The recent panic over the Omicron Wu Flu variant threatening to lock down

This weekly column is a collection of short snippets: responses to posted articles, practical self-sufficiency items, how-tos, lessons learned, tips and tricks, and news items — both from readers and from SurvivalBlog’s editors. We may select some long e-mails for posting as separate letters.

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JWR Observes: The recent panic over the Omicron Wu Flu variant now has world leaders threatening to lock down the citizenries of many nations. It will start with travel bans. Then back to masking and public gathering restrictions.The CDC’s own published figures: A 99.997% survival rate for people ages 0 to 19, 99.98% for people ages 20 to 49, 99.5% for people ages 50 to 69, and 94.6% for people over 70. Do they really believe that they can fool us once again? Do they think that we are all morons? Well, perhaps they do. One anagram of Omicron is Moronic.

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Reader SaraSue wrote:

“We had a glorious Thanksgiving. In farm news, the 38 meat birds have outgrown their bins in one short month. It really surprised me how fast they’re growing because they are heritage birds, not hybrids designed to grow big fast. So, I’m trying to get a chicken house built that is big enough for all my chickens and guineas – about 48 in total. I feel dumb for not being prepared in advance, but live and learn.

The day after Thanksgiving with family visiting and a total of five dogs, there was a huge dog fight with the female German Shepherds going at one another and the male dogs (German Shepherd and Malinois) circling the fight in anticipation. It was horrifying and we had to drag dogs off one another without getting bit. One female Shepherd (the visitor) got on the one last raw nerve of my female Shepherd. She is the smallest of the Shepherds, but she’s fast and obviously has no fear. The larger Shepherd was no match. There were severe injuries for the visitor and I was aghast and am paying for the vet visits (customary). Let me say that all these dogs have been together frequently and lived together at one point, so this was a surprise to all of us. I was so ashamed of my dog (and myself), even though I know she had been provoked.

Now, I will be spending a great deal more time in training with my dogs. Once a dog injures another dog, that behavior must be solved immediately because it’s a short jump to injuring a child or another human. That will be my primary focus until I have my dogs fully under control regardless of the circumstances. Sigh.”

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Video: Fantastic Hidden Rooms And Ingenious Secret Furniture.

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Reader DJD sent this article link: How American Journalism Became A Mouthpiece Of The Deep State.

DJD’s comment: “An interesting article, juxtaposed to your recent commentary on the state of journalism.”.

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This article was recently posted by The New American: Global Warmist Buzzkill: Arctic Ice Is Poised to be Its THICKEST in a Generation”.

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John L. had this comment:

“I experimented with an Aladdin lamp, early in my off-grid journey, some 30 years ago. My experience was similar to that of Mike in Alaska in that I found an incomplete one at a flea market, and was pleased to be able to replace all the missing parts with new ones.

Aladdins have a cylindrical wick (unlike an old-fashioned kerosene lamp’s flat wick), to be able to carry a lot of oil or kerosene, and maintain a big flame. An air duct runs through the middle of the wick, to supply sufficient air to the inside as well as the outside, for complete combustion..

A “mantle”, like a tiny silk sock, is supported over the flame. The mantle is fine cloth treated with a mixture of minerals and “phosphors”, and a small amount of radioactive thorium, to enhance the light output. When the lamp is first lit with a new mantle, the organic components of the mantle burn out, leaving a fine mesh of inorganic ash. The heat of the flame excites chemical phosphors in the mantle, which produce the brilliant light.

It is important to always carefully adjust the flame, so that it is hot enough to excite the mantle but not so big as to cover it with black soot.

I found that this was a difficult job. First, the light is so bright that staring into it to make the adjustment left me blind for minutes. Second, the adjustment is not stable. A perfectly adjusted lamp will warm up, and the warmer temperature makes the kerosene vaporize faster, the flame adjustment goes “rich”, and you have a soot-black mantle It is possible to very carefully re-adjust the flame to burn the soot off and restore the mantle, but it takes many minutes of meticulous attention. The lower flame lets the lamp cool, so then the flame becomes too small to continue burning off soot, so you have to raise the wick again, which warms the lamp, which makes the flame too big and sooty again.

Or you can toss out the (radioactive) mantle, and fit a new one ($5 or so IIRC 35 years ago), and start the process anew.

Finally, you have the lamp adjusted perfectly, the lamp itself is in thermal equilibrium, even if the woodstove is keeping the room temperature precisely even. Your eyes have recovered from staring into the brilliant mantle while achieving that perfect adjustment.

Then your dog flops down hard for a good snooze, someone dumps a load of firewood on the floor near the stove, or somebody kicks the table leg, and the vibration breaks the mantle. (Remember, it is a fine network of ash).

I still have the Aladdin, somewhere, but I happily got by with simple flat-wick, flame-only kerosene lamps, which also burn a lot less kerosene, for the next 25 years until I built a solar-electric power system.”

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Tim J. mentioned this article by Jill Winger: How to Make Dehydrated Vegetable Powders. And here is a related video: STOP Canning Tomatoes– Do THIS Instead!

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Reader Karl K. wrote:

“I read with great interest your article on using taxes as a criteria for choosing a retreat location.

We, like most American families of modest means and single incomes, do not have the wherewithal to afford two separate residences or the ability to pack up and go elsewhere. My wife is a stay-at-home mom, so we are sacrificing material things in order to live according to scriptural principles. We don’t believe it to be a sacrifice, but obedience. Regardless…

After I graduated from an MBA program, my family and I had a decision to make about where we wanted to live. Using my newly acquired MBA skills, I made a spreadsheet that weighted the different criteria involved in a move. One of the top items on the list was tyrannical government specifically in the arena of Homeschool laws and regulations. Taxes were also important, but we found out, much like you pointed out in your article, that they will get their pound of flesh one way or another. Ultimately we chose to remain in Nebraska as their homeschool laws are very limited and we pray that they remain that way. Although, Idaho’s [minimal] homeschooling laws made it a difficult choice.

Ultimately, we chose to move about as far away from my work as I could reasonably commute. We moved from Lincoln, NE to a rural county onto an acre of property that affords the opportunity to keep chickens for meat and eggs and bees. Taxes are much less as well and the neighbors look out for us as opposed to casing our house. With the housing boom, we were able to sell our house at a large enough profit to pay off our existing home. Not having a house payment is liberating, but with our new property, we have the concerns of well and septic issues, an older property needing more upkeep and of course the commute plus other unseen things that were nonexistent in the big city.

One item I neglected to mention was our church. Our move took us about an hour from our church. This was a critical criterion on which we also based our decision. We can still make it on Sundays and Wednesdays and that was very important! An out-of-state move would not have allowed for that.

We had a serious desire to move to the Redoubt and one day may as Nebraska is becoming Purple.

I appreciate reading your perspective and look forward to it daily.”

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Down the memory hole? The Wikipedia page: “Mass killings under communist regimes” is currently flagged, as follows: “This article is being considered for deletion in accordance with Wikipedia’s deletion policy.” (Our thanks to reader Tim J. for the alert and the link.)

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John W. wrote to mention:

“I would just like to comment on your mention of gold value dropping because of the re-nomination of Fed chair Powell. It’s interesting to note that actual physical gold has not really dropped but continues to rise in the vintage U.S. gold coin market. eBay and other retailers of gold coins continue to raise prices and physical gold and silver are very hard to come by.”

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Reader 3ADScout sent this relevant video link: A View to Avoid a Kill: Trench Periscopes. His comment:

“Very interesting that the narrator mentions that Soviet sniper doctrine with 3 two-man teams could cover such a large area. The narrator also mentions the use in observation posts (OPs), as I always say: “Low tech rules the day”.”

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Pam wrote:

“Regarding your article about taxes and states….I wonder how many people are aware that some states have started requiring you to pay sales tax for items you purchase online, regardless if they have a brick and mortar store in your state. Vermont, where I currently live, is one of them. Additionally, if I had a blog, and I did some years ago, I was not allowed to make a living by getting a referral fee if you clicked on one of the advertisements. Not only that, but I am asked to attest on my taxes that I have claimed all the purchases that we made out of state (New Hampshire has no sales tax) and paid the Vermont sales tax on them. As if…

Our habit now is to pay with cash. And never have delivery.

My aunt, who is a tax preparer, had a client who drove from Florida to North Carolina in his and his brother’s pickup trucks one summer several years ago, and they purchased a great deal of furniture for themselves, which, is relatively inexpensive and tax-free in North Carolina, or so I’m told. Upon returning to Florida, one of the trucks was stopped at the border and forced to pay the sales tax. The other was not. They were not intending to sell them, they were being frugal and smart in their purchasing power. Had they made it look like they were moving used furniture instead of new, they likely would have slipped under the radar. However, this overreach is a very quiet but invasive abuse of power in my humble opinion. I’m wondering what you make of this practice?”

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Reader #ADScout sent this update:

“I won some items on an on-line auction and had to go pick them up about an hour and half away. Found out that there is a Rural King in one of the towns I passed through so on the way back I stopped in. I’ve been to tractor supply and Family, Farm and Home, but Rural king is massive compared to those other farm stores. I thought the prices were very reasonable on some things but not on others, but then again that could just be inflation. Lots of ammo in stock at okay prices. I picked up stuff for our calf, five pounds of washers in assorted sizes, and some assorted other things. Wife saw the stuff on the table when she got home and asked where I went, she was a little upset that she didn’t get to go. My prepper friend asked me to go with him so the wife got to tag along on the second trip. Amazing how we spent more when she went than when I went alone.

Cut and spilt more wood by hand. Son and daughter helped stack it. I suspect we won’t use as much wood as we did last winter since we won’t be working from home like we were last year.

Switched out the water in our 5 gallon jugs with fresh water and chlorine. Decided I wanted to keep more water on hand so I went out and picked up two more 6 gallon water jugs and filled them. With current events, I think it would be very wise to make sure you can shelter in place somewhere with as much shielding from fallout radiation as possible.

I don’t think I’ll ever have a “traditional” MAG with my Amish and Mennonite neighbors but they are neighbors and by default we are in a pseudo-MAG due to proximity. I talk to my immediate neighbor about world events and he seems to share the same concerns. I try to help educate him about stuff he would not necessarily know. For example, I asked him how long he could keep his livestock closed up in the barn and fed off of on-hand stocks of feed and hay. He told me and then asked me “why?” I started to explain to him about Fallout and decay rates. I also discussed Strontium 90 and how it would get in the milk supply by animals eating grass for years afterwards. They won’t “stockpile” ammunition but I know what calibers their guns are so I lay a little extra in for them as well.

At the on-line auction I got a vintage number ten meat grinder made by Chop-rite, it appears to be brand new, with all the accessories and 2 manuals. I also got a railroad track anvil along with an older vise. The last lot I got was a very nice metal US “Jerry” fuel can and spout. I am bidding on items on another on-line auction but the ending isn’t until December.

I did pick up some more butterscotch hard candies at the Dollar Tree and added those to the ones already in a bucket. While at one of the local Ace hardware stores I noticed they had a Black&Decker 20volt cordless drill on sale for $24.99. Can’t even buy just the battery for that. I was thinking that I should get another cordless drill since I’m always running around to get it plus mine is getting older and has been used a lot. I can keep one inside the house and one in the barn, that should cut down my running around by half. I picked up another five dozen regular canning jars lids at Wal-Mart.

Salvation Army acquisitions included a new in the box knee brace, 3 small Christmas light storage wraps, they were made to wrap strands of Christmas lights on them but I put 550 parachute cord on them for go-bags etc., a Little House on the Prairie book for my daughter, a pair of woodland camo BDU pants, a dozen canning jars, and a nice 36” bow saw made in Sweden.

At the beginning of the month I went to the feed mill and picked up 100 pounds of chicken feed and 600 pounds of hog food. The feed mill I go to is in a heavily populated Amish area so I stopped at one of the Amish stores to make a return, I just took store credit and picked up 750 strike on box wood matches, 2 pairs of Merino wool boot socks, a 4 pack of Butane canisters for our butane stove, a can of pine tar, and 5 dozen regular mouth canning jar lids. Stopped at another Amish store and picked up a large stainless steel ladle and a small 100 Lumen LED flashlight. Then just about a mile down the road I stopped at an Amish scratch and dent outlet and picked up two jars of freeze dried coffee. On the way home I stopped off at one of the hardware stores in the area and got 6 bags a sakrete, and a bunch of small items. I found an new old stock metal funnel that was stuck on a lower shelf behind all the junky made in China funnels, so I gave it a good home. Went to the Amish saw mill near my house and got a bunch of sawdust for use in the barn.

On black Friday the wife and I went shopping at 2 Amish stores. Got mostly food, not necessarily for long-term storage considering the best by dates. We’ll fit the stuff into our rotation which will just make our other shelf foods last longer. Did get a great deal on 6lbs of whole bean coffee and a 16lb bag of charcoal. Due to the amount of food we got I had to rearrange some of the basement storage. I moved our main stash of Batteries over to the prepper man cave. This freed up a whole cabinet for food.

Checked the charge on my NiMH rechargeable batteries and put a few on the battery charger. Made another 20mm ammo can faraday cage and placed some items in it. When I moved all the batteries from the original storage location I checked them for leakage. I had 5 packages that had leaking batteries. I checked the other ones in the package and they were still good. I give those to the Neighbor kids they have a blast using them in toys, flashlights and stuff they make.

With energy prices the way they are I decided to start reading “THE LONG EMERGENCY” again. Looks like what the author predicted back in 2005 might be happening. Chinese oil use double in 15 years and shows no sign of slowing. Some Country is going to end up using military force to get the energy resources they need, just a matter of time.

A combination of rain and working to clean up my brothers estate put us behind in prepping the gardens for winter. I pulled up the black plastic, soaker hoses and rototilled. I rolled the soaker hoses up and put them away until spring. Would have liked to rototilled better but the ground was really muddy.

Took some time and put up all our coolers that were out for the summer (5). Then put a bunch of prepping equipment up in the loft above the workshop. I’m running out of room up their but I believe some shelving would help make a more efficient use of the space. I had a bunch of hatchet, hammer and sledge hammer handles in storage and decided to hang them up on the peg board. I had them hung up but they got put in a box when we moved and forgotten about. I have a decent supply but a few auctions can change that in a hurry. (I often get hammers and hatchets with broken or no handles).

Now that the days are short and cold I find myself in the prepper man cave a lot more. I put some hooks into the floor joist and hung up some backpacks, first aid bags and a pair of binoculars. Freed up some space. Started my yearly reloading regimen. De-primed, sized, expanded the case mouths, cleaned the primer pockets and primed 1,000 45 ACP cases.

Hurt my knee while out preparing the outside for winter. Slowed me down a bit. Had to travel over to Cleveland clinic for an appointment for my inner ear issue. I can’t stand being in big cities and am so glad when I leave them. Then I picked up a cold that had me in bed thanksgiving weekend.

Three cans of Augason Farm food that I ordered on September 15 that were finally delivered in mid-November. One of our local grocery chains had their annual 11% off for veterans and as normal I took advantage of that to the best of our abilities this year. I walked out with two carts full. Mix of everyday use and stock the pantry items. I did manage to put away another 28 pounds of great northern dried beans and more whole bean coffee.”

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And lastly, there is this from reader H.L.: How did Pfizer not know it’s vaccine efficacy dropped from 95% to 39-50% in 4 months when their clinical trials lasted for 6 months?