Comments

Episode-2039- Listener Feedback for 7-10-17 — 15 Comments

  1. If I had to survive on MRE’s (meals ready to eat) for an extended period of time, I certainly wouldn’t be healthy. They’re usually a highly salted chemical concoction of ingredients. I’d rather do it Jacks way.

  2. We live maybe a 1/2 mile from railroad tracks where rr cars full of all kinda of chemicals go by day after day. I’ve thought about gas masks in the event of a derailment, but like Jack said, you basically need to have them on hand to be effective at a moment’s notice. We don’t have them. After every other prep item is stocked, I’ll think about that.

  3. Comment on the centralized power companies. Great coverage on the situation of the renewable energy madness that is going on. Coming from someone who works for a power company on a ridiculously left island in the middle of the pacific, some people just do not understand anything about what is going on and takes their hate out on the company.

    Out here kwh costs range from 25 to 35 cents which is a result of having to ship in fuel. Yes, this sucks and we as an island should be more self-sufficient. The islands residential PV bubble inflated to an enormous size and its popping was blamed on the power company thinking they were afraid to go out of business. People think they’re doing so much good for putting panels on their roof when they dont understand how it works. You cant just feed back power to the grid and think its all good. Power needs to be consumed the moment its generated, unless you have storage of course. I have even heard of people thinking PV works at night!

    You are totally right that the technology is not there yet especially on the energy storage forefront. There are other options like pump storage but its just not feasible here. This decentralized paradigm shift is one good for things like the blockchain but I think is VERY WASTEFUL for electricity. So many people are mining for coins and relatively little are getting the block rewards. For electricity generation, there will be a point where not everyones rooftop PV generation will be needed during the day (especially for those who are away at work). That means it will take longer for you to see a return on investment for net energy programs. There are many efficiencies to be had with the power being centralized. I also think it is analogous to farming vs growing your own food.

    I fully support anyone trying to be self-reliant and try to go off-grid and generate their own electricity (and even grow your own food). But I do think centralization for electricity is more efficient and a better choice…for now.

    • man, that’s a smoking deal! Just bought some through Jack’s link.

      Already had 4 too. but for $25??? can’t beat that. Thanks for the heads up!

      Talk about community!

      Actually, I did just check the cost of my last order in Feb 2017. It was 19.99. So these do vary in price. But folks they are worth the 25. I’m telling you. probably wouldn’t pay the 75 or so full price though

  4. Let’s be clear about this M F-er that thinks that the hero cop should have been “handled differently” instead of harassed, ie he thinks cops are above the law, he DOES NOT SPEAK FOR ME! I would be MORE than happy to fire his ass.

    What that cop did, very publicly holding another officer accountable, knowing that she would receive negative attention, I DO think that is very courageous and heroic.

    Jack, I’m surprised you didn’t flip out more! Hahaha and here I am all frazzled!

    -Pat

    • I am working on not losing my shit over these events because I know it makes my communication about it more effective with those on the fence.

      Personally I would love to hear an ass fuck like that guy say stupid shit like this in front of a group of good LEOs and get called out on it.

      • I am thankful that in my agency our policy DEMANDS that we have a supervisor on scene if a LEO is pulled over for possible Drunk Driving, whether he works at our agency or ANY agency. Much more difficult to give a wink and a nod when two officers, one being a supervisor, are now accountable for consistent treatment.

        Since I’m on a rant, another thing I’m thankful for is that my agency actually has a written policy that encourages all officers on the night shift to be free to respond to property crimes and violent crimes and to NOT get tied up doing traffic stops for traffic’s sake. We absolutely are not judged on our traffic stop numbers or even the amount of warnings or tickets we write for those stops.

        You know that I am VERY critical of law enforcement but I’m pretty happy that the command I work for encourages and allows me to use my discretion with many different issues.

  5. Thanks for talking about health care vs health insurance! I had a disagreement with an American who was ranting and raving about ‘universal health care’ and how evil it was, but i had no idea they meant health insurance. So the debate was ridiculous. I was like ‘we have universal health care here and it’s good quality and no one minds paying taxes for it’ oops.
    Health insurance is NOT subsidised or mandatory in Australia but we do have ‘medicare’. No way would anyone here want health insurance to be mandatory. Our medicare system is completely different to yours as far as I understand it.
    Medicare means certain drugs, certain procedures and certain doctors visits and hospital visits are ‘free’- covered by the tax payers.
    No one seems to mind too much as it isn’t means tested, rich people are covered by it too. Anything life threatening is free. Anything for kids and pensioners is free. The system can be rorted but not by patients and there have been relatively few ‘scandals’ reported by the media.
    There are also loads of other things subsidised or paid for by taxpayers like education for doctors, nurses and dentists. Most hospitals, school psychologists, school nurses, the ambulance system etc.
    Again no one complains about paying for Medicare freeloaders, it never happens, unlike other social services. (The social services here have recently been renamed human services lol)
    As an anarchist leaning person, I don’t agree with taxation and i hate paying politicians’ salaries, but im happy to pay for Medicare.
    In an anarchist system I could see a subscription system, and funding coming from the community with very little resistance. The community would want medical care and would band together to make it happen. The community might sponsor a doctor or a hospital much like pastors and churches get paid for by the congregation, a weekly amount according to your means.
    A hospital that knows it has community support and has money coming in whether they have lots of patients or not, would focus on promoting good health over medicine, and be in a position to provide care for the whole community including those who can’t pay.

  6. Great Podcast, useful and enjoyable.
    I actually remember long long before the election when you first predicted that a Republican strong man would come to power and how there was an overall government plan for health insurance. You were spot on.

  7. Can we purchase bitcoin or others with gift cards? Just wondering since we could pay for gift cards with cash and that would really keep it private. Thanks!

  8. There was mention of buying gift cards with your bitcoin during the show. It may also be useful to know that JMBullion will happily accept bitcoin at checkout for Gold and Silver shipped right to your door.

  9. The U.S. government’s and mainstream media’s focus on “health insurance” vs. actual availability of health care has got to be one of the biggest feats of misdirection aimed towards the public that’s ever been pulled off. And we keep falling for it! Drives me nuts.
    My family and I have zip for health insurance in Mongolia. More often than not, people pay out of pocket here…. there are the basic hospitals where costs are cheaper (or free for children), and there are private hospitals that cost more but are typically higher quality. It’s far from a perfect system and the extremely serious stuff it’s better to go to out-of-country for treatment/surgery, but I feel my ACCESS TO HEALTH CARE is overall better here, despite having no insurance. Our daughter had a bout of pneumonia that required a few days in the hospital (for administering IV medicines), and at one of the best hospitals here our total cost came out to a little more than what we used to pay for ONE MONTH of employer health insurance premiums in the U.S. I’m sure even with insurance, in the U.S. I would have had to pay at least $1000-3000 in addition to the monthly premium for the same level of care. It’s getting to the point I worry more about one of us getting sick/hurt while visiting in the U.S. than getting sick/hurt here in an “emerging world” country. THAT’S how bad the government and the health care cartel/mafia in the U.S. has made it for Americans of average means.

  10. I went to Navy Basic in Great Lakes IL (Camp Frostbite) in Winter 85. They declined to have us go through the gas chamber since having tears and snot flying freely when it’s -50 or so would have ended badly. We also didn’t have to double time everywhere. First time I experienced those temperatures (grew up in GA) but missed out on the fun events like that.

  11. I don’t see the need for gas masks, but there is a similar setup I have thought about since 911 that may be useful for people that may be caught in a building on fire. During 911 I heard there were people on upper floors who tried to go down the stairs to escape the building, but stopped because of smoke in the stairways. In the early days of submarines they used a vest to escape called a Davis Submerged Escape Apparatus, which was basically a pair of goggles and a vest that held enough air for the submariner to keep breathing as he rose up to the surface.

    They needed 30 minutes of air so included a CO2 scrubber in the system, but if you just need 5 minutes to escape a building, you could just pack a pair of swim goggles and a good sized garbage bag. In that way you could put on the goggles to keep your eyes from tearing and then inflate the bag using air in an un-compromised room and then use that bag to cover your nose and mouth. You should be able to breath into that bag for about ten minutes. If you add in a CO2 scrubber which are available from scuba diving shops, you would definitely have a longer range.

    I have seen similar products called “Emergency Escape Breathing Apparatus” which generally include a pressurized tank of air. It is an idea I have always meant to put some testing into it in a safe environment, but have never got around to it. You can’t really walk around with an inflated leaf bag, but a kitchen garbage bag is 13 gallons or 50l, so about 8 times larger than lung capacity (6l), so you should be able to go 8 times longer than just holding your breath. Worst case you are only out a couple of bucks and both the goggles and the trash bag are basically useful items in any case.

    PS I have taken to wearing swim goggles when working under my car as a bit of dirt bounced off my nose and into my eye while wearing safety glasses. Sadly I should also caution anyone against strapping the bag to your face for testing. Be safe and only test with a spotter, as all those old warnings about plastic bags and suffocation are real. 3 seconds without safety, 3 minutes without air, 3 hours without shelter, 3 days without water and 3 weeks without food.