The Kinghurst Publishing Network

Rural or Urban Preparedness Part III

admin — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 17:39:07 +0000

By Kellene Bishop

Yesterday I addressed aspects of urban/suburban preparedness when you MUST stay where you are and make the best of things. However, ideally, a principle that I always share with urban dwellers is to prepare yourself in such a way that you can get out quickly with all of your necessary goods and provisions should things go south. Why? Because the urban area will indeed be the most volatile area you can be in a time of distress. There will be more looting, violence, crime and gangs simply because of the opportunity such a dense population will present. I addressed several of the liabilities of being in a densely populated in yesterday’s article.

There are four keys to getting out of an unsafe environment to one that you can survive and thrive.

1) Timing: You will need to be committed to watching things very carefully and be fully prepared to get out SOONER rather than later. Otherwise you’ll be embroiled in a crowd of panic and desperation. Pay attention to what’s going on around you. If it looks bad, get out. Don’t wait for the obvious announcements or telltale signs that all of the other foolish citizens are watching for. The longer you wait to leave, the more dangerous your situation will become. And yes, you will need to leave—sorry. I don’t buy into the warrantless hypothesis that a country setting may be more dangerous than a city setting. Phooey. Rural settings are significantly less likely to be a target of an act of war. They regularly provide their own source of water, wood, and other necessities. Also, in a more rural setting I’ve easily got 20 yards of view out my window in which I can better protect myself (think rifle, folks). An unwanted stranger is a lot more obvious in a rural setting, which is usually more tight and protective. And a self-defense mentality thrives more abundantly in such an environment. Also, the roving gangs have to survive enough in order to even be able to make the trek. They aren’t going to be able to readily get what they want, folks. Guns and immorality may abound among them. But they are no match for a crazed and desperate populace. I assure you that MS-13 gangs are not putting together a years’ supply of food, water, etc. right now. They aren’t prepared to travel 80 miles in the dead of winter either. And let’s face it—their jeans that hang down to their knees aren’t going to provide much protection against the elements. The truth be told, they are just as capable of desperation and acts of stupidity in a major crisis as an everyday citizen—worse, their decision-making process will be impeded by a lack of spiritual guidance, peace, and perhaps a mind and body polluted with illicit drugs. You will have a great advantage over such a gang if you are prepared properly and are soundly able to execute your plans. Wars are rarely won solely as the result of a “stronger force.” They are usually won when the other side makes an error. Trust me on this one. The gangs will be making a LOT of errors before they are able to get organized and provide a semblance of a threat. But that’s where timing comes in. The longer you wait, the longer the opposition has to get fully organized and dam your plans.

2) Portability: Be sure that as you store up your necessary provisions that you have them in such a way that they can relatively easily go with you in a hurry. No, I’m not talking about a simple grab and go type of thing. I’m talking about all of your preparedness supplies. It would be wise to even conduct a dry run of packing and going. This means that whatever it is you’re planning on driving in needs to meet the needs of the task. A Geo just won’t cut it, folks. This also means that having a list of what you’re taking with you in a hurry is important. Make sure it’s handy and that you’re familiar with everything on it and know where it all is. (This is another reason why I religiously use containers to store a great deal of my foods and other supplies. Grabbing containers is a heck of a lot easier than packing items hurriedly.)

3) Travel Route: You need to plan an alternative travel route to your destination. Stay off of the main roads that everyone else and their dog will be using. This will be the most efficient use of your time and your fuel. It will also minimize the exposure you may have with nefarious individuals. This is another reason why it’s important to keep your gas tank at a minimum of half full at all times. Don’t broadcast to ANYONE where you are going or that you are “bailing out.” Just do it and keep your mouth closed about it.

4) Pre-planned destination: This is the most important aspect. You MUST fully plan where you are going. Select a place where you can hunker down safely and with others that you trust. Part of the reason being is that you can’t possibly take EVERYTHING with you that you will need for a long-term survival. If you intend to get to Aunt Millie’s farm 80 miles away, then have some of your preparedness supplies already stored there. Be sure that you have planned every detail with Aunt Millie as well. Both you and your destination point must be on the same page in order for you to have legitimate safety. Try to select a place that is not readily off of the freeway. There are a lot of “rural” towns here in Utah, but they are immediately off the freeway. That means that they are more readily accessible to opportunistic criminals. Even less criminally minded masses need to be taken into consideration for your safety and survival. Desperate people do unthinkable things. So be prepared for it.

In the future, I will be specifically addressing defense preparedness in more detail. Till then, I’d start making sure that you have a place to retreat to and are prepared for such a task.

Rural or Urban Preparedness Part II

admin — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 17:31:38 +0000

By Kellene Bishop

Basically, the message I wanted to convey yesterday is to get prepared regardless of where you live. It’s unrealistic to think that we can all live out in a rural environment and only by doing so will we be safe and secure. To promote such an idea would indeed be fear mongering. However, if you live in a more populated area, these are some things you must take into consideration in your preparedness efforts in order to ensure your safety and survival.

Keep in mind there are two different types of scenarios that an urbanite will need to endure in a “worst case scenario.” One that requires them to stay put, regardless, and one that requires them to get the heck out of dodge. Today let’s discuss the “staying put” issues.

A mandatory quarantine, destructive earthquake affecting the roads, and martial law are just a few scenarios in which you would simply need to stay put. As such, you need to be sure that the supplies within your home are sufficient for you to endure a long-term scenario. In those types of scenarios it’s likely you will still have access to gas, electric, and water, thank goodness. That will put you in a position in which you will simply need to be sure that you have a sufficient amount of food, household supplies, etc. on hand. However, it’s when one of those three luxuries get interrupted that city dwellers will need to be particularly methodical in their preparedness efforts.

food storage 300×243 Rural or Urban Preparedness Part IIFirst, think about your nutritional requirement. Be sure you have food stuffs on hand that will need a minimal amount of cooking. You will not be able to rely on access to the outdoors. This means if you’ve got a stove that you need to use indoors, you need to make sure you live in a home that permits the windows to be open—NOT an easy task in the majority of city buildings built after 1990.

Regardless of how old your dwelling is, desired air flow does not come easy. And it will be critical to you if you don’t have the luxury of electricity. Either you won’t have the ability to open windows, or doing so may compromise your safety. To help with the air quality in your home, consider investing in several houseplants now. Just one houseplant in a room provides enough oxygen for one adult per day. They also help to purify the air in your home. I’m not the best botanist in the world by any means, but I’ve somehow managed to have a few plants over the years that haven’t died on me. So it’s possible even for the worst gardener in the world to successfully have some houseplants.

Since access to the outdoors should be limited to city dwellers during a survival scenario, consider carefully what alternative fuels you’ll use for cooking, purifying water, and heating indoors. I recommend butane stoves for cooking indoors. Butane is a fuel that you can consistently use indoors without worrying about fume inhalation. There’s also the “Big Buddy” or “Little Buddy” indoor propane heater which uses a special canister that allows you to get heat indoors without needing ventilation. (Note: This does not mean you can burn all propane indoors without ventilation. Just this specially created unit.) Isopropyl alcohol also burns cleanly indoors and is relatively affordable as well.

One of the most important considerations if you live in a densely populated area is that you must plan on deliberately being inconspicuous. When you are prepared, you are a target—plain and simple. You simply cannot cook fragrant foods. Any sounds that comes from your dwelling must sound like everyone else around you who are “surviving.” You MUST be able to completely black out your windows at night as well as the cracks which surround your doors. Invest in duct tape and thick black sheeting that’s durable for long-term use. You cannot afford for light to leak through for others to see. This will paint you as a target to those who feel entitled to your survival wares. Along those lines, allow me to remind you that you must also be vigilant in protecting your home and your supplies. It’s OK to be suspicious. Be aware of your surroundings. Pay attention. Take your time in trusting someone. These are good words of advice even now.

Also be sure that you have a sufficient number of fire extinguishers for your dwelling. With or without electricity, fire is a legitimate concern in a survival mode of living. A fire hazard can come from Mother Nature, cooking indoors in a way you’re unfamiliar with, candlelight, from a criminal act outdoors, of from the carelessness of your close neighbors. So be prepared to squelch the danger ASAP.

All of the 10 Areas of Preparedness shared previously on this site are applicable to city dwellers. You’ve got to be prepared in a more condensed and confined area. Whatever you do, don’t bring attention to yourself and your preparedness—not now, and certainly not in the midst of a survival scenario. In a densely populated area, you run the risk of attracting a LOT more people than you would in a rural area. It’s the difference between advertising on a New York City billboard and advertising in the middle of farmland in Chubbuck, Idaho. So realize that any survival tools or supplies that you’re using, you run the risk of letting hundreds of thousands of others know that you’ve got them.

For the faint of heart, I apologize in advance. Since I’m discussing this topic, I’ve got to bring up the Physical Preparedness component here that will be especially important to city dwellers—DEFENSE. As a city dweller, you need to be that much more prepared to protect yourself. Though you will be a bit cramped in your city dwelling as a result of all of your supplies, I strongly suggest that whenever possible you bring in other people who you trust. One of my readers is an empty nester who lives with her husband. They are both mid-fifties and live in a townhome in an urban environment. They are astute when it comes to preparedness, but their preparedness supplies are not enough to protect them. I recommend that they recruit anywhere from 2 to 4 more neighbors that they can trust to live with them during such an event (with the neighbors contributing their own goods and supplies of course). Two people living in a townhome in the city is simply too easy of a target for evil marauders to pass up in a desperate situation. Two adults would have very little luck defending themselves against a determined gang of 6 or 8. ALL of the adults need to have a plan to defend themselves (men AND women) and then you need PEOPLE to help you back up that plan. Obviously, this is a whole other topic to address in and of itself. But for now, I’d like the city dwellers to at least think about how they would handle such a scenario.

City dwellers are actually in more danger of being subjected to crime than country dwellers are. As a whole, criminals are lazy opportunists. A city presents much more opportunity than a rural setting does. Criminals attempt to obtain the low hanging fruit that is readily available to them first and foremost. They aren’t about to spend their physical energy and resources to traipse 50 miles outside of town to get to that farmhouse. They’d be passing up too many easy targets on their way. So how do you protect yourself? With whatever you’re comfortable with. However, I BEG YOU to GET comfortable with the most effective form of self-defense that you can legally use in your area. If you’re permitted to have a gun, GET ONE and get familiar with how to use it proficiently. If you can’t have a gun, then get long-distance pepper spray, an Asp baton, or a heavy-duty baseball bat.

Rural or Urban Preparedness Part I

admin — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 17:25:33 +0000

By Kellene Bishop

Today I’m going to address another issue in the world of preparedness that tends to be quite controversial. This is the matter of where one should live in order to be better prepared. Addressing this issue properly will require more than one article as there are many components to consider. But for today, let’s start with the most obvious one. Can you only be prepared if you live out in a rural area?

For starters, allow me to answer the question based on the strongest fundamental and then we can go from there. Personally, I am 100% certain that all of the warnings and admonitions in the scriptures to be educated and prepared are for the benefit ALL of God’s children, not just those who can afford to live in an ideal area of their choosing. To believe such would require one to operate under the assumption that only those who can afford a rural resort prior to a catastrophic occurrence are worthy of the Lord to be safe. Um…that would be about ½ to 2% of our entire population in the U.S. Thus logic defies such a presumption. It’s simply not the case. If it was, I’m certain we would read an abundance of scripture that would caution us from living in an urban or suburban environment. Sure we read of cities being abandoned on occasion (such as Sodom and Gomorrah as well as Jerusalem), but we also read of persons being directed to flee to other communities for their safety. Likewise, I believe that the logistical need to be prepared is applicable to everyone, regardless of where they live. This belief applies to those who live in the city or the country, but it also applies to whether someone lives in the South Africa, Armenia, or the Philippines.
Parable of the Ten Virgins art c/o rapturechrist.com

Parable of the Ten Virgins art c/o rapturechrist.com

I also firmly believe that being prepared isn’t all about the logistical aspects of having a certain amount of “stuff.” That’s clear in the Parable of the 10 Virgins. If preparedness was just about “stuff” then the 5 prepared virgins could have imparted of their oil to the other 5 unprepared virgins. I feel the most important part of being prepared is being obedient to the warnings given to us by God. I think that’s, in part, why we have the account of Joseph in Egypt, Noah’s ark, and the Parable of the 10 Virgins in the scriptures—to warn us to be prepared. These Biblical accounts also show us the unalterable consequences if one isn’t prepared. Frankly, encouraging more folks to be obedient in being prepared is my first priority—although I do not speak with any God-given authority in doing so—simply a genuine concern for my fellowman. It’s actually only my second priority to help folks be prepared properly and practically for whatever is to come.

So, is there a superior preparedness scenario available to those who live in a rural area versus those who live in an urban area? Well, yes. Logistically there is. But that certainly doesn’t mean that a loving Heavenly Father wouldn’t encourage all of us to be prepared in spite of our living location. You just have to look at your preparedness needs dependent on where you’re living presently.

The fact of the matter is, if you live in an urban or even a suburban area and things go bad, you will need to prepare to move to another area. An urban area presents a great deal of additional challenges that are mitigated in a rural area. Your selection of an area of refuge should be based on the ability to readily defend it, access to quality sanitation, minimal exposure to violence and looting, and being a part of a community you can trust for your safety and survival. Thus the preparedness efforts you put into place in your urban scenario need to take such a move into consideration. Remember, you won’t just be moving yourselves. You’ll need to plan on taking your preparedness supplies with you so that you will be an asset to any outside community you intend to survive with. In a subsequent article, I will go into greater detail on this part of the topic.

Ultimately, the question of whether to be prepared in an urban vs. a rural area is the wrong question. The better question to ask is “how can I be best prepared for my circumstances?”

Do You Believe in EMPs?

admin — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 17:15:49 +0000

By Kellene Bishop

“Do you believe in EMPs?” questioned an older woman in one of my classes this weekend. Until she asked me this question, I suppose I never considered whether or not an EMP was to be “believed in” or not. None of my readers will be shocked to hear that I responded “Of course I believe in EMPs.” My follow-up question to her should have been “What’s not to believe?”

In a previous article I cover the logistics of an Electromagnetic Pulse. But I want to remind you that an EMP is the most economical approach for any enemy country to use against our nation. The EMP technology does exist in the Soviet Union, China, and North Korea. Because it exists in these other nations, that also means it could easily be “for sale” to even more ardent “haters” of the U.S. such as Venezuela or any number of Muslim enemies. Given that our nation is so reliant on electricity for all of the our money circulation, shipments of food and medications, water treatment, and healthcare, an EMP would be the perfect way to debilitate our nation—without the mess and expense that would be necessary with other forms of attack.

If an EMP is used on our nation, it would only take 3 EMP launches above the atmosphere to crumble our entire nation. Parts of Canada and Mexico would likely be affected as well. With an EMP strike there would be no need for an enemy to plan and prepare with all of the expense of shipping large armies and weapons over here. Besides, wouldn’t our detection systems see them coming from a long ways off? Additionally, there would be no need for the enemy army to bear the expense of caring for the sick and wounded. They would simply allow time to take care of that “problem” for them instead. Within 4 to 6 months the weak will have all died from a lack of medical care. (Just think about how many of Americans are dependent on gadgets and technology to keep us alive.) Afterwards, the enemy attacker could easily sweep in and no amount of communication would be available to provide any warnings. They would then have easy access to all of our nations assets along with a strong workforce. Easy peasy, right?

It is due to this awareness that I strongly suggest that if you are going to prepare and protect any electronic devices from the effect of an EMP (via a Faraday Cage) that you focus primarily on communication devices first and foremost. Communication and our hardened resolve will be critical in surviving any enemy attack. Communication enables planning, protection, and strategy. The lack thereof only enables a “sitting duck” scenario. I hear too often of individuals thinking that they will need to protect their cell phones, internet access, and televisions. Excuse me while I laugh at such ignorance and naïveté. If you’re one of those people, think about this for a second. Cell phones, televisions, and computers are only viable communication aids when the originating core network is functional.

While he was a teenager in a small town in the middle of nowhere, Utah, my father-in-law operated a radio station from his bedroom closet. (He actually had a few listeners and he went on to be a great voice of radio many years later.) As I recall this story I’m reminded that having the ability to broadcast a radio signal doesn’t take much effort, equipment or expertise. So I would recommend that you put such skills in your Mental Preparedness category and get it checked off your list. Being able to hear broadcasts of the truth to counteract the broadcasts of brainwashing was critical to the survivors of every major war fought throughout the last 70 years of history. It’s something you can plan and prepare for now.

Now, take heart and fear not. To be clear, based on my scriptural knowledge and belief I do not believe that another kingdom or principality will ever hold this nation physically. But I DO believe that there will be many who try to conquer the U.S. on a more vicious level and an EMP would be the most likely tool. Whether or not an enemy is able to fully execute their plan, they would still be able to do an unfathomable amount of damage in their attempts—such as with an EMP. But the same scriptures which give us this ultimate peaceful assurance also tell us of our “chariots and horses” being “cut down.” (Just imagine an ancient prophet trying to describe our automobiles and other transportation methods hundreds and hundreds of years ago. I’m sure that horses and chariots were about the best they could come up with.) On that note, tomorrow I’ll address a bit more of the most likely time an EMP would be launched. Stay tuned.

The Timing of an EMP Strike

admin — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 17:02:53 +0000

By Kellene Bishop

Author’s Note: Before reading this article, I want to be perfectly clear that my objective is not to “freak you out.” Mental Preparedness comes more readily when we allow ourselves to mentally picture scenarios and then allow our brain to strategically work on solving the anticipated problems. I hope this article does that for you today.

There’s no such thing as an opportune time for a trial, right? As such, it’s a bit naïve of us to think that if an EMP strike does hit, it will conveniently do so while we are gathered all comfy and cozy in our homes. If I was a nefarious terrorist, I would plan an EMP strike for a freezing snowy winter day affecting most of the country AND during a late time of day that would most affect rush hour. To add to that timing, I would plan it to occur while Congress was out of session for the Christmas break. That would be a true formula for chaos.

Our autos and other modes of transportation will be the most noticeable initial casualty as the result of an EMP strike. Just think what would happen if you were commuting home on the freeway and all of the sudden your vehicle, as well as all of the other cars around you, had all of their electronics stop functioning. The power steering would go out. The power brakes would go out. And like a synchronized swimming team, all of the autos that were made after 1970 would simple stop operating. Sure they might travel another few feet—until they slammed into another car that suddenly stopped operating. Imagine this scene on your jam packed freeway on the way home from work or while running errands. Now picture that scene duplicated throughout thousands upon thousands of bustling cities throughout the country.

Keeping in line with the disruption of transportation, planes will fall from the sky as their electronics completely fail them. At any given time there are well over 5,000 non-military airplanes over the air space of the U.S. Boeing estimates that one of their 737’s take off or land every 4.9 seconds, although that’s for the world, not just the U.S. Boeing states that they have over 1.5 million planes in the air at all times of the day. Even without that, picture being one of the casualties stranded in the O’Hare or JFK Airport with no lights, no food, and no way to get out of town to your family.

The second part of this impact will be painfully felt in our modes of communication. Your cell phone will be completely useless for anything other than a paper weight. Your car radio will not function or provide you with any information to figure out what went wrong. Regardless of the abundance of injuries that will take place all over the nation, no ambulance, tow truck or life flight will be available to heed your call for help.

The third largest impact that you will notice is in the availability, or rather LACK of available medical care. If you can hobble your way to a hospital from the site of the freeway catastrophe, you will inevitably find the facilities in chaos, overflowing with panicked patients and medical personnel. Their backup generators will be useless in most cases as they typically operate with some electronics. The medical supplies such as bandages and medicine will be exhausted within a couple of hours, not to mention the medical staff. Can you imagine being in the middle of a life-saving surgery and suddenly have the power go off without even so much as a warning beep?

So, what do you do to be prepared? First of all, have your auto supplied with preparedness tools: first aid, water, coat, some food, etc. Be sure that you have a reliable pair of shoes—especially you ladies. Heels are great for partying in, but they make it pretty darn hard to hike in the snow 15 miles should a survival scenario come up. In addition to the obvious tools in your car, you MUST be prepared to defend yourself as well. Violence and desperation will reign supreme in such an environment. There’s no need to be a sitting duck, folks. Act quickly and decisively. When you’ve lost access to communication or news and your cars have suddenly stopped, you will KNOW it’s an EMP folks. Don’t wait around to deliberate with fellow travelers. Get to where you need to be ASAP.

Have a prearranged plan with your loved ones of where to meet in the event of trouble. At least this way your spouse or family and friends will have some peace of mind knowing that you will try to get to that location. Panic is not your friend in an emergency. Peace of mind is, even if it’s challenged by some “what if” scenarios.

Maintaining physical strength isn’t about being able to run a marathon for most people. But everyone’s physical strength will be tested in an EMP scenario. The simple act of getting a glass of water will require work. Flour for a loaf of bread will require arm muscles. Going to the bathroom will require full consciousness. That may not daunt some of you, but keep in mind that you may need to cover longer distances than between your house and the outhouse. Thus having working bikes and wagons you can tow on them may be a lifesaver.

alas babylon 199×300 The Timing of an EMP StrikeFamiliarizing yourself with basic medical care such as breaks, sprains, deep cuts, rashes, colds, and flu will also be important. While an EMP won’t send us back to the 19th century in all regards, it certainly would in terms of medical care. We need to take some of the responsibility for self-reliance in this area.

Again, I hope I’ve given you just a few things to think about today. I also really liked how the books “Alas, Babylon” by Pat Frank, and “One Second After” by William Fortschen helped me through some mental preparedness in this exact type of scenario. If you allow your mind to think about and mentally participate in such scenarios, you’ll have a more sound Mental Preparedness to solve the problems in comfort now, rather than in chaos later.

Financial Preparedness Part 3

admin — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:59:49 +0000

The Ultimate Deception

By Kellene Bishop

“Making something out of nothing” has often been the American Way. We take a simple idea and turn it into a business, providing jobs, tax revenue and overall security. In this instance, creating something out of nothing is in line with the true act of Creation—organizing matter. But it’s important to know that there’s a constant enemy that attempts to portray makes something out of nothing. This particular act isn’t Creation though. It is nothing more than a scam; and expensive parlor trick, that is intent on destruction and control; not enriching our surroundings like the true art of Creation. As one who is intent on independence and preparedness, it’s important that you are aware of this particular deception for it is truly the ultimate deception.

Understand that this article, as well as the last two, are written as the result of over 2,000 hours of study and research on this matter. I have read volumes and volumes of materials. And here I am trying to summarize it in 3 articles. As a result, I must apologize for my inevitable lack of words which would do this topic justice and encourage you to make it a matter of study for yourself. On thing I will tell you bluntly, money is SUPPOSED to be a complicated issue. If it’s complicated then the scam is less likely to be unveiled. So, buck the trend, I say.

As I shared in a previous article, money is not wealth. It is merely a symbol of the trade of goods and services which actually ARE wealth. Money is lifeless and barren. It has no ability to reproduce, duplicate, or compound. Such results are accomplished simply by persons who are willing to say that money has “increased.” I realize that such a statement may be hard to swallow. After all, we’ve been accepting of the theory of compounding and interest-bearing for decades. But the concept of interest being earned on money is simply a manmade façade.

Aristotle says it best:
“Money is naturally barren, to make it breed money is preposterous, and a perversion from the end of its institution, which was only to serve the purpose of exchange and not of increase…Usury is most reasonably detested as the increases arises from the money itself and not be employing it to the purpose for which it was intended.”

Allowing money to represent wealth and to use such a false representation to create even more money is as fraudulent as a shoplifter having stolen a good only to return it to the store to get their money back. Procuring goods or services without work or production of any kind is that actions of a thief. The shysters of our world are attempting to have us believe that they are increasing in wealth without having PRODUCED a single thing…not an action, not a product, not even a thought. This makes compounding and interest-bearing nothing more than robbery.

So why is interest such a popularly applied method in our international world of finance? Because interest is about a gradual transfer of power from a society to an entity.

Here’s an example. I know that many of you would never think of using this particular service, but allow me to use it to better illustrate my point. Suppose you needed a couple thousand dollars for a medical procedure which would save your child’s life. So you’re willing to take an advance on your next month’s worth of wages in order to borrow that money ahead of time from one of those “cash your checks here” places. As a result, you are assessed a fee of 35% of the $2,000. To recap, you are borrowing $2,000 and you will be paying back $2,700. So, let’s zero in on what this “cash your checks here” place did to earn that $700. Did they contribute anything to the economy? Did they produce anything? Did they provide a particular expertise to society? No. They simply capitalized on your emotions and your fear. They have nothing but a barren building and neon signs. And for that they increased their barren money 35%. Wait, it is even more crazy than what I’m illustrating here.

When a bank takes in the result of your work, production, expertise, etc. in the form of your paycheck, they simply add more digits to the screen that you see when you log into your bank account. Maybe that sounds simplistic, but tell me I’m wrong. Where’s the actual MONEY? All they did was remove digits from your employer. They didn’t handle currency at any time whatsoever. Then, based on the accumulation of those “digits” that you see on the screen, that you and every other of their customers contribute, they are given a special lending authority from the Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve says that for every $1.00 that they show on their books taken in as a deposit (ie: in the form of a paycheck) they are allowed to lend out 92% to the public and charge interest on it. So now let’s say that Mr. and Mrs. Jones decide that they would like to go on a cruise. Thus they ask to borrow $5,000 from the bank. The bank says “Sure. According to our books, we’ve got $5,000 to lend you. And we’ll be happy to do so at an interest rate of 10%.” The loan is simply a digital bookkeeping entry folks. To be clear. The bank is lending the Jones’s $5,000 as the result of other deposits on their books of only 8% more than this $5,000. Eight percent! What a cushion to prevent a run on the bank, eh? No wonder there have been a record number of bank bailouts AND the FDIC is now on the verge of bankruptcy.

Let’s remember that YOU didn’t deposit any cash into their bank account. You deposited a piece of paper that is a representation of the work that you’ve contributed to your employer. And it’s not likely that very many other people have deposited actual cash into a bank account. Usually they end up depositing digits on a piece of paper. So, how is the bank “earning” $500 on their $5,000? What did they produce or contribute or provide to society? AIR! The money by which they are basing their 92% lending ratio is a façade. And they are charging $500 for the privilege of the Jones’s passing a long that façade to someone else. This process is repeated again and again and again. Your retirement funds are based on this façade. And the money that the “cash your check here” place had to lend you is based on the acceptance of this façade. I like how the author, Ken Bowers, calls this kind of play so succinctly. He says “if anyone else tried to do that, it would (be) called counterfeiting.” But every single bank in the world does it, courtesy of the authority granted to them by the Federal Reserve Bank and its cronies.

When you pay back the $700 to the “cash your check here” place, how did you get it? By actually working, right? When the Jones’s pay back their loan to the bank, how did they get the money to pay it back? By actually producing something, right? How absolutely crazy is it that we are basing our weekly survival, our future, our retirements based on this hollow corpse of a sham? We produce real goods and services and then exchange them for fake ones? What a DEAL, eh?

What few people realize is that the Revolutionary War was actually fought in part over the worthless nature of the Continental Dollar. The government insisted on paying the troops with them, yet the same government would not accept them as payment of people’s taxes. The Continental Dollar decreased to a value of only two cents per dollar! Our U.S. dollar is actually only worth 2-3 cents based on what buying power a dollar had in 1913 before the Federal Reserve was created.

The largest problem is, is that there is NOTHING tangible to back up our currency. There is no gold in Fort Knox. It was already leveraged. There isn’t even wheat in our storehouses. Our rich farmlands which were the epitome of the production and wealth of our nation have been marginalized at every turn. The land grabs that you see throughout our nation on behalf of the U.S. Government are simply to collateralize our debt to international banking powers (in the name of foreign nations.) Land is actually worth something because it’s tangible. And thus the more land the U.S. Government claims to be their own, the more they can collateralize the bogus currency they borrow from other nations. So you see, they are required to have something tangible to back up their loans taken from other nations, but they are not required to have anything tangible to back up the money we rely on in our daily lives.

So why do I say that such a façade represents the shifting of power from a society to a couple of banks? Because, the only way to pay back any loans is by producing real goods or services. The interest rates are created superior to the anticipated output of the production a given nation. When the nation can’t pay it’s debt in full then the financial powers begin to influence every area of policy—and I do mean EVERY area. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that our money reads “In God We Trust.” Because indeed, in God we DO trust. Isn’t it ironic that the vile perpetrators of this scam would use such a sacred claim in an effort to make us feel more trusting and confident in this charade?

OK. So what can you do to break away from relying on such an empty scam? What I keep telling you. Put your faith and trust in real and tangible goods and services and NEVER allow yourself to pay interest. I have invaded some of the most lofty circles of this deception myself over the last 15 years. I have heard their plans and their shifty reasoning. I have seen them claim that $1 billion dollars is suddenly worth $1.2 billion after a mere 24 hours, and ashamedly I bought into it all thinking that I was somehow superior to others because I knew how money works. Hah! I knew how money was portrayed to work, but it was a big wake up call after I discovered how it really “worked.” After falling for the façade of interest and compounding I finally was beaten. Having to start over I vowed that I would NEVER, EVER allow myself to play the interest bearing game again. I hope you will do the same as wisely and as speedily as is prudent.

Financial Preparedness Part 2

admin — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:46:50 +0000

The Conspiracy Players
By Kellene Bishop

Why is it important for you to really understand the Federal Reserve System in order to be better prepared financially? Well, it’s like I tell my firearm self-defense students—to be forewarned is to be prepared. I keep saying in my articles that the financial collapse is the disaster that is most likely to occur in our nation, and relatively soon. When I say that, it’s not with any intent to be a fearmonger. Rather it’s based upon my 15 years in the finance industry and understanding how money really works and how it is supposed to work.

Before I go on, I know that there will be a handful of you that will ask me for sources and such. Usually a person who asks for such info is really just looking for an internet link. However, I don’t spend my days reading what others have posted on the internet for my info as a lot of it is simply unverifiable. Understand that a lot of my info comes from actually being a part of the trenches for 15 years. I also got a lot of information from studying appropriate books such as “The Naked Communist” by W. Cleon Skousen, “Hiding in Plain Sight” by Ken Bowers, “The Creature from Jekyll Island” by G. Edward Griffin, “Secret Combinations Today” by Representative Louis McFadden, and “The Rich and the Super Rich” by Ferdinand Lundberg. I also have studied excerpts from old “Washington Post” and “New York Times” articles dating back as far as 1913. Also helpful in understanding this topic was conducting an in-depth study of the founding fathers and their specific concerns with the money system in our nation.

When you initially see a magician pull a rabbit out of his hat, it’s amazing. Subsequent tricks of this same nature don’t quite capture your attention the same way. But if you realized later that he did the trick at the demise of a cute little bunny rabbit, then not only would you not be impressed with the trick, but you’d be a bit ticked off. Well, this is what is about to happen when you understand the Federal Reserve System.

Surprise, Surprise!

To be clear, the Federal Reserve System is NOT government run (in fact, it now has the influence to RUN our government—more on that later). It never has been and it never will be. It is a PRIVATE, stock owned, lending institution and most of the stockholders are NOT Americans—not even on paper. The name “federal” was chosen specifically to be deceptive and to entice the American people into accepting it. It is the ultimate evidence that our nation’s economy is run by private bankers, not elected government officials. Additionally, there is nothing “Reserve” about the Fed. They have never had anything tangible backing up the issuance of currency, and they never will. Again, it’s simply another creative word usage used by conspirators to deceive the American people. In fact, the Federal Reserve is well beyond any demands of the voters. It’s even beyond the Congress. While the Congress supposedly has the authority to audit the Federal Reserve, it has NEVER happened. The Federal Reserve will not allow itself to be audited. Their books have never been opened, their shareholders are all private, there is no accounting of where their money goes, how much is produced, and even their “public” meetings are closed to the public and government. In fact, they elected several years ago to even cease reporting on how much currency is in circulation at any given time.

The deception of the Federal Reserve System began in 1910 at a meeting at the Georgia State Park on Jekyll Island. Fitting name, actually. This location was a private hunting club/winter resort. The participants who met in this meeting represented the worlds richest individuals and organizations—in fact one fourth of the entire world’s wealth! Not one of them was an elected official. They were all private individuals. They were actually competitors with each other in the world of finance. However, they all had a common enemy—freedom. At the time of their meeting, freedom was flourishing and the establishment of many local banks resulted throughout the country. This monetary independence was shifting the control away from these wealthy, power hungry individuals. Freedom also made it so that the economy was still based on the gold standard. Considering that this group all had experienced the satiating taste of making something out of nothing through usury and interest, the gold standard actually threatened to impede their financial progress. Profits from the banks and the gold standard were used to expand the wealth and prosperity of this nation. These financiers recognized that if the United States was permitted to continue to prosper in this honest and ethical manner, then duplicate their template of success in other countries, it would actually threatened to destroy all of the criminal rackets these men had established elsewhere. So a meeting was called. These men all traveled under aliases and some even in disguise to the appointed place on Jekyll Island. They even addressed each other by their alias names—yup, real cloak and dagger kind of stuff. Present at this meeting were the following:

• Nelson Aldrich, the Chairman of National Monetary Commission. He was in charge of recommending to Congress any persons who would be good advisors on banking reform.
• Abraham Andrew, the Assistant Secretary of the United States Treasury
• Hendry Davidson, the senior partner of the J.P. Morgan Company
• Charles D. Norton, President of J.P Morgan’s First National Bank of New York
• Benjamin Strong, the head of J.P. Morgan’s Banker’s Trust Company. (He was later named as the chairman of the Federal Reserve Board)
• Frank A. Vanderlip, the President of National City Bank of New York. This bank was the most powerful bank in the world at this time. Vanderlip was also the spokesman for William Rockefeller and for the international investment banking house of Kuhn, Loeb & Company.
• Paul M. Warburg, partner in Kuhn, Loeb & Company. He was also a representative of the Rothschild banking dynasty in England and France. As if that wasn’t enough, he was also the brother of Max Warburg who was the head of the Warburg banking consortium in Germany and the Netherlands.

These men were not interested in prosperity as the result of an abundance of goods and services. These men were literally addicted to making wealth as the result of the incurrence of debt. As a result, they wanted to form a central type of bank and essentially establish themselves as the “go-to source” for countries, cities, etc. to borrow money. They would then in turn lend far more money than could ever be paid back. As a result, the borrower would either have to go bankrupt—not a good choice when you’re a nation, or they would receive “leniency” on their debts in exchange for the Federal Reserve to influence political, social, and economic policies. It is because of this status of influence that our country is run more by those who hold our debt rather than the virtues and people that truly make up this nation.

So once again, you may be asking why is this important to your preparedness? I have only scratched the surface of this issue in today’s article, but clearly there’s a “stench in Denmark.” Your only protection from being sorely affected by it is to get out of the world of deception as best as you can. My two cents is to eliminate ALL of your debt. Run away from credit cards, bank programs, etc. like they are the plague. Stock up on TANGIBLE goods that you can survive on rather than putting your trust in men who run around with aliases and behind closed doors.

In the next article I will discuss more about how currency is manipulated to earn something out of nothing and what you need to do about it.

Financial Preparedness Part 1

admin — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:35:39 +0000

Conspiracy Abounds
By Kellene Bishop

There is a bumper sticker that I was indelibly impressed with when I was 13 years old. It said “Just because I’m paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t after me.” I share that with you today because people seem to have a heightened sensitivity to the word “conspiracy.” Any time they hear something that sounds like it is a conspiracy, they dismiss it. Well folks, “Just because it’s a conspiracy, doesn’t mean it isn’t real.” You may not like the word or meaning of the word conspiracy, but it doesn’t mean that it isn’t upon us. Frankly, it hasn’t left us since Cain killed Abel. (Even earlier than that if you want to delve deeper).

What does all of this have to do with financial preparedness? I’ve discovered personally that if you understand how money REALLY works, then you may very well be sickened by the state we find ourselves in. However, in understanding it, you may also survive the ill effects of such a conspiracy. That’s kind of like having to perform an emergency tracheotomy with a straw, a knife, and some tape. It’s not easy on the stomach, but it will indeed save a life.

This monetary information is critical for us to know now in order to be better prepared and it’s critical information to know for later—in the midst of the aftermath—so that we do not repeat these mistakes when our country needs to be rebuilt after a financial collapse of any kind.

Before I delve into the real life players of this conspiracy, I really need to make sure that we’re all on the same page as to what money really is. Money was intended to be one thing, and one thing only—a universal representation of the value of the goods or services that have been exchanged.

Goods and services are produced. They are created based upon materials that are available or assembled, or they are based upon expertise and skills provided to another person. The value only exists when they have value to another person. For example, I wouldn’t give much more than a bowl of Cheerios to listen to some pious Harvard professor spout the merits of the environment. And yet someone, somewhere is willing to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars just to have access to his expertise. This same philosophy is manifest in every single thrift store in America. The store is full of goods that no longer hold any value to the person who donated it. However, the thrift store is able to put a price tag on each item based upon the value that another person may see in that item. Now suppose we didn’t have money as a universally recognized symbol of that value. This would mean that someone would walk into a thrift store and offer to pay for that item based on the goods or services that they possessed. What if the only service that person possesses is the knowledge and experience of a running back for the Dallas Cowboys. Famous or not, it’s not likely that anyone in the store would be interested in exchanging a vase, a desk, some shoes, etc just so that this guy could run with a ball, right? It would be just as difficult if someone walked into the thrift store armed only with tofu which they wanted to use in exchange for their product, or homegrown Chia pets. So, instead of hoping that the store or service company we go to is in the market for our tofu or Chia pet, the currency system was created. Currency was presented into our nation ONLY to provide a universally recognized symbol of the value of the goods or services that were exchanged.

So here’s the rub. Money has no value in and of itself. Just like the having the registration to a vehicle is worth nothing in and of itself. The value is in the vehicle. So, if money has no value, then how does anyone with a logical mind accept that money compounds its own value simply by sitting there?! This insanity is perpetuated for no other reason than by those who are willing to move this deceptive agenda forward as well. In other words, everybody knows that something inanimate does not compound in value or go up in value simply by sitting there. And yet we all fall for the deception when it comes to money.

A lie told often enough becomes truth” -Vladimir Lenin

Originally there was some rationale to this deception. In order to avoid an all out falsehood, the original plan was that currency was only to be issued in direct correlation to the amount of precious metals of gold and silver that the U.S. Government had to back it with. At least the value of gold and silver could go up in value based on supply and demand. If the amount of currency that was issued never exceeded the amount of gold or silver in reserve, then the system would be sound. However, such has not been the case since the “Federal Reserve System” came into play. There have NEVER been any reserves to back up the currency that is now in circulation and there never will.

I won’t be able to address this issue fully in one part. So I’ll wrap this portion up with one critical point. Wealth is not based on money. Money is not wealth. Money is inherently barren. It cannot breed more money. Only produced goods and services are wealth. The wealth of which is based on goods and services that are necessary for the sustenance and comfort of life. So, in the name of preparedness, I implore you to use this worthless currency while you can, to obtain as much real goods and services as you need to survive for at least a year. Then you will be truly wealthy, not deceived.

Tomorrow we’ll discuss the Federal Reserve System. The deception begins simply with the name. They are not federal. There is nothing in reserve. And it is certainly not a universal system.

Seeds for survival gardens? How reliable are they?

admin — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 15:48:49 +0000

Before ordering from a new-to-me seed company, I always plug their name into the search box here:

http://davesgarden.com/products/gwd/

The Garden Watchdog has saved me a small fortune with just a few clicks. It is a “directory of 6,750 mail order gardening companies. Here gardeners share their opinions on which companies really deliver on quality, price and service.”

Keep in mind, a few bad reviews does not always mean a bad business, but a long string of them is a good indication that something is not right.

Speaking of not right…

Hmmm…looks like more than a few ‘survival seed’ companies are jumping on the $eed wagon these days. My concern with some of these new boys on the block is their integrity.

Without naming names, I’ll just use a typical example of a ’survival garden seed’ outfit selling an (x) number of thousands of seeds, almost two dozen variety heirloom seed package for a total of $X.95…

For what it’s worth, my alarm bells were clanging and banging when I visited their site.

I was put-off and a bit suspicious of the hype-hype talk, especially since the heirloom seeds they’re offering are not exactly ‘rare’ as they claim. The same varieties are commonly available–by the small pack and in bulk–at reputable places such as Fedco, Baker Creek, Seeds of Change, Johnny’s Seeds, Territorial Seeds and others. Also the emphasis on their seed count was silly and pure hype (almost insulting, really). Most small-seeded varieties are normally sold in multi-hundreds or thousands anyway.

For long term storage purposes and as a hedge against hard times, I’d rather assemble the packet myself with seeds from reputable companies that are well known for their fresh-as-possible seeds labeled with honest germination rates and dates.

I’m not saying all new companies are bad news, but…

If your food source is–or will be–from your garden, get your seeds from a well known and reputable seed source before trusting the success of your food garden to brand new or unknown entities.

Seeds of all food plants can be safely stored many years (in most cases for up to ten times longer than normal germination rates, longer in some cases) if they are frozen in airtight containers and if the seeds are dried to about 5% – 8% moisture. If they are not dry enough, the excess moisture inside the seeds will expand when frozen and derange their internal cell walls. As a result, germination and seed vigor may be poor.

How dry is enough? If the seed breaks or shatters instead of bending when folded or whacked with a hammer, it is good to go.

If you can’t freeze the seeds, the next best place to store them would be the refrigerator. Failing that, a cool dry and dark place would be third best.

Tip: When you take your seeds out of the freezer or refrigerator, allow the container to completely reach room temperature before opening (overnight is best). If you don’t, you may have problems associated with condensed moisture inside the container.

Because fluctuations in temperature will also shorten the shelf life of seeds, I like to package my seeds in many smaller containers instead of a few large ones. That way I don’t thaw out a big wad of seeds when I just need to remove a few from frozen storage.

And just in case you didn’t know…it is possible to overdry seeds! For example, if you stored a desiccant (a drying material such as silica gel, etc.) with seeds that are already plenty enough dry, you could shorten their life span considerably.

Seeds that are stored with less than 5% moisture may suffer a poor germination rate over time, and the ones that manage to sprout may suffer loss of vigor. You can test one or two seeds from each batch the low tech way. When the seeds reach the point where they are dry enough to crack and shatter when lightly whacked with a hammer or when bitten with your teeth, they should be stored in an airtight container without a desiccant.

Never dry seeds in an oven or in direct sunshine! Damage begins when the temp rises above 95* F. When you harvest your own seeds, it is best to dry them on window screens in a warm airy place. I like to boost the air circulation with a fan, and park the seed works in the same room as my wood stove. On the days when I don’t want to fire up the wood stove, I use a fan, a thermometer, and a portable electric heater with a built-in thermostat to dry seeds in a small room.

A great food garden starts with great seeds!

Grow forth and be happy!

This article is an excerpt from Mrs. Tightwad’s Handbook #1: HOW TO SURVIVE DISASTERS AND OTHER HARD TIMES. For more information, see the left sidebar on this site: http://purecajunsunshine.blogspot.com/

Put a ‘Shelter Box’ in Your Emergency Preparedness Plans

admin — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 15:41:00 +0000

Even if you plan to ride out every crisis in the comfort of your home, you should prepare to evacuate anyway. When SHTF (Stuff Hits The Fan) it is not usually evenly distributed…Not one of us is immune to the possibility of natural or man made disasters forcing us to flee our homes or our favorite crisis hidey holes.

Do you have a tent in your emergency bugout kit?

Some of you may be thinking along these lines in the event of an emergency evacuation, “I don’t need a tent, I’ll be in a motel/relative or friend’s house/etc.” or “I can sleep in my car, if I need to.” If this is you talking, then please consider that best laid plans can go wrong. You may have to abandon your vehicle for some reason or another…or face way too many miles of no motel vacancies…houses can burn down…you get the idea.

The paramount rules for survival anytime, anywhere involves shelter, water and food. Naturally, when preparing for emergencies, we always think of food and water…but how prepared are you for emergency shelter?

If you have not already done so, put a low cost ‘shelter box’ in your emergency preparedness plans. Make your own custom kit to suit your group. Here’s the general idea:

http://www.shelterbox.ca/what-shelterbox.html

The price and weight is a bear, so…

Here’s my spin…a combination Shelter Box and ‘bugout’ bag. The following items can be packed into one or two large sturdy and waterproof boxes (or large bags). Waterproofing is essential, in the event of rain. Use plastic bags inside of the containers, if needed. A well stocked Shelter Box should at least include the following items.

This is an outline of a very basic kit. My personal kit contains more gear than this, and other folks may have more or less than what is outlined here. A supply list as long as your leg can be overwhelming to those who are just starting out in their preparedness ventures, or to those who simply can’t afford to buy a lot. Here is a short and sweet version of the basics:

1. Expedient dry shelter such as a tent (or several heavy duty tarps and rope if you can’t afford a tent right now). Instead of including one large/medium tent to shelter your whole group, I would include two medium (or smaller) tents. Bad things can happen to your one shelter. Better to have a backup, even if it will be a bit cramped.

2. Bedding and clothing for every person:

A. Thermal blankets and thermal sleeping bags, if you can afford it.

B. Even if it is summertime (or wintertime) when you pack your shelter box, and the next season is far from your mind…don’t forget to include a coat and a summer/winter change of clothing and shoes for each person.

C. One heavy duty plastic tarp for each person, to serve as a ground cover beneath bedding. Include an inexpensive mylar blanket for every person to bolster up insulation where needed. In summer, the same mylar blanket can be used on top of a tarp shelter to divert the sun’s hot rays and to help cool the area beneath the tarp…

3. Light – Include an inexpensive solar powered battery charger and rechargeable batteries for several LED flashlights. I like to get a few of the same kind of flashlight (and other gear), so I can cannibalize one for parts, if needed.

4. Clean water and several ways and means of purification. Collapsible water containers.

5. Heat / cooking – Two lightweight stoves: one multi-fuel stove and one twig-burning stove. Here are some options/ideas: http://www.modernoutpost.com/gear/camping-stoves.html Include several ways of making fire.

6. Cooking aids – 2 cooking pots, cooking spoon, sharp, tough knives, small knife sharpener, folded heavy duty aluminum foil, etc. Include one set of utensils and a bowl for each person. Lightweight mugs if you have room. (A bowl can do multi-duty in a pinch, if needed to save space on plates and mugs).

7. Food – Lightweight instant foods that require no refrigeration or extensive cooking. Include dried fruits, nuts, jerky, tasty energy bars, etc.

8. Tools – hammer, axe, saw, heavy duty plastic bags of varying sizes, quality duct tape (the ‘Gorilla’ brand tape is the best!), folding shovel, rope, tent stakes, bungie cords, etc. etc.

9. Health and special needs: fever and diarrhea reducing meds, personal medications, basic first aid gear. Your favorite insecticide, and mosquito nets if your area calls for it. If you have babies, include the basics for their survival. Pets…decide ahead of time what their emergency plans will involve and plan accordingly.

10. Communications – Radio, cell phone, windup battery chargers. Phone numbers.

11. Sanity savers – Just to mention a few…

A. A copy or the originals of your important papers. You know what they are.

B. A list of details about your employment/educational history. Not many think to include this in their emergency kit, but it is a sanity saver in the event you cannot return home right away, and may need to apply for temporary or permanent work elsewhere.

C. Crayons, pens, pencils and paper can go a long way to help children work through stress. Include instructions for simple games that can be made with found materials.

D. Snacks and hard candies.

E Last but not least, consider your spiritual needs. For me and mine, that would be our Bibles.

If you made your own Shelter Box right now, what would it contain? How could you make it better, later?

Here are a few ideas for solving the problem of hauling all this stuff on foot, if you needed to abandon your home or vehicle. In addition to backpacks, you could consider a few options.

The first one I like. The rest are make-do’s, but they may be better than just a backpack alone.

–> Folding game carts and carriers can haul up to 700 pounds of deer and gear–or your shelter box and bugout kits. One of my favorite places to shop has a good variety. Looksee at Cabela’s…

–> whatyoucallit…the suitcase-on-wheels-with-a-long-handle kind of thing (lined with plastic bags)…

–> Plastic wheelbarrows can be disassembled and reassembled with minimal tools and ease…

–> Garbage cans with wheels…

–> Child’s wagon and rope for strapping a load on…

–> Native American style travios…

Can you think of other ideas for transporting as much of your essential gear as possible, in case you need to travel on foot in an emergency?

This copyrighted article may be reprinted by you for noncommercial use, if the following credit is given:

Herbs and Things for Copperhead Snakebites and Brown Recluse Spider bites

admin — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 15:35:50 +0000

In an austere, where-there-is no-doctor situation caused by natural or manmade disasters, we may have no choice but to rely 100% on our own resources. In that case, this information may come in handy. If competent medical care is available, I strongly advise that snakebitten or spiderbitten persons take advantage of it.

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IMPORTANT NOTE: This information is not intended to diagnose, treat or cure any disease or dysfunction. If you have a physical concern, it is recommended that you seek the advice of a competent health care professional.
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Last week a young copperhead snake bit me on my finger. Fortunately the angle of the bite was in my favor. One of the fangs hit my knuckle bone and did not penetrate deeply; the other fang kind of rolled off and left a deep scratch. I think that because the snake struck me on the knuckle bone it did not turn loose with nearly as much venom as it would have if it had sunk its fangs into sure ’nuff meat…as in muscles or tissues. The pain and swelling was intense enough to make me wonder if somehow the fang had reached inside the joint. Yeow!

I opted for self-treatment because I live in a wilderness area where medical care truly is a dismal option. I would not trust the nearest local professionals on anything more than a bee sting.

If the bite had been on my face, neck or closer to my heart, or obviously hit an artery, or if I had been bitten by the deadlier diamondback rattlesnake or coral snake, I would have opted for the nearest competent hospital. Heh. That would be quite a long ride.

Death from copperhead snake bites are very rare (I believe the average is only about one per year in the USA), which is a good thing because statistics show that they account for most of the reported snakebites in America.

However, because serious complications are also frequently reported with copperhead snakebites, diligence and good medical care will greatly influence the outcome.

I have several traditional Native American snakebite remedies in my herbal arsenal. For my copperhead snake encounter last week, I relied on these herbs internally and made lots of poultices. More on poultices later.

Now the bruising and swelling has gone down and everything is looking and feeling MUCH better. I noticed that whenever I’d slack off on the echinacea regimen, the swelling and pain reminded me that it was time to take more of something!

Here’s what I use for snakebites (and brown recluse bites, too…see below: “About Brown Recluse Bites”).

Echinacea root (Echinacea angustifolia or E. purpurea or E. pallida), (4 – 6 capsules, internally every two to three hours) and poulticed

Goldenseal root (Hydrastis canadensis), (2 capsules, internally every two to three hours in between Echinacea doses) and poulticed

Black Cohosh (Cimicifuga racemosa) root, poulticed

Slippery Elm bark (Ulmus fulva), (capsules internally, as needed for nausea and stomach pains) and poulticed

Plantain leaves (Plantago major), crushed and poulticed (this is a whiteman herb adapted to redman uses) Take one tablespoon crushed leaf juice every hour, at the same time applying the bruised leaves to the wound. The dried leaves can also be used when soaked in water or herbal tea. Plantain tea can be used as a wash to bathe the area often.

Garlic internally and poulticed

Salt water soaks

Honey, poulticed

Charcoal, poulticed

For pain relief: Calcium gluconate 500 mgs. every 4 – 6 hours in addition to your favorite pain relief measures. NO ALCOHOL, under any circumstances.

Vitamin C capsules 1,000 – 5,000 mgs several times a day, as much as can be comfortably tolerated (take with Slippery Elm powdered bark). I use Ester-C.

I used a combinatin of herbal teas and decoctions to moisten a single or combination of herbs being used in the poultice, depending upon the immediate crisis or need at hand (drawing/extracting, anti-inflammatory, antiseptic, or anti-whatever else is needed at the time).

HOW TO MAKE A POULTICE:

A poultice is a pulverized or powdered mass of herbs moistened with water, herbal teas, tinctures, infusions, oils, decoctions. It is applied wet to the problem area. If fresh herb is used, it is pulverized until juicy, then applied directly to the skin without moistening. A cloth can be wrapped around the poultice to hold it in place when there will be movement such as walking, etc.

ABOUT BROWN RECLUSE BITES

By the way, the regimen outlined here is pretty much how I treated my brown recluse bites (3 bites, the first time two years ago, and another one a couple of months ago). Instead of the poultices, I poured a high quality tea tree oil directly into the “hole” that the bite caused. All four bites healed amazingly well, and tissue necrosis was kept down to the size of a dime, or less. I also took frequent large doses of echinacea as outlined in the other post.

Note: It is quite possible that I may be one of those tough old birds who is “immune” to Brown Recluse spider bites. I don’t know if this is the case, or if my homemade treatment should take the credit for my success. If you have access to professional medical care, I urge to you seek it promptly if you think you have been bitten by a Brown Recluse spider. More often than not, the damage from Brown Recluse is very profound, as in severe tissue damage leading to loss of limbs… They are nastybad spiders.

ABOUT SNAKE VENOM EXTRACTORS

I do not have an “extractor” of any kind in my arsenal. It is my understanding that they are no longer recommended first aid treatments. Not even the Sawyer Extractor (which involves no cutting or lancing).

Here are three (of many!) well-versed comments made about extractors:

http://www.ehow.com/how_7753_treat-snake-bites.html

Note – The Sawyer Extractor kit, is no longer viewed by experts (such as Dr. Sean Bush, the nation’s leading expert on snakebite) as a useful therapy for snakebite treatment, and may cause more harm than good.

Proper protocol is to immobilize the bite, keep it at roughly the same level as the heart, and to transport to the hospital without delay. In the words of Dr. Bush – “Time is Tissue. The longer it takes to get proper medical treatment, the more tissue is damaged and destroyed.”

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http://www.venomousreptiles.org/speakout/opinions/69

Matt_H on 2005-02-26
I have to agree with Doctor Bush on this one. I’ve read several reports on the study of this device and have come to the conclusion that it is not a good idea for hemotoxic envenomations. From a medical point of view, consider this. When you are bitten the first thing to consider is whether the fang penetrated a vein or just tissue. the fang penetrates a vein it is immediately traveling through your bloodstream and envenomation effects will be rapid. If it has not penetrated a vein, then it will sitll enter your bloodstream (though a little slower) by absorbtion through the capillaries. Once venom enters your bloodstream it is at the mercy of your circulatory system which is continually flowing as long as your heart is pumping. A simple negative pressure at the bite site is not going to slow down your blood circulation enough to stop the travel of venom. At best, it can retain a small portion of the venom at the bite site. If you are bitten by a pit viper, or any other snake whose venom is hemotoxic, this will definately exaggerate the localized necrosis.

The main idea here is to try to slow the movement of venom until medical attention can be acquired. In order to slow down the movement of venom you have to reduce the circulation in the affected area. This is still best achieved by a pressure bandage, (NOT a tournequet). A pressure bandage will constrict the veins and arteries in the limb enough to slow the movement of blood through the limb and thus slow the movement of venom. The bandage should be tight enough to compress the limb but loose enough to slide two fingers under the bandage. In additon the limb should be immobilized. This combination should buy you plenty of time to seek emergency medical treatment.

—————

By Tod Schimelpfenig
Curriculum Director – WMI of National Outdoor Leadership School, 2007
NOLS, 284 Lincoln Street, Lander, WY 82520-2848, USA

We’ve taught that if promptly applied the Sawyer Extractor may be helpful for pit viper bites, albeit with caveats that there is limited evidence it helps, and some evidence that concentrating venom locally may be harmful.

We’ve changed our curriculum on the Extractor, based on the opinions of experts and research that indicates the Extractor has not lived up to it’s original promise. A study published in the February 2004 Annals of Emergency Medicine created a human model for “mock venom” extraction and found little to no venom (2% actually) was extracted by the extractor. A second commentary article reviewed past studies of the extractor and weighed pros/cons. The authors overall recommendation was “This study should change our practice. We should stop recommending Extractors for pit viper bites, and the manufacturer should certainly stop advertising that they are recommended medically as the only acceptable first aid device for snakebites.”

The fundamentals of rattlesnake treatment remain scene safety; remaining calm (both you and the patient); removing constricting clothing and jewelry; keeping the patient resting with the bite site immobilized and at approximately the same level as the heart; monitoring swelling and evacuating the patient by carrying, walking only if it’s necessary.

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How to make three months of food last six months, and why you need to know…

admin — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 15:12:04 +0000

Can you think of ways you can stretch your groceries if you were suddenly faced with not being able to buy more for some reason? I’d like to share a few ideas with you to help kickstart your own idea machine.

How far do you think you could stretch your groceries if you really needed to? How solid are your emergency preparedness plans? Could you deal with a longer crisis than anticipated, or multiple ones? Why should you consider questions such as these?

The scene of this world is rapidly changing and becoming more threatening, with no letup in sight. Just a few bumps in the wrong places on the beltway of global commerce alone can trigger a cascading chain of events that can put a serious dent in anyone’s plans.

Our global community has grown so fragile and unpredictable that new normals are being set every day. Here are a few interesting factoids that illustrate how fast the scene of our world is changing. What we are witnessing today was not ‘normal’ just ten, twenty or thirty years ago!

Not that many years ago, terrorism was almost unheard of. The June 1986 issue of the Awake! magazine reports this about the early years of terrorism (see the commentary at the end of this article for an explanation of these statistics):

In 1971, fewer than two dozen people died in terrorist attacks worldwide.

In 1983, 10,000 people around the world were killed in terrorist attacks.

Despite increasingly diligent and aggressive anti-terrorism measures, the year 2007 saw over 22,000 people killed in terrorist attacks. Things are heating up fast!

And look at the disasters!

In 1960, there were 523 catastrophic disasters worldwide.

In 1970, there were 720 catastrophic disasters worldwide.

In 1980, there were 1387 catastrophic disasters worldwide.

Globally, more than 2.5 billion people were affected by floods, earthquakes, hurricanes and other natural disasters between 1994 and 2003. That’s a 60% increase over the previous two ten-year periods, United Nations officials report. (These numbers do not include the millions displaced by the horrific tsunami which killed an estimated 180,000 people in South and Southeast Asia in 2004. Also, those numbers do not include Hurricane Katrina’s victims and survivors.)

Despite better communications and evacuation methods, more people than ever are dying in natural disasters. As recent as 2008, 220,000 people perished in natural disasters.

Then there’s the global threat of out-of-control influenza and other pandemics that are admittedly unstoppable. Famine can strike anywhere now, thanks to shortsighted agricultural practices such as monoculture and genetically engineered food crops. Weather conditions wreak havoc with our food supplies. Agricultural terrorism is waiting in the wings. War is an ever present threat in many places.

Because we can only digest so much bad news, it’s easy to be lulled into a jaded complacency that dulls our vision and hearing. It’s only natural, or else we would all go mad with worry. On the other hand, the wrong kind of complacency can be deadly because ignoring probabilities does not make them any less likely to happen. Being well prepared brings peace of mind because you know that you have done all that you reasonably can to protect yourself and your loved ones from serious emergencies.

The old saying about ‘preparing for the worst and hoping for the best’ is wise, considering the uncertainty of our times. Because none of us know what emergencies lay ahead or for how long, it doesn’t make much sense to limit your preparedness goals based on a guess what the disaster of the day might be. (If you do hazzard to guess, then be prepared to deal with the tragic possibility of being wrong.) It makes sense to prepare for the most likely events first, but don’t stop there. It’s better to be a little over prepared than not enough. The broader your plans are, the more your back will be covered.

Being well prepared is not a destination, with a finish line where you can say, “I have finally arrived! I have enough!” View your preparedness plans as an ongoing, evolving process of learning new ways to be more self-reliant. You and those around you will benefit from being better prepared for The Unexpecteds.

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Being well prepared is learning how to be more self-reliant, and being less of a victim of your own ignorance.
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HOW TO STRETCH YOUR SUPPLIES TO THE MAXIMUM LIMIT

Take an inventory of your supplies. How much do you have on hand? At your present rate of consumption, how long will they last? Three days? Three weeks? Three months? What will happen if you run out of supplies and replacements are not readily available? Hmmm… ok, then…

With that thought in mind, pay close attention to warning signs of prolonged or multiple events that could affect your ability to renew your supplies. You may need to consider a few drastic measures to stretch your provisions to create a thicker cushion against hard times.

1. RATIONS: Consider the possibility that someday you may need to view your provisions as rations, rather than as your only source of sustenance. Be prepared to use your provisions only to supplement what you cannot get otherwise. If you ever find yourself in the midst of a severe crisis, don’t wait until you have gone through most of your stuff to begin rationing. If you can, begin stretching your supplies early on, and take all reasonable measures to make them last as long as possible.

2. SUPPLEMENT YOUR PROVISIONS

A) Indoor/outdoor food gardens can be grown just about anywhere in urban, suburban and rural areas.

Explore different gardening techniques that would be useful in your area. For example, if gardening is difficult because of too much shade or not enough water, seek information about which food plants thrive under those conditions. Are you physically challenged, or do you live in an apartment in the city? Look into container gardening. Many kinds of vegetables can grow in surprisingly small spaces. Highly nutritious sprouts are easy to grow inside a quart jar. Poke salad shoots can be grown in a cardboard box in a closet. Surprised? Wait, there’s more…

B) Guerrilla gardening: hiding in plain sight.

If historical accounts of the Great American Depression (and other sad chapters in human history) are any indication, you can expect conventional or “normal” gardens to be a magnet for hungry visitors during particularly hard times. If you realize that you can’t feed everyone who comes knocking, and if you can’t see yourself standing guard over your beans, corn and tomatoes, consider gardening guerrilla-style.

Guerrilla gardens can be grown just about anywhere–in the city, suburbs and in the rurals. This new clandestine type of gardening can be made highly theft-resistant without the need for fences or alarms, operating on the principle of ‘hiding in plain sight’.

You can easily grow delicious and highly nutritious ‘specialty vegetables’ that won’t attract the attention of those who are unaccustomed to eating them. Certain plants that look like weeds or ornamentals to most people in your community are highly prized as delicious foods by people in other lands. More information about this style of gardening with easy to grow plants will be discussed in my future blog posts and will be covered in detail in the upcoming Mrs. Tightwad’s Creative Survival Handbook.

C) Go for the wild and natural. Learn the basics about harvesting animals and wild plants for food and medicine.

Making meat: If you are an inexperienced omnivore who wants to learn how to ‘make meat’, you may want to consider cultivating a working knowledge of fishing, hunting and trapping, now. These skills can go a long way in stretching your provisions. If you are not skilled in these areas, consider taking the time now to learn. Viewing documentary videos, along with some real-time observations and experiences will help you to be a better hunter and gatherer. Much in the way of animal behavior, along with a plethora of hunting tips and techniques can also be learned from library books and the internet (Google.com is your friend).

During prolonged or widespread crisis, expect hunting pressure to adversely affect deer and other wildlife populations, in terms of a lower count and increase elusiveness. Consider studying smaller animals and birds that are generally more plentiful and easier to hunt and trap.

Foraging for wild edibles and medicines: There are a lot of look-alikes in the botanical world, and some are deadly poisonous. If you don’t have an experienced guide to personally introduce you to the wonderful world of wild cuisine, then get a reputable guidebook and proceed very slowly and carefully. Don’t try to learn too many things at once.

One of the easiest and the most foolproof learning tools I’ve ever seen is the Peterson Identification System, as taught in the Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants in the Peterson Field Guide Series. These guides are sponsored by the National Audubon Society and are published by the Houghton Mifflin Company.

These guidebooks really shine with incredibly detailed descriptions, illustrations and photos that aid in positive identification. Plants that have poisonous look-alikes are indicated by a skull and crossbones icon as a warning, and a special chapter is devoted to them.

D) Go native! Broaden your horizons by learning about “alternative” foods that primitive tribes around the world have thrived on for thousands of years.

If you live in America, a casual study of traditional Native American foods that sustained the tribes that originally inhabited your region should be enlightening.

E) Microfarming: the other, other meat.

If you find your supplies nearing the end of their existence, and if times are austere enough, you may also want to consider ‘microfarming’, or raising certain insects for an abundance of nutritionally rich and life-sustaining food. Other folks may think of it as raising fish bait. Naturally, I prefer to recycle the fish bait first, by fishing. But if times were hard enough and I couldn’t fish for some reason, then I’d consider eating the bait (after proper cooking of course).

For thousands of years people around the world have cooked and eaten certain insects for their superior nutritional value and also because they’re tasty. This makes perfect sense because no one in their right mind would want to eat a bug, if it didn’t taste good. In many parts of the world, certain insects are highly prized delicacies that fetch good prices on the market, and are eagerly sought after.

If times ever get hard enough and you are staring at starvation, please do consider microfarming. After all, millions of people around the planet couldn’t have been wrong all these years.

Those with high ‘ick’ factors can take a lesson from smart mommies around the world: camouflage the undesirable food! Cooked, dried and pulverized almost to a powder, insects can be added to soups and stews without anyone noticing the source of extra nutrition. Although the flavor of most insects is considered quite mild and bland, it is possible to sort different flavors of some insects to match or complement the flavor of the dish at hand. For instance, roasted June Bugs are said to faintly resemble the flavor of malted milkball candies and would do well to raise the nutritional value of a variety of sweet dishes. Imagine that.

F) Minifarm with small animals.

Unless you have the means to grow all your own animal feed, owning conventional livestock may become a hardship and a liability during prolonged emergencies and other hard times. Smaller animals are generally easier to maintain because of their size and feed requirements, and make good choices for minifarming during hard times.

During really hard times when hungry thieves may be a problem, some animals can be raised indoors, out of sight. If set up properly, animals such as rabbits and guinea pigs are easy to maintain indoors and pose little to no odor problems. An easy ‘ecosystem’ can be created with wire cages suspended above worm beds (plastic boxes containing soil and worms). The worms will recycle animal wastes into nutrient rich castings which makes an excellent plant fertilizer.

To prepare against the really, really hard times, you may also want to consider collecting information about how to raise some of the smaller critters such as rats or mice. The taste of the meat is said to be quite good, and has been enjoyed by people in other lands for generations.

3. LEARN TO BE MORE SELF-RELIANT

Self-reliance topics such as these may seem extreme to some who have always enjoyed an uninterrupted supply of food and water. In contrast, many people are seeing the need to explore as many options as possible because they recognize that our food and water delivery systems are becoming increasingly unreliable and disturbingly vulnerable to new threats and interruptions.

None of us can be totally self-sufficient, but it certainly wouldn’t hurt to be a little less dependent on an undependable system. Independence begins with knowledge. Accumulating a wealth of information is good, but having a working knowledge is even better and may prove to be more sustaining than relying on a pile of stockpiled goods that have a limited shelf life.

Can you learn and practice new self-reliant skills right now? Hopefully, you will never need to put this information to use, but if you wait until the last minute to learn too many new skills, it would be a lot like waiting until you are drowning before learning to swim.

A few words about statistics…

Notice that the terrorism statistics given at the outset of this article represent what is called ‘non-state terrorism‘. State terrorism is not included in the statistics given by Wikipedia and other similar factoid places because they are considered to be ‘acts conducted by governments’.

When you do a Google search using the key words: ‘deaths terrorism 1971′, you’ll find state terrorism deaths are not included in the statistics published in many of the encyclopedia-type sites such as history.com, Wikipedia and other similar notables. The acts committed against people by governments or their armies are not considered in the statistics.

So, what I’m seeing is that while the harm done by some political machines can be horrific and terrible, it’s apparently not coined with the term ‘terrorism’. That’s too bad, because terroristic acts committed in the name of governments are in many ways worse than that of individuals in a militant or religious group.

Terrorism is terrorism, no matter how you look at it, regardless of the source! To me this ‘state’ and ‘non-state’ distinction is terribly misleading, also because it is obvious that some deaths will fall through the cracks of “facts” and may never be reported justly or accurately. To see an example, Google statistics involving the IRA (Irish Republican Army). Although by definition (from wordnet.princeton.edu),the IRA is “a militant organization of Irish nationalists who used terrorism and guerilla warfare in an effort to drive British forces from Northern Ireland…”, those who died under IRA hands sometimes are not counted in terrorism statistics because of the misleading ’state’ distinction.

In spite of these inaccuracies in historical accounts, one thing is clear: terrorism in every form is showing no signs of slowing down and more innocent people than ever will be affected by it in the future. No, it’s not a new thing, by a long shot, but it is an unstoppable growing thing that every preparedness plan should take into account.

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“EMP 101” A BASIC PRIMER & SUGGESTIONS FOR PREPAREDNESS

admin — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 14:15:55 +0000

Written By

William R. Forstchen Ph.D.

Author of “One Second After”

WHAT IS AN EMP?

EMP is shorthand for Electro Magnetic Pulse. It is a rather unusual and frightening by-product when a nuclear bomb is detonated above the earth’s atmosphere. We all know that our atmosphere and the magnetic field which surrounds our planet is a thin layer which not only keeps us alive, but also protects us from dangerous radiation from the sun. On a fairly regular basis there are huge solar storms on the sun’s surface which emit powerful jets of deadly radiation. If not for the protective layer of our atmosphere and magnetic field, those storms would fry us. At times though, the storm is so power that enough disruptive energy reaches the earth’s surface that it drowns out radio waves and even shorts electrical power grids. . .this happened seve ral years back in Canada.
View the detonation of a nuclear bomb, two hundred miles straight up as the same thing, but infinitely more powerful since it is so close by.
As the bomb explodes it emits a powerful wave of gamma rays. As this energy release hits the upper atmosphere it creates a electrical disturbance know as the Compton Effect. The intensity is magnified. View it as a small pebble rolling down a slope, hitting a larger one, setting that in motion, until finally you have an avalanche.
At the speed of light this disturbance races to the earth surface. It is not something you can see or hear, in the same way you don’t feel the electrical disturbance in the atmosphere during a large solar storm.
For all electrical systems though, it is deadly.

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THIS “PULSE” HITS THE SURFACE?

Those who might remember ham radio operators, or even the old CB radios of the 1970s can recall that if you ran out a wire as an antenna you could send and receive a better signal. The wire not only transmitted the very faint power of a few watts of electricity from your radio, it could receive even fainted signals in return. As the Pulse strikes the earths surface, with a power that could range up to hundreds of amps per square yard, it will not affect you directly, at most you’ll feel a slight tingling, the s ame as when lightning is about to strike close by, and nearly all the energy will just be absorbed into the ground and dissipate. The bad news, however, is wherever it strikes wires, metal surfaces, antennas, power lines it will now travel along those metal surfaces (in the same way a lightning bolt will always follow the metal of a lightning rod, or the power line into your house.) The longer the wire, the more energy is absorbed, a high tension wire miles long will absorb tens of thousands of amps, and here is where the destruction begins as it slams into any delicate electronic circuits, meaning computer chips, relays, etc. In that instant, they are overloaded by the massive energy surge, short circuit, and fry. Your house via electric, phone and cable wires is connected, like all the rest of us into the power and communications grids. This energy surge will destroy all delicate electronics in your home, even as it destroys all the major components all the way back to the power company’s generators and the phone company’s main relays. In far less than a milli second the entire power grid of the United States, and all that it supports will be destroyed.

WOULDN”T CIRCUIT BREAKERS AND SURGE PROTECTORS STOP IT?

This is where the effect of EMP starts to get complex. All electricity travels, of course, at the speed of light. The circuit breakers that are built into our electrical system or the ones you buy to plug your own computer in to, are designed to “read’ the flow of current. If it suddenly exceeds a certain level, the breaker snaps and takes you off line, thus protecting everything beyond it. More than a few of us have found out that when you buy a cheap surge protector for ten or twenty bucks sure it will snap off, but the surge has already passed through and fried your expensive pla sma television or new computer. Unlike a lightning strike, or other power surge, an EMP surge is “front loaded.” Meaning it doesn’t do a build up for a couple of mirco-seconds, allowing enough time for the circuit breaker to “read” that trouble is on the way and shut down. It comes instead like a wall of energy, without any advance wave building up as a warning. It therefore slams through nearly all commercial and even military surge protectors already in place, and is past the “safety barrier” and into the delicate electronics before the system has time to react.

WHAT ABOUT CARS?

Here is more bad news regarding EMP. If you own a 1965 Volkswagen bug or Mustang you’re ok. . .there are no solid state electronics under the hood, it still has an old fashion carburetor, the radio still might even have tubes rather than transistors. However, even that is in question. In 1962 both we and the Soviets detonated nuclear weapons in space (saber rattling during the Cuban Missile Crisis) and it is reported that a number of cars. . .their ignition systems a thousand miles away from the detonation were fried because of EMP. (Check out a few of the more “tech head” links on this site for detailed explanations). From about 1980 on, cars increasingly went solid state and by the 1990s were getting ever more complex computers installed. Consider a visit to the mechanic today. He runs a wire in under the hood, plugs it into his computer and within seconds has a full diagnostic, types in what his computer is suppose to do, the problem is solved and you are handed a rather large bill. Great modern conveniences from airbag sensors, to fuel injectors and all of it more and more dependent on computers. At the instant the “Pulse” strikes, the body of your car and the radio antenna will feed the overload into your vehicle’s computer and short it out.
Some police departments are even now experimenting with using a specially designed bumper on their car for high speed chases. If they can brush up against the car they are pursuing the officer just hits a button, and through his bumper a high energy surge will be released, flooding into the car being pursued and shorting out its computer system. Result. . .whether you are being chased by the police with this new device, or an EMP burst has been fired off. . .your car will essentially be a useless hunk of metal that will slowly roll to a stop. In that instant, most of America will be on foot again.

AND PLANES?

This is a terrifying aspect of an attack that no government report has publicly discussed along with the potential casualty rate in the first seconds after an attack. Commercial airliners today are all computer driven. In fact, from lift off to landing, a pilot no longer even needs to be in the cockpit, a computer can do all of it if need be. When the pilot pulls back on the “stick” it is no longer connect by wires stretching all the way back to the tail and the elevator assembly. Instead, his motion is read by a computer which sends a signal to an electrical servo-motor in the tail, which then moves the tail. In short, the entire plane is computer driven. It is estimated that at any given moment during regular business hours, somewhere between three to four thousand commercial airliners are crisscrossing the skies. (There is a fascinating site you can find via Goggle that shows typical air traffic around the world during a twenty four hour period. From dawn til way after dusk, the entire USA is one glowing blob of commercial flights crisscrossing our sky). All of them would be doomed, the pilots sitting impotent, staring at blank computer screens, pulling on controls that no longer respond as the plane finally noses over and heads in.
Somewhere between 250,000 to 500,000 people will die in the first few minutes. . .more than all our battle casualties across four years of World War II

AREN”T WE PREPARING? ISN’T THERE REPLACEMENT EQUIPMENT IN PLACE AND TRAINED PERSONNEL READY TO REACT?

The frightening answer is no. This author has spent over four years researching this topic, interviewing scores of personnel from Congressmen and Generals, to your local police chief and sheriff. At your local level, since 9/11, first responders have received hundreds of hours of training and briefings on all sorts of terrorist scenarios. Only a few have told me that they even discussed the topic for more than a few minutes at an official level. As to emergency stockpiles of supplies and crucial replacement parts, there is nothing in place.

WHY NOT?

EMP, has managed to “stealth” its way on to the highly dangerous list and few, except for a small number of personnel in the Pentagon, various research labs, and men like Congressman Bartlett (R., MD) who heads the Congressional Investigative Committee on EMP, are aware of it. For one it has a certain “sci-fi” sound to it, which makes many dismiss the potential before the discussion has even started. Second, the only way to truly evaluate the threat and demonstrate it is to detonate a nuclear weapon, something we have not done since the full test ban went into effect decades ago. It is therefore not “visible” to us, the way another airliner smashing into a skyscraper is now forever imprinted on our national psyche, feared, and prepared for. Next, with all the competing issues and threats in the world, EMP simply does not have a “constituency” of influence. Only a few members of Congress, our military and scientific community are issuing the warnings. There are no Hollywood stars placing themselves in front of cameras with this as their cause, the few times it has been used in popular movies, it has been portrayed inaccurately, often absurdly.
And finally, the impact is so overwhelming that it triggers a psychological sense of helplessness, and therefore why bother, since if it happens we are finished. It is the same response that happened between the 1950s-60s. When first confronted with the threat of a nuclear attack, tens of billions was spent to prepare, in fact our Interstate Highway system was initiated in the mid 1950s as a national defense effort to provide avenues of escape from cities in the event of nuclear war, a means to bring in emergency supplies and to move our military. Plans were issued to citizens on how to build bomb shelters and all children were drilled in what is seen now as the absurd “duck and cover.”
Something happened though by the mid-1960s. The threat was no longer fifty to a hundred small atomic bombs dropped from bombers, it was now a rain of thousands of hydrogen bombs, delivered within minutes by ballistic missiles. In this atmosphere of overkill, attempting to prepare seemed ridiculous, futile. The standard phrase became “the living will envy the dead,” so why bother? Civil defense finally became an object of derision, the realm of a few survivalist nut cases.
That threat is still there, and to this day our nuclear forces stand ready to respond, which has indeed been the only defense left. . .”if you nuke us, we’ll nuke you,” a policy known as “mutual assured destruction,” a zero win game.
EMP is different, it is not a rain of thousands of bombs, needing a vast and powerful military to deliver it, which means Russia and China are the only real threats in that realm. . .but unless seized by madness, their leaders know such an attack, within minutes would be met with thousands of bombs annihilating their country as well. It is a balance of terror that has now endured for nearly sixty years.
An EMP attack is different since it only requires but one nuclear weapon, detonated 300 miles above the middle of the United States. One bomb. The launch could even be done from a container ship somewhere in the Gulf of Mexico and in that instant, the war is already over and won.

An analogy. Aircraft carriers existed in 1941 but few saw them as a true strategic threat. Most in the military and their civilian leaders saw the role of carriers as platforms for launching scout planes, spotting targets, and acting always in support of the trusted and proven battleship. No one seriously considered the potential of putting half a dozen such carriers into one group and launching a full out attack in the opening minutes of a war. We all know what changed that belief forever, but by then, it was too late for the nearly 3,000 Americans who were killed on that Day of Infamy. The next Day of Infamy will be infinitely worst.

WHO WOULD DO THIS AND WHY?

Given the hatred and fanaticism of some of our enemies today, if they can obtain but one nuclear bomb, the temptation will be there. It does not even have to be a nation such as Iran or North Korea. . .it could be a terrorist cell who with enough money buy the components and then destroy their definition of “the great Satan.”

WHAT WOULD HAPPEN AFTER THE ATTACK?

Unless you are in a jet liner, plummeting to earth, or caught in a massive traffic jam of stalled vehicles on the interstate, you might not even know anything has changed. Sure the power is off, but we’ve all been through that dozens of times. You call the power company. But the phone doesn’t work and that might be slightly more unnerving. You might go to your car to drive around and see what happened and then it becomes more unnerving when the car does not even turn over, nor any other car in your neighborhood.
Twelve hours later the food in your freezer starts to thaw, if it is winter and you don’t have a wood stove the frost will start to penetrate in to your house, if summer and you live in Florida your house will be an oven. And that will just be the start.

Law enforcement will be powerless without radios, cell phones, and squad cars, unable to know where there is a crisis and how to react. The real horror show within hours will be in hospitals and nursing homes. They’re required by law to have back up generators, but those generators are “hot wired” into the building so power can instantly kick in if the main system shuts down. That “hot wiring” means the Electro Magnetic Pulse will take out the generators and their circuitry as well.
If you are familiar with what happened in New Orleans after Katrina, multiply that ten thousand times over to every hospital and nursing home in America. Nearly everyone dependent on life support equipment in ICUs will be dead within hours. Nearly everyone in nursing homes dependent on oxygen generators, respirators, etc., will be dead or dying while depending on the time of year temperatures within plummet or soar.
As to medical supplies, not just in hospitals but across the nation to every local pharmacy, they are all dependent on something called Fed Ex. As we have perfected a remarkable system of instant delivery, guided by computers, local inventories have dropped to be more cost efficient and even for reasons of security with controlled substances, which to ordinary citizens means pain killers. Supplies will run out in a matter of days. Those of us dependent on medications to control asthma, heart disease, diabetes, and a host of other aliments which a hundred years ago would have killed us shortly after the onset. . .will now face death within days or weeks, unless the national power grid comes back on line quickly and order is restored.

HOW LONG WOULD IT TAKE?

Here is the bottom line of the entire issue and why the threat of a single EMP weapon is so dangerous. There is the serious potential that we might never be able to restore the system. One might ask why? It just means replacing some circuit breakers, pulling out fried chips in our cars and replacing them with new ones etc.
It is not that simple. The infrastructure America has developed since the beginnings of the Industrial Age, is now so vast, intricate and fragile, that it is like a delicate spider web, which if touched by a flame can instantly vanish.
A few examples to illustrate what might seem an extreme statement.
The incredibly complex system that creates electricity, starting from a hydro-electric dam, a glowing nuclear reactor, or coal fired plant, leaps through hundreds of circuit breakers, perhaps thousands of miles of wiring, across high tension lines to sub stations, and finally to the outlet your computer is plug into. This single line will now have hundreds of breaks in it, each one having to be replaced.
Any of us who have lived through a major disaster such as a hurricane, ice storm, or tornado, and then gone several days without power know the sequence, h ow much longer the wait seems to be, and then finally the welcome sight of a power company repair truck turning on to your block. . .and that truck might be from a power company five hundred miles away. All our disasters have ultimately been local in nature, Andrew in Florida, Katrina in Louisiana and Mississippi or one this author went through with Ivan in North Carolina. The disaster is local, even if fifty thousand square miles are affected, help streaming in from neighboring states, caravans of power trucks, each carrying not just experienced crews, but ladened down with all the replacement parts necessary to put electricity and phone service back into your house. When Ivan hit my town, dumping 30 inches of rain, wiping out the power grid and water supply, in less than twelve hours thousands of gallons of bottled water had arrived from Charlotte, power companies from Alabama, Tennessee and Virginia were arriving, the special parts needed to replace my town’s shattered water main from the reservoir were air lifted in by a national guard unit.
Consider though if the entire nation is “down.” Quite simply there are not enough replacement parts in the entire nation to even remotely begin the retro-fitting and replacement of all components. Every community will be on its own, struggling to rebuild. . .on their own.

Example two. A member of your family has type one diabetes and if you do have that in your family you know that failure to properly monitor and treat can result in death within a matter of weeks at most. Start with the testing kit. If it is one of the new electronic digital models, changes are a small hand held unit, not plugged into the grid will in fact survive. If it is an older kit that still uses testing stripes and you are running short of those stripes of paper, you already have a problem.
Where does insulin come from? In an earlier age it was literally made from the ground up pancreas of sheep and horses. Today it is manufactured via genetically altered bacteria and cells. There are several such factories across the nation which do this, producing millions of vials a day.
We are not even going to get into the complexity of where do the vials, the rubber seals and such come from. But with the shut down of power the factory goes dark and the complex environmental controls to insure the proper safety of the bacteria “batches” is now off line. Within days it will cease to function for that reason alone.
But it will most likely already be off line. What of the workers? Will t he next shift show up when cars no longer run? Unlikely. And those on the job? No matter how dedicated most must leave within a day to see to their own families and chances are not return.
Of the hundreds of thousands of vials waiting in refrigerated containers for shipping, what happens to the coolant? And where are the trucks to move it? If the insulin is, in fact, already in the “pipeline” so to speak, if aboard a Fed Ex plane we already know that tragic fate. If on a highway it will be stalled. . .and so on to your local pharmacy where the few vials in the current inventory will be snatched up by panicked customers within hours and then hoarded away, regardless of the need of others. And even then, how will you keep the insulin temperature stabilized and when that fails, how swiftly does the potency drop?
But one other factor, the syringes to inject the medicine. Any of us over 45 or so can recall the dull terrible needles in our doctor’s offices. (As a child I recall my grandmother boiling my diabetic grandfather’s needles.) After use they were stuck back into an autoclave (powered by electricity) and carefully sterilized. . .and then came the disposable syringe. Where does that needle come from. Again a long back track to an oil field, to a cracking plant, to a factory that, in sterile conditions turns the plastic into the barrel of syringe, to a mine where ore is turned into steel which is milled at remarkable tolerances into a needle point. . .and again shipped and shipped again and finally to your house.

The point of these few examples is that in an age not so long ago, nearly all that we needed for our lives was produced locally, and then came railroads, which could link a farmer’s wif e in Nebraska, via a catalog and telegraph to the Sears office in Chicago for that new set of dishes or a replacement part for a threshing machine. . .to our complex web of today. Few of us ever realized that with each advance in convenience and the latest new gadget or necessity we took another step towards dependence which in a global market today means that the chip needed to repair an important computer might be made in Japan, and ordered via a sales rep at a desk in India, and yet we expect it to arrive within two days and see nothing remarkable about that. Globalization with all its benefits and woes for some workers here, has made us infinitely more dependent on a global network of communications and transportation. . .that fragile spider’s web.

There is the true nightmare of EMP. Once the entire system collapses, how and where does anyone build it back when that one crucial part you need is in a warehouse in Shanghai or Seoul and you don’t even have means to even ask for that part.

YOU MENTION IN YOUR BOOK THAT 90% of AMERICANS MIGHT DIE WITHIN A YEAR. ISN’T THAT FEAR MONGERING?

When such numbers were discussed during the height of the Cold War, the numbers were indeed real, as they are now with the use of but one weapon to create an EMP burst.
The tragic thing is how we can discuss such numbers now in a society where the entire nation went into stunned mourning after nearly 4,000 died on 9/11.
The death of an individual is a tragedy. The death of a million a statistic.
The first few million deaths are tragically obvious. Those aboard commercial flights, and even most private flights, those in nursing homes, hospices, and hospitals.
The next few million are obvious as well. Those with severe aliments requiring careful daily medication or treatment, such as those awaiting transplants, people undergoing dialysis, those with severe heart ailments both known and not yet realized. We are use to emergency response within minutes when we snap open a cell phone and call 911. The stress, fear, even the unaccustomed physical exertion of someone having to walk ten miles to get home will trigger heart attacks, strokes, etc. We are a “hot house bred” generation, in fact several generations now. Our water supply is carefully controlled and delivered instantly and on demand, hundreds of gallons of it a day. Our food, wrapped in sanitary packages has expiration dates stamped on it. Where will you get drinkable water in a city after but several days? Frankly when was the last time any of us had to live without a flush toilet and anti-bacterial hand wash by the sink? Food that starts to thaw, which we were always cautioned to throw out, food in a refrigerator that is now at room temperature. . . do you throw it out or risk eating it? If your house is fully electric how do you cook it properly?
These few questions alone lead to a clear path straight to an entire nation heading into gastro-intestinal aliments within a week to ten days at most. Any of us who have traveled overseas, especially to third world countries have weathered them an d survived. . .thanks in part to modern medications once back safe home in the USA. But we are now the third world country. Very young children and the elderly can die in less than a day from severe dehydration and electrolyte imbalance. Without plenty of clean water and modern waste removal, the problem gets far worst, especially in temporary refugee centers.
Compound this with the fact that by the end of the week millions of Americans will be on the road. . .walking. The tragic lawlessness we often see in the wake of a large disaster will most certainly explode given that police are near powerless to react in an organized manner and national guard units will not even be mobilized since how do they mobilize if no vehicles run and all communications is still down.
Millions, many of them the most vulnerable will make the choice of abandoning the cities rather than try and fight to find a gallon jug of water or a few cans of soup. Beyond this fear, summer or winter many urban dwellings will be unlivable. The multi- million dollar condo on the 40th floor is now a nightmare 400 foot hike straight up, lugging whatever water or food you might get. They will be unheated, or roasting ovens, designed of course with perfection climate control. . .that no longer works. Many will be driven, as well by the false hope that relatives out in the suburbs or better yet “out in the country” will of course have plenty of food and be willing to share.
Our interstate highways will become nightmare paths of exile as our largely urban population tries to fan out to find food that once was shipped in.
Millions could and will die on that road. Where do they get safe water? The nearby stream or river is now a dump for raw sewage since purification plants are off line. Once stricken on the road by the results after drinking this water, where does one get help, basic medication, more water to keep you hydrated.

Within a month the next level of die off will be in full development. Those who survive the initial onset of illnesses from polluted water and food, and survive, will nevertheless be weakened, knock down a level. Even if they do get lucky and have food stockpiled, or find a source, chances are it will not be balanced at all and the first onset of nutritional imbalance will lower the immulogical system even further.
Now is the time that more serious diseases will appear. Pneumonia, especially in the winter due to exposure. More exotic and dangerous types of food poisoning such as salmonella due to a complete collapse of sanitation. Various forms of hepatitis, even diseases not heard of in a generation or more, measles, scarlet fever, and tuberculosis.
In addition, the number of injuries will have soared. Few of us today are truly use to the back breaking kind of manual labor of the 19th century. Even most laborers today use modern equipment to do 99% of the actual work. Unfamiliar with axes, shovels and saws, people will break bones, cut themselves, or just suddenly die from strain. And waiting now are the infectious diseases where an ordinary cut, once treated with a few stitches instead becomes an avenue for gangrene, a rusty nail is again a threat of tetanus.
And finally, violence against ourselves. At what point do we begin to kill each other for food, water, shelter? At what point does a small town mobilize, barricade itself in and make clear that any who enter will be shot because there is not enough food to share, and any new stranger might be a carrier of yet another disease.

By sixty days true starvation will be killing off millions and by 120 days mass starvation will be the norm. Those lucky enough to be in rich farm producing areas, with the knowledge of how to gather food by hand, and then preserve it, will have a temporary surplus, but even then, if they do not ration it out wisely, as did our colonial forefathers, they too will starve before the next crop is in the ground come spring.

Months later, yes help from old allies might be flooding in, but how to move it, distribute it and at the same time provide medical aid and also rebuild the electrical grid, step by step will still be overwhelming tasks.

As said before, “the death of a million is a statistic.” Our statistic could very well be that in a year’s time, nine out of ten Americans will be dead. Dead from but one weapon, our global position shattered forever as we revert back into a third rate power, if we even still survive as a united system of states.

IS THERE ANYTHING THAT CAN BE DONE BEFORE IT HAPPENS?

Not a wide eyed sci fi novel or something sensationalistic, or even something set long after the event, like the book “The Road.” But instead it was my goal to write a novel like the classic “Alas Babylon,” or the more well known “On the Beach.” To do something that might trigger a response, any kind of response. It was my good fortune, while researching for the book that I met Captain Bill Sanders of the Navy, one of our country’s leading experts on EMP and Congressman Bartlett who heads the Congressional committee that issued a little known report on the threat of EMP. Both of them provided me with valuable information, which I must always emphasize was not classified, and encouraged me to get the story “out there.”
I therefore wrote the novel from the perspective of a single dad with two daughters, living in small town in North Carolina. .and what he will do, and finally must do to try and keep his daughters alive. And yes, it is very autobiographical. I am a single parent of a teenage girl, and I live and teach in a small North Carolina mountain town that is the actual setting for my story.

My greatest frustration and something I hope my novel will stir is the realization that only a minimal effort, to start, could radically cut the number of casualties after such an attack, perhaps by a full magnitude from over 250 million dead to less then 25 million dead. . .which is still a horrific number.

An off the shelf purchase of hand held two way radios by every local police, fire, sheriff, and emergency response department in the country would mean, that if then properly stored along with a large stock pile of batteries that within minutes after an attack, a nation wide network of communications would be back up and running. This can not be emphasized enough, that proper communications and what the military calls “command and control,” will go a long step towards maintaining public order.

Another inexpensive step is just simple training. We are a nation that sadly has become entirely dependent on someone “up the ladder” passing orders as to what to do. Very few of us today are conditioned to think and act independently. This has to be reversed in the event of an EMP strike. Every first responder should be trained to be able to recognize an EMP hit, and in coordination with their local departments, have a plan in place as to what to do first, and then next, and then after that. This author would recommend a first step being the seizing of supplies at every veterinarian’s office in the country. That might sound strange, but vets are most likely the only ones in your community that have a full array of surgical equipment, anesthesia and pain killers. Armed with this equipment, medications seized from pharmacies, dentist offices and doctor’s offices, and then set up at a local school, staffed by local doctors and nurses, would mean that each community has made a major step towards tending its injured, ill and elderly.
Other training would be oriented towards how to organize a community, locating vehicles that still run, and retro fitting those vehicles, that had minimal electronics in them, so that law enforcement, medical, and fire control have transportation.

A next step would be public education for all citizens, similar to the programs in place during the 1950s. How to recognize an EMP strike and then what do you do? After Katrina we have learned to now start educating our citizens that they must rely upon themselves and their own good judgment, and not expect government to come instantly to the rescue. Contrast the chaos in the days before Katrina to the orderly evacuations when Gustav hit New Orleans this year.
But a week’s worth of emergency food stockpile and water, just recycling used milk and soda bottles, filling them with sterile water and storing them away could buy a precious week’s worth of time, nation wide. A few simple medical supplies such a sterile bandages and just a basic family first aid manual. Simple things even our grandparents, still living on farms knew, about how to insure water is safe, where to put a privy pit, and properly store any food that might last long term. If a family member has a serious illness or condition keep a full level of medicine on hand and not wait until the bottle is empty before refilling. This alone could be a life saver for millions, buying extra weeks or a month or two.
Above all else educate to a post EMP survival. To turn to community organization, to help and rely on neighbors and not some distant agency, to have a plan in place to help local nursing homes with the elderly, to have an entire community, be it a neighborhood in a city, or a small town in the Midwest, ready to take care of itself and insure public safety and law while the nation gradually stitches itself back together.

Ironically these were plans already put into place across America of the 1940s and 1950s, this author can recall receiving civil defense booklets at school to take home to my parents and my father was the local civil defense coordinator for our neighborhood just outside of New York City. We took the threat seriously and we acted as Americans, to prepare, with the memories of WWII still fresh in our minds. This preparedness fell away. . . it should be restored.

The next step, which will cost more, will be crucial as well. The analogy is simple. We all know that America’s industrial might literally saved the world from Nazism and Japanese Imperialism once we got into the war. But that industrial might did not appear overnight. It took over two and a half years of build up after Pearl Harbor before we went fully on to the offensive with D-Day in Europe and the push towards the Japanese main islands in the Pacific. What truly saved us though was not the effort after Pearl Harbor but the effort BEFORE Pearl Harbor. We did not want to fight, we were about the most reluctant nation on earth in 1940 when it came to getting into the war. . .but we did have the wisdom to start the build up then. . .building factories, training millions to work in them and millions more to learn how to fight. If we had not done that in the two years prior to Pearl Harbor nearly any historian will tell you. . .we would have lost World War II.

In this post industrial age power is no longer steel plants, mills, factories and yet more factories. It is now precision electronics, communications, computers. . . and the heart blood of all that is electrical power.
Congress has estimated that a full retro fit to our power grid to withstand a large scale EMP strike could cost up to half a trillion dollars. . .and the chances of that bill ever passing is remote to say the least.
And yet, there is another path at a fraction of the cost. Stockpiling of key components overseas. Any major component being manufactured today for our electrical grid, that could be destroyed by an EMP strike, we should make but one more of each and then store those components at military bases overseas. Within hours of a hit on the continental United States, military aircraft outside the strike zone can be lifting that precious cargo back to the mainland and the rebuilding can begin.
Of late, our nation’s railroads have launched an advertising campaign which is actually true, that in terms of tons per mile, our railroads are still the most effective means of moving goods. For an investment not much more than the cost of a couple of B-2 bombers, or a squadron of F-22s, several hundred diesel electric locomotives could be pulled off line, their components harden to withstand an EMP strike, then parked inside silos and bunkers at military bases across the country. Within hours after an EMP strike these powerful machines could already be at work. It will be laborious at first, for every other train in the country will have stalled on the lines. They have to be shunted off the main lines, switches reset by hand. . .but once cleared, a single train could move ten thousand tons of food to a stricken city and on the return run, evacuate thousands to where the food is out in the countryside, or back to military bases. Within weeks a nationwide transportation grid could be up and running again. . .yet another factor that will reduce fatalities even more.

A further step would indeed be a logical stockpiling of crucial medical equipment and supplies, especially medications with long shelf lives or can be frozen while in storage overseas or in underground facilities.

The final step in training and preparation. . .our own military. The power generation capacity aboard a modern aircraft carrier can supply a medium size city, a destroyer or frigate a large town. Attention should be focused on training our military, especially our Navy whose overseas forces and ships would be unaffected by a strike on the continental United States to return to save America. Within a few weeks both coasts, studded with several hundred ships could become focal points for rebuilding, as replacement components, food and medicine are moved in via ships, loaded aboard trains and distributed into the heart land.

It is a war. It is a war in which we will take casualties undreamed of in our worst nightmares. . .but it can be survivable if we act and prepare now.

IS THIS MERELY A SCI FI STORY OR IS IT REAL?

An editor of Aviation Week and Space Technology, after reading this author’s novel declared. “It is not a question of if it will happen. . .it is merely a question of when.”

Across six thousand years of recorded history mankind has known war. Across six thousand years humanity has tended to focus its best minds on the technology of war, to speak bluntly how to better kill our neighbors. Never has a weapon been invented that it has not ultimately been used. And ironically so many “new” weapons, when first revealed are declared to be so horrible as to render war unthinkable. And all have ultimately been used.
Given the fanaticisms of some of our enemies today, some of whom believe that the creation of the Apocalypse will be their own fulfillment of a religious destiny, it would be madness not to think that such an attack within the next two decades is not just possible but in fact likely.

It is time to think about what to do, and how to prepare before it happens. Reacting the day after the next “Day of Infamy,”or “One Second After,” it will be too late.

William R. Forstchen
Author of “One Second After”

The Administrator of Kinghurst Publishing has read “One Second After” and recommends it to everyone. Buy 2 copies – 1 for yourself and another for someone you love

The Collapse of World Currencies

admin — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 18:23:54 +0000

Written by the FranchiseKid

Okay, here is my “Ode to Squeak” who has asked me to expand on a currency collapse regarding the USD (US Dollar) and how to prepare for it and the events that will unfold thereafter.

Disclaimer 1: There is no road map or playbook for what I am going to discuss. No third world debt default can compare to what a default of US debt and/or the collapse of a major world currency such as the USD, Euro, or Yen.

Disclaimer 2: Due to unprecedented levels of government hubris, intervention, complete disregard for law, and manipulation, any assumptions I make could be just as easily discarded as they could be true. Since the rules of the game change every Sunday night, it is very difficult to play. This is not a caveat for being wrong (as I am not afraid to be wrong) rather a caveat that history, education, and research go out the window when rules can be made and broken at will.

Disclaimer 3: Any assumptions made are my own. I will not take the time to post links to every piece of factual research that I post as that will take too long but if someone wants that information please PM me and I will provide it. Pretty much 99% of the information that I use or cite are easily found government stats that can be Googled.

Where We Are Now:
There has been much debate in the media and in some of these threads regarding whether we will sooner see inflation or deflation. There are many camps that are discussing this matter and you have probably heard them all by now. Heck, we cannot even agree on how to define inflation and deflation. For practical use purposes though, it is more helpful (IMO) to define them as they relate to the money supply in circulation. It is economic theory that if you create a bunch of money in the system and pump it into people’s wallets, they will go out and buy things. This increases demand. An increase in demand, without a corresponding increase in supply, will create an increase in prices of “stuff”. Deflation would work the opposite way. If you take money from people, they cannot spend and therefore demand will decrease and without a corresponding decrease in supply, prices fall.

Now, NOTHING in economics can be viewed in a vaccum for the ONE simple fact that economics involves the behavior of IRRATIONAL beings. This fact cannot be stated loudly enough. This fact is also a reason that econometric comparisons to the Great Depression ought to viewed as nonsense. It is like saying if the Patriots played the Bears in the SuperBowl this year the Bears would win by 36 points since that is what happened in SuperBowl XX. We all can see clearly why that assumption is nonsensical. Different this, different that… but those differences make a huge difference in outcome.

Economics is the same. Please keep that in mind as we go through this.

The only thing that the US has produced in the last decade plus is financial engineering defined more technically as velocity of money. Mathematically put, the output of a country can be simply defined as the aggregate money supply multiplied by the times that money supply moves through the economy. “High powered money” is the theory that $1 moves through the economy and changes hands multiple times. As I get paid from work, I pay the landscaper, he pays his employees, they pay their bills, etc etc. Since 72% of our economy (at the most recent peak) is measured by how much we, as consumers, spend, you can see very quickly how the “velocity” of money creates a HUGE impact in the final tally of our output.

But, as some of you may be saying now, how is that really “output”. “We have not created anything” you say. And you are right. This goes back to a fundamental issue with our country’s monetary & fiscal behavior. We have a fiat currency and a fractional reserve monetary system. In English, that means we have a currency that is backed by nothing, can be created at will, and when deposited by members of the Federal Reserve Banking system, can be leveraged 10-1 (at least). This is how the “money mechanism” works. The Fed prints $1 and puts it into the bank of choice. The bank puts $.10 on “reserve” with the Fed and lends out $.90. The bank makes money on that loan called “interest” (this is the trouble with “usury”. If the Fed prints all the money needed, then who creates the money to pay the “interest”…. and on and on we go). The bank loaned that $.9 to me so that I could buy a car from my neighbor. My neighbor takes that $.9 and puts it into his bank. Guess what his bank does? His bank takes 10% of that money and puts it on “reserve” with the Fed and loans out the rest. And so on…… you don’t even want to get into the leverage amounts that the government afforded to JP Morgan, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, B. Stearns, and L. Brothers. What shock, three of them don’t exist anymore and the other three only exist because they were the “chosen ones” to be bailed out.

So, what have we done over the last decade? Well, we had a complete “productivity miracle” occur with the advent and application of the internet. I cannot say how much this system has revolutionized global business and changed economics. This was real and tangible. This was measurable and legit. What it allowed us to do however, was to again manipulate our system for the worse. What increases in productivity do is to keep a lid on what is called “unit labor costs” or wages and other inputs that go into the cost of goods. Lower cost goods means that “inflation” (that pesky inflation again…) AND THIS IS IMPORTANT, “as measured by the Consumer Price Index”, stays low. Again, in English, this means that we can make computers now for $500 instead of $5,000. That, according to the CPI is a huge move down in inflation, or the “costs of goods and services”. The government’s response to a move down in the costs of goods and services is to keep the pedal to metal in terms of monetary and fiscal policy. No inflation? No hikes in interest rates. Money is cheap and stays that way according to them.

Then the internet bubble bursts. Wealth is literally destroyed overnight. This is why an understanding of inflation and deflation is so important. When you remove the consumer’s ability to buy, leverage, borrow = spend, you create a complete bottom out in demand. Our economy is built on debt, remember that is how money is created over and over again. If you remove that money, if you destroy that wealth, you handcuff the people’s ability to spend.

Now, another key, CORE theme in economics is the theory of rate of change. Since economics is totally linked with behavior, the rate of change makes all the difference in the world. This can be most recently noted in either the default rate of mortgages or the US consumer savings rate (or if you want to get really scared look at the savings rate of change of Japan). A small uptick in the % of defaulted subprime mortgages caused massive waves through our system. Our savings rate went from negative to now at 6.5% in about 1.4 years. 6.5% for a savings rate is not high “by historical standards” but that does not matter AT ALL, it is the rate of change that matters.

So what we had was a complete drain of wealth from the bursting of the internet bubble. We entered a recession as defined by negative growth, or GDP. A contraction, if you will. What causes contractions in a society that is based on debt? Less debt. Less money. Less purchasing power. OR, and we will get into this in a minute…. a paradigm shift of consumers from spending to savings. A jump from a negative savings rate, to a positive one, has catastrophic impacts on corproate earnings and profits. If the savings rate gets high enough you experience what is called the Paradox of Thrift. This is now occuring. Because I save money on landscaping, my landscaper cannot pay the people to wash his cars, and those people then cannot go out to eat as much which takes money from the waitress who then cannot get her hair done every other week, and so on and so on…..

In times of economic contraction the government and The Fed, will become the “Lender of Last Resort”. This goes back to GDP and the money mechanism. If people have been using their homes as ATM’s, and their housing values plummet taking away their ability to spend, the government wants to step in and create a supply of money to abate the crisis. When the government can create money from thin air, why not? Well, here is why not….

To pull us out of the recession of 2002 (which was mild at worst) and the devestating effects of 9/11 (don’t want to get into CT here), The Fed pumped massive amounts of money into the system and regulations were relaxed for Wall Street lending. We created another bubble to solve the problems of a bubble bursting. We also spent billions and billions on war, the most profitable business model our government has ever known. Since money and credit is like a virus, it landed and infected assets such as real estate.

We inflated the real estate market and all the ancillary markets (construction, retail, furniture, autos) that go with it. That is a bit misleading because there were not specific instructions to inflate the real estate market but regulations were sidestepped and new rules put in place which made real estate the spot where the lending landed/credit expanded.

So, let’s go back to economics. We had a contracting GDP so we did what we always do (the only tricks we have) on the other side of the equation, we pumped massive amounts of cheap money into the system to increase the depleted money supply and then we did something of EPIC proportions, that we had never done before, we literally created “financial weapons of mass destruction”, as Buffett calls them, which is the alphabet soup of credit “derivatives” that we all hear about. Here is how it went down….

The orders came from Washington to open up the printing presses and issue massive amounts of government debt. The government debt went to transfer payments but more importantly, that that time, to funding the wars on military spending. The Fed essentially created no cost money which meant that banks could take that money from The Fed and lend it out and make huge money on the “spread”. But that “huge spread”, or net interest margin, was not enough. Since interest rates were held so low, and there was a “global savings glut” which kept bond yields very, very low, savers were being punished due to the increases in prices from the increase in demand. Banks started the process of syndication in the name of risk mitigation. And here is where it gets really, really bad. Syndications allowed banks to play a virtual game of hot potato. Since borrowers (hedge funds, pensions, you name it) could go out and borrow money (there is a carry trade aspect here with the Japanese that I am leaving out for sake of simplicity) in the global arena very, very cheaply, you could borrow money at 1% and buy a package of “insert mortgage product here” which was “said” to pay 5%. These events created a velocity of money that was unparalleled before. Speed of light, one trillion times. It was awesome to see. Buy something today, sell it by lunch. Do it again tomorrow. All cheap, all profit. No money down, no doc, no anything…. just get it done. “Castles to the sky”. Credit cards, cars, boats, houses… The profits were obvious, the money cheap, the underwriting free, the game rigged…..

Fiat currency in a fractional reserve system works until it doesn’t. And here is when it doesn’t. We built up capacity (think auto dealerships, malls, schools, movie theaters, gyms, restaurants, etc.) for consumer spending that was probably in the range of 75% GDP going to 80% GDP. Our entire system was based on debt. Unlike equity, debt has to be paid back, or losses taken. It doesn’t just go away and worse, unlike equity, has immediate residual consequences that create a cascade affect in economics.

What made the music stop? People. Behavior. Psyche. The system gets so bloated and overweight, that it collapses under its own weight. No one stands up on Capital Hill and waives a flag saying the game is over. You just wake up one day and the tone has changed. You “can” have events that do that… a comet, or drought, etc. But not in this case. The paradigm shift was underway. People smartened up and the scales tipped from those “getting in while the getting was good” to “getting out before it all crashes down”.

It is that simple and resembles a snowflake at the top of a mountain that rolls into a snowball and then into an avalanche. Rates of change in a system built on debt where everything is connected.

We built up an empire of debt that has never before been seen in our nation’s history. What’s worse is that the same globalization that was borne in the wake of the productivity miracle of the 1990’s made it so that no rock was left unturned. Credit infected every single aspect of our lives across the globe. People in Poland were issued mortgages that were priced in Swiss Francs but those people were paid in the local currency, the Zolty. When the Polish government became so overwhelmed as the credit stopped, the Zolty got hammered in the currency markets. The people that were paid in zolty’s but paid their mortgage in Franc’s saw their mortgage payments jump 40% overnight. Ouch. Everything is connected…. economics is pushing on a string.

Back to the US. When the weight of our system began to implode you had a rush to the exits. Owners became sellers overnight and buyers went away. From the end of the chain came the “no mas” signal. No more. The fund at the end buying everything was full. No more. All the way down the line to the bank that finally said, “No” to the mortgage applicant because the bank was now having trouble unloading the mortgages they currently had on their books.

See, what happens when you create all of this “stuff” with debt is that debt has to be paid back…. if you are creating increases in the prices of “things” faster than wages are increasing, you have a major issue coming. Relative to the price increases, wages were not moving an inch for the average person. And that average person was the couple buying the $500K house with the pool, the second home in FL, and filling the driveways with SUV’s. The day that John Q. Public, or John Q. Speculator, called the bank and said, “I’ve got a problem paying this month”… the music stopped and stopped fast.

Velocity slowed, which means lending slowed, which means borrowing slowed, which means spending slowed, which decreases demand in a debt financed society, which collapses prices…. and the process starts again from the top until velocity crashes. Money, wealth, the ability to spend is stopped immediately. Prices crater and money/debt is evaporated into the thin air from which it was created…… deflation.

The Fed is powerless against deflation caused by a paradigm shift from consumerism to thift. The Fed can create all the money it wants, but if the public doesn’t borrow it, velocity goes to zero and stays there. And this brings me to the collapse of the USD…..

If you go fishing in a swimming pool, you are not going to catch anything. You can have the best rod, the best lure, and 400 ft. of Spiderwire, but you are not going to catch a thing. You can cast and cast and cast, but nothing. Why? Because there are no fish….

There are no consumers in the US and the globe. The game of money from debt, that game created by the banks for the banks, only works if there is a consumer there to borrow. If people stop borrowing, it is very bad, if people start paying off their debt, it gets worse. A loan is an asset on the books of the banks. They do not want you to pay it off or else they face reloan risk and interest rate risk.

So what does the government do???!!!! Well, from the same playbook, they create a TON of money!! But just like our fisherman at the pool who let’s out 100 ft of line, if there is no fish, you are going to end up with a big bird’s nest of line on your reel.

The government’s attempts to “stimulate” the economy includes pumping massive amounts of money into the banking system. What is so nuts though is that, for the first time in history I think, the Fed is paying banks interest on their deposits at the Fed. Talk about discouraging lending. Why lend money out to borrowers that may not pay it back when you can put it on reserve at the Fed and collect interest. Also, the borrowers just are not there. People do not want more debt. Who on earth needs another car or who on earth needs a new one? All of the buying and selling, for the next decade, was done in the last 3 years (prior to the crash). So now we are left with overcapacity and a shift to thrift. To bring it back to the inflation versus deflation debate, we have seen wealth destruction that far exceeds the amount of money being printed right now by the government. But what is more important than the money being printed is that there is ZERO willingness to borrow and spend which reduces that velocity to 0. Go back to rates of change and you will understand how dire it will get when you go from hypervelocity to nothing…. the Fed can print all it wants, but the money will just sit around, and here is how we get to the collapse of the USD.

The government is issuing massive amounts of debt to finance its spending and transfer payments. The US government is so far in debt that we now need to borrow $1.85 Trillion for 2009 and will need to borrow another $2 Trillion for 2010. This goes to pensions, wages, Medicaid, Medicare, SS, TARP, bailouts, wars, etc. All told, the global amount of government ONLY debt issuance for fiscal 2010 will be over $5 T. That does not count corporations, commercial mortgages, etc. Where will that money come from during a global deleveraging process? Well, the debt will be what is called “monetized”. That is a not so fancy word for, inflated away. The government will sell bonds to itself and foreign central banks, the print the money needed to pay the interest. Rinse. Repeat.

The World Bank reported that 2008 global GDP was $60 T. This will be far less in 2009 and less in 2010. That means that global government debt issuance will be 10-11% of global GDP. That is a huge problem and here is why.

Governments are used to borrowing at very low rates. Uncle Sam pays us 3.5% to use our money for 10 years. In a time like this, a deflationary period of falling prices, that “real return”, or adjusted for inflation, is large because inflation, as measured by price increases, is negative. But 2.5%? When I could take that money and payoff my credit card which charges me 20%…! What will happen is what is called the “crowding out effect”. The cost of borrowing, or the interest rate paid, goes up to compete. Would you buy a GE bond paying the same rate as a government bond (default theories aside)? Of course not. So GE’s cost of capital needs to go up to compete with all the government debt being issued. Bad for corporations, bad for workers, bad all around. This also works on a global level as governments must compete for dwindling capital. Japan’s interest rates are going to skyrocket since they need to issue massive debt ( I could do a whole other post on this mess) and compete with the US for capital.

We will print money. Japan will print money. The Euro-zone will print money. We will all lower interest rates but again, remember how this plays out in economics. It doesn’t happen in a vacuum. All nations rely on exports and imports, buying and selling… it’s commerce, right? Well, if one currency loses value because of monetary policy, it becomes more competetive in the export game against another currency that is stronger. You have a “race to devalue” all of a sudden. The feedback loop is vicious.

The US will print and print and print. And issue debt and issue debt and issue debt. Solving a massive leverage problem, with more leverage = not the answer. The real killer in this will be when the interest rates increase (this is why the US government has been buying so much of its own debt). If you are used to borrowing at 3.5%, and the rates jump to 4%, that may not seem like a lot at 50 bps, but the rate of change is large and the corresponding increase in interest cost is staggering! Think of Japan. They issue debt at 1%. What happens if that goes to a paltry 2%?

The feedback loops are enormous and will end when the race to devalue ends at 0. This is why you hear that the cost of everything we NEED will go UP but the price of everything we HAVE will go DOWN. The worst of both worlds. The value of my house, down. The value of my stocks, down. The price of milk, up. The price of gas, up.

How does that occur. Currency. The devaluation of currencies will be the reason that products we want will go up, and that which we have will go down. We, in the US, have enjoyed the ace in the hole because our currency is accepted world-wide as the “reserve currency” which means it is necessary for global trade. But that is changing, rapidly. US debt is now at 375% of GDP which is a post 1870 record. We leveraged more during a deleveraging process. That makes us clearly prone to deflation and complete stagnant growth. We are a debtor nation which removes any comparisons to Japan in the 1990’s or the Great Depression.

We are in much worse shape now than ever. EVER. We may see temporary increases in GDP but GDP per capita, as the population grows, will decline and that will be reflected in the lower standard of living. We will see deflation take hold and run its course driving asset prices into the ground and creating massive losses for banks and lending institutions. Falling prices, unless spurred through increases in productivity, are death for corporations and therefore workers. Deflation is nasty, very nasty.

In an effort to be the lender of last resort world governments are issuing trillions in debt and printing trillions in new money. But it all falls on deaf wallets. When it does that it has the effect of our fisherman friend letting line out to catch a fish that isn’t there…. a huge bird’s nest. Our currency will become worthless as foreign countries get sick of being paid back with fiat currency that is being devalued by the day. Again, the only ace we have right now is that our currency is the “reserve currency”. The IMF prices their loans in the USD. It should now be obvious as to why China wants more of a voice at the table and why we always push for more loans from the IMF to other nations. Everytime the IMF issues a loan to Poland or Iceland or Argentina, we have an immediate buyer of the USD…. Why do you think we invaded Iraq? Saddam would not price his oil in the USD.

The game will shift to one of resources. China is buying commodities is because they understand that at some point in the very near future, money will not mean a thing, but copper will, gold will, oil will. The game is about resources now. That is why we will not drill in ANWR. Why use our oil when we can invade a country, take its massive oil and natural gas supplies, and price it in our currency, and exploit it? We will use our oil when we need to.

The question of “how to prepare” should be an obvious one. As our currency falls in value, and confidence wanes in our currency, commodities will rise in price regardless of demand. Food especially. Europe is in even worse fiscal shape then the US and Japan is worse than that.

It is ugly. Really ugly. Contrary to our “microwave” way of thinking, this will not play out over the course of 1 minute. This will be a slow painful death for world banks and currencies but one that is almost impossible to reverse.

Prepare by converting your paper wealth into tangible wealth. That is my advice and that is how I am preparing.

I am sure that I have missed themes but I tried to hit on the highlights of what shapes my thinking. I am certain that parts of my diatribe was remedial for some, but others may learn something new. I hope that you found it interesting and helpful and please remember that I am not saying that I am correct with my future assumptions since there is no playbook for where we are heading.

God Bless.

Originally posted on the SurvivalistBoards.com

Protecting Your Family From an Influenza Pandemic

admin — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 02:46:57 +0000

By James Wesley, Rawles — Editor of www.SurvivalBlog.com

The emerging threat of the Asian Avian Flu Virus (AAV H5N1) brings into sharp focus the vulnerability of modern, highly mobile and technological societies to viral or bacterial infectious diseases. The last major Asian flu outbreak, (H2N2 in 1957, which killed 69,800 people in the United States) took five months to reach the United States. With the advent of global jet travel, it is now likely that highly virulent disease strains will be transmitted to population centers around the world in a matter of just a few days.

In this article, I will describe how you can protect yourself and your family from the next great pandemic. Although the likelihood of AAV H5N1 mutating into a strain that can easily be transmitted between humans is relatively low, the potential impact if this were to occur would be devastating. The current strain of the virus has a 58% lethality rate for humans. But even if AAV H5N1 turns out to be a “non-event”, in the next few decades there is a very high likelihood that some other disease will emerge and suddenly make a pandemic breakout. The odds are against us, because influenzas have tendency toward antigenic shift. Because influenzas are viral and are spread by casual person to person contact, the majority of the world’s population will be exposed in just a few weeks or months. Even today, more than 30,000 Americans die each year from flu complications–mostly the elderly and those with compromised immune systems.

Here are the key things that you need to do to protect yourself and your family, and to help restore order during a pandemic:

A.) Raise Your Immune Resistance

B.) Be Ready to Fight the Illness

C.) Avoid Exposure.

D.) Stockpile Key Logistics.

E.) Be Prepared to Dispense Charity From a Safe Distance

I will briefly discuss each of these requirements in this article. I have also posted more detailed follow-up articles on each topic in my daily blog (web journal) at SurvivalBlog.com

Raise Your Immune Resistance

There are two philosophies to fighting off influenza viruses. The first and mostly prevalent is to raise the body’s immune response. The other is to maintain normal immune response to prevent a collapse caused by over-response–a so called “cytokene storm”. While opinion is divided on this issue, I tend toward a strong immune response–particularly if combating a highly virulent illness.

To raise your immune resistance to disease it is important that you stop smoking. If you are a smoker you have already realized that you are much more susceptible to respiratory infections. Smokers are at high risk to develop complications. Get plenty of exercise, eat healthy foods, drink only in moderation, get plenty of sleep, and use top quality vitamin supplements (from a company such as eVitamins.) If you are overweight, you need to alter your diet get down to within five pounds of normal body weight. You need to change your diet for two important reasons: First, unhealthy foods weaken your immune system. Cut out refined sugar. Avoid candy, snack foods, soft drinks, and any processed foods with preservatives, artificial sweeteners, or MSG. Avoid store-bought meat, which is often tainted by the hormones and antibiotics used in commercial livestock feeds. Wild game or home-raised livestock is much healthier! Lastly, pray. Why? Anxiety is a form of stress that weakens the immune system, and prayer is a proven way to relieve anxiety and stress. And more importantly, as a Christian I believe that it is crucial to pray for God’s guidance, providence, and protection.

Be Ready to Fight the Illness

There are some symptoms that distinguish between colds and flus: Flus typically cause fever, chills, achy feeling (malaise), headaches, and extreme fatigue. Cold symptoms are usually restricted to the upper respiratory tract while flu symptoms tend to involve the entire body.

Influenzas tend to kill most of their victims in two ways: dehydration and lung congestion. Even the Avian flu, which is respiratory usually starts with stomach flu symptoms. Stomach flus usually induce diarrhea which rapidly dehydrates the victim. To fight this, you need to stock up on both anti-diarrhea medicines (such as Imodium AD–an anti-spasmodic) and electrolyte solutions such as Pedialyte. (The latter is available in bulk though large chain “warehouse” stores.) The various sports type drinks (such as Gatorade) can be used as oral rehydration solutions (ORSs) too. However, I prefer to dilute them about 50% with water, they have a lot of glucose in them which will exacerbate diarrhea symptoms.

If commercial ORSs are not available, I have read that you can make an emergency solution as follows:
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 2 tablespoons honey, sugar, or rice powder
• 1/4 teaspoon potassium chloride (table salt substitute)
• 1/2 teaspoon trisodium citrate (can be replaced by baking soda)
• 1 quart of clean water

Imodium is a trade name for Loperamide. It can be purchased generically for relatively little cost, at such places as warehouse stores. The generic (house brands) are just fine. Stock up on Acetominophen (Tylenol) and Ibuprofen (Motrin) as well – for treating fevers. These two antipyretics can be taken together or on an alternating 4 hour schedule (take each every 4 hours but split them, for example at 8 AM take acetaminophen, at 10 AM take ibuprofen, etc. This makes it easier to monitor the patient and get them to drink fluids, if they’re up every 2 hours they will have to drink some fluids). Either have a traditional glass thermometer for each person, or a digital thermometer with lots of disposable sleeves. The thermometers are a couple of bucks at most drug stores. The sleeves are a buck or so per hundred. Don’t cross-contaminate your patients.

Note: Ther eis a difference of opinion on in medical circles about suppressing a fever with an Avain influenza. It all depends on the particular strain. Before using aspirin (for adults) or Acetominophen (for children and adults), check the literatire on the current flu strain. If there are widespread reports of “cytokine storm” reactions by patients, then suppressing a fever might be a good thing.

Statistically, the largest group that were killed by the 1918 flu were 16 to 25 years old–those with the strongest immune systems. Those patients often died because their bodies fought the virus too vigorously, in a cytokine storm. Aspirin can help suppress the response that leads to a cytokine over-reaction. Again, there is still considerable debate in medical literature over the issue of fever suppression versus the risk of cytokine over-reaction in treating avian influenzas.

Because influenzas are viral rather than bacterial, most antibiotic drugs (antibacterials) are useless in combating them. If you suspect that you are coming down with influenza get bed rest! Too many people ignore their symptoms because “that project at work just has to get done.” Not only do they risk their own health, but they infect their co-workers! Liquids help ease congestion and loosen phlegm and are of course crucial to rehydration. Just a fever alone can double your body’s dehydration rate.

Respiratory flus such as the Asian Avian Flu kill with congestion. Buy a steam-type vaporizer. Stock up on expectorants containing guaifenesin as the main ingredient.

You will need to watch carefully for any symptoms of pneumonia develop. These include: difficulty or painful breathing, a grunting sound when breathing (quite distinct from the wheezing of bronchitis or the “barking” of croup), extremely rapid breathing, flaring nostrils with each breath, or coughing up rust-colored phlegm. Pneumonia can be a deadly complication of the flu and is the main cause of flu-related death. It is important to note that pneumonia is typically a co-infection that can be either viral or bacterial. In case of a bacterial pneumonia, antibiotics are crucial for saving lives. If it is viral, there is not much that can be done. While antibiotics can clear infection they cannot remove secretions. The patient must cough them all the way back up the respiratory tract. Do not use cough suppressants–anything with active ingredients like dextromethorphan or diphenhydramine. A “productive” (wet) cough that produces phlegm is a good thing! This is where you may need expectorants. One that works well is Robitussin (the original type of Robitussin without any capital letters after the name). These are also available as generics, and quite cheap, so stock up. You should also read up on postural drainage and percussion techniques for chest secretion clearance–for instances when your patient cannot or will not cough effectively.

Avoid Exposure

Aside from being actually coughed or sneezed upon by an infected person, the most common way to catch the flu is by touching something which has been coughed on or sneezed upon by an infected person. For instance, the person that used the shopping cart before you had the flu. They covered their mouth with their hand when they coughed then used that very hand to push the cart around the store. Now your hands are touching the same place. Without thinking while shopping, you rub your eye or nose and you have introduce the virus to your most vulnerable point of infection. When you are out in public do not touch your eyes or nose. Wash your hands frequently to remove any germs you have picked up. Teach your children this as well.

Even though the chances of a full scale “nation busting” pandemic are small, the possibility definitely exists. The recent public statements by President Bush about considering the use of the military to enforce an Asian Avian flu pandemic quarantine are indicative that government officials are taking the threat seriously. A full scale pandemic that starts taking lives on a grand scale may then reasonably cause you to take some extreme measures to protect the lives of your family members. You can cut your chances of infection by more than half if you prepare to live in isolation (a strict “self quarantine”) for an extended period of time. You need to be prepared to avoid all contact with other people during the worst of the pandemic. The self quarantine period might last as much as three years, as successive waves of influenza sweep through the country. Think this through, folks. What would you need to do to successfully quarantine your family? Grab a clipboard and start making some prioritized lists.

History has shown that infectious diseases do their worst in urbanized regions So if you can afford to, make plans to move to a lightly populated region, soon. Where? Read my blog (SurvivalBlog.com) for some detailed recommendations, but in general, I recommend moving west of the Missouri River (because of the west’s much lighter population density) to a rural, agricultural region. When looking for a retreat locale, look outside of city limits and away from major highways that will serve as “lines of drift” for urban refugees. You are looking for a property that could serve as a self-sufficient farm–something over five acres, and preferably closer to 40 acres. In the event of a “worst case” pandemic situation, there is the possibility that power grid could go down. Even if your farm has well water, you may be out of luck. A home with gravity fed spring water is ideal, but uncommon. So you will either need to be able to pump well water by hand–only practical with shallow wells–or be prepared to treat water that you’ll draw from open sources: rivers, creeks, lakes, or ponds.

Plan to live at your retreat year-round. In the event of a full scale pandemic, the police and military will probably be ordered to enforce draconian quarantines of cities, counties, or perhaps entire states or regions. Having a well-stocked retreat is useless if you can’t get to it. Live there, and become accustomed to getting by self-sufficiently. Plant a big vegetable garden, using non-hybrid seeds. Raise small livestock that can forage on your own pasture. Get your digestive system accustomed to consumption of your bulk storage foods. Home school your kids. Develop a “hunker down” lifestyle with minimal trips to town. Each trip to town will constitute another opportunity for infection.

To make self-quarantine effective, it is essential that you are prepared to live in isolation for many months, and possibly years, to avoid contact and subsequent risk of infection. This can be practical for anyone that is retired or self-employed in an occupation that does not require regular face to face contact with clients or customers. (For example home-based mail order, self-publishing, recruiting, medical/legal transcription, or telecommuting.) But for anyone else it may mean having to quit your job and live off of your savings. So it is essential that you get out of debt and start building your savings, ASAP. If you can possibly change jobs to something that will allow isolation or semi-isolation, do so as soon as possible. For most of us in the middle class, this may mean “doubling up” with another family to share resources.

To protect yourself (at least marginally) from infected spittle, wear wrap-around goggles and buy or fabricate surgical style masks, in quantity. Note that even an N100 gas mask filter will not stop an airborne virus, since the viruses are too small. But at least a cloth mask will give you some protection from virus-laden spittle. Once the pandemic breaks out in your region, you won’t look out of place wearing these, even on a trip to the post office. Stock up on disposable gloves. Note that some individuals are allergic to latex. So do some extended wear tests before you buy gloves in quantity. Wear gloves whenever away from your retreat, and wash your hands frequently, regardless. Keep your hands away from your nose and eyes at all times. Stock up on soap and bottles of disinfecting hand sanitizer.

Stockpile Key Logistics

To make long term self quarantine effective you will need to buy a large quantity of long term storage food from a trustworthy vendor. Storage food is bulky and expensive to ship, so plan to buy locally or rent a truck and travel to a nearby state to pick up your storage food. In the eastern U.S., I recommend Ready Made Resources, of Tennessee. (See: http://www.ReadyMadeResources.com) In the western U.S., I recommend Walton Feed of Idaho. (See: http://www.WaltonFeed.com) It is also important to lay in extra food to dispense in charity–both to your neighbors and to any relatives that might end up on your doorstep at the 11th hour.

Stockpile fuel–firewood, home heating oil, or propane, plus fuel for your backup generator, vehicles and/or tractor. For liquid fuels, buy the largest tanks that you can afford to buy and fill, and that are allowable under your local fire code. If you heat with wood or coal, determine how many cords or pounds of coal you buy each winter and then triple that amount.

Build a sturdy gate to your driveway and get in the habit of keeping it closed and locked. It may sound far-fetched, but in the event or a “worst case” you may have to repel looters by force of arms. Buy plenty of ammo, zero your guns, and practice regularly. Hurricane Katrina showed how fragile our society is and how quickly law and order can break down in an emergency. Plan accordingly.

With the consent of your doctor and his prescription, you should stock up at least moderately on antibiotics such as penicillin and Ciprofloxacin (”cipro”) to fight co-infections. But they should only be used if it is abundantly clear that a co-infection has set in. (Again, watch for pneumonia symptoms.)

There are a few drugs that have been clinically proven to be useful in lessening the symptoms of viral influenzas, and shortening the duration of illness. These include Relenza (Zanamivir), Tamiflu (Oseltamivir phosphate), and Sambucol. These drugs are used immediately after the onset of flu symptoms. Of the three, Sambucol–a non-perscription tincture of black elderberry– is probably the best. I predict shortages of these drugs in coming months, so stock up while they are still readily available!

Be Prepared to Dispense Charity From a Safe Distance

I already mentioned that it is important to lay in extra food to dispense in charity. I cannot emphasize this enough. Helping your neighbors is Biblically sound and builds trustworthy friendships that you can count on. To avoid risk of infection, you need to be prepared to dispense charity from a safe distance–without physical contact. Think: planning, teamwork, and ballistic backup. While your family’s food storage can be in bulk containers (typically 5 to 7 gallon food grade plastic pails), your charity storage food should mostly be in smaller containers. Or, at least buy some extra smaller containers that you can fill and distribute to refugees. Also be sure to lay in extra gardening seed to dispense as charity. Non-hybrid (”heirloom”) varieties that breed true are available from several vendors including The Ark Institute. (See: http://www.ArkInstitute.com). By dispensing charity you will be helping to restore order and re-establish key infrastructures. The bottom line is that you’ll be part of the solution rather than part of the problem.

In closing, I highly recommend that you read Dr. Grattan Woodson’s monograph “Preparing for the Coming Influenza Pandemic”, available for free download at my blog site. Also see: http://www.fluwikie.com.

Postscript from SurvivalBlog.com Reader and Contributor “Dr. November”:

I’m not a big believer in Tamiflu (Oseltamivir) or the other neuraminidase inhibitors. It’s only demonstrated effect is to make the course of the flu slightly less long (on the order of 1-2 days less), but it has a critical requirement: IT MUST BE TAKEN within the first day or two of feeling ill. Most people (myself included) will just feel a little ‘off’ those first couple of days, or try to work through it. Tamiflu in this situation is pretty useless. Also, if someone is going to use it, they MUST have it on hand before they get sick: Getting the first symptoms, then deciding to call your physician and getting an appointment to get the prescription the week after next isn’t going to help. Finally, it’s pretty expensive (a standard 5 day adult dose is around $100 plus the physicians appointment). It’s also going to be in short supply as people start trying to get it (similar to Cipro following the anthrax attacks and scares). BTW, Mom’s old standby for respiratory infections (chicken soup) is as effective as oseltamivir. I doubt that it would be a good choice for an avian flu pandemic, though.

I was favorably impressed with a study done in Israel about the efficacy of Sambucol. At least, it’s not expensive and won’t hurt anything.
So, what should people do? In addition to the suggestions you’ve offered, I have a few more: If the pandemic strikes, and you can’t avoid going out among people, wear disposable gloves (they don’t have to be surgical or sterile). You don’t know who last touched that … whatever (door knob, elevator button, etc). Carry and use several pair, and learn how to take them off without touching the outsides (ask a medically trained individual to show you).
Keep your hands away from your mouth, nose and eyes! If your hands become contaminated, don’t transfer the virus to mucous membranes. Wash your hands often (and also, BEFORE and AFTER using public restrooms, then don’t touch the door knob on the way out – use an extra paper towel). Hand sanitizer gels are OK but plain soap and water is fine too. If nothing else is available, a ‘dry wash’ (vigorously rubbing your hands as though you were soaping them up) is surprisingly effective in removing the outer dead layer of skin cells that harbor virus particles or bacteria. It won’t get rid of every single one (nothing will) but it’s a matter of odds – the fewer, the better.
Teach everyone (especially the dear little germ transport mechanisms we call children) to cough into their elbow or armpit – NOT to cover their face with their hands (and then what?) or use a tissue (and then what?). And to wash their hands afterwards.
I can commend a medical blog that has an excellent article (and link to a free New England Journal of Medicine article) on avian flu: http://medpundit.blogspot.com/2005/10/flu-bug-variations-everyone-seems-to.html and
http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/353/13/1363 – Dr. November

Disclaimer: I’m not a doctor, and I don’t give medical advice. Mention of any medical device, treatment, drug, or food supplement is for educational purposes only. Consult your doctor before undertaking any treatment or the use of any drug, food supplement, or medical device. SurvivalBlog.com is not responsible for the use or misuse of any product mentioned.

Copyright 2006-2009. All Rights Reserved by James Wesley, Rawles – www.SurvivalBlog.com™ Permission to reprint, repost or forward this article in full is granted, but only if it is not edited or excerpted.

About the Author:
James Wesley, Rawles is a former U.S. Army Intelligence officer and a noted author and lecturer on survival and preparedness topics. He is the author of the novel “Patriots: Surviving the Coming Collapse” and is the editor of SurvivalBlog.com–the popular daily web journal for prepared individuals living in uncertain times.

Browns Gas

admin — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 17:44:29 +0000

If you want to construct your own fuel cell, there are websites with diagrams and instructions on how to build one. However, many of the cheaper internet offers appear to be a rip-off. They offer plans that are hard to follow, if not impossible to complete.If you have some mechanical and electrical skills or have a friend that does, you can build an HHO fuel cell generator. If not, there are sites on the internet where you can purchase a unit for installation on your own vehicle.

HHO or “Brown’s gas” is up to 8 times more efficient than diesel or gasoline. A fuel cell can increase your miles per gallon, save you money and it is environmentally friendly. You will be able to make your own fuel cell by utilizing components that you may find in your own garage or purchase them at your local home improvement or automotive parts store.

Inside the HHO fuel cell generator, water is broken down into hydrogen and oxygen gas called HHO, through the process of electrolysis. This gas, which has an enormous amount of energy, is then used as part of the combustion fuel which powers your engine.

The electrolytic cell is the most vital component. It is housed in a high temperature resistant, non-electrically conductive container. Some fuel cell generators use staggered plates or stainless steel wire. A small amount of distilled water is added to
cover the metal plates or wires installed inside. As an electrical current is passed from the vehicles battery through the stainless steel metal plates in the water, the water molecules change into HHO gas. It is also very important to have a pressure relief valve on the fuel cell to help prevent an explosion.

It is important to keep the fuel cell from overheating. The hotter the cell gets, the more amps it draws from the battery until it melts the plates. This can be prevented by installing a fuse or circuit breaker to limit the amount of amps going to the electrolytic cell. Plain tap water contains minerals that causes too much conductivity between the plates and corrodes the inside of the fuel cell. Using distilled water helps control the amperage and temperature. The best material for the plates is 316 stainless steel. Aluminum, steel and copper will corrode too fast.

The bubbler unit is located between the electrolytic cell and the carburetor. It is a very simple component that stops any moisture from entering the engine. A hose connects the bubbler to the engines intake manifold through which the HHO travels.

The final major part of an HHO conversion is an electrical control unit that is connected to the vehicle’s ignition, battery and hydrogen generator.

You will need a decent manual to take you through the steps of building an HHO conversion kit. It is easy to do yourself or the alternative is to pass it to your mechanic. In any case, the first advantage is the cheapness of making and installing it. Allow $100 for a manual and another $150 for materials.

I recommend reading as many articles and watching as many videos as you can find before trying to build your own cell. It will save you money and time in the long run. Good Luck.

CLICK HERE for videos and more articles about building HHO fuel cell generators.

Trade Your Stuff Online with Photos FREE

admin — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 18:25:25 +0000

Remember the story about Kyle McDonald who traded a Red Paperclip for a House? It actually took him a year and 14 trades to trade up to a house, but he did it. He started with a Red Paperclip that he traded for an ink pen, ink pen for a doorknob, doorknob for a camping stove, camping stove for a generator, generator for a beer keg and Budweiser sign, beer keg and sign for a snowmobile, snowmobile for a trip to British Columbia, trip for a moving van, moving van for a recording contract, contract for a year’s free rent in Phoenix, free rent for an afternoon with Alice Cooper, afternoon with Alice Cooper for a KISS snow globe, KISS snow globe for a role in a movie and the movie role for a house.

If you sell an item on an auction website for ten dollars, it is hard to trade the ten dollars for something of much greater value because ten dollars is worth the same thing to everyone. You can gain more value for your item by just trading with someone else. You just have to find that right person.

You can list your items with photos for FREE at www.TradeYourItems.com for up to 14 months before the listing expires. Please take the time to look at the items listed here because you may find something already listed that you want to trade for.If you see a posted item you want, contact the owner by using the “Ask Trader a Question” link. You can give the trader your email address or phone number for more direct negotiations if you wish. If the item is something you absolutely must have, offer something of such greater value that the owner will not be able to refuse. We all have stuff that we no longer want or need. Why not use it to trade for something you really want. This is not a site where you try to get an item for the least amount you can offer. Make the best, most convincing offer you can to get the item you want and close the trade to prevent someone else from making a better offer.

Visit http://www.TradeYourItems.com to see what others are trading.

Can You Trademark a Business Name

admin — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 18:20:11 +0000

Legal Issues About Trademarks And Domain Names
by: Peter Goldberg

Trade marks are a name or symbol that are used to distinguish the goods of services of a particular company from others.

Similar to copyrights and other signs of intellectual property, the effects of the trademark system is territorial. This means, that each country has its own trademark system. A brand name like Machine Head may be owned by one person in the United Kingdom and by another, totally unrelated, person in the United States.

The domain name system, which is putting most of its emphasis on the .com title as the international domain, does not really jive well with the trade mark system because of the latter’s fundamental definition of “ownership.”

A case in point is the Prince vs Prince suit. Prince, the US-based manufacturers of sports goods, challenged the use of the www.prince.com domain name by a British computer consultancy company. The said company registered the domain in good faith and have been using it. The Prince sports goods company, which has no registered UK trademark, threatened to sue the British company for US trademark infringement. The latter counter-sued in the UK for the unwarranted threats regarding trademark infringement. They eventually won and the US company had to contend with just using the domain name www.princetennis.com.

Alternatively, a different scenario where the trademark owner will most likely prevail over a domain name holder’s rights is in the case of Marks & Spencer vs One in a Million. This particular case was elevated to the English High Court in 1997 when various trademark holders, including the world-famous UK retailer Marks & Spencer, sued One In A Million, a company who accumulated a number of domain names under the well-known trademarks like Sainsburys, Virgin, Marks & Spencer, and Cellnet. These domain names, and others, were bought with the express goal of selling them again to the trademark owners. The High Court decided that One In A Million be required to relinquish their claim on the said domain names. This decision was further upheld by the Court of Appeal.The One In A Million company’s basis of argument was that domain name registrations were first come, first served”, thus, the trademark owners do not have any rights to the domain names.

Based on the two actual court cases we can build up a clear picture about the interrelation of trademarks and domain names.

In general, domains that have no trademark significance can be acquired by the entity who registered them first. Continuous use of this non-trademarked name will allow the holder to build a reputation on the name. When the situation is between to legitimate companies who have a right to the name then, as with the stipulation of most laws in most countries, the first person who registers will get the domain. However, a registrant to a domain that is also a subject of a trademark and who does not have any entitlements is going to be forbidden based on the laws of most countries. For more information please visit http://www.dolphinformations.co.uk.

About The Author: Peter Goldberg runs the website http://www.dolphinformations.co.uk which is your expert resource for all business related issues. Source: ArticleCity.com

Different Categories of Trademarks

admin — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 18:12:15 +0000

An Introduction to Trademarks
by: Gerard Simington

In marketing, there is a particular strategy known as branding. In many ways, trademarks are designed to protect your brand from use by others.

An Introduction to Trademarks

A trademark is a form of intellectual property. Intellectual property is owned by the person or business creating it. With practically all forms of intellectual property, however, you have to take steps to formally notify the world of your property and protect it.

A trademark is a distinctive mark used to identify a product, company, service or device. When you think about it, you are very familiar with trademarks. At the risk of being sued to the high heavens, the following are trademarks: Coca Cola, Pepsi, Google, EBay and Toyota. Each of these words mean something to you and are readily identifiable with a product or service in your mind. When you think of EBay, you immediately think of an online auction site that was originally created so the owner’s girlfriend could trade Pez dispensers [true]. When you think of Toyota, you think of cars. This is the power of brand recognition and trademarks are used to protect them.

A trademark is a powerful thing when it comes to the law. If you obtain a trademark, it is binding nationwide and others are not allowed to infringe upon it in an effort to swipe your customers or confuse the public. With your mark, you can sue to stop the infringement and recover monetary damages suffered. Basically, a trademark is a hammer for stopping nefarious conduct cold.

To obtain a trademark, you must have patience, patience and more patience. The mark is obtained through the Patent and Trademark Office. It is a very slow process. You or your attorney do a search to make sure are not in conflict with any previous marks. You then file an application and begin waiting. Within 8 weeks, the Patent and Trademark Office will send you a notification indicating they acknowledge receiving your application. Just receiving it! You will then wait another 6 months or so to hear if the application is accepted. Often you will receive correspondence asking for clarification or raising a problem. You then provide a response and wait. Months will pass. Eventually, the back and forth will come to final result. If your trademark application is accepted, it will be published and you are protected. The process is so lengthy that it is not uncommon for it take well over a year for the application to be approved. In short, you are going to need a lot of patience.

While obtaining a trademark can take forever, it is well worth the effort. Once you have it, you can keep competitors and others from using the trademarked term you worked so hard to establish.

About The Author: Gerard Simington is with http://www.findanattorneyforme.com – an online attorney directory. Source: ArticleCity.com

Living Wills – What Every Caregiver Should Know

admin — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 17:37:08 +0000

Living Wills – Everyone Should Have One

by External Articles

An advanced care directive, commonly known as a living will is something everyone should have. A living will is a legal document that states specific directives regarding medical treatments that must be followed by caregivers or the person appointed power of attorney for health care decisions if you are unable to give informed consent. A living will ensures that your wishes are carried out.

What Does a Living Will Cover?

There are some people that think a living will is used only to direct health care providers to withhold necessary medical treatment. While many do use a living will for this type of instruction, a living will is also a way for a person to ask for all available medical techniques and treatments should they want them. Living wills are complicated because they deal with medical issues so it is always a good idea to consult with your doctor so he can clarify any treatments or techniques you are unsure of.

One thing to keep in mind is that a living will’s legality does not take effect until the patient has been medically determined to be terminally ill or is in a permanent vegetative state, unable to communicate medical wishes.

The Difference between a Living Will and Durable Power of Attorney

Some functions of a living will can be performed by a durable power of attorney. The document gives the attorney legal power to make any health care decision for a person who is unable to make those decisions for themselves, in some cases it also allows the durable power of attorney to use his/her own judgment. Unlike a living will, a durable power of attorney does not depend on a vegetative state or terminal illness in order to be used. A good example of someone who would be incapable of making their own sound medical decisions is someone with Alzheimer’s.

If you choose not to have a living will or appoint a durable power of attorney your family members may end up fighting and arguing over what treatment you should or should not be receiving. Even though a doctor will consult with your family they still may be split in the decision making. Since doctors only consult with family members, if you are unmarried the living will and durable power of attorney will enable them to have a say in your health care decisions.

An Attorney-In-Fact

An Attorney-in-Fact is the person you assign power of attorney. Whomever you chose as the proxy for health care decisions or attorney-in-fact needs to be someone you trust and is comfortable talking about medical issues. An assertive and diplomatic individual is the preferred choice because you are choosing someone to be your advocacy. They may need to argue with the doctors and even your family members, and in some cases, go to court and fight on your behalf. You need someone who is aware of the choices your have made and will support any and all instructions you have laid out.

More people are choosing to have a living will as it takes the pressure off family members when it comes to making important medical decisions. Medical decisions should never be made with your emotions, but unfortunately it happens too often. This is why a living will is a very important document to have.

About the Author

For more information about a caregiver intercom system go to IntercomsOnline.com. Also read their article titled:Wireless Intercom for Elderly or Disabled

Article Source: Populate.NET Article Directory Author Profile: External Articles

Car Accident Claims – a Guide

admin — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 17:17:01 +0000

Car Accident Claims: A Guide
By Carys Robshaw

With 71% of the population holding a current driving licence our roads are busier than ever. There are 31million cars on Britain’s roads today making car accidents a major cause of injury. 10 people are killed on our roads every day, along with 290,000 serious injuries per year. In 95% of all accidents the main cause was human error.

Everyone is likely to be involved in a car accident at some point. Statistics show that most people are involved in at least one car accident in their life. Where an injury is sustained which through the fault of someone else, a personal injury claim can be brought. Making a personal injury claim for a car accident involves holding the person at fault accountable for their actions.

If you are involved in an accident, it is important to take a number of steps to ensure that if you do decide to claim, you have all the relevant information. Whenever any accident takes place, both parties are required by law to stop. You should exchange details with the other driver. It is not wise to make any comment on whose fault the accident is at the scene. Record as many details as you can as it will be useful for your to claim to have as much information as possible available. Details such as the make, model and colour of both cars as well as the registration will be very useful. Take the details of any witnesses as they may be vital in identifying the cause of the accident. Draw a sketch of where the accident took place, including as much detail as you can. Write down a clear account of exactly what happened as soon as you can. These detailed records will assist you greatly in your claim. If you have already been involved in a accident, don’t worry, you can still claim if you have not done any of these things, as long as the accident was not your fault.

After the accident, notify your insurance company straight away. Their record of the claim will be important in your case. You should visit you r doctor for any injuries, however minor they may seem. Many personal injury cases fail as there is no record of the injuries received. Some injuries, such as whiplash, may not be apparent until up to 48 hours after the accident. As soon as you feel any symptoms, visit your doctor.

Making a personal injury claim can ensure that the injured party receives compensation for their injuries suffered and earnings lost. On filing a claim, the victim is assigned an expert personal injury lawyer who is skilled in dealing with this type of claim. There are lawyers who specialise in particular injuries such as whiplash, head injuries or back injuries.

A car accident that was not your fault will usually be handled on a ‘no win, no fee’ basis. This means that you will not be liable for any legal costs in the event that you lose. In most cases even in the event of a win, no costs will be charged to the claimant, as the costs are recovered from the losing side.You can claim for a car accident as a driver, passenger, cyclist or pedestrian. Whether your injuries are minor or more serious, you can still claim. It is even possible to make a claim in cases where the driver at fault was uninsured or fled from the scene of the accident. In these cases, the Motor Insurance Bureau will pay any damages.

Your claim will be calculated according to your circumstances. The payout will reflect loss of income, damage to your car or other property, cost of replacement hire car, insurance policy excess, compensation for pain and injury and any expenses incurred as a result of injury. These might include taxi fares, medication or alterations to your lifestyle.

Once you decide to pursue a claim and hire a personal injury lawyer, your lawyer will take care of everything for you. They will deal with your insurance company and contact the other driver’s insurance company. They will contact the police and obtain an accident report if there is one. The will speak to any witnesses, gather all the medical evidence.

The amount awarded and time taken to settle your claim will vary greatly. You must speak to an expert to assess your claim as every case is different.

Author’s Bio: Carys is an author of several articles pertaining to No Win No Fee, Compensation Claims, Personal Injury Claims and other legal articles. Article Source

Whiplash Claims

admin — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 16:58:21 +0000

Claiming Against Whiplash Injuries – 4 Essential Tips

by fresh24

A whiplash injury is caused by a sudden or forceful impact to the neck. It is commonly seen in motor vehicle accidents, especially those involving a rear-end collision. Symptoms of a whiplash injury can range from stiffness and pain in the neck, shoulders and back, to dizziness, ringing in the ears and blurred vision.

While accident victims are entitled to compensation, often only those with grievous injuries, such as fractures, actually file accident compensation claims. In contrast, few people file accident claims for whiplash injuries even though they may suffer just as much emotional and physical pain as a grievous injury claimant.

The reason for this is that a whiplash injury is often not considered severe enough to file a claim. However, this is not true; a whiplash injury is just as capable of attracting suitable compensation as other injuries. These are four tips to help you file your claim:

1. Undergo a medical examination. It is important that you have yourself examined by a doctor for your injury, even if you think it is insignificant. Not only is this good practice medically speaking, but a doctor’s report also acts as crucial evidence while claiming compensation. I know of one case where a doctor also found another medical condition caused by a collision.2. Take legal advice. I can’t stress this one enough. Discuss your case with a lawyer who has experience with accident compensation claims. He will advise you on the validity of your claim and guide you on the correct procedure required to file it. For this, it is important that you tell your lawyer the complete truth and provide him or her with all the information relevant to your claim. Show them your diary.

3. Maintain a diary. A whiplash injury, even though not physically evident, can be crippling. It could hamper your regular functioning and prevent you from living a normal life. You can make your case stronger by detailing all the difficulties you faced due to the injury. Keep a list of any emotional pain that you may feel as a result of your accident.

4. Record financial losses. You can claim compensation for the financial losses caused by your whiplash injury. This would include the total cost you incurred in treating and coping with your condition and any painkillers or specialist equipment, in addition to the earnings you lost during the period of your recovery.

About the Author

Paul has written numerous articles on whiplash injury claim issues, particularly those involving car accident and other topics of claims.

Article Source: Populate.NET Article Directory

Value Of Patent Information For Decision Makers

admin — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 01:27:05 +0000

Copyright and Trademark: Overview to Help You Understand

When creators of artistic and literary works are given legal rights, then copyright describes the process. Literary works that are protected by copyright include poems, novels, plays, newspapers, reference works. Artistic works which include drawings, paintings, sculpture, photograph, advertisements, architecture, technical drawings, and maps. Others are databases and computer programs, musical compositions, choreography, and musical composition.

Copyright is important to the creativity of every people. It gives them incentives either in the forms of fair monetary rewards or recognition. The creators are rest assured that they are protected from piracy or unauthorized copying thus they can distribute their works without fear. In return, it enhances knowledge, entertainment, and culture enjoyment across the globe.

Works that are originally created and covered by copyrights have some basic rights which can be passed on their heirs. They are holding exclusive rights to use or give consent other people to use their works through an agreement. The original creator can authorize or prohibit:

- Reproduction in different forms including sound recording or printed publication.

- Public performances as in musical works or plays.

- Recordings in different forms including videotapes, cassettes, or compact discs.

- Broadcastings via cable, radio, or satellite.

- Translations to other languages or adaptations. One typical example is a novel used in a screenplay.

Most creative works under copyright require financial investment, communication, and mass distribution upon dissemination using different media. It includes publications, films, and sound recordings. The creators are often selling the rights of their works to companies or individuals who can market their works best to get back what they paid for. These payments are independently made based on the actual work usage, known as royalties.

However, the economic rights entitled to them are limited only to fifty years after the death of the creator as what is stated in the WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization) treaties. Longer limits on time can be also established by the national law. This will enable the creators as well as their heirs to gain financial benefits over a specified time limit. Moral rights are also included under copyright protection. The creators are given the right in claiming an authorship or opposing the changes made harming their reputation.

Copyright and other related rights are given by individual countries through national legislation. Even international treaties applied some national laws to ensure that a number of rights are granted to the original creators based on nondiscriminatory status. The creators can consult the National Copyright Administration or CLEA (Collection of Laws for Electronic Access) WIPO database.

WIPO, an intergovernmental organization is administering lots of treaties internationally which is associated to intellectual property rights, requests, and government advice. However, it is mandatory for WIPO to give non-governmental organizations or private persons legal advice. It is much better to consult a copyright lawyer for specific matters.

Copyright is not dependent on official procedures. Created works are considered copyright protected upon its existence. It was stated in the Berne Convention about protecting artistic and literary works that without formalities, these works are already protected provided that the country is a part of the said convention.

A system for copyright registration is not provided by the WIPO. But many countries have national copyright offices. National laws are allowing registration for artistic and literary works to serve some purposes. Copyright can distinguish work titles, or become a prima facie proof used in courts to solve copyright disputes.A trademark is a word, device, symbol, name, or combination of any of these elements intended or used in business to distinguish and identify the products of one company or seller from products sold or manufactured by others, and indicate sources of the products. To make it simple, a brand name defines a trademark.

Registration of a trademark is not required by the government. However, several advantages can be given if a trademark obtained federal registration. It includes evidences of trademark’s ownership, nationwide constructive notice about the owner’s claim, federal courts jurisdiction can be invoked, registration can be a basis to obtain international trademark registration, and registration can be filed with the customs service of the U.S. to prevent infringing of imported goods.

Understanding the distinction between a copyright and trademark is necessary. It really helps.

This site has many well-written articles on Trademarks. Feel free to browse! There are other interesting topics at http://www.MyTechResource.org/sitemap/index.html This content may be used only in its entirety with all links included.

Patenting – An Overview

admin — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 01:23:31 +0000

If you are serious about an idea and want to see it turned into a fully fledged invention, it is essential to obtain some form of patent protection, at least to the ‘patent pending’ status. Without that, it is unwise to advertise or promote the idea, as it is easily stolen. More than that, businesses you approach will not take you seriously – as without the patent pending status your idea is just that – an idea.

1. When does an idea become an invention?

Whenever an idea becomes patentable it is referred to as an invention. In practice, this is not always clear-cut and may require external advice.

2. Do I have to discuss my invention idea with anyone ?

Yes, you do. Here are a few reasons why: first, in order to find out whether your idea is patentable or not, whether there is a similar invention anywhere in the world, whether there is sufficient commercial potential in order to warrant the cost of patenting, finally, in order to prepare the patents themselves.

3. How can I safely discuss my ideas without the risk of losing them ?

This is a point where many would-be inventors stop short following up their idea, as it seems terribly complicated and full of dangers, not counting the cost and trouble. There are two ways out: (i) by directly approaching a reputable patent attorney who, by the nature of his office, will keep your invention confidential. However, this is an expensive option. (ii) by approaching professionals dealing with invention promotion. While most reputable promotion companies/ persons will keep your confidence, it is best to insist on a Confidentiality Agreement, a legally binding document, in which the person solemnly promises to keep your confidence in matters relating to your invention which were not known beforehand. This is a reasonably secure and cheap way out and, for financial reasons, it is the only way open to the majority of new inventors.

4. About the Confidentiality Agreement

The Confidentiality Agreement (or Non-Disclosure Agreement) is a legally binding agreement between two parties, where one party is the inventor or a delegate of the inventor, while the other party is a person or entity (such as a business) to whom the confidential information is imparted. Clearly, this form of agreement has only limited use, as it is not suitable for advertising or publicizing the invention, nor is it designed for that purpose. One other point to realize is that the Confidentiality Agreement has no standard form or content, it is often drafted by the parties in question or acquired from other resources, such as the Internet. In a case of a dispute, the courts will honor such an agreement in most countries, provided they find that the wording and content of the agreement is legally acceptable.

5. When is an invention fit for patenting ?

There are two main aspects to this: first, your invention should have the necessary attributes for it to be patentable (e.g.: novelty, inventive step, potential usefulness, etc.), secondly, there should be a definite need for the idea and a probable market for taking up the invention.

6. About patents.

Patents are documents which publicly and fully disclose an invention and, if properly designed, will provide the inventor legal protection against unauthorized use (note: a Confidentiality Agreement is a personal disclosure, while a patent is public disclosure). Patents can be bought and sold, so that the owner of a patent may not be the inventor. Also, it is possible to retain the patent while selling the right to use it. This is the meaning of the phrase : ‘manufactured under license’.

The following are the main patent types:

• Provisional Patent Application

• Final (Utility) Patents

• Design Patents

• Plant Patents

• International Application *

* The so-called International Applications (or PCT applications) are applications for Utility Patents simultaneously in several countries. There are certain savings compared to making separate applications in taking out individual patents for the countries in question, but the result is the same, the applicant ends up with individual patents for each of the countries in question and has to pay the individual patenting and renewal fees. There is no such thing as an International Patent
A few of the above patent types will be briefly discussed:

7. What is a Provisional Patent?

It is a simplified version of a final (or Utility) patent and offers you complete international priority protection for 1 year. After that, you must proceed to the final patent, or you will lose the protection gained from the Provisional. The Provisional Specification is the cheapest form of total legal protection around the world and was designed with starting-out inventors in mind. An important aspect of a provisional patent is, that on lodging it with a patent office it will stay ‘dormant’ and will not be examined until there is a legal challenge, e.g.: someone patents a similar invention and there is doubt which of the two were first. Here is an important point: on examining the two patent documents, it sometimes happens that the earliest applicant loses out due to the poor way his Provisional is written. While it is perfectly legal to write and lodge your own patents in order to save on the cost of preparing it (you would still have to pay a lodgment fee), it is generally a very foolish thing to do, as you will not be sure whether your invention is protected or not. This goes for both Provisional and Final patents. While it is not essential to lodge a provisional specification, as you are entitled to go for the final patent straight away, this is not usually recommended.

The advantages of this type of patent procedure are as follows:

(i) a provisional specification allows you to modify it within the one-year period, without affecting its validity. This is very convenient as it allows one to protect the invention while it is still developing. This is not possible with the final patent.

(ii) the Provisional Patent Application provides priority protection Internationally for one year, this aspect is superior to other types of patenting which only apply for a specific country.

(iii) the provisional patent application allows for a ‘breathing space’ – a full year to look around for a potential backer, someone who may even be prepared to pay for the final patenting.

(iv) There are considerable savings, as the Provisional Patent Application costs 10 to 12 times less than other forms of patenting.

When contemplating this form of patenting, it is advisable to turn to agencies experienced in this type of procedure (for instance http://www.newinvent.com)

8. About the Final Patent (‘Utility Patent’)

This is the final unchangeable form of your invention. Most usually, it will have a formal structure involving such things as background literature, disclosure of invention, claims, embodiments, practical examples for use, detailed figures and drawings, etc. It will protect your invention for 20 years from the date of filing and you will get a formal Patent Document once it has been fully examined and accepted. Usually, it takes from 12 to 18 months to obtain a final patent after application. It is approximately 10 to 12 times as expensive to prepare as a provisional patent and has to be taken out for each country separately, which makes it a very expensive process, as lodgment fees must be paid in each case. It becomes especially expensive if protection is sought. In more then one country. Therefore, a final patent should only be taken out where it is highly warranted, e.g.: when someone wants to develop your invention and would like to buy the patent rights.

9. Following the Patent Procedure

After a patent protection was obtained, whether in the form of a Utility Patent or a Provisional Patent Application, it is advisable to advertise it as widely as possible in order to make it stand out from the large body of currently valid patented inventions (some 50 million at present). The web site “Patent Showcase” as well as other agencies specialize in this and will be able to advise once this matter comes up.

Author: Dr. Stephen G. Szirmai

ivnet@yahoo.com

I have a scientific background having obtained my Ph.D. in Physics in Sydney, also actively engaged in research over decades. I am the author of some 14 ongoing international patents and have acquired an expertise in patent matters by working in conjunction with legal firms on my own and fellow scientists’ patent specifications. I am the principal of Inventors’ Net and have carried out patent searches as well as Provisional Patent Applications and related services through my web site http://www.newinvent.com for the past 7 years.

Inventors’ Net is my Business Name, currently registered with the Department of Fair Trading, Australia, No.: T9526516. I am also a registered business agent with the Australian Patent Office IPA (Intellectual Properties Australia). The number is: CCN7210002897.

Source: CheapHealthArticles.com

Google Adsense Profits Mixed In With Affiliate Marketing

admin — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 01:14:39 +0000

The Google Adsense Profits Mixed In With Affiliate Marketing And Internet

Our a webmaster who needs funds to keep your website running? Or is your website the only way for you to earn income? Whichever you are, for as long as you are a webmaster or a web publisher and you need cash, affiliate marketing may work well for you. With affiliate marketing, you may get a lot of cash pouring into your bank account easily. And if your website is rich in great contents and you want to earn more profit, why not get into the Google Adsense program as well?

Why Affiliate Marketing?

Well, simply because affiliate marketing is the easiest and probably the best way to earn profits online, unless otherwise you are a businessman and would rather sell your own products online than advertise other businessmanâ€™s products on your site. But even online retailers can benefit from affiliate marketing programs, because affiliate marketing actually works for merchants as well as it works for the affiliates.

Affiliate marketing, simply said, is a relationship or agreement made between two websites, with one site being the merchantâ€™s website and the other being the affiliateâ€™s site. In the relationship, the affiliate agrees to let the merchant advertise his products on the affiliateâ€™s site. The merchant, on the other hand, would agree to pay the affiliate in whatever method they have agreed into. This would generally mean easy income for the affiliate, as he would do nothing but place the retailerâ€™s ad on his site. This would also be very beneficial for the merchant, as getting affiliates to advertise their products would be a lot more affordable than hiring an advertising firm to promote their products.

There are a variety of methods on how the merchant would compensate the affiliate for his services, and for the webmaster, these methods simply translates to the method by which he would earn easy cash. Among the more common methods of compensation are the pay-per-click method, the pay-per-lead method, and the pay-per-sale method. The pay-per-click method is the method most preferred by affiliates, for their siteâ€™s visitor would only have to visit the advertiserâ€™s site for them to gain money. The other two methods, on the other hand, are better preferred by merchants, as they would only have to compensate you if your visitor becomes one of their registrants or if the visitor would actually buy their products.

Getting much profit on affiliate marketing programs, however, does not depend so much on the compensation method is it does on the traffic generated by your site. A website that can attract more visitors would generally have the greater chance of profiting in affiliate marketing programs.

What about Google Adsense?

Google Adsense is actually some sort of an affiliate marketing program. In Google Adsense, Google act as the intermediary between the affiliates and the merchants. The merchant, or the advertiser, would simply sign up with Google and provide the latter with text ads pertaining to their products. These ads, which is actually a link to the advertiserâ€™s website, would then appear on Google searches as well as on the websites owned by the affiliates, or by those webmasters who have signed up with the Google Adsense program.

While one can find a lot of similarities between Google Adsense and other affiliate marketing programs, you can also see a lot of differences. In Google Adsense, all the webmaster has to do is place a code on his website and Google takes care of the rest. The ads that Google would place on your site would generally be relevant to the content of your site. This would be advantageous both for you and for the advertiser, as the visitors of your site would more or less be actually interested with the products being advertised.

The Google Adsense program compensates the affiliate in a pay-per-click basis. The advertisers would pay Google a certain amount each time their ad on your site is clicked and Google would then forward this amount to you through checks, although only after Google have deducted their share of the amount. Google Adsense checks are usually delivered monthly. Also, the Google Adsense program provides webmasters with a tracking tool that allows you to monitor the earnings you actually get from a certain ad.

So, where do all of these lead us to?

Where else but to profits, profits and even more profits! Affiliate marketing programs and the Google Adsense program simply work, whether you are the merchant or the affiliate. For the merchantâ€™s side, a lot of money can be saved if advertising effort is concentrated on affiliate marketing rather than on dealing with advertising firms. For the webmaster, you can easily gain a lot of profits just by doing what you do best, and that is by creating websites. And if you combine all your profits from both the Google Adsense program and other affiliate marketing programs, it would surely convert to a large amount of cash.

By: Robrt Thomson

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

For more useful tips & hints, please browse for more information at our website:- www.greateducationonline.com

Affiliate Programs – Internet Business Success

admin — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 01:05:20 +0000

How to Design a Good Affiliate Marketing Website

Not all websites are created equal. This is really true when it comes to affiliate marketing because many people in this industry do not care about having a website. They are doing it because people like me have told them they need one.

It is true however that if you want the best chance to succeed as an affiliate marketer you need to have a website of your own. O.K enough on that. Now let’s talk about how to design your affiliate marketing website to get the results you want.

Your affiliate marketing website has 2 goals.

1. Capture contact information from your visitor.

2. Get the click through to your affiliate sales page.

That is basically all you need. You want to get the names and email addresses for future follow up because most of your visitors will not buy on the first visit. They need to be exposed as many as 10-15 times.

So you need a sign up form or box where they can type their name and email address. To increase your chances to get that you need to offer them something so enticing that they can not resist. Think about what would appeal to you and then offer to give it to them.Next let’s talk about how to get the click through to your affiliate sales page. Even better is get them to click through in a buying frame of mind.

You do this by braggin about the product you are selling. you just talk about what you like about best about the product you are selling which makes it easy to do.

Do you know the best way to do that? Buy the product and write from a firsthand experience. When you do this you will be way ahead of 95% of your competitors because they will not be their own best customer.

Getting this on a web page does not have to be fancy. It should be professional and you should check you grammar and spelling to make sure that is correct too!

If you are not sure how to build a web page consider setting up a free blog with Blogger.com and let their software build the pages for you. Then all you have to do is type in your pre-selling comments and then list your affiliate i.d for them to click on. It does not get any easier than that.

Author: William Hutchinson Source: Articlesbase.com

Make Money with Google Adsense

admin — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 00:55:35 +0000

How to Make Money With AdSense Made Easy

Adsense is a program that is professionally run by Google and fills a gap identified by the company several years ago that of ethical and effective internet advertising. Advertisers pay a predetermined amount to Google for every time their ad gets clicked. Now Google gives you opportunity to display these advertise on your site and earn share of revenue from it.To make a long story short, there are people who want to advertise on Google, they pay money for that and then there are people who want to make money from those adverts by displaying them on a website or a blog. AdSense is all about content. It’s not about search results.

Adsense is hot, no doubt about it. So hot in fact that many people are jumping on the bandwagon with the hopes of getting rich without any clue to what they are getting into. Adsense has great ads from carbon offset providers that are very pertinent to my readers. Adsense has floundered for so many people, but some people are bringing in 3 figures per day with adsense. What are the differences between adsense earners making 4 figures a month from adsense and people whose adsense revenue is pennies per day?

Google has an extensive FAQ about this program. Google gives the chance for other webmasters to publish google adwords ads through their websites and/or blogs, sharing the revenue with them. You subscribe to the adsense program, get your unique code to add it in your web pages and some ads related to the content will be generated automatically.

AdSense is a great platform for making money online. The beauty of it is that whenever someone clicks on one of the adsense ads on your affiliate marketing site, you get paid. Google’s advertising program is free to sign up and you can usually be online within an hour or so (assuming your application is approved quickly). Then adding adsense to your blog is easy especially with bloggers new adsense widget ,it’s quite simple with wordpress as well but I’m going to assume wordpress users already know how to do this since it’s just cut and pasting html. Google adsense is really a gold mine and people are creating niche websites just to display the ads and make easy money everyday – automatically.

Google will only allow quality site with quality content into its adsense program.If you have a website that has good regular updated content, lots of pages and good traffic then you probably won’t have any problems getting approved. You won’t be told how much you will earn by google as google wants all that stuff kept secret. Like the brain surgeon that drives a volkswagon while he saves up for his early retirement to the French Riviera, best not to remind people someones making gobs of money off of them. Google’s adsense is a superb revenue generating opportunity for small, medium and large web sites. Googles adsense is a really great way to generate money online, and more and more people are starting to realize that.I actually feel like my potential to earn money with adsense is virtually unlimited these days.

Google adsense works on the principle of passive income. In other words, you will generate income with a minimal amount of active participation on your part. Google adsense team has recently launched a new advertising programme for publisher, it is adsense video unit. There is a code that you can embed into the YouTube video such that the ad will be displayed on the top. Google ads are those little “clickable” links that you see on many websites above, below and beside the articles. For example, if you look towards the top of this page, you’ll see a horizontal line of text links.

The adsense program allows entrepreneurs to benefit both from the active income from sale of products and from the passive income obtained through pay per click rates on adsense ads. You will make money with adsense if you follow the rules set out by google. Google advertising tools shows how to build a site that is optimized for adsense revenue, generates high traffic from the site’s targeted audience, and achieves top search engine placement.Google–and reputable users of Adsense–recognize that maintaining the quality of the program helps advertising and helps with the acceptance of internet advertising as a legitimate and professional medium for marketing. You may be forgiven one trespass, but Google is also under no obligation to allow you to blatantly ignore the policies and procedures.Adsense strategies, and the right adsense strategies, are what work for success with adsense you need strategies.

Content is what’s going to keep visitors on your site, looking for the information they need. The longer they stay, the more chance they’ll click an ad.If you haven’t had a chance to learn about AdSense, now’s a great time to get started.As thousands of savvy webmasters and bloggers are making money with Google adsense. With google sending them a check every month like clockwork.

Author: Douglas Stuart Article Source: Articlesbase.com

Food Preparedness For Disasters Resulting in Food Shortages Or Food Rationing

admin — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 18:41:35 +0000

Will a Food Shortage Be In America’s Future?

by jennstromsteen

Is it possible for a rich nation such as America to face a possible food shortage in the future?

The answer to this is yes.

The NY Sun recently ran a story about the surfacing of some food shortages in some areas of the US. It appears that this may be a precursor of what is to come. How can this happen? The answer is in the fact that there are several things that contribute to shortages in whole.

For the most part there has always been enough food for everyone on the planet; this is beginning to change however. The world as a whole is finding itself coming close to maximum capacity and our commodities are becoming more difficult to obtain. Oil is one of the largest commodities we are having difficulty coming by easily. It isn’t that we are out of oil, but that the world has tapped out most of the easily accessible oil fields. We have much more oil it is just more expensive than its worth to extract it which puts it out of reach to us.

We are experiencing the same situation with the world’s mines. There is not a shortage of ore but we just can’t affordably get at it. Essentially this means that there is only a limited supply available at affordable prices. The higher the cost of supplies the fewer people that can afford it; this will of course increase the supplies at unaffordable prices.

Food is not left out of this variable. Again, there is just so much food available in the world; much of it is exported and imported to the highest bidder. At one time the US had a very strong currency and would easily be the top bidder in any market; however, in recent years this has changed. The value of the US dollar has been declining steadily over the last few years. The US is now being outbid by other countries when trying to obtain commodities. China is leading the world in outbidding the US for needed commodities.The decline of the US dollar will continue as the US continues to print money which results in the value plummeting. With the value of currency declining, the US may find itself with a lessened ability to be the top bidder and may be unable to obtain its resources.

The above scenario regarding area food shortage is the predecessor of a number of very shocking changes America is heading for. As a country we have overspent and under managed our budget for decades and we are going to be faced with a grim reality.

Prepare yourself; it’s going to be painful.

About the Author

J Stromsteen has many years experience in the finance, real estate, and insurance industry. Besides her own website, Cheap Auto Insurance, she contributes to the website Bush’s Depression as well as first time home buyer to provide up to date information on the unfolding real estate and financial crisis.

Article Source: Populate.NET Article Directory

Getting Off the Grid

admin — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 18:37:26 +0000

The Benefits of Off Grid Living

by andrew1056

Off grid living is the new craze that is sweeping through America? This environmentally friendly and cost effective way of self sufficiently producing electricity abolishes the constraints of being tied to utility “grid” demands.

This revolutionary way of life is in no way reflective of the previously common “hippie lifestyle” envisioned by urbanized Americans. Images of relying on ecologically friendly veggie patches and a free water system from the nearby stream are a pre historic myth of the past. Americans are now aware that the principles of off grid living may be applied to any house throughout the country, including those presently ‘on’ the grid. New Yorkers, Californians, Texans, are all looking into these ‘free’ methods of energy production, from solar panels to personal wind generators the curiosity surrounding off grid living is constantly heightening. So why it is only now American citizens are ready to break this ‘ball and chain’ relationship with government and corporate establishments?

Today society now has a higher access to information on off grid living. Information portals such as the ‘world wide web’, seminars, and media advertising are all assisting in shedding true light on this innovative form of existence. People are now aware that by converting to off grid living they do not have to sacrifice the small luxuries in life they have previously spent so long working for. They can research what methods would suit their locality and circumstances through others personal experiences. The world of off grid living is no longer a big black pit.

The previous costs incurred by moving to off grid living have greatly reduced over the past few years. The prior extortionate costs involved with such a lifestyle have been reduced by factors such as an increase in competitive service provider’s e.g. solar panel specialists. As people now have access to a wider scale of information from both at home and overseas they are able to research the more cost effective and review DIY methods available. While the energy demand continues to increase against capacity, those living off grid can sleep easy knowing their energy costs are decreasing and eventually diminishing.Presently regardless of geographic location we are all starting to feel the consequences of our careless living. As we have casually ravaged through our non renewable resources we are now left with the question, how much longer can they last? Celebrities, heads of state and local communities are now taking note and joining together in the fight against global warming. Those living off grid often choose to do so with the environmental benefits in mind. By converting your house to a more ecologically friendly way of functioning you will greatly decrease your carbon footprint, which is essential for slowing down and hopefully stopping global warming.

Those living off grid may enjoy the relief of never having to receive those dreaded bills through the letterbox. They enjoy the satisfaction of never again having to succumb to an increase in electricity costs reflecting the rate of inflation (something your paycheck rarely seems to do). Their fulfillment of being able to watch their favorite T.V program while neighbors sit harboring candles through a local blackout becomes invaluable. As well as environmental and financial reasons, the added bonus of having independence through self sufficiency make off grid living extremely attractive to everyone.

It is fairly simple to see why off grid living is increasing in popularity throughout the country. Although the start-up cost of such a lifestyle may initially be relatively high it is safe to say that the value of saving our planet is priceless.

About the Author

Andrew Oke is very interested in renewable energy.He has 16 years experience living off the grid, and has completely built his own renewable energy system. Visit his website at Living Off The Grid

Article Source: Populate.NET Article Directory

High Gas Prices Are Here To Stay

admin — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 18:33:25 +0000

What Determines The Gasoline Price?

by External Articles

As we fill up with gasoline every day, a lot of us sit back and wonder how exactly is the gasoline price determined? What plays the part of making the gas prices so low or so high? In this article, we are going to explain a few factors that play a part in determining the gas prices. Hopefully after you read these points, you’ll better understand the gas industry and how gas prices are determined.

Amount of oil produced

Oil comes from all points of the world and as you may know by now, a majority of the United States’ oil comes from the Middle East. If the oil supply starts to dwindle, this will cause less of a supply causing the price to rise. If the supply is too high, obviously the price will lower so that it’ll sell. This will bring us into the supply and demand part of gas.

Supply and demand

Like anything you buy or see in the stores, it all comes down to supply and demand. If there’s a lot of demand for a product, the price will be higher because the businesses know it will sell. If the demand for the product is lower, the businesses will have to cut costs in order to compete and let the products fly off the shelves. Supply and demand is also a big part of the gas industry.

Wars

Believe it or not, wars have always made an impact on gas prices. If you look at the gas price history, you will notice that higher gas prices were always around during wars. Some experts say that wars have nothing to do with gas prices and others say that wars conflict with gas prices. We will let statistics speak for themselves and say wars creating an impact on prices. Local taxes, etc

Gas prices aren’t the same price around the United States. Each state varies when it comes to gas prices. This is because of the local taxes and locations. You may that even in your area that some gas prices are higher in other areas. The reason that gas prices vary so much throughout the states is because of local and state taxes. A lower income area is going to have cheaper gas prices because of taxes compared to a higher income taxed area.

There are other factors that determine gas prices such as the stock and petroleum market. When fear is involved, it can affect the gas prices greatly. Besides these factors, there are many others that can influence prices such as damage done to oil barracks, refineries, etc. Gas prices will be no different than an item in a grocery store like I mentioned above, it basically comes down to the supply and demand of gasoline. When the demand is high, which it always is when it comes to gas, the price is going to be higher. If you don’t want to pay the higher gas prices, there are many alternatives on how you can save on gasoline.

About the Author

Save money on gas with a gas credit card and find more of Tom’s work at FINDgascards.

Article Source: Populate.NET Article Directory