Michael Z. Williamson Re: Mass Versus Bullets (and Hail Stones and Gamma Radiation)

Dear Jim,
I notice that 5.56 is again getting an unrealistically bad rap.  It’s not as powerful as many other rounds, but some online epithets seem to suggest you can hide behind a sheet of paper and be safe.

As a reminder, I’d like to repost the following demonstrations from the fine folks at Box O’ Truth:

There are certainly better rounds for long range and heavy targets (I like 8mm Mauser, myself), but don’t dismiss a threat because he “only” has 5.56mm.

Oh, and off topic, but of interest: How .410 revolvers stink as defensive weapons.

– Michael Z. Williamson, SurvivalBlog Editor at Large

Economics and Investing:

Has inflation fueled the two income household trap in the US? How inflation has eroded the purchasing power of the working and middle class.

Canada has its own woes, including some mayors with a low regard for the law similar to that exhibited by many members of the Mayors Against Illegal Guns pressure group.

B.B. sent: The Tax Man Cometh—For Your Bitcoins

Items from The Economatrix:

Watch Your Cash: New BAIL-IN Rules Will Force “Failed Bank Losses On Investors”

The 50 Best Employers For Boomer Workers

Housing Starts In US Rose In May To 914,000 Annual Rate

Odds ‘n Sods:

Reader B.K. sent: Lights out: House plan would protect nation’s electricity from solar flare, nuclear bomb

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Eli sent us this video link where a “20-Something” with apparently mixed feelings about guns journeys into the wilderness to unleash his Inner Charlton Heston: Shooting the Biggest Guns Money Can Buy – The Big Sandy Shoot. BTW, that shoot looks like a lot more fun (and a lot safer) than attending a Saudi wedding.

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B. in Idaho sent an interesting article about Syrian militias competing.  B. noted:  “It is notable that one militia that was built up over the course of two years was taken over by hardliners in just one day.  Munitions and all!  Reading that immediately reminded me of the averted conflict that you described in your first novel between Todd Gray’s militia and the Troy Templars.”

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News from Western Oregon: New neighborhood group: ‘This is a Glock block’

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File under “Islam, Charming News”: NYPD Sergeant Convicted of Illegally Using Terror Database is Now “Integrity” Officer

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Buz Mills (who heads Gunsite Academy) forwarded this: Joe Manchin will fight back against the NRA with TV ad. Buz had these comments: “Let me make sure I understand this situation:  The kid killed his Mom (illegal), The kid stole his Mom’s guns (illegal), The kid stole his Mom’s car (illegal), The kid carried the stolen guns onto school grounds (illegal), The kid broke into a school (illegal), The kid killed 26 people (illegal).  Now just how would this new proposed legislation have prevented this act by a crazy SOB?  Suppose he had driven the stolen car into 26 children out on the playground (illegal.)  Would we need legislation like this to inhibit the purchase of a car?  I do not think so.  This is nothing but grandstanding to get reelected, this has nothing to do with making America better or safer!  Senator lets try again, just one time for America.”

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty [is] a fading flower, which [are] on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine!
Behold, the Lord hath a mighty and strong one, [which] as a tempest of hail [and] a destroying storm, as a flood of mighty waters overflowing, shall cast down to the earth with the hand.
The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, shall be trodden under feet:
And the glorious beauty, which [is] on the head of the fat valley, shall be a fading flower, [and] as the hasty fruit before the summer; which [when] he that looketh upon it seeth, while it is yet in his hand he eateth it up.

In that day shall the LORD of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, unto the residue of his people,
And for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment, and for strength to them that turn the battle to the gate.” – Isaiah 28:1-6 (KJV)

Notes from JWR:

Please pray for SGT Bowe Bergdahl and his family. He has been held as a POW by the Taliban since June 30, 2009.

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This is the birthday of the late Col. Rex Applegate (born 1914, died July 14, 1998.) He was a mentor and friend of SurvivalBlog’s Field Gear Editor, Pat Cascio

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Today we present a guest article by wild foods expert Linda Runyon. Her writings have often been cited in SurvivalBlog

The Other Use of Wild Edible Food, by Linda Runyon

I am a wild food author who lived it for years while homesteading in the Adirondacks of upstate New York, and I lived on wild food for many years after that during my teaching days. I still eat wild food today in retirement.

YES.  Wild food is abundant, nutritious, healthy, easy-to-use and, best of all, free! This is important to know, and it’s an important cognition to have early on the way to becoming proficient with it. Having your eyes opened to the fact that it is everywhere must, of course, come before starting the journey that ends with being starvation-proofed.

BUT . . .
I understand that many peppers and survivalists tend to think of my materials as something they can keep on the shelf right up until they need them, then take them down and use them like a road map to instantly trot off to the wilds and subsist because the world went to hell and the supermarkets are fresh out of everything. That is feasible, but that’s not what I would call practical.  Even though you could do this, it is, by far, not the best way to learn the use of wild food.  I feel the need to warn against this grab-the-book approach. True skills are only acquired over time, and your progress can be greatly accelerated by guidance, building on the experience of others as laid out in their materials.

Surely the goal of a complete educational suite about wild food would be to starvation-proof an individual, a family or a group.  Information is important, but I’m sorry to say that your success or failure in that regard is based on how much practical effort you have put into learning and practicing these skills before they are needed. Of course not everyone will be ahead of the curve, and there would be many folks that have no idea of the fact of wild food, so never tried to learn or apply them.  These could be people you would want to help keep alive.

While simple foraging could indeed be useful as you trek off-road to your retreat, you may get away with not having practiced these skills before. But if that’s the only role you’ve set aside for wild food, your are missing the bigger picture. Wild edible food, used well, will play a crucial role at your retreat, camp or homestead. All of my early years of living on wild food occurred in a homestead setting.
Yes, I know you have food stores, but they cannot last forever. Yes, if it’s spring (and it probably isn’t) and you get your tomatoes, corn and zucchini started from your heirloom seeds, you might have some wonderful crops come July or August, and I hope you do. I’d love to join you if there’s enough to go around!

But you are a prepper, right?  Farming can be difficult; there could be drought, early and/or late frost, hail, wind or unpredictable weather or scant sunlight, problems with deer, rabbits, or other critters, insect trouble or possibly even theft from daring people in the night who didn’t take the trouble to plan ahead or think things through. When gardening graduates from a hobby to a vital necessity, the cost of failure graduates, too.  You do have a backup plan, right?

Even if you get a bumper crop, there’s still the problem of storage. Unless you thought to include a freeze-drying apparatus or commercial-level canning in your preparations, your storage will be limited by the number of Ball jars you have, whether your freezer can work or not, or whether you thought ahead to build a solar food dehydrator or have the materials and time on hand to build one. Those tomatoes will be good and plentiful in their short season, but you will need to do better than give or barter the surplus- you’ll want to store them.  A question will enter your mind during your high-volume canning efforts during the heat of summer: Is there an easier, high-nutrition food solution that we can use in parallel to traditional cultivation?

Yes there is.  That’s the main reason why we use wild food. Wild edibles aren’t just something you can live off of when there is nothing better; they really start to shine when you use them as a supplement to everyday nutrition. By simply harvesting, drying, pulverizing and storing in Zip-locs or dry jars, you can add a pinch or two of dried clover, violets, lambs quarters, chicory, chickweed or amaranth to your soup or casserole, your burger or omelets—anything you want. You can sneak it into any dish, and you’ll be increasing nutrition and quantity while also squeezing the most out of your food stores.  Later, when you are used to it, you’ll increase your usage, and why not?  It’s solid nutrition.

Wild food is man’s original food, so it is quite naturally your ‘backup food store’ while you’re striving to grow fancier food.  We do agree on the prudence of having food reserves, right?  Anyone who values preparation will immediately see that, as a backup plan, wild food  is undeniably the best and only viable plan for your new homesteading efforts (unless you count waiting for the supermarket to restock, that is).
Harvesting and putting up wild food gets most efficient when you do it in quantity and get used to the idea of storing it as opposed to consuming it fresh. This is a long-term, staple food we’re talking about here, not having snacks with the forest creatures. It’s sort of an industry so you have to approach it as such, but it’s less effort than the traditional cultivation you’ve been planning.

How can you harvest sizable quantities of wild food if you have to walk a few country miles just to find it? Well, if you’re doing regular gardening, you’re going to find that this food pops up all by itself. The whole concept of weeding is keeping your cultivated food from being overrun by the incredible, edible weed. “Oh no! There’s food in with my food!”  Are you starting to get the idea yet?  If you’re not careful you could grow five or six different waves of wild food before your tomatoes are ready, all of which could be eaten, dried or frozen long before those tomatoes have to be put up.

Another point: A vegetable garden could be almost completely camouflaged if you were to allow it to become purposely overrun by tall weeds around its border! For that matter, your separate “wild garden” would never be looked at twice while your vegetables provide a fantastic decoy to the real nutrition, making your wild patches sort of a stealth garden, if you will.
You will be making frequent trips to your wild garden, harvesting and allowing it to replenish and harvesting again, over and over until you have a winter’s supply and then some. This takes the ‘wandering’ out of ‘foraging’ and bumps wild food up to a production level, where it needs to be for you to depend on it.

The transplanting and cultivation of wild edible food is actually quite easy. You can Rototill a strip to see what comes up from freshly tilled earth. This is a great exercise to see what grows naturally in your chosen patch and to see what the seedling forms of the wild edibles look like. Like most young plants, they do not look much like their later form until two or three sets of leaves form. These can then grow to full harvest maturity right where they started.

If you want to be sure your wild garden has the wild food you have identified elsewhere, just transplant it! There is nothing very exotic about transplanting wild food, but it’s easiest when the plants are small. This means doing it at the right time of year, because a weed will wait for nobody. Many plants like burdock, dandelion and chicory quickly establish a deep root which would make transplanting more difficult, so transplanting in the spring is best.

I cover the transplanting and cultivation of wild edible food in my latest book, Promote Wild Food Certainty Through Plant Identification Walks, but I cover it indirectly as a means of populating the type of walk that can be used to help people learn wild food identification by taking a self-guided tour. With labels and dividers, your wild garden can be used to this end, too, and you might find yourself teaching your spouse, your children, or your community wild food identification using this simple but effective method. The idea is simple but it can be rather involved in practice, so I’ll leave the details to the book.  The idea is yours now.  It is a living wild food exhibit that you must harvest from to keep under control. 

A walk works as a teaching aid very effectively, and is also one of the many activities in my new Wild Food Homeschool Teaching Guide.  This subject must be taught to many, and part of that job is yours however you choose to go about it.  I feel that God put wild food on the earth for a reason.

Wild food represents a lifestyle change — a change of mindset — and it takes some getting used to.  It is, first of all, more nutrition than your body is used to dealing with, so over-doing it is easy.  It is often a different consistency and a different taste. You will find that you have to adjust the quantity of your intake. There have been lots of instances where the men that I fed wild food to would overdo it and find themselves buzzing with energy from foods like a cattail pollen pancake or too much yarrow tea. This is why the idea of “a pinch to nutrition” is a good one. You will want to start slow and follow my Rules of Foraging as you go, reprinted below for your convenience.

You can dive in and go gung-ho, surely, but this is a journey and can’t be traveled all at once, especially on a deadline of personal starvation.  You need to start now, before you need it. The essential unit of learning this skill is learning one plant thoroughly and completely.  THIS represents one step, and that step is repeated for each and every plant until you finally have a full collection of them.  You quite probably do not have even one plant learned completely all the way from ID to storage. If so, you have not really started your journey into wild food proficiency!  Let me break down how to take that first step of one plant all the way:

  • Start by finding one edible plant.  You probably know of one already. 
  • Learn its identification with certainty.
  • Learn which parts to eat and each one’s various uses.
  • Clear the plant for your use by running it through the Rules of Foraging.
  • Learn that plant’s particular harvest and preparation.
  • Start eating it! Easy does it. Make it a part of you by eating it green when in season.
  • Start collecting it in bulk.
  • Start drying it and put it up in Zip-loc bags or glass jars.
  • Start adding it to meals, a pinch at a time and increasing over time.
  • Figure out, through use, what a winter’s supply really is.
  • Start growing it in your local surrounds.
  • Start teaching this one plant to kids, family and friends so they can start.

But I think you get the most important part of what you must do: on a real, sane, manageable gradient: Start!

The Rules of Foraging
These rules are for your own protection when investigating plants that are new to you. If followed closely, they will protect you in the field.

  • DO NOT collect plants closer than 200 feet from a car path or contaminated area.
  • NEVER collect from areas sprayed with herbicides, pesticides, or other chemicals.
  • DO NOT collect plants with RED STEMS, or red striations or stripes.
  • ALWAYS BE FAMILIAR with all dangerous plants in YOUR area of collection.
  • POSITIVELY IDENTIFY all plants you intend to use for food.
  • Take a piece off the plant and roll between your fingers.  SNIFF CAREFULLY.  Does it smell like something you would eat?  If it doesn’t, DISCARD IMMEDIATELY.  If it does, go to rule 7.
  • Take another piece off the plant and roll until juicy.  RUB the tiny piece on your gum above your teeth.
  • WAIT 20 minutes.
  • DOES YOUR GUM ITCH, BURN, TINGLE, SWELL OR STING?  If no reaction occurs, go on to rule 10.
  • Take another piece of the plant and put in a teacup.  Add boiling water and steep for 5 minutes.  SIP SLOWLY for 20 more minutes.  WATCH FOR NAUSEA, BURNING, DISCOMFORT.  If no reaction occurs, you may ingest a small amount.
  • WAIT ANOTHER 20 MINUTES and watch for any reaction.
  •  Keep all samples AWAY from children or pets.
  •  Store all seeds and bulbs AWAY from children and pets.
  •  Teach children to keep all plants AWAY from their mouths and DO NOT ALLOW children chew or suck nectar from any unknown plants.
  •  AVOID smoke from burning plants. Smoke may irritate the eyes or cause allergic reactions QUICKLY.
  •  BE AWARE of your neighbor’s habits with chemicals, pesticides and herbicides.
  •  BEWARE: heating or boiling doesn’t always destroy toxicity.

DISCLAIMER:
This is information about wild food.  The editors of SurvivalBlog nor the author make no claims as to the correctness, safety or usability of the data.

The information contained herein is intended to be an educational tool for gathering and cooking wild plants.  The information presented is for use as a supplement to a healthy, well-rounded lifestyle.  The nutritional requirements of individuals may vary greatly, therefore the author and publisher take no responsibility for an individual using and ingesting wild plants.

All data is to be used at your own risk.  Using the Rules of Foraging greatly helps to reduce that risk, but even they are not foolproof.

 

About The Author:

Linda Runyon is the editor of the Of The Field web site and the author of many wild plant books and instructional materials, including:

A Survival Acre
Linda Runyon’s Master Class on Wild Food Survival
Eat the Trees!
 The Essential Wild Food Survival Guide (also available as an e-book.)
A Basic Middle Eastern Desert Survival Guide
Wild Food Identification Guide
Promote Wild Food Certainty through Plant Identification Walks
Wild Cards: Edible Wild Foods (A playing card deck with photos and descriptions of 52 different edible plants.)

She has set up a 10% coupon code “backupplan” for SurvivalBlog readers that is good until July 4, 2013.

Economics and Investing:

The stock markets and the precious metals markets all got hammered on Thursday (June 20, 2013), following some comments by Ben Bernanke. Don’t be spooked. Don’t be fooled. The Fed and Treasury Department are essentially locked in to QE to Infinity. They may try to “taper”, but it probably won’t work. Today’s news does nothing to change the market fundamentals. Silver will remain in a bull market for as long as the government continues to grossly over-spend. So when the price of silver gets temporarily pushed down by these rumors, just look at it as another buying opportunity.

Over at The Daily Bell: Richard Ebeling on Higher Interest Rates, Collectivism and the Coming Collapse

Jim W. sent: Why the Fed Cannot “Exit” Successfully… Without a Market Crash

Jeff recommended: Banks Cooking Up Another Financial Crisis

Items from The Economatrix:

GEAB: Alert for the Second Half of 2013 — Global Systemic Crisis II–Second Devastating Explosion/Social Outburst on a Worldwide Scale

They Know:  Billionaires Are Quietly and Rapidly Dumping Millions Of Shares Of Stock

Retirement Crisis:  Trillions Of Your Pension Dollars Stolen In Broad Daylight

Odds ‘n Sods:

SurvivalBlog’s Editor at Large Michael Z. Williamson recommended this brief video: How Turkish Protesters Deal With Teargas

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There is a gun show scheduled in Colorado Springs this weekend. With the July 1st legislation deadline looming in Colorado, I’m sure that sales of battle rifles and full capacity magazines will be brisk. Last call in Colorado!

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K.A.F. sent this: Telegrams no more. Stop. India to send world’s last message July 14.

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Courtesy of OSOM, come this link: Gary North on hands-free headlamps

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Sarah C. recommended this: Edward Snowden and the selective targeting of leaks.

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“People are defiantly in denial about what we’re doing. . . . Nobody mentions the $85 billion a month we’re printing now [via Quantitative Easing] . . . . We’ve only printed about $800 billion in the last 100 years. We’re going to print more than that next year. So, literally 100 years of printing next year.” – Bob Wiedemer

Notes from JWR:

June 20th is the birthday of Audie L. Murphy. he was born in 1925. He died in a plane crash on May 28, 1971.)

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I just heard that novelist Vince Flynn died at the untimely age of 47. I’m sure that he had more books planned. He will be missed.

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Today we present a guest article by Amy Alton (of Doom & Bloom fame.)

Sharp Wound Management, by Amy Alton, A.R.N.P. and Joe Alton, M.D.

Given the media outcry against gun ownership, it’s easy to forget the wounds that are caused by knives and other sharp instruments.  Trauma incurred from these injuries may be minor or major; penetrating trauma such as caused by a stab wound should not be discounted as a major injury; it can be life-threatening, depending on the organs and blood vessels damaged. 

Penetrating trauma is divided into perforating and non-perforating.  A perforating wound is one in which the object causing the damage goes into one side of the body and then exits through the other side.  A wound from .223 or NATO .556 would, commonly, be an example of this type of penetrating trauma. One of my first classes in medical school showed a slide of Major General Henry Barnum, who received a minie ball through the hip in the battle of Antietam.  Years later, he could still pass a thin rod from the entry wound all the way out the other side.  General Barnum’s hip, incidentally, is still on display in the National Museum of Medicine, where it has been for over 100 years.

Bullets and other high-speed projectiles cause damage related to the shock wave produced as the bullet passes through the body. This is called cavitation.  Many bullets will fragment in the body as well, sometimes causing damage further from the entry wound than expected.  Luckily, low speed projectiles such as knives will not do this. Your concerns are related specifically to the area of entry and the structures located directly in the path of the offending instrument.

Stab wounds are an example of a non-perforating wound:  the projectile causing the damage enters the body and either stays there or exits where it entered.  Most knife wounds would fit in this category, as the knife doesn’t pass entirely through and out of the body.  Some sharp instruments might do this, say a crossbow bolt or a spearhead, but let’s assume that you’ll be unlikely to see these. Most knife wounds you’ll see will be minor lacerations.  Blood loss and failure of damaged organs will be the major issue to deal with.

A little about blood: Blood carries oxygen to the tissues and organs and removes waste products. It is made up of several components, including:

• ·         Red blood cells: These cells carry oxygen to body tissues.
• ·         White blood cells: These cells work to, among other things, fight infection and disease.
• ·         Platelets and other clotting factors: These allow blood to coagulate and lessen blood loss.
• ·         Plasma: A yellowish liquid in which the above are suspended.

Your immediate action upon encountering a victim of a wound with a sharp instrument may save their life.  Bleeding from arteries and internal organs can be very brisk.  If you are a typical 180 lb. (about 70 kg.) adult, you have approximately 9-10 pints (about 5 liters) of blood in your body. Athletes and those living at very high altitudes may have more. You can’t afford to lose more than 40% of total blood volume without needing major resuscitative efforts.  To get an idea of how much blood this is, empty a 2 liter bottle of fruit punch or cranberry juice on the floor.  You’ll be surprised at how much fluid that represents.

Hemorrhage (bleeding) is classified by the American College of Surgeons (of which I am a Fellow) as follows:

Class I:  Hemorrhage is less or equal to 15% of blood volume (1.5 pints/3/4 liter) in an average adult male.  A person donating 1 pint of blood is giving slightly less than 0.5 liters, for example. At this level there are almost no signs or symptoms, although some may feel vaguely faint.

Class II:  Hemorrhage is 15 to 30% loss of total blood volume (2-3 pints/1-1.5 liters).  The body tries to compensate at this point with, among other things, a faster heartbeat to speed oxygen to tissues.  This patient will appear pale and skin will be cool.  They will feel weak.

Class III: Hemorrhage is 30 to 40% loss of total blood volume (3-4 pints/1.5-2 liters).  At this point, the heart will be beating very quickly and is straining to get enough oxygen to tissues and blood pressure is low. Smaller blood vessels in extremities are constricting to keep the body core circulation going. This patient will be confused, pale, and in hypovolemic (low blood volume) shock. Blood transfusion is usually necessary. 

Class IV:  Hemorrhage is more than 40% of total blood volume (greater than 4 pints/2 liters). The heart can no longer maintain blood pressure and circulation.  Without major resuscitative help at this point, organs will fail and the patient will likely be comatose and die.

In most circumstances, sharp instrument injuries will be minor.  After controlling bleeding, your goal is to clean the wound thoroughly and dress it.  Wound closure may be an option in some wilderness cases, but most backcountry stab wounds will be dirty and should be left open (subject of another article).

If you’re attending to an actively bleeding wound from a sharp object, you will need a level head and quick action.  This is, sometimes, not as easy as it sounds; most people not accustomed to dealing with these issues on a daily basis will experience a type of paralysis that may waste precious time. If modern medical care is available, contact emergency services immediately.

In the meantime, follow these steps:

·        – Assess the safety of the situation.  Make sure the situation is secure; it makes no sense for you to become the next casualty.

·         -Put on gloves if possible.  Your hands are full of bacteria and you will reduce the risk of infection by doing so.  Non-latex (nitrile) gloves are superior in avoiding allergic reactions to latex, more commonly seen than you’d think. If no gloves are available, plastic bags/wrap or, at least, hand sanitizers/soap will be useful if you have to touch the wound with bare hands.    

·         -Verify the victim’s breathing and mental status.  Clear airways if obstructed and determine if they are alert enough to help you by following commands.
·         Remove clothing carefully to fully inspect the wound and identify other injuries.  Make sure that you have a bandage scissors or EMT shears in your medical pack.

·        – Elevate the feet above the level of the heart and head (the “shock position”) to increase blood flow to the brain.

·        – If the sharp instrument is still in the body, don’t remove it.  It may be providing pressure on damaged blood vessels and decreasing the bleeding.  Stabilize the wound in place with dressings or in any way you can.  If there is no chance of emergency services reaching you, such as in a backcountry trip in an underdeveloped country, you may have to remove it at one point or another.  Don’t do this unless you are where the bulk of your medical supplies are.

·         -Apply pressure with some type of dressing, even your shirt if necessary.  Most non-arterial bleeding will stop with steady pressure on the wound. If the sharp instrument is in place and help is on the way, place pressure down on either side towards the blade to prevent it from slipping out and decrease bleeding.

·         -Elevate the injured area about the heart.  Make it more difficult to pump blood out of the body.

·         -Some recommend applying additional pressure with your other hand to major arteries about the level of the wound (especially for extremities).  These areas are called “pressure points”.  For example, a major artery (the popliteal artery) is found behind the knee.  Pressure here might decrease bleeding from a lower leg wound.  There is an entire map of pressure points for most parts of the body [that can be found with a quick web search.]

·        – If this fails, consider applying a tourniquet to stop the bleeding.  Tourniquets are to be used only when absolutely necessary, as they also stop the circulation of undamaged arteries and veins.  This will cause damage or death of tissue beyond the level of the wound if left on too long.  They also, after a very short time, hurt like a son of a gun. If a tourniquet is on, you may choose to loosen it after a period of time to determine if the body’s clotting mechanisms have stopped the bleeding. Unfortunately, this can sometimes cause further bleeding, so this is mostly a strategy for when help in NOT on the way. If you are transporting a patient to a modern medical facility, make sure you mark a “T” on the victim’s forehead or otherwise notify emergency personnel.

·        – In certain circumstances, the use of blood clotting agents such as QuickClot or Celox may be helpful.  They are effective in stopping bleeding, although they are sometimes difficult to clean out later.  We keep these products in all our medical packs, even individual first aid kits.

·        – Once bleeding has subsided, don’t remove a dressing unless you have to.  There are clots that can be dislodged if you do, and this may restart the bleeding.  Add additional dressings on top if help is on the way. In survival situations, you will eventually have to change and clean wound dressings.

·         -Secure everything with a pressure dressing, of which there are various on the market.  The Israeli Battle Dressing, known as The Emergency Bandage in the U.S., has a hinge which can apply up to 30 pounds of pressure if used properly.

·        – Keep the victim warm: Throw a blanket or a coat over them.  If help is coming, keep them as still and calm as possible to avoid further bleeding.  Monitor breathing, pulses, and mental status.

·        – An unconscious patient should be placed in the “recovery position”.  This will, among other things, allow fluid to drain from airways and help them breathe.

All of the above may not be necessary if you practice preventative measures.  In other words, don’t run with scissors.  With some foresight, you may be able to avoid a mishap that could turn into a tragedy.
 

About the Authors: Amy Alton, A.R.N.P. and Joe Alton, M.D. (aka “Nurse Amy” and Dr. Bones” are the producers and hosts of the popular Doom & Bloom podcast.

Economics and Investing:

Analyst Says China’s Credit Bubble Is Unlike Anything In Modern History. (Thanks to Andre D. for the link.)

Four current trends in the housing market: Rents holding steady nationwide, young home buyers, bidding war trends, and going after strategic defaulters.

Shock: Iceland Defies EU, Freezes Membership Bid

Items from The Economatrix:

Obama Rewards Wall Street Again, Thwarts Reform By Sacking Gensler

Financial Chaos, Disappearing Freedom & Hyperinflation

Bond Bubble Threatens Global Financial System

Odds ‘n Sods:

Pantry Paratus is offering a free Sport Berkey filtering water bottle with any purchase $150 or more.  This offer is only valid through June 30th.  
 

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Maine has become the first state in the nation to pass legislation ordering its grid to be hardened against an electromagnetic pulse. (Thanks to H.L. for the link.)

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Over at Ryan and Ryan’s excellent blog: Birdshot For Self Defense?

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My old friend Terry sent: Russia Nearing Final Stages For New Assault Rifle In Legendary Kalashnikov Series

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What to do with a leftover #10 can (Part 1)

Tamara of the excellent View From The Porch blog recommended this piece by Borepatch: Hiding your data transmissions from the NSA. (OBTW, the “hidden in plain sight” Lego USB drive suggestion reminded me of the tradecraft that I described in my second novel, “Survivors”. A tiny USB memory stick stub can be hidden in many commonplace objects, and the even thinner micro SD memory cards can be mailed covertly. (Just tape them inside a folded 4″x6″ piece of cardboard and pop them in an envelope.) The requisite card readers have become ubiquitous. It is noteworthy that the MicroSD card has a plethora of potential hiding places that are very difficult to detect.)

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

"Who controls the food supply controls the people; who controls the energy can control whole continents; who controls money can control the world." – Henry Kissinger

Notes from JWR:

This is the birthday of Charles Haddon (C.H.) Spurgeon. He was born in 1834 and died in 1892. This British Particular Baptist preacher’s powerful sermons are still widely read, and can now be listened to, as presented by modern orators.

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Today we present another entry for Round 47 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize: A.) Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate, good for any one, two, or three course. (A $1,195 value.) B.) A course certificate from onPoint Tactical. This certificate will be 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, and C.) Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $350 value.) D.) a $300 gift certificate from CJL Enterprize, for any of their military surplus gear, E.) A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $300 value), F.) Two BirkSun.com photovoltaic backpacks (one Level, and one Atlas, both black), with a combined value of $275, G.) A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo. and H.) A roll of $10 face value in pre-1965 U.S. 90% silver quarters, courtesy of GoldAndSilverOnline.com. The current value of this roll is at least $225.

Second Prize: A.) A gift certificate worth $1,000, courtesy of Spec Ops Brand, B.) A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training. Together, these have a retail value of $589. C.) A FloJak FP-50 stainless steel hand well pump (a $600 value), courtesy of FloJak.com. D.) $300 worth of ammo from Patriot Firearms and Munitions. (They also offer a 10% discount for all SurvivalBlog readers with coupon code SVB10P.), E.) A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials and F.) Two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value).

Third Prize: A.) A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21. (This filter system is a $275 value.), B.) 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, C.) Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy. This is a $185 retail value, D.) A Commence Fire! emergency stove with three tinder refill kits. (A $160 value. E.) A Tactical Trauma Bag #3 from JRH Enterprises (a $200 value), and F.) Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security.