Tuesday May 27 2008
Letter Re: Advice on a Budget Water Filter

Mr. Rawles,
I just graduated from college this month and am still under the huge weight of college loans. I want to get prepared, but my budget (for now, at least), is very tight. You said that water should be the highest priority. I agree with the wisdom of that. I'd like to buy a [gravity ceramic] Big Berky [water] filter, but they are way too expensive. Even an Aqua Rain [filter] would be too much of an expense. Are there any lower cost alternatives for water filtration? Thank You, - R.T.D.

JWR Replies: The least expensive option is to make your own filter. In my experience, the much-touted field-expedient sand and clay filters are only effective for use as a pre-filter. Their output still has a brown-tinged pond water look to it, and since the filter media is so coarse, they do not remove all harmful bacteria. (So their output still has to be treated either chemically, or by boiling.) You can, however, buy Berky filter white ceramic filter elements by themselves from a number of vendors including Ready Made Resources and Lehman's. With these elements, you can build your own bargain basement "Berky Clone". This consists of a pair of food grade plastic buckets, stacked one above the other. The top bucket has one or more holes drilled in it, to accept the Berky spare filter elements. Each element by itself costs around $40 . To get decent volume production from your filter, I recommend that you buy at least two elements. (A set of four is best.)

Materials:

4 - Food Grade HDPE food storage buckets (three to six gallon capacity), with lids
1 to 4 - Big Berky White Ceramic Filter Elements

Construction:

Drill one to four 1/2-inch diameter holes near the bottom-center of the upper bucket. (The same number of holes as you have filter elements.) Space the holes at least two inches apart and no closer than 1-1/2 inches from the edge of the bucket perimeter.With clean hands (to avoid contaminating the filter pores), insert the filters in the holes, screwing down their nuts on the bottom of the upper bucket. The nuts are plastic, so do not over-tighten them. But they must be tight enough to compress the o-ring seal, or the seal may leak--and this would be a contaminating leaks. (The filters point upward into the upper bucket, to avoid damage and to allow them to be cleaned periodically.)

Using a jig saw, cut a 7-1/2-inch diameter hole in the center of the lid of the lower bucket.

A third bucket is used to carry water. The fourth bucket is used as a pre-filter. This has a piece of tightly-woven cloth that is wired or taped over the top. Since the cloth will be saturated and will drip over the edge the pre-filtering step is best done outdoors, or in a large laundry sink. If treating river, stream on pond water, be sure to use a pre-filter. Just using a couple of thickness of T-shirt material will greatly extend the useful life of your secondary filter element(s).

Use:

Set the bucket with the hole in the lid on a low, stable surface. Stack the bucket with the filter element(s) on top of it. Gently pour pre-filtered water into the upper bucket, until it is nearly full. Note: Be very careful not to spill any water down the exterior of the upper bucket, or you will contaminate the water in the bucket beneath. This is a slow filtering process, so be patient. Even with four filter elements, it will take a considerable time to filter six gallons.

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Letter Re: A Clash of World Views--Socialism Versus the Libertarian Ethic

Mr Rawles,
I have been a survival blog reader for over a year now, and my hat is off to you, sir. "Patriots: Surviving the Coming Collapse", and the information presented on these pages have been extremely positive influences in my planning and preparations. While I have been, to this point, content to absorb the wealth of knowledge presented here, I was compelled by a recent post to submit this correspondence.

In [the letter posted on Sunday] titled "Clash of World Views”, David D. makes the claim that “We’ve had our grand experiment in deregulation and the magic of the market, and it’s now perfectly clear where it got us.” I would respectfully submit that a deregulated free market and personal responsibility are quite a bit removed from the causal factors in the current state of affairs, which is more correctly attributable to injections of “equality” and “safety nets” into what would be a self-regulating system, otherwise. Where equality is the goal, excellence is a casualty. When the incentive for achievement is removed, mediocrity and sloth are inevitable results. If excellence and success are not rewarded, but instead, the products of those efforts are forcibly redistributed by government intervention, we are enabling the parasitic existence of an exponentially growing number of non-contributing dependents. Gone, too, is the incentive to get off the dole. When receiving assistance from the charity of a neighbor, a reasonable man soon endeavors to better their condition in order to remove the requirement of outside help, and indeed, to pay back the favor in whatever way possible. When the system provides sustenance through the form of an anonymous check every month, the incentive to better one’s condition has been removed by the government “safety net”. Measures meant to protect equality and provide safety invariable hamstring the self-regulating nature of a free market, and we have, in this country, injected enough equality and safety into what started as a free market to strangle and pervert the “grand experiment” into a near unrecognizable form.

I am greatly disheartened at where we now find ourselves, so far from the intent of our founding fathers, when all men were created equal, but where they went from there was based on their own exertions, and not augmented by the social “entitlements” they were eligible for. Wise men began this endeavor in federal government with the intent to keep the entity small and out of most state affairs. With a staggering portion of the national budget now going towards entitlements, in effect, redistributing wealth, and with volumes of regulatory and mala prohibita nonsense, we are a far cry from a free market. We have long been sliding down the slippery slope into a socialist democracy where those supported by the efforts of better men have the electoral power to increase their claim to the fruits of the labor of others through votes, sympathy, and by invoking a twisted sense of social guilt. We have been legislated into chains, and each year, as our liberties are taken under the guise of stewardship, they grow heavier.

We need more people willing to take ownership of their own destiny, and fewer victims waiting for rescue. We need less regulation, more liberty, and the attendant greater personal responsibilities. Our founders meant to provide these conditions in perpetuity through the Constitution for these United States, and I truly believe that if we can undertake stripping back the perversions we have applied to their intent, this document from our past is the key to a successful future. I, for one, would welcome a world where “equality” refers to the interaction among men according to the Golden Rule, and the “safety nets” are provided by family, community, church, and charity, instead of through wasteful and overbearing government redistribution. Thanks for all you do, - D.

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Odds 'n Sods:

Jack B. recommended this piece by James Howard Kunstler: Wake Up, America. We're Driving Toward Disaster

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A news headline that we've anticipated: As homes foreclose in U.S., squatters move in.

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Naish Piazza's most recent weekly blog post includes a video clip that makes it clear just how incompetent and ignorant the liberal gun grabbers are. OBTW, Naish Piazza's very generous "Get a Gun" training and gear package offer will likely end soon, since it is being run at or near cost. Don't delay!

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From an Athens, Greece newspaper: Hunger collides with oil prices. (Thanks to Jack in Texas for that link.)

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Jim's Quote of the Day:

"Every action is seen to fall into one of three main categories, guarding, hitting, or moving. Here, then, are the elements of combat, whether in war or pugilism." - Military Historian B. H. Liddell Hart

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Monday May 26 2008
Note from JWR:

The following is another article for Round 16 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The writer of the best non-fiction article will win two valuable four day "gray" transferable Front Sight course certificates. (Worth up to $4,000!) Second prize is a copy of my "Rawles Gets You Ready" preparedness course, generously donated by Jake Stafford of Arbogast Publishing. Round 16 ends on May 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entries. Remember that articles that relate practical "how to" skills for survival will have an advantage in the judging.

The author has gardened and preserved food since childhood. He has been using lacto-fermentation since 2001. For the last three years he has lived on the outskirts of a small town in the mountains of a Third World country where he is a Christian missionary in the reformed tradition. His planning for TEOTWAWKI is geared toward preserving knowledge and culture through a multi-generational societal collapse in the tradition of the monasteries of the Dark Ages. If you appreciate the author’s work, please join him in collecting and preserving books, art and music.

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Lacto-Fermentation--Enlisting Trillions of Microscopic Allies in Your Fight for Survival, by Gospel Guy

In a world with no power from the electrical grid how can perishable foods be stored? Drying and canning are common solutions but are not suitable for all foods. Canning in particular is troublesome due to its dependence on access to industrial supply chains for new lids or seals, the need for precise control of temperature and time, and its consumption of large amounts of energy. The easiest, cheapest and most overlooked method of food preservation is by lacto-fermentation which has the advantages of making the food more digestible and neither precise measurements nor exacting temperature controls are necessary. Lacto-fermentation is the intentional culture of lactic acid loving bacteria to preserve and flavor food. Lacto-fermentation is not an alcohol producing process. Rather it creates an acidic environment which is not favorable to the growth of spoilage causing organisms. Lacto-fermented foods contain large amounts of enzymes and beneficial bacterial, preserve temperature sensitive vitamins, and have a delightful tangy taste. Many people with digestive problems find that eating lacto-fermented foods frequently will provide relief. A further benefit of lacto-fermented vegetables is that when eaten on a regular basis they help to prevent diarrhea. Using lacto-fermentation yogurt, cheese, pickles, fermented vegetables and sauerkraut can all be made from materials readily available on the homestead. Foods produced by lacto-fermentation will keep for extended periods of time in a cave, root cellar, spring house, evaporative cooler or, if one is available, in the refrigerator.

The best way to begin enjoying the benefits of lacto-fermentation is by placing raw milk in a clean covered container and setting it in a warm place with a temperature in the upper 70’s or 80’s. Let the milk sit until it sours and then gets thick like yogurt, this will require from two to four days depending on the temperature and bacteria count in the milk. At this point several options present themselves:

1. Simply cool the clabbered milk and eat it with your morning oatmeal.
2. To make a very soft cream cheese similar to Neufchatel pour the clabbered milk into a cheesecloth-lined colander and drain the whey. Save the whey to use as starter for future batches of cheese, yogurt or lacto-fermented vegetables.
3. To make hard cheese heat the clabbered milk gently in a double boiler, near the chimney of the wood cook stove or other hot location until it separates into soft curds and whey. Once it begins to separate gently cut the curds into pieces using a clean knife without removing the curds from the whey. Then slowly raise the temperature until the curds and whey boil. The hotter and longer it is heated the harder the cheese will be. Pour the curds and whey into a cheese cloth-lined colander, basket or other container which will allow the whey to escape and when most of the whey has drained away salt the curds according to taste. Higher levels of salt promote better storage but many people prefer the flavor of lower salt cheeses. Set a clean rock on a plate on top of the curds wrapped in cheesecloth to compress the curds and force out the rest of the whey. The heavier the weight used to press the cheese the harder and dryer the cheese will be. The cheese can then be aged according your preference. Air drying in a screened, fly-proof, cool, breezy area to form a rind is recommended and should be followed by waxing and storage in a cool place. Variation in the technique outlined above will produce an endless variety of cheeses. The whey from the hard cheese making can be used in cooking and baking, to make drinks, or as animal feed. Chickens, pigs, dogs, and cats all love whey. Whey from hard cheese cannot be used as a starter because the beneficial bacteria were killed when the whey was heated.

Whey from the soft cheese can be used as a starter for any lacto-fermentation process. The advantage to using the whey as a starter for yogurt, cheese and lacto-fermented vegetables is that it often results in a much milder tasting and smelling product. The initial souring of the milk can occasionally result in strong odors and tastes that, while perfectly harmless, are offensive to the unaccustomed palate.

To make yogurt, place a small quantity of whey from the soft cheese into a clean jar. A couple tablespoons of whey are about right for a quart but precise measurement is not required. In the future when you have a particularly tasty batch of yogurt a small portion of that yogurt can be used as starter in place of the whey, this will increase your chances of getting another batch like the one you liked. Thoroughly mix the starter with enough raw milk to nearly fill the jar and place in a warm draft free location which is about body temperature. It is very important that the milk which you have cultured with the whey not be disturbed and that the temperature remains constant, otherwise it will separate into curds and whey. The yogurt will be ready to cool and eat in 4 to 8 hours depending on the conditions. The yogurt may be carefully checked to see if it has thickened but be careful not to disturb it too much. Cooling the yogurt before serving will reduce its tendency to separate into to curds and whey. Commercial yogurt often has products added to stabilize it and reduce separation. If the yogurt comes out with a strong flavor the most likely cause was keeping the yogurt warm for too long. Try making another batch and either reduce the temperature at which the yogurt is fermented or reduce amount of time the yogurt is kept warm. Strong flavored yogurt, if it was cause by high temp or overlong fermentation, can be used as starter for a new batch and the strong flavor will not be passed on to the new batch. However if the yogurt smells yeasty it is fine to eat or make cheese from it but it should not be used as starter unless the object is to make more yeasty yogurt

Traditionally cabbage is the vegetable most commonly preserved by lacto-fermentation. Today, however, most sauerkraut is preserved by pickling in vinegar rather than by lacto-fermentation. The flavor of pickled sauerkraut is far more acidic and harsh than that of sauerkraut produced by lacto-fermentation and has much lower levels of vitamins and enzymes. The following recipe presents a method of producing traditional sauerkraut which leaves the vitamins and enzymes intact.

The following materials are needed to make sauerkraut. If no whey is available double the salt; however not using whey increases the chances of spoilage.
1 medium Cabbage
4 tablespoons whey from soft cheese or yogurt
1 tablespoon Non-iodized salt such as Real Salt TM, sea salt, or canning salt
Thoroughly cleaned jars or crocks.

Shred the cabbage using a sharp knife or grater.

Mix all ingredients in a bowl and pound with a wooden masher or meat hammer until the cabbage releases juice. This usually requires 10 to 15 minutes of pounding depending on how much cabbage is being processed and who is doing it.

Pack the mixture TIGHTLY into the clean glass jars and mash it down until the juice covers it completely. In some cases it may be necessary to use a weight to hold the cabbage under the surface of the liquid. If there is not enough juice add additional whey. Cover the jars to keep out insects, mice and dust. Canning jars and lids work well but any jar or crock will do.

Store the sauerkraut at room temperature for several days and then move to a cool place. The sauerkraut will keep well for six months or longer and the flavor will improve with age. Many people like to add additional ingredients, such as caraway seed, shredded carrots, onions, chili peppers or what ever strikes their fancy. The same process, omitting the pounding, can be used with cucumbers, beets and turnips as well as many other vegetables in place of cabbage. In the event that the lacto-fermented vegetables spoil the odor will be so vile that nobody would be willing to taste them. Spoilage in lacto-fermented foods is very obvious unlike canned foods where the food can be fatally contaminated by botulism yet show no obvious sign of spoilage.

Lacto-fermentation as a method of food preparation and preservation is a useful addition to the skill set of anyone who wishes to preserve food safely and does not have access to the power grid and modern supply chains. Lacto-fermentation used in conjunction with drying, potting, salting and smoking allows the preservation of virtually any food produced on the homestead with out relying on outside inputs other than salt.

Reference:
Fallon, Sally and Enig, Mary G. Ph.D. Nourishing Traditions, Washington, DC: NewTrends Publishing, 2001.

JWR Adds: Be sure to follow the necessary safety guidelines for lacto-fermentation. If you suspect that a batch has gone "off" then discard it. Anyone with a sensitive stomach should show great caution when considering adding fermented foods to their diet.

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Letter Re: Storing Treet Brand Canned Meat

Mr. Rawles,
First, I would like to say thank you for honoring our Lord in your work. Thanks also, for writing your novel "Patriots: Surviving the Coming Collapse". It is excellent. I have been recommending it to all of those I love.

As I have been preparing for a while, I have been more often cooking my prep food and trying to adjust to that life style. I have been caching "Treet". It is a canned [spiced luncheon] meat that has a consistency similar to bologna. I have been storing Treet rather than Spam, because it is supposed to keep for about a year longer than Spam, and it is about 75 cents less expensive [per can].

The following is a delicious recipe that I came up with from my survival stores.

1-1/2 cup rice
1- Teaspoon of salt
A few shakes of garlic powder
A few shakes of onion powder
Some celery seed
Parsley flakes
Thyme
A dash of paprika since color affects our attitudes about food
One can of cubed Treet, sauteed
Soy Sauce to taste

Cook the rice to the desired consistency and then add the cubed Treet and soy sauce. Adjust salt and soy to your preferences. - Trevor T.

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Odds 'n Sods:

More than a dozen readers mentioned this prominent mainstream media mention: Energy fears looming, new survivalists prepare. This was an Associated Press wire service article also ran in the Washington Post, on Fox.com, and in daily papers across the nation. It is no wonder that all of the long term storage food vendors are getting deluged with orders. Some of the Sheeple are awakening.

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From one of my distant cousins across the Atlantic: Dr. Kate Rawles: Why the climate change debate has gone wrong

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And from Tom Rawles, one of my more closely-related cousins (third cousin, once-removed), in Arizona: Can A Christian Be A Libertarian?

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This article from Canada makes it abundantly clear that having a Facebook page is not good OPSEC: 'Sleep with an AK, ride with a .45'--Internet discussions show young man preoccupied with guns, survivalism. The article is also further evidence that Canada is developing a full blown firearms phobia. From now on, I suppose that I should refer to Canada as "Nanny State, North". (A hat tip to reader JT, for sending us the link.)

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Jim's Quote of the Day:

"Just because the river is quiet does not mean the crocodiles have left." - Malay proverb

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Sunday May 25 2008
Letter Re: Retreat Options for a 20-Something with Cash Savings

Hello Jim,
I'm a 26 year old guy living in the city in Washington [state]. I've been watching the world deteriorate over the past five years, and suspect it will get worse faster. For a long time, I'd simply resigned myself to dying young. It didn't really bother me (probably because it was not at hand.)

But recently I've been thinking that I might have a chance, and anyway I've never liked this "labor for dollars" way of life. I've saved up $140,000 and about 3-to-4 year's worth of stored food. I have very low expenses, no debt, and no attachments. (Though I don't have much of a support network either.)

I'm smart and have plenty of ideas, but little experience. I'm not afraid of hard work though, and I want to get some space so I can stop daydreaming and start working. (I don't even have space for a garden here in the city.) I've quit my job so I'd have time to dedicate to this.

I was thinking that I could get a small amount of land, and start building it up towards self-sufficiency. I checked out SurvivalRealty.com, but [the current listings there are] all out of my price range.

I'm trying to find about five quality acres, about half wooded, with a good water source that I can begin to cultivate. I would live there full time, and work on it full time. My "dream" is to simply live, and not have to deal with dollars and bosses ever again, preferring to trade and share with neighbors as much as possible in the kind of meaningful community that's hard to find in the big city. I have vague worries about property taxes since I'd have no income, but I could pay them from savings for a while.

At this point, I'm honestly not concerned about defensibility (although I do want it "out of the way"). Land seems very expensive in most places (about $50,000 for 5 acres), but I think I don't know where to look. I've found better prices in Arkansas ($15,000 to $30,000 for 5-to-10 acres), but of course I haven't actually seen the properties. I was thinking to spend a maximum of $70,000 on land, so I'd have $70,000 left for everything else.

I could always go back to work and save more money, but I feel like world events are accelerating and it might be now or never. Do you have any advice for me? Methods to find good land, other approaches I should consider? Thank you very much, - Adam M.

JWR Replies: Wow! Yours certainly is a different story from what I usually hear from SurvivalBlog readers! The majority of my readers have no savings and plenty of debt. Normally, I recommend that folks in their 20s--who are usually cash poor--join an existing group retreat. But in your unusual case, I suggest that you form your own group, handpicking a few individuals--namely: a jack of all trades, a doctor, a master gardener/small scale farmer, and someone with infantry combat experience. (My novel "Patriots: Surviving the Coming Collapse" shows a retreat group with a good mix of skills. Since you have the cash available to buy the land, you can call the shots--you would pick the locale, you would form the group, and as the land owner you would effectively control and direct the group.

As I almost always advise my consulting clients: Unless you can work from home, and hence live at a rural retreat full time, it is important to recruit someone that is willing to live at the retreat full time and be the caretaker. See my Finding Like-Minded People in Your Area static page for some recommendations on networking in a discreet manner.

It is probably not realistic to expect that you can live entirely self-sufficiently and not eventually eat up your retained earnings. If you would like to to be your retreat's resident caretaker, then I recommend that you develop a recession-proof home based business so that you will have cash available for necessities and for paying your property taxes. (See the SurvivalBlog Archives for details on self-employment and home-based businesses.)

If you'd like to stay in Washington (I assume for the purposes of avoiding a state income tax) one area that I recommend for retreats is Winthrop, Washington. If that doesn't appeal to you, see my other retreat locale recommendations, as well as the greater detail included in my book "Rawles on Retreats and Relocation" In particular, see my warnings on the Olympic Peninsula and its proximity to the hordes of Seattle. Also see the discussion in the blog a few months back about the the limited number of constrictive highway routes across the Cascades.

If income tax is not a big issue for you, then my top choice for retreats is Idaho. In the portions of Idaho that are beyond commuting distance of the population centers (where jobs are plentiful), the land prices are still affordable. Towns like St. Maries and Bovill are semi-remote. Towns like Elk River, and Elk City are truly remote. That is where you can find some bargains, especially in the "buyer's market" that exists today.

Please take full advantage of the SurvivalBlog archives before sending any follow-up questions. (Most of what you'll need to know is in the archives!)

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Letter Re: Resources on Packing Lists and Procedures from Expedition Planners

Dear Editor::
I have followed SurvivalBlog for some time now and find it very interesting and helpful. I believe your readers may be interested in the two following listed [PDF] articles about planning and execution of "expedition" type bicycle travel and motor vehicle travel. While not specifically "SHTF" planning, both go into great detail on selection, supplies, planning, and actual execution of trips in (or "on", in the case of bicycles) both forms of travel and are not the typical "give me my bullets 'n beans" articles so prevalent on other web sites.

Desert Expeditions [This PDF was already mentioned in SurvivalBlog.]
Bicycle Expeditions

Thanks again for such a great web site! Best Regards, - Bob

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Letter Re: A Clash of World Views--Socialism Versus the Libertarian Ethic

Mr. Rawles:

[Your frequent quotes from conservatives such as Thomas Sowell and Austrian School economists] blithely ignore the reality of corporatism, authoritarianism, predation, and entrenched elites. We've had our grand experiment in deregulation and the magic of the market, and it's now perfectly clear where it got us. Why don't you look up a good quote on the definition of an idealogue [sic] -- someone who won't let go of pretty delusions even when the real world proves the idealogy [sic] wrong. This is where the right wing is today. They want yet more of what has driven this country onto the rocks.

If you're interested in applying thought, rather than [vulgar word deleted] right wing slogans, to our current economic problems, I'd recommend that you spend a little time on Nouriel Roubini's web site in the spotlight area "Do We Need to Promote Localization to Save Globalization." Inequality and the weakening of the safety net is hobbling, not freeing, the American economy. - David D.

JWR Replies: The context of the words "inequality" and "safety net" and the overall tone of your letter are indicative that you favor socialism. I am opposed to socialism, fascism, communism, and any any other other "-ism" that uses force to deny anyone else of their, life, liberty, or property. One of my dreaded "-isms" is socialism. (And, FWIW, I am opposed to it just a strongly as I am communism and fascism.) Red flags went up when I saw you use the terms "Inequality" and "safety net". Those are are both popular buzzwords of socialism. You asked me to look at a web site. So it is only "fair" and "equitable" that you do likewise: See this animation that nicely sums up my libertarian philosophy.

Ponder what socialism does: In essence, in redistributes wealth, by force. Even if that force has a friendly American face, under the color of law, with a neat and orderly system of taxation, it is nonetheless still force. The bottom line is that under the socialist model, without my consent, some of my earnings are forcibly extracted from me and eventually put into the hands of another citizen that did not earn them. If I refuse to pay my taxes, then I will pay huge fines and/or go to prison. Period.

Whenever you see a Federal courthouse, just imagine that there a dungeon beneath it. (Of course, in reality, the "dungeon" is a sprawling prison, way off in some rural county.) The U.S. has the highest incarceration rate in the "free" world. One contributing factor for the high incarceration rate is our system of taxation.

All of the foregoing is not to say that I don't believe in charity. Quite to the contrary, I'm part of the small Christian minority in this country that still gives a full tithe (one tenth of my gross earnings) to my church, as well as additional donations to other charities. I do so gladly, as a "cheerful giver." (And it is noteworthy that I'm not alone. Conservatives are statistically far more generous givers than liberals.) To sum up my point: To extract taxes by force to fund a wretchedly inefficient socialist wealth redistribution plan is the worst sort if tyranny. It is slavery with almost invisible shackles.

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Odds 'n Sods:

Hawaiian K found us this: Energy Watchdog Warns of Oil-Production Crunch--Daily 12.5 Mil Barrel shortfall by 2015

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Eric flagged this article: More go off-grid as economy tanks

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Reader N.L. mentioned that an on-line Volunteer Safety and Survival Reference is available for free download. It is an updated and expanded version of “The Universal Survival Handbook” published in 1979, by David A. Nuttle,

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Jack B. sent us this: Soaring oil prices may end dollar global status - Study

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Jim's Quote of the Day:

“Various kinds of ideas can be classified by their relationship to the authentication process. There are ideas systematically prepared for authentication ("theories"), ideas not derived from any systematic process ("visions"), ideas which could not survive any reasonable authentication process ("illusions"), ideas which exempt themselves from any authentication process ("myths"), ideas which have already passed authentication processes ("facts"), as well as ideas known to have failed- or certain to fail- such processes ("falsehoods" - both mistakes and lies).” - Thomas Sowell

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Saturday May 24 2008
Note from JWR:

Please continue to spread the word about SurvivalBlog. There are still a lot of preparedness-minded folks that have not yet heard about the blog . Links in your e-mail footer and/or at your web page or blog page would be greatly appreciated!

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A Beginner's Guide to Essential Oils, by Paul C.

Any basic care kit in a WTSHTF scenario would be lacking if it did not include several essential oils. Aromatherapy has been used since ancient times for medical and religious purposes; its proponents have included Galen (personal physician to Marcus Aurelius), Avicenna (an Arab physician at the turn of the first millennium) and Rene Gattefosse (the father of modern aromatherapy). Essential oils are mentioned in Chinese medical texts dating back over 4,000 years; they were utilized by the Egyptians to embalm their dead. When the Black Death (bubonic plague) ravaged Europe during the Middle Ages, aromatherapists were largely unaffected (probably due to the fact that certain essential oils repel rodents, which carry the fleas which transmit the disease). Hence, in any situation where traditional medical care is severely limited, essential oils serve a valuable purpose. There are several important factors to consider when using essential oils:
1. One must know the botanical names of the plants associated with such oils. If one sees a bottle of “marjoram,” is it sweet marjoram (Origanum marjorana), a sedative, or wild marjoram (Origanum vulgare), a stimulant also known as oregano, which is considered too toxic for human use? If one wishes to obtain chamomile and buys Ormemis multicaulis, he is really purchasing Ormenis oil, which is not a true chamomile. Therefore, knowledge of scientific botanical names is an absolute necessity.
2. Never take essential oils internally-some are toxic in very small doses (eucalyptus has caused fatalities in doses less than a teaspoonful). Given orally, they will cause severe damage to the mucous membrane of the GI tract. They are also not as effective orally as they are topically—gastric acids & digestive enzymes alter their molecular structure.
3. Less is more with essential oils; a few drops is all that is necessary to produce a desired effect; in addition, they are synergistic when mixed together (the whole is greater than the sum of its parts). For example, the anti-inflammatory effects of chamomile are increased when combined with lavender.
4. Buy essential oils from a reputable manufacturer such as Aroma Vera, Aura Cacia, Radiant Garden, or Original Swiss Aromatics. Vitacost (www.vitacost.com) offers high quality essential oils at bargain prices.
5. Essential Oils do not come with an expiration date; Citrus oils (orange, lemon, lime, etc.) tend to degrade most quickly (six month shelf life); the typical shelf life of essential oils is about two years. However, some essential oils, such as rose, jasmine, or eucalyptus globulus, become more potent with age.
6. Store essential oils in dark glass bottles; they degrade plastic.
7. If buying as essential oil from a store, place a drop of it on tissue paper. They are volatile. If an oily streak remains after a couple of minutes, the oil has been diluted with a carrier oil (such as sweet almond oil or grape seed oil).
8. As a rule, one should not apply essential oils undiluted to the skin; severe skin rashes or phototoxic reactions (exaggerated sunburn) may occur.
9. Dilute essential oils in a carrier oil before topical use. A good rule of thumb is 2-5 drops of essential oil in 5 ml (1 teaspoonful) of carrier oil. Good examples of carrier oils include sweet almond oil, apricot kernel oil, grape seed oil, sunflower oil, or even corn oil.
10. For children, use a dosage of 1-2 drops of essential oil per 5ml carrier oil. Good essential oils for children include tangerine, lavender, chamomile, and spearmint.
11. Some essential oils must not be used during pregnancy. These include birch, sweet marjoram, myrrh, thyme, and rosemary.
12. Never get essential oils in your eyes; if this happens, first dilute the essential oil with milk or vegetable oil, then flood the eye with water. Using water first will simply intensify the burning sensation.
13. Be careful with essential oils around a heat source-there is a risk of accidental fire.
14. Never buy essential oils from a supplier who charges the same or similar amounts for all of them—these oils vary widely in price. Jasmine costs roughly 100 times as much as grapefruit! Buyer beware!Here is my list of essential oils that are good to have in a survival situation.
1. Lavender (Lavandula vera, L. officinalis, L. angustifolia, and others): if you are going to have only one essential oil in your kit, make it this one. It is one of the few essential oils active against bacteria, viruses, and fungi. It is touted by Patricia Davis (a British expert on aromatherapy) as being the “supreme choice for insomnia.” This oil is very useful for treating burns as it promotes rapid healing and helps prevent scarring. Lavender also serves to relieve muscular pain, treat acne, and repel insects. Very few people have allergic reactions to lavender, and this oil can be applied directly to the skin.
2. Tea Tree (Melaleuca alternifolia): some sources state that tea tree may be applied undiluted to the skin. Like lavender, it is also active against bacteria, viruses, and fungi. It is a powerful immuno-stimulant, and is especially useful for topical fungal infections such as ringworm and athlete’s foot. It can be applied to cold sores and blisters caused by shingles or chicken pox. This essential oil is so useful for medicinal purposes, that during WWII, Australian producers were exempt from military service until enough had been accumulated.
3. Peppermint (Mentha piperata): described as cephalic (stimulates the brain and clear thinking); vermin hate the smell of mints in general—this oil can be used to deter mice, rats, and insects. It is probably most famous for promoting digestive health. In children, spearmint is a gentle substitute for peppermint. In extreme cases (I say this with the utmost caution!) it can be used undiluted on the skin to relieve severe sinus congestion; however one does risk skin irritation (possibly severe). I have used this on myself numerous times directly on the skin of the face without any side effects, and it has relieved my congestion. This was recommended to me by a naturopathic physician (my boss at the massage school where I am a science instructor) who stated that patients were able to cancel sinus surgery after using this treatment. Be prepared for a unique sensory experience lasting about 30 minutes (burning, tingling, and tearing); I could actually feel a “popping” sensation within my sinuses as they began to open.
4. Lemongrass (Cymbopogon citrates): this inexpensive essential oil is valuable as an insect deterrent. Do not apply to skin which will be exposed to sunlight, as a photosensitivity reaction may develop. It has a soothing effect on headaches, but must first be diluted (do not use more than 3 drops in a carrier oil at one time). This stimulating oil has been used in traditional Indian medicine for centuries to reduce fevers and treat infectious disease. It is also helpful for excessive sweating.
5. Myrrh (Commiphora myrrha, C. molmol): an outstanding essential oil for the prevention and treatment of gum disease. I have been using it for years (1 drop in a teaspoonful of mouth wash and mixed with a glass of warm water) to prevent gingivitis. This oil must not be used during pregnancy. Unfortunately, due to the unrest in the Sudan, this oil has become even more expensive in recent years. The best price I could find was $25 for 15ml (one tablespoonful) at Vitacost.com. This may sound pricey, but consider that a 15ml bottle contains about 300 drops of essential oil; this oil has a thick resinous consistency and a bottle lasts me about a year.
6. Clove (Eugenia caryophyllata): only the oil distilled from the sun dried buds, not the leaves, should be used. This pale yellow essential oil is famous as a treatment for toothache, but can also be used for digestive problems, muscle soreness, scabies, and respiratory infections. It should not be used in pregnancy and must be diluted before being applied to the skin. This oil has been used to sterilize surgical instruments.
7. Chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla- German chamomile; Anthemis noblis- Roman chamomile): these oils are soothing, calming, and anti-inflammatory. Their properties often overlap with those of lavender. These are gentile oils are suitable for use in children. They are especially valuable for treating skin conditions. NOTE: Artemisia arborescens is often sold as "blue chamomile", but is in fact a type of mugwort-- It should never be used during pregnancy!
8. Eucalyptus (Eucalyptus globulus, E.radiata, etc.): E. globulus is more commonly used and its potency increases with age, but E. radiata is less likely to irritate the skin. These are famous antibacterial and antiviral agents; however they can also be used to combat muscle soreness, deter mosquitoes, and relieve headaches. E. globulus should not be used in children under 12.

Sources:
Worwood, Susan & Worwood, Valerie Ann. Essential Aromatherapy, Novato, Calif., New World Library, 2003
Worwood, Valerie Ann. The Complete Book of Essential Oils and Aromatherapy. San Rafael, Calif., New World Library, 1991
Davis, Patricia. An A-Z Aromatherapy, Essex, England, C.W. Daniel Co. Ltd., 1988
Feller, Robin. Practical Aromatherapy, New York, Berkeley Books, 1997
Lawless, Julia. The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Essential Oils, Rockport, Mass., Element Books Ltd., 1995

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Odds 'n Sods:

Courtesy of Bob G.: Are You Watching the Food Riots? - Global civil unrest over skyrocketing food prices gives us an unpleasant glimpse at what human nature can do.

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Paul D. and Zac both sent us this: 'Squawk Box' Guest Warns of $12-to-$15-a-Gallon Gas

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From reader Frank S: An Oracle of Oil Predicts $200-a-Barrel Crude

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Another from Frank S: Today's food crisis isn't a blip

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Jim's Quote of the Day:

"If socialism, a scheme of mediocrities rather than men of proven ability, is financially unworkable, what happens when the United States is at last socialized by confiscatory income taxes and strangulation of industry in the British manner? Without a capitalist nation to produce wealth, civilization may expect chaos." - Economist Dr. Karl Fuerbringer (Austrian school)

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Friday May 23 2008
Note from JWR:

The high bid in the SurvivalBlog Benefit Auction. is now at $600. This big auction is for any of you that are gun enthusiasts. It includes 17 items: A four day "gray" transferable Front Sight course certificate, which was kindly donated by Naish Piazza of Front Sight (worth up to $2,000), a $200 gift certificate from Choate Machine and Tool Company (the makers of excellent fiberglass stocks, folding stocks, and shotgun magazine extensions), $450+ worth of full capacity magazines from my personal collection including five scarce original Ruger-made 20 round Mini-14 magazines, and an autographed copy of the book "Boston's Gun Bible." The total value of this 17 item auction lot is $2,700! (See the SurvivalBlog Benefit Auction page for details on exactly what is included.) Note: Because this auction includes full capacity magazines, no bids will be accepted from outside of the US or from a resident of any state with magazine restrictions. Please e-mail us your bids, in $10 increments. The auction ends on June 15th.

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Letter Re: The Supply of Battle Rifle Parts Kits in the US is Drying Up

Jim:
In a recent post, you wrote: I recommend HK91 clones because they are presently less expensive than M1As, and their spares are much less expensive. An M14 parts kit (everything but the receiver) is around $750, if you can find one. But you can buy a G3 part kit for under $250."

Please tell me where I can buy $250 G3 parts kits. They have all dried up. $400 to $500 if you can find one. I'm needing a couple. Thanks, - Craig W

JWR Replies: The last gun show that I attended (late last year) had a table where a gent was offering eight G3 parts kits for $250 each. I guess the available supplies have dried up rather quickly, since then. So these days, your best bet is the private owner secondary market, rather than dealers. But I still see fixed price ads for them at GunsAmerica (often under $300) and the last time that I checked, that was also the typical auction price at GunBroker.com or AuctionArms.com. Another good place to check is Buddy Hinton's parts board. There are a lot of shooters that bought parts kits when they were cheap and plentiful, and then never did anything with them A simple "Want To Buy" (WTB) post at Buddy's board might turn up a few kits that would otherwise be gathering dust. Don't try looking on eBay. A few months back, they banned the sale of most gun parts and magazines (aside for some furniture, sights, and some minor parts, which they begrudgingly allow.) They've really shown their true colors.

Battle rifle parts kits are definitely drying up, but G3 parts kits are still not as scarce as FAL and L1A1 kits, which now fetch $400 or more for nice ones. As an illustration, I just recently paid $200 for a nice L1A1 barrel/gas tube/handguard assembly (a kit "front end") at the FALFiles Marketplace forum, and was happy to get it at that price. By comparison, in the early 1990s I was buying complete, minty British L1A1 kits for as little as $105 each!

The biggest problem seems to be the U.S. barrel import ban (Section 925(d)3), which has effectively banned the importation of full parts kits (with everything except a receiver). I'm sure that importers will get clever about bringing in incomplete kits (sans barrels), to meet the new regulation. (Much the same way that folks have worked their way around Section 922(r). that requires seven US-made parts for "builds" in the US.) They'll import the parts piecemeal if they have to. But such work-arounds, since they involve newly-made barrels, add considerable cost to what would otherwise be inexpensive military surplus items. Inevitably, the barrel import ban will cause the price of all battle rifle kits--even AK kits and the less desirable SMG kits--to go up. I suspect that new new price "floor" will be around $300. The bottom line: Buy your parts kits soon, while the prices of kits complete with barrels are still reasonable. If nothing else, buying such useful tangibles is a hedge against inflation, even without the impact of the stronger importation restrictions.

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Letter Re: Amateur Radio Frequency Bands and Licenses

Mr. Rawles,
Concerning the mention under the "Communications Gear" category [in a recently-posted Profile]: "CB and base station with modified ham frequencies". One bit of warning - if you don't have a FCC Amateur Radio license, who do people think they are going to talk to on the ham frequencies? Amateur Radio is not the free-for-all situation that is commonly found on Citizen's Band (CB). In addition to the FCC Rules & Regulations (Part 97), it tends to be very self-regulated. Even in an "emergency situation" you might find it difficult to find anyone willing to answer your bootleg transmissions for help.

Many people simply don't realize the huge differences between Amateur Radio and Citizens Band (CB) radio. Even back in the days when the FCC required a license for CB radio, it was just a matter of filling out an application form and sending it in with the license fee. In spite of this, many folks either did not send in the paperwork or simply didn't use their call sign on the air. But nobody on CB really cared if you had a CB license or not - everyone used "handles" (nicknames) and just wanted to chit-chat. Few actually used their FCC assigned call sign.

Because of this, the FCC eventually decided the requirement for issuing and tracking an actual CB license and the associated call sign was not worth the bureaucratic costs involved. While the requirement for a CB license was dropped, the various other regulations governing the CB radio service still remain in effect today. (See "Part 95" of the FCC Rules & Regulations for more information. Amateur Radio is a completely different 2-way radio service, regulated by "Part 97" of the FCC Rules & Regulations. "Hams" must pass a written exam in order to receive a license. Because of this, they tend to be very particular about who transmits on their ham frequencies. Unlicensed bootleggers are not welcomed, and will be turned in to the FCC. Many hams practice radio direction finding techniques to help during searches for lost aircraft. Don't think you can be anonymous and no one will be able to track you down? Again, if you don't have a license - who are
you going to talk to? It's an entirely different situation than CB radio. If all you want is a dusty 2-way radio that will be left in a box down in the basement for when the "SHTF", then a traditional CB
radio is by far the best choice.

I bring this up in the hope that the "Foxtrots" have not convinced themselves that they have their radio communications needs covered because they have CB radios with "modified ham frequencies". If you don't know how to use those frequencies, and don't have a ham radio license, all you will be doing is calling attention to yourself (and also your location). The entry-level "Technician" Amateur Radio license is so simple to obtain, and provides the basic electronics background helpful for setting up other types of radio systems (such as CB) that everyone should have it on their list of preparation "things to do". Otherwise, I guarantee that if you don't know what you are doing and end up transmitting in AM mode in the CW portion of the 10-meter ham band, you will get noticed! The local ham radio "posse" will beat a path to your hidden retreat, and they will not be happy. The goal of maintaining a low profile will be busted, and you might wind up on the Federal government radar screen if the FCC gets involved.

Play it safe - get a ham radio license and blend in with the radio crowd. Establish a network of local and out-of-state contacts that could be useful someday. Use a post office box address on the license application if you do not want your actual physical address made public. Amateur Radio is such a useful tool, but like many things it needs to be practiced in order to be effective during an emergency situation. You wouldn't mark off "Obtain bug-out vehicle" from your preparation checklist just because you have a stick-shift vehicle (but you only know
how to drive an automatic). So don't mark off "Communications Gear" just because you have a modified CB radio with "ham frequencies". Take the next step and get your ham radio license. Know how to use your communications gear! - Sarge

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Odds 'n Sods:

Hawaiian K. spotted a captivating article over at Wired: Peter Thiel Makes Down Payment on Libertarian Ocean Colonies. Well, the Memsahib has always talked about having a second home in the tropics. So, just for fun, I've started a Rawles Seastead "Chip-In" page.

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Several readers sent us this: High gas prices drive farmer to switch to mules

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Flhspete mentioned that Survival Bloggers in Missouri should check this out: Dealership offers free gas or a gun with new car: 80% choose the gun

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Dutch in Wyoming found this "signs of the times" article: Grease pirates plunder tanks of old cooking oil

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Jim's Quote of the Day:

"Liberty enters the field of journalism to speak for herself because she finds no one willing to speak for her. She hears no voice that always champions her; she knows no pen that always writes in her defense; she sees no hand that is always lifted to avenge her wrongs or vindicate her rights. Many claim to speak in her name, but few really understand her. Still fewer have the courage and the opportunity to consistently fight for her. Her battle, then, is her own to wage and win. She accepts it fearlessly, and with a determined spirit." - Benjamin R. Tucker, Liberty, August 6, 1881

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Thursday May 22 2008
Note from JWR:

I recently received the following Retreat Owner Profile. I will be adding it to the static web page. OBTW, I still have room for at least a dozen overseas profiles, as well as just a few more in the United States. (I'd like to reserve those few remaining slots for profiles for people with unusual retreat locales or unusual retreat approaches/modes--such as 'Snowbirding" or sea-mobile.)

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Retreat Owner Profile: Mr. and Mrs. Foxtrot

Present home: Recently moved to new residence in luxury community in South Texas because of a job loss in the Northwest. we sold our our 40 acre retreat because prices were top of the market and it could help in Texas to have no mortgage and to continue preparations. Many acquisitions will occur within the next year including another retreat property (prices are about same as when we bought our first retreat and inventory up in the Northwest.)

Ages: 46 and 51

SOs: One adult child that lives out of state

Annual income: $61,000+.

Profession: Technology (him) and Homemaker (her).

Investments: Law Enforcement Degree for child (once graduated soon and in a job should come in handy), A mix of local real estate, conventional securities in retirement accounts, stocks/options, valuable collections and junk silver including coins in 1000's face value.(currently turning the collections into cash)

Vehicles: Honda CRV 4WD. (I just sold my gas powered full size pickup in preparation for a full size 4WD diesel and a smaller alternate fuel vehicle)

Firearms Battery: Smith and Wesson 586 .357,Winchester 30-30 nickel plated, Winchester Model 1300 - 12 gauge Parkerized 30 inch barrel and 21" rifled slug barrel, Rem 11-87 -12 gauge 30" and short also parkerized, Remington Model 870 20 gauge, old smooth bore side by side scatter gun, pre-war Winchester Model 62 (.22 Short and 22 LR), Mossberg Bolt action 12 ga. adjustable choke,1896 .30-40 Krag (sporterized), various BB and Pellet Guns as well as hunting slingshots and worth noting for the small game and birds that can be actually hunted using cheap ammo also current plus is living in Texas and working with fervent gun owners so I am stocking up as I sell off of valuable collection turning it into cash. (I am thinking of trading some of the antiques in at a gun show for a real rifle with spare parts and some hand guns as most were inherited from father but keeping, the .357 because it was my wife's gun and she shoots it, the .30-30 because it's plated [for humid weather resistance] and ammo is cheap. I'm also familiar with it having shot it as a kid, maybe the .22 if I can't get enough value because I have tons of ammo in both short and LR and all the Parkerized 12 gauges, the bolt action shotgun because of the adjustable choke and I'm having a larger magazine made by a gunsmith friend and the 20 gauge )

Stored ammunition: Roughly 15,000 rounds packaged with silica gel and about 10,000 in powder, bullets, shot and casings. Most in 12 Gauge, .22, .22 LR and 38 Special, and .357 Magnum . This will significantly increase after completing the move and the decision of caliber and reloading supplies. (I've got all the 12 and 20 gauge equipment.)

Fuel Storage: Regular utilities now but will be solar and underground storage tank with asphalt coating. (We had a 1,000 gallon diesel tank that we left for the new owners)

Improvements: TBD

Annual Property Tax: TBD but significantly more than in the northwest (definitely a con here)

Livestock: Will get back into raising rabbits, chickens and goat(s). (All our breeding stock and equip has been housed with friends in exchange for the contingency that if the SHTF and our retreat isn't ready we can stay with them.)

Communications Gear: Off-brand AM/FM hand crank receiver SW, AM /FM and other public bands, six FRS walkie-talkies with solar re-chargers, CB and base station with modified ham frequencies. We have numerous old laptops, wireless routers and devices and web cams for private solar based network/perimeter security. I already have the skills to implement this.)

Food storage: 1-1/2 years for two adults and equipment supplies for putting up and charity for many more. More to come later when we have more cool dry space. (The humidity is too high here)

Hobbies: Shooting, re-loading (both), gunsmithing/re-loading (him), sewing, herbal and nutritional cooking (her), reading, learning canning and dehydration (both), solar and computer technology (him), Internet surfing and storing information (both).

Background: Mr. and Mrs. Foxtrot originally lived in California, but moved to the northwest to avoid high income taxes, high property taxes, excessive property prices, excessive government regulation on gun ownership, and an undesirable political / moral climate. We are relatively new to the preparedness life. (For the last five years.)

JWR: Why did you choose your location?
Mr. and Mrs. Foxtrot: Conservative/Constitutionalist libertarian politics, Christian community, Lots of contacts, Great outdoors.

JWR: What are the drawbacks to the region?
Mr. and Mrs. Foxtrot: A little close to the Golden Horde

JWR: Who will be joining you at your retreat if the balloon goes up?
Mr. and Mrs. Foxtrot: Two or possibly three adult family members maybe more depending on a neighboring state's situation

JWR: How long do you expect that it will be before order is restored?
Mr. and Mrs. Foxtrot: No idea but hopefully ready for the long term (we tried a little self test one winter)

JWR: What is your worst case scenario?
Mr. and Mrs. Foxtrot: Needing to defend the retreat from adjoining state (Golden Horde).

JWR: What personal circumstances have shaped your preparations, and how?
Mr. Foxtrot: Seems like even though I grew up in the "Nanny State", I've been preparing my whole life for this (my resume looks like five different people), and even though I was living in Tech City I always felt like I was destined to be a homesteader. My wife shared the same belief system when we met and we've been trying to establish our retreat ever since. It was so painful to leave our old retreat, but at the same time it showed us that we were willing to do whatever it takes to survive and once we get it back it will take an awful lot to give it up again, if at all.

JWR: What shortcomings does your retreat have that you would like to improve if you had the opportunity?
Mr. and Mrs. Foxtrot: Not purchased yet hopefully done before TSHTF and Band-aids although we have a lot of kits we need to learn how to use them appropriately

JWR: What are your long term goals?
Mr. and Mrs. Foxtrot: Be prepared, be good and charitable Christians, accept that it is inevitable that we die and not up to us, but how we choose to live, is!

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Two Letters Re: Martial Arts Fact Versus Fiction

Jim;
The most recent response to this article includes the following quote: “ I noticed that many seem to be fans of Ultimate Fighting and I'm not going to say its fake, but it is entertainment. The fighters are great but lets be honest, the matches are intended to draw ratings by selling the drama.”

I felt I needed to respectfully respond to this, not with the intention of arguing, but clarifying, based on a more educated and informed perspective on Mixed Martial Arts (MMA). I’ve been a martial artist for over ten years, and involved in Mixed Martial Arts (or Ultimate Fighting) for eight of those years. I’ve met and trained with some of the best fighters in the sport, and have been involved with and trained regularly with traditional martial artists from every conceivable discipline including Goju Ryu, American Kempo, Kyokushin, Tae Kwon Do, Aikido, Aikijitsu, Judo, Russian kickboxing, American kickboxing, Western Boxing, Capoeira, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, freestyle wrestling, submission wrestling, muay thai, Sambo and Gung fu. I’ve trained with two different police departments, bouncers, and numerous members of the armed forces on hand-to-hand combatives. I have also fought “in the cage” as they say.

Without knowing any better, many people compare Mixed Martial Arts to Professional Wrestling, and assume that it is either fake, scripted, or “entertainment”. Unlike WWE or TNA (pro wrestling organizations), Ultimate Fighting organizations (The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), King of the Cage, World Extreme Combat, Pride, Bodog Fights, etc) do not script their matches or decide the outcomes beforehand. The sport of MMA is a combination of the three most legitimate combat sports that exist today: boxing, kickboxing, and wrestling. In fact, the sport existed in the ancient Greek Olympics under the name “Pankration”, and was the first and most celebrated sport in the games.

Many people’s idea of martial arts comes from watching Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, or Chuck Norris take down an opponent in a fast, cool, calculated fashion…often with little effort. This is Hollywood . This is fake. Anyone who has been in real combat with tell you that it’s dirty, clumsy, unpredictable, and scary. To expect two MMA Athletes (Ultimate Fighters) to step into the ring or cage and finish one another off quickly and realistically is to insult their skill and devotion to the sport. The fact that an Ultimate Fight can last 15 minutes is purely due to the level of proficiency, athleticism, and rules involved in the sport itself.

Imagine Mike Tyson being confronted on the street by a mugger. One lunging hook later, the mugger is laid out cold with a broken jaw, assuming he doesn’t have a weapon. However, though Iron Mike walked through many opponents in the ring in this manner, fighters like Buster Douglas and Evander Holyfield just absorbed Mike’s tremendous power and kept on coming. Why? Because they trained every day to do just that.

If an MMA athlete was confronted by an untrained person on the street, that untrained person would likely end up in the ICU with broken limbs and a collapsed trachea. However, when two highly trained, experienced, and athletic MMA fighters square off, it often becomes a chess match. On the other hand, there are plenty of lightning fast knockouts and submissions if that’s what you’re after.

The rules in MMA were created for the safety and longevity of the fighters, and due to constant and rigorous pressure testing, real application, and scientific examination and re-examination, the style of “Mixed Martial Arts” or “Ultimate Fighting” has become the post complete, efficient, effective and proven self-defense system in existence today. That’s why Police Departments and Militaries the world over are now training these concepts. Without the rules, MMA would be a gladiatorial bloodbath, and high caliber athletes would steer clear. However, think about the techniques that aren’t allowed: biting, eye gouging, hair pulling, groin strikes, throat strikes, finger breaking, kicking a downed man…
How much training do these techniques really require? In fact, combine all those techniques, and I’d say that’s pretty much how an untrained person would fight. Do you really think a trained MMA Athlete wouldn’t utilize these techniques in a life-or-death altercation? Of course they would!!!

As was also said in the article, “As many have stated before [you need to learn] a system with equal parts grappling, punching, kicking, elbows, knees, etc.” Well, that’s the definition of modern MMA or Ultimate Fighting. Combine with that the natural “dirty” techniques mentioned above, as well as training with firearms and blades (we do cover blades in my MMA class) and you’ve got a comprehensive self-defense system that has something few others do… a regular and high caliber testing arena, that all are free to watch and enjoy, where the finer techniques of the system are constantly streamlined, tested, innovated, sometimes discarded, and generally forced to evolve from the outdated traditional exercise routines they are based on.

Next time you watch The Ultimate Fighting Championship, imagine that hypothetical fight between Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris… and know that both were/are outspoken proponents of MMA. Most Sincerely, - EID



Sir,

A very well thought out and personally researched treatise on martial arts. There were one two points with which I respectfully disagree: Point #3) MMA/ UFC fighters are great athletes, and at the top end are the best ring fighters, bar none. As such, they are fighting within time limits, rounds, etc. and have a precise time frame for the entire event. Thus, what looks like stalling is, in fact, a chess game to make one's move without getting caught coming in. In a street encounter, one doesn't know which round one is in, so don't dawdle: see initial statement of point #3; Point #11) owning a gun makes one no more of a gunfighter than owning a piano makes one a musician. Any artificial weapon must be an extension of a natural attack. The more complex the weapon, the more complete the new skill-set to master said weapon becomes (brass knuckles require far less training than an Uzi to use effectively, for example). If one neglects to acquire these necessary skills, little more is accomplished than providing weapons to bad guys.

On the highlight reel: #5) Awareness! Fights avoided are rarely lost...#4) The fight's over when the winner says so! Now, shut up and reload!...#9) We call this Environmental Awareness, and it's not the Al Gore Greenie-Weenie Variety; simply stated, your Environment is everything in, on, and around you. Spinning some miscreant headlong into a dumpster has the same effect of a crack to the forehead with a PR-24 night stick, without the hassles of carrying one; #8) Fight Dirty! Strike hard, strike fast, strike them to the ground...I call this The Theory of Inverted Sportsmanship. If you'd like to know a solid basis for self-defense, get wrestling, boxing, judo, and UFC rulebooks. Everything in these that is considered a foul is to protect the fighters from serious injury. Therefore, these are the methods to apply first and most vigorously when attacked.

I found myself in total agreement with the letter , with the exception of the two minor points stated earlier. One omission I would like to emphasize, that gets scant attention in any martial arts setting, for politically correct reasons: you must be absolutely ruthless with your attacker. You must be willing to brutally smash him into submission. If you are squeamish on this now, your flight instinct will take over in a confrontation, your fine motor-skills will vanish, you you will get your head (or some other vital or exotic part of your anatomy) handed to you. We refer to this as Spiritual Point of Origin: finish the fight, in its most gruesome outcome, now, in your head, and make peace with it. If you cannot accept mentally and spiritually that which you may be required to do, how can you possibly manifest the same physically? The short answer, folks, is, you can't...As always, Keep the Faith, - Bonehead

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Odds 'n Sods:

Frequent contributor Inyokern sent this: T. Boone Pickens offers further prognostication on Peak Oil and alternative energy.

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A reminder that Front Sight's very generous "Get a Gun" training and gear package offer will be ending soon. It is limited to the first 5,000 people that sign up. The response has been huge, so don't dawdle! If you miss out on this deal, you'll surely regret it.

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Oil prices pass $133 per barrel after report of supply drop

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RBS sent us this: Guess this buyer saw a golden opportunity. It reminds me of the old maxim; "The value of a thing is what that thing will bring."

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Jim's Quote of the Day:

"There are only two ways to live your life. One as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle." - Albert Einstein

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Wednesday May 21 2008
Note from JWR:

Please continue to spread the word about SurvivalBlog. Mentioning the blog in forum posts or when you call talk radio shows would be greatly appreciated!

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Letter Re: Challenging Conventional Beliefs on Saving Hybrid Seeds

Hello James:
Conventional wisdom holds that one should not plant seeds saved from "hybrid" plants. This wisdom is ironclad boilerplate and generally appears in paragraph 2, sentence 2 of every essay on gardening when it really counts. I want to push back on that idea.

My understanding of agricultural history is that most farmers raised landraces of vegetables and animals prior to the 1600s. A landrace is a swarm of similar-but-not-identical plants or animals. There are very few exceptions, Merino sheep being one of them and asexually reproduced fruit trees being another.

The introduction of "County Fairs" changed that. Suddenly, the emphasis went from feeding and clothing one's family to having the biggest gooseberry or carrot, the earliest ripening apple or the most artistic sheaf of oats. This coincided with the dawn of the industrial revolution. Fertilizer was barged in from the coasts and suddenly the struggle to supply absolute minimum calorie and protein per-capita requirements lifted.

The County Fair provided a new venue to prove one's worthiness as an alpha male. "Show" characteristics were selected for to the exclusion of vague, difficult-to-measure attributes like "livability" and vigor. Those characteristics simply did not "show" and win ribbons.

Genetic selection of one characteristic to the exclusion of all others nearly always results in a narrowing of the genetic base. The fastest way to select for one characteristic is some form of in-breeding. That also results in a loss of general vigor.

More than two hundred years of "County Fair" style based breeding and the resulting in-breeding depression created the backdrop for the hybrid revolution. At that time, Agricultural Scientists found that crossing two in-bred lines generally resulted in a 30%-to-40% increase in yield. One perspective of hybrid seed is that it allowed farmers to regain the vigor of the landrace genetic swarm while retaining the extreme uniformity (important for mechanized agriculture) of in-bred cultivars.

Simple facts:
-Most in-bred lines used to produce f1 (first generation) hybrids are edible.
-All of the progeny of those hybrids will be edible.
-Most modern hybrids offer high degrees of disease resistance.
-Many of the progeny of modern hybrids will retain various degrees of that disease resistance.
-There will be a huge increase in plant-to-plant variation in height, ripening season, fruit/grain size in the f2 generation compared to both the hybrid and conventional cultivars.
-It is unlikely that the f2 generation will suffer a 40% loss in productivity compared to the hybrid parent. Two factors come into play. One is a quirk of mathematics. Going from 100bu/a to 150bu/a is a 50% increase but going back from 150bu/a to 100bu/a is a 33% decrease. The second factor is that the basis for the early hybrid comparisons were fairly inbred cultivars. The progeny of f1 hybrids won't suffer from in-breeding depression.

Summary:
-In dire circumstances, planting seeds from hybrid tomatoes, corn, squash, etc. will produce far more food than leaving your backyard in Kentucky Bluegrass.
-There will be a large increase in plant-to-plant variation.
-Plant-to-plant variation can be managed by increasing the seeding rate and thinning out the goofy plants.
-This is not heresy. Rather, it is a return to the genetic swarm of the landraces that fed humanity for thousands of years.
-Scientific breeding is the art of breeding the best to the best...and culling the rest. So save the best of your f2 generation for the next year's seed. Regards, - Joe H.

JWR Replies: You've swayed me a bit, but I stand by the assertion that seed saved from hybrids will generally not provide the same potential yield and quality as the parent plants. Hybrids are fine to use in the short term, but in the long term, to be fully prepared you need to have non-hybrid (a.k.a. "open pollinated" or "heirloom") seed reserves to fall back on. You need to continuously practice saving seed. (It is a skill that takes some time to learn.) Also, be sure to practice isolating plants from unintended cross-fertilization.

Further, keep in mind that the new (and patented) "Terminator Gene" technology will undoubtedly become more widespread in the years to come. Seed saved from those crops will have virtually no useful yield, and even if they did, it would invite lawsuits.

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Potassium Iodide Versus Potassium Iodate for Post-Nuke Thyroid Gland Protection

James,
You mentioned stocking up on Potassium Iodide (KI). The head trainer at Medical Corps--(I took their awesome class, thanks for giving it kudos)--developed Potassium Iodate (KI03). It has a huge benefit over KI, in that it doesn't upset the stomachs of the people taking it [as much as KI]. Medicine is much more beneficial if you don't involuntarily purge it.

Another thing I'd like to mention to SurvivalBlog readers is that KI and KI03 don't expire, even if the bottles have expiration dates marked. Since it is not an organic--it a very basic chemical compound. Iodine might leach out and turn the tablets dark, but iodine is still iodine. Just mix it with food to cover the bad taste and it'll still be effective. With Regards, - Cody (a 10 Cent Challenge Subscriber)

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Surviving During the Crisis (Translated from the Energie & Klima Blog)

JWR's Introductory Note: The following is a re-post from the Energie & Klima Blog, which was kindly translated by SurvivalBlog reader Martyn B., a multi-lingual Danish ex-pat that lives in Spain . To read the original article in German, see: Überleben in der Krise

Within the next two years, the price of oil could rise to $150 to $200 per barrel, analysts of the investment bank Goldman Sachs forecasted yesterday under the management of the famous chief analyst, Arjun N. Murti. According to the news agency Bloomberg, the cause is stated mainly as being that the supply of oil cannot cover the rising demand from countries that are comprised by the growth, such as China. The chief analyst of said bank in Munich Harlaching, where parents in the "villa suburbs" exchange the newest economic developments while they watch the kids playing in the sandbox and on the climbing rigs, only smile at such forecasts. The man in his late forties who is never seen without science and economy magazines, has already moved on. For a while, he has now been reading and praising "Walden" by Thoreau.

On request, Uwe informs overbearing, smiling parents that the imminent "crisis" has nothing to do with the crisis from the 1980s where Monaco Franze [bon-vivant, small time crook and protagonist of a German television series by the same name] procured forest strawberries, parma ham and champagne from Dallmayr (Delicatessen chain) for picnics with pretty female schoolmates in the English garden while the whole world around him was talking about crisis, saved and dared not "fill up". No, the imminent crisis, according to Uwe, is written in upper case: PEAK OIL, CLIMATE CHANGE, FINANCIAL CRISIS, HUNGER RIOTS and cannot be charmingly painted pretty by Munich-Harlachingen-ish island mentality, a completely misguided "Munich feeling". You need to
get prepared, right now, for a totally new, radically changed lifestyle in order to survive this CRISIS.


As The Guardian reported at the beginning of the week, Uwe is a part of a greater international movement. So-called survivalists with a sharpened awareness of the possibility of an impending total breakdown of Economy and Society, would be discussing on countless pages on the Internet where to find refuge and how to best equip your retreat once the time comes.
While many would not shy away from breaking arms legislation when equipping themselves, most will, according to information from The Guardian journalist Harriet Green, be content with the milder methods for fighting for survival, such as stashing food, growing fruit and vegetables in their own gardens as recommended by the famous British television chef Jamie Oliver and self-sufficiency in terms of energy and water.

When it comes to money, survivalists will also be looking for new opportunities. According to Harriet Green, precious metals are preferred. (For savings, Uwe advises stocks and real estate).

"The safe haven must be self sufficient". Ex-banker Barton M. Biggs also knows this. He is also one of the people cited in The Guardian's Survivalist Overview as warning against the impending total breakdown. The former (until 2003) "Chief Global Strategist" of Morgan Stanley has published a book, "Wealth, War and Wisdom" and contains, according to Bloomberg, has an unusual piece of advice for the rich: "Insure yourself against war and disaster by buying a remote farm or ranch and procure large stocks of seed, fertilizer, canned food, wine, medicine, clothes etc."
The "etc.", Bloomberg alleges, "must mean guns".

But even when "the wolf is at the door", there are also survivalists with a less bleak concept of the time after Peak Oil, such as the webmaster of WolfAtTheDoor, who predicts to The Guardian that TEOTWAWKI will occur within the next decade: "I'll be turning 50 this year. So far, I've had a good life. I want to enjoy the next 5 to 10 years."

Uwe, as it seems, has found a girlfriend among the single parents in Munich-Haidhausen; maybe he will soon be writing crisis in lower case. I'll soon be going to BeraterBank to find out.
- Thomas Pany, May 7, 2008

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Odds 'n Sods:

From Matt in Texas: The Rise of Stagflation Means the End of Fiat Wealth

o o o

E.J. (our British ex-pat correspondent living in rural Italy) mentioned this piece from The Guardian newspaper: The island house that powers itself - with a little help from 100 mph gales

o o o

Readers Sam K. and Stephen S. note that Peak Oil is now getting more mainstream media coverage, such as this CNBC piece: $12 Gas and Rationing? Possible, Says Expert. (The article quotes Robert Hirsch, who was the lead writer for SAIC's well-publicized Report on Peak Oil, in 2005.) And speaking of Peak Oil, reader A.A.P. mentioned Tom Whipple"s scary piece about diesel price escalation posted over at Energy Bulletin. A.A.P.'s comment: "A diesel backup generator may now be a bad idea." FWIW, I still lean toward propane-powered gensets. But if I had access to a source of biodiesel, I'd definitely be in favor of diesel generators.

o o o

Stephen S. sent us this link: Gun owners pinched as ammo costs shoot up. Congrats to the SurvivalBlog readers that stocked up in advance of the recent price increases. Ammo is better than money in the bank.

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Jim's Quote of the Day:

"There is nothing so likely to produce peace as to be well prepared to meet the enemy." - George Washington

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Tuesday May 20 2008
Note from JWR:

Because I get inquiries via e-mal almost every day asking "How do I find people in my area that share my interest in preparedness?", I decided to create a new "Finding Others" static page. You might find it useful.

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Two Letters Re: Beyond First Aid--Where to Learn Medical Skills

James,
It's funny how life gets in the way. I was in the process of writing a fairly long (I stopped at 15 pages) discussion of pandemics and medical care at home when the report in Chest came out. Suffice it to say that the wind was somewhat taken from my sails. And my take-home messages would have been 1) Hospitals are terrible places to be in a pandemic so stay away (I plan to), 2) Since you're not going to the hospital, people at home better learn how to do basic nursing care (so finding older nursing textbooks and patient care equipment like bedpans is a good idea), and 3) despite what all of medical science can, and cannot do, think about what to do when your family member succumbs to the disease.

I'm also pleased to see the various good points offered by others with regard to medical care. The Western Rifle Shooters Association course looks particularly good. Almost all of the various suggestions are good, but there are a couple of things that need to be emphasized:

For example, having antibiotics and administering them can be very good - but, you have to use the right antibiotic for the organism in question. Using an antibiotic that is effective against (say) Gram-positive organisms when the patient has a Gram-negative infection is not 'almost as good' or 'close enough', it's not only not at all helpful, it can make the patient much worse (not to mention using up valuable resources that are not easily replaced). There is a reason there are lots of different antibiotics, and there is no one magic bullet that works on everything.

Starting an IV is sometimes necessary, but usually not - we use them in the hospital to keep a route open for drug administration right away, should it be needed, and to provide fluids. However, the current Tactical Casualty Care Guidelines (used by military medics in combat, and limited in applicability to that sort of trauma, only) call for IV fluids to be withheld until hemorrhage (bleeding) is stopped. Not only is it wasteful of scarce resources (in combat, you only have what you have, not unlike a TEOTWAWKI situation), but adding more fluids to drain out onto the ground is actually dangerous to the patient (IV fluids don't carry oxygen, and washing out red blood cells is a bad idea). So, stopping the bleeding (if any) comes first.

In a medical (the patient is sick, not hurt) situation, keeping the patient hydrated is important, but giving too much fluids via IV can be just as harmful - especially in a respiratory infection kind of pandemic: The fluid has to go somewhere, and can build up in the lungs causing pulmonary edema and eventually heart failure. In fact, this is one of the modalities that people died from during the 1918 influenza pandemic. IVs too, can cause harm if used with gusto by people who don't fully understand the physiology of the body.

Also, being able to apply a cast is great - but, if the fracture is not reduced (straightened) first, the person will be left with a life-long disability. If the blood vessels are compromised (either by the fracture, or the treatment) the persons limb will certainly be put at significant risk, and their life very much potentially so. It's not a matter of simply applying a cast. And should a person need a wet plaster cast applied to a leg (for example), it will be several days at least before the cast will be strong enough to be moved, so the patient will require bed rest and care for that time - and as you and others have said, they will require a wheel chair and crutches for several months while the leg heals - a big plaster cast is heavy. And care must be taken to not apply the cast too tightly, to monitor the cast and limb for swelling and be ready to cut it open (bivalve it) if swelling is present, and the right amount of padding must be used since the plaster gets pretty hot while it is curing.

And finally, there are few (if any) reasons why a wound must be sutured in the field. All wounds will heal, eventually, and it's often better to leave a wound that is contaminated with foreign matter open than to close it. All wounds must be cleaned out, and while we will use sterile water or saline solution plain clean water is just fine. Using a 30cc syringe with a 22 gauge angiocath (a flexible needle used for IV administration) will provide about the ideal pressure, but using a plastic bag with a small hole poked in it will work adequately. The important thing is to get the wound cleaned out - dirt, leaves, blood clots, and anything else not viable - including dead and dying tissue, which must be removed surgically (we call that debriding). Then, the body is made in layers, and when you're sewing it up it each layer has to be sewn separately, with each layer using a particular kind of suture material, a particular needle, and a particular kind of stitches. Even closing a 'simple' skin laceration can cause problems if the edges of the wound are pulled too tightly - blood flow is compromised, the tissue dies, and infection sets in leading to sepsis and gangrene.
After all, the first rule of medicine is "First, do no harm". - Flighter



Jim:
Chuck Fenwick at Medical Corps runs a fine operation, but there are other ways to learn to suture. Chuck does have great surgical equipment and suture material for sale at very good prices.
First download Ethicon's book on wound closure, or buy a printed copy from Amazon.com, among other places.

This is the same book (in a newer edition, of course) that I was taught with back in the early 1960s in my summer job as an ortho tech while in college.
Then get the necessary instruments (needle-holder, surgical scissors, etc.), including a package or two of suture with an atraumatic needle (needle attached) or separate curved needles. Don't worry about sterile technique at this point. You're learning technique and to tie knots.

Next, order a fresh ham (not smoked) from your butcher or the local grocer. This will be your "patient". Now make a small incision through the skin of the ham, maybe 4" long. Suture the incision following the directions in the manual. Then make another incision and suture it closed. Continue this until you can close an incision at a reasonable speed with a nice neat row of stitches. This is how I learned to suture, at the kitchen table at home.

Finally, remove all the sutures, bake the ham, and serve with red cabbage and sweet potatoes for Sunday dinner. I hope this is of help to your readers. - Jonas P.

JWR Adds: Keep in mind that most wounds do not require suturing--although failing to do so will likely result in the formation of some extra scar tissue. But remember that we are talking about TEOTWAWKI here--not a beauty contest. Also, don't be in a hurry to suture! In most cases wounds should indeed be allowed to drain extensively, and premature closure could actually increase the risk of sepsis.

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Choosing an HK91 Clone Versus the M1A for a Primary Battle Rifle

Hello Mr. Rawles.
My Father bought me your novel "Patriots" and I read it and it really inspired me and woke me up to becoming more of a survivalist. I live in the country just about 50 miles out side of Chicago (pretty much the worst place to be if the SHTF, well even if it doesn't, it still sucks, LOL), but never mind that we have other places to go, thank God. I have always been around guns. I have been shooting probably since I could walk. Anyway, I am wondering why in your book you chose to [show the main characters owning] HK91s instead of M1As? We have both a HK91 and an M1A, both with lots of accessories. I would most likely take my LMT AR-15 over the .308 but I'm open to change. I was just wondering why you chose the Heckler and Koch or which one you like better for that matter. Thank you for the advice if you can. - Eric B.

JWR Replies: I consider the two rifles essentially comparable, although if fiberglass bedded, an M1A can be much more accurate. I recommend HK91 clones because they are presently less expensive than M1As, and their spares are much less expensive. An M14 parts kit (everything but the receiver) is around $750, if you can find one. But you can buy a G3 part kit for under $250. Excellent condition military surplus HK G3 magazines are as little as $2 each. So buy at least 50 of them, while they are still cheap. Meanwhile, USGI M14 magazines are $22 to $28 each. Ouch! So buying 50 spare magazines would cost you around $1,100--which is enough to buy another rifle!

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Odds 'n Sods:

Yishai suggested a Hack-n-Mod video clip on how to make thermite. Warning: Some serious safety precautions must be taken, because thermite burns at temperatures hot enough to liquefy steel, and once ignited, it is almost impossible to extinguish. (It generates its own oxygen.) Note the minor accident near the end of the video. He'll also have some serious explaining to do about that back porch slab.

o o o

Kevin a recommended this piece by Marty Weiss: Brace yourself! The U.S. government could be understating the Consumer price Index by 7.6%!

o o o

Frequent content contributor Michael Z. Williamson mentioned a web article about some locals in Cambodia improvising a working rail train from a few spare parts. Note that from the photos it appears to be dead level ground and there is no sign of a hand brake. Having a brake is a must, for safety. Also, see our archived survivalBlog articles about high-railers and rail motorcars (a.k.a. "speeders"--such as this one posted in July of Aught Six--that discuss the serious legal and safety implications of using right-of-ways that belong to railroad companies.

o o o

Any SurvivalBlog readers fluent in German will probably find this Energie & Klima Blog post interesting: Überleben in der Krise.

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Jim's Quote of the Day:

"[T]he Clinton administration launched an attack on people in [Waco,] Texas because those people were religious nuts with guns. H*ll, this country was founded by religious nuts with guns. Who does Bill Clinton think stepped ashore on Plymouth Rock? Peace Corps volunteers? Or maybe the people in Texas were attacked because of child abuse. But, if child abuse was the issue, why didn't Janet Reno tear-gas Woody Allen? - P.J. O'Rourke

Note from JWR:

ednesday May 21 2008

Note from JWR:

Please continue to spread the word about SurvivalBlog. Mentioning the blog in forum posts or when you call talk radio shows would be greatly appreciated!

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Letter Re: Challenging Conventional Beliefs on Saving Hybrid Seeds

Hello James:
Conventional wisdom holds that one should not plant seeds saved from "hybrid" plants. This wisdom is ironclad boilerplate and generally appears in paragraph 2, sentence 2 of every essay on gardening when it really counts. I want to push back on that idea.

My understanding of agricultural history is that most farmers raised landraces of vegetables and animals prior to the 1600s. A landrace is a swarm of similar-but-not-identical plants or animals. There are very few exceptions, Merino sheep being one of them and asexually reproduced fruit trees being another.

The introduction of "County Fairs" changed that. Suddenly, the emphasis went from feeding and clothing one's family to having the biggest gooseberry or carrot, the earliest ripening apple or the most artistic sheaf of oats. This coincided with the dawn of the industrial revolution. Fertilizer was barged in from the coasts and suddenly the struggle to supply absolute minimum calorie and protein per-capita requirements lifted.

The County Fair provided a new venue to prove one's worthiness as an alpha male. "Show" characteristics were selected for to the exclusion of vague, difficult-to-measure attributes like "livability" and vigor. Those characteristics simply did not "show" and win ribbons.

Genetic selection of one characteristic to the exclusion of all others nearly always results in a narrowing of the genetic base. The fastest way to select for one characteristic is some form of in-breeding. That also results in a loss of general vigor.

More than two hundred years of "County Fair" style based breeding and the resulting in-breeding depression created the backdrop for the hybrid revolution. At that time, Agricultural Scientists found that crossing two in-bred lines generally resulted in a 30%-to-40% increase in yield. One perspective of hybrid seed is that it allowed farmers to regain the vigor of the landrace genetic swarm while retaining the extreme uniformity (important for mechanized agriculture) of in-bred cultivars.

Simple facts:
-Most in-bred lines used to produce f1 (first generation) hybrids are edible.
-All of the progeny of those hybrids will be edible.
-Most modern hybrids offer high degrees of disease resistance.
-Many of the progeny of modern hybrids will retain various degrees of that disease resistance.
-There will be a huge increase in plant-to-plant variation in height, ripening season, fruit/grain size in the f2 generation compared to both the hybrid and conventional cultivars.
-It is unlikely that the f2 generation will suffer a 40% loss in productivity compared to the hybrid parent. Two factors come into play. One is a quirk of mathematics. Going from 100bu/a to 150bu/a is a 50% increase but going back from 150bu/a to 100bu/a is a 33% decrease. The second factor is that the basis for the early hybrid comparisons were fairly inbred cultivars. The progeny of f1 hybrids won't suffer from in-breeding depression.

Summary:
-In dire circumstances, planting seeds from hybrid tomatoes, corn, squash, etc. will produce far more food than leaving your backyard in Kentucky Bluegrass.
-There will be a large increase in plant-to-plant variation.
-Plant-to-plant variation can be managed by increasing the seeding rate and thinning out the goofy plants.
-This is not heresy. Rather, it is a return to the genetic swarm of the landraces that fed humanity for thousands of years.
-Scientific breeding is the art of breeding the best to the best...and culling the rest. So save the best of your f2 generation for the next year's seed. Regards, - Joe H.

JWR Replies: You've swayed me a bit, but I stand by the assertion that seed saved from hybrids will generally not provide the same potential yield and quality as the parent plants. Hybrids are fine to use in the short term, but in the long term, to be fully prepared you need to have non-hybrid (a.k.a. "open pollinated" or "heirloom") seed reserves to fall back on. You need to continuously practice saving seed. (It is a skill that takes some time to learn.) Also, be sure to practice isolating plants from unintended cross-fertilization.

Further, keep in mind that the new (and patented) "Terminator Gene" technology will undoubtedly become more widespread in the years to come. Seed saved from those crops will have virtually no useful yield, and even if they did, it would invite lawsuits.

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Potassium Iodide Versus Potassium Iodate for Post-Nuke Thyroid Gland Protection

James,
You mentioned stocking up on Potassium Iodide (KI). The head trainer at Medical Corps--(I took their awesome class, thanks for giving it kudos)--developed Potassium Iodate (KI03). It has a huge benefit over KI, in that it doesn't upset the stomachs of the people taking it [as much as KI]. Medicine is much more beneficial if you don't involuntarily purge it.

Another thing I'd like to mention to SurvivalBlog readers is that KI and KI03 don't expire, even if the bottles have expiration dates marked. Since it is not an organic--it a very basic chemical compound. Iodine might leach out and turn the tablets dark, but iodine is still iodine. Just mix it with food to cover the bad taste and it'll still be effective. With Regards, - Cody (a 10 Cent Challenge Subscriber)

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Surviving During the Crisis (Translated from the Energie & Klima Blog)

JWR's Introductory Note: The following is a re-post from the Energie & Klima Blog, which was kindly translated by SurvivalBlog reader Martyn B., a multi-lingual Danish ex-pat that lives in Spain . To read the original article in German, see: Überleben in der Krise

Within the next two years, the price of oil could rise to $150 to $200 per barrel, analysts of the investment bank Goldman Sachs forecasted yesterday under the management of the famous chief analyst, Arjun N. Murti. According to the news agency Bloomberg, the cause is stated mainly as being that the supply of oil cannot cover the rising demand from countries that are comprised by the growth, such as China. The chief analyst of said bank in Munich Harlaching, where parents in the "villa suburbs" exchange the newest economic developments while they watch the kids playing in the sandbox and on the climbing rigs, only smile at such forecasts. The man in his late forties who is never seen without science and economy magazines, has already moved on. For a while, he has now been reading and praising "Walden" by Thoreau.

On request, Uwe informs overbearing, smiling parents that the imminent "crisis" has nothing to do with the crisis from the 1980s where Monaco Franze [bon-vivant, small time crook and protagonist of a German television series by the same name] procured forest strawberries, parma ham and champagne from Dallmayr (Delicatessen chain) for picnics with pretty female schoolmates in the English garden while the whole world around him was talking about crisis, saved and dared not "fill up". No, the imminent crisis, according to Uwe, is written in upper case: PEAK OIL, CLIMATE CHANGE, FINANCIAL CRISIS, HUNGER RIOTS and cannot be charmingly painted pretty by Munich-Harlachingen-ish island mentality, a completely misguided "Munich feeling". You need to
get prepared, right now, for a totally new, radically changed lifestyle in order to survive this CRISIS.

As The Guardian reported at the beginning of the week, Uwe is a part of a greater international movement. So-called survivalists with a sharpened awareness of the possibility of an impending total breakdown of Economy and Society, would be discussing on countless pages on the Internet where to find refuge and how to best equip your retreat once the time comes.
While many would not shy away from breaking arms legislation when equipping themselves, most will, according to information from The Guardian journalist Harriet Green, be content with the milder methods for fighting for survival, such as stashing food, growing fruit and vegetables in their own gardens as recommended by the famous British television chef Jamie Oliver and self-sufficiency in terms of energy and water.

When it comes to money, survivalists will also be looking for new opportunities. According to Harriet Green, precious metals are preferred. (For savings, Uwe advises stocks and real estate).

"The safe haven must be self sufficient". Ex-banker Barton M. Biggs also knows this. He is also one of the people cited in The Guardian's Survivalist Overview as warning against the impending total breakdown. The former (until 2003) "Chief Global Strategist" of Morgan Stanley has published a book, "Wealth, War and Wisdom" and contains, according to Bloomberg, has an unusual piece of advice for the rich: "Insure yourself against war and disaster by buying a remote farm or ranch and procure large stocks of seed, fertilizer, canned food, wine, medicine, clothes etc."
The "etc.", Bloomberg alleges, "must mean guns".

But even when "the wolf is at the door", there are also survivalists with a less bleak concept of the time after Peak Oil, such as the webmaster of WolfAtTheDoor, who predicts to The Guardian that TEOTWAWKI will occur within the next decade: "I'll be turning 50 this year. So far, I've had a good life. I want to enjoy the next 5 to 10 years."

Uwe, as it seems, has found a girlfriend among the single parents in Munich-Haidhausen; maybe he will soon be writing crisis in lower case. I'll soon be going to BeraterBank to find out.
- Thomas Pany, May 7, 2008

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Odds 'n Sods:

From Matt in Texas: The Rise of Stagflation Means the End of Fiat Wealth

o o o

E.J. (our British ex-pat correspondent living in rural Italy) mentioned this piece from The Guardian newspaper: The island house that powers itself - with a little help from 100 mph gales

o o o

Readers Sam K. and Stephen S. note that Peak Oil is now getting more mainstream media coverage, such as this CNBC piece: $12 Gas and Rationing? Possible, Says Expert. (The article quotes Robert Hirsch, who was the lead writer for SAIC's well-publicized Report on Peak Oil, in 2005.) And speaking of Peak Oil, reader A.A.P. mentioned Tom Whipple"s scary piece about diesel price escalation posted over at Energy Bulletin. A.A.P.'s comment: "A diesel backup generator may now be a bad idea." FWIW, I still lean toward propane-powered gensets. But if I had access to a source of biodiesel, I'd definitely be in favor of diesel generators.

o o o

Stephen S. sent us this link: Gun owners pinched as ammo costs shoot up. Congrats to the SurvivalBlog readers that stocked up in advance of the recent price increases. Ammo is better than money in the bank.

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Jim's Quote of the Day:

"There is nothing so likely to produce peace as to be well prepared to meet the enemy." - George Washington

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Tuesday May 20 2008

Note from JWR:

Because I get inquiries via e-mal almost every day asking "How do I find people in my area that share my interest in preparedness?", I decided to create a new "Finding Others" static page. You might find it useful.

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Two Letters Re: Beyond First Aid--Where to Learn Medical Skills

James,
It's funny how life gets in the way. I was in the process of writing a fairly long (I stopped at 15 pages) discussion of pandemics and medical care at home when the report in Chest came out. Suffice it to say that the wind was somewhat taken from my sails. And my take-home messages would have been 1) Hospitals are terrible places to be in a pandemic so stay away (I plan to), 2) Since you're not going to the hospital, people at home better learn how to do basic nursing care (so finding older nursing textbooks and patient care equipment like bedpans is a good idea), and 3) despite what all of medical science can, and cannot do, think about what to do when your family member succumbs to the disease.

I'm also pleased to see the various good points offered by others with regard to medical care. The Western Rifle Shooters Association course looks particularly good. Almost all of the various suggestions are good, but there are a couple of things that need to be emphasized:

For example, having antibiotics and administering them can be very good - but, you have to use the right antibiotic for the organism in question. Using an antibiotic that is effective against (say) Gram-positive organisms when the patient has a Gram-negative infection is not 'almost as good' or 'close enough', it's not only not at all helpful, it can make the patient much worse (not to mention using up valuable resources that are not easily replaced). There is a reason there are lots of different antibiotics, and there is no one magic bullet that works on everything.

Starting an IV is sometimes necessary, but usually not - we use them in the hospital to keep a route open for drug administration right away, should it be needed, and to provide fluids. However, the current Tactical Casualty Care Guidelines (used by military medics in combat, and limited in applicability to that sort of trauma, only) call for IV fluids to be withheld until hemorrhage (bleeding) is stopped. Not only is it wasteful of scarce resources (in combat, you only have what you have, not unlike a TEOTWAWKI situation), but adding more fluids to drain out onto the ground is actually dangerous to the patient (IV fluids don't carry oxygen, and washing out red blood cells is a bad idea). So, stopping the bleeding (if any) comes first.

In a medical (the patient is sick, not hurt) situation, keeping the patient hydrated is important, but giving too much fluids via IV can be just as harmful - especially in a respiratory infection kind of pandemic: The fluid has to go somewhere, and can build up in the lungs causing pulmonary edema and eventually heart failure. In fact, this is one of the modalities that people died from during the 1918 influenza pandemic. IVs too, can cause harm if used with gusto by people who don't fully understand the physiology of the body.

Also, being able to apply a cast is great - but, if the fracture is not reduced (straightened) first, the person will be left with a life-long disability. If the blood vessels are compromised (either by the fracture, or the treatment) the persons limb will certainly be put at significant risk, and their life very much potentially so. It's not a matter of simply applying a cast. And should a person need a wet plaster cast applied to a leg (for example), it will be several days at least before the cast will be strong enough to be moved, so the patient will require bed rest and care for that time - and as you and others have said, they will require a wheel chair and crutches for several months while the leg heals - a big plaster cast is heavy. And care must be taken to not apply the cast too tightly, to monitor the cast and limb for swelling and be ready to cut it open (bivalve it) if swelling is present, and the right amount of padding must be used since the plaster gets pretty hot while it is curing.

And finally, there are few (if any) reasons why a wound must be sutured in the field. All wounds will heal, eventually, and it's often better to leave a wound that is contaminated with foreign matter open than to close it. All wounds must be cleaned out, and while we will use sterile water or saline solution plain clean water is just fine. Using a 30cc syringe with a 22 gauge angiocath (a flexible needle used for IV administration) will provide about the ideal pressure, but using a plastic bag with a small hole poked in it will work adequately. The important thing is to get the wound cleaned out - dirt, leaves, blood clots, and anything else not viable - including dead and dying tissue, which must be removed surgically (we call that debriding). Then, the body is made in layers, and when you're sewing it up it each layer has to be sewn separately, with each layer using a particular kind of suture material, a particular needle, and a particular kind of stitches. Even closing a 'simple' skin laceration can cause problems if the edges of the wound are pulled too tightly - blood flow is compromised, the tissue dies, and infection sets in leading to sepsis and gangrene.
After all, the first rule of medicine is "First, do no harm". - Flighter

Jim:
Chuck Fenwick at Medical Corps runs a fine operation, but there are other ways to learn to suture. Chuck does have great surgical equipment and suture material for sale at very good prices.
First download Ethicon's book on wound closure, or buy a printed copy from Amazon.com, among other places.

This is the same book (in a newer edition, of course) that I was taught with back in the early 1960s in my summer job as an ortho tech while in college.
Then get the necessary instruments (needle-holder, surgical scissors, etc.), including a package or two of suture with an atraumatic needle (needle attached) or separate curved needles. Don't worry about sterile technique at this point. You're learning technique and to tie knots.

Next, order a fresh ham (not smoked) from your butcher or the local grocer. This will be your "patient". Now make a small incision through the skin of the ham, maybe 4" long. Suture the incision following the directions in the manual. Then make another incision and suture it closed. Continue this until you can close an incision at a reasonable speed with a nice neat row of stitches. This is how I learned to suture, at the kitchen table at home.

Finally, remove all the sutures, bake the ham, and serve with red cabbage and sweet potatoes for Sunday dinner. I hope this is of help to your readers. - Jonas P.

JWR Adds: Keep in mind that most wounds do not require suturing--although failing to do so will likely result in the formation of some extra scar tissue. But remember that we are talking about TEOTWAWKI here--not a beauty contest. Also, don't be in a hurry to suture! In most cases wounds should indeed be allowed to drain extensively, and premature closure could actually increase the risk of sepsis.

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Choosing an HK91 Clone Versus the M1A for a Primary Battle Rifle

Hello Mr. Rawles.
My Father bought me your novel "Patriots" and I read it and it really inspired me and woke me up to becoming more of a survivalist. I live in the country just about 50 miles out side of Chicago (pretty much the worst place to be if the SHTF, well even if it doesn't, it still sucks, LOL), but never mind that we have other places to go, thank God. I have always been around guns. I have been shooting probably since I could walk. Anyway, I am wondering why in your book you chose to [show the main characters owning] HK91s instead of M1As? We have both a HK91 and an M1A, both with lots of accessories. I would most likely take my LMT AR-15 over the .308 but I'm open to change. I was just wondering why you chose the Heckler and Koch or which one you like better for that matter. Thank you for the advice if you can. - Eric B.

JWR Replies: I consider the two rifles essentially comparable, although if fiberglass bedded, an M1A can be much more accurate. I recommend HK91 clones because they are presently less expensive than M1As, and their spares are much less expensive. An M14 parts kit (everything but the receiver) is around $750, if you can find one. But you can buy a G3 part kit for under $250. Excellent condition military surplus HK G3 magazines are as little as $2 each. So buy at least 50 of them, while they are still cheap. Meanwhile, USGI M14 magazines are $22 to $28 each. Ouch! So buying 50 spare magazines would cost you around $1,100--which is enough to buy another rifle!

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Odds 'n Sods:

Yishai suggested a Hack-n-Mod video clip on how to make thermite. Warning: Some serious safety precautions must be taken, because thermite burns at temperatures hot enough to liquefy steel, and once ignited, it is almost impossible to extinguish. (It generates its own oxygen.) Note the minor accident near the end of the video. He'll also have some serious explaining to do about that back porch slab.

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Kevin a recommended this piece by Marty Weiss: Brace yourself! The U.S. government could be understating the Consumer price Index by 7.6%!

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Frequent content contributor Michael Z. Williamson mentioned a web article about some locals in Cambodia improvising a working rail train from a few spare parts. Note that from the photos it appears to be dead level ground and there is no sign of a hand brake. Having a brake is a must, for safety. Also, see our archived survivalBlog articles about high-railers and rail motorcars (a.k.a. "speeders"--such as this one posted in July of Aught Six--that discuss the serious legal and safety implications of using right-of-ways that belong to railroad companies.

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Any SurvivalBlog readers fluent in German will probably find this Energie & Klima Blog post interesting: Überleben in der Krise.

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Jim's Quote of the Day:

"[T]he Clinton administration launched an attack on people in [Waco,] Texas because those people were religious nuts with guns. H*ll, this country was founded by religious nuts with guns. Who does Bill Clinton think stepped ashore on Plymouth Rock? Peace Corps volunteers? Or maybe the people in Texas were attacked because of child abuse. But, if child abuse was the issue, why didn't Janet Reno tear-gas Woody Allen? - P.J. O'Rourke

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Monday May 19 2008

Letter Re: The Modern Conception of "Hard Work" Versus a Traditional Farmer's Tasks

Sir:
I recently finished trenching and running a few hundred feet of irrigation pipe on land that has been in my wife's family for a few generations. We are the proud recipients of this small farm in the Southeast US. My Mother-In-Law was helping, and getting various tools and such out of the 100 year old barn (still standing and strong). We found an old hoe that was worn so that over half of the tine was missing. She said that her father and grandfather had used this hoe to manually weed and till every bit of the 50 acres! This was a farm that didn't have indoor plumbing until the early 1970s.

Here I was, exhausted from digging a trench (with a machine of course), and laying pipe (plastic with glue), and had been working "very hard" for a few hours. Slowly realizing, listening to my mother-in-law that her family worked this land without the aid of gas powered equipment until her father died in the late 1980s. For over 125 years this farm had produced an income and raised families. I was tired after working, but now had an understanding that in no way can I count myself in the same league as the men that had worked sun up to sun down by hand, these were true men. I whine when the lawn mower won't easily start, or when the padded handle on the shovel gets too hard for comfort!

In the interest of preparedness, each of us should examine ourselves to see if we have it in us both physically and mentally to work at providing for our loved ones. After this experience, I am doing more to get myself physically in shape for what may come. No matter, I will be happier, healthier, and more humble than before! God Bless, - RJ in the Southeast US

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Letter Re: Positive Feedback on Front Sight's Self Defense Training

Hi, Jim!
I want to thank you for having SurvivalBlog support Front Sight's current special of $1,199 for the class [with a XD pistol and other extras included.] I took advantage of it, along with my son, aged 20, a couple of weeks ago, and had a great time down there. This was my third time down there, my son's first.

One thing people may want to do is rent one of [the Springfield Armory] XD pistols in 9mm for $100, for the class. This gives you much more control on target, especially for someone (like my son) who hasn't had much pistol experience. Plus the cost of 9 mm ammo is about half the cost for 45. While we are getting the XDs in .45 caliber, renting the 9mm gave us the XD experience and probably saved us over $100 in ammo costs. We can practice with our .45s at a more leisurely pace. As you've indicated before, the instructors there are very professional, very friendly, and the class gives you the whole perspective of accuracy in shooting, the psychological mindset that one must have to defend oneself, and the legal knowledge of what kind of problems you might encounter. - Chester B.

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Letter Re: Martial Arts Fact Versus Fiction

Mr. Rawles
I just found this blog after checking out Steve Quayle's web site and links. I must say this discussion is a breath of fresh air.

My experience is much different than many who have posted; I have little training in the martial arts, and never been in the military. I don't even watch those Ultimate Fighting shows.

I work with kids in state juvenile facility here on the West Coast of the US. Most of the "residents" as they are called are 14-20 years of age, and usually very aggressive and violent gang members. Unlike adult corrections in my state, we don't carry weapons of any kind including pepper spray. We wear street clothes and work in a average ratio of 12 residents to one staff.
In other words I deal for eight hours a night with the most likely people you would face in a survival situation. Most reading this live in an area where these are the most likely assailants and unless your a hardcore survivalist living in a tree these are the people that most reading this will face. Here are some things I've learned - usually the hard way

1) Forget talking your way out of it. Once they have decided on violence talking is only used to distract you or to manipulate you into believing you can talk your way out of the situation. We are trained in verbal de-escalation skills but experience also shows us that gangstas who are on a mission to raise their status in the gang by "putting in work" will not listen to reason, or pleas. Conditioning by the gangs to see violence as nothing more than a tool or as a way of enforcing rules within the gang literally enables most gang members to shut off a conscience or thought of potential consequences. They in many cases may also be under the influence of various drugs that hinder their reasoning ability. In other words don't bother talking if you want to live.

2) Forget any martial art that wastes time on flying kicks and roundhouse punches. Don't waste time learning how to use swords and throwing stars. As many have stated before a system with equal parts grappling, punching, kicking, elbows, knees, etc.

3) Learn to take assailants(s) out quickly. I noticed that many seem to be fans of Ultimate Fighting and I'm not going to say its fake, but it is entertainment. The fighters are great but lets be honest, the matches are intended to draw ratings by selling the drama. I have no doubts that those same fighters without the rules would be able to take out their opponents much quicker than they do. You should do this as well. Don't play around or make unnecessary movements. Don't stop and sermonize half way through giving a beating.

4) Finish the job. The idea that you should get your opponent down then run away is pretty d**ned dumb. First you may have nowhere to run to, and nobody to help you. You are better off once your opponent is down making sure they don't get up on their own power for a long time. All I can say is do what your God given conscience deems necessary for you and your loved one's survival in such a situation

5) Awareness!, Awareness!, Awareness!
If a person, place, or situation makes those little hairs stand up there is good reason for it. If your in a crowd always be aware of eye movements, body movement. Also be aware that criminals/gang members never attack alone. Even if they aren't joining in the attack they have accomplices serving as lookouts to either tip them off or to distract. Be aware of where you are, and who is around you at all times. Watch what those people do or say.

6) Learn to fight in close quarters. A dojo or a gym is great but have your sparring partner and you fight within a small chalk circle for a while. Better yet a medium sized walk in closet. Many well known street gangs that got their starts in the California prison system (Sureños or 13s come to mind) created fighting systems for both offense and defense in their cells. The "fighting art" consists mostly of elbow, and knee strikes with some uppercut punches, followed by takedowns. Is it any good? Ask any correctional officer who now extracts these guys from cells using "stun shields", pepper spray guns, and eight-man extraction teams. Fairly intelligent, and motivated sparring partners can probably duplicate this style with a little trial and error.

7) Don't waste your time getting into a punching contest. In most cases your assailant is a more experienced fighter than you. They also have experience taking a punch. How many punches have you taken lately Sugar Ray? Probably not many, if any. Forget kicking too unless you have been trained how to do it properly or when to do it. Sending a kick to someone's face like Chuck Norris or Jean Claude Van Damme is cool in movies - especially after its been choreographed and practiced for weeks, then filmed from the optimal angles. Its looks pretty dumb when you do it though. It tends you get you beaten or dead as well. If your assailant is on the ground a few well placed kicks to the mid-section, groin, ribcage, neck, or face couldn't hurt however.

8) Go for the eyes or throat. Cut off the assailants sight and air. If more than one assailant hit the first ones eyes, and take out the second ones breathing ability. If three - eyes, eyes, air. Go for knees ankles, and feet if you do kick. Avoid the groin since most men are genetically inbred to react to protect their assets. If you can take the side of your foot and say run it into an aggressors knee and then driving your leg, the results are quite surprising. Same with the ankle.

9) Use any weapons available. This also means improvising weapons. I once was charged by a young resident in our living units kitchen. I had a container of ranch [salad] dressing in my hand which quickly made contact with his face and most important - his eyes. Immobilize the assailant with whatever is available. Another resident charged me on the floor, and I pulled his shirt up over his head tight which blinded him and made it hard to swing on me. I have seen coins, cans of chewing tobacco, coffee, and even a handful of hard candies thrown into the face of an attacker to disorient. Knocking eyeglasses or hats off can have similar effects.

10) Any fighting system that doesn't teach just basic arm bar takedowns, goosenecks, and "Z" holds should be avoided. There is a reason these things are taught to correctional officers, cops, and people like myself and its because they are easy to learn, easy to retain, and most important they work. With just a few modifications these moves can be quickly turned from less than lethal to lethal moves. Also learn moves that can be applied when your fine motor skills are impaired. When the fight or flight syndrome kicks in finesse goes out the window, and the more basic the better. If the take down has complex actions then forget it you'll be too messed up thanks to your heart rate to attempt it.

11) Arm yourself. A knife is great, a gun is better. Train to use both and practice often. Most important get into the mindset to use the weapon.
Just a few things I thought that I'd throw into to stir the pot. - C.T.

JWR Adds: I agree that high kicks and roundhouse kicks are strictly "Hollywood" showmanship. Not only do they deliver less power, but they also leave you vulnerable to being thrown off balance.

Unfortunately, California's Nanny State mentality has led to enactment of laws that have made concealed carry of some knives a felony on the first offense, open carry of firearms--except when hunting--a misdemeanor, and concealed carry of firearms either a misdemeanor or a felony on the first offense, depending on circumstances. It is very difficult to obtain a handgun concealed carry permit in most California counties unless you are engaged in a business that requires you to regularly carry cash or valuables. Even "trunk" carry of firearms is effectively banned unless you are on your way to or from a shooting range or a hunting trip, or to or from a gunsmith's shop. To make matters worse, local law enforcement and interpretation of these laws varies tremendously. Sight of a citizen with a gun that wouldn't cause a sheriff's deputy to blink an eye in Modoc County would be cause to call out a SWAT team in Alameda County. California's complicated laws make effective self defense outside of one's home quite difficult. Thankfully, California has not banned canes, walking sticks, and umbrellas. So my advice to Californians is to concentrate on stick fighting martial arts. Train regularly and don't leave home without your cane! And if you can, move out of California! Vote with your feet.

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Odds 'n Sods:

Wes at WK Books has been working on an index/reference of known U.S. Military manuals and publications. It is hard to find a comprehensive list of military manuals to get an idea of what is out there and what you may want to add to their personal reference library. Please do not confuse this index with his product (the 1600 U.S. Military Manuals, Government Manuals, and Civil Defense Manuals, Firearm Manuals). When printed out, the index of known U.S. Military manuals is 15 pages long and includes the last publication/updates by month/day/year. Wes told me that it is current as of May 16, 2008.

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Inyokern sent us this article: High Steel Prices: A Preview of Peak Oil. Inyokern's comment on the article: "Here's a canary in the coal mine. The high price of oil impacts the price of steel, impacting the cost of building or replacing equipment to make solutions to the cost of fuel and food." My comment: Of immediate concern is that the increased wholesale price of steel will soon work its way down to the consumer level. So if you are certain about any fencing projects at your retreat in the next two or three years, then buy the materials in advance. (Rolls of woven wire, rolls of barbed wire, smooth wire, T-posts, staples, et cetera.) Consider it part of your Alpha Strategy.

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More news from disarmed England: Airport-style scanners on the streets. In their socialist utopia, they want everyone equally disarmed. There are just two problems: 1.) Criminals, by definition, don't obey laws--only the law abiding citizens do, and they aren't the problem.2.) Even if they do succeed is disarming everyone, it will leave anyone that is smaller, older, or weaker at the mercy of those that are younger and stronger. (BTW, I find it ironic that the same liberals that champion women's rights also want to disarm them, putting them at a disadvantage to thugs. On average, men have about 50 percent more muscle mass than women in the upper body, and 10 to 15 percent more in the lower body.) My advice to SurvivalBlog's readers in England: Take the gap and emigrate to the US or New Zealand, soon!

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While web surfing, I stumbled into an interesting treatise on inflation by Michael W. Hodges.

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Jim's Quote of the Day:

“When I hear somebody sigh, 'Life is hard'; I am always tempted to ask, 'Compared to what?'” - Sydney J. Harris

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Sunday May 18 2008

Note from JWR:

With the author's permission, we present a guest editorial from economic commentator Darryl Robert Schoon. It was published May 12, 2008.

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Triage In Financial Markets, by Darryl Robert Schoon

Global financial markets are in extreme triage following the credit contraction of August 2007. It is believed central bankers are trying to restore markets to help the economy. In truth, they are like life insurance companies fighting to keep a wealthy patient alive so the high premiums will continue to be paid and the large death payout will be postponed. It has been only nine months since credit markets unexpectedly froze in August 2007. The central bankers who were surprised by the summer 2007 credit contraction now hope the danger has passed. But they are about to be surprised again and soon.

We are witness to the unraveling of historic levels of debt caused by central bank issuance of debt-based money. That such issuance over three hundred years has led to trillions of dollars in constantly increasing compounding debt is not unexpected. What is also not unexpected is that someday the debt could not be repaid. That realization is what happened in August 2007. Suddenly, buyers of debt, those in need of guaranteed downstream revenues realized $1.5 trillion of AAA rated subprime CDOs would not be repaid as expected. The consequences of that realization are now in motion.

When this happened, credit markets froze. The day of reckoning feared by kreditmeisters had arrived. Since then, central bankers have been furiously providing liquidity to banks, the intermediaries of credit, hoping to restore confidence in credit markets - but more liquidity will not restore confidence in debt any more than more money will satisfy the yearnings of the soul.
Once buyers of debt realized they could no longer trust AAA rated debt, the systemic risk to capitalism soared. The foundation of capitalism, a debt-based paper money system created by bankers, is confidence; and when a confidence game is being run, there is absolutely nothing more important than confidence.

When modern banking substituted credit driven debt-based paper money for gold and silver, every aspect of commerce was affected. Paper money with no intrinsic value, and its method of leverage, capitalism, are totally dependent on trust and confidence; and in August 2007, that confidence was shaken. Whether or not the damage is irreparable remains to be seen.
While credit driven paper money produces growth, it does so at the cost of stability. Today's multi-trillion dollar global economy is based on the banker's amalgam, an unsavory collection of credit, debt and speculative greed, a volatile combination that becomes increasingly unstable as it grows - and it has been growing now for over three hundred years.

Capitalism's Minsky Moment
The late economist, Hyman Minsky, is a name increasingly heard in these increasingly problematic times. Minsky's hypothesis was rather direct in its clarity, that as capital markets mature they became increasingly unstable, that over time investments become more speculative leading to heightened instability which culminates in market corrections whose severity is a function of previous excess.

Two excellent recent references to Minsky are: Thomas Tan's Introduction To Minsky Theory, and Doug Noland's Revisiting Financial Arbitrage Capitalism. Both articles will shed light on Minsky's explanations about why markets are collapsing and will continue to do so.

Time is a key ingredient in Minsky's observations on the instability of capital markets. Capital markets came into existence in 1694 when the Bank of England, its central bank, was established. The ensuing three hundred plus years have given capital markets more than enough time to mature - and collapse. Minsky's moment, the bane of maturing markets, is now at hand.

Debt - Cursed Be the Tie that Binds
The world is now bound as never before by the bonds of debt that cross national boundaries. Globalization is the name for the spread of England's central banking system that has given bankers increasing control over global productivity while endebting virtually all of humanity.

Capital markets built on credit and debt need to continually expand in order to service previously created compounding levels of debt. When only England was on a credit-based system, as long as England's empire expanded its increasing debts could be absorbed; but when England's expansion slowed, so too did its economy.

The conundrum of the necessity of continual economic expansion is now being played out on a global scale. Now, the entire world is based on England's debt-based central banking system; and, consequently, unless the world economy continues to expand, the commensurate expanding edifice of global debt will collapse.

When global credit markets imploded in August 2007, the contraction of the world economy began. Since then, despite the best efforts of central bankers, global growth has continued to slow; and, after the present contraction has finally run its course, the world will be a far different place than it is today.

It has been only nine months since credit markets froze and uncertainty replaced the smug hubris of the world's then sanguine bankers. Only a year ago, the IMF was predicting yet another year of strong growth, now they see otherwise.

When Everyone is Blind, the Blind Believe that They Can See
Today, bankers don't understand the trouble they are in because what is happening has never happened before - at least to them. The Great Depression was the last time a financial crisis happened on such a scale but the lessons of the Great Depression were those of another generation and lessons lost must be relearned by those who never knew them.

Unfortunately, we will learn the lessons together as we pay for what we collectively forgot and consciously denied. All of us, even the late comers to capital markets in Asia, are vulnerable to the sinking boat of credit and debt built by western bankers over the past three hundred years.

How Long it Floated, How Quickly it Sank
In May 2008 we are at the cusp of the crisis. Those still in denial hope we are closer to its end than its beginning; but, if we are, that means the descent will be quick and brutal instead of protracted and painfully slow. Either way, the end will be the same.

The daisy chain of debt constructed by bankers has now connected all of us, the solvent and insolvent alike. Personal solvency will provide but little protection when countries, relatives, neighbors, banks, and employers and employees become insolvent. Gold and silver will be among the few lifeboats and faith will be invaluable.

Note: I will be speaking at Professor Antal E. Fekete's Session IV of Gold Standard University Live (GSUL) July 3-6, 2008 in Szombathely, Hungary. If you are interested in monetary matters and gold, the opportunity to hear Professor Fekete should not be missed. A perusal of Professor Fekete's topics may convince you to attend. Professor Fekete, in my opinion, is a giant in a time of small men. - Darryl Robert Schoon

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Letter Re: Beyond First Aid--Where to Learn Medical Skills

Jim,
There has been a recent thread on learning medical skills. Studying the disasters like the recent Chinese earthquake, Myanmar storm and Tsunami teach us that in mass casualty situations like these, you can go a long way knowing how to deal with broken bones, lacerations and infections.
Imagine the help you could be if you could:

Apply a cast
Run an IV
Clean and dress a wound
Do minor suturing
Administer antibiotics from your medical kit

These skills can each be learned in a weekend. Sure, knowing how to manage an airway, insert a chest tube, decompress a pneumothorax and manually deliver a breech [presentation] baby are great to know but the basics will go a long way. My advice? Start with the Medical Corps [field medic] course and then follow up with National Procedures Institute for the suturing, Casting Workshop for casting and a phlebotomy course for IVs - SF in Hawaii

JWR Adds: The Medical Corps classes are excellent. I also recommend the Practical Medical Course taught by the Western Rifle Shooters Association. (This course is subtitled: "Field Expedient Medical Care for Outdoorsmen in Austere Environments.") Check their web site regularly, for announcements of course dates and locations. This modestly-priced training is led by an Emergency Room doctor with 35 years of experience.

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Odds 'n Sods:

Brent F. suggested this article from Australia's Courier Mail newspaper: Drivers face fuel ration shock.

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CDO Debt Could Pose Renewed Danger for Banks. (A hat tip to RBS for the link.)

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Nick recommended the text of a recent speech by geopolitical analyst Richard Maybury: You will be either a winner or a loser, there will be no middle ground. FWIW, I have been following Maybury's writings for more than 10 years, and I've found that he is right far more often than he's wrong. He was issuing dire warnings about the Islamic terrorist threat long before 9/11/01. I think that his premises about the implications of instability in "Chaostan" are essentially correct.

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Brenda at Mountain Brook Foods (one of our former advertisers) mentioned that since they have relocated to Idaho, they still need to close out their warehouse in Tracy, California. This is a great opportunity for anyone in Northern California to save on the cost of shipping. Until May 28th, they are selling full cases of storage foods (in nitrogen-purged #10 cans) with discounts of 40% to 75%. All orders will be shipped the last week of May, from California. Please indicate on your order if you would like to pick-up your order in person during the last week of May.

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Jim's Quote of the Day:

"I sought the Lord, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears." - Psalm 34:4

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Saturday May 17 2008

Note from JWR:

The high bid in the SurvivalBlog Benefit Auction. is now at $600. This big auction is for any of you that are gun enthusiasts. It includes 17 items: A four day "gray" transferable Front Sight course certificate, which was kindly donated by Naish Piazza of Front Sight (worth up to $2,000), a $200 gift certificate from Choate Machine and Tool Company (the makers of excellent fiberglass stocks, folding stocks, and shotgun magazine extensions), $450+ worth of full capacity magazines from my personal collection including five scarce original Ruger-made 20 round Mini-14 magazines, and an autographed copy of the book "Boston's Gun Bible." The total value of this 17 item auction lot is $2,700! Note: Because this auction includes full capacity magazines, no bids will be accepted from outside of the US or from a resident of any state with magazine restrictions. Please e-mail us your bids, in $10 increments.

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Letter Re: Do-It-Yourself Meat Canning

Dear Jim,
Here is some info that other like-minded survivalists might find useful.

There was a recent article on television about beef and chicken being priced very reasonable due to the fact that the market is being flooded by farmers trying to unload their product before it costs them more to feed and ship than they can sell it for. I checked it out and yep they were right. Sam's Club has boneless, skinless chicken breast and beef tip roast for less than 3 dollars a pound. I paid that same price for it a year ago.
Anyway, considering this, one might think, yes great deal, but other than freezing it, what do I do with it? What if the power goes out, then I have lost all my precious food.

I grew up in the mid-west where home canning was as common as corn and bean fields. Anyway, many people don't realize that you can also home can meat using a pressure canner. Yep, just like you do corn and beans, in Mason jars, with rings and lids. (The lids are commonly called "flats" in some parts of the country.)

Now if you are unfamiliar with this method, don't let it scare you off. In the beginning you will have to invest some money for a pressure canner, and also for jars, which come with rings and lids. You can find these at Wal-Mart, or your nearby hardware store. A canner will cost between 60 and 80 dollars, jars are from 7 to 10 dollars a dozen, including the rings and lids...and if you are real lucky and hit an estate sale or auction sale, you might come across jars really cheap..then you just have to purchase rings and lids. I prefer the Presto canner, which comes with a handy little book that tells you exactly how to can with it. Just follow the directions explicitly and Presto! One warning...do not use the advice out of an older canning method book. Many of the methods used years ago are no longer considered safe. But, if you follow the instructions with the canner, I personally feel that the food is actually safer than buying it in the store already canned. Consider that you know what you put in the jar, you know that it was done clean and sanitary. Remember to date your jars and rotate [your inventory] just like you would any other canned food. And as far as price: Have you priced a can of Spam lately?

Once you have invested in the initial jars and rings, you can reuse them, if you stock up a nice stock of lids. When you are living at your retreat and bring home a nice deer, rabbit, fish, quail...etc, etc, you can do the same with it. It is really very simple. Virtually you wash and cut up the meat in small pieces, put it in clean jars, adjust the lids and follow the simple instructions that are in the little canner booklet. It sure beats Spam and Vienna sausages. Take it from a Hurricane Katrina-surviving granny, no more Spam for me. Also, you do not necessarily have to have the best cuts of meat because pressure cooking is a natural tenderizer, this would be great with wild game that might not be the most tender. Even though it is prudent to stock up salt, it is not necessary to add salt as a preservative when you can meat in this method.

The canned meat comes in very handy in everyday life. When you come in tired and need a quick meal, you can do most anything with it. Just heat it and turn it into fajitas, chicken or beef with noodles or rice, chili, manhattan sandwiches. The uses are endless.

Also, this is not just a girl thing...my husband enjoys helping can as much as I do. It is the finished product that is so impressive. To me the initial cost is well worth it considering the need to preserve meat and veggies etc. WTSHTF. Just be sure to stock up on lids. I also hear there are some reusable lids and am currently checking into them online.

Hope this helps someone to prepare. - Survival Nanna

JWR Replies: Thanks for that suggestion. BTW, don't overlook canning fish. Canned fish typically has a shelf life that is longer than other meats. It is noteworthy that there will be no legal salmon fishing on the California and Oregon coast this year. This production shortfall is likely to increase the price of canned salmon from Alaska. For now, canned salmon can still be found for as little as $1.69 per standard 14.75 ounce tapered can. Stock up. In a year, you will be glad that you did!

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Letter Re: Long Term Storage Food Vendors are Now Painfully Short on Inventory

Hi Jim,
I would be interested in you analysis of this: Nitro-Pak, is not even accepting orders for #10 cans of food.

Emergency Essentials, (www.BePrepared.com) is out of over half of their #10 can selection.

Notice that [presently] you cannot order even wheat in cans or pails.

Is this happening throughout the food storage industry? What is up with all this? - Paul D

JWR Replies: The storage food industry is relatively small and simply doesn't have the capacity to handle orders from more than 1% or 2% of the population. Because of the recent headlines about global food shortages and galloping price increases, that capacity limit has been reached.

From what I 've heard, many of the vendors have orders backed up by three months or more. In some instances they've been told by the food packing companies (their wholesale suppliers) that they cannot guarantee or even commit to estimating a shipment date. It is no wonder that some vendors have suspended taking new orders.

The bottom line: The food storage concept is going mainstream. So expect long delays in order fulfillment. Please patronize SurvivalBlog's paid advertisers first. They deserve your business. Some of these vendors presently have some canned storage foods in stock, available for immediate delivery,. But with the Generally Dumb Public finally waking up, don't expect this product availability to continue much longer.
UPDATED on Saturday May 17th: I just got word that for the time being, Mountain House has suspended taking any new orders on their freeze dried foods in #10 cans.

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Letter Re: Advice on an Underground Fuel Tank Installation and Use

Mr. Rawles:
Can you direct me to where I can learn how to bury 300 gallon fuel tanks correctly? Also, how to get the fuel out if there is no power. Thanks, - Mark T.

JWR Replies: Unless you expect to use your fuel tank on a daily basis, then I recommend that you install just a manual (hand) pump. These are available from most tank dealers.

If it will be buried in rocky ground, first put down a 4-inch layer of sand, to minimize risk of punctures during installation. Otherwise, burial is pretty straightforward. Be sure to read this general guide on preventing leaks that was published by Oklahoma State University, and this fuel tank safety document, published by the state of North Dakota.

If you buy a used tank, have it pressure tested. If you are getting a steel tank, a coating of asphalt emulsion--although it is a messy job--will extend the life of your tank. Also, talk to your tank dealer about installing a sacrificial zinc anode for cathodic corrosion protection. Together, those two measures can greatly extend the life of a steel tank.

OBTW, see my reply to this posted letter for some ideas on camouflaging your tank's pump head, to prevent fuel thefts.

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Odds 'n Sods:

Micah flagged this Fox Business video clip with some speculation about a possible war with Iran and a resultant spike in the price of crude oil.

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Kevin A., RBS, and Tim P. all mentioned a news article over at the Silver Bear Cafe that focuses on one of our least favorite Nanny States, California: Not-So-Safe-Deposit Boxes: States Seize Citizens' Property to Balance Their Budgets

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"Viking Eric" mentioned a company in England that creates houses out of CONEXes.

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Mike the Blacksmith sent us this: Fed's Discount Window Loans to Banks Climb to Record Level

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Jim's Quote of the Day:

"In political life today, you are considered compassionate if you demand that government impose your preferences on others." - John Stossel

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Friday May 16 2008

Notes from JWR:

Congrats to Mark L., the high bidder in the SurvivalBlog benefit auction that ended last night.

Today we begin a new SurvivalBlog Benefit Auction. This big auction is for any of you that are gun enthusiasts. It includes 17 items: A four day "gray" transferable Front Sight course certificate, which was kindly donated by Naish Piazza of Front Sight (worth up to $2,000), a $200 gift certificate from Choate Machine and Tool Company (the makers of excellent fiberglass stocks, folding stocks, and shotgun magazine extensions), $450+ worth of full capacity magazines from my personal collection including five scarce original Ruger-made 20 round Mini-14 magazines, and an autographed copy of the book "Boston's Gun Bible." The total value of this 17 item auction lot is $2,700! Note: Because this auction includes full capacity magazines, no bids will be accepted from outside of the US or from a resident of any state with magazine restrictions. The opening bid is just $100. Please e-mail us your bids, in $10 increments.

The following is another article for Round 16 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The writer of the best non-fiction article will win two valuable four day "gray" transferable Front Sight course certificates. (Worth up to $4,000!) Second prize is a copy of my "Rawles Gets You Ready" preparedness course, generously donated by Jake Stafford of Arbogast Publishing. Round 16 ends on May 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entries. Remember that articles that relate practical "how to" skills for survival will have an advantage in the judging.

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How To Prepare for Radiation Emergencies, by KLK

Scenario 1
You are sitting at your retreat, enjoying the scenery, when you hear on the radio that there has just been a nuclear weapon that has detonated in a contiguous State . You decide to run into your shelter. After a few days in there, you start to wonder when it might be safe to come out. You also wonder if you would have been better off evacuating and getting as far away from the radiation source as possible.

A radiation disaster is a scenario for which we must be prepared. It may be from a radiological source, such as a nuclear reactor accident, or from nuclear devices, such as a nuclear weapon.
Much of what we know about radiation exposure comes from accidents such as Chernobyl [nuclear power plant disaster] and [the bombing of] Hiroshima [and Nagasaki]. With the nuclear reactor accident in Chernobyl (1986), 70% of the contamination fell on 26% of Belarus. 400,000 people were evacuated and 50,000 km squared was restricted and removed from use. The isotopes included Cs137, Cs134, Sr90, I131, and Pu239, with an estimated 114 Million Curies entering the environment. Untoward effects from this accident included 31 initial deaths, 300 injuries and hospitalizations, 150,000 abortions, $ 3 billion spent in emergency response, $500 million spent to compensate Italian farmers, 10,000 reindeer slaughtered, and an increase in cancer (mostly thyroid cancer, many years after the incident).

It is estimated that if a large US city (population 1 million) was hit by a 10-Kiloton (KT) nuclear device, that it would produce the following casualties:

>13,000 prompt fatalities
Approximately 114,000 expectant fatalities (>830 cSv)
Approximately 90,000 requiring ICU support (530-830 cSv)
Approximately 141,000 requiring either ICU or minimum care ward (300-530 cSv)
Approximately 150,000 requiring a minimum care ward (150-300 cSv)
Approximately 159,000 requiring outpatient therapy (70-150cSv)
Approximately 128,000 requiring health monitoring (25-70cSv)
Approximately 212,000 worried [but] well (<25>

The healthcare system is not ready or able to cope with this magnitude of casualties. That brings us to: What should you do?
The mechanism of injury from a nuclear device is 3 fold: blast, heat and radiation. Assuming a 10-KT burst, people within a 0.55 km radius of the explosion fall within a “blast injury circle” and have a high immediate fatality rate. People within a 0.9 km radius of the explosion fall within a “prompt radiation circle”, and people within a 2.1 km radius fall within the “thermal circle” and suffer 2nd degree burns. If you are outside of these 3 circles, you may suffer from radiation fallout. The amount of fallout you are exposed to is determined by 3 factors: length of time exposed, distance from the original explosion, and how much shielding there is between you and the radioactive source.

To minimize radiation exposure, you will want to reduce your time exposed, increase your distance from the source and have as much shielding as possible. This can lead to a dilemma if faced with this scenario: should you evacuate your retreat (increase your distance from the source), or should you stay and go into your shelter (increase your shielding)? The answer to this question will depend on whether or not you have a shelter, how far away from the initial source you are, the strength of the nuclear device, and the weather conditions. Even if you have a shelter, you may be forced to evacuate due to your proximity to the radiation source (Remember Chernobyl where 50,000 square kilometers were deemed unusable). It can take many months and sometimes years to clean up after a Radiation Event. Most people don’t have shelters that will sustain them for that long. Unfortunately, if faced with this scenario, you will have limited time to make your decision, for if you decide to evacuate you will want to do it immediately to reduce your exposure time, and before the roads get jammed with people. Thus, it would be useful to know a few basic equations to help you make your decision.

Radiation exposure follows the inverse square law- exposure reduction is proportional to the inverse square of the distance. Radiation is measured in Gray. If the source produces 10 Gy/hour at 1 meter, the exposure will be 2.5 Gy/hour at 2 meters (10 divided by 2 squared). The worst case scenario could produce up to 50-100 Gy/hour at the site of the explosion. With this information, you can calculate your exposure based on how far away you are from the radiation source. You must also keep in mind the weather conditions. If your calculation reveals a total body dose of <0.7 Gy, the radiation effect will be minimal, and you should be safe to stay at your retreat.

Scenario 2
You decided to stay at your retreat with some type of shelter, but after 12 hours a family member starts vomiting. Should you take them to the hospital which you know will be full of victims or should you stay isolated?
The key to treating radiation victims is knowing what dose of radiation they received. All medical decisions are based on the dose estimate.
There are many ways to determine dose of exposure, most of which require a hospital visit and laboratory tests. Without access to prompt healthcare, the easiest way to determine dose is to record the time from radiation exposure until the time the victim starts vomiting. Then use the information below to estimate the dose the victim received (measured in Gray):

Time To Onset of Vomiting Post Accident/Terrorist Act

Hours to Vomiting	Estimated Dose (Gray)
20	0.1
7	0.5
5	1
2	5
1	10
0.8	20
0.5	50
0.3	100

Use that number for the following interventions:
If they received a dose of <>not be significantly affected by the radiation and they do not need to be hospitalized.

If they received a dose of 0.7-5 Gy, their lymphocytes (cells in the blood that fight infection) will dramatically decrease. This happens within the first 1-2 days and puts them at a very high risk of infection. Their hemoglobin and red blood cells will also decrease at 30 days after exposure and they will become very anemic. With good supportive care, the blood counts will recover by 60 days post exposure. Treatment includes IV fluids, antibiotics and colony stimulating factors. These are the people who benefit the most from being admitted to the hospital because they need the colony stimulating factors (which are not able to be stored at a retreat). My advice would be to take them into the hospital. If this is not feasible, they must be quarantined for at least 60 days. If they do not get an infection, there is a good chance they will live.

If they were exposed to a dose of 6-15 Gy, the predominant effect will be on their gastrointestinal system- this means profuse, bloody diarrhea and dehydration, starting at 5-7 days post exposure. It is also often associated with severe nausea/vomiting and fever. Treatment includes specific antibiotics, GI nutrition, IV fluids and early cytokine therapy for 5 or more weeks. These people will also benefit from hospitalization if feasible. Survival is possible, but unlikely.

If they were exposed to > 15 Gy, the effect will be on their cardiovascular system and central nervous system. This leads to brain swelling and death within 2-3 days. It is associated with a 100% mortality rate and the best care would be to provide them with pastoral care and to keep them comfortable. There is nothing medically that can be done to save their life.

Scenario 3
You decide to make a trip into town to pick up some supplies. It’s around 10 a.m. and you are walking down the street. All of a sudden you hear a loud explosion and see pieces of shrapnel flying. There are casualties all around you from the scrap metal. You are thankful that none of it hit you. Then you hear someone yell “It was a Dirty Bomb!” You think to yourself, “A Dirty Bomb! What should I do?”
A “Dirty Bomb” is a radiological dispersion device which combines a conventional explosive with a radioactive material. It is not a nuclear weapon, nor a weapon of mass destruction; however, it is a weapon of mass disruption. The impact depends on the type of explosive, amount and type of radioactive material and the weather conditions.

Immediate deaths or serious injuries would likely result from the explosion itself. It is unlikely that the radioactive material would kill anyone. The radioactive material would be dispersed into the air and reduced to relatively low concentrations. Low level exposure to radioactive contamination could slightly increase your long term risk of cancer (mostly thyroid cancer). There would be significant impact by causing fear, panic and disruption. Clean up would be costly and could take many months.

Consider this example: In Goiania, Brazil, 1987, 1375 Ci of Cs-137 spread throughout a neighborhood. It was an accident (not a terrorist event), and yet it caused mass panic and fear. Ultimately, 112,000 people were screened, out of which 249 had detectable contamination. Four victims died within four weeks and 20 were hospitalized. Site remediation took months to complete (Oct 1987-March 1988). Can you imagine the impact if it had been a planned event?

Dirty bombs can expose one to radiation both externally and internally. Internal contamination can occur through inhalation (nose, mouth) or absorption (wound in the skin). The radiation is typically deposited in the thyroid, liver, lung and bone. It is not acutely life threatening.

When dealing with a victim of radiation contamination, act as if they were contaminated with raw sewage. Protect yourself with clothes, mask, and gloves and use standard medical emergency procedures (Airway/Breathing/Circulation). Decontaminate after the victim is stabilized. Removing their clothing and washing with soap and water is 95%+ effective at decontaminating. Treat with fluids, anti-emetics (anti-nausea), anti-diarrheals and pain medication.

There are also blocking and diluting agents, but these are isotope specific:
For Radioactive Iodine (I-131), use Potassium Iodide (KI) - must be given within 4 hours after the exposure, see the dosing chart below
For Strontium-85 and Strontium-90, use calcium, aluminum, barium
For Tritium, use ordinary water (force fluids for 3 days)
For the Transuramics (Plutonium, Americium, Curium, Californium), use DTPA 1 gram intravenously (must be given within 24 hours after the exposure)
For Cesium, use Prussian Blue 1 gram orally three times a day for three weeks

There are two problems with the blocking agents: First, you often don’t know what the isotope identity is until after it is too late to administer the blocking agent. There is no easy way to determine which isotopes were included in the bomb and you will need to rely on medical personnel to provide you with this information. Secondly, most of the blocking agents are not readily available. The only exception is KI, which is easily purchased through many of the SurvivalBlog advertisers. You are fortunate if you have DTPA or Prussian Blue stored away, but most people don’t.

In the absence of knowing what isotopes were in the dirty bomb, my advice would be to have as much fluid as possible (to dilute tritium). I would also take KI if you have some. If I-131 was in the bomb, the KI will protect your thyroid gland (and possible cancer later in life). It must be taken within 4 hours after the exposure. If I-131 was not in the explosive, the KI is safe with minimal side effects. If you decide to take some, use the following dosing chart:
Adults 18 and older: 130 mg of KI
Pregnant/Lactating females: 130 mg KI
Children age 3-18 years: 65 mg KI
1 month-3 years: 32 mg KI
Birth-1 month: 16 mg KI

In summary, the radiological/nuclear threat is real! Mass casualties in your area are possible, but radiation injury is treatable.

JWR Adds: Some readers might not be familiar with the term Gray--the standard unit of measurement for radiation exposure, that replaced REM (Roentgen Equivalent, Man), and RAD (Radiation Absorbed Dose). For us Bomb Shelter Era dinosaurs, conversion from Grays are as follows.

1 Gy equals 100 rad
1 mGy equals 100 mrad
1 Sv equals 100 rem
1 mSv equals 100 mrem

Stocking up on KI tablets is inexpensive, so every family should keep a supply on hand. In 1985, I was stationed in West Germany and was briefly down-wind of Chernobyl. At the time I wished that I had some KI available! Anyone that lives in an urban area should have a Nuk-Alert "key fob" radiation detector. That way you won't have to wait for word from someone else to determine whether or not a nearby bomb explosion was a dirty bomb. Nuk-Alerts are available from several SurvivalBlog advertisers.

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Gun Buy-Up Programs as a Method for Firearms Battery Upgrades

Hi Jim:
Just wanted to let you know that my teen-age sons are reading "Patriots", (the latest edition). I appreciate that your book is one that a father can allow his children to read, because it isn't filled with sex scenes. While I'm sure my sons are not ignorant about such things, there is no reason to shove their faces in it constantly.

The real reason for this e-mail is to give you and the readers another idea for raising funds for purchases, and best of all, you get the funds from liberals!
Several months ago, we had a "gun buy back" in the two neighboring cities where I live. I had been waiting for just this type of event, because I had eleven junk guns to turn in. I only turned in ten, because the lady in line in front of me traded me a 4" S&W K-22, target "combat masterpiece" for an old, bolt action 20 gauge.

Before the readers start burning me in effigy, let me note that the shotgun was the best of the guns to be turned in. The rest were junk that had been given to me by friends who know that I am "into" tinkering with broken firearms. The H&R .22 revolver that I had fixed would not group into the side of a barn from the inside, an old Remington .22 rifle with scope grooves hand ground with a side grinder (no kidding) did not function reliably, the other guns were the same level of worth. I could not morally sell or even give someone a firearm that I knew to be extremely unreliable, so this was my chance to get something for guns that were one step from being boat anchor material.

Now the best part is, if the gun was deemed to be "functional" the owner was given $75, "non functional" guns were worth $50 this was in the form of gift cards to a major "big-box" store that sells almost everything, including fuel and ammo. The store gift cards were a parts of the cards donated, others were from grocery stores and restaurants. I ended up with over $600, and a decent K-22.

Almost every gun nut that I know has a few guns that are absolute junk and probably unsafe to fire. If it is a quality made gun that has just seen too many hard times, first check with someone knowledgeable about collector guns. If it truly is "junk" then save what parts might be salvageable, (sights, magazines, springs, pins, etc.) and put them in an envelope with the make, model, and caliber of gun they were from. Some people have guns that were in a house fire and were badly damaged. This is a chance to salvage some value for them.

By the way, a friend of mine was watching the whole event, and he told me that out of approximately 150 guns turned in, perhaps four were of decent quality. It seems that gun owners were using the opportunity to get cash (or near cash) for junk. The big giveaway was when they asked for the gun cases back. All the best, - Raggedyman

JWR Replies: Thanks for that tip. OBTW, I refuse to use the term gun "Buy Back", since it is Orwellian Newspeak. How can these liberal love fests be a "Buy Backs' if the government (or other sponsor of these idiotic programs) never owned the guns in the first place? So properly, they should be called Buy-Ups.

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Odds 'n Sods:

More Gloom und Doom from Ambrose Evans-Pritchard: The global slump of 2008-09 has begun as poison spreads. It sounds like he's been reading SurvivalBlog. Don't listen to the Wall Street pundits at CNBC who assure us that there will be a jolly "soft landing,"

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Thanks to Chester for sending this: US foreclosure filings surge 65 percent in April. As I've mentioned before in SurvivalBlog: Anyone that does not yet own a rural retreat should watch the foreclosure listings carefully. There may some tremendous bargains in the next few years that are right in your "ideal" retreat locale region. Two foreclosure monitoring services that I recommend are RealtyTrac.com and Foreclosures.com.

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From Reader Tim P.: Zimbabwe Introduces a Z$500 Million Note.

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RBS found this one from The Washington Post: Growing Deficits Threaten Pensions--Accounting Tactics Conceal a Crisis For Public Workers

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Jim's Quote of the Day:

"To be thrown upon one's own resources, is to be cast into the very lap of fortune; for our faculties then undergo a development and display an energy of which they were previously unsusceptible." Benjamin Franklin

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Thursday May 15 2008

Note from JWR:

The SurvivalBlog Benefit Auction ends tonight (May 15th) at midnight eastern time. The high bid is now at $350. This auction is for four items: A FoodSaver GameSaver Turbo Plus heavy duty food vacuum packaging system (a retail value of $297) kindly donated by Ready Made Resources an autographed copy of : "Rawles on Retreats and Relocation", an autographed copy of "SurvivalBlog: The Best of the Blog", and a copy of "The Encyclopedia of Country Living", by the late Carla Emery. The four items have a combined retail value of around $395. Please e-mail us your bids, in $10 increments before midnight eastern time.

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Letter Re: Household Food Costs Escalating in England

Jim,
It is not just USA that may is seeing food and fuel prices increase, here on the other side of the pond in the UK we are see the same.
Problem here is that out government are trying to persuade us that inflation is low. Due to keep moving the goal posts and accounting methods.
There is now a worldwide crisis over supplies of key crops such as corn, wheat and rice that has triggered food riots in some countries. In the UK it has brought the biggest rises in bills in a generation.

A family which spent £100 a week on food last year now has to find another £19.10 for the same products, equivalent to £993 a year. Once "must-pay" bills for petrol, mortgages, power and council tax are added, the extra cost is more like £2,200.

Yet the official inflation rate is just 2.6 percent. Experts say a worldwide drive to produce biofuels – made from corn, wheat and soya as an alternative to oil – is a major factor.
Many farmers have switched from food production to biofuel crops. The effect of biofuels on food prices has been dramatic. A litre of corn oil has more than doubled in a year, to £1.38, in one of the big supermarkets. Fusilli pasta, made from wheat, is up 81 per cent, a baguette by 41 per cent and Weetabix cereal 21 per cent.

Farmers are also facing huge increases in feed bills, leading to dearer meat and dairy products. Milk is up 16.6 percent, English butter by 62 percent and mild cheddar by 25.6 percent.
Basmati rice is up more than 60 per cent in 12 months and Britain's biggest supplier, Tilda, has warned of a further rise of around 30 per cent in the coming year.
The soaring price of oil is the second major factor battering consumers. Figures from the AA show the cost of diesel has risen by a quarter in the past year, while unleaded petrol is up 15.4 percent.
The higher price of oil is dragging up the cost of both gas and electricity. How much longer can this go on?

There are more details in this Daily Mail news article. Regards, - Norman in England

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Two Letters Re: Triage in Emergency Mass Critical Care (EMCC) Events

Jim:
Two minor notes:regarding the letter from DS in Wisconsin:
Pulse Oximeters are cheaper now than ever. Some drug companies give them away as promo's. You can find them online starting well under $100, some nearer to $50. These are battery operated self-contained finger clamp units, but I've seen nurses at more than one hospital using them to take vitals.

Secondly, while it is possible to ventilate a patient by hand for long term, it is not very practical. You'd need a staff of dedicated people that are willing to perform a laborious and painful task for hours on end, rest a bit, and then go in for another shift, and to keep this up for days or longer. If you don't think it is painful, then practice by squeezing one of your dog's larger squeaky toys non-stop for, say, 3 hours. Do it in one place, without moving the toy, and while you are standing up. Don't stop for more than 30 seconds or your squeaky toy will die. You will need to keep this up for the entire duration that the patient needs ventilation, or the patient will expire. While you might be able to pull this off for one family member during a crisis, to plan on using this method for treating mass casualties in an outbreak is more than a little bit optimistic.- Patrick M.

Jim,
In response to the e-mail from DS in Wisconsin: There’s no way anyone can BVM (bag-valve-mask) aka ventilate a patient over an extended period of time, it’s strictly for transporting patients (usually under half an hour). There are several “disaster” ventilators available that rely on purely mechanical ventilation and will function over a longer period of time (think bird flu). Do a web search on “surevent” for an example. Individual pricing for these “disaster” vents is usually under $100. For patients who can breath on their own, do a web search on “bubble CPAP”, a device that can be manufactured at home. In all cases you will need a source of air and/or oxygen that has absolutely no oil residue (remember how a diesel engine works?)—use commercial medical grade compressed gases/compressors only.

As a clinical engineer, I often wonder where people get their ideas. Pulse oximetry (SpO2) is not a reliable indicator of oxygen perfusion, although from an equipment standpoint, it is the cheapest indicator. If you have critical needs, or money to burn, end tidal CO2 (etCO2) is the way to go.

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Odds 'n Sods:

Thanks to Yishai for sending us this interesting article link: Five Modern Secret Room Dreams (and Nightmares): From Creative Hideouts to Dreadful Spaces

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Samuel K. flagged this: Are Backyard Ethanol Brewers an Answer to High-Priced Gas? In the context of Schumeresque days, such systems would only make sense in a place like Hawaii, where it could expected that grid power might be available, and cane sugar is readily available. Used in CONUS, I predict that grid power or transport disruptions would quickly transform these systems into just quaint ornaments. And of course these systems make E100 (pure ethanol) . This is great for Brazil, where there are lots of E100-compatible cars and trucks on the road, but at least for now this is essentially worthless in the US, where there are virtually no E100 cars and trucks available.

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Tom from CampingSurvival.com demonstrates how to use a magnesium fire starter. OBTW, a pill bottle stuffed tightly full of cotton balls should be stowed with your magnesium fire starter at all times, since you never know when you might have to start a fire in wet weather and/or with limited natural tinder available. I have pill bottle full of cotton balls attached to my Blast Match, at all times.

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Lawrence T. suggested an interesting albeit lengthy blog article that discusses the combined impact of fuel costs and JIT inventory systems: J.I.I.T.

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Jim's Quote of the Day:

"You can call a survivalist irrational.
You can call a survivalist reactionary.
You can even call a survivalist stupid.
But there's one thing you can't call a survivalist: unprepared." - Thomas Greene

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Wednesday May 14 2008

Note from JWR:

The SurvivalBlog Benefit Auction ends tomorrow night at midnight, eastern time. The high bid is now at $350. This auction is for four items: A FoodSaver GameSaver Turbo Plus heavy duty food vacuum packaging system (a retail value of $297) kindly donated by Ready Made Resources an autographed copy of : "Rawles on Retreats and Relocation", an autographed copy of "SurvivalBlog: The Best of the Blog", and a copy of "The Encyclopedia of Country Living", by the late Carla Emery. The four items have a combined retail value of around $395. Please e-mail us your bids, in $10 increments.

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Range Test and Product Review: Rock River Arms LAR-8 .308 Mid-Length A4 Carbine, by Michael Z. Williamson

After many delays for many reasons, I finally have my hands on a LAR-8, which is Rock River Arms' entry into the AR-10 clone market. This model is the LAR-8 16" carbine, flattop, MSRP $1,100.

The rifle arrived in a sturdy bright blue case, compartmented to fit a disassembled rifle of each length, with one magazine, manual, everything wrapped in plastic. This is a heavy rifle compared to an AR15, at 8.1 lbs (for a carbine, remember), but is quite reasonable for a .308.

From the rear: The buttstock is a standard 6 position, and aftermarket stocks will fit, likewise for the Hogue grip. The internals are proprietary, but it appears that standard AR fire control parts will fit. The trigger felt really odd, almost hair trigger, until we weighed it right about 6 pounds. It is just exceptionally crisp with a very sweet let-off. The fire control switch is right-handed only, which is a little odd, since the magazine release is ambidextrous (button on each side), and the bottom-mounted bolt release is, also. It appears that standard handguards will fit, too.
The controls are easy to reach. I do like the bolt release. Insert a magazine, brush downward with thumb, and it clacks into battery. Operation was flawless for the full day. This is on the rifle as delivered, with no oil, teardown, anything. It chambered and fired every time, and there were no hitches.

Here's one of the prime selling points: The rifle is advertised to, and does, accept metric and inch FAL magazines. I had a little more trouble with inch mags, but I suspect they were older. I bought ten at a gun show for $50. That's enough magazines for 210 rounds of ammunition (nine 20 round, one 30 round). That's about the price for just one of the competitor's magazine. Feed and function was fine with both, assuming the magazine was good. At that price, though, one can buy a case and keep the tight ones for spare parts.

The weapon is tight, well-made, with excellent fit and finish. It is well-balanced and comfortable. It felt very robust and durable, though as a loaner, I didn't do an all-out abuse test. If you are familiar with the AR-15, the only relevant differences for handling are the weight and the location of the bolt release, which is lower than one is trained for, but easily managed. Since most of us slap the paddle as the hand goes down anyway, there's no problem adapting to carrying the motion to the base of the magazine well. Other minor differences are the much heavier recoil spring, and the previously-mentioned excellent if unusual trigger.

The rifle came without iron sights on this model (other models have M16A2 style sights). This was a minor problem. I have excellent scopes, but no riser to bring them high enough above the receiver, and no mountable front sight. I managed by attaching one of my EoTechs. The EoTech is a combat sight, not intended for long range precision, but seemed to work well enough. I was within 8" of center with the first shot (before zeroing). That's good enough for combat shooting at 100 yards.

Weather: 64° F, 62% relative humidity, Barometric pressure 29.87 and falling, elevation 630 ft above sea level.
Using South African surplus R1M1, 204W, Lot A11/80, I was able to keep 4" groups of 20 rounds. This is 4 MOA, with 30 year old ammo, a short barrel, a combat sight with a red dot shooting at a red target. I find this acceptable.

With US [military] surplus Lot 1-80, three shot groups ranged from 2.125" to 2.375", very consistently.

Using US military match grade XM118 LR PD (2002, Lake City), our groups ranged from 1.125" to 1.6", median 1.375". This is well within the 1.5 MOA accuracy promised, using an inadequate sight. I am impressed and satisfied. A good handloader could probably break 1 MOA, and this is with the 16" carbine, not the 26" heavy barreled "varmint" rifle.

I would suggest Rock River make the fire selector switch ambidextrous, since all other controls are. That's the only improvement I can think of.

It cleaned easily, with a little more room to get inside than an AR-15. The bolt cam pin appears to go in sideways compared to an AR-15 (rotated 90 degrees). The firing pin is longer. Everything fit well, had a good metal surface and a very dark parkerized finish.

For those of you wanting .308 power and range with the AR's handling, welcome home. For those wanting a reasonably priced precision rifle for target shooting, hunting, or SHTF, you'll be hard-pressed to do better than a Rock River LAR-8. The availability of AR-platform accessories and mods are significant points in favor of both, as are the dirt-cheap military surplus FAL magazines. One can buy the rifle and included case, customize stocks, grips, handguards and mechanicals, load 200 and more rounds in magazines, and still be money ahead of a competing AR-10 clone. Add in the exceptional accuracy and strength, and it tops my list.- Michael Z. Williamson

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Two Letters Re: Triage in Emergency Mass Critical Care (EMCC) Events

Dear Jim,
This letter is in response to NC Bluedog's very informative article that appeared today. Here in rural Wisconsin, we have the same problems as he noted--shortage of high-technology life-saving devices. This is due to the overall situation that our medical care industry is dollar-driven. He have a small hospital, and two more within a 15 minute dash via ambulance. Each hospital has at least a four-bed Intensive Care Unit (ICU) with a ventilator per bed, and at least two extra ventilators that can be used outside of their ICUs. Beyond that, there are none available. Extra units would have to be imported from major hospitals within the state. To get these units would take time, along with the funding to lease them--providing the disaster is confined to my area. The hospitals in my area are not sufficiently wealthy to do this in a mass emergency event.

So, in a TEOTWAWKI situation, what can you or I do? There is a solution. Each EMT and Paramedic have in their Rescue bags, a set of airways and a bag-valve mask. Some even have a device called a "Pulse Oximeter." This unit measures the amount of oxygen in the blood. When an airway, bag mask, and Pulse Oximeter are used in conjunction with each other, you have a primitive ventilator. There are more devices that are available to the EMT/Paramedic, but all require more advanced training in their use. I won't go that way here. However, to use these devices requires training, and I suggest that you enroll in the proper program to use them correctly. The only down-side to ventilating a patient in this manner is very time-consuming and labor-intensive. If you must do this for any length of time, I suggest you have several individuals willing to take over and give the proper ventilations to the patient. This method is used in our hospitals as a back-up should there be a ventilator failure.

How much does this cost? The basic set of six airways will run approximately less than $5, and bag-valve-mask starts at approximately $10 and goes up, and the killer is the Pulse Oximeter. I've seen them advertised starting at $300 and continue on up through the roof. If you are a family, and have the need for such a unit, (an asthmatic child, etc.) talk to your insurance company and see what can be done. If you are a member of a group, talk it over and have each member donate toward the cost. Then get proper training. These units together are not hard to use or understand. Think about this when you have your next group meeting. All of these devices can be purchased Over The Counter (OTC) from the better Medical/EMT supply companies.

I hope this small solution will answer a lingering question that any of you have concerning the availability of ventilators in an emergency. Start thinking about, and plan for, the addition of airway management tools to your medical preps. Doing so now will give you an edge up when the day comes. - DS in Wisconsin

Jim:
The other dirty secret that isn't described is that at some point, you will run into staffing issues. I'm an Intensive Care nurse at a big teaching hospital, and I find the challenge of a complex patient: managing ventilators and "dancing on the vasopressors" is second nature and even quite fun.
NC Bluedog makes a good point that the hospitals are chronically short of staff an money, but let's play with the idea further. We'll grant that we've been able to find intrepid and dutiful nurses and physicians who will work for free and will work more than a hundred hours a week. And the Ventilator Fairy drops all of the vents (and warmers, IV pumps, heart monitors, Swan-Ganz monitors, etc, etc, etc...) that we need. Even with the Hollywood Scenario, at some point there will not be staff. Certainly in an outbreak, but I wonder about it often during especially bad flu and pneumonia seasons. There will be no staff because they're all out sick themselves (the stress and long hours having weakened their immune system in the face of super bugs, or just the "run-of-the-mill the native drug-resistant ones we have in the hospitals now), or because they've got a sick family member to care for. Or they have their own kids to look after- recall earlier this year when Singapore (or was it Hong Kong?) closed the schools for two weeks to prevent the spread of an especially bad infection. Someone's going to have to stay home with all those quarantined kids. I can't put them in day care while I head to the hospital after all.
And at some point the devotion to duty will start to fail. Even with the threat of lost licenses (State Boards of Nursing frown on folks who walk away from their patients or who don't show up when needed), folks will feel the need to be home with their kith and kin.
And that's when we reach Kunstler's "World Made by Hand" - Regards, Michael G.

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Odds 'n Sods:

R.E. found a link to this map of the population density of the US, Mexico, and Canada. Do you see why I prefer the Western US for retreats? Too bad that Canada has a frigid climate (inland) and such draconian gun laws. Otherwise, much of western Canada would be ideal. See my free Recommended Retreat Areas web page for more detail on my recommendations, and my nonfiction book "Rawles on Retreats and Relocation" for even greater detail, with some very useful accompanying maps.)

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Eric sent us this: Hard-hit consumers turn to Amish--People save by buying 'scratch and dent' and reclaimed grocery items

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Brent mentioned this article about Australian farmers sowing a record-breaking number of hectares in wheat: Sowing, Not Sewing. And speaking of wheat, Bob G. sent us this alarming article:
UN alert: One-fourth of world's wheat at risk from new fungus

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Kevin suggested this piece from Slate: Gauging the risk of an inadvertent nuclear war.

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Jim's Quote of the Day:

"Oppression can only survive through silence." - Carmen de Monteflores