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Saturday, October 8, 2011

Welfare Mom Makes a Million, Inflatable Concrete Buildings, More


Bruce’s Poor Man Survival Bulletin

A Digest of Urban Survival Resources


ISSN 2161-5543
 

In This Issue:

1.       Creating a million dollar biz-rags to riches

2.      Inflatable concrete buildings

3.      More bug-out kit ideas

4.      Free healthy chickens bulletin, rare livestock breeds

5.      Gov gives tax breaks for hiring foreign students, but not US kids



“Injustice is relatively easy to bear; what stings is justice." -- H.L. Mencken



Welfare mom creates million dollar biz

Impressive story of a ‘can do’ attitude I just had to share…



Trisha Waldron was 28 years old when she realized that the life she had drifted into was a dead end. She had gone from being a daughter to a wife to having her first baby at 22. Now single and barely surviving on food stamps in the Black Hills of South Dakota, she had no college degree, no work experience to speak of, and no clear idea of what to do with the rest of her life. She owned a tiny two-bedroom house from her divorce, and she had her two lovely little girls, ages four and six, but that was about it


You can create your own life

One afternoon, volunteering at her daughters’ school, she heard a teacher tell the kids, “You can create your own life.” That sentence changed everything. As she puts it, “I knew I had to take responsibility for my own life. I had been running it according to others and things hadn’t worked out very well


She applied for a student loan and went back to school. The first year, she and her girls lived on welfare, food stamps, and odd jobs, but the second year, an opportunity presented itself and she grabbed it. An artist friend offered her a job assembling jewelry for a mail order catalogue in her spare time.

 She knew it wouldn’t be easy: she’d be in school all day, taking care of the kids in the evening, and then have to work late into the night at her kitchen table, but she’d be working for herself and be able to get off welfare.


Having a job and being in school built up Trisha’s confidence and she eventually proposed to the owner of the catalogue that she design his entire line of jewelry. She says, “As an entrepreneur you are always going to be confronted by things you don’t know, but you can’t let it stop you.” She went to the library and dove into teaching herself the basics of jewelry design as well as exploring Native American motifs from which she would draw inspiration. She recalls that she didn’t get a lot of sleep in those days.


[ Donate: You can help struggling women get back into the workforce by giving to Empowered Women International. The award-winning non-profit channels the creative talents of low-income women into small businesses to create jobs. ]




Illumination. One of the first things you’ll need in any emergency is light. The Amish have many traditional solutions such as a Roman-type olive oil jar-lamp, and a Victorian kerosene lamp. But they also use solar-power (remember they’re not anti-science, they’re just anti dependence). If you’re using gas or oil – be careful! There’s always a spike in house fires during a power outage. You can even obtain a solar-powered attic fan – a boon if your house loses air conditioning during a summer storm or power outage!




PM’s Compendium of Useful Resources






Yes, you read that title correctly; there are now inflatable concrete buildings. This is one of the most innovative building technologies I’ve seen in a while. Called “Concrete Canvas Shelters,” these buildings come in two sizes, with either 25 square meters or 54 square meters (about 250 square feet and 550 square feet respectively). There is a video about them here:


The company website is here:


From looking at the website it seems to me that they are targeting military applications (they mention that the building can protect occupants from shrapnel, for example). But there are many other ways to use these. Since they take only two hours to set up and provide a sterile environment inside–which is ready to use in 24 hours–they make for great emergency buildings in times of crisis, like after a hurricane or earthquake.




Cocoon - Proxy Server [https://getcocoon.com/]

If we don't take precautions online, our activity is trackable, observable, and recordable by virtually anyone with good or bad intentions. Cocoon allows you to take these precautions with a simple click of a button.

According to Cocoon: "an all-in-one plugin that makes everything you do online secure, virus-free, and private. Without Cocoon websites, hackers have access to your computer to leave cookies or infect it with viruses and malware. You even get protection on open Wi-Fi access.”



More Suggestions for Bug Out Kits



A handheld GPS unit

Good sighting compass

Magnesium fire starter

Water filter system suitable for backpacking

Rope

Tarps

A good cross bow with plenty of bolts



Over the past year or two, the Poor Man has offered a variety of DIY Bug Out kits and although not every item may be suitable for each person or family, a DIY kit is easily customized to your personal needs and taste.  Always begin with the basics and build on it.  Most of us learn to adjust our thinking and tactics to our surroundings and needs.  Always maintain an emphasis on safety and training too!




New Site Helps Locate Rare Livestock Breeds

Many livestock and poultry breeds are on the brink of extinction but a new site from the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy will help farmers sell their animals and products, keeping small farms alive.

Albc-usa.org or 919-542-5704



Good DIY Home Repair Sites

Although there are many good how-to sites out there, here are a few submitted by readers.






Free Healthy Chickens Bulletin

Sign up to get an email bulletin which includes useful information regarding natural and organic care, prevention and remedies, supplements and treatments, common ailments and more.





Be ready for rainy-day emergencies.   Avoid excessive debt.   Use the resources of the earth wisely; don´t be wasteful.  Prepare for the future by making spending and savings plans.   Keep a family or personal budget.   Teach children wise spending habits and help them save for the future.   Obtain an education or vocational training.



The Nanny State Updates…



Operation Fast and Furious Blows up in Obama’s Face


U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has been stonewalling all efforts by members of Congress to look into Fast and Furious. A CBS reporter that has been aggressively investigating this story was recently screamed at and cussed at by a high ranking official that works in the White House. It has become abundantly clear that the Obama administration desperately wants to hide what went on during Operation Fast and Furious.

ATF agents were specifically ordered not to intercept the guns before they crossed the border. The following is a brief excerpt from a CBS News report that detailed the fierce objections that many ATF agents expressed when they were ordered to stand down....



On the phone, one Project Gunrunner source (who didn't want to be identified) told us just how many guns flooded the black market under ATF's watchful eye. "The numbers are over 2,500 on that case by the way. That's how many guns were sold - including some 50-calibers they let walk."

50-caliber weapons are fearsome. For months, ATF agents followed 50-caliber Barrett rifles and other guns believed headed for the Mexican border, but were ordered to let them go. One distraught agent was often overheard on ATF radios begging and pleading to be allowed to intercept transports. The answer: "Negative. Stand down."



CBS News has been told at least 11 ATF agents and senior managers voiced fierce opposition to the strategy. "It got ugly..." said one. There was "screaming and yelling" says another. A third warned: "this is crazy, somebody is gonna to get killed.



Food preservation. To survive in a crisis, you may need your food to last as long as possible. Canning can preserve your food for up to a year or more. Basic fruit canning is so simple that all you need are vacuum jars (like those glass ones you see in your grocery store) and a big pot. Low-acid foods, such as meats, fish, and vegetables, need to be prepared in a pressure canner like one sold by Lehman’s which comes with a 100% bacteria-kill guarantee. Make sure you store all canned foods in a dark, damp location, such as a basement.



The Parting Thought – US Parents wasting their college tuition?

Always nice when our favorite uncle plays unfair with our tax dollars!


Uncle Sam offers bonuses for hiring foreign workers


College seniors who will soon receive degrees in the agricultural sciences just got a dose of bad news from their government, but only if they are U.S. citizens.


The Department of Homeland Security and ICE announced that college seniors who get degrees in any one of 300 different degree programs will now compete with foreign students on a new level.


The government is creating a non-level playing field for American students.  Prospective employers will get a 7.65 percent bonus (up to $9,200) if they hire a foreign graduate student in one of the occupations.

The money comes from a plan in which the employer doesn’t have to pay Social Security and Medicare taxes for 2-½ years for these foreign employees hired on F-1 Visas.  How did it come to pass that this agency is allowed to grant such exemptions?


Some of the fields where this takes place include: animal science, dairy science, agronomy and crop science, soil science, and forest science. More detail on this policy is at http://cis.org/north/expanded-OPT-stem-list.


These bonuses will also be available to employers hiring new graduates in other fields, such as social psychology, medical information, management science, and business statistics; for the complete list, see http://www.ice.gov/doclib/sevis/pdf/stem-list-2011.pdf. Employers can get the bonus if they hire recent foreign graduates in any of the nearly 300 occupations on the list.

More at:



Yours in freedom, the Poor Man.



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3 comments:

MinimalistGroup said...

We need to make a million too...any suggestions? Keep up the good work.

Gene Bess said...

There is an American Company that provides the UK version of the Concrete Shelter:

http://arzbuilders.com/concrete-canvas-deployment.html

Gene Bess

Gene Bess said...

There is an American Company that provides the UK version of the Concrete Shelter:

ARZ BUILDERS INC.
1515 N. Federal Hwy #300
Boca Raton - FL 33432
PHONE: (Cell) (561) 239-9923 - (Office) (561) 394-0910 - FAX : (561) 447-7536

http://arzbuilders.com/concrete-canvas-deployment.html

Gene Bess