I’ve also been making the conversion of my computer’s  operating system from a dual boot of Windows XP/FreeBSD to just a pure Linux setup with Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex). It’s been a painfully boring conversion process, but all the more worth it. If you don’t know what Linux or Ubuntu is, please do yourself a favor and look them up. It sure does feel great to be free from the greedy, inept hands of Microsoft Corporation!

Anyhow, many of you have wondered what I have been doing to prepare for this present and on-going  financial collapse, as I see it worsening in the coming months. Presently I’ve been amassing foodstuffs and survival equipment. I will be doing some gear reviews and telling you what I think you need to bear through this. I will also be giving details on how you can buy silver and gold for a fair price and the different methods of doing so.

A few of my ideas will definitely make you take a backseat and ask if I’m an overly paranoid nut or just a little drastic due to somewhat justified lingering fears. Whatever the case may be, I will be providing this unpaid service to you so that you might learn. Let’s just say it can never be said that I didn’t warn you.

In the meantime, please enjoy this old episode of the Twilight Zone titled “The Shelter”:

Part 2 – Part 3

It’s old, but I think it’s highly relevant to the present times.

And when you’re through with that you can read one of my favorite of Aesop’s Fables: The Ant and the Grasshopper.

Classic photograph from the Great Depression

First, please know that I said “most” people didn’t see this coming. There were a few of us who foresaw this a while back. We knew that the real estate boom of the late1990′s and early 2000′s could not support itself in the long haul. Evidence from a chart in the New York Times by Yale economist Robert J. Shiller, co-author of the famed Case-Shiller housing index, told us that what has happening was clearly unstainable. There’s even a famous YouTube video that I remember that captured the emotional feel of it all. Some people bought second homes in a frenzy when they saw their homes jump up over 200% in value in just a few years, only to see them lose 50% in a matter of months. Interest rates are rising, the credit markets are frozen, and people can’t refinance anymore to ridiculously low fixed rates, so we are seeing record foreclosures that haven’t been seen since the Great Depression. There’s no telling when this will end, and it can get pretty ugly in the meantime.

So, how do you protect yourself? Certainly one guy I’d be listening to is Peter Schiff, author of the book Crash Proof: How to Profit from the Coming Economic Collapse. I highly recommend that you get a copy of his book, and if you have over $10,000 to invest to open an account at his firm EuroPacific Capital. Not only did he predict the current housing bust that we are in, but he predicted the collapse of the credit markets, that sharp uptick in gas prices and oil that occured this summer, the demise of Freddie Mac & Fannie Mae, and the mega-bailouts we are currently seeing, down to a tee. He claims to be no oracle, but every word he has had coming out his mouth has been like prophecy etched on the walls for everyone to read. At the height of the boom, people in the media and blogs used to laugh and make fun of him and try to portray him as a lunatic, but now he’s being showcased as an expert.

Reading the first half of his book is like watching history as it unfolds, but it’s the second half that is much more important. It’s here that he tells you how to guard your wealth, and even profit from this ongoing catastrophe. Two things that he recommends, which I agree wholeheartedly with, is (1) buying gold, silver and other precious metals, and (2) fleeing U.S. markets and investing in dividend-paying foreign securities under foreign-denominated currencies. The media is currently portraying this as a “global slowdown”, but the truth is that this crisis will largely just impact the U.S. and other countries dependent on the strength of the dollar and America’s consumption-based lifestyle. In the short-run, it may seem that everyone is suffering equally worldwide, but in the long-run it will  be the U.S. that bears that largest pains in our living standards. I recommend you read his book and examine his arguments. They are compelling and will change your mind about how you do your finances in these dire times.

I first learned about this tree when a friend of mine in college told me the name. I had my intial doubts but immediately became intrigued and wanted to know if I could find this tree. So, I did some serious searching on the web and managed to come across some seeds that I could buy. To my surprise, they weren’t that expensive at all.

Now, this tree is utterly amazing, its leaves are perhaps the most nutrient-dense vegetable known to humanity. In just a single spoonful serving of 25 grams (about nine tenths of an ounce), you will get a daily value of: Protein 42%, Calcium 125%, Magnesium 61%, Potassium 41%, Iron 71%, Vitamin A 272%, Vitamin C 22%. Or, to put it in more ready terms: 2 times the protein and 4 times the calcium found in a glass of milk,  4 times the Vitamin A found in a serving of carrots, 7 times the amount of Vitamin C found in an orange, and 3 times the Potassium found in a banana. This is along with more than 90 other nutient compounds and antioxidants. Eaten raw, the leaves taste a bit like asparagus and do well with a salad, or they can be boiled and made into a sweet tea. You can get the leaves in powdered form and spoon it into soups and stews and the taste is unnoticeable, but the benefits remain.

Another thing is that its dried seeds can not only be eaten for similar benefits, but when dried they can be crushed and used to purify water with the near efficiency of available chemical treatments, something that can end up being especially useful for many people.

This tree no doubt has caught on as a solution for many Third World problems. Many international church missionary organizations, notably that of the United Methodist Church, have caught on and are trying to spread the use of this plant across the world. The plant is also being used as part of the course of nutritional treatment for people living in parts of the world where large percentages of the population are living with HIV/AIDS and/or are in dire famine. Mothers of infants are being told to mix this with their breastmilk. Still, for some reason, when I ask around, hardly any person I know of has heard about it, not even the ones who are health nuts.

So, in my effort to make the world a better place, I am asking that each of you to attempt at growing this tree in your backyard. More importantly, please do spread the word. One would have to wonder why this plant is all the rage across the world but we harldy hear so much as a peep out of the U.S. media. Perhaps it could be due to the impact of all those pharmaceutical advertising dollars?

Here are some sites that may be of interest to you:

1.) Jim’s Moringa Page (Where I got my seeds)
2.) Growing Moringa for Personal or Commercial Use
3.) SaveGaia: Cultivation of Moringa – I used these growing directions and they worked well.
4.) Moringa Fact Sheet – Purdue University Dept. of Horticulture
5.) Trees for Life International – The Morigna Tree
6.) Natural News – Moringa: The Miracle Tree

The “Way to Cook” is different from the rest of Julia’s books. This one focuses more on cooking fundamentals and begins assuming that the reader has virtually no knowledge at all about professional chef techiniques and eventually walks you up to the point of being confident that you feel you can open your own restaurant. You will find everything here from how to make crème fraîche from scratch to how to fold egg whites into a cake batter the proper way. The recipes range from simple things like making a breakfast omlette to more complex things like reine de saba or braised trout. There’s definitely something in here for everybody.

Skyview photo I snapped of the Grand Canyon while on a FREE plane trip back from New York

One thing I’d like to share is how I’ve been able to see many parts of the world, and I’ve been able to do it practically for free. Most people who’ve lived long enough know about airline credit cards, but it’s probably been a while since they’ve actually looked at what’s being offered in recent times. Now, first let me admit upfront that I’m not really the type of person to advocate opening a credit card just to get a stupid t-shirt, silly key fob, or anything frivolous like that. But, sometimes these deals are just too great to pass up. You’d be doing yourself a real disservice if you did not at least consider at least some of them.

Consider this. Common industry standard to get a free roundtrip plane ticket in airline frequent flyer programs is to collect 25,000 miles. Most airline credit cards give you 1 or 2 miles per dollar charged. This would mean that you’d normally have to charge between $12,500-$25,000 just to get your ticket. For those who charge just about everything to their card, this may easily come after two years or so, but for those of us who are credit card debt averse, we can’t see ourselves possibily racking up charges like that. But, that’s OK. Most airline credit cards are now so eager to get new customers that they are practically giving miles away to entice you.

An example is United Airlines’ credit cards which are offered by Chase. I recommend opening either a United Mileage Plus Visa Signature card, which will give you 25,000 miles upon your first purchase, or a United Mileage Plus Gold Class Visa card, which will give you 20,000 miles for your first purchase. Print out a copy of the offer page, just in case there is a screw up on their part, so you have proof and can still get the miles. The miles normally take 2-3 months to post to your United Airlines Mileage Plus account.

And you don’t have to charge much to get the miles. There is no minimum purchase amount. I charged just $1.50 buying something on eBay, kept my credit card statement as proof of the transaction, and the miles still arrived in my frequent flier account. Now, Chase does have some versions of this offer still floating out there where you have to charge $250 to get the miles, but if you read the fine print, a balance transfer check counts as a “purchase”. So, when I’m up against that, I simply write myself a balance transfer check for $250 and immediately deposit it in my bank account to be paid right back. Sure, there’s a 3% transaction fee, but that’s still only $7.50 when you look at it. You’re getting $600-$1000 in frequent flyer miles in exchange.

Yeah, these cards come with stiff annual fees. But, that’s OK, since they are waiving the annual fee for you the first year. Just remember to call in and close your card . You’ve got about a whole year to do so (I’d call it 10 months). But, if you’re a student or if you still like using the card to get miles, then I recommend against closing the card. You can instead call customer service and have them downgrade your card to one without an annual fee. Chase also has the United College Plus Visa card, which offers added perks for students, one of which is 10,000 miles for college graduation. They will give you the miles for each and every time you graduate. For example, I have one friend who went to community college and got his associate’s degree, he went on to get his bachelor’s and is now finishing his masters. So, that’s 10,000 miles for each time he graduated plus his initial bonus of 25,000 on the Visa Signature card, bringing his minimum total to 65,000 miles, which is enough to fly domestically first class and have 5,000 miles left over, or to Europe or Asia in a coach seat and still have 10,000 miles left over. Just look at this chart for the kind of travel awards that are available.

Still want more miles? Or, are you now already out of college or decided for some reason not to go there? So far, do you see yourself getting 20,000 to 25,000 miles at the most with their card? That’s still OK. You can still get to Europe, Asia, or Hawaii. How? Open a business version of the credit card. You don’t have to own a big company or anything like that, and it’s still possible. Use your Social Security number as the business’ Taxpayer Identification number and mark on your application that you are a sole proprietor. If you’ve ever sold something on eBay before or plan to in the future, congrats! You are now officially a retailer with a business line of credit! This is perfectly legit and the IRS and Chase OK with it. And, you don’t have to have any revenue. I put “$0″ down in the revenue box and still got approved.  Think about it. Business start-ups in their beginning stages typically have no revenue at all.

So, 65,000 miles plus 20,000 mile… That comes down to 85,000 miles, which is enough to go to Central Asia, Oceania or Africa. And to make things even better, United isn’t the only airline that is offering such great deals. Just about every airline is. You can find out more about these types of deals by visiting FlyerTalk, which is perhaps one of the most useful travel websites I’ve found on the web.

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Well, what is this blog going to be about? Well, it is my personal homepage, so of course I’m going to largely include autobiographical stuff. I like money, I like travelling and I like getting free stuff, so I guess I’ll largely be writing about  those. If I run into something interesting in this life, you’ll see it here.

Why did I start this site? Largely because I got tired of Facebook and its awful changes. I figured with WordPress I have a bit more control over what happens to my content and how it looks. Now my friends, family, and whomever stumbles across this page can read about me without all of the hassle and they don’t even need to sign-up for anything. This will be my central communication place right here for all things about what’s up. You’ll come to find that people find my life interesting, as boring as I personally think it is at times.

Well, hope ya stick around. I certainly will be writing more.