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if you want water pressure you need a tower to build pressure from gravity and the weight of the water pushing down on itself forcing water into your faucet.

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Today, people around the globe will feel uneasy about getting out of bed, leaving their homes, or going about their normal daily routines, all because of a superstition. These unfortunate folks suffer from paraskavedekatriaphobia, a common neurosis familiar to us all: the fear of Friday the 13th. But just where did this superstitious association come from, and how did it catch on?

The truth is that no one is absolutely sure where the idea that Friday the 13th is unlucky originated. Donald Dossey, the founder of the Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute in Asheville, North Carolina, suspects the fear can be traced back to a Norse myth about 12 gods who had a dinner at Valhalla-the fabled hall where legendary Norse heroes feasted for eternity after they died-that was interrupted by a 13th guest, the evil and mischievous god Loki.

According to legend, Loki tricked Höðr (the blind god of winter and son of Odin, the supreme god in Norse mythology) into shooting his brother Baldr (the benevolent god of summer who was also a son of Odin) with a magical spear tipped with mistletoe-the only substance that could defeat him. Thus the number 13 was branded as unlucky because of the ominous period of mourning following the loss of such powerful gods by this unwanted 13th guest.

For whatever reason, among many cultures, the number 12 emerged throughout history as a "complete" number: There are 12 months in a year, 12 signs of the zodiac, 12 Gods of Olympus, 12 sons of Odin, 12 labors of Hercules, 12 Jyotirlingas or Hindu shrines where Shiva is worshipped, 12 successors of Muhammad in Shia Islam, and 12 tribes of Israel. In Christianity, Jesus was betrayed by one of his 12 Apostles- Judas -who was the 13th guest to arrive for the Last Supper. Surpassing the number 12 ostensibly unbalances the ideal nature of things; because it is seen as irregular and disrespectful of a sense of perfection, the number 13 bears the stigma of misfortune and bad luck we know today.

WHY FRIDAY?

Friday joins in the mix mostly because all of the early accounts of Jesus's crucifixion agree that it took place on Friday-the standard day for crucifixions in Rome. As Chaucer noted in The Canterbury Tales, "And on a Friday fell all this mischance." Yet perpetuating Friday as an unlucky day in America came from the late 19th-century American tradition of holding all executions on Fridays; Friday the 13th became the unluckiest of days simply because it combined two distinct superstitions into one. According to the Oxford University Press Dictionary of Superstitions, the first reference to Friday the 13th itself wasn't until 1913. (So despite actually occurring on Friday, October 13, 1307, the popular notion that the Friday the 13th stigma comes from the date on which the famed order of the Knights Templar were wiped out by King Philip of France is just a coincidence.)

The repercussions of these phobias reverberated through American culture, particularly in the 20th century. Most skyscrapers and hotels lack a 13th floor, which specifically comes from the tendency in the early 1900s for buildings in New York City to omit the unlucky number (though the Empire State Building has a 13th floor). Some street addresses also skip from 12 to 14, while airports may skip the 13th gate. Allegedly, the popular Friday the 13th films were so-named just to cash in on this menacing date recognition, not because the filmmakers actually believed the date to be unlucky.

So, is Friday the 13th actually unlucky? Despite centuries of superstitious behavior, it largely seems like psychological mumbo jumbo. One 1993 study seemed to reveal that, statistically speaking, Friday the 13th is unlucky, but the study's authors told LiveScience that though the data was accurate, "the paper was just a bit of fun and not to be taken seriously." Other studies have shown no correlation between things like increased accidents or injuries and Friday the 13th.

And Friday the 13th isn't a big deal in other cultures, which have their own unlucky days: Greeks and Spanish-speaking countries consider Tuesday the 13th to be the unluckiest day, while Italians steer clear of Friday the 17th. So today, try to rest a little easy-Friday the 13th may not be so unlucky after all.

Additional Source: 13: The Story of the World's Most Popular Superstition.
Have you got a Big Question you'd like us to answer? If so, let us know by emailing us at bigquestions@mentalfloss.com.

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Today, people around the globe will feel uneasy about getting out of bed, leaving their homes, or going about their normal daily routines, all because of a superstition. These unfortunate folks suffer from paraskavedekatriaphobia , a common neurosis familiar to us all: the fear of Friday the 13th.

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Tips for Survivalists - Every Preppers Favorite Resource

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Let's say you're out in the wilderness. Slowly the temperature has been rising since you left camp.

...you know that you're in for a good, clear, but unmistakably hot day.

You look up to see that there are a few clouds in the sky and there are some trees for shade to keep you cooler.

Taking a quick break, you put your survival pack down and reach for your water bottle....only to find out it's empty.

While you know that in reasonable conditions you might last 3-5 days without water, there's no reason you should bother testing your body to see how it reacts to dehydration. It's time to find water.

Walking around, you find a puddle or a flowing stream and you assume the water is good to drink. However, you do need to keep in mind that the water could be a bacterial breeding ground.... and you know a bad case of diarrhea or vomiting will highly decrease your chance of survival.

Now it's time for you to think.

How do I turn this dangerous water into purified, drinkable water?

Whether or not you are prepared, there is a way to purify the water. We'll give you 5 of these different ways in this article.

Survival Water Purification Methods:

Boiling

You are probably already aware of purifying water by boiling it. To do this, you'll need a container and fire. To actually purify the water, you'll need to let it boil steadily for 10 minutes. Some say 1 minute is fine while others recommend a minimum of 7 minutes.

Personally, I feel the longer you boil it the more likely you are to kill the nasty micro-organisms in the water. Remember, you don't want to get sick during these situations so boiling longer is in your favor. Also a tip to remember is that the higher the altitude, the longer it takes to boil.

Chemical Treatment

Another way you can treat your water is to chemically treat it. Some examples of chemicals to treat water are Iodine, Hydrogen Peroxide, Sodium Chlorite, Potassium Permanganate, and bleach.

Some of these chemicals are actually already sold as purification tablets designed specifically for campers, hikers, and survivalists. These tablets are pretty easy to use.

Simply drop the correct number of tablets into your container filled with water and let the tablets work their magic. Usually the water is safe to drink after about 30 minutes. Be sure to check the manufacturer's instructions before you use these tablets.

Plain old household bleach - one that has no scents, cleaners, or was manufactured to be color safe - is also a good water purifier if you know what you're doing, but be careful!

To make your water safe, add around 1/8 teaspoon of the bleach to a gallon of water and let the bleach do its thing for no less than 30 minutes. Similarly, mix 5-10 drops of iodine (specifically 2% tincture of iodine) for every liter of water and wait for a minimum of 30 minutes.

Commercial Filters

Some of us would prefer to use commercial filters, which tend to be a little easier for us. That's why Commercial Filters were created!

There are tons of these filters on the market now and most of them operate the same.

Basically the unsafe water goes in one hose of the purifier, passes through either a ceramic or charcoal filter (which cleans the water) and then the clean water comes out another hose and into a container.

One point to keep in mind, however, is that not all the commercial filters will be able to remove viruses (although most of them do remove bacteria, protozoa, and other microorganisms).

To see for yourself how these filters work, check out the video below:

Methods for the Unprepared Survivalist

While many of us are prepared, there are some of us who are still learning. If you for some reason aren't prepared with the proper equipment, here are a few other ways to purify your water....

Method One:

Soil/Sand filter

One of the most primitive ways to filter water is by using soil or sand.

To do this, you'll need to create a makeshift filter that will hold the sand or soil and clean your water.

1. Get a container (perhaps your empty water bottle?) and place your shirt over it.

2. Place sand or soil on top of the cloth. This will be your makeshift filter.

3. Pour the water over your makeshift filter to remove any sediments and particles in your water. Repeat this process several times until your water is looking clear.

Another method is to dig a hole near the location of your water source and drink the water that seeps into that hole which was filtered by the soil surrounding it. However, keep in mind that this method does not guarantee that microorganisms such as bacteria are no longer contaminating your filtered water.

Method Two:

Solar Still/Distilling

For microorganism-free water, a solar still is actually a great method to use when safe, drinking water is not readily available.

1. Dig a hole or pit in the ground.

2. Put your container in the center of the hole/pit to collect the condensed water from the solar still.

3. Cover the hole/pit with transparent plastic and secure it tightly by placing dirt or rocks on the plastic around the edges of the hole/pit.

4. Then, place a rock or any heavy object on the center of the clear plastic so that it points towards the container. Like a greenhouse, the water in the soil will evaporate and condense on the plastic sheet. When it condenses, the water will run down into the cup.

Tip: You can add some vegetation into your pit/hole to increase the water output. You can also pour unclean water in the pit so that it can be distilled and made safe for drinking.

The concept of a still is far from new. Follow our steps and create an emergency still of your own.

Whichever method you choose to use, pay close attention to the signals your body is giving you. Staying hydrated, whether or not you are in a survival situation, is absolutely essential to your well-being.

If you find yourself in a less than ideal situation, remember these tips for hydration and these wise words from Bear Grylls:

"Keep your head about you, use common sense, don't panic......and above all think outside the box!"

Hey guys, check out our Water Purification Bundle!

It comes with the portable Frontier Straw Water Filter plus our 170 Gallons Water Purification Report. For a limited time it's 54% off + FREE shipping!

Grab yours here ==> http://tipsforsurvivalists.com/waterpurificationblog

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How To Purify Water - Survival Water Purification - Tips for Survivalists - Every Preppers Favorite Resource

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Let's say you're out in the wilderness. Slowly the temperature has been rising since you left camp. ...you know that you're in for a good, clear, but unmistakably hot day. You look up to see that there are a few clouds in the sky and there are some trees for shade to keep you cooler.

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Really easy to drill without big machines and power tools. Anyone can make one!

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In a post apocalyptic world, water is your only friend, don't waste it.

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To drink water you first need to treat it by either boililng it or using iodine.

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Emergency Supplies - Water Purification Tablets

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Emergency Supplies - Water Purification Tablets

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By Marc Lallanilla

Rain water harvesting with a rain barrel is a smart, energy- and water-conserving way to keep your yard and garden green and flourishing all season long.

It also makes sense to store rain water rather than send it into the ground near building foundations and basements, where it can cause foundation damage, wood rot, mold, mildew and a host of other problems.

Rain water harvesting systems can be as simple as a big bucket under a gutter downspout, or as complex as a whole-house system for drinking water and other uses that requires multiple cisterns, filters and storage devices. Most people, however, choose something in between.

Rain Water Harvesting: Why Bother?

Rain water has many advantages over most municipal water supplies. It's free of chlorine and other chemicals, making it ideal for plants -- especially exotic indoor plants. And in areas where rainfall is unreliable, and water restrictions prevent lawn watering, rain water harvesting is the best option for dry-weather gardening.

It's also free, which appeals to homeowners in cities with rising water rates.

Rain water advocates note that rain water can be better for indoor use because it's naturally soft and contains few if any of the minerals that make water hard. Properly filtered, naturally soft rain water can be used as drinking water and laundry use, though most people skip the filtering and just use it for gardening.

Choosing a Rain Barrel

Many styles and sizes of rain barrels are available at hardware and gardening supply centers, ranging in price from $50 to $300. These simple rain water harvesting systems are ideal for people with sloped roofs and gutters that channel rain water into a downspout.

Most rain barrels are made of plastic or fiberglass, though some are made of ceramic, wood or non-rusting metal. Ideally, a good rain barrel should have a screen to filter out leaves, a lid to keep insects out, and a spigot for a hose attachment. Better-quality rain barrels resist sun damage and have some way of linking two or more rain barrels together (usually through an integrated hose system).

Some have pumps for moving the water out, but a gravity system is cheaper, more reliable and more energy-conserving. A pump might be necessary, however, for hilly yards or spaces where it's more practical to keep the rain barrel at a lower level than the garden.

Maintaining a Rain Water Harvesting System

Most rain water harvesting is pretty hassle-free -- the rain falls and you catch it in a barrel. Easy, right? But a little maintenance goes a long way.

Roofs and gutters should be kept free of branches and leaves (of course, this is true even if you don't have a rain water harvesting system). Filters are needed to keep twigs, leaves and other debris out of the water, and a lid should fit securely over the barrel to discourage breeding insects like mosquitoes.

And in winter months, drain the rain barrel completely -- or at least 3/4 -- to keep ice from expanding or breaking the rain barrel.

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Rain Water Harvesting with a Rain Barrel

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By Marc Lallanilla Rain water harvesting with a rain barrel is a smart, energy- and water-conserving way to keep your yard and garden green and flourishing all season long.

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Collection of freshwater for drinking and watering plants.

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as the motor spines magnets creates energy/ if you are trying to be quiet you can make a generator out of a bike

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If you've ever moved paper clips around with a magnet or killed time arranging metal shavings into a beard on a "Wooly Willy" toy, then you've dabbled in the basic principles behind even the most complicated electric generators. The magnetic field responsible for lining up all those little bits of metal into a proper Mohawk haircut is due to the movement of electrons. Move a magnet toward a paper clip and you'll force the electrons in the clip to move. Similarly, if you allow electrons to move through a metal wire, a magnetic field will form around the wire.

Thanks to Wooly Willy, we can see that there's a definite link between the phenomena of electricity and magnetism. A generator is simply a device that moves a magnet near a wire to create a steady flow of electrons. The action that forces this movement varies greatly, ranging from hand cranks and steam engines to nuclear fission, but the principle remains the same.

One simple way to think about a generator is to imagine it acting like a pump pushing water through a pipe. Only instead of pushing water, a generator uses a magnet to push electrons along. This is a slight oversimplification, but it paints a helpful picture of the properties at work in a generator. A water pump moves a certain number of water molecules and applies a certain amount of pressure to them. In the same way, the magnet in a generator pushes a certain number of electrons along and applies a certain amount of "pressure" to the electrons.

In an electrical circuit, the number of electrons in motion is called the amperage or current, and it's measured in amps. The "pressure" pushing the electrons along is called the voltage and is measured in volts. For instance, a generator spinning at 1,000 rotations per minute might produce 1 amp at 6 volts. The 1 amp is the number of electrons moving (1 amp physically means that 6.24 x 10 ¹⁸ electrons move through a wire every second), and the voltage is the amount of pressure behind those electrons.

Generators form the heart of a modern power station. In the next section, we'll take a look at how one of these stations works.

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If you've ever moved paper clips around with a magnet or killed time arranging metal shavings into a beard on a "Wooly Willy" toy, then you've dabbled in the basic principles behind even the most complicated electric generators.

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Generates energy from the wind you can install a wind turbine onto your house, but it will be very small one or you can install it by your house where  it will be a medium to large wind turbine.

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Wind is a form of solar energy caused by a combination of three concurrent events:

1. The sun unevenly heating the atmosphere

2. Irregularities of the earth's surface

3. The rotation of the earth.

Wind flow patterns and speeds vary greatly across the United States and are modified by bodies of water, vegetation, and differences in terrain. Humans use this wind flow, or motion energy, for many purposes: sailing, flying a kite, and even generating electricity.

The terms "wind energy" and "wind power" both describe the process by which the wind is used to generate mechanical power or electricity. This mechanical power can be used for specific tasks (such as grinding grain or pumping water) or a generator can convert this mechanical power into electricity.

A wind turbine turns wind energy into electricity using the aerodynamic force from the rotor blades, which work like an airplane wing or helicopter rotor blade. When wind flows across the blade, the air pressure on one side of the blade decreases. The difference in air pressure across the two sides of the blade creates both lift and drag. The force of the lift is stronger than the drag and this causes the rotor to spin. The rotor connects to the generator, either directly (if it's a direct drive turbine) or through a shaft and a series of gears (a gearbox) that speed up the rotation and allow for a physically smaller generator. This translation of aerodynamic force to rotation of a generator creates electricity.

Types of Wind Turbines

The majority of wind turbines fall into two basic types:

When wind turbines of any size are installed on the "customer" side of the electric meter, or are installed at or near the place where the energy they produce will be used, they're called "distributed wind.

Many turbines used in distributed applications are small wind turbines. Single small wind turbines-below 100 kilowatts-are typically used for residential, agricultural, and small commercial and industrial applications.

Small turbines can be used in hybrid energy systems with other distributed energy resources, such as microgrids powered by diesel generators, batteries, and photovoltaics.

These systems are called hybrid wind systems and are typically used in remote, off-grid locations( where a connection to the utility grid is not available) and are becoming more common in grid-connected applications for resiliency.

Learn more about distributed wind from the Distributed Wind Animation or read about what the Wind Energy Technologies Office is doing to support the deployment of distributed wind systems for homes, businesses, farms, and community wind projects.

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Wind is a form of solar energy caused by a combination of three concurrent events: The sun unevenly heating the atmosphere Irregularities of the earth's surface The rotation of the earth. Wind flow patterns and speeds vary greatly across the United States and are modified by bodies of water, vegetation, and differences in terrain.

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File:Solar panels.JPG - Wikimedia Commons

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From Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository

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Generates energy from the sun you can install this to the roof or just install it on the floor.