New Mexico Urban Homesteader

Hello, I am A 50 Something, Prepper ;-}; former 60's Flower Child, don't believe in taxpayer subsidized special interest groups (political parties), DO believe in the Constitution and Bill of Rights (1st 10). Long time Independent & Informed Voter. Lover of the outdoors and firm believer that History Teaches - if only we will listen!

(No longer Urban or in NM. Now Rural in the mountains of Maine.)

This blog was started at the request of some dear friends that wish to become Preppers.

“No man who is not willing to help himself has any right to apply to his friends, or to the gods.”

Demosthenes (384–322 BC, Greek statesman and orator of ancient Athens)


Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Fall To Do’s - Preparing for Winter



The days are shorter and the nights are cooler, the main harvest has been preserved and stored. Yes fall is here and no matter where you live, before winter hits, there’s things that need a doin!

This 'little ditty' has checklists to help the winter and holiday season be more of a pleasure and less of a hassle. Plus many of the tips can save you bucks too! It is organized for:

  • Patio, Yard & Garden
  • The House Itself
  • The Garage
  • Inside the House
  • Farm or Ranch Basics
  • For Your Vehicle, including the Vehicle Emergency Kit and Vehicle Go-Bag.

Read or download the To Do List @ Fall To Do’s - Preparing Winter

Today is the Tomorrow that you worried about Yesterday

TNT


Thursday, September 8, 2011

What Does A WWII Heroine & 9-11 Have In Common?


That despite our ‘modern civilization’ we humans are still barbaric in our beliefs that ANY human has been created from a ‘better’ mold than another; that hatred kills.

Because of this I believe it is time we reflect again; that we search our souls and pray or meditate for guidance to truly become civilized and wise.

To the Creator, the Great One who created each of us,
Open our minds and soften our hearts.
Please guide us through the rest of our human existence in this material world.
Empower us to see the human, not the enemy.
Grant us the ability to love without reason, and see without prejudice; noticing instead all that we have in common.
Please guide us to enlightenment from the chains of this earthly illusion.
Please remove the veil of separateness and lift the fear of (and desire for) judgment and vengeance from us all.

Read the history at http://www.scribd.com/doc/64299196/What-Does-a-WWII-Heroine-9-11-Have-in-Common

TNT

Monday, September 5, 2011

Labor Day - It Takes All Kinds to Make the World Go Round


Labor Day is a special day. Even though it is not a true spiritual celebration, many faiths happily celebrate it because it recognizes the value of an activity essential for human beings: work.

Labor Day's cultural and spiritual revolution was founded in a simple motto: “ora et labora,” pray and work.

Labor Day, the first Monday in September, evolved from Matthew Maguire, a machinist from Paterson, N. J., who wanted to recognize those “who from rude nature have delved and carved all the grandeur we behold.” and ultimately a formal creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.

Anyway, the first Labor Day holiday in the U.S. was celebrated on Tuesday, September 5, 1882, in New York City, in accordance with the plans of the Central Labor Union. The Central Labor Union held it second Labor Day holiday just a year later, on September 5, 1883.

For everyone who works to live, or lives to work, today is the day we honor the working man and working woman. Some of us "work," yet receive no paycheck! Whatever your hourly wage or annual salary, whatever work you do or service you provide, may you be blessed by wealth in whatever currency in which you trade, and may you prosper at least as much as your wildest dreams, your hearts' desires. I could find no "special" prayer in my soul for today so here are some of my favorites that move the spirits and direct good will to all of you:

Time for rest; time for play We celebrate on Labor Day.

Throughout the year we give our best We each deserve a little rest.

The days and weeks and years march on Work well done an unspoken song.

We thank you Lord for giving life Even when work seems more like strife.

In work we have a chance to show Our talents perhaps, but surely to grow.

Interrelating and doing our jobs Helps us remember we’re an important cog.

On the wheel of life we turn and go on Fulfilled when we say
"A good job we've done."

May The Creator, The Fates, The Force be with you and yours always ;-}

TNT

PS - Read more on the history and evolution of Labor Day @ http://www.scribd.com/doc/64004132/Labor-Day-It-Takes-All-Kinds-to-Make-the-World-Go-Round

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Can a Preparedness Plan Be Wrong?

When you think about it, there are only a few ways any Preparedness Plan or method can be wrong.

The first way is kinda obvious.

  • You build a house straddling the San Andres Fault and do no more than follow building codes for earthquake preparedness or you build a house on an offshore ‘key’ and don’t do anything for hurricane preparedness.

Yes this is very simplified and obvious stuff and it is downright the wrong way to prepare!

“Dumb is being unable to learn.
Ignorance is not ever having had the opportunity to learn.
Stupid is having had the opportunity to learn and not taking advantage to do so.
Being Alive is learning something new every day."
Anonymous


The second is not so obvious because you can’t really know if it is right or wrong for you until a crisis actually hits. It is HOW you react to the crisis - that will show you if your plan was right or wrong.

  • You are not as committed to your preparedness plan as you are your S & G’s (Sh_ts & Grins).
  • You “play” at being prepared; you stock pile but not much else.
  • Then when a crisis hits you realize that you don’t know how to do something that will reduce or eliminate a few trials and tribulations.
  • You see neighbors or friends are doing better so you go over and demand they help you.
  • You rant, rave and blame other things and people for why you do not have some skill to reduce or eliminate your trials and tribulations - because you were too busy; not enough money or time; learning those skills took too much effort; ‘such’n’such’ agency isn’t doing their job, etc. – so people must help you now.

This is a wrong way to plan and there are only two ways to make it right:

  • Accept that you did not have a good plan or work at it, and suck it up to make it through the additional trials and tribulations of the crisis. Oh, you can ask that neighbor or friend for help but you won’t fly off the handle if they cannot be of assistance to you right then and there.
  • Play this “What If” scenario out now – before a crisis – and change your plans accordingly. Make preparedness one of your top 12 priorities in life.

If you are doing your plan “right” you will accept the burdens of additional trials and tribulations in the current crisis. You will not point fingers or blame others; you will not demand someone help you right now. Rather, you would accept the responsibility of the outcome of your preparedness planning. And I’m willing to bet my last dollar that once the crisis is over – preparedness will be a higher priority in your life.

“10% of life is made up of what happens to you.
90% of life is decided by how you react."
Stephen R. Covey

(Stephen Richards Covey, born 1932, American author, professional speaker, professor, consultant, management-expert.)

Most of us humans will fail to achieve knowledge and or skills we feel we may need to survive a crisis because we have NOT placed preparedness as one of the top 12 priorities in our lives.

On top of this when we have not been honest with ourselves that preparedness is not one of our top 12 priorities in life, we often come up with all kinds of rationalizations (excuses) as to why we can’t attend this or that lesson or class on a skill we have identified we lack.

"The chief cause of failure and unhappiness is trading what you want most for what you want now."
Zig Ziglar

(Hilary Hinton "Zig" Ziglar, born 1926, American author, salesman, and motivational speaker.)

We make these rationalizations because when we are not honest with ourselves, we can’t be honest with others – so any excuse will do.

Yet when this type of individual is confronted with additional trials and tribulations in a SHTF world (because they have not obtained this skill) they may ask for assistance to learn this skill and if refused, they usually will NOT be demanding or a danger to others around them.

Instead as the crisis unfolds their minds are mature enough, their feet planted in reality enough; to realize that they made a poor choice in not learning this skill in the past – they accept responsibility for this and make do.

"Perhaps the very best question that you can memorize and repeat, over and over, is, "what is the most valuable use of my time right now?"
Brian Tracy

(born 1944, Canadian self-help author and speaker on leadership, sales, managerial effectiveness, and business strategy.)

The most common rationalizations one is likely to hear for not attending a class on some skill needed to survive a crisis are:

  • My life is too busy … I just don’t have the time …
  • It’s too expensive to drive across or into town and then pay for the class too …
  • My neighborhood, community or situation is different so it is too hard to take a class in town…
  • These instructors should teach in my neighborhood if this is such an important skill …
  • I have my emergency supplies and gadgets so I am already prepared and don’t need any classes on this because that blah-blah agency will help me if I need more …

"Knowledge is that which, next to virtue,
truly raises one person above another."
Joseph Addison

(1672-1719, English essayist, poet, playwright and politician.)

The most common rationalizations one is likely to hear for not preparing at all are:

  • That will never happen here, or to me …
  • People are too inventive or ingenious to let to that happen …
  • That is just being a doomsayer…
  • That is just a gimmick to get me to buy this-or-that or a scare tactic to get me to do this-or-that …
  • That is what such-n-such entity is for…
  • You can’t prepare for everything that is likely to happen so why prepare much more than I am or at all …

"Life doesn't happen TO you; it happens FOR you."
Byron Katie

(Byron Kathleen Mitchell (née Reid), born 1942, American Author, speaker.)

I know “Preppers” from all walks of life.

  • One friend has 5 children, the oldest just started college. They live in a middle class neighborhood. Yet despite working and running from one side of town to the other for their children’s sporting events they manage to attend classes to learn at least one new skill a year.
  • About 6 years ago a friend of mine in Tennessee moved out of the city to a small rural town about 45 miles away to care for his father, who is now in late stage Alzheimer’s. He only makes about $87,000 a year and he finds time to go into the city at least once a year for a class to learn a new skill he feels he needs to survive the crises on his list.
  • Another friend lives here in town, drives, needs a walker to get around and lives on a fixed income. Attends at least one class a year here in town and even helps “sponsor” a class now and then.
  • One friend lives in Belen (south of town), does not drive; is in a wheel chair and lives on a fixed income. He manages to attend a class or two a year here in town.
  • Another friend lives here in town, is on a fixed income, does not drive and is in a wheelchair. She and her family attend at least a class or two a year here in town.
  • One lives in Morority (east of town), is in a wheelchair, does not drive and lives on a fixed income. She manages to get into town for a class a couple of times a year.
  • One lives in Edgewood (east of town) is on crutches (will probably be in a wheelchair in the next 5 years), does not drive and lives on a fixed income. This single mom not only manages a class in town a few times a year, she is leading her church group too.
  • When I was in Jr. High back east we lived across the street from a Catholic Church and School. The family on our right had 11 children; the family on our left had 9. Despite our middle-class lives and the costs of sending their children to parochial school, these two families were what we now call Preppers and they found time and monies to attend several classes a year in downtown Philly to learn skills they felt they would need to survive some crisis with the least trials and tribulations.

Four of these friends are married and three have more than one child at home under the age of 18.


All of these “mobility” and “financially” challenged people find the time, money and make the effort to attend 1 or more glasses in town each year.

"Reduce the complexity of life by eliminating the needless wants of life, and the labors of life reduce themselves."
Edwin Teale

(1899-1980 American naturalist, photographer, and Pulitzer Prize-winning writer)

When I ask them if they feel their situations and limited incomes would warrant an instructor to teach these classes closer to them, they all replied about the same:

  • Why? My being disabled does not warrant that kind of special consideration.
  • Most of these teachers are not getting paid to teach these classes and are taking time away from their families and busy lives to teach, in the cheapest venue around, so I might as well go where they will get more students per class, so their sacrifices to teach are worth their effort.

ALL of these friends obviously have preparedness as one of the top 12 priorities in their lives.

"When life takes the wind out of your sails,
it is to test you at the oars.”
Robert Brault

(American free-lance writer for over 40 years)

These friends are my inspiration, so when I catch myself using some kind of rationalization, I reflect on these friends of mine …

Then I find the money, make the time and effort to attend a class on a skill I feel I need to survive the crises on my list. If they can do it, I know dam well I can do it too!

To these friends: I Thank You one and all for showing me that life is worth living and that anything I so desire is just an action or two away ;-}

Bottom line: The only way a preparedness plan, methodology or process is wrong is if you are:

  • Stupid
  • Live in fantasyland
  • Blame others for your situation, rather than yourself for that which you did not take upon yourself to do
  • Demand or taking from someone else, that which you did not demand of yourself to obtain

Otherwise your preparedness plan is not wrong; it just may not be perfect.

So to stay on track, be honest with yourself and look around you. Take stock in others whose lives have more “built in” excuses to not have the time or money to take a class in a skill, yet they do anyway and find this tenacity in yourself to do the same.

“Determination and perseverance move the world;
thinking that others will do it for you is a sure way to fail.”
Marva Collins

(1936-present American Educator)

TNT


Monday, August 29, 2011

Upcoming Events: Self-Reliance/Preparedness Fairs & Appleseed Shoots


What is the Appleseed Project and Shoot?

This is a project sponsored by the Revolutionary War Veterans Association (RWVA) to pass on the skills and history of our country’s first Riflemen.

On the home page of their website (http://appleseedinfo.org/) it states:

“Project Appleseed is an activity of The Revolutionary War Veterans Association, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, dedicated to teaching every American our shared heritage and history as well as traditional rifle marksmanship skills. Our volunteer instructors travel across the country teaching those who attend about the difficult choices, the heroic actions, and the sacrifices that the Founders made on behalf of modern Americans, all of whom are their “progeny.””

At each event you will not only learn marksmanship skills that are great for the novice or the experienced shooter, you will also learn about the skills, tenacity, fortitude and choices made by participants in the battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19th, 1775.

I thoroughly enjoyed the local event this past weekend in my area, as well as sharpened my skills and highly recommend this for any self-reliance, preparedness or survival seeker. I don’t care if you are a professional sharp shooter; I bet you can learn something new at one of these events.

All Appleseed events are 2 (two) days and are free for Active Military, Reserve, National Guard, and Peace Officers.

Women $10.00 and youths under 21 are $5.00

Both Days are $70.00, one day is $45.00 plus any requested Range Fees from the shooting facility.

Although walk-ons are welcome, be sure to pre-register as the Appleseed Project sponsors and RWVA will use the pre-registration count to determine how many “crew members” will be on hand for instruction. You can register online or by mail (USPS).

If you live in New Mexico here is a list of upcoming shoots:

Edgewood, NM - Sep 10-11
Raton, NM - Sep 17-18
Rio Rancho, NM - Sep 17-18

Albuquerque, NM - Oct 15-16
Roswell, NM - Oct 15-16

Rio Rancho, NM - Dec 10-11

To find out when an event is in your area go to: http://appleseedinfo.org/search-states.html and then select your state. Don’t forget to look at the requirements and suggestions on what to bring besides your desire to learn (From the Home page select Boot Camps, What to Bring).

Since September is National Preparedness Month remember to check for local events in your newspapers and the like. Many Boy Scout Troupes sponsor neighborhood Preparedness fairs.

Here are a few internet/nationally advertized upcoming Expos & Fairs:

The National Self Reliance Organization (http://www.thensro.com/) has two upcoming Self-Reliance Expos (http://www.selfrelianceexpo.com/):

September 16-17, 2011
National Western Complex
4655 Humboldt St.
Denver, CO 80216
Times: Friday Sept 16 : 10AM-8PM and Saturday Sept 17 : 9AM-6PM

October 7-8, 2011
South Towne Expo Center
9575 South State St.
Sandy, UT 84070 (Salt Lake City)

Both events cost: $9 at the door; $2 discount for buying online; Kids 12 and under are free; $2 discount for seniors.

September 24, 2011 9AM LDS Church (http://www.lds.org/) is sponsoring a Preparedness Fair (http://www.zvents.com/z/broomfield-co/preparedness-fair--events--201109445)

LDS Church
13370 N. Lowell Blvd.
Broomfield, CO

Dare to Prepare

TNT

Friday, August 26, 2011

Time – Tracking It & Catching It


"The bad news is time flies.
The good news is you're the pilot."

Michael Altshuler
(American Motivational Speaker)

We all seem to feel that we do not have enough time to get done what needs to be done and we all know that preparedness takes time. Yet studies show that most us waste quite a bit of time everyday and don’t even know it.

When people say that they don’t have enough time, it says more about how they spend their time than the actual quantity. After all, no one really has more time, one day is 24 hours for all of us, we just spend that 24 hours in different ways.

Bill Gates, Donald Trump, Robert Kiyosaki, MLK, Gandhi, JFK and Warren Buffet all have just 24 hours a day, not a second more and look what they accomplished. I can hear the collective: “But… they have other people helping them with a lot of their work.” That is true NOW - NOT when they first started. Let’s face it - everyone has to start somewhere.

"Ordinary people think merely of spending time.
Great people think of using it."

Anonymous

When people feel like their time is being spent on very valuable things, they may still run out of time, but there is a completely different level of fulfillment involved.

In the September/October 2005 issue of The Futurist examined Americans’ use of time. According to the article, the common perception that there just isn’t enough time isn’t supported by the stats from a national study using time-diaries. Basically, the findings show that Americans average 35 hours per week of work time and 35 hours per week of free time. This is much more time than what most Americans perceive.

“One reasons for this is that there are many businesses who make money if you don’t feel like you have enough time. Everything from self-help books to prepared foods to services depend on people who feel like they are too busy.

So where does all the free time go? According to the article, over half of it is spent watching television. (However, the article notes that time spent watching television isn’t any higher than it was in 1990.)”


"Time sneaks up on you like a windshield on a bug."
John Lithgow
(born 1945, American actor, musician, poet and author.)

The trick to having enough time is making sure that it is spent on things that you feel are important. This means setting priorities and deciding what is actually valuable to you ahead of time.

Although you won’t actually end up with more time, by spending your busy and free time on things that you feel are truly valuable you can increase your satisfaction with how your time is spent.

"The greatest amount of wasted time
is the time not getting started."

Dawson Trotman
(1906–1956, evangelist, crusader and founder of The Navigators.)

Here are some time saving tips from the pros:


  • Track your time. Don’t think you waste your time? Track it for a week. If you really want to get depressed, have a friend with a child track his/her time and compare the results. This helps you figure out how you’re spending your time and if you’re doing what you want to do be doing. Track your time for a week using various categories, such as sleep, work, food, household tasks, family time and exercise.

  • Make a 'To Do' List/Schedule. The simple act of writing things down on paper has the psychological benefit of making them seem less immense and more accomplishable.

  • Plan and Set Deadlines. Set targets to complete a small number of tasks each month. One of the biggest blockers of progress is being overwhelmed by trying to complete too many tasks at once. Multi-tasking is just a modern day euphemism for being disorganised. Better to concentrate on one task at a time and get it done properly, starting with the highest priority item and working down your list in that order.

  • Prioritize your daily actions, errands and tasks on a 'To Do' list. If you don’t put your priorities first, it won’t matter how fast you work or do things, you may never get to what is important. If you think something is going to take two weeks, start on it a week before it’s due. Force yourself to work more efficient by eliminating dead time.

  • Know Your Obligations. It is common to over commit your time if you are not aware of all your obligations. You need to make a commitment list. List out and budget all of your commitments from work, life, and community. Only then can you know your remaining time balance.

  • Break larger actions/tasks into smaller ones. It is easy to be over-awed by the size of some tasks and often in our minds molehills can quickly turn themselves into mountains. The bigger the task becomes, the less likely we are to start it.

  • Don't Try to Do Everything Yourself. Ignore, minimize or outsource everything else. At a certain point, the only way to get more done is to have someone help. The biggest show stoppers here are some people have trouble letting others help because they feel that no one can do it as well as they can or we flat out don’t think of it. What activities would you rather expel from your schedule? I bet housework, laundry and grocery shopping are on that list. We rarely think to outsource laundry or housework. We think it’s too pricey or we look down on ourselves for not being able to keep up with our chores. Yet, we think nothing of outsourcing our childcare. For many people, outsourcing house stuff means more time with kids and more time spent doing things they love.

  • Spend your spare minutes doing joyful activities - Have this time set aside on your 'To Do' list. Make a list of meaningful activities that take 30 minutes or less. Fill your day with more 'nice' things to do. Schedule an hour for a soak in the tub or at the gym. Plan that 30 minute break to read another chapter in your favorite book. Behaviorists say that the more you do the more productive you will be, but what’s less obvious is the more you do the more efficient you will be. When you have a hundred things happening at once you can get in the zone and get more done more quickly.

  • Say NO. One of the biggest mistakes people make is to take on burdens that do not belong to them. When you don’t say no, you find yourself doing other people’s work. This happens both in the workplace and in day-to-day life. Ever find yourself doing something you didn't want to do and felt "suckered" into; or doing someone else’s job - Simply because you didn't say NO?

  • Reduce your 'Life Frictions'. Life Friction is self-inflicted time management. In other words, you create your own crises by your own actions and disorganization. Life friction means extra re-work, increased stress, and wasted time. Ever get back from running errands and realize you have to go back out because you forgot something?

  • Reduce Lolly-gagging and wasted time. You don’t need to spend every second of the day under a stopwatch, but be aware of when you waste time whether it is gossiping, surfing the Internet, or recapping the weekend for the third time. Know anyone who takes two hours after getting up to be ready to meet the day or who arrives late to work and then spends the next hour and 15 minutes getting ready to start working?

  • Finish What You Start. When you don’t finish tasks, you are only creating more work for yourself. Tasks undone actually create more work for you. They take more time to pick back up when you return to them. They create unnecessary complications when you leave them to the last minute.

  • Just Do It. If you feel that your personal time/task management process is growing into an uncontrollable monster or that you are spending too long trying to do the item perfectly, just remember the concept of Just Do it – JDI. The concept is simple and straightforward – stop procrastinating and just get the job done.

  • Revisit your schedule regularly. Check in with yourself weekly to see if your schedule reflects what you want it to. Now understand that it’s not easy making changes and of course tons of interruptions will pop up from time to time. However, if you stick with it and try your best to avoid interruptions and distractions, it’ll get easier.

"A year from now you will wish you had started today."
Karen Lamb
(American author)

To assist you into determining just where you can “catch time”, download this article (@ http://www.scribd.com/doc/62443848/Time-%E2%80%93-Tracking-It-Making-It) and print the two logs on the end of it. These logs will help you with the following exercises:

"The surest way to be late is to have plenty of time."
Leo Kennedy
(1907–2000 a Canadian poet and critic in social criticism)

Tracking Activities-Actions-Tasks: For one week track all your start and stop times for each activity and or task you do each day from sun up to sun down.

Tracking Movements: The next week track your “movements”. Every time you leave a room in your house or leave home - list from where to where, when and why, in your log.

At the end of these two weeks go back and look at your logs. Make a note of the routine tasks, like sleeping, getting up and getting dressed, going to the grocery store, making meals, etc. Make a note of how many times you are traveling from one side of the house to the other or zigzagging all over town when you are running errands.

  • Do you set an alarm clock to wake you up?
  • Do you set out what you are going to wear the next day? Is it handy to where you do your daily 3-S’s (sh_t, shower, shave)?
  • Do you have a ‘To Do List’ for each day, ready the night before? Do you set time frames for this list?
  • Do you plan your errands in advance so that you are traveling the shortest distance throughout the day?

"You will never 'find' time for anything.
If you want time, you must make it"
Charles Buxton
(1823–1871, English brewer, philanthropist, writer and Member of Parliament.)

When you take control and plan out these activities and tasks, that will help you “catch time”.

"A wise person does at once, what a fool does at last.
Both do the same thing; only at different times."
Baltasar Gracián y Morales, SJ
(1601–1658, was a Catholic Priest, Spanish Jesuit, author and baroque prose writer.)

My Thanks go to the following for all the great information and tips:

Mark Shead of Productivity 501
John Suter of Money Saving Challenge
Donald Latumahina of Life Optimizer
Robert Pagliarini of Money Watch on BNet
Craig Jarrow of Time Management Ninja
Margarita Tartakovsky, M.S. is an Associate Editor at Psych Central
Laura Vanderkam book 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think. She is a member of USA Today's Board of Contributors, and her work has appeared in Reader's Digest, Scientific American, Wired, The American, Portfolio and other publications.
Stephen Covey book 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
Ket-Sang Tai's blog on successful multi-level marketing
The Futurist magazine



"The key is not to prioritize what's on your schedule,
but to schedule your priorities."

Stephen R. Covey
(1932, Author (The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People), professional speaker, professor, consultant, management-expert) 


Use the following Priorities

  • Important but Not Urgent This includes education, reading self-improvement or financial books, going to the gym, spending time with love ones etc. These are all very important but not urgent.
  • Important and Urgent These are things like fixing a leaking pipe, going to the doctor because you are ill, paying your credit card bill when the due date is tomorrow, etc.
  • Not important but Urgent Examples of these are dry cleaners, grocery store, buying the lottery ticket for tonight, bidding on something on eBay which is ending soon etc.
  • Not important and Not Urgent These include watching TV, reading non educational magazines, going out to dinner or a movie etc.
  • Spontaneous/Unexpected These things are items you did not even think about. A friend comes to your door for a surprise lunch date. Publishers Clearinghouse comes to your door with a big fat check. You have vehicle problems when out and about. The power goes out or a water pipe bursts and stuff like that.


"The great dividing line between success and failure can be expressed in five words: I DID NOT HAVE TIME."
Franklin Field
(British author)


TNT

Saturday, August 13, 2011

4 Great Sites to Help Keep You Informed & Aware


All four of these sites update regularly and are a great way to keep on top of all kinds of Natural and Man-made Crises.


Threat Matrix (global) Open Source Intelligence Dashboard Control / Fast Jump Menu Maps - Maps, Graphs, Charts, Predictions, Lists of Recent Incidents, and other items are all updated automatically as new data is added to our databases from which it draws.

The Disaster Center Follow for links to: NOAA -- Warnings - Advisories; Current Warning; NWS Active/Special Warnings;Surface Analysis Loop; Graphical Forecasts; National Forecast; National Radar; National Satellite; Satellite Environment Plot; Real Time Water Data; NWS Offices and Centers

Nature's Fury - Real Time Activity/Alerts for Preparedness and research


Earth Observatory NASA - For Risks on: Aerosol Optical Depth; Chlorophyll; Cloud Fraction; Land Surface Temperature; Net Radiation; Sea Surface Temperature; Snow Cover; Total Rainfall; Vegetation, etc.

“If it is to be, it is up to me.”
William H. Johnsen
Depression-era realist/impressionist painter

TNT