Letter Re: Recent North Plains Blizzard

North Dakota News
This following text is from a county emergency manager out in the western part of North Dakota after the recent snow storm: WEATHER BULLETIN
 
Up here in the Northern Plains we just recovered from a Historic event — may I even say a “Weather Event” of “Biblical Proportions” — with a historic blizzard of up to 44 inches of snow and winds to 90 MP that broke trees in half, knocked down utility poles, stranded hundreds of motorists in snow banks, closed ALL roads, isolated scores of communities
and cut power to tens of thousands. FYI:
o       George Bush did not come…
o       FEMA did nothing…
o       No one howled for the government…
o       No one blamed the government
o       No one even uttered an expletive on TV…
o       Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton did not visit
o       Our Mayors did not blame Bush or anyone else
o       Our Governor did not blame Bush or anyone else, either
o       CNN, ABC, CBS, FOX, or NBC did not visit – or report on this Category 5 snow storm
o       Nobody demanded  $2,000 debit cards…
o       No one asked for a FEMA Trailer House…
o       No one looted…
o       Nobody – I mean Nobody demanded the government do something
o       Nobody expected the government to do anything, either
o       No Larry King, No Bill O’Reilly, No Oprah, No Chris Mathews and No Geraldo Rivera
o       No Sean Penn, No Barbra Streisand, No Hollywood types to be found
And,
o       Nope, we just melted the snow for water
o       Sent out caravans of SUVs to pluck people out of snow engulfed cars
o       The truck drivers pulled people out of snow banks and didn’t ask for a penny
o       Local restaurants made food and the police and fire departments delivered it to the snow bound families
o       Families took in the stranded people – total strangers
o       We fired up wood stoves
o       Broke out coal oil lanterns or Coleman lanterns
o       We put on an extra layers of clothes because up here it is “Work or Die”
o       We did not wait for some affirmative action government to get us out of a mess created by being immobilized by a welfare program that trades votes for ‘sittin at home’ checks.
o       Even though a “Category 5” blizzard of this scale has never fallen this early…we know it can happen and how to deal with it ourselves.
” In my many travels, I have noticed that once one gets north of about 48 degrees North Latitude, 90% most of the world’s social problems evaporate.”
 
 
Hurray for North Dakota. You are my kind of people…..You don’t sit on your rear and cry for someone else
to do it for you. You do what has to be done, yourself. But, unfortunately, you will have to pay, for the rest of your life, for those who are too lazy (slovenly) to do anything for themselves… – H.A.H.

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“I know that every good and excellent thing in the world stands moment by moment on the razor edge of danger and must be fought for, whether it’s a field, or a home, or a country.” – Thornton Wilder

The Army Aviator on Deep Cycle Batteries and Inverters

About batteries: Since 1996 doing my [seasonal] RV living, I’ve been using 16 golf cart batteries: 12 on the back bumper and 4 on the front bumper. They have been adequate for my RV requirements. BTW, beyond the normal stuff, my RV utilizes two networked servers, two workstations, two satellite uplinks as well as three satellite downlinks and my ham radios, all on a 24/7 basis. The inverter is a Trace SW-4024. Then in 1998, I bought the ranch and it, now, uses 16 of the venerable L-16 batteries, purchased from a dealer who wished to rotate his stock. The ranch also utilizes a matching Trace SW-4024.
(For commonality of parts.) BTW, I also have a pair of Trace 12 VDC / 2400 watt inverters in case the big Traces fail. (Yep, I’m stupid on occasion. I didn’t ground the one at the ranch well enough and lightning took it out. Now it’s [replacement is] grounded to the well and four widely separated ground rods.) I went with the backup inverters as 12 Volt DC because they can be more readily utilized elsewhere if needed. Early in 2004, I installed a Trace SW-4024 at my [commercial] radio station with 24 L-16s and both stations operate continuously with the system interfaced with the city power feed. If the city power fails, the Trace picks up the load so fast neither the CD players nor the computers glitch. On the air, you can’t tell that the switch occurred. Unfortunately the rest of the building, which isn’t on the Trace, goes dark. This was very disconcerting to one disc jockey in particular. Ha!
As to longevity, we pull a continuous 24 Amps and so far, during a power failure, the system has gone almost 10 hours without running down. (Thank Goodness!)
As to those BIG telephone [Central Office stationary] batteries, they are HUGE and only one cell. It takes three of them [wired in series] to equal the voltage of one L-16. One battery must weigh 200 pounds. They are clear on the sides. I missed out on 42 of them when I ran across a telephone serviceman who had just finished dumping all of the liquid out of them and loading them on his truck for disposal. The EPA poses no problem as long as you affirm you are going to put them into service. EPA only has restrictions when you dispose of the battery. So far no battery failures and things are humming.
Best regards to you and the Memsahib, Oh ….. HAPPY NEW YEAR! – The Army Aviator

Letter Re: The Best All-Around Dog Breed for a Retreat?

Dear Mr. Rawles,
Hi, just wanted to say I loved “Patriots” and follow SurvivalBlog religiously.  Thank you so much for your efforts on behalf of the survival-minded community. A bit about retreat dogs:
 
A dog is two things – what its breeding have made it, and what its training has made it.  You can’t separate the two.  You can give someone a dog that is ideally suited to a purpose, but if that person doesn’t know the first thing about training and socializing a dog, they will end up with a train wreck that will make their life and the dog’s life a misery.  This is especially true when you figure in back-yard breeders or worse yet, puppy mills where breeding for temperament is the last thing on the breeder’s agenda.  That “purebred” dog you spent retreat money on may just be the worst investment you ever made, [if] done haphazardly.  Training dogs is not nearly so essential as training the dog owner.  A trained dog owner can bring an untrained dog up to speed.  A trained dog, given to an untrained owner, will quickly revert to his natural behaviors with unpleasant results.  A dog is an investment that will return rewards in many ways, but realize that it is an ongoing investment that requires upkeep and involvement from you on a regular basis.
 
I’m surprised at all the large dogs being recommended.  Sure, a large dog is intimidating to an unarmed person.  A dog of any size will simply be shot by an armed person with ill intent. If you just want an early warning system, a medium or even a small size dog would be better, less food consumption. How much dog food have you got stockpiled?  Remember dogs do a great job of soaking up our leftovers, but come SHTF are you really going to have a dependable supply of leftovers to toss to Rover?   If it came to feeding the kids or feeding Rover, you know you’d feed the kids first.  Then what?  Watch Rover starve, or put a bullet in him before he starts to think of your kids as food?  How would the kids and wife react to that hard choice?  These are the harsh realities we don’t like to think about now, but would have to face later.  Better to plan around them now while we have the luxury of planning. A medium sized dog would still be perceived as a threat by many, and even a medium sized dog can inflict a lot of harm, or at least give a bad guy something additional to deal with while you’re grabbing your gun.  And a medium sized dog can have a big voice.  I currently have a 55 pound mutt who sounds like 150 pounds worth of bad news on the other side of a wood fence or a locked door.
 
I am a student and a huge fan of the Doberman breed.  However, I have mixed feelings about their suitability for use as a retreat dog. No, I take that back – I think they would be well-suited for some scenarios, and poorly suited for others.  Physically, they have a short coat, and cannot be an “outdoor only” dog in a cold (ice and snow) climate.  Temperamentally, they are incredibly intelligent and trainable, but they get bored easily. Sometimes they are too smart for their owners to manage, because they have their own ideas, and they are strong willed, requiring a strong willed owner.  If bored and confined, they are likely to try to figure out a means of escape. Most dogs don’t like being left alone, in the Doberman this is more intense and they are apt to become very maladjusted if left alone frequently or for long periods even if infrequently. Having a second dog does usually help with this. The Doberman is an athletic breed, and needs frequent exercise or they are apt to become hyperactive and destructive when cooped up indoors. Hope you have rawhide and other chew toys stockpiled if considering a Dobie for retreat! They have a high prey drive, so keeping them in proximity to livestock or other pets (chickens, cats, etc) that run when chased may be problematic. They are very loyal to their “pack” (your family) and naturally protective and leery of strangers. They can also misinterpret aggressive play or wrestling from visiting kids as an “attack” on your children, and respond with devastating force. They can be highly affectionate and even “clingy”. Most Dobermans do not like getting wet, although they will occasionally play in the water (puddles or surf), especially on hot days. If your vision of a retreat dog is one to live indoors with the family, regular training and exercise, going out on chores and errands with you (rather than being left alone) then the Dobie may well be your ideal dog.  If your idea of a retreat dog is one who lives outdoors patrolling the perimeter or living in the back yard that can be left alone (without human interaction and minimal training) for long periods of time, I think you would have to look long and hard to find a worse choice than a Doberman.  I wouldn’t recommend a Dobie as a first dog for a first time dog owner any more than I would recommend a full auto M16 for a first time gun owner. Too much of a learning curve. They were originally bred to accompany police, night watchmen and tax collectors on their rounds, and they are well suited to this and other similar duties.  Anyone serious about obtaining a Doberman, I recommend doing the homework to find a breeder that uses German stock, or breeding pairs that are from German stock.  The intelligence, trainability and temperament are beyond reproach, since all German breeding stock must pass Schutzhund to be allowed to breed.
 
Speaking of Schutzhund, this is a terrific sport.  No, it is not “attack dog” training to make the dog mean.  All dogs have aggressive and protective instincts.  However, we train our dogs not to be aggressive with family and friends.  In a real life confrontation, an untrained dog can become either confused or berserk with equally tragic results either way. Maybe that person coming up the walk is a bad guy, here to murder you and your family – or maybe just a poor lost soul looking for directions.  Makes a difference in how you want the dog to respond, doesn’t it? But the dog can’t possibly know the difference. Schutzhund teaches a dog how to turn its aggressive behavior on and off, to control it and direct it at your command.  Any intelligent breed will enjoy working with you, learning something, getting the mental and physical stimulation of this sport.  You and your dog will learn valuable skills and gain confidence that will be of great benefit if and when the balloon goes up.  In any kind of a large dog, I recommend considering this seriously.  The dog needs to understand not to shred the mail man, but when you call it into action, it needs to be able to exert exactly how much and just what kind of protective behavior you instruct. – Rusty

Letter Re: Solar and Off Grid Power – an Additional Contact

Mr. Rawles
In your [list of] resources for solar and off grid contacts you must not have been aware of Kenny G. at www.armadillosolar.net, who is most likely the most respected install team leader in the U.S. and one of the most sought after consultants in the industry. In many cases he has come in to fix systems installed by less than honest installers, particularly in the Texas. In the local area of Austin, Texas I know of none of his customers who are less than enthusiastic about his products and advice. Austin hosts the largest aggregation of residential off grid installations in Texas, and we talk about it! BTW – the wife and I loved your novel TEOTWAWKI [one of the draft editions of “Patriots”] that we got from you many years ago, before it was published via that publishing company. – Wotan

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“There are 1011 stars in the galaxy. That used to be a huge number. But it’s only a hundred billion. It’s less than the national deficit! We used to call them astronomical numbers. Now we should call them economical numbers.” – Dr. Richard Feynman

A Home-Based Business–Your Ticket to The Boonies

The majority of SurvivalBlog readers that I talk with tell me that they live in cities or suburbs, but they would like to live full time at a retreat in a rural area. Their complaint is almost always the same: “…but I’m not self-employed. I can’t afford to live in the country because I can’t find work there, and the nature of my work doesn’t allow telecommuting.” They feel stuck.

Over the years I’ve seen lots of people “pull the plug” and move to the boonies with the hope that they’ll find local work once they get there. That usually doesn’t work. Folks find that the most rural jobs typically pay little more than minimum wage and they are often informally reserved for folks that were born and raised in the area. (Newcomers from the big city certainly don’t have hiring priority!)

My suggestion is to start a second income stream, with a home based business. Once you have that business started, then start another one. There are numerous advantages to this approach, namely:

You can get out of debt

You can generally build the businesses up gradually, so that you don’t need to quit your current occupation immediately

By working at home you will have the time to home school your children and they will learn about how to operate a business.

You can live at your retreat full time. This will contribute to your self-sufficiency, since you will be there to tend to your garden, fruit/nut trees, and livestock.

If one of your home-based businesses fails, then you can fall back on the other.

Ideally, for someone that is preparedness-minded, a home-based business should be something that is virtually recession proof, or possibly even depression proof. Ask yourself: What are you good at? What knowledge or skills do you have that you can utilize. Next, consider which businesses will flourish during bad times. Some good examples might include:

  • Mail order/Internet sales/eBay Auctioning of preparedness-related products.
  • Locksmithing
  • Gunsmithing
  • Medical Transcription
  • Accounting
  • Repair/refurbishment businesses
  • Freelance writing
  • Blogging (with paid advertising) If you have knowledge about a niche industry and there is currently no blog on the subject, then start your own!
  • Mail order/Internet sales of entertainment items. (When times get bad, people still set aside a sizable percentage of their income for “escape” from their troubles.For example, video rental shops have done remarkably well during recessions.)
  • Burglar Alarm Installation

Other home-based businesses that seem to do well only in good economic times include:

  • Recruiting/Temporary Placement
  • Fine arts, crafts, and jewelry. Creating and marketing your own designs–not “assembly” for some scammer. (See below.)
  • Mail order/Internet sales/eBay Auctions of luxury items, collectibles, or other “discretionary spending” items
  • Personalized stationary and greeting cards (Freelance artwork)
  • Calligraphy
  • Web Design

Beware the scammers! The fine folks at www.scambusters.org have compiled a “Top 10” list of common work-at-home and home based business scams to beware of:

1. Craft Assembly
This scam encourages you to assemble toys, dolls, or other craft projects at home with the promise of high per-piece rates. All you have to do is pay a fee up-front for the starter kit… which includes instructions and parts. Sounds good? Well, once you finish assembling your first batch of crafts, you’ll be told by the company that they “don’t meet our specifications.”
In fact, even if you were a robot and did it perfectly, it would be impossible for you to meet their specifications. The scammer company is making money selling the starter kits — not selling the assembled product. So, you’re left with a set of assembled crafts… and no one to sell them to.

2. Medical Billing
In this scam, you pay $300-$900 for everything (supposedly) you need to start your own medical billing service at home. You’re promised state-of-the-art medical billing software, as well as a list of potential clients in your area.
What you’re not told is that most medical clinics process their own bills, or outsource the processing to firms, not individuals. Your software may not meet their specifications, and often the lists of “potential clients” are outdated or just plain wrong.
As usual, trying to get a refund from the medical billing company is like trying to get blood from a stone.

3. Email Processing
This is a twist on the classic “envelope stuffing scam” (see #1 below). For a low price ($50?) you can become a “highly-paid” email processor working “from the comfort of your own home.”
Now… what do you suppose an email processor does? If you have visions of forwarding or editing emails, forget it. What you get for your money are instructions on spamming the same ad you responded to in newsgroups and Web forums!
Think about it — they offer to pay you $25 per email processed — would any legitimate company pay that?

4. “A List of Companies Looking for Homeworkers!”
In this one, you pay a small fee for a list of companies looking for homeworkers just like you.
The only problem is that the list is usually a generic list of companies, companies that don’t take homeworkers, or companies that may have accepted homeworkers long, long ago. Don’t expect to get your money back with this one.

5. “Just Call This 1-900 Number For More Information…”
No need to spend too much time (or money) on this one. 1-900 numbers cost money to call, and that’s how the scammers make their profit. Save your money — don’t call a 1-900 number for more information about a supposed work-at-home job.

6. Typing At Home
If you use the Internet a lot, then odds are that you’re probably a good typist. How better to capitalize on it than making money by typing at home? Here’s how it works: After sending the fee to the scammer for “more information,” you receive a disk and printed information that tells you to place home typist ads and sell copies of the disk to the suckers who reply to you. Like #8, this scam tries to turn you into a scammer!

7. “Turn Your Computer Into a Money-Making Machine!”
Well, this one’s at least half-true. To be completely true, it should read: “Turn your computer into a money-making machine… for spammers!”
This is much the same spam as #5, above. Once you pay your money, you’ll be sent instructions on how to place ads and pull in suckers to “turn their computers into money-making machines.”

8. Multi-Level Marketing (MLM)
If you’ve heard of network marketing (like Amway), then you know that there are legitimate MLM businesses based on agents selling products or services. One big problem with MLMs, though, is when the pyramid and the ladder-climbing become more important than selling the actual product or service. If the MLM business opportunity is all about finding new recruits rather than selling products or services, beware: The Federal Trade Commission may consider it to be a pyramid scheme… and not only can you lose all your money, but you can be charged with fraud, too!
We saw an interesting MLM scam recently: one MLM company advertised the product they were selling as FREE. The fine print, however, states that it is “free in the sense that you could be earning commissions and bonuses in excess of the cost of your monthly purchase of” the product. Does that sound like “free” to you?

9. Chain Letters/Emails (“Make Money Fast”)
If you’ve been on the Internet for any length of time, you’ve probably received or at least seen these chain emails. They promise that all you have to do is send the email along plus some money by mail to the top names on the list, then add your name to the bottom… and one day you’ll be a millionaire. Actually, the only thing you might be one day is prosecuted for fraud. This is a classic pyramid scheme, and most times the names in the chain emails are manipulated to make sure only the people at the top of the list (the true scammers) make any money. This scam should be called “Lose Money Fast” — and it’s illegal.

10. Envelope Stuffing
This is THE classic work-at-home scam. It’s been around since the U.S. Depression of the 1920s and 1930s, and it’s moved onto the Internet like a cockroach you just can’t eliminate. There are several variations, but here’s a sample: Much like #5 and #4 above, you are promised to be paid $1-2 for every envelope you stuff. All you have to do is send money and you’re guaranteed “up to 1,000 envelopes a week that you can stuff… with postage and address already affixed!” When you send your money, you get a short manual with flyer templates you’re supposed to put up around town, advertising yet another harebrained work-from-home scheme. And the pre-addressed, pre-paid envelopes? Well, when people see those flyers, all they have to do is send you $2.00 in a pre-addressed, pre-paid envelope. Then you stuff that envelope with another flyer and send it to them. Ingenious perhaps… but certainly illegal and unethical.

From all that I’ve heard, most franchises and multi-level marketing schemes are not profitable unless you pick a great product or service, and you already have a strong background in sales. Beware of any franchise where you wouldn’t have a protected territory. My general advice is this: You will probably be better off starting your own business, making, retailing, or consulting about something where you can leverage your existing knowledge and/or experience.

David in Israel on Sleeping in Comfort

Sleeping can be a real challenge when you are away from your soft American style bed. here are a few
tips to beat the cold and discomfort.
1. Cardboard. Whether it is making a mattress base or a refrigerator box bedroom its insulation to cost ratio is amazing. The box provides wind stop and warmth, even if you are making a barn or a warehouse your temporary home. Trash sacks around the lower layers (not the uppers or, you will soak in condensation) will keep ground moisture at bay for awhile.
2. Earplugs and Sleep Mask. These allow you to sleep during the day or in a noisy environment. They must be used
with caution. Hopefully you have someone in your group who will be available to guard.
3. Booties and Wool Stocking Cap. The booties are extras but if in a vehicle they keep the hardest to heat place (the feet) warm. Tight socks (or any circulation restrictive clothing) are a no-no. The nightcap was popular until automated heating became widely available.

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Letter from John in Iraq RE: Survival Fiction Recommendation

Hello Sir,
Sorry I haven’t had time to send in an update recently. I’ll try to do so in the near future.
 
I just wanted to call your attention to an excellent short story [titled “The Bug Out”] about an ordinary man and his family attempting to bug out. I found it thoroughly gripping and informative. It aptly demonstrates the perils of being an “armchair survivalist.” It’s posted online at http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=172494.
 
The [same] author [who writes under the pen name by Half Fast] is also currently working on a novel about surviving in the wake of an EMP event. It’s called “Lights Out.” Haven’t had a chance to read it yet, but if it’s anything like the story it’ll be a real page turner. Please check out the story, and mayhaps post it for your readers. I think they could learn a lot from it. 
 
Anyway, gotta be going. Hope you had a Merry Christmas. As always, stay low, watch six, and God bless. – John in Iraq

Letter Re: Glocks, M1911s, and The Importance of Training

Dear Jim:
Some very good points have been made in the posts on firearms advice – one of the best being to hit with the most bullet you can handle and carry.  The only better advice I could give is:  don’t obsess too much about what you shoot – but do get to a serious combat shooting school sooner, rather than later.  You don’t know, what you don’t know, till you’ve been to a few different schools – no one school has all the answers.  Some are best on weapon handling, some on technical shooting skills, some on tactics, some on Force on Force combat simulation, etc., etc..
Regarding Model 1911s versus Glocks, I do feel that y’all in the 1911 camp are missing the big picture with regards to advice for survivalists versus advice for “gun guys.”
The 1911 is a great weapon, accurate, hard-hitting, and a superb single action trigger.  But it’s standard magazine capacity of 6-to-8 is lacking (unless you get a special double stack model) and this is a big handicap when you have multiple threats.  But, most damning, is the fact that you often have to spend a lot of money, or do a lot of work on a 1911, to get excellent reliability.  And anything less than excellent reliability is not worth considering.
Shooting IDPA matches once a month I see 1911s with MULTIPLE malfunctions about every third month.  That is a terrible percentage out of roughly 20, 1911 shooters I see over three squads.  This doesn’t usually happen to the “serious gun guys” who have spent a lot of money on their 1911 (or their gunsmith), and stay on top of maintenance – but it often happens to the more casual shooter.  As an aside, International Defensive Pistol Association (IDPA) matches are a great reality check to see where your shooting skills are, and great training.
Week-long trips to shooting schools with a lot of rounds down-range show the same thing – lots of 1911 problems, far fewer  Glock problems (unless you are shooting reloads in a Glock – but then you were just asking for problems!)
The Glock has a heavier, longer and slower “safe-action” trigger, but a .45 caliber compact Glock 30 holds 10 + 1 rounds, and the full-size Glock 21, (which holds 13 + 1 rounds.)  It’s only a few rounds more versus a 1911, but which weapon would you rather face 3 or 4 bad guys with?  Bonus – the compact Glock 30 also accepts the 13 round Glock 21 mag – what would you rather reload with, when your gun has been shot dry, 8 or 13?   Glocks are not perfect, but their reliability is superb.  I own a bunch of them, and they all go bang with monotonous regularity – with many hundreds of rounds between cleanings.   They are quick and easy to clean and inspect.  And it is so refreshing to buy a tool that is good to go out of the box (you will want to add night sights, all else is optional).  Glocks are easy…
By the way, the Springfield XD is also an excellent gun I am told – but no .45 ACP model just yet, just .45 GAP [a short-cased variant of the .45 ACP cartridge.]  SIGs have wonderful quality, but an atrocious, hard-to-shoot design, with the bore set far too high over the hand, making recoil control much harder than it needs to be.
Once you get some good technical hands-on shooting instruction the longer Glock trigger pull is a very small disadvantage.  Check out the training at the Texas Defensive Shooting Academy –  two high intensity days there improved my shooting tremendously even after multiple courses at other very good schools. See: www.tdsa.net (I have no financial interest in TDSA, I am just an extremely grateful customer.)
So for the SWAT, or military,  or “gun guy” who can spend the extra time and money to ensure a reliable 1911, I say get the better trigger, and more power to you.  Just practice those speed reloads if you are shooting an 8 round single stack mag!  For most survivalists you can buy two Glocks for the same money – or better yet, one Glock and some serious training.
Most importantly the Glock will save time. No hassle trying to find a reliable make and model.  No fine tuning.  Easy to clean.  No diagnostic trips to the gunsmith.  Time is the most scarce commodity when you have a long survival to do list, and precious little time between work and family to get it done.  Your gun time (and money) is best spent on shooting schools, not on expensive hardware or gunsmithing. Yours truly, – N. in Texas

From Dr. Gary North’s Latest Newsletter: Free Video on The Federal Reserve

Dr. Gary North writes in the latest issue of his REALITY CHECK e-newsletter: “If you get confused about money, the Federal Reserve System, and all this fractional reserve banking stuff, I have a solution. It’s the best 45-minute documentary on the Federal Reserve System that I have seen. The good news: it’s free. Google is launching a new service. You can post videos on line for free. This means you incur no bandwidth expenses. This is a deal! To see how well this works, click here: http://snipurl.com/fedvideo“

OBTW, if you do not yet subscribe to Gary North’s REALITY CHECK e-newsletter, then you should. Subscriptions are free! See: http://www.dailyreckoning.com/sub/GetReality.cfm

Odds ‘n Sods

SurvivalBlog reader Dr. Sans Paine recommends the www.epocrates.com web site as a great compendium on pharmaceuticals, including some very useful data on drug interactions. In addition to their “by subscription” service, their free download data is surprisingly complete and updated frequently.

o o o

I was thoroughly disgusted to see that our local electronics store had a large display of Winchester brand knives, complete with the famous Winchester factory logo. That would be great, except that they were all made in mainland China! For example, the pocketknife/white LED flashlight combo pack (both with prominent Winchester logos) was priced at just $14.99. To be able to retail them at that price, these things obviously had to have been made in China’s laogui (“Reform Through Labor”) prison factory system. The laogui camps/prisons/factories primarily house political prisoners, some of whom have been incarcerated continuously since the1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre. Talk about the ultimate irony: A brand name synonymous with our right to keep and bear arms and personal freedom, but made with slave labor!

Jim’s Quote of the Day

“In our struggle to restrain the violence and contain the damage, we tend to forget that the human capacity for aggression is more than a monstrous defect, that it is also a crucial survival tool.” – Katherine Dunn

Asian Avian Flu: Network TV Anchorman Tom Brokaw Admits to Storing Food

While many of us were opening gifts on Christmas morning, SurvivalBlog reader “Hamlet” said that he was was
casually watching Tim Russert and his guests on Meet the Press. He reports: “My jaw dropped as Tom Brokaw…told of… family bug-out plans and stored food/water preparations.” The following is brief excerpt from a transcript of the show. (The link to access the full transcript follows.)

—
MR. RUSSERT: Let me talk about an issue that is of grave concern to people but we don’t know much about it and that’s the Avian Flu, the potential for pandemic. We had Dr. Michael Ryan of the World Health Organization on MEET THE PRESS. Let’s listen to him and come back and talk about how to deal with this.
(Videotape, November 20, 2005):
DR. MICHAEL RYAN (World Health Organization): The avian flu strain has the potential to become a pandemic strain. It is very worrying that we see this virus transmitting across the species barrier into humans and the virus itself is evolving and we are probably closer to a pandemic at any time in the last 37 years, since the last pandemic of ’68. This virus has crossed the species barrier. It has infected humans. It’s killing a high proportion of those human beings and we need to prepare for the possibility of a pandemic.
(End videotape)
MR. RUSSERT: Ted Koppel, how do you cover a story like that without alarming people and still do your job as a journalist to prepare people?
MR. KOPPEL: You can’t. You have to alarm people because until people are sufficiently alarmed they’re not going to listen to what has to happen. You know, what you don’t hear in that sound bite, and what is rarely spoken of, especially among the politicians, is that the kind of vaccine that would be necessary to treat the avian flu does not exist. It cannot exist until the strain of avian flu is developed and can be sampled and can be tested and then, and only then, can you begin to develop the vaccine. In order to develop sufficient quantities of that vaccine, to vaccinate people twice, you’re going to need so many hundreds of millions of doses that it will take a minimum of two to three years to get them. In other words, by the time you
get them, it’ll be too late to treat most of the people that would get the flu. Now, you know, obviously, that raises questions as to what needs to be done, what can be done. I tried, just before I left “Nightline” to do a broadcast in which we brought some of the best experts on and said, “Tell us what we need to know. Tell us what we need to do.” Among
the things we need to do, and it sounds horrific, to say it, is to put in a decent supply of food and water and whatever medicine is needed by a family in each American home now, before it’s too late, so that if, and when, a flu hits an area, like, let’s say, our area here in Washington, the people, especially older people, or people who have breathing problems, lung problems, people who have heart problems, can afford to stay home for two or three weeks, or longer.
MR. BROKAW: Have you done that at your house?
MR. KOPPEL: No, in truth. Have you?
MR. BROKAW: We have.
MR. KOPPEL: Have you?
MR. BROKAW: Yeah.
MR. KOPPEL: Good for you.
MR. BROKAW: Well, we did it for a couple of reasons. Meredith–we live in New York and we have a house outside of New York and Meredith said, “This is going to be our sanctuary. We have to be prepared in case something happens.” And we did put in a small supply of food and water and…
MR. KOPPEL: Yeah.
MR. BROKAW: …other things to have on the ready. It’s also–the avian flu and the pandemic possibilities are a real commentary on the world in which we’re living now. The mobility of people to move across places that–the crush of population everywhere, how rapidly these things spread. And I think that leads in this country to a kind
of unsettled feeling on the part of a lot of people. They have so much access to information now. They don’t feel that they have their own sanctuary because it all happens at warp speed and I think politicians are not doing a very good job in my impression.
MR. KOPPEL: But, you see, doing what Tom and Meredith have done, and what my wife and I have not done, yet–will do, I promise–wouldn’t at this stage cause any shortages…
MR. BROKAW: No.
MR. KOPPEL: …it wouldn’t cause any panic. I’m not suggesting that people go out and instantly buy a four-week supply of medicine…
MR. BROKAW: Right.
MR. KOPPEL: …food, water. But if you start…
MR. BROKAW: You have to think about it. Yeah.
MR. KOPPEL: …over a period of the next three months…
MR. RUSSERT: And that’s the hard truth, it’s probably the only thing you can do.
MR. BROKAW: Yeah.
MR. KOPPEL: Just–it’s the only thing that the individual can do…
MR. BROKAW: Yeah.
MR. KOPPEL: …so that at the very least, if the pandemic hits your community, you can stay at home, don’t go out.
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http://msnbc.msn.com/id/10531436/
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3032608

Frankly, I don’t find this too surprising, despite Brokaw’s left-of-center leanings. Anyone that has worked in the press and who has been around natural disasters–particularly overseas–soon develops an appreciation of just how fragile societies can be. They’ve seen civilization come rapidly unglued before, and doubtless realize that it could happen again.

Letter Re: Rourke on: A Mouse in the House? Retreat Pest Control

Dear James,
I would carry Rourke’s point a bit further. I would never recommend the use of a “humane” mouse trap! Given that hantavirus is transmitted via contact or aerosolization/inhalation of feces, urine or saliva, the last thing you want around is a trap that keeps a mouse alive long enough for you to handle it, whereupon it promptly urinates and defecates. A far better solution is to take a plastic trash bag, place a snap trap inside it and place a bent piece of cardboard in the bag to hold it open and keep the trap from getting caught on the bag when it snaps. Once the mouse is caught, put on your mask and spray the mouse, trap and inside of the bag with bleach/water. Wait half an hour. Then mask up, put on your gloves, seal the bag and dispose of the entire mess.
Some people may not regard this as “humane” but neither is dying of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, and leaving your wife and kids to deal with the loss.
Several sources I’ve consulted suggest that hanta- and Sin Nombre virus degrade rapidly in the presence of UV light (including direct sunlight) and that the virus becomes inactive several days after being shed, but neither of these bear heavily on disinfection issues.
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/diseases/hanta/hps/noframes/phys/q-a/satconfq_a.htm#6.
I grew up on (and still live on) my family’s ranch. Back then, no one ever gave a second thought to “mouse poop” – we simply swept it up and while mice in outbuildings were a constant nuisance, they were a fact of life. Looking back, I never recalled anyone in our community becoming ill or dying of viral pneumonia, but I suppose it may have happened.
(It makes you wonder how many ranchers and farmers have antibody titres to hantavirus.) It is probably an overstated risk, but still worth considering – and avoiding. Regards, – Ralph