Great article by Michael Snyder:  Has The Next Recession Already Begun For America's Middle Class?  With as much as 20% of all U.S. families that do not have a single member working, you have to wonder, where is the recovery?  The first quarter this year has proved to be a bad one, but things only seem to be getting worse.  Check out the full article by clicking the picture below.

Survival Scenario: What to do When a Building Catches on Fire

How Common are Fires 

In 2010 there were 362,100 residential fires in the USA that caused $6.65 billion in damages.  According to the US Census there are 131 million housing units in the US and 114 million households.

As far as frequency you could figure that 0.317% of households experienced a fire in 2010.   Or we could say that 0.276% of housing units had a fire in the year.  With 362,100 fires and $6.65 billion in damages that means the average property damage from a fire was $18,365.  That is not much, but with the long stretch of drought over the last few years, fires have been increasing more threatening.  Just looking at this stunning picture of how dry California has been this year.  

Look at some of these stunning pictures of drought in California:

A drought is made worse when snowfall falls dramatically short.  You can see that the snow is much less then just the previous year.

This means that fires are much more likely and more difficult to fight when they do happen.  

What causes home fires? 

FEMA's US Fire Administration site also has data on the causes of fires.   Here are the causes of residential fires ranked by %.

Cooking	46%
Heating	13%
Electrical Malfunction	7%
Other Unintentional, Careless	7%
Open Flame	5%
Intentional	4%
Equipment Malfunction	4%
Other Heat	4%
Appliances	2%
Smoking	2%
Exposure	2%
Natural	2%
Other Equipment	1%
Investigation with Arson Module	1%
Playing with Heat Source	1%

Looking through that list, there are not a lot of causes that you can easily avoid.  Not smoking and not intentionally burning down your own home only accounts for about 6% of the fires.

What todo When a Building Catches on Fire

• Cover your mouth with a wet cloth.  A wet cloth will help to keep dirt and debris out of your lungs.  Breathing through your nose will help you to filter your air.

• Try to find a safe exit:  This is obvious, but it can become more difficult in a stressful and dangerous situation.  It is best to use mental mapping--or the process of planning out a route of escape before it is necessary.  

• Feel a door before exiting with the back of your hand: If it is cool, then slowly open it.  If you see smoke coming through or under the door, do not got through the door.  

• If the room/buidling you are in is smokey, crawl on the ground.  

• If you are trapped in a room: block the cracks in a door with whatever available.  A wet towel or sheet is ideal.  Put a mattress infront of the door, holding it inplace with a piece of furniture

• Turn off the vent and/or shut off the ventilation.  

• Remove the burnable debris from the window area.

• Open the window a carck to get fresh air.  If you open the window to much, it will feed the fire.

                                                                     

There is a really good website that takes current events and analyzes their potential threat.  I do not always agree with the assessment, but it is always well thought out and supported.  The website is entitled the economic collapse and I highly recommend it.  Recently, Michael Snyder (the owner/operator of the website) posted a facinating article on Who Needs the United States?  Not Russia and China.   Check it out by clicking on the picture.

Survival Scenario: Tornado

How Likely Are Tornadoes

                                       

The United States receives more than 1,200 tornadoes annually—four times the amount seen in Europe.  Violent tornadoe (those that are rated above a 4) occur more often in the United States than in any other country.

                                           

Most tornadoes occur in The Great Plains, the Midwest, the Mississippi Valley and the southern United States. They are rare west of the Rockies and are also less frequent in the northeastern states. 

Florida is one of the most tornado prone states. However, Florida tornadoes are usually not as strong.Tornado Alley is a term for an area particularly prone to tornadoes. There is no officially defined 'Tornado Alley' - at its broadest this area stretches from Texas to Canada with its core centered on Oklahoma, Kansas and northern Texas. Another area, known as the Dixie Alley,  is the southern United States and particularly the northern and central parts of Alabama and Mississippi. 

Tornadoes can occur any time during the year, but they are most common in spring and least common in winter.  Since Spring is a transitional period for the climate, there are more chances of cooler air meeting with warmer air, resulting in more thunderstorms. 

Tornadoes can also be spawned by landfalling tropical cyclones, which usually occur in late summer and autumn. In the United States, thunderstorms capable of producing tornadoes usually form when the temperature is at its highest, typically from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

Although the period "tornado season" is March through August, tornadoes - including violent tornadoes and major tornado outbreaks - have been documented in the United States during every month of the year.  

There is some evidence that tornadoes are generally on the rise.  See the chart below.  

                    

What To Do  if a Tornado is Coming your Way

• Evacuate: The best thing you can do is to remove yourself from the danger.  There is nothing you can do to protect your home and possessions.  By staying behind, you do nothing more than put your life at risk.
•  When a tornado has been sighted, go to your shelter immediately. Stay away from windows, doors and outside walls
• 
  
• If you don't have time to escape, and you are in a  house or small building, go to the basement or storm cellar. If there is no basement, go to an interior room on the lower level (closets, interior hallways). Get under a sturdy table, hold on and protect your head. Stay there until the danger has passed.

•  In a high-rise building, go to a small, interior room or hallway on the lowest floor possible.

•  In a trailer or mobile home, get out immediately and go to a more substantial structure.

•  If there is no shelter nearby, lie flat in the nearest ditch, ravine or culvert with your hands shielding your head.

• In a car, get out and take shelter in a nearby building. Do not attempt to out-drive a tornado. They are erratic and move swiftly. 

Survival Scenario: What to do During a Pandemic

Survival Scenario: What to do During a Pandemic   

Larry Brilliant asserted, during in TED talk, that a pandemic is not only likely, it is probable.  He said that he had done a study with top epidemiologists. In that study, 90% of them said they thought there would be a pandemic within their children's or grandchildren's lifetimes, where: 

• 1 billion people would get sick
• 165 million would die
• There would be a global recession and depression
• and there would be $1-3 trillion cost to the economy

There are many reasons this situation is likely:

• Population has exploded:  More to get infected; more to spread the infection.

• More and more, people are moving towards cities.  There people are finding work in cities and conviences.  Not only does this create a breeding ground for disease, it also facilitates the rapid spread of any sickness.   

• The amount of time it takes to travel around the world has been greatly reduced while the availbility to travel has dramatically increased.  This above, everything, is the main reason this scenario could be a reality.  

                       

              

              

What do you do during a pandemic?

• Do not go to public areas
• Since public areas are the places you will most likely contract the disease, it is best to stay away from them.  Pick odd times to commute to and from work; don't hang out in public restaurants, stores, or community centers; avoid the gym at all costs; do your shopping late at night or early in the morning when few people are shopping.
•  Wear a breathing masks
• About 81% of flu patients have been shown to transmit disease in the air and wearing a mask will reduce your susceptibility to airborne diseases.  It will also protect your face if you try to rub your nose and mouth.  It will also be a constant reminded of the disease, which might make it the best reason to wear it.  People will tend to keep their distance from someone if they have a face mask, thinking that you are sick, which will in turn prevent you from becoming sick.  Don't use the same mask twice and be careful when you dispose of them.  
•  Use something in between your hands and doorknobs
• Doorknobs have been shown to be one of the main contributes to the spread of disease.  Basically, if anyone has touched it before, they could have left germs behind. So, anything, really, that people touch should be avoid: i.e., handrails, elevator buttons, coffee cubs, etc.
•  Wash and sterilize your hands often
•  Wear eye protection
•  Stay inside if possible
•  Create a quarantine room if someone wants to come inside: If the pandemic becomes increasingly more dangerous, it will become more important to build a quarantine room.  Here are some basic steps.
•    Seal room off with tape and tarps
•  Don’t let the person enter the main home for a period of time (depends on the sickness, but usually between 24 and 48 hours).
•  Strip person down and spray them down
•  Get rid of clothes
• Block the major windows and doors
• Treat anyone from the outside as if they are sick: do not approach them without protective gear; wash the protective give after it has been used; and make sure you remove the protective gear before you enter your home.  
• Assume anything that has been exposed to someone who has been into the public has germs on it and that it will need to be sterilized.   

Review for One Second After

Review for One Second After

The Good: This novel is well thought out and executed.  It deals with the aftermath of an EMP attack on the United States.  It does an excellent job showing how society would fall apart--slow at first, and then exponentially.  The author does a great job illustrating the devastating effects of this type of an attack in a powerful and memorable way.  The conflict slowly builds as people realize their predicament of the their resources.  

The Bad: The characters are flat, dull, and boring.  There are only a few times where the characters seem to connect with the reader, such as the time that the girl dies, but by and large, it is difficult to feel anything for these people.  There are some great ideas presented in this book, but there are a lot concepts that don't seem realistic. For example, after two or three months of the event, the towns people are already beginning to starve, and then they end up going an entire year after that.  

The other thing I also did not care for is the conflict with the Posy.  The Posse does not show up until really late in the book and the villainous rabble are pretty static bad guys (ie, there is nothing special about them).  We don't get to see any of the psychology behind this villain or his Posse.  The main conflict also turns into hardly any conflict at all.  The author glazes over the action and does a half-hearted attempt at explaining to the reader how the battle took place.  The triage after the battle is, I thought, well done, however.  I was disappointed at how this interesting plot point was just casually thrown in and then tossed aside.  

The last thing that I could not stand was that the author constantly was quoting from other movies, books, or music to make some emotional point.  It was like he was saying that as the writer he could not come up with a way to explain it but that this certain part of this movie could.  

Overall: 8

Characters: 4

Plot: 8

How to Build 880 Gallon Water Storage in a Small Space

How to Build 880 Gallon Water Storage in a Small Space

The first step is to come up with a design.  As you can see from the picture, I made wood pillar between each tank of water.  Using formulas online I found to figure out the strength I would need (see the following website: https://www.cecalc.com/WoodDesign/WoodTension.aspx) I was able to find out how much I would need to support my load.  A gallon of water weighs about 8 lbs and each of my blue barrels has 55 gallons (8 X 55 = 440 lbs per barrel).  My design holds 16 barrels (16 X 440 = 7040).  I decided to be safe, I would make sure my design could hold 10,000 lbs.

Once I had the basic design finished, I reinforced each pillar with an additional 2x4 and added woold panels to each side.  I then anchored the entire platform to the wall on two points--the wall is an outside wall made out of concrete. 

To make sure the barrels did not roll around, I cut barrel shapes into the supporting beam of the water barrels.

This picture below shoes the reinforced pillars.

This is the completed structure with 16 full barrels.

 This project cost me around 400 dollars and only a day to build.  It was a simple, fun project and does not take that much space.  

Make a Secret Door in you House for less than $300 Dollars

Make a Secret Door in you House for less than $300 Dollars

NORMAL LOOKING PANTRY THAT IS TUCKED UNDER STAIRWELL

 PUSH BACK ON SHELF TO REVEAL A SECRET ROOM

 TUCKED UNDER STAIRS YOU'VE GOT A FEW TOYS

BASIC DESIGN

The shelves should fit snug in the given area, but not so tight so they are not rubbing up against the wall when they are being opened and closed.  I left about a quarter of an inch on either side.  The rest of the design of the shelf unit is pretty standard.

To help guide the direction of the shelf unit, I used standard pulleys and a quarter inch metal rods (see the top of the picture).  They helped carry some of the weight and keep the shelving on track.

To hold the majority of the weight, I used piano dolley wheels (any heavy duty wheels will work).  I also made a metal track out of some scrap metal to keep the wheels on track.  I then had to balance the weight between the pulleys and the wheels.  It took a little time, but one I finished, I figured my weight distribution was about 80% on the wheels and 20% on the pulleys.    

 THIS IS THE QUARTER INCH IRON RODS AND PULLEYS

The whole project was not as difficult as I thought it was going to be.  Once I had the pulley/iron rod system figured out, it was not that difficult at all.  The whole project cost me just under $300 dollars.  This is only phase one of this project.  I also plan on putting up  molding around the edges of the shelf to make it appear seamless.  That should not be too difficult, but I have saved that for another day.      

Review for the unabridged version of The Stand

First, the good.  Stephen King is a good writer, and the characterizations in the novel are well done.  He creates a dynamic host of characters that are unforgettable.  Each one has their own passions, drives, motivations, appetites, and back story.  The natural disaster is a disease that spreads throughout the world, effectively killing off the vast majority of the population.  The set for the release of the disease as well as the spread of destruction is also well done.  King has a tremendous talent at making the event seem realistic and powerful.  If the story would have ended there, it would be a very memorable book.  

But then the weird stuff starts happening.  Everyone starts seeing visions, a mystical bad guy appears, there is a good women who holds some strange power.  The apocalyptic scenario takes a step into the mystical and magical.  Actually, it is more than a step it's a complete change in direction.  Suddenly, the plot shifts into something that is so fantastical it makes Lord of the Rings seem plausible.

I know that King does with a lot of his novels, but for this particular one, the realism would have been so much better than the fantastical.  If he would have continued on with the same tone, cadence, and realism he had in the beginning, it would have been a fantastic novel.

Ratings (1 being the lowest and 10 being the highest)

Overall: 5
Well Written:  10
Plot: 10 In the beginning
          2 By the end
Characters:  8
 

Review for Lights Out

Review for Lights Out

First, the good.  The novel picks up on what sort of vehicles would be operable in an EMP.  The author goes into interesting detail, but not overbearing, on why some vehicles would work, and why others would not.  He even mentions specific years, makes, and models.  I found this interesting.  The other idea about this novel that I enjoyed is the coming together of a community to survive a disaster.  

As everyone else that has reviewed the book, I would like to add my criticism to the hundreds of voices before: this book is very poorly written.  The only thing that could make it more juvenile is if it was written in crayon.  The characters are flat and absent of description.  Besides their names, I the characters seemed to have the same, static personalities.  The main character has several flashes of anger and then suddenly calms down and apologizes--like some bipolar emotionally unstable individual.  It's weird, to say the least.  They are so flat that it is hard to take anything they say in dialogue serious.

I did not find the story predictable, but I did find it border line unrealistic.  The novel does seem to get better as it moves along, as the author gets into a rhythm, but even then I didn't care about the characters, their situation, or anything else in the novel.  I enjoyed the book in the sense that this subject matter is something I interested in, and it is fun to step into a scenario that one did not consider before, but if it wasn't for that, there is no way I could trudge through this novel.