A Spanish Exodus to the Cities leaves a Desert in its Wake‏

1) Ferfal, the UK's Financial Times has an interesting article titled "A Spanish exodus to the cities leaves a desert in its wake".
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/09fde45a-8053-11e4-9907-00144feabdc0.html#slide0

2) Some excerpts from the article: [All around Motos, in Spanish inland provinces such as Teruel, Guadalajara and Soria, villages are gradually being abandoned. A process of depopulation and rural flight that has lasted more than five decades is drawing to its seemingly inevitable conclusion.
What is left behind is a region twice the size of Belgium but so devoid of people that it rivals the Arctic provinces of Lapland as the least populated zone in Europe. For every square kilometre, there are fewer than eight inhabitants.] ["Checa is at the limit,” says Mr Alba. “Right now we still have a medical centre. We have a bank. We have a restaurant and a couple of bars. But if we lose more inhabitants we won’t be able to hold on to those services.”
Keeping the local school is crucial, says Juan Vicente Aparicio, the mayor of nearby
Orihuela del Tremedal. “The moment when there are not enough children to keep the school going, that is when you know that the village is finished. People don’t move to places where there is no school,” he says. ]
[Mr Alba admits that there is no easy solution to halt the slide. He travels to Madrid frequently to raise the plight of his region with senior politicians. More investment and better incentives for businesses to relocate would help, he says. ]
Don Williams
....

Rural flight is very common. Given Spain’s economic crisis, its no wonder that you see what you typically see during an economic crisis, which is people leaving small, hard hit towns and moving to bigger cities where there’s more job opportunities.
I know, its ironic because many in the prepper community seem to think that it will work the other way around. Still, doing a bit of research quickly shows that the opposite is what happens the most in these cases.
Let reality and previous events guide your preparedness plans folks, not some survival fiction novel!
Thanks for the article.

FerFAL
Fernando “FerFAL” Aguirre is the author of “The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse” and “Bugging Out and Relocating: When Staying is not an Option”.

Victorinox MiniChamp II: A Toolbox in your Keychain

I’ve been carrying a Victorinox Midnight Minichamp in my keychain for over seven years now. It is in my opinion the best, most complete keychain multitool you can possibly have. It always seems to save the day. Everything else has changed or been upgraded but the Minichamp remains. The Leatherman Squirt PS4 is in some way similar and it does have pliers, but then again the screwdrivers are too short and it has 9 tools vs 15 tools for the Minichamp II.

Victorinox Minichamp II $31.97
Over the years, the Midnight Minichamp has been a trusted companion, always there when something needed cutting, when a scissor was needed, when something had to be repaired or when there was no pen around to take notes, complete forms or sign paperwork. Now, the Minichamp II has replaced my trusty keychain tool.

 The only difference is that the Midnight version included a LED light, while the Minichamp II has tweezers, which I find more useful. Other than that, everything remains the same. Lets take a look at the tools we have:
1 Pen Blade
The Minichamp main pen blade is just 3,5 centimeters long, but the perfectly heat treated X55CrMo14 blade holds and edge, flexes without breaking and should serve you well for years if treated with care and kept sharp.
2. Scissors
These, like all other Vics I’ve owned, are sturdy, well made and work well for the intended purposes given their small size.
3. Retractable stylus pen
This is something you’ll end up using a lot. Make sure you extend the ruler for better hand support if you need to write more than a quick note.
4 and 5. Nail file with nail cleaner
The nail file works well and I’ve used the nail cleaner as a flat Philips screwdriver successfully a number of times. Its also a good pointy/poky tool for when you don’t want to risk damaging the pen blade.
6. Emergency blade
This is comforting to have since the main blade is small and could snap by accident. The small Wharncliff works almost like a scalpel, idea for detail cuts. I make sure I keep this blade razor sharp while using the pen knife for ordinary tasks.
7 and 8. Orange Pealer with scrapper /Pharmaceutical Cut and picker tool
Supposedly used for pealing oranges… and scrapping. Then again this tool is also called a Pharmaceutical Cut and picker, intended for opening pill bottles and removing the cotton on top. I’ve used this tool to punch holes into leather and plastic, even drill holes into wood. It can also be used to cut open clamshell plastic packing, which many knives have problems with.
9, 10 and 11. Cap lifter with magnetic Phillips screwdriver tip and wire stripper
This tool is one of the most useful. The magnetic screwdriver is well designed for smaller screws. For larger ones I use the nail cleaner. The cap lifter is small but it works and the wire stripper can be used also for bending thick wires.
12 and 13. Flat screwdriver with engraved ruler.
The small screwdriver works well, with good reach. The ruler is good for measuring small screws and such, both inches and cm.
14. Cuticle pusher
This is the kind of thing that makes you wonder what were they thinking. Cuticle pusher… . I mostly use it as a large plain screwdriver or for prying when I don’t want to risk breaking the other tools.
15. Tweezers.
Its always nice to have these for splinters and other delicate tasks. With a moonlight mode in my keychain light, I’d rather have tweezers than the LED light.
FerFAL
 Fernando “FerFAL” Aguirre is the author of “The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse” and “Bugging Out and Relocating: When Staying is not an Option”.

Guns vs Cash

Fernando,
Hoping life in Ireland finds you and yours doing well.
I'm in need of advice from someone who has actually lived through a real economic collapse, unlike these fiction writers.
I live in the USA where I believe for religious and factual reasons we're heading down the same road your country went through. (Excellent book, btw.)
My question is this; I own a Springfield M-1A in .308 caliber and since I'm now in my early fifties and not in the best of shape, I'm not seeing a need for this rifle in a collapse scenario. I'm not gonna be running around in the woods playing civil war 2. Though my wife and I do live out in the country about five miles from town which is the only reason I can see for maybe needing one.
I'm in need of cash for vehicle repair right now and I'm thinking since the rifle and its accessories don't really fit my lifestyle, what's your opinion on keeping it?
Thanks for your time and God bless you and your family.
William

Hello William,
Thanks for the well wishes and I’m glad you liked my book.
I’ve bought and sold more guns than I can remember. In general I haven’t regretted selling them, mostly because I was getting something I wanted even more, but to be honest there are a few I wish I had kept. If you have a gun you particularly like, especially if it’s a rare collectible and hard to find again, then it makes sense to try to keep it and not part with it.
Having said that, from a practical point of view chances are that, as you well said, you won’t be fighting Civil War II any time soon and pretty much 99% of your defensive needs can be covered with a good handgun. I do recommend having a rifle too though, but if you are needing the money now and your M-1A can provide the funds needed you can sell it, then later down the road you can get a good working AK or some other affordable semi auto rifle when you find one at a good price.
Hope that makes sene!
FerFAL
Fernando “FerFAL” Aguirre is the author of “The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse” and “Bugging Out and Relocating: When Staying is not an Option”.

Fed Up Documentary

"and they are feeding it to your kids as such", I would add.
This is a documentary you just have to watch. Nothing else even comes close to directly affecting both your survival and your quality of life, even your liberty, as much as the topics covered in this film.
Anyone with some common sense knows that most of the so called food grocery stores sell is plain garbage full of salt, fat and most of all, sugar but its amazing to see the pure evil behind the food industry. The food industry owns everything from the food that makes you sick to the politicians you supposedly elect. What’s even scarier, these global conglomerates don’t just run the food industry, they work along with (and many times own) the pharmaceutical industry, and the media in one sick vicious circle.
It was particularly interesting to see Michelle Obama’s change of attitude, from “lets stop eating junk” to “lets Move!”, as if moving ever made a fat kid lose any significant amount of weight compared to eating well. Of course, the bosses didn’t allow the first kind of attitude.
Fed Up is available on Amazon Insant Video and DVD. It's probably available elsewhere too, look it up. Do yourself and your family a big favor and watch this movie.
FerFAL

Fernando “FerFAL” Aguirre is the author of “The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse” and “Bugging Out and Relocating: When Staying is not an Option”.

This is How Pro Criminals Work (and look!)

Fernando “FerFAL” Aguirre is the author of “The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse” and “Bugging Out and Relocating: When Staying is not an Option”.