Posted on 02/09/2009 12:36:11 AM PST by nw_arizona_granny
Yahoo ran an interesting article this morning indicating a rise in the number of survivalist communities cropping up around the country. I have been wondering myself how much of the recent energy crisis is causing people to do things like stockpile food and water, grow their own vegetables, etc. Could it be that there are many people out there stockpiling and their increased buying has caused food prices to increase? Its an interesting theory, but I believe increased food prices have more to do with rising fuel prices as cost-to-market costs have increased and grocers are simply passing those increases along to the consumer. A recent stroll through the camping section of Wal-Mart did give me pause - what kinds of things are prudent to have on hand in the event of a worldwide shortage of food and/or fuel? Survivalist in Training
Ive been interested in survival stories since I was a kid, which is funny considering I grew up in a city. Maybe thats why the idea of living off the land appealed to me. My grandfather and I frequently took camping trips along the Blue Ridge Parkway and around the Smoky Mountains. Looking back, some of the best times we had were when we stayed at campgrounds without electricity hookups, because it forced us to use what we had to get by. My grandfather was well-prepared with a camp stove and lanterns (which ran off propane), and when the sun went to bed we usually did along with it. We played cards for entertainment, and in the absence of televisions, games, etc. we shared many great conversations. Survivalist in the Neighborhood
>>>Lloyd lived in an apartment in north Ft. Worth,<<<
Can’t compete with the Stockyards steakhouses, or the ambiance of BillyBob’s ... LOL around here the Texas Roadhouse and Lone Star’s are big for steaks (and Lone Star does not have Lone Star Beer...I gave them a really hard time over that - for fun).
I once had a group of business associates down there and they wanted to see what ‘real western’ was - took them to Billy Bob’s - Honky Tonkin They were thoroughly impressed - did get 2 of them on the mechanical bull, then when I took them to the indoor real bull riding ring, they almost freaked - (well, I helped that along - making them think that they were going to HAVE to ride a live bull if they didn’t do the mechanical one, or face some upset locals wielding barbed wire whips outside - OK so I spun a good tale.)
They were totally amazed that it was a whole family affair... Oh, and I didn’t tell them that the cattle drive was staged... Timed it perfectly and let them think that those longhorns driven through town was a normal thing... Danged gullible young fellers that they were... I had lots of fun with them.
Love seafood.
And when Lloyd was in Maine he was a fisherman so he doesn’t get all the seafood he’s used to in Texas. We are more 300 miles from the coast. LOL
Don’t think ya need to look for us though. We are concentrating a lot more on getting the home secured than vacationing.
That's my kind of fun.... lol... sorta evil and fun at the same time.
http://www.resourceshelf.com/2009/03/02/resource-of-the-week-the-financial-crisis-timeline/
[Many hidden links]
The Financial Crisis Timeline
Resource of the Week: The Financial Crisis Timeline
By Shirl Kennedy, Senior Editor
As is painfully obvious by now, the current financial crisis is complex and multifaceted, affecting virtually every sector of the economy. The Financial Crisis Timeline, from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, is a valiant attempt to help us make sense of it all.
Says James Bullock, chairman of the St. Louis Fed:
The Federal Reserve and other agencies have taken many steps to contain the ongoing financial crisis and limit its impact on the broader economy. It is critically important that we clearly communicate our actions to better ensure their success. This web site was created to provide the public with useful information about major financial events and policy actions, both over the past months and going forward.
A quick look at the site is enough to tell you there is much more here than a timeline. Youll find relevant articles and papers; an FAQ that tackles such issues as causes of the current crisis and how it compares to the Great Depression; a large collection of data, including financial data, national and international economic trends, and yields on various treasury securities; links to other government agencies offering relevant information and reports; and a glossary of financial terms.
Other links and resources you can find here:
* The FDIC Failed Banks List
* A Foreclosure Resource Center
* Dynamic Maps of Nonprime Mortgage Conditions in the United States
* SEC Actions During Turmoil in Credit Markets
* International Monetary Fund: The Financial Crisis
* OECD: Tackling the financial and economic crisis
* World Bank: Financial Crisis
Oh, by the way the timeline itself is in the center of the home page. Theres a link to download it in PDF (153 KB). The earliest entry is:
February 27, 2007 | Freddie Mac Press Release
The Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac) announces that it will no longer buy the most risky subprime mortgages and mortgage-related securities.
But since this timeline is continually updated, you may want to opt for the RSS feed.
Americans Online Search Behavior Points to Significant Increase in Personal Financial Turmoil
From the News Release:
Searches for several terms related to the economic downturn showed dramatic gains during the past year. Among the most notable increases were searches relating to the deteriorating job market, including searches using the term unemployment (up 206 percent to 8.2 million searches) and unemployment benefits (up 247 percent to 748,000 searches). Meanwhile, terms relating to personal asset situations, including mortgage (up 72 percent to 7.8 million searches), bankruptcy (up 156 percent to 2.6 million searches), and foreclosure (up 67 percent to 1.4 million searches) also grew strongly. And Americans, resilient as they are, are seeking ways to save money, as evidenced by the increase in the number of searches for coupons (up 161 percent to 19.9 million) and discount (up 26 percent to 7.9 million).
Source: comScore
Don’t those deer look like albinos? Interesting, I’d never seen an albino deer before.
I am a cancer survivor, largely due to an herbal/organic approach. Thank God for the Internet! I hope you share your knowledge with us. The magnesium thing sounds interesting!
Wow, I am now 500 posts behind. What fun to read all this great stuff! Thanks again Granny!!
http://ferfal.blogspot.com/2009/03/thanks-capnrick.html
An update from FerFAL:
Thanks CapnRick...
For putting into words what Ive been feeling lately but couldnt express as well as you did:
Quote “Here in Buenos Aires, a kidnapping is reported every 36 hours.” This is a quotation from the Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A47139-2003Jan26.html
The article says the murder rate in BsAs has almost doubled over a year’s time.
I get tired of hearing folks saying that we are overstating the crime here. Just because they weren’t robbed in the lobby of the Hilton doesn’t mean that there is no crime.
Just think about the majority of crimes, that DONT get reported.
Guys, the situation here is bad, and constantly getting worse. This is a simple fact.
Every once in a while someone tells me I talked with my aunt in Bs As and she says you exaggerate
My dads neighbor best friend neighbor just came from Buenos Aires, and everything is fine
Folks. Its not fine, its not ok, and its a huge MESS.
I dont know how many cops got killed last week. Not a day goes by without some tragic murder being reported on TV, and its better not to think about ALL the things that are being kept in the dark.
And its not gang bangers killing each other, the people being murdered on daily basis are good hard working people.
Local celebrity Susana Gimenez had a breakdown a couple days ago when an associate of hers was brutally murdered in his home. I believe a cop got stabbed as well during the same incident but is still alive.
She asked for harder penalties, Those that murder should be killed she said, and all the media pretty much shrieked in pain as if their panties had been twisted due to the (supposedly) outrageous remark.
Mrs. Susana Gimenez (most prominent local celebrity) explained how people cant stand the crime situation any more and how she moves around EVERYWHERE with her personal security detail (which Im sure is pretty impressive) and always moves around in an armored car. Even the cars wheels are bullet proof she said.
The ran a pool the other day: 98% of the people in Argentina agree with what she says. We need to do something about crime.
With all due respect to everyone aunts, uncles and friends:
I dont expect people to do ½ of what I do myself. Same way you cant expect everyone in USA to be survivalists and stock up water food and learn skill we consider necessary.
But if you live in this country and dont recognize the HUGE security problem we have her you are a f*/&% idiot. Sorry, no better words to describe it.
This kid living in La Plata called BS on me some time ago, later he admitted that he had been robbed twice and robbed once in his home since 2002.
What kind of fool goes through that and fails to recognize theres a big problem.
If you have a tumor you can go to a doctor and receive appropriate treatment, have it removed, do something about it, you have a chance. The sooner you accept the problem and do something about it the better.
But if you let it eat you up and you stick your head in the sand and do NOTHING, sooner or later you are going to regret it.
The government is to blame for the censorship and feel good, everything is fine propaganda and institutional brainwashing.
But when people around you and even yourself are becoming victims of the crime problem and you still go into denial, you are the only one to blame, and you confirmed that you have the government you deserve.
Im sorry about the rant. But today a personal trainer was executed in front of his family even after peacefully surrendering his truck to the carjackers. They shot him in the head just because they felt like it. After they shot him they run over him with the tuck as they left, just for fun.
Hes leaving a 2 year old baby fatherless.
These things go on all day, but people dont react.
http://www.lanacion.com.ar/nota.asp?nota_id=1105297&pid=5948931&toi=6269
FerFAL
Posted by FerFAL at 9:09 AM 4 comments
Labels: crime, Security
His later posts on his blog discuss how to create a more secure home (think fortress). You might want to check out his recommendations:
http://ferfal.blogspot.com/2009/03/home-security-architecture.html
http://ferfal.blogspot.com/2009/03/home-security-plans.html
Update: More Than 112,000 Newspaper Pages Added to Chronicling America
From the Announcement:
On Feb. 26, the National Digital Newspaper Program added more than 112,000 additional historic newspaper pages to the Chronicling America Web site, hosted by the Library of Congress. The site now provides free and open access to 977,440 pages from 112 titles, that were published between 1880 and 1910 in 9 states (CA, FL, KY, MN, NE, NY, TX, UT, VA) and the District of Columbia. Six additional statesArizona, Hawaii, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Washingtonwill be contributing content later in 2009. Chronicling America is a project of the National Digital Newspaper Program, a partnership between the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress.
Direct to Chronicling America Database and Web Site
Source: Library of Congress
http://www.loc.gov/chroniclingamerica/
snipped.
Welcome to Chronicling America, enhancing access to America’s historic newspapers. This site allows you to search and view newspaper pages from 1880-1910 and find information about American newspapers published between 1690-present. Chronicling America is sponsored jointly by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress as part of the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP).
Yes, that’s what I thought they were. Poor babies would stand out in the woods and not have a chance!
http://www.rand.org/news/press/2009/03/03/index.html
Snipped.
Because of its image as a victimless crime and the fact that those who buy are complicit in the crime, information about counterfeiting is sparse and information about the involvement of organized crime sparser still, Treverton said. Because most instances of counterfeiting go unaddressed, there is reason to believe that the more formal data, like arrests and convictions, understate the extent of counterfeiting.
The RAND report outlines three cases where film piracy has helped support terrorist groups:
* Historically the best documented case involves the Irish Republican Army that used many criminal activities, including film piracy, to support its efforts to drive the British from Northern Ireland. A political agreement in 1998 ended its violent acts, but at least parts of the IRA continue to operate as a criminal enterprise that remains involved in counterfeiting activities.
* The D-Company is an organized crime group active for generations in India. Since the 1980s, it has been the major syndicate involved with film piracy in India. The group was transformed into a terrorist organization when it carried out the “Black Friday” bombings in Mumbai in 1993 that killed more than 257 people and injured hundreds more. It continues to advance a political agenda with its actions funded at least partly by the proceeds of crime.
* Another case involves the tri-border area of Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay that has emerged as the most important financing center for Islamic terrorism outside of the Middle East, channeling $20 million annually to Hezbollah. At least one transfer of $3.5 million was made to Hezbollah by known DVD pirate Assad Ahmad Barakat, who received a thank-you note from the Hezbollah leader. Barakat was labeled a “specially designated global terrorist” by the U.S. government in 2004.
Researchers say that the losses from film piracy have grown as the expansion of digital technology makes it easier to create high-quality counterfeit copies of movies.
Film piracy can be even more profitable than drug trafficking or other enterprises commonly linked to organized crime. In one example cited in the report, a pirated DVD made in Malaysia for 70 cents was marked up more than 1,000 percent and sold on the street in London for about $9. The profit margin was more than three times higher than the markup for Iranian heroin and higher than the profit for Columbian cocaine, according to the report.
continued.
In reading the economics threads, I see more and more posts from people starting to plan for survival. Also seems more people I know are realizing something is afoot. It’s amazing how many people are thinking the same way. I’m glad they’re looking forward and preparing.
[I am not sure I understand this one, but it does look interesting...granny]
http://web.vivavip.com/forum/LiveWire/read.php?i=16603
Author: Penny Crossland
Date: Friday, 27th Feb 2009 20:42
Views: 353 (excluding Digests and RSS feeds)
Category: Product Comment
URL: http://www.vivavip.com/go/e16603
Internet product blog TechCrunch (http://digbig.com/4yhwg) alerted us today to an interesting facility made available by Wikipedia. A partnership between the Wikimedia Foundation (http://wikimediafoundation.org) and Pediapress (http://www.pediapress.com) a German open source software development company has enabled German-speaking Wikipedia users to create customized books from wiki content since 2007.
Last week, (http://digbig.com/4yhwh ) the wiki-to-print feature was made available in six additional languages: French, Polish, Dutch, Portuguese and simple English (for children and adults learning English). Yesterday, the regular English Wikipedia site added the book printing functionality for logged-on users. (a temporary measure)
Customised books can be put together with table of contents or category lists and are free if downloaded as PDF files, but a charge is made by Pediapress for printing downloaded material in book format. Costs depend on number of pages and where customers are based shipping costs are extra.
The Wikipedia Special Book page, which allows you to create and manage wiki pages, is available at this site: http://digbig.com/4yhwj . The Wikimedia Foundation has hailed the wiki-to print feature as of strategic importance to the cause of free education worldwide, while PediaPress emphasizes the features value in supplying specialized reference books, affordable textbooks and content in unpopular languages.
This is all very laudable, but Wikipedias critics have always pointed to the unreliability of the data. Free education is not worth much, if data is inaccurate. Also, the very nature of Wikipedia, i.e. allowing anybody to edit and update content, makes the printing of wiki pages questionable. Is it cost effective to print a wiki book, if somebody updates the content the next day?
Erik Moeller of the Wikimedia Foundation thinks the wiki-to print feature will affect how people write on Wikipedia, will improve content and encourage new writers to participate. To view a sample wiki book, look at this one on Amphibian aircraft: http://pediapress.com/resources/images/samplebook/samplebook.pdf
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/4943955/Alert-over-kebab-shop-food-poisoning-bugs.html
Alert over kebab-shop food poisoning bugs
One in 20 salads and sauces in kebab shops contained food poisoning bacteria when sampled by the Health Protection Agency it has been announced.
by Rebecca Smith, Medical Editor
Last Updated: 3:27PM GMT 05 Mar 2009
Doner Kebab: One in 20 salads and sauces in kebab shops contained food poisoning bacteria when sampled by the Health Protection Agency it has been announced.
One in 20 salads and sauces in kebab shops contained food poisoning bacteria when sampled by the Health Protection Agency it has been announced. Photo: ANTHONY BLAKE
Spot checks by inspectors found food contained E.coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Salmonella. Unsatisfactory and unacceptable levels were found in five per cent of samples and were unfit for human consumption.
A total of 1213 salad and 1208 sauce samples were collected from 1277 randomly selected kebab shops across England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
continued.
Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez tightens state control of food amid rocketing inflation and food shortages
President Hugo Chavez is tightening state control over Venezuela’s food supply, setting quotas for food staples which are to be sold at government-imposed prices.
Hugo Chavez seizes control of US-owned rice mill
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has seized control of a rice mill owned by the US food giant Cargill as he tightens state control over the food supply and continues his policy of nationalisation.
snipped....
As Venezuelans suffer food shortages, Mr Chavez has threatened to take over companies that do not comply with new price controls and production quotas for basic food staples.
“Prepare the decree, we are going to expropriate Cargill. We are not going to tolerate this,” Mr Chavez during a televised address. “I warn you this revolution means business.”
Cargill is not the only company in the sights of the government. Polar, Venezuela’s largest food company, has also been targeted, but decided to fight the government’s action, taking the case to court.
Production quotas and prices have now been set for cooking oil, white rice, sugar, coffee, flour, margarine, pasta, cheeses and tomato sauce. White rice is the staple for many Venezuelans, and thanks to government pricing must now be sold for 2.15 Bolívares (71p) a kilo.
continued
A stunning Russian Foreign Ministry report is stating today that the President Obama has secretly ordered the immediate opening of Americas vast gulag of concentration camps, built since 2001 and estimated able to hold a further 1 million of their citizens, which is aside from the 2.3 million currently imprisoned in what has become the Worlds largest Prison Nation in all of history, in what they are calling Project ENDGAME.
These reports say that President Obamas administration is being driven by the outright fear over what they say will be an explosion of massive social upheaval this coming summer due to their Nations economic collapse which has nearly totally destroyed their ability to maintain their food stocks as tens of thousands of US farmers have had to resort to the mass slaughter of their bird flocks, swine and cattle herds they are unable to feed due to their not being able to gain access to their much needed Farm Operating Loans they survive on until their crops come in and their flocks and herds are ready for market.
The American farmers being cut off from these operating loans is eerily reminiscent of the 1930s Great Depression which likewise saw the total collapse of the United States being able to feed itself and which Russian historian Boris Borisov has estimated killed over 10 million Americans.<<<<
I think they neglected to say that it was Clinton who changed the job of FEMA and took them from issuing Flood Control Maps, to managing prison camps, on another forum, we covered these same camps, leading up to Y2K.
This is a prime example of what I mean, when I tell folks to go and read at etext.org, under politics, there you will find such as this for the re-release as news.
All they do is change the date, If I wanted to waste my time, I could dig through my many printed pages and find this report, word for word, but with Clinton as the evil one.
It is in the communist manifesto, to make us fear and distrust our leaders.
LOL, that said, do I think it is possible, YES!!!
For as you may have noticed, I just posted a couple of the Venezuela news releases..........what happens there will happen here, it is the communist way.
And I will give you another gem to think about, the other forum was full of ‘so called’ militia folks.
This is re-hash of the 1990’s posts we were getting.
Some of those are active Military bases and of course they can be used for all kinds of things.
We searched out the POW camps in the late 1970’s, there was little left to show they existed and would not be good sites to use, unless it is to be military guards, as they were too far out in the desert.
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