Fighting the Gorn

In a classic episode of the original Star Trek series, Captain Kirk has to fight the captain of the Gorn ship in one-on-one combat using only what he can find on a deserted planet.  The Gorn, while slower than humans, were much stronger, so Kirk had no hope of defeating him hand-to-claw.  What he did was build a cannon.  Mythbusters did a show that proved that it wasn't possible using the ingredients shown.  But that is not the last word!  Using an ingredient that they would not have shown on television in the 1960s, these guys show that it is possible:

This isn't really about an almost 50 year old TV episode, though. The key point here is that just a tiny bit of knowledge can mean the difference between success and failure.

Creating Biodiversity

On Reddit, FlimFlamandFlamJam asks, "Let's say I bought 1,000 acres of monocropped farm land. What would be the best way to go about converting it back into land with a lot of biodiversity? And let's say it's just me and I don't have a team helping me."

My answer:

First question, is the land flat or hilly?

Second question, you say it's just you. Does that mean just your muscle power, you and any animals you can control, or you and some big machinery you can rent?

Because if it is just your own muscle power, I find 1/4 acre plenty to keep up with unless it was my full-time job, I couldn't even imagine 1000 acres. That said, and if your land is flat, the main thing you can do to increase biodiversity is just start introducing plants that you think will be useful. You can use mixes from places like Ernst Seeds if you want.

If the terrain is hilly, you can start in on a better option for increasing biodiversity: creating ponds. This is best done with the keyline system in any case, but if its just your own muscle power, this is critical.

With heavy machinery, you can go a little crazier, even on flat land. You still really need to pay attention to the contours, but you do have the opportunity to reshape them. In fact, the best thing you can do to increase the biodiversity of flat land is to change it into hilly land by creating hugelkulture beds. You can do this by hand, but on the scale of 1000 acres, it would take several person-lifetimes.
And when you make water features, swimming ponds where you can dive in from the shore are not exactly the best for biodiversity. You want to really emphasize the water's edge and make it as big as possible if you want to encourage biodiversity.

If you have animals, you have the opportunity to do more than just your muscles, but not as drastic as large machines. One thing you can do is look at abandoned areas nearby and see what takes over, and then figure out what will graze on that. That will help keep things in balance without requiring your constant attention. (But don't just graze willy-nilly, or they just might avoid the thing that tends to take over.)

I Owe You One...

Many people see the problems with an economy where money is created as debt.  Some think we should go back to a system where money is backed by precious metals.  A few like Daniel Suelo think we should get rid of money altogether and go to a gift economy.  Either transition would be difficult, however.  Jeff W. had an interesting suggestion on Of Two Minds that would act as a bridge: informal credit.  Put simply, it's when you say "I owe you one" and mean it.  More broadly, it's being in a community where favors are reciprocated.  While the mindset is quite different from the gift economy, all that is really required to switch over is to drop the mental accounting.

Related articles

• Meet the man who quit money
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Your call is very important....

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The Dark Side of the Sun

Hipcrime Vocab's Why Green Architecture is a Sham is more than just an expose' on greenwashing in the construction industry. It brings up the scary prospect that the whole project of sustainable technology is a way for the super elite to preserve themselves while letting the rest of the world go to hell.

Respect

"I believe when anyone treats another being with disrespect, they disrespect themselves at the same time and therefore are less human. But for sure to avoid culpability, people must see the other as lesser. That is a given and has operated universally."  -- Karpatok on the Doomstead Diner

Thank Obama...

Arthur Silbur from his latest entry in his Power of Narrative blog:

The only reason you aren't dead right now is because Obama hasn't decided to kill you -- yet. But he claims he has the power to do so -- and there are almost no voices of any prominence to dispute the contention.

So, have you thanked Obama today for allowing you to live?

Wake up, people!

Just because there wasn't a cataclysm yesterday doesn't mean this isn't TEOTWAWKI.  The thing about "the end of the world as we know it" is that sometimes the changes accumulate slowly enough that we don't realize it.  Try to think back how your life was 13 years ago.  Imagine you had climbed into a bunker on December 31, 1999 and came out today.  Would this be a world you recognize at all?

If you don't see the apocalypse, maybe that's because you're one of the zombies....

How Obamacare Can Reduce Unemployment

Okay, follow closely.  Let's say you have some work that needs done that requires 120 person-hours a week.  Originally you might have hired 2 people to work 60 hours a week.  Then after overtime became an issue, you hired another person and cut everyone back to 40 hours a week.  Then came benefits for full time employees, so you went to 4 people working 30 hours a week.  Now with Obamacare, you would have to provide health insurance for people working 30 hours a week, so you go to 6 people working 20 hours a week.

Of course, this only works in jobs where there is a ready supply of new employees.  Those industries that can't hire readily just have to adjust to what they can afford, and those are the ones that publicly announce layoffs.  The hiring from Obamacare is more in low-skill service work, which goes relatively unnoticed.  Of course, there is no more money being paid to employees, so it's not really helping the economy, but it makes Obama look good.

So, the trend I expect to be reported over the coming months is a mild drop in the unemployment rate with a sharp increase in the underemployment rate, i.e., people who want to work full time but only have part time jobs.

A Different Spin

The IEA published an annual report recently that projects that the United States will overtake Saudi Arabia by 2020 in production of oil and become a net exporter by 2030.  There has been a lot of commentary on this, one side saying that this disproves peak oil and we can continue merrily along, the other saying these projections are wishful thinking.  I can foresee a quite probable scenario where the US surpasses Saudi Arabia as the latter's oil wells start pumping out water on the steep edge of the decline, and the US becomes a net exporter of oil because the dollar is no longer the reserve currency for the world and we need to sell oil for hard currency and can't afford to use the oil ourselves.

Why I Voted For Ron Paul

"Every nation gets the government it deserves."  -- Joseph-Marie, comte de Maistre

If you voted for Barrack Obama because you love the guy, congratulations.
If you voted for Mitt Romney because you love the guy, I'm so sorry.
If you voted for either because you thought they were so much better than the other choice, I understand.

If you voted for either because they were the lesser evil, you suck.
If you didn't vote at all, you really suck.

I didn't waste my vote.  I voted for someone I actually thought could do the job.

As long as we keep meekly approving the crappy choices they give us, they will keep giving us crappier choices.

Americans deserve four more years of this government.  Maybe then they'll finally wake up and take some real action.

From A Dream

A bird dove through the air.
She hit the water and broke her neck.
As she floated there
The men thought she was food for the fishes.
The fishes thought she was food for the men.

What if...

... the government wants all guns registered not because they want to control all the guns, but because they are looking to conscript people who are already competent with guns?

Giving 1000%

I can literally give 1000%.  But that is very much dependent on how I set my levels.  By giving 100% on a daily basis, I mean taking what I can do over a decade and dividing by 3653.  So when I give 1000% one day, that means I may only be able to give 50% for the next 18 days.

There are a couple of points about this perspective.  I choose a decade because that is long enough to even out things like broken legs or pneumonia without changing too much because of aging.  (This won't be true for the first or last decade of life, of course.)  More importantly, if you define 100% as the maximum you can do in a day, then you will either be constantly falling short or you will eventually wear yourself out.  Most critically, if you live that close to the edge, if anything happens, your life will fall apart.  With my definition, you have some reserves for emergencies that demand it and are mentally prepared to recuperate afterward.

Just Learn

This is my response to "Go to trade school, young man" by Patrice Lewis on World Net Daily:

In my not so humble opinion, everyone who is capable needs to get some form of post-secondary education.  The United States has one of the best systems of adult education in the world.  Of course, that is partially due to overburdening children's schooling with noneducational requirements.  The real question is what form that education should take.

If you truly want to do something which requires a college degree, by all means, go to college.  If you truly want to work in a trade, go to trade school.  If you don't know what you want, try out different things before committing.  For example, if you think you might want to work in house construction, try volunteering for Habitat for Humanity.  And don't be afraid to try new things, even things you don't like.  I hate doing my own taxes, but I took the H&R Block introductory tax course so I could do them better, and I found to my surprise that doing other people's taxes was enjoyable.

Even when you have a career, don't stop learning.  The brain is like a muscle, the more you use it, the better it works.  Studies have shown decreased rates of senility in people who keep their minds active.  You can take courses which further your career, or find something for an interest you have or a hobby you enjoy.

If money is an issue, consider taking one class at a time while you're working.  It may take longer to get your degree but not necessarily to get your degree paid off.  You also aren't taking such a big risk if you decide you don't like the field you've chosen or can't find a job in it.

Inflation AND Deflation

People involved in the financial world are worried about deflation, people involved in the real world are worried about inflation.  Guess what?  They're both right.  The value of paper assets is way out of proportion to the value of real assets.  The way that gets correct is for paper assets to fall in price and/or the prices of real goods to rise.  The last couple times this happened the process ended when the price of gold was about equal to the price of the Dow Jones Industrial Average.  Since we're at around $1500 an ounce for gold and $12000 for the DJIA, we have a long way to go.

People and Climate Change

Some people are changing their minds about climate change.  I understand the people who are in denial about climate change; the fear can just shut down rational thinking.  I also understand people who say we are changing the climate by all the fossil fuel we're burning, but it's okay because we'll run out soon.  Not that that's necessarily true, but at least it is a reasonable position.  What I don't understand are people who admit that the climate is changing and deny that we are the cause, and that doesn't bother them! If we aren't doing it, then we are helpless victims waiting for the wrath of the gods.

Cranberry Township and the Old Stone House

The Leibowitz Society's post on maps got me thinking.  Four miles from my home is an Old Stone House.  It would be quite unremarkable these days, a modest three story home, except for the fact that it has been turned into a historical museum.  Today it is at the intersection of two small state highways.  Those highways follow the routes of two Native American trails which were major routes before the American Revolution.  Back when it was built, the Old Stone House was a major rest stop.  At times half a dozen people would sleep in each bed.  Today it is just a curiosity.

These days the major activity near here is a place called Cranberry Township.  Its claim to fame is that it is at the intersection of the Pennsylvania Turnpike and Interstate 79.  As we come off Hubbert's Mesa and gasoline gets relatively more expensive, I wonder how long it will be before Cranberry Township is just another forgotten way station.

New Nudism

Kris Watson asks the question, "What do you do when your clothes are wearing out?"  If industrial society collapses completely (not just going into a major depression), I predict people will stop wearing clothes for the sake of modesty, just for protection from the elements.  This is one area very few preppers even mention.  How many people know how to ret and scutch flax? to turn wool into a sweater?

All That Is Needed For Evil To Triumph...

is for good men to do nothing.  Arthur Silber indirectly reminded me of this in "The Nauseating Grief of Diseased America" on his blog, Once Upon A Time...