Odds ‘n Sods:

Inside the growing popularity of safe rooms – Part of our society’s exasperating fixation on non-violent defense – Your safety depends solely on how determined the attackers are. They have their place in providing protecting from certain non-targeting disasters, but when you are the targeted, mobility and aggression is your friend. – Sent in by T.J.

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Mass Shooting in New Orleans That Didn’t Get Top Media Attention – 17 victims and hardly a peep from the media? This shooting doesn’t fit the liberal/progressive narrative. – Sent in by D.S.

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You’re on the hook with the FAA over your drone now. What happens when you decide on non-compliance? There are some serious teeth in the ruling, but in reality, probably nothing unless your drone is involved in an incident. – Sent in by J.H.

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Video: Before the castration of America’s men and political correctness: Awesome old toys that you won’t find in stores today. I wish I had one of these growing up.

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Wall Street Journal Reports: Western officials are lacking the information they need to the fake Iraqi and Syrian passports that may be used by terrorist operatives planning attacks in the United States and Europe. ISIS appears to have acquired the equipment needed to create the passports as they have taken over cities in both Iraq and Syria. – T.A.

Notes for Wednesday – December 23, 2015

December 23, 2015 is the 102nd anniversary of the exclusive private banking cartel known as The Federal Reserve. America and the U.S. dollar won’t survive another century under those “banksters”.

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Today, we present another entry for Round 62 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, chromlined barrel and a hard case to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR type rifle to have 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 pmags 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 from Sunflower Ammo,
  9. KellyKettleUSA.com is donating both an AquaBrick water filtration kit and a Stainless Medium Scout Kelly Kettle Complete Kit with a combined retail value of $304, 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 FloJak EarthStraw “Code Red” 100-foot well pump system (a $500 value), courtesy of FloJak.com,
  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. Safecastle is providing a package of 10 LifeStraws (a $200 value)

Third Prize:

  1. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  2. A $245 gift certificate from custom knifemaker 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. APEX Gun Parts is donating a $250 purchase credit,
  8. Montie Gear is donating a Precision Rest (a $249 value), and
  9. 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).

Round 62 ends on January 31st, 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.

Being Anonymous, by Spotlight

I walked out onto the driveway to greet my wife as she backed the car in, arriving home from a long day at work. Right away, I noticed a magnet on the back of the car, proclaiming us to be members of our church, complete with our town name. “What’s up with that?” I said, looking at the magnet, as she got out of the car. She laughed and said the pastor of our church had put it on there when he saw her in the parking lot. I think she had laughed because she knew what I was going to say next , “That won’t make it until bedtime!” (It didn’t.) When I got into preparedness, I came across the “grey man” theory at some point. Reading it, I realized that I fit the profile, for the most part. I think of it more in the sense of being anonymous, but it’s close enough. The grey man theory is the idea of remaining unnoticed in general and not standing out, not being the one on television who’s being interviewed in regard to some controversial position, not being the guy everyone noticed because of his loud mouth or loud clothing, and that sort of thing.

I have actually been fairly anonymous all of my life, although I didn’t realize it until more recently. You know how some people are very noticeable? Do you know how everyone takes notice when they walk in a room, people talk about them when they’re not in the room, and everyone generally remembers what they said? I am the opposite. It never really dawned on me for most of my life. I’ve always been an introvert, always being more comfortable alone than in a group. In school I always had one or two close friends and never really a big group of them, despite being on numerous sports teams.

When I grew up, I became a police officer in the small town I grew up in. After a few years, I was promoted to detective and spent the rest of my career in that role, which I really enjoyed.

Since I was a cop in the town I grew up in, which as I mentioned was a small town at that, I was particularly careful about telling people where I lived and even more so after I got married and had a family to protect. People think that only big city cops have to worry about retaliation from criminals, when in fact I suspect that it is much more prevalent against small town cops. We’re a lot easier to find, since most big city cops I ran into didn’t live in the cities they patrolled. Those of us in the small towns tend to have repeat contact with the same criminals, and it’s easier to run into a small town cop on a force of 50 or less on purpose, than to find some cop in a city of thousands. On the occasion people asked me where I lived, depending on who they were (i.e. criminal or non-criminal), I either flat-out lied (to the criminals) and named a city where we had looked for houses so I could be somewhat knowledgeable of the area or was vague enough (to the non-criminals) so that it sounded like I had answered but really hadn’t told them much. In addition to being careful what I told people, I had an unlisted phone number and a PO box to get my mail, which was necessary since we first lived in an apartment with no direct mail service. The PO box just became another layer of security after we moved.

As I got into prepping and became familiar with the grey man concept, I realized that I had been born a “grey man” to some degree. For some reason, I am really good with names and faces, but no one seems to remember mine, even people I have met on more than one occasion. Perhaps it’s because of my introverted nature that I am not “rememberable” to people, but I have always found it somewhat humorous to go up to someone I met once or twice, call them by name, and watch as I see them looking confused as to who I am or why they know me while we talk. (I’ve often told my family that men are lucky. We can call each other “buddy”, “pal”, “boss”, and the always flattering “chief”, and no one is the wiser as to the fact that we have no idea who this guy is that we’re talking to!)

So, let’s get back to the car magnet my wife received. Why on earth anyone would drive around with a sign saying where they worship (and probably live) on the back of their car? It’s like those family magnets people put on their car, showing how many kids they have and what gender they are, then add a sticker from the local elementary school as well. So, you have just notified the world that you have X number of young children, what school they go to, and what town you live in. It doesn’t make any sense to me. Don’t get me wrong; I do know why people do it. They’re showing pride in their church, school, or even their family. I just think it’s poor OPSEC, at a minimum, and in some ways, dangerous.

Before I list my tips to being anonymous, here’s one word on the Internet. It was a game changer for privacy as we all know. Anyone who wants to can probably find me pretty easily, since a lot of public records are online for free or for a small fee. However, as one of my former co-workers said when we were discussing why we bothered taking privacy precautions as police officers, “Just because they can find it if they look hard enough, doesn’t mean we should give it to them for nothing.”

Being Anonymous:

  1. Unlist your phone number. If you’re already listed, I don’t know how much this will do to remove what’s already out there. At a minimum, tell the phone company you don’t want your address listed. (Yes, you can do that!) My unlisted number costs me less than $5 per month. As a bonus, I almost never get telemarketing calls. If I’m asked in a store for my phone number, I tell them it’s unlisted or give them my cell number, which is not connected to my home.
  2. Use a PO Box or UPS store mailbox. Yes, it’s a hassle to have to go somewhere other than the end of your driveway for mail. We actually do get some mail at our house, but we use the UPS store mailbox that I set up for a side business for most of our bills, checks, DMV paperwork, et cetera. It’s particularly helpful on the DMV paperwork. In the event my car gets stolen, the thieves won’t have my home address. In my state, the DMV is okay with a PO Box or UPS store address on the actual license or registration, as long as you provide them with your real street address for their records. Anytime I’m asked for my address, it’s the UPS Store one I give.
  3. Skip the flashy clothes or ones with controversial statements. One of the things I liked about being a cop was wearing a uniform. There was no picking out clothes everyday. Then I made detective and had to pick out clothes (and a tie!) everyday. Now that I’m retired, I wear mostly earth tones, nothing that screams tactical (i.e. “shoot me first” in a robbery), and either work boots or hikers. Before I was a cop, I was obsessed with police hats, sweatshirts, et cetera. Not long after I got on the job, I realized that not everyone actually likes the police, so that came to an end quickly. I have participated in events like praying the rosary outside Planned Parenthood without having to wear the t-shirt that goes along with it. I don’t wear shirts that advocate gun rights, but I could still go to a gun rights rally. I don’t think being anonymous keeps you from exercising your rights; it just doesn’t need to be on the shirt you wear.
  4. Keep stickers and magnets off the car. Similar to above, I don’t put stickers or magnets on my car that state my political beliefs either. Similar to the family type magnets or what school my kid goes to, no one needs to guess that I’m probably carrying a gun because I have five NRA stickers on my bumper. While we’re at it, maybe take off that license plate frame the dealer loves to put on every car they sell. First of all, why am I giving them free advertising? Secondly, no one needs to know where you got your car, since most of us buy them near where we live.
  5. Don’t drive a flashy, distinctive car. Speaking of cars, driving a flashy or distinctive car is definitely anti-anonymity. After I retired from law enforcement, I was a private investigator for a few years. At that time, we just happened to own a navy minivan that was about eight years old and a grey Ford sedan that was about the same age. Talk about perfect cars for PI work! I spent many hours in the back of the minivan, seats folded flat, sitting on a lawn chair, watching worker’s compensation scammers ply their trade. When I wasn’t on surveillance, the Ford was great for riding around in to conduct interviews or accident investigations. If I drove a lifted Ford F-150 with 35” mudders on it, I probably would not be too successful at sneaking around. Which car are people going to remember driving down their street?
  6. Avoid publicity as much as possible. As stated above, it’s much harder in the Internet age to do so than it was when I was growing up. My name still appears online in regards to some old cases I worked on and in things related to my old department. There’s nothing I can do about that. However, when I was invited to appear as an audience member on a national TV show in regards to the gun control debate, I politely declined.
  7. Recognize that some times you will be exposed. No matter how hard you try to be anonymous, it’s very difficult and sometimes you’ll be identified through no fault of your own. My wife joined a local organization and became its president after a few years. Unbeknownst to her until a year or so after her term was up, the national organization that oversees the locals had put all of the officer’s names, addresses, and phone numbers online! This was prior to our PI business being up and running, and it was during the time where we had moved away from the area where our PO Box was and we were only getting mail at our house. I think she was more upset than I was, mostly because her job sometimes requires her to deal with some angry people, so she wasn’t too keen on our address being so public. Again, we can’t control everything.
  8. Don’t be completely forthcoming when talking to people you don’t know. As an introvert, I don’t have too much problem with this, since I don’t spend much time engaged in conversation with strangers. But, even if you are an extroverted type of person, try to avoid giving your life story to everyone you meet. Most people are just being polite when they ask where you live or what you do and don’t have any evil motives. Even then, it doesn’t mean you have to give out your address. Even now, to people I meet who may ask, I generalize where I live by describing its close relation to the next town over, but that description is pretty broad in reality. I can always tell someone more about myself later if necessary, but I can’t “untell” them anything once it’s out of my mouth.
  9. Don’t attract attention to yourself by being the big mouth at the event or the one who is complaining loudly about some perceived bad treatment you received. This doesn’t mean not to complain if it’s warranted; just don’t make a big scene when it’s not necessary (and it’s usually not). In this day and age, you can bet your tirade will be on YouTube or someone’s Facebook page as soon as you’re done ranting.
  10. Don’t post anything online using your real name. I often see people posting on various websites with what appear to be real names and in some cases definitely are. I used to read one investigation related website that required real names! Note I said “read” as I would never have posted there or anywhere else with my real name. Some people claim it makes it harder for people to hide behind their pen names, which is probably true, but it’s also dumb. Luckily, SurvivalBlog allows and encourages us to use pseudonyms when posting.
  11. Get a shredder. We have had a shredder for many years, since way before they became really popular. Currently we have a small Fellowes brand shredder that cross cuts, which is way better than the old strip style shredding. Now they make ones that micro shred, which is even smaller than cross cutting.
  12. Don’t use social media. If you’ve read SurvivalBlog for any amount of time, you are probably aware of social media and its downfalls. Facebook is notoriously bad at maintaining its users’ privacy. Don’t do it!
  13. Turn off GPS tracking. I always keep my GPS software turned off on my phone and digital camera. One of my cop buddies used to tease me by telling me that I thought I was so important that someone would track me. I didn’t think that, but with the NSA listening to regular American’s phone calls, who knows who’s watching us anymore? Again, don’t give it away.
  14. Select an Internet birth date. I have what I call an “Internet birthday”, which is not my real birthday. If something on the Internet requires my birthdate, it’s my Internet birthday that I put down. Make it something you’ll remember easily but that’s close enough to your own that you don’t make yourself too much younger or older. Also, be careful where you use it. I once used it for a particular company where I didn’t think it really mattered and then months later when trying to verify who I was the rep asked me for my birthday. I forgot I had used my Internet birthday. Oops! Luckily I was able to identify myself in other ways, but be more careful than I was. Plus, I get to admonish my family every year when no one wishes me a Happy Internet Birthday on that day!
  15. Finally, don’t be paranoid. This probably sounds ironic, coming from someone who just described all of the things he does to remain anonymous, but as stated earlier, you can’t control everything. I used to do crime prevention surveys for residents of the town where I was a police officer. One of the things I used to tell our residents was, “if for some reason, someone wants to get into your house (as opposed to any house), they will, regardless of what you do.”

I hope this has been helpful to you in your quest to keep you and your family safe. I truly believe anonymity is an important part of being prepared.

Letter: Preview of Anti-Gun Agendas

Good morning:

By now, it has become clear that the gloves are off and the anti-gun establishment has openly stated that it intends to take guns and gun rights. President Obama’s spokespeople have stated that he is considering executive action when he gets back from vacation in January. This sounds kind of mysterious, but if you want to know what to expect, you need look no farther than what is going on in Virginia just outside the nation’s capital. I awoke this morning to learn that Virginia has moved to phase two of its anti-gun tyranny. In phase one Governor McAuliffe, whose campaign was heavily funded by anti-gun Bloomberg & Associates unilaterally issued an executive order dated October 15, 2015. That order, despite no agency findings or any other lawful process, declared that there was an “emergency” and that guns needed to be excluded from all state offices, agencies and property for all civilians, including concealed handgun permit (CHP) holders. This included every state office, including their state-run alcohol stores, Division of Motor Vehicles, everything everywhere statewide. That “emergency” executive order was then moved to the rule-making process so it could become permanent (found here if anyone wants to see for themselves). More than 2600 comments against have been recorded so far, but that’s actually not very many and those probably won’t make any actual difference. Similarly, it won’t make a difference that there have been zero shootings in Virginia state offices, that CHP holders are more law abiding than some police departments, or that making state offices and property “gun free” target zones is a spectacularly bad idea.

Last night, the Virginia Attorney General (who won in 2013 by 165 votes in a state of some 8.3 million) stated that he had performed an “audit” of other states issuing concealed handgun permits and declared that twenty-five states are too “lax”, therefore he is unilaterally ending reciprocity for those states (article here). This means that citizens there suddenly cannot carry in Virginia and Virginia citizens cannot carry there either. This is all happening, by the way, in a state where the state Constitution states quite clearly in Article I, Section 13: “That a well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained to arms, is the proper, natural, and safe defense of a free state, therefore, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed…”

The orchestrated actions above appear to be a test to see what happens when executive orders and attorney general actions are used to bypass the legislative branch and damage or destroy the rights of the people. Unless the actions are more heavily resisted in Virginia and any other states that are trying this authoritarian approach, we should expect this to be tried at the federal level very soon. As always, be prepared. – Kass Andrada

Economics and Investing:

Survey shows US is a nation of red retail and blue retail – Sent in by RBS

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Congress’s $1.15 trillion spending bill: Heads they Win, Tails you Lose

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Items from Professor Preponomics:

U.S. News

The Federal Reserve Will Hand Out $11B in Riskless Profits to Foreign Banks in 2016 (Contra Corner) From the Article: “And since there is no plan in sight for unwinding the Fed’s gargantuan balance sheet and soaking up the trillions in excess reserves parked at both domestic and foreign banks, this handout of risk-free cash will continue indefinitely.”

Third Quarter Growth Trimmed to 2% (Market Watch) No surprise here… More than six years into the “recovery” and U.S. economic growth is well below the norm.

Looking Ahead to 2016: Massive Inventory Overhang a Key Risk for Future Growth (Zero Hedge) The suggestion is that “there is a massive inventory overhang heading into Q4 and 2016, one which will likely impact GDP by at least 1.5%-2% if not more once this long overdue inventory liquidation takes place.”

International News

Top Business Story in 2015: China’s Sharp Economic Slowdown (AP) From the Article: “China’s economy lost some luster and its leaders their aura of invincibility. A commodities boom went bust, spreading pain from Texas oil fields to Indonesian coal mines.”

Chinese Leaders Approve Economic Plan for 2016 (Market Watch) From the Article: “Chinese leaders approved an economic blueprint for next year that emphasizes tackling long-term problems and reflects a realization that debt and investment can no longer power the world’s second-largest economy.”

Japan Flags Inflation Target Fudge as Commodity Rout Deepens (Reuters) From the Article: “Japan’s economics minister is laying the groundwork for the country’s central bank to fudge its own inflation target as the global sell-off in commodities pushes the consumer price goalposts further away.”

Personal Economics and Household Finance

7 Reasons Why You Can’t Get Out of Debt and What To Do About It (The Frugal Farmer) …and the key message is: what to do about it!

Odds ‘n Sods:

ATF Lets Straw-Purchasing Violent Criminal Walk In WV – If ever there was a federal agency that should be disbanded, this has got to be it! Sent in by T.P.

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Showing just how out-of-touch the government powers are with the American people, Guns topping Christmas lists thanks to terrorism concerns, fear over restrictions – Sent in by G.G.

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SurvivalBlog reader J.K. sent in an interesting article on intelligence-sharing in the Syrian war: Military to Military

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Because there are apparently not enough “known unknowns”: Unlimited Muslim immigration: A Congress of fools or traitors? – Sent in by B.B.

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At the risk of starting another caliber war (and simultaneously hoping that it doesn’t do that), A former special-operations doctor explains why he would rather be shot with an AK-47 than an M4. Personally, I’d rather not be shot by either one, but if the pictures hold any credence, the M4 produces some devastating wounds. – Sent in by K.C.

Hugh’s Quote of the Day:

“Nullification is the Jeffersonian idea that the states of the American Union must judge the constitutionality of the acts of their agent, the federal government, since no impartial arbiter between them exists. When the federal government exercises a particularly dangerous power not delegated to it, the states must refuse to allow its enforcement within their borders.” – Thomas E. Woods, Jr.

Notes for Tuesday – December 22, 2015

December 22nd is the anniversary of the death of SP4 James T. Davis– the first uniformed American combat casualty of the Vietnam War– in 1961. This ASA soldier (of the 3rd Radio Research Unit) was killed in a Viet Cong ambush on a road outside Saigon.

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Today, we present another entry for Round 62 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, chromlined barrel and a hard case to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR type rifle to have 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 pmags 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 from Sunflower Ammo,
  9. KellyKettleUSA.com is donating both an AquaBrick water filtration kit and a Stainless Medium Scout Kelly Kettle Complete Kit with a combined retail value of $304, 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 FloJak EarthStraw “Code Red” 100-foot well pump system (a $500 value), courtesy of FloJak.com,
  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. Safecastle is providing a package of 10 LifeStraws (a $200 value)

Third Prize:

  1. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  2. A $245 gift certificate from custom knifemaker 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. APEX Gun Parts is donating a $250 purchase credit,
  8. Montie Gear is donating a Precision Rest (a $249 value), and
  9. 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).

Round 62 ends on January 31st, 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.

Water Works- Part 4, by JSP

Other Projects, A Future Project, and “War Game” Potential Problems

In this final section addressing survival related water systems, I will outline a few projects we have completed, talk about a future project, and “war game” potential problems that could arise.

Our personal outlook is that, when things crash, people who are previously identified will be coming to our place of retreat, and we also have to be open to the fact that the Holy Spirit may direct people to us who we don’t currently know. Our main residence has a standard septic tank and drain field, two bathrooms, and one shower. With a capacity of only 500 gallons, our main house septic tank system could become overwhelmed in short order when used by a crowd. If you are on a septic tank, do not overlook having it pumped regularly. Depending on the size and use, pumping every four to five years is common advice. I would argue that for people with outlooks like ours, if you can afford it, have it pumped more often. I know of a family who “forgot” to have their septic tank pumped and are not sure but think it may have been eight or ten years since the last time it was pumped. Wouldn’t you know it, the day before this last Thanksgiving, with company in town and a house full of people expected for a “turkey day” feast, both of their bathtubs backed up with raw sewage!

Consequently, the following three projects were designed to a) reduce pressure on the main house septic system, b) allow for more people to access sanitation appliances,such as flush toilets, sinks, and showers, and c) have fun building and problem solving. Prepping is our hobby!

The Outdoor Bathroom

In the summer time, at your local big box hardware store, they sell eight-foot sections of pre-built cedar fencing with some fancy lattice work on the top. Using some of these panels, I created an outdoor bathroom attached to the back (south facing) side of our house. It has a “toilet” stall that is a urinal only (male and female), a shower stall, and a double basin sink. This facility has no roof and is open air, so it’s a three season facility at best. The shower is an EZ Tankless model 101. The “drain” goes into a rudimentary four-inch perforated drainage tile set in gravel that ultimately daylights into a creek bottom 100 yards away. On a nice day, it’s a great place to take a shower with a view that is 100 miles or more.

The Outdoor Kitchen

The main home has a 12’x36′ screened-in back patio. In winter time, the bottom portion is closed in with T-111 type siding, and the top with clear view panels. https://www.farmtek.com/farm/supplies/prod1;ft_canopies_tents-ft_weathershield_commercial_canopies;pg105670.html Two-thirds of this space (12’x24′) is an outdoor kitchen, which can be used for canning, bulk food handling, and game or livestock that has been harvested. I won’t go into all the details of this facility, but I want to focus on the water aspect of it. Bear in mind that canning and processing butchered things, such as chickens, takes a lot of water.

The two water systems in this space are a sink and a wood cook stove with a Range Boiler. The sink is a commercial, three-basin, deep well, stainless steel model. We built a wood base for it that has storage and is on wheels. Attached to the side of the unit is an EZ Tankless model 202 on demand water heater. Remember that unit is fired on batteries so there is no electricity to these systems. The drain water for this sink goes out the wall and can be captured in a 5-gallon bucket or allowed to spill out on the ground to water the lawn. The point is that even if you run a lot of water through it, you’re not taxing your drain field. Furthermore, you should avoid putting bleach and harsh chemicals down a drain that makes it way into the septic tank, as that will kill the natural bacteria that breaks down solids. So this is an ideal sink to use when bleaching things for sanitation, et cetera.

Near the sink is the Ashland Delux wood stove, and between the stove and sink is the 40-gallon Range Boiler. I plumbed this Range Boiler to function as either a “closed loop” or “open loop system”. Closed loop means it is only supplied with water and only delivers water to the patio sink. Open loop means is works just like the other stove/boiler and delivers hot water to the cold water inlet of the main home water heater.

We live in a location within the Inland Northwest that gets pretty cold in winter and pretty hot in summer. “Back in the day”, when people only cooked with wood and if you just had an indoor wood cook stove, things could get brutally hot inside the house in summer with no air conditioning. So, if money allowed it, you had a second “summer stove” on a screened-in patio near the kitchen. Or some people who couldn’t afford two stoves would move their stove onto the patio for summer and back inside for winter. That is what the Ashland stove is for, summer use.

Even though this space is closed-in for winter, it still freezes. The first winter I had this set up, I shut off the water and frankly did a pretty poor job of draining things, as I thought it wouldn’t freeze that hard. That cost me a brand new EZ Tankless heater and potential injury. We were having a Christmas (not holiday!) get together at our place and wanted to use the patio for a buffet line. So, I fired up the Ashland stove to heat the space, not realizing that the pipes connecting the stove with the Range Boiler had frozen water in them. I had used copper pipe, not the galvanized I spoke of earlier, and in no time enough pressure had built up in the pipes that it caused an explosion, and I mean “explosion” in every sense of the word. It shredded the pipe, and the patio filled completely full of steam.

The lessons learned were to use stronger pipe and, when implementing systems like this in a location that could freeze, everything needs to be fully and completely drained. In addition to opening drain valves in low locations, you need to open valves up higher to let air in to facilitate draining water in the lines.

The Outhouse

We were hosting a wedding last summer and instead of simply renting “port a potties” like anyone else would have, I decided to build an “outhouse”. So, I got to talking and planning about “how” and “where” with a friend, and one thing led to another and the project got pretty big. This is a stand alone “pole building” that is 8’x12′ and has a flush toilet, enclosed shower, and sink.

There is no electricity to this building by choice, so it’s not heated. However, it’s super insulated, so a small kerosene heater can make it toasty quickly, and we light it with battery-operated LED camping type lamps. The water supply system is unique, having learned my lessons about freezing and knowing that much of the winter it would not be heated. For the water source, I plumbed a frost-free hydrant inside the building, and everything is connected to that. The shower is run with another EZ Tankless 202 unit. (There is no hot water to the sink.) Everything has easy to access drains to avoid freezing. When everything is drained and shut down, you can still use the flush toilet, as all you do is open the frost-free hydrant to fill a 2-gallon bucket, pour that water in the toilet, and now you can flush.

This bathroom has its own dedicated 1500-gallon septic tank and drain field, so it shouldn’t need to be pumped in my lifetime. Finally, we plumbed it with some exterior valves that allow the shower and sink “gray water” to be diverted from the septic tank down to an orchard for irrigation.

No, we didn’t expect this project to become so elaborate or expensive; it just took on a life of its own. However, now it is a very useful tool to accommodate guests and reduce the pressure on the house systems.

Shallow Well

One project we have tried and not succeeded at is a shallow well. There are videos online showing how to auger these out and build them. We have all the parts and materials on hand but have tried digging three times in the most logical location for our property. Each time we have hit water at about eight feet (in summer) and hit serious rock at about nine feet.

Surface Water/Pond

What about surface water? We got a bid from an excavator to do the digging to build a good-sized pond. He estimated it would have held about a million gallons, and he wanted $10,000 to do the excavating. He had a good vision for the project and his work was probably worth that much, but when I priced everything out it seemed like it would have run $25,000 to $30,000 for that total project, which was more than we wanted to spend. It would have been nice, but you can’t just drink that water, like you can the water from a well.t

Anticipated Reader Questions

Lastly, I thought I would pose and answer some questions readers might have.

  • What happens if your generator dies? My neighbor (part of the group) has one just like it. Otherwise, we go to the slow pump and rain water collection options.
  • What if you run out of gas? Where we live, everyone has stored fuel on hand. I have a 300-gallon tank, and so does my neighbor. We use ours but never let it get below half full. We get premium unleaded delivered for about $2 per gallon. If you take the fuel consumption of the generator and the GPM output of the well and do the math, for every 100 gallons of fuel we get 138,000 gallons of water.
  • What if your solar systems get fried by an EMP or CME? We have back ups. Four 280 watt panels, an Outback Charge Controller, combiner box, and an Xantrax inverter are all in a Faraday cage.
  • What flaws do you see in your systems? The pump house has no electricity by design, but we need to run some kind of heat to keep it from freezing, possibly a heat lamp grid up and maybe kerosene draft lamp grid down. If that freezes, we would have a problem.
  • What if your main well pump is toast? We do have a 24-volt SHURflo pump on hand (also in Faraday cage) that was purchased for the shallow well; it has a 300-foot lift ability at 2GPM that we could conceivably put down the main well, if it came to that.
  • Are there any drawbacks to heating water with wood? There are only the same drawbacks of heating with wood in that the exhaust smoke could be an OPSEC problem. You are basically telling the watching world that you are alive, safe, and warm at a time you may not want to do so. Therefore, having propane or kerosene options might be wise.

I hope this information has been helpful to the SurvivalBlog community and that it spurs you on to taking your water preps to the next level.

In closing I would like to share one of my favorite quotes:

“You can ignore reality, but you cannot ignore the consequences of ignoring reality.” – Ayn Rand

Seeking Input on Nigeria and on Drafting the Ilemi Constitution

I’m sure that many SurvivalBlog readers have now read my novel Land of Promise, which set up my Counter-Caliphate Chronicles novel series. (Reviews on Amazon.com are greatly appreciated.) The first novel included some details on the founding of the fictional Ilemi Republic, in East Africa. I’m now drafting the second novel in the series, titled Piece of Resistance. Although part of this book will be set in The Ilemi Republic, it primarily describes a war of resistance in Nigeria, in the 2040s. (Fourth Generation warfare against a totalitarian Islamic government.) If any SurvivalBlog readers have recent experience in Nigeria, then I would love to hear from you. Although I have traveled some in Africa, I have never been to Nigeria. So I’d really appreciate having the opportunity to discuss Nigerian culture, politics, economics, religions, foods, climate, and tribal differences with someone who has lived there or who has at least traveled there extensively.

I’m also soliciting input on my draft of the Ilemi Constitution, which I plan to include in Piece of Resistance, as an appendix. In particular, I’m looking for suggestions on how to create some ironclad limitations on the expansion of government. I’m hoping that there are some legal scholars out there who would like to help. More than just a piece of fiction, I am hoping that this draft of the Ilemi Constitution will serve as a model that could be followed, in the establishment of new libertarian nations with minimalist governments.

Please e-mail me, if you are interested. Many thanks! – JWR

Economics and Investing:

We Are Now Entering The “Discovery” Phase Of Financial Collapse – B.B.

The Reason For The Coming Breakout In The Gold & Silver Market

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Items from Professor Preponomics:

U.S. News

Why Capitalists are Repeatedly Fooled by Business Cycles (Mises Institute) Spoiler Alert: “The only way to stop the menace of boom-bust cycles is for the central bank to stop the tampering with financial markets.”

Junk Bonds Finally Capitulate to Lower Oil Price Environment (Visual Capitalist) From the Article: “When low oil prices hit last year, many fringe oil and gas producers believed that it would be possible to wait out the market for better prices. Some of these companies even issued risky junk bonds to raise capital to sustain operations until better times.”

The History of Junk Bond Meltdowns Points to Trouble (Contra Corner) David Stockman asks an interesting question: “…is high-yield debt the canary in the credit mine?”

Junk Bonds Send Ominous Warning to the Market (Barrons) From the Article: “What we see is that junk bonds seem to flash a warning ahead of major incidents in stocks including the crash of 1987, the stealth bear market in 1994, and the end of the bull market in 2000.”

International News

Oil Prices Hit Lowest Since 2004 as Supply Balloons (Reuters via Yahoo News) From the Article: “OPEC, led by Saudi Arabia, will stick with its year-old policy of compensating for lower prices with higher production, and shows no signs of wavering…”

Brazil’s Worrying Change of Finance Ministers (The Economist) From the Article: “That change is likely to make a terrible situation worse. It suggests that Mr Levy lost an argument within the government about whether austerity is the right cure for Brazil’s sickly economy, and that he lost it not because his economic remedy was wrong but because it was politically unpalatable.”

Personal Economics and Household Finance

7 Austerity Measures for Your Personal Budget (Investopedia) Commentary: This article encourages readers to attend to their health and wellness as a way to reduce the financial costs of illness over time – it’s a suggestion we don’t see often among the ideas for reducing household costs, but it’s an excellent reminder!

Odds ‘n Sods:

A reader sent in this link to Thoughts from Frank and Fern: Just Grow Up.

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Human Rights Campaign Calls on Christian Colleges to Repent of Their Christianity. JWR’s Comment: Of America’s 4,084 colleges and universities, just 56 have sought Title IX exemptions. So they say that 0.0137 of institutions have sought independence and that constitutes a “disturbing trend”? What is disturbing to me is that 99.98% of colleges haven’t stood up for Christian morality.

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From the Desk of Mike Williamson, SurvivalBlog Editor At Large: The Fallen of World War II
I notice the Soviet troops are referred to as “Soviets” or “Russians,” not “Communists.” Americans are not referred to as “capitalists,” or “republicans.” Yet German soldiers of the Wehrmacht are referred to as “Nazis,” not “Germans.” The Wehrmacht was officially apolitical, and quite a few officers spoke out before and after against Nazism. I think it’s important to draw a distinction between the troops fighting the war and the political arms of the SA and Gestapo, who orchestrated the exterminations, especially as the Soviets had their own anti-Jewish and other programs ongoing at the same time.

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Anti-Gun Sheriff Negligently Discharges Weapon, Shoots Himself – Sent in by B.B.
HJL’s Comment: One might actually call this “poetic justice” as the comments given by the sheriff indicated that he “knew in his heart” that some should not be carrying.

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Most Asylum Applicants Are Interviewed by Telephone. Feel Safer? – Sent in by J.L.

Hugh’s Quote of the Day:

“On a planet that increasingly resembles one huge Maximum Security prison, the only intelligent choice is to plan a jail break.” – Robert Anton Wilson