Category: Emerging Threats

Letter: Regarding Ebola PPE

Mr Editor, I’m a small town Fire Chief here. From considerable reading on the subject as I plan for our EMS personnel, I agree with your opinion that N95 is a lame attempt at respiratory protection from Ebola. However, I disagree strongly with anyone suggesting depending on a castoff “gas mask”, discarded decades ago by some 3rd world military, to protect your lungs. Obsolete military gear of unknown history was likely improperly stored and not maintained for years or decades and, equally important, has filters of unknown capability, age, and condition. All filters have a shelf life. How old are …


Guest Article: Six Common Misconceptions About EMP, by G.B., PhD

Many misconceptions about electromagnetic pulse (EMP) effects have circulated for years among technical and policy experts, in press reports, on preparedness websites, and even in technical journals. Because many aspects of EMP-generation physics and its effects are obscure, misconceptions from those who do not perceive the seriousness of the effects to those who predict a doomsday chain of events are inevitable. However, not all EMPs are the same, with the most significant effects being caused by E1 and E3 fields. Nuclear bursts detonated at altitudes above 40 km generate two principle types of EMPs that can debilitate critical infrastructure systems …


The Accidental Prepper, by J.C.

This isn’t as much of a “how to” as it is a “how I have done it” in the spirit of sharing my “experience, strength, and hope” instead of giving advice or instruction. I am a little over two years into my own serious preparations as well as recovery from my own personal TEOTWAWKI. Prior to August 12, 2012, I had been sort of a hobbyist or dabbler but mostly a self-absorbed guy. I was working 55 miles from home in my chosen career, which I will acknowledge will never be worth more than about 45K a year. My wife …


Making Your Own (An Ebola Unafraid Followup), by ShepherdFarmerGeek – Part 1

Optimistic. I continue to be guardedly optimistic that Ebola will not become the pandemic many people have feared.[1] News about its limited transmission in the United States is very encouraging. Also encouraging is the fact that, should Ebola (or some other dangerous virus) become a pandemic and crash the nation’s healthcare system, we can still purchase our own protective equipment and supplies and even have a reasonable chance of treating it, which was the premise of my recent article “Ebola Unafraid: A Preliminary Ebola Treatment Protocol Part 1 and Part 2.” Objections to Previous “Ebola Unafaid” Article Now I’m hearing …


Letter Re: Kids Can Earn Their Keep

Dear Hugh, I thought T.B. had some good ideas for kids involvement in almost any situation, but I wanted to bring up a point about feeding the animals. We are about two years into our new retreat now, and in the process we acquired farm animals. The first year we bought chickens; the second year we bought cattle. My experience with both has led me to believe it is not necessarily a good idea for children to be working with farm animals, as I had my own learning curve with them that has resulted in some injuries. I’ve owned two …


Ebola Unafraid: A Preliminary Ebola Treatment Protocol, by ShepherdFarmerGeek – Part 2

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PROPOSED EBOLA TREATMENT PROTOCOL Disclaimer: There are many foods and supplements with antiviral properties; some of them are common (Garlic[2]), some of them are exotic (Star Anise[3]). What I’ve tried to do with the recommendations below is focus on the most common and highly recommended. Nobody knows what will work against Ebola, so try your own favorites to see what you can tolerate when ill. None of this is “medical advice” for purposes of federal obfuscation and interference. Consult your doctor, who will have no idea what to do. The information below is not exhaustive; it is not authoritative; and …


Ebola Unafraid: A Preliminary Ebola Treatment Protocol, by ShepherdFarmerGeek – Part 1

In a few days my former-Navy-nurse daughter will fly out to help stand up a brand new 100-bed treatment facility for the International Rescue Committee in Liberia. Ebola is not a theoretical threat anymore. Now it’s personal. My daughter has always loved being in the thick of things and has been fascinated with Ebola since childhood. Now, in just a matter of days, she will walk into a room filled with sick and dying Ebola patients, and all her training, grit, and compassion will be tested. She will eventually come home on a rotation and be under medical isolation here, …


Letter Re: Police Depositing Gloves in a Trash Can and Ebola in NYC

Hugh, With the dynamic population of rats in New York, we better hope that they don’t become a reservoir for the Ebola virus, like pigs and bats apparently are. Endemic pandemics are NO FUN for ANYONE! This is a very big deal in the concrete jungle and perhaps a perfect storm with cold dry weather on the way, which enables the virus to survive longer on surfaces and perhaps even go airborn for long distances. We should be completing our preps for this one. FB


Relocating To A Safer Place, While The Opportunity Still Exists, by MWA

For many reasons, my wife and I, along with our four children, left behind the city life in Florida two years ago. Crime, ranging from home invasions and break-ins to vehicle vandalism and car-jackings, which had spilled outward from the inner city into the suburbs where we owned a home, was increasingly being caught in the crosshairs of criminals. Mobs of rioting teenagers were occurring on the weekends at the local malls. If you were a female, alone, it was not safe to go grocery shopping at night. Locally, the public high schools, where our children were planning to attend …


Letter: Flies

Hugh, It’s fall in Vermont, and that means cluster flies are back. Cluster flies enter buildings through the tiniest cracks imaginable; they work so hard getting in and then the next thing they do is beat themselves against the windows trying to get out. (This sort of parallels some people’s lives.) I normally have a company come out and spray the entire outside of the house to kill off the flies, but I didn’t get around to it early enough. Luckily cluster flies are more of a nuisance than a health issue. They do not lay their eggs in people …


Identifying and Protecting Yourself and Your Family Against Hazardous Chemical Material Incidents, by a Marine in Missouri – Part 1

We live in a society that depends on hazardous materials to create the technological wonders and comforts we expect for everyday life. Whether you take your kids to a swimming pool or drink any sort of city water, you knowingly or unknowingly depend on large amounts of chlorine to ensure the water is safe. Anywhere there is a mechanic shop there are chemicals required to lubricate, clean, and repair materials; some of those chemicals are potentially dangerous or deadly. As you drive down the highway you see thousands of semi-trucks carting loads of materials that could be more deadly than …


Letter: Costco Emergency Foods

I know you all recommend Costco Emergency Food. I don’t know if you’ve been monitoring them, but about Tuesday they had sold out of at least three items. Just 24 hours later, it was 11 sold out. (I counted.) Now it’s almost all sets. All of the expensive sets, including the $4-5K pallets, have sold out. It’s worth noting to your readers. As they sell out, they’re initially putting “sold out” over the product, then removing it totally from the website. – P.K. Hugh Replies: Costco is a tough cookie to base buying trends on. Their purchasing model seems to …


Emergency Prepping, Sustainability, and the Idea of Adapting in Advance, by F.J. – Part 1

“We are an exceptional model of the human race. We no longer know how to produce food. We no longer can heal ourselves. We no longer raise our young. We have forgotten the names of the stars, fail to notice the phases of the moon. We do not know the plants and they no longer protect us. We tell ourselves we are the most powerful specimens of our kind who have ever lived, but when the lights are off we are helpless. We cannot move without traffic signals. We must attend classes in order to learn by rote, numbered steps …


Something’s Coming, Are You Ready?, by B.L.

[Editors Note: It is important to note that many of the claims of this article are supposition and not fact. Remember that while conspiracy theories are often intriguing and you can bet you are not getting the whole story from standard media, Occam’s Razor is more often than not the right way to go.] Have you ever felt like something was about to happen, but you couldn’t quite explain what it is? Have you just had a suspicion or maybe uneasiness that something was about to happen? I guess you can say my old Army intelligence service, from some 41 …


Letter Re: JWR’s Ebola Comment

Regarding this: “Keep in mind that you can collect your mail from your mailbox with disposable exam gloves and then put both the gloves and the mail in your microwave oven for 90 seconds to decontaminate them.” In the last two weeks a group of our local letter carriers, who come in contact with everyone and hence every germ in the community,  inquired of their Union regional leadership and of the USPS management at their District-level what would be the protocol if we experience some kind of Ebola pandemic? In both cases they were told, “It’s not coming here; stop …