Yellowstone supervolcano much bigger than thought. Should you worry?

According to a new study the hot molten rock beneath Yellowstone National Park is 2 ½ times larger than previously estimated, meaning the supervolcano has the potential to erupt with a force about 2,000 times the size of the Mount St. Helens.


Yellowstone has had three eruptions in the past 2.1 million years. If you look at its past history the supervolcano would seem to erupt about every 700,000 years. Give or take a few 10s of thousands of years. As the last eruption happened 640,000 years ago we are probably due for one in the next 50 or 60 thousand years. However with only three eruptions in the past 2.1 million years, basing any estimates of something possibly happening every 700,000 years or so is risky

Most experts do believe there will be another eruption, they just don't know when. However there are so many instruments and researchers monitoring the activity in Yellowstone that we would likely have at least a few weeks or possibly even years notice of a pending eruption. However some people point out that as Scientists have never witnessed the eruption of a supervolcano we don't really know if we would get any warning. It could just go off with a bang. 

So should you worry about Yellowstone? Probably not. But don't forget that Yellowstone is only one of many potential supervolcanoes in the world. Best to be prepared I always say.

Will Yellowstone erupt? Who can say.

Deadly human MERS virus infects camels

Can Camels give you MERS ?

Scientists have proved for the first time that the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) virus that has killed 71 people can also infect camels, strengthening suspicions the animals may be a source of the human outbreak.

Scientists say this is definitive proof that camels can be infected with MERS-CoV, but based on the current data they cannot conclude whether the humans were infected by the camels or vice versa.

Reports from China say 73-year-old woman died from a bird flu strain that has spread to people for 1st time

More Bird Flu In China

China's national disease centre confirmed the woman had been infected by the H10N8 bird flu strain. This is the first reported case of H10N8 in a human.

The World Health Organization Has called this Death “worrisome.”

 The department says the woman had severe pneumonia before dying Dec. 6. She also had direct contact with poultry.
 China's national disease centre says experts believe this is an isolated case and there's low risk of this strain infecting more people or spreading.

Apocalyptic Scale Of Philippine Typhoon Overwhelms.

Typhoon Haiyan

Typhoon Haiyan slammed the Philippines Friday, with estimated maximum sustained winds of 235 kph and gusts up to 275 kph.


With thousands dead and large parts of the country destroyed desperate people are looting malls, shops and homes of food, water and consumer goods.

Dead bloated bodies lay uncollected and uncounted in the streets and the survivors have no food, water and medicine.

A few Police guarded stores to prevent the looting but in most cases its hopeless.

We are getting reports of violence as civil order breaks down.

The federal debt ceiling and the end of the world

Flirting With Disaster

Again we are watching the Politicians in Washington take us all to the brink of a possible disaster. The United States government will soon be unable to pay all its bills -- causing what the Obama administration says will be a historic default on the federal debt. Without some action by Congress to raise the debt ceiling, the Treasury Department says default could happen any day after Oct. 17. Now I am 99% sure they will once again pull a rabbit out of the hat at the last second but you should ask yourself what if they don't?

The fact is no one can tell what the consequences would be if the United States was to default on its debt. Many so called experts have given us a variety of opinions ranging from it would not be that bad to its the end of the World.

I myself really cant say. However I don't think it would be good for most of us. So my advice is to stock up on supplies. Have some cash on hand. However cash is of little use if inflation renders it worthless. Gold would be better than cash but most of us cant afford to stockpile gold.

Think of things people would want and that could become scarce if the economy was to crash. Gasoline. Ammunition. Foods of all kinds.

BE PREPARED.

Making Light Without Electricity

This seems pretty cool. A man in Brazil figured out how to make light without electricity - and the cost is pennies.

All he did was use plastic bottles filled with water and a bit of bleach. Basically you fill a 2 Litre empty bottle with water and 2 capfuls of bleach to prevent algae. Drill a small hole in your roof, pop the bottle through, caulk the opening, stick something black over the cap (which is outside) and you're good to go. He uses black film canisters - which might be hard to get so I''m going to start collecting them now.

 Read the details and see photos at Alfredo Moser: Bottle light inventor proud to be poor

Credits: Image from BBC News Magazine

Pandemic Protection ~ What Can You Do Part 1

Are You Ready For The Flu?

I have done a number of Blog Posts about the possibility of a flu pandemic but perhaps its time to talk about what you can do to protect your self if the worst happens. To protect yourself you must have an understanding of how the flu spreads.


Influenza or the flu as most of us call it can be spread several ways. One is when an infected person sneezes mucus directly into the eyes, nose or mouth of another person. Another is the airborne route when someone inhales the droplets that contain the virus produced by an infected person coughing, sneezing or spitting. And of course the good old dirty hands that our Mothers warned us about is one of the best ways to spread the flu through hand-to-eye, hand-to-nose, or hand-to-mouth transmission, either from contaminated surfaces or from direct personal contact such as a hand-shake.

So lets say you wake up one morning and you turn on the news only to find that health authorities are saying they have an outbreak or possibly a pandemic starting to spread around the world. What can you do? Well the first and most obvious precaution is to simply isolate yourself and your family from others as best as possible. Hopefully you have your supplies stored and ready so you don't have to run to WalMart and face all the possibly sick people. However if you do have to go out for supplies you can take precautions to mitigate the risk. Obviously a full military biological warfare outfit would be great but if you are the kind of person who has no supplies at home you probably don't have a biological warfare outfit in your closet. However you can at least dress in a way that will help lower the risk of catching the bug. You must cover your mouth and nose and eyes. A surgical mask or even a workshop dust mask will help stop the larger droplets from infecting you. Even something like a scarf or other cloth can lower the risk but it needs to be tight to your face. Swim goggles can provide good eye protection as they are tight fitting but any kind of large glasses are better than nothing.
Gloves are extremely important. Surgical gloves may be best but rubber kitchen gloves are not bad. Again anything is better than nothing so even work gloves or driving gloves can help.

Dispose of or decontaminate your clothing. It wont do you any good if you bring the bug home on your clothing so take it off outside and don't take it in. Burn it or wash it with disinfectant. You could boil it if you have the time. And don't forget that good old sunlight will often kill the bugs so just hanging out in the hot sun for a few days will help.

Decontaminate yourself. Get a shower with lots of soap and hot water if you can but even a cold shower is better than no shower. In fact you may want to shower outside first if you can. If you have a pool or hot tub take a dip in that. All the chemicals in the water will help.

Isolate yourself from the other members of your family if you can. If its possible you should avoid contact as much as possible. Consider living in the garage or the tool shed for a week or two. If you cant do that then try to isolate your self in an extra room like the spare bedroom.

Don't let your new supplies contaminate you. Wipe them off with disinfectant before any one handles them with bare hands. If you cant wipe them of remember that the bugs cant live on the surface of them for long. So every day the supplies sit out in the open the safer they get to touch. Two or three days will kill most viruses on most surfaces but twenty days is best. If you must touch them use gloves and wash your hands after.

Isolate your family from each other. You cant tell if any one in your house may be sick so its best if you can to have as little contact with each other as possible. I know this could be hard or even impossible in a survival situation but do the best you can. Avoid hugging, kissing and hand holding. Disinfect doorhandles and any other commonly touched surfaces as much as possible. Don't share eating or drinking utensils. In other words run your house like a hospital. It wont be fun but it could save your life.

Remember that people can have the flu and be spreading it to others and yet not look sick themselves. People who contract influenza are most infective between the second and third days after infection. Children are much more infectious than adults and shed virus from just before they develop symptoms until two weeks after infection.

Contact with outsiders should be avoided. But one cant always avoid this so if you are forced to have contact then you must decontaminate and isolate yourself from your family after. Remember the virus could be spreading in the air so stay as far away from outsiders as you can. No one knows how far a virus can spread in the air outside but most experts agree that if you stay 100 feet away from others when outside your chances of being infected are low.  
 

Zombie Gear Special At Marstar

 Things have been a little bit dark and serious on here as of late with all the talk of Bird Flu and Tornado's and such. So here is something a little more fun.......

Zombie Gear Special

Now I think the shotgun would be a fantastic Zombie Destroyer I am not sure about the single action revolver. The single action is nice and simple and reliable but its just so slow to reload.

The Pandemic Perfect Storm

With Bird Flu H7N9 smoldering in China and MERS killing people in Saudi Arabia one wonders what the impact of two simultaneous pandemics would be.

 

H7N9 strain has been confirmed in 131 people and has caused 36 deaths since it was first detected. Now we have reports that three patients infected with H7N9 have developed resistance to antiviral drug treatment. According to a new study H7N9 has rapidly developed this resistance to antiviral drug treatment making treatment almost impossible. This has caused great concern among the medical community.

 

Meanwhile in Saudi Arabia it is reported that three more people have died from a new respiratory virus called MERS. The World Health Organization said Saturday that it was informed of 51 confirmed cases of the new virus since September and 30 cases were fatal.

One pandemic would be bad. Two pandemics at the same time could be devastating. 

The Pandemic Perfect Storm.

H7N9

H7N9 is capable of spreading from human-to-human.

Scientists have found that the bird flu virus H7N9 is capable of spreading from human-to-human.


Ferrets experimentally infected with the new H7N9 strain passed it to other ferrets occupying the same cage, indicating the virus has the ability to spread via direct contact.

This highlights H7N9 pandemic potential.

H7N9 is on the way.

 

Storing Dry Foods for Emergencies

Empty Wine Pails make great storage containers. We fill ours with pasta, rice, Kraft Dinner, Corn, wheat, sugar, salt and other dry foods.

Some, like pasta, we leave in the original packaging and pack them into the pails.

Others, like corn, wheat and rice, we open and dump into the clean pails. You must clean and dry  the pails thoroughly before using of course.

Once we have about 25 pails filled, we open our oxygen absorbers and drop those inside then we seal the lid tightly.

We label all the pails with the date, what food is in each and how much is there, plus the name of the person in our community who contributed the specific food item. We do this in case plans change and a member wants to go elsewhere. We can then fairly easily give them whatever food they have contributed to the group.

Then we store the foods in various spots - some get the spare room in the basement but it has a woodstove so it gets really hot in the winter. Some foods can't be stored there. Others go out to one of our storage sheds. The outdoor sheds are only for foods that can withstand extremes of temperature.

The nice thing about the pails is how they stack. The drawback is that they are cylindrical in shape. We could stack better if they were square or rectangular. We do have rectangular pails but they are smaller so we use those for other food items such as our saved Chinese food condiment packages (Soy sauce and plum sauce) and our saved McDonald's condiment packages (vinegar, ketchup, salt and pepper)

Meteorologists predict another active storm season along the Atlantic coast

Meteorologists predict another active storm season in the Atlantic with between 8 and 14 hurricanes expected to form. Three of those storms are predicted to make landfall in the U.S. So its a reminder to stock up on supplies and have your Bug Out Plan ready.

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Answer to Zombie Apocalypse Survival Quiz #2

 Answer:

 #3. Why? Because a snowshoe hare will run in a circle IF being chased. He will come back to his "home" or spot where he was hiding as long as he can't stop and hide somewhere else.

 So if one of you chases him, he'll run in a circle and come right back to where he was first seen. That's when the second person can be successful and bring back meat for supper. Snowshoe hares have very small and precise territories so it wouldn't take that rabbit long to return

Zombie Apocalypse Survival Quiz #2

It's the Zombie Apocalypse. Everyone in your group is hungry. You and a friend are out in the woods hoping to find game. You scare up a Snowshoe Rabbit and it runs off. He's running too fast to shoot with any guarantee of making the shot

Question: What should you and your buddy do? (i.e, what's the best way to get that rabbit)

1. Both of you should run after it
2. One should stay where you are, and one should run after it
3. Both should stay where you are and hope the rabbit returns

Answer to yesterday's Zombie Apocalypse Survival Quiz

Answer to yesterday's Zombie Apocalypse Survival Quiz:

Reload and wait. Because ducks pair bond for life  duck # 2 will do a circle as he/she flies off and will immediately return to his/her mate. If you take the dead duck away, the second duck won't come back because she will see you. Yes there is a slight danger that someone or something else will grab the carcass before duck #2 gets back but it should only take him/her about 2 minutes to return.

Zombie Apocalypse Survival Pop Quiz

Zombie Apocalypse Survival Pop Quiz

It's the zombie apocalypse. We're low on food. I have a single shot shotgun with me. I see 2 ducks so I aim and shoot one. Duck #2 flies off. 

Question - do I reload then wait to see if duck #2 comes back? Or do I reload then walk over and get the duck I shot and then wait to see if # 2 comes back?

Stay tuned for the answer later today or early tomorrow morning

H7N9 is a nasty virus worth worrying about and it is spreading

H7N9 is spreading.

The number of confirmed H7N9 bird flu cases in China increased by four to 108 yesterday. The number of dead rose by one and is now at 22. To defend against this flu that is rapidly spreading in China, the government will be authorizing health authorities to “strongly advise” people who are sick or suspected of being infected with the disease to be hospitalized and to restrict their working. In Taiwan health authorities confirmed the island's first human infection of H7N9 avian flu on Wednesday, involving a 53-year-old Taiwanese man who is believed to have been infected outside Taiwan as he showed symptoms three days after returning from Suzhou City in Mainland China. So far, extensive monitoring of contacts has found little evidence that the virus has spread efficiently between people. Some person-to-person transmission may have occurred but this does not necessarily represent the early stages of a pandemic.

Why Is China's New Bird Flu Spreading?

As new cases of the bird flu H7N9 continue to pop up around China, officals are getting more and more worried that the virus can spread between people or that it will soon develop that ability.

There is no real evidence that a new bird flu strain is spreading easily among people though there are some reports of sporadic cases of the virus spreading to people who have had close contacts with patients, the World Health Organization said Friday.

Bombing Manhunt Has Thousands Of People Trapped

Police Go Door To Door In Boston. The City Is Shut Down.

Thousands of people are trapped in their homes as law enforcement authorities cast a wide net that has virtually shut down Boston amid warnings the suspect was possibly armed with explosives.

Gov. Deval Patrick called on residents in the city and its suburbs to stay inside with their doors locked. After more than 15 hours, police officers in full body armor, carrying automatic weapons had finished about 70% of their massive door-to-door search of the area.

Now this will probably be over soon and only be an inconvenience for most people but it is yet another example of the need to be prepared. Non of the people of Boston were expecting this and I bet a lot of people are wishing they had things they cant get now. I can see people running out of diapers and formula for their babies. People who let their medication run low and are now worried about getting more. People who had very little food in the house who are now thinking they wish they had an extra can of beans.

Prepping is not just about the end of the world. Its also about being prepared for the unexpected small things.

Should You Worry About North Korea

Should you worry about North Korea? Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel says North Korea represents a real and clear danger to US allies and a threat to the United States territory of Guam, the State of Hawaii, and the nation's west coast. Also a new assessment by the Pentagon’s intelligence arm has concluded for the first time, with “moderate confidence,” that North Korea has learned how to make a nuclear weapon small enough to be delivered by a ballistic missile. So should you be worried? Probably a little bit.

Its unlikely North Korea wants war. But all this sabre rattling could lead to a mistake or miscalculation that could have serious consequences. It only takes one trigger happy soldier to start a fight. So we all need to keep an eye on this situation and if you live in range of North Korea's missiles you need to have a plan. And for the rest of us who don't live in range of North Korea's missiles we still could feel the effects of a war in Korea. The world economy is fragile. A war could hurt our economic recovery. Radiation from a blast in Korea would spread around the World in a few days and no amount of radiation is good for you.

So keep an eye on the news and have a plan.


 

China Reports New Bird Flu Death, 2 New Infections

Another person died from a new strain of bird flu in China on Friday, bringing to 11 the number of deaths from the H7N9 virus. Also three cases of H7N9 bird flu infection had been confirmed on Friday in Zhejiang province, bringing the country's total number of infections to 43.
The new virus has caused severe illness in most of the people affected, many fear that if it becomes easily transmissible, it could cause a deadly influenza pandemic, though there has been no indication of that happening.

3D PRINTERS A FUTURE TOOL FOR PREPPERS

A 3D Printed Mag. By Defense Distributed

It looks the the time is fast approaching when a 3D printer will be part of every peppers workshop. I have been following this new technology with great interest and I believe within the next 10 or 20 years they will be so affordable and easy to use that they will be everywhere.

The fellows at http://defensedistributed.com/ are making great progress. They are now printing AK-47 and AR-15 magazines that work really well and they have printed a plastic AR-15 receiver that fired over 500 rounds without breaking. They are still a long way from an entire plastic gun but its still interesting and impressive progress.

A 3D printer would allow a person to print all kinds of useful articles beyond gun parts. Think about all the little plastic parts in all the stuff we have around us. Little parts on out ATV, well pump, radio, flash light, stove. The list is endless.

Now granted electricity to run your printer could be an issue but many peppers already have backup electricity as part of their plans.

So while it may not be time to run out and get a 3D printer just yet. You may want to keep an eye on this exciting new technology.

China kills birds as new flu strain death toll hits 6

Workers dispose of dead birds in China

Authorities in China halted the sale of live fowl and slaughtered all of the poultry at a Shanghai market where the new virus was detected in pigeons being sold for meat. The H7N9 strain of bird flu, has sickened 16 people, many critically, and killed 6.

So far health officials believe people are contracting the virus through direct contact with infected birds and say there has been no evidence that the virus is spreading easily between people. However, scientists are watching closely to see if this new flu poses a substantial risk to public health or could start a global pandemic.

It CAN Happen Here. Dont Trust Your Bank

Angry Cypriots queued to withdraw money on Thursday as banks reopened for the first time in nearly two weeks under a regime of strict capital controls and with officials bracing for a huge outflow of deposits. In other words they are not allowed to take much money out of the bank.

The Cyprus banking situation is unique and lots of people say it could never happen in a large country like the United States. But it could and we all need to be ready. I am not saying don't use banks and keep all your money under your bed. In this modern world its just not possible for most of us to go without banking. But you can do a few things to protect your self from ending up with no access to your money.

First thing is to keep some cash at home. How much you keep at home is up to you but I keep a months worth of cash.

Use different banks if you can. Don't do all your banking at one bank. One bank could fail and another could not. If you can get yourself an account in a foreign bank its a good idea to spread a little money around. Just make sure its in a big country with good banking regulations. Canada is a good example.

Watch the news. Cyprus has been having problems for a while now. This did not happen over night. People had lots of warning signs that perhaps they might want to get their money out.

Keep An Eye Out For Food On Sale

I was at the store the other day and I found a great deal on crackers. Things like crackers will last for decades if you keep them cool and dry. They may go a tad stale but you can still eat them. So if the price is right I say grab them. You may be glad you did.

When you see stuff on sale. Its a great idea to stock up.

New coronavirus could become SARS-like epidemic due to superspreader patients: experts

People who think the new coronavirus couldn’t take off and cause a SARS-like crisis may have forgotten a phenomenon that was a game-changer during SARS — patients called superspreaders.
At present, this new coronavirus doesn’t seem to spread easily from person to person, a fact which some people use to argue it will not become the next SARS. Some limited human transmission has occurred, but confirmed cases are few and sporadically seen.
However, several experts suggest that superspreaders, which turned SARS into a global outbreak, could do the same with this new virus. That term refers to people who buck the transmission trend with a given bacteria or virus, infecting many more people than is the norm.

http://life.nationalpost.com/2013/03/25/i-think-we-would-be-in-big-trouble-superspreader-patients-could-turn-new-coronavirus-into-sars-like-epidemic-experts/

VZ 58

VZ58

The VZ58.

 I am a big fan of the VZ58. It's a great rifle and you can get one at a great price. There are a few different models and I won't go  into that here but you should be able to pick up one for $500 to $800. It's a much better rifle than the SKS but as it fires the same ammo so you can afford lots of it. 

One other thing to point out about the VZ and the SKS is how tough they are. They are old school weapons made from steel and wood. They can take a lot of abuse and keep on going.

SKS

SKS

The SKS. If money is hard to come by and for a lot of us it is then you can't beat the SKS. It's not the best rifle in the world but you can get one for around $100 bucks.

That's an incredible price for a good solid rifle. And it has the added benefit of the availability of cheap ammo. You can get crates of the stuff for a few hundred bucks.

Beretta CX4 Storm

Beretta CX4 Storm

Beretta CX4 Storm.

Now this little gun is totally different from the SKS and VZ. It's a modern design made with a lot of plastic parts and it fires pistol ammo. But I really like mine. It's light and handy with no recoil to speak of and it would be a fantastic weapon for defending your apartment or suburban house.

The pistol caliber ammo is also suitable for hunting small game like rabbits and you could drop a dear or other large animal if you had to. Not that I would recommend it for large animals. 

One drawback is that it is an expensive little gun. At around $1000 to $1200 it's not something everyone can afford. But it's a great little gun.  Another nice feature worth mentioning is that if you are a fan of Beretta pistols you can get one that takes the same mags as the Storm. That can be really handy.

AR 15 Firearm

The AR 15 family of firearms

 A person could write an entire book on the AR 15.  All I will say is that it is an excellent firearm. It has lower recoil and is more accurate than the SKS and VZ58. On the down side it's a little more prone to breaking and it's requires a bit more maintenance.

The ammunition is more expensive but it's available just about everywhere. It is also more expensive at around $1000 to $1200. As I said before there are lots of great carbines and rifles. The AK 47 family. The FN FAL family. The Ruger Mini 14. The M14 family of rifles.

The list goes on forever. I am actually a big fan of my M1 carbine and would have listed it but for the fact that the .30 carbine ammo is getting a little harder to find.

Colorado Magazine Ban

 Colorado's governor has signed new gun-control legislation, that require background checks for all private gun sales and a ban on large capacity detachable magazines. I myself have not actually read the legislation so I can only go on whats in the news but the magazine ban would seem rather ineffectual 

As I understand it you can keep any mags you have. But you cant bring any new ones into the State of Colorado.

How can that possibly work? Last time I looked you don't get inspected when you drive into Colorado so who would know you are bringing in magazines. And even if you did get stopped how would the police know you did not already have the mags before the ban came into effect. Mags don't have dates printed on them. So you would just say they were old mags. And as most people who are interested in guns now know we are starting to see people printing mags on 3D printers. How would the police know if you printed the mag before or after the ban?

I also noticed that they chose over 15 rounds as the definition of a large capacity detachable magazine. So what is the point of that? Are they saying its OK to shoot 15 people but 16 is over the line. And I guess the Government is not aware of the fact that you can tape mags together so the next one is handy for a quick mag change.

I did a quick test and it only takes my wife 5.9 seconds to do a mag change on my AR-15 and she is not an AR shooter. It was her first time with an AR and she was already fast. With a little practice I suspect anyone could do it in under 3 seconds. So I ask whats the point of limiting the mag to 15 ?

I just don't see the point. 

11 Uses for a Smart Phone in an Emergency Situation!

Use your cellphone camera to look around
objects without exposing yourself.

I was sitting looking at my smart phone and thinking about what good will it be when the world falls apart. I came up with a few ideas. I am sure there are more.

Flashlight. Makes a good flash light. Some even have a flash light App.

Memorization Tool. Camera still works and that could be handy for taking photos of things you need to remember. Like landmarks for navigating or things you are taking apart that you need to put back together.

Periscope. Camera makes a good periscope. You can use it for looking around corners with out sticking your head out.

Morale Booster. If it has music or games on it that could be a fantastic morale booster.

Compass. The compass on mine appears to work with out the Internet.

Fire starter. You can short out the battery to start a fire.

Stop Watch. Not sure what you would use this for but something may come up.

GPS Locators. The satellites that send out the GPS signals may still be working. So with a GPS App you can get your location.


Phone Calls. It may still work for a short time after the land lines go down. May not but you may need to contact family members or friends


Calculator. The calculator still works without the Internet and may be handy for the math impaired among us. Math is far more important than you may think for navigating, food rationing etc.

Secret Communications. You can password protect your phone and leave it for another person who knows your password to pick up. Then they can read or listen to your message. Could be handy.

If you are wondering how to keep your phone charged after the end of the world it may not be too hard. You can get a solar charger or charge it from a car battery. A car battery will charge it quite a few times before the car battery will need charging.  

The Importance Of Trade Items

Ammunition, Matches, Alcohol, Just a few things that you can have on hand to trade with.

You can't do it by yourself. No matter how well prepared you are the fact is you will find others have things you need.  Money will be no good. Gold may be no good. You will have to steal it or trade for it and trading is much safer. So what can you get now that you can trade later.

I have started a list of things that I think would be good to have on hand with the idea of trading. You can add your own ideas. 

Gasoline and other fuels. If the S##T hits the fan gas will be worth more than gold.

Ammunition. Ammunition is hard to make from scratch so supplies may run short. People will be scared and desperate for ammo.

Alcohol and cigarettes. People have vices. They will trade valuable stuff for a shot of whisky or a few smokes. 

Medical Supplies. Any kind of med supplies are valuable. Not just fancy stuff like antibiotics but things like peroxide and rubbing alcohol will be in short supply.

Food. It goes with out saying that food will be a great trade item. Starving people will give anything for a can of beans. I know that sounds harsh and uncaring but it may come to that if you want your family to live.

Matches. Most people don't have a clue how to start a fire. They will figure it out eventually but at first they will be desperate for matches.

Candles. People hate the dark. They get scared and put a greater importance on candles than they may really have.

Books. I know this sounds a bit strange but more and more we rely on the Internet for looking things up. People will want books on things like edible wild plants,  medical books, survival skills. That sort of things.

So if you get the chance to pick up some extra stuff for trade I would recommend it. It may just save your life.

Junk Guns Are A Good Buy And May Come In Handy

An $8 shotgun and a $20 rifle. May just save your life.

I was at an auction sale the other day and picked up some junk guns. A few old shot guns and a 22. I say junk guns as they are old and a tad rusty. Not really something that a person would want to use. But they were almost free and I have a plan for them. I call them give away guns.

Give away guns are guns that have no real value now but could have real value in a survival situation. One can imagine a situation where you need the help of others to defend your group but the others have no weapons.

Give away guns allow you to arm a large group of people with little cost. Now I know that giving guns to other people has risks but the bottom line is you may find that in order to survive you have to form larger groups of people. One family can not survive for ever without the support of the community.

I offer the following scenario for you. The world is falling apart. Gangs are roaming the streets and you are hunkered down in your house. Your neighbor is also hunkered down in his house. The mob reaches your house and attacks. You can ether fight them yourself or you can fight them with the help of the guy next door. You may have a much better chance of survival with your neighbor backing you up.

As I said before that giving guns to others has risks but you can reduce the risk by the choice of firearms you give away. Shotguns are probably the best choice as they are limited in range and penetration. This makes them better for defence than offence. In simple terms its hard to kill someone who is a long way away with a shotgun. So depending on the type of ammo you give away you can have some control over the range the gun can reach. A 12guage #4 can kill a man close up. It will seriously mess him up out to about 80yards. It probably won't kill him at 80 yards but it will hurt like hell. Or if your neighbor is farther away you may give him a few rounds of Buckshot. My neighbor is about 600 ft away so he may be able to hit my house with buckshot he would need to be really lucky to hit me.

Something to think about next time you see a cheap old gun.

  

WHO confirms 15th case of deadly new virus

The World Health Organization says a Saudi man infected with a deadly new virus, novel coronavirus (NCoV) has died, becoming the ninth patient in the world to be killed the disease which has so far infected 15. This virus is of great concern to viral experts all over the world who are watching it closely.

The Virus That Learns

If you don’t have an immune system, you don’t last long in this parasite-riddled world. Your body receives a steady stream of invaders–viruses, bacteria, and other pathogens–which it has to recognize and fight. In many cases, it’s a brutal battle with an ultimate goal of eradication.

http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/02/27/the-virus-that-learns/

How to fortify your castle (your home): Part 1

Ok. The hordes are approaching and you need to keep them out. What do you do?

We have all seen the movies. The Zombies are closing in and the frantic occupants of the house are trying to push furniture up against the doors and nail a few boards over the windows. Makes for exciting viewing but in reality that's not a situation you want to be in.

Now some furniture by the door might actually be a good idea at first. It's probably the fastest thing you can do, so go ahead and shove your piano in front of the door but you really need to have a fortification plan.

I don't know what kind of place you live in so I can't tell you exactly what will work best for your situation. Living on the 10th floor of an apartment building is different than an old farm house in the country.

So what I am going to do over a number of blog posts is share with you some of my fortification and defense plan. You can take what you want from it and change it to meet your needs.

Step one - get your guns!

Arm myself and my family members. I have set up my firearms storage in such a way that I am never more than 60 seconds from a firearm. Most of the time I can have access to a firearm in less than 20 seconds but as I am a big believer in safe storage of firearms some times it's just not practical for me to have guns all over the place.

Some people have said that if a person can get to a firearm in just a few seconds it can't possibly be stored safely. Well that's just not true. In today's safety conscious environment manufactures have come up with a wide variety of gun safety gear that's both effective and quick. On each of my firearms I have a three digit combination trigger lock and as I am careful to turn the tumblers to the same position each time I lock the gun it takes me 6 to 10 seconds to unlock the gun.

As well my gun cabinet has a 4 digit digital lock that takes me exactly 4 seconds to unlock. I suggest you do a few drills to see how long it takes you to get to your guns. This will help you work out any bugs and ensure you can get to your firearms as fast as possible. Remember to make sure that you use a digital lock for your guns that has a backup key.

If you have a digital only lock it could get fried by an EMP or the batteries could just be drained. It would really suck to have done all this work and then end up dead because your batteries were out of juice.  Now for you non-firearms owners you still need to think about weapon storage. And safety. Because by "weapons" I mean a sword, a bayonet, a baseball bat, pepper spray, stun gun and so on.

You may not need to lock up your weapons but they need to be readily accessible in an emergency. It will not do you any good to have a baseball bat if you can't find it when you need it.

Stay tuned to Zombie Apocalypse Survivor blog for Part 2 coming soon!

Locust alert in Middle East as plague descends on Egypt

Locust alert in Middle East as plague descends on Egypt and creates panic in Israel

• Israel's Agriculture Ministry set up an emergency hotline and task force
• The swarm is estimated to be made up of 30million insects
• The infestation has been devastating crops in Egypt

As swarms of locust devour Egyptian crops, the Middle East is bracing for the destructive bugs to migrate their way ahead of the Passover holiday.
A swarm of an estimated 30million insects has been devastating crops in Egypt, fuelling apocalyptic fears

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2287902/Locust-alert-Middle-East-plague-descends-Egypt-creates-panic-Israel.html

Deadly H5N1 Virus Can Kill - Protect Yourself!

About 600 confirmed human infections of the H5N1 virus have occurred since 2003, roughly 40 to 60% of which were fatal.

The virus can not pass easily between humans, but if it were to mutate and acquire that ability, it could potentially cause a pandemic. However in 2011 two researchers performed experiments on the virus that created a highly transmissible form.

One of the greatest concerns over this kind of research with a deadly virus is the possibility of accidental release by a researcher who becomes infected or some sort of spill or containment accident.

Now, the U.S. government has announced new policies for reviewing such potentially risky research before it gets funded. However the US is only one of many countries with labs working on this kind of scary stuff.

We need to be worried.

Credits: Image of virus from freedigitalphotos.net

Flu Mask Kills Virus on Contact - On My Wish List

Flu season is going strong. It can spread easily and for people who are already sick, it can be deadly. Now, there's a tool in the fight against influenza. Sure you can get a flu shot now but you won't be getting them during a survival situation.

But good news! Doctors have developed a mask that can actually kill flu viruses on contact. Unlike regular masks, it has extra protections against influenza viruses and it can be used in the hospital or by patients who have no medical problems. Doctors say the mask is very effective.

Infection Control Specialist Dr. Lawrence said, "The mask is very efficient at screening out or filtering out at least 95 percent of the particulate that we can breathe in. It wicks up the virus if it's on the mask and it kills it before it can infect the patient."

The bio mask can be bought in drugstores.They are intended for surgeons and patients in hospitals, but if you have an underlying disease and want to protect yourself, this could be a great choice. I'm going to hunt for some next week so stay tuned to see if I can find any.

Read more at 
Flu Mask Kills Virus on Contact

Spike Strips For Home Defense During the Zombie Apocalpyse

During times of civil unrest its important to be able to fortify your house to keep unwanted visitors at bay. The problem is most of us don't want to fortify our place until the sh*t hits the fan. So with that in mind what can you do now that you can quickly put in place when you need to.

One fantastic low-cost idea is homemade spike strips. You only need some old boards, some nails. a saw and a hammer. Old boards are easy to find. You can often get free scrap wood at lumber yards and construction sites.

You can also break apart some old shipping pallets for the boards. Nails are cheap to purchase in bulk or you can often get them at garage sales or auction sales. They don't need to be new nails as old rusty ones are fine.




Simply cut the boards to whatever length you want and start hammering nails all the way through. If you do it on soft ground the nails will just go into the dirt and you can pry the wood up when you are done. You can make the strips up now and store them someplace handy for the day you need them.

You should place the strips any place you think people will try to gain access to your home. Steps, windows, railings.

You can even place them in your driveway or on top of the fence around your yard. Spike strips will not stop determined people from gaining access to your place but they will deter some people. They will also slow intruders down so you can deal with them more easily.

In a survival situation any little advantage you can give yourself may make the difference between life and death. It can also keep your emergency survival food stores safe and in your possession.

Deadly coronavirus can infect human lungs as easily as cold virus

European scientists revealed the new virus easily infects the cells of the airways of the human lung.

In fact, the new coronavirus is as adept at infecting the cells of the upper airways as two cousin viruses -- the one that caused SARS and one that causes common colds, the new study reported. All three are members of the coronavirus family.

The World Health Organization has tweaked its definition for the new coronavirus, in what appears to be an attempt to ensure health officials don't miss mild cases. That comes in the wake of the discovery of a mild infection in a British resident related to the person who just died.

Read more at CTV News: New coronavirus can infect human lungs as easily as cold virus


Credits: Image source freedigitalphotos.net

Could you survive an asteroid impact?

Last week a once in a lifetime surprise meteor flashed across the sky and exploded in a fireball above Russia, causing a shock wave that shattered windows and injured over 1000 people. At the same time asteroid DA14 went flying past the Earth at a record-breaking distance of about 17,000 miles from the surface.

The Earth gets hit every day but now and again we get hit by a big one. Could we survive a hit like the one that killed off the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. Some say we could not survive such a hit but I say we can.

We don't really know the effects of a big hit. But if we are to believe what some Scientists tell us then we can assume that the surface of the Earth will be almost completely sterilized by the fires that will consume every thing that will burn. The air will become super heated to perhaps 800 degrees. Earthquakes will rock the planet and giant waves will flood the coasts. Then the planet will freeze for several years due to lack of sunlight. But people can survive all that. They just need to be underground.

Every day all around the world thousands of people are underground at any given moment. Thousands of people work in mines and underground government bunkers. Many thousands more are riding in subways or train or road tunnels. Several hundred or perhaps even a few thousand peppers have underground bunkers they can access.  And don't forget the hundreds of men who are deep under the ocean in nuclear subs all the time. So we can expect many thousands of people to survive the blast and the heat. Now we just need to feed them. So how do we feed people when the earth is one big sterilized cold dark rock? We will eat things that most people would not consider eating now.

We know that many lifeforms survived the event that killed the dinosaurs. Animals that lived under ground and under water were protected from the heat and the blast. And the same kind of animals can survive the next big hit, Animals like mice and rats and earth worms would survive and they may in fact be quite plentiful as the disaster may provide them with lots of dead cooked stuff to eat. The impact will also kill all the larger animals that would normally prey on them. I know it may sound unpleasant but rats, mice, and worms are really nutritious and they don't taste bad if you can get past the idea of eating them.  Think alternate food sources!! Survivors would also be able to find insects and a few species of animals that live in the water such as Fish, crocodiles, turtles, frogs and many more.

Human beings are not designed to live on a diet of meat only so any survivors would also need to find a source of plant matter. Finding the necessary plants on a world that has been scorched may seem impossible but it may in fact not be. The roots of many plants are edible and may survive the initial high temperatures.Water plants may survive for some time until the coming cold temperatures and lack of sunlight kill them off.

Long term survival in such a hostile environment will be difficult. It could be many years before sunlight returns to levels sufficient for agriculture. However humans are amazingly adaptable creatures and our ability to use whatever we can find to our advantage should serve us well. For example our ability to scrounge things like glass from the wreckage of civilization and build greenhouses to grow plants sooner than nature would otherwise allow.

So with a little luck and ingenuity humanity might just survive an asteroid impact.

Credits: Image by idea go at freedigitalphotos.net

Could a deadly virus wipe us out - are we rolling the dice?

Credits: image by Stuart Miles on freedigitalphotos.net

Leading virologist Professor John Oxford, from the University of London, says such an outbreak may not be as unlikely as we think. 

A pandemic could kill us all if it gets hold. The symptoms of the new SARS-like coronavirus are a serious cough, a shortness of breath and a rise in temperature. 

Unfortunately, this sounds like the average common cold. But it kills and it can spread

Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk



Technorati Code: JE9H5JYR9U6E

NCoV Is Lurking In The Shadows

Another person has died from novel coronavirus, or NCoV, This virus was unknown in humans until last year when it suddenly popped up in the Middle East.

There have now been 13 confirmed cases (and probably a few unconfirmed) worldwide, including in Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Britain.








Credits: image from freedigitalphotos.net

Bond Arms Snake Slayer or Perhaps Zombie Slayer

I just picked up my new Bond Arms Snake Slayer (Well ok its my Wife's) I wont go into too much detail as you can find plenty of info and reviews on line and I see no point in repeating all that. So I will just concentrate on the anti Zombie potential of Snake Slayer.
 
In brief the Snake Slayer is a cool little .410 shotshell/.45Colt pistol. It looks like an old fashioned Derringer but its made to modern standards and is bigger than the original Derringers.  I should also say that you can get it in many other calibers just by swapping out the barrels but its the .410 shotshell/.45Colt that we are talking about as that's what I have.

As an anti Zombie weapon the Snake slayer has a few problems. I will get them out of the way first so we can talk about all the good features of this gun.



CONS AS A ZOMBIE KILLER GUN

1) Limited to 2 shots. Because its in the style of a Derringer it only holds 2 rounds and reloading is quite slow. The best reload time I can get is about 10 seconds. Someone younger and faster could probably do a little better but its still slow. When surrounded by hoards of the undead 10 seconds is an eternity.

2) Single action. As the Snake Slayer is single action you need to manually cook the hammer for each shot and that will also slow your rate of fire down a tad.

3) Bad sights. The sights on this little gun are just not that great. The rear sight is small and as the gun is all one colour (stainless steel) I find it quite hard to get a quick sight picture. However to be fair the gun is intended to be used at extremely close range so the sights are just a guide.

PROS AS A ZOMBIE KILLER GUN

Now for the good stuff.

1) Quality. The Snake Slayer is well made. It's a solid hunk of stainless steel that just looks really good. It feels like with a little care it would last a lifetime.

2) Reliability. I have found it quite reliable. I have had no issues with any brand of ammo that I have used. In fact I have had no misfires or any failures at all. I should say however that the gun has only had 250 rounds through it so something may crop up yet.

3) Its versatile. This gun is really a little tiny shot gun and as such its very versatile. With a simple change of shells you can go from shooting small animals like snakes or small birds to defending yourself from larger attackers like dogs or Zombies. A blast of .410 buckshot is devastating at close range. And with slugs or .45 Colt you can extend your range out to a considerable distance. I found it easy to ring a 12 inch steel gong at 60 yards from a seated position. I was able to hit it a few times from a standing position as well but I found it difficult. I should also mention that after about 5 shots it started to get a little hard on the hand. The recoil with slugs is managable but some may find it a bit much.

4) Easy to use. Its a really simple gun to use. Push the safety. Cock the hammer. Pull the trigger.

5) Safe. Because its so simple to use I believe it would be a gun that lends itself to safe use. The safety is large and simple and easy to use. Its a single action so one must cock the hammer before you can shoot it. It also has a rather stiff trigger pull that makes it hard for someone who is in a stressful situation to have an accidental discharge. You have to pull the trigger hard to make this gun go bang.

6) Easy to carry. At about 22 oz it's a nice easy gun to carry around. Yes you can find lighter guns but when you combine the light weight with the firepower of .410 buckshot its a nice carry gun.

So to sum it all up the Snake Slayer may not be the best Zombie gun but in my opinion its a handy little gun that would make a great back up gun or a good carry gun for most self defence situations. Just not hordes of the UnDead.

Print A Plastic Gun on a 3D printer.

In the last few months much attention has been given by the media about the possibility of printing out a working firearm on a home 3D printer. Some say its the next big thing. Some say it cant be done. Well as with most things the truth in fact is some place in the middle.

In simple terms it is possible to print a complete and fully functional firearm on a home 3D printer. However it will not be a particularly effective or reliable weapon. The simple reason for this is the limitations of materials available for use in home 3D printers and the poor print quality of most of the printers.

In simple terms home 3D printers print in plastic and plastic is just not that great of a material for making firearms. Firearms generate a lot of pressure and a lot of heat. And plastic is just not that great at dealing with pressure and heat.

The first generation of 3D printed firearms will probably be simple single shot firearms firing low power ammunition. Most of us have seen the plastic flare guns people have on boats. Well that flare gun is a firearm. The second generation will probably be something like a simple single action revolver. This gun will also fire low powered ammunition. The first generations will also probably be smooth bore firearms. It would not be possible to make a rifled barrel out of the plastics we have now for home 3D printers. The heat and pressure would strip the rifling out with the first shot. But rifling is not that important in a hand gun as your target is probably only 5 or 10 feet away. I suspect we are 10 or 20 years from people being able to print off something much more sophisticated like a Glock or an UZI.  

A plastic Flare Gun like the one in this photo with a few design modifications would be capable of firing low power ammunition like .22 or perhaps .32 The heat would cause extensive barrel erosion but as its a single shot firearm you would probably only get to fire one or two shots before the fight was over anyway.

Cheap Way to Collect Soap - a Necessary Survival Item

 Image courtesy of Marin at Free Digital photos

Wouldn't it be great if we could still have running water, soaps and towels during the Apocalypse? It's not gonna happen like that but we can still find ways to keep clean.

In fact it's important to stay clean to ward off disease. Disease can kill many of those who have stored enough food and water to keep going.

If you don't consider cleanliness, you're doomed. You'll end up with lice, scabies and other contagions brought on by being dirty.

Someone gets the flu, or a cold or something worse - guess what? You want to stop the spread of those germs and the first defence is hand washing. Of course you also want to be able to wash your entire body as often as possible to avoid skin contagions.

Yes you'll probably buy soap (bars, liquid, dish etc) and store some with your food supplies but have you thought about what happens when your supply of soap runs out? Do you know how to make soap? Do you have the ingredients for making soap? Do you know what plants, if any, grow wild that can be used for soap?

4 months worth of soap bits

I don't know how to make soap and the one plant I know of that can be used as a soap substitute doesn't grow in our area. So I need another plan.

I won't pretend I have the perfect backup plan. I don't. But what I do have is almost 150 bars of hand soap which my wife buys on sale whenever she sees it.  We also have about 10 bottles of liquid soap requiring no water. Guess what? It's not enough! But it becomes a toss-up on a limited prepper budget as to whether that bag of rice is more important than several bars of hand soap.

Since we like to figure out how to add to our survival stores without going broke, my wife and I save all those little nubs of soap. You know the ones that get to be about the size of a quarter or smaller and so you toss them out? Well, we started saving ours last year. Wish we'd thought of it sooner!

Everyone in our survival community (certain family members) is saving their soap ends. You will be amazed at how quickly it grows. And we'll be darn glad to have it when our full-size bars of soap run out!

So don't overlook budget ways to gather supplies you will need if there is a long-term emergency. Start saving those soap bits now! My wife puts them in a soap dish until they dry out then she tosses them into a ziplock bag. We have 4 ziplock sandwich bags full now. Doesn't sound like a lot but that's from only 2 of us in the household.