Building umPODS: Welcome. Since you are here, be prepared to think way outside the box, but don't be scared off. What you are about to consider is based on logic and truth, and the truth is that it is time to act and start building a sustainable existence. Be prepared to venture into solar energy, recycled water, and a new method of construction, and beyond into the ills of politics and even religion, to seek ways to a brighter tomorrow. 

If you have visited before, please note there are some changes. Building umPODS was once Building IIPS. I quite often saw a puzzled look when I tried to explain Independent Insurance Proof Structures, so I have abandoned the IIPS acronym for something more descriptive although somewhat more onerous. Building umPODS (Unishell Modular Permacast Optimal Detached Superstructures) is more than a mouthful, but umPODS might ring as something to remember since PODS are something we can live in. I have found that the idea of building a structure strong enough to not require insurance is a subject few people give any thought, perhaps because we are led to believe that building superstructures that could withstand such perils would be impossible or cost prohibitive, and making structures independent of utilities and free from property taxes (which in my estimation are ludicrous since paying a tax again and again on something you own is unjust) just will never happen. How in a few hundred years have we reached the conslusion that we can't exist without insurance? Did American pioneers venture into the west thinking they could depend on someone else for water, food, shelter, protection, warmth, or anything else? If they had, they never would have ventured into the wilderness.

What is interesting about our culture is that we have been indoctrinated not to question the status quo. Just set back and let government and big business do it all. All we have to do is work like little machines and pay our monthly bills and taxes, which never end as a matter of fact. It is discouraging to me that death is my only out. Isn't that discouraging to everyone else?

So (and I love that word by the way), what is the answer? When I first began to think about building superstructures, I though about fire since fire is basically the number one reason to purchase hazard insurance. How can structures be built to be totally fireproof? Well, it means that not only the structure but also the contents cannot burn. So, what doesn't burn, and what does? Can we live with only things that don't burn? The answer of course is yes. The question is, how comfortably? The more I thought about fireproof, the more I considered other perils. Because of tragic events such as Hurricane Katrina, I began to consider flood proof, and then wind proof. What do we have to do to build stuctures that are immune to earthquakes and every other peril imaginable? Building umPODS is the subject, and hopefully the answer. Independence is something we should all strive for, for independence is the only true insurance there is.

(Continued in Perspective Articles)

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