Some Medical Considerations, by Old Bobbert

…(VA) supplied tester, I simply change the date in the tester itself. 12-12-2012 becomes 12-12-2011, or what ever past date will allow the tester to only see a test strip that is not out of date.  I lie to my tester about the date. My tester  knows that I am a nice guy, and it always believes me, and uses the out of date strips. An additional small piece of knowledge, which can be extremely valuable to  folks like myself, is the real time facts about refrigeration of insulin. Most refrigerators cool the contents to 37-38 degrees F and that is  below the recommended safe temperature range of 60 – 86 for insulin. Our home is well insulated and I keep the current usage insulin bottles on top of my desk with full confidence that it is safe to use because our inside house temperature stays at about 65 –…




Three Letter Re: Internet and Search Engine Privacy

Jim: I’ve done a lot of experimenting on this and offer my take: Rule Number One: The U.S. Government is monitoring domestic internet traffic. Anybody visiting Survivalblog is already suspect by the government because of it’s very subject matter. Assume that you are being monitored. Let’s not be naive here please. Anonymizer is obviously monitored by the Government because it maintains logs of in/out IP Addresses. Tor…the Onion Router is the best way to go if you have DSL or Cable high-speed internet connection because there is no central logging. I use it. CCleaner [Cache Cleaner] at http://www.ccleaner.com/ is the very best way to keep your computer free of what snoops want. It is FREE, tiny, fast, easy, and I click on it after every internet surf. It instantly removes all tracking cookies. It also instantly removes all those useless internet temp files that clog/slow your computer. Download it FREE




Making Sense of What You Hear- Part 2, by Hal2000

It would take thousands of words and dozens of illustrations to explain trunked radio systems. So, we will look at the thirty thousand foot level. What the communications industry did was to take lots of frequencies, lots of transmitters and receivers, and lots of computers to allow lots of users access to communications. They did what the cell phone industry did. For a large metropolitan area, they would build a dozen or so transmitter and receiver sites and connect them together with fiber optics and computers. This system would consist of anywhere from 5 to 35 frequencies, depending on the size of the area and the expected number of users. By using a hierarchical structure, assigning priorities to users, and lots of software they could pack hundreds of users onto a trunked system using the minimum number of frequencies. It is truly mind boggling how it all works, and it…




City Data as a Retreat Locale Search Tool

…we are interested in. In general you will at least find population, gender, age, ethnicity, education, and income statistics. Some pages also contain information about occupation (is this a farming town?) the nearest medical facilities, population density, distance to major population centers, crime, climate, local government and more. It is a fantastic starting place to refine the search for your ideal location. – Scrod JWR Replies: It has been several years since City Data web site has been mentioned in SurvivalBlog. It is still a good one! I also like the Moving.com web site’s relative cost comparison calculator. OBTW, take a look at this population density map of the US, Mexico, and Canada. Sometimes a picture truly does tell a thousand words. And on a global scale, The Human Footprint Composite Map hosted by NASA’s web site is similarly enlightening. See my Recommended Retreat Areas static page for some detailed…




Understanding Five Types of Electrical Losses in Alternative Power Systems, by Roger A.

…and question efficiencies. This was important to me. By this time I was completely off grid and had cut my electrical consumption to less than 6 kWh per day. This included using my shop welder (electric) that made many of the devices (photovoltaic trackers, etc) that I was using. Most all the systems herein were modified in this manner. I often had electrical components waiting for the remainder of the upgrades.  The object was to use the old system as well as adding the new ones when they can be afforded. Mixing old but usable batteries with new will age the new making their capacity the same as the old, defeating the purpose of buying new. This is something that anyone who plans to become independent needs to learn while still living on grid. That way one knows how to deal with the quirks that arise without feeling the real




Letter Re: The Latest Solar Flares

David in Israel warned of a possible “kill shot” CME after the latest impact. As quoted by UrbanSurvival.com, here it comes, possibly on Sunday night: “SOHO/LASCO detected a full halo CME in association with the M6.3 flare in Catania sunspot group 65 (NOAA AR 1429) this morning. The CME first appeared in the LASCO C2 field of view at 04:14 UT and had a speed around 750 km/s. We expect the CME arrival at the Earth late on March 11 – early on March 12. An evaluation of the possible erupting flux rope orientation on the basis of HMI photospheric magnetograms and AIA images of the post-eruption arcade gives the south-east-north (SEN, left-handed) configuration. Due to the position of the CME source region close to the solar central meridian, we expect a nearly central encounter of the resulting ICME, which will probably be a magnetic cloud with leading southward field….




Economics & Investing For Preppers

…at the Whatfinger.com news aggregation site: BoA: When Fed starts cuttings things will break. 276 rate hikes are finally crushing the global economy. But history says the real storm comes when they start cutting rates. Because cuts means they broke it. o o o Treasury’s Yellen says US overdependent on China for critical supply chains. Commodities: H.L. sent us this: Switzerland: Emergency Plans to Deal with Energy Shortages this Winter, Ban Use of Electric Cars for ‘Non-Essential’ Journeys. o o o From reader D.S.V.: New EV battery factory requires so much energy a coal power plant will be expanded and its closure delayed by years. o o o Biden admin issues restrictions on gas furnaces in latest war on appliances. (Thanks to reader C.B. for the link.) Inflation Watch: Chicken prices hit record highs under Biden administration as US inflation keeps beef, pork out of reach. o o o Orange…




The Latest Wave of The Sagebrush Rebellion

The recent events at the former Malheur Wildlife Refuge (now called the Harney County Resource Center) are just the latest wave of the well-justified Sagebrush Rebellion that has been going on in western states for 30+ years. Even though they lack any constitutional authority over land that should rightfully belong to the States (per Article 1, Section 8, Clause 17), bureaucrats from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) have been riding roughshod over the west. They have been doing so through their often capricious and dictatorial policies on grazing, timber cutting, mining, weed control, access to water, hunting, recreational shooting, fencing, gates, predator control, invasive species, and access by inholding landowners. Increasingly, the divide between “We The People” and the bureaucrats has become a gaping chasm. And the “Occupy Malheur” protest is not just an isolated incident. For example, see what has been going on for months in Nevada, as…




Announcing JWR’s Latest Novel: Land of Promise

I’m pleased to announce that I’ve completed writing and editing my latest novel, titled Land of Promise. It will be released on December 1st, 2015 as an e-book, in trade paperback, and as an audiobook. This is the first volume of a planned five novel series, called the Counter-Caliphate Chronicles. The series begins 35 years in the future, and describes a timeline different from that in my Patriots novel series. These novels will have some science fiction elements, but you will find them as grounded in reality as my previous books. (There will be plenty of practical and tactical tips!) Land of Promise is an exciting story that describes the establishment of a Christian libertarian republic in East Africa, in response to a wave of persecution by a Global Islamic Caliphate. Here is a brief description of the novel: Launched by a pair of free-thinking venture capitalists and an Israeli…




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…




Medical Action Sheets by K.B., M.D. Part 3

…spirochete’s life cycle by 50 percent, killing off all the newly “hatched” ones. Since a Lyme victim practically assaulted me with the book years ago, I read it, did what Buhner advised, and although I have been tick bitten and had Lyme several times, it always went away after the six weeks of antibiotic treatment. Taking vitamin D and elderberry daily helped with the symptoms in the meantime. TXnurse GOOD, EASY TO READ GUIDES FOR EMERGENCY FIRST AID Yesterday someone asked if anybody knew of any other quick action guides to emergencies and illnesses, I Have literally probably 100 books on the above, I looked through today and here is a list of very user friendly, in layman’s terms (for the most part) books and “cheat sheets”. 1. First Aid for Gunshot Wounds – pocket guide. This is a great guide for gunshot wounds, it takes you quickly to the…




Why a Handout Gun?, by D.B.

…rate that will handle all common cartridge loadings. Hand guard: Plymer – excellent and comfortable to use. A blemished lower receiver is $50 today on the PSA website. (Blemished receivers are our friends!) Furthermore, the base model complete lower that you could mate to the upper listed above is $130. If you want to step up just a tiny bit, the complete lower receiver decked out in Magpul furniture is $150. Therefore, with the $320 for the upper listed above + $130/$150 for the complete lower receiver = $450/$470 for a complete carbine! Gun shop prices will run at least $600 for a less well-equipped carbine. Depending on your ability to catch sales/specials and the condition of your wallet, here are some features or add-ons you would want to snag when possible: Cold hammer forged (CHF) barrels are tough and generally give good accuracy. Melonite or nitride surface treatment is…




IT Careers and Rural Living, by M.J.

…the president of a managed-services provider on the East Coast, suggested that I obtain the CompTIA A+ certificate. The Computer Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) A+ is the gateway certificate to many other IT career paths, such as networking and security. The certificate I just passed is CompTIA Data+. If you want to start at the very beginning — if you know absolutely nothing about computers, or you’re not sure if a career in IT is right for you – then get the CompTIA IT Fundamentals certificate. I took a leave of absence from the agency to study for the exam. I passed on the first try. It took a few months to get my first IT job. My first IT job, which paid about the same as my job with that law enforcement agency, consisted mainly of imaging computers. Imaging is when a suite of programs is put together on…




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Sound Judgment and Reasoning Skills for Preparedness, by Anthony C.

…and bigotry fall into this category of course. An acquaintance of mine believes that everyone of certain ethnic backgrounds are lazy. Making assumptions about a person simply because they vote democrat or republican is another example of a broad generalization. Not all democrats are against guns.  Of course if a democrat confides that he or she owns a battle rifle I might give them a second chance! Rushed Generalization: When you base a conclusion or inference on too small a sample or even a one-time event, you have made a decision which is unfounded. Consider your friend at work who is going to get a pit bull. His decision is completely based on the next door neighbor who has “the sweetest, cutest pit bull who just loves to play with the kids”.  You, of course, would do far more research before deciding what breed was best for you. Invalid Analogy:…