Odds ‘n Sods:


Crime Statistics: Motor vehicle theft (most recent) by state.  (Take note of the correlation of the bottom-ranked states with the American Redoubt states and the adjoining western Plains states.)

o o o

The makers of the famous (and now copied) BedBunker gun vault have expanded their product line to include a variety of automotive gun vaults including center console vaults, under seat vaults, and most recently car trunk vaults.  Be sure to check out their web site. – JWR

o o o

I spotted this at Off The Grid News: The Five Best Places In America To ‘Bug Out’ When Society Collapses. – JWR

o o o

Video from a Russian: 10 Survival Life Hacks Compilation #1

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“Ye are the children of the LORD your God: ye shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead. For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God, and the LORD hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth.”  – Deuteronomy 14: 1-2 (KJV)

Notes for Friday – October 14, 2016

The following article is interesting reading. Because I go by the precept that tangibles beat conceptuals, my general preference is still for precious metal coins (both bullion and numismatic), but I can also see the utility of hedging one’s portfolio a bit into Bitcoin. – JWR

o o o

Today, we present another entry for Round 67 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The nearly $12,000 worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A Tactical Self-Contained 2-Series Solar Power Generator system from Always Empowered. This compact starter power system is packaged in a wheeled O.D. green EMP-shielded Pelican hard case (a $1,700 value),
  2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate that is good for any one, two, or three day course (a $1,195 value),
  3. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses, excluding those restricted for military or government teams. Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795,
  4. DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper with a hammer forged, chrome-lined barrel and a hard case to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR-type rifle to have a quick change barrel, which can be assembled in less than one minute without the use of any tools and a compact carry capability in a hard case or 3-day pack (an $1,100 value),
  5. Gun Mag Warehouse is providing 20 Magpul PMAG 30-rd Magazines (a value of $300) and a Gun Mag Warehouse T-Shirt; (an equivalent prize will be awarded for residents in states with magazine restrictions),
  6. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  7. The Ark Institute is donating a non-GMO, non-hybrid vegetable seed package (enough for two families of four) plus seed storage materials, a CD-ROM of Geri Guidetti’s book “Build Your Ark! How to Prepare for Self Reliance in Uncertain Times”, and two bottles of Potassium Iodate (a $325 retail value),
  8. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  9. KellyKettleUSA.com is donating an AquaBrick water filtration kit with a retail value of $250, and
  10. Two cases of meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value).

Second Prize:

  1. A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, which have a combined retail value of $589,
  2. A gift certificate for any two or three-day class from Max Velocity Tactical (a $600 value),
  3. A transferable certificate for a two-day Ultimate Bug Out Course from Florida Firearms Training (a $400 value),
  4. A Model 175 Series Solar Generator provided by Quantum Harvest LLC (a $439 value),
  5. A Trekker IV™ Four-Person Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $250 value),
  6. A $200 gift certificate good towards any books published by PrepperPress.com,
  7. A pre-selected assortment of military surplus gear from CJL Enterprize (a $300 value),
  8. RepackBox is providing a $300 gift certificate to their site, and
  9. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.

Third Prize:

  1. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  2. A $245 gift certificate from custom knife-maker Jon Kelly Designs, of Eureka, Montana,
  3. A large handmade clothes drying rack, a washboard, and a Homesteading for Beginners DVD, all courtesy of The Homestead Store, with a combined value of $206,
  4. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
  5. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  6. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances,
  7. Montie Gear is donating a Precision Rest (a $249 value),
  8. Two 1,000-foot spools of full mil-spec U.S.-made 750 paracord (in-stock colors only) from www.TOUGHGRID.com (a $240 value), and
  9. Fifteen LifeStraws from SafeCastle (a $300 value).

Round 67 ends on November 30th, 2016, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Some Details on Bitcoin and Blockchain, by G.S.

Bitcoin has been in the news recently for good and bad reasons. You are probably also seeing the word Blockchain, and may be curious what that is. It is important for people wary of government intervention in their lives to understand what Bitcoin is, and if it is an avenue that can be used to safeguard wealth or act as an investment.

Five years ago, Bitcoin was the only major online currency. This is still the case, but there is competition from all sides. There have been many similar competing currencies released in the last few years, and these are universally referred to as Altcoins or Crypto Currency. Many of these new coins never took off, and others, after initially succeeding, have tumbled in value and are now worthless. Some, like Ethereum and Monero, have managed to have some success and have gained enough in value to be truly valuable in their own right.

These Altcoins work as currencies, and are accepted by many merchants online. They are also a form of investment, and a way to transfer wealth without using the banking system. With the recent increase in economic challenges in China, it is widely thought the Chinese are using Bitcoin to move their money out of China and into different currencies. Each time there is an economic policy change in China, the price of Bitcoin seems to react.

Did China Drive Bitcoin’s Price to 2016 Highs?

The most important Bitcoin related event for us, the general public, has been the recent emergence of exchanges where we can purchase Bitcoin and other Altcoins with dollars. These exchanges, such as Coinbase, are still in their infancy. Most only offer Bitcoin and perhaps one or two other Altcoins for sale, but that is quickly changing. There is very little regulation in the cryptocurrency exchange industry currently, though as you will read further down, that regulation is coming.

Before you read the next paragraph, it is important to understand it is possible to safeguard Bitcoin when you buy it by storing it in a Bitcoin Wallet outside of the exchange you bought it from. Similar to a brick and mortar bank, you have the option of pulling the Bitcoin out and sticking it someplace where hackers (and the government) cannot get to it. You can even put your Bitcoins into a ‘paper wallet,’ which is a wallet with a private key existing nowhere except where you write or print it.

See: How to Make a Paper Bitcoin Wallet

Here is the bad news. On August 2nd, 2016, an exchange called Bitfinex was hacked and over $70 Million in Bitcoin belonging to people using Bitfinex was stolen by the hacker. This was all Bitcoin stored with Bitfinex as savings, just as I might store money in a bank. Had it been removed by its owners and put into a Bitcoin Wallet as explained above, no hacker would have had access to it. There is no FDIC insurance to cover the loss, and there is no simple way to find and recover the Bitcoin from the thief. Keep in mind this was a hack into the Bitfinex exchange, similar to a bank robbery. The Bitcoins stolen still exist, and no in hacking was done to the currency itself. They just transferred ownership.

Here is an example: Bitfinex Hack Shows How Bitcoin Blockchain Can Be a Liability

With a Cyprus-like bail-in, Bitfinex is spreading the pain to all of their customers. They are repaying the people who lost their Bitcoins by taking 36% from the unaffected accounts on their system, and giving it to the people with losses. That means everyone loses, including Bitcoin holders everywhere who have seen the price drop by ten percent since the theft. Prior to the theft Bitfinex lured in customers with claims of being the most secure exchange. As of the time of this article, Bitfinex still has not announced how the theft occurred. It is widely assumed they do not know what happened. Remember, above I mentioned there is little regulation and no insurance in the exchange industry.

Before the exchanges started to appear in 2014, the only way to acquire Bitcoin was to mine it. Bitcoin mining still is being done today, but is no longer practical for the average person. Companies have built huge banks of incredibly fast processors to mine with, giving them an advantage over even the best personal computers we can purchase from a retailer. In order to understand Mining, you need to understand how the Bitcoin Blockchain works.

Here is an explanation of the Blockchain that makes the most sense to me. To start with, think about the system we are familiar with today… the banks you deal with in the real world. Are you able to see all of your bank’s transactions behind the scenes? Not a chance. Can you imagine a system where anyone can see your paycheck deposited into your account, and then see where you send your money? Of course not. For privacy reasons, no bank would ever make this information public, or let anyone know exactly what it is doing with the money it takes in.

In contrast, what if you could make a new anonymous account with the push of a button, and instantly make an anonymous transaction from that account? Below is a Bitcoin account address I just created. As you can see, it is random and 34 characters long. I may or may not ever use it to buy something. I could send it to someone buying something from me, and they could send me Bitcoin from their account using the address:  1H6cQ8NL5Zi7VPeM493rMVT3KFT2ZL2WdC

It does not matter if everyone can see an amount traveling from this anonymous account to someone else’s anonymous account, especially if this was just one of millions of anonymous transactions bundled together into one file where everyone in the world could see them. This system means all creative auditing, fraud, data manipulation, currency creation from thin air, and other financial mischief goes out the window. Once a transaction happens, it cannot be altered by anyone because all computers worldwide have access to the information and would know immediately if something changed. This is what happens every 10 minutes on the Blockchain. A new ‘Block’ is added to the end of the chain with all of the anonymous transactions publicly available from the previous 10 minutes. All computers on the network have access to the new block of information and agree the block is correct. This chain of 10 minute blocks goes all the way back to the beginning of Bitcoin, and continues to grow.

CIO Explainer: What is Blockchain?

Now that you understand the Blockchain, you might be wondering how the anonymous transactions all get combined into the 10 minute blocks. This is where ‘Mining’ comes is. Mining is a term used for the process of assembling the new Blocks, and rewarding the computers putting them together the quickest with new Bitcoin. Every computer mining on the network is frantically putting together all of the transactions from the last 10 minutes into a correctly formatted file. All of these computers are running at incredible speeds, but only one is going to finish first and add the new block to the end of the Blockchain. The winning computer is currently rewarded with 12.5 Bitcoins (approximately $7,250 USD at the time I am writing this) for winning the 10 minute race. This is called Mining. Other Altcoins use the same method for processing their transactions.

Bitcoin is only valuable because the people holding it give it value, just like the fiat dollars we use today. There is nothing behind Bitcoin that is inherently valuable, just like there is no gold behind fiat currency. One difference is there is an inflexible finite amount of Bitcoin that will ever exist of approximately 21 Million. Our governments are creating Trillions of additional fiat currency from nowhere, which dilutes the money already in the system. That will not happen with Bitcoin. Approximately 79% of all the Bitcoin that will ever exist is already created. The other 21% is still being distributed via the Mining rewards. It is predicted the last Bitcoin will be distributed in 2024, and that a minuscule fee at that time will be collected from each transaction to incentivize the miners to continue creating blocks.

More people every day are realizing the diversity and value Bitcoin offers. In 2016 alone, the price has more than doubled, making it an outstanding investment. Price swings like this also makes it a very risky asset. The price of Bitcoin in 2013 briefly topped $1,000, and then fell all the way below $250, before starting its recent climb.

This chart provides a useful illustration: Bitcoin Price Chart

I am speculating this climb is due to the strained economic environment we now find ourselves in. When the stock market is doing well, people have their money in the market. Much like physical gold, people are looking at Bitcoin for an alternative place to keep their wealth away from the Wall Street, the government, and the banks, while also hoping for a positive return on their investment.

As Bitcoin has become more widely used, accepted, and valuable, the government has a stronger and stronger incentive to get their share. For this reason you are starting to see attempts at regulating Bitcoin sales and profits. This will lead to exchanges in the United States and other developed countries eventually being forced to hand over personal information on transactions and financial gains if they wish to maintain their business and not be hit with expensive lawsuits and fines by governments. While the transactions are currently anonymous, they are in reality only as nonymous as the exchanges allow them to be. Once the government knows which Bitcoin wallet addresses are tied to your account on Coinbase, for example, it is a short leap for them to use those addresses to figure out what happened with the Bitcoin associated with the account. Programmers and entrepreneurs are working on new ways to hide Bitcoin user’s identities to combat this regulatory intrusion.

Here is some interesting news: North Carolina Governor Signs Bitcoin Bill Into Law

And take a look at this: How to Use Bitcoin Anonymously

The governments have started saying they are going to regulate Bitcoin to fight terrorism, but this is an effort to paint Bitcoin as a source of money laundering to the general public in order to get their approval for regulation (read: taxation). Anything the government wants to control, such as guns and Bitcoin, they tie to terrorism or drug dealers to gain public acceptance for their invasion into our privacy. In the meantime, they send Millions of dollars in cash to Iran which will be used to truly fund terrorism.

Here is some interesting news: Europe to End Anonymous Bitcoin Exchanges to Fight Terrorism

I wanted to provide a definition and information on the current state of Bitcoin to educate everyone, but not necessarily to make a recommendation whether Bitcoin is right for you. Just like when you purchase stocks, gold, or any other investment, you need to weigh your risk tolerance versus the potential rewards Bitcoin has to offer. What rewards? The value of Bitcoin nearly tripled in a few months earlier this year, and I would not be surprised if a year from now Bitcoin has exploded to be more valuable than we could have imagined. Be careful though, the risk associated with Altcoins right now is akin to gambling. I don’t fully trust the exchanges to keep my Bitcoin safe from hackers and government regulation. I am personally investing in a small amount of Bitcoin and Ethereum as a hedge against the future, but only with money I am not afraid to lose.

Letter Re: Hurricane Matthew–Some Lessons Learned

Good Morning, SurvivalBloggers,
SurvivalBlog recently had a very good list of hurricane preparation tips in Hurricane Matthew–Some Lessons Learned, written by a Florida resident. As a former 20+ year Florida resident I’d like to add to his excellent piece.

In Florida, hurricanes are a way of life, and the period from June 1 to November 30 is known as “hurricane season.” The period from December 1 to May 31 is known as “not hurricane season.”  “Not hurricane season” is when one should be doing their preparation for the other six months. During “not hurricane season” one can find plywood on sale occasionally, generators are plentiful, frequently at reduced prices, and contractors and handymen are available.
“Not hurricane season” is when one purchases plywood (tip: thicker is better), cuts it to fit windows and vulnerable doorways, drills mounting holes in it and labels each sheet as to which window or door it fits so installation can be done faster when a hurricane arrives during “hurricane season.” In short, anything non-perishable that one might need during “hurricane season” is procured and gotten ready during “not hurricane season.”  This includes laying out multiple travel plans to escape direct contact with a hurricane. As the writer pointed out, the primary travel direction in Florida when hurricanes are imminent is called “north.” Unfortunately, <i>everyone</i> in Florida knows this because they probably emigrated from “north” so like lemmings headed to the sea, all 20 million residents will instinctively, and simultaneously,  seek to return there because “north” traditionally does not have hurricanes.

There are a limited number of solutions to this problem: 1) Go “north” early, before everyone else, or; 2) Go in a different direction. Florida is only about 150 miles wide, which in the case of a hurricanes like Andrew in 1992 or Wilma in 2005 will not provide much protection, so diagonal travel may be required, for example Miami-to-Tampa, Ft. Pierce-to-Bradenton, Naples-to-Melbourne, etc. Pay close and frequent attention to the predicted hurricane track and adjust your destination, as necessary.

Perishable preps – refrigerated food, gasoline, etc. – are performed during “hurricane season” as soon as possible after a published track shows a hurricane is headed toward the Florida peninsula. It is possible that, should the hurricane not visit your area you will not be able to consume all the perishable food before it degrades beyond usefulness. Some of this is to be expected, and is called “the price of living in Florida.” Most Floridians faced with this problem either donate the food to a charitable organization while it is still good, or use it for a neighborhood cookout. Gasoline, properly and safely stored will not go to waste. What doesn’t go to generator usage will fit in your vehicle’s gas tank and can be consumed during daily transportation duties.

Speaking of gasoline, should one have to relocate and wish to bring along additional fuel, safe transport should be utilized. It is not safe to place filled gasoline containers inside a vehicle, so consider a trailer hitch-mounted basket for that purpose. If one has NATO steel cans, then four 20 liter cans  will lie flat inside a 20″x60″ hitch-mounted cargo basket with room for a waterproof 20″x60″x15″ gear bag on top, providing additional space for non-critical gear as well as somewhat camouflaging the gas cans. (Tip: Use a steel cable and combination padlock to secure the cans to the hitch-mounted carrier to prevent those who consider themselves “more needy” from diverting your supplies to their purposes. Combination locks eliminate the “where’s the key?” problem.)

It’s been said by many that “No plan survives contact with the enemy”, but that is no reason to not have a plan, and having a plan is no reason to not have multiple fallback plans. As the Marines teach, “Improvise, Adapt, Overcome.” Consider likely scenarios, develop a plan to deal with them, then begin considering less likely scenarios and develop alternatives to deal with those.  Alterations to an existing plan to accommodate variations is much more easily accomplished than having to come up with a completely new plan each time a variation occurs. – N.K.

JWR Replies:  Your suggestion of short-term horizontal stowage of fuel cans has some merit, but I must remind our readers that it is crucial to first test every can you own to see if their gaskets are tight enough to prevent leaks, in that position!  If their gaskets are “weepy” and you must therefore stow them vertically, then I recommend that you find a large cardboard shipping box for an appliance (such as a stove or a compact refrigerator–NOT a high theft item like a generator!) that is large enough to camouflage your fuel cans.

Economics and Investing:

Pre-1965 Silver Pocket Change Provides Investors With an Economic Future

o o o

The Case for Investing in Guns

o o o

This was posted last month at Zero Hedge: The only real currency if society breaks down is accelerated lead.

o o o

Graham Summers had some comments on the global currency markets:
A Problem So Massive Even Central Banks Cannot Contain It

o o o

SurvivalBlog and its editors are not paid investment counselors or advisers. Please see our Provisos page for details.

Odds ‘n Sods:

I spotted this collection of how-to videos over at the Backdoor Survival web site:  39 Fantastic Prepping Tips

o o o

Michael Snyder: Why Are So Many Christians Moving To The Great Northwest? Could It Be A Safe Zone?

o o o

In an odd riff, this somehow reminds me of the plot of my novel Land Of Promise…. Here is a new spin on the concept of establishing a new sovereign nation in Terra Nullius: Asgardia

o o o

Zero Hedge reports: Wikileaks Releases Another 2,000 Podesta Emails In Part 6 Of Data Dump

Notes for Thursday – October 13, 2016

One of my contacts who serves on a General Staff mentioned that the recent news reports about contingency plans for a war with Russia have actually under-reported the intensity of the planning effort. There is now a quite frequent shuttling of general officers around the world, to attend logistical planning meetings. My source mentioned that high level staff meetings have been going on since the Ukraine crisis began in late 2013, but they have recently intensified.

If you are not yet concerned about the possible advent of World War III, then you should be. The recent policy shift toward the U.S. providing lethal aid to the Ukrainian Army (approved by Congress in late 2015, but delayed by the BHO administration and likely start in earnest, after the November election) will surely be seen as provocative by the Russians. And of course with so many proxy armies now in play, events could very easily spin out of control in Syria. Stock up, folks.  And if you still live in a target area (read: in or downwind of a major population center or a military target), then it is high time to relocate.  John Lithgow (as Dr. Emilio Lizardo) said it best: “The clock, she is a-ticking!” – JWR

Today is the birthday of British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (born 1925, died 2013.)

This is also the birthday of singer and songwriter Paul Simon. (He was born in 1941.) His Graceland recordings are some of my favorite listening for road trips.

Letter: Another View of Alaska as a Survival Location

My family and I arrived in Alaska in 1974 while I was in the U.S. Army. I was stationed at Ft. Richardson (now part of Joint Base Elmendorf/Richardson. JBER). I spent five years at Ft. Rich. A 3-year tour, with two one year extensions. In 1980 I left the Army and moved my family back to Anchorage, where I currently reside.

I grew up in mid-eastern Pennsylvania and spent two summers working on dairy farms in that area.

I agree with some of what S.J. had to say in regards to whites not welcome in native villages as well as that drugs and alcohol are a problem in these villages. Also the population in the “Bush” is so small someone new in the area will quickly be the major topic of discussion in that area. In short, you cannot hide.

If you want to live a “survivalist” lifestyle here you must realize that 94% of the food consumed in Alaska is shipped in with most of it coming through the Port of Anchorage by two ships each week, Sunday and Wednesday. This past January one of the ships went in for two days of maintenance that stretched into three weeks.

As you can see the paper products (Toilet Paper and Paper Towels) were the first to disappear. The canned goods also started to get “thin”. If the ship had been delayed for two or three weeks more things would have gotten real interesting. It was reported that the single ship that was still operating was restricted to critical loads only for two weeks but that just barely kept the food shelves in Anchorage stocked and it was reported the outlying towns and Fairbanks things were even thinner.

While yes you can garden almost anywhere in Alaska given enough serious effort (did I mention SERIOUS EFFORT?) I will restrict my gardening/farming comments for the Matanuska – Susitna River drainage and the Kenai Peninsula.

This area goes from Talkeetna to the north Palmer to the east and down through Los Anchorage to Homer on the Kenai peninsula to the South and West. There is some Barley farming north east in the Delta Junction/ Fort Greeley area but the majority of farming is along the Parks Highway (Talkeetna, Willow, Wasilla and a few other towns that are on this highway), the Glenn Highway (Palmer is on this road and leads into Anchorage). This area is often referred to at the Mat-Sue. In 1984 the state of Alaska tried to establish dairy farming in this area. They hooked an anchor chain between two D-8 Caterpillar tractors and cleared thousands of acres of woodland for Dairy, hay and grain farms. The experiment failed. Yes, there are one or two dairies just hanging on but there is no viable dairy business in Alaska. What we do have is what is called “Truck Farms” where I came from. They got that name because they trucked the produce to the distributor and then to the grocery stores. Remember I said we produce only 6% of the food consumed in Alaska Why is this? Well, because our growing season is short, the ground is cold and the summers can be cold and rainy but this past summer we had a great growing season. It goes like that but you cannot count on every summer to be a good summer. I have a 4ft by 10 foot raised bed garden, a 30 by 60 flatbed garden and a large container garden of Rubbermaid totes. I canned 32 pints of string beans, 7 pints of green tomato ketchup, 5 quarts of fermented pickles, a bunch of zucchinis, Cabbage, Brussel sprouts and almost 400 pounds of potatoes plus a few other things like carrots, turnips, red beets.

What I’m getting at is: Yes you can grow veggies here but some things like sweet corn takes a lot of effort like “high tunnels”, green houses, cold frames and such.

It’s said that to feed a family of four for a solid year here it would take at least an acre or more and if you raise animals you would need much more land to grow their feed. Then you have the Moose to contend with, they love everything you will grow in your garden and in a day or two they can clean out all of your hard work and no. you cannot shoot them for eating your garden.

The Seward Highway leaves Anchorage going south to Seward and splits off to the Sterling highway which goes to Soldotna, Kenai and Homer. Here the growing season is just a little better but you will still have the long dark winters to contend with. While I grow food in my garden my larder is WIDE & DEEP it has to be because if we have another 1964 type earthquake the Port of Anchorage could be down for months.

You notice all of our roads have names if you have so few roads you can name them.

S. J. mentioned the high crime rate in Anchorage. While we have had a big spike of all crimes in Anchorage this year most of it can be placed on the drug trade and the various gangs and the large “Homeless community”. Just don’t go into these areas. The other areas in Alaska have also seen a rise in crime, much of this is property theft. I have a Concealed Carry Permit although I don’t need one here–anyone who is legal to own a firearm can open or conceal carry–but mine says “NICS EXEMPT”.

Before you come trotting up here to live visit Alaska in the winter, January would be nice as would February. It has hit 20 below here in Anchorage plus the wind chill and has lasted for two or more weeks. I have seen winters with over 100 inches of snow in Anchorage and winters with virtually no snow. Scraping frost and snow off of your windows in winter will become just another chore you do without thinking in the morning.

As for the Permanent Fund Dividend it could soon be a thing of the past and we could get an income tax and a sales tax. Also they just legalized pot here in the state and I am waiting to see what problems this will bring.

Our jobs are mostly based on oil, then government jobs, and lastly the private sector. You can make do on a $30,000 a year income but $50K to $60K for the family would be better. That necessitates having two incomes. Houses in Anchorage for a three bedroom 1,700 Sq. Ft. range around $380,000 but you can get some less expensively.

I have driven a 2-wheel drive vehicle here for the past 18 years (although all 4 wheels have studded tires on them) with no problem. My wife drives a 4X4 pickup. I would like a 4 wheeler but see no need for one the money you put in one you can buy a lot of meat. Hunting isn’t what it used to be in the 1970s and 1980s. You must now get off of the road system for moose or caribou and moose aren’t as plentiful as many people would think.

Life up here is hard but can be great. However, if you think you can go into the boonies and live off grid then you had better have a large sum of money or a side income. There will be no doctors, no electricity, you will have to carry water from a lake or stream and then purify it. Giardiasis is nothing to fool with and a trip to the outhouse at 20-40 below zero is a thrill. All this said there are some people who live like this and when I was young I did use an outhouse but I have become somewhat domesticated and enjoy indoor plumbing.

Some Facebook pages to read would be: Alaska Home Gardeners, Kenai Peninsula Farm Animals, Mat-Sue Valley Gardening, Alaska Farm & Food, Alaska Flock Talk & Swap and Craigslist “farm & garden’ for Anchorage/Mat-Sue and Kenai. These will give you some insight on gardening and small farming in Alaska. You might want to get the Alaska Dispatch News AKA The Alaska Democrat News. In my opinion this paper is so far leftward leaning that they should only print on the left side of the page. They will mail you a daily copy if you want, or get it on the Internet. You also have The Frontiersman and Miner News. Or just do a search for Alaska papers.

Politically, Alaska is slowly turning from a red state to purple and soon to be blue.

In 1980 when I moved my family back to Anchorage I told my wife it would only be for 10 years. But I didn’t tell her which years I would count. After a trip back east this spring we have decided for now to stay here although I would like to look at Idaho. – Mr. X. in Alaska

Letter: Understanding Bank Transaction Reporting in the U.S.

Dear SurvivalBlog Readers:
I have noticed over the last few weeks a couple of articles discussing banking and transaction reporting etc. I would recommend (if one is having trouble sleeping at night) that everyone who is interested read the audit manuals for the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), which includes currency transaction reporting (CTR), suspicious activity reporting (SAR), and monetary instrument logs (MIL). Bank’s are required by law to perform these on all customers based on activity and the bank’s teller system analysis. Most people know about CTRs – deposit or withdraw more than $10,000 in cash – but they do not know about SARs or the monetary instrument tracking. Since I audit banks and consult on internal controls for a living, I thought I would discuss the monitoring and reporting process of each.

  • CTRs – Any time you withdraw $10,000 in cash from an account, or series of accounts, or deposit the same, a currency transaction report (CTR) is generated on you personally. The software I have always seen in practice tracks the customer and not the account. So if you have two checking accounts and a savings account with the same institution, any combination of deposits or withdrawals that total over $10,000 will be reported at the end of the day. Even if you go to different branches to withdraw or deposit the funds, it will be found and reported. Most people focus on the CTR process and are paranoid that all large transactions are being reported to any number of alphabet agencies. However, I can say from experience that the volume of CTRs is usually very large and they do no get reported directly to any law enforcement. They are stored, yes, but they are rarely looked at after their filing. Those who try to avoid these, though, are usually put on the next list. . .
  • SARs – A suspicious activity report (SAR) is one of the worst reports that you can be on at any financial institution. Those who try to avoid the CTR by structuring are always reported through a SAR. Large foreign wire transfers or checks usually earn a SAR, out of the ordinary cash payments on loans, or a large increase and/or variation in a high risk account will earn a SAR as well. By high risk I mean an out of state customer, a foreign national, a business account, a person who was hit on an OFAC or Chexsystem report, etc. SARs are reviewed by high level officers at the bank and these reports do go directly to law enforcement each time they are filed. They are not stored away or saved for a rainy day. If a SAR is filed then a FinCEN officer will see it. A SAR will also mark your account as high risk and you will be monitored for at least another 90 days, if not longer, with follow up SARs filed if the questionable behavior continues. At that point the bank may choose to close your account.
  • MILs – Monetary Instrument Logs (MILs) are kept on any monetary instruments purchased with cash. These are closely monitored as well since this is a common form of money laundering and sponsoring of illicit activities. All banks maintain a monetary instrument log. Any monetary instrument over $2,500 will be recorded here. Your name, Social Security or driver’s license number, account number, reason for purchase, and the instrument’s serial number will be recorded as well. These will be reviewed by the BSA Officer of the bank at least quarterly if not monthly. If something is out of place, a SAR will be filed. If the instrument is for over $10,000 a CTR will be filed.

In closing, I would say that it is preferable to have a CTR filed in place of a SAR. If you think you can structure items, you usually can’t. Banks pay a lot of money to have systems that literally do nothing but monitor patterns and transactions. Most will look at 15-30 days minimum for structuring and odd behavior. The big boys play with software that look through months and years of data. Structuring is not treated kindly at all and will earn you a SAR. Another bit of advice would be to divulge as little information as possible to any teller, bank employee, or other customers. Bank employees, from the president down to the new teller, are trained regularly on how to extract and watch for information for CTR and SAR transactions. The training is required by regulations, so even the one branch community bank does it. Don’t EVER mention that you are trying to avoid any reporting or regulation, or talk negatively about the government to bank employees. Both of these will almost always earn you an
automatic SAR or a review by the BSA Officer and committee. Showing a high level of knowledge of banking regulations could also possibly earn you a review by the BSA officer, or an upgrade to your account risk rating. Be pleasant and nice, but do not chat up the teller, your loan officer, or any one else. Even if another customer mentions that you have said something while in line to the teller, that could also get you on the short list. All of this sounds very intrusive and aggressive, but it is not the banks’ fault. Most of them hate doing it, but the federal regulators will fine them if it is discovered they are not reporting. The best way to avoid it is to continue as you normally would, be low profile, and don’t try to hastily get around the system. It is designed exactly for that reason.

Regards, – The Auditor

Economics and Investing:

Nearly 7 in 10 Americans have less than $1,000 in savings

o o o

Need a [Home-Based] Business Idea? Here are 55

o o o

Hillary Clinton’s planned tax increases

o o o

Deutsche Bank has another problem: Its ETF business.  (The bank’s stock has dropped from around 30 Euros per share to 12.36 Euros per share, over the past seven months, and meanwhile their funds outflows have been enormous. Collapse of the bank reportedly now appears inevitable.)

o o o

SurvivalBlog and its editors are not paid investment counselors or advisers. Please see our Provisos page for details.

Odds ‘n Sods:

Over at View From The Porch, Tamara has some sound reasoning on daily concealed carry: Quote of the Day: Be Real Edition

o o o

I belatedly noticed that earlier this year,the originator of Robb’s Homemade Life kindly posted a YouTube video describing our CFAPA spin-off web site, where we offer free press credentials for any adult citizen. Thanks, Robb!

o o o

More Internet censorship: This Trump campaign commercial was blocked by YouTube as
“inappropriate content” and has had a warning label added.

o o o

A new For Sale By Owner (FSBO) listing in Arkansas over at my #1 Son’s SurvivalRealty.com web site shows the utility of using large rectangular hay bales to enhance the ballistic protection of a house:  Country Fort. If the bales are kept tarped, they can simply be changed once a year and the old hay fed to your livestock.  So if you already own a tractor and have a yearly budget to barn-store hay, then this ballistic protection method will cost you just a little more–only for the expense of the extra tarps.  The positioning of the bales could be explained as a “wind break”, in many parts of the country–particularly out on the plains.  Note that large rectangular bales can weigh between 400 and 1,700 pounds, so you will definitely need a tractor that is configured for hay bale handling.

Notes for Wednesday – October 12, 2016

Please continue to pray for and assist those displaced by Hurricane Matthew. Substantial damage has been done all the way up into North Carolina.

The topic of today’s writing contest article underscores the importance of situational awareness.  My advice is to study Colonel Jeff Cooper’s levels of awareness codes, then live them. In today’s inimical world, living in Condition Yellow should be your normal modus operandi. –  JWR

o o o

Today, we present another entry for Round 67 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The nearly $12,000 worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A Tactical Self-Contained 2-Series Solar Power Generator system from Always Empowered. This compact starter power system is packaged in a wheeled O.D. green EMP-shielded Pelican hard case (a $1,700 value),
  2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate that is good for any one, two, or three day course (a $1,195 value),
  3. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses, excluding those restricted for military or government teams. Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795,
  4. DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper with a hammer forged, chrome-lined barrel and a hard case to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR-type rifle to have a quick change barrel, which can be assembled in less than one minute without the use of any tools and a compact carry capability in a hard case or 3-day pack (an $1,100 value),
  5. Gun Mag Warehouse is providing 20 Magpul PMAG 30-rd Magazines (a value of $300) and a Gun Mag Warehouse T-Shirt; (an equivalent prize will be awarded for residents in states with magazine restrictions),
  6. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  7. The Ark Institute is donating a non-GMO, non-hybrid vegetable seed package (enough for two families of four) plus seed storage materials, a CD-ROM of Geri Guidetti’s book “Build Your Ark! How to Prepare for Self Reliance in Uncertain Times”, and two bottles of Potassium Iodate (a $325 retail value),
  8. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  9. KellyKettleUSA.com is donating an AquaBrick water filtration kit with a retail value of $250, and
  10. Two cases of meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value).

Second Prize:

  1. A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, which have a combined retail value of $589,
  2. A gift certificate for any two or three-day class from Max Velocity Tactical (a $600 value),
  3. A transferable certificate for a two-day Ultimate Bug Out Course from Florida Firearms Training (a $400 value),
  4. A Model 175 Series Solar Generator provided by Quantum Harvest LLC (a $439 value),
  5. A Trekker IV™ Four-Person Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $250 value),
  6. A $200 gift certificate good towards any books published by PrepperPress.com,
  7. A pre-selected assortment of military surplus gear from CJL Enterprize (a $300 value),
  8. RepackBox is providing a $300 gift certificate to their site, and
  9. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.

Third Prize:

  1. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  2. A $245 gift certificate from custom knife-maker Jon Kelly Designs, of Eureka, Montana,
  3. A large handmade clothes drying rack, a washboard, and a Homesteading for Beginners DVD, all courtesy of The Homestead Store, with a combined value of $206,
  4. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
  5. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  6. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances,
  7. Montie Gear is donating a Precision Rest (a $249 value),
  8. Two 1,000-foot spools of full mil-spec U.S.-made 750 paracord (in-stock colors only) from www.TOUGHGRID.com (a $240 value), and
  9. Fifteen LifeStraws from SafeCastle (a $300 value).

Round 67 ends on November 30th, 2016, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.