Year: 2018

Prepare BEFORE the Expected Blackouts…

How to Prepare for and Stay Comfortable During a Power Outage [Short term and Long Term]

| By 

Editor’s Note: This resource has been combined and updated for 2018!

With winter comes the wind, the snow, the ice, and the extreme cold.  And, more likely than not, winter will also bring the occasional power outage.

Have you asked yourself what you would do if the power went out for a day or two or for even a week?  What would you do? Could you fend for yourself?  Could you keep yourself warm in the winter and cool in the summer?  What about food?  Would your refrigerated and frozen items spoil?  And yikes!  What would you do about money if credit cards and ATMs no longer worked?  Did I mention that in all likelihood you would not have internet access either?

Today I would like to provide 15 tips for getting through short-term power outages.  These are the power outages that occur during winter storms or when a vehicle hits a power pole.  (Longer term, apocalypse type outages are a subject for another time.)  Now if you have a good memory, you will recall we discussed this subject back in July. That was summer. And now, with the cold months ahead of us, it would not hurt to have a refresher course.

We count on electricity for heat, food, medical, communication and financial needs. Our appliances and work-saving devices rely upon a source of electricity for operation and even many gas-powered appliances such as furnaces and hot water heaters need electricity to run.   The worst thing about it is that when the power goes out, it is likely to be the result of some other emergency such as a hurricane, tornado, or winter storm. This means that the folks that are supposed to fix the problem may be spread wide and spread thin and it may be days before the lights are back on.

A power outage is not something that just might happen.  I can pretty much guarantee that it will happen.  The more you can do to prepare, the greater the likelihood that you will be comfortable and that will only suffer an inconvenience when the lights go out.

15 Tips to Start Prepping

1.  Have flashlights ready in multiple, easily accessible locations around your home.  Be sure to also have plenty of fresh, spare batteries.  You need one really great flashlight but it is also nice to have a bunch of small, handheld LED handheld flashlights.

2.  Have emergency candles plus matches available as well a candle lantern, oil lamp, or propane lantern.  Be sure to include some longer, fireplace type matches or a butane wand for lighting fires in your fireplace or outdoors in a fire pit,

3.  Have either a battery-operated radio, solar radio or hand crank radio so that you can stay in touch with the world.  Make sure your radio is in working condition by testing it at least once a year.

4.  Learn how to cook over an open fire, using charcoal or wood or even biomass.

5  Make sure you have a manual can opener for opening cans of food.  If you are a coffee drinker, also have a French press available as well as pre-ground coffee,

6.  Fill the empty space in your freezer with containers of water. Frozen water will displace air and keep food cold longer if the power goes out. Remember to leave space in containers for ice to expand. Empty milk cartons can be repurposed in this manner.

7.  If you use a landline, have at least one phone with a handset cord in your home. Many cordless phones will not work in a power outage.  Cell phone users should keep their cell phones charged and at the very least, pick up a cell phone car charger so you can charge the cell in your car if it runs down.

8.  If you have an automatic garage door opener, learn how to use the manual release to open your garage door manually.  Keep the instructions handy – perhaps taped to the inside of a closet door – so you don’t have to search for them when the time comes.

9.  Keep your automobile’s fuel tank at least half full. Many gas stations will not be in operation during a power outage. And please – fill up your tank if a major storm is predicted.

10.  Once the power goes out, unplug sensitive electrical equipment such as computers, printers, televisions, and audio equipment.  When the power comes back on, there may be power spikes that can damage delicate electronics.  I know, it has happened to me.  Keeping these items plugged in to surge protector helps but it is still best to unplug these items from the wall completely.

11.  Do not open refrigerators or freezers any more than necessary. An unopened refrigerator will keep food cold for approximately 4 hours, an unopened freezer will keep food frozen for approximately 24 hours and even longer if it is located in a cold garage.  You will need to throw away any food items that become warmer than 41 degrees.   No testing, no tasting.  To the garbage it goes.  Sorry, that is just the way it is.

12.  Keep a supply of books, board games, playing cards and other items available to keep you entertained and amused during a power outage.  A bit of chocolate and a bottle or two of wine or whiskey would also help in the amusement area.

13.  Be wary of the possibility of carbon monoxide poisoning, which is caused from exposure to odorless fumes created by charcoal grills, camping stoves or generators that are operated inside a home or garage. Never, ever burn charcoal or use gasoline or propane-powered equipment inside your home. Don’t even do it in your garage or on your porch. Use such equipment only when you’re completely outdoors.

14. Notify your power company in advance if you use special healthcare equipment like oxygen generators or dialysis equipment that require power. Most power companies have the ability to note this in their records and will prioritize the response to your home.

15.  If your budget allows, acquire a portable generator.   Learn to safely use your generator and test it monthly.  And don’t forget to store enough fuel to run the generator for up to a week.  Alternately, you can look into solar generator options which are becoming increasingly reliable. Remember, your portable generator does not have to run full time.  Your refrigerator will be just fine without power over night when it is not being opened and closed repeatedly.

Continue reading…

From

, here.

האם לעשות תיקונים בדת? – יש בזה כלל פשוט

שינוי – לפני השם

יהודה סגל  ו’ תשרי ה’תשע”ח 26/09/17

בעבודת יום כיפור נאמר: “ונתן את הקטרת על האש לפני השם וכסה ענן הקטרת את הכפרת אשר על העדות ולא ימות”. חז”ל למדו מכאן שיש לשרוף את הקטורת בקודש הקדשים, להיפך מן הצדוקים שאמרו “יתקן מבחוץ ויכניס”.

אומרת הגמרא ביומא דף נ”ג ע”א:

תנו רבנן ונתן את הקטרת על האש לפני ה’ שלא יתקן מבחוץ ויכניס להוציא מלבן של צדוקין שאומרים יתקן מבחוץ ויכניס מאי דרוש כי בענן אראה על הכפרת מלמד שיתקן מבחוץ ויכניס אמרו להם חכמים והלא כבר נאמר ונתן את הקטרת על האש לפני ה’ אם כן מה תלמוד לומר כי בענן אראה על הכפרת מלמד שנותן בה מעלה עשן ומניין שנותן בה מעלה עשן שנאמר וכסה ענן הקטרת את הכפרת הא לא נתן בה מעלה עשן או שחיסר אחת מכל סמניה חייב מיתה.

בספר “הדרש והעיון” מוצא כאן המחבר רמז לאותם שבכל דור ודור קמים לעשות “תיקונים” ביהדות כדי להשוותה עם מה שמצאו מחוצה לה. על זה המליצו את הפתגם “חדש אסור מן התורה בכל מקום”.

השינוי הוא מבורך, בתנאי שהוא בא מבפנים, ועל מנת להחזיק את הקיים. אנחנו משתמשים בעולם מתחדש על מנת לקיים את התורה הנצחית. ואין זה רשות אלא חובה. אך לא נשנה את התורה כדי להתאימה עם העולם המשתנה לכאורה.

יהי רצון שנזכה להתחדש ולחדש את העבודה!

בס”ד, יהודה סגל

YSMehadrinews@Gmail.com

גירסה קודמת באתר מהדריניוז, כאן.

Great News! Rabbi Meir Mazuz Is Making an Impression on the CHAREDI World!

I most certainly don’t agree with all of Rabbi Mazuz’s opinions, as I already noted in the past.

But his general approach of intellectual honesty, unbound by frozen status quo bias or appeal to false authority, and therefore his willingness to consider wearing Techeiles and ascending Har Habayis, his Rishon-like method of studying historical artifacts to see if they change our understanding of the text, skillful conjecturing of textual variances, like the Vilna Gaon (and the Tunisian Talmudic Technique, generally), his “Kedushas Tzion-like” orientation, his fearless disdain of “Gadolatry”, his battles against giving away Eretz Yisra’el to our enemies (except during Shemittah!), and much more, all make his Torah a breath of fresh air.

How do you know he’s making an impression?

Here’s an image of the title page of a pamphlet titled “אמת קנה” written to stem his influence (and by vainly noting its mere supposed innovation, to boot…!).

I got this by email with the subject header warning of מידע חשוב על השקפות פסולות שמוכנסות לילדכם:

Mainstream US Journalism Is Dead and Buried (Same As Israeli Journalism)

Americans don’t trust the media, and for good reason

BY SHARYL ATTKISSON, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR – 08/18/17

Trust in the mass media is at an all-time low. Two-thirds of Americans believe the mainstream press publishes fake news.

Yes, there’s still much good journalism to be found, if you know where to look. Yet, ask reporters who’ve been around a while,  and many will tell you that a lot of good journalism is being left unpublished. Good journalists hate what’s happening to the news.

We have only ourselves to blame.

Firewalls that once strictly separated news from opinion have been replaced by hopelessly blurred lines. Once-forbidden practices such as editorializing within straight news reports, and the inclusion of opinions as if fact, are not only tolerated; they’re encouraged.

We’ve exempted ourselves from the normal rules that used to govern us, and so the most egregious kinds of reporting errors are becoming more common. Formerly well-respected news organizations and experienced national journalists are making the sorts of mistakes that aren’t tolerated in journalism schools. When their mistakes are corrected at all, it’s with little seeming regret. And the corrections never garner a circulation as wide as the original salacious narrative.

Special interests understand this, as they peddle tasty bites of scandalous, dubious information, hoping one major news organization or popular blog will bite.

When fact errors are exposed, there are rarely any visible consequences for the offender. In fact, if anything, these figures often seem to gain more prominence. Colleagues cheer on the editorializing and misreporting, and management rewards it. Many news organizations have come to resemble the fact-starved blogs they once took pains to remain separate from.

As journalists, we’re supposed to sort through press releases, talking points and propaganda, using them only to the extent they enlighten us as to what special interests want to believe: Is it true? Is it the whole story? Who wants you to think it and why? Are they trying to deflect attention from other facts or a more important story?

Finding these answers is a basic part of our job.

Instead, we’re willing repositories for all kinds of narratives. We report — as if news — press releases from the government, corporations, special interests or nonprofits (that are often undisclosed fronts for political and business interests). They influence us with help from public relations groups, law firms, super PACs, “big data analysis” companies, think tanks, nonprofits, and LLCs. They pay “journalists” to write their “news stories” and then have them published on partner blogs and quasi-news sites, where they get circulated on social media and picked up in the mainstream. Whether through ignorance or turning a blind eye, we’re not asking the questions we ought to be asking about the forces generating the “news.”

It was equal parts predictable and inevitable. For a decade or more, we’ve increasingly invited corporate and political interests into our newsrooms. We plaster the news with pundits without fully disclosing their paid interests, as they deliver talking points du jour that are neither spontaneous nor insightful — but always on message. Some of these figures are given key roles as managers, reporters and anchors; offered access to internal editorial information. And because we allow ourselves to be tools of all sides, we call it fair.

Many Americans are eagerly watching the devolution of traditional news with relish because they agree with the prevailing narratives, whether based on true facts or imagined fiction. But others are growing skeptical of nearly every news item they see or read. Some have stopped consuming news altogether.

That serves the goal of the interests that are pulling our strings. It’s in the PR playbook. If they can do nothing more than confuse an issue, they’ve accomplished their mission. They throw so much information into the mix that ordinary people disregard all of it, including the truth that would have damaged the interests.

I think there are millions of people, particularly those who live outside of Washington, D.C., New York City and Los Angeles, who would like their news straight up: News that they don’t have to discount because they’re placing odds on the political and corporate interests of the reporters. Yet, we don’t hear these desires because we’re trapped in an echo chamber of our own creation.

I’m commonly asked, “Can ‘the news’ be fixed?” In simple terms, there are two components necessary to do so: We must correctly identify (and admit) our problem, and then take steps to correct it.

We have yet, as an industry, to take step one.

Sharyl Attkisson (@SharylAttkisson) is an Emmy-award winning investigative journalist, author of the New York Times bestsellers “The Smear” and “Stonewalled,” and host of Sinclair’s Sunday TV program “Full Measure.”

From The Hill, here.

How Antinomian Threads in Chassidus Gave Us Heretics like Nathan Lopes Cardozo

A recent Jewish Press interview quotes meshumad “Dutch-Israeli Orthodox rabbi, philosopher, and Jewish scholar Nathan Lopes Cardozo” rejecting the mitzvah to wipe out Amalek.

When he bloviates irrelevantly about Avraham arguing whether Sedom should be destroyed, the interviewer raises the obvious counter: “And yet shortly thereafter, God tells Abraham to execute his son Isaac, and gives him kudos for the fact that he tried to comply.”

Here is Cardozo’s response:

I am of the opinion that Abraham, by being prepared to do so, to execute his son, failed the test. I think that the reading of the binding of Isaac should be different from the conventional approach as some Hasidic texts indeed seem to suggest. For an excellent overview read: The Fear, the Trembling and the Fire by my dear friend, Professor Jerome (Yehudah) I. Gellman, published by University Press of America in 1994.

It goes on, of course, Afra lepumei.

This isn’t to say there’s no difference between saying a Chassidic homily on the one hand, and pretending, as does Cardozo, this has any bearing on practical halacha, on the other. Still, the earlier imputed authority was a necessary condition for the later perversion. And this assumes it really was all just homilies, after all, of which I’m not so sure.

I found this through Rabbi Grossman’s powerful rebuttal of some sections.