Ep 31: "Ready Or Not: Survival Of The Fittest 2"

In this follow up to our "Survival of the Fittest" episode, we shift the focus to being better prepared for whatever comes next. From short-term disruptions like power outages and winter storms to large-scale emergencies, we break down the essentials. We're discussing food, water, lighting, backup power and heat just to name a few. We share practical tips for beginners like us. We also talk about lessons learned from the covid-19 pandemic and explore how Gen-X resilience can turn preparation into peace of mind rather than panic. Whether you're just getting started or looking to level up your readiness, this episode is all about staying ready, so you don't have to get ready. 

Intro and Outro music by Erin Garris and Khari Garris. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:14

Yo, yo, yo, what it is, what it was, what's it gonna be? Welcome. Welcome to the latest episode of the Gen Expertise Podcast, episode 31 entitled Survival of the Fittest Part Two. Ready or not? We are your host Maine and Rant, aka the Bodega Bushcrafters. What?

SPEAKER_00 0:44

What is a bushcrafter, man?

SPEAKER_02 0:46

A bushcrafter is somebody who gets ready for the apocalypse, huh? It's somebody who's ready who digs holes in the ground and who, you know, with the urban bushcrafters. Okay. What's up, brother? How you doing, man?

SPEAKER_00 1:00

I'm good, man. How are you?

SPEAKER_02 1:02

I'm good. So before we start, I want to wish my brother a happy birthday. My man just finally turned 51. 51 doesn't have the same ring as 50, but it'll do because if you don't get old, you get dead.

SPEAKER_00 1:22

Appreciate it.

SPEAKER_02 1:23

Good brother. You're usually the first one to walk through the door from all of us, now that I think about it.

SPEAKER_00 1:29

Yeah, I think so. Out of our little crew of friends. Um, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:35

That's why main is first out the limo, yo.

SPEAKER_00 1:41

Yeah, man. So did you have a good time?

SPEAKER_02 1:45

51, bro.

SPEAKER_00 1:46

Um, yeah, yeah. I had a I had a great time. Um on Friday, I went out, you know, I just went out to dinner with my wife. We went to a nice place. That was cool. We had I had Lion's Mane catsu for the first time. You know, like katsu is like, it's like a Korean style of cooking, I guess, where they fry, um, they fry something with like panko, and it's kind of flat, um, and it's usually cut up. Um, but I never had lion's mane that style. Like I've had lion's mane one time where I made it, and this was much better, to be honest with you.

SPEAKER_02 2:20

Basically, lion manes fried steak.

SPEAKER_00 2:24

Yeah, and for those that don't know what lion's mane is, lion's mane is a um uh it's a type of mushroom, actually. And it's kind of best known for um, you know, I guess scientists say that that it it has some properties that might improve cognitive function or help with cognitive function, right? Like so lion's mane not only tastes good, but it supposedly is good for your brain, right?

SPEAKER_02 2:45

So get all those synapse, those synapse firing.

SPEAKER_00 2:50

Yeah, yeah. So um you can look that up. You could confirm. If we're wrong, we'll do a facts over funny.

SPEAKER_01 2:58

Yeah, we're gonna find it.

SPEAKER_00 2:58

We'll name, we'll name you, we'll give you a shout-out. If we're wrong about that, then you let us know. And you get a shout out on the next episode and we do our facts over funny. But yeah. Um then Saturday, I went out to dinner, my folks and and my kids, and uh we went, we were out here in um uptown in Charlotte, and there was a lot of people out, man. Like, like, I guess they were celebrating St. Patrick's Day, and we didn't realize that that was gonna be happening early. And it was crazy. It was madness. Like what they call uptown here is like uh the equivalent of what we would call downtown. And it was just crazy. It was probably the most people I ever seen out there, and we weren't prepared for it, you know. If we had known, I don't think we would have gone to dinner out there. That's how how crowded it was. But we had we still, you know, we still had a nice time. But yeah, it was kind of it was kind of hectic out there.

SPEAKER_02 3:50

That's crazy. And that's a good that's a good uh lead into what today's show is about, because uh today's show, ready or not, being prepared. We foreshadowed this in our previous episode. We left uh what do you call what do they call it in the in the Marvel movies? Uh not a cookie, uh uh bread crumb. A bread crumb or what whatever those the things they think they call it. Everybody looks like there's a picture on the wall and yo, that must be for the next episode or whatever. So ready or not.

SPEAKER_00 4:21

Oh, like an Easter egg, like Easter egg. Easter eggs, yeah. Easter eggs, breadcrumbs, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:26

Drop the little Easter egg. So last episode we talked about the pandemic, and we gave some clues about surviving the next pandemic or whatever comes next, the zombie apocalypse, who knows? You know what I'm saying? So today we're gonna talk about some things that you can do to prepare yourself when it hits the fan. Some things that you may have in your house that you can use, some things that you don't have in your house that you need to get just for survival when it goes down. Most of us live in urban s urban uh environments, and we're used to having everything at our fingertips, everything is a stone's throw away, but everybody is not gonna have that convenience at times. Some people live far away, there's miles between the convenience stores, there's you don't know. And then when things go bad, everything may shut down, or people may rush the shelves, they buy up all the food, buy up all the toilet paper, whatever. So today we're gonna talk about some things that you can do to maintain society as we know it. And as you know how we do, we go back to the back.

SPEAKER_00 5:30

Yeah, that's that that's the toilet paper thing still kills me.

SPEAKER_02 5:34

Yeah, it's still it's still it's it's a jumping episode is so unbelievable.

SPEAKER_00 5:40

Yeah, I can't even believe how many people were were out there looting toilet paper. It just doesn't seem uh again, it doesn't I know we talked about this already, man, but yeah, man, that doesn't seem like the highest priority when when things are going bad or when when stuff is flying off the shelves.

SPEAKER_02 6:00

Yeah. Um and that's why we failed miserably on our fire, on our fire drill. So we're gonna help you guys and help ourselves, because we probably have some things that we never thought of as well, so that we pass with flying colors on whatever comes next.

SPEAKER_00 6:17

So, yeah, first of all, before we start, um, I wanted to talk about a little bit about what you just touched on, but just from my perspective, right? Um when it comes to preparing, right, you know, it's probably pretty popular right now because post-pandemic, and even because of everything that's going on in the world right now, there's a lot of, I would say, influencers online that uh that have like, you know, they're prepping pages, like they're, you know, prepper TikTok and prepper Instagram. There's a lot of folks, and they're really good. Like, I'm not taking anything away from even, you know, even on YouTube, there's there's videos of folks that you could follow that really give some good information. So not to take anything away from that at all, right? Like they're really good, and the info I've gotten a lot out of the info that they provide. Um but I think what I wanted to say about this is that it's not just in like extreme emergencies, right? Like, because when we think about like something like the pandemic and and the you know the shutdown of the economy at the time, that's that's a pretty extreme situation, right? For most of us, that was an extreme, right? For pretty much anyone, that that would be considered um pretty extreme, right? Um and then if there was a complete shutdown of the supply chain or something like that, um, or if there was a blackout, like a nationwide type of thing, that would be considered pretty extreme as well. But what I wanted to touch on um is the fact that I feel like we're not prepared for even a minor emergency, right? Like not just the extreme stuff, but I wanted people to start thinking about what if, you know, what if you're gonna have water coming in your coming in your house for three days, right? Like, or two days straight. Are you prepared for that, right? Um, are you prepared for what if there was a blackout and the blackout lasted for a day or two? Are you prepared for that, right? Um, what if you're in your car and you're just stuck kind of in the middle of nowhere? What if you're taking a long trip in your car and you're just stuck in the middle of nowhere? Are you prepared for that, right? Like kind of things that are not like world-shaking emergencies, but I think that not enough of us think about, and I know that, and the reason I say this is because I don't want to speak for people, but I know that I myself, um, before kind of looking into this, I wasn't prepared for like even the most minor inconvenient emergency, like, you know, like just a situation that would be considered an inconvenience, even like not so much an emergency. I just wasn't prepared in any way. I'm just kind of in my home or driving around as if nothing can ever happen, right? Um, taking a lot for granted. And in kind of doing a little research, and then some of the folks that I follow online too. Um, shout out, by the way, to um um We the People Podcast. It's We DA People Podcasts. I started listening to them a while back on the recommendation of a friend of mine, and they did a whole episode on being prepared. And they talked about like, you know, 72 hours, right? Was their their um their kind of cutoff for this, right? Because we could talk about extreme emergencies, but like I said, um I think that that podcast in particular and a couple of others let me know that I'm not prepared for even, like I said, uh a small, um a smaller scale emergency, right? So one of the things that that they brought to mind was just something simple like lights, right? Let's say there was a blackout or a situation where the you know the grid goes down or something, and you had to go without electricity for let's say a day to three days, right? Maybe a week or so, right? Like let's even call it a day or two, right? Are we really prepared for that? Some people have candles, but are you prepared for a long term, you know, a longer term than a than a night of of no lights, right? Um so one of the things I wanted to touch on was a couple of things. It seems obvious, but do you have candles in your home, right? Do you have enough candles to kind of light your home for for a while? Do you have some alternative means of of bringing energy in, right? Like so I have um, oh, I wanted to show this too, because I have here, um, and due to technical difficulties, I don't know if this video is gonna be gonna go, we're gonna have the video to go with this, but um, I have like a small power station here, right? And this is actually um solar powered, right? You can plug in um multiple devices like your iPhone, um, your, you know, if you have a Google phone or whatever the case may be, or Android, um, there's multiple different types of USB connections here. So this thing, like I said, it's solar powered. It also has a light, a compass. It has like an SOS uh kind of mode for it. So in case there's an emergency, you can kind of tap that and send an SOS signal, stuff like that. So this is one thing that I feel like is essential nowadays, right? Like just in case of some sort of emergency. This will power, obviously, like kind of small devices like your phone, um, something that would take a USB-C connection or the Lightning connection. Um, this could power that, right? But there's also a larger one I have that I don't, you know, I'm not gonna show you, but have a larger power station that's also um it also comes with solar panels, right? So that can power kind of your bigger, your bigger items, right? And there's there's even ones you could buy that will power something like um like your refrigerator for for a while or your your HVAC system, even if you could plug that in.

SPEAKER_02 12:04

My father has one that'll jump start a car.

SPEAKER_00 12:07

Right, right. So I have I have one of those too. Like so that was another thing. I I forgot about that. I'm glad you mentioned that, because I have I have a small box, sort of like the same size as this um this little power station here. I have one that will jump the car, right? And depending on how, you know, how badly, you know, how dead the battery is, um, you may still need somebody to pull up with their car and jump the battery. But if it if if it's not that, if you're not that bad off, these this little charging thing will um jump your your car battery as well, right? So yeah, that was the first thing I wanted to touch on. Like just energy, man. Like, like um also batteries. Um, I don't know, like when you when we think about it, do we think, do we have enough batteries, right? Like, do you have enough AA, triple A batteries, right? Because there's lights you could buy like that are kind of like the power of halogen lights, but they require batteries to work. Stuff like that. And it's just simple stuff, man. This is not anything like that's super ingenious, but I think it's things that get overlooked. And I feel like, especially in this time where, you know, things are just kind of volatile, man, like to be honest, across the world, right? Like, so you can't go around thinking that nothing will ever happen. So I guess this episode is to kind of encourage people to kind of just think about what you would do if some of the conveniences you have around you now were unavailable. What's your contingency plan for for inconvenience? Let's not call it, you don't have to call it an emergency flat out, but let's say like an inconvenience of a few days. Are you prepared?

SPEAKER_02 13:40

And funny you should say batteries because one of the things that I actually had up here when it comes to batteries, and one of the first things that I I thought about is I based I based my list basically on what if I had access to some type of water but no electricity. Do you know what I mean? And one of the things that I that I I found is do you know what the Edison battery is? I don't so the Edison battery or the nickel iron is a battery that uh Thomas Edison um invented in 1908. And besides like the lithium ion and the classic um acid-powered batteries, the Edison battery is what they call chemically immortal because it uses the electrolyte as potassium dioxide. It doesn't degrade. Um it can't it can be charged thousands of times and it can't be overcharged. So I I came across that looking up batteries because one of the things is I was saying is batteries are cool, but as a father of children who require a lot of batteries for their toys, you can go through batteries fast. Like you can have a storage unit full of batteries and go through half of those before you know it. But you'll be fine for three days for your 72 hours. But for something more long term, an Edison battery. That's something for you guys to look in look into the Edison battery. And they even said that some of the original batteries that he made in 1908 still work. The drawback is that they're super heavy, they are heavy, but that's more for if you're going months to years without resources when the supply chain totally cuts off. You may have a blackout for a month or year, or then no, there's no electricity at all if all the grids go down. So an Edison battery, they're kind of expensive too. But you know, it's nothing is as expensive if it comes in handy as if it can save your life. Interesting. So that's just a little tidbit that I that I stumbled across. When you said batteries, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:46

Yeah, so you're talking about like real like. I'm talking about when this really goes. Mad Max. It's a good thing.

SPEAKER_02 15:54

Last week I'm talking about I'm talking about we talking about con plan 8888, bro.

SPEAKER_00 16:00

Yeah, you're talking about some serious, serious emergency. Um, but that but that that's good too, because because the the thing is, um, you know, we never know what's coming, right? And obviously, like we we can't really predict these things. And something like the pandemic kind of reminds us of of that, right? Like that, you know, we felt we when the when the pandemic first hit, like we thought a few people might get sick, but we had no idea the impact that it was gonna have. Like a, you know, a year or two of a complete disruption of just life as we know it, right? And that thought alone should should kind of spark in your mind how important it is to be prepared, right?

SPEAKER_02 16:46

Yeah, I know. Who would have expected that we would have been on lockdown for a year? So you never know how how long you never know how long we may need to use these supplies. So it's good to start now preparing. Maine is thinking more short term as a 30 72 hour window, and I'm thinking more long term, like almost forever.

unknown 17:08

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:10

Yeah, the Armageddon type of apocalyptic situation.

unknown 17:17

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 17:18

Yeah. Well, the other thing I had um I have it here as well, right? This is a radio. Um, this is also solar powered, right? And it also has a crank on it that you could pull out from here and kind of rev it up. And this crank will power it as well, right? So the reason um I think a radio is important. Also, this has a light on it too, and it has the compass and it has a couple of different features here for emergencies, like um like that SOS feature as well, right? And also an alarm. If you hit this, if you hit one of the buttons, it'll actually set off an alarm that could be heard probably for for blocks and blocks and blocks, right? But this is an AMFM radio, right? And this might seem like, hey, why would why would anybody need an AM radio? But in an emergency, right, there's gonna be times where you need to you need to get information, right? And radio signal is gonna be one of the only things that that would be working if the grid were to go down, right? Like let's say yeah, your phone doesn't work because all the towers are down or the, you know, this there's there's not satellite um access, the radio is always gonna work, right? So if there's an emergency situation where kind of the powers that be or or or whoever wants to actually help us out needs to get a message across. Um and if our leaders want to get a message to us, the way they'd be able to do that is through radio. If you need some some update on what the weather would be, let's say it's a weather emergency and you need an update on the weather, um, you'll be able to get that via radio. Just anything. If there's any, if there's any messages that need to be conveyed and news needs to get out to people, the best way to do that in an emergency where everything else is shut down is gonna be via radio. The other thing like that I don't have that I'm that I'm gonna get pretty soon, I would like to get some walkie-talkies, like some long-distance walkie-talkies, at least for me and the family, me and whoever, you know, whoever else wants to be part of our little, our little nest or a little grid. I shouldn't say grid, but like our little mesh network, I guess, in case there's some sort of emergency where cell phones don't work. Also, eventually, I'd like to learn how to use like a radio, like a ham radio. And those require you have some sort of licensing. So that's something I wanted to get into as well. Just because that seems like a cool hobby, not just for emergencies, but that seems like something that's just good to know. To be like a capable person, it feels like that's something that's good to know. And especially if there was an emergency, it would be cool to be able to work a radio and get a signal out to folks like, you know, that are really, really far away in case you need that type of help. Like that's along the lines of what you're talking about, like where there's a long-term emergency and a long-term kind of grid down situation. Um, the use of a ham radio would be good in the situations that you're talking about. Not so much the kind of short-term inconvenience that I'm talking about. Um, some people have a radio in their house just because, right? Like, because they, you know, you still listen, you you still might be listening to the radio and you you hardly ever use AM. Right. Um you do have a radio, you're you're flipping into FM and you're you're listening to your music or whatever you're doing. But that AM radio would be the one where you get your news, your weather, and like I said, any type of emergency messages that need to come from like our leadership.

SPEAKER_02 20:42

Yeah, get that 10-10 wind, son.

SPEAKER_00 20:45

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 20:47

I still have a little radio in the house. Sometimes I turn on listening to 10-10 wins just off nostalgia, you know? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:53

But it's definitely nostalgic. Yeah. But um, we'll give you the world. Exactly. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah, we kind of grew up on that, right? Um like if there was a especially when there was like a weather situation, right? Like, I don't want to call everything an emergency, but like 1010 winds was really the thing that to go to, like when you needed to know what was going on with with like a storm coming or something like that. That was really what you needed. Um, if you were out on the road, especially with your folks or something, they would turn to 1010 winds to find out what's going on real time. The way times are now, we get information so fast from from the internet and from um social media that something like the radio is is not our our go-to, right? Like people will go to the to their sources that they have on the internet. But let's say the internet is down, you kind of go have to go back to what they call like the old ways, right? Yeah. Um, so one of those old ways is to to listen out for for radio um transmission, right?

SPEAKER_02 21:54

Anytime there's a major, major happening, the first thing to go down are like When we had 9 11, or when we had when we did have the blackout of 2006, right? Is it the blackout of 2000? Was it 2006?

SPEAKER_00 22:09

I mean, you asking me to remember the dates on the fly. I you gotta Google that one. Yeah, yeah. I'm not sure. I remember I remember it well because I walked home from from Manhattan to the Bronx.

SPEAKER_02 22:21

Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_00 22:22

I walked home. I'm talking about lower Manhattan.

SPEAKER_02 22:25

You walked home from farther than me. I walked home from the 50s. You walked home from like I walked home from like down there by the World Trade. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:36

Um, I was down there and I walked from there. Like, I I guess that's um City Hall Park in that area. Because first I tried to see if there was a train running for some reason. I guess there wouldn't be. So I'm in City Hall Park, and I remember walking with just a group of people just walking uptown until I got home to the Bronx. Like I remember crossing the um, I think it's the 149th Street Bridge.

SPEAKER_02 22:57

149th Street Bridge. 149th Street Bridge.

SPEAKER_00 23:00

From Harlem. Yeah. Um, and then walking the rest of the way. Um, I made it to the Grand Concourse and then walked all the way, all the way down to Fordham. Yeah, that was.

SPEAKER_02 23:14

Yeah, that bus is running at Fordham. Did you catch the bus at Fordham? Were you at Cold?

SPEAKER_00 23:18

I I caught I finally caught the bus. Actually, yes. When I got to Fordham Road, I finally caught the bus, right? And and I didn't I didn't even go straight home. Like I caught the bus, and the bus got closer to my parents' neighborhood at the time. So I just stopped there to get some rest because I had been focused so long. I just wanted to see what like if they one, if they were good, like and I and I knew they would be probably better off than me because I wasn't ready for anything. That's another good example where I wasn't ready. They at least had candles and stuff, you know. Like I had nothing in my apartment. So I was like, you know, let me stop, let me stop over my parents and see and see what they have and see if they're good, right? But they were good, you know. Um think they've been through stuff like that before.

SPEAKER_02 24:03

I was actually on my way to DC that weekend and had to walk home with a bag over my shoulders, and I had the braided mark of the handles in my shoulders for a week. It was horrible.

SPEAKER_00 24:16

Yeah, that was a that was yeah, that was a rough day. Yeah, I can't even believe I walked that far, man. Yeah, I feel like everybody should get a medal for the distance. You should be able to like kind of fill out some paperwork, and if you have a few witnesses, you should get some sort of medal or badge or something for that distance.

SPEAKER_02 24:36

Yeah, and everyone was rushing because remember, the one thing that everybody was fearing, it was crazy. It was like, yo, we got it was summertime, so it's like, yo, I gotta get home before it gets dark because you didn't know what was going to happen.

SPEAKER_00 24:48

Yeah, absolutely. That was the other thing that it was, but that's a good that's a good point, right? Because stuff like that happens and you just don't know what to expect. So you could feel the anxiety in people because there's been times in the city where there was blackouts before where you know it results in, you know, violence. It becomes like almost like a mini purge because there's no there's no electricity, everybody's out, people are restless, there's vulnerable spots to hit. You could feel the anxiety in people for sure. Like you could see that people were in a rush to get wherever they were getting. And then I could imagine, like, you know, there's parents out there that are trying to get to their kids, there's people that are just trying to make it home for whatever reason, and you know, like people had some things to do.

SPEAKER_02 25:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:33

Um I think about it.

SPEAKER_02 25:39

I think it was 2004. Uh yeah, I believe it was 2004. I remember where I was working and I was working there. I was gone from there in 2006. So I think it was 2004. Yeah, yeah. Because they had like the 20-year anniversary of it. Like two years ago, I believe. But that blackout was nuts, man.

unknown 25:57

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_02 25:57

And it was the summer and it was hot, bro. When the phones go down, everybody's trying to make calls at the same time, because that's what happens. The first thing everyone does is they're gonna pick up their phone and they're gonna start dialing, and you're gonna get the busy signal for hours.

SPEAKER_01 26:11

Right.

SPEAKER_02 26:11

So listen to your radio, have your AMFM radio, have your little crank radio. Do you know? Your little soldier boy radio, your crank down.

SPEAKER_00 26:23

Shout out to Soldier Boy.

SPEAKER_02 26:26

So, what I have next is your immortal foods.

SPEAKER_00 26:31

Immortal foods?

SPEAKER_02 26:33

So your immortal foods are what what is considered the foods that have a very, very, very, very, very long shelf life. That's that's actually good for you when it isn't a Twinkie because you know Twinkies are forever, son. So your immortal foods are white rice, your dry beans, honey, and your salt. If there's a lot of people out there, I know that you're saying I'm not gonna eat white rice because white rice is not as good for you as brown rice. But as a health nut myself, I'm getting white rice because white rice lasts about 20 years longer than brown rice, because brown rice has oils in it that go rancid. So that's why you want, they say you want white rice. And then you have your dry beans and your honey, because honey never expires, honey never goes bad. And also honey has multi-purposes because honey can be used to heal wounds as well, because it's antimicrobial. So you can put you can put m honey on sores and cuts, minor cuts that can turn major, major cuts until you can get some type of other antisective or relief on it. You can use honey for that. And of course, salt, because salt is a preserver and a preservative. So that's what you want to use, and you can get um, you know, the mylaw blankets that you see people get them little skinny, shiny blankets that they get after they finish marathon. You can get the small packs and uh what's called oxygen absorbers, so the little packs that go inside to preserve the food because it basically destroys any oxygen that's in the package and it makes food last longer. And what's called a number 10 can. So a number number 10 can is like Yeah, it's like those old school stainless steel cans that they made back in the day before they started putting BPA and plastic and everything and and disguising metal on top of BPA plastic. All of this stuff you can basically find, like number 10 cans you can find on Amazon. And if you look at them, you'll see it looks like those old school like cans that we would get in like the 70s, the 80s, and the early 90s. You know, that you had like like your fruit cocktails and such. So these are things that you want, your immortal food. And of course, rice and beans is a good for a good source of protein. You have your starches, you have your macro and your micronutrients in this. And if you can't grow food, the best alternative is to learn how to sprout. And all you need is a mason jar for that. You can use your dry beans for rice and beans, and you can also sprout your beans in a mason jar with all you need is a little water and a mason jar. You don't even need a lot of sunlight, and you can grow sprouts in about five to seven days. Millions and millions of sprouts.

SPEAKER_00 29:25

I gotta try that.

SPEAKER_02 29:27

Yeah, I have some sprout. I just got some sprouting jars, man. So um I'm excited like to teach the kids how to start growing their own food. So especially if you're in an urban.

SPEAKER_00 29:36

You're gonna teach me how to do that.

SPEAKER_02 29:37

If you're in an urban setting, you know, you may not have a yard or or this ground space to plant crops. And you might not know how to plant crops. You know, everything straight up. Me and May don't know how to plant no crops. You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_00 29:50

But we man, I was in the 4-H club back in the days in the Bronx. So I I've I've planted a few things. You don't know about that 4-H.

SPEAKER_02 30:03

4-H they give you a little designated square in the dug up section of a park. They teach you how to grow a carrot and a pepper. But you're immortal foods. That's the low-hanging thing for your immortal foods. Because you're you're rushing to get these canned foods and you're rushing to get everything. The one thing that people are gonna rush to get are the wants and not the necessities. So you're they're gonna rush to get like milk and they're gonna rush to get juice. They're gonna rush to get these things that are perishable. You know, that they have a weak shelf life, or maybe not even a weak shelf life by the time you get it from the supermarket or your bodega or your local store. So learn to make your own food to eat. And motor foods, white rice, dry beans, honey, salt.

SPEAKER_00 30:54

Right.

SPEAKER_02 30:55

And some mason jars, and you can use those beans.

SPEAKER_00 30:58

Yeah, a couple of things that um those are good points. And because I forgot about that, but I've been lately stocking up on canned goods. Not really going crazy with it, but just more so than than I probably usually would. Like um, I've been on a sardine kit recently where I just started, every time we go shopping for food, I just buy a few more cans of sardines. Like I just add that to my list. But even if we have a bunch at home, I feel like I can't go wrong if I if I just keep stocking up on this because they're nutritious, they got omega-3 oils, protein, you know. Um, and I feel like that's something that I've been stocking up on. I've also been stocking up on like canned beans and stuff like that. I have the dry beans and the dry rice, yeah. But I've also been stocking up on cans of beans, or canned vegetables. And it's stuff that honestly, I don't even normally eat canned vegetables. Like I'll eat like, you know, fresh or frozen. But I kind of over the years got away from canned vegetables for some reason. But I feel like nowadays that's something that is, like you said, like it's it can be it can be maintained for a long time. Like you could just hop those cans around for quite some time without worrying about them going bad, right? Like, and it's stuff that you do need to rotate, right? It's not forever. But in case of, like I said, like the minor, more minor emergencies or those inconveniences that last a few days, right, where you don't know what's gonna happen. Um even like a supply chain issue where the stores are kind of bare, those are things that you can have in the house. Like you said, like those just you know, those things that are that are either non-perishable or they really, really, really have a long shelf life, right? And we all know that type of things, man. Even like ramen noodles, like stuff that you wouldn't, stuff that you might not normally consume, or you know that's not something that you want to keep as part of your regular diet. Yeah, but it is, but they're things that will really come in handy.

SPEAKER_02 33:02

Hold you down if you only need it once a day, once every 24 hours, the ramen noodle, all that sodium, you it's gonna come in handy.

SPEAKER_00 33:09

Yeah, it's stuff that, like you said, like like you said, it's gonna come in handy if there is one of those type of emergency situations where you go and you just can't either you can't go to the store, or even if you went to the store, it wouldn't matter because the shelves are bare because there's some sort of disruption in the supply chain, right? Or what do you do if there's a few days where trucks are just not getting to the stores, right?

SPEAKER_01 33:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:32

Um, and like you said, and and you know, but aside from growing your own food, right, producing your own, the next best thing is to have stored some for a rainy day, so so to speak, right? And you touched on something else that I wanted to talk about. You talked about honey, right? And the fact that it's antimicrobial and you may be able to dress a wound with it even. Um that made me think of the fact that I also bought a couple of first aid kits recently, right? And that's something that we try to we try to keep them in the house, right? Especially when you have kids, that's something that you start to think about, right? Like you have a first aid kit, but how many people don't? I was thinking about there's probably a lot of people that are that don't have a first aid kit, right? Like they may have like a pack of band-aids when they need it, or you know, just little things that they need, like some spray when they have a sore throat, or some NyQuil. They got a tube of Neoxporin. It's a robot passing. Yeah, like a old, like an old tube of hydrocortisone cream from from like years ago, or so some some NyQuil from from God knows when.

SPEAKER_01 34:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:37

Um, but how many people actually have a first aid kit, right? And then the next level up from that would be like a trauma kit, like where you got tourniquets and real bandages and um stuff that that is really good for if there's like a like somebody's really wounded and you can really help them um having like actual sewing to to to put stitches in, you can use that, right? Um, but yeah, like just a basic first aid kit, right? Like it's this, and this is all stuff, stuff like this you could get on Amazon really fast, right? The first aid kit is gonna have like band-aids and gauze.

SPEAKER_02 35:12

Some of them even have flares in them.

SPEAKER_00 35:14

Yeah. So, yeah, so so stuff like that, right? Like that first aid kit, emergency kits, that yeah, like you said, like emergency kits. Even like if you bought your own flares, right? Like, that's not that's not out of the question, right? Like, and that's another thing that that you made me think of um when you when you started to talk about um the blackout, right? During the blackout, that walk especially, right? When you mentioned how how far the walk was and getting all the way from getting all the way from downtown Manhattan to Fordham Road in the Bronx is a long walk. I don't know how long that is exactly. We we should look up the exact mileage on that, but that's a huge walk, right?

SPEAKER_02 35:48

It's close to, it's close to, it's actually close to 10, between 10 and 12 miles from where you were. From where you were, is close to about 10 to 12 miles.

SPEAKER_00 36:05

Mm-hmm. It felt like longer. I'm gonna tell you that. It felt like much longer, but but the but the point I was gonna make is that about like not even a quarter of the way through that walk, right? I started to get thirsty. And I don't know if I had money on me or not, and and and the stores weren't really like you said, like it's a blackout, right? So you're walking, and the stores are getting leery of people even coming in or coming near them, right? So that was becoming a sh a situation like where people didn't want to let let folks in the store. So I didn't even bother because I could see that the store owners were really kind of getting nervous, and they were actually kind of you know closing, closing up shop early. Yeah. And I couldn't blame them, right? But as I'm walking, like I said, it wasn't even probably a quarter of the way through the walk. And and like you said, the summertime, I'm getting hot, and I see a couple of people with water, right? I'm walking, and I'm you know, I'm I'm I'm getting dehydrated. I'm a big dude. I start sweating quickly. And next thing you know, I'm like, I'm like, wow, I'm I'm dehydrated right now. I'm carrying a bag too, and all this stuff. So I see a couple of people, like I said, with bottles of water. And I can't lie, man. Like, I not not that I would ever do this, but the thought crossed my mind like to like ask them for their water or like to like grab it and run or something. Because that's how that's how quickly like it set in that wow, this is I don't know how long this is gonna go for. I don't know how long I'm gonna be walking. Um and just something in me, like not like I said, like I wouldn't have done this, but something in me had this urge to be like, oh, I need I need their water, like I need that water, because it where am I gonna get water from, right? So so that's another that's another thing that I feel like I want to encourage people to be aware of that you should have like kind of emergency water, right? Um and this is another thing you could get, like water in cans. Um, you can get water containers, like food grid containers, and fill those up with water. You can even treat them. Um, like if you if you went on Amazon right now, there's like water treatment kind of pills and powders and stuff that you can put in the tablets.

SPEAKER_02 38:12

Stuff that you can use purifiers.

SPEAKER_00 38:14

Yeah, you can purify that water. Um, or you can like just treat it so it lasts longer, right? Because the water you get out of your faucet, honestly, you know, believe it or not, it's already treated. So it's gonna last a little longer, even than water that that you would get from like a creek or something, you know, like this. The water's treated, right? So that water's gonna last some time, but there's still kind of water treatment tablets and stuff that you can get. Like it do, I guess there's levels, right? Like because I don't want to encourage people to go out and spend a bunch of money either. But if you if you have like food-grade containers, like old bottles that you that you've cleaned out, those are already food-grade containers. You could fill those up with water, put something in it to treat the water, and just store that for a while. And you could, like I said, that you could rotate that, right? Just fill that up, right? But even in like when you think about it, let's say you were it's the summertime and you get you got stuck somewhere in your car, like you're in the middle of nowhere or something, and you were stuck in a car, or maybe you're with your family. Like, water, I feel like is something that you should even keep in your car, right? Like, maybe not in plastic bottles, because the plastic, like you know, there's all sorts of problems with storing things in plastic, and you know, that stuff leaches into your water. But like let's say you had canned water. Like, do you have any, or like water in those those cardboard boxes? Like, what are you gonna do if if you're out in the middle of nowhere and you don't have a way to get something as simple as water? So now I started keeping like a couple of cans of water. Um, and not to not that this is a commercial, man, but I I have like that. Um liquid death? Liquid death. That's exactly I I couldn't I almost had a brain freeze. I couldn't think of it for a second. But but yeah, liquid death. It comes in comes in a can, and I bought a few cases of that. Like I said again, Amazon, right? You can get a few cases of that, and I keep a few of those in the car. And it's not anything crazy, but it's just that if something were to happen and we need water, there's water in the car, right? I keep even some protein bars in the car now because listening to a few of these these guys online, I was thinking to myself, wow, if I got, if I was actually on the side of the road and I had to be there for an extended time, especially if I was with my kids and my wife, what do I have to make sure that we're we're not you know going crazy or or we're not suffering, you know, as you know, in unnecessarily, right? So I didn't even have as much as a a snack bar or anything in my car up until that point because it just never occurred to me that I would ever need that. So I keep um some rain gear, actually. Like I have um some, actually, I have a tarp too. I have I put a little tarp in the car, um folded that up and put that in there. Um, have rain ponchos just in case, because you never know. Something may happen where you're on the side of the road, it may be kind of some adverse weather conditions, and you may need to walk for a little while. The Mylar blankets, and those come in like really small packages where um on the cheap too. Yeah, you could get those really cheap. Again, Amazon. Not that this is a commercial, but reflective, reflective down too. Yeah, yeah. This is uh infomercial, but yeah, you get them from wherever you want to get them. I'm just telling you, like Amazon was probably the fastest and most convenient way for me to get them. But Mylar blankets are really cheap. They're really easy to store because they come really small as far as the packaging. And you just kind of unfold them if you need them. They're warm. They're the same. If if for anybody that doesn't know what a Mylar blanket is, if you've ever seen or watched the um the New York Marathon, for instance, right? Sometimes after runners are done, it'll be kind of cold out there or really cold out there, and they'll cover them with those blankets. And the blankets are they kind of look like um aluminum foil, um, but they hold in heat really well. So you can um you can wrap yourself up in that. Yeah, and in a situation, yeah, in a situation where it's cold, that's an easy way to kind of build up some body heat. If you wrap yourself up in that, that'll help you. There's even like mini um, you know, there's like mini sleeping bags, like you can get like these really, really compact bags, and inside is like a sleeping bag that's bigger.

SPEAKER_02 42:25

A sauna bag and uh infrared. I have an infrared sauna bag, and the inside is like Mylar.

SPEAKER_00 42:32

Yeah, yeah. So you're ready.

SPEAKER_02 42:35

Yes, for at least for me.

SPEAKER_00 42:37

Yeah, make sure. I was about to say you're ready, but um try to try to help out the rest of your rest of your family by by getting them for the rest of your family.

SPEAKER_02 42:47

But if you're stuck in a car like it could be wintertime, you know what I mean? And yeah, one of the things is the the mylaw, it reflects heat. So, you know, heat rises, and your body is just a conductor, your body just releases heat like you wouldn't believe. So it loses heat in the coal. So you just line the inside of your car. But uh you have to line, make sure that you line it shiny side towards you, because some people make the mistake of lining it with the shiny side up, the reflective side up, and you're not getting the benefits of it at all. Yeah, the purpose of it is to catch the heat and bounce it back so you can kind of turn your car if you have enough of these things into like a little mini, like easy bake oven type.

SPEAKER_00 43:28

But no, definitely that that's a good that's a good point. Cause um, yeah, and I have them, and I actually have them in the car for that reason, right? Like, so if it were to get cold, um, if we're somewhere and you know, God forbid an emergency pops up, we're like I said, like we're stuck somewhere and it's cold, we have those, right? Um, and I keep a I keep a blanket in there now. Um I forgot if I I didn't get the little the little the little sleeping bags yet. I don't know if I'm gonna go there, but but but But we do we do have regular sleeping bags. So let's say a situation came about and we're in the house and it's freezing cold for some reason. Like we can't get enough heat. Like we got a tent, you know, because we've we've been camping before. So we got a tent and we have enough sleeping bags for everybody so we can kind of huddle up in the tent, get our sleeping bags on. We got a um, like I said, like the power pack that's that's um that's solar powered. We could plug in a little heater or something. We could plug in uh blankets, like my wife keeps um she loves um an electric blanket, right? Like she loves electric blankets, right? So that stuff we could plug into our little power station, um and you know, keep ourselves warm if there was some sort of emergency that required it, right?

SPEAKER_02 44:44

There you go. And to keep it going and keep being warm, like I said, I'm my list is basically stuff if there's no electricity and I have access to some water, but you need some type of fire starter.

SPEAKER_00 44:59

Right, right, right.

SPEAKER_02 45:01

Matches, waterproof matches, regular matches, but even waterproof matches at some point can go bad on you. You can have lighters, but even at some point they can run out of fuel. Uh I said magnifying glasses or magnifying glasses if I haven't already said that. Uh, but there's one thing that you can get, and it's a called an infinite spark ferro rod. Infinite spark F-E-R-R-O rod. And it's like a flinch stick, but it lasts long, and it's guaranteed. If you get a military grade one, it's guaranteed 15,000 strikes. Right? And it works rain, sleet of snow. You're guaranteed to get a get a strike. Get you a couple of those bad boys, you get three.

SPEAKER_01 45:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 45:45

Oh, you got 75,000 strikes, bro. You know what I'm saying? And they, you know, they I don't think they're you if you get them, you have to get the military grade one. Don't get like a cheap one. Don't go. Some of this stuff you should go cheap on. You know, so I think you can get a good one for like$35 to$70, depending on the length, the length of it. So uh uh infinite spark ferro rod, a magnifying glass, lighter, matches, have everything, have all of the stuff. So if one goes bad, then you're on to the next. If that goes down, then you're on to the next. That goes down, on to the next. And also knowledge, you know, find out how to make a fire for those of you guys, you Boy Scouts out there who know how to make a fire.

SPEAKER_00 46:29

Right. That's a yeah, that's actually a good point. Like the burners, too. Like the um, I recently bought a bunch of sterno cans, actually. Right. For the same reason, like because you never know when those are gonna come in handy. Like they come in handy, obviously, like if you're trying to heat up some food. Um, but they could come in handy just to have a like a quick fire going um if you need to, right? Um, it's a small can, it kind of self-contained, and that'll help in in case you need something like that, right? Like you can get like small protein, propane burning, um, fire going. Um if you need to cook. Like, who how many of us are prepared to cook if if there's no gas coming out of your stove or if there's no electricity, stuff like that, right? Like, what are you gonna do if if you're unable to cook the conventional way? Right.

SPEAKER_02 47:20

How are you gonna eat your ramen if you don't know how to heat up water, bro?

SPEAKER_00 47:24

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 47:27

You know, so exactly.

SPEAKER_00 47:29

So, so yeah, like that's a good point. I always dread that there's a situation where I'm with my family and the car just breaks down or I have to be on the side of the road for some reason. Like, do you have those, you know, those things that you you might need? Do you have lights or flares or you know, do you have a way to keep your family warm? Do you have water? All that stuff is important, right? But like you said, like the ability to to um to start a fire is is gonna come in handy and in any type of emergency situation, I think. Like if if whether it's long term, and when I say any type, I mean the long term or short term, right? Like so if you're if it's gonna be a few days, you need the you need a way to start fire, right? Like you need, you're gonna need just, like you said, matches for your candles or a lighter for your candles. Um, like I said, the sternal cans will come in handy to keep food warm or to start to, you might even be able to boil some water off of that, right? Um so so just stuff like that. Like in and um, oh, the other thing you made me think of when it comes to light, right? I got these. These um, these are glow sticks, right?

SPEAKER_02 48:34

And not just for the waves.

SPEAKER_00 48:36

Yeah, not just for waves anymore, right? They're more than just, you know, they're for they're good for more than just partying, right? But um, but seriously, like glow sticks are pretty good because I think they last for up to 12 hours, if I'm not mistaken. And like I was gonna say, like flashlights are good too, right? Like I keep like a couple of flashlights in the house. I keep one in the car um just in case. But I also keep some of these glow sticks because it's a good way to kind of signal where you are. Um, you could put a little string on this or something and keep it on your kids if there, if there was some situation where you would you need to keep track of everybody, or if there's no light um in your home and you want to kind of light the hallway or something, these give off a lot of light and they last a long time and they don't malfunction, which is the key, the key here, right? Like, so let's say you're in a situation you have a flashlight, that flashlight might be sitting in your glove compartment or something for for a year or two, and next thing you know, like you know, you don't you don't remember that the battery in it is corroded or whatever the case may be, or for some reason it just stops working, or you're in a situation where it gets wet and stops stops working, or something like that. Now you got a malfunctioning um flashlight. But something like this, like the like these glow sticks, if you have a few glow sticks and you need light until the sun comes up, this this will be a good alternative to having a flashlight, right? Um, because like I said, you don't have to worry about any mechanics with this. You break it, you know, it lights up and it gives you light for hours and hours and hours, right?

SPEAKER_01 50:10

So make it cheap.

SPEAKER_00 50:11

And they're super cheap. Again, this is not a commercial. Yes, but for me, the the easiest, if you want to get glow sticks really quick and get them sent to you overnight. I don't know why you need maybe you know, maybe it's something about me that I'm addicted to getting things in another it like right away. But if you need glow sticks overnight, go to Amazon and let them know that you need you need the glow sticks in one day or less and they'll they'll get them to you. But no, seriously, glow sticks, they have they're kind of a um a fail-safe um way of of getting light um when you need it, because they're not gonna malfunction exactly, right? It's not gonna be the same situation as if you had a malfunctioning flashlight.

SPEAKER_02 50:57

All right, so I have next up I have duct tape.

SPEAKER_00 51:06

Yeah, that's a good one. That is a good one.

SPEAKER_02 51:09

Yes, yes. Duct tape. Get you some good duct tape. Duct tape can be used literally for everything but food.

SPEAKER_00 51:21

Pretty much fixes everything.

SPEAKER_02 51:23

Yeah, yeah. You have a you have a hole in your uh you have a hole in your top with duct tape. You know? You have a hole in a bottle, duct tape. You need to cover a wound that you slathered with your honey, duct tape. You you need to make a rope or some type of twine with duct tape, you know. Duct tape is good for everything and anything except food. So you shouldn't have a few rolls.

SPEAKER_00 51:54

I've seen people replace a broken window in their car with duct tape. Like enough, enough, enough duct tape, enough duct tape, and a little bit of imagination, and you could fix almost any problem at least temporarily, right? Like I wouldn't suggest that you replace a broken window for a long period with the duct tape, but but it'll keep the wind out for a few days. Yeah, it'll work, it'll work for a little while. In an emergency situation, duct tape does the trick. Yeah, duct tape. Yeah, that's a good one.

SPEAKER_02 52:27

Yeah, but there's some there's some cheap duct tape duct tape out there too. So don't get the cheap duct tape because duct tape is fairly inexpensive. So get the best quality duct tape that you can with like the strings and the strands, not the one that you could just easily rip. You know, get the get the one with like the braided technology in it.

SPEAKER_00 52:44

Get yourself some the original the original original gray duct tape is undefeated. Yeah, that's undefeated.

SPEAKER_02 52:52

That's well, now they have the gorilla tape too, which is I was about to say, I was just about to say that.

SPEAKER_00 52:57

Um you read my mind, because I was about to say nowadays there's some competitors to to you know, like the OG duct tape. You got gorilla tape out there, which is which is good too. Yeah, um, yeah, anything anything gorilla is pretty strong, I find. Like, because I used to use crazy glue for stuff. Like if you you know, you break something and and crazy glue is probably it used to be my go-to, right? As a especially like, you know, a Gen Xer, I guess. That's an old school way, but but gorilla glue is no joke, man.

SPEAKER_02 53:26

You get that level, bro.

SPEAKER_00 53:27

Yeah, you mess up and get some of that gorilla glue in your fingers, man. God bless you.

SPEAKER_02 53:33

Didn't some lady go viral for gorilla glue in her hair or something like that? Remember? Yeah. Yeah, man.

SPEAKER_00 53:38

Yeah. Yeah. A girl went viral. She used to tell the towel. She put some gorilla glue stuff in her hair to slick down, to slick down a turn it into a straight helmet. And that hair, yeah, hair pretty much turned into a helmet. And I remember like sooner or later, somebody gave her the solution. Like she had some sort of chemical solution that that that dissolved it, but but um it's effective, yo. Yeah, bottom line is it works. She proved that that works well. Gorilla glue. Gorilla glue works really well in a lot of different situations, man. Like she put it to the test.

SPEAKER_02 54:19

And also, it's also like the the crazy glues and the gorilla glues and stuff, they're multifaceted. It's also good for wound healing. If you can't make a stitch, you can seal most cuts with crazy glue. Wow. Yeah. So it's it's good for wound protection. So multifaceted. A lot of things that you want, you want to be able to have one item that you can use in four to five different ways. And Lord knows duct tape, boy. You know what I'm saying? It's too cold outside, make yourself some duct tape mittens, yo. You know what I'm saying? Don't have no shoes, make yourself some duct tape duct tape.

SPEAKER_00 55:03

You're right about that, though. Duct tape will pretty much solve a lot of a lot of problems if you're creative enough with it.

SPEAKER_02 55:10

Yeah. So that should be in your kit. That should be in your survival kit.

SPEAKER_00 55:14

It should definitely be in your survival kit.

SPEAKER_02 55:17

A good duct tape. Not that cheap stuff. Not that cheap stuff, yo. A good duct tape, yo. So what you got?

SPEAKER_00 55:27

What do you think? I don't, I don't, I don't know, man. Like, um, I'm trying to think. Like, I'm trying to think of the things that I actually have. I don't know if I have anything else, to be honest with you. Oh, I know something that you have, and this is the most important thing, bro. Real quick, well, before I before you before you say this thing.

SPEAKER_02 55:43

Okay, go ahead.

SPEAKER_00 55:44

Um, so this is gonna be kind of like for the for the nerds, right? Or or maybe not, right? The one thing I do have that I almost that I almost forgot just now. Like, I bought a a Faraday bag, right? For my phone, right? So I actually I bought a couple of them because unlike you, I'm not I I think of more than just myself in these situations. You got your your your blanket. You got your own your own sauna bag. I got a Faraday bag for for me and my wife, right? Like, so I don't know. I don't know. What about the kids? But what about the kids? The kids don't have a phone. Uh they don't have phones. And and if I need to, I could they they got little Apple, they got their little Apple watches, but I don't know if they if they need to go off the grid exactly. But yeah, but if they do, it'll fit the phone too. I mean it'll fit the watch. The phone and the watch will fit in there at the same time. But the Faraday bag actually blocks the signal um that would that would come from the towers or the satellites to your phone, right? So in case of a situation where you kind of need to block that signal, you could put your phone in a Faraday bag. And it's it's it's sort of, you know what? I was gonna compare it to like if you go to like a show or something and they make you put your phone in the bag, but even that bag is just it's just so you don't that those bags are just locking, so you're not making recordings. But the Faraday bag is actually blocking the signal, right? So your phone is basically um off the grid at that point when you put it in this bag, right? And they make, they make small ones, right? Like I have a small one for my phone, and I gave a small one to my wife for her phone, um, in case there's any reason why we need to block our signal. Um, you know, we're running from from from like, you know, Jason Bourne or something. I don't know. You know, I I can't even tell you the situation that I think we would need this, but I'm just I'm getting to that point where the more I learn, the more I'm like, hey, why not? Right? Like why I'd rather have it and not need it, type of situations, right? So I got I got that. And like I said, it blocks the signals. Um, and you're basically off the grid in terms of like, at least with your phone, you're off the grid. And they make small ones and they make really big ones in case like you have your iPad that you want to fit in there, you have multiple devices you want to fit in there, like your laptop or something, you want to keep things that are away from from any signal um that's available. So any radio signal, any Wi-Fi signal will not be able to get to that device if it's in one of those Faraday bags, right? And again, this is something that there's a lot of companies that make these things now. I I won't name, I can't, I honestly I can't remember and name the company. But if you went to, like I said, um I hate to just be coming a commercial for if you know I'm not gonna I I'm not gonna say it, but people have to cut us a check, said you mentioned the difference. You know, yeah similar to to a rainforest, but you know, the the the marketplace that's named after a place with with rainforests.

SPEAKER_01 58:49

A tropical, a tropical rainforest.

SPEAKER_00 58:55

I'm not gonna name I'm I'm gonna try not to name them again, but anyway, um you can get them on your local whatever marketplace you're using online to buy stuff. Etsy, Etsy. You can buy, you can get a Faraday bag from from any from wherever T Timu. If you're using Timu, I don't know if Alibaba is still around, but um But yeah, I mean seriously, like, but if if you're so inclined to like think that you may need to block your signal uh or block signals come into your devices, um kind of go offline, um, the Faraday bag will make sure that your device is actually totally offline and unreachable um by any signal. So that's that's another one. I don't know if you what what you were you were about to say something before I before I mention that.

SPEAKER_02 59:45

Oh yes, I was gonna say before I mention uh the Pierre de Resistance and the coup de gras, my final I have two honorable mentions. Two honorable mentions. I have a get yourself a good multi-tool.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:01

Yes, I forgot about that. I just bought one too. I got a leatherman. I forgot about that. I've been on, I've been going so so like I don't want to say going crazy with it, but I've been preparing. So I felt like why don't I have a leatherman? I felt bad at what I thought about it. I'm like, what kind of person am I? I don't have a multi-tool just with me at all times. Like, like I should have this. A good one. Well, yeah, I I got a multi-tool. And and not to, like I said, this ain't a commercial, but Leatherman seemed to be like the most kind of common and popular one. Um, a lot of people that kind of um, you know, people that that I see as real outdoor outdoorsmen, they actually carry a leatherman. So I bought myself kind of an entry-level Leatherman that has that has a few tools that make sense to me.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:46

Um Leatherman is a good Leatherman is a good brand. There's also B Berry. B slash B-U-R-Y. They make a good multi-tool like pliers. They even have uh saw extensions like on some of their their products. So yeah, Leatherman, B Berry, B slash, B U R Y, those are good ones, but a good multi-tool.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:09

Nice. We're giving a lot of free advertisements today.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:13

I know, man. I know, bad, I know, bad. Hopefully it'll pay off the back end. No, no, no.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:18

Honestly, I the the pay for the people say, Yeah, yeah. You know, the payoff for us is just to give people people decent information that they can maybe use, man. Like if you can relate to any of this, if you can use any of this information, then that's the payoff. But we are, I am noticing that we are naming. Yeah, we're giving a lot. I don't know how to how to not do that, you know, but yeah, we're giving out a lot of a lot of brands uh light on this show.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:46

That's right, man. Well, you know, we still we still have room for sponsors, dogs.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:51

Yeah, we got a lot of room for sponsor. We got plenty of room for sponsors.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:54

We got plenty of rooms available, yo. Plenty of rooms for a year.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:56

Travel load.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:00

So the multi-tool, and then my other second honorable mention is a single, a single-wall stainless steel container, preferably the biggest one you can get, like a 40 to a 64 ounce. Because you may not have a personalized um filtration system, but you can always boil water. You can use a single-wall stainless steel, like a really good one. Not not not don't buy it from like um Burlington Coal Factory or anything. You know, they say you need a really good stainless steel container. You can cook in it, you can boil water in it, uh, you can make soups. So a good stainless steel single-wall container, and that's my final um honorable mention before I go to my coup de gras.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:48

Okay, well, you might as well go to the coup de gras.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:52

So and I'm surprised you don't have this one. I might have it and just forgot it. You absolutely you absolutely do have it.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:01

Running by me.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:07

And you're facing uh whatever pandemic, the apocalypse, whatever. You know what I'm saying? But books, because books do not need battles, and everything that we told you here, you may not be able to do, you may not be able to make your own fire, you may not be able to grow sprouts, you may not be able to cook, you may not be able to build something, but you can learn.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:34

And books that is a good one, yes, and yes, that's a good one, and I may have a few of those. Some survival guides. Oh, you know what's funny.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:45

What's up?

SPEAKER_00 1:03:45

You know what's funny? Like, right? I got it with me too. It's funny you mentioned that, and I and I probably would have I would have forgotten if you didn't say anything, but pardon the noises, but I have this this book, matter of fact, that I that I got recently, right? It's become super popular.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:01

The Navy SEAL.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:02

This is the Navy SEAL's bug in guide, right? How to turn your house into the safest place on earth.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:10

There you go.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:11

So the philosophy behind this, this is by um, it's written by a former um Navy SEAL. Um I don't even know if it's right to say former Navy SEAL. Like, I don't know if that title just, you know, he's a Navy SEAL, right? So I guess once a SEAL, always a SEAL, right? Respect to him. But um Joe Joel Lambert is the is the name, right? And it's a pretty popular book nowadays online, especially. But there's a lot of things in here, a lot of things that we already talked about, like the type of foods that you should buy, things that are that are gonna last, things that are uh really good in terms of like calorie count if you if you're gonna be you know stuck somewhere for a long time, long time. You want to make sure you're getting your calories in. Um, things about storing water, things about getting off the grid. But this book, um, A Navy SEAL's bug-in guide, is a really good, it's just an interesting read. Even if nothing ever happens, it just feels better to know some of this information or to know that it's available to you. Like you said, like we may not need to be able to do all these things right now, but having the information is a large part of the battle, right? Like if you find yourself in a situation where you have you have the the the book that can that can help you with with stuff, then that's gonna feel really good if a time comes when you actually need it, right? Like it's it, and this is another thing where where it's a situation where I'd rather have it and not need it than need it and and not have it, right? And my coup de grade, um, or my last thing, is not something that I'm I'm personally, you know, dabbling in right at this moment. But I've heard that in a in a serious emergency situation, it may be a good idea to learn how to acquire and become familiar with and comfortable with firearms as well, right? And This is not like an endorsement or any type of advocacy right now. I'm just saying that I feel like we'd be remiss if we don't mention this at all. Because in a real situation, like, you know, part of protecting yourself and protecting your family, um, if you're so inclined, it may be a good idea to learn about, to become familiar with, and to train um with firearms, right? And you may you never know. You never know. Yeah, you never know how how how much the situation is gonna get to a point where you actually need something like that to actually get food, right? Like you may find yourself in a situation where you have to go out there and and find your food, right? So that's my last thing.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:45

And we aren't for the record, we aren't telling you to go out and buy pistols. And we are, but we are I'm not telling you that at all. Yeah, yeah. We are not telling you that on the Zen expertise on the internet.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:54

Matter of fact, do not do that. How about I'm gonna go on record and say don't don't do that.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:01

Yeah. I mean, if but we are not, but but you know, it is knowledge. Knowledge is knowledge no matter what you use for, and safety, even if just to learn the safety aspect of it, is just as important of knowing as knowing how to use it. So, you know, we we advocate for knowledge, uh, so that's what it is, you know, you know, and you can't always get a deer with a bow and arrow and a buoy knife, you know what I'm saying? And you may not know how to fish. You know what I'm saying? But you can throw some dynamite in the lake, you know what I'm saying? But you know, so that that ends our uh episode 31, your bodega bushcrafters, main and ranch. I bet you was not expecting to hear this from us.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:51

The podcast preppers.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:56

You know?

SPEAKER_00 1:07:58

From prep school to preppers.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:00

That's right. That's right. You know what, too, bad? Yeah you can always wipe your butt with leaves, yo. The first thing, if any of our if any of any of you guys, if the first thing that you run to is the toilet paper, Main and Rance is coming for you, yo.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:18

Yeah, call us. Call us. You know what? Yeah, contact us before you do that. You know, we'll we'll tell you what to get instead. Yeah, because that's not the first thing you should be should be looking for. Don't go fighting people over toilet paper. Yes. There are there's alternatives, man. Trust us. We're from we're from a place where you gotta make do.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:40

There's paper in books, too. You got books, you got paper there too. Don't spend your money on toilet paper and don't get uh rice, dry beans, honey, and salt.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:49

What is what what's that ghost face line from um remember that ghost face line from from All I Got Is You All I Got Is You?

SPEAKER_02 1:08:59

Oh, uh Mommy Wizard Toilet Paper.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:04

Use the newspaper.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:08

Yeah, for those that don't know, the the the poet Lauriette, ghost face killer from Wu Tang clan. Shout out to him because he gave us the blueprint for what to do if you need to make do.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:21

Yes. And RP the power, man, because we just lost power. Power just. RP the power, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:26

Power power, yeah. Power, for those that don't know, is um one of the founders of the Wu-Tang clan, which had a a really um, it goes without saying, but uh like the the most serious impact probably of any rap group to me in my eyes, it's probably the most impactful rap group um ever, right?

SPEAKER_02 1:09:46

And he's the founder of Wu of Wu Wear. He's Wu We're he's the founder of Wu Wear.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:50

Like, yeah, he's the person that that put together the plan for for like that for the Wu Tang to go from music and then kind of kind of branch off into other industries, right? So shout out to Power, um Rest in Peace, for sure. Um at peace. Yeah, the impact cannot be overstated, right? Like, so so yeah, for especially for Gen Xers, right? Like that, and and for any, for all, for all generations, but for Gen Xers, it's like I feel like we, you know, we were there for the for the for the beginnings of that. Like the the amazing, you know, the amazing feeling you got from hearing nine MCs on one song going crazy was like nothing we we had ever experienced. So yeah, I can't even I can't overstate the the the um the impact of that. So yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:35

It was definitely a movement, and he was one of the reasons for the movement. So R.I.P. the power man.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:41

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:42

So this concludes episode 31 of the Gen Expertise Podcast. Shout out to our now day 31s, our future bushcrafters out there. Shout out to our day ones and everybody in between, and as usual, and as always, shout out to our day one, day one. And unless there's some type of major catastrophe and the grid goes down and there's no electricity, guess what, man?

SPEAKER_00 1:11:16

We are prolific.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:17

That's right, we are prolific, and we will be back.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:21

And we'll find a way to put this on the radio too.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:24

We'll find a way.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:25

We'll put it on the radio. We'll put it on the radio. We always have the audio. That's right, man. Put this on your AM dial if we have to. We'll figure that out.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:34

We'll figure it out for the Save Gen X time, Save Gen X place. We we'll see you guys next week. But until then, power to the podcast.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:44

Power to the podcast. Peace. Peace.