A Review of Founders: A Novel of the Coming Collapse by James Wesley Rawles

James Wesley Rawles was kind enough to send me an advanced uncorrected proof of his new book Founders. On the whole I found the book to be a very good read. If you liked Rawle’s books Patriots and Survivors, I think you will like Founders. Like the other books, it is centered around a planet wide economic collapse. You can read my review of Rawle’s previous book Survivors at this link.

The way all three of the books are written, you can start off with any of them-you don’t have to read them in the order they were published to understand the plot of any of the books, although there are some chapters where there is overlap of characters from other books, but none of these overlaps are out of time sequence. For example, in the book Patriots the character Dan Fong gets killed. However, Dan Fong is alive in Founders. There are four major points about Founders I think are worth mentioning.

1. Founders is quite literally a treasure house of great quotations. These quotes appear at the beginning of each chapter.

2. The actions taken in chapter 28 of Founders is a good plan to fix a lot of what is wrong with The United States of America today.

3. The way the characters deal with the invading United Nations troops is very creative. In Founders, the United Nations troops and the traitors in the United States armed forces who join the United Nations forces main activity is looting. Occasionally they can find time to shoot laser guided artillery into elderly people’s homes, simply on the basis of being given a “tip” that resistance fighters are there-they don’t bother to actually check to see if these “tips” are true before firing the laser guided artillery.

4. Chapter 30 ended in a beautiful way, proving God can turn something bad into something good.  . Mr. Rawles has a very good intellect, and I agree with most Rawles principles on preparedness. However, per chapter 30 and a lot of other things Mr. Rawles has published in the past, it’s clear he believes in the “Peak Oil” theory and it’s corollary that petroleum and coal are “fossil fuels” formed from the remains of very old plants and animals.  See my rant against peak oil in the next entry on this blogspot.

Founders also has a tremendous amount of info about OPSEC that can be applied in a situation like tha protrayed in the book.

Founders is a first rate work. If you have not ordered your copy, hold on until the release date a.k.a. the “Book Bomb Day” of September 25th, 2012. This will help the book get a better ranking on the best seller list.

To all of you out there around the planet, keep the faith.

Crass Stupidity, Ignorance and Arrogance, the Muslim Brotherhood, and the Truth about Islam and the Arab Spring

Crass Stupidity, Ignorance and Arrogance, the Muslim Brotherhood, and the Truth about Islam and the Arab Spring

As I begin this on 09-12-2012 A.D. at 09:54 CST, many people have not yet woken up to learn that diplomatic facilities of The United States of America in Libya and Egypt were attacked by forces of the Muslim Brotherhood. Multiple United States citizens were killed.

I cannot help think of a statement made by the religious leader of POTUS 44, Jeremiah Alvesta Wright, Jr. “The chickens have come home to roost!”

Some of you reading this post will undoubtedly think you have this whole “Arab Spring” figured out as you’re a 2 digit I.Q. non-thinker “sheeple” who believes everything you hear in mainstream media. You probably think it’s all about spreading democracy. It is not. The “Arab Spring” is about spreading the stuff that sticks to your shoes and stinks on a hot day.

It has been my contention that the whole purpose of the “Arab Spring” is to destabilize the entire middle east and ultimately produce a third world war to bring about global government AND destroy the state of Israel.

At this point, some of you are thinking “conspiracy theory”. If you are one of those people, go to the top right of the screen and hit the x button, you’re a lost cause.

In The United States of America today, the term “conspiracy theory” has been transformed into a bona fide psychological weapon that is used to stop rational analysis and debate. A man could say “The sky reflects blue light and the grass reflects green light.” Call that man a “conspiracy theorist” and 99 times in 100 he would back off that last statement.

Now let me rant for a few paragraphs.

The United States of America IS NOT a democracy. It is a constitutional republic in which elected representatives make the laws. In a true democracy 51 percent of the people rule and this 51 percent can even vote away the rights of the other 49 person. Democracy is majority rule. A republic is the rule of law. In democracy differs from a dictatorship in only this way: you substitute a51 percent majority to take the place of a dictator.

While going down this line of thought, some of you need to learn that our country’s name is the United States of America, not “America”. America is two continents that stretch from Cape Columbia, Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, Canada 83°8′N to the Águila Islet, Diego Ramirez Islands, Chile 56°32′16’S. We’ve usurped the name of two continents. It’s called imperial hubris.

I think the “United States” part of The United States of America is left off purposely, because originally state citizenship took precedence over federal citizenship and federal citizenship only applied to citizens when they travelled outside the United States of America. (Say this and some will try to associate you with the sovereign citizen’s movement, whose member’s murder police for “tyrannical acts” like giving them a traffic ticket.)

Now back to topic.

I support the right of the State of Israel to exist. The current government in power in the United States of America does not. Judge them only by their actions and not their speech and this becomes obvious.

In case there are any Jew hating bigot’s reading this post let me say two things:

1. Every loser on planet Earth tries to blame the Jews for their own problems.

2. If you’re thinking “Swindle is a Jew” you would be wrong. The patriarch of our family had the last name “Otts”. Do your research and see what country that comes from.

Now, if you’re one of those “conspiracy theorist” labeling people, and you’re still here, please do as I said and hit the x button at the top right.

The plan for world government has been in place before the United States Civil War, and the plan involves having 3 world wars. (For those of you who label ideas like this as “conspiracy theory” I have news you’re probably not aware of: there have only been 2 world wars so far. There are these things called books, and you can learn facts like that if you actually read them.)

Mr. Assad in Syria is not a nice person. But if Assad falls, a Muslim Brotherhood government will take over, and world war 3 is on. Yet the mainstream news all of you “conspiracy theory” labelers get you “facts” from will not tell you this. Instead democracy is the bromide to medicate all the world's ills.

THERE CAN BE NO REAL FREEDOM UNDER ISLAM. I am not of the opinion that all or even most Muslims are bad. In fact, most of them are good people who want the same thing other people on planet Earth want-a good life, a family, and worthwhile goals to pursue. However, the Islamic faith is incompatible with individual rights and property rights. Families living in Islamic countries that go abroad for 6 months or so often come home to find their homes occupied by other families.

ISLAM IS NOT A RELIGION OF PEACE. If one actually takes time to read the Koran, it’s filled with statements that say, in various ways; kill the non-Muslims or “infidels” as they are called. In Christianity, there are no cases where Jesus, any of Jesus’s Disciple’s or the Apostles called for the murder of non-Christians, nor do they support forced conversions (which aren’t real conversions) as the Muslims do. Non-Muslim’s either convert or are murdered by Muslims. Sometimes they get off by “paying the tax” a tax placed on non-Muslims in some Muslim countries.

The cause cited for the murder of United States diplomatic personnel in Libya and Egypt is a film that portrayed Mohammed in a negative way. IT’S CALLED FREE SPEECH. SOME MUSLIMS WOULD DO WELL TO LOOK INTO IT.

In the film The Last Temptation of Christ actor William Dafoe plays the part of Jesus Christ. In this vile, wretched piece of filth, Jesus is portrayed as a homosexual. Christians were rightly upset, but I don’t recall any of burning down theaters or killing movie directors. Yet within the past few weeks some U.S. Congressman and Senators are calling for investigations into so called “radical Christians”.


THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD IS A TERRORIST ORGANIZATION. Period. Again, observe what they DO, not what they say. Notice who they associate with. We need about ten thousand modified Hugo Stiglitz set for “Muslim Brotherhood” instead of “Nazi” If that sounds like an ugly statement it is because it is an ugly statement. Sometimes life is ugly.

One of the authors who have had more influence on my life than just about all the rest is Robert J. Ringer. Ringer points out that arrogance and ignorance go hand and hand, where one is the other will always be.

Notice those who claim to have this Arab Spring/Muslim brotherhood figured out figured out. They don’t look below the surface nor do they look at the big picture. Then they tell you “it’s a very unique situation. Per Robert J. Ringer “unique” means “one of a kind”. There are no degrees to uniqueness. A thing is either one of a kind or not.

Yes, I have been somewhat of a horse’s ass to some of you in this article. I do not apologize. Why? WE, the rest of us who are no longer drinking the kool-aid need YOU to get on the wagon and start looking below the surface and stop being naïve sheep. In that spirit I say this: Do not believe anything in this article is true because I say it. Likewise, do not believe everything in this article is false because someone else says it is false or labels it a “conspiracy theory”. Check it out for yourself-do your own research.

Knowledge IS the killer of fear.

A Review of Survivors: A Novel of the Coming Collapse by James Wesley Rawles

A Review of Survivors: A Novel of the Coming Collapse by James Wesley Rawles

James Wesley Rawles runs Survival Blog,the best preparedness/survival web site on planet Earth. The web address is www.survivalblog.com

James Wesley Rawles is also a first class writer. He has written a second fiction book, Survivors: A Novel of the Coming Collapse. If you liked Mr. Rawles first book Patriots, you will like Survivors. While the books are alike in some ways, there are some significant differences. This article will compare and contrast the books.

Many of the characters who were in Rawles first novel Patriots are also in Survivors. (The books are written in such a way that you do not have to read Patriots first to get what’s going on.)

For those of you who read Rawles’s first book, Patriots, you know that while it is a work of fiction, it is essentially a training manual as well. You learned something new in every chapter. The knowledge base Rawles possesses is incredible.

Survivors focuses a little more on the human side of survival during a TEOTWAWKI type event. Still, this book has a lot of good information in it. There are three chapters in the book that contain such high quality data that those three chapters are worth the price of the entire book. (I’m not going to tell you what chapters they are, as the purpose of this article is to get you to go out and buy a copy of Survivors.)

Survivors, like Patriots begins during a worldwide financial meltdown. Patriots focused mostly on what happens in the United States as a result of a global financial meltdown. In Survivors however, Rawles paints a very good picture of what happens all over the planet when the global financial meltdown occurs. There are characters who live in Afghanistan, Western Europe, Central America, and the United States. This is what really sets the book apart. It shows the financial meltdown not just from the perspective of a United States citizen, but from people in other countries. This brings us to the main character.

The main character in the book is a combat hardened veteran of the war in Afghanistan. As the worldwide economy collapses, he finds it hard to get home. What makes his situation worse is he has a bride back in the U.S.A. waiting to marry him. He manages to hop a German military transport to Germany. From there he has to hike and bike his way to the western coast of Europe. He then has to get a boat to England, not an easy task in a worldwide economic crash.

His situation gets harder. When he gets to England he wants to get a boat going directly to the U.S.A. But with rioting in major U.S. cities and large scale social breakdown, no one with a boat wants to go to the United States.

Our hero does manage to get a boat ride from England to Central America. He then has to go on foot and horseback from Central America to his home in the Four Corners area of the United States.
As you might imagine, during his trek across Europe, during his boat ride across the Atlantic, and during his trek from central America to the Four Corners regions of the United States, our hero has a number of incidents with thugs (and pirates during the Atlantic Ocean crossing.) This isn’t a great problem while he is in Western Europe, because most of the civilian population there do not have guns. Our hero does-only a pistol, but a make generally considered to be the best in the world. During the Atlantic Ocean crossing this pistol is put to good use against pirates. When our hero arrives in Central America things get much more complicated, as most everyone has guns.

While the main character is making his trek from Afghanistan to the United States, the other characters are trying to survive. Some of them form retreat communities. Others find ways to open businesses that give the citizens what they want, as there is no excessive government to speak of, at least for a while.

The economy changes into one where there are essentially three currencies: Barter item, gold coins, and silver coins.

Remember the previous "at least for a while" ? In Survivors, a so called legitimate government arises that is allied with the United Nations. (One character in the book stated something very funny. He said essentially any government that actually has to call itself the “legitimate” government probably isn’t legitimate.) Using United Nations troops and United Sates troops who are traitors or are so ill informed they believe they are doing the right thing (they’re still traitors.) the new “legitimate government” tries to impose it’s will.

Pretty much all firearms and other equipment that would be useful for resisting a criminal “United Nations” government are banned. If not turned in by a certain time, any person caught with such weapons after that time is summarily executed. This goes right along with real life United Nations standard operating procedures. In real life, United Nations "peace keepers" have executed people for simply violating curfews.

The new and “legitimate” government does what all criminal governments do-it steals from the citizens. How does the “legitimate” government in Survivors do this? By re-introducing fiat money. Remember, in addition to being counterfeit, fiat money is also a hidden form of taxation via printing more worthless paper.

With that last sentence in mind, Mr. Rawles chose the perfect first name for the president of the new “legitimate” government: Maynard!

For those readers unfamiliar with economics, there is a school of thought in economics called the Keynesian school of economics, named after economist John Maynard Keynes. This school of economics favors big government, massive intervention in the free market, and prefers fiat money. Fiat money is backed by nothing. It’s money because the government says it is.

The new “legitimate” government uses the United Nation’s troops and the traitors in the U.S. military to “pacify” They begin with four states. I actually live in one of those first four states the “legitimate” government chose to be “pacified” in the novel.. That state is Alabama.

(Just a personal comment. If a situation like the one described in Survivors, ever really occurs, unless a “legitimate” government is willing to use nuclear, biological, chemical, scalar weapons, or totally defoliate all the crops, trying to “pacify” Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Northern Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Arkansas, South Carolina, and Texas is going to be.......interesting.)

Perhaps the most important thing in Survivors that every person that is into preparation and survival should pay close attention to is Rawles description of the emergence of organized criminal gangs that loot entire towns. I think Rawles description is a very accurate one. Essentially what he describes is modern day brigandage. (Brigandage is a crime committed a lot in the past. You see it in movies sometimes. Gangs ride in on horseback, loot the village, rape the women, kill all the men, and then burn the village down.) In a TEOTWAWKI situation, the probability of the emergence of organized criminal gangs that loot entire towns is essentially one hundred percent. In fact, I would not be surprised if various criminal organizations are already planning for this type of activity so they can take maximum advantage of a TEOTWAWKI event.

In the book, the leader of this criminal organization is very smart. He starts out his criminal career by forming a gang and doing home invasions (which Mr. Rawles and I both believe is going to be a very common crime in the near future) but as the economy crashes, the leader manages to steal military vehicles, including A.P.C.’s (Armored Personnel Carrier). The gang grows and eventually reaches the point it can raid towns with populations of twenty thousand or more.

AGAIN-This type of organized criminal looting is essentially a sure thing if there is a TEOTWAWKI situation such as the power grid going down or full scale economic collapse.


I said the beginning of this blog entry that Survivors focuses more on the human side of survival. Let me explain what I mean.

Patriots is a novel that had huge appeal to people who were already into preparedness and survival. Patriots presented fictionalized data on how to fight a war of resistance (guerilla warfare) against a non-legitimate U.S. puppet government backed by the United Nations-a global criminal organization, and traitors from the U.S. military who join the U.N. forces. Data like this can be a bit heavy for people who are exploring getting into preparedness. I have no doubt that many people who read Survival Blog gave a copy of Patriots to someone they care for who isn’t preparing hoping it would induce that someone they care for to start preparing. If I were laying odds, that might have worked 1 time in 9.

Survivors is the book you should give to that person who will not prepare. Why you ask? The book shows what a TEOTWAWKI situation would look like through the eyes of the people living it in, but it does so in a way that is a bit more palatable for the average person, for the non-prepper.

In Patriots Mr. Rawles simply lays out the honest truth of what a TEOTWAWKI situation would look like.. In Patriots there is even one example of cannibalism. For a lot of people, this is too much. Truth can be an ugly thing. Most people really don’t like the truth. Most people prefer the soothing comfort of the lie.

In simple terms, Patriots may be too much of a psychological shock to the non-prepper, because non-peppers are mostly non-informed. Let me explain.

The average person, the non prepper, watches their 30 minute local newscast and a 30 minute national newscast, and they think they know what’s going on in the world.

Not so for the prepper. Just to get a basic idea of what’s going on in the world we use the net to study economics, geopolitics, worldwide food levels, disease outbreaks, and even praxeology.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Praxeology

How many non prepper’s or even professional investment advisors look at the Baltic Dry Goods Index?

Mass media portrays prepper’s as mostly nut jobs, gun nuts, or associates preparedness with race hate organizations. In a small number of cases, these portrayals are correct. But most of the presentations of prepper’s are smear jobs. I’ll give you a good example.

James Wesley Rawles did an interview with a newspaper, I think it was the Los Angeles Times. Rawles told the newspaper he opposed racism because judging someone solely by their race is fundamentally irrational. RAWLES EVEN STATES THIS ON HIS WEB SITE! So guess what the Los Angeles Times does? On their internet addition on the same page with Mr. Rawles picture and article link there is a link to a story about some guy convicted of a crime who was a member of some race hate organization!

Now, taking those facts into account, consider the fact that most people who live in the first world operate under the normalcy bias (see link)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normalcy_bias

and have no concept of what black swann event are or how and why they occur.

How many people who live in the first world have really experienced hunger? In the United States, how many people have actually ever had to go 48 or 72 hour without any food. Remember, when I said Patriots event had an incident of cannibalism in it? Like the looting of towns by organized criminal gangs, in a TEOTWAWKI situation, cannibalism is going to happen (and, like in the book Patriots, the people who do it should be shot.) But to even think about this is usually too much for your average person.

One thing I want to be clear on though: I AM NOT saying Survivors is some kind of watered down version of Patriots. If anyone tells you that, you can be certain they have not read Survivors. But Survivors is not quite the shock to a non-prepper that Patriots can be. Survivors is a better book to give to the non prepper than Patriots if you are trying to get the non prepper to start preparing.

If you have not read Survivors get out and buy a copy. If you do long haul driving there is an unabridged version available on CD.

I even think there is movie potential for Survivors, provided you could find a producer and a film company not overly concerned about political correctness.

I’m currently in the process of reading Rawles next book Founders, scheduled to be released later this year. So far it’s looking very good. From what I’ve read so far, it seems to be a cross between Patriots and Survivors. I will write a review here when I’ve completed reading it.

To all of you out there around the planet, keep the faith.

Vonu

In the early 1970's several people published a magazine called Vonulife with the subtitle “how to live and let live, out of sight and mind of those unwilling to let live.” The publishers of the magazine invented a new word “vonu.” Vonu means “invulnerability from coercion.”

I get the idea that the people who published the magazine were hippie types (no offense if any of the publishers are reading this), but nevertheless, I salute them for their principle of being invulnerable to coercion and their creativity to invent a new word.

So how can one be coerced?

First, there is the obvious physical coercion-coercion by physical violence or the threat of physical violence. So what countermeasures can one take against physical coercion?

Carry weapons. Use passive defenses like body armor. Study martial arts. Be fast, which enables you to elude the person(s) doing the coercion. Hide-if they cannot find you they cannot use physical coercion against you.

Second, there is the more subtle psychological coercion. So what countermeasures can one take against psychological coercion?

Study, understand, and be able to recognize the techniques used by psychological manipulators. You can goggle any of the following and get lots of information:

psychological manipulation
psychological manipulation techniques
propaganda
propaganda techniques
verbal violence
psychological coercion
guilt manipulation
psychological violence
psychopaths
sociopaths

Third, there is financial coercion. In this area, government is the biggest threat. I want to be clear, I do not advocate tax evasion. However, there are lots of reasons the government can use to seize or freeze the money you have in bank accounts, stock portfolios, mutual fund portfolios, and other financial instruments. Lawyers can do the same thing using civil lawsuits.

So what countermeasures can one take against financial coercion?

There is the option of foreign bank accounts. However, as the economy continues to decline, government regulations will make it harder to send money out of the country. This is also true for investing in foreign companies.

One can convert one’s money to cash and store it at home. There are dangers in this however.

First, your cash can be stolen. If you’re going to keep lots of cash at home I recommend a gun safe that is rated to keep guns safe in a fifteen-hundred degree fire for thirty minutes. Even with a gun safe of this type, cash is more apt to burn than guns, I suggest wrapping your cash in with two layers of aluminum foil. Keep the gun safe in a secluded part of your home. Ideally one would have a hidden space behind a wall that can be accessed easily but looks like a normal wall.

Second, if the government finds out that you have large amounts of cash at home, they will seize it and accuse you of some illegal activity, such as trafficking narcotics. So if you are going to keep large amounts of cash at home, tell no one.

Third, given the fact that the government is running the money printing presses 24/7, it’s highly likely all your U.S. currency will be good for is toilet paper. Remember, inflation is not about prices going up, it’s about the value of your money going down. Every time another dollar is put into the system, the value of every other dollar in the system drops a little more.

One can convert one’s money to precious metals such as gold, silver, platinum, palladium, and iridium. All of the statements given above for storing cash at home apply to storing precious metals at home, with the exception of wrapping your precious metals in aluminum foil.

WARNING: Do not store cash, precious metals, stock certificates and other financial instruments in a bank safe deposit box. In a crisis, government will declare a bank holiday and you will not be able to access your safe deposit box. The same is true if the government seizes or freezes your assets.

The best way to secure your money is to convert it into tangible assets that can be sold or bartered. Some of the better ones are:

rifles
shotguns
pistols
ammunition
freeze-dried food
dehydrated food
MRE’s
dried beans
water purification equipment
non-hybrid/non-GMO seeds
water purification chemicals
medical supplies
hardware
fuel
portable cooking equipment
energy devices
liquor
tobacco
antibiotics
over the counter medications

(See my article Crisis, Martial Law, and Black Market Operations for a more detailed list)


http://knowledgeisthekilleroffear.blogspot.com/2010/04/crisis-martial-law-and-black-market.html

The list is potentially endless. I recommend you study your particular area to determine what items are in high demand.

Remember, coercion is a fact of life. Do what you can to avoid it.

How They Attack You When You Give Useful Information

I try to give useful information on my web site. Apparently that scares some people.

A web site can be attacked directly or indirectly. My web site site was attacked directly and indirectly.

My web site was attacked directly and my article on cold weather survival was deleted. It is back up now. Direct attacks are easy to see. This has happened to several very high volume web sites like George Ure’s Urban Survival (www.urbansurvival.com) Stan Deyo’s web site (www.standeyo.com), and Steve Quayle ‘s web site (www.stevequayle.com).

The indirect attack on my web site was very sneaky. My article Principles of Accurate Analysis and Synthesis was the DI-Daily Insight link on the web site www.codenameinsight.com for the date 04-25-11. When I last clicked that link it took me to the following web address:

www.hancinema.net/watch-stream-korean-drama-Really_Really_like_you_full_episode-4-english-subtitled.html

In simple terms, someone hacked the Code Name Insight website and redirected that link. Someone did not want that article to be read. It’s also worth noting that the redirected link mentions Korea, because it has a personal meaning from a time in my past. In case you’re wondering, I’m not Korean. I’m basically a European mixed breed-English-Irish-German-French.

So what’s the lesson to other bloggers and writers? If you get your writing linked on web sites, go back periodically and check the link’s to make sure they have not been redirected.

So who would do this? Probably government. Read the article Principles of Accurate Analysis and Synthesis and ask yourself is there anything in it government might not want you to know.

By the time you see this, the person(s) who did this might fix the link. I’ve tried to get in touch with the webmaster at Code Name Insight to fix the link but either the webmaster is very busy, or my e-mails to the webmaster are being blocked.

Perhaps you the reader could send the Code Name Insight webmaster the link to this article? The webmaster’s e-mail address is webmaster@codenameinsight.com

A word to all the white hat hackers out there: It would be very nice if you could come up with a system to trace attacks such as this back to their source that is relatively easy for the non-computer professional to use. Perhaps it could be built directly into web sites.

Readers please forward the link to this article to your friends and ask them to forward it to their friends. Knowledge IS the killer of fear.

Principles of Accurate Analysis and Synthesis

Principles of Accurate Analysis and Synthesis

This article is about making predictions. Predictions are just best guesses of what is going to happen in the future based on known intelligence (information). This article can be useful for any type of prediction including military prediction, business prediction, and science prediction

Analysis is the process of breaking down known pieces of information into smaller pieces of information so that the details can be studied.

Synthesis is the process of putting the studied small pieces of information together in a way that will paint a picture of possible future events.

Data analysis and synthesis should be based on facts or data that has a high order of probability of being accurate.

1. Avoid preconceived notions. Just because an event happened a certain way in the past does not mean it will happen the same way at this point in time. By repeating the same action over and over again, a good enemy can lull you into believing that he will never change tactics. Then he kills you.

View every situation as a blank slate, even if that situation is similar to a past situation. Enemies that don’t change their tactics from time to time do not survive long. This means change will come at some point even though the situation’s are similar to past ones.

2. Think cause and effect. If you want to understand an effect, study the effect’s cause. If you want to understand a cause, study the effect produced by that cause.

3. Do not rely on just a few sources of information. Get your information (intelligence) from as many sources as possible-internet-books-magazines-libraries-talking to people. Also, don’t be an intelligence snob. Get your information from the good. Get your information from the bad. Get your information from the ugly. Don’t be afraid of getting information from sources that are so low they can sky-dive off a piece of paper.

4. Listen to the dissenting opinions. The majority is often wrong. Why? Because the majority is made up of individuals who fall into that broad and general category known as “average.” How do average individuals behave? Average. This means they are susceptible to peer pressure (cause) and to group-think (effect).

At this point lets be clear: groups do not think. Only individuals think. What group-think really refers to is a situation where a few individuals in a group (usually the more popular or charismatic individuals) do the thinking and everyone else in the group just goes along.

Truth is not determined by consensus. At one time, not so long ago, you could go to the greatest universities on this planet and talk to the most learned men of science, and they would tell you, with a straight face that if you sailed your ship too far out to sea you would fall off the earth because the earth was flat. The fact that they had a consensus did not make their idea true.

5. Remember that big changes for better or worse happen extremely fast. If something big happens, it is going to happen fast. Think Pearl Harbor for example. Think stock market crashes’.

6. You don’t have all the information. In fact, you’re lucky if you have half of it. And, if and when you get the other half, the half you have now will be out of date.

7. The universe we live in is a chaotic, non-linear system. This means that some things cannot be predicted, yet via observation patterns can be detected. Always look for patterns in data that seems totally chaotic. Often patterns will appear.

8. Small details matter. By observing small details, you may catch a pattern that you would otherwise miss.

9. Be on guard for disinformation. Enemies will put out false data. More dangerous enemies will put out false data mixed with true data. Sometimes the false data mixed with the true data will be something crazy. This is done to make the person looking at the data have a knee jerk psychological reaction. The person looking at the data thinks that if the source of the information can come up with something this crazy, the source is crazy, and one should believe none of that source’s data.

When looking at data and you come across something crazy, study it just as you would study any other data. Then move onto the next piece of data.

It’s worth noting that the disinformation an enemy puts out can tell you as much about that enemy as true data. The nature of the disinformation will often tell you what your enemy is trying to hide and what your enemy fears.

Cold Weather Survival

Cold Weather Survival-I had to re-post this as a hacker deleted it.

Cold kills. That’s a fact. Cold kills via hypothermia. Hypothermia is the term given to the condition when the amount of body heat lost to the environment exceeds the heat produced by the body.

The symptoms of hypothermia include: Shivering, confusion, decreased activity, clumsiness, shallow breathing, and slow heart rate.

Wet cold is defined as cold that goes down to 14 degrees farenheight. In wet cold, the ground freezes at night and thaws out during the day. Dry cold is defined as cold that goes below 14 degrees farenheight and rarely goes above this temperature. Since water freezes at 32 degrees’ farenheight, in dry cold the ground stays frozen all the time. This is important as being wet increases the loss of body heat.

There are 4 basic rules about clothing for cold weather.

keep it-------Clean
avoid--------Overheating
wear it-------Loose and in layers
keep it-------Dry

Keep it Clean-Dirt clogs up the air spaces in your clothing and reduce their insulating ability. The same is true for soap, so make sure washed clothes are completely rinsed out.

Avoid Overheating-If you overheat in very cold weather you will sweat. The sweat will then freeze and make you even colder.

Wear it Loose and in layers-This also helps prevent overheating. Wearing several thin layers of clothing can produce a lot more insulation than a single layer of thicker clothing.

Keep it Dry-The previous two rules have a lot to do with this. The human body cools itself to a large extent by a process called evaporative cooling. In everyday terms we call that process sweating. Being wet in a cold environment creates the same effect, even if the liquid is not sweat.

Consider the 50-50-50-50 rule: A normal adult without specialized cold water protective clothing has a 50-50 chance of surviving for 50 minutes in water that is 50 degrees farenheight.

Keep as dry as possible at all cost. One modern way to keep dry when overheating is to wear clothing made of Gore-Tex material. This material has pores in it large enough to let sweat evaporate out, but small enough to keep out water in the form of rain and melted snow.

Wool is another good clothing material for cold weather because it wicks water away from the body to the outside of the clothing. Traditional wool is very scratchy and uncomfortable, however, a modern form of wool called Moreno Wool is a lot more comfortable and has all the benefits of standard wool.

FROSTBITE-Frostbite occurs when body tissue freezes and thaws out. The hands, feet and head are particularly vulnerable to frostbite. For the feet, I suggest socks made out of Moreno Wool. If your feet get wet, this material will wick the moisture away from your skin. These socks are available in the hunting department of your Wal-Mart type establishments and at dedicated outdoor supply stores.

For the hands, gloves are essential. Ideally, the gloves should be waterproof and provide good insulation without having a major effect on manual dexterity, so you can do things like shooting a gun. I like the neoprene gloves as they meet all those criteria.

Protecting your head from the cold is important because 20 percent of your body heat is lost through your head. In cold weather the hat should be considered mandatory. If the cold is severe with high wind, your also going to need to protect your face, ears, and neck from frostbite. If you look at your local Wal-Mart type establishment or in outdoor catalogs catalog’s like Cabella’s you will find garments that you pull over your head. These garments cover everything except your eyes, nose, and mouth. However, in extreme cold with high wind, these areas will have to be covered as well. For gear to cover these areas, look to military supply catalogs like Brigade Quartermaster.

Snowblindness is a factor to consider if your going to be in the cold for long periods in areas where it snows. Snowblindness is caused by light reflecting off of the snow. A pair of sunglasses with polarized lenses will prevent snowblindness. In a pinch, one can cut two small slits in a piece of cardboard or wood and attach it around your head with a piece of string.


Why do so many people die from cold via hypothermia? In his book Survival Psychology, psychologist Dr. John Leach Ph.D. cites the work of J. Bligh to find the reasons. They are:

1. Misfortune-This refers to events like airplanes crashing, boats capsizing, or even failure of home heating equipment. The Lesson: If you are flying over Alaska or boating in Canada, bring along the appropriate protective clothing. If your home is in a region that get’s extremely cold, have a backup method of heating your home AND some very good cold weather clothing that is rated to protect you to the lowest outdoor winter temperature in your area. (The worst case scenario is you might have to leave your home and be in the outdoors).

2. Miscalculation-Inaccurate assessment of one’s situation. For example, you underestimate how cold it is. The Lesson: Get correct information about the weather situation before you go out. For example, your going hunting and you believe, incorrectly, that the temperature is going to 40 degrees farenheight with a 5 mile per hour wind when in reality the temperature is going to 15 degrees farenheight with a 20 mile per hour wind. If you dress for the 40 degrees and 5 mile per hour wind, your going to have problems. If you do not have accurate weather data, you cannot plan and dress accordingly.

3. Misplaced confidence-Inaccurate assessment of one’s ability to survive in cold weather or believing, incorrectly, that if you do get hypothermia there will be someone to come to your rescue. The Lesson: You are not Superman, and Superman will not be there to rescue you. DO NOT OVERESTIMATE YOUR OWN ABILITY, ESPECIALLY WHEN IN COLD WEATHER.

4. Logistic failure-Not bringing adequate cold weather clothing and survival gear with you. The Lesson: This one ties in with # 1,2, and 3. WHEN IN DOUBT, OVERESTIMATE THE SEVERITY OF THE COLD AND BRING MORE GEAR THAN YOU NEED.

5. Individual pathophysiological susceptibility-This refers to individuals who have medical conditions that make them more vulnerable to the cold. The Lesson: If you have medical problems like hypothyroidism (low thyroid), heart disease, diabetes, problems with mobility, etc. you are going to be much more vulnerable to the effects of the cold. As such, PLAN ACCORDINGLY.


My state, Alabama, is not usually thought of as a cold state. However, Alabama has some of the largest extremes in temperature in the U.S.A. Summers often reach temperatures of over 100 degrees farenheight, and in winter nighttime temperatures go below 20 degrees farenheight. Some of you have winters much colder than that, but I doubt many of you have temperature ranges that extreme.

I’m often amazed how some people will go out in the middle of winter, say to the store, with nothing but a shirt on. The thought process is something like this: The store is only 3 miles away, I’ll only be out of my car as I walk from the parking lot into the store. What could happen?

In answer to that question, my reply is: “A damn lot!”

What if your car breaks down on a rural road, and your out of cell phone range? What if you have to change a tire? What if the weather changes dramatically for the worst while you are in the store shopping?

My solution to these potential problems is to keep the following items in your car:

1. A light, compact jacket that gives you some rain/snow protection.
2. An emergency space blanket or bag. These are made of metal foil and they reflect heat back to your body. The bags are better than the blankets. Ideally you would have one of each.
3. An emergency poncho for extra weather protection and extra warmth. These are available at Wal-Mart type establishments for around $1.99. Orange is the best color for visibility-choose this color if it is available.
4. 3 disposable Bic type lighters left in the plastic package until needed.
5. 4 boxes of waterproof matches.
6. 1 Zippo type lighter with extra flints and a small can of lighter fluid.
7. Kindling material for starting fires. Cotton balls smeared with Vaseline Petroleum Jelly kept in a nalgane bottle are a good choice.
8. A good flashlight, ideally and LED flashlight, to help you find your way and signal for rescue.
9. A signal mirror-to signal for rescue.
10. A whistle-it’s sound can go much farther than a human voice

The best warning about cold weather survival is this: Don’t get caught with your pants down. Be prepared.