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Showing posts from August, 2022

What to Eat and How to Cook It (1874)

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  What to Eat and How to Cook It : With rules for preserving, canning and drying fruits and vegetables   by: John Cowan, MD (1874) https://archive.org/details/whattoeathowtoco00cowa/mode/2up TO LIVE a sweet, healthy life implies the use of simple, nutritious food, cooked in a plain, simple manner, and as nearly in its natural relations as possible. A ripe, mellow apple, and a biscuit made of unbolted wheat meal and water only, represents, when eaten and digested, every constituent required in the nourishing and building up of the body. Pure blood, firm tissue, clear brain, perfect health, and enjoyable life, would—could not help —resulting from the use of such plain, simply prepared food. But the great majority of people do ‘not and will not believe this, else there would not be such a demand for the cooking receipts in fashion, and other magazines, and papers, and cook-books. And such receipts—such conglomerate mixtures —grains, fruits, flesh, grease, spices, minerals, mixed in all sh

How to Do an Area Study

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   Why You Need an Area Study... AND HOW TO DO ONE  (Forward Observer) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkRCqK25ti8 KOCOA: Terrain Analysis for Home Defense https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KV4zHsYbMZk   SHTF Intelligence Play List (12 videos) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ei86otQr9ss&list=PLbVcR4afPYo3QxVRGF3aGK25RmUa76YHx   CA Area Study and Assessment Format (FM 41-10, Appendix B) https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/policy/army/fm/41-10/appb.pdf    

Listening Posts: An Intro to SIGINT (S2 Underground)

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Listening Posts: An Intro to SIGINT (S2 Underground) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nam87B2u6bo 00:00 - Introduction and History 03:48 - Flight Tracking Apps 06:13 - ADS-B Receivers 07:39 - Software Defined Radios 11:01 - Scanners 15:43 - HackRF Devices 17:35 - Recap 17:58 - Your Own Communications 19:39 - Feasible and Realistic 25:25 - Have a Goal 26:24 - Shelter 29:30 - Automation 30:18 - Integration 31:27 - Closing Thoughts Scanning and monitoring of radio frequencies used by public service agencies (i.e., police and fire departments) can provide advanced warning of potential threats and hazards in an area, as well as providing first-hand information about a developing situation from the responders on scene.   Today most public service agencies, along with other government agencies, and many businesses have transitioned to digital and trunked radio systems. Within the Amateur Radio Service digital modes such as DMR, D-STAR, and C4FM are popular. While analog radio traffic certainly

NATO Phonetic Alphabet, Codes & Signals

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Near Vertical Incident Skywave (NVIS)

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From OH8STN... Repeaters are down, the Internet is out. Your group has unexpectedly spread beyond Line-of-sight (LOS), and your fallback Rally Points are compromised!  How communications with the entire group will be re-established, is a question that usually goes unanswered! In preparedness, we can often rely too heavily upon VHF and UHF Communications, with lightweight and portable handheld radios. Let’s discuss how to mitigate the potential failure point. If your group communication plan is heavily reliant on VHF and UHF radios, consider a fallback plan using HF NVIS. It will require gear investments, routine training, and the intention to reinforce a traditional VHF UHF Communications strategy. The benefits outweigh the pain! If your group finds itself forced into an unplanned withdrawal, NVIS may be the only way, to safely coordinate a new Rally Point. Remember, without a functioning repeater, the internet, or LOS, that brand new digital radio will at best, become a boat anchor. 

Secure (Private) Radio Communications

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Many of us use radios for daily (regular) communication. Radios work in remote areas, where there is no cellular service, and provide a back-up means of communication when primary means fail.  But for the most part, the radios we are commonly using - Amateur Radio, CB, FRS/GMRS, MURS - are not in any way secure or private. What we transmit over the air can be heard by whomever might want to listen. However, there are things that we can do to make our radio communication at least a little more private. The following YouTube videos discuss some possible options for more secure (private) radio communications: Secure Comms with Ham Radio ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIyckKhZrpA )  Secure Radio Communications ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apLxePngNlM )  Ham Radio SHTF Digital Mode for Tactical Comms ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnr_6gHBjuY ) Secure Voice Communications - Part I ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=youElAJGmgM )  Secure Voice Communications - Part II Field Test (

Earn Your Amateur Radio Operator Certificate

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"In today’s world there is a heavy reliance on centralized communications infrastructure such as cell towers, which are very likely to fail during a disaster. Failure or overload of such infrastructure will cause disruptions in communications and make the disaster response inefficient. Amateur radio does not rely on centralized communications infrastructure, and has the ability to be used to meet the demand during many disaster situations. Thus, it is very important for emergency professionals to understand the value of including amateur radio operators in emergency operations plans." (International Journal of Emergency Services, Vol. 9 No. 2, pp. 109-121, https://doi.org/10.1108/IJES-10-2018-0054) - VA7GUR Amateur Radio in Canada is regulated by a federal government department called Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED; formerly Industry Canada).  The first level of authorization is the Amateur Radio Operator Certificate with the Basic Qualification.

Seattle Emergency Communication Hubs

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Emergency Communication Hubs are gathering spots located across Seattle where neighbors have organized and are prepared to "activate" if communications go down after a large disaster.  Hubs help their communities organize and support one another until services are restored. A detailed discussion is presented in this YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icXq279CmXs Self Help Posters were created by Hub volunteers to be used at the Hubs as a tool to help people immediately after a major disaster.  In those first few days when information will be hard to get, these posters remind people of basic information so they can stay safe.  There are 5 posters for the following topics: Communication, Food Safety, Water Safety, Hazards and Sanitation.  Hopefully people can take this information back to their neighbors and share as well. While the posters were designed for use after a disaster, we found that they are also a great teaching tool, to think about being prepared before

TOR and More

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TOR – The Onion Router TOR – The Onion Router is a free and open-source network that directs Internet traffic through a series of nodes and relays in order to shield users from surveillance and network traffic analysis. TOR's intended use is to protect the personal privacy of its users, as well as their freedom and ability to communicate confidentially through IP address anonymity using TOR exit nodes. TOR is also used to access the “dark web”, websites established one the .onion domain (as opposed to the more common .com, .org, .net domains). The TOR Browser ( https://www.torproject.org/ ) can be downloaded for free form the TOR Project and used to access both the open web and the dark web. Using the TOR Browser also allows users to, in many cases, circumvent Internet censorship by accessing news and information that may be blocked or otherwise restricted by their government or by their Internet service provider. TAILS Tails ( https://tails.boum.org/ ) is a portable operating syst

DEFCON 30

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Cascadia Survivalist is at DEFCON 30 ( https://defcon.org/ ).  

The Risks of Centralized Energy

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As energy prices increase, working class citizens in many cases, can’t afford to purchase electricity from the grid. Even if they could afford it, electricity isn’t always available to be purchased. Fiat currencies like Dollars and Euros are getting weaker due to inflation, forcing people to set aside more and more of their income, to purchase centralized commodities. Just as we plan for natural disasters, we must create for ourselves decentralized buffers from the grid. A grid currently priced far out of step with inflation! We plan for floods, we plan for earthquakes, we plan for all sorts of natural disasters, but we never protect ourselves from the sudden cost increases of centralized energy. This has to change! Today, we would like to share an article from the OH8STN Ham Radio Blog https://oh8stn.org/blog/2022/08/08/the-risks-of-centralized-energy/ OH8STN is one of the information sources we follow and rely on. Please take a moment to check out this excellent resource for off-gri

Bugging Out to the Wilderness

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In the aftermath of any major disaster, if it is at all possible, and safe to do so, you should remain in your home. Your home contains most if not all of your personal possessions, to include disaster preparedness supplies that you may have stored. You are familiar with your home and the surrounding area (you are familiar with the surrounding area, aren’t you?); and you will almost certainly be more comfortable in your own home than on the road or in some refugee camp.      However, a common theme in the “prepper community” is the plan to bug-out to some remote wilderness area with only the supplies you can carry in your bug-out bag; there to live off the land and survive the end of the world as we know it. If your plan to survive a major disaster is to bug out to the wilderness and live off the land, you will almost certainly fail! There are very few people who are skilled enough to support themselves and their families entirely by hunting and gathering, over any length of time (espe

Shortwave: The Warlord's Radio

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A video from the S2 Underground discussing HF communications. https://youtu.be/DGOyvNLk6Bg 00:00 – Introduction 04:10 – The Emergency Itself 08:10 – The Nature of the Communication 10:26 – MARS Mod 14:24 – Mobility and Fitness 18:40 – Data Modes – RTTY 23:26 – Sending Images 28:37 – JS8Call 31:56 – Winlink 35:41 – Comm Scheduling 41:42 – Encryption 42:58 – Thinking Big 47:15 – Closing Thoughts

War Cookery Leaflets

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  In our quest to find wartime cook books, we just found this.... War Cookery Leaflets https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B8R97HKL The United Kingdom, Ministry of Food produced a number of leaflets to aid families on the home front during the Second World War. These leaflets contained tips and recipes for making healthful meals from limited and rations items. What was valid during the World War is just as valid today for families that want to save money on their food budgets, as well as prepare for times of shortages and rationing in our own communities. The books appears to be a reprint of leaflets from The Wartime Kitchen site, which also has a bunch of great info: https://thewartimekitchen.com/

Remove Your DNA Sample from the DOD Database

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  Individual DNA specimen samples will be destroyed at the request of the donor following the conclusion by the donor of completed military service or other applicable relationship to the DoD.  Send service member specimen destruction requests to: AFMES/AFRSSIR ATTN: AFRSSIR Specimen Destruction Request 115 Purple Heart Drive Dover Air Force Base, DE 19902 https://health.mil/Military-Health-Topics/Health-Readiness/AFMES/DoD-DNA-Registry/Repository-of-Specimen-Samples-for-the-Identification-of-Remains/Specimen-Destruction-Request   EXAMPLE LETTER TO REQUEST DNA DESTRUCTION DATE Your Full Name Your street address Your city, state, zip code AFMES/AFRSSIR ATTN: AFRSSIR Specimen Destruction Request 115 Purple Heart Drive Dover Air Force Base, DE 19902 Dear AFRSSIR Customer Service Representative: I request that my DNA sample be destroyed by AFRSSIR. Enclosed is a copy of my DD214 which lists my DOB, SSN and Branch of service or civilian status (if applicable) which is information AFRSSIR

Canning for the Home - Food Needed for One Year

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In the 1944 publication 'Canning for the Home', produced by the Virginia Polytechnic Institute Agricultural Extension Service, it was suggested that the following is required food for one person for one year: Using the food storage calculator at https://providentliving.com/preparedness/food-storage/foodcalc/ we see the following recommendation for one adult for one year: Grain (includes wheat, white rice, oats, corn, barley, pasta, etc.):                 400 lbs. Legumes (dried beans, split peas, lentils, nuts, etc.):                                     60 lbs. Dairy Products (powdered milk, cheese powder, canned cheese, etc.):         30 lbs. Sugars (white sugar, brown sugar, syrup, molasses, honey, etc.):                  60 lbs. Leavening Agents (yeast, baking powder, powdered eggs, etc.):                   6 lbs. Salt (Table salt, sea salt, soy sauce, bouillon, etc.):                                        6 lbs. Fats (Vegetable oils, shortening, canned butter, etc.):    

Know Your Rights - How to Deal with the Police

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  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B6Y2YK8M “Any lawyer worth his salt will tell the suspect in no uncertain terms to make no statement to police under any circumstances.” (U.S. Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson writing in Watts v. Indiana, 338 U.S. 49 (1949)) While we all still have rights under the law, rights that are intended to protect the innocent, the average person does not understand those rights. While police must inform suspects of their legal rights once a person has been taken into custody; police are also trained to work around those legal protections and will do whatever they can to get suspects to waive their rights and make statements against their own interests, or even to confess to crimes that they did not commit. This book is intended to help you understand your rights when dealing with the police. Throughout this book we will repeatedly emphasize three basic principles when dealing with the police: 1. Ask for a lawyer. 2. Never consent to a search. 3. Invoke your

Unintended Consequences

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Unintended Consequences is a novel by John Ross, first published in 1996 by Accurate Press. The story chronicles the history of gun culture, gun rights, and gun control in the United States from the early 20th century through the late 1990s. Although clearly a work of fiction, the story is heavily laced with historical fact, including historical figures who play minor supporting roles. The protagonist is very active in competitive shooting sports, as is the author; so unusually detailed and intricate facts, figures, and explanations of firearms-related topics ornament the narrative and drive the plot.  A book of interest for today... Download a free PDF copy from the Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/unintended-consequences-by-John-Ross/mode/2up

After Armageddon (History Channel)

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A docudrama about a family in LA that is trying to survive the breakdown of society, law, and order after a flu pandemic kills half the people on Earth. After Armageddon focuses on an “average American” family of three, who are totally unprepared for a long-term disaster, as unfortunately, most Americans are. It shows how they attempt to survive a world-wide disaster by first trying to ride the disaster out in LA. Once it was obvious they could not stay in LA they struggle to survive a trip to a real town in Idaho where they have friends. Various experts in survival, defense, sociology, psychology, nutrition, and others, provide commentary throughout the film. These comments are very insightful and relevant, being based more on actual real-world events than just theories. These experts include journalists, authors, university professors, directors of emergency management and disaster researchers from universities such as; Ryerson University, Rutgers University, UC Berkley, George Mason