SOS: Thoughts on Italy’s Costa Concordia’s Capsizing

The tragedy in Italy this weekend has definitely shaken many individuals who will be traveling on cruise ships, no doubt. While we are awaiting the causative details of this tragedy, we already know that Captain Francesco Schettino had deviated from the ship’s charted course. Five fatalities are the current count as of this writing, with many more injured amongst the 4,000 passengers and crew. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of those whose hearts are grief-stricken from this event.

I, for one, have been curious since the unfolding of this accident, as to how one might be prepared for having to abandon ship? What should I consider in such an event and what kinds of unique supplies would enhance my EDC on a cruise? Here are the main points of what I have found, but please continue your studies to fit other potential situations:

1. Be sure to have the appropriate PFD (Personal Flotation Device) secured & worn properly.
2. Be sure to have an EPIRB (Emergency Positioning Indicator Radio Beacon) with you whenever you’re out on open waters, and activate it immediately when abandoning ship is imminent.
3. Grab the “ditch-bag” if possible, as well as any other flotsam (potentially useful objects) before evacuating, if possible…i.e. fresh water/filter/purifier
4. Secure a safe distance from the sinking vessel within a life-raft/dinghy.
5. Assist other victims as possible.
6. Maintain calm & gather available resources. This includes provisions & means of shelter to reduce exposure to the elements.
7. If with others, establish clear communication & priorities.
8. Assess & continually reassess provisions, situation, & opportunities.
9. Don’t lose hope, maintain morale.

• Abandoning Ship Procedural Recommendations
• Advice for your “Abandon Ship Bag”
• Distress Signals
• How to Abandon Ship
• What to do if your ship capsizes?

navcen.uscg.gov

-TBG

Featured SnoMan Article: 1-Day Emergency Plan

The following article is featured from our friend SnoMan @ SurvivalNewsOnline.com. Enjoy!

You can be ready for emergencies in just one day

I know tons of people who haven’t prepped because they have big plans and just can’t seem to get started. If you’re one of those people, this plan is for you. Follow these 10 easy steps to get ready for an ice storm, a blackout, or an economic meltdown. Just a few hours’ work can make the difference between life and death.

This is not by any means a complete survival plan — it’s just a list of items that will get you more prepared than you would be if you do nothing. This plan is designed to get you prepped today, because you never know what might happen, or when. So it’s quick, easy, and cheap.

Most of these items can be found at Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club, or Costco. Feel free to make adjustments as necessary, depending on your circumstances. Like, if you have a year-round spring, stocking water jugs might not be your top priority, and if you have a large family, maybe increase the quantities. (Incidentally, these items are not necessarily in order of importance).

1. Buy 3 to 5 six-gallon water jugs and fill them as soon as you get home. You can find these in the sporting goods section.
2. Get 20 lbs each of beans and rice. You can get detailed about your food stock later (how to build up a one year food supply). Right now, we’re just getting you some basic food so you don’t starve.
3. Canned fruits and vegetables. Just get 20 cans of each, and make sure you’re buying stuff you’ll be happy to eat.
4. Canned meat and fish. Get 20 cans of Spam, tuna, salmon, jack mackerel, beef stew, or any combination of these.
5. Chocolate and peanut butter. They store well, they provide tons of calories, and they’re great for morale. Get about 5 lbs of peanut butter and a couple or 3 lbs of chocolate.
6. Multivitamin supplement. You should have several hundred doses — say, a year’s supply.
7. Ammo. Make sure you have a few hundred rounds for your primary defensive weapon (I don’t know… 200 to 500, maybe?), and 50 to 100 rounds for your primary hunting weapon.
8. Flashlight and batteries. LED flashlights use less power, so they last longer. Also, candles and lighters.
9. Firewood. Just get a pickup load and have it on hand. You can cut more later, but you need some right now. If you don’t have a fireplace or wood stove, get a kerosene or propane space heater — and fuel, of course.
10. Battery-powered radio. When you get home, tape a new pack of batteries to the radio, then stow the lot with your emergency supplies.

Print this off, go to the store, and be ready for 2012.

~SnoMan

Feeling a Flu Coming?…Check out what I do

I am a generally healthy guy. I hardly ever get sick, but when I do feel a bug trying to set-in, here’s what works for me.

I have a couple of orange trees which produce good size fruit. In my experience, eating freshly picked fruit is much more preferable than eating fruit that has been picked and transported from a non-local source.

One of the keys to my taking this remedy has to do with:

1. I use this remedy immediately when I feel flu-like symptoms such as a slight body-ache, sudden fatigue, slight temperature, or just plain lousy (everyone should be familiar with how his/her body reacts when the a flu begins to set-in).
2. I have found it exponentially beneficial to eat the peels along with the oranges, in addition to the oranges used to make the tea.
3. Generous rest must be part of your preventing severe flu onset!!! If you think you’re getting sick, go to bed early, take it easy, and relax!
4. I use raw honey along with the tea that I make. It’s awesome.

Here are the simple steps to how I prep my tea.

Materials needed:

• 3 quart sauce-pan
• stove-top (or cooking surface to heat the sauce-pan if off grid)
• ladle
• mug
• ~2.5 quarts of drinking water (I use water from my Berkey)
• 6-8 freshly-cut & healthy oranges (slightly bigger than a baseball)
• Raw honey

1. Select the biggest oranges with the healthiest looking peels. Great oranges are fragrant and have a wonderful weight. The orange should be firm, with a slight “squeezability” to it.
2. I do not tear the orange from it’s stem at the tree. I cut a portion of the stem on which it hangs along with a few leaves (about 4-5 inches of the stem). Once you have gathered a healthy amount of oranges, you will need to wash them previous to eating them and using them for the tea.
3. Do a good job cleaning the oranges. My orange trees are not sprayed with any pesticides, although some areas and individuals do spray their trees with chemicals. Thankfully, I don’t have to worry about that. A great cleaner that I use with other fruit that might have chemicals on them is Environné. Also be sure to wash the leaves (you can leave the stem attached if you like-no pun intended).
4. I fill ~2.5 quarts of water into a 3 quart pan with water from my Berkey and bring it to a boil.
5. While the water is heating up, I peel 4-5 oranges and retain the peels. We’ll place them to boil along with the leaves. A good rule-of-thumb is to use enough orange peels to cover the surface of the water in the pan.
6. I then eat the peeled oranges. With another 2 un-peeled oranges, I will eat them whole, peel and all after I wash them.
7. Once the water is boiling, I will place the cleaned leaves and peels in the pan and keep the heat on medium to low. You will know that the peels are done when their color has reduced noticeably and the water has a strong orange-tint to it.
8. I then pour 2-3 tablespoons of raw honey into a mug and use a measuring cup to transfer the hot water from the pan into the mug. I then stir the mug contents to get a nice mix of the honey and the orange-tea. I let it cool down so it’s comfortably warm- my wife likes drinking it when it is scalding hot.
9. I then will drink two to three mugs of the tea…then it’s off to get some rest!

This remedy has done wonders to help me and my family and friends!

-The Berkey Guy

Bullets and Beans: Consideration of Priority & Being Practical

Facts & motives are powerful catalysts to action and must be weighted in moderation.

Over the years, customers call in and ask some interesting questions. An infrequent question recently surfaced when I had a conversation with an individual who decided to pick my brain about almost all-things-preparation. To paraphrase her question, she asked, “I have a 72 hour kit and because I live in [in a densely populated U.S. metropolis] I think I really need a gun…what do you recommend?” Here are some of our thoughts with respect to setting priority in steps toward greater self-reliance. My recommendations can be summed up in one word: Practicality.

It is too easy to get side-tracked in our preps when there are so many areas that seem appealing and meritorious of highest priority status. Newbies and old-timers alike can easily find themselves concentrating in many areas of detail such as:

• Should I raise a Barnevelder or Brahma variety of chickens?
• Should I start off with a handgun, rifle, or shotgun?
• What are the criteria I should employ in choosing a brand of colloidal silver?

To avoid this analysis-paralysis one must remain focused and concentrate on building the basics. There is the idea of utilitarianism which essentially declares: do the greatest amount of good for the greatest amount of people. In the particular case of the individual I spoke with, what was most practical for her and that which would accomplish the greatest good was working on her food and water storages. She, like many, was lacking in her practical preps. In her mind, she was most concerned about the first 72 hours post-incident. She anticipated that those 72 hours might require the use of a firearm for protection from looters and vandals. Indeed, I don’t discredit the manifest potential of her scenario, but ultimately, bullets aren’t beans. In other words, hydration, energy, & nutrition are life-sustaining priorities that will provide the stability and foundation, upon which she can progress to personal/group safety considerations.

I know an individual who is intent upon improving his marksmanship in close-quarter combat as well as “reaching out to touch someone.” No problem. Range time is fun. However,he has no medical preparations, horrible social skills, and lives in a crowded apartment building. For him, one practical need is to become more sociable and learn to interact with others, so he can create & strengthen his support network. The support network is the second-point of emphasis that I shared with my friend during our conversation. It is completely do-able and necessary for individuals to strengthen ties & relationships with trusted & like-minded individuals whose interests are shared. While you are building your supplies and hardware inventories and learning self-reliant skills, specialization in interpersonal communication and conflict resolution/negotiations is an ability that is priceless. It can be learned and improved upon no matter your degree of experience and comfort level. Individuals who develop these skills are able to understand human behavior much better and are in a powerful position to act appropriately with/without weapons training & availability.

Beans represent food.

In the interest of time & to keep this post short, I offer this summary. Bullets (security measures) prove valuable in hunting, defense, and offense. Beans (food) sustain life and are the fuel to simple survival and being able to weather the storm during a sustained power outage. Get your beans & then your bullets, or get them both together.

-The Berkey Guy

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Preparedness Mindset Books: Making the Best of Basics: Family Preparedness Handbook

A Preparedness Lifestyle Resource!

Never mind all the scare scenarios. Just close your eyes for a moment and imagine what would happen if you became ill and couldn’t work, or if an earthquake or hurricane or bomb left your community devastated. It happens all the time. When unexpected disasters happen, people who are even a little prepared are much better off than those who have taken their dependence on outside resources for granted. When you imagine the security of not having to worry about going to the store for even a few weeks, a comprehensive storage system begins to make sense.

James Talmage Stevens’s Making the Best of Basics, now in its 12th edition, is one of the best-known preparedness bibles around. Stevens lays out a yearlong storage program of 15 food and nonfood categories, six of which (water, wheat and grains, dairy products, sweeteners, “cooking catalysts” like salt and oil, and sprouting seeds) are capable of sustaining life indefinitely in a no-frills diet. The other 9 categories are designated “Building Blocks,” and improve upon the basic diet and support a more routine, less Spartan existence while relying on stored supplies. (Some of them, such as medical supplies and fuel, will seem as essential to some readers as the first six.) The book’s main messages–store what you eat, eat what you store, use it or lose it–are at the core of its calm advice and simple, nutritious recipes.

Wise Food Storage: Your Personal In-Home Preparedness Store

Wise Food Storage provides a wide variety of options for families and individuals that are interested in stocking up on long term foods in case of emergency. We provide an assortment of great tasting gourmet food storage entrees that your family will love to eat! These ready-made freeze dry and dehydreated meals are prepared in minutes by just adding water! We are confident that once you try one of our delicious breakfasts and or entrees you’ll be a believer.