Survival Notes by Wildflower DRYING WET BOOKS: Can be a long messy process of taking apart the books, separating the pages, and waiting for a long drying period, which rot & mold can still destroy the book permanently. At least that is the old process, for many years. Nowadays, whole books can be slowly dried faster at low power setting in a microwave oven. This process eliminates separating the pages, restoring the whole book at the same time, without major water damage, even eliminating insects & mold in the drying process. CACHE Storage Of BOOKS: Utilizing a $50 vacuum & heat sealer, sold in most major department store chains, a book can be stored in a plastic bag, which has been vacuumed of air content, then heat sealed. Then the bagged books are stored in a waterproof container, such as a surplus ammo boxes, and then buried in walls, or ground. If a book is zapped at low setting for 10 minutes in a microwave oven, this would eliminate excess water content, insect eggs, and any mold spores; before bagging the book. The vacuum & heat sealer machine can also be used to prepare moisture & mold sensitive articles, for safer storage. For example: clothing items, bandages, matches, toilet paper, ammo, etc. A good rule is to cache away items essential or survival, essential to make other items with, or items hard to make or find later on. Examples: matches, magnet wire, transistors, primers, thermometers, etc. I can build my own resistors, capacitors, even relays, but a transistor be damn near impossible. Can grind my own gunpowder, but harder to make a decent primer for the shell. Taps & dies, which I can make nuts & bolts with, are just as necessary as a hammer for my shop. It's easy to make candles & soap, yet easier if I lay in a few years worth now, before being forced to, create them. AFTER THE COLLAPSE: Within ten years, most fuels will be either used up, or have deteriorated beyond usability. Most people then would have to depend upon "homemade" fuels: methane, alcohol, wood gas, wood, hydrogen, and possibly methanol. these fuels, expensive to make in any great quantity (in terms of man-hours), all be used carefully in whatever surviving or homebuilt machines then in use. For travel, most would be: on foot, bicycle, horse, by sail boats, by canoe & paddle, or rarely a motorcycle of even a moped, and even rarer by automobile (As years go by, what roads will be left?). But there is another mode of travel ignored by most post-collapse planners. This is travel by aircraft, of many sorts! Take for instance, microlite aircraft, able to take off and land from a field, cruise about on very little fuel, while covering many miles of travel. And for heavier craft, bush pilots for years have flown one and two engine craft, equipped with pontoons and wheel combination for land/water takeoff/landings. During WWII, Japanese aircraft flew on alcohol, even local homebrew! Or how about hydrogen/helium balloons or dirigibles for travel. if properly constructed, they can be used for worldwide travel, and even carry their own fleet of aircraft along for fast reconnaissance/defense or ground to air shuttling of passengers and cargo! Yes hydrogen is very flammable, but until you find enough helium to replace it (by salvaging from welders's supply or recovering from natural gas wells), can be used safely. Heck the Germans did it for awhile! For heavier cargo, probably be moved by restored rail service, rebuilt canal barge systems, or by steam tractor road trains. As for major highways, only those maintained by private road companies will still be used. And no doubt, various technical survivors will utilize cellular phones, shortwave communications, fax machines, and computers, either from salvaged systems and parts, or if possible locally manufactured! This means of course, just how well prepared you have made your "survival" library. Yes, one is going to have to include whatever books cover the design & manufacturing of the high tech items you will need, along with the tools or information on constructing those tools, necessary to build hydrogen proof fabrics, helium recovery systems, or cutting silicon wafers into integrated circuits! Also be good now to prelocate by using maps and phonebooks, various industrial manufacturers and suppliers for future salvaging after the collapse. This will safe many man-hours and fuel supplies for your recon & salvage scavengers later on. Same can be said for any local welder's suppliers or natural gas wells in your area. ALTERNATIVE ENERGY: If you can afford to buy your solar cell panels, hydroelectric generators, even wind generators now, do so. If possible, invest in all usable alternative systems practical for your area and needs. As for the cost, do remember even a solar cell panel of 1 amp production, will be well worth having when your local utility dies for good, someday! Or how much would you pay just to switch on a light, especially when the power is gone forever. LAST: After the collapse, it would be nice to hold a convention for all you fellow survivors, whom made it! And for those whom didn't a mass pee-off on their common grave site (after the homebrew beer festival)! Just got done filling another coffee jar with desoldered electronic parts, to be sorted into other jars for reuse or future barter later on. No matter what kind of board. machine, or other item; I always look for salvageable parts & hardware for my shop. Some are used now, some later; all stored in various marked jars or coffee cans as to contents for later retrieval. And if I never use any, still it is sort of a GOLDMINE for the next generation to tap into. I mean, in fifty years, if one wants to restore one of today's TV's or RADIOS, parts will be damn near impossible to find for such sets! Also think if you wrapped up that obsolete computer or radio, in fifty years it may fetch thousands of dollars if still operational or not, as a collectors "item" Or if the world truly goes to hell, such parts, hardware, even working obsolete computers, will be all worth their weight many times over in whatever currency is used for barter. Even a ZX81 (TIMEX 1000) Sinclair with 16K RAM is going to be of more value than a dead, rotting mainframe. And hardware; kept dry and free from dirt & corrosion, will be worth $??? over rusted, deteriorated nails, screws, ectra. What will be more incredible is that such items are found "FREE" in most dumpster bins or trashcans! Yes, by crafty salvaging, I have over several thousands of dollars worth of parts, hardware, ectra; all accumulated slowly over a ten year time period; with more than half of it already reused in other projects! Of course, not all discards are worth salvaging even one part from, but one should think twice before discarding any JUNK if there is anything recoverable before throwing it away, next time! Took apart a hair dryer the other day as its element had parted apart of old age. Needless to say, did recover the remaining element wire, switches, the power cord, and its fan. Incidentally, a few years ago was delighted to find that a hair dryer fan motor, rigged with diodes to run in one direction only, also minus element, ran off a six, then twelve volt battery! This gave rise to another home project: a simple "BLAST FURNACE". This was built utilizing a #10 can (39 oz. coffee can) with a piece of auto exhaust pipe coming up into the bottom of the can; then cover the inside bottom with 1/2" metal mesh circle (same dia. as inside bottom). With foil & wire, hooked up a fan motor unit. Supported on bricks, the furnace was filled with common store brand charcoal, lit, then topped with an old circular saw blade. With the fan running off an old auto battery, it pushed enough air through the burning charcoal to bring that old coffee can "CHERRY RED" within a few minutes. It only takes slightly more to "BRIGHT RED" iron rod (1 inch dia.) section. Steam Power Resources Building steam boilers and steam engines takes having the necessary information, parts, and plans to craft, run, and maintain them. A good "steam primer" can be found in Kurt's (Saxon) _Survivor_ books; after which one can look to other sources for more information. Some sources are: Lindsay Publications P.O. Box 538 Bradley, IL 60915-0538 Catalog: $1.00 A lot of old time reprinted books, on various topics. The Steam Outlet P.O. Box 1426 Thonotassassa, FL 33592 Catalog: $5.00 Building plans & parts. Campbell Tools Company 2100-P Selma Road Springfield, OH 45505 Catalog: $1.00 Various books & kits. Blue Ridge Machinery and Tools Inc. Box 536-PS Hurricane, WV 25526 Catalog: FREE Various books & kits. # Do remember "live steam" can be dangerous if improperly contained in boiler/engine; resulting in injuries or death! Do not try to use inferior materials as a substitute to what is recommended in constriction of boiler/engine. ## However, steam technology will be useful for those who want power to run their machines. Those who don't can suffer all the way to hell! As batteries fail (unless you create new ones); storing your excess energy could be found in: uphill water reservoirs, pressurized air, hydrogen gas, large capacitors, flywheels, superconducting storage loops, and possibly superhot metals (or glass) in superinsulation containment. Sounds "too exotic", then why are you using: computers, automobiles, microwave ovens, etc...? And after the collapse of civilization, does that mean you will give it all up, including "TO CONTROL THE LIGHTNING!"? Give it all up to live in a cave, whispering strange stories about the fire about "WHEN MEN WERE GODS"? ARE YOU NUTS!?! In the "post-collapse years", we will be trying to survive as best possible as we can. However, afterwards, we will want to reconstruct our basic industrial basics to start tackling many areas, including any hazardous areas to recover useful materials for our needs. (also to neutralize hazardous sites that could ruin local ecological zones, trying to recover!) LAST: As undoubtedly direct neural interfaces (implants) could hookup a person directly to their computer, remember as you may program a machine, you may get reprogrammed by it! Also a computer virus will create ultimate horrors if it gets into your natural neural networks, indeed! Do heed this futuristic warning! Car Emergency Kits Trouble can occur anywhere on the road. Your radiator starts to leak, a tire gets punctured, your ignition just died, or something else; leaving you stranded, perhaps on a dirt road deep in some forest or along a freeway near home. If you are prepared with a good emergency kit you could fix the problem, or call for help and be able to wait in comfort till help comes; if not you could just go bananas in sheer panic!. The following should be in anybody's emergency kit; stashed along with a good spare tire and jack: first aid kit, 3-7 days of food and water, roll of t-paper in a plastic bag; a large candle & matches, a warm wool blanket, a waterproof poncho, a good flashlight, a set of flares, a good tool kit with wrenches and socket set, folding shovel, folding saw, come-along winch with tow straps, jumper cables. It would be excellent to install a CB radio and a backup electric fuel pump. A set of good maps and a good compass come in handy too! Yes it is a hefty kit so far. It is also good to include a can of radiator sealant, a can of tire inflater/sealant, emergency fan belt kit, spare bulbs & fuses, roll of wire, roll of duct tape, and a stick of quick setting epoxy mix. Toss in a set of spare ignition parts and a cheap analog VOM meter, and you should be able to fix it until you reach home or civilization (which if you do, send me directions, please!) *OR* suffer without when you are stuck miles from anywhere, hungry, tired, and freezing into a corpse! Ammo Boxes True, the GOVERNMENT is now reducing surplus ammo boxes into scrap metal. One has to devise other methods. Look up in the yellow pages of your phone book and locate wither an auto paint or custom paint dealer. Chances are one can buy new gallon cans with lids. Fill the can with ammo & desiccant packet, place can on floor, and with foot press shut the lid. Then paint can two coats of any exterior paint; when dry mark contents with laundry marker on lid. Can of ammo now ready for your burial cache. -OR- look into utilizing Rubbermaid brand food containers, or even mason canning jars for storing ammo too. Frogs... are disappearing as either levels of Acid Rain or Ultraviolet Radiation increase in their environment. If they go extinct, good to wonder whom is next to go!? Think about it! But the real ugly truth is that there are numerous plants and animals facing extinction, but until it gets to be a "National Crisis" little ever be done. As man has lost the feel of earth & its ties to his spirit; soon such men will follow the Dodo too. If you wish to survive, renew your ties to your earth, and remember you are either part of the problem or that of the solution; as you share this world with so many living critters, you are one of those critters too. -OR- ignore this, go back and suck your beer and stare at the telly, you poor stupid dinosaur! Food Storage Criticized in Living Free was that a 3 year "Use & Replace" canned food supply be too "stale. Even if such a food supply is not "fresh food", it is far better to have a canned food supply than no food at all in a crisis of any sort. And as the near future looms ahead, am considering extending it to a "five year use & replace canned food supply". If you're going to stock ammo, gold, and whiskey; you'd be better off building up your food supply too! -OR- BON A'PITIET, chewing on your gold pieces! LIVE LONG & FREE! Wildflower*95