US military prepares for economic collapse

Posted: February 15, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: 1. Philosophy, 3. Food Security, 6. Personal Training, 7. Physical Security | Comments Off on US military prepares for economic collapse

I’m glad I live in a country where our military folks have the resources to learn via roleplaying and what-if scenarios. It’s a useful way to learn and explore all the aspects of a given topic. But it also makes me nervous-as-all-get-out when I read this:

The Army has launched an operation called “Unified Quest 2011” in which it studies the “implications of ‘large scale economic breakdown’ inside the United States that would force the Army to keep ‘domestic order amid civil unrest.'”
The 2011 Unified Quest lends truth to assertions that the United States is indeed not witnessing an upward economic recovery, as so many in our federal government have asserted. Soldiers are being trained in evacuation and detainment as a response to rioting, revealing the possibility that the United States military may resort to martial law in order to maintain order.
Unified Quest 2011 also prepares soldiers to act as diplomats in the event that there is a limited availability of diplomats at combat outposts, or on the streets contending with hungry and angry Americans.

Ugh. You can read this either positively or negatively. I’m frankly not sure which is closer to the truth of reality.

The government will not help you

Posted: February 1, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: 6. Personal Training, 7. Physical Security | Tags: , | Comments Off on The government will not help you

Katrina made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane the same morning this photo was taken. Ugh.

It’s not that government officials and employees do not *want* to help you in a natural disaster – or any kind of emergency – it is that they literally will not *be able* to help you.

When the widespread eco-disaster hits your area, do you think help is on the way from your local, regional, or federal government? The unfortunate answer has proven to be “No.”  It only takes one read thru this timeline to understand why regional and federal aid will be shortcoming.

Leave your personal political beliefs out of the equation when reading through the timeline; the US just simply is not prepared for this type of disaster response. This was an epic fail.

Like the frustrated firefighters who have to drive right by the home going up in flames in order to survey their entire small town before they can begin to dispatch the blazes one by one, when a large emergency hits the local level government folks will be overwhelmed and scrambling.

What’s the positive, citizen-led solution to this issue? For our family, it is the Map Your Neighborhood program.

New self-offense class for “normal” folks

Posted: January 25, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: 6. Personal Training, 7. Physical Security | Tags: | Comments Off on New self-offense class for “normal” folks

At one of the dojos I train, we’ve begun to build a new self offense class two afternoons a week.

Strangely enough, after a frustrating morning of dealing with politics in the world of Fair Trade companies, it is very satisfying to throw elbows at a target as hard as you can over and over until your elbow is raw and bleeding.

Of course, then you have to provide the same target for your sparring partner. This was even with a thick forearm pad! Where’s my Arnica?

Staying to help

Posted: August 15, 2010 | Author: | Filed under: 1. Philosophy, 6. Personal Training | Tags: , , | Comments Off on Staying to help

A recent conversation with a friend reinforced the need to encourage local people to stay and help during an emergency, whether it is a long one or just a few days. Over the course of a few conversations, I could see his outlook change from “I need to escape to another country with my kids” (he’s divorced) to a more positive, healthy attitude of “I need to get trained up so I can stay and help my community.”

That’s a *great* change in attitude, applicable for many situations (I’d still use the Go Bags if you’ve got a nearby chemical spill on the highway). I appreciated watching the stages of my friend’s progression as I port my self-reliance projects from a personal level to a town level.

You can read a similair journey taken by the excellent writer Neil Strauss in his book, Emergency. Another author, Zachary Nowak has an interesting take on this attitude here. His editor Adam Fenderson, founder of the Energy Bulletin, commented on Nowak’s essay:

There is also a ‘third way’, one which combines self-sufficiency/survivalist type tactics with community building and some relatively positive visions. Eco-villages, Richard Heinberg’s lifeboats strategy, and the [Transition] town-scale efforts in places such as Kinsale in Ireland and Willits in California might be considered part of this approach.

Isolationist survivalism, constantly on the guard from marauding hordes, doesn’t sound like an existence most of us would consider worth living. And promoting it, where it takes our energies away from more collective energy descent tactics might actually increase the likelyhood of such uncontrolled collapse and desperate marauders. So the ethics of promoting such an approach are complex.

We publish Zachary’s article because it is full of excellent advice and resources of value to anyone with an interest in taking more than a superficial approach to sustainability (a term which ultimately does mean the same thing as survival.)

“In Transition 1.0” the film

Posted: July 15, 2010 | Author: | Filed under: 1. Philosophy, 2. Water Security, 3. Food Security, 4. Energy Security, 5. Alt Transportation, 6. Personal Training, 8. Wealth Management | Tags: , | Comments Off on “In Transition 1.0” the film

Wow.

I think this short collection of vignettes may have just set the direction for my personal and professional time for the next 5+ years.

Highly recommended.

Productive pockets

Posted: February 2, 2010 | Author: | Filed under: 6. Personal Training | Tags: , , , , , , | Comments Off on Productive pockets

I was asked what was in my pockets the other day. Odd question, but useful answers. Here’s more details re: a few items I mentioned in a previous productivity post.

I carry the same items in my pockets day in and day out, with one additional flashlight carried during the six months of shorter days during winter.

  1. Leatherman Expanse pocketknife with both types of full size screwdrivers + bottle opener/carabiner clip
  2. Space pen + hipster PDA (2.5″ x 3″ cards)
  3. iPhone 3GS + cheap wired earbuds/mic (because they break every 3 months)
  4. Streamlight tactical flashlight
  5. Quark 123 backup flashlight
  6. Gerber Curve Mini Tool (sometimes alternate with CRKT mini KISS knife on keyring, mostly not) backup blade + screwdrivers + bottle opener
  7. Paracord king cobra lanyard
  8. Money clip wallet from Fossil (the best fit for me after dozens of clips over the years)

I’m a dork for pocket knives; my next one is likely the Leatherman Expanse after my current one bites the dust. In a recent trip to a tropical humid location, almost 30% of the knife developed rust…in just two weeks! Weirdest thing, but a bath in naval jelly solved the problem.

I used to carry a multitool Leatherman knife, but the only tools I actually ever used in addition to the blade were the screwdrivers. I also still keep this semi-useful but dead simple multitool from Swiss Tech attached to my car keyring, although I don’t drive often anymore.

I grew up thinking the “Always Be Prepared” boy scouts were geeks until I got to know a couple of Eagle Scouts in college and realized just how much practical knowledge they had been absorbing in between those useless cheesy pack meetings. Eagle Scouts are good guys to have as friends. I need to find non-cheesy options for this type of thing for my children; perhaps just teaching them myself.

Update: awesome EDC site to see other folks’ productive pockets a.k.a. their everyday carry. Many thanks for teaching me the value of a backup blade + torch, as well as the usefulness of having some paracord in your pocket all the time.

Beating the flu

Posted: October 31, 2009 | Author: | Filed under: 6. Personal Training | Tags: , | Comments Off on Beating the flu

Ugh. I feel like I’ve survived death. Swine flu is *not* fun. I picked up the bug on a plane ride back from Chicago. Just finished four days of misery.

Thank goodness for Oscillo, N95 masks, and a loving spouse. All this preparation is for naught if you don’t have the right supplies on hand when you need them. Your health is everything; tough to enjoy the fruits of your Food Forest when you’re stuck in bed sick as a dog!

Building relationship networks

Posted: July 28, 2009 | Author: | Filed under: 6. Personal Training | Tags: , | Comments Off on Building relationship networks

While some believe emergency preparedness is best done as a solo effort, far away from “civilization” and prying eyes in a remote location, I believe the opposite to be true. Similair to the conclusion that Neil Strauss reached in his Emergency book, I plan to stay and help when the national emergency hits, not run away from it.

More wisdom from Joel Skousen:

“Possessing a few personal friends you can intrinsically trust at all times is one of the most important contingency preperations you can make.”

Part of my personal training is using some of my natural skill set of marketing and networking (Hey! My current skills are not *completely* useless!) to build a strong network of friends and colleagues who share this same passion for being prepared…and specifically being prepared so that we can help others who did not make preparations to weather the next two week power outage due to us selling our electricity to California, the next local volcanic eruption, or the next national/international economic meltdown. It will take a group of folks who are already prepared and thinking clearly to help our country and cities regain positive momentum.

I’m building three overlapping networks of contacts: local, regional, and national.

The national guys are already in place. It was numerous emails with these lifelong friends (“brothers” would be a more accurate term) that led me to create this blog as a time-saving and information-dispersing vehicle. They are each on their own path – somewhere along this continuum of preparations – from bare minimum (storing two weeks of water and a lot of ammo) to significant (way to go St. Louis!). The general idea is that because we are spread all over the US, if a regional emergency dictates that we need to leave quickly for a short duration (Mt Rainier erupts, chemical spill, whatever) we can go to whichever area is safest. On the to-do list: get Canadian passports in case we have no easy way to reach these friends on the other side of the country during an emergency situation. We can always go north.

The regional network is my least developed at this stage. I suspect it will consist mostly of regional farmers and others concerned with food/water security, but I have not spent alot of thought here yet. If there is a future business idea somewhere in all this thinking/planning/doing, it is likely at the regional level. Something that could be freely shared and replicated in other regions of our country and beyond.

The local network is my current focus. I want to get to know folks that I could reach by walking or bicycling, which limits this network to our small town of 23,000 people who live in a (roughly) 4 mile by 8 mile stretch of land. In a world of very expensive gas, I may still be able to afford to drive a vehicle around, but most folks won’t. Which will lead to something we’ll want to avoid: attention and resentment.

Current local plan:
  1. Connect the various parts of our small town via ham radio to maintain contact even during emergencies when our phone and cell systems have shown they can be easily overwhelmed. Specifically have these ham radios sit at locations where we are connecting food, water, and reliable heavy transportation (horses). These radios are not sitting at city government offices, but in private homes of clued-in people.
  2. Map walking/biking/horse riding paths for non-vehicle transportation around our town.
  3. Create my own personal “Board of Mentors” of those who can train me, help me, and join me in leading our small town in preparedness.
Current local network:
  • A close friend who is clued-in and knows many of our local farmers on a first name basis. He’s a rebel rouser who has proven that he can create positive solutions that fly in the face of traditional wisdom. The one who clued me in to Wendell Barry.
  • An acquaintance who is an expert on ham radio, electric vehicles as alternative transportation, and has significant financial resources.
  • A close friend who has recently become a local micro-farmer / micro-rancher. The one who turned me on to Joel Salatin.
  • Several acquaintances who are skilled craftsmen (wood working, plumbing, etc).
  • An acquaintance who is a permaculture expert.
  • A former student who is an alternative energy expert (solar and wind). We’re setting up a tool next week to measure our wind capabilities for the next year.
  • An acquaintance who is an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) and member of our town’s volunteer fire department. He also trains doing MMA, so he may become a reliable Krav Maga sparring partner as well. Although I’d have to convince him this is not a sport for me, but a way to keep my family and friends safe.

What roles am I missing? You tell me. Either comment below or send me email at optoutenmasse at gmail dot com.

Are you freaking out?

Posted: July 22, 2009 | Author: | Filed under: 6. Personal Training | Tags: , | Comments Off on Are you freaking out?

If any of the topics I’m talking about here freak you out, consider a quick visit to the PeakShrink’s blog (as in Post Peak Oil), specifically this post. Clearly an interesting woman using her skill set to keep “prepper” readers sane and thinking clearly.

Why is this post tagged as “personal training”? Because it can be dangerous to spend significant time doing personal training for any type of emergency. Part of that personal training should be stress management.

If you lose your positive outlook, or lose the positive reason why you are doing the training (for me, that’s my family), then you are truly lost. You’ll spiral into a negative mindset and attitude, in which you will not be able to help yourself, your family, your friends, your neighbors, your community, nor your country.


Side note: I just learned the catch word preppers a few nights ago doing research. Do you purchase insurance, set aside income for savings, or wear a bicycle helmet? Then you are a prepper, too.

Personal productivity

Posted: July 17, 2009 | Author: | Filed under: 6. Personal Training | Comments Off on Personal productivity
I’ve been asked how I have time to work on these emergency preparation projects in the midst of several day jobs + two little kids. Three reasons…

First, I have a very supportive wife. Second, I get insomnia usually once per week, which opens up lots of hours for mind-numbing internet research. And third, I like to delegate.

One of my three day jobs is now mostly run by others I’ve hired, with me only answering the occasional phone call/email asking for advice. My second day job is highly seasonal, keeping me busy only in the Fall. And my third day job – a start-up that occupies 80%+ of my daily work hours – is an experiment in just how much I can outsource and still guide the ship. That experiment may or may not work. 2012 update: the above experiment did in fact work, but that company is now sold to make room in my schedule for a new company I started with three other co-founders who are very bright and very passionate. Will be interesting to see how these concepts that work well for a single founder work in a team environment. 

Many different books helped me over the years develop my own style of personal productivity, but there are two standouts. The first book got me to where I was two years ago, which is when I stopped working the normal 8-5 job and started splitting my time among several related jobs. The second book got me to where I am today.

Ten years ago, I was trained by a competitor to David Allen on a system almost identical to his brilliant Getting Things Done. Yes, it is all just common sense, but until you train yourself on a system like GTD (or any of the other similair ones out there), you just won’t act on it consistently, which is crucial. It’s a very effective system.

Two years ago, I read Tim Ferriss’ Four Hour Work Week and was pleased to see two things. One, I was not nuts to try the things I was trying with my day jobs – like outsourcing as much as possible – despite what most of my friends and colleagues were telling me. Two, I had only just begun.

Ferriss pushed the concept way beyond what I would have thought possible. In particular, he opened my eyes to the power of Virtual Assistants. Granted, there are some significant hassles to using VAs, but overall it can make you significantly more productive.

My tools to stay productive and organized have been greatly simplified in recent years. There are now just three of them:
1. iPhone (a small computer that happens to make phone calls; current home page pictured above),
2. Tiny space pen + Hipster PDA, and
3. My brain, which functions significantly better breathing fresh air, taking 10-minute power naps instead of coffee breaks, and doing micro-yoga sessions while talking on the phone. Not items I had ever been able to access when working at a normal desk job.

Most used apps on the iPhone, in addition to the native ones, are below:
1. ToDo 2Do Things The Hit List Remember the Milk (better task mgmt and sync for iPhone),
2. ReaddleDocs (the missing File Manager / Finder for the iPhone),
3. Evernote (for the text recognition aspect),
4. WinAdmin (to control my servers),
4. QuickVoice Pro (to get thoughts quickly out of my head before they disappear)
5. Dropbox (to keep everything synced, particularly with iPad).
6. WordPress to update the company websites.
7. Asana to keep the teams coordinated and motivated.
8. Basecamp to keep the dev teams cranking (they don’t like Asana). 
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