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”. North Korea continues to make headlines and keep nuclear fears alive. Do you have your EMP stuff lined up?

Wild Horse Fire Brigade

This has been a tough fire season in the Western United States and Canada. With the past history of total fire suppression, and the current dry conditions in much of the area, wildfires tend to explode into major conflagrations with the slightest provocation. Capt. William E. Simpson II was interviewed on the Lars Larson show recently about his novel approach in dealing with two major problems. 1) The fire conditions, and 2) the 50,000 wild horses corralled by the BLM at tax payer expense. Why not let these horses graze the at-risk land to eat the tall grass before it burns. That would save the tax payer millions in care costs for the horses. At the same time, it would provide much needed pre-fire management at the same time.

Smart Meters

Reader DSV sent in this article asking a very unpleasant question. In this day and age of “The Internet of Things” and the propensity of those same items to be hacked, who will pay the ransom when the smart meters get hacked? The article references a few high profile cases where hospitals and infrastructure had to pay or shutdown because of ransomware hacks. It’s a fair question.

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Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken; according to all that thou desiredst of the Lord thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not. And the Lord said unto me, They have well spoken that which they have spoken. I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.” Deuteronomy 18:15-19 (KJV)

Preparedness Notes for Friday – August 25, 2017

August 25th is a birthday shared by novelist Frederick Forsyth (born 1938) and American humorist Patrick F. McManus (born 1933). Forsyth was the author of The Day of the Jackal, The Odessa File, The Fourth Protocol, The Dogs of War, The Devil’s Alternative, and many others. McManus was born and raised in Sandpoint, Idaho, so his books could be classified as American Redoubt humor. When I met Pat a few years ago, Pat very kindly autographed my entire battered collection of his books. Some of these books had been so well-loved that the pages were falling out of their bindings. I suppose that is the ultimate compliment for an author. – JWR

Survival To Go, Revisited- Part 2, by JMD

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We are revisiting what I carry when I travel for comfort and survival. We are looking through my items, as they are organized by their location in my pack, which is a 28 liter Red Rock Outdoor Gear Assault Pack. We’ve gone through part of the pack. Let’s continue on, looking next at the pocket that considers our airport security requirements.

Top Front Pocket Pouch- Ready to Remove At Airport Security

The next pocket is the small top front pocket (the one with the American flag patch in the picture). This holds things that I’ll need to pull out and put in a separate bin when I go through airport security. It contains:

  • A ziplock bag with my “liquids and gels”. (Note: I also have some small single use packs of medical gels in other pouches in my bag, but I’ve never been asked to take any of them out when going through security. I guess they’re too small to register.) These liquids and gels include:

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Freeze Dried Friday:

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Idle machines

Sometimes you just have to set things aside to make room for everything. There was so much going on around the Latimer household that both freeze dryers sat idle this whole week. I kept intending to fire them up as the harvest is really coming off now and the main freezer is starting to load up. Yet before I knew it, the week was almost over and I still hadn’t even looked at them. Therefore, we will postpone our updates in this column for a week. Hopefully things will slow down enough that we can fire at least one of those freeze dryers up again. I’m thinking it’s about time to run a couple of complete meals through them for camping.

However, if you made something scrumptious that you would like to tell us about, please post about it in the comments!

In the meantime, feel free to browse and comment on the past Freeze Dried Friday articles.

Economics & Investing For Preppers

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 investing in antique gunleather. (See the Tangibles section, near the end of this column.)

 

Precious Metals:

First, there is this at Equities.com: Gold: A Hedge Against Growing Risk

o  o  o

Gold eases ahead of Jackson Hole central bankers meet

Stocks:

Top 4 Inverse ETFs for a Bear Market as of August 2017

o  o  o

Global investors look to Jackson Hole for signs of how QE will end

 

Commodities:

Copper: This one surging metal could see an even bigger rally ahead

 

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Preparedness Notes for Thursday – August 24, 2017

On August 24th, 410, Rome was overrun by the Visigoths in an event that symbolized the fall of the Western Roman Empire. This is a moment in history that we would do well to remember. An empire that ruled the known world was corrupted from the inside to the point that they could not defend themselves from a much weaker enemy. This could conceivably be the beginning of the dark middle ages.

Survival To Go, Revisited- Part 1, by JMD

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Several years ago, I was fortunate to be able to share my experiences and recommendations on being prepared while traveling on SurvivalBlog (Survival To Go Part 1 and Part 2). However, as most of us know, being prepared is never a “one and done” situation. You have to constantly reassess the threats and risks you face. Adjust your preparations, approaches, and skills to stay aligned with your current situation. The goal of this article is to share how my approach to travel preparedness has adapted in the last three years. I based my approach  on how my personal situation and travel conditions have changed.

Significant Changes

Let’s start with what significant changes have occurred:

  • Travel in general, and air travel in particular, has become much more dangerous. Between airport bombings (Brussels, Paris, Istanbul), airport shootings (Florida, Paris), airport stabbings (Flint), airport facility disasters (Paris, Netherlands, Hong Kong), and too many airplane accidents to list, the chance of being seriously injured while traveling has increased significantly. This doesn’t even take into account terrorist attacks, shootings, accidents, riots, and disasters while you’re at your destination.
  • I’m getting older, and my back is having a harder time carrying a 28 pound backpack through the airport.
  • I kept accumulating more stuff in my travel backpack. It was getting harder to find something when I needed it, especially in emergencies.
  • I did a review of what was in my backpack. I found there were a number of items that I hadn’t used in a long time.
  • My company made me replace my personal laptop with a company-issued one. I now have no problem putting it in my checked bag.  I also realized that I pretty much never open my laptop on flights anymore anyway. There just isn’t enough leg room.

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Letter Re: Batteries and Chargers

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HJL,

If rechargeable batteries aren’t charged regularly then they are useless during emergency. I keep about 2-3 dozens of AA and AAA in a battery organizer and rotate them. To rotate them, I use battery powered LED strips in bathrooms and in closets. I do that to save energy and to practice blackout situation. For gadgets that run on C or D cells, I use a 2 AA converter case. I have them on my 3D maglite and Coleman lantern and they work great.

For chargers, I use Nitecore brand that has different charging current and 12V car adapter. I try not to use quick charge mode because it tends to heat up batteries and that shortens the life. I also own an USB charger just in case power goes down and I can hook up a portable solar panel if needed. – P.L.

Letter Re: See Rescue

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Hugh,

I have one of the See-Rescue devices when I use my kayak in Hawaii. If you are blown out to sea, this may be the only way an aircraft can find you. It also works on land. Great safety system and easy to carry. – M.G.

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”. The public schools are making headlines again with their outrageous and immoral teachings. (And we are not talking about the latest fad of married female teachers having affairs with underage students here. Those incidents seem to be making daily headlines lately)

Cannibals!

Do you know who your neighbors are? One South African community is reeling after one man walked into the police station holding body parts and confessing to cannibalism with the statement “I’m tired of eating humans”. He was apparently part of a four man ring who would kill, cut up and serve the body parts. Through the course of the investigation, over 300 residents have confessed to knowing of the cannibalism and participating in it when they visited the man. There are allegations that the crime may be much larger as well. Thanks to W.W. for the link.

No Guilty Verdicts in Bundy Ranch Standoff Trial

Despite the defense having their hands tied while the government is under no such restrictions, there were no guilty verdicts returned by the Jury this week in the trials. some of the counts reached “not guilty” verdicts and the jury was deadlocked on the remaining counts. Judge Navaro has denied the defendants their rights to use the First and Second amendments in the trial and has stopped at least one of the defendants mid-testimony because obscure references to these fundamental rights. The judge is obviously working to avoid jury nullification. Thanks to B.B. for the link.

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How I Stopped Worrying and Used P.M.C.T.- Part 2, by D.D.

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Yesterday, I shared my background and how I retreated to my retreat cabin for 83 days.  I reemerged a changed person, maturing from “Doom Prepper” to someone with a greater appreciation for life and nature. I made some changes to accommodate my family and life situation. Still, I found contentment in living what would I would have considered a certain death trap years earlier. How did I do it?

My Answer: P.M.C.T.

P.M.C.T. stands for Prayer, Mindset, Confidence, and Training

Prayer

Without faith in something you are truly lost. Whether it is God, peace, humanity, or puppy dogs, you must find something positive and uplifting to motivate you. I allowed myself to be consumed in a sea of negativity and impending doom. Only by surrounding myself in the miracle of God’s glory in the woods was I able to swim out of the riptide that tried to drown me. I get it. The world is a miserable place full of liars, cheats, and psychopaths. It always has been. Rise above it and make your world a better place for you and your family. After all, that’s why we prep.

Mindset

One of the first things I did to rebuild on a solid foundation of prepping was to research actual collapse events. Not the fantasy, fiction, and hypotheticals but actual accounts of survival. There are countless stories of real people who have survived the terror of societal breakdowns due to economic collapse, war, famine, and genocide. They prove some things we already know, like the importance of toilet paper, stored food, weapons, and barter, but these stories also disprove some of the most common misconceptions that run rampant in Internet forums and some post-apocalyptic fiction novels. The story of “Ferfal” during the collapse of Argentina in the 90’s, Sarajevo under siege from snipers, and Venezuela today are just a few of the real-life survival stories we can learn from to improve our strategy and mindset.

Continue reading“How I Stopped Worrying and Used P.M.C.T.- Part 2, by D.D.”