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.