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Mmmm, Sounds Like Sausage

No, not sausage, but some interesting and current links to help you keep informed on the latest news and cool information.


SHTF Thumbdrive

I've been thinking about getting a couple of those hardened and encrypted thumb drives for my BOB and GOOD kits.  The only problem is that they cost upwards of $100, and I really don't have that kind of money to spend on a tiny piece of electronics that I might never have to use.

Yesterday, on The Survival Podcast, Jack interviewed James from SurvivalPunk.com.  Survival Punk has tons of really cool and innovative ideas.  One that they spoke about on the show was his design for a homemade hardened and encrypted thumb drive.  Here's the Survival Punk write up on it with pictures.

I think I will put one of these together as a winter project.  A couple of slight changes I'll make:  On the stationary end cap, drill a hole and insert a small loop screw.  That way I can string it from a paracord strap.  On the removable end cap, I'm a little concerned about tightening it down too much, so I'll use a bit of solder or JB Weld to keep the cap from being screwed down all the way.


The Day After... Election Day

I was recently talking to a friend who is in the command structure of a pretty large, urban police department.  At the time, his department had not established any plans for the aftermath of the election, regardless of who wins.  A couple of days ago I was speaking with an acquaintance with the same agency.  It seems that now they are putting things in place to be ready for violence. 

Alex Jones just ran this article about the rash of Twitter and other social media threats that are calling for riots if Romney wins, along with threats to Romney's life.  I don't care who you favor in the election, but the very idea of calling for riots and violence as a result of the election is unacceptable.  It brings down to the level of the third world and banana republics.  As preppers, it is incumbent upon us to stay situationally aware during and immediately after the election.  If you are in a swing state or heavily contested area, you might consider hunkering down for a couple of days or at least being ready to do so.


CMEs

We know that Coronal Mass Ejections, or solar storms, are a threat to electronics and potentially the entire grid.  The one "good" thing about a CME is that we'll have some advanced notice, up to a full day or two.  Solar Stormwatch is a place that recruits amature astronomers to help keep an eye the sun and report ejections and solar storms.


Congratulations!

I want to give a shoutout to Jack Spirko for the 1,000th episode of The Survival Podcast.  Like earlier milestone show, he invited listeners to call in with their stories of what TSP has meant to them and how they have progressed in their preparedness and road to self sufficiency.  This time, the episode took nearly 5 hours for all of the callers to get their messages out.  Jack has come a long way since I started listening when he was still in the double digits and doing his show recordings in his car during a morning commute.


Self Reliance Expo - Mesa, Arizona Next Weekend

Here's a neat idea.  A fellow named David Safewaters has hit Mesa a week early and is living out of his BOB as he awaits the expo.  You can follow his efforts on this FB page.

I had a great time and learned a ton at the Hickory Expo last month.  I really wish I could make it to Mesa, but since I can't, if you are in the region, I hope you will.  Here's a list of the vendors and exhibitors.