News Getting On Lists.

[Anarchy]

Following from @Santa_Laurie's discovery that he is exempt from the robbery called "council tax" due to PTSD

I've a couple of major dilemmas here, that don't really fit into Laurie's thread...

I've been living (isolating) off grid for the past few years, and while it has its pluses, it also has its drawbacks; I'm typing this in a room that is colder than most people keep their refrigerator, my bedroom is just as cold. The generator isn't always a good starter, and I've just lit the water heating stove, I have enough sticks and hopefully there will be enough hot water for a bath and to wash dishes before bed time.

The governer on the generator was messed with before I got it, in a mistaken attempt to save diesel, it shagged my microwave and washing machine, and the gas cooker is jetted for natural gas, not propane, so I dare not use it. The spring water is lovely, there is absolutely zero lime scale, but it eats copper piping, and from time to time stops, when a frog or a dead rabbit gets stuck in the pipe.

I'm currently looking to move somewhere that has mains services, and have just got a proper paying job, I'm expecting the tax man to go in dry and give it to me hard and rough...

Back on to the topic that Laurie raised;
if any normal individual tried to "tax" it would be called by its proper name: Robbery.

The less the bastards can get from you the better.

In terms of dealing with abusive institutions (and one that funds itself by robbery is, by deffinition, abusive), I am personally allergic to getting my name onto an abusers lists.

There are things that I enjoy doing that I would probably find more difficult if my name was on a list for having PTSD.

Much as I despise robbery and funding abusers, my paranoia at having my name on a list outweighs my hatred of paying muggers.
Link Removed

 

[sun seeker]

You seem like an interesting person. I also do my best to do as much as possible for myself, live a selectively low-tech lifestyle, and keep my income under a taxable level (though my inability to work more than part time kind of takes care of that on its own). I file because I don't have it in me to defend my right not to, but I refuse to fund the evil that most of our tax money now goes to. It's in my blood. I grew up in an environment that encouraged civil disobedience in the face of institutionalized evil, and following one's conscience. I know I am not strong enough to keep a level head in a directly confrontational situation though, so I compromise by participating as little as possible in the institutions ruling our society while making sure not to actually break the rules. Things like homeschooling, alternative medicine, growing a garden, bartering, and learning about alternative energy. Right now my big project is fixing the deer fence around the garden where I grow most of my vegetables.

Mistrust of the intentions of institutions of any kind has guided a lot of my life choices. I've come to see that in some cases there is good being done by some of these institutions and to appreciate the shades of grey, though. My problem now is discerning which is which. When you have enough information about the issues at stake, there is fear that is real, not paranoid. On the other hand, the condition of PTSD makes it hard to tell the difference between legitimate fear and PTSD-induced fear. I am terrified most of the time anyway, so it's hard to tell when there are real things to be afraid of. I'd be interested in how you deal with this dilemma.

 

[Neverthesame]

I don't have much in the way of advice for you other than. Pesky dead rabbits blocking your water pipe? Three words, Tetra Nitro Toluene.

If done correctly, you should be able to clear a clogged inlet pipe, and cook dinner in 1/1000th of a second.

 

[Sighs]

I'm guessing you don't want to hear about Adam Hume and the Social Contract and the Westminster system of democracy? ;)

 

[moonbeam]

Hmm that is an interesting thought Anarchy.

I suppose I should put this in Laurie's thread but it isn't strictly SMI, you also have to meet a separate criteria of receiving one of 3 types of benefits to qualify. I was more curious how that would work. I don't even pay council tax, my landlady does.

But that is an interesting thing to think about. Your home sounds awesome by the way. Though wait. Indoor plumbing?? Or do I not want to know?

 

[Anarchy]

I'm guessing you don't want to hear about Adam Hume and the Social Contract and the Westminster system of democracy? ;)

http://joelsgulch.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/spooner-didnt-sign-shit.jpg

The over priced two ring circus on the banks of the Thames?

I take care not to vote to have my views inflicted on my neighbours, or on anyone else.
____________________________________
The portrait is of Lysander Spooner, one of the 19th century individualist anarchists.

 

[scout86]

TNT is actually trinitrotoluene and a screen over the intake opening might be less messy. (But I AM wondering about the chemistry that's going on to dissolve the copper pipe!)

 

[Anarchy]

Your home sounds awesome by the way. Though wait. Indoor plumbing?? Or do I not want to know?

There is indoor plumbing, including flush toilet, the outdoor thunderbox (the local term is "netty", English does not have its own socially acceptable word for a shit house of any sort) is still there too, although part of the roof blew off in last winter's gales.

I'd better add that it is only a single seater :(

The place has been "modernized" a few times.

One of those was to block up the fireplaces in the bedrooms, when free standing paraffin/kerosene heaters became the "modern way":eek:

More recently, my brother had radiators, a circulation pump and a multi fuel (wood or coal) stove with a water jacket installed, however it takes several hours of constant stoking to get the radiators up to being warm to the touch.

There is a pvc door, although the last occupant's dog chewed the sealing strips out of it, and there is double glazing.

I added some glass fibre loft insulation, and a second wood burning stove, but there are still plenty of heat bridges for the cold to get in, and unless there is someone to stoke the stoves or run the generator, there is no heat, and the stone walls take a lot of heat to warm up.

The access track is somewhat rough and is prone to filling up with drifted snow, that was no problem when I had access to a four wheel drive, but now with a little old two wheel drive car, I have to walk up a muddy field - it isn't just unwelcome visitors who get discouraged now.

There's a long story from a few weeks ago that I'm in a position to post about now that I want to move to a place with mains electric- but that I found incredibly triggering at the time...

I'll see if I can write that up over the weekend.

 

[Neverthesame]

@scout86 Thank you. I should have known better than to trust my memory on that one. I least I don't have to worry about the local government thinking I might blow up something. If I can't remember what TNT stands for lol.

 

[Anarchy]

@scout86 'least I don't have to worry about the local government thinking I might blow up something. If I can't remember what TNT stands for lol.

I wouldn't bet on it;)

a few years back, I used to get the job of managing the blasting contracts for a quarrying company - that's the sort of work that I'm good at, but being on a list for having PTSD would probably bar me from.

(But I AM wondering about the chemistry that's going on to dissolve the copper pipe!)

I've not checked the pH, but it drains through peat bogs, then a sandstone that has already lost all of its easily leached constituents. It is aggressive enough to copper pipe that the bath water is pale green and that green reacts with soap to give a ring of insoluble green copper soaps around the bath. Copper hot water cylinders last about 5 years. The plastic kettle is also stained green inside.

Interestingly, although my water supply spring is clear, a lot of the springs give a red iron oxide precipetate, and that also binds to copper. Sheep are normally poisoned by copper, but ours need constant copper supliments or they stop thriving, and we start getting fewer lambs and lambs with "swayback" caused by copper deficeincy.

 

[Upside Down Eagle]

I for one love that I am paying taxes...

Because other people's tax money is what allows me (and others!) to receive disability aid.
Without it, I would not have been able to work through much of my problems at a pace that is acceptable for me.

So... you can see them as abusers. I see them also as caretakers.
Depends on your perspective.

PS. When we moved to a remote little place in Spain, at first we had a hole in the ground for a crapper and a shovel as a lid :D
The shower was outside too. Cold, but it had a strange kind of charm.

 

[scout86]

but ours need constant copper supliments

Now you really have me thinking! Something that ties the copper in the environment up in a form that's unavailable to the sheep? I actually just did a little looking. A copper deficiency can also be caused by zinc toxicity. So, if you happen to have a lot of zinc in the soil there and the water somehow makes the zinc more available to the sheep, you could have a Cu deficiency due to that. (And, PEOPLE are susceptible to these same issues, although we don't have the sensitivity to copper levels that sheep do.)