Topic: An Ounce of Preparation is Worth a Pound of C4

[charlesoakwood]

Weisshaupt

...
I have a friend who thinks the hopelophobe liberals won't pick up guns. I suspect they will get over their fear of firearms right quick if their survival requires it, and the same will probably be true of your neighbors.
...

Hope you are right.  My fear is they would turn out to be more dangerous that the criminal.  The criminal is predictable when these liberals are placed into an environment alien and violently unlawful their center, the place of constancy from which the deal with the world is vaporized, I think they will freak.
- - -

Soup, I'm collecting 1/2 pints for barter.

[Alphabet Soup]

Soup, I'm collecting 1/2 pints for barter.

I actually don't drink much at all anymore but I do still collect 

The liquor prices are so gawd-awful around here that we have to save up for a roadtrip either south to Oregon or east to Idaho.

[AlanS]

Am I a fool?

Hardly.

There ain't no "one size fits all" solution (even if we could accurately and definitively define the problem). We actively differentiate ourselves from 90+% of our fellows Americans because we at least take a stab at preparing for conflagration and calamity.

Everyone has basic necessities to accommodate and individual needs to fulfill.

(I just hope the liquor holds out)

And the gawdamn cigarettes.

Crap. You and I are in the same boat there, Pan.

Although I do live rural, it's only about 7 mi to a small town and 20 to a small city. I do plan on protecting what I have. I'm just trying to stick up on basic necessities.

[Libertas]

Hmm...half pints for barter, I like that idea!  (I'll keep the fifths for myself!)  And I reckon vodka being clear and clean is the best option.

And I have a cooler I turned into a humidor and several smaller humidors...hope I have time to load them all up with my favorite puros before the crap hits, else I'll be trading booze for stogies!

[Libertas]

Oh hey, Delnorin, I forgot to ask, about insulin, is that perishable?  I dated a gal about 20 years ago who was diabetic and if I recall I don't think the insulin has too long a shelf life.  Any modern improvements in insulin technology?  Not sure there are emergency alternatives one could do as a replacement.  Medical stuff can be dicey when contemplating such things, and it is something I have to encourage some in my clan to explore more as well.

[Delnorin]

Oh hey, Delnorin, I forgot to ask, about insulin, is that perishable?  I dated a gal about 20 years ago who was diabetic and if I recall I don't think the insulin has too long a shelf life.  Any modern improvements in insulin technology?  Not sure there are emergency alternatives one could do as a replacement.  Medical stuff can be dicey when contemplating such things, and it is something I have to encourage some in my clan to explore more as well.

Insulin must be kept refrigerated or it becomes a inert and useless.  As long as you can keep it cold though it stays for a long time.  We are about to try and get a 3 month prescription filled.  The difficulty is attempting to get a stockpile all because it is prescription based is monitor how much you use.

[Libertas]

Oh hey, Delnorin, I forgot to ask, about insulin, is that perishable?  I dated a gal about 20 years ago who was diabetic and if I recall I don't think the insulin has too long a shelf life.  Any modern improvements in insulin technology?  Not sure there are emergency alternatives one could do as a replacement.  Medical stuff can be dicey when contemplating such things, and it is something I have to encourage some in my clan to explore more as well.

Insulin must be kept refrigerated or it becomes a inert and useless.  As long as you can keep it cold though states for a long time.  We are about to try and get a 3 month prescription filled.  The difficulty is attempting to get a stockpile all because it is prescription based is monitor how much you use.

And I suppose there is no way to replicate the manufacturing process, not inexpensively anyway?  Ugh!  Can you get more via Mexico?  I know its not a nice time to cross the border, but when visiting down there, I recall going into their pharmacies and getting any quantity of stuff...as long as you have the greenbacks.

[Delnorin]

Oh hey, Delnorin, I forgot to ask, about insulin, is that perishable?  I dated a gal about 20 years ago who was diabetic and if I recall I don't think the insulin has too long a shelf life.  Any modern improvements in insulin technology?  Not sure there are emergency alternatives one could do as a replacement.  Medical stuff can be dicey when contemplating such things, and it is something I have to encourage some in my clan to explore more as well.

Insulin must be kept refrigerated or it becomes a inert and useless.  As long as you can keep it cold though states for a long time.  We are about to try and get a 3 month prescription filled.  The difficulty is attempting to get a stockpile all because it is prescription based is monitor how much you use.

And I suppose there is no way to replicate the manufacturing process, not inexpensively anyway?  Ugh!  Can you get more via Mexico?  I know its not a nice time to cross the border, but when visiting down there, I recall going into their pharmacies and getting any quantity of stuff...as long as you have the greenbacks.

 If I can get 30,000,000 dollars for a laboratory and extract my own and give me a whole farm full of pigs to extract from their pancreas'.
 Where does Mexico get its insulin supplies from?  My guess is that they get it from the United States laboratories and right now they are just cheaper because they don't have all of the regulations in taxes put on the prices.
 I am a poor man, I can hardly even pay my electrical bill let alone sport tens of thousands of dollars to buy things off the black market during a time of war.
 The entire world would be a much different place for me if I were a millionaire.  But the government boot is firmly placed upon my neck like most people that are working that I can't get my head above water.

Modified:   Sorry if that sounds like a whiner talking.  I'm just tired of turning every direction to find I have no real choices anymore.  There was a time when the whole world lay before me and the only thing stopping me was limitations I put on myself.  As the years progress... I've found myself more a slave than a free man with hope.

[charlesoakwood]

A propane refrigerator like they have in campers. 
A modest sized one would require a lot less fuel than
a generator would require for AC.

[Delnorin]

A propane refrigerator like they have in campers. 
A modest sized one would require a lot less fuel than
a generator would require for AC.

That's a great idea... which reminds me.  I purchased a garage sale item last summer.  It's about the size of a small cooler that you carry your lunch to work in.  It's a little fridge that fits between the back seat(s) of the car and plugs into the 12 volt DC outlet.  That's perfect.  Okay... now I'm getting excited.

I'm going to start stock-piling what I need to make my own solar panels.  I know I can make 1 solar panel that is about 2'x4' in size that will make enough power for that easily.  (btw: You'd be shocked at how many watts a coffee maker takes.  If you use one in these situations.. use it.. then as soon as it's done making it.. turn it off.  The burner that keeps it hot is what sucks all the energy.  1 pot of coffee if left on and keeping it hot for a couple hours is close to a full size refrigerator running 1/2 the day.  It was shocking when I saw the numbers).

I've been putting off the solar panels (here in Arizona it's perfect... sun sun sun) because we are renting the house we're in.  Why invest a bunch of time/money to modify a house you don't own.  But I can make my own panels (many websites/youtube show you it's actually very easy) to just charge up a bank of marine batteries/car batteries and then just save up the $250 for the DC/AC inverter, etc.  I could have critical things off the grid for power outages, etc.  #1 though is keeping that insulin cold.

Thank you SOOOO much.. got just picked up 12 ounces of hope again from the Charles Oakwood school of kick-ass thinking.

[Weisshaupt]

Survival Blog has an article on insulin storage

You are not the first to consider the problem.

Also came across this

It claims to contain links for making insulin from 1920s tech. Yeah, its risky. Your loved ones have no insulin. Which is riskier?

Eventually, the Victor and Eva decided to get insulin another—highly unconventional—way: make it themselves. The book "Beckman's Internal Medicine" described the methods that Dr. Frederick Banting and Charles Best first used to extract insulin from the pancreases of dogs, calves, and cows in 1921.
A Chinese chemist lend them a small laboratory in the basement of a municipal building, where they attempted to extract insulin from pancreata of water buffaloes. After much work, they finally produced a brown-coloured insulin. The insulin was tested on rabbits starved for twenty-four hours and then divided into two groups. One group was injected with the extracted mix, and the other with Eva’s insulin. Without equipment to test the rabbits’ urine or blood the best way Victor could test the potency of the insulin was to see if the rabbit’s experienced the same hypoglycaemic shock as the other rabbits. After testing the insulin on rabbits for more than a year, Eva was running out of conventional insulin and cautiously tried it on herself-–and it worked.
In the Jewish ghetto where they were living, many other people with type 1 diabetes were also in dire need of insulin. Eva gave her insulin to two boys in a nearby hospital who were in diabetic comas.
With a successful batch of homemade insulin, the Saxl's began production of insulin for all people with diabetes in the Shanghai Ghetto. In all, over 200 people survived between 1941 and 1945 and there were no fatalities reported as a result of tainted insulin.

However if you can learn to make it, it could be your post TEOTWAWKI career, and probably one that pays well too.

As for stockpiling, you need to find a doctor friend who is willing to give you the scripts required. This may not be your normal doctor and your insurance probably shouldn't be used to pay for it.  But then you have it.

[Weisshaupt]

I'm going to start stock-piling what I need to make my own solar panels.  I know I can make 1 solar panel that is about 2'x4' in size that will make enough power for that easily. 

The "make your own" panels  usually use cells salvaged from other panels, and while yes, this works, those cells really ought to be electrically matched to get decent yield  out of them.. otherwise the weakest cell limits the others. Same thing happens with strings of store bought panels - they need to be matched.  Also, since this is a critical path difference between life/death  project I wouldn't be placing those bets on used parts or connections humans made -- these things will be out in hard, dusty, wind, hot and cold  environments, and your soldered connections and framing have to be up to that.  Doesn't mean you can't make frames, seals and connections as good as any manufacturing plant, but you are literally betting a life on your work.

 Chinese made panels are good and can be had for pretty cheap ( but you can't take the tax credit on them) but even an American panel will be running you $5 a watt - $500-600 a panel .
I should think for this project I would consider a manufactured panel, and a spare ( or two) so you know it can withstand the environmental issues.   One 240W panel will  produce  about 1 Kw-Hr per day- enough to run a good sized freezer. .  I would have a back up gen on hand as well, and maybe augment it with a 200 W wind generator.  Battery bank should probably be sized to handle a 3-5 day outage.

Also, look at converting a chest freezer to a fridge.  Its probably more economical than going after a DC version if you need the storage  space. Yes that does mean getting an inverter. Trust me, everything is AC and eventually  you will want to plug other stuff in post Teotwaki.
I think the energy saving claimed in the link  are over blown, but still substantial. Of course installing it in a basement/root cellar/crawlspace kept  at 54 degrees helps a lot.

[Libertas]

Oh hey, Delnorin, I forgot to ask, about insulin, is that perishable?  I dated a gal about 20 years ago who was diabetic and if I recall I don't think the insulin has too long a shelf life.  Any modern improvements in insulin technology?  Not sure there are emergency alternatives one could do as a replacement.  Medical stuff can be dicey when contemplating such things, and it is something I have to encourage some in my clan to explore more as well.

Insulin must be kept refrigerated or it becomes a inert and useless.  As long as you can keep it cold though states for a long time.  We are about to try and get a 3 month prescription filled.  The difficulty is attempting to get a stockpile all because it is prescription based is monitor how much you use.

And I suppose there is no way to replicate the manufacturing process, not inexpensively anyway?  Ugh!  Can you get more via Mexico?  I know its not a nice time to cross the border, but when visiting down there, I recall going into their pharmacies and getting any quantity of stuff...as long as you have the greenbacks.

 If I can get 30,000,000 dollars for a laboratory and extract my own and give me a whole farm full of pigs to extract from their pancreas'.
 Where does Mexico get its insulin supplies from?  My guess is that they get it from the United States laboratories and right now they are just cheaper because they don't have all of the regulations in taxes put on the prices.
 I am a poor man, I can hardly even pay my electrical bill let alone sport tens of thousands of dollars to buy things off the black market during a time of war.
 The entire world would be a much different place for me if I were a millionaire.  But the government boot is firmly placed upon my neck like most people that are working that I can't get my head above water.

Modified:   Sorry if that sounds like a whiner talking.  I'm just tired of turning every direction to find I have no real choices anymore.  There was a time when the whole world lay before me and the only thing stopping me was limitations I put on myself.  As the years progress... I've found myself more a slave than a free man with hope.

Don't sweat it my friend, we've all been there!  We can only do what we can.  Hope there is a way you can barter for insulin if need be.

[Damn_Lucky]

I would like to recomend any of these books.
It is easy to make and turns bad water into good.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_2_4?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=beer+making&sprefix=Beer

“Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.”
                                                    Ben Franklin

[BigAlSouth]

See Nevil Shute’s On the Beach, a novel of the post WWIII Apocalypse. There was a character who needed insulin and the loss of electric power made him seek other ways top keep his insulin cool.

[Libertas]

I would like to recomend any of these books.
It is easy to make and turns bad water into good.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_2_4?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=beer+making&sprefix=Beer

“Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.”
                                                    Ben Franklin

Mmm!  Beer!

 

[Delnorin]

Here is a link to my little research project:

http://free-speech-while-it-lasts.blogspot.com/2011/11/we-dont-need-your-stinkn-electricity.html

[Weisshaupt]

Here is a link to my little research project:

http://free-speech-while-it-lasts.blogspot.com/2011/11/we-dont-need-your-stinkn-electricity.html

Good Write up. I am still in the middle of the " 6000W of Panels, 30 Amps at 240 V AC with 830 Amp-Hr @ 48 Volt battery backup - power the whole house- grid tied"  nightmare.  Snow keeps filling my trenches..I am hoping and crossing my fingers for no snow tonight so I can pass the trench inspection and get on with the rest of it.  Sure will feel good when its all said and done though..  Of course  then I have to work on building the aquaponics  and raised beds and getting control systems in place.

Going Elk hunting for the first time this week too.  I am so tired of learning new things this year.

[charlesoakwood]

How many hours at 120v/amps does that translate to?

[Delnorin]

How many hours at 120v/amps does that translate to?

All my calculations were at 120 volt AC power.