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Lidia
Lidia
13 years ago

Hmmm, Cody Lundine (Dave Canterbury’s survival partner) makes a decent living demonstrating and teaching wilderness survival. I think there’s a niche for almost anything, provided you’re good enough.

Lidia
Lidia
13 years ago

Sorry for adding another comment. One variety that is a traditional open-pollinated corn for cornmeal, etc is Wapsi. It’s developed in Iowa but it’s been developed for decades. (My husband has relatives who grow it, and have for decades) I have been seeing it increasingly at some organic CSA’s. (for instance Venetucci Farm, Colorado Springs CO says they grow it) There are still OP corn out there.

KAM
KAM
13 years ago

@Jack,

Yes, the kids are probably handing in their old broken toy guns…sort of like gang-bangers turn in their broken down REAL guns for their Shoe coupons or whatever they bribe them with.

Perfect example of idiots trying to make themselves feel like they’ve done something, spreading their stupidity around, and accomplishing nothing.

Donna
Donna
13 years ago

Here’s an artcile on folks who are “Workampers” with some thoughts on a nomadic working lifestyle.
http://www.alternet.org/story/152220/'workampers‘:_what_it’s_like_to_wander_around_the_country_in_an_rv_desperately_looking_for_work

‘Workampers’: What It’s Like to Wander Around the Country in an RV Desperately Looking for Work

Finding a new job today often requires thinking outside the box, and you can’t think much further outside the job search box than workamping.

T
T
13 years ago

Jack,

The toy gun buyback program article reminded me of this great comic. Thought you might enjoy.

sandy fleming
sandy fleming
13 years ago
Reply to  T

Thanks Donna, this was very helpful!

Joe Terry
Joe Terry
13 years ago

Here’s another opportunity for that couple that is worrying about gun safety. In addition this is great for teachers and anyone else out there.

The NRA has a program called Eddy Eagel and here’s the link for it: http://www.nrahq.org/safety/eddie/

txmom
txmom
13 years ago

@Jack “unfortunately for people in their 40’sand 50’s it gets hard to learn this new stuff, you have a mental block that it is even possible”
I disagree very much. The mental block isn’t like you think. I have a friend in Australia who saw a need to use her tech/secretary type skills from home, working for herself, she got a successful home business up and running and started the first online/school/community for virtual assistants. She is doing well, smart thinking scaling up her business that way.
Another friend after her and her husband were laid off, various health issues in family, house repoed, is making money as a social media consultant, not yet to where they were before things got back, but it is helping and she gets better at what she does.
A friend who works from home, taking care of her disabled husband, her mother who just passed away, she has her own web design business, in fact I know several in that age group who have started such businesses, some with more success than others.
Another friend, very non-techy, first to admit, has a journalism background. She has learned to run her own wordpress site, create and sell products there using paypal. She has a blog talk radio show, and local radio show. Using her media background she helps small businesses get media exposure, this past month she started her own local television show. A big jump for her.
Another friend learned a new skill, making the most beautiful handcrafted wooden pens, bought a website, set up booths at tradeshows. However, not enough $ for her time and she is searching for a new niche.
Another friend quite a bit older than that, retired teacher, who started her own successful herb farm, business is growing, this year she added a nursery, and occasionally has herb/farming classes on her land. She is active in internet forums, on facebook, blogs, has virtual assistant take care of her site and newsletter.
A retiree, made good money in the timber business, bought a franchise, took all his time, little return, part of his business was nutritional supplements. Something he got into when he and his wife decided to get in better shape as retirees. Clients would come in from out of town, ask if they could have stuff shipped to them. I remember talking to him as he was wondering if feasible, I said sure, have a website. He did, it took off, he closed the franchise. His web business slowed down as competition increased. He started a seo business as he learned things which brought traffic to his website.
I will admit that some have a mental block that they can do something like running their own website, but they are willing to learn, and seeing others do it give them hope and they jump right in. One lady contacted me, she wanted to be able to take care of her site like the lady who started her own TV show did, but was concerned she couldn’t do anything that techie until her friend with the TV show admitted how little she once knew.
Another friend went into the house staging business in CA, she was bookkeeper, but realized she could never make more than the hours she had in a day. Her specialty became going in and untrashing repo’s, because of her online presence, mainly places realtors hang out, she was contacted by a news network, who was doing a feature on trashed homes, wanting their camera crew to follow her crew cleaning up a bad one. She hadn’t been in business long, but she quickly had t-shirts with business name and number on the back made up in a day or 2’s time, and the exposure brought her much more business.
Not all these friends are rich, some doing better than others, biggest challenge is not learning these new skills but how to market, sale, make it profitable.
I could easily find more examples, they are there.
No matter what age you can always learn new stuff. If you quit learning new stuff, you’d lose passion for life, and who in their right mind or not, would want to live that way!

Rich
Rich
13 years ago

Glad you liked the Jobsolescense article. It really hit home with me since it mirrors my experience over the last four years or so.

In early 2008 I lost my job and wasn’t having any luck looking for a new one. After several months, one of the companies that I had contacted about a job called me up and offered me a contract consulting position (which I took).

Fast forward three years and I’m still doing consulting work (although for different clients). I’m currently making about three times what I was making when I had a job.

Having a business instead of a job was the best thing I ever did.

Grandpappy
Grandpappy
13 years ago

Just a thought on situational awareness. An LEO posted on another blog about using a fire extinguisher as a defensive weapon. I’ve wondered since Columbine if it would be helpful to note fire extinguisher and fire hose locations, and what good it would do to hose down a shooter. Could a firearm be jammed or disabled with a blast of chemicals from an extinguisher?

Whiskey
Whiskey
13 years ago

@Grandpappy- Doubtful. I dont think the discharge from a fire extinguisher will cause a firearm to malf… But I have never tried it. The big fire hoses could work to hose an attacker, but you still have a big water gun, and they have a real gun. Advantage to the person with the real weapon.

Ellen
13 years ago

What’s disturbing to me about the “homeless man story” is the antagonistic attitude of the person who reported it. If perhaps he had treated the guy with a little humanity and civility, things wouldn’t have escalated and he wouldn’t have to get all afraid.

Long ago I was friends with a man who lived on the street. He said that one of the things that was so difficult was people looking right through you like you didn’t exist. His name was Bobby, and he was a WWII veteran, and he was a kind, funny, smart and upstanding gentleman. He taught me about what it was like to be on the streets in the 80’s.

Even if I don’t have money to offer, I always make eye contact and say something friendly when approached (sometimes I’ll make the first contact), and I’ve never been in fear of an attack. Ever.

You know what? Being homeless doesn’t make a person a criminal, dangerous or scum. Treating someone who is living such a difficult life like they are scum is just plain wrong, and says more about you.

I’m agnostic, but I grew up in a very Christian household and the importance of this issue was brought to my attention at a very early age. There but for the grace of god, etc. Think about it. Be NICE. What does it cost you? Things are BAD out there for a lot of folks. Gratuitous hostility is never the right thing.

Ellen
13 years ago

I’m just saying that there was a better way to defuse the situation than open hostility as a preemptive strike.

Jason
13 years ago
Reply to  Ellen

As somebody who has helped feed the homeless, I thought he defused the situation quite well. Being “nice” to such people only enables them to continue their rudeness / lack of respect for others.

Krispcritter
Krispcritter
13 years ago

Anyone else see the irony in the toy gun buyback being done by a group called “Fathers ARMED Together to Help, Educate, Restore and Save. “? Or are they also a Polka dancing troupe? And the fact that they intend to ‘bury’ the plastic toys with no mention of actually destroying them so either someone might dig them up in the future or they’ll just be burying trash which will never decay….how wonderful.

Aaron
Aaron
13 years ago

I agree about Eddie Eagle. I’ve taught my kids what to do if they find a gun while playing with that one DVD. Since then, iLve given the DVD to my son’s preschool. I hope they start showing it in class. I’ve also started teaching my kids to shoot responsibly with a Daisy BB gun.

Also, your recommendation of how to bring up safe storage is spot on. As far as the listener thinking about buying a firearm, contact an instructor and get training first. Every instructor I know has a variety of guns and will bring them so you can see what works for you.

OhioPrepper
OhioPrepper
13 years ago
Reply to  Aaron

I second the Eddie Eagle program. My now college age daughter quite literally cut her teeth on Eddies beak (the doll) and carried an Eddie Eagle backpack to school her first few years.
I taught her to shoot at age 5 and we would go shooting about any time she asked. I think this combination taught her that guns are tools that require adult supervision, but they were not a mystery that you had to sneak around with.
It’s a good program and I think the materials are still free for schools if they make a formal request with documentation, like their letterhead.

sandy fleming
sandy fleming
13 years ago

Jack, I was sooo excited to get your feedback on my RV question today. Believe it or not we decided over the weekend before we heard your answer to start eating our stored food, we had 3 mo worth that’s been sitting around waiting for the STHTF and we are now going to transition to living on that at least for 50% of our meals. On top of that we are going to take your advice and get into the RV within a couple of months so that we can leave our apartment and rent and live in LA while still working our usual jobs. This will allow us to save up a bit more cash and get used to the lifestyle now. Thanks again really appreciated your advice and will follow up on the WWOOF.

Gumpster
Gumpster
13 years ago

Hey Jack. Are you still interested in debating someone on climate change? I found a great youtube channel that is operated by a science journalist. His arguments are well researched and reasoned. You might enjoy his videos.

http://www.youtube.com/user/potholer54#grid/user/A4F0994AFB057BB8

Thanks for the great podcasts.

Lew (glockman1727ak47)
13 years ago

That is really sick someone would want their child to live in fear of something. I also played guns as a child it was good times as a kid. What is nice about paintball is when you hit them there is proof. Vs. what you did as a kid “bang bang i shot you” other kid “no you did not i dodge it”

Jason
13 years ago

Not sure what’s difficult to understand that there are people (vegetarians, vegans, etc) who do not wish to contribute to or partake in a system that’s extremely cruel to animals- be it for food, entertainment, clothing, etc.

For a better look at what really goes on behind the scenes, check out the movie Earthlings. Narrated by Joaquin Phoenix (who btw, did an awesome Johnny Cash).

http://www.earthlings.com/

Jason
13 years ago

My reply was in response to you saying it was “nonsense” that a vegetarian / vegan type would be ticked off if they discovered their compost had animal renderings. I can understand why’d they be ticked off. I can almost guarantee you those animal renderings came from a factory farm- regardless, my comment still stands- most vegetarians / vegans don’t wish to participate / contribute to any system (cosmetics, body-care products, entertainment, food, etc) that makes a profit from something that results from in cruelty to, experimentation on or abusing animals. You can disagree with their decision / reasoning, but I don’t think its completely unfathomable why they choose not to eat meat.

Hey, I completely applaud your AgriTrue efforts & labeling and appreciate you speaking out about the ills of factory farming & animal welfare. Keep on keepin’ on. Can’t wait to see it on a label @ my local farmer’s market.

Lew (glockman1727ak47)
13 years ago
Reply to  Jason

@Jason I think should raise chickens the AgriTrue way. Be an example of how we should treat animals. Thank them in the proper way for their lives and for sustaining ours. Protest by doing! Do not protest by not eating. Show them the way. Show them that there is profit in doing it the right way. Show them ethical way of it should have always been done. It is down right disgusting what they do. Show them a better way.

Ron
Ron
13 years ago

No matter what compost or soil you use, you should have it tested for trace minerals. Test your well water as well. You need to make sure you not only have enough, but also in the right proportions. Some minerals can get toxic if you get too much in the soil and some diminish the effectiveness of other minerals. If you add minerals without knowing what is already there, you can get too much of some and may not be adding enough of others. The extension service in your area can help connect you with a good lab and livestock nutritionist. Even if you have no livestock, the mineral mix should be about the same for humans as well. Don’t assume your soil is fine. Some areas in the US are iodine or selenium deficient. Others have toxic levels of copper and selenium or other undesirable heavy metals. I found out that the high levels of sulphides and sulfates in my well water ties up the copper and zinc and renders them less effective when I water my garden with it. Both these minerals are needed for good immunity.

OhioPrepper
OhioPrepper
13 years ago

For the topic on using the chemical light sticks, one thing to note is that this is a good time of year to get them. My local Dollar Tree currently has a large quantity of them in stock in all sizes, shapes, and colors; some for $1.00, some 2 or 3 for $1.00. They are meant for the upcoming Halloween festivities, and this is when and where I stock up and rotate my stock.

Jake
Jake
13 years ago

Its absolutely ridiculous that at US GOVERNMENT JOBS you don’t have the protection of the US CONSTITUTION! 2nd amendment “…the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” Not, “Shall be infringed whenever we feel like it.” >.<