Be rigid. There are moral absolutes. No matter how ugly life gets, what separates the human from the animal is our ability to distinguish right from wrong. Sometimes, the right thing is the one thing you don’t want to do, but not wanting to do what is hard is not justification for being evil.
I am not afraid to say no, and I am not afraid to be disliked. Some of my beliefs are different than the majority of folks, and I have paid the price for that in the workplace. However, just because an idea is unpopular does not mean it is wrong.
Much of the problem with our country is that politics has become a popularity contest. People say what people want to hear and not the truth.
A man that tells people lies that are comforting is more popular than a man that tells the uncomfortable truth.
Heck a particularly hypocritical political even lied using the title inconvenient truth.
Doing what right is more important than being popular. Be rigid on what is important.
Rules of Civility: The 110 Precepts that Guided Our First President in War and Peace
These precepts are my creed, and having prepper precepts guides me when I face tough choices. A wise man once told me that when facing a moral problem, the right choice is usually the action you don’t want to take.
I am not a pollyanna person that is wishy washy or blindly follows rules, heck I have a little rebellious streak and love to know the WHY of rules, but I do respect and understand the need for law and know how vital it is for a society to have a moral code.
By knowing what I believe in you can know how I will act. This is very important in times of stress. If you don’t want to read these precepts one by one, the completed list can be found here: Completed 27 Prepper Precepts.
Good parenting is a skill that is learned. It comes with experience and abiding by the basic rules of how to be a good and responsible parent. Boundaries are set for kids; instructions are given on how and why elders must be respected and so on. But, what about teaching sustainability to them, is it really that important? The answer is yes. We’re moving towards a world where natural resources are dwindling, pollution has reached an all-time high and the garbage issue is turning the planet into a landfill. Ingraining the importance of sustainable living in children will ensure that future generations grow up to be innovative and socially and environmentally responsible citizens.
Children are an intuitive and curious lot. By introducing them to activities that combine sustainability and enhancing their cognitive and motor skills, most kids can grow up to be physically able with a maturity not found in many children who lead sheltered lives. So, how do we teach them the basics of living off the earth as well as preserving it?
Gardening tools comes in a variety of sizes. Some are designed especially for children with non-toxic and blunt-edged pitchforks, spades and rakes. Introduce these tools to him from very young age and make him assist you in your gardening. With time, he will learn how to plant seeds, get rid of weeds and know the importance of not killing earthworms.
You can hone his motor skills by teaching him how to sift through seeds, picking up dropped or fallen berries, relocating earthworms and carrying eggs without breaking them. He can learn how to balance himself by climbing trees to pick fruits and weaving around your garden without stepping on flower beds. Teach him the concept of color by asking him to help out with flower selection. Work with him in a greenhouse to educate him on the nuances of growing plants and flowers. Expand his knowledge by teaching him the relationship between plants, sunlight, warmth and water.
A hands-on experience beats a bit of talk any day. While telling children about the importance of daily living may educate them to an extent, there is nothing like having a first-hand experience. The more your child learns about the realities of where food comes from or how so-and-so works, the more he will appreciate the art of living.
With proper time management, parents can also set aside time for other activities like games and reading to balance things out. Let them know their duty of helping around the house with cooking, dish washing, dusting and vacuuming. If you have pets, give them the responsibility of feeding, bathing and cleaning up after them. Teach them to be alert for signs of illness.
Begin this tutelage early and your kids will grow up to be independent and capable citizens. Start late and all you will hear are complaints and disgruntlement. It is never too early to teach kids how to live in a sustainable manner. Lead by example and, hopefully, the children of the future will take it upon themselves to learn how to sustain our ailing planet.
About the author: Ellen Spencer is a blogger and writer. She is a health freak and very environmentally aware. These days she is busy in writing an article on Psoriatic arthritis. Beside this she is fond of kids GPS tracking apps.
First strike against the Wuxun KG-UV3D radio is that is Chinese made. Some don’t care –some do, personally I’d rather buy American made, but a simple internet search will show you how hard it is to find a American made ham radio.
First positive comment is that it’s around $100 bucks. This is in a world where almost all other handhelds start at 5 times that amount. I first learned about this radio from a group of ARES (Amateur Radio Emergency Service) volunteers in East TN. These guys all had at least one and they were of the opinion that it was good enough, and sturdy enough, and if they broke the thing it was only a $100 radio.
As I said in the video my intent was to buy one, try it out, and if mine was as functional as the ones I was shown in Athens then I would buy a couple more for the wife and for storage. My wife is now expecting, so I had to add another prepper tier to my list, so the extra radios were bumped back, but I still intend to buy a couple more once I stockpile a lot of diapers and bottles…
I am not going to get into too much detail on these radios, as a ham will just go dig up the spec sheet and it may cause informational overload to a non-ham. But basically:
Wuxun KG-UV3D Features
- Dual band monitor (VHF/UHF, VHF/VHF, UHF/UHF)
- You can monitor two different sets of frequencies at the same time
- The radio comes in different flavors so you can almost pick which two bands you want.
- Selectable high/low power settings (VHF: 5W high/1W low) (UHF: 4W high/1W low)
- You can select more time or more power
- 13 hour battery life
- Includes intelligent desktop 3-4 hour rapid charger
- Loud speaker audio output (500 mW)
- Bright flashlight illumination function
- Meets IP55 waterproof rating
- English female voice prompts enable non-sighted operation (can be turned off)
- The Chinese lady scares me so I turned mine off
- 128 memory channels (shared)
- VOX Function
- Digital FM radio (76-108MHz) with automatic tuning and storing, radio frequency display, 18 FM memories in 2 banks
- Wide/narrow bandwidth selection (25 or 12.5 kHz)
- Power on display: show battery voltage, 6-character customizable welcome message, or display test
- Windows PC programmable, free software available for download. Optional low cost cable
- This is the selling point for me – I found the manual programming wasn’t as bad as some reviews claimed it to be, but I liked doing it from my computer even though
- There is some bugs in the setup and you may have to try more than once to get your radio to connect to your computer
- The program is limited to a “legal” frequency band and not actual – meaning I can listen to the weather radio and FRMS and GRMS frequencies (among other things) but I have to put them in manually.
- Radio to radio cloning with optional cable
- 105 groups DCS/50 groups CTCSS
- DTMF encoding (includes ABCD tones, continuous with button press duration)
- CTCSS encode/Decode (no decode delay)
- Stopwatch function
- SOS function
- Low-voltage voice prompt
- Busy channel lockout
- Selectable transmit over timer (from 15 to 600 seconds)
- Selectable step sizes of 5, 6.25, 10, 12.5, 25, 50 or 100 kHz
- Multiple scan modes including priority scan
- Keypad lock (auto or manual)
- Programmable by computer or keypad
- High contrast white backlit keypad. All keys are backlit (except A/B & TDR)
Conclusion
That’s a lot of stuff, add in that you can unlock the radio to get additional channels* and that it feels like a Kenwood (very sturdy feeling) transmits clearly and loudly and you can buy an adaptor to run a longer antenna makes it (IMHO) a very good buy.
*about that unlocking;
1. It’s most likely illegal, and I am not suggesting you break the law
2. With the advent of trunking and other digital radio advances just because you can transmit and receive on the local law enforcement channels on the Wuxun KG-UV3D or other radio does not mean you can communicate with them.