I recently had almost $30,000.00 of credit stripped from my accounts. It was a shocking surprise. One credit company went under and simply was not able to extend any more credit. Another capriciously decided to lower limits. One was on a Bank of America credit card I have used for over 40… that’s forty… years. All during that time of over four decades, I paid on time every single time. I would have thought I was a pretty good bet to continue doing so. They did not.

I can tell you it was not pleasant. I had counted on that credit to cushion our family during this economic down time.

But I had not counted on it too much. (more…)

Before I even start, I have to say that you must talk with your doctor and find out whether your use of any of the products or activities mentioned in this post, or indeed anywhere on this site, is appropriate for you. Get a complete physical and your doctor’s permission before beginning any physical activity. All statements are only personal opinion, and have not been approved by any authority or agency or anyone else whatsoever. And read our disclaimer statement.

You’ve gotten enough rest and you’re ready to rumble.

So, what would be a good work out to prepare your body for an emergency situation?

First on the list… stamina. (more…)

Before I even start, I have to say that you must talk with your doctor and find out whether your use of any of the products mentioned in this post, or indeed anywhere on this site, is appropriate for you. All statements are only personal opinion, and have not been approved by any authority or agency or anyone else whatsoever. And read our disclaimer statement.

You probably thought I’d start out by talking about running obstacle courses, or swimming through shark infested waters. That sort of thing.

But actually, the first thing you need to do is get enough rest. In the beginning, there was darkness, and then light. The Jewish day starts at sunset, so there is rest and sleep first…. and then later there is daytime and activity. That is so wise. Because that is the way we are made.

We need to build up before we can tear down and make stronger. We need rest before we can work out to maximum benefit.

That is why the method I propose is in at least one way superior to the best military training (more…)

Most people I know who have animals take care of them very well indeed.

But if you have not yet started stocking food and water and supplies for yourself during an emergency, it’s a pretty sure bet you have not done so for your pets. Truth is, their needs will be as great as your own. They depend on you for the food and water and medicines you provide for them. For life itself.

You want to be able to do your duty toward them in an extended emergency situation. So doesn’t it just make sense to start laying in enough food and other supplies to sustain them for a period of time when those things might not be available?
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There is a section on this website called Food - Can Help Others. You can find it here.

I bring up this thought because it is my answer to the people who say that if things go south, they would rather have bullets than food. I have been hearing more of this sort of talk lately, as we get closer to the next big event. Frankly, I tend to stay away from the subject, because I have very strong personal feelings about it, and my opinions tend to offend almost everyone. But the time to be cautious is passing. So here’s what I really think.
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It’s said that a recession is when the person next door is out of work.

And a depression is when you are out of work.

We are losing jobs in the United States at a rate of more than a half million a month. Everyone agrees on that. New figures come out tomorrow, and the guess is about 660,000, seasonally adjusted.

That means in reality, without adjustment, it will actually be something like 700, 000 (conservatively) to 1,000,000 or more. One friend totaled up raw figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, not counting retirees and others who are truly not in the job market, and he got a total of 19.5% unemployed in the United States. And that is previous to the new report tomorrow.
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I was in our nearest Wal-Mart a couple of days ago, and it was odd. The shelves were not fully stocked. In particular, there was not much rice, and in the automotive dept., there was only one container of Sta-Bil, an additive that  you mix with gasoline to store it for a year or more. There were also other gaps here and there. Nothing terribly important. Just a bit surprising.

I mentioned this to my wife, and she said the store where we get most of our food also had gaps on the shelves.

You know that on our home page I talk about the ‘just in time ordering‘ that most stores do now, to decrease their inventory costs. The things I’m seeing after the holiday season make me wonder if they are starting to be even more frugal about inventory. It would make sense, in our increasing fragile economy. The less inventory, the less credit needed and the more profits. Yes, it makes sense for them.

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We’ve all seen the pictures of the African child with distended belly and the plea for money. Maybe we responded, maybe we figured that the money would go anywhere but to that child. But in any event we probably got ‘used to’ seeing it. The shock value wore off. The shocking idea of starvation wore off.

We probably need to be more concerned now.

According to the Guardian, an English newspaper, nearly one billion people worldwide are starving. Each day, 40 million more join their ranks. That’s close to 15 percent of the world going hungry in 2008. That’s serious world hunger.

To quote the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization’s Assistant Director General, “For millions of people in developing countries, eating the minimum amount of food every day to live an active and healthy life is a distant dream….”

2009 promises to be worse. Very, very much worse.
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This is a very difficult subject, because no one wants to be honest about it. And that’s okay. We whistle past the cemetery… or we wear gear that proclaims we got No Fear, dude. Whatever gets us through the night.

Still, it doesn’t hurt to take the boogeyman out of the closet every once in a while and contemplate the sheen on his empty collarbones. Fear. The fear of pain, of death, of failure, of making a mistake that harms or kills someone else, the fear of embarrassment, of loss, of… I could go much deeper, but it is not my goal to give fear too much celebrity.

The fact is… it’s just another day. It is always just another day.
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Conflict. Someone else in the immediate area wants to take charge.

Your instinct may be to let them do it, because then, if everything goes wrong, it’s their fault… despite the fact that there is a little voice in the back of your head saying you should step up and take on the responsibility because you’re more qualified. Or you may want to challenge them physically, because you have to be in charge, because, well, you just have to be. Or you are afraid of making a serious mistake, and hide your knowledge despite the fact that everyone needs the wisdom you’ve stored up for just such a moment.

When you see these inner thoughts in stark text, you know that they are obviously wrong. But unfortunately, that’s how things often work in reality. Question is, how do you resolve the conflict if it comes up in real life?
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