Blackberry REACT February Newsletter

Quick Clicks

Xtal Sets

Back in the 50s or 60s, I put together a crystal radio. I can't remember where I got the parts. I remember winding the coil around the cardboard tube from a roll of toilet paper (as it was called then) and nailing or screwing everything onto a wooden board. Then I connected a wire as an antenna and attached that wire to my windowscreen (not aluminum back in those days) for added oomph, and fell asleep at night with one of those 60s-style earplugs in my ear. (See this photo for that style: http://home.earthlink.net/~wb5rex/xtalman/miniphone.jpg and http://home.earthlink.net/~wb5rex/xtalman/germanium.html for some vintage crystal radios disguised to look like transistor.)

You can bring back those thrilling days of yesteryear at The Xtal Set Society: http://www.midnightscience.com/ Although their stuff comes with PC boards instead of scrap lumber, assmebly is still required. Some kits are pure crystal, with that same 50s earphone, and some require a battery to drive a transistor or two.

They still sell that basic crystal set,though - a wooden board and a PVC pipe to wind your coil on. If you want to learn basic theory on your own, or you want to start someone on the path to radio basics, the site offers books on theory and on construction, free plans, a newsletter, and considerably more. If you use the free radio on a Quaker Oat box, give me a heads up - I'll supply a box.

Cool Tools

And speaking of days of not quite so yore, back in the 70s, Stewart Brand started the Whole Earth Catalogue for hippie stuff. The WEC is long gone, but the theory continues online at Kevin Kelly's Cool Tools: http://www.kk.org/cooltools/

People writine and review a tool they love, provide a picture, and post the link to where you can get it. The page I've linked to is the latest postings; on the left is a column of "Categories," so you can look at past postings (if I can use that term these days) in such areas as communication, community, gardens, homestead, play, and vehicles, to name a few. Sometimes the tool is something you need, and sometimes it's just something you want

Is your Grab 'n' Go bag current?

It's February, so you should have waterproof shoes, a poncho, layers of warm clothing in your bag. This is a good time to go through your kit and see what's there. See http://www.bloglines.com/blog/CivilizedExplorer for hints on what to look for and what to have for the weather.

Homeland Responder

This site has online training videos that are in the public domain: http://www.homelandresponder.org/pages/video.html Of course, they also want to sell you training, so their DVDs are on sale elsewhere in the site. The free videos include how to shelter in place, how to prepare for a disaster, among others. The company is commercial and not affiliated with any government agencies or departments.

Menlo Park CERT Training

From Jon Mosby:
The Menlo Park Fire Protection District is beginning the fourth year of Citizen Emergency Response Team training. The first six week session will begin at 6:30pm on Thursday, 15 March at the Menlo Park City Counsel Chambers located at 701 Laurel Street in Menlo Park. Refreshments are provided. This session is already filling up and may have a waiting list. All interested persons should contact Carol Parker at 650-688-8415 to register or obtain further details of CERT sessions. You may also register online at http://www.menlofire.org/cert select "schedule"; select "Click here to sign up" at the bottom of the page.

There are more two sessions scheduled for later this year.

"Grab-and-Go" bags containing hard hats, CERT vests, gloves, goggles, gas shut off wrench, and pocket lights are given to the graduates. This is an exciting new opportunity for citizens to be trained for emergencies of any type and enabling them to help their families and neighbors in their own neighborhoods or where they work. Each sessions consists of six modules covering items like Basic Disaster Skills, Light Search & Rescue, Communications, Team Skills & Management, Medical, Emergency Mitigation & Awareness. These are just some of the skills shared along with exercises to practice what is presented. Each evening is designed to instruct, excite, demonstrate and exercise individuals in emergency disaster preparedness. The CERT Motto is "Do the most good for the greatest number of people".

The training team of instructors is very dedicated to providing the very best training possible. Many are volunteering their time, energy and experience to assist our community in disaster preparedness.

For any questions or to sign up individuals or groups, contact Carol at 650-688-8415 or go to http://www.menlofire.org/cert or e-mail cert@menlofire.org

Events

None scheduled

Updates

nothing happened

I'm sending this out as a plain text email. I will also provide our Webmaster with a marked up copy as HTML to post on the site so you can read the archives of the newsletter and the months and years go buy. The plain text may not have clickable links (it depends on your email application), so you can copy and paste URLs into your browser. The copy on the Web site will be marked up with links for your clicking pleasure.