From a post on MarketWatch.com by pharmainsider1 (if you wish more credit, just let me know, p1):

Here in the most liberal city (Ann Arbor) in Michigan, the local ordinances were changed to allow live chickens on homeowners property in the city limits. They also are big on bike trails, allow people to plant “organic” gardens in their lawns, etc.

To be honest, he was not too happy about this state of affairs. But Ann Arbor has been big on community gardens for over 30 years. I think they’re brilliant. There is no better way to prepare for a sudden dislocation, economic or otherwise, than to have food growing at your house. (more…)

There are all sorts of categories of emergency power, but I’m narrowing my focus today to a backup battery for lights and small appliances.

Many of you have a backup power supply for your computer. It has enough electricity stored to allow you to shut your computer down safely when the power goes out. If you have a large enough backup, it may allow you a few minutes of using your computer before you shut it down. Depends on the capacity of the battery and how much current your devices draw.
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Before I even start, I have to say that you must talk with your doctor and find out whether your use of any of the substances or products mentioned in this post, or indeed anywhere on this site, is appropriate for you. All statements are only personal opinion, and have not been approved by any authority or agency or anyone else whatsoever. And read our disclaimer statement.

There is so much controversy about salt. One time I was talking to a fellow gym rat about taking in enough sodium through eating salt, and had a nurse who was working out in the same general area come over to me, literally shaking with rage, and berate me for making such obviously harmful statements. You would have thought I’d been caught in the middle of some particularly heinous act.

Didn’t change my mind. In fact, I gently referred her to a recent AMA release that admitted that their stance on sodium for most people, who do not have a certain relatively rare medical condition, has been in error for years. I asked her to get back to me after she read it. Never saw her again.

The body needs the electrolytes sodium and potassium to function. You die if you do not have enough of each. I’ve been studying this subject for a long time. The action of the sodium-potassium pump in the human body just happened to be the subject of my first college class that I sat in on when I was a senior in high school. If you do not have enough of both, you have huge short-term AND long-term problems. One of my high school classmates learned that lesson the hardest possible way. He died from a diet substance that leached potassium from his body.
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My wife brought up a very good point. We were taking inventory of our emergency food stores, and she said, “You know, people really shouldn’t put off getting some food in, just because they do not have their shopping list perfect yet. It’s important to get something in, even if it’s not complete, or not perfect. A person can add things later, or make changes.”

I think so too. There is a world of difference between having something that’s not perfect… and having nothing.
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There is a section on this website called Food - Can Help Others. You can find it here.

I bring up this thought because it is my answer to the people who say that if things go south, they would rather have bullets than food. I have been hearing more of this sort of talk lately, as we get closer to the next big event. Frankly, I tend to stay away from the subject, because I have very strong personal feelings about it, and my opinions tend to offend almost everyone. But the time to be cautious is passing. So here’s what I really think.
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It’s said that a recession is when the person next door is out of work.

And a depression is when you are out of work.

We are losing jobs in the United States at a rate of more than a half million a month. Everyone agrees on that. New figures come out tomorrow, and the guess is about 660,000, seasonally adjusted.

That means in reality, without adjustment, it will actually be something like 700, 000 (conservatively) to 1,000,000 or more. One friend totaled up raw figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, not counting retirees and others who are truly not in the job market, and he got a total of 19.5% unemployed in the United States. And that is previous to the new report tomorrow.
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