The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods:

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SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods— a collection of news bits and pieces that are relevant to the modern survivalist and prepper from “HJL”. The cleanup from Hurricane Michael begins.

Hurricane Michael

Hurricane Michael apparently has the weather experts confused. Reader T.J. sent in this news article showing that the weather service was unable to predict the strength of the hurricane as it made landfall. The wind speeds are directly related to the pressure – The lower the pressure, the stronger the winds. Michael went from an unassuming tropical storm to flirting with the Category 5 level. This makes Michael the first Category 4 to make landfall in October since 1954. According to the experts, the storm should not have been as powerful as it was.

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Meanwhile, the aftermath of the storm is making life difficult for many residents. Those who were not prepared are now finding it difficult to find food and shelter. There is no electricity in much of the state so any food in a refrigerator has spoiled. There is no city water pressure or sewer in many urban areas so waste products are piling up. The article profiles the usual assortment of people who are upset that the government hasn’t come in yet to save them and make them comfortable. While our hearts go out to the people that are suffering, this should be a strong reminder to them that the government is not the one you depend on when the going gets tough. Thanks to H.L. for the link.

Bartertown

In Mad Max, Beyond Thunderdome there is a place called bartertown where you can get just about anything, but ultimately, you own nothing. Reader M.J. sent in this article that makes the link to our progressive property taxes. You perpetually rent your property from whom you pay these taxes to. Don’t want to pay any income taxes? Just don’t make any income. Don’t want to pay sales tax? Don’t buy anything. As long as you have land where you can produce your own food and shelter, you can still live. But just try not paying your property tax and see what happens to things you think you own.

Storing Vegetables

A SurvivalBlog reader sent in this article on how to extend the life of your root vegetables by storing them in sand. This is a time honored way of extending the life of your root vegetables. What kills most vegetables in your refrigerator is the moisture that collects on them. This moisture encourages rot to set in and this rot easily spreads to other nearby vegetables. The sand is something of a moisture regulator. It absorbed the moisture that would normally condense on the vegetables and releases it to maintain humidity. If you are storing vegetables in a basement or root cellar you can just use normal sand, but if you are using the crisper drawers in your refrigerator, just use clean playsand that you buy at a hardware store.

The Next Domino

First they came for Alex Jones. Next came the independent press. You knew that it was just a matter of time before the ratchet was tightened and the bar for determining who would be removed was lowered. In the recent round of account closures, Facebook and Twitter have closed the accounts of organizations like The Free Though Project, the Anti-Media, Press for Truth and dozens of others. They might have had a marginal case by redefining hate speech on Alex, but these new closures don’t even come close to fitting that narrative. Hmmm, isn’t it suspicious that these closures are happening as the mid-term elections are drawing near?

Drought

A SurvivalBlog reader submitted this article on Australia’s drought. Australia is entering what could be termed a mega-drought that is expected to last 20 years and will significantly affect crop production as global cooling sets in on this new Eddy Grand Solar Minimum cycle. While currently, this mostly just about Australia, it certainly has the possibility to spread world-wide as droughts have done in past solar minimum cycles.

Keyless Cars

Reader DSV sent in this article on how hackers are managing to steal keyless cars. The problem is that we are trading security for convenience. There is always a tension between those two things and with the keyless fobs that are now standard equipment on new many new cars, the pendulum has swung to far to the convenience side. This article lists some of the more popular hacks that are being used and also lists the car models that are vulnerable to them. Some countermeasures are as simple as regularly changing your on-board WiFi password or manually checking tire pressure the old-fashioned way before your trip begins. Others require you to be aware of who is near you when you lock or unlock your car door.

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Please send your news tips to HJL. (Either via e-mail of via our Contact form.) These are often especially relevant, because they come from folks who watch news that is important to them. Due to their diligence and focus, we benefit from fresh “on target” news. We often “get the scoop” on news that is most likely ignored (or reported late) by mainstream American news outlets. Thanks!


30 Comments

  2. Prayers for the folks cleaning up from the hurricane. We live in a hurricane zone and its nothing to sneeze at. However, am I the only one that’s encouraged that the federal government isn’t strong and big enough to sweep in and fix this? One of my biggest fears is that the Feds could use a hurricane to take over an area.

  3. One way to keep your key fob from being hacked is to always LOCK your car from the door switch. NEVER use the key fob. The signal can be intercepted by hackers and duplicated.

    1. TexasScout that will work on some cars but not all. Most cars with push button start use a proximity system meaning they pick up the constant signal from the fob when you’re close enough… You literally can’t turn your key off and still use the car.

      Another problem is computers now exist that can not only program new keys, but for some cars even force the ignition on with ever having a key present.

      I know because we have one at work. (Locksmith) Modern cars are quite vurnerable but then again as long as tow trucks exist any car can be stolen.

    2. “always LOCK your car from the door switch”

      the locks are operated not by a wire circuit but by radio signal. any time you push the electric button, you’re emitting radio signals. it’s all by design allowing outside control of your vehicle, you won’t be able to avoid it. pretty soon you won’t even be able to drive, you’ll just be a passenger in your vehicle as it’s driven for you by remote systems.

      (gets in passenger car) “car, I want to go to the grocery store.”

      “I’m sorry Dave, but I can’t do that.”

  4. What do ‘victims’ of Hurricane Michael and Facebook/Twitter censorship have in common?

    Both should be getting a strong reminder to prepare and not depend on adversaries when the going gets tough.

  5. The ability to predict track is usually pretty good however intensity is more of an informed guess as Michael demonstrated. While much of h press has focused on the beach front, Micael retained hurricane status well inland and destruction was greater than normal because of that. Pictures remind me of the Mississippi coastal area after Katerina, everything slabbed by the surge,

  6. Re: The Next Domino

    I fail to understand the uproar over Twit/Fakebook/Gulag censorship.
    There ARE alternatives, and their popularity will grow the more the establishment social media censor people.
    They are merely excluding 50% of their potential client base, behaving stupidly and will eventually go out of business.
    We already tell family and friends we do not frequent these social media sites, and we manage to stay well in touch with them anyway.

    1. In my estimation, the real threat is a generational shift toward mostly liberal content. The Millennial generation does NOT listen to broadcast radio, nor broadcast television. They don’t even do many web searches for particular news content, or read blogs. No, they depend almost entirely on social media. And if Social(ist) Media steers them to content with a leftists slant, then that will color their world. Here is analogy: If a small town is served ONLY by a NPR radio station (no other station can be heard), then the residents will begin to believe that they are reporting reality, rather than an agenda.

      2. Good analogy….the liberal mantra is “If you tell the same lie over and over again, people will start believing it”. History repeats itself over and over.

  8. Years ago I lived and worked on a dairy in southern Idaho near Jerome. With the reasonably good soil, unending fertilizer and readily available equipment we came not far from growing all the vegetables we would eat in a year. To store the root crops I dug a hole on a small rise near the trailer I lived in, lined it with straw, built a wood cover and stored the root crops in straw under the wood cover. I would bury the wood cover under just a few inches of soil. Everything kept perfect. Winters there were usually somewhat dry, about 15 degrees average night time temp with a little warming during the day. Ocassionally you would get a week or two of about 34 degrees and raining (aweful on the animals) and ocassionally some dry and subzero of maybe 10 to15 below for a week. Never had a problem with storage.

  9. With regard to storing vegetables: My father in law placed a chest freezer(minus working parts) in the ground next to the garden. He kept the wire baskets for apples and cabbages and used buckets (to keep the weight down) with sand for the root crops. The baskets had longer folding handles to bring up to ground level and the buckets had ropes so he didn’t have to stoop over too far. The sand was changed yearly and a squeegee mop with purex water cleaned the sides, also yearly. He placed a large piece of rigid plastic over the top, extending well away from the fridge, to keep water/snow away from the door. It was a system that worked well for him.

  12. My son and his family refugee’d out of Panama City and came to stay with us in North Georgia. The daughter in law is 9 months pregnant and they already have a 1 year old, so I’m really, really glad they did. From photos from the people in his neighborhood who chose to stay behind it was a wise move. They live in the Callaway section of the town and it was hit hard. Their place looked to have several dozen downed pines and possibly significant roof damage. He’s managed to hitch a ride down with law enforcement to check on his place, but we’re currently awaiting a verdict on the actual damage.
    All of this makes me really glad I prep. Putting them up has been no issue, and being able to send him down with supplies to hold him over makes its all worth while. Also this reminds me that no matter how well you prep, some things are just going to be beyond you; as I’m sure that bugging in pretty much would have been a disaster for him.

  13. Our rural area was about thirty miles from the eye, citizens here had most of the roads cleared before the county government had even stated dispatching crews. We had neighbors tend to trees off builds and driveways cleared 12 hours after the storm passed. I’m not saying we don’t have our whiners and folks looking for big brother to come make it all better for them but for most folks around here it was three days after the storm before we realized the we had completely forgotten to loot and riot and by that point we were just to darn tired to start.

  14. I’ll admit that I’m completely ignorant about the workings of social media so can someone explain to me why some rich dude or dudes can’t start their own version of Facebook or Twitter for conservatives to enjoy?

    1. Sure… I’ll give this a shot!

      Two wrongs don’t make a right. Having a separate conservative Twitter, Facebook, Linked-In, Google, Wick(ed)a-pedia, would only allow one sided story telling on the Liberal platforms and the exact platforms for Conservatives. It’s against the US Constitution of the United States to silence someone’s free speech. God says He is the judge, and the only judge–no one, and I mean no one (Google, Facebook, Linked-In, Twitter, HRC, Obama, et al.) have the right to judge anyone according to their standards–calling us Racist, Sexist, Misogynists, homophobic, xenophobic, or even flagging our sentences as hate speech. Who’s standard are they using? Gods or theirs? I bet it their version of judgments and it’s all against Christian/Conservatives…. What do you think????

      I think it’s time we fight as the Lord commanded us instead of running away from ungodly all the time!

    2. “why some rich dude or dudes can’t start their own version of Facebook or Twitter”

      they could. but because facebook and twitter have such a lead in content generation there’s no way the new facebook or twitter could compete. consider infogalactic, the alternative to wiki – there’s no way infogalactic can ever catch up to wiki in information content.

  15. Ol’ Granny,
    You’re close on this: “It’s against the US Constitution of the United States to silence someone’s free speech. ”
    What the First Amendment actually says is: “Congress shall make no law………..or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press…………..”
    So what the Constitution is doing is limiting the power of the Federal Government, but not the power of individuals.
    The problem is that FaceBook, Twitter, et al, want to have things both ways, their way. They want to behave as private individuals, censoring others’ speech, but yet they want to be protected by Big Gubberment.
    There is no reason why there can’t be more conservative versions of Social(ist) Media. There are some out there already, going through growing spurts and pains, stumbling like puppies. But that are getting noticed, and they ARE starting to make inroads into the Big Social(ist) Media monopolies.
    Ain’t competition wonderful?

    1. “want to have things both ways, their way”

      the legal term is “carrier” – they want to be able to carry information traffic without being legally responsible for anything illegal that occurs, while simultaneously censoring what they like on their private property. but legally they can’t have it both ways – if they don’t regulate content then they are legally protected, but once they censor anything they become immediately legally liable for any illegal activity on their service.

  16. This storm missed us, thankfully, although a relative in the Panhandle up near the Alabama border is dealing with some minor issues.
    The comments by those wistfully gazing at the horizon for Federal relief reminds me of a another soul who expressed similar sentiments, though perhaps not as eloquently.
    Several years ago, eastern North Carolina was hit by flooding that was particularly hard on the area’s hog farmers. Many of the “swine lagoons” used to store waste products were breeched, creating a serious problem. A TV reporter interviewed on of the local minions about his situation, to which his reply was, “I need me a gubbment program!”

  19. Hurricane forecasting was off by timeline but not course in this case. I watched it form near the Yucatan but then moved extremely fast northward giving little time to evacuate. This seemed to be caused by a unusal change in the jet stream(high altitude winds) that brought not only the hurricane north but early snows to Canada and Redoubt but a 30 deg temp drop near me(80’s to 50’s in 24 hrs). At the same time a previous “fish storm”(not forecast to hit land) changed course dramatically and hit Portugal and Spain also with little warning but much higher destruction and fatalities(no US coverage of that)
    The Facebook and Twitter actions are in line with previous criminal actions and policies. While they had a furor over Trump buying analytics from them they gave all their information to both the Obama and Hillary campaigns in billions in free campaign contributions that doesn’t include the free advertising they did and even illegally refused other paid political advertising. A attorney could make a fortune by sueing them on these actions in a jurisdiction that wasn’t too politically driven.

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