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Homeless Survival and Off-Grid technology
Maximize bang for buck with science

Jay Maron, Todd Bezenek, Dan Smith, Alan Carsey, Mike Frank, and Tom
Sponsors: Transitional Services for New York Inc., Fritter Incorporated, and the Dan Smith Estate

Bootstrap gear
Coat
Vehicle
Computer
Electrical power
Heat power
Food
Furniture

Seastead
Ecology and farming
Materials science
Natural resources
Electric vehicles
Flying cars
Currency


Bootstrap gear

The goal is to equip people with stuff so that they can function. You need a phone, a coat, heaters, a computer, a small vehicle, and a small piece of land. Maximize bang for buck with science.

Bootstrap catalog:

                     $

Phone                0   Primary. Government service
Phone                0   Backup.  Included with Spectrum service
Keyboard            25   Foldable. Fits in a pocket
Tablet              40   6 inch screen. Fits in a pocket. Serves as a screen for a computer or phone
Batteries           40   Powers the electronics or makes heat
Spectrum internet   40   Inclues a phone with unlimited data. Price is per month

Coat, full-length   50   Lightweight. Waterproof. Hood. Supersized. Abundant interior pockets
Coat, puffer        30   Lightweight. Fits under the full-length coat. Doesn't need to be full-length
Pants, waterproof   15   Lightweight. Can be folded to fit into a pocket in the overcoat
Hat, heated         15
Socks, heated       15
Gloves, heated      15
Heat pads           15   Best placed on your back, but can be placed anywhere
Heater, butane      20   Flameless. Uses a platinum catalyst. Butane is cheap

Suit pants          30
Suit shirt          30
Suit shoes          40
Suit coat           40
Belt                15
Tie                 15

Scooter, electric  110   The battery can power heat pads and electronics. It can have a lockable trunk. 500 Watt. Range of 30 km

Tent                90   10x8x6 feet. 5 kg
Office chair        70   Arm rests. Head rest. Swivel. Wheels. 5.7 kg
Camping chair       35   Folds. 3.2 kg
Table               35   Folding. Wide, so that your feet are free to move without bumping into the front legs of the table
Comforter           50   Serves as a mattress and as a blanket

Computer, mini PC  220   32 GByte RAM. GPU. Runs AI software well
Battery, 19 Volt    80   Powers the computer and heat pads. Can also do 12 and 5 Volt
SD card             30   512 GB. Serves as a backup for data on the computer
Headphones          25   50 mm speaker. Fully covers the ear. Microphone. Great for mental health. Great for blocking noise
Generator          100   1000 Watts, 10 kg

Life signs monitor 100   Broadcasts continuously to a cloud service that takes action if you are hurt

Swiss army knife    30   Small. Knife, scissors, saw, needle pliars, cutting pliars, awl, can opener
Gun, air-powered    80   No permit needed. Pepper cartridges
Tennis racket       20   Serves for self defense
Knife               10   Serves for self defense

Rural land         100   10x10 meters. Rural land is 1 $/meter2

Critical items need backups. You need 2 phones.

Things a city can provide for the poor:

Outdoor AC power. Install meters on the outlets and give poor people credit for electricity
Coal and butane
Lockers and a safe place to secure bikes
A safe place to sleep


The Mars Coat

A coat should be full-length, waterproof, hooded, lightweight, supersized, and have abundant pockets. A puffer coat should fit underneath.

Insulation quality is proportional to thickness/density. The puffer coat should have a low-density fill. Bird down has lower density than any synthetic fill.

A coat can have a stiff frame and a hip strap to make it easy to carry things.

A deluxe coat can have electric heat pads and a control panel for the pads. Also include inflatable air bags, a circulatory system, and a pump, because air is the best insulator.

A platinum catalytic heater can burn butane flamelessly, and has much more heating power than batteries. The coat circulatory system can deliver hot air from the heater throughout the coat.


Vehicle

A vehicle enables you to get to gigs and it enables you to have a house on remote rural land.

The simplest vehicle is a folding electric scooter. A $110 scooter has a 500 Watt motor, moves at 20 mph, and has a range of 20 miles. It has a 1 MegaJoule battery that can power heat pads and electronics.

A trike costs $300 and you can add a gasoline motor for $150. It has a power of 2000 Watts and a top speed of 30 mph. A generator for recharging batteries can be added for $100. It can have a lockable trunk and it can tow a trailer.

A trike with a cabin is a shelter and can be heated. You can sleep in it and store stuff in it.

Components:

                        $
Electric scooter      110
Trike                 400
Gasoline motor kiy     80    50 cc, 2000 Watts
Generator             100    1000 Watts of electricity. 10 kg
Trunk that locks       30
Bike wheel repair kit  20
Locks and cables       30
Tracking devices       30    Stealthfully embedded in the vehicle

Feast for least

You can feed a person for $4 a day with chicken, rice, and dairy products. These are among the cheapest proteins, carbs, and fats.

Carbs are cheap but they need sauce. The expensive part of sauce is the fat source, and cheap fat sources include dairy products and nut oil.

An example of a day's food is:

          Mass   Protein  Calories  Cost   Cost per mass
          gram    gram               $         $/kg

Chicken    330    100       900     1.6         5
Rice       300     16      1000      .9         3
Butter      50      0       360      .5        10
Milk      1000     33       422     1.0         4

Total             149      2682     4.0

What counts is "calories per dollar" and "protein per dollar", which are plotted below. Cheap proteins are to0 the right and cheap calories are to the top.

Foods with high calories/$ include peanuts, pasta, rice, bread, and milk.

       Calories/Cost  Calories/Mass  Cost/Mass
           Cal/$         Cal/kg        $/kg

Wheat flour   1213      3640        3.0
Peanut        1260      5670        4.5
Pasta         1194      3701        3.1
Rice          1150      3330        2.9
Peanut butter 1095      6570        6
Oil, olive     982      8840        9
Oil, peanut    982      8840        9
Wheat flour    910      3640        4.
Wheat bread    890      2670        3.0
Milk           750       600         .8
Butter         717      7170       10
Chicken drum   713      2140        3
Oats           650      3890        6.0
Mountain Dew   440       440        1.0
Cheese         403      4030       10
Chicken breast 390      1950        5
Beans, refried 362      1450        4
Mackerel       312      1560        5
Tomato paste   182       820        4.5

Foods with high protein/$ inlude chicken, milk, and peanuts.

        Protein/Cost  Protein/Mass  Cost/Mass  Protein/Cost
           gram/$       gram/kg       $/kg

Chicken       61         303          5
Milk, powder  53         263          5.0
Turkey        49         293          6
Mackerel      46         232          5
Pork          45         224          5
Milk, whole   41          33           .8
Peanut        40         267          6.6
Egg           30         120          4
Bread, wheat  30          91          3
Cheddar       28         283         10
Beef          27         247          9
Peanut        57         258          4.5

Foods with high fat/$ include:

                     Fat    Cost   Fat
                     g/$    $/kg   g/kg

Oil, olive           111     9    1000
Peanut               109     4.5   492
Peanut butter         88     6     530
Butter                81    10     811
Heavy cream           53     7     370
Milk, whole, powder   53     5.0   267
Oil, sunflower        45    22    1000
Cheese                33    10     331
Milk, whole           32      .8    32
Heavy cream powder    25    30     750
Butter powder         23    33     750
Chicken               15     5.0    77
Guacamole             10    15     143

Vitamins

Vitamins are easy. Almost all vitamins fit in one pill, except for potassium, phosphorus, calcium, and magnesium. These vitamins can be obtained in raw chemical form for cheap. The daily vitamin requirement is:

            Requirement     Source
             gram/day

Potassium       3.5         Potassium phosphate
Phosphorus      1.0         Potassium phosphate
Calcium         1.0         Calcium chloride           (Most soluble form of calcium)
Magnesium        .35        Magnesium chloride
Iron             .27
Zinc             .075
Manganese        .075
Copper           .022

Calories and protein

The plot shows the protein and calorie content of food. Foods with high protein and low fat are to the lower right.


Calcium

Calcium is abundant in cheese and milk and rare in other foods. The calcium content of food is:


Potassium and phosphorus

The plot shows the phosphorus and potassium content of food.


Shopping cart

A shopping cart is a truck.

A shopping cart can be a locker if you add a top to it. A city should provide space for shopping cart parking.


Off-grid energy

Gasoline generator
Battery
Stirling generator


Electricity

                    Energy/$  Power/$  Energy/Mass  Power/Mass
                    MJoule/$  Watt/$    MJoule/kg    Watt/kg

Battery, lithium-ion     .008     7       .6          400
Battery, lead-acid       .045    58                   180
Generator, gasoline      -       10                   100    Converts gasoline to heat to electricity
Generator, Stirling      -       10                    30    Converts any hydrocarbon to heat to electricity
Solar cell               -         .6                  20
Wind turbine             -        1                    10
Water turbine            -        1                    30
Generator, hand crank    -         .4                  40
Generator, bike chain              .8                  15    Extracts energy from a bike chain
Generator, bike wheel              .15                 15    Extracts energy from a bike wheel

Gasoline generators have good power/mass but they're not sold in small sizes. The smallest gasoline generator have a power of 1000 Watts and a mass of 10 kg.

The energy used by electronic devices is:

             Volts   Watts

Phone           5       .5       Assume the phone is on and playing a video
Tablet         12      3
Small laptop   12     10
Large laptop   19     20

Heat

                     Energy/Mass  Energy/$    Mass/$
                      MJoule/kg   MJoule/$     kg/$

Coal                        32     320        10
Natural gas                 55     250         4.5
Firewood                    22     220        20
Gasoline                    47      47         1.0
Propane                     50      38          .75
Butane                      50      38          .75      Lighter fluid
Coal, matchlight            32      13          .4
Wax                         45      11.2        .25
Coal, hookah                32       3.8        .12
Gel fuel                    22       2.2        .10      Methanol, ethanol, diethylene glycol
Solid fuel                  30        .9        .031     Hexamine, trioxane
Heat pack, iron powder      10        .89       .089
Lithium-ion battery           .6      .008      .013

You can cook outdoors with coal, and you can cook indoors with hookah coal. Hookah coal produces minimal smoke.


Land

Prime farmland is 1 $/meter2 and wilderness land can be much less. City land is usually more than 1000 $/meter2.

If you have access to building material, you can build your own house.


Natural resources

Marble Canyon, Colorado River

You need access to natural resources and machines to harness them. Good resources include stone, wood, and grass. A saw mill can harness a rock quarry and a forest. A Stirling generator converts biomass to electricity. Grass can be harnessed with grazing livestock.

You need to be able to rent machines, trucks, and time at the saw mill.


Furniture

Furniture matters for meditation.


Chair

A chair should have:

*) A high back, preferably high enough to support your head
*) Arm rests
*) Reclining
*) Space underneath the chair for your feet
*) Padding
*) Curvature

For outdoor benches, there should be a canopy for rain and walls for wind. There should be benches in the sun for cold weather and benches in the shade for hot weather. Some benches should have tables.


Table

Your feet should be free to move. A table should be wide so that your feet don't bump into the front legs of the table. The chair should allow your feet to move backward.


Building materials

              Price/kg
                $/kg

Lumber               .1
Magnesium           2.5
Aluminum            2.7
Steel                .75
Concrete             .08
Plastic             1
Plexiglass         20
Styrofoam           1.5       Density is from 10 to 40 kg/meter3
Carbon fiber       20
Gravel               .12
Sand                 .12
Stone, cheap         .15
Granite              .8
Rubber, new         2.5
Rubber, recycled     .4
Rubber, scrap        .1
Freshwater           .001

Disaster response team

Disaster mother ship

Have a van with diaster supplies.

Have drivers that are trained in disaster management.

The van can do much more. It can be a store, a museum, a gameroom, etc.


Command

Establish a hierarchical command structure. Have flexibility.

Assign roles and give titles.

Harness communities that are well-unified.

Have a platform for communication.

Have everyone make a web page announcing their skills and resources. Have a unified database with an indexing system.

Hold drills and make them fun.


Supplies

Stockpile supplies. Gear and food. Have a website that keeps track of each person's supplies.

Have a web site showing what supplies to get.


Rescue vehicles

Have a fleet of diverse rescue vehicles.

The most important features are speed and payload. Startup time also matters.


Maps and satellite photos

The system downloads satellite photos and annotates them, with user input.

Be able to store the photos on your local device if there is no communication.


Looting

Have surveilance, both public and private.

During peacetime, surveilance can be a bad thing, but during disasters, surveilance is useful.


Fire fighting by a community

Everyone should have scuba gear and fire suits. It can save lives. Plus, the more firefighters, the better.

Everyone should have hoses, pumps and generators. People with pools should have supersized equipment.

If a fire is coming, people without pools can make a pond on their land. Soak all surface. Buildings, grass, and trees.

A forest fire is hard to stop because forests are dense. 11 kg of wood per square meter. Even if you stop sparks, the heat wave ignites everything.

A city fire can be stopped because the density of flamable material is less than for a forest, but it requires the ability to protect buildings. A fire blanket big enough to cover a house costs $4000. A community should have such blankets in stock. Get them to the houses in greatest danger.

Firefighting gear:

Hose, 2"                     2    $/meter
Hose, 4"                     5    $/meter
Water pump                  10    Watt/$
Generator                   10    Watt/$
Battery                      1.6  WattHour/$
Barrel to hold water          .5  gallon/$

Fire suit                  100    $
Fire blanket                12    $/meter2
Fire extinguisher           30    $

Scuba tank, .5 L           100  $   200 atmospheres.  7 minutes of air
Scuba tank, 2 L            250  $   200 atmospheres. 30 minutes of air
Scuba mask                  30  $
Scuba air pump              60  $

Drone                      100  $
All-band transceiver       100  $

Junk engineering

Much can be had for free from churches, junkyards, and the salvation army. Clothing is abundant. Schools should have classes on junk engineering.


Bread and Circuses
Provide entertainment, such as:

Media subscriptions
Game subscriptions
Gamestation
VR goggles
Tickets to minor league baseball games
Drugs


Seastead

Payload

Cargo ships have a payload of ~ 1 kg/$. A seastead can be constructed on a cargo ship, or you can build tiles that link together. You also want docks for boats.


Breakwater

A breakwater is necessary for hosting small ships, and for minimizing sway. A luxurious seastead needs a stout breakwater.

The breakwater should be submerged and out of site, to not obstruct ocean view. It should be outside the residential space, so that residences are not subjected to harsh waves.

A breakwater can use fins to damp motion, and it can also have internal damping. Motion dampers can generate electricity.

Old wind turbine blades make good breakwaters. You need a long stiff structure.


Sway

To minimize sway, the seastead cross section at sea level should be minimized. Flotation elements should be at least 10 meters deep, to not be influenced by surface waves.

The habitable platform should be high above water, in case of storms.

Flotation elements are connected to the platform by vertical columns that are trussed together. It looks like a bamboo forest with a treehouse on top.


Geometry

Residences should have wide open view, so the residences should be on the outer rim. The seastead looks like a bike tire, with an outer rim, spokes, and a hub.

There are bridges on the outer rim and on the spokes, so that boats can move around the interior.

The main breakwater is outside the seastead, beyond the outer rim. There can also be interior breakwaters and motion dampers.

A seastead can be constructed from modular tiles. There should be abundant beams and cables connecting them, to reduce sway.

Many people will want yards with ocean view, and that can't be seen into from outside.

A house can have tiers of yards. There can be a yard at sea level and a yard high above sea level.


Fauna

Attract wild animals to the seastead, such as whales, dolphins, and birds. Also attract fish that can be eaten.


Underwater garden

Include an underwater garden.


Dock

Have a dock for connecting the seastad to land. If it's long enough, it can serve as an airstrip.


Satellite dish

Have a large satellite dish and a connection to Starlink.


Golf

The most famous par 3 that exists is the Phoenix open. A stadium surrounds the hole with a capacity of 20,000. People care about golf. The seastead should have a driving range. A tee zone on the seastead and a floating green in the sea.

A floating green can move and have variable distance. It can have an entourage of fairway and bunker tiles that can be swiftly re-arranged. The green can have actuators that can make the green topology anything you want. The green can adjust like the mirror in a telescope with adaptive optics. My fiction novel involves a fleet of land yachts that tours golf courses.


Computers

The most important quality for a computer is memory, especially for AI and video production.

Adding a GPU to a computer increases its speed by a factor of 30.

The best minimalist computer is the cheapest mini PC with a GPU, available for $220. It has big memory (32 GB), which can run sofware for audio/video production and AI.

A mini PC can use a tablet for a screen and can be driven with a compact folding keyboard. It makes laptops obsolete.

Desktops and supercomputers:

                     Memory     Thread        GPU    Cost                  Power  CPUs  Threads TPUs  CPU    SD  SDmax   GPU
                       GB       GFlop        GFlop     $    GB/$  GFlop/$  Watt                       GHz    TB   TB

El Capitan. World #1  5400000 20000000 2700000000  600 Mil  .009   4.5  30 Mil 1050000 11000000        1.8               AMD Instinct MI300A
NYU Greene, 1 node       3000                                                       96                 3.7               World champion for biggest memory per node
Dell PowerEdge R560      2048      324     126000    30000  .10    4.2    2000      56      108        3.0               NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000
HIDevolution              256      137      31800     7400  .03    4.3     250      24       24        5.7    2          NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090L
Nvidia DGX Spark          128       50      31000     4000  .032   7.8     140      20       20  180   2.5    4          NVIDIA GB10     25 MByte/second external. 1.2 kg
GMKtec+                   128      163      14800     2000  .06    7.4              16       32   40   5.1    2     8    AMD Radeon 8060S
GMKtec                     96      102       8300      700  .14   11.7              14       20   12   5.1    1     8    AMD Radeon 780M
Bosgame M4                 96       82       8300      510  .19   16.3               8       16    -   5.1               AMD Radeon 780M
Firebat                    64       54       1460      395  .16    3.7      55       6       12    -   4.5               AMD Radeon 660M              $275+$120
Minisforum                 32       77       3380      320  .10   10.6     140       8       16    -   4.8     .5        AMD Radeon 680M
Bosgame 3550H              32       30       1130      220  .15    5.1      65       4        8    -   3.7     .5   4    AMD Radeon Vega 8
Raspberry Pi5              16        9.6        0      150  .11     .064    27       4        4    -   2.4               -                    Size .7x2.7x3.4 inch
Raspberry Pi5               8        9.6        0      100  .08     .096    27       4        4    -   2.4               -                    Size .7x2.7x3.4 inch
Raspberry Pi0 2W             .5      4          0       35  .014    .11     12       4        4    -   1.0               -                    Size .5x1.3x2.7 inch

Components:

CPU speed/$              .5  GFlop/$
GPU speed/$            35    GFlop/$
GPU Speed/Power       200    GFlop/Watt
RAM                      .4  GB/$
SD memory              14    GB/$
Disk memory            50    GB/$
Battery energy/mass

GPUs:

                      GPU speed  NPU speed  Core  GPU  TMU  ROPS  Tensor  Clock  RAM  RAM speed  Power  Cost  GPU speed/$  Rez max
                        TFlop      TFlop     #     #    #    #      #      GHz   GB   TB/second  Watt    $      GFlop/$

AMD Instinct MI300A      123                 228  14592           912    2.1    128    5.3       760
NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000      126                      24064  752 192  752    2.6     96    1.79     1000   9000     14.0
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090  105         419     170  21760  680 176  680    2.4     32    1.79      575   2800     3
NVIDIA GB10               31.0      1000      20   6144  384  48  384    2.5    128     .27      140   4000      7.8
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090L  31.8                82  10496  328 112  328    1.5     24     .90      150
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090   35.6                    10496  328 112  328    1.70    24     .94      350   1500                           190 GPixel/second
AMD Radeon 8060S          14.8       126      40   2560  160  64   50    2.9                      55                     3840x2160
AMD Radeon 780M            8.29        0      12    768   48  32    0    2.7                      54                     2560x1440
AMD Radeon 680M            3.38
AMD Radeon 660M            1.46                6    384   24  16         1.9                      40
AMD Radeon RX 550          1.21        0       8    512   32  16    0    1.18     2     .112             95     12.7     1600x 900
AMD Radeon Vega 8          1.13        0       8    512   32   8    0    1.1      3               25

Prices from Amazon.


Displays

                   Width   Height   Video rate    Price
                                   MByte/second     $

HGVA                 480    320        .11
XGA                 1024    768                     40
WUXGA               1920   1200                    110
UHD 4K              3840   2160       7.0          220
UHD 8k              7680   4320      28           1800
Spectrum internet                    62                     $40/month

Battery

A mini PC needs a battery with 12 Volts or more. There exist batteries with 25 Volts that can dial-a-Volt to lower voltage.

              Thick  Width  Length  Price   Energy   Power  Volts  Mass   MJoule/kg  Volt
              inch   inch    inch     $    WattHour  Watt           kg

PWEITE         1.0   3.4    5.5       90      240      120   25
WXX             .62  2.2    2.7        7       11             5     .034
Talentcell                            55       65                   .43      .54      24   1.1  4.1  4.1
RGT                                   50       49                   .25      .71            .9  3.2  6.3

Power

             Power   Voltage max   Amps at 5 Volts
             Watt       Volt            Amps

USB-C PD 3.1     240      48             5
USB-C PD 3.1     240      20             5
USB-C             15       5             3
USB-A             10       5             2

Fundamental human rights

A person should never be separated from:

Life signs monitor, with communication with a cloud service that will rescue you if you are hurt
Phone
Passport and IDs
Credit cards
Keyboard
Glasses
Hearing aid
Electricity
Dentures
Wheelchair
Service dog
Suit & overcoat
Weapons. Knife, pepper spray, air-powered gun, air horn, smoke bombs, noise bombs, etc.
Comforts: Caffeine, alcohol, tobacco
Headphones. Quality audio input


Appendix

Queens food pantries

Ave  Street  Time    Rank

107   105    Tue  1     ***   Zion Tabernacle. 105-01 107th. 718 717 9993
 89   102    Sat  9     ***   Calvary's mission 102-16 89th Ave. 718-849-0311
 89   119    Sat  9     ***   River Fund 89-11 Lefferts. Sat 9 if age<60. Wed 9 if age>60. 718 441 1125
101   120    Sat  9     **    120-13 101 Ave. 4th Saturday of the month only
101   119    Fri  3:30  **    Agape Seventh Day Adventist Church of Richmond Hill.  97-25 Lefferts Boulevard
109   130    Mon  9     **    Saint Teresa. 109-24 130th St. 718-529-3587. Also Thursday at 9
105   120    Fri 12     *     Christina Home Care Services 917-592-8686. 120-19 Liberty Ave
110   150    Tue  9     *     BLANCHE MEMORIAL CHURCH 109-74 Sutphin Blvd. 718-658-2458
109   143    Thu 12     *     Brooks Memorial United Methodist 718 658 8822
 87   111    Fri  7     *     Elohim Community Development 87-47 111th st. 917-916-3066

Endorsements

American Museum of Natural History

Transitional Services of New York City

Broadway Presbyterian Church, Manhattan, New York

River Fund, Richmond Hill, New York

Calgary's Mission, Richmond Hill, New York

Saint Teresa of Avila Church, Brooklyn

Faith Assembly Church, Richmond Hill, New York

Zion Tabernacle, Richmond Hill, New York

Agape Seventh Day Adventist Church of Richmond Hill

Christina Home Care Services, Richmond Hill, New York

Amazon Corporation. Good prices and fast delivery

Spectrum Corporation. Good prices and good service

Starbucks Corporation


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Data from Wikipedia unless otherwise specified.