The Earthquake in Haiti: First-Hand Lessons From Disaster, by Dr. L.F.

I’m a neurosurgeon, and I had the opportunity to spend a couple weeks in Port Au Prince, Haiti last year, arriving just two weeks after the earthquake in February. This was a great opportunity to serve people in need, but I also benefited from seeing WTSHTF firsthand. I brought in a team of three doctors and two nurses , along with one former Marine turned pastor (for security).

When a missionary flight company said: “We can get you in if you can be here day after tomorrow, but we can’t guarantee you a flight out,” a wiser person might have said “no, thanks.”  But I said “We’ll be there.”  The flight in was on a private jet, donated for use by a NASCAR driver. On board, we had pizza and propped our feet up in the leather recliners. We knew the party was over as we approached Port Au Prince. Not only could we see the smoke from the burning bodies piled up in one location, and the harbor full of warships and one massive hospital ship, but we could also see the planes landing before and behind us. As we taxied off the runway there was already another plane touched down at the far end of the strip, and two others behind him making an approach. The US Air Force was controlling traffic and they didn’t have one accident despite the incredibly high traffic volume. The airport was absolutely packed with containers, cartons and bags of supplies.  Most of them were unsorted and useless. The pilot handed us a case of water bottles as we got off the plane.

I’m sure most soldiers have seen as many guns, tanks and helicopters as I did in Port Au Prince, but I had never seen so many people openly armed before. U.N. and U.S. forces predominated, but there were also Haitian police and other forces I couldn’t identify. Nobody carried just a handgun. Traffic was snarled, and there were wrecked cars and debris in most streets. In some areas of town there were still unburied bodies. The last few survivors were dug out while I was there. There was no power but there was pretty good cell phone service, which was great as I was able to use the internet to look up some of the odd diseases I was treating.  AT&T provided free Internet/text service to subscribers, which was most helpful.

We had coordinated with a large local church, and were able to set up camp in the walled yard behind the church itself. The area was guarded 24/7 by the church youth group (older teens) who were not armed but wore military type uniforms. US troops made regular patrols, and one patrol gave us some water bottles and additional MREs. I have a great photo of me and my girlfriends: a couple of female lieutenants armed with M4 Carbines. All I had was a scalpel and a multi tool. I recommend stocking up on weaponry now in case we find ourselves in a similar situation in America. That multi tool looked pretty small compared to the carbines everybody else had.

The biggest issue in coordinating response to this disaster was a total lack of leadership and organization. Sadly, we had the same problem in the U.S. after Hurricane Katrina (I live and work about 350 miles from New Orleans, so was involved in the refugee management also).  We spent our first afternoon in a Haitian hospital. Conditions were miserable. No power, no clean sheets, very limited medical supplies. No one was in charge. The French were snapping orders to everyone, but getting little done. A team of EMTs from Utah was trying to help, but didn’t know what to do. There were some US surgeons doing amputations and abdominal explorations but they were so overworked they couldn’t leave the operating room to see what was going on in the wards. There were supplies, but no one knew what was available or where it was. People were dying there from lack of care. I decided we would be better off setting up a community clinic as I didn’t think conditions were conducive to neurosurgery, and the massive crowd of people outside the hospital compound suggested that there were lots of others needing attention.

A team of Brazilian disaster response specialists were also staying in the church yard with us. Brazil has a network of primary responders, including doctors, nurses, EMTs and even an architect to inspect the buildings for safety. They rotate the teams every two weeks, overlapping the departure of the members so that the new team can be adequately briefed. They have standard supplies (pre-packed bug out bags) and equipment. Some of the individuals staying with us had also been to Indonesia after the tsunami. They made us look bad!

We flew in with our “bug out bags” and as many medical supplies as we could carry. I brought a backpack with two scrub sets, 5 changes of underwear and socks, 3 t shirts to wear underneath the scrubs, a hat, a silk mummy bag (very light), tent, 10 complete MREs, a bag of mixed granola and dried fruit, instant coffee sticks, propal sticks, several 16 oz water bottles, water bottle with filter,  flashlight, matches, multitool, bug spray, and basic toiletries (soap, toothpaste, toothbrush, small towel, nail cutter, saline for contacts).  I also carried a compact video camera. Please note I didn’t have any of the fancy equipment recommended in some survival literature, though we did have a couple hours access to a generator at the church each night, which I used to charge my phone. I didn’t miss much, but if I was packing again now, I would add an inflatable pad (I did inherit one when one of the Brazilians left, but that ground was pretty hard before that), an extra set of scrubs, a couple more t shirts and some laundry soap! We had a group set of walkie-talkies, but they were useless out in the city and failed us on several occasions. The rest of my backpack and a bag were filled with pre-sterilized surgical kits, dressing supplies and medications, mostly antibiotics and pain medications.

Between the Brazilians and the very organized church we were staying at, we managed to set up some good quality clinics with one running daily in the church yard and another in different refugee camps. We did some wound management, but most of the problems we were seeing were related to poor sanitation and lack of clean water on the streets.

Just our group of six saw more than 1,200 patients. We had translators and nurses from the community. The translator I worked with the most was an attorney, volunteering his time. He and his wife and their two small children were living in the backyard of their house because it had not been checked for structural safety. Despite that disruption, he cheerfully sat next to me for hours each day, translating patient complaints and my responses.  Order was key to our success, as we had hundreds of patients responding at each site daily. People were easily angered, and we had near riots at one camp over the medical line, and several times over water distribution as the church was also running an industrial sized water filter and distributing water. One of these was stopped only by the pastor, who went chest to chest with the loudest of the agitators and backed him down. Survivalist books that tell you that attitude is everything are correct, as that pastor had no weapons, just his authority (though I’m sure God’s protection was helping as well).

As this was not Haiti’s first disruption, most people were used to living without power and had generators or candles. All the houses in town had high walls, topped with broken glass or barbed wire. Windows were covered with iron bars or heavy shutters. Houses had heavy iron gates (usually solid), and the vehicles pulled up inside the gates before the occupants would get out.  We were cautioned to remain very alert when traveling in town and never to leave the vehicles. The vehicles did not stop in the back streets to avoid traps. The back streets were dirt, and homeowners often added cement bumps in front of their houses to slow traffic. We mostly traveled in the back of two pickups. One of them always had to be parked on a hill and rolled to start. The other had no headlights, but someone in the front seat would carry a flashlight and shine it out in front as we approached intersections at night. We did travel at night several times to the pastor’s house to shower (generator and cistern), and he would call ahead so someone would be ready to open the gate and we would not stop in the street. He said a car had been attacked nearby when stopping to open a house gate, and the occupants killed.

We had not brought all the medications we needed, as we didn’t expect to see so many kids with parasites and fevers, and ladies with vaginal diseases. Most of this was from poor living conditions and bathing in unfiltered water. There isn’t much worse than giving calcium tablets to sick kids because that is all you have. I took the former Marine, and went to the University of Miami hospital which was set up at the airport to see if we could get some supplies. Disorder reigned there also, though it was certainly better than the Haitian hospital. Despite the stacks of supplies, we couldn’t get anyone to agree to let us have some. After talking to several people, we got permission to get “a couple” bottles of children’s Tylenol, which was better than nothing. Visiting the supply tent, we talked the teenage volunteer out of a case of Tylenol which was put to good use. We then tried the US Army without success, but we were referred to a warehouse run by the World Health Organization. After we made it past the armed guards, the first clerk told us we needed an account there, and even if we had one the supply delivery would take a week. Happily we found a sympathetic supply officer, who listened to our story and asked how many patients we were seeing, and then twisted our story slightly and wrote that we were from Miami Hospital on the form. After all, we had just come from there. He told us to come back that afternoon. I was crushed that we couldn’t find a ride that afternoon, but the next morning he loaded us up with antifungals, parasite treatments, and even medications for high blood pressure and diabetes.  It was like striking gold! God bless that guy that bent the rules to get the supplies out to the people.

Psychological preparedness in the responders was very important. One of the doctors with us was convinced she would get sick if she drank anything but bottled water. When the bottles ran out, we all began drinking the filtered water from the church. Sure enough, she got sick (and even fainted). The rest of us did not. On the other hand, the former Marine and I were able to liberate supplies, because we went in unwilling to take no for an answer (when Miami wouldn’t give me what I needed, I said sweetly “How about a couple bottles of children’s Tylenol, at least?” and got a yes).  I found it was very difficult to manage even the small group I brought with me once they were all under stress. If you plan to face TEOTWAWKI with a group, make sure you get to know each other well before the event, and establish a clear chain of authority.

Water containers were at a premium, both large to get water from filtration sites and small bottles for drinking and refilling. Tarps were also like gold. People were building shelters from rags and sticks. Thanks to the international response, there was plenty of food, but distribution sites were crazy and there was rioting, so going to get it was pretty risky. It would have been better to have stocks at home. Homes in Haiti were already fortified before the quake, so for those that didn’t lose their houses security was already set up. Because the power wasn’t reliable before the quake, most middle class people had generators at home, as well as rainwater collection systems and cisterns. If you live in a city and plan to stay in case of an American economic collapse, I would strongly consider you figure out how you are going to collect and store water. Even if some public services remain, water delivery may not be reliable.

There were two principles that I observed in this disaster. First, people in this situation behaved in one of two ways. Some rose to the occasion, volunteered to help others, shared what they had and remained calm. Others sunk to crime, anger and violence. I was amazed by the church members who remained faithful and were praising God right through this disaster. Many of them spend hundreds of hours helping us in clinics, passing out food and water and risking their own lives. Second, organizational and leadership skills are absolutely critical in disaster response. The U.S. Air Force took charge of traffic control at the airport, and as a result it was flawless. In the hospitals and streets, however, no one was in charge. Many people with wounds went without antibiotics, while crates of them sat unopened at the airport.  Though there were plenty of doctors around, it was very hard for individuals with wounds to reach them. I saw a completely unset leg fracture three weeks after the earthquake in the clinic behind the church. She couldn’t get through the crowd outside the hospitals! People couldn’t get medications for their chronic diseases, like high blood pressure and diabetes, and there was little available at the hospitals (but the WHO warehouse had a stock). 

Tarps were selling like gold. Food was available, but it was dangerous to go get it. People were washing in contaminated water and spreading disease. Having someone in charge would have made a huge difference, but the Haitian government was not prepared and with the large international response everyone was doing their own thing.

As we face “rolling power outages” here in Texas this week, due to freezing weather and snow storms, I am amazed more people don’t realize how close we are to the edge. Preparedness, both practical and psychological, should be a priority for all Americans at this point. I was able to fly out of Haiti, thanks to the U.S. Air Force, but if it happens here, there won’t be a midnight flight out.

The Nitty Gritty on Nickels

As I’ve mentioned before in SurvivalBlog, U.S. Five cent pieces (“Nickels”) should be considered a long-term hedge on inflation. I recently had a gent e-mail me, asking how he could eventually “cash in” on his cache of Nickels. He asked: “Are we to melt them down, or sell them to a collector? How does one obtain their true 7.4 cents [base metal content] value?” My response: Don’t expect to cash in for several years. I anticipate that there won’t be a large scale speculative market in Nickels until their base metal value (“melt value”) exceeds twice their face value (“2X Face”), or perhaps 3X face.

Once the price of Nickels hits 4X face value, speculators will probably be willing to pay for shipping. By the way, I also predict that it will be then that the ubiquitous Priority Mail Flat Rate Box will come into play, with dealers mailing Nickels in $300 face value increments. The U.S. Postal Service may someday regret their decision to transition to “Flat Rate” boxes for Priority Mail with a 70 pound limit.

Once the price of Nickels hits 5X face there will surely be published “bid/ask” quotations for $100, $300, and $500 face value quantities, just as has been the norm for pre-1965 U.S. 90% silver coinage since the early 1970s. (Those coins are typically sold in a $1,000 face value Bag (weighing about $55 pounds), or a “Half bag” (containing $500 face value.) Soon after the current Nickels are dropped from circulation, we will see $300 face value boxes of Nickels put up for competitive bidding, on eBay.

An Aside: Nickel Logistics

Nickels are heavy! Storing and transporting them can be a challenge.

I’ve done some tests:

$300 face value (150 rolls @$2 face value per roll) fit easily fit in a standard U.S. Postal Service Medium Flat Rate Box, and that weighs about 68 pounds.) They can be mailed from coast to coast for less than $25. Doing so will take a bit of reinforcement. Given enough wraps of strapping tape, a corrugated box will securely transport $300 worth of Nickels.

The standard USGI .30 caliber ammo can works perfectly for storing rolls of Nickels at home. Each can will hold $180 face value (90 rolls of $2 each) of Nickels. The larger .50 caliber cans also work, but when full of coins they are too heavy to carry easily.

Legalities

Since late 2006 it has been illegal in the U.S. to melt or to export Pennies or Nickels. But it is reasonable to assume that this restriction will be dropped after these coins have been purged from circulation. They will soon be replaced with either silver-flashed zinc slugs, or tokens stamped out of stainless steel. (The planned composition has not yet been announced.)

By 2015, when the new pseudo-Nickels are in full circulation, we will look back fondly on the days when we could walk up to our local bank teller and ask for “$20 in Nickels in Rolls”, and have genuine Nickels cheerfully handed to us, at their face value.

Death, Taxes, and Inflation

It has been said that “the only two things that are certain in life are death and taxes.” I’d like to nominate “inflation” as an addition to that phrase. For the past 100 years, we’ve been gradually robbed of our purchasing power through the hidden form of taxation called inflation. Currency inflation explains why gold coins and silver coins had to be dropped by the U.S. Mint in the 1930s and 1960s, respectively. Ditto for 100% copper Pennies, back in 1981. (The ones that have been produced since then are copper-flashed zinc slugs, but even the base metal value of those is now slightly greater than their face value.)

Inflation marches on and on. Inflation will inevitably be the impetus for a change in the composition of the lowly Nickel. Each Nickel presently has about 7.3 cents in base metal (“melt”) value, and they cost the Mint more than 9 cents each to make. You don’t need a doctorate in Economics to conclude that the U.S. Mint cannot continue minting Nickels that are 75% copper and 25% nickel–at least not much longer.

Without Later Regrets

Don’t miss out on the opportunity to hedge on inflation with Nickels. Just like the folks who failed to acquire silver dimes and quarters in the early 1960s, you will kick yourself if you fail to stock up on Nickels. Do so before they are debased and the older issue is quickly snatched out of circulation. The handwriting is on the wall, folks. Stop dawdling, and go to the bank and trade some of your paper FRNs for something tangible.

Letter Re: The Ethics and Methodology of Sniping after TEOTWAWKI

James;
I am glad that something has posted such a thoughtful essay on the merits of and moral questions involved in sniping after a collapse.

I am not a sniper, but I regularly compete in High Power shooting events and have learned a lot. The first thing I learned is my .308 is marginal at 1,000 yards.To get there I use very expensive Berger bullets and my groups are twice as big as the guys using 6mm or 6.5mm bullets. At a 1,000 yards some of the favorite cartridges are .243, .308, 6.5 Creedmoor, 6.5×287, .287, .260 Remington, 6.5 Lapua, 7SAUM, et cetera. The 30-06 is still in use as well. I have never seen anyone with a .300 Win Magnum at these competitions. The barrel life and recoil put it right out of the game. Even the somewhat mild .308 is considered a heavy recoil rifle when shot prone for a 70 round match. In NRA High Power matches muzzle brakes are not allowed and neither are suppressors. Since lighter recoil equals long range accuracy the magnums are not very popular in this kind of shooting.

The most affordable and fast way to get in the long range shooting game is to just do it. Many new shooters like the Savage bolt actions, they are inexpensive, accurate and easy to work on. Combined with a SWFA SS scope a reliable, precision .308 can be had for less than $800. The .308 is still one of the best choices due to ammo availability, and a barrel life that exceeds 5,000 rounds. (I have heard of 300 Winchester Magnum barrels losing their accuracy after only 800 rounds.) Don’t expect to do well at a 1,000 yards with an 18″ barrel. Longer barrels give higher velocity.

Once you have your new rifle, bipod (I like the Harris 6″-9″ with notches FWIW), rear bag and a mat to lay on you are ready for your first 500 yard prone competition. Check with your local ranges to see if they have anything coming up. You may want to contact whoever is in charge and let them know you are a new shooter and you might need help “getting on paper.” They will be glad to help you get started. In my area the matches usually cost $15. From a hundred yard zero come up about 10 MOA and that should get you on paper at 500 yards. Expect to not do very well your first time, you are there just to have fun and learn a few things. If the shooters go somewhere to eat after the match is over that is when your true education begins. Ask questions and be humble. Make contacts, network, and be a good friend.

The High Power matches are on a known distance range so it allows the shooter to focus on reading wind and on sending a perfect shot. To learn to shoot on an unknown distance range will take a lot of time with this program and a lot of practice. This means hand loading ammunition, practice using your mil-dots, practice reading mirage and a million other things. I have learned a lot from Sniper’s Hide and their online tutorials. It is cheap and much more informative than any book I have ever read.

Shooting is a perishable skill. To be proficient in long range shooting means integrating it into your lifestyle. It is not enough to become a Rifleman, constant maintenance is needed to remain a Rifleman.  Here are some more links that I think are of value to the long range shooter:

Rifleman’s Journal

LBS Files Reference Pages

6mmBR.com

If you are new to handloading here is a good way to get your feet wet. You might be surprised how accurate this ammo is. The only thing I do differently for long range is weigh rather than measure my powder charges. Regards, – Nathan C.

Economics and Investing:

The Daily Bell ran this interview: Richard Maybury on the Collapse of the Anglo-American Empire and What It Means for You

Eric K. sent this: China Raises Rates to Counter Accelerating Inflation. Eric’s comments: “Three things of note in the article: 1.) They mention a report due next week that will show a 5.3% increase in January for consumer prices. 2.) They are starting a campaign to crackdown on speculation and hoarding. 3.) The Chinese inflation is largely driven by rising food costs. Their formula for calculating their inflation is different to the one used to calculate ours. For one, our CPI numbers does not include the increase in food prices. The Chinese are raising interest rates to curb their inflation and our government is printing more money to curb our so-called deflation.

The latest from Dr. Housing Bubble: Foreclosing on the red carpet – Hollywood home goes from $1 million to $377,000. With the termite infestation and he graffiti, is it really worth $377,000?

Items from The Economatrix:

More Confident Consumers Break Out Credit Cards  

Dow Closes Higher For 7th Straight Day

Layoffs Become Rarer Even With Unemployment High  

Longest Dow Win Streak in Three Months  

Jobless Rate Among Veterans Highest In Five Years  

Odds ‘n Sods:

Reader J.B.G. sent this: 18 Cities Whose Suburbs Are Rapidly Turning Into Slums

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Frequent content contributor C.D.V. sent this: We Are Witnessing the Collapse of the Middle East. “If Egypt should fall, it will mark the beginning of the end for what little remaining stability there is in the Middle East.” Can you imagine an enormous Lebanon-like Zone of Chaos, all the way from the Sudan to Tajikistan and from Morocco to Pakistan? I can. It seems that the $55 Billion+ that that we’ve “invested” in stability in Egypt since 1974 sure didn’t buy much, did it?

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F.G. recommended an owner’s review page on shortwave radios that is useful is sorting the wheat from the chaff, when shopping for a used radio on eBay or at a ham. radio swap meet. F.G.’s comment: “By and large, other than very high end professional grade receivers, the older portable and table top radios are of much higher quality construction, and have better listening fidelity. Prices on clean, well maintained, used SW radios continue to climb for that very reason.” JWR Adds: My favorite portable world band radio that is in an affordable price range is the Sony ICF-2010. Used ones can often be found for bargain prices. Now that I’m 50 years old I thus qualify as being on the cusp of curmudgeonry. So my passion is for older, relatively EMP-proof AM/shortwave vacuum tube radios (like the Zenith Transoceanic and the Hallicrafters SW-38E), but I must admit that the sensitivity and extra features (such as a BFO) found on the later transistor SW radios necessitates owning one or two. My advice: Buy one of each, if you can afford them.

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I just heard about a family-owned gun, ammo and accessory shop in southern Idaho that has a great inventory–particularly full-capacity magazines: Armageddon-armory.com. They also do some mail orders.

Notes from JWR:

Today, February 8, 2011, marks the 10th anniversary of when I fairly accurately called the bottom of the silver market. That was when silver was $4.55 an ounce and I stated that it might bottom at around $4.25 per ounce before the inevitable rally. The actually bottom was at $4.18 per ounce. Since then, silver has been in a confirmed bull market cycle, increasing in price by more than 610%. (When I last checked, spot silver was at $29.35 per ounce.) For those that took my advice, congratulations. And for those who have been dragging their feet, don’t worry: The bull market in silver will likely continue for another five to eight years. Just buy on the dips. What will be the top? $60 per ounce?, $100?, $200? That all depends on how quickly and how thoroughly The Federal Reserve banking cartel and the U.S. Treasury destroy the U.S. Dollar.

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Today we present another two entries for Round 33 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize: A.) 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 B.) Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees, in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $392 value.) C.) A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $275 value), D.) A 250 round case of 12 Gauge Hornady TAP FPD 2-3/4″ OO buckshot ammo, courtesy of Sunflower Ammo (a $240 value), and E.) An M17 medical kit from JRH Enterprises (a $179.95 value).

Second Prize: A.) A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol. It is a $439 value courtesy of Next Level Training. B.) 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, C.) A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials, and D.) 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.) , and B.) Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy. This is a $185 retail value.

Round 33 ends on March 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that articles that relate practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

The Golden Hours, by Brad H.

The three main factors in determining who lives and who dies WTSHTF are situational awareness, overcoming inertia, and dumb luck. The first two you have some control over. The third is always going to be beyond your control, except for Divine intervention, so don’t worry about it. If you are at mid-span on the Golden Gate Bridge when Al Qaeda sets off a nuke in San Francisco, or “The Big One” hits. In such cases, acceptance of God’s will is all you have to do to prepare.

For those who are lucky enough to not be killed immediately when disaster strikes, how you have trained yourself to handle the first two factors will make all the difference in the world. The first two of these factors are well known and accepted. Believing and accepting what has now become inevitable should motivate the serious survivor. There are three parts to being adequately prepared:

First: Acceptance of the seriousness of the situation. Most of us are already there or you wouldn’t even be reading this. You have to accept the probability that there will be a major crisis befall our nation in the near future.

Second: Initiate Preparations: Having accepted the first premise as a literal fact, you must start as soon as possible to “put away the things of a child” and start behaving as a responsible adult. This means beginning to acquire those supplies that will give you and your family the very best chance of surviving the impending collapse.

They are: Water; Food; Weapons; Medical Supplies; Transportation; Fuel; Shelter; Skills.

Third: A Backup Plan. The third level of preparation is distinct from the first two. If you have already taken care of the first two parts, this will be supplemental to your plan. If not, this will offer your best chance of surviving the crisis. You have to put yourself in the best possible position to to take advantage of what I shall refer to as “the golden hours” which occur at the very beginning of any crisis. The “golden hours” is a concept that has gotten very little, if any, ink in all the survivalist literature, both real and fictional.

Anyone familiar with emergency medicine is aware of the term “the golden hour”. This refers to that first hour following an injury until the initiation of medical treatment. In most cases, the ability to get the patient into a medical facility within the first hour raises the chances of survival exponentially.

The same will be true of those last minute preparations an alert person can make who recognizes the magnitude of the impending crisis in its’ earliest stages. As in most things in life, the majority of the population will not be able to process and accept the severity of the crisis until it is too late to do them any real good. In other words, most people won’t recognize “it” when “it” first happens. And most of those who do get a glimmer will in all probability delay acting, and that delay will most probably be fatal in any real TEOTWAWKI scenario.

Even for those few who do get a sudden dose of clarity, most will also fail absent prior planning.

Why are almost all last minute actions doomed to failure in major crisis situation? Because by the time the average person realizes there is a real crisis, their ability to mitigate the effect will be so severely compromised as to be almost useless to them. e.g. if you need a six month supply of food to survive, it is too late to acquire it once the trucks have stopped running and the markets have been emptied.

Think of it this way: You, having been jolted out of your American Idol reveries, finally decide the national and world situation dictates you order a years worth of freeze dried food for your family. You immediately place your order. You are informed that due to the increased demand, there will be a delay of 60 days in shipping. Being aware that all suppliers are experiencing the same delays, you go ahead, place your order, and hold your breath. You are now at the mercy of fate for at least 60 days. 59 days into your waiting period TSHTF. No food is shipping. No trucks are running. You now find yourself in the worst possible position, appreciating how serious the crisis is, and unable to do anything about it, except for those golden hours I mentioned earlier.

Effective preparation requires forethought and planning, but forethought and planning are not sufficient in and of themselves to keep you alive in most long term crises. Thinking and planning are only a prolog to action. “Think; Plan; Act” needs to become your credo.

The concept of “the golden hours” encompasses at least two aspects of survival preparation. First, as a supplementary action for a person who has already made some preparations, and second, as a last ditch back up plan for those who foolishly waited too long to start their preparations.

There are basically three approaches to preparation from which to chose, and these three approaches will encompass virtually the entire population, whether they want to be there or not:

Approach Number One: Preparations made well in advance of a crisis, which provide the very best chance of survival whatever the crisis might be;

Approach Number Two: Preparations made in the last golden hours at the very beginning of a crisis supplemental to a preexisting survival plan, or as a second best alternative, but only for those who are smart enough to quickly grasp the situation and act decisively thereon;

Approach Number Three: Attempted preparations that are made too late to provide any security to those poor individuals too unaware or slow witted to anticipate and/or recognize the crisis for what it is.

The place you do not want to be is in the third category. Being in the third category will in all probability get you and your family dead in very short order in a TEOTWAWKI crisis.

So what kind of planning will help you take the maximum advantage in the golden hours? Here are a few a examples, and I want to stress these are just my own examples, and how I have addressed potential problems for my own family. You might have totally different priorities, but regardless, the better you can position yourself to take advantage of the golden hours, the better your chances are of surviving.

Transportation:

I have assessed the potential threats to my own families transportation as being a fuel shortage crisis and/or an EMP attack on the U.S.

We have an 1992 GMC 2500 Sierra 4×4 which is our primary G.O.O.D. vehicle. I keep it well-maintained and topped off all the time. (For those of you too young to remember the 1973 gas crisis, you missed what can only be described in the words of our “Dear Leader” as a really good “teachable moment”.) Being well aware of the probability of a major natural disaster (I live in earthquake and wild land fire country) and to the impending economic collapse, I have taken other precautions so as to cover as many bases as possible.

EMP Preparations:

(For those readers who don’t know about electromagnetic pulse (EMP), do a web search. This is something you need to know and understand.)

Being aware of the possibility of an EMP attack on the US, I have acquired spare electronic control units (ECUs)–also known electronic control modules, CPUs, or simply “computers”) for all of our vehicles, and secured them in an EMP shielded Faraday cage shielding metal can along with the necessary tools to swap out the units, and printed instructions for doing the job for each specific vehicle. Each vehicle also has a Chilton’s Manual on board.

The easiest way to ascertain the part you need is to call the local dealer parts department, give them your year, make and model, and the VIN, and they will be able to look up your part and give you all the specifics. If you feel the price from the dealer is too high, then get on Ebay and find and order your part from a wrecking yard. Some newer vehicles have more than one computer, but the one you need is the one that controls the engine/fuel/ transmission. I have not ordered the computers that control the cabin heat and gauges as, quite frankly, in a G.O.O.D. situation I really don’t need to know my mpg, mph, etc. I just need the vehicle to start, run, and get me to where I need to go.

The units are stored under the seats of each vehicle in a Faraday cage. The Faraday cage container is made by first wrapping the unit in some kind of non-conducting material: rubber, plastic bubble wrap, anything that is non-conductive. Next, wrap the whole thing in duct tape. Then wrap the whole with two or three layers of aluminum foil, and then another layer of duct tape. It is important that each successive layer completely covers the each prior layer. Then insert the whole into a steel ammo box, along with the instructions and change out tools. If the time comes you need to open and use it, don’t forget to first ground the ammo box and yourself.

A possible alternative solution that I have not elected, at least not yet, is to own and maintain as your principle G.O.O.D. vehicle one which was manufactured before 1986, as those vehicles did not have computers or other electronics that are susceptible to the effects of EMP.

Fuel Crisis Preparation:

For most of us it is impractical (not to mention unsafe) to store large quantities of fuel. We are 300 miles from our retreat location, which is located in another state, and under normal conditions it takes us about six hours to get there. However, keeping in mind the value of the golden hours, I am fully prepared to take advantage of those hours. I did this by acquiring two 55 gallon steel fuel drums from a local distributor, and a 12 volt fuel transfer pump with hose and nozzle from Ebay. I don’t keep the drums full, but rather readily accessible for loading in the truck and a quick trip down to the local all hours gas station.

Those who recognize the crisis for what it is should have enough lead time to make last minute purchases of critical supplies, such as fuel, medicines and food. One problem for most people is they have not positioned themselves to take advantage of those golden hours for immediately acquiring a last minute emergency fuel supply. The additional hours they might have to waste acquiring portable storage containers could easily lose those critical golden hours.

When I see on the 11:00 PM (or whenever) news what I deem sufficient information to make the final call that the crisis is really starting, I will load my drums into the truck and drive to my local CardLock station and fill up. (I just joined a local CardLock station for this very purpose.) If I didn’t already have my drums, I would either have to wait until the next morning to go out and try and acquire some drums or fuel cans, or if it happens during the daytime, go out and try and acquire some before I head to the fuel station. This means that by the time I can get to the gas station it could already be pumped dry, rationed, confiscated or requisitioned by the government for the “common good”.

By having the necessary containers already on hand, we will be able to beat the rush, and be literally hours ahead of the masses which will by then be approaching a full scale panic mode.

The point is, I have put my family in a position to be able to act quickly and decisively to take advantage of those golden hours at the very beginning of a crisis, thereby increasing my family’s chances of survival. By anticipating a need, I have made a plan and acted upon it. When TSHTF I now have in place not only a plan to make use of those golden hours, but those items needed to fulfill that plan.

Costs? The fuel drums were free from my local fuel oil and lubricants dealer. Mine originally held methanol alcohol. I purchased a nifty little 12 volt fuel pump, complete with hose and nozzle that I can screw into the barrel bung, attach to my truck’s battery and will deliver up to 20 gallons a minute. “Little” is a relative term. The whole pump and hose system weighs in at 39 pounds, but it is smaller than a regular service station fuel pump, and a lot more portable and, since it is being carried in the truck, the extra weight doesn’t bother me.

The cost of the pump was less than $150 on eBay. Don’t have $150 to spare on an emergency fuel pump? Try a simple siphon hose costing a couple of bucks. Every vehicle we own has a 20′ section of 3/8″ I.D. clear plastic tubing. Why clear plastic tubing? Because I have never acquired a taste for petroleum products. Keep in mind the tubing needs to be small enough in diameter to get past the “unleaded fuel” barrier in the mouth of the filler tube which is now a standard in all modern vehicles.

In addition to the two barrels I also have five 5 gallon red plastic gas cans. Best price I found for these is at Wal-Mart which, while anathema to left wing ideologues, is most often the prepper’s best friend. Between the 25 gallon tank in my GMC; the 110 gallons in the drums, and the 25 gallons in the gas cans, I have now provided my family with yet another benefit: options. A military maxim states “No plan survives first contact with the enemy.” This is why the more options you can provide yourself, the better off you will be in a crisis.

Medical Crisis Preparation:

What holds true for fuel, also holds true for last minute medical and prescription acquisitions. Have a friendly doctor write you some undated prescriptions for antibiotics and for several months worth of your regular prescriptions can be a lifesaver. If you don’t have a relationship with a physician that would allow you to acquire these, check out the SurvivalBlog archives for an article on veterinary pharmaceutical equivalents.

Remember the golden hours rule. Be prepared to pay cash or write a check for the necessary drugs, as you probably won’t have the luxury of time to negotiate with your insurance company. Wal-Mart and other competing chains offer $10 prescriptions for a 90 day supply. Try and acquire prescriptions for at least 180 days on hand. Tell the pharmacist you are going on a trip out of the country if they question you.

I was discussing survival preparation with my best friend many years ago when he was in medical school, and he commented that very few people understand that civilization is only about one micron thick. The very same germs that killed our great grandparents are still alive and thriving in the dirt just outside our window. The only reason they don’t kill us now is we have magic bullets in the form of antibiotics, vaccines and pain controllers that keep them in check. Take away these and we will die even quicker than our antecedents because as a civilization we have lost so many of our natural immunities.

Our nation functions on a continuous re-supply system for medicines and food. All of this is kept in motion by an increasingly high tech system of computers and coding. It all works because of a myriad of interconnecting symbiotic systems. For example, most pharmacies (including those in hospitals) only keep about a three day supply of drugs on hand for their normal patient load. If anything in the supply chain breaks at any juncture the whole chain grinds to an immediate halt. Overload a hospital with injured disaster victims and the medical supplies will be gone in less than 24 hours. Without resupply, and a steady supply of power from the grid, modern medicine reverts back to the 1800s in just a few days.

The weakest link in our entire social construct is our total dependency on computer driven data, and the computer’s total dependency on an uninterrupted flow of electricity. Shut down the grid for a day, and things get very bad. Shut down the grid for a month, and the result will be catastrophic. Shut down the grid for a year, and the estimates are that, absent outside assistance, 50% to 70% of our population will die from starvation and disease in that first year!

There was an article on the net last week about there being approximately 26 million insulin dependant diabetics in the US. If the supply system stops, absent a backup supply, the majority of these people will die within 90 days. How can they prepare for this situation? A little forethought and preparation can give a diabetic a chance of at least surviving long enough for the restructuring of the supply chain.

The whole plan keys on two points: 1.) Having sufficient insulin stored away to keep a diabetic alive for an extended period of time; and 2.) having a way to keep the insulin refrigerated and usable for an extended period of time.

For example: Humilin N, a common OTC insulin, has a three year shelf life if kept properly refrigerated. Humilin N comes in 100 Unit vials. One vial lasts a diabetic X number of days, depending on dosage. A diabetic can easily calculate how many vials they will need for whatever period of time they wish to prepare, up to 3 years, under refrigeration.

So, what is the most effective way to maintain refrigeration in the event of a grid collapse? Propane refrigerators.

Because we have two family members who are insulin dependent, we have prepared as follows:

Our RV, which is stored on site at our retreat, has a propane/electric refrigerator already installed. Additionally, and in my own penchant for redundancy in all things survival oriented, I acquired a full-size propane refrigerator for our retreat, through Craigslist

For those unfamiliar with propane refrigerators, let me say they are probably the most energy efficient appliance ever built. Energy companies don’t want people to know just how cheap it is to run a propane refrigerator. The amount of propane necessary to keep a full size refrigerator cold is about the same as a pilot light. We have a 500 gallon tank at the retreat and are adding another one this summer. With that much propane we can run the fridge for many years.

Note: If you are thinking about using your RV fridge as your backup insulin storage, remember to acquire the necessary fittings and hoses to fill your RV tank and also to attach it to larger external tank(s).

Another Note: Why is propane the preferred fuel for making long term preparations? Because, unlike gas and diesel, it doesn’t get old and it requires no treatment to stay usable. As long as the tank holds pressure, the propane is good. Additionally, when used to power a generator, there is no residue to foul and damage the filter and diaphragm which stay clean, extending the life of the power plant.

The existing current national disaster plan calls for the requisition, by force if necessary, of all existing food and drug stocks from outlying, lightly populated, rural areas, for transport to and use in more densely populated (read “voting bloc”) urban areas. This policy will, however, take a few days to implement. Once again, an alert and informed person will have golden hours they can use to their advantage. Make a list of your local all night pharmacies, markets and fuel stations. Then, make lists of what you need at each location, print them out and keep them handy. Use the golden hours to fill out your list.

Food Supply Crisis Preparation:

In times of disaster or emergency the demand for everything in our culture will spike, exhausting local existing supplies in less than a day. Our markets resupply daily. If the resupply stops, even for a few days, the effect of the resulting shortages will magnify. The time to go to the store is before the crisis hits or immediately upon recognizing it for what it is. Don’t delay! These are the golden hours. Go and shop immediately! Once the reality sinks in to the general public, stores will be cleaned out in a matter of hours.

I have prepared a shopping list I distribute to friends and family for either just before or just after a national emergency occurs or is announced. Once the truth sinks in to the general population, there will be a run on the stores. Re-supply to the stores will be either unlikely or irregular. If you have failed to prepare adequately before now, this may be your one and only chance to provision your family for an extended period of time.

I won’t bore you with my own list, but I will say that we have given it quite a bit of thought as to quantities and types of food we will acquire, and they are all easy to prepare, non-perishable foods needing no refrigeration. I have even gone one step further to prepare my family to take advantage of the golden hours. My wife and I regularly mentally map what foods are where in our local markets to assist us in making the best use of time in the stores.

When TSHTF, while I am down at the Card-Lock filling the fuel drums in the truck, my wife will be at the closest market filling the shopping carts. After the fueling is completed, I will meet her there to help finish up the shopping and loading the purchases in the SUV and to provide additional security. Hopefully it will not be needed as all of the foregoing last minute preparations should be taking place well before the masses even realize the severity of the crisis, in those “golden hours” which are the focus of this article.

In Summary:

Last minute preparations are not a panacea for a previous lackadaisical approach to preparation. But people should realize that even this late in the game there are still options to see them through a major, extended crisis. The sooner you start serious preparations the better chance you have of surviving what is most certainly headed out way.

The real key to your family’s personal survival is recognizing the true nature of the crisis before too many others do. Even a few hours lead time on the majority of the population can mean the difference, literally, between life and death. Those few hours are, truly, the golden hours.

The Backup Plan to a Backup Plan for Telecommuters, by Tamara W.

Assumption: “If it snows or storms, I can work from home and telecommute.”  Assumptions are not always correct. The major ice storms at the end of January and start of February 2011 prompted creating this plan for my husband and myself. (Or first backup plan was alternate transportation routes.)

Lessons learned day by day:

Day 1

When power goes out at the house, such as during the first day of the storm for about 6 hours, the only way you can work from home is by using precious generator  fuel or laptop batteries. Due to my husband’s higher pay rate, he dialed in with the laptop computer while I managed the kids and lessons.

Lessons learned:
* if we want to be able to both telecommute, we either need to have two working laptops to connect with or be willing to give up generator fuel to use one desktop computer. Cost of fuel needs to balanced against the cost of extra lap top batteries and an additional laptop and the effort to keep their batteries charged.

Day 2

When the power goes out at your place of work, as happened on day 2 of the storm, you cannot remotely connect to the work site to telecommute. Husband’s backup plan was a stack of printed calculations to review and then manually type up comments and e-mail back. Time to type and e-mail is a fraction of the time spent reviewing paper. I worked on technical documents but could not submit them for review. My work was done in the hope of billable results (paid upon acceptance) later due to the customer’s site being down (whole site dead, data centers on backup power, no one had e-mail or network connections).
For another site, data that I worked on through the web site was lost when the site went down for a while during a rolling power outage. There went half an hour of work.
Potential backup laptop we have borrowed from a friend is virus infected. Running virus-scans found at least three infections. Fortunately, we double-checked everything before I touched it with consideration of actually working on it. (Imagine the perceived reputation of working remotely if all work sent in is infected!)

 

Lessons learned:

  • Have a backup plan of means to generate billable time or payable work if everyone else’s network connections or computers are dead. The ability to do work from home is of limited value if you cannot send it for management review or customer acceptance. If their standard process is review through a tool like PleaseReview or Documentum, propose a backup plan of e-mailing documents so that days are not lost. If e-mail through work accounts are not available and e-mailing work files from personal e-mail accounts are not acceptable, have a backup location agreed upon in advance of where files can be securely uploaded and shared.
  • Have backups of all customer billable files saved somewhere other than methods through which you submit them. Save early and save often. If their system goes down and all data is lost, your only hope of recouping that time is having a backup to resend them. Copy and paste results into web sites or attach these files to e-mails or upload to their web site. Avoid working only in their web site or forms; if your computer or theirs goes down, all the work is lost.
  • Virus-scan everything thoroughly prior to use. Scan computers you receive at least three times to ensure that it is safe before using. Scan files you receive at least twice with two separate virus-scanners to prevent infection of your own machine.

Day 3

Husband has finished much of his take home work. I am looking for billable work through e-mail to customers. Crowd-sourcing web sites provide a fallback for burning some time and generating some (though less than usual) income.
My main customers’ systems are still shut down from massive electrical failure at site. This could create a problem because some of the work I do is customer surveys and satisfaction analysis. If I had had more information for software manual updates, there would have been more billable time for them even when working from home.
Secondary customer is up and running and accepting articles. I sent several articles written in the interim to a third customer.
Kids have finished all homework and are making progress through workbooks I had saved. This keeps them busy but not entirely occupied.  Interruptions cost quality of work.

Lessons:

  • Have more than one customer! The ability to be paid from more than one source meant that income flow wasn’t entirely constrained by one customer’s literally shut down.
  • Where possible, have a backlog of tasks or projects for which you can be paid if working from home. Conversely, have tasks that are not time constrained. Having a paid task that must be done on a certain date is worthless if you cannot complete it on time.
  • If you have children, then have a plan of how to keep them and you working at the same time. Then practice it on the weekends in imitation of how it may play out in real life. We’d practiced “power down weekends”, but that was closer to family camping inside the house. Mommy and Daddy trying to work on computers with them trying to do school work is a whole other scenario that needs to be practiced as well.

Day 4

Mailman makes it in and out. We’re well stocked, so getting to the store is a necessity. However, getting to the bank to deposit a check received in the mail is a major hassle. We found a solution: direct deposit through our credit union. Scan the check (our printer doubles as a scanner and fax machine), upload to web site, and deposit. Funds available next day for electronic funds transfer (EFT) bill paying.
I received other payments through PayPal and Amazon gift certificates. Paypal funds can be transferred to the bank account electronically. They could also be used for online purchases if we chose. Amazon gift certificates are great to order groceries or necessities from their web site; sort by items eligible for free super saver shipping and order sufficient volume to hit the $25-30 minimum for free shipping. The items arrive in a few days because the mail man still comes every day. And it is safer than trying to get to the store as well as convenient.
A few low priority documents and articles are submitted via the mail. A good supply of stamps and envelopes made this a practical backup plan when power is interrupted.

Lessons: 

  • Have alternate means of payment available. Be able to bypass the bank.
  • Have ways to immediately convert these alternate payments into things you need and use.
  • Plan your business like your life for emergency situations; don’t have to go anywhere to get it all done.

Day 5

Power interruptions are short 5-15 minutes during Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) planned rolling blackouts to save electricity. This is in some ways worse than power out for 2-5 hours because it is easy to resume work after power comes back on, only to lose it again shortly thereafter.
The Uninteruptible Power Supply (UPS) is connected to wireless router and DSL router. We’re still connected to the internet while the UPS is running, and unlike a computer, routers don’t draw as much power. If that didn’t work, we could connect via the phone line.
Husband had to go into work to catch up on tasks that could not be handled remotely. Fortunately, he had safe routes in and out regardless of weather. Taking his laptop with wi-fi connection allowed him to work even while the train was delayed.

Lessons learned:

  • Laptops have built in battery backups. If the power goes out while someone is working on a laptop plugged in, the battery backup kicks in. The ability to continue working and at least finish the work and notify everyone that you will be offline shortly minimizes the disruption. 
  • Have an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) connected to your desktop computers. This provides a short period to save work, preventing its loss. [JWR Adds: For the greatest practicality, a UPS should be too heavy to comfortably lift and carry more than a few yards. A heavy UPS means that that it has lots of batteries, which equates to a longer useful run time.]
  • UPS connected to home routers keeps home network up and running even when the local wi-fi shuts down from local power outage. Consider adding a UPS to your router if it is heavily used or connecting it to your computer’s UPS.
  • We retained our old modems in case faster network connections like wi-fi failed. Have a backup connection method.

Other observations:

  1. If you plan to telecommute, have multiple means to make connections with your customers. However, this must be balanced with data security and their corporate policies if any.
  2. Have these backup plans in place and agreed upon before they are needed. Trying to discuss these alternate data sharing methods on cell phones with limited batteries is not a good backup plan.
  3. As with any other power using appliance, have backup power sources that can fuel it.
  4. Have multiple methods to connect to the Internet.
  5. As demand on infrastructure goes up from a growing population but quality declines from lack of maintenance, expect interruptions of basic services like utilities. Then plan on how to function with both shut downs and interruptions.

Letter Re: Earthquake Hazard, Risk, and Mitigation

James:
Thank you for your interesting and informative web site and mission.  Just a few short thoughts on earthquake hazard, risk, and mitigation, since it’s a pet interest of mine for some time and I come at it from a slightly different background than some.  I’m a southeastern US resident in an area about 300 miles give or take from the New Madrid fault zone.  My community is actually located in the second most seismically active area east of the Rockies, so I do have some personal investment in the topic.  Additionally, I have more than 20 years’ experience in disaster services, so i’ve got both some practical experience and I’ve had some time to study and think about stuff.

Hazard is the potential for physical activity that can cause damage to structures and inhabitants.  Risk is the human behavior(s) that leads to greater or lesser damages given the particular hazard(s) discussed.  Mitigation is the action(s) taken to reduce risk and damage. 

The greatest danger for many families living in earthquake country is right in their own homes.  Gas-fueled water heaters are fairly unstable when lifted and pushed sideways, and since you already have a natural gas line, usually copper in the Central US, and a flame (pilot light), an unsecured gas water heater is like having your own family catastrophe waiting with your bath water.  Copper line breaks, uncontrolled gas bleeds out of the lines, and it ignites.  This was a problem in California and other western states in the past — in areas that mostly require seismic shutoff valves today on natural gas lines entering occupied properties.  During, IIRC, the Loma Prieta earthquake, they discovered a few useful facts like this, including the follow-on treat that events that break gas lines also often break water lines, so you get a fire that you have little to no means to extinguish.  Turned out it was hard to open rolling sheet metal fire station doors too. 

Fortunately for those who don’t live in places where building codes have caught up to physical realities as much as to political ones, it is simple and cheap to fix this potential catastrophe. Hardware stores sell, very inexpensively, “plumbing tape” or “hardware tape” that is basically thin, 1 inch or so wide strips of rolled sheet metal with holes every inch or so.  One simply takes this material, wraps it around their water heater at about 2/3 height of the heater, then nail it off securely to wall studs.   Shazam.  It won’t fix all your problems, and there are lots of other topics we could discuss, but this is the first one I mention when I meet folks who live in or very near earthquake hazard zones.

This happens to be the bicentennial of the famous New Madrid series of quakes that caused 2 waterfalls on the Mississippi, church bells to ring in Boston, windows to rattle in D.C., and formed the largest land area lake in Tennessee by the Mississippi River basically flowing backwards for a while.  The eyewitness accounts are quite riveting.  The fact is that Eastern/Central US quakes cause shaking in a roughly 10 times larger area than in California simply due to the stiffer, older underlying rock.  Damages will likely be even greater geographically distributed because we have practically nothing in the built environment to protect people, and our people have no clue what to do to prepare or respond. 

With Best Regards, In Christ, – River S.

Letter Re: The Hard Truth About Starting Your Survival Homestead

James:
That was great post [by Mitch M.], many thanks to all who share their experiences on your blog. Nothing beats mentoring, even by internet!  However, I would like to share that RoundUp is a dangerous product and should not be used anywhere you plan to grow plants for food.  The following is an excerpt from an article at The Institute For Responsible Technology web site:

“Monsanto used to boast that Roundup is biodegradable, claiming that it breaks down quickly in the soil. But courts in the US and Europe disagreed and found them guilty of false advertising. In fact, Monsanto’s own test data revealed that only 2% of the product broke down after 28 days. Whether glyphosate degrades in weeks, months, or years varies widely due to factors in the soil, including pH, clay, types of minerals, residues from Roundup Ready crops, and the presence of the specialized enzymes needed to break down the herbicide molecule. In some conditions, glyphosate can grab hold of soil nutrients and remain stable for long periods. One study showed that it took up to 22 years for glyphosate to degrade only half its volume! So much for trusting Monsanto’s product claims.

Glyphosate can attack from above and below. It can drift over from a neighbors farm and wreak havoc. And it can even be released from dying weeds, travel through the soil, and then be taken up by healthy crops. The amount of glyphosate that can cause damage is tiny. European scientists demonstrated that less than half an ounce per acre inhibits the ability of plants to take up and transport essential micronutrients (see chart). As a result, more and more farmers are finding that crops planted in years after Roundup is applied suffer from weakened defenses and increased soilborne diseases. The situation is getting worse for many reasons.”

Thank you Mr. Rawles for all you do to create awareness. Yours in Him, – Julie D.

Avalanche Lily’s Bedside Book Pile

I heard that Mark Harrison (the husband of Erin Harrison, who produced the excellent Homesteading for Beginners DVD series) was just involved in a freak accident that nearly cost him his life. While attaching some siding on a building under construction at their farm, a co-worker slipped and accidentally put an industrial staple into the back of Mark’s head, stapling his hat to his head. The prongs of the staple penetrated one inch into his skull. One brain surgery later, it looks like Mark has a good chance of making a complete recovery. Please keep Mark and his family in your prayers! And if you’ve thought about buying any of their books, DVDs, or gear from their on-line store, then now would be a great time to do so. (They are surely going to have some huge medical bills!)

Here are the current top-most items on my perpetual bedside pile:

  • I’m in the middle of reading Joel Rosenberg’s nonfiction book Epicenter 2.0: Why the Current Rumblings in the Middle East Will Change Your Future. It is noteworthy that social networking services like Facebook and Twitter have proven to be potent tools for planning uprisings in the Middle East. Jim says that they ought to have a local version, called Fezbook.
  • I just read two books edited by Abigail R. Gehring. They are titled: Homesteading and Self-Sufficiency. They have some beautifully detailed photos and the books cover a lot of subject areas, but they lack the greater depth of detail that is included in Carla Emery’s Encyclopedia of Country Living.
  • I recently watched the movie Fiddler on the Roof. I think it will earn itself a place in the “classic films” category. Great singing and acting! I love the film. “Tradition!!!” It has some very emotional moments. Topol is a wonderful actor. Oh, and I must say that The Almighty Matchmaker made Jim and I a perfect match. 🙂

Economics and Investing:

John R. flagged this: Egypt’s Super-Rich Begin Moving Their Money to Switzerland

Also from John comes a bank run news article: Egyptian Banks Open, And The Government Is Forced To Use Cargo Planes Full Of Cash

Mal sent us this: Why You Need to Own Nickels, Right Now

Reader M.B. highlighted this one: South Korea must prepare for food crisis

Bob Chapman: Almost a Total Dollar Devaluation By The Fed

In his video blog, Peter Schiff warns of rapidly-rising bond yield rates.

Andy A. suggested this: Silver in complete backwardation

Odds ‘n Sods:

Hillary Clinton calls historic meeting of ambassadors. Wow, 260 ambassadors and counsels in simultaneous transit! Something is afoot, folks. The bottom line is that the world’s governments can print unlimited supplies of currency, but they can’t print food. I anticipate that a regional war or perhaps even global war is just around the corner.

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Why America Should Be Driving on Natural Gas

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Ms. M. sent this article about “Generation Rx”: Pharmacies Besieged by Addicted Thieves

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I just heard about an interesting new product, made here in the U.S.: The Flashlantern.