This Week's Cancellation

This week's post has been cancelled due to (Pick one or more of the following)...

1. Rising gas prices.

2. The royal wedding.

3. Weather too beautiful to remain indoors on the computer.

4. My researching and editing my yet-to-be-published posts on "The Essential Systems: Hydration" and "Packing List: Hydration."

5. My researching more DIY car survival kit lists and cleaning out my car.

6. My finally getting around to answering my email (still not finished).

7. All of the above.

8. Some of the above.

9. None of the above.

10. Who cares? I'm hungry. What's for dinner?

[You are correct if you selected 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, and/or 10.]

Earth Day 2011

The only thing I'm going to say about Earth Day is to point out that after God created man, He gave him the job of taking care of his environment giving us the example that we need to be doing the same.

Only idiots and the ignorant destroy that which sustains their lives.

Genesis 2:15. And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.

Blogging About Preparedness

It's only April and already this has been an eventful year for preparedness issues from snow and ice, to tornadoes, flooding, and wildfires.

Just last Friday, a wildfire broke out on the west side of town from high winds knocking down a power pole. Industrial employees as well as residents were evacuated while firefighters battled for 12 hours to contain the blaze that consumed 3500 acres, returning the next day to put out flare-ups. Although multiple homes were scorched, only the trailer at the site of the fire's origin was totally destroyed.

On Monday, trying to absorb that 80,000 acres had burned in Oklahoma and Texas, a 200-acre fire destroying at least 30 homes in Texas, I learned that another wildfire on the east side of town caused a friend to leave work because her 15-year-old daughter was at home. Fortunately, any concerns were quickly dispelled because the firefighters had the fire out by the time she got home.

At 3:30 early Tuesday morning, firefighters began evacuating residents of a mobile home park RIGHT ACROSS THE STREET FROM MY APARTMENT because of a big grass fire in a field behind it. The raging flames got within 100 feet of the nearest line of mobile homes, making great footage for the local TV news along with the billowing smoke, but again, the firefighters were able to contain the fire; this time within only 30 minutes, and no property was damaged.

Whew! May God bless firefighters! And all our emergency response personnel!

Residents so close to my own home being awakened at Oh-dark-thirty to evacuate within mere moments emphasizes the necessity of our having Grab & Go bags at the ready.

I admit that even by my own standards, I've been extraordinarily slow about finishing my series on Fifteen Essential Systems. It's because I got snagged on my post about hydration, discovering that I bit off a whole lot more than anticipated. I thought I could pose situations, possible solutions, and product recommendations to help other people save the time on all the research I had to do for myself and got overwhelmed by what I was learning. Do I address those with wells? What about those manufacturers snowing consumers with words and numbers that mean practically nothing in regards to keeping us from getting sick from drinking water? Plus, the product line-up has changed, making newer products available before I have the post ready to publish, trapping me in an endless loop of research to keep up. Auwe! The only way to break out of the loop is to eliminate product recommendations.

Since I resolved my own hydration concerns two years ago and many of the others since then, one might wonder why I bother. It's simply because I said I would. Plus, it's great being able to share information about something I really care about.

The greatest benefit about being prepared is the confidence of knowing I'm able to face just about anything I might encounter at home or on my travels.

Psalms 91:
5. Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day;
6. Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.

Brita Bottle

I was really glad to see a recent TV commercial for the Brita Bottle. I have the older Brita Fill & Go bottle, also BPA-free, from 10 years ago and, since it was discontinued due to a U.S. lawsuit for patent infringement by Innova Pure Water, I haven't been able to find replacement filters for it except on Amazon which doesn't always have them; the Innova website has had all its products on back order for years. I was thinking I'd have to do something drastic like go to Europe to stock up.

Evidently the patent infringement is no longer an issue since Brita has its own bottle back on the market, newly designed to fit car cup holders, in blue or green with a MSRP of US$9.99. The capacity is 20 ounces.

The replacement filters are good for 20 gallons, 128 refills, or about 2 months. The new filters have holes near the top rather than the bottom like the old bottle filters and carry the MSRP of $7.99 for a package of two filters.

The reason I like the Brita filtering bottle so much is because it's great for domestic travel providing consistently great-tasting water no matter where I am without the inconvenience and expense of buying bottled water. It's lightweight, easy to squeeze, and the push-pull sport top means I don't have to put my lips on it and ruin my lipstick.

Yes, I know. It's a girly-thing, but there it is.

In addition to my lipstick issue, I also prefer a sport top because not needing to touch it with my lips means there's no backflow to contaminate the water or the inside of the bottle.

With Brita being such a large brand name, the bottle filters will be easy to find at many stores across the country once again.

I also like the Brita filtering bottle because the Brita filter makes water taste good by removing chlorine and reducing heavy metals, if any. Also, because it filters on-demand, chlorine remains in the water, keeping the water safe for consumption, until right before I drink it.

I feel better about on-demand filtering when I'm out and about than filling a water bottle with pre-filtered water such as from a filtering pitcher because unless ice cubes are added to keep the water cold, the absence of chlorine allows the growth of organisms if the water is not consumed soon enough. This last isn't an issue with filtering pitchers kept in the refrigerator because the low temperature inhibits bacteria growth which is the main purpose for refrigerating food items.

Besides, with water pre-filtered at home or motel room, if I drink it all, there's no way for me to filter more water while I'm away making me subject to whatever bad-tasting water is available or buy a bottle of water which doesn't always taste good to me, either, depending on the brand name.

With on-demand filtering, I can refill my bottle from any tap, anytime I want.

Another advantage with the new Brita Bottle is that it comes with a removable carrying loop; the older Fill & Go bottle didn't. For that, I got a carrying strap holder that clipped onto my laptop briefcase. Since I had no problems with either the TSA or the airlines after 9-11, there's no reason to anticipate issues with the new Brita Bottle as long as it's empty for the TSA screening.

Based on my experience with my old Brita Fill & Go bottle, I think anyone wanting a filtering bottle should try the new Brita Bottle. Just remember that the filtering is for aesthetics only, to improve taste and remove odor, and is to be used solely with water that's already safe to drink. Because the filter is for particulates 50 to <80 microns, it will not make unsafe water potable.

To make water safe from protozoans such as cryptosporidium (protozoans being the largest of the three groups of nasties that make us sick followed by the smaller bacteria and viruses, the smallest), the CDC and EPA recommend an absolute pore size, not nominal pore size, of 1 micron or less.

I may buy a new Brita Bottle just to compare it to my old Fill & Go. If I do, I'll post a review after I use it awhile.

"Romeo & Juliet"

Feeling like I have a great love story to write, but not knowing anything about how to write one, I decided a good place to start learning is to read "Romeo and Juliet" by William Shakespeare since I've seen two movie versions several times.

Do you remember the story? A teen boy and girl from feuding families fall passionately in love and the only way to solve the mess is to fake their own deaths so they can run away to be together.

More or less.

It turns out to be much more.

First of all, Romeo is already in love with Rosaline to the extent that he crashes a party thrown by Daddy of the feuding Capulets in order to see her.

Tybalt, Juliet's cousin, spots Romeo and reports him to Capulet with the intention of having Romeo thrown out or worse.

Surprisingly, Capulet thinks Romeo has a decent reputation and tells Tybalt to leave Romeo alone. Perhaps Capulet is feeling magnanimous because Paris asked to marry Juliet who told her parents she's willing to think about it and they'll get to know one another at the party.

Except Romeo and Juliet do the love-at-first-sight thing at the party. Rosaline and Paris are forgotten as they pledge their love, not knowing anything about each other.

They must've been hot-hot-hot to fall so fast for each other, don't you think?

Somehow (you need to read or see it to learn how if you don't already know), they learn they're from rival families, decide to overcome it with a secret marriage, and the rivalry breaks out again with Tybalt killing Mercutio and Romeo avenging Mercutio's death by killing Tybalt.

As a result, Romeo is exiled and Juliet mourns his leaving.

Understandably, Capulet assumes Juliet is mourning the death of her cousin, Tybalt. However, it's beyond me why he thought getting married to Paris in two days would end her grief. It's also beyond me why Paris would agree to it. What decent man wants to consummate his marriage to a grieving young woman, sobbing in their marriage bed?

So, there are the main male characters of this love triangle:

1. Romeo, an outrageously rude party-crasher whose fickle-mindedness causes him to dump Rosaline for Juliet in a heart-beat

2. Capulet, the father who thinks getting married will dry the tears of his grieving daughter, and

3. Paris, who wants to wed and bed the grieving Juliet.

In my opinion, they're nuts.

Mid-Year Check

Making the food list last year turned out well for me. All I had to do for the mid-year check this week was eye the list and add the items expiring before September to my shopping list. After shopping, it was easy to dig out the items to be replaced from the plastic bin because I put things in chronological order by expiration date so those items expiring sooner are on top. Then, I moved them to the space for current use and put the new purchases in the preparedness food bin after writing the expiration date on the front or top with a black Sharpie so it's easy to see.

Replacing the water was no big deal. All I did was buy more and move the jugs reserved for preparedness so they can be used for current needs which I pretty well do whenever I buy spring water by the gallon for my tea, anyway. The only difference this time was that I did it on purpose because it's the mid-year check, not because I needed to buy water which means I'll have more water than usual in my regular supply for a while. I'm unsure of the sense of doing things this way except it ensures my preparedness supply of water is fresh whether or not I use my regular supply.

What's new is that I started thinking about medications for a preparedness first aid kit (FAK) and bought an extra box of allergy pills, generic pain relief, and other basic first aid medications. I usually wait until I need these before buying them because I've stocked them in my home FAK before only to discard them after the expiration date without ever using any, but decided that a period of tumult is not the time to be needing a drug store that may not be open during a disaster.

The allergy pills won't be wasted because I can rotate them into current use and buy a new box for the preparedness kit when my daily supply needs to be replaced, and I should add a multi-vitamin and multi-mineral supplement to aid good health in whatever stressful situation this preparedness kit is to see me through, but I expect to take a hit on the cost of the rest since they are more likely to expire than be used.

Finally, I decided to store the FAK meds and my Katadyn Micropur water purification tablets in an insulated cooler bag designed to hold four cans. Since I don't know whether a preparedness situation might be too cold or too hot, either of which may degrade the chemicals, I figure it's better to play it safe by storing them in a cooler.

Besides, I wasn't using the bag for anything else. I originally bought it on sale for air travel because it folds flat for easy packing so I don't have to buy, then leave behind, a cheap Styrofoam cooler at every destination just to keep a few beverage cans cold. It'll do fine in my Grab & Go bag and for road trips, but I'll have to think about what to do for preparedness issues when I travel by air since it can't fold flat when full. It's easy enough when I travel by car, but air travel requires paring down to the bare minimum especially when trying to use only a carry-on bag.

I'm becoming increasingly aware that going on vacation doesn't exempt people from disastrous situations. Vacationers and business travelers should have basic preparedness kits with them in order to survive the unexpected just like anybody else, probably more so since they're away from their home turf in unfamiliar surroundings.

Book Pricing

When I went to the store last week, I was pleased to find "The Brass Verdict" by Michael Connelly back on the shelf and displeased to find it US$2.00 more than in February.

Still, the $7.44 price is less than the cover price of $9.99 which was two dollars less than the ebook price of $11.99, now up to $12.99, which is why I wanted to buy the paperback instead of the ebook. It's simple economics.

What I don't understand is why the publisher wants more money for the ebook than for the paperback instead of less since no trees are killed in the making of ebooks and no oil is consumed to truck ebooks to the distribution points of sale.

One might assume that the publisher is taking advantage of ebooks to cash in on their rising popularity. It isn't only Connelly's publisher that's doing it because I've seen higher prices for the ebook version of other best-selling titles, too. Even the typical $9.99 is too much for an ebook because it costs so much less to make and distribute compared to a paperback.

One might also deduce that by pricing ebooks higher than paperbacks and releasing ebooks several weeks after books printed on paper, publishers are trying to retain their traditional control over authors' works by discouraging readers from buying ebooks through delayed availability and over-pricing.

Once an author realizes that s/he can receive more money from a self-published ebook or print-on-demand contract than through a traditional publisher which takes approximately 52% of the price of the book, there might not be enough incentive for an author to try for the traditional route. Already, publishers are experiencing the desertion of writers, although not yet in the droves one may expect due to the lingering stigma of the vanity press.

The advantage for readers is that with traditional publishers losing control over the writers who are going for independent publication, they're also losing control over what is available for readers to read. Censorship by editors rejecting manuscripts solely because of personal bias, such as the editor who rejected a novel containing capital punishment only because she is opposed to capital punishment, is being eliminated by authors bypassing the traditional publishing houses in favor of the independent route. This makes the digital revolution the best expression of freedom of the press we've yet to experience.

What's surprising to me is how traditional publishers are fighting against and trying to resist the inevitable change after seeing how newspapers have declined and blogs have flourished instead of trying to figure out how to work with the transition for everyone's benefit. It's always difficult for those in power to step back and give up even a little of their power when the normal attitude is to gain even more power.

These certainly are interesting times.

Kindle Games on Sale

In case you didn't know, beside reading material, there are games to play on the Kindle when we want a break from reading including a variety of Sudoku games and New York Times crossword puzzles plus free games like Blackjack, Every Word, Mine Sweeper, Shuffled Row, and Video Poker. Occasionally, some of the games go on sale which is, of course, the best time to get them. At this time, several games are available until March 27 for only US$0.99. Unfortunately, some are not available to residents outside the U.S.

So far, the games I enjoy most are:

Maze A Thon (regular price $0.99)

Slingo (regular price $3.99) and

Solitaire (regular price $3.99).

This week, I picked up:

Chess (regular price $2.99)

Hangman 4 Kids (regular price $1.99)

Mahjong Solitaire (regular price $3.99)

Scrabble (regular price $4.99) and

Texas Hold'em (regular price $3.99)

saving nearly $13 off the regular prices. Score!

Score your own by checking out your favorite games or find new ones you might enjoy while the sale lasts.

Free MP3 Bible

A couple of years ago, I downloaded the book of Jude from the Firefighters for Christ which offers a free MP3 KJV Bible, read by Stephen Johnston, as part of their ministry for those who want it on their computers or MP3 players.

I downloaded it to see if it's like my Bible on cassette (it is) because I like Stephen Johnston's narration with faint background music between the chapters and books better than Alexander Scourby's narration with no background music of my CD Bible. I forgot about it because I've been waiting to buy an MP3 player when I really need one. Finding Jude on my laptop while looking for an MP3 file to try out on my Kindle, I realized that maybe I didn't need to buy the TTS Bible.

However, since the complete MP3 Bible is 1.1 GB, and since the Kindle's 3 GB is shared by ebooks, magazines, Audible files, MP3 files, and personal documents, the MP3 Bible may be larger than anyone might want to keep on a Kindle.

Fortunately, individual books may also be downloaded.

As a result, I downloaded the New Testament, 231 MB, one book at a time during last month's snow storms and am enjoying it on my Kindle. An important point I learned in the process is that everything has to be moved to the Kindle at one time to keep everything in order. When I transferred another book later, it didn't get appended to the end but was inserted somewhere else, chapters straying at random.

I'm thinking about transferring the entire Old Testament to my Kindle as well because I can always delete ebooks I've read and restore them from my Kindle Archive.

Also, I can free up Kindle space by deleting the MP3 Bible after I get an MP3 player. I think I still need to get an MP3 player eventually because I have over 15 GB of music on my laptop and don't like having to hook it up and turn it on just for music on the road. My road trip mix folder alone is over 6 GB.

Last week during my day trip to lunch with my friend, I tried listening to my Kindle but found it too soft for the ambient road noise. Fortunately, I also took along the cassette adapter from my Sony Discman. Setting the Kindle's volume to the max enabled me to listen to the New Testament through my car speakers just fine.

As usual with no buttons being pushed to keep my Kindle awake, the screen went into Sleep mode but the audio kept playing. After reaching my destination, I slid the power switch to awaken the Kindle and turned the audio off by pressing Alt + Space before powering the Kindle off. Tucking the unit into its case then into my handbag, I headed into the restaurant and had a great visit with my friend.

My Kindle's turning out to be everything I hoped it would be.

Visiting with a Friend

I had a funny experience on Facebook a few weeks ago when a friend now living in South Dakota was talking about her daughters' Girl Scout cookies.

Being facetious I asked, "Do you deliver?" and it turned out she was planning a trip close enough for me to drive over on a day trip to meet her. As it turned out, her husband came instead and we met for lunch last Thursday at the Red Lobster restaurant in one of the larger cities.

We talked about lots of stuff from the last time he ate at Red Lobster (when he proposed to his wife on her birthday) to driving in San Francisco (We agreed the thing to do is not drive - park your car and use the excellent public transportation to get around instead.) & L.A. to our beliefs and how some people like to ignore the scripture and make God out to be what they want Him to be, in effect, turning Him into a man-made god. Our backgrounds are different, but we're pretty close in many of our beliefs when we're not spot on. He gave me some things to look into the Bible about and I believe he got some from me, too.

Somehow, our conversation inspired some changes I've been wanting to do on my websites and I've been busy incorporating them. One has to do with the copyright notice. I had made one using JavaScript which makes it maintenance-free for me, but part of it won't show up if visitors don't have JavaScript enabled in their browsers.

Another modification is to change a drop-down menu into an include file so I won't have to upload all the other pages whenever I add a new page. By using an include file, all I have to do is upload the edited drop-down menu and the new webpage.

Suddenly, it dawned on me. Putting my copyright notice into an include file will solve the issue. I'll have to edit and upload only one little file one time each year I modify my websites and it won't matter if visitors have JavaScript enabled or not.

Whoo-hoo!