ALS members Blogs

When I first started this blog I had a plan to keep it in some type of sensible order, however it hasn't really turned out that way.  So please...forgive me for what at this stage might appear to be nonsenible ramblings. It will all come together eventually.I'll continue with the baby steps of preps, then move on to some of the more serious stuff.  I'll also continue with the Oil Shockwave Scenario posts.For now though I wanted to talk about the new Glenn Beck GBTV reality show Independence USA.  I haven't seen it yet; it's on either tonight or has been on very recently.  However given the previews and  interviews with Mr Beck himself, I can only say this has the potential to be a great show.The primary basis for the show is to prepare yourself enough so that you can survive a crisis, independent from external resources or institutions.  While...

The following post (and series of posts) was originally drafted by myself on Aussies Living Simply, however it is spread out over 68 pages and is difficult to read with all the other intervening posts.  Although I recommend reading the entire lot if you are interested in more than my own narrow point of view.Nobody can deny, regardless of how much of an optimist they are, just how close oil supply and demand are to each other, and how if we haven't already reached peak oil, then it's going to happen very soon.Major oil fields all around the globe are encountering steep decline rates, and new fields are a lot smaller, will reach their own peak earlier, and decline even faster.This leaves the world in the nasty situation that if there is some problem regarding oil supply, there really isn't any spare capacity to pump extra oil into the market to...

I have quite a few of the Fenix torch products, including two TK11's, two LD01's and two more E01's. The E01's are for the kids.  They are simple to use, run off a single AAA battery, and can stand the rough treatment that a child is capable of subjecting any device to by default.  While they're more expensive than a toy or supermarket torch, I only have to buy one for each kid because they don't break.The LD01's are part of my Every Day Carry (EDC) equipment.  I have two sets of keys and I have an LD01 on each.  They are used several times each day and never fail me.The TK11's are used for security around the house; those "bump in the night" situations where you try to convince the wife it was only a possum, but you still have to go out and look anyway.  They are incredibly bright...

Eating healthy foods isn't as hard as what most people make out.  It doesn't require a strict regime or guide, but there is one food above all others that should be avoided as much as possible.  Sugar.Lowering consumption of fats has been big since the 80's.  Saturated fats, unsaturated fats, trans fats...we were told to cut down on the amount of fat we ate.  I'm actually a big fan of unsaturated fats (olive oil is amazing) and some saturated fats (full milk, cheese, meat fat, eggs...yum yum).  They fill you up, stop that hungry craving feeling, and play an important role in our daily health.Sugar on the other hand, especially refined sugar, has no purpose other than tasting good and giving us a rapid overdose of energy leading to rapid fat storage.  It's the food version of crystal meth.  And it is addictive.  I should know, because I've always fought...

A credit card is one of the worst things you can own, and yet one of the most useful.  It's like chocolate...so yummy yet you know you are going to pay for it later. It's the same with credit cards.  They provide you with fast, instant, easy ways of buying cool stuff, and yet the rates of interest are astronomical.Do you get those letters in the mail asking you to sign on the dotted line for an extra few thousand dollars increase in your credit limit? That's because the credit companies know that the more you have the potential to spend, the more you will spend, increasing their profits through larger interest repayments.  While they want you to make regular payments off your card, they don't want you to ever fully pay off your debt because then they won't earn any interest.The best credit customers are those that accumulate a...

Cigarettes are an addiction to nicotine.  While the nicotine won't kill you, the other 7,000 chemicals in commercial tobacco will.But more importantly, not only will those chemicals eventually kill you, they will make your life hell until you eventually die.And if you live in Australia like me, smoking will take all your available cash (and them some more) to keep the addiction rolling.I've talked to a lot of smokers, and I have a lot of friends who smoke too.  Most of them acknowledge that one day their addiction will probably kill them.  What they don't realise though is that they will most likely live in discomfort and pain for possibly decades before they eventually die.  Death by smoking can be torture, for the smoker and their family.  Take throat cancer for example.  You can have your voice-box and lymph nodes removed assuming the cancer is detected in time, but imagine...

It is becoming more common these days for the general population to understand the importance to prepare for disaster, whether it be an economic collapse, depletion of energy resources (oil), war, earthquakes & tsunami, or asteroid strike.These are world changing events with varying levels of probability, most of them low.  However there are much less serious (in comparison) events that can and do happen much more regularly.  Take car accidents for example.  Many people drive vehicles without insurance or health insurance, and yet you are far more likely to be seriously hurt in a car accident than just about anything else.So why don't we prepare for it?  And not just a serious car accident, but a minor one too.  If you've ever had a car accident, and I'm sure a high percentage of the people reading this have, you'll know just how stressful it can be immediately after the collision...