Thursday, April 22, 2010

Simple Rain Barrel

This is a simple rain barrel I made from a used plastic barrel. The barrel used to contain olives. You can elaborate by creating an overflow spout as well as a exit spout to allow you to chain barrels together. I didn't bother with any of these extras for this project. Rainwater can be used for drinking but ONLY if properly purified as it will tend to absorb animal droppings from your roof. This is a great way to water your garden without killing your water bill.

Monday, April 12, 2010

DisneyLand 101

DisneyLand 101 – The House of Cards

The year is 2010. The place is the United States of America. The story is that of the most spoiled people ever to inhabit the earth, getting a glimpse of reality through the economic crisis.

If you were born after The Great Depression, you have no understanding of reality. That may seem a bit harsh, but bear with me. Even if you are 80 years old, you were a teenager during World War II and probably had little understanding of the austerity of the times you grew up in. Most of us have grown up in a society that never knew need. That is not normal. Any sophomore student of history can tell you that life on earth has never been this easy, yet most of us walk around with this as our norm. We never knew life any other way, and we don't expect it to change. This is an Disney Land.

The average life expectancy in The United States is 77.5 – 80 years old.
The average life expectancy in medieval Britain was 20 – 30 years old.
The average life expectancy in ancient Rome and Greece was 28 years old.

Disease, poverty, hunger have always been part of the human condition.
We live in a country where the major health concern among the poor is diabetes due to to obesity. Never in history have the words poverty and obesity been connected. What you see now is not the norm.

On it's surface, our high standard of living and good health may seem like progress and they are. No one in their right mind would want to go back to the way things were. Health and longevity are good things, but just because they're here today, does that make them permanent? Before you think we have our foot on the throat of misery, let's take a quick look at the house of cards that upholds our current high standard of living.

JIT
JIT is an acronym for “Just In Time”. “Just In Time” is a business paradigm that allows manufacturers to utilize the minimum amount of storage space for their raw materials. As raw materials enter the process, they are immediately used in manufacturing without taking up warehouse space and the associated overhead. What does this have to do with society as a whole? Plenty.

Our economic infrastructure has adopted this same system in many if not all aspects of commerce.

Let's look at the supermarket for example. Often referred to as a “store”, modern day supermarkets store absolutely nothing. What you see on the shelves has oftentimes arrived a few hours to a few days earlier. Back room storage is non existent. Merchandise is moved directly from the truck to the shelves with little time in between. The result of this type of commerce is that in times of emergencies, such as hurricanes or power outages, “store” shelves are often cleaned out within hours.

The same can be said for the oil industry. Currently the US runs on only 62 days of gasoline inventory. In other words, if all oil ceased to flow, in 62 days all gasoline will be used up at our current rate of consumption. Although this does not seem like a likely scenario, reality could, in fact be much worse. An OPEC embargo or supply line disruption due to terrorism would immediately result in a price spike precisely because there is so little inventory in the system. Life would become very expensive in every aspect of the economy that employs transportation and machinery. Transportation shortages and rising costs could lead to food shortages and runaway inflation.

JIT means that there is no breathing room in the system. No contingencies, no “spare tire” if you will. As industrialization takes place, the JIT paradigm finds its way into society as a means of efficiency. Spares, redundancy and safety nets all cost money. JIT eliminates these and the entire process becomes more efficient.

The term JIT is actually related to manufacturing. To more accurately describe how the same concept affects everyday life, let's use the term “Reserve Reduction”, or RR for short. Let's look at some other areas affected by RR.

Our power grids are maxed out during the summer. In August of 2003, the entire northeastern US and parts of Ontario Canada were plunged into darkness in one of the most serious blackouts in modern history. Some areas were without power for up to 3 days. The entire fiasco was traced back to a single high voltage power line touching a tree limb in Ohio. There is no reserve in our power grid.

In 1890, farmers made up about 43% of the labor force in the United States. 43% of the population produced food for themselves and everyone else. It may seem startling that so many depend on so few. If you find that alarming, you should know that in 1990, only 2.6% of the population were farmers. 2.6% of the population produce all the nations food (and much of the world's). If you consider exports, that means that there is almost no reserve in terms of the manpower component of the food supply.

The United States has approximately 800,000 sworn law enforcement officers in active service. As of 2008, there are approximately 7.3 million people under some form of correctional supervision including probation, prison, local jails and parole. Add to this an additional 5 million convicted felons who've served their time and are now free and you have a peacekeeping system with little to no reserve.

One important thing to note about all of this is that many of these top-heavy systems are dependent on one or more top-heavy systems.
Manufacturing is dependent on power generation. Power generation is dependent on oil. Oil is dependent on a stable international political climate.
Agriculture is dependent on oil and natural gas and manpower. Manpower is dependent on a stable economy.
Law enforcement is dependent on a stable economy and the civility it provides. The economy is dependent on oil.

It should be apparent that the JIT or RR society closely resembles the old poem:
For want of a nail, a shoe was lost
For want of a shoe, a horse was lost
For want of a horse, a rider was lost
For want of a rider, a battle was lost
For want of a battle, a kingdom was lost

Sound depressing? It is, if you're depending on the system. The purpose of this post is to show you that the system is not dependable. You have another option, and that is being independent. A survivor relies on himself and those he trusts. If you're here reading this, it probably because you've seen through the thin veneer of safety. You're on your way to taking the red pill and thinking independently. Prepare and be encouraged.