Apr 27

How To Live Out of a Back Pack – Part 3

Shashi Harrie Shares Her Lifetime Experience – What to Pack to Live

Here’s the third and final part of the series on what of what to pack in your backpack to live anywhere in the world.  Shashi also discusses the problems of monkeys in India and warns about them.  Also check out your local REI store, she purchased a lot of her light weight stuff there.

Apr 16

Nomadic Woman Lives Out of Backpack For 20 Years

A Review of Her Backpack Contents and Tips For Extended Travel

by Adventurer Shashi Harrie

Video by Paulie Hunt

Photos by Julie Webster

Shashi’s Latest and Famous Backpack

Contents of Sashi’s Backpack.

Our dear friend Shashi was just about to leave for another travel adventure.  She had been globe-trotting for over 20 years, living simply and mostly out of her back pack and a rolly suitcase.  She has been almost everywhere, including Tibet and Latin America.  This trip was to go back to India, seeking wisdom at her favorite Ashram.

Before she left we persuaded her to meet at a friend’s apartment and go through her entire backpack kit.  Over the years she had refined the things she carried to get the lightest items, but also the strongest and long lasting items.  I know that one of  her favorite places was REI in Santa Monica for excellent camping gear.  She agreed to share her experience and go through the items that she has found to be a necessity for extended travel and adventure.  She caries a water filter, a rice cooker, and a device to grind nuts and seeds, because she will be eating mostly things she prepares and finds in even small villages, including rice, beans and fresh veggies.. Being on the road can be expensive if you travel like a rich tourist and stay in hotels and have all meals in restaurants.  Shashi prefers to be on foot or bus and find a really cheap place to  stay or camp and cook her own food.  This savings allows her to travel constantly on a very small fixed income.  She also works a little along the way, or  trades services with businesses.  She has fixed computers, done bookkeeping, is a licensed acupuncturist, a trained karate security guard, and many other talents.

Please enjoy the video below and following that some photos we took of her equipment.  Notice that to keep organized, things are kept in cloth or vinyl waterproof bags and little pouches.  For instance, the first aid kit is in one bag, toiletries in another, food prep stuff in another.   That keeps everything organized in her backpack.

Note:  The video below is only 16 minutes.  We will upload the entire 50 minute version soon.

 

Shashi Harri  (L) and Julie Webster

Big Fun Videographer Paulie with Shashi Harri

I am very  sad to say that our dear friend passed away on her last trip in early 2019, due to  being caught in a dreadful storm and getting pneumonia.  We will certainly miss her calm disposition and great knowledge.  This is her last gift to those who live out of their backpacks, by choice or by chance and hard times.  She was so happy to share this information with everyone at gypsycool.  Rest In Peace dear Shashi Harrie.

Sep 14

Music Madness: Gun-toting Diva Shoots Destitute Derelict

Singer Shoots Homeless Guitarist After Waking Him at 3am

Nashville:  Evidently Partying in her White SUV at 3am, blasting loud music, and spewing fumes from her Porsche, Katie Quackenbush woke up a poor homeless man who was trying to sleep on the sidewalk.  The 54 year old man, Gerald “Doug” Melton yelled at the woman in the Porsche to be quiet, which led to a shouting match, and then Quackenbush jumped out of her SUV and allegedly shot Melton twice. She then fled the scene, leaving Melton bleeding on the sidewalk.  He is in critical condition in hospital.  The Diva Quackenbush is in jail for attempted murder.  Here’s the official press release from the City of Nashville about the incident, which is dated 9-11-2017.

Official Press Release

Woman Charged with Attempted Murder in Shooting of Homeless Man

September 11, 2017

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Midtown Hills Precinct detectives tonight charged Katie Quackenbush, 26, with attempted murder for the August 26th shooting of a homeless man outside 901 19th Avenue South near Music Row.

The victim, Gerald Melton, 54, was critically wounded and remains hospitalized at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

The investigation, which is being led by Detective Anthony Chandler, shows that Melton was trying to sleep on the sidewalk at 3 a.m. when he became disturbed by exhaust fumes and loud music coming from a Porsche SUV.  Melton said he asked the driver of the Porsche, alleged to have been Quackenbush, to move the vehicle.  An argument ensued, with both parties yelling at each other.  Melton said he walked back to where he was attempting to sleep.  Quackenbush is alleged to have gotten out of the Porsche armed and, as the argument continued, fired two shots at Melton.  He suffered a critical abdominal wound.  He said the shooter got back into the Porsche and fled.

Bond for Quackenbush, of 45th Avenue North, is set at $25,000.

The Clash of Rich and Poor in Nashville

What is interesting is that Crooner Quackenbush and her friend drove away and did not report the incident or call an ambulance for Melton, who she shot in the stomach.  The incident took place at 3am on Saturday August 26, and it was not until Monday September 4th that an attorney for Quackenbush called the police to fess up to who it was that shot the homeless man. Maybe it took her a week to line up an attorney.

The homeless man can be seen in a youtube video, playing a love song on his guitar and singing.  He evidently has been down on his luck in his musical career, and forced into homelessness and sleeping on cardboard on a famous Music Row street in Nashville, where he dreamed of making it as a singer.

 

Meanwhile, Quackenbush comes from a well-to-do family.  Her father is a big attorney in Amarillo, Texas, and is giving interviews about his daughter’s innocence, painting her as a victim.  Click here to read the story in the Washington Post..

 

 

Jun 25

Techno-Anarchists Launch New Plan For Freedom

Pirates Without Borders Will Use Technology To Obtain Freedom From Authoritarian Governments – Issue First Letter From Captain Marque

Blackbeard

Up until now, Libertarians and those who seek Freedom from the Authoritarian States of the World have concentrated on building communities in cyberspace.  But a new trend is emerging.  Those trying to escape the financial and political slavery of the corrupt governments have started to migrate to real spaces.  On land, cities and gatherings spring from unused property, like the flowering of  Slab City.  Events like Burning Man and freedom raves take place in the deserts.  This trend has now taken a serious turn  of events,  with groups like Sea Steading creating ocean communities that are free from any governmental controls, and are planning to set up thousands of free-trade zones on the world’s oceans.

The most far sighted and far out groups, like Pirates Without Borders, aims to go into space, using present technology to launch huge ships that contain entire communities.  They plan to live free, off-planet and possibly on the moon or Mars.  These groups are forming now, the next step to escape the crumbling mess that the Elites have made.  The never-ending wars have devastated entire countries, launching millions of homeless refugees who are trying to escape the violence that is put on them by the insane elites who are playing real war games here on earth.  The trillions of dollars and the immense amount of wealth that is being poured into destructive operations instead of putting  the resources to work to solve humanity’s problems of food, health,  and shelter, has shown that the world’s rulers are mentally insane power-hungry madmen who will not rest until the entire planet is in absolute ruins.

Writers of science fiction have long explored this topic, which has now reached the edge of reality in many cases.  A recent graphic novel, Red Eden, even explored the topic of Native Americans leveraging their gambling empires to  buy the technology for a mass migration to the planet Mars where they set up their own version of paradise.  This line of thought seems to be gaining a lot of credence, and the technological breakthroughs of the last 50 years are making this all possible.  Folks can now buy a “printing press” and in their own home “print” the parts they need to make anything.  This technology has come so far that the Chinese are “printing” houses, ten a day from one machine.  How long before the Pirates begin to “print” hundreds of space ships every day?  The possibilities are only limited by what imagination can conceive.

Here below is The First Letter From Captain Marque, from www.PiratesWithoutBorders.com.  This is an interesting statement of principles from the Techno-Freedom front.

First Letter of Captain Marque
Humanity’s long pursuit of freedom is full of desperate complaints against the Crown. Rulers and subjects alike have penned countless flowery documents claiming to limit the Crown’s hostility with signed agreements. But today any observer can see that all these poetic social contracts have been impotent to prevent the Crown’s predation, or worse, they have authorized it. Those they propped up as our liberators are now subsisting on our bondage. Limited government is a lie they cultivated to keep us submissive.

Stripped of its grandiose rhetoric, the essence of the Crown has always been rule by force. Every euphemism has only enshrined the violence inherent in the system, embodied not only by the enforcers, but in every courthouse, school and post office. Everywhere the Crown tells you, “Obey, or else.” Well, I’ve had enough of centralized force.

I am no revolutionary. I have no desire to reform your system, or run it my way. If you want your servile life, keep it. But know that the Crown can never be trusted to abide by its founding charters, nor to keep its treaties, nor even to play by its own rules. Put simply, the Crown cannot be trusted. That’s why I raised my black banner, why I’m opting out.

The folly of revolutions is that they only reset the cycle of violence. My aim is to break that cycle, and abandon the madness of expecting different results. My aim is an evolved society of individuals, invisible to the Crown. And, evolution requires viable mutation, not a new hierarchy, but new modes of horizontal innovation.

Liberation requires collaboration between free thinkers without infringement or censorship. In another age, we could meet in public spaces. Today, avoiding the Crown’s surveillance requires we exchange encrypted communication.

Energy independence turns the gears of the visionary’s imagination, and grants us individual control of our modern lives. No meaningful alternative to the Crown’s system can be achieved without exploring decentralized energy production and storage to create heat, power and incredible new tools.

Flourishing in our new autonomy requires that we construct secure habitats in which to dwell. Cutting edge materials and methods provide unimaginable new options, allowing us greater mobility, and access to many previously uninhabitable environments.

The privateers of the Crown have turned our food and water into subtle poisons, making us vulnerable in mind and body. Therefore it is essential to cultivate our own heirloom nutrition and healthful water to repair and improve our bodies.

The Crown has conspired with the medical industry to ensnare us in a web of control and dependency.

To avoid their notions and potions it is essential to take responsibility for our own health, and pursue sound medical science.

The Crown has claimed regulatory control of every means of conveyance, stifling the free travel of individuals and their property. This is an intolerable act. Superior transportation technologies already exist, but are suppressed by regulations.

Humanity’s labor has been greatly expanded by the use of machines. We must maintain decentralized automation for the future use of labor saving and humanity serving tools, or we will be victims of the Crown’s automatons.

Living in the information age has not insulated us from misinformation. When the Crown controls education it controls the very lens through which we see the world. Above all, we must teach truth to our young, to let them see the world as it is.

Obviously this is not an exhaustive list of all the tools at our disposal. The truths of the natural world work just as well for us as for any others. The road ahead requires vast and decentralized efforts and experimentation by diverse and disconnected parties. The strength of a network is not in it’s unity but in it’s decentralization, leaving no one point of failure, no centralized figure, no critical junction for the Crown to target.

So, bow down to your finely-dressed abusers, if you wish. Let them pat your heads as they slip their hands in your pockets. We won’t force you to live our way, but we will not submit to living your way. We are not your property. And, when you are ready to stop being their beast of burden, ready for adventure and opportunity, come join us on the high seas. We will not be hard to find.

Jan 30

For Seniors Some Great Programs

Seniors in Los Angeles Area Have Access to Great Programs

Here’s a few great programs for seniors in the L.A. area.  Similar programs may be available Statewide.

Burbank TC #61.  TRANSPORTATION  Check out Metro, which operates the buses and trains, including the subway system.  If you want to get around the area without driving your car or RV, you can apply online for a senior tap card.  You can do this online.  www.metro.net.  A senior tap card will get you rides for 75 cents Peak hours, and only 35 cents Off Peak.  This includes a free transfer to another bus or train within 2 hours, meaning you can scoot a long way around the city for 35 cents Off Peak.  There are many other programs for seniors, special passes, etc., including some available at senior centers in cities other than Los Angeles.  Santa Monica, for example, has a fantastic bus system, The Big Blue Bus.

SCAN2.  HEALTH If you are on Medicare and need a supplemental plan, try SCAN.  It’s free.  Along with it you get a free Silver Sneaker Fitness card.  This is good at thousands of gyms across the country, including exercise equipment, pool, steam/sauna (when available).  You can go to many different gyms, so that means that you will have access to showers as well as fitness.  One of the problems living stealth in a vehicle or living in an RV is shower and clean-up.  Although there are shower programs in some cities and facilities, this is a great solution for seniors.

Free Thanksgiving dinner at a Presbyterian Church

Free Thanksgiving dinner at a Presbyterian Church

3. FOOD  When you are living in a vehicle or RV, food becomes an issue.  RVs usually have good cooking facilities, but if you are in a car or van it is a little harder.  Small camp type stoves are good, but you need to be in a sheltered area to use it, away from prying eyes of residents who will call the cops if they see anyone using a cook stove on the street.  Some people go to a park where there are camping or BBQ pits.  The big parks in L.A. like Griffith Park have campsites where you can cook dinner.

Another way to go is to eat hot meals for free at Churches and other Food Coalition sites, like those we frequently post on this website.  Please note that there are hundreds of free hot meals served in So. California every day.  Check around the area you are staying in, the local city, the local churches, and look for food banks.  The County, through Senior Centers, have hot lunch programs for a couple of bucks. These are decent meals, and are served around the County at designated park buildings and Senior Centers.  The Senior Centers in some cities are really great, with free computers to use, free wi-fi, exercise programs, libraries, good bathrooms, etc.  They have all kinds of free or cheap programs so check them out.

Even if you are living in a vehicle, a senior can have a great time in Southern California.  Although many of us do not have large Social Security checks, if you don’t have to pay rent or utilities then you can have enough money to get by on using the strategies like those listed above.

Send any information you get or comments to unclepaulie@rocketmail.com

 

 

Jan 07

A Visit to Slab City – the Future of Civilization?

Trek to The City on the Edge of Forever

Skip Rorshach Freedman

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I rolled into Niland, California on a lightly-overcast afternoon in the middle of December. The sun is almost set, but there will easily be enough light to get to Slab City and find a suitable spot to camp tonight. The street going east out of Niland [Main Street] is little better than the washboard road that goes out to Area 51, except this is only three miles long instead of fifteen. Driving down this road you begin to get a sense of just how immense this place is. It was originally Camp Dunlap Marine Base from 1949 to 1956 (yes, they tore it down after only seven years), which explains the big concrete slabs that give the place its name. First thing you come to is Salvation Mountain on the right, some guy’s huge multicolored religious monument.

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“The Last Free Place”

 Moving on, there are scores of RV’s, buses, trucks and vans scattered every which way as I cruise along the dusty jarring road. Looks a lot like Burning Man, except people are more spread out here and this desert actually has some vegetation. It’s been called “The Last Free Place”, and there are good reasons for that. It’s around 50 miles southeast of Indio (itself a desolate desert metropolis) out in the middle of the Sonoran Desert and almost at the south end of the Salton Sea. There’s also no electricity [unless you make your own], running water, trash pickup, or restrooms – you pack in everything you need.

Rattling along looking for an out-of-the-way spot, I end up heading off toward the back. There are a lot of packed-dirt trails heading off in various directions. Looks like most of the better-looking vehicles are back here, so this is definitely the place to be. There are quite a few solar cell arrays and wind generators at this end of town as well. I cruise down one path and see a five-foot rise about a couple hundred yards down. The van slips a bit going up, but makes it easily to the level top. There are scrub bushes on either side, with small piles of rusted cans at their base. In fact, there’s trash like that everywhere around here. Most bushes have at least some kind of refuse under them: discarded clothes, cans, plastic bags, or heaven alone knows what.

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Hopping out to stretch my legs, the temperature is in the upper 60’s with low humidity. Nice and quiet, except for about four or five dogs barking in scattered directions. It’s dark in about an hour and the full moon rises in the southeast. Occasional stars peek through the low clouds and a gas generator hums somewhere off to the north. A few campfires are going, which gives a smell of creosote to the air. Some barely audible voices drift through the light breeze, presumably from the campfires. I get back in the van, pop open a can of Ravioli, and watch a movie on the DVD player. After that I drift into a dreamless desert sleep.
………

Just after 7:30 in the morning I wake up to the sound of faint yelling. Cracking open my passenger window, I see some dude standing on a huge raised slab with multicolored grafitti abut a hundred yards away screaming challenges to an unknown person. He’s pacing back and forth, flailing his arms wildly, while pointing out the apparent cowardice of his rival – who appears to be entirely imaginary. Probably acute amphetamine psychosis, a meth-head burnout. Guess he just went off the deep end; isolation like this doesn’t work for everyone. Using the sighting scope, he’s short, a little stocky and wearing an Army jacket – doesn’t even look to be thirty. After about a half hour, his voice starts getting a bit hoarse, so he hops on his bicycle and heads in the direction of town. His manic threats slowly fade out into the crisp morning air.

Welcome to Slab City.

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I have my usual leisurely breakfast while reading several chapters of a book, then get a little writing done on my third book. At 11:00 a pair of fighter jets from the adjacent Marine Base practice bombing runs between Slab City and the Chocolate Mountains to the east. Their sound is trailing them by at least a quarter mile or so. They head north swooping low in formation, pull up in about a 70-degree climb, then loop back the other way. After six of these exercises they fly off to the south. Show’s over.

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I do a little more reading, then head over to Salvation Mountain to check it out in more detail. It’s a huge monstrosity built on the face of what’s essentually a sand dune. Mostly constructed by Leonard Knight between 1984 and 2011 (he died two years ago at age 82), it’s made of large tree trunks, intertwined branches, bales of hay, salvaged metal pieces (mostly car doors), and a lot of plaster. There are multiple rooms and grottoes at the south end. Most of the entire thing is also painted with a couple hundred gallons of salvaged latex paint of various colors. The painting still continues through sporadic volunteers. If I’d planned on hanging around longer, I would have helped out with a brush; but I’m only going to do a day here.

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There are a couple of signs pointing to the library, so I follow them around the back past Camp Goonies (a collective of high-tech tinkerers) and eventually run into an unassuming building a little ways back from the road. At first glance, it looked to be little more than a small shack surrounded by trees, but it’s actually rather sizable. It’s open-ended at two sides and has a motley collection of rug pieces completely covering the sand floor. The precarious bookshelves look to harbor somewhere around a thousand books, by my estimate. I was told by the resident librarian (a way-cool dude whose name I forgot to write down) that it’s the “take a book-leave a book” system. I mentioned the Gypsy Cool website and he said that he’d run into it before. I left them several copies of my books – a lot of folks here could probably use some of the techniques described in them (which were written to help the 99%, and irritate the rest). One thing’s for sure, people definitely have a lot of time to catch up on their reading here. Not much else to do.

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I made it a point to traverse each dusty dirt road in Slab City (there’s eight total, more or less), going past places like the Slab City Hostel, the Live Music place (true to its name), the Sun Works (a solar-related workshop), and the Slab City Christian Club (completely deserted, guess religion isn’t big here). There was every kind of dwelling from simple tents to semi-permanent buildings erected on abandoned concrete foundations. Occasionally, non-functioning vehicles are built directly into these structures. There’s some very inventive construction here using salvaged materials, with a lot of Burning Man influence – except I didn’t see any domes. There were a good number of big fancy RV’s, most likely nomadic Snowbirds from up north.

On the whole, the handful of people I ran into here were reasonably friendly, for California. The younger longhairs were generally more abrasive, but that’s typical these days (Libtards, maybe?). I’d guess the median age this time of year is around 45 or so. Noticed a lot of retirees sitting around in chairs here and there, and saw only two kids. A person would need to be sturdy stock to survive here long-term in these primitive conditions, especially in the summer when the temperature is said to get up to 120 degrees. Definitely count me out on that.

As I was leaving, the old guard shack for the Marine Base had “Caution: Reality Ahead” painted on the side – a very apt reminder. Slab City is definitely a state of mind. What it might lack in overall social cohesiveness, it more than makes up for in personal freedom. And that’s quite acceptable for “The Last Free Place” – probably in this entire oppressive Police State of America. I wish ya’ luck, guys. Let Freedom Ring.

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Oct 13

Free Lunch Program in Glendale, CA

Food Programs in Glendale, CA.

Sunday Lunch Program
Every Sunday 1:00 p.m.

2016

Holy Family Catholic Church

Holy Family Catholic Church

These Sundays in October
2, 9, 23, 30
Holy Family Catholic Church
220 East Elk Street, Glendale

also October 16th
First United Methodist Church
134 N. Kenwood St., Glendale

These Sundays in November:
6, 13, 20, 27
St. Mark’s Episcopal Church
1020 N. Brand Blvd., Glendale

These Sundays in December:
4, 11, 18, 25
Salem Lutheran Church
1211 N. Brand Blvd., Glendale

Thanks to Craig and Annie for the information.  If you have information on food meet ups or free lunches, please drop us a line.  Thanks.  Paulie

 

Nov 01

Comment and Review of Gypsies of the New Millenium

Old Gypsy Wagon

Old Gypsy Wagon

A straightforward, no-nonsense manifesto on living the nomadic underground life. Clearly maps out the current insanity of today’s world situation while offering invaluable tips on food, health, security, money, van living, and dealing with cops. Gets you well on your way to dropping out of this oppressive system, then lists over 1,300 additional books where you can find everything else you need to help weather these uncertain and chaotic times.

Ed Murray