Making rice water is really easy and uses ingredients right out of your food storage. Rice water is useful when somebody is having stomach issues like vomiting or diarrhea. It is calming to the upset stomach, amazingly bland, starchy, and gets some nutrients in your patient.

To make rice water you need rice and water, that’s all.  Put two tablespoons of rice in a pot with 1 cup of water.  Don’t add salt.  You don’t get a cup of rice water from a cup of water because some of it soaks into the rice.   I double or triple this and refrigerate the leftovers.

Bring the water to a boil and boil until the rice is tender. Strain the rice out and the milky liquid that is left is rice water.  You can eat the rice, add it to a soup or casserole, or feed it to the chickens if you want.  If you boil too long, your rice water will be pretty thick.  You can just thin it back down with some regular water if it’s thicker than you’d like.

Let the rice water cool before serving it to your patient. You can drink it warm or cold.  Great for queasy tummies young or old.  Enjoy.

Peace out MajorXero

Source: Rice Water

This is totally stolen from Survival Cache I couldn’t do a better job than them on this one.

For someone new to being a Survivalist building your first Bug Out Bag can seem like a big task. Everybody you read about has been tweaking theirs for months or even years and has a pile of gear built up. It’s hard to know where to start, but if you cover all of the basics in a survival situation you will still be much better off that 99% of the people.

A Bug Out Bag, (also called a BOB, Get Out of Dodge Bag, GOOD, or 72 Hour Bag) is usually designed to get you out of an emergency situation and allow you to survive self-contained for up to 3 days. A lot of people plan their Bug Out Bag to sustain them for much longer than that, but there is always a limit to what you can carry on your back and a 3 day target is a good place to start.

Here are the 7 basic types of gear you will need for your Bug Out Bag:

1. Water

It should go without saying that water is a survival basic for any situation. In a survival situation water quickly becomes the most precious commodity.

1 Liter per day per person is really the bare minimum. So your 3 day Bug Out Bag should have at least 3 liters of water.

To expand your capability or survive longer than a couple of days you will need a water purification system. This can be as simple as boiling water and iodine tablets, or a serious water filter.

• You can use a Collapsible Water Bottle for extra storage.
• Make water collection easier with a Backpacking Bucket.
• Use Coffee Filters to extend the life of your water filtration system.
• Find out How Bottled Water Can Improved Your Bug Out Bag

2. Food

Backpack Meals

For a 3 Day Bug Out Bag Backpack Meals and Energy Bars can be sufficient. Back pack meals are freeze dried meals that you just add boiling water to. They are light weight and last a long time.

Obviously you will need a longer term food solution in any type of wide area catastrophe, but for your basic Bug Out Bag backpack meals are a good set up.

3. Clothing

Your Bug Out Bag clothes should be similar to what you would pack for a weekend backpacking trip.

• A pair of sturdy boots or shoes
• A pair of long pants (preferably not blue jeans)
• 2 Pairs of socks (preferably not cotton)
• 2 Shirts (Maybe 1 long sleeve and 1 short sleeve for layering)
• A Jacket that is both warm and protection from rain
• Warm long underwear of some kind
• A hat
• A Bandana (30 Uses for a Bandana)

This list could go on for a while and many people would never dream of leaving their Bug Out Bag without twice that much, but in a pinch that set up could get you by for 3 days.

Be sure to plan for the weather in your area: Do You have Seasonal Clothes in Your Bug Out Bag

4. Shelter

They Don’t have a ground tarp…

If you are going to survive for 3 days you are going to need protection from the elements and a warm dry place to sleep. You need at least:

1. Some type of tent or tarp and a way to set it up
2. A ground tarp for underneath your shelter to stay dry  or a sleeping pad (Never underestimate the importance of this)
3. Some type of Bedroll, preferably a good sleeping bag.

5. First Aid Kit

Trying to cover everything you need in your Bug Out Bag First Aid Kit is another article entirely to itself, probably several more. I won’t try to cover it because I would surely leave something out.

What I will do is recommend that you build your own First Aid Kit instead of buying one of those prepackaged first aid kits that claim to have 1001 things to get you through any emergency. While some are ok, in my experience these types of kits are usually filled with a lot of stuff you are unlikely to need and not enough of the things you will probably need a lot of.

Plus, building your own first aid kit gives you an intimate knowledge of what it contains and how to use it. How many people buy one of those pre-made set ups and just assume they are prepared because there’s so much crap in it there must be what I need? Bad Idea.

First Aid Gear: Have a Sawyer Extractor for Poisonous Snake Bites

6. Basic Gear

Basic Gear sounds repetitive (what have I been talking about?) but it is my category for the things you absolutely cannot live without but don’t really fit well into another category. Many survivalists will not like this list because it is not exhaustive by any means, but again I will say: It will be enough to get you by for a couple of days.

Rain Gear – at least 2 ways to stay dry in the rain. Poncho and Coat are good coupled with your Tent/Shelter

Fire – A bare minimum of 3 different ways to make fire. I wrote more about this here: Do You have 5 Ways to Make Fire? With that you can get a flame but you will have to actually build the fire up too: 5 Ideas for Fire Tender.

You’re also going to need something to cut your firewood and a knife uses too much energy long term: Choosing the Best Survival Chainsaw

Cooking – Bare minimum here is a small pot/large cup to boil water in for both drinking and freeze dried meals. A small backpacking stove and fuel are better.

Light – At least 2 dependable flashlights and a backup set of batteries for each.

Survival Knife – The most used and most versatile tool in your Bug Out Bag is your survival knife.  I wrote more about this here:  7 Things You Should Consider before Choosing Your Survival Knife

7. Weapons

The fact of the matter is you are might be dealing with a “Without Rule of Law” situation, or close to it, and people are likely to do crazy things. Being prepared to defend yourself is part of the survivalist mindset.

Obviously a firearm of some sort is best for this. (Though not in all situations) I will not go into specifics about what type of gun you should bring because that is hotly debated and really a personal choice. Take what is comfortable to you.

Outside of guns your survival knife could be used as weapon if you had to. Also something as simple as a big walking stick or club can be a strong deterrent for bad guys. It’s all about giving yourself options.

None of this is mine but here is the source http://survivalcache.com

Peace out MajorXero

Camp lamp. Jug of water, headlight lamp. LIGHT!

Peace out MajorXero!

Canned Heat: How to Make an Emergency Heater

To make your emergency heater, you’ll need:

A new, quart-sized paint can with a lid. These can be purchased at paint stores and home improvement stores like Home Depot for around $2-3.

A roll of unscented toilet paper (I say, the cheaper the better. I bought a package of the rough, store brand stuff for around a dollar. It wasn’t hard to fit into the can — others at the class had a difficult time because they were using their nice, multiple-ply stuff.)

A bottle of unscented, 70% isopropyl alcohol

A box of matches

A quarter and some tape (I suggest packaging tape)

Making the heater couldn’t be easier. Simply remove the cardboard tube from the center of the toilet paper (that’s the hardest part) – don’t unroll the toilet paper; just bend the cardboard tube, and pull out. Stuff the tube-free roll of toilet paper into the can. Fill with 2 cups of isopropyl alcohol, leaving 1/2 inch head space (you want it to have room to expand and contract with temperature fluctuations). This may take a little time since you have to wait for the toilet paper to absorb the alcohol. The toilet paper and alcohol should be below the rim of the can. Seal tightly with lid. Tape the box of matches and the quarter to the side of the can. That’s it. If you prefer, you can store all the components of the heater in a plastic bag and assemble the heater when you need it. Personally, I like having it ready to go.

When you want to use the heater, pop open the lid, using the quarter as leverage. Place the lit match or lighter carefully against the alcohol-soaked toilet paper. A small flame will develop. The flame only uses the alcohol as fuel — the toilet paper shouldn’t burn. If it does start to burn, that means you need more alcohol. To do this, replace the lid to extinguish the flame. Once out, add some more alcohol and light again. Once you’ve used this heater, the only thing that ever needs replacing is the alcohol since the TP doesn’t burn. Assembling the heater is a one-time thing, really.

Important: if you’re going to use this heater in a car, crack open the windows for ventilation. Even though the alcohol doesn’t produce carbon monoxide, you still want fresh air in such an enclosed space.

It should  lasted for five hours. According to one site I checked, you can keep a car heated at 60-70 degrees for 24 hours with 4 pints of alcohol. These heaters can get hot, so be careful how you handle them and be sure to keep them away from anything that could catch (obviously). Another site I read suggested sliding the passenger seat in the car as far back as it can go and placing the heater on the floor.

You can also use this heater in your home in the event of an emergency. Since the area isn’t as small as that of a car, the instructor of the class said that you should be fine without cracking the windows (if you’re in a small room, it couldn’t hurt to crack it a little). This small heater, of course, won’t keep an entire room at 60-70 degrees, but it will keep the chill off enough. These heaters are great for 72-hour kits.

For under five bucks, you can create a heat source for you and your family in the event of an emergency — and five dollars is a small price to pay for a little extra peace of mind.

Peace out MajorXero!

via The Parsimonious Princess: Canned Heat: How to Make an Emergency Heater.

How would you get water to drink if you were stranded on a desert island, surrounded by salty ocean? If you happened to have a big leaf and a few concave (bowl-like) items- maybe a big shell and a smaller shell, you could make a solar water purifier to collect drinking water.

Even if you’re not on a desert island, it’s fun to make your own solar water-purifier using a big big bowl, a small bowl, some plastic wrap and a marble or a pebble. You’ll also need salt and food coloring to “contaminate” the water you’ll be purifying. This experiment works best on a hot, sunny day since it harnesses the power of the sun’s rays to clean the water.

Put the small bowl inside the big bowl. The top of the small bowl must be lower than the top of the big bowl.

In a separate container, mix together water, salt and food coloring until you have a mixture too salty to drink. Pour the water into the big bowl, making sure the liquid stays outside of your small bowl, since you’ll be collecting clean water in the small bowl.

Loosely cover the top of the bowl with a single piece of plastic wrap. Place a pebble or marble in the center of the plastic wrap and adjust the wrap so that there is a dip directly above the small collection bowl. Try to seal the plastic wrap around the edges of the bowl as well as you can.

Now, place the bowl in the sunlight. The sun’s ultraviolet rays will go through the plastic wrap and into the colored water, where they’ll be absorbed and re-released as heat energy. Since the heat can’t escape back out through the plastic wrap, the air and water in the bowl heat up.

The warm temperature helps water molecules on the surface evaporate, or escape, into the air in the bowl. When they collide with the plastic wrap, they encounter a cooler surface since the air outside the bowl is not as warm. This causes them to condense, or form droplets, on the plastic wrap. When the droplets get big enough, gravity pulls them to the lowest part of the plastic wrap (the dip) and they drip into the collection container.

When you’ve collected enough purified water (be patient- it can take a day or two), you can taste the water to see how your purifier worked. Be sure to wipe of the bottom of the collection bowl before you pour it out so you don’t contaminate your clean water!

A variation on the experiment is to add vinegar to the water, purify it, and check the pH of your starting and purified water using litmus paper. You can make your own litmus paper using red cabbage!

Peace out MajorXero!

Source: Solar Water Purification « The Kitchen Pantry Scientist.

Power out? End of the World? Need some light? Well here you go.

INSTRUCTIONS

1)  Open a can of Crisco. The bigger the can, the better.

2) Insert the candle wick into the center of the can of Crisco. If the can has a large diameter, multiple wicks can be inserted. Leave a quarter of an inch of wick showing above the Crisco to make sure the flame is a manageable size.

Peace Out MajorXero,

Source: How to Make an “Everlasting Candle” from Crisco « The Great Northern Prepper.

About the Course

Over two thousand years ago, the ancient Greeks wondered if other worlds were habitable. In the coming years this question will be experimentally tested. This course is an introduction to astrobiology. It explores the origin and evolution of life on the Earth and its potential to exist elsewhere. Astrobiology addresses compelling questions of wide interest such as: How did life originate on the Earth? Is this an inevitable process and is life common across the Universe? Astrobiology is an interdisciplinary science that bridges fields as diverse as astrophysics, biology, geosciences and chemistry.

In this course we will explore what we know about life’s ability to live in extreme environments on the Earth, we will look at different hypotheses for how it originated. We will look at some of the missions to search for life in our own Solar System and on planets orbiting distant stars. We will discuss some of the extreme environments on the Earth that help us understand the limits of life and how life has adapted to cope with extremes. We will explore the possibility of intelligent alien life and some of the implications of its detection. The course will provide a foundation in astrobiology and introduce students to concepts in a diversity of scientific fields.

About the Instructor(s)

Charles Cockell is Professor of Astrobiology at the University of Edinburgh. He received his doctorate at the University of Oxford and was a National Research Council Associate at the NASA Ames Research Centre. He was a visiting scholar at Stanford University and the University of Arizona. Cockell is currently Director of the UK Centre for Astrobiology and his research interests focus on how microbes survive in extreme environments, including volcanic and impact crater environments.

Cockell is a Senior Editor of the journal, Astrobiology. His popular science books include ‘Impossible Extinction’ (Cambridge University Press), which explores the tenacity of microbes on the Earth, and ‘Space on Earth’ (Macmillan) which looks at the links between environmentalism and space exploration. He is Chair of the Earth and Space Foundation, a non-profit organisation he established in 1994. He was the first Chair of the Astrobiology Society of Britain.

Course Syllabus

Week 1: What is life and what are the definitions of life? What do we know about the origin of life and what are the current hypotheses for how it originated on the Earth?

Week 2: What was the environment of early Earth like when life first emerged and what do we know about life on the earliest Earth? How did life evolve to cope with survival in extreme environments? What have been the major evolutionary transitions of life on the Earth?

Week 3: What are the prospects for life on other planetary bodies in our Solar System and how do we go about searching for it? What conditions are required for a planet to be habitable?

Week 4: How do we search for Earth-like planets orbiting distant stars and how would we detect life on them?

Week 5: What are the possibilities for intelligent life elsewhere? How would we deal with contact with an extraterrestrial intelligence and what would be the impact on society? Who would represent Earth?

Recommended Background

No background is required.

Suggested Readings

Astrobiology: A Brief Introduction by Kevin W. Plaxco and Michael Gross

Course Format

The course will consist of ten lectures of one hour each.

FAQ

• Will I get a certificate after completing this class?Yes. Students who successfully complete the class will receive a certificate signed by the instructor.

• Do I earn University of Edinburgh credits upon completion of this class?No. The certificate of completion is not part of a formal qualification from the University of Edinburgh. However, it may be useful to demonstrate prior learning and interest in your subject to a higher education institution or potential employer.

• What resources will I need for this class?No resources needed.

• What are the learning outcomes of this course and why should I take it?You will learn about the search for life beyond the Earth.

Anything is better than Math and English I guess

Peace out MajorXero

Source: Astrobiology and the Search for Extraterrestrial Life | Coursera.

This is very easy and simple.  All the tools needed for this fish hook can be found on most multi-tools.  It takes only a few minutes to create.

Peace out MajorXero!

Source: Turn a Can Tab into a Survival Fish Hook.

Altoids Sours BBQ Grill

Materials
1 Altoids sours tin
4x 1.5″ sheet metal screws with wide heads (or 4x washers to match)
8x nuts to thread on screws
70mm metal computer fan guard (similar style to the one shown)
92mm metal computer fan guard (similar style to the one shown)

* I scavenged my fan guards from an old computer power supply.  They just happened to be the correct size

** I think these are the same fan guards that I’m using: 70mm and 92mm

Tools
Dremel tool with cutting wheel
Drill with bit slightly bigger than screws
Tin snips
Pliers/Needle nose pliers
Screwdriver
Safety goggles and gloves

Peace Out MajorXero!

via Altoids Sours BBQ Grill.

Peace out MajorXero

Source

124412008426373131_2Gq9P1eQ.jpg (JPEG Image, 720 × 576 pixels).