Avro, 2.0!

OK that reminds me of another prep to have handy, some alcohol. You might wind up sheltering an alcoholic and need it as medicine!

We have a ways to go in the self reliance category. We have excellent examples in our lives, back-to-the-land friends and our relatives who were small scale farmers. We have a mortgage and vehicles and other big liabilities, but bit by bit we chip away at that and little bills, but we’re just frugal without extensive budgeting. We kind of just always kept living like we were poor university students.

Last year we installed a DIY heat pump (Mr. Cool brand), about $4,000 all-in, and it will pay itself off late next year. Most of what we buy is second hand, and we barter a bunch.

Oh, thanks and good question!

Well, in the spirit of the moment, don’t forget to take stock and maybe figure out how far along you are, and acknowledge your successes. Over time, they will build up, and it takes so long to do some of this stuff that you kind of forget that it is even an accomplishment. This whole thread is a good example.

Being genX, and thus cynical by nurture, it’s easy to be discouraged or give up in advance. I had to kind of gamify bits and pieces to keep going. Also, we had to adjust our risk scaling: yes nuclear annihilation is there, and fascism even in Canada (well here we fuckn are eh), but really not as likely as an earthquake or fire so start there. Likewise, living with financial risks, like contract work or job mobility is more of an art and skill than I thought, but helped with pursuing these overall goals.

And the biggest warning maybe is that I have ADHD so the jackofalltrades thing kind of works, but it requires hyperfocus then the ability to move on without abandoning a skill, so YMMV. Assess your strengths and work from there.

First principle of an emergency response: am I safe? Overreach is risky for all.

Just to refine the concept a little, propaganda in capitalist society is often less ‘what to think’, and the more subtle ‘what to think about’. Define the terms and limits of allowable discourse by direction or misdirection, and most people don’t notice.

Yes, though regarding distillation the equipment is a bit specialized. Being friendly with a neighbour who has a productive still is our approach.

Thank you! Our household has 90% of this list up and running, which we recognize is unusual, but it took decades of learning and effort and focus, and we still aren’t fully confident. We started being intentional about it in the’90s.

Today was a good example. Source Canadian beta-Amylase for oat milk (actually failed though), operate on a chicken foot, hang housing for mason bees, sharpen a chainsaw; replace a laptop battery, convert EDE database files to .vcf, troubleshoot bluetooth DRM bugs; casual cabinetry and a curry feast. Technopeasant reality.

Oh and download 40GB of family data in preparation for deleting Amazon Prime. We’re going with Syncthing and Immich. Divest and Deny!

This is a great list, and considering I am approaching old, happy to report that it’s almost like my non-work CV. Feeling nearly prepped, never fully.

ADHD has been good for gathering a basic set of skills in a wide range of situations.

Next is to play with community mesh networks and work on the Ham radio experience.

Try the apps, they might work? Not sure. There’s Gem which is video and CBC Listen which has news, great radio journalism and podcasts, and music playlists.

If that doesn’t work just seek out the many CBC podcasts, I recommend starting with Ideas for lecture or documentary style, or Quirks and Quarks for short form science journalism.