Hi Everyone,
You should have a plan for what to do without electricity for an extended period of time – whether it’s rolling blackouts (like we have here in California) or an accident where the power is knocked out (a natural disaster), or any other incident where you would lose power for a day or more. Plan now.
You will probably lose the food in your freezer. Can you preserve this food now to prevent that from happening? Do you have a way to “can” this food without electricity?
You may want to invest in a few “off-the-grid” solar panels. This company is reliable. You can get everything you need: Renogy 800 Watt 12V/24V Monocrystalline Solar Premium Kit w/Rover 60A – TinyHouseEssentials The company for the solar panels is Renogy. They have a warehouse in southern California and can set you up. The system you see here has 8 panels. You can get smaller packages. The thing you need to know about solar is that it only generates electricity in the sun, so you need batteries to store the electricity. Also, it generates direct current, and you need a converter to change it to alternating current so you can plug in your refrigerator or whatever. It can be complicated worrying about “watts” and such, but I wanted a few panels for my wheat grinder (have you ever tried to do this by hand??? HA! What a joke!!!), Craig’s power tools, and maybe the sewing machine. If the blackout were only for a day or so, I could use the panels to keep the refrigerator running.
The reason I was thinking about this week is that an article came up in my feed: US Heading Toward Power Grid ‘Reliability Crisis,’ Energy Commissioner Warns. We don’t need to be Chicken Little, but we should be cautious and prepare for the worst.
We decided to empty some of our 55-gallon water drums and refill the water. I had three pumps that I specifically bought for this purpose. NONE of them worked!!! Ugh. Then Craig found an electric pump, and the water just TRICKLED out! Ugh again. Finally, we just tipped them over (THAT was a trick) and let the water run out.
The good news is that after 5 years, the water was clean and clear! The bad news is that we need a pump we can rely on.
I’m pretty sure we used to have this one: 55-Gallon Drum Heavy Duty Barrel Siphon for Drinking Water Hand Fuel Pump, but I couldn’t find it anywhere. If anyone has a pump they use a lot and really like, let me know, and I’ll pass that information along.
I’ve been watching videos on YouTube by Wicked Prepared. She has several videos on Emergency Meal Kits. She has a lot of good ideas and introduced me to some products that I’d never seen before. Things you might want to put in a 72-hour kit. Although a lot of her meals have canned food (which can be heavy), each “bag” will feed your whole family. So you could have a 5-gallon bucket with several family meals as part of your 72-hour kit. Some of her meals require no water, and no cooking. Some require a little cooking (which you should plan for anyway!!!)
5 Emergency Meals for SHTF- A Stress-free way to feed your family when the grid goes down! – YouTube
GARDEN HAPPENINGS:
The garden is great! I have little green tomatoes starting to appear. The carrots that I planted in November hardly grew at all over the winter. They are still short and stubby, and most of them are forked.
I have baby cucumbers. I have two pumpkin plants that are really taking off, which is good because last year, all my pumpkins died.
One pot of green beans is up and starting to get secondary leaves. In the other pot, only one bean came up. So???? It looks like some were eaten, and the others just didn’t come up, which is weird because it was the SAME packet of seeds!!!
My lettuce is producing again, and I’m getting a huge bag each week! Yay!
I have 5 blueberry bushes, but only one has berries. There is still time. And some are only newly planted. Maybe next year…
My blackberries are all flowering. Blackberries can get out of control if you are not careful.
I’m hoping the weather will warm up a little for the peppers and tomatoes and that we don’t jump from the 60s into the 90s!!!!
THIS WEEK’S PURCHASE: vegetable oil
I hope you stocked up on cans of tomato sauce when I suggested it a few weeks ago because I noticed at Winco that
the prices have increased from $.69 a can to $.85 a can.
This week, pick up an extra bottle of vegetable oil or olive oil. Name brands are over $4 for the 48-oz size, but the “off-brand” is still under $3. Put the date on it and keep it in a cool place. I just opened some olive oil that says May 2012 on the top. It is not rancid! It smells and tastes fine. My motto is I NEVER throw anything away unless I’ve opened it and smelled it!!!
You probably should pick up an extra can of shortening as well. I don’t use shortening too often, but it’s great for biscuits, pie crust, snickerdoodle cookies, and chocolate cake!!!
MISC. PURCHASE: feminine supplies
I promise you, you do NOT want to be without this!!! But you have to date them and rotate them. Over a period of time, they will lose their ability to absorb. Also, something you do NOT want!
Now, at my age, I no longer need them, but I keep a box of sanitary napkins in my first aid kit. They are great for soaking up blood. You can vacuum seal them and make them super flat, so they fit in the kit better.
Especially if you have daughters who might need them in the next couple of years. Get some now. Keep some in the car. It’s just a good thing to have.
FOOD STORAGE RECIPES:
Honey-Oatmeal Bread – makes 2 loaves
I like this recipe because it uses what we have stored!
If you have never made bread, make it a goal to try it this summer. NOTHING tastes as good as hot bread right out of the oven – with butter and jam or honey!
- 1 c. rolled oats – Place oats in a large bowl
- 2 c. boiling water – pour over oats and let stand until lukewarm (about 20 min)
In a small cup, dissolve 2 TB yeast in 1/3 c. lukewarm water
In a separate bowl, sift together
- 1/2 c. powdered milk
- 2 tsp salt
- 6 c. whole wheat flour
add dissolved yeast to cooled oatmeal and let stand for 5 min.
Add
- 1/2 c. honey
- 1/4 c. oil to the oatmeal mix and then add in the flour mix.
I like to let this sit for a while so that the wheat flour can absorb the water.
Then knead for 5 min.
Let rise until double (there are tricks to this, so look it up on YouTube and watch someone!)
Then knead again. Shape into 2 loaves (also a trick to this)
Let rise in well-greased loaf pans until it reaches to the top of the pan. Bake for 1 hour at 325˚. Turn out and brush with butter.
Variations:
Potato water may be used instead of plain water
Add 1 c. raisins or 1 c. marmalade and reduce honey to 1/4 c.
Add 1 c. cooked rice.
Chili and Rice Roll-ups serves 3-6
- 1 pound ground beef – brown and drain excess fat
In a medium saucepan:
- 1 can chili
- 1/2 c. water – bring chili and water to a boil
- 1 c. Minute Rice – add
- Cover and cook on low for 5 min or until rice is done.
- Add the beef to the chili and rice.
- 6 flour tortillas
Heat tortillas slightly in the microwave (I like to heat them in a dry frying pan)
Spoon bean mixture into each tortilla. Garnish with shredded cheese, diced tomatoes, chopped green onion, sour cream, avocados, etc.
Grandma’s Chicken Casserole
- 1 pound chicken, cooked, shredded (or 2 cans chicken or 1 jar chicken canned)
Grease 9 X 13 pan. Heat oven to 425˚
Spread shredded chicken on the bottom of the pan.
- 2 cans Cream of chicken Soup.
- 2 c. milk
Mix soup with milk and pour over chicken.
Salt and Pepper to taste
2 cans of refrigerator biscuits. Place biscuits on top to cover.
Bake for 10 minutes or until biscuits are browned. Turn biscuits and bake 5-10 minutes more or until biscuits are browned.
Marti
Between the deepening global recession, inflation, and bank failures, the age of progress and innovation is over for the near future. You should take this time to do what savvy investors are probably doing, and that’s to move to the most conservative investments you can find. Now might be a good time to chat with your financial account manager if you have a 401K or retirement account to gain their insight.
Some bank failures are sudden and shocking, but some pretty clear signs of trouble precede most. There are signs you can look for before your bank fails. A big one is a sudden plummet in their stock, but by this time, it may be too late, and your assets could be frozen. Still, if you follow stocks at all, you can see short-sell orders rise to extreme levels right before a bank is about to collapse. Investors will often short-sell the stock to make a profit on the way down. Before it gets to that, look for these other signs. If your bank delays releasing financial information, announces they are closing branches, or plans to lay off many people, they’re trying to adjust their balance sheets and operating costs quickly. To dive deep into the bank’s health, visit the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council website and examine Uniform Bank Performance Reports or UBPRs. It’s a complicated database, but you may want to do a deep dive if your assets are significant.
Credit unions follow a distinct business model that prioritizes their members’ needs over generating profits for shareholders. They are also carefully monitored by regulations and are insured. While they aren’t immune to playing correctly and fairly with your deposits and not over-extending themselves, the higher regulations and lack of simply driving profits make them probably less likely to mishandle your money. Credit unions have a unique business model that sets them apart from banks. They are not-for-profit institutions, which means they are owned and run by their members rather than shareholders. This approach allows credit unions to prioritize the needs of their members instead of generating profits for shareholders. While there’s no guarantee your money will be safe here compared to conventional banks, it’s something worth researching.
You can look at this from 2 perspectives: the practical and the financial. Let’s start with practical items like food. If you slowly build up a 3-months food reserve, one can, a bag of rice, or a sack of flour at a time, you can at least put in reserves the crucial items you’d need to survive if the economy absolutely tanks. I’ll link to a video on how to do that in the comments below because I often hear from people who have made it through tough times by eating what they had in their pantry. Start by building what’s there– one bag or can at a time. 
Have you ever watched one of those hoarding shows and wondered why people find such value in all those little things? The truth is that people who have less tend to feel less burdened, some even happier. If you’re feeling uncertain about the future economic picture, cash in that change you’ve been saving and apply that found money to something super practical in your life. Do you have multiple cars, motorcycles, boats, mowers, or whatever? Why not offload them now while people are still in the market for them? When hard economic times come to us all, as the economy slides deeper into a recession or more banks fail, the dollar will lose value, and fewer people will have the money to pay you what these things are worth in your eyes. They’ll also be holding on to their money, so they’re less likely to buy anything but essential items. I’ll never forget in 2009 when I bought my first home after the housing market collapsed. We had no furniture or appliances when we bought our home and when shopping on Craigslist, we were able to find items at extremely low prices because people were trying to make money in the midst of a down market and they couldn’t really ask for much when selling. If you’re gonna offload something, now would be a good time to do so.
Bartering can be a helpful strategy in a financial crisis because it allows you to trade goods or services without using money. This can help you meet your basic needs and conserve your cash reserves. It also enables you to build relationships with others in your community and create a sense of mutual support. Bartering frees you somewhat from the money loop of earning, spending, and taxation. Can you hem clothes or fix an engine for someone in exchange for something or some service they can do for you? I may not feel comfortable installing a light fixture on the exterior of my home. An electrician could cost me several hundred dollars, but my neighbor needs his lawn taken care of, and maybe I just saw him installing a light fixture on his house. In that case, it’s time to make a deal. Are you a decent bread baker, and your neighbor has a garden bulging with vegetables? Why not propose a trade? You are building a network, a community, and functioning in a cashless exchange where the dollar might be losing value anyways. Give it a try.
When the economy turns toward the worst, you would expect things to get more cutthroat and crime levels to rise. They do, but something else happens too. People come together and find strength in what they share. When my kids were smaller, we would meal share with another couple who had small kids. In this way, we could give each other a day off once weekly, buy in bulk and save, and just cook one big meal we could eat for a few days. It was a substantial cost savings.
Food is the most basic currency on the planet. It will always retain its value and always be in demand. It’s also one of the biggest expenses we have when we rely upon farmers, distributors, grocers, or eating out. The average household spends an average of $3,000 per year on dining out, and that was before prices started climbing. That is the low end. Those nights you don’t want to cook, lunch breaks, quick meals between kids’ rehearsals or sports events, and coffee stops add up quickly. The average American family spends over $15,000 annually on groceries, factoring in this latest double-digit inflationary cycle. At the lowest, when combined, that’s $18,000 per year. Reducing the amount you spend over the long haul can easily be achieved. Plus, it significantly decreases your dependency on corporate farms that may fail as banks go under and the economy bottoms out. It will reduce your dependence on grocery stores that governments may force to cap prices at some point, leading to them not profiting and eventually not resupplying some foods. They’re businesses, after all, not charities.
The news media won’t cover it. Your politicians and leaders won’t admit it, but there is no denying it now. We are in the second year of what is effectively a world war. That might come as a shock to some and obvious to others. The Cold War has exploded into a hot war on multiple fronts worldwide, with more hot zones potentially being dragged shortly. Your nation’s treasure flows into this war, and your soldiers might eventually be directly engaged. In this video, I will explain how this world war is like no other we have ever seen, how it might never end, and what you should be paying attention to now with how you prepare to give yourself the greatest chance of enduring it. There’s a lot to analyze and explain here, so let’s dive in…
In previous world wars, countries committed resources, retooled their factories, and recruited a fighting force of citizens in their armies. Countries adopted what came to be known as a “Wartime Economy.” For example, before World War II, factories in the United States turned out automobiles, large and small appliances, and children’s toys. In January 1942 — a mere month after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii — President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered the establishment of the War Production Board that would press these factories into the war effort. Even before this, industrialists were pressured into moving away from their civilian industrial efforts to build instead ships, tanks, and planes for the war effort.
World Wars of the past required countries to send their sons, daughters, and treasure overseas or to other countries to fight with boots on the ground. When one side lost too many sons, daughters, and treasure, wars would end with a victor and the defeated. Technology and stockpiles of ordinance-collecting dust have changed that dynamic. The Wagner Group, a private mercenary group that takes its orders directly from the Kremlin, is currently being led by Yevgeny Prigozhin, Putin’s close friend.
When a war is waged with shadowy entities like private military groups; when a war is funded through surplus, shady deals, exchanges, and promises; when countries commit to the war effort by rechanneling their resources and treasure to it; when a war involves multiple countries on multiple secret fronts, it meets the definition of a world war. The part that should matter most to you is this is an ever-escalating conflict that can have no resolution short of the collapse of one of the major parties–Ukraine, Russia, the United States, Europe, or China. One of these significant entities imploding or changing leadership could destabilize the concentrated war efforts long enough for a single victor to emerge. Short of that outcome, however, where does a war like this really stop? Cyberattacks and destabilization efforts escalate. These attacks and the chaos they create move far from the warzone and impact people and operations worldwide. 
Make no mistake about it. World War 3 is already underway, though it doesn’t conform to our current understanding of past world wars. This one won’t go away as easily and may never have a clear victor. Your nation’s treasures and resources will continue to pour into the conflict, and the war is shaping up to be ever-escalating and never-ending. Your economy is transitioning to a wartime economy because if it doesn’t, your country will lose the war. Knowing this, there are things you can do now, even as the government pretends it isn’t actively engaged in a world war. Because they aren’t admitting this reality, they aren’t going to ask you to start a Victory Garden. However, the ever-escalating and never-ending conflict may disrupt food supplies. The facts are that some food supply lines will be disrupted as trade agreements are challenged, food resources are allocated elsewhere, or agriculture and shipping are challenged. Just the brewing conflict with China and their warming up to Russia through trade deals and BRICS should call into question the stability of any food sourced from China. India, China, and Russia have all been hoarding grain for the last several years, as we have pointed out on this channel. Now we know the reason was probably the war in Ukraine and the rising tensions in the South China Sea. If ever there were a time to free oneself even a fraction from global food supply chains, to source more locally, or even grow some of what you eat, this would be the time.
Here’s a lightning-fast look at some notable names closing locations in a neighborhood near you. After we cover these stores that are closing, we’ll discuss what you can expect to come next. Stick with me because what we share in a moment will really enable you to have a complete picture. There’s a lot that’s closing, so here we go.
OK, so we ran through all the stores failing, and this is the important part that you need to pay attention to. Individually, any one of these retailers failing isn’t a cause for alarm. That’s not the case here, though. There are too many failing together last year, this year, and likely into next year to dismiss it. As we have pointed out on this channel before, there has been a worsening commercial real estate bubble that experts are claiming will be far worse when it eventually pops than the 2008 housing market crash that previously tanked the economy. $2.4 trillion of debt will mature over the next five years, and there isn’t money to meet those debt obligations. Most of these retail closures will remain as vacancies. Commercial real estate is very different than housing loans. Lowering rents to entice new tenants often requires a vote from shareholders who would rather take a loss on their taxes than eke out barely a profit. So, as you hear of a store closure, realize that beyond that company’s loss, and the loss to anyone in the community that relies upon that location, and the loss of jobs to the community, and the increase in unemployment numbers, there is also a property that will likely not be reoccupied in the immediate future. It will be bundled with other vacant processes and sold as a loss until the whole thing just fails one day. We covered this coming commercial real estate collapse in depth in another video I will link to in the comments below if you’d like to understand just how big of a problem this really is. 
These next few months, especially if the arguing over the debt ceiling drags on and on, will tell how dark things will become. Again, any of these alone, and I wouldn’t have cause for concern, but let’s list them out now that we know they’re all compounding upon each other.
The first extraordinary measure the Treasury takes is to meet its spending obligations from the cash reserves on hand. As of January 17, 2023, the Treasury had a cash balance of $322 billion. That may seem like a lot, but your government spends a lot. Fish and Wildlife and Parks, Department of Homeland Security, Medicare Premiums, Social Security, Department of Agriculture, Federal Crop Insurance, Department of Justice, Railroad Workers Retirement, Federal Employee Retirement, Department of Veteran Affairs, the Postal Service, Unemployment Insurance, Defense Vendor Payments, Child Nutrition Program, Individual & Business tax refunds, barely scratch the surface of monthly expenditures. Hundreds of programs, contracts, and services are paid for each month, so simply surviving on reserves of cash on hand is like paying your bills with savings when you might lose your job in two months.
Is your city repairing potholes or building a new traffic corridor? The chances are that it is being paid through Federal grants or with Federal money, so those projects get put on hold. Does your employer have a government contract or is trying to obtain one? Well, those are put on hold as well. New spending is suspended. Were you planning on retiring someday, but you work for the government, post office, or railways? No new money is going into that until the debt ceiling is lifted. Your state is going to have to wait on that Federal funding that may pay your salary in some small part. Nutrition programs and other social-safety programs get put on hold. Eventually, parks and other services close, and workers are furloughed several days per week or laid off.
The most detrimental related consequences are not as readily apparent as a closed sign at the post office or programs put on hold. The debt-ceiling debate is a self-inflicted wound on the US economy. One of the major consequences of this debt-ceiling debate and the temporary extraordinary measures is reduced household wealth and business confidence. These are the macroeconomic effects of debt-ceiling brinkmanship. Any potential default on US debt has the potential to be catastrophic: credit markets could freeze, the value of the dollar could plummet, and U.S. interest rates could skyrocket, potentially resulting in a financial crisis and recession that could echo the events of 2008 or worse. Your employer isn’t likely to take on that new contract or employee and expand the business in such a climate. Neither are you likely to want to buy a house or make a similar big purchase with the US economy about to collapse.
Even if you don’t have your own stock portfolio, your retirement account and financial institution do. As the debt-ceiling debate continues and edges closer to the deadline that the Treasury cannot cross, the financial markets steel themselves up and shift their strategies to highly-conservative and stable investments. Not all of them are successful, as we just witnessed with the disparities in the balance sheets of Silicone Valley Bank, Signature Bank, and First Republic Bank, which collapsed this year. Venture capitalists are less likely to gamble in the future, so they withhold their funds. Goldman Sachs economists have estimated that a debt ceiling breach would immediately halt about one-tenth of U.S. economic activity. 
Many estimates and studies have been conducted since 2013 to play out several different scenarios, from getting close to that debt-ceiling date to an impasse lasting more than two months where the Treasury only makes payments on interest. All the scenarios result in a loss of 1 to 5 million jobs across America. Many scenarios show only the slow recovery of those jobs over several months or even years. These unemployed people aren’t just federal workers. The ranks of the unemployed will come from all sectors and walks of life.
In February, President Biden and Speaker McCarthy met for an hour in the Oval Office to discuss how to raise the debt ceiling. They couldn’t reach an agreement but agreed to continue discussions. In mid-April, the Limit, Save, Grow Act was presented by Speaker McCarthy, a 320-page House bill that proposed raising the debt ceiling by $1.5 trillion, which would have sufficed until at least March 31, 2024. This act narrowly passed the House but is deemed dead on arrival when it gets to the Senate. 
Even if you don’t engage with AI in any way, that doesn’t mean your information won’t end up in their systems. As companies build and engage with AI, more and more data is being put in them. Phone records here, browsing histories there, transactions, addresses, routes traveled, names, and more are all potentially, sometimes accidentally and sometimes on purpose, being fed into these machines. Every site you visit, every call you make, every digital transaction you make through credit or debit cards, and even the route you take from home to work, church, or school is recorded in millions of data points, especially if you carry a smartphone. Have you done business with or have an account at Samsung, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook, IBM, Apple, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup Inc, Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, or Wells Fargo? If you do, it’s possible your data has already been sucked up into an AI platform as part of its “training” or development process.
The easiest way to protect yourself from AI is to protect your data and prevent it from being used in ways that could potentially fraud or harm you. In our interconnected world, with instantaneous transactions and a million data points collected about you, that’s impossible unless you go entirely offline and live like a hermit somewhere. Barring that unrealistic extreme, let’s cover the practical steps that you can take now.
One of the simplest and best privacy tools you can implement right now to protect your information is a VPN or Vitual Private Network. It cloaks your IP address from Internet Service Providers. That IP, that unique identifier of you can be used to restrict the content online you are able to see. It also geotags you to a specific location. That means you can be tracked down, and that means that even the prices you are given online may be based on your geographical location and ability to pay based on the average income of users in that area. I know, not fair and pretty tricky, isn’t it? 
You need to be careful how much information you share on social media. Social media platforms collect vast amounts of data about their users, so limiting your use of these platforms can help reduce the amount of data collected about you. Every image you like or share feeds into some online database somewhere. If you want to see this in real-time, compare your spouse, friend, child or grandchild’s social media feed to yours. See what ads are showing up in their feeds compared to yours. The ads that are served in each member’s area are based on the information collected, the interactions they’ve had with various posts. This is why these social media platforms you frequent are free: they’re serving up targeted ads based on the information you’ve freely given to them. You’ll see the algorithms at work making assumptions about your likes, dislikes, age, and behaviors. I have stopped using certain social media platforms because of their blatant disregard for respecting people’s privacy. Remember, gang, anytime you get something for free, you are the product, and as AI advances, they will continue to use that information in ways you may not like. So be careful what you share. There was a show that Netflix released a few years back called “The Social Dilemma”. If you want to understand how all of this works, it’s worth a watch.
So we know that our data is being collected, so It’s important that you get better control of your data. Eliminate subscriptions that aren’t necessary, and opt out of data sharing in terms of services or in the settings of the program itself. My iPhone has an option when using an app to prevent it from collecting data when not using it. How effective is that? I’m not sure to be honest, but some devices are at least making an attempt, if nothing else. The less data you authorize to be shared about you, the less likely your data will be uploaded as part of an AI’s training. Make sure you have two-layer authentication or an authenticator app’s protection on any critical accounts you log in to on the web, from medical records to banks to investment accounts. Banks and healthcare providers will offer different levels of verification or use an authenticator app. It will depend on your provider, but it is usually a feature of their websites. If it is, you should take full advantage of it. This will add a layer of security, reducing the chances that hackers may obtain the information which will likely be harvested in the future and tied to data already being stored on you. Also, consider a service to lock access to your vital data.
It may not seem like taking care of yourself and working on your self-sufficiency can protect you from AI, but it absolutely can. As AI platforms begin to replace routine human tasks, they will wield incredible power over our everyday lives. Over a third of experts believe that it is highly probable that AI will lead to a “nuclear-level catastrophe.” That’s not just a launched missile. As we know, a nuclear-level catastrophe can simply mean a water cooling pump on a reactor gets shut down while sensors tell human operators all is fine. The disaster doesn’t have to be nuclear level to impact your life. When a water pumping station, traffic lights, points of sale, or electrical substation is knocked offline by an errant AI decision, most will find themselves stranded where they are when that occurs, without necessary resources of food or water. 
We’ve said this already a few times, but let’s get specific. Be cautious about sharing personal information such as your name, address, phone number, and email address online. If you don’t want your data to be used, don’t give it out in the first place. You should also read privacy policies and terms of service before using any online service or app. Look for information about collecting, using, and sharing your data, and opt-out where possible. Then, weigh the cost of that in the future versus whatever gain that online service or app currently would provide you in the present. Just the other day, I Google’d my name and was not pleased with all the information that I could easily find. I was able to request that data be removed, and fortunately those companies complied, but it was concerning to say the least. I would suggest you search your name on Google or Bing as you may not like how much of your personal information you find online.
Beyond data, you must protect yourself from misinformation and deep fakes that these AIs can easily generate. Don’t believe everything you read. Don’t act upon unsubstantiated information, but research corroborating information to discern the real truth. We live in a time where vast amounts of information come at us with blinding speed, yet we still rely upon information to determine how we act and react to our world. Just as you protect your data, protect your thoughts and actions. Ask yourself the basic questions: Could this information I am reading or seeing be true? Do other, credible sources support this information? Has this source misled me in the past? Does this information require action on my part, or should I pause and seek out more details? AI can instantly create deep fakes that many will believe. Already it’s generating comments in threads on the internet and writing news articles. It has no obligation or commitment to truth. That’s going to be up to you to discern. We’ll very likely do a break video on this in the near future.
AI lacks personal opinions, emotions, or beliefs, so it also lacks any ethical standards. Forward-facing web chat openAI’s typically are coded not to provide legal, financial, or medical advice, harmful or sexual content, or fake news. They typically cannot offer opinions or advice on sensitive topics such as politics, religion, or personal relationships. This is only true for some AI systems, however. The output from a Chat AI is based on the programming it was created with and the wording of the prompts it is fed. Some AIs are perfectly capable of generating fake news and fictitious stories. AI platforms have no moral or ethical basis to provide accurate information to end users.
with grass in the pots. So I got this bright idea that I would put the grass in the oven and kill the seeds. OH MY GOSH! My whole house smelled like burned grass for days!!!
Before we dive into the discussion of a “Super” El Niño, we need first to explain: 
To simplify the understanding of this cyclical weather pattern, trade winds blow west along the equator during normal Pacific Ocean conditions, taking warm water from South America towards Asia and causing cold water to rise from the depths, called upwelling. However, we are now transitioning into the El Niño pattern, which weakens the trade winds and pushes warm water back east, towards the west coast of the Americas. As a result, the Pacific jet stream shifts south of its neutral position, leading to dryer and warmer conditions in the northern US and Canada. At the same time, the Gulf Coast and Southeast experience increased flooding. During El Niño, Atlantic hurricane activity tends to be suppressed, resulting in fewer hurricanes than usual forming in the Atlantic from August to October.
The predicted ‘super El Niño’ could have catastrophic consequences for our food production. While drought remains the primary risk, El Niño can unleash a range of severe weather conditions, including heavy rainfall, flooding, and extreme heat or cold. The resulting outbreaks of animal diseases, food-borne illnesses, and plant pests could cause a significant collapse in food supplies.
You could join the chorus of experts, pundits, fossil fuel detractors, or proponents, but that won’t leave you any better prepared for extreme weather. Let me use an analogy to explain this. Let’s say you and a friend are walking on long-abandoned train tracks when you hear a train in the distance. You begin to argue with each other about when the tracks were last used, whether that really is a train you heard and whether it’s really on your tracks. After a while, you see the train’s headlight and feel the rumble of its approach in your feet, but still, you stand with your friend on the tracks and argue whether it’s a real train and when the last train came through on the tracks. There are only two possible conclusions to this story, either you prep for the coming train by getting off the tracks, or you get run over arguing about when the last train came through.
When flood conditions occur, it’s not uncommon for sewage or chemicals to contaminate water supplies. You should have the means to filter and treat water, but you should also have stored water. Not to sound the train whistle for you again as a warning, but just last week, Fort Lauderdale, which normally receives 70 inches of fresh rain every year just received more than 25 inches of rain in 6 hours. The city is warning that “Some residents may see water backing up due to pressure building in the sanitary sewer lines. This is called surcharging and is caused by the flooding.” Even when there’s plenty of water, you must have water you can actually drink and use. Some assume because they have a water source nearby, such as a river or well, that they’ll simply be able to utilize this option. But when it becomes contaminated, it may be beyond your ability to process it. This is why storage is so important.
A reserve currency is a foreign currency that is held in significant quantities by central banks or other monetary authorities as part of their foreign exchange reserves. The reserve currency can be used in international transactions, international investments, and all aspects of the global economy. In a nutshell, this is a foreign currency held and used in multiple nations to transact between other countries due to its recognized stability. Since 1944, the world’s reserve currency has been, you guessed it, the US Dollar.
Take care of yourself.
Work on self-sufficiency. You need to develop the ability to produce your own food and energy and the ability to harvest water. I’m currently investing in building up my growing space on the side of my house to increase my food production and am actively working on learning new grow techniques. I’ve got a solar setup with an off-grid battery system that would allow us to power our house if the grid went down and I’ll be expanding it later this summer. I’ve got a rain harvesting system and will be expanding it here shortly. 
Educate yourself
Invest in yourself
Build an 
Reduce debt and liabilities