Useful Hard Skills for the near future

[Ego]

Ahem.

The things I find at the swap meet would boggle your mind. I do not have allergies but I carry one of these with me in my backpack because it is probably the most likely scenario where I could actually save someone's life.



They are expired. I paid almost nothing for them. Digging through boxes from unpaid storage lockers has encouraged me to learn an awful lot about medications since covid began.

Also, after the back-to-back Bonhomme Richard & Beirut explosion I decided it wouldn't hurt to have gas masks for each of us. Turns out they are very profitable. After finding these two M40s with new C2A1 NBC canisters for $15 each I began buying and reselling them.



The second-hand climbing rope (also $15) will get us out the window and down to the ground in case of fire or earthquake.

At any one time there are about fifteen nuclear reactors (that we know about) within five miles of my location so I always have Potassium Iodide in my bag just in case.

All of this is to say that I am not necessarily against preparing. Or maybe I have softened my position a bit. I generally try to anticipate and prepare for situations that could happen so quickly that there is no time prepare after it has begun. While it is unlikely that any particular event will happen, the cost of preparing is minimal and the upside is high.

[Alphaville]

Ahem.

wow!!

[Alphaville]

I am wondering whether caffeine in ethanol mist might work?

im not a pharmacist but asthma.net sez no

https://asthma.net/coping/caffeine/
+
https://asthma.net/coping/alcohol/

[7Wannabe5]

@Alphaville:

Eh, all that study showed was that drinking a couple cups of coffee/day is insignificant. I know from experience that drinking a lot of coffee does help. I just don’t know whether inhaling mist of caffeine would work even better in dire emergency.

@Ego:

Very cool site. Because I am not historically the world’s most cautious person, I have accidentally ingested small amounts of peanuts in situations where I did not have an epi-pen handy. What I have done is make myself vomit, rinse out my mouth with coffee, take large dose of antihistamine, drink lots more coffee, head to hospital. People joke about the peanut free zones in elementary schools, but it’s nothing like some minor food sensitivity like lactose or gluten intolerance. Peanuts are extremely toxic in very small amounts for those with the allergy.

[Alphaville]

right, the statistical is not the specific to the one individual, so if it works for you, the probability is 1

directly on tissues i wouldn’t know.

ethanol spray? i looked at ventolin box pictures (couldn’t find a clear one of albuterol except for saline solution) and it was a different propellant.

seems to me having some mormon tea supply would be the “natural” way as it contains ephedrine and grows wild in america (in my region anyway). though i’d much rather drink coffee

for emergency/acute, idk.

do you know any pharmacologists in your area?

i’m thinking also that rather than “growing food,” “growing medicinal herbs” might be a superior skill in a new stone age (or the garbage age more accurately). a bit like cadfael, hahaha.

i might start to look into this... even though i’d rather take 21st century medicine.

[7Wannabe5]

Were people terribly concerned about whether or not their hand sanitizer was “natural” during the first ramp of COVID-19? I think anybody who possesses practical applied chemistry skills is going to be very busy during the garbage age.

[Alphaville]

hahaha! idk, i sanitized internally mostly. i couldn’t get any for the hands.

i meant natural in the sense of not being dependent on manufacturing and distribution chains. i.e. weeds from the empty lot, or this stuff which grows in my area: https://www.desertusa.com/flora/mormon-tea.html

and for terminal rites i’d much rather take peyote than heroin. local produce vs afghan imports. completely different effects as well.

[Alphaville]

eg. for my area this might be an important read: https://www.amazon.com/Medicinal-Plants ... 0977133370

(of course it everything is sprinkled with plutonium it won’t matter )

(but this is knowledge worth preserving)

[7Wannabe5]

I agree that 80% best solution is local/regional/low-tech. I just think it’s interesting to also consider the possibilities of distributed energy high-tech or medium tech. I mean it would be cool to see the episode of Primitive Technology where he starts with just the Wilderness and somehow manufactures a radio.

[tonyedgecombe]

I mean it would be cool to see the episode of Primitive Technology where he starts with just the Wilderness and somehow manufactures a radio.

Well, there was that guy who made a toaster starting with mining ore and deriving plastic from oil.

[Alphaville]

wait what?? i looked for primitive technology on youtube and showed a couple of kids eating crabs, etc. no radios. link please? super curious... ps one guy elsewhere makes a radio from an old trashed tv, but that’s the garbage age, not neo-neolithic.

[7Wannabe5]

@tonyedgecombe:

His toaster attempt was very amusing, but a modern toaster is a prime example of something you could accomplish with much more primitive technology (pointed stick and a fire), whereas a simple radio is an example of a tool that incorporates maximum knowledge about science/natural world into most minimal technology.

@Alphaville:

The Primitive Technology guy never made a radio. I just think it would be cool if he could. The How to Make Everything guy does similar exercises, but not starting from just one particular plot of wilderness.

In post-garbage world, there won’t be easy access mining etc. like in antiquity, so future people will have to know how to make things to serve various purposes based on new designs based on scientific knowledge. Simple example would be solar energy powered device that renders sliced bread crispy. Although, obviously, the toaster would never even have to be reinvented in order for future humans to have very high quality cuisines.

[Alphaville]

oh! a great disappointment. i expected bamboo fillaments and chunks of quarts or something

(see, my imagination far exceeds my knowledge)

anyway, solar ovens are easily made with glass and some metal pieces reclaimed from landfill: bake, toast, fry, dehydrate etc.—no problem.

[7Wannabe5]

@Alphaville:


Yeah, it was the episode where he got iron from iron bacteria slime that made me think that he could make a radio if he wanted one. That’s why I don’t like it when people wimp out or demonize technology, because “global supply chains” etc. when, obviously, they don’t have clue one whether it could possibly be made from local materials and renewable energy. It’s like thinking you can’t make cookies because you don’t have any flour or sugar even though you do have a whole box of Saltines and half a jar of grape jelly.

[Alphaville]

it’s the j types. i blame the j’s and their rules rules rules.

(i jest, j-people. i don’t platonize “types”)

anyway, please hook us up with links when you mention a source—don’t send a brother out on a wild goose chase. iron bacteria!

(btw, plenty iron here in the sw rocks)

[Sclass]

I just evacuated my home with ten minutes warning. We have a big fire next to my development. Cops swept through tonight and told us to run for it. We went from be on stand by to “Evacuate now!” I didn’t have a Bugout bag.

I have my shoes, pants, wallet, a checkbook and a hoodie. I looked out my window and the hill behind my neighbor’s house was on fire. Wind changed direction unexpectedly. I shook my wife out of bed and the rest was a blur. We ran down to the garage and took her car. I left my S-class. I guess I can change my name here. I chose the car with a cabin air filter. It was a good choice to get through all the smoke. I could see the mountain on fire behind us in the mirror.

I prepped for Covid. I prepped for earthquakes. Clearly I wasn’t ready for a brushfire combined with 70mph wind. I’m going to have to rethink bugout bags. I was out of bed and out of the house in ten minutes. It was like an auto race down the mountain with all my neighbors.

All the hotels in South Orange County are booked. I drove up to my place in LA. Nobody has lived in here for two years. Spiders everywhere. I hate spiders. I’m sleeping in mom’s hospital bed. Maybe she’ll visit me tonight.

My (rented) house is still there for the time being. I can see my living room on webcam. I left my 3d printer cam on in the garage and it’s still there too! Hope.

Goodnight. Tomorrow is a new day. I told my wife we can buy all new stuff if it burns down. Being safe in this dusty old house together is precious. My wife is strangely very happy.

[Alphaville]

@sclass

wow, man, glad you guys are okay. no, more than okay even—totally safe and in another house already.

i went looking for the bug out bag thread i made recently and you were in it. people posted some good ideas:

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=11500

did any of your car stuff come handy? or did you not have the stuff in the car you took?

best wishes and keep us posted. interested in what you’re learning in the process, if not too much to ask right now.

[J_]

Ahh, S-class what a life-story. Good that you have an alternative to live ready ! Even without a rescue-bag you did have a plan B! Wish you all good

[7Wannabe5]

That fire looked terrible. So glad you made it out!

[jennypenny]

I'm so glad you're ok! That's the important thing.

That said, I hope your house survives. As a fellow hoarder of spare parts, raw materials, and tools, I know I'd be heartbroken to loose all of that stuff (the stuff that other people would think was mostly junk ).