08:43 – One of the things that annoys me about a lot of prepper sites is their attempts to monetize their sites by recommending specific items that they just happen to have a link to that’s set up to pay them a commission on every sale. At the very least, that calls their objectivity into question. Sometimes the products themselves are fine, but often they’re either outrageously priced or of dubious utility, or both.
For example, one top prepper site is pushing the Survival Still. I won’t link to it because it’s priced at literally fifteen times what it should be. Amazon has it for $284.95, which is pretty outrageous for what amounts to two modified stainless steel pot lids. (You supply the actual pots, one to hold the contaminated water, and a second one to hold cold water to condense the steam. You also supply the heat source and the fuel.)
What they don’t talk much about is that distilling water is extremely costly in terms of fuel, particularly with a device that is as thermally inefficient as this one. Much of the heat input will be wasted by radiation from the uninsulated source pot or by uncondensed steam escaping the device. And it requires a constant supply of cold water (ideally, ice) to work at all. Finally, the amount of output is likely to be pretty small. The manufacturer claims “approximately 1/2 gallon an hour”, but half that much is a more realistic estimate, assuming you have sufficient fuel to keep a pot of water boiling 24 hours a day every day indefinitely.
The company highlights comments by FEMA and the Red Cross that distillation is the most effective way to purify badly contaminated water, which is true, assuming that the water is contaminated chemically rather than just biologically. What they don’t mention is that it’s also the most inefficient and costly way to purify water that is contaminated only biologically, which is to say the vast majority of the water that most people would be using in an emergency.
In short, this is an effective water purification device, but one that is grossly overpriced, extremely expensive to use in terms of fuel, and overkill for purifying any but chemically-contaminated water.
Speaking of recommended items, Barbara and I fired up our Nesco Snackmaster Pro Food Dehydrator FD-75A yesterday to do some dehydration tests on seeds. Nesco dehydrators, which are Chinese-made, are the biggest sellers among dehydrators on Amazon, with US-made Excalibur dehydrators in a distant second place. Not surprising, considering that comparable Excalibur units sell for two or three times the price of Nesco units. I went with the less expensive Nesco unit because the reviews are similar and a dehydrator is, after all, a pretty simple machine–a heating element, a thermostat, a fan, and some trays.
We started by crushing one soldier bean seed with pliers, as a field-expedient dryness test. It fragmented nicely, telling us that it was already pretty dry and probably suitable as is for freezing. We then counted out three samples of soldier bean seeds. We weighed the first sample and stuck it in the dehydrator, set on low. We put the second sample in a 15 mL centrifuge tube, capped it, and stuck it in the freezer. After a couple of days to make sure it’s thoroughly frozen, we’ll do a germination test on those seeds. We started a germination test on the third sample, placing the seeds on a wet paper towel, rolling up the paper towel and sticking it in a sealed ziplock bag, and putting it on top of the refrigerator to sit for two or three days. Germination for that species is listed as 7 to 10 days, but that’s assuming the seeds are planted in actual soil. It takes them that long to poke up out of the soil. But all we need to verify is what percentage of the seeds germinate, which is obvious much sooner if we start them on a damp paper towel.
The next steps are to do a germination test on the dried seeds and to allow the sealed tube of frozen seeds to return to room temperature and then do a germination test on them. I expect both sets to germinate properly. We dried the first set of seeds for eight hour at about 86F (30C), which is cool enough not to damage the embryos. The mass loss was only 1.1%, which indicates that the seeds were already pretty dry when we started. The key numbers will be the percentages of germination for the three different samples. Once we have those, we’ll know how to proceed, at least for that particular species. We’ll then need to repeat the testing for each of the other species we intend to include in the seed kits, especially the critical ones, the other beans and the grains (corn, oats, and barley).
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The company highlights comments by FEMA and the Red Cross that distillation is the most effective way to purify badly contaminated water, which is true, assuming that the water is contaminated chemically rather than just biologically.
Wouldn’t volatile organics (like gasoline, oil, etc.) be present in significant quantity in contaminated water in a situation when it is needed? Is this thing going to get them out and not just recondense them into the outflow?
It might be useful for converting excess sugars and carbs into ETOH though.
Yep. If you’re distilling to purify water, you need to let the steam escape freely for a while to eliminate low-boiling VOCs. And not all hazardous VOCs boil low enough to be eliminated that way. The high-boiling ones remain in the source vessel. The really nasty ones are those that boil near 100C, which can come over to the collection vessel.
If it comes to that, wouldn’t filtering thru charcoal be more effective and thrifty?
Or why take the chance? Collect condensation from a bush or cut brush pile, just one of the myriad of uses for poly sheeting…
Nick
Or set up a solar still…
WD 6 TB external is now $199:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KU686HI
Unreal price drop. I just bought my second one of these 6 TB drives for the LAN archival in December. Our LAN backup is now 2.4 TB and still growing at 50 GB /month or so.
Wow, the bare drive is $223 ($24 more). That is very weird, no external enclosure for more cost. Cheaper to buy the USB enclosure and extract the bare drive.
http://www.amazon.com/Green-6TB-Desktop-Hard-Drive/dp/B00LO3KMK0/
We’re definitely living in Heinlein’s Crazy Years.
“We’re definitely living in Heinlein’s Crazy Years.”
The guys over at the TruthInGuns site have had a lotta fun with this all weekend, to the point it got tiresome. The chit just keeps getting crazier with the Left and the Progs lately, nothing too low or shameful for them, or utterly stupid, as in this case.
I find myself more and more favoring RBT’s solution for these creeps; they’re taking up valuable meatspace, air space and bandwidth.
“It might be useful for converting excess sugars and carbs into ETOH though.”
I think it would be more useful in concentrating the ETOH than making it.
_Enforcing Home_ by Angery American
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0996696008
Book number six in a series of six books. There will be more books in the series. This is a POD (print on demand) trade paperback printing. The cover feels a little weird (slimy?), maybe the heavy printing?
We are three or four months after the apocalypse caused by the large EMP blast over Kansas that destroyed the electric grids, computers, etc in the USA. Our protagonist, after walking home from Tallahassee to Orlando, is leading a small bunch of people in their survival. The good news is that the army is now helping the citizenry. The bad news is that the DHS goons have survived and are causing serious problems.
The first book in the series is now being professionally published and is available at Walmart.
http://www.amazon.com/Going-Home-Novel-Survivalist-Series/dp/0147516951/
The author has quit his day job and moved to writing full time.
https://www.facebook.com/AngeryAmerican
My rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Amazon rating: 4.8 out of 5 stars (348 reviews)
My catch-phrase for over a decade has been neca eos omnes. Oh, sure, you can stick on deus suos agnoscet if you want, but neca eos omnes is the important part.
Along those lines, how about the news out of Europe? Oh, not on the European TV stations or other approved outlets; they’re either muzzled or wholly on board with the “need” to let in millions of “refugees”. The news coming from ordinary people via email and Twitter suggests that the teeming masses yearning to breathe free are becoming more and more problematic as more and more of them arrive: attacking doctors for not taking care of them (for free) fast enough; breaking into pharmacies and stealing the drugs; raping any woman they can safely grab; demanding food and money without a word of thanks if they do get it; swaggering around and sneering at the natives because their religion makes them the natural rulers; holding people hostage presumably for use as a bargaining chip. Most of the reports are unconfirmed, but there sure are a lot of them and some events have been confirmed. In particular, the gang-rape of a “welcome wagon” volunteer by a large group of Somali men was confirmed. She, and her fellow travellers, get no sympathy at all from me. She kept the incident quiet for days because of pressure from other volunteers who didn’t want to make the immigrants look bad. It’s too bad she wasn’t killed as part of the gang rape. No one that stupid deserves to live.
“…how about the news out of Europe?”
Indeed. We’re “protected” for the nonce by the two oceans and great land masses, haha, to our north and south, and their rigidly secure borders, lol. Let’s see how those yearning masses work out here, in a country with already a lotta very pissed-off peeps with guns.
Hey, let them have the cosmopolite enclaves here; who am I to deny the brave hadji warriors their right to receive fellatio on their knees from the lefties and progs here who celebrate their “religion of peace,” and the hordes of womyn and children who’ll be ravished and then keep quiet about it “under pressure” from their fellow dhimmis?
Not only those stories out of Europe but others even more horrifying, not for a nice family board like this one. But our lords temporal see no problem with taking in hundreds of thousands of these perverted criminal scum. For me that means our lords temporal are legitimate targets in the coming civil wars.
Reminds me of the aid(s) worker raped in Haiti. Blamed herself. (and of course, she IS to blame on some level, as she had no business being in that situation.)
Got the kids home with me today, so slow progress or no progress on list expected….
nick
I did get the bed planted, beets, carrots, and peas using sqft method. We’ll see.
I just finalized the contents of the open-pollinated seed kits. Not that it means anything, but the totals are now up to 5.5+ pounds of 26 different types of seed, 74,000+ seeds, and a price of $181. All of those are more than I originally planned on. Until we actually start packaging the individual seed types, I’m not sure if this kit is going to fit in just one gallon Mylar bag, but I’d guess not.
More details on this tomorrow morning.
Yep. I managed to check over my car prior to taking it for a safety inspection, but that’s about all I’ve accomplished today. And “accomplised” may not be quite the right word. I broke the parking brake cable that runs from the pedal to the splitter, and can’t figure out how to detach the old cable. Took it to a shop, where the owner groaned when I told him the problem … which made me groan because I’ll be paying for the couple-three hours it’ll take his guy to do the repair.
Meanwhile I’ve been trying to get the girls fed, make sure they’ve done their homework, mediate the not-infrequent squabbles (“not infrequent” because my daughter is often a pushy brat and the other girl is stressed because her parents have been fighting more than usual — -sigh-), deal with another tax problem, and take care of yard work that’s too heavy for my wife. I’ve already given up on writing or doing anything else that I want to do on my “holiday”.
Are you a Transfinancial?
https://teespring.com/transfinancialofficial
A Transfinancial is a rich person born in a poor persons body.
I have an odd relationship to money. All my life, when I really needed it, I got it.
I’ve been poor, and I’ve been in a place where I pretty much bought whatever I wanted.
Somewhere in between now.
So I think I’m a non-transfinancial or a nonfinancial trapped in a financial body?
nick
@RBT, better is is it will fit in a gallon paint tin. You can buy them empty, as you probably know, for shipping hazmat…
Add a nice label, and you’ve got a sturdy vault.
Otherwise, some way to fit in a resealable #10 can?
nick
@lynn, I read, probably too long ago, that the drives that come in the external enclosures were of lower quality than bare drives. Never verified that.
Parking brake (definition): a mostly obsolete automotive device used chiefly to initiate bootleg turns. Can also be used as a rather ineffective emergency brake. Only required in states with “safety” inspections 😉
“Parking brake (definition): a mostly obsolete automotive device used chiefly to initiate bootleg turns. Can also be used as a rather ineffective emergency brake. Only required in states with “safety” inspections ”
Yes, the parking brake is obsolete, except in manual transmission vehicles. Where it is the thing you apply if you either park on unlevel ground, or if you don’t want your twentysomething friends to push your car all over the parking lot while you are at the video store.
“Parking brake (definition):”
You sound like a man who is familiar with “The Devil’s Dictionary,” by the very late Ambrose Bierce, a War Between the States veteran who disappeared without a trace.
Mr. medium wave mentioned Heinlein’s “crazy years” earlier, and in regard to Europe, things couldn’t be much worse in certain quarters, thanks to their “spread-eagled” open immigration policies:
http://takimag.com/article/the_great_european_rape_migration_jim_goad/print#axzz3oODv2soX
The situation for victims is quite literally insane. I try not to imagine the same thing happening here, it can’t, can it?
http://takimag.com/article/the_great_european_rape_migration_jim_goad/print#axzz3oODv2soX
The situation for victims is quite literally insane. I try not to imagine the same thing happening here, it can’t, can it?
Not until the amount of Muslims in the general population of the USA hits 5 to 10 %. But in Muslim areas, watch out!
I was driving home from HEB last night at 1040pm and spotted a lady out walking by herself, about a block away from my home. I told the wife that she was putting herself in a dangerous situation. The wife responded that we live in a very safe neighborhood and that people had the right to do what they wanted to do.
@lynn, I read, probably too long ago, that the drives that come in the external enclosures were of lower quality than bare drives. Never verified that.
Yes, the Black version of the WD 6 TB bare drive is $299.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B011LVAVEQ
The USB external drives are usually the WD green drives (small cache, one year warranty). I have just seen a review where a WD external drive had a USB3 connector instead of a SATA connector though.
http://www.legitreviews.com/wd-my-passport-2tb-usb-3-0-portable-hard-drive-review_1951
I’ve seen no proof that Ambrose Bierce is late, let alone very late.
In re: gallon paint cans or #10 cans, I don’t want a rigid container for many reasons, including shipping issues.
people had the right to do what they wanted to do
@Lynn
This concept that the right to do somethong somehow magically protects you is endemic.
I live in a safe neighborhood, carry concealed, don’t exist in condition clear.
You wouldn’t catch me walking around alone at 10 PM. Why deliberately and unnecessarily put yourself in such a situation?
It’s not the likelihood, but the consequence.
“The wife responded that we live in a very safe neighborhood and that people had the right to do what they wanted to do.”
Normalcy Bias.
I worked The Job for enough years to know full well that a female homo sapiens sapiens out by herself at that hour in the dahk is often “asking” for trouble. Just to observe the lone males driving by, leering, with drool on their crusty jackets, or the carload of testosterone-poisoned young males, hooting and making not just ribald, but disgusting and obscene comments. I’d pull those bastards over and run them through the mill and post their info on the department bulletin boards accordingly (before online databases, natch.)
“I’ve seen no proof that Ambrose Bierce is late, let alone very late.”
You have a point there; perhaps he’ll show up on your doorstep this coming All Hallows Eve…
I live in a safe neighborhood, carry concealed, don’t exist in condition clear.
You wouldn’t catch me walking around alone at 10 PM. Why deliberately and unnecessarily put yourself in such a situation?
For ladies, it is very dangerous after dark in any neighborhood. I suspect that her husband was home, asleep in the recliner, watching the babies. I have no idea if she was carrying. We have three new drive around sheriff’s deputies as of Oct 1 (used to be constable’s deputies). In a neighborhood of 3,000+ homes (soon to be 3,300+ homes), I’m sure that one of those deputies is only a few miles away.
We have a two mile, circular road with sidewalks and streetlights behind our home that a couple of hundred people walk each day, including me and the wife. Heck, even I get nervous on it after dark and I am a 6’1″, 250 lb guy. I don’t carry but OFD just about has me scared into it.
BTW, those puppies are cute! They look like a lot of work. You may need to rename your website.
BTW
Happy Indigenous Peoples Day!
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxLWd_RKNPevUG83aWhHMjAzVm8/view?usp=sharing
I’ve flown it all weekend. Pole hand made from 5′ of PVC pipe, a ping pong ball and some white spray paint. Flag attached with zip ties. Flag from Amazon Prime <$7.
Put it away tonight.
I take it in at night for fear some ass will mistake it for a Mexican flag and lift it.
Ah, The Devil’s Dictionary. I had forgotten all about it… but apparently not. Good one!
The President of the United States, when asked about his leadership compared to Putin’s:
Obama to Kroft: “My definition of leadership is getting a climate change agreement in Paris”
Weakest leader…EVAH!!!!
” I don’t carry but OFD just about has me scared into it.”
Ain’t tryna scare nobody here, but you will rue the day and the hour you don’t have it and wish to God you did. Nothing worse, IMHO, when you have the means and the legal ability (or not). Plus, you’ve been to training!
http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2015/10/daniel-zimmerman/random-thoughts-on-the-texas-concealed-handgun-permit/#more-375221
Indigneous Peeps Day, eh? I have me some minor IP blood and DNA but we be flyin’ the 50-star Old Glory today and most days; soon to change to the Viking flag in honor of Leif, and then the 13-star Betsy Ross flag. Some days the Bennington Battle flag.
I saw most of that “60 Minutes” interview of Obummer; what a dick-less loser p.o.s. Even with the usual softball questions that I’m sure he and his minions vetted before the stupid show. I kept fantasizing about a firing squad wall…for him, both Klintons, both Bush drones, Carter, Lurch, etc., et. al.
Blood pressure meds got a workout, did they?
My guiding principle is that arms are not forbidden for my benefit.
EDIT: Bah. That was poorly written.
If arms are forbidden, it is not for my benefit.
Kinda hard to carry much hardware in an old pair of gym shorts. Too much weight and there they go to your ankles. I’ve already got my Fenix E21, three doggie cleanup bags, and the wife’s cellphone.
Of course, here in Texas, we will have open carry in a couple of months. That would look cool with a old belt and holster over my sweaty walking cloths. Not! I’d get called in daily in my hood.
Still in 90s (F) during day here and alternating 70 F and 60 F nightly.
@lynn,
Ruger LC9 pro, taurus curve, Ruger LCR, not a lot of weight, not to mention glock 42 or another mini gun.
I tuck mine inside the waistband of my underwear if I’ve just got pj bottoms or nylon shorts on.
Heck, my S&W Shield is fine in the waistband of my quickdry hiking shorts, if I’m just walking.
Colion Noir said it (or quoted it) when asked why he carries every day. “I don’t want to spend the last 20 seconds of my life wishing I had.”
Words to live by.
nick
ADDED: holstered!
BTW, those puppies are cute! They look like a lot of work. You may need to rename your website.
@Lynn
The pups are a huge amount of work and worth every minute. This is likely to be the last litter of this line which makes me a little sad. I bred the litter with a great deal of guidance from my mentor, since dead from ALS. That’s a nasty way to die.
Working on socialization and bomb proofing. Three will be family dogs so getting down those basics during their critical and sensitive periods is super important.
Haven’t decided who I’m keeping yet. Waiting for the professional structure and temperament testing around 8 weeks. I’m holding onto to them until 10 weeks to get them thru their biggest fear period (8 weeks) and ensure vaccinations have taken effect.
I want to continue my hobby sheep herding with the pup I keep. If conformation suits I’ll do the conformation stuff for entertainment. Definitely Rally, with Tracking if pup shows any interest. Agility has become too popular to be any fun for me. Dog training can be a heck if a lot of fun.
The increasingly in appropriate ‘two geeks and a dog’ came from first year of marriage, pre corgi. The dog then was Abby. Sweet clever and good natured lab mix with a wicked sense of humor. It’s been 10 years this Thanksgiving and I still miss her. She was a Very Good Dog indeed.
“Blood pressure meds got a workout, did they?”
I just laugh now; I live to see this s.o.b. and his living predecessors stood against a wall and shot. Along with their many willing and eager minions.
“If arms are forbidden, it is not for my benefit.”
+1, and the forbidders can kiss my war-vet, New England Yankee ass.
“Heck, my S&W Shield is fine in the waistband of my quickdry hiking shorts, if I’m just walking.”
Ditto. Plus an extra mag. But Mr. Lynn probably wants to pack an S&W 629 or sumthin. Given the plethora of gangsta crimigrants, narcotrafficantes, coyotes, rattlers, copperheads, etc., I’d be packing heat ALL the time down there, and most especially when out for a stroll in the dahk.
Put a light on the firearm, ditch the doggie turd bags, and tuck the cell right next to the extra mag; wear decent-fitting shorts with a solid belt. Or take yer chances; so fah you been A-OK, amirite?
Score one for financial disaster:
https://goldswitzerland.com/sensational-events-looming/
And another for statist repression:
https://www.lewrockwell.com/2015/10/john-w-whitehead/prepare-children-for-life-in-the-police-state/
I think – no, I know that I am glad to not have any first-hand information about the migration crisis. It’s mostly happening just about 100km north east of here, in Southern Germany. But we haven’t seen anything locally.
I read today that the EU may intend to repatriate many thousands of African migrants. If true, I wish them much luck. Switzerland does this periodically, a few dozen at a time. It is an incredible headache, because the migrants fight it all the way. Literally. They often have to be strapped into a carrier and carried on to the airplane. To prevent them from spitting and biting, they get a mask forced onto their face. At the other end, they have to be carried off the airplane.
Here is a video showing the process, carried out with a quiet, cooperative actor. Imagine the process, if the person is fighting every step of the way (which is the only time the process is used).
You can imagine how the SJW organizations react to this. You can also imagine the amount of effort (and money) it takes to get these people home: special airplane where you can strap in those carriers, lots of police to carry the migrants onto and off of the plane, and to force them to leave when they are freed at the other end. I can’t quite imagine how the EU is going to pull this off with thousands and thousands of migrants.
Obviously they need to be stopped before entering a sovereign nation, should any such exist in the world anymore. But the Arabs, Red Chinese, Israelis and Norks seem to make it work, with inferior technology and military force; why can’t/won’t we? RBT’s solution again here.
It’s fatal to mistake large numbers of invaders for “migrants” or “refugees”. These are invaders, period.
Ditto. Plus an extra mag. But Mr. Lynn probably wants to pack an S&W 629 or sumthin. Given the plethora of gangsta crimigrants, narcotrafficantes, coyotes, rattlers, copperheads, etc., I’d be packing heat ALL the time down there, and most especially when out for a stroll in the dahk.
The wife was out walking the other morning and not watching. The dog took a step and jumped over a snake. A coral snake. “red and yellow kill a fellow, red and black, friend of jack”. So the wife hopped over the snake and ran.
She stopped and looked back. The other coral snake (they travel in pairs) was about 5 ft away from the sidewalk. She watched them slither off to under the neighbors front porch. She tried to tell the neighbor but no one was home.
Never a dull day out here in the sticks.
BTW, I love my S&W 629. It is the best shooting handgun ever. The five inch barrel is the perfect length.
I had a “Dirty Harry” 8-3/8+ barrel S&W29 back in the early 70’s, as well as a Ruger Super Blackhawk with a 7.5″ barrel. The S&W was beautifully finished and with a very nice trigger, but if I were in bear country, I’d have carried the Ruger.
Those ARE wunnerful revolvers, but unless wearing a real sturdy belt and holster on them saggy gym shorts, not a good choice. Geez, why not just a dang Shield or a 4-inch semi whatever, with a spare mag?
IIRC, coral snakes are related to cobras in some way, I forget exactly how. I had my fill of venomous reptiles a long, long time ago, thank you very much.
I am thinking of a nice sweat proof shoulder rig for that S&W 629.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0043RVREE
You’re big enough to do that, but just make sure it fits real snug and you gotta practice daily drawing and firing from it, weak hand, also. And in the dahk. Speedloaders?