You guys remember this post about charging the smartphone off the solar panel using the USB battery as a regulator of sorts? So that was about two weeks ago and I’ve been charging the phone that way exclusively since then. No problems, no hiccups, and no lack of charge. So, based on my two weeks of charging the phone this way, I say that this is indeed a viable method of keeping the phone going in a situation where there might not be another method of charging available. Of course, this is summer when sunlight is plentiful. We’ll have to run this little experiment again around January when it’s cold and overcast all the time. But..so far..seems to work just fine.
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I was chitchatting with someone the other day and the conversation turned to preparedness, which isnt that surprising, but then we went deeper into what flavor of apocalypse was this person preparing against i found that his concerns mirror mine pretty closely. Me, I’m not the kinda guy who buys the notion that we’re all gonna be shooting at UN troops marching down main street while dying of Bird Flu as comets and asteroids slam into the planet exacerbating a pole shift and creating Peak Oil as the rapture occurs. I’m more of a ‘gradual decline into Third World / Soviet-era lifestyle’..you know – lines for toilet paper, rolling brownouts, chronic unemployment, understocked stores, etc, etc….sort of a nationwide Detroit. (Hmm..I may have to start using ‘Detroit’ as a verb and an adjective. “Hey, did you see that earthquake Detroited Haiti?” or “It’s been seven years since Katrina and parts of New Orleans are still Detroity”.) Anyway, the discussion reinforced that I officially know no one locally who is not, in some way or another, gearing up against the uncertain future…this includes friends, customers, police, vendors, and pretty much anyone I say more than ten words to on a normal basis.
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Went out shooting the other day and I’ve been playing with the Uzi since I mounted the vertical foregrip and I gotta say it makes a huge difference. It’s a heavy gun, and 9mm isn’t exactly a recoil powerhouse, so bringing the thing up to the shoulder and doing fast double taps at multiple targets is easy. Which reminds me, I need to get one of those BattleComp muzzle devices on the AR and see how easy the same courses of fire are in terms of fast target-to-target hits. As I said, my interpretation of the apocalypse doesn’t really anticipate running gun battles and multiple-target scenarios but…if I’m wrong..well…better to be prepared on all fronts, no?
I generally don’t speak to people anymore about prepping. Besides the obvious OPSEC, the funny looks just turn me off to most people. Your experience I find astonishing in that almost everyone you know has some sort of preparedness efforts going on. Not in my neck of the woods (and I live in the redoubt!). No, Most folks in my neighborhood have their heads in the sand. They can’t be bothered, since prepping is an imposition on their weekend RVing, four wheeling, cruising main street, and other such farsical macho BS.
I always keep my eye open for your gear reviews, and at the same time, have my eyes elsewhere on the blogospherical device, and saw something interested over at Tam’s. She hotlinked to the BioLite Campstove, a nifty device that allows you to charge your usb devices while burning sticks or other biomass, and at the same time is (obviously, by name) a camp stove. I’m kinda interested on your take of this device and wonder if you don’t have contacts to get yourself one slightly cheaper to try out.
At any rate, here’s the link: http://biolitestove.com/campstove/camp-overview/features/
As someone born, raised and still living in Detroit, it is bad, but not that bad. At least we don’t have goats in the streets. Yet.
I just got the Nomad 7 and the Guide 10 Plus battery pack from Goal Zero. I’m still testing the battery pack right now but I’m looking forward to seeing how it and the solar panel do for my Android phone and my Kindle. The Goal Zero gear has been on my to-buy list for a while now but I just haven’t been willing to shell out the cash yet. Luckily my better half, who is not on board at all with what she calls my “whackadoodle” hobby, does pay attention to my Amazon wishlist.
My experience with LMIs has been similar to Troy’s comment above. I remember my first conversations with my best friends, guys I’ve been camping and hiking with for more than a decade, as being extremely disappointing. They are firmly in the “it won’t get that bad” frame of mind, even while Hurricane Isabelle and the recent derecho are still fresh in their memory. One of them has two kids and he keeps only about a week’s supply of food in the house. I don’t get it. Nowadays I don’t talk to them about my preps because I already get called for enough favors as the only guy with a truck, or a chainsaw, or an extension ladder, etc. I don’t want to be the one they go to when they want fresh water or air conditioning or a hot shower. I suppose I’d help if they were desperate or willing to trade gasoline, but otherwise I’d want them to tough it out. I’ve started conversations with co-workers who I’ve bumped into at gun shows or who have Gadsden license plates, but they tend to be far more interested in collecting guns than anything else; completely disinterested in talk about gardening or water treatment.
It’s frustrating so I take a more passive approach now: paracord boot laces.
From the fictional presentation point of view, it sounds like you are looking forward to dystopia, rather than collapse.
The one constant collapse scenario that cannot be discounted is nuclear. When looking at event probabilities it is important to recognize that events that have almost zero necessary preconditions need to be put at the front of the line, even if there absolute chance of occuring at any moment in time is low. Fortunately most nuclear war scenarios would be bad, but not complete collapses. If you read them, the studies that show an India-Pakistan nuke fest causing a nuclear winter are heavily weighted toward a positive result.
Not ‘looking forward’ in the sense of ‘gee, I hope this happens’…I think a more accurate phrasing would be that I’m expecting dystopia rather than collapse.
“As I said, my interpretation of the apocalypse doesn’t really anticipate running gun battles and multiple-target scenarios but…”
More and more we are seeing multiple attackers. Seems a lot of gunnies are switching to 9mm for the increased capacity, and cheaper ammo for more practice. I would expect that as things deteriorate, groups or gangs as attackers will become the norm, as they should have a higher survival quotient than an individual.
I don’t talk to anyone about my preps. As my current plan is to “bug in”, I’ve gone full stealth except for my significant other (who is thankfully, luckily 100% on board) and one family member (only because they are my cache location between work and home). I spend as much time camouflaging and hiding my preps at my residence as I do obtaining and practicing with them. I’ve had neighbors stop over and completely look past substantial stockpiles of stuff just because they are positioned and labeled innocently. For example, boxes labeled “old clothes – to goodwill” have cold weather gear, extra blankets, and so on. Stealth lighting, extra quiet generators or passive solar, etc. Minimize potential attention by outsiders as much as possible.
I figure that when things get bad, the worst thing I can do is act like I’m not as bad off as everyone else. When things get bad, I will be standing in line for aid and so on (if available) just like everyone else. I will be grouching and complaining about not having stuff just like everyone else. When someone asks me for help, I will tell them I have nothing to help and look it, just like they do. I will look as disheveled, unwashed, cranky and stressed as everyone else. The worst thing I could do is go about my business looking freshly showered with freshly laundered clothes and a full belly and have my house look warm, lit and inviting. In short: bug in, blend in, not bug in, stand out.