Without a good solar charger or battery backup for your iPhone or iPad, you won't get a whole lot of use, but if you have an emergency that requires you to figure out something that could be in the Army Survival Guide, having a PDF file of it on your mobile device could be a real life saver.

I also suggest a small PDF with all sorts of personal info you might need. That lets you print it out in a hurry, instead of having to print a bunch of separate address book entries and such. Consider including latitude and longitude of places you might want to go and other, less normal info you might need if things go seriously bad.

I'm sure there are ways to get PDFs onto an Android or Blackberry, but I'm also sure it isn't as simple as it is if you have an i-device. For those, check out these really easy instructions.

There's an excellent article at ActivistPost on preparing for a food crisis. I particularly think the idea of just picking up a little extra non-perishable food each time you hit the grocery store is a great idea.

In any emergency situation lasting more than a few hours, there's one thing more important than any other.

Water.

But after that, when thinking about long term trouble, the second most important thing is probably something you don't think about when planning. It certainly isn't something you can pack in your bug out bag.

The second most important thing is relationships. If you don't have good relationships with your neighbors, with people at the destinations of your bug-out, with those you'll need to rely on when the phone is out, when the cars have no gas, when the internet is down, then it won't matter if you have all the water and food and ammo you'll ever need. Because you can't do it all alone.

Do you know your neighbors? Can you rely on them in a pinch? If not, why not? When walking to the nearest main road becomes an adventure, it will be good to know the names of the people whose doors you may need to bang on.

From boingboing.net this weekend, I learned of The Outquisition, and it strikes me as an exceptionally fine idea.

It also reminds me that I need to regularly add information of similar type to this site. So look for more regular updates, tools, ideas and plans coming almost daily!

Of course, my vacation is coming up....

The Raw Story | Old-line Republican warns 'something's in the works' to trigger a police state

Bush Abolishes Fifth Amendment (reddit.com)

FEMA Concentration Camps: Locations and Executive Orders - Friends of Liberty

Life and Deatherage: Reagan-lovers are dangerously unhinged


Life and Deatherage: This is the Tipping Point

Technorati Tags: Politics

We eat this stuff all the time anyway, and with a special price at Amazon right now, it made sense to get a bunch of Annie's shells and cheese.
The individual boxes are small and easy to store.
This isn't great stuff for long term storage, but will help quite a bit if you're stuck in a short term break down of grocery delivery systems. Or just too tired to go to the store!

Technorati Tags: Politics

Stepping into a gun shop is more than a bit like visiting another world for me.

Less than 10% of this store's stock. How do they stay
in business with that much inventory?
Do they sell that much?

Now I know where people buy those "American by Birth, Southern by the Grace of God" and "Heritage Not Hate" bumper stickers. I just never see those for sale at Plan 9 records or Target.

Southern Gun World--Children first!

But every gun shop I visited had them. Ironically, the place where I ended up buying was the oddest, selling bait, terrible terrible imported knock-offs of medieval armor, and dozens of things emblazoned with confederate flags.
The quick summary of the longer story is that I ended up with an SKS rifle, one of the better versions made directly for the american market rather than military surplus.