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July 2013

Dogwoof, amazing tourist hangouts
Mobile

Wierdest holiday destinations

Travel site TripAdvisor announced 10 quirky accommodations in the U.S., as chosen by its editors.

According to a release, travelers seeking a unique lodging experience can hunker down in one of these far-out accommodations, which include a larger-than-life beagle, a historic ferry and a subterranean B&B.

“For travelers who want a truly unique experience on vacation and stories to tell for a lifetime, these funky properties will surely fit the bill,” said TripAdvisor.

Locations include:

Ruffing it: Dog Bark Park Inn, Cottonwood, Idaho

Travelers visiting this bed and breakfast located 200 miles north of Boise will be glad to be in the doghouse. Guests are warmly welcomed as they enter the B&B built in the shape of a giant beagle, affectionately named “Sweet Willy,”

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Resident of Kivalina
Land

Kivalina village faces extinction

The entire Alaskan village of Kivalina is off-grid, or “unserved” as the official jargon puts it, by water or power utilities. It clings to a narrow spit of sand on the edge of the Bering Sea, far too small to feature on maps of Alaska, never mind the United States.

Which is perhaps just as well, because within a decade Kivalina is likely to be under water. Gone, forever. Remembered – if at all – as the birthplace of America’s first climate change refugees.

Four hundred indigenous Inuit people currently live in Kivalina’s collection of single-storey cabins. Their livelihoods depend on hunting and fishing.

In June, the United States Supreme Court denied the Native Village of Kivalina the right to sue Exxon Mobil for the climate damage which has caused them to be endangered by the sea level.

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Alaska gold miners and bigfoot hunters
Land

Buying Alaska – Dreaming of the Untamed North

Trying to Get Away? A new season of “Buying Alaska” starts August 3 on cable TV Station Destination America. Each episode will follow a couple as they examine three different properties and look to buy a piece of the untamed north.
[via press release from Destination America]

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Vermont Utility tries to bill for off-grid power

Letter to Vermon Times-Argus exposes grasping power Utility

“It really never ceases to amaze me what corporate America will try to do.

Idaho Public Utilities Commission recently rejected a proposal to raise monthly fees paid by homeowners who install solar panels.

That was after a June 26 decision by Louisiana Public Service Commission to maintain payment rates that utilities must make to solar-system owners for electricity. The commission voted 3-2 against a proposed fee increase supported by Entergy Corp.

It seems that Entergy and Idaho Power feel that solar-powered homes are not paying their fair share of costs to maintain power lines and respond to outages since they often have lower monthly electric bills. It seems they believe the lost revenue resulting from net metering can cut into utility profits.

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Umbrella can be used for rainwater harvesting
Water

Tips for harvesting rainwater

Many cities and states encourage rainwater harvesting, yet few homes and commercial buildings have implemented it.

Excuses range from the cost of construction to lack of knowledge. Yet individuals who have incorporated such systems say that integrating water harvesting reduces costs over the long run.

“I have not used Utility water since 1994 in my home.” said A R Shivakumar. “With planning, rain water harvesting does not have to be expensive and space consuming.” Here are his tips:

TANK IT UP

Multiple rainwater tanks can be built depending on the flow of water. For instance, at Shivakumar’s home there is a 4500-litre rooftop tank. The excess water from this tank is allowed to run down rainwater pipes to a 25,000 litre sump built under the portico. If these two tanks fill up, then the extra water is allowed to seep into the ground.

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New gizmo lets grid-connected renewables keep working during outages

Imagine you are completely self-sufficient for energy yet still connected to the grid. Here at www.off-grid.net we call that state being “off-grid ready” because you could go completely off the grid if you wanted, but you prefer to sell your surplus back to the grid. So you stay connected.

Now suppose there is a blackout or a brownout. Guess what? Your power goes down too. Turns out you are not off-grid ready – due to an arcane set of rules brought in to protect the interests of the power companies, the moment there is a power outage in the system, all home power generators are turned off as well. The power may be sitting there in the batteries but it cannot be used.

Until now.

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Passenger on the street with guitar
People

I will never stop busking says Passenger

DESPITE his hit Let Her Go topping the charts in 16 countries, Passenger loves off-grid experiences and says he will never stop busking.
The Brit troubadour, currently touring in the US, told DJ Christian O’Connell: “It’s been quite a rollercoaster but I still busk. I was busking in Dublin yesterday, and Brighton at the weekend.
“It’s a really honest way of getting your music to people and it means they can watch your stuff for free.”

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looters and preppers
Community

Fight them or Feed them

A long thread on City-data Forum has a number of individuals discussing their attitude towards looting in the event of a general social collapse or weather crisis.

One said he would without a doubt be a Looter because he was not in a position to prepare for possible crisis.

“I’m not going to lie. My preparedness is almost nonexistant at this stage. I would label myself a “well planned looter”. I have maps and plans on how to take the things I need from various places in local areas, but financial means keep me from stocking up on much of anything I would need for any bad situation.

In my neck of the woods and with my mindset, the situations I want to prep for the most are Civil Unrest, a Meltdown from a “nearby” Nuclear Reactor, and Martial Law/Hostile Military Presence.”

Another contributor replied that people who did not prepare would not survive – either they would starve, or be killed – and the author seemed quite ready to do the killing:-

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Community

Tanning Rabbit hides

1x1placeholderNow that you have chosen to raise rabbits for meat, it’s time to learn how to tan their hides, you can either use the fur or lose the fur, you can use the leather for many things, you can also sell it to earn some extra money.

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Softbank and Bloom Energy fuel cells
Energy

Softbank, Bloom Energy take Off-Grid to Corporate Japan

TOKYO (Nikkei)–Softbank Corp. (9984) will team up with a U.S. fuel cell developer to provide the off-grid power source to corporate clients in Japan, company sources said Wednesday.

A 50-50 joint venture set up by Softbank and Bloom Energy Corp. will launch the business as early as this fall, targeting firms, hospitals and public facilities looking to diversify power supplies as part of their disaster preparedness plans.

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Water harvesting in Tucson Desert, AZ
Water

Six things you should know about rainwater harvesting in the desert

TUCSON AZ – New techniques and revival of old skills can make a little water go a long way, even here in the Catalina foothills.

1. The secret to urban water harvesting is using the many impermeable surfaces that surround us: roofs, streets, sidewalks and driveways. The runoff from those surfaces amounts to a huge amount, if properly collected and used for irrigation. In rural situations, create as many hard surfaces as you can.
2. Good collection techniques can triple the amount of water that falls, so for example, the patch of garden that now needs irrigation would get about 12 inches a year. That’s still pretty dry, but it does just lift that patch out of a “desert” definition. Diverting rainfall from your rooftop and driveways can provide quite a bit of water for irrigation.

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Rabbits for meat pt 1

Living more frugally can mean growing your own food, that can include more than just plants, it can mean meat. Many people who live in more rural areas grow chickens for eggs and meat, it’s just as easy to grow rabbits, this is something that has appealed to me ever since I moved off-grid, I would have no problems eating them, but it would be difficult, at least in the beginning, to dispatch one, I’m sure after it’s dead I would be able to skin it, gut it and prepare it… I did see a video of a man who invented a method of humanly dispatching the rabbit, here is the video

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