Long-time SurvivalBlog reader and contributor R.B.S. sent this: Risky Places To Swipe Your Debit Card
Pierre M. sent this from ABC News: Green Firms Get Fed Cash, Give Execs Bonuses, Fail
Over at ETF Daily News: The Rising Price of Commodities: The Most Investable Trend Over The Next 20 Years
Items from The Economatrix:
Gold Price Will Plunge Below $1,000 Bears Claim
Gasoline Pump Price In US Climbs For 24 Straight Days
Joseph R. sent this: CONEX Temporary Housing in Japan. (This was the next step, after paper partitions.)
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And speaking of Japan: One year after Fukushima – Defining and classifying a disaster. (Now a five part series.)
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David T. sent this NPR news story: The Ultimate In Heirloom Wheat Arrives At Seed Vault
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Human nature dictates that a lot of preparedness only comes belatedly: Sale of storm shelters on rise after string of deadly tornadoes. (Thanks to Tim J. for the link.)
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Seed for Security has announced a bonus promotion for gardeners. They are adding a free Spring Collection with every order over $45. This consists of five generous seed packets for early Spring planting: Lincoln Peas (approx. 300 seeds), Early Jersey Wakefield Cabbage (approx. 400 seeds), Bloomsdale Spinach (approx. 800 seeds), Detroit Dark Red Beets (approx. 400 seeds), and Bouquet Dill (approx. 200 seeds). This is a limited time offer.
"An unconstitutional act is not law; it confers no rights; it imposes no duties; it affords no protection; it creates no office; it is in legal contemplation, as inoperative as though it had never been passed." – Norton v. Shelby County, US Supreme Court Decision 118 US 425, 442 (in 1886)
Today we present another two entries for Round 39 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:
First Prize: A.) A gift certificate worth $1,000, courtesy of Spec Ops Brand, 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 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $275 value), and E.) A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo.
Second Prize: A.) A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol. It is a $439 value courtesy of Next Level Training. B.) A FloJak F-50 hand well pump (a $349 value), courtesy of FloJak.com. C.) A “grab bag” of preparedness gear and books from Jim’s Amazing Secret Bunker of Redundant Redundancy (JASBORR) with a retail value of at least $300, D.) A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials, and E.) two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value) and F.) A Tactical Trauma Bag #3 from JRH Enterprises (a $200 value).
Third Prize: A.) A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21. (This filter system is a $275 value.), B.) Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy. This is a $185 retail value, C.) A Commence Fire! emergency stove with three tinder refill kits. (A $160 value.), and D.) Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security.
Round 39 ends on March 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and articles that relate practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.
I wake up in the morning, get out of bed, and head to the kitchen. There is a jar of seeds on the counter that have sprouted. They have little, white, hair like sprouts, with some sort of fuzzy little hairs covering them. I think to myself, “I agreed to eat this?”
As I go about my day, I encounter various oddities from my husbands prepping. The above mentioned sprouted seeds are wheat sprouts, as many of you may have already guessed. I hear, from my husband, that they are packed with nutrients. He has quite a few mylar bags full of wheat seeds stowed away. You of course can not stock pile bread, so you stock up on wheat.
There is a box in the back of the kitchen, full of empty two liter bottles. They will eventually get washed and rinsed, filled with water, and be stocked in my husbands “man cave”, as I call it. While he does have a couple five gallon jugs and a handful of one gallon jugs that he has bought, he has a hard time paying for water. So filling up the two liter bottles is his way to supplement the water supply. Dumping out what gets too old, always rotating the stock. Of course, what safe water we do have, we will eventually use up. In that event, he has iodine tablets, as well as other methods for making water safe to consume.
The man cave. This is the place where my husband keeps the majority of his prepping supplies. His “beans, bullets and Band-Aids”, if you will. He has his stockpiles, books, tools, weapons, medical supplies, and more in this room. Let me take you through the man cave.
I suppose the first thing that I think of is the food. He has cabinets full of canned goods and other nonperishable food items. Off of the top of my head, he has various canned vegetables, baked beans, tuna, soups and evaporated milk. I believe there are also ramen noodles, peanut butter, rice, beans, and oatmeal. He has plenty of salt. The salt is good for preserving food, as well as using it to attract wild game, for easy hunting. Not exactly a very sportsmanlike way of hunting, but when the SHTF, and you are trying to feed your family, I do not think that matters much anymore. In addition to those items, he has a wide variety of freeze dried meals and MREs to choose from as well.
The next thing that come to mind is hygiene. In the man cave, you will find bags of soaps. Hand soap for people, dish soap for things. There are a few bottles of hand sanitizer, and tubs of baby wipes, for when water is not available to wash with soap. He has bleach, which can be used for cleaning, and also as a way to make your water safe for drinking. You will find piles of toilet paper, and to go along with that, he has purchased a “Luggable Loo”. For those of you not familiar with this, it is a toilet seat that fits onto a five gallon bucket. You put liners in the bucket (a garbage bag will work just fine), and sawdust in the liner (to help with the smells), and viola, you are now the proud owner of a porta potty. This is pretty nice to have around even if you‘re not a prepper. If something goes wrong with your plumbing, like happened to us just last night, you don’t need to run to the nearest gas station to use the toilet.
Now we move on to lighting. My husband has an entire cabinet devoted to lights. There are all sorts of flashlights, big and small. He has the largest array of batteries I have ever seen not in a store. There are various sizes of oil lamps, and plenty of jugs of oil. There is an array of lighters, waterproof matches and strike anywhere matches. In addition to all of those, he has a couple of propane lanterns, and so many propane cylinders I didn’t bother counting. He also has these magnesium flint sticks. You shave off some of the magnesium, and strike the flint, making sparks. The magnesium catches fire, and when the magnesium is on a pile of tinder, you can start yourself a fire. It really works, I have watched him firsthand light a fire this way while camping. It is not nearly as easy as they make it look on television, but in a bind, it is better than nothing. The magnesium flint sticks would fall under both lighting and heating.
Which brings us to heat. You need heat for warmth, as well as for cooking purposes. I have already mentioned all of his lighters and matches. I believe there are a few cans of lighter fluid tucked away. He has a dozen or so hand warmers. For Christmas he got an indoor safe propane heater. It shuts off if the oxygen level gets too low, or if it gets tipped over. It is also nice because you can either use two small, one pound propane cylinders, or a larger twenty pound one. To go along with the heater and lanterns, he has a propane stove as well.
The next thing that I think of are his first aid kits. You’ve got your general, drug store items. Band aids, triple antibiotic ointments, rubbing alcohol, hydrogen peroxide. He has a variety of gauze rolls, tapes and ace wraps. There are boxes of rubber gloves and N95 masks. You have your over the counter drugs as well. Things like multi vitamins, acetaminophen, ibuprofen, aspirin, etc. He has standard implements, like tweezers, scissors, and nail clippers. Then he has higher level tools, such as sterile scalpels and suture kits, for when things really get hairy.
You might ask, “Why would you need a scalpel and sutures?” Suppose there is a civil unrest, riots, looting, and angry mobs. There are no doctors or hospitals that you could get to, even if they were open for business. You have to have your bases covered. On the same note, you need to be prepared to defend yourself, your family and your home in the same situation. Which brings us to one of my husbands favorite topics, guns and ammo. This is the topic that I know the least about, not that I know all that much about the rest of them. I know he has a few pistols, a few rifles, and loads of ammunition to go along. He has taken me out to teach me about the different guns and how to shoot them. I have recently gotten my FOID card, so I am sure I will be expected to learn more now. I would venture to say that a gun is a very important tool that you will have a great use for in the event of TEOTWAWKI. From protection to hunting, as long as you have ammo, it will do you a world of good. Of course, you will need more tools than just a gun. My husband never leaves home without his Swiss army pocket knife. I would imagine the tools you have around the house, for example, hammers, saws, hatchets, things of that nature, would be of great use to you. Although, I wouldn’t rely too heavily on anything that requires electricity.
The last thing that I can think of in regards to the man cave would be my husbands bug out bag. Basically, if you need to leave in a hurry, you have this bag packed with things to sustain you for a few days. In the bug out bag you will find things like clothes, food and water. You will want flashlights and batteries, probably some matches. My husband also has a battery powered AM/FM radio, along with a travel alarm clock in his. In the van, he keeps his get home bag. Similar to the bug out bag, only used to get home in the event of an earthquake or other natural disaster which makes traveling by car unfeasible.
If you take a look outside my home, you will find a garden. This is not such an unusual thing for most people, but for us, it started with the prepping. He grows a wide variety of different fruits and vegetables. The more self sustainable you are, the better. Recently he has acquired a large barrel. Currently he is in the process of furbishing it with a spigot. Once finished, it will sit out by the garden to collect rain water. During normal times this water will be used for watering the garden. In a survival situation it will be another way of supplementing our water supply. Not too far from the garden are three very long, I would say over twelve feet, four by fours. I am not one hundred percent sure if he has a specific purpose for these, or if they are for “just in case”.
Around the rest of the house, you will notice other aspects of his prepping. Flashlights and candles, batteries and matches, strategically placed in every room. Our television is programmed to switch to the National Geographic Channel when a new episode of Doomsday Preppers airs. All of the “favorite” pages on our computer are about survival and prepping. He also has an array of books on the topic, and I believe at least a couple were written by the editor of this web site. He is always reading, always researching. Whether it be books, web sites, television shows or blogs, he is always looking for new ideas.
I am sure when my husband reads this, he will be pleasantly surprised at how much I pay attention when he talks about these different things. I know that he would like for me to be more involved with the prepping than I am, but it is just not my forte, it’s his. While I may not have a whole lot to say about it, and even though I poke fun at him now and then about different things, I do listen while he talks. I am very privileged to have a husband who will be ready to take care of our family, no matter the situation. Hopefully this has helped some of you. Maybe by mentioning something so simple that it had not yet crossed your mind. Maybe you too have a significant other, who you think couldn’t give two hoots about your prepping. You might be wrong, they just might surprise you.
Let me start by saying that I am not a professional financial advisor. Nor am I someone who wants to sell you anything, or give “investment” advice. I am a science teacher. I had some experience working on Wall Street in my previous carrier. I have had personal experience trading stocks. I also have had experience saving money in precious metals. Many of the questions that I had when I started buying silver and gold are the same ones that you may be asking as well. You may ask questions like: how and from who, or what kind, or what is the spot price? I am writing this to give a little direction and share some of our experiences in this matter.
The first time I wanted to buy gold
In 2000, I went to a bank and asked the teller if they had gold. Boy did I feel stupid. Guess what? Most banks don’t sell gold. [JWR Adds: A few banks sell American Eagles.] The good news is the teller thought I was joking. So, I went about my business. Then I mentioned to my boss that I was interested in buying gold and, as it turned out, he was a big coin collector. He showed me a couple of his gold coins. I was surprised at how small they were and how much he said they were worth. I did not buy any gold that year. The reason I did not buy gold that year was that I did not know what I was doing. Since then, I have started my own stack and done some homework that I felt I could share with readers on the blog.
The spot price
The spot price is the price you see when you look at the price of a commodity. It is used by commodities traders who buy and sell commodity contracts. As I write this, the spot price for silver is $34.78 per Troy Ounce. The last time that I checked, the spot price for gold was $1712.20. In the same vein, the spot price for 100 bushel of corn is $650.60. You should know what the spot price is before you go out and buy any gold or silver. However, you should not assume that you can go out and buy at the spot price. Nearly all gold and silver bullion, coins or jewelry is sold at a premium to the spot price. The following is an analysis of various types of precious metals that you can buy. This table was compiled by me using various sources of products that I could fine on-line. The prices are the retail price sans any shipping, handling or taxes. The melt value is simply the mass of the item times the spot price. The last column shows the percent of premium that you may pay if you invested in gold or silver using that particular item, on that day, at that price. Keep in mind that these numbers are for comparison only and you may find different prices. The spot price for gold and silver is on the left and it changes daily. I have sorted the “% Premium per ounce” column so you can easily see that jewelry is the most expensive way to buy gold, and bullion bars are the least expensive way.
|
Example Premiums on Silver and Gold
When Purchased in Different Forms |
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| Item | Weight (Troy Ounce) |
Melt Value |
Price | $ Premium Per Item |
$ Premium Per Oz. |
% Premium Per Oz |
| Gold (@ $1,725 Per Troy Ounce) | ||||||
| 14K Necklace 20″ |
0.1972 | $340 | $749 | $409 | $2,073 | 120% |
| Pre-1933 $2-1/2 | 0.125 | $216 | $300 | $84 | $675 | 39% |
| Pre-1933 $5 | 0.242 | $417 | $490 | $73 | $300 | 17% |
| Gold Eagle 1/10 Oz. |
0.1 | $173 | $198 | $26 | $255 | 15% |
|
Pre-1933 |
0.484 | $835 | $919 | $84 | $174 | 10% |
| Gold Eagle 1/2 Oz. |
0.5 | $863 | $943 | $81 | $161 | 9% |
| Gold Eagle 1/4 Oz. |
0.25 | $431 | $471 | $40 | $159 | 9% |
| Pre-1933 $20 | 0.9675 | $1,669 | $1,782 | $113 | $117 | 7% |
| Am. Eagle 1 Oz. | 1 | $1,725 | $1,816 | $91 | $91 | 5% |
| 1Oz. Bar | 1 | $1,725 | $1,767 | $42 | $42 | 2% |
| Silver (@ $33 Per Troy Ounce) | ||||||
| $1 Morgan Dollar | 0.788 | $26 | $33 | $7 | $9 | 28% |
|
1 Oz. Silver Eagle |
1 | $33 | $36 | $3 | $3 | 9% |
| Pre-1964 Quarter | 0.18 | $6 | $6 | Nil | Nil | 1% |
Bullion Bars and Coins
There are may people out there saying “just buy bullion”. As you can see from the chart above, bullion carries the lowest premium. Bars especially, have no numismatic or collector value. You are paying for the gold only and maybe a small amount for the fact that it is in a form that is easily recognized and .999 fine gold. There are also bullion coins that are sold for there content of gold or silver. The American Eagle comes in silver and gold. These carry a premium over the bars because they are easily recognizable and they have known purity. This is also true of other coins such as Maple Leafs, which are produced by governments, but are not intended for circulation as currency. Just so you know, if you sell to a dealer, large bullion transactions will trigger an IRS 1099b report. American Eagles and pre-1933 gold coins [normally] do not.
Numismatic Coins
These are the pre-1933 gold coins that my boss showed me back in 2000. I wish I had bought some then. He had a coin he said was worth $500, but it only had $350 worth of gold in it. Today that same coin is worth over $1,800. Most of our silver and gold is in the form of numismatic coins. I do not buy “Key Date” or Mint State numismatic coins. Key date coins are coins that are particularly rare and carry high numismatic premium. The historic value placed on a 1862 New Orleans gold coin is extraordinary. However, the gold value of that coin is the same as any other $20 gold coin of that period. Buying high value numismatic coins is like buying fine art. And, I am afraid that when the SHTF the numismatic value may go out the window. If you avoid key dates, these coins can be a good way to collect gold and silver. They are a known quantity. The $5 Indian head coin always has around ¼ oz of 22k gold. It has been said that if gold is [again] confiscated that the government won’t take away these old numismatic coins, only bullion. That may be the way it happened in the past. However, I make no predictions about what the government will do in the future. I must point out, I find it unlikely that they would confiscate gold today because they simply don’t need it to back the paper currency.
Junk Silver
This is the old coinage minted in or before 1964. Its not junk. Its 90% silver and 10% copper. Coin collectors call it junk because it is common date and there is a lot of it out there. It often sells for near its melt value. Junk silver is the easiest way to collect silver. Most coin dealers have a bag of old coins in the back. The best time to buy this stuff is a few years ago. The second best time to get some is as soon as possible. If there is an issue with paper currency in the US, junk silver is likely to become a medium of exchange. Many people have it and it is easily recognized. Junk silver is easily the closest to melt value that I have found in a convenient recognizable form.
Jewelry
Jewelry is what people bought when owning gold was illegal. Jewelry also carries the highest premium of all. I would not recommend buying jewelry for its gold value in today’s market. Having said that, there are may people who love jewelry and they have been buying the stuff for years. Jewelry is very durable and does not spoil. If you bought a gold chain back in the day, it may be worth more than you paid for it. Throughout history people have used jewelry as an asset in troubled times. In fact one of my students said that when her mother was fleeing Sarajevo, she first converted all of her assets to fine jewelry which was finally traded for US Dollars when she arrived in New York. I doubt if she got a good deal, but she got her family out of a war zone.
Where to buy Silver and Gold
Most towns and cities have a store somewhere call something like “Bob’s Coin and Stamp.” These are usually independent guys who buy and sell old stuff. You may check the yellow pages under “coin dealers”. Some of these guys also sell antiques, stamps or other collectibles. They usually have junk silver. They often have gold coins. They generally don’t ask questions and they accept cash. The coins that they do have tend to be of the numismatic varieties and they have a constantly changing inventory. They may not have bullion coins and bars because they sell quickly. When I finally found one of these guys near where I live, I started to go there every payday a pick up a small amount of silver coins. You don’t have to be rich to start buying junk silver, but when the SHTF, you may be glad you have these.
If you are looking for bullion bars and rounds you may want to check some of the on-line dealers. Northwest Territorial Mint is a sponsor of SurvivalBlog. I have heard good things about them, and they have a good web site. There is also APMEX who I used to get some of the prices in my analysis. Buying gold from these organizations are is not much different than buying books on Amazon. You click on your product, give them your credit card number or your bank routing number, and they send you your gold in the mail.
Jewelry is a no-brainer. You go to any jewelry store and buy it. Make sure its on sale. There is a very high markup on jewelry, so they still make a profit when its 50% off. Try to find items that speak for themselves. For instance, a necklace that is 8 grams of 18k gold may be more useful than earrings with rare stones or artistic merit. Also, of course make sure it’s real.
What do you do with your precious metals?
Many of the companies that sell gold will store your gold for you. They may also open a gold IRA for you. There may be financial and tax advantages to having your gold in a custody account. There may also be some risk to using a custody account. When MF Global went bankrupt, they had only 75% of the gold that they were supposed to have. Many of their customers took a 25% haircut on their own gold. Most of these trading houses keep all of their customer assets in “the street name”. This is jargon used on Wall Street. It means that the assets are in the name of the investment company instead of the customer. During a bankruptcy, those assets become subject to the proceeding of the bankruptcy. You may have an account that says you have a claim to those assets, but, there is no box with your name on it. Personally, I feel more comfortable storing my own. Gold does not take up that much space, its easy to hide and you may want to get a hidden safe.
In conclusion
Depending on the scenarios that you are preparing for, precious metals can become an important part of your preparations. If you are thinking about precious metals as an investment, be advised that the price may fluctuate. If the spot price drops, all of the above mentioned items will lose value. If you are preparing for a short term emergency then cash is king. If you need to evacuate from a hurricane or flood, cash is more useful than gold or silver. But, if we are preparing for an economic collapse or hyperinflation, cash is trash. You need to start stacking. Start small, with cash (in small bills), and junk silver (dimes, quarters and halves). However, if you want to protect larger assets from economic collapse then gold and silver bullion may be best.
JWR Adds: As I’ve often written, consider hedging into precious metals only after you have your beans, bullets and Band-Aids squared away. Precious metals can be bartered under some circumstances, but don’t consider them a substitute for the much more important aspects of your family’s preparedness.
Dear Mr. Rawles,
Dr. Bob is 100% accurate in telling people subject to kidney stones to give up coffee, tea and cokes (a.k.a. calcium oxalate). As a man who has given birth to 14 stones in 10 years, 2 by litho., I am glad to say I am stone free for two years and show no signs of having more stones. Part of my Southern heritage is enjoying sweet-tea. But it had to go, along with my morning coffee and afternoon Coke. I had a headache for 6 days before the caffeine left my body. Still, I can look at a Coke and just about die craving the sweet caffeine laced beverage.
I tried a low sodium diet, but I do not recommend it to anyone unless your physician says it is necessary. The reason is that some of us on low sodium diets will suffer from depression. Being on a low sodium diet just about caused a premature end-of-life situation for me. I do not want stones, but I have got to have salt to keep the other chemicals in my body in-check.
By the way, I drink about 32 ounces of acidic juice or lemonade a day. This is supposedly places acidic compounds in my body that helps to dissolve stones. One doctor told me I could drink 6 ounces of red wine a day to get similar effects. I prefer non-alcoholic beverages. But, water all day long is boring, it is nice to drink something with flavor. – Jon H.
Good Morning,
I would like to thank Dr. Bob for all of the valuable information that he shares. His articles are informative and easy to understand; each one has been printed out and is in my medical binder.
As many women can attest to, drinking cranberry juice at the first sign of a urinary tract infection can flush the system of any bacterial infection. For long term storage, there are dried cranberries and cranberry tablets made from cranberry extract. Taking the tablets daily in a TEOTWAWKI situation will provide an extra layer of protection and provide an excellent source of vitamin C.
Thank you for all your hard work and dedication. Julie H.
Poor and Elderly: The Five Worst States to Grow Old In. (It should come as no surprise that most of The American Redoubt states are at the opposite end of the list–those with the smallest income gap.)
Greek default looms as voluntary debt deal looks set to fail.
Central banks’ $9 trillion is global economic lifeline
How Much Gold Do You Need to Pay Yale’s Tuition? The Same as in 1900
Items from The Economatrix:
Jeff R. was the first of several readers to send us this: Blast it or paint it: Asteroid to threaten Earth in 2013?
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Fellow ham radio DXers might find this of interest: International DX Convention, Visalia California, April 20-22. (Thanks to Mrs. R.L.B. for the link.)
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A reminder that the free “SurvivalBlog Reader” App is available for those that use Android phones.
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I recently had a talk with one of my teenage sons about how he will eventually find a good wife. I of course stressed the importance of marrying a fellow Christian who is grounded in sound doctrine. Then I mentioned the sniff test: If an eligible Christian woman has the faint scent of Hoppes #9 instead of Chanel #5, then you’ve found a keeper.
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You may recall the family that produces the excellent “Homesteading for Beginners ” DVD series. They have recently branched out into making their own folding laundry drying racks and some nifty glass washboards. Most of their products are hand made in Wisconsin.
“Facebook in particular is the most appalling spying machine that has ever been invented.” – Julian Assange of WikiLeaks, as quoted by Madison Ruppert in Activist Post
Please keep the residents of Tellico Plains, Tennessee in your prayers. That is the small town nearest Ready Made Resources. (SurvivalBlog’s very first advertiser.) The tornado missed the Ready Made Resources buildings, but I heard that about one third of the town was flattened. For any readers that have orders pending in the current Ready Made Resources’ sale on Mountain House canned freeze dried foods, be advised that there may be some brief shipping delays, but rest assured that you will get your products. Once again, please pray for those that were in the path of the tornado.
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I just noticed that we are rapidly approaching the milestone of 40 Million unique visits for SurvivalBlog. Many thanks for the publicity, folks. I have no doubt that the links in your web pages and in your e-mail footers are helping to drive traffic to SurvivalBlog. Thank you for spreading the word!
An event happened last summer that was hardly noticed by the global media. Following a lengthy civil war and free elections, the new nation of South Sudan was born. This fledgling nation has some tough challenges ahead of it. Marauding Islamist guerillas (the Janjaweed) from the north have had an ongoing campaign of burning villages, wholesale murder, and rape. The raiders even still take some slaves. The Janjaweed has been supported by the Sudanese government in Khartoum. After terrorizing Darfur and creating millions of refugees, according to intelligence analysts they are expected to next turn their attention to South Sudan. The latest twist in regional politics is that the new government in Libya is islamist–replacing Gaddafi’s largely secular government. This will likely put further pressure on Chad, the Darfur region of Sudan, and South Sudan. The people of South Sudan need both your prayers and your tangible support.
I highly recommend watching the documentary The Devil Came on Horseback, about the Sudanese genocide in Darfur. It is now available as a “Watch Instantly” streaming video on Netflix. You won’t appreciate the true gravity of the situation in Darfur and South Sudan until you have watched this film.
Looking at this situation strategically, what South Sudan needs is to establish well-trained and equipped village militias, to stop the marauders. The Janjaweed has been successful in their campaign of terror simply because in most villages, there was nobody shooting back at them. Once the villagers do start shooting back–accurately–then the Islamist raiders will stop. It is just that simple. But this will takes arms and training. This is where the American missionaries can help.
What is Needed:
Issues and Challenges
Key Goals:
My Hopes For Your Personal Mission:
As many SurvivalBlog readers know, I like getting as much value for my hard-earned dollars as I can. One of my favorite knife companies that provides value for my dollars is Columbia River Knife & Tool (CRKT). CRKT has been value driven since their inception about 16 years ago. Their owner, Rod Bremer, continues along those lines today. On top of it all, CRKT has one of the biggest selection of knives and tools on the market today, just check out their latest catalog of more than 95 pages of goodies.
Another thing I like about CRKT is the fact that they were one of the first knife companies to do collaborations with custom knife makers. Rod Bremer is always asking me to keep an eye out for some hot new talent out there, that might be of interest to CRKT. I’ve introduced Bremer to a couple custom knife makers, and they are now doing collaborations with CRKT. What do you, the consumer, get in a collaboration of this type? Well, you get the opportunity to purchase a knife designed by some of the top talent in the knife making field, and you can get that knife or other tool at a price point that is very affordable. Certainly when compared to buying a custom made knife, at hundreds of dollars more. And, make no mistake, CRKT is producing top-quality knives, at very affordable prices.
CRKT teamed up with Crimson Trace Corporation a year or two ago, to produce a couple of quite handy tools. Crimson Trace is the leader in lasers for firearms, and their lasers, unlike some other makers lasers, are all turned on “instinctively” – meaning you don’t have to “think” about turning the laser it – when you grip a firearm properly, the laser comes on. I’ve tested dozens of Crimson Trace products over the years, and have been very impressed with ’em all. And, for those of you who are aware, the guy handling the PR/Marketing for Crimson Trace these days is Iain Harrison – if his name sounds familiar to you, its because he was the winner of the television show “Top Shot” a couple years ago. I’ve talked to Iain and have found him to be a very down-to-earth guy, who loves shooting. And, he’s doing a great job at Crimson Trace promoting their products.
I chose to review the Crimson Trace/Columbia River Knife & Tool, Picatinny Tool for SurvivalBlog readers for this article. My only regret is, I didn’t review this tool sooner than this. Sometimes, reading the copy in a catalog or looking at the photos just doesn’t do it for me, so I passed on requesting a Picatinny Tool sample when CRKT first came out with them. That was foolish of me!
If you own an AR-15 style rifle, with (or without) a Crimson Trace laser on it, you need this tool. I’ll quickly go over what all is on this tool, there is a knife blade, partially serrated, AR ejector pin punch, 8mm wrench, scraper, hex bit driver with small flat head, Phillips, Torx 20 and Hex 3.32 bits .028 and .50 Allen wrenches and a pocket clip. All of this is in a very compact folding knife that easily clips to your pants pocket. And, you don’t need to have a Crimson Trace laser on your AR-15 style rifle to appreciate this Picatinny Tool, either.
If you have a scope on your rifle, the 8mm wrench will help you keep the screws tight on your scope mount. The interchangeable driver bits will also help keep things tight on your rifle as well. If you happen to have a Crimson Trace laser on your AR, then you have two Allen wrenches available to you to adjust the laser’s aim.
One part of an AR that most folks completely neglect is keeping the tail portion of their bolt cleaned up. Now, I have lost track of the number of ARs I’ve seen, that have been well-maintained and properly lubed, with the exception of the tail of the bolt – where carbon builds-up. Sooner or later, that carbon build-up is going to cause a serious malfunction, putting your out of action. I’ve seen some AR bolts where the carbon build-up on the tail was so thick and so burned on, I couldn’t clean it off, no matter how hard I tried – when that happens, it’s best to simply replace the bolt. Honestly, it only takes a minute or two, to scrape the carbon off the tail of the bolt each time you clean your guns, so there’s no reason not to do it. One thing I’ve seen people do is use a brash bore brush for cleaning the carbon off the bolt. Don’t do this! Many folks have lost their gas rings on the bolt – the brass brush catches on the gas rings, and sure enough one or more of the gas rings goes south, never to be found again – putting your AR out of action until you replace the gas rings – and everyone who owns an AR should have three or more spare gas rings.
The Picatinny Tool’s scraper makes quick and easy work when it comes to scraping the carbon build-up off an AR bolt. I know, some folks like to use a fired piece of brass – and it works – but the new Picatinny Tool, with the scraper tool makes the job faster and easier. For this one tool alone, it’s worth the price of the Picatinny Tool.
I’ve also had Crimson Trace lasers get out of adjustment – it doesn’t happen often – but it does happen. And, for the life of me, it takes me forever to find the Allen wrench in my pile of Allen wrenches, to find the right size to adjust the aim on the laser. I have several dozen Allen wrenches, and its a chore to find the one I need. With the Picatinny Tool, you have the size you need on-hand, in your pocket, at all times.
The knife blade on the Picatinny Tool is a combo edge, as already mention. The blade length is 2.75″, which is handy for a lot of small chores. Ever drop your AR on the ground and get a burr on the pistol grip or the stock? Yeah, I’ve do it once or twice myself – I don’t baby my firearms, they are tools. When you get a burr on one of the plastic parts on your AR, you can use the knife blade to cut that little burr off, so it doesn’t irritate your hand or cheek. I know, you say you can take care of this when you get home with a small file – but what if you can’t get home? Yeah, that’s what I thought…
The fold out pin on the Picatinny Tool – great for clearing jams, or for pushing out stiff take-down pins, too. There’s just a lot of different uses for the Crimson Trace/CRKT Picatinny Tool, and you really should have one, if not in your pocket, then at least in your shooter’s box or tool kit when you go to the range.
I always like to save the best for last, and that’s full bolt retail – it’s only $50, and like all CRKT products, you can usually find them deeply discounted at various outlets. I plan on getting a couple more Picatinny Tools for each of my family members – I think it’s “that” important to have.
The price of thermal imaging has dropped to the range of Gen III night vision – about $2,000. My bug out location has a valley with a stream at bottom and a wooded hillside, plus surrounding pastures and woods. I wanted the tactical advantage to be able to tell if predators (particularly 2 legged) were in the trees at night. I purchased an FLIR PS24 handheld from Sportsman’s Guide, member price $1979.97, and shipping is often free if you wait for a coupon code sale. After waiting about five weeks, it shipped factory direct from FLIR. My darling wife asked: said “How much did you pay for that?!” I had to make it my only Christmas gift this year…
The unit is hand-sized, 12 ounces, pretty rugged and advertised watertight (although I did not try to submerge it). It has lighted push keys for On/Off, Display Brightness, Display color select, and 2X zoom/Freeze frame. The color selection is White on black background, black on white, and white on black with varying levels of red highlight. I like the first “red” setting, called “I1“. There’s an eyepiece focus tab for +- 2 diopters. The unit has an internal Lithium battery, and a USB-Firewire cable with an AC power supply for charging. When off, the brightness button toggles an LED for use as a flashlight. There is an auto-shutdown after 5 minutes if no buttons are pushed, and a 4 second boot-up when turned on. When it first arrives, you need to charge it about 5 hours before use. An LED indicator lights yellow when charging, and green when fully charged. It comes with a wrist lanyard, soft rubber tethered lens cap, and black soft pouch. A MOLLE belt carry pouch is available via mail order. The manual says its range of operation is -4 degrees to 122 degrees Fahrenheit. The unit can be tripod mounted. The manual says that a man is detectable at 350 yards.
Performance is amazing! While the screen resolution is not a crisp as a GEN III NV, the thermal response is fantastic. With it, I was able to determine that my stream has a contributing spring on my property – the water showed a warm underground inflow as bright white. After standing on the deck for about one minute, step back and your boot prints are clearly visible on the deck, as is your hand print on the railing. You can pick up thermal leaks on your cabin doors and walls – where calking or insulation is needed. Retained heat from stone walls is evident, as well as septic tank covers – even when buried under a couple inches of soil, IF there’s no snow cover. You can see a thrown cigar butt in the grass long after red ash fades. The advantage to a hunter seeing game come in range during low light would be considerable. Finding a downed deer in brush would be much easier. The retained warmth from mechanical equipment like cars or electrical equipment like camera pods show up clearly. I’d expect you could also find “warm” electrical junction boxes with the unit, thus potentially saving yourself from a home fire risk. There is no difference in the unit operation daylight vs. night, but of course cold weather makes the thermal contrasts sharper.
Wildlife shows up white hot, easily visible 150 yards away. Closer, animals show tinges of red in the eyes, head and chest. I could immediately see five deer in the pasture, and when nine deer then collected in the trees I could see them move off single file up through the trees across the valley, 200 yards away. Note that with a GEN III ITT monocular I could not see any identifiable shapes or movement in the trees, but with thermal the deer were easily visible.
Detractors
You can hide from thermal imaging. I found that glass acts as a mirror; a white-hot candelabra bulb is not visible through a double pane window standing only 2 feet away – all you see is your reflection in the window. Thermal images reflect off still water as well. I’d expect a space blanket “hide” to shield a thermal signature about the same. I found that the soft rubber eyecup is easily dislodged – I almost lost it in the grass – I’d recommend that you use black electrical tape to secure it to the unit. Battery life is good, about 4 weeks of use 10 minutes per night. The manual states that the unit has to be returned to the factory for battery replacement. Fog or falling snow does decrease the sharpness of the thermal contrast on the screen. I was not able to test the effect of smoke by the time of this review.
If I could have only one, either the GEN III NV or the FLIR thermal, I’d go with the GEN III but only if it was weapon-mountable and [used in conjunction with] a good NV compatible red dot scope. But as a hand-held only unit, the FLIR is superior, especially if you need to know where anything warm-blooded is at night. I called my darling wife out to the deck the night the deer were playing ‘follow-the-leader’, and she spent a while observing them. Afterward, she asked, “Do you think we should buy a second one of these?”
Kidneys are pretty important, and often an underdog in the grouping of organ systems. Without functioning kidneys, none of us can live for more than about a week, making the kidneys pretty important from a survival standpoint. Seems interesting that a person can literally be brain dead and survive–but without kidneys you can’t. Kidneys often get lumped into the “random organ” category and people often think of them like their gall bladder and appendix. Kidneys are more like lungs if you are looking for a good comparison. You can live with one, you can’t live without two, and you really would prefer to have two that work.
There are three major issues to address when it comes to kidneys and TEOTWAWKI: infection, stones, and failure. Infection of the urinary system can progress to kidney infection and cause a much more serious problem called pyelonephritis. Untreated pyelonephritis can damage the kidney directly or indirectly through severe scarring, causing kidney failure. Kidney stones can obstruct the urinary system and can then cause both infections and kidney failure. Stones can also cause rupture of the urinary system, which causes a much more serious infection called peritonitis; which can also be cause by pyelonephritis if the infection also breaks through the urinary confines. Kidney failure itself does not really increase the chances of stones or infection directly. So, all three of these issues have some connection and the big concern for preppers is preparing for the worst and trying to plan for the best.
Infection affects women many times over more than men. This is due to the relative distance of the urethra to the outside world. Obviously, if you think about it, men have a longer urethra and therefore more space between the bladder and the bacteria that cause bladder infections. (Even the least fortunate men). There are certain preventive measures that women can take to reduce this risk of bacterial invasion. First, hygiene. Girls need to be taught careful front to back wiping to minimize E. coli exposure. Sexually active women need to try to urinate immediately after intercourse to “flush the system” of the bacteria typical to such activity. Certain types of birth control methods also have a higher rate of UTI prevalence, like spermicides. Fluids, fluids, fluids is the best possible approach to help reduce the risk of an infection. Higher rates of UTI are known to occur with urine holding and dehydration, and although no study has actually proven that urinating more often reduces risk of UTI, it just makes common sense.
Once an infection hits, most women know to hit the fluids and hit them hard. This often works to clear the infection without antibiotics. After about 24 hours of flushing, most women will know which way it will play out. If the infection needs treatment, luckily most E. coli are killed by a large group of antibiotics. This group includes Sulfamethoxazole/TMP (Bactrim), Nitrofurantoin (Macrobid) and Ciprofloxacin (Cipro) as first-line options; and Amoxicillin, Cephalexin (Keflex), Azithromycin (Zithromax or Zpack), Doxycycline, Amoxicillin/Clavulanate (Augmentin) and Levofloxicin (Levaquin) all as second-line or alternative options. Most of the time when men get a UTI it is in fact not a UTI but is and STD. This is not universal, but it is a concern for any presenting male with urinary symptoms. Sometimes a prostate infection can mimic a UTI in men, but not very often. In fact, in the “Bible” of antibiotic recommendations, the Sanford Guide, men are not listed at all in the UTI section, but show up only in the pyelonephritis section with an asterisk for “look for obstructive uropathy or other complicating pathology”.
Stones are a real fear in the post-collapse environment. Kidney stones cause pain and blood in the urine, but can also obstruct the system and then become a real risk to life. There will be no lithotripsy (sound therapy) or surgery available to correct these types of large stones. Prevention of stone formation is a must for those that have had a kidney stone in the past, or develop one at any point in the future. The research-based knowledge bowl of UpToDate, one of my most reliable information sites medically, states that: “…from the viewpoint of diet, increasing the intake of fluid, dietary calcium, potassium and phytate and decreasing the intake of oxalate, animal protein, sucrose, fructose, sodium, supplemental calcium and supplemental vitamin C may be beneficial”. Some of these issues need a little more description or definition.
Increasing fluid is simple. Water seems to be as good as anything else, and the only thing to perhaps avoid is grapefruit juice. Contrary to popular belief; there is no reason to avoid coffee, tea, alcohol, or soda pop to reduce the most common form of kidney stone formation. The research has not proven that high animal protein diets, oxalate-containing foods (spinach, rhubarb, nuts, legumes) sucrose, and fructose can cause stones; but avoidance of excessive consumption of any of these in the diet are recommended. Avoiding supplementation of Vitamin C and Calcium may also help reduce the risk of stone formation. Stone formers should not supplement their diet with either Vitamin C or Calcium unless avoiding an outright deficiency is the reason. There is also some evidence that low-sodium diets may help reduce stone formation and that high-potassium foods like fruits and vegetables help prevent kidney stones from forming. All these things should be taken into consideration if there is a kidney stone history in you or anyone in your prepping family.
Kidney failure is broken down into two separate categories: acute and chronic. There are many different subtypes of each, but the basics are fairly simple. Acute kidney failure is defined as: the abrupt loss of kidney function resulting in the retention of urea and other nitrogenous waste products and in the dysregulation of extracellular volume and electrolytes. Without a lab to check these buildups in the blood, the basic definition of acute kidney failure is that urine stops with an identifiable cause: loss of volume, infection or inflammation, injury, toxins (including medications). The treatment for kidney failure is fluids, plain and simple. Helping flood the kidneys is the best hope they have for recovery, and when they do start to recover, for a faster recovery. Whether the fluids are IV or by mouth, it doesn’t really matter, keep those beans wet and you will improve your survivability markedly when facing acute kidney failure.
Chronic renal failure (CRF) occurs in all of us if we live long enough, as kidney function decreases slowly with age. Men have normal prostate growth which can worsen to the point of complete urinary obstruction over time. Kidneys lose blood flow as we get more plaque build-up and our vessels age. More microclots can form in the kidney the older we get, which affects overall function. Basically–like lungs, hearts, brains, skin, eyes, muscles and guts–kidneys age with us too; with a decrease in overall function that can sometimes contribute to a natural death. Obviously, there are certain conditions that contribute to increased risk of early kidney function, like diabetes, but there are risk factors for faster kidney failure that you might not be aware of:
• Greater protein levels in the urine
• Higher blood pressure
• Black race
• Lower serum HDL cholesterol (good cholesterol)
• Obesity
• Smokers
Now, the higher protein level and low HDL will not be known WTSHTF, but if you already have some kidney condition or concerns, it would be helpful to know these levels and track them to improve your kidney function while the grid is up. When the grid does do down, obviously those with severe kidney failure that are on dialysis would not survive. Those on the verge of dialysis would also not likely recover and likely would worsen quickly under the stresses of TEOTWAWKI. If you end up having CRF in a post-grid world, there isn’t really going to be much you can really do about it, and there will be no way to monitor the progression either. Fluids help kidneys recover and also stay functional. With chronic renal failure, you don’t need to pour the fluids in aggressively or get an IV started like you do with ARF; but proper higher fluid intake does keep CRF folks ticking longer and healthier than a “hit and miss” fluid approach.
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JWR Adds: Dr. Bob is is one of the few consulting physicians in the U.S. who prescribes antibiotics for disaster preparedness as part of his normal scope of practice. His web site is: SurvivingHealthy.com.