An Emergency Hand Pump For A Well, by C.P.

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After looking at various sources for deep well hand pumps for use in an emergency and noting that the price (some being over $1,000) was out of line for me, I decided to make my own unit. My static water level is about 65 feet, yet I was able to construct a workable unit using schedule 40 PVC plastic that cost me about $80. It’s amazingly easy to build and will pump a five-gallon bucket of water in about three minutes. So, if you decide to make one, here’s how I did it. Your well casing should be 5” or …


A Decade of Prepping, Do’s and Do Not’s, by R.R.

My experience in survival preparedness has spanned roughly a decade now, from my early 20’s into my early 30’s. I have learned a lot along the way and would like to share my experiences, varied as they are, on many subjects. These are only my opinions. Your individual circumstances will vary; you can take from this what you will and ignore the rest. Money The number one most important survival consideration is that NOW, while money is worth something, you had better get HOT on MAKING MORE MONEY. Ten years ago, I was absolutely convinced that the financial system was …


Communications In Dark Times, by J.B.

We all take our glorious electronic communicators for granted today. Got a problem? Search the web. Driving to work and realize you forgot to mail an important bill? Call home and ask your family to drop it off at the post office for you. Need directions? Just ask your phone. What if you suddenly lost the use of these wondrous conveniences? Who hasn’t experienced this at some point? Poor signal strength, cell towers under maintenance, power outages, and more can take your connectivity offline. The more we rely on these amazing conveniences daily, the more annoyed we are when they …


Watchman Fatigue – Part 2, by J.P.

Make No Mistake – The Watchman’s Warning Is To The Church! Ezekiel 33:8-9 gets us right into the thick of what a watchman had better be about: “When I say to the wicked, ‘You wicked person, you will surely die,’ and you do not speak out to dissuade them from their ways, that wicked person will die fora their sin, and I will hold you accountable for their blood. But if you do warn the wicked person to turn from their ways and they do not do so, they will die for their sin, though you yourself will be saved.” …


Watchman Fatigue – Part 1, by J.P.

If you’ve been at the tasks of continually surveying the landscape, monitoring changes in our country, calculating family needs for the coming months or years, spending 95% of your discretionary funds on dried vegetables and wool socks, encouraging anyone close to you to heed the warnings, and wondering if it’s your last time to hear the national anthem, then you can identify with my sense of being tired with it all. Yes, I’m tired beyond fatigue. Worse yet, when I went back to the Bible to reexamine the teaching in regard to the task of a watchman, I discovered I’ve …


Survival Blades – Part 2, by R.H.

Glass-breaking is a function about which I keep hearing but don’t fully understand outside a military situation. I assume it refers to evacuating a car after an accident or other emergency. My problem with this is that almost nobody wears their survival knife on the way to and from work. If the knife is in the trunk with your BOB, how is it going to help? In a military scenario, I can see rescuing aircrew from a downed chopper; however, that situation is very different from what we’re likely to face. In the military, you have your gear on your …


Survival Blades – Part 1, by R.H.

I have noticed quite a bit of confusion and hype surrounding the subject of survival blades lately. I have also noted people new to survival and prepping often cannot get simple questions answered due to lack of accurate information from sales clerks and others. I have written this so that newcomers can get some balanced information. Let’s define our terms before we begin. While many readers are preparing for an end of the world scenario, survival situations as I will consider them here happen every day. As I am writing this, most of the nation has been brutalized by a …


A Commercial Diver’s Guide to Emergency Preparedness, by A. Diver

Right now you might be thinking, “Why did he use the phrase ’emergency preparedness’ instead of ‘prepping’?” The answer is really simple; “prepping” has a negative connotation in this world. While the rest of the world has been in survival mode for a long time, Americans have been living in the lap of luxury. This world of convenience that we have made for ourselves has made us fat, naive, and lazy. This “lap of luxury” lifestyle has also made us complacent. We take things as they are and expect everything will be alright. If you are reading this, you have …


“Internet” Without Infrastructure – Part 5, by R.H.

The Postmaster network Postmasters, of course, will be able to communicate through this network between themselves and share information. In this way, they will know the health of the network in various areas. They will be the first ones with the most knowledgeable about encryption and programs that are available. At first, many Postmasters may not know much about encryption or how to use the tools, but they can learn about it and even share copies of the software through the network. As soon as most Postmasters have mastered it, they can start providing encryption as a service across the …


“Internet” Without Infrastructure – Part 4, by R.H.

Protocol Refinements There are many refinements that can be used to improve efficiency and reduce the number of files to be processed, when dealing with local communication. However, these must always remain discretionary, so that they can be dropped at any time if situations change, or they are found to be unworkable. For example, directories (or folders) can be used to separate messages into different destination areas, organized by State. This reduces anonymity somewhat, but it can help organize messages and keep traffic down within local areas. If you know for certain that the recipient is in California, create a …


“Internet” Without Infrastructure – Part 3, by R.H.

Basic Techniques and Definition of Terms (continued) Sending a message. Sending a message consists of creating a text file containing the message, naming the file as described above, and getting it into a Postmaster’s pouch or multiple Postmasters’ pouches. If you don’t have a way to create a file yourself, a Postmaster can help you. The smaller your message is the better chance it has of getting through. You don’t need to go crazy with this. A message that is only 20 characters in length is not really any better than a 1K file (1024 characters). When writing out large …


“Internet” Without Infrastructure – Part 2, by R.H.

How the Network Works Basically, as soon as people start transferring files between computers, a network of sorts exists. A complex system can then be developed to get information to the right place as quickly as possible and keep everything running smoothly and efficiently. This is what the Internet does now, using millions of powerful computers and extremely complex software. There is a much simpler way of building a network that requires only the basic technology items listed above and the adoption of a few very simple standards and rules. All we need, basically, is to get a given “file” …


“Internet” Without Infrastructure – Part 1, by R.H.

Communication, outgoing and incoming, is obviously vitally important, but we tend to take for granted the various channels available to us at this time. The telephone, email, and even television and radio media rely on a huge amount of civil infrastructure– the same infrastructure that we rely on for water, sewage service, food, electrical power, transportation, shipping and basic mail, and both fire suppression and law enforcement services. The Internet has become a vital part of that infrastructure. Without a functional power grid and cable or telephone service, the Internet does not exist. It could be argued that, even in …


The Reluctant Prepper, by M.R.

Most of us, “preppers”, know that all our time, money, and hard work will only pay off if we are able to keep, use, and protect what we have. My prepping beginnings came in a somewhat odd way. It began with a small kit to keep in my SUV after following a major news story here in the Pacific northwest about a family from California who got lost in the backwoods while trying to drive from California to Oregon using back roads in the dead of winter. Slowly as the pieces were put together it was learned that the family– …


The Power of Steam – Part 4, by A.Y.

For problems on the engine itself, visual inspections are again the best way to look for problems. Loose bolts, loose or worn bearings, signs of overheating, and clanking and knocking sounds can attest to problems. Signs of overheated metal on the engine can include scarring, discoloration, scraping sounds, and emitting lots of heat from a bearing while in operation. Overheating on the engine itself can usually be attributed to not enough lubrication, so it must be determined why oil and grease are not getting to the affected part. Some engines have mechanical and hydrostatic lubricators that drive oil to moving …