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Items from Mr. Econocobas:
This Isn’t Investing … It’s Russian Roulette
Old vs Young: The Story Of America’s Two Labor Markets
December Employment Gain Caps Best Year for U.S. Since 1999; Wage Gains Lag – Here’s your Bloomberg spin on those same numbers.
From the National Geographic Channel: The Ultimate Black Market Weapon. – G.P.
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Venezuela: Military Supervises Food Distribution. – H.L.
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Owner dies after shootings at suburban Kansas City gun shop. – T.J.
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Waste to water. – G.P.
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PA Man Arrested for Refusing to Hand Over Camera to Police Officer. – T.P.
“Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things.” John 8:28(KJV)
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.
I’m a Ham operator and recently got scammed. I want to share my story and to give some pointers to those less educated, concerning what to look for when buying Ham equipment from ads posted online on any of the various Ham forums. I’m not talking about buying in person; I’m talking about buying sight unseen, like non-Ebay or non-Amazon purchases.
I was looking for an ICOM radio amp and found one. The price was reasonable for a used amp, so I contacted the person. He said, in broken English, that it was still for sale and he was selling it because he had just hurt himself working on his roof antenna, so he needed to sell the rig to pay his bills. I asked about payment options, and he instructed I send a bank wire. He kept asking me if the money had been sent. It was mildly annoying me, but given his situation it made sense to me. I provided my information for shipping. We agreed on DHL because this was going from the U.S. to Germany. At the top of all of his emails, I then started to see some DHL banner, which even took me to the DHL web page. I then wired the money to his wife’s bank account. The money did not go through. I found out the account had been closed. I asked about using PayPal, and he said he could not use Paypal because his account had been hacked. I get the new bank account information from him and wire the money. It goes through. He acknowledges receipt. He asks me if I knew anyone else who might be interested in his remaining gear. I said yes and sent out the information to those people, who I later told to disregard as I got frustrated with him. At this point it begins to get interesting.
He used some shipping company other than DHL. I had never heard of them, but this company said it was affiliated through DHL on its website. I noted that its name was very similar to another company. Its website was non-user friendly and not that professionally done, as far as I was concerned. However, I had a tracking number, so I was content. Then I got an email from the seller saying that the package was held up in customs. He said that the shipping company needed money for insurance, customs fees, and some tariff. This was a $5,000 amp, so I thought maybe this was legit. However, the additional amount was $1,540! My internal alarm FINALLY went off. I’ve ordered items to be delivered overseas, and this was new to me. I knew that these fees were paid upon delivery, not shipping. I told the seller I was not paying those fees. He sounded all sorry about it, and said he would help. I contacted the shipping company and was told that I had to pay the fees or else customs would not release the item. This sounded fishy. This went back and forth for about a week. I asked the seller and the shipping company to ship it to a stateside address. The company said it could not because the fees had to be paid first and that customs would not release it until I paid those fees. So, I demanded to know where the item was being held. They told me El Campo, Texas. So I called DHL (since the web page said they worked with DHL) for help, and the gentleman there was very helpful. He could not verify the other shipping company, but he added that it may be possible DHL works with them. In the end I asked him if there was a customs facility in El Campo, Texas. He replied that he did not of one there.
I searched the customs web page for such a facility and could not find one located there. I then called the El Campo Police Department and asked if such a facility existed; the Desk Sergeant said, “No.” I then contacted the seller, who said he had contributed over $420 toward one of the fees and that he was trying to help me. He also said that if I would just pay the remainder, to include the refundable insurance fee, then everything would be okay. I thought that was rather nice of him, possibly too nice of him. (I thought that perhaps he was trying to salvage his reputation.) I then contacted the shipping company and told them that I knew there was no customs facility in El Campo, Texas. They then asked me to call them. I refused to do so because that little voice inside told me not to. I believe they were privy to me knowing that they were full of hot air and I feared they might try something funny, if I called them. I then shot the seller one final email calling him to task and never heard back from him.
Realizing that I had probably been had, I didn’t want anyone else to be a victim, so I began to look for other postings by this person and notified the web owners what had happened to me. I provided them screen shots of my emails and gave my handle, which would allow them to somewhat verify my name against my email address. The ads were in about five to seven places, including England. Why were they still up even after he had “sold” it? Meanwhile, I also began to fervently report what had happened to me to the USPS, DHS-CBP, BBB in Indiana and Pennsylvania, AOL (since it was an AOL email account), the shipping company’s ISP, and some FBI Internet fraud unit. (This contact with the FBI was to go after the shipping company because that company was probably a front used by scammers, after all even the CBP said the fees were fraudulent.)
As the ads came down, I noticed that someone else had been scammed. It was a guy in Argentina. He said beware of this one female, because she had just scammed him. I recognized the name as the seller’s wife (from the bank account information) and noted the date of his post was barely 1.5 weeks old and concerned the same item. I wondered how it was possible that he only had the name of the seller’s wife? He also posted the bank account details she used. A few seconds later, it hit me full circle. I was at first unsure of a scam, but now I was 100% sure that it was a scam, as what was posted was the second set of bank details that I had– the new account– that I had inadvertently alerted the “seller” to establish. Also, something else had still not clicked yet. Was this a couple operating together or a solo operation? And what about that shipping company?
I thought I was making good progress until I kept seeing a common theme in many a web page about Hams getting scammed involving stolen call signs. I learned that many people had gone full throttle to report someone, only to find out that someone else was using that person’s call sign! After all, you can easily go to the FCC and look up a call sign and get enough information about a person to pretend to be them, set up an email address, and head out to bring in the first victim. Learning this bit of information, I had to backtrack to the various agencies and state that someone could be acting as “Mr. X” and using his credentials, but that the facts of the case were still the same.
Next, I contacted my bank and the host bank and told them what had happened. Did I get my money back? No. My last attempt was to call my bank to contact the receiving bank and see if they could contact the account holder to see if she would return my money. I was given no guarantees. I knew it was hopeless, but I had to give it a try. I considered it extending God’s grace to this person before the hammer falls…spiritually. About a week later, I received a call from the bank telling me that Mrs. X declined to return the money. Okay. She should read Psalm 73– no one gets away with anything. Mr. X, I determined, probably never existed. Anyway, that’s my story. However, I did not feel I had closure concerning this whole episode. I needed to get the word out in some fashion so that others in the Ham community would not make my mistake. So let me share what I learned from this ordeal and from visiting other Ham sites dealing with this issue.
In closing, Ham forums are generally safe. I bought both of my radios using the forums and even used money orders. Those days are not over, but be vigilant in your purchases. There are some crafty folks out there. I look back and slap my forehead and wonder how did I miss all of those warnings? Well, it was my past positive experiences with these forums that led me to believe that I had nothing to fear. Be sure that you don’t want an item so much that you ignore that little voice inside screaming at you to beware. Again, if you do get scammed, get those ads pulled down!
The article by Z.M. was a good start for a car kit. I would recommend a few additional items.
U.S. to Shutter 15 European Bases Under Cost Cutting Plan. – G.P.
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The Part-Time Economy Consuming America. – H.L.
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Items from Mr. Econocobas:
Credit Card Debt Tumbles Most In 1 Year As US Households Resume Deleveraging – Understand the author’s point about how it shows people are not optimistic, but deleveraging is actually what is needed and what happens in a depression. However, also understand in our debt based monetary system, deleveraging will collapse the system, and that is why central banks around the global are trying to print their way out of deflation from the global depression.
Consumer Credit in U.S. Increased by $14.1 Billion in November – Here you can see the spin placed by major media, just reporting the headline number of increased consumer spending. Nowhere here do they attempt to explain like ZeroHedge what the numbers actually means and that it missed expectation.
‘Catastrophic’ earthquake and tsunami brewing off B.C. coast. – CDV
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I just read this online about a former Miami Dolphins NFL football player who accidentally fell off his boat while it was on autopilot and he was alone. He ended up swimming nine miles back to shore, which took him somewhere around 15 hours of swimming. That’s quite a tremendous feat, but it’s more of a great reason to always make sure you stay in shape because you never know what can happen. It’s amazing how quickly you can get into a life-threatening situation. – EJS
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Police in the US Kill Citizens at over 70 Times the Rate of Other First-World Nations. It is becoming quite clear that police in the U.S. can and will kill people, even unarmed people and even on video, and do so with impunity. – H.L.
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Judge Orders NYPD to Release Records on their X-ray Vans. – T.P.
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Charges: Smiling for camera, Princeton man records torture, killing of pet dog There is a very close link between a person’s willingness to harm and torture animals and their willingness to harm and torture people. – T.P.
“And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.” Exodus 3:14 (KJV)
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.
In recent years, I have thought a lot about food security. Food security means not relying on a “just in time” (JIT) delivery system that would, not could, fail in the event of a major national disaster. Just in time delivery is part of an automated inventory control system used by major grocery store chains. It allows a store to only order and stock in the warehouse what has been predicted to sell within a given time period. The advantage of this system for the local store is less waste and spoilage, and a smaller warehouse footprint provides an overall cost savings. It’s a brilliant system, as long as the store can get their deliveries in time. In the event of a major disaster, transportation would be disrupted and the entire JIT system would break down overnight.
The global economy has introduced threats to food security that we never worried about when I was growing up. We now have bananas from Ecuador and avocados and oranges from Costa Rica!?! As our society became more industrialized, people moved into the metropolitan cities and away from agriculture. Over the years, we have relied on importing many foods, often at a lower cost than growing it ourselves. Many people think you get food from a grocery store with no idea where the food comes from. What happens when imports stop for one reason or another, such as a world war? What happens when the grocery store shelves are empty? Many people don’t even know how to grow a garden, raise chickens for eggs and meat, or make and bake a loaf of bread! Fortunately, there is an enormous movement in the United States that can be described as “back to the earth”, “back to basics”, “organics”, “survivalist”, and “prepping”. The Internet has allowed for a phenomenal knowledge acquisition via YouTube videos, blogs, and websites. It’s the kind of information that Grandma and Grandpa learned from their parents and that was passed down from generation to generation, in person. It’s now available to anyone with an Internet connection. (However, my daughters still call me for tips and tricks to cooking certain recipes that I only know because my mother or grandmother taught me.) Even though the threats to our food security feels insurmountable, thanks to technological innovation most people can learn self-sufficiency and combat the threats to food security on a small scale. Everyone can begin to develop a plan. With that in mind, I decided to spend some time analyzing the food value, cost, and recipes associated with beans and peas, because you can purchase them in bulk at a relatively low cost. Dried beans and peas have a shelf life of at least a year and can store indefinitely in a cool, dry place.
According to US Dry Bean Council, dried beans offer a number of advantages including:
Beans are nutrient dense, low in sodium, and high in dietary fiber, protein, iron, and potassium. They’re also low in sodium with no trans fats and are a good source of carbohydrates. Across the family of beans, the micronutrients vary only slightly. Calories per serving vary between 60 and 120 calories, and one serving is amazingly filling. I analyzed the micronutrients of the following beans:
It was interesting to discover that small red beans were highest in fiber (18 G per serving) and lowest in calories (60). Lentils came in high in fiber as well (11 G) and low in calories (80). The beans with the highest potassium value are Great Northern, Baby Lima, Black, and light red Kidney with correspondingly high caloric value– 90, 117, 100, 100 calories per serving. I didn’t realize that people with certain health conditions, such as cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and obesity, could greatly benefit from a diet rich in beans and peas. I always thought beans were “fattening”, and that’s about all I knew about them. Wow, did I learn a lot about these Super Foods!
I have started to shop at a local store named Cash & Carry Smart Food Service for bulk items. Many items I could get at Costco but not for the same low price. Walmart is another favorite store I use for stocking up, but Walmart does not always carry the bulk sizes I am interested in. C&C has locations in California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington. The name is a misnomer; you don’t have to purchase with cash, though I’m advised to do so for the purposes of OPSEC. They have Point of Sale systems where credit and debit cards can be used. As well, they don’t advertise and are a food wholesaler. I called their headquarters to find out if I could purchase as an individual rather than a small business or non-profit, and HQ said that I could. I own a small business and a small non-profit, so I could have produced the licenses, but I didn’t need to. They carry everything you can think of, if you are in the food service business,including a large fresh foods section, bulk meats, and high quality frozen chicken, along with all the cooking and service supplies you could imagine. Their website allows you to select your local store and shop online by creating a grocery list that you can print out before you go, and it is useful for cost comparison with other stores. The downside is that I didn’t see organic food items. For the purposes of stocking up, I focused on household supplies and cooking supplies, such as bleach, white vinegar, olive oil, paper products, dried beans, flour, sugar, coffee, spices, some canned goods. I purchased bulk supplies in the 25 lb quantity, because I don’t reasonably have room for 50 lb bags nor the energy to repackage anything larger than a 25 lb bag. I spent approximately $270, but I won’t have to purchase certain items again for at least six months. The staff was very helpful in loading my car, and my family unloaded when I got home. As a disabled person, it was difficult to walk through the store and push, drag, pull heavy items onto the large cart; it took me a couple of hours to accomplish this task, but I was determined to explore this store myself. Even though it resulted in a lot of pain, I felt great about being able to do it. I’m sure the store staff would have provided a helper for me if I had asked. Next time, I will take someone with me for the heavy lifting, now that I am familiar with the territory. Below is a quick cost comparison chart I created by using the C&C and Walmart websites. For approximately $275, you could stock up on 275 lbs of beans and peas at C&C.
|
Type |
C&C 1 LB |
C&C 25 LBS |
Walmart 1LB |
|
Navy |
$0.96 |
$23.99 |
$1.72 |
|
Pinto |
$0.59 |
$14.78 |
$1.00 |
|
Great Northern |
$1.30 |
$32.57 |
$1.34 |
|
Baby Lima |
$1.34 |
$33.38 |
$1.98 |
|
Black |
$0.68 |
$17.09 |
$1.53 |
|
Kidney (light red) |
$1.26 |
$31.49 |
$1.50 |
|
Red small beans |
$1.02 |
$25.57 |
$1.42 |
|
Green Split Peas |
$0.78 |
$19.58 |
$1.37 |
|
Garbanzos Chick Peas |
$0.95 |
$23.77 |
$1.37 |
|
Lentils |
$0.76 |
$19.09 |
$1.27 |
|
Blackeye Peas |
$1.37 |
$34.17 |
$1.75 |
|
Total |
$275.48 |
A handy conversion chart is available online at the Bean Institute to help figure out dried beans as compared to canned beans serving sizes. The following chart is copied from the Bean Institute website:
|
½ cup cooked beans, drained |
equals |
1 serving of beans |
|
one 15-oz. can of beans |
equals |
1 ½ cups cooked beans, drained |
|
one 15-oz. can of beans |
equals |
3 servings of beans |
|
one pound of dry beans |
equals |
2 cups dry beans |
|
one pound of dry beans |
will yield |
6 cups cooked beans, drained |
|
one cup of dry beans |
will yield |
3 cups cooked beans, drained |
As I mentioned, the downside for shopping at C&C was no organics, but remember beans are naturally organic and non-GMO. We have attempted to move towards locally grown, home grown, organic and non-GMO, non-processed, high nutritional value foods. I can’t even put “fast food” in my mouth any more. I bought a McDonald’s hamburger recently, because I was on a road trip and had not eaten a meal in 24 hours. I can’t tell you how revolting that hamburger tasted, and I was surprised at my reaction. Back in day, as a single working mom with four young children, fast food was a part of our diet at least once a week due to sheer logistics. Now, as an empty nester who is not yet retired, I have more time to think, plan, shop, and prepare meals. As well, I spend time stocking up and cooking from scratch. Recently I became aware of the nutritional value of bone broth and began to experiment with making various soups and stews, hence my interest in beans and peas. We purchase our beef and pork from a local rancher who is dedicated to organic, grass-fed ranching. The feed they purchase for the pigs is 100% organic, and they don’t even allow the feed to be pumped up with vitamins and additives. Ever year, we purchase a side of each– half a pig and half a cow. The meat is processed locally, packaged, and immediately put in a deep freezer. The cost is very competitive, especially with the cost of beef soaring. We have a commercial freezer in our garage, and the meats fill it. We share the meat with our large family and friends throughout the year. It makes us feel good that we can contribute in this way. We have yet to source fresh, local, organic chicken that is reasonably priced and can be purchased in bulk. I keep teasing my husband that I’m going to start a business raising meat chickens, and then we both laugh because we can’t physically do anything that challenging. We sincerely appreciate our local ranchers, and they even deliver!
Last, but not least, learning how to cook a variety of meals with beans and peas that your family will actually eat could be a challenge for some, so start slow. Soups come to mind first, but stews, salads, dips, and shakes (yes health shakes made with cooked beans, spices, and green tea blended together) are all ideas you could expand upon. My favorite lunch is black beans and garbanzo beans mixed with a little Vinaigrette. I had fun creating a soup using a pork shank, fresh garlic, sea salt, stewed tomatoes, and pinto beans. I just threw it all in a pot and let it simmer all day. It is DELICIOUS with homemade Rosemary and Cheese Bread slathered with organic butter. Get the kids involved and let them create a recipe. I love red beans and rice rolled up in a tortilla; it doesn’t have as many calories as you would think and is certainly a fraction of the calories in a hamburger and fries! The Bean Institute provides recipes and recommends checking out the Culinary Institute of America’s World Bean Kitchen. I never knew that beans were so interesting. Think about it; a one pound bag of nutrient-dense beans, about six cups cooked, with a small piece of meat and/or lots of vegetables (from the garden if possible) plus a loaf or two of homemade bread could provide a delicious and very low-cost meal for a family of six. Bon appetite!
Hugh,
First, I’d like to compliment Z.M. on a well written post regarding a Car Emergency Kit. For most car related situations, this kit would be very useful if not down right critical for self preservation! These things need to be in each vehicle in every season of the year.
However, I need to point out that this is not a winter survival kit for a car. A winter survival kit needs everything mentioned plus a lot more!
I live in a region of the country where blizzards and heavy snow can strand hundreds of vehicles on Interstate highways overnight with wind chills to minus 40 degrees. The blizzards can be so intense that even National Guard vehicles and snowplows have to wait for the visibility to improve before they can start their rescue operations. I’m talking “you cannot see beyond your windshield” type of limited visibility. Then consider travel on the hundreds of miles of gravel roads with farms miles apart. Getting stranded in a vehicle is a common occurrence on these back roads. My vehicle survival kit is designed to keep myself and my passengers alive and in good condition if we are stranded in my car for three days in extreme weather before rescue.
I keep in my car a complete set of winter clothing including Army Surplus arctic boots and mittens, an old style Army helmet liner (love it), Air Force Surplus parka, Carhartt insulated coveralls, ski goggles, and a face mask. I’ve worked half a day at a time dressed with this gear in minus 30 to 40 below without undo discomfort. I also have the Army Surplus Intermediate and the Arctic feather filled sleeping bags. The intermediate bag fits inside the arctic bag. This is what I use for winter camping. If I had to shelter in a car for days during extreme weather, I shouldn’t lose valuable parts of my body to frostbite with this gear. I keep most of my gear in waterproof bags to keep dry if my car ever slides into a water-filled ditch. The news reports more people dying from getting wet in early spring weather than from the extreme cold of winter.
I also keep a sealed 3-gallon pail of calorie-dense food stored in the trunk. Most of this food is “snack” type food, such as chocolate chips, raisins, and apple chips, plus oatmeal, dehydrated potatoes with gravy packets, tea bags, and more. I have had no problem letting peanut butter freeze in my car as long as it is in a plastic jar and then using it in my kitchen in the spring. The peanut butter jar alone has 2500 calories or more. Overall, I pack at least 10,000 calories of food in this pail. Keeping the internal fires burning with food is critical for physical warmth and emotional well-being. The 3-gallon pail would be used as a commode if the weather is too extreme to go outside the car.
To top off my vehicle winter survival kit, I include a one-burner, propane camp stove and a half gallon kettle. The stove would be used to melt snow for water, to cook hot tea and meals, and for brief periods of heat after the fuel runs out from the vehicle; I pack a pocket-sized German “Esbit” stove with lots of fuel pellets and a bunch of tea candles. The candle light is for comfort as well as heat. Each tea candle will burn for close to four hours. The candle light provides emotional comfort during this stressful situation that has a value that cannot be measured!
Something that is rarely mentioned that I include in my winter survival kit is a carbon monoxide detector. Again the news reports more cases of people who are stranded in their vehicles dying from carbon monoxide poisoning than from exposure. Wind can blow the car exhaust under the car where it will seep into the passenger compartment and silently poison the occupants. Burning the propane camp stove, the Esbit stove, and the tea candles can also add life-threatening levels of carbon monoxide. Opening a window that is downwind a small amount is recommended, but I’ve experienced immovable frozen windows frequently in extreme weather.
This list is far from complete, but it should give you some idea how serious I am about my vehicle winter survival kit. Winters in the Great White North can and do kill people every year. Most of this gear stays in my car for every season of the year. I just rotate the food twice a year. Items from my winter survival kit also serve additional duty as part of my bug out bag and my get back home bag.
Thanks Survivalblog for all of your great information!! – Mountain Firekeeper
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No Proof JPMorgan Not the Big Buyer of Silver Eagles. – K.W.
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Items from Mr. Econocobas:
US to Cut Off Food Stamps for One Million Next Year – This is part of the massive invisible “bread line” that we don’t see but is every bit as long as the lines in the Great Depression. Let’s see how this goes over…
3 in 5 Americans Don’t Have Enough Savings to Pay for Unexpected Expenses
Again showing that the human link is often the weakest in any security. Young mother let terrorists into Charlie Hebdo building after threat against daughter. – P.M.
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Welcome to the Matrix: Enslaved by Technology and the Internet of Things. – B.B.
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Harvard Professor explains America in 90 seconds. – C.T.
Hugh adds: While the premise of the clip sounds good and my initial thought is to agree with it, I can’t help but wonder if that isn’t part of the problem. I will always remember the story told to me in my youth of the German church who sang their hymns louder to drown out the sound of the trains enroute to the concentration camps. Not every law should be followed all the time.
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US Government Crack Down On ‘Preppers’. – T.F.
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Commissary shelves still empty in Europe, Pacific. – RBS
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Lamenting Liberty Lost. – G.P.
“See, they say it’s ‘survival of the fittest’, but you and I really know that it’s ‘survival of the most heavily armed.” ? Lia Habel, Dearly, Departed