‘Secret’ Gold Repatriation: The Banksters’ Newest Bullion Scam
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Interview: The Quickening with Jim Willie
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Items from Mr. Econocobas:
Which Central Bank Will Shock Markets Next?
Will Gold Ever Top $1,300 Again? – Just had to include this article.. The entire premise of this article is based around a recovery that is largely an illusion and that the U.S. can sustain interest rate hikes.
How Americans Are Spending Their Windfall From Cheap Gas- Kind of sad..
For any readers located in or around Germany, you may want to look at Outdoor Army. Nice, easy to navigate website and a pretty comprehensive inventory.
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Russian Bomber Over Channel Was Carrying Nukes. – RBS
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Squatters move in, stop home sale. – D.S.
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An unbelievable violation of human rights: Mother-of-six with learning disabilities could be sterilised after authorities ask court for permission to force entry into her home . – D.S.
“We’re all put to the test… but it never comes in the form or at the point we would prefer, does it?” ? David Mamet
February 2nd is the birthday of Ayn Rand (born Alisa Zinov’yevna Rosenbaum in 1905, died March 6, 1982). She is of course remembered for her novel Atlas Shrugged, which is considered a Libertarian classic. While we sharply disagree with her views on religion (since she was an atheist), we admire both her skill as a writer and her ability to articulate some core precepts of human liberty.
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SurvivalBlog welcomes two new prize sponsors starting with Round 57 of the Writing Contest:
In the first prize awards is a Model 120 Series Solar Generator provided by Quantum Harvest LLC (a $340 value).
Added to the third prize are 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).
You might consider checking out their web sites and all of the useful equipment they offer.
First prize goes to I.S. for “Motorizing a Country Living Grain Mill for 12-volt Battery and Solar – Part 1” & “Part 2”, which were posted on January 21st and 22nd. He will receive the following prizes:
Second prize goes to M.M. for “Becoming a Top-Tier Survivalist and Representing the Prepper Community – Part 1” , “Part2”, “Part 3”, “Part 4”, and “Part 5”, which were posted on December 9-13. He will receive the following prizes:
Third prize goes to M.H. for “Eating That Preparedness Elephant, One Bite At a Time”, which was posted on January 25. She will receive the following prizes:
Honorable Mention prizes ($30 Amazon.com gift certificates via e-mail) have been awarded to the writers of these fine articles:
Note to all Prize winners: Let us know your current e-mail address. We will also need the UPS and USPS addresses for each of the top three prize winners.
Round 56 ended on February 1st, but Round 57 has started, 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. Those articles that we received for Round 56 but that did not get published in time will be automatically entered in Round 57.
Welcome to SurvivalBlog’s Precious Metals Month in Review, where we take a look at “the month that was” in precious metals. Each month, we cover the price action of gold and silver and examine the “what” and “why” behind those numbers.
Gold had a wild ride to start the year, with plenty of economic and political turmoil to power the roller coaster price action. We saw prices move from $1,170 to $1,305, as turmoil rocked Europe, only to crash back to near $1,250 after a Federal Reserve policy meeting that the market makers deemed hawkish. Even so, gold had its best month in over 1-1/2 years in January. Silver had its best January in over 30 years, before the FOMC meeting put the brakes on all the markets.
January saw elections, quantitative easing, and volatility in equities, but two things most talked about was the dominant US dollar and the complete collapse of the oil market.
The U.S. dollar continued to crush all rivals in January, with some analysts saying that it is still weak compared to historical inflation-adjusted levels. BMO Capital forecasts that the USD could rise another 15% in 2015. While a strong dollar is welcome news to U.S. consumers whose wages haven’t raised in years, there are some downsides as well. Curiously enough, Peter Schiff tells us that it was gold that was the best-performing currency against the dollar in 2014. The big gains of the dollar have also magnified the effects of oil prices.
Crude oil prices continued their plunge in January, with the Saudis vowing to not play the patsy and cut production while everyone keeps pumping (like what happened during the last oil glut.) U.S. shale fracking and increased output from Iraq, Iran, Libya, and Russia, during a time where the global economy is slowing down, means producers are in a tough bind. The Arabs are PLUMMETING OILdetermined to hold the line and drive the highly-leveraged shale drilling companies out of business in order to reduce the supply coming onto the marketplace. In fact, with crude prices dropping under $50 a barrel, Saudi prince Alaweed bin Talal told reporters that “I’m sure we’re never going to see $100 anymore. I said a year ago, the price of oil above $100 is artificial. It’s not correct.”
U.S. drilling operations in North Dakota and Oklahoma have already started scaling back, and as more of them try to refinance their high-yield debt (a.k.a. junk bonds), it could force so many bankruptcies in the energy sector that the Federal Reserve may be pushed back into a new round of printing money. James Rickards believes that the collapse of the energy sector junk bond market would spread into other junk bonds and could ignite the largest financial panic ever.
With the European Union falling deeper into deflationary conditions, speculation became rampant that the European Central Bank would have no choice but to start its own money-printing operation to buy government debt. The road was cleared for such a plan when the EU courts ruled on January 14 that quantitative easing by the ECB would not violate the treaty that established the central bank. “Someone” figured out what was going to happen before it did, because 40,000 call options on GLD were purchased two days prior, betting that gold would go up $130 an ounce to $1,360/oz by the end of March. If gold hits that mark, the unknown trader could make a profit of up to $50 million.
The day after the court ruling, the Swiss central bank abruptly abandoned its policy of selling Swiss francs to maintain a peg of 1.20 to the euro. As the shocks of Switzerland’s de-pegging the franc rocked the marketplace and wiped out many investors who had bet on the “sure thing” of the Swiss keeping the peg to the euro, gold jumped $30. The Swiss Surprise was seen as confirmation that the ECB would indeed begin quantitative easing later that week.
On January 22, ECB QE was announced. The plan unveiled by ECB president Mario Draghi was larger than expected (60bn euro vs 50bn), and longer than expected (18 months vs 12 months). Gold and the U.S. dollar rose sharply. Stocks rose to a lesser extent, moderated by poor earnings reports that day and an above-expected first-time jobless claims report. Gold denominated in euros hit a 21-month high the day after ECBQE was announced, with the euro at 11-year lows versus the dollar.
Under the 1.1 trillion euro asset purchasing scheme, the ECB will not hold more than 33pc of any issuer’s debt and will not buy more than 25pc of any issue. This freezes Greece out of the QE program, since the ECB already holds the legal limit of Greek debt. The Greek government will not be eligible for the new bond purchases until July, and Draghi warned the Greeks that any further purchase of Greek bonds by the ECB would depend on the new government in Athens continuing with the agreed-upon austerity program that accompanied their bailout money.
There’s a fat chance of that, as new socialist prime minister Tsiperas refused entry to the country to EU and IMF financial inspectors, for the purpose of reviewing the Greek government’s progress on austerity measures. He flatly rejects the current bailout conditions under which Greece has already borrowed (and owes EU nations) €240 billion. Tsiperas is demanding new negotiations from scratch and an end to German-enforced budget cutting and privatization on the part of the Greek government. In an unmistakable signal to Merkel, his first act as Prime Minister was to lay flowers at the memorial to 200 Greeks executed by the Nazis in WWII.
To add some bite to his blackmail demands, Greece vetoed an expansion of EU sanctions against Russia for escalating violence in the Ukraine war. To understand the possible consequences of an exit by Greece from the EU (called a “Grexit”,) Koos Jansen wrote this inside look at the last time Greece almost left the EU and the possible consequences. For a little more background, check this easy to read infographic on the Greek Crisis.
It isn’t just the socialists who are running Greece shaking the markets. The Charlie Hebdo terrorist attack in Paris, deflation, stock volatility, the global economic slowdown, and unexpected large policy changes by central banks have millions of people spooked. As Nobel Prize-winning economist Robert Shiller notes, people are afraid of what kind of world their children will face, and so they are willing to take negative yields on government bonds (actually paying the government for the privilege to loan them money) in exchange for financial safety.
With Greek leftists blackmailing the EU, terrorists gunning down civilians, and the European Central Bank printing money, Europeans are snapping up gold. Germans, French, and Italian private investors purchased physical gold at a rate 41% above last year this month.
Another sign the debt-fueled Ponzi scheme that is the stock market is coming apart is the story of the $100 million hedge fund that went bankrupt in December. The multi-trillon dollar corporate junk bond market is beginning to crash as well. A Chinese company became the first to default on its bonds this month, and the market panic is spreading from junk bonds to investment-grade corporate debt.
Janet Yellen and the Federal Reserve did a big number on ALL the markets this month with the open-market policy meeting. After the meeting announcement showed no signs of the Fed backing down on plans to start raising interest rates around mid-year, stocks plummeted, as the shock of no more free money sank in, and gold was hit on the prospect of an even stronger dollar.
Notably missing was the phrase “for a considerable time” when talking about when to hike interest rates, which Wall Street took as a sign of the Apocalypse. The Fed said that downward pressure on inflation from the 50% drop in crude oil prices was only temporary and not a reason to delay normalization of economic policy.
It’s January, so Silver Eagles are in the news, of course. 2.9 million American Silver Eagles were snapped up on the first day of sales, and the month finished at over 5.4 million ounces.
The British Royal Mint announced that it is back in the bullion bar business after an absence of 47 years.
The annual gold-buying frenzy in China for the Lunar New Year has started. It will be a long buying season this year, as the lunar new year isn’t until February 19.
Again, from Asian precious metals market expert Koos Jansen, we learn of the silver boom in India that’s going on, as well as the fact that Shanghai silver volume is now 37% larger than the COMEX.
The huge gold volume in China, also covered in the above article, is why CME– the owners of the COMEX exchange– have launched a kilobar gold contract in Hong Kong.
James Rickards says that the global manipulation of gold by central banks is so China will have enough gold reserves to match Western governments in the coming “currency reset”. According to him, after the world’s currencies are reset, they will not be as vulnerable to gold, and the price will be allowed free movement.
China isn’t the only government gobbling up gold, as Russia added to its gold reserves for the ninth straight month. A large part of this is to support the domestic gold mining industry, which is locked out of Western markets due to sanctions over Ukraine, but Moscow is probably happy for any excuse to spend rubles for hard assets before the currency devalues any further.
Western investors are getting into the act as well, as inflows into gold ETFs jump.
Rampant manipulation in the gold and silver fixes may be more subdued, now that British financial regulators are monitoring them.
Low prices are about to claim the entire gold mining sector in Zimbabwe, unless the government there eases back on their tax burden. Gold provides about half of Zimbabwe’s exports by value.
Looking at all of this together, Marc Faber may be right when he says gold will rally 30% as people lose faith in central banks. While he notes that there’s no way to “short” central banks, the closest thing to it is buying gold, which he calls the “trade of the century.”
Of course, the mainstream media LOVES to talk about how gold prices dropped last year, but that is ONLY true in the U.S. In every other currency in the world, gold prices rose in 2014. Gold also beat every stock market in the world, except the U.S. and Canada, in 2014. That’s not bad for a “barbarous relic”, is it?
February will bring us more gold buying in the Chinese New Year, fighting in Ukraine continuing to increase with Greek PM Tsiperas poised to block more EU sanctions on Russia, and Merkel vs Tsiperas in a fight over Greek debt forgiveness and/or restructuring.
The big question here at home will be, will the U.S. economy be able to resist being drug down by the rest of the world?
We end this month’s column with an update on German Gold Repatriation from the Fed. It seems that the Bundesbank actually got some gold out of the vaults of the New York Federal Reserve last year, to the tune of 85 metric tonnes!
I recently reviewed a couple of videos on weapons craft from Panteao Productions and found them quite useful. Panteao recently released its first three videos in a series on survival. The press release says they will have a total of thirteen videos, which are to be released over the next few months, to cover the full range of survival topics, from weapons to medicinal plants.
One of the things that impressed me about the first two videos I watched was the quality of the instructors– Bill Jeans and Freddie Blish. The survival videos use five instructors, all of whom have serious credentials, though one– Dave Canterbury– has some controversy surrounding him. One of the videos is done solely by Canterbury, while the other two I viewed feature all five. I thought I should give a rundown on the instructors before getting to the individual videos.
If anyone is not familiar with Dave Canterbury, they haven’t been watching the Discovery Channel, where he starred for two years on the show– Dual Survivor– with Cody Lundin. It’s a reality show that’s sort of the Odd Couple meets the wild hillbilly versus the New Age guy. My wife and ten-year-old son have enjoyed it quite a bit, but since I’m not much of a TV guy, I have only seen bits and pieces as I wander through the living room on my way from one chore to another. The idea, if I caught it right, was to pit the pragmatic country boy, woodsman survivalist chap against the modern, feel good, with it, environmentalist guy to see who could best survive while titillating the audience. I admit that I am pretty cynical about television, and I probably missed something about the concept. I did, however, on most of my observations, spot some smart survival techniques on the part of both characters.
At any rate, controversy developed over Canterbury’s resume. Apparently, it was inflated, particularly in the military aspects, and he issued some form of apology at some point. It isn’t clear to me if that is why he is no longer with the show, but I suspect it had something to do with it. Lundin is also no longer with the show, for whatever that is worth.
While I am not happy with Canterbury’s resume problems, I am willing to look at his contributions to these videos on the basis of what they offer, and I think he is worth listening to.
Canterbury runs The Pathfinder School LLC and Self Reliance Outfitters school as well as a store. He does tout his products in the video.
Master Sergeant Paul Howe has a fairly brief and simple resume on the Panteao website. From what I know of Howe, it should probably be a lot longer and far more impressive. He served for 10 years in Army Special Operations and has a storied reputation, in part due to the book Black Hawk Down about the raid in Somalia in 1993 that left 18 Americans dead with two of those– Master Sergeant Gary Gordon and Sergeant First Class Randy Shughart– being award the Medal of Honor. The book was later made into a movie. My impression is that Howe’s resume is limited by his own modesty and concern for security. After leaving the Army, he founded the Combat Shooting and Tactics school.
Kyle Harth is another Army Special Operations veteran. He served in Special Forces and infantry with a number of overseas tours, including Iraq and Afghanistan. Since the Army he has had a number of jobs involving security and training as well as being a reserve SWAT sergeant. He has also been involved as a defense industry representative.
N. E. MacDougald served in Vietnam in military intelligence and gave instruction to Army Special Forces, worked in the Artic, trekked in the Himalayas, and has been a shooter and a writer on survival subjects for numerous publications. He earned B.A. and M.A. degrees and has worked in foreign countries.
Jim Cobb is an author and disaster consultant who has written several books on the subject of prepping. He works with major companies in training on issues besides prepping and has also worked in security and volunteered his time helping find missing children. He has websites at http://www.SurvivalWeekly.com and http://www.DisasterPrepConsultants.com.
As a quick overview, these videos introduce prepping as common sense and reasonable, and they focus on scenarios of a few days to a few months in duration. All of the instructors come across as sane and reliable. These videos would be great to show non-preppers, as they demonstrate how to deal with situations most of us could easily encounter in a normal lifetime. I found very useful nuggets of information in every one of them, despite being a somewhat jaded student of the subject since the late 1970’s.
Learning by video is much like going to a seminar instead of being in a class with the instructor who can correct your mistakes and answer questions. While videos have shortcomings, they are extremely useful if you don’t have the opportunity to take a class or have just begun considering a subject. Watching a video, however, does not mean you have acquired a skill. Practice and coaching are what you need for that. Think of a video as something that can give you a good start and help you avoid false turns in your quest for knowledge.
This video is a bit more than 1 ¼ hours long and is the only one presented by a single instructor– Dave Canterbury. He focuses on building the kit you need whenever you are outdoors.
Canterbury uses a mnemonic system of 10 C’s to cover what you need to survive if caught outdoors unexpectedly in a short-term survival situation:
I think it is a good list, though he does work a bit to make sure each item is a “C” for memory reasons. He argues cogently that everyone should have such a kit anytime they are outdoors. I like how he stresses that each item should have more than one use and that we should carry those things with us that we cannot easily create in the outdoors.
Canterbury goes back in history and shows how much of this gear is timeless and was always used by those in the outdoors, citing as an example the so called Ice Man who was frozen in a glacier in the Alps around 3,300 BC and recently uncovered. Ice man carried many of the same sorts of things Canterbury urges us to have today.
He has another useful mnemonic– FARMED– which stands for:
He goes through a series of chapters on the items, which are sometimes products he sells. They do appear to be very high quality. I won’t go through every part of the video, but I did want to touch on some elements I found interesting or new to me.
One item he stressed is the need for a saw and how it is safer than an axe. If you carry an axe, he prefers you use an axe rather than a hatchet. He argues that the heavier tool is safer and works better.
While on containers, he pushed ones that can be used to boil water, and he showed examples that included nesting cups for compactness. He cleverly showed how you could use the canvas tape to make a water container.
While 550 parachute cord is ubiquitous, Canterbury makes a strong argument in favor of tarred marine bank line . One key reason is that he likes being able to break down a cord into strands for repairs or snares. Parachute cord frays when pulled apart. He recommends a synthetic cord that won’t rot. He also shows how to weave cordage from natural materials, but he advises that it is very time consuming. He showed a useful knot and stressed the importance of knowing how to use your gear.
He breaks down fire-making into three methods– instant, waterproof, and renewable– and feels we should have each available. A lighter or matches can be the instant source, while a ferrocerium rod can be the waterproof method. A magnifier, found on some compasses, can be the renewable fire starter. He also shows how to use a battery and steel wool to start fires. The examples of alternative strikers for ferrocerium rods was welcome, and I completely agree with his comments on how the longer and larger in diameter a rod is, the better it works.
I was intrigued that he seems to prefer a simpler, more traditional sort of pack system rather than some of the more modern, high tech styles. He showed a clever canvas pack with a basket liner that could be removed and used for a secondary container.
I have never carried a canvas needle in any of my kits, but he convinced me I should, as it can facilitate a number of repairs of gear and people as well as being used as a toothpick or magnetized for a compass.
I wasn’t sure what he meant with the “C” for cotton, but he showed how one could carry a cotton scarf to be used for shelter, bandaging, converted to char cloth for fire starting or for any number of other uses.
There is far more to the video, and I found all of it interesting and thought provoking. Key points he reiterated throughout the video were the need to know how to use your gear and to have knowledge of the environment you face. I’m glad I had the chance to watch it, and I took many notes.
This one is almost 1 1/2 hours long and actually is the introduction to the series. The Canterbury one is a bit out of the stream of the other two but still highly complementary to them. All five of the instructors contribute to this one in a sort of revolving panel presentation. The subject is short-term survival, for example, after a major storm or other disaster that could last for a week to a few months. Hurricane Katrina could be a good example of this scenario. This would be a good video to show a new prepper, or perhaps someone who isn’t quite convinced yet or is suspicious of prepping.
It starts with a lucid explanation of what prepping is. The instructors argue that prepping is common sense and not weird. Howe talks about going through Katrina and losing food, which fueled his desire to become more self-sufficient. Most SurvivalBlog readers already know much of this, but many others don’t. The presentation could help some catch on without the opprobrium of the “Doomsday Prepper” style shows.
The mindset chapter is well done. MacDougald stresses situational awareness. Howe contributed with a commentary on community and neighbors working together that I really liked. He emphasized the need for common sense, especially as one proceeds with building their preps.
After discussing mindset, the instructors moved into the use of preplanned decision trees to facilitate action in times of trouble with the need to build in options at every branch.
They next move to a discussion of water and how to source it. Harth made a number of suggestions and pointed out that water from the sky is safe, but the moment it touches the ground, we need to worry about treating it, which led him to mechanical and chemical means of purifying water. He discussed ways to use animals to help you find water sources. One interesting point he made is that water with life in it should be able to support you. If the water is void of life, it probably has issues. MacDougald followed with a discussion of giardia– a protozoan parasite that is endemic in most water. Harth then went into a discussion of Cryptosporidium– another parasite– and the filters and chemicals that can protect you. He is a fan of plain old bleach. One thing I didn’t hear mentioned is that bleach has a limited shelf life. Harth also warns of the issues with toxins in the water in industrial areas, which was a big problem during Katrina. He suggests looking for ways to collect rain as a means of extending your water supply.
Canterbury came in with a trick I would not have thought to try– heating water in a plastic bottle over a fire. You have to be very careful as you do it, but it can be done, and if you were caught short of containers, it could be a big help. He points out that all we need to do is Pasteurize water and explains the process, which can be done short of boiling. He also noted the danger from the chemicals in some plastic bottles, but correctly, in my view, explained that absorbing some of them beats dying of thirst.
They didn’t mention Water Pasteurization Indicators that you can get for only $8. I covered them in my reviews of Sun Ovens recently and Sunflair Ovens. One would be nice to add to Canterbury’s trick.
A number of methods of storing water were also shown.
A variety of food was described for prepping, ranging from normal grocery store stock to MRE’s, as well as freeze-dried and dehydrated foods. Issues of portability, ease of use, requirements for water in preparation, the need to rotate food, and learning to use it were among the topics explored.
Temporary shelter using store-bought tents or improvised shelters received attention, along with the issue of maintaining body heat.
I particularly liked the discussion on fire starters. Several commercial versions, including some I have reviewed, got favorable attention, but I was most impressed with Cobb’s suggestions for making homemade tinder. I was familiar with the trick of wrapping matches in tissue and soaking them in wax as well as using wads of drier lint pressed into paper egg cartons that get drizzled with wax, but he had more. He suggested using broken crayons, which I had not thought of and had been using paraffin instead. This provides a use for all those ruined crayons our kids create. My son and I made some, and they worked quite well. He also showed a fire starter with drier lint soaked in Vaseline and sealed in a plastic straw that also worked quite well, which was new to me. Canterbury then popped in showing how to make feather sticks with a knife to help get a fire going, which is an excellent tip.
Harth showed off his everyday carry gear, which was pretty typical for many preppers. Cobb likes carrying a small kit tucked into a can about the size of a deck of cards.
Budgeting got attention. Cobb stressed how we can prep at the pace we can sustain and should focus preparing for the first week, then the second, and so on until we have prepped for the amount of time we feel comfortable with. I suspect his approach is similar to what many of us here use.
They next discussed bug out bags, which Cobb called an icon of prepping. Cobb warned us against following someone else’s list rather than determining what we actually need and for what situations we expect it to handle. Harth contributed to this report, and both men suggested thinking in terms of how long we need a bag to sustain us. A short term situation, for example, could consist of getting home from work, while a medium term one could be for a one- or two-week evacuation from home. Long term might mean leaving home for good. We need to consider a number of needs, and they will change depending upon how long the bag needs to carry us and the environment in which we expect to use it. You also need to be familiar with whatever you put in the bag. Harth and Cobb both warn us that the bag is something we will continually tweak as time passes. My conclusion was that we probably need more than one bag, though the short-term one could be a subset of the medium-term one, which in turn is a subset of the long-term one. We might want to have bags in different locations as well.
The final chapter is a discussion by Cobb on the “Lone Wolf syndrome”, which he describes as heading off on your own forever. He warns that very few of us can pull it off and gives many reasons why. He effectively stresses the need for others in a survival situation.
This video is also done with all five instructors and is slightly more than 2 ¼ hours long. It covers some of the same subjects in more depth than the prior video, but it adds a number of other topics. Again, it focuses on short-term situations of weeks or perhaps months.
They start with the necessity of planning, taking into account all of our family needs along with our pets. Cobb tells us that making decisions ahead of time and being able to account for bureaucratic issues, such as releases to get your kids out of school, can make life a lot easier during the crunch.
Budgeting is discussed, both in terms of how many supplies you need and the way to pay for them.
The video next moves to food issues. Harth gives a lot of tips about nutrition and shows a number of foods that can work well. One trick he demonstrated and I plan to try is putting rice in a Ziploc style bag with some water, jerky, and seasoning and then tucking it into your waistband and carrying it all day. He says it will absorb the water and warm up into a pleasant meal.
I really enjoyed the section on off-grid cooking. MacDougald showed several cookers, and Cobb added more along with showing a way to make a cooker with an empty tuna can, some wax, and cardboard. Several of the cookers and boilers Cobb showed were ones I have wanted to investigate, such as Kelly Kettles and CanCookers. The information he provided was very helpful in determining that I probably should get both. They will work well for camping and prepping.
Next up were cutting tools, which started with a discussion by Canterbury on the basic needs for cutting tools. His key point was that tools allow us to make things we need when we are living off the land and that the more tools we have, the more we can do. He showed us the tools he likes to carry. Something I hadn’t thought much about is how useful an awl is.
Howe then showed us a number of axes and machetes and followed with hoppers and both fixed and folding knives.
Harth took the video into first aid and discussed an assortment of useful products, and more importantly he talked about planning, while showing how he organizes his own kit. He feels eye protection is vital in a survival situation. I tend to forget about it, since I wear glasses, but you should remember those in your family who don’t.
Next came vehicle survival kits, which were also explained by Harth. Issues with starting a vehicle, extricating a stuck car, flat tires, fuses, signaling, and the like were well handled along with products to solve problems. One item was the PowerAll battery, which is very compact device that can jump start a car as well as serve as a flashlight and a USB charger. I added it to my wish list. I wasn’t aware that such a small package could start an engine, so this was a good find. The reviews on Amazon are pretty positive, too.
Security came up next with a number of tips about how to stay safe when away from home, at an ATM or at a hotel. MacDougald, Harth, and Howe contributed, and their key point was maintaining awareness at all times.
Backup power in the form of generators and solar power was discussed, though I would have liked more detail. MacDougald showed small solar systems. He explained their limitations in power production but aptly pointed out the advantages of silently providing free power without needing fuel.
Family and group communications were explained by Howe with an emphasis on planning and how to work with your neighborhood and officials. He suggests setting up a command post in your neighborhood, which I think is a great idea.
Cobb then came up with the issue of boredom and said, “Your kids are going to drive you insane.” This is something I suspect might be true most anytime but may especially a problem during a crisis. Cobb came up with a number of suggestions before he moved to the subject of preserving documents with more recommendations.
Each of these videos cost $24.99 in DVD form, and they can be streamed online if you have a Panteao subscription. They streamed well on my fiber optic connection rated at 20 Mbps. I don’t have a way to check it on dialup, but I suspect they won’t work well at those speeds. Sometimes, the site itself seemed busy, but once I started the videos, they played well.
Matters, like food, first aid, and the like cannot be avoided in any discussion of prepping, which led to some repetition between the three videos. They don’t, however, just recycle the same material, and they make a clear effort to build on what was in the other videos. I generally wasn’t as bothered by repetition as I expected to be.
The more you know, the less you will probably get from watching them, but even when I was already very familiar with a topic, I liked seeing how others dealt with it. I enjoyed watching them and learned something from each. I prefer, however, the idea of watching them online by subscription and taking notes rather than buying them. That saves both space on my shelves and a lot of money. Others might want to own them for reference and to have them available without the Internet. You will have to make that call for yourself, but I think a one-month subscription for $20 is an amazing deal. It gets you access to all of their videos on subjects from weapons to medical care. I’ve watched five videos at this point, and they certainly have been worth far more than $20. If, after watching one online, you decide you need a hard copy, you can buy it, which is far better than buying one and learning you do not need it long term.
– SurvivalBlog Field Gear Editor, Scot Frank Erie
I’m from upstate NY, and I love Survivalblog! This is a great recipe for camping or at home. It is very easy and requires almost no prep.
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Do you have a favorite recipe that would be of interest to SurvivalBlog readers? Please send it via e-mail. Thanks!
JWR,
I wholeheartedly agree with your prescription for law enforcement encounters, but I would add that if the lawmen persist and detain you, your first response should be to ask for an attorney. Without affirmative invocation of your right to an attorney, the questioning will drag on and on. When you request an attorney, they must immediately stop questioning you. However, do not expect an attorney to come waltzing through the door; if you are under arrest, it may take 24-48 hours for you to see one at first appearance, and even then it may be for only a moment. Many accused have unrealistic expectations, and when the lawyer is not immediately provided in this instant gratification world, they waive their rights, reinitiate contact, and make all sorts of damaging statements that WILL be used against them later. If you are under arrest, law enforcement has already made up their mind, and there is no talking your way out of it.
See prior article I sent and published in SurvivalBlog: Things to Understand When Interacting With Police, by G.S.
JWR adds: One item to watch is the CCW laws, if you are so licensed. This database is usually tied to your drivers license, and you need to check your states laws regarding contact with a law enforcement agent to determine how it impacts you.
The Curious Dramas of Bowe Bergdahl. – RBS
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Anoka-Hennepin Schools May Start Depression Screenings – D.S.
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Venezuela troops to use lethal force at protests. – H.L.
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Police Dept. Lobby – a great place to buy an un-papered gun. – T.P.
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Super-cookie crumbles: Verizon vows to kill off HATED zombie stalkers. – G.G.
“Life made you get your hands dirty; life was vengeful if you tried an easy route.” ? Meghan Ciana Doidge, After The Virus
February 1st is the anniversary of the secession of Texas from the United States in 1861. A State Convention considering secession opened in Austin on January 28th, 1861 and on February 1st, by a vote of 166-8, adopted an Ordinance of Secession from the United States. It’s important to note that not all Texans favored this act and the state Governor, Sam Houston, while being loyal to the union, refused offers from President Lincoln to keep him in office and was subsequently deposed as governer.
We also remember February 1st, 2003, when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated over Texas and Louisiana as it reentered Earth’s atmosphere, killing all seven crew members.
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Today, we present another entry for Round 56 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The $12,000+ worth of prizes for this round include:
First Prize:
Second Prize:
Third Prize:
Round 56 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.
There are two tried, proven, and scientifically-documented ways to program the unconscious mind. Any professional or Olympic athlete will tell you that visualization works. If you watch winter Olympics downhill skiers stand at the top of their run, they are moving their bodies imagining the run as they want it before they even start. This programs the unconscious to see the same picture that the conscious imagines, and when the two work together amazing results follow. The other way to reprogram the unconscious mind is also well known and documented, though few have applied that knowledge to shooting; it’s positive affirmations. If you continually bombard your unconscious mind with verbal suggestions, what you are essentially doing is brainwashing yourself. If the unconscious mind hears it enough times repetitively and over a long enough time span, it begins to believe it. To be effective, your self-talk should be short, simple, and to the point. For instance, let’s say you aren’t the most observant person in the world. Your self-talk statement might be something like this; “I am always alert”. Your positive affirmations should be spoken several times a day and as often as you can. Remember repetition and time are the proven basis for brainwashing. If you do this, you will find that over time you will be looking less at your shoes as you walk and instead looking around at your surroundings more.
If you are one of those people who have less-than-excellent situational awareness, it’s critical for you to improve in this area, because you can’t defend against something you don’t notice until it’s too late. You’ll find that as soon as you say it, it will become a self-fulfilling prophecy, because you can’t make that statement and not involuntarily (unconsciously) start looking around. If you routinely look down while walking on a flat surface, like a sidewalk or road, and say something like that to yourself or even just think it, an autonomic response will follow that makes you look up and around. You don’t have to consciously do a thing or think a thought, it just happens. This is your unconscious mind working FOR you instead of against you.
If we fast forward from WW II to Vietnam we find something totally different, because now 90% of the riflemen are shooting the enemy. What’s the difference? Once the military learned about this phenomenon, we found ways to correct it. We did that by reprogramming our unconscious mind and also by temporarily bypassing it altogether. Training (correct training) is the key.
During WW II and the Korean War, we trained men to shoot paper bull’s-eye targets. They were encouraged to take their time, pull the trigger slowly, and breathe correctly; sound familiar? They became very good at taking their time, breathing correctly, and hitting paper bull’s-eyes, even at distance, but that training did not translate well into real combat. While there were other minor changes, the two big changes in military training that resulted in such an increase of the effectiveness of the riflemen were:
After the collapse of society and in the absence of any effective law enforcement, we’re not talking about facing a military unit that possesses military-grade weapons, military training, and military vehicles. If you are, give it up; you’ll lose. What you are very likely to face, though, are individual criminals and gangs. These are “animals” and easier to “put down”. They may even make it easier for you by looking the part. However, what if it’s your neighbor, with whom you have refused to share what little food you have, and he has returned, armed and desperate? Can you shoot “Fred”, who you’ve known for years and who used to bring the cold beers to all your barbecues? What if your spouse is in the garden collecting vegetables for dinner and an old, frail, skinny man is drawing a bead on him/her? What if it’s a lady, a pregnant lady, or a thirteen-year-old boy who is starting to squeeze the trigger? Could you really shoot that pregnant lady or that child? If you hesitate for even a split second, your spouse just died, and it’s your fault. Still think this is going to be easy?
So, let’s talk in more detail about those solutions.
Shooting another human being just isn’t built into a normal person’s DNA, unless you are a sociopath and have no conscience, remorse, or guilt. Be sure it is a righteous shooting, or you will deserve the guilt and trauma that follow. There can be a fine line between killing in self defense and unnecessary murder. We all have a moral compass, and for each one of us that compass points somewhere a little different than everybody else. I think we are all on board with shooting someone who would kill a loved one, but what about someone who is going to steal food, which is required for sustaining life and without it will result in the death of that same loved one later down the road? Is that also justified? We each have to make that decision, and I urge you to do that ahead of time, so you don’t have to work it out in your head in the middle of an adrenalin dump. Know exactly what you are willing to do, when, where, and how you will do it. Preparing your whole mind (both halves) ahead of time is your best defense. Without your whole mind behind you, all the marksmanship, training, and the finest weapons will almost certainly fail you.