Tires As Part Of Basic Vehicle Preparations, by D.K.

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It’s easy to overlook an important item, such as tires, for those planning different bugout scenarios, getting home after an event, or just driving home from work. I was reminded of this during a recent trip moving my daughter to California. We rented a 5’ X 8’ U-Haul trailer, hooked it up to my Chevy Avalanche, drove it to her apartment, and loaded it for the move the next day. She had bagged up trash, and as I was taking it out I noticed some 8” zip ties. I pulled them out of the trash and threw them in the truck. The weather was hot and windy on the way from Arizona to California. The drive was long but uneventful. The next morning we ate breakfast, dropped the trailer (a long story), and headed home.

A Recent Event

Driving through the San Gorgonio Pass on I10, I felt a vibration and thought it was the center line reflectors. Then I heard flapping getting louder and louder and felt a shimmy in the front. I knew I had a flat tire. We were in a left lane, so I pulled to the left shoulder and turned on the flashers. I got out and saw that the flat was on the right front and knew there was no way I wanted to change a tire on the traffic side of a multi-lane highway on a downhill. I got back in the truck and waited about five minutes for a gap in traffic and slowly drove over to the other shoulder. (“This will be a piece of cake now,” I thought. My son was with me, and he could help. “It would be a good learning moment for him, too.”)

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Letter Re: Search Engine Privacy and Security

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Good day, Hugh,

I recently switched over to TOR as my web browser. I am now using Proton mail as my email address, and I now use Signals as my SMS text messenger. My bases are covered. These are also recommended actions by Snowden himself:

  • TOR sends your search through a relay of servers, making it extremely difficult to find your true IP Address.
  • Proton mail is an encrypted server that prevent your messages from being intercepted.
  • Signals is an app that prevents text messages to other persons, other than the person you sent the message to, from being read.

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The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods:

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SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods— a collection of news bits and pieces that are relevant to the modern survivalist and prepper from “HJL”. Another of Bloomberg’s anti-gun minions bites the dust this week.

Bloomberg Anti-Gun Mayors

Seattle Mayor Ed Murray resigns after fifth child sex-abuse allegation. Once the poster boy of the LGBT movement, Yet another of Michael Bloomberg’s anti-gun Mayors is resigning in disgrace. (Mayors Against Illegal Guns (MAIG) was re-named Everytown for Gun Safety. It is ironic that so many of Bloomberg’s “crime fighting” mayors are criminals—or in the case of Murray, an alleged criminal.)

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Reader B.M. sent in this article: At Least 11 Mayors Accused Of Child Sex-Related Crimes Since 2016 . The lack of moral fiber of these people shows the underlying motivations of this movement. It has nothing to do with the safety and security of the people that elected them. It has everything to do with the overlords maintaining control of the peasants and making sure that they can’t rise up in force to confront them.

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A Proposal for a Better System for Sleeping in the Wilderness, by ACC

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In my youth, I was a pretty avid camper and hiker. I spent many a night in a sleeping bag with a pad of some type underneath. Some of the pads were foam, others were inflatable. Probably the best over the years was the Thermarest brand, which is a self-inflating type. However, they were only an inch or so thick, and the ground was always hard. I learned that comfort was relative. If you hike ten miles with a 30-pound pack beforehand, you can sleep in pretty austere conditions.

Looking For A Better Sleep System

However, now that I’m in my sixties, I’m not as tough as I once was. I started looking for a better sleeping system. It has taken a couple of years to work out the details, but I’ve developed a hammock based system that works really well, is light enough to carry, and is amazingly comfortable.

I am going to describe the system and discuss why it works. I will recommend specific brands, but I have no connection to any of these companies, except that I like their products.

The Hammock

The beginning point is the hammock. In the past, they were typically made from canvas and were just too heavy for backpacking use. More recently, several companies have developed hammocks made of lightweight nylon with fabrics similar to that used in parachutes. My favorite is made by Eagle Nest Outfitters, sometimes referred to as “ENO”. They come in two lengths. If you are under six feet, the smaller one is plenty big and saves a few ounces of weight. They also come single nest or double nest. The double nest is big enough that they claim two people can sleep together in one, but in my experience they had better be really fond of each other. The single nest weighs just 16 ounces and is rated to hold a 400-pound load. That’s what I bought. It costs about $60 street price.

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Economics & Investing For Preppers

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Here are the latest items and commentary on current economics news, market trends, stocks, investing opportunities, and the precious metals markets. We also cover hedges, derivatives, and obscura. And it bears mention that most of these items are from the “tangibles heavy” contrarian perspective of JWR. (SurvivalBlog’s Founder and Senior Editor.) Today’s focus is on Economic Stagnation. (See the Economy & Finance section.)

Precious Metals

Gold Price Prediction for September 12, 2017

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Hub Moolman: Gold Prices And The Coming Collapse: Are We Close To A Major Monetary Event?

Commodities:

Cobalt and Tungsten: The prices of these vital metals are soaring

Forex:

Deutsche Bank Warns: ‘The Dollar is in Trouble’  (Thanks to Gregg P. for the link.)

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X22 Report (video): De-Dollarization Continues As More Countries Separate Themselves From The Dollar – Episode 1374a

 

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SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt

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Here is SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt. This weekly column features news stories and event announcements from around the American Redoubt region. We also mention companies of interest to preppers that are located in the region. The emphasis this week is on the new Survival Maps available at Northern Redoubt.  (See the Region-Wide Section, near the end of this column.)

Idaho

First, I’d like to direct your attention to a short piece over at Redoubt News: Scotchman’s Peak: Who Really Is For Idaho?

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Here is some commonsense “anti-hype” post at AmericanRedoubt.com: Apocalyptic Earthquakes in Idaho?

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The Couch Prepper, by J.S.

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There are many types of preppers, including the couch prepper. How many of us “preppers” have sat behind a computer screen and researched the newest and greatest AR-15 accessory that will ensure our survival for the coming “collapse”? I’m sure most faithful readers of this site have put into practice some form of prepping. Maybe that means you have bought a few extra cans of food or purchased that first firearm and some ammo to go along with it.

Or maybe you fall in to the camp of focusing on a certain aspect of prepping (i.e. that amazing gun collection you have now). Some have the “I have 3,000 rounds of ammo and I am going to live off the land” mentality. Possibly you are completely self-sufficient and are prepared for any number of different scenarios. But in reality, I am willing to bet the average prepper is somewhat like myself.

Being the Average American

I am the average American with the stereotypical wife, two kids, and very modest income. I fully believe that the TEOTWAWKI awaits us in the not so distant future. My bet is that it comes in the form of an economic collapse, but others predict some type of natural disaster or health pandemic. And like others, while I believe the collapse is imminent and unavoidable, I try to balance my prepping mentality with that of carrying on a “normal” way of living.

I don’t want to spend every single dime of discretionary income I have on bullets, beans, and band aids. I am constantly trying to find the balance between adding to my preps and providing my family with as many of their desires as is fiscally appropriate. The beach vacation will not be skipped  to add six month’s worth of freeze-dried food to my larder. With all of that said, that leaves what I believe is a large group of people, myself included, in the “somewhat prepared” stage.

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JWR’s Recommendations of the Week

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Here are JWR’s Recommendations of the Week for various media and tools of interest to SurvivalBlog readers. This week the focus is on rugged laptops.

Books:

The Old Farmer’s Almanac – 2018

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The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing

Movies and Television:

The Real Inglorious Bastards. (A documentary about an OSS team that parachuted into the Tirol region, during World War II.) Now available on DVD, or free download for Amazon Prime members.

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Stone of Destiny. Also available for free download for Amazon Prime members.

 

Music:

Dougie MacLean: Inside the Thunder

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Holding Up Half The Sky: Voices Of Celtic Women II

 

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The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods:

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SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods— a collection of news bits and pieces that are relevant to the modern survivalist and prepper from “HJL”. More Hurricane News from both Irma and Harvey today.

Reason #4098 to Remove Your Child from Public School

Survivalblog reader D.S. sent in this article where an entire section of 75 students was forced to undergo invasive blood and alcohol tests because school officials found a single beer can under the stadium. The mass of forced tests overwhelmed the small medical facilities of the town. At least one school board candidate understands the issue though. They may desire to protect the students from underage drinking. But they have an obligation to protect the rights of the students as well. As he put it: “When the accused-but-innocent outnumber the guilty 16 to one, we probably did it wrong.”

Hurricane News from Irma

Some car owners found out the hard way that electric cars have some serious drawbacks. Aside from the fact that they really are not environmentally friendly, they just don’t have the range of gas powered vehicles. Many were stranded on the side of the road because they ran out of power. That is until Tesla gave them a free upgrade. It turns out that many of the cars were handicapped by the factory to use only 75% of their available power. The factory was able to remotely upgrade the vehicles to allow them to continue on. That bothers me on many levels including the selling of handicapped hardware and remote access of the cars.

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Preparedness Notes for Monday – September 11, 2017

September 11th is of course the anniversary of the 2001 Al Qaeda attacks on the U.S. , but it is also the anniversary of the Benghazi Embassy attacks, in 2012. (Those events were recounted in the recent Hollywood film 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi.) Please remember the sacrifice of J. Christopher Stevenson, Sean Smith, and CIA (former Navy SEAL) agents Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty. Between them, Woods and Dohery reportedly dropped at least 60 of the attackers. Please also remember the spineless worms in Washington, D.C. who decided to not back up the embassy staff when they were in dire need of help. Eventually, they will pay for that. Time wounds all heels.