Letter: Stop the Bleed Training

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Stop the Bleed

HJL, Recently the University of Washington’s Harborview Hospital  has begun teaching bleeding control to healthcare providers as well as ordinary citizens. WHH is the nearest Level 1 Trauma Center in most of the northwest, including Idaho and Montana. The class is called Stop The Bleed. The idea is that-just like everyone should know CPR- everyone should know how to stop severe bleeding. The class is about 2 hours, divided between lecture and hands on training.

The class teaches how to recognize life threatening bleeding and proper usage of tourniquets. Which ones to purchase, and how to properly use wound packing/compression bandaging is also covered. I thought it was extremely well done and a “must do” for anyone who may be on their own when someone might bleed to death (it only takes 3-5 minutes). Right now in the northwest, I believe that it’s only being offered in Washington State. But the plan is to take it regionally and nationally.

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”.

Terrorism

By this time, most of us are familiar with the Manchester terrorist attack at a concert. But here is something: Manchester Attack: What They’re NOT Telling You. Excerpt: “Which do we value more? Protecting the feelings of Muslims or protecting our children from being blown up?”

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Apparently, Muslim atrocities against women are no big deal in Europe. Last week, two Turkish nationals barged into a 13-year-olds home and raped her. Even the victims seem to want to hide the ethnicity of their attackers for fear that it might trigger reprisals against the refugees.

Continue reading“The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods:”

Get Home Bag for Teenagers- Part 2, by N.R.

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Review

We looked at one scenario where a Get Home Bag would be critical for teenagers away from home when an emergency occurred. While there are many types of bags that will work, expensive bags are not necessary. We have already looked at the bag itself. So let’s now move on to the other critical elements, the interesting part, which are the things to go inside the bag.

Food

Not MREs or Canned Food

Now, I’m going to say something so we can get this straight from the start. I would not recommend packing MREs Why? They are simply too expensive. They weigh too much and take up a great deal of space. While less expensive, the same goes for canned food. And you simply don’t want a bag that is too heavy to carry long distances or potentially hazardous to your health. I mean, let’s be real. If the mess hits the fan and a disaster struck, you may have to walk wherever you have to go. It may require you to get there before your supplies run out. The lighter the pack, the easier it will be to get to where you need to be. I speak from experience.

Light Foods

I recommend you stock it with light, energy providing foods that replenish strength and stamina. These foods are things like granola bars, food bars, trail mix, nuts, raisins, et cetera. Depending on how far you have to travel to, I also recommend packing instant meals. I’m talking about dried soup mixes, potatoes, oatmeal, grits, or freeze dried products, like beef stroganoff or spaghetti. Consider anything that requires only hot water to prepare.

Continue reading“Get Home Bag for Teenagers- Part 2, by N.R.”

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 we must mention that most of these items are from the quirky “tangibles heavy” contrarian perspective of JWR. (SurvivalBlog’s Founder and Senior Editor):

Precious Metals:

First, over at Gold-Eagle, here is some commentary by Darren Capriotti: Silver Price Ends Slump; Is There More to Come?

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Clint Siegner: Trump Turmoil Grows, Prompting Flight to Safety

Commodities Economics:

And over at OilPrice.com, comes this from Dan Dicker: This Could Be Oil’s Last Trip Into The $40’s (Caution: Auto-start video ads.)

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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, tools, and gear of interest to SurvivalBlog readers:

Books:

Trump’s War: His Battle for America, by Dr. Michael Savage

Don’t Waste Your Life, by John Piper

Movies:

Wall-E

The Dogs of War

Instructional Videos:

Van Tour: Sprinter Stealth Camper at the Rubber Tramp Rendezvous

Danger! Chain Saw Safety – Training Video

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The Editors’ Quote Of The Day

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“The Brazilian official threw up lean and lanky arms and clawed the air with wildly distended fingers. “Leiningen!” he shouted. “You’re insane! They’re not creatures you can fight–they’re an elemental–an ‘act of God!’ Ten miles long, two miles wide–ants, nothing but ants! And every single one of them a fiend from hell; before you can spit three times they’ll eat a full-grown buffalo to the bones. I tell you if you don’t clear out at once there’ll he nothing left of you but a skeleton picked as clean as your own plantation.”

Leiningen grinned. “Act of God, my eye! Anyway, I’m not an old woman; I’m not going to run for it just because an elemental’s on the way. And don’t think I’m the kind of fathead who tries to fend off lightning with his fists either. I use my intelligence, old man. With me, the brain isn’t a second blindgut; I know what it’s there for. When I began this model farm and plantation three years ago, I took into account all that could conceivably happen to it. And now I’m ready for anything and everything–including your ants.” – Carl Stephenson, Leiningen Versus The Ants

Preparedness Notes for Tuesday – May 23, 2017

SurvivalBlog reader M.T. sent in a note about clicking through to the full article on the blog. If you click the “Continue reading” link, you will jump to the part of the article where you left off reading in the excerpt. If you click on the article title or the image, you will jump to the beginning of the article.

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May 23 is the birthday of George Lars Kellgren (born 1943 in Borås, Sweden), the founder and chief engineer of Kel-Tec. According to LeftistAgendaPedia: He designed many firearms earlier for Husqvarna and Swedish Interdynamics AB in Sweden. He moved to the US in 1979 and his original US designs were for Intratec and Grendel brand firearms. He founded Kel-Tec in 1991.

Get Home Bag for Teenagers- Part 1, by N.R.

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Imagine you are a teenager out at your friend’s house. Image you are playing video games, the latest Call of Duty game of the franchise. You are having a very good time. It’s a little after six o’clock, but your curfew isn’t for another three hours. Suddenly, without warning, the TV and the PlayStation on which you’re playing cut off. The lights in the room go out as well. The entire house goes dark. You think initially that the circuit breaker may have gone out or that the power in the neighborhood may be out temporarily, again. After all, your friend lives in an old neighborhood. Without any particular reason, you and your friend check your phones and discover they are both dead. Oddly, his battery powered digital alarm is dead as well.

You go out into the living room and discover that all the battery-operated clocks in the house are dead along with your phones. And that’s when you hear the first explosion of a plane crashing not too far away. You go outside and spot the cloud of smoke billowing above the neighborhood. Now, you also notice how every car on the street and on the road behind your friend’s house are at a standstill. As fear starts to well up, you decide maybe it’s time to go home and find out what’s going on. You get in your car and go to crank it up. The ignition engages, but the car won’t start. Your friend also discovers his car won’t start either. Now you know something is going on. And suddenly, things start to get apparent.

Continue reading“Get Home Bag for Teenagers- Part 1, by N.R.”

Letter Re: Does EMP Affect Solar Panel Systems?

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EMP Solar Panel

Good day sir. The talk of EMP has greatly increased recently for many reasons you are well aware of. What would happen to either grid tied or non grid tied solar systems in this instance? What would happen to generators as well? – R.C.

HJL’s Comment:

Two of our Writing Contest sponsors, Portable Solar LLC and Quantum Harvest, LLC, both specialize in EMP hardened systems. You should check their sites out and also the videos that they have on YouTube. We have several other advertisers that sell Solar equipment and it would be worth your time to check with them as well, though they don’t specifically advertise EMP hardened systems. Generators are more robust (except perhaps for the modern inverter units), but if they are grid tied they are in trouble. Most generators are not grid tied though.

The short answer is “Yes”. Anything attached to the grid is probably toast. It is possible to protect against an EMP event with grid tied equipment, but the cost is so great compared to the risk that most don’t bother. For non-grid tied equipment, shielded and properly grounded wiring is the key along with components that have built-in protection. For systems that are already installed, you need to look at the installation practices that were followed. Check for shielded wiring or hard metal conduit in the construction. You will have to contact the manufactures of your equipment to know what kind of protection is built in.

SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt

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This column includes a TTABs update! Our News From The American Redoubt column  is posted on Tuesdays. Here, we present news stories and event announcements from around the American Redoubt region. We also mention companies in the region of interest to preppers. The Redoubt region is perhaps the safest and most free place to live in these United States.

Idaho

I just read that Viggo Mortensen had his home in Bonner County, Idaho burglarized during his absence. There were some odd circumstances. They involved a member of the family that formerly owned the house who, according to published reports, was acting irrationally.  Mortensen, who’s father recently passed away, hence he did not need this extra stress.

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A consulting client mentioned that he recently had some new AR-15 lower receivers custom engraved “PISTOL”. He highly recommended the company that did the work. The company is called Northwest Engraving, and they are located in Lewiston, Idaho. He described them in a nutshell: “Precision work, most of all at reasonable rates.”

Continue reading“SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt”

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”.

Politics

Modern political organizations are run by children. I’m sure of it. The outgoing California Democratic Party Chairman was John Burton. At the CADEM17 Convention, Burton called the deaf interpreters up on stage with him and thanked them. Immediately, Burton flipped his middle finger in the air and yelled “F*** Donald Trump”. What was more disturbing was all the people who readily joined in with him.

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A slow motion Coup D’etat is unfolding in Washington D.C. Since Donald Trump won the election, the bureaucratic system has worked to undermine his validity. This article details some of the mechanisms that have been used and is an interesting read. The left is using “1984” as the concept being pushed, but the interesting thing is that they are really the ones using the techniques that are abhorent. Sent in by reader T.J.

Continue reading“The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods:”

The Editors’ Quote Of The Day

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“But the truth is that if you shoot the .50 through a vehicle’s engine block, you’re not actually going to stop the vehicle. Not right away. The fluids will leak out and eventually it will stop moving. But it’s not instant by any means. A .338 [Lapua] and even a .300 [Winchester Magnum] will do the same thing. No, the best way to stop a vehicle is to shoot the driver. And that you can do with a number of weapons.” – Chris Kyle, American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History

Notes for Monday – May 22, 2017

May 22, 1859 is the birthday of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes.

Doyle was born in Scotland and studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh, where he met Dr. Joseph Bell, a teacher with extraordinary deductive reasoning power. Bell partly inspired Doyle’s character Sherlock Holmes years later.

After medical school, Doyle moved to London, where his slow medical practice left him ample free time to write. His first Sherlock Holmes story, A Study in Scarlet, was published in Beeton’s Christmas Annual in 1887. Starting in 1891, a series of Holmes stories appeared in The Strand magazine. Holmes enabled Doyle to leave his medical practice in 1891 and devote himself to writing, but the author soon grew weary of his creation. In The Final Problem, he killed off both Holmes and his nemesis, Dr. Moriarty, only to resuscitate Holmes later due to popular demand. In 1902, Doyle was knighted for his work with a field hospital in South Africa. In addition to dozens of Sherlock Holmes stories and several novels, Doyle wrote history, pursued whaling, and engaged in many adventures and athletic endeavors. He died in 1930.