Odds ‘n Sods:

Another indicator of inflation ahead? SurvivalBlog reader Bill H. notes: “A trend that I have not seen mentioned on your web site, apart from gold and silver investment, is that [fine] “art” is going through the roof. Most of us cannot afford to invest in art, myself included. However, we can still see the writing on the wall when the moderately wealthy are flocking to acquire art at record prices. You don’t have to buy thousands of pounds of gold when you can pay $20 million for a painting that will only appreciate. That’s a fairly extreme example, but you get the idea. Just today there was an article on Yahoo about a London art auction bringing in record prices.” JWR Adds: This lends further credence to my investing philosophy, which leans heavily toward tangibles. Of course, I prefer more practical tangibles like guns, ammo, productive farm land, and tools. You can’t drop a deer at 800 yards with a work of art by Paul Cézanne, but you can with a work of art by Paul Dressel–although I’m sure that it would be more practical to spend the same amount and get several pieces by Kelly McMillan.

   o o o

From the new Iraqi government: “Would you mind sending all of that $4 Billion in cash?” Its a good thing that al this money printing isn’t inflationary.

  o o o

Reader “RBS” mentioned a web site dedicated to ham radio and RACES [Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service] news, and so forth: Emergency Radio.

Letter Re: Advice on a 12 VDC Fuel Transfer Pump

Mr. James Wesley; Rawles:
I keep a lot of extra gas in five gallon jerry-cans around my new farm/retreat wanna-be, for emergencies. (Stabilized with PRI-G, of course.) Yeah, I know that siphoning–especially if you prime it “by mouth”–is not safe. (Gag!) To make it easier and safer to transfer gasoline into or out of vehicle gas tanks, is there any transfer device that I can use use? Perhaps something that would plug into my pickup truck’s cigarette lighter [12 volt DC power] jack? What can I buy that is cheap off-the-shelf, or cheap to cobble together myself? Oh, and its also gotta be safe–I don’t want to accidentally create a fuel-air explosion. <VBG.> TIA, – Lt. Dan

JWR Replies: Every well-equipped retreat should have at least one “field expedient” 12 VDC fuel transfer pump. These pump rigs are popular with dirt bike, ATV, and snowmobile enthusiasts. They are very simple to construct. Here are the materials that you will need:

1 – Automobile or truck electric fuel pump. (The least expensive pumps come from automobile wrecking yards.)

2 – 15 foot lengths of heavy rubber hose–approved for use as fuel line–of the proper diameter for the fittings on the fuel pump.

2 – Stainless steel fuel line clamps. (Such as “Aero-Seal” brand, or similar, that are tightened with a screwdriver.)

15 to 20 ft. – 16 AWG (or heavier) gauge insulated two conductor wire. (This will be the power cord for the pump.)

1 – “Cigarette Lighter” type male plug, available from any Radio Shack store. (Again, for the power cord for the pump.)

1 – Roll of black plastic electrician’s tape or better yet, some thermoplastic “heat shrink” tubing.

1 – Scrap of 3/8″ thick (or greater thickness) plywood, measuring roughly 16″ x 16″. (To mount the fuel pump.)

The construction method should be self-evident, based on the materials listed above. If you’d like, you can add an electrical switch to the power cord for convenience, but make sure that you get a high amperage switch that is rated for DC, and that you position the switch within a couple of feet of the dashboard plug so that the switch is inside the cab of your vehicle. That way there is far less chance of generating a spark inside of a gas vapor cloud.

If your vehicle uses an electric fuel pump, then I suggest that you use an identical pump to that used in your vehicle as the basis for your transfer pump project. That way you will have spares on hand, in the event that your vehicle’s fuel pump or any portions of your fuel system’s flexible fuel lines ever fail.

OBTW, you can also add and “in line” fuel filter to your fuel transfer pump rig. Again, it is best to use a filter cartridge that is identical to that used in your vehicle. (Always think in terms of: “Spares and redundancy, spares and redundancy.”)

One other optional nicety is a one foot square scrap of plywood, to bolt the pump onto. This will keep the transfer pump out of the mud or snow. It also provides a handy place to mount some large hooks, so that you will have a neat way to coil up the power cord and the fuel transfer hoses, for storage. A 15 foot length of hose should be able to reach any vehicle fuel tank, or even down into an underground tank.

There are commercially made equivalents to this fuel pump rig, but they cost more, and they won’t provide you with a spare compatible fuel pump–for the event that your vehicle’s original pump goes Tango Uniform.

Important Provisos:

1.) All of the usual common sense precautions for handing gasoline and gas cans apply: Use only DOT-approved fuel containers, No sparks, No open flames, Don’t turn on any radio transmitters, Beware of static electricity build up, et cetera. See this Oregon State University web page for details on fuel handing safety.

2.) Some later model vehicles have “anti-siphoning” filler necks on their gas tanks. Check for this before you head for the boonies with an ATV trailer.

3.) Cover any exposed electrical connections with tape or heat shrink tubing, to avoid sparks or shorting.

4.) Keep one eye on your vehicle’s gas gauge and your other eye on the can that you are filling (or pumping from). It is not just an expensive waste to spill gas on the ground. It is also toxic and a fire hazard!

By coincidence, soon after I wrote the first draft of my reply, I got an e-mail forwarded by Alfie Omega, a regular over at the outstanding Alpha Rubicon web site. There, “Pike” has plans for building a very similar fuel transfer pump rig. (I guess that he had seen the same type that I had seen.) A couple of nice touches with his with his design that mine lacked are that the mounting board has a carrying handle cut into it, and there are hooks mounted all the way around the perimeter of the board, for hose and power cord stowage. But a couple of detractors are that his photos show and on-off switch mounted to the board (which as previously mentioned could put it in proximity to gas vapors), and I saw some exposed wiring terminals. If those terminals were touched by a metal object could cause a spark.

Letter Re: Smoke Damaged Firearms

Greetings,
In January, our home burned down. The family made it out safely thanks to our dog waking us up. The fire started outside and once it entered the house it was engulfed in minutes.

My question is how to restore books, firearms, et cetera that have been damaged by smoke and fire. Since getting burned out is a possibility in survival times this information could be quite handy. BTW Smoke eats the finish on guns. My Mini-14 got eaten up pretty badly, but the CETME in the rack next to it came out just fine. I guess they used a different type of bluing. Thanks, – Chad

JWR Replies: Let me start by encouraging all SurvivalBlog readers to carry both fire and theft insurance. A house fire can be a very traumatic event, but they are even more so if you are uninsured or underinsured. Note that many insurance policies have specific limits on firearms, often absurdly low dollar figures unless you get a separate “rider ” to your policy, at additional cost. If you aren’t sure about your coverage, then pull out your policy and read through it in detail. Second, I encourage all of you to get a gun vault. Not only will it deter 98% of burglars, but it will also usually prevent the sort of damage that Chad described. (Unless of course, the house burns to the ground, and even then a “fireproof” vault may not save your guns.) I also recommend taking a list of serial numbers and detailed descriptions of each gun. (OBTW, I have found that using 3″x5″ index cards is convenient for updates, since your collection will change over time. Also take a few detailed photos of each gun. Store the 3″x5″ index cards and hard copy pictures annotated with each gun’s serial number in a vault belonging to a relative or a trusted friend, and offer to do likewise for them.

Now on to the repairing the damage: I’ve seen lots of smoke and fire damaged guns at gun shows over the years, and it is never a pretty sight. If a fire is intense enough to burn the stock or grips off of a gun, then it is generally beyond salvageability. This, among other things, is because springs lose their temper and actions can warp and bind. If there is only smoke damage, then they can definitely be salvaged. It is important to immediately 1.) Photograph each gun in detail to support your insurance claim. then 2.) Grease the gun from stem to stern (and down he bore) with rust inhibitive grease (RIG). This will protect any remaining finish from corrosion. Depending on how your insurance agency handles paying your claim, you may end up salvaging your smoke-damaged guns yourself. I recommend sending them off for bead blasting and an exotic coating such as NP3 or METACOL. This will leave them better than new, since they’ll have a more durable finish that their original bluing or parkerizing. There are now a wide range of exotic materials such as Teflon and Zylan are frequently used as “after-market” gun finishes. The Robar Company uses a nickel/Teflon composite that they call NP3. My personal favorite of the exotic finishes is called METACOL (METAl COLor), which is offered in a wide variety of colors by Arizona Response Systems Exotic material finishes offer rust protection that is exceeded only by stainless steel. They are quite durable. Parenthetically, for anyone that that dislikes the highly reflective surface of stainless steel, it too can be coated with one of the exotic materials such as green Teflon, with a matte texture. If you have wood gun stocks that have had their lacquer go “bubbly” or smoke darkened, you can either refinish the stocks (which takes about 30 to 50 minutes each), or better yet replace them with fiberglass or Kevlar-graphites stocks from a vendor like Choate, Brown Precision, or H-S Precision.

As for your books, check first with your insurance agent. If your policy covers “full replacement cost”, then it is probably best to just buy replacement copies of each book. This is fairly quick and easy, using Amazon.com’s “One Click” purchase option. If your policy only covers part of the loss, or if you have any rare, memento, or otherwise irreplaceable books/albums, then consult with a restoration service such as Serv-Pro. (They specialize in restoring books and artwork that have been smoke and/or water damaged.) BTW Chad, if your loss included a copy or two of any the books that I authored and the insurance company doesn’t cover replacing them, just let me know and I will send you complimentary replacement copies. May God bless you in the rebuilding process.

Odds ‘n Sods:

Blog reader B.H. sent this snippet: “Last month I was at the NRA headquarters in Virginia. I noticed a sign across the street for condos for sale for $260,000. I made a comment on how expensive that sounded when a NRA headquarters employee said that he sold his condo in the same development for $465,000 just eight months prior. That’s a decline of 44% in one year. Ouch for the guy that bought at the top of the bubble.”

  o o o

There are just 3 days left in the big “Container load sale” at Survival Enterprises. Looking at their running inventories posted on the web page, I can see that many items have sold out. Don’t dawdle on this one, folks! All of the storage food items are “first come – first served.” The prices are less than half of retail.

   o o o

Apparently the outbreak in Britain of H5N1 Avian Flu was caused by a turkey farm importing turkeys from their Hungarian factory farm to their British factory farm:

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

"To ban guns because criminals use them is to tell the innocent and law-abiding that their rights and liberties depend not on their own conduct, but on the conduct of the guilty and the lawless, and that the law will permit them to have only such rights and liberties as the lawless will allow… For society does not control crime, ever, by forcing the law-abiding to accommodate themselves to the expected behavior of criminals. Society controls crime by forcing the criminals to accommodate themselves to the expected behavior of the law-abiding." – Jeff Snyder

Notes from JWR:

Our special thanks to the folks at Safecastle (one of our most loyal advertisers) for expanding their advertising on SurvivalBlog. They now have the exclusive “nailed up” top position SurvivalBlog banner ad. Be sure to sign up for their “Safecastle Royal” buyer’s club and give them your patronage. They have a fantastic line of preparedness products!

Today we also welcome our newest advertiser, Health Treasures. They provide a great assortment of health and survival products, including water test kits, aerobic oxygen, potassium iodide (KI) anti-radiation (thyroid protection) tablets, health books, and survival books. They also sell nutritional supplements such as coral calcium, Klamath Lake blue green algae, aloe vera, and much more. When you contact them, please mention that you saw their ad on SurvivalBlog.

Three Letters Re: Pondering Some Personal Consequences of Global Climate Change

JWR,
Both M.W.A. and Michael Williamson bring some sanity and reason to the subject of climate change. Thanks for publishing their letters. Weather/climate is probably the most complex system on earth. For anyone to say they can tell with any kind of certainty what the climate on earth was like millions of years ago is ridiculous and what is the point. On a very basic level, the one universal truth about the weather/climate is change, unending change. You could even make the case that change is a universal physical law. The writers are correct to question the motives of the climate change promoters. I believe most are socialists, trying to get more control over our lives thru the politics of climate change. As in the past, humans will have to adapt to any changes in the weather/climate. Think about it, has the weather/climate ever been unchanging, with or without man on the planet? Regards, – Keith

Jim:
I would suggest the www.iceagenow.com site for a balanced view of global warming. However, I do believe we are heading for climatic upheaval due to a cyclic pattern- go to www.thehorizonproject.com and order their DVD for additional info. Many things seem to be converging. [You can read] my two-cents worth at www.countdownto2070.com
Thank you, – Martin P.

JWR,
There is an awful lot of money being spent by Big Oil to contradict the global warming research, and in particular their efforts to refute the recent UN ICPP report. As I read the 21 page Summary for Policy Makers, the report really seemed to want to avoid speculative consideration of methane feedback loops or nonlinear warming effects, i.e.:glaciers sliding into the ocean. My sense is that it was very conservatively written. Any rise in ocean level has profound implications for our way of life and Peak Oil issues since refining in the US is mostly at sea level. [Some ranting, snipped.] – Bruce F.

JWR Replies: The media hoopla over the UN report has ignored mention that what has been released thusfar is just a 21 page summary. The full 600+ page report won’t be released for several months. There is definitely a divergence of opinion within the scientific community on this issue. I think that the jury will be out for quite some time. Draw your own conclusions. In my opinion, what we should take away from all this debate is that as well-prepared individuals, it is prudent to make preparations for both short term weather changes, and if we can afford to do so, for the possibility of longer term climate change. (But again, the degree, the direction, and even the cause of that potential change is still a matter of conjecture and heated debate.) To illustrate my point, let me digress: I had a friend named Richard, who sadly died of leukemia at age 45, a couple of years ago. He was a first class eccentric, but he had a sharp wit and was a lot of fun to be around. Richard was a single man that traveled the world. He made his living as a computer programmer in the States, but he owned both a home on a small island in the Philippines and a condominium in Thailand. (He only worked in the U.S. in alternating six month contract stints to support his “travel habit”.) As an adherent of the Art Bell/George Noory school of paranormal conjecture, Richard was convinced that severe climate changes could happen “any time, and maybe even overnight” because of “pole shift.” He was so concerned that he had all three of his homes stocked with arctic clothing. (N3B extreme cold weather parkas, insulated boots, Wiggy’s Ultima Thule sleeping bags, the whole works.) Objectively, I think that Richard was over-prepared, but in the back of my mind is a small but lingering doubt. What if that ever really happened? What if Richard was right? I suppose that if I ever have a really big budget (read: somebody in Hollywood ever sends me a big fat check for my Pulling Through screenplay), then I might buy a second retreat in Central America, just in case. And I might even stock it with some cold weather gear, in memory of Richard.

Odds ‘n Sods:

As reported by The Daily Reckoning: “The Central Bank of Zimbabwe announced this week that henceforth inflation would be illegal. Anyone who raises prices will be arrested.” Do they honestly believe that they can put the brakes on a 1,200% per annum inflation rate, by decree? The Zimbabwean government is beyond corrupt, and beyond incompetent. Comrade Mugabe and his band of fools from the ZANU-PF must go!

  o o o

RBS mentioned this news story at CNN.com: Vagrant: “We killed for scrap metal, hid bodies in manholes.” Human nature hasn’t changed. When times get really hard, you can expect a lot of people to revert to savagery.

   o o o

Oh, that beloved “lake effect”: Oswego County (New York) gets nearly 100 inches of snow in five days. (A hat tip to J.M. for sending us the link.)

Note from JWR:

Wow! Looking at our hit map, I can see that the global readership of SurvivalBlog is continuing to grow. We now have readers in about 80 countries, Thanks for spreading the word!

Letter Re: Questions on Multipurpose Home Shelters

Sir:
I live in Georgia and we have more than our share of tornados. We usually go to the basement to my office during storms but I’ve decided that even though it’s underground on 3 sides, with only 3/4 plywood and sheet rock between us and the garage doors that it is no longer a viable option.
I’ve looked at FEMA plans and I’ve scratched my head and come up with this idea but wanted to kind of say it out loud to someone to see if it sounds too crazy. The back part of the basement is almost completely underground. I have built a french drain around the outside of the basement due to some previous leakage problems and then decided to build flower gardens on top of the drain lines. The gardens are about 4 foot wide, held in place by landscaping times and then filled with 6 tons of tops soil (a shovel full at a time) and now the basement walls, to the roof are bermed in with dirt that just happens to go as high as the top of the foundation. That’s taken care of outside. For inside I’m going to construct a 4×4 frame, anchored to the slab and to the concrete walls, complete with crossing 4×4 in case the house caves in on top of us. The big question was how to deal with high speed flying projectiles (be they wood or bullet) and having looked at all the home and garden stores, have found that 40 pound bags of top soil at .97 a bag give a good solid footprint and stack almost as well as the sandbags I used to have to fill in some other un-named wars and countries. I figure, 4×4 frame, 3/4 inch plywood wall, bags of dirt stacked crosswise on two sides with a protected opening area for the door, followed by an additional outside 4×4 frame holding the dirt bags (or is that someone in office, I get confused), in place between the two walls. Since it will sit on a concrete slab the actual weigh is not a concern. I see this as both a storm shelter and a safe room (semi-safe anyway) with metal reinforced door with all the survival supplies packed inside. We are not going to bug out but will stay home. (Less than 20 miles from Atlanta, along I-20 but far enough off the road that stragglers shouldn’t come to our area since there are much nicer pickings between us and the main road.)
Anyway, that was a long winded way of asking if you think bags of top soil would be effective projectile stoppers. The only thing I have to test it with right now is 20 gauge shotshells with 00 buckshot and some .38 cartridges. I traded off all my assault rifles and pistols to help get out of debt, keeping only 15 .22 rifles, 4 .22 pistols, a dozen CZ-52 Czech pistols and a couple of pump 20 gauge shotguns (wife does not like and refused to fire 16 or 12 gauge) with many thousands of rounds for each weapon.
Take care and keep coming up with the neat links and ideas you have. I’ve read the ink off the pages of my copy of “Patriots”, so I’ll be replacing that soon 🙂 – Cliff

JWR Replies: Inch for inch, dry sand or gravel are at least twice as effective bullet stoppers than dry loam topsoil. And FWIW, I actually prefer gravel over sand, since bags of gravel do not have the “hourglass” dribble effect that is seen when sandbags filled with dry sand get hit by bullets. Yes, filling sandbags with gravel will be more laborious than buying commercially pre-filled bags of soil. But I recommend that you order several hundred sandbags and a few cubic yards of “3/4 minus” gravel, for upgrading your basement’s ballistic protection. A bonus is that gravel filled bags will also increase your basement shelter’s radioactive fallout shielding. The woven polypropylene sandbags will last for decades if they aren’t left out in sunlight. Take a few minutes to watch this military training video: “Concealment does not Equal Cover.” As you can see from the video, standard wood frame houses get thoroughly ventilated by modern high velocity rifle bullets, even from little .223 poodle shooters. You do not want to be in an unprotected wood frame house when the Schumer hits the fan. One important safety note: If stacking sand or gravel bags more than four feet high, it is essential that they be stabilized with stout shoring or crisscrossed steel cables, to prevent wall collapses. And if you plan to put up any overhead (ceiling) mass, be sure to consult a qualified engineer!

Regarding your plans to use a steel door: Be sure to get the heaviest gauge door that you can find and mount it a sturdy steel frame. Use at least four heavy duty hinges, and three deadbolts on the opposite side–top, middle, and bottom. I should also mention that hollow steel doors can be filled with gravel to increase their ballistic protection. Anything heavier–like extra steel plate–requires an extra heavy duty frame and massive hinges. (See my novel “Patriots” for door bulletproofing details, including a handy formula for determining the weight of plate steel.)

Two Letters Re: Pondering Some Personal Consequences of Global Climate Change

Jim,
I have been reluctant to comment on the climate change hysteria, but the recent letter by Hawaiian K was too much. There are several important facts to remember on this topic: 1) We don’t have enough data to determine whether we are in a long-term warming trend, or in a counter-cyclical move in a long term cooling trend. Lot’s of people have ‘data’ but no ‘facts’ have been established. Remember in the 1970’s how the next ice age was right around the corner? 2) Even if we do happen to be in a warming trend at the moment, there is no causal connection between the activities of man, and the warming itself. Lots of circumstantial ‘evidence’, but no causal connection. The earth is warming, and there is more CO2 in the air. Which causes which? Maybe there is a third factor, or fourth, or a hundredth!!! There may be some kind of correlation between CO2 and atmospheric temperature, but that does not mean that one causes the other. The environment is an extremely complex, dynamic system and to think that there is a straight-forward, reasonably linear relationship between the levels of one compound in the air and the overall temperature of the entire atmosphere is simplistic in the extreme. Heck, these guys can barely tell what the weather will be like next week, and we are supposed to think that they can tell us what will happen in 100 years? 3) The entire environmentalist movement is about control, nothing else. Environmentalism is a topic one group of people have used, repeatedly and successfully, to get governments around the world to implement social programs that sacrifice people in order to save bugs and weeds. Obviously these programs are detrimental to individual freedoms. A clue to the true intent of the ‘movement’ is contained in the language they use. Even Hawaiian K called the rational, objective scientists who have not bought in to the collective dogma of global warming, ‘climate change deniers’. Clearly this language is intended to imply that these guys are the same kind of whack jobs as the ‘holocaust deniers’ and should be treated as such. There have been stories recently about scientists who are losing their jobs because they haven’t drunk the Kool-Aid, and even talk of laws to make ‘climate change denial’ a crime! Clearly, anyone who needs the force of law to protect their pet theory cannot defend it against rigorous science in the open market. Will we soon have a Global Warming Inquisition? The truth does not need a law to defend it. And if you think this is just an American thing, you are wrong. I spent a couple of weeks in Canada since the UN report came out, and they are getting it bad up there! 24/7 coverage of how we are all about to fry in our own juices while there is a negative 30 degree wind chill outside. (Just so everyone knows, I am an ‘Elvis is dead denier’ and a ‘Loch Ness monster denier’ but please try to keep it quiet.)

Obviously, survivalists want to plan for as many potential outcomes as they can, and I am not discouraging anyone from taking the steps that they think they need to take to protect their families. I would just encourage people to examine the motives of climate change proponents from the standpoint of the harm that the environmentalist movement has caused, the individual rights they have denied, and the outcomes that they have desired and produced in recent decades. – M.W.A..

 

Dear Jim,
The energy involved in raising the oceans “a few degrees” to effect a sea-level increase would almost involve the Sun going nova. I can calculate it if you like.
The Antarctic ice cap is growing, so there’s no increase in water level from there.
The current climate trends are available online and show a steadying of the climate the last decade.
To suggest that the Medieval Warm Period is the mistake of one scientist is insane. It’s documented from ice core samples, and the fact that Viking era farms in Greenland are melting out of the ice cap as we speak. Not to mention the northern hunting grounds and other sites the Norse used were, until quite recently, pack ice. Then there’s all those records from the timeframe involved, documenting the plants, harvests, weather, etc.
That strikes me as more hand waving by the catastrophists. I had a detailed debate with a student of this, an earnest young man in grad school, who pointed me to “one of the best papers on the subject.” The paper was full of “It seems to me”s and “I feel”s, an admission that when satellite data was inconclusive, just because it didn’t contradict the assumptions made, it could be assumed the assumptions were correct (the data didn’t support the assumptions, either), and a statement that any climate studies done before 1990 were “politically motivated” (Aren’t they all?) and therefore suspect.
So, by the admission of a shoddily written article that’s purported by a student to be “one of the best,” the field is less than two decades old.
Now, how long have physicists and astronomers been trying to describe the universe?
I’m certainly concerned about long term effects to the environment, and storms can cause damage lasting weeks, trends damage lasting years…but I’m about as worried about a catastrophic climate failure as I am about aliens landing. It’s a huge planet and system, and people are very small. Let’s not, religious or not, give ourselves too much credit in the face of God’s greatness. – Michael Z. Williamson

Odds ‘n Sods:

Flagged by HPF (one of our regular content contributors): Retired CIA Energy Analyst’s Latest Comments on Peak Oil

  o o o

There are just 6 days left in the big “Container load sale” at Survival Enterprises. Many items have already sold out. Don’t dawdle on this one, folks! All of the storage food items are “first come – first served.” The prices are less than half of retail.

   o o o

It is nice to see that silver has come out of its doldrums and appears to be back on its long term bull market trajectory. (At the Kitco charts page, scroll down to the five year chart for “the big picture.”)