats, rabbits and chickens as food and worms for bait and organic fertilizer. That is my simple outline of what I could set up as a self-sustaining farm. I figure that would be good enough for me and my girlfriend.

Any thoughts? I would like to hear them.
Michael.

2006-03-12T07:31:00.000-08:00

Just a quick update on my bug-out kit. It is still not complete, but most of the stuff is there. I need to re-photocopy my ID and important papers. I found one of my 2 wind-up radio/flashlights. The battery booster is fully charged, and I have a 400 watt and a 600 watt inverter ready for hookup. I have 2 small solar panels and on larger one ready to work. What I would like to have is some more small, sealed 12 volt batteries. They are very expensive (still). This year I am planing on constructing a large battery from plans I got online. The cost of the larger solar panels are starting to come down. I saw a 15 watt on sale for $80.00 Canadian dollars. That is a good start, but we need them to come down alot more before people with buy them in a large quantity.

That is all for today. Let me know what your plans are. Do you have 3 months worth of food? I would seriously start now!

Michael.

2006-03-01T23:37:00.000-08:00

I wrote this for my other blog, but it needs to be in this one as well. Since not everyone reads all my blogs, I have increased my chances that you have read this by 100% :)

At about 11:15 PM March 1,2006, I got a wake up call. It came in the form of a total power black out. Well not total, downtown had power, but one whole side of the city was in blackness. I ALWAYS keep a flashlight in my kitchen window. The trick is to walk in total darkness without killing yourself or knocking things over. Silly me forgot that I had a fully charged penlight close to the lightswitch in the computer-room.

I had a fully charged laptop I could write on and do some reading if I wanted. I had looked forward to a nice warm bed and a book, but that did not happen. I found a few other flashlights and took stock of what I had and what I needed to do. I checked the emergency jumpstarter. It had not been plugged in for some time, so it had almost no charge. I have a small solar panel in my window that keeps a charge on 2-12 volt batteries and I have an inverter to power anything that is under 600 watts. It was working fine. I looked around for my emergency windup radio/flashlight. I have two of them and I could not find either one. I think one is at my girlfriend's place in our camping equipment and the other is outside in my trailer. I had another small battery powered radio/flashlight that used to be attached to my bike. It's charged and working.
I have about 3 months worth of emergency food and enough water for up to a week. If this had been a "Bugout Scenario" I would not have had all my gear in one bag to grab. I have been working with my girlfriend to get her's ready since she would be on the frontlines in any disaster ( she works for public health). I got her a nice, compact windup radio as part of her birthday present. I like to get little odds and ends for her kit, and have been neglecting mine in the process. It is nice one of us will be fully prepared. I have gone through my bag and I know I need at least another pair of underwear and socks, maybe 2 more, they do not take up much room. I have no clothes in there and I have not updated all my ID or copies of my important papers. Other than that I am not in too bad a spot. With a little work over the next few days I can have most of my kit totally ready. I need to fill up my fanny pack as well. I need to choose just one extra book, something small but practical and it may have a few stories in it. Any suggestions? With that I will end this post.

Michael J. Kaer, President of Kaer Enterprises (.com),www.mjk-private-income.com, www.2bitpixel.com and www.mikesworms.com
Ps. I am just finding out just how much you can shove into those Altoids tins if you wrap them in rubber bands after!

2006-02-15T19:24:00.000-08:00

Ever since I finished "What Money Can't Buy" and my "how to" booklet on making Beeswax candles,firestarters and hobostove fuelcells I have been searching for ways to promote them( besides this blog, which I created just for that purpose). Just as a reminder you can download both of them at www.mjk-private-income.com. I am working on getting them in the clickbank system so other people can sell them for me and make money doing it.
The other thing I am trying is to advertize them on my new website at www.2BitPixel.com
To all you survival type people out there, if you run a website or a pixeltype site like mine and you want to trade links or trade pixels for pixels, than I am open to that. You can go to that site www.2BitPixel.com or you can email me at michaelkaer@yahoo.ca and we will work out the details.

2006-02-09T19:16:00.000-08:00

Alas,Babylon
I am Re-reading a classic book by Pat Frank, first printed in 1959. The Blurb on the cover says " The startling novel of the end of the world and the day after." I remember reading this in school but I do not remember what grade I was in. It is very serious reading material for grade school, so I assume it was in High School. I am right at the part where the hero has to tell people what is going on and planning on what to get in the form of supplies. He can only tell certain people he trusts. Slowly the vast scope of what is facing him dawns on him as he is hugging his girlfriend.

Why am I reading this again? They were talking about hydrogen bombs destroying the country quickly. Our situation is different and much slower, but with the terrorist and religious extremists out there a potentially similar thing could happen. The form would be different that is all. I am studying how the people are reacting and how they are thinking in this long-term crisis.

Here is my short list of books I suggest everyone read.
1)Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank
2)After the bomb by Gloria D. Miklowitz, also After the bomb:Week one
3)Farnham's Freehold By Robert A. Heinlein

Of course there are a ton of other books like the one I wrote and set this blog up for in the first place, What Money Can't Buy - ready for download at www.mjk-private-income.com. Go online and type in "survival" or some other keyword and a whole world of information is laid bare at your fingertips. Newsgroups are a great place to get specific questions answered and get advice on tools and such.
Stop reading this- Go -download my book or find other books to read and hop to it NOW! You may not have time to do so in the future.
Michael J. Kaer, President of Kaer Enterprises (.com) and www.mikesworms.com

2006-01-31T13:19:00.000-08:00

As I was working at the shop ( my friend Jim's "A Life Full of Books") where I work on the weekend, I was helping a mother and her son look at some of the antiques Jim also has for sale. They were looking at metal rod that looked like a spear with a globe on it. The bottom had a type of stand with a heavy braided copper wire coming from it. I asked the son if he knew what it was. He did not and his mother and I explained what it was and how it worked. I then asked him if he knew who invented it. He did not. I told him "Benjamin Franklin". He had never heard of him. I said " You have never heard of Benjamin Franklin?" to which his mother promptly replied that they don't teach that stuff anymore. A grade school child not knowing who invented the lightingrod or our modern postal service is a child that is missing out on something. Having been out of the school system for a couple decades I must confess I have no clue what they are teaching kids these days. I know my daughter is getting a great education, being homeschooled. Next time I get to visit her I will ask her if she knows who Benjamin Franklin is (was).

This list is for our future survival.
1)If you have children or grandchildren or friends who have children get involved and find out what is being taught in school these days.
2)Talk to those children and gain their trust.
3)Make sure you teach them what you want them to know that is not being taught.
4)Teach the children to learn because they want to.
5)Teach the children to question what they are learning.

Our future is in their hands;make those hands the best you can. Do not let media and a school board decide what is best for your child. If they do not teach history (from different perspectives) we are all doomed to repeat it.

Michael J. Kaer, President of Kaer Enterprises (.com),www.mikesworms.com, www.mjk-pivate-income.com and www.onthespotmassage.biz

2006-01-10T19:57:00.000-08:00

After going through a frustrating night of trying to add a couple of images to my webpage at www.MJK-Private-Income.com I found out the images hade been given a large type .JPG filename rather than a .jpg ,so it was not loading properly. Here is my list for this post.

1)Always check the details!
2)Don't give up.
3)If you do not find the solution right away, sleep on it. A fresh start sometimes does aworld of good.

Here is something I wrote last week when I was at work and did not have access to the internet to upload it.

25 years and counting

I recently saw a Reader’s Digest article where a self-taught man in France made his own electricity and fuel to run his car and hot water to heat his home all from the same huge compost pile. Once the pile totally fermented and gave up all it’s heat, the compost was then spread on his land to create a wonderful garden.

I know it is not feasible for everyone, especially city dwellers to have a huge compost heap heat the house and make electricity or run the car BUT this information came out in the 1981 edition, 25 years ago. I have never heard of this person, “The King of Green Gold” Jean Pain.

I do not remember being taught about people like Nickola Tesla growing up as well. It has been said we have only been taught one side of the story and purposely not taught the other side. Why? My guess is money. How can they sell the lies they are handing out as truth unless the real truth has been suppressed. How can a utility survive and the government make tax money off you the consumer, if you don’t need their services? Jean did not need a special education to achieve what he did, nor did he need special equipment. He made due with recycled materials. How are the big oil companies going to charge large amounts of money for their dirty energy solution when you can create your own clean, cheap and sustainable energy solution? The answer is to suppress the knowledge that any other option is available.

That is the end of my rant for this post.

Michael J. Kaer, President of Kaer Enterprises (.com), www.mikesworms.com , www.mjk-private-income.com and www.onthespotmassage.biz

2005-12-29T20:48:00.000-08:00

Finally! The book is finished.

After much work and a steep learning curve, I have managed to finish off the book, put it into a .pdf format and add images. Any spelling mistakes or typos still in there will have to wait for the next edit of the book. I am too busy converting all my other books and booklets over to the same format and get them on the site for sale too.

Here is the site information you have been waiting for.
www.MJK-Private-Income.com , that is the site to order from. I have Paypal as my shopping cart and transaction handler. I will be putting my books on my website on ebay as well. A simple click on a button will take you to paypal and they will take care of everything else. I will have a distinct button for each book or booklet I put on.

"What Money Can't Buy" only $10 Canadian funds

"You can make bee's wax candles, firestarters and hobostove fuel cells" only $5.

Tell me how you like them and leave a comment here on this blog. If you have any suggestions for new material for me to research and write about or if you need a specific subject researched , I can be hired to do that as well.

Michael J. Kaer, President of Kaer Enterprises (.com),www.mikesworms.com and www.onthespotmassage.biz

2005-12-12T23:08:00.000-08:00

Can I survive Christmas?
This is the time of year where you are trying to gather your thoughts about what you have done this year and what you left undone and what you need to work on in the coming year. That would be fine and dandy if you did not have to make so many family arrangements. My Girlfriend has her grown kids (and girlfriends) and her ex and maybe her other family over for Christmas morning. Friends with little ones may or may not drop in if the friend's ex gets the kids or not. I have to make time to see my family the next day and see my kids and extended family and make a few dozen calls and emails to all concerned. That covers just the 25th and 26th.
We have already attended a couple of Christmas parties,missed one and have a few more to go to. I have not got all my presents wrapped or made or bought. In between all this I have to see the doctor and get some scans done,pick up my laptop(YEH!) from the shop and find time to do my online work as well as shovel snow for myself, my neighbour and my girlfriend(then anyone else willing to pay me). I have 2 computers I have to work on, a massage or two to exchange with another therapist and still have time to relax. Toss an upcoming election in the mix!

Here is my list of things I need to survive the holidays.

Patience
a few extra bucks
a few extra hours to work
a few extra hours to sleep
a few classic movies on tap
hot apple cider and hot chocolate
my thermal underwear
good sturdy boots and a warm coat .

What's your list?

Michael J. Kaer, President of Kaer Enterprises , Mikes Worms and On THe Spot Massage

2005-11-24T12:28:00.000-08:00

XBOX 360, VoIP and Hemp
What do these have in common?
All three are new technologies, all are offering a way of expanding your mind and all three can be expensive.

Wait a minute. Hemp??? A new technology? Well yes and no. Hemp has been around as long or longer than farming and there is a bit of cloth made from hemp that is 8000 years old, so there is nothing new there. What is new is our ability to grow enough hempseed to get enough oil to be made into gasoline and alcohol made from the rest of the plant to replace fossil(dirty oil) fuel.

Climate changes, asthma, endangered wildlife, urban sprawl,soil depletion, ozone depletion,diabetes,obese children,obese adults,heart attacks and a whole host of other ills can be traced back to using cheap fossil fuel to run cars. More cars means more roads, more roads mean wider spacing of people, wider spacing of people means more cars. The loop is closed. The entire loop is run on cheap, but dirty oil. Now that we know it will not last forever we are panicking ( just look at the latest spike in gas prices). Our survival depends on breaking the loop and making it more accountable and sustainable. We can continue to drive vehicles, but if I had my way , they would all be radically changed.
First off, the fuel would be renewable and not quite as cheap, the vehicles would be smaller, light-weight and made from hemp. They would be strong and impact resistant and safe. Next I would incorporate fuel and solar hybrid motors to run them and they would be closer to enclosed motorcycles than the cars we have today If they ran out of gas the could be pedaled to next station. Think of an enclosed 4 wheeled bike with a gas/alcohol/solar motor assist and the body made out of fibregrass instead of fibreglass. The wheels would have to be made stronger than a regular bike to handle the highway and still be durable enough to carry 4 adults and luggage as well as the body and motor and still not weigh alot. Hitch-hiking would be encouraged because laws would be beefed up to allow only vehicles with 2 or more people on the highway. In-city travel could be allowed only for electric vehicles, hence the need for a multi-fuel motor. That would encourage walking, mass transit and cycling (in all it forms)in the large urban centres.
The result would be cleaner air and healthier people (not to mention quieter cities).

Here is the list of things need to pull this off.
1)Laws changed to allow for unlimited hemp production.
2)Laws changed for cities and highway users.
3)A good working vehicle as described and the facilities to produce it.
4)Facilities to process the hemp.
5)Most importantly- the political will to do it.

It is no longer a matter of can we do it, but, will we do it.

Michael J. Kaer, President of Kaer Enterprises (.com) and www.mikesworms.com

2005-11-15T18:31:00.000-08:00

Busy!!!

I have been so busy this year, I think I am going crazy. We just finished tearing out the walls of my girlfriend's front room, put new insulation in, put up new drywall , painted it , wired in new plugs and a lighted fan and moved some furniture in whille the carpet was still a little damp from the steam cleaner. I have had all kinds of contractors over to my place and I am going to be tearing my house apart to put it back together better. A federal ellection is going to be called soon here in Canada and I am a delegate for one of the political parties. I have had to travel all over the place to get that work started. When do I have time for finishing up the book and getting it out to the waiting public? I have to run into a slow time soon or it may not be ready till my birthday(Dec.31). With all the other stuff and 4 blogs to feed, I still find time to do a little research.

On my way over to this blog, I ran into a site that has all kinds of equipment that any person looking to prepare for the future would drool over. I will not give out the name of the site till I have had a chance to look it over and email them to see if it is ok to use their name. I don't see why they would not, it's free publicity for them, but still I have to ask.

Here is a small list of things that keep me going when I am busy.

1)Kisses- the holloween type with black strap molasses.
2)kisses- the chocolate type.
3)KISSES- the kind I get from my girlfriend.
4) K.I.S.S.'s from my friends (Keep It Simple Stupid), when I make things complicated.

My girlfriend and my family feed me often because I forget to eat when I am busy.
My spiritual books and groups I belong to keep me sane and productive. I feed myself sweets because I need to treat myself well.
As long as I keep balance in all I do I will be O.K. That should be my motto when I am in a crisis situation. Hope that helps someone.

Michael J. Kaer, President of Kaer Enterprises (.com)and www.mikesworms.com

2005-11-01T20:56:00.000-08:00

Change for Survival!

That could sound like a plea from a street-bum and in a sense, that is what a person begging on the streets is actually saying. I am not a bum and I am not living on the streets, but I am asking for a donation from you to me. The donation would be of your time it takes to learn all this "survival-stuff" and the money to set aside to buy some basics right now. If you really want to donate to me, you can. I am looking for equipment and MRE's to test as well as freeze-dried foods. The equipment can be new, like one of those LED lights that I can test for you, and the MRE's and freeze-dried food could be old (like all the stuff you bought for the year 2000). Money is also good. You can send it to my paypal email address at b4kaerbear@hotmail.com .

Here is a list of things I think needs to be changed.

1) Government micro-managing every aspect of our lives.
2) Laws around the growing of industial hemp.
3) Our dependance on big (non-renewable) oil to renewable oil like hemp oil.
4) Our minds from a competitive frame of mind to a co-operative one.

A simple yet powerful list Eh!

Michael J. Kaer ,President of Kaer Enterprises (.com) and www.mikesworms.com

2005-10-24T10:46:00.000-07:00

New Blog!
http://myhemp.blogspot.com
While doing research for my new book "What Money Can't Buy" I came across a book that said hemp has over 25,000 uses! Well , I have to tell you I got more excited the more I read on the subject. Here we have a weed that could drag us kicking and screaming from a total dependance on "Big OIL" to the real possibility of growing our own gasoline type fuel from hemp. The fact that the fuel when burned gives off CO2 and very little else immediately makes it superior to gasoline we now use that has toxic emmissions. Did you know that Henry Ford created a car body that was made from hemp and ran on hemp fuel? He demonstrated how durable the car body was by hitting it hard with a large tool and instead of denting or breaking, it bounced back. How would you like a car body that did not immediately get crushed in a fender bender? How would you like air quality to go up because we are not pumping toxins in it anymore? So-for this survival-list -list I am going to give you the broad catagories Hemp can fill and insure our suvival as a society, an economy and environmentally.

Hemp can be used as :
1)Food - flour and oil and dietary fibre can be made from hemp and hemp seeds.
2)Fuel - the oil can be made in to a form of bio-diesel and could even be refined to a form of gasoline. The stalks and leaves can be used to make alcohol.
3) Paper- Hemp is used in the finest of papers and is used to print dollar bills and other currency. In the US, the Constitution was written on hemp paper. 1 acre of hemp makes more paper than 4 acres of trees and it only take one season to grow it rather than 20+ for a tree. You do the math!
4) Cloth - Betsy Ross sewed the first US flag using hemp. Other flags have used hemp before and after Betsy's since it is so durable. Most of the world's great masters painted on hemp and the word for canvas is derived fromthe word canabis. Sails, rope and clothes and now shoes can be made from hemp.
5) Medicines- It has great healing powers and good at relieving pain .

Those are the main five catagories I can think of off the top of my head. Other interesting facts about growing hemp is it improves the soil, it can grow in the worst land (it is a weed you know!) and it can grow almost anywhere Man can. I does not need any fertilizer or pesticides as opposed to cotton which uses the vast majority of petrol-chemically derived herbicides and pesticides. BIG OIL and BIG CHEMICAL companies do not want hemp around because they would lose a ton of money. BIG DRUG companies do not want it around for the same reason. POlICE do not want it around because their budgets would be cut. The "WAR ON DRUGS" would not exist for the most part and the BIG CRIME syndicates don't want it around because they would lose money too. Some Governments do not want it around because they want to be able to control their citizens. If you are self-sufficient, what do you need them for? They would have to downsize and all our taxes would come down. Are you getting the broad picture yet?
Thats my list for today.

Michael J. Kaer , President of Kaer Enterprises (.com) and www.mikesworms.com

2005-10-17T19:59:00.000-07:00

Liquids

Doing research for my book "What Money Can't Buy" has been a lesson and a mind warping experience. Let me explain.
Now that I look at almost everything through Survivalist Eyes, I see simple things in a new light. Everyone in North America has seen Tetra-Pak juice boxes, especially if you have kids. I never thought about them as a possible source of nutrients and liquids. You now should know the "recommended" amount of water to store in an emergency is about 1 gallon (4litres)per person per day. If you had to evacuate for 4 days and you were walking, you may be able to carry 2x10 litre jugs as well as a large back pack with all your clothes, food and entertainment/tools with you. The jugs alone will weigh 10 kilos each, about 26 pounds. The pack could weigh up to another 20 kilos or so. That is a little over 100 pounds! How far can you carry 100 pounds? If you are in shape MAYBE 15 kilometres (about 10 miles.) Most of us would not get more than a few blocks. I would load up my Trike and cycle it to where ever I needed to be. In a day I could go (maybe,if I had to) 50 kilometres with a load like that.
Lets get back to the walking bit. I would assume if a disaster broke out, most people would find shelter in the same city. It would have to be very big to force a move further away.
What does that have to do with juice boxes? If you still want to carry some liquids you could get by with smaller jugs and carry the boxes in pockets and in cloth bags wrapped around the handles of the jugs. I need to do more research, but the juices last a long time and do not need to be refrigerated.

Here's your list for this post,

What you need to buy first. A large knapsack! Good outer clothes, good shoes or boots, water jugs and juice boxes, extra vitamins and meds,hard candy and trail mix,granola,extra glasses if you wear glasses, extra underwear and socks. Photocopy all your important documents and seal it in a large zip-lock bag. After that I suggest a good tarp about 3 metres x 3 metres (about 10ftx10ft), a small pillow or blow up pillow, a good camping blanket and extra clothes. stuff extra toilet paper and a towel in a bag with soap and shaving kit. I would pack several flashlights, a radio and a good book or two, along with a deck of cards, a swiss army knife and a stainless steel cup. A small first aid kit is a must. A couple of cheap lighters and some matches or some other means of lighting a fire would not be out of order. That's it for the basic "bug-out" kit.

Michael J. Kaer, President of Kaer Enterprises (.com) and www.mikesworms.com

2005-10-06T14:39:00.000-07:00

Back-breaking labour

Having recovered from the overhanging tree and the noise the next day to cut it down I thought I was finished with trees for the moment. Wrong! During the same storm a fast growing maple right next to my back fence decided to topple on to the fence. I have been hacking away at it for a few days and my back is hurting from all the physical labour. I have had to jump out of the way several times when the tree limbs did not fall the way I intended. A bunch of thick vines was connecting it to it's sister tree that is still standing. That has slowed up progress on it's removal.
Here is the list of items I am using and I suggest you have handy in an emergancy situation.
1)a bow saw
2) a small saw for cutting small branches
3)some rope
4)(not using but handy)an ax or hatchet.

With these items you can chop down the biggest tree,all you need is patience and some common sense.

the 5th item on this list is my massage unit for my back when everthing is done!
Michael.

2005-09-28T22:44:00.000-07:00

Why do I do This?

The fundimental Question was asked of me today -Why?- ... Why do I do anything?
My answer was "There is maddness in my method and method in my maddness. There is also maddness in my maddness, but there is method too" This was in response to my girlfriend asking me why I had a bunch of plastic containers of water behind my trailer, in my backyard. I explained I was testing them and I gathered some data I found interesting. The semi-clear or as I call them frosted plastic jugs break down faster than the same size jugs that are solid. The totally clear containers also faired very well.
I read hundreds of books and websites on survival and related material and I try out some of the stuff I read. I would like to know by trying out something, which method works or works better instead of waiting till an actual emergency happens.

Here is my short list of the types of plastic containers I would prefer to use to store water in if I had to store it outside.

First choice- solid plastic

Second choice- clear plastic

Third choice- frosted plastic

There are ceramic and glass jars and if I wanted to stretch my imagination, metal jars(tin cans)I could use but I prefer plastic for that application.

I need to stop this blog for tonight. In the middle of it my neighbour pounded on my door to tell me I was in danger from the big horse-chestnut tree next door, which has cracked and a large limb has already hit my garage. I am making preparations for evac and I need to sleep as well. The storm is dieing down and it is almost 2:30 am. my time.

Night all.
Michael.

2005-09-22T08:10:00.000-07:00

Over A Barrel!

Ever heard that expression? We are living it as I type this. I don't know how bad it is in the U.S., but up here in Canada we are getting hit with huge increases in gas prices. The irony was brought home to me last night when some people were late for a Green Party meeting I attended because they had to wait in line to buy gas. Rationing has not started yet but it will and soon.
I do not drive a car or truck,yet this affects me almost as much as everyone else. My girlfriend just upgraded(downsized) her car since the old beast she was driving finally bit the dust. It was a boat! We hauled alot of stuff in that car since it had a big-ass trunk and a larger engine to take the loads. Her new car is smaller with a smaller engine and still a fair size amount of space to haul stuff. She got it just as the gas prices spiked to $1.25+ Canadian/litre.
Here is my short list of things to have for your vehicle.
A locking gascap!
An extra portable tank to fill up in between the spike prices.
CAA or AAA card.
Extra passengers helpping to pay your gas.
A trunkload of patience and humour!

That is it as far as this list is going to go for this post.

We cannot blame Katrina for all our troubles. We need to share the blame on getting ourselves in a mess by being totally dependant on one source of fuel to drive our economy. That is foolish and shortsighted ( a short form definition of most governmental and corporate policies). WeMUST develop hydrogen and other alternative fuels. From the way I see it we must do it NOW! That is the end of my rant for today, thank you for listening. If you have any comments, feel free to vent them here.

Michael J. Kaer , President of Kaer Enterprises (.com) and
www.mikesworms.com
one of my other blogs are at http://kaerpackage.blogspot.com
Contact me at michaelkaer@yahoo.ca

2005-09-15T09:15:00.000-07:00

Hurricane Katrina

In the richest country in the world it took days to get to the people in New Orleans. I think that proves the point that most of these survival sites have been advocating for decades. In my research for my latest book I searched thousands of pages with people giving their knowledge or questions to be answered going back to the days of BBS posts.

Bug-out kit

This is the name used the most for the knapsack or gym bag filled with the most needed items to get through 3 days to a week. In it the suggestions list water, food and clothing as well as a good book and a deck of cards as the most needed items. Other suggestions are photocopies of all your important papers, credit cards and ID placed in a waterproof bag. If you lose everything, at least you have valid back up numbers to phone and get new ID and credit cards to where ever you get settled.

Water - 4 litres (about a gallon) a day per person

Food - 2000 calories per day per person, ready to eat (MRE's would be perfect for this)

Clothes- a change of clothes plus extra socks and underwear and extra shoes.

I would add a camping blanket and a small pillow as well as a piece of plastic or an emergency blanket ot 2. I would also add a swiss army knife, a can opener and a note pad (and pen) to write things down.

I am working on getting my kit together, but in the end it is going to weigh a ton. How much does 12 or more litres of water(3 gallons) weigh?(12 kilograms or 26.5 pounds!) Most people have it ready to toss in the car, but I would make it so it is easy to carry on foot. Cars break down or can't be used for several reasons.

I have a flashlight that has a radio built in and it can run on a built in solar panel, or a built in generator or regular "AA" batteries. That would be my choice as far as lights and radio equipment go. I have seen ones that has a shortwave radio as well as AM and FM that have the other features (minus the solar panel). That maybe the better choice in the long run. For now I will stick with what I have and upgrade if and when I can.

Single mothers or fathers with kids will have to make extra allowances and carry more since little ones can't carry 25+ pounds for long periods of time. I am modifying a golf cart to be able to carry extra and in a pinch could be used as a pole to drape the plastic over to make an emergency shelter. I am thinking way ahead!

I have more details in my book which will be ready for sale soon. The writing part is done, now it has to be proofed and the format converted to .pdf and images inserted.

Till next time...

Michael J. Kaer

President of Kaer Enterprises (.com)

and

www.mikesworms.com

michaelkaer@yahoo.ca

2005-09-07T13:09:00.000-07:00

What $75 can buy!

I just spent under $75.00 Canadian on mostly emergency groceries along with some milk, munchies and cheese. Here are the supplies I got.

1- 8kilo bag of long grain rice, 1-8kilo bag calrose rice (short grain-so I can make sushi!)

4 cans carrots, 4 cans peas, 4 cans corn, 4 cans mushrooms, 4 cans chicken noodle soup, 4 cans creme of mushroom soup, 2 tins flakes of ham, 2 tins flakes of chicken, 2 cans flakes of turkey, 5 bags of soup mix(pot barley,yellow and green split,yellow and green whole,green lentils and bean mix)( each bag makes about 12 cups of stew), 2- 400 gram bags of instant noodles, a 2 kilo bag of kidney beans, a 2 kilo bag of chick peas, 6-1.5 litre bottles of water, 2 cans of apple juice and a kilo tin of coffee.

All that (except the bottles of water) fit a 2 foot x 16inch x 16inch or metric 61 x 40 x 40 cm rubbermaid container with a lid. That takes up the tiniest corner of my computer room, under a table which was wasted space. I can make alot of meals with that small outlay of cash. Since I finished the book "What Money Can't Buy" (still not ready for sale- soon I promise) I have been setting aside a few dollars and buying emergency supplies. I have lots of batteries and re-chargers and a couple of working solar panels. I am going to buy many more as soon as possible.

I am going to get 2 back up batteries for the lap top and I already have an inverter to plug the laptop into when power goes down. I would like one of those foot pumped generators, but every time I have gone to the website , they are not in stock. I could make my own. A treadle sewing machine could be used to generate some small amount , as could a stationary bicycle. Wind generators will not work on my property since I am surrounded by tall trees.

It is that time of the year to put my order in for about 100 pounds of bee's wax. I just finished a small order of tea lights and I am using up all the left over wax I have, including parafin. I made 10 hobo stove fuel cells while I was working on the other order. If you do not know what hobo stoves are and the fuel cells I am talking about, Email me at my private email address michaelkaer@yahoo.ca . It is all in the book but you can't get it yet, so I will send you an email explaining it.

Thanks. Michael J. Kaer

www.mikesworms.com

www.kaerenterprises.com

www.kaerenterprises.com/3Q4U.htm

2005-08-31T15:24:00.000-07:00

Survive and Thrive

I am finishing up a book about the time of chaos in our economy while we switch from a petro- chemical economy over to a hydrogen based one. Why do you care what I am doing? First off, if you are reading this, my guess is you have some interest in survival or you just happened in here by chance. My book has lots of good information that I feel every person should know. The book's title by the way is "What money can't buy". The good thing about this book is it will get you thinking. You may disagree with my conclusions (that is fine, that just proves you can use your noggin!) but you can not disagree with the logical way I have come to those conclusions. I am not writing a fantasy; I am writing about what I see going on now and what I think may happen.

I am not a hardcore survivalist nor am I a person who lives only for the day. I am somewhere in between those two extremes. The knowledge I have gained by doing the research for the book is invaluable. The main advice I give is START NOW!

From what I can see, I would say we are standing at the crest of a wave of prosperity in the world. I see the cycle turning and I suggest a few things to help get us all through intact. Even if the worse scenario does not happen, it is still wise to be prepared for emergencies. Floods, Storms and Tornados still happen, not to mention human errors and toxic spills.

I am a mild survivalist and the list part goes like this.
Air
Water
Shelter &
Food

That is everyone's priorities. I will be talking more about that list in detail and I will announce when the book is finally polished and ready for sale.

In the meantime visit www.mikesworms.com , www.kaerenterprises.com , www.kaerenterprises.com/3Q4U.htm , http://kaerpackage.blogspot.com to get to know more about me.
Yours; Michael J. Kaer