Inrfrastructure failing, Americans incompetent to fix it.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5haVUKEctcZ...
Now, we all know the infrastructure is in dire need of repair. Not like this, though:
"The rod that fell Tuesday was erected last month during an emergency repair job. It was holding in place a saddle-like cap that had been installed over a cracked link discovered over the Labor Day weekend."
Or this:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=114215640
"NINA KECK: Lisa Cloutier owns The Bridge Restaurant, a stone's throw from the Champlain Bridge on the Vermont side. All summer, she watched workers repairing the structure and says on October 8th, engineers announced that the 80-year-old bridge was safe.
Ms. LISA CLOUTIER (Owner, The Bridge Restaurant): Eight days later, a man walked into my restaurant, made an announcement: If you're traveling over the bridge to New York, you'd better leave now because it's closing. I came out of the kitchen to an empty dining room and the panic had set in. The bridge is closing. The bridge is closing."
My son-in-law is in engineering school. I was complaining about the planned obsolescence of my car windows (a little plastic piece failed on 2 within a week) and he explained that really they used to over-engineer everything. That is what they are teaching engineers.
Self sufficiency is the only way you can really save yourself. Peace, commerce and honest friendship with all neighbors; entangling alliances with none.
Learning repair skills now
will be very helpful in the hard times that loom in our near future. Take classes in welding, machining, electronics, metallurgy. Don't neglect body repair: Take first aid, EMT, search & rescue, and nursing classes. You can barter these skills for what you need to survive.
My Blog:
http://horizonscanblog.blogspot.com/
New Hampshire and Ecuador
Good advice
Occasionally we are encouraged to join a militia. The thought of me playing soldier is scary and funny all at once. We are the medically trained folks, if the military trained folks don't have enough sense to protect us we are screwed - lol! Seriously, though, there are only so many tricks an old dog can PERFORM, even if they learn them. If it comes to running, shooting gun battles... Well, do you want granny covering your rear...? Me neither.
Truth exists, and it deserves to be cherished.