Odds ‘n Sods:

I have once again updated and expanded the SurvivalBlog Glossary. Let me know if I missed any terms or if you spot any errors. Thanks!

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Reader “The Rabid One ” mentioned this article from The Guardian, about search engine privacy. He notes: “The story is of Google’s storing of search data and the user’s IP address. It also references a couple search engines that do not keep such data.” I agree with the advice to stop using Google. They log not only IP addresses but also your search phrases. Taken out of context, in a courtroom someday far in the future, those search phrases might be misconstrued. I also recommend that anyone concerned with their privacy use a secure browser interface such as Anonymizer or  StealthSurfer.

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Don’t miss the article “The Secret Price of Gold” by Kevin DeMeritt, posted over at Gold-Eagle.com. Here are a few quotes from DeMeritt’s piece:
“After peaking in 2001, world gold production has been steadily slipping.”
“In terms of today’s dollars, gold reached $2,176 in 1980.”
“Back in 1980, the price of an average new car was $7,609, while, according to Car and Driver magazine, the average cost of a light vehicle today is $27,800.”

Note from JWR:

The high bid is still at $75 in the SurvivalBlog benefit auction for a copy “Rawles Gets You Ready” preparedness course, (Normally $149, retail.) The course was kindly donated by Jake Stafford of Arbogast Publishing. Please submit your bids via e-mail. This auction ends on September 15th.

Letter Re: Uses for CONEXes at a Retreat

Jim,
Here are a couple more thoughts on CONEX containers . . . or shipping containers in general.
If you are using them for storage, be aware that uninsulated containers (more abundant) tend to sweat and cause moisture damage to the items being stored. My solution was to buy only insulated refer trailers, which can sometimes be purchased for even less money than 40 ft. shipping containers. In either case, it’s very important to waterproof the roof as much as possible. Sometimes a secondary roof is advisable.
Another method to secure as much as storage space for the dollar is to place two containers parallel to each other about twenty to twenty-five feet apart, then build a roof structure in between. In fact, some of these new metal roof structures that are available can be specially ordered to fit whatever dimensions you may need. – C.B.

Two Letters Re: EpiPen–Another Item for the Retreat Medical Kit

Jim:
I also wanted to send you a comment about the Epi pen. The injection of epinephrine (“Epi”) is in large part an informed decision that with a little experience or training is an easy call to make. Epinephrine or adrenaline is only to be used when there is a directly life threatening emergency so most of the concern with cardiac stress is overruled by the overriding need to have a open airway. Children can survive amazing amounts of epi without stressing their hearts so in a life or death airway case give the pen. Benadryl is also on the top of meds to have in your bag, chewed or crushed it absorbs almost as quickly as injected does and is indicated after the epi starts to work (your patient will need water as the epi will stop all saliva flow.)
Benadryl (Diphenhydramine Hydrochloride) has almost no bad side effects and (after consulting your doctor) is very safe even for toddlers.
Benadryl is also good for sleep aid and motion sickness.
As always my comments assume that the reader has either years of advanced medical training and field experience or a qualified instructor at hand to consult. – David in Israel

 

Jim,
A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. So is a lot, in the wrong hands, but you’re still likely to be better off with it than without it:
emedicinehealth.com

AAFP on Anaphylaxis

emedicine.com on Anaphylaxis

BTW, diphenhydramine (Benadryl) does not “treat the cause” of anaphylaxis. It reduces the effects of histamine release, which is triggered by an immune response. It is a useful adjunct to epinephrine. It will not prevent airway compromise or vascular collapse! In no way is Benadryl alone an adequate treatment for anaphylaxis, nor will it reliably prevent a life-threatening recurrence after initial treatment with epinephrine. (This latter seems to have found its way into the folklore of “bee sting allergies.”)

OBTW, if you get an EpiPen, get a “2-Pak.” (They’re now being packaged that way.) Although epinephrine can be life-saving, more than one dose may be necessary. (Discuss this with your physician.) One pen is not sufficient.

Persons with a history of anaphylaxis should see their doctor and inquire about desensitization treatment. The best way to treat anaphylaxis is to prevent it.

I cannot overemphasize the necessity of obtaining competent medical advice before using epinephrine and the need to obtain competent medical care after using it. Failing to administer epinephrine in a timely manner can be lethal, but using it incorrectly will make you just as dead. Regards, – Moriarty

Odds ‘n Sods:

It is nice to see the prices of both silver and gold bouncing back. I holding by my prediction that after the current summer doldrums the precious metals will see a strong rally this Fall. For those of you that took my advice and sold your spec or vacation house at the top of the market and invested the proceeds in silver: hang on! By late 2007, the dollar will go down versus many foreign currencies, silver will go up substantially, and house prices will go down substantially, especially in the most overheated markets. Those simultaneous moves will be a “win-win.” I think that you might be able to buy two comparable houses with the cash generated when you liquidate your silver in late ’07 or early ’08. I’m not kidding.

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By way of “vlad” from The Claire Files Forums, here is a link to a discussion about Tire Balls. (A product recently mentioned on SurvivalBlog.)

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Pat Buchanan’s new book predicts demographic doom–the death of the west.

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Ham operators: Dust off your 6 Meter Rigs and warm them up. You are in for a treat Fred The Valmet-meister reports: “This evening [from the San Francisco Bay Area] I worked Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia and Florida!!! This is most incredible [6 Meter propagation] opening I have ever heard of.”

Jim’s Quote of the Day (230 Years Ago, Today):

"The hour is fast approaching, on which the Honor and Success of this army, and the safety of our bleeding Country depend. Remember officers and Soldiers, that you are Freemen, fighting for the blessings of Liberty – that slavery will be your portion, and that of your posterity, if you do not acquit yourselves like men." – George Washington (General Orders, 23 August, 1776)

Four Letters Re: Uses for CONEXes at a Retreat

James:
We used some CONEXes to build a workshop. We built a wall halfway down the box with a door in it, insulated the front half, and put in power and air conditioning. It works fine, [but] the back half gets really, really hot. I’d recommend painting the container a heat reflecting color, try to put it under some trees out of direct sunlight, build some kind of roof over it or something to cut the heat like trellis planted with vines. We use the Rough Neck RV roof mounted air conditioners. I would recommend cutting a hole in the side and mounting a regular window mount air conditioning unit. – Mosby

 

Jim:
The main site for the use of buried ConEX containers for survival purposes is Undergroundcontainer.com/. It is also fun to see other this that have done with these such as housing like at this British site or this one in New Zealand or this “fabprefab.co” site in the U.S. They are also used warehousing. See “a warehouse on wheels” and this site in New Zealand. Also remember, this idea isn’t completely new, people have been using other means such as culvert (as suggested at Walton Feed) and old school busses. All in all, ConEx containers seem to be a good choice.

Following the teachings of Mike Oehler (also a survivalist at heart) – I think it is important to keep in mind that flat roofs leak, especially if buried. Therefore, keeping in mind the weight limitations (dirt and by 30 to 114 pounds per cubic foot depending upon makeup and moisture), you should put down hard insulation foam board, plastic or rubber roof over it and drape all the way over the edge and down and out, the put down some clean (nothing sharp to puncture) dirt on top, maybe 18 inches in the center and 6 inches on the side creating a pitch – and then plastic over that. Now put the final dirt over that again, leaving at least a slight pitch as ground level for drainage away from the center of the underground structure. Your uppermost plastic sheet (or rubber roof material) should fan out at least 3 feet past the sides of buried structure to get water further away from it. Remember, with a 40’ footer (and get the hi-cube variety if you can) – you may need to brace with the weight at the center as these were not made to be buried, they were made to be stacked – so the strength is in the corners. This is all done presuming the area you put it drains well – and is not in a floodplain or in any danger of flooding. The one thing an underground bunker can not protect you from is a flood.

As for cutting them open and making modifications, joining them, just like with a steel building or pole barns, cut straight, and cover edges with “C” channel, and then secure (probably weld in this case) and seal water and weather tight with silicone or whatever works for you. I have thought about making mobile homes on steroids this way as well. However, there is a lot of steel work involved and I personally lack the skills, equipment, etc. Still – there may be economic opportunity here for someone who has an “in” to make this work. Here’s the idea – since ConEx containers stack – put one down to be your basement or cellar, and put the next one, the ground level mobile home right on top of it. You still move the upper one and put another one in its place (but it might take a crane). Secure the upper one to the lower one with cables, etc., so that extreme forces will not separate the two, no matter what. Maybe even weld them together at the corners. The amount of work to cut in windows, and insulate is substantial though – but look what you would get – a mobile home that would be the last or only one standing after that tornado, or whatever else comes through, with a storage basement. Note that a standard stairwell is a space killer in tight areas – you may want external main entry and a simple latter an hatch in a closet for emergencies. Note, you could even earth berm up to the bottom of the windows of the upper unit, and then put a little insulation and siding over the exposed parts, and still have an earth roof on it. This could make for a great cheap retreat. – Rourke

 

Sir:
There are some really architectural and elegant solutions using these containers for homes on this site. There are also many other pre-fab ideas that are fertile ground and food for thought in retreat building throughout this very creative site. Many ideals are very thrifty and unusual architectural uses of common materials. Jim, please keep up the impeccable work and folks, if you are reading this, please sign up for the Ten Cent Challenge! Really… I’m serious! – ANETPROPHET

 

Jim:
Here are two good sites with info/photos and ideas for modifications of shipping containers to be used as housing or storage.
Containerbay: Database of various conceptual projects or real world examples.
Global Portable Buildings Inc.: Supplier of pre-modified units, good pics and info on various options…
Regards, – S.H.

Letter Re: Canned Coffee Beans

Hi Jim
I have gone through the “Rawles Gets You Ready” preparedness course twice now and find it to be very good data and will be using it extensively in my preps.

Since I am a coffee drinker, I started thinking about how I could store coffee and where I could purchase whole beans in cans. I then thought of a friend of mine that owns a espresso cafe that I go to daily
and it turns out that for her espresso and espresso drinks, she uses Illy coffee from Italy. Illy is about as good as it gets and it turns out that she buys it in 6.5 lb nitrogen packed cans that come with a
screw-in top. The stuff lasts for years. They also pack it in a much smaller can, around 14 oz, but it is not sealed nearly as well as the large can. I will be placing an order with her for my coffee beans.

I told her about your blog and she said that she would be happy to take orders by e-mail. Her name is Janice Cooper and her e-mail address is caffecoop@aol.com Illy is not cheap, but it is one of the
best espresso roasts that you can get. I have no financial connection with this business, other than I patronize it regularly.

I also drink a lot of tea and I have found the best place to get good, cheap tea in cans is Chinese grocery stores. The tins are not airtight, but I imagine that they could be sealed with paraffin or repacked with nitrogen or oxygen absorbers. I have had tea, packed like this, for years and the flavor keeps very well. Thanks, – Kurt

Odds ‘n Sods:

Mark Steyn in Australia comments on global demographics: It’s breeding obvious, mate.

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Regarding the recent question on Ethanol blends long term storage–here is part of the answer. SurvivalBlog reader Shawnee contacted the makers of PRI-G gas stabilizer to ask about how it works with ethanol blends. This was their reply: “Our initial experience with ethanol blended gasoline has been very positive. PRI-G not only provides enhanced stability to the blend, but protects on lubricating value as well.”

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The USDA has not replied to the query about small farmers and NAIS submitted by Walter Jefferies of NoNAIS.org. It has been four months since he sent it in.

Two Letters Re: The Ethanol Debate

Jim:
Regarding the following snippet in Odds ‘n Sods:

As quoted by our friend Bill Bonner at The Daily Reckoning: writing in Fortune magazine, Lester Brown notes that ethanol is not only a waste of money, if taken up widely, it would actually mean starvation for many of the world’s poor people. “The grain required to fill a 25-gallon tank (with ethanol) would feed one person for a year,” Brown writes.

I was under this impression too. Don’t get me wrong I think its a waste of time and resources, but ethanol doesn’t have to be [derived from] the grain. Ethanol can be made from the stalks and leavings AFTER grain harvesting. I don’t have any resource to direct you to as I can’t remember where I read it. Sorry 🙁 I do remember also….to compensate for the oil from ONE refinery, you would need an area a little bigger than Texas committed to growing said ethanol crops. So if you do the math every field in America would be needed almost committed to said
function for [the replacement of the output of] all the oil refineries that we have. – Cruzan

 

Mr Rawles:
Making ethanol from corn uses the starch of the grain but leaves the oil and the protein, so “starvation” isn’t really as much of an issue as some make it out to be. Regards, – Jim K.

#1 Son Replies: There is some interesting research going on, using enzymes produced by microbes living in the digestive system of termites to turn cellulose (wood, straw, etc.) into sugars that could be used for making ethanol. See this article in Wired News.

Letter Re: An Amazing Tale of Survival: Nine Months Adrift in the Pacific

Dear Jim,
I think this would be a good story to link to on SurvivalBlog. Three fishermen survived on a 25 foot boat for nine months at sea, doing drastic things to ensure their survival. Two of the men on the boat died because they didn’t have the will to live (there were originally five on the boat.) As a sea kayaker who takes safety very seriously, it is a sobering story. Take care, – C.R.

Two Letters Re: EpiPen–Another Item for the Retreat Medical Kit

Sir,
Excellent advice on the EpiPen, but its worth mentioning an adequate stock of Benadryl should also be on hand. The EpiPen treats the symptoms of anaphylactic shock but Benadryl or a similar antihistamine will treat the cause. (Which is of particular importance if a doctor is not available.) Bee stings are the most common culprit for anaphylaxis, but it can also be caused by food allergies, latex allergies, and others. Here is a site with some information on Benadryl, side effects and administration instructions Respectfully, – Patrick R

 

Jim:

Epi can kill if not used correctly. The key issue is understanding WHEN to administer. Most folks don’t understand anaphylaxis, which is what can kill someone who is allergic to bee stings. I hear a lot of people say, “I’m allergic to bee stings!”, but when I question them I find that their symptoms are not consistent with anaphylaxis. I.E. they are not really allergic reactions. In these cases use of EpiPen would be contraindicated.

Also, the commercially available EpiPens come in two prescription strengths — one suited for an adult; one for a small child. Giving the wrong one could be unproductive at best and fatal at worst. Hope this helps. – The Northwest EMT