Economic Collapse: Explaining it to Kids (and yourself)

Video regarding how children are affected by an economic collapse and what adults should know to deal with it better.



FerFAL
Join the forum discussion on this post

Make 500 USD a day in the streets of Buenos Aires!!

Dollar at 3.50? Not any more.

No kidding! Who said there are no opportunities after an economic collapse?
Here’s the deal. Remember how we used to have a fictional 1 to 1 exchange rate with the US dollar that practically destroyed us and pressed the “reset” button in Argentina in 2001?

Well, our wise populist leaders are artificially keeping the dollar down, so the official exchange rate is around 4 pesos or 4.10 per dollar, but on the street they are paying up to 4.50 for it. Say you are a tourist looking to sell dollars, the bank pays you the artificially low rate, say 4.07, while on the street they pay you 4.15. The question though is, why would anyone buy dollars in the black market. The reason is that there’s a limit to how many USD you can buy at a time and most important, they ask for ID. People here know better than having the government know you’re putting your money into dollars. It’s the best way to have the tax hounds go after your company or personal finances, start investigating your assets and freezing you accounts. During the Soccer world cup for example, those that foolishly bought big screen TVs with their credit card or gave their personal information otherwise when making the purchase, they got a visit soon after by the Argentine IRS.

Because of this, with 10.000 USD to work this “bicycle” scheme, you can make about 500 USD a day, buying at the bank, selling on the street, then getting back in line at the bank and doing it all over again. Because you spend most of the time in lines at the bank, these guys are called “coleros”, people that form lines and often work for a bigger fish that owns a “cave”, a store that may do business with clothing or a small drugstore, but its just a front for a buy/sell dollar business. They usually hire others to do the line for them, unemployed people with no resources, and willing to use their ID. There’s 6.000 “coleros” already identified but that’s not a problem, there’s more than enough unemployed people willing to replace them in spite of risking financial penalties. How big is this business? As of today, it moves 30 million USD per day.
http://www.cronista.com/finanzasmercados/Pese-a-los-problemas-con-los-coleros-florece-el-negocio-de-las-cuevas-en-la-city-20110509-0037.html

The risk? Other than risking your financial status and getting banned from a number of banks, the greatest problem is that you risk getting identified and targeted by criminals because of the amount of cash you handle. One “arbolito” that I used to know (“tree”, the person that sells the green dollars on the street), he got murdered for the cash he had at hand. So yes, there’s a risk involved, but as the president says, crime here is mostly a “sensation”. Sucks though that the “sensation” you and your family have after getting shot to death, happens to be so very real.
FerFAL
Join the forum discussion on this post

 

.

Interviewed Today by Chris Martenson

Its today in the next hour or two, here’s the link in case you want to check it out.
http://www.chrismartenson.com/

Edited to add: I'ts not going to be up today, I'll post the link when it is.

FerFAL

Join the forum discussion on this post

.

Home Invasion shooting Incidents

Incident 1


I just had dinner with another shooter that suffered a home invasion recently. He wasn’t carrying and got surprised by bad guys when entering his father in Law’s home.

Very violent, the three bad guys tell them to stay on the ground. They hit his 20 year old son in the head with the gun, he starts bleeding a lot, but nods to his dad to let him know he’s ok. The bad guys hit him a few times over the head as well, threatening everyone, fingers on the trigger shouting out how much they’d like to shoot someone. Two go through the house while another one keeps an eye on the victims. They get more violent as they don’t find money. Finally the wife finds an envelope with money after looking where his father usually keeps it.

The nightmare seems to be over but then one of the bad guys says he’s taking the 11 year old daughter. That’s when the father (the person telling me the story) stands up and in spite of getting hit again over the head with the gun, he tells them they’ll have to kill him, but they are not taking his daughter with them. The criminals apparently happy enough with the money decide to leave. He tells me he had a hard time overcoming the experience, that he saw their faces in every person he saw on the streets. When I asked him if he wished he had had a gun in that moment right before being forced inside and if he would have used it, he replied “Oh, yes, if I had a gun, having gone what I went through, I would have killed the SOBs”


Incident 2

This shooter used to claim that you don’t need to carry with a round in the chamber because you always have that split second to chamber a round. In contrast to safer places where such claims end up only in internet debates, in Buenos Aires it unfortunately happens that your theories and beliefs regarding guns and techniques are put to test in the real world. He was wrong, of course.

During a home invasion he sees a couple bad guys entering his home. He draws his Steyr pistol, aims at the closest one and pulls the trigger… click. As the criminals bring up their own guns he instinctively does a “stop” gesture with his other hand. The criminals don’t stop. The first round penetrates his palm, goes all across the inside of his arm and exits through his shoulder. Unlike sometimes when you don’t even realize when you get shot, this time he says it instantly hurt like hell and the pain was overwhelming. The other 10 shots he receives all over his abdomen don’t hurt as much. He spends time in the intensive care unit, takes years for him to recover including 12 months with a colostomy but he survives.

Incident 3

Another shooter that took classes with my instructor suffers a robbery in his store. He sees the armed criminal and goes for his Glock .40 as he opens the door that goes from the back room to the front of the store. The criminal sees the door opening and kicks the door right into his face, sending him falling on his back to the ground. Before he recovers a rain of blows falls over his head as the criminal brutally pistol-whips him. Fortunately he remembers his training and cries begging for his life, covering his head as well as he can with his left hand, the right hand still hidden by his torso as he sits in the ground. When he wimps out crying and begging for his life, the bad guy’s confidence only grows, taking wider swings as he hits his victim. When he’s wide open taking another one of these swings, the victim rotates his torso in a textbook extreme close quarter shooting technique, pistol against the right side of the chest, shooting four quick shots. Shooting from a lower position into the chest of an attacker standing over him, the four .40 hollow points rip diagonally across the bad guy’s chest, through his heart. The shots seem to push the bad guy back, he’s falls dead right there. ( this victim, he had a round in the chamber)

These are just a couple of the stories that happen in Buenos Aires every day. Luck is always a factor, but usually those that have an adequate weapon and training fair better in comparison to those that don’t.

FerFAL

Join the forum discussion on this post



-

Bunker/ Man Cave Combo

If you’re stocking up on gear and supplies you probably find yourself looking for extra space around the house. Stuff just seems to multiply and pile around you when you turn to survival and preparedness lifestyle. Buckets and cans of food, bottles of water, ammo, not to mention the safe with guns. Even if you just procure the basics they do take up a considerable amount of space. The advice is usually to create such space and make the most of what you have. From adding shelves to your pantry so as to take advantage of every cubic inch to looking under the bed or in dressers, there’s ways to fit much more than you previously thought possible. But then there’s those lucky guys that have lots of space to play with or a basement, or are just about to add a garage or expand the existing one so why not add that …”wine cellar” , you always wanted?


The Bunker

Depending on the house and the project that needs to be done it may not be as expensive as it would seem. If you have to make a concrete slab for a new structure anyway you might as well spend a few thousand more and have that shelter made. If you happen to have a basement then its just a matter of doing a bit of work, the hardest and most expensive part is already done.
Does having a shelter or bunker make sense? I think it does. Especially in a country like USA, there’s always the possible terrorist attack or war. The shelter would be pretty much mandatory in hurricane country. It can save you during chemical accidents or forest fires. In this day and age, chemical or biological agents could be used against the population. There’s the possibility of a dirty bomb. After an earthquake, the shelter may be the only structure left standing that is still safe to inhabit. What a blessing it would be when the rest of your house is destroyed. The unlikely yet possible scenarios are countless. The point is simply that a safe, bomb proof “bunker” is very appealing from a survivalists perspective. Having the blast door, right construction and proper air filtration system turns your basement play room into a NBC shelter. It´s not that difficult, it´s not an impossible dream.
Man Cave

Jeff Copper's Man Cave

Telling your friends and family you have a NBC bunker will earn you a “weirdo” stare or two, but instead saying you have a trendy “man Cave” is much more sociably acceptable.


Your… “man cave”… just happens to be built in the basement or under the new shed or garage. Oh, and the theme of your “man cave” could be a frontier trading post, nuclear era memorabilia (all the preps around the place are just for decoration, of course)
What I consider to be the best thing about this double purpose is that the shelter is no longer a dead space saved for an unlikely scenario, a space you never get to use. It’s a functional space and you use it often out of sheer pleasure.

The Advantages I see:

1)You have a NBC shelter for the countless scenarios it may come in handy.

2)You have more storage space.

3)Since its no longer a “shelter” but a “man cave”, your home now has and extra room if it goes into the market, one that is a sought after play room for guys.

4) You do get a space of your own, for your things, to work on projects, clean your guns and such.


Survivor Shack?

Even if you don’t have the money for something like this there’s still hope. If you manage to scrounge some square yards in your property a wood construction with a salvaged door and couple windows is easy to build with some skill and tools. You wont have the protection of an actual shelter of course, but you do get to have extra space for your gear and yourself. A TV and old couch and some of your gear tastefully distributed could create a space of your own.

If this is something you might be interested in, consider this book, ManSpace: A Primal Guide to Marking your Territory . I bought it some time ago and its pretty good. It has lots of stories and pictures of different “man caves” styles, from high end ones to self-made projects with salvaged materials.

Just some more ideas to consider.


Take care,

FerFAL


Join the forum discussion on this post


,

Home Invasion Attempt

My dentist called last night to cancel an appointment for this morning.
Seems that they were having dinner when they heard someone kicking their main entrance door, hard. Her husband, also a dentist, starts shouting but the attacker keeps kicking until he breaks the lower part of the door, his foot goes right through it. For whatever reason, the person just pulled his foot out of the door and escaped. It could have been that they saw someone noticing what he or them where up to, maybe a police car was near by, who knows? If they think someone just called the cops they usually leave. She was a bit stressed but otherwise ok. She was dealing with the problem of the broken door and apparently a neighbor (she doesn’t live near by) was helping them with the door problem.

This happens pretty often, and I keep getting emails from all across USA where these events are becoming more and more common. Even in the “safe” neighborhoods, home invasions with and without people inside are growing problem.

What can we learn about this type of incident :

1) Have a gun. I want to think its self-explanatory that this means you’ll only be buying it after doing some serious soul search and you conclude you have the required maturity and confidence to handle one safely and that you will get professional training so as to know how to use it.

2) As it sometimes happens (and I’m surprised to see some people still don’t believe this) some criminals just don’t care if you’re inside. Usually criminals go for houses that are clearly empty, no lights, no noise, but when the lights are turned on and they still try to break in, they don’t care if you’re inside. Not the most common scenario, but it does happen enough to be concerned.

3) The door folks! Have a security door, preferably professionally installed, get a bulletproof one if you can afford it. The main door is the quickest access to your home, especially in USA doors are just for looks, a well placed kick sends 95% of the doors in USA flying open. This guy, he apparently kicked the lower section of the door, not a pro. Had he kicked strongly where the lock is so as to bust the hinges instead of breaking the actual door, he would have gotten inside in a matter of seconds.

FerFAL
  Join the forum discussion on this post

 

.

Interview Tonight on BePreared Radio

Hi guys, here’s the link, its today 5PM Pacific Standard Time

http://www.bepreparedradio.com/2011/05/24/berkey-guy-show-05-24-2011/

FerFAL

 Join the forum discussion on this post

 

.

Security Tip: “give away” Wallet

All situations are different. As much as we talk about armed self defense, depending on the situation involved in, a give away/throw away wallet is a wise alternative, another tool to work with.


FerFAL

Join the forum discussion on this post

“Power Hour” Interview

Hi guys, this is the interview I did with Joyce Riley for “The Power Hour”.
http://archives2011.gcnlive.co…..520112.mp3
http://archives2011.gcnlive.co…..520113.mp3
There’s a couple more interviews coming up this week.

FerFAL
Join the forum discussion on this post

 

.

Accidental discharges and Handgun Administrative Handling

I think its time to go over some of the more advanced issues that come along with concealed carry on daily basis. This is a topic that is rarely covered. We learn in classes how to shoot, but safety is limited to the basic rules. “Treat guns as if loaded, keep your finger off the trigger guard, keep your gun pointed in a safe direction, ok lets start shooting!” Usually there’s not much emphasis placed on it after the rules are quickly reminded.

Lets start by defining some concepts here. Administrative handling would be the manipulation of the firearm that isn’t specifically shooting. This would include weapon disassemble, holstering, chambering a round or removing it among others. This elemental type of activity will become a part of your daily life if you carry concealed on daily basis.
One of the most dangerous incidents that could take place when handling a firearm is a negligent discharge or  non-intended discharge. These are generally considered “accidental discharges”, but there’s a difference between the two.

Negligent Discharges:  These occur when due to lack of responsibility or proper firearms safety instruction, the user discharges the weapon when he’s not intending to do so.  Unfortunately this is pretty common. A good example would be tragedies were children ( or adults that act like one)  shoot a friend “by accident” with a firearm left unsupervised. There’s simply no excuse for negligent gun handling. Joking, “playing” or general fooling around with a firearm clearly shows that such person lacks the maturity to handle one. Negligent discharges are the ones that most often end in severe injury or death. Due to its nature, in this case its very likely that all firearm safety rules have been broken simultaneously with terrible results. Lack of knowledge isn’t an excuse either. If you don’t know how to drive, you don’t attempt to drive for the first time on a highway where you know you’ll likely injure yourself and others. It’s the same thing with a gun.
This should not be confused with cases were the operator of the firearm shoots someone he’s not supposed to. Pulling the trigger with full intention, the operator shoots a loved one or innocent person, failing to properly identify the target during a stressful incident. Incorrectly called accidents, these mostly occur due to lack of proper firearms training specifically oriented to self-defense shooting. Unfortunately many defensive shooting schools these days have instructors with military back ground that don’t put as much attention in proper target ID, preferring the more appealing high speed low drag experience that makes students feel better about themselves.

Non-intended discharge: Ever got surprised by a second shot after shooting the first one?  That’s a non-intended discharge. The difference between non-intended and negligent discharge is that in this case the operator has firearms safety knowledge and does handle the firearm as he’s supposed to. In spite of handling the firearm with the respect it deserves and having adequate firearms training, a non-intended discharge is possible based on human error. No one is perfect. Even though you do everything right, you can’t avoid making a mistake eventually. Dry firing with a suddenly loaded gun, pulling the trigger to disassemble a striker firing pistol (Glock) while forgetting a round in the chamber are good examples.

Discharges due to Mechanical Failure: These are very rare in the gun world. Even though some confuse these with non-intended or negligent discharges, the difference is very clear and worth noticing so as to use the right terminology. In this case, there’s no human error, the guns fails you. With modern firearms this is rare but occasionally happens. Rifles or handguns that fire when the safety is removed would be an example. Some Remignton 700 rifles experience this problem and have been recalled.


Safe Administrative Handling.

Its said that everyone that handles firearms eventually has at the very least a non-intended discharge sooner or later. If it didn’t ever happen to you just wait a while. Handling weapons on frequent basis means its just a matter of time until it happens so never drop your guard.
What can be done then, since its pretty much unavoidable?
What you can do is a) Respect the basic firearms handling rules b) Create an administrative handling routine that reduces the risk in case of a non-intended discharge as much as possible.

A good routine for a person that carries a gun on daily basis could be:

1)      Never handle the firearm with other people in the room, especially children. Say you put on your weapon and holster when dressing, always close the door of your room when doing so. Same thing when putting the gun away for the night. Even if left handy, the removing of the holster from your belt and leaving the gun in a safe but accessible place, that can be done with the door locked to minimize risk to other family members.
2)      Have a routine for chambering a round. Again, with the door locked, always do it with the gun pointed in a safe direction, where the projectile wouldn’t penetrate through walls. This could be a gun safe or a wooden dresser with some paper magazines in the direction your pointing the gun at. Always do it in this same direction, especially when you have to pull the trigger on an empty chamber in your Glock. If you do this all the time, when your non intended discharge eventually happens you’ll be putting that round into a bunch of magazines rather than through the wall and across the kid’s room.

3)      The gun stays in the holster. If you’re traveling or have to remove the gun from your belt, always leaving it in its holster. The holster is actually an integral part of the Glock system. A Glock will not fire while inside an adequate holster. There have been some accidents with leather holsters deforming and catching on the trigger when reholstering. I prefer polymer holsters to avoid this. Still, check your holster often for cracks or deformation and don’t hurry when reholstering, do it slowly.
4)      When dry fire practicing, put the ammo away, don’t leave a magazine full near by. All you need is a phone call , someone calling you and distracting you for a second for you to load that mag, chamber a round and then continue your dry fire practice… this happens A LOT. When dry firing, do it when no one is around, kids and wife out of the house. Either that or practice it at the range. Always do it in a safe direction. Dry firing with your family running around if inviting disaster.

Following the basic rules and developing a safe routine for you administrative handling will reduce the chances of injury or even fatal accidents due to accidental discharges as much as humanly possible.
Take care!
FerFAL
Join the forum discussion on this post

 

.

“The Power Hour” interview on May 20th, 8am cst

Hi guys, I’ll be on “The Power Hour” with Joyce Riley tomorrow morning.
Here’s the link and phone number to call for questions and comments (scroll down)
http://www.thepowerhour.com/schedule.htm#
Take care ,
FerFAL

  Join the forum discussion on this post

 

.

500 yard AK47 Shot?

Just got this from Gabe Suarez’s newsletter.
I’m posting this for those that think you can’t hit anything with an AK past 100 yards. Read up:



From the Newsletter:
“New 5.45×39 12.5″ Barrel – $200
Texas Weapons Systems Top Cover - $140
ACOG TA33 – $1100
Hornady V-max ammo - $34.00
Hitting an IPSC Steel at 500 yards with an AK-74 –

Priceless!!
I drove out to the range in Kingman, AZ and set up the IPSC steel targets for the upcoming sniper class and drove away to 100 yards. I climbed up on the hitch and used my range trailer as a shooting platform. Magazine monopod on a sand bag. 100 yards…five shots five hits.
Good enough.
Drove to 200 yards and repeated.
Drove to 300 yards and repeated.
Drove to 400 yards and reperated. Thought what the hell….drove to 500 yards and repeated.
It took a few shots to figure out how to use the ACOG 5.56 reticle…not having shot this 12.5″ barreled AK at such distances before. Once I got it…the bottom reticle of the TA33 on the target, I got five hits for five shots. No problem. I thought 600 yards would be pushing it, so I put the rifle down and hit my 400 snatch kettlebell drill (with a 24kg bell) before driving to the hotel for a cold beer.”

Just like any other weapon, with a properly built weapon relatively long range shots with an AK47 are entirely possible. Keep this in mind before spending thousands on a rifle that, while maybe a bit more accurate, will never have the reliability and toughness of an AK.
FerFAL
  Join the forum discussion on this post

.

AA and AAA Batteries for Flashlights

Hi Fernando,

thanks for all your videos and blog. I would like to use AA or AAA

RECHARGEABLE batteries for flash lights. What are my options?

thanks for your info.

Keep the good work,

Sachin

Hi Sachin. I keep a bunch of them around, both AA and AAAs. The AAA I mostly use for headlamps which are extremely handy during prolonged blackouts when you have to keep doing chores in the dark. The headlamp allows you to use both hands and the light at the same time, so you can prepare food, clean up or work on projects. 

  

Energizer Trail Finder 7 LED Headlamp (3 AAA Batteries Included) 

$16.99

LEDs are so efficient, its not hard to put months worth of lighting aside for a rainy day with little money with ordinary alkaline batteries. Using for example the MTE 1xAA I recently reviewed, and using it in low mode at 30 lumens, you see all right and have nearly 24 hs worth of light per battery.

Then again, when blackouts become common and that may be a possibility as the economy gets worse, you’ll be using your flashlight a lot. In that case you want rechargeables. Until not that long ago the problem with rechargeable batteries was that they lost charge fast, but the good news is that today you have low self-discharge rate batteries that keep their charge for much longer time. After a year when fully charge it still has around 85% of its charge. The best ones are Eneloops and Sony Cycle Energy. Seems they are the exact same thing actually, but with a different brand wrapping. (Sony outsources its LSD batteries to Sanyo)

 

Sony Cycle Energy Power Charger with 4 Pre-Charged 2000 mAh AA Batteries 

$13.99
Just checked on Amazon and for another 4 bucks you might as well have the charger to go with the Sony ones. Eneloops or Cycle Energy, either one will serve you well. 


FerFAL

Gardens, Water, Energy and Dogs after the Economic Collapse

Dear FerFAL,

I have been reading your blog and listening to interviews with you for the last year.  I appreciate the perspective you have given your philosophy, and why you believe it works.  I also am grateful for the constructive criticism you give about the tenets of the modern survivalism/prepper movement.  I’m reminded of the legendary samurai Yamoaka Tesshu.  He wrote a book called The Sword of No Sword, not as many of his contemporaries did, based on their theories of how martial art should work in a given situation because they trained so well.  Rather, AFTER he survived hundreds of lethal duels, he wrote about what HE had leaned by surviving.  While many here in the U.S.A. have skills that are quite respectable, your voice stands unique as one speaking from your life lessons.  Since what you have lived through is not subject to anyone else’s critique or interpretation, you have an unassailable credibility compared to even the most highly educated experts here.  There simply is no substitute for experience.

My questions are about how well some of our assumptions here would work in your present circumstances, and especially during the most chaotic times you’ve experienced in the past.

1).  How useful is a backyard garden when the rule of law doesn’t provide adequate protection?  Is a large garden something thieves raid constantly?  Would gardening be a safe activity?  Do you know anyone who has one?

2).  How practical is raising small livestock?  Do you know anyone who raises rabbits?  Or chickens?  Or goats?

3).  Do people keep dogs for security?  Does anyone have dogs that keep their backyards safe, or are dogs a target for criminals?

4).  Does anyone you know of capture rainwater to drink?  Is safe drinking water a problem for you (or was it at any point)?

5).  Are solar panels or small wind generators in use anywhere in BA? Would a solar panel just be a bright target for criminals?

Thanks for your input.  Keep up the good work.
Kelly-



Hi Kelly, thanks for the nice words, about your questions,

1)Rule of law, keep hearing that. You bring an important point that I’d like to cover before answering your question. To begin with, rule of law NEVER provides adequate protection. If someone is determined to hurt you, walks to your house when you’re leaving to your job and shoots you a couple times, rule of law will certainly not stop the projectiles in mid air. What somewhat protects people is the generalized “sensation” that there’s a punishment for evil actions. Once that’s removed you see the true miserable self of some elements of the society. We saw guys with SUVs stealing big screen TVs during the rioting during the Argentine economic collapse. During Katrina, even the cops were caught on camera looting. ( see? We’re not that different after all) Why did people do that? Because they felt they could get away with it.
If you’re talking about really bad, post SHTF times, any activity that exposes you brings additional danger. Americans don’t think much of mowing the lawn, its an ordinary activity, even a tradition. Around here people that have certain level of awareness do so keeping an eye on things, knowing they are exposed to criminals. During high crime times, gardening or any other activity that leaves you exposed in such way implies an additional danger. I’m not saying not to do it, just saying that if crime is really bad, that moment is a window of opportunity for criminals and you should at least know that in order to take measures or at least be extra careful. Victory gardens aren’t that popular but people do have a few plants, especially older folks, they used to have small orchards in their back yards.

2) Not very practical, but it depends on the region. If you have the space, time, and most of all, enjoy doing it, by all means go for it. In general its not very profitable in terms of money saved compared to the time you put into it. Most folks will find that its more productive to engage in more profitable activities other than small scale livestock.
The advantage of course is that a) you have livestock in the event of a long term disaster b) It could be a possible home based business which you can expand on. Then again if it were that profitable, I’m sure I would have seen more people doing it here. Same in the states. Doing it for pleasure doesn’t mean you’ve got a profitable business going on, and unfortunately that matters a lot, especially during a financial crisis. In smaller rural towns its of course more common, but I know several people in such places and if they are doing well most of them don’t have the time for livestock and just have an orchard if anything at all.


3) We do see lots of dogs begin sold specifically for security. Rottwheliers are the number one best selling dog for home security around here. It has become extremely popular. Unfortunately many owners just don’t know how to deal with such animals and it often ends up in serious injury or death. The Argentine Dogo which used to have a horrible reputation suddenly gained favor as a guardian dog. I remember being little and hearing about Dogos, it was like the boogyman. Turns out the Dogo Argentino is a terrific hunter and good for home security as well. Like with the Rotty, Dogos are sometimes involved in tragic events because they are bought by stupid people that don’t know what they are getting themselves into and treat these animals like a toy instead of a work animal. Thankfully people here fear the Dogo Argentino more than the Rotties and will usually prefer the Rottwheiler instead of the Dogo.
Based on several incidents that have occurred this last decade with dogs confronting armed attackers, the Dogo Argentino is a better dog for such cases, much less likely to coward away if hit or even shot. It is a hunting dog though, and will stalk and attack without barking. You may want to keep that in mind if you’re counting on the dog as an early alarm system.

4) It´s not something commonly done. I suppose there’s some people that gather rain water but you don’t see that often. What we do have is a problem with tap water. It has to be filtered. In the best case it has too much chlorine and slightly more heavy metals than approved in most 1st world countries. In the worst case tap water is contaminated with heavy metals and arsenic, which requires special filters. Long story short you pay for tap water but its contaminated to some degree and has to be filtered before drinking. This means you need a filtrating system that integrates to the system you use, so as to be used on daily basis. People that visit Buenos Aires notice that after taking a bath their skin itches considerably (If visiting Buenos Aires, bring some body lotion for this) . That’s because of the amount of chlorine they put into it to kill what the inefficient water treatments we have here failed to get rid of.

5)Neither energy system is common but I know of some places where it´s starting to get used more. I have a friend that imports solar panels, also solar heating systems. They do work in most of the country if properly calculated both on dimension and orientation by a specialist.
The risk of getting your solar panels stolen in Buenos Aires is pretty high unless you install them in places that are both out of sight and hard to reach. I think it´s worth looking into and eventually installing, given the ever increasing cost of electric power.
As a general tip for Americans, given current events and inflation, expect energy prices to go up considerably in the not so distant future. A couple solar panels and/or wind generator will soon pay for themselves. Why do it now if you can? The cost of producing these will go up as inflation (and the price of energy) makes them more expensive to manufacture so get into it sooner than later if finances allow.
FerFAL
Join the forum discussion on this post

 

.

Preparedness tip: Djeep lighter wrapped in Gorilla tape

Showing a few of my lighters and passing a tip that has worked well for me so far. Duct tape is terribly useful to have around, so it makes sense to have some with you. Gorilla tape happens to be the best tape to have, and it wraps nicely around the Djeep lighter, the best, most reliable disposable lighter.




FerFAL

  Join the forum discussion on this post

 

.

Must watch Movie: Inside Job

I watched “Inside Job” last night.

The movie explains why and how the house bubble was created, the economic crisis and who profited from it. As good as the documentary is, take a pill before watching it if you have high blood pressure problems. Those that caused all this misery did not only not go to jail, get filthy rich, and are still in the government. They also laugh in your face.  

 

Inside Job 

Most of us already have a good idea of how it happened, but there’s still good information in this well put together documentary. The Matt Damon is the narrator, and because of this I thought it would have a “Blame Bush and the Republicans” attitude and completely overlook the current’s administration blame. I was pleasantly surprised to see they did not hesitate to show how Obama’s promises of stopping and punishing the Wall Street mercenaries was left only at empty words, and how those same guys that caused the crisis during the Bush administration also found an nice profitable home in Obama’s one as well, doing the exact same thing.

I highly recommend this movie, not only for adults but the entire family, so as to understand what happened, where USA is heading and what you’ll need to be preparing for.

FerFAL