For most of us our call to prepping came suddenly. A weakness was exposed and we were shocked to find just how vulnerable our families had been, like the left hook you don’t see coming. The early stages are very much a selfish endeavor. Food storage, water collection, stocking supplies, stacking silver and the various other procurements involved in creating your new guard against disaster. Before long and this is subjective to the person, you begin to realize that in order for this effort to be successful it has to happen on a larger scale.
To build and strengthen a community in preparation for whatever may come down the road is the key. Communities are the cornerstone of all civilizations. The fact is we have forgotten to nurture our own. Instead of dealing with social issues, food and shelter we have pawned our responsibilities off on the government. Don’t fool yourself we are all very much responsible for the state of the nation today. So the question is: how do you get a neighborhood to buy into preparing and the work that comes with it. [LINK]
Spring has arrived, but Winter Storm Virgil will make it feel like we are in the heart of winter for millions from the Midwest to the Mid-Atlantic through this weekend and into Monday.
Virgil delivered nearly a foot of snow to Denver and 15 inches of snow to Goodland, Kan. on Saturday.
Snow will gradually wind down Sunday morning across eastern Kansas, southeast Nebraska and northeast Oklahoma.
By all accounts, the mainstream media and corporate leaders would have us believe that the world is in a new bull market. They’ll point us to the stock market as evidence of their claims that the economy is growing and life for the average citizen is returning to normal. Few will discuss the fundamental issues facing financial markets, the least of which is continued unemployment and less consumer spending. Even fewer are willing to, or even capable of, explaining the monetary machinations that have pumped up stock markets and left trillion dollar deficits in their wake.
There are, however, analysts like Doug Casey and Marin Katusa of Casey Research who understand what’s really going on behind the scenes, where it will eventually lead, and how to thrive in a world of uncertainty where the only things of value when the illusion is exposed for what it really is, are hard assets. [SHTFPLAN]
Officials say a vial containing a virus that can cause hemorrhagic fever has gone missing from a research facility in Galveston, but say there's no reason to believe there's a threat to the public.
The University of Texas Medical Branch said Saturday that there was no breach in the security its Galveston National Laboratory and no indication of wrongdoing. Officials suspect the missing vial containing the Guanarito virus was destroyed during the lab's cleaning process but the investigation continues.
Despite all the advancements we've made in weather prediction, disaster preparedness, and sandbag technology, most of us are absolutely screwed if Mother Nature decides to throw a fit. That's why extreme weather has become a sort of boogeyman for humanity, one we love making the bad guy in action movies because we are terrified of how helpless it makes us feel.
And like any boogeyman, the urban legends and old wives' tales have completely outpaced the original threat. So let's take a minute to put at least five of those absurd legends to bed right now. [CRACKED]
Preparation for disaster, whether natural or man-made, should be as vital as any ideal found in the various practices of religion and spiritualism. Preparedness should be treated with reverence, discipline and duty. The drive for preparation should be seated in the very heart of humanity. As individuals and as a society, we should hold preparedness dear, for it is an expression of the desire for survival and the key to maintaining our inherent freedoms. Without self-sufficiency, we set ourselves up for endless failure and enslavement.
Preparedness must be approached with passionate resolve; otherwise, there is no point. Halfhearted survivalists are just as likely, if not more likely, to get themselves killed as the average oblivious urbanite and suburbanite. Unfortunately, even in the liberty movement, I have come across many halfhearted and lazy survivalists who would rather hope for the best than prepare for the worst. [ALT-MARKET]
East Coast residents were buzzing on social media sites and elsewhere Friday night after a brief but bright flash of light streaked across the early-evening sky –in what experts say was almost certainly a meteor coming down. Bill Cooke of NASA’s Meteoroid Environmental Office said the flash appears to be “a single meteor event.” He said it “looks to be a fireball that moved roughly toward the southeast, going on visual reports.”
“Judging from the brightness, we’re dealing with something as bright as the full moon,” Cooke said. “The thing is probably a yard across. We basically have (had) a boulder enter the atmosphere over the northeast.”
Preparing for the worst can be exhausting.While generally speaking, preparedness activities and awareness provide peace of mind for me, there are days that I just don’t want to see another mylar bag or read the next scary headline trumpeting our imminent collapse.
Both mentally and physically, the activities that make up the everyday life of a prepper can take a toll. If you aren’t gardening or preserving food, you’re practicing marksmanship or other vital skills. You’re reading alternative news websites and piecing together the information as it applies to you and your family. Some folks are worrying about their locations, their retirement accounts that they are unable to access and their loved ones that remain unconvinced of the need to prepare. [LINK]
Study claims there's not enough debris to account for massive asteroid
For a smaller rock to cause such a huge crater it would have to be faster
Long-period comets hurtling in from outer space fit the bill, it is claimed
The extraterrestrial object that slammed into the Earth 65million years ago and sparked the extinction of the dinosaurs was most likely a speeding comet, new analysis claims. New research has suggested that the 110 mile-wide Chicxulub crater in Yucatan, Mexico, was caused by the impact of a smaller object than previously thought. But for a smaller object to have caused such a cataclysmic impact it must have been moving at speeds usually only reached by comets hurtling through our solar system from outer space.
A lot of people would like to be part of a “Group” but don’t know how to find like minded people. This article will attempt to give you some ideas and starting points. First I think you have to decide what type of group you are looking for and decide how much time you have to devote to it. [MSO]
Scientists examining evidence around the globe from the United States to North Africa
Found evidence off mass extinction 201,564,000 years ago, exactly the same time as a massive outpouring of lava
Extinction opened the way for dinosaurs to evolve and dominate the planet
A series of massive volcanic eruptions wiped out half of life on Earth 200 million years ago, according to new research. Scientists examining evidence around the globe from the United States to North Africa say they have linked the abrupt disappearance of half of the world's species 200 million years ago to a precisely dated set of gigantic volcanic eruptions. The mega eruptions may have caused climate changes so sudden that many creatures were unable to adapt - possibly on a pace similar to that of human-influenced climate warming today, according to the researchers.
City and county officials have pleaded for permanent flood protection as residents along the Red River in Fargo and neighboring Moorhead, Minn., were told to prepare for one of the top five crests in their history.
The latest National Weather Service outlook includes a 50 percent chance that the river would top 38 feet later this spring, which would surpass the fifth-highest crest of 37.34 feet in 1969. Fargo Mayor Dennis Walaker says the city will "do whatever's necessary" to protect residents, but believes the only solution is a proposed $2 billion diversion channel.
Another major storm will cross the nation from coast to coast with heavy snow, flooding rain and severe thunderstorms. The worst conditions with the storm may center over the Palm Sunday weekend.
Like many storms during the second half of the winter, this first major storm of the spring could threaten lives and property, bring significant travel disruptions and foil outdoor plans. After bringing drenching rain and heavy mountain snow to the Northwest and part of the Rockies later this week, a storm from the Pacific will reorganize over the Central states this weekend.
What if a rogue planet swept through the solar system, altering Earth's orbit? Potentially, the death of all life on the planet, according to a new Weather Channel special.
"Forecasting the End," a new Weather Channel series, premieres March 21, exploring the possible results of a rogue planet fly-by. Rogue planets, or planets not linked to stars, may outnumber actual stars in the Milky Way galaxy. Myths about "Planet X" or "Nibiru" hold that a stealth rogue planet is headed this way (actually, it was supposed to hit on the Mayan apocalypse on Dec. 21, 2012).
In fact, the likelihood of a rogue planet swinging by is slim. Astronomers have yet to find any evidence that any of the planets in our own solar system are captured rogues. And the average space between rogue planets and other bodies in our galaxy is quite expansive, Bad Astronomy blogger Phil Plait has calculated. In other words, a collision isn't likely.
The manual is the first attempt to set out how international law applies to online attacks by the state, and warns that online attacks could lead to full-blown military conflicts.
The handbook, the result of three years collaboration between international experts for Nato's Co-operative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence, defines a cyber attack as one that is “reasonably expected to cause injury or death to persons or damage or destruction to objects.”
An online attack on an electricity grid resulting in fire is one example of the way that cyberwar could bring about real physical harm. The advisory handbook, written by 20 legal experts including a retired UK air commodore and several British lawyers, says Governments must avoid attacks on civilians, hospitals, nuclear power stations, dams and dykes. Attacks on the latter three are particularly sensitive as they threaten to cause widespread loss of life, and should be avoided “even when they are military objectives”.
United States B-52 bombers carried out simulated nuclear bombing raids on North Korea as part of ongoing U.S.-South Korean military exercises, Pentagon officials said on Monday.Pentagon press secretary George Little told reporters that B-52 bombers from Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, conducted a training mission over South Korea March 8 during war games known as Exercise Foal Eagle.
“It’s not any secret that we are in the midst of sending a very strong signal that we have a firm commitment to the alliance with our South Korean allies,” Little said.
H1N1 Swine flu is thought to have killed 200,000 people globally and Australian experts are concerned that the disease now has much more potent pandemic potential than it had before. [LINK]
Tamiflu (oseltamivir) is now powerless against the strain H1N1pdm09 that has been found in people in the community rather than sick patients with serious underlying conditions and weak immune systems. Zanamivir (Relenza) still has some effect but it is not widely held in stock in the community or in hospitals.Lead investigator Dr Aeron Hurt, from the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza in Melbourne, said:
“The greatest concern is that these resistant viruses could spread globally, similar to that seen in 2008 when the former seasonal H1N1 virus developed oseltamivir (Tamiflu) resistance and spread worldwide in less than 12 months.”
The news is in and there’s a natural disaster (heading your way. Or maybe you just want to stock up on your emergency survival gear ahead of time -- a wise choice.
Many of the items you really need already will have been ransacked at most grocery and convenience stores, but the dollar store is likely the last thing on anyone’s mind, so you can probably get most, if not all of what you need without the typical last-minute chaos. And whether you’re grabbing a few things at the last-minute or preparing ahead of time, you’re going to save yourself a lot of money. [LINK]
Eerie new images have emerged of a deserted village that was dubbed the “real life Atlantis” after it spent over 25 years under water. Until the 1980s, Villa Epceun was a thriving tourist hotspot 350 miles south of the Argentinian capital Buenos Aires. All that changed on November 10, 1985 though, when a prolonged period of heavy rain caused the salt water lagoon that brought so many visitors to the area to burst its banks, submerging the entire village in 30 feet of water.
The village's 1,500 residents scrambled to leave the area, leaving behind many treasured belongings, including dogs, cats and other pets that were never seen again. [IND]
