World’s Deadliest Animal (hint, it’s not humans)

So yes, it’s not humans but the not so humble mosquito. Malaria, yellow fever, Chikungunya, west Nile virus, dengue fever, filariasis and Zika virus are just some of the deadly infections this little pest can transmit.
Ironically enough, during a large scale disaster where mosquitos are vectors of transmission, it is in larger urban areas where mosquito control efforts are more successful while rural and wilderness areas are much more exposed. This has historically been the case for Dengue fever across Latin America where the larger cities are kept under control through anti-mosquito campaigns, breeding water prevention and anti-mosquito fogging.
If you live in Southern USA, especially in rural areas, it makes sense to stock up on repellent in case of an outbreak. Surrounding your house with citronella plants is also a good, natural mosquito repellent to consider.
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”.

Survival Irony: Most Overlooked yet most likely to kill you

I’ve been in forum discussions (recently) where people get so worked up over which handgun caliber is best they literally can’t keep the debate civil. Articles and posts about gear are all over the place, I know I do my fair share of those as well. We talk so much about emergencies and out of the ordinary events we sometimes lose touch with reality and either neglect or completely forget about the undisputed top causes of early death such as heart disease.
I’ve written before about how important it is to keep a healthy diet, exercise and maintain a reasonable body weight. It sure isn’t always easy but it needs to be discussed and insisted upon more. It’s not zombies or Mad Max style raiders, its this stuff that is by far the thing most likely to leave your kids without a father or mother before their time.
So, now that I hopefully caught your attention, how’s your weight, and when was the last time you checked your blood pressure and cholesterol, let alone a complete blood test.

CHOLESTEROL RISK CHART
Today I got my results and fortunately they are very good. I did gain some weight recently which I need to lose ASAP (too much Spanish food since we moved here) but still everything came back within normal parameters and the cholesterol and triglyceride levels are low enough to place me in the “very low” risk of cardiovascular disease, so that’s good news.
Its not always easy and quite frankly its sometimes a PITA but this is important and needs to be talked about and taken care of. I’m not preaching here, I’m sure thinking about myself as well as I write this.
If discussions about calibers can end up in forum wars you can imagine what happens when someone speaks honestly and goes “Dude, you’re not big, you’re fat”. Fat has somehow become a politically incorrect word, yet given its link to cardiovascular disease it is, by far, the leading cause of death world wide. Survivalism is pointless if we only focus on the fun stuff and can’t be bothered with keeping it real and that means seriously working on the extremely high risk threats such as diseases involving poor nutrition and unhealthy lifestyles.
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”.

Two new EDC lights from SureFire

SureFire is known as one of the most highly regarded brands in the tactical flashlight world. They are expensive but quality is outstanding. As good as their products are, many of Surefire products aren’t as exciting for flashlights fanatics, also known as flashaholics. There are several brands out there that are more affordable, offer good value and update their products more frequently to satisfy the demands of their lumen thirsty clients.
Surefire recently presented two new EDC lights that depart from their more classic line. Both are keychain lights, which is a category I’m always interested in. I firmly believe that what you have in your keychain is likely to be there when needed most, so I pay particular attention to that.

SureFire Titan Plus $89.79

The Surefire Titan Plus is the one that really caught my attention. I droll all over a powerful AAA keychain light and this one is currently the brightest at 300 lumens for high (300 lumens / 1 hour), medium (75lumens / 2 hours) and low (15 lumens / 7 hours). Like the Sidekick, it has a proprietary faceted reflector (MaxVision Beam™) which creates a broad, smooth beam.

Surefire Sidekick $78.99


The second one is a small keychain light called Surefire Sidekick. It has the form factor of a small square polymer remote control, multiple intensity outputs, Low (5 lumens / 45 hours), medium (60 lumens / 4 hours) and high (300 lumens / 1.25 hours). The nice thing about this light, besides its peculiar shape which departs from the traditional tubular form factors, is that that it uses a fixed battery rechargeable through a micro USB port. I favour replaceable batteries but I do like the micro USB recharging feature. Given how common these are I can see how someone would easily integrate this to their routine, recharging his EDC light just like they recharge their phone with no problem.
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”.

Spain: 5 Things I love about living in Spain (and one I hate)

Winter in Spain...

 

The BEST Survival Tool… and the most overlooked.

Passports, Gun and Cash.
A recent article in CNN (World's best and worst passports revealed) reminded me of what I know to be one of the most powerful survival tools, maybe THE most powerful one besides your own body and mind: A Second Passport, especially one in a first world nation or EU.
But isn’t it food, water, guns, ammo, meds? Yes, they are all very important, essential even, but for a worst case scenario, for when you have to bug out and do so even out of the country due to pandemic, war, tyranny, then a second citizenship is without a doubt your most valuable tool, and that’s just one of the key advantages it has.
Many Americans could get EU citizenship through Ireland, Spain, Germany and Italy. If you have a grandparent from one of these countries, in general it costs very little money, just making a few calls and having patience.
There’s a reason why an EU passport costs millions of dollars. (I believe Malta still offers the cheapest one just under 2M) What are the advantages? Wealthy people from other nations find it to be a powerful tool for business and financial reasons, having assets and investments in countries that offer favourable conditions. That may not be of as much interest to you but there are other key advantages for the average Joe as well.
1)Healthcare. In Europe you’re entitled to it, for free. And it’s far better than most Americans think. Entitlement sounds bad until you’re dying and you don’t have the hundreds of thousands of dollars needed to save your life, or your kids, or your grandkids. A plane ticket to an EU country where you have citizenship means you will get treated.
2)Education. How about studying in Europe for free or very cheap, a quarter or less of what it costs in USA? Again, your kids and grandkids will enjoy those same rights.
3) Refugee. If we can learn anything about the current refugee crisis is that it sucks to be one. With a second citizenship from a serious country you have an embassy, you have a country backing you and a place to go to… as a citizen. War, disasters of great magnitude of an authoritarian regime means you have somewhere to go to. It may seem unlikely, distant, but remember this is a right you can pass on down your family tree. Maybe is not your own, but your kids or your grandkids who you’re saving.
If you believe you can get a second citizenship, don’t even think about it just do it. Your kids, great grandkids or a family member further down the bloodline may thank you for it one day.
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”.