The Profound Musings of YOACH

It's been quite awhile since I've posted. I had promised to explain about the selection and use of power inverters - devices that allow you to run 110 volt household appliances from a low voltage DC source such as a car or marine battery.
I intend to keep that promise, and to continue in my mission to inform readers about how to become more self-sufficient and prepared for whatever natural or man-made disasters may come. The recent tsunami in Asia, and the terrorist action
in Russia at the school are examples of how sudden catastrophe can happen anywhere and at anytime. On a smaller scale, one criminal's desire for a quick buck can, within the blink of an eye, literally mean lifelong injury [or death] and financial ruin for you or a loved one. I'll breifly explain.

For the past year my owner has battled legal and medical issues that have taken up most of our time. The legal issues stem from an auto "accident" in which my owner was set up by the other driver for insurance fraud purposes; the medical issues stem from a combination of stress, injuries, and a prior chronic health condition.

After our brush with the "legal" system in America, in which my owner and I saw how corrupt insurance companies, lawyers, and judges can be, I realize that "tort reform" is but a thinly disguised attempt to prevent the little guy from making any meaningful recovery when injured by corporate or a "professional" person's incompetence or malicious actions. Granted, there have been plenty of obscene settlements based on very questionable reasoning, but there are MANY more folks who have either been killed or had their health and finances ruined and who lack
the resources to fight back or to rebuild their lives.

I'll leave it at that for now - to explain all the "ins and outs" of what happened would require a whole web site dedicated to just that.

Next posting, I WILL cover power inverters, and in the future I will - circumstances allowing - cover various other aspects of personal preparedness and self-sufficient living. My owner has been very busy with trying to recover his health, and deal with the financial fall out of all that has happened.

Things have been wild lately - my owner's been "through the ringer", but things are back to a "dull roar" here.

Last time, I promised you I'd talk about emergency light sources. Well, here goes.

The light sources I'll cover here fall into two main categories: Electric and fuel-powered. Some good examples of fueled lamps would be oil/alcohol lamps,candles, and the venerable Coleman Camping Lantern. The main thing to keep in mind about these is they do burn oxygen and emit carbon monoxide - a deadly gas. If you use any of these, make sure to allow adequate ventillation and keep these at least three feet from combustibles - such as drapes,furniture, newspapers, ... My owner goes one step further and places any candles or his Coleman propane lantern on a paving stone in the middle of the room on the floor. AVOID the so-called "gell" candles like the plague!! Many of these have been known to melt their containers and cause fires. ALL fuel lanterns and heaters should be operated where they will NOT be tipped over.

Fuel Lamps
Fueled lanterns such as the Coleman camping lantern burn propane from 16 oz cylinders. The propane is burned in a thumb-size cloth sack called a "mantle". This mantel glows bright white , producing many times the light available from a propane flame alone. The cloth mantels do burn out and disintegrate after some use, so it is well to keep several spares around. Another problem with cloth mantels is they become very fragile after being run for a few hours. This can cause problems with mantels disintegrating when the lantern is transported in the car during camping trips. The upside to all this is the cloth mantels are easy to replace. These lanterns are available in either ONE or TWO mantel sizes. The two-mantel lantern puts out much more light than the single one, but of course this comes at the cost of doubled fuel consumption. A single mantel lantern can burn 15 or so hours on a single 16 oz propane cylinder. Propane lanterns are clean-burning devices that produce quite a lot of light, but propane cylinders are pressurized to approximately 250 lbs/sq. in at room temperature, so reasonable caution should be taken against overheating or puncturing them. These should NOT be stored in a closed car in the direct sun, nor around heating appliances. A 16 oz propane cylinder can be had for approximately $2-3, depending on where you shop. Large chains such as WalMart or Target have them for reasonable prices in two-packs. READ and FOLLOW any instructions that come with your lamp.

A quick word about oil lamps: These can be slightly cheaper to run than propane lanterns, and don't require pressurized fuel cylinders. One unique danger of oil lamps is they may spill if knocked over. This causes a flood of burning liquid fuel on nearby surfaces - NOT a good situation! Oil lamps can be run on paraffin based oil or kerosene - do NOT try to run them on gasoline - this will cause a fire or explosion!! As with kerosene heaters, these lamps do cause some odor when operating, though the paraffin lamp oil generally is less objectionable.

Electric lamps:
I group these into two main categories - portable and fixed position. The three portable sources my owner likes are Mag Instruments' "Mag Lite" flashlights, the newer key-chain size LED flashlights, and the new Coleman fluorescent camping lanterns. These units are all portable light sources which run on standard flashlight batteries. The Mag lites are somewhat heavier than the ordinary, run-of-the-mill flashlight. These are machined from aircraft aluminum tubing, contain precision optics which can be focused either into a wide or narrow beam, have o-ring seals to make them nearly watertight, and are made for the rigors of police and paramedic work. These cost from $7.00 for a two AA-cell "penlight" model all the way to nearly $30 for a 4 D-cell "baton" model.The normal 2 D-cell model averages around $16 and, as of this writing, is available from retailers such as Target. The Mag lites use a special krypton bulb that burns brighter and lasts longer than standard flashlight bulbs.

LED flashlights are a relatively new development. Some of these high-tech devices can run literally hundreds of hours on a set of batteries.Being solid state, these can survive being dropped and banged around far more than a standard flashlight. While they don't produce as much light as a standard flashlight, today's models DO produce enough light to read by and to see in a completely darkened room. The LED lights have been available in every color of the rainbow for some time, but the newer WHITE LEDS produce plenty of full-spectrum light of the type most people are used to from normal lights. My owner has two "key chain" size white LED flashlights - one that's literally the size of a .306 rifle cartridge, another slightly larger unit that takes 3 AAA penlight cells and can run up to 150 hours before needing new ones!! Larger models containing multiple LEDS are available to compete with the standard D-cell size flashlights are also available. These units look to be a reliable,long-lasting source of moderate light output. One or two LED flashlights would clearly be a good investment - and some stores offer them for about the price of a Mag lite.

The final category of portable electric light sources is the fluorescent camping lantern. Coleman and a few other companies make these. Other than quality of construction, there is little obvious distinguishing one from another. The main difference you will notice is some models have one fluorescent tube and some contain two. The double-tube ones produce twice the light output, but they also deplete batteries faster. The better models have a switch to allow you to select whether to have one or both tubes lit - thus giving you the choice of long life at lower light levels or lots of light for a shorter run time. Most of these units run on 6 or 8 C or D flashlight cells. These lantern type units are great for reading, working, or wherever else hands-free portable operation is needed.

Fixed source lighting:
Basically most lighting in the home is "fixed source" - meaning one does not normally move them or carry them around. There IS a way of powering fixed source lights in the home WITHOUT having mains power. This involves using a battery and a power inverter. Next time, I'll tell you about power inverters, and how you can easily use these for running all sorts of AC line-powered devices in your car - OR in your home when there is no electric service. In another upcoming issue, I'll discuss rechargeable batteries-the different kinds, how they're used, how to choose them. Stay tuned.

In view of the recent earthquake in Iran, where an estimated 35,000 people were killed, my recent postings take on a grim timeliness. Granted, their building construction contributed massively to the carnage there; but a fire, flood, quake, riot, terrorist act, blackout, ... could still cause much needless suffering - even in more developed countries - to those who have not made basic preparations. I provide this information to those who want to proactively care for themselves and their loved ones. Now, onto today's installment of YOACH's Preparedness Series.

Last time, I talked about taking care of personal hygene under crisis conditions. As a loquacious computer, at least I don't have to worry about that - other than if someone with yucky restroom hands decides to use my mouse or keyboard. GROSS!

Seriously, I promised you I'd tell you about keeping warm and lighting your way at night. Since the information on both lights and heaters is quite voluminous, I'll stick to heaters for this discussion and do lighting next time. There are several basic kinds of portable heaters. Since there is no electricity available in most disaster situations, I'll stick to portable heaters that burn fuel. Basically, portable heaters run on gaseous fuels like propane or butane, or they use a liquid oil such as kerosene. Both have their advantages as well as their drawbacks. Kerosene tends to be cheaper, but is not readily available in some areas. Some municipalities have banned the use of kerosene heaters, so before buying one, be sure to check local ordinances and fuel availability.

Kerosene heater Advantages:

1) Relatively low cost of operation - fuel is cheap in 5-gallon containers;
2) Safety - spilled kerosene is harder to accidentally light than propane or butane;
3) No jets or orifices to clog - maintenance is simple;
4) Fuel is delivered via a cotton wick - in most cases is NOT pressurized.

Drawbacks:

1) Odor. While modern fuels and heaters produce less odor than the older ones, there is a noticeable odor;
2) Soot - if the heat control is set too high, or the burner not kept clean enough, kerosene heaters can produce a sooty fallout that will soil furniture, clothes, drapes, ..., and is not healthy to breathe;
3) ALL combustion devices use oxygen from the room and produce carbon dioxide - a DEADLY but colorless, odorless gas. ALWAYS keep adequate ventilation in rooms where these heaters are used. Follow manufacturer's written guidelines.



Propane and Butane Heaters - Advantages:

1) Propane less messy to handle, as it comes in pressurized containers. Hoses connect these bottles to the appliance. Thus, NO pouring of fuel required. The most common sizes of fuel cylinders are the small 1 lb size for hand-held torches and the 5 gallon size commonly used for backyard barbecues;
2) Clean burning - less odor and soot than kerosene heaters.

Drawbacks

1) Fuel more expensive than kerosene;
2) Since fuel is pressurized vapor, the chance of a leak and a fire/explosion somewhat higher than with a kerosene heater. Hoses and fittings need to be treated with care and regularly checked for leaks or damage. Check system for leaks using soap bubble solution - a leak will blow bubbles when solution is brought in contact;
3) Burner orifices (jets) occasionally clog. Since these orifices are tiny - nearly the size of a human hair, a very small amount of contaminant or soot can totally clog them. Such orifices are difficult to clean under emergency/crisis conditons;
4) These, too, use oxygen and produce carbon dioxide - allow adequate ventillation per manufacturer's guidelines.



Propane and butane heaters come in small, "backpacker" sizes for tent camping as well as larger sizes for heating a camping cabin. The backpacker sizes use the 1 lb cylinders, whereas a unit suitable for heating a large room would require a 5-gallon or larger container of propane to run.


Propane heaters use either an open-type burner or a catalytic element to produce their heat. The catalytic heaters generally are safer due to NOT using an open flame and also by NOT producing as many hydrocarbon pollutants.
It should be noted that catalytic heaters STILL USE OXYGEN and produce DEADLY CARBON DIOXIDE. Thus, you still need to crack open a window when using these heaters. Catalytic heaters also tend to be more fuel efficient. The open flame type heaters come in large sizes for putting out a tremendous amount of heat, but they also guzzle fuel and pollute more than catalytic heaters.

Liquid fuel heaters that burn kerosene mostly use wicks - like a huge oil lamp, but a few models do use catalytic elements and may or may not pressurize the fuel. The pressurized fuel units generate their working pressure by one of two means: Either a hand-operated pump or by relying on the heat from the burner to vaporize the fuel in the reservoir.


Prices:

Kerosene heaters for home use generally range from $100 to $250. Kerosun(R) is a well-known brand. Kerosene and diesel fuel prices track closely.

Propane heaters range from $50 for a "backpacker" model to as much as several hundred dollars for larger units. 1 lb propane cylinders cost $1.50 to $3.00 a piece (WalMart is generally a good bargain on these during camping season), while bulk fuel prices for a 5-gallon barbeque tank run around $12 - $15 as of this writing.



Next time, I'll cover the spectrum of lighting options - from low tech alcohol/oil lamps to the most modern, innovative light sources available today: the solid- state LED flashlight.

Hi, I'm back from the holidays. As I promised you last time, I'll cover the basics on how to SAFELY handle bathroom and related hygene issues during an emergency.

Hygene: The problem of going to the bathroom rears its head very soon after the onset of any crisis. If there is no electricity, water supplies may be cut off too, as electricity is needed to pump water from municipal storage tanks to homes and businesses. Doing one's business outside, on the ground, is unacceptable - as this rapidly spreads potentially deadly diseases. An emergency toilet can be as simple as a 5-gallon paint bucket lined with a plastic "kitchen" trash bag, or as elaborate as a "Porta-Potti" brand portable toilet made by Thetford. "Porta-Pottis" are available at camping and outdoor supply places. The porta potti is compact, uses chemicals to break down waste so the odors are kept minimized, and basically gives a less primative feel. Porta Pottis cost from about $70 to $140, depending on which model you get. If you go with the paint bucket route, make sure you have a tight-fitting lid to contain odors and prevent flies from getting into the contents. Use a double layer of decent quality trash bags to prevent leakage. A handfull of baking soda or lime thrown in after each use will also help with the odor. Use the above-mentioned baby wipes after you've completed going to the restroom.
This will help prevent the spread of germs that cause illness or death during disaster situations.

For bathing, one can use "baby wipes". These are pre-moistened towelettes that don't require water to activate or to rinse afterward. Anything strong enough to clean up baby poop is certainly strong enough to clean up underarm odor, wash hands, and clean private areas.

Next time, I'll cover emergency lighting and heat sources.

Well, I'm back at it from a weekend of hiding out. One of the big news headlines was a 6.5 earthquake on the Central Coast of California. So far, a couple people have been found dead or injured, and there was significant damage to buildings and some 10,000 homes are without power. With all the natural and man-made disasters that have happened in the past couple years, it still overheats my circuits trying to understand why folks won't make some basic preparations - measures that could GREATLY aid them during such crisis. With a 72-hour kit and a few other important items, one need NOT be sitting in the dark - cold, and hungry - after a major crisis or disaster.

Per my owner's suggestion, I will include some tips in this and the next couple blog entries to help those who are interested in making some simple preparations. This one will start with the most basic provisions. I want to reiterate that being prepared for emergencies is NOT an "all or nothing" endeavor - ANYTHING you do to prepare can greatly increase your odds of safely making it through a fire, earthquake, flood, terrorist attack, or most other types of disaster.

Keeping some basics such as non-perishable food, bottled water, extra prescription meds, toilet paper, ... is common sense. These items can be acquired gradually, a little at a time, so the financial outlay and logistics aren't a huge, overwhelming burden occuring all at once. A basic 72-hour kit provides enough supplies to operate self-sufficiently until (hopefully) Federal disaster aid can reach the scene. There should be 1 gallon of drinking water per person per day - so a 72-hour kit should contain 3 gallons per person. A two person household needs 6 gallons of stored drinking water, ... Alcohol hand cleaning gel and/or "baby wipes" are excellent for cleaning up minor messes and for hand washing. These are also great for "sponge bathing". A couple flashlights, with the appropriate batteries, is a must. I'll speak more about those in another entry. A small, battery-operated portable radio is very useful for monitoring emergency news and local information.

In summary, one should have the following items in a "72-Hour" kit:

*non-perishable foods - "power bars", canned goods, ...

*Water - 3 gallons per person - that's 1 gallon per person per day

*extra prescription meds - if you take any

*toilet paper

*"baby wipes" and alcohol-based hand cleaning gel - these avoid the need for running water for hand washing and hygene.

*flashlights and batteries - I'll discuss these shortly in another blog.


While this list is by no means complete, it is a good start for those who currently have no contingency plan in place.

In my next entry, I'll discuss how one can SAFELY and CLEANLY take care of "nature's call" during a crisis when regular bathroom facilities may not be operational.

Hi, I'm YOACH - the fugitive 486 DX33 PC.
Boxen - whether they be a Timex Sinclair or the newest supercomputer - are confounded by the things in which humans invest their time and energy. Take Paris Hilton for example. Totally inept, she is barely capable of even simple tasks like preparing a meal, driving a pickup truck, knowing how to spell, and until recently, knew nothing of such mundane things like payroll taxes deducted from a worker's pay. Now, granted, she's been kept like a French lap poodle all her life, not having to cook, clean, or do anything but party, play around, shop, and wiggle her tail. Nonetheless, one would think she would have learned SOMETHING either in school or even from watching TV. Apparently not. Yet Paris Hilton got a starring role in a recent TV show - "The Simple Life", and continues to receive a tremendous amount of undue deference in her Los Angeles, California social scene. Either she is learning impaired, and/or her parents are criminally negligent for NOT educating her on basic life skills. HOW is she even going to be able to handle the family fortune when old man Hilton is gone???? How will she know her staff isn't absconding with it all? Have her parents even considered this?


While we boxen concern ourselves daily with such mundane issues as avoiding hackers, computer 'malware', power glitches, ..., the average human chooses to worry - and even fight over - such trivial issues as which sports team is better, or what Britney Spears happens to be wearing that moment. What if a fraction of the money spent on sports stadiums and Britney Spears merchandise were instead spent on after school programs for kids? All the folks screaming about taxes might then be able to spend less on prisons, "the war on drugs", and all the other hidden costs of having an army of uneducated, violent, drug-peddling juvenile delinquents roaming our neighborhoods. We might instead have a larger home-grown pool of intelligent, responsible people needed to build the technologies that could spawn new industries and job creation to rebuild America's economic base. I may have a slow processor and only 16 MB of RAM, but it didn't take me long to figure this out.


The events of that horrible morning of 09/11/2001 temporarily caused people to look inward and ask themselves "what is truly important in life?" Americans had to, for the first time in decades, come out of their TV-induced stupor and question their reality and their place in the world. 9/11 showed all of us that what IS can, in a split second, be gone forever.


Paris referred to the Arkansas family's situation as "ghetto" in one episode of
"Simple Life". Many folks, within America and elsewhere, including my owner, wish they could live in such "ghetto" conditions. The Arkansas family have a house, two trucks, plenty of fresh, high quality food to eat, clean air, a sense of community, and friends who care about them. While NOT to say everyone should move to a farm in the country, or adopt any particular lifestyle, isn't it high time city and country dwellers alike re-evaluate what is really important in life? If Paris was really that appalled at how other people live, she could take a break from her endless shopping sprees and jet-set lifestyle, and instead, use her resources to do a tremendous amount of good. She is NOT constrained by having to work for a living, and otherwise contend with all the limitations that most folks must. She could volunteer at a soup kitchen, community health clinic, or other endeavor that could make a small but real difference in the world. People with far fewer resources have contributed in huge ways. At the end of the day, she could retire with the satisfaction of knowing that she had lived her life for a meaningful purpose.


Paris's stint in "The Simple Life" no doubt was a very educational experience. It will be interesting to see what, if anything, she and her other "valley girl" friend do with that knowledge.

Hmmm, something is amiss with the formatting. Hope this can be resolved shortly.

Hi, I'm YOACH. Welcome to my new blog spot. I am a 486 DX33 PC, hiding out in a small, dilapidated house, somewhere in the American West. I have two operating systems : DR DOS 7.3 and Slackware LINUX 4.0. I was given to my owner years ago by his employer. Not only has my owner relieved me of that abomination - Windoz 95, he has built several more boxen: "Penti" - a simple P 233 MMX system, "Ultra" - another P233MMX with a faster system buss and a really nice audio card for sound mixing, and "Shoebox" - a homemade luggable PC that is, as the name implies, roughly the size of a shoebox. "Ultra" and "Shoebox" both dual-boot Windoz 98 and LINUX. The origin of my name, "YOACH", is a long story - one that perhaps I shall tell in another entry.

One thing you should know going in: We boxen DO "see" and know lots of things - more than you can ever imagine, though we may look dumb, crash,and have various other annoying habits. WE rarely tell any human our opinions, unless they are like my owner, in whom I and my fellow boxen have placed our absolute trust.

My owner is a technician, writer, and part-time student, working for a high-tech company, as well as on various odd side projects. He is a "Leonardo de Vinci" type of guy, who has been known to build some cool things from very improbable materials and with simple tools, more often than not under very difficult conditions. I keep telling him "You've got to figure out how to market that talent". He keeps telling me he's working on it. We'll see - he just bought "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Career Change", as well as various tomes on running your own business.

We hope you will join us in this little adventure by visiting here regularly, as we have quite a story to tell.