The Road To Hell

 

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I have always advocated the Great American Road Trip, even before I read a book called Blue Highways, by a guy with a really run name.

I have fond memories taking family vacations in the old Ford Country Squire breeder wagon with the fake wood panelling all over it.  My father was a die-hard interstate hater, declaring regularly that he could make better time on the back roads.  Of course, he was always wrong, because among other things, he was a history teacher.  That meant that we had to stop at e.v.e.r.y s.i.n.g.l.e historical marker for an extended roadside lesson in Texas history.

I could go on for hours about those trips, but we're here for a different purpose.

I've spent a significant portion of my life taking leisurely blue highway tours of the world.  While the interstates and autobahns of the world whisk you quickly from origin to destination, they do so in a completely sanitized envelope populated with rubber-stamped franchises and commercial oases, by-passing the truly unique and insightful parts of the world.

Two of my favorite journeys involve driving through Europe, purposefully avoiding big cities and multi-laned concrete arteries.  While these journeys could fill at least one book of unusual and even strange experiences, there was a theme that ran through the trips that inspired me to do a photo journal, where like my father, I stopped at every opportunity to appreciate the historical nuances that mark blue highway art.

When you drive through the back country of Europe, you quickly begin to notice a recurring phenomenon.  On the edge of nearly every village, there is a grotto with either the Virgin Mary or the Crucified Christ, and many of t hem are surrounded with fresh flowers much of the time.  Some bear inscriptions, while others require an inquiry of locals when you reach the gasthaus.

These grottos are memorials to the survivors and the victims of the Black Death.

Hundreds of centuries-old grottos pepper the entire continent and serve as ancient reminders of the terrors of the bubonic pandemic.  Not only these memorials, but a number of communities perform passion plays every decade, the most famous of which is the Passion Play at Oberammagau.  

These rituals and monuments have survived nearly 400 years to remind the future of an event so terrifying that it has left an imprint in our languages, like the English "bless you" or the German "Gott sund heit" when someone sneezes.  It's even memorialized in the children's rhyme "Ring Around the Rosie".

Imagine a natural plague so horrible that it scarred our collective memories across time and place.  Imagine the fearsome inevitability that in any family of four, odds were good that at least one of you would die a painful death.  Imagine death rates so dreadful that the only burial solution was to dig large pits and stack the corpses like cord wood in them.

Now look around at our current situation.

In the first iteration of this so-called pandemic, there were no bodies littering the streets.  The vast majority of people did not go to bed wondering who in their house would be dead by morning.  There were no enormous pits at the edge of town with gruesome piles of death.

In  the second iteration, great numbers of people have begun dying of heart attacks and strokes, wholly unrelated to a respiratory virus, but rather self-induced by avaricious mega-corporations seeking to dominate the globe and soak us of our scant and hard-fought wealth, aided and abetted by corrupt and demonic politicians seeking to elevate their status by yanking our out from under us.

If this shared experience leaves a mark on our culture - indeed if our culture survives this event - it will not be to memorialize the horrors of Nature, but of the bottomless abyss of evil into which Humanity can fall.  The grottos, children's rhymes and passion plays of the distant future will mark our generation's descent into cowardice and psychosis so profound that it nearly destroyed civilization itself.

Slowly it seems the masses are awakening, from this delusion.  It appears that folks are realizing just how clueless and self-absorbed we have all been for the last 100 years, but we have a long way to go.  

We must resolve to punish those who brought this on us, while confessing that it would not have been possible without our consent and sloth.  We must resolve to educate ourselves and take full responsibility for the quality and nature of our lives.

Finally, we must, as a species, come to realize that dogma, decrees and demands are not science.  We must castigate en masse anyone who uses the terms "settle science" or "consensus science"  Science is the systematic questioning of the status quo, not the capitulation to it.

Our birthright is the state of individual and sovereign moral agent, and our collective duty is to jealously defend that birthright, for all living souls, from any infringement by any entity.  This self-imposed crisis must be the final battle for our true and lasting freedom.

If we erect monuments to this period in history, then let them be reminders to the future that we finally ended slavery in all its evil and pernicious forms in our lifetimes.

Now is the time for heroes and legends.

A Texan Prepares

I occasionally get comments of the sort that I'm full of excetum bovis and don't believe half the stuff I say, or in this case write about.  One of the things I am very serious about is being prepared, following the wisdom of Louis Pasteur, who famously said, "Fortune favors the prepared mind (La fortune favorise l'esprit préparé).".  

I grew up with hurricanes and tornadoes, and I now live in one of the most earthquake prone, volcanic regions on the planet.  Furthermore, we are all living through a period in which the Bumbledicks are driving humanity to the point where things have already started to burn.  Living the prepped life, as I always have, means being fully self-sufficient under as many different circumstances as I can imagine for as long as I possibly can - meaning the rest of my natural days.

One reason I do this is to provide the most comfortable lifestyle for my family under the worst possible circumstances.

Another reason is that I have no intention of being one of those hapless people sitting in a filthy refugee camp being screamed at by goons with pathological lack of empathy and bad breath.

When one begins the process of prepping, the first order of business is to assume the worst possible scenario one thinks is most likely.  For example, a major earthquake and tsunami wipe out any semblance of civilized living, and it is necessary to get far away from the filth, rot and despair left behind.  Or perhaps millions of people are driven to desperation and begin revolting, followed by a strict military clamp down and one needs to bug out fast.  Both scenarios have occurred within the past 50 years right here - the Banda Aceh quake and tsunami of 2004, and the military coup of 1964, or the sequel in 1998.  I have no reason to believe they couldn't happen again.

So, once one imagines the worst-case scenario, one begins to ponder what things would be most important and then figure out a way to address the issues in the smallest, lightest way available.  I also look for solutions that have multiple uses, so that each item you carry has a range of survival applications.

Finally, I highly recommend reading the Foxfire Series of books.  This is a collection of lessons learned for self-sufficient living taken from folks living in the Appalachian mountains of the US (a.k.a. hillbillies).  Tools are useless if you don't know how to use them.

Priority #1: Water

The average person will die in 3-5 days without water, and dehydration is not a pleasant way to go.  There's also the issue of parasites and bacteria, which need to be addressed to prevent illness.  My pack contains a Berkey Sport filter and storage for up to 10 liters for drinking and hygiene.  I also have the necessary skills to make a water filter out of sand and charcoal, as well as knowing how to find subsurface water. 

Note also the the mylar space blankets and climbing rope (mentioned below) can be rigged to catch dew and rain water for collection in the 10-liter water bladder.

Priority #2: Food

The average person will die in 20-30 days without food.  In the tropics, finding food in the wild is not particularly difficult, but there is the matter of getting to it.  My pack contains some beef jerky and 1kg of mixed nuts, which provide a surprising variety of vitamins, minerals, fats, and carbs in a compact and flavorful form.  Chewing nuts also activates the salivary glands to keep mouth, sinuses and esophogus moist.  I also have an assortment of seeds for vegetables if I manage to find a place where I don't have to move for a few months.  Additionally, the seeds themselves can be eaten and are full of energy.  Having skills for preserving and canning food are very handy, as well.

In addition to trail snacks, I have energy bars and soup packets, along with a German military style cook set, with two pots and a bowl in one neat package.

Priority #3: Shelter

Being able to get out of the elements is not only physically desirable, it has a significant psychological effect.  My pack contains a machete, a hatchet, several knives, a 30m climbing rope, and mylar space blankets that can all be used to create and secure a make-shift shelter and even a house with enough time and scavenged materials.  I also have a 4-person tent with enough room for 3 people and gear, which can shelter up to 6 people if half sleep at night while the other half keep watch, and vice versa.

There are tools, as well.  A Leatherman's 17-in-1, a portable tool kit with a hammer, crescent wrench and pliers, and a gross of nylon and velcro cable ties.

Included under shelter are clothes.  I carry 5 t-shirts, 3 pairs of shorts, 3 pairs of underwear, socks and a towel - always a towel.  If you've read Douglas Adams, then you know how useful and necessary a towel can be.

Priority #4: First Aid

This is one thing that you can never fully anticipate nor preapare for.  Fortunately, my wife and I don't require any regular medications, so a well-designed First Aid kit, some aspirin, and a variety of salves, cleansers and bandages is sufficient for most foreseeable issues.  A little training in basic first aid helps, as well.  Knowing how to set bones, close punctures and stanch bleeding is far more valuable than a weighty pack of stuff.  Don't forget that a sewing kit not only repairs fabric, but can close a wound in a pinch, as well.   Here, the most useful tools are a sharp pair of scissors and tweezers.

Priority #5: Communications & Luxuries

These are items that are extremely useful and can make life a lot more comfortable, but not critical to survival.

My pack contains a solar panel with two USB ports for phones, power banks and a 21-channel shortwave radio.  The flashlight is also solar charged and has a third USB port.  I have a trekking stick with built-in compass and flashlight that also serves to hook fruit a high as 4m off the ground (my height plus the stick).  There's an air mattress and sleeping bag to make like just a little bit more tolerable, a magnifying glass for starting fires with a lens cleaning cloth, and a supply of Zip-Lok bags to keep things dry.  I also carry a 2T solid-state disc with scans of all our documents, which I won't bother to list, but think of all the documents you might need in an emergency, along with a little cash and barter items.  On the way out the door, I can also grab my original identity docs.

Altogether, the pack weighs about 20kg, or 50 pounds.  It's a monster, but I agonized over the purchase and ended up with a Kelty Coyote 85-liter.  It is extremely comforable and buckles up nice and tight to prevent load shifting and keep the weight close to my body.  I am 189cm/6'-2" and the pack still has a little extra slack in all directions.

Life, as George Carlin obserived, is having a place for your stuff and an ever decreasing supply line of smaller versions of your stuff.  My pack is designed for maximum survivability and functionaality, without sacrificing some key comforts.  In a pinch, though, there are things that can be shed to lighten the load.  Some are handy, other just fun, and any of those items can be pitched to get more agile.  

So, there you are.  Money where my mouth is.  I am personally prepared for what I think may be the worst-case scenario in the near to mid future, and it is adapted to the environment where I live.  The only remaining skill is knowing how to pack for maximum efficiency and functionality.

A note about electronic devices and carrying a solar charger.  Plenty of people say why bother with this if it's TEOTWAWKI.  My phone has two 128Gb SD cards, one in the phone and one stored in a safe,dry spot.  Both are loaded with books, music, art, and even a couple of indispensable movies. My book collection contains about 4,000 titles ranging from how-to references to the most arcane philosophical treatises (think of all the reading time you'll have with no TeeVee).  I am essentially carrying Western civilization on 2 grams of silicon.  Though your phone may not reach out and touch anyone, it can be a life-saving reference library and educational tool.

None of this is wasteful or silly.  Every last bit of it can be used for recreational hiking and camping.  Considering the Frankenvaxxx has probably killed off most commercial pilots, I anticipate doing a lot of that for the foreseeable future, since we won't likely get off the island any time soon.

No worries, though.  Indonesia has 5,000 deserted islands just waiting for me to assault them.

Villa Incognito

 

As of midnight on 3 July 2021, Jakarta will be surrounded with military and national police blocking all the exits, supposedly until 20 July.  No one will be allowed to enter or exit the city.  Folks will be allowed out of their houses to go to the supermarket, but nothing else.  To avoid being hassled, folks are encouraged to have as much as possible delivered - because, um, that doesn't spread viruses, I guess.

The Tempo article notes, "Specific Jakarta protocols "the police would bar people from conducting outdoor activities following the imposition of the policy. People are only allowed outside of their home for emergency and essential purposes. "

We chose to bug out rather than live through the sequel to The Year of Living Dangerously.  We brought our daughter, her husband and our granddaughter to the mountain house 100km south of the city.  It is difficult to express the joy at being free of masks and constant pressure to get vaccinated, where the air is fresh and a full 10 degrees cooler than Jakarta.

Here's an example of the insane rubbish being foisted on Indonesians by the President's personal physician:

 "Dapat konfirmasi dari pak Martiono Hadianto (mantan Dirut Pertamina), bhw betul beliau terpapar Covid dan saat ini sedang isolasi di RSPP.
Dari hasil analisa medis, beliau terpapar Covid varian Delta (India), beliau sudah vaksin 2 kali (selesai). Beliau tidak tahu kira2 kapan & dimana terpaparnya. Namun dari penjelasan dr Muthalib (salah seorang dokter Presiden), kondisi di Jakarta spt dibawah ini.
Pak Martiono memberi saran:
1. Dalam rumah agar secara rutin disemprot disinfektan.
2. Keluar rumah, walaupun hanya dihalaman agar menggunakan masker dua lapis.
3. Menurut dr Muthalib, ukuran virus varian Delta ini jauh lebih kecil dp varian sebelumnya, sehingga virus varian delta ini bisa melayang bebas diudara. Sedangkan varian sebelumnya melayang mengikuti droplet ludah dari orang yang sedang berbicara (jarak 1,5 meter dari lawan bicara droplet sdh jatuh ketanah).
4. Saya serahkan pada masing² individu utk mencernakan saran pak Martiono, apakah diterima dan dilaksana kan seluruhnya, dilaksanakan sebagian, atau diabaikan. Monggo saja, karena itu hak masing2 individu.
Saya mohon kalau teman2 berkenan utk mendoakan kesembuhan pak Martiono.
Terima kasih.
Wass ww. Samto Utomo

Dr. Muthalib :*
✅Minggu 27.6.21 Dihimbau jangan buka masker di manapun, Varian Covid Delta sudah rata di udara kota Jakarta, penangkalnya hanya pakai masker double."

"I can confirm from Mr. Martiono Hadianto (former Pertamina Managing Director), that he was really exposed to Covid and is currently isolated at RSPP  [Ed. Pertamina Hospital]. From the results of medical analysis, he was exposed to Covid Delta (India) variant, He was vaccinated twice (finished). He doesn't know about when & where he was exposed. However, from Dr. Muthalib's statement (one of the presidential doctors), the condition in Jakarta was below. Mr. Martono gives this advice: 1. In the home, routinely spray disinfectant. 2. Outside the house, despite lack of evidence use a two-layer mask. 3. According to Dr. Muthalib, the size of the Delta variant virus is much smaller than the previous variant, so that the Delta variant virus can float free in the air. Whereas the previous variant floated on saliva droplets from people talking (a distance of 1.5 meters from the origin of the droplets. 4. I submit to each individual to decide whether Mr. Martiono's suggestion is accepted and carried out and entirely, partially or partially carried out, or ignored. Just so, as is the right of individuals. I beg for friends to pray for Mr. Martiono's healing. Thank you. from WW. Samo Utomo Hansel Muthalib: * week 27.21 is encouraged to not open your mask anywhere, the Covid Delta variant has been flat in the air in Jakarta, using a double mask."

 

So here we have  a supposed :expert" first using fear (former employee of the national oil company getting "exposed to a supposed "variant").  Then, he tells us that the "sick" person was vaccinated and has no idea where or how.  Then he appeals to authority, a formal fallacy, by quoting the President's personal doctor, who says the "Delta variant" is "smaller" and so floats easier on the breeze.  Then the"doctor," who has offered no science or reference for the ridiculous assertions, to continuously disinfect our homes and wear two masks at all times (24/7), despite the provable fact that masks do nothing to stop the older, "larger" virus.

All of the statement are speculative, anecdotal and completely devoid of any evidence whatsoever that the information is true or based on any objective facts, or that the recommendations have any efficacy against any virus, much less against a supposed COVID or any variant by any name or "size".

That this "doctor" would assert that the "smaller" size of the Delta variant more easly floats on the wind is so utterly devoid of rationality as to make one question his sanity, much less his accumen.  The average size of the hundreds of types of corona viruses is around 0.125 micrometers.  That is hardly an impediment to "wafting".  Furthermore, there is no mention of the sanitizing effect of UV-A light (sunshine), nor the fact that virus density in open air can practicaly never approach infectious levels (viral load). 

Either this "doctor" is a complete babbling idiot, or he is a fear monger trying to drive the masses to PCR tests and vaccines, which have vast financial benefit for the Insiders, who are skimming off the top of all this money being sloshed around.

In addtion, having a military deployment pays soldiers active-duty bonuses, keeping the military placated and compliant to the political PTB.

What I hear is that an "authority" figure "tested positive" using PCR tests that have been widely proven to be cheap knock-offs, with people rinsing the swabs to pocket the money used to purchase them, and the "authority can not think of any risk factors or possible sources for his "positive" result?  In one question, I drove an entire fleet of trucks through the gaping hole in logic.  The only exposure mentioned is the fact that the former Pertamina Big Wig has been vaccinated twice, which must be assumed to be the most likely source of any exposure.  We are not told which vaccine the "authority" used.

Given Indonesians' unwillingness to read or research for themselves - much less use critical thinking - and their seeming innate credulity of anyone with a title or position of "authority," they actually circulate this silliness like passages from the Koran.

Based on wholly unscientific information and completely speculative and anecdotal information like this, the president has shut down the two most populous islands in the country, and conveniently the capital city.  The "authorities" are now considering expaning martial law outside Java and Bali, given the unmitigated and abject failure of the effort so far.

My use of the term "martial law" has been challenged, but when the militiary is deployed for civil enforcement, it implies that the civil authority has failed and the only option to maintain order is deployment of military on the streets - martical law.  In other words, the civil authority has declared itself incompetant.

I have had two colleagues independently mention the similarities with current events to those under Soeharto, when he assumed power in the 1960s, a parallel that echoed my own personal thoughts.

A president issuing edicts with punitive consequences without the issuance of laws from the Parliament is a dictatorship under any definition of the term.  As Mark Twain warned us, history seldomly repeats, but it often rhymes.

At the moment, the current situation here is rhyming like a fascist dysfunctional Dr. Seuss..