I was discussing the potential for widespread chaos being created this summer, and Sarah asked: “Any practical suggestions?” Which started me thinking. The first priority is to avoid getting caught up in the hysteria. I might have finally worked out that the covid hysteria, was hysteria, but like almost everyone else I was initially carried away. Likewise, I was originally taken in by the climate scam, and I didn’t realise it until I started doing my own research which proved the science didn’t support the commercial con.
So, given my previous failures … what practical advice could I offer?
Strengthen your ability to resist hysteria
- To strengthen your ability to resist, you need accept how easily we can all be lured into hysterical thinking by commercial and other interests. So, don’t feel foolish if it happens to you … they have enormous pools of money and a great deal of control over what you see. They have paid for journalists, they flood social media with their bots, and sooner or later, we all get fooled by them. The big difference, is that some people know it can happen and have the courage to admit they were wrong … that we have been conned. But far too many cannot face that reality and they won’t “wake up”. So, try to develop a habit of admitting when you are wrong, even for small things. Because if you develop the habit of admitting you are wrong about small things, then it is far easier to admit we have been deceived about the big things when it happens.
- The next thing, is to never assume that you are right. Keep checking whether your views really are valid. Not by trying to see how many people agree with you, but by checking the facts. Learn how to research information, how to get past the censors like Google on the internet and get to the raw sources. Find a range of websites, that are known to sensibly discuss subjects which are banned in the old media.
- The next, is to actively seek out views that disagree with your own, and at all costs, avoid “blocking, banning, etc.” contrary views. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t block people who insult or are being obnoxious. But don’t count stating a contrary view as being “obnoxious”. Try to respect people with different views and thank them for putting in the effort to explain them. Being able to seek out find and listen to views you do not currently agree with, is key to challenging any possible “brainwashing” that you may have had. This is really key, because it was only by arguing with people who had a very different view on covid, that I began to realise that my own assumptions were quite tenuous and that there was something awfully wrong with the forecasts.
- Learn the difference between those who “have their own different view” and those who merely regurgitate the words they hear from others. Someone who has their own view, can explain how they formed their view. They can argue their case and can deal with questions. Someone who is merely repeating words they hear, has no idea how the views they push were formed and will not be able to answer even simple probing questions. They quickly become angry, when they cannot answer simple questions. A clear indicator of someone who is regurgitating other people’s views, is someone who refuses to discuss, but instead will post numerous links. They will attack your credentials, demand that you accept the views of “experts” or similar, and refuse to answer your questions. Usually they will end up attacking you with insults.
Community Networks
- The key to surviving almost any disaster, from covid concentration camps, to nuclear war, is having a community of people you can trust. People we can rely on for advice and information. Yes every “preper” site talks about “self-reliance”, but at the end of the day, humans are a social animal and we thrive when we are in a community. We cannot escape that, so we must work to build a community of supportive people.
- Beware government agents! It is critical you know who you can trust before a crisis hits, because as the covid demos showed, the state and commercial interests, are very quick to send in their agents to disrupt any opposition groups. These evil people are professionals who are very good at conning people, because they have a lot of experience of disrupting all kinds of groups. (I first saw them when they destroyed wind farm opposition groups) So, when a well intentioned group of individuals who don’t know each other get together … it is very easy for them to (yet again) sow division and suspicion amongst them …. unless the group already knows each other from a time well before these agents are being paid to disrupt.
- Have robust communications. If you are using fascist book or google emails, then everything you write, from the very personal details to commercial purchases, to passwords, is because read and recorded for use by these companies. And, they have no qualms about passing it all on to others (for a fee). If that is how you communicate, your communications will be monitored to find ways to destroy any opposition. Nor will they baulk from “mislaying” key messages or just blocking them to order. So, learn how to communicate in a way that cannot be monitored and controlled … DON’T USE GOOGLE, FASCIST BOOK WATTSAPP, etc. Ideally meet in person … when there isn’t a crisis, when you can learn who you can trust and are well below the radar!
Self Reliance
The reason I have left this aspect to last, is that it is the most difficult. Whilst many people imagine that it could be possible to survive in the wilderness totally isolated from all modern life for the rest of their life, the reality is that for modern humans, community is essential to survival. Even “survivalists” rely on the wider community, to supply the weapons, metals, etc. As for true “wilderness”. The reality is that any place on earth where people could live in a “garden of Eden”, is a place ideal for agriculture which has long ago been farmed.
But when the world goes mad as per covid or the “climate crisis”, we have to exit the wider community and become more self reliant, but that shouldn’t mean being isolated, instead it should mean having smaller communities, more robust against hysteria & group-thing, which we can rely on.
However, the reality is that we might be able to cut ourselves off from the hysteria of wider society when it is at its most intense, but practically we can only do that for a relatively short time. But with preparation we can increase the time we can “exit society” to avoid the hysteria, in the hope it will die down before we need to return.
Self-reliance: Entertainment
Before covid hit the UK, I watched as the brainwashing started first in China then in Italy. The technique was simple: endless what I call “terror porn”. That is taking one or two tragic and very unusual cases and flogging them on the news. Only later (when we started seeing how many were actors in their normal life) did I realise that they actually made up many of these “cases” … totally fake news. And, it wasn’t just the obvious terror porn on the news. The state also created a lot of videos, that were made to look like they were coming from opposition groups. The classic was a post with “look how appalling the government is behaving …. showing a video as they beat up some granny”. Some granny hired from an acting agency … paid to appear, to terrorise the public into fearing going outside, spread as a video by the people who hated the way the government were terrorising us! It was utterly criminal and literally terrorism!
The simple fact, is that the evil government psyops nudge unit were all over the media and the internet, and it wasn’t possible to “find out what was going on”, without them getting to us. And, that is when they were relatively inexperienced during covid (although they have long experience pushing the climate scam). Next time, they will be a lot slicker. The chances of us spotting their evil brainwashing, will be a lot smaller, and most of us will be hooked by their evil lies if we allow them.
The only way to prevent them getting to us, is to literally turn off everything with “current” content. That means turning off all “news” channels, all adverts, all “current affairs” programs and staying off all internet and social media (which was swamped with their bots and the 77th brigade). The only sites you could visit, are those that are naturally sceptical, but even those have to be treated as suspect, because even if the government agents aren’t there is person, the people there will have been subject to their brainwashing.
Unfortunately, most of us our addicted to these sources and especially “news”. So, you have to practice doing without. I grew up at a time, when we could and did go on camping holiday for a couple of weeks, and not once heard or read any news. It didn’t do me any harm, instead I would go back to “normal” and be hit each time by the strangeness of the “news” we were being spoon fed. But very few people have that experience today. Instead, they don’t go anywhere without a mobile phone.
You have to practice doing without COMPLETELY. You have to learn how to entertain yourself, without opening yourself up to the deluge of brainwashing that occurred during covid, and continuously pushes things like the climate scam.
Self reliance: food
Blocking our access to food, is one of the easiest way any government can control us. If you allow yourself to get into a situation where you rely on government to “allow you” access to supermarkets, then you have no control over what happens. Fortunately, human ingenuity (and government incompetence) usually finds a way around anything government do, but that takes time, and you need to be able to be self-reliant for long enough to stop government controlling you.
Given my own experience preparing for covid (in January!) You should have at least one months food in the house. In simple terms, that is about 15kg of food for every adult. And obviously food that will last many months. Just look at the date on the tin or packet. And, ideally, it is food that you normally use, so that you keep using the oldest stocks and keep restocking with fresh supplies.
Self reliance: hygiene and medical
You should also have essential medical and personal supplies. And yes that means toilet rolls. However, running out of toilet roll isn’t the end of the world, and if you learn how to cope without toilet rolls, you will be a lot more adaptable. (Here we’d use moss. The Romans had a sponge on a stick. A toilet roll famine isn’t the end of the world)
But the area where the state had many of us by the balls, was the way they could force people people to comply with illegal controls, by simply refusing medical treatment. I was lucky to avoid needing them (just), but it was clear from the black-ops posters, that the state-controlled media were telling us that we could not get medical treatment and maintain our rights to refuse their muzzles and tehir poison (as it would be termed under common law).
I would want to say: “get to know a doctor who isn’t controlled” … but the doctors were under intense brainwashing and whilst I know a few, not one of them withstood it, despite being shown the clear evidence that should have led them to reject the brainwashing. However, we can keep fit and keep plenty of the medicines we need and learn how to treat simple injuries, etc.
Self reliance: heat and power
Apart from stocking up, this is the easiest area where we can do something. Here is a simple starter plan:
Practice
- Tell someone you live with, to randomly turn off all the electrics at night without telling you (ideally blindfolding as well, or instead, because external street lights will still provide a lot of light, which isn’t there is a real power cut). Now perform a series of everyday tasks in the dark/blindfolded such as: make a cold drink, pee in the toilet, and find a light. Then find and turn on the mains again (repeat till you are confident you can do it … but you may need to make some changes)
- On a cold day when you are at home, turn off your primary source of heating and hot water for 24 hours and do not use anything that heats food or water (and no take aways). This will show how quickly the house cools down and you’ll start to think through how to survive without any power.
- Tape up the fridge and freezer for 24hours. This is to simulate a long power cut, when you either need to minimise how often you open the fridge and freezer to avoid letting in the heat, or the fridge and freezer go on the blink, or a long power cut where the contents spoil. If you open the fridge, or need to buy anything you have failed, so repeat. At the end of 24hrs, go through the contents and decide what you would have chucked if they had got to room temperature. Now work out whether you could save them by, e.g., cooking them and refreezing.
Make Changes
Following on from the above experience, you should have identified areas where you are vulnerable in the case of power or heat outages. For example, it was not until we had a power cut (as an adult), that I realised how difficult it was to do something simple like going for a pee, if there were only one light in the house (particularly with children). My original plan had been “we’ve got plenty of candles”, but there is something very worrying about handing a young child a candle to go into a locked bathroom.
We are also very familiar with cooking with a camping stove and have the equipment. But I’ve no idea how we would cope without them in a long heat and power outage. We do have an independent means to heat our house, but whilst it could provide hot water, it isn’t really suitable for cooking. So, work out how to cook if the power and gas is cut.
Fridge and particularly freezers are particularly vulnerable to power cuts. You must have a backup plan. The first thing you need is a thermometer so that you know how hot the fridge is getting, so you know when to put things outside in a rodent proof box (which you also need). The next thing you need is an idea of how long things can be left in a warming fridge before they need eating. Personally, something like cooked chicken, whilst lasting up to four days in a fridge, I wouldn’t eat it after a day at room temperature. And, remember, when it happens, the internet may be inaccessible … so you need to know before it happens. So DO THE RESEARCH NOW. Otherwise, you’ll be chucking out a fridge and freezer load of food, at the same time as everyone else, and when you get to the shops, they may have NOTHING left.
Probably most importantly. Have a plan if the heating & hot water goes off. How will you heat your home, or will you just wear lots of extra clothes and go to bed early?
Obviously you can prepare by insulating your house as well as you can. We have loft, wall and under floor insulation, in most places equivalent to the highest modern spec for new build housing. But we could still improve some areas. We could also add thick curtains to the windows which, although double glazed, are still a point where we lose a lot of heat. And, cutting down draughts is critical as well.
Another thing, we can do as a last resort is to isolate colder parts of the house, and to bring everyone together in one warmer room, where body heat will make it warmer. Not ideal, but far better than someone in a house with an open plan downstairs.
Entertainment
In a long power cut, the TV will likely be down, likewise the internet. Many people with landlines have phones that need mains electricity to work and mobiles need recharging. So, the phones may be off. Reading is problematic if you are lighting with candles, and they too will eventually run out. And, whilst it will be exciting, even sitting in the dark, with nothing to do, for a while, it soon gets boring.
So, work out how to entertain yourself, and particularly kids, in a power cut. We have a stack of DVDs and a backup power supply.
Backup Power
Now I have introduced you to the horror of life without power, and you have identified some of the critical items you need (& not just “nice to have”). You can start thinking about alternative ways to provide your own power.
But first, you need to learn how much power things consume. Many people haven’t a clue about power consumption. For example, I was reading a review on a generator, and the person had given a 1kw generator one star and said: “Totally useless it could even power a household kettle”. The person was clearly ignorant, because a kettle is one of the most difficult things to power in a house (usually about 3.5kw or 3.5x higher than the generator they had bought). It’s not trivial as they are designed to consume the MAXIMUM permitted power from a normal plug. A generator that can reliably produce enough power for a kettle can cost a small fortune. In contrast, a camping stove that will boil a kettle can be picked up for £20 (when the stores were doing a deal).
The basic rule of electricity demand is relatively simple: if it heats (fire, kettle, washing machine, dish washer), it will have a high energy demand (a few kw). If it doesn’t heat, but gets warm (TV, PC, many lights) , then it has a moderate energy demand (10-500w). And if it remains totally cold (door bell), it has a low energy demand (a few watt).
To power a high energy demand unit needs a big generator and those are expensive and as the power is normally used to heat water, it is better to find a way to heat the water directly (although you will have to wash by hand)
The items that don’t easily fit this rule are:
- Fridge/freezer & gas central heating, which consume a few hundred watts, but take a large surge of power on start up. This makes them a problematic item to power.
- Fluorescent lighting, which consumes a relatively small amount of power, except at start up. I have powered three fluorescent tubes from a 240W inverter, but it was struggling and other makes might have gone belly up.
- Power tools range from a few watt (for a small hobby drill) to several kilowwatt for large “professional” tools like a hammer breaker. Read the label.
- Electric showers, ovens and electric central heating. These are all extremely high energy usage requiring a massive generator, wired into the electrics, which is impractical for most people to do.
Critical backup
For us, the critical items we will power are small items like phone chargers, rechargeable torches, laptop and internet access, and a range of mains lights (with extensions so that we can take power around the house). This can be achieved using a relatively cheap leisure battery, charger, and 200 to 500W inverter (but beware bigger inverters run down the battery quicker, so they are not a good idea).
To give an idea, if the average consumption is 200W, that is ~18amps** drawn from a 12V battery which means a 90AH leisure battery will be flat in about four hours. 200W is what you might need for a laptop, internet access, a couple of mobile phone charges and half a dozen lights. TVs are what many people want to power, but it’s difficult to say whether you can power a TV, because different TVs have very different power requirements between 60 to 1000W. So you have to check your own if you want to power it in a power cut. Our own (older) TV is rated around 100W, which means for 200W we can power the TV, laptop, internet and three or four small lights or small items like mobile phone/light chargers.
If you don’t want a big battery sitting around the house and you park your close near enough for an extension lead to reach, you could consider an inverter that plugs into the cigarette lighter socket of a car, however, many cars turn that socket off when the car is turned off. And, the plug on our car is only rated 10A, which means that the most we can get out of it is ~100W**. That will power a laptop, but I doubt it’s enough for our TV which will draw a lot on turn on. Also, it will quickly flatten the car battery … and that will create a new problem.
Nice to have backup
The “nice to have” things we would like to power are the fridge-freezer, the central heating and a range of household lights. But fridge-freezers and central heating have motors and these are difficult things for inverters and many modern generators have an inverter. It is very difficult to find anyone who will say their generator will work with a fridge freezer, so to be sure, you have to buy a good quality one which is massively over rated for the device. Also, generators are prone to break down and/or be difficult to start, particularly if left for a while. So they may not work when you need them, unless you get a good quality unit and, that is expensive. Practical experience reports that a 900W inverter can power three freezers, but only if they are plugged in one at a time to avoid them all starting at the same time. Even then, sooner or later, they will all switch their cooling pump on at the same time by chance, and that will overload the power supply and switch it off. However, if the plan is to run the freezers for four hours a day (as one person was doing), then it can be watched, so that may work.
These three freezers could be powered from batteries. But the equivalent of three freezers is about 600W load, which means 60Amp** drawn from a 12v battery, which I think is way too high for a single leisure battery and even if it were not, a 90AH leisure battery will last about an hour and a half.Also, you need an inverter over 1kw which is costly. So realistically, you need several leisure batteries and a 1kw inverter, if you want even four hours of power for three freezers.
Anything above a few hundred watt for a few hours, and generators are usually what people choose, even though they are not so reliable. But, generators are also noisy and their noise will be particularly obvious and annoying to your neighbours in a power cut when they are sitting in the dark with nothing to do. When they have nothing else to do, but complain!
**I’ve assumed an 85% efficiency on most calculations. Figures are all “to be confirmed” as they will vary.
