Thursday, March 31, 2016
Wednesday, March 30, 2016
Making Your Own Walking Stick
by Pearl
A walking stick serves a number of uses. It is often used in hiking, for walking in uneven terrain. It can also be used by those injured and the elderly for support and balance. And if you have a lot of miles ahead of you, using a walking stick will help you cover more ground and will lessen the burden on your tiring shoulders, knees, and feet. In a post SHTF scenario, it will also serve you well to have a walking stick as there may be a lot of walking involved to get to safety. You may also have to go through the woods, in which a stick would be very much essential.
In this article, I will be covering the steps on how to DIY a walking stick. Some of the sections are optional and may not be applicable if you are pressed for time and don’t have a lot of supplies available. Selecting a stick may be simple enough but there are also things to consider if you want rigid stick that will last longer. This article will also discuss the other merits of a walking stick that can lead to a longer and healthier life. Read on below to get started.
Selecting the stick
It all starts with finding the right kind of wood. Hardwoods usually make the best walking sticks as they are the sturdiest, examples of which are maple, alder, cherry, aspen, and sassafras. Look for a straight piece of wood that reaches at least up to your armpit and around one or two diameter in length.
Your stick should not be too short and not too thick. Examine it for any signs of damage or decay due to insect infestation. Once you find one, test its strength by lodging one end of the stick inside a gap like in a tree and press it as hard as you can to see if it snaps. Be careful though as it may injure you if it breaks.
As much as possible, do not take one from a living tree so as not cause further damage to nature. In addition dead trees also provide more rigid branches. You’re bound to find one lying somewhere.
Trimming the stick
To trim it the desired length, hold the stick upright with one end firmly touching the ground. If the stick is for your own use, hold the stick in a manner similar to when you are waking, with your arm bent at the elbow at approximately a 90 degree angle. Mark the stick at least two inches above your hand. Cut it at a higher length if you are planning to decorate your stick. If you are making one for someone, let him or follow the same procedure and mark it at least two inches above is hand. When uncertain of the recipient’s height, a length of about 55-65 inches would make a good walking stick. Cut the stick using a hand saw or a large knife.
Removing the twigs and the bark
For this step, you can use a pocket knife or any larger knife. Strip the stick first of any twigs before working on the bark. Whittling off the bark is not required but it is recommended if you want a smooth finish. Shave off the bark away from your body. Do it in quick, shallow strokes to avoid digging into the wood. It will take some time so be patient. Continue whittling until you see the bright wood underneath. You can try practicing in other branches first until you get the hang of it.
Drying the stick
The time it takes for your stick to dry depends on a several factors such as type of wood and environmental conditions. While fresh wood is easier to trim and whittle, dry wood is more rigid and durable. Drying also depends on sunlight and humidity. It can take up to days, two weeks, or even as long as one month. Let it dry until it becomes rigid. Don’t leave it out for too long though because it can become brittle. Check your stick once in a while to see if it’s dry.
Sanding
If you can spare the time and have sandpaper available, try sanding your stick for a smoother texture. If you want to go all the way, use a 100 grit sandpaper first, sanding the knots first before moving on to the rest of stick. Then, redo all the standing using a 200 grit sandpaper and later, a 400 grit. Once you are satisfied with your work, wipe the stick down with a lint-free cotton and tung oil to remove any sawdust. You can also wipe it with a rag with paint thinner. It is recommended that you use a mask and an n95 respirator while in a ventilated area in doing it. This step is not required and you can do so if you have the time.
Decorating
You can personalize your own stick for identification and for your enjoyment. Using your pocket knife, you can put drawings, symbols, wood burnings, emblems, and initials. Decorating is usually done on the top portion but it’s up to you. It is also recommended to carve a grip into your stick to make it more comfortable to hold.
Staining and sealing the stick
If you want to improve the look of your stick and to preserve the carvings and initials you have decorated it with, you can seal it with a wood stain. Read the instructions on the package to know how many coats to apply, but it usually takes three coatings to achieve a darker finish. Let each coat dry overnight before applying the next one. Lightly sand the stick and wipe it in between applications. Then finish it off with three coats of clear urethra varnish. Similar to the wood coat, lightly sand the stick and wipe it in between coatings. The varnish will seal the wood and also prevent it from rotting.
Adding a grip
If you have not yet carved a grip in your walking stick, you can add one using leather, twine, nylon, o braided rope and fasten it with pins or nails. You can also secure it using adhesives such as the gripping warp used in tennis rackets or golf clubs. Grip tape used in hockey sticks works just as well. This will be particularly useful if you have sweaty hands or if you want to have a firmer grip on your stick.
Protecting the base
The base of your stick is most susceptible to cracking, splinting, splintering, or rotting. You can place rubber caps used for canes and walkers. They are available at your local drugstores or any store that sells medical supplies. You can also use rubber stoppers by drill a hole both in the stopper and the stick and glue them together. If you want to take it to the next level, you can use a copper pipe to add more style to your base protector. Just cut an inch of copper pipe that’s about the same diameter with your stick. Whittle the base of your stick until it is able to fit inside the pipe. Apply a quick drying epoxy glue to keep the pipe in place.
Uses For Your Walking Stick
Now that you know how to make a stick, these are just some of the uses of a walking stick you may not have considered before.
As a weapon
In times of danger, especially in a post collapse world, you can use your stick to defend yourself. There may not be enough time to grab a stone or weapon to protect yourself, but with a stick, you already have a defensive tool in your grasp.
A third leg
If there is an obstruction ahead such as a fallen tree and you need a boost, you can prop yourself up using your stick. The stick will help you maintain your balance as you step over this obstacle.
Wading
When crossing a stream, your stick will serve as your guide to assess the depth of the water. It will also save you from slipping or falling into a deep hole ahead.
Marking the trail
When charting through the woods, you may end up getting lost and walking around in circles. But by marking the trees with your stick, you can prevent yourself from experiencing this mishap.
Clearing the path
In walking through a thicket, you can use your stick to rid off twigs or leaves off your face. The stick is also good for clearing spider webs you come across with.
Conclusion
A walking stick, as simple as it may seem, can be a valuable tool you are eventually going to use for your survival. Even in the absence of a SHTF scenario, it is still wise to know how to make a walking stick, especially if you are fond of hiking or camping in the woods. It will make traveling easier, safer, and not to mention less tiring. Even if you don’t need one at the moment, you can try your hand in making one so that when the time comes, you will be more than capable to make your own. In the end, all you need is a good eye to find yourself a good stick and a way with knives and you’re all set.
Have you ever tired making a walking stick yourself? Can you think of other uses for it? Tell us by posting a comment below.
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Tuesday, March 29, 2016
Spark Gap and Coherer Meet Beagle Bone
Getting back to basics is a great way to teach yourself about a technology. We see it all the time with computers built from NAND gates or even discrete transistors. It’s the same for radio – stripping it back to the 19th century can really let you own the technology. But if an old-school wireless setup still needs a 21st-century twist to light your fire, try this spark gap transmitter and coherer receiver with a Beagle Bone Morse decoder.
At its heart, a spark gap transmitter is just a broadband RF noise generator, and as such is pretty illegal to operate these days. [Ashish Derhgawen]’s version, which lacks an LC tuning circuit, would be especially obnoxious if it had an antenna. But even without one, the 100% electromechanical transmitter is good for a couple of feet – more than enough for experimentation without incurring the wrath of local hams.
The receiver is based on a coherer, a device that conducts electricity only when a passing radio wave disturbs it. [Ashish]’s coherer is a slug of iron filings between two bolts in a plastic tube. To reset the coherer, [Ashish] added a decoherer built from an electromagnetic doorbell ringer to tap the tube and jostle the filings back into the nonconductive state. He also added an optoisolator to condition the receiver’s output for an IO pin on the Beagle, and a Python script to decode the incoming Morse. You can see it in action in the video below.
If this build looks familiar, it’s because we’ve covered [Ashish]’s efforts before. But this project keeps evolving, and it’s nice to see where he’s taken it and what he’s learned – like that MOSFETs don’t like inductive kickback much.
Filed under: classic hacks, radio hacks, wireless hacks
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Monday, March 28, 2016
Improving the RTL-SDR
The RTL-SDR dongle is a real workhorse for radio hacking. However, the 28.8 MHz oscillator onboard isn’t as stable as you might wish. It is fine for a lot of applications and, considering the price, you shouldn’t complain. However, there are some cases where you need a more stable reference frequency.
[Craig] wanted a stable solution and immediately thought of a TCXO (Temperature Compensated “Xtal” Oscillator). The problem is, finding these at 28.8 MHz is difficult and, if you can find them, they are relatively expensive. He decided to make an alternate oscillator using an easier-to-find 19.2 MHz crystal.
How do you convert a 19.2 MHz signal to 28.8 MHz? First, you need a flip-flop to divide the output frequency by two. That gives you a 9.6 MHz square wave. That doesn’t seem much better until you think about what makes a square wave. The Fourier series tells you that a square wave is an infinite sum of sine waves. One sine wave is at the fundamental frequency and then other sine waves at each odd harmonic (that is, 3X, 5X, 7X, and so on). And 3 * 9.6 is 28.8, just what you need!
All [Craig] had to do was filter the output of the flip-flop to produce an accurate 28.8 MHz signal. He provides all the necessary data to duplicate his design, and you can see him put it through its paces in the video below.
The next step up from a TXCO is one with an oven (an OCXO). We’ve seen some homebrew OCXOs that ought to work with the same trick.
Filed under: radio hacks
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Sunday, March 27, 2016
Saturday, March 26, 2016
RF Biscuit Is A Versatile Filter Prototyping Board
As anyone who is a veteran of many RF projects will tell you, long component leads can be your undoing. Extra stray capacitances, inductances, and couplings can change the properties of your design to the point at which it becomes unfit for purpose, and something of a black art has evolved in the skill of reducing these effects.
RF Biscuit is [Georg Ottinger]’s attempt to simplify some of the challenges facing the RF hacker. It’s a small PCB with a set of footprints that can be used to make a wide range of surface-mount filters, attenuators, dummy loads, and other RF networks with a minimum of stray effects. Provision has been made for a screening can, and the board uses edge-launched SMA connectors. So far he’s demonstrated it with a bandpass filter and a dummy load, but he suggests it should also be suitable for amplifiers using RF gain blocks.
Best of all, the board is open source hardware, and as well as his project blog he’s made the KiCad files available on GitHub for everyone.
It’s a tough challenge, to produce a universal board for multiple projects with very demanding layout requirements such as those you’d find in the RF field. We anxious to see whether the results back up the promise, and whether the idea catches on.
This appears to be the first RF network prototyping board we’ve featured here at Hackaday. We’ve featured crystal filters before, and dummy loads though, but nothing that brings them all together. What would you build on your RF Biscuit?
Filed under: radio hacks
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Survival Items that Fit in Your Wallet
by Karen
The worst case scenario for any emergency situation is that you get caught away from home and with nothing on you except your wallet. What happens if your wallet is all you have? Or perhaps you have everyday carry (EDC) items on your keychain, but you want to have another place to store EDC items. Fortunately, there is a compact solution that is perfect, particularly for men, who don’t carry purses in which they can fit any number of EDC items.
Believe it or not, your wallet is a perfect place to store survival gear! You might not be able to carry everything you would ideally like to carry on your person, but there is more space than you might think in your wallet and there are a number of survival items that can be made small enough to fit in your wallet. Here are our top picks for survival items that fit in your wallet.
A Small Knife
A knife is one of the most important items to have with you at all times. Yes, there are places where it is illegal to carry a knife, but in general, you should be able to carry one with you at all times. You can easily fit a small folding knife with a 1-inch or 2-inch blade in your wallet. If you want a larger blade, consider removing the hilt of a knife with a 3-inch blade and just putting blade in your wallet.
There are also some knives that have been designed to be carried in a wallet. For instance, the InstaBlade Credit Card Knife is a stainless steel folding knife that, when folded, is the size of a credit card. It slides easily into your wallet or can be carried in a pocket.
A Flashlight
Not many people would think they can carry a flashlight in their wallet, but it can be done. There are flashlights that are designed to fit in a wallet and are great when you’re left in the dark. One really cool device is the LEDPocket Credit Card Wallet Light Bulb. This light isn’t the brightest, but it is still useful because it is so compact and is there when you need it.
However, an even better flashlight is the Iain Sinclair EON-C Classic Ultra-Thin Credit Card Light. This is an LED light that has pre-installed lithium batteries that have a long life. The light is powerful, light, and the size of a credit card. Perfect for a wallet.
Water
Okay, you’re not going to put actual water in your wallet, but you can carry a way to purify water in the compact little space. Just put a few water purification tablets in a small Ziploc bag and slip it in your wallet and you are prepared in case you need water in a pinch.
A Can Opener
Like the water, you aren’t going to carry food in your wallet, but you can fit a fabulous little P-38 can opener in your wallet. If you get stuck somewhere in a serious emergency and you can’t get home or to your bugout location right away, you will be able to open cans of food, making it possible for you to eat with relative ease.
An Emergency Firestarter
You should have a way to start fires on your person at all times. A small piece of charcloth, some fire starter powder, and a ferrocerium rod will all fit in your wallet without taking up a lot of space. Just put the fire starter and the charcloth each in their own small Ziploc bag and tuck them in with the ferrocerium rod.
Alternatives to this include a small striker fire starter, matches, or a Fresnel Lens Credit Card Magnifier. You can also carry a small, good quality lighter, but it might be a bit bulkier.
String
It’s always a good idea to have some sort of strong string or cord with you at all times. You can easily carry some string or lightweight cord in your wallet by wrapping a length of it around a business card (yup, those business cards are handier than you think!). Wrap your cord around the card in a single layer (double if it’s thinner cord) and tuck it in your wallet. You can also do this with dental floss, perhaps include one of each, a stronger, heavier cord and the lighter dental floss.
Small Tools
Your business cards are useful for carrying other survival tools, as well. Any small items, such as fishing hooks, safety pins, sewing needles and some thread, and any other small items you can think of can be taped to a business card and slid into a small compartment in your wallet. When paired with the cord you have wrapped around another business card, you have fishing gear in your wallet at all times, as well as a sewing and small repair kit. That’s pretty impressive.
Some Duct Tape
Yup, you can even carry duct tape in your wallet. Just wrap 20 or 30 feet of duct tape around a business card or an old credit card or bank card. It will be flat and not terribly thick and will still fit inside your wallet with ease.
A Signaling Mirror
Chances are you aren’t going to be stuck out in the wilderness with only your wallet, but you never know when you might need a signal mirror. You can get a signal mirror that is the size and shape of a credit card that will fit snuggly in your wallet. This will provide you with a way to send a signal if you need help or to communicate with someone over a distance.
A Multi-Tool
There are a number of multi-tools that have been designed to fit in your wallet. Many of these come as a flat, stainless steel single-piece the size of a credit card that provides various edges that form rulers, saws, and screwdrivers. The Cha-O-Ha EDC Card is a great example of a single-piece multi-tool.
There are also more comprehensive multi-tools designed to be carried in your wallet. These are also the size of a credit card, but have both stationary and removable parts, such as knife blades, compass, flashlight, tweezers, scissors, fire starter, and signal whistle (what you get depends on what brand and model you purchase). Two great examples are the Tool Logic SVC2 Survival Card and the Victorinox SwissCard Lite. You can seriously have a Swiss Army Knife in your wallet – well, it’s as close as you can get!
A Cell Phone Charger
Having a way to charge your cell phone in an emergency is ideal and having a way to do this that fits in your wallet is even better. Fortunately, a small battery pack designed to fit in a wallet is available and is capable of charging your cell phone to 25% of its total power. This is perfect in a pinch and a great example is the TravelCard Portable Smartphone Charger.
A Flash Drive
Since we are talking about a wallet here, you can carry copies of your important documents right in your wallet. These come in handy when needed. However, sometimes it’s nice to have more than just the main documents. You might want to have access to your important survival information with you wherever you go, such as those how-to documents that tell you how to build a shelter or what wild food you can forage.
Carrying a USB flash drive in your wallet is a great way to keep all sorts of important information with you. As long as you can access a working computer, you can pull up the information if you need it. Flash drives are also very small on their own, so there isn’t really a need for anything special. Just try to find the thinnest model possible.
Prepaid Phone Card
An international prepaid phone card is a good item to have in your wallet at all times. If the cell networks go down, then you have the option to use a payphone to make a call whenever you need to.
Cash
Yes, cash is considered an emergency item and it happens to be what your wallet is designed to carry, so you probably already have this one covered. However, for the sake of providing a complete list, I will state here that you should always carry some cash on your person.
It is truly amazing what you can fit inside a wallet. Of course, many of these things were designed specifically to be stored and carried in a small space, but some of it is just made with ingenuity. Use your imagination and you can have a lot of the things you would carry in a get-home bag (GHB) right in your wallet. Knowing you have these items on hand whenever you need them and wherever you are will put your mind at ease and ensure you are fully prepared for anything.
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Friday, March 25, 2016
Lucid Dreaming | Changing My Approach
With that said, i will re-sort my practice schedule. I'll treat this as a skill instead of something that only requires a techinque. I'm going to try building my way up using the fundamentals. If Self-awareness is that important, then i'll take it up..
I've always ignored the concept of a DJ while i do attempt to remember my dreams in my head after waking up. The issue is that writing down dreams every time i wake up would cost time and would be rather annoying, so for the time being i will just remember my dreams in my head.
I'm going to RC occasionally through the day, every day. I won't make it too much as to not burn myself out though.
Being mindful and aware during specific times of the day, or things like going to the bathroom and eating. Maybe i will expand upon these times the easier it gets. This is probably what's going to really affect my progress in the right way if i do it.
Taking these all, i will look at this practice as something that will require a long time to get me results. Language learning and other hobbies have taught me this the best way they could. It would be worth it, so why not put the time and effort?
That's my new approach on this.
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Thursday, March 24, 2016
Lucid Dreaming | Best method for lucidity for naps
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Wednesday, March 23, 2016
Homebrew Multimode Digital Voice Modem
There’s an old saying that the nice thing about standards is there are so many of them. For digital voice modes, hams have choices of D-Star, DMR, System Fusion, and others. An open source project, the Multimode Digital Voice Modem (MMDVM), allows you to use multiple modes with one set of hardware.
There are some kits available, but [flo_0_] couldn’t wait for his order to arrive. So he built his own version without using a PCB. Since it is a relatively complex circuit for perf board, [flo_0_] used Blackboard to plan the build before heating up a soldering iron. You can see the MMDVM in action below.
The build includes an Arduino, of course, and the neat perf board wiring makes for a good-looking project. We’ve covered digital voice that uses PCs before and even some digital ham modes that use an Arduino. Or check out the MMDVM project for more info.
Filed under: Arduino Hacks, radio hacks
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What is TEOTWAWKI and How to Survive it
“TEOTWAWKI” means The End Of The World As We Know It. Wow, that sounds pretty bad, right? The truth is not many of us can truly have a real idea of what TEOTWAWKI will actually be like until it’s happening. Your grandparents or great grandparents might have a small inkling if they lived through any part of the Great Depression.
You already know that something is different about the world today than it was ten or even five years ago. The state of the world is getting worse, not better. It’s happening fast and it’s happening all around us. And a lot of people are blind to it or are in denial about what’s coming.
Now here’s the even scarier news. Being prepared doesn’t guarantee you and your family won’t struggle during a TEOTWAWKI event. It does give you a much bigger fighting chance than those who don’t prepare. Keep in mind that just moving from the city to a rural area won’t save you. Stockpiling three years of food and water won’t make survival a sure thing either. There are actions you can take to increase your odds of survival but there is no guarantee.
What is TEOTWAWKI?
The reason they call it TEOTWAWKI is not because all humans will be wiped from the earth. Although that’s possible with some events, it’s not likely. But a TEOTWAWKI event will change the way we live our daily life, not just for a couple of weeks or months, but long term and possibly FOREVER. Life as we know it, and as our children or grandchildren know it right now, may NEVER AGAIN be the same.
Okay, so TEOTWAWKI events are going to be bad. What kind of events are we talking about here?
Civil Unrest/Disobedience
Civil unrest and disobedience is typically more a gradual change but can still change life as we know it. Europe has already experienced this due to the recent influx of migrants and refugees. For Europeans, life has already changed drastically. The Schengen Agreement, made by a group of more than 20 countries in Europe that had basically done away with strict controls and passports at their borders, has been broken. Trust and cooperation is gone.
Europe is experiencing widespread anger and violence. There are protests and even rioting across the continent. In October of last year, in response to the waves of migrants arriving in Finland, the Soldiers of Odin were founded. Their stated goal is to improve security and provide protection from the criminal element of the immigrants but the founder of this group has connections to Neo-Nazism and their tactics have ignited concerns of vigilantism.
Violent attacks are occurring with alarming frequency in Calais, France. Migrants have for years camped temporarily while waiting to cross the English Channel to a better life in the UK. The huge numbers of migrants from war torn countries such as Syria, Sudan, and Afghanistan in the last year are causing increasing problems. The population living in semi-permanent camps exposed to the elements, has become known as the Calais Jungles, and ranges from 3,000-7,000 migrants, including women and children.
Asylum seekers are desperately trying to force their way through the tunnel and have caused increasing chaos, anger, and violence from migrants, right wing groups, and French authorities. Migrants are arming themselves and a group of migrants attacked a school bus full of British children returning home from a trip back in January. No injuries were reported as a result of the attack but the bus was damaged and the children traumatized by the attack.
This is quite likely the TEOWAWKI for many Europeans.
Large Scale Natural Disasters
Large scale natural disasters cannot be prevented. Due to technology, we can sometimes get a little advanced warning from the news reports. Hurricane Sandy raged from October 25th to November 2, 2012 and affected several countries and nearly half the states in the U.S. from Florida to Maine. Effects were felt as far west as Michigan and Wisconsin. For people in those areas, life was altered drastically for an extended period of time. TEOTWAWKI will be much worse and will affect pretty much everyone.
Many of you will remember, Hurricane Katrina, August 23 to 31st of 2005. Katrina was a category 5 hurricane but thankfully had downgraded to category 3 when it hit New Orleans. Over 100,000 people were displaced and over 1,400 people died. To date it’s the deadliest hurricane in the U.S. since 1928. New Orleans is still struggling to rebuild ten years later. It was a TEOTWAWKI event for many New Orleans residents but not for the rest of us.
Solar or Nuclear EMP
An EMP is a short burst or wave of electromagnetic energy. It can be natural, as in a solar EMP or Coronal Mass Ejection (CME), or it can be man-made as in a Nuclear Electromagnetic Pulse (NEMP) or High-Altitude Electromagnetic Pulse (HEMP).
An EMP event would produce large scale disruption and even permanent damage to any kind of electronics in a wide ranging area. Entire transportation and communication systems would likely be wiped out. Imagine what that would be like? If half the country or even several states had no vehicles, no electronics, no way to communicate with anyone, no way to travel except on foot, skateboards, or maybe bicycles.
Terrorist Attack
130 people died in the recent attack in Paris. According to The National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START), from 1978 to 2013, there were on average, less than 5 attacks per year that killed over 100 civilians. That number as reported for 2014 is an average of 26 attacks annually with more than 100 civilian deaths.
In 2015, there was at least one attack resulting in over 100 CIVILIAN deaths EVERY single month from January to November! The majority of these large scale attacks have taken place in the Middle East and Africa. But the U.S. has documented at least fifteen smaller terrorist type attacks just since 2013. That’s more than the U.S. experienced in the entire decade from 2000-2010!
Pandemic Disease
The Ebola Pandemic. Did you know that it actually began in December of 2013 in Meliandou, Gueckedou Prefecture, Guinea? It didn’t become widespread news until it hit the U.S. just over a full year later. A TEOTWAWKI event may not happen instantly or within a matter of weeks or even months, it could build gradually over a period of years. Had officials not been able to contain the Ebola Pandemic as they did, there wouldn’t have been much that could be done. The disease had an entire year to travel all over the world before officials took it seriously.
Economic Collapse (similar to what happened in WWII)
A TEOTWAWKI event means things will be worse than most of us have ever experienced. Stores will start off letting people shop only a few at a time because the power is out. Purchases will be limited. Lines will be long. Within days, stores will be completely out of certain items. Trucks won’t be able to make deliveries because gas pumps aren’t working. Eventually the stores will shut down indefinitely. Paper currency and even gold and silver may be worthless. The banking and economy system as we know it will collapse.
What Are the Common Elements of a TEOTWAWKI Event?
- The Initial Hit-This is the damage from the initial event when it hits. It could be weather related or a nuclear or terrorist attack. If you get any warning at all, you will have to make a decision about whether to bug in or bug out. Read more about what to expect during this initial hit and how to survive the first 24 hours post disaster.
- Wildfires and Structural Fires-weather related events and an EMP can cause explosions and fires to ignite spontaneously. Many people will lose their homes and businesses to wildfires and structural fires.
- Exposure to Elements-many homes and buildings are destroyed during the initial impact of a weather related event or even an EMP. People will be displaced from their homes and those that are unprepared will face exposure to the elements. This kind of prolonged exposure can be fatal, make sure you know how to make a shelter.
- Infection/Sanitation-Because water systems and sanitation systems will be no longer working, sanitation becomes a huge problem. The risk of infection increases too because of the wounded and dying in the streets.
- Violence-A TEOTWAWKI event can bring out the worst in people. There will be violence and looting in the streets and shops. Even good, decent people will be forced to loot or take from others in order to feed themselves and their children. Tempers will be short and people will be quick to jump to violence over little things. You will need to prepare to survive martial law being enacted.
- Widespread Hunger and Dehydration-Eventually the food available in the stores and shops is gone. Those who have not prepared and even those who prepared but not well enough, will run out of food and water. Widespread prolonged hunger and dehydration will take its toll on every community. To give your family a fighting opportunity, you will need to become an expert at discreet outdoor cooking for survival and how to find and clean water for drinking.
- Severe Psychological Stress-People will face severe and prolonged psychological stress during a TEOWAWKI event. Even if there is a movement to rebuild, that psychological stress will have a sustained impact.
So How Can You Increase Your Odds of Surviving TEOTWAWKI?
The best way to survive a TEOTWAWKI event is to alter the way you and your family live.
Right now.
Before a TEOTWAWKI event hits.
Read about and consider strategic relocation as explained in Joel Skousen’s book, Strategic Relocation: North American Guide to Safe Places. If you’re going to strategically relocate, you need to do it before a TEOTWAWKI event hits.
Strategic relocation isn’t simple and it usually isn’t cheap either. Not everyone will be able to just pick up and move. So let’s say it’s just not feasible for you and your family to relocate at any point in the near future.
NWAWKI (New World As We Know It)
If you manage to survive TEOTWAWKI, you have to be ready to survive in the new reality, in the new world as we know it (NWAWKI). It will be an entirely new world. Society and its people will be forever changed. And there’s really no way to predict precisely what this new world will look like. It’s likely the world would rebuild, but how long would it take to restore a collapsed economy or rebuild the health and stamina of a world population devastated by disease?
Think about how we live today. Honestly assess how you or your children react when you are forced to be without power for just a couple of hours or a day. If chaos, boredom and crankiness rears its head in your house when the power goes out for just a brief period of time, imagine what it would be like long term.
Whether you strategically relocate, bug in, or bug out, to survive TEOTWAWKI, you need four basic things as part of your long term survival plan:
- Plenty of water all year long
- One or more alternative ways to heat and power your home
- Enough sustainable food for you and your group.
- A way to defend what is yours from desperate people.
- A comprehensive plan to master as many homesteading and off grid skills before TEOTWAWKI.
So, even though there is no guarantee of surviving TEOTWAWKI for any prepper, no matter how prepared, you can make sure that you and your family have the best opportunity for survival. Learn as much as you can about those common elements you can expect during and immediately after a TEOTWAWKI event and plan to overcome those. But to give yourself the best chance, you need to also master the skills needed to survive in the NWAWKI, no matter what it may look like.
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SDR Cape for BeagleBone
In the old days if you wanted to listen to shortwave you had to turn a dial. Later, you might have been able to tap in a frequency with a keypad. With modern software-defined radio (and the right hardware) you can just listen to the entire high-frequency spectrum at one time. That’s the idea behind KiwiSDR, an open source daughterboard (ok, cape) for the BeagleBone.
The front end covers 10 kHz to 30 MHz and has a 14-bit converter operating at 65 MHz. There is a Xilinx Artix-7 A35 FPGA onboard and a GPS, too. The design is open source and on GitHub.
The interface uses the OpenWebRX project for a powerful HTML 5 interface. You can see a video of its operation below or, if you can get one of the four available slots, you can listen online. From a network point of view, the demo station in Canada worked best for us. However, there are also stations in New Zealand and Sweden.
Reading a huge swath of spectrum at once is a different approach from the trunked radio SDR we covered earlier this month. That project used multiple SDRs to divide a wide band into easy-to-process slices. You could use a KiwiSDR to replace a pan adapter and never have to worry about tuning it.
Thanks [Mike] for the tip.
Filed under: radio hacks
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Tuesday, March 22, 2016
Oscillator Design by Simulation
[Craig] wanted to build a 19.2 MHz crystal oscillator. He knew he wanted a Pierce oscillator, but he also knew that getting a good design is often a matter of trial and error. He used a 30-day trial of a professional simulation package, Genesys from Keysight, to look at the oscillator’s performance without having to build anything. He not only did a nice write up about his experience, but he also did a great video walkthrough (see below).
The tool generates a sample schematic, although [Craig] deleted it and put his own design into the simulator. By running simulations, he was able to look at the oscillator’s performance. His first cut showed that the circuit didn’t meet the Barkhausen criteria and shouldn’t oscillate. Unfortunately, his prototype did, in fact, oscillate.
[Craig] explains why the initial simulation (which is open loop) doesn’t match the real-world circuit, which is quite instructive. By using an equation from a paper by Randall and Hock, he was able to get a more realistic simulation.
We’ve covered oscillator fundamentals before, but [Craig’s] video walkthrough of a professional tool is too good to miss. If you can’t afford the $4700 base price for Genesys (options are extra), you can always try Spice.
Filed under: radio hacks
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GearBest 2nd Anniversary: Invite You to Join Our Party!
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Monday, March 21, 2016
Sunday, March 20, 2016
Lucid Dreaming | How to artifically evoke REM phase?
Now I ask dreamviews and all humanity: How could we do that?
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Licence-Exempt Network Has High Ambitions
It’s safe to say that the Internet of Things is high on the list of buzzwords du jour. It was last seen rapidly ascending towards the Peak of Inflated Expectations on the Gartner Hype Cycle, and it seems that every startup you encounter these days is trying to place an IoT spin on their offering. Behind all the hype though lie some interesting wireless technologies for cheaply making very small microprocessors talk to each other and to the wider world.
Today we’d like to draw your attention to another wireless technology that might be of interest to Hackaday readers working in this area. UKHASnet is a wireless network developed from within the UK high-altitude ballooning community that uses cheap licence-exempt 868MHz radio modules in Europe and 915MHz in the Americas. The modules they are using have a surprisingly usable power output for licence exempt kit at 100mW, so the system has been designed for extensibility and bridging through nodes mounted on balloons, multirotors, or even seaborne buoys.
All UKHASnet packets are sent as human-readable plaintext ASCII, and the system borrows some of the features of amateur radio’s APRS. All packets are considered unreliable, all nodes repeat the packets they receive with their own node ID appended, and there are gateway nodes that make the packets available to the internet. There is a repeat number built into each packet to stop packets continuing ad infinitum.
Building a node is a simple process, requiring only the radio module, a microcontroller, and a battery. As examples they provide an implementation for the Arduino, and one for the LPC810 microcontroller. Their preferred radio module is the HopeRF RFM69HW, however the system will be capable of running on other modules of the same type.
So far the UKHASnet people have proven the system over a 65km range, created nodes on the sea, attached it to quadcopters, and built a host of other nodes.
This network differs from its commercial counterparts in that it has no proprietary IP or licencing from a standards body. And despite the name, you don’t have to be in the UK to use it. All data is in the clear, and thus it is likely that you won’t see it in mass-market commercial products. But it is exactly these features that are likely to make it attractive to the maker community. Your scribe will probably not be the only person who goes away from this article to suggest that their local hackspace finds the space for a UKHASnet node.
This is the first time we’ve featured UKHASnet here at Hackaday. Plenty of projects using licence-free radio modules have made it onto these pages, though, including this extreme-range remote controller for model aircraft, and this weather station sensor network that could have probably found UKHASnet useful had its creator had it to hand.
Filed under: radio hacks
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Lucid Dreaming | Is it easier having a second LD in the same night than the initial?
I ask because I still remember the dream feel I had in my last, but I was so excited to record my LD that I didn't even consider trying to slip into another one straight after. I feel maybe having just experienced one it might be easier to gain another the same night because the feeling is fresh in your mind.
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Lucid Dreaming | Need help with stabilizing
Since I started practicing LD, I was very inconsistent in following fundamentals, but after coule of months I can now safely say that I can induce LD almost every night I want. When I do WBTB, meditate and go to sleep affirmating that I will hold onto my awareness, I succeed in having at least one LD in 80% of the time.
It sounds ideal, but the fact is that I haven´t had one single satisfying LD. Anytime I realized I am in a dream or I am about to enter a dream, i felt STRONG physical sensations, that always cast me back to normal waking state.
At first it was just simple excitement that interrupted my dream. I remember that my heart would go crazy and my eyes would open wide. I was not worried, not too much anyway: I knew from many sources this happens to a lot of begginers.
But now it has been months, and those physical sensations are no fun anymore. I can´t even get a good
look how it looks inside an LD (I can see there is a difference, but I never remain long enough). The things I feel when realizing it is a dream are getting worse. Now they are becoming physically painful. It is not like I am afraid of it, but... If I was told to describe how I imagine dying is like, I would think of this feelings first. It´s like my whole body is being repeatedly slammed on my bed while hearing high-pitched noise in my ears and experiencing strange feeling of losing myself.
That´s it, I hope someone will have a reasonable explanation why it is getting worse.
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Saturday, March 19, 2016
Lucid Dreaming | Question for the experienced
Iv become quiet used to meditation...staying still and relaxed which im guessing is what you need to be good at to attempt a W.I.L.D....i guess my question is.....do many of you practise and use W.I.L.D to become lucid?.....i feel if i can master wild then surely i could then ofcourse lucid at will? At the moment i rely on hoping that i get a dild which lately isnt working too well for me....eneways thanx to whomever reads this and replies =)
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Keep Breath Fresh and Germs at Bay Post-SHTF with DIY Mouthwash
When planning for post-SHTF, a do-it-yourself (DIY) mouthwash recipe is one way to keep your breath fresh, keep nasty bacteria at bay, and help your gums and teeth stay healthy. Sure, your stockpile includes some store bought mouthwash, but that will eventually run out. Personal hygiene, especially oral hygiene, is still an important part of maintaining your health.
Learning how to make your own mouthwash is easy, with practice and a little trial and error, you can find a recipe that works well for you and your family. Many people find that DIY mouthwash works so well for them that they decide to give up store bought mouthwash even pre-SHTF. In addition to being smart planning for SHTF, it’s a great way for you to save money every day, starting right now!
Reasons to Use a DIY Mouthwash
Using a DIY mouthwash is a great plan because you can customize your ingredients. There are many, many different recipes out there that you can use to make your own mouthwash. All of them can be modified to suit you and your family. As long as you include some basic ingredients, everything else can be altered to suit your preferences. Plus, you make it yourself so you know EXACTLY what’s in it.
DIY Mouthwash is chemical free. This is a huge plus if you already recognize the need to reduce the amount of chemicals you put in your body. If you don’t like a. It’s also easy to substitute other ingredients if you don’t want to use alcohol or don’t have it available post-SHTF.
The last reason to use DIY mouthwash is that it’s much cheaper than mouthwash you buy in the stores and post-SHTF, most stores will be shut down or emptied due to looting very quickly. It will take some time for stores to re-stock if and when things begin to return to normal. Why go without mouthwash if you can simply find some recipes you like now and be prepared to make some up when SHTF?
Basic Materials You Will Need to Stock or Gather:
- Several small jars or containers to mix and store mouthwash
- A fine mesh strainer or piece of cheesecloth
- At least 8 ounces of water (filtered or distilled)
- Baking Soda (used in most recipes)
- Alcohol (if desired)
- Apple Cider vinegar or salt water (instead of alcohol)
- Your choice of herbs (dried) or essential oil extracts
Possible Herb Choices:
When determining what kinds of herbs to use in your DIY mouthwash, it’s really a matter of personal preference and your own needs. Many herbs have natural antiseptic, antiviral, antibacterial or antimicrobial properties, to clean, freshen, or soothe the mouth while prohibiting growth of bacteria.
Clove is well known to have multiple healing properties. It can be used in a paste or oil to relieve the pain of a toothache temporarily. Where it Grows: It’s native to the tropic areas of Asia and takes 20 years to produce buds, so be sure to stock up in advance.
Cinnamon contains antioxidants and inhibits growth of bacteria and has been proven to cut the amount of bacteria in your mouth in half. Where it Grows: Cinnamon can actually be grown at home, in soil that is somewhat dry. A cinnamon plant in a pot can thrive for years without special attention.
Echinacea is an herb that is commonly known to fight cold and flu symptoms, because of its ability to help boost the body’s immune system. Its anti-microbial quality makes it effective in mouthwash because it serves to draw out infection that causes toothache.
Where it Grows: It may not be readily available in the wild so be sure to buy this herb from a cultivated source and add to your stockpile.
Peppermint-adds that well known mint taste but also helps to freshen breath and is antibacterial. Will grow almost anywhere in the world.
Where it Grows: Can be found growing wild along ponds or streams, in rich soil that drains well. Needs partial sun but potency of oils is enhanced by full sun. Grow in containers or in beds edged with plastic or other material to prevent it from overtaking your garden. Ideally peppermint plants should be rotated to another area every 3-4 years.
Plantain typically thought of by most as just another weed, it is both antibacterial and antimicrobial. It has been used in medicinal remedies to help wounds heal faster which makes it a great addition to mouthwash if you are plagued with mouth sores.
Where it Grows: Can be found growing in almost any backyard in North America and Europe. Avoid harvesting from along a dusty road or from a ditch due to possible contamination. This herb is also very high in calcium and Vitamin A. It provides Vitamin K and Vitamin C (ascorbic acid). It’s multiple medicinal properties and adaptability to about any growing environment make it an excellent herb to have in the backyard or garden. This weed is not the same as the plantain fruit similar to a banana.
Rosemary is a strong scented herb with antioxidants. It is cooling and soothing for sore gums. Where it Grows: Can be grown in a pot or along a driveway or path as a hedge in warmer climates. Needs moist soil. In colder climates plant in pots that can be brought inside for the winter.
Tea Tree oil (Melaleuca) has been used for many centuries by aboriginal tribes because of its antibacterial qualities. To make the oil yourself from tea tree leaves, steam them first and then extract the oil. Where it Grows: Can be grown from seed in 3-inch flat tray. Careful care and watering is needed as well as transplant of tree seedlings to individual pots at 3 inches in height.
Turmeric is a popular medicinal herb, known for its anti-inflammatory qualities. Where it Grows: A tropical plant, turmeric can be grown indoors but will not handle any climate with temperatures less than 65 degrees Fahrenheit. It is grown from a rhizome or tuber, not seeds and takes as long as 10 months to develop roots. You harvest the roots not the leaves to use for your mouthwash.
There are many, many herbs that you can choose to use in your mouthwash depending on what you have available in your post-SHTF herb garden and your individual oral hygiene needs. It’s important to research the properties, including any side effects of the herbs you have stocked or plan to have available so you know best how to use them.
Typically leaves should be picked from young plants in early morning. Experiment and create your own recipes. Honey or other sweeteners can be added to just about any recipe to sweeten the taste.
Basic Steps for Most Herbal DIY Mouthwash recipes
- Boil it- bring to a boil, add enough water to cover herbs. Heating the herbs brings out the properties in the dried or raw herbs.
- Steep It—the amount of time for steeping varies according to preference. Can be as short as twenty minutes or as much as 3 weeks. Shake well once daily.
- Strain It—use a fine mesh strainer or cheesecloth to get all the bits of herbs from the liquid.
Some basic recipes may only call for you to mix the ingredients together and then put into a bottle with your choice of essential oils or dried herbs. It’s good practice to shake before using each time.
Quick and Easy Mouthwash
- 8 ounces of water (distilled)
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2-3 drops of peppermint essential oil.
Mix all ingredients thoroughly in glass jar or container. Always shake well before using. Swish in mouth for 30-60 seconds.
Sample Herbal Recipes
- 8 ounces of alcohol such as rum (you can substitute salt water or apple cider vinegar)
- 1 TBSP rosemary (dried)
- 1 tsp clove (dried)
- 2 TBSP peppermint (dried)
Cover herbs with distilled water and boil. Pour herbs and water into glass jar, add alcohol or your substitute. Store covered in cool, darkened cupboard for 2-3 weeks. Shake mixture daily to help infuse alcohol and herbs. After 2-3 weeks, strain with cheesecloth to remove the herb particles from the liquid. Add 10 drops of essential oil (peppermint or cinnamon) if desired, close tightly and store in dark glass bottle. Use approximately 1 teaspoon each use with water and swish for 30-60 seconds.
Minty Fresh Mouthwash
- 8 ounces of water (distilled)
- 1 TBSP alcohol (vodka or substitute)
- 2 TBSP parsley (fresh)
- 2 TBSP mint (fresh)
Mix above ingredients together well. Use fine mesh strainer or cheesecloth to remove large herb particles. Store in tightly closed dark glass bottle. Rinse each time with about 1 TBSP of the mixture.
Teeth Whitening Mouthwash
- 2 ounces of water (distilled)
- 4 ounces of aloe vera juice
- 1 tsp. of baking soda
- ½ tbsp. witch hazel
- 8-10 drops essential peppermint (or substitute) oil
Stir all ingredients together well and pour into 6 oz. dark glass bottle. Store for up to two weeks in cool, dark place.
As with any toothpaste or mouthwash, avoid swallowing when rinsing. Be sure to research any ingredient you decide to use thoroughly and check with your physician before beginning to use any recipe. Essential oils can be very potent and should be used carefully.
Have fun with some of these recipes and experiment to find the one that’s right for you and your family. Feel free to modify any of the above recipes to suit your preference and taste. If you learn and practice your DIY mouthwash recipes now, you will certainly be better prepared to maintain your oral hygiene post-SHTF. What recipes for DIY mouthwash have you tried?
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Friday, March 18, 2016
Thursday, March 17, 2016
Lucid Dreaming | SSILD Problem: My head is too noisy!
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Lucid Dreaming | Riddle Me This
Things that increase lucidity for me:
Flying, touching earth elements (grass, rocks, not concrete though, by brain is weird like that) asking for increased clarity.
Things that decrease lucidity: Running (fast) talking, looking at one thing too long, STAYING IN THE HOUSE.
QUESTIONS I NEED ANSWERED:
How to stay in the vibrations,
How to see better,
Why everything seems detailed until you try hard to look at one thing
why my house makes me slow,
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Wednesday, March 16, 2016
Tiny Raspberry Pi Shield for High-Quality RF Signals
Among its many tricks, the Raspberry Pi is capable of putting clock signals signal out on its GPIO pins, and that turns out to be just the thing for synthesizing RF signals in the amateur radio bands. What [Zoltan] realized, though, is that the resulting signals are pretty dirty, so he came up with a clever Pi shield for RF signal conditioning that turns a Pi into a quality low-power transmitter.
[Zoltan] stuffed a bandpass filter for broadband noise, a low-pass filter for harmonics, and a power amplifier to beef up the signal a bit into a tiny shield that is cleverly engineered to fit any version of the Pi. Even with the power amplifier, the resulting transmitter is still squarely in the realm of QRP, and the shield is optimized for use as a WSPR beacon on the 20-meter band. But there’s plenty of Pi software available to let hams try other modes, including CW, FM, SSB, and even SSTV, and other signal conditioning hardware for different bands.
Yes, these are commercially available products, but even if you’re not in the market for a shield like this, or if you want to roll your own, there’s a lot to learn from [Zoltan]’s presentation at the 2015 TAPR Digital Communications Conference (long video below). He discusses the difficulties encountered getting a low-profile shield to be compatible with every version of the Pi, and the design constraints that led to the decision to use SMT components.
Filed under: radio hacks, Raspberry Pi
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How to Make Your Own Survival Equipment
by Karen
Part of survival is having enough food, water, and supplies to ensure you can survive for a period of time in any emergency situation, such as a natural disaster or any major catastrophic event, whether it is natural or man-made. But if the event lasts long enough to chew through that food and water and the supplies you have stocked up, then what? Perhaps the most important part of survival isn’t what you have stored in your house or bug-out location, but what you have stored in your head.
Skills are tantamount to long-term survival in any societal collapse. You won’t ever lose them, no one can steal them from you, and they are something you can share with others. Some of the best skills to develop are those related to making your own survival gear, which comes in handy when you can’t afford to buy the gear or it eventually wears out or breaks and you have no way to buy a replacement. We won’t cover DIY weapons in this article, but there are still loads of fun and incredibly useful DIY equipment you can make. Check out our top picks for survival equipment you can make on your own.
Make Your Own Water Filter
Water is your number one need in any survival situation. If you don’t have access to clean water, you won’t last long and it can be hard to come by clean water if you aren’t able to get it from your tap. The very first thing you should know is that filtering your water doesn’t mean purifying it and the very best way to purify water to remove the bacteria that can make you sick or even kill you is to boil it. Having said this, you will still want to filter the water to get rid of debris, dirt, and chemical impurities and you can easily make a filter to do this.
Materials
For a DIY water filter you will need:
- A 2-liter soda bottle, if available, or a big, rectangular piece of bark, such as birch or white pine, that is at least 14 inches wide
- Gravel (if you are using a bottle without a cap or a cone of bark)
- Moss or grass (moss is best because it acts as a better filter and it contains iodine)
- Sand
- Charcoal
Method
If you are using a soda bottle, cut the bottle in half around the middle to separate the top from the bottom. You will invert the top of the bottle and use this to create your filter. If you are using bark, then roll the bark into a large funnel and secure it. Then you can layer your filtering materials, starting with some gravel, which you will place at the bottom of your filter to help hold in the other filtering materials.
Alternate a layer of moss, a layer of charcoal, and a layer of sand, making each layer about 1-2 inches thick, then repeat the layers of sand and charcoal, ending off with a courser grade of sand. Three important things to note include:
- The opening at the end of the filter should be quite small to help slow to movement of the water through the filter
- The charcoal should be crushed into a powder/small flake size to provide more surface area for the removal of contaminants
- The layers of material in the filter should be pushed down so they are packed in quite tightly before the water is poured in so the water will move more slowly through the filter
You might have to filter the water 2-3 times, depending on how dirty it is to begin with. As the water runs through the filter, it will drip out the end relatively slowly. Once you have clear water, boil it and then you can drink it. Check out this video to see how it’s done:
Make Your Own Rope
Rope is one of the most useful items you can have in any survival situation. In fact, you can never have too much rope. The best thing about rope is it’s all around you whether you are in the city or a rural area or the wilderness. All you need are the right kinds of plants, which happen to grow in abundance almost anywhere. The best thing about making your own rope like this is that you don’t actually need anything other than the plants! No tools are necessary, although you can use a knife if you have one (as a survivalist you should!).
Materials
There are many options when looking for plant fiber to make your own rope. The stalks of some plants are ideal. You can also use the inner bark, small roots, or the leaves of some trees and other miscellaneous materials:
- Stalk plants include milkweed, dogbane, stinging nettle, fireweed, velvet leaf, hemp, and evening primrose
- Trees from which you can use the inner bark include cedar, tulip tree, white basswood, walnut, cherry, cottonwood, oak, hickory, ash, maple, aspen, and elm
- Trees from which you can use the small roots (rootlets) include cedar, juniper, pine, spruce, sage, yucca, and tamarack
- Leaves from the yucca tree and cattails and bulrushes can be used
- Other miscellaneous material (not only plant-derived) that can be used includes sweet grass, cordgrass, greenbrier, sinew, rawhide, and animal hair
The easiest plants to work with are the milkweed, dogbane, and similar stalks because you can simply harvest the stalks and work with them. Select stalks that have turned brown, not gray. The gray ones are too old. Ideally, you want one-year-old stalks. You also want stalks that are tall simply because they will produce longer pieces of fiber to work with. You will need to break the stalk off at the base of the plant and gently remove the branches. If you don’t take care, some of the fiber from the plant will be lost in the process. You should also take of the top of the plant, where it begins to narrow.
Once the stalk is clear, lay it on a hard surface and flatten it along its length. This will cause it to split down its length, revealing the inner core of the plant. You can then gently peel away the outer wood of the plant, starting at the thick end of the stalk. The core wood you have left is the material for your rope.
It is also easy to find the inner bark of dead trees that are lying on the ground. You can pry off the bark and strip away the fibrous material that is located between the outer bark and wood. If you have to take from living trees, then take just take a small amount from each of a number of living trees. If you take too much from any one tree, the tree will die.
Methods
Whichever material you choose to use, it is very important to ensure it is dry before you start making the rope. If you use wet plant fibers, the rope will not hold together once the fibers dry. Whatever the source of your fiber, you will need to crush it between your thumb and finger or roll it along your leg to soften it and remove any bits of bark or harder material.
If you don’t need the rope to be incredibly strong, then you can do a simple wrap. Hold one end of the bundle of fibers (the more fibers, the stronger the rope) and roll them together across your leg, twisting them in one direction. Once twisted, have someone hold the middle of the stretch of twisted cord or hold it with your teeth (if it’s not from a poisonous plant) and place the ends together. When you let go of the middle, the length of cord will automatically twist together and you can secure the ends.
For a stronger rope, you will need the reverse wrap. Take the bundle of fibers and twist them together in the middle until a kink forms. You will hold this kink between the thumb and finger of one hand and work with one strand at a time. Using your free hand, take the bottom strand of fibers and twist it away from you, then wrap it up and over the other strand toward to one time. Repeat with the other strand and alternate this process until you have reached the end of your available cord.
Check out this video to see a demonstration:
Doing this with one bundle of fibers will make a short cord, but if you need a longer rope, then you will need to splice in more lengths of fiber. If this is the case, then when you originally make a kink in your bundle of fibers, ensure that one strand is two times as long as the other strand. Then preform the reverse wrap until you are within an inch or so of the end of the short strand and separate the fibers so it looks frayed at the end. Fray the end of the new bundle of fibers and mix them in with the short end. Continue the wrapping process, adding in new fiber bundles within an inch or so of each short strand.
To make an even stronger rope simply take thinner ropes you have create using the reverse wrap and reverse wrap those together. When the rope is completed you can pass it quickly over a flame to get rid of any protruding fibers, if desired. Weave the fibers at the ends of the rope back into the rope to “tie” it off.
Make Your Own Fishing Rod
Our final choice in this “Make Your Own” article is to make your own fishing rod. This is quite simple and if you are anywhere near water, having a functional fishing rod can help you catch much-needed food to keep your body nourished and full of energy.
Materials
To make a fishing rod, you will need a very long branch or sapling tree, 4 to 6 feet long. Be sure to use a green branch or sapling, something that is alive, because it will have more flexibility. Flexibility is necessary when you catch a fish and it pulls on the line. If the branch is old and brittle, it might snap. If you do have to use an old, dead branch, then choose a thicker one that is stronger.
You will also need your line, which can be any lightweight strings or threads from your own supplies, if you have them. Lightweight cord or the threads that are used to stitch your tent or tarp will work. If necessary, you can use heavier material, such as shoes laces or paracord. You just need to tie them together to make a line long enough. If you don’t have anything suitable in your gear, then you can use natural fibers, such as strong roots or fibrous plants that can be made into fine cordage (there’s that rope-making again – see above).
Your hook can be made out of anything small in your gear, such as a bent safety pin or bent wire or needles. You can also use natural materials, such as pieces of snail shell, horn, or bone. Even small pieces of broken rock will work.
If you have any food at all, a small amount of meat, cheese, or bread attached to the hook will work, but chances are, if you’re making a fishing rod this way, food is already in limited supply. However, bait can easily be found by digging for worms or turning over a rock or log to find other live insects. Even crickets and grasshoppers will work.
Method
You will need to remove any branches from the main branch or sapling and you can strip the bark from your pole if you wish, but this is not necessary. Rather than just tying the line to the narrow end of the pole, which might cause it to break if a large fish is caught, secure the line to the pole by tying it close to the end where you are holding it and wrapping it around the pole toward the narrow end. You can tie the line at the narrow end to hold it in place. Check out this video to see how:
Now all you need to do is tie your hook to the end of the line and attached your bait to the hook. Just be sure that however you tie the line to the hook, it is secure and tight so you won’t lose your hook. Happy fishing!
Make Your Own Snowshoes
While it would be lovely if all of us lived in a climate that does not experience full out winter, this is not the case. Tens of millions of people in North America live in regions of extreme temperature fluctuation and have to deal with a lot of snow each year. If you think global warming will get rid of that snow, think again. While the winter season might get shorter in duration, it will also become more intense, meaning more snow.
Snowshoes are an important piece of equipment when it comes to traveling in the snow. They spread out the pressure of your body weight on the surface of the snow, preventing you from sinking and making it easier to walk. The best part about making your own snowshoes is they can be made while you’re on the move. These won’t be the pretty, aesthetically pleasing snowshoes you might be used to seeing, but they will be functional.
Materials
To make snowshoes, the best wood comes from pine, spruce, or fir trees. To make a pair of snowshoes, you will need two green (living) branches that are the same length and contain nice boughs on them. The lighter weight the branch the better because a heavy branch will require more energy to move when walking. If the branches are dead and/or dried out, they won’t have the flexibility needed and have a high chance of cracking under your weight.
You will also need some sort of cord to tie your foot to the branch. You can use paracord or lightweight cord or rope if you have it. If not, you can use strong grasses, pliable roots, or the rope you made from the instructions above! Even strips of cloth will work well.
Method
You will first want to cut each branch to the proper length, which is about 3 feet long for the average adult (children and small adults can use a shorter length). Follow these steps to make each snowshoe:
- Put the branch on the ground with the widest end pointing ahead of you.
- Tie your cord about 3-4 inches from the front end of the branch and leave an adequate and equal length on each side of the branch.
- Weave the length of cord on each side through some of the boughs to make sure it’s secure.
- Put your foot in the middle of the branch and tie the cord around it and the branch to secure your foot in place. Be sure to tie and knot the cord securely.
Check out this video to see how:
Naturally, this is just a sampling of what you can make on your own, but these items are some of the most important. The best thing to do is use your imagination to come up with ways to make the things you know you’ll need to rely on and practice until you can make them efficiently.
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ARM Board Transmits FM
There is more than a casual link between computer people and musicians. Computers have created music since 1961 when an IBM7094 sang the song Daisy Bell (later inspiring another computer, the HAL 9000, to do the same).
[Vinod.S] wanted to create music on an STM32F407 Discovery board, but he also wanted it to play on his FM radio. He did it, and his technique was surprising and straightforward. The key is that the ARM processor on the Discovery board uses an 8MHz crystal, but internally (using a phase-locked loop, or PLL) it produces a 100MHz system clock. This happens to be right in the middle of the FM radio band. Bringing that signal back out of the chip on a spare output pin gives you the FM carrier.
That’s simple, but a carrier all by itself isn’t sufficient. You need to FM modulate the carrier. [Vinod.S] did the music playback in the usual way and fed the analog signal via a resistor to the crystal. With some experimentation, he found a value that would pull the crystal frequency enough that when multiplied up to 100MHz, it would produce the desired amount of FM deviation. You can see a video of the whole thing in action, below.
Surprisingly, even this isn’t a new idea. Back in the early days of computers, it was well known that AM radios would pick up noise from an operating computer and that the right program could produce music. There’s an article about doing just that on an old Altair (although the technique predates that) and even a video of the same. Speaking of videos, there is a video of the IBM computer that would go on to inspire HAL to sing from 1961.
We cover a lot of music-oriented projects, including ones that make music humans can’t. There are plenty of regular projects, too. One word of caution: spewing out 100 MHz signals from your microcontroller might not put you on the good side of your country’s radio regulatory agency. We’d be careful designing something like this into a real product unless you were sure you knew you could pass the legal test.
Filed under: ARM, musical hacks, radio hacks
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Tuesday, March 15, 2016
Lucid Dreaming | What am i doing wrong? Please help
Then my recall started getting worse again, remembering literally nothing when i wake up, so after some digging i found mindfulness and ADA, ive been practicing mindfulness for the last week and feel im doing pretty well, its on my mind most the day and im pretty sure im doing it right after reading all the guides carefully. This made no difference, so I've also been meditating for the past 3-4 days, at least half hour a day, one day i had a 2-3 hour session. Im practicing Vipassana insight meditation and have been following a couple of books that were recommended to people here on DV. I even had one moment where i had a very faint image appear in my mind during a session but quickly disappeared after i noticed it.
But still my recall is non existent. Ive now stopped eating after 6pm and changed my diet alittle, i no longer drink tea or coffee, only green tea. I also now snack on nuts and bananas instead of chocolates and crisps, I've tried incorporating some exercise into my life which is hard to keep up but ive been doing it on and off.
Basically im willing to have a complete shift in lifestyle to achieve ultimately a lucid dream, but everything i read that can help has not been helping. I need some guidance, last night i convinced myself i was going to have a long vivid dream, im not setting the bar too high, im currently only aiming for recall. Again woke up this morning, no recall. Is it possible some people just can't do it?
Im also now worrying maybe i ruined my chances from a young age, from the age of 15 to about 22 i smoked alot of weed and occasionally other drugs aswell. Im now 26 and havent touched anything since, so thats 4 years clean but maybe there was long term damage to something thats required for dream recall and lucidity all together?
Any help and advice anyone can give id be hugely greatful, at this point im not sure what else to try, obviously i will continue what im doing im not giving up, not just yet anyway.
via Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views - Attaining Lucidity http://ift.tt/1Ud2hp8
Monday, March 14, 2016
Sunday, March 13, 2016
Saturday, March 12, 2016
On Situational Awareness
by Megan
One of the things that is so chaotic about emergencies, including criminal acts like home invasions, riots, and other disasters like tornados, floods, power outages, or even a SHTF event, is that they are unpredictable. They often come out of nowhere and the situation is made worse by the fact that most people panic.
Okay so now we know it’s the element of surprise that catches many people off guard. Precious reaction time is lost as you try to get your bearings, comprehend what’s happening, and then decide how to react. The sooner you are alerted to possible danger; the more time you have to make decisions.
So what can you do? One of the best things to do is to train yourself to be alert even when relaxed. It’s possible to train yourself so you are always aware of what is normal and routine in any situation. Then when something out of the ordinary occurs, you will notice immediately and be prepared to react.
If you’ve seen the series of “Taken” movies with actor Liam Neeson, if you’re a familiar with the character Jason Bourne, or have seen the more recent movie, “San Andreas” starring The Rock, you have seen situational awareness in action. In San Andreas, if you watch closely, you will see The Rock scanning the area on several occasions. He makes decisions quickly, seemingly randomly, but they manage to keep everyone safe. He is using situational awareness, well and a movie script! But you get the idea.
When you have trained yourself in situational awareness, you will be able to scan the area, get your bearings, identify potential threats quickly and then use that information to make an informed decision or at least an educated guess as to the best course of action to take next.
In a natural disaster situation, like in the movie San Andreas, or in an emergency situation or SHTF event, situational awareness is what keeps you from being just another panicked victim running randomly through the streets. It’s your ace in the hole, the thing you have that those masses of people running and screaming don’t have. It helps you, and your family, to stay alive longer. So how do you get it?
Observation/Alertness Training
The first thing to practice when trying to learn situational awareness is your observation skills, what you see, what you hear, or smell. You may think that you already pay attention in public places, that you are already trained to be on alert.
But remember, you don’t know what you don’t know. Here are some actual exercises that you and your family can practice to train yourselves:
- When you enter a building, any building, get in the habit of noticing where things are that will come in handy during an emergency.
- Where are the exits?
- Where are fire extinguishers and fire alarm pulls located?
- Is there a public pay phone in the lobby or a landline at one of the kiosks?
- Where are the vending machines located?
- Do you see a first aid kit?
- Are there any vent systems large enough to crawl through if you had to move about without being seen?
If you practice finding the above items every time you enter a building, it will become second nature to you. In an emergency, you will “instinctively” know where items are located. You won’t waste precious moments frantically searching everywhere for a first aid kit, an exit, or a fire extinguisher. Your mind will know exactly where it is located and you can either go straight to it or direct someone else to it.
- As you are walking down the street or even driving in your car, pay attention to what is around you. Observe the shops, the street signs, the cars, people walking. Did you pass a police station on the last block? Did that last highway exit ramp have a sign for the hospital? If you practice noticing all of this on a regular basis as you travel, when an emergency happens, you will “know” how far it is to the nearest gas station or how far you must walk to find help when an emergency occurs.
- When traveling by car with a passenger, have them randomly write on a notepad. Then ask them to suddenly call out a number between 1 and 10. So you’re driving along, your passenger is doodling beside you and suddenly calls out “four”.
- Can you name the colors of the last four cars that passed you?
- Do you know if the last four drivers were female or male? Can you describe them?
- What about the names of the last four streets you passed by?
- Or the name and types of the last four businesses you passed?
If you wanted to, you could even turn this into a family game on a road trip. You’ll be teaching your family to be more observant and alert and having fun at the same time.
- The next time you’re at the mall or any type of public event where you are walking through a crowd, focus on listening to everything that is happening outside your line of vision. Is there a couple having an argument behind you? Or a toddler having a tantrum because mom told him he couldn’t have cotton candy? Do you hear the static on the security guard’s walkie-talkie before he comes into view?
If you practice purposefully focusing on what you hear that is out of your sight, it will become habit. In a disaster or emergency, you will be more likely to hear someone trying to come up behind you or the fight breaking out in the corner of the bar, and you can react more quickly.
- Set up a chair outside your home, under a tree or another comfortable spot and just observe the activity around you. Watch the cars that drive by, people walking or jogging by, or those that come to sit and wait at the nearest bus stop. Watch their activities at different times of day. After you’ve done this first exercise, do the same thing everywhere you go. Ask yourself what’s going on, what’s the baseline atmosphere in this café, store, office, or bus, etc. How do people behave most of the time?
Know the baseline activity in your neighborhood at different times throughout the day and evening. Do the same thing at work or out in the woods. If you know the baseline of a location, then when something is out of place or unusual, your mind will be trained to take notice and will automatically alert you.
- In crowds, pay close attention to how people move, such as the pace at which each person moves, whether or not they limp, how loud they are talking, and other movements. Is anyone moving at a different speed or in a different direction than the rest of the crowd? Observe people with a careful eye to detail to see who among them seems to be alert to their surroundings and who is blissfully unaware of anything other than the phone in their hand.
The more you watch the natural movements of people when things are normal, the quicker you will notice someone moving erratically or who seems out of place during a crisis.
- Most people read from left to right, we’ve been taught to do this. When we scan a room or enter a room we generally look left first. To practice situational awareness, when you enter a room or building, force yourself to scan the room from right to left first instead of left to right. Because it’s unnatural, you will find that you notice more than if you scanned left to right.
- It’s also important for you to take advantage of any information that is being communicated that could alert you in advance to potential danger. This means quick access to news reports, weather reports, traffic, etc. for your local area or the area you are traveling through. Consider a scanner for your home or even a mobile scanner app for your phone so you can listen in on emergency communications of local fire and police and get those few extra minutes warning if something big goes down.
- If you are a hunter, you’ve already learned some of these techniques as they apply to nature. How to identify animal tracks and dung, how to listen to the sounds around you so the birds and animals can serve as your early alert system if something is wrong. If you know the natural sound and patterns of animal movement in the woods, you will know right away when something is wrong.
- Memorization is so important to situational awareness. It’s important to practice memorization so you can train your mind to be better at it. This way as you take in all the information around you, it will be easier to recall the pieces you need later. There are tons of ways to improve memorization, including using cards, license plates when you’re driving on the highway, phone numbers, names of people, etc.
- At public events, sit or stand where you can see the exits and where it’s unlikely there could be a threat behind you, with your back to the wall, for example. You can now sit calmly and observe all that is going on around you.
- Use storefront windows to keep an eye on what’s happening behind you as you’re walking down the street. Is someone moving up very quickly but stopping when you stop? If you are walking with your spouse or a friend, keep some space between you so when you are talking you can turn and look at him/her and scan behind you with your peripheral vision.
All of these exercises are things you should be doing right now, every chance you get so that when SHTF and your life depends on it, you will be alerted early to danger and will have those precious extra moments to assess the situation and make a decision on how to react.
Identify Potential Threats
But how do you take in all that information quickly and at one time without missing something important? Once you have trained yourself to quickly determine the baseline environment of a location, then all you have to do is watch for anything that stands out or appears to be abnormal. The odd man out, the anomaly.
Anyone behaving in an aggressive or angry way bears closer watching as a potential threat. Any person who appears to be tense or uncomfortable deserves a little closer attention. Anyone who appears interested in something when others are not or who appear not interested when everyone else is clamoring for information, is worth watching. Do you see anyone who is attempting to “act natural” and failing? Some times when people are “acting” natural they over or under exaggerate their movements.
Remember that context does matter. Someone looking uncomfortable or tense in a doctor’s office waiting room is probably normal. A customer who looks calm and relaxed during a bank robbery is probably either part of the robbery team or an off-duty cop. Always watch someone’s hands. If they frequently tap a pocket or pat an area of their body, it could mean they have an object hidden there that they don’t want you to know about (such as a gun or knife).
Planning
Now that you have trained your mind to observe everything going on around you and you know how to identify potential threats early to give yourself a few extra seconds to react, start planning. It doesn’t do any good to identify the bank robber as he enters the bank if you don’t have a plan of what to do next.
How do you make sense of it all and formulate a plan of action? Use all the data that you’ve collected through your observations to help you recognize patterns to understand the big picture and help you gain an understanding of how it will affect you and your family.
How will the flow of traffic impede your ability to get home? How could the level of awareness or more likely the lack of awareness in others impact you and your family? Reflecting on all of this information together as you make your SHTF plans gives you a more accurate big picture view.
Then formulate your action plans for each location or type of situation. Think if this, then that. For example: If a robber enters this bank through the front door then I will run for that side exit. Or if SHTF and the power is out, we will do this.
Have a code word and a hand or facial gestures that you can use to communicate to your family or others in the group that something is amiss. Practice communicating in this way so that you know when you signal them, exactly what they are going to do in response. Keep in mind that you may not want to communicate out loud in a crisis because it will alert your potential attacker to the fact that you are on to him.
Examples of Warning Signs
Animals can help warn us that something is wrong if we pay attention. Birds that take flight before you actually get to their side of the field could mean there is a predator of some kind in front of you. Dogs barking incessantly in the middle of the night can be nothing at all or could be a signal that someone is creeping around where they don’t belong.
Those of us who pay attention to the weather are already familiar with how weather changes that are hardly noticeable can alert us to something larger. When the temperature suddenly drops by ten degrees or the skies darken after it’s been sunny all day, you can expect a storm is moving in. Practice paying attention to weather patterns so you know when something is about to change.
Patches of earth in the woods that have no undergrowth and just some small stones with lots of gravel size rocks can be an indication of flash flooding. Although a clearing like this can seem ideal for camping, doing so could put your family in danger. Paying attention to where moss is growing can help you find your bearings if you are lost in the woods.
Standing in line at the bank, if someone comes in who seems to be overdressed for the hot summer weather, it could give you early warning that the bank is about to be robbed. Or perhaps while waiting in line for a concert, you hear an argument going on behind you, it’s escalating and maybe you need to get out of the way before you become part of the fray.
Other Tips to Develop Situational Awareness
Listen to your gut feeling. It’s that little niggly voice that we often ignore or try to explain away. That voice is your best friend when it comes to getting an early alert that something bad is looming.
Make sure you make time for proper sleep. This is especially important during a long term crisis situation or immediately following a short term emergency scenario. Being overtired can really affect your observation skills, your decision making, and your reaction times.
Things like using your cell phone while driving or texting when walking, can distract you from being aware of what’s around you. Avoid these types of activities that steal your focus unless you are in a secure location such as your living room at home.
With regular practice and some discipline, you will soon find that you can quickly “sense” when something is about to happen before others even know something is up. You’ll gain those extra precious moments needed so you can enact your getaway plan or take other action to prevent being injured. Did we miss anything that you feel is important to developing situational awareness? Let us know below.
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