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The Democratic party will not even bother to save themselves. They will not save you, listen to those who actually want to who were deemed “radical/ fae left.” This country is far right as that targeted assassinations are not treated as a dire warning sign by the “Opposition party.”

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Absolutely buckwild thread of ChatGPT feeding & amplifying delusions, causing the user to break with reality. People are leaning on ChatGPT for therapy, for companionship, for advice... and it's fucking them up.

Seems to be spreading too.

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I’m going to share some cooking knowledge I gathered recently, and it might not be useful to everyone, but to someone who is not doing great financially, maybe struggles with food, this could be good to know.

While researching how to cook buckwheat, I found an old grandma’s recipe to cook it just for 5 minutes, then to wrap the pot in a kitchen cloth, then wrap a big towel or a blanket around it, and let it sit in its own heat for 20 minutes. I realized while doing this, that if you take something from fire, then wrap it up, it doesn’t lose any of the heat, it keeps cooking by itself. Which means, you spend less gas, and you get a free spot at the stove. So I tried this out with rice, pasta, soups, anything that would usually cook for long, and it works just as if it was cooked on the stove (at least I never noticed any difference in flavour). And if you’re making a big soup you want to eat over the day, you can leave it wrapped up, and it wont cool down for hours. This spares you the effort and gas of heating it up later. I’m very fond of this trick, it feels very cozy to get your food from a wrapped-up pot.

Other cool thing I discovered accidentally, was that you can make your own pudding, without buying the powder. I was trying to make some kind of chocolate filling for pancakes, and I used a bit of pancake mix (which was just flour, salt, sugar and water), added some sugar, cocoa-powder, and water, then stirred it on the fire. I was surprised when it got pudding consistency! It tasted different than store-bought, but worked great as a pancake filling.  All creamy-like consistency stuff is basically made from some kind of wheat or corn powder, so pudding isn’t any different, I just didn’t know you could make it from normal flour and cocoa powder and it would still taste good. Would probably taste even better if you had vanilla extract.

Other thing I’ve been very happily utilizing is saving water from boiled chickpeas and beans, because it works as egg replacement in any cooking recipe, I made pancakes, lemon cakes and chocolate cremes using it, and it was perfect every time. It can’t sit in the fridge for more than 5-6 days though, so it should be used within few days, or frozen.

That’s been my recent discoveries, every time I figure something like this out, my cooking gets a little bit easier and more convenient, and the cost of making food lower.

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Natural laundry detergent from horse chestnuts (conkers)

I knew about this for a few years, but this is my first time trying it! Firstly this cannot be done with edible chestnuts, you need specifically conkers, or horse chestnuts, we find them everywhere around parks here and children usually collect it to throw at each other:

Also, these are poisonous so don’t eat them. However, it turns out their insides have the chemicals for making soapy bubbles! All it takes it to open them, and soak them in water, and you get the equivalent of a laundry detergent. I opened a few up and cut them in small pieces to try this out; they’re supposed to soak in warm water for 20 minutes:

It got very soapy when I shook it! This is then strained and used as you would use regular laundry detergent, the conkers aren’t put in the washing slot! They need to be strained. You can use them without soaking tho, by putting them in a sock, tying up tight, and just letting them wash together with laundry. They don’t melt or anything, they’ll still be the same after being washed, you can compost them afterwards.

I put the liquid in my washing machine, and tried it out with my dirtiest clothes, the gardening gear that is always filled with mud spots and garden bag that I carry unwashed produce in. It came out all clean. It was even washed in cold water so I know it was the soapy conkers who did it. The clothing comes out completely odorless, so it’s okay to add some nice smelling softener, altho few drops of essential oil in a yarn ball would still work? Clothing is, however, perfectly soft to touch and pleasant to wear. 10/10.

So the conkers are only around during fall, and we need detergent all year round, so here’s how to preserve them and have free laundry detergent forever.  We’re going to cut and dehydrate them.

 I cut and peeled mine, and then I needed them to be in smaller bits, so I wrapped them in a cloth and smashed it with a hammer for a while. That will actually ruin the cloth, so if you do it, use the one you don’t like. You can also just run them thru a food processor, I’ve seen people do that.

People usually dehydrate them in an oven for like, an hour and half, but I wanted to try with drying on top of a radiator, since it is very warm and pieces are small enough. I made these long origami boxes from newspapers so I could spread them in very thin layers in there. After only few hours, they felt completely dry and hard like rocks. It’s recommended to store them with a little bag of rice so the rice would take in any extra moisture. If they happen to go bad because I didn’t oven-dry them, I’ll make an update! But they seem to be perfectly okay for now. With dry mixture, it only takes 2 tablespoons of it per load of laundry, so even just one jar of it will last for months.

This was mostly a painless process and doing laundry feels very different now! I warmly recommend it, it’s very anti capitalistic, self-reliant, natural, sustainable and completely free if you air-dry it. Here’s also a visual tutorial!

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Surviving and Thriving in Collapse: A Good Library and Reskilling

March 25 2025, Dana O'Driscoll, AODA

Excerpt:

In my first post in this series, I talked about the global collapse that is happening and what to do about it–and as hard as it is, the reasons to keep up the hope and the vision for a better future and paradigm.  As I shared in my first post, what we need to do now, as things are collapsing, is to lean into and create the world we want to create.  But how to do we actually get there? One step at a time, my friends.  In my first post, I outlined the situation as I see it and then shared some resources to help orient our minds and mentally prepare and cultivate mental resilience.   This post assumes that you’ve read the first post, and also, that you are feeling like you are in a place to take a few more steps.  And so today’s topic is: building a good library!

Read the full post on The Druid's Garden.

Dana O'Driscoll is the Grand Archdruid of the Ancient Order of Druids in America and the co-found of the Pennsylvania School for Herbalism. She is also a Certified Permaculture Designer and Teacher, and the creator of the Tree Lore and Plant Spirit oracle decks. She has published two books on connecting modern pagan practices with permaculture, sustainable living, and responsible land stewardship. Sacred Actions and Land Healing are both available from Schiffer Books.

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12 Permaculture Principles 🌳

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Need you guys to know I am soooo anti generative AI. In case that wasn't clear. It's bad for the environment, unethical, theft, and will never be as freaky as me. It is inferior in every way

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I'm putting together a team.

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Reposting from Morgana Alba on Facebook.

It's a reality check for white US Americans that there's WORK involved in emigration or asylum.

One comment on the original post was, "we're not leaving, my husband would never, he's too attached to his family" and the reply "if that's so, you could be the point person looking after /helping manage things for someone else who's got to flee.

Another point: the assumption that folks have $$ wherewithal and physical health enough to do the process as described. I understand that's not true for all of us, but there's a few items in this list that are good for anyone to try and accomplish:

Get a passport

Get all your important documents in a safe, grabbable space

Set up power of attorney for legal matters (your home, your pets if you have to leave them behind, etc)

Research and network for a possible safe landing person or location.

Otherwise, read the list, have a good think about what might apply to your situation, and start doing your research.

....

Morgana Alba:

You need to have a plan - Actually, you need 3.

(TL/DR - get a passport, a foreign one if you qualify, and start with anything in plan B to take actionable steps today to set yourself up for success)

Just in case you should ever need to uproot your life and move out of a country, for any reason, nothing in particular: you should have 3 plans. Not options. Not ideas. Plans. And I realize not everyone as raised like I was so I’m going to tell you how to make them. (And Step 1 is to have a passport. Do that immediately)

First of all, to be a plan it needs a clear objective, identified required steps, and a trigger point. A trigger point is the deciding factor or event that will automatically activate that plan. You must decide what your lines in the sand are in advance. Historic events rarely feel historic when you’re in them and if you don’t decide what you will not accommodate before you’re in it, incrementalism will paralyze you.

For the best coverage, start with plan C and work backwards.

*****

Plan A: Leaving under the best possible circumstances.

This is where a lot of you get stuck. Leaving under the best possible circumstances is a privilege but it’s not the only way out. This takes a lot of time and research and honestly you should have started this plan a year ago if it was what you wanted. To leave via plan A you should:

1. Research what countries you can live in long term and make a living in. This could mean countries you could transfer to with your current employer, countries that are expat friendly, or countries where you qualify for a work visa. If you have living grandparents or aunts that are citizens of and living in a foreign country you may even qualify for a foreign passport. Start that process now.

2. Start learning the language

3. Apply for jobs in that country

4. Find temporary or long term housing

5. Once you have residency and financial support/employment you can sell anything you aren’t moving and leave.

Trigger point for plan A is typically finding employment for most people.

*****

Plan B: Creating the flexibility for short or long term, potentially temporary, absence

This plan is about restructuring your life so that you could leave quickly even if you don’t have the security of Plan A.

1. Determine where you could go, short term. With a U.S. passport you could stay in most countries up to 3 months as a tourist but wouldn’t be allowed to work locally. Call up friends who live abroad and see who would be ok with a long visit if need be.

2. Start selling things you don’t necessarily love. Do a clothing and items purge. If you do have to leave without plan A there may not be the time for storage and sales so start reducing possessions now while you have the time to be mindful.

3. If you own a place, consider getting a roommate or having family move in so that you may not necessarily have to sell if you have to leave. Having someone else to look after the place and the added financial cushion of rent takes a lot of the pressure off during the departure. You’d have someone back home to ship or store your stuff or sell your car if you aren’t returning but you don’t have to make that call at the time.

4. Plan your financial support. Build up savings as you sell things. Look up what jobs will qualify for a digital nomad visa in the countries you’re considering visiting friends in, and very seriously start applying for remote work that fits those restrictions. Open a non-US based bank account to hold your savings. Get a credit card for this and only this. Stick it in the back of your wallet and forget about it.

5. Hoard Medication. Build up a 3-6 month supply of any required daily medications so that you have a cushion to hold you over between leaving and finding new medical care.

6. Digitize all your vital docs, including deeds and medical files. Store them in the cloud and email them to a friend who lives abroad

7. Have a plan for pets. With plan B you may be leaving them behind if you don’t know how long you’ll be gone or where you might settle. Talk to friends and family now about who would be willing to take them in in this situation.

Plan B is about giving you the most flexibility and options. You make big changes now so that you can be prepared to react to changes around you down the road. Trigger Point for plan B is often unique to the individual and involves law changes like access to medical support or the safety of their finances/job/marriage.

*****

Plan C: Run.

This plan is a last resort. It’s easier and less scary than most people think. But you absolutely need to be ready, and you need to know, firmly, what your trigger point is. This plan is for leaving in an emergency, potentially under scrutiny and persecution, with absolutely no plan to return. You should do as much of Plan B as you can, but you can still do plan C without that prep.

1. Have a go-bag. Your go bag is a waterproof, fireproof, personal-item sized piece of luggage that lives pre-packed with your vital documents (passport, medical records, SSN card, birth certificate, marriage certificate, name change docs, any extra photo IDs etc), your medications, around $1000 in non-sequential twenties, your emergency CC, addresses, phone numbers, and info written down for who you could go visit, proof of ownership docs for your house and/or car, and a single change of utilitarian clothing. Keep a pair of sturdy boots next to it if they don’t fit in it.

2. Pack your carry on. In this bag pack your jewelry, photo albums, grandma’s ashes, etc: whatever bits of precious you couldn’t possibly abandon. You need to make those decisions now, not in the moment. This suitcase must meet the SMALLEST restrictions on carryons for international flights (often smaller than what we’re used to in the U.S., typically 22" x 14" x 9") fill any extra space with toiletries or clothing as they reduce suspicion, but don’t prioritize packing clothing or comfort items. You can get that wherever you’re going.

3. These bags live packed in a safe place near the back door of your house; or in your car.

4. Decide where to run to and have a conversation about cover. In this scenario, if your trigger point is a certain executive order, your goal is to get to airport before enforcement goes into place. You need to know where you’re going and “why” your ticket is last minute in advance. Call up whoever is the safe person you’re running to and build the story. “Someone died suddenly” is a good one. This person needs to be ok with you showing up with 0 warning, and automatically going to the cover story if they one-day randomly get a call from a customs agent asking them to confirm why you’re traveling. If you have kids, have go bags for them as well, and only tell them the cover story.

5. Plan for your pet. Once you decide where you will run to look up what you would need to bring your pet and have those things ready to go (carrier, shot record, etc). Also plan for a situation where you have to leave your pet behind. Discuss with friends and family and get a commitment on who would take then in

6. Have a point person that is remaining behind that you trust to handle your affairs. If you have to run with no notice like this, you need someone here to sell your car, ship any possessions you need, cancel your lease, etc. Find your person and have the conversation about that now.

7. If you need to run you grab your go bags and maybe your pet carrier and you get on a plane. Use your normal bank accounts if you can, and your cash and emergency credit card if you can’t. Buy the ticket online if possible. If it has to be in person look for a visible minority ticket agent and if you’re questioned about the last-minute travel lean on the “my mother just died while visiting my aunt in France (or wherever you’re running). I have to go, I’m so distraught, taking my emotional support cat and kid cause idk when I’ll be back, there’s just so much to figure out. My Aunt has dementia. I have to get there before she does something crazy”

8. Try not to worry about what comes next. Humans have cut and run for thousands of years. You can do it. Immediate defense of life comes first. Everything else can be figured out after you’re safe. Don’t let worry over the logistics keep you in a dangerous situation.

Those are three plans you should have. But keep in mind there’s a lot of middle ground. Do as much of B as you can, and if you have to leave without a job, you can figure it out there. The place you run to doesn’t have to be where you’ll settle. You’l have more time to plan after you’re safe.

Americans have this warped idea of immigration. We believe other countries are as insanely draconian about it as we are but that’s not the case. Do your research. Make your plans. And don’t let fear of the unknown or a lack of planning keep you in danger. You can always just pack your bags and get on a plane to a friend’s place or a Sikh temple, and figure the rest of it out when you get there.

But definitely get your passport

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I'm tired. But I'm not done.

(Pt.1)

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Go fash, go crash? Workshop that one.

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Source

Source

This day in oligarchy

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I don’t want to find out about world events anymore