Advanced Survival Guide.com

We have been swamped with work, busy with family and working on projects so posting here has been light.

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We stumbled onto a couple great Netflix documentaries about the Great Depression. One of them looks at every day life during the 30s and the other takes a look at how the mega-rich reacted during the Crash of 29. Some of this looks very familiar.

• American Experience: The Crash of 1929
• The Panic Is On: The Great American Depression as Seen by the Common Man

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LOUISIANA: Home Invasion Suspect Shot During Fight with Homeowner

“The Baton Rouge Police Department said officers responded to a shooting in the 5500 block of Arialo Street around 7:30 p.m. When they arrived on the scene, detectives found that two suspects had tried to break into a home.

Investigators said during the robbery attempt, one of the victims fought with one of the armed suspects over the gun. The gun discharged during the struggle and hit the second suspect.”

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TEXAS: Homeowner and suspect shot in home invasion

“According to officials, two men and one woman invaded a home on Ivan Reid Drive at Tami Renee Lane in the Rolling Fork subdivision around 10:30pm. The homeowner grabbed a gun and started shooting, and the suspects returned fire.

Investigators said the homeowner was shot in the neck. He was airlifted to an area hospital via Life Flight. The female suspect was also shot. Her partners took her to the hospital.”

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PENNSYLVANIA: Elderly couple bound and robbed in home invasion

State police said two black males and one white male kicked in the back door to 270 Pittston Blvd. at approximately 12:30 p.m. Saturday. Once inside, the intruders bound the hands and feet of the residents, 74-year-old Bernard Gryskevicz and his 73-year-old wife Patricia, and covered their heads with blankets.

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ILLINOIS: Elderly felon arrested after shooting home invader

“An 81-year-old man said he was justified in shooting an alleged intruder ­— even though he is a convicted felon who was not suppose to have a gun.”

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MICHIGAN: 75 year old fatally shoots armed home invader

White said that as he lay on his couch watching a basketball game about 1:15 a.m. Tuesday, he heard a steady thumping at his side door. He said someone was again trying to break into his northwest Detroit home, so he grabbed his rifle and rushed through the kitchen toward the noise.

When an 18-year-old man kicked in the door and stepped inside, the alleged burglar found himself staring down the barrel of the homeowner’s rifle.

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OKLAHOMA: Woman fights off armed home invasion with a toilet plunger

An Oklahoma woman defended her life with a plunger, fighting off armed attackers during a home invasion on Wednesday night, police said. The woman was getting out of her shower in Piedmont, Okla., when she found two men with guns burglarizing her home, according to Det. Sgt. Brian Dawson of the Piedmont Police Department.

“She saw two men in her house and ran back to the bathroom,” Dawson said. “She finally decided to defend herself with a toilet bowl plunger.” As she exited the bathroom, she was confronted by one of the men with a pistol pointed at her, according to police. “She did hit him with the plunger and knocked the gun out of his hands,” Dawson said.

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There’s been quite a bit of news this week about the radical islamic group Hezbollah and the potential threat they pose here in the US. I think this first really caught everyone’s attention last year when it was announced that Hezbollah had opened up for business at our southern border when they joined forces with some of the Mexican drug cartels. It’s now estimated that they are much more powerful than Al Qaeda ever was.

This was backed up in February 2012 when the former head of the DEA stated that Hezbollah plans to exploit the infrastructure built by the drug traffickers that touches 250 or more US cities allowing Hezbollah access to assets such as forged documents and massive amounts of money. He warned that those relationships allow “these groups to operate freely in our neighborhood” and said the U.S. would regret it if the threats were not taken seriously. “I don’t want to sound too crude, but I think there’s going to be hell to pay in the not too distant future,” he said.

By the way, these claims were refuted recently in a short editorial written by Mexico’s consul general, obscurely posted in an Arizona newspaper. He denies that there is any evidence of terrorist activity at our border and says that these claims interfere with their efforts to keep the border secure. I suppose that some may agree with this but if you ask any Arizona border rancher if their efforts have been working so far, you might get a different point of view.

Most recently,Ynet news posted a very good article explaining this threat and speculates why Hezbollah would strike inside the United States. One alarming fact in the article: NY officials estimate 200-300 Hezbollah members and sympathizers are currently in New York City!

The video below is from Reuters, it also goes into some detail about this. The bridge surveillance made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. The possible scenarios in that city taking place AFTER those bridges are crippled would most likely be horrible.

With everything else going on around us these days, it’s easy to get a little complacent about our general security. I hope you can take a few minutes and read the articles at the above links. Articles like these help to wake me up and I hope they do the same for you. We try to keep an eye on the news out of Israel. There’s been some drum-beating about a strike on Iran and many analysts feel that could be the trigger to an attack here at home from Hezbollah. Please get and stay prepped for any possible disruptions and the inevitable aftermath.

Obama passed another Executive Order last Friday. A quick summary and link is below. It basically allows (or excuses) government takeover of private facilities when/if a national emergency arises. I’m really not sure why we would need another one of these EOs since there are already several similar declarations on record. There must be something in the fine print that expands on previous orders???

Summary:

1. The President is delegating the authority to the heads of several alphabet agencies and forming a committee to control the necessary industrial and commercial resources necessary to respond to emergencies. In the event of a interdepartment conflict, the authority will revert back to the President.
2. The heads of these agencies are also given the authority to bypass the conventional bidding process and grant production contracts to whomever they feel is the most capable vendor. They are also authorized to grant loans to these entities if necessary…. (I smell a rat here)
3. Any materials purchased and not used will be deposited in the “National Stockpile”. Agency heads are authorized to purchase any necessary land, buildings or other property and transfer ownership to the contractors.
4. Agency heads are given the authority to find and recruit the necessary personnel to accomplish the goal of National Defense. They are to coordinate the collection of data concerning the national workforce and the Draft is specifically mentioned.
5. The document then lists the specific agencies involved and defines some of the language used. I’m sure that I missed something so you might want to take a look for yourself.

You can read the entire thing HERE

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It’s been pretty busy lately for everyone involved with the ASG blog. We’ve added two new “spin-off” sites and if you’ve been wondering why all this is happening it’s because the ASG blog has had a minor restructuring behind the scenes.

We’ve received some emails and read some comments that I feel need to be addressed. Hopefully, this post will do that and more. If you’re a regular visitor here please read on.

Click HERE to read the entire post….

Here’s a couple items that may appeal to the minimalists out there. Thanks to Michael Ondrovich for the tip!

This paracord bracelet adds a practical new dimension….. it holds a flint and steel! The manufacturer states that a portion of each sale is donated to wounded veterans.
Paracord Survival Bracelet with Fire Starter Flint & Knife

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Here’s a simple folding stove from 180. Folds up small enough to fit into a pocket and includes it’s own pouch.
180-VL – Emergency Stove, Backpacking Stove, Camp Stove

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We want to thank everyone that sent in their area’s solar-storm damage reports! The geographic area that was represented stretched from WA state down to Colorado and across to North Carolina. Thankfully there was no actual damage reported.

The strongest portion of the March 8-9 geomagnetic storm is now being classified as G3. NOAA’s range is G1 thru G5. HERE IS A LINK to NOAA’s Space Weather rating system with further descriptions.

Northern Lights were visible in the US northern border states. I was hoping we would have caught a glimpse here at the southern edge of Lake Michigan but it didn’t happen.

We’ve been researching actual methods and procedures that the power companies and other large electrically-dependent operations use to minimize damage from these storms. From my own research, it’s my opinion that the recommendations made by many other prepper sites are inaccurate.

We did stumble onto a Canadian newsarticle that gave some insight to the power companies’ procedures and it may put to rest some worries about a massive continent wide power grid failure:

When (magnetic) currents develop, long hydro lines are ideal objects for picking them up, and therein lies the problem, says Penstone. With the biggest transmission system in the province, and the longest power lines, Hydro One has to be vigilant.

Trouble arises because Ontario’s electricity system operates on alternating current, with the direction of the current changing directions at 60 cycles a second.

But the currents created by the solar storms are direct current: They run in one direction only.

“When you have this direct current put into the network, it changes the behaviour and performance of the equipment and the network itself,” he said.

Bad things happen. Transistors overheat. Equipment that keeps voltage from rising too high can fail. Whole chunks of the system can start to go down.

There are safeguards, however, and Penstone says Hydro One has developed one of the most advanced defence systems on the continent to ward off the worst effects.

The first step is to assume a “safe posture”: The transmission system works best when the maximum number of elements are in service. Scheduled equipment outages for maintenance may be put off until after the storm.

Hydro One has also installed detectors across the network to warn of the first signs of foreign currents invading the system.

http://www.thestar.com/business/article/1143408–solar-storm-fails-to-distrupt-ontario-s-electric-system

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You’ve probably already heard that magnetic storms are predicted thru Mar 11th. We would appreciate hearing about any damage or disruptions occurring in your area.

Thanks again