Monthly Archives: December 2011

Episode-810- The Christmas Special For 2011

Posted on December 23, 2011 by Modern Survival| 9 Comments
Episode-810- The Christmas Special For 2011 [ 25:56 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

In the past I have always redone the intro to this show. this year do to a pretty bad case of laryngitis I am simply re-posting last years version.

Most of today’s show is a rebroadcast of 2008’s Christmas special.  Today we pause and take a moment to reflect on Christmas and how it has become the Holiday we celebrate today.  Many American’s have no idea just how Christmas became unique here in America, the role it played in bringing our nation together after two wars of independence and the civil war.

Christmas is special and a time to pause and reflect.  Christmas is indeed a special time of year, today I will cover many aspects of it that may make this Christmas just a bit more special.  There is also a full text transcription on of the non commercial portion of today’s show in the show notes below.

Tune in today to hear about…

  • Christmas was banned in England at one time and even parts of America
  • Early Americans didn’t really celebrate Christmas, (congress was in session on Dec 25th, 1789)
  • In the early 1800s Christmas was a rowdy holiday spurred by class conflict, turmoil and unemployment
  • In 1819, best-selling author Washington Irving wrote The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon bringing us many “ancient customs”, he simply invented
  • Leading up to the Civil War, Christmas was a “southern holiday” and Thanksgiving a “northern holiday”
  • How Christmas and Thanksgiving together helped to heal a young America
  • Today is a time to pause, reflect and just be, prepping, planning and stress will all wait patiently for you
  • Different ending music for today’s show!  The most beautiful version of Oh Holly Night I have ever heard, just pause, listen and realize what really matters while it plays.

Resources for today’s show…

Remember to comment, chime in and tell us your thoughts, this podcast is one man’s opinion, not a lecture or sermon. Also please enter our listener appreciation contest and help spread the word about our show.  Also remember you can call in your questions and comments to 866-65-THINK and you might hear yourself on the air.

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Episode-809- Passion, Persistence and Planning Always Beat Paranoia

Posted on December 22, 2011 by Modern Survival| 23 Comments
Episode-809- Passion, Persistence and Planning Always Beat Paranoia [ 49:37 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

If you asked me to sum up my view of prepping in some plucky marketing way, I would say it comes down to Three P’s

  • Passion
  • Persistence
  • Planning

Unfortunately many people in the prepper world have a fourth P that over rides their entire life, paranoia. I have been told that you are not paranoid if the thing you fear is a legitimate threat. I don’t fully agree, I mean being hit by a car is a legitimate threat but living in fear of roads or seeing every car as “trying to run you over” is indeed living in a paranoid state. Sure the danger exists but the disconnect is between the danger’s true reality and the perceived danger in the individuals mind.

Join Me Today As I Discuss…

  • What exactly is a healthy fear vs. a paranoid state
  • A perfect example of paranoia the NDAA as reported vs. as written
  • My solutions to Paranoia
    • Planning
      • Your lifestyle
      • Your future
      • Your property
      • Your redundancy
    • Passion
      • For Life
      • For Liberty
      • For Your Family
      • For Your “Work”
      • For The Future
    • Persistence
      • Failure is only a lesson
      • Nothing worth much is easy
      • Preparedness is a lifestyle not something you “do”
      • How you think is more important than what you know
      • What you know is more important than what you have
      • What you have is more important than what you don’t have
      • Everything is interconnected

Additional Resources for Today’s Show

Remember to comment, chime in and tell us your thoughts, this podcast is one man’s opinion, not a lecture or sermon. Also please enter our listener appreciation contest and help spread the word about our show. Also remember you can call in your questions and comments to 866-65-THINK and you might hear yourself on the air.

 

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Episode-808- Jeff Wheatley on Wood Stoves and Inserts

Posted on December 21, 2011 by Modern Survival| 40 Comments
Episode-808- Jeff Wheatley on Wood Stoves and Inserts [ 1:02:20 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Jeff Wheatley has over 15 years experience selling, installing, and servicing Hearth appliances (Stoves, Inserts, & Fireplaces) in 3 major fuel types: Woodburning, LP & NG Burning, and Pellet Burning. Today he joins us to discuss the safe install & use of wood stoves.  He also provides us with tips on how to get the best efficiency, the most heat, the least creosote, the easiest maintenance, and the safest operation from your wood stove.

Join Us Today as we Discuss…

  • Why a stove chimney is a major expense
  • What is the biggest difference in modern vs. older stoves
  • Thoughts on single wall pipe penetrations
  • Which end of the pipe is up
  • Best practices for woodstove inserts
  • Why is it so important to fully season fuel wood

Resources for Today’s Show…

Remember to comment, chime in and tell us your thoughts, this podcast is one man’s opinion, not a lecture or sermon. Also please enter our listener appreciation contest and help spread the word about our show. Also remember you can call in your questions and comments to 866-65-THINK and you might hear yourself on the air.

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Episode-807- What We Can Expect in 2012

Posted on December 20, 2011 by Modern Survival| 28 Comments
Episode-807- What We Can Expect in 2012 [ 1:09:59 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
I Don't Have a Crystal Ball, But Let's Look at the Future Anyway

I Don't Have a Crystal Ball, But Let's Look at the Future Anyway

I will be the first to tell you my “predictions” if you wish to call them such are far more long term then a year in most instances.  I do figure though that now is a good time to talk about the coming year of 2012 and what we can and should expect to see happening over the next year.

My hope today is not really to do a modern Nostradamus impersonation, it is more to help you look into the coming year with both caution and optimism.

2012 has a lot of nonsense attached to it as “the end of the world” and while most people don’t believe that, it has had an effect.  Many people have been open to their vulnerabilities by the hype around 2012 for the last few years.  Many in the preparedness space are poised to capitalize on this manufactured paranoia.

My hope is today’s show will put some perspective into this nonsense and lead you to the logical conclusion, no one really knows what is going to happen but working for a better future is the best course of action.

Join Me Today as we Discuss…

  • “The most important election in history” – meh not really
  • Another almost government shut down a month before the election
  • Gingrich looses in Iowa and begins a terminal spiral
  • Iran becomes the “most dangerous threat” on the news and in debates
  • More US Cities and Municipalities go into receivership (bankruptcy)
  • Downward class migration continues but the message is “the economy is improving”
  • Unemployment will drop, people will still have less money
  • Urban farming will continue to grow
  • More big money pours into agricultural and timber land
  • Big Ag companies will change their marketing (environmentally friendly)
  • The world will not end – I promise!

Additional Resources for Today’s Show

Remember to comment, chime in and tell us your thoughts, this podcast is one man’s opinion, not a lecture or sermon. Also please enter our listener appreciation contest and help spread the word about our show. Also remember you can call in your questions and comments to 866-65-THINK and you might hear yourself on the air.

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Episode-806- Freedom and Liberty in a World of Tyranny

Posted on December 19, 2011 by Modern Survival| 22 Comments
Episode-806- Freedom and Liberty in a World of Tyranny [ 1:06:47 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

We are now beginning the final week of shows for 2011, as a reminder we are going to be “closed” from Dec. 23rd to January 2nd. During this time I WILL be providing tech support but not putting out new shows.

With this in mind I wanted to do a show today that would help you as you ponder the new year during what ever down time you might have.  It saddens me how much liberty we have lost, but what saddens me even more is the defeatism of those that are in their own words, “fighting for liberty”.  The reality is there are some things we can not change at the current time, our fellow citizens are not ready to do so.  Until then we must live in liberty in our own lives.

Join me today as I discuss…

  • What I got wrong about the NDAA and why it doesn’t matter
  • Why I believe that now is the time for personal action not political action
  • The 14 things I think you must do to have personal liberty
    • Believe and do as you please (with in the law)
    • Spread your belief example, never with force
    • Create independence from the systems
    • Solve your own problems when ever you can
    • Vote for what you believe in, not who you think can win
    • Know why you believe what you believe
    • Accept challenges to what you believe but require facts
    • Never submit to government authority voluntarily (legally resist)
    • Create your own systems, your own networks, etc.
    • Value education and be a self directed learner at all times
    • Let no man speak for you or put words in your mouth
    • Accept that others many ignore, demean or attack you
    • Argue ideas, do not ague the validity of the individual
    • Remember no matter what anyone says, what you do matters

Additional Resources for Today’s Show

Remember to comment, chime in and tell us your thoughts, this podcast is one man’s opinion, not a lecture or sermon. Also please enter our listener appreciation contest and help spread the word about our show. Also remember you can call in your questions and comments to 866-65-THINK and you might hear yourself on the air.

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Episode-805- Joel Salatin from Polyface Farms

Posted on December 16, 2011 by Modern Survival| 27 Comments
An Interview with Joel Salatin from Polyface Farms [ 1:15:24 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
Joel Salatin of Polyface Farms

Joel Salatin of Polyface Farms

Joel Salatin, 54, is a full-time farmer in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. A third generation alternative farmer, he returned to the farm full-time in 1982 and continued refining and adding to his parents’ ideas.

The farm services more than 3,000 families, 10 retail outlets, and 50 restaurants through on-farm sales and metropolitan buying clubs with salad bar beef, pastured poultry, eggmobile eggs, pigaerator pork, forage-based rabbits, pastured turkey and forestry products using relationship marketing.

He holds a BA degree in English and writes extensively in magazines such as STOCKMAN GRASS FARMER, ACRES USA, and AMERICAN AGRICULTURALIST.

Joel is a hightly sought-after conference speaker, he addresses a wide range of issues, from “creating the farm your children will want” to “making a white collar salary from a pleasant life in the country.”  We are very fortunate to have him with us today on The Survival Podcast.

Join Joel and I Today as we Discuss…

  • What are some of the biggest challenges to small producers today
  • How can farmers transition from traditional agriculture to more natural production
  • Thoughts on how homesteaders can adapt some of Joel’s techniques
  • The value of sprouting – Ferris Wheel sprouter idea
  • Thoughts on small livestock like poultry and rabbits
  • Thoughts on ethical slaughter
  • Grazing pork and poultry one behind the other
  • How can homesteaders work to achieve greater self sufficiency
  • What can we do to help small producers have more commercial success

Additional Resources for Today’s Show

Joel’s Links

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MSB Updates, New Benefits and Sale Ending

Posted on December 15, 2011 by Modern Survival| 13 Comments

Okay first up, today I put out a great interview with Steve Aukstakalnis from AlertsUSA.   AlertsUSA is a ten year old company offering an specialized emergency threat alert service for mobile devices. If you want to stay informed of breaking events in a number of ‘in your face’ threat areas posing a risk to you and your family, this service is well worth a look.

I got a special deal for the entire audience though the end of the year.  That price is 99.99 vs. 169.95 but I got an even better permanent deal for the MSB, try 75 bucks a year.  A savings of over 60%.

I want to take a moment to point something important out about these discounts and my endorsement of AlertsUSA.

First, often when I make such deals available I am accused of doing it only for personal return.  This is nonsense, first I was offered an affiliate deal by AlertsUSA, the additional discount the Member’s Brigade gets is me NOT taking a commission.  I make absolutely ZERO when any of you sign up for AlertsUSA.  My job is to get information to all of you and get the best deals I can for members, if I skim off the top I can’t get the best deal, this is ONLY ONE OF MANY times I have turned down such offers.

Two, while I do not agree 100% with Mr. Aukstakalnis political take on things, I find his information very creditable and possibly life saving to many.  That is why I recommend his service, we have to know what is going on regardless of what each of us thinks should be done in response.  I want all listeners to know I was offered a free account with AlertsUSA and turned it down.  Instead I choose to purchase it for the same price MSB Members do.  I did this for a few reasons…

  1. I feel if I recommend it to you then I should be willing to spend my money on it
  2. By purchasing it I was able to verify the sign up process, the price promised, etc.

On occasion I get accused of being “too commercial” on other such things.  I figure from time to time I should reveal what really goes on behind closed doors.  Trust me I could run this site differently and make a lot more money.  I could replace all 12 sponsors with 6 affiliate programs and make far more then the fees I charge, etc.  I run the program for the listeners and for the members.  Yep I pay the bills with it but keep in mind this is why the show is on every day and has been for almost 4 years now.

Next up on a minor update I just added episodes 775-799 to the zip files on the download area of the MSB.  Of course anyone can get all episodes of TSP back to number one in the archives one at a time.  But for Members we have all episodes in convenient 24 count zip file blocks in the members area.

Last but not least we are running a sale on the MSB that was to end today.  One listener asked if I could let him buy on Friday (tomorrow) because he was expecting some money to his PayPal account.  Well I got to thinking and ending a sale on a Thursday is kind of dumb, and since this will be the last sale till March or April I decided to extend it for one day.

The discount code is “snow” for full details on this sale see my post about the sale at this link or just sign up and use the discount code “snow” here and get your first year for only 30 bucks.

 

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Episode-804- Steve Aukstakalnis from Alerts USA and Threat Journal

Posted on December 15, 2011 by Modern Survival| 49 Comments
Episode-804- Steve Aukstakalnis from Alerts USA and Threat Journal [ 1:09:48 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
AlertsUSA.com Keeps You Informed About Threats via Your Mobile Device

AlertsUSA.com Keeps You Informed About Threats via Your Mobile Device

Today I am joined on The Survival Podcast by Steve Aukstakalnis.   Steve is the founder of AlertsUSA, a Miami based risk management firm providing one of the nation’s most widely used terrorism and national security threat alert services for mobile devices. He started the firm in late 2001 out of a two bedroom apartment following the attacks of 9/11.

The company now serves a client base that extends to more than 20 countries, from government agencies all the way down to business travelers and the average guy or gal on the street that wants to keep up on breaking events.

His information sources and contacts provide a unique perspective on national and international events and the potential impact here at home. He is with us today to talk about storm clouds building on a number of fronts.

Additional Resources for Today’s Show

Steven’s Links

  • Alerts USA – Special Link to Get the Special Price MSB Members check your private member’s area for an even better deal.
  • Threat Journal – Subscribe to Threat Journal for Free and Get Entered Automatically to Win one of Five Nuclear Radiation Safety Packages each includes.
    • (1) NukAlert Personal Radiation Monitor and Alarm
    • (5) Radsticker Peel and Stick Dosimeters
      (1) Box ThyroSafe Potassium Iodide Tablets (65 mg)
    • These packages are valued around $200 each.

Remember to comment, chime in and tell us your thoughts, this podcast is one man’s opinion, not a lecture or sermon. Also please enter our listener appreciation contest and help spread the word about our show. Also remember you can call in your questions and comments to 866-65-THINK and you might hear yourself on the air.

 

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Episode-803- An Interview with The Berkey Guy

Posted on December 14, 2011 by Modern Survival| 8 Comments
Episode-803- An Interview with The Berkey Guy [ 1:07:31 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Jeff Gleason has been a stead fast supporter of the show for more than two years (will be three this March).  He is of course the famous “Berkey Guy” and he joins us today to discuss the role water should play in our prep planning and our daily lives.

Join Us Today to Hear…

  • How water and its availability is often over looked in prepping
  • The value of a well
  • Why better tasting water is good for your health
  • Our thoughts on chlorine, arsenic and fluoride
  • Where the fluoride in your water actually comes from
  • Thoughts on removing at least chlorine from your bathing water
  • Several instances where systems failed to catch contaminated water
  • Biological contaminants like cryptosporidium and giardia

Additional Resources for Today’s Show

Remember to comment, chime in and tell us your thoughts, this podcast is one man’s opinion, not a lecture or sermon. Also please enter our listener appreciation contest and help spread the word about our show. Also remember you can call in your questions and comments to 866-65-THINK and you might hear yourself on the air.

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Episode-802- Permaculture Misconception vs. Reality

Posted on December 13, 2011 by Modern Survival| 19 Comments
Episode-802- Permaculture Misconception vs. Reality [ 1:03:36 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
The Forest is the Teacher, Not the End Goal

The Forest is the Teacher, Not the End Goal - Photo Credit to Axel-D via Flickr

I keep quite a few things set up on Google New Alerts.  That is where you run a search for a term on Google News and ask them to send you an email when ever a given word or phrase pops up in the news.  So as you might imagine I do this for terms like “pandemic”, “economic collapse”, “natural disaster” and many others related to the preparedness industry.

I also have terms set up that are more on subjects connected to basic self sufficiency and homesteading.   As you might imagine I include the term “permacuture”.  The other day that alert sent me a link to an article called, “Traditional Farming in the Rain Forest”, it led to an article that was a scathing retort on permaculture calling it basically useless.

The author gets almost every single part wrong.  It wasn’t that we disagree mind you it was that his claims and assertions were simply 100% inaccurate.  Despite this it  has helped me to better understand many of the objections I hear about permaculture.  Today I plan to discuss them and try to answer some of these objections, hopefully with a now better understanding of what the objection is really all about.

Join me today as I discuss…

  • 1 Prime Directive + 3 Ethics = Permaculture
  • Common Objections to Permaculture (none of which are based on reality)
    • The Rain Forest can’t feed as many people per acre as a farm
    • If we don’t do anything and let nature take its course we will starve
    • We need annual crops too not just perennials
    • Permaculture only produces weird things no one eats
    • Permaculture is limited to forest gardening
    • All permaculture amounts to is good organic gardening
    • Permaculture is all about growing food and plants
    • We can’t have productivity with out fertilizer and irrigation
    • We have to till soil to plant modern crop

Resources for Today’s Show…

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