Why I Choose To Wear A Face Mask.

When it comes to face masks and whether a person should wear one or not, there are many, many opinions. Its funny, and scary how this virus has spawned so many viral experts.

Some people are all, "You Should wear a mask!" others are "wearing masks are a waist of time", there are even some who say that wearing a mask is dangerous because if you are infected, your breathing your own infected breath back in, so you will be re-infecting your self (I swear I am not making that one up).

Then there are those who will say that they wear a mask sometimes, when they feel they need to.

Why am I telling you all this?

Earlier today I watched a video by a YouTuber called Rogue preparedness where she was talking about the same thing, masks, and whether you should wear one, the video is below.

I made a comment on this video saying why I wear a mask, I could have gone into details about my reasons but didnt want to, not on a video someone else took the time to make.

But I can here. So, after quite a long winded intro, why do I wear a mask?

Why I Wear A Mask

As I said on Rogue`s YouTube channel, I am asthmatic, my youngest son and my daughter are asthmatic and my wife is a diabetic, the last thing I want is to bring this virus home without knowing about it and infect one of my family.

I wear a mask when I am in a public area, in doors where I can not guarantee that I will be able to keep social distancing in place and where there is an active air ventilation system in place.

To be honest, even if I was single and had no children, I would still wear a mask if I was in the above situation. 

I started wearing a face mask or some sort of face covering as soon as I found out that SARS-CoV-2 "could" remain airborne in small particles for up to 2-3 hours. 

The way I think about it is, if someone who is infected, even if they are asymptomatic were to sneeze or cough outside of a shop, in an indoor shopping centre at, say, 9 o`clock in the morning and I were to walk past the same shop at say, 11 o`clock the same morning, even though I am maintaining social distancing, have washed my hands and then douse myself in my own, home made hand sanitiser, I can still get infected.

Needless to say someone had to be an arse and try to pick faults with my comment on Rogues video

Again, I was not going to get into a fight or an argument on someone`s video, its just not cool, but I can here, my blog, my rules

There are some scientists who say that the virus can stay airborne for up to 2-3 hours, it has the ability to be moved around a building via the air conditioning and it has aerosolized and can be transmitted by a persons breath, there are other scientists who disagree with this theory of course.

For me, there are enough renowned scientists who say that this is possible for me to put a mask on. If they are wrong in their theory, fine, they were wrong, but what if they are right?

As for people who choose not to wear a mask. That is their choice, at the moment we still have freedom of thought and speech to a greater or lesser extent. Wear a mask, dont wear a mask, I dont care, just dont judge me for wearing one if you choose not to.

Now, I am well aware that it is customary to link the sources for your information, so, here are some of my receipts.

NNY 360

Medical News Today

www.Gov.UK

Stay safe out there guys.

Prepping On A Budget

With the current Global Pandemic more and more people have seeing just how fragile society and the world that we live in is, realising this they have started asking about what is the best way to start prepping?

Which is awesome.

I started looking into emergency preparedness a couple of years ago after realising that I am not guaranteed to get any help from the emergency services or the government if things were to go south in a huge way. 

At the time I was well aware that I did not have the money needed to go out and buy everything I needed there and then, I had to do this on a tight budget and for the most part, I still do.

One of the biggest obstacles new preppers face is the size of the head fart you have after reading articles and watching videos made by seasoned preppers where they talk about some of the gear you "should" have, and how they could have up to a years worth of food stockpiled just in case we do have to face a SHTF situation.

This is one of the reasons I decided to write this post, to give you an idea of where to start.

That being said, I think it best to start by saying that you do not and should not max out your credit card or empty your bank account so that you can have the gear and a sizeable food stockpile. Even in the current global  situation that would be a bad, bad idea.

Obviously, you are a bit late to start prepping for the current pandemic. But you are not too late to start getting ready for second wave of this virus, which most people, including scientist's are saying will be hitting us in the autumn and winter of this year.

So, where do you start?

People are saying that the second wave of the virus will be harder and stronger than the one we are facing at the moment, so expect more lock downs. With that in mind, start by stockpiling food and water. The idea is, double up on a few things, you know, beans, rice maybe some canned soups, one you put in the place you have set out for your stockpile and the other goes into the cupboard ready for when you want it.

Try to find items with a long shelf life, I would say at least 1-2 years.

You should try to stockpile food that you would normally eat, buying in food that you don't like is just a waist of money and space. Things like Rice, pasta and spaghetti, packet pasta and dried soup's can last year's, instead of sugar try getting in some honey which has no shelf life if it's stored in the right conditions.

When it comes to water, it's advised that you should be looking at 3 litres of water per day per person. It's worth noting that for the post part our water system was not effected by the current corvid outbreak, but it would still be a good idea to have some water to hand just in case, as well as the means to sterilise water.

Think about what has happened over the last few months, areas where you had problems, especially around food, toiletries and hygiene products and try to work on making sure that you have that area covered.

Hand sanitiser is starting to come back onto store shelves and seems to be staying there longer than 20 minutes this time. If you come across sanitiser when you're out shopping it would be a good idea to buy a couple of bottles and put them to one side.

If you make your own sanitizer, it would be a good idea to start to build up a stockpile of the ingredients you will need to make more.

I have every confidence that things like toilet roll, flour and pasta will be bought out again, so it might also be a good idea to buy a few extra of those, yeast as well would be a good idea.

While all this is going on,  read books, watch videos and learn as much as you can about prepping.

Learn some new skills that will be useful in an emergency situation. Gardening, hunting, how to set a snare, first aid is a big one, how to find and purify water and much more.

This would also be a good time to work on your fitness as well. The last thing you want is to be in a situation where you need to move fast, or have to put in strenuous work over a couple of hours and just dont have the fitness level to do this.

Some YouTube channels I would recommend are.

Canadian Prepper

Rogue Preparedness

Survival Lillie

Survival Dispatch 

Lockdown week one

The UK has been locked down for a week now, social distancing is a thing and staying at home is becoming the law. We are "supposed" to only leave the house for essential foods, medical reasons, to help a vulnerable person with supplies, once a day for exercise or to go to work, but only if you can not work from home. 

Here in the UK, the government has earmarked certain types of services and businesses as essential for keeping the country going during the lockdown. Obviously the emergency services are too if that list.

I guess I am lucky in one respect that the job I do has been identified as one of jobs that can not close down, so I can not "Stay At Home" I have to go to work.

This is a double edged sword though, although I am happy in the fact that I can go out, I know that while I am out and especially when I am at work I run the risk of becoming infected with Corvid19. 

The last thing I want is to become infected or have a part of my cloths contaminated and bring this virus into my home.

Saying that, there are some people who are still insisting that this is nothing more than the flu and that the media has hyped it up and brainwashed everyone. 

These are the same people who do not accept or adhere to social distinsing or staying at home, for them it is business as normal.

Two weeks ago the government was advising us to just stay at home, it was the above mentioned people who ignored the message and caused the government to impose a lockdown.

At the moment we don't know for sure how long this lockdown will last, some government sources say we could be locked down for 3-6 month while others are saying that it looks like the spread is starting to slow down, at least hospital admissions are starting to slow down.

I would like to think that we can just about see a light at the end of the tunnel, but I doubt that this is the case. 

I still believe that this is just the beginning and more is yet to come, also bearing in mind, that this could only be the first wave,the virus could and probably will return in a second wave this autumn. 

Sacrifice

I found the post below on a private preppers page on Facebook and had to post it here, given what we are seeing today as we stand thigh deep in Pandemic city this post might be a bitter pill for some and, I hope a wake up call for others.

My sister in law found this and posted. Lana Young Jones. . please read!!!

I know we don’t all have the same political views. Heck that is what makes America great. But respecting each others views without shaming people is essential. Please read this.  

Copied 

I talked with a man today, an 80+ year old man.  I asked him if there was anything I can get him while this Coronavirus scare was gripping America.

He simply smiled, looked away and said:

"Let me tell you what I need!  I need to believe, at some point, this country my generation fought for... I need to believe this nation we handed safely to our children and their children...

I need to know this generation will quit being a bunch of sissies...that they respect what they've been given...that they've earned what others sacrificed for."

I wasn't sure where the conversation was going or if it was going anywhere at all.  So, I sat there, quietly observing.  

"You know, I was a little boy during WWII.  Those were scary days.   We didn't know if we were going to be speaking English, German or Japanese at the end of the war.  There was no certainty, no guarantees like Americans enjoy today.  

And no home went without sacrifice or loss.  Every house, up and down every street, had someone in harm's way.  Maybe their Daddy was a soldier, maybe their son was a sailor, maybe it was an uncle.  Sometimes it was the whole damn family...fathers, sons, uncles...

Having someone, you love, sent off to war...it wasn't less frightening than it is today.  It was scary as Hell.  If anything, it was more frightening.  We didn't have battle front news.  We didn't have email or cellphones.  You sent them away and you hoped...you prayed.  You may not hear from them for months, if ever.  Sometimes a mother was getting her son's letters the same day Dad was comforting her over their child's death.

And we sacrificed.  You couldn't buy things.  Everything was rationed.  You were only allowed so much milk per month, only so much bread, toilet paper.  EVERYTHING was restricted for the war effort.  And what you weren't using, what you didn't need, things you threw away, they were saved and sorted for the war effort.  My generation was the original recycling movement in America.

And we had viruses back then...serious viruses.  Things like polio, measles, and such.  It was nothing to walk to school and pass a house or two that was quarantined.  We didn't shut down our schools.  We didn't shut down our cities.  We carried on, without masks, without hand sanitizer.  And do you know what?  We persevered.  We overcame.  We didn't attack our President, we came together.  We rallied around the flag for the war.  Thick or thin, we were in it to win.  And we would lose more boys in an hour of combat than we lose in entire wars today."

He slowly looked away again.  Maybe I saw a small tear in the corner of his eye.  Then he continued:

 "Today's kids don't know sacrifice. They think a sacrifice is not having coverage on their phone while they freely drive across the country.  Today's kids are selfish and spoiled.  In my generation, we looked out for our elders.  We helped out with single moms who's husbands were either at war or dead from war.  Today's kids rush the store, buying everything they can...no concern for anyone but themselves.  It's shameful the way Americans behave these days.  None of them deserve the sacrifices their granddads made. 

So, no I don't need anything.  I appreciate your offer but, I know I've been through worse things than this virus.  But maybe I should be asking you, what can I do to help you?  Do you have enough pop to get through this, enough steak?  Will you be able to survive with 113 channels on your tv?"

I smiled, fighting back a tear of my own...now humbled by a man in his 80's.  All I could do was thank him for the history lesson, leave my number for emergency and leave with my ego firmly tucked in my rear.

I talked to a man today.  A real man.  An American man from an era long gone and forgotten.  We will never understand the sacrifices.  We will never fully earn their sacrifices.  But we should work harder to learn about them..learn from them...to respect them.

Original post author: Mandy Brockway

So You "Think" Herd Immunity Will Work?

Today is Friday 13th March 2020, I have spent part of this evening reading about something called Herd Immunity and how the UK government, My government, the people who have been charged with leading the United Kingdom think that this will be a good idea when it comes to stemming the spread of the Corona Virus in the UK. 

I am speechless. The UK Governments plan to stop or mitigate the spread of Corvid19 is Heard Immunity, letting 60% of the population get infected, this way, those who are infected "should" protect those who are more vulnerable.

The theory works like this, if you have someone with measles and surround that person with people who have been vaccinated against measles, then the virus has nowhere to go so burns its self out and disappears, experts say that this is the method they use to protect cattle and has been proven to work by stemming the spread of disease and shielding the weak. 

To date this has been proven to work, when a vaccine has been included.

In the mean time, as far as I can see, the government have no plans to reduce or stop public gatherings, close schools, universities or lock down our borders by way of mitigating the virus. Instead we are told to wash our hands, sanitise if you cant wash your hands and self isolate and stay off work for 7 days if you think that you might have any corvid19 symptoms.

In my opinion this is absolute madness, their plan is to do nothing and let the country become infected with a SARS variant which can be fatal to anyone with an underlying health problem, the old, infirm and people with compromised immune systems

Now I know what it looks like but, no, this is not population control. This is a well thought out plan by experts, which, in theory "should" work.

Is there any wonder the conspiracy theorists are going mad over this.

I have posted a link which will take you to the governments plan with regards to combating the Corona virus HERE 

You Can Also click HERE to read about the flaws in this well thought out plan (sarcasm intended)

In the mean time, be safe and take care of you and yours, me? Im going to ry to contact the Aliens which are freely wondering our planet to ask if they will abduct me now. I have had enough now