Steal This Book Today (1^st Edition)

Introduction

“I am not an advocate for frequent changes in laws and constitutions, but laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths discovered and manners and opinions change, with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also to keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat whichfitted him when a boy as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors.” - Thomas Jefferson

I’ve never been one for hippies. I don’t mean hippies as a name, because, of course, Abbie Hoffman was a Yippie, not a Hippie. But as a generation, I have always thought, the youth movement of the late sixties and early seventies, most commonly referred to as the hippies, have failed this nation greatly.

Those young men and women back then had tremendous courage. They risked their freedom and often their lives in order to force our government and our country to have to recognize decency and intelligence. It’s not right that our government had to be forced into such seemingly common decency, and up until a few years ago, we seemed surprised that our elected officials and decent American citizens could ever have been so wrong. And yet, here we are again.

When I was growing up in ordinary suburban America in the nineteen eighties, I idolized the everyman players of the sixties. Wavy Gravy, Bobby Seale, Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, etc. I listened to The Who, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Dylan, The Jefferson Airplane, The Doors, Neil Young, Crosby, Stills and Nash. I read every Doonesbury comic strip since the ones published at his Yale newspaper while he was a student there. I was also fascinated with the history of the war in Vietnam. This fascination was recognized and possibly validated when my mother offered to take me to see Oliver Stone’s “Platoon.” I read First Blood, and one of the first courses I took during my freshman year at the University at Buffalo was a third-year course called “The Literature of Vietnam.”

And it wasn’t just me. Everywhere we looked, we found sixties nostalgia madness.

But it turns out that it really was simply cultural nostalgia.

Where are the hippies now? I don’t mean, let’s blame them because they are old and aren’t on the cutting edge anymore. But, seriously, I can tell you where the hippies are. They are driving Volvos and living in McMansions. They are investing heavily in the stock market upon which Mr. Hoffman and his gang threw money back in the day. “All You Need Is Love” is featured in an ad for moneymaking credit cards.

George W. Bush grew up in the sixties, and, make no mistake, the baby boomers are the ones who voted for him, by and large. This largest generation has given us Enron and the war in Iraq. It’s not just the administration, either. It’s CEOs, it’s false charities, it’s a horrible tax system. By now, 30 years after Vietnam, our country should be enjoying the wealth of insight provided by the youth of that era. Instead, we wallow in what has nearly become a failed empire.

We don’t want to be an empire in the first place, and I thought, neither did the hippies. And yet, here we are.

I see a nation in profoundjeopardy oflosing its very point of existing. Despite the failure of the hippies to provide many enduring changes, I find myselflooking back to that very youth movement for inspiration.

Granted, it’s simply a different world these days, and in many wonderful ways. It’s easier to get from sea to shining sea these days, and even less necessary. The internet connects us with people in Australia, Egypt and Norway.

We have to embrace our world, this one we live in, not look back or ahead too far. We have to focus on the now. we can’t change the past, we can’t dwell on the future. But we can improve the future by listening to ourselves now, by always making the right decision, by always standing up for the very real things that we believe in. So instead of ruing the changes in technology and culture, we should be ruing the changes in our freedoms. Our technology has grown, our culture has created new traditions, but our freedoms have been squeezed, our intelligence has been insulted, and our lives have been threatened. And I don’t mean by the terrorists. Let me tell you a story about the terrorists.

I was in the hallway of my lower Manhattan office building on the morning of September 11 when the second plane hit the World Trade Center. It seemed the whole building shook, and it sounded like a bomb went off right downstairs. We had known that a plane had hit the north tower a few minutes earlier, but with the impact of that second hit all the resonance of its meaning dropped like half a million tons ofbricks. At that instant we didn’t simply guess, but we knew that we were under some serious attack.

I saw for myself the south tower collapse — I had to sprint to outrun the rolling ten story wall of dust. I had staff who lost family and friends. I breathed in toxic dust for months serving Guiliani and Bush and the federal administration in their effort to get things “back to normal so the terrorists don’t win.” Ever since then, our administration has done nothing except highlight the obvious differences in our daily lives and try to take advantage of us because of them.

What have we had since that day? Since that day they insisted that everything was ever and for always going to be all right?

We were introduced to the Patriot Act. Hundreds of millions of dollars were sunk into Halliburton.

We were lied to, baldfaced and criminally, about the military knowledge of a small country in the middle of the desert, despite what I knew when I was growing up, that the United States knew where every silo well was, where every truck moved, within the secretive and high-tech military complex of the Soviet Union, twenty-five years ago.

Children, young and old, have been murdered by mechanical weapons aimed by presidents of corporations.

Law-abiding groups have been spied on, their rights violated.

Freedom of the press has been compromised and directly and openly attacked by our government.

Our poorest and most in need were completely and arrogantly ignored by the government and corporations and yet at the same time attacked by right-wing media for having ever been on welfare.

Where were the huge corporations coming up with advertisements about how much they’ve donated to Katrina victims? I know I’ve seen that one about Halliburton in the desert...

The economic wealth of America, earned on the shoulders of millions ofhard-working citizens, is almost completely in the hands of a privileged and deceptive few.

Our young men are being recruited into a capitalistic war, and are dying for the government’s betrayal of their patriotic sensibilities.

People have been refused their right to vote, including women and blacks, who, even post- first revolution, had to die in order to gain the right.

And the best critical commentary comes from The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, and Saturday Night Live, each and all simply comedy shows, filmed in closed studios and vomiting cash to the conglomerate owners.

A major part of our actual and existing workforce was declared illegal after decades of implied legality.

The control that religious fanaticism has over social and political control hasn’t been this strong in Western Civilization since the thirteen-hundreds, having somehow ignorantly leapfrogged centuries of scientific and philosophical discoveries.

And speaking of science, we have scientific proof now that our government and economic leaders are full ofblinded and drunk medieval monks. Our planet is melting and instead of being a forest fire of global proportions, it’s been rendered by our system into a lobbyist political capitalistic propaganda game.

Now look at this. Nations firing ultra-modern technological warfare as well as muddy and rusty incoming mortar shells at the children and homes of other nations, well-armed militaries killing each others’ civilians.

And we complain a lot about the news, and rightly so. But we are also very informed, albeit restrictedly so. Even though our citizens are listening to biased information, they are really sitting in front of their televisions, aint they? So in that way, our nation has never been more involved.

They fucked us up pretending that we could prove everything was all right for them. Now they’re fucking us up by pretending that nothing will ever be all right again.

The only thing that hasn’t changed since 9/11 is that the government is still fucking us up.

And now they even want to restrict this new technology that is bringing people together, facilitating the communication of the everyman. Even this, even now, the majority of citizens of America are being pushed back upon. They’re pushing back, pushing back, and how much is even left behind us anymore?

So, why this? From someone who thinks the hippies betrayed us, from someone who experienced first-hand the deadly nightmare ofinternational terrorism?

AND WHY ARE YOU WRITING ABOUT HOW TO MAKE A BOMB?!?!?!

Because we need it. Those most harmed by this new way of America life are the ones least able to communicate anything. The rich are fewer and more removed from the rest of the real world than they’ve ever been.

Look, man, we don’t want to hurt anybody here. But our government doesn’t want many of us to live. But our government is killing its poorest citizens, whether it be in New Orleans, Baghdad or a moth-eaten sleeping bag in a New York City alleyway, in the alleyway of any American city.

I may not agree with every bit of reference in this book, but that is why I’m involved in it. I may not hold values identical to each contributing writer or editor, and in some ways may differ critically, but that is why I’m involved in it, and that is why they are involved in it, too. This isn’t about promoting one of those -isms, one of those broad beliefs. This isn’t about promoting socialism or communism or capitalism or ism ism ism ism ism. This is about helping fellow citizens who, for a number of reasons and coming from a billion different points of view, feel the need for change. Dramatic change. But not a change to simply one thing, one ism or one source of cash. Rather a change to the one original thing, the set of ideas that America was founded upon. The things we want are not new or revolutionary. That this can be considered revolutionary is an (appropriate) insult to our social, political and economic leaders in the first place, and it’s also an insult to us, rightly so.

Here is another not very new idea: citizens have not only the ability but also the responsibility to change things when they are not going well. That is something straight from Jefferson’s Declaration oflndependence. So this thing we’re in, it’s a thing of all of us. Yours, mine, theirs. And I don’t think they’re going to do anything about it, seeing as it fits them so well.

It’s not us you have to worry about, it’s them.

If you’re poor, you have to worry about them. If you’re a minority, you have to worry about them. If you live paycheck to paycheck, you have to worry about them. If you have children, you have to worry about them. If you like something they don’t like, you have to worry about them. If you believe something they don’t believe in, you have to worry about them. If you don’t have health insurance, you have to worry about them. If you don’t know your rights, you have to worry about them.

But they have one big problem that we don’t have. They have a lot more to lose. They have everything. They own us.

Love live the revolutions, and may gods bless America.

Original Introduction

What follows is the original text

It’s perhaps fitting that I write this introduction in jail- that graduate school of survival. Here you learn how to use toothpaste as glue, fashion a shiv out of a spoon and build intricate communication networks. Here too, you learn the only rehabilitation possible-hatred of oppression.

Steal This Book is, in a way, a manual of survival in the prison that is Amerika. It preaches jailbreak. It shows you where exactly how to place the dynamite that will destroy the walls. The first section-SURVIVE!-lays out a potential action program for our new Nation. The chapter headings spell out the demands for a free society. A community where the technology produces goods and services for whoever needs them, come who may. It calls on the Robin Hoods of Santa Barbara Forest to steal from the robber barons who own the castles of capitalism. It implies that the reader already is “ideologically set,” in that he understands corporate feudalism as the only robbery worthy ofbeing called “crime,” for it is committed against the people as a whole. Whether the ways it describes to rip-off shit are legal or illegal is irrelevant. The dictionary oflaw is written by the bosses of order. Our moral dictionary says no heisting from each other. To steal from a brother or sister is evil. To not steal from the institutions that are the pillars of the Pig Empire is equally immoral.

Community within our Nation, chaos in theirs; that is the message of SURVIVE!

We cannot survive without learning to fight and that is the lesson in the second section. FIGHT! separates revolutionaries from outlaws. The purpose of part two is not to fuck the system, but destroy it. The weapons are carefully chosen. They are “home-made,” in that they are designed for use in our unique electronic jungle. Here the uptown reviewer will find ample proof of our “violent” nature. But again, the dictionary oflaw fails us. Murder in a uniform is heroic, in a costume it is a crime. False advertisements win awards, forgers end up in jail. Inflated prices guarantee large profits while shoplifters are punished. Politicians conspire to create police riots and the victims are convicted in the courts. Students are gunned down and then indicted by suburban grand juries as the trouble-makers. A modern, highly mechanized army travels 9,000 miles to commit genocide against a small nation of great vision and then accuses its people of aggression. Slumlords allow rats to maim children and then complain of violence in the streets. Everything is topsy-turvy. If we internalize the language and imagery of the pigs, we will forever be fucked. Let me illustrate the point. Amerika was built on the slaughter of a people. That is its history. For years we watched movie after movie that demonstrated the white man’s benevolence. Jimmy Stewart, the epitome of fairness, puts his arm around Cochise and tells how the Indians and the whites can live in peace if only both sides will be reasonable, responsible and rational (the three R’s imperialists always teach the “natives”). “You will find good grazing land on the other side of the mountain,” drawls the public relations man. “Take your people and go in peace.” Cochise as well as millions of youngsters in the balcony oflearning, were being dealt off the bottom of the deck. The Indians should have offed Jimmy Stewart in every picture and we should have cheered ourselves hoarse. Until we understand the nature of institutional violence and how it manipulates values and mores to maintain the power of the few, we will forever be imprisoned in the caves of ignorance. When we conclude that bank robbers rather than bankers should be the trustees of the universities, then we begin to think clearly. When we see the Army Mathematics Research and Development Center and the Bank of Amerika as cesspools of violence, filling the minds of our young with hatred, turning one against another, then we begin to think revolutionary.

Be clever using section two; clever as a snake. Dig the spirit of the struggle. Don’t get hung up on a sacrifice trip. Revolution is not about suicide, it is about life. With your fingers probe the holiness of your body and see that it was meant to live. Your body is just one in a mass of cuddly humanity. Become an internationalist and learn to respect all life. Make war on machines, and in particular the sterile machines of corporate death and the robots that guard them. The duty of a revolutionary is to make love and that means staying alive and free. That doesn’t allow for cop-outs. Smoking dope and hanging up Che’s picture is no more a commitment than drinking milk and collecting postage stamps. A revolution in consciousness is an empty high without a revolution in the distribution of power. We are not interested in the greening of Amerika except for the grass that will cover its grave.

Section three — LIBERATE! — concerns itself with efforts to free stuff (or at least make it cheap) in four cities. Sort of a quick U.S. on no dollars a day. It begins to scratch the potential for a national effort in this area. Since we are a nation of gypsies, dope on how to move around and dig in anywhere is always needed. Together we can expand this section. It is far from complete, as is the entire project. Incomplete chapters on how to identify police agents, steal a car, run day-care centers, conduct your own trial, organize a G.I. coffee house, start a rock and roll band and make neat clothes, are scattered all over the floor of the cell. The book as it now stands was completed in the late summer of 1970. For three months manuscripts made the rounds of every major publisher. In all, over 30 rejections occurred before the decision to publish the book ourselves was made, or rather made for us. Perhaps no other book in modern times presented such a dilemma. Everyone agreed the book would be a commercial success. But even greed had its limits, and the IRS and FBI following the manuscript with their little jive rap had a telling effect. Thirty “yeses” become thirty “noes” after “thinking it over.” Liberals, who supposedly led the fight against censorship, talked of how the book “will end free speech.”

Finally the day we were bringing the proofs to the printer, Grove consented to act as distributor. To pull a total solo trip, including distribution, would have been neat, but such an effort would be doomed from the start. We had tried it before and blew it. In fact, if anyone is interested in 4,000 1969 Yippie calendars, they’ve got a deal. Even with a distributor joining the fight, the battle will only begin when the books come off the press. There is a saying that “Freedom of the press belongs to those who own one.” In past eras, this was probably the case, but now, high speed methods of typesetting, offset printing and a host of other developments have made substantial reductions in printing costs. Literally anyone is free to print their own works. In even the most repressive society imaginable, you can get away with some form of private publishing. Because Amerika allows this, does not make it the democracy Jefferson envisioned. Repressive tolerance is a real phenomenon. To talk of true freedom of the press, we must talk of the availability of the channels of communication that are designed to reach the entire population, or at least that segment of the population that might participate in such a dialogue. Freedom of the press belongs to those that own the distribution system. Perhaps that has always been the case, but in a mass society where nearly everyone is instantaneously plugged into a variety of national communications systems, widespread dissemination of the information is the crux of the matter. To make the claim that the right to print your own book means freedom of the press is to completely misunderstand the nature of a mass society. It is like making the claim that anyone with a pushcart can challenge Safeway supermarkets, or that any child can grow up to be president.

State legislators, librarians, PTA members, FBI agents, church-goers, and parents: a veritable legion of decency and order already is on the march. To get the book to you might be the biggest challenge we face. The next few months should prove really exciting.

Obviously such a project as Steal This Book could not have been carried out alone. Izak Haber shared the vision from the beginning. He did months of valuable research and contributed many of the survival techniques. Carole Ramer and Gus Reichbach of the New York Law Commune guided the book through its many stages. Anna Kaufman Moon did almost all the photographs. The cartoonists who have made contributions include Ski Williamson and Gilbert Sheldon. Tom Forcade, of the UPS, patiently did the editing. Bert Cohen of Concert Hall did the book’s graphic design. Amber and John Wilcox set the type. Anita Hoffman and Lynn Borman helped me rewrite a number of sections. There are others who participated in the testing of many of the techniques demonstrated in the following pages and for obvious reasons have to remain anonymous. There were perhaps over 50 brothers and sisters who played particularly vital roles in the grand conspiracy. Some of the many others are listed on the following page. We hope to keep the information up to date. If you have comments, law suits, suggestions or death threats, please send them to: Dear Abbie P.0. Box 213, Cooper Station, New York, NY 10003. Many of the tips might not work in your area, some might be obsolete by the time you get to try them out, and many addresses and phone numbers might be changed. If the reader becomes a participating researcher then we will have achieved our purpose.

Watch for a special edition called Steal This White House, complete with blueprints of underground passages, methods ofjamming the communications network and a detailed map of the celebrated room where according to Tricia Nixon, “Daddy loves to listen to Mantovanni records, turn up the air conditioner full blast, sit by the fireplace, gaze out the window to the Washington Monument and meditate on those difficult problems that face all the peoples of this world.”

December, 1970 Cook County Jail Chicago

“Free speech is the right to shout ‘THEATER!’ in a crowded fire.” -a Yippie Proverb

Aiding and Abetting

Thanks to:

Dozens of Anonymous Contributors, Ploney the Expat, Unidyne, J! of the Dumpstered, J.D. from South Carolina, Ryan Libberator, Zeerahks O’Connelley, Jacob the Mad, Jonathan M. Taylor, The Jacob Holtan, Sketchy, Jimmy McSqueeze, Jeffrey R Glenn, Jake Blohnson, Sean Hogan (firsty), Trevor Ruggles, El Almirante, Captain.telnet, Doctormatt, Moonmaiden103, Michael Davis (manintweed), E.R. the gun nut, Jedite (Jedite83 & the Hacker Labs), vov35, Mill Creek “HIGH”, vannieplustwo, recursive

Thanks To:

Neal Stephenson-for HEAP and the Future, The EFF and TOR, CBLDF, Scroogle, Linus Torvalds, Tim Berners-Lee, Tom Jennings and FidoNet, Internet nerds, free WiFi, full dumpsters,

donated laptops and PDA’s, bicycles, people who stop for hitch-hikers, folks that feed street people, whiskey-drinking radicals who founded the USA, AIM indigenous movement, old Black Panthers who won’t talk, veterans of the Back-To-The-Land movement, IWW then and now, Joe Hill, Eugene V. Debs, hardware hackers, Cory Doctorow’s bitchun society, whuffie economy, war dialers and drivers, rebba and talmedem, those who voided the warranty, old Elmers, expats, bloggers, pirates, Jessica Sideways, The Magna Carta, Berry Cooper, Frank Zappa, “Don’t tase me bro”, homebrews, months in the wilderness, getting fired, disappointed and proud parents, annoyed but loving partners, ADD kids, stupid mistakes, George Orwell’s 1984, duct tape, Bram Cohen and Bittorrent, Multimachine, no rent money, cool teachers, forever role models, pranksters (Cassady most of all), Ti Jean, J.R. “Bob” Dobbs, geeks and trolls, 300 Baud BBS’s, multi-tools, soldering irons, Swiss Army knives, TRS-80, Amiga & Commodore 64/128, BASIC & COBOL, prohibition moonshiners, Seth Tobocman, Peter Kuper, Eric Drooker, Pete Seeger & the Weavers, Holly Near, Free Tre Arrow, D.B. Cooper, web 2.0, feeders, barbers, Robert Anton Wilson, Dr. Thompson, usenet, performance-enhancing substances, Guy Fawkes, Open Source, the Tank Man of Tiananmen Square, Michael Hoy, Claire Wolfe, most of the Dharma, neighbors and more, Noam Chomsky, Axis of Justice, the Coup, Phreakers, Rage Against the Machine and other leftist bands, and especially Abbie for the first edition, RepubliCrats making back-room deals, Dick and Bush in the White House for making this necessary and CorpGov for being a motivator.

Original Aiding and Abetting

What follows is the original text

Tim Leary, Tom, Geronimo, Pearl Paperhanger, Sonny, Pat Solomon, Allan Katzman, Jacob Kohn, Nguyen Van Troi, Susan, Marty, Andy, Ami, Marshall Bloom, Viva, Ben, Oanh, Robin Palmer, Mom and Dad, Janie Fonda, Jerry, Denis, LNS, Bernadine Dohrn, a wall in Harvard Square, Nancy, an anonymous stewardess, Shirley Wonderful, Roz, Gumbo, Janis, Jimi, Dylan Liberation Front, Jeannie, God Slick, John, David, Rusty, Barney, Richard, Denny, Ron Cobb, the entire Viet Cong, Sam Shephard, Ma Bell, Eric, David, Joe, Kim Agnew, the Partridge Family, Carol, Alan Ginsburg, Woman’s Lib, Julius Lester, Lenny Bruce, Hack, Billy, Paul, Willy, Colleen, Sid, Johnny Appleseed, the Rat, Craig, Che, Willie Sutton, Wanda, EVO, Jeff, Crazy Horse, Huey, Casey, Bobby, Alice, Mao, Rip, Ed, Bob, Gay Liberation Front, WPAX, Frank Dudock, Manny, Mungo, Lottie, Rosemary, Marshall, Rennie, Judy, Jennifer, Mr. Martin, Keith, Madame Binh, Mike, Eleanor, Dr. Spock, Afeni, Candice, the Tupamaros, Berkeley Tribe, Gilbert Sheldon, Stanley Kubrick, Sam, Anna, Skip Williamson, UPS, Andy Stapp, the Yippies, Richard Brautigan, Jano, Carlos Marighella, the Weathermen, Julius Jennings Hoffman, Quentin, the inmates of TIER A-l Cook County Jail, Houdini, 37, Rosa Luxemberg, the Kent 25, the Chicago 15, the New York 21, the Motor City 3, the Indianapolis 500, Jack, Joan, Malcolm X, Mayakovsky, Dotson, R. Crumb, Daniel Clyne, Justin, The FBI Top 10 (now 16), Unis, Dana, Jim Morrison, Brian, John, Gus, Ruth, Nancy Unger, Pun, Jomo, Peter, Mark Rudd, Billy Kunstler, Genie, Ken, the Law Commune, Paula, Robby, Terry, Dianna, Angela, Ted, Phil, Jefferson Airplane, Len, Tricky Prickers, the Berrigans, Stu, Rayanne, J.B., Jonathan Jackson, the Armstrong Brothers, Homer, Sharon, Fred Hampton, Jean Jacques Lebel, A. H. Maslow, Hanoi Rose, Sylvia, Fellini, Amaru, Ann Fettamen, Artaud, Bert, Merrill, Lynne, and last but not least to Spiro what’s his name who provided the incentive.

Who are we?

We are libertarians, anarchists, socialists, pacifists, vegetarians, black, white, asian, hispanic.

To get to the basics of it, however:

We are the vocal minority of the silent majority.

As of this writing, there is an enormous part of our population greatly dissatisfied with not only the mistakes of our current administration, but also with the direction the country is heading — Amerika is being lead by lobbyists, corporations and otherwise immoral, greedy and deceptive parties. Many see the nation going down the path of a Big Brother state: where the government keeps tabs on you and determines what you can and cannot see/do.

We’re looking to change that.

No matter what, however, the important thing is this: whatever revolution or lifestyle you hope to be a part of has to be started by you. When you know in your heart what you’re doing is right and true, not even the most brutal opposition or secure jail cell can stop you.

What the Book is NOT

This is not The Anarchist Cookbook. The information in this site is not designed for senseless vandalism, theft, or “just watching shit blow up”. This project was started by a pacifist (Firstly) who does not advocate violent methods of change. Using the information here for purposeless nonsense is downright stupid.

Something else worth noting is that people these days seem to want to put a label on things. This site is not promoting a liberal, conservative or anarchist agenda...and it never will. It simply promotes what each and every one of us believes is our idea of a perfect world, and how to get to it. What may be one person’s Anarcho-capitalist dream is another’s Communist society. Each and every one of us feels an obligation to make our world more livable and create information for everyone to see on how to get to that moment. So, if you must put a label on this site, call it “idealist”. We’re not out to convince you to join our “cult”, nor are we here to push our beliefs on others. It may seem hokey and unrealistic to some, but some of the best inventions and social movements had those stigmas attached to them for decades.

Table of Contents

Table of contents for PDF one, download, more PDF’s or the project at www.stealthiswiki.org

• Introduction

• Aiding and Abetting

• Who are we?

• Survive

• Security Culture

• Free Food

• Cheap Chow

• Restaurants

• Food Programs

• Supermarkets

• Wholesale Markets

• Food Conspiracies

• Roadkill

• Farm It

• Free Clothing and Furniture

• Free Clothing

• Sandals

• Free Furniture

• Free Shelter

• The Street

• Low Impact Crashing

• Free Land

• Free Housing

• Backpacking and Camping

• Urban Living

• Rural Living

• Squatting

• Communes

• List of Communes

• Free Transportation

• Pack your bag

• Hitchhiking

• Cycling

• Freighting

• Cars

• Buses

• Airlines

• In City Travel

• Sail Away

Survive!

What do humans need to survive?

Oxygen, Body Warmth, Water, Food, Freedom, Love, Fun.

Security Culture

Intro

Security Culture is the most powerful tool to keep us in the fight. The pigs have their spies and they are ready to use them to defame, fracture,jail, and intimidate our movement. Keep all groups small and intimate, one is best, three is a the number to never exceed for actions, group up several threes for very big action, but don’t use these groupings for civil disobedience. Try to form affinity groups with those you have known for many years.

Main points:

• NEVER BRAG about past actions!

• NEVER USE NAMES when planning action!

• Only discuss action with those who NEED TO KNOW!

• After an action NEVER DISCUSS with OUTSIDERS!

• NEVER ADMIT anything to the authorities even for a deal when they claim others have ratted out!

• NEVER LIE about being in on an action or your part in an action!

• Keep involved members to a VERY SMALL group!

• ONLY work with a TRUSTED affinity GROUP!

• ONLY ALLOW those who would NEVER rat out the group INTO a TRUSTED affinity GROUP!

• ONLY DISCUSS action in OPEN AREAS with background noise!

• NEVER discuss action in HOMES, KNOWN MEETING AREAS, or CARS!

• If busted use your right to REMAIN SILENT!

• If busted NEVER ARGUE or try to EXPLAIN yourself!

• NEVER! NEVER! NEVER! RAT out another activist!

• Be extra CAUTIOUS with a ROMANTIC or SEXUAL PARTNER!

• NEVER TRUST electronic ENCRYPTION or codes to keep your communication safe!

A big thanks to our fellow travelers at Why-War.com for using a copyright the same as ours. A large part of what follows is from material on their site with our contributions and edits.

Electronic Communication

A little story: I worked with a direct action group in****** known as ***. One member of *** who was new and did not know the protocols of security culture sent out an e-mail that indirectly implicated specific members of the group in an action that had happened in the area. His e-mail resulted in four arrests. Two people went tojail for six months.

E-mail is never safe. Ever. Listservs especially are monitored daily by local police departments and the FBI. If you’re planning a mass direct action event, you must use a spokescouncil meeting or other face-to-face organizing strategy. Never send specifics (date, time, or location) about a direct action over e-mail. Some e-mail is more secure. Hushmail provides encrypted e-mail service for its users that can be more secure than regular e-mail, and using an encryption program like PGP can greatly increase your security, but remember that Hushmail and any other email provider will give the private key and email contents to the cops with a just a phone call, no warrant needed, thanks (un)Patriot Act. Keep your private PGP encryption key block private and ready to securely delete and overwrite, not on any providers server! Even with what you think is good hard crypto it’s never a good idea to talk about specifics over e-mail. Keep any discussion of direct action extremely vague, and never give the location and time. So you get up every day looking for your chance to make your voice heard. Where do you look? Why, Indymedia, infoshop and protest.net, of course! Well guess what? Someone else is reading those websites too.

Never trust any kind of encryption, all codes are eventually broken, they are only meant to slow down the opposing side!!

Web Sites

The State reads protest websites all the time. Why War’s website has received hits from most branches of the military. If you post specific details about a direct action on the Internet, you can expect there to be cops there when you show up. I believe, The best way to organize is to call a spokescouncil meeting and post the information on Indymedia. Always remember that everything you say on the Internet is there forever. Don’t make jokes. Even visually representing an attack on the president has cost one person a visit from the Secret Service.

Identity

Assume everyone is a cop. lam a cop. You are a cop. The only people you can assume are not cops is your mother (unless she is a cop) and your affinity group. If someone e-mails you saying they are from one group or another, they are a cop. (Not necessarily, in fact, probably not, but you need to treat them like they are.) Especially on the Internet, you can never assume anyone is who they claim they are. Nothing is less secure than the Internet, where anyone can read anything you say at any time. Still, after the passing of the Patriot Act, phones are not secure. They tapped our phones in Boston. The ACLU has its phones tapped. It’s not that rare. Using cell phones to communicate at an action seems like a really good idea, and it can be. But cell phones are easily monitored, and the special operations cops have the ability to monitor cell phones in a certain area. So don’t say, “Swarm the corner of 33^rd and 5^th!” Plan everything out ahead of time, and be able to say, “Are you coming?” and have everyone know what that means.

Phones

For immediate actions, the phone can be fairly secure, if you can act before the police can react. However, unless you are using a payphone, this leaves your name implicated with whatever action you do. In general treat a payphone as if someone were listing. Never give specifics. There are ways to know if your phones are tapped, if you really want to know, but it’s best always just to assume that they are. Many pay-phones are tapped in accordance with the PATRIOT Act. The police also have the ability to listen to you through your phone even if you are not on the phone at that moment. They have to the technology to do this unless your phone is unplugged. This is why prepay cellphones are popular with the ignorant activist, unfortunately they are incredibly easy to track, much more dangerous than a pay phone.

Fear

Perhaps the easiest (and most detrimental) time for security culture to break down is in the heat of a protest when the police begin their repression tactics. You see your friends being taken away by police and its your first instinct to call out to them. Or perhaps the group you are marching with shatters and you feel the need to remind everyone of where your preplanned re-convergence space is.

As an aside remember to walk not run at any group march, even in a serious retreat, running can be the start of a stampede which can kill many activists.

Names

Don’t use people’s names at a direct action protest. If you want, come up with aliases or something, but concealing your identity from the authorities is important. You might not think they are listening, but they are. Another story: at a peace rally in ****town, the local radical groups held a spokescouncil meeting at the beginning of the rally to decide when we were going to break away from the main march. In the middle of our meeting, we were surrounded by police who then walked with us the entire way.

Appearance

Don’t look sketchy. If you’re having a spokescouncil meeting in a public place, take off your bandannas! Put away the red and black banners, steal a “Peace is Patriotic” sign from a nearby liberal, whatever. Increasingly, the cops are targeting radical groups for arrest and “special treatment” (i.e. police brutality.) Black flags and radical banners are all well and good, but keep them out of sight while you’re planning. Some of you might be saying, “Wait, take off our bandannas? That’s such a bad plan!” In some ways, you’re correct. As I said before, concealing your identity is important. The average American is photographed 300 times a day (every time you use an ATM, get gas, go into a convenience store, pay a toll, etc.) Protests are very well monitored by video and snapshots.

Masks

If you are engaging in autonomous civil disobedience (not a sit-in) and you don’t plan on being arrested (i.e. you want to get away with it) you should conceal your face using a bandanna, or other cloth. Wearing a bandanna can make you a target for police, since they associate it with radicals, so only wear one if you are actually doing something illegal and concealing your identity makes sense. Gas masks and ski masks certainly conceal your identity well, but they look extremely militant, and tend to both incite police violence and frighten other protesters. Unless you plan on directly and forcibly confronting the police, I would not recommend wearing a gas mask. (If you think that there will be teargas, you can always have a pair of swim goggles and a bandanna soaked in apple cider vinegar in your pocket.)

Practice

Remember to practice security culture with your friends. This is the hardest aspect of security culture for many of us to perfect. You’ve just finished a successful and awesome direct action! Yay! The first thing you want to do is tell all your friends about it. Chances are, your friends won’t turn you into the cops. However, bragging/gossiping about direct action can be a chronic breach of security culture.

Tips

There are some things that you can’t talk about with people that you don’t know very well and on a personal basis:

Your involvement or someone else’s in a specific illegal direct action. The only exception is if you have already been convicted of that action, or if you are outside the jurisdiction of where that action took place, or if significant time has passed that you cannot be prosecuted for that action.

Your involvement or someone Else’s in an underground group. (i.e. a group that has claimed actions for the Earth Liberation Front, etc.)

Someones knowledge of an illegal direct action.

Specific plans for future direct actions. With a good security culture, everyone is on a need-to-know don’t-ask-don’t-tell basis. The less you know about an action that you will not be involved in, the safer you and the people engaging in that action will be. Obviously you can discuss future actions with your affinity group, but do so in a safe place and manner.

Safe Sex

One of the most difficult areas of security culture exists between partners in a sexual relationship.

There is an implied special bond and dissolution ofbarriers between those who spend their naked time together. If potentially important information is not shared there is often a feeling ofbetrayal. It is best from the beginning of a sexual or romantic relationship to let your significant other know there are activities you are involved in that you are unable to share, if they are really cool with the cause and secure in themselves they should understand, if not you have to choose, drop them or drop out of direct action.

The problem with many relationships between activists (and ordinary people too) is that the relationship ends after a time, this sometimes gets ugly ifhearts are broken. It is not an unreasonable concern that a jilted lover might even turn to the pigs or talk too openly to get revenge.

Another consideration is the sellout for ransom, a person may choose to make a deal and nark out the whole organization when their lover is threatened with serious punishment where they might stand strong for themselves, the pigs are famous for this blackmail deal, done in a secret way where the significant other may never even find out.

Short term relationships or even one night stands can be very dangerous, there are those cops and civilian nark types who have a kink for playing the spy while having a little naked fun in the sack with their target. Never discuss any involvement of any kind beyond generic politics at all with a short term relationship especially if it looks like trading insider info will get you sex.

There is wisdom in the idea of our cells having a professional expectation of no romance between activists, this is often an unrealistic expectation, each group must decide what is acceptable.

Unnecessary Criminal Activity

Do not become involved in activities like shoplifting, reckless driving, or narcotics if you are an activist. Do not permit members of your affinity group to engage in these activities either. It is already easy enough for the police to blackmail us as it is. Most busts for “domestic terrorism” are the result of shoplifting or traffic stops. Once someone has been released and heavy charges dropped it might be wise to insulate them from serious direct action as they may have made a deal and are now working for the other side in exchange for their continuing freedom.

Planning

When discussing plans for a radical direct action with your affinity group, do not discuss them any place that’s likely to be monitored, (i.e the place you usually meet, an activist’s car, Unitarian churches, radical bookstores, etc.) Find someplace safe for your discussion. There are some things that we as humans tend to do that can be extremely risky for us as activists. Using activism as a social device can be detrimental to security culture. There are liars: people who claim to have engaged in illegal actions in order to impress others. This is not okay. Those people are putting themselves and the people they lie to in danger by breaking security culture in this way. Bragging to your friends, I can’t emphasize enough, is dangerous. One on one, in a safe location, it is okay to talk about less radical direct actions, but only talk about secure things with people who know about security culture and won’t go and gossip it to others. This brings us to gossiping. If you’ve heard anything about a direct action that you’re not involved in, don’t say anything about it to anyone. You will jeopardize your security and the security of those planning the action.

Security of Your Security Culture

Security culture is not a spy game or a joke. Pretending to have an overdeveloped sense of security culture in order to impress others is no different than bragging about an action. This is not “I could tell you but I’d have to kill you.” If someone asks you a question that you don’t want to answer, or if you think someone is talking about something that they shouldn’t be talking about,just change the subject.

Conclusion

Before I end we should also note that there are informants out there. They infiltrate activist groups, (and sometimes even activist affinity groups) andjeopardize (intentionally) everyones security. It can be hard to distinguish between new members of a group who want to learn about what’s going on and don’t know much about security culture and infiltrators who are trying to gather enough information to have you all arrested. If you think your group may have been infiltrated, check out the Security Survival Skills guide produced by the Collective Opposed to Police Brutality. It’s the most extensive guide to security culture that I’ve found on the web and it has a section that explains how to identify counterinsurgents within the ranks.

This is by no means a complete and definitive guide to security culture. Again I urge you to read the Security Survival Skills guide produced by the Collective Opposed to Police Brutality. For the purposes of Why War?, I think that this should be more than sufficient. Remember: just because we’re non-violent doesn’t meant that the police don’t see us as a threat. It also doesn’t mean that we will not be charged with violent crimes if arrested. You can be charged for assault if you even brush against a police officer, for carrying a weapon if you have a pencil, and for reckless endangerment if you hang a banner on a building. Maintaining a tight security culture is essential for creating a cohesive, safe, and effective movement based on the principals of trust and solidarity. This guide may seem harsh and paranoid, and you should always use reason, you’re probably not gonna get yourself in trouble by talking about some snake-march you participated in, but always be thinking, “Would I say this to a cop?”

Free Food

On this topic, we can take a pointer from one of the most incompetent examples of capitalism — the airline industry. In a 2006 pamphlet distributed to its laid-off employees, Northwest Airlines advised its newly impoverished former workers to strongly consider rifling through trash for suitable food. This was only a part ofNorthwest’s effort to get out ofbankruptcy by laying off workers, slashing wages and burning benefits. A great example ofhow corporate America doesn’t care a bit about the people of America in its quest for an immensely profitable survival.

It’s true. America is the most wasteful nation in the world, in addition to consuming the most per person in the world. We’re not only the fattest people around, but we also dispose of the most food. Since we’re physically unable to perform the more fair tactic of actually cutting the fat from the bones of the rich, we can at least benefit from their waste. Restaurants and grocery stores commonly throw out tons of food each day, most of it still edible, as long as you’re not opposed to the kind of germs you also get from opening doors to public buildings or pushing elevator buttons.

Use your head when choosing food, make a calculation with every piece of food you pick up it’s price nutrient and energy value ratios. Many american packaged foods loose in all but junk energy. The truly hungry must be careful to get enough calories and basic nutrients every day.

Other Tips

Free Drinks: Get your hands on a plastic cup from a gas station or fast-food restaurant. Swipe ‘em from tables, ask for a cup of water, or surreptiously peruse the trash bin. This guarantees you free drinks there for as long as you have the cup.

Free Meals: Often, organizations (especially religious clubs) at high schools, colleges, and community centers provide free breakfasts and snacks. In some major cities, there are a few Krishna religious groups that often give out a free vegetarian meal if you sit in for a seminar (Fair warning: The food they serve can be VERY spicy!). Another route to consider is finding out if there’s a FoodNotBombs group local to your area: they have huge meal servings geared towards the homeless at least once a month. Be advised the food is vegan to accommodate just about everybody, and so the quality can vary wildly: some groups have good resources for ingredients and skilled cooks that can make stuff that tastes great, while others aren’t quite as lucky and/or good.

Hotel Grazing: Do not forget the wondrous resource that is your local hotel. Many hotels offer complimentary breakfasts, a fact which you can use to your advantage. You should (of course) make sure that they don’t check that you have a reservation (not to worry... most don’t.) Once you’ve established that you may want to use a bit of social engineering to make sure that you can enjoy a hearty breakfast. First, like any good revolutionary, you should have your backpack/messenger bag — go ahead and stash an extra shirt in it. Walk into the hotel, looking like you’re coming in from a long night on the town (hint: it helps if you come in at around 6AM or so) and go towards your “room” (i.e. in the direction of the rooms. Now, find a laundry room, exercise room, or some other place that has both water and privacy. Change into the fresh shirt, and make use of the water to wet your hair/wash your face — basically, make it look like you went back to your room for a quick shower and change of clothes. Stash the bag somewhere you can retrieve it later (safest option) or take it to breakfast with you (slightly riskier, but you can use it to sneak some food out.) Now wander on down to breakfast and eat your fill. Once you’ve chowed down, you shouldn’t hang around more than a couple minutes... but don’t look overly rushed. Note: dressing nicely will make this much easier to pull off.

Free Pizza: Pizza places are heaven for any revolutionary looking for a Friday night treat. Many times, the only effort needed to get your free pizza is check their dumpster. Most of the time there are a few pizzas employees didn’t want, unfortunately most times I’ve checked it’s always a meat lover pizza, but that can be fixed by peeling it off. One way to obtain a fresh, baked pizza the way you like it is, call in about 30 minutes before the place closes (*67), say you would like to pick up a pizza (make it a large order to insure you do get a meal) and you swear you could make it there before they close, wait till they close, and go back and get your fresh baked pizza out of the dumpster. You may have to dig through a bag to get it (follow your nose), but it’s seemingly always in a box still warm. Be sure to check for employees before you go, or you may have to rely on quick legs.

Free Fast Food

Desparate times call for desparate measures, and sometimes you’re going to have to resort to fast food. Most chinese food places have free fortune cookies, grab a handful. If you bring your food back to the counter and say you got the wrong kind ofburger, most places let you keep the burger and give you a new one to boot.

FREE FOOD FOR YOUR CHURCH

Here’s a short quick idea that has worked before to get some free food and a good amount of it. Go around to the local food stores and bakeries and pose as a minister of a church asking for donations to your food bank. This might require talking to some managers but if you find one that has a cross on it just might work because they’re usually the holy roller types that will help. Also it doesn’t hurt to have a few business cards printed up to assist you with this stating that you’re the minister of such and such church. Also it helps if you’re rather clean cut since most ministers are and this lends more credibility to your claims. Also a shirt and tie helps in this undertaking. Also you might consider contacting the Mormons with their local RELIEF SOCIETY groups. These people function as the welfare for Mormons and give their members free food. You could contact them to see where and how in your area they are getting food for their food banks. Then tell them that you also are trying to start a food bank for your church. While they might try to convince you tojoin them a little bit, they are usually more than helpful because they will see you as someone who is trying to be like them in carrying out charitable work. Just an idea that you might be able to put to good use for some free grub.

Cheap Chow

This section lists tips on how to cook food for yourself, your family, your commune, your protest team, or your whole neighborhood. Also included are tips on getting ingredients or pre-cooked foods, as well as tips on living independently of the pre-packaged, super-processed existence that is the Amerikan food market.

Some of these recipes are designed to easily feed many members of the underground at a low price, while other ideas here are cheap, portable, and easy to make by a rebel on the move. By avoiding packaged foods, traceback oflabels and cartons is reduced, leaving less of an evidence trail, and also benefiting your health. Moreover, you reduce unnecessary use of cardboard, petroleum-based bags, and harmful inks.

A Few Helpful Hints on Cooking

Keep any loose clothing away from open flames, wash everything (especially your hands) that comes in contact with the food, always wash your hands after touching raw meats and eggs while cooking, use oven mitts, be careful how you handle anything sharp, keep a fire extinguisher handy, and remember that “Baking Powder” and “Baking Soda” are two completely different things.

Grease and oil fires cannot be put out with water (It will actually make them worse by spreading the grease or oil over the surface of the water). If you don’t have access to a fire extinguisher, be sure to keep a decent supply ofbaking soda on hand whenever you cook, to control these fires. If need be you can also put them out by cutting off their oxygen supply, such as placing a lid on the pan. Always be careful of your appliances. Regularly check for gas leaks, holes, stripped cords, or other hazardous malfunctions. You may also want to see Low Impact Crashing for tips on living on your own and Farm It for tips on growing your own produce.

For consistency purposes, when reading the following recipes:

• tbs represents tablespoon(s)

• tsp represents teaspoon(s)

• qt represents quart(s)

• gal represents gallon(s)

• lbs. represents pounds

• oz represents ounce(s)

• c represents cup(s)

Spanish/Latin American

Spanish Beans and Rice

Beans and rice are complete protein food with plenty of carbohydrates and a little fat too, if this is all you can afford you will do fine, plus it packs well dry for traveling. A bit ofhot sauce makes the basic recipe interesting, or...

Making Spanish rice gives this complete but boring vegan food a little kick.

• Soak your dry beans overnight, pre-boiling while you prep the rice speeds things up

• Stir fry the rice until you see a little browning on the tips or edges

• Add tomato sauce, beans, salt, and your favorite spices

• Slow cook until beans are soft or pour hot into a Thermos and let the stored heat soften the beans

Stinger Cooking-- Boil water using your immersion boiler in the same pot as the beans (soak them overnight if possible) keep adding water, since the stinger will boil some away, until beans are soft. If possible let the tomato sauce float in the boiling bean water to heat up. Pre-boil water and then add the same volume of rice (softening is quicker if you use converted or minute-rice). Drain the beans and add rice, tomato sauce, and spices, if possible pour into a big can floated in your pot and stinger boil the water to slow cook it, otherwise pour the mixed finished product into a Thermos(or a container wrapped in a sleeping bag) and let sit for 1/2 hour. Practice on adding ingredients helps if the first batch is a dud.

Tortillas

Find out if there is a Latino supermarket or open air market in your area. These types of places will often sell large amounts of tortillas in various sizes for very little money. They are tough, flexible and a good source of starch that you can wrap almost anything in. A good idea is to combine leftover foodstuff into various chili-like recipes or stir-fries and wrap them in tortillas. This also can cut down on mess (no plates) if your eating on the run, or simply don’t have the resources (water) to clean dishes all the time.

Oppressed natives in Mexico have been making the corn tortilla for generations from dried ground corn masa:

• 4 cups masa or corn flour

• 1/2 tsp. Salt

• 2.5cups hot water

Flour Tortillas are enjoyed by the rich Spanish families:

• 3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

• 1 tsp. Salt

• 1/3 cup vegetable oil, lard, or shortening

• 1 cup warm water

Roll or tortilla-press both types into thin discs and stack either floured or between plastic. Cook on a barely smoking hot, dry fry pan, and flip every 30 sec until it puffs a little and brown marks start to show.

Masa

for masa you will need:

• 1 1/2 pounds (1 quart) dried white field corn

• 2tbs. “cal” slaked lime (mineral not the citrus fruit)

Wash the dried corn and drain. Mix the lime into 2qt water and boil until dissolved. Boil corn 2 min. for tortilla flour or15 min for tamale masa. Place corn in colander and rub between hands under flowing water until hulled and white; if you don’t clean the corn kernels well they will have a disgusting lime flavor. Grind or crush the corn in a mortar or grinder. Make several of these batches and freeze them flat in tied plastic shopping bags.

Tamale

Hard work and long preparation but a good cheap way for a poor sympathizer to feed a hungry squad of activists. Don’t waste your time on a small batch- the same effort goes into a huge batch. These are portable in their husk and save well if sealed in a freezer, as one batch can last a week or two.

Boil just expired meat(or however you got it) for two hours until very soft (if meat is your thing) and save the stock for a soup. When done, shred meat with your hands. Substitute shredded TVP, spicy stir fry, sliced mushroom, or tofu for the meat to vegify the recipe. Experiment, but don’t boil them. Knead in 1/2 cup oil, 6 Tbs chili powder, 3 Tbs cumin, 1 Tbs black pepper, and 2 Tbs salt that you have been warming (not frying) in a pan. You can experiment with the chili powder if you are fickle with spiciness.

Put corn husks into warm water to soften for two hours. Now put the 2 lbs. ofMasa in a large bowl and add the following: dry 3 Tbs paprika, 3 Tbs salt, 1 Tbs cumin seeds, 3 Tbs Chili Powder, 3 Tbs fine dried garlic. Mix well dry and add 2 cup oil. Take about 1/2 cup of this dough and spear it into a corn husk, add 1 Tbs meat and wrap up fold over the end. Steam the whole batch for two hours, when done the dough should be firm.

Refried Beans

Get a sack of dried pinto beans, rinse and remove pebbles, add to a kettle of cold water, and soak overnight. Add 1/4 onion chopped, 1 crushedjalapeno pepper, 4 Tbs salt and 1 tsp garlic (crushed and shelled). Bring to boil and simmer for 1/2 hour. Place 1/4 cup oil into your wok. When the oil is hot but not smoking, start frying the beans. They only need 3–4 min in the fry until they are easy to smash, then add hot water to this mash until it is your preferred refried bean thickness.

Pan-Asian, Wok-Cooking, and Rice

Wok Cooking

Our friends in China have long been enslaved by successive forms of government. Their poverty survival can be a lesson to us, especially how they cook in a fuel and food efficient style using the traditional wok. As the wok is probably the most versatile tool you can carry for cooking, unless you are a solo backpacker it is worth the weight in your gear.

Forget what you are used to eating in Asian restaurants, these menus full of fried sugary treats are typically reserved for the past and current privileged class. Instead we will focus on the cooking style which is centered around preparing whatever food is available.

Tools in Order ofNeed

• carbon-steel wok

• wok shovel

• bamboo steamer

• carbon steel chopper cleaver

• fry skimmer

• pot for rice, noodles, and soups

• bamboo chopsticks

• ladle

• bamboo wok scrubber brush

• cutting board

Stir Fry

Add a few tablespoons of peanut or other high temperature oil to the bottom of a seasoned wok, heat until a drop of water sizzles. Add hard vegetables which require the most cooking first like garlic or onion, as these cook you can add vegetables, spices, and meats in order of their required cooking time. Don’t overload the wok to where the heat source doesn’t support a sizzle sound. Get the hottest flame possible and cook quickly; constantly turning the mix. At the end about 30 seconds before you kill the flame you can add sugar and soy sauce. Serve over noodles or rice.

Peanuts and cayenne peppers are often stir-fried separately before a fancy meal. Be sure to have a powerful stove or stir frying won’t work quite right, air blown charcoal, a powerful gas or electric stove top, or a mountaineering stove work well but a hot plate is on the weak side. Flat bottom woks are for electrical stoves and round bottom with a wok ring are used with gas.

Water Fry

A quarter cup of water and a lid are usually enough to quickly thaw and cook medium size frozen meats in your wok. As the water boils offbreak up the meat and add oil, spices, and vegetables to finish the cooking.

Deep Fry

Oil intensive but tasty, it will help you get enough fats for the week if you have abandoned a western diet. Tempura batter is a mix of icy water, flour and egg. Filter and save used oil for later use.

Steaming

A bamboo or metal steamer can be used to steam fish, meat, vegetables and even small breads and cakes quicker than a traditional oven. An alternative to bamboo is to use a perforated steamer disc and the wok lid to keep the steam in, tilt the lid or get one with a vent so there is room for steam to escape.

Steamed buns are made by making a sweet bread dough and adding a stir fry to a thick disk of risen and punched down bread, bunch to the bottom and pinch shut, put the ball on a piece of paper and let rise again in a warm place for 30 minutes, steam for 15 min. Hom-Bows can be wrapped in cling-wrap plastic after steaming and frozen, to reheat microwave in the plastic, steam heat, or put under yourjacket and eat warm.

Cleaning and Seasoning Your Wok

Clean with hot water and a wok brush, do not use soap as this will strip the nonstick seasoning coat of cured oil. To season stir fry a meal of non disintegrating vegetables with a tablespoon or two of peanut, canola, or other high temperature oil, some meat is ok after the veggies are beginning to soften, potatoes will break up and stick to your wok and are best steamed, boiled in soup or deep fried as chips/fries.

Thickening Sauce

Restaurants put in a little corn starch (1tsp.) in the last minute of stir-fry to thicken watery sauces.

Spices

Experimentation will lead to success for Chinese food. Use fresh garlic, ginger root, black pepper, anise, cinamon, cloves, soy sauce, white pepper and whole cayenne pepper or whatever sounds good to you. The Thai add lemon grass, coconut milk or meat, and curry.

Edamame

You can buy frozen, prepackaged bags of shelled or unshelled soy beans, called edamame. For under three dollars you can have a pound of one of the best sources for near-complete protein (it contains most of the various proteins you can’t produce on your own). Youjust bring 6 cups of water with a pinch of salt to a boil, add the edamame, let it boil again for 5–7 minutes, and then drain. Rinse with cool water and then add salt (preferably rock salt). You may need to add more salt later. Buying the pre-shelled edamame saves you money, as you get a pound ofjust the beans, not a pound ofboth beans and shells.

Rice

Rinse rice in cold water several times while agitating until water comes clear, fill water about 1.5 cm over the level of the rice inside a pot, make a depression with your finger in the center, cover with the lid and run up to boiling. Once a boil is going, reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for 10 min. The rice should have holes with very small bubbles popping from them when you open the pot. Mix and serve in about 5 min with a protein food.

Fried rice is made by stir frying dry rice until it has a little bit ofbrown color. Mix in water and stir as it boils away; add some stir fried veggies, meat, and egg for Asian style or tomato sauce, spices, chopped onions, and crushed garlic for Spanish rice. You can also pre-cook rice as mentioned above while stir-frying veggies in a separate pan. Once the veggies are just a little before being perfect, add your cooked rice with some oil and soysauce. Stir and mix in the pan until golden brown.

A good recipe is cook the rice, brown ground beef (hamburger, about Ilbtolc of dry rice) and mix together with sauces and seasoning, such as jalapeno salsa which can be got in cans.

Pasta/Italian

Pasta is cheap and is used in many easy recipes. Pasta in soup, cakes and traditional noodle and sauce dishes are all good for stretching your budget. Get vegetable or whole wheat pasta if you can. It’s not much more and a whole lot healthier.

Draining Pasta Without a Colander

Draining your noodles when you don’t have a colander: leave the lid on your pot but wrap a towel or cloth around the opening. The dry part of the towel will help you hold the pot, let the lid go loose in the towel and tilt to drain the water. Be careful, as your towel is now soaked with boiling hot water.

Egg Noodles

The following is taken from the Wikibooks Cookbook:

• 1 whole egg

• 1 cup flour

• 2to6 tablespoons of water

• 1–2 teaspoon of olive oil (optional)

On a smooth surface, heap flour. Push a hole in the center of the flour (it should look like a volcano). Break egg into flour (add oil now if you choose to do so — it will change the flavor and texture). Either knead with hands or mix with a fork. Slowly add water one teaspoon at a time while kneading the dough. You probably will not need all six tablespoons of water (though you may possibly need more). Knead dough until it has a consistent texture. Divide dough into manageable sections. Select one section at a time and keep the rest covered. Roll each section to desired thickness and cut into noodles with a knife. These noodles can be laid out to dry for later use or dropped immediately into a boiling pot of water. Cook to taste. They are good with a variety of sauces.

Ramen

Those cheap little bricks of fried noodles, after having boiling water added (without the flavor packet) and drained once soft, can be used as a foundation forjust about anything.

• Adding leftover chili can make it spaghetti in meat (or chili) sauce.

• After the noodles are drained, add a bit of olive oil, garlic powder and Parmesan cheese for Ramen Agilo E Olio.

• Let the noodles cool, cut them up, and mix into a salad.

• Use it as a base for what ever main dish you’re having (eggplant, vegiburger, etc.).

• Crack an egg into boiled water and stir(break the yoke) for egg flower ramen, then add noodles and flavor

Beware though, that one brick of ramen constitutes an incredible amount of sodium. If you eat ramen, don’t eat it more than a few times a week, and avoid other high-sodium foods the days you eat ramen. You can pre-boil a cup of water with your stinger and then add ramen, flavoring, and egg to the hot water.

Spicy Ramen Pasta and Soup

Boil two cups of water and add a packet ofRamen Noodles. Cook for three minutes stirring occasionally and add cajun seasoning. After cooking for three minutes turn offheat and add more seasoning if needed. Move the noodles directly to something that can be used for mixing, i.e. a large bowl or plate. Do not strain the noodles, instead leave the broth in the pan you boiled it in, it will come in handy later. Once the noodles are in the mixing dish add parmesan cheese, more cajun seasoning, and a little olive oil for texture. Mix up the noodles and transfer them to a new dish or eat it right out of the mixing dish for a nice spicy pasta.

With the leftover broth you can add diced carrots, leftover noodles, and more seasoning. Boil together and once the carrots have achieved a slightly soft state pour into a bowl and serve as soup.

You can make variations of this dish using different seasoning or vegetables. Also you can add a little lime or lemon juice to the broth while cooking the noodles and again when cooking the soup to give it a unique flavor.

Garlic Bread

Any white or wheat bread (including day old hot dog rolls) can be garlic bread. Mix softened butter, chopped garlic and (optionally) some chopped parsley or any other green herb, and spread the bread with this. Place on aluminum foil and warm in an oven until the butter melts.

Single-Serving Pizza

For the crust, use a pita or English muffin (but almost any bread wil do). Put on a thin layer of tomato sauce, then whatever toppings you wish (cheese, mushrooms, etc.). Put in a toaster oven and keep a watch on it, since cooking times vary. Your home made pita will also make a very tasty pizza crust, or you can use normal crust, like the bread dough below.

Jewish Noodle Cake

Boil up and drain spaghetti or whatever pasta is on sale, add a few eggs to bind and sugar or salt to match your tastes. For sweet kugel, add dried fruits and raisins, for spicy kugel add pepper, sugar, and some vegetables for flavor. Bake at 250F for 30–40 min.

Italian Red Sauce

For good general use pasta/pizza sauce mix, start with a tablespoon or two of olive oil and quickly fry some smashed and shelled garlic in it, add tomato paste, pepper, basil, oregano, salt and a some red wine or real grape juice; mix and simmer until thickened and tasty. Most of these herbs can be seeded and grown like wild weeds; maybe you can hide other weed in with them! This sauce can be diluted with water for soup: add pasta or dough balls, and veggies, then season to taste.

Tomato Paste

Tomato paste can be made from your greenhouse tomatoes, Cut an X in the bottoms and drop into boiling water for 2-3min, then dump drained tomatoes into cold water to help peel skins, cut out seeds, boil chunks with l/2tsp salt per Liter for an hour. Stir to avoid burning, crush then strain, cook for two to three hours on low stirring until a thick paste.

Oats and Grains

Energy Bars

When out on a bike trip or at a demonstration, nothing beats that wilted weak feeling like our energy bars.

• l cup rolled oats

• l/2 cup wheat germ

• l/2 cup oat bran

• l/2 soy protein powder

• l/2 cup brown sugar

• l cup crunchy peanut butter or tahini paste

• l cup nuts or dried fruit of your choice/chopped

• l cup dark or white chocolate chunks

• l cup honey or brown rice syrup

Form into a cake and cut up or make cookies, freeze or dry in an oven for an hour at around 80C or 150F. Wrap in foil then plastic wrap so they will last a few weeks.

Spices like ginger, cloves, cinnamon, and cocoa add variety. Add tea or coffee beans raw or roasted to put power into your bars, orjust make them “special”!! seeGrowing Your Own

Whole Kernel Wheat

Popular with Mormons and survivalist types you might also find whole kernel wheat in railroad cars or on farms. Wheat especially the hard red winter variety, used in breads, is high in protein and keeps for many years if properly stored. The soft white variety is better for making noodles and pasta.

For vitamin C on an all wheat ration sprout some wheat kernels in a damp sponge or shallow container.

A quality grain grinder is an expensive but worthwhile investment. Minimum price is around $100 for a Corona beer makers stone grain mill, better grinders use steel burs and can cost around $300 but can be connected to an electric motor. We knew a vegan traveler with survivalist dreams who for years carried a handheld manual coffee grinder for whole wheat, he rarely used it since it was so much work. Inexpensive mills usually work until the first pebble is ground into them, then they are mostly useless.

Oatmeal

Those little packets of “Instant Oatmeal” may be nice, but they add up the costs something fierce. They are also pumped full of empty-calorie sugar. Buy a big box ofloose oatmeal, and make your own by putting 1/3 to 1/2 cup (or if you’re really hungry, a full cup) of dry oatmeal into a bowl, then add an equal amount ofhot (but not boiling) water. Cover the bowl with a plate, wait a few minutes, and remove the plate. Hot oatmeal! If it’s too thick, add more water. Want spices, fruits or flavors? Add them yourself! Get creative!

Quick oats can be cheaply made by running whole oatmeal through a food processor or blade type electric coffee grinder until it looks like quick oats from the store.[1]

You can pre-boil water with your stinger and add it to your instant quik oats for a hot breakfast anywhere you can find an outlet

Pancakes

Inexpensive and easy to make even withjust a dollar store fry pan and one of the stoves in Low Impact Crashing.

• 2 cup self rising flour

• 1/4 cup butter (oil/butter/fat/margerine)

• 1 egg (or 1/4 cup wet mixed egg powder)

• Sugar and/or Salt to desired flavor

• 2–3 cup water to desired thickness

(to make self rising flour take 1 cup of all-purpose flour, add 1 1/2 teaspoons ofbaking powder and 1/2 teaspoon of salt orjust look for it in the store)

Make a huge batch and rewarm when you are hungry or eat cold. You can make syrup by heating water and adding with brown sugar or even regular sugar and some butter, but why? You can substitute as much oat or whole wheat flour as you like to change the flavor. You can use these like a tortilla or lauffa and wrap other foods in them vary the sugar and salt t match the wrapped food. With a thin batter you can make the thin pancakes used in blintzes.

Fry in a frying pan or wok with a little butter or oil, don’t let them sit too long or get the pan too hot, flip when you start to see bubbles coming through the top, a spatula helps for fliping.

Acorns

You can collect wild acorns for free and then turn them into a meal similar to corn meal! Just gather a decent amount of acorns and shell them with a nutcracker or a stone. Grind the meat inside in a blender with water until it is a smooth paste, or hand grind it into a similar constancy. Now, you must place the ground meats into a colander lined with a paper towel and rinse thoroughly several times. You will notice that the water that runs out is milky. You are draining a bitter substance that rendered the meal inedible unless it is drained out. Repeat until the water that runs out is clear. Taste the meal to make sure. After letting it dry, you can use it in a manner similar to cornmeal or flour. Use it to make pancakes, muffins, biscuits, cookies, etc.

Gathering acorns is a fun activity for younger children, too. It will keep them entertained and active, outdoors in good weather. You can reward them by “spilling” a little bit of extra sugar into your meal before baking.

Homeless-Street Savvy

Mulligan Stew

During the Great Depression of the 1930’s, many of the hobos who gathered in the camps would pool together whatever they had for a meal. The food was cut up and put into a pot with some water and cooked, adding waste bones of any kind and scrap meat added fats and protein. What was finished was often called “Mulligan Stew” or “Whatchagot Stew”. In the early days of the personal computer revolution, techies would keep themselves fed during marathon sessions in a similar way, using a wok instead of a cooking pot. The resulting product was nicknamed “Stir-Fry Random” and was often served on a bed of rice or ramen noodles. During the days of America’s “Wild West”, the camp cook sometimes took leftovers, local vegetation, meat scraps and often the parts of the steer that wasn’t normally eaten, and make what was often called “Sonofabitch Stew” for obvious reasons.

Whatever stew you are making you can cook it in an aluminum foil pouch, carefuly double fold three edges fill and fold to seal, cook the stew in campfires, forest fires, engine blocks, Bill Clinton’s shorts, etc.

Sandwich of Irony

You can make a cooked cheese or other sandwich by setting an iron to it’s highest setting and ironing your sandwich. Of course this might goop up the iron and make it unusable for clothes, but it is a good way to hide a cooking device in a dorm room. You might also try using your iron as a hot plate if you can figure a safe way to prop it upside down.

A friend of one of our contributors was told how to heat sandwiches using a room radiator. Wrap the sandwich in aluminum foil and place it on the heat source. When you can smell the food, it’s done.

Creative Cooking

Be creative, your radiator, hair dryer, clothes dryer, iron, car engine, etc can be used to heat canned or foil covered food. If there is a chance ofboiling temperatures be sure the can has a hole poked in the lid to prevent explosion.

Car Cooking

Cooking on car engine blocksCars#Cooking and Heating

Field Corn

When riding the rails or hitchhiking you will often find fields of corn waiting to feed you hungry travelers. If you are lucky you will be near sweet corn, but field or dent corn(animal feed) while not sweet is edible, if it is dried out you can pound or grind into cornmeal. You can eat corn raw but cooking will make it taste much better. Pull the silk out of the top but don’t remove the husk(leaves covering the corn). Some people will pour a little salty water in to flavor before cooking but it is optional. Wrap the husk tightly and either wrap in foil and place in the edge of the coals or place on a grille and cover, turn every few minutes. Add salt spices and butter to your liking, cooking 10–20 minutes.

Below Edited From Dishes & Beverages Of The Old South Martha McCulloch-Williams (1913) http://digital.lib.msu.edu/proj ects/cookbooks/

Plain Corn Bread

Sift sound fresh white cornmeal, wet with cold water to a fairly soft dough, shape it by tossing from hand to hand into small pones, and lay them as made into a hot pan well sprinkled with dry meal. The pan should be hot enough to brown the meal without burning it. Make the pones about an inch thick, four inches long, and two and a half broad. Bake quickly, taking care not to scorch, until there is a brown crust top and bottom.

For hoe-cakes make the dough a trifle softer, lay it by handfuls upon a hot-meal-sprinkled griddle, taking care the handfuls do not touch. Flatten to half an inch, let brown underneath, then turn, press down and brown the upper side.

(sugar will sweeten them up, baking powder will help them puff, the recipe mentions that they should be eaten drenched in butter but salt destroys this soaking power)

Ash Cakes

• Make dough as for plain corn bread, but add the least trifle of salt, sweep the hot hearth very clean, pile the dough on it in a flattish mound, cover with big leaves--cabbage leaves will do at a pinch, or even thick clean paper, then pile on embers with coals over them and leave for an hour or more, according to size.

• Take up, brush off ashes, and break away any cindery bits.

• Serve with new butter and fresh buttermilk.

• (aluminum foil or corn husk wrapping should work if on the roadside without a fireplace hearth)

Of course check out fields you pass by for other usable crops to feed yourself as you travel through the countryside.

Automat Soup

For those who are too young to remember, an “automat” was a cross between fast food and a cafeteria, where prepared meals could be bought from behind glass doors for coins. During the Great Depression of the 1930’s, many of the nation’s poor kept themselves alive by making “automat soup” from the condiments station. A small bowl could hold some tomato ketchup, with hot water (normally used for tea) added, and a few dashes of pepper. Price: Free.

Stinger Soup

Using a stinger or pocket immersion boiler to make soup Low Impact Crashing#Kitchenchanges to some recipes here are in bold for stinger cooking. Be careful, if the water or liquid boils away a commercial stinger will burn out and a home made one might start a fire.

To make a stinger soup boil solid veggies (onions, carrots, potato, beets, etc) in lightly salted tap water until they are cooked and only then adding a powdered soup base, spices, or bullion cubes that way your immersion boiler doesn’t get too gooped up. Soft veggies like cabbage must be boiled with caution since small bits might stick to your stinger the same is true with pasta. If you want pasta in the soup boil the water first then pour it into a thermos if you have one and add the thinnest regular pasta you can find like angel hair spaghetti or substitute rice noodles since they soften faster.

Street Salad Update

Abbie wrote that ketchup and mayonnaise mixed together make Russian dressing. I’d suggest adding a bit of relish to it. I’ve also discovered that mayonnaise and mild yellow mustard mixed together make a quasi-Dijon dressing. If you’re at a place that has a burger fixings station (Fuddruckers, for example), see if you can get your burger “to go” in a Styrofoam clamshell. Use one half for your burger, and the other for lettuce and tomatoes for your unauthorized salad that you put together on the sly (don’t be greedy, since that attracts attention). Then leave before anyone asks questions. If they have those little paper cups for ketchup, mix your dressing in that. Take a fork, too, unless you consider a salad to be “finger food”.

Grab some green leafy vegatables from the dumpster behind the organic market or grocery store (wilted is ok), wash them off and add them raw to your salad, unlike useless iceberg lettuce they have gobs of the nutrients you need to be more revolutionary!

Coffee Bar

Most offices and waiting rooms feature free coffee with sugar and fake creamer. The fake creamer is barely food but will fill your stomach if you are hungry enough, half a cup creamer dry or mixed with sugar and hot water will give you strength to continue the search for food. It goes without saying that you should stuff your plastic shopping bag with any birthday cake, donuts, or popcorn that is found with the coffee.

Mise. Meal Staples and Snacks

Potato

The potato can either be microwaved after poked several times with a fork for around 8 min or more or boiled for 20–30 min. Easy to carry once cool eat like an apple with pepper, Tabasco, or soy sauce. One of the cheapest meals you can buy.

Don’t waste money or your health on instant mashed potatoes. You can skin and boil several potatoes together until they are soft and mash them yourself. Once mashed, you can add salt, pepper, and/or butter to taste. Mashed potatoes go well with gravy made by cooking scrap meat in water and then adding cornstarch or any other thickening agent and pepper. Try to eat the skins which contain most of the vitamins.

Small whole potatoes are boiled in a can or pot with your stinger for about 20 minutes, watch the water level

Tough Meat

Roadkill, meat scraps, or cheap meat is often very tough and stringy. If meat is your thing here is a way to make it edible even if you can only affordjunk. From 60-65C (150F) the collagen that makes tough fibers in meat converts to gelatin soft and tasty, at higher temperatures above 100C (210F) the cellular sugars and amino acids combine which toughens up forever and is difficult to chew and digest. Getting over 70C (160F) will kill bacteria. Overnight heating a stew just below boil or roasting in the oven at the indicated temperatures will both preserve moisture content and soften the meat. If you are feeling fancy you can torch off or grille the meat to give it a outer crust.

Another method is to use a “meat tenderizer mallet”, which is a small metal or wooden hammer with a flat face that has lots oflittle pyramids on it. It looks like a tiny version of a medieval weapon, but you can use it to break up the fibers of tough cuts of meat.

Popcorn

If you grow or buy in bulk, popcorn is a cheap and easy snack. Try mixing in spices, adding dry whey, and/or using a bit of oil to make the stuff stick.

Carmel corn is made by heating up butter (or oil) and melting in brown sugar. Add a tablespoon of each until you have the right consistency. It helps to have a friend mix with a spoon while you pour. Popcorn can also be eaten as a cereal,just like the pilgrims did! Add milk and sugar if you want to give it a try. Stale popcorn also works as a cereal.

An air popper can be run for a long time by dropping a little corn in every thirty seconds or so. This is good for large popping operations. Pop a huge trash bag full if you are on a support team and take out to your activists.

If you have access to a microwave oven, don’t bother with those pre-packaged bags. Pour a small amount into a large glass bowl and put a glass plate on top of it. If there is a “POPCORN” setting in the oven, use that. If not, put it on HIGH and shut it off three seconds after the last kernel pops.

Bread

Bread takes time but is delicious and inexpensive to make. You can make with as little as flour, sourdough culture or yeast, and water, but salt, sugar, eggs, and oil help add flavor and nutrition. As you add eggs remove an equivalent amount of water, an easy way to do this is fill the measuring cup with available eggs then finish with water. Using yeast means that you do not have to air culture a bowl of flour paste into sourdough, which takes several days. You can jump start a sourdough culture by begging a pinch of yeast from a bakery and adding it to the flour paste, then keep it alive warm, damp, and covered with a cloth, mix once or twice a day and keep using and feeding it flour and water.

Mix sugar, warm water, and yeast into one large bowl and let it proof (reproduce) while working the other ingredients. Let it proof a long time for a strong yeasty flavor. Once you have a thriving bubbling yeast bowl, you can mix it into the bread bowl with the eggs, flour, oil, eggs, salt, and more sugar if you want a sweet bread. Lots of olive oil and herbs makes a tasty foccacia. Of course if you want to make a granola, fruity, or nutty bread go nuts, it is good fun to bake a saw or a glock pistol into the loaf you are going to deliver to your friends in the joint.

Try this first and then experiment:

• 1 1/2 cups warm water (feels warm to hand, not burning hot)

• 1 Tbs sugar

• 1tps salt

• 4 cups flour

• 1 Tbs yeast

Once you have your bread and punched it down you are ready to make a loaf. Let it rise again and bake it at 350F(180C) until it starts to brown on top. If you make a funky loaf at first, try again, as you will develop a feel for the consistency of a dough after a few tries.

Steam

For dim-sum buns, make a sweeter dough, fill with 1Tbs of a favorite stir fry and let rise, steam for 20 min on wax paper or baking sheet squares. Steam is also a way to bake whole loafs but it will have a different consistency then regular bread softer with a delicate white crust. If you find dry stale bread you can revive it by steaming for ten minutes and then a quick run in a hot oven. Put your stinger in a can of water and start it boiling, balance the bun dough on several chopsticks and place another can with holes on top of the bun to retain the steam, now you have a neohobo bun steamer.

Pizza

For pizza crust, let rise then roll or throw a flat disc onto a pan and let rise covered for 1/2 hour, then bake for 10 min at 200F. Remove crust add sauce cheese and toppings and bake again untill the toppings are done.

Store Loaf

A nice loaf of store-bought bread can also make a rather nutritious, albeit boring meal. If you pay attention to what you buy, you can get a loaf that, if you eat enough slices, will fufill the overwhelming majority of your nutritional needs. Most chain supermarkets will place loaves of day-old bread or pastries from the bakery section on sale. Be sure to check this area if your local store has one.

Pita

Flip your wok over or find a steel pita dome and place on a hot mound of coals or a gas burner, throw a flattened disc of floured dough (use a dough with a little extra oil in the mix) onto the super hot dome, you will need to practice timing and temperature to make this tasty flat bread a little burning on the outside is normal. You will need to re-season the inside of the wok after using this method. You can also try using a hot plate surface, fry pan, or griddle. This is a middle eastern type ofbread.

Pita is usualy dipped in olive oil and humus. Soaked overnight and boiled garbonzo beans are mashed into a paste with spices, herbs, and olive oil (really any bean and oil should work) This adds healthy lipids and protein to your diet when dipped or spread onto your pitah or bread.

See also Backpacking and Camping#Hardtack Hardtack crackers in Backpacking and Camping.

Cheese and Dairy

If you want to prevent your “just gone bad” milk from curdling, keep adding a little baking soda to it and mix until the “bad” smell is gone, this will save it far another day or two.

Cheese

Take a bucket of warm salted milk or cream and add rennet to start curdling, keep the mix around 98-100F until curdling is done. Place curds in a nylon stocking and squeeze out extra water, compress into a wheel for a few hours. Dip in liquid wax and keep cool if you want it to age and become sharp.

Yogurt and sour cream become a spreadable cheese when they are put in a nylon stocking and hung in the fridge over a bowl for a day or two.

Sour Cream

Skim off the cream from separated milk (homogenized milk can be un-frozen to help it separate or make a centrifuge) and add a splash oflive cultured buttermilk to the cream. Let stand out in a warm place for 24 hours (75-80F) or until thick (an electric blanket might do the trick). Save a bit of sour cream in yourjar to use as a starter for your next batch. The leftover milk from this is called skim milk.

Yogurt

Yogurt is nutritious, cheap, healthy and delicious. It is easier than ever to make yogurt because much of today’s yogurt comes with the active cultures still alive, and you can use these cultures to make your own yogurt. Almost any with active cultures works great: just mix some in with whole milk, put it in a large pot, and heat it until it feels warm, an electric blanket or next to a radiator should work too. In a few hours you’ll be eating something much cheaper, tastier and healthier than buying it from a tub. Eating some every day can also prevent digestive problems.

As an aside acidophilus powder (the good active bacteria in yogurt) from a health food store or plain yogurt (no sugar) has been known to kill yeast infections in some people if used several times a day.

Parmesan Cheese

The real block stuff that you have to grind is much better than what is in the shakey can for topping your food but both also work for making cheese and creme sauces and they pack well for the road. You can try substituting brewers yeast to see if you like the switch, the yeast actually has more protein.

Drinks

Fruit Juices

There is no better way to save money and stay hydrated than by watering down yourjuice! Although the taste takes a few days to grow accustomed to, the benefits are tremendous. Everyone likes to have some flavor in their drinks, as demonstrated by the terrible trends of powdered drink mixes and “flavoured water,” so why not try to be smarter about it?. Treat any standard $3.00 bottle ofjuice like a $15.00 bottle of concentrate- mixing 1 part juice to 4–5 parts water, experiment to figure out what’s best for you. You’ll soon learn that a bottle ofjuice can last you weeks, and will keep you less thirsty throughout the day.

Fruit from the dumpster of a market is often bruised and not appealing for consumption raw, but it is well suited forjuicing, don’t forget to wash it off first.

If you’re at a restaurant and have a limited budget, order water with lemon. It’s almost always free, and will add some flavor to your beverage. Furthermore, lemon is a natural source of various vitamins and is good for digestion.

Tea

Sun Tea is a cheap and easy way to have nice iced tea. Just take a couple of quarts of water in a sealed, clear jug, add any type ofloose or bagged tea (about a tablespoon or two per jug), set out in the sun for a few hours, and then refrigerate. You can steal as many packets of tea as you could want from coffee stations all over the country, in convenience stores, churches, etc. This is healthier than buying manufactured tea from Lipton or other sources that use acids and preservatives in their concoctions. If you can’t stand unsweetened tea, try adding lemon. If you still can’t stand it, add some sugar. The sooner you can prevent your children and/or yourself from becoming dependent on sugar, the healthier they will become.

When you or a friend are visiting England, be sure to stock up on tea; you won’t know the difference until you have had a quality tea, but you will be disgusted by European and American teas once you have tasted quality. If you are pulling an all-nighter, there is no better buzz than proper English tea.

An absolutely free and nutritious tea can be made from pine needles. Pick a small fistful of pine needles from a nearby tree (use the greener living ones on the branches, not the brown\gray dead ones on the ground), break them in two and boil in water. Pine needle tea actually tastes pretty good, and pine needles by weight contain more Vitamin C than lemons or limes. Great in the wintertime.

Lemonade

Don’t buy pre-made lemonade or lemonade powders! For a version that’s better and cheaper, get a clean 2 liter soda bottle or a 1/2 gallon pitcher. Pour in 3 cups of cold water, add 1 cup of sugar (or other appropriate sweetener like Stevia), then put the cap on and shake (or stir) until the sugar dissolves completely. Then add 1 cup oflemonjuice (The reconstituted stuff from the discount stores works perfectly if it is real), add three more cups of water, shake/stir again, and enjoy. Add washed and crushed throw away strawberries to upgrade to strawberry lemonade, and/or add homemade vodka (see Free High School) for a little zing. For a cool middle eastern flavor add crushed mint leaves for mint tea.

This can also be made for free at a convenience store beverage station using the lemon packets meant for tea, and the sugar meant for the coffee. Furthermore, while attending a restaurant, order a water with lemon (which is usually perfectly free at a sit-down place of any sort) and mix in a few packets of sugar from the table.

Smoothies

Mixing fruit, ice, and either milk or yogurt in a blender is a good way to get a solid serving ofboth fruit and dairy in a cool, refreshing beverage. You can also sneak in a carrot or bit of tomato to discreetly add some more minerals and vitamins without disrupting the flavor. The natural sugars of the fruit should be enough to give your smoothies the right amount of sweetness to encourage kids to partake, as well.

Apple Wine

You can make cheap wine by getting cider at an orchard (about a dollar a liter) and adding a packet of yeast. The yeast can be bought at any you brew store. One packet will make about 20 liters of wine. Let the mix stand ‘till the bubbles stop. Or for a stronger wine let stand 3 months.

Avoid

Don’t drink high fructose beverages like soda, as fructose is more harmful to your body than cane sugar. Avoid drinking sports drinks, unless you have a terrible diet and are sweating constantly. Instead, add a pinch of salt to your watered fruit juice. Also, it turns out that Soy Milk may not be that healthy for you, as most of it is made from fermented soy beans. Fermentation not only destroys most of the vitamins and minerals in soy, but can also lead to ill health effects.

Using Old Cookbooks

When looking for something out of the ordinary to make for a meal, you may come across a few older cookbooks. A number were written during the Great Depression using simple ingredients (such as “Aunt Sammy’s Radio Recipes” produced by the US Department of Agriculture). Some written during World War 2 may feature a number of meatless recipes since civilian sales of many foods were rationed so the Armed Forces could be fed. You may have to cut back on some of the fatty ingredients since such things as “cholesterol” were not as widely known as they are today. Many of the older cookbooks were written back in the days before microwave ovens, and some terms may seem unfamiliar to folks today. Here are a few that you may come across.

Double Boiler

This is a two-tiered saucepan that is used to melt things like cheese and chocolate. It uses the heat from boiling water in the bottom to melt the item in the top pan, since direct heat from the flames can burn it. If a recipe says to mix something “over boiling water”, this is what they mean. These are still being made, but you may have to buy yours at a specialty cooking store.

You can also make your own by placing a pan over another pan, be careful that they fit right though and that they won’t slip or burn you from the steam.

Double Cream

An old term for Heavy Cream.

Hard-Wheat and Soft-Wheat Flours

Hard-Wheat flour was used for yeast breads and Soft-Wheat was used for pastries, cakes and quickbreads. Just use All-Purpose or Whole Wheat flour.

Nutmeats

These are nuts (often walnuts or almonds) chopped into little pieces. (Note: Peanuts aren’t nuts; they’re legumes, a kind ofbean.)

Rich Milk

Back in the day when almost all milk delivered by the milkman was Certified (that is, nonhomogenized), the cream in the milk would rise and collect in the neck of the bottle. This was called “Rich Milk”, “Top Milk” or “Top ofMilk” and was used in a number of recipes. You can substitute Light Cream for this.

Scalded Milk

You’re to bring the milk almost to a boil (using a Double Boiler, natch). This often helps the cooking process in some recipes.

Single Cream

An old term for Light Cream.

Skim (or Skimmed) Milk

Another term for “Fat Free” Milk.

Soda

Not a soft drink, but Baking Soda, also known as Sodium Bicarbonate or Bicarbonate of Soda.

Top Milk (or Top of Milk)

See “Rich Milk”.

Yeast Cake

This is a small 0.6 ounce block of active yeast (about a tablespoon) that is used in baking. It is rarely seen in supermarkets anymore, since it is highly perishable and doesn’t transport very well. Substitute it with 2 1/4 teaspoons of Active Dry Yeast (what you’ll find in those yeast packets in the store). If the recipe calls for a 2 ounce yeast cake, use three packets or 6 3/4 teaspoons of Active Dry Yeast.

More Tips

Some cookbooks from back in the 1930’s mention cooking pasta for as much as 20 minutes. This was when pasta was made with much denser dough than today. Ignore the time suggestion andjust boil until tender. If the pasta is tobe used in a casserole, undercook it, since it will continue to cook when it’s in the oven.

External Links

http://www.instructables.com/id/EF95ZHYF3435T1O/ Home Made Bread without Breadmaker: An instructable on making your own bread.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenCola Open Cola: The only home made cola released under the GNU General Public License!

http://biology.clc.uc.edu/Fankhauser/Cheese/cheese.htmlCollege level cheese making with some easy Italian recipes.

http://www.foodsubs.com/ The Cook’s Thesaurus: “(A) cooking encyclopedia that covers thousands ofingredients and kitchen tools. Entries include pictures, descriptions, synonyms, pronunciations, and suggested substitutions.”

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/CookbookWikiBooks: Cookbooks (Recipes from Wikimedia)

http://www.instructables.com/id/ESNVFBHF48U7G77/ Solar Powered Parabolic Cooker: An Instructable on zero-impact cooking.

Original Text

What follows is the original text from Steal This Book.

CHEAP CHOW

There are hundreds of good paperback cook books with nutritional cheap recipes available in any bookstore. Cooking is a vastly overrated skill. The following are a few all-purpose dishes that are easy to make, nutritional and cheap as mud pies. You can add or subtract many of the ingredients for variety.

Hog Farm Granola Breakfast (Road Hog Crispies)

^ c millet 2 c raw oats

^ c cracked wheat 1 c rye flakes

^ c buckwheat groats 1 c wheat flakes

^ c wheat germ 1 c dried fruits and/or nuts

^ c sunflower seeds 3 tbs soy oil

% c sesame seeds 1 c honey

2tbs cornmeal

Boil the millet in a double boiler for 1/2 hour. Mix in a large bowl all the ingredients including the millet. The soy oil and honey should be heated in a saucepan over a low flame until bubbles form. Spread the cereal in a baking pan and cover with the honey syrup. Toast in oven until brown. Stir once or twice so that all the cereal will be toasted. Serve plain or with milk. Refrigerate portion not used in a covered container. Enough for ten to twenty people. Make lots and store for later meals. All these ingredients can be purchased at any health store in a variety of quantities. You can also get natural sugar if you need a sweetener. Ifbought and made in quantity, this fantastically healthy breakfast food will be cheaper than the brand name cellophane that passes for cereal.

Whole Earth Bread

1 c oats, corn meal, or wheat germ 2 tsp salt

P/2 c water (warm) 2 egg yolks

% c sugar (raw is best) 4 c flour

1 pkg active dry yeast _ c corn oil

1 c dry milk or butter

Stir lightly in a large bowl the oats, cornmeal or wheat germ (depending on the flavor bread you desire), the water and sugar. Sprinkle in the yeast and wait 10 minutes for the yeast to do its thing. Add salt, egg yolks, corn oil and dry milk. Mix with a fork. Blend in the flour. The dough should be dry and a little lumpy. Cover with a towel and leave in a warm place for a half hour. Now mash, punch, blend and kick the dough and return it covered to its warm place. The dough will double in size. When this happens, separate the dough into two even masses and mash each one into a greased bread (loaf) pan. Cover the pans and let sit until the dough rises to the top of the pans. Bake for 4045 minutes ina 350 degree oven that has not been pre-heated. A shallow tray of water in the bottom of the oven will keep the bread nice and moist. When you remove the pans from the oven, turn out the bread into a rack and let it cool off. Once you get the hang of it, you’ll never touch ready-made bread, and it’s a gas seeing yeast work.

Street Salad

Salad can be made by chopping up almost any variety of vegetables, nuts and fruits including the stuff you panhandled at the back of supermarkets; dandelions, shav, and other wild vegetables; and goods you ripped off inside stores or from large farms. A neat fresh dressing consists of one part of oil, two parts wine vinegar, finely chopped garlic cloves, salt and pepper. Mix up the ingredients in a bottle and add to the salad as you serve it. Russian dressing is simply mayonnaise and ketchup mixed.

Yippie Yogurt

Yogurt is one of the most nutritional foods in the world. The stuff you buy in stores has preservatives added to it reducing its health properties and increasing the cost. Yogurt is a bacteria that spreads throughout a suitable culture at the correct temperature. Begin by going to a Turkish or Syrian restaurant and buying some yogurt to go. Some restaurants boast of yogurt that goes back over a hundred years. Put it in the refrigerator.

Now prepare the culture in which the yogurt will multiply. The consistency you want will determine what you use. A milk culture will produce thin yogurt, while sweet cream will make a thicker batch. It’s the butter fat content that determines the consistency and also the number of calories. Half milk and half cream combines the best ofboth worlds. Heat a quart ofhalf and half on a low flame until just before the boiling point and remove from the stove. This knocks out other bacteria that will compete with the yogurt. Now take a tablespoon of the yogurt you got from the restaurant and place it in the bottom of a bowl (not metal). Now add the warm liquid. Cover the bowl with a lid and wrap tightly with a heavy towel. Place the bowl in a warm spot such as on top of a radiator or in a sunny window. A turned-off oven with a tray ofboiling water placed in it will do well. Just let the bowl sit for about 8 hours (overnight). The yogurt simply grows until the whole bowl is yogurt. Yippie! It will keep in the refrigerator for about two weeks before turning sour, but even then, the bacteria will produce a fresh batch of top quality. Remember when eating it to leave a little to start the next batch. Fora neat treat add some honey and cinnamon and mix into the yogurt before serving. Chopped fruit and nuts are also good.

Rice and Cong Sauce

1 c brown rice vegetables

2 c water 2^ tbs soy sauce tsp salt

Bring the water to a boil in a pot and add the salt and rice. Cover and reduce flame. Cooking time is about 40 minutes or until rice has absorbed all the water. Meanwhile, in a well-greased frying pan, saute a variety of chopped vegetables you enjoy. When they become soft and brownish, add salt and 2 cups of water. Cover with a lid and lower flame. Simmer for about 40 minutes, peeking to stir every once in a while. Then add 2 1/2 tbs of soy sauce, stir and cook another 10 minutes. The rice should be just cooling off now, so add the sauce to the top of it and serve. Great for those long guerrilla hikes. This literally makes up almost the entire diet of the National Liberation Front fighter.

Weatherbeans

1 lb red kidney beans 2 tbs parsley (chopped)

2 quarts water ^ lb pork, smoked sausage

1 onion (chopped) or ham hock

2 tbs celery (chopped) 1 lg bay leaf

3 tsp garlic (minced) salt to season

Rinse the beans, then place in covered pot and add water and salt. Cook over low flame. While cooking, chop up meat and brown in a frying pan. Add onion, celery, garlic and parsley and continue sauteing over low flame. Add the pieces of meat, vegetables and bay leaf to the beans and cook covered for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. It may be necessary to add more water if the beans get too dry. Fifteen minutes before beans are done, mash about a half cup of the stuff against the side of the pan to thicken the liquid. Pour the beans and liquid over some steaming rice that you’ve made by following the directions above. This should provide a cheap nutritional meal for about 6 people.

Hedonist’s Deluxe

4 lobsters 2 qts water seaweed 1/4lb butter

Steal two lobsters, watching out for the claw thingies. Beg some seaweed from any fish market. Cop the butter using the switcheroo method described in the Supermarket section above. When you get home, boil the water in a large covered pot and drop in the seaweed and then the lobsters. Put the cover back on and cook for about 20 minutes. Melt the butter in a sauce pan and dip the lobster pieces in it as you eat. With a booster box, described later you’ll be able to rip off a bottle of vintage Pouilly-Fuisse in a fancy liquor store. Really, rice is nice but...

Restaurants

Most eating establishments will give out free cups of water, unless you’re in an area with a drought.

Friends with the Staff

If you have either a decent personality or passable acting skills, you can sometimes get free food by befriending the staff at hip restaurants.

Hone your skills at identifying compassionate places. Generally, but not exclusively, such establishments tend to have mismatched decor (obtained from thrift stores if not for free). In addition, the employees are usually young and similarly mismatched, the music comes from an actual stereo, and the place probably doesn’t accept credit cards. If there is an older woman who calls everyone “honey” like she really means it, your odds of getting free stuff increases exponentially.

Avoid larger chain restaurants, although if you’re exceptionally charismatic you might be able to pull it off there as well. Sometimes you will have success in places where the staff looks bored or angry, although they are probably under the thumb of an oppressive and paranoid management who keeps tight track of supplies.

Start by hanging out over a cup of coffee or something similarly cheap. Act friendly and have a few interesting stories ready. Don’t overdo the poor bit. Most Amerikans are frightened by the unfortunate (when will they have been charitable enough?).

Chat with your wait-person, take the food to-go if this will reduce the work of the waiter, and maybe even jot a friendly note on a clean napkin when you leave. Become friends with the stafflet them in on a few travel stories (rememberSecurity Culture). If they think of you as a friend (and not simply another tip), they might want to draw you back for more tales of the road.

Don’t ask for stuff up-front unless you are just blowing through. If you build a little camaraderie with any particular staff members, you can offer little conversational tidbits about your exciting and interesting travels. However, asking outright for freebies is generally an alienating move until you have built a rapport. You may find that your coffee is left off the bill, or you are afforded a free buffet, or even that another customer’s unwanted entree finds its way to your table.

ALWAYS make sure to tip as extravagantly as possible for such favors to let the staffknow that you are sharing what wealth you do have.

Once you’ve cultivated a relationship with a restaurant, you might even be able to bargain leftovers if you hang around at closing time. People can be surprisingly compassionate and empathetic if they identify with you or want to live vicariously through you.

In our sexist society, you will find that a woman has a better chance to get free stuff with a male waiter, especially with a slightly cute, shy approach, while still letting him know you are running tight and relying on his compassion. Males usually also have more success with males if they can become interesting and respected; a male appealing to another male’s compassion is more likely to elicit a reaction of disgust than sympathy.

Female waitresses are wise to these games and see a scam better since playing off of their ego is less effective. 18to21 year old wait staff are the easiest to get free food from, since they aren’t jaded and don’t really care if they end up getting canned.

If you live in a college town, are of (or can pass as) the appropriate age, and have enough guile, a classic strategy is to claim membership with a campus environmental club and ask for leftovers. Knowing the organization’s appropriate name is essential, and learning a bit about current officers or projects can lend extra credibility. Wear something about Darfur or Fair Trade to seal the deal. You can make off with enough food to feed you and another person for a week. If you are extraordinarily bold,just say you collect for the homeless. That way you don’t have to fudge a story. Another angle you might try is that you are trying to feed pets. This avoids fear oflitigation over spoiled food.

The Walk-out

A classic is the walk-out. A friend and I got away with this a number of times by pretending to be a couple (a male-and-female duo works best for this kind of scam, but if you are two of the same gender, it might work to your advantage to pretend that you are siblings). We dressed slightly eccentrically but not outrageously, so the staff would remember the clothes and not our faces. We spent our dinner discussing literature, philosophy, and the sadness of our society. I had a notebook and pen, and he smoked cigarettes. The effect we were aiming for was to look like off-the-wall artist-activist types.

At the end of the meal, we each “got distracted” by something. He went to the bathroom while I wandered about as if in thought. Then, I went outside. He followed several minutes later, and we walked away totally free. Had someone stopped us, I would have remarked that I thought he was going to pay, and he would have said that he thought I’d already paid. Make sure to leave a tip, though. Don’t dine and ditch unless you have no other choice; it would be a bad thing to be hauled in and charged with extra crimes to get you off of the street. Only attempt this ruse out of town, because a waiter might remember “those bastards that ran off without paying.”

Pizza

Call up the local Pizza Hut and order whatever sort of pizza you like and be sure to prepay via credit card. Then, when the pizza arrives, call the resturaunt back and say they gave you the wrong one. Pizza Hut is obligated to give you the pizza for free, even if they can prove that you’re wrong. This is an almost foolproof way to get a free pizza, however you shouldn’t do it too often with a single place or they’ll refuse to serve you.

Also, be sure to tip the delivery driver if you try to pull this one. They’ll be screwed out of the meager compensation they get for gas and wear and tear on their vehicles by the greedy corporate office, so they really need the tip for this one.

A note about STB

Be careful using Abby’s glass in the food trick. Today with big lawsuit awards it is worthwhile for a chain restaurant or food manufacturer to be hyper-aggressive and crush anyone who might be making a false report in order to protect themselves from bad publicity and further scam lawsuits.

Original Text

In a country such as Amerika, there is bound to be a hell-of-a-lot food lying aroundjust waiting to be ripped off. If you want to live high off the hog without having to do the dishes, restaurants are easy pickings. In general, many of these targets are easier marks if you are wearing the correct uniform. You should always have one suit or fashionable dress outfit hanging in the closet for the proper heists. Specialized uniforms, such as nun and priest garb, can be most helpful. Check out your local uniform store for a wide range of clothes that will get you in, and especially out, of all kinds of stores. Every movement organization should have a prop and costume department.

In every major city there are usually bars that cater to the New Generation type riffraff, trying to hustle their way up the escalator ofBig Business. Many of these bars have a buffet or hors- d’oeuvres served free as a come-on to drink more mindless booze. Take a half-empty glass from a table and use it as a prop to ward off the anxious waitress. Walk around sampling the free food until you’ve had enough. Often, there are five or six such bars in close proximity, so moving around can produce a delightful “street smorgasbord.” Dinner usually begins at 5:00 PM.

If you are really hungry, you can go into a self-service cafeteria and finish the meal of someone who left a lot on the plate. Self-service restaurants are usually good places to cop things like mustard, ketchup, salt, sugar, toilet paper, silverware and cups for home use. Bring an empty school bag and load up after you’ve cased the joint. Also, if you can stomach the food, you can use slugs at the automat. Finishing leftovers can be worked in even the fanciest of restaurants. When you are seated at a place where the dishes still remain, chow-down real quick. Then after the waitress hands you the menu, say you have to meet someone outside first, and leave.

There are still some places where you can get all you can eat for a fixed price. The best of these places are in Las Vegas. Sew a plastic bag onto your tee-shirt or belt and wear a loose-fittingjacket or coat to cover any noticeable bulge. Fried chicken is the best and the easiest to pocket, or should we say bag. Another trick is to pour your second free cup ofhot coffee into the plastic bag sewed inside your pocket and take it with you.

At large take-out stands you can say you or your brotherjust picked up an order of fifteen hamburgers or a bucket of chicken, and got shorted. We have never seen or heard of anybody getting turned down using this method. If you want to get into a grand food heist from take-out stands, you can work the following nervy bit: from a pay phone, place an order from a large delivery restaurant. Have the order sent to a nearby apartment house. Wait a few minutes in the booth after you’ve hung up, as they sometimes call back to confirm the order. When the delivery man goes into the apartment house to deliver the order, you can swipe the remaining orders that are still in his truck.

In fancy sit-down restaurants, you can order a large meal and halfway through the main course, take a little dead cockroach or a piece of glass out of your pocket and place it deftly on the plate. Jump up astonished and summon the headwaiter. “Never have I been so insulted. I could have been poisoned” you scream slapping down the napkin. You can refuse to pay and leave, or let the waiter talk you into having a brand new meal on the house for this terrible inconvenience.

In restaurants where you pay at the doorjust before leaving, there are a number of free-loading tricks that can be utilized. After you’ve eaten a full meal and gotten the check, go into the restroom. When you come out go to the counter or another section of the restaurant and order coffee and pie. Now you have two bills. Simply pay the cheaper one when you leave the place. This can be worked with a friend in the following way. Sit next to each other at the counter. He should order a big meal and you a cup of coffee. Pretend you don’t know each other. When he leaves, he takes your check and leaves the one for the large meal on the counter. After he has paid the cashier and left the restaurant, you pick up the large check, and then go into the astonishment routine, complaining that somebody took the wrong check. You end up only paying for your coffee. Later, meet your partner and reverse the roles in another place.

In all these methods, you should leave a good tip for the waiter or waitress, especially with the roach-in-the-plate gambit. You should try to avoid getting the employees in trouble or screwing them out of a tip.

One fantastic method of not only getting free food but getting the best available is the following technique that can be used in metropolitan areas. Look in a large magazine shop for gourmet digests and tourist manuals. Swipe one or two and copy down a good name from the masthead inside the cover. Making up a name can also work. Next invest $5.00 to print business cards with the name of the magazine and the new “associate editor.” Call or simply drop into a fancy restaurant, show a copy of the magazine and present the manager with your card. They will insist that the meal be on the house.

Great places to get fantastic meals are weddings, bar-mitzvahs, testimonials and the like. The newspaper society sections have lists of weddings and locations. If your city has a large Jewish population, subscribe to the newspaper that services the Jewish community. There are extensive lists in these papers of family occasions where tons of good food is served. Show up at the back of the synagogue a few hours after the affair has begun with a story ofhow you’d like to bring some leftovers of “good Jewish food” back to your fraternity or sorority. If you want to get the food served to you out front, you naturally have to disguise yourself to look straight. Remarks such as, “I’m Marvin’s cousin,” or learning the bride’s name, “Gee, Dorothy looks marvelous” are great. Lines like “Betty doesn’t look pregnant” are frowned upon. A man and woman team can work this free-load much better than a single person as they can chatter back and forth while stuffing themselves.

If you’re really into a classy free meal, and you are in a city with a large harbor, check out the passenger ship section in the back pages of the newspaper. There you find the schedule of departures for ocean cruises. Most trips (these kind, anyway) begin with a fantastic bon voyage party on board ship. Just walk on a few hours before departure time and start swinging. Champagne, caviar, lobster, shrimp and more, all as free as the open seas. If you get really bombed and miss getting off, you can also wiggle a ride across the ocean. You get sent back as soon as you hit the other side, but it’s a free ocean cruise. You should have a pretty good story ready to go, or you might end up rowing in the galley.

Another possibility for getting a free meal is to go down to the docks and get friendly with a sailor. He can often invite you for dinner on board ship. Foreign sailors are more than glad to meet friends and you can get great foreign dinners this way.

Food Programs

Food not Bombs

Ask around to see if your town has a Food Not Bombs chapter. FNB groups in cities across the US and several other countries serve healthy, free, vegan food to anyone who wants it. Most chapters serve at least once a week, some serve everyday. FNB groups usually serve in a public place, such as a park or town square. Food Not Bombs groups will also often agree to provide food at large gatherings, such as protest marches, picket lines, disaster areas, activist conferences, etc. provided they have the resources to do so. Go to http://www.foodnotbombs.net for more info, including an (incomplete) list of active groups.

Food Stamps

Food stamps are still available, ask at your state or county health clinic or city hall where to apply. Many states ask many detailed questions about your eligibility based on income, property, and vehicles owned. An easier program for mothers and children is to get onto WIC a nutrition program that provides nutrition specific foods like milk, cereal, and yogurt.

Feed a Yippie

If you are not up to direct action at least support our kids in the streets, use the large group recipes inCheap Chow or whatever you can dumpster dive and support our troops! Please remember that we need to eat every day, put a chalk mark on the curb or sidewalk Wall Painting so we know you are willing to feed a traveling yippie.

What follows is the original text

Original Food Programs

In Amerika, there is a national food stamp program that unfortunately is controlled by the states. Many states, for racist reasons, do not want to make it too available or to publicize the fact that it even exists. It is a much better deal than the food program connected with welfare, because you can use the stamps to buy any kind of food. The only items excluded are tobacco products and alcoholic beverages. In general, you can qualify if you earn less than $165 per month; the less you earn, the more stamps you can receive. There is minimal hassle involved once you get by the first hurdle. Show up at your local food stamp office, which can be found by calling the Welfare Department in our city. Make an appointment to see a representative for your area. They will tell you to bring all sorts of receipts, but the only thing you need are a few rent stubs for the most recent months. An array of various receipt books is a nice supplement to one’s prop room. If the receipts are for a high rent, tell them you rent a room from a group of people and eat separately. They really only want to prove that you have cooking facilities. Once you get the stamps, you can pick them up regularly. Some states even mail them to your pad. You can get up to a hundred dollars worth of free purchases a month per person in the most liberal states.

Large amounts ofhighly nutritional food can be gotten for as little as three cents per meal from a non-profit organization called Multi-Purpose Food for Millions Foundation, Inc., 1800 Olympic Ave., Santa Monica, California. Write and they will send you details.

Supermarkets

Beware the temptation to be a petty shoplifter. You are truly resisting oppression, not just being an angry wannabe revolutionary. Even an angry youth, once fingerprinted, will be in the database for life. How many promising brothers and sisters have successfully fought a political persecution only to be later sent behind bars for a maximum sentence on a shoplifting charge. To lower ourselves in the eyes of the public demeans our cause. We are not in the 60’s anymore — we need leaders that inspire popular resistance to the corpgov. Be aware of modern technique for only the worst of emergencies.

Consider the story of Tre Arrow a leader in the eco-green movement who was slapped with some arson charges in 2001 to get him out of circulation. After escaping safely to Canada he is at the time of this writing sitting in a Canadian prison, fighting for assylum against the Canadian courts who want to deport him to the United States. All for being caught shoplifting bolt cutters. If the movement needs something so badly let a low level noob do the shoplifting.

This book/wiki is no substitute for knowing both the laws and enforcement of those laws in the different states and localities. For example some states allow store employees to make a citizens arrest for shoplifting and in others they can talk tough and hope you stick around until a sworn law enforcement officer arrives to collect you. Understand that an officer will usually not take an employee in for assault or false imprisonment even ifhe did improperly apprehend you.

Supermarkets

In spite of massive markups and increasing food costs, there are still a few ways to get out of a supermarket without getting totally robbed. Shoplifting is a good way to send a known activist off tojail for a long time when no other charges will stick, so think before you steal.

“Please do not steal from local owned stores for many have been closing down because ofloss. In urban areas there are not very many local owned stores anymore. Loss and the supermarkets undercutting price until the local store closes, are main reasons why my store could not survive.” — author unknown

Store Specific Information

When these tidbits were posted we assume they were based on accurate information, times change and so do policies. Talk to a sack boy or some other lowly type hiding in the dairy cooler getting high on whipits, if they have been around more than three months they know the security policy backwards and forwards. Then ask them to dump a dozen cases ofbeer down the trash chute for you so they will have some booze to drink at your “Tear Down The System” party later that night.

Watch out for cowboy types who are willing to trade their crappyjob for the thrill of tackling a shoplifter, it will still land you in the backseat of a cop car.

Safeway

The easiest things to steal from Safeway are deli items; the hardest items are liquor. If you want some bread or other deli stuff, tell the deli clerk that you’ll pay for it up front. Then, when you get to the front cashiers, tell them you paid for your items at the deli. They will believe it pretty much every time. Other easy targets include small personal items and items that are stocked in the corners of aisles. This chain does have operational security cameras, but they are located on the ceiling and easy to spot.

A great way to get lots of free stuff is to simply walk into the back room and take items out of the overstock. This is the best way to get free beer as there are rarely working security cams in the back room. If caught, say that you were looking for the restroom. Otherwise, simply fill a bag and walk out the emergency exit, taking care not to be seen by any of the stockers.

Unfortunately, Safeway doesn’t have open dumpsters, so there’s no chance of a free meal that way.

This chain may or may not have sensors, depending on the location. Most don’t.

This chain has a “no chase” policy — if someone sees you stealing, they’re not supposed to chase you.

Albertsons

Albertsons has no sensors, so walking out with items is easy.

This chain has a “no chase” policy.

Ralph’s

Ralph’s has anti-theft detectors, but they only go off on alcohol and things like that.

This chain has a “no chase” policy.

Tesco

Tesco is the UK’s largest supermarket chain. Fortunately, there are many loopholes in their store design that will allow you ample opportunities for “discounts.”

• The number of cameras the store deploys in the isles based on three variables: 1) the rate of theft in the area, 2) the size of the store, 3) the value of the isle’s items. An isle with bread in a low traffic store in a small town is very unlikely to have a camera. Alcohol isles are an exception — these almost always have cameras, and they are often watched.

• The self-checkout lanes offer many opportunities for shoplifting:

• In most small stores, there will be one (extremely bored) clerk per four terminals. Although this makes things harder, it’s still quite do-able.

• The easiest method for shoplifting through the self-checkout line requires some sleight-of- hand, and some math. When shopping, for each expensive item, get a cheap item of identical (or as close as you can get to identical) weight. When checking out, pick up your items two at a time, one in each hand. Now here comes the tricky part — with one hand, scan the cheap item, and place the expensive item in the bag, simultaneously placing the cheap item back in your basket. If done right, you should be able to look completely natural while doing this (although it will take some practice to fine-tune this method.) Note: the weight sensors in the terminals have a very small tolerance — so if your cheap item isn’t close enough toyour expensive item,you may get caught out. If you do get caught, simply scan the other item, and you’re home free.

• The terminals run a custom app on top of Windows 2000. This is as stable as it sounds -they’re always crashing, not registering items, etc. Use this to your advantage if you get caught (“Oh! I thought it rang that up... I guess not...”)

This chain will chase you if you get caught shoplifting (although usually the clerks are too lazy/apathetic to chase you more than a couple dozen meters.)

The items in the bakery section will be marked down to a penny right before closing time, so you can get dirt cheap bread in large quantities. By the next day it won’t be too stale either, they mark it down as a precaution.

Sam’s Club/Wal-Mart

If you can stomach it, get a jobat the local Wal-Mart affiliate. Preferably as a janitor (or whatever jive name they give to the job at your store). This won’t be hard as they can never retain people in this position,just tell them you are in transition and need some income for a couple of months. The janitors have to take care of the outside trash as well as the in-store stuff. During your rounds, put a ‘misplace’ DVD player, camera, or whatever in the bottom of the shopping cart used to collect the garbage; as if you plan on putting it back on the shelflater. Then go about your trash gathering. Lay the plastic bags on top of the item and make your way out the door to get the trash outside. The door greeters will cringe at the idea of digging through trash to make sure nothing is underneath, moreover, if caught you can simply argue that you planned on putting it back after the trash duties were done. Now just walk the item to your car or hand it off to a waiting friend. This method is also a useful and legitimate way ofbringing items into the bathroom for theft. I recommend taking something that will give back to the Progressive Front, such as media equipment (paper/electronic) to set up underground media sources. This is particularly beneficial as you will be taking from the largest corporate monster, and funding the liberation of all people.

Getting food extra cheap

Self Check-Out

Make the self checkout lane work for you! Ring up more expensive foods as cabbage or bananas; they tend to be sold pretty cheap by the pound. There is usually one employee (if that) not very closely watching over four or more self checkout lines.

Dumpster Diving

Many supermarkets still have open-top dumpsters where day-old food can be had for free! Happy hunting! Some oven seperate veggi and meat stuff.

Be careful with compactor type trash dumpsters, these are usually shielded so yippies cant jump in and root around when the stock boy hits the compress button. It is possible to bend the guards and reach in but never try to get in. Some compactors have exposed hydraulic hoses, these use quick connect connectors which are disconnected when the garbage truck comes, you could disconnect them when you dive the trash ares to “safe” the compactor, but be sure there is not an electrical assist or that you have not just removed the return line which would not disable the crushing direction. Most good stuff is ruined by compactors so the danger is almost never worth the risk unless you have an accomplice on the inside to load the compactor with good stuff for you and not hit the smash button.

Lifting a Meal

If you feel like eating, it is generally a better idea to load up a basket and then go into the bathroom and eat in one of the stalls. Leave a few items in your basket so you don’t look suspicious. Then, you can put everything back orjust take it. If you eat in the bathrooms, don’t be stupid and remember to wash your hands. Nobody wants a sick Yippie. Another more risky option if the bathroom is out is you could eat some food (including deli food,just ask for them to bag it and you will pay with your other items) in a quiet aisle and ditch the container behind some boxes. Be careful, in some places you can be busted for shoplifting as soon as a security agent or employee sees you take only one bite, chances are they will probably kick you out on the first offense. Better to check the dumpsters in back and avoid a chance for quality time with officer friendly.

Marketing Scams

Most packaged, branded food is marked up like crazy. Healthier and noname foods tend to be cheaper. Good for you, if it turns out you have to pay. Look for these foods on the very bottom and top shelves. The brand name items the supermarket is pushing will be at the average person’s eye level.

Discount Stores

In some poorer neighborhoods, you can often find discount grocery stores that sell odd-lot packages of food. Often these are over-runs of stuff meant for regional chains with unfamiliar brand names, or major label items that were meant for export with English-language labels slapped on them (so don’t be surprised if you see Arabic corn flakes or instant oatmeal with Chinese text). Many of the major odd-lot stores like Big Lots, Dollar General and 99 Cents Only sell this kind of food at a major discount. If something is in stock and you like it, buy it, since the supply of these bargains is spotty at best.

Bakery Outlet type stores sell breads, crackers, cakes, pies and cereals that are weeks (if not days) before their freshness dates expire. If you have access to a freezer, stock up!

Sample Surfing

Many large chain deli’s will give you a sample if you ask, enough corpgov fat and batter to tease but not enough to satisfy. Hit several stores and you might get enough to fill you up, many stores also have one day a week where vendors give lots of samples in the aisles.

Munchies and Hungries

Most of us end up shopping (and shoplifting) when we are hungry or worse stoned and munchy. You will end up wasting your money on cheap packaged foods with little nutritional value. Plan shopping trips and take a list, stick to your well planned shopping list, corporations have special employees who plan the store shelf layout very carefully to seduce idiots into buying expensive junk. Plan your nutrition, make a diet to plan shopping, like an overweight person on a diet does, but count nutrients and calories for energy and value not weight loss. Marketing 101: Corpgov marketing strategies are known to work much better on hungry supermarket customers.

Papers Please

Another method is to enter a supermarket armed with shopping bags and a receipt(from said supermarket). Put what you want into a shopping cart. When you’ve got what you want, find a low traffic, low security area(The bedding section, garden center, discount aisle) and put your goods into the shopping bag(s). Thenjust walk right out(with the receipt in hand). If your stopped, hand them the receipt, they usually won’t take the time to check for each item. This works best during medium to peak business hours.

Gift Cards

Go to the corporate store and find the gift card on the shelf, the first one in the stack preferably. Walk around the store with it and memorize or write down the security information on the back of the card. It should be a series of numbers. Then return the card as if you decided against purchasing it. Then wait a month or two and check online to see if the card is activated because it was purchased. If yes, then use the card to make purchases online. Don’t worry about ruining Johnny’s birthday. Most of the corporate stores set up refund programs to stop bad press and keep people buying the cards. Please use the card in support of progressive causes (such as donations to legit non-profits) because we should be using these skills to help everyone.

UPC Tricks

Many supermarkets have a section near the back with marked-down items that are old or damaged, with the UPC written over with a new price. Cashiers ring up these items using the new price no questions asked, so one can do this for any item.

If you can find an old CueCat or other cheap bar code scanner you can scan some inexpensive or generic item that you find in the trash and then print new UPC’s on sticker paper to stick onto goods at the market, be sure the description is close to what you are sticking or a sharp checker might bust you. Don’t try this scam too often with the same checker or at the same store in case the management starts looking for you.

Photocopying UPC’s and gluing/sticking them onto more expensive items should work especially if you are in a self service scanpoint. It is important to remember that most self service checkouts weigh the items as you add them to the bag so only fake the UPC on same weight items.

Coupons

One of our writers sent a letter to a large US bakery company saying that French students were coming to the highschool and that there would be a presentation on American foods. They were asked to donate products for the exchange students to sample. One week later four coupons arrived worth five dollars each for that corporations bakery products. This is a great totaly legal way to get some basic food if you are low on cash, because even most junk food companies also make bread and other products that are better for you. This also works if you write a polite letter to complain or compliment their products orjust to ask questions, this sometimes also works if you call the 1–800 info number.

Club Card Warning

As tempting as a few pence off sounds, don’t use a Clubcard. Ever. These little bastards will keep track of all your purchases, how you paid, when you bought them, and even what store you shopped at. A Clubcard is the easiest way to destroy any alibis you might need later on — so don’t use them. Some stores however allow you too use your phone number in place of a Clubcard, and since people can be generally forgetful, keep your eye out for someone manually entering their phone number and quickly memorize it. As a method of caution you should probably only use this number when the savings granted by the card are rather dramatic as even one or two uses may begin to show that another is using the account, at this point any stealth value is lost.

The US Department ofHomeland Security openly claims to purchase an updated database from all major club card stores and credit card companies (credit and debit) so that they have instant access to who is buying what and when to fight “terror”. Even a stolen club card number can be quickly attached to your profile even if your name is unknown and can be used to follow shopping and travel patterns.

Original Supermarkets

Talking about food in Amerika means talking about supermarkets-mammoth neon lighted streets of food packaged to hoodwink the consumers. Many a Yippie can be found in the aisles, stuffing his pockets with assorted delicacies. We have been shoplifting from supermarkets on a regular basis without raising the slightest suspicion, ever since they began.

We are not alone, and the fact that so much stealing goes on and the supermarkets still bring in huge profits shows exactly how much overcharging has occurred in the first place. Supermarkets, like other businesses, refer to shoplifting as “inventory shrinkage.” It’s as if we thieves were helping Big Business reduce weight. So let’s view our efforts as methods designed to trim the economy and push forward with a positive attitude.

Women should never go shopping without a large handbag. In those crowded aisles, especially the ones with piles of cases, all sorts of goodies can be transferred from shopping cart to handbag. A drop bag can be sewn inside a trench coat, for more efficient thievery. Don’t worry about the mirrors; attendants never look at them. Become a discriminating shopper and don’t stuff any of the cheap shit in your pockets.

Small bottles andjars often have the same size cap as the larger expensive sizes. If they have the price stamped on the cap, switch caps, getting the larger size for the cheaper price. You can empty a pound box of margarine and fill it with sticks ofbutter. Small narrow items can be hidden in the middle of rolls of toilet paper. Larger supermarkets sell records. You can sneak two good LP’s into one of those large frozen pizza boxes. In the produce department, there are bags for fruit and vegetables. Slip a few steaks or some lamb chops into the bottom of a large brown bag and pile some potatoes on top. Have a little man in the white coat weigh the bag, staple it and mark the price. With a black crayon you can mark your own prices, or bring your own adhesive price tags.

It’s best to work shoplifting in the supermarket with a partner who can act as look-out and shield you from the eyes of nosy employees, shoppers and other crooks trying to pick up some pointers. Work out a prearranged set of signals with your partner. Diversions, like knocking over displays, getting into fist fights with the manager, breaking plate glass windows and such are effective and even if you don’t get anything they’re fun. Haven’t you always wanted to knock over those carefully constructed nine-foot pyramids of garbage?

You can walk into a supermarket, get a few items from the shelves, and walk around eating food in the aisles. Pick up some cherries and eat them. Have a spoon in your pocket and open some yogurt. Open a pickle or olive jar. Get some sliced meat or cheese from the delicatessen counter and eat it up, making sure to ditch the wrapper. The cart full of items, used as a decoy, canjust be left in an aisle before you leave the store.

Case the joint before pulling a big rip-off. Know the least crowded hours, learn the best aisles to be busy in, and check out the store’s security system. Once you get into shoplifting in supermarkets, you’ll really dig it. You’ll be surprised to learn that the food tastes better.

Large scale thievery can best be carried out with the help of an employee. Two ways we know of work best. A woman can get a jobas a cashier and ring up a small bill as her brothers and sisters bring home tons of stuff.

The method for men involves getting a job loading and unloading trucks in the receiving department. Some accomplices dressed right canjust pull in and, with your help, load up on a few cases. Infiltrating an employee into a store is probably the best way to steal. Cashiers, sales clerks, shippers, and the like are readily available jobs with such high turnover and low pay that little checking on your background goes on. Also, you can learn what you have to do in a few days. The rest of the week, you can work out ways to clean out the store. After a month or so of action you might want to move on to another store before things get heavy. We know one woman working as a cashier who swiped over $500 worth of food a week. She had to leave after a month because her boss thought she was such an efficient cashier that he insisted on promoting her to a job that didn’t have as many fringe benefits for her and her friends.

Large chain stores like Safeway throw away day-old vegetables, the outer leaves oflettuce, celery and the like. This stuff is usually found in crates outside the back of the building. Tell them you’re working with animals at the college labs, or that you raise guinea pigs. They might even get into saving them for you, but if they don’t just show up before the garbage is collected, (generally early in the morning), and they’ll let you cart away what you want.

Dented cans and fruit can often be gotten free, but certainly at a reduced rate. They are still as good as the undamaged ones. So be sure to dent all your cans before you go to the cashier.

Look up catering services and businesses that service factories and office buildings with readymade sandwiches. Showing up at these places at the right times (catering services on late Sunday night and sandwich dealers at 5:00 PM on weekdays) will produce loads of good food. Legally, they have to dispose of the food that’s left over. They would be more than happy to give it to you if you spin a good story.

Butchers can be hustled for meat scraps with a “for my dog” story, and bakeries can be asked for day-old rolls and bread.

Wholesale Markets

America is not the economic powerhouse it was in the 60’s, there are not the massive food surpluses that there once were. Litigation because of spoiled food and fear of a free lunch for hippies has gone a long way to ending many easy food handouts. Vegetable handouts are still a possibility behind some stores that have yet to seal and cover their garbage crusher dumpsters. Try the large outlets who supply restaurants, since the public is less likely to be hanging around they are less likely to seal or lock their trash compactors and dumpsters. Especially in winter it is possible to unload with darkness covering your expedition, an LED headlight will help you see what food is still good, tall rubber boots and leather gloves will prevent many injuries .

Original Wholesale Markets

What follows is the original text

Large cities all have a wholesale fruit and vegetable area where often the workers will give you tons of free foodjust for the asking. Get a good story together. Get some church stationery and type a letter introducing yourself “to whom it may concern,” or better still, wear some clerical garb. Orchards also make good pickings just after the harvest has been completed.

Factories often will give you a case or two of free merchandise for a “charitable” reason. Make some calls around town and then go pick up the stuff at the end of the week. A great idea is to get a good list of a few hundred large corporations around the country by looking up their addresses at the library. Poor’s Register of Companies, Directors and Executives has the most complete list. Send them all letters complaining about how the last box of cereal was only half full, or you found a dead fly in the can of peaches. They often will send you an ample supply of items just to keep you from complaining to your friends or worse, taking them to court. Often you can get stuff sent to you by just telling them how good their product is compared to the trash you see nowadays. You know the type ofletter — “Rice Krispies have had a fantastic effect on my sexual prowess,” or “Your frozen asparagus has given a whole new meaning to my life.” In general though, the nasties get the best results.

Slaughterhouses usually have meat they will give away. They are anxious to give to church children’s programs and things like that. In most states, there is a law that if the slab of meat touches the ground, they have to throw it away. Drop around meat houses late in the day and trip a few trucks.

Fishermen always have hundreds of pounds of fish that have to be thrown out. You can have as much as you can cart away, generallyjust for the asking. Boats come in late in the afternoon and they’ll give you some of the catch, or you can go to the markets early in the morning when the fishing is best.

These methods of getting food in large quantities can only be appreciated by those who have tried it. You will be totally baffled by the unbelievable quantities of food that will be laid on you and with the ease of panhandling.

Investing in a freezer will allow you to bi-weekly or even monthly trips to the wholesale markets and you’ll get the freshest foods to boot. Nothing can beat getting it wholesale for free. Or is it free forwholesale? In any event, “bon appetit.”

Food Conspiracies

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Forming a food cooperative is one of the best ways to promote solidarity and get every kind of food you need to survive real cheap. It also provides a ready-made bridge for developing alliances with blacks, Puerto Ricans, chicanos and other groups fighting our common oppressor on a community level.

Call a meeting of about 20 communes, collectives or community organizations. Set up the ground rules. There should be a hard-core of really good hustlers that serve as the shopping or hunting party and another group of people who have their heads together enough to keep records and run the central distribution center. Two or three in each group should do it. They can get their food free for the effort. Another method is to rotate the activity among all members of the conspiracy. The method you choose depends upon your politics and whether you favor a division oflabor or using the food conspiracy as a training for collective living. Probably a blend of the two is best, but you’ll have to hassle that out for yourself. The next thing to agree upon is how the operation and all the shit you get will be paid for. This is dependent on a number of variables, so we’ll map out one scheme and you can modify it to suit your particular situation. Each member of every commune could be assessed a fee forjoining. You want to get together about $2,000, so at 200 members, this is ten bucks a piece. After the joining fee, each person or group has to pay only for the low budget food they order, but some loot is needed to get things rolling. The money goes to getting a store front or garage, a cheap truck, some scales, freezers, bags, shelving, chopping blocks, slicer and whatever else you need. You can get great deals by looking in the classified ads of the local overground newspaper and checking for restaurants or markets going out ofbusiness. Remember the idea of a conspiracy is to get tons of stuff at real low prices or free into a store front, and then break it down into smaller units for each group and eventually each member. The freezers allow you to store perishables for a longer time.

The hunting party should be well acquainted with how to rip off shit totally free and where all the best deals are to be found. They should know what food is seasonal and about nutritional diets. There is a lot to learn, such as where to get raw grains in 100 pounds lots and how to cut up a side ofbeef. A good idea is to get a diet freak to give weekly talks in the store front. There can also be cooking lessons taught, especially to men, so women can get out of the kitchen.

Organizing a community around a basic issue of survival, such as food, makes a lot of nitty gritty sense. After your conspiracy gets off the ground and looks permanent, you should seek to expand it to include more members and an emergency food fund should be set up in case something happens in the community. There should also be a fund whereby the conspiracy can sponsor free community dinners tied into celebrations. Get it together andjoin the fight for a world-wide food conspiracy. Seize the steak!

Roadkill

Urban Pigeon

If the soup kitchens are providing nothing but watered broth and the dumpsters are picked clean there is still an easy source of protein if you are careful and fits your philosophy. First of all realize that this is both contraversial in that some will call it cruelty and secondly it could be an excuse for the pigs to haul you in.

While in China rat is sold in markets and racoon, cat, rabbit, and squirrel all exist in the urban zones they are too often diseased or dangerous as they fight back. Other birds (except the occasional dove or duck) like seaguls are also too gross because of their diet of vermin infested dead things and rotten garbage.

The best meat we can get for free is the simple stupid urban pigeon. The easiest way to catch them is with a little bread trail for bait, a box with a stick holding it propped up, and about twenty feet of string. Bird follows trail ofbread under box, you pull string, stick lets box fall, bird is trapped. You can use other methods like nets or a loop of string and hope to catch a leg but this seems the easiest and most humane. Put your hand under the box and grab your bird, he won’t bite, be quick so he won’t hurt himself flapping, grip around his body pinning down his wings.

Look him over, are his feathers looking good or is he shedding and scabby, Is he infested with bugs or weak and sluggish, are his eyes looking filmy or gross, if so let him go and wash your hands he is probably diseased. Ifhe looks good snap or cut his neck quickly (with a new razor blade) so it will be over for him. Cut him open from neck to tail and look his insides over, are they glistening smooth and come out easily or are they all stuck together and spotty, if they look bad or wormy again chuck him out and let a cat or racoon have him, he was not long for this world anyway. Rinse out the gut area before proceeding. You might consider plucking before cutting open(it is too hard after) to save the skin and fats, but most of us just peel the skin off and cook like a mini chicken. A pigeon soup would be the safest way to go, let it boil for at least a half hour, but an hour is better, drink or save the broth.

Anyone who eats meat but is offendend by this idea must remember that at least this bird lived a completely free life and died quickly unlike the factory cage chickens you might be eating from the store.

Roadkill

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That’s right, you can eat dead animals that you find on busy roads. As long as you get to the dead animal fast enough (before it starts rotting), there aren’t any reasons that this practice should be dangerous. Just make sure to cook it properly.

In some US states you are supposed to notify the Department ofNatural Resources (DNR) if you find a larger animal (deer, bear, wolf etc.) dead on the side of the road. They will usually still let you keep it. Notifying them will get you out of trouble if some ‘helpful’ officer accuses you of poaching.

In small towns and rural areas, the death of any livestock must be verified by an authorized individual. This is to prevent someone from, say, ramming into their bovine encephalitic cow and saying that was the cause of death — also for insurance purposes. For this reason, always make sure you befriend your local veterinarian, and he’s the one who makes the death certification. He normally gets paid for his work in carcass.

Farm It

Grow Your Own Food

As food prices spiral upwards, the personal and group garden will come back into vogue. This Victory Garden puts us somewhat above the heavy handed and regularly used strategy of people control through the selective distribution of food to the “good” people. Try to acquire and seed non hybrid seeds before times of trouble, as these seeds can be used generation after generation. Don’t kill yourself with poisons; use natural insect repellents and fertilizers. Try to plant some staple foods, like spinach, cabbage, and squash, which offer more versatility for dishes.

Most seed packets cost about a dollar, and can contain hundreds of seeds. More hardy plants, like squash, can go for about 15 cents a seed. Almost all packets have growing facts printed right on them, including best climate, harvest periods, and even how to plant them in the ground. Most harvest periods for solid, edible crops range from only 50 days to about 100 days. Be sure to look to see what seasons are recommended to grow your crops in and where to plant them. After replanting the hardier plants from your seedlings into the ground, most just need about a foot or two between each plant. Even a backyard a few yards across and a few yards deep, if devoted to your new plants, can yield enough food at harvest time to feed yourself for a few weeks.

Remember to rotate which crops you plant seasonally. If you only plant one type of plant in the same row for a few seasons, you risk severely damaging the soil and depleting it of various minerals. Try to first add crops that can be brought into operation in a few months so you can start cutting your food budget rather than for example waiting years for an orchard.

What to grow

Roots

Root vegetables are easy to grow and have high food content per acre. The potato fed the Irish until the blight sent them packing to new shores.

Potatoes are one of the easiest plants to grow without access to a plot of land. The most important step is to acquire good quality seeds. Don’t bother getting a sack from the supermarket since they have been treated with chemicals to prevent eyes from forming. Most big box stores with a “garden” section will have one or two varieties in early spring. Technically these are not really seeds but actual potatoes that have been left to grow their eyes out. It’s just easier to call them seeds instead of propagation tubers.

Acquire a large garbage can or other large container and clean it out with a 1:5 ratio ofbleach and water to kill any molds, fungi, or not so fun guys. When you are finished punch a half dozen holes in the bottom for drainage. Put about four to six inches/ten to fifteen centimeters of soil in the bottom. If necessary, cut the seeds up so that there are two to three on each piece. Place the seeds on top on the surface of the soil, eyes up. Some suggest soaking the seeds beforehand others say dry them out to prevent rotting and others yet say don’t do anything at all. Look at the package in your hands and see what it says and then use the grey matter between your ears. If something doesn’t work do the other next year. Cover the seeds and keep the soil watered but not soaked, about an inch a week. Once the plants have grown about six to eight inches/fifteen to twenty centimeters cover the bottom third with soil. Continue adding soil whenever you get some new growth until the plants begin to flower. You can harvest these as new potatoes or wait. Your choice. Once the flowering is over and the plants start to yellow stop watering. Wait a few weeks for the potatoes to settle and dig them up.

Optional variants: Use sawdust (non-pressure treated wood) and feed with liquid kelp or compost tea whenever you add a layer.

Gourds

Most types of squash are good for filler food in typical meat dishes, such as chili. Cut up gourds and pumpkins are good in soups or as a filler for pies.

Corn

Corn is starch and sugar rich and can be dried and ground up for cornbread in the winter.

Beans

Beans are high in protein and usually easy to grow, eat whole or shell out the inner seeds and dry in the sun for storage. Combined with rice you have a complete ifboring diet.

Grains

If you have a large field at least an acre you might try growing wheat, oats or barley. Once you harvest the wheat you need to be able to cut down, de-hull, and thresh away the chaff. See also Caching andCheap Chow

Bamboo

Bamboo is of the grass family but the wood can be used in place of trees. The stalks are quick growing, strong, and lightweight. Bamboo can be grown from a cutting placed in water and once roots sprout potted. Bamboo will take over a yard if allowed so caution must be used in planting especially near a water source. Bamboo rots quickly if allowed to remain damp.

Blackberries

Blackberry briar’s not only provide supplemental food for pies orjuices but it is also an excellent barrier plant. Blackberries grow quickly and care must be take to prevent overgrowth especially in wet climates or near water.

Hay

If you harvest hay during the fall and keep it dry you can feed your livestock during the winter, store feed is expensive. Be sure the hay is well protected and dry. Hay that is harvested green or gets damp will compost generating temperatures high enough to start a fire, this is a serious danger for hay kept in a barn or near an animal pen.

Farming Techniques

Watering

The trick to watering a garden is to water it around dawn or dusk, when the plants are still warm, or about to get warmer, and to water until it starts to flood. Too little water, and you’re only hurting the plant by teasing it. Too much will erode the soil, but this takes a lot of water. If you’re in an area where it gets below freezing at night, water your plants before it gets there, then cover them with a blanket or tarp. Ice makes a surprisingly good insulator, and the blankets do too.

One of the best sources of free water is your roof gutters, it is best to store this in a rain barrel or cistern since the rain is already watering your garden that day, use the stored water on a dry evening. Also look for ways to catch the runoff from parking lots and driveways, an artificial pond is one way to save this water.

Tire Farming

A stack of tires filled with soil is the start of a vertical farm. Plant between the tires and wedge small openings for your plants. The tires help conserve water and space and are especially good for growing root vegetables.

Greenhouse

PVC pipe and UV Plastic sheet are all you really need to start a greenhouse. It is important that the clear plastic you use allows the ultraviolet light to pass for your plants to use but will resist degradation at the same time, ask at a garden shop. Set up your PVC pipe hoops and connect twine from the bows to attach plants connect the pipes down the center to prevent collapse in wind. Find some old garden hoses and punch more holes or irrigation tube and bury tubing under the ground sheet. Lay down ground sheet plastic and punch holes for your baby plants. Bury the edges of the greenhouse plastic with soil and weight with stones. As the plants grow help them twist around the twine for vertical growth. This works great for cucumbers and tomatoes. Flowers for sale can be grown year round in many areas.

Plastic Sheet

Bury old perforated hose under black UV plastic sheet, holes for your plants or seeds will reduce the need for herbicides and weeding.

The Organic Way

As various studies can show, you don’t need to dump fertilizers and pesticides on your plants to have a thriving farm/garden. The organic methods of gardening really took off in the 70’s when many of the hippies, yippies, and yuppies took to the country in order to have a cheaper and peaceful life. After the conservative era of the 80’s, and the party era of the 90’s, people really began finding the advantages of growing organically in the last few years.

Organic Pesticide Solutions

• Rotenone the extract from roots and stems of several tropical and subtropical plant species belonging to the genus Lonchocarpus or Derris. It was first used as a fish poison, its powder is an effective pesticide and is only moderately toxic to humans, birds, and mammals. Rotenone is allowed my most organic certifying agencies.

• Tobacco leaf extract can be made as a tea from tobacco and sprayed onto your plants, one cup of tobacco to one gallon of water. Do not use on pepper, eggplant, or tomato plants.

• One clove garlic and 2 tablespoons cayenne pepper crushed and soaked in warm water work effectively, filter and spray onto plants.

• Mild soap solution sprayed onto plants will ofter repel pests, a mild salt solution often works too.

• Most plants with strong odors or sharp flavor have these attributes to repel insects, try alone or in combination to eliminate insect problems.

Organic Fertilizers

Organic farmers use animal manure, manufactured seed meal, home and garden compost, and mulching as well as several natural mineral powders like rock phosphate and greensand, a naturally occurring form of potash. Used tea leaves are very good for restoring nutrients to the soil. What else would you do with them anyway? Straw can also be used super effectively as an organic mulch.

Compost

Composting is the natural breakdown and return to soil of organic wastes such as garden and kitchen wastes. It is best to keep your home composting to the waste of vegetarian animals and vegetable matter, meat and dairy require higher composting temperatures, consider burying this waste instead. Once the composting is under way, start a new bin or pile and use the older heaps for garden fertilizer.

If you are involved in a food co-op or something similar, such as a commune, or even a group of like-minded individuals living on your street, you should designate someone as the official composter. Sending all of your organic waste to the compost cuts down on your waste output as well as that of the whole world. Once the compost batch is done, distribute it out to those growing food.

Farm Animals

Bees

If the bee hive colony collapse disorder turns around, a fun way to commune with nature and help out your own crops is to start and run a bee hive. Try to be organic in you bee farm by not using weird chemicals. Some claim the bee mite problem is caused by oversized artificial bee honeycombs, making over-sized bees. which can have their windpipe infected by mites. Others claim it is due to the constant movement ofbees. Bees like to stay in one place. Don’t bother them by constantly moving their hive or smoking them. Leave them part of their honey for food. Don’t completely substitute corn syrup.

See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colony Collapse Disorder

Chickens

Even if you only have a small available run area, raising chickens will help eliminate some bugs and provide you with eggs. Use a bright light after laying to find the unfertilized eggs. These will rot if not harvested. Let your chickens run wild if possible, as they will usually stay near the feed. Ducks, quail, pheasants, and peacock are also fun to raise for eggs. These birds can live off of cracked grains and corn.

Goats

Goats will start giving milk after having their first litter ofkids. As with chickens they need place to be free and they like a high place to stand on sometimes. Some goats can be trimmed for wool.

Sheep

Domestic sheep are friendly although a little dumb, they need a lot ofhelp which a smart sheep dog will provide The natural maternal instincts of a Shepard dog pushes them to herd and protect these sweet dumb animals. Pick a breed that won’t be too hot in your climate. Once a sheep has lambs you can start milking the sheep. Shear sheep right before hot weather sets in. Sheep are too dumb to move if they have eaten all of the grass and will mow an area bare, don’t let your sheep cause erosion problems, keep them moving.

Cows

American size cows take up too many resources to be practical. If used as a tractor to pull a plow or wagon having a cow might be justified. Cows are easily seen from the road by agriculture dpt. inspectors, a problem once compulsory animal registration is enforced.

Donkeys

A donkey is a great choice for a labor helper animal. They are usually gentle and sweet if treated well. Horses are mostly a wasteful extravagance in both food and care, you can walk while the donkey pulls a cart or carries a proper load.

Free Clothing and Furniture

Often you can find free chairs, couches, TVs, and all sorts of other stufflisted on the “Free” section of http://www.craigslist.com

See also: http://www.Freecycle.organd see if there’s one in your city. They generally like it if new members offer something before requesting other things, but I’ve heard its a good resource.

Bedbugs

Free furniture carries the risk ofbedbugs: small, hard-to-kill, blood-sucking insects which can infest mattresses, couches, and other cushy furniture. While evidence shows that they don’t directly spread disease, there bites can be unpleasant and you do not want them. There are two ways to kill bedbugs: heat and starvation. Furniture that can withstand steam-heat can be sprayed down with steam before being brought into your home. Furniture that cannot be steamed can be airtight sealed in plastic for 3–6 months.

Clothing

Some clothing stores have racks of clothes outside of the store which are on clearance or sale. You can easily steal a few items and leave without being noticed. Keep in mind that this is shoplifting, so standard penalties apply.

Free Clothing

If you can plead poverty, places like Salvation Army thrift stores will give you an expense account or deep discounts on items.

Warm Improvised Clothing

If the weather changes quickly or you get a slush or snow storm you will need to improvise some warm clothes until you can get some.

Boots

You can turn regular shoes into winter boots by putting a wool or warm sock onto your foot followed by a sealed plastic bag and then finished with a cheap sport sock to protect your plastic bag. Don’t expect the plastic bag to last for long hikes but it will let you travel outside without fear of immediate soaking in cold slush. We have found that one or two layers ofbread bags work well. It is important to change to dry inner socks at least twice a day or when they feel damp.

Insulated Coat

If you already have a thin insulated coat you can boost the insulating power by carefully cutting stuff holes in the liner where you can insert crumpled balls of newspaper as an insulating layer, be careful that your cuts are not destroying your coat. If you plan to use paper balls as removable insulation on a regular basis you might consider sewing long pockets into the inside you yourjacket for this purpose. Something like this http://www.15belowproject.org

Rainwear

Most hardware stores sell plastic sheet by the meter or yard, we often use this for shelter and greenhouse building projects. Another use is to create a somewhat durable rain poncho for a few cents. Open a head hole and form a hood from extra plastic sheet. You can join everything using packing tape. This should get you by for around a week which we hope will be time to find something better. Rainwear worn as a top layer will also increase the insulating power of a jacket even if it is not raining but don’t seal yourself up so much that condensation and sweat destroys the insulating power.

Free shoes

Write the shoe company of your choice claiming you were in a motorcycle accident wearing their shoes and that you were hospitalized, but your feet came out totally unscathed thanks to their shoes.

They’ll usually send you at least one free pair. I pulled this scam with Adidas and got 2 pairs of $120 running shoes totally gratis. Just find some pictures of motorcycle wrecks online and send them along as “proof.”

Make Your Own

If you can beg or borrow a sewing machine, loose comfortable clothes are just a few stitches away. Try asking grandma for her old Singer machine, or ask your mother; she might think you are getting over your rebel phase. Start with simple trousers, skirts, and ponchos. For material, you can recycle cloth from damaged or otherwise unsaleable clothing discarded by thrift stores, or you can buy unmatched cloth remnants at an on-the-bolt fabric store. With a little practice you can even make your own tents, backpacks, and bivvy sacks. Look for camping gear sewing patterns in 1970’s vintage books. Knitting is a good way to spend your time if you are at a sit in demonstration (regardless of gender). Knitting needles also are a discreet defensive weapon even if they are plastic.

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FREE CLOTHING

If shoplifting food seems easy, it’s nothing compared to the snatching of clothing. Shop only the better stores. Try thing on in those neat secluded stalls. The less bulky items such as shirts, vests, belts and socks can be tied around your waist or leg with large rubber bands if needed. Just take a number of items in and come out with a few less.

In some cities there are still free stores left over from the flower power days. Churches often have give-away clothing programs. You can impersonate a clergyman and call one of the large clothing manufacturers in your area. They are usually willing to donate a case or two of shirts, trousers or underwear to your church raffle or drive to dress up skid row. Be sure to get your sizes. Tell them “your boy” will pick up the blessed donation and you’ll mention his company in the evening prayers.

If you notice people moving from an apartment or house, ask them if they’ll be leaving behind clothing. They usually abandon all sorts of items including food, furniture and books. Offer to help them carry out stuff if you can keep what they won’t be taking.

Make the rounds of a fancy neighborhood with a truck and some friends. Ring doorbells and tell the person who answers that you are collecting wearable clothing for the “poor homeless victims of the recent tidal wave in Quianto a small village in Saudi Arabia.” You get the pitch. Make it food and clothing, and say you’re with a group called Heartline for Decency. A phony letter from a church might help here.

The Salvation Army does this, and you can pick up clothes from them at very cheap prices. You can get a pair of snappy casual shoes for 25 cents in many bowling alleys by walking out with them on your feet. If you have to leave your shoes as a deposit, leave the most beat-up pair you can find.

Notice if your friends have lost or gained weight. A big change means a lot of clothes doing nothing but taking up closet space. Show up at dormitories when college is over for the summer or winter season. Go to the train or bus stations and tell them you left your raincoat, gloves or umbrella when you came into town. They’ll take you to a room with thousands of unclaimed items. Pick out what you like. While there, notice a neat suitcase or trunk and memorize the markings. Later a friend can claim the item. There will be loads of surprises in any suitcase. We have a close friend who inherited ten kilos of grass this way.

Large laundry and dry cleaning chains usually have thousands of items that have gone unclaimed. Manufacturers also have shirts, dresses and suits for rockbottom prices because of a crooked seam or other fuck-up. Stores have reduced rates on display models: Mannequins are mostly all size 40 for men and 10 for women. Size 7 1/2 is the standard display size for men’s shoes. If you are these sizes, you can get top styles for less than half price.

Sandals

Sandals

You can cut out pieces of semi-thick cardboard slightly large than outlines of your feet and cover them completely with clear packing tape. Drill or punch small holes...

• Between your big and second toe, andjust past the ball of your foot (on both sides) for flipflops. String chord or straps from the middle hole to the side holes.

• On both sides of your toes andjust before and after your heel on both sides. String cord or straps diagonally from behind your heel to in front of your heel in an X pattern, with clasps/buttons (of course!), and then alsojust across the tops of your toes. Now you have some handy, sturdy, water-proof sandals.

Experiment with cardboard layers/thickness and strap materials. You could even use discarded shoe soles and laces! The benefit of sandals not made from tires is that you won’t smell like asphalt on a hot day.

Tire Sandal Warning: Make sure the tire does not have steel cables running through it for reinforcement! Only nylon or rayon will work.

Links to Tire Sandal HowTos

http://www.hollowtop.com/sandals.htm

Original Sandals

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SANDALS

The Vietnamese and people throughout the Third World make a fantastically durable and comfortable pair of sandals out of rubber tires. They cut out a section of the outer tire (trace around the outside of the foot with a piece of chalk) which when trimmed forms the sole. Next 6 slits are made in the sole so the rubber straps can be criss-crossed and slid through the slits. The straps are made out of inner tubing. No nails are needed. If you have wide feet, use the new wide tread low profiles. For hard going, try radials. For best satisfaction and quality, steal the tires off a pig car or a government limousine.

Let’s face it, if you really are into beating the clothing problem, move to a warm climate and run around naked. Skin is absolutely free, and will always be in style. Speaking of style, the midi and the maxi have obvious advantages when it comes to shoplifting and transporting weapons or bombs.

Free Furniture

Free Furniture

Free Box Furniture

Most shipping companies (especially UPS and FedEx, but also the US Postal Service) will ship you boxes and other shipping supplies for free. You can simply fit these boxes together to build chairs and tables. “FedEx Furniture” has examples (http://www.fedexfurniture.com). If you have an eBay account, you can go to http://ebaysupplies.usps.comand use that to receive boxes from the USPS.

Table

Two saw horses or police/construction barricades + one door = one large dinner table or desk. (Remember to remove the door knob.)

Foam and Bean Bags

If you have a knack for sewing you can make simple bean bag type furniture and fill it with whatever stuffing you can get your hands on, those styrofoam shipping pellets are surprisingly comfortable in a bean bag seat. If you manage to liberate some closed cell foam like is used in most furniture and some kids mattresses you can use this as a more solid filler for your furniture. A piece ofNiChrome wire and the proper power supply (measure the ohms of the cutting wire with a multimeter and add resistors if needed) you can make a large hot wire foam cutter.

Recycled Junk

If you know where your local newspaper is located, their dumpster will surely have some of the thick cardboard tubes from the huge rolls of newsprint. These are about six feet long, and can be cut into pieces for use as legs on desks, tables, etc., but not chairs, as they are too thick (6”-8”). Either way, four three-foot sections of that tubing, and a 3x5 piece of plywood liberated from your local construction site will make a bitchin’ table. Another free table is the big wooden cable spools used by the power and phone companies.

Auto-man Furniture

If you or a buddy has an old beater that will only sell for pennies, or is totaled, offer to take the seats offhis hands (if you’re really ballsy, lift one from someone else’s car). Backseats, especially the bench-style found in older sedans and mini-vans make great couches if you put them up on some blocks. Also, the bucket seats that usually make up passenger seats and middle rows in vans can be converted into nifty easy chairs. If the car is old enough to not have electric seat adjustments, it will probably be a recliner, too. This means that bench seat can often be converted into a short double bed. Score!

Lawn Furniture

Lawn furniture is surprisingly useful indoors especially if you are moving in and out quickly to

keep ahead of the man. It is light and folds up easily to fit into your car or bicycle trailer. Many people dump the one year old lawn furniture at the street in spring or fall. While a chaise lounge is all right to sleep on solo, making love is a good way to make it fall apart.

Kids Stuff

If you’re having a baby, a crib can be made from a laundry basket and an easily washed pillow or a folded blanket in a pillowcase. A plastic bucket is great for bathing baby. Your stroller or a baby bike seat strapped to a chair make a cheap high-chair. A hand towel with a head hole cut and hemmed is a good washable bib. When traveling or taking a temporary home with children along, your camping ground mat or exercise mat is a great bed, there is no worry about falling out if they roll off, children usually prefer firmer beds.

Diving for Furniture

Making furniture out of scraps of garbage that you find around when doing urban forging can be wonderful, and any DIY shop will have salesmen willing to explain how, or you can check online for a DIY site. Additionally, furniture can be found whole when foraging, especially in the back of furniture stores, and drop offs, like the back of thrift stores. (Warning: Taking items dropped off at thrift stores or donation boxes constitutes theft of varying degrees depending on what jurisdiction you’re in.)

DIY Japanese Screen

With a roll of paper, some small brass hinges, and lightweight wood framing you can make Japanese type screens. Use these to make light movable dividers that will not take the light out of a room. Excellent for separating a sleeping area which is cleaned up in the morning to make a larger living/work space. You will also have the option to paint and decorate your screens to your liking.

If you are careful in placing hinges at the exact same locations on every panel (use a measuring tape and mark location with a pencil, then add the hinge) after your screen is built you can tap out the pins from the small brass hinges and insert a nail or cotter pin into where you removed the standard pin. Now you can connect as many panels together as you like for a wall and still easily take them down or separate when moving or redecorating.

Beds

Futon

It is often possible to acquire a second hand futon pad without a frame, these are great for a convertible sleep and work area since they roll up or fold into a couch. As soon as possible a base must be made from something which will allow air to circulate under the pad otherwise you will likely ruin the pad with mold growth, this will also make the futon pad a health problem for future users. Check all new and used futon pads for mold. Several wood cargo pallets will provide sufficient ventilation to prevent mold growth.

Frame Bed

Get ahold of some two by four lumber, this is easier than it sounds, if you are squatting and can’t afford find or buy lumber(which is the best choice by far)just rip some out of a non load bearing wall in an unused part of the house or garage, only use clean unrotted wood. If possible get some one by six lumber about 80 inches long too. You will want to make a bed frame that the inside area is 39 inches wide and 75 inches long, the size of a twin bed, that way you can use standard size sheets and blankets and maybe even scam a real mattress at some point. Read these directions twice with a handy friend before cutting or screwing anything together What you need

• 2x 80 inch long 2x4 lumber

• 2x 40 inch long 2x4 lumber

• 2x 80 inch long 1x6 lumber (2x4 will work in a pinch)

• 12x 39 inch long 1x4 lumber (skimp too much and the bed will be weak)

• 1x box two inch wood screws

• 1x box one inch wood screws

• 4x12 inch long 4x4 lumber

An electrical drill to drive the screws helps, a professional grade cordless drill with extra batteries is best for disconnected squats

• Leave the long (80 inch) boards a few inches long (you can trim the extra later)

• Lay the boards on edge on the floor and mark the location of the 39 inch boards with a pencil so that you have a 39x75 inch inner area

• Long 2x4 boards to the outside

• Screw wood screws through the two long 2x4 boards (on their edges) and into the 40 inch 2x4 boards (also on their sides)

• Measure the inside of the frame to be sure that a 39x75 inch mattress will fit (with a little extra space if possible) before continuing. You now have a rectangular frame.

• Screw the 1x6 boards down securely onto both sides with long screws flat against the bottom of the frame, attaching to the long boards as well as the 39in inner boards so the bed frame won’t twist.

• Saw off the excess long board so it is flush with your 39 inch inner frame rails

• Place the 4x4 legs onto all four corners and use at least 8 screws to tighten them down through the 1x6 lumber(you should get helpers to hold the bed frame level for this so the legs mount flush)

• Screw your 1x4 slats down leaving even spaces, these gaps allow the mattress to breathe.

If you have some plywood or left over lumber building a headboard and securely attaching it to the bed frame with 2x4 lumber makes it much easier to read in bed and keeps your pillow from falling off.

Push two of these frames together to make a queen bed for a couple, this is easier to move and stronger than one big frame.

Victorian Curtain and Canopy Bed

When we think of victorian four poster beds we forget that those long spindles were not for style but a place to hang the curtains and canopy turning a bed into a little tent of warmth. No more cold morning wakeups even in the coldest dampest squat, you can even hang your clothes up into your canopy and be warmly dressed before inhaling the cold damp air. A word to the wise even in a regular home curtaining your bed and dressing warm will reduce your home heating waste, think green!

The height of your canopy poles is optional higher means easier dressing in the morning, lower means it is easier to keep warm. You don’t need to use anything bigger than broom handles screwed tight to your bed frame with a few pieces of metal strapdown tape (fold in the edges so there is no sharp points). Use thin cotton bedsheets as curtains and canopy, they breathe the easiest and won’t get too damp from condensation. Cut and hem to size, twin sheets should be pretty close in size, at the canopy corners reinforce and punch a large gromett, this will slip over a screw or peg at the top of your canopy poles, the same is done for the top two corners on each of your side curtains. It is a good idea to sew tie strings every foot or so so that the curtains can be puled tightly closed, a split overlapping curtain on the side you like to wake up on will make getting in and out easier but keep the draft out.

If roof leaks are a problem in your squat think about using a tarp for a second upper canopy but make some sort of hoop frame to keep the condensation from your breath that sticks to the tarp from dripping onto you

Mattress

Foam is by far the cheapest mattress, go to any furniture repair, sewing, or upholstery shop to have a piece cut for you. Don’t buy unless they let you lie down and try it out for the proper firmness. If you are handy with sewing or the shop sells them like that it is smart to cover the foam to keep gunk out. Failing that stack up those free homeless shelter blankets or dive some couch cushions from the dumpster of a furniture or thrift shop. Important advice to prevent mold growing inside your mattress in cool and damp conditions, flip the mattress every other day, every fourth day also turn it to face the opposite direction, this way different parts get a chance to dry out. Propping your mattress on an angle during the day with a stick or broom is also a good way to let it dry out, we also hear that occasionally dusting with baking soda (sodium bicarbonate)might make mold growth less likely

Reuse

You can often find free furniture on http://www.craigslist.comhttp://www.freecycle.org/ and other community sites, if you look in the free section for whatever area you are in. All you would need to do is contact the owner of the furniture and pick it up from the location listed there.

Simplicity

Try not to overload a small room or flat with too much furniture, we try to be simple and frugal. The acquisition of too muchjunk ties us down and makes boosting out and onto the road more difficult. Don’t screw over friends and supporters by leaving a room filled withjunk when you disappear. If possible live as much as possible out of your pack even during long term crashes.

Moving the Stuff

Hand Truck

A hand truck or dolly will help a team of movers move the largest furniture, even a refrigerator can be moved across town by a minimum of two strong people on foot, be careful on hills and plan for emergency stopping. The best hand trucks for appliances are extra wide and have a big strap which will wrap around the appliance but rope and the right knots will help in a pinch.

Strapping

If you are likely to encounter stairs the only safe way (at least for the furniture or appliance) is to use heavy strapping to help you hand carry. We are talking about the heavy strap like is used for seat belts or making rappelling harnesses, we need something that will resist abrasion.

One type of strap carrier uses between twenty and twenty five feet of strap and a heavy steel slide buckle (tied or sewn properly works too) to make a loop with adjustable size, be sure to slide a cutoff wool sock or tape over the buckle to prevent scratching your furniture. Your big loop crosses under your load and the loop ends rest on the shoulders of the two carriers. Stand up properly with straight backs and the load lifts as well.

Original FREE FURNITURE

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Apartment lobbies are good for all kinds of neat furniture. If you want to get fancy about it, rent a truck (not one that says U-HAUL-IT or other rental markings) and make the pick-up with movingman-type uniforms. When schools are on strike and students hold seminars and debate into the night, Yippies can be found going through the dorm lobbies and storage closets hauling off couches, desks, printing supplies, typewriters, mimeos, etc. to store in secret underground nests. A nervy group of Yippies in the Midwest tried to swipe a giant IBM 360 computer while a school was in turmoil. All power to those that bring a wheelbarrow to sit-ins.

Check into a high-class hotel or motel remembering to dress like the wallpaper. Carry a large dummy suitcase with you and register under a phony name. Make sure you and not the bellboy carry this bag. Use others as a decoy. When you get inside the room, grab everything you can stuff in the suitcase: radio, T.V. sets (even if it has a special plug you can cut it with a knife and replace the cord), blankets, toilet paper, glasses, towels, sheets, lamps, (forget the imitation Winslow Homer on the wall) a Bible, soap and toss rugs. Before you leave (odd hours are best) hang the DO NOT DISTURB sign on your doorknob. This will give you an extra few hours to beat it across the border or check into a new hotel.

Landlords renovating buildings throw out stoves, tables, lamps, refrigerators and carpeting. In most cities, each area has a day designated for discarding bulk objects. Call the Sanitation Department and say you live in that part of town which would be putting out the most expensive shit and find out the pick-up day. Fantastic buys can be found cruising the streets late at night. Check out the backs oflarge department stores for floor models, window displays and slightly damaged furniture being discarded.

Construction sites are a good source for building materials to construct furniture. (Not to mention explosives.) The large wooden cable spools make great tables. Cinderblocks, bricks and boards can quickly be turned into a sharp looking bookcase. Doors make tables. Nail kegs convert into stools or chairs. You can also always find a number of other supplies hanging around like wiring, pipes, lighting fixtures and hard hats. And don’t forget those blinking signs and the red lanterns for your own light show. Those black oil-fed burners are O.K. for cooking, although smoky, and highway flares are swell for making fake dynamite bombs.

Free Shelter

All over the world, the promise of increasing wealth has left behind a huge population of people who are unable to continually afford the inflating price ofhousing along with other basic services.

Some people become homeless when that last paycheck is unable to cover rent for another month and they are evicted. Then, not having a home, and couch surfing to survive being hard on the schedule, they begin to experience trouble at work, they lose the ability to return to regular housing, and they become homeless.

Others see the problem of the inflating economy and the slavery of debt-based home finance or permanent payout to a slum lord and refuse to play by the crooked rules of their game, they opt out, they are now out camping, homeless by choice.

In the United States especially, homelessness is associated with the worst elements in society; the ones we are at war with; drug users, anarchists, the poor. This societal psychological distancing is required so the public will accept the regular abuses that they pay the police to perpetrate against those less than human. These protectors ofjustice strictly enforce that the laws forbidding the homeless to sleep in any but well hidden scarce shelters, thus protecting the public from seeing the reality and feeling the shame that they have not taken any real action to help the less fortunate.

Often programs to assist the poor and homeless are corpgov pork programs to steal from the taxpayer and grease the palms of a few cronies.

The homeless should be the ward of the radical since we are clearly the only ones who will take up their cause. There have been repeated stories of the homeless being paid by “corpgov activism” to picket for a cause; the homeless are our natural allies, not theirs.

One of the most frightening aspects of not having a permanent address is the loss of most of your civil rights. Since you likely do not own the property where you camp (even if you do) the police and courts will empower themselves to search and seize your property either for trespass or for possibly being stolen. If the police can leave the scene with your things and not give you a receipt they have become defacto owners of your things and you will have no way to retrieve them.

The most vile aspect of state abuse of the homeless is taken in the name of child welfare. If the state feels that it has a compelling reason, it will confiscate your child and place them in a home where they will be properly programmed as good corpgov citizens.

Many homeless people suffer from depression, as either a cause or effect felt by those who have been cast out against their will, without their corpgov insurance to pump them with prescription antidepressants. They often turn to taxed alcohol abuse or reliance on hard drugs. We must as brothers and sisters radicalize this population and give them something to strive for. If we let the welfare system do ourjob these people will be deactivated with a meager income just enough to keep them from trying to have a life. This tactic of depression and payoffhas been effectively used to destroy (North American) Native, African originating, and other minority peoples movements in the United States and Canada.

In our world we are seeing the full extent of the greed and manipulation that banking and finance can exert onto the basic human need of a safe place to lay their head for the night. This basic desire along with the need for an expensive education have been harnessed through the use ofloans at interest paid off over around half an average lifetime to enslave the Amerikan and much of the worlds population. Fearing for their house and confiscation of their worldly goods a person becomes a willing or unwilling robotic tool for the super rich who need a moving economy to harvest from. Because low cost alternatives to the traditional condo and house allow a way out of this contrived enslavement there is immense political pressure to destroy these alternatives in the name ofkeeping housing market prices up. When demonstrating against corporations let at least part of your wrath fall upon these banks.

The Street

: = y of the homeless in the North America are youth turned out by hateful, abusive, or perverse ’HHnts or step-parents. This chapter is to address the needs of a street person during the first few hours to weeks until they find a safe support group and hopefully some kind of proper shelter. The language of this chapter is mostly directed toward teenage women but the survival tips apply equally to both sexes and any age. The streets are not an option in terms of living, the fact that you are out there means you had to run before there was time to plan, you must move quickly to find safe shelter and support.

For those who have been abandoned on the streets too long and forced to make terrible choices

Just because you might have sold your body for sex to survive does not make you a prostitute Just because you begged for money to survive does not make you a beggar,

Just because you stole to survive does not make you a thief

Just because you sold drugs to survive does not make you a drug dealer

Just because you did drugs to survive the hurt does not make you a dope fiend

You ARE an important leader at the spearhead of our struggle, stand up to right the wrongs of society

Reasons to Leave Home

If you are seriously considering leaving the reasonably free supply of food, clothing, heat, bed, and roof over your head you must have a very good reason. But NEVER trade sex or abuse from your alleged guardians for these!! Leaving might be the right choice, but the street is what happens when you have no choice, think hard, don’t you have a relative, friend, teacher, co-worker, anyone you can go to for shelter to avoid the street?

Physical Abuse

If you are in a situation where you fear for your personal safety or have already been assaulted you should do two things first of all file a police complaint and open a file with family services documenting the problem. It will probably save the whole family from the physical abuse of the type you have been suffering. Unfortunately abused parties like drug addicts suffer from withdrawal, you may be in more hot water for removing the abuser from the home by those who remain. If these actions cause no change and you have tried every other place to hide it might be worth risking a flight away even to the dangerous cold streets to escape worse violence at home.

Sexual Abuse

At the first sign of sexual abuse leave your house and open a file at welfare services and the police as well as demanding a temporary restraining order be placed that day. You must do this to protect not only yourselfbut any other vulnerable family members. If the police, court, or social worker takes no action attempt to find a friend or relative to hide with. Sometimes this separation is all that is needed. Especially in second or third abusive relationships you might not be able to expect even your mother to believe your claims of abuse, unfortunately this may be the end of your relationship with your sick family. Only as a last ditch emergency action should a girl go onto the streets to avoid rape or sexual abuse since a teen girl is also a prime target for street predators.

Reasons not to Leave Home

Annoyance with your parents or siblings, discipline, or school related problems are probably best dealt with in your own home, you have no idea how bad the streets can be especially for a girl, a sexist world it is, most every perv wants to take a piece of a teenage girl. We are not worried that you will remain homeless for more than a few days, our concern is that your leaky roof and stained bed will be owned by a brutal pimp and your rent will be paid in depraved sex acts with diseased strangers.

Dangers on the Streets

Since you have no safe storage on the streets everything you own must be with you at all times, this leads to the bag lady or shopping cart homeless that you have seen.

If you are underage you are unable to sign a legal contract for a car or apartment and are considered something similar to property of your parents or guardians, get a fake ID as soon as possible.

Most cities make it illegal for the homeless to sleep hoping it will make them disappear or die, when you are asleep behind a bush or on a bench you can expect others to rifle through your bags and pockets stealing any useful or valuable things they might find, not to mention placing you in a very vulnerable position for physical or sexual abuse.

Worse yet a young woman without any hand to hand combat training is at the mercy of a huge abusive rapist type. Your best defense is being in good shape and sprinting away from the first sign of trouble.

Sometimes you happen to be in a dead end street or the exit door is blocked there is no option of running away. While some naive feminists and well armed police may disagree, the idea that an armed woman is just some weakling who is only going to turn over her weapon to her attacker is just foolish. On the way out of your abusers house(only if you have time in the middle of the night) grab his gun and some bullets, or spend some precious money and buy your own Handguns. You must learn how to safely use that gun, try to get a carry permit too. Don’t hesitate if you are attacked, use the deadliest force you can muster KILL THE ONE WHO IS TRYING TO RAPE OR KILL YOU before that demon-rapist is within grappling range and can get at your weapon, you can work out the details in court later if the cops manage to catch you. If you bringjustice to an abuser through an act of self defense you must realize that the police, courts, appointed lawyers, prisons and parole boards all discriminate heavily against the homeless and minorities we feel it is almost impossible to give you good advice whether to hide the evidence and run or to find a good lawyer. There is much danger from the (un)justice system when a woman protects her own life but how many other victims lives will you save with this selfless act?

If during your fight for survival you become somehow involved with someone who is in the drug trade and are arrested at the same time as them you can expect the system to attack you like a mother bear. Once you are convicted with a felony drug crime almost all social services including healthcare, food stamps, and student aid can be denied to you for the rest of your life.

It seems to us that the system needs to maintain a class of people who only have the option of larceny, selling drugs, or prostitution. It is catch-22 laws like this among other abuses that make us realize the legal governance of our nation has been overthrown and we must fight a revolution to return our legal constitutional republic.

Unprepared

Most decisions to hit the streets happen in a fearful rage after an attack. Hopefully you got out with at least a warm jacket shoes and clothes. Unless you managed to grab a wallet or purse you have no money, ID, or phone. In this case you must find the first police station or hospital and report the crime, but be wary of giving identifying information, you don’t want your abuser to convince the cops to send you home. Many people make the mistake of wandering the streets for hours or days as the evidence quickly looses its potency. Get help but be cautious if the help includes a lock down type facility.

As an aside if you managed to grab your phone think hard who pays the bill and who controls the account. Your abusers can easily file a missing person report or even a stolen phone report and track you down that way, you might just pull the battery out to be safe for a few days. Credit or debit cards also leave a trace where they were used, if you really need cash have a friend with a car withdraw cash from an ATM on the other side of town.

Evil Helpers

There are those men (and occasionally women) who prey sexually on the freshly homeless. Be wary of a single man of any age who offers you a place to stay with no strings attached in his own home. Never accept room and board for any kind of sexual favor. Never accept any drinks or drugs from strangers or those you have recently met. NO MATTER HOW DEPRESSED YOU ARE DON’T DO ANY DRUGS OR ALCOHOL.

Even churches cannot always be considered a safe place, the same is true with homeless youth shelters, unfortunately these low pay positions are an easy place for men who want to abuse young women to meet their prey.

Be on very high alert and avoid places where prostitution is common, pimps may recruit by coercion or they mayjust kidnap rape and begin to sell the body of a young woman. Many pimps use the introduction to hard drug addiction and controlled supply method to enslave women. Again do no drugs when you are on the streets!

Choosing Good Helpers

Only accept help from a Pastor, Rabbi, or volunteer once you see their home has what appears to be a normal husband, wife, and children, don’t stay alone by any singles, widowers or divorced, a normal dinner with the family should usually be enough to scan for weirdness, especially watch how the kids interact with their parents, look for fear. Some Christian types may try to push their faith on you, you already know what you believe you don’t owe them that, pretending that you are listening is a small price for a safe roof and food to eat until you can get on your feet, but you can also be looking for another place to stay. DO NOT ABUSE THIS TRUST, DO NOT STEAL FROM THESE HELPERS!! If you need something ask.

There are cults that might take you in even give you a place to sleep, be careful and bolt if it appears that they are into locking down doors, brainwashing, punishments, or trading food for conversion or good deeds.

Personal Needs

Until you can find what is a safe place to stay the temptation is there to shoplift for your needs, this might indirectly solve your shelter problem with a night in jail but it could also dump you back in you abusive and now wary former home.

Shelters

Most shelters require a sign up some time in the early afternoon, stop by a few of them and see which ones are clean and which ones will try to turn the underage back over to their abusers. Homeless shelters are one of the first places the police check during a man hunt. Expect to have your stuff pawed through as you sleep unless you are literally on top of it, stash valuables someplace safe before hitting the shelter for the night.

Food

If you knock on doors you would be surprised how most people will give you either part of a warm dinner or at least a can of creamed mushroom soup that was in back of the cupboard if you ask nicely. See Free Foodfor more ideas.

Getting Off Drugs

see Free Dope#Getting Clean

Services

Before identifying yourselfbe sure that the service you are checking into will not inform your abusive family of your location.

Rape and Battery Support Groups

Some of the best services for women are rape and battery support groups, some will even match you with a safe formerly abused woman to stay with and counseling. Don’t get freaked if some of these women are a little fragile or weird, they had to glue their shattered life together from some serious shit, you are part oftheir healing. DO NOT STEAL OR TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THEM!

Be wary that some groups are based on the premise that all men are evil, overlook this and work on your healing.

State Welfare Services

This varies from one state to another be careful since some states if they believe your story will throw you into something similar tojuvie hall for abused kids. As we know abused people learn to abuse be careful not tojump from the pan into the fire.

Foster Home

Most often a state welfare agency will send you to a foster family who will assume full parental power over you for at least a limited time. These people are often unsung heroes but like teachers may have become burned out and now do the service for the stipend. Keep your eyes open for potential abuse which rarely occurs and keep in good contact with your social worker. It is a good idea to set up escape plans now while things are cool in case the freaks at state welfare decide you are a liar and send you back to your abusers. Stashing escape gear, making deals with friends, teachers, and spiritual leaders for emergency shelter is vitally important. Take counseling seriously and if you feel that the worker is getting nowhere with you ask if another social worker could be assigned.

Stealing

In some times and places you may be forced to shoplift to survive although if you look around there is usually an alternative. But Never steal from those who take you in to help you! You are first of all hurting yourself as you seriously risk being turned back out back to the cold street, you also burn the people they might have helped survive in the future. If you have a need for some survival item or cash ask them, or get it in some other way.

Mail

One of the difficulties with getting social services when homeless is that you have no proper mailbox to use when applying for aid. In 1994, the Postal Service issued a ruling that the homeless are eligible for a PO Box if they can provide a piece of official identification, a way to be reached, or proof that the postmaster knows them. The rule also declared that homeless people are entitled to general delivery service indefinitely, not forjust 30 days. Unfortunately in some locations the US Postal Service has done everything it can to deny postal service to the homeless person.

You could try applying at the post office for a PO Box with your pre-eviction address before you get the kicked out, use the address of a homeless advocacy agency with their permission, or the address of a friend. Once you have the PO Box you don’t really need to worry about the street address unless the they ask for updated information. An added benefit to having a real PO BOX is that in some offices you receive an after hours code to the heated mailbox room, which is of course locked so the homeless won’t sleep there.

General Delivery is a great choice for you if carrier service or a PO Box is not an option. Your mail will be held at a Main Post Office for up to 30 days and can be picked up at any retail window. This is the easiest starter option if you don’t have a permanent address. The zip+4 code 9999 means general delivery. The only real pain is if you have a long schlep to a main (full size) post office. Here is an expamle ofhow to address general delivery in the US:

Abby Hoffman General Delivery Washington DC 20090–9999

Health Clubs

Would you ever expect us radical yippie types to suggest you go for one of the biggest CorpGov ripoffs of all, the gym? Yup. Athletic clubs basically subsidise the price of membership because ninety percent of the overweight slaves who sign up never show up for the first week, but they are stuck in some crazy year contract. If possible beg the ID from a person who resembles you or modify the ID and use his key card to get in. Once the employees get to know your face they will check your ID less, don’t get to friendly though since the homeless are really not welcome at these clubs. Women may want to find a women’s only club so they don’t have to put up with guys harassing or oggling them. Even if you have to pay it is often worth the money if you are without a proper home for the following services:

• Clean Showers-you have no idea how nice a private clean shower stall is when you are in a filthy squat or shelter hopping.

• Therapy Pool(warm pool)-the streets are cold in the winter, it is amazing what an hour in a therapy pool will do for your back and muscles cramped from nights on the ground shivering.

• Sauna-If we manage to find an abandoned room the chances of it having proper heating are pretty low, often we can find a dank damp moldy building to squat somewhere. An hour or so sweating it out in this dry air and cleaning the fungus and mold out of your lungs can make such a difference in your health and energy level. This is also an oppertunity to dry our your feet and prevent immersion foot.

• Exercise Equipment-not that we really need it so much, we are on our bicycles or walking all day but it is a good idea to work your abs and back groups to prevent back injury. Use the stretching stations to limber up and prevent injury.

• Locker, try to rent a big one, this may be your only safe storage space.

If you want this plan to work you need to visit a public restroom and pre-clean yourself, at least your visible areas, before hitting the club, also put on some bagged clean cyclist or workout clothing. The employees must NEVER know that you are homeless or they will surely terminate your membership!

Guys, Gals, Roommates, and Safety Pacts

A word to the young women (but can also apply to young men and homosexuals ofboth sexes) who are forced out of their family home and in one of the many less desirable shelter scenarios presented in this book. Until you get a serious case of street smarts (don’t ever fool yourself that takes several hard years and lots of very painful mistakes) be very wary of taking residence where there are any males in the mix.

Unfortunately thanks to a chemical called testosterone, that courses in amazing quantities through the veins of males from their early teens onward, the normal rational judgment of even the sweetest smartest guy is clouded to a varying extent when it comes to interaction with young women. If possible make your life easier by rooming or crashing in a female only environment, if at all possible with a strong locking door and secure windows. All of the catty female politics that might annoy you are infinitely simpler and safer than dealing with some confused guy who might decide to stalk you or get his hands on you.

Your best plan is to make a long term pact with one or two trusted like minded women who swear to stay together and guard the safety of the others first above any other consideration. It is also every womans (and every revolutionary) responsibility to watch out for the safety and care of newly homeless girl and to guide her into her own safety pact group.

Crash Pad Romance

Nearly every guy in our movement is a decent honorable person but we want to leave no room for error with our most vulnerable, the abused run-away. Let your mixed social interaction take place only in public or group areas. Guys (and gays) realize that an abused woman(or man) may have varying feelings toward romantic advances varying from disinterest to active revulsion, pushing the issue can not only prolong and interfere with their healing but may also lead to a misunderstanding and serious allegations of misconduct against you.

Mental Illness

A reality is that a percentage of those seeking or living in alternative housing are not there as a form of protest against a broken CorpGov system but because they have untreated and sometimes dangerous mental illness, do what you can to see them get proper treatment, at arms length if you must, but don’t make them your problem as well, choose your friends and roommates wisely.

Survival

Shelters

The idea is to somehow get inside and warm and safe. Homeless shelters, squats, and alternative shelter can all provide some of what you need if you can get inside, anyone who has been out knows that emergency bed space for both men and women is a precious and limited commodity often denied for dubious reasons, especially considering the crazy rules and waiting lists that can be involved.

Sympathy Psych

If you can dress and clean up nicely and act the non-destitute, normally successful part people will actually have more sympathy for you as they see a small reflection of themselves and their life in your situation. This might get you into shelters, peoples homes, and other options where a “gross” homeless guy would be turned away in disgust, play to your audience for success in sheltering. Women should not overplay abuse or fragility, no matter how hard it is acting as “normal” as possible will pay off in protecting and sheltering yourself and any children with you.

Destitute Sheltering

If all else fails and you are stuck overnight outside we would hope you have some wilderness camping gear and can get to a park. Most homeless forced to sleep outdoors are not so well equipped due to theft, dire poverty, or breakage. Even a cardboard box and a plastic trash sack is better than nothing at all, try to insulate with cardboard and crumpled newspaper, this could save your life. Keep your torso, groin, neck and head insulated at all costs. Hide under anything that will give some protection from the elements.

Alcohol and Cold

It may make you. feel warmer but alcohol will speed the progression ofhypothermia(getting too cold) by letting all of you heat out of your core areas to your arms, legs, head, and face, hypothermia is the leading cause of overnight death in the homeless population. Don’t drink alcohol to stay warm!

Hot Water

No matter how you do it, acquire a thermos and keep it filled with hot water, you should be drinking this hot water by the gallon every day and night. It is usually not to hard to walk right in to a restaurant, convenience-market, or gas station, you can be filled up before the staff can even begin to complain or kick you out. The other good source for hot water is to use a pocket stinger heater Pack your bag#Immersion Boiler and plug in wherever you can find power, many outdoor signs have a place to plug in just keep your eyes open, power plugs are everywhere even outside. Most hot water faucets you will encounterjust don’t put out water warm enough to keep usable heat even if stored in a thermos. Even if you are not getting enough calories in you diet drinking the hot water will save the caloric energy you would have used to keep you warm in cool or damp weather meaning you can get by on less.

Other Tips

See Free Clothingfor tips on increasing the warmth of your clothing.

Other

Call 911if you think the cops can help you or get to a pay phone and dial these free numbers

National Domestic Violence Hotline: 800 799 SAFE

Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN) Hotline: 800 656 HOPE

National Teen Dating Abuse Helpline: 866 331 9474

See Free High Schoolfor information on how to get emancipated, becoming a legal adult before 18

See Low Impact CrashingandSquattingfor more homelessness tips

Low Impact Crashing

Intro

When, for whatever reasons, you’re Homeless or Living on the Streets (I called it “Being Houseless” when I was living rough, ‘cause Home, Baby, is where the Heart Is!), cleanliness can help in so many ways, and yet it is one of the first things to get blown offby some people due to the foul attitude that sometimes accompanies being Houseless against your will. Stay cool, and dedicate yourself to remaining clean and healthy, no matter how bad The Man wants you looking nasty to give fearful yuppies another reason to avoid confronting the nastier problems in our society. Tell yourself that staying clean and healthy is your way of saying “Fuck You” to stereotypes of homelessness and poverty. Maintaining a high standard of personal hygiene can turn around people who would normally be quite hostile to brothers and sisters who are either down on their luck, or simply unable or unwilling to tolerate normal (abusive) employment conditions.

You will often find yourself with access to an abandoned building, open unused room, and maybe even a bed in a house but for social, security, or other reasons no access to a normal kitchen, laundry, or bathroom. Many of your needs will be met using your regular camping gear like sleeping bag, ground mat, and stove but often you can take advantage of the utilities and environmental control offered, but beware security systems.

Check out Pack your bag for easy packable urban crash gear.

Kitchen

Portable Electrical Cooking

You will likely have access to electricity once indoors. If that’s the case it is better to use this for cooking than risk fire and waste expensive fuel using your fuel stove. SeeCheap Chow for some pocket immersion cooker (stinger) recipes. If you are in a location where you will be staying for a while a hot plate, or coffee cup warmer and Sierra cup for minimalists might even be smarter to cook with than a stinger since there is no fear of gooping up your heater.

Pots and Containers

Camp pots and pans work great. Acquire used plastic food buckets for washing and trash/compost/recycling, and plastic bags for storage. Large, empty and very clean cans can be used as cooking pots. Just remember that if the food inside is hot, so is the can. Use pot holders of some sort, or hold it carefully with a pair of pliers at the lip.

Keep your food in resealable containers like plastic bags or deli tubs. Food left out can either spoil or attract unwanted critters of all types. Remember to keep anything that touches your food (including your hands) as clean as you can. Also, zipper seal type bags can be washed out and reused. Turn them inside out to air dry.

Refrigeration

If there is no refrigerator, get ice from the local convenience store or fast foodjoint and put it in a plastic bag with your food. If you buy a large bag of ice, keep it closed. When it melts, you will have clean drinking or washing water. If you can score a cheap Styrofoam cooler, do so and use it! Some of the pharmaceutical cartel cold transport boxes even come with an ice-gel pack that if you collect enough can be refrozen by sympathizers with freezers, water filled frozen soft drink bottles work good too and you can drink the thawed contents. Oftenjust asking nicely will get the drug dealers (pharmacist) to save these cold boxes for you. Since it was free you won’t be too sorry leaving it behind if the cops or security sweep and clear your squat.

Microwaves

Make friends with the staff of a nearby convenience store, most have microwaves for heating up the junk they sell. If you ask nicely, you may be able to use these to heat food you’ve acquired elsewhere as well as the expired one day foods the employees let you “rescue”.

Sterno

If the electricity or gas is out, a Sterno-style camp stove that folds flat can be worth its weight in gold. While canned gel fuel burns for two hours on average, the metal “candle” types with liquid fuel used for buffet warming pans (often called “chafing fuel”) can burn for as long as six. Just remember to burn them in a well-ventilated area. You can also use a taper candle cut into small sections and placed inside a tuna or pet food can. A variation of this, the old boy scout “buddy burner” is created by soaking cardboard in paraffin wax, then coiling it up inside a tuna can and lighting. An upside down coffee can placed on top makes a good surface for cooking. Be sure to poke some holes in the top of the can to allow oxygen to the flame. For baking, an improvised oven made of aluminum foil over a pan or pot can serve well. One clever trick is to use a pair of aluminum pie pans and hold them together with binder clips.

Drink Can Stove

An inexpensive spirit(alcohol) stove can be made from 2 soft drink cans. Both cans are cut about 4cm above the bottom and the center flat/dome are of the bottom is removed from one, force the cut out center piece into the uncut half. Stretching one cut can with an unopened full soft drink can makes this easier, a few drops of water in the can to be stretched can be heated with a stove or lighter so it will pop off of the full can from steam. Make an inner wall up to the cut edge from left over can top and insert into the center hole of the stove. Punch small holes every 4mm. This stove can only safely burn methanol/95% ethanol alcohol/and rubbing alcohol although isopropyl or rubbing alcohol will produce some soot.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beverage-can stove

Video Link: http://www.metacafe.com/watch/839102/cool little miniature stove/

CAUTION!! This basic model soft drink can stove has been field tested by us and it works well with care, but be careful as the fire that is caused by the Alcohol cannot be put out with water. One of our writers bumped his stove and almost had a room fire on his hands. Fortunately though he had an extinguisher close by to put it out with. But water didn’t work. So be extremely careful with all of these open top alcohol stoves both manufactured and home made.

A different possibly safer closed top spirit stove which will not spill is described here http://ygingras.net/b/2007/6/a-better-soda-can-stove

Other Stoves

More detail on stoves in Backpacking and Camping#Food Preparation.

Petrol and kerosene stoves can only safely be used out of doors on stone or mineral earth, that said some are able to generate amazing heat, designed to quickly melt and boil snow for mountaineering teams.

Triangia of Sweden makes an ultra light cook set which includes an alcohol burner, It’s not as fast to boil as cartridge gas but it’s cheaper and MUCH safer than petrol/kerosene stoves indoors. It can be difficult to find spirit/alcohol fuels in some countries.

Esbit butterfly type fuel pill burning stoves are a good emergency stove and don’t take up much room. The Hexamine fuel pills look like large sugar cubes, are legal to mail in most countries, burn hot and give off no smoke. The bad side is that they often give a strong smell and noxious fumes (so never cook food directly over them outside of a pot or pan), can leave a heavy residue on your cookware, and are expensive compared to other fuel sources.

Small kettle type or “Pyromid” foldup charcoal grilles are good for secluded squats. REMEMBER! Never use any charcoal burning devices or barbecue (BBQ) grills indoors in a well sealed room, since the carbon monoxide can kill you! Always make sure that you are in a burn resistant area like on strictly sand or concrete or in a fireplace with a working chimney. The smell and heat of your stove, charcoal, campfire smoke, or cooking food may alert security or the police to your squat or activate fire suppression systems.

Keep a pail of water and a box ofbaking soda, mineral earth, or salt handy should a fire break out. Baking soda and salt snuff out grease fires, while water causes them to spread. Dry mineral soil, such as sand or clay but not dry organic duff or mulch, works as a good extinguishing agent for all types of fire.

Chimney Stoves

You can get a much better ventilated fire using the chimney concept to accelerate the intake and output gas of a wood fire increasing the heat and greatly reducing smoke and smell. Find a piece of steel (other metals may melt) or cement pipe at least three or four inches wide. If all you have is a straight piece at least a eighteen inches tall cut or break a feed hole and light the fire, a cinder block or two can be broken into shape to make a stand to keep the chimney from falling over, cut several one inch wide half circle holes on top so the hot gas can escape around your pot. Even better is 18 inches of pipe for a chimney a 90 degree elbow and about a foot ofhorizontal feed pipe, this all increases the draft and makes for a hotter flame, you can partly block the intake side on the bottom to slow the flame, feed the fire with wood or charcoal pushed in with a stick. An ash hole at the back of the elbow will let you clean the stove while it is burning.

You can also build a chimney stove with clay mud if you can find it where you are camped, dig out the fire area andjust form a chimney, the heat will help fuse it into a useable stove, most cultures use a tapering cone shaped like a beehive.

Cardboard and newspaper balls in the horizontal feed pipe help get the draft jet started and blow the coals or wood to blazing life quickly. Be careful as this stove can make lots of sparks with some kinds of wood and almost always with paper and grass, some screen over the top of the chimney will stop almost all sparks.

Hobo Stove

During the Great Depression of the 1930’s, many of the destitute cooked their meals with Hobo Stoves. These were made from large metal #10 cans (like one ones used for coffee), with holes cut along the sides near the top and bottom for ventilation, and a small covered opening at the bottom to put your fuel source (Cut a door, but leave enough for a hinge). Canned fuel works great for this, but put it on a heat-proofbase like a cinder block, stone floor tile, or some bricks. If you use it outdoors, you can burn small scraps of wood, paper, orjust about anything that will burn.

Buddy Burner

Often a buddy burner was used with the hobo stove, this was a tuna can with a strip of cardboard that is the same width as the height of the can, roll up tight like a snail shell to fit the can. Fueling with melted wax is best but food oil or kerosene can also be used although these are both a bit more dangerous and more difficult to carry, a powerful flame is produced. Be careful melting wax on anything but a double boiler, stove top melting can cause it to catch fire, liquid it is like a kerosene fire. To regulate flame use the can lid or aluminum foil, smother with a larger can or foil to kill the flames. To fuel the flame when it starts to die feed small chunks of wax onto the burning cardboard or spoonfulls of fuel.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hobo stove

Hobo Grille Oven

If you dont have a nice BBQ grille you can always improvise. One of the ways the classical American grille does its job is by holding the heated gasses under the hood to cook from all sides. Get ahold of a charcoal pre-heater can, the kind with holes in the bottom and a handle on the side, it is reasonably portable and pretty cheap. get ahold of a grill from wherever, disposable BBQ grilles are a good source. Get a fire going and down to good coals, now put the grille over the top and follow with a large coffee can, the can will retain the heated gasses just like a grille hood or lid.

Advanced Hobo Ovens

The old buddy burner works well using charcoal, but an inside oven is useful in your squat. If you have a simple hot plate with a variable heat setting you can make a small oven.

You will need:

• a coffee can or larger sheet metal box

• the metal coffee can lid for a floor plate

• a tool to punch holes

• Steel electric fence wire for grate and to suspend the floor plate

• an oven thermometer

• a ceramic plate or pot lid

Both top and bottom of the can are removed and the can is placed onto the burner (an exposed coil type burner is better than a closed flat one). Three holes are punched about one cm. above the level of the burner. Wire is laced through these holes to suspend the loose can lid as a oven floor. Punch a ring ofholes one cm. large about 2-3cm from the edge of this floor. 1/2 way up the can punch holes and lace wire to make a grate for food. A ceramic plate will sit on top to make the roof of your oven. Cut three or four small triangle vents in the top of the can to allow the heat to rise. A hole in the side near the grate can be punched so the thermometer probe can enter. Adjust the hotplate to set temperature, keep an eye on your thermometer for temperature drift.

If a hot plate is unavailable you can attempt to use a 100 watt incandescent light bulb. Leave the bottom of the can intact except for a hole that you can thread the light bulb bottom through, adjusting temperature by opening holes in the top under the plate. The “Easy Bake Ovens” sold in toy stores work this way.

Washing and Drying Clothing

A plastic bucket and liquid dish soap (not dishwasher machine soap) will remove even tough stains in clothing. Regular laundry detergent powder works good but can stink up your pack and clothes if it is perfumed. Some soaps claim to be concentrated, look for the one that needs the least soap per load.

There are metal agitators that can be bought through catalogs that specialize in non-electric households. Lacking that, you can use a rubber toilet plunger (preferably one that HASN’T been used in a toilet) and a large bucket.

A metal washboard can come in handy if you will be staying for awhile, but might be hard to find in some areas. Try a store that caters to migrant laborers. You can use a sink instead of a washtub. In some stores you might find bars of washing soap. This can be used to pre-treat stains (Wet the soap, wet the stain, rub). Remember that some washing soaps like Fels-Naptha are strictly for clothing and not for personal use (but some swear by it for treatment for rashes caused by poison ivy and other skin-irritant plans).

Make sure there is air circulation in the place you hang your clothes to dry or you might end up with a unhealthy mold problem in that room.

Improvised Clothing

see Free Clothing for ways to increase the insulating power of your clothing

Clean Water

Irrigation

Irrigation systems can be tapped for water, this may be your easiest source if you are camped under a bridge, although it may not be safe to drink. Double check on that water since some irrigation systems, especially those in desert areas, often use “greywater” or “sullage” that is treated waste water (Yuck!) and is not safe for washing or drinking. If the nearby fire hydrants orjunction boxes are painted purple, then that is the most likely case. Irrigation systems usually run on a timer and flow during the late evening so you will have to store the water you need for the day.

Garden Hose

If you have a friend in the forest or fire service they can likely get you the flat nylonjacketed garden hose that is thrown away after forest fires, you can also get this flat hose on a reel in garden stores, this packs small and light and is useful if you need to get water to your squat from a hose faucet or to wash up behind nearby bushes. Don’t forget to get a light hose nozzle and valve.

The knob on most public water faucets is removed so the homeless can’t get a drink or wash, but most are standard square and are available at hardware stores, most useful to us is the key shaped faucet knobs made to be carried in your pocket.

For all but assured clean drinking water use your backpackers water filter or boil. Allow the hose to run for a few minutes or be careful to drain after every use to eliminate the problems of stagnant water. The FDA has standards for drinking water hose, so look for certification on the package if buying a new hose (The ones certified for drinking water use are often made of white plastic).

Filtration

If you need a water filter and can’t afford a proper backpacking model maybe you want to make the terracotta/organic water filter which removes most harmful bacteria. This design is by a team in Manatuto in East Timor including ANU materials scientist Mr Tony Flynn.

You will need:

• straw and cow manure for fuel

• terra cotta clay and

• used tea leaves or coffee grounds or rice hulls

Instructions:

• 1- Take a handful of dry, crushed clay.

• 2- Mix the clay with a handful of your organic material.

• 3- Add enough water to make a stiff biscuit-like mixture.

• 4- Form a cylindrical pot that has one end closed.

• 5- Dry the pot in the sun.

• 6- Surround them with straw.

• 7- Place in a mound of cow manure.

• 8- Light the straw and then top up the burning manure as required.

In less than an hour the filters will be finished. Fill the filter and let the water slowly drip through the bottom into another container. As far as effectiveness against bacterial pathogens and larger Giardia this filter removes 96.4 to 99.8 ofE-coli bacteria, well within safe levels.

Boiling

When all that is available is questionable water but you do have a good fuel supply most parasites and other microscopic troublemakers can be eliminated with this method.

• Filter water with a coffee filter, paper towel, or several inches of cloth stuffed tightly into a cut offbottle.

• Bring water to a boil and shut down, it is pasteurized.

• Collect and store water in a clean container free of contamination.

Whyjust to a boil? And what is with the city always saying 20–30 min with additional instructions water temperatures? The reality is that above 160° F (70° C) all pathogens become inactive within 30 minutes and above 185° F (85° C) within a few minutes, so in the time to reach 212° F (100° C) all the bad microbes will become inactive. The first filtration is to remove larger microbes and cysts like Giardia which are a bit stronger.

Bleach

Unscented bleach can be used to purify water it you can’t get it straight from a known safe faucet. This is the cheap Clorox type without any additives to improve colors or smell. Try to filter your water.

• Filter water with a coffee filter, paper towel, or several inches of cloth stuffed tightly into a cut offbottle

• 2 drops ofbleach per quart of water

• 8 drops ofbleach per gallon of water

• 1/2 teaspoon bleach per five gallons of water

• If water is still cloudy, double the dose ofbleach.

The treated water should be allowed to stand covered for 30 minutes, it should have a slight chlorine odor if it doesn’t give it another dose and let the water to stand for another 15 minutes. If the treated water has too strong a chlorine taste let it stand exposed to the air for a few hours. Be careful the bleach will leave holes in your clothes if it spills or splashes, rinse out quickly.

Fire Sprinklers

Don’t try to tap a fire sprinkler system for water! You will set off the alarm and your squat will be discovered. Once you drain even a few PSI from the system it will fill with water and alarm, if it is an air pressurized system. Water filed systems are often filled with an antifreeze mix, these systems also alarm and call the fire department if any water flow is detected.

Bed

Several layers of corrugated cardboard on a wood freight pallets make a passable mattress getting you off of a cold or damp cement floor.

see also Free Furniture, Pack your bag, and Backpacking and Campingfor more bedding options

Bath

Soap

Going to a hotel in around noon and asking maids with their cleaning carts for a few bars of soap is one way to stock up. Asking a doorman at a nice hotel,just walk up as direct and nice as you can, and say, “I am homeless, may I please have one bar of soap?” will work more times than not. Bring a plastic grocery bag into a fast food restaurant and squirt out a good five or ten pumps ofliquid hand soap. Store it wisely, or else the stuff in your pockets or backpack will be wet with sticky cleansing goop. A bottle ofliquid soap with a neck cord is great for quick commando showers, and won’t fall down to a disgusting bathroom floor.

Indoor Bathing

You can buy a special hose with a large rubber gasket-type stretch over connection that fits loosely over about half of the faucets you will find, turning the faucet into a long-hose shower head. It’s available for a few bucks in the plumbing section of most of the big-box “Mart” stores, some pet stores, and hardware stores, it can turn a secluded public restroom with a floor drain into a private spa. Slowly turn on the water and keep the pressure down so the adapter doesn’t pop off the faucet. These shower kits are reasonably lightweight and you can easily remove the rubber faucet adapter and get a proper threaded plumbing adapter for your regular faucet in most cases or for a garden hose, this will prevent wasted water and a wet mess, even with a good slip on fit the universal rubber adapter spurt lots of water at the faucet connection.

For more privacy while washing off you might use a doorjamb lock available at luggage stores, or a door stop to lock the bathroom, only use this option during offhours and at a location where there is another bathroom available for people to use. Leaving a hardware store lock hasp might work, but leaving that kind of obvious evidence of your activity might get that convenient bathroom closed.

Frugal Bathing

If you are overloading a squat or house and need to conserve hot water, are at a public restroom with a very small water heater, or you are dipper bathing from a bucket of warmed water here is a way to not waste your limited supply.

• 1-Wetyourselfdown

• 2-Turn off water

• 3-Soap up head, groin, armpits, and any places with tough dirt

• 4-Rinse

If you are limited to a bucket you should use a large cup to wet and rinse yourself, dumping the bucket over your head is a good way to accidently run out of water while you still have soap on your body.

Wear sandals in any shower or communal bath area where foot fungus is possible; foot rot can ruin your best mode of transport.

Hot Water

Your electric stinger immersion water heater can be put into your wash bucket and used to warm around three or four gallons of water, enough for a dipper shower or a washcloth bath.

In sumer a dark colored garden hose laid out on the roof or pavement will collect solar heat and around noon you can take a nice hot shower by turning on the water.

Outdoor Bathing

One editor used to wash up in back of a church with a garden hose and a bar ofhotel soap, drying himself off with his own shirt or pants, whichever was cleaner at the time. The clothes dry off in minutes, even faster if you first wipe the water off you with your hands and flick it away, and it’s a great feeling knowing you can keep clean and healthy under your own power under nasty life conditions. A trick used by a number ofhobos and rail-riders is to carry a large squirt bottle with diluted baby shampoo. The idea is to wet yourself down, squirt yourself with the diluted shampoo, lather yourself from head to toe, rinse yourself and then dry off. You’d be able to clean yourself in about 3 minutes.

You can use your bucket and adaptor shower hose to make a siphon shower. Submerge the whole shower hose set into the bucket and let the bubbles go out. Hang the bucket from a tree branch, pipe, or other hanger, now quickly bring the shower head down to a level below the bucket allowing the siphon to begin sucking water from the bucket (it might help to tie the other end of the hose to the bucket handle). Be sure the adapter end is as close to the bottom of the bucket as possible, if you have two feet ofhose drop below the bucket it produces a nice spray. If you break the siphonjust suck on the shower head (use the side of your mouth to suck and your cheek to seal most of the spray holes) until it starts flowing again. If this is too complicated you can hang a flower sprinkler and tip it with a rope to shower.

If you are camped out or can’t find a bucket use your sleeping bag stuff sack and a plastic shopping or garbage bag liner to hold the shower water. Don’t use the draw string on the sack as this will likely rip out when you hang it up. Instead insert your hose and make several wraps of cord around the neck of the bag now hang up the bag, to start a siphon shower squeeze the sack.

If you can’t use your electrical immersion water boiler you can heat some water in a cook pot and add it to your bucket of cold water to warm it up.

It is a good idea to hang up a privacy sheet using your hostel sack and clothing line or at least wear a light swimsuit while you wash down since straight neighbors might call the police for public nudity, that and the pervs who might get the wrong idea.

Baby Wipes

Baby wipes give you a refreshing clean feeling when you are away from normal bathrooms, especially if you are on the road but are expensive, heavy, and wasteful.

It is also easy to make your own wipes. Flannel, terry cloth and plain cotton t-shirts can be cut into squares and make great cheap washcloths. Put a little diluted bathroom soap in a plastic baggie and you can get clean wherever you are. If they dry out for some reason,just add a little more water. Note: stay away from anti-bacterial soap for this as it can irritate your skin terribly if not completely rinsed off. Think rash.

Toilet

A chamber pot or pee bottle is a good idea if you want your trips into and out of your toiletless urban squat minimal to avoid detection. Women need to find bottles with a large opening or a urine stream funnel which can be bought or made from a diagonally-cut 1 liter bottle. If there is no toilet, or it doesn’t work, use a 5 gallon bucket (check the dumpsters outside the local fast food joints) and improvise a toilet seat (Anything flat that can hold your weight and with a hole big enough will do). Get some chlorine bleach, dry earth, sawdust, or cat litter to pour into the bucket after each use to kill the smell. If you can get the lid to the bucket, keep it and use it. Also, line the bucket with disposable garbage bags. Double bag it because you do NOT want it to leak when you’re taking it out!

If the toilet in your squat is not clogged but doesn’t flush when you push the lever or you have no water pressure to refill the flush tank, a bucket of water dumped into the toilet will cause a flush cycle.

Toilet paper can be expensive or hard on the sewer or pipe system in some parts of the world. While it may seem disgusting to some readers here is the post toilet cleaning method we saw while in Jordan. The left hand is wet with the bathroom sink or a bottle of water if outside, now the wet hand is used to wipe your butt repeat until clean, then wash your hands really well.

Electricity

Electricity is a big part of the magic of the modern world. With electrical power we can heat our squats and tents, charge batteries, and run full size computers. Without electricity we are back in the 19^th century either freezing our asses off or burning expensive and often unsafe fuels.

Working with electricity is a very useful skill to our movement but if you are not taking proper precautions can also easily be deadly. If possible find a free vocational electricians course or even take a electrical apprentice position for a few months.

Power Jacks

Powerjacks are found in almost every room around the First World. If the jacks are turned off there are in-line light fixture adapters that screw in and still allow the light bulb. If there is only fluorescent fixtures a a few wire nuts and a chopped off extension cord or heavy speaker wire with a power receptacle on the end will let you tap into the power, be sure that the power or breaker is off when you are doing your work, tape over the switches so nobody surprises you with a ZOT of electricity when they enter the room. Sometimes there will be a blank panel of the right size where you might expect a switch or wall jack, open it up and test the wires to see if they are live. Many institutions use a weird screw head pattern to open up electrical panels, a few minutes of work with an old screwdriver and a file should make the right tool.

Alternative Voltages

Think about 110/220v flexible gadgets when buying travel items — you never know where you will be globe hopping.

If you can score a fully charged vehicle or better a deep cycle battery, consider investing in a DC to AC power converter/charger with battery clips. Some highway signs have a big 12 volt solar panel that will charge car batteries. Small 12v to 110 or 220 converters are now cheaply found especially in truck stops and gas stations. seeCars

Outdoor Power Taps

‘!!DANGER!! High skill required!! DANGER!!’ A person with appropriate skill can remove a bulb or splice into wiring from public light displays or streetlights, appropriate safety and training must be used as there is no way to shut off power for this work, serious life hazard is involved. Remember power in light poles is live even during daytime or offhours, and can carry as much as 40 Amps of power and be over 400 volts (l/8^th Amp is enough to kill you).’!!DANGER!!’

Testing

A very small glow bulb AC power tester can be purchased in most hardware stores, these are safe, easy to use, and don’t burn out. Use this tester to determine if there is power in the wiring of a building and if the grounds are connected on a plug. You can also use this to test where the electrical company has cut off power (sometimes it is right at the meter). On 220 volt systems both “hot” wires will give you a glow when connected to ground, onllO only one “hot” wire will give a glow when connected to ground. The ground is the bottom round pin in Amerikan llO volt plugs, the ground diverts power away from you if an appliance short out inside, this is important in metal cased appliances and tools especially when using them on wet concrete.

Long Runs

If you need to transmit electricity for a very long run llO volts is often too low and resistance losses in the line will quickly reduce available electricity on long extension cord runs. The easiest way to get better distance out of narrow wire is to use a transformer and boost the voltage. High voltages require narrower wire and incur less losses for the same wattage but High Voltages are More Dangerous!

Use extreme caution using surplus military communication, network wire, or other other wires when stringing out to your destination, people will not expect a non-official power line to be running high voltage. Split the wires and run them parallel at least a foot or so apart, use electrical fence insulators where you hang wires in trees and buildings, inspect regularly for damage. A three or four amp rated four to one ratio transformer will convert llO volt to 440 volt which is much better at transiting long stretches ofline. You will need another four to one to step back down to ll0v, be careful to install the second transformer to step down or you will be boosting to about 2000 volts! Consider installing a sensitive circuit breaker at your electrical source transformer box, on of a lower value at your destination power box should help you avoid a long hike to flip the breaker. You might get one USA to EU power converter and one EU to USA converter to boost up to 220 and back toll0at the destination, this will require some additional adapter tips which often come with the travel converters.

Free Electricity

Contact your electrical company and relief agencies to see if there is a fund or discount for the indigent, some programs are for the elderly or homes with children. These programs are often part of the contract that the power company has with the community public utilities commission. Power to the People!!

Lighting

A small, cheap desk lamp shining upwards can illuminate a whole room. A compact florescent lamp that screws into a regular light bulb socket will give lots oflight (and very little heat) and be a very minor electrical drain; this is good if you are tapping the light socket power for other uses.

Small oil lamps and the oil used to burn in them can be had at the big box stores and hardware stores. Just remember that those things get VERY HOT after a while. If you use candles, never leave them burning unattended. You can increase the light by putting a mirror or aluminum foil behind the candle and reflect the flame. You can make an improvised oil lamp using a glass jar and any vegetable oil (NEVER use motor oil!). Heat up the bottom of the candle until it’s soft, press it into the bottom of the inside of the jar, and when it cools, pour vegetable oil up to where the wick is exposed, then light the wick. The oil will burn with the candle. Some oils will be sooty and will smoke, so keep a window open. Keep it away from foot traffic, because if it spills, the spilled oil will spread flame VERY quickly! These type of open flames cause most of the deaths and property damage attributed to squatting.

Many grocery stores sell a seven day candle often with religous images on it, look in the Mexican foods section. These are great for night lights and the tall walls and splashing wax usualy put the fire out if there is a tip over.

If you are in an underground squat, something like an old abandoned subway or utility tunnel a Coleman type lantern using pressurised liquid fuel which gives the best large area coverage might be a good idea, the propane type lantern might also be considered if you can get a big propane tank like is used for a barbecue grill, look at camping shops or online for a long adaptor hose. Above all be careful with fire safety.

If you plan to spend hours or days exploring underground tunnels a carbide type lamp which is fueled with water and calcium carbide. The cheapest way to find a carbide lamp is in an antique shop but be sure that it is in good shape and the drip valves still work.

Stealth Light

If you are concerned with being noticed in your squat as you fumble about at night you should not use a full power flashlight or even a standard white LED light. Some flashlights like the one used by the army come with color filters, red to preserve night vision and sometimes blue which is harder to notice on a dark night. In any case if you really want stealth it might be smart to go a step further and poke a pinhole in some foil and blue filter the light too. Avoid swinging the light it is better that it not move as this attracts less attention. Blinking the light on and off as needed is what distress beacons do to get attention, bad idea for stealthy sqyatters. Do a light survey with a partner outside and assess the visibility, consider paper or cardboard over the lower windows to stealth your squat if they are too visible.

Cooling

If you can get a fan, all the better. We like the small cheap clamp-on models. You can make an improvised “swamp cooler” by putting a bowl of ice in front of the fan, and let the air blow across the ice. If you can find a rack to hang a towel or damp clothes in front of the fan (but not over it), wet the towel with water. As the water evaporates, it will cool the air. If you can get a hold of a small sprayer or ultrasonic fogger that generates a constant mist, you can spray the air in front of the fan. Just remember to keep the water away from the fan itself. Water and electricity don’t mix.

During the real dog days of summer a cool bucket of water for your feet can really make a difference, add a well ventilated chaise lounge and you are ready for a nice siesta.

The heat of the day is the ideal time to bathe and wash your clothes and wear them wet, you will feel clean and your damp clothes should keep you cool for a while. This works best in dry areas, but even in a humid place sitting in front of a fan with damp clothes will cool you down.

If you have made a squat inside a building with HVAC there might be a thermostat for you to manipulate. Most won’t allow you to set desired temperature but a hot pack in summer or ice pack or snowball in winter should get you closer to that desired temperature.

Computer

A PDA or small laptop gives you access to the net, if you are willing to pay corpgov for their cellular service you can get on almost anywhere but it is traceable to location and expensive. Better to hunt out a a free wi-fi hotspot, cantenna an open home network, or go old school and scam some dialup. Either find a program or write a script to download all of the websites you frequent at an open WiFi zone, that way you can quickly grab all of your daily news and reading in a minute or two and sit and enjoy it in your squat. A laptop with a dish made from a coffee can can use starbucks’ wifi from well over a mile away if there is a line of sight

AKnoppix or Damn Small Linux disk lets you take over a Windows-owned machine and run your free unlimited system on it bypassing most blockages. A USB keychain drive lets you carry your files and photos as you document the fight and get your information out to the people. See also Internet Communications and Free Telephones

A Word on Batteries, Solar, and “Wind-Up” Gadgets

You might see ads for various electrical devices (radios, flashlights, etc.) that generate their own power by wind-up motors. Many of the expensive ones often use a small rubber belt in the pulley drive that gets stretched out and slips after a few years. They are a bother to replace, if they can be replaced at all.

Others require LOTS of winding, since the hand crank is connected directly to the dynamo. It’s best to wind these things up to charge the on-board batteries when you have nothing else to do, since you want the power when you need it. Gadgets with a small solar panel are best.

If you can score rechargeable batteries and a charger, great. Just remember that plug-in chargers need constant voltage (the town library usually has a few unattended outlets), and solar powered chargers need about two days of steady sunshine to charge the batteries. Also, rechargeable batteries lose their power in storage, so check the charge and try to keep them refreshed. If you can find a larger solar panel like is used by the road department on signs or the little ones from car lots for keeping car batteries charged, these will work more quickly than little solar clamshell chargers.

see alsoCyclingfor bike generator charging

Pest Control

• Keep your squat very clean, you might even consider eating and storing food in a different location than you sleep. Leaving your food in your pack is an invitation to have a mouse or rat chew a hole.

• Shake out and wash if possible all clothing and sleeping bags as bedbugs like to collect here.

• Vinegar can sometimes get rid of ants and roaches, if this fails try boric acid from the pharmacist/chemist or the hardware store.

• Bay leaves, mint, and other aromatic herbs will help keep insects out of your gear.

• Citronella candles are expensive; try to find pure citronella oil sold for cleaning, this is the extract from citrus peels, it can be burned with a wick to drive off flying insects but also gives away your position from its strong citrus smell.

• A buzz haircut helps avoid lice but if you have long hair a drop or two of olive oil on you comb every the morning is healthy for you hair and skin but also prevents the lice from finding a dry spot for gluing their eggs to your hair near the root.

• Eating raw garlic will repel many insects including mosquitoes, it is no substitute for a net in areas infested with malaria or other flying insect carried illnesses.

• In malaria country remember to tuck the mosquito net under your mattress at night after you have inspected for holes and mosquitoes, fold up and store during the day.

• Don’t forget to take your malaria prevention meds every day in an afflicted area.

Medical Care

See Free Medical Carefor information on taking care of your health, illnesses, and injuries with concentration on low budget, migrant, and homeless populations.

Free Land

Free Land

In today’s world, it is nearly impossible for anyone to own property without becoming a bitch to financial institutions or the Government. Furthermore, because Amerikans are worrysome creatures, there are many restrictions on what can and cannot be done to a piece ofland. In quite a few areas a home must be of a certain square footage to “keep up property values” (read: more tax money for the slimeballs in StateGov)

So, in all actuality, it will take about $10,000 in cash or loans for a usable large parcel ofland out in the sticks, ranging from 1–10 acres, in amerika.

eBay can be a good place for the frugal Revolutionary to look for cheap land. Be forewarned: Many of the properties listed are out in the desert or have no real farmable land, and the nearest source of water may be miles away.

You can still try the free mining claim, it appears that this frontier option is only left open for megacorps today with good legal departments, we are doubtful on the option of camping out on the land, the laws as we read them seem to imply actual documented mining activity.

Original Free Land

Despite what you may have heard, there is still some rural land left in Amerika. The only really free land is available in Alaska and remote barren areas of the western states. The latest information in this area is found in a periodic publication called Our Public Lands, available from the Superintendent ofDocuments, Washington, D.C. 20402. It costs $1.00 for a subscription. Also contact the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau ofLand Management, Washington, D.C. 20240 and ask for information on “homesteading.” By the time this book is out though, the Secretary of the Interior’s friends in the oil companies might have stolen all the available free land. Being an oil company is about the easiest way to steal millions. Never call it stealing though, always refer to it as “research and development.”

Continental United States has no good free land that we know of, but there are some very low prices in areas suited for country communities. Write to School ofLiving, Freeland, Maryland, for their newspaper Green Revolution with the latest information in this area. Canada has free land available, and the Canadian government will send you a free list if you write to the Department ofLand and Forests, Parliament Building, Quebec City, Canada. Also write to the Geographical Branch, Department ofMines and Technical Surveys, Parliament Building, Quebec City, Canada. Correspondence can be carried out with the Communications Group, 2630 Point Grey Road, Vancouver 8, British Columbia, Canada, for advice on establishing a community in Canada. The islands off the coast ofBritish Columbia, its western region and the area along the Kootenai River are among the best locations.

If youjust want to rip off some land, there are two ways to do it; openly or secretly. If you are going to do it out front, look around for a piece ofland that’s in dispute, which has its sovereignty in question-islands and deltas between the U.S. and Canada, or between the U.S. and Mexico, or any number of other borderline lands. You might even consider one of the abandoned oil-drilling platforms, which are fair game under high seas salvage laws. The possibilities are endless.

If you intend to do it quietly, you will want a completely different type oflocation. Find a rugged area with lots of elbow room and plenty of places to hide, like the Rocky Mountains, Florida swamps, Death Valley, or New York City. Put together a tight band of guerrillas and do your thing. With luck you will last forever.

If youjust want to camp out or try some hermit living in the plushest surroundings available, you’ll do best to head for one of the national parks. Since the parks are federal property, there’s very little the local fuzz can do about you, and the forest rangers are generally the live-and-let-live types, although there have been increasing reports oflong-hairs being vamped on by Smokey the Pig, as in Yosemite. You can get a complete list from National Park Service, Department of the Interior, Washington, D.C. 20240. The following is a list of some good ones:

• ALABAMA-Russell Cave National Monument, Bridgeport 35740

• ARIZONA-Grand Canyon National Park, Box 129, Grand Canyon 86023

• ARKANSAS-Hot Springs National Park, Box 1219, Hot Springs 71901

• CALIFORNIA-Yosemite National Park, Box 577, Yosemite 95389*

• COLORADO-Rocky Mountain National Park, Estes Park, 80517

• FLORIDA-Everglades National Park, Box 279, Homestead 33030

• IDAHO-Boise National Forest, 413 Idaho Street, Boise 83702

• ILLINOIS-Shawnee National Forest,Harrisburg National Bank Building, Harrisburg 62946

• KENTUCKY-Mammoth Cave National Park, Mammoth Cave 42259

• LOUISIANA-Kisatchie National Forest, 2500 Shreveport Hwy., Pineville 71360

• MAINE-Acadia National Park, Box 338, Bar Harbor 04609

• MARYLAND-Assateague Island National Seashore, Rte. 2Box 111, Berlin 21811

• MASSACHUSETTS-Cape Cod National Seashore, South Wellfleet 02663

• MICHIGAN-Hiawatha National Forest, Post Office Building, Escanaba 49829

• MISSOURI-Mark Twain National Forest, 304 Pershing St., Springfield 65806

• NEVADA-Lake Mead National Recreation Area, 601 Nevada Hwy, Boulder City 89005

• NEW MEXICO-Aztec Ruins National Monument, Route 1, Box 101, Aztec 87410

• NEW YORK-Fire Island National Seashore c/o New York City National Park Service Group, 28 E. 20^th St., New York, NY 10003

• NORTH CAROLINA-Wright Brothers National Memorial Box 457, Manteo 27954

• OKLAHOMA-Platt National Park, Box 201, Sulphur 73086

• OREGON-Crater Lake National Park, Box 7, Crater Lake 97604

• UTAH-Bryce Canyon National Park, Bryce Canyon 84717

• WYOMING-Yellowstone National Park, Yellowstone Park 83020

This summer Yosemite forest rangers tried to evict a group of Yippies from their encampment. The Yippies rioted in the valley, spooked the tourists, burned cars and fought for their right to stay.

If you’re in Canada, Stanley Park is a favorite for people living rough, although in the hot summer there is always a worry about fires starting, and there is often a crackdown to move people out of the area.

Earth People’s Park is an endeavor to purchase land and allow people to come and live for free. They function as a clearing house for people that want to donate land and those who wish to settle. They own 600 acres in northern Vermont and are trying to raise money to buy more. Write to Earth People’s Park, P.0. Box 313, 1230 Grant Ave., San Francisco, California 94133.

People’s Parks are sprouting up all over as people reclaim the land being ripped offby universities, factories, and corrupt city planning agencies. The model is the People’s Park struggle in Berkeley during the spring of 1969. The people fought to defend a barren parking lot they had turned into a community center with grass, swings, free-form sculpture and gardens. The University of California, with the aid ofRonald Reagan and the Berkeley storm troopers, fought with guns, clubs and tear gas to regain the land from the outlaw people. The pigs killed James Rector and won an empty victory. For now the park is fenced off, tarred over and converted into unused basketball courts and unused parking lots. Not one person has violated the oath never to set foot on the site. It stands, cold and empty, two blocks north of crowded Telegraph Avenue. If the revolution does not survive, all the land will perish under the steam roller of imperialism. People’s Death Valley will happen in our lifetime.

Free Housing

Free Sleep

In most parts of the US sleeping of any kind outside an approved shelter is illegal for the homeless so we do what the drug users do, we grab a fix when nobody is looking, never knowing when the next fix will be available, all the while fearing withdrawal. Could you live like that and act normal?

Hospital

If you need a place to sleep for a night, try crashing at the Waiting Room of the local hospital. Tell the nurses that you’re waiting for your sister/friend/whoever to have a baby, then lay down on the floor and catch some Zzzs. Might not be too comfy, but definitely safer than sleeping under a bridge. Eventually, the hospital staff will get wise to you but hopefully by then you’ll have gotten some rest.

Dry Reading

If you need some sleep find a book or newspaper to hold, which is quite easy at the library or in the trash, and doze off, since it appears you were legit andjust reading they will likely not throw you out unless it is a security guard or cop and your skin is the wrong hue ofbrown. This dozed off reading trick works well at bus and train stations, on buses and light rail but often is just a fitful nap not the peaceful sleep you really needed, expect to be awoken by a librarian or transit inspector after a time.

Here are some mid to longer term options for a place to stay Low Impact Crashing How to crash in almost any building or room without needing traditional appliances

External links

http://www.couchsurfing.com- resource for sharing short term, free living space

Housing Co-opsNot free but different

Shelters, Homeless and Otherwise Doesn’t list every shelter, but it’s a good resource.

Find a HostelThis one isn’t free, but split the costs with some friends and it could be pretty cheap.

Homestay DirectoryThe homestay directory onyahoo. go stay with afamily, rent a room, share an apartment, stay on afarm....

Covenant House Listingsif you need aplace to stay or want to stop being a drifterfhomeless, this is the place to go.

Find A Place To Go in Your Area Find aplace to go inyour area. these places are especially for runaway and homeless youth and children.

If you’re in a college town, simply go figure out where the frat party is, make friends there and find a couch to stay (or pass out late at the frat house).

Original Free Housing

If you are in a city without a place to stay, ask the first group ofhip-looking folks where you can crash. You might try the office of the local underground newspaper. In any hip community, the underground newspaper is generally the source of the best up-to-the-moment information. But remember that they are very busy, and don’t impose on them. Many churches now have runaway houses. If you are under sixteen and can hack some bullshit jive about “adjusting,” “opening a dialogue,” and “things aren’t that bad,” then these are the best deals for free room and board. Check out the ground rules first, i.e., length of stay allowed, if they inform your parents or police, facilities and services available. Almost always they can be accepted at their word, which is something very sacred to missionaries. If they became known as double-crossers, the programs would be finished.

Some hip communities have crash pads set up, but these rarely last more than a few months. To give out the addresses we have would be quite impractical. We have never run across a crash pad that lasted more than a month or so. If in a city, try hustling a room at a college dorm. This is especially good in summer or on week-ends. If you have a sleeping bag, the parks are always good, as is “tar jungle” or sleeping on the roofs of tall buildings. Local folks will give you some good advice on what to watch out for and information on vagrancy laws which might help you avoid getting busted.

For more permanent needs, squatting is not only free, it’s a revolutionary act. If you stay quiet you can stay indefinitely. If you have community support you may last forever.

Backpacking and Camping

B packing and camping are both viable ways to live without a permanent address. Backpacking es much more mobility and deeper wilderness, the equipment is mostly suitable for touring both on foot and by bicycle. Camping is more stable and often involves more comfortable bedding and cooking equipment. A camper hitches a ride, drives, or even uses a trailer, while a backpacker can easily move on her own.

Backpacking

Contrary to what the magazines and gear shoppes would like you to think you don’t need to have the most expensive equipment money can buy to take to the hills. There is sometimes a trade off in comfort, weight, and function with the expensive gear, but never let price keep you from choosing this option, we hope some of our ideas can get you out without breaking your budget. Remember often the price difference in the ultra$$ brands is because of expensive advertising.

Don’t forget to visit mom and pop army-navy surplus stores for lots of weird junk mixed with some useful and sometimes very high quality camping gear, unless you swiped it from a base a bit of the money from surplus supports some generals slush fund, but the deep discounts are worth it,just watch out for obsolete, worn out, heavy, or low quality gear. Unfortunately unless you move fast most of the best deals are quickly grabbed and sold at online auctions.

Packs

A quality pack is very important, fit is very personal, you need to try on the loaded pack (take 30–50 lbs of well sacked sand bags or call ahead and see if the store has some) before you buy and walk around for at least an hour.

Quality frame packs while not in vogue are often cheaper and let you carry lots ofheavy gear, the internal frame packs hug tight to your body giving you more stability. Be sure the straps are comfortable on your shoulders and chest and that the sternum strap can be moved to a comfortable place Women especially need to find a pack with shoulder straps contoured to not rub their armpits or breasts when cinched tight.

The old US Army ALICE frame pack is an excellent buy if you can find one in good shape on the surplus market.

Care must be exercised since a high priced pack might have bad stitching or components and a really good pack might be sold for very cheap if it is a brand unknown in the US.

Things to look for: well ventilated back pad, anti-damp shoulder straps and belt pad, useful outside pockets, drinking system compatibility, gear attachment loops, modularity, quality zippers, and durability especially at the shoulder straps and seams.

A pack cover with a draw string protects your pack from rain and also makes it difficult for pickpockets to quickly find the zippers. A pack cover could be reversed to cover straps during air travel.

Daypacks

When traveling find a good daypack that is comfortable when either attached to the main pack straps or looped forward on your arms as well as when you wear it on your back. Keep your valuables in the front day pack where you have control of it an leave you bulky stuff in the main pack.

Small light-duty packs are available which fit into a key chain or wallet and weigh almost nothing.

Tents

A tent serves several jobs; insect protection, privacy, sun shade, and weather protection; the tent construction will affect the performance in all of these areas.

• For insect protection be sure that there are full closing zippers, some inexpensive tents leave the bottoms of windows and doors open, durable screens and zipper seams are less likely to rip out quickly.

• Privacy is the easiest to get, even the cheapest tent is usually opaque, a luggage padlock on your zipper will keep the honest drunk and stoner from crashing out in your tent while you are away.

• Sun protection is best achieved by buying a polyester tent with UV resistant coating or aluminum impregnated into the tent giving the fabric a silver color. Even a good tent shoudl be keptin the shade if possible to reduce degradation.

• Weather resistance is what makes the difference between a $20 tent and a $800 one. High quality tents are season rated, a one season tent is made for use in summer only resisting rain, two also includes late spring and early fall meaning it has better ventilation, three season is for early spring and late fall meaning it can take light snow, a four season is reinforced to withstand heavy snow and still not collapse.

• Construction quality varies widely between tents look for the following. Bathtub bottom construction means that the waterproof ground cover extends up a few inches to resist light flooding. Proper multilayer urethane coating on the tent fly will resist the strongest rain and not rot quickly. Quality Easton aluminum is lighter and stronger for pole construction than fiberglass. Taffeta inner walls that reach to near the bottom of the walls will help prevent condensation, be sure the fly is well separated from the inner wall to give good ventilation. YKK zippers are the industry standard and much better than the ones on inexpensive tents, glow zipper pull add -ons are nice at night. A mesh gear loft is handy to place a light, watch, glasses, phone, or keys. A large tent fly that extends from the tent can be used in rain or snow for stashing water resistant gear and careful cooking.

Without all of these fancy features we have successfully tested $20 tents for whole summers in dry locations with occasional rain. If the weather is clear don’t use the fly at night on a cheap tent, the small “skylight” screen will release enough moisture that condensation will not be too bad. On every tent buy quality seam seal and reseal all of the seams with three light coats to prevent leakage through the stitches.

Tarp Tent

For ultra light weight camping a UV treated nylon tarp and your walking staff makes a tent,

• 1- shorten your walking staff and stick into the ground

• 2- Connect one corner to the top of your staff

• 3- stake the corner opposite the staff to the ground

• 4- spread the other two side corners with five foot cords

• 5- stake side cords to the ground.

This gives good protection from sun and if placed mindful of terrain or a angled gutter is dug to divert runoff it will also protect you from rain. Suspend a light bug screen for insect protection.

Army Poncho

The US army type poncho is multi-purpose item and works good as rain rear and makes a quick shelter. Two can be snapped together to form a pup tent or one as a tarp tent. Recent surplus ponchos are not only woodland camouflage but are designed to match the infrared background in a forest which is good if you are a fugitive but bad if you are lost in the woods. If you look in books

like the army ranger handbook you will find ideas for using ponchos as rafts emergency stretchers and other useful things.

Sleeping Gear

Sleeping Bags

The price difference in sleeping bags is mostly a factor of name brand style, weight, and packed size versus warmth. The difference is in the construction, fill material, the shell, and in the lining. The shell is usually nylon and is thin or thick depending on if durability or weight are desired, for any shell the weave should be tight to prevent snags. Fill material available is constantly changing, 600 goose down is the gold standard for insulation but is worthless if wet, we don’t recomend it. Synthetics claim many qualities, but good fluff is what you really need; claims of new 3D fibers and such pop up every few years, be skeptical of amazing powers contained in the new expensive fiber. Lining is usually nylon, coolmax, or a nylon-cotton mix, the cotton and coolmax synthetics make the liner more comfortable in hot weather, while nylon is lighter. Construction is very important, some features mentioned only apply to a mummy style or rectangle bag, look for the following: neck and face draw-strings, quality (YKK is good) zippers, full length zippers, compatibility to zip two bags together, hang loops, mesh gear pocket, foot contour, thicker insulation on bottom, and box baffling of insulation.

A low temperature and a medium temperature mummy bag give you a modular extreme cold system, nest the smaller bag inside the larger for very cold nights, and in warmer weather if the zippers match you have room for two.

Many inexpensive sleeping bags can now be found to include many of the features needed to keep warm even in cooler temperatures, while not performing badly in terms of weight and packing. An army poncho liner blanket is very light and can be stuffed into any place in your bag where you feel cold.

If you’re really down and out, one or more of the “lint” blankets given away by homeless shelters inside of a taped or melted-shut piece of visqueen plastic sheeting will keep you warm and block the wind, but the blankets and bag need to be seperated and dried out every day.

Sleeping Pads

The best choice for a sleeping pad is a well made self inflating pad, it is both light and durable. However, if you are on a budget, stick with the old indestructible closed-cell foam roll-up mat, it will keep you warm and dry, but packs big. Cardboard or newspaper can be used to insulate yourself from the ground. Be sure to avoid sleeping with little-to-no insulation, especially if in the woods, as temperature changes and dampness can make you uncomfortable and even sick.

Bivvy Sack

A quality Gore-tex bivvy sack will set you back about $300 unless you can find a military surplus one. These manufactured bags are ofhigh quality, tough, and waterproof. A bivvy sack is almost weightless when compared with a tent and greatly increases the cold rating of a sleeping bag. Quality bivvy sacks usually load from the top only because it is very difficult to have a leak proof zipper. They usually also have a zip-shut bug screen for the face and a draw string to close the opening.

Gore-tex type waterproofbut water vapor passable fabric can be found at some large fabric stores. You might mix a few unmatched remnants to save money, remembering that every seam is a potential leak point (so be sure to seal them well!), the bottom can be ordinary waterproof fabric if you need to save money.

Hammock

Your hammock is a good way to stay cool and comfortable in hot weather, you also don’t need to worrry about how rocky the terrain is. If you are properly tied in with a harness (if you don’t tie into an anchor and your harness it is an easy way to die in your sleep) you can even hammock up on a rock face, building sit in, or tree sit using tree or rock anchor points or bolts.

If you hang a tarp tented above your hammock you will protect yourself from rain and gain a bit of privacy, it is a good to stake down the corners with cord if you want to have better weather protection. Use a bivvy sack if it looks like a real storm is coming. It is now possible to purchase one piece tented-over hammocks which are both bug and rain protection.

Like in stealth tenting look for a little bit ofbrush between you and the public areas sticking to dull colors for gear.

Food Preparation

Liquid Fuel

For international back country travel these tend to be the best as jet fuel, kerosene, or diesel is available nearly everywhere. These stoves also generally put out the most heat, some enough for melting snow. We like the MSR Whisperlite International and XGK although they are both expensive they burn anything and are hot, the Whisperlite simmers better, XGK is tough and burns like and afterburner.

Compressed Gas

Compressed gas stoves are lighter, easier to control, and can be cheaper. Compressed gas stoves, with due caution, can even be used inside your tent fly vestibule to cook during rain and snow. Some gas stoves include an electrical igniter.

Open Fuel

This category covers pellet, alcohol, and wood stoves as well as many other improvised stoves. Alcohol and Sterno stoves are discussed in Low Impact Crashing#Kitchen and work well in warm weather. Pellet stoves like the esbit fold small and light but are usually only used for emergencies. There are a few fan blown wood scrap burners which fill this commercial niche.

An interesting improvised stove is one made from an old oil filter and some welded steel break line, a feed hole is cut near the bottom and ash holes on the bottom a steel tube several inches long is attached a few inches up and it looks like a pipe with a giant bowl. Plastic or rubber tube is attached and a small bellows is connected made to blow the flame, good heat and easy lighting make this a real winner even in damp areas especially since it uses wood and bark bits as fuel.

Pots

Stainless steel seems to be the way to go for durability although aluminum does win in a weight comparison. Non-stick is easy to clean until the non-stick scrapes or burns. Sand will help scrape out most gunk in a steel pan. A kettle is good for easy boiling and pouring. A few plastic containers are good for leftovers and mixing bowls. If you are part of a good sized group a wok might be worth the weight. seeCheap Chow

Insulation

A Thermos type insulated container saves fuel by holding a near boiling cooking level heat in for many minutes after you shut off your stove, for example bring your pasta or beans and rice to a nice boil in a minute or two and then shutdown and pour into your thermos it will finish cooking in there. On a long campout or trip a thermos might easily be worth its weight in fuel.

Mess Kit

Alexan bowl, some quality bamboo chopsticks, and a good set of stainless steel nesting utensils will work to serve most food you will be able to make in the wilderness.

Food

Camping-store-bought freeze-dried food is too expensive to be of any use for sustenance. With a little thought and ingenuity, you can buy and make great light-weight camp food from a regular grocery store’s stock. Use the calorie information available in diet books or container labels to plan a meal; you need to be sure to have enough protein, fiber, and vitamins every day. Have a written meal plan that will meet your daily needs; marking and packing all of the ingredients for a meal in a heavy duty Ziploc or vacuum pack/seal bag makes it easier to prep a quick meal. Your goal when on the move or working is to consume 3000–4000 Calories per day in summer and up to 6000 in high mountain/winter. Our experience with most backpackpacker and cycle camping newbies is that they underestimate their hunger when planning sometimes as badly as a factor of three or four, it is OK to pack too much food especialy stuff for fatty recipes that contain oil, butter, or margerine which are full of calories and make you feel full.

Try these ideas instead of the expensive camp store foods:

• Boxed noodles and sauce or macaroni and cheese

• Parmesan cheese block or powder (for cheese sauces and topping)

• Instant rice

• Dry Pasta

• Tomato sauce for soups or sauces

• Oven dried veggies (for soup and stews)

• Oatmeal flakes (running it for a few seconds dry in a bladed food processor makes it “instant”)

• Dried fruits and raisins

• Wheat germ

• Heavy Filling Cereals (i.e. Grapenuts)

• Powdered milk (reconstitute in a squirt bottle)

• Powdered egg mix (be sure to carry hot sauce)

• Dry cereal

• Cookies, Brownies and Energy Bars

• Oven dried and cured meat strips (hardjerky) for snack or soup

• Biscuit mix for simple breads, pancakes, and biscuits

• Oil for frying and margarine substitute (A gulp of oil before bed will raise your body temperature as you digest, if you can stand it. Flaxseed oil is rich in Omega-3’s.)

• Spices, condiments, and sauces

• Powdered soup base or bouillon cubes

• Chicken, Tuna or other fish sold packed in Mylar pouches

• Instant potato flakes

• Dried mushrooms (like Portabello or Shitake, buy fresh and allow to dry in a paper bag for a few weeks for soups)

• Hot cocoa powder

• Liberated MRE Meal Pouches & Components

• Hardtack:

• Instant Coffee & Tea

• Beans and TVP (Textured Vegetable Protein) Meat Substitutes

• Home Made Energy Bars

It is amazing what kinds of fun dishes you can whip up in the woods, when you are stopped for a few days, when you have the time and energy. Just but be sure that you have something bonehead easy and fast to prepare or better yet ready to eat, for when you set up camp after a hard day of hiking. Vegans need to pay special attention to their diet planning especially to their fat and protein intake when on the move, most of their meals are naturaly much less rich than the average Amerikans.

Keep all food and dirty pans and utensils away from the tent and out of your pack; a hang bag cache thrown over a tree limb will keep most animals out of the food. Bear-safes are required in some places but are heavy. Even ifbears are not a problem, smaller animals can wreck your gear trying to get the food. Wash dishes away from camp.

Hardtack

Hardtack is little more than a large cracker that, ifkept dry, could stay edible for months, perhaps years. It’s broken and mixed with some liquid (hot water, broth, etc.) to make a porridge, or to thicken soups or stews. If you make enough in advance, it can be eaten on the march or at camp. A recipe from the WikiMedia Cookbook follows:

• 2 cups of flour

• 1/2 to 1/4 cup water

• 6 pinches of salt

• 1 tablespoon of shortening (optional, feels more filling and adds calories)

1. Mix all the ingredients into a batter and press onto a cookie sheet to a thickness of 1/2 inch.

2. Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (205°C) for one hour.

3. Remove from oven, cut dough into 3-inch squares, and punch four rows ofholes, four holes per row into the dough (a fork works nicely).

4. Flip the crackers and return to the oven for another half hour.

Hardtack has been known as “sheet metal” or “molar breakers” because it is very hard and dense, so don’t try to eat it like a regular saltine.

Forest Forage

If you somehow are stuck in the woods for a long time drink pine needle tea for the vitamin C to avoid scurvy. Some soft (unripe) pine cones have food value cooked or raw.

The inner bark of many trees ifboiled can be eaten for minimal food value often killing the tree. Young plant shoots, soft inner stalks, and soft or bulbous roots can often be safely cooked or eaten raw, learn what is poisonous and edible along your travel route and local area.

Steel wire snares or baited fish hooks are a cruel and illegal way to survive by trapping animals and birds but it might save your life if you are starving, check your traps regularly.

Cut and cook or smoke any meat as soon as possible to avoid waste.

A small net at the end of a large triangle of rocks laid in the river to guide the fish in will make a good trap as will a series ofbaited hooks in the water strung to trees above, check your fish traps regularly, spear fish in the shallows with a frog spear tip on a stick.

Bombing fish in a pond with chlorine bleach is classless destruction, it will bring them to the surface but will kill the whole ecosystem. Instead use rotenone or crush green husks from butternuts or black walnuts. Throw the husks into the water, it will do the trickjust stunning the fish without killing the other animals, collect and eat or salt and smoke all fish you stun.

A good rule is to never eat any plant foods that are bitter or burning unless it is a known food like peppers, although even rotted meat can be safely eaten in most cases if very well cooked or boiled for several hours. Always cook or smoke and then hang meat since bears, mice and racoons are still interested in your food.

Don’t expect to be able to survive on gathering, fishing, hunting, or trapping, indigenous peoples in what is now known as North America were very few in number and the wildlife was not as stressed, many first nations people also practiced agriculture.

Most foods can either be stewed in a pot which is boiled on coals of at least an hour preserving most nutrients, if this is impossible cook chopped meats and fish on a skewer over the coals of a fire.

Fishing

Fishing as a food source is a useful skill in some parts of the world. If you know what you are doing you might be able to supplement your protein intake with some lightweight gear. Forget about fancy gear like fly fishing that is for the rich who rear up a fish’s mouth and throw him back, we want the food. A telescoping pole and spinning reel will do the trick without breaking your bank or back but a stick and floss will work in a pinch. Some six pound test monofilament line will bag most small river fish. Ask locals their favorites but in general worms, corn, insects, and dough balls all work good, it won’t hurt to carry some flashy, rattly, and spinny lures with your gear. Get a big assortment pack of fish hooks, they weigh and cost very little and are useful for a hobo on the move even if you just use a stick pole and dental floss. A bobber hangs your bait off of the bottom in still water, moving water requires casting out and recovering as it floats downstream, you can use a dry stick as bobbber if needed.

If you catch a fish it should have firm and elastic flesh, clear and full eyes, bright red gills, a clean pleasant order, and an absence of reddish discoloration on the ventral side of the backbone, that is, the side of the backbone that’s on the inside of the fish. Cloudy, sunken eyes, and gray colored gills are the first recognizable signs of old, decaying fish. When the head, gills, and backbone are gone, rely on your sense of smell and touch. Worn out or dying fish have much less nutritional value but cooking them will remove danger of illness.

In over fished areas forget about wasting your time. Sport fishers, hunters and gatherers are often out in huge numbers during hard times and will often cause many years of damage from taking too much from the ecosystem.

To clean a fish smash the brain area to kill it, then cut from the anus to the throat, remove guts(these are good fish bait), use a dull knife to scrape off the scales, some fish are best filleted from the ribs but small ones are easier to leave in and remove when you eat it. Pan fry most fish with a little oil and spices.

Watch out for fish and game cops they can take all of your gear, car, or boat as a punishment leaving you destitute if you are accused of poaching.

Water

Purification

Water purification pills, boiling, and unscented bleach will kill bacteria. but take around half an hour to work. Most backpackers who don’t have access to plumbing want the convenience of a filter. We teach the construction of a drip filter in Low Impact Crashing, but hand pumped models work faster and can remove pathogens from large volumes in a shorter time (if you can devise a pump for the improvised filter element above with no bypass this will work too). Good filters have a scrub clean ceramic filter and are designed for easy field maintenance. Be careful that you pump out all water in and keep inside your coat in freezing temperatures as ice can crack the filter element. MSR, PUR, and Sweetwater make good filters.

If you are near an open, natural water source or even damp soil or green vegative matter during a sunny day with moderate heat, you can use what is called a solar still to generate fresh water. Solar stills are usually inflatable buoys that consist of a flattened black base connected to a parasol with a collection tube attached to the bottom of this. It works by collecting water, green vegatation, damp soil, or anything containing water onto the bottom part and then using the sun to evaporate it. This leaves behind dissolved substances (like salt). The vapor is then collected inside the top of the cone and condenses. There is usually a thin fishing-line type cord that spirals down the inside of the top and empties into the tube. You can lead this end into a bottle or pouch to fill with clean water. It usually takes a while to get a lot, but additional stills will make this better. These are good for use if you are camped for a somewhat extended period of time in a desert area, or if you are out at sea. It is still a good idea to bring this distilled water to a boil to sterilize any bacteria.

Drinking Systems

A backpack tube type drinking system makes sipping easier and increases water intake preventing dehydration in all weather conditions, adding a shutoff valve will prevent leakage if the bite valve is accidentally compressed, blowing air into the tube will keep that next gulp of water cool in the pouch especially if you have ice. You need to clean the tube and bladder well and store with a paper towel puffing out the bladder to prevent mold and slime. Many drinking systems have a large opening which is threaded and compatible with water filter pumps.

Giardia

Flagyl aka Metronozole is used to treat intestinal parasites like giardia which causes beaver fever. Filtering or boiling will make the water safe from these parasites but remember to also use clean water to wash your face and dishes.

Hydration

Be sure you are getting enough water to drink, plan minimum two liters a day if camped in cool weather, more if moving or the day is hot. Your urine should be a clear when in the field, dark or cloudy urine is a sign of dehydration, most Americans are chronically dehydrated. Even if the weather is cool insufficient hydration and urine output could lead to bladder and even kidney infection especially in women.

A dilute drink mix can make guzzling water easier and helps soft drink addicted Americans replenish electrolytes, this should taste like watered down soft drink. You can carry a concentrate to add to water while you are on the trail.

• 4–5 tablespoons sugar

• 1/8 and 1/16 teaspoon of salt

• 1/16 teaspoon salt substitute that contains potassium chloride

• 1/2 packet of unsweetened drink powder(no artificial sweeteners) or 1/2 cup lemon or lime juice

• 1 litre of water

You can substitute powdered citric acid for the drink flavor powder to add zing, experiment with concentrations.

Clothing

Footwear

Footwear for backpacking depends on your ankles. If you have steel ankles and arches you might be able to get by with trail runner shoes or light hiker boots. For the rest of us non-bionic humans the weight on our feet is paid offby the superior support of a mountaineering boot. The price of these giant boots is offset by the vibrant resale market where a slightly stinky used pair of $400 boots can be had for around $50.

If you will be establishing a longer term wilderness base camp, trail runner type shoes might be worth the pack weight for short trips from camp. River sandals are also an option for short trips especially if you will be walking through water. For the most part waterproof footwear is a problem either because about 30% of people perspire too much and the inside gets damp or because they step in water over their ankle and it takes forever to dry the shoe out since there is a waterproof barrier.

If tramping through swamps and rivers the old Vietnam jungle boot is a good workhorse although it gives less support than a big mountaineering boot.

Big woolly socks help prevent blisters, even in hot summer go for the big fluffy socks, we know some who wear an inner silk or synthetic stocking but watch for folds that can cause blisters.

It is vital important that you get a good fit and do not jam your toes into the end,jammed toes lead to ingrown nails and blisters which can become infected leading to a potential of major damage or immobility. When at the store do heel and toe kicks at the ground, walk around for a few minutes and if possible walk or in-place-step up and down on an incline to see if your foot stays tight wthout jamming your toes or making any rub spots.

Clothes

Synthetic zip off trousers/shorts are easily available at the writing of this book, these are good for durability, ease of washing and drying quickly but some do hold body odors. Camping and ski stores often carry synthetic button shirts and t-shirts although for the money discount 100% silk Hawaii print or colored dress shirts workjust as well, look for a durable tight weave.

Jacket

In most locations, if you already own one, a light mountaineering type parka shell combined with one or two liner layers is a lightweight way to protect from rain and cold. The army surplus camo gore-texjacket fits the bill, we have heard of some people successfully coloring them black without ruining the gore-tex.

If you are in a very rainy location think about roll up Gore-tex rainpants. Mountaineering gaitors are waterproof and keep your legs dry if you need to move along in wet brush or grass after a storm or heavy dew.

Under your shell layer lies the main insulation layer (fleece jacket and trousers although a fleece vest is fine in summer), sometimes your tighter vest and looserjacket are combined to add insulation in serious cold. Long underwear finishes up your three layer system. Remove layers to keep you from sweating.

Hat

Wide brimmed boonie type hats are great for hot, sunny, or wet weather but a good insulated military helmet under hat or wool cap will keep you warm in the cold.

Underwear

Spandex sport bras and underwear works well for preventing chafing and providing support, bike shorts also work well and prevent most thigh chafing when walking. Another option for women is to wear a one piece competition bathing suit on the trail for support and at your destination you are ready for the water.

Long underwear of the real polypro and not a cotton mix is a super lightweight bit of gear that really helps keep you warm, don’t forget both tops and bottoms.

Electronics

You are limited in the amount ofbatteries you can carry into the wilderness and by what to do with them after they are used up, see our thoughts in Low Impact Crashing on batteries, solar and wind up gadgetswith extra emphasis on solar since it provides electricity without requiring you to expend extra effort.

Communications

ForCommunicationa tiny HF QRP radio transceiver will keep you in touch on a regular enough basis to keep you on top of everything, some kits can even listen to shortwave broadcast too, look for a kit or radio set with low battery consumption. Have planned meet up times with a ham radio operator or member of the underground with a serious radio and antenna to check in several times a week who will also read you email and type up responses for you. Be sure not to compromise on a quality wire antenna and set up on a hilltop if possible when you transmit. If the pigs are looking for you and can get line of sight to your hilltop they might be able to DF(direction find) a HF radio set, keep your transmissions short and hope they are not looking or transmit from a valley and pray that the other station can hear you. Learn Morse code that works when almost nothing else will.

Walkie talkies are fun and sometimes very useful in the woods or urbanjungle but they are super easy for the cops to zero in on, if they have the right gear, even if there is very little chatter. We find either a 2 meter ham or quality FRS walkie-talkie work best.

A signal mirror works for many miles hilltop to hilltop, the difficulty is sending and receiving morse code effectively to another party. Flashights and lasers work at night for the same purpose, attach a low power pointer to a BB gun scope and allign them.

Light

A headlamp is a must when camping, a dual beam headlamp will give you a powerful halogen beam for long range and an LED bulb for reading and camp chores while keeping your hands free. Pressurized fuel and candle lanterns, fluorescent lamps, and light sticks all have their place but a LED light usually wins because ofbattery life and weight.

If you have a propane or liquid fuel pressure lantern for light, seriously consider replacing the glass globe (that glass thing that surrounds the mantle) with one made of steel mesh. Glass breaks too easily when you’re roughing it. Steel mesh globes are available on-line and at better sporting goods stores or can be made from steel window screen.

Navigation

Most people really believe in the GPS, we like it too but we really don’t trust Uncle Sam and his boys at the Air Force to leave it working right for us citizens if they really start cracking down. We like the army lensatic compass with the perma-lit tritium elements so the important parts will be glow for about 25 years. You sight this compass like a gun while viewing the degrees dial so you can easily choose a landmark to walk towards. This is around $120 new or$10if you can find a soldier a week before payday. For a big quality drop there is a functional copy of the army compass sold at camping stores for$15 but you must be very careful to check that the needle points true and doesn’t stick. Silva and Brunton also make excellent compasses for navigation but are not as tough as the army ones.

Toilet

Carry a plastic spade for burying #2. Don’t defecate near the water; it is not just rude, it spreads disease. Hand roll TP or learn to use a squirt bottle and leaves.

Walking Sticks

A pair of lightweight telescoping ski type poles have become popular with the backpacking crowd. Essentially they make you into a four legged animal giving you more strength while climbing and better stability while descending or crossing water. In the tents section above there is a description on how to use a tarp and telescoping hiking pole to make a ultra-lightweight tent.

Tools and Repairs

• Tent wands can be repaired by wrapping pop can around the break a few times and securing with duct tape.

• Tents can be repaired by gluing a piece of the nylon packing bag over the hole and seam sealing it.

• Inflatable pool toy repair glue will save an inflatable mattress.

• Have o-rings, pump cups, and silicone lubricant for all stoves and filters.

• Carry a bit of tent screen patch.

• Some wire can save a broken zipper and act as a zipper pull.

• Cable ties are just always useful.

• A zipper that is stuck open can be lubricated by rubbing a candle or a bar of soap on the teeth.

• Pack a well-stocked sewing kit with some patch material, carpet thread, Velcro, large needles and safety pins.

• Military duct tape is amazing but the goop it leaves is tough to get off for real repairs. Wrap a meter or two around a golf pencil.

• A stick of hot glue can be melted with a lighter.

• Assorted small nuts, bolts, washers, pins, and screws have many uses.

• Carry lots oflantern mantles (and make certain they’re the right model for your lantern).

• Quality pliers multi-tools are always good to have in or out of the woods

• A smaller scissors multi-tool is useful on your keychain.

• Camping stores carry a pocket-chainsaw which is a roll up linked saw that you can either use with the included handles or make a bow-saw with a stick, it rolls into a four inch pocket size flat can.

Other Skills

Check out Low Impact Crashing and Pack your bag for more camping related skills and gear.

Cycling

Camping whileCyclingis a popular way to overnight when touring, Just stick your backpack in a trailer (have plans for wet weather) or distribute your gear in pannier bags, since weight savings are still important to cyclists backpacking gear is traditionaly used.

Skiing

seeSkiing and Boarding for backcountry winter movement.

Where to Camp

Established state and national parks are the easiest choice and there is sometimes a discount for walkers and bikers who need no parking spot. We prefer to find a nice spot off of the road andjust set up camp far enough away from town that the cops won’t bother us. If getting away from town is not practical at least camp near or inside a park treeline a hill between you and town helps. Be careful if you find a beautiful green field in the middle of summer you may be surprised by pop-up water sprinklers at two in the morning. As long as the place you camp is not marked “No Trespassing” you can not be busted until you are asked to leave and refuse, don’t assume that small town cops understand the law, keep most of your stuff packed and ready to go.

Always get dull colored gear if possible, a big part of the stealth camping we do is not being noticed, this is especially important as you near urban areas. Going into the brush and trees even a little bit breaks up the outline of your tent, dull colored (non-damaging)dye art on your rain fly will help break up the outline but will also make you easy to identify. You will develop an eye for using terrain and folliage to conceal your camp. Look behind buildings with parking large lots, train tracks, and near large factories for a field to camp in, industrial areas may not have services but they also often have a much lower competetion for viable camping spots.

Replacing Consumables

Out in the wilderness there are a few ways to make cash if you get creative, the upside is the overhead costs are low,just try to keep your nice gear from wearing out, that can be the biggest expense.

• Silver or pewterjewelery sculpting can be a fun creative job.

• Gold panning is a way to make a living good enough to support a camped out lifestyle, a pan is used to swirl out the lighter dirt and pebbles but keep the heavy gold dust which is best found deposited at turns in rivers and where the current suddenly slows. Practice in panning and knowing where to look improves yields.

• Sometimes mushrooms or truffles become very valuable on the world market and harvesting and selling could buy you months of supplies.

• Although very unconventional, if you have a solar panel a mobile phone with internet and an HPC you might be able to use the Internet to take part time with editing, translating, and writing jobs even from the forest a few miles from a small town.

• Growing pot might not be a good idea, even though the payoff is good, as if you are caught you will loose even your backpacking gear.

• Try whittling! Just be sure to have the means to sharpen your knife if you spend a lot of time on this. Make small crafts to sell at street fairs or music fests! A couple good examples include a fat, shapely cat statue from balsa wood (just paint in the eyes) with some small holes with cut fishing line glued in for whiskers; miniature Buddhas or other religious items.

• Crochet old plastic shopping bags, with the “Green is In” fad people are happy to buy often for a decent price items crocheted from plastic bags.

• Set up a sign and offer bicycle tune up and repair near a popular bike trail (have extra spokes, chain and tubes)

Camping

If you are looking for a more permanent home in one location, or prefer something closer to the comforts ofhome camping could be your solution. Camping is also easier if you have children and they are unable to carry their own gear. See also Alternative Shelter

Tents

Larger tents can be rented or purchased from a place specializing in their sales. Army surplus tents are very durable and can last several years in the elements, be careful for intentionally damaged tents and shoddy repairs. Insist that the dealer erect and allow inspection of any tent, don’t forget the poles, stakes, and ropes. Lighter family tents can be expensive and usually are intended for only a few setups, left erected they can last for months if in a shaded area. You should buy a tent with plenty of room to stand up, roll out several large sleeping bags with foam mattresses, and stow your gear.

Trailers

A trailer or motorized camper can be very expensive if purchased new, like most yuppie retirement toys the value drops like a rock once it looks used inside. Be sure the appliances work since repairs can be expensive. Inspect the wheels and tires of a trailer, make sure lights and brakes work correctly and that the tow vehicle is able to connect. Pop up campers must be inspected carefully for mechanical function and rot especially in canvas panels, ask to leak test the camper with a garden hose. Never overload a vehicle with a large trailer, this can be very dangerous!

Cooking

If you are using a trailer most have LP gas stove installed cooking is like at home. For tent campers the old Coleman pressure stove is a good option. For longer trips out you might want to invest in a gas powered stove and use a distribution pole and gas hose to run it from a five gallon or larger LP gas tank, these poles have a connection on top for a propane lantern and extra valves for other propane gadgets.

The army tents used to have an option for a diesel/wood fueled stove but supply of these are drying up. A person good with welding or rivets, a metal drum, and some stove pipe could build a stove for heat and cooking surface. Be careful to inspect the stove pipe hole on these tents for burning or damage.

Electricity

Unless you really need lots of power like for some sort of pirate radio gig a generator is noisy and a real invasion of the solitude of the wilderness. Running your engine to charge the batteries feeding your inverter is also a huge waste of fuel. Try to minimize power and if possible stick to solar for charging your deep cycle batteries. see alsoCars

Toilet

Many people plan on using chemical toilets since they are not constrained by weight and these seem cleaner, these are usually not warranted if you are able to dig a small toilet hole, the exception is in stressed wilderness environments where overuse is taxing the area. If you have a plumbed trailer or camper only dump your waste into a sewage system and not into a body of water.

Water

If you are downhill or beside flowing water and plan to stay for awhile a piece ofblue tarp can be sewn into a cone shape and clamped to a garden hose fitting, this is tied in the flowing water, a length ofhose can be attached with a valve at the end to deliver water to your camp, let the hose flow to remove stagnant water before using.

A small electrical pump can be attached to a length ofhose, drop into a lake or creek and fill up, remember to add chlorine or install a filter in your water system that will remove Giardia.

Remember to filter or treat any water you get from the wild. River water may look pure and fresh, but it might be flowing over a dead animal upstream. Avoid drinking water dripping off of melting ice from rock formations. It may contain pulverized stone.

If you poke around country stores or ranger stations at night you will surely find a water spout, use your handy faucet knob and plug in.

If you camp near a river or stream, consider the US Army’s priority of where activity is to be done concerning the river’s flow. Furthest upstream is where you get your drinking water. Further down is where you wash your clothes and cookware. Last down is where you bathe.

Furniture

Army folding cots or medic stretchers make great beds and keep you from the damp ground, in cool weather use a foam pad on top.

Be careful about swiping picnic tables from Smokey Da-Bear, he will send the Forest Freddies after you.

Proper plastic folding tables are the best, resisting the elements for several years. Plastic folding tables will work outdoors and take a while to rust the steel legs even in rain, try to bring them in. The older pressed wood folding tables will warp once wet.

Folding lawn furniture and stackable resin is superior to indoor folding chairs for long term camping.

Campfires

Before you start a campfire, make certain that you’re not in a drought stricken area. If a ranger sees the smoke from your fire, you’re up for a fine or maybe even arrest, at the least the forest cops will will run your ID.

Stick to the old fashioned Boy Scout methods. Check to see that nothing flammable is within a six foot radius of the fire. Dig a small pit and circle it with rocks, then build a small compact fire that generates more heat than smoke.

When cooking food over a fire, don’t use fresh evergreen wood if possible. The wood releases resins and tars that can harm the flavor of the food. If there’s a lot of warm grease in your pots and pans, throw a handful of white ashes into it and stir. This will turn the grease into a weak soap that will help in cleaning.

To put out the fire completely, pour water over the embers, stir the ashes, douse it again, and then carefully feel the muck.

Always try to pack a full sized axe (a purloined forest service pulaski tool is even better) a shovel, and a bucket when driving into or base camping in the wilderness and know how to use them and mineral dirt to extinguish a fire.

Always scrape away the organic duff and only burn on mineral earth. If there is no moisture in the ground even down to a half meter, and if when you split logs they are dry as a bone be very careful, fuel moisture is very low and a fire will be hard to fight.

Large fires almost always throw off firebrands which can light the forest on fire, even if there is no forest fire since everything is green firebrands will burn holes in your cotton and nylon tents and gear, save wood and keep the fire small.

Other Options

Fire Lookout

Many US and Canadian Forest Service lookout towers are no longer occupied at all times in the summer. A maintained shelter often with a wood stove awaits. These are always unoccupied after fire season unless the area has a camper rental program. You may need to pick the lock.

Log Cabin

If you have the knowledge and time, like if you are on the run from the man and can’t get out of the country, a small log cabin can be made with an axe and your hands and trees. It is a good idea to spike your logs to prevent collapse if possible. Build a small short shelterjust large enough for your bed and pack. Use the largest stones you can find as corner stones. Dig out a entry tunnel instead of a difficult door unless you have lots of tools and construction supplies, continue digging a depression to make more headroom. Jam moss and leaves between the logs to make the cabin more wind proof. Make a single slope shed type roof and cover with bark or wood shingles or a thick cover of pine boughs, if you had plastic or a survival blanket consider using it as a roof liner.

If a USFS trail or fire crew sees any unauthorized construction expect to see it demolished so stay away from lakes, ponds, and hiking trails.

Urban Living

Rooftop

Many buildings have a flat roof and parapet to keep people from falling off. You will either have to attach a ladder to the roof from the fire escape or pick or break the inside lock to the roof access. Even then you need to assure regular access to the roof from outside while keeping everyone else from your squat. We have seen people bicycle lock a ladder nearby to get up on the fire escape, and rope it up once on the roof, but this is a real workout to raise and lower it every day. Once you have access to the roof you can build a shack to live in orjust camp out in your tent. Take advantage of electricity and water connections running to air conditioners and lights, but be careful these are live deadly electrical wires and there is no way to turn them off to tap in. In addition to a squat your rooftop might have enough space to start a rooftop garden like we discuss in Farm It

Bridge

We all have seen campers under bridges. Bridges offer protection from sun and rain and, iflocated in a nonresidential area, there are often longer times between camp breakups by cops compared to more exposed camping spots. A careful electrician could tap the street or sign lighting to power their electrically powered gear, hotplates, etc. If trash starts to visibly build up the city will often kick everyone out and come in with a prison work crew to throw everything away.

Spaces between and behind buildings

A bold move is to try to wall off a narrow space between buildings, a professional looking fence gate and brick job must be done at night before a weekend or holiday or you will surely be busted. Install a high security lock on the fence gate. Try to find a location where the alleyway is the entrance and the street side is blocked off. Afterwards you need to plan for preventing the existence of your squat from being discovered and taken away by the police, building owners, or other homeless.

Parks

Many urban parks have overgrown areas large enough to allow real camping. Try to find a place hidden by thorns and briers that will discourage city workers. A regularly used trail will lead other homeless or even park services to your hideout.

Storage Space Rental

What freak has not dreamed of renting a storage unit for a home? Unfortunately the on site management is almost always against this, one inspection by the fire marshal and the manager is canned and the owner is in big trouble. It might be possible to bribe a manager but the trouble of modifying the unit, lack of water or bathrooms, and the locking of the buildings are all problems that make it almost not worth the trouble. In a free country storage unit type apartments would be an option for the very poor.

Bike Locker

It has been rumored that, with a few dollars spent at a hardware store, rented city and college bike lockers can be converted for personal use. The outer lock mechanism must be modified to not lock when you are inside but still allow you to keep the door closed while you are sleeping. Extreme caution must be used as one nosy narc can blow it by calling the cops to kick you out. Even if not used for a camp out this is one of the few places that a homeless person can safely stash some gear, check rules about city inspection of contents.

The Street

See alsoThe Street

Suburban Living

Suburban areas are likely the most difficult to improvise housing. Short of renting a basement or garage for a very small amount, it will be difficult. The suburban sprawl was designed with a petroleum powered vehicle in mind, so most services are a highway drive away. Radically-dressed and -minded outsiders will likely be harassed by the local police

Garden Shed

In older neighborhoods with large lots adjoining park or wetland areas there are sometimes disused sheds or old garages. Look for unkempt yards or long grass without foot trample around the out building this may indicate an elderly homeowner or uninterested renter who has no use for the building. Choose and use a path of approach that does not leave a trail visible from the house or easily noticed from other homes.

Garden Shed Kit

A mini-barn or garden shed can be purchased at most North American hardware stores. All that is really needed is a concrete platform to start. These quick shelters have two benefits in a suburban area they may not be noticed by neighbors ifbuilt quickly during the work week, they are also a quick way to get shelter on a piece ofland you plan to build a larger alternative home. These were proposed as a third world emergency prefab home after disasters. A good idea is to build on property of a friend who you will share utilities with. If you contact a manufacturer with your plans some will pre-cut the wood to include windows and doors as well as the overall height and size to your liking.

Useful upgrades to a quick build shed home include the following features:

• Normal size house door with proper lock(as opposed to double barn doors)

• Windows

• Overhang and porch

• Garden hose plumbing, drain into a gravel/sand pit next to your shed-house if soil drainage allows

• Electricity, include a circuit breaker of a lower value than the circuit you are connecting to so your breaker will flip first

• Dry wall, paint and insulation

• Shower curtain rail around porch for showering in summer

• Fold away bed and table

• Propane gas for heating and cooking can be plumbed in using camping components

• Fireplace or wood stove for heating and cooking makes sense in some areas

• A directional WiFi antenna mounted on the roof can let you connect to a house even hundreds of feet away

• Toilet plumbing can be a challenge to include on a low budget, an outhouse would be easier

Car

How to camp in you carCars

An unlocked car is a good safe place to spend for the night when you are cold or need to lock up for safety. Bed down and don’t leave anything outside of your pack, be ready to run. If the car is abandoned it will likely be towed in a few weeks so don’t use it for storage. Be alert for the owner in the morning, get out quick on the opposite side and scoot before they can call the cops or kick your ass. Lie to the owner and say that you knocked on a door and the person said it was ok to sleep in their car, point at a random house, this should buy you vital seconds to escape while the owner thinks this over, don’t try to lie to the cops though.

Squat a House

At the edge of the suburban rural boundary and near parks there are often pockets of older neighborhoods where a house may sit for years unoccupied waiting for inheritors to sue each others asses off until the lawyers take the house and divide the spoils amongst themselves. Look near large construction projects for houses slated for destruction. An old weathered for sale sign might be a house open to squat, but could also mean regular visitors.

Deciding to squat a house takes some good detective work. Find a place where it is apparent that the yard work is not being taken care of, peek in the windows has anyone been home in a few months. Does it appear that the house has been squatted or burgalarized without cleanup? All of these are good cause to stake the place out. Put a padlock on the front door and see if it is removed, camp out in the back yard if you can do so discreetlyjust to be sure. Try before you pry, an open door or window might remove the charges ofbreaking and entering if you get busted.

Squat the place. While you are squatting light up your devices you use and go outside to see what is visible at night, pull the shades and check again, light and motion will give you away most easily. Keep your travel in and out infrequent, at night only if possible, no music or noise. Cooking fires and grilling might be noticed from the smoke and smell. If you kept clean you will be hard to spot. To the average WASP the homeless are dirty and distant, the suburban and rural townies and cops won’t tolerate filthy bums, but will they notice a clean one?

Always make your living space as near as possible to the back door on the ground floor, clean that room up first for occupation. Since this is not your house be ready to run if you hear someone trying to enter through the front, legit owners drive up and enter through the front door 99% of the time without doing a walk around, pile upjunk in front of the front door to make noise and slow them down. Always have your bags packed for a quick escape, if confronted be apologetic but be sure to get away before anyone gets violent. It might help if you tell a story of your dead grandfathers house in this town that you thought you were squatting in, this is just a distraction to get out the door and prevent violence, be cool, smile, grab your pack, don’t let anyone get their hands on you, know your escape routes have at least two. Expect the cops in the area soon so get away from the property and into a store or movie theater, stash your bike and pack safely nearby, the pack really gives you away.

See alsoSquatting

Original Urban Living

If you’re headed for city living, the first thing you’ll have to do is locate an apartment or loft, an increasingly difficult task. At certain times of the year, notably June and September, the competition is fierce because of students leaving or entering school. If you can avoid these two months, you’ll have a better selection. A knowledge of your plans in advance can aid a great deal in finding an apartment, for the area can be scouted before you move in. Often, if you know of people leaving a desirable apartment, you can make arrangements with the landlord, and a deposit will hold the place. If you let them know you’re willing to buy their furniture, people will be more willing to give you information about when they plan to move. Watch out for getting screwed on exorbitant furniture swindles by the previous tenants and excessive demands on the part of the landlords. In most cities, the landlord is not legally allowed to ask for more than one month’s rent as security. Often the monthly rent itself is regulated by a city agency. A little checking on the local laws and a visit to the housing agency might prove well worth it.

Don’t go to a rental agency unless you are willing to pay an extra month’s rent as a fee. Wanted ads in newspapers and bulletin boards located in community centers and supermarkets have some leads. Large universities have a service for finding good apartments for administrators, faculty and students, in that order. Call the university, say you have just been appointed to such-and-such position and you need housing in the area. They will want to know all your requirements and rent limitations, but often they have very good deals available, especially if you’ve appointed yourself to a high enough position.

Aside from these, the best way is to scout a desired area and inquire about future apartments. Often landlords or rental agencies have control over a number ofbuildings in a given area. You can generally find a nameplate inside the hall of the building. Calling them directly will let you know of any apartments available.

When you get an apartment, furnishing will be the next step. You can double your sleeping space by building bunk beds. Nail two by fours securely from ceiling to floor, about three feet from the walls, where the beds are desired. Then build a frame out of two by fours at a convenient height. Make sure you use nails or screws strong enough to support the weight of people sleeping or balling. Nail a sheet of 3/4 inch plywood on the frame. Mattresses and almost all furniture needed for your pal can be gotten free (see section on Free Furniture). Silverware can be copped at any self-service restaurant.

Rural Living

If you are able to obtain permission or not be noticed, almost any type of shelter could be used. Many rural communities are very insular and everyone knows everyone else. Strangers are viewed with suspicion and often due to boredom snooping and gossip are the only entertainment.

Recycled Sea Shipping Container

Super strong and designed to be waterproof, the standard 24 and 40 foot shipping container can be made into a house by cutting holes for and installing a door and windows. It is cheaper for a company to sell a well-used container than to scrap and recycle it.

Straw Bale

Straw bale is one of the easiest, simplest, cheapest ways to build a house. All you really do is create walls out ofhay bales, sometimes coating the outsides with concrete, mud, leaves, or wood to keep the walls dry. This is not necessary. With properly placed support beams, the house will stay safe through wet times and rain. Straw also acts as an insulator. In you will be living in a cold area with an abundance ofhay, I would suggest doubling up walls.

Yurt

Fora few grand a decent sized yurt can be purchased. The mountain peoples of China, Mongolia, and even part of Afghanistan use yurts for mobile housing. A canvas roof, round wood walls, and a smoke hole or plastic skylight are normal features. A quality yurt will last up to ten years in a damp climate and longer in a dry one.

Ferro-cement

Ferro-cement is an extremely strong, easy-to-deal-with material. Not to mention cheap, and ferro houses can take just about any shape, making them easy to hide in places the pigs would never think. Below is a free e-book about ferro. Very informative.

http://ferrocement.com/casa-contents/contents.en-ferroHouse-web.html

Greenhouse

PVC tubing arches and UV resistant plastic make for an acceptable shelter and an excellent source of food for under $100. These are most effective in low wind areas which have mild winters but become unbearable to live in in summer. Black plastic sheeting over the soil and a perforated garden hose under the sheeting allow irrigation and conservation of water slits in the plastic allow plants to grow. Twine hanging from the arches can be used to hang overloaded cucumber and tomato plants.

See Farm It

Peace Corps Building Manual

Visit the website http://home.comcast.net/~kellyjmorris/build docs.htmlwhich has a free download of the Peace Corps Construction Manual which teaches how to make block and brick construction with minimal concrete or local soils, it also covers digging wells. Like military manuals the Peace Corps publications are written under government contract with your taxes and are in the public domain, feel free to print, bind, and even sell these books.

School Bus

Even if it will never run again a school bus is still a possibility for shelter, tow it to your site put it on blocks and remove the seats. The upsides are a reasonably large living area and potential for relocation. A bus cabin is real cleanup problem when you vacate, it will also invite police attention so place this option towards the bottom of your list.

Immigrant Labor Camp

If you happen to appear somewhat browner skinned, most rural WASP’s will look right through you if you play to their expectations, taking on Latino laborer dress and keeping your mouth shut can work as great camouflage. Migrant labor camps are usually provided for workers as part of their pay. Conditions are often sparse to tragic as CorpGov and independent farmers just want to make a buck, these are usually not the place to look for shelter unless you look and speak like a native of the lands south of the Rio Grande and are in a very tight situation.

Wilderness

See Backpacking and Camping

Original Rural Living

If you are considering moving to the country, especially as a group, you are talking about farms and farmland. There are some farms for rent, and occasionally a family that has to be away for a year or two will let you live on their farm if you keep the place in repair. These can be found advertised in the back of various farming magazines and in the classified sections of newspapers, especially the Sunday editions. Generally speaking, however, if you’re interested in a farm, you should be considering an outright purchase.

First, you have to determine in what part of the country you want to live in terms of the climate you prefer and how far away from the major cities you wish to locate. The least populated states, such as Utah, Idaho, the Dakotas, Montana and the like, have the cheapest prices and the lowest tax rates. The more populated a state, and in turn, the closer to a city, the higher the commercial value of the land.

There are hundreds of different types of farms, so the next set of questions you’ll have to raise concerns the type of farm activity you’ll want to engage in. Cattle farms are different than vegetable farms or orchards. Farms come in sizes: from half an acre to ranches larger than the state of Connecticut. They will run in price from $30 to $3000 an acre, with the most expensive being prime farmland in fertile river valleys located close to an urban area. The further away from the city and the further up a hill, the cheaper the land gets. It also gets woodier, rockier and steeper, which means less tillable land.

If you are talking ofliving in a farm house and maybe having a small garden and some livestock for your own use, with perhaps a pond on the property, you are looking for what is called a recreational farm. When you buy a recreational farm, naturally you are interested in the house, barn, well, fences, chicken-coop, corrals, woodsheds and other physical structures on the property. Unless these are in unusually good condition or unique, they do not enter into the sale price as major factors. It is the land itself that is bought and sold.

Farmland is measured in acreage; an acre being slightly more than 43,560 square feet. The total area is measured in 40-acre plots. Thus, if a farmer or a real estate agent says he has a plot ofland down the road, he means a 40-acre farm. Farms are generally measured this way, with an average recreational farm being 160 acres in size or an area covering about 1/2 square mile. A reasonable rate for recreational farmland 100 miles from a major city with good water and a livable house would be about $50 per acre. For a 160-acre farm, it would be $8,000, which is not an awful lot considering what you are getting. For an overall view, get the free catalogues and brochures provided by the United Farm Agency, 612 W. 47^th St., Kansas City, Mo. 64112.

Now that you have a rough idea of where and what type of farm you want, you can begin to get more specific. Check out the classified section in the Sunday newspaper of the largest city near your desired location. Get the phone book and call or write to real estate agencies in the vicinity. Unlike the city, where there is a sellers’ market, rural estate agents collect their fee from the seller of the property, so you won’t have to worry about the agent’s fee.

When you have narrowed down the choices, the next thing you’ll want to look at is the plot book for the county. The plot book has all the farms in each township mapped out. It also shows terrain variations, type ofhousing on the land, location of rivers, roads and a host of other pertinent information. Road accessibility, especially in the winter, is an important factor. If the farms bordering the one you have selected are abandoned or not in full use, then for all intents and purposes, you have more land than you are buying.

After doing all this, you are prepared to go look at the farm itself. Notice the condition of the auxiliary roads leading to the house. You’ll want an idea of what sections of the land are tillable. Make note ofhow many boulders you’ll have to clear to do some planting. Also note how many trees there are and to what extent the brush has to be cut down. Be sure and have a good idea of the insect problems you can expect. Mosquitoes or flies can bug the shit out of you. Feel the soil where you plan to have a garden and see how rich it is. If there are fruit trees, check their condition. Taste the water. Find out ifhunters or tourists come through the land. Examine the house. The most important things are the basement and the roof. In the basement examine the beams for dry rot and termites. See how long it will be before the roof must be replaced. Next check the heating system, the electrical wiring and the plumbing. Then you’ll want to know about services such as schools, snow plowing, telephones, fire department and finally about your neighbors. If the house is beyond repair, you might still want the farm, especially if you are good at carpentry. Cabins, A-Frames, domes and tepees are all cheaply constructed with little experience. Get the materials from your nearest military installation.

Finally, check out the secondary structures on the land to see how usable they are. If there is a pond, you’ll want to see how deep it is for swimming. If there are streams, you’ll want to know about the fishing possibilities; and iflarge wooded areas, the hunting.

In negotiating the final sales agreement, you should employ a lawyer. You’ll also want to check out the possibility of negotiating a bank loan for the farm. Don’t forget that you have to pay taxes on the land, so inquire from the previous owner or agent as to the tax bill. Usually, you can count on paying about $50 annually per 40-acre plot.

Finally, check out the federal programs available in the area. If you can learn the ins and outs of the government programs, you can rip off plenty. The Feed-Grain Program of the Department of Agriculture pays you not to grow grain. The Cotton Subsidy Program pays you not to grow cotton. Also look into the Soil Bank Program of the United States Development Association and various Department ofForestry programs which pay you to plant trees. Between not planting cotton and planting trees, you should be able to manage.

Squatting

S\:lhe contents of this page are based on the graphic novel “Survival Without Rent.” Survival out Rent was originally published in 1986. It was revised and expanded in 1989. Not being all text, it includedfantastic illustrations, some of which can be viewed at a site that contains images by squatter, activist and artist Seth Tobocman. Small stylistic changes were made as it was keyboardedfor uploading to the internet in February 1997. This book is intended to help people take back the homes that have been taken away from them by government and business. It is dedicated to Eleanor Bumpurs and to the East Fifth Street Squat.

As we all know, laws and police tactics change over time, but the principles remain the same, and we can always use this information. repurposing a run down structure as a shelter is a tricky, yet rewarding task This section is designs specifically for locating an abandoned building and making it your somewhat legal residence for as long as possible. As opposed to Low Impact Crashing, where any survival trick goes, the steps listed in this section are designed to be as legal as possible in order to prolong your squat and make it more CorpGov resistant. As this is now part of the wiki it may, over time, be edited to differ from the original squatting guidebook. We expect to see many more abandoned buildings and homeless squats as the USA visits the economic slums in the near future and present.

In the spirit of the Wiki, we will divide this page into two sections. The original Survival Without Rent will be included at the bottom of the page. Any new methods, ideas, or legal changes due to the passage of time will be included in the first section, following the protocol we use for Abbie Hoffman’s original “Steal This Book.”

Squatting

Foreclosure Squatting

In late 2007 as the foreclosure machine gets into full swing and the banks are taking away the apartments and houses of even those who pay their rent every month a new oppertunity is available to squatters. Often landlords bought and built on speculation of ever rising land values and low interest rates. Now as additional credit is no longer available the risk taking of the landlords affects the renters as a surprise eviction with only days or weeks can be attempted by the banks or government. If this happens to you a ready made squatting solution may have been delivered with the eviction notice. After the eviction notice discontinue paying rent, the old owner no longer has a right to your money ifhe has lost the property because of deliquent taxes or bank foreclosure, but continue paying regular utilities so they are not shut off. Stash any valuables you want to keep with friends as an eventual evictor may be rough with your stuff. Now get legal help and unite your building and others like it in defiance of the CorpGov banking system, squat your own apartment!!

Leak Management

If your squat place has a leaky roof buckets and pans might be enough until you can do some repairs. For major damage that threatens to rot or mold your place you need to set up a system of tarp pools and chutes. Large tarps and sheet plastic can be used, we found good instructions in an old firefighters training manual.

For a pool the tarp is under-rolled from four sides with the under-rolling forming walls, then the corners are folded under to keep the rolls tight. If a spillway is needed one corner can be left without an underfold. The pool can be emptied with a garden hose siphon, don’t let the spoiled water touch your mouth, coil the hose up in the full pool forcing out the air and plug the end, when you are downstairs unplug the hose and the siphon will run.

A tarp water chute is made by under-rolling the sides of a tarp and running it downhill or stairway to the outside.

It might be possible to make a large cone from a tarp or plastic and clamp drain pipe or hose to run water out from a large building, it is best to drain this into a storm sewer.

Drainage

In a condemned building squat where there is no possibility of rebuilding the bathroom plumbing you might consider cutting a hole in the floor and installing a drain using inexpensive drainage tubing and cement or roofing compound for a seal and running it out to the city storm sewer, this wil only work on upper floors where a gravity siphon will carry the water down and across the yard. If possible also seal and build up the floor to slope into the drain, have a cleanout or elbow in the pipe to catch valuables, crud, and hair.

Replumbing

If the pipes are ripped out of your squat start by replumbing with scrap pipe, garden hose, splices, and hose clamps an improvised reinstall will not look too nice but will workjust as well as real pipe in the short term when ythere is a question ofhow long your stay will be.

Shower Enclosure

If you are not fortunate to have a plumbed squat building or access to a lockable public restroom but can access an unused room with a floor drain you are still in luck. Plastic sheeting is an inexpensive way to make a temporary shower enclosure in a room and still be able to live in it without soaking your gear while also providing some privacy. Hang your siphon shower directly above the floor drain, then hang the plastic sheeting from a hula hoop or PVC pipe frame it might also work to tape it directly to the ceiling, wrap the curtain sheet around with an entry slit and attach a second piece that acts as a collection tub on the bottom, cut a hole for the drain and tape down around the floor drain, an extra flap of plastic over the opening slit will help prevent splash out. A kids inflatable pool is another good way to catch water, be careful especialy with the larger pools as they can end up being quite a heavy load on a rotton upper floor, siphon the waste water out the window with a piece ofhose if you have no nearby drain.

Rewiring

Attach wire or extention cords high up on the walls, be careful about taping and protecting splices and don’t overload the capacity of the wire, (rule of thumb warm wire is always dangerous, cool wire might be dangerous), keep everything too high for kids or water to get to it. Consider building a circut breaker box to protect against shorts and overloads. Get help from somebody who really knows electrical repair to plan the wire breakers and loads for your system, unplanned ad-hoc setup can cause fires.

A Warm Bed

One of the most miserable parts of alternative housing and homelessness is that it seems that you are damp and freezing your ass off 24/7 all winter long. Most squats have no electricity or gas so heating is really expensive and often dangerous. The worst time to feel cold is when you are trying to sleep, being chilled at night ruins your health and keeps you from getting proper rest making you ineffective to our cause.

Cargo Pallet Bed

For the most part we all carry a decent sleeping bag and this is your first priority in getting proper bedding. Once this is taken care of you need to get off of the ground and get some sleep. Even a dry floor in an unheated squat steals heat and collects condensation preventing a truly warm nights sleep.

Dry cardboard and newspaper have some insulating properties but they get gross and collect condensation sometimes as quickly as one night or two.

While you are collecting the stuff you need to make a proper bed, find two or three wooden freight pallets in good condition to get you off of the floor. They are behind almost every business, factory, and strip mall. Be sure to hammer down the nails so you don’t rip your bag or hurt yourself, now pad the pallets with a few of those cheap lint blankets they give away at homeless shelters or if you cant get any blankets right away use a protective layer of newspaper or cardboard, if you have on just cover the pallets with your closed cell(non-inflatable) camping pad.

Now that you are off of the ground and feeling a little better lets try to make you a decent bed that will really keep you warm and keep the cold out. See more beds in Free Furniture

Exclusivity

It is a good idea to clearly mark the entrance of a womens only squat. Making a squat female exclusive is not to be a hate or anger based settlement decision but is based on the safety and emotional needs of the occupants. Women should make every attempt to have a working locked door by the first night as much physical and most sexual violence is directed at women.

It is also not a bad idea for men to try to find exclusivity in squatting to remove any chance of misunderstanding resulting in accusations, it will also put any temptation of misdeeds at arms length.

Door and Frame

It is a good idea to build your own secondary door frame and connect it to the wall with lag bolts. A 2x4 or larger wood door bar that can be dropped into place across the doorway and heavy steel braces will hold the bar on your new reinforced door frame.

Original Content

Introduction

The housing situation in NYC rapidly becomes worse and worse. Abandoned buildings deteriorate with every winter. Low income housing and homesteading programs have disappeared along with our elected officials’ promises. Now is the time to take the situation into our own hands. What we’re saying is that housing policy is dishonest and an insult to anyone living in welfare hotels, crowded conditions or in the park. These laws are put together by people who can only be described as common criminals who wear nice clothes and live in two or three nice homes. They would never dream ofliving in the conditions that we are used to. These people profit from our misery. They don’t have a grain of sympathy for us, our children, or the sometimes unbearable conditions in which we are forced to live.

This little book has been put together to help people with little or no money find a solution to their housing problems. We hope that after reading it, people will look at an abandoned building in a totally new light. You might think that living in the conditions we describe in this book is pretty crude. We hope you won’t be forced to live like this. But if it sounds better than what you’ve got now, we hope you’ll be inspired to give it a try.

We will go through a step-by-step guide on how to find your building, what to look for, and the cheapest and easiest ways of making it comfortable. Once you are in the building, you will have to deal with the law eventually, so we have included a section covering some basics to keep the police from messing you up. We aim in this book to show methods that you can use to live more comfortably and safely than on the street. We believe that — even if you have no money at all and don’t want to have anything to do with other people — you will still find the ideas in this book useful. It may be less work and in some ways more comfortable to live in a shelter. However, we believe that if you can manage to take an empty building, you will have a home with more selfrespect and more independence thanjust about anyone. You can get off the street or out of the shelter and make a decent home for yourself very simply. If you do, we hope that you will use whatever political, legal, or other means you can to keep the powers-that-be from making you homeless again.

Mayor Koch once said that if you can’t afford to live here, you should get out. Let’s give him (and his successors) our answer: We’re taking our homes for ourselves here. Koch and his cronies can take it or leave it themselves. You can improve a vacant lot without being busted for trespassing -insist on your right to squat on unused PUBLIC property.

Here are some (now outdated) facts to consider if you are not sure whether it is right for you to make a home for yourself in a building that you don’t “legally” own.

• Two-thirds ofNew Yorkers pay 40 percent or more of their income for housing, while most of the top quarter of the income scale pay less 40 percent.

• One hundred thousand people are homeless in New York City.

• The city government owns 65 percent of the vacant properties in Harlem and other areas of the city.

• Thirty-six thousand apartments were converted to co-ops and condos between 1981 and 1984.

• Twenty-seven percent of homeless people were forced out of their homes by eviction.

• Three hundred and ten thousand units have been emptied by emptied by abandonment, disinvestment and arson.

How to Form a Group

This first part is often the trickiest, since a bad, untogether group will do more damage to the project than the city government will in many cases. The people you live and work with are more important than the building that you chose. One of the most important aspects of a group is diveristy. Every group has its own style: some are more political than others; some like to party; some like to be real business-like and legal; some are arty; others are just trying to get over and off the street. Whatever your group is like, you should keep in mind that not only do you have to relate to each other, you also have to relate to your community. If your neighborhood is all the same ethnic group as the members of your group, you don’t have to worry about diversity. But if your group has only token members of the main ethnic group in the neighborhood, then you could get yourselfin some trouble.

A group of people living and working together who all agree on everything cannot exist: someone in the group is always going to have to shelve, give up or compromise on an idea. As you will be living in the unfamiliar condition of having no landlord, no way of calling in the police to settle your differences, you should give some thought to the kind of people you want to live with.

Once you’ve decided to squat, its up to you to make the first contact. How you do this depends on your situation. If you live in a welfare hotel or a shelter, you will have a readily-available supply of people who are in the same situation as you. After studying this book, the next time someone says to you, “God! I’m sick of this shit,” spring the idea on them. Sit down, have a coffee and go over the pros and cons of squatting. We’re sure you’re going to disagree with some of the things we say,just as sure as you will come up with ideas of your own (with enough energy and luck). Communicating with people in this way you will soon find yourself in a group which is seriously considering the option of squatting.

We feel that six adults is a big enough group to go to a building (figure out yourselves what “adult” means). If for some reason your group is only two or three people, don’t be discouraged. Go ahead with the project, since once a building is opened, within weeks you’ll have people coming around, looking for a place to stay.

If for some reason you happen to be isolated, that is, living alone in a hotel, or even in the park, and you can’t get enough people interested or organized, then don’t give up! Remember that this city is full ofhomeless people and all you need is a few of them to start your group. You could advertize on lamp posts and bulletin boards. For example: “Wanted: people interested in homesteading. Contact —.” (Note: some squatters call themselves homesteaders when dealing with the public, but in many areas no one understands what this means.) The groups listed at the end of this book may help you make contracts. We have found that a set of rules is must for any new group. The rules should be discussed in detail and agreed upon by all concerned. They should be written down, since verbal agreements tend to get pretty vague after a few months.

Here is one set ofhouse rules you can think about if you need ideas for your own:

• No hard drugs: they can be used as a pretext to throw everyone out of the building.

• No violence.

• No stealing.

Breaking any of these first three rules can get you thrown out of the squat, though everyone should remember that squatters have no legal right to throw anyone out or evict them.

• Every member must work a minimum ofhours per month on the common areas of the building. Jobs may include childcare and other nonconstruction work. What work people do depends on their abilities.

• Every member must pay a certain amount per month to a construction fund for the common areas of the building: roof, stairs, plumbing, electricity, etc.

• The construction funds should be deposited in a joint account, which requires at least two signatures to get money from. The name on the account should be something like “The 537 E. 5^th St. Homestead Association.”

• All new members must go through a trial period in which they work on the building with old members for a month, and can then be accepted as a member by agreement of all the other

members.

We want to emphasize again that these rules are our own, and you will probably need to adapt them to your own circumstances. We also hope people will keep in mind the cruel wave of evictions that has made so many people homeless when they consider whether or not some offense is serious enough to throw a member out.

Finding a Building and Investigating It

New York City is full of empty buildings that range from totally destroyed shells all the way to buildings that are in OK shape. The way to find a building is to simply walk around the streets with your eyes open. Try to concentrate on areas where people are already squatting or homesteading, as you will usually get less hassle from the neighbors if you squat there. Look at the buildings surrounding the one you’ve got your eye on.

If the surroundings look as if they’ve been renovated for well-off people, this may mean more hassles from neighbors and police. The neighbors can be dealt withjust by talking to them and explaining your case. Give them some figures on how many people are homeless. Tell them who is in your group and how you came to be in the situation you’re in. Be realistic and honest. See what you can find out from them. Ask about the history of the building and whether or not any one has been using it since it was abandoned.

Try to get an idea if any community groups, politicians, gangs or real estate operators have an eye on the building. If so, figure out if they are for real and, if not, whether you will be able to take the building and keep them off your back. If you think they are for real, you might approach them and see if you can work together. You may also meet squatters who still have room in their buildings and are looking for new members.

Be polite, but be careful of people who are in too big a hurry to be your friend. Be particularly careful to avoid antagonizing any of your neighbors during the first month, that is, until you’ve established your residence. As for dealing with the police, refer to the chapter on legal hassles.

You will notice that some buildings have been painted with squares. These squares are painted by the city government to indicate the status of the building. An empty square indicates that the building is abandoned. A square with a slash in it indicates that fire fighters should be cautious entering the building. A square with an X in it indicates that the building is condemned. Don’t presume the building is not good: perfectly good buildings get condemned all the time.

It’s worth knowing whether a building is still privately owned or has been taken over by the city government. If the owner of a building shows up and wants you out, it is easier for him to get you evicted than it is for the city to get you out of one of their buildings.

Also, if it ever gets to the point that you want to hold on to the building you have squatted and stay there over a long term, it is possible to do so with city-owned buildings, but practically impossible with privately-owned buildings. People on the block may know if the city owns a building or not, but to be sure you should check at city hall. In NYC, the place to go if the Office of the City Register, Room 20531, Chambers Street.

Take the exact address of the building with you. In the office, look first at the Lot and Block maps. Find the block number and the lot number of the address in which you’re interested. The records are kept according to these numbers and not according to addresses. When you have this information, check out the micro film for the building (you need ID to do this). When you’re reading the microfilm, go directly to the last few pages in the records to find the last transaction, because this will tell you who owns the building now. The city government ends up owning a building when the previous owner didn’t pay the taxes on it; the city takes the building (forecloses) in lieu ofback taxes. So look for a statement of foreclosure.

Have a look at the exterior walls of the building you’re researching. You may have to wait until you’ve gotten inside before you can get to the back of the building, but what you need to look at is the same. Are there major holes in the masonry? If they can’t be filled or covered, they might be significant structural defects. Are there signs ofbulging or sagging? Are there wide gaps where the mortarjoints should be? If the answer is “Yes” to any of these questions, find another building to squat.

Is the fire escape pulling loose from the wall? Is it falling apart? Is the cornice (the part that sticks out from the face of the building along the roof) broken apart and dangling? If the answer to any of these questions is “Yes,” you’ve got dangers to people walking on the sidewalk in front of the building, and so you will have to fix these problems. But remember: though a cornice is just a decorative frill (and so can be removed or tied back so it won’t fall), its deterioration can be a sign of overall deterioration. A dangerous cornice is a building code violation and can get your squat closed down.

OK, so at this point you’ve got your eye on a certain building and, from the outside, it doesn’t look too bad. Now for a look inside. To be on the safe side as far as getting hassled goes, it may be best to go in the evening when it is dark. But it may be that, after familiarizing youself with the neighborhood, you feel comfortable with entering the building during the daytime. Either way, bring a strong flashlight and be very careful where you step and what you hold on to. It’s very easy — if you are not watching what you are doing — to step through a rotted floor board or lose your balance when a piece ofbroken window frame comes loose in your hand. The riskiest part of an abandoned building is usually at the top, because there are usually some bad leaks in the roof that will cause rot. But dangers can be found aplenty on the lower floors, too: vandalism and fire damage can be found anywhere in a building, and years of leakage will result in lower-floor rot as well.

Normally the easiest way in is through the back. You can climb up the fire escape and go in a window. Even if the back is bricked up, you can get to the roof, and from there it is often easy to find a way in. Now, say there’s no way into the back — what do you do? You’re going to need about five people and a 12-foot ladder. Two people are needed as lookouts; one person holds the ladder while the remaining two enter the building. It’s always useful to have one person with you who has some knowledge of old buildings, so if no one in your group knows old buildings, you should get someone who does to help out.

If you are unfortunate enough to choose a building that is totally bricked up, your only way in will probably be on the roof. If you can’t get up to the roof, you will have to chisel out a couple of concrete blocks from a window and get in through the opening you’ve created. We recommend that as few people as possible do this so that too much attention isn’t attracted.

It is easy to get in if you can get friendly with someone who lives next door: you can get onto the roof of the building you’re interested in through this person’s building.

So! After days of planning, hassles, people not showing up, and trying to get organized, you’re finally inside and ready to inspect the building. It will almost certainly look and smell like shit: it will be full of old rotting furniture, rubble and ceilings that have fallen down all over the place. Some apartments in the building will be burnt-out. Don’t be discouraged by any of this, for it’s all quite normal.

Inspect the roof. Check it for holes. Look for missing, burnt or rottedjoists, which are the timbers that support roofs and floors. Rot can be tested by sticking a knife in the lumber as far as it will go. When checking for rot, find a spot where the leaking water soaks in and doesn’t dry up right away. Up to an inch may be rotted or burnt, and the timbers might still be OK. The ends of the joists can suffer a lot of deterioration without endangering the structure, but the joists in the middle cannot be weakened without risking collapse. Check the parapet walls around the roof to see if (or how badly) they are falling apart and what will need to be done to them to make them safe.

Inspect the stairs. If you’re lucky, there will be nothing wrong with the stairs except for some missing steps. If the building has no staircase at all, you will have a lot of work to do, perhaps too much. Until you are able to replace the stairs, you will have to use the fire escape or a ladder in place of stairs. There are enough buildings with stairs around that you may be wasting your time on one that doesn’t have any staircase at all. One squat in NYC was evacuated by the Fire Department for not having stairs. Eviction by HPD (Housing Preservation and Development, which is the landlord of city-owned buildings) can be delayed by legal means for a long time. But evacuation by the city’s Fire, Health or Buildings Departments is swift and hard to contest.

Inspect the floor joists. These are the timbers that support the floors. Make note where they are missing or damaged. If the floors are sloping more than an inch or so, this may mean that the structure has shifted so much that it has become dangerous. If timbers are dangerously damaged, they can be braced by scavenged lumber (four-by-fours are best).

Inspect the sewer pipes. The toilets will typically be smashed or missing, but the water pipes may be in salvageable condition. Follow the waste pipes through the building down to the basement, checking for holes along the way. Look for holes in the walls which HPD — upon taking over the building — may have made in order to damage the pipes and thereby discourage squatters. Copper water pipes will certainly have been stripped, but if there were steel pipes originally, they may still be in place and useable. If your plumbing is in OK condition, you can probably get your water running pretty soon. Otherwise you can get water from a fire hydrant, which can be opened with a pipe wrench.

Inspect the front door. If the front of the building has been sealed with concrete blocks, make sure that the door or any windows are ready to use before you knock the blocks out. If there is already a working door you can use or if you have to knock a hole in the block wall and install a door in the opening (see below), make sure you are ready to keep the building secured once you have opened it and made your use of the building public.

Getting In

Now, you’re ready to move in. If the area you’re in is run-down, it’s possible that no one will bother you while you smash out the concrete blocks. With a twelve-pound sledge hammer, a door sized opening can take as few as seven-and-a-half minutes to create. Quickly get all the broken blocks off the sidewalk and into the building; sweep up to remove signs of your work. You may want to keep a low profile and do this while look-outs watch for the cops, or bring along lots of friends and supporters, and dare the cops to intervene. It is also possible, and it may be preferable, to work from the inside out, to chisel the blocks out discreetly, one by one.

You should have a door and frame prepared to set into the new opening. Measure and mark the hole you’ve opened with your new door in mind. In any case, work quickly and as quietly as possible. Once inside, unless there is a useable door in place, either set up a barricade or install a door. Steel door frames and doors are easily scavenged from demolition or rehab sites. Unless you’re pretty strong, it will take two people to carry a steel door or a cart to roll it on.

To install the front door, set the frame in the opening and fill in around the edges with pieces of broken blocks and some mortar (a couple ofbags of mortar mix should be enough). Make certain that the bottom of the door frame is exactly as wide as the top when it is set in place. Otherwise the door won’t work. Use a board that has been cut to exactly the right width to keep the correct space at the bottom of the frame while it is being installed. Make sure the frame is straight up and down and not crooked, bent or twisted out ofline in the opening. If the frame you have is bent, you can straighten it with a hammer, laying it on the pavement and using a block of wood to protect it from getting dented up too much.

Install the frame so that the door will open into the building. There are steel tabs on the inside of the door frame that are meant to be bent out so that they will anchor the frame into the mortar joints in the block wall. As you fill in the opening around the door frame with mortar and block, be sure that the inside of the frame itself is filled with mortar and block pieces, because the frame is not solid by itself. If you’re not able to afford or install a heavy duty bolt lock on the door, a heavy chain and a padlock will do the trick. Pass the chain through a hole in the door and around the door frame.

Paint the name of your group and your address on the door. For the example: “The 537 East Fifth Street Homestead Association and Neighborhood Improvement Committee.” Do all the work that you can in advance so that on your opening day you can simply set your door, lock and door frame in place all in one go.

If this is more than you can manage right away, you’ll need to rig up some sort ofbarricade for the doorway and have someone inside at all times to let others in and out. You should not leave your building unattended in any case, especially right after you move in. It is good to have someone on hand to watch the place when most people are out during the day. The risk from police and other evildoers is high right after the building is occupied. Don’t let anyone in that you’re not sure about; don’t let any cops or city officials in under any circumstances unless they have a warrant. (See the legal section for what to do if the police do have a warrant.) Keep the door closed and locked at all times, don’t sit out on your stoop with the door unlocked or open. Needless to say, you’re in the building illegally, and so there is no need to make your front door an open invitation to cops and thieves.

Nothing is worse than coming home to find that your tools, sleeping bags and heaters have been ripped off — except maybe walking upstairs to your apartment and meeting a junk-sick thief running downstairs with your radio in one hand and a knife in the other.

Your security depends on making it so difficult to enter your building that most thieves will pass it up. If your building looks funky and people on the street can see that only poor people live there, you won’t need as much security. You should keep your ground floor windows barred or sealed with concrete block or even plywood. Eliminate hand and footholds by knocking them off or by setting nails or broken glass in masonry cement or roofing cement. More of the same or coiled barbed wire around the base of the fire escape and continuing across the face of the building at the second floor level will help to deter climbers. Grates on windows facing the fire escape are good, but it will take a lot of them to do your whole building. It might be good enough to bolt full sheets of plywood to the outside of the fire escape railing on the second floor. This will make a wall around the fire escapetoo high to climb over. You can top it off with a coil ofbarbed wire or nails. The roof is another point of entry, so be sure that the penthouse door is secured.

Note well that having a front door with a lock, beds and other basics such as a kitchen is good for your own well-being, but it is also important in establishing that you are a resident and not a trespasser. It may seem like a small point, but it is actually quite important. It can make the difference between getting run out of the building by the cops if they feel like doing it and getting them to back down so that they will have to wait until HPD manages to go through the lengthy proceedings necessary to legally evict you.

Emergency Repairs

In most cases, the most important repair that abandoned buildings need is work on the roof, which will almost certainly leak. The roof will typically have a large hole or two in it caused by a fire, fire fighters or vandals from the city government. For your own comfort, it may only be necessary to locate a room into which there is no leakage. However, a building in which the roof leaks will have lots of spaces in which no one will be able to live. You want to avoid squatting in a building such as this, because the more people you have living in your building, the better your chances of resisting eviction and protecting yourself against hassles from the city and from thieves and drug dealers.

The more people you have, the more comfortable and secure you can make your place.

The long-term maintenance of a building depends more on the roof than on any other single thing. If the roof is not maintained, it will eventually rot until it collapses. The floors will go and, sooner or later, the exterior walls will collapse. Then what you got is a pile of useless, rotten timber and broken masonry — which will cost the city a lot of money to clear out and turn into a vacant lot. Unfortunately, letting abandoned buildings rot until they collapse is just what HPD is doing with the buildings it owns. Don’t let the city get away with it!

Clear the roof of any debris and sweep it clean. Patch the holes. You can lay 5/8-inch-thick plywood boards over them. Try using mineralized felt paper and roofing tar as a way of patching holes. If your roof is so far gone that you have to cover it entirely, get someone who works as a roofer to help you out. To do this kind of work, you should be able to get the materials you donated by groups or organizations such as the Riverside Church, the Church of Saint John the Divine, or the Listener’s Auction ar radio station WBAI-FM.

[Note: if you have some work to get done, its helpful to write your plans down on paper, step by step, and keep track of any changes you make in the plans as you work. Make drawings or diagrams that describe and show how to do the jobs that are hard to explain in words; they will make it easier to organize and help get people involved in the project. Books such as the Reader’s Digest Complete Do-it-YourselfManual or Carpentry and Construction are handy for dealing with construction problems and can be found in the public libraries. We’ve found that books dealing specifically with roofing, electrical work, plumbing and other “specialized” trades are also easily obtained.]

If repairing the roof is too big a project to take on right away, you can use polyethelene plastic sheeting to protect the roof temporarily. Get a hundred-foot roll of 4 mil plastic that is twenty feet wide, and a couple ofbuckets of flashing cement. (Be sure to get flashing cement, because other kinds of roofing tar won’t do the trick.) Begin by clearing and sweeping the surface of the roof clean. Fill or cover up all the holes. Make sure that the roof drain is clear and unclogged at all times. Unroll the plastic so that the entire roof is covered. If you have to cut the plastic to cover the entire roof evenly, make sure the lapjoints where the edges of the plastic meet each other are perfectly sealed with flashing cement, leaving not even the smallest gap. Drape the ends of the plastic over the parapet walls on all four sides. Lay bricks or boards on top of the plastic so that the wind doesn’t blow it around. Fasten the ends to the walls with the flashing cement or with boards that have nails driven in to the mortar joints between the brick in the parapets.

This is a somewhat temporary protection, but if you do a goodjob, it should make it through the winter. But summer heat will certainly cook the plastic until it breaks apart. To make your plastic roof a bit more permanent, spread flashing cement over the entire surface of the roofbefore laying the plastic down. Make sure that there are no bubbles in the plastic and that all of the plastic is stuck to the cement below.

If you have leftover plastic, you can use it to seal the places where window are missing. Use lath, which is the thin slat with which plaster walls used to be made, to nail the plastic to the window frame or staple it up using strips of cardboard as reinforcement. You can also use leftover plastic to make tents for your living areas: these can be really handy in the cold winter months in NYC.

Shore the place up. Close off any areas of the building where the floor or the roof is unsafe. Then if you can’t replace, repair or reinforce the damaged timbers, you can brace them with four-by-fours or pairs of two-by-fours that have been nailed together. Be sure to brace the damaged timber against something solid or otherwise you’re just making the problem worse. The brace must ultimately be supported by a bearing wall or footing. You can brace down to a joist if its near a load-bearing wall.

You can generally assume that brick, block, or stone exterior walls are load-bearing walls and that interior walls (studs with lath and plaster) are probably not. However,just because a wall is not a loadbearing wall doesn’t mean you can take it out safely. Even if it is only a partition wall it can’t be safely removed if there are walls in the corresponding places on the floors above it. Even if there is no wall above the one you’re thinking of removing, you have to make certain that the floor joists above are not being supported by or, as a result of settling, come to rest upon it.

Missing stair steps can be temporarily replaced with wooden ones. If there’s no other way to secure them in place, drive nails through the top and then go underneath and bend the nails’ tips over so that they will hook on to the steel part of the stairway. Cover holes in the floor with plywood until you can get around to replacing the missing flooring.

Holes in sewage pipes can be patched by a variety of methods, including fibre glass, auto body filler with window screen, and even roofing cement. The waste pipes have already been discussed: they should be tested to see if they will drain but not leak. Until you’ve got the pipes working, you’ll have to dump your piss and other waste waters in the storm sewer in the street. Do not dump your waste waters out the window!

To remove debris, start at the top of your building and work down. Don’t throw stuff out of upper story windows, because you may draw justified complaints and hassles from your neighbors. Since you may not be able to get the kind of tube that contractors use to get stuff down from the upper floors to the street, you may have to take up the flooring in the same corner on each floor and throw the unwanted stuff down through the holes. Once at the ground floor, the debris can be chucked out the back of the building or bagged and taken out for bulk refuse collection by the Sanitation Department. (It might take quite a few tries to get a response from Sanitation; it depends on who you talk to. When you find someone who is helpful, get their name and only deal with them in the future.) If you use the through-the-floor method, hang a curtain of plastic that stretches from floor to ceiling on each of the affected floors, so that dust or asbestos particles won’t spread all over the place.

Asbestos causes cancer and other serious diseases. There is no safe level of exposure to asbestos fibers. Studies of exposure to asbestos suggest that as little as one day can result in significant damage to the respiratory system and disease. But the health risks of asbestos come into play only if the fibers are released from the material and enter the air. If the material is in excellent condition and not in a living area, left it alone. A greater hazard can be created than originally existed if the asbestos is removed by inexperienced people. Only trained asbestos abatement professionals should remove materials containing asbestos, which is typically found in boiler and pipe insulation. It may also be found in radiator covers, fire-proof doors and certain kinds of light-weight construction blocks.

If you see insulation that is not fibreglass, that is ripped, split, ragged or powdery looking (don’t touch it!), you should get the material tested for asbestos. Contact the White Lung Association (at 718 389 5546) and arrange to have a sample tested. The WLA also gives courses in asbestos removal.

If for some reason you must handle asbestos, be sure to wear displosable gloves and a respirator that has been approved for use with asbestos. A half-face respirator equipped with a High Efficiency Particulate Absolute filter will be sufficient. Keep the asbestos wet. The weight of the water will keep the asbestos particles from becoming air-borne.

Note: it’s a good idea to take photographs or shoot videotape of the work you have done on the building, even ifit seems as if you are documenting crimes you have committed. You’re not! Save your receipts for any materials you buy. Keep records of the jobs you did and the hours (or weeks or months) it took you and your group to do them. All of this is documentation that you are a homesteader and not a trespasser, a vagrant or a drifter (common stereotypes for squatters).

Light, Heat, and Fire Safety

Candles are the easiest way to provide light. The best kind are in tall glass containers, the kind that often have pictures of saints or magic charms on them. They last a long time and are not easily blown out. The cold does not easily shatter them. Somewhat better light can be provided by old-

fashioned keroseben lamps. If you use them, trim your wicks now and then to make the brightest flame and least smoke. Coleman lanterns generate light as bright as incandescent light. The kerosene type is safer than the gasoline ones, althought they take longer to light. Kerosene is generally cheaper and easier to get than white gas.

In New York City, heating is not merely a creature comfort in the winter. Tenants can sue their landlords for not providing enough heat and it is well known that are deaths from hypothermia among people living on the street and in unheated apartments.

We think kerosene heaters — though they can be messy and fire hazards — are a practical and economical means ofheating. Kerosene heaters aren’t legal but can be bought in the outer boroughs and New Jersey. It’s worth it to get your kerosene outside ofManhattan since the price will be mucher higher in this borough of the city. Please! do not store your kerosene in rooms in which heaters will be operated and never go to sleep with the heater on.

Get a wood stove if you can, because it can be a very cheap source ofheat. Wood stoves are also safer and healthier than kerosene heaters. If you can’t find one, you can make one from a discarded steel drum.

Start by making two holes in the drum: one to put the wood in (this one will need a door to keep smoke from backing out into the air), and another for the smoke to go out and into a flue pipe that you will have to make. The easiest way to cut these two holes is to drill a piolt hole to start each new cut, and then make your cuts using a jig saw with a sheet-metal blade. If there is no way for you to make use of power tools, you could even cut the holes using a cold chisel. The hole for the flue must be measured to fit the flue pipe: four or five inches in diameter seems good to us. The swinging door will have to be attached by hinges that are located along the bottom of the opening. The door will also have to be lockable.

A damper will allow you to control how fast the fire burns without opening and closing the door (which is also a method of controling the blaze). A damper can be made by cutting a round piece of sheet metal slightly less than the diameter of the flue. Punch two holes on opposite ends from each other in the lue pipe. Stick a piece ofheavy wire through the holes and attach the round piece to it. When the round piece is in the up-and-down position it allows the smoke through freely and thus stokes the fire; the more you turn it toward the side-to-side position it restricts the flow of smoke and thus the pace of the blaze.

You will need to set the stove on some kind of support that will keep it well above floor level. You can use anything you can find — bricks, old bed frames, etc. — as long as it won’t burn or char. Never burn painted, shellacked or treated wood in your stoves: they give off poisonous fumes and gases.

Since complaints can be made to the Fire Department about smoke coming from your squat, it is important that the smoke from your stove runs out of a proper flue or chimney. If your building has a chimney, make sure it is clear of obstructions. To see if the chimney is clear, you can put a flashlight in one of the flue holes, take yourself up to the roof and look down to see if you can see the light. You can locate the chimney stack in your apartment because it sticks out into the room from the wall on either side of it. The hole for the flue in the chimney may be open or bricked up or completely hidden by plaster or sheet rock. If so,just chop it open with a hammer.

If you don’t have a chimney or the chimney is blocked and you can’t clear it, then you’ll have to chop a flue hole in the wall or run the flue pipe out a window. In either case, the flue pipe should go all the way up and past the roofby five feet.

Fire extinguishers and smoke alarms are well worth having for your own safety as well as in case any city officials manage to get inside your building and have a chance to look around for code violations. Place the smoke alarms so that the stoves don’t set them off continually. Keep your place well ventilated no matter how you heat it in the winter, and never leave a fire or a heater unattended.

Keep passages, halls, stairs and fire escapes clear of obstructions. Place fire extinguishers or buckets of sand or water on every floor and in locations where they can be easily reached. Form an arson watch. A round-the-clock fire and safety watch may be advisable for your situation. If so, there may be already an arson watch group or community safety patrol of some sort in your neighborhood. These organizations are well worth joining or starting yourself with others squatters and/or with like-minded tenants in the area.

(Note added February 1997: On the afternoon of 9 February 1997, a small, accidental fire broke out on the second floor of the East Fifth Street Squat. The cause of the fire was a faulty electric space heater. The residents evacuated the building and left it in the hands of the Fire Department, which delayed in putting out the blaze, thus making the fire more damaging than it needed to have been. Once the Fire Department was through, the combined forces of the police and the Department of HPD conspired to illegally keep the residents from returning to their squatted building, which was deemed “dangerous” and demolished right in front of its former occupants within a day or two after the fire. The moral of the story seems clear: put your fires out yourself and trust the Fire Department as much as you do the police!)

Makeshift Toilets, Water, and Cooking

Use buckets or empty bottles for waste waters. Keep the buckets from getting foul by never putting toilet paper in them and by rinsing them with lime or a disinfectant. Construction sites are easy sources of empty five gallon buckets. As far as shitting goes, do it on a few sheets of the New York Times, wrap it up, put it in a plastic bag and throw the bag into a trash can on the street. To avoid unnecessary hassles, do not use the trash cans owned by your neighbors. If you let your place get unsanitary, you can have complaints lodged against you by the Health Department, which will not only get you thrown out in a big hurry, but will also make hassles for other squatters.

Keep your food hanging in a bag or on a shelf hanging by wire so that mice and bugs and cats can’t get to it. Do the same for your garbage and ispose of it every day. This way you won’t get any mice or bugs and your cats will only eat what they are supposed to.

To make an alcohol stove start with an empty can. Loosely pack it with cloth: gauze bandage is best. You will need something to set the can on so it doesn’t rest directly on the burner. You can place a grill (an old refrigerator shelf will do nicely) on top of some bricks. Or you can place the burner can inside a larger one. For example, you could put a beer can inside of a coffee can. (Your pot would then sit on top of the coffee can.) The larger can should have holes punched around the top with a can opener, so that when you put a pot on top the burner won’t be sealed off from the air. Punch holes around the bottom rim of the can to help the flow of air. You may find that holes around the top of the burner can are also needed. To fire it up, pour rubbing alcohol on the cloth until it is soaked and then light it. The stove should burn for about 15 minutes. (Never refuel while its still burning, and never use anything stronger than 70% isopropyl alcohol as fuel.) Enclose the whole thing in a metal reflector to keep the heat in and cut down on drafts. Otherwise, it’ll take forever to get anything hot. If water accumulates in the gauze,just take it out and squeeze it dry.

You might consider using propane camp stoves with large tanks and hoses attached as your foodcooking device. They are very practical and economical. You might consider using an ordinary gas stove: they are easy to find on the street, and you can put propane jets on them to make them work better. But you should be careful that the one your are using doesn’t leak. Abackback stove is handy for traveling light and is small enough to hide easily in a building in which there are security problems.

To make your squatted apartment space more comfortable, contact the Red Cross and the local churches. They might well give you blankets or sell them to you for cheap. When the weather gets very cold, a tent of some kind around your bed will really make a difference. Insulation can be made by putting rugs or thick cloth on the floors, walls and ceilings. If no one is living above you, you can fill that room with garbage bags filled with newspapers. Newspapers can also be used for wallpaper (especially The Daily News, “New York’s Picture Newspaper”). Such wallpaper — especially if it is painted over — will reduce the problem of old paint or plaster that has begun to flake off.

Windows and panes can be scavenged from construction sites at which buildings are being renovated, and from window suppliers that leave unwanted stuff out on the street. Doors can also be obtained in the same ways.

Electricity, water and other services can all be provided by a variety of methods that you will be able to discover by using your imagination and staying in contact with other squatters. Getting hooked up with the public utilities providers can be a way of strengthening your case that you are community members and not trespassers.

Legal Hassles

Every effort you can make to show that you have established as normal as possible a residence will be an advantage in dealing with the law. Operate on the assumption that you are a law-abiding citizen and a legal tenant of the building in which you are squatting until it has been decided otherwise in a court oflaw. Use your address freely, and get library cards, swimming cards and other forms ofID that have your address on it.

Have mail sent to you at your building. This will help you prove that you live there and that you aren’t breaking-and-entering or trespassing. Put your address on the front door and make a mail slot in it. Find out when mail is delivered to your street and be there when the mail carrier comes by. Explain that you are living here and that you will be receiving mail at this location. Sometimes the carriers will be uncooperative, but usually they will be friendly if you are friendly. If friendliness doesn’t work, it might be that the carrier you’ve talked to isn’t the regular one, or that several carriers take turns delivering mail to your street and thus don’t feel any inclination to helping you out. Try a different mail carrier.

If nothing else works, try the postmaster at the office for your route. He or she might tell you that there has to be a mailbox locked and unlocked by keys for the carriers to deliver mail, or that you are not a legal tenant, or that you don’t own the building, blah blah blah. Point out as politely as you can that the building isn’t a multiple dwelling unit, that it is undergoing renovation at the moment, and that the addresses on the letters that will be sent to the people who are living there will not have separate apartment numbers on them. Tell the postmaster that you are living there and (more to the point) have not been evicted yet, so your legal status as a tenant simply has not been decided in court as of yet. Tell that bureaucrat that your tenancy is a civil matter between you and the City of New York, and not a criminal matter involving the federal government and your right to receive your mail.

If nothing works, it may actually enable you to get an eviction case thrown out of court. If you cannot get any of your mail because of the Post Office’s refusals to deliver it, you literally can’t be served with an eviction notice, which typically arrives by mail and is not served in person!

If it is not delivered to your building, your mail will be held for you at the local post office. Once picked up, such mail can still serve as proof of residence.

Never sign for or accept any registered or certified mail until you are absolutely sure it is not from the city government. It could be a summons or an eviction notice!

There is something to be said for putting wild shapes, slogans and colors on the front of your squat: it underlines the changes that the building is going through and shows that you are proud of them and of your role in bringing about these changes. There is also something to be said for making the front of your building look as much like an ordinary building as possible. In either case, working diligently and productively on the front will give your neighbors a chance to size you up, to come out and talk to you. They will respect you when they see you working on your place.

Go to block association meetings and seek their support. Although the members of the block association may be merchants and professionals, they may want to help you if they see that you are making good use of the building and that you are not housing or attracting drug dealers, users, pimps or prostitutes. If there is no block association, you may want to start one. You can rally your neighbors by pointing out that both squatters (or homesteaders) and rent-paying tenants want to stop the twin-headed monster ofbenign neglect and gentrification. Once you’ve got your block association together you can go to your local Community Board to seek their support as well. Its also worthwhile to check out whatever housing and tenants’ organizations are active in your neighborhood.

If you are confronted by the police or officials from the Department ofHousing Preservationa d Development, you have a right to all the protections inherent in the eviction process. You can ask for a postponement of your case because you haven’t been able to get a lawyer, or because your lawyer has had insufficient time to prepare your case or cannot appear in court the day your case is to be heard. And so on. In the meantime, you’re still living in your building. Since HPD is often bogged down in lengthy eviction proceedings — some of which it loses — this bureaucracy may very well try to get other city departments to throw you out.

You cannot be denied welfare benefits because you are a squatter. It is illegal for the Bureau of Child Welfare to take your children from you on the grounds that you are a squatter. Besides, plenty of people pay rent to live in apartments that are in terrible condition; these people’s children are not taken from them because of these conditions! Persistence and good legal advice will be your best weapons as you try to make sure your rights are being respected and are not being arbitrarily violated.

Don’t let anyone from the city government or the police department into your building, even if they claim they have a warrant. If they do, they can slip it through the mail slot or under the door so you can read it first. Don’t identify yourself or answer any questions through the door.

If you do receive a legal notice with your name on it, don’t miss the court date unless you’ve cleared it with your lawyer or an informed housing activist in advance. If the notice doesn’t have your name on it or says “Resident” or “John Doe” or something, definitely do not answer it. It most likely shows that the HPD has not yet made a really serious attempt to find out who each and every one of your group is, and that they are trying to get an easy score with the “Anyone living at this address” bullshit. But you should take the notice to a tenants’ rights organizer or housing lawyer for advice, and then take it to the clerk of the court’s office so that you can put it on record that nobody with those names live at your building.

If the people in your building start getting eviction notices, be sure that there is always someone living with you (who has proof of residence) who hasn’t been named in a notice. In this way, if it comes down to an eviction, HPD won’t be able to seal the building since there will still be someone living there that they can’t evict yet. Once the “eviction-minus-one” is over and the cops are gone, you can move back in without problem.

If the authorities have served you with notice that the building is going to be evacuated for reasons of public safety, you’ll have to come up with a detailed plan that shows how you you are going to repair the problem. You will no doubt need the help of professionals to do this, and you’ll their help right away, for you’ve got only a few days to get a judge to issue a stay of execution order. Call the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) at 718 292–0070 to start.

At the first sign of trouble, someone should be using your “Eviction-Watch List” to contact all your friends and supporters, so that as many witnesses are on the scene as possible. This will keep the cops on their toes and “best behavior,” that is, slightly less likely to start beating people up. If the cops get through your front door, write down their badge numbers and names, demand to see their identification, etc. etc. Have witnesses to absolutely everything. Videotape, audiotape and photograph whenever possible. You have a legal right to make a record of all that takes place. If the cops ask to speak to your leaders, tell them you don’t have any. If they ask “Who is in charge?” or if they ask if you are in charge, tell them “Nobody is in charge.” Never admit to having leaders, even if you do, and you will (like it or not). At all times, be firm and reasonable with the cops unless you are ready for a fight. Be forewarned that the police in NYC are always ready for a fight.

Organizations

These are some of the organizations that can be helpful:(V=phone number verified in 2008)

• V-ACORN: Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now 1-877-55ACORN — 718-246-7900 fax 718-246-7939 natexdirect@acorn.org http://www.acorn.org

• V-Center for Constitutional Rights 212 614 6464 http://ccrjustice.org

• V-Church of Saint John the Divine 212 316 7400

• V-Legal Aid 212 577 3300 — 212-577-3346 http://www.legal-aid.org

Metropolitan Council on Housing 212 693 0550

Stanley Cohen, Attorney 212 979 7572

Jackie Bukowski, Attorney beech@ix.netcom

Sanitation Department 212 534 5493

White Lung Association 718 389 5546

Riverside Church 212 870 6700

People’s Firehouse: Housing and Community Development 718 388 4696

All numbers verified in February 1997

Communes

If you have access to a piece ofland you too can start a neo-commune co-op... if The Man will let you.

Structures

A low-rise or multi level warehouse can be subdivided with cinder block walls much like a storage unit center with cyclone fence for secure ceilings allowing the central heat to work. In very rural areas military tents at first transitioning to inexpensive storage sheds. Most of the day will be spent in community areas and the small rooms/cabins/tents are for solitude, sleeping, and secure dry storage. Other ideal remodels for apartments are closing nursing homes, Hotels, motels, small hospitals, or old office buildings. Most people will want to move on to more normal dwellings once they get a jobor start a serious relationship.Squatting has more ideas about structures and organization.

Utilities and Services

Have plans for garbage disposal, network, electricity, water, sewage, and heat. Also have in mind that some people will fill a room withjunk then freak out and leave. Fire sprinklers and a good sprinkler water supply for every room is a must. If you can’t get the city to accept your settlement try to make an arrangement to get power and utilities from a nearby property. Have private meters installed at the utility split so your group will pay for it’s fair share.

Internet

Internet with a fat connection is a must for rebels, ruggedized computers could be placed in common areas. Consideration should be given to unofficial caches of pirate media on the network to keep the connection from bogging down from downloaders, an internal PTP setup can help share files. You could install a VOIP asterisk server and make a communal telephone exchange. A large file server for internal use is useful.

Activities

Regular activities and social gatherings are key to making a working large commune. Look into the history of the YMCA. Evaluate the services provided by a university dorm and try to come up with low cost options to many of these for your tenants. If you are able to pull this plan off and not be a filthy slum lord rents should be very low. Services for bicycles is important, the shop must be crewed to prevent tool theft and help to those new to bike repair.

Rules

Security physical and network should be a high consideration as you will surely have occasional pigs undercover in such a radical crash site. All questionable legal activity must be kept at the individual level as official endorsement could endanger the co-op or owner. Strict rules preventing interference in the lives of others and violence must be enforced, there is always the offer of the road to trouble makers. Rules requiring securing personal items will reduce distrust from theft.

Making it Work

This dream of ultra cheap housing is thwarted by local zoning regulations it is difficult to get variance for housing in an industrial area where you might find a warehouse. Try lobbying the city council if you have the backing to try such an idea. We have seen churches be allowed to ignore zoning on church owned property. Try organizing as the “Mosque-Church-Synagogue-Temple of no Homelessness” and really teach the religion of nobody left behind (Registering your group as a church through the Universal Life Churchcan save on paperwork, and having all your members Ordained Ministers can be a strong show of solidarity).

The super democratic communes mostly failed due to power struggle. It is better to run a slightly impersonalized apartment building with a radical landlord than a failed radical commune with an overly specific goal and too much group planning.

Housing Economy

Why is the man against this type ofhousing? It all has to do with shortages and substitution in an economy. If there is no substitute to an expensive house, condo, or apartment the next step down is the streets, not a palatable alternative for most people. The system is set up to force debt slaves to stay working with no drop out options. The other reason is that substitution will drive down prices reducing investment and resale property values as fair competition enters the market.

Original Communes

In the city or in the country, communes can be a cheap and enjoyable way ofliving. Although urban and rural communes face different physical environments, they share common group problems. The most important element in communal living is the people, for the commune will only make it if everyone is fairly compatible. A nucleus of4to7 people is best and it is necessary that no member feels extremely hostile to any other member when the commune gets started. The idea that things will work out later is pig swill. More communes have busted up over incompatibility than any other single factor. People of similar interests and political philosophies should live together. One speed freak can wreck almost any group. There are just too many day-to-day hassles involved living in a commune to not start off compatible in as many ways as possible. The ideal arrangement is for the people to have known each other before they move in together.

Once you have made the opening moves, evening meetings will occasionally be necessary to divide up the responsibilities and work out the unique problems of a communal family. Basically, there are two areas that have to be pretty well agreed upon if the commune is to survive. People’s attitudes toward Politics, Sex, Drugs and Decision-making have to be in fairly close agreement. Then the even most important decisions about raising the rent, cleaning, cooking and maintenance will have to be made. Ground rules for inviting non-members should be worked out before the first time it happens, as this is a common cause for friction. Another increasingly important issue involves defense. Communes have continually been targets of attack by the more Neanderthal elements of the surrounding community. In Minneapolis for example, “headhunts” as they are called are commonplace. You should have full knowledge of the local gun laws and a collective defense should be worked out.

Physical attacks are just one way of making war on communes and, hence, our Free Nation. Laws, cops, and courts are there to protect the power and the property of those that already got the shit. Police harassment, strict enforcement ofhealth codes and fire regulations and the specially designed anti-commune laws being passed by town elders, should all be known and understood by the members of a commune before they even buy or rent property. On all these matters, you should seek out experienced members of communes already established in the vicinity you wish to settle. Work out mutual defense arrangements with nearby families-both legal and extralegal. Remember, not only do you have the right to self-defense, but it is your duty to our new Nation to erase the “Easy-Rider-take-any-shit” image which invites attack. Let them know you are willing to defend your way ofliving and your chances of survival will increase.

List of Communes

The Fellowship ofIntentional Communities has a quick and easy searchable database seemingly of every freak farm in the country, and many outside.

Just click your little browser (I hope you’re usingFirefox..\oboi/r uses Microsoft products anymore except slaves and people at the Public Library.) over to the:

Fellowship for Intentional Community http://fic.ic.org/

and spend the day reading about groups of folks who will shortly be instigated into breaking up by Federal Fuck-bags. Try and sign up for one of them before they split up over whether Atlantis or Lemuria was the coolest civilization that never existed. Then steal a tractor.

I wouldn’t send you into that hotbed ofPeace, Love, and Rabies without at least a link to a clue, now. Trust me. You can search for “communes” by State, Country, Population Size, and you can try Dial-A-Nut and find people on the same Religious/Spiritual Path that you are. Also see if they are open to Lesbian, Gay, Transgendered, or Homophobic members. Tobacco, Alcohol, Dietary Practices. Decision Making Style. Is there an Identifiable Leader? Restrictions on Romantic Relationships between members?

Da mind boggles, baby!

Original List of Communes

The most complete list of city and country communes is available for $1.00 from Alternatives Foundation, Modern Utopian, 1526 Gravensteur Highway North, Sebastopol, California 95427. The phone is (707) 823–6168. The list is kept up to date. For all communes, you must write in advance if you plan to visit. Almost every commune will give you information about the local conditions and the problems they face if you write them a letter. Here is a list of some you might like to write to for more information. Avoid becoming a free-loader on your sisters and brothers.

• California

• ALTERNATIVES FOUNDATION-Box 1264, Berkeley, California 94709. (Dick Fairfield) Communal living, total sexuality, peak experience training centers. Dedicated to the cybernated-tribal society.

• BHODAN CENTER OF INQUIRY-Sierra Route, Oakhurst, California 93644. Phone (209) 683–4976.. (Charles Davis) Seminars on Human Community, IC development on the land, founded 1934, 13 members. Trial period for new members. Visitors check in advance.

• Colorado

• DROP CITY-Rt. 1, Box 125, Trinidad, Colorado 81082. Founded 1965. New members must meet specific criteria. Anarchist, artist, dome houses.

• New Mexico

• LAMA FOUNDATION-Box 444, San Cristobal, N.M.

• New York

• CITY ISLAND COMMUNE-284 City Island Avenue, Bronx, NY. Visitors check in advance. Revolutionary.

• ATLANTIS I-RFD 5, Box 22A, Saugerties, NY 12477. Visitors and new members welcome.

• Oregon

• FAMILY OF MYSTIC ARTS--Box 546, Sunny Valley, Oregon

• Pennsylvania

• TANGUY HOMESTEADS-West Chester, Pennsylvania. Suburban, non-sectarian, co-op housing and community fellowship.

• Washington

• MAGIC MOUNTAIN-52^nd and 19^th Streets, Seattle, Washington. (c/o Miriam Roder).

Free Transportation

Rainbow Family

If you’d like to travel with a group, considerjoining up with the Rainbow Family. You might find a caravan by attending your local Gathering and asking around. For more information, try http://www.welcomehome.org/rainbow/index.htmlor welcomehere.org/

For travelers and the like an invaluable resource is http://www.couchsurfing.com. You can search for couches (sometimes even your own room!) to crash on by city/region and you can work out the number of nights and whatnot individually with each host. It is always free and the host should never ask you for money. You end up meeting a lot of really chill, radical types and you get an in with some locals wherever you are. Just remember, if you ever have a place of your own, try to host other travelers and give back to the community.

Outside Links to Resources

http://www.erideshare.com/ Join a Carpool - Maybe not totally free, but very resourceful. http://www.publictransportation.org/systems/ Find Public Transport. — Searchfor public transportation by city. Questionably free.

http://www.backpackers.com/ Backpacking Resources — This site has TONS of tips on traveling and backpacking.

http://www.nrscrisisline.org/youth teens/home free.htmlGet a Ride Home... — Get a ticket home if you need one. under 18,you have to returning to a legal guardian. over 18, other arrangements can be made.

http://www.travelersaid.org/ Travelers Aid International — “Mission: To advance and support a network of human service provider organizations committed to assisting individuals andfamilies who are in transition, or crisis, and are disconnectedfrom their support systems.” Not always free, but they can help you out (or direct you to someone who can) if you’re ever stranded.

Pack your bag

Racking for a life on the road

_ i make the commitment to forsake a regular roof and bed for the freedom of the world, you have to use your head when deciding what to pack. If you carry every mentioned item in this book, you will feel like a pack mule. Tailor your gear to what you plan to do and for how long you will be on the move. Stay light and be prepared to improvise with local resources. Keep your bag loaded with your basic gear and have it ready to go at all times; only take out what you need and return it when you are done. Even if you are staying or squatting with friends, keep your pack within easy reach, unless you have a safe legal locker to stash it in. This advice will prove useful if the pigs come to clear out where you are staying. If you carry expensive stuff, you will be afraid to lose it, and thusly have less fun while traveling.

General Delivery

So you won’t over pack, you can have seasonal clothes, food, or gear sent to a post office as general delivery for you addressed something like this:

Dippy Yippie General Delivery Eugene, Or 97123

Clothes

Don’t pack too much clothing. One or two sets oflightweight, versatile walking clothes and possibly one set of upscale clothes in a big Ziploc to stay clean will get you by in almost all situations. Be aware of the culture of the area and try to fit in. Even sub-culture dress may vary; be sure of the local cop situation and what they look for before letting your freak flag fly too loudly.

Your upscale clothes will be like an access card to many locations that standard punk dress would disallow.

Look for clothes that pack small, dry quickly, and don’t take stains. Cotton, wool, and, sadly, hemp are often bulky, and cotton dries slowly. Petrochem synthetics, even more sadly, fit these requirements nicely if you can stand them on your body. On the other hand, natural fibers tend to retain odors less, and so will require washing less often.

Quality socks in quantity are just as important as good shoes. Only wear them for one day before putting them in the wash bag, and be sure to wash your feet every morning. You can usually borrow a tie if you need one for a more formal outing, but one is small and light. A sarong works as a scarf, towel, skirt and shawl. You never know when you might need one, so bring one or two light ones. Boonie style hats are available both in cotton and synthetic, they protect your eyes and neck better than a baseball cap and the chin string keeps it from blowing away. A packable jacket and fleece vest is also a very good idea even in summer. Hospital scrubs and a tee-shirt make good pajamas, and they can also be worn on the street or if you need to look at home in a hospital.

Shoes

Your shoes, above all, must be comfortable to walk in over long distances. Never take brand new shoes on the road, as broken-in shoes will put less stress on your feet and toes. Sandals are great if you are not on the move, except at demonstrations where a jackboot or horse-hoof will make mush of your toes. Doc Martens used to be an affordable comfortable shoe/boot, but fashion trends have caused prices to rise and quality has dropped. Mail carrier shoes are made to look dressy but survive daily hours of outdoor walking. Cheap army boots will last for a few months but are heavy and might slow you down. Discount stores sometimes have surprising quality light hiking boots, work boots, trail runners, or walking shoes.

Check outSandalsfor some tips on DIY footwear.

Pack

Like your bicycle, your pack is one of the most personal things you will own. You really don’t have to go crazy on a hyper-expensive German pack, but if you skimp out too much on quality, you could end up uncomfortable or face it wearing out quickly. A frame pack will help distribute your load. An external frame is cheaper, but internal frame packs are now the more popular choice and move well with you. A roll of nylon fiber tape like is used to secure packages will make a break-in or breakopen of your pack less likely if you have to check, stow, or throw the bag. It also helps to identify your bag in a luggage collection area. You might also want to carry a second comfortable day pack for short excursions when you can lock up your main pack. See more about packs and wilderness specific gear in Backpacking and Camping

Stash a Pack

You will have many times that you want to stash you pack but have no idea where to safely hide it. Wearing a backpack pegs you as different and possibly a traveler or drifter, many places will assume you are using your pack to steal, many stores won’t even let you enter Try to get the store to hold it in the office or something while you shop, little luggage locks should keep prying employees out of your stuff. Of course the safest place for you pack is on you.

If you carry a piece of tubular webbing tied into a circle, a carabiener or pulley and some cord or rope you can use the tree stash. Carefully climb a tree and hang your loop and carabiener, don’t forget to stick a bit of cord into the carabiener. Hoist your pack and tie off to a branch. Discretion is of course the rule unless you want your pack stolen, do a walk-around and look for people watching first don’t do this in the commons, be in the brush a bit. Tree caching works best with a dull colored pack and cord. Don’t talk about using this technique except with your true affinity group lest your new “friends” follow you and clean out your pack. This setup could be made with cheaper hardware so you could abandon it in the tree if you had to move fast, a half inch eye bolt with wood screw tip would hold tight in most trees but leaving a potential damage to the tree. If you have another twelve foot piece of tubular webbing with you tied in a loop you can throw this around the lowest branch to give you that first step into the tree.

Pack Lockup

There is an expensive product called pack-safe which is reallyjust stainless steel cable crimper joined every 3–4 inches so it looks like tube of cyclone fence mesh and gathered at the bottom and lockable at the top. If you had the time and parts you could make your own, but this will still not stop a determined thief who can still slice and grab what she can, additionally the mesh is heavy to carry around.

You could try to cable lock your pack with a cheap bike lock slowing down the grab and run thief. Wrap your pack in ratty blue tarp and lock it next to your bike or near the entrance to the store you are in and it might frighten off the less bold or squeamish thief.

Electronics

If you like to support the underground economy with stolen electronics, thenjoin the millions of dumb western “flash-packers” who can’t live without their Power Book, Ipod, and Iphone while on the road. A better plan is to limit what you can keep in your pockets. Sparkly gadgets are the bait that can get your whole pack stolen by street thieves or corrupt cops who want more toys for themselves. CD’s or DVD’s are fragile and heavy in large numbers, digitize the content and save on portable hard disk or even better avoid the CorpGov programming from their media entirely. If you look hard most items, even guitars, keyboards, and amps can be found, either in a lightweight form or can be borrowed.

Splashed Electronics

You are poor and on the move, expect your valuable electronics to go into the water at some point. All is not lost,

• snatch your gadget from the water

• get the batteries out now!!

• open every door and opening

• shake the water out

If you dropped in salt water you are probably out of luck, but still as quickly as possibly

• rinse off with bottled water or fresh water to get the salt out

• take the gadget apart as far as you safely can

• get your gadget somewhere warm and breezy if possible. The top of a radiator with a fan blowing is great, behind a refrigerator where the warm air blows is good too.

If you can find electronic cleaning ‘air in a can’ blast the inside of the gadget to blow the water out your gadget, it will help a lot, be careful using a regular air hose these sometimes have water or oil in them. Let dry for 24 to 48 hours inspecting for dampness blowing or dabbing what you can get at, if there is none evident after that time period try powering up the gadget, good luck.

We hesitate to mention the oven dry method because too many people freaked out over ruining their gadget get excited and mess it up, they end up with plastic slag dripping in the oven, we have inserted an oven temperature verification to help you boneheads out.

• Remove battery and open all other covers

• shake out as much liquid as possible

• Rinse gadget with bottled water if necessary to wash out liquids other than fresh water

• Preheat the oven or toaster oven and a plate to 120 F or 55C for 15 minutes

• Remove all knobs so nobody can adjust the heat

• Put a big sign on the oven explaining what you are doing, and what you will do to anyone who melts your gadget

• After 15 minutes carefully feel the plate, does it burn orjust feel hot

• Let dry in the oven of an hour

• If you melt the gadget don’t call us!

PDA

A nice electronic convergence device is an old used PDA that has a WiFi card for web browsing, and can act as a MP3 player. These two uses are the main uses of electronics for travelers. A large capacity SD/MMC or Compact Flash card will give you room for lots of tunes. We like the SD-to- CF card adapters for using a SD/USB combo card for large file storage and a small USB drive. Sticker and tape the PDA up so nobody will want to steal it. Many free programs are out like ebook readers or translators for travelers. Some PDA’s have a battery booster available which charge from four AA cells.

USB Key/Disc

A traveler often still wants his or her programs, or even his or her whole OS. We describe in Computers#USB Keyhow to load and use a USB key for booting a M$ Windows machine to Linux as well as bringing your favorite apps along.

The basic USB key is a low cost and low theft way to have your data available when you have a chance to get on line. There are several ways to maximize the potential of a USB stick. A SD/USB card that interfaces with both your SD card camera or PDA and turned around plugs into a USB port. Many hard disc music players work as a storage device, as do some PDA’s when the USB cable is attached. Smaller MP3 players are sometimes also a USB memory stick. Internet Communicationslists some nifty web-browsing programs that can run directly off of yourUSB Flash drive.

Mobile Phone

A mobile phone may be a “flashpacker’s” voice, text, and Internet connection, but it is also the leash that constantly updates CorpGov to your exact location within a few meters and takes money from you at the same time. Even a phone without GPS can be tracked by most wireless carriers. A prepaid SIM card gives minimal anonymity for a few days but this is really a false sense of security. Maybe you should dump the phone on the counter on the way out into the real world.

If you still need to carry a leash around your neck look for a phone that you can connect to your computer or PDA with a cable or something wireless like infrared or Bluetooth.

You still may have a desire to communicate after you ditch the phone, seeCommunication for some alternatives.

E-book reader

We love real books they are not just something real to read but in an emergency you can wipe or start a fire with one. If e-paper is the miracle it is promised we will soon have a cheap way to schlep many e-books on a single sheet of flexible plastic with a little controller/battery pack somewhere that lasts months on a charge. This might save a few trees and let us carry a whole bookshelf in our pack rolled up in a small protective tube.

Wake Up

A digital countdown timer from a kitchen store will let you grab both quick naps or a full night of sleep without worry of oversleeping; set it according to your watch. Your cell phone alarm clock can now be turned off for privacy, to save batteries, or allow you to leave it at home.

Camera

Flashpacker alert!! Nothing screams rich tourist so much as a fancy camera. If you are in love with photography or are a radical photojournalist taking away your camera would be like stripping your bike or slashing your pack. Give consideration to protection of the camera from both notice and physical damage. If you are less of a pro think about a more “toy” type camera or something a few years old from an auction. Be sure you have spare batteries, charger, and card reader, and extra storage media. It is useful to burn and mail CD’s with your pics every few weeks or when you capture a major story. Disposable cameras are still available in 2007 if you don’t need to take too many photos.

Music

If you can’t live without music, follow these tips. However, the more you open yourself up to the local culture on your travels, the more enjoyable and rewarding your trip will become. Remember that MP3 players take batteries— an expensive and hard-to-recycle commodity, but we hear the maker of the wind-up radio is coming out with a wind up MP3/video player soon.

One way togois to carry a small instrument and make your own music to share (see Making Music) as opposed to being antisocial and listen to MP3’s or the radio all of the time.

If you like to stay informed, a small hand-crank or solar powered radio can be useful for not only weather reports and news breaks, but also for listening to NPR. NPR is a great radio resource that offers good, eclectic music, international news, and comedy shows. Even though some say it is white liberal biased, it at least treats you, the listener, as an intelligent person They also offer live broadcasts of the BBC World News on a near-nightly basis. Most foreign countries have state-run radio stations which offer something similar. You will also be able to use your radio to pick up pirate stations and college channels. See Radio.

A small, cheap MP3 player is a good choice if your choose the MP3 route. Use rechargeable batteries if possible and try the recharging ideas in Low Impact Crashing or carry a small recharger.

An external speaker can either share your tunes or pollute the room with constant noise, so be nice and think of your mates before playing your music out loud.

Wilderness Gear, and Urban Crash Gear

see also Low Impact Crashing and Backpacking and Camping.

Washing and Drying Clothes

No bucket? Throw soap, clothes, and water into a plastic sack and swish around. Remember to rinse completely or you’ll have soap residue on everything. Even better than a bucket is if you have access to a sink or bathtub, carry a universal flat drain plug, it is good for almost all drains. Find a good concentrated soap good for clothing and human use, plain bar soap fits the bill.

An excellent dry line is a long narrow bungee-type cord; the hooks work on door and window frames, curtain rods, and hooks you place into the wall, some purpose made dry lines even have wire clothespins made around the bungee cord.

Washing Up

Towel

In the cleaning section of grocery and hardware stores you will likely see synthetic or microfiber cleanup towels. The larger ones make great cheap towels which pack light and dry quickly, this is the same thing as expensive backpacker pack towels.

Nail Clipper

For we who move on our feet more often than drive or ride need our transportation in top shape. Clipping our toe nails regularly prevents infection from ingrown nails as well as lengthening the life of our socks and shoes. Always clip straight across with scissors or clippers and leave the corners of the toe nail sticking out, trimming off these corners lets the skin around the nails grow in and when the nail grows it will cut or rub this flesh leaving you open to infection.

Warm Water

Warm up your bath water with your stinger in a bucket or plastic sack inside a nylon stuff sack, for small volumes be careful not to overheat the water, or you can also use your camp stove to boil water to heat up a bucket of cold water.

Wash up with your damp washcloth or sponge to save water. If rinsing is not an option because of limited water or drainage rub on a few drops ofbaby shampoo in your armpits and groin then wash away as you wash the rest of your body with your washcloth.

If you are really cold soaking your feet in warm water is a delight, pull out and dry offbefore the water gets too cold or spills.

Sleeping

A twin sheet folded and sewn on the bottom makes a cheap hostel sheet, this is good if you must crash on a gross couch or mattress in summer or if you are staying at a hostel that charges for sheets, if you are cold use your sleeping bag as your blanket. Your hostel sheet is much easier to wash and dry than your sleeping bag so use it as a liner to keep your bag clean. Of course your wilderness sleeping bag is what you will spend the night in the most, often with your camping pad underneath if there is not an extra bed. Regularly check for bedbugs in your sleeping bag and sheet especially if you stay at hostels or cheap hotels. Stuff some clothes into a pants leg or stuff sack for a pillow.

Light

A small LED headlight covers almost everything a person needs light for out to about 4 meters, a good idea is to wear the headband around your neck until needed, leave your light easy to get to in the top of you pack. Since LED gadgets are cheap and run forever on a battery why not pack a few of these gadgets.

If the room you are in has no electrical or natural light many camping and mart stores sell a cheap four cell AA powered fluorescent and incandescent combo pocket flashlight. The light bulb can be replaced with a LED making a long lasting night light with the fluorescent tube for when you general coverage.

When the power goes out you can never have too many light sources, glow tape or tritium markers will help you find your lights or gear in the dark.

Hair Dryer

A hair dryer can be your best friend in cold, rainy, and/or unheated locations. Go for a travel dryer designed to switch from 110V to 220V, and choose something high quality, portable, quiet, and maybe fordable. Just be sure it is small, or else you would be better carrying a small heater, which is usually much quieter, although both often put out the same amount ofheat. Use your dryer to:

• Dry clothes, socks, and shoes (be careful not to melt the glue holding shoes together)

• Warm up your sleeping bag, or dry it out

• Heat up a small room (find a dryer that can stay on for around half hour)

• Removing adhesive stickers and signs

• Make cars slow down (pretend it’s a radar gun)

• Thaw a car window or preheat the interior without wasting fuel

If no small room is available and you are in a warehouse or outside but with access to electricity, pop your tent, tarp tepee, or cardboard box up right there and you have a much smaller space to heat.

Clean the lint and dust out of the screen on the back so your dryer won’t overheat. Never run the hair dryer if you are very sleepy or going out; these things can lock up and overheat even though there is supposed to be a thermostat safety shutoff circuit, you must be on guard for fire. Like with all electrical stuff, water or wet concrete is big danger.

Food

For packable food, see Backpacking and Camping#Food

Immersion Boiler

A stinger or immersion boiler is useful for boiling water for cooking, are cheap, and are super light to carry. seeCheap Chow for stinger specific recipes. You can also heat larger containers of water to warm for bathing, washing, or thawing frozen stuff. A commercial coil stinger is usually so cheap and light that getting and carrying a spare or two only makes sense, especially considering that they burn out after a while.

The coil stinger you buy in stores will burn out if the water boils away or it falls out so it won’t start a fire, if you make a prison stinger from a power cord with tips stripped of insulation and dipped in salted or hard water, don’t let the ends touch or you will blow the breakers, oh and if you knock the prison stinger and soup over it can electrocute you!!.

Cheese/Vegetable Grater

Avery small grater, about two by six inches, will add very little weight but can be very useful: shredding food (which greatly reduces cooking time in soups), shredding and grinding soft and hard cheeses, to turn bar soap into washing soap (shred a pile of soap and dump it in a bucket of warm water to wash your clothes instead of detergent), and can even be used to shred small amounts of paper or files if rolled tight, whether confidential files or wood shavings this tinder is a great fire starter(this will dull the grater).

Fun and Games

Fun things that pack well and spend downtime without wasting your brain or batteries include:

• Playing cards or card based games (games like Magic that can collect huge decks might end up too heavy)

• Magnetic wallet board games (chess, checkers, backgammon, etc.)

• Question cards from Trivial Pursuit

• Dice for D&D type role-playing games or other dice games (like Yahtzee)

• CD’s or small discs (vinyl singles, etc.) to use for Frisbee (those free AOL CD’s work well)

• Hacky Sack/Footbag

• Small musical Instruments Making Music

• Journal for composition or sketches

• Kite

• Paperback of short stories (better than novel for when you are waiting,just finish the short story you are on and go)

• A knife for whittling

• A big permanent marker or paint pen for hitchhiking or panhandling signs, hobo marks Wall Painting, tagging with intelligent quotes, or philosophical quandaries

• Paper-back, digital scanned, or photo-copied text books or printed-off school resource pages and/or texts on a portable disk drive to keep up on your education

• Foreign language dictionary to study up on learning a new language

• Book of Sudoku or crosswords

• Seeds to plant in public places

• Those Chinese Juggling sticks are pretty fun. You can also get really good at them and perform for tips.

Money

Some cash hidden in your stuff is not a bad idea for emergencies.

Credit cards provide a perfect trace of where you have been at every point of use. However, they do provide the best exchange rates during international travel.

One guy we know sews a gold coin hidden into his pants. Once, in Africa, he got dumped in the wrong town without his bags across a border. His pocket money was no good there, but he ordered a taxi out, some meals, and several nights stay by selling the emergency coin.

Don’t be afraid to offer your services in exchange for cash or trade,just like the old Hoe-Boy hobos. Just don’t get taken as a chump: demand a decent wage for your mental or physical labor. Abetter plan is to use the underground economy! Just barter, bum, and/or buddy your way along. Once people realize that you are living the dream on no budget, they will support youjust to imagine themselves as part of your story. You will build your resourcefulness and wit by freeing your mind from the CorpGov Spend! Spend! Dollars!! program.

Tools

A pliers multi-tool and folding bicycle multi-tool are standard stuff in our packs but if we want to take up recyclingjunk into tradeable objects you might need some of the following.

• reamer

• a few drill bits in useful sizes (extras in small diameters)

• T-handle chuck for reamer, taps, and even drill bits

• medium and small files

• several standard size thread taps and dies to mach your drill bits

• propane torch head

• aluminum low temp solder

• narrow gauge steel welding rods

• adjustable wrench

• universal socket and mini ratchet

• assorted screws bolts and washers to fit your taps

• micrometer

• electrical multi-tester

• chisels

• small milling burrs

• rechargeable drill or hand drill

• butane soldering iron and solder sucker

• hack saw

• micrometer

These tools and more like it would be good for earning your keep on extended couch crashes. We bet you could get creative and using tips from Means ofProduction and these universal tools even do some small scale machine shop type work, all you needed is some junk pile recycling skills. Most of this kit will be a bit heavy for a strict backpacker but it should work well for those who use a bicycle trailer.

Gifts

Depending on the nature of your walkabout, like if you are couch surfing, it might be a good idea to bring along cheap lightweight gifts, like pictures of (yourself near) an interesting place near your home with your e-mail address on back. Chachkies from a tourist stop near your home, local sport team cards, stamps, state quarters, and whatever else can work, too. Just don’t go overboard on price, as it is supposed to be a token gift for them to remember you, not an endowment. You can sell these to more official tourists if you are still in your home state, or to well off foreigners who dig whatever country you’re from.

Luxury Item

In a world that treats us like dirt it might be helpful to carry a small token luxury item to bring out every now and then to feel a little posh when they are down, especially if you feel you were forced out and did not choose this life from the start. We advise against taking priceless heirlooms or mementos which you might be able to stash someplace safe, we loose or break our gear all to often for that. For example a fine china tea cup or a small crystal figurine stuffed between clothing and gear might survive for a long time if you are careful. A small stuffed animal or piece fancyjewelery might also be good ways to make yourself feel good. Save your luxury item for special occasions and treat yourself.

Drugs

Nothing makes a cop’s job easier than a possession rap against a protester or squatter with used resin coated drug paraphernalia like a pipe. These can easily be found in a legal pat-down weapon search. If you must use drugs while traveling or living on the road, make something disposable or borrow instead. If you have a legal prescription for any type of ADD, anti-depressant, or pain medications, keep a photocopy in your bag with the meds. It might help in some states if you have a medical pot card with you if in possession, even one from out of state. However, if you plan on being involved in protests or other risky adventures, it’s usually a good idea to keep your mind and body free from any possible chemical hindrances.

Never, EVER try to cross international boarders with drugs, especially if you go through a standard boarder gate. A loner travelling with no contact to family or friends is an easy candidate for retention and confinement for indefinite periods of time. Be sure to hot detergent wash your clothes and hang dry them for a day or two outside before a border crossing or airplane trip to reduce any drug smell which might alert drug dogs.

Phone Cards

A story of a guy that gives his daughters phone cards to make long distance and international calls from regular and pay phones: He may not hear from them for weeks but he is able to see everywhere they travel and who they are calling by checking his account on the Internet. Can Big Bro’ do the same? Of course. Disposable cards sold in many convenience stores are less traceable but cost more per minute. See Free Telephones where we describe a pocket size modified telephone and calling cards.

Weapons

This is a real judgment call, the sexist truth is that cops may give women a bigger pass as far as carrying a weapon or firearm in Amerika but don’t count on it. Women realize that you are more likely to be victimized so you have more reason to carry. If The-Man wants you put away, a weapon charge can be an easy way to throw you into the clink for a few years. Use some common sense but remember that it is better to be tried by twelve (jury) than carried by six (in a coffin).

Be mindful that some states recognize other gun carry licenses. An unloaded, trigger locked, or partly disassembled weapon, while useless to you, might keep you out oflegal trouble in some places while on the move but don’t be surprised if officer friendly keeps the piece. Never pack a weapon if you have illegal substances on you or with your group.

seeGun Lawsand Piece Now

Pets

Pets can make getting a ride an finding a place to stay more difficult. On the other hand they are a source of friendship, comfort, and healing, especially to those who have been traumatized. The street kids we know would never let Spike or Cerberus go. Tailor your travels to match your pet, or tailor your pet choices to meet your travel needs. Fido can always carry his own gear, so make him a saddle-bag-type pack for food and water. Again, pets are not the best choice if your goal is traveling light. Few straight motorists are going to pick up a hippie with a huge dog wearing a bandanna. For pets once you’ve found a place to crash, see Pets.

Bicycle

Some of us won’t leave home without a bicycle and can be seen all over the world with a big pack and little folding bike or even a recumbent touring cycle. It is possible to hitch while making a bike trip, but it is more difficult to find a ride, since your hitch needs either a pickup truck or have an empty bike rack. Most commercial transportation will either forbid a standard bicycle or charge up to a double fare.

Remember that carrying a bike is a trade off towards self mobility versus the delights of traveling light and hitching. If you are not too personal about your bike, try to call ahead and arrange a bike from friends, a listserve, or craigslist.com. We mention lots of options inCycling.

Remember the spares and tools that you will need if you bring a bicycle, at a minimum a minipump, patch kit with levers, and a folding bicycle multitool, but an extra innertube or two is smart, these tools are useful for more thanjust bicycle repair.

Quick Packing List

We trust you to choose what you need or don’t need from this list everything would be quite a load and some is inappropriate at times. It is merely a quick reminder list:

• Food prep- camp stove or pocket immersion boiler and large cup, bowl, or small pot, eating

utensils, chopsticks, coffee or tea stuff

• Wash- flat drain stopper, bungee cord line, small scrub brush, stain treatment, and wash soap/detergent

• Shower- pack towel, wash cloth or sponge, liquid soap with neck strap, flip-flop sandals with add-on heel straps, universal faucet shower kit, bucket and cup/dipper

• Clothes- packable jacket, lightweight clothes, walking/outdoor shoes, swimsuit

• Repair kit- quality multi-tool, heavy nylon carpet thread, needles, buttons, hot glue stick, lighter, sport or duct tape on a pencil, zip-ties, concrete drill bit on a handle, wall inserts and screw hooks, or eyebolts

• Sleep- sleeping mask, earplugs, neck pillow, countdown timer or alarm clock, hostel sheet, shorts or scrub bottoms and t-shirt, ground pad, sleeping bag

• Contact- phone cards, change for pay phones in rolls, a pad of paper for numbers to call collect, USB memory stick, list or map ofLibrary/Coffee shop Internet, WiFi PDA, small shortwave or ham radio set, walkie-talkie, prepaid mobile phone or SIM card, laptop, modem card, WiFi detector

• Personal Hygiene- fingernail clippers, first aid kit, baking soda, vinegar, Hair removal/trimming tools, baby wipes, toothbrush, toilet paper, love lube, safe sex stuff, period stuff (tampons, pads, or re-washable pad)

• Wilderness Gear- see Backpacking and Camping andSkiing and Boarding

• First Aid- moleskin foot dressings, plasters(bandages), tooth kit, gauze pads, roller gauze, triple antibiotic ointment, tape, scissors, tweezers, (also pain, motion sickness, allergy, indigestion, and diarrhea treatments)

• Other- Lightweight flashlight/torch or headlamp, emergency hidden cash, music(radio, MP3, harmonica, etc), batteries and charger,journal, pocket paperback or electronic foreign dictionaries or a printout of International Communications, small gifts, seat pad, folding stool, LED book light, hair dryer

• Entertainment- Cards, paperback book, hacky-sack, games, notebook/journal

• Special- bicycle spares (pump, combination allen-chain-spoke-screw tool, patches and levers, tubes), repair and craft tools, ski or board gear, etc.

Hitchhiking

Free maps

Most states offer free maps which you can either order from the official state website, the state tourism website, or from welcome/info/tourist buildings as you enter the state. Always have a highway map and good compass so you can keep yourself on the right road and headed in the right direction.

The most important things to remember about hitchhiking are

• Travel light.

• Be neat, clean and polite.

• Always try to look like someone you’d want to pick up.

• Make a large sign with your destination, don’t forget your markers

Truckers

Your best bet is to ask around at a truck stop, many truckers like to have a rider to talk to. Women should watch out at truck stops since these places are also frequent workplaces for prostitutes or lot lizards in CB lingo, partnering up is a good idea in this sexist world. Even if a trucker is not intereste in giving a ride ask ifhe will CB for someone heading your way. Talk to your ride first and especially at a truck stop and make sure they are cool, there is no reason to ride with a creep. If you were not carrying enough already a CB handheld radio can be used better than your thumb, call out to truckers even on the highway, talk directly to trucks you see wave and ask them for a ride. Of course when roadside hitching a big sign always helps too, be sure you are on the side of the highway heading where you want to go. Never put you bag in the back, snuggle it to yourself so you will have it if you decide to bail out.

Links

• http://www.craigslist.com- arrange a ride share

• http://www.digihitch.com- lots of (modern) hitchhiking info, discussions, etc.

• www.hitch-hiking.org — Great site with a lot of information all about hitchhiking (English and German language)

• Hitchwiki.org

• Liftershalte.info- Worldmap showing hitching places.

• hitchbase.com- Database with hitchhing places

• Abgefahren e.V- the first german Autostop Society; ideas, tips, projects,..

What follows is the original text

HITCH-HIKING

Certainly one of the neatest ways of getting where you want to go for nothing is to hitch. In the city it’s a real snap. Just position yourself at a busy intersection and ask the drivers for a lift when they stop for the red light. If you’re hitching on a road where the traffic zooms by pretty fast, be sure to stand where the car will have room to safely pull off the road. Traveling long distances, even crosscountry, can be easy if you have some sense of what you are doing.

A lone hitch-hiker will do much better than two or more. A man and woman will do very well together. Single women are certain to get propositioned and possibly worse. Amerikan males have endless sexual fantasies about picking up a poor lonesome damsel in distress. Unless your karate and head are in top form, women should avoid hitching alone. Telling men you have V.D. might help in difficult situations.

New England and the entire West Coast are the best sections for easy hitches. The South and Midwest can sometimes be a real hassle. Easy Rider and all that. The best season to hitch is in the summer. Daytime is much better than night. If you have to hitch at night, get under some type of illumination where you’ll be seen.

Hitch-hiking is legal in most states, but remember you always can get a “say-so” bust. A “say-so” arrest is to police what Catch-22 is to the Army. When you ask why you’re under arrest, the pig answers, “cause I say-so.” If you stand on the shoulder of the road, the pigs won’t give you too bad a time. If you’ve got long hair, cops will often stop to play games. You can wear a hat with your hair tucked under to avoid hassles. However this might hurt your ability to get rides, since many straights will pick up hippies out of curiosity who would not pick up a straight scruffy looking kid.

Freak drivers usually only pick up other freaks.

Once in a while you hear stories of fines levied or even a few arrests for hitching (Flagstaff, Arizona is notorious), but even in the states where it is illegal, the law is rarely enforced. If you’re stopped by the pigs, play dumb and they’ll just tell you to move along. You can wait until they leave and then let your thumb hang out again.

Hitchin on super highways is really far out. It’s illegal but you won’t get hassled if you hitch at the entrances. On a fucked-up exit, take your chances hitching right on the road, but keep a sharp eye out for porkers. When you get a ride be discriminating. Find out where the driver is headed. If you are at a good spot, don’t take a ride under a hundred miles that won’t end up in a locationjust as good. When the driver is headed to an out-of-the-way place, ask him to let you off where you can get the best rides. Ifhe’s going to a particularly small town, ask him to drive you to the other side of thy town line. It’s usually only a mile or two. Small towns often enforce all sorts of “say-so” ordinances. If you get stuck on the wrong side of town, it would be wise to even hoof it through the place. Getting to a point on the road where the cars are inter-city rather than local traffic is always preferable.

When you hit the road you should have a good idea ofhow to get where you are going. You can pick up a free map (not free anymore. bummer...) at any gas station. Long distance routes, road conditions, weather and all sorts of information can be gotten free by calling the American Automobile Association in any city. Say that you are a member driving to Phoenix, Arizona or wherever your destination is, and find out what you want to know. Always carry a sign indicating where you are going. If you get stranded on the road without one, ask in a diner or gas station for a piece of cardboard and a magic marker. Make the letters bold and fill them in so they can be seen by drivers from a distance. If your destination is a small town, the sign should indicate the state. For really long distances, EAST or WEST is best. Unless, of course, you’re going north or south. A phony foreign flag sewed on your pack also helps.

Carrying dope is not advisable, and although searching you is illegal, few pigs can read the Constitution. If you are carrying when the patrol car pulls up, tell them you are Kanadian and hitching through Amerika. Highway patrols are very uptight about promoting incidents with foreigners. The foreign bit goes over especially well with small-town types, and is also amazingly good for avoiding hassles with greasers. If you can’t hack this one, tell them you are a reporter for a newspaper writing a feature story on hitching around the country. This story has averted many a bust.

Don’t be shy when you hitch. Go into diners and gas stations and ask people if they’re heading East or to Texas. Sometimes gas station attendants will help. When in the car be friendly as hell. Offer to share the driving if you’ve got a license. If you’re broke, you can usually bum a meal or a few bucks, maybe even a free night’s lodging. Never be intimidated into giving money for a ride.

As for what to carry when hitching, the advice is to travel light. The rule is to make up a pack of the absolute minimum, then cut that in half. Hitching is anart form as is all survival. Master it and you’ll travel on a free trip forever.

Cycling

. = this is all new material, and does not appear in the original book

Tnebicycle is most popular vehicle in the world, and for good reason: bicycles are beautiful things. They are cheap, reliable, faster and easier than walking (and driving in the city), and downright sexy. They can take you almost anywhere, they don’t rely on fuel, a license or insurance, a most liberating way to get around these days.

Getting a Bike

Always acquire your cycle through honest means, a less than affluent person can be greatly damaged by stealing or stripping their cycle. Don’t assume that a nice bike belongs to the CorpGov rich and is thus free to steal, many of us put every penny and a bit of our heart and soul into making one of our few material treasures into a work of fast functional art.

Find a bike of quality good enough to not require constant replacement of parts. If the quality is too low you will likely learn to hate cycling and stay a petrol hog.

Never buy junk from department stores that rely on crude slave labor: these are designed as gifts to kids who will likely ride them for a few weeks, these garage rusters tend to be good for only about 500km and maintenance is almost impossible.

When buying, stick to a friendly local bicycle shoppe or, even better, a local bike co-op who will sell you a tuned and sized bicycle designed for long service life.

In the USA, quality barely used bikes are discarded to “thrift” shoppes which may sell for as little as $10. Garage sales are also a good source of cheap bikes, beware the used department store type cycles unless you need a disposable with poor performance. A proper 1970’s vintage quality bicycle and a little tuning is a much better choice for your money than a brand new discount-mart special.

Watch out for dents in the frame of the bike, this is a sign that the bike has been crashed, and may be hazardous to ride especially if it is of aluminum or exotic construction. Also look out for hairline cracks in the paint, especially near the tubing joints. These can be an early warning of frame damage.

A good way to get a bike is to put up ads on bulletin boards. Something like “looking for reasonable bicycle for reasonable price” is good. This only works if you (or your buddy) has a phone or email. Get your local bike shoppe to check out a bike you are about to buy and estimate repairs and tune up.

Yellow-White Bicycle Programs

Find out if cities you are traveling to offer a Yellow Bicycle Program. Furthermore, if you find yourself a new local in a larger city, think about aiding those following your traveling example and start up a Yellow Bike Program in your new town. To do this, you can either approach city official yourself with the idea, or simply start it up without them. You’ll need some cheap yet solid bikes, and some yellow paint. You can draw up a small map of suggested pick-up and drop-off points in town for the bikes, like public/school/park/downtown bike racks, fences by vacant lots, etc. Tagging some of these places with a minimal yellow stencil design can help, too. Encourage friends to look out for the welfare of the bikes if they see them tossed or crashed-up, either reporting to you are fixing them themselves. You can also attach a little sticker or tag to every bike before you put it out explaining the ideals behind your program to prevent wanton theft or destruction, and also encourage visitors to follow your example.

A good idea is to paint every part of the bike even pedals and tires to reduce theft, resale, and stripping value, be sure to mask areas able to be damaged by paint. Single speed coaster brake bikes have the lowest moving part count and the highest resistance to abuse, unless you are in a very hilly city this is the best type for a yellow bikes program. If possible include some sort of front baskets, folding wire pannier baskets, and such to allow shopping trips.

If the program results in many lost bikes you may have to consider moving to a free membership program, order dozens oflocks with the same key and require a library card tojoin the club and receive a key, this will slow down random vandals and thieves but will also stop the short term traveler from a service they need most.

Kinds of Bikes

Upright

The least expensive and easiest to obtain new and used is the regular upright bicycle. Road bikes are equipped for speedy travel and have multi-position hand grips and razor thin tires for cruising along paved highways. Mountain Bikes come in several stages of impact and mud resistance but the shocks and knobby tires are adapted to off road travel and you will waste a good percentage of your pedaling effort if using a mountain bike as an urban commuter. Hybrids or urban commuter bikes take the ruggedness of a mountain bike to absorb potholes and curb drops and add the road capable tires and sometimes the multi-position handgrips for long trips. Touring bikes can also take some of the attributes ofboth mountain and road bikes usually with emphasis on long riding but with stronger components and mounting points for pannier bags.

Cargo Bikes

Cargo bikes can take many forms but they are usually based on some sort of a tricycle. Many of these are custom shop build jobs with either the front or back half of an inexpensive conventional bicycle removed and a large cargo area added. For front cargo the front wheel and forks are removed and a tubular frame is welded on, the front wheels are mounted on the sides of the cargo area and pivot on their mounts, a cross tube/handlebar attached to these pivots is pushed left or right to steer, these bikes have a very limited turn radius and are best for use in an area with few hills, but can be made with quite a large cargo capacity. A traditional tricycle design requires a bit more mechanical skill since a drive axle with a chain sprocket must be installed, the available cargo area is limited by the width of the axle, these are also available from specialty bike shops. There are frame attachments which make for a long tail bike allowing very large panniers or several buckets or coolers to be attached to this extension, the upside is that it is possible to quickly convert back to a normal bike with a trip to the bike shop but these extensions appear to put stress on the rear of the bicycle frame.

Recumbent

While still almost universally expensive even when purchased used; iflong haul travel is in your plans the recumbent is definitely worth looking into. Imagine reclining in a nice lawn chair and pushing out to the pedals instead of crouching over your handlebars, this is the position of a recumbent rider. You will be able to put much more of your leg power to work pedaling your clipped-in feet sitting recumbent than you ever did on an upright. The only major downer with recumbent is that they are low to the ground so the rider is at bumper level and you are unable to stand up on the pedals to gruff your way up impossible climbs. Another bonus to recumbent is the ease at which battery powered and regenerative drive systems can be added due to the multiple drive chains. We have even seen stirling steam and gas booster motors added although this takes from the whole green purist idea.

Hybrid Power

Blurring the borders ofbicycle, motorcycle, and car; vehicles like the Twike and other custom lightweight hybrid vehicles let two or more riders travel in style. Riders are inside an enclosed and stylishly interiored vehicle, a battery and motor system give a big power boost to uphill pedaling and recover energy from downhill braking back into the battery. On a sick day plug in and charge your battery for a free ride. We expect you enterprising types to get out your welding, electrical, and plastic forming gear and design more vehicles like this to take back our streets and clean air.

Protection

Helmets

Most people feel that a helmet is a necessity for riding. Though cycling is a generally safe activity, the most likely cause of fatalities and debilitating brain injury in bicycling accidents is head impact, and helmets will reduce the possibility of this by 88% or stated another way making you brain nine times safer. Helmets can be purchased (in the US)just about anywhere bikes are sold. Make sure you get the helmet adjusted correctly; it needs to fit well on your head to be the most effective. Helmets are only good for one crash: if you hit your head with your helmet on, you will need to replace the helmet. For this reason, it’s probably not a good idea to buy a used helmet.

One of our editors was in a serious accident where she was struck by a car, the helmet cracked badly but protected her skull that would surely have been broken damaging her vision centers and blinding if not killing her, as it is she has a limited field of vision in one eye now. The helmet made the difference between collecting thousands of dollars and collecting a hole in the ground.

Gloves

It’s a wise idea to wear gloves to protect your palms in case of a fall. Grazed palms may not be life threatening, but they will impact every facet of your daily life until they heal. Gloves also ease the stress from a long ride.

Toe Clips and Clip Shoes

Anything you can do to keep your foot centered on the pedal will give you more power, toe clips also extend the length of your potential power stroke to allow a little bit of upward stroke. Clip shoes just amplify the benefits of toe clips giving a very firm lock to your pedals, clip shoes also do not wear out the sole when you are using them to pedal. The downside is small once you get used to these types of pedals but you might fall down getting used to having your feet stuck down, getting out ofboth clips and shoe pedals requires a twist motion that will become very natural after a few days of use. Clip shoes have another downside in that the metal plate doesn’t grip cement like rubber when you are on foot.

Lighting

If you are going to be riding at night, it is very important that you work to make yourself visible. Reflectors, reflective tape, and lights are all helpful. For starters, a good, flashing LED taillight will help car drivers see you when they approach from behind. You can get one for about two bucks that will run a long time on a set ofbatteries zip-tie on or spend more for a proper mount.

HID Lamp

HID Super Bright xenon gas discharge lighting is the envy of many serious cyclists but the $400 price tag puts most of us off. It is possible to make a HID light set on a moderate budget. Auto shops and auction sites will occasionally pull good singles of a blown out HID headlight pair, we have seen them for as little as $30. These are relatively small and light, only draw about 3 amps at 12 volts, and have everything you need except batteries a reflector and mountings. A reflector can be made form a glass halogen track light with a reflector large enough to fit the xenon bulb, be sure there is a glass front lens, saw off the bulb end with a dremel tool and epoxy in the new bulb. New matched lithium batteries like the kind in a laptop will be perfect to power this high power lamp, batteries and ballast pack should fit inside a cut open water bottle.

The HID light is also the type used by pro videographers, mounted to their camcorder, or for lighting large areas at night like for plays, but for a much lower price.

Sound Signals

Invest in a loud horn or whistle, there are several pumpable marine horns or the Zound pumpable bike horn, Survival or sport whistles are better if you need to signal constantly in an urban area.

In highly populated urban areas, barking at jaywalking pedestrians works a treat. Most people freeze when they hear a dog bark up close, giving you the time to take evasive action. Plus it’s free!

Carrying things

You can increase the usefulness of your bike by making it easier for you to carry loads with it. Racks, front and back, can be added. You can get bags (called ‘panniers’) which attach to the sides of the racks; these will allow you to carry a lot of stuff without encumbering your hands, allowing you to ride safer. For day to day use a small backpack or fanny pack will do.

Baskets

Baskets are also effective for carrying stuff. You can get baskets that attach to the front or back of the bike. Milk carton crates make good tough baskets when cable tied to your handlebars or tail rack.

Trailers

For carrying larger stuff (like children and furniture), you might want to consider a trailer. These can be expensive, but you can also make one yourself. A trailer can be pieced together with plastic piping or electrical conduit, a pair of spare wheels, and a basket or plastic tote. For a trailer hitch, go to your local hardware store and get a quick-release garden hose or air hose connection and a bit of hose. Rig up the connections to be used as a trailer hitch. For added safety, paint the trailer a bright color and put LOTS of reflective tape and a small red flashing light on the back. One company in Eugene Or makes a hard shell suitcase for folding bicycles that when unloaded and wheels are attached becomes a bicycle trailer. http://www.instructables.com/id/EA8I0FMCR7EP286A2R/

A two wheel standup shopping cart of the type used by retirees to take their groceries home is perfect for the cycle commuter. An extra handle is clamped or welded to the frame, this handle will end in a pneumatic hose fitting, the counterpart will be mounted to the frame of your bicycle for trailering. It will extend the life of your wheels to add greased brass or copper tube bushings to the plastic wheels or ball bearings. When you get to the store lock up your bike, unsnap your cart and take it in for shopping. When you get home your trailer/cart comes inside with you, easier than car shopping!

Bucket Panniers

You can also make large panniers from square food buckets and attaching hooks to grab your tail rack, properly caulked these will survive even the worst rain storms dry.

Cargo Mule

The Viet Cong made using a bicycle for cargo transport famous by traversing the Ho Chi Minh trail transporting their war supplies south at times almost exclusively with heavy laden bicycles.

Your bicycle becomes a push wagon and you have to walk. Try to balance the load as best as possible since it will be difficult if a very heavily laden bicycle were to fall over. Watch for bags or containers that might rub against your tires or spokes destroying your wheel and cargo.. Several hundred pounds could potentially be carried, nearly every adult bicycle is designed at a minimum to support over three hundred pounds ofhuman rider. Attach a pole tightly across the handle bars to help steer, keep the brake handles reachable if you are in hilly terrain. Two pushers are better than one for balance. With loads over two hundred pounds be careful when using a bicycle with shock absorbers so they don’t overload, be sure to have the tires at full inflation to prevent damage, and that the spokes are tight and aligned.

Anti-Theft

A good lock is a wise investment if you can afford it. A 3 feet long hardened steel chain and high security lock gives you many options when securing your bike, and they’re a lot more affordable than a D lock, wear it across your chest or in a pannier or basket. A D lock should be run through the frame and high security cable through the wheels for good general security. Remember your D lock and to a lesser extent security chain is a self defense weapon if you are under attack.

Taking corporate logos from a new cycle and adding stickers and tape will quickly make it look used and reduce the perceived value and risk of theft.

One method people have used is to “uglify” the bicycle by painting it a hideous color combination (such as mismatched florescent colors) with added flecks or using a simulated rust finish available in craft stores. If the thief thinks your bike isn’t worth stealing, he probably won’t steal it and instead make his way to the Shimano further down the rack. Replacing the bolts on your seat with Torx head bolts will show down, or even deter, a would-be thief. Grinding off the logos from the gears; a worn, fugly looking seat; mismatched pedals, tires and handlebar grips; all of these can make your bike look like an ugly duckling while keeping it riding like a swan. Remember, don’t think “art bike” here, think “camouflage”.

Don’t leave all of your lights, pumps, seat bags, and other gadgets clipped to your bike when you are parked. They are quick release for a reason, and not to make theft easy, keep this stuff ready to go in your bike messenger bag. Just in case attach an extra red flasher to the back of your helmet where it won’t be easily stolen keeping you legal.

Gears

If your bike has multiple gears, use them! Pedaling shouldn’t be a huge chore. It’s better to lightly “spin” your cranks at a moderately fast cadence rather than push really hard one leg at a time, which is inefficient. It is possible to spin too fast: experiment with your gears to find what works best.

Most people find their favorite cadence between 1 and 2 revolutions per second.

Demonstrations

A cycle is a highly effective means of transport to and escape from a demonstration it can also be used to make a roadblock much as bicycle cops are known to do. Use an old bike for demonstrations as riot-police like to damage and confiscate bikes used in demonstrations.

Travel

If you travel frequently a folding or take-apart model ofbicycle may be for you. Some can even be disassembled or folded to fit a suitcase or duffel-bag. This may save you a double fare or extra charge on airplane, bus, and train trips as well as hitchhiking a ride. If disassembling a bicycle for travel be sure to take off the derailleur as this is very easily broken when unprotected by the wheel. See Airlines for more travel packing info.

Keeping it Working

Once you have a bike, you’ll want to keep it working well. One of the most important aspects of bike maintenance is the lubrication of the chain. Almost any cheap oil will work in a pinch to keep the chain moving freely and free of rust: just get the chain nice and wet, then wipe it dry, to reduce dirt buildup. Try to keep the oil off the wheels where it can hurt your ability to brake. If you have the choice buy a proper bicycle chain oil and grease to lube the bearings and chain, only use WD40 to unstick rust jammed parts then clean it off and oil the chain, WD40 draws moisture and encourages rust. Replace a chain that becomes “stretched” this means that the link pins have become partly worn-through, this link to gear tooth size mismatch will eat up the sprockets of your drive train causing skipping and eventual failure.

If you have a problem repairing your bike, Sheldon Brown’s Website is probably a good place to look for guidance. http://sheldonbrown.com/articles.html

Tools

Owning your own tools makes maintenance less expensive. Plus, many tools you use on bikes, like pliers, wrenches and screwdrivers, are not bike-specific, so they will be useful for all kinds of other things, too. Some bike-specific tools, such as spoke, freewheel, and pedal wrenches and specialized brake tools, will make maintenance much easier, and you’ll be more likely to do a good job. Many cities have bike co-ops or shops where you can use their tools for free or for a small fee.

Portable Tools

It never hurts to always carry the kit for changing a flat tire. At a minimum carry a small quality puncture kit and mini pump, but also carry a spare inner tube. Repair the flat tube in the comfort of your own home later, but don’t forget to put it back in your pack for spare. Folding combo bike tools will provide spoke tighteners, chain breakers, hex and screw drivers, sometimes even sockets or wrenches. A small toolkit can make the difference between being mobile in a few minutes or a long walk home.

If you will be away from support for a long time you might even go so far as to carry extra tubes, a spare chain, brake pads, a few spokes, folding tire, and extra patch kits.

Road Crud

Beyond tools, it’s important to do simple things to keep your bike in working order. Grit from the road sticks to your bike and its parts, even if you’ve got full fenders. Once a week, or after every ride in the wet, clean off the gears and the chain. An old toothbrush (clean it off first if you’ve used it before) and a rag will do wonders. The main place to focus on is in the actual teeth of the gears, most especially in between. Getting rid of all this destructive crud will increase the life of your gears and chain, and subsequently save you money and hassle. This takes all of ten minutes to do and is completely worth it.

Rust

Stopping rust also helps: if there’s any exposed unpainted or unfinished metal on the frame of your bike, you can touch it up with a little hobby paint. This isn’t for cosmetic purposes so much as preventing rusting. Rust eats away at your bike and can compromise the structural integrity of the frame, so watch out: the last thing you want is for your frame to break while you’re in traffic.

Wheels and Tires

Bike tires lose pressure over time. Pump your tires up to the maximum PSI rating marked on your tires once a week and you’ll never have to worry about it. Keeping your tires inflated properly reduces rolling resistance, which means less work for you when you’re pedaling. It also means that your wheels and tires are going to stand less a chance ofbeing damaged due to extra stress on them. If you have the money invest in the best tires, Kevlar and good rubber will prevent blowouts and tread failures while lasting for several seasons. Check your spokes regularly for tightness and tighten with a spoke tool, this will keep you wheels from warping or riping out other spokes.

Generators and Dynamos

A bicycle generator or hub dynamo can be used to charge most gadgets needing less than 6 volts. Hubs are almost always ofbetter quality and have less drag while in use. Output is almost always AC power so you need to make a bridge rectifier with diodes to get the power flowing in one direction then a large capacitor if you need to smooth out the voltage, lastly a ziener diode or power regulator circuit for the appropriate voltage needs to be included because high speeds can generate 10–12 volts from a normally 6 volt generator which will fry most electronics without built in protection circuits, you can probably be able to find this whole circut in a wall wart power block. If you don’t want the added drag of generating when going uphill add a mercury switch on a dynamo hub set to activate only on flat and downhill.

Friction dynamos/generators will rub a groove onto the side of your tire and eventually cause it to fail if used regularly, a rubber dynamo pickup wheel and cleaning dirt from the rubber contact surfaces will prolong the life of your tire.

Nutrition

Stay hydrated and fed while cycling, don’t waste your time with lo-cal foods; you need fuel, around 7000 Calories is reasonable. Ifit does not cause you indigestion try to eat lots of fats. A banana can help prevent cramping from long rides. Backpack drinking systems are available now for low prices if you prefer using these to water bottles. Many sport drinks come in a decent squirt bottle that fits standard bottle cages. See Backpacking and Camping andCheap Chow for food and drink suggestions. If you will be going through towns be sure to do some dumpster diving at pizza bakery and donut palces, stock up on free fuel.

Have some baking soda for indigestion, witchhazel for hemorrhoids and rub spots, and oatmeal, coconut milk or another laxative if you get backed up.

Motor Assist

If you want the portability and freedom of a bike with some of the ease of a motorcycle, no worries. Almost any bicycle can be converted to an electric power-assisted type (basically a moped) for a few hundred dollars. Various people have added old or new purpose bought weed-eater type engines to power-assisted bikes with positive results, but keep in mind that two stroke engines which burn an oil gasoline mix do pollute the environment significantly although Honda and Subaru four-stroke motors are much cleaner and consume normal gasoline. US rules now ban the import of most new two cycle engines but they are still available in Canada.

The two main methods for power transfer are a friction roller which is directly against the tire necessitating a smooth tread, or chain drive to the wheel, some kits have a sprocket which connects to the spokes, the better way is a specially modified wheel with a free wheel sprocket for the drive chain. Another type is the “push trailer” which is a gas engine or electric motor on a trailer that is towed behind the bike and pushes it forward, using a handle mounted throttle for a control. These are often DIY jobs as the kits are usually quite expensive, but be sure to get good instruction and guidance before doing this on your own. If the purists turn up their nose point out the idea of NEVER needing to use a car even in steep mountainous terrain where most would not even consider a bicycle.

Installation

Installing a motor puts stress onto your frame and rear wheel, expect much shorter life from your spokes if you are attaching a sprocket to them. Designs which have a special rear wheel with normal and motor sprockets on opposites will last longer. Pedaling is more difficult against a chain drive system even when the clutch is out. Friction drive systems quickly take the tread off of your rear tyre and often stop working in wet weather.

Folding Moped

A small bolt-on motor attached to a folding bike would make something similar to the WW-II Welbike motorcycle used by OSS and paratrooper commandos, with the added bonus of you being able to pedal when you run out of fuel or on the flats. The short spokes on small folding bikes are stronger and will take more stress even if a cheap spoke mount sprocket is used. Remember that small folding bikes have a low center of gravity and short wheelbase and take a while to get used to.

Magneto Electricity

Look for a motor with a electrical output from the magnetos to run a light or charge batteries, this electrical output is AC power often only six volts and needs a rectifier circut to be used by most things other than a regular headlight.

Legal Motors

If you are desiring to be a legal eagle, some localities prohibit any motor under 50 cc to be used on the King’s...er...Federal Highways. Furthermore, any person operating two-wheeled vehicle with a motor greater than 50 cc must have a motor vehicle license. Some states require a motorcycle license regardless of the engine size, while others require only a passenger vehicle license. Most two-stroke engines are generally less than 50 cc, and most electric motors would be considered in the same category. Since laws differ with eachjurisdiction, contact your state or province’s Department ofMotor Vehicles about their regulations on mopeds and “motor-driven cycles”. If your motor comes unmarked a professional 49cc sticker or etching might throw off nosy cops.

Freighting

Just like most “free” methods of travel talked about in STB, train-hopping is more difficult due to the Bush Empire’s restrictions on transportation. Train-hopping is still do-able, but since the government has gotten word of potential “terrorists” hitching a ride on a freight train, you hold a much better chance ofbeing fined or arrested by railroad cops or the local pigs for trespass. This security is also due to taggers who paint the sides of railroad cars and the liability from injured and killed hobos, a hobo leaves nothing but maybe some garbage and only endangers himself, a tagger causes lasting unwanted evidence which managers can’t ignore, they have to assume all trespassers are there to tag.

Try social engineering at both passenger and freight train stops, even air freight stations. Ask to speak to a crew for a school assignment, ask about riding, also interview the yard crew. Once you get to know some of the crews you will have a real pass onto the steel highway. Except for security it is a special person who seeks work with railroads, be cool to them and they will be cool with you.

Many empty freight cars are now completely closed up to prevent a good ride or are sealed shipping containers. Try getting onto a train when it stops at a factory instead of a yard, even though it will likely not be a hot shot. If you see an engineer walking out to the train approach and ask to ride, a bored engineer will sometimes let you ride up front for someone to schmooze with and the bulls will leave you alone. You would be surprised how much info they will give at the yard if you act cool.

If there are no open boxcars get onto a flatbed with well tied down freight or between cars, tie in so you don’t fall off, the rope should be short enough that you won’t drag on the ground or wheels if you fall. A sleeping bag,jacket, or blanket keeps the wind off even in summer, these open cars are breezy once they get moving fast, goggles or Sun glasses keep the bugs and wind out of your eyes. A stadium pad or sleeping mat to sit on is smart, the floors are usually hard, cold, and filthy, tie your pad and loose gear so it won’t blow away.

Passenger Coach

If you have the cash or a good scam get aboard a rail coach, it is the most civilized way to travel on land. Many trains are unable to take full size bikes as luggage, you might need a reservation, folder bikes are fine as regular luggage. You will find many passenger cars now have 110v(220v in Europe) power plugs for charging your gadgets. You might try modifying the scams in Busesand Airlinesto get a free trip, but remember most trains check the ticket onboard when the conductor comes around.

Scanner Frequency’s

A portable scanner preprogrammed to railroad frequencies can be useful to find out about approaching trains since the post 9/11 blackout of train schedules. Sometimes the railroad will transmit and receive on two channels using a radio repeater but you havingjust a scanner should be able to hear the whole conversation on one channel.

Here are the scanner frequencies and channel numbers if you want to program them in:

02 159.810 26 160.500 50 160.860 74 161.220

03 159.930 27 160.515 51 160.875 75 161.235

04 160.050 28 160.530 52 160.890 76 161.250

05 160.185 29 160.545 53 160.905 77 161.265

06 160.200 30 160.560 54 160.920 78 161.280

07 160.215 31 160.575 55 160.935 79 161.295

08 160.230 32 160.590 56 160.950 80 161.310

09 160.245 33 160.605 57 160.965 81 161.325

10 160.260 34 160.620 58 160.980 82 161.340

11 160.275 35 160.635 59 160.995 83 161.355

12 160.290 36 160.650 60 161.010 84 161.370

13 160.305 37 160.665 61 161.025 85 161.385

14 160.320 38 160.680 62 161.040 86 161.400

15 160.335 39 160.695 63 161.055 87 161.415

16 160.350 40 160.710 64 161.070 88 161.430

17 160.365 41 160.725 65 161.085 89 161.445

18 160.380 42 160.740 66 161.100 90 161.460

19 160.395 43 160.755 67 161.115 91 161.475

20 160.410 44 160.770 68 161.130 92 161.490

21 160.425 45 160.785 69 161.145 93 161.505

22 160.440 46 160.800 70 161.160 94 161.520

23 160.455 47 160.815 71 161.175 95 161.535

24 160.470 48 160.830 72 161.190 96 161.550

25 160.485 49 160.845 73 161.205 97 161.565

What follows is the original text

FREIGHTING

There is a way to hitch long distances that has certain advantages over letting your thumb hang out for hours on some two-laner. Learn about riding the trains and you’ll always have that alternative. Hitchhiking at night can be impossible, but hopping a train is easier at night than by day. By hitchhiking days and hopping freights and sleeping on them at night, you can cover incredible distances rapidly and stay well rested. Every city and most large towns have a freight yard. You can find it by following the tracks or asking where the freight yard is located.

When you get to the yard, ask the workmen when the next train leaving in your direction will be pulling out. Unlike the phony Hollywood image, railroad men are nice to folks who drop by to grab a ride. Most yards don’t have a guard or a “bull” as they are called. Even if they do, he is generally not around. If there is a bull around, the most he’s going to do is tell you it’s private property and ask you to leave. There are exceptions to this rule, such as the notorious Lincoln, Nebraska, and Las Vegas, Nevada, but by asking you can find out. Even ifhe asks you to leave or throws you out, sneak back when your train is pulling out andjump aboard.

After you’ve located the right train for your trip, hunt for an empty boxcar to ride. The men in the yards will generally point one out if you ask. Pig-sties, flat cars and coal cars are definitely third class due to exposure to the elements. Boxcars are by far the best. They are clean and the roof over your head helps in bad weather and cuts down the wind. Boxcars with a hydro-cushion suspension system used for carrying fragile cargo make for the smoothest ride. Unless you get one, you should be prepared for a pretty bumpy and noisy voyage.

You should avoid cars with only one door open, because the pin may break, locking you in. A car with both doors open gives you one free chance. Pig-backs (trailers on flatcars) are generally considered unsafe. Most trains make a number of short hops, so if time is an important factor try to get on a “hot shot” express. A hot shot travels faster and has priority over other trains in crowded yards. You should favor a hot shot even if you have to wait an extra hour or two or more to get one going your way.

If you’re traveling at night, be sure to dress warmly. You can freeze your ass off. Trains might not offer the most comfortable ride, but they go through beautiful countryside that you’d never see from the highway or airway. There are no billboards, road signs, cops, Jack-in-the-Boxes, gas stations or other artifacts ofhonky culture. You’ll get dirty on the trains so wear old clothes. Don’t pass up this great way to travel cause some bullshit western scared you out of it.

Cars

Cars

Cars and trucks burn gasoline or diesel... oil, corpgovs favorite drug. If you buy into their game and get a car you are part of the problem. That being said sometimes the freedom of personal transportation is worth the risks of easy identifiability and corporate buy-in a car represents.

Once you have some gas, save it by driving slower than the right-wing speedfreaks out on the slaveways. Some cars save about 30% on mileage simply by keeping your RPMs down. Clean out your trunk as well. The less stuff you’re hauling, the less gas you’re burning. Narrow tires cut wind resistance and if you keep them inflated this may reduce highway fuel consumption by 10–20%. If you have a nice IMPEACH BUSH bumper sticker, more cars will see it if you’re driving slow, and you can watch all the speed freaks mangle their faces as they pass you in anger, wasting all that gas. Drafting behind a van or truck can save some money but back off if they start to get pissed or you see a cop.

Buying

Something worth considering is buying a salvage/rebuilt vehicle. While most people have been brainwashed into thinking that rebuilt vehicles are junk, they can save you a good deal of money. Often times insurance companies will write off a vehicle involved in a low-speed crash with deployed airbags. While the first owner is left with a small check and no car, you could potentially buy a car for as little as half its blue book value.

Ask at several car repair shops before picking a used car. See what they suggest for specific years, since some may have upgrades that were left out of older models. If the owner won’t let you take the car to a mechanic for a checkup or even have an on-site mechanic/inspector check it out, be suspicious and look elsewhere. The money spent on a pre-buy inspection is well worth its price.

Car Co-op

A car co-op, which is available in many US cities, lets you pay a membership fee monthly for the option of reserving a company owned car at an hourly rate, most plans include several free hours and the rate is often cheaper than regular renting. Most of us don’t need a car that often unless we use it as our home. This idea could be done on a small scale by pooling several junkers and letting friends sign up to use them everyone would pre-pay monthly maintenance and fuel bills.

Fixing Up

But the reality is, many of us are forced to drive cars or trucks with less-than-perfect equipment. The state’s solution to this is regular inspections. They want to make sure that what you’re driving is safe for you. This means, for instance, that the blinker that 90% of drivers hardly use in the first place (and are rarely ticketed for) need to work. Thats a minor issue, but older cars also have problems with door locks, hinges, a broken mirror, etc., and these can be expensive to repair, especially on someone else’s schedule.

If you find yourself with a car that is unlikely to pass inspection but is still safe to drive, ask around about getting your car inspected. Usually, a case ofbeer or a bag of weed along with the inspection fee will get you a free sticker, good for one year of flashlight immunity, despite having old wiper blades and a door that doesn’t open. Plus, it’s always good to know an honest mechanic. And the best mechanics are not opposed to helping a brother out ofa jam in exchange for a buzz, while fucking with the system a bit. Those are the mechanics you can trust.

Tires

It goes without saying; Keep your tires properly inflated! Soft tires waste gas, and over-inflated tires wear out quicker. If you see uneven wear, you need wheel alignment. This can be done at a repair garage or tire shop (and they’ll try to sell you a new set). Remember to rotate your tires every 3,000 miles to ensure even tire wear.

If you need tires, ask at an independent tire shop if they can sell you used tires. Some places that specialize in custom wheels will keep the stock tires and wheels that new car buyers bring in. Savvy car enthusiasts will order a high-performance car with all the trimmings, but have stock tires, since the dealer mark-up is so high. Then they’ll drive from the dealer to the tire shop and swap the stock tires and wheels for a custom selection that’s much cheaper than at the car dealership. Those stock tires are often kept by the tire dealer, but can’t be sold as “new” even though they may have been driven as little as a few blocks. Many times, these tires are sold “as is” (no warranty, no returns), but the dealer may throw in free wheel balancing in the purchase.

A word of warning about those anti-flat solutions like “Slime”: They only work when the wheel is in motion. When stopped, the stuff settles in the bottom of the tire. Also, when it’s in the tire, it makes it impossible to have it balanced or plugged/patched.

Repairs

Haynes and Chilton publish a wide line of owner-friendly repair manuals available at both book stores and auto parts stores. These books give much more detailed information than in the manufacturer-supplied owner’s manuals.

If your headlights start to dim as you are driving this is usually caused by a dead or dying alternator. On older model cars these are easy to replace yourself most of the time. Don’t stop the car as it will likely die. Your spark and fuel injection are running on that battery. Only think about killing the headlights.

If your car sputters after holding the gas down for a few seconds it might be a clogged or old fuel filter. These can be super easy to replace inline filters or almost impossible to replace inside the fuel tank units.

Letting your battery die over 4–5 times will seriously weaken or destroy a car battery.

If the car overheats try changing or topping off the radiator, as it might be clogged with calcium or rust. It could also be that the oil is low or the oil filter is clogged increasing the heat and wear. The radiator is easily damaged, note the location ofleaks when the engine is hot. When you are in a safe place and the engine is cool you can try first adding a radiator stop leak, if this fails find the damaged tubes and brush clean then solder. if this fails bend the tubes over and add stop leak again hopefully plugging them for good.

If you see a car similar to yours at a junkyard or rusting away see if they will sell/give you the plates. At a U-pull-it junkyard buy a car seat or something like that and stuff the plates under the vinyl. These can be very handy in radical action. You would be surprised how many cases are solved by seeing a license plate on security cameras. Many highways have license plate scanners for tolling trucks but they likely also record passing cars.

Starting and Trouble Gear

If the car sits for long periods of time starting fluid andjumper cables are key to getting moving. A wall socket powered car battery charger and extension cord are also a good idea, and many good battery chargers now even have a jump-start option. A shovel and some sand bags might get you unstuck in muck or snow. A come-along (hand powered ratchet winch) and tow chain, can help get you back onto the road. Snow chains also work in the mud for amazing traction.

If you need to rig up a jump start, keep the car with the fresh battery running. First, connect the red cable to the positive terminals, then hook the black cable from the running car’s negative terminal to an exposed piece ofbare metal on the “dead” car (for a ground). If you see a spark when you attach the second cable to the “dead” car, you’ve got a complete circuit. Stand back when startingjust in case the dead battery explodes (Very rare, but it happens). If you find yourself with only one jumper cable, connect the positive terminals, then slowly roll the cars together so the metal on the bumpers touch.

Cars with standard/manual transmissions (that is, cars with a stick shift) can generate a small amount of electricity by performing a “push start” or “rolling start”, as long as the battery is not completely dead. Only do this as a last resort, since some auto manufacturers don’t recommend this (Check the owner’s manual). You’ll need a lot ofhelp from friends to push the car or be lucky enough to have the car atop a steep hill. Put the key into the “On” position, push down the clutch and put the car in 2^nd or 3^rd gear, NOT 1^st! Then get your friends together and push the car forward. When the car is rolling fast enough (around 25 MPH), release the clutch and tap the gas pedal. The car should start.

Overnight Parking Lot

Many retirees pull what is called the “Camp WalMart” trick. They “park” overnight in the parking lot and save the overnight fee spent at RV parks, some mart stores even encourage this. If you try this with a camper or van, make certain this is legal, since some cities have passed laws against “overnight parking” and you’ll be stuck with a parking ticket or midnight eviction. If you see signs reading “No Overnight Parking” either in the lot or at the entrance, they mean it.

Car Cover

You can usually park overnight in many whitebread communities at the curb if you cover your car with a nice clean car cover. You might even be able to stay in one place between the huge lot lines for several nights before any homeowner notices. With the car cover on the rent-a-thug/ethnic cleanser has no idea you are camping out in a rust bucket or which house you (don’t) belong to.

When you get your cover walk right out to your car open the package and try it on, you need to be able to open a door (front and back door if possible) and enter with the cover on, if this doesn’t work walk back and return it for a cover that will work. The car cover should be near the top of your yippie out shopping list if you plan to keep your car.

We have known car campers who install a removable curtain between front and back seats, tint the windows of the back seat and use a sun shield at night to block the rear window, nobody can see the sleeper in back even if you are not using a cover and it is difficult to see the curtain.

Legal for Cars

If you ever are stopped, be compliant with the officers demands for license and papers, but do the minimum and produce your papers through a slit in your closed window. It will look suspicious and arouse the officers attention, but if there is nothing illegal in plain sight/smell/sound the pig can’t really do anything. It is important to know, for example, that film containers are considered prima facia evidence of pot in most parts of the country unless there is a camera present. It is also evidence for a stop that a person of the wrong race is out of place i.e. black in a white neighborhood or old car in rich neighborhood. If the officer wants to search the vehicle politely refuse, continuing to say that you do not give permission in a normal voice. Doing this will likely result in the whole force showing up, including K-9, trying to find a legal reason to open up your car. Claim your car is your home, this will have more weight if you are driving a registered camping vehicle, this mostly affects alcohol and driving charges by removing intent to drive in a parked vehicle. The officer can ask anyone in the car (or on the street) out for a weapons search, comply and as you exit, if you are able, lock the car denying him an easy illegal search. The officer can also demand to pat the driver accessible area (if you are still in the car) for weapons.

Never admit to any infraction, the officer will ask how fast you were going, politely respond to his question by asking how fast he thought you were going or remain silent. Ifhe returns and tries to get you to talk or search your vehicle politely ask for your papers and whatever citation he has written, after you get your papers, ask politely if you can leave, this should be your answer to any further questions. Ifby force he tries to search politely continue to refuse even as he begins to break and enter do not physically restrain him or fight him, you will be charged with assault if you do interfere. Do your best to alert passers-by in a non-aggressive voice and get contact information for later court testimony. Carrying drugs is just asking for a search, a drug dog can usually sniff out pot easily (it is quite stinky), once the dog indicates the cop can legally open up the car without your permission. The best time to refuse a search on principle is when you really have nothing to hide.

Electrical

If you need to, you can buy DC powered appliances (hot pots, toasters, skillets, etc.) that plug into your car cigarette lighter. Just be careful using them, since they can drain your battery if the motor is not running, and not using them properly can start a fire. DC appliances can be had at most camping supply stores and truck stops.

If you’re technically inclined install a battery isolator and a second deep-cycle type battery and cigarette lighter jack and run the appliances off of that. A dash board solar panel is a good idea if you spend weeks cycling and only drive for long group trips. Some are available which will back flow power into the cigarette lighter jack (Just make sure your car’s electrical system works this way). Another good idea is to remove the ground wire from the battery or install a knife switch so you can totally disconnect the battery avoiding normal power drainage to the radio, alarm, and car electronics. Don’t use the dome light while parked you might fall asleep and wake with a dead battery, think about wiring the dome light into that new second battery.

Cooking and Heating

If you’re on a road trip, double wrap your meal in aluminum foil and use hangar wire to wrap it on the engine block, radiator, or exhaust manifold, be careful to not overheat and burst cans. Practice will let you learn the warmest places under the hood, be careful not to interfere with belts or moving parts, using foil is the wisest insulator as it is heat and fire resistant. If you are not moving it is smarter to get out and use a camp stove and save fuel. Try warming up prepared foods with your passenger side windshield defroster while on the road, if you feel hot open a window while your food warms.

Don’t run your engine while parkedjust to use the heater in your car, this is a massive waste of fuel for the usable heat it produces in the car, conversely it is a free way to warm up if you are already driving somewhere. Look into getting a small portable catalytic heater to run while parked, but don’t start your car on fire with it. An extention cord would let you plug into a nearby electrical outlet for heaters or hotplates.

For more ideas flip toCheap Chow#Homeless-Street Savvy

A Word About Biodiesel

Free biodiesel is an amazing deal while it lasts. As the dollar falls apart and the world oil production slides further down the supply curve prices will surge and it will become more common that factory fields that once supplied food to billions will be burned out the tailpipes of SUV’s not as recycled oil but as primary fuel, waste oil will be much more carefully guarded as the value rises, and will be changed with much less frequency. Serfs in North America will work the ethanol and oil bearing crops much as the indigenous people are forced to heavy physical labor for pittance in the Brazilian sugar cane fields to support the driving habits of the elite Spanish rulers, their only other option is starvation.

Biodiesel fuel is not the same as straight veggie oil from behind a store. Salts, water, and solids must be remove and the thickness needs to be changed to be a full substitute for diesel fuel. Once a diesel engine is warmed up straight cleaned vegetable oil may be able to be used, a dual tank setup allowing on the fly blending would be required. Regular diesel or fully converted biodiesel must be used at startup and a few minutes before shutdown to flush the system of the thicker straight veggie oil.

The following paragraph from Wikipedia is released under the same license as Steal-This-Wiki

Chemically, transesterified biodiesel comprises a mix of mono-alkyl esters oflong chain fatty acids. The most common form uses methanol to produce methyl esters as it is the cheapest alcohol available, though ethanol can be used to produce an ethyl ester biodiesel and higher alcohols such as isopropanol and butanol have also been used. Using alcohols ofhigher molecular weights improves the cold flow properties of the resulting ester, at the cost of a less efficient transesterification reaction. A lipid transesterification production process is used to convert the base oil to the desired esters. Any Free fatty acids (FFAs) in the base oil are either converted to soap and removed from the process, or they are esterified (yielding more biodiesel) using an acidic catalyst. After this processing, unlike straight vegetable oil, biodiesel has combustion properties very similar to those of petroleum diesel, and can replace it in most current uses.

In other words either mix the straight (cleaned and dried) veggie oil with an alcohol thinning it or chemically convert it with a strong alkaline like lye leaving a soap byproduct. Most often methanol is a natural gas derivative.

Perhaps an easy way to get free veggie oil is literally from McDonalds...no shit, Mickey D’s and other places have vats of fryer oil used to drench their dog food meat and potato products. After a few days, the oil gets chucked. If you have a diesel car, you can use the filtered oil in the vehicle in combination or independent of diesel with a few often inexpensive modifications.

If somebody hasn’t already beat you to it, you can check with restaurants/cafeterias and see about carting it away for them. If the manager gives you a hard time or says that he gives it to an oil recycling service, don’t despair. Most of these places keep the old oil outside as a fire safety issue. Find where it is and late one night grab as much fryer grease as your car can carry.

If you run your car on Biodiesel all the time, it’s best to keep it to yourself. Some states have actually been sending officers from the state tax boards and fining people for using Biodiesel! Why, you ask? For evading motor fuel taxes that pay for the public roads, or operating as an “unlicensed secondary fuel distiller”! I shit you not!

Blends with regular petrol and regular diesel fuel will also work but will expose you to gas tax.

Original Cars

If you know how to drive and want to travel long distances, the auto transportation agencies are a good deal. Look in the Yellow Pages under Automobile Transportation and Trucking or Driveway. Rules vary, but normally you must be over 21 and have a valid license. Call up and tell them when and where you want to go and they will let you know if they have a car available. They give you the car and a tank of gas free. You pay the rest. Go to pick up the car alone, then get some people to ride along and help with the driving and expenses. You can make New York to San Francisco for about eighty dollars in tolls and gas in four days without pushing. Usually you have the car for longer and can make a whole thing out of it. You must look straight when you go to the agency. This can be simply be done by wetting down your hair and shoving it under a cap.

Another good way to travel cheaply is to find somebody who has a car and is going your way. Usually underground newspapers list people who either want rides or riders. Another excellent place to find information is your local campus. Every campus has a bulletin board for rides. Head shops and other community-minded stores have notices up on the wall.Craigslist has rideshare section for this purpose. A side benefit of travelling this way is that you can often meet really interesting people by riding with them.

Gas

If you have a car and need some gas late at night you can get a quart and then some by emptying the hoses from the pumps into your tank. There is always a fair amount of surplus gas left when the pumps are shut off.

If your traveling in a car and don’t have enough money for gas and tolls, stop at the bus station and see if anybody wants a lift. If you find someone, explain your money situation and make a deal with him. Hitch-hikers also can be asked to chip in on the gas.

You can carry a piece of tubing in the trunk of your car and when the gas indicator gets low, pull up to a nice looking Cadillac on some dark street and syphon off some ofhis gas. Just park your car so the gas tank is next to the Caddy’s, or use a large can. Stick the hose into his tank, suck up enough to get things flowing, and stick the other end into your tank. Having a lower level of liquid, you tank will draw gas until you and the Caddy are equal. “To each according to his need, from each according to his ability,” wrote Marx. Bet you hadn’t realized until now that the law of gravity affects economics.

Another way is to park in a service station over their filler hole. Lift off one lid (like a small manhole cover), run down twenty feet of rubber tubing thru the hole you’ve cut in your floorboard, then turn on the electric pump which you have installed to feed into your gas tank. All they ever see is a parked car. This technique is especially rewarding when you have a bus.

Buses

I’ve traveled close to two million miles on buses, as a passenger and as a bus driver. A few suggestions: most bus drivers do not care if you pay your full fare. If you put some money in the farebox, and are considerate of the driver and your fellow passengers, you’ll be fine. It actually helps to tell the driver that you can’t pay the full fare. Put yourself in the driver’s position. Would you want to stress yourself out arguing over nickels with everyone who gets on the bus? Yes it’s true that some bus drivers thrive onjust that sort of miserabilism, but not all that many. Don’t waste the driver’s time with an elaborate hard luck story. Most bus drivers have witnessed more hard luck than you know. They appreciate being spared the details. Don’t threaten bus drivers. Don’t say things like, “I’ll sue the bus company and get you fired”. If you tried this on me I would tell you to get off my bus and call your lawyer. Absolutely don’t threaten bus drivers with physical harm. Many big city buses have silent alarms, camera systems, GPS locator’s etc. Besides, “I’ll kick your ass if you don’t do what I say”, isn’t good negotiating. How well does that sort of thing work on you? It is also unwise to assume that bus drivers don’t know about your brilliant scheme. Personally, I’ve been riding buses since I was an infant. I started riding the bus on my own when I was 5. I got my first driving job when I was 19. I’ve driven everything from unlicensed hippy buses to articulated luxury cruisers. Chances are, I, and many other bus drivers are entirely familiar with any scam you might want to try. Bus drivers are working stiffs who want to make it through the day with minimal effort. If you understand this, and don’t bother the regular passengers (many of whom know their driver) you can get where you’re going with minimal difficulties. If you run into a nosey, bossy or mean bus driver, don’t worry about it. Try again with the next bus. You might want to try hitchhiking while you wait.

Unfortunately, many modern city buses use a computerized farebox which automatically counts money and then beeps when the full fare is paid. This obviously makes short-changing the bus company difficult, but also provides a way for the bus company management to control otherwise sympathetic bus drivers. These fareboxes come with a button (often red) on the drivers’ side of the farebox. This allows the driver to manually authorize a fare and is usually pressed when a transfer slip or a bus-pass is used.

If you need to get to the city and you are in the suburbs, a free and easy way to travel via bus is to go to the closest Greyhound station after it closes and wait for a bus heading to the main station. Just tell the bus driver that you need to get your tickets to travel to “any far city” and that the station is closed but you have a conformation number. The driver should let you on.

When traveling long distance on a bus, train or airplane nothing helps you sleep more than a proper neck pillow. Our testers have found that the inflatable pillows are light and tiny but quickly spring a leak. Memory foam is heavy but very comfortable and makes a nice seat cushion or bed pillow. If on an especially noisy bus and you have a friend on the aisle awake you can also use earplugs or headphones and a sleeping mask to space out or sleep.

Original Buses

If you’d rather leave the driving and the paying to them, try swiping a ride on the bus. Here’s a method that has worked well. Get a rough idea of where the bus has stopped before it arrived at your station. If you are not at the beginning or final stop on the route, wait until the bus you want pulls in and then out of the station. Make like the bus just pulled off without you while you went to the bathroom. If there is a station master, complain like crazy to him. Tell him you’re going to sue the company if your luggage gets stolen. He’ll put you on the next bus for free. If there is no station master, lay your sad tale on the next driver that comes along. If you know when the last bus left,just tell the driver you’ve been stranded there for eight hours and you left your kid sleeping on the other bus. Tell him you called ahead to the company and they said to grab the next bus and they would take care of it.

The next method isn’t totally free but close enough. It’s called the hopper-bopper. Find a bus that makes a few stops before it gets to where you want to go. The more stops with people getting in our out the better. Buy a ticket for the short hop and stay on the bus until you end up at your destination. You must develop a whole style in order to pull this offbecause the driver has to forget you are connected with the ticket you gave him. Dress unobtrusively or make sure the driver hasn’t seen your face. Pretend to be asleep when the short hop station is reached. If you get questioned,just act upset about sleeping through the stop you “really” want and ask if it’s possible to get a ride back.

Airlines

Intro

The skies are dark these days. After 9/11, the Amerikan Government has made it more difficult to get on a plane even the traditional way. The safest way to get free or cheap airfare is to see if somebody in the “general aviation”, or private pilots, have room for you. Many may get sketched out by this, so look for people who seem cool about it. It may sweeten the pot a bit if you act like a young college kid, a plane nut, or offer some cash for airplane fuel (like, $20–50) or a place to spend the night if it’s a cross-country trip in a Piper Cub. One of the best offers for trade is to wash the plane before or after the flight, have a bucket and clean sponge ready, hang out in the airstrip coffee shop and look for pilots. Always look for airports that offer lessons and grab a pilot burning air hours to upgrade their license. It could very well be a loud ride and you may not get there as fast as a jet (prop planes go about 1/2 the speed of a jet), but its an amazing experience, and it beats driving!

(Not)Skyjacking

Only an idiot would try hijacking a flight after 9/11. Some pilots now are armed and sky marshals who are on a small percentage of domestic and international flights have orders to shoot to kill if anyone tries to take control of the aircraft. We aren’t really scared of these people and the few flights they are on, we are really scared of what a gang of flying rednecks would do to be like the pocketknife guys on 9/11 and save the day. Please ignore Abby’s advice from a simpler era. Take comfort in the fact that the airport-pigs are mostly simple power hungry types if your nonskyjacking scam is outside of what they are ordered to watch for and your documents appear to be in order you are likely home free much easier than in the old days.

Fre-E-Ticket Hopper

Once you have passed the frat hazing dances like the removed shoes shuffle, the trashed shampoo swing, and the rectal exam jam the TSA freaks feel they have pulled out all of the rebels, what sane unbroken person would not take a swing at their crudely grunted orders. Your guerrilla acting skills have gotten you past, and on to cashing in on Abbie’s dream of free flying for the bold.

• Pick up a few e-ticket boarding passes from the trash outside an airport to copy, these are printed on a home computer.

• Find a print cartridge that is won’t print right or set your paint program to (a)put streaks parallel into the bar-code and (b)wipe out a few numbers under the bar code, both are important.

• Print out a new e-ticket with the correct date and where you want to fly. You have to use

extreme caution that the flight number and time and other details are exactly right.

• Arrive at the airport dressed nicely, you want to look vanilla.

• Wait until right before final boarding call and rush up, when the bar-code scan doesn’t work they will usually send you aboard.

• Since you should be the last guy boarding grab an open seat in first class and start asking for the free booze.

If this plan doesn’t get you a wave through right away, before they even hassle you or offer to access the computer try to find you on the computer claim to have another ticket leaving right now (know the flight number and gate) that you have to run to on another airline because you thought you would miss this flight, stay cool, get gone, try again later. Since this trick requires speed a little stress and carelessness on the part of the agent don’t try any other scams like having them gate check an extra bag, being late is the best way to stay out of trouble with this gag.

Missionary Position

Many missionary organizations will fly you to a third-world country for free to preach the word of Jebus to the heathen locals, and fly you back in a year or so. Do your research before working with an organization many also pressure you to self fund your trip. Simply ditch out for the year, peruse the more touristy spots, make some money, etc., then return when the time is up with some cock- and-bull story of independent missionary work prepared you might even bogus up a diary as proof. These people are usualy not hard-asses, so even if they don’t buy it for a second, they won’t ditch you in deepest, darkest Peru, but research them and feel them out to see if they sue ditchers.

Jewish kids (religious and non religious) can often get free rides to Israel in summer through several Jewish programs.

Around The World Tickets

If you have a year off and want to hit many locations as you tour an around the world ticket is likely the fare you want. Before leaving find out how many stops you can make and how long the ticket will be valid. Most RTW tickets will end up cheaper than a long trip and return to Europe or Australia from North America.

Air Courier

Believe it or not, you can fly on the cheap if you deliver a package to the city of your destination... and no, there’s no drugs or other contraband involved. Flying as an air courier is a dirt cheap way of travel. There are a few catches: You have to sign up for the program (try AirCourier.org or Courier.org) and pay an initiation fee and/or annual dues; You need to be at least 18 (or in some cases 21); You need a valid passport and a clean-cut appearance; You’re responsible for getting your own Visa(s); You’re limited to carry-on baggage and the flight schedules can be erratic (You may be flying the Red Eye to Singapore after only two day’s notice). On the plus side, you can fly for up to an 85% discount and your Air Courier ID card can get you hotel discounts. If you want to, you can schedule additional assignments from your destination and turn your trip into a Grand Tour. If you travel frequently and don’t mind last-minute booking, consider this option. If you do, keep a list of the phone numbers of your country’s embassies overseas.

Upgrades

Dress nice and ask politely for an upgrade for First or Business Class, on long flights the free booze and leg room is oftenjust a request away. You may have to wait for the next flight in the schedule, but it will be worth it. If you are “bumped” from an overbooked flight, you may get an upgraded seat if you raise enough of a fuss (If they do, it’s mostlyjust to keep you quiet).

Support Gear

Have your in flight support gear in your carry on bag, buy a inflight audio plug adapter (two pin) and get some old style tube earphones for older airplanes. For those who are more sensitive when trying to nap, your pillow or neck pillow and a nicer sleeping mask and earplugs or noise canceling earphones(music works too) might make a difference. If you have a HPC or PDA you can extend the usable life on long flights with a external AA battery pack, now your e-book, movies, or music will last. On newer aircraft especially in first and business class your seat may have a laptop power plug, the best use for this is to use a air to cigarette plug adaptor, now you can either plug in all of your 12 volt gadgets made forCars, or if you have a laptop or other mains power electrical toy use a 12v to 120v adapter and your normal laptop power brick instead of an expensive auto/air adaptor.

Sky Phones

We have tried to stealthily use our mobile phones and a data cable to get an Internet connection over the US and Europe without sucess. There are plans afoot for airlines to have their own hyper- expensive roaming plan with a special mini cell station on the airplane. Try to hack the Air-Fone for free calls, with a modem port for super slow data you might get one or two web pages to load during the flight for a price of around $8 a minute.

Bicycles

If you are flying with a bicycle visit a bike shop and ask for a free box, if they want money go to the next shop, these are thrown away otherwise. If you have a full size bike you will normaly be charged for oversize, so stuff the box with other gear too. Remove wheels and pedals, take off the deraeuler and zip tie to the frame, load the frame against one side of the box and the wheels on the other, remove the skewers and tape the pedals together then to the frame. Carry the tools to attach your pedals. Use fiber packing tape to secure the box and pack the tape and loading instructions in the box for security repacking.

If you have a folding bike use similar technique and even a 20” wheel bike should fit into a regular check suitcase if you remove the wheels, deraileur, and seat post from the frame. Bike Friday in Eugene, Oregon sells a clamshell suitcase drilled for a trailer tongue and wheels that attach to the suitcase with wingnuts, the suitcase that your folding bike rides in becomes the trailer, we expect that you could also make such a setup for much less with a trip to the thrift store and hardware shop.

Guns

Legal firearms and limited ammo can be checked on domestic flights and with proper permits also international flights. A record may be kept that you have traveled with firearms. Cover your locked gun case with a generic cardboard box. Pyrotechnics are not allowed including signal flares.

Heavy Baggage

After your check in and weigh and tag your bags go back and add a few pounds of stuffbefore giving to the freight guy. Overload your carry-on with heavy stuff if you can avoid an overweight charge but make sure the bag still fits into the size test box. Grab a few duty-free bags so you look legit taking extra stuff on as carryon. Sometimes you can gate check stuff like strollers and wheelchairs so you will have them right away at landing.

Camping gear

Camping gear that uses stinky fuel cant be taken along unless you clean out the fuel bottles with alcohol and let them dry, leave the bottles open, if there is a problem with your clean fuel bottles or stove ask for a manager. Compressed fuel is not allowed on flights, mail it to general delivery at your destination.

Stowing Away

We in no way recommend this foolhardy way of catching a ride in the skies, this is information for someone desperate enough to try this anyway. Most stow away attempts are made at airports outside the United States where security is lower. Most of these attempts result in the crush death of the stow away as the landing gear comes up or when the rider dies ofhypoxia (lack of oxygen) or hypothermia (cold exposure). It is much better to fake your way on board with fake ID as a bogus pilot or flight attendant then this 90% fatal stunt.

Anyone planning to stow away needs to plan for where to hide from the security teams but also avoid the retracting landing gear, do some research into the design of the aircraft and evaluate the space one more time as you crawl in and attach your climbing harness taking into account any attachments on the landing gear.

Avoiding the cold requires planning for many hours at forty degrees below zero F. Mountaineering grade clothing must be worn paying particular attention to keeping your hands and feet from frostbite and your head armpits and crotch well insulated to keep your core temperature. Some aircraft have hot pipes that pass through the wheel wells which might save your hands or feet. Be sure to eat a very protein and fat heavy meal before and carry water with you in durable bottles for the flight inside your coat. Don’t go if you are having any gas or ear problems at all the change in altitude cauld cause massive pain and damage.

Oxygen is required since a modern jet flies between 35000 and 40000 feet, hypoxia kills most airplane stow aways. A non-rebreather or even better a pressure type aviation oxygen mask mask fed with oxygen from a paramedic type oxygen bottle will keep you alive and often even conscious during the trip but don’t expect one small bottle to last the whole flight, plan for blacking out at altitude. Be sure to calculate oxygen use and carry enough or you will likely die from hypoxia. Representative oxygen bottle sizes and duration at 15,000 ft not using a CO2 scrubber rebreather.

Cubic Feet	6 CU	. FT.	9 CU	. FT.	15	CU.	. FT.	2 4 CU.	. FT.
Capacity L	198	liters	297	liters	495	liters	792 liters
Duration	5:28	hours	8:07	hours	13:	48	hours	22:42	hours

Bottle life will actually be better at higher altitude since each breath takes in less bottle volume. Breathe slowly conserving oxygen, set the oxygen flow tojust fill the reservoir bag below the mask so you get a good breath without wasting. This chart is a guide, only trust your own research.

The rebreather design in Underwater Trashing will give you many times longer oxygen supply from the same volume of oxygen because it doesn’t waste good oxygen but recycles it scrubbing out the CO2 waste. Be sure the rebreather system has a demand valve so you do not need to manually add oxygen to your loop if you black out.

Once you have go so far as to prepare an oxygen system you should invest the time and money in finding a quality parachute, that way as soon as the landing gear door opens you can jump and avoid the security patrol at the destination airport and probablyjail or deportation. This works better if you arrive at night when people will not see the parachutist drop from a commercial airliner near the airport.

Do you still want to try this stupid stunt?

Mail Yourself

Dead bodies in caskets and large parcels are frequently sent as air freight on passenger and cargo flights. The good news is unlike a deathwish inside a wheel well the cargo area is pressurized and kept at normal temperatures, the only thing missing is drink service, movies, and dogfood meals. If you are the really paranoid type have a friend do a gray or green latex face mask job to make you look like a sculpture in case the feds make a check on the box before it goes into the airplane, whatever you do make the packing list match your reasonable weight. Be sure you are overnighting or next day shipping yourself or you could get stuck in a warehouse for a few days, have a tool to break out in case of emergencies.

If you are going with the casket gig you will need a copy of the “death certificate” and a burial permit, the good news is you will not need long term reservations. If you go out like the title character in the film “Weekend at Bernie’s” you should be able to make a few trips to Hawaii and South America before you begin to smell bad. This trick should freak out the feds now they will have open every casket to taser the corpses just to be sure!! Always have your straighter friends ask for the bereavement discount as they accompany the dearly departing at gate 27, final boarding call.

Original Airlines

Up and away,junior outlaws! If you really want to get where you’re going in a hurry, don’t forget skyjacker’s paradise. Don’t forget the airlines. They make an unbelievable amount ofbread on their inflated prices, ruin the land with incredible amounts of polluting wastes and noise, and deliberately hold back aviation advances that would reduce prices and time of flight. We know two foolproof methods to fly free, but unfortunately we feel publishing them would cause the airlines to change their policy. The following methods have been talked about enough, so the time seems right to make them known to a larger circle of friends.

A word should be said right off about stolen tickets. Literally millions of dollars worth of airline tickets are stolen each year. If you have good underworld contacts, you can get a ticket to anywhere you want at one-fourth the regular price. If you are charged more, you are getting a slight rooking. In any case, you can get a ticket for any flight or date andjust trade it in. They are actually as good as cash, except that it takes 30 days to get a refund, and by then they might have traced the stolen tickets. If you can get a stolen ticket, exchange or use it as soon as possible, and always fly under a phony name. A stolen ticket for a trip around the world currently goes for one hundred and fifty dollars in New York.

One successful scheme requires access to the mailbox of a person listed in the local phone book. Let’s use the name Ron Davis as an example. A woman calls one of the airlines with a very efficient sounding rap such as: “Hello, this is Mr. Davis’ secretary at Allied Chemical. He and his wife would like to fly to Chicago on Friday. Could you mail two first-class tickets to his home and bill us here at Allied?” Every major corporation probably has a Ron Davis, and the airlines rarely bother checking anyway. Order your tickets two days before you wish to travel, and pick them up at the mailbox or address you had them sent to. If you are uptight in the airport about the tickets,just go up to another airline and have the tickets exchanged.

One gutsy way to hitch a free ride is to board the plane without a ticket. This is how it works. Locate the flight you want and rummage through a wastebasket until you find an envelope for that particular airline. Shuffle by the counter men (which is fairly easy if it’s busy). When the boarding call is made, stand in line and get on the plane. Flash the empty envelope at the stewardess as you board the plane. Carry a number of packages as a decoy, so the stewardess won t ask you to open the envelope. If she does, which is rare, and sees you have no ticket, act surprised. “Oh my gosh, it must have fallen out in the wash room,” will do fine. Run back down the ramp as if you’re going to retrieve the ticket. Disappear and try later on a different airline. Nine out of ten revolutionaries say it’s the only way to fly. This trick works only on airlines that don’t use the boarding pass system.

If you want to be covered completely, use the hopper-bopper method described in the section on Buses, with this added security precaution. Buy two tickets from different cashiers, or better still, one from an agent in town. Both will be on the same flight. Only one ticket will be under a phony name and for the short hop, white the ticket under your real name will be for your actual destination. At the boarding counter, present the short hop ticket. You will be given an envelope with a white receipt in it. Actually, the white receipt is the last leaf in your ticket. Once you are securely seated and aloft, take out the ticket with your name and final destination. Gently peel away everything but the white receipt. Place the still valid ticket back in your pocket. Now remove from the envelope and destroy the short hop receipt. In its place, put the receipt for the ticket you have in your pocket.

When you land at the short hop airport, stay on the plane. Usually the stewardesses just ask you if you are remaining on the flight. If you have to, you can actually show her your authentic receipt. When you get to your destination, you merely put the receipt back on the bonafide ticket that you still have in your pocket. It isn’t necessary that they be glued together. Present the ticket for a refund or exchange it for another ticket. This method works well even in foreign countries. You can actually fly around the world for $88.00 using the hopper-bopper method and switching receipts.

If you can’t hack these shucks you should at least get a Youth Card and travel for half fare. If you are over twenty-two but still in your twenties, you can easily pass. Get a card from a friend who has similar color hair and eyes. Your friend can easily get one from another airline. You can master your friend’s signature and get a supporting piece of identification from him to back up your youth card if you find it necessary. If you have a friend who works for an airline or travel agency,just get a card under your own name and an age below the limit. Your friend can validate the card. Flying youth fare is on stand-by, so it’s always a good idea to call ahead and book a number of reservations under fictitious names on the flight you’ll be taking. This will fuck up the booking of regular passengers and insure you a seat.

By the way, if you fly cross-country a number of times, swipe one of the plug-in head sets. Always remember to pack it in your traveling bag. This way you’ll save a two dollar fee charged for the inflight movie. The headsets are interchangeable on all airlines.

One way to fly free is to actually hitch a ride. Look for the private plane area located at every airport, usually in some remote part of the field. You can find it by noticing where the small planes without airline markings take off and land. Go over to the runways and ask around. Often the mechanics will let you know when someone is leaving for your destination and point out a pilot. Tell him you lost your ticket and have to get back to school. Single pilots often like to have a passenger along and it’s a real gas flying in a small plane.

Some foreign countries have special arrangements for free air travel to visiting writers, artists or reporters. Brazil and Argentina are two we know of for sure. Call or write the embassy of the country you wish to visit in Washington or their mission to the United Nations in New York. Writing works best, especially if you can cop some stationery from a newspaper or publishing house. Tell them you will be writing a feature story for some magazine on the tourist spots or handcrafts of the country. The embassy will arrange for you to travel gratis aboard one of their air force planes. The planes leave only from Washington and New York at unscheduled times. Once you have the O.K. letter from the embassy you’re all set. This is definitely worth checking out if you want to vacation in a foreign country with all sorts of free bonuses thrown in.

A one-way ride is easy if you want to get into skyjacking. Keep the piece or knife in your shoe to avoid possible detection with the “metal scanner,” a long black tube that acts like a geiger counter. Or use a plastic knife or bomb. It’s also advisable to wrap your dope in a non-metallic material. Avoid tinfoil.

The crews have instructions to take you wherever you want to go even if they have to refuel, but watch out for air marshals. To avoid air marshals and searches pick an airline which flies short domestic hops. You should plan to end up in a country hostile to the United States or you’ll end up right back where you came from in some sturdy handcuffs. One dude wanted to travel in style so he demanded $100,000 as a going-away gift. The airlines quickly paid off. The guy then got greedy and demanded a hundred million dollars. When he returned to pick up the extra pocket money, he got nabbed. None the less, skyjacking appears to be the cheapest, fastest way to get away from it all.

In City Travel

Abusing the Bus System

Depending on where you are there may or may not be a public bus system, if you are lucky there will be a big public bus system. This equates to free rides. Transfers are often color coded for the day of the week, meaning a day old transfer is pretty much out, but most drivers won’t check the times on a transfer if it the right color. Check garbage cans near transit points. If you are feeling more legit and younger looking many bus systems have a reduced fare for youth. Most drivers don’t bother checking ID.

If you are lucky enough to be in a city that allows people to enter at the back of the bus (ex. Ottawa, Canada)just walk aboard and take a seat. This works best on the busier routes and there are others getting on at the same time. The traffic pigs usually do a sweep at the beginning of each new college semester to ‘persuade’ new students that it isn’t an option. Best buy a ticket then and at the beginning of the month, especially if the first is on the weekend. Corpgov will even hassle the three-piece suiters about not having their monthly pass updated. Always keep enough money for the fare on hand so you can talk your way out of it. If you’re dressed in corporate camouflage you can use the “I haven’t had enough coffee today” line with a moderate degree of success.

Maps and Attractions

Most nicer hotels have free maps of the city that are often free for the asking at the front desk, also check at big bus terminals and airport information stations for free maps. While in the hotel look for the tourist pamphlets to see what attracitons are available.

NYC Subway Hack

In New York City you can get free rides on the subway by bending an empty metrocard the right way. The exploit is a result of the system being unable to read bent or damaged cards. To compensate for that error there is a built in fail safe that if a card is swiped 3 times and the computer reads a certain code that tells them it was damaged, on the 4^th swipe it lets the swiper through.

Here’s how it works:

• 1) Bend the bottom right corner of your metro card up to the f (f part of the word facing). It is a 45 degree angle. Close the bend hard

• 2) Swipe it 3 times and it says “please swipe again”

• 3) On the 3^rd time it says “please swipe again at this turnstile”

• 4) Swipe one more time with the bend open and it says balance= $0.00, previous balance $2.00. GO

• 5)Go.

This trick should theoretically work on the bus also but the bus driver might catch on if you dip the card 4 times so it will probably only work with a stupid bus driver. But considering most bus drivers don’t really care if you pay or not it should work often enough. Be careful though its a $60 fine if you get caught.

Community Cycling

Find out if a community cycle program like Cycling, Yellow-White Bicycle Programs exists.

Shuttles

In Las Vegas, senior citizens are very savvy when it comes to using the free inter-casino shuttle buses. Since many of the casinos are owned by the same company (Station Casinos, MGM-Mirage, etc.), they will have shuttle buses that go from casino to casino. Many have the timetables memorized where they can walk to one casino, take the shuttle bus to the other casino, and walk the rest of the way for free. Ask around.

What follows is the original text

Original IN CITY TRAVEL

Any of the public means of transportation can be ripped off easily. Get on the bus with a large bill and present it after the bus has left the stop. If the bus is crowded, slip in the back door when it opens to dispatch passengers.

Two people can easily get through the turnstile in a subway on one token by doubling up. In some subway systems cards are given out to high school kids or senior citizens or employees of the city. The next time you are in a subway station notice people flashing cards to the man in the booth and entering through the “exit” door. Notice the color of the card used by people in your age group. Get a piece of colored paper in a stationery store or find some card of the same color you need. Put this “card” in a plastic window of your wallet and flash it in the same way those with a bona fide pass do.

Before entering a turnstile, always test the swing bar. If someone during the day put in an extra token, it’s still in the machine waiting for you to enter free.

For every token and coin deposited in an automatic turnstile, there is a foreign coin the same size for much less that will work in the machine. (See the Yippie Currency Exchange, following, for more info.) Buy a cheap bag of assorted foreign coins from a dealer that you can locate in the Yellow Pages. Size up the coins with a token from your subway system. You can get any of these coins in bulk from a large dealer. Generally they are about l,000 for five dollars. Tell him you make jewelry out of them ifhe gets suspicious. Giving what almost amounts to free subway rides away is a communal act oflove. The best outlaws in the world rip-off shit for a lot more people thanjust themselves. Robin Hood lives!

Sail Away

‘ = e a bit unorthodox for a yippie, the suits have it right on this one, sailing is fun and a very :__Bmtionary way to live and travel. Being disgusting spendthrifts once a boat gets “old” the yuppies have to upgrade so they aren’t shown-up by the Jones’. Most yuppies run the sails for looks and are under power at all times, save a dinosaur use the motor only when you have to.

Buying and Preparation

A 27 foot ocean capable craft can be acquired for very cheap if you visit the docks regularly and ask if there are any abandoned boats that they are selling to recover the moorage fees. Look for auctions in the paper and inquire at boat repair shops. Always go browsing with an experienced skipper who can assess weak spots in the rigging and hull, sail quality, and engine wear before buying.

A little cleanup and you have a house, an intercontinental get away vehicle, and an almost free way to get up and down the coast. For free mooring look for a small sound or cove near a public park where the water is in anotherjurisdiction, drop an old engine block with a chain and float, this is your new anchorage. Leave no valuables in your boat, the only security is that thieves must cross a bit of water. Never leave the launch aboard if you use this storage method, even more important do not leave your launch at the beach or thieves have easy access to your sailboat and, hey free launch! If the sailboat doesn’t have a launch a canoe will work quite nicely and is easier to paddle than a Zodiac.

Training

It is worthwhile to spend a few months getting familiar with your boating skills. A boat is not a car you are at the mercy of the wind, current, and inertia. A power motor is a good idea for docking. Accidents with boats can lead to a sinking or severe damage especially in a boatyard, some places will land you injail if you damage another boat and are uninsured. Look into a university sailing team or post an offer to crew for free to locals out for a joy ride.

All of the advice in this article is great for a cheap abode and for the fun of it. However one should never enter into the world of sailing lightly. The old saying that I’ve heard is that “The Sea is like a woman; Know how to handle her and she will love you. Because if you don’t know how to handle her she will wreck you.”

This is true and with this said it should be seriously recommended to anyone who is considering taking up the sailing/boating route that they enroll themselves in as many safe boating and seamanship courses as possible. Here you will gain much needed knowledge on how to handle the sea and it’s challenges. Some of the best instruction in seamanship is offered by the U.S. Power Squadron and U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary. All of their classes are approved by the Coast Guard for training purposes. One I’m sure would agree that it’s better to never have to call the Coast Guard or any other law enforcement than to have to perhaps explain your stash on board. Therefore with this premise alone it’s important to learn good seamanship and how to handle your boat. Also the classes offered by the USPS and USCGAUX are usually low cost and rarely over $100 each. Also other agencies such as your state’s Bureau ofMarine Resources may offer some boating classes for free. In addition to this one may find some classes online for free such as the one offered in basic boating skills by Boat U.S. which is on their website at www.boatus.com. Boating is not like car driving and there are numerous more rules that one should be aware of in order to safely operate a boat. Also one should consider investing in the Boater’s Bible also known by it’s official name, The Chapman School of Seamanship Manual ofBasic Seamanship. This book contains all that one needs to know for safe boating skills from things as simple as how to tie an anchor on to what international signal flags mean. It is an indispensable tool to boaters.

Crewing

Look for adds of people who want a crew for an ocean crossing to Europe, South America, or Hawaii trip. Get to know those that want you for crew a little before agreeing to accompany them on such a trip. There are stories of the free riders being treated like slaves in exchange for their food while the yuppie owners sat around smoking (and not sharing) their doob.

Skipper

The skipper is one of the top reasons to choose or reject a boat. If she is a philosopher queen the voyage may be hard but her leadership will keep arguments form going too far and working arrangements fair. The captain is the heart and the head of the boat, defy her at your own and the crews peril.

Sextant

If you like math or are paranoid that the aliens are going to steal the GPS satellites learn to use a sextant. A sextant while sounding sexyjust measures the angle between the sun, moon star, or planet and the horizon. When combined with a stellar movement book and an exact clock you can compute your location on earth to within a few nautical miles.

Drugs

If you have a stash hide it well, the US Coast Guard feels the right to patrol the high seas and search any vessel it wishes. Flying our pot leaf flag is a sure way to get boarded, try running the Jolly Rodgers like American imperial aircraft carriers instead.

Cargo Cruises

Old books mentioned cheap passage on cargo vessels. Our research seems to indicate that said travel is still slow but can now cost as much as $3000 to get to Europe or Asia form the North American coast. Stowing away on modern vessels is not such a bright idea either. With most ships being either auto, container, or tanker there is a very small crew but this means almost nowhere to hide with any shelter and nowhere to get food or water during the several week voyage.

Pirate Radio

It used to be European radio waves were full of pirate stations with great music and radical politics immune from prosecution because they were in international waters. Since the signing of international sea treaties a pirate operator transmitting on unauthorized signals may be boarded even in international waters and the craft impounded by the offended nations navy or coastal police.

Building

One may wish to consider is to build their own boat especially if cost is an issue or finding a seaworthy boat is an issue as it can sometimes be. There are numerous books out there on this. Some of the best are those by George Buehler such as Backyard Boat Building, Howard I. Chappelle such as BoatBuilding and the History of American Small Craft, and the Sharpie Book by Reul Parker. These books all illustrate step by step how one can build a boat. A sharpie is one of the easiest boats to build and will provide the added benefit of not only being a seaworthy craft but if made of wood will lend itself to easy repairability anywhere in the world but also due to the hull design allows one to go inland to many places many larger boats can’t go. Which can be most helpful if needing to find a good hiding location from which to plan your next move orjust to satisfy the need to get away from everyone and everything. Also based on my research a good cruising sized sharpie could be built for less than $1000. The only problem might be where to build but then seeing how a group of two or three could build them one in a matter of a couple of weeks I would say that any State or National Forest or State or National Park that lies on a gentle flowing river should provide a good location on which to build. Just remember to camouflage your boatyard so that Smokey (aka Forest or Park Ranger) doesn’t come looking for you and practice good woodsmanship so as to not start any forest fires or brush fires which could ruin your boat and boatyard not to mention call much undue attention to you.

Good luck to all future children ofNeptune and Poseidon but remember the saying that we mentioned first. Safety should always be the first rule in dealing with boats.

Steal This Book Today

A Modern Survival Guide (Alpha 0.00)

— Vol II ----

Copyright 2008 released under the GNU FDL http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html

Table of Contents

Table of contents for PDF one, download, more PDF’s or the project at www.stealthiswiki.org

• Free Education

• List ofFree Universities

• Internet educational resources

• Free Medical Care

• Birth Control Clinics

• Abortions

• Diseases Treated Free

• Free Communication

• Press Conferences

• Use of the Flag

• Radio

• Making Music

• Free Software

• Free Telephones

• Pay Phones

• Internet Communications

• Free Play

• Movies and Concerts

• Records and Books

• Skiing and Boarding

• Steal This Factory

• Means ofProduction

• Piracy ofManufacture

• Free Money

• Welfare

• Unemployment

• Panhandling

• Ripoffs

• The International Yippie Currency Exchange

• Free Dope

• Cheap Thrills

• Buying Selling and Giving it Away

• Growing Your Own

• Assorted Freebies

• Computers

• Electronics

• Laundry

• Pets

• Posters

• Security

• Postage

• Maps

• Ministry

• Atrocities

• Veterans Benefits

• Watch

• Vacations

• Drinks

• Burials

• Astrodome Pictures

• Diploma

• Toilets

Free Education

Teach Your Children Well

Even if your local school system is good, it doesn’t hurt to also teach your kids a bit at home, especially before they start school. Home kits like “Hooked On Phonics” teach kids to read in the form of a series of games (It also gets them away from the mind-numbing TV set for a few hours!). http://www.hooked-on-phonics.com

There are many home schooling groups across the USA. Ask around, but remember that some are rather far right-wing in scope, since many christian fundamentalists see “liberal” public education as a “corrosive influence”.

Here are some places to start looking:

• Easy Homeschooling — http://www.easyhomeschooling.com/

• Homeschool.com — http://www.homeschool.com/

• Home School Free Stuff — http://www.homeschoolfreestuff.com/

• Home School Learning Network — http://www.homeschoollearning.com/

• Home School Legal Defense Association — http://www.hslda.org/

• HomeSchooler Network (Part ofFamily Education Network)- http://www.homeschoolernetwork.fen.com/

Wikibooks has a number of educational books for kids that can be downloaded free of charge as part of their “Wikijunior” project. Some books may be under construction: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Wikijunior

A number of the completed books can be downloaded from links here: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Wikibooks:Special groups department

If the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts are not to your liking (or if they’re not liking to you), consider SpiralScouts International, an alternative youth group for boys and girls of minority faiths. If there isn’t a SpiralScouts group near you, they can help you start one. http://www.spiralscouts.org

Electronics designer and software developer Adam Pierce designed and built a miniature electronics kit for his son for a few bucks worth of spare parts (which does just about the same as a $50 kit from Radio $hack). Consider this for a kid who likes to tinker with stuff. The plans are here: http://www.doctort.org/adam/homemade/homemade-kids-electronic-lab.html

Original Free Education

Usually when you ask somebody in college why they are there, they’ll tell you it’s to get an education. The truth of it is, they are there to get the degree so that they can get ahead in the rat race. Too many college radicals are two-timing punks. The only reason you should be in college is to destroy it. If there is stuff that you want to learn though, there is a way to get a college education absolutely free. Simply send away for the schedule of courses at the college of your choice. Make up the schedule you want and audit the classes. In smaller classes this might be a problem, but even then, if, the teacher is worth anything at all, he’ll let you stay. In large classes, no one will ever object.

If you need books for a course, write to the publisher claiming you are a lecturer at some school and considering using their book in your course. They will always send you free books.

There are Free Universities springing up all over our new Nation. Anybody can teach any course. People sign up for the courses and sometimes pay a token registration fee. This money is used to publish a catalogue and pay the rent. If you’re on welfare you don’t have to pay. You can take as many or as few courses as you want. Classes are held everywhere: in the instructor’s house, in the park, on the beach, at one of the student’s houses or in liberated buildings. Free Universities offer courses ranging from Astrology to the Use ofFirearms. The teaching is usually of excellent quality and you’ll learn in a community-type atmosphere. LIST OF FREE UNIVERSITIES

• Alternative University-69 W. 14^th St., New York, NY 10011 (catalogue on request)

• Baltimore Free U-c/o Harry, 233 E. 25^th St., Baltimore, Maryland 21218

• Berkeley Free U-1703 Grove St., Berkeley, California 94709

• Bowling Green Free U-c/o Student Council, University ofBowling Green, Bowling Green Ohio 43402

• Colorado State Free U-Box 12-Fraisen, Colorado State College, Greeley, Colorado 80631 — Detroit Area Free U-Student Union, 4001 W. McNichols Rd., Detroit, Michigan 48221

• Detroit Area Free U-343 University Center, Wayne State University, Detroit, Mich.

• Georgetown Free U-Loyola Bldg., 28, Georgetown University Washington D.C. 20007

• Golden Gate Free U-2120 Market St., Rm. 206, San Francisco, California 94114

• Heliotrope-2201 Filbert, San Francisco, California 94118

• Illinois Free U-298A Illini Union, University ofIllinois, Champaign, Illinois 61820

• Kansas Free U-107 W. 7^th St., Lawrence, Kansas 66044

• Knox College Free U-Galesbury, Illinois 60401

• Madison Free U-c/o P Carroll, 1205 Shorewood Blvd., Madison, Wisconsin 53705

• Metropolitan State Free U-Associated Students, 1345 Banrock St., Denver, Colorado 80204

• Michigan State Free U-Associated Students, Student Service Bldg., Michigan State College, East Lansing, Michigan 48823

• Mid-Peninsula Free U-1060 El Camino Real, Menlo Park, California 94015

• Minnesota Free U-1817 S. 3^rd St., Minneapolis, Minnesota 55404

• Monterey Peninsula Free U-2120 Etna Place, Monterey, California New Free U-Box ALL 303, Santa Barbara, California 93107

• Northwest Free U-Box 1255, Bellingham, Washington 98225

• Ohio-Wesleyan Free U-Box 47-Welsh Hall, Ohio Wesleyan University, Delevan, Ohio 43015

• Pittsburgh Free U-4401 Fifth Ave., Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213 Rutgers Free U-Rutgers College, Student Center, 1 Lincoln Ave., Newark, NJ 07102

• St. Louis Free U-c/o Student Congress, 3^rd floor BMC, St. Louis University, St. Louis, Missouri 63103

• San Luis Obispo Free U-Box 1305, San Luis Obispo, California 94301

• Santa Cruz Free U-604 River St., Santa Cruz, California 95060

• Seattle Free U-4144^ University Way NE, Seattle, Washington 98105

• Southern Illinois Free U-Carbondale, Illinois 62901

• Valley Free U-2045 N. Wishon Ave., Fresno, California 93704

• Washington Area Free U-5519 Prospect Place, Chevy Chase, Maryland 20015 and 1854 Park Rd. NW, Washington, D.C. 20010

• Wayne-Locke Free U-Student Congress, University of Texas, Arlington, Texas 76010

And a complete list of experimental schools, free universities, free schools, can be obtained by sending one dollar to ALTERNATIVES! 1526 Gravenstein Highway N., Sebastopol, California 97452, and requesting the Directory ofFree Schools.

List of Free Universities

• Macalester EXCO, St. Paul MN, MPKB.net

Though not free, the Institute for Social Ecology (www.social-ecology.org) and the Z Media Institute (http://www.zmag.org/aboutzmi .htm) are worth checking out and will help you free your mind.

MIT Open Courseware (http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/index.htm)is a completely free archive of previous MIT courses and course materials available on the web or for download although it does not provide you with a degree or faculty access. It is licensed under Creative Commons (http://creativecommons.org/).

OpenCourseWareConsortium ( http://www.ocwconsortium.org/ ) also provides lists of free courseware in addition to promoting open university courses around the world. http://www.ocwconsortium.org/about/usa.shtmlfor participating US colleges.

In the USA, many colleges grant credit or advanced standing for the College Level Examination Program (CLEP). This is a test that determines how much you already know on a topic and grants you college credit for it. It costs $65 (free if you’re in the Military), but it does shave a lot of money off your tuition costs! http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/clep/about.html

Anarchist U (http://anarchistu.org/cgi-bin/twiki/view/Anarchistu/WebHome) “The Anarchist U is a volunteer-run collective which organizes a variety of courses on arts and sciences. Most courses run for ten weeks, and meet once a week; there are no admission fees. The Anarchist U follows the tradition of free schools in that it is open, non-hierarchic and questions the roles of teachers and students. Anarchist U is in Toronto ON, Canada. There is no single street address; rather different classes and meetings take place in different community centres and homes throughout the city. ”

Original List of Free Universities

• Alternative University-69 W. 14^th St., New York, NY 10011 (catalogue on request)

• Baltimore Free U-c/o Harry, 233 E. 25^th St., Baltimore, Maryland 21218

• Berkeley Free U-1703 Grove St., Berkeley, California 94709

• Bowling Green Free U-c/o Student Council, University ofBowling Green, Bowling Green Ohio 43402

• Colorado State Free U-Box 12-Fraisen, Colorado State College, Greeley, Colorado 80631

• Detroit Area Free U-Student Union, 4001 W. McNichols Rd., Detroit, Michigan 48221

• Detroit Area Free U-343 University Center, Wayne State University, Detroit, Mich.

• Georgetown Free U-Loyola Bldg., 28, Georgetown University Washington D.C. 20007

• Golden Gate Free U-2120 Market St., Rm. 206, San Francisco, California 94114

• Heliotrope-2201 Filbert, San Francisco, California 94118

• Illinois Free U-298A Illini Union, University oflllinois, Champaign, Illinois 61820

• Kansas Free U-107 W. 7^th St., Lawrence, Kansas 66044

• Knox College Free U-Galesbury, Illinois 60401

• Madison Free U-c/o P Carroll, 1205 Shorewood Blvd., Madison, Wisconsin 53705

• Metropolitan State Free U-Associated Students, 1345 Banrock St., Denver, Colorado 80204

• Michigan State Free U-Associated Students, Student Service Bldg., Michigan State College, East Lansing, Michigan 48823

• Mid-Peninsula Free U-1060 El Camino Real, Menlo Park, California 94015

• Minnesota Free U-1817 S. 3^rd St., Minneapolis, Minnesota 55404

• Monterey Peninsula Free U-2120 Etna Place, Monterey, California New Free U-Box ALL 303, Santa Barbara, California 93107

• Northwest Free U-Box 1255, Bellingham, Washington 98225

• Ohio-Wesleyan Free U-Box 47-Welsh Hall, Ohio Wesleyan University, Delevan, Ohio 43015

• Pittsburgh Free U-4401 Fifth Ave., Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213 Rutgers Free U-Rutgers College, Student Center, 1 Lincoln Ave., Newark, NJ 07102

• St. Louis Free U-c/o Student Congress, 3^rd floor BMC, St. Louis University, St. Louis, Missouri 63103

• San Luis Obispo Free U-Box 1305, San Luis Obispo, California 94301

• Santa Cruz Free U-604 River St., Santa Cruz, California 95060

• Seattle Free U-4144U University Way NE, Seattle, Washington 98105

• Southern Illinois Free U-Carbondale, Illinois 62901

• Valley Free U-2045 N. Wishon Ave., Fresno, California 93704

• Washington Area Free U-5519 Prospect Place, Chevy Chase, Maryland 20015 and 1854 Park Rd. NW, Washington, D.C. 20010

• Wayne-Locke Free U-Student Congress, University of Texas, Arlington, Texas 76010

And a complete list of experimental schools, free universities, free schools, can be obtained by sending one dollar to ALTERNATIVES! 1526 Gravenstein Highway N., Sebastopol, California 97452, and requesting the Directory ofFree Schools.

Internet educational resources

Universities with free educational content

MIT OpenCoursewear — http://ocw.mit.edu The original and still one of the best, provides syllabi, problem sets, lecture videos, and sometimes extensive lecture notes for regular MIT classes.

John Hopkins School OpenCourseware — http://ocw.jhsph.edu/ Great resource if you are interested in Public Health as a career move.

Utah State OpenCourseware — http://ocw.usu.edu/Courses/Courses listing Solid site for many lower level undergraduate classes.

Tufts OpenCourseware — http://ocw.tufts.edu/ Another introduction to the life sciences, and public health.

Open UW — http://www.extension.washington.edu/openuw/ Free on-line courses from the University of Washingon

EcEdWeb — http://ecedweb.unomaha.edu/teachsug.htmFree course on Economics from the

University ofNebraska

Whatcom Community College Math Courses —

http://math.whatcom.ctc.edu/content/Links.phtml?cat=3

Princeton University Archived Lectures — http://www.princeton.edu/WebMedia/lectures/

Dartmouth College, Introduction to Probability:

http://www.dartmouth.edu/~chance/teaching aids/books articles/probability book/book.html

Stanford CS Education Library — http://cslibrary.stanford.edu/

University ofPennsylvania Online Books Page — http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/

Carnegie Mellon University Open Learning Initiative — http://www.cmu.edu/oli/

NY University: Mathematics Material — http://homepages.nyu.edu/~jmg336/html/mathematics.html

Educational podcasts

Stanford — http://itunes.stanford.eduA variety of podcasts containing academic information.

Webcast.Berkeley — http://webcast.berkeley.edu/courses/feeds.phpContains podcasts mostly of scientific courses, but a couple ofhumanities courses too.

Other free resources

Please limit the resources to the free and useful

Free-Ed.net — http://www.free-ed.net/free-ed/ Free education on the Internet

Wikipedia — http://en.wikipedia.org/ Obviously.

Creative Commons — http://creativecommons.org/education Bunch of different resources...and it’s searchable.

Wikiversity — http://www.wikiversity.orgOpen-source textbooks and user-taught classes.

Internet Archive — http://www.archive.org Searchable resource ofliterally thousands of documents, papers and recordings, all for free!

Curriki — http://curriki.org“Our mission is to improve education around the world by empowering teachers, students and parents with user-created, open source curricula, and it’s all free!”

Spanish Kit — http://www.spanish-kit.net/ Free on-line Spanish language course with free downloadable material for off-line studying.

Word2Word — http://www.word2word.com/ Index to on-line language courses and services.

Library of Congress — http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html

Annenberg Media — http://www.learner.org/resources/ (Free registration required)

American Sign Language — http://commtechlab.msu.edu/sites/aslweb/

Core Documents onU.S. Democracy — http://www.gpoaccess.gov/coredocs.html(See what those wild-eyed, free-thinking, whiskey-drinking, hemp-growing radicals were thing of!)

Learn CPR — http://depts.washington.edu/learncpr/

Sophia Project — http://sofia.fhda.edu/

ERI Distance Learning Center — http://www.eridlc.com/?FuseAction=Main.Home#List (Take preview classes for free. College credit costs $29 exam fee.)

A First Course in Linear Algebra — http://linear.ups.edu/

Article on Lifehacker about free on-line education:

http://lifehacker.com/software/education/technophilia-get-a-free-college-education-online- 2O1979.php

Free High School

Introduction

Anyone who is or was in High School knows that it is an important introduction to the unfairness and struggle of the public versus the government. The only difference between the authorities in High School and the Government is that the ones in High School screw you over more obviously.

Just like in the real, post 9/11 world ofBush, freedoms are being taken away in the post-Columbine world ofHigh School. Too many times have I seen the unfortunate victims of cruel and clever bullies punished by the authorities after they try to stand up for themselves by verbal or physical means. I know from personal experience that this can create a personal hell for students afraid to stand up for themselves. I learned and taught myselfhow to fight back and survive just like Abbie Hoffman did during the Vietnam War era, only his opponent was the government. As security tightens it makes High School life even harder and more unfair; why should the most high school students have to suffer because of the bad decisions of a few deranged peers?

Understand that while you are a thinking human, under the US system oflaw you have legal rights similar to a slave. You are property of your parents until you are emancipated by a court or you reach eighteen years of age.

Nowadays, if you want to survive in High School, it is important that you take advantage of every resource you have and make sure you support your brothers and sisters out there. You never know when something you do that may seem insignificant saves the life or sanity of someone down on their luck. Also, enjoy the pointers in this section on getting beer and other illegal commodities, as they are in here for fun and your enjoyment.

High school is just a continuation of the school system that most westerners have experienced from kindergarten on for the last several generations. The main intent is to create a properly balanced output of workers, geniuses, artists, managers, and yes, even burnouts, to take onjobs in every level of the world. Since an orderly economy can’t survive on excessive art, genius, and radicalism, expect to be punished for encouraging too many people to dedicate themselves. This CorpGov economy needs dropouts, burnouts, and slaves to work in the fast-food industry. The student body is represented by the few elected class senators who have no real influence, and ruled by teachers and principals who have almost total unchecked power. The whole high school experience trains for apathy: an important lifetime trait for a controlled and orderly society. Remember that: student elections don’t mean jack, and don’t expect any teacher to be your friend. Theirjobs are more important than freedom.

One suggestion is to break out as soon as possible. Enroll in a few advanced classes at a junior/community college or university with the permission of your counselor and/or parents; 100 and 200 level classes are really only high school level. Keep building the off-campus class load you might be able to get enough credits for an early, real college admission, skipping out on a few wasted years. Nothing you are doing in high school is worth the stay. All of the spirit and pageantry dances and sports are just a preparation for a life of submission and a few locker pep poster memories. In the end, a high school dropout with a college degree and an early GED will have the pick of profession in CorpGov. High school is not worth the pain and waste of time.

Gulag Schools

Parents can send their unruly kids to prison. If you have ever heard of the term tough love or reform school you will already know part of what a for profit “gulag school” is. Parents at their wits end will search out almost any promise of a solution to “repair” their broken or “mentally unadjusted” child. Some parents turn to psychoactive drugs like Ritalin or antidepressants. The reform school or boot camp is arguably worse leading to a potential lifetime of damage and depression and almost never the return to “normal behavior” that is promised by the salespeople. Some of these programs take a minor outside of the borders of the United States to places where they have no recognized human rights. Many staff members were abused in similar schools and as we know the abused often go on to abuse. See: http://teenliberty.org for more information

How to avoid imprisonment or escape if abducted by a “boot camp” or gulag capture/escort team:

• If taken to any public place like an airport or parking area scream RAPE!! this will get attention and people might help, make all the noise you can and beg for the police, and straighten the facts out later. Buy yourself time and demand to see a lawyer once the police have you. It is correct to use full force and violence especially if you are being taken by surprise to escape, but expect the thugs to know basic hand to hand combat as well.

• File for emancipation, contact a lawyer from the lawyer’s guild that can help you get out of your parents custody. If you are under threat to be disappeared to one of these POW schools it is your responsibility to take custody of yourself and out of the hands of dangerous or ignorant parents. If you must, go get a jobto pay for the lawyer.

• Contact state, county, and local police, let them know you are under threat ofbeing kidnapped against your will and you will fight back to protect your freedom. Stay vigilant once this threat is placed onto the table and immediately put a plan into action to seek sanctuary with someone who is not involved with and who will not inform your parents. Most adults over 25–30 including parents of your friends will buckle and turn you in once a manhunt begins and police alerts go out. Ask your lawyer for advice, but even they might turn you in. Contact county and state child welfare offices they may not always be sympathetic but at least force them to take and file a statement, memorize the case number. If you make a big stink when you find out most schools advise parents to delay enrollment to catch you off guard.

• Have an escape plan in place if your parents decide in the end to send you away, most snatch operations are done in between midnight and six AM when the victim student is expected to be asleep. People are most compliant to capture at this time because their brain is sleepy and moving slow. Know where every exit is (windows, doors, crawl spaces, attics, etc) and have plans to avoid your captors and their handcuffs.

Expect most of these prison camps to be in wilderness areas, with some stashed water and warm clothing survival and evasion are very possible, seeS.E.R.E.andGet the Hell Out of Dodgefor some ideas. Consult a free lawyer, you might even claim asylum outside of the United States under the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/h cat39.htm

• Consider carrying some urban, wilderness, and road survival gear in your pack and keep it with you so you can run at any time (as long as this will not alert your parents to your plans), have a trusted friend keep a backup or stash one near your home, seeCaching. Sleep in durable dark colored pajamas, always put your next day’s clothes into your pack, and keep quick sturdy shoes next to your bed.

These prison schools are often for profit or religious operations and much like they use pressure on the prisoners/students they also lever against the parents to do the “right thing” and enroll or return their escaped child into the hands of the mercenary prison-school guards. Your parents must know that they have a right to see and remove you from the school at ANY time. Have trusted friends keep copies of a list of code words to give to your parents so you can get codes in letters past school censors if things get really bad. Your parents can go to local law enforcement (where the school is) and demand that they release you if the school will not let you go; your birth certificate is a parent’s proof of ownership (like a child could be owned) for purposes of release.

Some institutions employ cameras and microphones almost everywhere as well as restricting all privacy by keeping staff guards in every room. In the paranoid environments students are often required, at risk of punishment, to report dissidents or planned escapes or themselves be punished. Use of discreet hand signals or tap codeS.E.R.E.#Tap Codemight let you secretly communicate in an environment where you are not allowed normal interaction with other students.

Alternative Graduation

Get a group of revolutionaries, raise some money, and invest in home school materials. Have your young comrades to withdraw from high school and enroll in your accredited home school program, delete all the bad grades from their transcripts give them straight A’s and send them to college.

One of our editors dropped out of public school at 17 with not even enough credits for an 11^th grader and probably below a 1.0 grade point average, they went to a church in their neighborhood which had an accredited home school program. Eight months later they had an accredited high school diploma and a 3.3 GPA. These grades were good enough to get a full ride scholarship from the state and about two thousand dollars a semester from federal Pell grants. That two thousand was refunded in cash since the state paid the tuition and fees.

Post-Secondary Enrollment Option

This is the best move you can make in High School, hands down. By enrolling in PSEO, you are breaking free in a way that satisfies both you and CorpGov, allowing you more educational freedom than you have ever had. What is PSEO? PSEO is taking university classes. Not wimpy AP or Honors classes at your CorpGov high school. This is the real deal. You can take as many classes as you like and because your high school pays for your classes, it’s completely free! One of our editors was a full-time PSEO student. Not only did he learn what he wanted to because he could pick what classes he wanted, he only set foot in his High School about once or twice a month!

Of course, in some states you will encounter significant barriers to this. Believe us, CorpGov doesn’t want to lose its hold on you! But if you stay strong and don’t back down, and most often you will win yourself a good education.

Homework/Classwork

A good alternative to certain class homework is to find a website that has answers to questions from your text book or assignments. One good site for A.P US History students is this link:[1], this website features quizzes with questions that match the multiple choice questions found in the study guides for the American Pageant text book, if you use it you can easily take care of the multiple choice questions and then focus on the more important parts of the study guides. If you find anymore, make sure you post them in this section for other students

Also, many math text books have a section in the back with all the answers,just not the work most teachers ask for. Make sure you use it to check you answers or for help on a question you don’t understand. This can be an incredibly useful tool! There are also websites such as Hotmath[2]that have tons of answers and even the work to get those answers. Hell, you may even learn a thing or two by accident.

Cheating

Note: Although we here at the wiki recommend doing whatever it takes tofight CorpGov, education

is still our best weapon. Why bother cheanngyour way throughfree education? Use this time of your life to get some basics down. Stupid revolutionaries are easier to catch and silence than smarter ones. That said, if you lose interest enough, or just need a slightly higher grade, use these tips toyour advantage.

There are many ways of cheating. Notable techniques are writing on the inside of fingers, and writing on the inside of a carefully positioned and partially drained drink container with a dark liquid such as coke or coffee or Gatorade in it. Positioning worksheets or paper with notes on them under an adjacent student’s chair works well, also. It’s incredibly easy tojust write the answers on the desk with a pencil and erase it later. Cover it with your arm when the teachers walk by.

If you are in a math class that requires a graphing calculator, use it to your advantage! Write fake programs that contain only formulas you didn’t bother to memorize if you need to show your work. You can put almost any amount of notes into a program line code like this. If you don’t need to show your work, write some programs (or befriend someone who can for you). http://www.geocities.com/iohnchenjohnchen offers some nifty program codes for both mathematical formulas and games.

Lots of “badasses” in school write shit on their arms. Use this to your advantage! Come up with a simple code that uses symbols seemingly completely unrelated to whatever test you have to take. This can work in almost any math class in which formulas (but with no graphing calculators are allowed) are key. Also, for foreign language classes, simple symbols that represent phonetic structures can be scrawled all over your arms or hands tojog your memory for harder vocab words. Get creative!

Morse code tapped with pencils or tiny hidden transmitters can be used to pool knowledge, but be careful if everyone gets the same answers wrong you are screwed. This is also probably the easiest way to get caught.

Most teachers know of all the tricks and get bored by the lameness of it all. Attempt to make friends with the teachers if they’re not total assholes. It’ll make them a whole lot more accepting of your alibi.

Friends

Almost everybody in high school has at least one or two good friends. By the time you get to high school, chances are you have made a good deal of friends...and it may be tough to make others.

If you’re friendless in your high school, don’t let your desire for friendship get the best of you. Make sure that the people you keep in touch with are not using you for their benefit.

The most exciting thing to flip-out people is to simply say as little as possible to those around you. People will have no idea what you are...a depressed teen, an angst-y goth-kid, a shy person, etc, etc. This will get the attention of the fringe groups (goths/punks/skaters/stoners) who are looking for another tojoin their rank-and-file. If you find a group you enjoy being a part of, cool...but don’t let them brainwash you.

Try to be personable and reliable. Find people you are interested in and be yourself around them. Chances are, if you are all decent people, you’ll get along. Try to enlist in as many classes that offer inclusion with other grades as possible. There is nothing that can make you feel better about yourself than befriending some cooler older kids with cars. You’ll ba able to do the same when you’re their age, and become a positive force in someone else’s life later on. Get involved in acting, speech, music, and writing classes to show others what your true opinions and abilities are. The more you show people what kind of person you are, the better someone similar will find you.

If you get in trouble and are punished by the pigs running the school it feels good and builds spirit to have a large group of students who will be willing to protest for you. Making t-shirts and banners and distributing them in large numbers to the student population can show that the administration doesn’t have full support and can lower their morale. The school can make life difficult for you for this even though they can’t prove you were somehow a threat to the safety and well being of the school. Make sure kids know they can make life difficult for the administration and they can defend themselves. It is important to realize that students only have limited first amendment rights in school. The administration, on the other hand, doesn’t have any at all.

Beware of fair-weather friends if you are causing mischief, as many will sing like a canary once the principal gets them alone and promises they are not in trouble. Remember security culture: don’t involve anyone who doesn’t need to be involved. See alsoSecurity Cultureand http://security.resist.ca/personal/securebooklet.pdf

Most importantly, remember that school is not the only place to have friends. If youjoin organizations like Food Not Bombs or the People’s army, you will make new friends, and chances are they’ll be more genuine than high-schoolers. Friends don’t have to be your age, and friends can be just as genuine on the internet and outside of school.

Acting Nice

Nobody likes the two faced asses in this world who kiss up for advantage. Being your real self is very important but it is also useful to learn acting skills in order to exploit unenlightened adults including, your parents. If you can keep the adults around you guessing as to whether you need to be placed into a situation of increased discipline or not, your acting might be the skill that will turn the tide. Don’t throw away actions like some unrequited yard work around the house or homework to battle the possible loss of other tiny freedoms. Be careful: your acting preparation might lead you to sympathize with the other side when it is not appropriate, and you must guard against this. Basically, if you don’t show off and do stupid, pointless stuff, you’ll usually get away with it. And if you have to get in trouble, make sure it’s something worth it and not just screwing around.

Teachers

There are many different kinds of teachers, each with different attitudes and grading methods. Every type of teacher views their students differently: some see them as friends, others as a pay check, and some view us as delinquents no matter what.

If you are lucky enough to get an idealistic new teacher, work on becoming his or her friend. This will allow you special privileges like turning in work days late and getting high grades on poorly done projects. Keep up the abuse, however, and, unless she/he is a codependent type, they will start to feel burned and used. Wouldn’t you?

Teachers start out fresh and shiny but usually start to burn out after a few years, who wouldn’t from the constant abuse from some students, these burnouts keep a few stars and leave the rest to sink or swim. Try to identify and avoid the worst of these teachers when planning your classes. If you fail to turn in work or fail tests they really won’t care, don’t expect any special effort from these teachers especially if you are an alternative type.

Don’t expect teacher stereotypes to hold true for all of the time with every teacher. Like you, they are individuals. Remember your teacher is a worker and a CorpGov slave; don’t make your revolution on the backs of these often broken soldiers of education. Treat them as something more than a tool or obstacle and you might gain something useful out of your time with them.

Blackmail

In the era of constant school sex scandals attention is fortunately being paid to unwanted and abusive sexual advances. Unfortunately the systems put in place to protect the victims also becomes a weapon for an under aged abuser. Don’t think you can use a false and often effective charge of abuse to destroy an innocent teacher no matter how mean or cruel they are. In two or three years once you have gained more maturity (making a false charge like this would rule out any maturity) the absolute destruction of another human will start to haunt you for the rest of your life. Causing a teacher to become homeless because of unemployment and legal defense debt, go to prison, or commit suicide is an unspeakable crime. Teachers are just CorpGov slaves like most Americans and even when burned out and useless deserve better than this.

Protest Movement

Many traditional forms of protest are unavailable to the individual high school student at their place oflearning. Before a mass uprising strike or walk out can be engineered the student body must be woken up. Direct action in the name of your protest front can help build this solidarity. Be sure you have a cause that is worth taking direct action for, action for the sake of anarchy only denies the serious students quality learning without bringing anyone to our cause.

Attention must be paid to what or who the enemy is and not just committing mass acts of sabotage. For example blacking out the homecoming football game or dance would turn a large part of the student body against your group, on the other hand blacking out power or disabling the heaters before final exams might be viewed with great favor by many.

Leadership

While we are mostly decentralized, there is often a need to define what the aims of your movement are and if there are concessions that you want from the administration. For organized resistance there must be both a visible leadership that can be used to rally the students, as well as a covert leadership that is hidden from the public eye just like in a POW camp. The public leadership is just a figurehead, a decoy. As we all know, the cops and administration all want to find a “ringleader” that can be eliminated to stop the distraction. This is why the public leadership must fulfill the following list:

They must be prepared for any and all administrative action against them. They are the decoy and all action will be directed against them.

They must be trusted completely and trust completely. If captured, and if the movement is strong enough, there will be an effort to oust other members. Remember: never talk! A common tactic of police is to tell you that a buddy of your talked. Don’t believe it! Even if it is true (unlikely), you can deal with the person later, after you get out. Above all: DO NOT TALK!

The public leadership must be able to function on its own. There will be times when the best laid plans go awry and the two leaderships are cut off. The public leadership cannot, absolutely cannot, freeze like a deer in the headlights. Only with coordinated, concentrated, well-thought-out, organized, knowledgeable, decisive leaders will you succeed. Yes, the main body of the movement is important, but without leaders, nothing will happen. Look at the Children’s Revolution of the 70’s, Abbie’s revolution. They didn’t have an organized leadership and thus: nothing changed. Things have even gotten worse.

If any of these are unfilled, the entire movement can, and most likely will, fall apart.

The public leadership also can take care of propaganda, and other such things, freeing up the covert leadership to focus on strategy for demonstrations, protests, and other direct action. To boil it all down into a couple simple sentences: the public leadership takes care of everything public, everything that is (generally) legal, if disruptive. The covert leadership focuses on everything that is possibly illegal: flash demonstrations, protests, Black Blocs, riot planning, logistics, finance, etc.

Another good practice is to carefully test/train the covert leadership/division to be as normal as possible. If there are any discrepancies in their behavior, the police will snap them up like flies. Also, it would be a good idea for the public division not to know who the members are in the covert division, and for the covert division to not know more than a couple other people in their division. At least, until necessary. This reduces the risk of mass arrests.

However, to offset the paranoia of the last paragraph, remember this as well: Communication is the key! Without communication, everything falls apart. Simple as that and no more to say.

Targets

There are several targets to make your presence felt by the teachers and students.

• PA System- if you can wire into the punch down board and have a remote activation of the system your message can be heard any time you want, expect your modifications to the system to be disabled within a few days of your first use.

• Cable TV- If your school has the hallway closed circuit cable you can often override the signal with your own or take over the computer creating the signal.

• Utilities- Many states require operational water, sewer, electricity, and heating systems for classes to be held.

• Keys- Many facilities have master keys which openjust about everything in the school, try to lift off ofjanitors or principals.

• School Computer Network- Get involved with so-labeled ‘nerds’, and use their knowledge to hack the system. With this, you could do almost anything as far as spreading our cause. The hackers are by the hacker code of ethics anarchist. They can also get some nice technology for your cause...

Printing

Not really a take down target, more of a resource, although a well timed print order of radical content to every printer in school might be useful, although it will surely increase security making abuse more difficult.

But realy one of the easiest things to obtain for free at high schools is printing for our cause. Printers are not really watched over. So find an abandoned printer, and do with it what you will. Print hundreds of STW’s flyers, for instance.

In Internet Communications we discuss network hacking a printer from across the cube farm or across the world. Most good IT managers lock that printer network port or server like Fort Knox to unauthorized users, but did you notice any other ports on the back of the printer? You will likely see at least one of the following a USB port, a parallel port, and you might be in luck and see a little black plastic window somewhere on the front or side about half an inch, that is an IR port. Write down the printer make and model number, have the right drivers installed before you start!! Now waltz in with your laptop or PDA(that has USB) plug in and print, with IR it is even easier, from across the room beam a postscript, PDF, or text file to the printer and grab the results once it finishes.

Cameras

Cameras seem to be everywhere today. It would be nice to take a few out and allow free action zones to our movement. Since walking up and smashing or even lasing a camera directly will leave your face or at least body type and gait on the tape you will need to be more sneaky. You will need a truly high power laser like the kind inside a HD or BlueRay DVD burner and a proper collimator to focus the beam without spread. Get some laser protective film that blocks the frequency of your laser and get ready to destroy. Have someone in gloves(fingerprints) stick a mirror opposite the hallway from the camera in an unmonitored area during a high traffic time. After the mirror is up someone comes by and wearing safety filmed sunglasses or lab goggles and using the old bounce shot fries the camera. Go after one that you know is monitored in a place you can access so you can do some post strike recon and see if it worked. Failing the laser a stickpin through the coax cable or just cutting the wires will take the camera out for a short time. Make it very expensive for the principal to play 1984 at your school, but keep that damn laser well disguised and don’t talk about your delightful work lest your dumbass classmates nark you out, there will be a police investigation if you get too effective.

Leaving Home

Before you decide to walk out or not realize that this is a very serious decision, review The Street to see the dangers ofjumping out unprepared.

You have decided to bail, what is your motivation for making it only a week away and then returning? If it is leverage against the folks be prepared for it to backfire. If you want to take control and are ready to have to face the courts to defend it do the following (may vary from state to state):

• Go the GED office of your community college and sign up for the test right now(you may have to be 18)

• Pass the GED test; you will be free ofHigh School

• Take entrance exam if required at community college (even if you can’t take your GED)

• Enroll for a term

• Begin preparing your application essays and documents for several serious universities (Evergreen is one good choice)

• Find an apartment/room and if you must get a part time j ob

• Take the SAT as soon as possible

• File for emancipation or make a sham marriage with a cool partner who also wants out (or who you really want to marry) take a vacation to a place that allows underage marriage. Emancipation is automatic for underage marriage in almost all states.

• Once you are emancipated you can get student aid based on your own finances

• Get admitted to a real college with a few credits taken care of already

• Graduate and run away from America for 10 years or more after blowing off the student loans!!

If you fail to plan your departure well you can expect a rough entry into the real world, again please read outThe Street chapter. Difficulty in finding housing alone has lead many teen break-aways to unfortunate circumstances moving in with predators who open their doors only to trap new victims or returning to abusive guardians. Do as much pre-planning as time permits, but do not let yourself remain in a dangerous or abusive situation. There are many organizations that will help a teen escape abuse but as always be ready to bail. Never accept help that involves locking you into a “secure” school or overnight dorm, your freedom is as important as your safety, sometimes these “safe” dorms are places of rape and abuse.

Called Into the Principal

Our activities will likely land us in the principals interrogation chamber, the purpose of a school is order and indoctrination, no matter how liberal the staff they are also trained to maintain that order.

What to do when you get called out of class:

You will want to prepare a good argument in advance and carry a tape or digital recorder with you to record the conversationjust incase the principal says something fascist so you can use it against him later. You may also want to bring something down for moral support, when I got called down I brought my copy of Orwell’s 1984 to remind me why I stand up for what I believe in.

When talking to your principal or assistant principal during a call in be sure of a few things:

• Match their mood, if they’re polite, be polite, if they act like an asshole act like an asshole right back, if they give you respect, give them respect. Normally they have some training to keep their cool in a situation like this, but if they don’t egg them on in a smart way, especially if you have a tape recorder running. If they do keep it cool it does you no good to make a scene in their office.

• Keep your cool, before you go in have in mind what you want to say. This will give you some preparation; ask to use the bathroom to buy time if needed. Also be careful, most administrators will try to throw you offbalance during the conversation. Keep in mind what you’re down there for and remember that you believe in what you’re doing.

• Don’t back down; stand up for what you believe in.

School Paper

Most high school papers are rags barely worthy of wiping with, since the censor oversight prevents discussion of any serious topic. The most serious topic is prom decorations and football scores. It is still often possible for an impassioned writer to be allowed an occasional editorial article so take a chance, make the most of your opportunity proof and have your piece reviewed before submitting it.

Another option is to form a activist club of some sort. With the current white liberal political correctness movement minority and environmentalist target clubs will be given much greater freedom of speech from the administration for fear ofbad press. What’s the benefit to accepting occasional administration oversight and a teacher advisory? You will normally receive a small media budget including printing access as well as possibly even time off from class and school assembly address time or PA system access for your message. There is no reason your underground can’t have a “legit” public front like this, as you divert some resources to your underground movement.

The Cafeteria

School cafeterias are some of the easiest places to rip off. While in line waiting to pay, many people eat some of their food. If you eat most of your food, you pay substantially less money. You can even wait until nobody is looking andjust walk to your seat. Simple things like these can save you thousands of dollars a year. Keep in mind when you steal from high school cafeterias that lunch ladies are not hired for their intelligence so sometimes grabbing some extra food when you buy a lunch and the cashier may not even notice it on your tray. If you want to be more careful simply stuff it in a pocket/purse or hold it at your side out of view and it might go unnoticed (this works a lot better than you would think.), or simply hide smaller items beneath a packet of crisps or something. This is zero-risk, as long as you can afford everything you’re stealing, because it is not obvious you are trying to steal at all.

In some cafeterias there is an ‘in’ and an ‘out’ line. You walk in one, past the counter and back the other way to pay. It’s super easy tojack from these. Just walk up, calmly take your pick, and walk out the way you came. This is best done when it is crowded and busy so that you can be easily lost in the crowd if you happen to be spotted.

If you have a sweet tooth and your school has a separate booth forjunk food and other random food items ask for an item that requires the cashier to turn his/her back and stuff you pockets with as much food as possible while their back is turned. Often the food line or bar will go unattended for brief periods during which you can simply go up and grab a few items. If you want a free drink wait until the cashier is busy and go up and grab a milk and tell her you forgot to grab yours with your lunch. Normally she will just let you go since she is preoccupied with paying customers. Keep in mind, however, that this cannot be done too often.

If you are ever caught by a lunch lady, it is important that you are apologetic so that you do not attract the attention of any nearby teachers and you may be able to get off with a warning. If you are unfortunate enough to have the lunch lady demand your name you can simply give her a fake name assuming there are no witnesses around that will bust you later; if you cannot risk giving her a fake name, don’t sweat it, the normal punishment for food thieves at high school lunches is a slap on the wrist and you may be required to write an apology to the lunch ladies. If this is the case, have fun writing a ridiculous and overly dramatic letter and go back to stealing when you feel comfortable with it again.

Another way to get free food that is fun is to save up enough pennies for a lunch and get at the head of a busy lunch line. When you get to the cashier, pull out the pennies in a bag and begin to slowly count them out. If you’re lucky, and slow enough, the kid immediately behind you will freak out and may insist on paying for your lunch. This is also a good way to cause chaos in the lunch room if you can get a group of people to do it at every line.

Beer and Liquor

Ah yes, the Amerikan way oflife! Old enough to pilot a 3 ton car, yet too young to drink! While the Vietnam War brought many drinking ages down from 21tol8orl9, the neo-fascists (who were in bed with Motherfuckers Against Drunk Driving) raised it back up in the mid 80’s, citing an increase in anti-social behavior and DUI’s. Today, it is illegal in all 50 states in Amerika to purchase or have in your possession any alcohol intended for oral consumption if you are under 21.

Keep in mind that in some states, such as Arizona, it is leagal to drink at home under adult consent, such as for religous reasons. If your “parent” is cool, use them to asist your aquisition of alchohol... leagally!

Parties and the Pigs

What the average person fails to realize is that most states have NO laws regarding being drunk in private! Yes, you and your 5 year old brother can be sloppy drunk in most states in a private house or establishment and the pigs can’t do a thing unless they see you hold a container of alcohol!

Now a quick word on the pigs: Usually, most don’t really care about underage drinking. They don’t go out looking for it like they do with grass or meth. Furthermore, unless you are drinking in a car or drinking outside (a punishable offense regardless of age in most states) or attending a loud party where pigs are dispatched to, your chances ofbeing busted are somewhere around zero. If a beer run goes bad with a fake ID, they will not call the pigs on you. If the clerk is an undercover pig (very rare), they would have to come across a desk to nab you.

If the Amerikanjackboot pigs ever bust down the door during a party and starts asking for your papers, don’t sweat it. If you can access a bathroom before they see you, go to it, lock the door and turn on the shower. They’re not likely to bust down the door to get an underage kid if there’s a chance a naked tax-paying citizen is taking a shower. If you can’t access a lavatory, this is OK, too. Make sure all cups are away from you, hide your wallet under the couch, and when the thug gets to you, empty your pockets and say “I didn’t bring my ID with me”. They might ask you a couple of questions, but remember, they can’t do anything to you in most states unless you were holding alcohol, and it’s not worth it to them to send a 17 year old drinker downtown if they have don’t have any proof of age. Also be aware that the pigs will often tell you that they saw you drinking. What most kids don’t realize is that cops are legally able to lie to you to make you confess. Keep denying that you were drinking (even if you were), and, if you actually weren’t, tell them you know they can lie to you, and that you’ve lost respect for them because of this. They can’t do anything about that, now can they?

Fake ID

Now, of course any young man or woman can steal Daddy’s bottle of peppermint schnapps, but it takes real thought to have an unlimited source ofbooze.

While the fake ID is becoming less and less common due to the Government’s cracking down on immigration and terrorism, all is not lost. A high-quality fake ID can still be found; just ask around on internet message boards. A good ID with a real state hologram will usually run from $100-$200. The number one thing to remember is to play the age. Memorize the fake ID’s birthday, address, and other important information. Wear somewhat decent clothing. Actually, many fake ID dealers will customize them, putting your own name, birthday (obviously not the year) and more on.

When looking for a store to use a fake ID/no ID in Amerika, avoid nice looking or chain stores. Chain stores tend to train their employees much more for spotting underage purchasers. It’s much better to hit up Jimbob’s Corner Store and pay an extra $1.50 for a six-pack than to lose a fake ID at Wal-Fart.

A good idea is to see if you have any older friends, or buddies with older brothers, who look like you. Stick to the memorization bit and, if it’s a close enough match, you’re fine.

Also, while it may suck, do not attempt to buy underage in liquor stores in Vermont, Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina, Alabama, Utah, Washington State, or Oregon. All hard alcohol in those places is sold in CorpGov-run liquor stores...the whole point of that being that when profits are taken out of the equation. There is little incentive in selling to young’uns. These places are also equipped with ID scanners, black lights, and knowledgeable staff. In all of these states, however, you can buy beer and low alcohol wine in corner stores.

Five finger discounting

If you’re out ofluck, you can try lifting some brews from fat-cats like Wal-Fart and grocery stores. Be forewarned: These places pay special attention to the beer/wine sections with cameras. Plus, it’s pretty damn difficult to swipe a six-pack.

Perhaps the best way to acquire beer/wine/spirits is to work at a convenience or grocery store. In many states, you’ll have a difficult time handling booze until you’re 18, so you may be stuck as a bagger or a stocker. No fear: occasionally access the beer cooler from the stocking side, grab a 12 pack and hide it until quitting time. If you have a jobas a cashier, you have it made. Tell your friends/relative/minister to go inside, purchase the preferred choice of alcohol, pretend to “card” them, and that’s that. 24 cans ofbliss waiting for you after work! The same works for cancerettes as well. Just be forewarned that if you are caught selling to a minor, you’re pretty fucked and out of a job. If you’re a courtesy clerk (read: bagger),just mishandle a six-pack a bit. If you break one bottle, the store managers will have you put the rest in the back for later. Then when your shift is over, you can head back and grab it. Or, if it’s too risky for you, send a friend back instead.

Brewing

There is something truly Revolutionary about making your own beer. For about $100in equipment and about $20 of supplies for every 5 gallons ofbrew, along with some instructions from the internet, you can make [Insert Name Here]‘s Pigfuck Ale! There is nothing dangerous about making your own brew, most stories about people going blind or dying were over-embellished stories about moonshiners making hard liquor in their car radiators (made with lead).

If you like harder stuff you can start with buying a good culture of wine or beer yeast in packets. A fast yeast and fruit juice will make a batch of wine, which will leave a good hangover, in about a week. If this is not concentrated enough get a kettle with a narrow spout, food grade tubing, marbles or shiny aquarium pebbles, and a metal 3–4 liter olive oil can(or other food grade container). Connect the tube to the kettle spout and run the tube into the can filled with pebbles, a hole punched into the bottom will drip liquor into your container. Keep the kettle liquid temp between 78 and 100 Celsius degrees in the kettle. With practice and mixing other ingredients, very nice liquor can be produced in your own home.

This is just to show you how simple it is to start, now buy a book or do some research to make a good non-disgusting brew or shine don’t sweat the failures we all had them,just keep trying.

Just remember not to drink and drive/boat/bicycle, unless you want to be president.

Drugs

See Free Dope for a look at drugs, more realistic than what they teach in the school assemblies and health classes. Remember that if you are depressed, in danger, or homeless drugs are not the answer but can make your situation much worse.

If you are experimenting for the first time:

• Try with someone close to you who also has some drug experience

• Be ina safe comfortable location

• Be ina good mood without any worries hanging over you.

In high school you brain is still growing, don’t do the hard drugs they can really fuck you up and leave you in the gutter or prison, stick to grass and shrooms, even acid and especialy X (which is a kind of speed) should be taken in the smallest doses until you figure them out. It goes without saying that Rytalin and Adderal are counted in the hard drugs to avoid.

Depression

High school is full of the social climbing and crushing competition games that will follow many people for the rest of their lives if they choose to follow the CorpGov blue/white collar model. Most high-schoolers reading this book are likely grouped into the looser class for being a little too intellectual or withdrawn. Fuck those stuck up assholes. Get tight with your real friends and walk down the halls of your school with pride; you are on average a standard deviation in IQ higher than the average stuck up homecoming queen or party boy. The world will move under you while those who seem to be all powerful now will live a life of store clerking or tire salesman. Meditate, learn to breathe, exercise, and find something you do well, music is a major therapy. Never let some 12 step fool or counselor make you believe you are crazy, an addict or worthless, lie to them if you must. You control your own life; that is the way it must be and will be.

Suicide

In the past few years, high-school suicide rates have gone up dramatically. The CorpGov media won’t touch the subject and little is being done to combat it.

Remember, the light at the end of the tunnel is not the flash of a gun. The light at the end of the tunnel is the light of freedom. The light of choice. The light oflife. Maybe it’s your own reflection! The hardest thing you can do is work out the situation you are in and keep trucking. But it’s worth it. It’s always worth it. Our lives are more precious and valuable than any of us ever realize. A life is worth more than some girl or boy, more than revenge, more than money or property. Your life is valuable to yourself, your friends, your society, your people, to us. Even the realization of CorpGov’s dream (Orwell’s 1984), should never make you think of taking your life.

If ever you are made to feel worthless, ugly, or somehow or other unworthy of something, remember: Belief changes from culture to culture, society to society. If you are made to feel bad about yourself, it isn’t your fault; it’s the fault of the society you live in! The system really wants you dead!! Fight it! Don’t let the machine kill you, KILL THE MACHINE!! Join the anti-CorpGov resistance and help other people realize how much they are worth!

Free College Life

Intro

College is your escape from your and high school, it is also your one big opportunity to turn your mind on and escape from the blinders erected by your education from preschool until now. The saddest use for your time in college is to study a trade, engineering and computer science even medical school are all just that, a technical education that might pay quite well while you feel like you are wasting your life just like the janitor does until you retire and die never making a real difference. University should be used as your one corpgov approved and financed chance to open and build your mind, not a rumspringa before a life of enslavement.

Freshman Shock

For most students going directly from high school and their parents home in the suburbs straight to an out of state university campus experience a bit of culture shock and they freak out. Freaking out is OK and can be fun as long as you don’t make any mistakes that you will regret. Be conservative when experimenting with drugs and partying in an environment where you no longer have parents to face in the morning. Experimenting with self control and motivation can also be a rewarding experience. It is important to remember to keep your grades at a minimum level in order that you do not loose scholarships, student aid, or even be placed on academic probation. We hate to see smart people forced back tojunior college for a few terms so they can get their grades back up because of too much partying.

Another victim of the freshman freak out is the many young women who may have had a reputation as being shy, geeky, or introverted that followed them through high school. It could be that while your reputation pinched your social interaction in high school your desire to make a new start with new people who have no idea about you combined with someone who may shower you with surprising attention. How many of us ended up giving it up for the first time way too easilyjust because some random older guy who showed us some sweet attention for a week or two and we wanted to be big girls with them. A few months later when you are less naive you will realize that most schools are crawling with guys with a life mission to play head games with young womenjust so they can get lots of easy sex for sport and social standing among their mates.

Study

Important fields of study are philosophyjournalism, and global studies these and other soft liberal arts which are not designed to directly get you a job but rather to form your mind into a useful and dangerous tool. Economics and finance are key fields to master as the operation of the world is based upon their flow and power. History of regions and periods other than our own provide modeling to the behavior of those in power and how they appear to continually repeat themselves; knowing the conditions and outcomes of events can help you analyze the present. Psychology if not engaged too deeply is useful for helping determine the motivations of groups and individuals, strive to understand beyond the politicized theories and take the useful tools hidden within. Law classes or even better an intern with a lawyer who will help you understand modern (broken)legal theory is a must.

3 Hour Term Paper System

Having dealt with a number of college courses and finding that a large number of them require term papers and research papers, it became necessary to develop a system that allowed one to quickly get past the bullshit that most professors assign on this stuff. One system that has proven useful is the 3 Hour Term Paper System. This system teaches you how to use the web and things such as Google Scholar to increase rapidly your research time. It also shows how to hire someone reputable to do the research for you. In addition to this you could hire someone to do the entire paper for you and do it at a reasonable cost. To find out more check out this website on the 3 Hour Term Paper System.

http://3hourtermpaper.googlepages.com/home

Granted the E-book that this site lists is a small cost of $5.00 but I personally know the author who taught me the system in college and he’s a big fan of our site and is just trying to make this knowledge known for a reasonable price to try to make a little more dough to assist the revolution in his part of Amerika. Also this system proved useful for me when I was in college. Thanks, El Almirante

Travel

It is vitally important to experience large parts of your education not only out of state but outside of the United States. Europe is usually chosen by exchange students for fun tourism reasons although valuable lessons can be learned there, the Middle East, Latin America, Asia, and Africa all offer much diversity that is vital to understanding freedom and oppression and how to live under both. China especially is an important learning laboratory to view aspects of the future planned for the United States.

Downside

Do not be discouraged to find that some aspects of college hearken back to high school. The majority of the student body rejects enlightenment and will stay true to their programming as working drones in the world economic hive. Find others who are fighting for their freedom and help them break free from their left and right wing blinders. A word of caution, those who may at first appear to be radical and free in university can often be members of an old fossilized leftist orthodoxy unable and unwilling to change, these faculty and their entranced student followers, much like the College Republicans, are often dogmatic and unable to see or allow any point of view other than their party line. Avoid too much close contact with these groups as they have been known to cruelly attack those who stray from their one true path, but use them when you need bodies for demonstrations or actions. These people have long lost most of their burning urge for truth and now enjoy the power they have acquired and the safety of a university tenure. Many wonderful stories, tactics, and lessons can still be learned by a true freedom fighter from the words of these washed up former rebels.

Warning

We have known very radical freshmen to become mellowed and conventional by the time their four years is over. We are talking about very direct action alternate lifestyle types. At some of the most liberal private leadership schools you will likely be taught the importance of working within the system. There can be merit in this for those who are seeking power inside the system, but we are here to break the broken system. Do not become a gelding to the system, subvert from inside if you like but be fearless and ruthless.

Student Loans

Student loans are of the perpetual debt slavery system in the United States. This obligation along with home, auto, and credit card debt make it impossible to step outside the system beyond short vacations for fear ofloosing ones job and therefore ones whole life and accumulated material wealth. Fear not, as the system stands even if you were to never pay another cent to these despicable rate changing and illegal penalty gouging student loan accumulation banks and funds who are guaranteed full repayment by the federal treasury for unpaid loans. An excellent way to disavow your debt is to move to another country for around five years. The inconvenience of tracking a defaulted loan over international borders is often too much work for these funds who canjust as easily write them off and get federal reimbursement. After several years you can approach the banks and offer a settlement at between ten and twenty to one ratios. Student loans are not cleared by bankruptcy and will damage your ability to take on new debt in the corpgov system, be sure you are leaving behind substantial consumer debt when you default on the student loans.

Alcohol/Tobacco/Drugs

Although in many (read: most) High Schools, Alcohol/Tobacco/Drugs is easy to get, however college is a paradise, full of drugs and booze.

Also, use the student health center as frequently as possible to score free shrink trips, and a bounty of prescriptions. Usually you’re required to be covered by Mommy and Daddy’s insurance or by a college health plan. Many colleges often have doctors that are paid offby the Medical Empire, so acquiring scripts for great drugs such as Adderall (legal amphetamines prescribed for ADD), Xanax, Ambien, and Ritalin are pretty easy. Just visit the prescription drug’s website, find out what they prescribe them for, then come up with a good story. Hell, that’s what Rush Limbaugh did! Once you have done this, you have a steady flow of pills to consume yourself or sell to others.

Money

Many colleges have work-study programs sponsored by the Federal Empire. You’ll get paid federal minimum wage, but you’re exempt from some taxes.

Also, look at selling blood/plasma. Plasma is a lucrative business for short-term cash, ranging from $30-$200 per time depending on circumstances or the blood bank’s need. Also, smoking grass after giving blood/plasma increases the high. Donating sperm is a way to quick cash as well. Unlike blood donation, sperm can be donated every 4 days.

Furniture

The pickings are good as a college student in terms of furniture. No longer will you have to rely on milk crates and boxes for your home decor,just wait until the end of the semester when yuppies move out of their apartments. You’d be surprised how fast a station wagon fills up with shelves, TV’s, and fans just by passing by a dorm or student apartments.

Get Involved

If you are in college and you spend a lot of time in your housing...GET OUT! There are dozens, if not hundreds of student organizations on every campus, for every faith, political affiliation, and hobby out there. One of the most militant national student organizations is the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). There are hundreds of SDS chapters out there and the kids are ready for revolution. They hold a national convention every year where major decisions for the organization are made, though many chapters are forming local councils to coordinate actions in their city or region. You can find more about SDS at: www.studentsforademocraticsociety.org

Also, note that it is very easy to provide an “alternative viewpoint” on campus radio stations. Probably 1/2 of Amerikan Universities have them. If yours doesn’t, go to a campus nearby. Chances are, they have one and an empty shift at 2 am.

An advantage to doing the 2 am slots: You can speak freely about drug use and talk to the stoners and nerds that are awake at that hour. Also, these time slots are rarely monitored by any college higher-ups.

Free Medical Care

Kitchen Cabinet Pharmacy

Here are ways to take care of your body even if you are very short on funds. Some information is from our experience and some is from our favorite wellness and treatment guide “Where There Is No Doctor” by the Hesperian Society see the PDF link below.

Vinegar

Vinegar is a Miracle Drug, and it is one of the cheapest things in the grocery store. Rubbed into your underarms and pubes it slows the growth ofbacteria that make you smell all funky — you can use it to have at least a cleanish day if you’re not carrying any deodorant. Rubbed on your face it is very effective against acne. It can also be used to treat all sorts of skin infections, from crotch rot to athletes’ foot. Warm vinegar water is a good soak for skin infections, but if your skin is tender from an advanced infection, it will sting like fire, so fold a bandanna or washcloth, wet it good with water, and put a small sprinkle of vinegar on it, and gently pat yourself down if your skin is red and tender. Sluice down your feet with it and rub the vinegar in hard between your toes if you have, or even might get, Athletes’ Foot. It works in about three good applications over a couple of days, on even advanced infections, much faster than drugstore creams. If your skin is cracked and bleeding, though, you’re screwed and you need the drugstore creams or even medical assistance. Vinegar is a powerful food acid, and will sting the living shit out of raw, tender skin, so test out a goodly dab on you first to see how bad off you are before your screams echo in the bathroom, or behind the church, orwherever....

Baking Soda

Baking soda, also known as sodium bicarbonate, is a good wet or dry deodorant for the crotch and armpits it is also easy on the skin. Baking soda is also a toothpaste powder, a quick effective antacid, add to your wash bucket with the soap to deodorize your clothes and bedding. Just don’t try to combine baking soda with vinegar. They produce a great deal of foamy bubbles when mixed.

Rubbing Alcohol

Rubbing alcohol can be used for cleaning out wounds and cuts if you don’t have iodine solution but it burns like hell and is not as effective. It can bring relief from a cold or fever when rubbed down after a bath. Just remember that it is a combustible liquid, and has been denatured to keep people from drinking it (You WILL get violently sick if you do!) and you can use it as fuel if you make a soft drink can stove.

Witch Hazel

Witch Hazel is an excellent (and cheap!) astringent, and is good for stopping up shaving cuts and reducing hemorrhoids.

Zinc Oxide

Zinc Oxide can be used to make a sunblock cream like old school lifeguards would wear on their nose. Oil of cloves is good to numb a sore tooth. Mix oil of clove and zinc oxide into a clay, stuff it into a dry lost filling cavity, then bite down on a cotton ball for a half hour to make a well fitted temporary filling good for up to six months.

Charcoal

We are not talking about the commercial nuggets you buy in stores, most charcoal in stores has chemicals added to it to help it burn. We are talking about burning a slice ofbread to cinders on a stove top (wait until there are no more orange flames coming from it). Both can either be chewed(when cool) and swallowed or crushed and mixed into a glass of water and drunk(gritty but quick). The charcoal absorbs the toxins from an intestinal infection giving your bowel a rest.

Taking charcoal when you have diarrhea is the answer in addition, to drinking clean or purified water and light soup, for returning to health. Be careful not to take anti-diarrhea medications unless you have a very mild case. The idea is to let your body eliminate the bad stuff inside you instead of hardening it up and leaving it in you to keep you sick.

Acidophilus

If you have a fungal infection on any part of your body give acidophilus a shot before seeing a doctor. It works wonders by displacing the fungal organisms and then staying to defend their new territory. Acidophilus is either available from health stores as a powder in a capsule which is either eaten or broken open and applied wet or in active culture yogurt which can be rubbed onto to unbroken skin.

Salt Water Soak

While epson salts are best even regular table salt and very warm (not burn yourselfhot) water is a great way to soak out an infection or stiffjoint or muscle. For a hand or foot just use a bucket and add salt until a drop tastes very salty

If you need to soak your body and have no bathtub get the smallest kids inflatable pool you can find or a wash tub, place it on an insulating layer of cardboard or sleeping mats, inside a tent if it is winter. Add a gallon or two of cold water to protect the pool and boil up a gallon or two in a metal bucket over a camp stove or hotplate (you might need to wrap the outside of the bucket with many wraps of foil and cardboard and make some kind oflid so it will hold it’s heat) add cold water to the pool until water is cooled to the hottest you can safely stand then add salt. Have a friend heating more water to keep your soak warm.

Natures Pharmacy

If you are out in the country or even near a park or woodlot you can access the bounty of nature to heal your body.

• Diarrhea. Drink tea made from the roots ofblackberries and their relatives to stop diarrhea. White oak bark and other barks containing tannin are also effective. However, use them with caution when nothing else is available because of possible negative effects on the kidneys. You can also stop diarrhea by eating white clay or campfire ashes. Tea made from cowberry or cranberry or hazel leaves works too.

• Antihemorrhagics. Make medications to stop bleeding from a poultice of the puffball mushroom, from plantain leaves, or most effectively from the leaves of the common yarrow or woundwort (Achillea millefolium).

• Antiseptics. Use to cleanse wounds, sores, or rashes. You can make them from the expressed juice from wild onion or garlic, or expressedjuice from chickweed leaves or the crushed leaves of dock. You can also make antiseptics from a decoction ofburdock root, mallow leaves or roots, or white oak bark. All these medications are for external use only.

• Fevers. Treat a fever with a tea made from willow bark, an infusion of elder flowers or fruit, linden flower tea, or elm bark decoction.

• Colds and sore throats. Treat these illnesses with a decoction made from either plantain leaves or willow bark. You can also use a tea made from burdock roots, mallow or mullein flowers or roots, or mint leaves.

• Aches, pains, and sprains. Treat with externally applied poultices of dock, plantain, chickweed, willow bark, garlic, or sorrel. You can also use salves made by mixing the expressedjuices of these plants in animal fat or vegetable oils.

• Itching. Relieve the itch from insect bites, sunburn, or plant poisoning rashes by applying a poultice ofjewelweed (Impatiens biflora) or witch hazel leaves (Hamamelis virginiana). The jewelweedjuice will help when applied to poison ivy rashes or insect stings. It works on sunburn as well as aloe vera.

• Sedatives. Get help in falling asleep by brewing a tea made from mint leaves or

passionflower leaves.

• Hemorrhoids. Treat them with external washes from elm bark or oak bark tea, from the expressedjuice of plantain leaves, or from a Solomon’s seal root decoction.

• Constipation. Relieve constipation by drinking decoctions from dandelion leaves, rose hips, or walnut bark. Eating raw daylily flowers will also help.

• Worms or intestinal parasites. Using moderation, treat with tea made from tansy (Tanacetum vulgare) or from wild carrot leaves.

• Gas and cramps. Use a tea made from carrot seeds as an antiflatulent; use tea made from mint leaves to settle the stomach.

• Antifungal washes. Make a decoction of walnut leaves or oak bark or acorns to treat ringworm and athlete’s foot. Apply frequently to the site, alternating with exposure to direct sunlight.

Infections

If the infection is making you feel sick go to a clinic or emergency room! If there is a red streak going up your arm or leg or the lymph nodes swell up when you have an infected wound this is a sign of an advanced infection again get help! Some infections require intravenous antibiotics pils are not enough and to not get them may kill you once the infection gets systemic in your blood.

Treat all infections immediatly with antiseptics, vinegar, hot salt soaks, or antibiotic ointments while they are small; pimples, ingrown hairs, scrapes and cuts, ingrown toenails, etc. these can all get serious nasty and take you out of action.

Antibiotics

If you need antibiotics for an infection or illness and you really know what you are doing there is currently(2007) an exemption for veterinary fish antibiotics. These are available both at pet stores and online, do research and find about the brand before buying, some just divert regular meds from the human antibiotic supply chain, you can run the numbers found on the pills to find out more. If the antibiotics are expired it is usually not a problem it will just be less effective two or more years after the printed expiration date, the exception is tetracyclene which becomes somewhat toxic. Obtain a few bottles or packs of these meds before you or a friend needs them, this is better than being unable to find a free clinic or depending on unresearched stuff from the neighborhood pet shop.

Urinary Tract and Bladder Infections

If you have cloudy urine, pain in urination and frequent need to urinate you likely have a urinary tract infection. The most likely cause is you have become dehydrated, even in cool weather, you need to drink more clean water. If these are the only symptoms try chugging water and pure (unsweetened) cranberry juice or crushed cranberries, if you can’t get unsweetened cranberry juice you can add lemon juice or vineger to your water to make it very tart, this will acidify your urine and help fight the infection, sugar in you food or drinks will just feed the infection.

If you begin to feel abdominal or lower back pain, blood in the urine, feever or chills, or worse yet swelling of the feet or face you are in trouble, the infection has gotten to the bladder and possibly the kidneys, you need antibiotics NOW!

Skin Afflictions

• For afflictions and infections which are hot and painful treat with hot moist towel (Hot Compresses) elevate and treat if infected.

• If the area itches, stings, or oozes treat it with ice water soaked(cold compresses), if scabs form add 2tablesoons of vinegar per litre of water, once it begins to heal salv with a talcum powder/water paste, as it begins to thicken or flake you can soften the skin with vegetable oil. For bad itching an oatmeal paste or dyphenhydramine (Beandryl) might help.

• If a rash or redness appears where it is regularly exposed to sunlight cover it until it heals

• If a rash appears in an area which is nromaly covered from sun, let it sun for 20 minutes two to three times a day

Sores and Abscesses

Infected Sores

• Use warm (salted if possible) water to soak, soften, and remove infected yellow scabs

• Leave the sores open to the air or cover with light dry bandages

• You can apply topical antibiotic (like Neosporin and the like) or vinegar

• Watch for swollen lymph nodes or lines running up your infection this is a danger sign, you need a doctor and antibiotics.

• Don’t scratch on infected sores or around them, it can spread the infection to other parts of your body.

If you get an abscess which is a deeper skin infection with pus you are already in trouble. Abscesses are common in IV drug users but stepping on a nail or getting a deep thorn or wood sliver wound can cause them too.

• Put a hot compress on the wound as often as possible or give it a hot soak several times a day.

• Let the Abcess break itself open and drain the pus

• NEVER try to pop or squeeze an abscess! it can cause a local infection to go into the blood!

• Watch for swollen lymph nodes or lines running up your infection this is a danger sign, you need a doctor to lance it and antibiotics.

Tooth Abcesses

If you get a cavity that becomes a tooth abcess and no dentist will see you try to at least get on antibiotics, the tooth will probably have to come out before it destroys yourjaw, spreads to your other teeth, infects your skull bones, or gives you blood poisoning. If the old string pull method doesn’t work look for a strong friend and filed down dull horizontal side cutter wire snips that will grip around the base of a molar. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, brush your teeth and floss.

Cold Injury

People forced out into the streets are at high risk to cold injury, many hospitals will illegally turn away the homeless and there are few other places that will allow them to even remove their shoes to rewarm and dry their feet. Alcohol and many drugs contribute to cold injury as does malnutrition, diabetes, dehydration, and low calorie diets.

Trench Foot

Affected feet become numb and then turn red or blue. As the condition worsens, they may swell. Advanced immersion foot often involves blisters and open sores, which lead to fungal infections; this is sometimes calledjungle rot. Ifleft untreated, immersion foot usually results in gangrene, which can require amputation. Ifimmersion foot is treated properly, complete recovery is normal, though it is marked by severe short-term pain when feeling is returning. Like other cold injuries, immersion foot leaves sufferers more susceptible to it and frostbite in the future due to damaged capilaries in the extremity. Immersion foot is easily prevented by keeping the feet warm and dry, and changing socks three to four times a day when the feet cannot be kept dry. As quickly as possible get to a warm dry place where you can keep the feet elevated.

Frost Bite

Frost bite is the result of feeezing fluids in the body. Most at risk are the fingers toes and ears followed by other parts ofthe extremities. DO NOT RUB OR SLAP FROZEN EXTREMITIES this will greatly reduce the chance of sucessful recovery. Get to a hospital for treatment. If there is no possibility of proper hospital care thaw the frozen areas in luke warm water only if there is no chance of refreezing, this will be very painful. There is a danger of gangrene and some damage might need to be amputated. There has been some recent clnical sucess in using leaches to draw blood through damaged capilaries to the finger and toe tips.

Stretching and Massage

Many lower back problems and knee pains can be greatly reduced or eliminated with proper stretching and calesthenics in the morning. Most important in calisthenics is situp crunches whick build the abdomenal muscles supporting the lower back. Hamstring muscle stretches where you slowly touch your toes when standing and calf muscle stretches where assume the lunge postiion will reduce many back and knee problems. Stretching the trapezius muscles of your upper back and neck by arm cross overs will help with upper back strain.

Learning the science and art of massage is a good way to keep your friends in good health, especially considering the places we sometimes have to sleep. Olive oil is good massage oil, you can heat it with scented herbs for aromatherapudic properties then filter and place in a squirt bottle. You will quickly be able to feel the tensed muscle fibres that need to be worked, some people need a hard massage others require a more gentle touch. Practice makes perfect. It is nice to teach the art so you can trade off with your friends.

Winter Blues

Unless you are in a tropical location winter is the hardest time to survive any of our alternative or low income housing strategies. Besides freezing our asses off and dealing with moisture, mold, and illness there is another problem that often leads to many depression, drug use, and even suicide.

SAD or Seasonal Affective Disorder strikes in the months of the year when clouds, short days, and staying indoors reduces our sunlight exposure. Even worse is when we are often forced to cover over our windows to prevent detection of our squats or to replace broken windows. Alternatively the cheapest apartment rooms often have little natural lighting denying needed sunlight.

SAD may set in so slowly you don’t notice your sluggishness until you find yourself almost confined to bed or badly depressed. Here are some non corpgov drug treatments, if these don’t work see a competent doctor or natural healer.

• Spicy food is thought to increase endorphans giving a temporary break from the depression symptoms.

• Full spectrum lighting, find light bulbs that produce full spectrum lighting known to help reduce SAD.

• Light box, for the worst sufferers a prescription to spend half an hour or more every morning in front of a light box to stimulate the somatic centers of the brain.

• Exercise, we have found this to be the best answer, force yourself out every day for a run or long bike drive up several steep hills(whatever drives up your pulse), exposure to the sun and aerobic activity are both good treatments for SAD.

• The English and Cascadians are famous for their rainy winters and their tea and coffee, caffeine runs up the metabolism and helps you wake up.

Watch out if you are working on quitting a drug habit, this will be the hardest time of the year for most drugs even if you have been successful so far, plan ahead coping strategies.

Childbirth

In modern Amerika childbirth is treated as a major medical and surgical emergency. A c-section is often recommended to give both the doctor and healthy mothers a way to avoid a painful and messy birth that might happen at an inconvenient time. Women are forced to push a baby up into the air so the doctor can easily catch the baby and the glory. Few mention the lasting pain and damage that even the most modern c-section does to a woman.

Home birth is the natural alternative, good medical care through the whole pregnancy is essential, but giving birth to a baby in comfortable and familiar setting is much better for many women in most cases than having a baby in a super-germ infested hospital. Unless you are certain that there is a problem and need to have surgery, giving birth in town near a hospital will have you as close to emergency surgery as someone actually in the hospital.

Find a competent midwife and begin working with her as soon as possible in the pregnancy. Make sure you are getting enough protein and green leafy vegetables. Keep track of your urine output and baby motion. It is a big problem if you start getting high bloodpressure, puffy face, or seizures you might have eclampsia. It is nice to have your own quality stethescope to monitor babies heartbeat.

When the big day comes be sure you have at least one competent helper preferably with pediatric advanced life support training. Have plastic sheet or tarp and be ready for a mess. Most women like to give birth on their bed but many first time mothers need a gravity assist like pushing while sitting on a stool or toilet. Don’t worry about breathing or timing, your body almost always knows what to do especially if you are in good shape. Again it is a good idea to have an experienced midwife and probably a good friend and a apprentice midwife.

It is a good idea to have oxygen and intubation equipment if there is someone skilled in their use (if you are unskilled don’t attempt to use a laryngoscope or airway equipment) , airway problems are the most common problem at birth. Ifbaby comes out purple before you panic try rubbing the baby with a towel or blowing at their face forcing them to take a deep breath. In a rare worst case you can start CPR and consider epinepherine IV or in the endotrachial tube.

Get baby nursing as soon as possible, this will help the uterus contract and slow bleeding. There are herbs and medications that the midwife may give to assist in this contraction as does massaging abdomen over the uterus. Piece together the placenta and look for any missing pieces, if these remain inside they can cause very serious problems.

This information is in no way a substitute to a good midwife or doctor who will walk you through your pregnancy and birth. After you experience your bright eyed natural home birth you become an excellent candidate to begin learning the important skills of midwifing and birth coaching.

Nursing

If the baby doesn’t want to nurse for upto36 to 48 hours don’t get too stressed, especially in larger babies they have lots of stored food and water, being born is tiring for them. First time mothers might need to manually pop out inverted nipples or use nursing shields at first ifbaby has trouble latching on. If all fails and formula is needed try to avoid bovine or soy based mixes, we have used a mix ofbrown rice syrup, goat milk, vitamin drops, flax seed oil, ask your midwife what she recommends. Don’t fall for WASP slave propaganda it is OK to nurse for two or three years if you and baby like, many women are without their period during this time and enjoy natural birth control for around a year and a half, it is good for bonding and great nutrition for baby.

Links

You can really take control of your own health care, it is your responsibility to study and research when you have a personal medical disorder, the doctor has only so much time to spend with a patient.

Some tools to help you are the book Where There is No Doctor by the Hesperian Society, it uses simple language to explain treatment of most common injuries and disease. The Merck Manual of Medical Information is the corpgov standard reference book for medical treatment and is available in most large book stores and on-line; ask in a doctors office for their last years copy, you will have symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment at your fingertips for most common medical problems. Merck also offers a number of other medical books on-line for free.

The Merck Manual of Medical Information — Home Edition: http://www.merck.com/mmhe/index.html

The Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy: http://www.merck.com/mmpe/index.html

The Merck Manual of Health & Aging: http://www.merck.com/pubs/mmanual ha/contents.html The Merck Manual of Geriatrics: http://www.merck.com/mkgr/mmg/home.jsp The Merck Veterinary Manual: http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.j sp

Ignorance is no excuse in the eyes of medicine. Download and print these books from the Hesperian Society:

Where There Is No Doctor: http://www.hesperian.org/publications download.phptfwtnd Where There Is No Dentist: http://www.hesperian.org/publications download dentist.php Where WomenHave No Doctor: http://www.hesperian.org/publications download.phptfwwhnd A Book For Midwives: http://www.hesperian.org/publications download.phptfmidwives

You can buy paperback copies of these books as well.

Most of the equipment and medications can be obtained over the internet. If you want to stock antibiotics and medications the best way to buy them is to find a veterinary supply who will sell you standard human antibiotics and explain them as for use on fish, there is no difference in the meds except you do not need permission from a doctor to treat your illness. Oral antibiotic use is safer compared to intravenous antibiotics with rash and allergy being the most common side affect of the oral antibiotics, contact a doctor and have Benadryl ready if this happens. Yogurt and probiotics are a must if on antibiotics to keep your body from being totally stripped of its microscopic defenders and helpers.

An EMT course which takes about one term is a valuable course to take, time in the field as a volunteer will teach you even more, you will be better prepared to treat protesters as a medic and you will be much more educated about your own body.

If you prefer more natural care there are plenty of remedies that you can make for yourself with common plants, many practitioners give free classes on natural health care to gain patients.

Links

Government Run Health Clinics For Free : http://ask.hrsa.gov/pc/

Find a government run health clinic that will see you for free or reduced cost.

Unite For Sight Free Clinics: http://www.uniteforsight.org/freeclinics.php

Find a free eye care clinic in your area.

Planned Parenthood Locator: http://www.plannedparenthood.org

Find a Planned Parenthood Health Center near you.

List ofHotline Numbers: http://www.coolnurse.com/hotline.htm

A list of 1–800 numbers that you can call for many situations you may face.

Find a Covenant House: http://www.covenanthouse.org

1-800-999-9999

A free physical if you decide to check in.

Low-cost and free dental clinics: http://toothwoman.net/er/index.html

Check the phone book or at the local library for Dental Schools. Ask if they will allow you to volunteer as a subject in exchange discounted (maybe even free?) dental care. You will have to fill out a legal disclaimer.

Free Condoms

If you live near a university, go to the health services office and ask for some condoms. Also worth noting: many universities have 1–800 numbers (nurse lines) for their students to use to get medical advice. Find the number for the university near you and call it if need be.

Original Free Medical Care

Due to the efforts of the Medical Committee for Human Rights, the Student Health Organization and other progressive elements among younger doctors and nurses. Free People’s Clinics have been happening in every major city. They usually operate out of store fronts and are staffed with volunteer help. An average clinic can handle fifty patients a day.

If you’ve had an accident or have an acute illness, even a bad cold, check into the emergency room of any hospital. Given them a sob story complete with phony name and address. After treatment they present you with a slip and direct you to the cashier. Just walk on by, as the song suggests. A good decoy is to ask for the washroom. After waiting there a few moments, split. If you’re caught sneaking out, tell them you ran out of the house without your wallet. Ask them to bill you at your phony address. This billing procedure works in both hospital emergency rooms and clinics. You can keep going back for repeated visits up to three months before the cashier’s office tells the doctor about your fractured payments.

You can get speedy medical advice and avoid emergency room delays by calling the hospital, asking for the emergency unit and speaking directly to the doctor over the phone. Older doctors frown on this procedure since they cannot extort their usual exorbitant fee over the phone. Younger ones generally do not share this hang-up.

Cities usually have free clinics for a variety of special ailments. Tuberculosis Clinics, Venereal Disease Clinics, and Free Shot Clinics (yellow fever, polio, tetanus, etc.) are some of the more common. A directory of these clinics and other free health services the local community provides can be obtained by writing your Chamber of Commerce or local Health Department.

Most universities have clinics connected with their dental, optometry or other specialized medical schools. If not for free, then certainly for very low rates, you can get dental work repaired, eyeglasses fitted and treatment of other specific health needs.

Free psychiatric treatment can often be gotten at the out-patient department of any mental hospital. Admission into these hospitals is free, but a real bummer. Use them as a last resort only. Some cities have a suicide prevention center and if you are desperate and need help, call them. Your best choice in a psychiatric emergency is to go to a large general hospital, find the emergency unit and ask to see the psychiatrist on duty.

Birth Control Clinics

If you do not have a birth control prescription, a Planned Parenthood doctor can dispense one onsite.

Original Birth Control Clinics

Planned Parenthood and the Family Planning Association staff numerous free birth control clinics throughout the country. They provide such services as sex education, examinations, Pap smear and birth control information and devices. The devices include pills, a diaphragm, or IUD (intra-uterine device) which they will insert. If you are unmarried and under 18, you might have to talk to a social worker, but it’s no sweat because anybody gets contraceptive devices that wants them. Call up and ask them to send you their booklets on the different methods ofbirth control available.

If you would rather go to a private doctor, try to find out from a friend the name of a hip gynecologist, who is sympathetic to the fact that you’re low on bread. Otherwise one visit could cost $25.00 or more.

Before deciding on a contraceptive, you should be hip to some general information. There has been much research on the pill, and during the past 10 years it has proven its effectiveness, if not is safety. The two most famous name brands are Ortho-Novum and Envoid. They all require a doctor’s prescription. Different type pills are accompanied by slightly different instructions, so read the directions carefully. In many women, the pills produce side effects such as weight increase, dizziness or nausea. Sometimes the pill affects your vision and more often your mood. Some women with specialized blood diseases are advised not to use them, but in general, women have little or no trouble. Different brand names have different hormonal balances (progesteroneestrogen). If you get uncomfortable side effects, insist that your doctor switch your brand. If you stop the pill method for any reason and don’t want to get pregnant, be very careful to use another means right away.

Another contraceptive device becoming more popular is the IUD, or the loop. It is a small plastic or stainless steel irregularly-shaped spring that the doctor inserts inside the opening of the uterus. The insertion is not without pain, but it’s safe if done by a physician, and it’s second only to the pill in prevention of pregnancy. Once it’s in place, you can forget about it for a few years or until you wish to get pregnant. Doctors are reluctant to prescribe them for women who have not borne children or had an abortion, because of the intense pain that accompanies insertion. But if you can stand the pain associated with three to four uterine contractions, you should push the doctor for this method. Inserting it during the last day of your period will make it easier.

The diaphragm is a round piece of flexible rubber about 2 inches in diameter with a hard rubber rim on the outside. It used to be insertedjust before the sex act, but hip doctors now recommend that it be worn continuously and taken out every few days for washing and also during the menstrual period. It is most effective when used with a sperm-killingjelly or cream. A doctor will fit you for a proper size diaphragm.

The next best method is the foams that you insert twenty minutes before fucking. The best foams available are Delfen and Emko. They have the advantage ofbeing nonprescription items so you can rush into any drug store and pick up a dispenser when the spirit moves you. Follow the directions carefully. Unfortunately, these foams taste terrible and are not available in flavors. It just shows you how far science has to go.

Another device is the prophylactic, or rubber as it is called. This is the only device available to men. It is a thin rubber sheath that fits over the penis. Because they are subject to breaking and sliding off, their effectiveness is not super great. If you are forced to use them, the best available are lubricated sheepskins with a reservoir tip.

The rhythm method or Vatican roulette as it is called by hip Catholics, is a waste unless you are ready to surround yourself with thermometers, graphs and charts. You also have to limit your fucking to prescribed days. Even with all these precautions, women have often gotten pregnant using the rhythm method.

The oldest and least effective method is simply for the male to pull out just before he comes. There are billions of sperm cells in each ejaculation and only one is needed to fertilize the woman’s egg and cause a pregnancy. Most of the sperm is in the first squirt, so you had better be quick if you employ this technique.

If the woman misses her period she shouldn’t panic. It might be delayed because of emotional reasons. Just wait two weeks before going to a doctor or clinic for a pregnancy test. When you go, be sure to bring your first morning urine specimen.

Abortions

Careful consideration must be given to what is posted here as this could easily be the most deadly page in the wiki if used incorrectly. Women should use their own head in this most difficult decision since the easiest way to get new rebels for the war against the system is to make our own!! It is often too easily a decision made by parents, teachers, or friends and peer pressure to end a pregnancy, use your own head and uterus in this decision this is YOUR body. Don’t let Economic decisions keep you from populating our cause, corpgov wants the best slaves and that means 1.8 kids raised from infancy only by suburban double income WASP’s in corpgov schools and daycare while the parents work their asses off. It is documented that Blacks, Hispanics, minorities and the poor are overwhelmingly offered abortion while the “middle class misguided youth” whites are encouraged to keep their pregnancy to delivery and give their baby away to a “good” family. Gotta keep Amerika white

These are websites dealing with Herbal Abortions. This is not something to be taken lightly, as taking herbs in the wrong quantity or strength can make a bad situation worse. Read all information completely, and if possible, consult a sympathetic herbalist for more advice and information!

• http://www.sisterzeus.com/Abortif.htm

• http://www.henriettesherbal.com/faqs/medi-3-7-abortives.html

• http://www.naturalmiscarriage.orgl

• http://www.choi cetolivewith.com/herbal aborti on.html

• http://www.orgonelab.org/contracep.htm

• http://www.moondragon.org/obgyn/ abortion/herbalmethod.html

Women’s Health Specialists of California have an informative website on both abortion and adoption. They have extensive information on Mifeprex (RU 486) an on the “fake clinics” that are set up by right-wingers and anti-abortion groups solely to deceive women and talk them out of having abortions.

• http://www.womenshealthspecialists.orgl

Emergency Contraception: http://ec.princeton.edu/ (A good way to remember this is “not-2- late.com”, which routes to that site. Remember the hyphens!)

For those worried about religious or personal moral issues morning after pills or a proper multiple dose of certain types ofbirth control pills is an effective attempt at preventing ovulation (release of egg cell) thus preventing possibility of a pregnancy from ever starting, it is NOT an abortion of any kind.

Original Abortions

The best way to find out about abortions is to contact your local woman’s liberation organization through your underground newspaper or radio station. Some Family Planning Clinics and even some liberal churches set up abortions, but these might run as high as $700. Underground newspapers often have ads that read “Any girl in trouble call — -,” or something similar. The usual rate for an abortion is about $500 and it’s awful hard to bargain when you need one badly. Only go to a physician who is practicing or might have just lost his license. Forget the stereotype image of these doctors as they are performing a vital service. Friends who have had an abortion can usually recommend a good doctor and fill you in on what’s going to happen.

Abortions are very minor operations if done correctly. They can be done almost any time, but after three months, it’s no longer so casual and more surgical skill is required. Start making plans as soon as you find out. The sooner the better, in terms of the operation.

Get a pregnancy test at a clinic. If it is positive and you want an abortion, start that day to make plans. If you get negative results from the test and still miss your period, have a gynecologist perform an examination if you are still worried.

If you cannot arrange an abortion through woman’s liberation, Family Planning, a sympathetic clergyman or a friend who has had one, search out a liberal hospital and talk to one of their social workers. Almost all hospitals perform “therapeutic” abortions. Tell a sob story about the desertion of your boy friend or that you take LSD every day or that defects run in your family. Act mentally disturbed. If you qualify, you can get an abortion that will be free under Medicaid or other welfare medical plans. The safest form of abortion is the vacuum-curettage method, but not all doctors are hip to it. It is safer and quicker with less chance of complications than the old-fashioned scrape method.

Many states have recently passed liberalized abortion laws, such as New York* (by far the most extensive), Hawaii and Maryland, due to the continuing pressure of radical women. The battle for abortion and certainly for free abortion is far from over even in the states with liberal laws. They are far too expensive for the ten to twenty minute minor operation involved and the red tape is horrendous. Free abortions must be look-on as a fundamental right, not a sneaky, messy trauma.

• There is a residence requirement for New York but using a friend’s New York address at the hospital will be good enough. The procedure takes only a few days and costs between $200 and $500, depending on the place. The best advice is to call one of the New York Abortion Referral Services or Birth Control Groups listed in the New York Directory section.

Diseases Treated Free

Women under the age of 25 or so can be vaccinated for Human Pappillomo Virus (HPV). HPV is very easy to get, because about 80% of people have it and don’t even know. While HPV usually doesn’t do anything, it can sometimes develop into cervical cancer, which has a pretty high mortality rate. You can get the vaccine which is called Gardasil at free clinics and from private doctors. If you’re under 18, it might be a little tough with parental approval and all of that, but don’t let it stop you from getting the vaccine. It is extremely important that you reduce your risk of getting cervical cancer, because how are you going to make a differrnce if you’re dead?

Original Diseases Treated Free

Syph and Clap (syphilis and gonorrhea) are two diseases that they are easy to pick up. They come from sexual activity, so anyone who claims they got it from sitting on a toilet seat must have a fondness for weird positions.

Both men and women are subject to the diseases. Using a prophylactic usually will prevent the spreading of venereal disease, but you should really seek to have it cured. Syphilis usually begins with an infection which may look like a cold sore or pimple around the sex organ. There is no pain associated with the lesions. Soon the sore disappears even without treatment. This is often followed by a period of rashes on the body (especially the palms of the hands) and inflammation of the mouth and throat. These symptoms also disappear without treatment. It must be understood, however, that even if these symptoms disappear, the disease still remains ifleft untreated. It can cause serious trouble such as heart disease, blindness, insanity and paralysis. Also, it can fuck up any kids you might produce and is easily passed on to anyone you ball.

Gonorrhea (clap) is more common than syphilis. Its first signs are a discharge from your sex organ that is painful. Like syphilis, it affects both men and women, but is often unnoticed in women.

There is usually itching and burning associated with the affected area. It can leave you sterile ifleft untreated.

Both these venereal diseases can be treated in a short time with attention. Avail yourself of the free V.D. clinics in every town. Follow the doctor’s instructions to the letter and try to let the other people you’ve had sexual contact with know you had VD.

There are other fungus diseases that resemble syphilis or gonorrhea, but are relatively harmless. Check out every infection in your crotch area, especially those with open sores or an unusual discharge and you’ll be safe.

Crabs are not harmful, but they can make you scratch your crotch for hours on end. They are also highly transmittable by balling. Actually they are a form ofbody lice and easy to cure. Go to your local druggist and ask him for the best remedy available. He’ll give you one of several lotions and instructions for proper use. We recommend Kwell.

A common disease in the hip community is hepatitis. There are two kinds. One you get from sticking dirty needles in your arm (serum hepatitis) and the other more common strain from eating infected food or having intimate contact with an infected carrier (infectious hepatitis). The symptoms for both are identical; yellowish skin and eyes, dark piss and light crap, loss of appetite and total listlessness. Hep is a very dangerous disease that can cause a number of permanent conditions, including death, which is extremely permanent. It should be treated by a doctor, often in a hospital.

Free Communication

8. Original Free Communication

If you don’t like the news, why not go out and make your own? Creating free media depends to a large extent on your imagination and ability to follow through on ideas. The average Amerikan is exposed to over 1,600 commercials each day. Billboards, glossy ads and television spots make up much of the word environment they live in. To crack through the word mush means creating new forms of free communication. Advertisements for revolution are important in helping to educate and mold the milieu of people you wish to win over.

Guerrilla theater events are always good news items and if done right, people will remember them forever. Throwing out money at the Stock Exchange or dumping soot on executives at Con Edison or blowing up the policeman statue in Chicago immediately conveys an easily understood message by using the technique of creative disruption. Recently to dramatize the illegal invasion of Cambodia, 400 Yippies stormed across the Canadian border in an invasion of the United States. They threw paint on store windows and physically attacked residents ofBlair, Washington. A group of Vietnam veterans marched in battle gear from Trenton to Valley Forge. Along the way they performed mock attacks on civilians the way they were trained to do in Southeast Asia.

Dying all the outdoor fountains red and then sending a message to the newspaper explaining why you did it, dramatizes the idea that blood is being shed needlessly in imperialist wars. A special metallic bonding glue available from Eastman-Kodak will form a permanent bond in only 45 seconds. Gluing up locks of all the office buildings in your town is a great way to dramatize the fact that our brothers and sisters are beingjailed all the time. Then, of course, there are always explosives which dramatically make your point and then some.

Press Conferences

If you have decided to reach out to the average sheeple Amerikan you have to dress to what they expect of their leaders, a nice suit and tie (make sure it is not shiny in bright light). Pack your suit and shoes in a garment bag to keep them clean and unwrinkled. Get dressed right before the interview and have a friend check you out. Clean paper towel can be used to emergency re-shine black shoes. If there will be lots oflights and TV crews filming it could be useful to have a stage or TV expert apply a layer to reduce the shine of your face.

Keep your comments short, plan statements so they can’t be easily edited out of context. Plan for baiting questions from unfriendly CorpGov press and rehearse smooth answers. Don’t get angry at the reporters. Try to get friendly reporters who can rescue you, but always remember that not all reports are your friend even if they play the part. Anything you say, even an aside that was not meant as part of the interview, can end up in the report. Take some hints from Public Speaking. If possible get a brother or sister to tape the interview with a quality digital camcorder, HID light, and decent microphone for archival and to counter out of context chop clips by the CorpGov media.

Original Press Conferences

Another way of using the news to advertise the revolution and make propaganda is to call a press, conference. Get an appropriate place that has some relationship to the content of your message. Send out announcements to as many members of the press as you can. If you do not have a press list, you can make one up by looking through the Yellow Pages under Newspapers, Radio Stations, Television Stations, Magazines and Wire Services. Check out your list with other groups and pick up names of reporters who attend movement press conferences. Address a special invitation to them as well as one to their newspaper. Address the announcements to “City Desk” or “‘News Department.” Schedule the press conference for about 11:00 A.M. as this allows the reporters to file the story in time for the evening newscast or papers. On the day of the scheduled conference, call the important city desks or reporters about 9:00 A.M. and remind them to come.

Everything about a successful press conference must be dramatic, from the announcements and phone calls to the statements themselves. Nothing creates a worse image than four or five men in business suits sitting behind a table and talking in a calm manner at a fashionable hotel. Constantly seek to have every detail of the press conference differ in style as well as content from the conferences of people in power. Make use of music and visual effects. Don’t stiffen up before the press. Make the statement as short and to the point as possible. Don’t read from notes, look directly into the camera. The usual television spot is one minute and twenty seconds. The cameras start buzzing on your opening statement and often run out of film before you finish. So make it brief and action packed. The question period should be even more dramatic. Use the questioner’s first name when answering a question. This adds an air of informality and networks are more apt to use an answer directed personally to one of their newsmen. Express your emotional feelings. Be funny, get angry, be sad or ecstatic. If you cannot convey that you are deeply excited or troubled or outraged about what you are saying, how do you expect it of others who are watching a little image box in their living room? Remember, you are advertising a new way oflife to people. Watch TV commercials. See how they are able to convey everything they need to be effective in such a short time and limited space. At the same tune you’re mocking the shit they are pushing, steal their techniques.

At rock concerts, during intermission or at the end of the performance, fight your way to the stage.

COMMUNICATION

Announce that if the electricity is cut off the walls will be torn down. This galvanizes the audience and makes the owners of the hall the villains if they fuck around. Lay out a short exciting rap on what’s coming down. Focus on a call around one action. Sometimes it might be good to engage rock groups in dialogues about their commitment to the revolution. Interrupting the concert is frowned upon since it is only spitting in the faces of the people you are trying to reach. Use the Culture as ocean to swim in. Treat it with care.

Sandwich boards and hand-carried signs are effective advertisements. You can stand on a busy corner and hold up a sign saying “Apartment Needed,” “Free Angela,” “Smash the State” or other slogans. They can be written on dollar bills, envelopes that are being mailed and other items that are passed from person to person.

Take a flashlight with a large face to movie theaters and other dark public gathering places. Cut the word “STRIKE” or “REVOLT” or “YIPPIE” out of dark cellophane. Paste the stencil over the flashlight, thus allowing you to project the word on a distant wall.

There are a number of all night call-in shows that have a huge audience. If you call with what the moderator considers “exciting controversy,” he may give you a special number so you won’t have to compete in the switchboard roller-derby. It often can take hours before you get through to these shows. Here’s a trick that will help you out if the switchboard is jammed. The call-in shows have a series ofhones so that when one is busy the next will take the call. Usually the numbers run in sequence. Say a station gives out PL 5–8640, as the number to call. That means it also uses PL 58641, PL 5–8642 and so on. If you get a busy signal, hang up and try calling PL S-8647 say. This trick works in a variety of situations where you want to get a call through a busy switchboard. Remember it for airline and bus information.

Use of the Flag

The flag represents our nation — it represents our various ideals and shows camaraderie. We will wear, hoist, carry, and show our flag to mark the true Land of the Free. Dance around the flag. Burn the flag. Get high on the flag. Steal this flag!

Flags of the World — Youth International Party flag listing

Original Use of the Flag

The generally agreed upon flag of our nation is black with a red, five pointed star behind a green marijuana leaf in the center. It is used by groups that understand the correct use of culture and symbolism in a revolutionary struggle. When displayed, it immediately increases the feelings of solidarity between our brothers and sisters. High school kids have had great fights over which flag to salute in school. A sign of any liberated zone is the flag being flown. Rock concerts and festivals have their generally apolitical character instantly changed when the flag is displayed. The political theoreticians who do not recognize the flag and the importance of the culture it represents are ostriches who are ignorant ofbasic human nature. Throughout history people have fought for religion, life-style, land, a flag (nation), because they were ordered to, for fortune, because they were attacked or for the hell of it. If you don’t think the flag is important, ask the hardhats.

Radio

Small Broadcasters

Check out the 88to91 MHz range of the dial. These stations are licensed by the FCC for non-profit broadcast. This includes not just NPR affiliates and national syndicated religious programming, but local and college broadcasters. If you live near a college or university, be sure to check out their radio facilities. Many are quite large, sporting FM and AM transmitters in the kilowatt range. These stations usually have their own FCC licenses, and are fiercely independent. There are a variety of opportunities, both as music DJ and other programming, and usually are willing to let community members get involved.

Shortwave Radio

In an age of snooping and censorship, Shortwave Radio can be a godsend. International broadcasts can provide different perspectives on a major news event, as well as providing information that may not be available from corporate sources. Some stations, like Radio Habana Cuba and Radio Pyongyang (ofNorth Korea) have a heavy political slant to their reporting, while the far-right conspiracy mongers who buy air time onUS commercial stations often drift into the political Twilight Zone.

The BBC (British Broadcasting Company) World Service is a great source of news and info, but in a cost-cutting move, stopped almost all their entertainment programs on the World Service as well as discontinuing beaming signals to North America. They now focus on satellite radio (Sirius and XM) and licensing programs to NPR stations. However, you can pick up the BBC’s Asian, African and Caribbean services in many parts of the USA. You can also listen in on the internet for free (http://www.bbcworldservice.com).

When buying a shortwave receiver, get the best you can afford. Cheap radios simply aren’t worth it. While the many “wind-up” radios, like the Baygen Freeplay models, are good in an emergency, you’ll need a serious radio for serious listening.

If you can, get a radio with continuous tuning (150 to 29999 kc) and a Sideband filter so you can listen to the Hams and Pirates. If there’s an Amateur radio swap meet where you are, go there and ask a lot of questions. See if you can get a good deal on a used receiver. If someone mentions a “boat anchor”, that’s slang for an older style desk top radio. The name comes from the fact that since they use vacuum tubes, they’re quite heavy.

A radio is only as good as the antenna, so if you don’t have the space or budget for an outdoor antenna, you can use an indoor longwire antenna. Get 40 feet (a little more than 12 meters) of insulated, triple-braid copper wire and an alligator clip. Trim offjust enough insulation to attach the clip to the wire, and then attach the clip to the telescoping rod antenna on the radio. Either lay the wire flat on the floor or tack it onto the wall (Don’t worry if you have to bend it along another wall). Just remember not to attach the wire to any electrical outlet or any electrical appliance other than the radio, and don’t drive any staples or thumbtacks through the wire. You don’t need to ground the antenna, since you’re using the existing ground in the radio.

The closest there is to a “TV Guide” to shortwave is the Passport to World Band Radio, published annually by International Broadcasting Services. There is also the World Radio-Television Handbook, which covers the whole broadcasting industry (AM, FM, TV, Longwave, Shortwave) and is very tech-heavy. Popular Communications (known by techies as “PopCom”) is a monthly magazine that covers almost all facets of radio and TV broadcasting from many technical angles. The centerfold always has a listing of shortwave broadcasts and times.

Broadcast times are set by Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), which is also called Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), and is the local time at 0 degrees longitude. UTC is posted in a 24 hour standard (That is, 2 AM is 0200 and 2 PM is 1400). You can find what UTC is where you are by tuning in time signal stations WWV or WWVH at 2500, 5000, 10000, 15000 and (wWv only) 20000 kc. If you hear a “tick” once a second, wait for a voice announcement saying “At the tone, -hours, — minutes, Co-ordinated Universal Time.” In Canada, there is CHU, broadcasting at 3330, 7335 and 14670 kc. They broadcast their timechecks in English and French, beginning with “CHU Canada”.

Very important: If you are listening at home and using an AC plug for the radio, get a surge protector and use it!

See alsoGuerrilla Radio

Crystal Radio

If you get bored or cut off from news outside make a simple crystal radio set, all you need is some wire aluminum foil, a telephone handset, antenna and coil wire and a diode (or pencil and razor blade), no battery needed! If you find a wall wart transformer or almost any electronic gadget you are almost set except for the telephone handset speaker (a piezo speaker disk might work but sound will be crap). Take a diode and put it in paralell to your earphone, run one wire to a ground like a water pipe or ground and the other should be strung out as long as you can make the antenna, if a ground is impossible string both ends as long as possible, making a dipole antenna. At the center between the antennas or antenna/ground wire you will place your stacked foil capacitor and a coil of wire around a straw or bottle(anything non-conductive even air). Play with number wraps and allignment layers of foil(with plastic or paper between) this is your tuner/variable capacitor. If you need tojoin copper wire strands for a longer more effective antenna knot and crush together with a piece of metal if you are unable to solder them. (schematic Wikipedia) see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystal radio receiver and http://sci- toys.com/scitoys/scitoys/radio/radio.html

Original Radio

Want to construct your own neighborhood radio station? You can get a carrier-current transmitter designed by a group ofbrothers and sisters called Radio Free People. No FCC license is required for the range is less than 1/2 mile. The small transistorized units plug into any wall outlet. Write Radio Free People, 133 Mercer St., New York, New York 10012 for more details. For further information see the chapter on Guerrilla Broadcasting later in the book.

Making Music

|O=|of the most overreaching arms of Corpgov is the entertainment industry. It once was that a I Prive enough musician could tap into the unlimited power and greed of the king to outlaw

performance ofhis work by any other artist, this copy-right included a bribe to the king or a royalty to make the deal interesting to the king. The framers of the US constitution saw a role for limited copyright and patent that would encourage people to create new works for the purpose of earning a living by giving them a monopoly for a few years on the works produced, a right that could be sold for cash up front to someone else.

Today with the power of massive CorpGov our fascist system ofbusiness to government entanglement, large mega corporations like Disney were able to find favor with the US congressmen with promises of cash for the election arms race if they would kindly extend the length of copyright to 70 years after the death of the artist. They had to keep the mouse in prison for fear that derivative works might be made from him similar to what Disney does with stories like The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast or The Jungle Book, all of which are based on Public Domain works.

In a world where we boycott the industrial evil or when copyright is no more we must make our own music. Our limited budgets need a way to still make our art and distribute it. Music is a medium to convey a message that might not be received from print or public speeches.

Instruments

These portable musical instruments will help you tell a story, make some money, and entertain your friends, sometimes all at the same time. For the “classy” instruments more money can be made if you wear a nice suit or dress while performing. In times of great stress a skilled musician is in high demand even if availability of cash is scarce. Barter is good payment, food and bed topping the list. Conversely an out of tune instrument or lack of skill can grate on nerves even if the player is enjoying himself, so start out practicing in a secluded area.

Harmonica

The harmonica is the hobo’s friend. Easily stashed in your pocket a harmonica played on a street corner with a cup out will often pay your expenses for the day. Look for a quality instrument and carry a spare in case you break a reed.

Clarinet

Lightweight wind instrument, the clarinet is an excellent accompaniment to a piano for plays and background mood music by itself. Most clarinets break down to several short pieces that will easily fit in your pack. Always carry several extra reeds.

Make PVC Clarinet in A3

You need:

• Alto sax reed

• 1/2 inch schedule 40 PVC pipe

• Hex cap screw (or whatever fine thread short machine screw you have)

Building:

• Cut a piece of pipe to15 inches.

• Make the reed mouthpiece, saw or sand to fit the reed, do the final fitting by hand with sandpaper, alto sax reed seems to fit this pipe best. The slope of the pipe must be steep enough that the thickest part of the reed is right above the location for the screw, not the sloped part.

• Drill an angled hole for the reed screw into the pipe above the angle cut area of the pipe making sure that the screw hole is at an exact right angle to the reed.

• Enlarge the hole in the reed so the screw is not threading tight into it.

• Carefully thread the hex cap screw in.

• Try blowing the reed, if the reedjust sticks down you need to reshape the pipe with sanding paper until you get the proper reed sound, about 1/32 inch gap is needed.

• Finger hole tuning is by carefully reaming the opening diameters, you either need to have a very good sense of tone or a tuning fork to make the right hole diameters. We will now need to remember our octave ofDo, Re, Me, Fa, So, La, Te, Do.

• With no holes try blowing, you want to hear a match to A3 Do, shorten the far end of the pipe until you get a correct tone.

• Now drill 1/8 in. holes at the following distances from the reed end of the clarinet in inches: Thumb(bottom) Do 7.54, Finger Holes Te 7.79, La 8.89, So 9.89, Fa 10.89, Me 11.89, Re 12.89

• Starting from the farthest holes tune each hole by carefully opening up the holes.

• Run a dowel through the pipe to clean out attached shavings as you work and carefuly carve and sand the edges as you tune the holes so they are smooth

Patience is required or you will open the holes too wide and ruin the clarinet. If you like you can lightly sand and paint your clarinet flat black, or your favorite color but be careful over the holes as this might put it off tune.

Flute

Flute music gives a high pich that carries for a long distance, useful for rallying the troops at a demonstration along with drums. Drum and flute hearkens back to revolutionary war days which is part of our vision.

Make a PVC FLute

(Thanks Mark Shepard for un-copyrighting his design so we could edit it for this book) See Marks website for lots of smart advice on working with PVC safely, avoiding glue fumes, inhalation of PVC dust, and Gandhi. http://www.markshep.com/

The plastic we’re talking about is PVC (polyvinyl chloride), used for cold water supply, and its close cousin CPVC (chloro-polyvinyl chloride), for hot water. DO NOT use ABS pipe for flutes or gray PVC electrical conduit. Since there are no restrictions on the toxicity of the chemicals added to it avoid the conduit also because of its greater wall thickness, which will hurt octave tuning..

Following is the plan for a flute I designed in the summer of 1988.1 call it the “Plumber’s Pipe.” It’s in the key of G and plays two full octaves. Of course, you might have to modify the design, depending on materials available to you. (For basic principles of designing and tuning flutes, see my book Simple Flutes.)

The flute is made from 3/4 inch CPVC pipe, plus a standard end cap. The actual exact dimensions of the pipe are 7/8 inch outside diameter, 11/16 inch inside diameter, 3/32 inch wall thickness. The tube length, with the end cap off, is 15-9/16 inches. The wall thickness of the end cap too is 3/32 inch, for a total mouthhole depth of3/16 inch.

The chart shows the size of each hole and the distance from its center to the top of the flute tube— again, measured with the flute cap off. You can mark these distances on a piece of paper, a ruler, a dowel, or a length of pipe, then use this pattern to help place the holes on your pipe. Two holes are slightly offset as shown, for easier fingering.

A good trick is to use a plumbing pipe end cap—a standard part—as a combination stopper and lip plate. Glue it on with plastic pipe cement, then drill the mouthhole through it. Apply the cement to the pipe surface only—not inside the cap—to avoid pushing the excess into the flute, where fumes can persist much longer. (also get the pipe flute players guide a free PDF http://www.markshep.com/flute/Pipe.pdf)

There is no copyright or patent on this design. Feel free to make as many as you like, and to sell them too!

Violin

Violins and fiddles are lightweight and their mellow sound is great for short gig’s at pubs, coffee shops, and restaurants. Portability is the reason why nomads and those constantly forced to relocate like Roma, Jews, and Pavee are known for playing the violin. Learn to make a violin.

http://www.centrum .i s/hansi/construction.html

Guitar

A guitar with its powerful natural acoustic amplification works well for intimate performances or large groups.

Drums

Portable drums are readily available for traveling musicians, they are great for accompanying or solo work. A simple snare drum or wood blocks are excelent for working a few gigs while mobile.

Nothing says march on like a drum, if you are part of a demonstration and don’t want your nice instrument damaged by the pigs just use your drum sticks and a plastic bucket, find buckets that have the tone you want by tapping everything.

Keyboard

If you are on the move a real piano is not an option unless it is already on site, a portable electronic keyboard can be plugged into a mixer and pumped out the amp during a performance. Roll up keyboards are considered by most to be inferior due to the bad tactile feedback although this is the most packable way to have a keyboard. If a keyboard has a MIDI or USB port that means it is ready to be used with a computer with the correct cable and software.

Kazoo

A very simple instrument that can be used for comic effect. If you can hum, you can play a kazoo.

Homemade Instruments

If times are truly tough, or you want to go Hardcore DIY, you can build your own instruments. This style is often called “Washboard” or “Skiffle” and often consists of one person playing a “regular” instrument like a guitar, accompanied by a junkyard full ofhomebrew instruments (See the Little Rascals/Our Gang short film “Mike Fright” for a great example[11). Here are links to information or inspiration on building your own instruments:

• http://www.geocities.com/danielbruner/home.htmlDan Bruner’s Website — Featuring plans for drums, flutes, panpipes and didjerido, all made from PVC or ABS.

• http://www.ehhs.cmich.edu/~dhavlenal Webpage ofDennis Havlena — Featuring plans for various instruments made from scrap or easily obtainable materials.

• http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/cookietinbanjol Cookie Tin Banjo Yahoo Group

• http://www.rhythmweb.com/homemade/ Homemade Percussion at Rhythmweb

• http://www.junkabilly.com/instrument index.htm/Junkabilly — Photos of the artist’s homemade instruments.

• http://home.earthlink.net/~jbertles/ Bash the Trash

• http://www.grannysstore.com/Wilderness Survival/flutesndrums.htn/PVC Flutes

• http://www.simplespanishsongs.com/RECYCLED%20INSTRUMENTS.htm Recycled Instruments

• http://cigarboxguitars.com/ Scotty’s Cigar Box Guitars — Information and plans.

• http://www.cigarboxguitar.com/ CigarBoxGuitar.com

You can also go to Instructables.comand search for “music” or “instruments”.

Production

If you want to really pump music to a crowd or you wish to record and distribute the tools are now affordable to even garage bands, all that is needed is some skill in the trade.

Digital Music DIY Now

Download the ebook Digital Music DIY Now http://www.diynow.org/ A guide to making a living making music out of your backpack, from anywhere, and everywhere. It is free under theCCL SA license, print it, edit it, give it away.

Software

There are many free open source options to mixing and recording software in addition to the nonfree options.

• Audacity — Audacity is a free, easy-to-use audio editor and recorder for Windows, Mac OS X, GNU/Linux, and other operating systems. You can use Audacity to record live audio, convert tapes and records into digital recordings or CDs, edit Ogg Vorbis, MP3, and WAV sound files, Cut, copy, splice, and mix sounds together, change the speed or pitch of a recording, and more!

• Ardour — Ardour capabilities include: multichannel recording, non-linear, non-destructive region based editing with unlimited undo/redo, full automation support, a mixer whose capabilities rival high end hardware consoles, lots of plugins to warp, shift and shape your music, and controllable from hardware control surfaces at the same time as it syncs to timecode.

• http://sound.condorow.net/ Sound and MIDI software for Linux

Amplifiers

In a mobile setting 12 volt amps might be used in place of expensive generators and standard hardware.

Speakers

A song that sounds great on a set of really nice, expensive studio moniters might sound like shit on a standard boombox. Conversely, a song taht sounds superb might sound weak and boring on some nice speakers. When recording and mix, be sure to listen to your mix through as many different and commonplace speakers and you can. A good idea, after mixing some tracks, is to burn a cd-r and listen to it through a portable cd player, a car stereo, and some standard computer speakers. Know that if you plan on posting exclusively on the web, some people only listen to tunes through their hp brand 2 volt computer speakers. Especially be weary of the volume and tone ofbass, cymbals, and high-end stuff like guitar solos or violins.

Your best bet, especially if you are working with few people ina home studio, is to invest in some nice headphones.

Recording

Recording Studio

The accoustics and sound insulation of the recording studio is very important. While studios cover all walls with foam, an acceptable home studio might be made by choosing a quiet room and covering the walls and ceiling with blankets or carpet to dampen reverb. Empty egg cartons taped or glued to the wall will break up and dissapate sound waves more effectively than standard flat walls. Old carpet, packing foam, couch cushions, old clothes, or even newspaper can act as effective sound insulation.

Dirty electricity can be a killer for most amplifiers, causing unwanted buzz during moments of silence. If you get this type of constant buzzing, look in radioshack or other audiophile-type stores for power strips that offer the capability of “cleaning up” electricity.

Always be sure to safely store and lock up all of your equipment. Do not be too casual about letting people know about your space and equipment, as these spaces are prime for theft.

On Air

If you are feeling dangerous pipe a high quality feed over the internet with software like VLC www.videolan.org to yourGuerrilla Radio station elsewhere in town as well as to internet users across the world. Keep the studio and transmitter operations seperate as possible so the pigs won’t confiscate your studio if they make a bust.

Distribution

The plastic and vinyl days are quickly ending, many bands release exclusively on MP3 or our free Ogg Vorbis format. Introduction onto the internet and sharing networks will get your music available but it helps to have prominent bloggers and reviewers mention your work so that people will know to look for your work. Wheatpasting and free public performance will increase interest in your work.

Free Software

. =je are fighting to break free from corpgov we should be freeing our computer systems as well. L ux and BSD are free as in take one you can have it for no price but much more importantly it is

free as in liberty do with it as you see fit. The fact that the code is open to review makes it more secure as anyone catching a security bug can update or notify the project. This makes for our favorite operating systems and accompanying software to be capable ofbeing very secure against to hacking, viruses, and exploitation remotely or locally.

Live CD Distros

A good way to start off is to play with a live CD distro like Knoppix and then after you feel comfortable and are interfacing with other Linux users dual boot with your old OS and linux. It feels very liberating to wipe Microsoft off of your disk but it might be useful to have for some programs. Anything you do in MS windows can endanger the data on your whole disk even the Linux sections to damage from virus, remote exploits, and general shoddy software execution.

Ubuntu

Ubuntu is considered by many to be the easiest for beginning users but it is based upon the stable and powerful Debian a real workhorse of an OS. Visiting the Ubuntu website you should find a link for a free Ubuntu install disk which they will mail to you for free usually within a month. http://www.ubuntu.com/

Staying on Windows

If you are chained to Windows install open source free software and use it as much as possible instead of purchasing locked down corporate junk (orjust use a live cd).

Open Office is as good or better than Microsoft Office and more importantly, it doesn't cost $100+. In fact, it's free! All the functionality is there for no price! http://www.openoffice.org

Also, visit Sourceforge for tons of free windows apps. Sourceforge is all open source and there's over a hundred thousand active projects there and more than a million users. http://sourceforge.net/

An alternative to open source is BitTorrent. Using sites such as The Pirate Bay and TorrenSpy, you can find copies of almost every single piece of software available. From Vista to Office, Age of Empires to BioShock, everything's at your fingertips.

Document and Publishing

TheStarting a Printing Workshopsection discusses several free software packages for setting up documents, editing photos, and formatting documents or newspapers.

Music

In Making Musicwe discuss free audio authoring software.

Wikipedia

Wikipedia is an enormous resource, a real Hitchikers Guide, when you have Internet access. There is now an open source free project which brings Wikipedia to your hard disk so you have access even when offline, visit http://www.softlab.ntua.gr/~ttsiod/buildWikipediaOffline.htmlfor how to get this running in Linux and potentialy Windows and Mac.

Free Telephones

Need to make a call, but lack a phone? Short on cash? These tips will help you make your phone calls for free.

Payphones in a Pinch

This method is quite simple, and quite easy. It is quite reliable, since it relies on the greed of corporate Amerika.

Countless companies, groups, and organizations promote their brand/name by plastering it on phonecards, which they proceed to give away for free. They're not terribly generous, typically only 10 minutes, although sometimes as many as lOOat a time, but it's usually enough for a quick call or two. Furthermore, due to the way they're given away (handed out by greeters in stores, free postal shipping, checkout line item, etc.) they can be used to get some anonymous call time (when used with a payphone.) Obviously, you can only use the cards that offer a 1-800 number to call through -­but almost all of them do. Unfortunately, the greedy bastards at AT&T a certain major telecom carrier imposes a multi-unit surcharge for calls from payphones -- but thankfully their cards aren't commonly found as giveaways. Carry a variety of cards from a variety of different carriers -- this way, if one carrier's access number is blocked on it's competitor's phones (or some other similar corporate backstabbing), you'll still be able to make a call.

Whenever you get the chance to stock up on these, do so -- grab handfuls. A pocketful oflO and 20 minute calling cards will give you a good number of phone calls, and should allow you a chance to communicate no matter where in Amerika you are.

Calling cards must be used carefully, the charges that go back to the company report the phone number and city that they were used from. A basic rule is one card for one phone, seeing as all pay phone are tapped due to the unPATRIOT Act, from then on, track you by following the calling card account wherever you use it. One way to avoid tracking is to buy or get calling cards only in the city you will make the calls, then your movement can't be usefully tracked as you travel place to place. One free calling card to destroy right away is the one sent to you as a gift from ANY company that you owe money to. This is a simple trick to collect the numbers of your friends so they can harass them as well as hopefully finding the phone number of the place you are staying.

Mobility Via Mobiles

Many stores that sell brand new service plans and phones let one make a telephone call for free. Corporate stores set up phones so people can test out the service features, plans, and reliability. Try any number of Verizon, T-Mobile, AT&T (formerly Cingular) or Sprint stores to make free phone calls. If one wants to talk for more than a few minutes without attracting unwanted attention, go at busier times of the day. Also, since the advent of the Apple iPhone, the Apple stores are a great place to use their phones to make free calls. The store in Midtown Manhattan is open 24/7 so one can always call 1-900 numbers if they are feeling frisky at 3 AM. The Apple stores are also a great place to browse the Internet uninterrupted for free.

In Store VOIP Demo

One way to get free anonymous telephone calls is to head into a store selling VoIP services. For instance, CompUSA sells Packets, Vonage, etc. Usually each of these providers has a demonstration kiosk set up with one of their phones to try. These are working phones and will dial out to anywhere in the continental United States. You may even find some that will make international calls.

Your own Phone Company

A cool way to share phone service is to set up an Asterisk server on a Linux box and connect it to a local phone and/or VOIP line use a dynamic DNS service to direct to your DSL line. Many accounts to share the lines can be made and sharing can be with anyone connected to the internet. If the system gets overloadedjust add another local line or VOIP line. Asterisk if free, open, and Linux based http://www.asterisk.org/

Your Own Mobile Phone Company

A device known as a radio-telephone patch or autopatch connects a two way radio base station to the phone system. Another radio with DTMF tone keypad (most ham radio handhelds have this) is used to attach and dial phone calls. If you have a base antenna on a high hill or tower you might get service for many miles. You and a few friends can set up several patches on different frequencies and locations and then connect them to your internet connected community asterisk phone system saving you big money on mobile calls and totally bypassing the phone company for inter-network calls. Unless you set up some kind of encryption (illegal on ham bands) the calls can be listened to by anyone with a scanner.

Phone Taps

A small cheap one piece telephone and some alligator clips can help get you a phone call. We have even seen tiny phones as small as a pager with a belt clip and a hands free ear-piece, now chop off one of snap in tips and add alligator clips to the center two wires, perfect! This cheapo lineman's handset will clip into most phone boxes worldwide, youjust need to try the wires until you get a dial tone. It might be that the location you are trying to use has a digital phone box this will likely fry your test-set, that is why you make this gadget from a real cheapie. Look for a phone plug in the room you are using or outside houses and businesses. You can get in legal trouble for this of course but if you keep your calls to 800 numbers and use a calling card you will not increase a home phone bill for your host, we at war with corpgov not Amerikan Sheeple. (Remember to pay for your calling card in cash to help prevent tracing and never use the same card from two locations.) The center white/blue or red green on older cables will be the pair you want to attach clips to on your handset as these are the live pair on single line phones. Now that you have a dial tone you can connect your laptop or PDA modem. In addition to your clip on cable a regular RJ-11 plug cable is useful for punch down boards and phone boxes which have a test jack, many of these boxes are not locked. It might be smart to have a spool of narrow gauge speaker wire in your pack, connect your phone set and lay out wire to behind a shed or into a ditch, you will be free to operate out of sight for a longer time hiding from nosy neighbors. If you are doing some investigations and want to tap the phone line instead of making calls install a switch to disable the microphone on your handset. If you are really paranoid tape a fingernail clipper to your long wire, if a pig shows up clip the line and pretend you are on a cell phone call.... Walk away!!

Phreaking

Most of the old 2600Mhz type hacks to the bell phone system have stopped working, the last North American in band tone controlled exchange closed in Minnesota in 2006. No more classic phreaking.

GSM/CDMA hacks

Currently, there are no known widespread modifications for modern GSM/CDMA phones. The few systems that used to have free calling workarounds have been discontinued/patched.

Onboard Vehicle Help Services

Services like GM's OnStar are provided on some upper class vehicles so at the touch of a button help can be summoned. The cos are famous for turning this service on fulltime and listening in. Don't be a fool, the built in microphone means you have tapped your own car, rememeber this in the vehicle belonging to family and friends of activists. In any case cars can be easily tapped, activists, make sensitive conversation outside even if you don't have an onboard service call system.

Original Free Telephones

Ripping off the phone company is so common that Bell Telephone has a special security division that tries to stayjust a little ahead of the average free-loader. Many great devices like the coat hanger release switch have been scrapped because of changes in the phone box. Even the credit card fake-out is doomed to oblivion as the company switches to more computerized techniques. ln our opinion, as long as there is a phone company, and as long as there are outlaws, nobody need ever pay for a call. In 1969 alone the phone company estimated that over 10 million dollars worth of free calls were placed from New York City. Nothing, however, compares with the rip-off of the people by the phone company. In that same year, American Telephone and Telegraph made a profit of8.6 billion dollars! AT&T, like all public utilities, passes itself off as a service owned by the people, while in actuality nothing could be further from the truth. Only a small percentage of the public owns stock in these companies and a tiny elite clique makes all the policy decisions. Ripping-off the phone company is an act of revolutionary love, so help spread the word.

Pay Phones

Oh for the old days of fun Phreaker hacks to the phone system. Ma Bell is no more and the greed is split between many regional bell's and their buyout sucessors. see Free Telephonesfor the modern world.

Original Pay Phones

You can make a local 10 cent call for 2 cents by spitting on the pennies and dropping them in the nickel slot. As soon as they are about to hit the trigger mechanism, bang the coin-return button. Another way is to spin the pennies counter-clockwise into the nickel slot. Hold the penny in the slot with your finger and snap it spinning with a key or other flat object. Both systems take a certain knack, but once you've perfected the technique, you'll always have it in your survival kit.

If two cents is too much, how about a call for 1 penny? Cut a 1/4 strip off the telephone book cover. Insert the cardboard strip into the dime slot as far as it will go. Drop a penny in the nickel slot until it catches in the mechanism (spinning will help). Then slowly pull the strip out until you hear the dial tone.

A number 14 brass washer with a small piece of scotch tape over one side of the hole will not only get a free call, but works in about any vending machine that takes dimes. You can get a box of thousands for about a dollar at any hardware store. You should always have a box around for phones, laundromats, parking meters and drink machines.

Bend a bobby pin after removing the plastic from the tips andjab it down into the transmitter (mouthpiece). When it presses against the metal diaphragm, rub it on a metal wall or pipe to ground it. When you've made contact you'll hear the dial tone. If the phone uses old-fashioned rubber black tubing to enclose the wires running from the headset to the box, you can insert a metal tack through the tubing, wiggle it around a little until it makes contact with the bare wires and touch the tack to a nearby metal object for grounding.

Put a dime in the phone, dial the operator and tell her you have ten cents credit. She'll return your dime and get your call for free. If she asks why, say you made a call on another pay phone, lost the money, and the operator told you to switch phones and call the credit operator.

This same method works for long distance calls. Call the operator and find out the rate for your call. Hang up and call another operator telling her youjust dialed San Francisco direct, got a wrong number and lost $.95 or whatever it is. She will get your call free of charge.

If there are two pay phones next to each other, you can call long distance on one and put the coins in the other. When the operator cuts in and asks you to deposit money, drop the coins into the one you are not using, but hold the receiver up to the slots so the operator can hear the bells ring. When you've finished, you can simply press the return button on the phone with the coins in it and out they come. If you have a good tape recorder you can record the sounds of a quarter, dime and nickel going into a pay phone and play them for the operator in various combinations when she asks for the money. Turn the volume up as loud as you can get it.

You can make a long distance call and charge it to a phone number. Simply tell the operator you want to bill the call to your home phone because you don't have the correct change. Tell her there is no one there now to verify the call, but you will be home in an hour and she can call you then if there is any question. Make sure the exchange goes with the area you say it does.

Always have a number of made-up credit card numbers. The code letter for 1970 is S, then seven digits of the phone number and a three digit district number (not the same as area code). The district number should be under 599. Example: S-573-2100-421 or S-537-3402-035. Look up the phone numbers for your area by simply requesting a credit card for your home phone which is very easy to get and then using the last three numbers with another phone number. Usually making up exotic numbers from far away places will work quite well as it would be impossible for an operator to spot a phony number in the short time she has to check her list.

We advise against making phony credit card calls on a home phone. We have seen a gadget that you install between the wall socket and the cord which not only allows you to receive all the calls you want for free, but eliminates the most common form of electronic bugging. They are being manufactured and sold for fifty dollars by a disgruntled telephone engineer in Massachusetts. Unfortunately you are going to have to find him on your own or duplicate his efforts, for he has sworn us to secrecy. If someone does, however, offer you such a device, it probably does work. Test it by installing it and having someone call you from a pay phone. If it's working, the person should get their dime back at the end of the call.

Actually if you know the slightest information about wiring, you can have your present phone disconnected on the excuse that you'll be leaving town for a few months and then connect the wires into the main trunk lines on your own. Extensions can easily be attached to your main line without the phone company knowing about it.

You can make all the free long distance calls you want by calling your party collect at a pay phone. Just have your friend go to a prearranged phone booth at a prearranged time. This can be done on the spot by having the friend call you person to person. Say you're not in, but ask for the number calling you since you'll be "back" in five minutes. Once you get the number simply hang up, wait a moment and call back your friend collect. The call has to be out of the state to work, since operators are familiar with the special extension numbers assigned to pay phones for her area and possibly for nearby areas as well. If she asks you if it is a pay phone say no. If she finds out during the call (which rarely happens) and informs you of this, simply say you didn't expect the party to have a pay phone in his house and accept the charges. We have never heard of this happening though. The trick of calling person-to-person collect should always be used when calling long distance on home-to- home phones also. You can hear the voice of your friend saying that he'll be back in a few minutes. Simply hang up, wait a moment and call station to station, thereby getting a person-to-person call without the extra charges which can be considerable on a long call during business hours.

If you plan to stay at your present address for only a few more months, stop paying the bill and call like crazy. After a month you get the regular bill which you avoid paying. Another month goes by and the next bill comes with last month's balance added to it. Shortly thereafter you get a note advising you that your service will be terminated in ten days if you don't pay the bill. Wait a few days and send them a five or ten dollar money order with a note saying you've had an accident and are pressed for funds because of large medical bills, but you'll send them the balance as soon as you are up and around again. That will hold them for another month. In all, you can stretch it out for four or five months with a variety of excuses and small payments. This also works with the gas and electric companies and with any department stores you conned into letting you charge.

You can get the service deposit reduced to half of the normal rate if you are a student or have other special qualifications. Surprisingly, these rates and discounts vary from area to area, so check around before you go into the business office for your phone. There is an incredible 50 cents charge per month for not having your phone listed. If you want an unlisted phone, you can avoid this fee by having the phone listed in a fictitious name, even if the bill is sent to you. Just say you want your roommate's name listed instead of your own.

Free Play

Before we start we remind you that stealing corpgov trash is like stealing and shooting heroin, The dealer is evil but so is stuff, it only prolongs your addiction as well as placing you in an easy position for close police investigation and incarceration

Free swim

It's ridiculously easy to waltz into a chain hotel and take use of their indoor swimming pool and hot tub. Most places won't check for room verification, or if they have swipe-card access, you can simply tag along after a group. This can be really effective by wearing a swimming costume under your clothes, getting in the ground elevator and hitting the top floor button. Quickly strip to your swimming shorts on the way up, then on the way down,just walk out carrying your clothes to pass off as a guest just coming down from your room.

Bon fire parties/drum circles

More of a social gathering then recreation, simply gather a few friends, and then put together a bon fire. Sprinkle with food and instruments (could easily be turned into a social conscious or spiritual gathering). If you're in a rural environment, you're in luck. Just build an appropriate bon fire in the middle of a field, near a lake, or your backyard. If you're in a suburban or urban setting, know the status of state or loc