Free Republic

This is an ongoing thread – meaning come back to chat, post information, or ask questions any time. Hopefully the thread won’t stagnate and I’ll do better at posting weekly (or bi-weekly) topics than I have in the past. (anyone willing to post a topic now and then we'll be highly praised and appreciated). We are in for some bumpy rides, and prepping can only help. If for peace of mind, if nothing else. We have a wonderful gardening thread and a current-events survival/prepping thread, and hopefully this one can piggyback off of those, maybe having a longer discussion about...

Polar bears are very large, dangerous adversaries. Surviving for six years after a shipwreck in the Arctic, four Russian hunters killed ten of them with two homemade spears. The story is told in the modern book Four Against the Arctic by David Roberts, published in 2003. Roberts spent two weeks at the location most likely to have been where the Russian sailors/hunters had survived, on Halfmoon Island, across a narrow channel from Edgeøya. In those two weeks, his party of four saw nine polar bears, three of which had to be chased away with flare guns, and two of the...

I am currently posting free excerpts from The ABCs of Survival: Safety Tips for Every Kid, Including Students with Special Needs (ADHD, Autism, Learning Disabilities, and More) (Educational Elephant’s Guide), at https://enjoyablelearning.substack.com.

Four Colombian children were found alive Friday after they were missing for over a month from a deadly jungle plane crash, according to the Colombian newspaper El Tiempo. The children — whose ages range from 11 months to 13 years old — had been passengers on a plane that crashed May 1. The flight departed from the southern town of Araracuara en route to a northern part of Colombia, when it experienced engine failure.

Fallout shelters can cost millions of dollars. But this DIY underground bunker costs about $1,000. You wouldn't want to live in this makeshift underground bunker forever. In a pinch, this DIY fallout shelter would be better than an above-ground building, an expert said.In the event of nuclear war, the ultra-rich can hide away in their luxury bunkers that cost anywhere from $35,000 to $14 million. But what about the rest of us?Turns out, if a nuclear attack is imminent, you can build your own DIY fallout shelter for relatively cheap.You would just need a couple of days' time, some equipment,...

A woman has been found after she went missing for five days in the Victorian, Australia bushland with nothing but “a couple of snacks” and her “common sense”. Lillian, 48, set off on what was meant to be a short day trip on Sunday, traveling through the dense bushland at Bright in Victoria’s High Country. Incredible footage has revealed the moment she was found by emergency services on Friday during a search of the hilly terrain, after her car was spotted at the end of a dirt road in the Mitta Mitta bushland. Lillian had been driving towards Dartmouth Dam...

The terror induced by an alert to “Run, Hide, Fight” is not unique to Michigan State, where a gunman fatally shot three people as students barricaded doors and raced across campus in search of safety. The strategy, which follows best practices developed by the Department of Homeland Security, is familiar to most students in the lockdown generation. When a shooter is nearby, it holds, people should fight only as a last resort and only if confronted by a shooter. But when it’s deployed, the results can be traumatic. After a shooting last fall at the University of Virginia, a campus...

Looking at the American political and cultural scene, let us contemplate what I call the “Quintessential Existential Interrogatories”: (1) Where are we? (2) How did we get here? (3) Where are we going? Many know a slight variant of these questions from Paul Gauguin’s famous painting of the same name: “Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?” (“D'ou Venons Nous / Que Sommes Nous / Où Allons Nous”), but these three questions crop up all over the place.I would add a fourth question that is just as important: (4) Is there an alternative?1. Where Are...

🤢"It's paradoxical that the idea of living a long life appeals to everyone, but the idea of getting old doesn't appeal to anyone." - Andy Rooney. 🤢"The older I get, the better I used to be." – Lee Trevino, Professional Golfer. 🤢"Nice to be here? At my age it's nice to be anywhere." – George Burns. 🤢"The older I get, the more clearly I remember things that never happened. - Mark Twain. 🤢"First you forget names, then you forget faces, then you forget to pull your zipper up, then you forget to pull your zipper down." - Leo Rosenberg. 🤢"Old...

Besides a clear, cool stream, a solitary shelter stood. Blackened by weather and time, the structure was piled high on all sides with rubbish. If not for a window the size of a shoe box, it would have been impossible to imagine that people lived inside. But they did. And the arrival of outsiders had been noticed. The year was 1978. The low-hanging door creaked slowly open, and an aged man emerged into the sharp light. To the visitors, he appeared as a character of a Brothers Grimm fairy tale. Barefoot, he wore a patchwork shirt made of sacking with...

We are all Americans. That said, there have been efforts for years to divide us for perceived political reasons. Those who live in the bigger cities often tend to look down their noses to those who don't. We have become a Blue America and a Red America. I personally believe that the colors are reversed, but maybe that's just me. A good representation of red vs. blue can be seen on the 2020 election map by counties.It has gotten so bad that there are discussions of secession and even civil war, God forbid. It would be difficult to have states...

How did people live and die during the harshest months of the year? How did they stay warm? What did they eat? How did they keep themselves entertained in an age before modern day luxuries like electric blankets, double glazing, and Netflix? The onset of the Little Ice Age, between 1300 until about 1870 meant that the long, dark winters of the Late Middle Ages were colder and more dangerous. With starvation and death from illness always threatening to strike, winter was a frightening time. Welcome to Medieval Madness.Surviving Winter in the Middle Ages... | MedievalMadness | 178K subscribers |...

President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday put a price on how much is needed for Ukraine to survive the winter, pleading some 800 million euros (U.S.$840+ million) is necessary to help his country survive Russia’s bombing of its civilian infrastructure. The call comes as Moscow has switched tactics since October when it began airstrikes targeting Ukraine’s energy network, plunging millions into cold and darkness at the onset of winter. As AFP reports, Zelensky made the request for more cash donations to help the country’s energy sector at an international conference in Paris, hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron, designed to raise...

Pendukh, 33, after serving several months on the front lines - the war has taken a toll on him He considers himself lucky. Friends in his battalion have served with squads that lost more than half their members. "Lots of problems, even psychological problems," he says. "Some people from those formations, they need psychological help after this. Very serious psychological help." He's tired of living out of a tent. He's tired of facing daily artillery fire. He misses his mom and her cooking....He acknowledges crying while eating an apple pie that his mother recently sent him. "The further you are...

In the sunshine state, we met the sofa survivor. In the worst hit part of southwest Florida, David Dean told us how he saw out Hurricane Ian. "I found myself around three or four in the afternoon, floating on a sofa with my head just above the ceiling fans, 18 inches below the ceiling. I was gasping for air." As the water rose inside David's 1970s single-storey park home, he planned for the worst - and an exit route. "From that point, it was going to be to try to get out the door and hold on to a palm...

The latest data from Canada's Manitoba Province shows that those vaccinated for covid are more likely to die of the disease than those not vaccinated. Unvaccinated persons constitute 17% of the population, but only 9% of the deaths from covid. Vaccinated but unboosted people were about 50% more likely to be hospitalized or die of Covid than unvaccinated people. People who had received boosters had roughly the same risk of hospitalization or death as the unvaccinated. Dr. Anthony Fauci said "look, I know a lot of the critics of our push for vaccination will be gloating over the healthier current...

We’re seeing some strange things in modern society and all signs point to the fact that famine is coming. Within the US, drought on the plains is making is so that winter wheat can’t grow while up in North Dakota there’s so much water that farmers’ fields are too waterlogged for anybody to do any planting. I have my suspicions. American farmers that are able to get out into the field are having a hard time finding critical components they need to their machinery. Two children were just hospitalized due to a lack of infant formula within America. When have...

While stocking up on supplies before SHTF, preppers also need to figure out how to stock up enough water for drinking, cooking and other tasks. Read on to learn what to do if you suddenly lose access to clean water. (h/t to RoguePreparedness.com) If you live off-grid, you’re probably used to either having a well or hauling water from the nearest body of water. However, you should also learn how to deal with lack of access to water so you know how much to stock up on. You need water for drinking to prevent dehydration, cooking, hygiene and cleaning. But...

In another note of optimism for our country, Americans with money are officially starting to stockpile second passports as “Plan B” for their families. In fact, Americans who are citizenship or residency in foreign countries “has skyrocketed” over the last 3 years, according to a new report from Insider/Yahoo News. The report says that billionaires and entrepreneurs, along with celebrities, are all looking for a backup plan to the red, white and blue, should the proverbial stuff hit the fan. Among the worries of the rich remain Covid, climate change and political turmoil, the report says. There are more than...

If you’re a prepper living in the city, you need to have an emergency preparedness plan before SHTF so you can bug in or bug out as needed. If you’re not sure where to start, learn about the six principles of survival and prepare a bug-out bag. (h/t to SurvivalCache.com) Wilderness survival skills like fire starting, hunting, building a shelter and water purification techniques are all valuable skills, but you need to adapt if you want to survive in the city when SHTF. When planning for an urban disaster scenario, you should also focus on situational awareness, personal protection, planning...